A Few Things Ill Considered

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Another week of Climate Disruption News

Sipping from the internet firehose...

August 16, 2009

• Bonn, CPRS Vote, Volt 230, Clean Energy Summit
• Melting Arctic, Geopolitics, Antarctica, Methane, Carbon Tariffs, Real Climate, Bonner, Late Comments
• Food Crisis, Food vs. Biofuel, Food Production
• Hurricanes, GHGs, Carbon Cycle, Temperatures, Feedbacks, Clouds, Ozone, Paleoclimate, Glaciers, Satellites
• Impacts, Forests, Corals, Climate Refugees, Wildfires, Floods & Droughts
• Mitigation, Transportation, Buildings, Sequestration, Geoengineering
• Journals, Misc. Science, McLean, Pielke
• Copenhagen, UN, Carbon Trade, Carbon Tax, Optimal Carbon Reduction Strategy
• Politics:International, Security, Law & Activism
• America, Obama, Britain, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, India, China, Japan, Asia, Africa, Canada
• Ecological Economics, IPAT, Apocalypso, Media, Books, Video, 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

Negotiators met in Bonn this week preparing for Copenhagen:

• 2009/08/14: UN: 'Limited progress' made at latest round climate talks, says top UN official
  Only "limited progress" has been made at the most recent United Nations climate change talks -- which are expected to culminate later this year in Copenhagen with a new pact on slashing greenhouse gas emissions -- a senior United Nations official said today. With only two more conferences, totalling 15 days, scheduled before the start of the critical event in the Danish capital, "negotiations will need to considerably pick up speed for the world to achieve a successful result at Copenhagen," said Yvo de Boer, Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
• 2009/08/14: NYT:GW: Gloomy Negotiators End Bonn Climate Talks
  The latest round of preparatory talks for the U.N. climate conference concluded today with negotiators lamenting that the languid pace of talks could mean there won't be a deal on emissions in Copenhagen this December. "It would be incomprehensible if this opportunity were lost," said Yvo de Boer, executive secretary of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change. For any hope of a deal, he said, "the speed of the negotiations must be considerably accelerated at the [next] meeting in Bangkok." The United States' lead climate negotiator, Jonathan Pershing, added to the warnings. "If we don't have more movement and more consensus than we saw here, we won't have an agreement," Pershing said.
• 2009/08/14: Livemint: India clashes with EU, US at Bonn climate change talks
• 2009/08/14: EarthTimes: We might not make it at Copenhagen, says UN climate chief [UNFCCC head, Yvo de Boer]
• 2009/08/14: Yahoo: Money key stumbling block at UN climate talks
• 2009/08/14: PlanetArk: China Says Rich Up Pressure on Poor Over Climate
  Bonn, Germany - China accused rich nations at U.N. climate talks on Thursday of increasing pressure on the poor to do more to combat global warming while shirking their own responsibility to lead. "There has been a general feeling of unhappiness about the level of efforts that (developed nations) say they will take," China's climate ambassador Yu Qingtai told Reuters on the sidelines of August 10-14 climate talks in Bonn. "What is even more worrying is a continuation and even a strengthening of the tendency of trying to shift the burden to the developing countries," he said. "That must change." Many rich nations at the 180-nation talks, negotiating a new U.N. climate pact due to be in place in December, are far above their 2008-12 goals for cutting greenhouse gas emissions under the U.N.'s existing Kyoto Protocol.
• 2009/08/13: Grist: India blames Kyoto failure for climate standoff
• 2009/08/12: Reuters: U.N. climate pact seen hinging on deeper CO2 cuts
  A U.N. climate deal due in December will be a flop unless industrialized nations sharply increase promised cuts in greenhouse gas emissions for 2020, the chair of a key U.N. group said on Wednesday. John Ashe, who leads work at Aug 10-14 U.N. climate talks looking at planned cuts by rich nations, said existing pledges were far short of the range of 25-40 percent below 1990 levels outlined by a U.N. scientific panel as required to avoid the worst of climate change.
• 2009/08/13: IndiaTimes: Climate talks: US, others refuse to discuss IPR [Intellectual Property Regime] changes to help poor get clean tech
  The US and other rich nations have refused to discuss any changes in the intellectual property regime that would help poor nations access clean technologies currently in private hands. The industrialized nations took the position in the resumed UN negotiations at Bonn, Germany, while opposing demands to the contrary from the developing and poor countries, including India. The US negotiators wanted the entire discussion on modifying IPR regime taken off the table. On the issue of finance too, the industrialized countries have balked at the idea of providing funds to the poor nations to undertake greenhouse gas mitigation.
• 2009/08/12: UN: UN-backed climate change talks [in Bonn] gaining traction ahead of global conference
• 2009/08/11: BizGreen: Pessimism and deadlock dominate as Bonn climate talks kick off
  UN's top climate change official warns negotiators are running out of time to resolve rows over targets and clean tech financing
• 2009/08/12: RadioAustralia: Bonn meet sets Copenhagen climate agenda
• 2009/08/11: Reuters: Climate change fight seen costing $300 billion a year
  Cutting greenhouse gas emissions to slow global warming and adapting to impacts such as droughts and rising sea levels are likely to cost about $300 billion a year, the top U.N. climate change official said. Yvo de Boer also told Reuters on Tuesday, on the sidelines of August 10-14 U.N. climate talks in Bonn, that cuts in emissions by 2020 so far promised by rich nations were "miles away" from long-term goals set by a Group of Eight summit last month. "Over time, according to my own analysis, we are going to need $200 billion a year for mitigation and probably in the order of $100 billion a year for adaptation ... from 2020 onwards," he said.
• 2009/08/12: PlanetArk: Rich Nations Offer 15-21 Percent CO2 Cuts By 2020: U.N.
• 2009/08/11: Reuters: India says developing world not split in climate talks
• 2009/08/10: Reuters: Time running out for December climate pact: U.N.
• 2009/08/10: BBC: Time 'runs short' on climate deal
  Time is running short to agree a new treaty on global warming amid deep divisions over key issues, according to the UN's top climate official. Speaking at the start of the latest round of UN discussions, Yvo de Boer said the political signals were positive, but progress still too slow. About 1,000 officials are meeting in Bonn for a week of informal talks. The aim is to clear the way for the adoption of a new UN climate treaty in Copenhagen in December.
• 2009/08/10: Xinhuanet: Third round of UN climate talks opens in Bonn
• 2009/08/10: TreeHugger: Time is Running Out for Global Climate Deal, UN Leader [UNFCCC head, Yvo de Boer] Says
• 2009/08/10: EarthTimes: UN climate change talks open in Bonn
• 2009/08/10: EarthTimes: UN chief calls for global push to combat climate change
• 2009/08/10: DeutscheWelle: UN delegates continue battle over climate commitments
  Delegates are meeting in Bonn for the latest round of climate talks in the lead-up to a major conference in Copenhagen in December. However environmentalists warn that previous climate commitments are way off the mark.
  
• 2009/08/10: BBC: Representatives from some 190 countries are meeting in the German city of Bonn in a fresh attempt to negotiate a new treaty on climate change
• 2009/08/10: CBC: Climate change 'greatest challenge': UN chief [UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon]

  The Australian Senate has voted down the Rudd government's CPRS [aka Aus ETS]
  (see follow-up in Aus. politics):

• 2009/08/14: Guardian(UK): Climate sceptics and believers unite
  Australia's Green and Coalition parties have voted down an emissions plan. It's bad news for the environment
• 2009/08/12: Grist: The defeat of Australia's climate plan is not bad news for cap-and-trade
• 2009/08/13: Guardian(UK): Australian Senate rejects curbs on greenhouse gases -- Kevin Rudd's government vows to push legislation through despite setback
• 2009/08/13: ABC(Au): Wong defiant as Senate rejects carbon trade laws
• 2009/08/13: NatureTGB: Australia carbon trading blocked: what next?
• 2009/08/13: ABC(Au): Wong talks tough on 'day of reckoning'
  Climate Change Minister Penny Wong has accused the Coalition of acting against the national interest as it prepares to vote down the Government's emissions trading legislation today.
• 2009/08/13: PlanetArk: Scenarios: Where to Now for Australia Carbon Trade, Election
• 2009/08/13: TreeHugger: Australia's Cap and Trade Plans Crash and Burn
• 2009/08/13: EarthTimes: Parliament rejects Australia's carbon trading plan
• 2009/08/13: PeakEnergy: Australian Senate kills emissions trading scheme bills
• 2009/08/13: Reuters: Australian parliament rejects carbon trade plan
• 2009/08/13: BBerg: Australian Senate Rejects Rudd's Cap and Trade Emissions Plan
• 2009/08/13: SolveClimate: Unusual Politics Dooming Australia's Climate Bill in Upcoming Vote
• 2009/08/13: BBC: Australia emissions plan rejected
  The Australian parliament has rejected government plans to introduce an ambitious carbon trading scheme to tackle global warming. The measure was the centrepiece of the government's environment plans, and would have cut greenhouse gas emissions by 5% over the next 10 years. But opposition senators who control the upper house feared the legislation would harm the country's mining sector. The government can re-introduce the legislation after three months. Climate Change Minister Penny Wong confirmed after the Senate defeat by 42 votes to 30 that the government would seek to do this. However, if the government is defeated again it could trigger a general election.
• 2009/08/13: ABC(Au): Doomed emissions bill fuels election talk
  The Government's plan for an emissions trading scheme will be defeated today, sparking the next act in a political drama that could lead to an election. It is likely that Labor senators will be the only ones voting for the scheme today. The Greens say it is too weak and the Coalition says it is too rushed. When it is voted down, the Government could use it as the first step towards a trigger for a double-dissolution election by bringing it back to the Senate in three months
• 2009/08/11: PlanetArk: Scenarios: Possible Outcomes for Australian Carbon Trade Laws

  GM caught a bit of a buzz this week with their probably bogus rating the Volt at 230 mpg:

• 2009/08/14: ClimateP: GM Shows Off Their New 230mpg Chevy Volt
• 2009/08/14: OilDrum: EPA economy ratings vs. the GM Volt: A square peg in a round hole
• 2009/08/13: TreeHugger: 230 MPG? Stop the Madness! Here's How the EPA Should Rate Range-Extended Electric Cars
• 2009/08/13: TP:WR: GM Shows Off Their New 230mpg Chevy Volt
• 2009/08/12: AutoBG: Chevy Volt and 230 mpg: Negative reactions abound, but not from Bob Lutz
• 2009/08/11: KSJT: Atlantic, amid lots of ink: Hear about that Chevy Volt's 230 mpg EPA rating. It's true -- drive one or two hundred thousand miles and it'll pay off
• 2009/08/11: G&M: GM makes highly charged Volt claim
• 2009/08/11: WSJ:EnvCap: Chevy Volt: 230 Miles-Per-Gallon, GM Says
• 2009/08/11: AutoBG: GM announces that 2011 Chevrolet Volt will get 230 mpg city!
• 2009/08/11: AutoBG: Chevy Volt gets 230 mpg, but how?
• 2009/08/11: CBC: Volt to go 100 km on 1 litre of gas: GM
• 2009/08/11: SlashDot: Chevy Volt Rated At 230 mpg In the City

  The US National Clean Energy Summit went down this week:

• 2009/08/11: LVS: Democrats: Green U.S. at grass roots
• 2009/08/11: TP: President Clinton: 'Cash-for-clunkers' has 'worked like a dream.'
• 2009/08/11: TP: Right-wing global warming deniers protest Clean Energy Summit
• 2009/08/11: TP:WR: Teabaggers Protest Clean Energy Summit: 'Say No To Crap And Trade'
• 2009/08/10: WSJ:EnvCap: Clean-Energy Summit: You Want Clean Energy? Shale Gas.

  The Arctic melt continues to garner a lot of attention:

• 2009/08/15: CanWest: Arctic ice experiencing severe summer retreat, experts say -- Scientists predict that region will soon be essentially ice-free at height of season
• 2009/08/11: KSJT: AP: 2009 Arctic ice pack heading for record low?
• 2009/08/10: CBC: Arctic ice watchers concerned by warm summer
• 2009/08/09: RawStory: Vast expanses of Arctic melting fast

  As for the geopolitics of Arctic resources:

• 2009/08/15: TStar: Diplomatic thaw at hand over Arctic -- Cold War posturing often mainly intended for domestic politics
• 2009/08/11: Forbes: Russia's Arctic Plays Concern Region
• 2009/08/10: NOAANews: NOAA Joins Other U.S. Agencies and Canada to Survey the Arctic Continental Shelf

  While in Antarctica:

• 2009/08/15: Times(UK): Giant glacier in Antarctic is melting four times faster than thought
• 2009/08/14: CBC: Antarctic glacier melting at faster rate: scientists
  One of the largest glaciers in Antarctica is thinning at a rate four-times faster than just a decade ago, researchers said Friday. Researchers at the University of Leeds, writing in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, said the Pine Island Glacier in West Antarctica is thinning at a rate of up to 16 metres a year and has lowered as much as 90 metres in the last decade. At its current rate of thinning, the glacier could disappear in a century. Previous predictions, based on the glacier's rate of decline a decade ago, said the glacier would likely disappear in 600 years.
• 2009/08/13: ClimateP: Large Antarctic glacier thinning 4 times faster than it was 10 years ago: "Nothing in the natural world is lost at an accelerating exponential rate like this glacier."
• 2009/08/14: TreeHugger: Antarctica's Pine Island Glacier Melting Four Times Faster Than 10 Years Ago
• 2009/08/14: Eureka: Antarctic glacier thinning at alarming rate
  The thinning of a gigantic glacier in Antarctica is accelerating, scientists warned today. The Pine Island Glacier in West Antarctica, which is around twice the size of Scotland, is losing ice four times as fast as it was a decade years ago.
• 2009/08/13: BBC: Antarctic glacier 'thinning fast'
  One of the largest glaciers in Antarctica is thinning four times faster than it was 10 years ago, according to research seen by the BBC. A study of satellite measurements of Pine Island glacier in west Antarctica reveals the surface of the ice is now dropping at a rate of up to 16m a year. Since 1994, the glacier has lowered by as much as 90m, which has serious implications for sea-level rise.

There's that Damoclean sword again:

• 2009/08/14: SciDaily: Warming Of Arctic Current Over 30 Years Triggers Release Of Methane Gas
• 2009/08/14: Eureka: Warming ocean contributes to global warming
  The warming of an Arctic current over the last 30 years has triggered the release of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, from methane hydrate stored in the sediment beneath the seabed.
• 2009/08/14: CCP: G. K. Westbrook et al., Geophys. Res. Lett., 36 (2009): Escape of methane gas from the seabed along the West Spitsbergen continental margin
• 2009/08/14: CCP: Warming of Arctic current over 30 years triggers release of methane gas from seabed of West Spitsbergen continental margin

  Carbon Tariffs redux:

• 2009/08/14: Reuters: Climate pact means new business, not trade war: U.S. envoy [Jonathan Pershing]
• 2009/08/12: CommonTragedies: Climate Bill Success Can Equal Treaty Success, Even With Border Measures

  A couple of good articles from Real Climate:

• 2009/08/14: RealClimate: Resolving technical issues in science
• 2009/08/10: RealClimate: PETM Weirdness

  The Bonner & Assoc. scandal quieted somewhat:

• 2009/08/05: S&R: The Weekly Carboholic: ACCCE hired Bonner, but didn't notify Congress of forgeries when they were discovered

  Late comment on the APA:

• 2009/08/12: OilChange: Why Don't We Act on Climate Change?

  Late comment on Milankovitch:

• 2009/08/14: TerraDaily: Long Debate Ends Over Cause And Demise Of Ice Ages

  The food crisis is ongoing:

• 2009/08/16: ChinaDaily: Drought threatens 8.3m hectare of crops in N China
• 2009/08/12: Guardian(UK): Food price comparison
  The cost of basic foodstuffs and livestock in four regions of four east African countries - Katine in Uganda, Mwingi in Kenya, Babati in Tanzania and Aweil centre county in southern Sudan.
• 2009/08/12: Guardian(UK): Rising food prices have hit Katine hard
• 2009/08/10: UN: Urgent action needed to assist over 1 million Central Africans - UN relief official
• 2009/08/09: Missoulian: More than 10 percent in Montana receiving food stamps
• 2009/08/09: Oregonian: A summer of rising hunger in Oregon -- Feeding programs struggle to protect needy children from malnutrition

  The conflict between biofuel and food persists:

• 2009/08/14: BBC: US sugar supplies 'running out'
  A number of large US food manufacturers have called on the government to ease sugar import limits, saying they fear the country could run out of supplies. The letter from firms such as Kraft Food and Hershey comes in the week sugar prices have hit 28 year highs due to worldwide supply shortages. [...] Global sugar prices have been pushed up by growing demand in Brazil for sugar to be turned into ethanol for vehicle fuel, and a sharp fall in production in India, the world's largest sugar consumer.
• 2009/08/10: BBC: Sugar price reaches 28-year high [biofuel/food conflict]
  The price of raw sugar has increased to its highest level since March 1981, as supply concerns grow. Raw sugar futures added 3% on Monday, to 21.55 cents a pound. "The main problem is a deficit in sugar supplies," said Nick Penney, a trader with Sucden, a firm that focuses on sugar trading. Growing demand in Brazil for sugar to be turned into ethanol, coupled with a sharp fall in Indian production, have both prompted worries, he explained. Sugar production in India for 2008-09 fell 45% year-on-year, according to a report by Sucden. And a "drastic fall" is expected for the coming Indian crop, it said.

And how are we going to feed 9 billion?

• 2009/08/14: Namibian: A Big Chance for Small Farmers [Sachs]
  The G-8's $20 billion initiative on smallholder agriculture, launched at the group's recent summit in L'Aquila, Italy, is a potentially historic breakthrough in the fight against hunger and extreme poverty.
• 2009/08/11: FAO: The lurking menace of weeds -- Farmers' enemy No. 1
• 2009/08/14: ProMedMail: Stripe rust, wheat - Australia
• 2009/08/13: TreeHugger: WTF? Vandals Destroy Portland Community Gardens
• 2009/08/12: MWatch: U.S. corn supply to reach record, prices to fall, USDA says
• 2009/08/09: Independent(UK): Wish you weren't here: The devastating effects of the new colonialists
  A new breed of colonialism is rampaging across the world, with rich nations buying up the natural resources of developing countries that can ill afford to sell. Some staggering deals have already been done, says Paul Vallely, but angry locals are now trying to stop the landgrabs
• 2009/08/11: AlterNet: Why Corporations, Emerging Powers and Petro-States Are Snapping Up Huge Chunks of Farmland in the Developing World
• 2009/08/10: Guardian(UK): Supermarket offers and food waste targeted in goverment's food strategy
  All aspects of food -- production, processing, distribution, retail, consumption and waste -- must be addressed, says Hilary Benn
• 2009/08/10: BBSRC: Potato blight plight looks promising for food security
  Over 160 years since potato blight wreaked havoc in Ireland and other northern European countries, scientists funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) finally have the blight-causing pathogen in their sights and are working to accelerate breeding of more durable, disease resistant potato varieties.
• 2009/08/10: Reuters: Britain wants "rethink" on food production
• 2009/08/10: TulsaWorld: Oil-short Cuba returns to use of oxen on farms
• 2009/08/10: BBC: UK food research 'needs a boost'
  The world's food production needs to double by 2050 to feed the world's growing population. But over this period, climate change, reduced access to water and changing land use are likely to make growing crops harder rather than easier. Scientists are trying to find new ways of using fewer resources to produce more food.

Taiwan is reeling after Typhoon Morakot dumped 2 meters [80 inches] of rain in 48 hours; Etau hit Japan:

• 2009/08/15: CBS: Taiwan Typhoon Survivors Return to Nothing -- Devastation, Heartbreak All that Remains in Storm-Ravaged Towns
• 2009/08/15: CNN: 1,300 still trapped after Taiwan typhoon
  Reports say 1,300 people are still trapped in remote areas after typhoon - At least 121 people dead from storm with fears of much higher toll - 31,000 people have been pulled alive from the mud and debris
• 2009/08/14: QuarkSoup: Five Times Katrina [Typhoon Morakot]
• 2009/08/15: BBC: Taiwan leader in typhoon apology
  President Ma Ying-jeou of Taiwan has apologised for the slow official response to Typhoon Morakot. "We could have done better and we could have been faster," he told reporters one week after the typhoon struck. Hundreds of people are still trapped by mudslides and floods. More than 120 have been confirmed dead. Families of nearly 400 people feared dead in the village of Hsiaolin returned there on Saturday to the site to grieve for their loved ones.
• 2009/08/14: BBC: The village [Hsiaolin] washed away by mud
• 2009/08/14: CNN: Taiwan typhoon toll could triple as entire village lies buried
  Officials say typhoon death toll in Taiwan could leap more than threefold - Village of Shiao Lin covered with what rescuers say may be five stories of mud - 31,000 people have been pulled alive from the mud and debris
• 2009/08/14: ChinaDaily: Surviving in extreme conditions after typhoon [Morakot]
• 2009/08/14: CBC: Taiwan's typhoon death toll mounts -- 400 believed to have died in mudslides
  The death toll in Taiwan in the wake of Typhoon Morakot is expected to reach about 500, President Ma Ying-jeou said Friday. Ma called a national security conference on Friday and urged officials to step up rescue and relief operations.
• 2009/08/14: BBC: Hopes are fading that rescuers will be able to save hundreds of people trapped by mudslides and floods in Taiwan, six days after Typhoon Morakot struck
• 2009/08/14: BBC: 'Devil' typhoon leaves Taiwan reeling
• 2009/08/13: TerraDaily: Taiwan scrambles to rescue 1,000 from landslide villages
• 2009/08/13: BBC: Taiwan has appealed for international technical assistance to help rescue more than 2,000 people stranded after Typhoon Morakot caused major mudslides
• 2009/08/13: CBC: Taiwan adds troops for typhoon relief
  The Taiwan military deployed thousands more troops to its southern regions on Thursday as criticism mounted about the government's dealing with the devastating aftermath of Typhoon Morakot. About 4,000 more troops were sent into the region on Thursday to aid the 10,000 already in the area dealing with survivors who have been left stranded by the storm. Morakot struck Taiwan on the weekend and dumped more than two metres of rain before moving on to China. The storm washed out roads and bridges and triggered devastating mudslides that have engulfed entire villages.
• 2009/08/12: CNN: Typhoon survivors find sanctuary in school
  A school in Taiwan town of Nei Pu becomes a refuges for typhoon survivors - Helicopters filled with survivors land on the athletic field - Some survivors are waiting for news about relatives - Others find a place to sleep for the first time since Saturday's typhoon
• 2009/08/12: Guardian(UK): Hundreds found alive after Taiwan mudslide
• 2009/08/13: PlanetArk: Hundreds Still Missing From Taiwan Mudslide [Typhoon Morakot]
• 2009/08/12: TerraDaily: More than 80 dead as typhoons pound East Asia
• 2009/08/12: CBC: Taiwan mudslide survivors found [Typhoon Morakot]
  About 1,000 people feared dead following a mudslide in Taiwan have been found alive, officials reported Wednesday. The mudslide engulfed several remote villages after Typhoon Morakot pummeled the island with more than two metres of rain over the weekend. Officials said many people from the villages appear to have scrambled up the slopes to higher ground before the mud and rock covered their homes.
• 2009/08/12: BBC: Taiwan mudslide hundreds 'alive'
  About 700 people missing in southern Taiwan after Typhoon Morakot have been found alive, say army officials.
• 2009/08/11: Guardian(UK): Search continues as 700 feared dead in Taiwan typhoon mudslide
  First witness accounts emerge of mudslide caused by typhoon Morakot as China warns of secondary disasters
• 2009/08/11: CNN: Hundreds missing in Taiwan after typhoon hits
  Typhoon Morakot dumps 80-plus inches of rain in worst flooding in 50 years - Dozens dead, even more missing in Taiwan from storm-caused flooding - Taiwanese villagers fear hundreds of people buried under mudslides - Reports: Mudslides crush homes, bury unknown number of people in China
• 2009/08/12: PlanetArk: More Than 700 Trapped in Taiwan Villages After Mudslide
• 2009/08/11: TerraDaily: Dozens killed as typhoons hit East Asia
• 2009/08/11: EarthTimes: Taiwan rescue teams search for villagers trapped by landslides
• 2009/08/11: BBC: 'Hundreds lost' in Taiwan typhoon
  Hundreds of people are feared dead in Taiwan after Typhoon Morakot triggered a mudslide that buried an entire village on the south-west coast. Officials said about 600-800 people are missing in Shiao Lin village after part of the mountain collapsed on sleeping villagers' homes on Monday morning. Most of the dead are thought to be the elderly and children. Elsewhere in Taiwan, the number of confirmed deaths is 37, with 35 injured and 52 missing, officials said. Typhoon Morakot dropped some 2m (80in) of rain on Taiwan this weekend, causing the worst flooding in decades.
• 2009/08/10: NASA: NASA Satellite Sees Severe Flooding Rains from Deadly Typhoon Morakot
• 2009/08/10: EarthTimes: Flooding in Japan leaves at least 12 people dead [Etau]
• 2009/08/10: EarthTimes: Dozens dead in Japan, Taiwan, China from typhoons
• 2009/08/09: CBC: Typhoon [Etau], quake shake Japan
• 2009/08/10: BBC: China evacuates as storm strikes
  Nearly one-million people have been evacuated from the coastal regions of China as Typhoon Morakot blew in. [...] Meanwhile, in Japan nine people are reported dead [& 10 missing] in floods and landslides after Typhoon Etau brought heavy rain to the west of the country.
• 2009/08/09: Guardian(UK): Million Chinese flee typhoon Morakot
  China evacuates south-east coast areas as typhoon hits -- Boy dies in Wenzhou; three dead, 31 missing in Taiwan

Activity is picking up in the Atlantic:

• 2009/08/15: Reuters: Tropical storms Ana, Bill form; hurricane expected
• 2009/08/15: CBS: Tropical Storm Bill Forms in the Atlantic -- Meanwhile Tropical Storm Anna Has Winds Near 40 mph, Hurricane Guillermo Swirls in Pacific
• 2009/08/15: CNN: Tropical storm [Ana] moving across Atlantic
  Tropical Storm Ana located 920 miles east of Leeward Islands - Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico advised to monitor storm's progress - Storm has maximum sustained winds of 40 mph, hurricane center says
• 2009/08/15: Wunderground: Ana and TD 3 take aim at the Lesser Antilles
• 2009/08/14: NASA: Tropical Depression 2 on Shaky Ground, 3 Other Areas to Watch on Weekend
• 2009/08/14: Wunderground: Disturbance 90L close to tropical depression strength; TD 2 may rise again
• 2009/08/12: Wunderground: TD 2 struggling; new African wave bears watching
• 2009/08/11: Wunderground: TD 2 forms in the Atlantic; hundreds feared dead from Typhoon Morakot; Felicia hits

  The Eastern Pacific has been busy:

• 2009/08/14: CBC: Hurricane Guillermo forms in Pacific
• 2009/08/13: NASA: GOES-11 Sees Tropical Cyclones Fizzling and Forming in the Eastern Pacific!
  There are a lot of ups and downs in tropical cyclone formation in the Pacific Ocean this week, and that's keeping NOAA's GOES-11 satellite busy. There are remnants of Maka and Tropical Depression 9E, a fizzled Felicia, and a new Tropical Storm named Guillermo.
• 2009/08/10: Wunderground: Hawaii braces for Felicia; 99L near the Cape Verdes Islands may develop
• 2009/08/10: Eureka: NASA satellites catch 2 views of Felicia already affecting Hawaii

  While elsewhere in the hurricane wars:

• 2009/08/14: NewScientist: Wilder, wetter cyclones will hit Japan's economy
• 2009/08/13: NYT:CW: Study Finds Big Storms on a 1,000-Year Rise
• 2009/08/13: CSM: Big storms in Atlantic hit 1,000-year high
  A new study suggests that the frequency of hurricanes has increased dramatically during the past 10 years. Climate change is one potential culprit.
• 2009/08/13: NatureCF: Hurricane peak in the past
• 2009/08/12: SciNow: Medieval Storms Portend Worse Hurricanes
• 2009/08/13: NYT: 2 Studies Challenge Notion of Rise in Atlantic Storms
• 2009/08/13: Wunderground: TD 2 nearly dead; African disturbance 90L gathering strength
• 2009/08/12: Eureka: Hurricane seasons are more active
  Study examined evidence of hurricanes going back 1,500 years, identified factors that contribute to more active hurricane seasons
• 2009/08/12: TWTB: 1500-year Atlantic hurricane record
• 2009/08/13: BBC: Hurricanes in the Atlantic are more frequent than at any time in the last 1,000 years, according to research just published in the journal Nature
• 2009/08/12: NatureN: Hurricane peak not unique -- Historical estimates suggest that global warming could boost the number of hurricanes.
• 2009/08/12: Eureka: Harbingers of increased Atlantic hurricane activity identified
• 2009/08/10: WSJ:EnvCap: Not-so-Stormy-Weather: Hurricane Season Off to Slow Start

  As for GHGs:

• 2009/08/13: PlanetArk: Factbox: Australia's Carbon Footprint
• 2009/08/11: DotEarth: The CO2 Shadow of the Recession
• 2009/08/12: PlanetArk: U.S. CO2 Emissions From Fuels Seen Falling 5 Percent in 2009
• 2009/08/12: PlanetArk: New Figures Show India's Emissions a Fourth of China's
• 2009/08/11: PlanetArk: Factbox: New Zealand's Greenhouse Gas Emissions Profile
• 2009/08/10: TreeHugger: CO2 Emissions Rose 2% in 2008 - Curbing Industrial Activity Not the Solution: German Institute Says

  And in the carbon cycle:

• 2009/08/11: NatureN: Mystery of missing carbon cracked -- Earth's mantle seems to be depleted in carbon, but chemical processes might explain why

  The temperature record:

• 2009/08/15: ENN: Surprise, Sea Temperatures in July Hottest on Record!
• 2009/08/14: ClimateSight: Temperatures for July 2009
• 2009/08/14: NOAANews: Warmest Global Ocean Surface Temperatures on Record for July
• 2009/08/13: ClimateP: NASA: Second hottest July on record
• 2009/08/10: NOAANews: NOAA: July Temperature Below-Average for the U.S.

  Yes we have feedbacks:

• 2009/08/11: CCP: Ken Levenson: Amplifying Feedbacks -- A Climate Change Arms Race

  Regarding the uncertainties of clouds:

• 2009/08/10: KU: Missing Link to Cloud Formation Found
  New chemical research shows how cloud seedlings form over forested areas. The discovery of an unknown hitherto chemical compound in the atmosphere may help to explain how and when clouds are formed. The discovery of the so called dihydroxyepoxides (an aerosol-precursor), is reported in this week's issue of Science by a team comprising of researchers from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and the University of Copenhagen (UoC).

The ozone layer will begin to improve in 2065?

• 2009/08/12: NatureCF: Ozone: The patient is not getting sicker

  While in the paleoclimate:

• 2009/08/14: SciDaily: Middle Miocene [14-16 mya] Oxygen Minimum Zone Expansion Offshore West Africa: Evidence For Global Cooling Precursor Events

  Glaciers are melting:

• 2009/08/11: PlanetArk: Alaska Glaciers Shrinking Fast: Survey
• 2009/08/10: SciDaily: Spectacular Melting Of The Largest French Glacier [the Cook ice cap on the Kerguelen Islands]

  Meanwhile in near earth orbit:

• 2009/08/16: Guardian(UK): Britain's ice man [Duncan Wingham] ready for a second space shot with rebuilt CryoSat probe
• 2009/08/13: USGS: Landsat 5 Experiences Malfunction -- Satellite is Now Stabilized and the Cause is Being Investigated
• 2009/08/14: TerraDaily: Helping JPL Map Soil Moisture Globally
• 2009/08/12: NatureN: Satellite data show Indian water stocks shrinking -- Groundwater depletion raises spectre of shortages
• 2009/08/12: Eureka: Satellites unlock secret to northern India's vanishing water
• 2009/08/12: Eureka: Satellites unlock secret to Northern India's vanishing water -- UCI, NASA hydrologists say human consumption is reason
• 2009/08/12: CBC: Satellite radar to track Sask. crops
  Canada researchers will be keeping a close eye on a Saskatchewan farm this growing season as part of an international effort to better track changes in agriculture from orbit. The European Space Agency has chosen Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada's Indian Head, Sask., research farm as one of three locations it will monitor in 2009 with the aid of radar imagery.
• 2009/08/10: BBC: 'Crisis satellite' returns images
  Britain's latest imaging satellite has returned its first pictures. UK-DMC2 was launched with a twin spacecraft, Deimos-1, on a Dnepr rocket from Kazakhstan last month. The platforms have joined the Disaster Monitoring Constellation, which is used to obtain rapid information about areas struck by natural calamities.

More GW impacts are being seen:

• 2009/08/15: StarTelegram: Climate change has some Texas animals fleeing the Texas heat
• 2009/08/14: PhysOrg: Rapid changes in the [Baltic] winter climate
• 2009/08/14: DM:80B: Why Warmer Weather Makes Big Mountains: Snow Is the Enemy
• 2009/08/14: SciDaily: Baltic Sea: Rapid Changes In Winter Climate
• 2009/08/13: NatureTGB: How climate affects mountain height
• 2009/08/13: Eureka: New findings show increased ocean acidification in Alaska waters
• 2009/08/12: ABC(Au): Australian bird species are getting smaller due to global warming, suggest researchers
• 2009/08/12: DM:80B: Will All Animals Shrink Under a Warmer Climate?
• 2009/08/11: CCP: Andrew S. Brierley & Michael J. Kingsford, Current Biology, Vol. 19, 2009: Impacts of Climate Change on Marine Organisms and Ecosystems
• 2009/08/10: MongaBay: Photos: hundreds of new species discovered in Himalayan region, threatened by climate change
• 2009/08/10: BBC: Species climbing to new heights
  Growing numbers of wildlife have pushed northwards into Scotland from other parts of the UK and also to higher altitudes, according to experts. Conservationists suspect climate change has allowed warmth-loving creatures - including snakes and dragonflies - to move into new regions.
• 2009/08/10: Guardian(UK): Flying frogs and the world's oldest mushroom: a decade of Himalayan discovery
  [...] experts warn the new discoveries are under pressure from demand for land and climate change. A report published today by the WWF, The Eastern Himalayas - Where Worlds Collide, lists 242 new types of plants, 16 amphibians, 16 reptiles, 14 fish, two birds and two mammals and 61 new invertebrates.

And then there are the world's forests:

• 2009/08/13: DerSpiegel: Tropical Comeback -- Can New Growth Save the Amazon Rainforest?
  Is the Amazon rainforest recovering? New studies suggest that the long-term consequences of deforestation may not be as bad as predicted, as vegetation makes a comeback on abandoned agricultural land.
• 2009/08/13: PhysOrg: New study reveals unexpected relationship between climate warming and advancing treelines
• 2009/08/13: PlanetArk: Kenya to Plant 7.6 Billion Trees to Check Deforestation
• 2009/08/12: TreeHugger: Bangladesh Gets $19 Million from US & Germany for Reforestation Project
• 2009/08/11: PhysOrg: Researcher looking for way to minimize spread of mountain pine beetle
• 2009/08/12: PlanetArk: Bolivia Amazon Oil Drilling Plan Opposed by Tribes
• 2009/08/11: TreeHugger: 10 Countries With the Highest Deforestation Rates in the World
  1) Honduras: -37%
  2) Nigeria: -36%
  3) The Philippines: -32%
  4) Benin: -31%
  5) Ghana: -28%
  6) Indonesia: -26%
  7) Nepal & North Korea: -25%
  9) Ecuador & Haiti: -22%
• 2009/08/10: BBerg: Indonesia Counts Trees to Prepare for Carbon Market

  Corals are dying:

• 2009/08/12: USAToday: Rising ocean acidity: 'The other carbon problem' -- What happens if there's no more "shell" in shellfish?

  Climate refugees are becoming an issue:

• 2009/08/10: RI: Refugees International to Establish New Center on Climate Displacement
• 2009/08/13: TP:WR: Ken Bacon's Gift To The Future: The Center for the Study of Climate Displacement
  On Monday, Refugees International (RI) announced the establishment of a new center to address "the needs of the tens of millions of people expected to be displaced by climate change." Kenneth Bacon, RI's president, and his wife Darcy have provided the seed money for the Ken and Darcy Bacon Center for the Study of Climate Displacement, with additional support from the UN Foundation and the Refugees International board.

As for heatwaves and wild fires:

• 2009/08/15: EarthTimes: Wildfires scorch nearly 7,000 acres in California
• 2009/08/15: CNN: Expected winds, drop in humidty may hamper wildfire effort
  Firefighters struggle to contain fire raging since Thursday near Santa Cruz Mountains - Officials declare state of emergency for Santa Cruz County; no reports of injuries - About 2,400 from Swanton and Bonny Doon areas flee after evacuation order issued - "I'm not feeling super optimistic," Bonny Doon resident living in RV tells KTVU
• 2009/08/15: CBS: Strong Winds Fan Calif. Wildfire Flames -- More Evacuations Likely in Areas Around Santa Cruz Mountains under State of Emergency
• 2009/08/14: EarthTimes: California wildfires spread
• 2009/08/14: HuffPo: Wildfires Force California To Declare State Of Emergency
• 2009/08/15: LAT:LA Now: Gusty winds fuel California brush fires, hamper firefighters
• 2009/08/14: LAT:LA Now: State of emergency declared as two California coastal fires rage out of control
• 2009/08/14: CNN: Smokes clears to reveal 4,100 acres burning in California
  State of emergency declared for Santa Cruz County - Hundreds of firefighters manage to contain 5 percent of 4,100-acre fire - Lockheed Fire burning near Santa Cruz Mountains - Up to 2,400 residents evacuate from Swanton and Bonny Doon areas
• 2009/08/14: EarthTimes: Thousands flee wildfires in California
• 2009/08/13: Yahoo: Climate change fueling forest fires in Europe: Greenpeace
• 2009/08/13: CBC: B.C. wildfires still threat, residents told
• 2009/08/13: CNN: Hundreds evacuated as California wildfire grows
  Mandatory evacuation ordered for about 600 people - Fast-moving blaze near Santa Cruz Mountains burns about 1,200 acres - Glow from fire can be seen from miles away - Firefighters have no estimate of when blaze may be brought under control
• 2009/08/12: CBC: Wet weather in B.C. sends 1,500 fire evacuees home
• 2009/08/10: TerraDaily: Summer fires claim 200,000 hectares of Europe's forests
• 2009/08/08: UAF: Unmanned aircraft map northern fires
• 2009/08/11: CBC: Hundreds return home as B.C. wildfires cool
  Hundreds of people across B.C. forced from their communities because of wildfires will be headed home on Tuesday as rain and cooler temperatures help firefighters reduce the wildfire threat. But with hundreds of fires still burning across the province, more than 1,800 people remain under evacuation orders, and thousands more remain under evacuation alerts, ready to leave their homes at a moment's notice.
• 2009/08/10: EarthTimes: Dry weather fuels forest fire rise in Europe
• 2009/08/09: Canoe: B.C. residents still on wildfire evacuation order

  And speaking of floods & droughts:

• 2009/08/14: Scoop: Drought costs NZ $2.8 billion
• 2009/08/13: FuturePundit: Northern India Ground Water Dropping
• 2009/08/15: EarthTimes: Water and climate change on World Water Week agenda [opening Monday Aug 17 in Stockholm]
• 2009/08/10: AlterNet: Goodbye Pools, Lawns and a Whole Lot More: Why Life in the Southwest as We Know it Will Be History
• 2009/08/10: Independent(UK): The wildebeest river is running dry
  The animals' stampede through the Mara river is one of nature's most spectacular events. But now the watercourse is drying up, a sign of the damage being done to Africa's fragile eco-system
• 2009/08/13: SciNews: Big Gulp, Asian style -- Increased irrigation is rapidly depleting India's groundwater
• 2009/08/13: KSJT: ScienceNOW, wires, Bloomberg, etc: Satellite reveals wells across northern India sucking the ground dry
• 2009/08/13: ABC(Au): Drought advisor outlines dire Murray scenario
  There has been a dire prediction that the level of the Murray below Lock 1 at Blanchetown could drop to almost 1.5 metres below sea level over the next few months.
• 2009/08/13: BBC: India's water use 'unsustainable'
  Parts of India are on track for severe water shortages. according to results from Nasa's gravity satellites. The Grace mission discovered that in the country's northwest - including Delhi - the water table is falling by about 4cm (1.6 inches) per year.
• 2009/08/11: EarthTimes: A quarter of India's districts face risk of drought
  More than a quarter of India's districts face the risk of drought due to scanty monsoon rains, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said Tuesday. The poor rains resulted in a 20 per cent decline in sowing of summer crops, but there was no reason to panic, Mukherjee told reporters on the sidelines of an annual conference of income tax officials. His comments came amid concern over rising food prices and fears that a low crop output would further pull down economic growth, which was hit by the global downturn and was showing feeble signs of recovery. Nearly 60 per cent of India's farming sector depends on the seasonal monsoon rains which come between June and September. The Meteorology Department has predicted a 25 per cent shortfall as the season nears its end.
• 2009/08/10: SciNow: India's Groundwater Disappearing at Alarming Rate

  Elsewhere on the mitigation front:

• 2009/08/12: BSD: Grass-fed beef and greenhouse gas - now with data! (Some data, anyway.)

  As for transportation & GHG production:

• 2009/08/13: CanWest: Completion of the Canada Line a major accomplishment
  When at 4:50 a.m. on Aug. 17 the first sleek train on the Canada Line pulls out of Waterfront station in downtown Vancouver on its way to the airport, we should all take a moment to celebrate a magnificent achievement
• 2009/08/12: NYT:GW: Airlines Will Be First U.S. Industry to Confront Cap and Trade
• 2009/08/11: BBC: How aviation can clean up its act
  The aviation industry - a rapidly expanding sector - is looking for ways to secure its fuel supplies without increasing greenhouse gas emissions, says Fred Dryer. In the Green Room this week, he outlines some of the options available to deliver these goals.

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

• 2009/08/15: ClimateP: Rebuilding America: A Policy Framework for Investment in Energy Efficiency Retrofits
• 2009/08/14: McClatchyDC: California green building code, a national first, starts this month
• 2009/08/10: CAP: [link to 818k pdf] Rebuilding America -- A Policy Framework for Investment in Energy Efficiency Retrofits
• 2009/08/12: E2T: Report: Policy Changes, $500B Investment Needed for Home Retrofits
  [...] Here's some background: Buildings account for 40 percent of total energy use, but much of the housing and building stock is old, inefficient and wasteful. Half of the buildings that will be standing in 30 years are already built, so any successful strategy to increase the efficiency of the built environment must include retrofits, the report says. Deep building retrofits can cut energy use by 20 percent to 40 percent with "off-the-shelf technologies" and pay for themselves from the energy they save. Besides reducing energy demand and lowering carbon emissions, these investments create local jobs.
• 2009/08/12: ClimateP: Building Commissioning: The Stealth Energy Efficiency Strategy
• 2009/08/12: SolveClimate: Raising the Prairie: The Nation's First Organic Roof Farm Rises in Chicago
• 2009/08/11: SacBee: UC Davis wants new 'village' to be affordably green
  The idea that green buildings can make financial as well as environmental sense is central to California's plans to fight global warming. Now, a housing project at the University of California, Davis, will test whether it works on a large scale, using a $2 million grant awarded Monday by the California Energy Commission. The goal is to make the new 4,000-resident West Village student and faculty housing development the nation's largest "zero net energy" community -- one that produces as much energy in a year as it draws from natural gas pipelines and the electrical grid.
• 2009/08/11: Grist: Rebuilding America -- A policy framework for investment in energy efficiency retrofits
• 2009/08/10: WorldChanging: U.S. Green Building Council: Creating LEED Ratings and Better Informed Builders
• 2009/08/11: CNN: The incredible shrinking home
  The size of newly built homes fell in 2008 for the first time in almost 15 years. Is the McMansion era on the wane?
• 2009/08/08: ADT: City employee promotes green building -- Mike Broomfield is working with the state to develop green building codes

  As for carbon sequestration:

• 2009/08/13: WSJ:EnvCap: Big Oil and Clean Coal: Shell Joins CCS Group in U.K.
• 2009/08/13: OilChange: Shell Enters British CCS Race
• 2009/08/13: LA Times: Carbon capture project in West Virginia illustrates obstacles to 'clean' coal
  A contraption attached to an existing power plant will capture emissions from only about 15% of output. The device, set to go on line next month, is hugely expensive and also uses a lot of energy
• 2009/08/11: WaPo: Coal's Future Wagered on Carbon Capture -- Efforts to Tame Greenhouse Gas Enjoy Funding But Face Hurdles

  Large scale geo-engineering keeps popping up:

• 2009/08/14: TerraDaily: GeoEngineering Against Climate Change [ESA]
• 2009/08/10: DeSmogBlog: Lomborg's Robot Navy
• 2009/08/10: NatureCF: Geoengineering: save the world, or doom us all?

  Meanwhile in the journals:

• 2009/08/14: TC: Glacier volume response time and its links to climate and topography based on a conceptual model of glacier hypsometry by S. C. B. Raper & R. J. Braithwaite
• 2009/08/14: TCD: Overview of areal changes of the ice shelves on the Antarctic Peninsula over the past 50 years by A. J. Cook & D. G. Vaughan
• 2009/08/14: ACPD: Closing the Dimethyl Sulfide Budget in the Tropical Marine Boundary Layer during the Pacific Atmospheric Sulfur Experiment by S. A. Conley et al.
• 2009/08/14: ACPD: Biomass burning aerosol emissions from vegetation fires: particle number and mass emission factors and size distributions by S. Janhäll et al.
• 2009/08/06: GRL: (ab$) Escape of methane gas from the seabed along the West Spitsbergen continental margin by Graham K. Westbrook et al.
• 2009/08/12: ACP: A statistical analysis of the influence of deep convection on water vapor variability in the tropical upper troposphere by J. S. Wright et al.
• 2009/08/12: ACP: Retrieval of aerosol single scattering albedo at ultraviolet wavelengths at the T1 site during MILAGRO by C. A. Corr et al.
• 2009/08/12: ACP: A simple model for cloud radiative forcing by T. Corti & T. Peter
• 2009/08/11: ACP: The influence of biogenic emissions from Africa on tropical tropospheric ozone during 2006: a global modeling study by J. E. Williams et al.
• 2009/08/12: ACPD: The ARCTAS aircraft mission: design and execution by D. J. Jacob et al.
• 2009/08/12: ACPD: Trend in ice moistening the stratosphere -- constraints from isotope data of water and methane by J. Notholt et al.
• 2009/08/10: ACPD: The effect of misleading surface temperature estimations on the sensible heat fluxes at a high Arctic site -- the Arctic turbulence experiment 2006 on Svalbard (ARCTEX-2006) by J. Lüers & J. Bareiss
• 2009/08/11: PNAS: Perturbations to trophic interactions and the stability of complex food webs by Eoin J. O'Gorman & Mark C. Emmerson
• 2009/08/11: PNAS: Temperature dependence, spatial scale, and tree species diversity in eastern Asia and North America by Zhiheng Wang et al.
• 2009/08/11: PNAS: Climate directly influences Eocene mammal faunal dynamics in North America by Michael O. Woodburne et al.

  And other significant documents:

• 2009/08/10: CAP: [link to 818k pdf] Rebuilding America -- A Policy Framework for Investment in Energy Efficiency Retrofits

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

• 2009/08/12: JEB: AGU open review trial
• 2009/08/14: Eureka: Changes in net flow of ocean heat correlate with past climate anomalies
• 2009/08/14: CCP: S.-W. Son, N. F. Tandon, L. M. Polvani, D. W. Waugh, Geophys. Res. Lett., 36 (2009): Ozone hole and Southern Hemisphere climate change
• 2009/08/11: Guardian(UK): Scientists explore how the humble leaf could power the planet
  Researchers at Imperial College London embark on 'artificial leaf' project to produce power by mimicking photosynthesis
• 2009/08/11: NatureN: Ice-core researchers hope to chill out -- Fresh freezers needed to preserve ancient gas, scientists say.
• 2009/08/11: NOAANews: Study: Better Observations, Analyses Detecting Short-Lived Tropical Systems
• 2009/08/10: PhysOrg: Climate models confirm more moisture in atmosphere attributed to humans
• 2009/08/11: TreeHugger: A Breakthrough in Climate Modeling Shows Past Temperatures and Future Changes
• 2009/08/10: LLNL: Climate models confirm more moisture in atmosphere attributed to humans

  McLean redux:

• 2009/08/15: JEB: Another comment on McLean et al.
• 2009/08/10: JEB: More on that ENSO nonsense

  The Pielke fan clubbe is clawing its way from the grave:

• 2009/08/16: BCLSB: Roger Pielke Jr.: Honest Broker Or Home Town Ref (For The Other Side)?
• 2009/08/15: Deltoid: Another Pielke train wreck
• 2009/08/14: MTobis: Pielkes all the Way Down
• 2009/08/11: AFTIC: Guilty until proven innocent

  On the road to Copenhagen, note the upcoming sessions: 28 Sept.- 9 Oct. in Bangkok & 2-6 Nov. in Barcelona:

• 2009/08/16: PlanetArk: Vulnerable States Team up for Tougher Climate Pact
• 2009/08/15: OpenLeft: China Is Not the Problem
• 2009/08/15: RawStory: China agrees to cut carbon emissions in 2050
• 2009/08/14: Guardian(UK): UN's climate chief warns of real risk of failure at climate change talks
  [UNFCCC head,] Yvo de Boer says process too slow to reach deal at close of meeting in Bonn aimed at trimming 200-page draft treaty
• 2009/08/13: Grist: Lower your expectations for Copenhagen, says Foreign Affairs journal
• 2009/08/14: Reuters: Climate talks risk failure unless accelerate: UN
• 2009/08/14: SolveClimate: Tripped Up: Report Reveals Rocky Road to Copenhagen
• 2009/08/14: Missoulian: Time running short for new climate-change deal
• 2009/08/13: IndiaTimes: Climate talks: US, others refuse to discuss IPR [Intellectual Property Regime] changes to help poor get clean tech
  The US and other rich nations have refused to discuss any changes in the intellectual property regime that would help poor nations access clean technologies currently in private hands. The industrialized nations took the position in the resumed UN negotiations at Bonn, Germany, while opposing demands to the contrary from the developing and poor countries, including India. The US negotiators wanted the entire discussion on modifying IPR regime taken off the table. On the issue of finance too, the industrialized countries have balked at the idea of providing funds to the poor nations to undertake greenhouse gas mitigation.
• 2009/08/12: Guardian(UK): Is it time to start worrying about Copenhagen?

  While at the UN:

• 2009/08/11: TerraDaily: UN chief warns of 'incalculable' suffering without climate deal
• 2009/08/12: PlanetArk: U.N. Chief [Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon] Warns of Dire Future Without Climate Deal
• 2009/08/11: TreeHugger: UN Secretary General Tries Climate Change Scare Tactics - Says Mass Unrest & Violence Possible if We Don't Act
• 2009/08/10: UN: Rise in gas emissions must be contained to avoid global disaster, says Ban
• 2009/08/10: MongaBay: Ban Ki-Moon: climate change 'greatest collective challenge we face'

  And on the carbon trading front:

• 2009/08/14: PlanetArk: EU Carbon Ignores Aussie Carbon Plan Rejection
  Prices for European carbon emissions futures ignored Australia's rejection of an emissions trading scheme on Thursday, rising with firmer German power and oil prices, traders said. "The market doesn't really look at any of this global stuff," a European carbon emissions trader said. Australia's parliament rejected a plan for an ambitious emissions trade regime as expected on Thursday, bringing the nation closer to a snap election and prolonging financial uncertainty for major emitters.
• 2009/08/14: PlanetArk: Factbox: Carbon Trading Schemes Around the World
• 2009/08/13: PlanetArk: Factbox: Australia-EU Carbon Trade Differences
• 2009/08/13: NRDC:SwitchBoard: Energy Reforms Critical for Assuring Carbon Markets
• 2009/08/10: WBCSD: Small market for carbon tracking is growing fast

  The idea of a carbon tax is still bouncing around:

• 2009/08/13: TreeHugger: The Father of Cap-and-Trade [Thomas Crocker] Calls For... A Tax on Emissions
• 2009/08/11: Globalist: The Case for a Carbon Tax to Control Climate Change (Part II)
• 2009/08/10: Globalist: The Case for a Carbon Tax to Control Climate Change (Part I)

  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:

• 2009/08/14: TreeHugger: 10 Lessons the US Can Learn From Europe's Cap and Trade
• 2009/08/14: ClimateP: The European trading system has worked -- and a new report details lessons for U.S. climate bill
• 2009/08/14: TreeHugger: Bad News for Cap and Trade Foes: Europe's Emissions Trading System WORKS
• 2009/08/13: Reuters:FS: Thomas Crocker's weird arguments against cap-and-trade
• 2007/11/13: Portfolio:FS: The Carbon Tax Debate: Why a Cap-and-Trade System is Better
• 2009/08/12: Grist: Offsets remain off-putting to many experts intent on curbing CO2 emissions
• 2009/08/11: Grist: What's the deal with offsets?
• 2009/08/13: WSJ: Cap-and-Trade's Unlikely Critics: Its Creators [Thomas Crocker]
  Economists Behind Original Concept Question the System's Large-Scale Usefulness, and Recommend Emissions Taxes Instead
• 2009/08/13: WSJ:EnvCap: Scrap Cap-and-Trade: Emissions-Trading Inventors Now Leery
• 2009/08/12: Belfer: Cap-and-Trade: A Fly in the Ointment? by Robert Stavins
• 2009/08/12: SolveClimate: Cap and Trade in Perspective: The European Version
• 2009/08/10: Grist: Key to climate bill, offsets have plenty of critics
• 2009/08/11: SolveClimate: Cap and Trade in Perspective: Carbon Trading in the Northeast
• 2009/08/10: SolveClimate: Cap and Trade in Perspective: Stopping Acid Rain

  Meanwhile on the international political front:

• 2009/08/13: ADN: While their glaciers melt and rivers dry, China and India only add to climate woes
• 2009/08/11: TCoC: Canada, United States and Mexico Leaders Declaration on Climate Change and Clean Energy falls short on needed changes
• 2009/08/11: Reuters: North American cooperation on climate change
• 2009/08/10: PlanetArk: NAFTA Leaders Urged To Rein In "Buy Local"Impulses
  North American business groups urged leaders of the United States, Mexico and Canada on Friday to rein in "buy local" provisions they called a threat to free trade and economic growth. "In this global economic downturn, it is imperative that the three countries work together more intensively than ever to make the most of their strengths and set the stage for robust and sustained economic recovery," the North American Competitiveness Council said.
• 2009/08/09: CCP: U.S. sees progress with Brazil on climate talks (but I do not)

  As for GW & security:

• 2009/08/11: C411: National Security: Climate Bill Protects America
• 2009/08/10: C411: Link: Veterans and National Security Experts on Global Warming
• 2009/08/11: MongaBay: Climate change will challenge US military
• 2009/08/11: TerraDaily: Climate change an Australian 'security threat': report
• 2009/08/12: NEN: If climate change is a hoax, why is the military planning for it?
  Summary: While some U.S. civilian conservatives believe the proposition of climate change-induced extreme weather events and resulting human crises are the product of Al Gore's imagination, the U.S. military has begun doing intelligence studies and running war game-like exercises that demonstrate they believe strategic security challenges second to climate change are a very real possibility.
• 2009/08/11: CCurrents: US Military And Intelligence Agencies Identify Climate Change As "National Security" Threat
• 2009/08/11: WSWS: US military and intelligence agencies identify climate change as "national security" threat
• 2009/08/11: KSJT: NYTimes, Framing Science: Climate change as a national security issue
• 2009/08/11: Yahoo: Climate change an Australian 'security threat'
• 2009/08/09: Reuters: Climate Change as Security Threat Is Nothing New
• 2009/08/10: NatureTGB: Military takes aim at climate change
• 2009/08/09: ClimateP: NYT: Climate Change Seen as Threat to U.S. Security
• 2009/08/09: DotEarth: Climate, Security and Politics
• 2009/08/10: NRDC:SwitchBoard: U.S. Military Says We Need Action on Climate Now or We Will "Pay Later"

  The issue of the law and activism is playing out around the world as nations scramble to deal with climate change:

• 2009/08/14: AlterNet: Climate Disobedience Is on the Rise and It's Not Just for Radical Activists Anymore
• 2009/08/13: TreeHugger: Captain Paul Watson of Whale Wars
  The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is at work all over the world, but you'll know Paul Watson best for patrolling Arctic waters intercepting whaling convoys. Whale Wars, now in its second season on Animal Planet, follows Watson and his feisty crew aboard the Steve Irwin as they ram boats, hurl stink bombs, and try to otherwise spoil the whale hunt. In the process, Watson claims he has been shot and his crew pummeled with fire hoses, golf balls, and high-tech sound cannons. All the while the debate rages over whether this is terrorism, piracy, or heroism.
• 2009/08/11: Grist: Activism as Hot as the Planet -- Climate disobedience: Is a new "Seattle" in the making?
• 2009/08/11: ABC(Au): Greenpeace ship captain defends protest

  And on the American political front:

• 2009/08/11: REA: SMUD [Sacramento Municipal Utility District] Announces "Feed-in Tariffs"-- But Can Program Deliver as Promised?
• 2009/08/14: EconView: Stavins: Waxman-Markey is Not a Massive Corporate Give-Away
• 2009/08/14: Grist: New Study Finds $123 Billion in Savings From New Appliance Standards
• 2009/08/13: Grist: Economist Greg Mankiw's bottom line on climate policy: Government can't do anything right
• 2009/08/13: Grist: North American feed-in tariff policies take off
• 2009/08/13: NRDC:SwitchBoard: Show-Me State Skeptics: Convention Clouds Missouri Energy Advances
• 2009/08/13: Grist: wake up call to confront Big Coal denial -- Rep. Hechler to Greens: We need more hellraisers
• 2009/08/12: WSJ:EnvCap: The Climate Debate: It's All About Jobs Now
• 2009/08/11: ClimateP: Clean energy bank could drive $200 billion in investment, generating over 2 million jobs
• 2009/08/11: NRDC:SwitchBoard: One Step Forward and Two Steps Back: Alaska Legislature Rebukes Palin, but Alaskans May Still Lose
• 2009/08/11: TreeHugger: Shaking Off Palin's Shadow, Alaska Embraces Energy Efficiency
• 2009/08/10: Reuters: Renewable power industry says U.S. moving too slowly
• 2009/08/10: NYT: Alaska Lawmakers Override Palin Veto
  In a final spat with former Gov. Sarah Palin, the Alaska Legislature voted Monday to override her veto of $28.6 million in federal stimulus funds intended for energy efficiency projects. Palin, who resigned July 26 with 17 months left in her term, had vetoed the money that the state can use for almost anything that will reduce energy costs, from retrofitting public buildings and homes to energy efficiency audits, lighting upgrades and public transit. Palin cited ''strings'' that could bind the state to federal codes for constructing buildings.
• 2009/08/11: WSJ:EnvCap: Cap-and-Trade: Almost $8 Billion in Administrative Costs?
• 2009/08/10: NYT: Editorial - A Real Bill for the Climate
• 2009/08/10: TreeHugger: North Carolina Senate Bans Mountaintop Wind Turbines

  A Zogby poll has found surprisingly strong support for the Clean Energy Bill

• 2009/08/11: Zogby: Majority [71%] Favors Clean Energy Bill and Wants Senate to Take Action
• 2009/08/12: C411: New Poll: Americans Like the Clean Energy Bill
• 2009/08/12: Grist: Surprise, surprise: NWF-sponsored poll finds support for climate bill
• 2009/08/11: DeSmogBlog: Zogby Poll Confirms That Americans Want Strong Action on Climate and Energy
• 2009/08/11: ClimateP: Zogby: 71% of likely voters support House climate bill
• 2009/08/10: Grist: By the numbers -- Renewable energy is more exciting than cap-and-trade!
• 2009/08/11: WSJ:EnvCap: Poll Position: New Zogby Poll Shows 71% Support for Waxman-Markey

  The Obama chatter is nonstop:

• 2009/08/10: FTimes: Oil sands test of Obama's green credentials
  The Obama administration faces a test of its environmental credentials in deciding whether to approve a pipeline carrying greenhouse gas-intensive oil sands fuel from Canada into the US. Hillary Clinton, secretary of state, is expected to decide as early as this month whether to approve the Alberta Clipper, a 1,000-mile pipeline designed to carry up to 800,000 barrels a day of fuel from Canada's vast oil sands. Environmentalists say doing so would be at odds with the green economy pledged by the administration.
• 2009/08/10: CSW: NY Times editorial echoes our view that Obama must speak out on climate change threat
• 2009/08/10: SolveClimate: Obama's Pick for Federal Mining Regulator Draws Fire of Coal Field Residents

  The actions of the Obama administration are being watched closely:

• 2009/08/14: ScienceInsider: USDA Puts Climate, Water at Top of Forest Priorities
• 2009/08/10: USGS: Salazar Releases Long-Term Report Detailing Glaciers Shrinking in Alaska and Washington
• 2009/08/15: HotTopic: Holdren's high hopes for China
• 2009/08/12: REA: US Government Continues To Fund Renewable Energy R&D
• 2009/08/14: Guardian(UK): Obama's science adviser [John Holdren] urges leadership on climate
• 2009/08/14: EarthTimes: US to give 2.3 billion dollars in stimulus for clean energy
• 2009/08/13: BizGreen: Row over US biofuel rules intensifies
  Corn ethanol industry accuses EPA of influencing independent panel to boost support for controversial biofuel carbon life cycle regulations
• 2009/08/13: Time: Steven Chu, A Political Scientist
• 2009/08/11: NYT:GW: EPA Orders Ky. Regulators to Revise Permit for TVA Coal-Fired Plant
• 2009/08/11: NatureN: Science advisers mull priorities -- Climate change and energy are high on the agenda for Obama's panel
  An elite group of 21 US researchers met publicly for the first time last week as the new advisory panel to US President Barack Obama on scientific and technical matters. But despite an enthusiastic inaugural meeting, it will take time to know how effective the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) will be.
• 2009/08/11: TreeHugger: Dept of Energy Spends $377m to Fund 46 Energy Frontier Research Centers Across the Country
• 2009/08/10: PlanetArk: Panel Gives Mixed Review To U.S. Biofuel Rules
• 2009/08/10: NRDC:SwitchBoard: Independent peer review confirms EPA's approach to biofuels
• 2009/08/09: CSW: Part 2: John Holdren Senate testimony on new directions for climate research and information service
• 2009/08/09: CSW: Part 1: John Holdren Senate testimony on climate change science and policy

  As for what is going on in Congress:

• 2009/08/14: Grist: Four Democratic senators call for delay on climate legislation
• 2009/08/14: TreeHugger: Democratic Senators Call to Cut Cap and Trade Out of Climate Bill
• 2009/08/14: BBerg: Climate Change Measure Should Be Set Aside, U.S. Senators Say
• 2009/08/12: ClimateP: Tim Johnson (D-SD) supports climate and clean energy bill
• 2009/08/13: SolveClimate: Senate Feebate Bill [S. 1620, Efficient Vehicle Leadership Act of 2009] Aims to Improve on Cash for Clunkers
• 2009/08/11: Grist: Offsets and Big Ag: Does the climate bill give away too much to the farm sector?
• 2009/08/10: ClimateP: Boxer considers modified 'price collar' for climate bill

  What are the lobbyists pushing?

• 2009/08/12: C411: More Manufactured Numbers from the National Association of Manufacturers
• 2009/08/14: DeSmogBlog: Climate Lobbyists Overwhelming Washington
• 2009/08/12: ClimateP: NAM makes case for stronger climate bill, forecasts 20 million new jobs, $9 trillion GDP growth by 2030 under American Clean Energy And Security Act
• 2009/08/12: Grist: National Association of Manufacturers claims climate bill would crush economy
• 2009/08/12: NRDC:SwitchBoard: NAM/ACCF: Entitled to their own opinion about climate legislation, but not their own facts
• 2009/08/13: DeSmogBlog: Why Do the Same Groups Oppose Health Care and Energy Reform?
• 2009/08/12: NYT: Lobbyists Elbow For Influence on U.S. Climate Bill
• 2009/08/12: TheHill: Climate bill could cost 2 million jobs [says National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) & American Council for Capital Formation (ACCF)]
• 2009/08/12: WSJ:EnvCap: Waxman-Markey Will Kneecap U.S. Manufacturing, Manufacturers Say
• 2009/08/12: TP:WR: NAM/ACCF Forecasts 20 Million New Jobs Under American Clean Energy And Security Act
• 2009/08/10: CPI: Tally of Interests on Climate Bill Tops a Thousand -- Agriculture, Higher Ed, Natural Gas, You Name It. Everyone's Got a Lobbyist
• 2009/08/10: Reuters: U.S. biofuel makers want CO2 credits in climate bill
  Makers of biofuels and plastics and chemicals made from crops want U.S. senators to change the climate bill to give them free pollution permits that would be needed to emit greenhouse gases under the legislation. Companies that make the alternative motor fuel ethanol and plastics from renewable biomass, rather than fossil fuels, have visited Senate offices to urge that 1 percent to 5 percent of the emissions permits in a cap and trade program outlined in the bill be given to the businesses from 2012 to 2050.
• 2009/08/11: NEN: Lobbyists pushing hard on climate/energy issue
• 2009/08/11: OilChange: Over 1000 Groups and Companies Lobbied Climate Bill
• 2009/08/10: WSJ:EnvCap: Crowded Lobby: Everyone Wants a Piece of the Climate Bill

  The API got caught planning to astroturf town hall meetings, the same way the health care got hijacked:

• 2009/08/12: C411: Stand Up to Big Oil: Attend a Town Hall Meeting
• 2009/08/15: SolveClimate: Big Oil's 20-State Effort to Scuttle Climate Bill
• 2009/08/14: Guardian(UK): Oil lobby to fund campaign against Obama's climate change strategy
  Email from American Petroleum Institute outlines plan to create appearance of public opposition to Obama's climate and energy reform
• 2009/08/13: HuffPo: Oil Lobby's 'Energy Citizens' Astroturf Campaign Exposed
• 2009/08/14: TreeHugger: Big Oil Plans on Staging 'Energy Citizen' Rallies to Oppose Climate Bill
• 2009/08/13: DeSmogBlog: Leaked Memo: Oil Lobby Launches Fake "Grassroots" Campaign
• 2009/08/14: OilChange: Oil Industry Astroturf Campaign Exposed
• 2009/08/14: TWM: More conservative astroturfing planned...
• 2009/08/14: TPM: "Sensitive" Oil Industry Memo Lays Out Plan For Astroturf Rallies Against Climate Change Bill
• 2009/08/13: TP: Leaked memo: Big Oil manufacturing 'Energy Citizen' rallies to oppose clean energy reform
• 2009/08/13: Grist: Big Oil holding 'town halls' on climate bill
  Following in the footsteps of the corporate-backed protest movement against health care reform, a group founded and funded by business interests opposed to regulating greenhouse gas pollution is planning a series of rallies to oppose the climate legislation being considered by Congress.
• 2009/08/13: NRDC:SwitchBoard: Town Hall Talks about Climate Should Be About Solutions, Not Intimidation
• 2009/08/13: NEN: Town hall tactics coming to the energy/climate bill fight
• 2009/08/09: ClimateP: Coal lobby hires top GOP voter-fraud company to run massive "grassroots" efforts to undermine climate and clean energy action

  The Gore-apalooza is still bopping along:

• 2009/08/12: Grist: Gore's group targets swing senators in new climate ads

  While in the UK:

• 2009/08/14: Guardian(UK): Opencast coalmine surge 'weakens UK's authority at climate change talks'
  Britain will be a joke at Copenhagen, warns Nasa scientist James Hansen, as government authorises more mines
• 2009/08/11: HotTopic: [Former UK Labour Party leader, John] Prescott presses climate case
• 2009/08/10: Guardian(UK): Climate change campaigners stage protest at [business secretary] Mandelson's home
• 2009/08/10: Guardian(UK): No appetite for action on food security
  Finally Defra has recognised that we cannot take food security for granted, but the government's timetable is far too leisurely
• 2009/08/10: BBC: A "radical rethink" of how the UK produces and consumes its food is needed, Environment Secretary Hilary Benn has warned

  Without much fnafare, the Vestas protest is finis:

• 2009/08/14: Guardian(UK): Vestas closure protesters end rooftop protest by abseiling down building
  Campaigners to keep wind turbine factory open lobby local Tory MP Andrew Turner

And in Europe:

• 2009/08/10: DerSpiegel: Future Voiture -- Paris's Electric Car Sharing Plan
  A plan to make 4,000 electric cars available for Parisians to pick up and drop off at rental stands still has some kinks to be worked out.

Meanwhile in Australia:

• 2009/08/16: ABC(Au): Industry waits on elusive carbon trading consensus
• 2009/08/14: ABC(Au): Three-prong councils tackle rising sea level
  It is hoped a joint meeting of three south coast councils will come-up with a uniform approach to rising sea levels. Eurobodalla, Bega Valley and Shoalhaven shires will discuss potential liability for approving developments subject to coastal inundation.
• 2009/08/12: ABC(Au): Mining giant Rio Tinto says while the introduction of an Emissions Trading Scheme is inevitable, the Federal Government's proposed scheme will hurt Hunter Valley coal mines
• 2009/08/12: ABC(Au): Turnbull claims 'overwhelming' support for climate stance
  Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull says he is confident his colleagues will come to a consensus on amendments to the Government's emissions trading scheme
• 2009/08/11: ABC(Au): Independent South Australian Senator Nick Xenophon says an alternative emissions trading scheme (ETS) being put forward would save regional jobs and reward farmers instead of punishing them
• 2009/08/11: ABC(Au): Hunter 'leaning towards ETS acceptance'
  As Federal Parliament prepares to debate the Government's emissions trading scheme (ETS), Charlton MP Greg Combet says Hunter industry is now leaning towards acceptance of the scheme.
• 2009/08/12: ABC(Au): Work starts on Whyalla solar project
  The foundations are being laid for a $15 million solar plant at Whyalla. A demonstration plant of four big dishes will combine solar power with ammonia energy storage technology. Whyalla's deputy mayor Eddie Hughes says it is great to see something tangible after nearly 13 years of planning.
• 2009/08/11: ABC(Au): Opposition frontbencher Christopher Pyne has pleaded with Liberal MPs to show unity on carbon trading as Malcolm Turnbull fronts a stormy party room meeting on the subject this morning
• 2009/08/11: ABC(Au): 'Storm and tempest rages' over carbon plan
  Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has blasted the Opposition for having no firm position on the Government's emissions trading scheme, which is set for defeat in the Senate this week.
• 2009/08/10: HeraldSun: Malcolm Turnbull climate plan 'cheaper, greener, smarter'
  Mr Turnbull launched the "greener, cheaper, smarter" plan today saying the alternative emissions trading scheme would prevent a Rudd power bill shock, save jobs and cost $40 billion less.
• 2009/08/10: ABC(Au): The Queensland Tourism Industry Council (QTIC) says it is not surprised by a report showing the economic cost of coral bleaching of the Great Barrier Reef would approach $40 billion
• 2009/08/10: ABC(Au): The Northern Territory Cattlemen's Association says it is concerned that agriculture has been left out of the Federal Government's proposed Emissions Trading Scheme
• 2009/08/10: ABC(Au): Turnbull pushes 'cheaper' carbon plan
  The Federal Opposition says its proposed changes to the Government's carbon trading scheme would make it almost $50 billion cheaper, greener and save thousands of regional jobs.
• 2009/08/10: ABC(Au): An international study has found that the economic cost of coral bleaching of the Great Barrier Reef would be $37.7 billion
• 2009/08/10: ABC(Au): Wong 'foolish' to dismiss carbon trading alternatives
  Federal Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull has called the Government "arrogant" for not looking at alternatives to its emissions trading scheme.
• 2009/08/10: ABC(Au): Wong savages 'mongrel' carbon plan
  The Government and Opposition are still at loggerheads over an emissions trading scheme despite the release of Coalition modelling today proposing changes that could make it cheaper and greener. And the Greens have also criticised the changes put forward, accusing the Opposition of "cobbling together" an alternative scheme. The Government has dismissed a report released by the Coalition and Independent Senator Nick Xenophon which has proposed several changes to the scheme.
• 2009/08/10: ABC(Au): Environmentalists say a failure to deal with climate change and habitat destruction could jeopardise the future of hundreds of new plant and animal species identified in the eastern Himalayas
• 2009/08/10: ABC(Au): ETS changes would save on power bills: Opposition
  The Coalition and Independent Senator Nick Xenophon will release economic modelling today showing household power bills would go up much less if the emissions trading scheme was changed.

There has been a lot of wrangling after the CPRS was voted down:

• 2009/08/16: ABC(Au): Oppn presses on with climate bill talks
  Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull says he is prepared to negotiate in good faith with the Government with the aim of getting the renewable energy target bill passed. Mr Turnbull says he is pleased the Federal Government backed down from its decision to link its renewable energy plan to the contentious emissions trading scheme. The Federal Government has decided to split the renewable energy target from the emissions trading scheme, in the hopes of finally pushing it through the Senate.
• 2009/08/16: PlanetArk: Australia to Split Green Energy From Carbon Laws
• 2009/08/16: ABC(Au): Government yields on climate bill split
  The Federal Government will amend its renewable energy plan to break the Senate deadlock
• 2009/08/15: PeakEnergy: Ministers could split climate / renewable energy bill
• 2009/08/16: ABC(Au): Rudd to call Turnbull's bluff on ETS
  Prime Minister Kevin Rudd will call Malcolm Turnbull's bluff by agreeing to some opposition demands on the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS).
• 2009/08/15: JQuiggin: The politics of the CPRS [aka Aus ETS]
• 2009/08/14: ABC(Au): Exclude agriculture from green laws: farmers
  The WA Farmers Federation says it does not believe agriculture should be included in a carbon pollution reduction scheme.
• 2009/08/15: ABC(Au): The Federal Opposition and the Greens have both presented the Government with amendments to break the deadlock over the renewable energy target
• 2009/08/13: Google:AFP: Australia PM plays down snap polls speculation
• 2009/08/14: Yahoo: Australia PM says no intention to call snap poll
• 2009/08/13: ABC(Au): Emissions trading arguments evoke slavery debate
  It may seem like a long bow to draw, but the arguments against the emissions trading scheme draw parallels with the 1806 debate in the British parliament to abolish slavery, writes St James Ethics Centre executive director Dr Simon Longstaff. While I know many of the critics of the Government's proposed emissions trading scheme to be entirely sincere, I wonder if they have inadvertently adopted a stance in which economic considerations have taken primacy over all others. It is easy enough to do - as invoking economics seems to avoid the underlying ethical issues that must be addressed.
• 2009/08/14: ABC(Au): Govt considers splitting climate change bills
  The Federal Government is under pressure from the Opposition and the Greens to reintroduce its bill for a 20 per cent renewable energy target to the Senate as early as next week. The bill is linked to the Government's emissions trading legislation, the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS), which was yesterday rejected by the Senate. The Government has promised to reintroduce the CPRS bill to parliament this year and could be handed a double-dissolution election trigger should it be rejected again in three months' time. But renewed calls to split the bills have come amid warnings that a delay in passing the renewable energy targets would put green jobs at risk.
• 2009/08/13: ABC(Au): Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has accused the Opposition of putting the country's future at risk by voting down its emissions trading legislation

  And in New Zealand:

• 2009/08/14: HotTopic: Science advice to Key: NZ "must be fully involved"
• 2009/08/12: HotTopic: Lies, damned lies, and the [NZ] Employers and Manufacturers Association (Northern)
• 2009/08/11: ABC(Au): NZ announces emissions targets
• 2009/08/10: EarthTimes: New Zealand announces 10-20 per cent [from 1990 levels by 2020] pollution reduction target
• 2009/08/10: HotTopic: No vision, no guts, no future

  While in India:

• 2009/08/13: TreeHugger: India's Eco-Woes Worsen: Carbon Emissions Climbing, Land Degradation Increasing, Water Table Falling
• 2009/08/11: TerraDaily: India makes forestry key plank in climate change plan
• 2009/08/12: BBC: Indian land 'seriously degraded'
  At least 45% of Indian land is environmentally "degraded", air pollution is rising and flora and fauna is diminishing, according to a report. The State of Environment Report is the first to be published for eight years and is the first to use satellite imagery to support its findings. It focuses on water, energy, food, climate change and urbanisation.

In China:

• 2009/08/14: FTimes: Beijing sets date for emissions cut [2050]
• 2009/08/13: ClimateP: China signals long-term plans to curb GHGs, Cabinet report finds "The large amount of greenhouse gases emitted through human activities is the main reason for global warming leading to extreme weather events"
• 2009/08/12: Xinhuanet: China passes draft regulation to enforce environmental evaluation on projects
• 2009/08/13: Reuters: China signals long-term plans to curb greenhouse gases
• 2009/08/11: PhysOrg: China wind farms sprout amid 'green' energy push
• 2009/08/10: CSM: China's green leap forward
  Facing dire pollution and wanting to be in on what may be the next industrial revolution, China positions itself to be a leader in green technology -- with major implications for the rest of the world.
• 2009/08/10: NRDC:SwitchBoard: The Real Significance of China's First Environmental Group-Led Lawsuit Against the Government

  While in Japan:

• 2009/08/15: Mainichi: Japan should reduce energy consumption to make it less vulnerable to global crises

  And elsewhere in Asia:

• 2009/08/10: ENN: In Indonesia Development of Cepu Oil Field Begins

  While in Africa:

• 2009/08/12: BBerg: Kenya to Spend 24 Billion Shillings to Counter Drought Threats
• 2009/08/14: Namibian: A Big Chance for Small Farmers [Sachs]
  The G-8's $20 billion initiative on smallholder agriculture, launched at the group's recent summit in L'Aquila, Italy, is a potentially historic breakthrough in the fight against hunger and extreme poverty.

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

• 2009/08/10: ChronicleHerald: Renewing Nova Scotia's future
  Every week, as part of my job, I read hundreds of clean-technology articles, following billions of dollars flowing through every major economy -- the EU, U.S., China, South Korea, Japan. That money ignores Canada because the Harper Conservatives have put all our eggs into the Alberta tarsands basket.
• 2009/08/10: Eaves: The Canadian Government's War on Science

  In BC, post BCUC, energy is a primary issue:

• 2009/08/10: Tyee: The Ruinous Illogic of Private River Power -- Memo to media: time to expose Campbell's fallacy
• 2009/08/11: G&M: B.C. emerges as natural gas player

  In Saskatchewan, Alberta's externalities are landing:"

• 2009/08/13: CBC: Sask. oilsands need 3-year 'pause': environment group
• 2009/08/13: G&M: Alberta oil sands lead to acid rain in Saskatchewan, data suggests -- Environmentalists ask for caps on emissions
• 2009/08/11: CBC: Acid rain falling on Sask. from Alberta oilsands, says lobby

  Ontario has it's Green Energy Act, now comes the implementation:

• 2009/08/15: AutoBG: Electrovaya [lithium ion battery developer and manufacturer] gets $16.7 million investment from Ontario government

  Meanwhile in that Mechanical Mordor known as the tar sands:

• 2009/08/14: CanWest: Alberta frets over U.S. climate change tariff bill
  The Alberta government is worried about a provision in a U.S. climate change bill that would grant the president the power to slap tariffs on imports that have a carbon footprint larger than American-made goods. In a recent interview with the Calgary Herald, Premier Ed Stelmach said the province is keeping close watch on the Clean Energy and Security Act, also known as the Waxman-Markey bill.
• 2009/08/13: Economist: Energy v environment in Canada -- Bombs in the bush
• 2009/08/10: FTimes: Oil sands test of Obama's green credentials
  The Obama administration faces a test of its environmental credentials in deciding whether to approve a pipeline carrying greenhouse gas-intensive oil sands fuel from Canada into the US. Hillary Clinton, secretary of state, is expected to decide as early as this month whether to approve the Alberta Clipper, a 1,000-mile pipeline designed to carry up to 800,000 barrels a day of fuel from Canada's vast oil sands. Environmentalists say doing so would be at odds with the green economy pledged by the administration.

As for miscellaneous Canadiana:

• 2009/08/14: Tyee: 'From Buffalo Meat to Baloney'
• 2009/08/12: CBC: Doer, Prentice meet on climate change
  Manitoba Premier Gary Doer has met with federal Environment Minister Jim Prentice to discuss the national climate change action plan in advance of its official tabling in Parliament this fall.
• 2009/08/11: CanWest: Greens target B.C. for their first Commons seat
  Leader Elizabeth May has lost in Ontario and Nova Scotia, but thinks Saanich will be third-time lucky

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

• 2009/08/11: EnergyBulletin: Creating a Resilient, Natural 'World of Ends' Economy
• 2009/08/10: UNDispatch: Welcome to the new world order
• 2009/08/10: TreeHugger: Learning From Past Civilizations
• 2009/08/10: PoliticsReSpun: We're Failing Our Grandchildren on Stopping Climate Breakdown

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

• 2009/08/14: TreeHugger: World Population to Hit 7 Billion by 2011, New Stats Show
• 2009/08/12: CNN: World population projected to reach 7 billion in 2011
  Global population to reach 7 billion in two years, research institute projects - Most growth is occurring in developing and poor nations, study finds - Uganda's population expected to almost triple by 2050 - India projected to overtake China as most populous country
• 2009/08/12: DotEarth: A Billion Teenagers, for Better or Worse
• 2009/08/10: SeekingAlpha: Global Populations to Accelerate Demands for Fossil Fuels, Renewable Energy

  Apocalypso anyone?

• 2009/08/15: ShanghaiDaily: Disaster looms if we fail as the planet's caretakers
• 2009/08/12: Grist: A civilizational tipping point by Lester Brown

  As for how the media handles the science of climatology:

• 2009/08/14: TWTB: James Fallows explains how the media enables liars
• 2009/08/11: CJR: Writing Wrongs -- Journals' call to publish scientific setbacks is an opportunity for journalists
• 2009/08/12: CJR: March of the Politicians -- Journal calls out Congress's climate-change junket Down Under
• 2009/08/14: KSJT: Two papers, two journals, two teams, same basic story: Science's Science Writer explains a puzzling double-punch of news
• 2009/08/14: ClimateP: The most crucial missing element in U.S. media coverage of climate change: The ethical duty to reduce GHG emissions
• 2009/08/14: QuarkSoup: Blogs Aren't Science
• 2009/08/12: KSJT: Real Climate, via Guardian: On that weird arcane Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum report and the media that reported it, weirdly
• 2009/08/11: Guardian(UK): Climate change press coverage gets weird
• 2009/08/10: AFTIC: Nature News - a serious omission [ocean acidification]

  While activists search for effective communication techniques:

• 2009/08/14: MTobis: Web2.0 for Planet 3.0
• 2009/08/14: BCLSB: Climate Scientists Need A War Room
• 2009/08/12: MTobis: End-Times and the Anti-Morano

  Here is something for your library:

• 2009/08/15: NYT: Hot Ice [Book Review] _Far North_ by Marcel Theroux
• 2009/08/12: EPI: [Book Byte] A Civilizational Tipping Point by Lester R. Brown
• 2009/08/14: SF Gate: [Book Review] _Heart of Dryness - How the Last Bushmen Can Help Us Endure the Coming Age of Permanent Drought_ by James G. Workman
• 2009/08/12: OilDrum: [Book Review] _Blackout - Coal, Climate and the Last Energy Crisis_ by Richard Heinberg
• 2009/08/09: GreenLeft: Ecological revolution for our time [Book Review] _The Ecological Revolution: Making Peace with the Planet_ by John Bellamy Foster

  And for your film & video enjoyment:

• 2009/08/13: SolveClimate: Film Review: Robert Stone's "Earth Days"
• 2009/08/12: NewScientist: [Film Review] _The Yes Men Fix the World_
• 2009/08/10: SolveClimate: New Film on Ocean Acidification Reveals Unseen Face of CO2 Pollution [_A Sea Change_]

  Meanwhile among the 'Sue the Bastards!' contingent:

• 2009/08/12: Reuters: U.S. court blocks plan to curb mountaintop mining

  Wrestling over a new energy infrastructure continues unabated:

• 2009/08/14: SciNow: Weight Loss for Batteries
• 2009/08/15: OilDrum: Are Natural Gas Reserves Now Overstated?
• 2009/04/: ESA: Electricity Storage Technology Comparisons
• 2009/08/14: DotEarth: Energy Frontiers: Space Solar, Hot Lots
• 2009/08/14: PhysOrg: Italy launches first clean hydrogen power plant
  Italian power company Enel said Friday that it had started up a ground-breaking hydrogen-powered electricity plant producing no greenhouse gases. Enel said the 12 megawatt plant, at Fusina in Venice's industrial zone of Porto Marghera, was the first of its kind in the world to operate on such a scale. Powered by hydrogen by-products from local petrochemical industries...
• 2009/08/13: NZHerald: Denis Tegg: Country oblivious to next oil shock
• 2009/08/14: SolveClimate: Oceans Hold Huge Power Potential, Challenge is Harnessing It
• 2009/08/13: EnergyBulletin: The Next Oil Shock
• 2009/08/13: ClimateP: Game changer 7: Tim Wirth and John Podesta on Natural Gas, A Bridge Fuel for the 21st Century
• 2009/08/13: OilDrum: World Oil Exports; US Oil Imports; and a Few Thoughts on Canada
• 2009/08/13: NEN: Natural gas, a bridge not so far
  Summary: Natural Gas; A Bridge Fuel for the 21st Century by John Podesta of the Center for American Progress (CAP) and Timothy E. Wirth of the Energy Future Coalition, re-emphasizes the growing approval of natural gas by progressive Democratic leadership.
• 2009/08/12: TreeHugger: Renewable Energy & Energy Efficiency are Enough to Fully Power Michigan's Future: NRDC Report
• 2009/08/10: NewInt:TEB: Fusion confusion
• 2009/08/11: ClimateP: Game changer 6: Will shale gas save the climate bill?
• 2009/08/10: TreeHugger: Flywheel Energy Harvesting System Puts Big Dent in Fuel Consumption [on cranes] at Cargo Ports
• 2009/08/09: NEN: Will Australia capture the ocean energy prize?
  Summary: BioPower Systems, a start-up owned by Australian Timothy Finnigan and backed by Australian venture capital, has ocean energy pilot programs supplying power to Australia's Flinders Island and King Island, and the big European ocean energy developers are taking note.

EEStor redux:

• 2009/08/13: FCNP: The Peak Oil Crisis:A Disruptive Technology [EEStor]
• 2009/08/10: PeakEnergy: EEStor Leaks

  The answer my friend...:

• 2009/08/13: BNC: Wind and carbon emissions -- Peter Lang responds
• 2009/08/15: DerSpiegel: Germany's First Offshore Wind Park [Alpha Ventus] Goes Online
  Germany's first offshore wind farm has gone online off the North Sea island of Borkum. A year late and 50 million euros over budget, it's still the best hope proponents of green energy have for meeting the country's ambitious emissions reductions targets.
• 2009/08/14: NEN: N. Dakota greenlights nearly 300 mw of wind
• 2009/08/13: TreeHugger: Wind Power Growing Faster in Missouri than Any Other State (By Far)
• 2009/08/12: Reuters: Germany's first offshore wind farm starts working
• 2009/08/12: Oregonian: BPA: Wind farm system sets output milestone
• 2009/08/12: StarTelegram: Oncor towers going up to deliver wind power to North Texas
• 2009/08/11: SolveClimate: Michigan Inches Forward to Tap Great Lakes' Vast Wind Power
• 2009/08/10: WSJ:EnvCap: Blown Away: Wind Power Makes Electricity Cheaper in Texas
• 2009/08/10: CBC: N.B. wind turbine burns

  Meanwhile among the solar aficionados:

• 2009/08/14: Grist: Solar wars -- Note to utilities: solar is popular with your customers
• 2009/08/09: FuturePundit: Main Battles For Solar Power Cost Reductions In Industry
• 2009/08/15: FuturePundit: Steep Price Drops For Solar Photovoltaics
• 2009/08/14: REA: Solar Production Expansions Cause Manufacturing Capacity to Surge 56% in 2009
• 2009/08/11: REA: SMUD [Sacramento Municipal Utility District] Announces "Feed-in Tariffs"-- But Can Program Deliver as Promised?
• 2009/08/13: REA: Utilities Hatch Ambitious Plans to Own and Operate Large-scale PV Projects
• 2009/08/13: EnvFin: Price collapse and overcapacity hit solar sector results
• 2009/08/13: Grist: Solar is getting cheap
• 2009/08/13: FTimes: Q-Cells to cut 500 solar jobs
  Q-Cells, the world's biggest manufacturer of solar cells, on Thursday announced it would sack almost 20 per cent of its workforce in response to a slump in demand and a sharp drop in the price for solar components. The company said it would cut "permanently" around 500 jobs at its Thalheim plant in eastern Germany as part of a wide-ranging restructuring plan.
• 2009/08/13: PeakEnergy: Work starts on Whyalla solar project
• 2009/08/12: NYT:CW: World Solar Industry Appears Headed for a Shakeout
• 2009/08/12: ABC(Au): Work starts on Whyalla solar project
  The foundations are being laid for a $15 million solar plant at Whyalla. A demonstration plant of four big dishes will combine solar power with ammonia energy storage technology. Whyalla's deputy mayor Eddie Hughes says it is great to see something tangible after nearly 13 years of planning.
• 2009/08/10: ABCLocal-KGO: Saving on energy costs by going solar
• 2009/08/11: NEN: Sun shines brighter in tough times
  Summary: Installing a home solar system has never been more affordable. Prices are falling, state and federal incentives are rising and ownership opportunities in the form of financing deals and lease or lease-like deals are expanding. The cost depends on 4 factors: (1) System size; (2) Panel price; (3) State rebate; (4) Federal Investment Tax Credit.
• 2009/08/11: WSJ:EnvCap: Glut Feeling: Solar Power's Got Too Much of a Good Thing
  The solar-power industry has a problem. Even though demand for solar power has fallen off sharply this year, thanks in large part to the recession and Spain's decision to slam the brakes on solar, production of solar-power components has charged ahead.

The arithmetic of coal carbon is striking home:

• 2009/08/11: Grist: Feds Must Take Down Failed WV DEP -- Coalfield uprising grows -- more sit-ins today
• 2009/08/11: Grist: Dynegy out of the new coal business

  Biofuel bickering abounds:

• 2009/08/13: EnvFin: IFC breached standards on palm oil financing -- ombudsman
  An audit by the International Finance Corporation's (IFC's) own watchdog has found it failed to apply its own environmental and social standards in a series of investments and loans to palm oil trading and plantation owner Wilmar Group.

The nuclear energy controversy continues:

• 2009/08/13: CSM: Nuclear power's new debate: cost -- Issues of safety and waste make way for a focus on funding
• 2009/08/14: Taragana:VJ: India's fast nuclear reactor project costs rise 40 percent
• 2009/08/11: MiamiHerald: Florida Cabinet OK's first new nuclear plant in 33 years
• 2009/08/10: NBF: Mr Fusion Scenario : What if there is cheap and abundant Nuclear Fusion Power?

  Yes we have a peak oil sighting:

• 2009/08/15: CDN: The end of globalization
• 2009/08/13: PeakEnergy: Do not discount the threat posed by peak oil
• 2009/08/12: VVD: Peak oil changes everything
• 2009/08/09: FTimes: Crisis and climate force supply chain shift
  Manufacturers are abandoning global supply chains for regional ones in a big shift brought about by the financial crisis and climate change concerns, according to executives and analysts. Companies are increasingly looking closer to home for their components, meaning that for their US or European operations they are more likely to use Mexico and eastern Europe than China, as previously. "A future where energy is more expensive and less plentifully available will lead to more regional supply chains," Gerard Kleisterlee, chief executive of Philips, one of Europe's biggest companies, told the Financial Times. Supply chain experts agreed, with Ernst & Young underlining how as much as 70 per cent of a manufacturing company's carbon footprint can come from transport and other costs in its supply chain.

More people are talking about the electrical grid:

• 2009/08/10: KC: Smart grid that controls utility use comes to KC
• 2009/08/10: CBC: Manitoba studies plug-in hybrid impact on hydro grid

  And then there is the matter of efficiency & conservation:

• 2009/08/15: AutoBG: New LED Tech Pack option brings LED headlights to UK Prius
• 2009/08/12: McClatchyDC: A bright idea: LED light bulbs yield big savings in energy
• 2009/08/13: PhysOrg: LED light bulbs yield big savings in energy
  One way the United States could slash its electricity use, dependence on fossil fuels and emissions of heat-trapping gases is really quite simple: better light bulbs
• 2009/08/14: Grist: New Study Finds $123 Billion in Savings From New Appliance Standards
• 2009/08/14: TreeHugger: US Has Gotten More New Energy from Efficiency Improvements Than All Supply Side Expansion Combined: Obama Science Advisor [John Holdren]
• 2009/08/11: Oregonian: Efficiency can help Northwest meet 85% of new electricity demand
• 2009/08/12: EarthTimes: FL Utilities Resist Strong Energy Efficiency Goals
  Florida utilities are avoiding steps they could take to achieve greater energy efficiency, thus leaving millions of dollars on the table that would otherwise benefit consumers.
• 2009/08/10: ClimateP: Energy efficiency, the low hanging fruit that grows back
• 2009/08/09: CNN: A New Building Energy Label in the Works, Alternative to Energy Star

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

• 2009/08/14: E2T: Zenn Says Lithium Off the Table, Still Bets on EEStor
• 2009/08/15: AutoBG: Next-gen GM 6-speed automatic to boost mileage another 5 percent
• 2009/08/14: CanWest: Canada's electric carmaker skids on economy, oil prices
  Shares of Zenn Motor Co tumbled as much as 17.6% on Friday after the maker of electric cars reported a deeper quarterly loss and a big drop in revenue as the weak economy and low oil prices cut into sales of its zero-emission vehicles. The company lost $2.6-million, or 8 cents a share in its third quarter ended June 30, compared with $1.9-million, or 6 cents a share, a year earlier
• 2009/08/12: BBerg: Honda Prefers Hydrogen as U.S. Pushes Battery Autos
• 2009/08/14: CBC: Canadian car sales down [0.6%] in June
• 2009/08/13: BBC: Ford is to boost production in the US to meet increased demand for its cars sparked by the government's "cash for clunkers" scrappage scheme
• 2009/08/12: AutoBG: Honda: Fuel cells offer "the ultimate zero-emission car"
• 2009/08/11: AutoBG: GM not giving up on hydrogen fuel cells yet! Production planned for 2012
• 2009/08/11: BBC: India's July car sales jump 31% [yoy]
• 2009/08/10: PeakEnergy: Electrifying cars: How three industries will evolve
• 2009/08/10: Reuters: Electric car future may power a charging industry

  Cash-for-Clunkers, aka Scrappage, Plans are being legislated and argued around the world:

• 2009/08/15: AutoBG: Cash for Clunkers update: 25-year limit keeps clunkers on the road, Ford boosts Focus production
• 2009/08/13: UCDavis: 'Clunkers' Program Is Expensive Way to Cut Carbon Emissions
• 2009/08/14: WSJ:EnvCap: Cash-for-Clunkers: An 'Expensive' Way to Reduce Emissions
• 2009/08/13: BBC: Russia set for scrappage scheme
  Russia is set to introduce its own car scrappage scheme following the success of similar programmes in the US and Europe in boosting car sales. The Russian Industry and Trade Ministry said the scheme could be introduced in January next year. Russian media reports say that a 50,000 ruble ($1,567; £942) incentive will be given to motorists who trade in their old car and buy a new one.
• 2009/08/12: Reuters: Auto inventories tight, U.S. "clunker" interest slips
  Red hot auto sales under the U.S. government's "cash for clunkers" incentive began to cool as dealer inventories tightened and showroom traffic showed signs of leveling off from its frantic pace of a week ago. One industry analysis released on Tuesday forecast a steady decline in "clunker" related business even though the Obama administration and Congress added $2 billion to the program in recent days with hopes of matching the success of its first weeks. Sales during that period topped 250,000 and rebates exceeded $1 billion at least, according to government and industry figures.
• 2009/08/12: AutoBG: Report: Not all clunkers in Germany being junked; some are "stolen" from the junkyard
• 2009/08/10: BBC: Scrappage scheme at half-way mark
  Almost 155,000 new cars have been ordered through the government's scrappage scheme since it was launched in May, official figures show. This means that more than half of the money set aside to fund the scheme has been spent.

Here's a mouthful for you -- Abwrackprämie [wreck rebate]:

• 2009/08/09: TreeHugger: Automotive "Methadone Program" (AKA Cash for Clunkers) Leads to Relapse in Germany
  While the spotlight has recently shown brightly on the US iteration of the Cash for Clunkers program, Germany -- whose program Abwrackprämie or "wreck rebate" -- has been going at it since January. According to a NY Times article, Germany has dwarfed the US's efforts, with a $7 billion dollar budget and timeframe through the end of the year. All this is swell except for one detail: many of the polluting cars are not being scrapped.

The reaction of business to climate change will be critical:

• 2009/08/13: EnvFin: Japanese corporates form climate leadership group
  Five Japanese companies have come together in what they say is the country's first business coalition around climate change.

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

• 2009/08/14: ClimateP: Energy and Global Warming News for August 14th: US marines in Afghanistan launch first war-zone energy efficiency audit -- to save lives
• 2009/08/13: ClimateP: Energy and Global Warming News for August 13th: "Historical estimates suggest that global warming could boost the number of hurricanes" -- Nature
• 2009/08/12: ClimateP: Energy and Global Warming News for August 12th: Lobby groups fund angry protests to oppose climate bill; Coal use to drop 7.9% in 2009 -- EIA
• 2009/08/11: ClimateP: Energy and Global Warming News for August 11th: Mass production expected to lower costs, size, weight of lithium-ion batteries
• 2009/08/10: ClimateP: Energy and Global Warming News for August 10: World's poorest women set to suffer most from climate change; American Psychological Association examines the behavior behind climate inaction

  The carbon lobby are up to the usual:

• 2009/08/12: Tamino: Monbiot vs Plimer
• 2009/08/14: QuarkSoup: More from McCulloch
• 2009/08/15: GreenFyre: Climate change Debate Wars
• 2009/08/14: GreenFyre: Climate Denier meme watch and other gossip
• 2009/08/11: GreenFyre: Hurry home early, hurry on home, "Boom boom" Monbiot's fighting ...
• 2009/08/14: DeepClimate: Dropping the P-Bomb [plagiarism]
• 2009/08/14: Deltoid: Plimer is not entitled to his own facts
• 2009/08/14: DeepClimate: Complaint to the Australian Broadcasting Company regarding Plimer's "Legislative Time Bomb" piece
• 2009/08/14: NewsLeader: Debunking 'climaste change myths' -- Speakers challenge global warming during local event [Morano]
• 2009/08/12: ClimateP: British coal industry flack [Courtney] pushes geo-engineering "ploy" to give politicians "viable reason to do nothing" about global warming. Is that why Lomborg supports such a smoke-and-mirrors approach?
• 2009/08/12: Deltoid: Plimer fails to answer Monbiot's questions
• 2009/08/13: BCLSB: The Buzz On Buzz Aldrin
• 2009/08/12: GreenFyre: Monbiot is wrong about Plimer's questions
• 2009/08/12: CC: Ian Plimer's questions to George Monbiot
• 2009/08/13: Tamino: Do you believe Ian Plimer?
• 2009/08/13: ETP: All those statistics showing the failure of abstinence-only sex-ed...
• 2009/08/12: Guardian(UK): Plimer resorts to attack as the best form of defence
• 2009/08/12: NatureCF: McIntyre versus Jones: climate data row escalates
• 2009/08/11: ClimateP: The tragic hubris of the climate action delayers
• 2009/08/12: RealClimate: A biased economic analysis of geoengineering [Lomborg]
• 2009/08/12: BCLSB: Richard S. Courtney On Geo-Engineering
• 2009/08/12: DeSmogBlog: Ian Plimer: Climate change denier AND annoying git
• 2009/08/12: JKB: Frits Böttcher -- Roots of Dutch climate skepticism series, part 5
• 2009/08/11: ERabett: This is gonna be fun...the meetings of the American Chemical Society...
• 2009/08/11: BCLSB: About Those 60 German Scientists
• 2009/08/10: DeSmogBlog: Lomborg's Robot Navy
• 2009/08/11: NYT: The Earth Is Warming? Adjust the Thermostat [Tierney alert]
• 2009/08/10: MTobis: Morano Claims It's Over
• 2009/08/09: DeSmogBlog: Incorrigible Lomborg: Defending the right of rich people to pollute
• 2009/08/09: CC: Victorian era Paleontologist challenges climate change and is letting the APS know about it

  As for climate miscellanea:

• 2009/08/15: Newsweek: It's Too Late to Stop Global Warming
• 2009/08/13: Grist: A walk through the week's climate news --The Climate Post: Grid, for lack of a better word, is good
• 2009/08/12: CCurrents: 21st Century Climate Blueprints
• 2009/08/11: SciDaily: Role Of Solar Radiation In Climate Change
• 2009/08/12: BNC: GreenPower claims and merits -- clearing confusion
• 2009/08/07: FTimes: Lunch with the FT: Jared Diamond

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

• NERC: NERC Open Research Archive
• Bob Park - What's New?
• Wiki: Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme [aka AusETS]
• Wiki: Typhoon Morakot (2009)
• Global Climate Change
• EESI: Environmental and Energy Study Institute Briefings
• WWF on Climate Change
• European Commission on the Environment
• Metis: Discussion and announcements on climate science policy
• The Climate Change Caucus in the US House of Representatives
• PEARL: Paleoecological Environmental Assessment and Research Laboratory
• Stefan Rahmstorf - List of Publications
• JEB: James' Empty Blog
• Konrad Steffen Research Group, CIRES/University of Colorado
• NASA:GSFC: ICESat (Ice, Cloud,and land Elevation Satellite)
• Publications - Innsbruck Tropical Glaciology Group (many in .pdf)
• EDGAR: Emission Database for Global Atmospheric Research

My first novel Water was published in Canada May, 2007. The American release was in October. An Introductionto the novel is available, along with the Unpublished Forewordand the Launch Talk. An overview of my writing is available here.

<regards>
-het

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

"What has happened down here, is the winds have changed,
Clouds roll in from the north and it started to rain,
It rained real hard, and it rained for a real long time,
Six feet of water in the streets of Evangeline --
Oh, Louisiana, Louisiana --
they're trying to wash us away --"
-Randy Newman

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