A Few Things Ill Considered

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Information overload is pattern recognition

March 14, 2010

• Chuckles, COP15, COP16 and Beyond, Paris, Wrong Green, CERA, Outsourcing CO2, World Bank, UN CFG
• IPCC Review, IPCC Support, CRU Theft, UK Wind, Samanta, Anthony's Question, NASgate
• Melting Arctic, Methane, Geopolitics
• Food Crisis, Svalbard, Land Grabs, Food Production
• Hurricanes, GHGs, Temperatures, Aerosols, Paleoclimate, The Sun, Satellites, DSCOVR
• Impacts, Forests, Wacky Weather, Glaciers, Sea Levels, Floods & Droughts
• Mitigation, Transportation, Sequestration, Adaptation
• Journals, Misc. Science, Mann, Hansen, Simpson, Morner
• UN, Carbon Trade, Carbon Tax, Tobin Tax, Optimal Carbon Reduction Strategy
• International Politics: Misc., Security, Polls, FSM, Water Politics & Business, SW Tools
• National: America, Rush2Wind, Obama, Admin, Birds, PushBack, Congress, Climate Bill, Lobbyists, Schumer, Petition
• Britain, Europe, Australia, China, Japan, Middle East, Russia
• Canada, Budget, NEB on MVP, USA vs Canada, Syncrude Trial, BC, Ontario, Manitoba & Sask, Tar Sands, Alberta
• Ecological Economics, IPAT, Apocalypso, Media, Books, Courts
• Energy, Thermopower, Fracking, 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

It's always nice to start with a chuckle:

• 2010/03/13: AtaraxiaTheatre: (cartoon - Hewitt) What ERV really stands for
• 2010/03/09: TI:CF: (cartoon - Roberts) Choosing Choice
• 2010/03/08: uComics: (cartoon - Rall) The Military FlashPoint: The Arctic?

  They're still talking about COP15:

• 2010/03/14: Yahoo:AP: China alleges diplomatic snub at Copenhagen summit
• 2010/03/14: EarthTimes: China snubbed at climate summit, prime minister says [COP15]
• 2010/03/11: EnergyBulletin: "The Failure in Copenhagen"
• 2010/03/10: Hindu: India, China to be listed in Copenhagen Accord introduction
• 2010/03/10: People's Daily: China, India give nod to climate deal
• 2010/03/10: EarthTimes: EU climate chief [Connie Hedegaard] welcomes China and India backing on Copenhagen [Accord]
• 2010/03/09: Guardian(UK): China and India join Copenhagen accord
• 2010/03/09: TreeHugger: India Backs Copenhagen Accord - Last Major Emitter To Do So
• 2010/03/09: EarthTimes: India agrees to be listed in Cophenhagen Accord

  Regarding COP16 and future international climate negotiations:

• 2010/03/11: NRDC:SwitchBoard: Where do things stand on international efforts to address global warming?
• 2010/03/11: Hindu: Emissions: China joins India on scrutiny
  Beijing: China supports India in opposing any international "scrutiny" of voluntary actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, said the country's top climate change negotiator on Wednesday. China also sought to continue and expand cooperation with India as negotiations between the developing world and the West headed towards the climate change conference in Mexico later this year, said Xie Zhenhua, vice-chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission and one of China's lead negotiators at December's Copenhagen conference. "China and India have a common position on major issues on climate change and we are willing to step up cooperation in forestry, energy efficiency and renewable energy," he said. "We face common challenges, such as the task of developing our economy, eliminating poverty, improving people's livelihood, reducing emissions and protecting the environment."
• 2010/03/10: TerraDaily: China climate chief critical of U.S.
  [...]
  "We know that there are disputes and difficulties within the United States on legislation, but we hope these, along with the U.S. unwillingness to take more responsibilities, should not be shifted to other countries," Xie [Zhenhua, vice minister of the National Development and Reform Commission] said...
• 2010/03/10: EurActiv: EU comes up with exit strategy for climate talks
  The EU's new commissioner for climate action wants Europe to continue leading global negotiations and pursue deeper emission cuts, even if its current pledge of 20% reductions by 2020 is not matched by other developed countries.
• 2010/03/10: EUO: Commission lays out post-Copenhagen climate strategy
  The European Union's climate chief on Tuesday (9 March) told the European Parliament she wants the bloc to forge ahead with cuts in carbon emissions of 30 percent - despite competing powers having yet to make similar pledges - in an attempt to win back EU leadership on the issue, believed to have been lost at the UN climate summit in her native Copenhagen last December.
• 2010/03/11: ABC(Au): Climate change is a fact, says China
  The Chinese Government says the view that climate change is not man-made is a marginal and "extreme" outlook.
• 2010/03/08: BWeek: Germany casts doubt on 2010 climate change deal
• 2010/03/09: IndiaTimes: India needs to find right model for managing climate change
• 2010/03/08: Reuters: EU to tackle CO2 loopholes
  Loopholes in the United Nations climate treaties could actually amount to an increase in global climate-warming emissions and the chance to rein in temperatures may be slipping away, a draft European Union report showed.

There was a meeting in Paris about the forests:

• 2010/03/11: Google:AFP: Progress seen on forest scheme, Germany to join [Paris meeting]
  Around 60 countries pushed ahead on Thursday with a multi-billion-dollar scheme to reduce climate-changing emissions from deforestation, to which Germany added its support, British minister Joan Ruddock said on Thursday. "There was a tremendous mood of determination to get things done. I regard this as quite a breakthrough, actually," Ruddock, who is secretary of state for energy and climate change, told AFP in a phone interview. Around 60 countries, gathering donor economies and poor countries with large tropical forests, met for the one-day conference in Paris.
• 2010/03/11: PhysOrg: Deforestation conference to turn plans to action
  French President Nicolas Sarkozy will open a daylong conference Thursday of some 40 nations to start turning plans into action to save the world's forests and help rein in the noxious gases blamed for climate change. Ministers from countries of the Amazon and Congo river basins and Indonesia - whose massive forests, most at risk, are at the heart of efforts to end deforestation - were among those attending the one-day conference. A follow-up meeting is scheduled for May in Oslo, Norway.
• 2010/03/08: TerraDaily: Climate forest deal in sight: Indonesia

  The Johann Hari article in the Nation startled some environmentalists:

• 2010/03/09: DemNow: The Real Climategate: Conservation Groups Align with World's Worst Polluters
• 2010/03/04: Nation: The Wrong Kind of Green

  The CERA conference in Houston was revealing:

• 2010/03/10: NYT:GW: Oil Execs Chortle as Obama Admin Promotes Renewables
  Renewable energy is being praised in Washington, but it is generating snickers here in the nation's traditional energy capital, where oil, gas and utility leaders are gathered for a major industry conference. Leaders of two of the world's largest oil and gas companies used their addresses at CERAWeek, a sprawling conference sponsored by energy analysis firm IHS Cambridge Energy Research Associates, to warn against unbridled optimism about wind and solar energy. Khalid Al-Falih, president and CEO of Saudi Aramco, deemed overreliance on renewable power dangerous, while ConocoPhillips Chairman James Mulva employed sarcasm to compare renewable boosters to those who won't acknowledge climate change. "We must overcome the opposition of the 'hydrocarbon deniers,'" Mulva said, playing off the term "climate deniers," used to describe skeptics about climate science. Hydrocarbon deniers, he said, are those who "believe that renewable energy will quickly and easily replace hydrocarbons and cure all that ails us."
• 2010/03/10: ClimateP: ConocoPhillips chair mocks clean energy advocates as "hydrocarbon deniers" -- CEO of Saudi Aramco worries about "a bottleneck" in oil production. Seriously!

  A paper on outsourcing emissions caught a wave of interest:

• 2010/03/09: CCP: Steven J. Davis & Ken Caldeira, PNAS (2010), Consumption-based accounting of CO2 emissions
• 2010/03/11: SolveClimate: Outsourced Emissions: Counting Imports Jacks Up U.S., European Greenhouse Gas Totals -- China Exports Nearly a Quarter of Its Emissions; U.S. Imports More Than 10%
• 2010/03/09: ArsTechnica: Europe outsourcing CO2 emissions to developing economies
• 2010/03/09: DM:80B: When China Makes Goods for the US, Who's Responsible for the Emissions?
• 2010/03/09: NatureCF: Extent of 'carbon outsourcing' revealed
• 2010/03/09: TCoE: Whose carbon is it?
• 2010/03/09: Time: When Goods Get Traded, Who Pays for the CO2?
• 2010/03/09: BBC: Third of EU emissions 'imported'
  Rich countries including several EU nations are "importing" about a third of their CO2 emissions, says a study. US-based researchers used a global trade database to track goods and services, and assigned emissions to the countries where they were used. Nearly a quarter of China's emissions come from goods exported to the West.
• 2010/03/08: Guardian(UK): UK import emissions are the highest in Europe, figures show
  Study finds 253m tonnes of CO2 are released annually in the manufacture of products bound for UK shores - mostly in the developing world
• 2010/03/08: CBC: Developed countries outsource emissions: study
• 2010/03/08: MongaBay: Consumption habits cause rich countries to outsource emissions
• 2010/03/08: NewScientist: US still responsible for most CO2 emissions
• 2010/03/08: Eureka: Carbon emissions 'outsourced' to developing countries
  A new study by scientists at the Carnegie Institution finds that over a third of carbon dioxide emissions associated with consumption of goods and services in many developed countries are actually emitted outside their borders. Some countries, such as Switzerland, "outsource" over half of their carbon dioxide emissions, primarily to developing countries. The study finds that, per person, about 2.5 tons of carbon dioxide are consumed in the U.S. but produced somewhere else. For Europeans, the figure can exceed four tons per person. Most of these emissions are outsourced to developing countries, especially China. "Instead of looking at carbon dioxide emissions only in terms of what is released inside our borders, we also looked at the amount of carbon dioxide released during the production of the things that we consume," says co-author Ken Caldeira, a researcher in the Carnegie Institution's Department of Global Ecology.

Regarding that World Bank loan:

• 2010/03/12: BBerg: U.S. to Abstain From Voting on Eskom World Bank Loan
• 2010/03/11: SolveClimate: Eskom: The World Bank's Coal Power Support Program -- $3.75B Loan Highlights Concerns About Energy Development in South Africa
• 2010/03/11: SolveClimate: The World Bank's Coal Power Support Program -- $3.75B Loan Highlights Concerns About Energy Development in South Africa

  The Climate Fund Group drew comments of several sorts:

• 2010/03/11: EnvFin: Stern backs $100bn IMF climate fund plan
• 2010/03/10: TreeHugger: New UN Climate Financing Group Is Another All-Boys Club
• 2010/03/09: MSNBC: IMF suggests how to raise climate change funds
  The head of the International Monetary Fund on Monday proposed a plan for the world's governments to pool together to raise money needed to adapt to climate change, a rare step for an organization that normally does not develop environmental policies. IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn said the Fund is concerned about the huge amount of funding needed and the effect that will have on the global economy. He added that the proposal may help efforts to reach a binding agreement on climate change later this year.
• 2010/03/08: Guardian(UK): IMF proposes climate change fund
  The head of the International Monetary Fund says countries should adopt a quota system to raise money needed to adapt to climate change

The UN announced this week that the InterAcademy Council would review IPCC procedures:

• IAC: The InterAcademy Council
• 2010/03/11: CSM: Independent review of IPCC and its global warming reports: an answer to critics
• 2010/03/11: EurActiv: UN launches review of criticised climate panel
• 2010/03/10: USNA: InterAcademy Council Asked to Review Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
• 2010/03/11: GreenGrok: Top Scientists the World Over to Review IPCC
• 2010/03/10: SolveClimate: Pachauri Welcomes Independent Review of Embattled Climate Panel -- Review Will Examine Data Quality and Entire Management Structure of IPCC
• 2010/03/11: ABC(Au): Independent body to review UN climate panel
• 2010/03/10: NatureTGB: IPCC seeks guidance from international science academies [IAC]
• 2010/03/10: ScienceInsider: Review of Climate Panel Aims for Summer Release
• 2010/03/11: WaPo: Review of U.N. panel's report on climate change won't reexamine errors
  An outside review of a U.N. panel -- promised after flaws were uncovered in the panel's most recent report on climate change -- will not recheck that report's conclusions and will instead focus on improving procedures for the future, officials said Wednesday. U.N. officials defended their decision, saying that there is still no reason to doubt the most important conclusions of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. In a landmark report in 2007, the panel found "unequivocal" evidence that the climate was warming. "Let me be clear: The threat posed by climate change is real," Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said during a news conference at U.N. headquarters in New York. "Nothing that has been alleged or revealed in the media recently alters the fundamental scientific consensus on climate change, nor does it diminish the unique importance of the IPCC work."
• 2010/03/11: EarthTimes: UN asks Dutch organization [IAC] to review climate change findings
• 2010/03/10: BBC: Scientists to review climate body
  UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has asked the world's science academies to review work of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Work will be co-ordinated by the Inter-Academy Council, which brings together bodies such as the UK's Royal Society.
• 2010/03/10: UN: Ban announces independent review of UN-backed climate body
• 2010/03/10: Reuters: UN launches review of criticized climate panel [InterAcademy Council]
• 2010/03/10: KSJT: Wires, WSJournal, etc: A top independent panel -- says UN and WMO -- to review the IPCC's report-writing system
• 2010/03/10: Google:AP: World's top scientists to review climate panel [InterAcademy Council]
• 2010/03/10: CBC: Climate panel to receive external review
  The beleaguered panel investigating global climate change has found an outside group to review how it writes its reports. An international group, the InterAcademy Council, will be given complete control to review the rules, procedures and reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, said a scientist close to the situation. Recently, several unsettling errors have been found in the climate panel reports issued in 2007. Though the mistakes don't undercut the broad consensus on global warning, they have shaken the credibility of climate scientists and given ammunition to skeptics of global warming. The InterAcademy Council is a Netherlands-based organization of the science academies of 15 nations.

Support for the IPCC and science:

• 2010/03/14: JEB: Green, Armstrong and Soon (2010): Yes, the IPCC (1992) prediction was skillful
• 2010/03/13: JQuiggin: Science the victim of dishonest attacks
• 2010/03/12: JEB: Climate debate: opinion vs evidence
• 2010/03/11: ABC(Au):TDU: Climate debate: opinion vs evidence
• 2010/03/10: Nature: Climate of fear
  The integrity of climate research has taken a very public battering in recent months. Scientists must now emphasize the science, while acknowledging that they are in a street fight.
• 2010/03/12: BobPark: What's New?
  1. Triana: Where is the Deep Space Climate Observatory?
  2. Climate of Fear: Nature calls it a "Street Fight."
• 2010/03/12: ERabett: When you're in a hole stop digging
• 2010/03/11: TCoE: Sealevelgate
• 2010/03/10: ClimateP: Nature editorial: "Scientists must now emphasize the science, while acknowledging that they are in a street fight."
  Nature News: "Attack sparks memories of McCarthy witch-hunt."
• 2010/03/10: NatureTGB: Update: Beefing IPCC bureaucracy and communications
• 2010/03/11: RealClimate: Sealevelgate
• 2010/03/08: KSJT: Greenwire: Climate scientists thrashing around to respond to climategates while keeping it both rational and persuasive
• 2010/03/08: ABC(Au): Climate change science: the evidence is clear [2010 Commonwealth Day address by Robyn Williams]
• 2010/03/07: CSW: Robert Watson: IPCC is fundamentally sound; don't let 'skeptics' distract or derail action
• 2010/03/08: IoD: Climatologists who are mad as hell and aren't going to take it anymore

  The CRU email theft, CRU Inquiry and IOP debacle, stirred lightly:

• 2010/03/12: BCLSB: Latest IOP Retreat
• 2010/03/10: ClimateShifts: The swiftboating of climate science
• 2010/03/12: JQuiggin: Climategate:The smoking gun
• 2010/03/09: ERabett: Over reach
• 2010/03/07: ClimateWTF: SMHI and Phil Jones
• 2010/03/07: ClimateSight: Freedom of Information [abuse]
• 2010/03/07: ERabett: RSC Gate
• 2010/03/07: ERabett: Evidence of adverse editorial selection by the CRU Email thieves

  Here's another one of those studies I would like to see replicated:

• 2010/03/09: PlanetArk: UK Offshore Wind Costs At Least Twice Nuclear: Study
• 2010/03/08: Reuters: UK offshore wind costs at least twice nuclear: study
  Generating Britain's electricity from offshore wind farms is likely to be at least twice as expensive as nuclear power, according to a new report by engineering consultants Parsons Brinckerhoff.

A curiously twisted press release raises questions:

• 2010/03/05: GRL: (ab$) Amazon forests did not green-up during the 2005 drought by Arindam Samanta et al.
• 2010/03/12: MTobis: Subversion by press release
• 2010/03/14: Deltoid: It's always bad news for the IPCC
• 2010/03/11: Eureka: New study debunks myths about Amazon rain forests -- They may be more tolerant of droughts than previously thought
  A new NASA-funded study has concluded that Amazon rain forests were remarkably unaffected in the face of once-in-a-century drought in 2005, neither dying nor thriving, contrary to a previously published report and claims by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Regarding Anthony's unanswered question:

• 2010/03/11: ClimateP: Wattergate: Tamino debunks "just plain wrong" Anthony Watts

  And a fillip on NASgate:

• 2010/03/11: HotTopic: Fight back, scientists urged [Woodwell]
• 2010/03/09: NatureN: Climate e-mail rerun -- Attack sparks memories of McCarthy witch-hunt.
• 2010/03/09: ClimateP: Dr. George Woodwell sets the record straight
• 2010/03/08: ClimateSight: Now We're Talking!

  The Arctic melt continues to garner a lot of attention:

• 2010/03/10: CCP: Arctic Sea ice arches at the northern end of the Fram Strait permit thickest multi-year ice to flow out, creating a positive feedback loop -- Ice arches and positive feedback
• 2010/03/10: GreenGrok: Hey, Permafrost: Put a Lid on It

  That Damoclean sword still hangs overhead:

• 2010/03/09: ClimateShifts: More on those Siberian methane seeps
• 2010/03/09: OTF: Pushing Back Against the Methane Tipping Point
• 2010/03/08: NRDC:SwitchBoard: Arctic Methane Emissions Sound Potential Climate Alarm
• 2010/03/08: TCoE: What methane tells us about ourselves

  As for the geopolitics of Arctic resources:

• 2010/03/09: CBC: Canada to map central Arctic seabed -- Researchers will deploy robotic vehicles beneath the ice
  Federal scientists are set to map the ocean seabed in the central Arctic this month, as Canada continues to gather data to help claim more Arctic territory under an international treaty. The Canadian government has until 2013 to submit a claim, under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, to extend its sovereignty beyond the usual 200 nautical-mile limit currently recognized in international law. In order to make that claim, Canada has to prove that the Arctic seabed is an extension of the continental shelf. "What we're trying to do is cover the entire Arctic margin from, let's say, north of Greenland to almost the Alaska boundary," Dr. Jacob Verhoef, the scientific director of Canada's mapping efforts, told CBC News.
• 2010/03/10: CanWest: Make Arctic nuke-free zone: report -- Prepare the ground for confrontations over sovereignty claims, co-authors say
  Calling for the creation of a nuclear-weapons-free zone in the Arctic is not alarmist, says an academic report as foreign ministers of the world's Arctic nations prepare for a summit in Canada this month. While the threat of nuclear-weapon use in the Arctic may be nebulous now, the ground should be prepared for potential future confrontations over competing claims for sovereignty, power and resources in the region, say co-authors Michael Wallace and Steven Staples. They also say the move would be a prudent step to safeguard the Arctic environment against nuclear accidents.
• 2010/03/09: CanWest: Canada, U.S. flip-flop positions in Beaufort Sea boundary dispute
  Just days after the Conservative government's throne speech pledged to resolve several outstanding Arctic territorial disputes, polar experts have revealed an unexpected twist in the long-running disagreement over the Canada-U.S. border in the southern Beaufort Sea.

The food crisis is ongoing:

• 2010/03/12: WFP: Congo: Food Airlifted To Fleeing Refugees In Remote North
• 2010/03/12: UN: UN agency begins airlifting food aid for refugees uprooted from DR Congo
• 2010/03/10: Guardian(UK): Millions of Yemenis starving, says UN
• 2010/03/11: UN: Africa still hungry despite annual $3 billion of aid and $33 billion of food imports - UN
• 2010/03/11: CBC: Failed harvest deepens Zimbabwe food crisis
  More than two million people in Zimbabwe, or close to one-fifth of the southern African country's population, are in need of food aid, the Red Cross said Thursday. The International Red Cross renewed its call for support for the region in a statement, saying an estimated 2.17 million people are in need of food aid, a number it says will rise on the back of an expected failed 2010 harvest.

The Svalbard seed vault passed a milestone this week:

• 2010/03/12: NatureTGB: "Doomsday vault" banks half a million seed samples
• 2010/03/11: TreeHugger: Arctic Doomsday Vault Now Has Half Million Samples - Becomes World's Most Diverse Collection of Saved Seeds
• 2010/03/11: Eureka: Agricultural Research Service [ARS] sends third seed shipment to Svalbard Global Seed Vault in Norway
• 2010/03/10: SolveClimate: Food Sovereignty: New Approach to Farming Could Help Solve Climate, Economic Crises
  UN's Trade and Environment Review Proposes Shift to Sustainable Agriculture

So, are these land grabs Colonialism V2.0?

• 2010/03/14: Guardian(UK): Selling off Africa's resources isn't 'development'. It's greed
• 2010/03/08: CCurrents: 21st-Century African Land Grab
• 2010/03/10: AlterNet: Billionaires and Mega-Corporations Behind Immense Land Grab in Africa

  And how are we going to feed 9 billion?

• 2010/03/12: AlterNet: Why a Big Mac Costs Less Than a Salad
• 2010/03/10: NYT: Rapid Rise in Seed Prices Draws U.S. Scrutiny
  During the depths of the economic crisis last year, the prices for many goods held steady or even dropped. But on American farms, the picture was far different, as farmers watched the price they paid for seeds skyrocket. Corn seed prices rose 32 percent; soybean seeds were up 24 percent. Such price increases for seeds -- the most important purchase a farmer makes each year -- are part of an unprecedented climb that began more than a decade ago, stemming from the advent of genetically engineered crops and the rapid concentration in the seed industry that accompanied it. The price increases have not only irritated many farmers, they have caught the attention of the Obama administration. The Justice Department began an antitrust investigation of the seed industry last year, with an apparent focus on Monsanto, which controls much of the market...
• 2010/03/10: MTobis: The Other Food Pyramid
• 2010/03/10: SciDaily: Discovery in Legumes Could Reduce Fertilizer Use, Aid Environment
• 2010/03/09: UN: West African farmers receive boost from UN organic food exporting initiative

  The Central Pacific contnues to be active with Ului & Tomas, while Hubert zapped Madagascar:

• 2010/03/13: Eureka: NASA's Aqua Satellite shows strong convection in Tropical Storm Ului
• 2010/03/12: Eureka: Tropical Storm Tomas approaching Nadi this weekend
• 2010/03/12: PhysOrg: NASA's Aqua Satellite shows strong convection in Tropical Storm Ului
• 2010/03/11: Eureka: Tropical Storm Tomas calls for alerts in south Pacific
• 2010/03/11: Eureka: Hubert's remnants still raining on southern Madagascar
• 2010/03/10: Eureka: Low strengthens into Hubert, making landfall in Madagascar
• 2010/03/09: Eureka: Tropical cyclone formation likely near Madagascar [90S]

  A rare South Atlantic Tropical Storm [90Q] spun up off the coast of Brazil :

• 2010/03/12: PhysOrg: GOES-12 captures south Atlantic Tropical Storm 90Q far from Argentina's coast
• 2010/03/11: Eureka: Second only south Atlantic tropical storm: 90Q, moving away from Brazil
• 2010/03/11: Wunderground: Brazilian tropical/subtropical storm deserves a name; tornadoes rip Arkansas
• 2010/03/10: Eureka: 90Q: A curious short-lived 'tropical' cyclone in the southern Atlantic
• 2010/03/10: Wunderground: Rare South Atlantic subtropical cyclone forms; severe weather season in U.S. underway

  While elsewhere in the hurricane wars:

• 2010/03/11: Eureka: Survey shows lack of confidence in national hurricane response planning
• 2010/03/10: NOAANews: Hurricane Forecasters Bring Preparedness Message to Atlantic, Mexico and Caribbean
• 2010/03/08: Wunderground: Record warmth in Atlantic Main Development Region for hurricanes

  As for GHGs:

• 2010/03/10: NYT:GreenInc: California to Regulate [SF6] 'Most Potent' Greenhouse Gas
• 2010/03/09: EarthTimes: US greenhouse gas emissions fell 2.9 per cent in 2008
• 2010/03/04: Economist: Monitoring greenhouse gases -- Highs and lows
  You might think that measuring the levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere would be a priority. If you did think that, though, you would be wrong

And the temperature record:

• 2010/03/12: Wunderground: An upside-down winter: coldest in 25 years in U.S., warmest on record in Canada
• 2010/03/11: Tamino: Not a Random Walk
• 2010/03/11: MGS: How can annual average temperatures be so precise?
• 2010/03/10: NOAANews: U.S. Winter and February Cooler Than Average
• 2010/03/08: DeepClimate: A first look at UAH 5.3

  Aerosols are making their presence felt:

• 2010/03/08: Yale360: World's Pall of Black Carbon Can Be Eased With New Stoves
  Two billion people worldwide do their cooking on open fires, producing sooty pollution that shortens millions of lives and exacerbates global warming. If widely adopted, a new generation of inexpensive, durable cook stoves could go a long way toward alleviating this problem.
• 2010/03/09: SciDaily: Increased Solar Radiation Requires Additional CO2 Reduction of 50 Million Tonnes, Analysis Finds
  The recently observed reduction in air pollution implies that more solar radiation reaches the Earth's surface. This could lead to a far more rapid increase in the Earth's temperature in the coming decades than has previously been expected based on calculations of CO2 emissions alone.

While in the paleoclimate:

• 2010/03/12: SkeptiSci: CO2 levels during the late Ordovician
• 2010/03/10: UB: Prehistoric Response to Global Warming Informs Human Planning Today -- Archaeologists study the challenges faced by ancients in a warming world
• 2010/03/09: SciDaily: Drastic Musk Ox Population Decline 12,000 Years Ago Due to Climate, Not Humans, Study Finds
• 2010/03/08: NewScientist: High-carbon Ordovician ice age [444 mya] mystery solved
  How come a big ice age happened when carbon dioxide levels were high? It's a question climate sceptics often ask. But sometimes the right answer is the simplest: it turns out CO2 levels were not that high after all.
• 2010/03/08: PSU: Musk Ox Population Decline Due to Climate, Not Humans, Study Finds

  Regarding the solar hypothesis:

• 2010/03/11: PlanetArk: Sun Won't Stop Global Warming If Dims As In 1600s
• 2010/03/11: SciNews: Magnetic flows cause sunspot lows, study shows -- Satellite observations could improve forecasts of future solar cycles
• 2010/03/11: TreeHugger: Don't Expect a Grand Solar Minimum to Save Us From Global Warming
• 2010/03/09: RealClimate: More on sun-climate relations

  Meanwhile in near earth orbit:

• 2010/03/11: Eureka: 3 FASTSAT instruments pass tests
• 2010/03/11: ClimateWTF: Cryosat 2 - "Liftoff probably won't occur before early April"

  The campaign to uncover DSCOVR [Deep Space Climate Observatory] rolls on:

• 2010/03/12: BobPark: What's New?
  1. Triana: Where is the Deep Space Climate Observatory?
  2. Climate of Fear: Nature calls it a "Street Fight."

More GW impacts are being seen:

• 2010/03/12: UNEP: Climate change and POPs focus of new international study
• 2010/03/12: UN: Climate change and poisonous chemicals focus of new UN study
  A major new United Nations study will examine the influence of climate change and some of the world's most hazardous chemicals on human health and the environment. The 12-month study, announced by the Secretariat of the Stockholm Convention, will provide the scientific community and policymakers with a better understanding of the effects of climate change on emissions, environmental distribution, toxicity and exposure to what is known as persistent organic pollutants (POPs). The Stockholm Convention targets hazardous pesticides and industrial chemicals that can kill people, damage the nervous and immune systems, cause cancer and reproductive disorders and interfere with normal infant and child development. Over 20 substances are already banned under the 2001 Convention, whose objective is to protect human health and the environment from POPs.
• 2010/03/12: Yahoo:AFP: Climate change pushing bird species 'towards extinction:' US
• 2010/03/10: CCP: Growing low-oxygen dead zones in ocean off the U.S. Pacific Northwest coast worry scientists
• 2010/03/11: Eureka: Aquatic 'dead zones' contributing to climate change -- As oxygen-deprived waters increase, they emit more greenhouse gasses into atmosphere
• 2010/03/10: CBC: Seal pups beached in ice-free Gulf -- Pups seen on Quebec shores, as far north as Newfoundland's Northern Peninsula
• 2010/03/10: UN: UN aid officials warn of fears of water-borne diseases in flooded Kenya
• 2010/03/10: CBC: Seal pups beached in ice-free Gulf
  An exceptional lack of sea ice on the Gulf of St. Lawrence this winter has left seal mothers with few places to bear their young or to feed their pups. The conditions have led to numerous sightings of fuzzy, days-old critters wallowing on beaches, where many will die.
• 2010/03/09: CanWest: Poor ice could cancel seal hunt [in the Gulf of St. Lawrence]

  And then there are the world's forests:

• 2010/03/10: BBC: Ring may be giant 'impact crater'
  Deforestation has revealed what could be a giant impact crater in Central Africa, scientists say. The 36-46km-wide feature, identified in DR Congo, may be one of the largest such structures discovered in the last decade.
• 2010/03/09: TreeHugger: We're Not Out of the Woods Yet... Did Policy or Recession Reduce Brazil's Deforestation Rates?
• 2010/03/07: MongaBay: U.S. and Brazil sign deforestation agreement

  Yes we have no wacky weather, except:

• 2010/03/13: CNN: Heavy rain, winds cause outages in Northeast, mid-Atlantic
  Four inches of rain and winds topping 70 mph recorded in parts of the Northeast - Storm and flood warnings extended into Sunday for much of the area - Slow-moving storm won't pass "probably until Monday," CNN meteorologist says - Outages darken much of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Connecticut
• 2010/03/12: Wunderground: An upside-down winter: coldest in 25 years in U.S., warmest on record in Canada
• 2010/03/09: TerraDaily: Freak snowfalls strand 6,000 on Franco-Spanish border
• 2010/03/09: ABC(Au): Reports of storm damage still coming in
  The State Emergency Service (SES) says it will take until Friday to complete work on securing buildings and cleaning up damage caused by hail and heavy rain over the long weekend.
• 2010/03/08: ABC(Au): Storm damage bill likely to be in the millions
  The RACV is predicting the weekend's storms will result in the most claims ever made from one event in Victoria.
• 2010/03/07: CCP: John Cook, Skeptical Science: Does record snowfall disprove global warming?

  Glaciers are melting:

• 2010/03/02: NatureCC: Settling the science on Himalayan glaciers
  The remote glaciers of the Himalayan mountains have been the subject of much controversy, yet little research. Mason Inman looks at the clues scientists have garnered on the fate of these glaciers from ground- and space-based studies.

Sea levels are rising:

• 2010/03/08: HamptonRoads: Group urges localities to plan for rising sea levels
• 2010/03/07: CCP: High sea levels causing damage along the coast of Northeastern Brazil, March 2010

  As for hydrological cycle disruptions [floods & droughts]:

• 2010/03/14: EarthTimes: Low level of Mekong raises concerns over water management
• 2010/03/14: EarthTimes: East, South-East Asia left high and dry this hot season
• 2010/03/13: EarthTimes: 14 dead, 27,000 homeless in Madagascar storm
• 2010/03/12: PlanetArk: Floods Displace Thousands In Mozambique And Angola
• 2010/03/12: EarthTimes: At least 28 killed after storms in Kazakhstan
  Astana - At least 28 people were killed in the central Asian Republic of Kazakhstan after severe flooding and a helicopter crash, local media reported Friday. In the village of Kysyl-Agasch, in the eastern Almaty region, the river Karatal burst its banks, flooding dozens of houses and drowning 20 people.
• 2010/03/10: TerraDaily: Mozambique to evacuate 130,000 from flood plain: state media
• 2010/03/11: BBC: Parched Cyprus 'at war' with nature -- Parched island -- Politicians look away as Cyprus dies of drought
• 2010/03/10: ABC(Au): More northern floodwaters pledged for Murray
• 2010/03/09: SeedDaily: Drought ravages famed Philippine rice terraces
• 2010/03/10: EarthTimes: Drought-hit Malaysian state to hold prayers for rain
• 2010/03/10: CBC: Late snow not enough to keep B.C. wet in summer
  It's finally snowing on Vancouver's Cypress Mountain ski hill but not enough to ease concerns that the El Nino weather pattern B.C. is experiencing could lead to water shortages and forest fires this summer.
• 2010/03/10: Guardian(UK): Spanish snow leaves 250,000 without power -- A metre of snow fell in the Pyrenees leaving 6,000 travellers stranded and blocking up to 40 roads
• 2010/03/10: ABC(Au): Life floods back into outback
  The massive flood across western Queensland may have caused millions of dollars of damage, but it has been a godsend for native animals and plants. The floodwaters are driving a flush of vegetation which is changing the outback landscape. Waterbirds are already colonising lakes that have been empty for years, and native mammals are beginning to breed. Moisture is being pumped into what was once cracked, dusty earth and sprouts of vegetation are appearing.
• 2010/03/08: UN: UN dispatches relief aid to Uganda for victims of deadly mudslide disaster
• 2010/03/08: UN: Lack of funding hampers UN efforts to support drought-stricken Syrians
• 2010/03/08: ABC(Au): A river expert says the floodwaters affecting south-west Queensland will eventually help the Murray River's lower lakes
• 2010/03/07: TerraDaily: Destructive floods hit East Africa
• 2010/03/08: EarthTimes: Two dead, hundreds evacuated in Mozambique floods
• 2010/03/07: CCP: Record floods sweep across two Australia states, March 2010; Balonne River highest since 1890

  Elsewhere on the mitigation front:

• 2010/03/10: PhysOrg: New study shows how farms can lower emissions
  A joint report from the law schools at UC Berkeley and UCLA recommends ways that farmers and ranchers can mitigate the impact of climate change. "Room to Grow" identifies barriers to lowering emissions and proposes concrete steps to overcome them.
• 2010/03/09: EnergyBulletin: The Scalability of Biochar

  Consider transportation & GHG production:

• 2010/03/12: TEC: UK Unveils Plan for 250 MPH High Speed Train
• 2010/03/10: Guardian(UK): £30bn high-speed rail plan signals end of the road for motorways
  Days of building intercity roads are over, says transport secretary Andrew Adonis, as government announces network of 250mph trains to be completed by 2026
• 2010/03/10: CalcRisk: Rail Traffic Declines Slightly in February [-1.7% yoy & -0.1% mom]
• 2010/03/10: UN: Global travel to rebound by as much as 4 per cent, says UN tourism chief
• 2010/03/10: PlanetArk: German Fishing Boat Flies Giant Kite To Save Fuel
  Germany's largest fishing vessel will leave the Netherlands this week, towed by a giant kite harnessing trade winds for South America that will help cut its fuel consumption by up to a third. The 15,000 tonne 'Maartje Theadora' is the first fishing vessel to use the system, in which a 160 square meter blue and white kite similar to a paraglider pulls the ship on a 300 meter rope, assisting its main engine.
• 2010/03/09: Grist: South Korea unveils 'recharging road' for eco-friendly buses
• 2010/03/08: SeattlePI: Cities not on track with Calif high-speed rail

  As for carbon sequestration:

• 2010/03/11: NYT:GW: Pairing Oil Recovery With Carbon Capture a Win-Win for U.S. -- Report
  Enhanced oil recovery -- a technique that stimulates aging wells -- combined with carbon capture and storage (CCS) could slash U.S. petroleum imports if there is a strong price on carbon, according to a report commissioned by an environmental group and released yesterday. The Natural Resources Defense Council backed the report (pdf) that says combining CCS with enhanced oil recovery could boost U.S. production by 3 million to 3.6 million barrels a day.
• 2010/03/12: CBC: Alberta carbon storage safe: study
  A huge amount of carbon dioxide can be safely stored underground in central Alberta, says a study released by the University of Calgary Friday. The university described its research as the most comprehensive study of large-scale carbon dioxide storage to have all of its findings made fully available to the public. The study was funded by the government of Alberta and by industry players, including power producer TransAlta. The company will use the information in developing its proposed storage project near Edmonton.
• 2010/03/08: MSP: [Randolph County, Indiana] Group vows to fight greenhouse gas burial

  While on the adaptation front:

• 2010/03/08: EarthTimes: Germany to help Vietnam protect endangered coastline

  Meanwhile in the journals:

• 2010/03/09: NERC:NORA: Regionalised impacts of climate change on flood flows: uncertainty analysis. Milestone report 5. Revised November 2009 by A.L. Kay et al.
• 2010/03/10: NERC:NORA: Summary of the GEWEX international symposium on global land-surface evaporation and climate by Eleanor Blyth et al.
• 2010/03/10: NERC:NORA: Current knowledge of the terrestrial Global water Cycle -- past and future by Richard Harding & Eleanor Blyth
• 2010/03/11: NERC:NORA: The AMMA Land Surface Model Intercomparison Project (ALMIP) by Aaron Boone et al.
• 2010/03/12: TCD: The effect of more realistic forcings and boundary conditions on the modelled geometry and sensitivity of the Greenland ice-sheet by E. J. Stone et al.
• 2010/03/11: CPD: Holocene land-cover reconstructions for studies on land cover-climate feedbacks by M.-J. Gaillard et al.
• 2010/03/11: ACP: Linking urban aerosol fluxes in street canyons to larger scale emissions by B. K. Tay et al.
• 2010/03/11: ACP: Continental scale Antarctic deposition of sulphur and black carbon from anthropogenic and volcanic sources by H.-F. Graf et al.
• 2010/03/08: ACP: Estimates of biomass burning emissions in tropical Asia based on satellite-derived data by D. Chang & Y. Song
• 2010/03/11: ACPD: Effects of climate-induced changes in isoprene emissions after the eruption of Mount Pinatubo by P. J. Telford et al.
• 2010/03/10: ACPD: A closer look at Arctic ozone loss and polar stratospheric clouds by N. R. P. Harris et al.
• 2010/03/09: ACPD: Seasonal variations of aerosol size distributions based on long-term measurements at the high altitude Himalayan site of Nepal Climate Observatory-Pyramid (5079 m), Nepal by K. Sellegri et al.
• 2010/03/08: ACPD: Aerosol effects on deep convective clouds: impact of changes in aerosol size distribution and aerosol activation parameterization by A. M. L. Ekman et al.
• 2010/03/08: ACPD: Brown carbon in tar balls from smoldering biomass combustion by R. K. Chakrabarty et al.
• 2010/03/08: OS: Malvinas-slope water intrusions on the northern Patagonia continental shelf by A. R. Piola et al.
• 2010/03/11: OSD: Temporal energy partitions of Florida extreme sea level events as a function of Atlantic multidecadal oscillation by J. Park et al.
• 2010/03/10: OSD: Sensitivity study of wind forcing in a numerical model of mesoscale eddies in the lee of Hawaii islands by M. Kersalé et al.
• 2010/03/09: OSD: Upper layer current variability in the Central Ligurian Sea by P. Picco et al.
• 2010/03/10: AGWObserver: Simple observational proof of greenhouse effect
• 2010/03/09: AGWObserver: Papers on ice-albedo feedback
• 2010/03/09: TC: Role of glaciers in watershed hydrology: a preliminary study of a "Himalayan catchment" by R. J. Thayyen & J. T. Gergan
• 2010/03/09: PNAS: Dual role of lignin in plant litter decomposition in terrestrial ecosystems by Amy T. Austin & Carlos L. Ballaré
• 2010/03/09: PNAS: Climatic context and ecological implications of summer fog decline in the coast redwood region by James A. Johnstone & Todd E. Dawson
• 2010/03/05: GRL: (ab$) Amazon forests did not green-up during the 2005 drought by Arindam Samanta et al.

  As for miscellaneous science:

• 2010/03/11: SymmetryMag: Earth's [nuclear] interior heating mechanisms revealed through neutrinos
• 2010/03/08: NatureN: Shellfish could supplant tree-ring climate data -- Temperature records gleaned from clamshells reveal accuracy of Norse sagas
• 2010/03/07: MGS: What should be reproducible?

  Regarding Michael Mann:

• 2010/03/14: HotTopic: Michael Mann fights back
• 2010/03/10: CSW: Michael Mann interview: Denialists are waging "asymmetric warfare" against climate science
• 2010/03/07: TPL: McI - Mann Face Off : MBH98/99

  Hansen redux:

• 2010/03/11: BNC: Hansen: Climate and Energy Leadership
• 2010/03/11: ABC(Au): The so-called "father of global warming", James Hansen, is using his Australian visit to push for a global carbon payment system
• 2010/03/10: TEC: Hansen: Climate and Energy Leadership
• 2010/03/09: ClimateShifts: "Storms of my grandchildren" [Hansen book plug & mp3 link]
• 2010/03/10: Australian: James Hansen keen on next-generation nuclear power
  Renewable energy won't save the planet so it's time to go nuclear, according to one of world's most high-profile climate scientists.

Simpson obit:

• 2010/03/08: NatureTGB: RIP Joanne Simpson

  Regarding Morner:

• 2010/03/12: DeSmogBlog: The Mythical Tuvalu Pineapple

  While at the UN:

• 2010/03/11: UN: UN agency [WFP] welcomes independent probe into Somalia food aid operations
• 2010/03/11: BBC: The UN's food agency [WFP] has blacklisted three contractors named in a UN report which alleged that food aid in Somalia was being diverted
• 2010/03/09: PlanetArk: S.Africa, India, Indonesia Seek Top UNFCCC Job
• 2010/03/08: Reuters: S.Africa, India, Indonesia seek [UNFCCC head] top UN climate job
• 2010/03/08: Guardian(UK): South African tourism minister nominated for UNFCCC position
• 2010/03/08: Grist: The U.N. Men's Club -- Why are women being left out of climate decision-making?
• 2010/03/08: EarthTimes: South Africa nominates tourism minister for top UN climate post
  South Africa's government announced Monday it had nominated Tourism Minister Marthinus Van Schalkwyk to head the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

And on the carbon trading front:

• 2010/03/12: EL: RGGI Auction Volume Up 42%
  Trading of carbon permits under the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative rose 42 percent in the most recent trading session. More than 40.612 million allowances were auctioned March 10, up from 28.591 million allowances sold Dec. 2.
• 2010/03/12: PlanetArk: EU carbon Falls In Selling Ahead Of UK Auction
• 2010/03/12: PlanetArk: Carbon Traders Fear Pink Slips
• 2010/03/12: Reuters: Western U.S., Canada go own way on carbon trading
  Trade would start Jan 1, 2012 - California and Ontario, Canada are powerhouse economies - Many details still to be sorted out
  As U.S. prospects for a national climate change bill fade, five U.S. states and Canadian provinces are on track to start a cap-and-trade market for carbon dioxide in 2012, say officials who see fading federal momentum boosting regional efforts. California, the keystone market with the eighth-largest economy in the world, New Mexico, and the Canadian provinces of Ontario, British Columbia and Quebec all plan to join the system meant to combat climate change and boost economies by creating green jobs such as for workers who build alternative energy equipment.
• 2010/03/10: PlanetArk: Voluntary Carbon Offset Buying Still Stagnant
• 2010/03/09: PlanetArk: EU Carbon Prices Higher As Cold Snap Boosts Demand

  The idea of a carbon tax is still bouncing around:

• 2010/03/09: EurActiv: EU CO2 tax proposal due in April
  The EU's new taxation commissioner, Algirdas Semeta, will revive debate on harmonised minimum CO2 tax rates on fuels at EU level, and plans to table fresh proposals as early as next month, it has emerged.

Regarding the Tobin tax:

• 2010/03/12: PlanetArk: Sarkozy To Press G20 On Climate Funding [Tobin tax]

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

• 2010/03/09: Grist: Why pricing emissions is the least important policy

  Meanwhile on the international political front:

• 2010/03/09: CCurrents: The Threatening Dangers by Fidel Castro

  As for GW & security:

• 2010/03/04: AlterNet: Why Availability of Freshwater Is a Huge Factor in the 'War on Terror'

  Polls! We have polls!

• 2010/03/14: GWWatch: China pings climate denial as extreme, Aussies agree
• 2010/03/13: DeSmogBlog: Partisanship and Disinformation Surrounding Global Warming Taking their Toll
• 2010/03/12: Guardian(UK): Slide in climate change belief is a temporary glitch
• 2010/03/11: BWeek: Americans Show Less Concern About Global Warming
• 2010/03/12: GreenGrok: National Cooling to Climate
• 2010/03/11: Reuters: More Americans say global warming exaggerated: poll
  A growing number of Americans, nearly half the country, think global warming worries are exaggerated and more people doubt that scientific warnings of severe environmental fallout will ever occur, according to a new Gallup poll.
• 2010/03/12: TreeHugger: New Gallup Poll Shows Global Warming Skepticism Growing - But Really Among Conservatives (Shocker!)
• 2010/03/12: TreeHugger: Massive Gap Widens Between Republican and Democrat's Belief in Climate Change
• 2010/03/11: ClimateP: The disinformers are winning, but mostly with the GOP
  New Gallup poll shows sharp partisan divide in understanding of climate change
• 2010/03/11: Guardian(UK): Nearly half of Americans believe climate change threat is exaggerated
  US belief in climate science lowest since polling began 13 years ago, with 31% saying the threat is 'definitely' a reality

American politics simplified! It's all the Flying Spaghetti Monster's fault:

• 2010/03/09: Eureka: Divine intervention? New research looks at beliefs about God's influence in everyday life
• 2010/03/09: Eureka: Divine intervention? New research looks at beliefs about God's influence in everyday life [polls]
  Most Americans believe God is concerned with their personal well-being and is directly involved in their personal affairs, according to new research out of the University of Toronto. Using data from two recent national surveys of Americans, UofT Sociology Professor Scott Schieman examined peoples' beliefs about God's involvement and influence in everyday life.
  [...]
  
  • 71 per cent believe that when good or bad things happen, these occurrences are simply part of God's plan for them;
  • 61 per cent believe that God has determined the direction and course of their lives;
  • 32 per cent agree with the statement: "There is no sense in planning a lot because ultimately my fate is in God's hands."

Regarding Water Politics and Business:

• 2010/03/13: Asia Times: When the Mekong runs dry
  Low water levels on the upper Mekong River have renewed criticism over hydropower dams China has erected on the waterway's upper reaches.
• 2010/03/10: DVoice: The Business of Water: Privatizing An Essential Resource
• 2010/03/09: CCurrents: The Business Of Water: Privatizing An Essential Resource
• 2010/03/07: TerraDaily: Thailand wants China's help with Mekong drought: PM
  Thailand will ask China for help in dealing with the record-low water levels in the Mekong River, on which more than 60 million people depend, the prime minister said Sunday. The flows are the lowest for 20 years, according to the Mekong River Commission (MRC), which has said water supply, navigation and irrigation are at threat.
  [...]
  The Bangkok Post said the Save the Mekong Coalition - an alliance of environmental groups and Mekong riverside communities - believes the unusually low water levels are caused by Chinese dams. But Jeremy Bird, chief executive officer of the MRC's secretariat, pointed to extremely low rainfalls in Laos and China. However, he told AFP last week it was "difficult for us to say categorically that there's no link" between the low water levels and the eight existing or planned dams on the mainstream Mekong in China. Chavanond Intarakomalyasut, secretary to the foreign ministry, said that Thailand was "not accusing anyone" and blamed the drought on low rainfall across the region.

There is a new version of the iPhone app out:

• 2010/03/09: SkeptiSci: iPhone app version 1.1 - now with search, image viewer and Twitter!

  And on the American political front:

• 2010/03/12: SolveClimate: California Agrees to Allow Out-of-State Renewable Energy Credits -- Utilities Were Struggling to Meet Aggressive Renewable Electricity Standard
• 2010/03/12: PlanetArk: Political Ads: New Weapon In U.S. Climate Change War?
• 2010/03/11: TEC: Where in the World is Our National RES?
• 2010/03/11: TEC: A Focus on the USA -- Overview
• 2010/03/12: TP:WR: Colorado Is The New Energy Frontier
• 2010/03/11: KSJT: USA Today, Houston Chron, : Texas: big solid mostly flat with conservative bedrock values -- but add some deep pumping and the seismograph lights up
• 2010/03/11: NewScientist: Battle over climate science spreads to US schoolrooms
• 2010/03/11: Grist: How the cap-and-trade controversy could lead to good clean energy policy
• 2010/03/11: MTobis: Does Science Even Matter?
• 2010/03/09: CBS: How America Could Get Rich by Going Green
  China is Cashing in its Emerging Energy Sector - What Solutions Will Help the U.S. Catch Up?
• 2010/03/10: NYT:GreenInc: California to Regulate [SF6] 'Most Potent' Greenhouse Gas
• 2010/03/09: Publicola: Oil Industry: "No Deal."
  Yesterday, we wrote about a 'deal' on the proposed hazardous substance tax, a plan environmental lobbyists are pushing to increase the existing voter-approved tax on toxic materials, like petroleum, that contribute to water pollution.
• 2010/03/09: ClimateP: Colorado goes all-in on renewable energy
• 2010/03/09: JFleck: Energy, Meet Climate
• 2010/03/09: SacBee: Legislative analyst: California greenhouse gas law could cost some jobs
• 2010/03/09: TreeHugger: Colorado Legislature Approves 30% by 2020 Renewable Energy Standard - Only California's is Higher
• 2010/03/09: SolveClimate: Colorado Strikes Gold with Clean Energy Jobs
• 2010/03/09: SolveClimate: Colorado Shoots for 30% Renewable Energy by 2020, a Stark Contrast to Its Neighbors
• 2010/03/08: STimes: Western governors are telling the Obama administration that regulation of coal ash waste is best done by the states
• 2010/03/09: Reuters: California watchdog sees climate policy job losses
• 2010/03/08: ClimateP: Texas-based refiners pledge to fund fight against California's global warming law
• 2010/03/08: TEC: Think Renewables Need Huge Subsidies? Federal Energy Subsidies Visualized
• 2010/03/07: AutoBG: SolarBullet Campaign shoots for high-speed solar train [in Arizona]

  The powers that be are trying to slow rush to wind:

• 2010/03/08: SciAm: Will Politics Slow the Wind?
• 2010/03/08: NYT:CW: Plentiful Great Plains Power Blows in Opponents From All Corners
  Not many years ago, there wasn't enough wind power coming from the Great Plains to worry about. Now there is, and lots of people are worrying. A group of mostly East Coast utility companies calling itself the Coalition for Fair Transmission Policy fears that the prime conditions in the Great Plains will make the region's wind power too cheap for its members to compete with, unless developers there are made to pay the costs of moving wind power eastward.

The Obama chatter is nonstop:

• 2010/03/11: BWeek: Obama's Trade Goal Fights His Clean-Energy Plan
  President Barack Obama's goals of boosting U.S. exports and combating climate change are colliding as the U.S. Export-Import Bank expands financing for oil, gas, mining and power-plant projects. Bank-supported ventures approved in the year ended Sept. 30 will emit an estimated 17.9 million metric tons of carbon annually, more than triple the previous year and the most since the lender started releasing data in 2001, according to its annual reports.
• 2010/03/10: NewScientist:TSW: Obama criticised for lack of science reform
• 2010/03/09: CCurrents: Don't Buy Obama's Greenwashing Of Nuclear Power
• 2010/03/09: ClimateP: Obama meets with (too many) swing Senators on bipartisan climate and clean energy jobs bill

  The actions of the Obama administration are being watched closely:

• 2010/03/12: Grist: Is it really a win-win-win? Home Star gets a hearing
• 2010/03/12: NYT: Justice Dept. Tells Farmers It Will Press Agriculture Industry on Antitrust
• 2010/03/11: Reuters: White House finalizing rules to cut car emissions
  The White House is finalizing rules on the first U.S. greenhouse gas emission standard for automobiles, which would raise average fuel economy 42 percent by 2016 in a bid to slash oil imports and fight climate change.
• 2010/03/10: Oregonian: Obama Administration raises concerns on eastern Oregon forest bill
  The Obama Administration raised concerns today about a compromise bill for managing national forests east of the Cascades, saying the bill's mandates to thin 300,000 acres in the next three years may generate "unrealistic expectations" in timber towns.
• 2010/03/11: TheHill: [White House press secretary Robert] Gibbs predicts 'clamoring' for energy bill as gas prices rise
• 2010/03/12: CSM: Ocean acidification: another path to EPA rules on carbon emissions?
  Move over global warming. Ocean acidification is getting its day in court. Nearly three years after the US Supreme Court found that carbon dioxide was a pollutant that fell under the purview of the Clean Air Act, the US Environmental Protection Agency has agreed to explore approaches for tightening its regulations dealing with ocean acidification under the Clean Water Act.
  [...]
  The agreement, reached Thursday in the US District Court in Seattle, stems from a 2009 lawsuit filed by the Center for Biological Diversity, a conservation group based in San Francisco.
• 2010/03/10: NYT: Rapid Rise in Seed Prices Draws U.S. Scrutiny
• 2010/03/11: PlanetArk: Obama Aide Urges Listing Of Gas-Drilling Chemicals
  President Barack Obama's top environmental adviser urged the natural gas industry on Tuesday to disclose the chemicals it uses in drilling, warning that the development of massive U.S. shale gas reserves could be held back otherwise. Joseph Aldy, special assistant to the president for energy and the environment, said concerns about water contamination from drilling chemicals could lead to states requiring disclosure and that could deter additional investment. "You can't leave this in the status quo if you think we are going to have significant shale gas development in the United States," Aldy told Reuters after a natural gas conference. Some energy companies decline to publish lists of toxic chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing, a technique used to extract natural gas from shale beds far underground.
• 2010/03/09: Grist: Can EPA run a cap-and-trade program?
• 2010/03/10: Grist: Farm lobby's lawyer appointed as Ag Committee's counsel
• 2010/03/10: SolveClimate: NASA, NOAA Step Up Climate Education -- Government Sites Provide Public with Data to Counter Disinformation Campaigns
• 2010/03/08: HoustonChronicle: Cool it on efforts against new rules, EPA chief [Lisa Jackson] asks
• 2010/03/08: PAON: Energy secretary: 'U.S. lagging in clean-tech race'
  But the real urgency is a global race against time in a world that's growing warmer, Steven Chu warns Stanford students and faculty
• 2010/03/09: RTT: U.S. Should Not Wait For China & India To Act On Climate- Change: EPA [Lisa Jackson]
• 2010/03/08: TEC: DOE awards $40 million for Next Generation Nuclear Plant [NGNP]

  The DoI released the 2010 State of the Birds Report this week:

• 2010 State of the Birds Report
• 2010/03/11: NRDC:SwitchBoard: 2010 State of the Birds Report Released Today -- Confirms that Climate Change is a New and Serious Threat to Birds
• 2010/03/12: DM:80B: "State of the Birds" Report; and Is Climate Change Shrinking Avians?
• 2010/03/11: SotB: Secretary Salazar Releases New "State of the Birds" Report Showing Climate Change Threatens Hundreds of Species
• 2010/03/12: Google:AFP: Climate change pushing ocean birds 'towards extinction'
• 2010/03/08: NRDC:SwitchBoard: This DOE Means Business: Enforcing Standards and Regulating Wasteful TVs

  The pushback against against crippling the EPA gathers force:

• 2010/03/08: Reuters: EPA chief slams attempted delays on climate
  The Environmental Protection Agency chief fought back on Monday against Senate attempts to challenge the agency's authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions, saying delaying action would be bad for the economy.
• 2010/03/08: CCP: Andrew Dessler et al., On global warming, the science is solid -- Hey, whadayaknow? There is intelligent life in Texas!
• 2010/03/08: MTobis: Texas Pride [Chronicle article]
• 2010/03/08: ClimateP: Texas climate scientists: On global warming, the science is solid
• 2010/03/09: PlanetArk: EPA Chief Slams Attempted Delays On Climate
• 2010/03/06: HoustonChronicle: On global warming, the science is solid
  In recent months, e-mails stolen from the University of East Anglia's Climatic Research Unit in the United Kingdom and errors in one of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's reports have caused a flurry of questions about the validity of climate change science. These issues have led several states, including Texas, to challenge the Environmental Protection Agency's finding that heat-trapping gases like carbon dioxide (also known as greenhouse gases) are a threat to human health. However, Texas' challenge to the EPA's endangerment finding on carbon dioxide contains very little science. Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott admitted that the state did not consult any climate scientists, including the many here in the state, before putting together the challenge to the EPA. Instead, the footnotes in the document reveal that the state relied mainly on British newspaper articles to make its case. Contrary to what one might read in newspapers, the science of climate change is strong. Our own work and the immense body of independent research conducted around the world leaves no doubt...

As for what is going on in Congress:

• 2010/03/13: ClimateP: Illusory revenues from ANWR strike again
• 2010/03/11: NRDC:SwitchBoard: Most Senators Don't Think Climate Science is Murky
• 2010/03/12: AutoBG: U.S. Senate approves extending biodiesel tax credit, final passage
• 2010/03/09: LA Times: Global warming skepticism rising in the GOP
  Prominent Republicans such as Marco Rubio and Tim Pawlenty have started expressing doubts, indicating that climate change is becoming a litmus test for conservatives.
• 2010/03/10: TP:WR: Inslee's Message For The Senate: 'Put Away Your Fear' And Unleash Clean Energy Jobs
• 2010/03/09: HillHeat: Senate Watch: Baucus, Begich, Brown, Cardin, Graham, Gregg, Landrieu, Lieberman, McCain, Murkowski
• 2010/03/09: NYT:CW: For Senators on the Fence on Climate, Everything's in Play
  The fate of comprehensive energy and climate legislation rests in the hands of about 30 senators. The list includes coal and Rust Belt Democrats, Westerners and moderate Republicans. They bring several high-profile issues to the forefront that, if satisfied, offers several potential paths to the bill's lead authors looking for the magic 60 votes. Senators and their aides acknowledge the talks are not easy, with each compromise requiring considerable carve outs to satisfy different parts of the country. Yet key sponsors say they are willing to bend if it means scoring an agreement.

Kerry-Boxer, Waxman-Markey or whatever -- the future climate bill -- defines a battleline:

• 2010/03/11: TP:WR: Senators [KGL] Negotiate Green Economy Bill With Polluters Who Deny Threat Of Global Warming
• 2010/03/10: PlanetArk: U.S. "Cap And Trade" Rebranded "Pollution Reduction"
• 2010/03/09: MoJo: Was Waxman-Markey A Waste of Energy?
  As the Senate ponders a new path to a climate bill, lawmakers who sweated over the House cap-and-trade legislation aren't happy.
• 2010/03/10: BBerg: Kerry Says 'Great Deal' of Consensus Reached on Climate Policy
• 2010/03/09: CSM: At White House: 14 senators discuss climate-energy legislation
• 2010/03/08: CSM: Global warming doubts could hamper climate legislation
• 2010/03/08: RollCall: Kerry Sparks Fight on Climate
  In an already challenging election year for the majority, Sen. John Kerry's (D-Mass.) rush to pass a climate change bill has many Democrats scratching their heads and charging that their 2004 presidential nominee could further imperil vulnerable Members this fall.
• 2010/03/08: TreeHugger: Did ACES Ever Stand a Chance?

  What are the lobbyists pushing?

• 2010/03/10: Sunlight: The Blanche Lincoln Energy & Climate Complex
• 2010/03/12: OpenSecrets: Energy/Natural Resources: Top Recipients
• 2010/03/12: OpenSecrets: Energy/Natural Resources: Top Contributors to Federal Candidates and Parties
• 2010/03/11: EnvFin: Wind industry calls for US Renewable Electricity Standard [RES], as first project guaranteed
• 2010/03/12: SolveClimate: Fossil Fuel Influence Surrounds Senators as Ex-Staffers Turn Lobbyists -- Sunlight Foundation Mapped the Web Spun Around Sen. Blanche Lincoln
• 2010/03/11: DeSmogBlog: Senators Meet With Polluter Lobbyists To Discuss 'Green Economy' Bill
• 2010/03/09: TP:WR: American Farm Bureau's Rick Krause Lies To Farmers
  The American Farm Bureau is continuing to lie to farmers about the threat of Clean Air Act regulation of greenhouse gases.

The 'Buy American' impetus is meeting resistance:

• 2010/03/12: TH:E2W: Chu: Schumer effort to alter stimulus energy grants would kill jobs
• 2010/03/08: SolveClimate: Report Adds Fuel to Sen. Schumer's 'Buy American' Stimulus Feud -- Calls for 'Clawback' Provision Plus Comprehensive Climate Bill

  More than 2,000 scientists wrote an open letter to the US Government regarding CC & the IPCC:

• 2010/03/11: CSW: Open Letter to the U.S. Government from U.S. Scientists on climate change and the IPCC reports
• 2010/03/11: USAToday: Scientists take another run at climate change
• 2010/03/11: CSM: Scientists urge Senate action on global warming
  Two thousand US economists and climate scientists, including eight Nobel laureates, are sending a letter Thursday to the Senate urging lawmakers to require immediate nationwide cuts in greenhouse-gas emissions tied to global warming.

While in the UK:

• 2010/03/13: Guardian(UK): Climate change adverts draw mild rebuke from advertising watchdog
• 2010/03/14: Times(UK): Ed Miliband's adverts banned for overstating climate change [Leake]
• 2010/03/13: Guardian(UK): Mary Robinson: 'I feel a terrible sense of urgency'
  After 13 years with the UN, former Irish president Mary Robinson is coming home to her debt-ridden country -- not to retire, but to fight for 'climate justice' for all the world's poor
• 2010/03/12: TEC: UK Unveils Plan for 250 MPH High Speed Train
• 2010/03/11: BBC: [UK] High-speed rail plans announced
  Plans for a new high-speed rail network, featuring 250mph trains, have been announced by Transport Secretary Lord Adonis. The government is recommending a route for a new line between London and Birmingham with a future extension to northern England and Scotland. The public will be consulted on the proposed route, with work unlikely to start until 2017 at the earliest.

And in Europe:

• 2010/03/08: FuturePundit: European CO2 Permits Lead To Political Profits
• 2010/03/12: EurActiv: EU ministers to back 'urgent' climate aid for poor nations
  EU finance ministers meeting on Tuesday (16 March) will call for cash to be mobilised "urgently" to help developing countries tackle climate change, according to a draft statement seen by EurActiv.
• 2010/03/12: EurActiv: Few EU countries plan to trade renewable energy
  Only five EU member states are planning to buy renewable energy from other countries, while the EU as a whole is on track to exceed its 20% collective target, the European Commission said yesterday (11 March).
• 2010/03/11: EUO: Majority of Brussels lobby firms avoid registry
  Over 60 percent of Brussels-based lobbying consultancies have yet to sign up to the European Commission's lobby register, almost two years after it was first launched. According to a fresh survey of the commission's initiative by the Alliance for Lobbying Transparency and Ethics Regulation (Alter-EU) to be published on Thursday (11 March), of the 286 lobbying consultancies known to provide such services in the European capital, only 112, or 39.2 percent have signed up to the registry.
• 2010/03/12: EUO: EU on track to meet renewable energy target
• 2010/03/12: PlanetArk: EU To Exceed 2020 Green Energy Target: Forecasts
• 2010/03/11: NatureN: A tale of two Scandinavian cities -- Research funding changes trigger hiring in Lund but firing in Copenhagen [EU pol]
• 2010/03/12: TreeHugger: Report: European Companies Buying Their Way Out of Carbon Cuts
• 2010/03/11: Guardian(UK): Industries hoarding greenhouse gas emission permits
  Saved permits can be used to meet future targets to cut emissions without reducing pollution
• 2010/03/11: EarthTimes: EU on target to meet 2020 renewable energy targets, Brussels says
  The European Union is set to achieve its self-imposed target of deriving at least 20 per cent of its energy consumption from renewable sources by 2020, the bloc's executive said on Thursday. The target is part of the EU's so-called 20-20-20 strategy, which also foresees a 20 per cent reduction of greenhouse gas emissions below 1990 levels and a 20 per cent increase in energy efficiency, all by 2020. On the basis of what it billed as "very preliminary forecasts" from national governments, the European Commission said "the EU will reach an overall share of 20.3 per cent renewables," surpassing its target.
• 2010/03/10: PlanetArk: EU Climate Chief [Connie Hedegaard] Wants Europe To "Lead By Example"
• 2010/03/09: EurActiv: EU to table nuclear waste treatment law
  The European Commission will table legislative proposals on the treatment of nuclear waste by the year's end, its president José Manuel Barroso announced yesterday (8 March) during a major OECD-hosted conference on civil nuclear power in Paris.
• 2010/03/09: EarthTimes: EU climate chief pushes for deeper carbon cuts
  Strasbourg - The European Union's top climate negotiator said Tuesday she wants the bloc to pursue deeper emission cuts, despite the fact that its current pledge of 20 per cent reductions by 2020 did not elicit comparable responses from the United States or China. After the failure of global climate change talks in Copenhagen in December, some EU countries - led by Poland and Italy - argued that the bloc should no longer promise to raise its offer to 30 per cent if other world powers failed to come forward with ambitious proposals. But Connie Hedegaard told the European Parliament in Strasbourg that the European Commission would nonetheless present a road map pointing out how the 30 per cent reductions could be put into practice. "Before the June European Council (of EU leaders) we will provide an analysis of how exactly we could intelligently achieve the 30 per cent target," she said. "I'm sure it would not be as difficult to achieve as some would fear," she added in a press conference.
• 2010/03/09: EarthTimes: EU approves German aid to cut emissions from ArcelorMittal plant

  Meanwhile in Australia:

• 2010/03/13: ABC(Au): Climate activists plan election strategy
  Around 200 climate change activists will meet at the Australian National University in Canberra this weekend to map out their election year strategy.
• 2010/03/12: ABC(Au): Western Australia's Environmental Protection Authority has recommended conditional approval of a coal-fired power station in the Mid West
• 2010/03/10: ABC(Au): Victoria's Opposition parties will unite in Parliament today, in an attempt to disrupt the operation of the controversial north-south [water] pipeline.
• 2010/03/09: PeakEnergy: Australia's Renewable Energy Future Report Released
• 2010/03/07: SolveClimate: The Transition Decade: New Campaign Aims to Reshape Australia's Climate Politics -- T10 Starts with Community-Wide Engagement

  And in China:

• 2010/03/11: ABC(Au): Climate change is a fact, says China
  The Chinese Government says the view that climate change is not man-made is a marginal and "extreme" outlook.

While in Japan:

• 2010/03/12: Reuters: Japan faces rocky path to emissions trading system
  Japan faces a rocky path to launching an emissions trading system after the government approved legislation on Friday that was vague on how the scheme would set limits on emissions. The proposed climate bill, set to be enacted in parliament by mid-June, set a one-year deadline for the world's fifth-largest greenhouse gas emitter to draft legislation outlining details for a mandatory trading scheme.
• 2010/03/12: BBerg: Japan's Cabinet Endorses Cap-and-Trade Climate Bill [Note misleading headline -het]
  Japan's Cabinet has endorsed a climate-protection draft law today that would cap industrial emissions and thrust the second-biggest economy into the $125 billion market for trading carbon credits. Some polluters will be subject to a flat ceiling on emissions while others may face a limit per unit of production, according to a copy of the bill, distributed to reporters by the Environment Ministry today. The draft leaves open which industries will be affected.
• 2010/03/12: PlanetArk: Japan Weakens Climate Bill, Pressured By Industry
  Japan watered down legislation to fight climate change Thursday after weeks of wrangling within the government over plans for an emissions trading system that has met stiff resistance from industry. The proposed climate bill, set to be enacted in parliament by mid-June, left room for the trading scheme to set caps on emissions per unit of production, which would allow rises in emissions when output grows. The government had earlier pledged a "cap-and-trade" scheme setting absolute volume caps on emissions as part of its drive for greener policies.

In the Middle East:

• 2010/03/08: GulfTimes: Climate change could spark crises 'in Arab world'
  There may be a considerable increase in the number of crises and disasters in the Arab world due to climate change and this could necessitate the distribution of food, water and medicine to millions of people , a top official at the organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) yesterday said.

And in Russia:

• 2010/03/10: EurActiv: West worries about Russia turning to coal
  European efforts to reduce greenhouse emissions could be undermined by Russian plans to dramatically increase energy production from coal, Western experts said in Brussels yesterday (9 March). To be able to honour its gas export contracts, Russia has to turn to coal, said Kevin Rosner, senior fellow at the US Institute for the Analysis of Global Security.

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

• 2009/03/02: GlobeCampus: Researchers fear 'stagnation' under Tories
• 2010/03/08: TStar: Federal green strategy goes from bad to worse [AECL]

  More implications of the federal budget brought down last week:

• 2010/03/12: KSJT: Globe and Mail: Canada's gov't to shut arctic weather station. Some say the P.M.'s bunch don't believe climate change science anyway.
• 2010/03/10: NYT:GreenInc: Developers Lament Loss of Federal Wind Subsidies in Canada
• 2010/03/11: G&M: Tory budget 'walks away' from renewable energy, environmentalist says
  With no replacement in sight for ecoEnergy program, Pembina Institute argues, Canada is dropping the ball on green power
• 2010/03/10: BCLSB: Who You Would Destroy, You Must First Defund [PEARL]
• 2010/03/10: G&M: Budget deep freeze will lead to end of climate research lab -- Critics say end to funding indicates Tories' skepticism of climate-change science
  Scientists who study climate change from a remote post on Ellesmere Island are planning to shut down their cash-strapped project after the federal government refused to refinance a key climate-change research foundation. The Polar Environment Atmospheric Research Laboratory (PEARL) is located 1,100 kilometres from the North Pole, and collects data on the changing climate of the Far North, where global warming is found to be most intense. But in a conference call this week, PEARL scientists were not discussing their findings but were making plans to shut down the lab, including complicated arrangements to air lift out their equipment. In its budget last week, the Harper government provided no new money for the Canadian Foundation for Climate and Atmosphere Sciences. The foundation is the country's main fund for scientists studying everything from global climate models, to the melting of polar ice and frequency of Arctic storms, to prairie droughts and shrinking Rocky Mountain glaciers. For many in the research community, the budget decision merely confirmed the view that Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his government remain skeptical of climate-change science and hostile to those who provide evidence that aggressive action must be taken to avert catastrophic global warming.
• 2010/03/09: NatureN: Science survives Canadian budget -- Spending plans aim to battle national deficit yet still invest in research
• 2010/03/09: CanWest: Harperites' canny plan includes ignoring the environment
  When all the pomp and formalities are set aside, last week's throne and budget speeches reveal a canny plan that will enable Conservatives to ideally position themselves for a near-term election.
  [...]
  The one area they've neglected is environmental policy, where not much significant action has been pitched. But those searching for environmental activism are apt to vote for other parties anyway.
• 2010/03/08: PlanetArk: Canada Shift On Reviewing Energy Projects Critiqued
  Ottawa's plan to shift responsibility of environmental assessments to Canada's main energy regulator fails to address fundamental problems surrounding major oil and gas projects, a green think tank said on Friday. But the oil industry, which had complained that the regulatory process for such developments as oil sands projects and pipelines was overly cumbersome and expensive, welcomed the streamlining initiative. Canada's federal budget, delivered on Thursday, contained a provision to move impact assessments from the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency to the National Energy Board and Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, which the government said have more expertise than CEAA. "The way to actually streamline the assessment process is to address some of the environmental issues up front and do the planning there. I don't see how that's going to be helped by making that move," said Simon Dyer, oil sands program director for the Pembina Institute, which is critical of the approval policy for major energy developments.

The NEB is creeping towards approving the Mackenzie Valley pipeline for the tarsands:

• 2010/03/11: CBC: Mackenzie project gets energy board conditions
  The National Energy Board has issued draft conditions for its approval of the proposed Mackenzie Valley natural gas pipeline in the Northwest Territories. This week, the federal regulatory board released 67 pages of proposed conditions to the consortium of pipeline proponents, led by Imperial Oil, which could come into effect if the board approves gas wells and a 1,200-kilometre pipeline to be built from the N.W.T.'s Mackenzie Delta. "Should the project be approved, these conditions may be attached to any approval granted," the board stated in a letter, dated Tuesday, to the proponents and other interested parties. If built, the pipeline would run south through the Mackenzie Valley to a hub in northern Alberta, where it would connect with existing gas networks. The National Energy Board has to decide whether to approve the project, currently estimated to cost $16.2 billion. The board is expected to make a decision this fall.

The always fun USA vs Canada comparison game:

• 2010/03/11: CanWest: U.S. beats Canada in green investments: Report
  The Obama administration is spending eight times more per person on new renewable energy, public transit and energy efficiency measures than Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government, concludes a new analysis released on Thursday.

The Syncrude Trial promises to be a two month dog and pony show:

• 2010/03/10: CBC: Alberta premier tries to clarify duck comments

  BC is wrangling over energy:

• 2010/03/12: Reuters: British Columbia OKs 19 projects in clean power push
• 2010/03/11: G&M: B.C. fuels fight with Ontario over bioenergy -- Campbell will head up quest to become top destination for clean energy dollars
  British Columbia's quest to replace Ontario as the top destination for clean-energy investment dollars will now be headed up directly by Premier Gordon Campbell. Ontario's new energy pricing strategy has left B.C. behind, with new contracts expected to be rolled out in the coming weeks under its "feed-in tariff" policy guaranteeing prices and long-term contracts for green power. The B.C. Premier plans to introduce a new Clean Energy Act this spring to exploit his province's beetle-killed forests as a bioenergy alternative, and to open up new energy trading opportunities across Western Canada and into the U.S. Last week's B.C. budget established a three-year, $100-million clean energy fund to support biofuel production and other forms of low-carbon electricity generation.

Manitoba & Saskatchewan signed a grid deal:

• 2010/03/09: CBC: Man., Sask. governments go on power play
  The Manitoba and Saskatchewan governments have agreed to more than double the capacity of the power grid that connects the two provinces.
• 2010/03/09: WpgFP: Manitoba & Saskatchewan sign power agreement

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

• 2010/03/09: Reuters: Ontario bolsters green support as Europe backs off
  The Canadian province of Ontario is becoming a magnet for global heavy hitters in the green energy sector, drawn by alluring subsidies at a time when incentives are being scaled back elsewhere.

Meanwhile in that Mechanical Mordor known as the tar sands:

• 2010/03/11: CBC: BP sells tarsands part interest to Devon -- Part of $7B US asset deal
• 2010/03/08: NRDC:SwitchBoard: Industry attack campaign way off base on tar sands and low carbon policies: Part 2

  Also in Alberta:

• 2010/03/12: CBC: Oil and gas royalty rates -- Is rolling back royalty rates the right move for Alberta?
• 2010/03/12: CBC: Alberta carbon storage safe: study
  A huge amount of carbon dioxide can be safely stored underground in central Alberta, says a study released by the University of Calgary Friday. The university described its research as the most comprehensive study of large-scale carbon dioxide storage to have all of its findings made fully available to the public. The study was funded by the government of Alberta and by industry players, including power producer TransAlta. The company will use the information in developing its proposed storage project near Edmonton.
• 2010/03/11: CBC: Alberta to announce royalty changes -- Expect to reverse some of the increases announced in 2007
• 2010/03/10: CanWest: Wildrose Party attacks energy royalties
  The Wildrose Alliance party of Alberta released an energy competitiveness strategy yesterday that calls for reduced royalty rates and streamlining regulatory approvals.

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

• 2010/03/11: TP:WR: The Gap Between Climate Science And Economics Is A Chasm
• 2010/03/10: Reuters: Time for next stage of sustainable business
  Corporate America needs to track its use of energy and resources as closely as it does its hiring and cash flow if it wants to keep pace with social concern about climate change and other sustainability issues, an activist U.S. investor group argues in a new report.
• 2010/03/10: TPL: The Crux of the Matter
  [...]
  The real crux of the issue isn't that this or that production process creates GHGs -- pretty much all production uses energy derived from the burning of fossil fuels, which are the main source of energy in our civilization. Pretty much everything that requires energy in industrial society uses fossil fuel in some part of the process and thus creates GHGs.
  
  The crux is that those GHGs have to be accounted for because of their effect on climate and the environment. The crux is that since the beginning of the fossil fuel era they simply haven't.
  
  This is a failure of governance, a failure of politics and a failure of economics, that most dismal of pseudosciences.
• 2010/03/10: OilDrum: Life After Growth--Managing our Way to a Desirable Future
• 2010/03/09: OilDrum: Welcome to the Permanent Recession -- Food and Transportation Prices Rising
• 2010/03/08: HotTopic: Dennis Meadows on development instead of growth [video]

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

• 2010/03/09: EnergyBulletin: Women's Rights, Population and Climate Change: The Debate Continues

  Apocalypso anyone?

• 2010/03/10: Guardian(UK): Save the planet. But maybe not right now
  Doomsaying precludes the possibility of ingenious solutions -- and indicates a morbid vanity that we must be the saviours

As for how the media handles the science of climatology:

• 2010/03/09: CJR: Monitor-ing the Environment -- The CSM cancels green blog in favor of a broader approach
• 2010/03/11: CJR: Reviving Science Coverage in the Carolinas -- Weekly newspaper section, community-journalism project deliver fresh content
• 2010/03/09: Atmoz: Dot Earth

  The ABC(Au) chairman described his predelictions in an essay this week:

• 2010/03/11: PeakEnergy: ABC Chairman Calls For False Balance
• 2010/03/10: ABC(Au): ABC chair criticises climate change coverage
  ABC chairman Maurice Newman has attacked the media for being too willing to accept the conventional wisdom on climate change. In a speech to senior ABC staff on Wednesday morning, Mr Newman said climate change was an example of "group think". He says contrary views on climate change have not been tolerated and those who express them have been labelled and mocked.

Ah yes, remember framing?

• 2010/03/12: ClimateP: Reframing the debate on climate science [Hunter Cutting]

  Regarding the quality of blogosphere discussion:

• 2010/03/09: MTobis: Long Strange Trip

  Here is something for your library:

• 2010/03/09: NERC:NORA: [Book Review] _Carbon and water cycles, Amazon River Basin_ by Yves Tardy, Claude Roquin, Vincent Bustillo, Marcelo Moreira, Luiz A. Martinelli and Reynaldo Victoria
• 2010/03/09: Tyee: An Arctic for Everyone -- Climate change presents the ultimate collective action problem and, atop the Earth, a prime opportunity.
  [Book Plug] _Who Owns the Arctic? Understanding Sovereignty Disputes in the North_ by Michael Byers
• 2010/03/11: Tyee: Smarten Up or Die -- Do humans have what it takes to survive?
  [Book Excerpt] _Ecological Intelligence_ by Daniel Goleman
• 2010/03/08: IR^2: [Book Review] _Big Coal: The Dirty Secret Behind America's Energy Future_ by Jeff Goodell
• 2010/03/13: Rabble: James Hansen's climate reckoning -- The case for human-caused climate change
  [Book Review] _Storms Of My Grandchildren_ by James Hansen
• 2010/03/13: Guardian(UK): [Book Review] _The Empathic Civilization: The Race to Global Consciousness in a World in Crisis_ by Jeremy Rifkin
• 2010/03/12: TEC: [Book Plug] _Upsetting the Offset: The Political Economy of Carbon Markets_ by Steffen Böhm & Sidhartha Dabhi
• 2010/03/09: TEC: [Book Review] _Big Coal: The Dirty Secret Behind America's Energy Future_ by Jeff Goodell
• 2010/03/09: HotTopic: [Book Review] _The Lomborg Deception: Setting the Record Straight About Global Warming_ by Howard Friel
• 2010/03/08: PhysOrg: Cool model for a hot planet
  In his recent book, "Strategic Bargaining and Cooperation in Greenhouse Gas Mitigations," Binghamton University's Zili Yang suggests ways governments might realistically work together to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. He also makes a case for curbing the use of fossil fuels -- whether they contribute to climate change or not.

Meanwhile among the 'Sue the Bastards!' contingent:

• 2010/03/12: PlanetArk: U.S. Judge Rules For Chevron In Ecuador Case
• 2010/03/12: ScienceInsider: Scientists Case on Background Check Reaches High Court [SCOTUS]
• 2010/03/09: EarthTimes: Environment groups sue EU over biofuel documents
• 2010/03/08: NYT:GreenInc: European Activists Sue Over Biofuels Studies

  Wrestling over a new energy infrastructure continues unabated:

• 2010/03/14: OilDrum: Tech Talk: Producing oil shale by burning it in place
• 2010/03/14: PeakEnergy: Fuel cells a tough sell in a coal-fired economy
• 2010/03/13: PeakEnergy: Limits on the Thermodynamic Potential of Archdruids
• 2010/03/12: BBC: Japan aims its home fuel cells at Europe
  Following the success of a half-price subsidy for CO2-busting fuel-cell heat and energy generators for homes, Japan is now poised to ship its attention to supplying the UK and Germany with this hi-tech next-generation energy source.
• 2010/03/12: PhysOrg: China looks to 'combustible ice' as a fuel source
  Buried below the tundra of China's Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is a type of frozen natural gas containing methane and ice crystals that could supply energy to China for 90 years. China discovered the large reserve of methane hydrate last September, and last week the Qinghai Province announced that it plans to allow researchers and energy companies to tap the energy source.
• 2010/03/11: Economist: natural Gas -- An unconventional glut
  Newly economic, widely distributed sources are shifting the balance of power in the world's gas markets
• 2010/03/12: OilDrum: Our Energy Supply: Some Basics
• 2010/03/12: BBC: China oil demand is 'astonishing'
  China's demand for oil jumped by an "astonishing" 28% in January compared with the same month a year earlier, the International Energy Agency (IEA) says. The body added that demand for oil in 2010 would be underpinned by rising demand from emerging markets, with half of all growth coming from Asia. But the IEA predicted demand in developed countries would fall by 0.3%.
• 2010/03/11: PhysOrg: Water oxidation advance boosts potential for solar fuel
  Emory University chemists have developed the most potent homogeneous catalyst known for water oxidation, considered a crucial component for generating clean hydrogen fuel using only water and sunlight. The breakthrough, published March 11 in the journal Science, was made in collaboration with the Paris Institute of Molecular Chemistry.
• 2010/03/10: EnergyDaily: China to lead oil demand growth as OECD area struggles
• 2010/03/11: TreeHugger: Mining Methane From A Rwandan Lake Offers to More Than Double Nation's Electric Capacity
• 2010/03/11: Eureka: Scavenging energy waste to turn water into hydrogen fuel
• 2010/03/11: OilChange: Has BP Backed A $7 Billion Wrong Horse? [Devon Energy's deepwater assets]
• 2010/03/10: CSM: Nitrogen in gasoline: Does it cause pollution?
• 2010/03/09: AutoBG: Ballard gets $6.2M in DOE funding for non-automotive fuel cells
• 2010/03/09: NewScientist: Nanotube cuff is 'solar cell' for exhaust pipes
• 2010/03/05: UMich: Asking "what would nature do?" leads to a way to break down a greenhouse gas
• 2010/03/08: Times(UK): Home power-generation dream suffers a blow
• 2010/03/08: BNC: TCASE 8: Estimating EROEI from LCA [Life-Cycle Assessment (of greenhouse gas emissions)]

  MIT announced a novel thermopower discovery this week:

• 2010/03/10: KSJT: BBC, Register, etc: A 'ring of fire' flammable nanotube heat pulsing superbattery? Say what?
• 2010/03/09: BBC: Nanotech 'fuse' for novel battery [thermopower waves]
• 2010/03/08: Eureka: MIT researchers discover new way of producing electricity -- Phenomenon causes powerful waves of energy to shoot through carbon nanotubes
  A team of scientists at MIT have discovered a previously unknown phenomenon that can cause powerful waves of energy to shoot through minuscule wires known as carbon nanotubes. The discovery could lead to a new way of producing electricity, the researchers say. The phenomenon, described as thermopower waves, "opens up a new area of energy research, which is rare," says Michael Strano, MIT's Charles and Hilda Roddey Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering, who was the senior author of a paper describing the new findings that appeared in Nature Materials on March 7. The lead author was Wonjoon Choi, a doctoral student in mechanical engineering. Like a collection of flotsam propelled along the surface by waves traveling across the ocean, it turns out that a thermal wave -- a moving pulse of heat -- traveling along a microscopic wire can drive electrons along, creating an electrical current.
• 2010/03/07: NBF: MIT Discovers Thermopower Waves which Have Hundreds of Times the Energy by Weight of Lithium ion Batteries

  Fracking is back:

• 2010/03/12: PhysOrg: Process could clean up water used in natural gas drilling
  Texas A&M Engineering is playing a role in a technological breakthrough that could clean up the contaminated water recovered from drilling natural gas wells in shale deposits through the process of "hydraulic fracturing."
• 2010/03/08: Reuters: US EPA chief concerned about gas drilling fluids
• 2010/03/07: FTimes: Europe the new frontier in shale gas rush
• 2010/03/11: PlanetArk: Obama Aide Urges Listing Of Gas-Drilling Chemicals
• 2010/03/11: SeekingAlpha: The 100 Year Natural Gas Myth
• 2010/03/11: PlanetArk: Shale Gas Could Supply 100 Years Of Consumption [CERA]
• 2010/03/08: PlanetArk: EPA Chief Concerned About Gas Drilling Fluids
  The Environmental Protection Agency chief Lisa Jackson said she was "very concerned" about the composition of fluids used to extract natural gas from shale deposits. Jackson said she hopes the EPA will launch a study this year into the nature of fluids used in the hydraulic fracturing process of natural gas drilling.
• 2010/03/08: NRDC:SwitchBoard: Flurry of Events in NY Demonstrates Enormous Public Concern over Marcellus Shale Drilling

  The answer my friend...:

• 2010/03/13: PeakEnergy: Plans for Southern Hemisphere's biggest windfarm revealed
• 2010/03/12: MIT: Wind resistance
  MIT analysis suggests generating electricity from large-scale wind farms could influence climate -- and not necessarily in the desired way.
• 2010/03/12: NBF: MIT Researchers [Wang & Prinn] Say Using Wind Turbines for 10% of Power, Would Heat the World by 0.15 Degrees Celsius Over 60 Years
• 2010/03/08: SciAm: Will Politics Slow the Wind?
  The growth of wind power may be curtailed by a growing coalition of naysayers, ranging from electric utilities to Senators Not many years ago, there wasn't enough wind power coming from the Great Plains to worry about. Now there is, and lots of people are worrying. A group of mostly East Coast utility companies calling itself the Coalition for Fair Transmission Policy fears that the prime conditions in the Great Plains will make the region's wind power too cheap for its members to compete with...
• 2010/03/08: Grist: the wind's always blowing somewhere -- Challenging conventional wisdom on renewable energy's limits
• 2010/03/08: NYT:CW: Plentiful Great Plains Power Blows in Opponents From All Corners
  Not many years ago, there wasn't enough wind power coming from the Great Plains to worry about. Now there is, and lots of people are worrying. A group of mostly East Coast utility companies calling itself the Coalition for Fair Transmission Policy fears that the prime conditions in the Great Plains will make the region's wind power too cheap for its members to compete with, unless developers there are made to pay the costs of moving wind power eastward.

Meanwhile among the solar aficionados:

• 2010/03/12: PhysOrg: Italy to host Europe's biggest solar [power] plant: company
  Europe's most powerful solar power plant is set to start operations in Italy later this year, the US company building the installation on an area as large as 120 football pitches said on Thursday. The plant in Rovigo near Venice in northeast Italy will take up 850,000 square metres (9.15 million square feet) and produce 72 megawatts, SunEdison said in a statement announcing the start of construction. The current biggest plant in Europe, located in Spain, produces 60 megawatts and the second biggest, in Germany, 50 megawatts, SunEdison said.
• 2010/03/11: Grist: Know your solar [Lester Brown]
• 2010/03/10: NRDC:SwitchBoard: Spain's Solar Experiments Offer Useful Policy Lessons
• 2010/03/11: PeakEnergy: Improving The Performance Of Solar Thermal Power
• 2010/03/10: PhysOrg: Solar power could provide 10% of US energy: report
  The United States could source 10 percent of its electricity from solar power by 2030, a report said Tuesday, winning support from a US lawmaker who wants to boost the number of US solar panels. The report, produced by the independent environmental group Environment America, was presented to Congress with backing from Senator Bernie Sanders who in February introduced legislation to install 10 million solar panels across the United States within a decade.
• 2010/03/09: Grist: On rooftops worldwide, a solar water heating revolution [Lester Brown]
• 2010/03/08: PeakEnergy: Solar PV In The UK

  George Monbiot and Jeremy Leggett are debating solar PV and FITs in the Guardian:

• 2010/03/11: Guardian(UK): Solar PV has failed in Germany and it will fail in the UK
• 2010/03/09: Guardian(UK): I accept George Monbiot's £100 solar PV bet [Jeremy Leggett]
• 2010/03/03: Guardian(UK): Solar panels are not fashion accessories [Jeremy Leggett]

  On the coal front:

• 2010/03/12: ABC(Au): Western Australia's Environmental Protection Authority has recommended conditional approval of a coal-fired power station in the Mid West
• 2010/03/10: Grist: A messy but practical strategy for phasing out the U.S. coal fleet

  Biofuel bickering abounds:

• 2010/03/13: PhysOrg: Scientists do groundwork for genetic mapping of algae biofuel species
  Using green algae to produce hydrocarbon oil for biofuel production is nothing new; nature has been doing so for hundreds of millions of years, according a Texas AgriLife Research scientist.
• 2010/03/10: NBF: Sundrop Fuels Claims Twice as Much Fuel from Biomass and Sun Catalyix Claims Efficient artificial photosynthesis
• 2010/03/11: Eureka: More maize ethanol may boost greenhouse gas emissions
  New economic analysis confirms that maize-based biofuel is unlikely to reduce global production of carbon dioxide
• 2010/03/10: BBC: Harrabin's Notes: Biofuel battle
• 2010/03/10: TreeHugger: More Efficient Biomass Gasification Through Solar Concentrating Mirrors
• 2010/03/10: PeakEnergy: Gasifying Biomass with Sunlight
• 2010/03/08: CBC: Ocean 'termites' could be key to biofuels
  Once the scourge of the seven seas because of their appetite for wooden sailing ships, gribbles could hold the secret to turning wood into biofuels. British researchers say the enzymes in the guts of the tiny marine isopods could lead to a chemical process that can covert woody plant fibres into usable fuel.

The nuclear energy controversy continues:

• 2010/03/13: TEC: How much tritium leaked from Vermont Yankee before the leak was stopped?
• 2010/03/13: PeakEnergy: World Nuclear Generation Stagnates
• 2010/03/13: ABC(Au): Russia to build 12 reactors in India
• 2010/03/12: NewScientist: Metal mist clears for fusion power
• 2010/03/12: EarthTimes: Russia to build more nuclear reactors in India
• 2010/03/10: WNN: Canada's uranium production recovers
  The world's second biggest uranium-exporting country has overcome a period of low ore grades and operation problems to approach production levels last seen in 2005 [11,997 tonnes of uranium oxide (tU3O8)]
• 2010/03/12: BBC: Russia signs India nuclear deal
  Russia has announced it will build 16 nuclear reactors in India as part of defence and energy deals.
• 2010/03/11: ScienceInsider: Fusion Delayed: ITER Start Date Moved Again
• 2010/03/11: OregonLive: Nuclear power has had its day
  [...]
  Nuclear power has had 50 years of massive government subsidies at every stage, from uranium mining to storing the nuclear waste, and yet today private capital will not invest nickel one in new nukes without taxpayers covering their losses.
• 2010/03/10: NatureTGB: US lashes out at ITER
• 2010/03/09: BBC: Israel and Syria have both told a [OECD] conference in Paris they want to use nuclear power to generate electricity
• 2010/03/08: TEC: Nuclear Energy - Green Power?

  Yes we have a peak oil sighting:

• 2010/03/10: FuturePundit: Peak Oil In 2014?
• 2010/03/10: PhysOrg: World crude oil production may peak a decade earlier than some predict
  In a finding that may speed efforts to conserve oil and intensify the search for alternative fuel sources, scientists in Kuwait predict that world conventional crude oil production will peak in 2014 -- almost a decade earlier than some other predictions. Their study is in ACS' Energy & Fuels.

More people are talking about the electrical grid:

• 2010/03/11: EnvFin: Plans hatched to build renewables 'super grid'
• 2010/03/11: Grist: Dumb grids
• 2010/03/12: TreeHugger: Utilities Poised to Blow It When Smart Grid Rolls Out
• 2010/03/11: CSM: Old vs. new: Smart grid and real time electricity metering
  The new smart electricity meter program should be an easy sell to consumers, but it's not going over as planned.
• 2010/03/11: EurActiv: Czech renewable energy boom tests grid safety limits
  The installed capacity of wind and solar energy projects approved in the Czech Republic is nearly four times what can be safely fed into the country's electricity grid, energy distributors said on Wednesday (10 March).
• 2010/03/10: Reuters: Czech renewable energy exceeds grid safety limit
  The installed capacity of wind and solar energy projects approved in the Czech Republic is nearly four times what can be safely fed into the country's electricity grid, energy distributors said on Wednesday. The Association of Czech Regulated Electro-Energy Companies (CSRES) said the installed capacity of all projects approved by the end of January was 8,063 MW. The limit from solar and wind projects that won't overload the grid is 1,650 MW until 2012, which corresponds to installed capacity of 2,200 MW, according to estimates made by the CSRES. "We are obliged to connect to the grid or distribution system anyone who asks if it does not threaten a safe operation of the system. So our options are limited, it is up to lawmakers to resolve this," said Petr Zeman, chief executive of grid operator CEPS and a member of CSRES.
• 2010/03/10: TEC: Chicago to Launch Nation's Largest Smart Grid Energy Pilot Program
• 2010/03/08: Reuters: Europe supergrid hopefuls form club to push project
  Ten companies pushing to build a pan-European offshore power network that could help cut carbon emissions and cost customers over 20 billion euros got together in London on Monday.
• 2010/03/08: BizGreen: European energy giants unveil Supergrid vision -- New Friends of the Supergrid group to lobby for development of giant offshore renewable energy grid
• 2010/03/08: PeakEnergy: Friends of the European Supergrid
• 2010/03/08: SolveClimate: Smart Grid Arms Race? U.S., China Face Very Different Challenges

  And then there is the matter of efficiency & conservation:

• 2010/03/12: Grist: Is it really a win-win-win? Home Star gets a hearing
• 2010/03/09: PhysOrg: 'The Rosenfeld' named after California's godfather of energy efficiency
• 2010/03/08: ClimateP: The DOE weatherization assistance program: Step one on the road to an energy efficient future
• 2010/03/08: Pitt: LED Streetlights Best Buy for Cities, Pitt Researchers Report in First Cradle-to-Grave Comparison to Common and Emerging Streetlamps
• 2010/03/08: GWWatch: Energy efficiency adds up to $700 million savings for Australian business

  Daylight saving time comments:

• 2010/03/13: ClimateP: Daylight saving time saves as much energy as daylight, maybe less
• 2010/03/14: DWWSJ: No Matter What You Call It- It's a waste of time and energy

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

• 2010/03/12: NBF: Polymer Tin Sulfur Lithium Ion Battery With Five times Better Energy Density than Commercial Lithium Ion Batteries
• 2010/03/12: BizGreen: Mysterious electric car firm [Aurica] bursts onto US market in job salvation push
• 2010/03/12: SolveClimate: Stimulus Spurs Battery Manufacturing in America, But Asia Still the One to Beat
• 2010/03/12: NewScientist: Electric cars jostle for position on the power grid
• 2010/03/12: TreeHugger: Lithium-Sulfur Breakthrough Could Mean Safer and More Energy-Dense Batteries
• 2010/03/12: AutoBG: Officially Official: LG Chem to build lithium ion cell factory in Holland Michigan
• 2010/03/10: NBF: A New Charging Method Could Greatly Reduce Battery Recharge Times
• 2010/03/11: BBC: Powered pedal -- Beijing's silent invasion of electric bicycles
• 2010/03/10: PhysOrg: Fuel-injection System That Delivers 64 Miles Per Gallon
• 2010/03/10: TreeHugger: New Charging Method Could Mean Exponentially Faster Battery Recharge Times
• 2010/03/10: BBC: Car sales see continued recovery
  UK car sales in February were up by 26.4% compared with the same month last year, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT). There were 68,686 new cars registered last month and private buyers led the growth in sales.
• 2010/03/08: AutoBG: A short history of recent plug-in vehicles, courtesy of CalCars
• 2010/03/09: AutoBG: Volkswagen gets recognition for efficiency of its TSI engines
• 2010/03/09: CBC: China car sales soar
  China's passenger car sales climbed 55 per cent in from a year earlier in February, despite a long national holiday, on strong demand for smaller cars and sport utility vehicles, an industry group reported Tuesday. Sales of cars, commercial vehicles and SUVs rose to 942,900 units, while sales of all vehicles including trucks and buses rose 46 per cent year-on-year to 1.21 million, according to the government-affiliated China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.
• 2010/03/08: TechRev: Ultra-Efficient Gas Engine Passes Test -- A novel fuel-injection system achieves 64 miles per gallon
• 2010/03/08: TreeHugger: 8 Electric Concept Cars Shaking Up the Auto Industry Right Now
• 2010/03/08: BBerg: [Chinese carmaker] BYD Plans to Start European Car Sales Next Year
• 2010/03/08: SwissInfo: Electric cars reveal positives and negatives
  Predictions about electric cars having a bright future have been around for 25 years, but the reality in Switzerland is very different.
• 2010/03/08: TreeHugger: Nissan Claims to Have 56,000 Preorders for LEAF Electric Car

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

• 2010/03/07: BBC: What will save the Russian car industry?
  Russia has decided to follow in the footsteps of some European countries and the US by introducing a car scrappage scheme in an attempt to save the country's automotive industry.

The reaction of business to climate change will be critical:

• 2010/03/09: EurActiv: Deutsche Bank urges private sector leadership on climate
• 2010/03/08: HotTopic: Green opportunities far outweigh the costs

  Insurance and re-insurance companies are feeling the heat:

• 2010/03/10: NYT:CW: Health and Life Insurers Grapple With Climate Effects
  Biting bugs are buzzing northward and asthma has spread like a dust cloud, but there are deep divisions about how concerned health and life insurers should be about disease and death caused by climate change. So far, this corner of the massive industry has remained in the background of its climate debate, letting its counterparts who specialize in property losses worry in public forums about potential risks from rising sea levels and more powerful storms. But there can be storms inside the human body, as well, scientists say, pointing to increases in malaria, heat waves, lung illnesses and other diseases spread by insects that are expanding into new territory as temperate climates experience warmer winters that are less likely to kill them.
• 2010/03/11: BBC: Insurers paid out £650m from 335,000 claims made as a result of damage caused by the wintry weather in the UK, figures show.

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

• 2010/03/12: ClimateP: Energy and Global Warming News for March 12...
• 2010/03/11: ClimateP: Energy and Global Warming News for March 11...
• 2010/03/10: ClimateP: Energy and Global Warming News for March 10...
• 2010/03/09: ClimateP: Energy and Global Warming News for March 9...
• 2010/03/08: ClimateP: Energy and Global Warming News for March 8...

  Other (weekly) lists:

• 2010/03/11: Grist: A walk through the week's climate news -- The Climate Post: Uptick in denialism halts glacier melt, lowers sea levels

  The carbon lobby are up to the usual:

• 2010/03/13: JQuiggin: Deltoid vs The Thunderer
• 2010/03/13: GWWatch: Deconstructing climate denial -- #1 decudgel
• 2010/03/12: MGS: WUWT trumpets result supporting climate modelling
• 2010/03/12: SkeptiSci: CO2 levels during the late Ordovician
• 2010/03/11: NRDC:AF: Dirty Industry Claims about Climate: We've Heard These Falsehoods Before
• 2010/03/11: NRDC:SwitchBoard: My Take on Oil and Gas Industry's False Claims about Climate
• 2010/03/12: TreeHugger: Busting a Myth: Does Facebook Comment Disprove Global Warming?
• 2010/03/11: HotTopic: Carterist "science": Bob's self-plagiarism, misrepresentation and misquotations
• 2010/03/10: DeepClimate: McClimategate continues: Yet another false accusation from McIntyre and McKitrick
• 2010/03/10: TWTB: Predictions made easy
• 2010/03/11: SkeptiSci: Brian Angliss: scrutinising the 31,000 scientists in the OISM Petition Project
• 2010/03/10: TP: American Petroleum Institute Uses Stock Photos Of 'Americans' To Defend Oil Subsidies
• 2010/03/10: TP:WR: API Uses Fake 'Americans' To Attack Fake 'Energy Taxes'
• 2010/03/10: Maribo: Meditations on climate change "skepticism"
• 2010/03/10: TWTB: In a climate of fear
• 2010/03/10: TreeHugger: How Best to Debate Climate Deniers on TV? Simple: Don't.
• 2010/03/09: DeSmogBlog: New Naomi Oreskes Talk Available
• 2010/03/09: ClimateP: The Lazy Environmentalist [Dorfman] joins the circular firing squad
• 2010/03/09: DeSmogBlog: Lorne Gunther: Denial (and dumb analogies) are us
• 2010/03/09: Guardian(UK): Wanted: GWPF assistant director to reveal thinktank's funding
• 2010/03/10: ABC(Au): Scientists buck political pressure over climate
  CSIRO scientists say they are coming under political attack as part of an orchestrated campaign by climate change sceptics. A delegation of scientists is in Canberra this week to push for bipartisan political support for open debate and diversity in government science.
• 2010/03/09: SkeptiSci: Watts Up With That's ignorance regarding Antarctic sea ice
• 2010/03/08: Grist: Dear Vinod Khosla & Tom Friedman: No amount of sequestration will make coal 'clean'
• 2010/03/09: Deltoid: The Australian's War on Science 47
• 2010/03/08: TP:WR: American Petroleum Tells Lawmakers It Supports Carbon Fee Because It's Easier To Demonize
• 2010/03/08: Deltoid: Leakegate: Jonathan Leake gets Sunday Times banned from JAMA
• 2010/03/08: ClimateP: Texas-based refiners pledge to fund fight against California's global warming law
• 2010/03/08: CSW: "Cyber bullying" and Congressional inquisition aim to chill the work of climate scientists
• 2010/03/08: HotTopic: Merchants of doubt: Oreskes on the history of climate denial
• 2010/03/08: ClimateP: Debate the controversy!
• 2010/03/07: Deltoid: What do the Moranogate emails reveal?
• 2010/03/07: ClimateP: Must see Naomi Oreskes talk on Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscure the Truth about Climate Change
• 2010/03/07: Guardian(UK): Wanted: an eco prophet -- People are drifting into a lethal slumber on climate change. More of the same won't wake them up

  A good one line description of Nordhaus:

• 2010/03/09: KSJT: Albuquerque Journal: Meet one of those fellows who worries about climate change, yet keeps tossing brickbats at those calling for big low-carbon rules now or yesterday already

  Meanwhile in the 'clean coal' saga:

• 2010/03/11: NRDC:SwitchBoard: Mountaintop Removal Redux: Bobby vs. Blankenship II
• 2010/03/09: TreeHugger: Let's Not Forget: Even Without CO2, Coal Would Still Be Very Dirty

  As for climate miscellanea:

• 2010/03/12: RealClimate: Why we bother
• 2010/03/12: ClimateP: The best argument against global warming [Peter Gleick]
• 2010/03/12: PeakEnergy: From Counterculture To Cyberculture: The Life And Times Of Stewart Brand
• 2010/02/18: NatureCC: Out of step
• 2010/03/10: TEC: Think You Know What a 'Green Job' Is? Think Again
• 2010/03/11: BBC: Down on the farm with the robots
• 2010/03/09: ClimateShifts: Ecologists and environmentalism [self concepts or marketing?]
• 2010/03/10: MTobis: Go Ahead, Act Like a Scientist
• 2010/03/09: TEC: What's the Proper Role of Individuals and Institutions in Addressing Climate Change? [Stavins]
• 2010/03/09: CCP: A Conversation with a Genuine Skeptic: John Cook of Skeptical Science interviewed by Kieran Mulvaney of Discovery News, March 5, 2010
• 2010/03/09: CCP: Climate Myths and Questions. Part I, by Kieran Mulvaney, Discover News, March 7, 2010
• 2010/03/08: Guardian(UK): The trouble with trusting complex science [Monbiot]
• 2010/03/08: ClimateP: Oxfam's Sisters on the Planet Climate Leaders Summit LiveStream

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

• 2010 State of the Birds Report
• 2010/03/12: MTobis: It's My Planet and I'll Cry if I Want To
• WNN: World Nuclear News
• Global Crop Diversity Trust
• Svalbard Global Seed Vault
• IAC: The InterAcademy Council
• Wiki: World population
• Wiki: One-child policy
• Wiki: Food security
• Wiki: List of famines
• Wiki: Carrying capacity
• Wiki: Green Revolution
• Ecofys
• Heliophage
• GCCSI: Global Carbon Capture and Storage Institute (Global CCS Institute)
• Nature Bats Last
• Solar Power International 2009

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.

"We are in for the greatest revolution in history. If it's to pull the top down and it's bloody, all lose. If it is a design science revolution to elevate the bottom and all others as well to unprecedentedly new heights, all will live to dare spontaneously to speak and live and love the truth, strange though it often may seem." -Buckminster Fuller

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