A Few Things Ill Considered

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• Top Stories:Nargis, Melting Arctic, Polar Bear, Rosenzweig, Nitrogen Cycle, EPICA, McKibben, Late Comments
• Food Crisis, Task Force, Food vs. Biofuel, Food Production
• Hurricanes, GHGs, Temperatures, Glaciers, Sea Levels, Satellites, DSCOVR
• Impacts, Forests, Tornadoes, Wildfires, Floods & Droughts
• Mitigation, Transportation, Sequestration, Geoengineering
• Journals, Misc. Science, Pielke
• Kyoto, Kyoto-2, Carbon Trade, Optimal Carbon Reduction Strategy
• Politics:International, Security, America, Britain, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Brazil, Canada
• Ecological Economics, IPAT, Feminism, un-Apocalypso, Media, Books, Video, Courts, Betting
• Energy, Solar, Coal, Biofuel, Nukes, Peak Oil, Efficiency, Cars, Business, Greenwashing
• Carbon Lobby, The Usual, Useful Links
• Shameless Self Promotion, .sig

It's always nice to start with a wee chuckle:

• 2008/05/18: uComics: (cartoon - Toles) Big Canary
• 2008/05/16: SeattlePI: (cartoon - Horsey) Polar bears left in the cold...
• 2008/05/15: SeattlePI: The Republican base gets acquainted with their nominee...
• 2008/05/14: uComics: (cartoon - Toles) Burmese Junta cops

  The ongoing Cyclone Nargis disasters remain a top story:

• 2008/05/18: AFP: UN's top disaster official [John Holmes] arrives in Myanmar
• 2008/05/15: SwissInfo: Cyclone survivors could face "second wave"
• 2008/05/16: Xinhuanet: Myanmar cyclone death toll rises to 77,738
• 2008/05/15: DotEarth: In Myanmar, Mangroves Out, Flooding In
• 2008/05/16: Reuters: Rain deepens Myanmar misery; death toll soars
• 2008/05/16: BBC: Burma death toll jumps to 78,000, with 56,000 missing
• 2008/05/16: CBC: Diplomats to get first look at Burma's suffering as official toll nearly doubles - Military regime says nearly 78,000 are dead; outside estimates are higher
• 2008/05/16: AFP: Myanmar says more than 133,000 dead, missing in cyclone
• 2008/05/15: CNN: Myanmar junta warns against hoarding cyclone aid
  Junta indirectly acknowledges problems with aid distribution - Aid agencies see no evidence of relief supplies for sale - U.N. aid agencies say Cyclone Nargis death toll could surpass 100,000 - Voting postponed in worst-hit areas but state says outcome will not be altered
• 2008/05/15: CBC: Death toll in Burmese cyclone raised by thousands
• 2008/05/15: AFP: UN calls meeting as Myanmar stalls on cyclone aid
• 2008/05/15: SMH: New storm threatens Burmese survivors
• 2008/05/13: UN: Myanmar faces second catastrophe without more access for aid - UN
• 2008/05/14: TerraDaily: Myanmar death toll rises above 34,000: state radio
• 2008/05/14: JHSPH: Estimated 3.2 Million Burmese Potentially Affected by Cyclone
• 2008/05/15: Xinhuanet: Myanmar cyclone death toll rises to 38,491
• 2008/05/14: BBC: 'No access' to Burma cyclone zone - Burma's junta has tightened access to areas hit by Cyclone Nargis...
• 2008/05/14: CBC: UN raises estimate of Burma cyclone victims [1.6 million to 2.5 million "severely affected"]
• 2008/05/14: AFP: Myanmar tightens access to disaster zone
• 2008/05/14: AP: New storm head toward cyclone-devastated Myanmar
• 2008/05/12: G&M: Myanmar toll likely to hit 216,000
• 2008/05/13: Wunderground: May 2008: month of the natural disaster [Nargis update]
• 2008/05/13: CBC: 'This aid effort hasn't picked up pace': UN in Burma
  Shipments of food, medicine and supplies are piling up at Burma's international airport in Rangoon, but they aren't making it into the hands of the cyclone victims who need it most, the UN said Tuesday.
• 2008/05/13: AFP: UN warns of 'second catastrophe' in Myanmar
• 2008/05/13: Telegraph(UK): Burma cyclone: Burmese officials selling emergency aid supplies in local markets
• 2008/05/13: Guardian(UK): Villagers tell of fight to survive - and desperate search for food
• 2008/05/12: ENN: Ignored warnings 'worsened' Myanmar cyclone disaster
• 2008/05/13: ChinaDaily: Myanmar cyclone death toll rise to 31,938
• 2008/05/12: CBC: UN chief 'immensely frustrated' with Burmese regime's cyclone aid - Death toll exceeds 31,000; first U.S. military relief flight arrives
• 2008/05/12: SMH: As Burma's junta counts its fake votes, photos show the reality
• 2008/05/12: SMH: Desperate urge to survive [Burma]
• 2008/05/12: Guardian(UK): Relief begins to trickle in, but Britain warns of 'unimaginable tragedy' if junta fails to act

  The Arctic melt continues to get attention:

• 2008/05/12: ENN: Japan scientists warn Arctic ice melting fast
• 2008/05/12: Reuters: Japan scientists warn Arctic ice melting fast

  The US Fish & Wildlife Service released it's court ordered polar bear ruling Wednesday:

• 2008/05/17: ThinkP: Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne: "Unfortunately I Have To Follow The Law"
• 2008/05/17: Guardian(UK): Great white hope
  Polar bears have become totems of the battle against oil exploration in Alaska. Does this week's decision to list them as 'threatened' finally hand victory to the greens?
• 2008/05/15: TruthOut: US Enacts Law to Protect Polar Bears, but Only From Hunting
• 2008/05/16: CSM: A thin-ice way to save polar bears - A court-forced decision on polar bears is not the way to impel Americans to cut emissions
• 2008/05/15: Guardian(UK): US loophole puts polar bears at risk
• 2008/05/15: KSJT: NYTimes and lots more: Polar Bears get Endangered Species Act protection. The feds say they had to do it but they won't do much else.
• 2008/05/15: ABC(Au): US lists polar bears as threatened
• 2008/05/14: GristMill: Bearly legal - Bush admin to list polar bears as threatened; advocates pledge to continue the fight
• 2008/05/15: HillHeat: Kempthorne: Polar Bear 'Threatened' By Decline of Arctic Sea Ice, But Drilling Can Continue
• 2008/05/15: WarmingLaw: DOI's Polar Bear Listing: Turning a Pit Bull into a Poodle
• 2008/05/15: OilChange: US Protects Polar Bears ... but only from hunting
• 2008/05/14: CBC: U.S. lists polar bears as threatened species
• 2008/05/15: AFP: US lists polar bears as threatened species
• 2008/05/15: BBC: US lists polar bear as threatened
  The United States has listed the polar bear as a threatened species, because its Arctic sea ice habitat is melting due to climate change. US government scientists predict that two-thirds of the polar bear population of 25,000 could disappear by 2050. However, the government stressed the listing would not lead to measures to prevent global warming.
• 2008/05/14: Guardian(UK): US declares polar bears threatened
• 2008/05/14: CNN: Polar bear now listed as 'threatened' species
  Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne made the announcement Wednesday - USGS: Two-thirds of the world's polar bears will disappear in the next 50 years - Bush administration was supposed to make a decision in January
• 2008/05/14: NatureN: Polar bears gain listing as threatened - US decision stops short of endangered status
• 2008/05/14: CDreams: Environmental Groups Win Protection for Polar Bear
  Faced with Scientific Evidence on Global Warming, Court Order, and Public Pressure, Government Grants Polar Bear Endangered Species Act Listing Due to Global Warming
• 2008/05/14: ClimateP: Bye-polar Kempthorne: Polar bear IS endangered, but "Rule will allow continuation of vital energy production in Alaska"
• 2008/05/14: DotEarth: Administration: Polar Bear Threatened, but CO2 Not Relevant
• 2008/05/14: PhysOrg: US lists polar bear as threatened species
• 2008/05/14: CSW: Administration refusal to protect polar bear from greenhouse emissions "won't hold up in court"
• 2008/05/14: CSW: How will the Interior Dept implement protection of polar bear as a threatened species?
• 2008/05/14: BCLSB: Polar Bears Now Considered Endangered By U.S. Government
• 2008/05/14: DOI: Secretary Kempthorne Announces Decision to Protect Polar Bears under Endangered Species Act - Rule will allow continuation of vital energy production in Alaska
• 2008/05/14: QuarkSoup: Polar Bears are now Endangered Species - Wonders never cease
• 2008/05/14: TreeHugger: US Department of Interior Lists Polar Bear As Threatened
• 2008/05/14: DeSmogBlog: Polar Bear Listed as a "Threatened Species" by the US Department of the Interior
• 2008/05/14: WSJ:EnvCap: Bear Truth: Warming Fears Spark Polar Bear Protection
• 2008/05/14: TP:WonkRoom: Polar Bear "Threatened" By Global Warming, But Arctic Drilling Can Continue
• 2008/05/14: ThinkP: Administration: Polar bear "threatened" by global warming, but Arctic drilling can continue
• 2008/05/14: McClatchyDC: Polar bear to be listed as an endangered species
• 2008/05/12: TruthOut: White House vs. White Bear - Judge says Bush must decide whether to save the polar bear as the ice melts

  A major survey study assembled discouraging statistics of the world's wildlife over the last 50 years:

• 2008/05/15: Nature: (ab$) Attributing physical and biological impacts to anthropogenic climate change by Cynthia Rosenzweig et al.
• 2008/05/15: Stoat: World's wildlife and environment already hit by climate change, major study shows?
• 2008/05/15: ClimateP: Nature: Human-caused warming is resulting in a broad range of impacts across the globe
• 2008/05/15: KSJT: Lots of Ink: Old story, more data. Big analysis confirms living world is responding mightily to climate's shifts
• 2008/05/15: OilChange: Its all because of warming...
• 2008/05/15: ChinaDaily: Human-caused climate change widely impact Earth
• 2008/05/15: Guardian(UK): World's wildlife and environment already hit by climate change, major study shows
• 2008/05/14: NatureN: Warming world altering thousands of natural systems - Analysis shows effects of climate change on almost 30,000 biological and physical phenomena
• 2008/05/14: PhysOrg: Warming climate is changing life on global scale, says new study
• 2008/05/14: PhysOrg: NASA study links Earth impacts to human-caused climate change
• 2008/05/15: SciDaily: Warming Climate Is Changing Life On Global Scale, Says New Study
• 2008/05/14: Eureka: NASA study links Earth impacts to human-caused climate change
• 2008/05/14: Eureka: Warming climate is changing life on global scale, says new study - Wide-scale analysis combines decades of data from all continents
• 2008/05/14: NASA: NASA Study Links Earth Impacts to Human-Caused Climate Change
• 2008/05/14: USAToday: Huge study documents changes from climate warming
• 2008/05/14: BBC: Natural changes pinned to warming
  Major changes in the Earth's natural systems are being driven by global warming, according to a vast analysis. Glacier and permafrost melting, earlier spring-time, coastal erosion and animal migrations are among the observations laid at the door of man-made warming. The research, in the journal Nature, involves many scientists who took part in last year's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report. It links warming and natural impacts on a tighter regional scale.

A report on human intervention in the nitrogen cycle raised some alarm:

• 2008/05/17: NakedCapitalism: Another Environment Worry: Nitrogen, a Worse Greenhouse Gas Than Carbon
• 2008/05/15: MongaBay: Nitrogen pollution harming ecosystems and contributing to global warming
• 2008/05/15: PhysOrg: Addressing the 'nitrogen cascade'
• 2008/05/15: Eureka: Atmosphere threatened by [nitrogen] pollutants entering ocean, prof says
• 2008/05/15: Eureka: New findings on ocean nitrogen
• 2008/05/15: Eureka: Addressing the 'nitrogen cascade' - Papers in Science discuss incessant cycling of reactive nitrogen in environment [food]

  EPICA has released an 800,000 year long GHG record:

• 2008/05/17: SciDaily: Ice Cores Reveal Fluctuations In Earth's Greenhouse Gases
• 2008/05/15: NatureCF: Greenhouse history revealed
• 2008/05/15: SwissInfo: CO2 concentrations at 800,000-year high
  Greenhouse gases carbon dioxide and methane are at their highest levels for the past 800,000 years, according to a Swiss-led international research team.
• 2008/05/15: ChinaDaily: Greenhouse gases highest for 800,000 years
• 2008/05/14: NatureN: Ice cores reveal climate secrets
• 2008/05/14: PhysOrg: Studies confirm greenhouse mechanisms even further into past [EPICA 800 kya]
• 2008/05/14: Eureka: Studies confirm greenhouse mechanisms even further into past [EPICA]
• 2008/05/14: Eureka: Ice cores reveal fluctuations in the Earth's greenhouse gases [EPICA 800,000 years]

  Bill McKibben had a piece in the LA Times that drew some comment:

• 2008/05/15: CCurrents: A Last Chance For Civilization [McKibben]
• 2008/05/13: QuarkSoup: 350 ppm -- McKibben piece in the LA Times...
• 2008/05/11: LA Times: Civilization's last chance - The planet is nearing a tipping point on climate change, and it gets much worse, fast.
  Even for Americans -- who are constitutionally convinced that there will always be a second act, and a third, and a do-over after that, and, if necessary, a little public repentance and forgiveness and a Brand New Start -- even for us, the world looks a little terminal right now.
  It's not just the economy: We've gone through swoons before. It's that gas at $4 a gallon means we're running out, at least of the cheap stuff that built our sprawling society. It's that when we try to turn corn into gas, it helps send the price of a loaf of bread shooting upward and helps ignite food riots on three continents. It's that everything is so tied together. It's that, all of a sudden, those grim Club of Rome types who, way back in the 1970s, went on and on about the "limits to growth" suddenly seem ... how best to put it, right.
  All of a sudden it isn't morning in America, it's dusk on planet Earth.

Late comment on Stern:

• 2008/05/16: ERabett: We hardly noticed

  Late coverage of that 14 country survey:

• 2008/05/12: OLJ: Spoiled Americans fail the green test

  The food crisis remains a top story:

• 2008/05/17: CCurrents: Manufacturing A Food Crisis
• 2008/05/15: al Ahram: Silent tsunami - Is there more than meets the eye in the sudden flurry of talk about a world food crisis...?
• 2008/05/14: McClatchyDC: Experts see no early end to world's food crisis
• 2008/05/16: EconView: "Solving the Food Crisis"
• 2008/05/13: Maribo: King Corn and the food crisis
• 2008/05/16: CRG: The Food Crisis and Latin America -- A real crisis or a conspiracy?
• 2008/05/16: Nation: Manufacturing a Food Crisis
  [...] The Mexican food crisis cannot be fully understood without taking into account the fact that in the years preceding the tortilla crisis, the homeland of corn had been converted to a corn-importing economy by "free market" policies promoted by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank and Washington.
• 2008/05/16: NYT: Hunger and Food Prices Push Afghanistan to Brink
• 2008/05/14: ChicagoTrib: U.S. using food crisis to boost bio-engineered crops
• 2008/05/14: WaPo: Food Prices See Greatest Monthly Increase in Nearly 20 Years
• 2008/05/15: BBC: Mexican tortilla prices 'up 18%' - The price of tortillas, a staple food in Mexico, are set to rise 18% in the next few weeks, an industry group says.
• 2008/05/15: FAO: FAO Director-General responds to criticism by Senegalese President - Issues raised need objective answers
• 2008/05/15: BBC: Global food prices fall in April
  World food prices fell in April for the first time in 15 months, according to figures from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). Its food price index fell to 216.7 from 217.0 in March, having surged from last April's figure of 141.7. The FAO said it was important to be cautious about the figure, but that it was time to be a little bit optimistic. But other analysts warned that many of the factors that have boosted food prices had not gone away.
• 2008/05/14: UN: UN helps Timor-Leste avoid long reach of global food crisis
• 2008/05/13: UN: International task force on global food crisis opens new website - UN
• 2008/05/14: TreeHugger: Why do Americans think they deserve to eat more than Indians?
• 2008/05/13: IHT: Indians bristle at U.S. criticism on food prices
  Instead of blaming India and other developing nations for the rise in food prices, Americans should rethink their energy policy and go on a diet, say a growing number of politicians, economists and academics here.
• 2008/05/14: NakedCapitalism: Indians Say Americans Eat Too Much
• 2008/05/12: IPSNews: Food Crisis Symptom of Dubious Liberalisation
  The high food prices that have sparked riots in many parts of the developing world -- from Indonesia, India and Bangladesh to Cameroon, Cote d'Ivoire and Haiti -- should come as no surprise. These are only the latest in a series of events many developing countries have suffered as a result of opening their borders and neglecting domestic agriculture. A large number of developing countries have conscientiously implemented World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) conditions and World Trade Organisation (WTO) commitments. They have applied the given structural adjustment policies -- and have seen the damaging consequences to their domestic agricultural sector. The consequence has been the certain erosion of their capacity to produce their own food.
• 2008/05/11: TerraDaily: Surging food prices bite across Asia

  The UN has set up a high level task force to deal with the problem:

• UN: The Secretary General's High Level Task Force on the Global Food Security Crisis
• FAO: High-level conference on world food security: the challenges of climate change and bioenergy
  FAO will host a high-level international Conference on World Food Security and the Challenges of Climate Change and Bioenergy in Rome from June 3 to 5, 2008.
• 2008/05/12: UN: Secretary-General convenes inaugural meeting of food crisis task force

  The conflict between biofuel and food persists:

• 2008/05/17: PhysOrg: Biofuels must not deprive poor of food: EU official
• 2008/05/18: SF Gate: When cars compete with people for food
• 2008/05/16: NewScientist: 'Self-digesting' biofuel plants could ease food crisis
• 2008/05/12: CanWest: We need food and air to live
  At first glance, the use of food grains to produce biofuels such as ethanol for motor vehicles looked like a fine, environmentally friendly idea. After all, biofuels were supposed to help wean us off those polluting, lung-destroying fossil fuels that are supposed to be a major contributor to global warming. That's why senior governments have now spent upward of $3 billion to subsidize Canadian ethanol production over the past few years. Unfortunately, they've now been sideswiped by something called the "law of unintended consequences."
• 2008/05/12: OttawaSun: Biofuel backlash - Food riots in the Third World may be just the beginning
• 2008/05/09: RS: Biofuels and the Rise of Nationalistic Environmentalism

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

• 2008/05/18: NYT: World's Poor Pay Price as Crop Research Is Cut
• 2008/05/18: DotEarth: The Food and Energy Research Gaps
• 2008/05/18: PeakEnergy: Winning The War On Drugs [fertilizer prices]
• 2008/05/18: AFP: Space-age foods [Plumpy'nut & BP-5] save lives in Myanmar
• 2008/05/17: EnergyBulletin: Oil, food and agrotherapy
• 2008/05/14: FuturePundit: Farming Costs Rise Faster Than Crop Price Increases
• 2008/05/17: Guardian(UK): Chelsea gives a glimpse of gardens in 2050. Hotter, drier, but remarkably short of cacti
• 2008/05/15: GristMill: 'The Saudi Arabia of fertilizer' - One big corpration dominates the soon-to-be-prized potash market
• 2008/05/16: CSM: As food prices shoot up, so do backyard gardens
  Gasoline and food price spikes have had what could be called a 'Miracle-Gro' effect on the backyard garden movement.
• 2008/05/16: CSM: New crop of gardeners in plush London suburbs - Food prices and concerns about commercially grown produce are prompting a 'grow your own' culture.
• 2008/05/15: Asia Times: Seed giants see gold in climate change
• 2008/05/16: BBC: Obese blamed for the world's ills - Obese people are contributing to the world food crisis and climate change, experts say
• 2008/05/19: NewYorker: The Last Bite - Is the world's food system collapsing?
• 2008/05/14: UN: Secretary-General Ban calls for 'reinvigoration' of agriculture
• 2008/05/13: FPIF: Corporations Grab Climate Genes
• 2008/05/14: TruthOut: Corporations Grab Climate Genes
• 2008/05/13: WaPo: [World's largest agricultural biotechnology] Firms Seek Patents on 'Climate Ready' Altered Crops
• 2008/05/14: Xinhuanet: UN chief urges "second green revolution"
  UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday called on the international community to work toward a "second green revolution" that will promote environment-friendly and sustainable development goals. Speaking at a high-level meeting of the 16th session of the Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD), Ban said that the world has refocused its attention on agriculture after "a quarter century of relative neglect."
• 2008/05/13: BtP: Food Prices Are Too Low
• 2008/05/14: AngryBear: Food Prices and Those Farm Subsidies
• 2008/05/13: CanWest: Planting ideas to solve the food supply crisis
• 2008/05/11: Maribo: Shifting diets vs. eating local
• 2008/05/13: PeakEnergy: Bumper wheat crop under threat
• 2008/05/13: FDL: Farmers unable to cash in on soaring food prices
• 2008/05/12: ABC(Au): A 10,000-year misunderstanding
  News of food price escalation is bringing global carrying capacity for human beings 'front and centre', with food riots all over the world. This is being precipitated now by food-to-ethanol programs, although with constantly rising populations fed by the increased food produced by various agricultural revolutions (the Green Revolution being the latest), these riots would have eventually happened. However the speed of these developments is awe-inspiring. On April 14 2008 we heard Robert Zoellick, head of the World Bank, calling for a crash program of food production increases to stave off the approach of famine. How many times does he think we can pull new 'productivity rabbits' out of the hat when soil resources of the planet continue to be degraded to produce more food for the irresponsibly breeding horde? At the core of our problems today has been our unwillingness to see the relationship between the population numbers that we have built up since the advent of cultivation agriculture, and the sustainability problems that we have been sidestepping for 10,000 years.

Some activity in the western Pacific as the Caribbean hurricane season approaches:

• 2008/05/17: APOD: Logarithmic Spirals - Typhoon Rammasun & Galaxy M101
• 2008/05/12: NASA:EO: Typhoon Rammasun
• 2008/05/15: HoustonChronicle: U.S. citizenship to be checked in event of a storm - Agents to watch those in the Valley who board buses to flee a hurricane
• 2008/05/16: TerraDaily: Floods leave two dead in Philippines as new storm approaches
• 2008/05/16: Wunderground: Dean, Felix and Noel get their names retired; 13th warmest April on record
• 2008/05/16: RigZone: Department of the Interior's Minerals Management Service [MMS] Prepares for 2008 Hurricane Season
• 2008/05/13: NOAANews: Dean, Felix, and Noel Retired From List of Storm Names - International Committee Selects Replacement Names for 2013 List
• 2008/05/12: ABC(Au): Experts warn on more destructive Asian cyclones

  Meanwhile GHGs are still going up:

• 2008/05/14: NewScientistBlog: CO2 rise continues, but check out methane
• 2008/05/13: OilChange: World CO2 at Record Levels
• 2008/05/13: Guardian(UK): World carbon dioxide levels highest for 650,000 years, says US report
• 2008/05/12: DeSmogBlog: Map of Total Carbon Dioxide Emissions per Capita in the United States [Vulcan]
• 2008/05/12: Guardian(UK): World CO2 levels at record high [387 ppm], scientists warn

  As for the temperature record:

• 2008/05/18: Tamino: Decadal Trends
• 2008/05/17: DailyIndia: Britain basks in hot May temperatures
  Meteorologists say Britons have been basking in the hottest early May temperatures since accurate weather records began to be kept 175 years ago
• 2008/05/15: Atmoz: Using Auto-Regressive Time Series to Constrain Calculated Temperature Trends
• 2008/05/15: NOAANews: NOAA: U.S. Has Cool April, Global Temperature Ranked 13th Warmest on Record
• 2008/05/14: QuarkSoup: 11th Warmest April - coldest April in seven years
• 2008/05/12: Telegraph(UK): Britain enjoying the hottest May since 1772
• 2008/05/12: Guardian(UK): The question - How long will [UK] summer last?

  Glaciers are melting:

• 2008/05/14: Yahoo: Peruvian 'Switzerland' melting under climate change
• 2008/05/09: People's Daily: Melting at Mt.Qomolangma draws scientific attention in Nepal

  Sea levels are rising:

• 2008/05/13: Atmoz: Global Sea Levels: Another Hockey Stick

  Meanwhile in near earth orbit:

• 2008/05/13: CU: CU Team To Build $34 Million Instrument Package For U.S. Environmental Satellite [NPOESS]

  The campaign to uncover DSCOVR [Deep Space Climate Observatory] rolls on:

• 2008/05/16: BobPark: What's New? #5) DSCOVR: Whitehouse withholds relevant documents
• 2008/05/12: DeSmogBlog: Whitehouse Withholds DSCOVR Documents

  More GW impacts are being seen:

• 2008/05/18: SciDaily: Climate Changes Creating Green And Flowering Mountains
• 2008/05/15: Guardian(UK): Expert warns climate change will lead to 'barbarisation'
• 2008/05/15: NatureCF: Immediate impacts of a warming world
• 2008/05/14: TruthOut: Mysterious Arctic [Narwhal] Whale Under Threat From Changing Habitat
• 2008/05/13: JFleck: Dust in the Sahel
• 2008/05/14: OilChange: Climate Change Threatens Narwhal
• 2008/05/13: BBC: Extinction fear for butterflies
  The UK's only mountain dwelling species of butterfly could be wiped out in Scotland because of climate change, experts have warned. Warmer temperatures are driving the mountain ringlet higher up hillsides in the search for cooler conditions.
• 2008/05/13: ABC(Au): Ski resorts warned of climate change threat
• 2008/05/13: TreeHugger: Will The Great Lakes Be Another Aral Sea?
• 2008/05/12: TruthOut: Global Warming Tied to Arctic Caribou Decline - Warm, wet winters and hot, dry summers reduce numbers
• 2008/05/12: OilChange: Another tribe who face extinction...

  And then there are the world's forests:

• 2008/05/15: BBC: Seeking an Amazon solution
• 2008/05/15: BBC: Amazon 'needs economic chances'
  The Brazilian minister in charge of managing the Amazon rainforest has said deforestation can only be halted if people are given economic chances. Planning minister Roberto Mangabeira Unger told the BBC there was a middle way between preserving the Amazon as a sanctuary and "predatory" exploitation. Meanwhile, a founder of Brazil's Green Party, Carlos Minc, has been named as the country's new environment minister. He succeeds Marina Silva, who resigned after becoming isolated over policy.
• 2008/05/13: UN: 'Billion Tree Campaign' blossoms to seven times its size, UN agency says
• 2008/05/14: MongaBay: U.S. climate policy could help save rainforests [Jeff Horowitz interview]
• 2008/05/14: ABC(Au): 2 billion trees planted in UN campaign
• 2008/05/13: Yahoo: Two billion trees planted in UN campaign
• 2008/05/13: BBC: Front line battle to save Amazon forest
  In the small town of Paragominas, in the Brazilian state of Para, watching operation Arc of Fire can be an impressive sight
• 2008/05/12: BBC: Amazon's future in delicate balance
  In January, the Brazilian government announced that the rate of deforestation in the Amazon jungle had soared in the last half of 2007, just months after officials had celebrated three years of steep falls. It was an embarrassing admission for Brazil's president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who had said his government's efforts to control illegal logging and introduce better certification of land ownership were working. The figures also focussed attention on the fate of the Amazon rainforest, raising the question of whether the region can be economically developed without being destroyed

Meanwhile in tornado alley:

• 2008/05/14: CSM: On track toward record spring for tornadoes - The highest US total is from 1999, which had 676 tornadoes from January to mid-May
• 2008/05/13: McClatchyDC: Weather experts puzzled by high number of killer tornadoes
• 2008/05/13: Tamino: Attack of the 50-foot Tornado
• 2008/05/12: Wunderground: An unusually early and violent tornado season
• 2008/05/12: Wunderground: Tornadoes kill 21 in Missouri and Oklahoma
• 2008/05/12: CBC: Cleanup begins after weekend tornadoes kill 22 across U.S. South, Midwest

  As for wild fires:

• 2008/05/17: CBC: Fire threat high in Alberta, Saskatchewan
• 2008/05/17: DailyIndia: Russian republic [Tuva] besieged by wildfires
• 2008/05/16: CBC: Northern Alberta wildfire prompts state of emergency
• 2008/05/13: TerraDaily: Florida wildfires ravage dozens of homes
• 2008/05/13: AP: Fla. wildfires hit 160 homes; arsonists sought
• 2008/05/13: CNN: Crist vows justice if Florida arsonist is caught
  Governor says arson causing wildfires would be "unconscionable" - 108 fires burning 17,000 acres of land in Florida - Official: Locations, timing of fires indicate fires were set - Palm Bay officials say some homes destroyed
• 2008/05/13: CBC: Hot, dry conditions fuel Florida fires
• 2008/05/12: CNN: Florida governor declares wildfire emergency
  Drought conditions threaten homes, businesses - Children evacuated from two schools; Interstate 95 is closed again - Fire in Brevard County has burned about 3,000 acres - Volusia County fire forces evacuation of 590 homes

And speaking of floods & droughts:

• 2008/05/15: ChinaDaily: China urges stronger co-op in addressing drought
• 2008/05/14: Guardian(UK): Barcelona forced to import emergency water
• 2008/05/13: SMH: Bumper wheat crop under threat
  A potentially vast wheat crop that could help relieve the world's food crisis is in jeopardy due to a brutally dry autumn across the NSW grain belt. Record wheat prices have farmers primed to sow a crop that could help them bounce back financially after years of poor or failed harvests caused by drought, but rain is badly needed. The latest drought figures released by the State Government show 48.4 per cent of the state is in drought, up from 42.9 per cent last month. Another 23.6 per cent is marginal and 28 per cent satisfactory.
• 2008/05/13: BBC: Ships bring water to parched Barcelona

  Elsewhere on the mitigation front:

• 2008/05/14: GristMill: Unscrambling eggs - Thinking beyond technology to mitigate climate change

  Consider transportation & GHG production:

• 2008/05/17: PeakEnergy: The Future Of Air Transport: Dirigibles?
• 2008/05/16: Guardian(UK): Airships might not work, but hydrogen planes could
• 2008/05/14: Reuters: U.S. April jet fuel demand lowest in 5 years - API
• 2008/05/12: AutoBG: Trucking group [American Trucking Association] proposes plan to cut fuel consumption and emissions

  As for carbon sequestration:

• 2008/05/16: SciNow: Catching a Climate Offender [CCS]
• 2008/05/18: TreeHugger: Scientists Develop Low-Cost Version of CCS
• 2008/05/17: ABC(Au): CO2 capture blueprint revealed
• 2008/05/17: TreeHugger: Carbon Sequestration and Storage in Soils Could Solve Global Warming
• 2007/09/03: HCN: A Climate Change Solution?
  Scientists are about to test whether basalt could permanently hold carbon captured from coal power plants. Beneath the Columbia River Basin, a real-life trial of the uncertain science of carbon sequestration
• 2008/05/16: GristMill: A future for FutureGen? Senate slips life support for 'clean coal' boondoggle into war supplemental package
• 2008/05/14: TerraDaily: Finding The Real Potential Of No-Till Farming For Sequestering Carbon
• 2008/05/15: SciDaily: Put The Trees In The Ground: A Fix For The Global Carbon Dioxide Problem?
• 2008/05/13: PhysOrg: Put the Trees in the Ground: A solution for the global carbon dioxide problem?
• 2008/05/10: SB: Carbon Capture And Storage: Hope Or Hype In The Global Warming Debate?
• 2008/05/10: Australian: Chimneys sweep BP clean coal plan away
  What was touted as Australia's biggest contribution to developing clean coal technology for use around the world in reducing greenhouse gas emissions has been scrapped even before it got to first base. BP confirmed yesterday the $2 billion "hydrogen energy" coal-to-gas plant at Kwinana, south of Perth, would not proceed. The plant was to have been constructed by Hydrogen Energy, a joint venture between BP and Rio Tinto, and was designed to burn coal, converting it into water, hydrogen and carbon dioxide. The hydrogen was intended to be used as fuel for a 500MW power plant supplying electricity for 500,000 homes, while the CO2 was slated to be buried in geological strata between Fremantle and Rottnest Island, Perth's holiday playground. The proposed onshore site was close to BP Kwinana oil refinery and Rio's HISmelt direct iron ore smelting plant. But after more than two years of investigations and several million dollars of research, BP has now admitted that the geological formations off Perth contain gas "chimneys" that mean it is next to impossible to establish a seal in the strata that could contain the CO2.
• 2008/05/12: PeakEnergy: Another clean coal plan fails

  Large scale geo-engineering keeps popping up:

• 2008/05/12: TreeHugger: Giving Geo-Engineering Another Go: Dumping Limestone into the Oceans to Fight Acidification

  Meanwhile in the journals:

• 2008/05/16: CPD: Anticyclonic atmospheric circulation as an analogue for the warm and dry mid-Holocene summer climate in central Scandinavia by K. Antonsson et al.
• 2008/05/16: ACP: CO measurements from the ACE-FTS satellite instrument: data analysis and validation using ground-based, airborne and spaceborne observations by C. Clerbaux et al.
• 2008/05/16: ACP: A framework for comparing remotely sensed and in-situ CO2 concentrations by R. Macatangay et al.
• 2008/05/15: ACP: Ion-mediated nucleation as an important global source of tropospheric aerosols by F. Yu et al.
• 2008/05/15: Nature: (ab$) Attributing physical and biological impacts to anthropogenic climate change by Cynthia Rosenzweig et al.
• 2008/05/13: ACPD: Asian dust outflow in the PBL and free atmosphere retrieved by NASA CALIPSO and an assimilated dust transport model by Y. Hara et al.
• 2008/05/13: ACPD: An investigation into seasonal and regional aerosol characteristics in East Asia using model-predicted and remotely-sensed aerosol properties by C. H. Song et al.
• 2008/05/13: PNAS: A Miocene to Pleistocene climate and elevation record of the Sierra Nevada (California) by A. Mulch et al.

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

• 2008/05/15: Nature: Editorial - The next big climate challenge
  Governments should work together to build the supercomputers needed for future predictions that can capture the detail required to inform policy.
• 2008/05/14: TreeHugger: Are We Moving into Another Era of 'Abrupt' Climate Change?

  The Pielke fan club is doing just tickety-boo:

• 2008/05/18: JEB: Putting Roger out of his misery
• 2008/05/16: JEB: Roger gets it right!
• 2008/05/16: Deltoid: Pielke train wreck
• 2008/05/15: JEB: The consistently wrong chronicles
• 2008/05/14: Stoat: Losing the plot
• 2008/05/12: JEB: Are you avin a laff?

  Meanwhile on the Kyoto front:

• 2008/05/15: Reuters: Kyoto carbon trade hits 1 million tonnes a day
• 2008/05/15: Economist: A moment of truth - Make-or-break for an idea [CDM] that is meant to help the poor grow and be green

  And on the Kyoto-2 front:

• 2008/05/14: CarbonFinance: Trust, leadership biggest obstacle to a new agreement -- UNFCCC chief [Yvo de Boer]

  And on the carbon trading front:

• 2008/05/16: TreeHugger: The Rising Value of the Global Carbon Market
• 2008/05/14: NEN: Emissions trading booming

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

• 2008/05/16: TruthOut: A $3-Trillion Climate Change Battle - Regulating greenhouse gases will generate a lot of money. Who should get it?
• 2008/05/16: RedTory: Cap-and-Trade or Carbon Tax?
• 2008/05/14: WorldChanging: Carbon Accounting in New Zealand
• 2008/05/13: EnvEcon: I won't sign the "cap & trade economist statement"
  [...] Why won't I sign? I agree with everything in the statement except for the 100% part.
  100% auctions seems like a guarantee that some sort of incentive-based climate policy will not be implemented. A policy with 100% auctions will be opposed by industry almost as much as a comparable carbon tax. I'm of the opinion that some sort of incentive-based climate policy is better than command and control climate policy.
• 2008/05/12: WorldChanging: Utilities and Auctions: There Is No Free Power Lunch
• 2008/05/13: JFleck: The Importance of Political Viability
• 2008/05/12: GristMill: The carbon lobby is big enough already - Carbon trading creates perverse incentives

  A summit in Peru between Latin American & European leaders focussed on food & free trade:

• 2008/05/16: Yahoo: Friction forecast at EU-Latin America summit
• 2008/05/15: WaPo: Latin American, European leaders gather for summit
• 2008/05/17: Xinhuanet: EU, Latin American leaders vow to further trade, tackle surging food prices at summit
• 2008/05/16: ABC(Au): EU, Latin American leaders meet on trade, climate

  As for GW & security:

• 2008/05/16: Asia Times: Climate ripe for military budget overhaul

  And on the American political front:

• 2008/05/17: AutoBG: Facts on the ground may push NHTSA to toughen CAFE rules
• 2008/05/16: WarmingLaw: [Arizona Governor Janet] Napolitano Stands Tall, Minnesota Falters, and Other State Climate News
• 2008/05/16: Guardian(UK): Congress approves $290bn farm bill
  Despite pleas from humanitarian groups to focus on the global food crisis, the US Congress today approved a $290bn bill that gives lucrative subsidies to farmers and cuts international aid programmes
• 2008/05/15: WarmingLaw: Senator Boxer Moving Bill to Overturn California Waiver Decision
• 2008/05/14: KSJT: AP: NOAA boss suggests a National Climate Service. He says it should be in NOAA, too.
• 2008/05/13: Yahoo: NOAA chief urges creating National Climate Service
• 2008/05/13: PhysOrg: NOAA chief urges creating National Climate Service
• 2008/05/13: WarmingLaw: [Arizona Governor] Janet Napolitano and the Chamber of Inconvenient Truths
• 2008/05/13: TreeHugger: U.S./U.K. Consumers Grok Climate Change, They're Just 'Eco-Apathetic' [survey]
• 2008/05/13: NEN: Cynical Senator's call for new energy
• 2008/05/12: Intersection: 85% of Americans Want a Presidential Debate on Science
• 2008/05/12: NEN: The U.S. climate change bill: Do the math

  The EPA chronicle drags on:

• 2008/05/16: HillHeat: EPA Seeking Comments on Renewable Fuel Standard Waiver Request
• 2008/05/16: WarmingLaw: Insulted EPA Files "Pathetic" Response to Mandamus Petition
• 2008/05/14: WarmingLaw: EPA Waiver Challenge: More Delay

  John McCain made a climate speech which opened a new level of campaign debate:

• 2008/05/14: BSD: McCain climate proposals vague about India and China
• 2008/05/17: PeakEnergy: The Bush and McCain Show
• 2008/05/13: CJR: Daylight on Climate - McCain gives the press room to work
• 2008/05/17: TP:WonkRoom: "Green" McCain's Hypocrisy: Senior Advisers Lobbied To Prevent Cape Wind Project
• 2008/05/13: GMB: McCain vs Obama: Carbon Auctions
• 2008/05/16: TP:WonkRoom: Contradicting McCain, [his top adviser] Holtz-Eakin Says Wind Industry Needs Subsidies
• 2008/05/15: GristMill: '2013' - McCain outlines priorities for first term; climate and energy make the cut
• 2008/05/14: NYT: Stumping on Climate, McCain Faults Bush
• 2008/05/14: ClimateP: Speech, Part 4: Will McCain bring conservatives with him on climate? As if!
• 2008/05/14: GristMill: Truth laid bear? McCain promotes eco-cred, while his advisers push for more Bush-style policies
• 2008/05/13: GristMill: Crooked talk - McCain's gas-tax holiday plan is at odds with his new climate strategy
• 2008/05/13: GristMill: Nukes to me - More on the nuclear portion of McCain's big climate speech
• 2008/05/13: GristMill: McCain's answers - A Q&A on John McCain's climate platform, issued by his campaign
• 2008/05/14: SeattlePI: McCain talks environment in state stop - Senator proposes more use of nuclear power
• 2008/05/13: ABC(Au): Clinton, Obama talk up clean coal
• 2008/05/13: NatureTGB: McCain sets out climate stall
• 2008/05/13: KSJT: Lots of Ink: McCain says it again. He's against global warming. Meanwhile - wind power, electric cars, etc in the news, too.
• 2008/05/13: ClimateP: Climate speech, part 3: John McCain loves big government
• 2008/05/13: TruthOut: John McCain: Eco Warrior
• 2008/05/12: DotEarth: The [Annotated] McCain Climate Speech
• 2008/05/12: DeSmogBlog: Obama and Clinton's "Clean Coal" Kills Climate Promises
• 2008/05/13: WSJ:EnvCap: McCain Ink: Woo Who?
• 2008/05/13: TP:WonkRoom: McCain Wants It Both Ways On Global Warming, Ends Up Attacking His Own Plan
• 2008/05/12: Guardian(UK): McCain outlines environment proposal
• 2008/05/12: ClimateP: McCain speech, Part 2: Relying on offsets = Rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic
• 2008/05/12: ClimateP: Speech, Part 1: Anti-wind McCain delivers climate remarks at foreign wind company
• 2008/05/12: GristMill: McCain speech reactions - Enviros respond to McCain's new climate plan
• 2008/05/12: GristMill: Speech, speech - Text of McCain climate speech
• 2008/05/12: GristMill: McCain's targets - Emission reduction targets proposed by McCain are insufficient but squarely in the mainstream
  Here is the schedule of targets John McCain has proposed for his cap-and-trade program:
  • 2012: Return emissions to 2005 levels (18 percent above 1990 levels)
  • 2020: Return emissions to 1990 levels (15 percent below 2005 levels)
  • 2030: 22 percent below 1990 levels (34 percent below 2005 levels)
  • 2050: 60 percent below 1990 levels (66 percent below 2005 levels)
• 2008/05/12: GristMill: 'There's a better way' - New McCain climate ad aimed at independent voters
• 2008/05/11: GristMill: McCain's climate plan - Republican candidate's climate proposals better than expected but still behind the curve
• 2008/05/12: HillHeat: Text of John McCain's Climate Change Speech and Handouts
• 2008/05/12: ENN: McCain pledges to combat climate change
• 2008/05/12: Yahoo: McCain urges free-market principles to reduce global warming
• 2008/05/11: Oregonian: Obama, speaking in Bend, turns energy to oil alternatives
• 2008/05/12: WaPo: Environmental Stances Are Balancing Act For McCain
• 2008/05/12: TP:WonkRoom: McCain's "Hypocritical" Wind Power Photo-Op
• 2008/05/12: TP:WonkRoom: Full Text Of John McCain Climate Change Speech

  The Gore-apalooza is still bopping along:

• 2008/05/16: MTobis: Kleiman Demolishes Teirney
• 2008/05/13: FramingSci: Inconvenient Truth: Since Film Premiere, Little Change in Public Opinion

  While in the UK:

• 2008/05/17: Guardian(UK): UK demands repayment of climate aid to poor nations - Developing countries attack plan to offer warming help as loans instead of grants
• 2008/05/16: WSJ:EnvCap: Chain Reaction: Why British Energy is the Nuclear Prize

  And in Europe:

• 2008/05/14: AutoBG: Maximum CO2 mandatory levels [for cars] likely to be delayed in the EU
• 2008/05/12: PhysOrg: EU says car pollution targets unworkable: report
  A senior EU official has said that a European Union deadline to cut carbon dioxide emissions from new cars by 2012 was unrealistic, according to an interview with a German newspaper. Industry Commissioner Guenther Verheugen said Sunday that the proposals -- under which carmakers will be fined for failing to meet emission limits by the deadline -- were already likely to be delayed by the European Parliament.

Meanwhile in Australia:

• 2008/05/16: ABC(Au): Water availability predictions take into account climate change
• 2008/05/16: ABC(Au): Aust's ecological footprint one of biggest in world: index
• 2008/05/15: OilDrum: Australia: What to do, what to do about our energy situation?
• 2008/05/15: ABC(Au): Scientists lament lack of Aust climate change research
• 2008/05/15: PeakEnergy: The Australian Budget - Not exactly a shining example
• 2008/05/15: SMH: Wrong emphasis, say green groups [Aus budget]
• 2008/05/14: ABC(Au): LCC [Launceston City Council & the Tasmanian Govt.] to plant carbon sink to suck up carbon stink
• 2008/05/14: ABC(Au): Budget didn't do enough on emissions: green groups
• 2008/05/14: NewScientist: Australian budget tackles environment concerns
• 2008/05/13: ABC(Au): Wind to fuel Sydney's desal plant
• 2008/05/13: ABC(Au): Solar centre construction begins - The first sod has been turned at a multi-million-dollar solar technology centre in Alice Springs.
• 2008/05/12: ABC(Au): Council's carbon offset park plan
• 2008/05/12: ABC(Au): Sea level a concern for St Helens [Tasmania] development
• 2008/05/12: ABC(Au): Goward urges planned climate change strategy
  The New South Wales Opposition's spokeswoman for environment and climate change and the Member for Goulburn, Pru Goward, says the Federal Government needs to implement a planned strategy to deal with the effects of climate change, rather than throwing cash at the problem. The Federal Government has announced it is looking to allocate more than $2 billion towards fighting climate change when it hands down its first Federal Budget tomorrow night.

The Rudd government put a means test on the solar rebate & triggered a reaction:

• 2008/05/18: ABC(Au): Swan defends solar rebate means testing
• 2008/05/17: ABC(Au): Greens call for solar panel rethink
• 2008/05/17: ABC(Au): Rethink solar rebate, industry urges Govt
• 2008/05/16: ABC(Au): Solar industry 'overreacting' to rebate change: Minister
• 2008/05/16: ABC(Au): Greens urge [Tasmanian] State Government to fill solar rebate gap
• 2008/05/16: ABC(Au): Fears solar rebate means-test spells collapse of industry
• 2008/05/16: SMH: Fury over means test on solar
• 2008/05/13: ABC(Au): Solar power rebate to be means tested
  The federal Government is to restrict the availability of rebates for households installing solar power, under measures in this year's Budget. The Minister for the Environment Peter Garrett says the change is aimed at ensuring the rebates of up to $8,000 go to households that need them most.

While in New Zealand:

• 2008/05/12: TV3(NZ): [Tiwai Point aluminium] Smelter threatens closure over Govt's carbon scheme
• 2008/05/12: WSJ:EnvCap: Are Kiwis Always Green? Even New Zealand Struggles with Climate Bills

  While in Japan:

• 2008/05/12: PhysOrg: Japan aims to cut emissions by 60-80 pct by 2050: reports

  In Brazil, 12 [16?] companies have started a voluntary carbon reporting project:

• 2008/05/15: EnvFin: Brazilian companies launch carbon reporting programme
• 2008/05/16: ENN: Brazilian Companies Announce Global Warming Game Plan
  The Brazil Greenhouse Gas Protocol Program was launched today and its 12 founding corporate members have voluntarily agreed to report their global-warming emissions
• 2008/05/13: TreeHugger: Brazil Launches Greenhouse Gas Program, Sixteen Companies Agree to Monitor Emissions

  Also in Brazil:

• 2008/05/15: NatureTGB: Concern after Brazil loses environment minister
• 2008/05/14: TruthOut: Amazon Defender Quits Brazil Environment Post
• 2008/05/14: AutoBG: Brazil starts pro-ethanol diplomatic offensive
• 2008/05/14: BBC: Brazil's Amazon minister resigns - Brazil's Environment Minister, Marina Silva, a staunch defender of the Amazon rainforest, has resigned her post

  And in Peru:

• 2008/05/14: BBC: Peru sets up environment ministry
  Peru has created its first environment ministry, on the eve of a joint Latin American and European Union summit expected to focus on climate change. Peruvian President Alan Garcia said the new ministry would help protect the nation's Amazon rainforest. A scientific study has said that Peru - which is hosting this week's summit - is one of the three nations that will be most affected by global warming.

In Canada, minority neocon PM Harper, continues his do-nothing policy:

• 2008/05/15: REA: How Committed Is Canada?
• 2008/05/12: TStar: Double-talk on Kyoto
  Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservative government would do Canadians a big favour if it would just level with them about its real position on international efforts to fight climate change. Instead, the government is talking out of both sides of its mouth.
• 2008/05/15: CanWest: Canada launches $40M bid to claim Arctic seabed - Government hopes to prove jurisdiction over extended continental shelf
  The federal government boosted its bid yesterday to claim millions of square kilometres of Arctic and Atlantic Ocean seabed. The government said it will double its spending on scientific research projects to $40 million over four years in an attempt to prove the North American continental shelf extends far beyond Canada's 200-nautical-mile limit. If Canada is successful with that bid, it can make the legal claim that its jurisdiction ought to extend over an area that some say could contain billions of dollars worth of oil and gas reserves. Canada has until 2013 to make a case to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) that it ought to be granted jurisdiction over the extended continental shelf, off the northeast coast of Ellesmere Island in Canada's high Arctic and in a wide crescent off the east coast. Canadian scientists believe the extended continental shelf could be as large as 1.75 million square kilometres, about the combined size of Canada's three Prairie provinces.

The Canadian GHG record is not good:

• 2008/05/: EnviroCanada: Canada's 2006 Greenhouse Gas Inventory
• 2008/05/17: G&M: Greenhouse-gas emissions drop in 2006
  Canada's greenhouse-gas emissions dropped in 2006 but still soared above Kyoto targets, newly released figures show. The federal government's annual greenhouse-gas inventory says Canadians produced 721 megatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent in 2006. That's 1.9 per cent below 2005 levels, but 29.1 per cent above Canada's Kyoto Protocol target of 558.4 megatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent.

The biofuel pushback has hit Ottawa & the Tories don't like it:

• 2008/05/14: MB: Biofuels not 'crime against humanity': Ritz
  Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz says the opposition is playing 'silly games' by blocking the government's plans to mandate ethanol content in gasoline.

The US decision to declare polar bears threatened has Canadian repercussions:

• 2008/05/18: ACR: Place in order of importance -- Polar bears, Inuit, oil, environment
• 2008/05/15: CanWest: Baird won't budge on bears - Minister to stick with 'special concern' for now
• 2008/05/15: CBC: U.S. polar bear decision condemned in North
• 2008/05/15: BCLSB: Concrete Consequences - of U.S. decision to classify Polar Bears as threatened
• 2008/05/14: ClimateP: New U.S.-Canada MOU on polar bear conservation never mentions sea ice or climate change

  The Liberals are getting more substantial in their carbon tax-shift talk:

• 2008/05/17: BCLSB: Kinsella Vs. The Scientist
• 2008/05/17: Impolitical: Coyne sounding reasonable on the carbon tax effort
• 2008/05/17: CanWest: How Dion and his carbon tax might just survive
• 2008/05/17: CanWest: Dion's carbon tax idea out of touch with voters
• 2008/05/17: TStar: The suicidal allure of a carbon tax
• 2008/05/16: TStar: Dion begins selling carbon plan - Increased energy charges will be balanced by tax breaks, Liberal says
• 2008/05/16: G&M: Dion on Carbon tax: Then And Now
• 2008/05/16: CanWest: Dion's credibility shot on carbon tax - Don't believe it will be revenue-neutral, and don't believe it won't hurt producers
• 2008/05/15: TStar: Carbon tax plan risky, Dion warned - Liberal leader told by his caucus that sales job for the greenhouse gas proposal has been abysmal
• 2008/05/13: BCLSB: Carbon Tax Smokes Out NDP
• 2008/05/13: NatPo: Tories pounce on Liberal carbon tax
• 2008/05/08: CanWest: Liberals say carbon tax will be revenue-neutral
• 2008/05/13: WCI: The Liberals' carbon tax proposal

  BC is still wrangling over its climate policy:

• 2008/05/16: GristMill: Cap-and-trade or carbon tax? Both! Five ways BC's carbon tax shift can strengthen Cap and Trade
• 2008/05/15: CanWest: Courtenay [BC] opposes carbon tax
• 2008/05/14: CanWest: Hints on our brave new climate initiative aren't coming from the Liberals
  [...] The B.C. Liberals have already introduced enabling legislation for the province to join half a dozen U.S. states and Manitoba in the proposed Western Climate Initiative
• 2008/05/09: BCLocalNews: B.C. adopts California tailpipe standards

  The tricky & difficult question of the tar sands looms:

• 2008/05/15: OilChange: [Kearl] Tar Sands Project Suffers Setback
• 2008/05/14: BBerg: Imperial Oil Loses [legal] Battle for [Alberta] Oil-Sands Water Permit

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

• 2008/05/17: PhysOrg: Biodiversity loss costs six percent of world income: report
• 2008/05/13: OTF: How Many Earths?
• 2008/05/11: EarthMeanders: New Earth Rising: Hope for a New Global Dream
  Sufficient and workable individual and social solutions exist for the wide range of ecological, economic, social and personal ills facing the biosphere and humanity; and together they could herald in a new era of global ecological sustainability
• 2008/05/14: GristMill: Cost-benefit environmentalism: an oxymoron - Lisa Heinzerling responds to Richard Revesz on cost-benefit analysis
• 2008/05/14: PhysOrg: Accounting practices ultimately affect global economy
• 2008/05/: YesMag: Navigating The Great Turning From Empire To Earth Community
• 2008/05/16: CasaubonsBook: I Don't Believe in Market Fairies: The Tinkerbelle Economy Starts to Falter

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

• 2008/05/18: TimesArgus: Was Malthus just off a few decades?
• 2008/05/16: NatureCF: Population: elephant in the greenhouse?
• 2008/05/15: Economist: Malthus, the false prophet - The pessimistic parson and early political economist remains as wrong as ever

  J. Hari turns the population quandry into an argument for female control of reproduction:

• 2008/05/16: Independent(UK): Are there just too many people in the world?
  [...] So after studying the evidence, I am left in a position I didn't expect. Yes, the argument about overpopulation is distasteful, often discussed inappropriately, and far from being a panacea-solution -- but it can't be dismissed entirely. It will be easier for 6 billion people to cope on a heaving, boiling planet than for nine or 10 billion -- and we will only get there by freeing women to make their own reproductive choices. To achieve this green goal, it's necessary to mix some oestrogen into the environmentalist palette.

Un-apocalypso anyone?

• 2008/05/11: EnergyBulletin: What we don't know

  As for how the media handles the science of climatology:

• 2008/05/14: TP:WonkRoom: CNN's Ali Velshi Confuses Coal With Soap
• 2008/05/13: TP:WonkRoom: CNN Goes Nuts For Coal

  Can you say desperate for a headline?

• 2008/05/12: Eureka: Hot climate could shut down plate tectonics
  [...] "The heat required goes far beyond anything we expect from human-induced climate change, but...

Here is something for your library:

• 2008/05/18: NYT: Costs of Living [Book Review] _Common Wealth - Economics for a Crowded Planet_ by Jeffrey D. Sachs
• EPI: _Plan B 3.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization_ by Lester R. Brown

  And for your film & video enjoyment:

• Burning The Future: Coal in America
• 2008/05/14: Guardian(UK): Channel 4 to show DiCaprio documentary [May 25th]

  Meanwhile among the 'Sue the Bastards!' contingent:

• 2008/05/: Atlantic: Conspiracy Theory - Climate-change litigation is heating up.

  The betting meme rolls on:

• 2008/05/13: RealClimate: The Global Cooling Bet - Part 2

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

• 2008/05/18: TreeHugger: GE Can Take This To The Bank: T.Boone Orders 667 Turbines For Texas Panhandle
• 2008/05/18: TreeHugger: Table Of The Day: Top US States For Net Summer Renewable Energy Capacity
• 2008/05/18: PeakEnergy: Can You Feel Which Way The Wind Is Blowing?
• 2008/05/17: ClimateP: Wind Power -- A core climate solution
• 2008/05/16: GristMill: High gas prices, healthy new habits - Gallup shows Americans making smart choices to break the gas habit
• 2008/05/17: ABC(Au): [Western Australia Premier Alan] Carpenter talks up geothermal energy
• 2008/05/12: IR^2: Replacing Gasoline with Solar Power
• 2008/05/16: TEB: Pickens Mesa Power Orders 1,000 MW of Wind Turbines
• 2008/05/15: EnvFin: Half of energy executives fear renewables bubble - [KPMG] report
• 2008/05/12: CDB: Postcarbon Age Coming, Top Geophysicist [Jean Laherre] Predicts
• 2008/05/16: ArabNews: Who Really Controls the Oil Market?
• 2008/05/16: ClimateP: Note to media/Bush: Saudis/OPEC don't control the price of oil any more!
• 2008/05/16: GristMill: Who's zooming who? Subsidies for wind power pale beside subsidies for nuclear
  [...] The score (in 2007 dollars):
  • Reactor subsidies, 1950-1990: $154 billion, or $3.75 billion a year.
  • Wind power subsidies, 1983-2007: $3.75 billion 25-year total.
  Over the past 25 years, the entire federal subsidy for wind power has been no greater than the subsidy bestowed on nukes each year from the fifties through the eighties.
• 2008/05/16: PeakEnergy: Crude Oil: how high can it go?
• 2008/05/15: EconBrowser: Making fuel out of air and sunshine
• 2008/05/16: G&M: Oil rockets higher to flirt with $128 a barrel
• 2008/05/15: PhysOrg: Fuel cells: distant dream, but burning with promise
• 2008/05/15: PhysOrg: Sharp Achieves the World's Highest Power Density for Direct Methanol Fuel Cells
• 2008/05/15: TreeHugger: Government Study Claims Twenty Percent Of US Power From Wind By 2030
• 2008/05/15: Eureka: MIT creates new material for fuel cells - Increases power output by more than 50 percent
• 2008/05/15: NEN: Green farming pioneer pays the bills with wind
• 2008/05/15: WSJ:EnvCap: Texas Wind: Boone Pickens? Big, Big Bet [US$2 billion GE order]
• 2008/05/15: TEB: Worlds Largest, $1.8 Billion, 500 MW, Wind Farm to be Built off the Coast of UK
• 2008/05/15: BBC: GE strikes $2bn wind turbine deal
  US conglomerate General Electric (GE) has struck a deal to sell $2bn worth of wind turbines for use in Texas. Mesa Power is planning what it says will be the world's largest single-site wind power development, producing enough power for 300,000 US homes. GE will deliver the 667 1.5-megawatt turbines in 2010 and 2011.
• 2008/05/13: SGVTrib: The truth and lies about world's oil supply
• 2008/05/14: EnergyBulletin: The Age of Aquarius [oil market]
• 2008/05/14: GristMill: Electric shock - Big increases coming in electric costs
• 2008/05/14: Reuters: World's largest offshore wind farm in the works [504 megawatt Greater Gabbard project on Britain's east coast]
• 2008/05/14: OilDrum: Wave/Geothermal - Energy Return on Investment (EROI) Part 5
• 2008/05/13: TruthOut: Wind Can Supply 20 Percent of US Electricity, Report Says
• 2008/05/13: ABC(Au): Hopes hot rocks will power town [Innamincka] by year's end
• 2008/05/13: PhysOrg: StatoilHydro stumbles in sprint for Arctic energy riches
• 2008/05/13: OilChange: The answer is blowing in the wind
• 2008/05/13: G&M: Oil hits another record high [US$126.98]
• 2008/05/12: ClimateP: Bush DOE says wind can be 20% of U.S. power by 2030 -- with no breakthroughs
• 2008/05/12: PhysOrg: Use of wind energy expected to grow dramatically
• 2008/05/12: SciDaily: Tapping Into Australia's Unique Hot Energy Resources
• 2008/05/12: CSM: Oil Shock 2? With prices at $120 a barrel, Americans are facing an oil adjustment.
• 2008/05/12: Yahoo: Oil hits new record above $126, then falls
• 2008/05/11: OilDrum: What would $120 oil mean for the global economy?
• 2008/05/11: OilDrum: The U. S. Electric Grid: Will It Be Our Undoing?
• 2008/05/12: NEN: How not to catch the wind
• 2008/05/12: WSJ:EnvCap: Blow Hard: Wind to Supply 20% of U.S. Power?

  Meanwhile among the solar afficionados:

• 2008/05/16: AutoBG: Solarial solar blimp concept takes the power where its needed
• 2008/05/16: TreeHugger: REI To Retrofit Eleven Stores with Solar Power
• 2008/05/17: TreeHugger: IBM Concentrator PhotoVoltaic (CPV) Solar Power Research Breakthrough
• 2008/05/16: REA: SCHOTT Establishes Thin-film Company
• 2008/05/13: REA: Residential Solar Embraces Leasing, Power Purchase Agreements
• 2008/05/16: SwissInfo: Shining the spotlight on solar power
• 2008/05/16: SciDaily: Nanowires May Boost Solar Cell Efficiency, Engineers Say
• 2008/05/16: NEN: Utility [Duke Energy] will spend $100 mil on solar
• 2008/05/16: WSJ:EnvCap: Auf Wiedersehen to Solar Subsidies? [subsidies in US & Germany]
• 2008/05/15: PhysOrg: UCSD nanostructures will raise thin-film solar cell efficiency
• 2008/05/15: PhysOrg: IBM Research Unveils Breakthrough In Solar Farm Technology [concentrated PV]
• 2008/05/15: TreeHugger: Solar Industry Creates Scheme to Recycle Solar Panels in Europe
• 2008/05/15: NEN: CIGS Steps up
• 2008/05/13: TEB: DuPont To Enter Thin Film Amorphous Silicon Market
• 2008/05/14: Eureka: New efficiency record for solar cells
• 2008/05/14: PeakEnergy: Its Sunny In Spain [solar]
• 2008/05/14: NEN: Biggest U.S. rooftop solar installation
• 2008/05/13: PhysOrg: Solar Lily Pads Gently Floating And Gathering Energy on the River Clyde
• 2008/05/13: TreeHugger: Acciona Energia to Build Two 50-Megawatt Solar Thermal Power Plants in Spain
• 2008/05/12: SciDaily: Inventor, Engineering Students Explore New Type Of Solar [thermal] Collectors
• 2008/05/12: NEN: Thin film solar pioneer posts $7 mil profit

  The arithmetic of coal carbon is striking home:

• 2008/05/16: DeSmogBlog: Clean Coal talking point: "Near-Zero Emission-Free Electricity"
• 2008/05/15: TP:WonkRoom: Coal Industry Sponsors CNN, CNN Praises Coal
• 2008/05/13: NEN: 'Clean' Coal -- The New Plan
• 2008/05/09: MLN: Coal is King: Demand worldwide has prices skyrocketing

  Biofuel bickering abounds:

• 2008/05/16: BBC: Concern over small biomass option - Small-scale biomass power plants can have a greater environmental impact than other renewables, a study says.
• 2008/05/15: WSJ:EnvCap: Airbus and Algae: Why Biofuels Won't Cut It
• 2008/05/14: NatureTGB: Move over sugarcane - here comes sweet sorghum
• 2008/05/13: PhysOrg: Sweet sorghum, clean miracle crop for feed and fuel
• 2008/05/12: LVRJ: Those magic beans called 'ethanol'

  The nuclear energy controversy continues:

• 2008/05/13: FuturePundit: Nuclear Plant Costs Double To Quadruple Previous Estimates
• 2008/05/16: NEN: Why nukes are not the answer for new energy
• 2008/05/14: TreeHugger: New Generation of Nuclear Power Plants More Expensive than Expected
• 2008/05/12: WSJ:EnvCap: It's the Economics, Stupid: Nuclear Power's Bogeyman

  Yes we have a peak oil sighting:

• 2008/05/17: EnergyBulletin: Peak oil and politicians
• 2008/05/16: ConnPost: Peak Oil: Everything is going to change
• 2008/05/17: PeakEnergy: National Geographic: Tapped Out
• 2008/05/17: CourierMail: Drivers face fuel ration shock - Fuel rationing may be one in a series of shocks facing drivers and commuters in Queensland
• 2008/05/14: PeakEnergy: The market sets high oil prices to tell us what to do

  And then there is the matter of efficiency & conservation:

• 2008/05/15: TreeHugger: Beating the Energy Efficiency Paradox (Part II) [Jevons]

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

• 2008/05/17: PeakEnergy: The Future of Light Electric Vehicles in China
• 2008/05/14: IR^2: Nissan Enters the Electric Arena
• 2008/05/17: AutoBG: GM looking into supercaps with li-ion batteries for next-gen E-Flex
• 2008/05/16: ClimateP: Toyota's foresight pays off, Part 1: Prius sales top one million
• 2008/05/15: NEN: Nissan will plug in by 2010
• 2008/05/14: AutoBG: UPS places largest ever order for fleet of green trucks
• 2008/05/15: AutoBG: Tata Motors joins the Automotive X Prize with two vehicles
• 2008/05/13: NYT: Nissan Plans Electric Car in U.S. by '10
• 2008/05/14: Guardian(UK): Engines of change - low-emission diesel cars
• 2008/05/12: WorldChanging: SUV Rollover
• 2008/05/13: DeSmogBlog: The World's Top Gas Guzzlers
• 2008/05/12: WaPo: Car and Driver - Plummeting auto sales teach a lesson in the value of putting a price on carbon

  The reaction of business to climate change will be critical:

• 2008/05/15: EnvFin: ASN Bank reveals carbon intensity of investment funds
• 2008/05/15: Eureka: Adding up business and energy - Can a profit-boosting approach save energy too?

  Meanwhile in the greenwashing chronicles:

• 2008/05/14: Tyee: Green Sell: Do You Buy It? My EPIC journey into the new eco-marketing.
• 2008/05/15: AutoBG: Environmentalists and Consumer Unions protest misleading CO2 figures in ads
• 2008/05/12: PRWatch: Green Marketing, Greenwashing and Bitter Eco Villains - What's A Corporation to Do?

  The carbon lobby are up to the usual:

• 2008/05/18: BCLSB: And I Are On That List -- the latest incarnation of the Oregon Petition
• 2008/05/17: GWWatch: Graham Young vs Robyn Williams and Others [Aikins, Ockham]
• 2008/05/17: Deltoid: Don Aitkin and IPCC history
• 2008/05/15: CSW: Michael Gerson's strange and evasive spinning on the Republican war on science
• 2008/05/16: TreeHugger: Environmentalists' Who Oppose Cape Wind Farm Apparently Linked to Fossil Fuel Industry
• 2008/05/14: MTobis: No Institute, No Breakthrough
• 2008/05/13: MTobis: It's about trust - you can't win a debate...about any reasonably complex scientific issue, with someone who knows what they're doing...
• 2008/05/14: Intersection:CCM: Yes, Virginia, There Is a War on Science
• 2008/05/13: ClimateP: The Jewel of Denial, 1: The Delayer's Paradox
• 2008/05/12: ERabett: Flatland
• 2008/05/11: IJI: Falsifiability, falsification, and conspiracy theories
• 2008/05/13: MTobis: Falsifiability cuts the Other Way
• 2008/05/13: FDL: Global Warming Is Teh Phony Update
• 2008/05/12: DeSmogBlog: Enter the Inhofian Polar Bear Expert [Armstrong]
• 2008/05/12: Deltoid: Before the truth has a chance to get its boots on
• 2008/05/12: ThinkP: Fox News: "Blame Al Gore For Your Rising Food Prices"

  Then there was the usual news and commentary:

• 2008/05/17: GristMill: Driven to abstraction - The climate crisis cannot be solved without cost-benefit analysis
• 2008/05/17: TreeHugger: Graphics Of The Day: A Carbon Intensifying, 23-Year Vision Of US Energy Use
• 2008/05/16: Atmoz: The History of Climate Modelling
• 2008/05/14: Atmoz: Timescale of the PDO, NAO, and AMO
• 2008/05/14: Guardian(UK): Hollywood aiming for a [carbon] neutral future
• 2008/05/14: NatureCF: A revolution - for climate model evolution
• 2008/05/14: CasaubonsBook: And You Thought It Could Never Happen?
• 2008/05/11: ELC: Low cost labor and untaxed fuel cause migrations of frozen fish
• 2008/05/13: Deltoid: The carbon footprint gotcha
• 2008/05/12: CasaubonsBook: Our Tails Get In the Way: The Problems and Principles of Energy Descent
• 2008/05/12: Atmoz: Possible Effects of Chaiton Volcano
• 2008/05/11: RealClimate: What the IPCC models really say
• 2008/05/12: BCLSB: Global Warming Good News
• 2008/05/12: TreeHugger: It's Climate That Changes, But Weather That Kills You
• 2008/05/12: DeSmogBlog: It's climate that changes, but weather than kills you [gen]

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

• RationalWiki -- Analyzing and refuting the anti-science movement - Analyzing and refuting the full range of crank ideas - Explorations of authoritarianism and fundamentalism
• 2008/05/: EnviroCanada: Canada's 2006 Greenhouse Gas Inventory
• Burning The Future: Coal in America
• IMD: India Meteorological Department
• UN: The Secretary General's High Level Task Force on the Global Food Security Crisis
• NOAA: Interactive Atmospheric Data Visualization
• Wiki: Effects of ENSO in the United States
• Wiki: Jet Stream
• IJI: International Journal of Inactivism
  The International Journal of Inactivism is a scholarly journal dedicated to inactivism, inactivists, inaction, and inactionology, especially with regard to global warming and mitigating it.
• WL: Warming Law - Changing the Climate in the Courts
• ENN: Environmental News Network
• MongaBay
• MTobis: Only In It For The Gold
• CCD: Climate Change Denial
• Solar Electricity Action SOLAREC
• PVGIS: Geographical Assessment of Solar Energy Resource and Photovoltaic Technology

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.

<regards>
-het

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

"And politicians, you can't completely educate them. They're like trying to educate a shark. They're hardwired to money and votes..." -David Helvarg

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