Another Week of GW News, November 23, 2008

Sipping from the internet firehose...

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Another Week of Climate Disruption News

Information overload is pattern recognition

November 23, 2008

• Top Stories:IEA WEO, Poznan, Recession, Global Trends 2025
• Arctic Geopolitics, Antarctic, Winter Forecasts, ABC, H2O Machine, Late Comments
• Food Crisis, Food vs. Biofuel, Food Production
• Hurricanes, GHGs, Temperatures, Carbon Cycle, Feedbacks, ENSO, Glaciers, Sea Levels, Satellites
• Impacts, Forests, Corals, Climate Refugees, Wacky Weather, Wildfires, Floods & Droughts
• Mitigation, Jellyfish, Transportation, Buildings, Sequestration, Geoengineering
• Journals, Misc. Science, Pielke
• Kyoto, UN, Carbon Trade, Carbon Tax, Optimal Carbon Reduction Strategy
• Politics: Security:Eco-terrorism, America, Britain, Europe, Australia, China, Asia, Canada
• Ecological Economics, IPAT, Apocalypso, Media, Books, Video, Courts
• Energy, Solar, Coal, Biofuel, Nukes, Peak Oil, Efficiency, Cars, Business, Greenwashing
• Carbon Lobby, H2T2aCS, Miscellaneous Climate, Useful Links
• Shameless Self Promotion, .sig

Here's a wee chuckle for ye:

• 2008/11/22: TI:CF: (cartoon - Roberts) Visionary Genius
• 2008/11/17: TI:CF: (cartoon - Roberts) Car Wash
• 2008/11/16: ERabett: Fafnir Giblets and the Medium Lobster are back

  The IEA World Energy Outlook 2008 report is still being discussed:

• 2008/11/20: OilDrum: The 2008 IEA WEO - Oil Reserves and Resources
• 2008/11/19: OilDrum: IEA WEO 2008 - Objectivity of the International Energy Agency
• 2008/11/17: ASPO: International Energy Agency Acknowledges "Patently Unsustainable" Trends in Global Energy Supply and Consumption
• 2008/11/18: OilDrum: IEA WEO 2008 - Fuzzy Focus on Saudi Arabia
• 2008/11/18: CNN: Report urges fuel revolution
  International Energy Agency calls for a global energy revolution in new report - Latest World Energy Outlook says urgent action needed to improve efficiency - Credit crunch could delay vital spending needed to transform energy markets
• 2008/11/17: OilDrum: The 2008 IEA WEO - Production Decline Rates
• 2008/11/17: ASPO: A Peak-Oiler, but still in the closet? IEA's 2008 Report

  The UNFCCC Poznan meeting is gathering steam:

• 2008/11/21: PlanetArk: UN Publishes Draft Proposal Ahead of Climate Meet
• 2008/11/21: Google:AP: Africans to stick together in climate change talks
• 2008/11/20: PolskieRadio: Climate compromise needed for Poland
• 2008/11/21: TreeHugger: On Climate Change, Africa Votes As One Country And One Continent
  In anticipation of the upcoming meetings to update Kyoto next month in Poznan, Poland, the 53 African nations met recently to develop the Algiers Declaration, stating that they will vote as one bloc during climate change negotiations...
• 2008/11/20: Guardian(UK): Indigenous people must be included in climate change talks, say campaigners
  Communities most at risk from climate change are least likely to be represented at UN summit in Poznan, says [Minority Rights Group International] report
• 2008/11/18: Guardian(UK):Reuters: IEA to push carbon storage at Poznan climate talks
• 2008/11/18: Guardian(UK): Poznan prognosis: questions and answers [Q&A with Jonathan Pershing,World Resources Institute's climate programme director]
• 2008/11/18: Guardian(UK): Obama to skip UN climate talks [at Poznan]
• 2008/11/17: ENN: Adoption of Climate Treaty by 2009 in Doubt

  The global recession, the bailouts and the green implications are getting a lot of attention:

• 2008/11/21: Guardian(UK): A green economy could be ours
• 2008/11/20: Yahoo: What climate change? [Financial] Meltdown trumps fears at APEC
• 2008/11/20: SMH: Food for thought as other [GFC] crisis hits hard
  There is something worse than having one GFC. That's having two. Amid the international response to the global financial crisis, many people have stopped talking about the other GFC: the global food crisis.
• 2008/11/19: G&M: Environmentalists promote 'green stimulus'
  Governments can save the economy and the planet, they say, by spending on mass transit, renewable energy and fuel-efficient cars
• 2008/11/18: Reuters: Global energy investment hit by financial crisis
• 2008/11/18: DerSpiegel: [Yvo de Boer interview] 'The Finance Crisis Will Affect Climate Policies'
• 2008/11/17: PlanetArk: Credit Crisis Not Threatening UN Climate Talks - Envoy [Howard Bamsey, Australia's special envoy for climate change]
• 2008/11/17: WorldChanging: A Low-Carbon Stimulus and Recovery Plan

  The Global Trends 2025 report is garnering attention:

• 2008/11/23: PeakEnergy: Global Trends 2025: A transformed world
• 2008/11/22: EnergyBulletin: Global Trends 2025: A transformed world (excerpts)

  Arctic geopolitics was a hot topic this week:

• 2008/11/21: McClatchyDC: How Arctic melting could benefit shippers, oil companies
• 2008/11/20: BBerg: Arctic-Seabed Oil Claims May Quicken Under New Senate
• 2008/11/21: Guardian(UK): Europe joins international contest for Arctic's resources
• 2008/11/22: CanWest: EU report on Arctic leaves chill -- 'This is really troubling for Canadian interests'
• 2008/11/21: NatureTGB: Europe crashes the Arctic party
  A major new player has stepped up in what we are going, with huge hyperbole, to call the Arctic Wars! Following up on Russia, Canada and America's declarations that at least a piece of the Arctic is theirs, Europe is getting on the scene. The European Commission has released the "first step toward an EU Arctic Policy". As AP notes, "the move is likely to irk Russia, Canada, the United States and Norway, which are issuing new territorial claims in the polar region".
• 2008/11/21: WpgFP: EU seeks a piece of the Arctic pie
• 2008/11/21: CanWest: Deregulating gas exploration risks Arctic ecological crisis, scientists say
  The Harper government's plans to ease regulations on environmental assessments for natural gas exploration will lead to an ecological crisis in the Canadian Arctic, a group of leading international scientists said yesterday. The scientists, who are promoting a massive expansion of protected areas in the boreal forest as part of a campaign for Pew Charitable Trusts, compared the proposal to the measures that led to the current global economic crisis.
• 2008/11/20: Guardian(UK): Europe takes first step towards 'Arctic policy' to protect energy security
  European commission sets out interests in Arctic mineral resources, fisheries, shipping and energy security
• 2008/11/20: EUO: Commission green-lights industrialisation of Arctic
• 2008/11/20: EarthTimes: EU should lead global efforts to protect the North Pole [says EU]
• 2008/11/20: ENN: Global warming could lead to more Arctic energy [EU]
• 2008/11/20: StraitsTimes: Arctic offers new energy -- The Arctic offers new energy and fishing resources as a result of global warming and new technology, the European Union said on Thursday
• 2008/11/20: WpgFP: European Union staking claim to Arctic resources

  While in Antarctica:

• 2008/11/19: SciDaily: Speeding Antarctic Glacier: Scientists Discover Another Reason For Glacial Acceleration
• 2008/10/31: SciAm: Warmer Antarctica Shows Climate Changing on Every Continent -- It's official: The South Pole is also succumbing to human-induced climate change
• 2008/11/17: NatureCF: Under-ice floods speed glaciers towards the sea
• 2008/11/16: NewScientist: Concealed floods drive flow of Antarctic ice
• 2008/11/17: PhysOrg: Floods under Antarctic ice speed glaciers into sea: study
• 2008/11/17: BBC: Under-ice flood speeds up glacier
  Great floods beneath the Antarctic ice sheet can now be linked directly to the speed at which that ice moves towards the ocean, scientists say

Several organizations have come out with winter forecasts:

• 2008/11/21: Wunderground: Winter forecast, part II: NOAA's predicts a warm winter for the Central U.S.
• 2008/11/20: NOAANews: NOAA's U.S. Winter Outlook Calls for Variability
• 2008/11/20: ABC(Au): More severe SE Qld weather likely this summer: expert
• 2008/11/20: PhysOrg: Winter forecast looks mixed across nation

  Tamino looks at AB clouds:

• 2008/11/16: Tamino: ABC [Atmospheric Brown Clouds]

  It will be interesting to see what comes of this:

• 2008/11/23: Guardian(UK): The eco machine that can magic water out of thin air

  Late comment on that Milankovitch cycle story:

• 2008/11/17: GreenGrok: Pulse of the Planet: A New Ice Age IS Coming ... but Don't Hold Your Breath
  Skeptics have been arguing that we should forget about global warming -- a new ice age is imminent. Maybe, some say, it's already started. In fact, a new study does predict the coming of an ice age, one promising to be more permanent than others. Is it imminent? Depends on how you characterize 10,000 years. It may surprise you to know that in our current climate, ice ages are more the norm than not. Over the past three million years, covering the end of the Pliocene and the present Pleistocene epoch, the Earth's climate has oscillated between cold times (called ice ages or glaciations) and warmer times, interglaciations. In the recent past (the last one million years or so) the ice ages have lasted for about 100,000 years, and the warmer periods tens of thousands of years. The last ice age ended about 12,000 years ago. The questions most relevant to us are: when will the next ice age occur and should we be concerned about a global cold wave or the current global warming? The answers lie in the mechanism behind the climate swings.

Late comment on the Climate Futures report:

• 2008/11/17: WorldChanging: Climate Futures: Predicting Where Our Actions Now Might Lead

  The food crisis is ongoing:

• 2008/11/21: UN: UN food agency resumes aid operations in northern Somalia
• 2008/11/19: UN: General Assembly President calls for 'food democracy' in face of global crisis
• 2008/11/20: Telegraph(UK): We're All Farmers Now
  As fears grow about the economic battleground of food supplies, local heroes are pitching in to save the day. Here is some disturbing news. According to Patrick Holden, director of the Soil Association, next year is tipped to be "peak oil" year. This means that from 2009, fossil fuel extraction will start tailing off globally -- most rapidly in western Europe. Pessimists say the situation will be acute by 2020. It takes 10 calories of fossil fuel to produce one calorie of food in Western culture. "Anyone can see that this is not sustainable," says Holden, who predicts that the big issue for coming years will be "food security".
• 2008/11/19: AllAfrica: SW Radio: Zimbabwe: Many Dying From Malnutrition in Mashonaland West
• 2008/11/17: UN: Stealing a march on winter, UN pre-positions food aid for hungry Afghans
• 2008/11/16: JFleck: Collier on Global Food Prices
• 2008/11/14: TerraDaily: Somalians face famine on massive scale: Red Cross [because of violence & drought]

  The conflict between biofuel and food persists:

• 2008/11/21: TreeHugger: US Farmer's Incomes Now Tied More to Ethanol Than Food, Economist Says
• 2008/11/21: Telegraph(UK): South Korean company takes over part of Madagascar to grow biofuels
• 2008/11/22: Guardian(UK): The resentment rises as villagers are stripped of holdings and livelihood
• 2008/11/22: Guardian(UK): Deal brings many jobs, but at what price?
• 2008/11/18: SwissInfo: Right to eat comes before fuel, minister say
• 2008/11/20: TreeHugger: $5 Billion in Corn Ethanol Subsidies Should Be Eliminated, Food Before Fuel Urges
• 2008/11/20: TreeHugger: Oh Great...Less Rainforest, More Corn
• 2008/11/18: TreeHugger: Cambodia's First Ethanol Plant Will Use One-Fifth of Nation's Cassava Crop
• 2008/11/17: FarmersGuardian: Biofuels will send millions into poverty

  And how are we going to feed 9 billion?

• 2008/11/21: CNN: Agriculture goes urban and high-tech
  There's a growing effort to use hydroponics to bring farming into cities - Hydroponics is a method of cultivating plants in nutrient-rich water instead of soil - Hydroponic farming requires less water and less land than traditional farming - Crops such as lettuces and tomatoes can be grown year-round in greenhouses
• 2008/11/21: NYT: The Food Chain -- Fields of Grain and Losses [The price paid for crops is dropping much faster than the cost of growing them.]
• 2008/11/22: Guardian(UK): Rush to buy sends prices soaring
  With an area of farmland more than 16 times the size of the UK, Brazil has become one of the most attractive options for countries seeking agricultural acreage overseas.
• 2008/11/22: Guardian(UK): Rich countries launch great land grab to safeguard food supply
• 2008/11/22: Guardian(UK): Food crisis leading to an unsustainable land grab
• 2008/11/22: Guardian(UK): Soil erosion to cut harvests in China's breadbasket by 40%
• 2008/11/21: NewScientist: China's disappearing land puts food supplies at risk
• 2008/11/21: VoxEU: Food prices and food security by Maros Ivanic & Will Martin
  Rising food prices are hurting many poor people across the globe. This column defends agricultural liberalisation, showing that agricultural protection actually increased over the last quarter-century in most poor countries and arguing that self-sufficiency would worsen food security. Policymakers should give direct aid to the very poor rather than resorting to export restrictions.
• 2008/11/20: Eureka: Research finds [GM] way to double rice crops in drought-stricken areas
• 2008/11/17: Soils: A Model to Measure Soil Health in the Era of Bioenergy
• 2008/11/18: GreenGrok: Are All Meat-Eaters Children of the Corn?
• 2008/11/18: PhysOrg: Scientists fight stem rust UG99 before it becomes a threat
• 2008/11/18: GristMill: Industrial ag-onistes -- Two studies point to ecosystem damage from factory-style farming
• 2008/11/17: UN: UN-backed scheme seeks to insure poor farmers against extreme weather
• 2008/11/17: USGS: Acid Soils in Slovakia Tell Somber Tale
  Increasing levels of nitrogen deposition associated with industry and agriculture can drive soils toward a toxic level of acidification, reducing plant growth and polluting surface waters, according to a new study published online in Nature Geoscience.
• 2008/11/17: NewYorker: The Perils of Efficiency

  In the hurricane wars, Bernard, Anika & Noul blew around largely unreported:

• 2008/11/17: EarthTimes: Tropical storm [Noul] threatens southern Vietnam
• 2008/11/18: NatureTGB: Jobs go as Galveston feels after-effects of Ike

  As for GHGs [What's up with the contradictory headlines?]:

• 2008/11/21: CNN: Carbon dioxide levels already a danger [350]
  Team of international scientists say carbon dioxide levels are already in danger zone - Report says that we risk the disappearance of mountain glaciers that supply water - Authors propose phasing out coal power and reforestation programs to reduce CO2
• 2008/11/19: Slate: Measuring the National Carbon Footprint -- How do you total up the greenhouse-gas emissions for an entire country?
• 2008/11/18: EurActiv: UN: Industrialised countries' emissions on the rise
• 2008/11/18: ABC(Au): Emissions have risen in industrialised nations: UN
• 2008/11/18: PhysOrg: Carbon dioxide already in danger zone, warns study
• 2008/11/17: Google:AFP: Climate change: emissions from industrialised world still high
• 2008/11/17: Yahoo: UN says greenhouse gas emissions rose in 2000-06
• 2008/11/18: BBerg: Greenhouse-Gas Emissions Drop 0.1% in Developed World
• 2008/11/17: Reuters: Ex-Soviet bloc leads CO2 emissions rise since 2000
• 2008/11/18: Eureka: Carbon dioxide already in danger zone, warns study -- Revised theory says levels in air must decline, not just stabilize
• 2008/11/17: BBC: Emissions up in developed nations
  Emissions of greenhouse gases by industrialised nations rose 2.3% from 2000 to 2006, according to new figures from the UN's climate change agency. The biggest increases were in the former Soviet bloc - and Canada.
• 2008/11/17: UN: Greenhouse gases from industrialized countries rise after 1990s drop, UN reports
• 2008/11/17: NewScientist: Eastern Bloc collapse boosts climate outlook
• 2008/11/17: EarthTimes: Industrial nations releasing more greenhouses gases
• 2008/11/17: Yahoo: Climate change: emissions from industrialised world still high

  And in the carbon cycle:

• 2008/11/21: Guardian(UK): Finding a solution to soil's carbon problem
• 2008/11/20: NatureCC: Carbon is forever
  Carbon dioxide emissions and their associated warming could linger for millennia, according to some climate scientists. Mason Inman looks at why the fallout from burning fossil fuels could last far longer than expected.

As for the temperature record:

• 2008/11/19: ClimateP: NOAA: Second warmest [globally averaged combined land and sea surface temperature] October on record
• 2008/11/19: NASA:EO: Correcting Ocean Cooling
• 2008/11/19: Wunderground: Unexpected ocean cooling result found to be an error; 2nd warmest October on record
• 2008/11/18: NOAANews: Second Warmest October for Global Temperatures
• 2008/11/18: ClimateP: Yes, the data show the planet STILL keeps warming
• 2008/11/18: RealClimate: Mind the Gap!
• 2008/11/16: Deltoid: Mountains out of molehills

  Yes we have feedbacks:

• 2008/11/17: MongaBay: Water vapor will amplify global warming
• 2008/11/17: Eureka: Water vapor confirmed as major player in climate change
• 2008/11/17: PhysOrg: Water vapor confirmed as major player in climate change
  Water vapor is known to be Earth's most abundant greenhouse gas, but the extent of its contribution to global warming has been debated. Using recent NASA satellite data, researchers have estimated more precisely than ever the heat-trapping effect of water in the air, validating the role of the gas as a critical component of climate change. Andrew Dessler and colleagues from Texas A&M University in College Station confirmed that the heat-amplifying effect of water vapor is potent enough to double the climate warming caused by increased levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

As for the ozone layer:

• 2008/11/22: MTobis: Ozone Treaty and Secondary GHG Protocols
• 2008/11/20: UN: Global militaries enlisted to combat climate change and save ozone layer -- UN

  While on the el Niño/la Niña [ENSO] front:

• 2008/11/21: UN: UN weather agency sees climate threat from El Niño ebb for rest of year
• 2008/11/19: PhysOrg: La Niña Anomaly Could Affect Winter Weather in Colorado
  A strong La Niña that developed early last winter, only to disappear this summer, is showing signs of life again and could affect our winter weather, said University of Colorado at Boulder and NOAA atmospheric scientist Klaus Wolter. "It is actually trying to make a comeback," said Wolter. "It's still very weak but it has been drifting towards a more defined weak to moderate La Niña again."

Glaciers are melting:

• 2008/11/18: PhysOrg: Missing Radioactivity in Ice Cores Bodes Ill for Part of Asia
• 2008/11/18: OSU: Missing radioactivity in ice cores bodes ill for part of Asia
  When Ohio State glaciologists failed to find the expected radioactive signals in the latest core they drilled from a Himalayan ice field, they knew it meant trouble for their research. But those missing markers of radiation, remnants from atomic bomb tests a half-century ago, foretell much greater threat to the half-billion or more people living downstream of that vast mountain range. It may mean that future water supplies could fall far short of what's needed to keep that population alive. [no new ice has accumulated on the surface of the glacier]
• 2008/11/17: NatureTGB: Don't cry for me Argentina's glaciers
  Argentina's president, Cristina Fernandez, has just vetoed a bill to protect the country's glaciers, reports Reuters. The bill was passed only a month ago by Argentina's congress. The bill would have hampered Canadian mining company Barrick Gold's Pascua Lama project. The widely-derided $2.4 billion mine sits on the border of Chile and Argentina, in the Andes and near a number of glaciers, and the plan is to get gold, silver and a wealth of other metals and minerals from the open-cast site. The glacier bill would have hampered the project, according to the Reuters story.

Sea levels are rising:

• 2008/11/19: TerraDaily: Melting ice now main driver of rising sea levels: study
• 2008/11/20: Eureka: Sea level rise alters bay's salinity
• 2008/11/19: TreeHugger: California Prepares for Rising Sea Levels

  Meanwhile in near earth orbit:

• 2008/11/19: BBC: Final plea on Earth observation [GMES aka Kopernikus]
  Earth observation scientists have made a last-minute plea to Gordon Brown to put the UK's weight behind Europe's environmental monitoring project, GMES [Global Monitoring for Environment and Security].

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

• 2008/11/21: BobPark: What's New? #1) DSCOVR: What is it they don't want the world to see? #2) GM Volt: The automobile we should have had

  More GW impacts are being seen:

• 2008/11/22: SMH: Climate threatens the koala
• 2008/11/21: NOAANews: New Study Details Ocean Acidification in the Caribbean
• 2008/11/21: KSJT: Discovery News, SF Chronicle: Phytoplankton going nuts in warmer Arctic, ecosystem's in for big changes.
• 2008/11/21: SF Gate: Death bloom of plankton a warning on warming
• 2008/11/19: PhysOrg: Climate change opens new avenue for spread of invasive plants
• 2008/11/19: Eureka: Climate change opens new avenue for spread of invasive plants
• 2008/11/18: ENN: Experts warn of severe water shortages by 2080
• 2008/11/18: NYT: Bark Beetles Kill Millions of Acres of Trees in West
• 2008/11/19: ClimateP: The New York Times blows the bark beetle story [neglecting to mention climate change]
• 2008/11/17: PhysOrg: Acid soils in Slovakia tell somber tale
• 2008/11/17: TreeHugger: Tropical Dead Zones Set to Expand by 50 Percent Under Climate Change

  And then there are the world's forests:

• 2008/11/23: Guardian(UK): How Haiti hopes to break the cycle of disaster: restoring its lost forests
• 2008/11/20: DerSpiegel: A Climate Gift for Future Generations - Ecuador Seeks to Commercialize Rainforest
  Ecuador is the first country in the world to announce plans to leave the oil reserves beneath its rainforests in the ground. The country wants foreign businesses, including German companies, to compensate it for making this sacrifice.
• 2008/11/19: TerraDaily: Macedonia plants six million trees to revive fire-ravaged forests
• 2008/11/20: WorldChanging: Ecosystem Services of Tropical Forests to be Protected with Precedent-Setting Memorandum
• 2008/11/19: ABC(Au): Indonesia to plant 100 million trees: official
• 2008/11/19: GristMill: A reason to be-leaf -- North-South deal has states cooperating on rainforest protection
• 2008/11/18: Reuters: Rainforest nations want coordinated carbon effort -- carbon credit trading to stop deforestation
• 2008/11/17: PhysOrg: Forests may play overlooked role in regulating climate
• 2008/11/17: Yahoo: Brazil says ethanol production won't harm Amazon
• 2008/11/17: NewScientist: Could fertilising trees save the climate?

  Corals are dying:

• 2008/11/17: Maribo: New Scientist on the coral reef crisis
• 2008/11/17: PhysOrg: Scientists try to revive Japan's biggest coral reef

  Climate refugees are becoming an issue:

• 2008/11/18: DerSpiegel: Hedging Bets in the Maldives -- 'Any Concrete Help Is Welcome'
  Mohamed Nasheed, the 41-year-old president of the Maldives, discusses evacuation plans for his country, now threatened by climate change and rising seas, and how he will deal with his predecessor, who took and tortured political prisoners.

Yes we have no wacky weather, except:

• 2008/11/21: SMH: Raging storms claim second victim
  An 85-year-old woman became the second victim of storms ravaging south-east Queensland as more storms approached Brisbane last night and the damage bill edged towards $500 million.
• 2008/11/20: EarthTimes: Storms lash Australia's east coast
• 2008/11/18: TerraDaily: Storm hits southern Vietnam, spares largest city [Ho Chi Minh City]

  As for wild fires:

• 2008/11/20: Eureka: Where there's wildfire smoke, there's toxicity
• 2008/11/19: Guardian(UK): Changing Californian climate 'will make wildfires worse'
• 2008/11/19: CSM: California wildfire lessons: Steps by homeowners cut damage -- Fireproofing existing homes and enforcing limits on brush allowed some communities to survive [mitig]
• 2008/11/19: Xinhuanet: Bush makes disaster declaration for South California [in the wake of wildfires]
• 2008/11/17: ThinkP: Schwarzenegger acknowledges global boiling: California now has 'fire season all year round.'
• 2008/11/18: Guardian(UK): Burned out California wildfire evacuees return
• 2008/11/17: CNN: California fires could burn for days, official says
  More than 900 homes, structures destroyed by three fires - Single-digit humidity, wind gusts pose problems for firefighters - Santa Barbara County fire has human cause, officials say
• 2008/11/17: Wunderground: Santa Ana winds ease over Los Angeles
• 2008/11/17: TP:WonkRoom: Global Boiling: In California, It's 'Fire Season All Year Round'
• 2008/11/17: BBC: Winds ease California wildfires
• 2008/11/17: CBC: Weakening winds help crews battle Southern California fires
• 2008/11/17: Guardian(UK): Thousands evacuated as wildfires destroy homes

  As for hydrological cycle disruptions [floods & droughts]:

• 2008/11/20: TerraDaily: Deadly flash floods hit storm-battered Australian city
• 2008/11/21: EarthTimes: Floods claim five lives in southern Thailand
• 2008/11/20: UN: UN agencies prepare to respond after flash floods strike Ethiopia
• 2008/11/20: PhysOrg: The flash before the flood
• 2008/11/19: TerraDaily: 50,000 Ethiopians displaced by floods
• 2008/11/20: CBC: Flooding again causes havoc in Gambo [Newfoundland]
• 2008/11/18: UN: Hondurans face many months of struggle after deadly floods, UN aid wing says
• 2008/11/17: ABC(Au): Droughts to become more frequent, severe: researchers
  Canberra scientists say they have proven that the world's climate is changing faster than ever before. The international research team drilled core samples from living corals off the Indonesian coast and found an increased frequency in the weather phenomenon known as the "Indian Ocean Dipole". Like the El Nino weather effect, the Indian Ocean Dipole has a dramatic impact on the Australian climate, and can cause severe droughts.

Elsewhere on the mitigation front:

• 2008/11/21: EarthTimes: Bordeaux wine industry looks to cut greenhouse gases
• 2008/11/20: FlightGlobal: Contrails could be dissipated by airborne microwave emitter: research
• 2008/11/18: Guardian(UK): Don't print this post
  Making paper emits three times more carbon than global aviation. The only answer is to consume less

Let's see. We overfish the oceans, triggering an explosion of jellyfish, then claim they will help fight climate change. Hmmm...:

• 2008/11/17: ABC(Au): Jellyfish could be new foot soldier in climate change battle
• 2008/11/17: SMH: 'Jelly balls' may slow global warming
  Vast numbers of marine "jelly balls" now appearing off the Australian east coast could be part of the planet's mechanism for combating global warming. The jellyfish-like animals are known as salps and their main food is phytoplankton (marine algae) which absorbs the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide in the top level of the ocean. This in turn comes from the atmosphere.

Consider transportation & GHG production:

• 2008/11/20: UN: Carbon neutral airline gets on board UN scheme to cut greenhouse gas emissions
• 2008/11/20: NewScientist: Planes, trains or automobiles? Climate villains revealed [cars & trucks]
• 2008/11/19: CalcRisk: DOT: U.S. Vehicle Miles Off Sharply in September [-4.4% yoy]
• 2008/11/19: BBerg: U.S. Fuel Use in First 10 Months Fell Most Since 1981, API Says

  While in the endless quest for sustainable building codes:

• 2008/11/22: WorldChanging: The Tree House: London's Pioneering Zero-Carbon House
• 2008/11/20: EnvFin: Green buildings see payback within five years
• 2008/11/21: GristMill: Building to a head -- This year's Greenbuild is buzzing
• 2008/11/20: GristMill: Will the economic downturn kill green building? In a word, no
• 2008/11/19: GristMill: Greenbuild 2008! The whopper of a conference starts today
• 2008/11/17: PhysOrg: Toward greener, more energy-efficient buildings

  And on the carbon sequestration front:

• 2008/11/20: EarthTimes: Latvian sand could help protect Arctic ice, experts say
• 2008/11/19: KSJT: Seattle Post-Intelligencer: Test coming up on new idea for getting CO2 to stick deep in the Earth
• 2008/11/19: PhysOrg: Trapping Greenhouse Gases (Without Leaks)
• 2008/11/17: TerraDaily: Largest permanent CO2 storage in Wyoming
• 2008/11/18: SeattlePI: Trapping carbon dioxide could fight climate change -- Scientists plan to test technique in Columbia Basin
• 2008/11/17: PhysOrg: Quicker, easier way to make coal cleaner found [MIT partial capture]
• 2008/11/17: PhysOrg: Safe storage of greenhouse-gas carbon dioxide [MIT software]
• 2008/11/17: PhysOrg: Supercritical CO2 boosts super optimism in sequestering greenhouse gas
  Scientists appear to have the rock-solid evidence that suggests carbon dioxide can be safely and permanently sequestered in deep, underground basalt rock formations, without risk of it eventually escaping to the atmosphere. The findings have potential implications for sequestering carbon in other reservoir systems as well.
• 2008/11/17: AFTIC: Turn CO2 into Rock
• 2008/11/17: Eureka: MIT: A quicker, easier way to make coal cleaner -- 'Partial capture' of emissions could be near-term move
• 2008/11/17: MIT News: Burying the greenhouse gas -- New tool could aid safe underground storage of CO2 -- software to determine how much CO2 can be sequestered safely in geological formations

  Large scale geo-engineering keeps popping up:

• 2008/11/21: IEET: The Magnitude of Risk
• 2008/11/21: TreeHugger: Geoengineering Redux: Fertilizing Trees with Nitrogen to Fight Climate Change
• 2008/11/21: Google:GE: IUSSC Transcript Day 1
• 2008/11/21: WorldChanging: Geoengineering 'No Substitute' for Climate Targets, UK Minister Warns
• 2008/11/18: Guardian(UK): Geoengineering 'no substitute' for climate targets, UK minister warns
  UK climate minister Joan Ruddock wary of reliance on radical technology that could be used by some as an excuse to avoid meeting targets to reduce carbon emissions
• 2008/11/18: WildSpirit: Britain talks down geoengineering as a solution to climate change

  Meanwhile in the journals:

• 2008/11/21: ACP: Direct observation of two dimensional trace gas distributions with an airborne Imaging DOAS instrument by K.-P. Heue et al.
• 2008/11/20: ACP: Determination of the evaporation coefficient of D2O by W. S. Drisdell et al.
• 2008/11/19: TC: Diagnosing the extreme surface melt event over southwestern Greenland in 2007 by M. Tedesco et al.
• 2008/11/20: OregonState: [Letter] Glacial greenhouse-gas fluctuations controlled by ocean circulation changes by Andreas Schmittner & Eric D. Galbraith
• 2008/11/20: Nature: ($) [Letter] Glacial greenhouse-gas fluctuations controlled by ocean circulation changes by Andreas Schmittner & Eric D. Galbraith
• 2008/11/18: ACP: SO2 emissions from Popocatépetl volcano: emission rates and plume imaging using optical remote sensing techniques by M. Grutter et al.
• 2008/11/17: ACP: 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.
• 2008/11/17: ACP: Steady-state aerosol distributions in the extra-tropical, lower stratosphere and the processes that maintain them by J. C. Wilson et al.
• 2008/11/17: ACP: Measurements of UV aerosol optical depth in the French Southern Alps by J. Lenoble et al.
• 2008/11/17: ACP: Modelling representation errors of atmospheric CO2 mixing ratios at a regional scale by L. F. Tolk et al.
• 2008/11/19: ACPD: Synoptic influences on springtime tropospheric O3 and CO over the North American export region observed by TES by J. Hegarty et al.
• 2008/11/17: ACPD: Carbonaceous aerosols at urban influenced sites in Norway by K. E. Yttri et al.
• 2008/11/17: ACPD: Introduction: European Integrated project on Aerosol Cloud Climate and Air Quality interactions (EUCAARI) -- integrating aerosol research from nano to global scales by M. Kulmala et al.
• 2008/11/18: PNAS: Sustaining biodiversity in ancient tropical countryside by Jai Ranganathan et al.
• 2008/11/18: PNAS: Linking global turnover of species and environments by Lauren B. Buckley & Walter Jetz
• 2008/11/18: PNAS: Gigantism in unique biogenic magnetite at the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum by Dirk Schumann et al.

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

• 2008/11/21: NatureN: Climate researchers 'should cut their carbon footprint' -- Jet-setting scientists responsible for substantial greenhouse gas emissions.
• 2008/11/20: ThingsBreak: Hemispheric differences in greenhouse gases during D-O events "explained" by North Atlantic freshening
• 2008/11/20: NatureCF: Glacial climate swings: It's in the ocean
• 2008/11/20: SciDaily: Potential Sources Of 'Rain-Making' Bacteria In The Atmosphere Identified
• 2008/11/18: Cornell: Global warming predictions are overestimated, suggests study on black carbon
• 2008/11/18: PhysOrg: Global warming predictions are overestimated, suggests study on black carbon
  A detailed analysis of black carbon -- the residue of burned organic matter -- in computer climate models suggests that those models may be overestimating global warming predictions. [...] By entering realistic estimates of stocks of black carbon in soil from two Australian savannas into a computer model that calculates carbon dioxide release from soil, the researchers found that carbon dioxide emissions from soils were reduced by about 20 percent over 100 years, as compared with simulations that did not take black carbon's long shelf life into account.
• 2008/11/18: Eureka: Alpine rivers hold important clues for preserving biodiversity and coping with climate change
• 2008/11/16: SlashDot: Rubber Duckies For Global Warming Research

  Pielke, alas:

• 2008/11/20: ERabett: The Pielke fan club

  Meanwhile on the Kyoto front:

• 2008/11/19: TreeHugger: 16 Kyoto Protocol Nations On Track to Meet Emissions Reductions, Through No Fault of Their Own
• 2008/11/18: Guardian(UK): World on track to meet Kyoto targets, says UN climate chief
  Decline of industry in eastern Europe in 1990s cited as reason for 5% decrease in greenhouse gas emissions
• 2008/11/17: DerSpiegel: Alarming UN Report -- Industrialized World Falling Short of Climate Goals
  A new report released by the United Nations shows that climate-damaging CO2 emissions in the industrialized world have rebounded in the 21st century after dropping in the 1990s.

While at the UN:

• 2008/11/17: BCLSB: U.N. Sets Itself Up For A Freeping

  And on the carbon trading front:

• 2008/11/21: GristMill: Europe, pioneering ways to fubar a carbon trading system
• 2008/11/20: Reuters: U.S. company [World Energy Solutions Inc] auctions 300,000 U.N. carbon credits

  The idea of a carbon tax is still bouncing around:

• 2008/11/18: EnvEcon: CEOs for a higher gas tax
• 2008/11/21: GristMill: Can the promise of a new political landscape include a U.S. carbon tax? Advocates launch the Price Carbon Campaign
• 2008/11/16: GristMill: A request to carbon tax supporters -- Why should we assume that a carbon tax will be simple and transparent?
• 2008/11/17: WSJ:EnvCap: A Taxing Question: Why Are Gas Taxes Taboo?

  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:

• 2008/11/21: JQuiggin: Begging the question
• 2008/11/17: GristMill: Costs are to prices as grits are to _______ -- Upstream carbon prices will not substantially change downstream carbon-emitting behavior

  As for GW & security:

• 2008/11/14: Military: US Military Worried About Climate Change
• 2008/11/17: DeSmogBlog: Guess Who's Feeling Insecure About the Climate!

  Suddenly eco-terrorism is being talked up, in Maryland & elsewhere:

• 2008/11/19: PRWatch: Maryland Police See 'Terrorists' Everywhere
• 2008/11/23: Guardian(UK): The readers' editor on ... anonymous sources and claims of eco-terrorism
• 2008/11/21: Guardian(UK): Police spy on climate activist while global warming goes unarrested
• 2008/11/21: ClimateP: Police spy on peaceful climate activist while dangerous warming goes unarrested
• 2008/11/19: CBC: FBI seeks alleged eco-terrorists in Canada [The Family]

  And on the American political front:

• 2008/11/23: PhysOrg: Greener cars the price for automaker aid
• 2008/11/22: GristMill: Notable quotable -- Utah gov [Jon Huntsman] bashes fellow Republicans on environmental issues
• 2008/11/21: GristMill: Blowing off steam -- Business groups, community activists blast California's cap-and-trade plans
• 2008/11/23: AutoBG: A simple way to reduce SoCal pollution and fuel consumption
• 2008/11/21: KSJT: Louisville Courier-Journal: [Kentucky] State's new energy plan has something for everybody: conservation, nukes maybe, biofuels, lots of coal...
• 2008/11/21: ClimateP: Notes from the conservative stagnation, Part 11: CAFE standards caused car companies' woes
• 2008/11/21: GristMill: 'It is my intention to put forth a renewal of that committee' -- Pelosi confirms intent to maintain the House global warming committee; Markey stays on
• 2008/11/21: GristMill: Boxer briefs -- Key senator signals piecemeal approach to climate legislation
• 2008/11/20: GristMill: Markey her words -- Pelosi may keep House Global Warming Committee going
• 2008/11/21: SF Gate: California, still the climate leader
• 2008/11/21: WSJ:EnvCap: Boxer's Rebellion: Senator Lays Down 'Streamlined' Green Gauntlet
• 2008/11/20: ThinkP: Conservatives Blame CAFE Standards For Auto Industry's Troubles
• 2008/11/20: ClimateP: Notes from the conservative stagnation, Part 10: Grover Norquist
• 2008/11/20: GristMill: Boxer comes out swinging -- Senator announces two climate bills to be introduced in January
• 2008/11/20: GristMill: Flexing progressive muscles -- New business coalition calls for climate leg. with 100 percent auctions and focus on efficiency
• 2008/11/20: GristMill: Hail Mary -- A chat with CARB chair and candidate for EPA chief Mary Nichols
• 2008/11/19: GristMill: Spare the Rod -- Grist talks to Kansas regulator [Roderick Bremby] who took on dirty coal
• 2008/11/20: AFTIC: Very encouraging!
• 2008/11/18: GristMill: Lame duck soup -- Dem leaders call for $100 billion stimulus with green components
• 2008/11/18: TP:WonkRoom: The U.S. Chamber of Chicken Littles
• 2008/11/18: PhysOrg: Calif. utilities must use 33 percent renewable energy for power generation by 2020
• 2008/11/18: SF Gate: [California] State unprepared for effects of warming, report says
• 2008/11/17: GristMill: The Leatherman of energy policy -- The trouble with clean-energy tax credits
• 2008/11/17: GristMill: Yes, Virginia, there is a clean energy constituency -- Will Democrats take the votes but ignore the voters in increasingly powerful Northern Virginia?
• 2008/11/17: CSW: "Bring on the Reality-Based Community"

  The Bush administration midnight regulation changes has come in for continued scrutiny:

• 2008/11/21: OurFuture: Conservatism: Trashing Government on Its Way Out
  Reading the headlines over the past week, I'm beginning to wonder if there's a single agency in the United States government that conservatives haven't left in worse shape than they found it. I've been reading about demoralized government employees, under-resourced departments, and agencies left in shambles after eight years of Republican rule.
• 2008/11/19: PRWatch: Bush Administration Quietly Working to Weaken Clean Air Act
• 2008/11/22: ThinkP: Top scientist says Bush's 'burrowing' of political appointees will 'leave wreckage behind.'
• 2008/11/21: NewScientist: Bush takes aim at the environment with late rule changes
• 2008/11/21: WaPo: New Rule Would Discount Warming as Risk Factor for Species
• 2008/11/21: ThinkP: REPORT: Bush's Backward Sprint To The Finish
• 2008/11/20: ClimateP: USDA labels farmed fish 'organic', candy corn a 'vegetable', and Bush an 'environmentalist'
• 2008/11/19: GristMill: Count your regs before they hatch -- ProPublica keeps a close eye on Bush's last-minute shenanigans
• 2008/11/19: CBC: Bush rushes to relax rules protecting endangered species
• 2008/11/20: Guardian(UK): President for 60 more days, Bush tearing apart protection for America's wilderness
  Oil shale mining in Rocky Mountains gets go-ahead - 'Midnight regulations' to dismantle safeguards
• 2008/11/19: TreeHugger: BLM Issues New Rules for Oil Shale Development: Last Minute Bush Administration Environmental Trashing?
• 2008/11/18: OilChange: In its Dying Days, Bush Administration Promotes Oil Shale
• 2008/11/16: CBSNews: Bush's "Fire Sale" For Oil, Gas Industries -- Administration Will Lease 50,000 Acres Near National Parks For Drilling

  Late coverage of the Bush DOE shutting down long-term experiments:

• 2008/11/18: NatureN: Forestry carbon dioxide projects to close down -- Move releases funds for new experiments

  The Waxman - Dingell tussle for Energy and Commerce Committee chairmanship is concluded:

• 2008/11/20: inel: Waxman unseats Dingell from chair of powerful Energy and Commerce Committee
• 2008/11/20: McClatchyDC: House names Waxman to energy post, signaling change
• 2008/11/21: Guardian(UK): Dingell jangle -- Henry Waxman's takeover of the House energy and commerce committee signals a new era for climate policy
• 2008/11/21: Guardian(UK): Henry Waxman gives new hope to US cap and trade
• 2008/11/21: GristMill: Senior moment -- Waxman may move to put climate allies at head of key subcommittees
• 2008/11/20: GristMill: Dingell, buried -- Waxman's win signals shift in Congress on climate and energy policy
• 2008/11/21: BBerg: Waxman Win Is Boon for Environmentalists, Bust for Utilities
• 2008/11/20: NatureTGB: In a year of change, Democrats take down one of their own [D-D]
• 2008/11/20: ClimateP: Waxman defeats Dingell -- Ding Dong the Dingell is gone!
• 2008/11/20: GristMill: Dingell waxed -- Waxman to lead House panel that will shape any climate legislation
• 2008/11/21: NYT: Longtime Head of House Energy Panel Is Ousted
• 2008/11/20: WarmingLaw: The Wax Man Cometh, Dingell Loseth His Chairmanship
• 2008/11/20: CSW: Henry Waxman, champion of science integrity on climate, to chair House Energy & Commerce Committee
• 2008/11/20: ThingsBreak: Waxman vs. Dingell: Conclusion
• 2008/11/20: DeSmogBlog: Will we see "Waxman Hearings" for Big Coal and Oil?
• 2008/11/20: IHT: Longtime head of U.S. House energy panel is ousted
  Representative Henry Waxman of California ousted Representative John Dingell of Michigan from his post as chairman of the influential Committee on Energy and Commerce on Thursday, giving President-elect Barack Obama an advantage in his plans to promote efforts to combat global warming. By a vote of 137 to 122, House Democrats ended Dingell's nearly 28-year reign as his party's top member on the committee. Besides installing a committed environmentalist as head of the energy committee, the outcome also removes one of the auto industry's best friends from a key leadership post.
• 2008/11/20: ThinkP: Waxman defeats Dingell to win chairmanship of House Energy and Commerce Committee
• 2008/11/20: HuffPo: Waxman Ousts Dingell From Energy Chair In Bruising Dem Fight
• 2008/11/19: ClimateP: Thrilla in Vanilla's latest round goes to Waxman
• 2008/11/19: GristMill: A bad sign for Dingell? Panel recommends Waxman over Dingell for energy committee
• 2008/11/18: GristMill: More Dingell-Waxman drama
• 2008/11/18: BSD: Bystanding on the Dingell-Waxman climate battle
• 2008/11/19: DetNews: Dingell loses early test in bid to retain chairmanship of energy committee
• 2008/11/19: ThinkP: House Democratic Steering Committee approves Waxman over Dingell
• 2008/11/19: McClatchyDC: Enviromentalists win first round in Waxman-Dingell battle
  In a major win for environmentalists, a committee of House Democratic leaders on Wednesday voted to put Rep. Henry Waxman in charge of a key panel that will have oversight over global warming issues in the new Congress. The House Steering committee voted 25-22 to put the California Democrat in charge of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, replacing Michigan Democratic Rep. John Dingell, the most senior member in the House. The House Democratic caucus will vote on Thursday. The Waxman-Dingell battle has been closely watched on Capitol Hill. Waxman is regarded as an ally of environmentalists while Dingell has ties to the auto industry. He has resisted higher fuel standards and tighter limits on greenhouse gases.
• 2008/11/17: ClimateP: A Thrilla in Vanilla: Final round of Dingell vs. Waxman this week
• 2008/11/17: GristMill: The whole ball of Waxman -- Dingell implores colleagues to side with him on climate bill

  Obama speculation & commentary is rampant:

• 2008/11/23: PeakEnergy: Obama's Energy Policy - The Good and the Bad
• 2008/11/22: DotEarth: Fresh Climate and Energy Advice for Obama
• 2008/11/19: CarbonFinance: Obama promises 'new chapter' for US action on climate change
• 2008/11/21: ClimateP: New Energy Economy: Part 3, The Next Transition Team
• 2008/11/21: C411: Obama Commits to a Strong Cap-and-Trade System
• 2008/11/20: GristMill: Questions of sequence -- The new administration's success with climate policy will depend on where they start
• 2008/11/19: GristMill: Deep and long -- Rahm Emanuel: First Obama priority is stimulus via green infrastructure
• 2008/11/20: ENN: Obama climate pledge "very positive": U.N. official [UNFCCC head, Yvo de Boer]
• 2008/11/20: NBF: Obama's Clean Energy Future Goals
• 2008/11/20: Independent(UK): Obama brings US in from the cold
  In a landmark speech, the next president pledges to revive Kyoto Protocol and end American isolationism over climate change
• 2008/11/20: SMH: Obama warms to reductions
  Barack Obama has sent an explicit message to international negotiators of a new global warming treaty that, under his administration, the US would move to greatly reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by mid-century, and "help lead the world toward a new era of global co-operation on climate change". The videotaped message, played to a conference on climate change, electrified more than 700 delegates from 22 countries gathered to debate strategies for cutting planet-warming pollution.
• 2008/11/19: EurActiv: Obama: US commited to 'strong' climate targets
• 2008/11/19: ClimateP: Toward a New Energy Economy: Part 1, Action in 100 Days
• 2008/11/19: ABC(Au): Obama vows to engage world on climate change
• 2008/11/18: CSW: Obama on climate change action: Delay no longer an option, denial no longer an acceptable response
• 2008/11/18: TerraDaily: Obama vows to engage world on climate change
• 2008/11/19: NEN: President-elect joins governors' fight against climate change
• 2008/11/18: WI: Going Green a Long-term Obama Goal -- Environment Takes Back Seat to Economic Crisis
• 2008/11/18: CBC: Obama pledges to make climate change a priority
• 2008/11/18: BostonGlobe: Obama addresses global warming summit
• 2008/11/18: AP: Schwarzenegger opens climate summit with Obama
• 2008/11/19: Guardian(UK): Obama renews promise to break with Bush-era environmental policies
  US president-elect promises 'new chapter in America's leadership on climate change' at Schwarzenegger summit
• 2008/11/19: Guardian(UK): Obama opens new green chapter for US on climate
• 2008/11/18: NYT: Obama Affirms Climate Change Goals
• 2008/11/19: Guardian(UK): The world's last chance
  After years of living in fear of climate change, we are fast acquiring the weapons to defeat it. But the only one who can unite humanity for this life-or-death struggle is Barack Obama - and he must act now.
• 2008/11/18: ClimateP: Obama fills key posts on environment, energy teams
• 2008/11/18: DotEarth: Obama: Climate Message Amid Economic Woes
• 2008/11/17: DotEarth: Obama on the 'Shock to Trance' Energy Pattern
• 2008/11/18: GristMill: Climate activists have an ally in Obama -- President-elect sends YouTube message to governors
• 2008/11/18: Yahoo: Obama vows to engage world on climate change
• 2008/11/18: NEN: Minnesota likes the Obama new energy plan
• 2008/11/18: WSJ:EnvCap: Obama: The Green Revolution Will Start With Cap-and-Trade
• 2008/11/18: BBC: US President-elect Barack Obama has pledged to "engage vigorously" on climate change, ahead of next month's UN summit on the issue
• 2008/11/17: GristMill: 'It's part of the addiction' -- Obama talks energy on 60 Minutes

  The Governator held a climate conference in California:

• 2008/11/20: PhysOrg: Governors pledge to fight global warming together
• 2008/11/19: GristMill: Summit like it hot -- Schwarzenegger's conclave ends with pledge to cut emissions
• 2008/11/20: Xinhuanet: Representatives from seven countries sign declaration on climate change [Schwarzenegger summit]
• 2008/11/19: Reuters: Broad Schwarzenegger emissions pledge caps summit
• 2008/11/20: CanWest: 'Applause' for B.C.'s carbon tax at California speech -- B.C. joins initiative to cut greenhouse gases
• 2008/11/19: ClimateP: Correction: Schwarzenegger requires 33% renewables by 2020
• 2008/11/18: GristMill: States of grace -- Grist talks to Terry Tamminen about the Governors' Climate Summit
• 2008/11/18: ClimateP: Schwarzenegger mandates 33% renewables by 2030
• 2008/11/17: GristMill: I wish they all could be California governors ... Schwarzenegger bringing governors and international leaders to California to talk climate
• 2008/11/18: Google:AP: Schwarzenegger convenes global climate summit
• 2008/11/16: BBerg: Schwarzenegger's Hollywood Summit Seeks Thaw in Climate Talks
• 2008/11/17: LA Times: Environmental [Schwarzenegger] conference will target regional governors from around the world
• 2008/11/17: CSW: CA Gov. Schwarzenegger to hold global climate summit: How will it mesh with Obama's climate agenda?
• 2008/11/17: ENN: [Schwarzenegger] Summit takes aim at climate change

  Obama turned a few heads when he video-addressed the Schwarzenegger conference:

• 2008/11/18: CSpin: President-Elect Obama to speak on Climate Change
• 2008/11/20: GristMill: There's a new wind blowing -- Climate activists take heart from Obama's remarks
• 2008/11/19: GristMill: Getting warmed up on warming -- Obama hits green home run in remarks to govs on clean energy and climate
• 2008/11/18: HillHeat: President-Elect Obama Climate And Environment Videos
• 2008/11/18: Maribo: The times they are a-changin' -- Barack Obama's recorded address to the US Governors' climate change summit...
• 2008/11/19: OilChange: A New Chapter but Same Old "Solutions" [Obama's video-taped message]
• 2008/11/18: ClimateP: Obama: "The science is beyond dispute... Delay is no longer an option. Denial is no longer an acceptable response."
• 2008/11/18: GristMill: Obama: 'Science is beyond dispute' -- Obama affirms commitment to climate change, but won't be going to Poland
• 2008/11/18: STimes: Schwarzenegger opens climate summit with Obama
• 2008/11/18: TPM:EC: In Surprise Speech, Obama Promises Global Leadership On Climate Change

  The Gore-apalooza is still bopping along:

• 2008/11/17: TheBellows: Make it Official [coal, Gore, N&S]
• 2008/11/17: ClimateP: Shellenberger and Nordhaus smear Gore by making stuff up

  While in the UK:

• 2008/11/20: inel: Conservatives and Liberal Democrats will scrap ALL expansion at Heathrow
• 2008/11/19: Guardian(UK): Cash from carbon permits should be used to improve energy efficiency
• 2008/11/19: Guardian(UK): UK 'undermining' climate fight by keeping carbon permit cash
  Receipts of up to £60m should be earmarked for 'green' projects as in other European nations, say observers
• 2008/11/19: NatureTGB: UK holds first auction for carbon allowances
• 2008/11/19: Yahoo: [UK] MPs pass landmark climate change bill -- to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent by 2050
• 2008/11/18: Guardian(UK): Airport expansion must be halted to meet CO2 target, say climate scientists
• 2008/11/19: Guardian(UK): Start building new atomic stations now, urges British Energy chief
• 2008/11/19: Guardian(UK): [Shrewsbury and Atcham] Council obstructs family's ethical land project
  As a public inquiry is set to decide the fate of a family's green dream, planners are being urged to take low-carbon living seriously
• 2008/11/18: BBC: The UK Government is to auction carbon emissions permits to power firms in a sale projected to raise between 1.5 and 2bn euros over the next 5 years
• 2008/11/18: Guardian(UK): Peers win concession on offset limits in climate bill
• 2008/11/17: Guardian(UK): [Letters] Lords must reshape climate change bill -- This is a crucial opportunity to place the UK firmly on the path towards a low carbon economy

  And in Europe:

• 2008/11/21: ENN: Fresh doubts raised over December EU climate deal
• 2008/11/21: EurActiv: France tables sweeping 'derogations' in climate deal push
  Early identification of industries exposed to foreign competition and temporary exemptions from full CO2 permit auctioning for coal-dependent economies are part of a French EU Presidency compromise proposal designed to overcome opposition to EU climate plans from some of the bloc's heavy industries and newer member states.
• 2008/11/20: EurActiv: European energy sector 'continuous environmental threat', warns EEA
  Despite improved efficiency in electricity and heat production and a cleaner energy mix, the power sector still produces 80% of European greenhouse gases, putting significant strain on the climate, a new European Environment Agency (EEA) study shows.
• 2008/11/20: EUO: Poland rejects French CO2 compromise as summit looms
• 2008/11/19: EurActiv: Fresh doubts raised over December EU climate deal
• 2008/11/18: Google:AFP: Italy, Germany to seek joint approach to climate change
• 2008/11/20: Xinhuanet: Poland rejects free carbon dioxide emission permit proposal
  Poland rejected on Wednesday a proposal of the EU's French presidency whereby half of carbon dioxide emission permits in the power sector could be handed out for free by 2015.

Meanwhile in Australia:

• 2008/11/23: ABC(Au): Emissions must be reduced 'to minimise disease spread'
  An alliance of health lobby groups says the Federal Government must adopt bold emissions reduction targets to avoid the spread of disease. "What we're really concerned about is if the Government doesn't go for those bold emissions targets, we will see a significant spread of vector borne diseases like malaria, dengue fever, like ross river fever - we're already seeing some of it," Mr Moore said.
• 2008/11/12: Oikos: Congestion tolls in Sydney
• 2008/11/21: ABC(Au): Rann to discuss Nyrstar future under emissions trading
  South Australian Premier Mike Rann will hold discussions with the operators of the Port Pirie smelter today.
• 2008/11/19: ABC(Au): The Victorian Regional Development Minister, Jacinta Allan, says the impact of climate change is one of the key issues threatening development in Gippsland
• 2008/11/19: SMH: Carr signs up to join the global carbon market
  The former premier Bob Carr has plunged into the global carbon market, chairing a new company backed by some of the biggest players in the business, including the Chicago Climate Exchange, the European Climate Exchange and Australia's Macquarie Group. Speaking to a carbon trading conference in Sydney yesterday, Mr Carr revealed his interest in enVex, set up in May by Macquarie Group to "enable trading in a range of environment products", including the carbon pollution permits the Rudd Government plans to auction in 2010. Under the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme, all big greenhouse-gas polluters will be forced to acquire permits. While some industries will get free permits, about 70 per cent of permits are expected to be auctioned and traded on a carbon exchange.
• 2008/11/18: ABC(Au): Australians 'will accept nuclear power' [says president of Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, Ziggy Switkowski]
• 2008/11/18: ABC(Au): Global emissions scheme crucial to competitive gas production: industry
• 2008/11/18: SMH: Climate disaster awaits [Aus] aged, poor
  Lower socio-economic groups and the ageing will bear the brunt of climate change in coastal areas, according to a report from the National Sea Change Taskforce.
• 2008/11/17: SMH: Rural lab for carbon capture to close
  As well as closing five rail branch lines used to transport grain, the State Government is going to shut eight Department of Primary Industries offices and agricultural research stations. The closure of the Glen Innes research station has sparked special concern because it has hosted one of the world's longest-running crop rotation trials, in which soil carbon has been measured since 1934.

And in China:

• 2008/11/19: WorldChanging: Cutting Emissions in Rural China
  Mobilizing farmers to use readily accessible, traditional bioenergy sources -- like straw -- may go a long way toward helping the country reduce its carbon footprint
• 2008/11/19: TreeHugger: China's Coal Fires Burn 20 Million Tons of Coal Per Year
• 2008/11/16: Yahoo: China's coal fires belch fumes, worsening global warming

  While in Asia:

• 2008/11/19: Yahoo: Climate change momentum fading: Asia-Pacific survey
• 2008/11/18: EarthTimes: Asians skeptical about the motives of companies that go green

  In Canada, minority neocon PM Harper, is adjusting to the Obama administration:

• 2008/11/19: Reuters: Canada wants North America cap-and-trade system
  Canada's Conservative government, shifting positions in the wake of Barack Obama's election as U.S. president, said on Wednesday that it would work to develop a North America-wide cap-and-trade system to limit emissions of greenhouse gases.
• 2008/11/20: TStar: PM looks to fall in with U.S. on climate -- Nuclear power, Arctic energy also touted
• 2008/11/17: ClimateP: Canada tries to tar-sandbag Obama on climate

  Well they're Conservatives, what do you expect?

• 2008/11/20: CBC: Science, technology funding to drop in 2008-09: StatsCan

  The tricky & difficult question of the tar sands looms:

• 2008/11/19: CleanBreak: What about the oil sands? Harper's goal of 90% emission-free electricity by 2020 not so ambitious
• 2008/11/21: NatPo: Cap and trade could work: oil patch -- Aligning climate policy with U. S. 'necessary'
• 2008/11/20: EnergyBulletin: The squeeze is on
• 2008/11/22: G&M: What America's clean-air booster [Henry Waxman] means for Canada
• 2008/11/21: CanWest: Tar sands foe wins U.S. energy chair -- Observers urge Alberta to boost green efforts
  In another sign the environmental agenda is likely to figure prominently amongst the new leaders in Washington, an ardent climate change campaigner -- who has battled against expansion of oilsands production -- has been elected chairman of an influential Congressional committee. On Thursday, California Democrat Henry Waxman, 69, won the post of chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee from John Dingell of Michigan, a longtime champion of the now-ailing U.S. auto industry.
• 2008/11/19: CBC: Alberta offers royalty-rate discount to stimulate new oil drilling
• 2008/11/19: NatPo: Green groups ramp up attacks on tar sands
• 2008/11/19: NatPo: U. S. greenhouse gas regime will impact [Canadian] exporters
• 2008/11/17: BBerg: Petro-Canada Again Postpones $10 Billion Oil-Sands Upgrader
• 2008/11/17: FinPo: Fort Hills oil sands project cost hiked 50%
• 2008/11/17: CBC: Fort Hills Energy delays decision on oilsands mine, upgrader

  As for miscellaneous Canadiana:

• 2008/11/21: CBC: [Saskatchewan Premier, Brad] Wall airs concerns about federal climate change plan
• 2008/11/20: ROB: Chrysler Canada seeks $1-billion [from Canada]
• 2008/11/20: NatPo: Good riddance to Green Shift
• 2008/11/18: BCLSB: Why Libs Shouldn't Walk Away From Green Issues

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

• 2008/11/17: MR: Ecological Crises and the Agrarian Question in World-Historical Perspective
• 2008/11/18: TerraDaily: Reducing Consumption Key To A Sustainable Future [Limits to Growth]
• 2008/11/17: NewScientist: [Limits to Growth] Prophesy of economic collapse 'coming true'
• 2008/10/15: NewScientist: Economics blind spot is a disaster for the planet by Herman Daly

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

• 2008/11/19: MGS: Large population countries

  Apocalypso anyone?

• 2008/11/21: EnergyBulletin: Book review: Plan C -- Plan C: Community Survival Strategies for Peak oil and Climate Change
  In Murphy's typology, Plan A is "Business as Usual"- which will be prevented by absolute resource and environmental constraints; Plan B is the proposed switch to "Clean Green technology"- which will not be able to replace oil in time; while Plan D is "Die Off". Thus we are leftwith Plan C which the plan of "curtailment and community"- the kind of responses being explored in the Transition movement, as well as our own Powerdown Community project, for which this book is a key resource.

As for how the media handles the science of climatology:

• 2008/11/22: ClimateP: NBC nixes TV's only global climate change show [Weather Channel's Environmental Unit] during "Green Week"
• 2008/11/19: CanBiz: Hollywood and climate change experts ponder global warming
• 2008/11/19: CJR: Press Release by Science Reporting -- An information officer's defense of honest, helpful PR
• 2008/11/18: PRWatch: Science Reporting by Press Release
• 2008/11/19: ClimateP: The New York Times blows the bark beetle story [neglecting to mention climate change]

  Here is something for your library:

• 2008/11/21: Nature: Fossil carbon's fate [Book Review] _CO2 Rising: The World's Greatest Environmental Challenge_ by Tyler Volk
• 2008/11/20: NWV: [Book Review] _Peak Everything: Waking Up to a Century of Declines_ by Richard Heinberg
• 2008/11/17: TreeHugger: [Book Review] _Ten Technologies to Save the Planet_ by Chris Goodall

  And for your film & video enjoyment:

• 2008/11/18: SeattlePI: Film 'fuels' green energy [video]

  Meanwhile among the 'Sue the Bastards!' contingent:

• 2008/11/05: NorthwardHo: Class action lawsuit against world leaders for allowing global warming being filed at the International Criminal Court in the Hague
• 2008/11/22: DeSmogBlog: Putting Global Warming Laggards on Trial
• 2008/11/21: WarmingLaw: Actually, Toto, We're Still in Kansas
• 2008/11/19: WarmingLaw: What Does "Bonanza" Mean? (Part II): Putting Down the Shovel
• 2008/11/18: WarmingLaw: What Does "Bonanza" Mean? (Part I)
• 2008/11/16: BSD: T.H. Huxley on the ocean acidification lawsuit

  Wrestling over a new energy infrastructure continues unabated:

• 2008/11/23: PeakEnergy: Zero Energy Humidifiers
• 2008/11/13: TechRev: Better Wind Turbines -- A more efficient generator could convert more of the wind's energy into electricity. [ExRo]
• 2008/11/16: FuturePundit: Variable Electric Generator Improves Wind Power Efficiency
• 2008/11/22: TreeHugger: It's Not Easy Being Afghanistan's First Wind Farm
• 2008/11/22: CanWest: Burning desire -- Inventories of low-cost wood fuel scarce as buyers hoard what little is available
  A buying frenzy has descended on the wood pellet business as Ontario and Quebec homeowners, frightened by a serious shortage in the low-cost heating alternative, snap up every bag in sight. Some suppliers report hoarding, while others have chased abusive customers from their doorstep. Homeowners should cool their jets, say suppliers of the rabbit-food-sized pellets made from compressed sawdust. More is slowly on the way.
• 2008/11/22: PeakEnergy: Plumbing the oceans for clean energy [OTEC]
• 2008/11/21: EnergyBulletin: For an energy future, look to the past
• 2008/11/21: ClimateP: Solar baseload outshines 'clean coal' -- and it always will
• 2008/11/21: NEN: $1.5-to-$2 Trillion for enough energy in 2030 - Brattle Group
• 2008/11/21: WSJ:EnvCap: Lights Out: Falling Demand Threatens New Energy Investment
• 2008/11/20: NakedCapitalism: Goldman Recants Its $200 a Barrel, "Super Spike" Call for Oil
• 2008/11/20: BackReaction: After Geothermal Drilling: A town rips up
• 2008/11/20: ClimateP: New Energy Economy: Part 2, Exploring the Tough Questions
• 2008/11/20: BBC: Oil price goes below $50 a barrel
• 2008/11/20: OttawaSun: 'Clean' energy promise a dirty lie, say green groups
• 2008/11/19: EnergyBulletin: The Impact Of The Slowdown In Construction Of Wind Generation
• 2008/11/19: KSJT: Sacramento Bee: So, this outfit says it can zap your city's garbage, for free, be green, make electricity? Better check it out...
• 2008/11/19: NewScientist: Plumbing the oceans could bring limitless clean energy [OTEC]
• 2008/11/19: American: [Gordon] Moore's Curse and the Great Energy Delusion
• 2008/11/19: DailyReckoning: Unsustainable Energy Trends
• 2008/11/19: BFF: $500 Oil Coming Part 2
• 2008/11/19: BFF: $500 Oil Coming Part 1
• 2008/11/17: CleanBreak: Why the future of wind power looks better and better
• 2008/11/19: NEN: Wind storage battery
• 2008/11/19: WSJ:EnvCap: Watch Out Below: Oil Prices Headed for $40, Deutsche Bank Says
• 2008/11/18: DailyAstorian: Wind power is coming our way
• 2008/11/19: SacBee: Sacramento trash-to-energy [plasma] plan raises red flags
• 2008/11/19: CBC: Oil trades around $54 US a barrel
• 2008/11/19: FTimes: Oil groups expect $40 barrel - CNOOC [China National Offshore Oil Corp] head
• 2008/11/18: PhysOrg: Can renewable energy be sustained?
• 2008/11/18: PhysOrg: What If Your Energy Supply is Gone with the Wind?
• 2008/11/18: JFleck: Energy News of the Day
• 2008/11/18: Rutgers: Sustainable Energy Must Be Integrated Into Existing Power Grid, Says Rutgers - Camden Finance Scholar
• 2008/11/18: CBC: Oil drops below $55 a barrel
• 2008/11/17: GristMill: Exxon: Not the only profitable energy biz last quarter
• 2008/11/17: NEN: More sun and wind than expected
• 2008/11/17: NEN: How to get to 100% new energy (Dr. Hermann Scheer)
• 2008/11/17: BBC: Power projects sought for firth
  Marine power developers have been invited to submit outline proposals for projects to be run in the Pentland Firth and surrounding waters.

Meanwhile among the solar aficionados:

• 2008/11/22: REA: France Raises Solar Feed-in Tariffs; New York SEIA Calls for FIT
• 2008/11/21: TreeHugger: Rooftop Solar Power Installations to Receive Generous French Feed-In-Tariff
• 2008/11/21: SciDaily: Converting Sunlight Into Electricity: European Project Breaks Efficiency Record -- photovoltaic (PV) multi-junction (MJ) solar cells 39.7% efficient
• 2008/11/20: TreeHugger: The North Face Installs 1 MW Solar Power System at West Coast Distribution Center
• 2008/11/19: SMH: Closure of solar plant casts cloud over industry
  In a body blow for Australia's solar industry, the nation's biggest solar-panel factory will close early next year, taking 200 skilled jobs with it, equal to one-eighth of the total Australian solar workforce. [...] The closure of the BP Solar plant at Sydney Olympic Park means Australia's solar industry is now primarily a research rather than a manufacturing effort.
• 2008/11/17: TreeHugger: Mid-East's Largest Solar Panel Manufacturing Plant to be Built In Dubai

  The arithmetic of coal carbon is striking home:

• 2008/11/21: GristMill: Notable quotable -- Straight-talk on coal from Brian Williams
• 2008/11/19: GristMill: The case for a 'coal conservancy' -- Placing coal reserves into trust status would be a nice gift to our kids' future
• 2008/11/18: IdahoStatesman: Environmentalists rally against [coal] gasification plant [in eastern Idaho]
• 2008/11/18: BBerg: Europe's $14 Billion Clean-Coal Plan Lacking Backers
• 2008/11/18: CSM: Uneasy lies King Coal's crown -- A hold on new coal plants hints it's time for a sooty monarch to clean up or step down.

  Biofuel bickering abounds:

• 2008/11/23: PeakEnergy: Large improvements in cellulosic ethanol yield claimed [15x]
• 2008/11/21: CommonTragedies: A bit too honest about Ethanol
• 2008/11/21: BBC: Hard graft -- Behind the scenes of Brazil's biofuel revolution
• 2008/11/19: TreeHugger: 40 Corn Ethanol Plants Could File For Bankruptcy by Early 2009
• 2008/11/18: NYT: Honesty About Ethanol
• 2008/11/17: PhysOrg: International biofuels conference gets underway in Brazil

  The nuclear energy controversy continues:

• 2008/11/22: HWWD: What is the true cost of nuclear energy?

  Yes we have a peak oil sighting:

• 2008/11/20: FCNP: The Peak Oil Crisis: Edging Towards Reality
• 2008/11/17: QuamNet: Supplies are struggling!

  And then there is the matter of efficiency & conservation:

• 2008/11/22: ClimateP: Celebrate the Climate: Look for Energy Star, the Gift that Keeps on Giving
• 2008/11/22: OilDrum: American Physical Society Report on Energy Efficiency
• 2008/11/19: GristMill: Must-use-less-energy TV -- Union of Concerned Scientists offers tip to buy most energy-efficient TV

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

• 2008/11/23: BobSutton: The Auto Industry Bailout: Thoughts About Why GM Executives Are Clueless And Their Destructive "No We Can't" Mindset
• 2008/11/22: PhysOrg: Electric cars and electronic trees at LA Auto Show
• 2008/11/22: AfterGutenberg: 180,000 miles on batteries? Easy
• 2008/11/22: Guardian(UK): San Francisco Bay to be electric car capital - Plan predicts 1m petrol vehicles replaced by 2015 - Charging points to be on offer throughout cities
• 2008/11/21: Guardian(UK): California switches on to an electric future
  A network of kerbside charging points in cities and 'filling' stations will have a major impact in reducing emissions
• 2008/11/21: TreeHugger: SF Bay Area Will be Electric Vehicle Capital of US: Better Place, Coulomb Technologies Expanding EV Infrastructure
• 2008/11/21: Reuters: Volkswagen [41 mpg] diesel car wins "Green Car of the Year"
• 2008/11/21: AutoBG: LA 2008: Intimate electric vehicle is "the quiet car"
• 2008/11/21: AutoBG: Lithium ion battery easily achieves 180,000 miles in testing
• 2008/11/20: SacBee: SF Bay leaders plan $1B for electric car stations
• 2008/11/21: Guardian(UK): How Detroit took the wrong road
• 2008/11/20: TreeHugger: World's First Plug-In Electric Car Goes On Sale Next Month -- in China
• 2008/11/19: USAToday: Automakers can't afford to develop hybrids
• 2008/11/20: CBC: Automakers detail electric car plans at L.A. show
• 2008/11/19: AutoBG: Ford ekes out more mileage and lower CO2 from European models
• 2008/11/19: AutoBG: LA 2008: Nissan announces electric car partnership with Oregon
• 2008/11/19: ED: Auto Bailout: Whither the ZENN Car?
• 2008/11/18: BBerg: Nissan Plans to Start Selling Electric Cars in China by 2012
• 2008/11/18: Reuters: Will Detroit's cash crisis kill the electric car?
• 2008/11/17: SciAlert: Plug-in electric vehicles and the electrification of road transport
• 2008/11/17: AutoBG: NY Times analyzes how the Volt might get that 100 mpg sticker
• 2008/11/17: AutoBG: Volvo starts production of low-CO2 DRIVe range

  The reaction of business to climate change will be critical:

• 2008/11/20: inel: Climate policy certainty is required by investors
• 2008/11/20: EnvFin: Big US brands call for climate regulations
• 2008/11/21: TreeHugger: 360 Wind Powered Wal-Mart Stores by April 2009
• 2008/11/21: TP:WonkRoom: Major U.S. Companies Embrace Progressive Climate Action
• 2008/11/20: NEN: Newscorp head [James Murdoch] calls for regulation on emissions disclosure

  Meanwhile in the greenwashing chronicles:

• 2008/11/20: PRWatch: Green Meets Greenwash
• 2008/11/20: ClimateP: I see a green wash and I want it painted black
• 2008/11/20: TreeHugger: I Don't Think Alternative Energy Means What You Think It Means: Fred Pearce to BP
• 2008/11/20: Guardian(UK): Greenwash: BP and the myth of a world 'Beyond Petroleum'

  The carbon lobby are up to the usual:

• 2008/11/22: ERabett: Shoals of red herrings, or Eli goes on a snark hunt
• 2008/11/21: Deltoid: Quadrant's war on science
• 2008/11/21: QuarkSoup: Bush Cooling?
• 2008/11/20: Salon: Sen. James Inhofe calls out Andrew Leonard
• 2008/11/20: Deltoid: More on Booker
• 2008/11/16: ClimateP: NYT suckered by ExxonMobil in puff piece titled "Green is for Sissies"
• 2008/11/17: DotEarth: Up Next for Debate: Carbon Costs
• 2008/11/17: OilChange: Exxon: Betting on the Wrong Horse
• 2008/11/15: IrishTimes: [Not Evil Just Wrong] Film-makers taking on our 'global warming hysteria'

  Coby updated his How to Talk to a Climate Sceptic series:

• AFTIC: [H2T2aCS] How to Talk to a Climate Sceptic
• 2008/11/18: AFTIC: [H2T2aCS] October 2008, yet another phony record

  Then there was the miscellaneous news and commentary:

• 2008/11/23: Guardian(UK): Opencast mining is vandalism
• 2008/11/21: CSM: Report: Climate protests rising
  The Worldwatch Institute reports that climate protests are escalating worldwide, as more and more people join movements to block the construction of coal-fired power plants and pressure their governments to mandate greenhouse-gas-emission caps.
• 2008/11/21: EnergyBulletin: Report says pandemic will threaten coal, power supplies
• 2008/11/21: JFleck: Climate Change v. Oil Prices Google Trends Smackdown
• 2008/11/21: TreeHugger: Amory Lovins Named One of America's Best Leaders by US News & World Report
• 2008/11/21: SciDaily: Snow In The Arctic: An Ingredient In A Surprising Chemical Cocktail
• 2008/11/21: VoxEU: Uncertainty, climate change, and the global economy by Torsten Persson & David von Below
  What will the climate be like in a hundred years' time? The answer depends on both how human activity affects climate change and how a warming climate alters the economy's productive capacity and human welfare. There is uncertainty about those links, but this column shows that, absent policy action, global warming will be a major problem even under very optimistic circumstances.
• 2008/11/20: NatureN: Briny mix could stop carbon dioxide leaks -- Engineers hope salt-water technique could make coal-fired power plants a cleaner energy option
• 2008/11/20: DeSmogBlog: Idiot-Proofing the "Climate Debate"
• 2008/11/19: WorldChanging: The Hot Spot
  Climate scientists wonder why people don't do more about global warming. Social scientists have some tough answers
• 2008/11/19: TreeHugger: Become an Un-Consumer, Join The Compact, Save Money, Reduce Your Eco-Footprint
• 2008/11/19: TreeHugger: Acronym Alert: AWWI, The American Wind Wildlife Institute
• 2008/11/18: NYT: Pollution Has Leveled Off, but the Figures Have Holes, Report Says
• 2008/11/18: PeakEnergy: The Last Viridian Note And The User's Guide to Imaginary Gadgets
• 2008/11/17: NatureCF: Bonanza of carbon cases at the EPA
• 2008/11/17: NatureCF: World's first climate collective intelligence event
• 2008/11/17: NOAANews: Scientific Assessment Finds Expanding Use of Climate Forecasts Could Mean Better Water Management

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

• NorthwardHo
• Wind-Works [Paul Gipe's website]
• The Way Things Break
• Food Before Fuel
• Wiki: Milankovitch cycles
• Wiki: Indian Ocean Dipole
• EESI: Environmental and Energy Study Institute Briefings
• WWF on Climate Change
• European Commission on the Environment
• Metis: Discussion and announcements on climate science policy
• The Climate Change Caucus in the US House of Representatives
• Kyoto USA
• Sierra: Petition - Global Warming
• Climate Audit [M&M]
• NEN: New Energy News
• CTW: Carbon Trade Watch
• PEARL: Paleoecological Environmental Assessment and Research Laboratory
• Stefan Rahmstorf - List of Publications

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.

"Coal. While you might have heard the phrase 'clean coal' during the presidential campaign, it's actually an oxymoron. Wishful thinking. Coal does not burn cleanly and it's hugely expensive to make it burn that way." -Brian Williams, NBC anchor

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