Logging the Onset of The Bottleneck Years
This weekly posting is brought to you courtesy of H. E. Taylor. Happy reading, I ho8pe you enjoy this week's Global Warming news roundup
Another week of Climate Disruption News
November 22, 2009
- Chuckle, Copenhagen, APEC, Clouds, Bristlecone Pine, Carbon Sinks, Knorr, Mammoth Extinction
- Bottom Line, Carbon Tariffs, 6 Degrees, Open Access, Superfree, CRU Hack
- Melting Arctic, Geopolitics, Antarctica
- Food Crisis, WSFS, Food Production
- Hurricanes, GHGs, Carbon Cycle, Temperatures, Ozone, Paleoclimate, ENSO, Glaciers, Sea Levels, Satellites
- Impacts, Forests, Corals, Wacky Weather, Wildfires, Floods & Droughts
- Mitigation, Transportation, Buildings, Sequestration, Geoengineering, Adaptation
- Journals, Other Docs , Misc. Science, Le Mouel, Klotzbach
- UN, Carbon Trade, Dutch Mileage Tax, Optimal Carbon Reduction Strategy
- International Politics, Security, Law & Activism, Religion
- America, Obama, Congress, Britain, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, India, China, Canada
- Ecological Economics, IPAT, Apocalypso, Media, Books, Video, Courts
- Energy, Fracking, Wind, Solar, Coal, Biofuel, Nukes, Peak Oil, Grid, Efficiency, Cars, Business
- Joe's List, Carbon Lobby, Miscellaneous Climate, Useful Links
- Shameless Self Promotion, .sig
- 2009/11/21: TI:CF: (cartoon - Roberts) Back from the Brink?
- 2009/11/17: Seppo: (cartoon - Seppo) Is Copenhagen climate treaty an endangered species?
- 2009/11/19: MTobis: (cartoon - ?) Mayhem-Bot
- 2009/11/18: SeattlePI: (cartoon - Horsey) Still On Course
On the road to Copenhagen:
- 2009/11/19: CCurrents: End Times In Copenhagen
- 2009/11/21: CBC:Q&Q: [mp3] Countdown to Copenhagen
- 2009/11/21: Guardian(UK): Climate crunch
Unless they end in promises, and a treaty within months, Ed Miliband believes the Copenhagen talks will be a disaster. But can the British energy secretary, in Denmark for a frantic round of pre-summit diplomacy, win the argument? - 2009/11/19: Guardian(UK): Behind the Copenhagen summit scenes with Ed Miliband (17 pictures)
- 2009/11/20: EurActiv: Merkel, Sarkozy back Danes in last-minute climate diplomacy
While it is still uncertain whether US President Barack Obama will attend the UN climate conference in Copenhagen, France and Germany rallied behind the Danish prime minister yesterday (19 November) "to make Copenhagen a success". Ahead of a difficult summit to appoint an EU president and foreign affairs chief, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Danish Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen met briefly to discuss last-minute tactics to ensure that the global community can maintain strong political momentum to deliver clear and binding commitments in view of a post-Kyoto climate treaty. - 2009/11/20: EurActiv: EU ministers to outline expectations for Copenhagen
- 2009/11/20: UN: UN disaster expert knows first-hand what Copenhagen failure could entail
Among those keeping a close eye on the outcome of next month's climate summit in Copenhagen is the head of the United Nations body dealing with disaster risk reduction, who has seen first-hand the devastation wrought by increasingly frequent and severe natural disasters aggravated by climate change. "Those of us that have worked with disasters for a long time have already seen these extremes developing," Margareta Wahlström, head of the UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR), said in an interview... - 2009/11/20: NatureCF: Countdown to Copenhagen
- 2009/11/20: PlanetArk: Factbox: Russian Offer Deepens Rich Nations' CO2 Cuts
- 2009/11/19: Grist: Copenhagen 101: The essentials on the climate talks
- 2009/11/19: Grist: Climate talks timeline: From 350 to Kyoto to Copenhagen and beyond
- 2009/11/19: Grist: 15 people worth watching in Copenhagen (a slideshow!)
- 2009/11/19: TerraDaily: Copenhagen summit will be 'success': UN climate chief [Yvo de Boer]
- 2009/11/19: TerraDaily: India stands firm on emissions
Indian Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh Thursday said his country would never agree to legally binding emissions and downplayed expectations for the climate-change summit in Copenhagen, Denmark, next month. - 2009/11/20: COP15: Germany calls for binding climate deal in 2010
German Chancellor Angela Merkel called Thursday for all countries to fix binding climate change targets next year at the latest, acknowledging that no such deal is likely at global talks in Copenhagen next month. - 2009/11/20: COP15: Flow of pledges drives up UN expectations
Apart from the US, all industrialized countries have given targets for their greenhouse gas emission reductions. This promises a successful conference in Copenhagen next month, according to UN's top official on climate change. - 2009/11/20: SolveClimate: UN Climate Chief: Global Deal Hinges on More Ambition from Rich Nations
- 2009/11/19: Google:AFP: Energy leaders back climate change deal
Energy industry leaders on Thursday called for an international deal on climate change to tackle financial uncertainty and prevent potentially catastrophic global warming. "The climate framework is the top long term issue," World Energy Council (WEC) Secretary General Christoph Frei told a UN conference on energy security. "It's the most important driver for change," Frei added. The WEC said executives and officials in 93 countries now regard future climate change policies as a "critical uncertainty" on a par with the more immediate economic and financial crises. - 2009/11/18: Nation: Toward Copenhagen [activism]
- 2009/11/19: NYT: Industrialized Nations Unveil Plans to Rein in Emissions
With less than three weeks remaining before negotiators gather in Copenhagen to hammer out a global response to climate change, a rapid-fire succession of countries are unveiling national plans that serve as opening bids for reining in heat-trapping emissions. "The list of what is on the table is rather long," said Yvo de Boer, executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the sponsor of the meeting, which runs from Dec. 7 to 18 in Copenhagen. But, speaking at the United Nations headquarters on Thursday, he seized on the latest pledges to take aim at the United States, which has not yet played its hand. "We now have offers of targets from all industrialized countries except the United States," Mr. de Boer said. - 2009/11/19: Guardian(UK): Is DECC's collaborative manifesto for Copenhagen web democracy in action?
- 2009/11/19: PhysOrg: Germany calls for binding climate deal in 2010
- 2009/11/19: PlanetArk: Factbox: Climate Negotiating Positions Of Top Emitters
- 2009/11/18: Grist: Copenhagen is not Kyoto
- 2009/11/18: Grist: Crisis or no crisis, you can't rush change -- Copenhagen: Getting past the urgency trap
- 2009/11/19: EarthTimes: UN offers rescue targets for troubled climate summit in Copenhagen
- 2009/11/19: EarthTimes: Not much expected from Copenhagen, Indian environment minister [Jairam Ramesh] says
- 2009/11/17: CBC: Climate conference needs targets: Danish PM
- 2009/11/18: Guardian(UK): Copenhagen activists' diary -- A calendar of actions during the Copenhagen conference
- 2009/11/18: Guardian(UK): Green technologies in peril as rich nations dither on climate deal
- 2009/11/18: EurActiv: Ministers resigned to political climate deal in Copenhagen
Environment ministers made progress on Tuesday (17 November) towards a scaled-down climate deal in Copenhagen next month, with Washington under pressure to promise to make deep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020. An agreement on a new treaty is set to be reached at the Copenhagen climate conference in December, but talks have stalled over developed countries' reluctance to commit to concrete financial aid for developing countries and a lack of commitment from developed countries to sufficient CO2 reduction targets. "We still need more movement," Yvo de Boer, head of the UN Climate Change Secretariat, told a news conference at the end of two days of talks among 40 ministers from around the world on a deal meant to be agreed at the 7-18 December meeting in Denmark. - 2009/11/18: EUO: Russia makes suprise CO2 pledge at summit
- 2009/11/18: NatureTGB: Climate change agreement must not ignore agriculture
- 2009/11/18: PhysOrg: Experts: Failure to focus on farming will undermine global climate agreement and increase hunger
Alarmed by a substantial oversight in the global climate talks leading up to the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen next month, more than 60 of the world's most prominent agricultural scientists and leaders underscored how the almost total absence of agriculture in the agreement could lead to widespread famine and food shortages in the years ahead. - 2009/11/18: Grist: Copenhagen panic is premature
- 2009/11/18: COP15: Africa will not reveal its climate compensation demands
Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi -- Africa's most outspoken leader on climate change -- is open to accept a "binding political agreement" as a steppingstone to a treaty being agreed later. - 2009/11/18: EarthTimes: Russia announces strengthened 2020 climate goals - 20-25 per cent below 1990 levels
- 2009/11/17: CCurrents: Australia Sabotages Copenhagen By Excluding Huge Agriculture GHG Emissions
- 2009/11/17: DerSpiegel: Low Expectations for Climate Summit -- Can Copenhagen Still Be Saved?
- 2009/11/17: DerSpiegel: Now Is Our Time by Ban Ki Moon -- UN Secretary-General on the Copenhagen Climate Summit
- 2009/11/15: G&M: Leaders agree Copenhagen will focus on principles, not concrete goals
Consensus at APEC summit to work on inclusive agreement for all nations to reduce emissions instead of specific targets - 2009/11/17: Guardian(UK): US is a dead weight on Copenhagen talks, pulling down ambition ever lower
Europe needs to take the lead and face down Barack Obama's 'no we can't' attitude on agreeing a climate change deal - 2009/11/17: Guardian(UK): Q&A: Mounting pressure in the lead-up to the Copenhagen conference
- 2009/11/17: CBC: Climate conference needs targets: Danish PM
- 2009/11/17: NatureCF: Countdown to Copenhagen
- 2009/11/17: NewScientist: Copenhagen -- how the Danes will salvage a deal
- 2009/11/17: PlanetArk: Binding Climate Treaty May Slip Far Into 2010
- 2009/11/17: COP15: Hedegaard: Half an agreement is no agreement
"We are still aiming for a full package," the Danish minister for climate and energy said after two days of climate talks in Copenhagen which ended on a positive note and with hopes of an ambitious political deal at the UN climate conference in the Danish capital in December. - 2009/11/16: Reuters: Climate treaty delay opens Doha-style risks
- 2009/11/17: TreeHugger: The (Mostly) Non-Wonky COP15 Crib Sheet - What Are The Sides? What's Still Being Debated?
- 2009/11/17: EarthTimes: Denmark seeks firm commitments at Copenhagen summit
- 2009/11/17: Reuters: Africa agrees on secret climate damages demand
- 2009/11/16: Rabble: Copenhagen: A movement comes of age
- 2009/11/17: SwissInfo: [Swiss] Environment Minister Moritz Leuenberger remains hopeful about a United Nations climate conference in Copenhagen
- 2009/11/16: SwissInfo: Switzerland upbeat despite climate setback
Is time running out for a climate deal? Yes, according to the "Tck tck tck" performance of one NGO at the Barcelona climate talks Swiss government officials, environmentalists and the business community are unfazed that a legally binding treaty on the climate may not be reached in Copenhagen next month. - 2009/11/16: Guardian(UK): Copenhagen must set date for treaty, says Denmark's environment minister [Connie Hedegaard]
- 2009/11/16: Guardian(UK): UN chief Achim Steiner warns of high cost of climate delays
- 2009/11/16: EurActiv: Climate talks risk becoming 'new Doha', says [Danish] ambassador [to the EU, Poul Skytte Christoffersen]
- 2009/11/17: ABC(Au): Leaders look to 2010 for climate deal
The world's environment ministers have not given up hope of a climate change deal in Copenhagen next month but a binding deal may have to wait until the end of next year. That was certainly the message coming from the Danish capital overnight after a meeting of 40 climate-change negotiators. - 2009/11/16: Grist: Environment ministers meet to prepare [COP15] climate summit
- 2009/11/16: Grist: Copenhagen calamity: Now what?
- 2009/11/16: Grist: Delaying an international climate treaty: not as bad as it looks
- 2009/11/16: EarthTimes: Merkel will attend Copenhagen climate conference
- 2009/11/16: EarthTimes: Lula confirms attendance at Copenhagen climate conference
- 2009/11/16: EarthTimes: EU: Copenhagen summit must still seek emission targets
- 2009/11/16: Eureka: New climate treaty could put species at risk [in non-REDD forests]
- 2009/11/16: Reuters: Russia's Medvedev warns of climate catastrophe
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev warned on Monday that climate change posed a "catastrophic" threat in some of the sharpest comments yet on a subject the Kremlin has often seemed reluctant to confront. Although the United States said that the consensus amongst the 19 leaders at the weekend Asia Pacific summit in Singapore was that a climate change deal this December was unlikely, Medvedev made clear he felt it was a top priority. - 2009/11/16: VoxEU: Climate change negotiations: Time to reconsider by Jean Tirole
The Copenhagen Summit could be crucial for the future of climate change. This column says negotiators should aim to agree on a global emissions target for 2050, the rapid deployment of a satellite system to measure country emissions, a worldwide cap-and-trade system, governance providing incentives to join the agreement, and a subsidiarity principle with permits allocated domestically by the countries themselves. The negotiation for 2015 could then focus on the worldwide allocation of free permits. - 2009/11/16: Guardian(UK): Copenhagen summit: Change we can't yet believe in
- 2009/11/15: Guardian(UK): Copenhagen: a non-negotiable deadline
The APEC meeting in Singapore put the kibosh on any substantial legally binding deal at Copenhagen:
- 2009/11/16: EurActiv: Asian leaders kill hopes for Copenhagen climate deal
Leaders attending an Asia Pacific summit on Sunday rallied round a plan to delay a legally binding deal on climate change, as US President Barack Obama threw his weight behind a 'one agreement, two steps' approach in Copenhagen next month. - 2009/11/16: MongaBay: Asia-Pacific leaders drop emissions cuts from Copenhagen agenda
- 2009/11/16: GreenGrok: World Cries Uncle on Climate Deal -- News flash from Singapore: no climate deal from Copenhagen next month.
- 2009/11/16: ABC(Au): APEC leaders douse hopes of climate deal
- 2009/11/15: NRDC:SwitchBoard: Key World Leaders Agree to Two-Step Process for Finalizing International Agreement
- 2009/11/16: BBC: APEC leaders drop climate target
World leaders meeting in Singapore have said it will not be possible to reach a climate change deal ahead of next month's UN conference in Denmark. - 2009/11/17: NASA:EO:IoD: Clouds Can Reveal Shape of Continents
- 2009/11/17: TWTB: Continents revealed by cloud cover
- 2009/11/18: DWWSJ: Where The Clouds Are...
A study of the growth rate of Bristlecone Pines:
- 2009/11/20: DWWSJ: Yet Another Independent Confirmation of Warming
- 2009/11/17: LNB: Bristlecone Pines Feeling Rushed
- 2009/11/17: KSJT: SF Chronicle, Ariz. Daily Star, New Scientist: Ancient trees growing faster than ever. Maybe it's the CO2??
- 2009/11/17: RealClimate: A Treeline Story
- 2009/11/16: CBC: Oldest trees grow faster because of warming
Bristlecone pines, the world's oldest trees and growing at high altitudes in the American West, have been undergoing a growth spurt since 1950, fuelled by increasing temperatures, researchers say. - 2009/11/16: NewScientist: Climate change gives ancient trees growth spurt
- 2009/11/16: Eureka: Ancient high-altitude trees grow faster as temperatures rise
News about carbon sinks as the planet warms:
- 2009/11/18: NYT: Seas Grow Less Effective at Absorbing Emissions
- 2009/11/19: DN: Carbon Dioxide: sources outpacing sinks
- 2009/11/18: Columbia:EI: Oceans' Uptake of Manmade Carbon May be Slowing -- First Year-by-Year Study, 1765-2008, Shows Proportion Declining
- 2009/11/19: KSJT: NYTimes, VofA, TIME mag, etc: In Nature, a report that oceanic carbon sponge is reaching its limit
- 2009/11/18: NatureCF: That (carbon) sinking feeling
- 2009/11/18: KSJT: AP vs Reuters: CO2 emissions up despite recession, blame China. Or it's not, credit recession
- 2009/11/18: MongaBay: Oceans' ability to sequester carbon diminishing
- 2009/11/18: Eureka: Oceans' uptake of manmade carbon may be slowing -- First year-by-year study, 1765-2008, shows proportion declining
And then there is that contradictory (carbon sink) article:
- 2009/11/18: PhysOrg: Scientific debate sparked over carbon sink data
According to research published this week in Nature Geoscience, emissions of carbon dioxide continue to outstrip the ability of the world's natural 'sinks' to absorb carbon. The new report follows another study published only ten days earlier by Dr Wolfgang Knorr in Geophysical Research Letters, which concludes that a decline in the capacity of terrestrial ecosystems and the oceans to absorb CO2 cannot be detected within the available data. - 2009/11/10: PhysOrg: Controversial new climate change results
New data show that the balance between the airborne and the absorbed fraction of CO2 has stayed approximately constant since 1850, despite emissions of CO2 having risen from about 2 billion tons a year in 1850 to 35 billion tons a year now. - 2009/11/17: PhysOrg: Fossil fuel CO2 emissions up by 29 percent since 2000
The strongest evidence yet that the rise in atmospheric CO2 emissions continues to outstrip the ability of the world's natural 'sinks' to absorb carbon is published this week in the journal Nature Geoscience. - 2009/11/20: NatureTGB: Dung dating illuminates mammoth mystery
- 2009/11/19: SciNews: Climate not really what doomed large North American mammals
Prevalence of a dung fungus over time suggests megafauna extinctions at end of last ice age started before vegetation changed - 2009/11/19: NewScientist: Was there a Stone Age apocalypse or not?
And on the Bottom Line:
- 2009/11/18: Grist: Make the kids pay: The economic effects of climate change on future generations
- 2009/11/19: COP15: Stern and Steiner: Green tech needs backing
Carbon Tariffs are still in the air:
- 2009/11/18: G&M:JR: We need another carbon tariff
That projection of 6 degrees C of warming has people on edge:
- 2009/11/20: PeakEnergy: Global temperatures could rise 6C by end of century, say scientists
- 2009/11/18: NewScientist:SSS: World on track for 6 degrees of extra heat
- 2009/11/18: OilChange: "We're at the top end of the IPCC scenario"
- 2009/11/18: CCurrents: World Heads For 6° Rise
The world is now firmly on course for the worst-case scenario in terms of climate change, with average global temperatures rising by up to 6C by the end of the century, leading scientists said yesterday. Such a rise - which would be much higher nearer the poles - would have cataclysmic and irreversible consequences for the Earth, making large parts of the planet uninhabitable and threatening the basis of human civilisation. - 2009/11/17: BBC: Earth 'heading for 6C' of warming
Average temperatures across the world are on course to rise by up to 6C without urgent action to curb CO2 emissions, according a new analysis. Emissions rose by 29% between 2000 and 2008, says the Global Carbon Project. - 2009/11/17: Guardian(UK): Global temperatures will rise 6C by end of century, say scientists
Most comprehensive CO2 study to date is expected to give greater urgency to diplomatic manoeuvring before Copenhagen - 2009/11/21: BackReaction: Swedish Research Council requires Open Access
- Free Science News
- Free Science Sources
The Superfreaks are still pumping the publicity machine:
- 2009/11/18: ClimateP: SuperFreakonomics coauthor Dubner ratchets up the rhetoric, claiming his critics have issued a 'fatwa'!
- 2009/11/15: OTF: Blasphemy
- 2009/11/18: TP:WR: SuperFreak Dubner: Our Critics Have Issued A 'Fatwa'
- 2009/11/17: ClimateP: Superfreakonomics authors abandon climate science
- 2009/11/16: TP:WR: SuperFreaks Retrench: 'It's Harder To Know' Whether Global Warming Is 'Man-Created'
- 2009/11/16: ClimateP: Best. Review. Ever.
The deniers have devised another distraction -- the CRU hack:
- 2009/11/21: PhysOrg: Hackers leak e-mails, stoke climate debate
- 2009/11/21: CFixated: Newtongate: the final nail in the coffin of Renaissance and Enlightenment 'thinking'
- 2009/11/22: Deltoid: On those stolen CRU emails
- 2009/11/21: GreenFyre: CRU Hack, time to hit back ... hard
- 2009/11/22: IJI: What we know about the CRU attacker
- 2009/11/21: DawgsBlawg: The Great Global Warming Conspi...whoops
- 2009/11/21: DawgsBlawg: No E-mails please
- 2009/11/20: ScienceInsider: Data Breach Embroils Climate Scientists
- 2009/11/20: Wired:TL: Hacked E-Mails Fuel Global Warming Debate
- 2009/11/21: ClimateP: Let's look at one of the illegally hacked emails in more detail --- the one by NCAR's Kevin Trenberth on "where the heck is global warming?"
- 2009/11/20: Grist: Skeptics claim global warming is fake after top scientists' emails hacked at CRU
- 2009/11/20: Grist: FOX News and TrollCat agree: Global warming is BUNK!
- 2009/11/21: TreeHugger: Climate Researcher Database Hacked
- 2009/11/20: WaPo: Hackers steal electronic data from top climate research center -- Scientists' e-mails deriding skeptics of warming become public
- 2009/11/21: DeSmogBlog: Stolen CRU emails: Who are the criminals behind the conspiracy theorists?
- 2009/11/21: DeSmogBlog: E-Mails Reveal Scientists' Contempt for Skeptics
- 2009/11/21: PeakEnergy: The CRU Hack
- 2009/11/20: GreenFyre: This is not good, the CRU computer hack
- 2009/11/21: GreenFyre: Climate change Deniers hoax themselves ... again
- 2009/11/20: IoD: The hacked climate science email scandal that wasn't
- 2009/11/20: QuarkSoup: The CRU Hack
- 2009/11/21: JEB: CRU climate conspiracy - the proof!
- 2009/11/21: GreenFyre: "Mike's Nature trick ... to hide the decline." [CRU]
- 2009/11/20: RawStory: Skeptics claim stolen emails prove global warming a hoax
- 2009/11/20: TP:WR: ClimateGate: Hacked Emails Reveal Global Warming Deniers Are Crazed Conspiracy Theorists
- 2009/11/21: BBC: Harrabin's Notes: E-mail arguments
In his regular column, the BBC's environment analyst, Roger Harrabin, assesses the arguments sparked by the leaking of information on climate change. - 2009/11/20: DeSmogBlog: Climate contrarians spinning hard with stolen email files
- 2009/11/20: Guardian(UK): Climate sceptics claim leaked emails are evidence of collusion among scientists
Hundreds of emails and documents exchanged between world's leading climate scientists stolen by hackers and leaked online - 2009/11/20: Guardian(UK): This climate email-hacking episode is generating more heat than light
Another skirmish has broken out in the long-running battle between climate scientists and so-called sceptics, and this one is likely to lead to more public confusion - 2009/11/20: SlashDot: Climatic Research Unit Hacked, Files Leaked
- 2009/11/20: NatureCF: CRU data hack
- 2009/11/20: NatureN: Leading British climate centre [CRU] hacked -- E-mails and documents have been taken from the University of East Anglia
- 2009/11/20: ClimateP: Here's what we know so far: CRU's emails were hacked, the 2000s will easily be the hottest decade on record, and the planet keeps warming thanks to us!
- 2009/11/20: MTobis: Viaduct? Vy not?
- 2009/11/20: RealClimate: The CRU hack
- 2009/11/20: BCLSB: CRU Hacked...secret lives of climate scientists spilled!
- 2009/11/20: BCLSB: RealClimate On CRU Hack
- 2009/11/20: TreeHugger: Hackers Infiltrate World's Leading Climate Research Unit
- 2009/11/20: WSJ:EnvCap: Hacked: Sensitive Documents Lifted from Hadley Climate Center
- 2009/11/20: JEB: That CRU data hack
- 2009/11/20: GWWatch: Hadley Center hack confounds deniersphere
- 2009/11/20: TWTB: CRU Emails
- 2009/11/20: BBC: CRU hacked -- UK climate unit's e-mails hacked
The e-mail system of one of the world's leading climate research units has been breached by hackers. E-mails reportedly from the University of East Anglia's Climatic Research Unit (CRU), including personal exchanges, appeared on the internet on Thursday. A university spokesman confirmed the email system had been hacked and that information was taken and published without permission. An investigation was underway and the police had been informed, he added. - 2009/11/20: CCP: M. Yamamoto-Kawai et al., Science 326, Aragonite undersaturation in the Arctic Ocean: Effects of ocean acidification and sea ice melt
- 2009/11/20: Eureka: International expedition investigates climate change, alternative fuels in Arctic
- 2009/11/19: Yahoo:Reuters: Melting [Arctic] sea ice dilutes water, endangers sea life
- 2009/11/18: Wunderground: A new record minimum for arctic sea ice [during the first half of November]
As for the geopolitics of Arctic resources:
- 2009/11/20: ABC(Au): US navy braces for Arctic resources fight
The US navy has issued its Arctic roadmap, outlining the potential for competition, conflict and climate change in the waters of the icy north. The scientific consensus is that future Arctic summers will have less and less sea ice, and that has massive implications for the surrounding nations. - 2009/11/17: DymaxionWorld: However did the Americans get to the North Pole without asking our permission?
While in Antarctica:
- 2009/11/16: PhysOrg: Taking a Bite of Antarctic Ice [to test ice drills for Mars]
- 2009/11/16: Eureka: Optical properties of the Antarctic system and new radiation information
The food crisis is ongoing:
- 2009/11/17: WFP: Statement by WFP Executive Director Josette Sheeran on The World Food Summit And Feeding The Hungry Billion
- 2009/11/18: Rabble: Eliminating world hunger
- 2009/11/17: NakedCapitalism: Edward Harrison: Food insecurity in America skyrockets
- 2009/11/17: Guardian(UK): Record numbers go hungry in the US
Government report shows 50m people unable to put food on the table at some point last year - 2009/11/17: CBC: Thousands more Albertans need food bank
Alberta's food banks are helping to feed thousands of new people this year because of a combination of job losses and the high cost of living. Nearly 54,000 people used Alberta's food banks in March, a 60 per cent increase from the previous year and the biggest increase in the country, according to Food Banks Canada. - 2009/11/17: CBC: Recession swells food bank use: report
The number of Canadians needing aid from food banks swelled in March to almost 800,000, an increase of almost 120,000 from the same month the previous year. The year-over-year increase of 17. 6 per cent was the largest increase since 1997, said Food Banks Canada's executive director, Katharine Schmidt. The recession was seen as the primary culprit for the rise in food bank reliance, the group said. In total 794,738 people turned to food banks in March, representing about 2.4 per cent of Canada's population. About nine per cent -- or 72,321 people -- were first-time users. - 2009/11/17: PlanetArk: Climate Deal Key To Fight "Devastating" Hunger-UN
- 2009/11/16: NYT: Hunger in U.S. at a 14-Year High
The number of Americans who lived in households that lacked consistent access to adequate food soared last year, to 49 million, the highest since the government began tracking what it calls "food insecurity" 14 years ago, the Department of Agriculture reported Monday. The increase, of 13 million Americans, was much larger than even the most pessimistic observers of hunger trends had expected and cast an alarming light on the daily hardships caused by the recession's punishing effect on jobs and wages. About a third of these struggling households had what the researchers called "very low food security," meaning lack of money forced members to skip meals, cut portions or otherwise forgo food at some point in the year. The other two-thirds typically had enough to eat, but only by eating cheaper or less varied foods, relying on government aid like food stamps, or visiting food pantries and soup kitchens. "These numbers are a wake-up call for the country," said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. - 2009/11/17: WaPo: America's economic pain brings hunger pangs -- USDA report on access to food 'unsettling,' Obama says
The nation's economic crisis has catapulted the number of Americans who lack enough food to the highest level since the government has been keeping track, according to a new federal report, which shows that nearly 50 million people -- including almost one child in four -- struggled last year to get enough to eat. At a time when rising poverty, widespread unemployment and other effects of the recession have been well documented, the report released Monday by the U.S. Department of Agriculture provides the government's first detailed portrait of the toll that the faltering economy has taken on Americans' access to food. - 2009/11/17: TP:WR: Nearly 50 Million [American] People -- And Almost One In Four Children -- Went Hungry At Some Point Last Year
- 2009/11/16: PlanetArk: Mississippi Sees 'Catastrophic' Crop Losses
- 2009/11/16: PlanetArk: Farmers Scramble To Finish Harvest From hell [across the U.S. Midwest corn and soybean belt]
The WSFS went down in Rome this week:
- 2009/11/18: FAO: [64k pdf] World Summit on Food Security - Declaration
- 2009/11/18: UN: UN food summit ends without specific targets for ending global hunger
- 2009/11/18: DerSpiegel: World Hunger -- In Abidjan, the Food Crisis Is Anything but Forgotten
In Rome this week, the UN is discussing the fate of 1 billion people in the world who do not have enough to eat. But the industrialized world tends to forget that the food crisis is still very real for people in places like Ivory Coast. - 2009/11/16: FTimes: UN links climate with hunger
The world cannot achieve food security without first tackling global warming, the United Nations secretary-general said on Monday, warning that failure at next month's international climate change negotiations would result in a rise in hunger. The warning by Ban Ki-Moon at the start of a three-day UN world food summit in Rome came one day after Barack Obama, US president, backed European and UN views that the Copenhagen summit would not produce a legally-binding agreement to tackle global warming. - 2009/11/17: EurActiv: World Food Summit deepens rich-poor country divide
A UN summit on combating hunger, which opened in Rome yesterday (16 November), underlined the divide between rich and poor countries as developed nations balked at concrete targets. - 2009/11/16: Guardian(UK): Biodiversity - insurance against hunger by José Manuel Barroso
To ensure food security we need to encourage crop diversity and establish a science-based red-alert system for the planet - 2009/11/16: UN: At UN food summit, Ban lays out steps to save billions from hunger
- 2009/11/16: NatureTGB: World leaders discuss food security
- 2009/11/16: Reuters: Climate deal key to fight "devastating" hunger: U.N.
The United Nations said on Monday that agreeing a climate change deal in Copenhagen next month is crucial to fighting global hunger, which Brazil's president described as "the most devastating weapon of mass destruction." Government leaders and officials met in Rome for a three-day U.N. summit on how to help developing countries feed themselves, but anti-poverty campaigners and even some participants were already writing off the event as a missed opportunity. - 2009/11/16: BBC: UN chief urges unity over hunger
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has called for a "single global vision" from world leaders to address the problems of world hunger and pollution. Mr Ban's comments came at the start of a UN conference in Rome aimed at stabilising world food prices. He said the summit needed to co-ordinate closely with the UN climate meeting at Copenhagen in December. The UN says one billion people are hungry and that food production must increase to feed a growing population. The World Summit on Food Security comes a year after major rises in food prices caused chaos in many countries. - 2009/11/16: CBC: Food summit offers thin pledges to hungry -- Help promised, without specifics
And how are we going to feed 9 billion?
- 2009/11/19: WFP: Spain Doubles Aid To Help Ease Hunger Crisis In Horn
- 2009/11/17: WFP: Five Reasons Why We Can Defeat Hunger
- 2009/11/16: FAO: Renewed commitment to end hunger -- Summit declaration vows better governance, increased investment and proactive climate change strategy
- 2009/11/18: FAO: FAO Summit boosts agriculture to end hunger -- Step forward to hunger-free world
- 2009/11/21: AlterNet: The War on Soy: Why the 'Miracle Food' May Be a Health Risk and Environmental Nightmare
- 2009/11/20: Grist: Ecological farms: the only real way to feed an Increasingly hungry world
- 2009/11/20: SciDev: Agriculture can adapt to climate change
Innovative agricultural technologies can produce crops that meet climate change challenges, says ICRISAT head William Dar. - 2009/11/20: PeakEnergy: If Nothing Else, Save Farming
- 2009/11/17: DemNow: Raj Patel on America's Growing Hunger Crisis and the UN Summit to Fight Hunger in Rome
- 2009/11/19: PlanetArk: Food Seed Banks Need $250 Million, Experts Warn
- 2009/11/19: TreeHugger: 6 Ways Agriculture Impacts Global Warming
- 2009/11/19: TreeHugger: Giant Snail Pies to Feed Malnourished in Africa
- 2009/11/19: AlterNet: Modern Life Is Probably Screwed by Peak Oil, But It's Not Too Late to Avoid Mass Starvation
- 2009/11/18: NatureTGB: Climate change agreement must not ignore agriculture
- 2009/11/18: PhysOrg: Experts: Failure to focus on farming will undermine global climate agreement and increase hunger
Alarmed by a substantial oversight in the global climate talks leading up to the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen next month, more than 60 of the world's most prominent agricultural scientists and leaders underscored how the almost total absence of agriculture in the agreement could lead to widespread famine and food shortages in the years ahead. - 2009/11/18: NewScientist: Four ways to feed the world
- 2009/11/18: PhysOrg: Studying Fertilizers to Cut Greenhouse Gases
- 2009/11/18: Eureka: UCR plant scientist's research spawns new discoveries showing how crops survive drought -- Junior professor's breakthrough launches unprecedented number of publications in high-profile journals
- 2009/11/18: BBC: Malawi's maize miracle
Malawi is one of the poorest and most densely populated countries in the world. Four years ago almost half its population depended on food aid from abroad for survival. But this year, Malawi has managed to feed itself and even export some maize to hard-pressed neighbours. This remarkable turnaround has been called the "Malawi Miracle". At its heart is a programme which provides heavily subsidised seeds and fertiliser for poor farmers. - 2009/11/18: PlanetArk: Biotech Crops Cause Big Jump In Pesticide Use: Report
Tropical Storm Anja disturbed the Indian Ocean, but otherwise it has been quiet:
- 2009/11/18: Eureka: NASA's QuikScat and Aqua providing important data on Tropical Storm Anja
- 2009/11/17: PhysOrg: Cyclone Anja hits wind shear, weakens drastically
- 2009/11/16: NASA: NASA's Terra Satellite Spots Tropical Cyclone Anja, the First of the Southern Season
While elsewhere in the hurricane wars:
- 2009/11/17: EarthTimes: Typhoon Ketsana caused 94.2 million dollars of damage in Laos
- 2009/11/16: Wunderground: The Atlantic hurricane season is effectively over; heavy rains in the Northwest
- 2009/11/16: Eureka: NASA's TRMM satellite mapped 'Ida the Low's' rainfall from space
As for GHGs:
- 2009/11/20: CCP: Dozen lesser-known chemicals (chlorofluorocarbons - CFCs; hydrofluorocarbons - HFCs; perfluorocarbons PFCs) have strong impact on climate change
- 2009/11/20: Maribo: Narnia plans to reduce emissions by 30% by the year 2020
- 2009/11/17: MSNBC: Led by China, CO2 gases rise despite economy -- It's growth meant another increase in 2008; '09 should see global drop
- 2009/11/18: LCE: Carbon peak is in the past, says Celsias
- 2009/11/18: SciAm: Sinking Global Warming: Is There a Reliable Way to Track Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide Levels?
CO2 emissions rise as natural sinks slow, but how can scientists precisely track this greenhouse gas, especially in advance of a potential global treaty to reduce its emissions? - 2009/11/18: CCP: S. Khatiwala, F. Primeau, T. Hall, Nature 462, Reconstruction of the history of anthropogenic CO2 concentrations in the ocean
- 2009/11/17: CBC: Carbon emissions from fossil fuels rise
Carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels rose 29 per cent between 2000 and 2008, an international team of researchers says. - 2009/11/18: PhysOrg: Studying Fertilizers to Cut Greenhouse Gases
- 2009/11/17: CBC: Carbon emissions from fossil fuels rise [GCP]
- 2009/11/17: MongaBay: Record year for CO2 emissions, even with economic slowdown
- 2009/11/17: NOAANews: When it Comes to CO2, What Goes Up Isn't Always Coming Down -- More CO2 Emitted, But Little Change in Amount Absorbed By Natural System
- 2009/11/18: ABC(Au): Australia leads world in carbon emissions
The latest audit of global carbon emissions has found they are continuing to rise and Australia still holds the lead with the highest emissions per capita among developed nations. - 2009/11/17: TreeHugger: CO2 Emissions Rose 2% in 2008, Despite Recession - We're On Target for 6°C Temperature Rise
- 2009/11/17: Eureka: Human emissions rise 2 percent despite GFC [Global Financial Crisis]
- 2009/11/17: Eureka: Fossil fuel CO2 emissions up by 29 percent since 2000
- 2009/11/17: GCP: Carbon Budget
Here is yet another twist in the emission reduction target game. We've seen reductions relative to 1990 and 2005. How about reductions relative to future projected levels? It makes them sound really good...:
- 2009/11/17: EarthTimes: South Korea sets carbon emissions reduction target
Seoul - South Korea has for the first time set a target for the reduction of its greenhouse gas emissions in the run up to the UN climate conference in Copenhagen, the government said on Tuesday. The fourth-largest economy in Asia plans to reduce its emissions by 30 per cent from the predicted level of 2020. That figure represents a reduction of 4 per cent from its 2005 figure, the President's Office in Seoul said after a cabinet meeting under the leadership of President Lee Myung Bak. - 2009/11/16: MongaBay: Coastal habitats may sequester 50 times more carbon than tropical forests by area
- 2009/11/17: TreeHugger: Mangroves & Coastal Wetlands Store 50 Times More Carbon Than Tropical Forests by Area
As for the temperature record:
- 2009/11/22: CCP: Current sea-surface-temperature anomalies -- bizarre -- September 19, 2009
- 2009/11/17: NOAANews: Combined Global Surface Temperature Was Sixth Warmest for October -- Global ocean surface temperature fifth warmest
- 2009/11/16: MTobis: Oy
- 2009/11/17: CCP: MSU/AMSU Channel TLT Brightness Temperature Anomaly 1979-2009
- 2009/11/16: MGS: Where is the surface? [SSTs]
- 2009/11/16: ClimateP: NASA reports hottest June to October on record
- 2009/11/16: QuarkSoup: The World is Heating Up
The ozone hole is still there:
- 2009/11/17: NOAANews: Significant Ozone Hole Remains Over Antarctica
While in the paleoclimate:
- 2009/11/20: SciNow: Early Volcanoes Minted Nickel
- 2009/11/19: Eureka: Mysteriously warm times in Antarctica
A new study of Antarctica's past climate reveals that temperatures during the warm periods between ice ages may have been higher than previously thought - 2009/11/19: Eureka: Rich ore deposits linked to ancient atmosphere
- 2009/11/18: NatureN: Antarctic temperature spike surprises climate researchers -- Polar region was unexpectedly warm between ice ages
- 2009/11/18: PhysOrg: Mysteriously warm [interglacial] times in Antarctica
While on the ENSO front:
- 2009/11/20: PhysOrg: El Nino intensifies Latin America drought
- 2009/11/17: PhysOrg: El Nino Could Play A Role In Colorado's Winter Weather, Scientist Says
Glaciers are melting:
- 2009/11/20: ClimateP: On Thinner Ice: New photography project provides stark proof of melting glaciers on the roof of the world [vid]
That Indian ministry discussion paper picked up an echo in the west:
- 2009/11/22: WaPo: India challenges Western data linking climate change, Himalayan melt
Sea levels are rising:
- 2009/11/21: NewScientist: Greenland ice loss behind a sixth of sea-level rise
- 2009/11/20: CCP: U.S. group sees worsening coastal flooding threat at Norfolk, Virginia
- 2009/11/19: PlanetArk: Sea Rises Threaten Australian Homes: Govt Report
- 2009/11/18: CCurrents: Australians Face Reality On Sea-Level Rise
- 2009/11/16: ABC(Au): The Federal Government has released a new report titled Climate Change Risks to Australia's coasts
- 2009/11/16: ABC(Au): Maps reveal rising sea level threat
New coastal mapping data shows Portland and Port Fairy are at risk of being submerged during extreme storms. The Victorian Government has released maps showing the possible effects of sea level rises on the state over the next 100 years. - 2009/11/16: ABC(Au): The Victorian Government has released maps showing the possible effects of sea level rises on vulnerable coastal regions over the next 100 years
Meanwhile in near earth orbit:
- 2009/11/21: BBC: Water mission [SMOS] returns first data -- Europe's latest Earth observation satellite has returned its first data
- 2009/11/19: ESA: SMOS satellite instrument comes alive
The MIRAS instrument on ESA's SMOS satellite, launched earlier this month, has been switched on and is operating normally. MIRAS will map soil moisture and ocean salinity to improve our understanding of the role these two key variables play in regulating Earth's water cycle. - 2009/11/20: UNDispatch: Women Will Be Hit Hardest By Climate Change
- 2009/11/19: UNEP: Increase in Climate-linked Disasters Intensifies Demands on the Humanitarian Community
- 2009/11/20: DerSpiegel: Gender and Climate Change -- Poor Women Bear Brunt of Global Warming
With the world struggling to come up with an agreement ahead of December's Climate Change Summit in Copenhagen, one important fact has been overlooked: Women are hit hardest by the extreme weather shifts, according to a new UN report. - 2009/11/21: BBC: Fish 'at risk' in acidified ocean
Ocean acidification could cause fish to become "fatally attracted" to their predators, according to scientists. - 2009/11/20: Guardian(UK): Biodiversity loss is Earth's 'immense and hidden' tragedy, Darwin's 'natural heir' warns
Problem of biodiversity loss has been 'eased off centre stage' by focus on climate change, according to Prof Edward Wilson, the ecologist described as 'Darwin's natural heir' - 2009/11/20: COP15: Global warming promotes kidney stones
- 2009/11/18: CSW: UN report identifies women in poor countries as among the most vulnerable to climate change impacts
- 2009/11/17: SeedDaily: Winemakers face climate change with dread
- 2009/11/18: TerraDaily: Warmer Means Windier On World's Biggest Lake [Superior]
- 2009/11/16: COP15: Climate change brings along new diseases
Malaria-carrying mosquitoes in South Korea, a deadly disease among salmon in Alaska and ticks that transmit Lyme disease in Sweden and Canada are all associated with rising temperatures. - 2009/11/20: Times(UK): Google spyware will help vigilantes save rainforests
- 2009/11/20: NatureCF: A force to fight global warming [biodiversity & REDD]
- 2009/11/19: MongaBay: Deforestation emissions should be shared between producer and consumer, argues study
- 2009/11/20: TreeHugger: Split Carbon Costs of Deforestation Between Producers & Consumers to Slow Felling Forests
- 2009/11/19: TreeHugger: Indonesia Suspends Controversial Paper Company's License to Review Environmental Record
- 2009/11/17: SolveClimate: Climate Change Killing Trees in Countries Around the World
- 2009/11/16: Eureka: New climate treaty could put species at risk [in non-REDD forests]
Corals are dying:
- 2009/11/20: PlanetArk: Great Barrier Reef Survival "Requires 25 Percent CO2 Cut [by 2020]
- 2009/11/17: KSJT: Reuters, Aussie Press, etc: Great barrier reef hanging in the CO2 balance
- 2009/11/17: ABC(Au): Academic warns of Barrier Reef emissions threat
A leading coral reef scientist says the world's industrialised nations need to cut carbon emissions by up to 90 per cent by 2050 or risk losing the Great Barrier Reef off Queensland. Professor Terry Hughes from James Cook University, along with 13 other marine and environmental scientists, delivered a briefing in Parliament House this morning. - 2009/11/17: ClimateShifts: Great Barrier Reef survival "requires 25% CO2 cut"
Yes we have no wacky weather, except:
- 2009/11/19: EarthTimes: Hong Kong shivers in coldest November in more than 120 years
- 2009/11/17: EarthTimes: Hong Kong shivers through coldest November in a decade
As for heatwaves and wild fires:
- 2009/11/22: ABC(Au): Fire threat easing as cool winds arrive
Firefighters in New South Wales will be battling blazes into the night, though a change in wind conditions has brought some relief after the day's scorching temperatures. - 2009/11/21: ABC(Au): Wild winds whip fires towards NSW towns
- 2009/11/22: ABC(Au): NSW fire crews prepare for horror day
- 2009/11/22: ABC(Au): Fire jumps lines as NSW scorches
Fire authorities have issued their highest level of alert in three areas of central western New South Wales, as high temperatures, low humidity and strong winds create horrific conditions for crews. - 2009/11/22: EarthTimes: The heat is on as forest fires rage in Australia
- 2009/11/21: PhysOrg: Australia issues 'catastrophic' alerts as fires rage
Australia has issued "catastrophic" alerts after record-breaking temperatures and wild lightning storms sparked more than 100 fires across the country, officials said Saturday. Unseasonably hot and dry weather combined with strong winds to fan scores of blazes in the country's southeastern states, many of which were sparked by overnight lightning strikes. - 2009/11/21: EarthTimes: Australians warned of 'catastrophic' fire danger
- 2009/11/21: ABC(Au): 1,000 crew prepare for catastrophic NSW fires
More than 1,000 firefighters are expected to be on the job again today as parts of New South Wales face another day of catastrophic fire danger. It is the second time in as many days the warning has been used since a new national alert system was introduced in the wake of Victoria's Black Saturday fires. A total fire ban is in place for many parts of the state with high temperatures expected again today. - 2009/11/19: Grist: Inferno on Earth: Wildfires spreading as temperatures rise [Lester Brown]
- 2009/11/20: SMH: Feel the heat: temperature records fall and fires burn
Five major fires are burning in NSW as the state swelters in a heatwave that has seen decades old records fall. The state has experienced both its hottest November day and hottest November night since observations began. The mercury soared to 46.4 degrees at Tibooburra in the north-west of the state on Wednesday, breaking the previous November maximum of 46.1 degrees, set in Coonamble in 1944. The Bureau of Meteorology's Julie Evans said the state's hottest overnight minimum record was also broken at White Cliffs on Wednesday night. The 33.3 degree temperature was more than a degree above the previous record of 31.7 degrees in Cobar, also set in 1944. Broken Hill, which is in one of the five state regions issued with a catastrophic fire danger rating, has had 11 consecutive days exceeding 35 degrees... - 2009/11/19: HeraldSun: State [NSW] warned of 'catastrophic fire conditions'
- 2009/11/19: ABC(Au): Firefighters demand climate change action
Firefighters have demanded federal politicians stop treating climate change like "a political football" and pass the emissions trading scheme. Members of the United Firefighters Union of Australia have travelled to Parliament House today to urge both sides of politics to take action as senators continue to debate the scheme. The union made a similar call for action in the wake of February's devastating Victorian bushfires and Peter Marshall has today repeated the call as parts of South Australia are now declared catastrophic code-red areas. - 2009/11/18: CBC: Warm weather aids grass fires
Manitoba's unusually warm fall weather is causing problems for firefighting crews in some southern areas of the province. Several grass and brush fires are burning near Portage la Prairie, about 70 kilometres west of Winnipeg. - 2009/11/18: ClimateP: Video: Californian firefighter warns of increased wildfires due to climate change
- 2009/11/18: CBC: Australia braced for 'catastrophic' fires
- 2009/11/17: BBC: Australia issues top fire alert
Officials in Australia have issued a new level of "catastrophic" fire warning for the first time, during a heatwave in the south of the country. The new level of warning, which urges people to evacuate, was created after wildfires killed 173 people in Victoria state earlier this year. Previously, people had the option of staying behind to fight the flames. - 2009/11/22: CCP: Wettest November in Wales since records began in 1766 -- 243 years ago
- 2009/11/22: BBC: Urgent tests on flood-hit bridges
A safety review of all 1,800 bridges in Cumbria is being carried out after severe flooding caused extensive damage to homes and roads in the county. Six bridges have already collapsed and officials believe Calva Bridge in Workington may be about to fall. - 2009/11/21: Stoat: Floods not linked to climate change shocker
- 2009/11/21: CBS:British Isles Brace for More Floods
1 Policeman Dead, Dozens of Lake District Residents Trapped After Historic Rains Sweep U.K.; More Than 1,000 Homes Flooded - 2009/11/21: BBC: Flood-hit areas braced for rain
Flood-stricken parts of the UK are bracing themselves for more rain after England's wettest day on record swamped homes and brought down bridges. Forecasters predict Saturday will bring 15mm (0.5in) to 40mm (1.6in) of rain to Cumbria, where police said 75 people spent the night in emergency shelters. There are 22 flood warnings in force across Scotland, northern England, the Midlands and Wales. Four are "severe". - 2009/11/21: BBC: Flood misery lingers in storm-hit Philippines
After a series of devastating storms since late September, many communities in the Philippines are still badly flooded, and the government estimates it may take months for the waters to drain... - 2009/11/20: BBC: More than 500 people across Cumbria are spending the night in emergency shelters or with relatives and friends after "unprecedented" floods.
- 2009/11/20: BBC: The Rivers Agency in County Fermanagh has been pumping water and laying sandbags in Enniskillen as Lough Erne continues to rise to record levels
- 2009/11/21: BBC: Flood alert over threatened rains
The south west of Scotland remains on flood standby with more rain forecast to hit the region over the weekend - 2009/11/21: ABC(Au): Policeman killed in 'biblical' UK floods
A policeman died after being swept away by "biblical" floods in Britain's scenic Lake District, officials said, as helicopters helped evacuate hundreds of stranded residents. - 2009/11/20: CBC: Flooding forces Vancouver Island evacuations
Flood waters on the Cowichan River and Koksilah River have forced the evacuation of about 300 to 400 homes in the Cowichan Valley and Duncan area of southeast Vancouver Island, officials have confirmed. The flooding came after heavy rains overnight Thursday combined with a high tide Friday morning which resulted in rivers breaching their banks. The local rain gauge at Mesachie Lake recorded 157 millimetres of rain over the past 48 hours as of 11 a.m. PT Friday. - 2009/11/20: KSJT: NPR finds out why US per capita water demand is down nearly a third in thirty years
- 2009/11/20: EarthTimes: Heavy rainfalls mean flooding in northern Britain - officer missing
- 2009/11/20: CBC: Hundreds rescued from flooding in England, Ireland
- 2009/11/19: CBC: 200 stranded by floods in northern England
- 2009/11/19: AlterNet: How Limousine Liberals, Water Oligarchs and Even Sean Hannity Are Hijacking Our Water Supply
- 2009/11/18: BBC: Bangladesh waters: Too much, too little
- 2009/11/18: BBC: South-west Scotland and north-west England are facing torrential downpours that will bring a month's rain in 36 hours, the BBC weather unit has said
- 2009/11/17: CBC: Second storm wallops B.C. -- More stormy weather forecast
- 2009/11/16: TerraDaily: Drought forces Somali farmers into town
- 2009/11/17: EarthTimes: Rains spark flooding on Canary Islands
- 2009/11/17: HotTopic: Aquaflow's NZ tech impresses China
- 2009/11/16: KSJT: AP, NTDTV: Two intepretations of Lake Titicaca's shrinkage. Could be us. Could be ENSO.
- 2009/11/15: JFleck: It's About the Evaporation
- 2009/11/16: EarthTimes: River swallowed by earth in Colombia
Elsewhere on the mitigation front:
- 2009/11/17: NatureN: Climate model sets tough targets -- International group outlines steps needed to reach 'safe' levels of carbon dioxide.
Carbon dioxide emissions will have to be all but eliminated by the end of this century if the world is to avoid a temperature rise of more than 2 ºC, scientists warned yesterday. And it might even be necessary to start sucking greenhouse gases out of the atmosphere. The findings are the culmination of five years work by Ensembles, a major European research consortium led by the UK Met Office Hadley Centre and involving 65 other research institutes worldwide. In the first study of its kind, scientists in the project used a variety of the latest global climate models to determine the reductions needed to stabilize levels of greenhouse gases, termed CO2 equivalents, at 450 parts per million. That level, which offers a reasonable chance of keeping the temperature rise under 2ºC, is the goal of European climate policy. - 2009/11/17: NatureCF: Mitigation scenario a taste of things to come
- 2009/11/16: COP15: To protect the climate: Plant trees in the north
Northern Russia and central Canada have hidden benefits. Trees in this cold part of the world can absorb more CO2 than trees in the tropics. - 2009/11/16: COP15: Study: Accelerate, scale-up and embed investments in ecosystems - now
Replanting forests, restoring mangroves along coastlines and rebuilding coral reefs are economically sound investments and smart ways of adapting to climate change. - 2009/11/16: WaPo: Bellying up to environmentalism
- 2009/11/16: SolveClimate: One Change Could Cut Brazil's Carbon Emissions in Half
Consider transportation & GHG production:
- 2009/11/17: NYT: Paying More for Flights Eases Guilt, Not Emissions
- 2009/11/18: Eureka: Developing 'green' tires that boost mileage and cut carbon dioxide emissions
- 2009/11/17: SolveClimate: HOV [High-Occupancy Vehicle] Lanes in the Sky: Routing Airlines Toward Fuel Efficiency
- 2009/11/17: BBC: Full steam ahead for US railways
While in the endless quest for zero energy, sustainable buildings and practical codes:
- 2009/11/22: PeakEnergy: Energy Positive House to Supply Power to Grid in Sweden
- 2009/11/20: NRDC:SwitchBoard: Windfall or Burden? Two New Reports Focus on "Location Efficiency" and the Real Cost of Housing
- 2009/11/20: GreenGrok: Building Hope One House at a Time
- 2009/11/18: EurActiv: EU reaches agreement on energy savings in buildings
EU lawmakers last night (17 November) forged a long-awaited compromise on the recast buildings directive, agreeing that all new buildings would have to comply with high energy-performance standards and supply a significant share of their energy requirements from renewable sources after the end of 2020. - 2009/11/17: Oregonian: EPA has new 'green homes' Web site
As for carbon sequestration:
- 2009/11/19: PlanetArk: Dutch To Pursue Carbon Storage Project
- 2009/11/17: PhysOrg: Fighting climate change by turning CO2 to stone
Large scale geo-engineering keeps popping up:
- 2009/11/21: AlterNet: 20 Weird, Crazy Ideas for Helping the Earth
- 2009/11/16: TerraDaily: Chavez plans cloud seeding to ease drought
- 2009/11/15: LA Times: Desperate climate times call for oddball measures
As global warming concerns grow, scientists are taking seriously some of the seemingly crazy proposals of geo-engineering. One suggestion: Launch a million tiny mirrors into space. Every minute. - 2009/11/15: Reuters: Chavez asking Cubans ... to seed clouds in South American nation
While on the adaptation front:
- 2009/11/20: PhysOrg: Dutch build more dunes against rising seas
Meanwhile in the journals:
- 2009/11/17: NERC:NORA: Atmospheric Composition Change: Ecosystems-Atmosphere interactions by D. Fowler et al.
- 2009/11/17: NERC:NORA: Climate change and the future of freshwater biodiversity in Europe: a primer for policy-makers by Brian Moss et multi alia
- 2009/09/09: JGR: (ab$) An observationally based energy balance for the Earth since 1950 by D. M. Murphy et al.
- 2009/11/17: ERL: Economic and environmental evaluation of compressed-air cars by Felix Creutzig et al.
- 2009/11/19: CP: The response of Mediterranean thermohaline circulation to climate change: a minimal model by P. Th. Meijer & H. A. Dijkstra
- 2009/11/18: CP: Quantifying the roles of ocean circulation and biogeochemistry in governing ocean carbon-13 and atmospheric carbon dioxide at the last glacial maximum by A. Tagliabue et al.
- 2009/11/19: Nature: (ab$) Reconstruction of the history of anthropogenic CO2 concentrations in the ocean by S. Khatiwala et al.
- 2009/11/19: TC: Diagnostic and prognostic simulations with a full Stokes model accounting for superimposed ice of Midtre Lovénbreen, Svalbard by T. Zwinger & J. C. Moore
- 2009/11/18: TCD: A sea ice thickness retrieval model for 1.4 GHz radiometry and application to airborne measurements over low salinity sea ice by L. Kaleschke et al.
- 2009/11/17: AGWObserver: Papers on reconstructions of modern temperatures
- 2009/11/16: ACP: Explicit calculation of indirect global warming potentials for halons using atmospheric models by D. Youn et al.
- 2009/11/16: ACP: Aerosol indirect effects -- general circulation model intercomparison and evaluation with satellite data by J. Quaas et al.
- 2009/11/16: ACP: The comprehensive model system COSMO-ART - Radiative impact of aerosol on the state of the atmosphere on the regional scale by B. Vogel et al.
- 2009/11/18: ACPD: Estimations of climate sensitivity based on top-of-atmosphere radiation imbalance by B. Lin et al.
- 2009/11/16: ACPD: Sources of uncertainties in modelling Black Carbon at the global scale by E. Vignati et al.
- 2009/11/17: PNAS: (ab$) Sodium shortage as a constraint on the carbon cycle in an inland tropical rainforest by Michael Kaspari et al.
- 2009/11/17: PNAS: (ab$) Climate, carbon cycling, and deep-ocean ecosystems by K. L. Smith, Jr et al.
- 2009/11/10: GRL: (ab$) Is the airborne fraction of anthropogenic CO2 emissions increasing? by Wolfgang Knorr
- 2009/11/17: NatGeo: (ab$) Trends in the sources and sinks of carbon dioxide by Corinne Le Quéré et al.
And other significant documents:
- 2009/11/18: FAO: [64k pdf] World Summit on Food Security - Declaration
- 2009/11/12: EPI: [link to 8 meg pdf, 12 meg ppt] Summary Presentation for Plan B 4.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization
- 2009/11/18: EnergyBulletin: [link to 426k pdf] Food Futures: Strategies for resilient food and farming
- 2009/11/18: UNFPA: [link to pdf] State of World Population 2009
- 2009/11/17: IIED: [312k pdf] COP15 for journalists:a guide to the UN climate change summit
- 2009/09/: PostCarbon: [link to 2.6 Meg pdf] Searching for a Miracle -- 'Net Energy' Limits & the Fate of Industrial Society
Before we get into politics, there was some science done:
- 2009/11/20: NatureN: Model predicts future deforestation -- Projections could help Central African nations in Copenhagen climate talks
- 2009/11/19: UCAR: New Method to Measure Snow, Soil Moisture With GPS May Benefit Meteorologists, Farmers
- 2009/11/16: Purdue: Purdue, NASA research provides blueprint for molecular basis of global warming
- 2009/11/16: NOAANews: NOAA Releases Expanded World Ocean Database
Regarding Le Mouel:
- 2009/11/20: RealClimate: A problem of multiplicity
Klotzbach redux:
- 2009/11/16: Stoat: Rip her to shreds
- 2009/11/16: JEB: Klotzbach ad nauseam 2009
While at the UN:
- 2009/11/19: UN: Ban to focus on climate change during Trinidad and Tobago visit
- 2009/11/19: UN: UN confident of success at Copenhagen climate summit, with US on board
- 2009/11/18: COP15: Ban Ki-moon: We share one planet -- we share the problems: food, fuel, flu, financial
- 2009/11/18: DerSpiegel: The Sisyphus from Nairobi -- How the UN's Climate Advocate Wants to Save the World
Achim Steiner heads up the UN Environment Program, a traditionally weak agency with an annual budget of just 200 million dollars. But Steiner is doing his best to transform the position into a soapbox for the environment -- and is having some success. - 2009/11/18: CFO: Post-2012 climate deal delay 'rocks confidence' - investors
Statements from US President Barack Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao that a legally binding climate deal is unlikely to be struck at Copenhagen next month has rocked confidence in the global carbon markets, investors have told Carbon Finance. As world leaders instead eye a "comprehensive political agreement" as the likely outcome for the UN talks -- with a full treaty to follow in 2010 -- investors are holding back on entering the market until there is more certainty on the post-2012 outcome. - 2009/11/18: Reuters: Copenhagen still "golden opportunity" for CO2 market
- 2009/11/18: BBC: Carbon market clouded by uncertainty
- 2009/11/17: Guardian(UK): The European emissions trading scheme is now a success -- It was not the market that failed, but the policies that governed how it worked
- 2009/11/15: BBC: Rainforests could be traded on world market
Why would America's largest coal utility and Britain's biggest oil company invest in protecting a remote plot of Bolivian rainforest? American Electric Power and BP invested in the pilot project alongside environmental groups such as the Nature Conservancy to find out if protecting forests compensates for their own pollution. - 2009/11/16: CleanBreak: Dutch pursue idea of cross-country road pricing
- 2009/11/16: DerSpiegel: Netherlands Road Fees -- New Pay-as-You-Go Tax for Dutch Drivers
Rather than an annual road tax for their cars, drivers in the Netherlands will soon pay a few cents for every kilometer on the road, in a plan aimed at eliminating chronic traffic jams and cutting carbon emissions. - 2009/11/19: BWeek: A Big Loophole in Cap and Trade
How companies may be rewarded under the cap-and-trade system for green projects they already had in the works - 2009/11/18: CJR: Trains, Planes, and Carbon Offsets -- Times keeps a needed eye on green premiums
- 2009/11/18: AlterNet: Thanks to GM, People Are Being Displaced So Their Forests Can Become Offsets for SUVs
- 2009/11/17: USAToday:Debate: Our view on climate change: Imperfect 'cap-and-trade' is best option to fight warming
On the international political front, the big news was Obama's trip to China:
- 2009/11/18: REA: The Emerging US-China Strategic Alliance on Clean Energy
- 2009/11/20: ScienceInsider: China-U.S. Science Agreement Signals Dawn of a New Era
- 2009/11/20: ClimateP: Announcements of U.S.-China cooperation create a path to Copenhagen success
- 2009/11/20: NRDC:SwitchBoard: Laying the Foundation for US-India Collaboration on Climate Change
- 2009/11/19: COP15: China and the US sign deal on monitoring emissions
- 2009/11/18: AlterNet: World's Biggest Polluters Strike a Deal: U.S. and China Agree to Comprehensive Clean Energy and Climate Plan
- 2009/11/18: NRDC:SwitchBoard: Obama's China Trip: A Breakthrough on Clean Energy and Climate
- 2009/11/17: SciAm: More important than Copenhagen? U.S.-China deal on energy and climate
- 2009/11/18: TreeHugger: Barack Obama and Hu Jintao Announce US-China Electric Vehicles Initiative
- 2009/11/18: TreeHugger: US and China: Goodbye Clean Coal, Ni Hao, "21st Century Coal"
- 2009/11/18: LBL: Berkeley Lab Lends Expertise to India to Promote Energy Efficiency -- Smarter grid, greener buildings could cut pollution and carbon dioxide emissions
- 2009/11/17: SolveClimate: New US-China Energy Agreement Aims for '21st Century Coal'
- 2009/11/17: Maribo: US-China cooperation on climate and, er, coal
- 2009/11/17: Guardian(UK): Obama and Hu aim to agree greenhouse gas targets
- 2009/11/17: NatureTGB: Copenhagen deal looks shaky as US and China talk
- 2009/11/17: ClimateP: U.S. and China announce "positive, cooperative and comprehensive" plan for collaboration on clean energy and climate change
- 2009/11/17: ABC(Au): US, China talks cordial but produce little
- 2009/11/17: NRDC:SwitchBoard: Subtle but Important Shifts in Global Warming Positions Just Announced by US & China
- 2009/11/17: TreeHugger: US and China Strike a Deal On Renewable Energy Information Sharing
- 2009/11/17: TreeHugger: Massive New US-China Clean Energy Plans Announced
- 2009/11/17: EarthTimes: US, China pledge to rescue Copenhagen climate talks
- 2009/11/17: EarthTimes: China, US firm sign deal for world's largest solar plant
- 2009/11/17: WSJ:EnvCap: Obama in China: No Deal on Emissions, But How About Clean Energy?
- 2009/11/17: Reuters: Climate deal must have immediate effect, Obama says
U.S. President Barack Obama said on Tuesday next month's climate talks in Copenhagen should cut a deal with "immediate operational effect," even if its original aim of a legally binding pact is not achievable. Obama was speaking after talks with Chinese President Hu Jintao in which he said the world's top two greenhouse gas emitters had agreed to take "significant" action to mitigate their output of carbon dioxide. - 2009/11/16: Guardian(UK): China and US poised to break new ground in green technology partnership
- 2009/11/16: NRDC:SwitchBoard: Clean Energy Cooperation on the Eve of the US-China Summit
As for GW & security:
- 2009/11/16: ENN: A National Security Perspective on Climate Change
The issue of the law and activism is playing out around the world as nations scramble to deal with climate change:
- 2009/11/19: TreeHugger: Indonesia Scores One For Press Repression & Environmental Destruction - Reporters, Activists Deported
- 2009/11/19: SolveClimate: Indonesia Deporting 2 More Climate Activists, 2 Reporters
Among the world's religions:
- 2009/11/19: ENN: Islam's green initiative
- 2009/11/18: Guardian(UK): US evangelicals warm to climate change science in Capitol Hill campaign
Leading environmental scientists and evangelical Christians join forces to lobby senators in support of the climate billAnd on the American political front:
- 2009/11/16: ENN: A National Security Perspective on Climate Change
- 2009/11/20: SolveClimate: Foreign Competition Pressuring US to Support Clean Energy at Home
- 2009/11/18: CNN: California approves new energy efficiency standards for televisions
- 2009/11/20: TreeHugger: Hundreds Speak Out In Support of [US] EPA Global Warming Rule
- 2009/11/18: NatJo: Is It Wise To Wait Till Spring? [to debate climate change legislation]
- 2009/11/19: Archein: the price of water
- 2009/11/18: Grist: Winning the clean energy race: a new strategy for American leadership
- 2009/11/19: TreeHugger: Asia is Outspending the USA 3-to-1 in Clean-Tech Investments
- 2009/11/18: HuffPo: Will the GOP Nominate a Climate Change Denier in 2012?
In the early stages of the race for the Republican Presidential nomination in 2012, eight names are mentioned most frequently [...] five outright deny or question climate science, while the remaining three are opposed to all meaningful action. - 2009/11/17: CourierJournal: Ex-mine official says he resisted illegal policy
The former head of the state mine-permitting agency said Tuesday he was fired after refusing to go along with an illegal policy that primarily benefited a politically powerful coal company, Alliance Resource Partners. Ron Mills, a veteran state regulator, was fired without explanation last Friday by the [Kentucky Gov. Steve] Beshear administration as director of the Division of Mine Permits. He said in an interview Tuesday that he was told by the official who gave him his notice that the governor's office was involved in the decision. - 2009/11/17: CSW: The economic costs of climate adaptation escalate with inaction, says bipartisan energy group
- 2009/11/17: TreeHugger: GOP Ramps Up Attacks on Dems Who Support Clean Energy Reform for 2010 Elections
- 2009/11/16: TP: [Governor Tim] Pawlenty (R-MN) Completes Science-Denying Metamorphosis, Now Refutes That Human Activity Causes Climate Change
- 2009/11/16: EurActiv: Survey: Americans more sceptical of global warming
There has been a sharp decline over the past year in the percentage of Americans who say there is solid evidence that global temperatures are rising, while fewer consider global warming as a very serious problem, according to the Pew Research Center For The People And The Press. A new survey finds that only 57% of Americans think there is solid evidence that average temperatures are rising, as opposed to 71% a year ago. - 2009/11/16: TreeHugger: The Senate is 'Hobbling' Obama in His Climate Fight
- 2009/11/16: EarthTimes: Former US president Carter calls on US to set high climate goals
- 2009/11/16: SolveClimate: New Report Finds Clear Evidence of US Jobs Boom from Green Building
- 2009/11/13: MoJo: The Monkey-Wrench Prank: An Interview With Tim DeChristopher
How the Yes Men inspired a climate activist to impersonate an oil speculator -- and derail a multimillion-dollar federal land giveaway. - 2009/11/15: NYT: Obama Hobbled in Fight Against Global Warming [by Congress]
- 2009/11/16: AlterNet: America Is One Big Clunker and No Amount of Cash Will Buy Us a New One
A home refit program dubbed _Cash for Caulkers_ is picking up some chatter:
- 2009/11/17: NYT: A Stimulus That Could Save Money -- Promise in a 'Cash for Caulkers' Program to Weatherize Homes
- 2009/11/18: ProPublica: Cash for Clunkers? Nope -- Cash for Caulkers
- 2009/11/19: NRDC:SwitchBoard: "Cash for Caulkers" Coming As Soon As Congressionally Possible
- 2009/11/18: TreeHugger: Cash for Caulkers: The Next $23 Billion Stimulus Program?
Some are still taking potshots at the US Chamber of Commerce:
- 2009/11/19: NRDC:SwitchBoard: Duke Energy Cut Its Payments to the US Chamber Over Climate
- 2009/11/19: NRDC:SwitchBoard: NYT: US Chamber Has Not Expressed Support for Any Proposals to Cap Emissions
- 2009/11/18: NRDC:SwitchBoard: The US Chamber Needs to Get Its Story Straight
The Obama chatter is nonstop:
- 2009/11/22: Guardian(UK): Barack Obama ready to offer target for cutting greenhouse gas emissions
- 2009/11/18: WSWS: Obama blocks climate change agreement
In the course of his current trip to Asia, US President Barack Obama has insured that the upcoming United Nations Climate Conference, due to take place in Copenhagen December 7-18, will be nothing more than a talk shop. An estimated 40 world leaders and representatives of 190 nations are due to take part in the Copenhagen conference, which has the task of producing a new agenda for tackling global warming to replace the Kyoto Protocol of 1997. Last Sunday, Obama gave his consent to a plan worked out at the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Singapore that delays any binding agreements on climate change until next year at the earliest. The deal was supported by many of the world's leading greenhouse gas emitters, including the United States, China, Russia, Japan, Indonesia and South Korea. - 2009/11/19: DemNow: Shunning Dissidents, Obama Leaves China Without Firm Pledges on Trade, Climate
- 2009/11/18: Grist: Copenhagen climate crash -- Hot planet to Obama: What's your Plan B?
- 2009/11/18: Guardian(UK): Greenpeace chief urges Obama to use 'political capital' to agree climate deal
Kumi Naidoo, the first African to lead Greepeace, says US president risks inflaming anti-American sentiment - 2009/11/17: DerSpiegel: Obama Has Failed the World on Climate Change
- 2009/11/17: SciNow: Obama's Climate Question and an Answer for Global Health
- 2009/11/17: ScienceInsider: Can Obama Bring a Number in Copenhagen -- and Will It Matter?
- 2009/11/17: Grist: Mr. President: Time to quit fibbing and spinning by Bill McKibben
- 2009/11/17: Grist: Know thine enemy -- Is Bill McKibben right to be angry with Obama?
The actions of the Obama administration are being watched closely:
- 2009/11/20: Reuters: Obama wants U.S. economy-wide climate plan-Browner
The Obama administration wants a comprehensive plan to cut U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, not one that imposes carbon reduction requirements on just some industries such as electric utilities, a senior White House adviser said on Friday. White House climate change adviser Carol Browner told an American Council on Renewable Energy forum that the administration is seeking "an economy-wide approach" to reining in carbon dioxide emissions. - 2009/11/20: SolveClimate: New SO2 Standards Highlight EPA's Role in Regulating Coal Plants
- 2009/11/16: REA: A Turning Point for Geothermal: DOE Funding Wins Industry Approval
- 2009/11/19: ClimateP: Carol Browner strongly backs economywide, bipartisan cap-and-trade bill...
- 2009/11/20: PhysOrg: Lehigh receives grant to reduce cost of carbon capture at coal-fired power plants
Lehigh University's Energy Research Center (ERC) has been awarded a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to develop methods of recovering and reusing the heat that would be generated by the carbon-dioxide (CO2) compression process in a carbon capture system. The goal of the research project is to facilitate carbon capture and sequestration, or storage (CCS), and thus limit the amount of CO2, a greenhouse gas, emitted into the atmosphere by coal-fired power plants. - 2009/11/19: NYT:GW: EPA Sends Ship Emission Rules to White House
- 2009/11/18: TheHill: Browner: U.S. in 'good standing' heading into Copenhagen talks
White House climate czar Carol Browner downplayed the idea that the absence of a domestic emissions law would hinder U.S. leverage in Copenhagen and said the U.S. could tout major accomplishments heading into next month's international climate talks. - 2009/11/19: NRDC:SwitchBoard: Interior Department Comes Out Strong (Rhetorically) on Mountaintop Removal
- 2009/11/19: NRDC:SwitchBoard: Clean Energy Is Good for America, Whether You Believe in Climate Change or Not
As for what is going on in Congress:
- 2009/11/21: Grist: Merkley wants Senate jobs bill to help finance building efficiency retrofits
- 2009/11/19: SolveClimate: Offshore Oil Drilling Debate Renewed in Senate Hearing
- 2009/11/20: TP:WR: After Inhofe's Endorsement, Carly Fiorina Challenges Climate Science
- 2009/11/18: NYT:GW: Talk of Plan B -- a Power Plant-Only Climate Bill -- Emerges in Senate
- 2009/11/18: PIIE: Senator Schumer's Blowhard Moment? [Texas wind park]
- 2009/11/18: HillHeat: Senate Watch: Bingaman, Boxer, Lincoln, McCaskill, Merkley, McCain, Murkowski, Reid, Rockefeller, Sanders, Whitehouse
- 2009/11/17: NYT:GW: Don't Blame U.S. for Standoff in Int'l Climate Talks, Senators [Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) & Sen. Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico (D-NM)] Say
- 2009/11/17: ClimateP: Reid: "I think if we do it right, the energy bill, the climate bill can be very, very job productive" -- plans floor debate on bipartisan bill "sometime in the spring"
- 2009/11/17: NBF: [US] Nuclear Energy Bill for 100 Nuclear Reactors by 2030 and India Nuclear Power Target of 40 GW by 2020
- 2009/11/16: HillHeat: Senate Watch: Cardin, Conrad, Dorgan, Graham, Grassley, Kerry, Lieberman, Lugar, Murkowski, Rockefeller
Kerry-Boxer aka CEJAPA defines a battleline:
- 2009/11/19: TreeHugger: New Study: Climate Bill Would Boost Economy by $111 Billion, Create 1.9 Million Jobs
- 2009/11/17: TerraDaily: US Senate to act on climate bill in 2010
- 2009/11/17: ScienceInsider: It's Official: No Senate Climate Bill Before "Early Spring"
- 2009/11/17: GreenGrok: Changing [US] Climate Change Legislation
- 2009/11/17: Grist: U.S. Senate puts off action on climate bill to 2010
What are the lobbyists pushing?
- 2009/11/19: NRDC:SwitchBoard: Big Oil and Big Coal Spend Big to Kill Clean Energy Bill
- 2009/11/18: NRDC:SwitchBoard: How to Melt Glaciers and Influence People: API and ACCCE Spend the Big Bucks
- 2009/11/15: JKB: Politics and Lobby talking in one voice
The Gore-apalooza is still bopping along:
- 2009/11/19: Oregonian: Sliding backward on climate change
- 2009/11/17: DeSmogBlog: Energy industry front group plans "teabagger" protest at Gore's event in Portland
- 2009/11/17: STimes: Al Gore answers questions about climate change
- 2009/11/16: HotTopic: Our Choice: Al's plan to solve the climate crisis
While in the UK:
- 2009/11/18: Guardian(UK): Energy bill in Queen's speech latest step to low-carbon economy in Britain
- 2009/11/18: Guardian(UK): The flood and water management bill
The bill is designed to improve the UK's resilience to future flooding threats that are likely to be intensified by climate change - 2009/11/18: BBC: Bill set to boost Ofgem's powers
The Queen's Speech has outlined an Energy Bill, which is expected to give the regulator Ofgem more power to intervene on behalf of consumers. The intention is to provide more support for energy consumers and to tackle fuel poverty. The bill also introduces a financial incentive for carbon capture and storage (CCS) which stops greenhouse gases from reaching the atmosphere. - 2009/11/16: Guardian(UK): Top 10 Tory bloggers disagree with David Cameron on climate change [UK pol]
- 2009/11/16: TCEToday: MechE urges gov to look beyond mitigation -- UK will fail goal without all engineering solutions
- 2009/11/16: Guardian(UK): Let's tune in again. Our MPs are bringing big ideas back
And in Europe:
- 2009/11/19: EurActiv: EU agrees on new energy-efficiency labels
- 2009/11/18: EurActiv: EU reaches agreement on energy savings in buildings
EU lawmakers last night (17 November) forged a long-awaited compromise on the recast buildings directive, agreeing that all new buildings would have to comply with high energy-performance standards and supply a significant share of their energy requirements from renewable sources after the end of 2020. - 2009/11/18: PeakEnergy: European Commission Projects 80% Renewable Energy by 2050
- 2009/11/16: EUO: EU states drag their heels on clean energy funding
A tiny fraction of the billions of euros that have been allocated for clean energy projects in central and eastern European countries have made their way to their intended recipients, according to a new report. - 2009/11/16: PlanetArk: Spain To Install 8.8 GW Of Renewable Energy To 2012
Meanwhile in Australia:
- 2009/11/22: ABC(Au): The Federal Government will give the Opposition just two days to decide whether or not to vote for an amended emissions trading scheme
- 2009/11/20: ABC(Au): Exempt NT from emissions scheme, demands CLP
Local industries should be exempt from the Federal Government's proposed emissions trading scheme, the Northern Territory Opposition's spokesman on business affairs [Dave Tollner] says. - 2009/11/20: ABC(Au): Climate Change Minister Penny Wong will not say whether the coal and electricity industry are in line to get more compensation under the Government's emissions trading scheme (ETS)
- 2009/11/20: ABC(Au): Abbott 'challenging Turnbull' with emissions flip
Former Liberal MP Bruce Baird says frontbencher Tony Abbott's emissions trading flip could signal a leadership challenge. Earlier this year, Mr Abbott said he was in favour of the Coalition reaching a deal with the Government to pass an emissions trading scheme (ETS). But he now says the Opposition should only agree to vote for the scheme if the Government agrees to all of the Coalition's amendments. - 2009/11/20: PlanetArk: Australian Heatwave In Carbon Trade Battle
- 2009/11/20: OilDrum: Australian Senate: Peak Oil motion defeated 31:6
The Government and Opposition today voted against a Greens motion in the Senate calling on the Government to plan for peak oil. - 2009/11/20: Reuters: Australia's Rudd faces showdown on carbon vote
Australia's parliament votes next week on Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's plan for a sweeping carbon trade scheme with hopes it will finally win approval after two years of divisive debate. Rudd wants the scheme passed in the last four parliamentary sitting days of the year to help generate momentum for global climate talks next month in Copenhagen, which are now unlikely to set legally-binding global greenhouse targets. - 2009/11/19: ABC(Au): Firefighters demand climate change action
Firefighters have demanded federal politicians stop treating climate change like "a political football" and pass the emissions trading scheme. Members of the United Firefighters Union of Australia have travelled to Parliament House today to urge both sides of politics to take action as senators continue to debate the scheme. The union made a similar call for action in the wake of February's devastating Victorian bushfires and Peter Marshall has today repeated the call as parts of South Australia are now declared catastrophic code-red areas. - 2009/11/19: ABC(Au): The former Australian of the Year, environmentalist Tim Flannery, is worried what effects a growing population will have on the environment
- 2009/11/19: ABC(Au): As debate over the emissions trading scheme (ETS) heats up in Federal Parliament, the miners' union [CMFEU] is seeking to protect jobs at some coal mines it believes may be at risk
- 2009/11/19: ABC(Au): Call for Illawarra mines to get ETS concessions
The Federal Opposition's climate change negotiator says gassy coal mines such as those in the Illawarra should get concessions in the emissions trading scheme. Ian MacFarlane says he has changed his mind on clean coal technology and he now believes it will not be ready to use commercially in Australia for 20 to 30 years. - 2009/11/19: ABC(Au): The New South Wales Government is inviting councils that could be affected by wind farm developments to take part in new advisory committees
- 2009/11/19: ABC(Au): Queensland's Climate Change Minister Kate Jones says farmers still have a big role in cutting greenhouse gas emissions despite being excluded from the emissions trading scheme
- 2009/11/19: ABC(Au): Queensland's Primary Industries Minister Tim Mulherin says he is encouraged by suggestions that Queensland's beef industry could be carbon neutral
- 2009/11/19: PlanetArk: Fiscal/Political Risk In Australia ETS Debate: [Climate Institute] Report
- 2009/11/19: HotTopic: Rudd brooks no denial [Lowry Institute speech]
- 2009/11/18: ABC(Au): Bernardi to vote against carbon scheme
Liberal Senator Cory Bernardi has confirmed in Parliament he will vote against the Government's emissions trading scheme. The South Australian Senator has pre-empted the Coalition party room's decision on how it will vote on the scheme. The Government and Opposition are negotiating on the scheme and both sides say they are optimistic about clinching a deal. But Senator Bernardi has told the Senate he is not willing to compromise. - 2009/11/18: ABC(Au): Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has called for world leaders to show political courage at the climate change talks in Copenhagen in three weeks' time
- 2009/11/18: ABC(Au): Greens back low-carbon future plan
The New South Wales Greens party has welcomed a plan endorsed by Premier Nathan Rees to establish the Illawarra as a generator of renewable energy technologies. - 2009/11/18: ABC(Au): Emissions negotiations inch forward
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says he believes the Government will reach a deal with the Opposition over the emissions trading scheme - 2009/11/18: ABC(Au): A Newcastle University Associate Professor [Stewart Franks] says his research shows it is a myth carbon emissions are causing higher temperatures, blamed for the Murray-Darling catchment drying up.
- 2009/11/18: ABC(Au): Councils invited to join wind farm groups
Riverina councils are being invited to join new committees that aim to boost consultation on wind farm developments. The New South Wales Government is encouraging the uptake of renewable energy and has set up precincts and advisory committees for windy areas. - 2009/11/17: CCurrents: Australia Sabotages Copenhagen By Excluding Huge Agriculture GHG Emissions
- 2009/11/18: ABC(Au): Emission targets 'will boost community enthusiasm'
The ACT Government's plan to make Canberra carbon neutral by 2060 has been welcomed by green groups but the business industry says there needs to be more detail. The Government wants Canberra's emissions to peak by 2013, achieving carbon neutrality by 2060. They are the most ambitious carbon emissions reduction targets in the country. - 2009/11/17: ABC(Au): Senate risks emissions trading delays: Rudd
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has accused the Opposition of jeopardising emissions trading negotiations after it voted to delay debate over the legislation in the Senate. The Opposition's move to prevent debate beginning today comes as 10 MPs today told the Coalition party room they would never vote for an emissions trading scheme. Negotiations over amendments to the scheme are continuing but the Government is adamant it should be passed by the end of next week before Parliament rises. - 2009/11/17: ABC(Au): The Wellington Shire has welcomed the Victorian Government's release of new maps showing the effect of sea level rise along the Victorian coastline
- 2009/11/17: ABC(Au): Rising sea levels to spark tough planning decisions
The Glenelg Shire says a report predicting south-west Victoria will be severely affected by future sea level rises has serious implications for the region. - 2009/11/18: ABC(Au): Australia leads world in carbon emissions
The latest audit of global carbon emissions has found they are continuing to rise and Australia still holds the lead with the highest emissions per capita among developed nations. - 2009/11/18: PlanetArk: Australian Opposition Confident Of Carbon Deal
After months of stalemate, Australia's government could finally seal an agreement for its sweeping carbon trade scheme by early next week after the opposition said on Tuesday they were confident of a deal. The government wants carbon trading to start in July 2011, covering 75 percent of emissions in what could become the second domestic trading platform outside of Europe. But laws governing the scheme have been stalled for months, unable to win parliamentary approval because of intense opposition from rival lawmakers. The government, short of a majority in the Senate, has been negotiating changes with the main opposition bloc to secure extra votes needed to pass the carbon laws. Opposition negotiator Ian Macfarlane is confident his side would now support a deal. - 2009/11/17: BNC: Forget the quality, it's the 700 million tonnes which counts
- 2009/11/17: ABC(Au): ACT sets ambitious emissions target
- 2009/11/16: ABC(Au): The Federal Government has released a new report titled Climate Change Risks to Australia's coasts
- 2009/11/16: ABC(Au): Maps reveal rising sea level threat
New coastal mapping data shows Portland and Port Fairy are at risk of being submerged during extreme storms. The Victorian Government has released maps showing the possible effects of sea level rises on the state over the next 100 years. - 2009/11/16: ABC(Au): A farmer at Mount Bryan in mid-north South Australia says the South Australian Government should look at setting limits on how close wind turbines can be built to houses
- 2009/11/16: ABC(Au): The Victorian Government has released maps showing the possible effects of sea level rises on vulnerable coastal regions over the next 100 years
- 2009/11/16: ABC(Au): Inverell-based Nationals' Senator John Williams says he still will not vote for the Rudd Government's emissions trading scheme, even though agriculture has been permanently excluded
- 2009/11/16: ABC(Au): Victoria's peak farm body is welcoming the Federal Government's backdown on agriculture and its emissions trading plans
- 2009/11/16: ABC(Au): [Opposition Senate Leader Nick] Minchin still cold on climate deal
- 2009/11/16: PeakEnergy: I'm sick of the CPRS. To hell with you all.
And in New Zealand:
- 2009/11/22: HotTopic: Oram on ETS debacle: Business Council for Sustainable Development ordered to shut up by big emitters; Nick Smith guilty of "breathtaking hypocrisy"
- 2009/11/16: HotTopic: Imagining 2020 the world will be what we make it -- New Zealanders imagine what a low carbon future might be like...
While in the Indian subcontinent:
- 2009/11/20: PlanetArk: India's Cabinet Approves Solar Power Programme
India's cabinet on Thursday approved its first solar power plan, pledging to boost output from near zero to 20 gigawatts (GW) by 2020 as part of its plan to fight global warming. - 2009/11/17: NRDC:SwitchBoard: News on India Climate Change and Energy
And China:
- 2009/11/22: NewScientist: Low-carbon road map for China
In Canada, minority neocon PM Harper, continues his do-nothing policy:
- 2009/11/20: Kelowna:CanWest: Canada needs 40 years to stabilize greenhouse emissions, Environment Minister Jim Prentice says
- 2009/11/22: TStar: Why Canada failed on Kyoto and how to make amends -- The nation's recent history sadly played against fulfilling its treaty obligations
- 2009/11/17: APOV: From [Jim Prentice] The Horse's Mouth: Doing Nothing About Climate Change
- 2009/11/17: CBC: Climate change laws years away: [Canadian Environment Minister Jim] Prentice
The federal environment minister says it may be a few years before Canada tables regulations to cut greenhouse gas emissions. Jim Prentice said the world has to first negotiate a new climate change treaty and Canada and the United States must finish their continental agreement on the same issue. - 2009/11/15: RBH: Harper Fiddles While Planet Burns
- 2009/11/16: APOV: Harper And Harpies: Happy On Doing Nothing About Climate Change
- 2009/11/16: HillTimes: Feds misleading Canadians on GHG targets, say environmentalists
Environment Minister Jim Prentice slams environmental report as 'irresponsible,' but knows it's not politically expedient to tell it like it is. The federal government has been intentionally refusing to have "an adult conversation" on climate change because it doesn't want Canadians to know the positive and negative effects of addressing the issue, but it's time to make difficult policy choices in the public interest and before it's too late, warn environment experts and government critics. - 2009/11/21: G&M: Canadians chagrined over status as climate-change dawdlers
Poll finds three quarters are embarrassed that country hasn't taken international lead on cutting greenhouse gases - 2009/11/21: CarsonsPost: 75% of Canadians EMBARRASSED by their gov stand on Climate Change
- 2009/11/21: Far-n-Wide: Canadians See Ourselves As "Laggards" -- An interesting study on Canada's climate change policy, that passes the sniff test
In BC, post election adjustments are ongoing:
- 2009/11/16: Tyee: SFU Profs Slam Campbell's Energy Plan -- Hobbling BC Hydro so private firms can profit big is bad public policy
- 2009/11/20: CBC: The 10-billion-barrel battle
1 man's campaign to end B.C.'s offshore drilling ban -- Henry Lyatsky is a man on a mission. The Calgary-based oil industry consultant is on a one-man campaign to lift the moratorium on offshore oil drilling on Canada's West Coast. While his message gets a sympathetic ear in in his home town, the centre of Canada's oil industry, his mission is more of an uphill battle in British Columbia. - 2009/11/19: CBC: Ontario to review flat-screen regulations
Ontario will consider revising its standards for flat-screen televisions now that California has moved to ban power-hungry sets from its store shelves. Energy Minister Gerry Phillips says the province is always looking at ways to improve energy efficiency in appliances, and flat-screen TVs are definitely worth looking at. - 2009/11/19: G&M: Pipeline to West Coast gains backing -- Enbridge expects 'solid shipping commitments' for Gateway
Commercial support is building for a new pipeline to carry oil sands crude on its way to Asia, as Canada's energy industry seeks diversification from the U.S. market and an escape valve from potentially punitive climate-change regulations. [...] "We must export oil to China," BMO chief economist Sherry Cooper said Thursday in a speech in Calgary. "It's very important. And the sooner the better." Such an outlet is both a useful exercise in market diversification, but also a necessary strategy in the face of looming U.S. climate policies, which may restrict oil sands imports, she said. "For sure, the U.S. isn't going to like it," Ms. Cooper said. "But that's good, because it gives us more leverage with the U.S. For example, it makes it more difficult for the U.S. to threaten us with comments about dirty oil." - 2009/11/20: IoD: The ultimate anti-tar sands message [video]
As for miscellaneous Canadiana:
- 2009/11/18: CBC: Winnipeg teen's climate blog wins kudos -- Kaitlin Alexander, 17, writes a blog called ClimateSight
- 2009/11/17: EnergyBulletin: Canada's House of Commons must convene inquiry into fossil fuel supply
The movement toward a long term ecologically viable economics is glacial:
- 2009/11/21: OilDrum: Information and Crude Complexity
- 2009/11/19: CCurrents: Should We Prop Up A Dying Economy? [ecoecon]
- 2009/11/17: VanObserver: Sustainability and Social Justice: Do the Math
- 2009/11/17: CCurrents: Searching For A Miracle: 'Net Energy' Limits And The Fate Of Industrial Society
IPAT [Impact = Population * Affluence * Technology] raised its head once again:
- 2009/11/22: ERabett: Bunnies have a reputation
- 2009/11/20: CCurrents: World Energy And Population: Trends To 2100
- 2009/11/18: TerraDaily: Tackling population rise would fight climate change: UN report
- 2009/11/19: EconView: "Transgressing Planetary Boundaries"
Jeff Sachs says that if world population doesn't stabilize relatively soon, we're headed for trouble - 2009/11/18: NatureN: Curbing population growth crucial to reducing carbon emissions -- Access to contraception could tackle global warming, says United Nations
- 2009/11/18: Grist: Tackling population rise would fight climate change
- 2009/11/18: TreeHugger: Let's Give Out Free Condoms to Stop Climate Change... Maybe Not as Daft As It Seems
- 2009/11/18: EarthTimes: World population report links birth control to climate change
- 2009/11/18: UNFPA: Women Central to Efforts to Deal With Climate Change, Says New UNFPA Report
- 2009/11/18: BBC: The number of people in Africa has passed the one billion mark, the UN Population Fund says in a report
- 2009/11/18: BBC: Poor women 'bear climate burden'
Women in developing countries will be the most vulnerable to climate change, a report from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has warned. The agency said there was a disproportionate burden on those women and called for greater equality. They do most of the agricultural work, and are therefore affected by weather-related natural disasters impacting on food, energy and water, it said. Slower population growth would help cut greenhouse gas emissions, it added. The report suggested family planning, reproductive healthcare and "gender relations" could influence how the world adapts to rising seas, worsening storms and severe droughts. "[There] are fundamental questions about how climate change will affect women, men, boys and girls differently around the world, and indeed within nations, and how individual behaviour can undermine or contribute to the global effort to cool our warming world," UNFPA executive director Thoraya Ahmed Obaid said. - 2009/11/17: Eureka: Emulating Western lifestyles: Consumption and carbon footprints in less industrialized countries
Apocalypso anyone?
- 2009/11/20: CCurrents: America's Pending Collapse
As for how the media handles the science of climatology:
- 2009/11/22: CCP: How Andrew Revkin of the New York Times sold out to fossil-fuel interests
- 2009/11/20: CCP: Andy Revkin sells out to the fossil fuel interests and gives Patrick Michaels (known mouthpiece for coal companies) the first and last word in his article about the hacked CRU emails
- 2009/11/20: CCP: Der Spiegel bought off by fossil fuel interests!!!
- 2009/11/19: Grist: Nobody knows nothin' -- Reflecting on the lameness of my profession
- 2009/11/18: KSJT: SF Chronicle: Is that big locomotive emitting half the exhaust it did before?
- 2009/11/18: DeSmogBlog: Wall Street Journal: Check your facts - and then ignore them entirely
- 2009/11/17: DeSmogBlog: Globe and Mail: Ad campaign takes aim at climate change
- 2009/11/17: DeSmogBlog: Bankrupt National Post Eats Crow on Climate Change
- 2009/11/17: DM:SRK: Which is Better For Science? Inaccurate Media Coverage Or No Coverage At All
- 2009/11/17: DeSmogBlog: Robert Redford's Sundance Channel to Air Climate Denier Propaganda [GGWS]
While activists search for effective communication techniques:
- 2009/11/22: Guardian(UK): This season Helena [Christensen] wears deepest green
- 2009/11/17: Guardian(UK): Apocalypse fatigue: Losing the public on climate change
- 2009/11/16: OilChange: The Angry Mermaid Strikes Back
Regarding the quality of blogospheric discussion:
- 2009/11/18: ERabett: No honor among bloggers
- 2009/11/16: ERabett: Around the Coffee Pot
Here is something for your library:
- 2009/11/19: EnergyBulletin: [Book Review] _The Ecotechnic Future: Envisioning a Post-Peak World_ by John Michael Greer
- 2009/11/17: ClimateSight: [Book Plug] _A World Without Ice_ by Dr Henry Pollack
- 2009/11/16: DeSmogBlog: [Book Plug] Climate Cover Up and Top 10 Lists
And for your film & video enjoyment:
- 2009/11/18: ClimateSight: Climate Change Movies!
Meanwhile among the 'Sue the Bastards!' contingent:
- 2009/11/20: ProPublica: Pa. Residents Sue Gas Driller for Contamination, Health Concerns
- 2009/11/16: Reuters: SEC files charges over "green" Ponzi scheme
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission charged four individuals and two companies with running a $30 million Ponzi scheme that targeted elderly investors and people nearing retirement who were seeking environmentally friendly investments. In a civil lawsuit filed Monday in Denver federal court, the SEC accused Mantria Corp of Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania and its principals Troy Wragg and Amanda Knorr of raising $122 million from more than 300 investors nationwide in a dozen fraudulent securities offerings. - 2009/11/16: NYT: No 'Choice of Evils' Defense in Oil Lease Case, Judge Rules
A college student who bid on and won more than $1.8 million in federal oil and gas leases last year without the intent or ability to pay will not be allowed to argue in court that he acted out of necessity to protect the environment, a federal judge ruled on Monday. The student, Tim DeChristopher, 27, an economics major at the University of Utah, faces up to five years in prison and huge fines on each of two felony charges -- making false statements and interfering with an auction -- arising from the sale last December in Utah. He has said he believed the looming dangers of climate change and environmental impact from drilling were so great and urgent that he had no choice but to take whatever action he could to stop the drilling program. His lawyer, Ronald J. Yengich, recently asked that the jury be allowed to consider a defense of necessity, or "choice of evils," when the trial begins, perhaps early next year. But Judge Dee Benson said in his ruling that Mr. DeChristopher had not met the threshold requirements under federal law. - 2009/11/19: TerraDaily: US Army Corps at fault for New Orleans levee failures: judge
- 2009/11/19: CBC: Katrina flooding blamed on 'monumental negligence'
- 2009/11/19: Guardian(UK): Victims of flooding during Hurricane Katrina win compensation
Ruling opens the door to further claims from up to 100,000 more victims with settlements that could cost billions - 2009/11/19: Guardian(UK): Hurricane Katrina victims win damages over flooding
US government could be vulnerable to billions of dollars in claims after a judge rules against Army corps - 2009/11/19: CNN: New Orleans mayor hails Katrina ruling
Judge: Army Corps of Engineers liable for catastrophic flooding during Katrina - New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin says ruling may "open up the floodgates" for more suits - Nagin calls decision "a surprise," says he expects feds to appeal - Plaintiffs awarded damages from Lower Ninth Ward and St. Bernard Parish - 2009/11/19: CSW: Federal court: "Monumental negiligence" at Army Corps further endangered Katrina victims
- 2009/11/19: DM:CCM: Lawdy Lawd, Blame the Corps
- 2009/11/19: BBC: Corps blamed for Katrina floods
A US judge has ruled that negligence by the US Army Corps of Engineers led to massive floods in parts of New Orleans as Hurricane Katrina struck in 2005. The court upheld complaints by six residents and a business against the Corps over its maintenance of a navigational channel. They were awarded damages totalling $720,000 (£431,000), and the ruling could lead to thousands more claims. About 80% of New Orleans was flooded by Hurricane Katrina. More than 1,800 people died on the US Gulf coast in the devastating storms. - 2009/11/18: FuturePundit: CO2 Might Boost Geothermal Energy Efficiency
- 2009/11/21: PeakEnergy: U.S. Army's New Research Center Puts Fossil Fuels on Notice
- 2009/11/20: CCurrents: World Energy And Population: Trends To 2100
- 2009/11/20: OilDrum: The Renewables Gap: The Political Challenge of Affecting a Societal Transition to Renewable Sources of Energy
- 2009/11/20: WSJ:EnvCap: Duke's Rogers: Why Nuclear Power Will Probably Trump Coal
- 2009/11/19: AutoBG: Greenlings: What's the difference between kW and kWh?
- 2009/11/05: Ecologist: The next Industrial Revolution will be people-powered
Switching to decentralised renewable energy doesn't just mean a new source of power - it means a revolution that will be both social and economic - 2009/11/19: GreenGrok: Speaking of Coal and Natural Gas
- 2009/11/18: PhysOrg: Boosting the amount of energy obtained from water -- blue energy by reverse electrodialysis
- 2009/11/19: PhysOrg: Battery Research Aims To Store Renewable Energy
- 2009/11/19: ABC(Au): A Brisbane-based company wants to build a geothermal power plant in Queensland's north-west, which it says would be of national significance
- 2009/11/19: Eureka: On the crest of wave energy -- Engineers use aerospace approach to design wave energy system
- 2009/11/20: BNC: TCASE 6: Cooling water and thermal power plants
- 2009/11/18: PhysOrg: Turning heat to electricity... efficiently
- 2009/11/18: Eureka: MIT: Better way to harness waste heat
- 2009/11/18: PeakEnergy: European Commission Projects 80% Renewable Energy by 2050
- 2009/11/18: PlanetArk: [Strangford Narrows in Northern Ireland] Tidal Power Turbines Producing More Energy Than Expected
- 2009/11/16: PlanetArk: Spain To Install 8.8 GW Of Renewable Energy To 2012
- 2009/11/16: COP15: New study: An energy miracle is needed
Neither conventional fossil fuels nor alternative energy sources can singly or jointly provide the amount and quality of energy needed by 2100. - 2009/11/16: TreeHugger: Pumping CO2 Underground to Extract Geothermal Energy
Natural gas and fracking are still getting attention:
- 2009/11/22: OilDrum: Making holes and cracks around oil and gas wells [fracking]
- 2009/11/20: ProPublica: Pa. Residents Sue Gas Driller for Contamination, Health Concerns
- 2009/11/17: PeakEnergy: Shale-Gas Skeptic's Supply Doubts Draw Wrath of Devon Energy
The answer my friend...:
- 2009/11/22: PhysOrg: China harnesses mountain wind power
- 2009/11/20: TreeHugger: U.S. Military Wary About Offshore Wind Power Off Coast of Maryland
- 2009/11/19: ProJo: [Rhode Island's largest electric utility] National Grid objects to proposed cost of wind power
- 2009/11/16: GreenBiz: Making A Big Deal of Small Wind
- 2009/11/17: WSJ:EnvCap: Blown Away: Wind Power Keeps Growing in Texas
- 2009/11/16: Grist: One doctor's quest to sound the alarm on 'wind turbine syndrome'
- 2009/11/16: EarthTimes: Germany completes construction of first offshore wind farm
Meanwhile among the solar aficionados:
- 2009/11/21: FuturePundit: Solexant To Sell Solar Cells At $1 Per Watt
- 2009/11/19: ABC(Au): Bendigo's new solar park will begin feeding power into the electricity grid on Saturday
- 2009/11/19: ABC(Au): The extreme heat in outback Queensland is proving ideal for the state's first solar power station
- 2009/11/19: PeakEnergy: Thin-Film Solar with High Efficiency [10+%]
- 2009/11/18: PlanetArk: Canadian Solar Sees Doubling Shipments In 2010
- 2009/11/16: PlanetArk: Solar Panel Supply Glut Past Peak: Research
- 2009/11/16: WSJ:EnvCap: Cheap Solar: Plunging Silicon Gives Asian Solar Companies an Edge, HSBC Says
On the coal front:
- 2009/11/18: Reuters: U.S. coal industry stakes survival on carbon capture
A looming government clampdown on CO2 emissions is about to confront an already embattled U.S. coal power industry with two stark options: capture carbon or die. Legislation from Congress or tough new regulatory demands could make it costly to spew greenhouse gases, posing a serious threat to the nation's coal-fired power plants. With coal the single biggest source of carbon emissions, industry backers are pinning their hopes on technology to trap and store these emissions blamed for heating up the planet. Carbon capture technology is far from a done deal, however. Unproven on a commercial scale, the process is extremely expensive and there are a multitude of safety concerns. - 2009/11/19: WSJ:EnvCap: Coal Warriors: Why U.S. Coal Producers Could Still Have a Bright Future
Biofuel bickering abounds:
- 2009/11/20: TechRev: A New Route to Cellulosic Biofuels -- ZeaChem's pilot plant will make ethanol using termite microbes
- 2009/11/20: PhysOrg: Flax and yellow flowers can produce bioethanol
- 2009/11/20: Eureka: Delft [GMO] breakthrough in bioethanol production from agricultural waste
- 2009/11/19: ABC(Au): Biofuels cropping may threaten health, environment
- 2009/11/18: PhysOrg: NASA Develops Algae Bioreactor as a Sustainable Energy Source
- 2009/11/18: AutoBG: Forget biodiesel, algae could produce hydrogen
The nuclear energy controversy continues:
- 2009/11/21: NBF: Latest on Four Small Nuclear Reactors
- 2009/11/17: TechRev: A 25-Year Battery -- Long-lived nuclear batteries powered by hydrogen isotopes are in testing for military applications
- 2009/11/19: NatureN: Europe puts brakes on fusion project -- Firing up ITER in 2018 is not feasible, warn council delegates
- 2009/11/19: ScienceInsider: ITER Fusion Reactor Faces New Delay
- 2009/11/19: PeakEnergy: The nuclear option: too slow, too costly
- 2009/11/18: WSJ:EnvCap: Nuclear Options: Build More Nukes, or Work Existing Ones Harder?
- 2009/11/16: NYT:GI: A New Reactor Concept [HTGR] Inches Forward
- 2009/11/17: INL: Advanced nuclear fuel sets global performance record
Idaho National Laboratory (INL) scientists have set a new world record with next-generation particle fuel for use in high temperature gas reactors (HTGRs). - 2009/11/16: NBF: Defense Intelligence Agency Has a Positive Report on Low-Energy Nuclear Reactions aka Cold Fusion
- 2009/11/16: Grist: a renaissance delayed? Nuclear companies face reactor design problems, ethics questions
This week, we have multiple peaks:
- 2009/11/18: OnlineOpinion(Au): The developing scandal around the International Energy Agency and peak oil
- 2009/11/20: PeakEnergy: If Nothing Else, Save Farming
- 2009/11/19: SolveClimate: Peak Soil Has a Simple Fix, But Will We Manage It?
- 2009/11/18: OilDrum: Time and the Latest CERA Report: Why 2030 for the Peak?
- 2009/11/17: CCurrents: Too Late To Prepare For Peak Oil?
- 2009/11/17: CCurrents: Peak Oil: IEA Knew It Long Ago
- 2009/11/17: TR:ArxivBlog: The Coming Nuclear Crisis -- The world is running out of uranium and nobody seems to have noticed.
- 2009/11/16: Guardian(UK): The one thing depleting faster than oil is the credibility of those measuring it
- 2009/11/01: EPMag: The most recent economic downturn is a peak oil recession
- 2009/11/16: OilDrum: Oil Production is Reaching its Limit: The Basics of What This Means
- 2009/11/16: OilDrum: Colin Campbell's Response to the Guardian IEA Reporting
More people are talking about the electrical grid:
- 2009/11/22: BNC: Key concepts for reliable, small-scale low-carbon energy grids
- 2009/11/22: CanWest: U.S. plans to secure power grid worry producers -- Cyber-security bills could let Americans act unilaterally; leave Canada in the dark
- 2009/11/17: CleanBreak: Privacy and the emerging smart grid: lessons from the Internet
- 2009/11/19: PhysOrg: Liquid battery big enough for the electric grid?
- 2009/11/17: Grist: Solar's rapid evolution makes energy planners rethink the grid
And then there is the matter of efficiency & conservation:
- 2009/11/18: CNN: California approves new energy efficiency standards for televisions
- 2009/11/19: EurActiv: EU agrees on new energy-efficiency labels
- 2009/11/19: KSJT: Calif Press and national too: Golden State says big TVs have to cool it
- 2009/11/19: PhysOrg: Just use less: Energy savings to be big part of nation's energy future
Energy adviser and former Honeywell executive Maxine Savitz says there are enormous energy savings available through increased efficiency, as much as 30 percent by 2030. - 2009/11/19: COP15: California targets TVs to lower electricity demand
- 2009/11/19: SF Gate: California restricts energy-guzzling TV sets
In a move that brings California's pioneering greenhouse gas reduction drive into the living room, state regulators Wednesday approved limits on how much energy televisions can consume, citing the increased use of power-guzzling flat-panel sets. The new rules, adopted unanimously by the California Energy Commission, will require manufacturers to cut the power televisions use by one-third in two years and in half by 2013 by setting wattage ceilings. - 2009/11/19: BBC: Energy-saving bulbs [CFLs] 'get dimmer'
Energy-efficient light bulbs lose on average 22% of their brightness over their lifetime, a study has found. - 2009/11/18: BBC: Energy-hungry television sets will soon be banned across California in a landmark move by state legislators to reduce energy consumption
- 2009/11/17: DerSpiegel: Energy Efficiency -- How Italy Beat the World to a Smarter Grid
An aggressive rollout of intelligent electrical meters is saving Italy's Enel 750 million dollars per year -- and cutting customers' bills - 2009/11/21: AutoBG: STUDY: Air cars not worth it
Compressed air-powered cars like the AirPod pictured above are conceptually cool. But the real-world efficiency of using compressed air to move a vehicle just isn't worth is, says a new study published in the latest issue of Environmental Research Letters. - 2009/11/20: BBC: UK car production fell by 6.7% in October compared with a year earlier...106,400 cars made last month, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) said
- 2009/11/20: AutoBG: UK to spend £30 million on EV Charging points
- 2009/11/20: AutoBG: GoGo Electric thinks short-term EV renting can change minds
- 2009/11/19: EurActiv: 'Transition fuels' to pave way for carbon-free cars
- 2009/11/19: PhysOrg: Pulling the plug on hybrid myths
- 2009/11/19: AutoBG: Government bailout does not mean EV mandates for GM, Chrysler
- 2009/11/18: AutoBG: GM provides update on Volt vehicle and battery development
- 2009/11/16: NRDC:SwitchBoard: Business Leaders Agree that Electrification of The Transportation Sector is Critical [Electrification Coalition]
- 2009/11/16: WSJ:EnvCap: Electric Avenue: Or, How to Rev Up the Electric-Car Revolution [The Electrification Coalition]
- 2009/11/16: AutoBG: Nissan and Reliant Energy team up to promote EV infrastructure
- 2009/11/16: AutoBG: Electrification Coalition sees plug-ins making up 25 percent of market by 2020
Cash-for-Clunkers, aka Scrappage, Plans are being legislated and argued around the world:
- 2009/11/18: BRitholtz: State-by-state numbers for 'cash for clunkers' program
- 2009/11/16: AutoBG: Study: Cash for Clunkers helped Japanese way more than Detroit 3
The reaction of business to climate change will be critical:
- 2009/11/19: SF Gate: Companies ranked on efforts to cut emissions
Even as they struggle through a withering recession, a growing number of companies are taking action to fight climate change, according to an annual survey released Wednesday. Compiled by the nonprofit group Climate Counts, the survey of 90 big American companies found that most were addressing the issue, either by cutting their energy use, measuring their output of greenhouse gases, adopting policies to reduce emissions or pushing for federal legislation to do the same. - 2009/11/19: TreeHugger: Fox's News Corp. Begins Keeping Tabs of All Its CO2 Emissions
Joe Romm posts a daily list of top energy and climate stories:
- 2009/11/20: ClimateP: Energy and Global Warming News for November 20...
- 2009/11/19: ClimateP: Energy and Global Warming News for November 19...
- 2009/11/18: ClimateP: Energy and Global Warming News for November 18...
- 2009/11/17: ClimateP: Energy and Global Warming News for November 17...
- 2009/11/16: ClimateP: Energy and Global Warming News for November 16...
The carbon lobby are up to the usual:
- 2009/11/22: CCP: Climate sceptic James Delingpole's cheap shot at Newsweek backfires
- 2009/11/21: DeSmogBlog: Who Is Bankrolling the "Friends of Science"?
- 2009/11/21: IJI: "Integrity", "affiliates", "allies", and being "silenced"
- 2009/11/21: JKB: Ton Begemann cruisin' the Arctic
- 2009/11/18: PR Watch: U.S. Skeptic Has a European Outing
- 2009/11/20: Guardian(UK): Climate change denial MEP attacks church
Roger Helmer says Anglican hierarchy has dropped the gospel in favour of 'the new religion of climate alarmism' - 2009/11/20: JQuiggin: The Oz strikes back
- 2009/11/20: Wunderground: Is more CO2 beneficial for Earth's ecosystems?
- 2009/11/20: OilChange: Shell Tells Senate: You are Hypocrites
- 2009/11/20: GreenFyre: Digg users hoaxed by Earthsuckers, again
- 2009/11/19: Guardian(UK): Climate sceptic James Delingpole's cheap shot at Newsweek backfires
- 2009/11/18: Deltoid: AAP reports from the future
- 2009/11/18: DeSmogBlog: Fred Singer, lacking nobility, still claims the Prize
- 2009/11/19: DeepClimate: Friends of Science hits the airwaves
- 2009/11/18: ClimateP: Obama takes on the anti-scientific delayers, while Australia's Rudd slams the "deniers" and the "gaggle" of "conspiracy theorists" opposing climate action
- 2009/11/18: GreenFyre: Poptart's 450 climate change Denier lies
- 2009/11/18: TP: Sarah Palin to Rush Limbaugh: 'Are we warming or are we cooling?'
- 2009/11/17: BCLSB: The APS Petition: Portrait Of The Denier As An Old Man
- 2009/11/16: GreenFyre: Deniers record high incoherence ratio increasing?
- 2009/11/16: Guardian(UK): Building Design editor attempts to demolish climate change argument
Amanda Baillieu has laid bare her utter contempt for environmentalism but failed to construct a solid argument - 2009/11/15: ClimateShifts: Climate change is a "left-wing conspiracy to de-industrialise the world"
- 2009/11/15: ERabett: Much Toodaloo About Climate McCarthyism
- 2009/11/15: GreenFyre: 450 more lies from the climate change Deniers
- 2009/11/15: JKB: John Mashey really should start his own blog [APS saga]
Here's a black laugh if ever there were one:
- 2009/11/19: ClimateP: Uber-ironic 1962 ad touts oil's ability to melt glaciers!
- 2009/11/18: MTobis: Melting Ohio Daily
- 2009/11/19: TreeHugger: Finally Truth In [1962] Oil Company Advertising! Enough Energy to Melt That Glacier
- 2009/11/18: Grist: Life Magazine [1962] ad breaks my brain -- Oil: enough energy to melt glaciers!
As for climate miscellanea:
- 2009/11/21: Maribo: Public confusion about scientific consensus
- 2009/11/20: CCurrents: We Are Running Out Of Time To Save Humanity And The Biosphere
- 2009/11/19: Grist: A Walk Through the Week's Climate News -- The Climate Post: You heard it here first -- Copenhagen a success
- 2009/11/19: TP:WR: Global Boiling Declares War On Thanksgiving
- 2009/11/19: PtMT: My Climate Change "Action Plan"
- 2009/11/19: ClimateP: USA Today on climate change
- 2009/11/19: JQuiggin: GBR Alliance
- 2009/11/18: SolveClimate: World's Youth Demand Fair, Effective Climate Action
- 2009/11/18: SolveClimate: Made in America by China: New Turbine Factory Offers Glimpse into the Future
- 2009/11/17: KSJT: Energy Collective (+ Climate Wire): In DC, a big meeting on rationality, climate change, and one reason we humans are so maddening
- 2009/11/17: ClimateP: Time magazine: "The science of climate change grows more dire."
- 2009/11/15: Telegraph(UK): World has only ten years to control global warming, warns Met Office
- 2009/11/17: TWTB: Ones for the Road
- 2009/11/17: APOV: Climate Change: Stakes And Consequences
- 2009/11/16: MongaBay: Holding the Global North Responsible for Climate Change: What Would Bertrand Russell Do?
- 2009/11/15: Stoat: Agreeing with Pielke, Sr
- 2009/11/16: ERabett: Best Suggestion of the Month
- 2009/11/16: BBC: Climate: A question of justice
This week, lifelong human rights activist Kumi Naidoo takes over as international executive director of Greenpeace. Here, he explains why he is making the jump to a mainstream environmental organisation, and what role he sees for organisations such as Greenpeace in the modern world. - ABC(Au): Bushfire Emergency: Full news coverage, video, audio and photos
- UNFPA: United Nations Population Fund
- WWF Climate Blog
- The Global Carbon Project
- US EPA: Green Homes
- Electrification Coalition
- WSFS: World Summit on Food Security
- Cquestrate -- Developing an open source solution to climate change
- GCI: Global Commons Institute
- EDGAR: Emission Database for Global Atmospheric Research
- Plausible Futures
- PNT: Post-Normal Times
- InTheGreen
- ClimateDenial
- SciNews
- Understory: Rainforest Action Network Blog
It's always nice to start with a laugh:
A curious observation on clouds:
A study of the North American megafauna extinctions has provided some new data:
Another Open Access story allows me to push my enthusiasm:
The Arctic melt continues to garner a lot of attention:
And in the carbon cycle:
More GW impacts are being seen:
And then there are the world's forests:
In the hydrological cycle [floods & droughts]:
And on the carbon trading front:
The Dutch are considering a mileage tax:
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:
Here is an uncomfortable poll result:
Ontario has it's Green Energy Act, now comes the implementation:
Meanwhile in that Mechanical Mordor known as the tar sands:
In a ruling that is liable to have major repercussions, a judge has faulted the US Army Corps of Engineers for the New Orleans levee failures:
Developing a new energy infrastructure is a fundamental challenge of the current generation:
Automakers & lawyers, engineers & activists argue over the future of the car:
And here are a couple of sites you may find interesting and/or useful:
Low Key Plug
My first novel Water was published in Canada May, 2007. The American release was in October. An Introductionto the novel is available, along with the Unpublished Forewordand the Launch Talk. An overview of my writing is available here.
<regards>
P.S. Recent postings can be found in the week archive and the ancient postings can be accessed here, which should open to this.
"Funny math can't substitute for engineering breakthroughs. EVs of any sort can only make a real difference if they succeed on their merits for both customer value and emissions reduction. Bonus credits may fool a few starry-eyed policymakers, they won't fool either the marketplace or the Earth's atmosphere." -John DeCicco
Politics
Physical Science
Comments
Hi Colby,
Any plans on publishing your "How to Talk to Climate Skeptics" in print form? I'd buy it. I don't have the patience to go through all those online links. And you never know, some actual climate skeptics might buy/read it as well.
Posted by: Laurie Gorham | November 29, 2009 11:25 AM