Edward Norton appeared on the Today Show this morning to push tomorrow’s world-wide switch-off, Earth Hour. For one hour, people will make a statement that something needs to be done about climate change and that it is an issue worthy of world-wide recognition. Thus, millions of people across the globe will turn out their lights to raise awareness.

The purpose for the one-hour switch-off slated for March 28, from 8:30 to 9:30 p.m. local time, is to make a global statement of concern about climate change and to demonstrate commitment to finding solutions.

And the cause is gaining momentum. A total of 175 U.S. cities have now pledged to turn off their lights during the hour. National landmarks like the Empire State Building and many of Washington D.C.’s most notable buildings will go dark.

D.C.’s District Environment Director George Hawkins said Earth Hour was “a symbolic but important step in showing the world we’re serious about the climate.”

Al Gore is releasing a new book entitled Our Choice, which apparently “picks up” where an Inconvenient Truth left off. Gore hopes the new book will serve as a “blueprint” for the solution of our current climate conundrum.

“Now that the need for urgent action is even clearer with the alarming new findings of the last three years, it is time for a comprehensive global plan that actually solves the climate crisis. Our Choice will answer that call,” a press release from the publisher reads.

Gore said, “An Inconvenient Truth reached millions of people with the message that the climate crisis is threatening the future of human civilization and that it must and can be solved.”

Gore’s conclusions on how we are to effective combat climate change are based on more than 30 “Solutions Summits” he has held with scientists, engineers and policy experts, as well as independent research.

All profits from the book will go directly to the Alliance for Climate Protection, a non-profit, non-partisan group dedicated to spreading awareness about the climate crisis and how to solve it. The book will also be printed on 100% recycled paper, locally produced and sourced editions, low VOC inks, and will be carbon neutral.

You know things are getting serious when Prince Charles takes a breather from his polo matches and his romantic getaways with Camilla to speak out on climate change. In the keynote speech at a meeting in Rio de Janeiro. the Prince gave a passionate speech, saying that “the best projections tell us that we have less than 100 months to alter our behavior before we risk catastrophic climate change and the unimaginable horrors that this would bring.”

The Prince had plenty to say to the business people who’d gathered to discuss the economy and the environment, adding that “we are facing a series of challenges so immense that we can, perhaps, be forgiven for feeling they are all too forbidding to confront.” He was adamant that despite their economic concerns, action needed to be immediate. “Any difficulties which the world faces today,” he said, ” will be as nothing compared to the full effects which global warming will have on the world-wide economy.”

In the coming months Prince Charles will meet with many foreign leaders, including United States President Barack Obama, to discuss the challenges ahead in the world’s fight against climate change. You can watch the video of Prince Charles’ speech in Brazil here.

In Brussels today, Greenpeace activists blocked the European Union building to draw attention to the fight on climate change. At the time of the protest, finance ministers were meeting about giving bailout funds to banks.

With banners that read, “Save the climate” and “Bail out the planet,” 340 activists from 20 countries participated in the protest, according to a Greenpeace statement.

“Finance ministers are giving billions of taxpayers’ money to failed banks, but we’re here to make sure they also put money on the table to tackle climate change,” Greenpeace campaigner Thomas Henningsen said. “If the planet were a bank they would bail it out.”

Greenpeace activists said they are hoping to pressure EU finance ministers to give African and other developing nations special budgets to begin fighting climate change rather than bailing out banks.

Some protesters were detained by police, while others chained themselves to the fence of the EU building.

The United Nations, recently held a high-level symposium on water security organized by the World Water Organization, where they warned that two-thirds of the world’s population will face a lack of water in the next two decades if current trends in climate change, population growth, rural to urban migration and uncontrolled consumption continues they are now. Agriculture (in its currently practiced system) consumes around three quarters of the world’s fresh water supplies and in Africa the proportion is closer to ninety per cent.

United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro, leading the discussion, said that “if present trends continue, 1.8 billion people will be living in countries or regions with water scarcity by 2025, and two-thirds of the world population could be subject to water stress” Migro continued to warn against the severity of the problem saying “The lack of safe water and sanitation is inextricably linked with poverty and malnutrition, particularly among the world’s poor.”

The Deputy Secretary-General was adamant that achieving water security would have to include more effective and efficient water management, with initiatives like enhancing food security through more equitable allocation of water for agriculture and food production. Migro said that “it means ensuring the integrity of ecosystems, and it means promoting peaceful collaboration in the sharing of water resources, particularly in the case of boundary and trans-boundary water resources.”

The right to water is one of many other internationally recognized human rights, including the right to food, the right to health, and the right to adequate housing. The terrifying consequences of a global water shortage will hopefully spur nations to more start implementing more stringent water policies from a regulatory standpoint.

The NASA Orbiting Carbon Observatory that we reported on yesterday which launched today has apparently failed.

The observatory satellite launched on schedule at 4:55am ET this morning in California but the fairing, which is the structure designed to protect the Orbiting Carbon Observatory as it blasts through the atmosphere, failed to separate from the satellite.

This resulted in the observatory being unable to maintain an orbit and consequently is currently somewhere in the ocean near Antarctica. Satellite launch fail.

The NASA Mishap Investigation Board is currently trying to work out what went wrong.

To better calculate the levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere NASA is launching a new satellite tomorrow. The precise measurements of the Orbital Carbon Observatory will help scientists better understand the natural processes as well as the human impact of carbon dioxide levels. This should provide more reliable predictions of how green house gases are distributed through the atmosphere as well as their effect on global warming

Current data on carbon dioxide levels in the Earth’s atmosphere has become much easier for anyone to check now since last week Purdue University released a carbon dioxide map for Google Earth. It reveals pollution from factories, highways, buildings, etc. for the U.S. by state, county or population.

This is all part of Purdue’s Project Vulcan which is intending to expand the details of the map and expanding it to Canada and Mexico.

President Obama met with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper today and received welcoming cheers from onlookers on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Canada.

The two leaders are expected to begin work on a North American climate change treaty, which involves carbon capturing, sequestration and the development of a so-called “smart grid,” or a more efficient power transmission and distribution system to save energy and reduce costs.

A Canadian official confirmed rumors when asked whether an environmental deal would be announced Thursday when he said,  “I think that’s a fair expectation.”

Earlier this week, President Obama was interviewed by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation where he covered the topics of green technology and specifically referred to carbon capture, describing it as a way to reduce emissions without crippling the economy.

“[If] Canada and the United States can collaborate on ways that we can sequester carbon — capture greenhouse gases before they’re emitted into the atmosphere — that’s going to be good for everybody,” Obama said.

“Because if we don’t, then we’re going to have a ceiling at some point in terms of our ability to expand our economies and maintain the standard of living that’s so important.”

During the “working lunch,” Obama and Harper will also discuss trade, the global economy and the war in Afghanistan. Following a news conference, Obama will meet Liberal Party leader Michael Ignatieff at the airport before he returns to Washington in time for dinner.

Ahh the East End of Long Island – the Hamptons. Known for sandy white beaches, beautiful scenery, Alec Baldwin, adorable hamlets and a population of the rich and famous who own lavish, oceanfront homes – the Hamptons is a prime location for many Americans who live the dream. However, with the continual climate change, as Jimi Hendrix warned, “And so castles made of sand melt into the sea, eventually.”

Oceanfront homes in the Hamptons town of Wainscott are slipping into the ocean due to erosion brought on by high winds. The continuous pounding of the surf has wiped away so much land that many of the houses sit just feet from the cliff drop-off.

“These houses are sitting ducks,” Larry Penny, the director of the town’s Natural Resources Department told the New York Post. “The erosion is relentless. We don’t see any relief in sight.”

Many Hamptons beaches are lined with top-end mansions, which are fabulous in theory, but have given their owners some serious nightmares. In 1991, Hurricane Bob struck and caused monumental damage – and the East End is long overdue for another hurricane.

United Nations climate chief Yvo de Boer said in Tokyo that he was pleased with Barack Obama‘s pledge to combat global warming and said that he hopes that China and other developing nations will follow Obama’s lead to make greener efforts to reduce emissions.

“It’s been a night-to-day change in terms of the U.S. position on this topic,” Yvo de Boer said.

Under former President Bush, the U.S. had refused to sign the last climate treaty citing a lack of participation by developing countries as well as potential harm to the U.S. economy. This position put the U.S. and China at odds – as each side refused to take action without the other taking a step.

Now there is hope that the shift in U.S. policy will prompt a new international agreement on cutting emissions of greenhouse gases. Because the purpose for the Tokyo meeting was laying the groundwork for negotiations on a new global carbon emissions agreement in December in Copenhagen, the U.S. is seen as crucial for the outcome of the Copenhagen meeting.

“Now we see the United States coming back to the international negotiations,” de Boer said. “I believe that a Sino-American way forward on trade, on technology, and on climate change could be a major contribution and impulse to the broader negotiating process.”