Great brief in Time Magazine discussing the difference between ‘weather’ and ‘climate’. A common denier argument is to point outside and suggest that the cold weather obviously means that climate change isn’t happening.

But as Time points out, the unseasonably cold 2008 will still rank in the top 10 hottest years since climate record taking was started. Consider it homework for the holidays.

A lawsuit against Canada's oilsands has been launched by the Cree First Nations in Northern Alberta.

The lawsuit (pdf) pits the Beaver Lake Cree band against the governments of Canada and Alberta, asking the court to rule invalid the government authorization for thousands of petroleum projects on the band's core territory.

If you haven't heard about our latest DeSmog project, the Arctic Front, you can read all about it in our special DeSmogBlog section.  

And if you're a big Facebook-er (who isn't these days), please join our Arctic Front Facebook group and add your name to the growing number of people (almost 200 already!) concerned about the environmental impacts of the Alberta oil sands. 

Apparently we polar bears aren't the only ones asking the Alberta government to "press pause" on breakneck oil-sands development. Even some oil companies believe that certain areas should be spared the teeth of their power shovels, a Globe and Mail report reveals.

So we FINALLY got our Arctic Front polar bear outfits and they have already been deployed to unknown regions throughout Alberta.

I mean these guys could show up anywhere. Keep an eye out here for any "politician-polar bear interfaces" that are expected to occur very soon.

You can also check out our "Arctic Front" Flickr photo section here for updated event photos.