In environmental news, concentrations of the three main greenhouse gases blamed for global warming reached record levels in 2010 and will linger in the atmosphere for decades, even if the world stops emissions output today. That is the conclusion of a new study by the World Meteorological Organization released ahead of a major United Nations climate change summit that begins in South Africa next week. In related news, the Guardian newspaper reports the United States and other industrial nations have all but given up on forging a new treaty on climate change to take effect anytime before 2020. The Alliance of Small Island States called moves to delay a new treaty “reckless and irresponsible.”