Another Week of GW News, February 10, 2008

Sipping from the internet firehose...

(skip to bottom)

• Top Stories:Biofuels, Tipping Points, Gwynne Dyer
• The Carbon Principles, LEZ, Atlantic Winds, IPCC GCMs, Earth Hour, Chinese Snow, Anthropocene
• Hurricanes, GHGs, Temperatures, Glaciers, Sea Levels, Satellites, Solar Cycle
• Impacts, Forests, Corals, Wacky Weather, Floods & Droughts, Food vs. Biofuel, Food Production
• Mitigation, Transportation, Sequestration, Adaptation
• Journals, Misc. Science
• Kyoto, Carbon Tax, Optimal Carbon Reduction Strategy
• Politics:International, WMO Meeting, G7, Security
• America, Britain, Europe, Australia, India, China, Canada
• Ecological Economics, IPAT, Media, Books, Video, Courts, Betting
• Energy, Solar, Coal, Biofuel, Nukes, Peak Oil, Efficiency, Cars, Business, Greenwashing, Insurance
• Carbon Lobby, The Usual, Useful Links
• Shameless Self Promotion, .sig

It's always nice to start with a chuckle:

• 2008/02/03: NYT: (13 cartoons) Mad Magazine's Presidential Lampoons

  A couple of Science articles concluding biofuels are worse than fossil fuels raised a fuss:

• 2008/02/07: Science: (ab$) Land Clearing and the Biofuel Carbon Debt by Joseph Fargione et al.
• 2008/02/07: Science: (ab$) Use of U.S. Croplands for Biofuels Increases Greenhouse Gases Through Emissions from Land Use Change by Timothy Searchinger et al.
• 2008/02/09: ClimateP: About those two studies dissing biofuels
• 2008/02/07: FuturePundit: Studies Find Most Biomass Energy Increases Carbon Dioxide Emissions
• 2008/02/08: IR^2: Biofuels Aren't Green?
• 2008/02/08: EnvEcon: Corn ethanol and unintended consequences
• 2008/02/08: CCurrents: Biofuels Make Climate Change Worse
• 2008/02/08: KSJT: Lots of Ink: Biofuel blues. Report says crops-to-gas-tank idea is likely to BOOST overall carbon emissions
• 2008/02/08: TruthOut: Studies Say Clearing Land for Biofuels Will Aid Warming
• 2008/02/07: GristMill: Biofuels bombshell - Researchers find corn ethanol, switchgrass could worsen global warming
• 2008/02/07: EnergyDaily: Converting land for biofuel worsens global warming: study
• 2008/02/08: Yahoo: Converting land for biofuel worsens global warming: study
• 2008/02/09: PeakEnergy: Biofuels Deemed a Greenhouse Threat
• 2008/02/08: OilChange: Biofuels Increase CO2 Emissions
• 2008/02/08: AutoBG: Two new studies call into question the benefits of biofuels
• 2008/02/08: WpgFP: Biofuels very un-green: studies - Can drastically boost greenhouse gas emissions
• 2008/02/08: Guardian(UK): Biofuel farms make CO2 emissions worse
• 2008/02/07: NewScientist: Biofuels emissions may be 'worse than petrol'
• 2008/02/07: PhysOrg: Study: Destroying native ecosystems for biofuel crops worsens global warming
• 2008/02/07: Eureka: U of Minnesota study: Destroying native ecosystems for biofuel crops worsens global warming
• 2008/02/06: OilDrum: Ethanol Fuel is not so Green
• 2008/02/07: IHT: 2 studies conclude that biofuels are not so green after all

  The tipping point metaphor is flashing red:

• 2008/02/07: SciDaily: Tipping Elements In Earth's Climate System
• 2008/02/06: Stoat: Tipping point watch
• 2008/02/05: TerraDaily: Tipping Points Could Come This Century
• 2008/02/06: TreeHugger: What Will be Climate Change's Tipping Points?
• 2008/02/05: NatureTGB: Climate change tipping points outlined
• 2008/02/05: TruthOut: Scientists Identify "Tipping Points" of Climate Change
• 2008/02/04: BBC: Climate set for 'sudden shifts'
  Many of Earth's climate systems will undergo a series of sudden shifts this century as a result of human-induced climate change, a study suggests. [...] The researchers have listed and ranked nine ecological systems that they say could be lost this century as a result of global warming. The nine tipping elements and the time it will take them to undergo a major transition are:
  1. Melting of Arctic sea-ice (about 10 years)
  2. Decay of the Greenland ice sheet (about 300 years)
  3. Collapse of the West Antarctic ice sheet (about 300 years)
  4. Collapse of the Atlantic thermohaline circulation (about 100 years)
  5. Increase in the El Nino Southern Oscillation (about 100 years)
  6. Collapse of the Indian summer monsoon (about 1 year)
  7. Greening of the Sahara/Sahel and disruption of the West African monsoon (about 10 years)
  8. Dieback of the Amazon rainforest (about 50 years)
  9. Dieback of the Boreal Forest (about 50 years)
• 2008/02/05: AfterGutenberg: The Nine Tipping Elements and Their Possible Timeframes - A Story to Really Scare the Children
• 2008/02/05: OilChange: Scientists Identify Climate "Tipping Points"
• 2008/02/05: CanWest: Scientists fear climate change could bring abrupt changes
  Two ecosystems with a huge Canadian component - the boreal forest and Arctic ice - are on a shortlist of nine elements in Earth's climate system fast approaching their "tipping" point. Early warning systems are "clearly" needed to better monitor the ecosystems expected to undergo abrupt and potentially irreversible changes as the climate warms this century, says an international team that published the shortlist Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
• 2008/02/05: NakedCapitalism: Sudden Shifts in Climate Likely
• 2008/02/05: Guardian(UK): Global meltdown: scientists isolate areas most at risk of climate change
  Experts assess point at which it is too late to act - Disastrous repercussions of warming are spelled out
• 2008/02/04: MongaBay: Climate system approaching 9 critical tipping points
• 2008/02/04: PhysOrg: Tipping elements in the Earth's climate system

  A note from Gwynne Dyer:

• 2008/02/07: GeorgiaStraight: Climate change: panic begins in the trenches
  [...] here is a bulletin from the front. Over the past few weeks, in several countries, I have interviewed a couple of dozen senior scientists, government officials, and think-tank specialists whose job is to think about climate change on a daily basis. And not one of them believes the forecasts on global warming issued by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change just last year. They think things are moving much faster than that.

In a potentially major move, three large investment banks have set carbon guidelines for coal plants:

• 2008/02/06: HillHeat: Investment Banks Set Coal Plant Carbon Guidelines
• 2008/02/06: PeakEnergy: Wall Street's War On Big Coal
• 2008/02/06: NEN: Banks Demand Emissions Standards [The Carbon Principles]
• 2008/02/04: GristMill: For whom the bell coals - More bad news for coal as big banks reconsider financing
• 2008/02/05: Stoat: Coal: money talks, or at least mumbles
• 2008/02/04: C411: Banks Consider Risks in Financing Coal Plants
• 2008/02/05: TEB: Leading Wall Street Banks Establish The Carbon Principles
• 2008/02/04: TruthOut: Banks to Weigh CO2 Emissions in Power Lending
  Three Wall Street banks said on Monday they will set environmental standards that factor in risks posed by carbon emissions when lending to power companies that seek to build coal-fired power plants. Citigroup Inc, JP Morgan Chase & Co and Morgan Stanley will form "The Carbon Principles," climate change guidelines for advisors and lenders to power companies in the United States.
• 2008/02/04: ClimateP: Coal hits a wall named Wall Street
• 2008/02/04: NakedCapitalism: Have Ethics Come to Wall Street? Firms Impose Standards on Coal Projects

  London Mayor Ken Livingstone has pushed his Low Emission Zone (LEZ) through:

• 2008/02/05: SMH: Owners of 'dirty' trucks pay A$435 fee to enter London [LEZ]
• 2008/02/04: Guardian(UK): London launches £200-a-day 'dirty lorry' entry charge
• 2008/02/04: Guardian(UK): Q&A: London's Low Emission Zone (LEZ)
• 2008/02/04: ABC(Au): London aims to cut air pollution [LEZ]
• 2008/02/04: inel: London LEZ
• 2008/02/04: BBC: The most heavily polluting lorries are facing charges of £200 per day to enter Greater London as Britain's first low emission zone (LEZ) comes into force
• 2008/02/04: BBC: UK's first emissions zone begins
  The most heavily polluting lorries are facing charges of £200 per day to enter Greater London as Britain's first low emission zone (LEZ) comes into force. The £49m scheme uses cameras to check all lorries over 12-tonnes entering the zone against a database of vehicles certified as meeting EU exhaust limits. Firms whose vehicles are not on the database will be told to pay up.

Regarding the effect of wind patterns in the Atlantic:

• 2008/02/07: PhysOrg: Wind patterns could mask effects of global warming in ocean
• 2008/02/07: Eureka: Wind patterns could mask effects of global warming in ocean
  Scientists at the University of Liverpool have found that natural variability in the Earth's atmosphere could be masking the overall effect of global warming in the North Atlantic Ocean

RealClimate pointed to an IPCC model simulation archive:

• 2008/02/04: RealClimate: The IPCC model simulation archive

  The Earth Hour project is rolling along:

• 2008/02/06: SMH: [Earth Hour] Switch-off goes global
• 2008/02/06: SMH: Big names take shine to saving planet - Australians in the limelight are among Earth Hour's strongest supporters...

  Late coverage of China's unusual snows:

• 2008/02/09: ENN: Tenth of China's forests damaged by blizzards
• 2008/02/07: EnvFin: Freak weather costs China $7.5 billion
• 2008/02/08: People's Daily: Meteorologists: Snowmelt could mean new round of weather-related disasters
• 2008/02/04: FPB: China's not-so-happy New Year
• 2008/02/04: ENN: China battles "coldest winter in 100 years"
• 2008/02/04: BBC: Chinese weather experts have admitted that they were not properly prepared for the snow storms that have left hundreds of thousands stranded

  Late coverage of the Anthropocene:

• 2008/02/07: KSJT: Chr. Science Monitor: All hail, we're in the Anthropocene. Maybe.
• 2008/02/07: CSM: Has Earth entered a new epoch? What geologists think.
  The Anthropocene epoch would mark the period when humans became the predominant force over the Earth's environment

Late comment on the Major Economies Conference:

• 2008/02/05: WSWS: Hawaii climate change summit ends without agreement on emission cuts

  No hurricanes, but some talk:

• 2008/02/06: GristMill: [Dessler] Hurricanes and global warming - Revisiting the climate-science funding question
• 2008/02/05: Wunderground: The biggest storms of the 2007 global hurricane season
• 2008/02/04: Intersection:CCM: The New and Improved Hurricane Dean

  Meanwhile GHGs are still going up:

• 2008/02/07: ABC(Au): Stats reveal Australia's carbon binge
• 2008/02/04: SwissInfo: New findings heat up climate debate
  Global climate change progressed faster in the 20th century than at any other time during the past 22,000 years, warn Swiss scientists. Their findings, based on the examination of ice core samples from the Antarctic and Greenland, add force to last year's conclusions by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. In a series of reports in 2007, the United Nations' main climate body concluded that warming of the planet was unequivocal, sea levels were on the rise and snow and ice cover were decreasing. Now, according to the study by climate scientists at Bern University and published in the current edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, there is clear evidence that greenhouse gas concentrations -- indicators of climate change -- are growing faster and faster. The concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere in the 20th century increased ten times faster than at any other period in the preceding 22,000 years.

As for the temperature record:

• 2008/02/09: GWWatch: Hottest Australian January on record
• 2008/02/08: PhysOrg: Hottest year on record for Shanghai in 2007: official media
• 2008/02/06: Atmoz:January 2008 Coldest This Century
• 2008/02/05: C411: 2007: One of the Warmest Years on Record

  Glaciers are melting:

• 2008/02/07: SwissInfo: Glaciers still shrinking - Switzerland's glaciers continued to retreat in 2007, according to the Swiss Academy of Sciences
• 2008/02/04: EPI: Ice Melt Accelerates Around the World
• 2008/01/18: Aftenposten: Huge grotto found under [Nigard] Norwegian glacier

  Sea levels are rising:

• 2008/02/04: RegisterGuard: Rising sea levels will affect Oregon Coast in big way, experts say

  Meanwhile in near earth orbit:

• 2008/02/06: TerraDaily: Satellite Data To Deliver State-Of-The-Art Air Quality Information
• 2008/02/05: PhysOrg: Satellite data to deliver 'state-of-the-art' air quality information

  As for the new solar cycle:

• 2008/02/06: APOD: A Sunspot in the New Solar Cycle

  More GW impacts are being seen:

• 2008/02/10: Guardian(UK): Plague of rats as UK turns wetter
• 2008/02/09: PhysOrg: Bluetongue spreads to London: ministry
• 2008/02/08: Yahoo: Uganda's lucrative coffee threatened by climate change
• 2008/02/08: BBC: Fresh case of bluetongue disease
  A new bluetongue protection zone has been set up after a case was found in Greater London, the government's environment department, DEFRA, said
• 2008/02/08: PhysOrg: Botanists see winter fading away in U.K.
• 2008/02/07: DotEarth: Climate Roundup: Tornadoes, Coral, Drought
• 2008/02/06: GristMill: Impermafrost - Sobering dispatches from Alaska
• 2008/02/07: ENN: Preparing for Global Warming's Health Crisis
• 2008/02/06: WaPo: Dust Storms Overseas Carry Contaminants to U.S. - Scientists Study Whether Diseases Are Also Transported
• 2008/02/05: DailyIndia: Climate change might affect hibernation
• 2008/02/04: BBC: UK 'set for early spring arrival' - Mounting evidence suggests spring is arriving early this year, according to Woodland Trust research.
• 2008/02/04: CBC: It's raining again? It must be Wednesday - Summertime storms get boost from workweek pollution, study suggests

  And then there are the world's forests:

• 2008/02/05: CBC: World eyes grand plan of payoffs to preserve trees, protect climate
• 2008/02/06: TruthOut: To Save a Forest: World Eyes Grand Plan of Payoffs to Preserve Trees, Protect Climate
• 2008/02/05: MSNBC: Amazon forest still a global warming mystery - Scientists working to determine if it is a net carbon emitter or 'sink'
• 2008/02/03: CBC: Amazon rainforest to shrink 20 per cent by 2030: study
• 2008/02/04: CBC: As world warms, scientists urgently seek answers to Amazon puzzle
• 2008/02/04: PhysOrg: Amazon Research Raises Tough Questions
• 2008/02/03: CDreams: AP: Rain Forests Fall at "Alarming" Rate
• 2008/02/03: USAToday: Scientists puzzle over Amazon's role in warming world [Large Scale Biosphere-Atmosphere Experiment]
• 2008/02/03: SF Gate: Destruction of world's forests speeding up - Trees disappearing at alarming rate, raising climate fears

  As for the world's corals:

• 2008/02/08: ENN: Coral Reefs May Be Protected By Natural Ocean Thermostat
• 2008/02/08: BBC: 'Ocean thermostat can save coral'
  Some coral reefs could be protected from the impacts of climate change by an "ocean thermostat", a study says. Researchers suggest that natural processes appear to be regulating sea surface temperatures in a region of the western Pacific Ocean. Reefs in the area had only suffered relatively few episodes of bleaching because the naturally warm waters had remained stable, they observed
• 2008/02/07: UCAR: Natural Ocean "Thermostat" May Protect Some Coral Reefs

  Yes we have no wacky weather, except:

• 2008/02/09: ENN: Harsh winter kills more than 750 in Afghanistan
• 2008/02/09: Yahoo: Cold snap kills 760 in Afghanistan: authority
• 2008/02/09: Yahoo: Harsh winter kills more than 750 in Afghanistan
• 2008/02/09: BBC: At least 20 people have been killed and 10 are missing after heavy snowfall in Indian-administered Kashmir, police in the state say

  The UN is warning freak weather is becoming the norm:

• 2008/02/06: UN: Recent Chinese snowstorms signal 'freak weather' becoming the norm - UN
• 2008/02/06: ENN: China snows show world faces new disasters
  China's devastating snowstorms and cold of the past months show that the world must prepare for new types of disasters caused by what was once called freak weather, United Nations experts said on Wednesday.

The southern States got whacked by 67 tornadoes on super Tuesday :

• 2008/02/07: WSWS: Tornadoes kill at least 54 in Southern US states
• 2008/02/08: Wunderground: Super Tuesday Outbreak damage surveys find four EF-4 tornadoes
• 2008/02/08: Wunderground: Super Tuesday tornado outbreak: deadliest in 23 years
• 2008/02/07: KSJT: AP: What makes a giant tornado outbreak? (and it's not that gorilla sitting in the corner)
• 2008/02/07: ClimateP: Yes, global warming can boost the most severe tornados
• 2008/02/07: DailyGreen: Tornadoes and Global Warming - The Evidence Is Thin. The Consequences Are Real
• 2008/02/07: C411: Does Global Warming Affect Tornadoes?
• 2008/02/07: ENN: Deadly winter tornadoes not rare: NOAA
• 2008/02/07: ScruffyDan: Climate change can increase tornado frequency
• 2008/02/07: Guardian(UK): 54 dead as [67] tornadoes [from Arkansas to Georgia] shatter southern US states
• 2008/02/06: CNN: Roaring storms, tornadoes smash through South
• 2008/02/06: CBC: At least 48 dead in string of U.S. storms
• 2008/02/06: AFP: Tornadoes sweep southern US, killing 52
• 2008/02/06: Reuters: Tornadoes sweep US South, one killed, dozens injured

  And speaking of floods & droughts:

• 2008/02/10: SMH: It's going to rain
  Rain, rain and more rain. That's the forecast for the next two months as Sydney yearns for a little ray of summer sunshine. The incredible deluge has been filling dams at a rate of knots and has put the Kurnell desalination plant site under water. Appin's Cataract Dam is full for the first time since December 1999, with water starting to spill on Thursday night. Shoalhaven's Tallowa Dam, which supplies that region and is used to top up Warragamba Dam during dry spells, is also full. As at 9am yesterday, Sydney had received a whopping 172.4 millimetres since the start of February, compared with 4.4 millimetres for the same period last year. February's rainfall is already way above the month's average of 116.9 millimetres - and there's no end in sight. Weather Bureau climate officer Shannon Symons said Sydney would experience above-average rainfall in March and April. Rain patterns would be more of the same, she said, because of a La Nina weather pattern across the Pacific Basin.
• 2008/02/09: GWWatch: The clearfelled truth about Melbourne's drought
• 2008/02/06: BBC: Thousands hit by Bolivian floods
  Severe flooding caused by weeks of heavy rain is now known to have left 48 people dead and some 40,000 families homeless, authorities in Bolivia say. Two rivers in one of the worst-hit provinces, Beni, have broken their banks and are threatening to cut off the main city in the region, Trinidad. The government has declared a state of emergency and launched relief efforts.
• 2008/02/05: ABC(Au): Murray to drop despite [recent] Qld floods: report
• 2008/02/05: TerraDaily: Water Management For A New Century - Climate change is making a central assumption of water management obsolete...
• 2008/02/05: SciDaily: Floods And Droughts: Water Planners Call For Fundamental Shift To Deal With Changing Climate
• 2008/02/04: CSM: South's ill-timed drought may further crimp U.S. economy

  The conflict between biofuel and food persists:

• 2008/02/08: NYT:Bitten: Fuel and Food
• 2008/02/05: IPSNews: Record Financing For Biofuels, Not Food
  Biofuels have quickly turned from environmental saviour to just another mega-scale get-rich quick scheme. Countries and regions without their own oil reserves to tap now see their farms, peatlands and forests as potential "oil fields" -- shallow but renewable lakes of green oil.

And the troubling matter of falling food production is not going away:

• 2008/02/06: FSF: Economics of Buying Local, Part 1
• 2008/02/07: Telegraph(UK): Why the price of 'peak oil' is famine
  Vulnerable regions of the world face the risk of famine over the next three years as rising energy costs spill over into a food crunch, according to US investment bank Goldman Sachs. "We've never been at a point in commodities where we are today," said Jeff Currie, the bank's commodity chief and closely watched oil guru. Global oil output has been stagnant for four years, failing to keep up with rampant demand from Asia and the Mid-East. China's imports rose 14pc last year. Biofuels from grain, oil seed and sugar are plugging the gap, but drawing away food supplies at a time when the world is adding more than 70m mouths to feed a year.
• 2008/02/06: BBC: Tajikistan 'facing catastrophe'
  Tajikistan is in the grip of emergency food shortages, the UN's World Food Programme is warning. The deteriorating food situation is part of the energy crisis which hit the mountainous nation in the middle of its coldest winter for five decades. The cost of food has tripled in recent months, partially because of rising world prices.
• 2008/02/06: Guardian(UK): Homogeneous horror - A handful of companies now dominate world farming, with profound implications for genetic diversity
• 2008/02/05: Google:AP: Wheat Nears Record [$US$10.03/bushel] on Supply Concerns
• 2008/02/05: ICWales: THE soaring cost of artificial fertiliser and a shortage of supplies are the latest problems to hit the farming industry
• 2008/02/04: CanWest: Rising CO2 levels: A double whammy for the food supply
• 2008/02/04: Express(UK): Price of food soars to all-time record
• 2008/02/04: TruthOut: Rising CO2 Levels: A Double Whammy for the Food Supply

  Elsewhere on the mitigation front:

• 2008/02/07: TreeHugger: Genetically Modified Rice to Fight Global Warming in China

  As for transportation & GHG production:

• 2008/02/08: NatureN: Ship kites in to port - As a the SkySails cargo ship finishes its maiden voyage, Nature News looks at the logic behind towing a ship with a kite.
• 2008/02/06: Guardian(UK): New initiative gives green aircraft research a boost
• 2008/02/05: BBC: France unveils super-fast train
  French President Nicolas Sarkozy has attended the launch of a new high-speed train made by engineering giant Alstom. The AGV (Automotrice Grande Vitesse) train will travel at up to 360km/h (224mph), powered by motors placed under each carriage, the company says.
• 2008/02/05: BBC: Europe push for greener aviation
  Some of the biggest names in European industry have begun a public-private partnership with the EU to produce greener aircraft. Airbus, Dassault, Saab and Rolls Royce are all taking part in the 1.6bn euro (£1.2bn) "clean sky" initiative. Half the money will be raised by the European Union and half by industry. EU Science and Research Commissioner Janez Potocnik said the investment would keep Europe at the cutting edge and help combat climate change
• 2008/02/05: AFP: France unveils super-fast train [Alstom AGV: Automotrice Grande Vitesse]

  As for carbon sequestration:

• 2008/02/08: ABC(Au): Aust project stands firm on geosequestration quest
• 2008/02/05: Guardian(UK): [Letters] To cut emissions, we must insist on CCS

  While on the adaptation front:

• 2008/02/10: DotEarth: Can We Uninvent Suburbia?
• 2008/02/10: TreeHugger: Sweden Says: "Eat Up Your Greenhouse Effect"
• 2008/02/10: Xinhuanet: UN official [Sachs]: New technologies must tackle climate change
• 2008/02/06: Yahoo: Israeli find could help plants adapt to climate change
• 2008/02/04: BBC: Society depends on more for less
  If the world is to end the threat from climate change, we need to produce more with less energy, says Mark Moody Stuart.

Meanwhile in the journals:

• 2008/02/06: ASAP:EST: Emissions from Photovoltaic Life Cycles by Vasilis M. Fthenakis et al.
• 2008/02/07: Science: (ab$) Land Clearing and the Biofuel Carbon Debt by Joseph Fargione et al.
• 2008/02/07: Science: (ab$) Use of U.S. Croplands for Biofuels Increases Greenhouse Gases Through Emissions from Land Use Change by Timothy Searchinger et al.
• 2008/02/06: CP: On the quality of climate proxies derived from newspaper reports -- a case study by D. Gallego et al.
• 2008/02/08: CPD: An improved method for delta15 N measurements in ice cores by F. S. Mani et al.
• 2008/02/08: ACP: Estimation of the aerosol radiative forcing at ground level, over land, and in cloudless atmosphere, from METEOSAT-7 observation: method and case study by T. Elias & J.-L. Roujean
• 2008/02/06: ACP: Surface observation of sand and dust storm in East Asia and its application in CUACE/Dust by Y. Q. Wang et al.
• 2008/02/06: ACP: Towards improving the simulation of meteorological fields in urban areas through updated/advanced surface fluxes description by A. Baklanov et al.
• 2008/02/06: ACP: The high Arctic in extreme winters: vortex, temperature, and MLS and ACE-FTS trace gas evolution by G. L. Manney et al.
• 2008/02/05: ACP: Analysis of global water vapour trends from satellite measurements in the visible spectral range by S. Mieruch et al.
• 2008/02/05: ACP: The relationship between tropospheric wave forcing and tropical lower stratospheric water vapor by S. Dhomse et al.
• 2008/02/06: ACPD: Global ozone and air quality: a multi-model assessment of risks to human health and crops by K. Ellingsen et al.
• 2008/02/05: ACPD: Evaluation of the atmospheric transport in a GCM using radon measurements: sensitivity to cumulus convection parameterization by K. Zhang et al.
• 2008/02/05: ACPD: Estimation of Asian dust aerosol effect on cloud radiation forcing using Fu-Liou radiative model and CERES measurements by J. Su et al.
• 2008/02/05: ACPD: Satellite measurement based estimates of decadal changes in European nitrogen oxides emissions by I. B. Konovalov et al.
• 2008/02/04: ACPD: The influence of European pollution on ozone in the Near East and northern Africa by B. N. Duncan et al.
• 2008/02/04: ACPD: Online coupled meteorology and chemistry models: history, current status, and outlook by Y. Zhang
• 2008/02/05: PNAS: The debt of nations and the distribution of ecological impacts from human activities by U. Thara Srinivasan et al.
• 2008/02/05: PNAS: Abrupt climate change and collapse of deep-sea ecosystems by Moriaki Yasuhara et al.
• 2008/02/05: PNAS: Risk of natural disturbances makes future contribution of Canada's forests to the global carbon cycle highly uncertain by Werner A. Kurz et al.
• 2008/02/05: PNAS: Rates of change in natural and anthropogenic radiative forcing over the past 20,000 years by Fortunat Joos & Renato Spahni

  Before we get into politics, there was some science done:

• 2008/02/10: SciDaily: Dust Storms In Sahara Desert Trigger Huge Plankton Blooms In Eastern Atlantic
• 2008/02/08: PhysOrg: Studying rivers for clues to global carbon cycle
• 2008/02/08: ENN: Ancient trees give clues to climate change
• 2008/02/08: Eureka: Studying rivers for clues to global carbon cycle
• 2008/02/07: TerraDaily: Scripps Scientists Peg Wind As The Force Behind Fish Booms And Busts
• 2008/02/06: TerraDaily: New Insights Into Southern Ocean's Role In Global Climate
• 2008/02/05: KSJT: Miami Herald: Hunting for tougher algae that might let corals stand a warmer world [adaptation]
• 2008/02/05: PhysOrg: Antarctic expedition provides new insights into the role of the Southern Ocean for global climate
• 2008/02/05: Eureka: Antarctic expedition provides new insights into the role of the Southern Ocean for global climate
• 2008/02/04: PhysOrg: Study Looks at Crops' Effect on Weather
• 2008/02/08: PhysOrg: New Research on the 2002 Collapse of the Larsen B Ice Shelf
• 2008/02/07: BBC: Experts challenge ice shelf claim
  Two scientists have claimed that climate change was not the only cause of the collapse of a 500bn tonne ice shelf in Antarctica six years ago. The 656ft (200m) thick, 1,255 sq mile (3,250 sq km) Larsen B shelf broke apart in March 2002. But Neil Glasser of Aberystwyth University and Ted Scambos of Colorado University claim in a new study that it had been on the brink for decades. They argue that glaciological and atmospheric factors were also invoved.

Meanwhile on the Kyoto front:

• 2008/02/09: CSW: US State Dept. request for comments on the future of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

  The idea of a carbon tax is still bouncing around:

• 2008/02/09: GMB: PI joins the Club
• 2008/02/04: StraightGoods: Corporations brace for carbon tax - Big Business Ponders a Low-Carbon Diet
• 2008/02/05: ENN: UK lawmakers push for raise in carbon taxes

  The debate over the optimal strategy [carbon trading, carbon offsets and/or a carbon tax] to use in dealing with GHGs continues:

• 2008/02/07: GristMill: Cap-and-trade and fairness for working families - A second opportunity to make climate pricing fair
• 2008/02/07: TreeHugger: TerraPass Introduces New Carbon Offset Project Selection Method

  Meanwhile on the international political front:

• 2008/02/09: UN: At Model UN in Chicago, Ban Ki-moon hails youth focus on climate change
• 2008/02/07: UN: United States: Ban Ki-moon hails Chicago's efforts to protect the environment
• 2008/02/07: UN: Building on momentum, General Assembly to convene climate change debate

  WMO has proposed a meeting with an eye toward improving climate predictions:

• 2008/02/06: UN: UN-backed meeting urges governments, scientists to bolster climate predictions
• 2008/02/04: UN: UN launches global effort to predict climatic changes
• 2008/02/06: Yahoo: WMO plans conference on improving climate predictions

  G7 Finance ministers had a gabfest about the looming recession & things:

• 2008/02/10: ABC(Au): G7 calls for investment to fight climate change
• 2008/02/09: Yahoo: G7 calls for investment to fight climate change
• 2008/02/09: BBC: Credit crunch to top Japan talks
  Finance ministers from the G7 group of wealthy nations are meeting for a day of talks in Tokyo. The fallout from the global credit crunch will top the agenda, pre-meeting briefings suggest. [...] Japan, the US and the UK also plan to propose a new fund, administered by the World Bank, to help poorer countries adopt cleaner technologies to help combat global warming. The fund will support publicly and privately financed projects that use technology that helps cut greenhouse gas emissions, increases efficiency and saves energy.
• 2008/02/08: ABC(Au): Finance chiefs urge support for clean energy fund
  The finance chiefs of the United States, Britain and Japan are urging other governments to join their efforts to launch a multibillion-dollar fund to help developing countries switch to clean energy technologies. US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, British Finance Minister Alistair Darling and Japanese Finance Minister Fukushiro Nukaga say in an opinion piece published by the Financial Times that the fund can help slow the growth of greenhouse gas emissions in developing economies.

As for GW & security:

• 2008/02/06: CDreams: BrattleboroReformer: GWOT or Global Warming: The Right Fight?

  And on the American political front:

• 2008/02/10: TreeHugger: Georgia Considers Redrawing State Boundary To Get Access To Tennesse River
• 2008/02/08: HillHeat: Friends of the Earth Airs DC-Area "Fix or Ditch" Ads Before Primaries
• 2008/02/07: EnvEcon: Quote of the day - Senator John Kerry on the tornadoes in the southeast U.S.
• 2008/02/09: AutoBG: Washington state may introduce MPG-based car taxes
• 2008/02/07: ClimateP: Bodman as Orwell: DOE erases "most successful" weatherization program from website
• 2008/02/07: CSW: Presidential Climate Action Project "State of the Climate" statement calls for federal action
• 2008/02/08: NEN: [US] Senate rejects new energy incentives in compromise package
• 2008/02/07: ClimateP: [Energy Secretary Samuel] Bodman: I never talked to W about cap & trade!
• 2008/02/07: GristMill: 'You should shudder a little bit ...' - According to Bush adviser, Bush actually serious about mandatory climate controls
• 2008/02/06: GristMill: Where's the straight talk express when you need it? Green stimulus bill falls short by one vote -- McCain's vote -- in Senate
• 2008/02/06: HillHeat: Senate Stimulus Package Filibustered by One Vote
• 2008/02/06: CSW: For a National Climate Change Preparedness Initiative
• 2008/02/07: Missoulian: Electric cooperatives take action on climate
  As a whole, the power industry hasn't exactly rushed into the forefront of action on global warming, but now Montana's electric cooperatives are taking the initiative.
• 2008/02/06: ClimateP: [Renewable energy] Production tax credits would stimulate economy
• 2008/02/05: CSW: A strategy session on the future of the US Global Change Research Program
• 2008/02/05: CSW: CCSP Synthesis Reports are years behind schedule as program scrambles to meet court deadline
• 2008/02/05: KSJT: NYTimes, New Scientist, Wall St. Journal, more: How science fares in White House's proposed '09 budget
• 2008/02/05: TruthOut: Democrats Push "Green" Energy Tax Breaks
• 2008/02/05: GristMill: Donkeys v. ponies - The latest on green tax breaks in the stimulus bill
• 2008/02/05: HillHeat: Boucher Releases White Paper on Emissions from Developing Countries
• 2008/02/05: HillHeat: Boxer, NRDC, ED Attack Friends of the Earth Campaign [against Lieberman-Warner cap-and-trade bill (S. 2191)]: "Defeatist", "Small", "Isolated"
• 2008/02/05: WarmingLaw: Daily Waiver Digest: Waxman, Florida, and ABA

  The EPA vs California lawsuit inches forward:

• 2008/02/09: AutoBG: Florida joins California in lawsuit against the EPA over new emissions rules
• 2008/02/08: WarmingLaw: EPA's "Transparent" Communications: In Need of "Rehab?"
• 2008/02/04: HillHeat: Florida and Iowa Join EPA Lawsuit; California Seeks to Expedite Hearing
• 2008/02/04: WarmingLaw: Florida and Iowa, Unbowed by Industry Lobbying, Join EPA Lawsuit; CA Seeks to Expedite Hearing

  Damn the polar bears! Arctic oil & gas leases are going ahead:

• 2008/02/07: TruthOut: Polar Bears' Plight Raised in Drill Bids for Oil, Gas
• 2008/02/07: Guardian(UK): Polar bears threatened by new drilling rights
• 2008/02/06: HillHeat: Chukchi Lease Sale Goes Forward; Still No Polar Bear Decision from FWS
• 2008/02/06: inel: Lease Sale 193 lament - Where polar bears go, we shall follow
• 2008/02/06: OilChange: "Scientific Fraud" Behind Arctic Rush
• 2008/02/05: WSWS: US blocks scientific report on Arctic environment
• 2008/02/04: CDreams: CSM: Polar Bear Habitat At Center of Alaska Drilling Debate
• 2008/02/04: ADN: Legal fray likely after ruling on polar bear status - No matter what the decision is, somebody will sue.

  The Bush administration proposed their FY2009 budget:

• 2008/02/08: CSW: President's FY 2009 climate science budget proposal remains below the 2001 level
• 2008/02/07: TruthOut: Reid: Renewables Shorted by Bush Budget
• 2008/02/07: CDreams: LasVegasSun: Forging an Energy Path - Congress should dramatically revise President Bush's backward-looking budget
• 2008/02/07: CSM: U.S. budget boosts coal and nuclear power ...cut funding for renewable energy...
• 2008/02/04: NRDC: Bush Budget Guts Proven Energy Savers, Gives More Handouts to Coal, Oil and Nukes
• 2008/02/05: ClimateP: Details on Bush's anti-efficiency budget
• 2008/02/05: NewScientist: US budget proposal offers hope for climate research
• 2008/02/05: TreeHugger: If Green Tax Credits Go, Say Goodbye to 116,000 U.S. Jobs
• 2008/02/05: Yahoo: Bush wants to beef up Earth monitoring
  After years cutting of budgets for tracking global warming, President Bush on Monday proposed more than a $1 billion increase over the next five years for launching more and better Earth-observing satellites
• 2008/02/05: TheDay: This Time Around, Bush Recommends 40 Percent Cutback In Amtrak Budget
• 2008/02/04: ClimateP: Bush, the uncompassionate, anti-technology President

  People have been trying to figure out what kiboshing FutureGen means:

• 2008/02/10: PhysOrg: After US pulls plug, future unclear for 'clean coal'
• 2008/02/08: GreenLeft: United States: A rocky start for 'clean coal'
• 2008/02/03: NYT: A 'Bold' Step to Capture an Elusive Gas Falters

  Note Climate Code Red:

• 2008/02/08: WorldChanging: Jim Hansen, Climate Code Red and the Atmospheric Singularity
• 2008/02/06: GristMill: Climate Code Red - The case for a sustainability emergency

  Late comment on Bush's SOTU:

• 2008/02/04: NYT: [SOTU] Late and Lame on Warming
• 2008/02/03: GristMill: DOE'h! Dept. of Energy paints different picture of clean coal than president's SOTU
• 2008/02/04: DeSmogBlog: Bush fiddles with global warming in State of the Union finale

  Late coverage of Focus the Nation:

• 2008/02/07: SmithSophian: A New Consciousness About Global Warming

  One hears a lot about the campaign(s), not much about climate:

• 2008/02/09: HillHeat: Sierra Club Takes McCain to Task for "Lie" about Clean-Energy Non-Vote
• 2008/02/09: TreeHugger: My Climate Change Program Is Better Than Yours: Nuclear Rising [2008]
• 2008/02/08: CTB: Super Tuesday was Super for US Carbon Cap and Trade
• 2008/02/08: NatureCF: And then there were three
• 2008/02/08: ClimateP: No climate for old men: Why John McCain isn't the candidate to stop global warming
• 2008/02/08: GristMill: The shape of the race - The next U.S. president will favor a carbon cap. What effect this has on the race is anyone's guess
• 2008/02/07: GristMill: New Nation post - Will the media give McCain a free ride on climate?
• 2008/02/04: TreeHugger: Green Candidate Guide From Envirowonk

  The Gore-apalooza is still bopping along:

• 2008/02/07: GristMill: The enGorsement, re-reconsidered

  While in the UK:

• 2008/02/07: Guardian(UK): UK warms to climate change aid
  Britain is to increase its spending on research into the effects of climate change on developing countries tenfold to 100m pounds over the next five years, the international development secretary, Douglas Alexander, said yesterday.
• 2008/02/05: Guardian(UK): MPs call for climate change minister
• 2008/02/05: ENN: UK lawmakers push for raise in carbon taxes
• 2008/02/05: BBC: Calls for climate change minister
  The Treasury Committee has called for a new ministerial post to co-ordinate the fight against global warming. A cross-governmental approach to climate change was essential, said MP John McFall, the committee's chairman. Mr McFall said: "It needs to be headed up by a minister - someone who can become an effective Champion of Climate Change across government." The committee's recommendation was made in response to the Stern Review into the economic impact of climate change.
• 2008/02/05: BBC: UK homes urged to 'leave it off'
  Britons are being asked to "leave it off" later this month, to show that cutting home energy use can have an impact on climate change. During E-Day, which begins on 27 February, people will be asked to switch off electrical items not in use. The National Grid will assess what difference it makes to electricity consumption, and power companies will offer support for home insulation. E-Day builds on the Planet Relief idea developed but later dropped by the BBC.
• 2008/02/03: CDreams: Independent(UK): Climate Protesters Plan Campaign of Direct Action Against UK Polluters

  And in Europe:

• 2008/02/07: EUO: Energy industry warns EU climate plans reduce Europe's energy security

  Mark Moody-Stuart, the ex-chairman of Shell is no longer worrying about selling oil:

• 2008/02/04: Yahoo: Former Shell chairman calls for gas guzzler ban
• 2008/02/04: OilChange: EU "Should Ban Inefficient Cars" [says the ex-chairman of Shell, Sir Mark Moody-Stuart]
• 2008/02/04: AutoBG: Former Shell boss says we need to use less energy and cut carbon output
• 2008/02/04: BBC: EU 'should ban inefficient cars' - The EU should ban the sale of cars that do under 35 miles to the gallon, the ex-chairman of oil giant Shell says.

  Meanwhile in Australia:

• 2008/02/07: CanberraTimes: [Anti-Garnaut] Report attacks climate policy
• 2008/02/07: ABC(Au): Funding cut sees greenhouse alliance face uncertain future
  The Central Victorian Greenhouse Alliance says it still does not know how it will stay afloat when its funding is slashed. The State Government is cutting recurrent funding of more than $100,000 a year.
• 2008/02/06: ABC(Au): Clean coal collapse 'undermines power sell-off'
  The New South Wales Greens say plans to privatise the electricity sector have been undermined by a collapse in international confidence in clean coal technologies. The US was the main financial backer of the FutureGen project, designed to show it was possible to have a commercially-viable coal-fired power plant with near-zero emissions. Rio Tinto, BHP Billiton and Xstrata have contributed more than $50 million to the project, and the Howard government committed $15 million to it before the election. NSW Mineral Resources Minister Ian Macdonald says it is disappointing the US Government has pulled out of the project but it will not directly affect the issues surrounding energy reform in NSW.
• 2008/02/05: SMH: Corporate emissions to be published on the internet
  Companies will have to record their energy consumption and production from the middle of the year under new laws preparing the way for an emissions trading system. From July 1 businesses will have to provide figures to the Department of Climate Change on how much greenhouse pollution they emit and have the details published on the internet, according to a discussion paper released yesterday.
• 2008/02/05: SMH: Councils set up emissions trading plan
  Local government in NSW is not waiting for a national emissions trading scheme - it is setting up its own. Eight councils have already signed up for the new Local Government Emissions Trading Scheme - the local governments of Cootamundra, Cowra and Kiama, and the Sydney metropolitan councils of Randwick, Lane Cove, Auburn, Ashfield and Leichhardt
• 2008/02/04: ABC(Au): Govt emissions paper not transparent enough: green group

  The Rudd government has proposed the Australian Vision 2020 Summit:

• 2008/02/07: OilDrum: A Vision Splendid or Selective Myopia: Exploiting the Australia 2020 Summit
• 2008/02/04: PeakEnergy: What Is Your 2020 Vision?
• 2008/02/04: SMH: 2020 vision: Rudd summit to map future
• 2008/02/04: SMH: A thousand minds to tackle the big questions

  And in India:

• 2008/02/07: ENN: India's climate change roadmap to be ready in June
• 2008/02/07: Yahoo: Indian PM calls for 'climate justice' to fight global warming

  While in China:

• 2008/02/09: IHT: As most of China celebrates new year, a scramble continues in coal country
• 2008/02/08: WSWS: Chinese leaders react nervously to ongoing "snow havoc"

  In Canada, it looks like minority neocon PM Harper is trying to trigger an election, probably because he knows the economy is going tank. Meanwhile he continues his do-nothing climate policy:

• 2008/02/07: CanWest: Baird defends suspending light-rail funding - Committee investigating cabinet minister's actions hasn't scheduled him to testify
• 2008/02/05: CanWest: Take the muzzles off scientists
  That the federal government would consider muzzling scientists underscores how little Stephen Harper and the Conservatives understand about science. For science to thrive, it requires freedom. Scientists should be free to share their knowledge without having to worry about whether or not the science fits a preconceived political agenda.
• 2008/02/05: CanWest: Conservatives' paranoid gag orders will backfire
• 2008/02/02: CanWest: Conservatives' decision to censor scientists will increase public distrust
  Environment Canada's muzzling of its scientists might be shocking, but it's hardly surprising. The new policy, which apparently went into force in recent weeks, is designed to control the media message and ensure that Environment Minister John Baird faces no "surprises" when he reads or listens to the news.
• 2008/02/04: SeanInSask: Conservatives, Science, and Slippery Slopes...

  Late comment on ASAP, the Alberta-federal CCS collaboration:

• 2008/02/06: KChapman: CO2 Capture and Sequestration - An Idea Whose Time Has Come in Alberta
• 2008/02/05: CanWest: Carbon capture Canada's best hope to meet Kyoto targets
• 2008/02/04: G&M: Enbridge to lead carbon dioxide storage project [Alberta Saline Aquifer Project (ASAP)]
• 2008/02/02: G&M: Looking for solutions to the carbon conundrum
  A $100-billion bet has been made on Alberta's oil sands, but there is a growing worry climate concerns will trump economic ones. Capturing carbon and sequestering it could be a win-win situation -- but it won't come cheap...

Manitoba has declared Hudson Bay polar bears threatened:

• 2008/02/08: G&M: Manitoba recognizes threat to polar bears
  Province decides to list animals living along Hudson Bay coastline as threatened under Endangered Species Act
• 2008/02/08: CBC: Manitoba declares polar bears 'threatened'

  Are you ready for a significant change in the geography of Canada?

• 2008/02/05: HfxNews: Rising seas could cut off N.S. - Lowland connection to rest of Canada at risk of being flooded: experts
  Nova Scotia is in danger of being cut off from the rest of Canada as the Atlantic Ocean rises, according to the Nobel Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The province's only land link to continental North America is the Isthmus of Chignecto. It's just 24 kilometres wide and mostly covered by low-lying wetlands. It could be at least temporarily inundated.

BC is still struggling to frame a workable climate policy:

• 2008/02/06: Tyee: Making Schools 'Carbon Neutral' - School officials scramble to meet BC emissions goal.
• 2008/02/06: CanWest: Campbell's forest vision out of focus
  Premier Gordon Campbell's passionate endorsement of reforestation on a grand scale is starting to look like a flight of fancy, based on what's actually happening in B.C.. [...] Whatever the premier would like to see happen in reforestation, it's the forestry companies that actually plant the trees. And based on seedling orders, the number of trees being replanted is declining significantly in the short term. [...] The Forests Ministry said there's been no change in policy on reforestation. The drop in plantings is just another offshoot -- a delayed one -- of the U.S. housing market collapse.
• 2008/02/06: CanWest: Business leaders bring Campbell unwanted cautions on carbon deal
  Business leaders have warned Premier Gordon Campbell that his proposed carbon-trading partnership with several U.S. states could adversely affect the competitiveness of key provincial industries. The warning was spelled out by the B.C. Business Council late last week in a six-page letter to Campbell's climate action secretariat.
• 2008/02/06: G&M: Native towns at risk of going up in flames
  More than 100 remote B.C. communities in danger after pine beetles create huge swath of dry, dead timber
• 2008/02/06: CBC: Reforestation drop stumps B.C. tree planters
  The Western Silviculture Contractors Association says it foresees a 25 per cent drop in the number of trees planted in B.C. this year.

David Suzuki neatly played into the hands of deniers who scream enviro-nazi this week:

• 2008/02/10: CanWest: The Nature of Suzuki
  David Suzuki may be right about global warming. He also may be only partially right, and there's a faction of actual climate scientists who think he's dead wrong. Science, by it's very nature, should never be held hostage to orthodoxy of thought...
• 2008/02/08: CanWest: Suzuki's science inquisition
• 2008/02/04: McGillDaily: Jail politicians who ignore science: Suzuki - Environmentalist denounces economists' obsession with GDP

  To hell with K.H. Schreiber, ask lyin' Brian about this!

• 2008/02/07: EnergyBulletin: Proportionality
  There is a strange clause in the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) that applies to only one country -- Canada. The clause states that Canada must continue to supply the same proportion of its oil and gas resources to the US in future years as it does now. That's rather a good deal for the US: it formalizes Canada's status as a resource satellite of its imperial hub to the south.

As for the tar sands:

• 2008/02/06: WpgFP: When oil crisis hits, fantasyland will become nightmare

  The movement toward a long term ecologically viable economics is glacial:

• 2008/02/10: CanWest: The ecological economy an essay
  Can growth and sustainable ecology go hand In hand? Or does one cancel out the other? A financial slump could present stark choices
• 2008/02/07: BDL: Moral Philosophy and Controlling Global Warming
• 2008/02/06: SF Gate: The machine gun of capitalism - Dead soldiers, peak oil and mind-boggling profits; praise Jesus, the machine's still working
• 2008/02/06: ACS:ES&T: Who will pay for a global climate-technology revolution?
• 2008/02/06: EconView: The Difference Between US and UK Economists [Stern]
• 2008/02/04: GristMill: A trillion here, a trillion there - Converting the permanent military economy to a green economy

  IPAT [Impact = Population * Affluence * Technology] raised its head once again:

• 2008/02/06: CPunch: Nine Billion Little Feet on the Highway of the Damned
• 2008/02/01: Zone5: Monbiot on Population

  As for how the media handles the science of climatology:

• 2008/02/07: RealClimate: A day when Hell was frozen
• 2008/02/03: GristMill: Canadian sportswriters better than 99.9 percent of U.S. media

  Here is something for your library:

• 2008/02/06: SMH: Big steps, smaller footprints [Book Extract] _The Hot Topic: How To Tackle Global Warming And Still Keep The Lights On_ by Gabrielle Walker and David King

  And for your film & video enjoyment:

• 2008/02/08: TGG: The Climate Crisis Hits Your Living Room - Six Degrees Could Change the World
• 2008/02/07: TEB: FYI: National Geographic Special on Global Warming
• 2008/02/08: Tamino: Outstanding Video - Oreskes' _The American Denial of Global Warming_
• 2008/02/08: ClimateP: National Geographic's "Six Degrees" could change the world
• 2008/02/08: ClimateP: Understanding the Global Warming Disinformation Campaign - Oreskes' _The American Denial of Global Warming_

  The betting meme rolls on:

• 2008/02/06: EnergyBulletin: Group bets $100,000 against CERA supply forecast
• 2008/02/06: ADVFN: Wager Challenges CERA Oil Supply Prediction - Group bets $100,000 against CERA supply forecast
  A group of businessmen and energy experts who believe that global oil production will soon peak, plateau and decline has issued a $100,000 wager to Cambridge Energy Research Associates (CERA), a prominent oil forecasting think tank. Members of the challenger group also renewed an invitation to hold a public debate on the issue of peak oil with CERA.
• 2008/02/05: BSD: Looks like I'm not betting Dr. L Graham Smith...

  Developing a new energy infrastructure is a fundamental challenge of the current generation:

• 2008/02/10: PeakEnergy: Storing Energy Using Graphite
• 2008/02/09: TreeHugger: Hot Water Becoming a Hot Topic: Geothermal in India
• 2008/02/07: RigZone: Arctic Oil & Gas: 25% of World's Reserves Beneath Arctic Seabed
• 2008/02/08: CNN: Energy: The $22 trillion question
  Securing supplies, the boom in Wall Street interest, and what $100 oil means for the economy are all up for discussion at upcoming energy conference
• 2008/02/08: NEN: Wind energy: the next generation
• 2008/02/07: Guardian(UK): Big oil stokes the fires for the planet to burn
• 2008/02/07: NatureN: Shake a leg to power your phone - Electricity can be produced using the mechanics of human walking.
• 2008/02/07: OilDrum: Ground Source Heat Pumps
• 2008/02/07: WT&GN: Home heating balancing act
  As oil prices soar, people are chopping wood and using other alternative fuels to keep their homes warm. They are wearing sweaters, blocking drafts, closing off rooms, turning down thermostats and seeking fuel assistance.
• 2008/02/07: CBC: B.C. scientists harness 'walking power' to generate electricity - Knee-mounted device capable of producing about five watts of power
• 2008/02/03: WaPo: 5 Myths About Earth-Friendly Energy
• 2008/02/05: Times(UK): NATO investigates defence threat from wind farms
• 2008/02/: DallasFed: Quarterly Energy Update - First Quarter 2008
• 2008/02/02: al Jazeera: 'Huge' gas field found off Iran
  "A gas field with an estimated reserve of 11 trillion cubic feet (311 billion cubic metres) was found by an Indian company in the Persian Gulf," [Iranian oil minister, Gholam Hossein] Nozari said on Saturday.
• 2008/02/05: KSJT: Honolulu Star Bulletin: Wave power off Maui - harnessed via air currents
• 2008/02/04: EnergyDaily: British plans for wind turbines contested by defence ministry: report
• 2008/02/05: NEN: New energy -- Truth is better than myths
• 2008/02/03: MTobis: Charlie Hall and ERIO [errr EROEI]
• 2008/02/04: NEN: Switchgrass ups its EROEI
• 2008/02/03: SeattlePI: Wind farms blow past supply of techs to run them

  Meanwhile among the solar afficionados:

• 2008/02/06: ACS:EST: New photovoltaics change solar costs
• 2008/02/09: TreeHugger: New Life-Cycle Assessment Reveals Your Photovoltaic Mileage May Vary
• 2008/02/08: REA: Sun Farmers of Canada - Utility-scale photovoltaic (PV) power is breaking ground on Canadian soil...
• 2008/02/08: PlausibleFutures: New photovoltaics change solar costs
• 2008/02/07: TreeHugger: Hairy Solar Panels Could Result From Nanowire Breakthrough
• 2008/02/07: SciDaily: Organic Solar Cells: Electricity From A Thin Film
• 2008/02/05: TreeHugger: Un-Green Zombies Marching On: Chicago Area Home Owner Association Blocks Solar Panel Installation
• 2008/02/05: NEN: Energy panel needs to fire up Calif solar power plants
• 2008/02/04: TreeHugger: Nanoptek Combines Sunlight and a Nanostructured Photocatalyst to Produce Cheap Hydrogen

  The arithmetic of coal carbon is striking home:

• 2008/02/09: PeakEnergy: Chinese Coal Mine Fire Put Out After 50 Years
• 2008/02/06: ClimateP: Two Bills Try to Fool Kansas [coal]
• 2008/02/06: CanWest: Declining coal reserves add to energy supply worries
  In mid-2000, Australian thermal coal bound for the Asian market -- mostly China -- was selling for $24.59 a tonne. Last week, it broke $116. Some analysts speculate the price in 2008 might exceed $200.
• 2008/02/05: NEN: "Clean" coal in Wyoming
• 2008/02/04: EnergyBulletin: Coal prices may triple as supply crisis deepens
• 2008/02/04: EnergyBulletin: The great coal rush (and why it will fail)
• 2008/02/04: BBC: Coal prices surge to record high
  Coal prices have soared to a record after serious disruptions at some the world's most important coal producers. The benchmark price in Asia jumped 25% to $116 a tonne.

Biofuel bickering abounds:

• 2008/02/04: IR^2: Coal-Based Ethanol
• 2008/02/08: BobPark: What's New? #4) Biofuels: Humans are again turning to ethanol
• 2008/02/08: NatureTGB: Biofuels debates rages on
• 2008/02/07: EnergyDaily: Coskata And ICM To Design And Build Commercial Ethanol Plants
• 2008/02/05: ABC(Au): Biofuels make little environmental difference
  New research from Australia and the OECD shows the benefits of biofuels in reducing greenhouse gas emissions are insignificant, at only one to four per cent.
• 2008/02/06: OilDrum: The Economics of Corn Ethanol
• 2008/02/04: DailyTelegraph: CSIRO-Monash Uni biofuel method allays green concerns

  The nuclear energy controversy continues:

• 2008/02/08: TEB: EPRI, INL Announce Plan Focused on Near-Term Increase in Nuclear Energy Production
• 2008/02/03: CDreams: Extra!: Money Is the Real Green Power: The Hoax of Eco-Friendly Nuclear Energy

  Yes we have a peak oil sighting:

• 2008/02/06: TruthOut: World Oil Supply May Have Already Peaked
• 2008/02/05: P&P: World oil supply may have already peaked
  Is world oil production peaking? Quite possibly, says Lester Brown from the Earth Policy Institute. Data from the International Energy Agency (IEA) show a pronounced loss of momentum in the growth of oil production during the last few years
• 2008/02/05: Guardian(UK): The great fuel folly - Oil firms' output is down, yet profits skyrocket. It all points to the crisis predicted by the peakists
• 2008/02/05: TEB: Oil Shortages Start in 2010; Peak Oil Hits 2012-2015

  And then there is the matter of efficiency & conservation:

• 2008/02/05: WarmingLaw: Emissions vs. Efficiency: Industry Can't Have it Both Ways

  Automakers & lawyers, engineers & activists argue over the future of the car:

• 2008/02/09: AutoBG: Reva will make a new electric car every year
• 2008/02/10: AutoBG: Study shows New York hybrid buses improve efficiency, reduce operating cost
• 2008/02/08: CTB: Heavy-Duty Vehicle Trends for 2008
• 2008/02/07: PhysOrg: The trouble with hybrids: Hybrid electric vehicles not as green as they are painted
• 2008/02/06: Guardian(UK): The state holds the key to driving up electric car use
• 2008/02/07: SlashDot: Li-Ion Batteries Hit Final R&D Phase for Plug-in Cars
• 2008/02/06: ClimateP: Toyota kidnaps one more electric car
  The storyline is meant to be changing. From Who Killed the Electric Car? to Who Revived the Electric Car? Now that automakers seem to be reevaluating plug-in cars, you'd think the era of automakers taking extraordinary steps to keep electric cars from private ownership would be over. You'd be wrong.
  As GM talks up the Volt, it ensures EV1s at museums and universities not be returned to the road as electric cars. As Toyota gets headlines for suggesting it will offer a few fleets a few plug-in hybrids in 3 or 4 years, it does what it can to take the myth-busting RAV4 EV out of private hands.
• 2008/02/06: AutoBG: Demand for Zotye - the $20,000, highway speed, electric SUV - much larger than expected
• 2008/02/05: ClimateP: BMW Hammers One More Nail in Hydrogen Coffin
• 2008/02/05: TreeHugger: Former Oil Executive Calls Out Vehicle Makers
• 2008/02/04: AfterGutenberg: Enova Hybrid Drive in Bus Project with Supercaps
• 2008/02/05: AfterGutenberg: Raser and Hyundai Heavy
• 2008/02/04: AutoBG: PACCAR to use urea injection and EGR to clean up emissions

  The reaction of business to climate change will be critical:

• 2008/02/07: EnvFin: Standard Life [SRI] investors kick out airlines
• 2008/02/07: EnvFin: SRI funds 'not investing in climate change solutions' [says Holden & Partners report]
• 2008/02/07: EnvFin: Climate a business issue, but action lacking - McKinsey [consultants]
• 2008/02/03: STimes: Costco's newest supplier: the sun
  [...] To reduce energy consumption, Costco is installing skylights and solar panels in its massive warehouse clubs.

Meanwhile in the greenwashing chronicles:

• 2008/02/08: OilChange: From Beyond Petroleum to Big Polluter
• 2008/02/05: GristMill: But three of its stores have skylights. How bad could it be? Don't let Wal-Mart's greenish diversions distract you

  Insurance and re-insurance companies are feeling the heat:

• 2008/02/08: SMH: Storm clouds hang over insurers
  Insurance companies have been given four days to devise a plan to fix storm-devastated areas of western Sydney or be named and shamed by the NSW Government. The Premier, Morris Iemma, announced the tough new stance during a trip to storm-ravaged Blacktown yesterday in response to frustration at the snail-like response to the 58,000 insurance claims that have been lodged since the December 9 hailstorm.

The carbon lobby are up to the usual:

• 2008/02/09: Deltoid: Don't trust anything you read in the Investors Business Daily
• 2008/02/08: LeanLeft: Global Warming Deniers At It Again
• 2008/02/09: LeanLeft: Global Cooling? Perhaps Not
• 2008/02/09: BCLSB: Canadian Scientist Denies Denying
• 2008/02/08: Atmoz: A history of the climate change conspiracy by Naomi Oreskes
• 2008/02/07: IBD: The Sun Also Sets
• 2008/02/07: ERabett: Ethon brings news [Richard S. Courtney]
• 2008/02/08: Deltoid: Oreskes on "The American Denial of Global Warming"
• 2008/02/08: N3xus6: Hypothetically speaking [denial]
• 2008/02/08: DeSmogBlog: Great Oreskes Lecture Updates State of Climate Change Denial
• 2008/02/07: ThinkP: [Tom] DeLay: "Man Is Not Causing Climate Change"
• 2008/02/06: CSW: "The American Denial of Global Warming"
• 2008/02/07: DeSmogBlog: Kansas King Coal Funding Details Exposed
• 2008/02/06: DeSmogBlog: Highlighting International "Skeptic" Conference on Climate Change Speaker Calvin Beisner
• 2008/02/06: DeSmogBlog: Research Update #2: International "Skeptic" Conference on Climate Change
• 2008/02/05: DeSmogBlog: Research update: 2008 International "Skeptic" Conference on Climate Change
• 2008/02/03: ERabett: On the astounding DipPhil Courtney
• 2008/02/04: BCLSB: Deniers For Romney
• 2008/02/04: DeSmogBlog: Heartland Conference Celebrates Science for Sale
• 2008/02/04: SeanInSask: SDA, where ignorance is bliss...
• 2008/02/03: AngryBear: General Ramblings: Global Warming, Rubes and Other Stuff

  Then there was the usual news and commentary:

• 2008/02/08: CPunch: Beyond Group Think on Climate Change - If More CO2 is Bad ... Then What?
• 2008/02/07: KSJT: Independent: Global warming? Turn loose the Counter Rotating Ring Receiver Reactor Recuperator
• 2008/02/07: GristMill: Next market bubble: farmland! Thanks to the ethanol boom, big investors are plowing cash into corn country
• 2008/02/07: JQuiggin: AARES
• 2008/02/06: ERabett: A light dawns (and the sun sets)
• 2008/02/07: CDreams: FPIF: Toward a Defensible Climate Realism
• 2008/02/06: KSJT: Wash. Post: An ill wind blows - especially, maybe, if it's carrying a dust storm
• 2008/02/05: ABC(Au): Solar car trip spreads global warming message
• 2008/02/05: TreeHugger: More Americans Care About Climate, But Not Enough
• 2008/02/04: IEET: The Big Picture: Climate Chaos
• 2008/02/05: Guardian(UK): Church advocates carbon fast for Lent
• 2008/02/04: PhysOrg: Core blimey! Scientist calls for geological 'time machine'
  A geologist from the University of Leicester has proposed an immense (1.5km) exhibition to illustrate the vastness of geological time and to give a vivid perspective of how quickly human activity is changing the climate
• 2008/02/04: Stoat: Hows the ice?
• 2008/02/04: Guardian(UK): Shoppers care more about animals than climate - Co-op conducts a massive survey of shoppers' ethics
• 2008/02/01: OTF: The Big Picture: Climate Chaos

  And here are a couple of sites you may find interesting and/or useful:

• Climate Code Red
• DOE:NETL: Carbon Sequestration Program
• EnviroWonk: Environmental Politics
• OTF: Open the Future
• Global Warming Art
• EcoEcon
• TreeHugger
• Head in a Cloud - Troposphere and Stratosphere meet Blogosphere
• CCN: Climate Change News
• Climate Justice - enforcing climate change law
• True Cost Economics
• The Canary Project
• ET: Earth Times
• P&P: People & Planet (Net)
• CCC: California Climate Change

My first novel Water was published in Canada May, 2007. The American release was in October. An Introductionto the novel is available, along with the Unpublished Forewordand the Launch Talk. An overview of my writing is available here.

P.S. Recent postings can be found in the week archive and the ancient postings can be accessed here, which should open to this.

Bumper sticker: "Good planets are hard to find."

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