Another Week of GW News, April 12, 2009

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Another week of Climate Disruption News

April 12, 2009

• Chuckle, Top Stories:Bonn, Red River Flooding, Ecological Deficits, 2+ Degrees
• Melting Arctic, Arctic Geopolitics, Antarctica, Polar Conference, Aerosols, Tornado Research, Late Comments
• Food Crisis, Food vs. Biofuel, Food Production
• Hurricanes, GHGs, Carbon Cycle, Temperatures, Ozone Hole, Paleoclimate, ENSO, Glaciers, Sea Levels, Satellites
• Impacts, Forests, Corals, Climate Refugees, Tornadoes, Wildfires, Floods & Droughts
• Mitigation, Transportation, Buildings, Sequestration, Geoengineering, Adaptation
• Journals, Misc. Science, Dyson
• Kyoto-2, Optimal Carbon Reduction Strategy
• Politics:International, WCI, America, Obama, Britain, Europe, Australia, China, Canada
• Ecological Economics, Media, Courts
• Energy, Wind, Solar, Coal, Biofuel, Nukes, Peak Oil, Grid, Efficiency, Cars, Business
• Carbon Lobby, Miscellaneous Climate, Useful Links
• Shameless Self Promotion, .sig

It's always nice to start with a larf:

• 2009/04/09: TI:CF: (cartoon - Roberts) Wheels Within Wheels
• 2009/04/08: TI:CF: (cartoon - Roberts) Choice and Prosperity
• 2009/04/08: TI:CF: (cartoon - Roberts) Titanic Blunders (again)
• 2009/04/08: ClimateP: (cartoon - Toles) Even Toles goes after George Will
• 2009/04/07: TI:CF: (cartoon - Roberts) Small is Beautiful

  The UNFCCC talks in Bonn wrapped up on Wednesday:

• 2009/04/09: EurActiv: Bonn talks narrow gaps for climate blueprint
  Despite high expectations, the 175 nations attending the first round of UN climate talks on a new climate pact made little progress on drafting a text, but succeeded in "narrowing gaps" among parties in order to move up a gear in the negotiations.
• 2009/04/08: NYT:CW: Bonn climate talks create better atmosphere, but few results
• 2009/04/09: Xinhuanet: Bonn climate talks ends without concrete results
• 2009/04/09: NYT: At U.N. Talks on Climate, Plans by U.S. Raise Qualms
  At the start of the United Nations climate talks here [Bonn] 12 days ago, the Obama administration's chief climate negotiator, Todd Stern, received a round of rowdy applause. It was the first appearance of the new negotiating team at any global meeting. But by Wednesday, as the meetings drew to a close, some delegates -- and even some United Nations officials -- were grumbling that the United States was not moving fast enough to take action on global warming.
• 2009/04/08: UN: Latest round of UN talks on pact to combat global warming wraps up in Bonn
• 2009/04/07: BizMirror(Ph): 430 global groups push climate-change action
  Bonn, Germany -- Leading environmental and development organizations have joined forces to demand action on climate change, saying that unless action is taken, a new climate deal that will replace the 1997 Kyoto Protocol will be impossible to achieve. The Climate Action Network (CAN), a worldwide network of over 430 nongovernment organizations (NGOs) working to promote state and individual action to limit human-induced climate change to ecologically sustainable levels, said rich nations should find ways to help the developing countries adapt to the changing climate.
• 2009/04/07: BBerg: OPEC Members Split With Developing Nations on UN Carbon Cuts
• 2009/04/07: Reuters: US ready to take carbon mantle
  Steps President Barack Obama has taken on climate and clean energy have shown that the United States is getting ready to lead the world in fighting global warming, a White House official said on Tuesday.
• 2009/04/08: EarthTimes: UN climate change talks bring 'convergence' but no agreement
• 2009/04/08: Reuters: U.N. climate talks threaten our survival: Saudi Arabia
  United Nations climate talks threaten Saudi Arabia's economic survival and the kingdom wants support for any shift from fossil fuels to other energy sources such as solar power, its lead climate negotiator said. Contrasting interests of different countries are challenging faltering climate talks, meant to forge by December a new global deal in Copenhagen to curb man-made climate change. Small island states say their survival is threatened by rising seas. But Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil exporter, says it could suffer from any pact which curbs oil demand by penalizing carbon emissions.
• 2009/04/06: Reuters: Carbon cap deal "very difficult": U.N. climate chief [UNFCCC head, Yvo de Boer]
• 2009/04/07: Hindu: India, China reject climate pact that obstructs economic growth
  India and China have told the United Nations a climate change agreement that slows down their economic growth and locks them into poverty is unacceptable to them. The UN's climate change boss said Monday the two Asian giants have taken a series of "ambitious" domestic actions to combat climate change but want to draw the line at anything that would upset their economic growth strategies.
• 2009/04/06: NYT:CW: [Todd] Stern's approach to climate talks cautious but optimistic
• 2009/04/06: Guardian(UK): Poor nations call for 'levy' on air tickets to help adapt to climate change
• 2009/04/07: ENN: Stalling climate talks need financial stimulus
• 2009/04/06: Yahoo: UN climate talks stall over emissions cuts by rich
  Negotiators at U.N. climate talks, buoyed by U.S. promises to lead the fight against global warming, are demanding that industrial countries pledge deeper cuts in greenhouse gases over the next decade. Environmental activists said Monday the talks in Bonn, Germany, have made little progress on two key issues: the carbon emissions targets to be adopted by the rich countries and how to raise an estimated $100 billion a year needed to help poor countries adapt to climate change. The two-week round of talks conclude Wednesday and are to reconvene in June.
• 2009/04/06: BizMirror(Ph): New tact on climate
  Bonn, Germany - As the latest round of United Nations climate-change talks geared up this week aimed at replacing the Kyoto Protocol, developing countries said they would only agree to a new climate pact if the United States and other industrialized nations set clear targets for the reduction of greenhouse gas wes in their own countries, noting that the US led severel countries that did not sign the Kyoto Protocol. Scientific findings revealed last month that global warming, signs of which include faster melting of the Antarctic and Greenland ice caps and glaciers, rising sea level estimated to be commonly seen by 2100, were getting more alarming, and are demanding tougher action. Yvo de Boer, executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, said rich countries must deliver their fair share of emissions cuts, as well to help poorer countries adapt to a changing climate with aid funds.

The Red River flood situation is moderating:

• 2009/04/10: CBC: Flood outlook improves, even as more residents told to leave homes -- Evacuation advised for Breezy Point, while Stuartburn declares emergency
• 2009/04/10: CBC: Minor breakthrough in Winnipeg flood fight -- Call for sandbaggers cancelled as ice jam breaks up on its own
• 2009/04/09: CBC: Rising Red prompts evacuation advisory for 30 homes in Winnipeg -- City issues urgent plea for 500 to 700 sandbaggers
• 2009/04/08: CBC: Manitoba activates floodway to protect Winnipeg
• 2009/04/08: CBC: Floodway open but Winnipeg not out of danger: flood officials
• 2009/04/09: CBC: Water getting past some tube dikes along Winnipeg properties
• 2009/04/08: CNN: Fargo sandbagging again as flood threat looms
  Fargo spokeswoman says city has goal of filling 1 million more sandbags - "I don't think people are as worried" as they were in late March, she says - National Weather Service issued flood warning due to precipitation forecast
• 2009/04/08: CBC: Elderly farmer trapped on flooded farm in southern Manitoba
• 2009/04/08: CBC: Winnipeg on alert for early flood crest driven by ice jams
• 2009/04/06: CBC: Fargo warned to be prepared for 2nd surge of Red River
• 2009/04/07: CBC: Flooding closes major Manitoba highway between Winnipeg and U.S.
• 2009/04/05: CBC: Students pitch in as Winnipeg fights rising Red River
• 2009/04/06: CBC: Ready and waiting: Winnipeg region flood protected, say officials

  Now this is a truly ominous report:

• 2009/04/11: TMoS: Britain's Ecological Deficit Begins Easter Sunday

  The global deficit begins sometime in the fall:

• 2009/04/07: BBC: Ecological debt: no way back from bankrupt
  While most governments' eyes are on the banking crisis, a much bigger issue - the environmental crisis - is passing them by, says Andrew Simms. In the Green Room this week, he argues that failure to organise a bailout for ecological debt will have dire consequences for humanity. "Nature Doesn't Do Bailouts!" said the banner strung across Bishopsgate in the City of London. Civilisation's biggest problem was outlined in five words over the entrance to the small, parallel reality of the peaceful climate camp.

And while we're in the territory, here is an "Oh sh*t" projection:

• 2009/04/07: Reuters: EU: Earth warming faster
  Global warming is likely to overshoot a 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 F) rise seen by the European Union and many developing nations as a trigger for "dangerous" change, a Reuters poll of scientists showed on Tuesday. Nine of 11 experts, who were among authors of the final summary by the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in 2007 (IPCC), also said the evidence that mankind was to blame for climate change had grown stronger in the past two years.

The Arctic melt continues to garner a lot of attention:

• 2009/04/10: IPSNews: Earth's Arctic Freezer Turning Into Hothouse
• 2009/04/10: FTimes: Ice loss sparks new climate change fears
  Evidence of ice loss from both poles this week has sparked fresh fears that global warming is progressing faster than scientists had predicted. Arctic ice has thinned dramatically, as well as shrinking in area, according to US research. Thin seasonal ice, which melts and refreezes each year, now makes up about 70 per cent of the Arctic winter ice, up from about 40 to 50 per cent in the 1980s and 1990s, leaving far less of the older, thicker ice that is harder to melt. In the Antarctic, an ice bridge connecting an island to the Wilkins ice shelf -- a sheet of ice about the size of Northern Ireland -- shattered as scientists monitored it through satellite observations. "What we're seeing is very dramatic," said Andrew Fleming, remote sensing manager at the British Antarctic Survey. "It's very worrying."
• 2009/04/08: CCP: Marco Tedesco describes research on Greenland in 2008: Monitoring melting with microwave data
• 2009/04/09: BBC: Arctic team: 'London, we have a problem'
  After enduring ferocious weather, it has emerged that British explorers studying the Arctic are struggling with a series of technical problems. A portable radar device, known as Sprite, designed to make millions of measurements of the ice thickness, has been dogged by breakdowns and uncertainties. Another instrument, SeaCat, meant to measure the temperature and salinity of the water beneath the ice-cap, has malfunctioned as well.
• 2009/04/06: Guardian(UK): Thinning Arctic sea ice alarms experts -- Volume of Arctic sea ice last summer may have been lowest on record - and possibly worst in 8,000 years
• 2009/04/06: Google:AP: Arctic sea ice thinnest ever going into spring
• 2009/04/07: NatureCF: Callow young ice takes over the Arctic
• 2009/04/07: KSJT: Lots of Ink: Arctic ice review finds that, despite rapid winter refreezings, trend is down, down, down
• 2009/04/07: MongaBay: Arctic ecosystem in danger as ice thins
• 2009/04/07: ClimateP: NSIDC: Arctic is on thin ice -- literally -- and that means the "perma"frost is too
• 2009/04/07: TreeHugger: NASA Releases Simulation of Arctic Sea Ice Changes
• 2009/04/06: Yahoo: Artic ice thinner than ever: scientists
• 2009/04/07: WaPo: New Data Show Rapid Arctic Ice Decline -- Proportion of Thicker, More Persistent Winter Cover Is the Lowest on Record
• 2009/04/07: BBC: Arctic ice shows winter thinning
  Arctic ice reached a larger maximum area this winter than in the last few years, scientists say, but the long-term trend still shows it declining. The 30-year trend shows the maximum annual sea-ice cover, usually seen in March, is shrinking by 2.7% per decade. Only 10% of the cover consists of relatively durable ice that has formed over more than two years, a record low. Scientists from the US National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC), say the thin ice is prone to summer melting.
• 2009/04/06: CBC: Arctic sea ice getting thinner, more worrisome
  The giant mass of Arctic sea ice is getting thinner and not lasting as long, with scientists warning that such physical changes are cause for global concern. Researchers with NASA and the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Colorado released new information Monday that shows the northern polar ice cap is continuing its decade-long trend of shrinking. Thicker, older ice floating on the Arctic Ocean is not replenishing like it used to.
• 2009/04/07: CanWest: 'The [Arctic] ice is now thinner than ever' -- Planet's glacial cap in 'very precarious' state, scientists warn; hard to reverse thinning trend
• 2009/04/06: UNDispatch: Don't Tell George Will [Arctic melt]
• 2009/04/06: QuarkSoup: Arctic Sea Ice Update from NASA
• 2009/04/06: DeSmogBlog: Arctic Starts Annual Melt, Balancing on Thin Ice
• 2009/04/06: Eureka: New Arctic satellite data shows Arctic literally on thin ice
• 2009/04/06: NASA: Satellites Show Arctic Literally on Thin Ice
• 2009/04/06: WSJ:EnvCap: Ice, Ice Maybe: NASA Reports Greater Arctic Ice Melt
• 2009/04/06: CCP: NSIDC: Arctic sea ice younger, thinner as melt season begins
• 2009/04/06: CCP: NASA/JPL's Ron Kwok, NSIDC's Walter Meier, UC's Charles Fowler: ICESat satellite data show Arctic literally on thin ice

  As for the geopolitics of Arctic resources:

• 2009/04/10: CanWest: [Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence] Cannon wants advance notice of Russian flights in Arctic
• 2009/04/06: Canoe: Ignatieff suggests North Pole as global 'public park'
• 2009/04/07: OttawaSun: Impasse over Arctic passage
  Canada and the U.S. will partner on a strategy to develop the melting Arctic, but remain sharply at odds over transit rights through the Northwest Passage. In Washington to meet with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton yesterday, Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon said the two nations will co-operate on a strategy for security, cutting pollution and boosting search and rescue operations in the North. But the pair did not reach consensus on the political hot potato of shipping rights through the thawing sea route. "The status of the file is basically to continue to agree to disagree," he said.

While in Antarctica:

• 2009/04/10: Tamino: Antarctic Ice
• 2009/04/10: MGS: Another one bites the dust [Antarctica]
• 2009/04/09: BCLSB: The Last To Go [Wilkins]
• 2009/04/08: PhysOrg: Ice Bridge Supporting Wilkins Ice Shelf Collapses
• 2009/04/07: Yahoo: UN sounds warning after Antarctica ice shelf rips
• 2009/04/08: WSWS: Antarctic ice shelf collapse: climate change and capitalism
• 2009/04/07: CCulture: Climate Warning As Antarctic Ice Bridge Shatters
• 2009/04/07: NatureCF: Wilkins Ice Shelf lost its footing
• 2009/04/07: ABC(Au): Wilkins Ice Shelf collapse sparks worldwide concerns
• 2009/04/07: NewScientist: Giant mass of Antarctic ice 'set for collapse'
  A mass of Antarctic ice larger in area than Connecticut is in "imminent" danger of breaking up, according to scientists from the European Space Agency. The ESA reported that an ice bridge between two islands protecting the Wilkins Ice Shelf from the open ocean has now collapsed, leaving in its wake a channel full of icebergs, and exposing the northern front of the [Wilkins] ice shelf.
• 2009/04/07: Times(UK): A Sudden Chill
  An ice bridge in Antarctica has disappeared from the map. This is a defining moment that means the world must move much faster against climate change
• 2009/04/07: CCP: Where was the Wordie Ice Shelf?
• 2009/04/06: KSJT: Lots of Ink: Snap crackle pop, and another ice shelf takes itself apart - and Google assays to chart the story flow
• 2009/04/05: MongaBay: Ice bridge collapses, leaving Wilkins Ice Shelf vulnerable
• 2009/04/06: ABC(Au): Antarctic ice shelf in peril as bridge snaps
• 2009/04/06: RealClimate: Wilkins ice shelf collapse
• 2009/04/05: DeSmogBlog: Wilkins Ice Sheet Lost to Climate Change
• 2009/04/06: OilChange: A Message from Antarctica
• 2009/04/05: ThinkP: As a consequence of global warming, Antarctic ice shelf on the brink of breaking up
• 2009/04/05: CBC: Antarctic ice bridge snaps
  An ice bridge connecting a vast Antarctic ice shelf to two islands shattered on Saturday. Satellite images from the European Space Agency show a 40-kilometre-long strip of ice, linking the Charcot and Latady islands to the Wilkins Ice Shelf, snapped at its narrowest point.

The polar conference in Washington DC is still going on, largely unreported:

• 2009/04/07: DotEarth: Polar Meeting Mulls Melting, Warming
• 2009/04/06: CBC: Increase protections for polar regions, says Clinton
  The United States has called for increased protection of polar regions, including tighter restrictions on Antarctic tourism and increased funding for environmental research there and in the Arctic. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton outlined Washington's proposals to help protect polar regions Monday at the opening of a two-week conference of signatories to the 50-year-old Antarctic Treaty.
• 2009/04/06: NatureTGB: Antarctic treaty meeting begins
• 2009/04/06: TerraDaily: Territorial claims, environment to dominate debate at polar summit

  More on aerosols:

• 2009/04/11: TreeHugger: Aerosols More Important to Global Warming Than Acknowledged, New Report Claims
• 2009/04/08: Eureka: Aerosols may drive a significant portion of Arctic warming
• 2009/04/05: MongaBay: Black carbon linked to half of Arctic warming

  A major tornado research project is underway:

• 2009/04/07: PhysOrg: Largest Attempt in History to Understand Tornadoes Slated to Begin
• 2009/04/06: NOAANews: National Tornado Experiment to Begin in May
  A collaborative nationwide project exploring the origins, structure and evolution of tornadoes will occur from May 10 through June 13 in the central United States. The project, Verification of Rotation in Tornadoes EXperiment2 (VORTEX2 or V2), is the largest and most ambitious attempt to study tornadoes in history and will involve more than 50 scientists and 40 research vehicles, including 10 mobile radars. "Data collected from V2 will help researchers understand how tornadoes form and how the large-scale environment of thunderstorms is related to tornado formation," according to Louis Wicker, research meteorologist with NOAA's National Severe Storms Laboratory and V2 co-principal investigator.

Late comment on the G20:

• 2009/04/04: EmpireBurlesque: Hollow Point [G20]
• 2009/04/05: Independent(UK): Hopes for climate treaty set back by G20's weasel words -- World further from agreement than two years ago

  The food crisis is ongoing:

• 2009/04/10: WCFCourier: Iowa corn growers lose $259 million on global warming
• 2009/04/10: CCurrents: G8 Document On World Hunger Warns Of Global Instability
• 2009/04/10: MongaBay:Global warming will hit corn yields, costing US over a billion dollars annually
• 2009/04/10: CoshoctonTrib: Ohio corn affected by global warming
• 2009/04/09: BBC: Seychelles sets out its priorities -- Food security not tourism is now the priority
• 2009/04/06: SeedDaily: Walker's World: New food crisis looms
• 2009/04/06: GG&G: Questions about Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security
• 2009/04/06: UN: Assembly President, citing a billion now hungry, urges 'new politics of food'

  The conflict between biofuel and food persists:

• 2009/04/09: WSJ:EnvCap: E-corn-omics: Ethanol vs. Gasoline vs. Food
• 2009/04/10: STimes: Report: Ethanol raises cost of nutrition programs
  Food stamps and child nutrition programs are expected to cost up to $900 million more this year because of increased ethanol use.
• 2009/04/08: 13WHAM: The Corn Ethanol Debate Continues

  And how are we going to feed 9 billion?

• 2009/04/12: SciDaily: Does Aeration Reduces Compaction And Runoff On No-till Fields?
• 2009/04/08: VolunteerTV: So what is 'permaculture' anyway?
• 2009/04/07: SciDaily: Can Organic Cropping Systems Be As Profitable As Conventional Systems?

  Tropical cyclone Jade zapped Madagascar and dissipated in the south Indian ocean:

• 2009/04/08: TerraDaily: Cyclone Jade kills nine in Madagascar
• 2009/04/07: TerraDaily: Cyclone Jade kills three in Madagascar -- 800 made homeless

  It's hurricane prediction season:

• 2009/04/09: PhysOrg: 2009 Hurricane Season Should Contain No Surprises, Researchers Say
• 2009/04/08: KSJT: USA Today: A hurricane forecast is out, along with a batting average.
• 2009/04/07: TerraDaily: [CU] Forecasters predict 6 Atlantic hurricanes for 2009
• 2009/04/07: RigZone: [CU] Forecasters See Lower Average for 2009 Atlantic Hurricane Season
• 2009/04/07: Wunderground: Average hurricane season foreseen by CSU [Colorado State University], but TSR [Tropical Storm Risk, Inc.] predicts an active season

  While elsewhere in the hurricane wars:

• 2009/04/11: NewScientist: Hurricanes peak a day after lightning

  As for GHGs:

• 2009/04/09: GreenGrok: Climate Change: What Is Equivalent to 'CO2 Equivalents'?

  And in the carbon cycle:

• 2009/04/10: SciDaily: Climate Change Leads To Major Decrease In Carbon Dioxide Storage
• 2009/04/08: SciDaily: When Oceans Get Warmer Carbon Dioxide Uptake On Marine Plankton Will Be Reduced, Potentially Increasing Climate Change
• 2009/04/08: NERC: Coal deposits provide a record of ancient methane emissions

  As for the temperature record:

• 2009/04/10: NOAANews: March Temperature Near Average for the U.S.
• 2009/04/09: ClimateP: NOAA: Eighth warmest winter on record, this summer may be a hot one
• 2009/04/06: TreeHugger: As World Warms There Will Still Be Cooler Periods...If You Choose the Right Years to Highlight: New Study

  The ozone hole will be slow to recover:

• 2009/04/10: Eureka: Climate change and atmospheric circulation will make for uneven ozone recovery

  While in the paleoclimate:

• 2009/04/09: NatureTGB: Life after the 'nickel famine' [2.4 bya]
• 2009/04/09: SciDaily: Earth Under Global Cooling [34 mya]

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

• 2009/04/09: NOAA:NCEP: El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) Diagnostic Discussion
  Synopsis: A transition to ENSO-neutral conditions is expected during April 2009

Glaciers are melting:

• 2009/04/10: EarthTimes: Some [4] Austrian glaciers grow despite overall melting
  [...] However, the group's latest study found that 83 of 94 monitored glaciers continued to melt by up to 49 metres, as temperatures lay above long-term averages by 0.4 degrees in winter and 0.9 degrees in summer.

Sea levels are rising:

• 2009/04/08: BBC: Climate change experts in North and South America are increasingly worried by the potentially devastating implications of higher estimates for possible sea level rises
• 2009/04/02: GG&G: Climate change and sea-level rise in North Carolina
• 2009/04/06: KSJT: AP: Rising sea level's casualties may include archaeology sites
• 2009/04/05: ClimateP: Q: How much can West Antarctica plausibly contribute to sea level rise by 2100?

  Meanwhile in near earth orbit:

• 2009/04/12: SciDaily: Carbon Dioxide In Atmosphere Can Now Be Measured From Space
• 2009/04/08: KSJT: BBC, Register, etc: A little Euro satellite, its English electric rocket lit, goes to work on a global gravity map [GOCE]
• 2009/04/06: BBC: Gravity satellite feels the force
  Europe's innovative GOCE satellite has switched on the super-sensitive instrument that will make ultra-fine measurements of Earth's gravity. The sophisticated gradiometer will feel the subtle variations in Earth's tug as it sweeps around the globe.

More GW impacts are being seen:

• 2009/04/12: SciDaily: Climate Change Effects In California
• 2009/04/11: NewScientist: Will climate change spread disease?
• 2009/04/11: LA Times: Climate change hits Australia first, and hard
  Floods, fires, droughts, disease, extinctions and a dying Great Barrier Reef may be a hint of things to come globally.
• 2009/04/11: ABC(Au): The Canadian government has released a report suggesting the country's caribou herds are in decline and could die out in the next century
• 2009/04/11: RealClimate: Breaking the silence about Spring
• 2009/04/09: NatureN: Disease in a warming climate -- Fears of a global rise in infectious conditions may be unfounded
• 2009/04/09: ClimateP: Time Magazine: How climate change is causing a new age of extinction
• 2009/04/09: LA Times: What will global warming look like? Scientists point to Australia
  Drought, fires, killer heat waves, wildlife extinction and mosquito-borne illness -- the things that climate change models are predicting have already arrived there, they say.
• 2009/04/09: SMH: Temperature rise not so great but effects still grave
  The rise in extreme temperatures in Australia because of climate change may not be quite as big as some feared but it will still cause grave problems for human health, infrastructure, animals and plants, a study by scientists from the University of NSW finds. The researchers tested the accuracy of climate models used by the United Nations' peak scientific body, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, comparing them with actual climate observations. When the poorly performing models were removed, the predicted rise in temperature extremes was between 2 and 3 degrees by the end of the century rather than 3 and 5 degrees as the modelling had predicted, according to the study published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters. But one of the authors, Andy Pitman, said the research should not be interpreted as diminishing the climate change problem for Australia. He said the study found the 2- to 3-degree temperature rise would generate even fiercer heatwaves than Victoria and South Australia had this year and would have a big impact on human health and the ability of societies to cope. "The lower figures are not as bad as 3 to 5 degrees but they're still very bad and emphasise the need to aggressively cut greenhouse gases on a global scale," Professor Pitman said.
• 2009/04/08: NewScientist: Pets may become latest victims of climate change
• 2009/04/07: ABC(Au): Authorities on Queensland's Sunshine Coast are dealing with a range of public health issues in the wake of last week's flash-flooding
• 2009/04/07: PhysOrg: Warming brings more birds north in winter
• 2009/04/06: OLJ: Floods, mold, cancer, and the politics of public health
• 2009/04/06: KSJT: AP: First the polar bear, now the pika?
• 2009/04/06: ENN: New England's sugar country confronts a bitter future as the climate warms

  And then there are the world's forests:

• 2009/04/08: DM:SRK: Reserves Effective at Reducing Fires in Brazilian Rainforests
• 2009/04/07: Guardian(UK): The threat to the Amazon rainforest should not be overstated -- Highlighting only the most catastrophic scenarios could backfire, say Yadvinder Malhi and Oliver Phillips
• 2009/04/07: DotEarth: Amazon Experts Cautious on Climate Threat
• 2009/04/05: McClatchyDC: Will dams on Amazon tributary wreak global havoc?

  Corals are dying:

• 2009/04/11: CBC:Q&Q: (mp3/ogg) Homeless Fish -- Tropical coral reefs are in a lot of trouble -- Dr. Isabelle Côté interview
• 2009/04/07: Eureka: Human impacts on coral reefs of Northwestern Hawaiian islands revealed
• 2009/04/06: PhysOrg: The fragility of the world's coral is revealed through a study of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands

  Climate refugees are becoming an issue:

• 2009/04/07: DerSpiegel: Death in the Mediterranean -- The Tragedy of Europe's Boat People
• 2009/04/08: WSWS: Who is responsible for the Libyan refugee boat tragedy?
• 2009/04/07: UN: UN agency fears 30 Somali boat people dead in tragedy off the coast of Yemen
• 2009/04/07: CBC: At least 8 migrants dead, 22 missing off Yemen coast

  A storm system swept throught the southern US triggering several tornadoes:

• 2009/04/11: EarthTimes: Tornados, wildfires leave eight dead in US
• 2009/04/11: CBS: Spring Storm, Tornado Kill 1 in S.C. -- Search For Victims Continues In Tenn. Where Mother, Infant Died From Storm
• 2009/04/10: CBS: Tornadoes Ravage Arkansas
• 2009/04/11: AP: Searchers look for more victims of Tenn. tornado
• 2009/04/10: CNN: 2 more killed, dozens hurt in deadly Southeastern tornadoes
  Tornado hit Murfreesboro, Tennessee Friday, killing 2, injuring 30, official says - Arkansas National Guard troops go house to house searching for tornado victims - Tornado hits Mena, Arkansas, on Thursday; 3 people confirmed dead - County hospital, City Hall, courthouse were among buildings damaged by storm
• 2009/04/10: BBC: Storm system ravages southern US
  Tornadoes and wildfires fuelled by strong winds have caused widespread destruction in the southern US, leaving at least eight people dead. The storms killed two people in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, on Friday and three in the small Arkansas town of Mena on Thursday night. Wildfires in Texas killed at least three people. Oklahoma declared a state of emergency in more than 30 counties after fires destroyed more than 100 homes.
• 2009/04/10: EarthTimes: Tornado rips through US town killing 3; fires cause havoc in Texas
• 2009/04/10: CBC: Tornado strikes small Arkansas town, killing 3
• 2009/04/10: AP: Tornado devastates small Arkansas town, killing 3
  Mena, Ark. -- Battered residents of this western Arkansas city waited for daylight Friday to dig out from a "direct hit" by a tornado that killed three people, injured at least 30, and flattened homes and businesses.

As for wild fires:

• 2009/04/11: TerraDaily: Deadly fires, tornadoes rage across US
• 2009/04/11: BBC: Rain hope for US wildfire states
  Heavy rain this weekend could bring relief to parts of the southern US hit by wildfires, forecasters say. The blazes have killed three people and destroyed hundreds of homes in Texas and Oklahoma since they ignited on Thursday. They were fanned by high winds, part of a storm system that has also triggered deadly tornadoes in Tennessee and Arkansas. At least five people died and about 70 were hurt in two separate tornadoes.
• 2009/04/11: Reuters: Wildfires destroy 2 Texas towns, kill 2
• 2009/04/10: CNN: Wildfires claim 2 lives in Texas
  Number of injured in Oklahoma wildfires rises to at least 49 - Oklahoma governor declares emergency for 31 counties - Former television reporter, wife die in Texas wildfire - Weather forecast calls for lighter winds, chance of rain
• 2009/04/09: KOCO: Wildfires force evacuations across state -- Evacuations Under Way In Several Okla. Communities
• 2009/04/08: PLoS One: Global Pyrogeography: the Current and Future Distribution of Wildfire by Meg A. Krawchuk et al.
• 2009/04/09: ABC(Au): Bushfire imaging to determine global warming risks
  In an attempt to determine which areas of the globe will be most affected by climate change, US scientists are using thermal satellite imaging to help map global wildfires, with Victoria's recent deadly fires feature in the research.
• 2009/04/08: TreeHugger: New Study Forecasts Global Warming Will Change Wildfire Patterns
• 2009/04/08: ENN: Climate Change To Spur Rapid Shifts In Wildfire Hotspots, Analysis Finds
• 2009/04/08: SciDaily: Climate Change To Spur Rapid Shifts In Wildfire Hotspots, Analysis Finds
• 2009/04/07: EarthTimes: Report: Heat wave killed more Australians than forest fires

  And disruptions of the hydrological cycle[floods & droughts]:

• 2009/04/09: TerraDaily: Taps off for two million in water-starved Mexico City
• 2009/04/11: AlterNet: America's 10 Most Endangered Rivers
• 2009/04/10: UPI: Water crisis rocks LA, Mexico City; who's next?
• 2009/04/10: ABC(Au): Mexico City shuts down water supply
  Authorities in Mexico City have shut down a main pipeline that supplies fresh water to five million residents, because reserves have fallen to record low levels.
• 2009/04/10: PeakEnergy: Murray river flows lowest in a century
• 2009/04/09: UN: Number of people uprooted by Namibian floods tops 54,000 -- UN
• 2009/04/09: JQuiggin: More bad news for the Murray-Darling
• 2009/04/07: Soils: Impact of Floods on Soils
• 2009/04/08: SMH: Murray flows lowest in a century
• 2009/04/07: ABC(Au): Murray inflows hit record low -- Inflows into the Murray over the past three months were the lowest on record
• 2009/04/07: DeSmogBlog: More Australian Weather Records Tumble

  Elsewhere on the mitigation front:

• 2009/04/10: IGHIH: Joe Romm's Solution to Climate Change [14 wedges]
• 2009/03/26: Regenwald: Declaration: 'Biochar', a new big threat to people, land, and ecosystems

  These guys can't be serious. What's the catch?

• 2009/04/06: NewScientist: Airlines want governments to be stricter on emissions
• 2009/04/06: BizGreen: Airlines call on UN to impose carbon caps
  BA, Cathay Pacific, Air France/KLM and Virgin Atlantic to present UN with proposals for global aviation cap-and-trade scheme
• 2009/04/06: BBerg: BA, Air France Propose Emissions Trading for Airlines

  While in the endless quest for zero energy, sustainable buildings and practical codes:

• 2009/04/09: PhysOrg: Hemp could be key to zero-carbon houses
• 2009/04/08: ClimateP: Empire State Building to go LEED Gold, cut energy costs 38%
• 2009/04/07: ABC(Au): New York's Empire State Building is going "green" in a model project that will save about $6.18 million a year on energy
• 2009/04/06: USAToday: More states want solar power to be option on new homes
  A growing number of states are moving to require home builders to offer solar electricity and hot-water systems in new homes, right alongside more traditional options such as fancy kitchen countertops and special window treatments.

And on the carbon sequestration front:

• 2009/04/10: SciAm: How Fast Can Carbon Capture and Storage Fix Climate Change?
  Carbon capture and storage is not being widely built today; the primary problem--it is expensive
• 2009/04/10: KSJT: Scientific American: Show, tell, and prognosticate - the carbon sequestration story
• 2009/04/08: Guardian(UK): New era for fossil fuels as first carbon capturing power plant begins work
  French power station leading the way in the world's sluggish move towards using environmentally vital CCS technology
• 2009/04/08: FinPo: Enbridge team plans CO2 storage pilot project
• 2009/04/07: KSJT: Sci. American: Launch of a five part, on line series on burying CO2
• 2009/04/06: PhysOrg: Study reveals potential to amass more carbon in eastern North American forests
• 2009/04/06: SciAm: Can Carbon Capture and Storage Save Coal? Capturing carbon dioxide may be the only hope to avoid a climate change catastrophe from burning fossil fuels
• 2009/04/06: TreeHugger: Carbon Capture And Storage Will Happen - Here's Why We Should Support It

  Large scale geo-engineering keeps popping up:

• 2009/04/10: VQR: The Ass's Dilemma: Can Man Engineer the Climate?
• 2009/04/06: ETCGroup: [link to 139k pdf] ETC Group Submission to UK's Royal Society Working Group on Geoengineering
• 2009/04/10: GG:GE: FW: AP story on geo-engineering and the White House [clarification from John Holdren on AP story]
• 2009/04/09: ClimateP: Science Adviser Holdren stands by his long-standing critique of geoengineering
• 2009/04/09: SeattlePI: Obama looking at cooling air to fight warming
• 2009/03/30: CChange: Bill McKibben and the Technofixers' Tragic Myopia
• 2009/04/08: Guardian(UK): Obama climate adviser open to geo-engineering to tackle global warming
• 2009/04/08: PhysOrg: Obama looks at climate engineering
• 2009/04/08: DM:CCM: Geoengineering is "On the Table" in Obama Administration
• 2009/04/08: TWTB: Moving the climate debate forward: geo-engineering
• 2009/04/08: Google:AP: AP Newsbreak: Obama looks at climate engineering
• 2009/04/07: SciDaily: Pentagonal Ice Discovered: Could Be Used To Modify Weather

  While on the adaptation front:

• 2009/04/09: ENN: Vulnerable Sundarbans islanders use technology against climate change threats
• 2009/04/08: NatureCF: Are better predictions needed for adaptation?

  Meanwhile in the journals:

• 2009/04/09: VoxEU: International trade and the feasibility of global climate change agreements by Yuezhou Cai et al.
  This column explains how damage from global temperature increases needs to be large before countries reduce carbon emissions. It shows, using simulations, that larger countries should be more willing to participate in cooperative arrangements and countries adopting a longer-term view will be more inclined to reduce carbon emissions. It also argues that international trade is largely a positive force in reducing carbon emissions.
• 2009/04/09: ACPD: Aerosol composition of the tropical upper troposphere by K. D. Froyd et al.
• 2009/04/09: CP: Climate reconstruction from pollen and ?13C records using inverse vegetation modeling -- Implication for past and future climates by C. Hatté et al.
• 2009/04/08: CP: Comment on "Aerosol radiative forcing and climate sensitivity deduced from the Last Glacial Maximum to Holocene transition", by P. Chylek and U. Lohmann, Geophys. Res. Lett., 2008 by J. C. Hargreaves & J. D. Annan
• 2009/04/06: CP: Variability of summer precipitation over Eastern China during the last millennium by C. Shen et al.
• 2009/04/06: ETCGroup: [link to 139k pdf] ETC Group Submission to UK's Royal Society Working Group on Geoengineering
• 2009/04/08: TC: The role of radiation penetration in the energy budget of the snowpack at Summit, Greenland by P. Kuipers Munneke et al.
• 2009/04/08: PLoS One: Global Pyrogeography: the Current and Future Distribution of Wildfire by Meg A. Krawchuk et al.
• 2009/04/08: ACP: Sensitivity of aerosol and cloud effects on radiation to cloud types: comparison between deep convective clouds and warm stratiform clouds over one-day period by S. S. Lee et al.

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

• 2009/04/08: PhysOrg: Researcher identifies protein that concentrates carbon dioxide in algae

  Dyson again:

• 2009/04/07: ClimateP: What else is Newsweek wrong about? Pushing Freeman Dyson's pseudoscience

  Meanwhile on the Kyoto-2 front:

• 2009/04/10: EurActiv: Experts urge UN to include agriculture in climate talks
• 2009/04/10: DotEarth: Rich-Poor Divide Still Stalls Climate Accord
• 2009/04/09: Yahoo: Global Climate Talks Must Address Agriculture
• 2009/04/09: NatureCF: [Nicholas] Stern advice for Copenhagen
• 2009/04/08: FTimes: Views diverge on cuts by 2020
  Differences between the European Union and the US over the extent of emissions cuts needed in the medium term should not present a serious stumbling block on the road to a possible climate change agreement in Copenhagen in December, Todd Stern said...
• 2009/04/09: BBerg: Rain Forest Credits May Be Used for 5% of UN Climate Compliance
• 2009/04/09: BBC: UN demands more climate ambition
  The year's first round of UN climate talks has ended with delegates talking of a clear split between the visions of developed and developing nations. Developing countries want big emission cuts from rich nations by 2020, as well as finance for climate protection and more transfer of "clean" technologies. The top UN climate official said richer nations should show "more ambition".
• 2009/04/08: BBerg: ADB Starts Carbon Fund to Finance Projects After Kyoto Protocol
• 2009/04/07: WorldChanging: Success at COP-15: Climate Change, Reframed
• 2009/04/06: ClimateP: China's Copenhagen Commitments: A Workable Solution
• 2009/04/05: Xinhuanet: EU, U.S. vow to coop more in fighting climate change

  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:

• 2009/04/09: CJR: Class Dismissed -- The 'populist' case against cap-and-trade is absurd
• 2009/04/08: WaPo: Save the Climate, Share the Wealth -- Entrepreneur Inspires 'Cap-and-Dividend' Legislation With a Payoff for Taxpayers
• 2009/04/08: Guardian(UK): Carbon bonuses could determine development of a low-carbon economy

  Meanwhile on the international political front:

• 2009/04/06: PlanetArk: Obama Climate Pledges get Cautious EU Welcome

  What will be the fate of the WCI under corporate attack and whip lashed by Obama's cap & trade?

• 2009/04/06: TP:WonkRoom: Adirondack Mountain High? New Attack On Western Climate Initiative Uses New York To Stand In For Colorado
• 2009/04/05: JFleck: Is the Western Climate Initiative tanking?

  And on the American political front:

• 2009/04/11: TreeHugger: US Paper Industries Pull US$8 Billion Bio-Fuel Tax Credit Scam
• 2009/04/09: FuturePundit: Carbon Taxes To Hit Big Coal Electric States Hardest
• 2009/04/09: Tennessean: Energy reform key to economy
• 2009/04/09: Tennessean: Cap and trade would address climate threat
• 2009/04/09: TreeHugger: Washington Governor Makes Secret, Dirty Deal with Big Coal
  Just when everybody was getting optimistic that government was finally going to start cracking down on polluting companies, we get news like this: the governor of Washington has made a secret deal with Big Coal, setting air pollution regulations behind closed doors. Gov Chris Gregoire made the agreement with TransAlta, the owner of Washington's only coal-fired power plant and single biggest emitter of greenhouse gases in the state.
• 2009/04/08: CCulture: Daniel McGowan, Another "War on Terrorism" Victim
• 2009/04/07: TP:WonkRoom: Report: Global Boiling Places California's Economy At Great Risk
• 2009/04/07: ClimateP: Climate Change and International Competitiveness
• 2009/04/06: WarmingLaw: Sunflower v. Sebelius Update: What's the Matter with Kansas?
• 2009/04/07: BCLSB: U.S. Climate Legislation: Incremental Change Ahead
• 2009/04/07: TreeHugger: New York Lawyers Lawyer Up For the Climate
• 2009/04/06: ClimateP: Best of Times, Worst of Times: The Presidential Climate Action Project [will shut down on April 30]
• 2009/04/05: LA Times: Energy-efficiency jobs get a jolt
  Counting on an infusion of federal stimulus funds, states and private firms plan to expand a workforce that will upgrade buildings.

The Obama chatter is nonstop:

• 2009/04/11: NYT: Obama, Who Vowed Rapid Action on Climate Change, Turns More Cautious
• 2009/04/09: KSJT: NYTimes: A climate policy one-two punch. Obama's Energy policy disquiets Europe, while Midwestern US prizes its coal-enabled energy bills
• 2009/04/07: BBerg: Obama Sees 'Big Political Struggles' on Post-Kyoto
• 2009/04/07: NYT:GW: White House says action on climate, economy go hand in hand
• 2009/04/07: TreeHugger: Obama's 7 Greenest Ideas So Far
• 2009/04/05: Google:AFP: Obama pledges US lead on climate change

  There has been much chatter about the details of Obama's cap-and-trade:

• 2009/04/08: MoJo:KD: Caving on Auctions
• 2009/04/09: WSJ:EnvCap: Going Once, Going Twice: Obama's Cap-and-Trade Flexibility
  The Obama administration is apparently backing away from the idea of selling 100% of the emissions permits that would be the backbone of the future cap-and-trade system. What's the point? The overall burden on consumers will be the same whether the permits are sold or given away; backtracking on permit auctions would only benefit a small group of industries.
• 2009/04/08: Reuters: Obama "flexible" on climate legislation
• 2009/04/08: TP:MYglesias: Making Cap and Trade Regressive
• 2009/04/07: JFleck: Stuff I Wrote Elsewhere: Realities of Cap and Trade

  Disagreement about basic facts happen when? When oxes are gored:

• 2009/04/09: McClatchyDC: More fuzzy math? How GOP estimates carbon tax impact
• 2009/04/09: TP:WonkRoom: 'Liar, Liar, Pants On Fire': Maddow Covers The 'Really Crazy' GOP MIT Tax Lie
• 2009/04/09: DeSmogBlog: Obama's Cap and Trade Costs vs. GOP's Lies, Damned Lies and Statistics
• 2009/04/08: EconView: "Cap-and-Trade is a Tax"

  The actions of the Obama administration are being watched closely:

• 2009/04/12: ClimateP: White House efforts to get climate bill through House and Senate
• 2009/04/08: TerraDaily: WHouse may postpone part of emissions plan: report [Holdren]
• 2009/04/11: IR^2: The 2009 EIA Energy Conference: Day 1
• 2009/04/09: IR^2: Steven Chu at the 2009 EIA Energy Conference
• 2009/04/10: CJR: Holdren's First Interviews -- Obama's new science advisor causes a media stir
• 2009/04/10: OilDrum: Steven Chu at the 2009 EIA Energy Conference
• 2009/04/10: GG:GE: FW: AP story on geo-engineering and the White House [clarification from John Holdren on AP story]
• 2009/04/10: NEN: White House still wants climate change fight
• 2009/04/08: NatureN: John Holdren -- President Obama's science adviser talks about his new job.
• 2009/04/08: Google:AP: Obama looks at climate engineering
• 2009/04/09: NOAANews: NOAA Administrator Renews America's Commitment to Science
• 2009/04/09: KSJT: AP: White House science adviser [John Holdren] finally sits down with a reporter
• 2009/04/09: ClimateP: Science Adviser Holdren stands by his long-standing critique of geoengineering
• 2009/04/09: DotEarth: Science Adviser Lays Out Climate and Energy Plans
• 2009/04/09: BBerg: Holdren Puts U.S. Climate Goals Before International Agreement
• 2009/04/09: WaPo: Science Chief [OSTP head, John Holdren] Discusses Climate Strategy -- Obama Adviser Hints at Compromise on Cap-and-Trade Emission Allowances
• 2009/04/09: SF Gate: Greenhouse gases must be cut, Obama aide says
  In sharp contrast to the low priority the Bush administration gave to global warming, President Obama's new science adviser said Wednesday that the world's industrialized nations must immediately cut greenhouse gas emissions to ward off the most extreme effects of climate change. "We are already experiencing increased heat waves, drought, wildfires, floods and pest infestations - all of that is at today's levels," said physicist John Holdren, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. "In my judgment, climate change is already dangerous, and the question is, 'Can we stop short of a completely unmanageable degree of climate change?' " he said.
• 2009/04/08: TreeHugger: Who's Who on Obama's Green Team: Ken Salazar, Secretary of Interior
• 2009/04/08: OilDrum: US Department of Interior Moves to Speed Up Wind Energy
• 2009/04/08: WSJ:EnvCap: Team Obama: We'll Consider Geoengineering to Fight Climate Change
• 2009/04/06: Google:AP: Salazar: Eastern wind could replace coal for power
• 2009/04/06: OregonLive: [Interior Secretary, Ken] Salazar: Wind power can replace 3,000 coal plants
• 2009/04/06: WorldChanging: US Interior Department Report: Wind could supply enough power to meet US electricity needs
• 2009/04/06: ENN: Interior Secretary [Ken Salazar] to discuss NJ's offshore energy

  As for what is going on in Congress:

• 2009/04/10: CSW: Provisions in the Waxman-Markey draft bill get us closer to ensuring climate policy is science-based
• 2009/04/09: Guardian(UK): Climate change on Capitol Hill -- The Waxman-Markey climate change bill would be a bold step forward, but it needs help to make it past the Senate
• 2009/04/10: G&M: Blue Dog Democrats growling at climate-change plan
  Party's fiscal conservatives and those elected in mining states could side with GOP to veto Obama's cap-and-trade proposal
• 2009/04/09: NYT: In Areas Fueled by Coal, Climate Bill Sends Chill
• 2009/04/05: CSW: Comments on the adaptation provisions in the Waxman-Markey draft climate legislation
• 2009/04/05: CSW: A summary of the adaptation provisions in the Waxman-Markey draft climate legislation
• 2009/04/06: WSJ:EnvCap: King Coal: Waxman-Markey Bill Opens Door to Dirty Coal

  While in the UK:

• 2009/04/08: Guardian(UK): London mayor -- 100,000 electric cars for capital
  Boris Johnson announces commitment to making electric cars 'first choice for Londoners', pledging £20m of the GLA budget
• 2009/04/08: BBC: Prime Minister Gordon Brown is promising this month's Budget will plot a "green" route to economic recovery
• 2009/04/07: Guardian(UK): 'Climate change activists break the law to engage the public and politicians' -- Campaigner Tamsin Omond explains why she climbed on to the roof of Parliament in protest at Heathrow's third runway
• 2009/04/07: Guardian(UK): Heathrow airport expansion threatened by legal challenge
  Greenpeace and WWF-UK among campaigners launching challenge that could see decision on third runway quashed
• 2009/04/07: BBC: Caution urged on green tax effect
  The think-tank IPPR [Institute for Public Policy Research] has warned the UK Chancellor not to use green taxes to plug the hole in government finances. Its new research shows that government could gain £3.5bn a year through a carbon tax on homes and vehicles.
• 2009/04/06: Guardian(UK): UK climate policy not up to scratch, warns CBI
• 2009/04/06: Guardian(UK): The environment: Not green, just gloomy [Giddens's Paradox]

  And in Europe:

• 2009/04/09: EurActiv: Potocnik: Europe must lead 'green revolution'
• 2009/04/09: DerSpiegel: The World from Berlin -- 'Down with the Scrapping Bonus!'
  A government program designed to get Germans out of their old cars and into brand new ones was supposed to help buyers and manufacturers alike. But the "scrapping bonus" may backfire.
• 2009/04/08: EurActiv: EU 'lagging behind' competitors on green stimulus
  Analysing economic recovery measures in over 30 countries, experts at HSBC bank found that the US and China are putting more money into stimulating green growth. EurActiv spoke to Nick Robins, head of climate change at HSBC, in an interview.
• 2009/04/08: BBC: German car scrap scheme expands
  Germany has tripled the size of its car-scrapping scheme, which rewards trading in old cars for new ones. The government will raise its budget from 1.5bn to 5bn euros ($6.6bn; £4.5bn), aiming to cover up to two million cars instead of 600,000. The scheme has been very popular, driving German car sales to their highest level for 10 years last month.
• 2009/04/06: PRWatch: [French government-owned energy company] EDF Goes Nuclear on Greenpeace

  Is this a case of credit the ETS for an effect of the recession?

• 2009/04/07: EurActiv: Draft emissions data bodes well for EU carbon market
  Early data for 2008 shows the EU's emissions trading scheme (EU ETS) achieving its emissions reduction goals for the first time, boosting the bloc's morale as global negotiators try to hammer out a successor to the Kyoto Protocol later this year. The preliminary data, released by the European Commission on 1 April, show a fall in recorded emissions of around 6% compared to 2007. Emissions stood at 1.981 billion metric tonnes (Mt), but the figure will be updated as the remaining installations disclose their data.

Meanwhile in Australia:

• 2009/04/09: PlanetArk: In Big Green Push, Australia Thinks Too Small On Solar
• 2009/04/09: ABC(Au): The Canberra Liberals say the ACT should seek compensation for the cost of any emission trading scheme
• 2009/04/09: ABC(Au): Victoria's Environment Minister says parks in bushfire affected areas are safe to visit this Easter holiday weekend
• 2009/04/08: ABC(Au): Vic bushfire parks reopen for Easter
  Victoria's Environment Minister says the impact of the Black Saturday bushfires in the state's parks will soon not be noticeable.
• 2009/04/07: ABC(Au): Smelter 'to send strong message' on emissions trading
  A New South Wales Hunter Valley aluminium smelter is set to outline its fears regarding the emissions trading scheme to the federal Climate Change Minister [Penny Wong]
• 2009/04/07: ABC(Au): Federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett says there is no doubt the recent collapse of the Wilkins Ice shelf in Antarctica is the result of climate change
• 2009/04/06: ABC(Au): Cheap solar hot water systems up for grabs
  The Queensland Government has invited residents to register their interest in cheap solar hot water systems. The Government is offering 200,000 subsidised systems and has set up a phone line and a website for interested customers.
• 2009/04/06: ABC(Au): The Federal Government has appointed the former president of the World Bank, James Wolfensohn, to head its advisory panel on carbon capture and storage [Global Carbon Capture and Storage Institute]
• 2009/04/06: ABC(Au): QUT offers climate change law scholarship
  Queensland University of Technology will become the first in the country to offer a scholarship to study the legal ramifications of climate change.
• 2009/04/06: ABC(Au): Wong pleased to see US 'addressing climate change'
  Federal Climate Change Minister Penny Wong says she will closely watch a US proposal for the country to cut climate change emissions by more than 80 per cent. The plan has been put forward by Democratic representative Henry Waxman and it proposes an 83 per cent cut in US greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
• 2009/04/06: SMH: Clean coal remains a faraway dream
  When the Academy Award-winning filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen used their talents a few weeks ago to make an anti-ad ridiculing clean coal, industry lobbyists were not happy. When Robert Kennedy jnr branded clean coal in America "a dirty lie", and suggested some coal executives should face criminal charges, they got really upset. This state's most passionate coal advocate, the head of the NSW Minerals Council, Nikki Williams, reacts to Kennedy's name with a mix of outrage and sorrow. But the coal industry and, more importantly, Australia's politicians, should come to grips with the reality that it is beginning to lose its social licence to operate in Western democracies. And the strategy of holding up clean coal as the Holy Grail for the industry's greenhouse problem is not working.

While in China:

• 2009/04/07: EnergyBulletin: China's grand plans for eco-cities now lie abandoned
  If all had gone as planned, "the world's first eco-city," as press releases billed it back in 2005, would now be well on its way to completion. [...] Today, almost nothing has been built. Some residents have been moved off the island, many of them becoming cab drivers in bustling Shanghai. Although the project was widely publicized internationally, most locals knew little about it. The political leaders who championed the project were ousted in a corruption scandal, and their successors have allowed construction permits to lapse.

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

• 2009/04/10: CanWest: Boreal caribou herds dying off: report -- Tory dismissal of findings angers scientists
  Half of Canada's boreal caribou herds are in decline and could die off unless their habitat is better protected, says a federal report that points to logging and energy production as big threats to the reclusive creatures. Environment Canada released the long-awaited report Thursday, more than six months after it was finalized by scientists. And the Conservative government took the extraordinary step of distancing itself from the report by slapping a preface on the 254-page document saying it is not detailed enough.
• 2009/04/08: TStar: Environment file slips from radar
  Once the hot seat of the Conservative cabinet, the environment portfolio is well on the way to becoming a question period La-Z-Boy. In sharp contrast with his two immediate predecessors who were regular targets of opposition attacks, Jim Prentice is lucky if he gets to stretch his legs once over the course of the opposition's daily 45-minute grilling of the government. Indeed, more often than not these days, Prentice has to rely on the kindness of his own colleagues for a chance to speak up during question period. Forty days into the session, backbench Conservatives have put more questions to the environment minister than the Liberals and the NDP combined.
• 2009/04/06: Blevkog: Evolution - 2, Conservatives - 0
• 2009/04/11: CanWest: Grits, Tories switch teams on carbon tax
  In the run-up to last year's federal election, the Conservative party was busy scaring the West over the impact of a carbon tax while the Liberals were trying to sell a complex Green Shift. Since then the snow has come and nearly gone, the sun has warmed and Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff has become a regular in Alberta preaching the role tarsands development plays in Canadian jobs, while the Conservative environment minister is warning that Canada better have a carbon tax in place or face economic catastrophe. To be fair, Environment Minister Jim Prentice isn't specifically talking taxes, but he confessed this week that unless Canada is willing to have a carbon-mitigating strategy at least as strenuous as that proposed in the United States, the free trade agreement with the biggest economy on the planet may be in jeopardy.

Doesn't this just encapsulate what Harper thinks of clean energy?

• 2009/04/08: CanWest: Former oil exec to be clean-energy envoy -- Ex-chief of firm active in oilsands to head Canada-U.S. working group
  The Harper government has named a former oil and gas industry executive who led a company active in the Alberta oilsands as a representative on a United States-Canada working group on clean energy. Charlie Fischer, who until recently served as president and chief executive officer of Calgary-based Nexen Inc., will head up one of three working groups with U.S. counterparts as part of the Clean Energy Dialogue, Environment Minister Jim Prentice has confirmed. Prime Minister Stephen Harper agreed to set up the working groups after a meeting in Ottawa with U.S. President Barack Obama, promising the two countries would co-operate on developing new ways to combat climate change.
• 2009/04/08: DeSmogBlog: Canada's Prime Minister Installs Tar Sands Exec as "Clean Energy" Envoy to US

  As expected, the Tories are coming under pressure from American legislation:

• 2009/04/09: CBC: U.S. pressure could alter Canada's greenhouse gas approach
• 2009/04/08: G&M: Hard caps, free trade
  Jim Prentice, the Minister of the Environment, is wise to be seriously considering a viable, effective cap-and-trade system to limit greenhouse-gas emissions, not only because of the intrinsic merits of acting to prevent climate change, but also to protect Canada's trade with the United States. The Harper government's policy until now did not propose to set maximums or "hard caps"; its intensity-based approach was to restrain carbon emissions according to a proportion of production, which might well have permitted large absolute increases in emissions, for example, when new resources are developed in the oil sands.
• 2009/04/09: G&M: Ottawa faces pressure to align with U.S. on green plans
  Canada may be forced to adopt 'comparable' standards to U.S. bill that would set strict limits on emissions Ottawa could be forced to drop its controversial intensity-based approach to reducing greenhouse gas emissions to avoid having to pay U.S. border duties, Environment Minister Jim Prentice says. "There are clearly measures [being planned in the United States] that would have trade-related consequences for Canada if we don't have equivalent environmental legislation in place," Mr. Prentice said in an interview in his Parliament Hill office this week.
• 2009/04/10: BLongstaff: Woe is us, we may have to go green

  The Liberals are having a convention:

• 2009/04/11: TStar: The ghost of Stéphane Dion
  Like bad gas, carbon tax lingers -- Centrepiece of the Liberals' 2008 election platform is up for debate again at the party's convention
• 2009/04/10: BCLSB: Two Environmental Proposals Up For A Vote At Liberal Convention
• 2009/04/10: Google:CP: Carbon tax resurfaces in Liberal policy resolutions
• 2009/04/07: CBC: Ignatieff wants North Pole to be international park
• 2009/04/07: Canoe: Ignatieff backs Grit stand on oilsands controversy

  Things are warming up in BC with the election coming:

• 2009/04/07: Tyee: BC's Clashing Shades of Green -- How 'run of river' and global warming are splitting enviros this election
• 2009/04/11: DeSmogBlog: Jaccard analysis blunts NDP's carbon tax axe
• 2009/04/09: CBC: James promises NDP will scrap carbon tax if elected
  British Columbia NDP Leader Carole James says her party would scrap the carbon tax, restrict raw log exports and bring BC Ferries back under closer government control if it wins the upcoming provincial election. James made the promises as she released her party's election platform at a campaign kickoff on Thursday morning in Vancouver for the election on May 12.
• 2009/04/11: G&M: B.C.'s NDP sell out on carbon tax
  Once upon a time, the New Democratic Party was seen as the friend of environmentalists everywhere. But today, the NDP's green supporters in British Columbia feel like the party sold them out in the name of political expediency. It did.
• 2009/04/09: CanWest: NDP platform promises an immediate end to B.C.'s carbon tax
• 2009/04/10: CanWest: NDP promises to axe unpopular carbon tax -- Party leader Carole James releases platform as provincial election campaign gears up
• 2009/04/07: CanWest: Vancouver, BC Hydro, sign on to test electric car
  BC Hydro and the city of Vancouver signed on today with Mitsubishi for tests of the world's first production-ready, highway-capable electric car. The Mitsubishi i MiEV is a new zero-emission, pure electric car with extended range that will be tested by Hydro and the city, according to a memorandum of understanding announced today at BC Hydro's corporate headquarters in downtown Vancouver.
• 2009/04/05: CBC: B.C.'s carbon-offset plan doesn't sit well with environmentalists
  A B.C. government initiative to plant trees as a way to offset greenhouse gas emissions is facing criticism from environmentalists. The provincial government is looking to spend up to $5 million on projects to plant trees or make existing ones grow faster through fertilizer and other means.

Ontario is still wrestling with its energy policy:

• 2009/04/06: CBC: Green energy legislation will hike electricity bills: report
  Ontario families could see their electricity bills go up by hundreds of dollars a year once the province's Green Energy Act takes effect, according to a new report released Monday. Higher energy costs brought on by the legislation means household bills could go up by $280 to $780 a year on average between 2010 and 2025, said the independent study commissioned by the Opposition Conservatives.

Meanwhile in that Mechanical Mordor known as the tar sands:

• 2009/04/09: DeSmogBlog: "Re-Branding" the Alberta Tar Sands
• 2009/04/08: DeSmogBlog: Shell Abandons Alberta Tar Sands Emissions Cuts - See You In Court
• 2009/04/08: Reuters: Green groups want Shell oil sands permits rescinded
• 2009/04/06: CBC: Greenpeace buries $600 to protest carbon capture spending

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

• 2009/04/12: NYT: Mr. Soddy's Ecological Economy
• 2009/04/06: AfterGutenberg: Sustainability as a Practice
• 2009/04/05: OilDrum: Banking on Energy -- Chris Cook proposes that international trade be denominated not in dollars, but energy.
• 2009/04/06: SeekingAlpha: Oil As Money and the Decline of Energy Earnings
• 2009/04/06: RtH: Oil: No Supply Side Answer to the Coming Crisis
• 2009/04/03: Forbes: Climate Change Ponzi Scheme -- How to ward off a Madoff-like moment with intergenerational extortion

  As for how the media handles the science of climatology:

• 2009/04/11: Maribo: The media and scientific responsibility
• 2009/04/11: MTobis: Last Meta Posting
• 2009/04/09: ClimateP: In a stunning journalistic lapse, the NY Times gives credulous coverage to Swift Boat smearer Marc Morano, the Jayson Blair of global warming
• 2009/04/09: MTobis: Math Joke Applied to Journalism
• 2009/04/07: MTobis: Journalism of Climate Change per Yulsman
• 2009/04/06: RtE: Lessons in geography etc.

  Meanwhile among the 'Sue the Bastards!' contingent:

• 2009/04/06: AutoBG: Group sues Obama administration over weak MPG standards

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

• 2009/04/10: OpEdNews: The Top Ten Reasons for Energy Independence
• 2009/04/10: NewScientist: Printed supercapacitor could feed power-hungry gadgets
• 2009/04/10: TIWMN: Is this the answer to energy crisis? [wave pumped hydro-power]
• 2009/04/10: SMH: Enjoy the cheap petrol, while it lasts
• 2009/04/10: PeakEnergy: Expanding Geothermal Power In Indonesia
• 2009/04/11: BNC: Climbing mount improbable [energy]
• 2009/04/09: TreeHugger: Number of the Day: 20% of Total World Electricity Production [used for lighting]
• 2009/04/09: OilChange: The Anti-Renewable Revolution
• 2009/04/08: NewScientist: Batteries grown from 'armour-plated' viruses
• 2009/04/08: TreeHugger: Renewable Energy Revolution Sweeps the US
• 2009/04/08: SciDaily: New Gas Storage Material: One Ounce Has Surface Area Of 30 Football Fields
• 2009/04/05: AfterGutenberg: Is Lithium Cobalt Oxide Still in the Running?
• 2009/04/07: PhysOrg: Saving energy and the environment with Flywheels
• 2009/04/07: CanWest: Vancouver, BC Hydro, sign on to test electric car
  BC Hydro and the city of Vancouver signed on today with Mitsubishi for tests of the world's first production-ready, highway-capable electric car. The Mitsubishi i MiEV is a new zero-emission, pure electric car with extended range that will be tested by Hydro and the city, according to a memorandum of understanding announced today at BC Hydro's corporate headquarters in downtown Vancouver.
• 2009/04/06: TreeHugger: Using Bacteria to Convert Clean Energy to Methane for Storage
• 2009/04/06: OilDrum: A North American Energy Plan for 2030: Hydro-electricity the forgotten renewable energy resource
• 2009/04/06: FTimes: Theory of oil-shock recession
  Ed Crooks, energy editor, examined the controversial idea put forward by Professor James Hamilton of the University of California, San Diego, that the US recession was caused by the oil shock of 2007-08.
• 2009/04/06: NEN: New nuke & coal power too costly, new energy is the way

  Joe Romm has started a daily list of top energy and climate stories:

• 2009/04/10: ClimateP: Top Energy and Climate Stories for April 10
• 2009/04/09: ClimateP: Top energy and climate stories for April 9
• 2009/04/08: ClimateP: Top energy and climate stories for April 8

  The answer my friend...:

• 2009/04/10: McClatchyDC: Wind turbine imports increase; Can U.S. factories catch up?
• 2009/04/10: ClimateP: Wind turbine plant near Detroit to hire 250 -- PLUS it's braggin' time for wind!
• 2009/04/07: TreeHugger: 4 Gigawatt Swedish Wind Farm Receives Local Approval
• 2009/04/06: Google:AP: Salazar: Eastern wind could replace coal for power
• 2009/04/06: PhysOrg: Report shows mid-Atlantic has high potential for wind energy
• 2009/04/06: PhysOrg: Europe's biggest wind farm planned in Sweden

  Meanwhile among the solar aficionados:

• 2009/04/11: TreeHugger: China Experiments With Centralized Thermal-Solar Power
• 2009/04/08: Reuters: Japan solar subsidies lure fewer users than planned
• 2009/04/11: MiamiHerald: FPL [Florida Power & Light], developer to team up on solar-powered town in Florida
• 2009/04/10: TreeHugger: China's Renewable Energy Stimulus Sends Solar Stocks Skyrocketing
• 2009/04/09: WSJ:EnvCap: Solar Plexus: Who Is The Low-Cost Solar King?
• 2009/04/09: BBC: Prize for 'Sun in the box' cooker -- A cheap solar cooker has won first prize in a contest for green ideas
• 2009/04/08: PhysOrg: Renewable energies : the promise of organic solar cells
• 2009/04/06: ABC(Au): Cheap solar hot water systems up for grabs
  The Queensland Government has invited residents to register their interest in cheap solar hot water systems. The Government is offering 200,000 subsidised systems and has set up a phone line and a website for interested customers.

The arithmetic of coal carbon is striking home:

• 2009/04/10: Kentucky: Environmentalists say costs are too high for new plant -- Environmentalists cite higher bills, coal regulation
• 2009/04/08: DemNow: The Struggle Against Mountaintop Removal: Leading Activist Mike Roselle Continues Fight Against Destructive Coal Mining
• 2009/04/07: OilDrum: Forecasting Coal Production Until 2100
• 2009/04/06: PeakEnergy: Clean coal remains a faraway dream
• 2009/04/06: PRWatch: CoalSwarm a Nerve Center for the Green Energy Movement

  Biofuel bickering abounds:

• 2009/04/09: BizInsider: The Federal Government's Ethanol Bill Is $4 Billion
  From what we're reading in a report released by the Congressional Budget Office, ethanol can't become profitable on its own, it barely reduces our use of foreign oil, its benefit to the environment is questionable and its cost to the government is massive--$4 billion to be precise.
• 2009/04/10: CommonTragedies: Another one bites the dust [corn ethanol producer]
• 2009/04/08: WWeek: Corndoggle -- How did Oregon's largest producer of "green" fuel fail so fast?
• 2009/04/09: EnvEcon: CBO says the mandated use of ethanol will likely increase GHGs in the long run
• 2009/04/08: PhysOrg: Bioethanol's impact on water supply 3x higher than once thought
• 2009/04/08: CommonTragedies: Corn Ethanol Strikes Again
• 2009/04/08: PeakEnergy: The Great Biodiesel Shutdown
• 2009/04/07: NCSU: Tiny Super-Plant Can Clean Up Hog Farms and Be Used For Ethanol Production
• 2009/04/06: ABC(Au): Clean energy firm confident of rising demand
  A clean energy company building a densified biomass plant in Albany is confident demand for renewable energies will increase, despite the global economic downturn. Plantation Energy expects its $25 million wood-fuel pellet plant to begin production next month, with the first shipment exported in July.

The nuclear energy controversy continues:

• 2009/04/10: AlterNet: The Worst Giveaway Yet: Another $50 Billion for Rust-Bucket Nukes?

  Yes we have a peak oil sighting:

• 2009/04/09: EnergyBulletin: The peak oil crisis: priorities
• 2009/04/09: EnergyBulletin: The IEA warns of shortages - "The next oil crisis is coming"

  More people are talking about the electrical grid:

• 2009/04/10: WaPo: Down to the Wires -- Local resistance to transmission lines is keeping customers from getting the green power they need
• 2009/04/06: NEN: Study validates new energy/new transmission interconnect

  And then there is the matter of efficiency & conservation:

• 2009/04/09: SciDaily: Cheap And Efficient White Light LEDs With New Design
• 2009/04/07: Hindu: India has a bright idea at climate talks [LED light]
• 2009/04/07: PhysOrg: Cheap, efficient white light LEDs new design
• 2009/04/07: PhysOrg: Researchers shine light on compact fluorescent bulb problems
  Long touted as an energy-saving alternative for home lighting, compact fluorescent lightbulbs (CFLs) now have the potential to be even more efficient, as well as dimmable...
• 2009/04/07: NEN: New energy efficiency for empire state building

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

• 2009/04/08: Reuters: China March vehicle sales may hit record high -paper
• 2009/04/09: CalcRisk: China: Record Auto Sales, Now Number 1 Auto Market
• 2009/04/09: OilDrum: Electric Commercial Vehicles
• 2009/04/09: AutoBG: New York 2009: Mitsubishi confirms i-MiEV will come to U.S.
• 2009/04/09: AutoBG: Ford plans to increase efficiency by dramatically reducing weight
• 2009/04/08: NewScientist: Innovation: 100-mpg car contest under starters orders [X-Prize]
• 2009/04/08: WSJ:EnvCap: Cash-for-Clunkers: Really Such a Bright Idea?
• 2009/04/07: CanWest: Vancouver, BC Hydro, sign on to test electric car
  BC Hydro and the city of Vancouver signed on today with Mitsubishi for tests of the world's first production-ready, highway-capable electric car. The Mitsubishi i MiEV is a new zero-emission, pure electric car with extended range that will be tested by Hydro and the city, according to a memorandum of understanding announced today at BC Hydro's corporate headquarters in downtown Vancouver.
• 2009/04/07: CBC: GM, Segway unveil new two-wheel, electric vehicle [PUMA]
• 2009/04/06: AutoBG: Chrysler to use A123 [battery] cells in its electric vehicles
• 2009/04/06: AutoBG: Joule EV update: first vehicles coming in 2010, full production by 2012
• 2009/04/06: BBC: UK car sales fell by 30.5% in March, compared with the same month last year, the latest industry figures have shown
• 2009/04/05: EconBrowser: March auto sales

  The reaction of business to climate change will be critical:

• 2009/04/08: TreeHugger: Carbon Impact of Biggest US Mutual Funds Revealed

  The carbon lobby are up to the usual:

• 2009/04/09: CCD: What Makes Climate Change Deniers Tick?
• 2009/04/11: Deltoid: The Australian's War on Science 34
• 2009/04/09: MGS: 20 who deny CO2 is correlated with temperature
• 2009/04/10: DM:CCM: Randy Olson on Marc Morano, Who Was Featured in Sizzle
• 2009/04/10: ThinkP: NYT Shills Morano, Lends Credibility To The Launch Of Swift Boater's Latest Pollution-Funded Science-Denying Venture
• 2009/04/09: ClimateP: Newsbusters, unable to read, continues to quote an article that backs me up, not them
• 2009/04/08: SciAm: Is Global Warming a Myth? How to respond to people who doubt the human impact on the climate
• 2009/04/02: WAToday: Who is behind climate change deniers?
• 2009/04/09: PeakEnergy: Who is behind climate change deniers?
• 2009/04/09: OilChange: The Anti-Renewable Revolution
• 2009/04/08: ClimateP: And the "dog bites man" story of the month goes to... [Oil Giants Loath to Follow Obama's Green Lead]
• 2009/04/08: NYT: Oil Giants Loath to Follow Obama's Green Lead
  The Obama administration wants to reduce oil consumption, increase renewable energy supplies and cut carbon dioxide emissions in the most ambitious transformation of energy policy in a generation. But the world's oil giants are not convinced that it will work. Even as Washington goes into a frenzy over energy, many of the oil companies are staying on the sidelines, balking at investing in new technologies favored by the president, or even straying from commitments they had already made.
• 2009/04/08: DeSmogBlog: Big Oil to Obama: "Over Our Dead Bodies!"
• 2009/04/07: DeSmogBlog: MSNBC taps think tanker Pat Michaels for expert advice
• 2009/04/08: ClimateP: Newbusters jumps the shark (if that's possible) in its attack on my truthful statement "windpower now generates more jobs in this country than coal mining."
• 2009/04/07: ERabett: Problems. Gerlich and Tscheuschnur have problems
• 2009/04/07: Guardian(UK): Pure rubbish: Christopher Booker Prize 2009
• 2009/04/07: ClimateP: Memo to media, blogosphere: Swift boat smearer Marc Morano has no credibility. He is unquotable and uncitable
• 2009/04/07: CommonTragedies: Green Hell
• 2009/04/07: CSW: "The Denial Machine" -- Index on Censorship reviews the Bush record on climate science
• 2009/04/06: ERabett: Die Fachbegutachtung -- Eli's translation from the German of Jörg Zimmerman's take on G&T.
• 2009/04/07: Deltoid: Cato copies the Discovery Institute
• 2009/04/07: DeSmogBlog: And Here's the Appallingly Criminal Magnitude of Their Denial!
• 2009/04/06: DeSmogBlog: Parsing Dennis Avery's Other Dubious Claims
• 2009/04/06: DeSmogBlog: Additions to our Global Warming Denier database
• 2009/04/07: DeSmogBlog: Peer Review and the Science Versus Opinion Smackdown
• 2009/04/06: GreenFyre: Climate change, lies, lies and more lies
• 2009/04/07: TP:WonkRoom: Climate Depot Alert! Global Warming Denier Marc Morano Sets Up Shop! Now With Crazier Formatting!
• 2009/04/06: Stoat: Torygraph folk are a bunch of wackos
• 2009/04/06: DeSmogBlog: Marc Morano: Global Warming Spin Doctor flogged as "Perfect Counter Guest Debater"
• 2009/04/06: ThinkP: 'Smokey' Joe Barton Operates His 'Philanthropy' Foundation As A Front Group For Big Polluter Funds

  G. Willikers redux:

• 2009/04/12: TreeHugger: Washington Post Again Embarasses George Will Over Climate Statements
• 2009/04/11: WaPo: Arctic Ice Is Melting -- The 30-year decline is accelerating, new data show.
  Make no mistake, Arctic Sea ice is melting. According to the National Snow and Ice Data Center and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the maximum extent of the winter sea ice cover for 2008-09 was the fifth-lowest on record. Underscoring their point, the agencies added, "The six lowest maximum events since satellite monitoring began in 1979 have all occurred in the past six years (2004-09)."
• 2009/04/11: ClimateP: Washington Post corrects itself: "Make no mistake, Arctic Sea ice is melting," may be gone in summer by 2013, "renders climate studies and models seemingly obsolete"
• 2009/04/10: TP:WonkRoom: 'For The Record': WaPo Reporter Steve Mufson Disses Editorial Page Over George Will Affair
• 2009/04/09: CJR: Post vs. Post -- News article, blog entry criticize Will's account of warming (one fails)
• 2009/04/09: DM:CCM: George Will Pile-On Continues: Eugene Robinson of the Post Says He Crossed the Line
• 2009/04/09: ThinkP: WaPo's Eugene Robinson Takes Fellow Columnist George Will To Task For His Inaccurate Column
• 2009/04/08: AFTIC: Washington Post's Fred Hiatt and George Will: Stupid, Lying, or Craven? « The Way Things Break
• 2009/04/08: TP:WonkRoom: To The Washington Post Editors: George Will's 'Arctic Climate Research Center' Is A Right-Wing Fabrication
• 2009/04/07: TPMM: Will's Global Warming Distortions Called Out ... By Washington Post
• 2009/04/08: TPMM: WaPo's Anti-Will Uprising
• 2009/04/07: Guardian(UK): Ah Juliet, the all-seeing sun ne'er saw your match...
• 2009/04/07: ClimateP: Washington Post reporters take unprecedented step of contradicting columnist George Will in a news article
• 2009/04/07: DM:CCM: The Washington Post vs. George Will?
• 2009/04/07: DeSmogBlog: Washington Post Blogger: "Will Misleads Readers on Climate Science - Again"
• 2009/04/07: ThinkP: In article on new climate change data, Washington Post takes a shot at its own columnist

  Then there was the miscellaneous news and commentary:

• 2009/04/12: Guardian(UK): The environment is too important to be left to the green movement
• 2009/04/08: Guardian(UK): Climate change is too big a problem to be left to the environmentalists
• 2009/04/06: Guardian(UK): [Letters] Climate change is too big an issue to leave to the experts
• 2009/04/10: CCP: Andrew Glikson's blog on climate change science and issues
• 2009/04/09: Maribo: The tragedy of the commons
• 2009/04/08: Oregonian: World can halt global warming, activist [David Suzuki] says
• 2009/04/08: TP:WonkRoom: Climate Equity Alliance Establishes Principles For Green Economic Reform
• 2009/04/08: UN: Bioenergy boosts rural development in poor nations, UN-backed study finds
• 2009/04/08: NatureCF: A common climate language
• 2009/04/08: Eureka: Ma and Pa solutions to global warming
• 2009/04/07: Reuters: EU: Earth warming faster
• 2009/04/06: P&P: Climate Change Changes Everything
• 2009/04/07: GreenGrok: Climate Update: Temperature Moderate but Skating on Thin Ice
• 2009/04/07: TreeHugger: Political Will, Not Technology, To Blame For Not Combatting Climate Change
• 2009/04/07: OLJ: State of the nations -- Part III: The environment
• 2009/04/06: ClimateP: The breakthrough technology illusion
• 2009/04/05: ENN: Plants buy Earth more time as CO2 makes them grow

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

• SourceWatch on Cop15 [Copenhagen 2009]
• SourceWatch on CoalSwarm
• LDEO: Persistent drought in North America: a climate modeling and paleoclimate perspective
• ScienceBlogs
• Intersection
• Deltoid - Tim Lambert
• Stoat
• UK RoyalSociety: Climate change documents
• Ross Gelbspan: The Heat is Online
• Millennium Ecosystem Assessment
• EESI: Climate Change News
• CMDL:NOAA: CCGG: Carbon Cycle Greenhouse Gases Group
• EESI: Environmental and Energy Study Institute
• SPARC: Science Policy Assessment and Research on Climate
• Global Warming Factsheets

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.

"We are already experiencing increased heat waves, drought, wildfires, floods and pest infestations - all of that is at today's levels. In my judgment, climate change is already dangerous, and the question is, 'Can we stop short of a completely unmanageable degree of climate change?'" -John Holdren, OSTP director

• Global Warming Links
• Global Warming News Archive
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• Energy News
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