Another week of GW News, December 27, 2009

Logging the Onset of The Bottleneck Years

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Another week of Climate Disruption News

December 27, 2009

• Chuckles, COP15 - Post-Mortems, COP15 - CO2 Trade, COP15 - Renewable Energy, COP15 - REDD, COP15 - Dailies
• Future Meetings - France, Future Meetings - Bolivia, COP16
• Carbon Tariffs, Vapour Trails, Retrospectives, Tipping Points, Next Ice Age, Dams, CRU
• Methane, Antarctica
• Food Crisis, Food vs. Biofuel, Food Production
• Hurricanes, GHGs, Temperatures, Aerosols, Paleoclimate, ENSO, Satellites
• Impacts, Forests, Wacky Weather, Wildfires, Corals, Glaciers, Floods & Droughts
• Mitigation, Transportation, Buildings, Sequestration, Geoengineering
• Journals, Misc. Science, Hansen, Wegman
• Kyoto, UN, Carbon Tax, International Politics, Security, Law & Activism, Polls
• America, Obama, Congress, Britain, Europe, Australia, India, China, Canada
• Ecological Economics, IPAT, Apocalypso, Media, Books, Video, Courts
• Energy, Methane Hydrates, Fracking, Wind, Solar, Coal, Biofuel, Nukes, Peak Oil, Grid, Cars, Greenwashing
• Joe's List, Carbon Lobby, Miscellaneous Climate, Useful Links
• Shameless Self Promotion, .sig

Ho ho ho!

• 2009/12/26: ERabett: (cartoon - Wiley) Morano gets a lump of coal
• 2009/12/24: Seppo: (cartoon - Seppo) Season's Greetings!
• 2009/12/26: uComics: (cartoon - Wiley) Dept. of GW Denial
• 2009/12/26: ClimateP: The [10] best climate cartoons of 2009
• 2009/12/25: CP: (cartoon - ?) Two Christmas Climate Cartoons
• 2009/12/23: SeattlePI: (cartoon - Horsey) A Climate Carol
• 2009/12/23: uComics: (cartoon - Auth) Yes Virginia...
• 2009/12/22: SeattlePI: (cartoon - Horsey) What's the take-away message?
• 2009/12/21: Guardian(UK): Banksy sees red over climate change
• 2009/12/21: TreeHugger: "I don't believe in global warming" Clever Graffiti by Banksy
• 2009/12/20: Guardian(UK): (cartoon - Riddell) War against climate change

  Copenhagen post-mortems are plentiful:

• 2009/12/22: TruthDig: Climate Discord: From Hopenhagen to Nopenhagen
• 2009/12/26: BSD: Environmental Defense's take on Copenhagen
• 2009/12/26: ClimateShifts: "Heroes of the Environment" gang up on Bill McKibben
• 2009/12/25: SMH: India confesses it helped derail Copenhagen deal
  India has lauded the lack of carbon cuts in the non-binding Copenhagen Accord, boosting claims by rich countries that developing nations derailed the deal. On his return from Copenhagen, the Indian Environment Minister, Jairam Ramesh, told Parliament his mandate had been to protect India's right to fast economic growth, and listed killing off binding targets to reducing emissions as a key victory for his country. ''We can be satisfied that we were able to get our way on this issue [targets],'' Mr Ramesh said. Later he told a news conference that a bloc of key emerging economies - Brazil, South Africa, India and China - had worked to protect the rights of the developing world.
• 2009/12/25: Reuters: China defends Wen Jiabao's role in Copenhagen talks
  China on Friday defended the role played by premier Wen Jiabao at climate change talks in Copenhagen this month after a barrage of international criticism blaming China for obstructing negotiations.
• 2009/12/24: Novosti: Medvedev dissatisfied with Copenhagen climate summit
• 2009/12/25: ENN: Obama Frustrated with Outcome of Copenhagen Climate Talks
• 2009/12/25: SolveClimate: Kyoto Protocol on Life Support for Another Year
  BASIC Countries [Brazil, South Africa, India & China] Maintain 'Unambiguous' Postion on Treaty's Survival
• 2009/12/24: Guardian(UK): Dear Naomi Klein, please stop making my work difficult
  Describing the climate debt owed by wealthy countries as 'reparations' makes it impossible for the US to take part
• 2009/12/21: Reuters: China says "development right" key in climate talks
  China will treat talks on a binding global climate change pact in 2010 as a struggle over the "right to develop", a Chinese official said, signaling more tough deal-making will follow the Copenhagen summit.
• 2009/12/23: ScienceInsider: Copenhagen a Failure? Blame China, Says One Informed Source
• 2009/12/24: PlanetArk: Copenhagen Blame Game Not Helpful Says UN Climate Chief [UNFCCC head, Yvo de Boer]
• 2009/12/23: NRDC:SwitchBoard: Bad COP15? Good COP15!
• 2009/12/23: FTimes: EU reflects on hard truth after climate 'disaster'
  Europe's environment ministers added to the chorus of gloom over the outcome of the Copenhagen climate summit yesterday as they confronted the broader question of how the bloc could gain influence over a negotiation dominated by China and the US. Andreas Carlgren, environment minister of Sweden, which holds the rotating European Union presidency, called the Copenhagen accord "a disaster" and "a great failure" as yesterday's EU meeting began. "It was obvious that ministers broadly expressed their disappointment with the results of Copenhagen, which didn't at all meet the expectations or ambitions of the European Union," Mr Carlgren added after lunch with counterparts from the EU's 27 member states.
• 2009/12/16: USDA: Global Research Alliance Launched at the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen
• 2009/12/24: TreeHugger: How Do We Feel Post-Copenhagen?
• 2009/12/24: TreeHugger: Is the Copenhagen Cow Gas Accord Just a Cop Out?
• 2009/12/23: DeSmogBlog: Did China Kill Copenhagen?
• 2009/12/23: Guardian(UK): Pressure on poor at Copenhagen led to failure, not diplomatic wrangling
  The summit was a culmination of attempts by rich countries to steamroller the G77 into accepting a deal not in their interests
• 2009/12/23: Guardian(UK): Copenhagen is a disaster for Africa
• 2009/12/23: EnergyBulletin: James Hansen: Good Riddance, Copenhagen. Time for Better Ideas.
• 2009/12/23: Guardian(UK): China fears climate change openness
  Beijing, which fears that external monitoring might reveal internal dysfunction, was backed into a corner by the US at Copenhagen
• 2009/12/23: ABC(Au): Eyewitness [Mark Lynas]: How China sabotaged climate talks
• 2009/12/23: PlanetArk: South Africa Says Copenhagen Outcome "Not Acceptable"
• 2009/12/23: BSD: The China-Copenhagen Syndrome
• 2009/12/23: COP15: Copenhagen was more than the accord
• 2009/12/23: IndiaTimes: Facing heat, Beijing dials Delhi
• 2009/12/22: EarthTimes: Indian government under fire for Copenhagen accord
• 2009/12/22: Wunderground: The uncertain legacy of Copenhagen
• 2009/12/23: CCurrents: World Looks Ahead Post-Copenhagen
• 2009/12/22: CCurrents: Climate Accord Betrays The Vulnerable
• 2009/12/22: CCurrents: After The Catastrophe In Copenhagen, It's Up To Us
• 2009/12/21: CCurrents: Judgment Days In Copenhagen
• 2009/12/23: CSM: After Copenhagen: five solutions to help melt the global trust problem
• 2009/12/21: OpenDem: After Copenhagen
  Copenhagen was supposed to be the last chance for humanity on an assumption that emissions in the future would continue to grow as they have in the past. But what if the future is one of contraction and disorganisation anyway?
• 2009/12/21: DerSpiegel: Consequences of Copenhagen -- Forget the Club of Rome, This is the Club Of Losers
  After days of negotiations, debate, political drama and pages of will-they or won't-they headlines, the Copenhagen climate conference is over. And there is no conclusive agreement on any important issues. So did the situation produce any winners -- or has the whole world become a club for environmental losers?
• 2009/12/21: DerSpiegel: Selfishness Abounds -- Copenhagen Reveals a Vicious Circle of Mistrust
  Who is to blame for the summit disaster? The US? China? The EU? The G-8? In fact, all of the above. It was a coming together of states that killed off a vital resource for the world: trust.
• 2009/12/23: CanWest: Copenhagen was just a sideshow
  The Copenhagen climate summit had great entertainment value and Canada received an impressive share of the limelight. Our government was the focus of various activist antics (fossil awards, fake press releases), and our politicians provided a global audience with a small sampling of our inter-regional and federal-provincial squabbling. But, aside from international fun at Canada's expense, was anything else accomplished at Copenhagen?
• 2009/12/23: HotTopic: After Copenhagen: new world disorder
• 2009/12/22: BBC: Why did Copenhagen fail to deliver a climate deal?
  About 45,000 travelled to the UN climate summit in Copenhagen - the vast majority convinced of the need for a new global agreement on climate change. So why did the summit end without one, just an acknowledgement of a deal struck by five nations, led by the US. And why did delegates leave the Danish capital without agreement that something significantly stronger should emerge next year? Our environment correspondent Richard Black looks at eight reasons that might have played a part.
• 2009/12/22: Guardian(UK): How do I know China wrecked the Copenhagen deal? I was in the room by Mark Lynas
  As recriminations fly post-Copenhagen, one writer offers a fly-on-the-wall account of how talks failed
  Copenhagen was a disaster. That much is agreed. But the truth about what actually happened is in danger of being lost amid the spin and inevitable mutual recriminations. The truth is this: China wrecked the talks, intentionally humiliated Barack Obama, and insisted on an awful "deal" so western leaders would walk away carrying the blame. How do I know this? Because I was in the room and saw it happen.
  China's strategy was simple: block the open negotiations for two weeks, and then ensure that the closed-door deal made it look as if the west had failed the world's poor once again.
• 2009/12/22: Guardian(UK): Spectacular failure - or a few important steps? We ask leading climate change experts for their assessment of the Copenhagen deal
• 2009/12/22: NatureN: World looks ahead post-Copenhagen -- A weak international climate agreement leaves room for science to shape the next round of negotiations
• 2009/12/22: ClimateP: What Hath Copenhagen Wrought? A comprehensive assessment by Harvard economist Robert Stavins
• 2009/12/22: ABC(Au): Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has defended the outcome of the Copenhagen climate conference amid claims China hijacked the talks
• 2009/12/22: PlanetArk: Factbox: What Was Agreed And Left Unfinished In U.N. Climate Deal
• 2009/12/22: PlanetArk: China Says "Development Right" Key In Climate Talks
• 2009/12/22: PlanetArk: Britain Blames China For Climate Talks' Failure
• 2009/12/22: PlanetArk: [UK PM] Gordon Brown Says "Handful" Of States Wrecked Climate Talks
• 2009/12/22: ABC(Au): India, China cooperated to torpedo climate deal
  India has confirmed it worked with China and other emerging nations to ensure there were no legally binding targets from the Copenhagen climate talks. Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh has told Parliament that India got its way at Copenhagen. He says India, China, South Africa and Brazil emerged as a powerful force. Mr Ramesh hailed the lack of legally-binding emissions targets and said the group had protected its right to continued economic growth.
• 2009/12/22: Grist: Three good things that might come from Copenhagen
• 2009/12/22: Grist: 5 common mistakes in the coverage of the Copenhagen Accord
• 2009/12/22: COP15: South Africa blasts Copenhagen failure
• 2009/12/22: RTTNews: Copenhagen Conference A "Failure": Cuba
• 2009/12/22: Xinhuanet: Brazil blasts U.S. performance at Copenhagen
• 2009/12/22: EarthTimes: Indian government under fire for Copenhagen accord
• 2009/12/22: EarthTimes: EU gropes for inspiration after Copenhagen 'disaster'
• 2009/12/22: EarthTimes: Australia's Rudd touts Copenhagen 'breakthroughs'
• 2009/12/22: MoD: Failure at Copenhagen, time for a new approach
• 2009/12/21: G&M: Climate-change action needs a Pearl Harbor moment
  Maybe the summit failed because there was no clear and present danger, at least not one you can see.
  Every leader said the same thing. The climate-change science is real. The need to act now is urgent. The end is nigh. "Hurricanes, floods, typhoons and droughts that were once all regarded as the acts of an invisible God are now revealed to be the visible acts of man," Britain's Gordon Brown said.
  "We come here in Copenhagen because climate change poses a grave and growing danger to our people," Barack Obama said. A weak climate change deal would be "an invitation to Africa to sign a suicide pact," the Sudanese ambassador said.
  And so on, times 193 countries. And then nothing.
• 2009/12/22: CanWest: Copenhagen's milestone
• 2009/12/21: DVoice: COP 15 After-word: Smashing Success Sketches
• 2009/12/22: NewInt:TEB: Blood on the summit floor
• 2009/12/22: Rabble:AK: One small step forward in Copenhagen
• 2009/12/21: TP:WR: Copenhagen Prognosis: The 'Almost Overwhelming Challenge' Of A Carbon-Free Civilization
• 2009/12/22: BBC: China rejects climate allegations
  China has dismissed claims made by a British minister that it "hijacked" efforts to reach an agreement at the climate summit in Copenhagen. Climate Change Secretary Ed Miliband had accused China of vetoing two agreements on limiting emissions. Beijing's foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said the accusations were a political plot made by leaders who wanted to shirk their own obligations. The summit ended without the 192 nations reaching a binding agreement.
• 2009/12/22: CBC: S. Africa blames host for Copenhagen talks failure
• 2009/12/21: TS:QuarkSoup: More Nonsense Out of Copenhagen
• 2009/12/21: CCR: A climate con: Analysis of the "Copenhagen Accord"
• 2009/12/20: Independent(UK): Joss Garman: Copenhagen - Historic failure that will live in infamy
• 2009/12/20: Independent(UK): There is a way ahead after Copenhagen by former chief scientific adviser to the UK PM David King
  The climate change talks show, at least, that the world takes the issue seriously. Now we need a truly global carbon-trading scheme
• 2009/12/21: Guardian(UK): If you want to know who's to blame for Copenhagen, look to the US Senate
  Obama's attempt to put China in the frame for failure had its origins in the absence of American campaign finance reform
• 2009/12/21: Guardian(UK): Copenhagen's failure belongs to Obama
  The American president has been uniquely placed to lead the world on climate change and squandered every opportunity
• 2009/12/21: Guardian(UK): We're all eco-warriors now after world leaders failed us at Copenhagen
• 2009/12/21: Guardian(UK): Copenhagen treaty was 'held to ransom', says Gordon Brown...calls for reform of UN climate talks...
• 2009/12/21: EUO: Copenhagen failure 'disappointing', 'shameful'
• 2009/12/21: NatureTGB: Copenhagen Fallout
• 2009/12/21: KSJT: Major Outlets: What just what happened in Copenhagen?
• 2009/12/21: GreenGrok: Take Note of the Copenhagen Accord
• 2009/12/21: MongaBay: Canada at Copenhagen: "delay, obstruction, and total inaction"
• 2009/12/22: ABC(Au): Britain blames China for Copenhagen 'farce'
  British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has accused a handful of countries of holding the UN climate summit to ransom as bitter recriminations swirled over the outcome of the negotiations.
• 2009/12/21: ABC(Au): Business groups say they are disappointed with the outcome of the Copenhagen climate talks
• 2009/12/21: PlanetArk: Snap Analysis: China Happy With Climate Deal, Image Dented
• 2009/12/21: PlanetArk:Climate Deal Highlights U.N. Flaws
  A weak U.N. climate deal, agreed on Saturday after two weeks of talks pulled back from near collapse, underscored the vulnerability of a process depending on consensus and may mark a diminishing U.N. role. The principal negotiations took place among about 30 countries and the biggest breakthrough involved just five -- the United States, China, Brazil, South Africa and India. The final deal was not legally binding and left it for countries to choose to participate -- all but four or five were expected to do so -- marking a departure from its umbrella U.N. climate convention.
• 2009/12/21: PlanetArk: Factbox: Main Points Of The Copenhagen Accord
• 2009/12/20: Grist: A preliminary assessment of the Copenhagen Accord
• 2009/12/21: Grist: Brown blames China for 'farcical' climate talks
• 2009/12/20: Grist: All over the map: Rounding up editorial reax to Copenhagen
• 2009/12/21: Grist: Copenhagen: a look back at the most striking narratives
• 2009/12/21: COP15: World leaders welcome the Copenhagen Accord
• 2009/12/20: COP15: NGOs and scientists are largely shell shocked
• 2009/12/20: COP15: The world reflects on Copenhagen process
• 2009/12/21: SMH: Many players at Copenhagen climate summit, but pact was the work of just two
  The Copenhagen outcome shows the world it has to get used to two crucial new realities: that the G2 -- China and the US -- rule, and that China will do what it says, no more and no less.
• 2009/12/21: DerSpiegel: The World from Berlin -- 'Copenhagen Was an All-Out Failure'
  The weeks, months and years of talking ended in a limpid deal. The Copenhagen climate conference ended on Saturday with a vague commitment to preventing the average global temperature from rising by more than 2 degrees Celsius. German newspapers slam the failed summit and most are deeply pessimistic about any future deal.
• 2009/12/21: Time: Lessons From the Copenhagen Climate Talks
• 2009/12/21: Yale360: Copenhagen: Things Fall Apart and an Uncertain Future Looms
  The Copenhagen summit turned out to be little more than a charade, as the major nations refused to make firm commitments or even engage in an honest discussion of the consequences of failing to act.
• 2009/12/21: Asahi: COP15 'failure' a reprieve for business sector
• 2009/12/21: Yale360: Fallout from Copenhagen Felt in Businesses and World Capitals
• 2009/12/21: WorldChanging: The Earthquake in Copenhagen: Reflections on CoP-15 and its Aftermath
• 2009/12/21: TreeHugger: Hopenhagen, Nopenhagen, Flopenhagen?
• 2009/12/21: EarthTimes: Brown says 'handful' of countries blocked climate change treaty
  British Prime Minister Gordon Brown Monday accused a "handful of countries" of preventing a climate change treaty at last week's Copenhagen conference and vowed that there would be no repeat of the "chaotic proceedings."Speaking via video link to a meeting in London, Brown said he was still determined to achieve a binding international treaty on climate change targets and would urge an immediate reform in the United Nations (UN) negotiating process for such large gatherings. The Copenhagen negotiating process had been "chaotic" with "last-minute negotations being dominated by threats and fear," said Brown, without spelling out whom he had in mind.
• 2009/12/21: DemNow: US-Led Copenhagen Accord Decried as Flawed, Undemocratic
• 2009/12/21: WSJ:EnvCap: Climate Chaos: Is There a Silver Lining to the Copenhagen Fiasco?
• 2009/12/20: LA Times: Climate summit hopes less is more -- The Copenhagen talks' mandate is muddled, but...
• 2009/12/20: WaPo: Was Copenhagen a success?
  The Post asked experts whether the Copenhagen climate conference was a success. Below are contributions from Elliot Diringer, Kenneth Green, Fred Krupp, Christine Todd Whitman, Robert Shrum, John Kerry, Jim Inhofe and Douglas E. Schoen.
• 2009/12/20: PRWatch: Now We Know Where Things Stand at COP15
• 2009/12/20: SwissInfo: "Chaotic drama" of Copenhagen roundly panned
  Switzerland's political parties, media and environmental groups have reacted to the outcome of the United Nations climate conference with incredulity and regret.
• 2009/12/21: BBC: What did Copenhagen achieve?
• 2009/12/21: CBC: UN's Ban defends climate summit as 'step forward'
• 2009/12/20: IACenter: Pentagon pollution ignored at climate change conference
  In evaluating the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen -- with more than 15,000 participants from 192 countries, including more than 100 heads of state, as well as 100,000 demonstrators in the streets -- it is important to ask: How is it possible that the worst polluter of carbon dioxide and other toxic emissions on the planet is not a focus of any conference discussion or proposed restrictions? By every measure, the Pentagon is the largest institutional user of petroleum products and energy in general. Yet the Pentagon has a blanket exemption in all international climate agreements.
• 2009/12/21: BBC: Climate summit 'held to ransom'
  Gordon Brown will accuse a small group of countries of holding the Copenhagen climate summit talks to ransom. The 193-nation conference ended with delegates simply "taking note" of a US-led climate deal that included limiting temperature rises to less than 2C.
• 2009/12/20: Guardian(UK): China tried to hijack Copenhagen climate deal
  Climate secretary [Ed Miliband] accuses China, Sudan, Bolivia and other leftwing Latin American countries of trying to hijack Copenhagen
• 2009/12/20: Guardian(UK): A great step forward: Obama's verdict on climate change pact -- President's intervention was failure, say critics
• 2009/12/20: Guardian(UK): Copenhagen summit: 'First step' to a new order -- or a 'betrayal of our grandchildren'
• 2009/12/20: Guardian(UK): Copenhagen summit: China's quiet satisfaction at tough tactics and goalless draw

  After all the chatter, what effect did COP15 have on CO2 Trading?

• 2009/12/23: Reuters: Voluntary CO2 offset market ends year on down note
• 2009/12/23: PlanetArk: EU Carbon Prices Close 2 Percent Higher
• 2009/12/22: Stoat: That Copenhagen climate conference, in full
• 2009/12/22: EUO: EU carbon prices fall following Copenhagen flop
• 2009/12/22: PlanetArk: EU Carbon Closes At 6-Month Low On Copenhagen Accord
• 2009/12/22: PlanetArk: Q+A: What Copenhagen Accord Means For Prices, Markets
  European carbon prices crashed by almost 9 percent on Monday after UN climate talks ended on Saturday with a bare-minimum agreement between after the U.S., China and a few other emerging powers that falls far short of the conference's original goals.
• 2009/12/22: COP15: Carbon prices react strongly to climate deal
  After the UN climate talks ended on Saturday, European carbon markets on Monday suffered from the aftermath of the climate deal [down 8.7% Monday].
• 2009/12/21: WSJ:EnvCap: Copenhagen Fallout: Carbon Prices Fall on Weak Accord
• 2009/12/21: BBerg: Carbon Permits Tumble After 'Modest' Climate Deal
  European and United Nations carbon prices fell the most since February after the Copenhagen climate accord didn't set targets that would boost demand for permits. European Union carbon-dioxide allowances for delivery in December 2010 declined as much as 8.7 percent to 12.40 euros on the European Climate Exchange in London. They traded down 5.7 percent at 1 p.m. on the first day of trading since the summit concluded Dec. 19. The agreed targets in the Copenhagen deal amount to a "bunch of negotiation ranges" that investors had already factored in, Trevor Sikorski, an emissions analysts for Barclays Capital, said in a phone interview after returning to London from the Danish capital. "It seems to be below even our modest expectations."
• 2009/12/21: BBC: Copenhagen depresses carbon price

  After all the chatter, what effect did COP15 have on Renewable Energy?

• 2009/12/23: Times(UK): Copenhagen's failure may leave plans for new nuclear power stations high and dry
• 2009/12/23: Xinhuanet: Copenhagen Accord a clear goal but not enough: IEA
• 2009/12/22: COP15: Copenhagen Accord gets a tepid response from investors
  Businesses and investment analysts had preferred clear carbon targets to invest appropriately.
• 2009/12/22: BBC: Copenhagen fails green investors - few incentives for a clean economy
  When most of the exhausted delegates at Copenhagen's Bella Centre finally witnessed a deal, it predictably called for huge investment in clean energy technologies to stop climate change. But the text didn't specify exactly how that money would be raised - and some at the talks say it did little new to encourage private investment.
• 2009/12/21: EarthTimes: European business hits out at Copenhagen accord
• 2009/12/20: FTimes: Business chiefs hit at climate agreement
  Global energy businesses are disappointed and confused by the climate deal agreed in Copenhagen, saying it does not provide enough certainty to justify the huge investments needed to cut carbon emissions. The deal -- agreed by major economies including the US and China on Friday evening but not formally adopted by the United Nations -- makes a commitment to limit the rise in global temperatures but does not specify caps on emissions to achieve that objective.

After all the chatter, what effect did COP15 have on REDD?

• 2009/12/22: TerraDaily: Norway launches country group to fight deforestation
  Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg said Tuesday he would put together a group of the world's most important rainforest countries in order to fight deforestation. The group, initiated "as part of our efforts to reach a binding climate agreement in Mexico in 2010," will consist of "the most important rainforest countries, among them Brazil, Indonesia, Guyana, Gabon, Papua New Guinea and others," Stoltenberg said in a statement.
• 2009/12/23: SolveClimate: Worldwide Forestry Deal Left Without Legal Framework -- Short-Term Funds Small, Bright Spot in Dim REDD Outcome

  Rounding up the Daily reports:

• 2009/12/22: IISD:ENB: Summary of the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference -- 7-19 December 2009
• 2009/12/21: BBC: Harrabin's Notes: After Copenhagen

  Sarkozy wants another meeting:

• 2009/12/23: PlanetArk: Sarkozy Wants Global Carbon Talks In Paris: Groups
• 2009/12/23: COP15: France to reboost climate momentum
  President Nicolas Sarkozy intends to invite the countries that signed the Copenhagen Accord to a meeting in spring 2010. One purpose will be to reinstall the goal of halving global emissions by 2050. The 28 countries that signed the Copenhagen Accord will be invited to a meeting in Paris in April or May 2010.

As does Bolivia:

• 2009/12/24: BuenosAiresHerald: Bolivia to organize a climate change conference in 2010
  Bolivian city of Cochabamba will be the venue for the World Summit for Climate Change from April 19th to April 22nd 2010, announced Bolivian President Evo Morales. The summit, organized as a world conference of social movements, will operate as a response to the failure of the 15th Summit on Climate Change, recently held in Copenhagen. "Cochabamba will be the scenario for diverse social movements to discuss about the consequences global warming brings about, how we harm our environment and every single hazard jeopardizing planet Earth," explained Morales when addressing the press. Bolivian Foreign Ministry will be taking care of the details and the organization behind the summit. "My idea is to summon everyone on April 19th, so as to conclude the summit on International Day of Mother Earth, April 22nd," added Morales.
• 2009/12/24: FinChan: Bolivia intends to hold climate summit in April
  Bolivian President Evo Morales said on December 23 his country could host an international summit on climate change in April, which could become an alternative to Copenhagen climate talks held in December, Latin American media reported. "In April next year, I intend to convene the world's public organizations for this international peoples' conference on climate change," the Bolivian leader told journalists, adding "we will invite not only peoples and public organizations, but also scientists, academicians and experts."

And at COP16:

• 2009/12/24: WaPo: Mexico wants binding climate accord at 2010 summit
• 2009/12/22: UN: General Assembly President Ali Treki hopes next year's Mexico meeting will forge climate pact
  While most countries are not happy with the outcome of this month's summit on climate change in Copenhagen...
• 2009/12/22: Grist: COP16 or Bust -- Seven steps to achieving a real climate deal
  So where do we go from here? How do we get from the disorganized, disappointing, dispiriting debacle of Copenhagen to a new and worthwhile climate treaty?

Carbon Tariffs still have people on edge:

• 2009/12/24: DerSpiegel: The Threat of Pollution Tariffs -- Economists Warn of a Climate Trade War
  These days, screwing with the environment could cost you: The failed summit in Copenhagen has spawned the idea for a carbon surcharge in global trade. Just how serious are the threats from Western politicians against China & Co.? International lawyers and environmental economists are skeptical.

A rather startling report on Arctic vapour trails:

• 2009/12/23: ClimateP: AGU stunner: Aircraft Vapor Trails Responsible for 15-20% of Arctic Warming
• 2009/12/22: TreeHugger: Aircraft Vapor Trails Responsible for 15-20% of Arctic Warming
• 2009/12/22: NatureN: How aircraft emissions contribute to warming -- Aviation contributes up to one-fifth of warming in some areas of the Arctic

  Retrospectives of the year, the decade...:

• 2009/12/23: KSJT: Lists of Top Stories 2009 (and of decade, and one of last 50 years)
• 2009/12/22: NatureCF: Climate science '09: the highs and lows
• 2009/12/21: EnergyBulletin: Top Ten Sustainability Stories of the Decade

  Tipping Points return:

• 2009/12/23: WiredSci: 7 Tipping Points That Could Transform Earth

  Another view of the future:

• 2009/12/26: TechRev: Global Warming vs. the Next Ice Age -- Will the greenhouse effect prevent the return of glaciers?

  Here's one of those studies I'd like to see verified:

• 2009/12/22: NewScientist: Dams linked to more extreme weather

  The CRU email theft still got some attention:

• 2009/12/27: IJI: New sub-blog on the CRU cyber-attack
• 2009/12/26: IJI: Where the CRU attacker might have got the code and data files from
• 2009/12/24: MTobis: (cartoon - xkcd) Bug Report
• 2009/12/25: IJI: What we know about the CRU attacker, part 4: ho ho ho!
• 2009/12/24: KlimaZwiebel: detection and attribution
• 2009/12/22: BCLSB: CRU Emails Prove Darwin Wrong!

  A spectral Damocles sword hangs overhead:

• 2009/12/22: Scoop(NZ): NIWA says greenhouse gas methane on the rise again
• 2009/12/21: ADN: Scientist tests ties of greenhouse gas to climate
• 2009/12/22: HotTopic: Methane rise confirmed

  While in Antarctica:

• 2009/12/22: TreeHugger: Notes From Antarctica: It's All About the Treaty

  The food crisis is ongoing:

• 2009/12/20: Guardian(UK): The big issue: Food shortages Population control must not be ignored

  The conflict between biofuel and food persists:

• 2009/12/23: SolveClimate: Turning Food Into Fuel While Families Go Hungry -- Government Subsidies Encourage Planting Corn for Ethanol

  And how are we going to feed 9 billion?

• 2009/12/23: DeccanChronicle: India can propel world to end child hunger
• 2009/12/24: BBC: Eritrea's controversial push to feed itself
  Eritrea's drive for food self-sufficiency is opening it to allegations of grain confiscation - a charge the government denies, and which is difficult to verify. Nineteen million people in the Horn of Africa are expected by the UN to need food aid to survive after failing rains aggravated a drought which has already destroyed crops and starved livestock. However, Eritrea is turning down food aid. Girma Asmerom, Eritrea's ambassador to the European Union, told the BBC "foreign food aid demonises the local people and makes them lazy".
• 2009/12/22: AlterNet: The "Slow Money" Movement May Revolutionize the Way You Think About Food

  Cyclone David spun around the Indian Ocean (unreported) while Laurence hassled Western Australia:

• 2009/12/27: ABC(Au): WA cleans up after cyclone wreaks havoc
  A big clean-up is underway in Western Australia's Pilbara and Kimberley regions in the wake of the destruction left by tropical Cyclone Laurence.
• 2009/12/25: EarthTimes: Cyclone Laurence brings cheer in Australia's parched inland
• 2009/12/22: EarthTimes: Cyclone Laurence batters Australia's west coast

  As for GHGs:

• 2009/12/23: ABC(Au): Cars fastest growing greenhouse emitters: study
  A new report by the New South Wales Department of Climate Change and Water shows motor vehicles are the fastest growing contributor to greenhouse gases. The report shows that car sales have gone up 18 per cent over the past eight years and transport fuels account for 20 per cent of the states overall emissions.
• 2009/12/16: EDGAR: High resolution digital view of man-made green house gas (GHG) emissions
• 2009/12/22: SciDaily: What Are the Amounts of Greenhouse Gases Released in Your Area and What Are the Sources?
  The European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC) has developed a high resolution digital view of artificial greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions for any 10 x 10 kms area in the world. Using JRC's work on emissions and Google Earth, this new tool allows the visualisation of the levels of emissions locally from 1970 to 2005 and the identification of the main sources.
• 2009/12/21: GC:EC: Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reporting Program -- Overview of 2008 Facility Data
• 2009/12/21: MTobis: The Big Picture

  And the temperature record:

• 2009/12/22: Tamino: Cyclical? Not.
• 2009/12/20: Eureka: Global temperatures could rise more than expected, new study shows
• 2009/12/20: Eureka: Global warming likely to be amplified by slow changes to Earth systems

  Aerosols are making their presence felt:

• 2009/12/26: PhysOrg: South Korea issues warning against 'yellow dust'
  South Korea's weather service Friday issued a warning against airborne pollution known as "yellow dust", advising residents in western areas to avoid outdoor activities. "Yellow dust which originated in Mongolia reached South Korea, blanketing most of the western parts of the country," the National Meteorological Administration said in a statement. "As the effect of the dust storm can spread to the nation, it is desirable to refrain from outdoor activities."

While in the paleoclimate:

• 2009/12/24: BBC: Climate and humans: the long view
• 2009/12/21: ClimateShifts: Probabilistic assessment of sea level during the last interglacial stage

  While on the ENSO front:

• 2009/12/25: ClimateP: Australian weather bureau: "Central Pacific Ocean surface temperatures are now at their warmest level since the El Niño of 1997-98"
• 2009/12/24: PlanetArk: Pacific Warming Continues: Australia Weather Bureau
• 2009/12/23: Reuters: Pacific warming continues: Australia weather bureau
  Pacific Ocean temperatures remained at levels typical of a drought-bringing El Nino weather pattern, Australia's Bureau of Meteorology said on Wednesday.

Meanwhile in near earth orbit:

• 2009/12/24: BBC: ESA satellite senses Earth's pull
  Europe's GOCE satellite is returning remarkable new data on the way the pull of gravity varies across the Earth.
• 2009/12/22: ClimateShifts: From space [AIRS instrument on Aqua sat.], daily snapshot of CO2 levels and the feedback role of water vapor
• 2009/12/21: ESA: Water cycle conference makes a big splash
  Earth has a limited amount of water that recycles itself in what is called the 'water cycle'. Climate change, weather and human life are highly affected by changes in this continuous, interconnected cycle. Observing and monitoring the key variables governing the global water cycle is essential to our understanding of the Earth's climate, forecasting our weather, predicting floods and droughts, and improving water management for human use. Recent advances in Earth observation (EO) satellite technologies have made it possible to survey several of these variables from space. In the coming years an increasing number of EO missions will provide an unprecedented capacity to observe Earth's surface, its interior and the atmosphere, opening a new era in EO and water cycle science.

More GW impacts are being seen:

• 2009/12/26: ClimateP: Global warming is already speeding up insect breeding
• 2009/12/24: SciNews: Warming has already boosted insect breeding -- Museum records, publications suggest extra generations at same time as temperature increases
• 2009/12/23: Telegraph(UK): Animals 'on the run' from climate change
  Plants and animals will need to move at an average rate of a quarter of a mile a year to escape climate change over the course of this century, according to scientists.
• 2009/12/24: NatureTGB: Climate change is on the move
• 2009/12/24: Time: Gauging Climate Change: How Fast Is the Earth Shifting?
• 2009/12/23: TerraDaily: On the move: Species face race against climate change
• 2009/12/23: CBC: Scientists map speed of climate change
• 2009/12/23: Guardian(UK): Plants and animals race for survival as climate change creeps across the globe
• 2009/12/23: PlanetArk: Alaska Coast Erosion Threat To Oil, Wildlife
• 2009/12/23: Eureka: Climate change puts ecosystems on the run
• 2009/12/22: Eureka: Disproportionate effects of global warming and pollution on disadvantaged communities
• 2009/12/23: CAoS: Scientists chart velocity of climate change
  New study finds that the average ecosystem will need to shift about a quarter mile per year to keep pace with global climate change
• 2009/12/21: ClimateShifts: 'Triple whammy' takes toll on Arctic erosion

  And then there are the world's forests:

• 2009/12/26: NYT: Brazil Aims to Prevent Land Grabs in Amazon

  Yes we have no wacky weather, except:

• 2009/12/26: MongaBay: Record-breaking snow across the US and climate change
• 2009/12/25: BBC: Central US under blizzard alerts
  At least 18 people have died as a result of blizzards and freezing temperatures enveloping the US Midwest. A state of emergency has been declared in South Dakota, Texas and Oklahoma, where the authorities have shut down highways after a series of accidents. The winter weather has stranded hundreds of travellers trying to make it home for the holidays. Flights have been delayed or cancelled. The conditions have also led several churches to cancel Christmas services.
• 2009/12/23: ClimateP: The non-blizzard of 2009 and why the anti-science disinformers try to shout down any talk of a link between climate change and extreme weather
• 2009/12/24: BBC: 'Humongous' storm hits US Midwest
  A "humongous" winter storm is spreading across the US Midwest, forecasters say, already affecting holiday travel and cutting power to hundreds of homes.
• 2009/12/22: TerraDaily: Winter freeze kills 79 in Poland, mostly homeless: police
• 2009/12/21: DerSpiegel: Winter Weather Woes -- Cold Snap Causes Christmas Chaos in Europe
• 2009/12/23: CBC: Deep freeze grips U.K., Europe
  A deep freeze in the United Kingdom and Europe has led to about 90 deaths and is continuing to cause travel chaos.
• 2009/12/22: BBC: Big chill brings misery to Europe -- Much of Europe continues to face severe transport upheaval as a cold snap sweeps the continent
• 2009/12/21: Guardian(UK): Severe weather kills dozens in Europe
• 2009/12/21: EarthTimes: Winter storm hits Europe, North America with heavy snow
• 2009/12/21: EarthTimes: Severe snowfall blocks Ukraine railways, roads
• 2009/12/20: ClimateP: Was the "Blizzard of 2009" a "global warming type" of record snowfall -- or an opportunity for the media to blow the extreme weather story (again)?
• 2009/12/21: BBC: Dozens die in European cold snap
  Dozens of people have died across Europe as days of snow storms and sub-zero temperatures swept the continent, causing traffic chaos for millions. At least 29 people froze to death in Poland as temperatures fell far below freezing, while in southern Germany a figure of -33C (-27F) was recorded.

As for heatwaves and wild fires:

• 2009/12/24: TerraDaily: Australians evacuated as fires rage
• 2009/12/23: TerraDaily: People 'fleeing for their lives' in Australian fires
• 2009/12/23: EarthTimes: Forest fires send Australians 'fleeing for their lives'

  Corals are dying:

• 2009/12/22: ClimateShifts: Why the Great Barrier Reef isn't magically 'blue again'

  Glaciers are melting:

• 2009/12/23: Eureka: Glacial watersheds may contribute to oceanic food web
• 2009/12/24: TreeHugger: Ice Is Melting Faster Everywhere
• 2009/12/23: Eureka: Glacier melt adds ancient edibles to marine buffet
• 2009/12/22: NatureCF: AGU 2009: Afghan glaciers recede, portending further strife
• 2009/12/21: CCP: 2009 AGU Fall Meeting: Humidity more than heat cause of vanishing Kilimanjaro glaciers

  As for hydrological cycle disruptions [floods & droughts]:

• 2009/12/24: TerraDaily: Five killed as heavy rain, winds lash Morocco
• 2009/12/26: JFleck: Snowpack and Drought
• 2009/12/22: USAToday: In drought, California learns importance of going green
• 2009/12/21: VietnamNet: Drought could be worst for a century
• 2009/12/22: BBC: Australian rains bring kangaroos
  Farmers in northern Australia say a plague of kangaroos is overrunning their properties. They have said it is causing tens of thousands of dollars worth of damage. Recent heavy rainfall in parts of Queensland has prompted large numbers of marsupials to flock to the newly green countryside. Further south, however, a long-standing drought has forced authorities to suspend the culling of kangaroos in parts of New South Wales.

Elsewhere on the mitigation front:

• 2009/12/23: ACS: High-tech charcoal fights climate change
  Although some questions remain, biochar shows potential for carbon storage and energy production and as a soil additive.
• 2009/12/21: MillerMcCune: The Dirt on Climate Change
  Could soil engineered specifically to maximize carbon storage dampen some effects of climate change? Very possibly.
• 2009/12/22: DM:SRK: Time to Eat the Dog?

  Consider transportation & GHG production:

• 2009/12/23: PlanetArk: U.S. October Highway Travel Off 0.5 pct From Year Ago
• 2009/12/22: Guardian(UK): Don't blame the system for winter travel chaos. Stay put
  Hypermobility is now the opium of the people, an obsession that wrecks communities and planet. There are no free trips
• 2009/12/22: SolveClimate: Pod Cars: Climate Solution or Pipe Dream?

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

• 2009/12/21: BBC: The Empire State Re-building -- Green skyscraper - Energy saving at the Empire State building

  And on the carbon sequestration front:

• 2009/12/26: MJTimes: Lawyers, not engineers, to dominate work on carbon storage in 2010

  Large scale geo-engineering keeps popping up:

• 2009/12/22: FuturePundit: Support For Climate Engineering Goes Mainstream
• 2009/12/23: TechRev: The Geoengineering Gambit
  For years, radical thinkers have proposed risky technologies that they say could rapidly cool the earth and offset global warming. Now a growing number of mainstream climate scientists say we may have to consider extreme action despite the dangers.
• 2009/12/23: Grist: Documentary [Owning the Weather] examines geoengineering and the checkered history of weather modification
• 2009/12/23: WSJ:EnvCap: After Copenhagen, Is It Time for Geo-Engineering?
• 2009/12/17: SciAm: Owning the climate: Will geoengineering help combat climate change?
• 2009/12/22: PhysOrg: EPA, Army Corps urged to consider separating Great Lakes, river basin [US pol]
  The once-radical idea of somehow plugging the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal to stop the flow of unwanted species from spilling between the Great Lakes and Mississippi River basin is quickly picking up political support.
• 2009/12/17: NatureCC: Planning for plan B
  Controlling the climate with technology was once the stuff of science fiction. But with tests already underway, there's an urgent need for global governance of geoengineering.

Meanwhile in the journals:

• 2009/12/24: AGWObserver: Papers on tropospheric temperatures
• 2009/12/21: CP: On the importance of paleoclimate modelling for improving predictions of future climate change by J. C. Hargreaves & J. D. Annan
• 2009/12/23: CPD: Refining error estimates for a millennial temperature reconstruction by M. N. Juckes
• 2009/12/23: CPD: A simple mixing explanation for late Pleistocene changes in the Pacific-South Atlantic benthic C13 gradient by L. E. Lisiecki
• 2009/12/22: CPD: Vegetation response to the African Humid Period termination in central Cameroon (7° N) - new pollen insight from Lake Mbalang by A. Vincens et al.
• 2009/12/23: ACP: Hydration and dehydration at the tropical tropopause by C. Schiller et al.
• 2009/12/21: ACP: UV Aerosol Indices from SCIAMACHY: introducing the SCattering Index (SCI) by M. J. M. Penning de Vries et al.
• 2009/12/21: ACPD: Aerosol-cloud interaction determined by both in situ and satellite data over a northern high-latitude site by H. Lihavainen et al.
• 2009/12/23: TC: Estimating basal properties of ice streams from surface measurements: a non-linear Bayesian inverse approach applied to synthetic data by M. J. Raymond & G. H. Gudmundsson
• 2009/12/22: PNAS: Global sea level linked to global temperature by Martin Vermeer & Stefan Rahmstorf
• 2009/12/22: PNAS: Projections of future sea level becoming more dire by Jonathan T. Overpeck & Jeremy L. Weiss

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

• 2009/12/24: NatureN: Why it's hot in the city -- Heat wave in Baltimore made worse by hot air from Washington DC.
• 2009/12/21: ERabett: God will know his own
• 2009/12/21: PhysOrg: 'Particle soup' discovery will improve climate predictions
  New research from scientists at The University of Manchester is set to improve predictions about climate and air quality - and make life easier for those suffering from respiratory problems.
• 2009/12/21: PhysOrg: Cornellians build computer climate-change model

  Hansen:

• 2009/12/24: ClimateShifts: A message from James Hansen [The Temperature of Science]
• 2009/12/23: EnergyBulletin: James Hansen: Good Riddance, Copenhagen. Time for Better Ideas.
• 2009/12/23: CCurrents: Time For Better Ideas: James Hansen
• 2009/12/22: DemNow: Leading Climate Scientist James Hansen on Why He's Pleased the Copenhagen Summit Failed, "Cap and Fade," Climategate and More

  Regarding Wegman:

• 2009/12/22: DeepClimate: Wegman (and Rapp) on tree rings: A divergence problem (part 1)

  Meanwhile on the Kyoto front:

• 2009/12/25: SolveClimate: Kyoto Protocol on Life Support for Another Year
  BASIC Countries [Brazil, South Africa, India & China] Maintain 'Unambiguous' Postion on Treaty's Survival

While at the UN:

• 2009/12/24: NatureCF: An alternative to the UN
• 2009/12/23: PlanetArk: "Earth to Ban Ki-moon" Or How A Deal Was Sealed In Copenhagen
• 2009/12/22: FTimes: UN agrees to reform climate process
  The United Nations bowed to intensifying pressure yesterday to start sweeping reforms of its processes for reaching agreement on climate change. Developed and developing countries have condemned the bureaucratic and unwieldy process of reaching unanimous agreement from 192 countries, which many blamed for the chaotic end of the Copenhagen climate change conference at the weekend. Ban Ki-moon, UN secretary-general, acknowledged the problems and promised: "We will consider how to streamline the negotiations process. We will also look at how to encompass the full context of climate change and development in the negotiations, both substantively and institutionally. Early next year, I will establish a high-level panel on development and climate change to strategically address such issues."
• 2009/12/22: Google:AFP: UN chief calls for new climate pact push
• 2009/12/21: NYT:CW: Some Climate Experts Seek Alternative to U.N. Process
• 2009/12/21: Guardian(UK): Copenhagen treaty was 'held to ransom', says Gordon Brown...calls for reform of UN climate talks...
• 2009/12/21: UN: United action on global scale needed to clinch new climate pact, says Ban
• 2009/12/21: PlanetArk:Climate Deal Highlights U.N. Flaws
  A weak U.N. climate deal, agreed on Saturday after two weeks of talks pulled back from near collapse, underscored the vulnerability of a process depending on consensus and may mark a diminishing U.N. role. The principal negotiations took place among about 30 countries and the biggest breakthrough involved just five -- the United States, China, Brazil, South Africa and India. The final deal was not legally binding and left it for countries to choose to participate -- all but four or five were expected to do so -- marking a departure from its umbrella U.N. climate convention.
• 2009/12/21: Times(UK): Gordon Brown calls for new group to police global environment issues
  A new global body dedicated to environmental stewardship is needed to prevent a repeat of the deadlock which undermined the Copenhagen climate change summit, Gordon Brown will say tomorrow.

The idea of a carbon tax is still bouncing around:

• 2009/12/23: TGBeaver: Brace yourself. Here comes a federal carbon tax...

  Meanwhile on the international political front:

• 2009/12/21: CCurrents: The Truth Of What Happened At Copenhagen Summit by Fidel Castro
• 2009/12/22: Reuters: EU calls for more U.S. involvement in climate works
  The European Union called on the United States on Tuesday to play a bigger role in combating climate change, after Sweden described the Copenhagen summit last week as a "great failure."
• 2009/12/21: ClimateShifts: A tale of two worlds [EU & Aus]

  As for GW & security:

• 2009/12/23: NYT:GW: Future Scarcity Seen Sparking Local Conflicts, Not Full-Scale Wars

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

• 2009/12/24: CCP: Inhumane Denmark: The Red Carpet Four - Greenpeace activists imprisoned in ISOLATION in Copenhagen jail -- Fascism personified!
• 2009/12/22: Guardian(UK): Jailed Copenhagen protesters face Christmas behind bars
• 2009/12/23: DemNow: Environmental Activist Jeff "Free" Luers Speaks Out in First Interview After 9.5 Years Behind Bars
• 2009/12/22: CCP: Four Greenpeace members held in isolation in Copenhagen, write to the Danish ambassador to ask for their release, please!
• 2009/12/22: CCP: Four Greenpeace activists still held in Danish prison over Copenhagen gala dinner action
• 2009/12/21: ABC(Au): A 25-year-old woman has been arrested for unlawfully entering a Collie power station
• 2009/12/21: EarthTimes: Protestors stage macabre Hong Kong protest over Copenhagen accord

  Polls! We have polls!

• 2009/12/26: CanWest: Most Albertans snub climate change threat -- Only 41% believe in global warming

  And on the American political front:

• 2009/12/24: Recharge: After Copenhagen, Washington governor presses ahead
  On returning from the climate conference in Copenhagen, Washington Governor Christine Gregoire set her state government on a path to becoming carbon neutral by 2020. She is also optimistic that the US Senate will pass a climate change bill early next year.
• 2009/12/23: NASDAQ: EPA CO2 Danger Decision Opens Door To Legal Petitions
• 2009/12/22: Mercury: World's largest solar project prompts environmental debate
• 2009/12/21: NYT: Desert Vistas vs. Solar Power
  Senator Dianne Feinstein introduced legislation in Congress on Monday to protect a million acres of the Mojave Desert in California by scuttling some 13 big solar plants and wind farms planned for the region. But before the bill to create two new Mojave national monuments has even had its first hearing, the California Democrat has largely achieved her aim. Regardless of the legislation's fate, her opposition means that few if any power plants are likely to be built in the monument area, a complication in California's effort to achieve its aggressive goals for renewable energy. Developers of the projects have already postponed several proposals or abandoned them entirely. The California agency charged with planning a renewable energy transmission grid has rerouted proposed power lines to avoid the monument.
• 2009/12/22: PhysOrg: EPA, Army Corps urged to consider separating Great Lakes, river basin [US pol]
  The once-radical idea of somehow plugging the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal to stop the flow of unwanted species from spilling between the Great Lakes and Mississippi River basin is quickly picking up political support.
• 2009/12/21: STimes: Land board says 'yes' to vast coal development
  Montana's Land Board faced down stiff opposition Monday and voted in favor of leasing vast coal tracts in the eastern part of the state.
• 2009/12/21: SeekingAlpha: The Nuclear Industry Will Settle for 25-30 New Plants by 2030
  To meet the current goals for greenhouse gas emissions, the U.S. would have to build 187 new nuclear plants by 2050, according to former New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman, who now co-chairs the Case Energy Coalition, which advocates increased nuclear power in the U.S. But the industry will settle for 25 to 30 by 2030, she said. That would be enough to meet the expected growth in demand for electricity in the U.S. while keeping nuclear around 20 percent of the mix. The U.S. currently has 104 reactors. Although a commercial reactor hasn't been built in decades here, a new wave of reactors appears to be becoming financially, technically and politically possible, she added. 32 new nuclear plants at 21 sites have already been proposed for the U.S.
• 2009/12/21: AlterNet: Corporations (and Sarah Palin) Are Cyborgs Sent to Scuttle the Fight Against Climate Change [US pol]
• 2009/12/20: IACenter: Pentagon pollution ignored at climate change conference
  In evaluating the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen -- with more than 15,000 participants from 192 countries, including more than 100 heads of state, as well as 100,000 demonstrators in the streets -- it is important to ask: How is it possible that the worst polluter of carbon dioxide and other toxic emissions on the planet is not a focus of any conference discussion or proposed restrictions? By every measure, the Pentagon is the largest institutional user of petroleum products and energy in general. Yet the Pentagon has a blanket exemption in all international climate agreements.

The Obama chatter is nonstop:

• 2009/12/26: AlterNet: For Obama, No Opportunity Is Too Big to Blow
• 2009/12/25: ENN: Obama Frustrated with Outcome of Copenhagen Climate Talks
• 2009/12/23: BBC: US president Barack Obama says people are justified in being disappointed by the outcome of the Copenhagen summit on climate change
• 2009/12/22: TreeHugger: Why is Everyone so Pissed at Obama?
• 2009/12/21: Reuters: Cuban minister says Obama "imperial, arrogant"
  Cuba accused U.S. President Barack Obama on Monday of being "imperial, arrogant" and dishonest during last week's global climate conference in the latest sign of deteriorating relations between Havana and Washington. Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez said in a televised press conference that Obama lied during the United Nations summit in Copenhagen and is making a habit of it after less than a year in office. "He lies all the time, deceives with demagogic words, with profound cynicism," Rodriguez told reporters. "In this summit there was only an imperial, arrogant Obama who doesn't listen, who imposes positions that even threaten developing countries," he said.
• 2009/12/21: ClimateP: NYT on Copenhagen: "For the moment it is worth savoring the steps forward...."
  [...]
  The UNFCCC process had become utterly spoiled, and President Obama has begun the difficult but crucial process of replacing it with something that might actually work.
• 2009/12/21: PlanetArk: Climate deal gives Obama Limited Victory
• 2009/12/20: PS: Obama as Climate Change Villain by Jeffrey D. Sachs
• 2009/12/20: Guardian(UK): A great step forward: Obama's verdict on climate change pact -- President's intervention was failure, say critics

  The actions of the Obama administration are being watched closely:

• 2009/12/24: NYT:CW: DOE to Study Storage Options for Spent Nuclear Fuel, Small Reactors -- Official
• 2009/12/24: NYT: Loan Program May Stir Nuclear Industry
  [...]
  In the next few days, the Energy Department plans to announce the first of $18.5 billion in loan guarantees for building new reactors. The guarantees were authorized in a bill passed by Congress in 2005.
• 2009/12/22: NRDC:SwitchBoard: EPA Finalizes Rule on Ship Pollution: A Welcome Holiday Gift for Clean Air
• 2009/12/22: WaPo: Still unresolved, Tennessee coal-ash spill only one EPA hurdle

  As for what is going on in Congress:

• 2009/12/24: TPMDC: Did Jim Inhofe Manipulate Poll Data On Climate Change Policy?
• 2009/12/24: DeSmogBlog: Inhofe Questioned About Manipulating Climate Polling Data
• 2009/12/23: CSW: Reps. Joe Barton and James Sensenbrenner carried global warming denier message to Copenhagen
• 2009/12/22: TP:WR: Is Copenhagen A 'Nothing Burger' To The Senate? 'Not A Chance In Hell,' Says Kerry
• 2009/12/22: Grist: "That's ridiculous. You're ridiculous." -- Copenhagenfreude: Inhofe's "truth squad" steps on a rake
• 2009/12/22: HillHeat: Senate Watch, Post-Copenhagen: Bennett, Bond, Casey, Durbin, Graham, Inhofe, Kaufman, Kerry, Levin, McCain, Murkowksi, Nelson, Rockefeller, Voinovich
• 2009/12/21: ClimateP: Top staffer for Lugar (R-IN) labels Copenhagen Accord a "home run"; Murkowski (R-AK) says "China and India stepping forward ... is progress."

  What are the lobbyists pushing?

• 2009/12/23: ClimateP: 113 Wisconsin scientists write to Senators Kohl and Fiengold urging 'aye' votes on bipartisan climate and clean energy legislation

  While in the UK:

• 2009/12/22: ABC(Au): Britain blames China for Copenhagen 'farce'
  British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has accused a handful of countries of holding the UN climate summit to ransom as bitter recriminations swirled over the outcome of the negotiations.
• 2009/12/20: Guardian(UK): China tried to hijack Copenhagen climate deal
  Climate secretary [Ed Miliband] accuses China, Sudan, Bolivia and other leftwing Latin American countries of trying to hijack Copenhagen

And in Europe:

• 2009/12/21: Guardian(UK): European solutions to climate change
  Away from the theatrics of Copenhagen, the EU quietly leads the way in putting emissions-tackling market structures in place

Meanwhile in Australia:

• 2009/12/26: PeakEnergy: Australian Academy of Science: Australia's Renewable Energy Future
• 2009/12/24: ABC(Au): The Climate Institute has backed calls for the Federal Government to reform its renewable energy certificate scheme
• 2009/12/23: ABC(Au): Wong satisfied with India's climate position
  The Federal Government says the Copenhagen summit was useful in getting India to take action on climate change. India has confirmed it worked with China and other emerging nations to ensure there were no legally binding targets from the global climate talks.
• 2009/12/23: ABC(Au): Carbon push may cement mine's future
  A mining company says the demand for carbon reduction could provide a new lease of life for a troubled Cape York mine in far north Queensland. Minerals Corporation says Skardon River kaolin clay could play a role in the development of a green cement which has the potential to significantly reduce carbon emissions. Director James Marsh says the product does not require kiln heating and is being used for block manufacture in New South Wales.
• 2009/12/23: ABC(Au): Cars fastest growing greenhouse emitters: study
  A new report by the New South Wales Department of Climate Change and Water shows motor vehicles are the fastest growing contributor to greenhouse gases. The report shows that car sales have gone up 18 per cent over the past eight years and transport fuels account for 20 per cent of the states overall emissions.
• 2009/12/23: ABC(Au): Climate talks prove no need for ETS rush: [Hume MP Alby] Schultz
  The Member for Hume says he is pleased no binding agreement was struck at the Copenhagen Climate Summit.
• 2009/12/23: PlanetArk: Australia Backs Carbon Plan, Early Poll Chances Cool
• 2009/12/22: TerraDaily: Australia to do 'no more and no less' than others on climate
• 2009/12/22: ABC(Au): Climate Change Minister Penny Wong has ruled out negotiating with the Greens, as the Federal Government faces an uphill battle to make its emissions trading scheme (ETS) a reality
• 2009/12/21: Google:AFP: Australia to do 'no more and no less' on climate [says Rudd]
• 2009/12/21: ABC(Au): Opposition 'barracking for climate failure'
  The Climate Change Minister, Penny Wong, has vowed to press ahead with the Government's emissions trading scheme (ETS) in the aftermath of the Copenhagen conference.
• 2009/12/21: ABC(Au): The ACT Government has unveiled a draft energy policy to cut the territory's greenhouse gas emissions and source a quarter of its power from renewable energy
• 2009/12/21: ABC(Au): The Federal Opposition says the Copenhagen summit was a comprehensive failure and a vindication of its stance against the Government's emissions trading scheme (ETS)
• 2009/12/21: ABC(Au): Hunger strike farmer refuses to meet Government

  While in the Indian subcontinent:

• 2009/12/23: PhysOrg: UN climate official warns of Indian energy 'crisis'
  India's reliance on coal means the country is heading for an energy crisis unless it diversifies its sources of power, the chairman of the UN's top climate change panel predicted on Wednesday. Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the Nobel-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), said India had to curb its high-polluting coal consumption in the near future or risk burning through its reserves.
• 2009/12/23: PlanetArk: India Says To Better Cuts In Gas Emissions Growth
  India could improve upon its aims to slow the growth of greenhouse gas emissions by 2020, the environment minister said on Tuesday after returning from climate change talks in Copenhagen. India said it was willing to rein in its "carbon intensity" -- the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) emitted per unit of economic output -- by between 20 and 25 percent by 2020, from 2005 levels.
• 2009/12/22: EarthTimes: Indian government under fire for Copenhagen accord

  And in China:

• 2009/12/27: PhysOrg: China adopts law to boost renewable energy industry
• 2009/12/25: ChinaDaily: China to have world's second biggest power capacity
• 2009/12/23: Guardian(UK): China fears climate change openness
  Beijing, which fears that external monitoring might reveal internal dysfunction, was backed into a corner by the US at Copenhagen

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

• 2009/12/23: CanWest: Canadians cool to Harper's climate change stand
  The Harper government might not lose many votes over its controversial stance on climate change even though half of Canadians disapprove of its policies, says a new poll. The survey, conducted over the past few days by Innovative Research Group for Canwest News Service, found 49 per cent of respondents disapproved of the government's position at the Copenhagen climate conference, but 44 per cent said it would not make a difference on whether they were more or less likely to vote for the Conservatives. The poll found that 43 per cent would be less likely to vote for the Conservatives because of the government's position and 13 per cent would be more likely to support them. But Greg Lyle, the polling firm's managing director, said those who already supported the Tories were not likely to change their minds. "Basically, it's something that's rallying the Conservatives' opponents, but it's leaving Conservatives fairly untouched," said Lyle.
• 2009/12/22: TStar: Harper is betting on the oil sands
• 2009/12/21: APOV: Harper And Climate Change: Because Incompetents Want To Bring Everyone To Their Level

  Regarding Canada at Copenhagen:

• 2009/12/23: CanWest: Copenhagen was just a sideshow
  The Copenhagen climate summit had great entertainment value and Canada received an impressive share of the limelight. Our government was the focus of various activist antics (fossil awards, fake press releases), and our politicians provided a global audience with a small sampling of our inter-regional and federal-provincial squabbling. But, aside from international fun at Canada's expense, was anything else accomplished at Copenhagen?
• 2009/12/22: CanWest: Alberta didn't deserve Copenhagen lashing
• 2009/12/22: G&M: Obama, not Harper being blamed for Copenhagen
• 2009/12/21: MongaBay: Canada at Copenhagen: "delay, obstruction, and total inaction"
• 2009/12/20: G&M: Canada defends climate deal as 'turning point'
  While Environment Minister puts positive spin on agreement, Alberta voices resentment at being cast as climate-change villain Canada's Environment Minister is defending the Copenhagen Accord as an historic accomplishment for bringing the world's largest polluters -- including China, India and the United States -- into the global-warming battle. Facing widespread disappointment and condemnation from the international environmental community, political leaders around the world spent the weekend putting a positive spin on the agreement. Canada bore a significant brunt of that criticism last week in Copenhagen...
• 2009/12/21: CanWest: MP blasts Canada's disappearing act
  The Canadian and Alberta delegations were barely noticeable at the Copenhagen climate conference, says an Edmonton MP who just returned from Denmark. NDP Environment critic Linda Duncan, MP for Edmonton-Strathcona, called the low profile disappointing and said many people at the conference were expecting more from Canada.
• 2009/12/20: TMoS: Canada's Copenhagen Clown Car

  About that Made-in-Canada policy:

• 2009/12/23: CanWest: Canada must follow U.S. lead on climate change: Harper
• 2009/12/21: G&M: Canada has long shadowed the U.S. on climate change -- A diluted congressional bill will suit the Harper government just fine

  A pissing match between Ottawa and the provinces:

• 2009/12/23: CBC: Quebec premier [Jean Charest] slams Harper's environment stance
  A war of words has erupted between Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the premier of Quebec, with Jean Charest tearing a strip off Ottawa's environmental performance. In 25 years in politics, Charest says, he's never seen a federal government rely so heavily on the White House before taking a position on an issue, with Ottawa now saying it will model its climate policy on Washington's.
• 2009/12/22: CTV: [Quebec Premier Jean] Charest rips into Harper government over environment
• 2009/12/23: TStar: Ottawa wasted climate talks, [Ontario Premier Dalton] McGuinty says -- Canada 'missed' chance to lead in the fight against a global threat
• 2009/12/21: CanWest: [Ontario Premier Dalton] McGuinty slams Harper for Copenhagen results

  Now this would be ironic:

• 2009/12/23: TGBeaver: Brace yourself. Here comes a federal carbon tax...
• 2009/12/23: TSun: Harper can't rule out carbon tax

  As for Canada's GHGs:

• 2009/12/21: GC:EC: Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reporting Program -- Overview of 2008 Facility Data
• 2009/12/21: CBC: B.C. only province with rising greenhouse gases

  Here's something major I missed in the COP15 deluge:

• 2009/12/17: Reuters: Saskatchewan nixes nuclear power plan -- Canadian province cites uncertainty about costs

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

• 2009/12/21: NYT:GreenInc: Feed-In Tariff 2.0
  Just months after starting, a more lucrative version of Ontario's feed-in-tariff program has attracted thousands of renewable energy investors, additional evidence that this particular policy lever, pioneered in Germany, can stimulate rapid growth in decentralized green power resources. As of early December, the Ontario Power Authority said that it had received more than a thousand small-scale renewable energy project applications, cumulatively representing over 8,000 megawatts of generation potential. With a provincial target of 2,500 megawatts, the government will spend the next several months whittling down the list to 'shovel-ready' projects.
• 2009/12/22: CBC: Toronto promises to lead way for electric cars
  Toronto is joining 13 of the world's largest urban centres pledging to make their cities electric car friendly.

Meanwhile in that Mechanical Mordor known as the tar sands:

• 2009/12/26: CanWest: Most Albertans snub climate change threat -- Only 41% believe in global warming
  A new poll showing nearly a third of Albertans believe global warming is merely a theory could mean more federalist sparring lies ahead for the province, a Calgary political scientist suggests. An Angus Reid Public Opinion survey released last week found that 31 per cent of Albertans think global warming is a theory that has not yet been proven. Nationally, according to a separate poll, 17 per cent of Canadians share that opinion. Furthermore, only 41 per cent of Albertans polled believe climate change is a fact and that it is mostly caused by emissions from vehicles and industrial facilities. In the national survey, more than half of respondents -- 56 per cent -- hold that belief.
• 2009/12/22: NewInt:TEB: Head in the (tar) sand

  As for miscellaneous Canadiana:

• 2009/12/21: G&M: EnCana seeks natural gas highway network
  Energy firm is asking the federal government to put $1-billion in to kick-start a transformation of the country's highways

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

• 2009/12/24: Tyee: Idea #4: Let's Make It a Hypergreen World -- Drastic times call for drastic measures. It's time to go hypergreen.
• 2009/12/23: EnergyBulletin: The Paradise Imperative
• 2009/12/21: TP:WR: Copenhagen Prognosis: The 'Almost Overwhelming Challenge' Of A Carbon-Free Civilization

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

• 2009/12/20: Guardian(UK): The big issue: Food shortages Population control must not be ignored

  Apocalypso anyone?

• 2009/12/24: EnergyBulletin: The Political Ecology of Collapse, Part Three: The Bomb at the Heart of the System
• 2009/12/23: EnergyBulletin: The madness of Rome

  As for how the media handles the science of climatology:

• 2009/12/23: ClimateSight: Science and Communication, Part 2
• 2009/12/24: ClimateSight: Michael Tobis Takes Part 3
• 2009/12/22: IoD: Some helpful advice for skeptics and journalists
• 2009/12/22: ClimateP: And the 2009 "Citizen Kane" award for non-excellence in climate journalism goes to ...[media]

  Here is something for your library:

• 2009/12/21: EnergyBulletin: [Book Review] _Peak Water - Civilisation and the World's Water Crisis_ by Alexander Bell

  And for your film & video enjoyment:

• 2009/12/26: ClimateShifts: Climate Crock Sacks Hack Attack - Part 2
• 2009/12/23: Grist: Documentary [Owning the Weather] examines geoengineering and the checkered history of weather modification

  Meanwhile among the 'Sue the Bastards!' contingent:

• 2009/12/26: TreeHugger: Beef Association's Beef with EPA
• 2009/12/24: Reuters: Beef group challenges U.S. EPA climate finding
  [...]
  The National Cattlemen's Beef Association filed a petition in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals this week, saying EPA climate regulations would hurt large farms.
• 2009/12/23: NASDAQ: EPA CO2 Danger Decision Opens Door To Legal Petitions
• 2009/12/24: AlterNet: Hordes of Angry Activists and a $27 Billion Court Case Is Making Oil Giant Chevron Pretty Nervous
• 2009/12/22: Expatica: Swiss geologist acquitted after quakes -- A Swiss court on Monday cleared Markus Haering of causing earthquakes in Basel
• 2009/12/17: BWeek: U.S. Airlines, Industry Group Sue U.K. Over Emissions Plan
  American carriers file suit to challenge a U.K. effort to bring them into the European Union's emissions trading plan

Wrestling over a new energy infrastructure continues unabated:

• 2009/12/27: MinotDN: Geothermal is future -- Homeowner builds in mind of rising energy costs
• 2009/12/26: PhysOrg: Panasonic develops direct methanol fuel cell system with high power output and durability
• 2009/12/26: PeakEnergy: Australian Academy of Science: Australia's Renewable Energy Future
• 2009/12/22: REA: This Year In Clean Energy - What A Ride
• 2009/12/25: OilDrum: Top 10 Energy Stories of 2009
• 2009/12/24: SlashDot: "Home Batteries" Power Houses For a Week
• 2009/12/24: BNC: Unnatural gas
• 2009/12/24: APSmith: Useful energy can only be used once
• 2009/12/23: PhysOrg: UN climate official warns of Indian energy 'crisis'
  India's reliance on coal means the country is heading for an energy crisis unless it diversifies its sources of power, the chairman of the UN's top climate change panel predicted on Wednesday. Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the Nobel-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), said India had to curb its high-polluting coal consumption in the near future or risk burning through its reserves.
• 2009/12/21: TechRev: A Quantum Leap in Battery Design -- Digital quantum batteries could exceed lithium-ion performance by orders of magnitude

  A couple of nations are looking at methane hydrates:

• 2009/12/27: PeakEnergy: NZ Methane Hydrates May "Soon Be Developed"
• 2009/12/22: Asia Times: Japan eyes methane hydrate as energy savior

  Fracking is back:

• 2009/12/24: ProPublica: A Fracking Mischaracterization
• 2009/12/24: TreeHugger: Tracer In The Hydraulic Fracturing Fluid: Accountability For Marcellus Shale Drillers
• 2009/12/24: Yahoo:AP: NYC says Catskill gas drilling risks are too great
  New York City's Department of Environmental Protection called on state officials Wednesday to ban natural gas drilling in the Catskills watershed, saying it would pose too great a risk to the city's upstate drinking water system. The DEP took that position in response to the state Department of Environmental Conservation's draft regulations on gas drilling in New York's portion of the Marcellus Shale region, which includes parts of the Catskills where reservoirs supply drinking water for 9 million people. The state is taking public comments on its 800-plus page draft until Dec. 31. The city DEP had withheld comment pending its own lengthy review of the potential risks of gas exploration using hydraulic fracturing, which blasts millions of gallons of chemical-laced water deep into the shale to release trapped gas. Chesapeake Energy, one of the nation's largest natural gas producers and the only leaseholder in the watershed region, has said it won't drill there because of opposition from politicians and environmental groups. But opponents have continued to call for a ban, saying the company's word isn't good enough.

The answer my friend...:

• 2009/12/25: ChinaDaily: Capacity of wind power base in NW China hits 2 GW
• 2009/12/26: TreeHugger: Interconnecting 4 Texas Wind Turbines Reduced Variability Of Single Turbine's Output 87%
• 2009/12/24: NYT: Rise of Wind Turbines Is a Boon for Rope Workers
• 2009/12/24: CBC: Summerside wind farm briefly powers entire city
• 2009/12/23: WCO: Leaked Draft Report: Wind Farms can Cause Significant Health Problems

  Meanwhile among the solar aficionados:

• 2009/12/25: PeakEnergy: Glitter-sized solar photovoltaics produce competitive results
• 2009/12/23: PhysOrg: Taiwan unveils Asia's biggest solar plant: govt [1 megawatt]
• 2009/12/23: BBC: Solar power lights up the world
  The technology behind solar energy is constantly evolving. Portable devices that charge up gadgets from the sun are becoming smaller and more powerful.

On the coal front:

• 2009/12/24: TreeHugger: Duke Energy's Indiana Coal-Fired Generation Plant Settles For 93 Million Dollar, EPA Air Penalty
• 2009/12/24: AutoBG: No new U.S. coal plants in 2009; does this mean a cleaner future for electric cars?
• 2009/12/22: SolveClimate: Rocky Year for Coal Industry: 26 Power Plant Plans Shelved in 2009 -- 'There Is a Shift Going on Across America'
• 2009/12/22: Grist: frontline over coal-fired plants, mountaintop removal -- Post-Copenhagen pledge: Coal free future begins in Kentucky
• 2009/12/22: TreeHugger: One Year Later, TVA Coal Ash Spill Problems Still Far From Over

  Biofuel bickering abounds:

• 2009/12/26: TreeHugger: Can Biodiesel Be Green? The Sustainable Biodiesel Summit

  The nuclear energy controversy continues:

• 2009/12/24: NYT:CW: DOE to Study Storage Options for Spent Nuclear Fuel, Small Reactors -- Official
• 2009/12/21: SeekingAlpha: The Nuclear Industry Will Settle for 25-30 New Plants by 2030
  To meet the current goals for greenhouse gas emissions, the U.S. would have to build 187 new nuclear plants by 2050, according to former New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman, who now co-chairs the Case Energy Coalition, which advocates increased nuclear power in the U.S. But the industry will settle for 25 to 30 by 2030, she said. That would be enough to meet the expected growth in demand for electricity in the U.S. while keeping nuclear around 20 percent of the mix. The U.S. currently has 104 reactors. Although a commercial reactor hasn't been built in decades here, a new wave of reactors appears to be becoming financially, technically and politically possible, she added. 32 new nuclear plants at 21 sites have already been proposed for the U.S.

Yes we have peak everything:

• 2009/12/25: EnergyBulletin: Resource depletion will reduce emissions
• 2009/12/23: OilDrum: Peak oil and the psychology of work
• 2009/12/22: OilDrum: Managing the Peak Fossil Fuel Transition: EROI and EIRR
• 2009/12/21: TreeHugger: Peak Everything: More Things We Are Running Out Of
• 2009/06/12: WWMT: Rural Mich. counties turn failing roads to gravel

  More people are talking about the electrical grid:

• 2009/12/23: KSJT: Climate Wire: An Electric Superstation 'Game Changer' is at FERC
• 2009/12/23: NYT:CW: An Electric 'Game Changer' Gets FERC Scrutiny
  A proposal to move large amounts of wind and solar power out of the Southwest by linking the three separate North American electricity grids with state-of-the-art switching terminals and superconducting cables is now in hands of federal regulators. Tres Amigas LLC has petitioned the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for two key rulings that it says will determine whether the potentially pathbreaking project goes forward. One decision would allow Tres Amigas to charge generators competitive rates rather than cost-based charges to move power over a triangular network of high-voltage direct-current lines it plans to build near Clovis, N.M., 1 mile from the Texas border. Terminals at each point of the triangle would be access points into the three separately synchronized grids -- the Eastern Interconnection east of the Rocky Mountains, the Western Electricity Coordinating Council (WECC) west of the Rockies, and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), the statewide grid that Texas maintains to prevent federal regulation of its utility industry.
• 2009/12/21: SolveClimate: California Building Power Lines to a Renewable Future

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

• 2009/12/25: AutoBG: 10 signs your new car won't be electric, and 5 signs that it will
• 2009/12/26: AutoBG: Panasonic to build home use lithium ion battery in 2011
• 2009/12/24: ClimateP: NRC panel of advocates for dead-end hydrogen cars, chaired by a former ExxonMobil executive, trashes plug-in hybrids in deeply flawed report, Part 1
• 2009/12/24: WaPo: Recharging and other concerns keep electric cars far from mainstream
• 2009/12/22: AutoBG: Squaring off, again: plug-in advocates respond to anti-PHEV report
• 2009/12/23: AutoBG: Forget the Tata Nano, Oklahomans can get a new electric car for $865!
• 2009/12/22: CBC: Toronto promises to lead way for electric cars
  Toronto is joining 13 of the world's largest urban centres pledging to make their cities electric car friendly.

Meanwhile in the greenwashing chronicles:

• 2009/12/24: TreeHugger: Green Roofs + Green Belts = Greenwash

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

• 2009/12/22: ClimateP: Energy and Global Warming News for December 22...
• 2009/12/21: ClimateP: Energy and Global Warming News for December 21...

  The carbon lobby are up to the usual:

• 2009/12/23: MoJo: Jesse Ventura Body-Slams the Climate Change "Conspiracy"
• 2009/12/25: TS:QuarkSoup: Scandalous Skepticism, The Holiday Edition
• 2009/12/24: TP: Right wing bullies Build-A-Bear into removing videos about manmade climate change
• 2009/12/24: TPMDC: Did Jim Inhofe Manipulate Poll Data On Climate Change Policy?
• 2009/12/24: DeSmogBlog: Inhofe Questioned About Manipulating Climate Polling Data
• 2009/12/23: CSW: Reps. Joe Barton and James Sensenbrenner carried global warming denier message to Copenhagen
• 2009/12/22: MoJo: Climate Change Deniers Without Borders
  How American oil money is pumping up climate change skeptics abroad -- and how they could derail any progress made in Copenhagen.
• 2009/12/24: PhiladelphiaInquirer: Science denial is on the rise
  From evolution to global warming to vaccines, science is under assault from denialists - those who dismiss well-tested scientific knowledge as merely one of many competing ideologies. Science denial goes beyond skeptical questioning to attack the legitimacy of science itself. Recent foment over stolen e-mails from a British research group inspired an American creationist organization to pronounce that "a cabal of leading scientists, politicians, and media" has sought to "professionally destroy scientists who express skepticism" about climate change. The Discovery Institute usually uses this kind of over-the-top language to attack evolution, so it was remarkable to see it branch out to climate-change denial. Despite such misleading hyperbole, science is meritocratic. Once at a minimum level of education and competence, anyone can participate, ask a challenging question of even the most respected scientist, or submit papers to scientific journals, where research is judged by the data and methodology. Esteemed scientists face relentless criticism. This is how science works. Even when a scientific consensus based on evidence emerges - as it has for evolution and climate change - there is opportunity for dissent. As the great physicist Richard Feynman noted, "Science is the belief in the ignorance of experts."
• 2009/12/22: Grist: "That's ridiculous. You're ridiculous." -- Copenhagenfreude: Inhofe's "truth squad" steps on a rake
• 2009/12/21: ACS: Global Warming And Climate Change -- Believers, deniers, and doubters view the scientific forecast from different angles
• 2009/12/21: DeSmogBlog: Inhofe's Bizarre Cameo at Copenhagen
• 2009/12/21: TS:QuarkSoup: Intelligent vs. Stupid Skepticism
• 2009/12/21: KSJT: New Scientist: A turnabout and fair play report on climate science (and those emails)
• 2009/12/21: CCP: George Monbiot soundly thrashes Ian Plimer and his volcano CO2 claims, in live debate on Australia's ABC TV
• 2009/12/20: CSM: If humans didn't cause global warming and cooling in the past, is that evidence they also aren't now?

  The UK Telegraph is attacking Pachauri:

• 2009/12/23: KSJT: Telegraph column goes after IPCC head on accusations he's making a fortune off climate worries
• 2009/12/21: ScienceInsider: Dealings of Top Climate Scientist [Pauchauri] in the Spotlight
• 2009/12/20: Telegraph(UK): Questions over business deals of UN climate change guru Dr Rajendra Pachauri
• 2009/12/21: IndiaTimes: Pachauri slams charges about conflict of interest
  A report in a British newspaper has accused IPCC chief Rajendra K Pachauri of making a fortune from his links with ''carbon trading'' companies. Apart from listing the number of companies, banks and institutes with which the IPCC chairman is associated, the report in The Telegraph of London alleges that Pachauri's The Energy Research Institute (TERI) continues to have ''close links'' with the Tata Group (which set up the institute) and that this relationship has helped the latter in its green and carbon trading businesses. Reacting to the report, Pachauri told TOI: ''These are a pack of lies from people who are getting desperate. They want to go after the guy whose voice is being heard. I haven't pocketed a single penny from my association with companies and institutes. All honoraria that I get goes to TERI and to its Light a Billion Lives campaign for reaching solar power to people without electricity. All my dealings are totally above board.''
• 2009/12/21: KlimaZwiebel: Rajendra Pachauri - claims of conflict of interest, and rebuttal

  Meanwhile in the 'clean coal' saga:

• 2009/12/22: ClimateP: One year anniversary of the day 'clean coal' died
• 2009/12/22: Grist: a not so happy anniversary -- Broken promises follow Tennessee coal ash disaster
• 2009/12/22: Grist: On first anniversary of massive spill, coal ash remains unregulated

  As for climate miscellanea:

• 2009/12/22: Yale360: Stewart Brand's Strange Trip: Whole Earth to Nuclear Power
  When the founder of the Whole Earth Catalog embraces nuclear power, genetically engineered crops, and geoengineering schemes to cool the planet, you know things have changed in the environmental movement. In an interview with Yale Environment 360, Stewart Brand explains how the passage of four decades -- and the advent of global warming -- have shifted his thinking about what it means to be green.
• 2009/12/24: PeakEnergy: 97% of active climatologists agree that human activity is causing global warming
• 2009/12/18: MillerMcCune: There's No Negotiating With Nature
  Two new studies show that the effects of changing climate are with us regardless of where governments or public opinion stand.
• 2009/12/22: DM:CCM: What is Basic Climate Science Literacy?
• 2009/12/21: ClimateP: In must-see AGU video, Richard Alley explains "The Biggest Control Knob: Carbon Dioxide in Earth's Climate History"
• 2009/12/21: Eureka: Into the heart of the climate debate [ACS version]
• 2009/12/21: IJI: Quick summary of, well, stuff

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

• NIWA: National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research
• GoogleGroups: Climate Intervention
• EPI: Eco-Economy Indicators
• ESA: GOCE - Gravity field and steady-state Ocean Circulation Explorer
• GCI: Global Commons Institute
• PCB: Post Carbon Institute - Blog
• The Oil Sands of Canada
• The Mountain Sentinel: energy depletion, sustainability, fascism, socioeconomic collapse, democracy, equality, activism, peak oil [Dale Allen Pfeiffer]
• ScienceAlert - Australia & NZ - News
• Dr. Luann Becker
• IR^2: IR-Squared
• IPCC:WGIII: Fourth Assessment Report (Mitigation)
• Green Options
• Worldwatch Institute

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

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

"As for survival, I'd still bet on it, but more due to the bloody-minded and primitive human instinct for it, which has kept the species around this long, than to any deliberate exercise of intelligence, scientific or political." -Rick Salutin

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