Here is a welcome tool that is an easily-accessible indicator of your local air quality. How does your air quality compare with that in Beijing?

Visit this post often as the map updates automatically with the latest air quality forecast information.

According to NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center, the combined average global land and ocean surface temperature for July 2008 tied with 2001 and 2003 as the fifth warmest July since worldwide records began in 1880.

The Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council reports that “. . . [a]phids are emerging as sentinels of climate change . . . One of the UK’s most damaging aphids–the peach-potato aphid (Myzus persicae)–has been found to be flying two weeks earlier for every 1°C rise in mean temperature for January and February combined.

Yesterday, J. Clarence Davies introduced a new report that while recognizing how nanotechnology is likely to affect most things in our lives—from medicine to agriculture to industrial processes—notes that the next Federal administration must address current shortcomings in nanotechnology oversight.

The National Research Council has released what it calls an Expert Consensus Report from its Committee on Hydrologic Impacts of Forest Management. The report notes that “. . . [m]odifications to forests’ structure and composition

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has reported on a once-abandoned technique that may allow a sophisticated, yet affordable, method to turn ordinary glass into a high-tech solar concentrator.

With support from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Secretariat of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, and Scotland Online the Frontlines of Climate Change Forum discloses community-based experiences with climate change impacts, opportunities and adaptation strategies.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has announced the release of a report by the U.S. Climate Change Science Program and the Subcommittee on Global Change Research assessing observed and projected changes in weather and climate extremes in North America and U.S. territories.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has released a peer-reviewed report (”Preliminary Review of Adaption Options for Climate-Sensitive Ecosystems and Resources“) that finds climate change can increase the impact on ecosystems of such traditional stressors as pollution or habitat destruction.

In its next Special Issue, the International Journal of Environment and Pollution has Biomonitoring as its focus. A wide spectrum of techniques, biological monitoring or biomonitoring involves the direct measurement of levels of chemical substances in blood, urine, breast-milk or saliva; and such other tissues as bone, teeth, skin, hair and nails.

The June 13, 2008, issue of Science “. . . examines the future of the world’s forests against a backdrop of climate change and intensifying human activity.