A Few Things Ill Considered

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Information overload is pattern recognition

November 8, 2009

• Chuckle, Copenhagen, Barcelona, G20, EU-US Meeting, Rudd, SuperFree, Dogs, Bottom Line, Desertec
• Melting Arctic, Polar Bears, Geopolitics, Antarctica
• Food Crisis, Food vs. Biofuel, Land Grabs, Food Production
• Hurricanes, GHGs, Carbon Cycle, Temperatures, Paleoclimate, ENSO, Glaciers, Sea Levels, Satellites
• Impacts, Forests, Corals, Climate Refugees, Wildfires, Floods & Droughts
• Mitigation, Transportation, Buildings, Sequestration, Geoengineering, Adaptation
• Journals, Misc. Science, Pielke, Tiljander, Briffa
• Kyoto, UN, Carbon Trade, Carbon Tax, Tobin Tax, Optimal Carbon Reduction Strategy
• International Politics, Security, Law & Activism
• America, Obama, Congress, Britain, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, India, China, Japan, Asia, South America, Canada
• Ecological Economics, IPAT, Apocalypso, Media, Books, Video, Courts
• Energy, Wind, Solar, Coal, Biofuel, Nukes, Peak Oil, Grid, Efficiency, Cars, Business, Insurance
• Joe's List, Carbon Lobby, Miscellaneous Climate, Useful Links
• Shameless Self Promotion, .sig

Here's a chuckle for you:

• 2009/11/04: TI:CF: (cartoon - Roberts) Copenhagen countdown
• 2009/11/05: Guardian(UK): (cartoon - Bell) Friend of freedom or a fat fascist?
• 2009/11/05: SeattlePI: (cartoon - Horsey) Despoiler of the Planet!
• 2009/11/04: Guardian(UK): (cartoon - Bell) This is the clincher
• 2009/11/02: ClimateP: If you have nothing better to do, here's Examiner.com's First Annual Push Poll on Global Warming

  Anticipation battles _COP15 Expectation Management_ on the road to Copenhagen:

• 2009/11/08: WorldChanging: Climate Success in Copenhagen
• 2009/11/05: UNEP: Environmentalists and Business Leaders Take the Climate Express to Copenhagen
• 2009/11/06: UNEP: UNFCCC Executive Secretary: Governments Can and must Deliver Strong Copenhagen Deal
• 2009/11/07: TreeHugger: The Climate Clock and Copenhagen
• 2009/11/07: Rabble:PN: Copenhagen talks create chance for labour to be part of environmental and economic solutions
• 2009/11/06: CBC: Small nations urge tougher climate deal
• 2009/11/07: CanWest: Clouds gather over climate talks
  Emissions Targets. Chances of reaching a treaty at next month's UN conference in Copenhagen appear more remote than ever as the gap in demands between rich and poor countries continues to widen
• 2009/11/06: BBC: At least 40 world leaders are likely to attend December's UN climate summit in a bid to secure a new global treaty
• 2009/11/06: Guardian(UK): Climate activists fast to push leaders to sign strong deal at Copenhagen
• 2009/11/06: EUO: EU pessimistic about Copenhagen climate change deal
• 2009/11/06: NatureCF: Countdown to Copenhagen
• 2009/11/06: ClimateP: Road to Copenhagen, Part 4: A New Social Contract
• 2009/11/07: ABC(Au): Forty heads of state or government have signalled they will attend the world climate talks in Copenhagen next month, UN climate chief Yvo de Boer said
• 2009/11/06: ABC(Au): Hopes dim ahead of Copenhagen talks
• 2009/11/06: Grist: Toward a stalemate in Copenhagen -- How industry pressures and competing national agendas dim prospects for a climate treaty
• 2009/11/06: NRDC:SwitchBoard: Building for Success on International Global Warming in Copenhagen
• 2009/11/06: COP15: [Danish Minister for Climate and Energy Connie] Hedegaard: We need numbers on the table in Copenhagen
• 2009/11/06: COP15: UN pins its hope on world leaders
  Political will and leadership is what is needed now to give next month's UN climate change conference in Copenhagen a "final push" and "get us to a result", UN climate chief Yvo de Boer said Friday.
• 2009/11/06: COP15: Russia is a safe haven for climate deniers
  Only if a new global agreement on climate is very favourable to Russia, will it sign in Copenhagen, a TIME analysis suggests.
• 2009/11/05: NYT:CW: Climate Insurance Is in the Cross Hairs as Negotiators Prep for Copenhagen
  Advocates for nations vulnerable to climate change are accusing the United States of trying to "kill" a prominent global warming provision that would create a massive insurance program for countries that face rising destruction from natural disasters. The controversial measure -- which currently is part of the voluminous draft treaty text leading up to international climate talks in Copenhagen -- seeks financial payments for countries that might slip underwater sometime this century, as well as for those that increasingly suffer from drought, floods and cyclones. The program could cost the United States and other developed nations billions every year, and perhaps amount to an admission that Americans are largely responsible for warming the world. That is considered a legal pitfall that might raise questions on the scale of slavery reparations for African-Americans or financial apologies to Native Americans, some observers say.
• 2009/11/06: CNN: New climate change treaty could be ready in 2010, U.N. official says
  Top United Nations official says delegates may not leave talks in Copenhagen with treaty - Yvo de Boer says details may need to be finalized after climate conference in Copenhagen - 40 world leaders will attend the climate conference in December to agree a new global deal
• 2009/11/06: WBCSD: U.N. climate treaty may need extra year
• 2009/11/06: EarthTimes: Can anyone save a Copenhagen climate treaty?
• 2009/11/06: EarthTimes: Binding climate treaty in Copenhagen deemed unlikely
• 2009/11/06: OilChange: No Climate Deal for Over a Year
• 2009/11/05: SolveClimate: Planes and Ships: In the Midst of Copenhagen Climate Gloom, A Glimmer of Hope
• 2009/11/06: SolveClimate: Road to Copenhagen: A New Social Contract
• 2009/11/06: BBerg: Climate-Agreement Deadline May Slip to End of 2010
  The deadline for 192 countries to complete a new global-warming accord may slip by as much as one year, as negotiators hold back on pledges to slash emissions or pay financial aid to poor nations. Yvo de Boer, the United Nations supervisor for climate talks, said yesterday in an interview that too little progress has been made to conclude a treaty at a summit in Copenhagen next month, and it may take another year. He spoke in Barcelona, where the final talks before Copenhagen end today. The most powerful nations are holding back their biggest cards in what envoys liken to game-playing. The U.S., the second-largest greenhouse-gas producer after China, won't say how much aid it may offer. China has pledged no specific emissions goals. And Japanese and European delegates said they may not put concrete numbers for funding on the table until the two-week Danish summit is almost finished. "They're playing a game that's self-defeating," Lumumba Di-Aping, a Sudanese envoy who speaks for 130 developing nations and China, said in an interview about richer country strategies.
• 2009/11/06: Reuters: China says studying weaker framework climate deal
• 2009/11/05: FTimes: Lula calls on leaders to attend climate talks
• 2009/11/05: DerSpiegel: Patent Lies -- Who Says Saving the Planet Has to Cost a Fortune?
  One of the nagging issues in the run-up to the Copenhagen climate summit are demands that the US and Europe provide massive aid so poorer countries can buy expensive emissions-free technologies. Activist David E. Martin claims many of the patents for today's low-carbon technologies -- including some used in wind power and hybrid cars -- are already in the public domain.
• 2009/11/06: Time: Why India Is Playing Hard to Get on Climate Change
• 2009/11/05: BBC: The UK government says it is highly unlikely that a new legally binding climate treaty can be agreed this year - and a full treaty may be a year away
• 2009/11/05: Guardian(UK): No global climate change treaty likely for up to a year, negotiators admit
• 2009/11/05: Guardian(UK): Pachauri still sees a chance for success in Copenhagen conference
• 2009/11/05: Guardian(UK): Hopes fading for Copenhagen climate change treaty, says Ed Miliband
• 2009/11/05: Guardian(UK): Global climate deal at least a year away, negotiators say
  Negotiators say they have abandoned hope of signing a legally binding emissions treaty in Copenhagen and are planning only for a meeting of world leaders
• 2009/11/05: Guardian(UK): What hope for Copenhagen now?
• 2009/11/05: Grist: Europe places outcome of Copenhagen squarely on Obama
• 2009/11/05: COP15: Miliband: There's no Plan B
  British Climate Change Secretary Ed Miliband is still hopeful nations can agree on a global climate change pact in December talks -- despite mounting pessimism.
• 2009/11/05: TreeHugger: With Legally Binding Copenhagen Deal Dead in the Water, Where Do We Go From Here?
• 2009/11/05: TreeHugger: Road to Copenhagen: Is a 'politically-binding' agreement worthless or a path to progress?
• 2009/11/05: SolveClimate: Road to Copenhagen: Re-Tooling Industry
• 2009/11/04: Guardian(UK): US scales down hopes of global climate change treaty in Copenhagen
• 2009/11/04: Guardian(UK): Copenhagen is an opportunity for ethics to trump economics
• 2009/11/04: EurActiv: Barroso: Forget climate treaty, aim for pact in Copenhagen
  A fully-fledged climate treaty to fight global warming will not be reached next month in Copenhagen but a framework pact is still possible, the head of the European Commission said on the margins of an EU-US summit. "Of course, we are not going to have a fully-fledged binding treaty - Kyoto-type - by Copenhagen," European Commission President José Manuel Barroso told reporters before meeting with US President Barack Obama. "There is no time for that." But Barroso said he believed it was still possible to develop a framework agreement with clear commitments from developed and developing countries. Such a framework would include firm timetables for lower emissions from richer countries and an agreement on what actions developing countries will take, Barroso said.
• 2009/11/04: NatureTGB: In Quotes: Road to Copenhagen
• 2009/11/: NewScientist:Instant Expert: The Copenhagen climate change summit
• 2009/11/04: PlanetArk: Full Climate Deal Unlikely By Copenhagen: Barroso
• 2009/11/04: PlanetArk: Q+A: How Will U.S. Climate Negotiators Approach Copenhagen?
• 2009/11/04: Grist: Letter From Europe -- Copenhagen reality check: Gov'ts concede new climate treaty unlikely until 2010
• 2009/11/04: TreeHugger: Road to Copenhagen: No Senate Bill Before Copenhagen, What's Next?
• 2009/11/04: TreeHugger: Join The Wave to Spread the Word Before Copenhagen
• 2009/11/04: TreeHugger: Bucking the Trend, Stern & Pachauri Maintain a Global Climate Deal Still Possible in Copenhagen
• 2009/11/04: Times(UK): Copenhagen talks could leave oil industry with a sinking feeling
  Vast amounts of oil lie in the bitumen-rich sands of Northern Canada, but whether oil companies choose to spend billions extracting them will hinge on decisions made 6,000 miles away in Denmark next month. [...] The prospect of a successful climate deal in Copenhagen threatens to hit the industry with a cost that could drive it out of business: international carbon regulation. [...] As one of the most carbon intensive fuels around, the Canadian oil sands industry would be one of the biggest losers. So much energy is needed to heat raw bitumen into a usable crude that an oil sand operator typically uses up the equivalent of one barrel of oil for every three barrels it extracts. For the same energy expenditure you would expect 100 barrels from a conventional Middle East oil well.
• 2009/11/04: WSJ:EnvCap: Countdown to Copenhagen: Obama Aide [Todd Stern] Warns of Slow Progress
• 2009/11/04: SolveClimate: Road to Copenhagen: Managing Risk
• 2009/11/04: SolveClimate: Poor Demand Binding Treaty in Copenhagen, as Rich Squash Hope
• 2009/11/03: EUO: China warns EU over climate talks
• 2009/11/03: UN: Seal the Deal: Climate change illustrates need for better water management
• 2009/11/03: NatureCF: Countdown to Copenhagen
• 2009/11/03: PlanetArk: Ban Ki-Moon Says Detailed Climate Deal Unlikely
• 2009/11/02: Google:AP: UN climate chief [de Boer]: Deal must be legally enforceable
• 2009/11/03: PlanetArk: Putin Adds Conditions For New Climate Deal
• 2009/11/03: BBerg: Climate Envoys May Want Chinese Actions, Not Results, Binding
  United Nations climate negotiators meeting this week in Barcelona will debate how far they can push developing nations such as China and India to restrict greenhouse-gas emissions blamed for global warming. While the UN will ask industrialized countries to accept binding targets on their gas discharges, poorer nations may be urged only to adopt measures to limit emissions growth, such as building wind-energy farms. Developing countries may be urged only to ensure those "actions" are undertaken, and may not have to prove they are successful, under a new climate-protection agreement, the UN's top climate official said in an interview.
• 2009/11/03: TreeHugger: Road to Copenhagen: Waiting for America
• 2009/11/02: NBF: Bruce Bueno de Mequita Explains Why Copenhagen Climate Talks Will Fail
• 2009/11/01: Guardian(UK): World leaders accused of myopia over climate change deal

  A five day UNFCCC meeting in Barcelona served to focus differences:

• 2009/11/08: ABC(Au): Climate talks end in division and pessimism
• 2009/11/06: SolveClimate: US Envoy [Pershing] Says CO2 Cuts Proposed by Congress 'More Aggressive' Than EU's
• 2009/11/07: Guardian(UK): Lifting the lid on climate change talks
  Rich countries bullying poorer ones, mud-slinging and back-stabbing - environmental summits can be vicious
• 2009/11/06: Guardian(UK): Climate talks end in acrimony as UN and EU accuse US of endangering deal
• 2009/11/06: Guardian(UK): Barcelona diary: Russia keeps everyone in dark and Pershing scores direct hit
  Russia tries to hang on to its carbon credits, UK wins a fossil booby prize and US negotiator charms the Indians
• 2009/11/06: UN: UN official still hopeful for strong climate deal as latest talks end
• 2009/11/06: NatureCF: Copenhagen conference: Call it a wrap
• 2009/11/05: NatureCF: Barcelona climate: Momentum builds for a "political agreement" in Copenhagen
• 2009/11/05: NatureCF: Barcelona climate: New analysis shows progress in emerging economies
• 2009/11/06: Grist: Barcelona outcome: White House strategy is plea for more time
• 2009/11/06: Grist: Cautious optimism for Copenhagen deal as Barcelona climate talks end
• 2009/11/06: UN: UN official still hopeful for strong climate deal as latest talks end
• 2009/11/06: Reuters: U.N. climate talks leave wide gaps to pact
• 2009/11/05: TerraDaily: Angry words as timetable for climate deal starts to slip
  Green groups and activists for the developing world on Thursday accused rich nations of tiptoeing away from vows to seal a binding, far-reaching UN treaty on climate change in Copenhagen next month.
• 2009/11/06: SolveClimate: Forestry Talks in Barcelona End in Toothless Agreement
• 2009/11/06: TreeHugger: REDD Forest Protection Scheme Still Missing Key Safeguards as Barcelona Climate Talks Close
• 2009/11/05: Guardian(UK): Barcelona diary: The USual suspects, paper trail on forests, and dirty Canada
• 2009/11/05: Guardian(UK): Barcelona climate talks beset by rich-poor stalemate
• 2009/11/05: NatureITF: Barcelona climate: Momentum builds for a "political agreement" in Copenhagen
• 2009/11/05: NatureITF: Barcelona climate: New analysis shows progress in emerging economies
  [..] A new analysis of climate commitments by the six biggest emerging economies - Brazil, China, India, South Africa, Mexico and South Korea - suggests that their cumulative emissions add up to a 25 percent reduction compared to "business as usual" projections for 2020.
• 2009/11/05: NatureCF: Barcelona climate: Monitoring the (same old) debate
• 2009/11/05: NatureCF: Barcelona climate: Big heads of state
• 2009/11/05: ABC(Au): Rudd singled out in African climate boycott
  African nations have criticised Prime Minister Kevin Rudd at United Nations climate change talks in Barcelona.
• 2009/11/04: Grist: Barcelona Balogna -- Why developing countries cannot afford failure in Copenhagen
• 2009/11/05: COP15: Rich-poor divide obstructing negotiations
  The African boycott of this week's UN climate talks in Barcelona was planned last month by African heads of state, and not a spontaneous act, reports the Guardian. Top US negotiator Todd Stern accuses developing countries of not taking "any responsibility for action now".
• 2009/11/04: Google:AFP: Climate talks resume but Copenhagen hopes fade
• 2009/11/05: CCTV: China insists on Kyoto Protocol
• 2009/11/05: SolveClimate: Groups in 18 Poor Nations Protest Saudi Arabia's Obstructionism at Climate Talks
• 2009/11/05: Reuters: China should halve its emissions by 2050-US envoy [Jonathan Pershing]
• 2009/11/05: HotTopic: Africa says do what science requires
• 2009/11/04: Guardian(UK): Rich countries call on African bloc to keep climate talks on track
  Poor countries forced to make a stand over lack of commitment from rich nations on emissions cuts, claims African delegate
• 2009/11/04: EurActiv: Barcelona climate talks turn up heat on US
• 2009/11/04: NatureITF: Barcelona Climate: safeguarding primary forests under REDD
• 2009/11/04: NatureITF: Barcelona climate: Nature Geo stirs things up with deforestation analysis
• 2009/11/04: NatureITF: Barcelona climate: Afternoon updates from the Africans, EU
• 2009/11/: Nature:InTheField: Barcelona climate change conference archives
• 2009/11/04: NatureCF: Barcelona climate: A rough start, tinged with hope
• 2009/11/04: DeSmogBlog: A "politically binding" [as opposed to "legally binding"] climate change agreement is great... if you're a politician
• 2009/11/04: IndiaTimes: Africa leads charge on climate change
  The recalcitrant group of industrialised countries came under fire on the first day of Barcelona climate talks with African countries, in an unprecedented move, blocking all negotiations on Kyoto Protocol unless the rich nations provided concrete and unconditional targets for greenhouse gas emissions for the mid-term. The move, which brought all negotiations on Kyoto Protocol to a halt in the semi-final round of negotiations, found strong support from India, China and other G77 countries. African nations, operating as a bloc, refused to undertake any negotiations on procedural and side issues unless the developed countries came up with absolute numbers against their commitments under the second phase of Kyoto Protocol, which is to start in 2012.
• 2009/11/04: JakartaPost: RI delegates to bridge deadlock on target
• 2009/11/04: WWF: Water evaporates from the climate change negotiating text
• 2009/11/03: CCurrents: Africans Boycott Meetings At UN Climate Talks
• 2009/11/03: Guardian(UK): UN secretary general calls for increase in pledged funding for climate change -- $100bn on offer is 'good start' but not enough, says Ban Ki-moon
• 2009/11/03: Guardian(UK): African nations make a stand at UN climate talks
• 2009/11/02: Grist: Negotiators take aim at U.S. on day one of Barcelona climate talks
• 2009/11/03: Grist: Africa walks out on climate talks in Barcelona, citing lack of commitment from West
• 2009/11/03: COP15: China stands firm on Kyoto principles
  China's Premier Wen Jiabao showed no sign of changing position in the global climate negotiations in a conversation with EU Commission President Barroso. China wants to stick to the Kyoto Protocol.
• 2009/11/03: ENN: Africa Boycotts U.N. Climate Talks, Demands CO2 Cuts
• 2009/11/03: SolveClimate: Barcelona Climate Talks: Adequate Forest Protection Hinges on 10-Word Phrase
• 2009/11/03: Reuters: African nations end boycott of U.N. climate talks
• 2009/11/02: Guardian(UK): Barcelona diary: Fighting talk, Russian roulette and Gaudí's 'green' makeover
• 2009/11/02: Guardian(UK): Climate negotiators grow impatient at lack of leadership from America
• 2009/11/02: UN: Senior UN official [UNFCCC head, Yvo de Boer] urges rich countries to commit to deeper cuts in emissions
• 2009/11/02: PlanetArk: U.N. Talks In Spain Seek To Salvage Climate Deal
• 2009/11/02: NatureCF: In quotes: Road to Copenhagen train calls in at Barcelona
• 2009/11/02: Xinhuanet: Last-ditch attempt on to clinch climate pact
• 2009/11/02: TerraDaily: Carve out clear options, UN climate talks told
• 2009/11/02: TreeHugger: Hey United States, Show Us Your 2020 Emission Reduction Target - Climate Talks Enter Home Stretch
• 2009/11/02: DeSmogBlog: Barcelona Climate Talks: US Congress, Science and International Treaties
• 2009/11/02: SolveClimate: UN Climate Chief Praises China, Says US Must Deliver Concrete 2020 Target
• 2009/11/02: OilChange: "The clock has almost ticked down to zero..."
• 2009/11/02: BBC: Saving the trillionth tonne
  This week sees the final round of preliminary talks on a new UN climate treaty before December's Copenhagen summit, where delegates seem to be focusing on emissions in 2020. Myles Allen argues that they must not lose sight of the much greater challenges that lie beyond 2020 or they risk wasting another decade in the battle against dangerous climate change.
• 2009/11/01: BBC: Final round for UN climate talks
  The latest round of UN climate talks opens in Barcelona on Monday with major divisions remaining between countries. The week's session is the final chance for negotiators to hammer out a text before December's Copenhagen summit

The G20 met this weekend in Scotland:

• 2009/11/08: Guardian(UK): Transaction tax [Tobin tax] figures start to add up for Gordon Brown
• 2009/11/08: Guardian(UK): Row breaks out over Gordon Brown's plan to tax City profits
  International levy on financial trading would help developing world deal with climate change
• 2009/11/07: EarthTimes: Economic recovery, climate change tops G20 meeting
• 2009/11/07: BBC: Rifts appear ahead of G20 meeting
  Divisions have emerged among G20 finance ministers over the best ways to scale back stimulus spending and tackle climate change...

And there was a low key EU-US meeting in Washington this week:

• 2009/11/05: EurActiv: EU-US summit yields energy cooperation
  The EU and US have held the first meeting of a new transatlantic Energy Council, after the US President Barack Obama and EU leaders had agreed to establish the new energy forum for cooperation during a summit on Tuesday. The agreement, struck at ministerial level during the EU-US Energy Council, will boost cooperation on energy policy and technology research. The council is set to provide a new framework for bilateral dialogue on global energy security and policies to move to low-carbon energy sources.
• 2009/11/04: EUO: Brussels ups climate pressure at limp US summit
• 2009/11/04: COP15: USA and Europe converge on climate issues
  President Barack Obama says it is "imperative" the US and EU redouble their efforts to achieve success at the climate change conference next month in Copenhagen.
• 2009/11/04: ABC(Au): German chancellor Angela Merkel has addressed a joint sitting of the US Congress...
• 2009/11/03: EarthTimes: Merkel urges US Congress on climate change - Summary
• 2009/11/04: DerSpiegel: 'We Cannot Afford Failure' -- Merkel Lends Obama Support on Climate Change
  In her speech to the US Congress, Angela Merkel called for a clear commitment by all nations to act on climate change -- a demand that plunged her into the heart of domestic political wrangling in America. But can foreign support help Barack Obama with the stalled climate change bill?
• 2009/11/03: EurActiv: Climate talks top EU-US summit in Washington
• 2009/11/03: PlanetArk: Angela Merkel Presses U.S. On Climate In Speech To Congress
• 2009/11/02: Yahoo:AP: EU seeks clear US position on climate change
• 2009/11/03: EarthTimes: World and US must follow EU lead on climate change, says Sweden
• 2009/11/02: EarthTimes: Stalled climate talks top US-EU meeting this week
• 2009/11/02: EUO: Climate tops Brussels' agenda for EU-US summit
  Climate change will feature heavily at an EU-US summit on Tuesday (3 November) as Brussels and Washington each try to find out what the other side is going to bring to the global negotiating table next month. Top officials from the European Commission and the Swedish EU presidency will meet US president Barack Obama and his team in Washington in a bid to feel out the American position a month ahead of the UN-led climate change conference in Copenhagen aimed at securing a global political agreement on carbon emissions.

Australian PM Kevin Rudd delivered a notably acerbic speech this week. [See also Australian politicsbelow]:

• 2009/11/06: Reuters: Australia [PM Kevin Rudd] attacks Copenhagen critics
  Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd launched a spirited attack on climate skeptics on Friday, saying a vocal minority is powerful enough to threaten a global deal at next month's Copenhagen climate summit. Rudd said climate skeptics, deniers and opponents of climate action are active in every country, had limited the ambition of national climate change commitments and slowed progress of carbon trade laws in the United States and Australia. "They are a minority. They are powerful, and invariably they are driven by vested interests," Rudd said in a foreign policy speech on Friday. "They are powerful enough to threaten a deal on global climate change both in Copenhagen and beyond."
• 2009/11/06: ABC(Au): Rudd wages war on Coalition climate deniers
  Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has upped the pressure on the Opposition over its emissions trading stance, accusing it of being full of climate change deniers intent on delaying action. In a speech to the Lowy Institute today Mr Rudd launched a strongly worded attack on the Opposition and climate change sceptics worldwide for holding up countries' efforts to combat climate change. "It is time to be totally blunt about the agenda of the climate change sceptics in all their colours, some more sophisticated than others," he said. "It is to destroy the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme at home and it is to destroy agreed global action on climate change abroad. "And our children's fate - our grandchildren's fate - will lie entirely with them. It is time to remove any polite veneer from this debate; the stakes are that high. "The clock is ticking for the planet, but the climate change sceptics simply do not care."

SuperFreakonomics is still getting free publicity:

• 2009/11/03: GreenFyre: Pwn-Fest continues despite Superfreaks PR spin attempts
• 2009/11/06: TP:WR: Jon Stewart Joins Critics: The Science Of SuperFreakonomics Is 'Not Good'
• 2009/11/05: ClimateP: One error retracted, 99 to go. Superfreaknomics authors will, in future editions, correct their claim that Caldeira believes "carbon dioxide is not the right villain"
• 2009/11/03: Grist: Why the 'SuperFreakonomics' global-warming chapter is worth your time
• 2009/11/02: DeSmogBlog: SuperFreaks: Smart, arrogant, ill-informed
• 2009/11/02: TP:WR: 'Academic Malpractice': Fellow U Of C Professor [Pierre Rayhumbert] Calls Steve Levitt Out For 'Laziness And Sloppiness'

  A Dogs vs. SUVs GHG analysis managed to rile a lot of people:

• 2009/11/02: SightLine: Dogs Vs. SUVs -- Dogs worse for the planet than SUVs? That's barking mad!
• 2009/11/08: ClimateShifts: 'Eat your dog' meme Debunked
• 2009/11/06: Salon:HTWW: Dogs vs. SUVs vs. the earth, debunked -- Rumors of the canine carbon footprint appear to be greatly exaggerated
• 2009/11/04: PhysOrg: Study says dogs have larger carbon footprint than SUV

  And on the Bottom Line:

• 2009/11/05: NRDC:SwitchBoard: More than 100 Elite Economists Agree: Global Warming is a Risk to the Economy
• 2009/11/03: USAToday: Survey: Economists see threat in climate change
  Researchers who deal in cold numbers rather than warming climates believe the "significant benefits from curbing greenhouse-gas emissions would justify the costs of action," a new survey finds. In fact, the survey of economists finds 94% believe the U.S. should join climate agreements to limit global warming.
• 2009/11/03: WSJ:EnvCap: Changing Climate: RiskMetrics Grabs KLD, Beefs Up Analysis of Environmental Risks
  Here's a sign that whatever happens in the U.S. or overseas with climate-change gymnastics, big investors are taking the issue seriously. RiskMetrics Group, the big risk-analysis firm, just snapped up KLD Research, which specializes in environmental, social, and governance issues for investors. That basically means that RiskMetrics' traditional approach to figuring out what risks hang over companies -- from exchange rates to commodity prices -- will now include plenty of emphasis on environmental issues, including climate change.
• 2009/11/02: COP15: IEA sees little readiness for solutions
  Negotiators from major economies show little readiness to solve the climate problems, says the Head of Energy Efficiency and Environment at the International Energy Agency, Richard Bradley.

The Sahara desert solar plan, Desertec, moved a step closer to fruition:

• 2009/11/05: EnvFin: Joint venture formed to develop Desertec plan
• 2009/11/05: PeakEnergy: $555 Billion Sahara Solar Energy Belt Takes Giant Step Forward
• 2009/11/04: PhysOrg: Will Europe Be Powered by the Sahara?
• 2009/11/02: BBC: Sahara Sun 'to help power Europe'
  A sustainable energy initiative that will start with a huge solar project in the Sahara desert has been announced by a consortium of 12 European businesses. The Desertec Industrial Initiative aims to supply Europe with 15% of its energy needs by 2050. Companies who signed up to the $400bn (£240bn) venture include Deutsche Bank, Siemens and the energy provider E.On. The consortium, which will be based in Munich, hopes to start supplying Europe with electricity by 2015.

The Arctic melt continues to garner a lot of attention:

• 2009/11/05: PhysOrg: Tackling new Arctic challenges from space

  As for polar bears:

• 2009/11/08: TStar: The bear facts about the polar bear hunt
  Polar bears are in decline, alright, but not everywhere. There is a case for keeping the hunt alive in Nunavut and the Inuit are making it

As for the geopolitics of Arctic resources:

• 2009/11/02: CBC: surveillance research moves ahead
  Military scientists are moving ahead with plans to monitor the approaches to the Northwest Passage as part of the federal Northern Watch program. Northern Watch tests the surveillance devices used to watch for foreign vessels and other craft travelling through the Arctic waterway from the east.

While in Antarctica:

• 2009/11/06: TreeHugger: Ice Loss in Antarctic Peninsula Unprecedented in 14,000 Years

  The food crisis is ongoing:

• 2009/11/06: FAO: Rice revival gives Kenyan community hope -- First bumper crop in years
• 2009/11/05: UN: Malnutrition on the rise among rural Tajik children, UN warns
• 2009/11/05: UN: War against hunger, global warming can be won on farmlands - UN report
• 2009/11/04: UN: UN agency airdrops food aid to over 155,000 hungry people in southern Sudan
• 2009/11/02: USAToday: Study: Half of U.S. kids will receive food stamps
• 2009/11/02: Eureka: Half of US children -- and most black children -- will use food stamps, Cornell study reports
• 2009/11/02: AllAfrica:TimesOfZambia: Brace for Low Crop Yield, Warns Farmers Union
  Zambia should brace for a low crop yield next year unless the shortage of fuel being experienced in various parts of the country is reversed soon, Zambia National Farmers Union (ZNFU) president Jarvis Zimba has said.

The conflict between biofuel and food persists:

• 2009/10/25: Telegraph(UK): Food will never be so cheap again
  Biofuel refineries in the US have set fresh records for grain use every month since May. Almost a third of the US corn harvest will be diverted into ethanol for motors this year, or 12pc of the global crop.

So, are these land grabs Colonialism V2.0?

• 2009/11/02: Guardian(UK): Global protocol could limit Sub-Saharan land grab
  New code of conduct could limit aggressive moves by China, South Korea and Gulf states who have been buying vast tracts of agricultural land

And how are we going to feed 9 billion?

• 2009/11/05: FAO: Promoting climate-smart agriculture -- Report explores mutual benefits, trade-offs in tackling hunger and climate change
• 2009/11/07: PeakEnergy: Let's Make This Clear: Vertical Farms Don't Make Sense
• 2009/11/05: CCurrents: Genetic Engineering For Sure Leads To Unpredictable Results
• 2009/11/03: USDA:ARS: Searching for Ways to Reduce Agriculture's Climate Change Footprint
• 2009/11/05: EWG: USDA Research: Does No-Till Really Capture More Carbon?
• 2009/11/06: PlanetArk: Low-Carbon Farms Can Raise Food Output, Food Agency Says
• 2009/11/06: TreeHugger: The Politics of Seeds: 75% of the Seed Marketplace Controlled by Four Companies [Dupont, Monsanto, Syngenta, and Groupe Limagrain]
• 2009/11/04: PhysOrg: Reducing Agriculture's Climate Change Footprint
• 2009/11/03: LNB: Our daily bread...stories that might still matter fifty, or a hundred, or ten thousand years from now.
• 2009/11/05: CBC: Agrium earnings drop 92%
  Calgary-based fertilizer producer Agrium reported a 92 per cent drop in third-quarter earnings Wednesday...
• 2009/11/04: TreeHugger: Do Vertical Farms Make Sense?
• 2009/10/01: Seedling: Earth matters - Tackling the climate crisis from the ground up
• 2009/11/03: PhysOrg: Drought tolerant cowpea can improve crop yield in arid West Africa

  In the Western Pacific, Mirinae zapped the Phillipines and Vietnam:

• 2009/11/06: EarthTimes: Storm [Mirinae] death toll hits 109 in Vietnam
• 2009/11/05: UN: UN helps assess relief needs in wake of deadly typhoon in Viet Nam
• 2009/11/05: EarthTimes: Tropical Storm Mirinae death toll in Vietnam rises to 98
• 2009/11/04: UN: UN assists after another tropical storm [Mirinae] pounds the Philippines and Viet Nam
• 2009/11/05: PlanetArk: Storm [Mirinae] Kills 42 In Vietnam, Several Missing
• 2009/11/03: TerraDaily: Philippines typhoon [Mirinae] toll reaches 19: disaster council
• 2009/11/03: TerraDaily: Storm [Mirinae] kills at least 40 people in Vietnam: official
• 2009/11/04: EarthTimes: Storm death toll rises to 33 in Vietnam
• 2009/11/04: CBC: Tropical storm Mirinae death toll rises to 91 in Vietnam
• 2009/11/02: TerraDaily: Philippines typhoon [Mirinae] toll reaches 16: disaster council
• 2009/11/03: Eureka: Tropical Depression 97W passing through central Philippines
• 2009/11/03: NASA: NASA's TRMM Satellite Provides a Rainfall Map of Mirinae's Flooding Rains
• 2009/11/03: CBC: Tropical storm Mirinae kills 23 people in Vietnam
• 2009/11/02: PhysOrg: Aqua satellite confirms another tropical cyclone may impact the Philippines
• 2009/11/02: PhysOrg: Mirinae floods Philippines, makes landfall in Vietnam with strong thunderstorms
• 2009/11/02: Wunderground: Invest 96L fizzles; Mirinae slams Vietnam; Western Caribbean heating up?
• 2009/11/02: NASA: NASA Satellite Confirms Another Tropical Cyclone May Impact the Philippines
• 2009/11/02: CBC: Tropical storm Mirinae slams Vietnam
• 2009/11/01: CBC: Typhoon leaves 20 dead in Philippines -- Manila, surrounding provinces face leptospirosis outbreak

  In the Caribbean, Ida is threatening:

• 2009/11/07: CBC: Tropical storm [Ida] warnings in Caribbean
• 2009/11/07: Wunderground: Ida strengthens, could be a hurricane for the Yucatan
• 2009/11/06: PlanetArk: Hurricane Ida Pummels Nicaragua East Coast
• 2009/11/06: Wunderground: Ida survives its Central American crossing
• 2009/11/06: EarthTimes: Hurricane Ida hits Nicaragua's Caribbean coast
• 2009/11/05: Wunderground: Hurricane Ida hits Nicaragua
• 2009/11/04: Wunderground: Tropical Storm Ida a major flood threat for Nicaragua and Honduras
• 2009/11/05: EarthTimes: Hurricane Ida makes landfall on Nicaragua's Caribbean coast
• 2009/11/05: EarthTimes: Ida becomes a hurricane en route to Nicaragua
• 2009/11/05: CBC: Hurricane Ida slams Nicaragua's Atlantic coast
• 2009/11/04: Wunderground: Tropical Depression Eleven forms [in the Southwestern Caribbean, off the coast of Costa Rica]
• 2009/11/03: Wunderground: Western Caribbean disturbance 97L likely to become a tropical depression

  As for GHGs:

• 2009/11/07: ABC(Au): Developing countries on track to cut emissions
  New research has found that developing countries including China, India, Brazil and Mexico are on track to cut their greenhouse gas emissions by 25 per cent by 2020.
• 2009/11/05: EnvFin: [German energy giant] RWE makes Denmark-sized mistake in CO2 emissions
• 2009/11/05: EarthTimes: UN: Developed countries need to cut gas emissions by 25-40 per cent
• 2009/11/04: MongaBay: Emissions from deforestation overestimated; 12% rather than 17%
• 2009/11/03: Guardian(UK): CO2 from forest destruction overestimated -- [Guido van der Werf] study
• 2009/11/03: PlanetArk: Australia's Emissions Fall As Economy Slows
• 2009/11/03: MGS: How CO2 matters
• 2009/11/02: NatureCF: Our emissions: 532,151,027,622 and counting
• 2009/11/02: NOAANews: NOAA Scientists Fly to the Ends of the Earth to Measure Greenhouse Gases
• 2009/11/02: PlanetArk: Japan CO2 Emissions From Fuel Drop
  A slumping economy pushed down Japanese CO2 emissions from burning fuels by a record 6.7 percent in the year to March 2009...

And in the carbon cycle:

• 2009/11/07: DWWSJ: The Breathing Earth
• 2009/11/04: COP15: Scientists warn about draining peatlands
  Drained peatlands are responsible for 1.3 billion tons of CO2 being released every year, a new study shows. Indonesia insists on converting peatlands with low carbon reserves to oil palm estates.
• 2009/11/01: CCP: Andrew Glikson: The Lungs of the Earth

  As for the temperature record:

• 2009/11/06: QuarkSoup: UAH Oct temperature anomaly [kind of in the middle: +0.284°C]
• 2009/11/04: DWWSJ: Sudden Mac Withdrawal

  While in the paleoclimate:

• 2009/11/08: SciDaily: Seafloor Fossils Provide Clues To Climate Change
• 2009/11/06: Eureka: Past climate of the northern Antarctic Peninsular informs global warming debate
• 2009/11/05: NewScientist: Mass extinction blamed on fiery fountains of coal [250 mya]
• 2009/11/04: Eureka: Paleoecologists offer new insight into how climate change will affect organisms -- Study highlights importance of multiple approaches
• 2009/11/03: SciNow: The Mountains That Froze the World [460 mya]
• 2009/11/02: NatureN: Native American culture sowed seeds of its own collapse -- Floods brought the Nazca to their knees - but they crippled themselves by over-farming first
• 2009/11/02: PhysOrg: Forest clearances sealed ancient civilisation's downfall
• 2009/11/02: Guardian(UK): Ancient Peruvian Nazca turned land to desert
  Lessons to be learned from Nazca civilisation, which exposed itself to floods after mass deforestation, research says

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

• 2009/11/05: NOAA:NCEP: El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) Diagnostic Discussion
  Synopsis: El Niño is expected to continue strengthening and last through at least the Northern Hemisphere winter 2009-2010.
• 2009/11/03: ClimateP: El Niño-driven sea surface temperatures are soaring. Forecast: Hot and then even hotter

  Glaciers are melting:

• 2009/11/08: Times(UK): Vanishing glaciers jolt smokestack China
• 2009/11/03: CCurrents: Climate Change Will Melt Snows Of Kilimanjaro 'Within 20 Years'
• 2009/11/04: TLC: The Snowless Kilimanjaro, The Glacierless National Park
• 2009/11/03: Guardian(UK): Kilimanjaro ice could vanish within 20 years, study suggests
• 2009/11/02: SciNews: Mount Kilimanjaro could soon be bald -- World-renowned ice caps may disappear by the 2020s
• 2009/11/02: TerraDaily: Snows of Kilimanjaro could vanish in 20 years: study
• 2009/11/03: SciDaily: Snows Of Kilimanjaro Shrinking Rapidly, And Likely To Be Lost
• 2009/11/02: CBC: Kilimanjaro glaciers could go within decades
• 2009/11/02: NatureN: The melting snows of Kilimanjaro -- Glaciers crowning Africa's tallest mountain could disappear within decades/A>
• 2009/11/02: MongaBay: Goodbye, snows of Kilimanjaro
• 2009/11/02: TreeHugger: No Snows on Kilimanjaro by 2030 as Glaciers Continue Their Rapid Retreat
• 2009/11/02: Eureka: Snows Of Kilimanjaro shrinking rapidly, and likely to be lost

  Sea levels are rising:

• 2009/11/07: ABC(Au): Figures from the National Tidal Centre show sea levels along Western Australia's coast are rising at a rate double that of the world average
• 2009/11/03: MNN: Rising ocean levels: Detailed flood maps online
  Cartifact launches interactive map that shows in detail where floods resulting from climate change would occur
• 2009/11/03: ECO-CAN: Rising Ocean Levels: Detailed Flood Maps Online

  Meanwhile in near earth orbit:

• 2009/11/05: PhysOrg: Tackling new Arctic challenges from space
• 2009/11/03: BBC: SMOS satellite unfurls instrument
  The SMOS spacecraft launched on Monday to study the Earth's water cycle has passed a key mission milestone. The European Space Agency (Esa) satellite has successfully unpacked the three-armed antenna it will use to acquire its data.
• 2009/11/03: ESA: SMOS forms three-pointed star in the sky
• 2009/11/02: NatureN: [SMOS] Satellite launches to track the world's water -- Soil moisture and ocean salinity set to be monitored from space
• 2009/11/02: Eureka: SMOS satellite successfully launched
• 2009/11/02: BBC: European water mission [SMOS] lifts off
  A European satellite is set to provide major new insights into how water is cycled around the Earth.

More GW impacts are being seen:

• 2009/11/06: 680News: Scientists warn caribou collapse not unlike disappearance of cod stocks
• 2009/11/06: PhysOrg: Climate Change, Nitrogen Loss Threaten Plant Life in Arid Desert Soils
• 2009/11/06: SciDaily: Can Biodiversity Persist In The Face Of Climate Change?
• 2009/11/05: Cornell: Nitrogen loss threatens desert plant life, study shows
  As the climate gets warmer, arid soils lose nitrogen as gas, reports a new Cornell study. That could lead to deserts with even less plant life than they sustain today, say the researchers.
• 2009/11/03: ColoradoIndependent: Colorado's vast beetle-kill pine forests threaten power grid -- Experts seek to head off disaster with green solutions
• 2009/11/05: PlanetArk: Study Finds Vital Peatlands Neglected
• 2009/11/04: PhysOrg: Scientists prepare for large-scale glacial floods [near volcanoes]
• 2009/11/03: WWI: Degraded Habitats Push More Species to Extinction
• 2009/11/04: SciDaily: Green Is Cool, But US Land Changes Generally Are Not
  Most land-use changes occurring in the continental United States reduce vegetative cover and raise regional surface temperatures, says a new study...
• 2009/11/03: TreeHugger: More Cities Means More Warming, Sure - But More Agricultural Land Means More Cooling?
• 2009/11/03: SciDaily: Climate Change Could Create Agricultural Winners And Losers In East Africa, New Study Warns
• 2009/11/02: Purdue: Study gives clearer picture of how land-use changes affect U.S. climate
• 2009/11/02: MBARI: Deep-sea ecosystems affected by climate change
• 2009/11/02: Guardian(UK): Climate change threatens lives of millions of children, says charity [Save the Children]
• 2009/11/02: TreeHugger: Climate Change May Kill 250,000 Kids Next Year - Many More to Die Annually by 2030
• 2009/11/02: NOAA:NEFSC: North Atlantic Fish Populations Shifting as Ocean Temperatures Warm -- Southern Species like Atlantic Croaker May Become Common in New England Waters
• 2009/11/02: Eureka: Climate variability impacts the deep sea -- Deep-sea ecosystems occupying 60% of the Earth's surface

  And then there are the world's forests:

• 2009/11/05: NatureTGB: Can Madagascar's forests be saved?
• 2009/11/05: NatureCF: Madagascar: how to save a forest
• 2009/11/05: VoA: Governments See Dollars in Re-Grown Forests
• 2009/11/02: UMd: Researchers Hail Innovative Plan to Save Rainforest, Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions
• 2009/11/04: PhysOrg: SKorea to plant trees in China to reduce 'yellow dust'
  The Seoul city government will help fund a tree-planting project in a Chinese desert to reduce the amount of harmful "yellow dust" blowing over South Korea, officials said Wednesday.
• 2009/11/04: PlanetArk: Forest Protection Hinges On 10-Word Phrase ["safeguards against the conversion of natural forests to forest plantations" - part of REDD]
• 2009/11/04: MoJo: GM's Money Trees -- In Brazil, people with some of the world's smallest carbon footprints are being displaced - so their forests can become offsets for SUVs.
• 2009/11/03: NewScientist: Pay us oil money, or the rainforest gets it
• 2009/11/03: COP15: Ecuador prepared to leave rainforest's oil underground

  Corals are dying:

• 2009/11/06: ClimateShifts: Corals likely to starve in a high CO2 world
• 2009/11/05: ClimateShifts: Preservation of coral reefs: why isn't the majority heard?
• 2009/11/06: CBC: Caribbean, Gulf spared widespread coral damage
  Lower-than-feared sea temperatures this summer gave a break to fragile coral reefs across the Caribbean and the central Gulf of Mexico that were damaged in recent years, scientists said Thursday.
• 2009/11/05: Eureka: Coral reefs inspire rare consensus -- just save them
• 2009/11/04: ABC(Au): Coral bleaching gives rise to reef bullies
• 2009/11/03: TerraDaily: Taiwan coral reefs need 100 years to recover [from Typhoon Morakot]: scientists
• 2009/11/04: Eureka: Calm before the spawn: Climate change and coral spawning -- Study sheds new light on threats to coral reproduction

  Climate refugees are becoming an issue:

• 2009/11/04: TerraDaily: Climate agreement needed to prevent forced migration: UN
• 2009/11/03: Guardian(UK): Global warming could create 150 million 'climate refugees' by 2050
  Environmental Justice Foundation report says 10% of the global population is at risk of forced displacement due to climate change

Meanwhile on the wild fire front:

• 2009/11/02: TheAge: Australia's 'get-out' clause on bushfire slammed
  Australia has been accused of pushing for a ''get-out clause'' on climate change that would grant it unlimited carbon credits from new forestry plantations while pretending that enormous greenhouse gas emissions from bushfire did not exist. The Federal Government wants a Copenhagen climate deal to allow countries to opt to include forestry and crop lands that draw carbon dioxide from the atmosphere in their national greenhouse accounts. Most land and forestry emissions, including "natural disturbances" such as bushfire and drought, would be excluded. In a year such as 2003, when Victorian fires burned more than a million hectares, this could mean not accounting for up to 200 million tones of carbon dioxide - about a third of Australia's annual emissions.

As for hydrological cycle disruptions [floods & droughts]:

• 2009/11/07: NatureN: Planting trees can shift water flow -- Creating forests where none existed may affect long-term hydrology
• 2009/11/04: USGS: Atlanta Floods Extremely Rare
• 2009/11/07: BBC: Electricity blackouts in Ecuador
  Ecuador has introduced electricity rationing after a drought led to acute water shortages at the country's main hydro-electric power plant at Paute.
• 2009/11/06: MongaBay: NASA satellite image reveals extent of drought in East Africa
• 2009/11/06: SciDaily: Atlanta Floods Extremely Rare
  The epic flooding that hit the Atlanta area in September was so extremely rare that, six weeks later this event has defied attempts to describe it. Scientists have reviewed the numbers and they are stunning.
• 2009/11/06: RedCross: Loans combat drought in east Africa
• 2009/11/05: SolveClimate: Climate Change Could Bring Water Bankruptcy With Grave Consequences
• 2009/11/04: ABC(Au): Warmer temperatures are expected to reduce run-off from rivers across northern Australia, one of the country's leading researchers says
• 2009/11/02: BBC: Scottish floods cause disruption
  Heavy rain has caused havoc in the north and east of Scotland with many homes flooded and trains cancelled.

Elsewhere on the mitigation front:

• 2009/11/03: ERabett: Adaptation, Conservation, Substitution, Mitigation ...how to deal with the mess we are in...
• 2009/11/03: MTobis: 'Tis not Mete. Or is it?

  Consider transportation & GHG production:

• 2009/11/04: NRDC:SwitchBoard: All aboard: Cincinnati voters emphatically reject anti-streetcar measure
• 2009/11/04: WorldChanging: Buffett's Bet on Rail: What Does It Mean for Transport and Energy?
• 2009/11/04: WSJ:EnvCap: Trainspotting: Warren Buffett's Big (And Safe) Bet on Rail
• 2009/11/04: AlterNet: It's Time to Rebuild Our Passenger Railroad System

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

• 2009/11/06: COP15: Subsidizing green buildings reduces greenhouse gases and creates jobs
• 2009/11/04: GreenGrok: Can We Put a Brake on Homely Emissions?

  And on the carbon sequestration front:

• 2009/11/07: Stoat: First Look at Carbon Capture and Storage in a West Virginia Coal-Fired Power Plant?
• 2009/11/06: ABC(Au): Engineer proposes carbon removal fix
  An engineer speaking at an energy forum next week says he has a solution to dispose of carbon emissions from the Latrobe Valley. Graham Thoms has a carbon sequestration project at Penrith in New South Wales and will be speaking at the Energy Futures in Regional Australia conference. Mr Thoms proposes to liquefy carbon emissions from coal-fired power stations, mix it with limestone and then flush the calcium bicarbonate mixture out to sea.
• 2009/11/04: Eureka: Report on US-China collaboration on carbon capture and sequestration
• 2009/11/02: WSJ:EnvCap: Denbury buys Encore, Potentially Creating a CO2 Injecting Giant
• 2009/11/01: CCP: Australian farmer sequesters 1,100 kilos of carbon per hectare by injecting the fumes from his diesel tractor into the soil as he plants his crops, saving $1200 per hectare in fertilizer costs

  Large scale geo-engineering keeps popping up:

• 2009/11/06: NatureTGB: Geoengineering in the House
• 2009/11/06: NatureTGB: Geoengineering in the House
• 2009/11/06: ScienceInsider: March [2010] Geoengineering Confab Draws Praise, Criticism
• The Royal Society: Geoengineering: a brave new world? Tuesday 19 January 2010 at 6.30pm
• 2009/11/05: CIW: Ken Caldeira Testifies to Congress on Geoengineering
• 2009/11/06: WorldChanging: Can We Manipulate the Weather?
• 2009/11/06: ENN: Geoengineering Being Discussed in Washington
• 2009/11/04: Guardian(UK): Forests in the desert: the answer to climate change?
  Climate change could be cancelled out in a staggeringly ambitious plan to plant the Sahara desert and Australian outback with trees
• 2009/11/04: PhysOrg: 'Whitewash' could slow global warming: Peruvian scientist
• 2009/11/04: Grist: Geoengineering: Plan B for when Copenhagen fails? eek!
• 2009/11/04: Guardian(UK): Can we manipulate the weather?
  Chinese scientists claim to be able to control the weather. But is so-called geoengineering more than wishful thinking? And, if so, should we be worried?
• 2009/11/04: Guardian(UK): Five extreme ways to beat climate change

  While on the adaptation front:

• 2009/11/06: COP15: Three African countries become adaptation pilots
  Mozambique, Niger and Zambia receive World Bank funding for demonstration projects that will implement climate change adaptation into existing economic development planning.
• 2009/11/06: HotTopic: Bolivia: the necessity of adaptation

  Minor Transition Town blogostorm:

• 2009/11/05: MTobis: Troubled Transition

  Meanwhile in the journals:

• 2009/11/05: AGWObserver: Papers on climate sensitivity estimates
• 2009/11/03: NERC:NORA: Invasion of bluetongue and other orbivirus infections into Europe: the role of biological and climatic processes by B.V. Purse et al.
• 2009/11/04: NERC:NORA: What impact will climate change have on rural groundwater supplies in Africa? by Alan M. MacDonald et al.
• 2009/11/06: NERC:NORA: Ice sheets: indicators and instruments of climate change by David Vaughan
• 2009/11/06: NERC:NORA: Rapid warming of the ocean around South Georgia, Southern Ocean, during the 20th century: Forcings, characteristics and implications for lower trophic levels by M.J. Whitehouse et al.
• 2009/11/06: NERC:NORA: Wintertime ocean conditions over the southern Weddell Sea continental shelf, Antarctica by Keith Nicholls et al.
• 2009/11/06: NERC:NORA: Ice-shelf - ocean interactions at Fimbul Ice Shelf, Antarctica from oxygen isotope ratio measurements by M.R. Price et al.
• 2009/11/06: ACP: Direct estimates of emissions from the megacity of Lagos by J. R. Hopkins et al.
• 2009/11/06: ACP: Extreme Saharan dust event over the southern Iberian Peninsula in september 2007: active and passive remote sensing from surface and satellite by J. L. Guerrero-Rascado et al.
• 2009/11/05: ACP: The effect of nonlinearity in CO2 heating rates on the attribution of stratospheric ozone and temperature changes by A. I. Jonsson et al.
• 2009/11/03: CP: Stable isotope records for the last 10 000 years from Okshola cave (Fauske, northern Norway) and regional comparisons by H. Linge et al.
• 2009/02/05: GSABulletin: (ab$) High-resolution Holocene climate record from Maxwell Bay, South Shetland Islands, Antarctica by K.T. Milliken et al.
• 2009/11/02: TCD: Multi-channel ground-penetrating radar to explore spatial variations in thaw depth and moisture content in the active layer of a permafrost site by U. Wollschläger et al.
• 2009/11/02: NatGeo: (ab$) CO2 emissions from forest loss by G. R. van der Werf et al.
• 2009/11/03: ACP: Eddy covariance methane measurements at a Ponderosa pine plantation in California by C. J. P. P. Smeets et al.
• 2009/11/03: ACP: Direct measurements of the effect of biomass burning over the Amazon on the atmospheric temperature profile by A. Davidi et al.
• 2009/11/02: ACPD: Do biomass burning aerosols intensify drought in equatorial Asia during El Niño? by M. G. Tosca et al.
• 2009/11/02: ACPD: Study on the impact of sudden stratosphere warming in the upper mesosphere-lower thermosphere regions using satellite and HF radar measurements by N. Mbatha et al.
• 2009/11/03: PNAS: Late Paleocene fossils from the Cerrejón Formation, Colombia, are the earliest record of Neotropical rainforest by Scott L. Wing et al.
• 2009/11/03: PNAS: Nitrogen management is essential to prevent tropical oil palm plantations from causing ground-level ozone pollution by C. N. Hewitt et al.
• 2009/11/03: PNAS: Household actions can provide a behavioral wedge to rapidly reduce US carbon emissions by Thomas Dietz et al.
• 2009/11/03: PNAS: Recent changes in a remote Arctic lake are unique within the past 200,000 years by Yarrow Axford et al.
• 2009/11/03: PNAS: [Commentary$] Contemporary Arctic change: A paleoclimate déjà vu? by Julie Brigham-Grette

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

• 2009/11/05: FuturePundit: Nitrogen Cycle Added To Climate Model
• 2009/10/27: OSU: Newly drilled ice cores may be the longest taken from the Andes

  The Pielke fan clubbe, alas:

• 2009/11/03: QuarkSoup: R Pielke Jr's Open Invitation

  Tiljander:

• 2009/11/04: Stoat: Tiljander, again

  Briffa:

• 2009/11/01: ERabett: Ken Briffa REALLY Responds

  Meanwhile on the Kyoto front:

• 2009/11/05: PlanetArk: Investors Warm To Scaled-Up U.N. Offset Scheme [CDM]
• 2009/11/04: Xinhuanet: Kyoto Protocol needs to continue: UN climate chief
  While the latest round of UN climate change talks is going on here in Spain on Nov. 2-6, Yvede Boer, the UN climate chief, said on Tuesday that the Kyoto Protocol needed to continue and industrialized countries should come up with more ambitious targets on emission reduction under the protocol. "Until the moment the Kyoto Protocol is the only thing we have," De Boer, executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, said in an exclusive interview with Xinhua. "There is a saying in my language that if you only have one pair of shoes, don't throw them away before you have new ones," said De Boer, "so at the moment Kyoto is my shoes and I would like to keep them on until I know there are something better for me to have."
• 2009/11/02: PlanetArk: Mass-Market U.N. Carbon Scheme [a CDM] Finds Favor In India

  While at the UN:

• 2009/11/05: TerraDaily: UN chief praises EU 'leadership' on climate change
• 2009/11/05: EarthTimes: UN: Developed countries need to cut gas emissions by 25-40 per cent

  And on the carbon trading front:

• 2009/11/04: NatureN: Carbon trading: How to save a forest
  Projects in Madagascar could provide a model for stemming deforestation. But first these efforts must deal with the poverty and political upheaval that threaten forests, reports Anjali Nayar.

The idea of a carbon tax is still bouncing around:

• 2009/11/05: PlanetArk: How To Boost Fuel Efficiency? Raise Taxes, Executives Say [ctax]
• 2009/11/04: EurActiv: EU carbon tax on new Commission's agenda early next year

  It's notable that several heavy league politicos are suggesting the dreaded Tobin tax:

• 2009/11/08: Guardian(UK): Transaction tax [Tobin tax] figures start to add up for Gordon Brown
• 2009/11/08: Guardian(UK): Row breaks out over Gordon Brown's plan to tax City profits
  International levy on financial trading would help developing world deal with climate change
• 2009/11/02: COP15: France: Let a tax on finance pay for climate
  The revenues from a tariff on financial transactions could provide the much needed financing for climate policy, French minister suggests.

The debate over the optimal strategy [carbon trading, carbon offsets, auction vs. allocation, and/or a carbon tax] to use in dealing with GHGs continues:

• 2009/11/05: Guardian(UK): Don't let the reckless City trade carbon
  As the City recovers from one disaster, the next is on its way -- but carbon trading will damage the planet, not just the economy
• 2009/11/04: Grist: Gaming cap and trade: Should we worry?
• 2009/11/05: COP15: NGO: Carbon trading a "waste of time"
  Rather than reduce greenhouse gas emissions, creating a global emission trading system could actually undermine the attempt to cut emissions, says the environmental network Friends of the Earth.
• 2009/11/05: BBC: Harrabin's Notes: Carbon trading
  In his regular column, the BBC's environment analyst, Roger Harrabin, assesses the latest assault against carbon trading ahead of the Copenhagen climate conference. Carbon trading could trigger a financial collapse like the sub-prime loans crisis, according to a new report from the green group Friends of the Earth (FoE).
• 2009/11/05: Guardian(UK): Friends of the Earth attacks carbon trading
  An FoE reports says 'cap and trade' carbonn markets have done little to reduce emissions but have been plagued by corruption and inefficiency
• 2009/11/04: BSD: First response to Williams and Zabel's anti-cap-and-trade legislation
• 2009/11/02: WSJ:EnvCap: If Cap-and-Trade is So Terrible, What's the Alternative?

  Meanwhile on the international political front:

• 2009/11/05: EarthTimes: India, Sweden hold talks on climate change, energy
• 2009/11/04: ClimateP: A Proposal for US-China Collaboration on Climate Technology
• 2009/11/04: LA Times: Brazil raises cane over U.S. ethanol tariff
  Brazilian sugar producers say sugar-based fuel is more environmentally sound than electricity or corn ethanol as an alternative for powering cars. But the odds are long for a change.
• 2009/11/02: EnergyBulletin: The EU's climate change offer to the USA and a railway around the coast of Africa
• 2009/11/02: Reuters: China's Wen tells EU to stick to current climate pact

  As for GW & security:

• 2009/11/04: NewScientist: Fix climate change or else, say military top brass
• 2009/10/20: TBAS: Climate change could be the next great military threat
  Although the United States has faced many threats over the last few decades, climate change may be the most ominous.
  Specifically, it will contribute to resource scarcity, state failure, increasingly mobile populations, and regional instability.
  The U.S. military may not be the best body to tackle climate change, but it still should be quick to reassess its global engagement strategy and be proactive in minimizing the effects of climate change on U.S. and international security.
• 2009/11/03: CCP: Climate change could be the next great military threat

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

• 2009/11/04: Guardian(UK): [Letters] Our right to protest in Copenhagen
  It is telling of the times in which we live that the Danish government today is seeking to curtail legitimate protests around the Copenhagen climate summit this December (Countdown to Copenhagen, 2 November).

And on the American political front:

• 2009/11/05: CSW: "Why Is There No US Climate Policy?"
• 2009/11/06: NRDC:SwitchBoard: Michigan Takes Big Step Forward on Energy Efficiency
• 2009/11/06: AlterNet: Who's to Blame for All the Dithering on Climate Legislation?
• 2009/11/05: GreenGrok: Global Warming Debate Gets Strange
• 2009/11/05: PhysOrg: 3 Questions: Sergey Paltsev on the costs of climate-change legislation
• 2009/11/05: ENN: Washington, Stop Dithering, US Goals on Climate Urgently Needed
• 2009/11/05: AutoBG: CAFE credits for EVs - will we repeat the E85 system?
• 2009/11/04: CSW: GAO report makes case for national strategic plan to deal with climate impacts
• 2009/11/02: FTimes: Coal-rich US puts faith in CO2 storage
  [...]
  The industry estimates that the basin has 100-150 more years' worth of production, based on today's technology. Though most mines are much smaller, there are more than 1,000 of them in the US. The government estimates there are several hundred years' worth of coal to be recovered in the US - the Saudi Arabia of coal, with 27 per cent of the world's known coal reserves. It would take a massive effort to replace coal production. Peabody Energy, which owns North Antelope and is the world's largest private sector coal company, says replacing coal would be a gargantuan task. It would require 2,400 times more solar generation, 40 times more wind power, 250 new nuclear plants, almost double the US production of natural gas, 500 hydro plants the size of the Hoover Dam or halving electricity consumption. Even then, the US would have to find a way to meet new demand, given growth forecasts.
  Victor Der, principal deputy assistant secretary for fossil energy in the Obama administration, says: "It would be very difficult to move away from it. We believe coal will continue to be in the energy mix."
• 2009/11/03: PlanetArk: Climate Law Seen Raising Gasoline 13 Cents A Gallon [according to report by Point Carbon]
• 2009/11/02: Reuters: US urged to set 2020 target to save climate deal
• 2009/11/03: PeakEnergy: The Cleantech Revolution Sweeps Through America
• 2009/11/02: BBC: America's energy policy dilemma

  There's still some chatter about the Chamber of Commerce embarassment:

• 2009/11/04: NRDC:SwitchBoard: Is the US Chamber Changing its Tune, or Just its Tone?
• 2009/11/01: OregonLive: U.S. Chamber of Commerce can't see green

  The Obama chatter is nonstop:

• 2009/11/04: BBC: Obama urges new effort on climate
  President Barack Obama has said it is "imperative" the US and EU re-double efforts to achieve success at next month's climate summit in Copenhagen. Speaking after talks in Washington with EU officials, he said they agreed they should create a framework for progress.
• 2009/11/03: ClimateP: One year after his election, Obama on verge of audaciously fulfilling his promise as the green FDR

  The actions of the Obama administration are being watched closely:

• 2009/11/06: ScienceInsider: Chu's Tall Tale of Energy Efficiency
• 2009/11/05: HillHeat: EPA Investigating Legality of Coal River Mountain Destruction
• 2009/11/04: NRDC:SwitchBoard: Facing Coal Hard Facts at Interior Department
• 2009/11/02: Grist: Interior will consider mountaintop removal rule in 2011?
• 2009/11/02: WVGazette:CT: Interior 'spinning its wheels' on mountaintop removal
  Back in June, officials from various Obama administration agencies said they were going to take "unprecedented steps to reduce environmental impacts" of mountaintop removal coal mining. They just didn't say when -- and apparently, at least over at the Interior Department, they don't have plans to act anytime soon. On Friday, lawyers for Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and for Glenda Owens, acting director of Interior's Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement made that pretty clear. In a four-page legal filing, Interior's lawyers said they won't be issuing their proposed changes to the stream "buffer zone rule" until early 2011...
• 2009/11/02: NRDC:SwitchBoard: Geothermal Gets Big Boost from DOE via ARRA
• 2009/11/01: CSW: On "Editing Scientists" at the White House Council on Environmental Quality
• 2009/11/02: DeepClimate: Contrarian Education at NOAA

  As for what is going on in Congress:

• 2009/11/06: ScienceInsider: Political Science at NSF Weathers Senate Attack
• 2009/11/06: ClimateP: Sen. Baucus (D-MT): "There's no doubt that this Congress is going to pass climate change legislation."
• 2009/11/06: DeSmogBlog: U.S. Climate Envoy Slams Inhofe's Attempts To Influence Copenhagen
• 2009/11/04: ClimateP: Graham, Kerry, and Lieberman "will be working closely with the White House" to develop separate tripartisan climate bill to get 60 votes -- with Reid's and Boxer's consent...
• 2009/11/05: PlanetArk: House Seeks To End Biofuels Paper Tax Breaks
• 2009/11/05: TP: Will Conservative Democrats Follow Graham's Lead On Climate Policy?
• 2009/11/04: ABC(Au): German chancellor Angela Merkel has addressed a joint sitting of the US Congress...
• 2009/11/04: Grist: Lindsey Graham rebukes fellow Republicans: 'The green economy is coming'
• 2009/11/04: HillHeat: Senate Watch: Boxer, Harkin, Kerry, Lugar, Lautenberg, Voinovich
• 2009/11/03: EarthTimes: Merkel urges US Congress on climate change - Summary
• 2009/11/03: SolveClimate: Boxer Offers Compromise To Preserve Clean Air Act Responsibility for CO2
• 2009/11/04: WSJ:EnvCap: Pushing for Energy Legislation, Pushing for Jobs
• 2009/11/03: TP:WR: In Reversal, Boxer Sharply Curbs Clean Air Act Regulation Of Greenhouse Gases
• 2009/11/02: EWG: Loophole Deja Vu: Senate Climate Bill's Agriculture Offsets Include Polluter Giveaway
• 2009/11/02: ClimateP: WashPost gets climate bill politics story backwards, buries the big news: Graham and Kerry are in talks with White House "to discuss a possible compromise."
• 2009/11/02: Grist: Deniers with attitude (and power) -- Sen. Inhofe and U.S. Farm Bureau chief casually chat about destroying the climate bill
• 2009/11/02: HillHeat: An Incomplete List of Senate Holds on Obama Administration Nominees
• 2009/11/01: CSW: Bingaman natural resources planning bill underscores need to move on climate change adaptation

  The Republicans boycotted the EPW Committee hearing and Boxer called their bluff:

• 2009/11/03: QuarkSoup: Boxer and the Absent Republicans
• 2009/11/05: ScienceInsider: Senate Lurches Forward on Climate Bill
• 2009/11/05: ClimateP: The GOP's phony excuse for delaying the climate and clean energy bill
• 2009/11/05: TerraDaily: Key US Senate panel clears climate bill
  US Senate Democrats on Thursday pushed a sweeping climate change bill through a key committee, shrugging off a boycott by Republicans who oppose the measure and mostly shunned the debate.
• 2009/11/05: SolveClimate: Congressional Rules Take a Leading Role in US Climate Progress
• 2009/11/05: NYT: Democrats Push Climate Bill Through Panel Without G.O.P. Debate
• 2009/11/05: Guardian(UK): Democrats make progress on climate but bill's future remains uncertain -- Boxer defies Republican boycott...
• 2009/11/05: TreeHugger: Senate Committee Passes Climate Bill, Despite Republican Boycott
• 2009/11/05: EarthTimes: Key Senate panel approves climate bill; Republicans boycott
  A key Senate committee approved a landmark climate bill Thursday that would force US companies to curb greenhouse-gas emissions blamed for global warming. But the 11-1 vote in the Senate Environment Committee was boycotted by opposition Republicans on the panel, who complained that the bill had yet to be properly analyzed for its economic costs. The legislation aims to reduce emissions 20 per cent by 2020 by introducing a cap-and-trade system that for the first time makes US companies pay a price for their pollution. Republican opponents argue it will impose too heavy a burden on the economy. The controversial legislation now moves to the full Senate, where it still faces heavy resistance and could be changed significantly. The House of Representatives passed a similar bill earlier this year.
• 2009/11/05: WSJ:EnvCap: Boxer Rebellion: Senate Panel Approves Climate Bill Without GOP
• 2009/11/05: HoustonChronicle: Senate Democrats move greenhouse gas bill along without GOP
• 2009/11/04: Oregonian: Walking out on global warming
  The whole world saw a jarring, embarrassing contrast in leadership this week: There was German Chancellor Angela Merkel addressing a joint session of the Congress and pleading for U.S. action to combat climate change "in the interest of our children and grandchildren." And there were Republican senators shunning a key committee meeting on climate change, literally walking away from their responsibilities to address the greatest environmental challenge facing the world.
• 2009/11/05: STimes: Senate Democrats advance climate bill without GOP
  Senate Democrats sidestepped a Republican boycott Thursday, pushing a climate bill out of committee in an early step on a long and contentious road to passage.
• 2009/11/05: Reuters: Senate panel approves Democratic climate bill
  The U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee on Thursday approved a Democratic climate change bill that would require industry to cut emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases 20 percent by 2020 from 2005 levels. With Republicans boycotting the committee's work...
• 2009/11/04: LA Times: Republicans walk out of Senate hearing on climate-change bill
• 2009/11/04: WaPo: Unhelpful atmosphere -- The GOP boycotts a Senate panel's work on climate change legislation
• 2009/11/04: ClimateP: The Audacity of Nope: The GOP obstructs the clean energy bill
• 2009/11/03: RawStory: Senate Republicans boycott climate change debate
• 2009/11/03: CQPolitics: Partisan Battle Threatens to Derail Climate Bill
• 2009/11/04: TP: Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI): 'The Party of No' has become the 'Party of No Show.'
• 2009/11/03: Guardian(UK): US puts climate debate on hold for five weeks despite plea by [German Chancellor Angela] Merkel -- Senate delay means no bill likely before Copenhagen
• 2009/11/03: ClimateP: Senate GOP embrace Inhofe's boycott of Clean Energy Jobs Act in effort to thwart Copenhagen deal...
• 2009/11/03: Grist: Senators opposed to the Clean Energy Jobs Act are ignoring the bill's benefits to Americans
• 2009/11/03: NYT:CW: Boxer Invites EPA In for Questions About Climate Bill
  Hoping to avert a partisan meltdown, Senate Environment and Public Works Chairwoman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) yesterday offered an olive branch to Republicans who are planning to boycott today's markup of a sweeping global warming bill.
• 2009/11/03: USAToday: GOP senators absent at start of climate debate
• 2009/11/02: TP: Senate GOP embrace Inhofe's boycott of Clean Energy Jobs Act
• 2009/11/02: TP:WR: Inhofe Orchestrates Shameless Boycott Of Clean Energy Jobs Act

  Kerry-Boxer aka CEJAPA defines a battleline:

• 2009/11/07: MTobis: Against Waxman-Markey
• 2009/11/05: C411: Clean Energy Takes Big Step in Senate
• 2009/11/06: PlanetArk: Climate Bill To Force Refinery Closures: Petroplus
• 2009/11/06: Grist: Senators opposed to Clean Energy Jobs Act are ignoring bill's benefits to Americans - Part 2
• 2009/11/06: WaPo: Environmental groups at odds over new tack in climate fight -- Some favor playing down threat, focusing on bill's positives
• 2009/11/05: Grist: What does recent Senate drama on the climate bill mean? Peak Boxer
• 2009/11/04: TreeHugger: Exxon-Mobil, Shell, Southern Company, AEP, & Duke Power Take Biggest Hits From Cap & Trade
• 2009/11/03: PlanetArk: Senate Climate Bill Boosts Natural Gas Outlook
• 2009/11/02: Grist: The real reason the climate bill is going to suck
• 2009/11/02: WSJ:EnvCap: Winners and Losers under Cap-and-Trade: Exxon, Exelon, and Duke

  Congress held an inquiry into geoengineering:

• 2009/11/06: NatureTGB: Geoengineering in the House
• 2009/11/06: NatureTGB: Geoengineering in the House
• 2009/11/06: ScienceInsider: March [2010] Geoengineering Confab Draws Praise, Criticism
• 2009/11/05: ScienceInsider: House Science Panel to Lead International Effort on Geoengineering
• 2009/11/05: CIW: Ken Caldeira Testifies to Congress on Geoengineering

  There is still some talk about the Bonner & Assoc forged letters:

• 2009/11/06: TPMM: Bonner's 'Independent' Ethics Adviser Backs Out Over Ad Flap
• 2009/11/03: DeSmogBlog: Groups Impersonated by Big Coal Testify Before Congress

  What are the lobbyists pushing?

• 2009/10/30: OpenSecrets: Federal Lobbying Boom Continues, Third Quarter Reports Indicate
• 2009/11/06: NRDC:SwitchBoard: Companies Launch New Initiative [ABCE] to Show Broad Business Support for Climate Legislation
• 2009/11/05: NRDC:SwitchBoard: American Corn Growers Association Pushes for Senate Climate Bill by Year's End
• 2009/11/02: TerraDaily: Flurry of lobbying cash obscures US climate debate
• 2009/11/03: Yahoo:AFP: Flurry of lobbying cash obscures US climate debate
• 2009/11/02: ClimateP: Nearly 200 organizations and companies urge Senate to adopt key energy-efficiency provision in climate bill

  The Gore-apalooza is still bopping along:

• 2009/11/06: CCP: Elizabeth Kolbert: Al Gore and "Our Choice"
• 2009/11/07: Guardian(UK): 'Civil disobedience has a role to play'
  Al Gore was born to be the most powerful man on Earth, but fell just short of his political destiny. Can the former law-maker now win his place in history as the man who helped save the planet?
• 2009/11/06: Guardian(UK): Civil unrest has a role in stopping climate change, says Gore
  Ahead of Copenhagen summit, former US vice-president says 'non-violent lawbreaking' is legitimate in persuading governments to cut emissions
• 2009/11/05: WSJ:EnvCap: Al Gore On Copenhagen, Clean-Energy Subsidies, and Global Warming
• 2009/11/03: FAIR: Al Gore, Still a Smartypants
• 2009/11/02: DerSpiegel: Interview with Al Gore -- 'I Am Optimistic'
  In a SPIEGEL interview, former US vice president and Nobel Peace Prize winner Al Gore, 61, discusses Barack Obama's environmental policies, the endless push by lobbyists to derail reforms and his hopes for a global deal at the climate change summit in Copenhagen next month.
• 2009/11/03: TP: Diane Sawyer Uses Glenn Beck To Attack Al Gore For Not Eating 'Tofurkey'
• 2009/11/03: NatureCF: Gore interview with Couric
• 2009/11/02: Guardian(UK): Al Gore's Inconvenient Truth sequel stresses spiritual argument on climate
• 2009/11/02: KSJT: Newsweek: Gore has a new book out just in time for Copenhagen. And speaking of global things...

  The echo chamber picked up the repercussions of that hit piece on Al Gore, as intended:

• 2009/11/03: QuarkSoup: Is Al Gore Conflicted?
• 2009/11/05: TreeHugger: New York Times' Hit Job on Al Gore Sparks Controversy
• 2009/11/04: Maribo: New York Times drops the ball reporting on Gore
• 2009/11/03: Guardian(UK): Al Gore's green investments prompt conflict of interest row
  One company in which Al Gore invested has contracts with utilities that received a combined subsidy of $560m (£340m) from the US energy department
• 2009/11/04: LeDaro: Al Gore bathing in Green
• 2009/11/03: Grist: Is John Broder embarrassed to have a baseless hit job on Gore under his byline?

  While in the UK:

• 2009/11/08: Guardian(UK): Britain's nuclear strategy threatens destruction of Kalahari
  Namibian environmentalists warn expansion of uranium mining could devastate spectacular natural landscape
• 2009/11/08: BBC: Scheme 'can cut extra emissions'
  A new business scheme could slash energy bills and cut carbon emissions by 50% more than anticipated, a study by the Environment Agency will claim. The report is expected to say that the Carbon Reduction Commitment, a government efficiency scheme, could reduce CO2 emissions by 11.6m tonnes. [...] The main tools are better management of heating, air conditioning and lighting.
• 2009/11/08: Guardian(UK): China lower risk than UK for green investors, claims Deutsche Bank
  Study condemning UK energy strategy set to embarrass government as it prepares to unveil new climate change initiative
• 2009/11/04: Guardian(UK): Scotland signs up to Climate Group

  And in Europe:

• 2009/11/06: EurActiv: EU green revolution 'must include low earners'
• 2009/11/06: PlanetArk: French PM [Francois Fillon] Backs Areva Despite Nuclear Safety Worry
• 2009/11/06: PlanetArk: German Nuclear Policy Skirts A Taboo
• 2009/11/06: EarthTimes: Baltics reaffirm commitment to new nuclear plant
• 2009/11/06: FTimes:ES: A bad week for French nuclear
• 2009/11/04: Yahoo:AFP: EU parliamentary nod for free emissions permits
  The European Parliament's environment committee on Wednesday approved a list of 164 industrial sectors that will win free carbon emissions permits for the next five years if no global deal on climate change is negotiated next month. Members of the powerful committee voted 39 for and 19 against, with one abstention, the parliament said.
• 2009/11/04: EurActiv: EU carbon tax on new Commission's agenda early next year

  Meanwhile in Australia:

• 2009/11/07: ABC(Au): No federal funds for wave power project
  The company [Carnegie Corporation] hoping to build the world's biggest wave power plant in Western Australia has missed out on federal funding.
• 2009/11/05: ABC(Au): The Australian Institute of Marine Science says it is vital it gets almost $50 million in federal funding to expand its research capacity
• 2009/11/05: ABC(Au): Feds claim Coalition not taking ETS seriously
• 2009/11/05: ABC(Au): Climate forum warns against inaction
  The Climate Institute, holding a forum in Cairns today, has accused the mining industry of "peddling misinformation" on climate change.
• 2009/11/04: ABC(Au): Warmer temperatures are expected to reduce run-off from rivers across northern Australia, one of the country's leading researchers says
• 2009/11/04: ABC(Au): Coastal conference to focus on climate change
  The New South Wales Coastal Conference begins in Ballina today with more than 250 people from throughout Australia to attend the three-day event. On the agenda is climate change, coastal management, ecosystems and water quality.
• 2009/11/04: ABC(Au): Blair opens Brisbane climate summit
• 2009/11/03: ABC(Au): A strategy implemented by a New South Wales Far South Coast council to reduce its energy consumption is achieving positive results
• 2009/11/03: PlanetArk: Australia's Emissions Fall As Economy Slows
• 2009/11/03: ABC(Au): Coastal housing risks under review
  The Environment Department is not ruling out a proposal that the South Australian Government acquire coastal properties in areas prone to rising sea levels.
• 2009/11/02: ABC(Au): Australians care less about climate change
  A new international survey has found Australians no longer care about climate change as much as they do about domestic issues and the financial crisis. The survey looks at attitudes towards climate change in 12 different countries and found concern in Australia dropped in the past year by 14 per cent - the largest drop among the developed nations surveyed.

PM Kevin Rudd delivered a scathing speech against deniers this week at Lowy Institute:

• 2009/11/08: JQuiggin: Both barrels -- That's what Kevin Rudd gave Australian delusionists in this speech to the Lowy Institute...
• 2009/11/06: Reuters: Australia [PM Kevin Rudd] attacks Copenhagen critics
  Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd launched a spirited attack on climate skeptics on Friday, saying a vocal minority is powerful enough to threaten a global deal at next month's Copenhagen climate summit. Rudd said climate skeptics, deniers and opponents of climate action are active in every country, had limited the ambition of national climate change commitments and slowed progress of carbon trade laws in the United States and Australia. "They are a minority. They are powerful, and invariably they are driven by vested interests," Rudd said in a foreign policy speech on Friday. "They are powerful enough to threaten a deal on global climate change both in Copenhagen and beyond."
• 2009/11/07: ABC(Au): Senators spray Rudd's ETS 'hissy fit'
  Crossbench Senators say they are not impressed by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's attack on those who oppose his climate change policy.
• 2009/11/06: SMH: Climate war gets personal for Rudd
  Kevin Rudd has launched a blistering attack on climate change sceptics and deniers in Australia and abroad, accusing them of a systematic campaign to sabotage global talks in Copenhagen and of being contemptuous towards the interests of the world's children.
• 2009/11/06: ABC(Au): Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has upped the pressure on the Opposition over its emissions trading stance, accusing it of being full of climate change deniers intent on delaying action
• 2009/11/06: BBerg: Rudd Criticizes 'Do-Nothing' Climate Change Skeptics
• 2009/11/06: News(Au): Climate change skeptics 'reckless gamblers'
  Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has launched a stinging attack on opposition climate change sceptics, a month out from the Copenhagen summit. In a lengthy address to Sydney's Lowy Institute today, Mr Rudd declared the sceptics to be gamblers who were betting their grandchildren's future away.
• 2009/11/06: ABC(Au): Rudd wages war on Coalition climate deniers
  Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has upped the pressure on the Opposition over its emissions trading stance, accusing it of being full of climate change deniers intent on delaying action. In a speech to the Lowy Institute today Mr Rudd launched a strongly worded attack on the Opposition and climate change sceptics worldwide for holding up countries' efforts to combat climate change. "It is time to be totally blunt about the agenda of the climate change sceptics in all their colours, some more sophisticated than others," he said. "It is to destroy the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme at home and it is to destroy agreed global action on climate change abroad. "And our children's fate - our grandchildren's fate - will lie entirely with them. It is time to remove any polite veneer from this debate; the stakes are that high. "The clock is ticking for the planet, but the climate change sceptics simply do not care."

A nasty little infight over CSIRO publishing policy erupted this week:

• 2009/11/07: Deltoid: Are CSIRO scientists still being gagged?
• 2009/11/06: NatureN: Australian agency denies gagging researchers -- Furore over decision to pull scientist's carbon trading critique from journal
• 2009/11/05: KSJT: The Australian: A government climate scientist says he's stifled by his bosses
• 2009/11/05: ABC(Au): CSIRO embroiled in censorship claims
• 2009/11/05: Australian: CSIRO 'gagging climate debate'
• 2009/11/03: PeakEnergy: CSIRO denies censoring climate paper
• 2009/11/02: ABC(Au): An environmental economist at the CSIRO says he is being told not to publish a paper on climate change because it challenges Government policy

  And in New Zealand:

• 2009/11/04: HotTopic: Muddled economics ignore reality

  While in the Indian subcontinent:

• 2009/11/06: Time: Why India Is Playing Hard to Get on Climate Change

  And China:

• 2009/11/08: Times(UK): Vanishing glaciers jolt smokestack China
• 2009/11/04: TerraDaily: Beijing gives frosty reception to man-made snowstorm
• 2009/11/03: Reuters: China OGP halts coverage of crude, products stockpiles

  In Japan:

• 2009/11/02: PlanetArk: Japan CO2 Emissions From Fuel Drop
  A slumping economy pushed down Japanese CO2 emissions from burning fuels by a record 6.7 percent in the year to March 2009...

And elsewhere in Asia:

• 2009/11/06: PlanetArk: South Korea Drops Weakest 2020 Emissions Cut Target
  South Korea, the OECD's fastest-growing carbon polluter, has ditched its weakest voluntary 2020 emissions target and will choose one of two stricter options ahead of a global meeting in Copenhagen. In a statement on Thursday, the government said it had dropped an option for an 8 percent increase from 2005 emissions levels by 2020. It would finalize the 2020 target on Nov 17 at between unchanged from and 4 percent below 2005 levels.
• 2009/11/06: PlanetArk: Philippines Targets $2.5 Billion Geothermal Development
• 2009/11/03: PlanetArk: Climate Worries To Send Nepal Cabinet To Everest Base

  And South America:

• 2009/11/06: HotTopic: Bolivia: the necessity of adaptation
• 2009/11/02: NatureN: Brazil mulls major climate action -- If adopted, the move would put the country ahead of other developing nations on emissions curbs

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

• 2009/11/08: TStar: Denying Canada's environmental truths -- Ottawa has offered a false choice between economic growth and environmental progress
• 2009/11/02: Thier: An embarrassment for Canada: CO2 emissions up over 20%
• 2009/11/01: Runesmith: The Never-Ending Conservative Obstructionism Over Climate Change

  The Conservatives policy in Barcelona and Copenhagen is basically not to annoy the Yanks:

• 2009/11/06: CanWest: Prentice braces for mission impossible in Copenhagen
• 2009/11/02: CanWest: U.S. key to climate pact, Prentice says -- Spain Talks Today
  The Harper government says the pressure will be on U.S. President Barack Obama's administration as the world meets for a crucial week of international climate negotiations in Spain today. Although Environment Minister Jim Prentice has been criticized for leaving Canada "empty-handed" at the negotiating table without its own national plan for reducing greenhouse gas emissions...

In BC, post election adjustments are ongoing:

• 2009/11/05: G&M: Clear-cuts flout forest salvage efforts: report
  Cites significant gaps in how B.C. is tracking the stepped-up logging of pine-beetle ravaged wood, saying province was unable to provide an accurate tally of what was being cut A stampede to harvest pine beetle-killed lumber in interior British Columbia has resulted in gaping clear-cuts that flout recommendations made at the beginning of the salvage effort in 2004, says a new report from the B.C. Forest Practices Board. And those openings, some of which are visible in satellite images, will result in increased risks of flooding, reduced wildlife habitat and loss of biodiversity, says the head of the watchdog agency. "It means that the risks that the chief forester was recommending we avoid, are now going to occur," Forest Practices Board chairman Bruce Fraser said yesterday.
• 2009/11/04: CBC: BC Hydro CEO [Bob Elton] steps down amid power controversy
• 2009/11/03: CBC: B.C. has hydro for millions of vehicles: study
  There's enough under-used capacity in British Columbia's power grid to charge 2.5 million electric vehicles, almost the number of vehicles on B.C. roads right now, a new study suggests. The study by the Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions says British Columbia's light-duty fleet -- private cars, vans and pickup trucks totals about 2.54 million vehicles.
• 2009/11/04: CanWest: Total impact of hydro projects on B.C.'s rivers unknown, experts say -- Run-of-river projects damage fish stocks, U.S. researcher tells conference
  British Columbia is decades behind other North American jurisdictions when it comes to confronting the impacts that hydroelectric development may have on the environment, a green energy conference heard Tuesday in Vancouver. Simon Fraser University energy economist Mark Jaccard told the conference that neighbouring U.S. jurisdictions have for decades studied hydro development on an ecosystem scale. Jaccard, one of hundreds of academics who shared a Nobel Peace Prize for research on climate change, said he was surprised to learn that B.C. doesn't take the same approach.
• 2009/11/02: CanWest: Premier Campbell announces sweeping B.C. energy policy review
  Premier Gordon Campbell on Monday announced a sweeping, fundamental review of energy policy in British Columbia. Speaking at the annual conference of the Independent Power Producers association of B.C., Campbell said the Liberals will strike four task forces to work on distinct facets of the province's green power sector. The intention is to make B.C. an international leader in green power development - both for this province and for export to markets including the United States and Alberta, Campbell said. Its intention is also to attract and strengthen the independent power sector in B.C.

Meanwhile in that Mechanical Mordor known as the tar sands:

• 2009/11/04: EmbassyMag: Tarsands not just a Canadian problem -- With so many countries invested in Alberta, who should be responsible?
• 2009/11/04: Times(UK): It's a dirty business -- the new gold rush that is blackening Canada's name
• 2009/11/04: OilChange: Copenhagen Talks Spell Trouble for the Tar Sands

  And elsewhere in Alberta:

• 2009/11/03: CBC: Alberta suspends sour gas drilling -- Applications won't be approved until response to court ruling finished
  The government agency that regulates Alberta's oil and gas industry Tuesday temporarily suspended the issuing of licences for sour gas projects. The move followed a court ruling that may have far-reaching effects on the industry and on the rights of people living near sour gas wells. [...] The decision by the Energy Resources Conservation Board affects applications for 69 wells, pipelines and other facilities. The move follows a decision made by the Alberta Court of Appeal on Oct. 28. The province's highest court ruled that the ERCB erred when it denied three residents living near Drayton Valley, 140 kilometres southwest of Edmonton, their right to participate in public hearings on the drilling of two sour gas wells by Calgary-based Grizzly Resources Ltd.

As for miscellaneous Canadiana:

• 2009/11/05: ClimateSight: Two Great Canadians

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

• 2009/11/06: CCurrents: The Paradise Imperative
• 2009/11/04: PS: The Next Industrial Revolution
  A new global deal to tackle climate change will not only be good for business, it is crucial to achieve sustainable growth for the global economy. As we approach the global climate talks in Copenhagen this December, much debate has focused on the supposed conflicting interests of big business and the climate. This argument is based on the idea that business does not like change, and in particular does not like change brought about by government policy or regulation. This is a grave misconception, and also underestimates the gravity of the choices we face as business people and citizens. But business thrives on change. Today's large companies were once only a few people who saw an opportunity arise, new demand that would grow, a change that made something new possible.
• 2009/11/06: EnergyBulletin: Dr. Albert Bartlett's "Laws of Sustainability"
• 2009/11/06: OilDrum: Dr. Albert Bartlett's "Laws of Sustainability"
• 2009/11/05: OilDrum: What "Lower Consumption" Means
• 2009/11/03: AlterNet: Our Produce-or-Die Culture Is Killing Us -- And We're Idiotically Grinning and Bearing It

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

• 2009/11/02: HPlusMag: To Breed or Not to Breed?

  Apocalypso anyone?

• 2009/11/03: HotTopic: Now Or Never

  As for how the media handles the science:

• 2009/11/05: ClimateP: Media stunner: Newsweek partners with oil lobby to raise ad cash, host energy and climate events with lawmakers -- while publishing the uber-greenwashing story, "Big Oil Goes Green for Real"
• 2009/11/04: OilDrum: Arthur Berman leaves World Oil after raising natural gas questions
• 2009/11/03: SolveClimate: Why Is the Media Afraid to Tackle Livestock's Role in Climate Change?
• 2009/11/02: ClimateP: WashPost gets climate bill politics story backwards, buries the big news: Graham and Kerry are in talks with White House "to discuss a possible compromise."

  While activists search for effective communication techniques:

• 2009/11/02: Tyee: Is This the Global Warming Ad that Will Wake Us Up?
• 2009/11/06: PhysOrg: The politics of climate fixes
  In the middle of a day filled with a stream of information-packed PowerPoint displays and alarming projections of what the future holds for our planet and our civilization, Judith Layzer's talk was something of an anomaly. Layzer, an assistant professor of environmental policy in MIT's Department of Urban Studies and Planning, was among the speakers at last Friday's daylong symposium on "Engineering a Cooler Earth."

Regarding the quality of blogosphere discussion:

• 2009/11/03: JFleck: On How to Have a Useful Conversation

  Here is something for your library:

• 2009/11/07: HotTopic: Forecast [Book Review] _Forecast: The Surprising - and Immediate - Consequences of Climate Change_ by Stephan Faris
• 2009/11/08: Guardian(UK): Is man on course to cause the sixth extinction?
  Forthcoming book [_The Sixth Extinction_ by Elizabeth Kolbert] examines the role of humans in the eradication of species, and its findings are not likely to be pleasant
• 2009/11/04: NRDC:SwitchBoard: Gore's New Book and Why the Choice of Clean Energy Is Ours to Make
• 2009/11/04: WorldChanging: Straight Talk for the Planetary Era: A Trio of Book Reviews
• 2009/11/02: WorldChanging: [Book Plug] _Our Choice: A Plan to Solve the Climate Crisis_ by Al Gore

  And for your film & video enjoyment:

• 2009/11/04: Maribo: Science lesson on the Late Show
• 2009/11/05: TWTB: Videobreak: Carbon trading to prevent deforestation in Madagascar

  One of the favourite ploys of the deniers back in my Usenet days was to compare GW science to religion. The Tim Nicholson case, in Britain, has brought this meme back with a vengeance:

• 2009/11/08: Guardian(UK): Welcome to the age of the eco-martyr. God help us [Nicholson]
  Nothing will harm climate change campaigners as much as a judge decreeing that the green movement is a faith
• 2009/11/07: Time: Environmentalism, the British Religion
  From animism to naturalistic pantheism, there are various belief systems that deify the natural world. But should a fervent belief in the need to fight climate change be given the same legal protection as an actual religion? A London judge said yes, ruling this week that environmentalism should carry the same legal weight as religion under Britain's employment laws.
• 2009/11/06: Guardian(UK): We're doomed without a green religion -- Arguments about climate change show up the incoherence of any purely individual morality
• 2009/11/05: DVoice: Belief in the Scientific Method
• 2009/11/05: Guardian(UK): Being green is no religion
  A court ruling that environmentalism is akin to religious belief is bad news for science, and for efforts to tackle climate change
• 2009/11/05: Guardian(UK): Why my verdict gives hope to climate change believers by Tim Nicholson
  I'm not the high priest of climate change. My environmental beliefs are rational, and courts were right to find in my favour
• 2009/11/05: Guardian(UK): It isn't godly being green -- It is an insult to science to rule that belief in man-made climate change is a religious conviction
• 2009/11/04: DM:DB: Britain's New Protected Minority: Tree-Huggers
• 2009/11/04: Guardian(UK): Italy's crucifix case and UK's climate change decision: for God's sake leave religion out of this
  Where did Soile Lautsi think she was moving to, Thailand? And why has Tim Nicholson played into the hands of the anti-climate change lobby?
• 2009/11/04: NatureTGB: Global warming views 'are philosophical belief' for UK law [Nicholson case]
• 2009/11/04: ABC(Au): Beliefs on climate like religion, court rules [Nicholson case]
  A United Kingdom court has ruled that a man can take his employer to court on the grounds that he was discriminated against because of his views on climate change.
• 2009/11/03: Guardian(UK): Global warming tribunal may stoke debate that climate change is based on belief, not science
• 2009/11/03: Guardian(UK): Former sustainability boss wins right to tribunal over climate change views
  Judge allows case for unfair dismissal to go ahead by ruling that strong environmental conviction is akin to religious belief
• 2009/11/03: Guardian(UK): Judge rules activist's beliefs on climate change akin to religion
  Tim Nicholson entitled to protection for his beliefs, and his claim over dismissal will now be heard by a tribunal

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

• 2009/11/08: PhysOrg: Japan eyes solar station in space as new energy source
• 2009/11/08: OilDrum: Scientific American's Path to Sustainability: Let's Think about the Details
• 2009/11/05: C411: A Wild Ride: Big News from the Clean Energy Front
• 2009/11/07: PeakEnergy: Strangford Loch tidal power turbine output exceeding expectations
• 2009/11/07: BBC: Electricity blackouts in Ecuador
  Ecuador has introduced electricity rationing after a drought led to acute water shortages at the country's main hydro-electric power plant at Paute.
• 2009/11/06: PopMech: Why the Hydrogen Feud Needs to End: Analysis
• 2009/11/06: KSJT: Popular Mechanics: The bitterness over the Hydrogen Economy. Why all the angry infighting?
• 2009/11/06: MongaBay: Fossil fuel subsidies "bringing us closer to irreversible climate change"
• 2009/11/06: NewScientist: Innovation: Can technology persuade us to save energy?
• 2009/11/06: TreeHugger: 200 of the World's Dirtiest Power Plants Revealed - 60% are in the US & East Asia
• 2009/11/05: BizGreen: Total and MIT announce solar battery project
  Researchers claim to be working on potential breakthrough technology that promises to boost the efficiency of energy storage devices
• 2009/11/05: MoD: Another non-climate reason to stop using fossil fuels [hidden costs]
• 2009/11/05: OilDrum: EROWI - energy return of water invested
• 2009/11/03: Reuters: China OGP halts coverage of crude, products stockpiles
• 2009/11/04: EurActiv: US scholar: 'Don't choose clean tech winners too early'
  In order to manage the huge task of transforming the current energy system to fit climate considerations, it is important to keep future ground-breaking technology options open while making early emission cuts by using energy more efficiently, Franklin M. Orr, director of the Precourt Institute for Energy at Stanford University, told EurActiv in an interview. "It is important that we do not choose too early the winners and losers among technologies," Orr stressed. "The research pipeline needs to provide many ideas and technology options that can then be tested and improved in the economic competition that will determine, within whatever rules are set for emissions, how the mix of energy resource use evolves in the future."
• 2009/11/04: BBC: Total has blamed lower oil prices and tight refining margins for a 54% drop in third-quarter net profits
• 2009/11/03: PeakEnergy: The Cleantech Revolution Sweeps Through America
• 2009/11/03: AutoBG: Study: Lots of local, green electricity possible for most of the U.S.
• 2009/11/02: EnergyBulletin: Transition: Meeting the Challenge of Energy Descent
• 2009/11/02: SciDaily: Blue Energy Seems Feasible And Offers Considerable Benefits
  Generating energy on a large scale by mixing salt and fresh water is both technically possible and practical.
• 2009/11/02: OilDrum: The Bakken Shale - Has it Moved the Oil Needle?
• 2009/11/02: PeakEnergy: Still living in the dark on baseload power
• 2009/11/03: BNC: Critique of [SciAm's] "A path to sustainable energy by 2030"

  Natural gas and fracking are getting more attention:

• 2009/11/08: OilDrum: Shales and the gas within them
• 2009/11/04: PRWatch: Drilling Through the Appalachian Shale Gas Hype
• 2009/11/05: NRDC:SwitchBoard: New York City: Come Out and Tell the State to Keep Our Water Clean
• 2009/11/01: FTimes: Shale gas numbers may not add up
• 2009/11/01: Times(UK): Shale gas blasts open world energy market -- American firms have cracked the technology to tap vast new reserves
• 2009/11/04: ProPublica: Public Gets More Time to Comment on New York's Gas Drilling Plans
• 2009/11/03: ProPublica: Does Chesapeake's No-Drilling Pledge Do Enough to Protect NYC's Watershed?
• 2009/11/04: NRDC:SwitchBoard: Today's National Public Radio and New York Times coverage on the health risks of natural gas drilling
• 2009/11/04: OilDrum: Arthur Berman leaves World Oil after raising natural gas questions

  The answer my friend...:

• 2009/11/05: CleanBreak: New hexagonal wind tunnel could raise the bar on wind farm, turbine design
• 2009/11/02: TechRev: Stealth-Mode Wind Turbines -- Coatings and composites ease the air-traffic worries dogging wind power
• 2009/11/04: PeakEnergy: Flapping Wind Turbine Inspired by Bumble Bee Wings

  Meanwhile among the solar aficionados:

• 2009/11/06: PhysOrg: Pioneering Swiss solar-powered plane rolled out [Solar Impulse]
• 2009/11/06: Oregonian: Personalized solar units could power homes and cars, scientist says [via fuel cell hydrogen from catalysed solar]
• 2009/11/05: PhysOrg: Solar power generation around the clock [with molten salt]
• 2009/11/05: Eureka: Chemists describe solar energy progress and challenges, including the 'artificial leaf'
• 2009/11/04: ClimateP: Solar power when the sun goes down -- with help from United Technologies
• 2009/11/04: PhysOrg: Toward home-brewed electricity with 'personalized solar energy'
• 2009/11/03: NRDC:SwitchBoard: Empowering the US and China: The World's Largest Solar Power Plant
• 2009/11/04: BBC: Light down a wire for solar power
  Solar power could be produced cheaply in specially designed optical fibres, say researchers. The work, published in the journal Angewandte Chemie, makes use of nanometre-scale wires built around optical fibres like bristles. Those wires give the light much more surface area to interact with, leading to higher overall efficiencies. However, only the ends of the fibres must be exposed - they funnel the light elsewhere for power generation. Instead of roof-sized panels, small collectors could be used on the roof, with the real machinery of solar power generation tucked away, for example, between a home's walls. "Using this technology, we can make photovoltaic generators that are foldable, concealed and mobile," said Zhong Lin Wang of the Georgia Institute of Technology in the US.
• 2009/11/02: NYT:GreenInc: Utilities Slash Solar Incentive Programs
  The popularity of solar installations and with falling prices have forced many utilities to reduce their incentive programs. Solar panels may be getting cheaper, but rebates are also being slashed.
• 2009/11/03: SciDaily: Hidden Solar Cells: 3-D System Based On Optical Fiber Could Provide New Options For Photovoltaics
• 2009/11/03: PeakEnergy: Acciona to build $2 billion [500 MW] solar [thermal] project for US Army [in the Mojave]

  On the coal front:

• 2009/11/06: AfterGutenberg: Cut the Coal Subsidies
• 2009/11/06: Grist: Another coal plant bites the dust [Big Stone II]
• 2009/11/05: Grist: Coal River Mountain: destruction stops here -- Blowing up our clean energy future
• 2009/11/04: WVGazette: Coal in good shape, companies say
  Despite complaints from industry lobbyists and coalfield politicians about an impending permit crisis, most major Appalachian coal producers are telling their shareholders that increased federal environmental reviews are not likely to disrupt production or cause layoffs anytime soon. Most of the region's largest publicly traded coal companies say they have permits in place that will allow them to continue operating, filling orders and employing workers through at least early 2011.
• 2009/11/05: DemNow: As Massey Energy Blasts West Virginia's Coal River Mountain, a Debate on Mountaintop Removal Mining
• 2009/11/04: SolveClimate: Utilities Drop Plans for Big Stone II Coal Plant, Clearing Way for Wind
• 2009/11/02: FTimes: Coal-rich US puts faith in CO2 storage
  [...]
  The industry estimates that the basin has 100-150 more years' worth of production, based on today's technology. Though most mines are much smaller, there are more than 1,000 of them in the US. The government estimates there are several hundred years' worth of coal to be recovered in the US - the Saudi Arabia of coal, with 27 per cent of the world's known coal reserves. It would take a massive effort to replace coal production. Peabody Energy, which owns North Antelope and is the world's largest private sector coal company, says replacing coal would be a gargantuan task. It would require 2,400 times more solar generation, 40 times more wind power, 250 new nuclear plants, almost double the US production of natural gas, 500 hydro plants the size of the Hoover Dam or halving electricity consumption. Even then, the US would have to find a way to meet new demand, given growth forecasts.
  Victor Der, principal deputy assistant secretary for fossil energy in the Obama administration, says: "It would be very difficult to move away from it. We believe coal will continue to be in the energy mix."

Biofuel bickering abounds:

• 2009/11/06: TreeHugger: Palm Oil in the Spotlight: Plantations Threaten Rare Cats, Peatland Emissions Increasing + A Small Victory
• 2009/11/05: ScienceInsider: Insider Conversation: Can Biofuels Be Carbon Friendly?
• 2009/11/04: PhysOrg: Clean algae biofuel project leads world in productivity
  Australian scientists are achieving the world's best production rates of oil from algae grown in open saline ponds, taking them a step closer to creating commercial quantities of clean biofuel for the future.
• 2009/11/04: EarthTimes: KLM to fly first passengers using bio-diesel
• 2009/11/03: NBF: Ethanol has up to 2.2 to 1 Energy Return and Half of the Green House Gases of Gasoline

  The nuclear energy controversy continues:

• 2009/11/07: ClimateP: David Frum says "Conservatives Heart Nuke Power." Too bad they don't "brain" it.
• 2009/11/06: PlanetArk: Factbox: European Nuclear Plant Life Extensions [list]
• 2009/11/06: PlanetArk: Factbox: Nuclear Power Plans In Europe [list]
• 2009/11/06: PlanetArk: French PM [Francois Fillon] Backs Areva Despite Nuclear Safety Worry
• 2009/11/06: PlanetArk: German Nuclear Policy Skirts A Taboo
• 2009/11/06: EarthTimes: Baltics reaffirm commitment to new nuclear plant
• 2009/11/06: FTimes:ES: A bad week for French nuclear
• 2009/11/06: BNC: Carbon emissions and nuclear capable countries
• 2009/11/02: PeakEnergy: The "nuclear power is becoming less unpopular" myth

  Yes we have a peak oil sighting:

• 2009/11/04: EnergyBulletin: The Peak Oil Crisis: A Plan For Renewables
• 2009/11/02: EnergyBulletin: The Irrationality Of Not Preparing Contingency Plans For Peak Oil

  More people are talking about the electrical grid:

• 2009/11/04: TPMCafe: Connected Cars: The 'Killer App' For The Smart Grid--And The New Driver of Growth

  And then there is the matter of efficiency & conservation:

• 2009/11/06: PhysOrg: The greening of Willis Tower: Rooftop gardens part of plan to improve efficiency
• 2009/11/03: EurActiv: Businesses cashing in on energy savings
• 2009/11/03: NRDC:SwitchBoard: New Standards for Street Lights More Than Just a Bright Idea
• 2009/11/02: SolveClimate: Keeping Up With The Joneses to Save Energy

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

• 2009/11/04: FuturePundit: Ionic Liquid Battery To Beat Lithium Ion?
• 2009/11/07: FuturePundit: Silicon Nanowires Boost Lithium Battery Energy Density
• 2009/11/05: CleanBreak: The wonders of ionic liquids, and how they can dramatically raise the bar on energy storage
• 2009/11/06: AutoBG: GM: Volt won't become a brand name
• 2009/11/06: TechRev: More Energy in Batteries -- Nanowire anodes could let lithium-ion batteries run twice as long
• 2009/11/05: TechRev: Betting on a Metal-Air Battery Breakthrough
• 2009/11/06: PeakEnergy: Storing More Energy in Batteries
• 2009/11/05: PhysOrg: Metal-Air Battery Could Store 11 Times More Energy than Lithium-Ion
  A spinoff company from Arizona State University plans to build a new battery with an energy density 11 times greater than that of lithium-ion batteries for just one-third the cost. With a $5.13 million research grant from the US Department of Energy awarded last week, Fluidic Energy hopes to turn its ultra-dense energy storage technology into a reality.
• 2009/11/05: WSJ:EnvCap: Panasonic's Big Bet [US$4.45 billion] on Batteries
• 2009/11/05: AutoBG: Plug-in vehicles will get special license plate in Ontario next year
• 2009/11/05: BBC: F1 designer unveils [T.27] electric car
  An electric car created by ex-McLaren Formula One designer Gordon Murray has been unveiled. Three prototypes of the T.27 model will be developed over the next 16 months.
• 2009/11/03: CalcRisk: Light Vehicle Sales 10.5 Million (SAAR) in October
• 2009/11/03: CalcRisk: Ford: U.S. Oct. sales rise 2.6%
• 2009/11/03: PlanetArk: Ford Van To Go All-Electric In 2010
• 2009/11/03: AutoBG: Toyota to launch battery electric vehicle in 2012, fuel cell in 2015
• 2009/11/02: AutoBG: Cheap electric car conversions could come from lead acids + supercapicator

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

• 2009/11/05: Grist: More clunker debunkers -- Cash for Clunkers brought us ... more clunkers!
• 2009/11/05: BBC: Scrappage sees UK car sales surge
  New car sales recorded their biggest increase so far this year in October, helped by the scrappage scheme. The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) said 168,942 new cars were registered last month, an increase of 31.6% compared with October 2008. The SMMT said the "cash for bangers" incentive scheme had accounted for more than 20% of the new car sales.

The reaction of business to climate change will be critical:

• 2009/11/04: ClimateP: Greening Your Small Business

  Insurance and re-insurance companies are feeling the heat:

• 2009/11/05: PlanetArk: Insurance Sector Can't Cope With Climate Change: Trade Group [ABI: Association of British Insurers]
• 2009/11/04: BBC: Climate change 'will raise bills'
  Property insurance could become more expensive and harder to obtain as a result of climate change, an insurance body has said. The Association of British Insurers said the cost of flood and windstorm damage would rise for insurers as global temperatures increased. This would lead to higher premiums for consumers and a restriction of cover as insurers would need more reserves. Wales and the south-west of England would be worst hit, the report said.

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

• 2009/11/06: ClimateP: Energy and Global Warming News for November 6...
• 2009/11/05: ClimateP: Energy and Global Warming News for November 5...
• 2009/11/04: ClimateP: Energy and Global Warming News for November 4...
• 2009/11/03: ClimateP: Energy and Global Warming News for November 3...
• 2009/11/02: ClimateP: Energy and Global Warming News for November 2...

  The carbon lobby are up to the usual:

• 2009/11/07: DM:CCM: Why Truth Loses
• 2009/11/02: QuarkSoup: Is Phil Jones supressing data?
• 2009/11/05: QuarkSoup: Archive of Debate with Tim Ball
• 2009/11/06: CJR: Unscientific America Meets Denialism -- Mooney and Specter debate causes and cures
• 2009/11/06: DeSmogBlog: What Would Frank Luntz Do with the Copenhagen Climate Treaty?
• 2009/11/06: JEB: Roy Spencer debunks LIndzen and Choi
• 2009/11/06: TWTB: Who's calling who an "alarmist"?
• 2009/11/04: DeSmogBlog: Who is the Bernie Madoff of Climate Change?
• 2009/11/03: CCurrents: Climate Change Deniers Are Not Skeptics - They're Suckers
• 2009/11/04: NewInt:TEB: Science sceptics
• 2009/11/03: Stoat: Corbyn again
• 2009/11/02: ERabett: New Model Strawmen
• 2009/11/03: DM:CCM: Last Crank Standing
• 2009/11/03: MGS: How CO2 matters
• 2009/11/02: Guardian(UK): Clive James isn't a climate change sceptic, he's a sucker - but this may be the reason
  My fiercest opponents on global warming tend to be in their 60s and 70s. This offers a fascinating, if chilling, insight into human psychology
• 2009/11/02: Grist: Deniers with attitude (and power) -- Sen. Inhofe and U.S. Farm Bureau chief casually chat about destroying the climate bill
• 2009/11/02: JQuiggin: Libertarians and delusionism
• 2009/11/01: Deltoid: Tom Fuller
• 2009/11/01: ClimateSight: Naming

  Meanwhile in the 'clean coal' saga:

• 2009/11/05: TP: 'Let's Learn About Coal': Industry Front Group Distributes Coloring Book On The 'Advantages' Of Coal
• 2009/11/05: Grist: Tallying toxic threats -- Congressional watchdog [GAO] issues update on coal ash regulation efforts
• 2009/11/05: DeSmogBlog: Coal Industry Coloring Book Spins "Clean Coal" for Kids
• 2009/11/05: PeakEnergy: Clean coal not the answer: Gore

  As for climate miscellanea:

• 2009/11/06: PGilding: Time to prepare for The One Degree War
• 2009/11/08: ClimateShifts: Paul Gilding: Time to prepare for the "One Degree War"
• 2009/11/07: ERabett: Eli is a Global Climate Change Decision Maker
• 2009/11/06: ClimateP: Ecologist George Woodwell on Cape Cod Wind and Copenhagen: "We have poisoned our global habitat and must move rapidly to correct the trend."
• 2009/11/05: Grist: A weekly roundup of climate news - The Climate Post: The gods must be crazy
• 2009/11/06: Grist: Activists launch climate hunger strike
• 2009/11/06: TreeHugger: Down In The Dumps About Climate Change? Remember The Power Of One
• 2009/11/05: JFrankel: Greenhouse Gas Emissions Are Down in the Recession. So, Then, Is "Green GDP" Up?
• 2009/11/04: Guardian(UK): Climate change, justice and faith by John Houghton
• 2009/11/04: Grist: Three models of social change [Lester Brown]
• 2009/11/04: TreeHugger: China, U.S., and Climate: An Interview with Yang Fuqiang, WWF's Director of Global Climate Solutions
• 2009/11/04: Reuters: Timeline: How the world found out about global warming
• 2009/11/04: GreenFyre: Climate Justice Fast begins Nov 6th, how will you be helping?
• 2009/11/04: CCurrents: We Only Have Months, Not Years, To Save Civilization From Climate Change by Lester Brown
• 2009/11/03: Guardian(UK): We only have months, not years, to save civilisation from climate change [Lester Brown]
• 2009/11/03: COP15: The spirit that freed South Africa must now rescue the planet
  Desmond Tutu has campaigned to fight AIDS, tuberculosis, homophobia, poverty and racism. Now the former Archbishop of Cape Town comes to Copenhagen to fight for climate fairness.
• 2009/11/02: AllAfrica:ThisDay: Mandela Leads Global Elders Coalition to Halt Climate Change
• 2009/11/02: AFTIC: Repower America
• 2009/11/02: TreeHugger: Jargon Watch: Is a Nation Climate-Fit or Climate-Weak?
• 2009/11/02: PeakEnergy: Tax plan mustn't ignore nature's coming backlash
• 2009/11/01: TP:WR: The Western 'Lords Of Yesterday' Attack Climate Change Response

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

• The Royal Society: Geoengineering: a brave new world? Tuesday 19 January 2010 at 6.30pm
• GSABulletin
• BBC: Copenhagen
• The Climate Group
• American Businesses for Clean Energy
• Grain Web
• ILSR: Institute for Local Self-Reliance
• Rising Ocean Levels
• MNN: Mother Nature Network
• Wiki: Holodomor
• ET: Earth Times
• P&P: People & Planet (Net)
• CCC: California Climate Change
• GRACE: Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment
• NuclearInfoNet: Everything you want to know about Nuclear Power

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

<regards>
-het

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

"It is time to be totally blunt about the agenda of the climate change sceptics in all their colours, some more sophisticated than others. It is to destroy the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme at home and it is to destroy agreed global action on climate change abroad. And our children's fate - our grandchildren's fate - will lie entirely with them. It is time to remove any polite veneer from this debate; the stakes are that high. The clock is ticking for the planet, but the climate change sceptics simply do not care." -Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd

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