A Few Things Ill Considered

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Another week of Climate Disruption News

January 25, 2009

• Top Stories:US Forests, Antarctic Warming, Survey of Climatologists, IRENA, WFES, CBC
• Melting Arctic, Arctic Geopolitics, Wilkins Ice Sheet, Particulates, Late Comments
• Food Crisis, Food vs. Biofuel, Food Production
• Hurricanes, GHGs, Carbon Cycle, Temperatures, Paleoclimate, ENSO, Glaciers, Sea Levels, Satellites
• Impacts, Forests, Climate Refugees, Wacky Weather, Wildfires, Floods & Droughts
• Mitigation, Transportation, Buildings, Sequestration, Geoengineering
• Journals, Misc. Science, Pielke
• Kyoto-2, Carbon Trade, Carbon Tax, Optimal Carbon Reduction Strategy
• Politics:International, Security, America, Britain, Europe, Australia, China, Russia, Asia, Canada
• Ecological Economics, IPAT, Apocalypso, Books, Courts
• Energy, Wind, Solar, Coal, Biofuel, Nukes, Misc. Peaks, Grid, Cars, Greenwashing, Insurance
• Carbon Lobby, Miscellaneous Climate, Useful Links
• Shameless Self Promotion, .sig

Here's a chuckle for ya:

• 2009/01/25: uComics: (cartoon - Toles) White House Basement
• 2009/01/24: TI:CF: (cartoon - Roberts) Services Rendered
• 2009/01/22: TI:CF: (cartoon - Roberts) Compost Mentis
• 2009/01/21: TI:CF: (cartoon - Roberts) Carried Away
• 2009/01/20: uComics: (cartoon - Auth) The Inauguration
• 2009/01/20: uComics: (cartoon - Danziger) Dawn
• 2009/01/19: TI:CF: (cartoon - Roberts) A Many Splendoured Thing
• 2009/01/20: ClimateP: (cartoon - TomTom) A Farewell Salute from Tom Tomorrow

  One big story this week is the effect of climate change on western North American forests:

• 2009/01/23: Science: (ab$) Widespread Increase of Tree Mortality Rates in the Western United States by Phillip J. van Mantgem et al.
• 2009/01/25: SciDaily: Global Warming: Tree Deaths Have Doubled Across The Western U.S.
• 2009/01/22: USGS: Tree Deaths Have Doubled Across the Western U.S. -- Regional Warming May be the Cause
• 2009/01/22: CNN: Global warming threatens forests, study says
  Forests in the Pacific Northwest are dying twice as fast as they were 17 years ago - Scientists blame warming temperatures for the trend, according to a new study - Data was gathered over a 50-year period at sites in the Western U.S. and Canada - Scientists: study confirms the harmful effects of rising temperatures on ecosystems
• 2009/01/23: KSJT: Lots of Ink: The trees of the American west are dying faster - even where beetles and fires are not the reason
• 2009/01/23: ClimateP: Science: Global warming is killing U.S. trees, a dangerous carbon-cycle feedback
• 2009/01/23: NAU: Research ties tree mortality trends to climate warming
• 2009/01/23: EarthTimes: Forest death rate doubles on US West Coast, researchers find
• 2009/01/23: OilChange: Another "Warning Bell" for Obama [US forest study]
• 2009/01/22: WaPo: Old-Growth Forests Dying Off in U.S. West
• 2009/01/22: CSM: US forests hold new evidence of global warming -- Scientists see a trend in longer dry spells and winter snowpacks melting earlier than in the past
• 2009/01/23: SeattlePI: Study: Western forests dying at increasing rate
• 2009/01/23: BBC: Climate shift 'killing US trees'
• 2009/01/22: CBC: Warming behind big increase in tree mortality in B.C., western U.S.: study
• 2009/01/22: Guardian(UK): Global warming increasing death rate of US trees, scientists warn
  Studies find wide range of tree species are dying with serious long-term effects for biodiversity and carbon dioxide release
• 2009/01/22: NatureN: North American tree deaths accelerate -- Mortality increase correlates with climate change
• 2009/01/22: MongaBay: Climate change killing forests in the western U.S.
• 2009/01/22: NewScientist: Tree deaths double across western US
• 2009/01/22: Eureka: New study links western tree mortality to warming temperatures, water stress
• 2009/01/22: Eureka: Tree deaths have doubled across the western US -- Regional warming may be the cause
• 2009/01/22: Eureka: Warmer climate causing huge increase in tree mortality across the West
• 2009/01/22: Eureka: Tree death rate in Pacific Northwest doubled in 17 years
• 2009/01/22: CBC: Warming behind big increase in tree mortality in B.C., western U.S.: study

  A 50 year survey study asserts Antarctica is warming:

• 2009/01/21: RealClimate: State of Antarctica: red or blue?
• 2009/01/23: TerraDaily: 50 Years Of West Antarctic Warming
• 2009/01/21: CNN: Global warming hits Antarctica, study finds
  Common belief that Antarctica is getting colder debunked by new report - Evidence that western Antarctica is warming, offsetting Eastern Antarctic cooling - Satellite data used to determine that West Antarctica warmed in last 50 years - Antarctica isn't warming at the same rate everywhere, according to research
• 2009/01/22: KSJT: Lots of Ink: Antarctica warming up (a little bit anyway), making it a clean all-continent sweep
• 2009/01/22: MongaBay: Antarctica shows net warming over past 50 years
• 2009/01/22: ABC(Au): Scientists find evidence Antartica is warming
• 2009/01/22: DeSmogBlog: Antarctic Warming Like the Rest of the World
• 2009/01/22: Eureka: Satellites confirm half-century of West Antarctic warming
• 2009/01/22: OilChange: New Evidence that Antarctica is Warming
• 2009/01/22: CBC: Antarctica warming after all, study says
• 2009/01/22: BBC: New evidence on Antarctic warming
  The continent of Antarctica is warming up in step with the rest of the world, according to a new analysis.
• 2009/01/21: NatureCF: AGU 2008: Evidence that Antarctica has warmed significantly over past 50 years
• 2009/01/21: ClimateP: Antarctica has warmed significantly over past 50 years, revisited
• 2009/01/22: Guardian(UK): Scientists solve enigma of Antarctic 'cooling'
  Research 'kills off' climate sceptic argument by showing average temperature across the continent has risen over the last 50 years
• 2009/01/22: ABC(Au): Study findings contradict Antarctic cooling theory
• 2009/01/21: DotEarth: Antarctica: New Evidence of Western Warming
• 2009/01/21: NewScientist: Even Antarctica is now feeling the heat of climate change
• 2009/01/21: PhysOrg: New data show much of Antarctica is warming more than previously thought
• 2009/01/22: NYT: Warming in Antarctica Looks Certain
• 2009/01/21: Eureka: New data show much of Antarctica is warming more than previously thought
• 2009/01/21: Yahoo: Antarctica is warming, not cooling: study

  97% of climatologists say AGW is real:

• 2009/01/20: UIC: (928k pdf) Examining the Scientific Consensus on Climate Change by Peter Doran & Maggie Kendall Zimmerman
• 2009/01/23: GreenGrok: Statistically Speaking: What Do Scientists Think About Climate Change?
• 2009/01/19: FuturePundit: Poll Of Scientists Finds Support For Anthropogenic Global Warming
• 2009/01/21: ClimaticideChronicles: New Poll Shows Most Earth Scientists Agree on Global Warming
• 2009/01/22: MongaBay: 97% of climatologists say global warming is occurring and caused by humans
• 2009/01/20: ENS: Poll: Thousands of Scientists Affirm Human-Caused Global Warming
• 2009/01/21: Ph&Ph: Thousands of Scientists Affirm Human-Caused Global Warming
• 2009/01/19: PhysOrg: Survey: Scientists agree human-induced global warming is real
• 2009/01/19: CNN: Surveyed scientists agree global warming is real
  Most earth scientists believe humans cause of global warming, according to survey - 97 percent of climatologists canvassed believe humans play a role - Petroleum geologists and meteorologists were among the biggest doubters
• 2009/01/20: Deltoid: 97% of active climatologists agree that human activity is causing global warming
• 2009/01/19: Eureka: Survey: Scientists agree human-induced global warming is real
  While the harsh winter pounding many areas of North America and Europe seemingly contradicts the fact that global warming continues unabated, a new survey finds consensus among scientists about the reality of climate change and its likely cause. A group of 3,146 earth scientists surveyed around the world overwhelmingly agree that in the past 200-plus years, mean global temperatures have been rising, and that human activity is a significant contributing factor in changing mean global temperatures.

An International Renewable ENergy Agency has been formed:

• 2009/01/21: Yahoo: Germany hails creation of global climate-change agency
  Germany said on Wednesday it expected more than 100 countries to attend a major conference in Bonn next Monday to establish a new international agency promoting renewable energy (IRENA). Around half the countries represented would sign a founding treaty for the agency, which aims to boost the use of renewable sources of energy around the globe, Germany's environment ministry said in a statement. Sigmar Gabriel, the environment minister, said the creation of the agency was "a huge step forward" for the renewable energy sector which has "enormous potential" not only for climate protection but also for economic development.
• 2009/01/21: EarthTimes: Thailand to be a founding member of renewable energy agency

  The World Future Energy Summit went down in Abu Dhabi this week:

• 2009/01/23: GristMill: Crude oasis -- A sandstorm of renewable energy news from the World Future Energy Summit
• 2009/01/21: NewScientist: Launch green economic revolution now, says [Nicholas] Stern [at WFES]
• 2009/01/20: TreeHugger: World Future Energy Summit Kicks Off in Abu Dhabi
• 2009/01/19: Guardian(UK): World leaders meet to discuss renewable energy [at WFES in Abu Dhabi]
• 2009/01/19: Guardian(UK): A Stern dose of economic reality -- Author of the UK government's climate change report warns that "high carbon growth will kill itself"
• 2009/01/19: SwissInfo: Renewable energy focus of Abu Dhabi visit
  Energy Minister Moritz Leuenberger has called for an "energy revolution", in an address at the World Future Energy Summit 2009 in Abu Dhabi

A couple CBC pointers this week: the Y-D Impact theory, the forest decline and Gwynne Dyer's _Climate Wars_:

• 2009/01/24: CBC:Q&Q: (mp3/ogg) Mammoth Impact - Old Growth, New Death
• 2009/01/21: CBC:Ideas: Climate Wars

  The Arctic melt continues to get attention:

• 2009/01/25: Guardian(UK): Living on thin ice -- In a single year, the Arctic lost an area the size of Alaska. So how long before it melts altogether?
• 2009/01/23: ClimaticideChronicles: Arctic Sea Ice, Once Again, Refreezing at Same Rate as in Record-Setting 2006-2007

  As for the geopolitics of the Arctic resources:

• 2009/01/22: UNDispatch: Trouble for Law of the Sea in the SFRC [US Senate Foreign Relations Committee]?
• 2009/01/22: CBC: Arctic presence could cost Forces $843M a year: report
• 2009/01/20: DerSpiegel: [Greenland's Foreign Affairs Minister, Per Berthelsen interview] 'The Arctic Has Taught Us to Be Stubborn'
  Nowhere are the effects of climate change as obvious as in the Arctic. For Greenland, that may mean economic opportunity. SPIEGEL ONLINE spoke with Foreign Affairs Minister Per Berthelsen about how global warming might help the island.
• 2009/01/21: TStar: Lax laws threaten Arctic, group says -- Co-operative agreement between nations necessary to protect key areas, World Wildlife Fund reports

  In the Antarctic, the Wilkins Ice Sheet is about to disappear:

• 2009/01/23: CCurrents: Antarctic Ice Shelf Set To Collapse Due To warming
• 2009/01/22: Intersection:SRK: Losing The Tenth Ice Shelf [Wilkins]
• 2009/01/20: NatureTGB: Wilkins ice sheet hanging by an icy thread
• 2009/01/19: Reuters: Antarctic ice shelf set to collapse due to warming
• 2009/01/20: PeakEnergy: Antarctic ice shelf set to collapse
• 2009/01/20: ABC(Au): Antarctic ice shelf set to collapse
  A huge Antarctic ice shelf is on the brink of collapse with just a sliver of ice holding it in place, the latest victim of global warming that is altering maps of the frozen continent. "We've come to the Wilkins Ice Shelf to see its final death throes," David Vaughan, a glaciologist at the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), said after the first - and probably last - plane landed near the narrowest part of the ice. The flat-topped shelf has an area of thousands of square kilometres, jutting 20 metres out of the sea off the Antarctic Peninsula. But it is held together only by an ever-thinning 40-kilometre strip of ice that has eroded to an hour-glass shape just 500 metres wide at its narrowest. In 1950, the strip was almost 100 kilometres wide.

A couple of angles on particulates:

• 2009/01/25: SciDaily: Sources Of Climate- And Health-afflicting Soot Pollution Over South Asia Identified
• 2009/01/23: MongaBay: Deadly 'brown cloud' over South Asia caused by wood and dung burning
• 2009/01/22: NatureCF: Biomass, biomass, burning black [Asian haze]
• 2009/01/22: KSJT: Lots of Ink: Cleaner air means living longer in the USA. (Or, if clean coal's such an oxymoron, how do you explain THIS?)
• 2009/01/22: NewScientist: Cooking hearths largely to blame for Asian haze
• 2009/01/22: BBC: Cleaner air 'adds months to life'
  Cuts in air pollution in US cities over recent decades have added an average of five months of life to their inhabitants, research suggests.
• 2009/01/21: PhysOrg: Study: Cleaner air adds 5 months to US life span
• 2009/01/19: NatureCF: Fog clears, Europe warms
• 2009/01/20: TerraDaily: Report Calls Aerosol Research Key To Improving Climate Predictions
• 2009/01/19: BBC: Europe's lost mist 'boosts heat'
  Quite what Keats would have made of it is anyone's guess, but "mist and mellow fruitfulness" appears to be on the decline in Europe. The number of foggy, misty and hazy days is diminishing across the continent, say scientists who have analysed the meteorological data. The researchers found this clearing of the air in the past 30 years may have amplified the warming of Europe.
• 2009/01/18: Guardian(UK): Clearer skies over Europe as fog halved in 30 years
  Scientists discover 'massive decline' in fog, mist and haze as air quality improves, but it may accelerate global warming

Late coverage of the Tennessee coal sludge incident:

• 2009/01/23: ChicagoTrib: From 'catastrophe' to 'accident,' TVA edited coal ash spill information before public release
• 2009/01/21: TreeHugger: Tennessee Residents Demand Answers From Congress on TVA Coal Ash Spill Disaster

  The food crisis is ongoing:

• 2009/01/21: UN: Food crisis, corruption could reverse progress in West Africa, says UN envoy
• 2009/01/21: FuturePundit: World Grain Demand Could Surge With Failed China Crop
• 2009/01/23: TerraDaily: UN set to double food aid in 'catastrophic' Kenya
• 2009/01/21: PhysOrg: Industrialization of China increases fragility of global food supply
• 2009/01/21: Eureka: Industrialization of China increases fragility of global food supply
  Global grain markets are facing breaking point according to new research by the University of Leeds into the agricultural stability of China. Experts predict that if China's recent urbanisation trends continue, and the country imports just 5% more of its grain, the entire world's grain export would be swallowed whole. The knock-on effect on the food supply - and on prices - to developing nations could be huge.
• 2009/01/21: FoodWeek: World food crisis will be 'survival of the fittest'
• 2009/01/19: Euractiv: UN calls for global food security plan

  The conflict between biofuel and food persists:

• 2009/01/23: PeakEnergy: Food To Fuel
• 2009/01/21: GG&G: Is Ethanol Worth 100 Million Starving People?

  And how are we going to feed 9 billion?

• 2009/01/23: AfterGutenberg: Urban Agriculture
• 2009/01/24: ChinaDaily: Rice purchasing price to rise by 16%
  China's top economic planning body said Saturday it would raise the minimum state purchasing price for rice in major rice-producing areas by as much as 16.9 percent this year. The move was aimed at protecting farmers' interests, keeping grain prices stable and boosting grain output as grain growers had experienced higher costs since last year, according to the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC). The state purchasing prices for japonica rice will rise 15.9 percent to 1900 yuan (US$280) per ton this year, according to the NDRC. In addition, prices for early and late indica rice will be 16.9 percent and 16.5 percent higher respectively to 1800 yuan and 1840 yuan per ton. It was the biggest increase in grain purchasing prices since 2004, said Ding Jie, an official with the NDRC's price department.
• 2009/01/23: Independent(UK): Grow your own: The seeds of change -- As shoppers feel the pinch, more Britons are tearing out the decking and turning their lawns into vegetable plots.
• 2009/01/21: PhysOrg: New, higher-yielding rice plant could ease threat of hunger for poor
• 2009/01/21: EconView: A Breakthrough Against Hunger?
• 2009/01/20: TerraDaily: New Digital Map Of Africa's Depleted Soils

  Cyclones Eric and Fanele troubled Madagascar this week; elsewhere it was quiet:

• 2009/01/23: EarthTimes: At least nine dead in Madagascar cyclone [Fanele] - two US yachtsmen missing
• 2009/01/20: EarthTimes: Madagascar swept by two tropical cyclones: hundreds homeless

  On the aftereffects of Katrina:

• 2009/01/22: JHSPH: Decline in Health Among Older Adults Affected by Hurricane Katrina

  As for GHGs:

• 2009/01/22: S&R: U.S. carbon emissions 20% greater than official estimates
• 2009/01/22: ClimateP: U.S. carbon dioxide emissions growth during Bush years 300% higher than official estimates
• 2009/01/21: PhysOrg: Termite insecticide [Sulfuryl fluoride] a potent greenhouse gas
  An insecticide used to fumigate termite-infested buildings is a strong greenhouse gas that lives in the atmosphere nearly 10 times longer than previously thought...[at least 30-40 years and perhaps as long as 100 years]

And the carbon cycle:

• 2009/01/22: NYT: How Green Is My Orange?
  How much does your morning glass of orange juice contribute to global warming? PepsiCo, which owns the Tropicana brand, decided to try to answer that question. It figured that as public concern grows about the fate of the planet, companies will find themselves under pressure to perform such calculations. Orange juice seemed like a good case study. PepsiCo hired experts to do the math, measuring the emissions from such energy-intensive tasks as running a factory and transporting heavy juice cartons. But it turned out that the biggest single source of emissions was simply growing oranges. Citrus groves use a lot of nitrogen fertilizer, which requires natural gas to make and can turn into a potent greenhouse gas when it is spread on fields. PepsiCo finally came up with a number: the equivalent of 3.75 pounds of carbon dioxide are emitted to the atmosphere for each half-gallon carton of orange juice. But the company is still debating how to use that information. Should it cite the number in its marketing, and would consumers have a clue what to make of it?

As for the temperature record:

• 2009/01/21: Wunderground: 2008: Ninth warmest year on record

  While in the paleoclimate:

• 2009/01/23: TerraDaily: Sea Bed Provides Data On Climatic Change Today
• 2009/01/18: UGranada: Sea bed provides information about present climatic change
• 2009/01/20: Eureka: Project MARGO: A new tool which improves the reliability of climate models -- Reconstructions of global ocean temperatures during the Last Glacial Maximum
• 2009/01/20: Nature:GeoSci: [Letter ab$] Constraints on the magnitude and patterns of ocean cooling at the Last Glacial Maximum by MARGO Project Members
• 2009/01/20: NewScientist: Rainmaker ritual helps date ancient droughts
• 2009/01/20: PhysOrg: New Ice Age maps point to climate change patterns
  New climate maps of the Earth's surface during the height of the last Ice Age support predictions that northern Australia will become wetter and southern Australia drier due to climate change.
• 2009/01/20: ENN: Ice age maps predict change in Australian climate
• 2009/01/20: SciDaily: Earthquakes, El Ninos Fatal To Earliest Civilization In [Peru] Americas

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

• 2009/01/23: Wunderground: La Niña on the way?

  Glaciers are melting:

• 2009/01/19: Guardian(UK): Most glaciers will disappear by middle of century and add to rising sea levels, [WGMS] expert warns
  Melt rates for 2007 fall but still third worst on record -- Threat to livelihoods of 2bn dependent on rivers

Sea levels are rising:

• 2009/01/23: PhysOrg: Rising sea threatens coastline
  Experts at The University of Manchester are to produce a detailed picture of the public's views on the uncertain future of a 250-mile-stretch of coastline. Large parts of the coast between Anglesey and Carlisle are likely to be adversely affected by rising sea levels and erosion over the next hundred years.
• 2009/01/22: Guardian(UK): New US report details effects of rising sea levels
• 2009/01/22: ScienceP: The Human Toll of Climate Change: Vietnam -- Vietnam the most vulnerable to sea level rise
• 2009/01/22: ABC(Au): Report identifies high risk areas as sea levels rise
  The report has identified 300 homes which could be at risk as sea levels rise. (ABC News: Phil Long) A new report on the impact of climate change on coastal areas has identified high risk properties in Tasmania's south. Clarence was the only Tasmanian council to take part in the national study. The report has found a significant number of properties in low lying coastal areas at Lauderdale, Cremorne and South Arm road face the threat of erosion, flooding, sea level rises and storm surges. By the year 2100, the threat is expected to extend to other coastal areas in Clarence, including Clifton Beach and Kangaroo Bay.
• 2009/01/21: TerraDaily: Ice Melt Increases Coastal Erosion [USGS]
• 2009/01/21: CharlotteObserver: Report: N.C. among most at risk to rising seas -- Erosion combined with rising water levels could reach a point that some barrier islands break apart
• 2009/01/19: Intersection:SRK: Federal Report Warns Of Rising Sea Levels

  Meanwhile in near earth orbit:

• 2009/01/23: NatureTGB: Japan launches satellite to track greenhouse gases [GoSat]
• 2009/01/23: CBC: Japan launches rocket with greenhouse-gas probe [GoSat]
• 2009/01/22: NOAANews: NOAA Prepares to Launch New Polar-Orbiting Satellite for Climate & Weather [NOAA-N Prime]
• 2009/01/22: CanWest: Alta. scientists to track greenhouse gases from space [GoSat]
• 2009/01/21: BBC: Climate satellite set for launch
  A Japanese spacecraft is due to launch on a mission to help scientists understand and monitor how the Earth's climate is changing. Gosat is a two-metric-tonne Earth-orbiting satellite which will map the abundance of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, and where they are. The probe will lift off from the Tanegashima launch site in southern Japan early on Thursday. It will orbit the planet at an altitude of 666km during its five-year mission.
• 2009/01/21: BBC: A new 'pair of eyes' in space
  They are the "eyes in the sky" that spy on Afghan poppy growers and mapped the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. Now, two new satellites are to be added to the five-strong DMC constellation, and made freely available for research. Deimos-1 and UK-DMC2 will supply imagery to support global environment monitoring projects when they launch later this year. The current DMC quintet has captured the aftermath of the 2004 Asian tsunami and the deforestation of the Amazon.
• 2009/01/19: PhysOrg: Satellites help locate water in Niger

  More GW impacts are being seen:

• 2009/01/24: RealClimate: Reindeer herding, indigenous people and climate change
• 2009/01/22: NatureCC: Where warming hits hard
  Threatened with encroaching seas, dwindling water supplies and fiercer storms, Bangladesh is already suffering the ill effects of rising global greenhouse gas emissions. Mason Inman reports on how the region is coping with climate change.
• 2009/01/23: NatureCF: Climate and society in the Arctic
• 2009/01/23: TerraDaily: Seasonal Peaks Coming Two Days Earlier
• 2009/01/23: SciDaily: Treeline Advances In Canada's Arctic
• 2009/01/23: CBC: 2008 one of worst years for natural disasters this decade
• 2009/01/23: CCurrents: Ecologists Warn The Planet Is Running Short Of Water
• 2009/01/22: Guardian(UK): When will the water run out? Climate change, increased industrial demand and wanton wastefulness: is 'peak water' upon us?
• 2009/01/22: CBC: Summer, winter getting warmer: study
• 2009/01/21: NatureTGB: Nazca lines get a soaking
• 2009/01/21: PhysOrg: The global impact of climate change on biodiversity
• 2009/01/21: PhysOrg: Earth's seasons now arrive 2 days earlier, researchers report
  Not only has the average global temperature increased in the past 50 years, but the hottest day of the year has shifted nearly two days earlier, according to a new study by scientists from the University of California, Berkeley, and Harvard University.
• 2009/01/21: York(UK): The global impact of climate change on biodiversity
• 2009/01/20: PhysOrg: Heavy rains alter Peru's famed [2,000 year old] Nazca Lines
• 2009/01/20: TerraDaily: Great Lakes Water Level Sensitive To Climate Change
• 2009/01/20: TerraDaily: Global Warming Linked To European Viral Epidemic
• 2009/01/20: Eureka: Bacterial pathogens and rising temperatures threaten coral health

  And then there are the world's forests:

• 2009/01/21: CTB: Current Status of REDD [Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation]
• 2009/01/23: Eureka: Scientists use lasers to measure changes to tropical forests
• 2009/01/22: SciAm: Are Old-Growth Forests Protected in the U.S.? How much area in the U.S. is still covered with ancient forests?
• 2009/01/20: NatureN: Secondary forests are worth saving -- Biodiversity there isn't as rich as untouched rainforest, but should still be conserved, some argue.
• 2009/01/20: NatureTGB: Congo logging brought under control
• 2009/01/20: BBC: DR Congo cancels timber contracts
  The Democratic Republic of Congo government has cancelled nearly 60% of timber contracts in the world's second-largest tropical rainforest. It follows a six-month review of 156 logging deals aimed at stamping out corruption in the sector and enforcing legal and environmental standards. At the end of the World Bank-backed process, government ministers found that only 65 timber deals were viable. New contracts will be issued for 90,000 sq km (35,000 square miles) of forest. Environment Minister Jose Endundo told a news conference in the capital Kinshasa that the other agreements would be cancelled.

Climate refugees are becoming an issue:

• 2009/01/24: BBC: Migrants escape on Italian island
  Hundreds of illegal immigrants have broken out of a detention centre on the Italian island of Lampedusa and are staging a protest, officials have said.
• 2009/01/23: UN: Overcrowding of boat people on Italian island worries UN refugee agency

  Yes, we have no wacky weather, except:

• 2009/01/25: TerraDaily: Hurricane-force winds kill 15 in Spain, France
• 2009/01/25: EarthTimes: Large parts of Europe recover from killer storm, 18 dead
• 2009/01/24: EarthTimes: Weather deaths climb to four in France, 15 Europe-wide
• 2009/01/24: EarthTimes: European storm kills at least 13 people
• 2009/01/25: Guardian(UK): Death toll rises as storms sweep Europe
• 2009/01/24: Reuters: Storm kills 15 in Spain, France
• 2009/01/24: EarthTimes: Hundreds of thousands without power after heavy storm in France
• 2009/01/24: BBC: European storm death toll mounts
  Hurricane-force winds hitting northern Spain have brought down the roof of a sports hall near Barcelona, killing four children, local officials say. Ten people died in other, separate incidents in Spain and south-western France as the fiercest storm in a decade blew in from the Atlantic. Torrential rains and winds of up to 172km/h (107mph) are being reported. More than 1.5m homes in France suffered power cuts while road and rail links were blocked and airports closed. The impact of the storm have been felt from the Channel Isles to Barcelona, but the strongest winds and heaviest rain were concentrated on the French south-west.
• 2009/01/24: CBC: Sports centre collapse kills 4 children in Barcelona
  Four children were killed and several others injured when a sports centre collapsed near Barcelona during a powerful rainstorm Saturday. [...] Witnesses say the children were at the facility in the town of Sant Boi de Llobregat to play baseball and had sought shelter under a viewing stand during a storm that brought heavy rain and winds gusting to 160 km/h.
• 2009/01/22: TerraDaily: At least 15 killed in Algeria during storms: report

  We have heatwaves and wild fires:

• 2009/01/25: SMH: Fire ban as bushland burns
  Temperatures soared past 40 degrees yesterday as hot, dry windy conditions fuelled 13 bushfires across NSW.
• 2009/01/25: SMH: Sydney weathers the drama of heat, wind and fire... even the relief was extreme
  Relief came late for Sydneysiders who sweltered through temperatures up to 42 degrees yesterday. At least 13 bushfires raged across NSW yesterday, an elderly woman died in a house fire and another woman jumped from a second-floor balcony to save her life after separate blazes destroyed four homes.
• 2009/01/22: EarthTimes: Forest fires flare in Australia

  As for disruptions of the hydrological cycle[floods & droughts]:

• 2009/01/25: SciDaily: More Accurate FEMA Flood Maps Could Help Avoid Significant Damages And Losses
• 2009/01/23: UN: Shelter for flood-battered Colombians to be built with emergency funding, UN says
• 2009/01/23: MSNBC: Drought spurs Calif. farmers to slash planting -- 'It's ugly,' one grower says as tomato, melon and almond crops face hit
• 2009/01/20: TerraDaily: Indonesia braces for flood-related diseases
• 2009/01/18: TerraDaily: Death toll rises to 28 in Philippines floods, landslides

  Elsewhere on the mitigation front:

• 2009/01/23: TreeHugger: James Lovelock's One Last Chance to Save Humanity From Climate Change: Burying Large Amounts of Charcoal in the Ground
• 2009/01/21: NewScientist: One last chance to save mankind [James Lovelock interview]
• 2009/01/20: SeedDaily: Strategic Farming Practices Could Help Mitigate Global Warming

  Consider transportation & GHG production:

• 2009/01/22: CalcRisk: DOT: U.S. Vehicle Miles Driven Declines Sharply [-5.3% for Nov 2008 from Nov 2007]
• 2009/01/22: CalcRisk: Rail Freight Traffic Off Sharply in 2009
• 2009/01/22: Guardian(UK): Greenwash: Time for rail to raise its game and cut emissions

  While in the endless quest for sustainable building codes:

• 2009/01/22: GristMill: Finish what you didn't start -- As housing starts slump, green building gains steam

  As for carbon sequestration:

• 2009/01/24: TreeHugger: Hot Climate Action By Calera: Utility Stack Gas + Sea Water = Calcium Carbonate \/+ Hydrogen Sulfide
• 2009/01/12: ES&T: Ocean Sequestration of Crop Residue Carbon: Recycling Fossil Fuel Carbon Back to Deep Sediments by Stuart E. Strand et al.
• 2009/01/21: BizGreen: UK government poised to set out CCS rules
  Top official reveals definition on what constitutes a "carbon capture ready" power station is just weeks away
• 2009/01/20: CarbonPositive: CCS advance a tall order amid recession

  Large scale geo-engineering keeps popping up:

• 2009/01/09: WiredSci: U.N. Says 'No,' Climate Hackers Say, 'Yes We Can'
• 2009/01/14: BBadger: geoengineering 'ethically unsound' says geoengineer
• 2009/01/21: MongaBay: Could engineering rainforests save the planet from global warming?
• 2009/01/21: SMH: Climate scientists seek a urea moment
  Sydney researchers are pushing ahead with controversial plans to fertilise the ocean off Australia's coast and use plankton to slow climate change. The director of the University of Sydney's Ocean Technology Group, Professor Ian Jones, said sprinkling nitrate fertiliser across an area of ocean just 40 kilometres by 40 kilometres would stimulate the growth of carbon-absorbing plankton on a scale big enough to meet the Federal Government's total greenhouse gas reduction target for 2020. But many scientists believe the claims are too good to be true, and fertilising the ocean could have unpredictable effects on marine life, including the creation of vast blooms of toxic algae.

Meanwhile in the journals:

• 2009/01/21: CP: Western Europe is warming much faster than expected by G. J. van Oldenborgh et al.
• 2009/01/21: CPD: Pleistocene glacial variability as a chaotic response to obliquity forcing by P. Huybers
• 2009/01/20: CPD: Abrupt climate changes of the last deglaciation detected in a western Mediterranean forest record by W. J. Fletcher et al.
• 2009/01/23: Science: Widespread Increase of Tree Mortality Rates in the Western United States by Phillip J. van Mantgem et al.
• 2009/01/22: TCD: The Gregoriev Ice Cap evolution according to the 2-D ice flowline model for various climatic scenarios in the future by Y. V. Konovalov & O. V. Nagornov
• 2009/01/21: TCD: Rapid and accurate measurement of the specific surface area of snow using infrared reflectance at 1310 and 1550 nm by J.-C. Gallet et al.
• 2009/01/18: TCD: A full-Stokes ice flow model for the vicinity of Dome Fuji, Antarctica, with induced anisotropy and fabric evolution by H. Seddik et al.
• 2008/10/10: CC: (ab$) The impact of sea level rise on developing countries: a comparative analysis by Susmita Dasgupta et al.
• 2007/11/01: CFR: [link to 2.1 meg pdf] CSIS: The Age of Consequences -- The Foreign Policy and National Security Implications of Global Climate Change
• 2009/01/20: PNAS: Human predators outpace other agents of trait change in the wild by Chris T. Darimont et al.
• 2009/01/20: PNAS: Turning back from the brink: Detecting an impending regime shift in time to avert it by Reinette Biggs et al.
• 2009/01/20: UIC: (928k pdf) Examining the Scientific Consensus on Climate Change by Peter Doran & Maggie Kendall Zimmerman
• 2009/01/20: Nature:GeoSci: [Letter ab$] Constraints on the magnitude and patterns of ocean cooling at the Last Glacial Maximum by MARGO Project Members
• 2009/01/12: ES&T: Ocean Sequestration of Crop Residue Carbon: Recycling Fossil Fuel Carbon Back to Deep Sediments by Stuart E. Strand et al.

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

• 2009/01/20: NatureCF: CLIMAP [Climate: Long Range Investigation, Mapping and Prediction] for the 21st century
• 2009/01/20: JEB: Your opinions, please -- But only if they are the right sort of opinions, perhaps.

  The Pielke fan clubbe put in an appearance:

• 2009/01/25: AFTIC: Classic Pielke
• 2009/01/20: ERabett: John Fleck is right

  Meanwhile on the Kyoto-2 front:

• 2009/01/23: Reuters: EU to propose $200 bln climate tax on rich nations
  Rich nations could raise $200 billion in climate funds through a levy on their greenhouse gases from 2013-2020 to help poor countries prepare for global warming, the European Union will say next week. The plan is set out in an EU paper outlining the bloc's position ahead of U.N.-led climate talks in Copenhagen in December, meant to agree a new, global climate treaty.
• 2009/01/22: ClimateP: The Tech Transfer Trap
• 2009/01/21: Reuters: EU wants airlines, ships in post-Kyoto pact
• 2009/01/22: Guardian(UK): Winds of change: Blair calls for new climate change agreement
• 2009/01/19: PolishMarket: On the road to Copenhagen

  While at the UN:

• 2009/01/21: ENN: Interview with IPCC Chair Rajendra Pachauri
• 2009/01/19: WorldChanging: Worldchanging Interview: IPCC Chair Rajendra Pachauri

  And on the carbon trading front:

• 2009/01/24: GristMill: Comparing apples to doughnuts -- A closer look at current U.S. CO2 pricing
• 2009/01/23: GristMill: Journalists get distracted by carbon prices again -- Carbon price volatility is a real issue
• 2009/01/24: CarbonFin: Economic woes lead carbon to historic lows
• 2009/01/22: PlanetArk: EU Climate Cash Windfall For Industry In Downturn
  European factories are cashing in on an unexpected benefit from wilting output, selling surplus carbon emissions permits worth about 1 billion euros ($1.29 billion) to raise funds on the carbon market. A recession in Europe will dent industrial output this year and this will sap energy demand and carbon emissions, leading to a surplus of permits among big polluters including steel and cement makers. Companies from some of the European Union's most polluting industries are now raising funds on the carbon market to help them weather the credit crisis.
• 2009/01/21: WSJ:EnvCap: Cheap Carbon: Permit Prices Tank, Threatening Clean-Energy Projects
• 2009/01/20: NatureN: Prices plummet on carbon market -- Falling oil prices slash value of greenhouse gas emission allowances
• 2009/01/19: BBerg: Carbon-Capture Projects Become Viable at $50 a Ton
  Permits to release a ton of carbon dioxide into the air need to cost about $50 each, or three times Europe's current price, for companies to invest in experimental technology to trap the greenhouse gas, Nicholas Stern said. At that price, projects that capture and safely bury CO2 underground can be developed to help stem emissions of the global-warming gas during the next 20 to 30 years, the London School of Economics professor said today in televised remarks at the World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi.
• 2009/01/20: PlanetArk: Australia Emission Trade Gives Price Indication
  The first trade in Australian Emissions Units (AEU) since the government released its blueprint for a carbon trading scheme was carried out on Monday, providing an indication of the future cost of polluting in Australia. Newedge senior energy trader Donovan Marsh said his firm handled a transaction of 10,000 AEUs expiring on June 20, 2012 at A$22.25 ($15.14) each, helping to establish a price for carbon trading in Australia ahead of the start-up of the government's scheme.
• 2009/01/19: Reuters: EU carbon price hits all-time 2008-12 low [11.78 euros/tonne]
• 2009/01/19: EarthTimes: Spanish companies sell CO2 emission rights to survive the [economic] crisis
• 2009/01/19: BBerg: EU Carbon Falls to Record [12 euros/metric ton] as U.K. Makes a Second Bank Rescue

  The idea of a carbon tax is still bouncing around:

• 2009/01/22: GreenGrok: Is the Conservative-Friendly Carbon Tax a Regressive Flat Tax In Disguise?
  What's wrong with this picture? Conservatives, such as the members of Wall Street Journal's editorial board, are talking up a carbon tax instead of a market-based system to address climate change. These are the folks whose favorite refrain is "no new taxes." What gives? The choice between a cap-and-trade system and a carbon tax is not obvious.

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:

• 2009/01/25: ClimateP: Rip-offset price crashes: Finally you can get nothing for nothing
• 2009/01/21: NakedCapitalism: Is Cap and Trade Dead on Arrival?

  Meanwhile on the international political front:

• 2009/01/23: DotEarth: E.U. Appeals to U.S. to Join Carbon Market

  As for GW & security:

• 2007/11/01: CFR: [link to 2.1 meg pdf] CSIS: The Age of Consequences -- The Foreign Policy and National Security Implications of Global Climate Change

  And on the American political front:

• 2009/01/23: PhTB: Chu, Jackson confirmed as Congress puts its stamp on science, energy issues
• 2009/01/24: Time: Raising the Bar on Fighting Climate Change [USCAP & US pol]
• 2009/01/22: EnvFin: US stimulus package proposes $54 billion clean energy spend
• 2009/01/23: ClimateP: Wow! Waxman puts utility decoupling in the stimulus
• 2009/01/22: ClimateP: House Ways & Means embraces refundable renewable tax credits
• 2009/01/23: GristMill: Hill heap -- Green(ish) news from around the Capitol
• 2009/01/22: ClimateP: Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) agrees with Climate Progress on rip-offsets
• 2009/01/22: GristMill: Oh say, can you Pelosi -- House speaker now says she wants a climate bill passed by December
• 2009/01/22: GristMill: Jackson inaction -- Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso (R) delays confirmation of EPA chief
• 2009/01/22: HillHeat: Senator John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) Places Hold on EPA Nominee Jackson Because of [Carol] Browner
• 2009/01/22: TreeHugger: Green, Baby, Green! Alaska Aims For 50% Renewable Energy by 2025
• 2009/01/22: WSJ:EnvCap: Green Grunts: Pros and Cons of Military's Alternative-Fuel Quest
• 2009/01/22: TP:WonkRoom: [Senator Jay] Rockefeller (D-WV) At Treasury Secretary Hearing: 'Clean Coal Is Dirty'
• 2009/01/21: FresnoBee: Schwarzenegger asks Obama for tailpipe rules
• 2009/01/21: NatureTGB: California puts environmental projects on ice -- intending to relieve California's massive budget crisis
• 2009/01/21: GristMill: Illinois embarrasses itself again -- Legislature approves 'Clean Coal Portfolio Standards,' green-lights new coal plant
• 2009/01/21: C411: Chart and Context: Emissions Reductions Called for by USCAP
• 2009/01/20: SeattlePI: [Washington Governor, Chris] Gregoire pushes cap-and-trade bill -- Emissions would come at a cost
• 2009/01/20: FTimes: Hard battle ahead on market solution for pollution
  Wasn't all that warm fuzziness over the election of Obama just so . . . so . . . warm and fuzzy? Now for cold and hard-edged. That describes the emotions over intra-governmental fights that will start in earnest this week. The most immediate are over the nature of the economic stimulus, or who has the longest reach. When that is settled in the next two months, the struggle moves on to harder issues, such as reworking environmental law and regulation. The most serious struggle will be over climate change, or the regulation of carbon emissions. You can forget all the chitchat about finding a consensus on this one: the coal people and the enviros are in this match until one side is carried out.
• 2009/01/20: ClimateP: Chu confirmed unanimously as Energy Secretary
• 2009/01/20: GristMill: Filling the Cabinet -- Senate confirms Obama's picks to run Energy, USDA, and Interior
• 2009/01/20: GristMill: The stimulative effects of energy efficiency -- Parsing Section 451 of the House stimulus package
• 2009/01/20: GristMill: USCAP in context -- How the cap-and-trade blueprint fits into domestic and international climate action
• 2009/01/20: TreeHugger: CARB Trying to Kill Plug-in Hybrid Conversion Startups in California?
• 2009/01/20: NEN: Great debate [between CC activists and CC pragmatists] on climate change joined
• 2009/01/18: ClimateP: NRDC's David Hawkins on Climate, Congress and the U.S. Climate Action Partnership
• 2009/01/18: ClimateP: GOP leader Scrooge Boehner disses weatherizing low-income homes and cutting the deficit

  I wonder why this hasn't raised an outcry?

• 2009/01/19: EconPop: GM Using Bail Out Money to Invest in Brazil!

  The Tim DeChristopher saga unfolds:

• 2009/01/20: TreeHugger: Judge Temporarily Halts Oil & Gas Leasing on Utah Public Lands
• 2009/01/20: OilChange: Bush's Final "Bull-dozer" Stopped in its Tracks [BLM auction]
• 2009/01/20: Guardian(UK): Activist's land bid halts oil rush
  An attempt to sell off more than 100,000 acres of land near national parks in Utah for oil and gas drilling has been halted by a federal judge. The ruling, in response to a lawsuit filed by several environmental groups, suspends the sale of 77 parcels of land at an auction held in December.

Public Transportation was removed from the proposed stimulus bill. Why?:

• 2009/01/24: GristMill: God bless Rachel Maddow -- On Maddow show, Rep. Oberstar DeFazio fingers Larry Summers as destroyer of transit spend
• 2009/01/22: SameFacts: What Happened to Transit in the Stimulus?
• 2009/01/22: TP:WonkRoom: Rep. Oberstar: In Stimulus, Mass Transit Got Nixed For Tax Cuts
• 2009/01/22: TreeHugger: Quote of the Day: Why Obama Admin Wimped Out on Water, Transit
• 2009/01/22: ThinkP: Oberstar: Funding for mass transit projects got nixed for tax cuts
• 2009/01/21: GristMill: The Transit Authority: Stimulus miss -- Bills for highways, no change for transit

  A couple of polls in the States got tongues a wagggin':

• 2009/01/19: RasmussenReports: 44% Say Global Warming Due To Planetary Trends, Not People
• 2009/01/23: GristMill: Connecting the economy-energy-environment dots -- Seeing the light in the Pew poll on Americans' top priorities
• 2009/01/23: GristMill: Science is hard! Americans' climate change doubts aren't hard to understand
• 2009/01/22: AbqJournal: US Support for Action on Greenhouse Gases Weak [Pew Poll]
• 2009/01/23: QuarkSoup: Global Warming Polls Dead Last
• 2009/01/23: NYT: Environmental Issues Slide in Poll of Public's Concerns
  A new poll suggests that Americans, preoccupied with the economy, are less worried about rising global temperatures than they were a year ago but remain concerned with solving the nation's energy problems. The findings are somewhat at odds with President Obama, who has put a high priority on staving off global warming and vowed Tuesday in his Inaugural Address to "roll back the specter of a warming planet." In the poll, released Thursday by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center, global warming came in last among 20 voter concerns; it trailed issues like addressing moral decline and decreasing the influence of lobbyists. Only 30 percent of the voters deemed global warming to be "a top priority," compared with 35 percent in 2008.
• 2009/01/22: Pew: Economy, Jobs Trump All Other Policy Priorities In 2009 -- Environment, Immigration, Health Care Slip Down the List [US pol]
• 2009/01/22: DotEarth: Obama Urgent on Warming, Public Cool
• 2009/01/21: BCLSB: Surveys? We Got Global Warming Surveys!

  The Bush administration tried to hide these reports by releasing them on the last friday afternoon of it's term, but the blogosphere didn't cooperate:

• 2009/01/16: USCCSP: Past Climate Variability and Change in the Arctic and at High Latitudes -- Final Report, Synthesis and Assessment Product 1.2
• 2009/01/16: USCCSP: Atmospheric Aerosol Properties and Climate Impacts -- Final Report, Synthesis and Assessment Product 2.3
• 2009/01/16: USCCSP: Thresholds of Climate Change in Ecosystems -- Final Report, Synthesis and Assessment Product 4.2
• 2009/01/16: USCCSP: Coastal Sensitivity to Sea-Level Rise: A Focus on the Mid-Atlantic Region -- Final Report, Synthesis and Assessment Product 4.1
• 2009/01/19: ClimateP: The four global warming impact studies Bush tried to bury in his final days
• 2009/01/19: CSW: A grand finale (?) for climate program under Bush: Last 5 of 21 reports approved at 11th hour

  The Obama chatter is nonstop:

• 2009/01/25: CSW: Obama government openness pledge a challenge to change federal culture, reward truth-tellers
• 2009/01/22: McClatchyDC: What Bush action can Obama undo next? Emissions standards
• 2009/01/22: CSM: Obama halts some of Bush's 'midnight rules'
• 2009/01/23: KSJT: NYTimes, and more: Obama's really going to have to lead on climate change; public has it low on its to-do list
• 2009/01/23: SF Gate: A clean-air choice for Obama -- He should let California and 18 other states set tough limits on greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles
• 2009/01/19: BBC: Setting out Obama's green agenda
• 2009/01/22: ClimateP: Plea to Obama: Kill the Air Force liquid coal plant
• 2009/01/22: GristMill: Radicalism or failure -- What the Obama presidency means
• 2009/01/21: GristMill: California dreaming -- State leaders urge Obama administration to act quickly on emissions waiver
• 2009/01/22: DeSmogBlog: Obama's Green Stimulus: Big Enough to Do the Trick?
• 2009/01/22: Yahoo: Schwarzenegger asks Obama for tailpipe rules
• 2009/01/21: Guardian(UK): Obama's green team and their tasks
• 2009/01/21: ClimateP: Obama halts Bush's final rules
• 2009/01/21: Google:AFP: Obama: US will 'roll back the specter of a warming planet'
• 2009/01/21: TreeHugger: Dear Mr. President, Why No Secretary Of The Environment?
• 2009/01/20: WaPo: Obama Halts New or Pending Bush Regulations
• 2009/01/21: JFrankels: Advice for the New Administration: Spend Green Today, Tax Green in the Future
• 2009/01/20: Guardian(UK): President Obama hails new 'Age of Responsibility'
  President Obama pledges to 'roll back the spectre of a warming planet' by changing the way America uses energy and the world's resources
• 2009/01/20: GreenGrok: Statistically Speaking -- Inaugurals and the Environment
• 2009/01/20: ClimateP: President Obama's call to action on energy and climate: "Each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet."
• 2009/01/20: ClimateP: The Day the Earth Stood Still -- and the Challenge for Obama
• 2009/01/20: ClimateP: The end of an error
• 2009/01/20: DotEarth: Obama's Turn
• 2009/01/20: NewScientist: Obama to restore science to its rightful place
• 2009/01/20: PhysOrg: Obama gives White House site online overhaul
• 2009/01/20: GristMill: Does the long green conflict with going green? Efficiency in the Obama economic revitalization plan
• 2009/01/20: GristMill: WWW-Agenda -- Energy and environment front and center on White House website
• 2009/01/20: GristMill: Change is here -- Obama references energy, climate challenges in inaugural address
• 2009/01/20: TreeHugger: Official White House Policy on Energy & The Environment Spelled Out On New Website
• 2009/01/20: WSJ:EnvCap: Obama's Big Speech: Yes We Can Include Energy
• 2009/01/19: Guardian(UK): Energy and emissions top Obama's green tasklist -- What can be reasonably expected...?
• 2009/01/19: PlanetArk: Obama Energy Goal Ambitious, Attainable: IEA Chief
• 2009/01/19: OilChange: Obama "Has Four Years" to Save the Planet

  The first actions of the Obama administration are being watched closely:

• 2009/01/25: LA Times: Obama moves forward with plans to cut emissions
  A cap-and-trade initiative would limit greenhouse gases and raise the cost of pumping more carbon into the atmosphere. Some fear it could also further hurt the economy.
• 2009/01/23: Reuters: EPA objects to coal plant, Sierra Club claims new day
• 2009/01/23: TP:WonkRoom: Obama's EPA Places Brakes On New Coal Plants
• 2009/01/24: TP:WonkRoom: New EPA Admin: Science, Transparency And The Rule Of Law 'Will Shape Everything I Do'
• 2009/01/23: SymmetryBreaking: Energy Secretary Steven Chu looks to labs for DOE's future
• 2009/01/23: GristMill: Sorry, Miss Jackson -- GAO: EPA's chemical oversight system is broken
  Few Obama officials have quite as much mess to clean up as EPA administrator Lisa Jackson. As if to warn her of the gravity of her task, the General Accounting Office has just added a key EPA oversight area to its list of government functions that are at "high risk" of "fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement"
• 2009/01/23: WarmingLaw: Change is Already Here
  Yesterday, January 22, EPA did something it hasn't done for the last 8 years: objected to a Clean Air Act permit for a new coal-fired power plant.
• 2009/01/22: CV: Steven Chu Addresses the National Labs
• 2009/01/22: CSW: Getting to know John Holdren, Part 2: A compendium of CSW posts 2006-2009
• 2009/01/21: ClimateP: Chu at Energy/Enviro Ball: "We are on a path that scares me." Plus Sue Tierney for Deputy, names for Under, and stuff I leaned at DOE, Part 2
• 2009/01/19: GristMill: Change we can believe in at USDA? All eyes on ag chief Vilsack's undersecretary pick

  The Gore-apalooza is still bopping along:

• 2009/01/22: GristMill: Gore to bring climate message to Senate next Wednesday
• 2009/01/21: AutoBG: Al Gore's group pushes for plug in vehicles in new Repower America ad

  While in the UK:

• 2009/01/21: BioEnergyBiz: UK biofuels below par on sustainability
• 2009/01/23: BBC: Potential nuclear sites are named
  Four potential sites for new nuclear power stations have been proposed as the government's process for choosing suitable locations starts in earnest. Sellafield in Cumbria, Bradwell in Essex, Oldbury in Gloucestershire and Wylfa in Anglesey have been named by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority. The criteria on which sites will be judged will be published on Tuesday, with a decision due later this year.
• 2009/01/22: BBC: 'Greening' of heating on the agenda
  Energy experts are meeting to generate new ideas for the "greening" of heating, which produces 47% of the UK's CO2 emissions. Heating, the Cinderella of the energy debate, consumes 49% of final energy in the UK but attracts a tiny fraction of the publicity afforded to electricity generation and transport. The government will shortly launch a consultation for a heat strategy.
• 2009/01/21: BizGreen: UK government poised to set out CCS rules
  Top official reveals definition on what constitutes a "carbon capture ready" power station is just weeks away
• 2009/01/19: Guardian(UK): Why we must have a Green New Deal
  The Green party's strategy to combat our environmental and economic crises could set the agenda for the future
• 2009/01/19: Guardian(UK): Hoon v greens part 3: now a ban from his favourite music festival

  And in Europe:

• 2009/01/23: EurActiv: [European] Commission promotes clean, efficient shipping
• 2009/01/22: EurActiv: EU urged to reconsider strategic energy goals
• 2009/01/20: SciDaily: Power Emissions Limits To Save Most Carbon At Least Cost, Study Suggests
  The least cost way to reduce power related carbon emissions in Europe would be to supplement the EU's Emissions Trading System (ETS) with the introduction of Emissions Performance Standards for energy, according to a new study.

Meanwhile in Australia:

• 2009/01/25: ABC(Au): Federal Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull says carbon capture technologies have been neglected by the Rudd Government in its carbon pollution reduction scheme (CPRS).
• 2009/01/25: ABC(Au): Turnbull's new climate policy 'foolish': NT group
  The head of the Northern Territory Environment Centre says the Federal Opposition's new climate change policies are based on unproven technology.
• 2009/01/24: ABC(Au): Turnbull's carbon capture plan 'props up polluters'
  The Opposition says the plan would also invest heavily in new technologies like clean coal The Greens are outraged that the federal Opposition's new climate change policy includes subsidising the construction of two new coal-fired power stations.
• 2009/01/24: ABC(Au): Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull has unveiled the Liberals' new climate change strategy which focuses on the potential of carbon capture and storage
• 2009/01/24: ABC(Au): Opposition leader Malcolm Turnbull is today unveiling a climate change policy which he says will go well beyond the Federal Government's policy
• 2009/01/23: UN: Australians to highlight carbon neutrality on national day - UN
• 2009/01/22: ABC(Au): The Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says heavy job losses in the mining sector will not change the Government's plans to introduce a carbon emissions trading scheme
• 2009/01/21: ABC(Au): The Nationals are urging the Federal Government to delay the start of an emissions trading scheme to protect the mining industry from further job losses
• 2009/01/20: BBerg: Australia Cuts Carbon Credit Amount After UN Review
• 2009/01/19: ABC(Au): Canberra will be hit harder by climate change than any other capital city according to new research from the Australian National University (ANU)
• 2009/01/19: ABC(Au): [ZeroGen] Clean coal project 'will fail' under emissions trading scheme
  Opposition environment spokesman Greg Hunt says a major clean coal project in central Queensland will fail unless the Federal Government changes its emissions trading scheme.
• 2009/01/18: TheAge: Move north to escape climate change -- Worried about climate change? Move to Darwin.

  And in China:

• 2009/01/23: Guardian(UK): Sustainability in China

  In Russia:

• 2009/01/22: DerSpiegel: Russia's Achilles' Heel -- Focus on Climate Change Could Depoliticize EU-Russian Debate
  Energy policy is central to the EU's relationship with Russia -- but enhancing cooperation on climate change could expand the agenda beyond oil and gas. A green shift could also be beneficial to European companies.
• 2009/01/23: PeakEnergy: Russia sets renewable-energy mandates
• 2009/01/22: TreeHugger: Russia Sets the Bar Low With Its New Renewable Energy Mandate [4.5% Renewable Energy by 2020]

  And elsewhere in Asia:

• 2009/01/22: UN: UN-backed gathering calls for greater action on climate change in Asia-Pacific

  In Canada, parliament will resume this week and the Conservative government will present a budget. Many possibilities present themselves: a change in government; a collapse of the Opposition Coalition; an election; passage of the budget -- no doubt accompanied by a lot of noise and bluster. We'll see what happens:

• 2009/01/21: CBC: Ex-PMs call for 'green stimulus' in federal budget
• 2009/01/23: CBC: PM playing games ahead of budget: Ignatieff
• 2009/01/22: G&M: Ottawa will go $64-billion in the red, official says [$34 billion in 2009, $30-billion in 2010]
• 2009/01/21: CBC: Federal support for Mackenzie pipeline backers a conflict, critics say
• 2009/01/21: CBC: Regina energy group gets $10.5M
  Regina-based researchers and businesses looking at new ways to extract oil from the ground will receive $10.5 million from the federal government.
• 2009/01/22: Tyee: Leaked memo shows feds plan to weaken environmental laws, says NDP
  The Conservative government has plans to weaken federal environmental laws, according to NDP environment critic Linda Duncan.
• 2009/01/22: CBC: Conservative draft bill would weaken environmental regulations: NDP
• 2009/01/20: BizWeek: Canada offers to back Mackenzie gas project
  Canada's federal government has offered financial support for the Mackenzie gas pipeline, a multibillion-dollar project that has been held back by regulatory delays and cost overruns. Jim Prentice, the federal minister in charge of pipelines, would not disclose Monday how much federal money is on the table, telling reporters that formal negotiations are still under way.
• 2009/01/20: CBC: Canada the answer to U.S. energy worries, Prentice says

  A lot of what happens depends upon the new Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff:

• 2009/01/22: BCLSB: Liberal Environmental Policy: The Next Step
• 2009/01/22: TStar: Ignatieff touts Alberta tar sands -- Oil industry key to Canada's geopolitical power, Liberal leader tells Quebecers in unity pitch
• 2009/01/20: CanWest: Liberals aim to defuse political crisis: Ignatieff
  [...] The official Opposition leader also signalled that he will abandon the unpopular policy of introducing a carbon tax.
• 2009/01/20: BCLSB: Iggy Dumps Carbon Tax
• 2009/01/20: NatPo: Michael Ignatieff and the tar sands

  Meanwhile minority neocon PM Harper is trying to avoid his worst nightmare -- an Obama effect in Canada:

• 2009/01/24: CanWest: Harper hopes to have joint energy and climate change-plan on U.S. agenda
• 2009/01/22: CBC: Follow Obama's environmental lead: Green party leader
• 2009/01/22: TStar: Obama makes Harper look bad
• 2009/01/19: CBC: New U.S. president could mean big changes for Alberta's oil industry

  Positioning for the upcoming BC election continues:

• 2009/01/23: Tyee: Premier Campbell Backing off Global Warming Effort? No longer 'go-to guy on climate change'? Enviros worried that cabinet shuffle sends a signal priorities have changed.
• 2009/01/22: G&M: Think Gordon Campbell is a global warming guru? Read on
  [...] For a guy supposedly so concerned about global warming, Mr. Campbell is quick to back what causes it, like putting more vehicles on the road and revving up Alberta's tar sands production. Last week, he joined Prime Minister Stephen Harper in Surrey to brag about their governments' joint $1-billion, 40-kilometre freeway, part of the Gateway Plan to beef up the province as a conduit for Asia. Critics say the road will pave over farmland and generate pollution. But the Campbell message was jobs, jobs, jobs. Less reported, yet potentially much worse for climate change, are the twin pipelines Enbridge wants to build connecting Alberta's tar sands with the port of Kitimat, B.C. Right now, there's no direct way to get tar sands oil out of North America. Fretting that President Barack Obama will tighten that tap, industry is pushing hard to get the Enbridge project approved. Mr. Campbell's government has promoted the idea of a pipeline "corridor" across B.C. to fuel Asia and other markets.

They're wrangling over energy in Ontario:

• 2009/01/23: TStar: OPG [Ontario Power Generation] sees 27% fall in coal emissions -- But target might be moot without caps on U.S. coal-power imports
• 2009/01/22: BCLSB: Ontario Takes Another Tiny Step [replacing coal with biomass]
• 2009/01/20: CleanBreak: Is there enough residual biomass in Ontario to fuel a converted coal plant?
• 2009/01/21: CBC: Ontario coal-fired power plant to switch to biomass
• 2009/01/10: FinPo: Expansion of Suncor's Ontario ethanol plant to be delayed for at least a year
• 2009/01/22: CBC: Ontario spends $2.5M on green auto parts research

  The tricky & difficult question of the tar sands looms:

• 2009/01/23: Maribo: The new battle over the tar sands
• 2009/01/21: TStar: Tar sands smog seen worsening -- Underground storage of carbon dioxide not enough to offset emission hike, study says
• 2009/01/20: BizWeek: Canada's oil sands giant Suncor slashes spending
• 2009/01/20: CBC: Suncor posts Q4 loss on fall in oil prices
• 2009/01/18: CanWest: Economic downturn shuts down oil pipeline proposal
  [...] The Trailbreaker proposal is aimed at creating a delivery trail for Alberta tarsands oil to refineries on the U.S. East Coast and the Gulf of Mexico.
• 2009/01/19: BCLSB: Economic Collapse Frees The East
• 2009/01/17: LanguageMatters: The Case against Dirty Oil [tarsands]

  As for miscellaneous Canadiana:

• 2009/01/22: CBC: Arctic presence could cost Forces $843M a year: report
• 2009/01/21: CBC: Health Canada testing compact fluorescent bulbs for harmful radiation
• 2009/01/21: CanWest: Energy-saving bulbs to be tested for UV radiation
• 2009/01/20: TStar: Canada must work on image, [as opposed to reality? -het] says Canada's ambassador to the U.S., Michael Wilson

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

• 2009/01/25: EconLog: What's with the Economics Profession? by Arnold Kling
  [...] What arises in my mind is the strong suspicion that economic theory, as it is practiced and taught at the world's leading institutions, is so far from consensus on certain fundamental questions that it is basically useless for adjudicating many profoundly important debates about economic policy.
• 2009/01/21: Biz24-7: The Club of Rome: This crisis is bad but it gives us an opportunity to rethink strategies
• 2009/01/23: ClimateP: Voodoo Economists 4: The idiocy of crowds or, rather, the idiocy of (crowded) debates
• 2009/01/21: EnergyBulletin: 2009 Japan prize honors Dr. Dennis L. Meadows, lead author of '"The Limits to Growth"
• 2009/01/21: Links(Au): Ecology: The moment of truth -- an introduction

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

• 2009/01/25: DotEarth: Family Planning and the Path to Progress
• 2009/01/24: Guardian(UK): Ban on US abortion funding lifted as Bush ideology is rolled back
• 2009/01/23: CBC: Obama to reverse Bush's ban on abortion funding abroad
• 2009/01/21: GristMill: Moving to a stable world population -- We must strive to meet the U.N.'s low population projection of 8 billion by 2041

  Apocalypso anyone?

• 2009/01/20: CCurrents: Surviving In The Tough Times Ahead
• 2009/01/19: RAvent: The Bad News
• 2009/01/19: JFleck: On the Possibility of Climate Change Action

  Here is something for your library:

• 2009/01/24: EnvTimes: [Book Review] _Soil Not Oil_ by Dr Vandana Shiva
• 2009/01/: TAS: The Worst Is Yet to Be [Book Review] _Global Catastrophes and Trends: The Next Fifty Years_ by Vaclav Smil
• 2009/01/: EarthScan: [Book Plug] _Sustainable Agriculture and Food Security in an Era of Oil Scarcity_ by Julia Wright

  Meanwhile among the 'Sue the Bastards!' contingent:

• 2009/01/23: IR^2: Amazing Ethanol Lawsuit Against Oil Companies

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

• 2009/01/25: TreeHugger: Phrase of the day: Mari-fuel
• 2009/01/25: PeakEnergy: SeaGen Coming To The Bay Of Fundy
• 2009/01/23: VOA: Oil Storage at Record Levels as Speculators Await Higher Prices
• 2009/01/24: PeakEnergy: Saul Griffith, Renewistan And Energy Literacy
• 2009/01/24: CleanBreak: Geothermal in Alberta finally getting some push
• 2009/01/20: IR^2: All BTUs Are Not Created Equally
• 2009/01/23: SciDaily: New Way To Produce Hydrogen Discovered -- by exposing selected clusters of aluminum atoms to water
• 2009/01/23: PeakEnergy: Geothermal explorer reveals inferred resource at Penola
• 2009/01/22: Eureka: Scientists find new way to produce hydrogen [by exposing selected clusters of aluminum atoms to water]
• 2009/01/19: LNB: Saul Griffith, "Climate Change Recalculated" [energy]
• 2009/01/21: PhysOrg: City of Newark first in nation using cars to power grid
• 2009/01/21: PhysOrg: Hotspots in developing countries will fuel demand for global energy
• 2009/01/21: TreeHugger: Nippon Oil to Sell Residential Fuel Cells in Japan
• 2009/01/19: SanLuisObispo: One step closer to harnessing wave energy for electricity off coast of Montaña de Oro
• 2009/01/21: BBC: Russian gas supplies have been restored to the majority of Eastern and Central Europe two weeks after being halted in a row between Moscow and Kiev
• 2009/01/18: EntropicJournal: Missing the Bottom Line
  [...] After reading both the press release and synopsis it struck me they failed to highlight that even with the efficiency programs, US electrical consumption is projected to increase significantly between now and 2030 -- a highly inconvenient truth if one considers 80% reductions in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 to be a high priority.
• 2009/01/21: EnergyBulletin: Cheap oil: a poisoned gift
• 2009/01/20: BBerg: Crude Oil Falls Below $33 a Barrel on Dollar, Contract Expiry
• 2009/01/19: WenatcheeWorld: Only a matter of time for higher energy prices
• 2009/01/19: BBerg: Goldman Sees 'Swift, Violent' Oil Rally Later in Year
• 2009/01/19: Reuters: Global energy investment hit by financial crisis -- List of projects that have been delayed or scaled back

  The answer my friend...:

• 2009/01/22: EnvFin: Masdar denies doubts over London Array [Masdar 20%, Dong Energy 50% & E.ON, 30% ]
• 2009/01/23: TreeHugger: Mexico Launches $550 Million Wind Farm in Oaxaca
• 2009/01/22: NDN: Wind power leading new source of electricity- renewable energy peak oil
• 2009/01/21: Guardian(UK): World's biggest wind turbine-maker says global downturn slashing demand
  Growth projections 15% off for top wind-power manufacturer Vestas as global financial crisis strips back demand
• 2009/01/21: TreeHugger: 300 MW Wind Farm Will Supply 30% of Kenya's Electric Demand

  Meanwhile among the solar aficionados:

• 2009/01/18: FuturePundit: Most Thin Film Photovoltaics Companies To Fail
• 2009/01/23: PhysOrg: Keeping cool using the summer heat
  While most Australians are taking care to shield themselves from the harsh summer heat, scientists from the CSIRO Energy Transformed Flagship are working on ways to harness the sun's warmth to cool our homes and offices. The leader of the Flagship's solar cooling research project, Dr Stephen White, says significant greenhouse gas savings can be achieved in air conditioning by using energy from the sun.
• 2009/01/23: PhysOrg: ORNL goes solar with 288-foot span of panels
• 2009/01/23: PhysOrg: Sanyo, Nippon Oil announce solar power tie-up
• 2009/01/22: PhysOrg: Water heaters put solar energy within reach
• 2009/01/22: PhysOrg: Solar industry faces head winds but remains hopeful
• 2009/01/21: TechRev: Better Thermal Photovoltaics -- A new way to convert heat into electricity _could_ lead to more efficient solar power
• 2009/01/22: TreeHugger: Thermal Photovoltaics Breakthrough by MTPV Corp. [Theoretical Efficiency of 85%, actual at 15%]
• 2009/01/22: TreeHugger: New York City's Largest Commercial Net-Metered Solar Power Array Graces Brooklyn Rooftop
• 2009/01/22: PeakEnergy: Solar Energy Companies Competing for Desert Land [in the US southwest]
• 2009/01/21: SF Gate: Solar industry growth dimming with economy
• 2009/01/19: Yahoo: Abu Dhabi to keep investing in solar energy despite crisis
• 2009/01/20: PeakEnergy: Germans Claim New Solar Cell Breakthrough
• 2009/01/19: NatureTGB: Baffling solar cell efficiencies are broken
• 2009/01/19: WorldChanging: Clean Power From Deserts [CSP]

  The arithmetic of coal carbon is striking home:

• 2009/01/24: ClimateP: NYT: Collapse of the Clean Coal Myth
• 2009/01/23: NewsWeek: A Clean Coal Confrontation -- Oxymoron or goal within reach? Industry and environmentalists get down and sooty.
• 2009/01/23: NYT: Collapse of the Clean Coal Myth
• 2009/01/22: NEN: "Clean" coal double exposure
• 2009/01/19: News(Au): Clean coal won't be viable - industry
  The Federal Government has got it wrong on emissions trading by not doing enough to clean up coal, the industry says. A company called ZeroGen wants to build a coal-fired power plant that will bury most of its emissions underground, using Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) technology. CCS is held to be crucial to the future of Australia's massive coal industry because it could turn coal into a low-emission fuel. Australia is the world's biggest coal exporter, and about 80 per cent of our electricity comes from coal. But ZeroGen's demonstration plant, planned for central Queensland in 2012, could be in trouble.

Biofuel bickering abounds:

• 2009/01/24: DerSpiegel: A 'Green Tsunami' in Brazil -- The High Price of Clean, Cheap Ethanol
  Brazil hopes to supply drivers worldwide with the fuel of the future -- cheap ethanol derived from sugarcane. It is considered an effective antidote to climate change, but hundreds of thousands of Brazilian plantation workers harvest the cane at slave wages.
• 2009/01/23: TreeHugger: Corn Ethanol's Greenhouse Gas Emission Reduction Better Than Thought, New Study Shows
• 2009/01/22: PhysOrg: Microbes fuel energy debate [biofuel]
• 2009/01/22: Eureka: Process can cut the cost of making cellulosic biofuels -- Michigan State University pre-treatment method enhances crop waste usefulness
• 2009/01/21: NewScientist: Invention: Biofuel from the oceans
• 2009/01/20: TreeHugger: Speak Out on Biofuels: Roundtable on Sustainable Biofuels Wants Comments on New Standards

  The nuclear energy controversy continues:

• 2009/01/23: GMANews: RP should spend funds on real energy solutions instead of nuke plant
  Manila, Philippines - Instead of allotting funds for recommissioning the Philippines' mothballed nuclear facility, the country should use its resources for "real and meaningful solutions to climate change and energy crisis." This was proposed by the Philippine Climate Watch Alliance (PCWA), a group of progressive sectoral and environmental organizations that expressed opposition to Senate Bill No. 2665. The bill intends to re-commission the BNPP, "to address global warming" and the "shortfall in the electric generating capacity of the country in 2012." "Construction and generating costs of nuclear power are far greater than most renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies around the world," the group's statement said. The government is reviving the country's nuclear option "[perhaps] because it is a multibillion dollar project where fat and grease money will come in from foreign energy corporations and international financial institutions," the statement said, quoting Clemente Bautista, PCWA member.
• 2009/01/23: BBC: Potential nuclear sites are named
  Four potential sites for new nuclear power stations have been proposed as the government's process for choosing suitable locations starts in earnest. Sellafield in Cumbria, Bradwell in Essex, Oldbury in Gloucestershire and Wylfa in Anglesey have been named by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority. The criteria on which sites will be judged will be published on Tuesday, with a decision due later this year.

Yes we have a peak oil sighting:

• 2009/01/22: EnergyBulletin: The peak oil crisis: what of 2009?
• 2009/01/21: EnergyBulletin: Peak for Pemex could help push Mexico to ruin
• 2009/01/19: EnergyBulletin: Fuel Emergency Part 1 [PO]

  Elsewhere in resource limits:

• 2009/01/23: RI: The future of the nickel metal hydride battery and the rare earth metals it is constructed from
• 2009/01/23: ClusterStock: Bolivia: The Saudi Arabia Of Lithium
• 2009/01/23: TreeHugger: Could Lithium Shortages Impede Future Electric Car Deployment?
• 2009/01/22: GLGroup: Fuel Cells For Cars With Current Technology Are a Non Starter Due To Natural Resource Limitations -- there isn't enough platinum to make such a move practical now or ever
• 2009/01/21: OilDrum: A Prince and Four Peaks: Peak Oil, Gas, Coal and Uranium
• 2009/01/19: Guardian(UK): 'Peak wood' gives a history lesson in Abu Dhabi
  'Peak wood' scuppered the Roman Empire just as peak oil will strike us, delegates at Abu Dhabi's World Future Energy Summit hear

More people are talking about the electrical grid:

• 2009/01/23: PeakEnergy: Alternative energy faces power line "bottleneck" in U.S. West
• 2009/01/21: PeakEnergy: Crunching Electricity Demand With Smart Grids

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

• 2009/01/22: EnvFin: Electric cars need government billions - BCG [Boston Consulting Group]
• 2009/01/23: AutoBG: Darryl Siry [Ex-SVP of Tesla] prognosticates on the coming year in EVs
• 2009/01/22: ClimateP: Toyota passes GM as world's largest carmaker, first time in 77 years
• 2009/01/22: GristMill: Green Light: Greetings, master Toyota -- Toyota becomes world's biggest automaker, Prius goes solar, and other green auto news
• 2009/01/22: BBC: UK car production drops sharply
• 2009/01/21: BBC: GM loses top sales spot to Toyota
  US carmaker General Motors sold fewer vehicles than Toyota last year, ending GM's 77-year reign as the world's top-selling car firm. GM said it sold 8,350,000 vehicles in 2008, while Toyota said sales totalled 8,972,000 vehicles.
• 2009/01/18: AutoBG: BYD may license Fe batteries to other automakers
• 2009/01/18: NBF: Startup Graphene Energy Gets $500,000 to Commercialize Graphene Ultracapacitors

  Meanwhile in the greenwashing chronicles:

• 2009/01/24: ClimateP: Investors warn Shell and BP over tar sands greenwashing
• 2009/01/22: Guardian(UK): Greenwash: Time for rail to raise its game and cut emissions

  Insurance and re-insurance companies are feeling the heat:

• 2009/01/21: Lloyd's: Increasing weather losses: proof of climate change or not?
• 2009/01/22: EnvFin: Zurich [Financial Services] unveils carbon capture and storage insurance

  The carbon lobby are up to the usual:

• 2009/01/25: BCLSB: Denialist Machine At Work
• 2009/01/24: BCLSB: Anthony Watts Knows How To Pick 'Em
• 2009/01/23: GristMill: 'The more I flaunt my consumption, the more moral I become' -- Media Matters commenter provides one of the greatest snarks at the denier wingnut mentality
• 2009/01/23: BSD: 10% of Earth scientists don't think temps have risen since 1800?
• 2009/01/23: Tamino: Antarctica Warming
• 2009/01/22: DeSmogBlog: Another "Inhofian" moment for the head-in-sand Senator
• 2009/01/22: ThinkP: Inhofe Declares Victory Over The U.N.-MoveOn-Soros Global Warming Conspiracy: I've Prevailed
• 2009/01/21: GristMill: [Dessler] Negative climate feedback is as real as the Easter Bunny -- There is no negative feedback in the climate system
• 2009/01/20: AFTIC: "The third most important", version 87
• 2009/01/20: ERabett: Wisdom from the Danish -- Over at Tamino's the nature of denialism is under discussion in the comments...
• 2009/01/19: ERabett: Nominations are open
• 2009/01/19: Deltoid: The Australian's War on Science 33
• 2008/07/10: ThingsBreak: Francis T. Manns AKA Dr. No
• 2009/01/19: MTobis: The third most important, version 87
• 2009/01/19: Guardian(UK): Global warming sceptics show money talks in New York
• 2009/01/19: ClimateP: Q. If an inaugural gala is sponsored by ExxonMobil, can it still be green?
• 2009/01/19: Tamino: A Bag of Hammers
• 2009/01/19: MTobis: The Arrogance of Anthropogenic Impact Theories
• 2009/01/19: DeSmogBlog: Solar Forcing and Global Warming: Here We Go Again

  As for climate miscellanea:

• 2009/01/22: FergusB: Of consensus and consistency
• 2009/01/24: NewScientist: A smarter way for oil firms to pay for eco damage
• 2009/01/24: PeakEnergy: Energy efficient osmosis for desalination
• 2009/01/19: O'ReillyRadar: Pascal's Wager and Climate Change
• 2009/01/23: NatureCF: Q&A: Andrew Gouldson, director of the new Centre for Climate Change Economics and Policy
• 2009/01/20: Stoat: A tale of two polls
• 2009/01/18: DeSmogBlog: Reading The Climate Change Czars

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

• CleanTechnica - Technology Inspired By Nature
• Climaticide Chronicles
• Wiki: Geothermal heat pump
• GG&G: Greed, Green and Grains (Economics, Environment and Agriculture)
• MARGO: Multiproxy Approach for the Reconstruction of the Glacial Ocean surface
• Wiki: CLIMAP: Climate: Long range Investigation, Mapping, and Prediction
• Wiki: PDO -- Pacific Decadal Oscillation
• Planet Extinction
• ACitW: A Change in the Wind
• FBrown: Old man in a cave
• One Planet Agriculture
• ClimateSpin - A climate scientist looks at the media coverage of both climate change and the debate on what to do about it
• 2007/05/11: NASA:EO: Global Warming Factsheets (updated)
• CTB: Cleantech Blog
• Rename Glacier National Park - Climate experts predict that Glacier National Park will lose its glaciers by 2030 if current trends continue
• UNL: US Drought Monitor
• Climate Feedback
• Maribo

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.

"...it will be a joy to argue policy with an administration that provides comprehensible, honest reports, not case studies in how to lie with statistics." -Paul Krugman

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