Sipping from the internet firehose...
This weekly posting is brought to you courtesy of H. E. Taylor. Happy reading, I hope you enjoy this week's Global Warming news roundup
Another week of Climate Disruption News
Sipping from the internet firehose...
June 21, 2009
- Chuckle, Top Stories:Solstice, UKCP09, USGCRP, Synthesis Report, GLOBE, Chapman, DB Clock, Desertec
- Melting Arctic, Geopolitics, Honisch, Sol, Sarychev, Late Comments on Bonn
- Food Crisis, Food vs. Biofuel, Food Production
- Hurricanes, Monsoon, GHGs, Carbon Cycle, Temperatures, Aerosols, Paleoclimate, Glaciers, Sea Levels, Satellites
- Impacts, Forests, Corals, Climate Refugees, Desertification, Wacky Weather, Wildfires, Floods & Droughts
- Mitigation, Transportation, Buildings, Sequestration, Geoengineering, Adaptation
- Journals, Misc. Science, Lindzen, Pielke, Dyson, Eddy, N&S BI
- Kyoto, Kyoto-2, UN, Carbon Trade, Optimal Carbon Reduction Strategy
- Politics:International, America, Obama, Britain, Europe, Australia, India, China, Middle East, Canada
- Ecological Economics, Apocalypso, Media, Effective Communication, Books, Courts
- Energy, Wind, Solar, Coal, Biofuel, Nukes, Peak Oil, Grid, Efficiency, Cars, Business, Joe's List
- Carbon Lobby, Miscellaneous Climate, Useful Links
- Shameless Self Promotion, .sig
- 2009/06/19: CheepTalk: Nerdy Chicago Weather Joke
- 2009/06/19: ClimateP: (cartoon - Hallatt) Let's Go for Option One...
- 2009/06/15: uComics: (cartoon - Toles) GOP Climate Position
Happy Solstice:
- 2009/06/21: APOD: Sunrise over the Parthenon
- 2009/06/20: DM:BA: The soooooooooooolstice
Two big impact reports this week, one in the USA and one in the UK. First the UK:
- DEFRA: UK Climate Projections
- DEFRA: UK Climate Projections
- 2009/06/21: Guardian(UK): A weather forecast we daren't ignore [UK Climate Projections 2009]
- 2009/06/20: JEB: Shorter UK Climate Projections
- 2009/06/19: BBC: Flood protection 'needs doubling'
One in six homes in England is at risk of flooding, says the Environment Agency, and climate change will raise that number without better protection. - 2009/06/19: NatureCF: Cautious response to UK climate projections
- 2009/06/19: Guardian(UK): One in six UK homes 'at risk of flooding'
- 2009/06/19: NatureN: UK climate effects revealed in finest detail yet -- Detailed projections met with caution by climate scientists.
- 2009/06/19: PlanetArk: Britain Faces Severe Warming By 2080s: Study
- 2009/06/19: BBC: Flood protection 'needs doubling'
One in six homes in England is at risk of flooding, says the Environment Agency, and climate change will raise that number without better protection. The agency calculates that funding for projects that protect communities from flooding from rivers and the sea needs to double to £1bn annually by 2035. Without that, it says, economic damage worth £4bn per year could be the norm. - 2009/06/18: Guardian(UK): Q&A: UK climate impacts report
The UK government and the Met Office have produced a set of projections of how climate change will affect Britain over the next century. David Adam explains how the forecast calculations have been made - 2009/06/18: Guardian(UK): From cider makers to flood fighters - how the UK climate projections will be used
- 2009/06/18: Guardian(UK): Floods, droughts and soaring temperatures: Met Office predicts how climate change will affect UK
- 2009/06/18: Guardian(UK): A healthy natural environment is our safety net for climate change
- 2009/06/18: Guardian(UK): Why the Mediterranean climate message is all wrong
We have a job to convince people of the gravity of climate change if the worst that is predicted for the UK is a future of balmy Mediterranean summers - 2009/06/18: Guardian(UK): Malaria, freak storms and great white sharks: what may lie ahead for the UK
Scientists today produced a detailed map of how climate change is expected to affect every part of the UK over the next century. David Adam looks at what the findings will mean for various aspects of life in the UK - 2009/06/18: Guardian(UK): Here is the weather for 2080: floods, droughts and heatwaves
- 2009/06/18: Guardian(UK): We have the climate predictions but do we have the political will to adapt?
- 2009/06/18: Telegraph(UK): 800,000 homes face flood risk, warns climate change report
Twice as many British homes will be at risk of flooding than previously thought because of the impact of climate change on sea levels, according to a report [UK Climate Impact Programme (UKCIP)] by government-appointed experts. - 2009/06/18: BBC: UK 'must plan' for warmer future
The UK needs to plan now for a future that will be hotter and bring greater extremes of flood and drought, says Environment Secretary Hilary Benn. Launching the UK Climate Projections 2009 report (UKCP09), Mr Benn told MPs that the UK climate will change even with a global deal on emissions. By 2080, London will be between 2C and 6C hotter than it is now, he said. - 2009/06/18: BBC: Climate warnings' error margins [UKCP09]
- 2009/06/18: BBC: Will British crops go thirsty?
And in the USA, the USGCRP report was published:
- 2009/06/16: GlobalChange: [links to pdfs] Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States
- 2009/06/17: C411: New Climate Report: Life in a Very Different United States
- 2009/06/17: WaPo: Report on Warming Offers New Details -- Estimates Specify Effects on Different Regions of U.S.
- 2009/06/18: FDNM: Climate change report devotes chapter to Alaska
- 2009/06/16: USAToday: 'Game-changer': Report on climate change urges action
- 2009/06/17: SPG: US report: Sea-level rise to swamp Harbor Island, parts of Olympia
- 2009/06/17: CBC: New White House climate report dire, but offers hope
- 2009/06/17: KSJT: Lots of Ink: As ordered, feds assess climate change impact on US. It's big. Only thing new here is who's saying it.
- 2009/06/17: MongaBay: New report predicts dire consequences for every U.S. region from global warming
- 2009/06/17: ABC(Au): Revealed: climate change impact on US
- 2009/06/16: Grist: What's so funny about drought, blight and coastal flooding? White House hopes new climate report is a 'game-changer'
- 2009/06/17: CSW: Video link and key quotes from White House briefing on Global Climate Change Impacts report
- 2009/06/17: DM:80B: Feds Say Global Warming's Effects Can Be Seen in Our Own Backyards
- 2009/06/16: EarthTimes: US already suffering effects of climate change, study finds
- 2009/06/17: ENN: Government report shows climate change is happening now and impacting entire U.S.
- 2009/06/16: Eureka: [USGCRP] ASU researcher is among authors of new US global climate change report
- 2009/06/16: Eureka: [USGCRP] Alaska researchers contribute to national climate change report
- 2009/06/16: Eureka: [USGCRP] Report provides assessment of national, regional impacts of climate change
- 2009/06/17: Time: Climate-Change Report: From Bad to Worse
- 2009/06/16: WSJ:EnvCap: Changing Climate: Government Report Details Climate Impacts to End 'Dithering'
- 2009/06/17: WSJ:EnvCap: Climate Debate: Government Report Sparks Some More Outrage
- 2009/06/16: Guardian(UK): Manhattan floods, Chicago heatwaves and withering Californian vines: how scientists see the US in 75 years
- 2009/06/16: CNN: White House report warns of climate change effects
Man-made climate change is adversely affecting the U.S., says a federal report - Report: Changes will stress water resources, challenge crops and raise sea levels - Document is released by White House science adviser and mandated by Congress - Report's predictions: Hotter heat waves, more flooding and an increase in wildfires - 2009/06/16: ScienceInsider: U.S. Report Says Act Now on Climate Change
- 2009/06/16: NOAANews: New Report Provides Authoritative Assessment of National, Regional Impacts of Global Climate Change -- Details Point to Potential Value of Early, Aggressive Action
- 2009/06/16: ClimateP: Lubchenco says, "This report is a game changer," Holdren says it's time to act "after many years of dithering and delay," plus a new website with full report, summaries, charts, AND a slideshow
- 2009/06/16: ClimateP: Lubchenco to detail climate change impacts on farmers in new NOAA-led report
- 2009/06/15: ClimateP: Our hellish future: Definitive NOAA-led report on U.S. climate impacts warns of scorching 9 to 11°F warming over most of inland U.S. by 2090 with Kansas above 90°F some 120 days a year -- and that isn't the worst case, it's business as usual!
- 2009/06/16: PhysOrg: Climate change is already having an impact across the US [USGCRP]
- 2009/06/16: PlanetArk: U.S. [GCRP] Report to Press Case For Quick Moves on Climate
- 2009/06/16: Grist: A roundup of news coverage on the climate change impacts report
- 2009/06/16: Grist: Pacific Northwest says goodbye to salmon, skiing; hello to heat waves
- 2009/06/16: CSW: US Climate Change Impact Report Shows Immediate Need for Action - White House must lead in preparing
- 2009/06/16: CSW: US government to release "Global Climate Change Impacts in the US"...
- 2009/06/16: TreeHugger: Government Report Breaks Down How US Will be Hit by Climate Change
- 2009/06/16: Eureka: New [USGCRP] report outlines current, future impacts of climate change
- 2009/06/16: Eureka: Climate change is already having an impact in the midwest and across the US
- 2009/06/16: LBL: Berkeley Lab Scientists Contribute to Major New [USGCRP] Report Describing Climate Change Impacts on the U.S.
- 2009/06/16: NYT: Government Study Warns of Climate Change Effects
A synthesis report has been produced by the Copenhagen scientists:
- University of Copenhagen: Climate Change Congress
- 2009/06/18: TreeHugger: [link to 5.6 meg pdf] The State of Climate Change Science & Policy: Copenhagen Climate Congress Releases Synthesis Report
- 2009/06/19: ABC(Au): [Copenhagen] Climate report stresses urgent action
- 2009/06/18: PhysOrg: Scientists warn of climate catastrophe
- 2009/06/18: Yahoo: Climate catastrophe getting closer, warn scientists
The world faces a growing risk of "abrupt and irreversible climatic shifts" as fallout from global warming hits faster than expected, according to research by international scientists released Thursday. Global surface and ocean temperatures, sea levels, extreme climate events, and the retreat of Arctic sea ice have all significantly picked up more pace than experts predicted only a couple of years ago, they said. [...] A 36-page document summarized more than 1,400 studies presented at a climate conference in March in Copenhagen, where a United Nations meeting will be held in December to hammer out a successor to the Kyoto Protocol. Kyoto expires in 2012. The report said greenhouse gas emissions and other climate indicators are at or near the upper boundaries forecast by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), whose 2007 report has been the scientific benchmark for the troubled UN talks. - 2009/06/18: NJNR: Climate change: 'We have run out of time'
New scientific research suggests that climate change is taking place faster than foreseen in studies considered so far, according to environmental experts at a forum on climate change called by the Global Legislators Organization for a Balanced Environment (GLOBE). "We have run out of time," Ashok Khosla, president of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the world's largest environmental association, told IPS. "Climate change is happening at a swifter speed than we thought so far." - AGU: Chapman Conference on Abrupt Climate Change -- 15-19 June 2009
- 2009/06/19: NatureCF: AGU Chapman Conference: Megadrought in Dixieland
- 2009/06/18: NatureCF: AGU Chapman Conference: "They walked away"
- 2009/06/18: OSU: Ancient drought and rapid cooling drastically altered climate [AGU Chapman]
- 2009/06/17: NatureCF: AGU Chapman: Could seafloor vents control atmospheric CO2?
- 2009/06/16: NatureCF: AGU Chapman: Meridional madness
- 2009/06/15: NatureCF: AGU Chapman: It's all about the bumps
The Deutsche Bank has put up a large CO2 counter in NYC:
- 2009/06/19: ScienceInsider: Carbon Counter Debuts in N.Y.C.
- 2009/06/19: DM:80B: Real-Time Carbon Counter Is 70-Foot-Tall Vision of Climate Doom
- 2009/06/19: TreeHugger: The First Real-Time Carbon Emissions Counter Starts Ticking in NYC
- 2009/06/19: ENN: Giant Carbon Clock Unveiled in Center of New York City
- 2009/06/18: Guardian(UK): CO2 warning: 3.6tn tonnes and counting
- 2009/06/18: WSJ:EnvCap: Counting Carbon: Deutsche Bank Knows the Number
A $500 billion solar energy project in the Sahara to power Europe?
- 2009/06/18: NYT:GreenInc: European Solar Power From African Deserts?
- 2009/06/18: SolveClimate: Holy Solar Funding: Project Desertec to Get $500 Billion Cash Infusion?
- 2009/06/18: PeakEnergy: Munich Re touts Sahara in solar energy push
- 2009/06/17: NatureCF: Europe looks to draw power from the Sahara
- 2009/06/17: AmericaBlog: German investors to launch $550 billion solar project
- 2009/06/17: DerSpiegel: The World from Berlin -- Desertec Solar Project 'an Encouraging Economic Sign'
With the planned Desertec project, Europe wants to build a giant solar power plant to convert the endless sun in the Sahara Desert into CO2-free electricity. The mega project isn't without its critics, but most German commentators are welcoming Tuesday's announcement that the ambitious solar plans may soon move forward. - 2009/06/16: DerSpiegel: Energy from North Africa -- Massive European Solar Project Set for Launch
A German-led consortium wants to fund an international solar-energy plan to the tune of 400 billion euros. The idea is to gather solar heat in North Africa and send the electricity to Europe. If it works, it would be the largest green-energy project in the world. - 2009/06/16: Guardian(UK): Why Europe finds the sun so attractive
- 2009/06/16: Guardian(UK): German blue chip firms throw weight behind north African solar project
Siemens, Deutsche Bank, RWE and E.on ready to invest in ambitious plan to power Europe with clean electricity from Africa - 2009/06/16: TreeHugger: Huge Solar Power in the Sahara Project Moving Forward
- 2009/06/16: EarthTimes: German firms plan giant solar power project in Africa
The Arctic melt continues to garner a lot of attention:
- 2009/06/21: PlanetArk: Alaska Polar Bear Numbers Declining: U.S. Agency
- 2009/06/21: MTobis: Winter Persists in Northeastern Canada
- 2009/06/19: Stoat: Sea ice: how to describe the possibility of a record?
- 2009/06/19: CCP: Arctic Sea Ice Conditions, June 19, 2009, Part III: Bad! Really, Really Bad! (Not to mention the Greenland Ice Sheet)
- 2009/06/18: Eureka: New tracking approach will help protect polar bears -- Queen's researchers combine Inuit skills, DNA analysis in integrated method
- 2009/06/14: ClimateP: High Water: Greenland ice sheet melting faster than expected and could raise East Coast sea levels an extra 20 inches by 2100 -- to more than 6 feet
- 2009/06/14: CCP: What do Greenland and Swiss cheese have in common? Better yet, what do the GrIS and a snow cone have in common?
As for the geopolitics of Arctic resources:
- 2009/06/21: BBC: Self-rule introduced in Greenland
The Arctic island of Greenland is assuming self-rule, in the latest step towards independence from Denmark. The move follows a referendum on greater autonomy in November. It will see Greenland take a greater share of revenues from its natural resources. - 2009/06/19: CanWest: New measures beef up control of Arctic: expert -- Canadian authority over shipping extended
A leading Canadian expert on circumpolar politics is praising the Conservative government for strengthening the country's control over its Arctic waters through environmental legislation that came into force last week. The measures, which received royal assent on June 11, extend Canadian authority over Arctic shipping by an additional 100 nautical miles -- about 185 kilometres -- beyond the current 100-mile control zone in waters off Canada's northern coastline. - 2009/06/13: BizInsider: How Much Oil Is In The Arctic?
- 2009/06/17: CBC: Construction of promised Arctic patrol boats postponed
- 2009/06/16: CTV: Navy waters down plans for Arctic patrol ships
The federal government has put off asking shipbuilders for ideas on the construction of a flotilla of Arctic patrol boats, a sign that the two-year-old program is in trouble. The navy's project management office advised the defence industry on June 10th that the long-anticipated letters of intent had been delayed. - 2009/06/21: SciDaily: Carbon Dioxide Higher Today Than Last 2.1 Million Years
- 2009/06/19: KSJT: Houston Chron, Nat'l Geo, etc: Until we and our smokestacks etc came along, the air's CO2 hadn't changed much in 2.1 million years
- 2009/06/19: CCP: Barbel Honisch: CO2 levels are higher than the last 2.1 million years
- 2009/06/18: NatGeo: CO2 Levels Highest in Two Million Years
- 2009/06/18: MongaBay: CO2 currently at highest level in 2.1 million years
- 2009/06/18: Eureka: CO2 higher today than last 2.1 million years -- Study offers detailed look at past greenhouse gas levels
Solar cycles redux:
- 2009/06/18: ClimateP: National Solar Observatory, NASA say no "Maunder Minimum" -- sorry, deniers -- Solar Cycle 24 poised to rev up
- 2009/06/19: NewScientist: Solar sleuths tackle mystery of quiet sun
- 2009/06/19: DM:80B: Astronomers May Have Cracked the Case of the Quiet, Spotless Sun
- 2009/06/18: SciNow: A Yawn From the Napping Sun
- 2009/06/18: Eureka: Sunspots revealed in striking detail by supercomputers
- 2009/06/17: NASA: Mystery of the Missing Sunspots, Solved?
- 2009/06/17: CCP: Mystery of the Missing Sunspots, Solved?
Rachel Howe & Frank Hill: Jet streams in the Sun's interior cause sun spots when they reach the critical latitude of 22 degrees - 2009/06/17: NatureTGB: Science explains the unblemished sun
- 2009/06/17: DM:BA: Here comes the Sun(spot)!
- 2009/06/15: Guardian(UK): Starwatch
The Sarychev volcano in Eastern Siberia has erupted. I haven't seen any analysis of possible climatic effects yet:
- 2009/06/17: NatureTGB: [Sarychev] Volcano update
- 2009/06/15: NatureTGB: Volcano ash flies high -- Sarychev Peak on Matua Island in the Russian Kuril Islands is blowing its top...
- 2009/06/14: TerraDaily: Russian scientists say volcanic cloud threatens planes: report
Late comment on the Bonn talks:
- 2009/06/20: HotTopic: Summing up Copenhagen: what we know now
- 2009/06/17: JakartaGlobe: Rich Countries' Weak Commitment Threatening Copenhagen Protocol
- 2009/06/17: NatureCF: Not sure what to make of the global warming talks? You're not alone...
- 2009/06/17: IndiaTimes: Climate war: India, allies demand rich countries take 40% emission cuts by 2020
- 2009/06/16: NatureN: [Bonn] Climate talks snarled up -- Two-pronged negotiations fail to bridge divide between nations.
- 2009/06/15: EurActiv: EU, US criticised for low profile in Bonn climate talks
- 2009/06/15: CPositive: Bonn climate talks leave big divide
Late comment on the carbon recalculation:
- 2009/06/14: GWWatch: 1 tonne of co2 equals 0.0000000000015 °C of global warming
The food crisis is ongoing:
- 2009/06/19: WFP: Number Of World's Hungry Tops A Billion
- 2009/06/19: FAO: 1.02 billion people hungry -- One sixth of humanity undernourished - more than ever before
- 2009/06/17: FAO: Agriculture more resilient to global crisis than other sectors -- OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook 2009-2018 published
- 2009/06/: FAO: Food Outlook
- 2009/06/19: UNDispatch: UN Food and Agriculture Organization: 1 billion people go hungry
- 2009/06/19: UN: Number of world's hungry to top 1 billion this year - UN food agency
- 2009/06/19: SciDaily: 1.02 Billion People Hungry: One Sixth Of Humanity Undernourished, More Than Ever Before
- 2009/06/19: BBC: One billion people throughout the world suffer from hunger, a figure which has increased by 100 million because of the global financial crisis, says the UN
- 2009/06/19: CBC: More than 1 billion don't have enough to eat: UN agency -- Historic number of hungry due to high food prices, economic crisis
- 2009/06/17: Yahoo: Warming may outstrip Africa's ability to feed itself: study
- 2009/06/17: UNDispatch: World's Hungry Top 1 Billion, 4 Million New Hungry People a Week
- 2009/06/17: NewScientist: African farms becoming too hot to handle
- 2009/06/16: TreeHugger: Food Crisis: "Today It's Oil, In Ten Or Fifteen Years, Food"
- 2009/06/16: BBC: The UN has warned that it has run out of food to provide for nine million Ethiopians who rely on its assistance
The conflict between biofuel and food persists:
- 2009/06/15: PhysOrg: Biofuels may lead to a 'drink or drive' issue [It sounds like DUI, but means damage to the nation's water resources -het]
And how are we going to feed 9 billion?
- 2009/06/19: NatureN: Averting a climate-led food crisis in Africa -- Local crop varieties could provide solutions to temperature rises.
- 2009/06/19: DotEarth: Fertilizer Divide: Too Much, Not Enough
- 2009/06/19: PlanetArk: Climate Change Threatens To Knock Crop Yields
- 2009/06/19: Stuff(NZ): Will fertiliser scarcity harm farm economy?
- 2009/06/18: Eureka: Study highlights massive imbalances in global fertilizer use
- 2009/06/17: Eureka: New study finds that sharing genetic resources key to adaptation to climate change in Africa
Stanford and Crop Trust researchers emphasize need for collection and identification of crop varieties to address growing conditions unlike any in existence today - 2009/06/17: CCurrents: The Food Crisis Continues - In The Form Of A Global Scramble For Lucrative Farmlands
- 2009/06/16: Minyanville: Trouble on the Horizon for Wheat
There's trouble coming for wheat. Last week, both the US and Canadian crop forecasts were released. Both countries are predicting the wheat crop for 2009 will be 18-20% below the 2008 harvest. However, the Canadian crop will require a significant improvement in weather conditions to reach -18%. It's been extremely dry and cold in much of the Canadian prairies this past winter and spring. There were widespread frosts last week in Canada, but it has been so cold that much of the crop hasn't even sprouted yet, so the damage was minimal. The next few weeks will be critical as warmth and rain will have to show up to prevent a much lower harvest. - 2009/06/16: SeedDaily: Climate Change Models Find Staple Crops Face Ruin
- 2009/06/09: TAMU:AgNews: South Texas drought devastating crops -- Losses could mirror disastrous 2006 losses
- 2009/06/16: PlanetArk: Code Of Conduct Urged For Africa Farm Land Grabs
- 2009/06/15: PlanetArk: Analysis - UN Talks Seek Links In Food, Climate Crises
Typhoon Linfa is sweeping up the Western Pacific:
- 2009/06/19: EarthTimes: Taiwan issues sea warning against Typhoon Linfa
While elsewhere in the hurricane wars:
- 2009/06/20: Wunderground: Dust forecast for the 2009 Atlantic hurricane season
A monsoon forecast from India:
- 2009/06/17: IMD: Long Range Forecast For 2009 South-west Monsoon Season Rainfall
As for GHGs:
- 2009/06/14: FuturePundit: Will Earth Atmosphere Lose Nitrogen To Cool Planet?
- 2009/06/19: CCP: NOAA's monthly mean carbon dioxide measured at Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii, May 2009, WUWT
- 2009/06/16: SciDaily: Sediment Yields Climate Record For Past Half-million Years [IODP]
- 2009/06/15: Guardian(UK): HFCs: Ozone-saving gas [hydrofluorocarbons] targeted for climate effect
- 2009/06/15: EPOnline: European Environment Agency [EEA] Reports GHG Emissions Down 9.3% in 2007
And in the carbon cycle:
- 2009/06/19: Eureka: Study of agricultural watersheds and carbon losses
Specific land management practices in agricultural watersheds, such as manure application, can affect carbon losses, according to a study in the Journal of Environmental Quality - 2009/06/19: ENN: Rising ocean temperatures near worst-case predictions
The ocean is warming about 50 per cent faster than reported two years ago, according to an update of the latest climate science. - 2009/06/17: NOAANews: Fourth Warmest May for Globe
- 2009/06/15: NOAA:NCDC: Climate of 2009 May in Historical Perspective Including Boreal Spring
- 2009/06/17: ClimateP: NOAA: Fourth warmest May on record, model predicts a long and strong El Niño
- 2009/06/16: Wunderground: Fourth warmest May on record
A surprising report on aerosols by Gunnar Myrhe:
- 2009/06/21: PlanetArk: Global Warming Braked Less Than Expected by Haze
- 2009/06/20: BBC: How aerosols mask climate change
- 2009/06/19: BBC: How aerosols mask climate change
A Norwegian scientist says he has shown how much aerosols influence climate. Aerosol particles scatter and reflect the Sun's rays - an effect that "masks" global warming. This study aimed to bring together models and observations of this "direct aerosol effect", to accurately estimate the magnitude of this cooling. Reporting in the journal Science, climate scientist Gunnar Myhre has found that the effect is weaker than previous studies have estimated. - 2009/06/18: PhysOrg: Ancient drought and rapid cooling drastically altered climate [4.5 kya]
- 2009/06/18: PhysOrg: Sudden Collapse in Ancient Biodiversity: Was Global Warming the Culprit?
Scientists have unearthed striking evidence for a sudden ancient collapse in plant biodiversity. A trove of 200 million-year-old fossil leaves collected in East Greenland tells the story, carrying its message across time to us today. - 2009/06/16: PhysOrg: Geologists demonstrate extent of ancient ice age [400+ mya]
Glaciers are melting:
- 2009/06/15: KSJT: AP: Here's one glacier that's bucking the trend
- 2009/06/15: NewScientist: Silk Road threatened by melting glaciers
- 2009/06/15: PhysOrg: Argentine glacier advances despite global warming
Argentina's Perito Moreno glacier is one of only a few ice fields worldwide that have withstood rising global temperatures. - 2009/06/15: PhysOrg: Lifestyle melts away with Uganda peak snow cap
In 1906, Mount Speke, one the highest peaks of Uganda's Rwenzori Mountains was covered with 217 hectares (536 acres) of ice, according to the Climate Change Unit at Uganda's ministry of water and environment. In 2006, only 18.5 hectares remained. - 2009/06/15: ENN: Silk Road threatened by melting glaciers
Sea levels are rising:
- 2009/06/20: Guardian(UK): A sea of tears: the flooded people of South Bangladesh
With ocean levels rising, and shrimp farms proliferating, villages in south Bangladesh are being flooded by the sea. There is no water to drink, so people must search for it daily... - 2009/06/18: ABC(Au): Coast residents warned to brace for climate change
A climate research group is warning coastal Queensland communities need to start preparing for the effects of climate change. Dr John Hunter from the Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems Cooperative Research Centre says it has designed a new web-based program that can predict the risk of flooding in Cairns and other regions based on sea level rises. He says the program allows planners and policy makers to assess the risk of flooding and determine how high above sea level new infrastructure needs to be built. "The frequency of flooding events is going to increase significantly," he said. - 2009/06/17: ScienceInsider: Panel Recommends Climate Satellite Shakeup
A blue-ribbon panel recommended today that the White House intervene in the management of a crucial satellite program that has been plagued by cost overruns and delays, citing an "extraordinarily low probability of success." The panel, which presented its findings at an oversight hearing held by the House of Representatives Committee on Science and Technology, concluded that the continuity of weather data is "at extreme risk" and suggested that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) be put in charge.
The National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) is designed to replace two aging sets of satellites that the Department of Defense and NOAA each use for weather forecasts. NPOESS was also expected to significantly expand NOAA's ability to gather climate data. But the program has been delayed over and over, cost estimates have already doubled to nearly $14 billion, and the sensor capabilities have been scaled back.
While there have been technical gaffes, many problems stem from the management structure. - 2009/06/17: Eureka: Beating the radar: Getting a jump on storm prediction [by satellite]
- 2009/06/16: PhysOrg: Beating the radar: Getting a jump on storm prediction
Satellite observation of cloud temperatures may be able to accurately predict severe thunderstorms up to 45 minutes earlier than relying on traditional radar alone, say researchers at UW-Madison's Space Science and Engineering Center. - 2009/06/21: ENN: Desert icon Joshua trees are vanishing, scientists say
- 2009/06/15: C411: 7 American Species Threatened by Global Warming
- 2009/06/19: SciDaily: 'Weedy' Bird Species May Win As Temperatures Rise
- 2009/06/19: CambridgeNetwork:SA: Ocean "acidification" -- Checking the facts
- 2009/06/17: PhysOrg: Rising acidity levels could trigger shellfish revenue declines, job losses
- 2009/06/17: Grist: UN warns of 'megadisasters' linked to climate change
- 2009/06/17: Grist: Climate change hits China's poor hardest: activist groups
- 2009/06/16: CCP: Oysters in deep trouble: Is Pacific Ocean's chemistry killing sea life? Ocean acidification
- 2009/06/16: KSJT: Seattle Times: Connecting dots - Oyster beds crashing, deep acidified water washing in, CO2 in the air makes oceans more acid...
- 2009/06/18: TreeHugger: "Carbon Bomb" Detonating Megatons Per Day, Acidifying The World's Oceans
- 2009/06/16: Reuters: World "sleepwalking" into disasters: U.N. aid chief
The world is 'sleepwalking' toward preventable natural disasters whose effects could be cut significantly with a modest increase in spending on risk reduction, the United Nations aid chief said on Tuesday. "The trends in disasters, particularly from climate change, are of enormous concern," said John Holmes, U.N. undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs. "We can only expect that this kind of trend is going to continue," he told a news conference. Holmes was speaking at the start of a four-day Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction which gathers over 1,800 participants from 169 governments and around 140 international and non-governmental organizations. - 2009/06/16: PlanetArk: Bangladesh and China Top U.N. Disaster Risk Index
- 2009/06/15: EarthTimes: China, India most at risk from natural disasters [UN report]
And then there are the world's forests:
- 2009/06/19: PlanetArk: Borneo Project Aims To Yield Lessons On Saving Forests
- 2009/06/19: TreeHugger: Conserve Now or the Rainforest Gets It! Cameroon Forest Given 30 Day Logging Reprieve
- 2009/06/17: Reuters: Climate change will have "severe" impact on Asia: U.N.
- 2009/06/18: TerraDaily: Global Warming Increasing The Dispersal Of Flora In Northern Forests
- 2009/06/16: ABC(Au): Old growth forests store carbon best
There are renewed calls to stop logging in old growth forests after new research found they could be the most valuable source of carbon in the world. Scientists at the Australian National University studied 132 forests around the globe and the surprising results show a forest in central Victoria was the most carbon dense of all. - 2009/06/16: PhysOrg: Amazon conservation policy working in Brazil (w/Video)
Contrary to common belief, Brazil's policy of protecting portions of the Amazonian forest from development is capable of buffering the Amazon from climate change, according to a new study led by Michigan State University researchers. - 2009/06/16: Reuters: Australia's forests key to fighting global warming
- 2009/06/15: AlterNet: Vast Forests Are at Stake: What Kind of Lumber Is "Nature Friendly"?
- 2009/06/15: TreeHugger: In Amazon, Protecting Rainforest by Policy or Force
In Peru, the laws that triggered the Amazon protests have been repealed:
- 2009/06/21: PlanetArk: Peru's Congress Repeals Laws Behind Amazon Clashes
- 2009/06/20: BBC: UN calls for Peru clashes probe
The UN's envoy for indigenous people has urged Peru to launch an independent investigation into recent deadly clashes between police and protesters. James Anaya told the BBC he had heard troubling allegations of abuse by security forces, while visiting Peru. - 2009/06/19: NatureTGB: Peru overturns laws allowing exploitation of Amazon forest
- 2009/06/19: ABC(Au): Peru revokes controversial Amazon land decrees
- 2009/06/18: BBC: Peru Congress revokes land laws
Peru's Congress has overturned two controversial land ownership laws that sparked deadly clashes between police and Amazon tribal groups. At least 34 people were killed in the clashes earlier this month. The laws were passed under powers Congress had granted President Alan Garcia to implement a free trade agreement with the US. Tribal groups said they were not consulted and some of Peru's South American neighbours voiced opposition. - 2009/06/17: BBC: Bolivian leader 'enemy of Peru'
Peru's foreign minister has accused Bolivian President Evo Morales of being an enemy of Peru. Jose Antonia Garcia Belaunde's remarks followed Peru's withdrawal on Tuesday of its ambassador to Bolivia. That move, on Tuesday, was a response to Mr Morales's remarks about violent clashes that have erupted in Peru over Amazon land rights. Mr Morales described the deaths of indigenous protesters in the dispute as a genocide caused by free trade. - 2009/06/17: TreeHugger: Deadly Protests Force Peru's PM [Yehude Simon] to Resign after Law Opens Up Amazonian Land to Oil, Gas Companies
- 2009/06/17: CCurrents: Peru: Blood Flows In The Amazon
- 2009/06/17: NewInt:TEB: Brutality in Bagua [Peru]
- 2009/06/17: BBC: Peru moves to ease Amazon crisis
Peru's government is set to send a bill to Congress revoking land laws that led to deadly clashes between police and indigenous protesters in the Amazon. The move follows talks between the government and indigenous leaders on ways of easing tensions after more than 30 people died earlier this month. Amazon Indians say the laws will open their lands to drilling and logging. Peru's Prime Minister Yehude Simon, who has led the talks, has said he will step down once the dispute is settled. "I will leave as soon as everything has calmed down, which should be in the coming weeks," Mr Simon told Peruvian radio on Tuesday after meeting indigenous leaders. He said the government would send a bill to Congress on Wednesday asking for a repeal of the laws which would have allowed mining, oil and gas exploration and other economic development in the Amazon rainforest. - 2009/06/16: Guardian(UK): [Letters] Indigenous protests against exploitation
Corals are dying:
- 2009/06/17: Eureka: Help for climate-stressed corals -- Study says banning certain fishing gear can help save reefs from climate change
Climate refugees are becoming an issue:
- 2009/06/19: CNN: Monsoon season compounds refugees' troubles
As World Refugee Day approaches, monsoons could compound refugees' troubles - World contains 42 million displaced people -- 80 percent in developing nations - In Pakistan, the 2008 monsoon season brought rains that flooded refugee camps - UN Goodwill Ambassador Angelina Jolie: "Please do not forget them" - 2009/06/19: CBC: 18 African migrants drown off Yemen coast after boat capsizes
- 2009/06/16: UN: Some 42 million people uprooted worldwide in 2008 - UN report
- 2009/06/15: TerraDaily: Global warming causing mass migration
- 2009/06/16: BBC: Crises boost numbers of displaced
A slight drop in the number of people uprooted around the world in 2008 has been more than offset by recent crises in Pakistan and Sri Lanka, the UN says. The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, said global displacement stood at 42 million at the end of last year. Of these, 16 million are refugees and asylum seekers and 26 million internally displaced people. There are 5.7 million refugees "living in limbo", with little prospect of immediate solutions, UNHCR said. This includes 29 separate groups of 25,000 or more refugees in 22 states who have been displaced for five or more years, the agency said in its annual report. - 2009/06/18: TerraDaily: China aims to stop desertification in Tibet by 2010: state media
- 2009/06/18: TreeHugger: Australia Takes Lead on Combating Desertification
Yes we have no wacky weather, except:
- 2009/06/21: EarthTimes: One killed in wind, rainstorms in Italy
- 2009/06/16: Yahoo: Freak Beijing storm turns day into night
As for heatwaves and wild fires:
- 2009/06/19: ABC(Au): Fire authorities urged to act fast on controlled burns
The window of time to prepare for bushfires using prescribed burning will shrink due to climate change, according to a new Australian study. And, the study's authors warn, fire authorities should expect a more intense and severe fire season in the future. Fire scientist and study co-author, Dr Stuart Matthews of CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems will present the findings at the International Wildfire Management Conference in Sydney today. - 2009/06/17: ABC(Au): Hard stats shed light on bushfire risk
The risk of a house being burnt down in a bushfire in Australia is small and hasn't changed in the past 100 years, say researchers. Risk expert, Professor John McAneney, of Macquarie University in Sydney, and colleagues, report their findings in the Journal of Environmental Management. [...] While McAneney agrees climate change will increase the likelihood of fire, he doesn't believe this is likely to have a big effect. - 2009/06/16: TerraDaily: Study Maps Potential Vulnerability To Heat Waves
- 2009/06/17: Eureka: NIST study offers first detailed look at the progress of a wildland-urban fire
- 2009/06/17: iNews880: Alberta calling for help to fight forest fires
- 2009/06/16: EarthTimes: Firefighters battle wildfire for a second day near Athens
- 2009/06/15: CBC: Dry conditions spark wildfires and fire bans in Alberta
- 2009/06/16: CBC: Tyaughton Lake forest fire [west of Lillooet, B.C] 70% contained by controlled burn
- 2009/06/16: PlanetArk: Indonesia Forest Fires Fan Regional Haze Concern
- 2009/06/16: PlanetArk: Wildfire Rages Near Athens, Threatens Homes
- 2009/06/15: EarthTimes: Greek firefighters battle to contain bush fire near Athens
As for hydrological cycle disruptions [floods & droughts]:
- 2009/06/18: USGS: Pinpointing Drought Coast to Coast
- 2009/06/20: G&M: Alarm bells ring on drought 'disaster'
Farmers and ranchers across a vast section of Alberta and Saskatchewan are staring down the same ominous fields of parched soil and brown crops - 2009/06/20: Yahoo: Tibet drought worst in 30 years: Chinese state media
- 2009/06/17: CBC: Drought fears on the Prairies prompt call for disaster plan
- 2009/06/18: PlanetArk: Factbox: Facts On World's Water Shortage
- 2009/06/18: AbqJournal: New Mexico Drought Conditions Forecast to Improve
- 2009/06/18: EarthTimes: Environmentalists press Mekong dams issue on ASEAN agenda
- 2009/06/18: CanWest: Drought a 'disaster' in western Canada -- Record Dry Spell
Record dry weather in some parts of the Prairies is causing extreme hardship and dangerous conditions, prompting one county to declare an agricultural state of disaster yesterday. Camrose County, Alta., about 100 kilometres southeast of Edmonton, issued the declaration due to severe drought conditions affecting all aspects of agriculture. Cattle producers are facing dried up dugouts -- watering holes used for irrigation and livestock -- and unusable pasture lands. Groundwater sources are almost completely dry, and grain producers are seeing their crops die in the fields due to the lack of rain. - 2009/06/17: JFleck: Runoff Timing -- Colorado's peak flow from snowmelt...
- 2009/06/16: TP:WonkRoom: Global Boiling: One Year Later, Iowa Still Devastated By Extreme Floods
- 2009/06/16: CBC: Gardeners, ranchers face shortage of spring showers [in Alberta]
- 2009/06/15: KC: Water supply shifts as global climate changes
- 2009/06/16: ABC(Au): The community of the lower lakes region near the mouth of the Murray is pleased with measures being taken in an effort to slow the acidification of drought-exposed river beds.
- 2009/06/15: PhysOrg: Water supply shifts as global climate changes
- 2009/06/15: TerraDaily: Iraq faces summer water shortage disaster
- 2009/06/16: TreeHugger: China's Hydroelectric Plans to Damn the Mekong Threaten Millions
- 2009/06/15: JFleck: Will Canada and the U.S. go to war over water? No. But...
Elsewhere on the mitigation front:
- 2009/06/19: UNEP: [link to 8.3 meg pdf] The Natural Fix?: The Role of Ecosystems in Climate Mitigation
- 2009/06/17: TreeHugger: "Plan B" - Efficiency and Conservation Measures Can Drop Energy Demand By 2020 [Lester Brown]
As for transportation & GHG production:
- 2009/06/19: TreeHugger: Confirmed: Biofuels Better Than Fossil Fuels in Jet Engines - Scaling Them Up is the Major Problem
- 2009/06/18: CalcRisk: DOT: U.S. Vehicles Miles increase YoY in April
- 2009/06/18: PhysOrg: Jatropha Helps Air New Zealand Cut Its CO2 Emissions by More Than 60%
- 2009/06/18: PlanetArk: Continental [Airlines] Says Biofuel Did Well In Flight Test
- 2009/06/18: Grist: Greener, cheaper planes favored at Paris Air Show
- 2009/06/18: TreeHugger: Phoenix's Brand New Light Rail Has 60% More Users than Expected (Video)
- 2009/06/17: TreeHugger: Sky's the Limit: SkySpark 100% Electric Airplane Sets New Speed Record [batteries & Prop]
- 2009/06/16: WalrusMag: Off the Rails -- How Canada fell from leader to laggard in high-speed rail, and why that needs to change
- 2009/06/17: PlanetArk: European Airport Group Pledges to Cut CO2 to Zero
- 2009/06/16: BBC: British Airways is asking thousands of staff to work for nothing, for up to one month, to help the airline survive
While in the endless quest for zero energy, sustainable buildings and practical codes:
- 2009/06/16: NatureTGB: Creepy crawly concrete curtailed -- why concrete creeps, or gradually deforms over time
As for carbon sequestration:
- 2009/06/19: Reuters: Europe to offer China help in burying CO2 emissions
Large scale geo-engineering keeps popping up:
- 2009/06/14: OTF: WSJ: It's Time to Cool the Planet
- 2009/06/17: UNDispatch: The only geo-engineering article you need to read
- 2009/05/19: WorldBank: [link to 306k pdf] Beyond mitigation : potential options for counter-balancing the climatic and environmental consequences of the rising concentrations of greenhouse gases by Mike MacCracken
- 2009/06/15: WorldBank:CC: Geoengineering: A Possible Climate Change Insurance Policy?
- 2009/06/17: ENN: Scientists Debate Shading Earth As Climate Fix
- 2009/06/17: Atlantic: Re-Engineering the Earth
- 2009/06/17: NEN: Geoengineering to the rescue?
- 2009/06/17: TWTB: Geo-engineering and ocean acidification
- 2009/06/16: NPR: Scientists Debate Shading Earth As Climate Fix
- 2009/06/15: Guardian(UK): The emissions reductions gospel is failing - we need something more -- NGOs who oppose geo-engineering are running the risk of climatic catastrophe
- 2009/06/16: Eureka: Global sunscreen won't save corals
- 2009/06/14: WorldChanging: A Bright Green Argument for Geoengineering
While on the adaptation front:
- 2009/06/16: Grist: Gaia proponent Lovelock says it's time to adapt to inevitable global heating
Meanwhile in the journals:
- 2009/06/18: ACP: Taklimakan dust aerosol radiative heating derived from CALIPSO observations using the Fu-Liou radiation model with CERES constraints by J. Huang et al.
- 2009/06/19: Science: (ab$) Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide Concentration Across the Mid-Pleistocene Transition by Bärbel Hönisch et al.
- 2009/06/17: PNAS: Contingencies and compounded rare perturbations dictate sudden distributional shifts during periods of gradual climate change by Christopher D. G. Harley & Robert T. Paine
- 2009/06/17: ACP: Wave fluxes of equatorial Kelvin waves and QBO zonal wind forcing derived from SABER and ECMWF temperature space-time spectra by M. Ern & P. Preusse
- 2009/06/17: ACP: Particulate absorption of solar radiation: anthropogenic aerosols vs. dust by C. Wang et al.
- 2009/06/16: ACP: Global upper-tropospheric formaldehyde: seasonal cycles observed by the ACE-FTS satellite instrument by G. Dufour et al.
- 2009/06/15: ACP: Size resolved dust emission fluxes measured in Niger during 3 dust storms of the AMMA experiment by M. Sow et al.
- 2009/06/17: ACPD: Annual particle flux observations over a heterogeneous urban area by L. Järvi et al.
- 2009/06/16: ACPD: Technical Note: New trends in column-integrated atmospheric water vapor -- Method to harmonize and match long-term records from the FTIR network to radiosonde characteristics by R. Sussmann et al.
- 2009/06/15: ACPD: Patterns of Saharan dust transport over the Atlantic: winter vs. summer, based on CALIPSO first year data by Y. Ben-Ami et al.
- 2009/06/15: ACPD: A new transport mechanism of biomass burning from Indochina as identified by modeling studies by C.-Y. Lin et al.
- 2009/06/16: PNAS: Multidimensional evaluation of managed relocation by David M. Richardson et al.
- 2009/06/16: PNAS: Changes in the Asian monsoon climate during 1700-1850 induced by preindustrial cultivation by Kumiko Takata et al.
- 2009/06/16: PNAS: Atmospheric pressure as a natural climate regulator for a terrestrial planet with a biosphere by King-Fai Li et al.
And other significant documents:
- 2009/06/19: UNEP: [link to 8.3 meg pdf] The Natural Fix?: The Role of Ecosystems in Climate Mitigation
- 2009/06/18: TreeHugger: [link to 5.6 meg pdf] The State of Climate Change Science & Policy: Copenhagen Climate Congress Releases Synthesis Report
- 2009/06/16: VoxEU: Oil prices and the economic recession of 2007-08 by James D. Hamilton
Past oil price spikes associated with Middle East conflicts and OPEC embargos were each followed by a global economic recession. This column argues that the onset of the current economic downturn of is also partly attributable to a sharp increase in the price of oil. Moreover, the interaction of high oil prices and housing problems contributed to the severity of the downturn. - 2009/06/16: GlobalChange: [links to pdfs] Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States
Before we get into politics, there was some science done:
- 2009/06/18: NOAANews: NOAA Selects New Cooperative Institute to Study Climate and North Atlantic Ecosystems
- 2009/06/18: BBC: Mobiles boost Africa climate data
Gaping gaps in weather and climate data across Africa may be filled by a partnership between humanitarian groups and mobile phone companies. The project aims to deploy 5,000 automatic weather stations across the continent mounted on phone masts. - 2009/06/16: ABC(Au): Dr Tek Maraseni from the University of Southern Queensland to address UN climate change forum
A Toowoomba academic has been chosen as the only Australian to deliver a submission to a United Nations' climate change forum in South America. - 2009/06/18: CCP: C.D.G. Harley, R.T. Paine, Contingencies & compounded rare perturbations dictate sudden distributional shifts during periods of gradual climate change
Lindzen gets to enjoy his notoriety:
- 2009/06/18: DeSmogBlog: Art appraiser puts principle ahead of profit
And Pielke:
- 2009/06/18: Eureka: British Climate Act 'failed before it started'
And Dyson:
- 2009/06/16: DeepC: Freeman Dyson's shadowy Canadian connection
Jack Eddy obit:
- 2009/06/15: NatureTGB: Sunspot veteran [Jack Eddy] dies at 78
Regarding Nordhaus & Shellenberger's Breakthrough Institute:
- 2009/06/17: TPMCafe: Who funds Shellenberger's Breakthrough Institute?
- 2009/06/17: ClimateP: The Breakthrough Institute is lying about Obama, misstating what CBO concluded about Waxman-Markey, and publishing deeply flawed analyses. They have become radioactive -- uncitable by any serious journalist or policy analyst
Meanwhile on the Kyoto front:
- 2009/06/19: BBerg: China, Greenpeace Challenge Kyoto Carbon Trading
And on the Kyoto-2 front:
- 2009/06/19: Yahoo: Study: US technology key to China and climate
- 2009/06/18: EnergyBulletin: The cultural problem that stops us from reaching 'the most ambitious agreement ever negotiated' in Copenhagen? by Australian Green Senator Christine Milne
- 2009/06/17: ABC(Au): Greens 'pessimistic' over Copenhagen meeting
Greens Senator Christine Milne says she does not hold out much hope that world leaders will agree to properly tackle climate change at a meeting in Copenhagen later this year. - 2009/06/17: Xinhuanet: Red Cross pushes for disaster response in complex Copenhagen deal
- 2009/06/17: WorldChanging: Australia calls for aviation to be part of climate change treaty -- Proposal brings worldwide carbon tax for airline passengers closer
- 2009/06/16: ENN: Major shift in US climate policy sparks hope for global treaty
- 2009/06/15: SlashDot: Climate Change Bill Includes IP [Intellectual Property] Protections
- 2009/06/15: CNN: [IPCC Chairman Rajendra] Pachauri: Stern stance on China climate talks 'pragmatic'
IPCC chairman noted "positive direction" of climate change talks in Bonn - Delegates met in Bonn last week to lay groundwork for global climate deal - Climate talks in Copenhagen in December aim to forge post-Kyoto agreement - Pachauri: "I don't see what a tougher stance (with China) would do" - 2009/06/15: Grist: To reach a climate agreement in the near future, countries must look into the past
- 2009/06/15: Grist: What kind of climate deal can emerge in Copenhagen?
- 2009/06/15: COP15: Climate talks are moving "too slow"
Denmark's Minister for Climate and Energy and host of the UN climate conference COP15 in December, Connie Hedegaard, says that ongoing talks toward a global climate treaty to replace the Kyoto Protocol are moving too slow. "Of course we have to respect the way the United Nations works. But to me, there is no doubt that things are moving too slow," Hedegaard said in a statement, as the preparatory 12-day talks in Bonn wound up. - 2009/06/17: Reuters: Slim, Tata, others advise U.N.'s Ban on climate
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has formed an advisory group on climate change that includes Mexico's Carlos Slim, India's Ratan Tata, other business tycoons and executives from nongovernmental organizations, one member of the group said. "It's goal is to be supportive for the secretary-general in his work to increase the likelihood of a deal in Copenhagen and also then afterwards the execution of the deal," Lars Josefsson, the chief executive of Swedish power utility Vattenfall, told Reuters after the inaugural meeting of the group in New York on Wednesday. Rich and poor nations remain in a deadlock on how to cut emissions. Nearly 200 nations will try to hammer out a successor pact to the U.N. Kyoto Protocol on global warming at a meeting at the end of the year in Denmark. - 2009/06/17: UN: Ban launches UN advisory group on energy and climate change
And on the carbon trading front:
- 2009/06/19: PlanetArk: BlueNext Edges Towards China Emissions Exchange
- 2009/06/19: EarthTimes: Carbon Trading Seen as Key to Borneo's Preservation
- 2009/06/18: PlanetArk: Utilities, Hot Summer Can Save "Drifting" Carbon [market]
- 2009/06/15: PlanetArk: Nations May Form Global CO2 Market Without U.N. Deal
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:
- 2009/06/17: GreenGrok: Cap and Trade Part 4: Forests, Farms, and Offsets
- 2009/06/16: CommonTragedies: Offsets, offsets, offsets
Meanwhile on the international political front:
- 2009/06/19: ScienceInsider: Italy Postpones G8 Science Meeting
- 2009/06/18: CanWest: U.S. to western premiers: Rate of global warming 'scary'
U.S. governors and western premiers closed out a three-day conference Tuesday with a renewed effort to clean energy and environmental protection, following warnings from the Obama administration about the "scary" rate of global warming and need for energy efficiency. State leaders and premiers who gathered in Park City, Utah, for the Western Governors' Association annual meeting charted out dozens of renewable energy opportunities on both sides of the border and trumpeted the potential for technology, such as carbon capture and storage, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Despite the push for more aggressive action on reducing carbon dioxide emissions, U. S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu -- a Nobel Prize-winning physicist--delivered a sobering assessment of where the continent and world sits on climate change. "The news has been getting scarier," Chu told delegates at the conference, which was attended by Premier Ed Stelmach, Saskatchewan's Brad Wall and Manitoba's Gary Doer. - 2009/06/16: KDenninger: Trade War Anyone?
- 2009/06/17: NatureN: Italy cancels G8 research meeting -- Scrapped ministerial summit may jeopardize pressing climate change decisions
- 2009/06/17: ClimateP: Chinese climate expert Pan Jiahua sets the record straight: Rep. James Sensenbrenner [R-Wi] has behaved "improperly and unethically" to "frighten the American public and halt U.S. progress on solving the problem of global warming"
And on the American political front:
- 2009/06/19: NYT: A Move to Put the Union Label on Solar Power Plants
- 2009/06/18: ClimateP: New analysis shows how clean energy legislation will create 1.7 million jobs and opportunities for low-income families, including lower energy bills
- 2009/06/18: Grist: Putting the economy in the green -- New studies tout the economic benefits of green jobs
- 2009/06/18: TP:WonkRoom: Report: Clean Energy Economy Creates 1.7 Million Jobs
- 2009/06/17: ClimateP: Schwarzenegger praises Waxman-Markey bill -- and Rep. Mary Bono Mack (D-Ca)
- 2009/06/16: KSL: Herbert skeptical of global warming
Utah's next governor isn't sold on global warming. Current Lt. Gov. Gary Herbert aired his skepticism at a panel discussion of the Western Governors' Association on Monday. He told the group it appears to him science on global warming is not necessarily conclusive. - 2009/06/20: Guardian(UK): Obama's climate change silence
The new report on the effects of global warming makes it clear we need to act. But a bill won't pass without a push from Obama - 2009/06/18: CSW: President Obama should lead in talking about the consequences of inaction on climate change
- 2009/06/16: Grist: Obama's voice absent from release of big climate report
- 2009/06/16: Guardian(UK): Obama targets US public with call for climate action
- 2009/06/16: Grist: Congress is the problem
Felix Salmon blogs at Reuters about the seeming exhaustion of Obama's political capital --- on both climate change and financial regulations, he just can't seem to get what he wants out of Congress. I think Matt Yglesias and Ryan Avent both have the appropriate response: the problem here is not Obama, but Congress - 2009/06/19: ClimateP: Cathy Zoi confirmed as the Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy
- 2009/06/18: HuffPo: Coal Ash Sites Kept Secret, While Industry Works to Prevent Regulations
- 2009/06/18: Guardian(UK): Obama administration criticised over failure to disclose coal dump locations
- 2009/06/18: TreeHugger: DOE Blowing $23 Million in Next 5 Years Over BS Energy Management Errors
- 2009/06/18: BBerg: Climate Bill That Isn't 'Perfect' Is Worth Passing, Chu Says
- 2009/06/17: TreeHugger: US Gov Launches New Agenda for Smart Growth and Sustainable Development
- 2009/06/17: LA Times: EPA targets cement industry emissions
The federal agency has proposed regulations that could cut mercury emissions 81% to 93% annually. Industry representatives warn the rules would increase costs and could lead to outsourcing. - 2009/06/16: PlanetArk: U.S. Energy Secretary [Steven Chu] Wants to Cut Carbon In The Americas
- 2009/06/15: Grist: Wrong to know? EPA [& DHS] refuses to reveal dangerous coal ash waste sites
- 2009/06/15: TreeHugger: It's a Matter of National Security: Gov [DHS] Refuses to Reveal Hundreds of Hazardous Coal Ash Sites
As for what is going on in Congress:
- 2009/06/21: PlanetArk: House Panel: EPA Can Gauge Ethanol Impact Abroad
- 2009/06/21: PlanetArk: House Chairman: No Direct Climate Pay to Farmers
- 2009/06/20: CSW: House appropriates increased funding for climate research
- 2009/06/20: CSW: What does Rep. Broun of Georgia have against a National Climate Service?
- 2009/06/19: Grist: Factory farms get the ultimate handout
Since the beginning of climate change legislation this session in Congress it has been clear that big agriculture would not be a part of a cap and trade program. Yet, while the Waxman Markey bill has been making its way through Congress, the EPA has also been pushing forward its own agenda of climate related regulations, including the mandatory reporting of GHG emissions from factory farms. Yet, yesterday the House Appropriations Committee undermined this progressive proposed regulation by passing the 2010 Interior and Environment spending bill. An amendment in the bill will prevent the EPA from requiring factory farms to report their GHG emissions -- a move that represents a blatant handout to large factory farms. - 2009/06/19: TreeHugger: Survey: Is Expanded Fossil Fuel Exploration & Clean Coal Part of Green Energy Policy?
- 2009/06/19: Reuters: House panel: EPA can gauge ethanol impact abroad
By a one-vote margin, a U.S. House committee decided on Thursday not to intervene in federal regulations that could hold U.S. ethanol makers responsible for greenhouse gases from crops overseas. The Appropriations Committee defeated, 29-30, an amendment to bar the Environmental Protection Agency from using so-called indirect land-use change when measuring greenhouse gases from biofuels. It voted later to ask the Agriculture Department to study the question. - 2009/06/19: WSJ:EnvCap: Cash-for-Clunkers: Senate Version Could Get Greener Later
- 2009/06/19: AutoBG: Senate passes Cash for Clunkers, sends it to President's desk for approval
- 2009/06/18: TreeHugger: Senate Committee OKs "Alternative" Climate Bill --- and Offshore Drilling, Clean Coal, and New Gas Pipeline
- 2009/06/17: Reuters: U.S. Senate panel approves comprehensive energy bill
- 2009/06/18: ENN: Senate Panel Approves Energy Bill
- 2009/06/18: TP:WonkRoom: Norm Dicks Is Considering Outlawing Science On Behalf Of Big Ag
- 2009/06/18: WaPo: Expansive Energy Bill Advances In Congress -- Environmentalists Criticize Standards, Offshore Drilling
A Senate energy bill was voted out of committee yesterday, but not before losing the support of two Democrats and a dozen leading environmental organizations. - 2009/06/17: AutoBG: House narrowly passes scaled-back 'Cash-for-Clunkers' legislation
- 2009/06/14: HillHeat: Collin Peterson: 'Mixing Climate Change Together with Energy Independence' Isn't Smart
- 2009/06/15: ThinkP: Senate GOP Blocking Obama Nominees In Attempt To Delay Health Care And Climate Legislation
- 2009/06/16: TreeHugger: $1 Billion Clean Coal Stimulus Project A Big Fat Earmark?
- 2009/06/16: TP:WonkRoom: What John Salazar And Mike Pence Need To Learn About The Climate And Clean Energy
- 2009/06/15: SlashDot: Climate Change Bill Includes IP [Intellectual Property] Protections
- 2009/06/15: ClimateP: Boxer plans week of Aug. 3 for cap-and-trade markup, Udall (D-CO) gives final bill "50-50 or better odds" of passing the Senate this year
Wrangling continues over the climate bill, HR 2454, aka Waxman-Markey:
- 2009/06/21: PlanetArk: House Republicans Courted on Climate Change Bill
- 2009/06/19: Grist: Bill they, or won't they? Climate bill negotiations stall in House
- 2009/06/19: TreeHugger: Quote of the Day: Politicizing Carbon Cap & Trade (More Than It Already Was...)
- 2009/06/18: EnergyBulletin: Waxman-Markey is not nearly good enough
- 2009/06/19: ClimateP: What is the clean energy bank and why is it in Waxman-Markey?
- 2009/06/19: CommonTragedies: A Primer on Allowance Distribution in Waxman-Markey
- 2009/06/19: NYT:CW: Reps. Waxman, Peterson Inch Closer to Consensus on Climate Bill
- 2009/06/19: NEN: Senate energy/climate bill better than nothing?
- 2009/06/19: NEN: Major anti-coal group [Valley Watch] rejects energy/climate bill
- 2009/06/18: OregonLive: Climate change: Cap and trade, not wait and see
Oregon's Peter DeFazio is cool to the climate plan in Congress, but if the bill's not perfect, it's a serious and long-overdue response On Friday, when Peter DeFazio finishes poking holes in the slow-moving target that is the climate and energy bill before Congress, one of the famously polite members of the Portland City Club needs to ask: Congressman, does this mean you're willing to wait another year, probably much longer, for the United States to respond seriously to climate change? And in the meantime, what's our message to the rest of the world waiting, waiting, waiting for U.S. leadership on climate change? Wait 'til next year? - 2009/06/18: Belfer: Worried About International Competitiveness? Another Look at the Waxman-Markey Cap-and-Trade Proposal by Robert Stavins
- 2009/06/18: ClimateP: Excellent National Wildlife Federation summary and "Toolbox Assessment" of Waxman-Markey
- 2009/06/18: ClimateP: Waxman says Dems 'very close' to a climate deal, White House to intensify push for bill next week, floor vote next Friday?
- 2009/06/18: Grist: Fundamentally unserious -- The climate bill is about more than shaking the money tree
- 2009/06/18: Grist: CBO: Household costs under Waxman-Markey likely much lower than report reflects
- 2009/06/18: WorldChanging: The Waxman-Markey Bill: A Good Start Or A Non-Starter?
- 2009/06/18: TreeHugger: The Man Who Can Stop the Climate Bill Doesn't Understand What Climate Change Is
- 2009/06/15: OpenLeft: Why Aren't Climate Change Leaders Doing Everything Possible to Pass Waxman-Markey?
- 2009/06/16: IowaIndependent: Boswell responds to Fallon on cap-and-trade legislation
Reacting to criticism from his 2008 opponent in the Democratic primary, U.S. Rep. Leonard Boswell has laid out in greater detail his opposition to proposed legislation to deal with climate change. The bill in question, H.R. 2454, seeks to reduce emissions by imposing a national limit, or cap, on greenhouse gases. It would then allow polluters to buy and sell their emissions credits. If a polluter emitted less than its allotment, it could sell the excess. Earlier today, former state Rep. Ed Fallon criticized Boswell for opposing the measure, which garnered a quick response from Boswell spokesman Mark Daley. - 2009/06/17: TP:WonkRoom: Peterson Denies Global Warming Hurts Agriculture: 'My Farmers Are Going To Say That's A Good Thing'
- 2009/06/17: Grist: House ag chief Peterson: what, me worry about a warming planet?
- 2009/06/16: BSD: Greens opposed to Waxman-Markey are wildly unrealistic
- 2009/06/17: EnvEcon: Is the cap a visor?
- 2009/06/16: ClimateP: House Majority Leader Hoyer says, "We'll get the votes"; Waxman gives himself one more day to finish talks with farm state Dems
- 2009/06/16: Grist: The faint silver lining of the Waxman-Markey clean-energy-mandates cloud
- 2009/06/15: GreenGrok: U.S. Climate Bill Part of Solution but Not the Whole Solution
- 2009/06/15: ClimateP: Brookings: Fears that cap and trade will hurt farmers are baseless
What are the lobbyists pushing?
- 2009/06/18: ThinkP: GOP 'Rural American Solutions Group' Peddles Coal Company Document As Its Own
- 2009/06/18: DeSmogBlog: Republicans Cribbing from Big Coal?
- 2009/06/18: WaPo: Oil industry cranks up lobbying effort
- 2009/06/18: Grist: House GOP circulating anti-climate bill document created by coal industry
- 2009/06/20: TP:WonkRoom: 'Clean Coal' Front Group Opposes Global Warming Bill with Billions for Clean Coal
- 2009/06/18: TreeHugger: Bobby Kennedy, Jr.: Coal-State Democrats Are "Endorsing Criminal Behavior and Destroying their State" (Video)
- 2009/06/16: ClimateP: Darrell Issa (R-CA) parrots Heritage Foundation's misleading analysis of climate change bill
The Gore-apalooza is still bopping along:
- 2009/06/18: Guardian(UK): Al Gore reaches 1 million Twitter followers
- 2009/06/17: DF: In midst of auto crisis, Al Gore backs a new car company in Louisiana
While in the UK:
- 2009/06/18: BBC: Detailed forecasts of how climate change may affect the UK during this century are to be released by the government later
- 2009/06/16: Telegraph(UK): Coastal castles could be moved inland
Castles on the coast could be moved brick by brick and rebuilt inland as part of plans to save Britain's coastal heritage from climate change. - 2009/06/17: Guardian(UK): [Letters] Miliband must end coal emissions
- 2009/06/15: Guardian(UK): UK trails EU league for renewables -- Britain is Europe's 'most glaring failure', says Greenpeace, with only 1.3% of needs sourced from clean energy in 2005
- 2009/06/15: BBC: 60,000 take up car scrappage cash [in UK]
More than 60,000 orders for cars under the UK's scrappage subsidy scheme have been placed since the initiative was announced, new government figures show. Car buyers are given a £2,000 discount on a new car if they scrap one that is at least 10 years old. Business Secretary Lord Mandelson said the scheme had given the carmaking industry the boost it needed. - 2009/06/19: EurActiv: EU leaders warned about emerging 'major' gas crisis
- 2009/06/19: EurActiv: EU to postpone decision on climate finance until autumn
- 2009/06/19: EUO: EU holds back on climate funds for poor countries
- 2009/06/19: PlanetArk: German Parliament Approves Cut In Biofuel Blending [from 6.25% to 5.25%]
- 2009/06/19: Google:CP: EU postpones decision on climate change funding for poor nations until October
- 2009/06/18: EUO: Regions want to shape Copenhagen climate deal
Shaping the global climate change deal at the upcoming UN conference in Copenhagen is a main priority of the Committee of Regions, an EU advisory body representing the bloc's regional and local governments. A global deal negotiated in Copenhagen in December by world leaders will ultimately have to be implemented by regional and local authorities, with the Committee of Regions aiming to be a "policy shaper" in this regard, its president, Luc van den Brande, told EUobserver ahead of the CoR plenary session starting on Wednesday. - 2009/06/18: Guardian(UK): [Letters] EU must put climate money on the table
- 2009/06/17: EurActiv: WWF report: Green industries create more jobs
Jobs in low-carbon sectors are already outstripping those in Europe's traditional polluting industries in Europe, but the EU is missing the boat as regards harnessing the economic crisis to kick-start the transition to a low-carbon, competitive economy, a WWF study published yesterday (16 June) shows. - 2009/06/17: EUO: EU 10-year transport plan lacks green content
- 2009/06/17: EarthTimes: Greenpeace protest broken up by Hungarian police
Hungarian police Wednesday moved in to break up a protest by the environmental group Greenpeace demanding to know what the government is doing with 132 million dollars from the sale of carbon credits. The activists set up a green tent in front of the Prime Minister's Office in the Hungarian capital Budapest, and brandished placards calling for the money from the sale of part of its carbon emissions quota to be used for environmental projects. - 2009/06/17: PlanetArk: German Conservatives Delay Vote On CO2 Capture Law
- 2009/06/15: EurActiv: Ministers reiterate support for green railway transport
- 2009/06/15: EarthTimes: EU summit to put off decision on climate funding for developing world
The European Union is set to put off any decision on how it should pay developing countries to fight climate change until a summit in October, according to internal documents. EU officials estimate that the developed world will have to pay poorer countries around 100 billion euros (140 billion dollars) per year by 2020 to help them adapt to climate change. EU leaders are tipped to debate how the bloc should help foot that bill at a summit in Brussels on Thursday. But according to a draft summit declaration, they will only say that they are "prepared, subject to developments in international negotiations, to take the appropriate decisions on all aspects of financing at (the EU's) October meeting." - 2009/06/21: PlanetArk: Australia Government to Seek Vote-Trigger on Carbon Laws
The opposition-dominated Senate aims to scuttle Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's plan for emissions trade from 2011 and conservatives wielding the largest voting bloc plan a four-day filibuster next week that could see the bills defeated. "We want a vote, we want the bill passed, and we have been clear that if the bill is not passed, we will bring the bill back, because we believe that action on climate change is important," Climate Minister Penny Wong told local radio. - 2009/06/19: ABC(Au): A draft of regulations outlining how carbon emissions will be measured and industry compensation calculated under an emissions trading scheme have been released by the Federal Government
- 2009/06/18: ABC(Au): The ACT Government says it will employ a team of academics from the University of Canberra to help it develop more green industries producing alternative energy
- 2009/06/18: ABC(Au): Wong denies stalling on renewable energy
The Government has rejected suggestions that its own political tactics are to blame for a delay in renewable energy legislation. The Senate today decided to hold off a vote on the bill until after an inquiry is completed in August. - 2009/06/18: ABC(Au): Filibustering may delay carbon trading vote
The Opposition is likely to seek to prolong debate on the Government's carbon emissions trading scheme in a bid to delay a vote in the Senate. The Government wants legislation for its scheme passed by the end of next week. - 2009/06/15: GWWatch: Who would have tipped that Tip would tip?
- 2009/06/17: Crikey: [Australian Greens Senator, Christine] Milne: The climate nightmare is upon us
- 2009/06/14: BNC: Solar Credits -- just bad policy!
- 2009/06/16: ABC(Au): A two-hour meeting with Australia's chief scientist [Penny Sackett] has failed to convince Family First Senator Steve Fielding human activity is the main cause of climate change
- 2009/06/15: ABC(Au): ETS findings to highlight Senate divisions
There are still no signs the Government will get its plan for an emissions trading scheme through the Senate. The battle over the climate change legislation intensifies today with reports due from two Senate committees. So far there is not enough support from the Opposition or cross-bench senators for the Government to pass its carbon pollution reduction scheme by the end of next week, when Parliament rises for the winter break. - 2009/06/15: ABC(Au): Liberal Senator Michaelia Cash has rejected Government claims she has split from her Coalition colleagues over the cause of climate change
- 2009/06/15: ABC(Au): Carbon scheme could ruin production: cattlemen
The Northern Territory Cattlemen's Association says a carbon pollution reduction scheme could decimate food production in the Territory. The association is urging Senators to wait until after global climate talks are held in Copenhagen before voting on the scheme. - 2009/06/15: ABC(Au): ACF accuses companies of 'misleading climate change statements'
The Australian Conservation Foundation has accused six companies of making misleading statements about climate change policy. The foundation has asked the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) to investigate 14 statements made by Rio Tinto, Woodside, Xstrata, Boral, Caltex and Blue Scope Steel. The complaint concerns statements the companies made about the possible impact of the Federal Government's carbon pollution reduction scheme. - 2009/06/15: ABC(Au): Protestors in Wollongong have called for the Federal Government to take a stronger position on climate change
- 2009/06/15: ABC(Au): Farmers in the New South Wales south-east are being told to seek legal advice before they sell "carbon credits" for forestry projects on their land. [by Australian Property Institute spokesman John Sheehan]
- 2009/06/14: ABC(Au): Emissions trading scheme still headed for defeat
No side of politics is showing any signs of budging on the proposed emissions trading scheme as the Senate prepares to debate the legislation this fortnight. Greens Senator Christine Milne is in no doubt about how the Senate will vote. "The bill will be defeated, there's no question about that," she said. - 2009/06/17: Reuters: Australia Senate delays renewable energy laws
The Australian parliament's upper house Senate on Thursday postponed a debate on renewable energy laws until at least August, dashing government hopes of passing the laws by the end of June. The laws, which set a 20 percent target for renewable energy use by 2020 in Australia's coal-reliant electricity supply, would unlock up to $22 billion worth of investment in solar and wind projects. The government and Greens opposed the delay, saying the move would undermine investment in Australia's renewable energy sector and would lead to job losses. "The people who are pushing for this delay are the big emitters. I want to see this legislation through, I want to give certainty to the renewable energy industry that they have got their target," Greens Senator Christine Milne told parliament. Independent Senator Steve Fielding successfully moved that the laws be sent to a Senate inquiry, to report back by August 12, to examine the impact on big business. He was supported by fellow independent Nick Xenophon and the conservative opposition parties, who said the government had forced their hand by linking industry assistance to the separate emissions trading laws. - 2009/06/14: GWWatch: Australia's climate bill may be scuttled
And in India:
- 2009/06/17: WSJ:EnvCap: India's Big Push for Solar Power (and Coal)
- 2009/06/15: CCurrents: Climate Change's Challenge To India
While in China:
- 2009/06/19: PhysOrg: Study advises Chinese government to change fuel in millions of households
Scientists in China are recommending that the Chinese government consider phasing out the direct burning of traditional chunks of coal in millions of households. It suggests that the government substitute coal briquettes and improved stoves for cooking and heating to help reduce the country's high air pollution levels. - 2009/06/16: BBC: China 'unfairly seen as eco-villain'
China's rapid economic expansion in recent years has been matched by its increasingly voracious appetite for energy and natural resources, says William Bleisch. But, as he explains in this week's Green Room, the nation has sometimes been unfairly portrayed as the world's biggest environmental villain. - 2009/06/21: PlanetArk: Russia Offers Climate Goal With No Real Bite
The plan would reduce emissions by 10-15 percent from Russia's emissions in 1990 when it was part of the Soviet Union and its emissions were far higher than they are today. [...] The target laid out on Friday meant cumulative cuts of 30 billion tonnes of greenhouse gases from 1990 to 2020, Medvedev said. This implies Russia will emit about 3 billion tonnes of greenhouse gas in 2020 compared with 2.2 billion tonnes in 2007. - 2009/06/18: OilChange: The Great Gazan Gas Robbery
In Canada, minority neocon PM Harper, continues his do-nothing policy:
- 2009/06/15: TStar: Tory baby steps on carbon gases
As the campaign to curb greenhouse gas emissions heats up, with politicians in the United States and in provincial capitals generating a whirlwind, our own federal government has been left in the dust. Frustrated by inaction in both Washington and Ottawa, U.S. governors long ago teamed up with provincial premiers to lay the foundations for a "cap-and-trade" regime. More recently, with the new Obama administration energizing climate change policies, Canada's Conservative government has been trying to make up for lost time. Environment Minister Jim Prentice deserves some credit for putting greenhouse gas emissions back on the federal government's radar screen. In a speech last week, Prentice signalled the need to catch up with governments in Ontario and Quebec, which advanced their own cap-and-trade frameworks last month. But it remains a painfully slow process. Prentice may merely be buying time until he has a better sense of what Washington will do. Despite his bold assertions that the government is making an "important" move toward setting up a carbon market in Canada, Prentice is really only taking baby steps. - 2009/06/17: EmbassyMag: Gov't Planned to Split EU on Climate Change Talks
In an attempt to bolster Canada's case, a strategy was devised last year to find EU allies and put conditions on developing country assistance. The Harper government recognized last year that its plan to tackle greenhouse gas emissions was extremely weak compared to other developed countries. As such, government documents show it devised a strategy that included trying to split European Union members and tying assistance to developing countries to binding emission reduction targets as part of a bid to influence international talks. The environment minister denies he or Canada's climate change ambassador have ever seen the documents, which were prepared by the Department of Foreign Affairs last year for Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon, Prime Minister Stephen Harper and others and obtained by the David Suzuki Foundation through Access to Information requests. However, opposition critics and environmental activists say the government's position over the past year shows the controversial strategy was largely adopted, even if it has been ultimately unsuccessful. - 2009/06/19: CBC: Funding battle with Ottawa sidetracks Toronto streetcar project
The pattern is big talk about the Arctic, little cash or action:
- 2009/06/17: CBC: Construction of promised Arctic patrol boats postponed
- 2009/06/16: CTV: Navy waters down plans for Arctic patrol ships
The federal government has put off asking shipbuilders for ideas on the construction of a flotilla of Arctic patrol boats, a sign that the two-year-old program is in trouble. The navy's project management office advised the defence industry on June 10th that the long-anticipated letters of intent had been delayed. - 2009/06/16: Rabble: Saskatchewan NDP divided on nuclear power
Meanwhile in that Mechanical Mordor known as the tar sands:
- 2009/06/19: G&M: Suncor answers critics with green targets
- 2009/06/18: CBC: Canada's 'toxic secret' soon to be made public
Environmental groups have long called the tailings lakes in the Alberta oilsands Canada's toxic secret, but companies operating there will soon be required to disclose exactly what pollutants are there. In April, a federal court ordered Ottawa to make the mining industry release a complete inventory of what material they release into the environment. Now companies in the oilsands will also have to comply, CBC News has learned. "It'll be the first time that Canadians have actually known what is in these tailings facilities and the extent of the pollution that these companies are producing," said Justin Duncan, a lawyer for the environmental groups that took the federal government to court on the issue and won. Environment Canada has confirmed the lakes of sludge produced in the Alberta oilsands also fall under the ruling. The pollution data will be ammunition for critics like David Schindler, a professor of ecology at the University of Alberta. "The magnitude of the numbers is going to really shock people," Schindler said. "It's huge compared to any other mining development anywhere on the planet." - 2009/06/16: CanWest: Clean up Alberta oilsands: U.S. officials -- Obama administration committed to boosting clean-energy production
Two of U.S. President Barack Obama's top advisers on energy and climate change said Monday the Alberta oilsands are a key part of the U.S. energy mix. But they warned its development must be cleaned up, because there's "a lot of concern" south of the border about their environmental footprint. U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu and Nancy Sutley, chairwoman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, said the Obama administration is committed to increasing clean-energy production in the U.S., and the carbon-intensive oilsands are "very tricky." - 2009/06/16: Google:AFP: Oil drilling to expand off Canada's Atlantic coast
- 2009/06/16: TStar: Canada called on to join renewable-energy agency [IRENA] -- Cooperation crucial to developing booming sector, industry says
The country's solar and wind industries, with support from federal opposition parties, are calling on the Harper government to sign up Canada to a new international agency created to promote renewable-energy technologies. They argue that international cooperation is crucial if Canada is to take advantage of the boom in green-energy development and innovation taking place around the globe. The Conservative government has so far ruled out membership, citing overlap with existing agencies, such as the International Energy Agency, and the fact that the United States, China and other major countries have yet to join. - 2009/06/16: WalrusMag: Off the Rails -- How Canada fell from leader to laggard in high-speed rail, and why that needs to change
The movement toward a long term ecologically viable economics is glacial:
- 2009/06/19: EnergyBulletin: The commons of the future
- 2009/06/19: Tyee: From Crisis Comes Hope -- But only if a weary left can lead with new ideas. Here's a few to start.
- 2009/06/17: Rabble: Putting our descendants first
Apocalypso anyone?
- 2009/06/16: PS: Can We Survive the 'Anthropocene' Period? by Paul J Crutzen
As for how the media handles the science of climatology:
- 2009/06/16: CJR: Gene Randall "Reporting," Inc. -- Will journalists' flight toward PR mean the end of reportorial integrity?
- 2009/06/20: ClimateP: [Michael C.] MacCracken: The New York Times quote did not represent my views, and it did not even represent the reporter's attempt to portray my comments
- 2009/06/18: ClimateP: The New York Times sells its integrity to ExxonMobil with front-page ad that falsely asserts "Today's car has 95% fewer emissions than a car from 1970"
- 2009/06/16: MTobis: Journalism and Numeracy
- 2009/06/16: ClimateP: Memo to White House: The NYT buried the 'exclusive' you gave them on the landmark U.S. climate impacts report
While activists search for effective communication techniques:
- 2009/06/18: GreenPeace: Fake IHT Page
- 2009/06/18: LNB: A Glimpse of a Future to Change the Now
- 2009/06/15: DotEarth: A Climate (Communication) Crisis?
Here is something for your library:
- 2009/06/15: HotTopic: [Book Review] _Heatstroke: Nature in an Age of Global Warming_ by Anthony Barnosky
Meanwhile among the 'Sue the Bastards!' contingent:
- 2009/06/17: OilChange: Shell Worried Ogoni PR was "Green Imagery"
- 2009/06/17: OilChange: Shell's Secret Collusion Documents [Nigeria]
Developing a new energy infrastructure is a fundamental challenge of the current generation:
- 2009/06/19: GreenGrok: Statistically Speaking: New Fuel Resources - Worth Drilling For?
- 2009/06/19: PeakEnergy: A new geothermal power station for Birdsville
- 2009/06/18: NEN: New player in space solar [SPS]
- 2009/06/16: VoxEU: Oil prices and the economic recession of 2007-08 by James D. Hamilton
Past oil price spikes associated with Middle East conflicts and OPEC embargos were each followed by a global economic recession. This column argues that the onset of the current economic downturn of is also partly attributable to a sharp increase in the price of oil. Moreover, the interaction of high oil prices and housing problems contributed to the severity of the downturn. - 2009/06/17: Guardian(UK): Hot tub technology -- New research suggests the simple immersion heater could be key to a renewable electricity solution
- 2009/06/17: PhysOrg: Passing cars to generate energy for new UK supermarket
- 2009/06/17: Reuters: PowerSat: Space Solar Flies Closer to Earth
- 2009/06/16: WSJ:EnvCap: Spaced Out: Is Solar Power From Satellites Achievable?
- 2009/06/16: BNC: Steel yourself -- a clear role for hydrogen
- 2009/06/15: McClatchyDC: Fertilizer industry finds its alternative energy: corncobs
- 2009/06/16: Google:AFP: Oil drilling to expand off Canada's Atlantic coast
- 2009/06/15: SF Gate: State gasoline price passes $3 mark again
The answer my friend...:
- 2009/06/21: PeakEnergy: Wind Could Power Europe Many Times Over
- 2009/06/17: CBC: Texas oil billionaire eyes Alberta wind power
Texas billionaire T. Boone Pickens told a Calgary business audience he's looking to make a potential investment in wind energy in Alberta. "If it's a better deal in Alberta than it is in Texas, I'd be more interested in Alberta than I would Texas," he said on Wednesday at a sold-out luncheon at the Westin Hotel. "I want to make the best deal I can wherever I invest my money." The Pickens Plan, introduced last year, calls for the United States to cut its dependence on foreign oil by more than one-third by making natural gas and wind power much bigger parts of America's energy supply. - 2009/06/17: SciDaily: How To Get Wind Turbines To Work Harder
- 2009/06/16: USAToday: Clean-energy windmills a 'dirty business' for farmers in Mexico
- 2009/06/17: SwissInfo: Country's largest wind farm gets green light
Two Swiss energy companies will erect 40 wind turbines at a cost of SFr240 million ($221 million) in the Jura region, between Lake Neuchâtel and the Val-de-Travers. The joint project between Romande Energie and the city of Zurich's power utility will be the country's largest wind farm - 2009/06/16: CNN: High-altitude wind machines could power NYC
Study: Wind machines placed thousands of feet above New York could power the city - Enough wind energy exists at high altitudes to meet global demand 100 times over - A kite-like device could transmit energy to generators that turn it into electricity - Startups are developing turbines, although they are still in the prototype stage - 2009/06/15: Eureka: Is the sky the limit for wind power?
Meanwhile among the solar aficionados:
- 2009/06/17: PhysOrg: A Polymer Solar Cell with Near-Perfect Internal Efficiency
- 2009/06/17: CharlotteObserver: Duke Energy starts 'smart' solar initiative -- Company says plan has the potential to save customers money and, possibly, delay need for new power plants
- 2009/06/16: SciDaily: Transparent Solar Cells Made For Windows
And in the clean coal saga:
- 2009/06/19: WSJ:EnvCap: Cleaner Coal: Fixing Existing Plants Is Crucial, MIT Says
- 2009/06/18: HuffPo: Coal Ash Sites Kept Secret, While Industry Works to Prevent Regulations
- 2009/06/18: Guardian(UK): Obama administration criticised over failure to disclose coal dump locations
- 2009/06/18: TreeHugger: Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. Talks Dirty Coal at Bonnaroo, and More
- 2009/06/15: TreeHugger: It's a Matter of National Security: Gov [DHS] Refuses to Reveal Hundreds of Hazardous Coal Ash Sites
Biofuel bickering abounds:
- 2009/06/19: PlanetArk: Manila OKs Foreign Firm To Plant Biofuel Coconut
- 2009/06/18: EarthTimes: [Economic] Crisis [& falling fuel prices] cuts viability of large-scale biofuels production in Asia
- 2009/06/18: AlterNet: Help Save the Earth, Time to Subsitute Hemp for Oil
The nuclear energy controversy continues:
- 2009/06/16: FuturePundit: 150 MW Nuclear Reactor To Fit On Rail Cars
- 2009/06/19: PlanetArk: Nuclear Nations Rush To Lock In Uranium Deals
- 2009/06/19: ColumbusDispatch: Report: Nuclear plant a pricey plan
- 2009/06/19: WSJ:EnvCap: Going Nuclear: Duke's Push for New Nukes in Ohio
- 2009/06/19: SolveClimate: Duke Considering First New U.S. Nuclear Plant in 30 years
- 2009/06/20: BNC: Why is the US ignoring the Integral Fast Reactor?
- 2009/06/18: ScienceInsider: ITER Chooses a Cautious, Slower, Approach To Fusion
- 2009/06/18: KSJT: Scattered ink: New nukes for USA
- 2009/06/18: PhysOrg: [ITER] Nuclear fusion power project to start in 2018: official
- 2009/06/16: AfterGutenberg: Horsefeathers
- 2009/06/17: BRitholtz: Fed Financing $18.5 billion NextGen Nukes
- 2009/06/16: NBF: A Proposed Factory Built Modular Light Water Reactor and Review of Other Types of Proposed Factory Built Reactors
- 2009/06/17: BBC: Fusion [ITER project] falters under soaring costs
An international plan to build a nuclear fusion reactor is being threatened by rising costs, delays and technical challenges. Emails leaked to the BBC indicate that construction costs for the experimental fusion project called ITER have more than doubled. Some scientists also believe that the technical hurdles to fusion have become more difficult to overcome and that the development of fusion as a commercial power source is still at least 100 years away. At a meeting in Japan on Wednesday, members of the governing Iter council will review the plans and may agree to scale back the project. - 2009/06/17: PlanetArk: Factbox: European Nuclear Plant Life Extensions
Yes we have peak oil, peak coal sightings:
- 2009/06/19: EnergyBulletin: IDA study on Peak Oil debate (August 2008) (review)
- 2009/06/16: TreeHugger: It's Time For an Inconvenient Talk About Peak Fossil Fuels
- 2009/06/15: HillTimes: Global economy to get 'shock of its life' when oil hits triple digits
Energy expert and former CIBC economist Jeff Rubin says he's doesn't give a hoot if politicians read his book. When oil prices soar, 'the folk' will force the political players to do the right thing. Jeff Rubin says global economy will get the "shock of its life" within 12 months of the end of the recession when oil prices hit triple digits and the age of globalization starts to come to an end. The former maverick chief economist for CIBC's World Markets for about 20 years and author of the new book Why Your World Is About To Get A Whole Lot Smaller: Oil and the End of Globalization, says demand for oil will outstrip supply, food prices will soar, and countries will be shocked into growing their own food, manufacturing their own products, and paying a lot money more for everything. There will be winners and losers. The triple digit oil prices will do more for the environment "than 100 Kyotos," he says, but if the world doesn't get off oil, "the values of tolerance and equality may turn out to be artifacts of the era of cheap oil, and the world may face political and cultural upheaval in the stagnant economy of decades ahead." - 2009/06/14: TDG: Peak Coal, Global Warming Policy and Exponential Math -- Three reports say coal is not nearly so abundant, or cheap, as we think it is.
More people are talking about the electrical grid:
- 2009/06/14: SacBee: SMUD rolls out a smart electrical grid
This week, the Sacramento Municipal Utility District is set to take its first step toward what promises to be the most significant development in electricity in a century: the "smart" grid. Thursday, the SMUD board is scheduled to approve a 30-month rollout of 620,000 meters for the Internet age. Instead of today's "dumb" odometer-style counters, the devices will be brainy hubs in a new electrical nervous system that promises to save money and power and foster the next tech boom. - 2009/06/19: EarthTimes: Bangladesh introduces daylight saving time
- 2009/06/18: EarthTimes: UN: Energy efficiency can create jobs, save 900 billion dollars
- 2009/06/18: SSTM: Analysis: Many LED patents set to expire in 2010
- 2009/06/18: PlanetArk: EU And U.S. Set Energy Standards For Office Equipment
- 2009/06/18: TreeHugger: New LED Bulbs by Sharp Can be Remotely Tuned Between 7 Shades of White
Automakers & lawyers, engineers & activists argue over the future of the car:
- 2009/06/20: ENN: Nissan to make electric cars in U.S.
- 2009/06/18: FuturePundit: Battery Venture Capital Spending Up
- 2009/06/15: Tyee: Will Canada Post Deliver the Electric Car? Switching the massive mail fleet to e-vehicles could make green cars cheaper for everyone
- 2009/06/19: HoustonChronicle: Toyota gets 180,000 orders for new Prius hybrid
Toyota Motor Corp. got 180,000 orders for the new Prius hybrid in Japan in just a month, far surpassing its target of 10,000 vehicles in monthly sales, the automaker said Friday. - 2009/06/17: Guardian(UK): Multinationals eye up lithium reserves beneath Bolivia's salt flats -- Metal deposits may be key to green car revolution but government in La Paz yet to agree deal
- 2009/06/17: DallasNews: Dealers facing tight supply of SUVs, trucks
- 2009/06/19: BBC: Porsche global sales slump by 28%
- 2009/06/19: BBC: UK car production drops sharply
The number of new cars made in the UK fell 43% in May from the same month a year earlier, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) said. However the drop, to 67,754 cars, was the smallest of the year. Commercial vehicle production fell 73.5%. - 2009/06/17: BBC: Hydrogen car to be 'open source'
The manufacturer of a hydrogen car unveiled in London on Tuesday will make its designs available online so the cars can be built and improved locally. The Riversimple car can go 80km/hr (50mph) and travels 322km (200mi) per re-fuelling, with an efficiency equivalent to 300 miles to the gallon. The cars will be leased with fuel and repair costs included, at an estimated £200 ($315) per month. The company hopes to have the vehicles in production by 2013. - 2009/06/16: NewScientist: New hydrogen-powered city car takes to the road
- 2009/06/16: TreeHugger: TH!NK Electric Cars Gets Massive Funding Boost
- 2009/06/16: TreeHugger: Plug In America's Electric & Plug-in Hybrid Vehicle Tracker
Cash-for-Clunkers, aka Scrappage, Plans are being legislated and argued around the world:
- 2009/06/17: FuturePundit: Cash For Clunkers Seen As Bad Energy Policy
- 2009/06/19: WSJ:EnvCap: Cash-for-Clunkers: Senate Version Could Get Greener Later
- 2009/06/19: AutoBG: Senate passes Cash for Clunkers, sends it to President's desk for approval
- 2009/06/17: SF Gate: How 'cash-for-clunkers' bill got junked
- 2009/06/17: AutoBG: House narrowly passes scaled-back 'Cash-for-Clunkers' legislation
- 2009/06/15: BBC: 60,000 take up car scrappage cash [in UK]
More than 60,000 orders for cars under the UK's scrappage subsidy scheme have been placed since the initiative was announced, new government figures show. Car buyers are given a £2,000 discount on a new car if they scrap one that is at least 10 years old. Business Secretary Lord Mandelson said the scheme had given the carmaking industry the boost it needed. - 2009/06/19: PlanetArk: "Green" Investing Bolsters Winslow Fund
- 2009/06/17: IndiaTimes: ADB says it will double clean energy investment by 2013
- 2009/06/16: TreeHugger: Wal-Mart Reports Its Global Carbon Emissions in 2009 Sustainability Report
- 2009/06/15: BBerg: World Renewable-Energy Investment to Drop 38% in 2009, IEA Says
- 2009/06/15: TreeHugger: World Bank, Wal-Mart Take Stand Against Brazilian Deforestation Beef
Joe Romm posts a daily list of top energy and climate stories:
- 2009/06/19: ClimateP: Energy and Global Warming News for June 19th: CO2 currently at highest level in 2.1 million years, Summer 'dead zone' could be largest on record, Are Macbooks "the world's greenest family of notebooks"?
- 2009/06/18: ClimateP: Energy and Global Warming News for June 18th: African farms to be devastated by warming; UN SecGen on security, forced migration, and desertification
- 2009/06/17: ClimateP: Energy and Global Warming News for June 16 [17?]: ConocoPhillips chief warns of impending oil crisis, says we must keep destroying a livable climate
- 2009/06/16: ClimateP: Energy and Global Warming News for June 16th -- A car charging infrastructure takes shape; Siemens, Munich Re study $555 Billion, 100 GW concentrated solar project in the Sahara
- 2009/06/15: ClimateP: Energy and Global Warming News for June 15th: Coal port built to withstand rising sea levels, Lifestyle melts away with Uganda peak snow cap
The carbon lobby are up to the usual:
- 2009/06/20: ClimateP: Denier Stephen Moore says climate change is "climate improvement" and "the truth is the 1930s was a warmer decade than the last decade"
- 2009/06/20: TP:WonkRoom: 'Clean Coal' Front Group Opposes Global Warming Bill with Billions for Clean Coal
- 2009/06/18: DeSmogBlog: Republicans Cribbing from Big Coal?
- 2009/06/18: WaPo: Oil industry cranks up lobbying effort
- 2009/06/19: TP:WonkRoom: Global Warming Denier Stephen Moore: Climate Change Is 'Climate Improvement'
- 2009/06/18: ThinkP: GOP 'Rural American Solutions Group' Peddles Coal Company Document As Its Own
- 2009/06/16: DeSmogBlog: Three Full-Page Whoppers from the Heartland Institute (Part Two)
- 2009/06/16: DeSmogBlog: Three Full-Page Whoppers from the Heartland Institute (Part One)
- 2009/06/16: Deltoid: Monckton's vision of the future: an IPCC boot stamping on a human face forever
- 2009/06/15: TP:WonkRoom: Big Oil Releases Report Exposing Continued Refusal To Invest In Renewables
- 2009/06/15: Deltoid: David Karoly on Plimer
- 2009/06/15: DeSmogBlog: Slamming the Climate Skeptic Scam
Coby updated his How to Talk to a Climate Sceptic series:
- AFTIC: [H2T2aCS] How to Talk to a Climate Sceptic
- 2009/06/16: AFTIC: [H2T2ACS] Revisiting the source of the observed CO2 rise
As for climate miscellanea:
- 2009/06/21: BCLSB: Global Warming...Its Not Back Because It Never Went Away!!!
- 2009/06/15: Tamino: Take it to the Limit: Part 2, the Central Limit Theorem
- 2009/06/18: DeSmogBlog: The Climate Change Hangover
- 2009/06/19: CanWest: Machiavelli's Insight
- 2009/06/18: Guardian(UK): Greening the apocalypse -- Climate change should be countered by working with nature rather than relying on untried technology
- 2009/06/18: NOAANews: NOAA Forecast Predicts Large "Dead Zone" for Gulf of Mexico this Summer
- 2009/06/18: UMich: U-M researcher and colleagues predict large 2009 Gulf of Mexico 'dead zone'; Chesapeake Bay's oxygen-starved zone likely to shrink
- 2009/06/18: ClimateP: The Great Transformation: Climate change as cultural change [Podesta speech]
- 2009/06/17: CSW: Climate Science Watch joins the e-fray: we post on Daily Kos, and Tweet on Twitter -- what's next?
- 2009/06/15: WorldChanging: Climate Debate Overlooks Small Businesses
And here are a couple of sites you may find interesting and/or useful:
- SLCC: Specialized Library on Climate Change
- Severe Weather Information Centre
- University of Copenhagen: Climate Change Congress
- DEFRA: UK Climate Projections
- DEFRA: UK Climate Projections
- WB: Development in a Changing Climate
- Deep Climate
- Weathervane
- UNEP: Global Deserts Outlook
- CMOS: Canadian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society
- ACS: A Concerned Scientist - Concerned About the Assaults on Science
- NASA: CloudSat
- CommonsBlog
- Charles Komanoff - Fossil Fuels and Earth's Climate
- EcoEco: Ecological Economics - A Cross-Disciplinary Conversation
- Wiki: Global warming
- PSU: Michael Mann articles
- Global Warming Art
- TreeHugger
Here's a chuckle for ya:
And yet another from GLOBE:
The AGU Chapman Conference on Abrupt Climate Change:
A study has dramatically extended the CO2 record:
As for the temperature record:
While in the paleoclimate:
Meanwhile in near earth orbit:
More GW impacts are being seen:
Desertification looms as a threat:
While at the UN:
The Obama chatter is nonstop:
The actions of the Obama administration are being watched closely:
And in Europe:
Meanwhile in Australia:
The Senate Opposition succeeded in delaying the Aus-ETS vote until at least the fall:
And in Russia:
Yet more complications in the Middle East:
Saskatchewan is wrestling with the idea of nukes:
As for miscellaneous Canadiana:
And then there is the matter of efficiency & conservation:
The reaction of business to climate change will be critical:
Low Key Plug
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>
P.S. Recent postings can be found in the week archive and the ancient postings can be accessed here, which should open to this.
"Our approach to alternative energy in the near term is alternative ways to consume fossil fuels." -Rex Tillerson, Exxon CEO
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