A Few Things Ill Considered

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Another week of Climate Instability News

Logging the Onset of The Bottleneck Years

May 23, 2010

• Chuckles, IPCC-5, COP16+, Figueres, Cochabamba, NAS-ACC, Lyman, Ocean Volume
• Lake Tanganyika, Anthropocene, Carbon Tariffs, Subsidies, TEEB, Malaria, Hartwell, Post CRU
• Melting Arctic, Geopolitics
• Food Crisis, Food vs. Biofuel, Food Production
• Hurricanes, GHGs, Carbon Cycle, Temperatures, Aerosols, Ozone, Paleoclimate
• ENSO, Climate Sensitivity, Tipping Points, Satellites
• Impacts, Forests, CBFA, Extreme Weather, Tornadoes, Wildfires, Acidification, Floods & Droughts
• Mitigation, Transportation, Buildings, Sequestration, Geoengineering
• Journals, Other Docs , Misc. Science, Gardner, Wake, Hansen
• UN, Carbon Trade, Carbon Tax, Bank Tax
• International Politics: Misc., Security, Law & , Activism, Polls, Water Pol & Biz, Psychology
• National Politics: America, ACC, Cuccinelli, WWSIS, Trucks
• Obama, USAdmin, Congress, Climate Bill, Lobbyists, Al Gore
• Britain, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, India, Asia, Africa, South America
• Canada, NRTEE, G20 Abortion, Farm Income, Trucks, Offshore Drilling, Arctic Food
• Tainted Water, Arctic Park, Geothermal, UNSG, BC, Tar Sands, Ontario, Maritimes, Canadiana
• Ecological Economics, IPAT, Apocalypso, Media, Books, Video, Courts
• Energy, Tar Sands, Fracking, Wind, Solar, Coal, Biofuel, Nukes, Peak Oil
• Grid, Efficiency, Cars, Gee Whiz, Energy Storage
• Business, Greenwashing, Joe's List, Carbon Lobby, Miscellaneous Climate, Useful Links
• Shameless Self Promotion, .sig

It's always nice to start with a larf:

• 2010/05/18: ClimateP: (cartoons - Toles) ...BP's oil disaster response strategies - Plus a climate cartoon

  Laughter. Extreme derision. Uber sarcasm. This site tests the limits ofPoe's Law:

• 2010/05/05: TSC: 20 definite disproofs against global warming
• 2010/05/07: TSC: Call for Climate Inquisition
• 2010/05/09: TSC: Venus is hot!
• 2010/05/18: TSC: Fourth International Conference on Climate Change
• 2010/05/21: TSC: Gates galore
• 2010/05/22: TSC: Climate-gate or Climate-loo

  Planning is underway for the fifth IPCC report:

• 2010/05/21: IOL(Za): Next UN climate review 'will assess economy'
  Geneva - The United Nations panel of climate scientists plans to tackle the way societies adapt to a changing climate and the effects of food insecurity in its next report on climate change, senior officials said on Thursday. The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is currently selecting 600 to 700 lead authors from over 3 000 nominations to produce the fifth flagship report, due in 2014, said IPCC head Rajendra Pachauri.

Looking ahead to COP16 and future international climate negotiations:

• 2010/05/20: IndiaTimes: UN's climate text talks of Copenhagen Accord
  New Delhi: Ahead of the June climate-change negotiations in Bonn, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) has released the text by the chair of the Bali track (ad hoc group on long-term co-operative action) of the negotiations. The text represents a victory for the developing countries as it incorporates the Copenhagen Accord into it. This text, in some measure, allays the apprehension that the Copenhagen Accord could emerge as a third track or the sole negotiating track.
• 2010/05/18: Reuters: U.N. climate chief faces widening rich-poor split
• 2010/05/18: HindustanTimes: Copenhagen accord now part of UN
• 2010/05/18: PTINews: China hails new UNFCCC chief from developing country
• 2010/05/18: TerraDaily: US [Special Envoy Todd Stern] doubts global emission targets in climate deal
  The US climate negotiator said Tuesday it was politically unrealistic for the next treaty to impose global targets on emission cuts, amid deep divisions between rich and developing nations
• 2010/05/17: EastDay: China takes stock as it prepares for Cancun
  The Chinese government is busy designing a comprehensive communication strategy to present its position on climate change, which it hopes will help achieve substantial results in global negotiations in Cancun, Mexico later this year. Based on the experiences and lessons of the UN Copenhagen summit, at which China was described as a scapegoat in the breakdown of negotiations, China's top climate change negotiator, Su Wei, said the strategy will include arrangements on how to timely and effectively communicate the country's stance. "To prepare for the Cancun summit, we have already started devising our strategy on how to communicate," said Su, director of the climate change department at the National Development and Reform Commission, who described the task as "urgent".
• 2010/05/17: Xinhuanet: EU, Mexico vow to boost collaboration on climate change talks
• 2010/05/16: TheHindu: India not to accept any pact that erodes Bali climate plan
  As UN members meet in Bonn this month to discuss climate strategy, India has said it will not accept any pact that 'erodes' the differentiation between rich and developing nations set forth in Bali Action Plan centred on historic responsibilities on greenhouse gas emissions. The move is aimed at thwarting the developed nations' attempt to dilute Kyoto Protocol and look for a new mechanism which would make growing economies like India take up legally binding emission cuts.
• 2010/05/17: EarthTimes: EU and Caribbean countries agree to stage climate summit [before COP16]

  UNSG Ban Ki-Moon has chosen Costa Rican diplomat Christiana Figueres to be the next head of the UNFCCC:

• 2010/05/17: UNDispatch: Costa Rican to Become the Next Top UN Climate Negotiator
• 2010/05/18: Guardian(UK): Christiana Figueres appointed new UN climate chief to continue global talks
• 2010/05/17: UN: UN names Costa Rican as new climate change chief
• 2010/05/17: Reuters: U.N. climate chief says rich must act for global deal
  The world can salvage a new deal to combat global warming but rich countries must first fulfill their pledges on climate aid, the U.N.'s new climate chief, Costa Rica's Christiana Figueres, told Reuters. The United Nations appointed Figueres on Monday to be its climate chief and head international talks on how to contain the world's greenhouse gas emissions.
• 2010/05/17: BBerg: Christiana Figueres of Costa Rica Will Head UN Climate Talks
  Christiana Figueres of Costa Rica was named to lead the United Nations global warming talks, replacing Yvo de Boer, who is stepping down on July 1. Figueres, who was vice president of the UN climate agency in 2008 and 2009, was chosen by UN secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to serve as the chief diplomat organizing the negotiations aimed at limiting climate change, Martin Nesirky, a spokesman for the secretary general, said in New York today.
• 2010/05/18: TEC: Christiana Figueres, climate negotiator from Costa Rica, named UN climate chief
• 2010/05/18: BBC: New UN climate head [Christiana Figueres] demands ambition and transparency
• 2010/05/17: NatureCF: Christiana Figueres, a Costa Rican climate diplomacy expert, is to become the new head of the UN Framework Convention of Climate Change
• 2010/05/17: EarthTimes: Costa Rican diplomat [Christiana Figueres] appointed chief of UN climate panel
• 2010/05/17: BBC: UN picks new climate change chief
  Costa Rica's Christiana Figueres is to be the new head of the UN climate convention, BBC News understands.

Post Cochabamba wonderments:

• 2010/05/18: Rabble: Cochabamba: What next?

  The US National Academy of Sciences has released three major reports on climate change. Seemorein US pol:

• America's Climate Choices

  The Lyman et al. report on ocean heat content generated much interest:

• 2010/05/20: Nature: (ab$) Robust warming of the global upper ocean by John M. Lyman et al.
• 2010/05/23: SkeptiSci: Robust warming of the global upper ocean [Lyman]
• 2010/05/21: RealClimate: Ocean heat content increases update
• 2010/05/21: TerraDaily: New Study Finds Ocean Warmed Significantly Since 1993
• 2010/05/19: PhysOrg: Ocean Stored Significant Warming Over Last 16 Years: Research
  The upper layer of the world's ocean has warmed since 1993, indicating a strong climate change signal, according to a new study.
• 2010/05/20: Independent(UK): Man-made climate change blamed for 'significant' rise in ocean temperature
• 2010/05/19: NASA:JPL: New Study Finds Ocean Warmed Significantly Since 1993
• 2010/05/19: NOAANews: Ocean Stored Significant Warming Over Last 16 Years

  The volume of the oceans has been measured/calculated anew:

• 2010/05/22: ABC(US): Oceans Warmer and Smaller in New Studies -- Seas Slowly Warming; Scientists Calculate How Much Water in Them
• 2010/05/20: PhysOrg: Oceans Smaller And Warmer
  Two new studies out this week give the best scientific estimates of the average depth of the world's oceans, the total amount of water they contain, and the extent to which this water warmed over the last two decades - the latter being an important measure of climate change.
• 2010/05/18: SciDaily: Volume and Depth of the World's Oceans Calculated [1.332 billion cubic kilometers]

  And Lake Tanganyika is warming dramtically:

• 2010/05/20: SkeptiSci: Unprecedented Warming in Lake Tanganyika and its impact on humanity
• 2010/05/17: Eureka: Twentieth-century warming in Lake Tanganyika is unprecedented -- Warming in last century threatens one of Africa's largest inland fisheries
• 2010/05/17: Eureka: Unprecedented warming in East Africa's Lake Tanganyika -- Lake's surface waters are warmest on record
• 2010/05/16: Reuters: Africa's lake Tanganyika warming fast, life dying
  Africa's lake Tanganyika has heated up sharply over the past 90 years and is now warmer than at any time for at least 1,500 years, a scientific paper said on Sunday, adding that fish and wildlife are threatened.

The Anthropocene put in an appearance:

• 2010/05/17: Yale360: The Anthropocene Debate: Marking Humanity's Impact
  Is human activity altering the planet on a scale comparable to major geological events of the past? Scientists are now considering whether to officially designate a new geological epoch to reflect the changes that homo sapiens have wrought: the Anthropocene.

The Carbon Tariff folks are changing the name to a "carbon inclusion mechanism":

• 2010/05/18: EurActiv: France details plans for 'carbon inclusion mechanism'
  A campaign led by French President Nicolas Sarkozy to introduce carbon tariffs at EU borders in order to restore fair competition with freely-polluting industries in China is being revamped in Brussels to allay fears that it might trigger a trade war. The proposed system, called a "carbon inclusion mechanism," would require importers of goods manufactured outside Europe to buy pollution permits from the EU's emissions trading scheme for carbon dioxide (EU-ETS).

Who's getting the subsidies?

• 2010/05/20: PressEurop: Ryanair flies high on subsidies
  Ryanair enjoys huge subsidies at many of Europe's 200 or more regional airports. A number of competitors, Lufthansa and Air France among them, suggest that these subsidies low-cost Irish airline receive are not only questionable, but that it couldn't survive without them.

Several articles have anticipated the soon-to-be-released Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity report:

• 2010/05/21: Guardian(UK): UN says case for saving species 'more powerful than climate change'
• 2010/05/22: Yahoo:AFP: UN study backs economic changes to save natural world: report
• 2010/05/21: Guardian(UK): Why do we care about biodiversity?
  The UN's The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) project shows us the real cost of damaging nature
• 2010/05/23: PhysOrg: UN study backs economic changes to save natural world: report
  A key UN report on biodiversity will recommend massive economic changes like company fines to help save species and protect the natural world, The Guardian reported here on Saturday.

Is somebody looking for a malaria-gate?

• 2010/05/21: TWTB: Did the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report oversell the climate-malaria connection?
• 2010/05/21: Guardian(UK): Debate heats up over climate impact on malaria spread
• 2010/05/20: SciNow: Malaria Probably Won't Get Worse With Warming Temperatures
• 2010/05/20: BBC: Climate change is 'distraction' on malaria spread
  Climate change will have a tiny impact on malaria compared with our capacity to control the disease, a study finds.
• 2010/05/19: NewScientist: Malaria in retreat despite warmer climate
• 2010/05/19: NatureN: Malaria may not rise as world warms -- Studies suggest that strategies to combat the disease are offsetting the impact of climate change

  Late comment on the Hartwell paper:

• 2010/05/22: TPL: The Hartwell Paper and Capitulation
• 2010/05/21: C-a-S: The Low Hanging Climate Pollutant
• 2010/05/19: C-a-S: A Wicked Problem

  Top18:

  Post CRU theft, controversy & inquiry:
• 2010/05/22: AFTIC: Prominent climate skeptic defends Phil Jones
• 2010/05/21: IJISH: climategate.com is now a redirect; Miller 'proves' CRU "fraud" via wingnut fractal logic
• 2010/05/18: IJI: "Decoding SwiftHack", the successor blog
• 2010/05/17: MTobis: The Story About the News
• 2010/05/17: IJISH: Stolen NASA files zipped in -0500/-0400 time zone; and, "Climategate" is "hot" and "silenced"?
• 2010/05/17: C-a-S: No 'Tidy' End in Sight
• 2010/05/14: BBC:RB: IPCC review: friend or foe?

  The Arctic melt continues to garner a lot of attention:

• 2010/05/22: CBC:Q&Q: (mp3) Greenland Rising
• 2010/05/21: QuarkSoup: Arctic Sea Ice Volume
• 2010/05/21: ClimateP: Arctic double stunner: Sea ice extent is now below 2007 levels, while volume hit record low for March
• 2010/05/21: TerraDaily: Greenland Rapidly Rising As Ice Melt Continues
• 2010/05/20: ERabett: Whan that Aprill with its cold snap sorta
• 2010/05/18: Grist: Weighing Greenland
  Scott Luthcke weighs Greenland -- every 10 days. And the island has been losing weight, an average of 183 gigatons (or 200 cubic kilometers) -- in ice -- annually during the past six years. That's one third the volume of water in Lake Erie every year. Greenland's shrinking ice sheet offers some of the most powerful evidence of global warming. Luthcke is a scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. He specializes in space geodesy, a branch of earth sciences that monitors Earth from space by measuring changes in the planet's shape, orientation, and gravitational field.
• 2010/05/18: TCoE: Greenland: Movin' on up
• 2010/05/18: CBC: Greenland's coastal areas rising
  Greenland's ice is melting at such a rapid pace that the land beneath it is rising up, say U.S. researchers.
• 2010/05/17: Reuters: Arctic team reports unusual conditions near Pole
  A group of British explorers just back from a 60-day trip to the North Pole said Monday they had encountered unusual conditions, including ice sheets that drifted far faster than they had expected.
• 2010/05/18: Eureka: Greenland rapidly rising as ice melt continues
  Scientists from the University of Miami are surprised at how rapidly the ice is melting in Greenland and how quickly the land is rising in response. Their findings are published in Nature Geoscience

As for the geopolitics of Arctic resources:

• 2010/05/18: Grist: Shell moves forward with Arctic drilling without a backup plan
• 2010/05/19: G&M: Politicians, activists raise alarm over Greenland's ambitious drilling program
  Even a minor spill would be catastrophic, leaving dozens of Canadian towns along iceberg alley coated
• 2010/05/18: LA Times: Shell adds precautions for Arctic drilling
  The oil company says it will have a containment dome, submersible vehicle and divers at its drilling site.
• 2010/05/17: PlanetArk: WWF Sees "Severe Risk" In Arctic Oil Exploration

  The food crisis is ongoing:

• 2010/05/21: IRIN: Nepal: Food supplies running low in western hills
• 2010/05/19: FAO: Special Alert No. 329 -- The food situation is of grave concern in parts of the Sahel, notably in Niger
• 2010/05/21: CBC: UN official warns on fisheries losses
  The UN's top environment official has echoed warnings that commercial fishing could be destroyed within 50 years. "It is not a science fiction scenario. It is within the lifetime of a child born today," said Achim Steiner, head of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP).
• 2010/05/18: TerraDaily: Ministers in emergency meeting over food crisis in west Africa
  West African ministers will meet Wednesday in the Togolese capital of Lome to tackle a food and nutritional crisis in the region, an official statement said. Ministers responsible for agriculture and livestock development, trade and humanitarian affairs from the 15 member nations of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) are expected to attend the meeting, the statement said.
• 2010/05/19: Reuters: Shifting rivers threaten India's top tea region [Assam]
  Shifting rivers in India's largest tea producing state and abnormally high rainfall this year is destroying hundreds of acres of tea gardens and could cut output in the world's second-largest tea grower.
• 2010/05/17: RawStory: Oceans' fish could disappear in 40 years: UN

  The conflict between biofuel and food persists:

• 2010/05/20: EnergyBulletin: Agriculture as provider of both food and fuel
• 2010/05/20: PlanetArk: Limited biofuel land compatible with food: industry
• 2010/05/19: Reuters: Limited biofuel land compatible with food: industry
  A large but limited amount of land can be used to provide plant-based fuel without cutting the world's food supply, environmentalists and consultants told a global biofuels gathering on Wednesday.

And how are we going to feed 9 billion?

• 2010/05/21: WFP: Colombia: Families Take The Sweet Route Out of Hunger [with panela]
• 2010/05/19: FAO: A boost to half of Lesotho's rural farmers -- European Union Food Facility brings substantial increase in food production
• 2010/05/21: FAO: Italy donates to food gene pact -- Something to celebrate on International Biodiversity Day
• 2010/05/21: Grist: Michael Pollan chronicles rise of the food movement(s)
• 2010/05/17: NYRB: The Food Movement, Rising by Michael Pollan
• 2010/05/20: CNN: Using nature's bounty to feed the hungry
  New Jersey man created way for gardeners to share extra produce with the hungry - Website AmpleHarvest.org connects gardeners nationwide with food pantries - Nearly 2,000 food pantries across the U.S. are now registered on the site
• 2010/05/21: Eureka: Endangered African rice varieties gain elite status
  New findings underline the promise of genetically diverse African rice for boosting production and adapting it to climate change
• 2010/05/19: UN: New [UNCTAD] report calls for 'green revolution' by Africa's small farmers
• 2010/05/16: SMH: Growing problem needs radical ideas
  The nation must completely rethink where and how it grows its food, a prominent scientist and NSW government adviser says. John Williams, head of the NSW Natural Resources Commission, said we must shift production from the dry inland to the coast and stop development from devouring farms around our cities and large towns.
• 2010/05/18: EnergyBulletin: The lessons of climate history: implications for post-carbon agriculture
• 2010/05/18: UN: UN agency [WFP] seeks to step up effectiveness of food delivery in crisis zones
• 2010/05/18: PlanetArk: Gulf Looks To Science To Turn Desert To Farmland
  Gulf nations hope science will turn desert areas into arable land to boost food security and avoid the risks inherent in buying farmland abroad, industry insiders said Monday. Farming in the Gulf battles against little water supply, high soil salinity and extreme heat. But many of the countries in the region have the cash to adopt expensive solutions that others could not. Abu Dhabi has conducted a soil survey to identify areas with underground water supplies and soil quality that could be enhanced, said Faisal Taha, who headed the project by the Abu Dhabi Environment Agency. The survey found over 200,000 hectares of land that could be used for agriculture given the right investment, Taha told Reuters on the sidelines of an industry conference in Abu Dhabi.
• 2010/05/18: ASA: Cover Crops Reduce Erosion, Runoff
• 2010/05/17: TreeHugger: Dear Monsanto, Thank You for the Superweeds

  In the North Indian Ocean, Laila zapped India and Bandu threatened Yemen:

• 2010/05/21: PhysOrg: NASA sees one of Cyclone Laila's thunderstorms almost 11 miles high
  A NASA 3-D look inside Cyclone Laila as it made landfall yesterday revealed a towering thunderstorm reaching almost 11 miles high! NASA's Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite has been capturing images of Cyclone Laila since it was born in the Northern Indian Ocean as tropical depression 1A earlier this week.
• 2010/05/20: PhysOrg: NASA's Aqua satellite sees Tropical Storm 02A's high thunderstorms
  NASA's Aqua satellite saw some strong thunderstorms in Tropical Storm 02A using infrared imagery, as it heads into the Gulf of Aden between Somalia and Yemen.
• 2010/05/20: Eureka: NASA's TRMM sees heavy rainfall in Cyclone Laila's India landfall
• 2010/05/20: EarthTimes: Cyclone Laila hits Indian coast
• 2010/05/19: TerraDaily: Cyclone [Laila] bears down on India's southeast coast
• 2010/05/20: Google:AP: Indian state braces for [Cyclone Laila] fierce storm; 15 killed
• 2010/05/18: PhysOrg: Aqua satellite sees Tropical Storm 1B form in Bay of Bengal
• 2010/05/19: EarthTimes: Thousands evacuated from Indian coast as cyclone [Laila] nears
• 2010/05/19: NASA: NASA's Aqua Satellite Sees Second Tropical Storm Form Near the Horn of Africa
• 2010/05/19: NASA: Cyclone Laila, Formerly Tropical Storm 1B, is Headed for Landfall in India
• 2010/05/19: CBC: Indian state readies for cyclone [Laila] -- Storm forces evacuation of thousands
  A southern Indian state has declared a cyclone alert and evacuated thousands of people one day before it expects to be hit by its worst storm in 14 years. Cyclone Laila was expected to slam into the coast of Andhra Pradesh state from the Bay of Bengal on Thursday. Its heavy rains and strong winds have already killed at least eight people, including four workers killed when an industrial workshop collapsed because of heavy rain. At least 19 fishermen are missing

The first Atlantic storm is forming:

• 2010/05/22: Wunderground: Little change to 90L; flow of oil southwards towards Loop Current shuts off
• 2010/05/22: Wunderground: First Atlantic Invest, 90L is here; oil now 350 miles west of Key West

  While elsewhere in the hurricane wars:

• 2010/05/18: SciDaily: Why Do Earth's Storm Tracks Differ from Those of Jupiter?
• 2010/05/20: DM:CCM: Of Hurricanes and Oil
• 2010/05/16: CCP: Jeff Masters' Wunderblog: Record Atlantic SSTs continue in the hurricane Main Development Region

  As for GHGs:

• 2010/05/19: EUO: Greenhouse gas emissions down sharply as result of crisis
  Greenhouse gas emissions from European Union businesses are down sharply, falling almost 12 percent last year, according to data released on Tuesday (18 May) by the European Commission.
• 2010/05/19: PlanetArk: European recession slashed 2009 carbon emissions [by ~11%]
• 2010/05/18: SkeptiSci: The significance of the CO2 lag
• 2010/05/18: PhysOrg: Fast food lamb curries have carbon footprint of 140 million car miles
• 2010/05/13: StatsCan: Study: Greenhouse gas emissions from private vehicles -- 1990 to 2007
• 2010/05/17: CanWest: Canada's vehicle emissions up 35 per cent in 17 years: report
  Greenhouse gas emissions from private vehicles rose by more than a third in Canada between 1990 and 2007, nearly doubling the rate of population growth, according to a Statistics Canada report. The report, released Thursday, indicates that despite advances in fuel efficiency and the lower emissions of modern vehicles, greenhouse gases from personal automobiles increased 35 per cent from 1990 to 2007, with 2007 and 2002 registering the biggest increases in emissions overall.

And in the carbon cycle:

• 2010/05/17: ASA: How Grazinglands Influence Greenhouse Gas -- Study examines grasslands and grazing management impacts on global warming

  As for the temperature record:

• 2010/05/23: ClimateSight: 2010 On Track for the Warmest Year on Record
• 2010/05/17: QuarkSoup: Yet Another Record-breaking Month
• 2010/05/21: CCP: Unprecedented Warming in East Africa's Lake Tanganyika; Lake's surface waters are warmest in 1,500 years
• 2010/05/18: GreenGrok: Letter from Earth: We're Getting Warmer
• 2010/05/21: PlanetArk: 2010 On Track To Be Hottest Ever: U.S. Climate Data
• 2010/05/21: Wunderground: Warmest April on record for the globe
• 2010/05/21: Eureka: Temperature and salt levels of the Western Mediterranean are on the increase
• 2010/05/19: Reuters: 2010 on track to be hottest ever: U.S. climate data
  This year is on track to be the hottest ever after data published by America's climate agency this week showed record global temperatures in April and the first four months of 2010.
• 2010/05/20: MongaBay: Warmest April on record
• 2010/05/18: TerraDaily: April 2010 the hottest April on record: WMO
• 2010/05/18: Stoat: Strangely High Temperatures
• 2010/05/17: QuarkSoup: Strangely High Temperatures
• 2010/05/18: KSJT: AP: Warmest Jan-Apr ever (measured); Fox News via LiveScience: Ditto for 2009's South Pole
• 2010/05/17: ClimateP: NOAA: Hottest April and hottest Jan-April on record
• 2010/05/18: NatureTGB: Picture post: 'hottest April ever'
• 2010/05/18: TreeHugger: Warmest April, Ever - NOAA Releases New Global Temperature Data
• 2010/05/17: TLC: Hottest April, Hottest January-April, Hottest 12 Months On Record
• 2010/05/17: TP:WR: Global Boiling: The Past Twelve Months Were The Hottest In History
• 2010/05/17: DWWSJ: NASA & NOAA- Warmest April On Record. 34th In a Row Above Average.
• 2010/05/17: TCoE: Mapping the warming
• 2010/05/17: NOAANews: Warmest April Global Temperature on Record -- Also Warmest January-April
• 2010/05/16: NYT:PK: How Will They Spin This?

  Aerosols are making their presence felt:

• 2010/05/19: PhysOrg: Dust Cloud From China Shows How We Share the Air

  Kudzu vine exudes ozone?

• 2010/05/18: NatureCF: Curse of the Kudzu
• 2010/05/18: NatureTGB: Invasive plant [kudzu] will make you choke [O3]
• 2010/05/18: CBC: Kudzu vine adds ozone pollution: scientists

  While in the paleoclimate:

• 2010/05/21: RawStory: Scientists: Timor Sea metorite altered Earth's climate
• 2010/05/21: AusGeo: Vast asteroid crater found in Timor Sea
  Evidence of a massive crater, at least 50 km across, has been discovered under the Timor Sea and may help scientists explain a rapid cooling of the planet 35 million years ago. The new findings, announced today and published in the Australian Journal of Earth Sciences, suggest that the impact could have contributed towards the formation of the Antarctic ice sheet.
• 2010/05/18: Wiley: New Study Reveals Link Between 'Climate Footprints' and Mass Mammal Extinction [50 kya]

  While on the ENSO front:

• 2010/05/19: Wunderground: El Niño is done; Haiti at risk of heavy rains next week; oil spill update

  Regarding Climate Sensitivity:

• 2010/05/20: JEB: Another look at climate sensitivity
• 2010/05/17: JEB: Bounds, climate sensitivity, and costs of climate change

  The cliff, aka tipping points, aka planetary boundaries, put in an appearance:

• 2010/05/22: UN: Biodiversity loss brings ecological systems closer to a tipping point, Ban says

  Meanwhile in near earth orbit:

• 2010/05/21: PhysOrg: ESA's SMOS [Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity] water mission goes live
  ESA's SMOS satellite completed its six-month commissioning this week and formally began operational life. This milestone means the mission is now set to provide much-needed global images of soil moisture and ocean salinity to improve our understanding of the water cycle.

More GW impacts are being seen:

• 2010/05/23: Guardian(UK): Mongolia: Nomadic way of life at risk as harsh winter kills 17% of livestock
• 2010/05/21: TEC: Climate Change and Local Public Health in the United States
• 2010/05/20: PhysOrg: Warming could change South Australia's weed pests
  Hotter temperatures and reduced rainfall in South Australia due to climate change could prompt a period of 'weed change' across the state, according to a new report from CSIRO.
• 2010/05/19: NYT: Winter Leaves Mongolians a Harvest of Carcasses
• 2010/05/17: TreeHugger: 17% of North American Birds [148 of 882 species] Facing Rapid Decline
• 2010/05/17: Eureka: Climate threatens trout and salmon

  And then there are the world's forests:

• 2010/05/21: TreeHugger: Can 'Ecological Exploitation' Save Teghut Forest [in northern Armenia]?
• 2010/05/20: PhysOrg: The fight is on to save Kenya's green lung [Mau Forest]
  Poverty and climate change are threatening one of East Africa's most valuable forestry areas. Researchers from the University of Copenhagen, including researchers from the Faculty of Life Sciences and the Faculty of Law, have therefore just started a promising partnership with the Wangari Maathai Institute of Peace and Environmental Studies at the University of Nairobi as well as the grassroots Green Belt Movement, which has planted more than 40 million trees in Kenya.
• 2010/05/19: ABC(Au): Brazilian rancher behind US nun's murder freed
  A Brazilian rancher sentenced to 30 years for paying hit men to murder a US nun fighting for landless workers' rights in the Amazon has been freed on appeal, court officials said. Regivaldo Pereira Galvao, 44, who was ordered to prison on May 1, walked out of a penitentiary on Tuesday as soon as the judge gave him parole to challenge the length of his sentence, a spokesman for a court in the northern city of Belem said.
• 2010/05/19: Eureka: New England losing forest cover -- scholars call for accelerated conservation -- New report seeks to retain 70 percent of the region in forest
• 2010/05/16: TerraDaily: Certified logging no match for Indonesia's timber 'mafia'
• 2010/05/17: TreeHugger: Deforestation Victory! Nestlé Will Stop Using Rainforest-Destroying Palm Oil
• 2010/05/17: EarthTimes: Nestle pledges moves on deforestation
  Geneva - Nestle announced Monday it would take steps to end its use of palm oil purchased from suppliers whose activities are destroying vulnerable tropical forests. The Vevey, Switzerland-based food company said it "will focus on the systematic identification and exclusion of companies owning or managing high risk plantations or farms linked to deforestation." Greenpeace in Switzerland, which has been campaigning for the company to use less harmful palm oil, welcomed the move and said it would push on with other leaders of industry.
• 2010/05/17: Purdue: NASA, Google data show North Korea logging in protected area

  In Canada, 21 forestry companies and 9 green organizations made a deal to save large parts of the boreal forest:

• The Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement
• 2010/05/21: Grist: Big companies help do something right in Canadian forest deal
• 2010/05/21: Rabble: Marketplace campaign brings wilderness destruction out of the woods
• 2010/05/20: Dominion: Boreal Forest Conflicts Far From Over -- Mainstream enviros, timber industry shut First Nations out of "historic" deal
• 2010/05/19: SolveClimate: World's Largest Forest Protection Deal Signed in Canada -- Stakeholders end long-running feud to protect more than 70 million acres of boreal forest
• 2010/05/19: ABC(Au): Massive deal to protect Canada's forests
• 2010/05/19: DM:80B: Truce Between Green Groups & Timber Companies Could Save Canadian Forests
• 2010/05/18: Guardian(UK): Canadian logging campaigners end protest with unprecedented forest truce
• 2010/05/18: Grist: Canadian forestry firms agree to curb boreal forest logging
• 2010/05/18: NatureN: Pact protects Canadian forests -- Huge conservation deal will benefit caribou and maybe climate
• 2010/05/18: TreeHugger: 170 Million Acres of Boreal Forest Saved in Major Historical Agreement!
• 2010/05/18: BBC: 'World's biggest' forest protection deal for Canada
  Timber companies and environment groups have unveiled an agreement aimed at protecting two-thirds of Canada's vast forests from unsustainable logging.
• 2010/05/18: CBC: Forest industry, green groups strike deal
  A major agreement between Canada's forestry companies and environmental groups will see logging in 29 million hectares of boreal forest suspended so a plan to preserve the woodland caribou can be developed. The move, which comes after years of negotiation, was announced Tuesday in Toronto by the Forest Products Association of Canada (FPAC) and nine environmental groups.
• 2010/05/17: CBC: Loggers, environmentalists agree -- 21 big forestry companies and 9 green organizations to make statement
  Canada's largest forest companies and environmental groups have declared peace on the management of the country's massive northern forest, sources say. An agreement to be made public Tuesday involves 21 of Canada's biggest logging companies and nine environmental organizations that in the past have been among the most critical of Canadian forestry practices. The formal announcement is to be made in Toronto on Tuesday. The Forest Products Association of Canada refused to release details Monday, but sources say it involves protection of some of the most sensitive parts of the country's so-called boreal forest in B.C., Alberta and Quebec.
• 2010/05/18: WpgFP: Forestry firms make environmental pledge to stop logging large swath of forest

  This week in extreme weather:

• 2010/05/18: EarthTimes: Sri Lanka storms leave eight dead, 200,000 displaced

  Meanwhile in tornado alley:

• 2010/05/21: PhysOrg: Researchers capture impressive tornadic data and images [using advanced weather radar]
• 2010/05/18: PhysOrg: Oklahoma Tornadoes Give Scientists The Slip [VORTEX2]

  As for heatwaves and wild fires:

• 2010/05/17: DVB: Scores die in relentless heatwave -- The death toll from a near unprecedented heatwave in Burma is rising
• 2010/05/20: CBC: ATV likely started Alberta [Opal] wildfire
• 2010/05/18: CBC: Alberta fire forces evacuation alert for 72 homes
• 2010/05/19: CBC: Rain helps crews fighting Opal fire
  Crews fighting a large wildfire northeast of Edmonton received a break overnight in the form of rain. Scattered showers Tuesday night helped firefighters keep the massive fire near the hamlet Opal from spreading. Firefighters kept the blaze at about 3,000 hectares in size on Tuesday despite record temperatures and strong winds.
• 2010/05/18: EarthTimes: Heat wave kills seven in Mauritania
• 2010/05/18: WpgFP: Emergency declared: forest fire in northern Saskatchewan destroys home
• 2010/05/17: NatureN: Mediterranean most at risk from European heatwaves -- Increased heat and humidity predicted to have biggest health impact in valleys and coastal cities
• 2010/05/17: CBC: Wildfire threatens homes near Edmonton

  Acidification is changing the oceans:

• 2010/05/19: Eureka: Europe's scientists call for more effort in tackling rising ocean acidity -- European Science Foundation presents ocean acidification report at EU Maritime Day 2010

  As for hydrological cycle disruptions [floods & droughts]:

• 2010/05/22: ClimateP: The Tennessee deluge of 2010: Nashville's 'Katrina' and the dawn of the superflood
• 2010/05/21: UN: As floods hit Sri Lanka, UN agencies back Government relief efforts
• 2010/05/20: TerraDaily: Race against time in flood-swept Polish town [Sandomierz]
• 2010/05/20: ABC(Au): Wind-powered desal plan for SA
  A proposal has been announced for about 20 wind-powered desalination plants across the Eyre Peninsula and the upper Spencer Gulf in South Australia.
• 2010/05/20: EarthTimes: Warsaw readies for flooding as river rises
• 2010/05/20: Guardian(UK): A summer heatwave will not affect our ground water -- It is dry winters that lower water tables and decrease river flow
• 2010/05/19: EurActiv: EU warns of permanent water scarcity in some regions
• 2010/05/18: TerraDaily: Europe flooding toll hits 9 dead
• 2010/05/19: EarthTimes: France, Germany rush pumps to flood-hit Poland
• 2010/05/19: DerSpiegel: Central Europe Flooded -- Germany Braced for Rising Water, Heavy Rain
  Floods have claimed at least seven lives in Central Europe and thousands of people have been evacuated, cut off or left without power or drinking water. Meanwhile, Germany is expecting rising water levels later in the week. While locals recall the devastating European floods of 1997, officials say there is no need to panic.
• 2010/05/18: CBC: Floods in Poland kill 5 -- Thousands in Central Europe forced to evacuate low-lying areas
• 2010/05/18: EarthTimes: Death toll rises in Central and Eastern Europe floods
• 2010/05/17: TerraDaily: Thousands evacuated in Hungary due to floods
• 2010/05/17: EarthTimes: Floods claim first victim in Czech Republic
• 2010/05/17: EarthTimes: Three dead, hundreds evacuated in Polish floods
• 2010/05/17: TP:WR: Global Boiling's War On Country Music

  Elsewhere on the mitigation front:

• 2010/05/23: OilDrum: Where should we be putting our mitigation priorities?
• 2010/05/12: GregorM: Reducing Carbon the Old Fashioned Way

  Consider transportation & GHG production:

• 2010/05/22: GreenBiz: Green Report Card on Cruise Ships Sets Off Storm of Controversy
  Despite efforts to improve operations, cruise ships that ply North American waters must go a lot further to become environmentally responsible, says Friends of the Earth, whose latest report card on the industry gives 11 major cruise lines green grades ranging from B- to F.
• 2010/05/20: FuturePundit: Rail Freight Highly Energy Efficient
• 2010/05/17: Guardian(UK): What's not to like about high-speed rail? The case simply hasn't been made [Monbiot] [UK pol]
• 2010/05/19: Reuters: Shipping faces turbulent ride on carbon cutting quest
• 2010/05/17: SlashDot: MIT Designs Aircraft That Uses 70% Less Fuel Than Conventional Planes

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

• 2010/05/21: PlanetArk: EU Agrees Mandate For "Nearly Zero Energy" Homes

  As for carbon sequestration:

• 2010/05/19: BSD: Volokh Correction #27: open air carbon capture not easier than capture at power plants

  Large scale geo-engineering keeps popping up:

• 2010/05/: SciNews: Engineering a cooler Earth -- Researchers brainstorm radical ways to counter climate change
• 2010/05/21: BBC:RB: 'Playing God' with the climate?
• 2010/05/19: ScienceInsider: National Academy Report Calls for Geoengineering Research

  Meanwhile in the journals:

• 2010/05/17: NERC:NORA: A survey of European sea level infrastructure by P.L. Woodworth et al.
• 2010/05/17: NERC:NORA: Rates of sea-level change over the past century in a geocentric reference frame by G. Woeppelmann et al.
• 2010/05/18: NERC:NORA: Neogene glacigenic debris flows on James Ross Island, northern Antarctic Peninsula, and their implications for regional climate history by Anna Nelson et al.
• 2010/05/19: NERC:NORA: The influence of climate, hydrology and permafrost on Holocene peat accumulation at 3500 m on the eastern Qinghai-Tibetan plateau by D. Large et al.
• 2010/05/20: NERC:NORA: The 3D geological model for the Forres groundwater flood risk area [abstract only] by Clive Auton et al.
• 2010/05/21: NERC:NORA: An assessment of the CO2 storage potential of the Indian subcontinent by S. Holloway et al.
• 2010/05/21: ACP: Particle number size distributions in urban air before and after volatilisation by W. Birmili et al.
• 2010/05/21: ACP: IASI-METOP and MIPAS-ENVISAT data fusion by S. Ceccherini et al.
• 2010/05/21: ACP: How can aerosols affect the Asian summer monsoon? Assessment during three consecutive pre-monsoon seasons from CALIPSO satellite data by J. Kuhlmann & J. Quaas
• 2010/05/21: ACPD: Interannual variability in soil nitric oxide emissions over the United States as viewed from space by R. C. Hudman et al.
• 2010/05/18: TCD: The Northeast Asia mountain glaciers in the near future by AOGCM scenarios by M. D. Ananicheva et al.
• 2010/05/18: TCD: Short term variations of tracer transit speed on Alpine glaciers by M. A. Werder et al.
• 2010/05/16: Nature:GeoSci: (lab$) Accelerating uplift in the North Atlantic region as an indicator of ice loss by Yan Jiang et al.
• 2010/05/20: Nature: (ab$) Robust warming of the global upper ocean by John M. Lyman et al.
• 2010/05/21: CP: Arctic marine climate of the early nineteenth century by P. Brohan et al.
• 2010/05/20: CPD: Do periodic consolidations of Pacific countercurrents trigger global cooling by equatorially symmetric La Niña? by J. H. Duke
• 2010/05/17: CPD: A comprehensive, multi-process box-model approach to glacial-interglacial carbon cycling by A. M. de Boer et al.
• 2010/05/17: CPD: Calcareous nannofossil assemblages from the Central Mediterranean Sea over the last four centuries: the impact of the little ice age by A. Incarbona et al.
• 2010/05/16: Nature:GeoSci: (lab$) Late-twentieth-century warming in Lake Tanganyika unprecedented since AD 500 by Jessica E. Tierney et al.
• 2010/05/20: ACP: Organic aerosol components observed in Northern Hemispheric datasets from Aerosol Mass Spectrometry by N. L. Ng et al.
• 2010/05/19: ACP: On the roles of circulation and aerosols in the decline of mist and dense fog in Europe over the last 30 years by G. J. van Oldenborgh et al.
• 2010/05/18: ACP: A climatological perspective of deep convection penetrating the TTL during the Indian summer monsoon from the AVHRR and MODIS instruments by A. Devasthale & S. Fueglistaler
• 2010/05/18: ACP: Black carbon aerosols and the third polar ice cap by S. Menon et al.
• 2010/05/17: ACP: Direct radiative effect of aerosols emitted by transport: from road, shipping and aviation by Y. Balkanski et al.
• 2010/05/19: ACPD: Detailed cloud resolving model simulations of the impacts of Saharan air layer dust on tropical deep convection - Part 1: Dust acts as ice nuclei by W. Gong et al.
• 2010/05/17: ACPD: Assessment of the calibration performance of satellite visible channels using cloud targets: application to Meteosat-8/9 and MTSAT-1R by S.-H. Ham & B. J. Sohn
• 2010/05/17: ACPD: CO2 and its correlation with CO at a rural site near Beijing: implications for combustion efficiency in China by Y. Wang et al.
• 2010/05/17: ACPD: Observed 20th century desert dust variability: impact on climate and biogeochemistry by N. M. Mahowald et al.
• 2010/04/04: Nature:GeoSci: High nitrous oxide production from thawing permafrost by Bo Elberling et al.
• 2010/05/17: AGWObserver: Papers on the deglaciation of snowball Earth
• 2010/05/18: PNAS: [Letter$] An ecosystem context for global gross forest cover loss estimates by Werner A. Kurz
• 2010/04/14: Evolution: (ab$) Climate predictors of late quaternary extinctions by D. Nogués-Bravo et al.

  And other significant documents:

• 2010/05/20: NREL: [links to several pdfs] Western Wind and Solar Integration Study
• 2010/05/21: TCoE: [link to 1.0 meg pdf] Doc alert: Richard Alley's Congressional presentation
• IU: [pdf book chapters] Photosynthesis by Rabinowitch and Govindjee
• 2010/05/17: DeSmogBlog: [link to 3.5 meg pdf] Fossil Fuel Industry's 65-Page Strategy to Sell Carbon and Capture Technology

  As for miscellaneous science:

• 2010/05/20: TerraDaily: Nationwide Sea-Floor Ecology Study Starts Off WA [Western Australia's Rottnest Island]
• 2010/05/19: CCP: A. J. McMichael & K. B. G. Dear discuss the new Sherwood & Huber PNAS paper
• 2010/05/17: Eureka: Caltech researchers find schooling fish offer new ideas for wind farming

  Gardner obit:

• 2010/05/22: DM:BA: Martin Gardner, 1914 - 2010

  Regarding Cameron Wake:

• 2010/05/21: Grist: Glacier gumshoe seeks secrets of climate change in ice [Cameron Wake profile]

  More Hansen:

• 2010/05/18: CCP: James Hansen: Remarks in the National Assembly of France, May 2010

  While at the UN:

• 2010/05/21: MetroNews: Pacific island nations compare global warming to 'invading army,' plead for UN climate help
• 2010/05/17: UN: Preparations begin for 20-year review of landmark UN environment [Rio] conference
• 2010/05/18: NRDC:SwitchBoard: First Steps Down the Road to Rio: Earth Summit 2012

  And on the carbon trading front:

• 2010/05/21: EUO: Another ETS fraud raid reveals firearms, cash
• 2010/05/21: PlanetArk: UK Arrests Four More In Suspected CO2 Tax Probe
  British tax investigators arrested four more people on Thursday they said were believed to be connected to a 38 million pound ($54.5 million) suspected tax fraud in European carbon credit trading. The HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) investigators also found firearms and large amounts of cash during the early morning raids on seven properties in London and Leicester areas, the agency said in a statement.
• 2010/05/18: BBerg: Carbon in U.S. Northeast Falls on Senate Climate Bill Concerns
  Carbon dioxide permits in the U.S. Northeast's cap-and-trade program fell to their lowest level this year on concern that legislation to set up a national emissions market won't pass Congress in 2010. Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative permits for December delivery fell 5 cents, or 2.4 percent, to $2.05 on the Chicago Climate Futures Exchange. The cap-and-trade program regulates the emissions of power plants from Maryland to Maine and each permit represents one ton of carbon dioxide.

The idea of a carbon tax is still bouncing around:

• 2010/05/19: SlashDot: National Academy of Science Urges Carbon Tax

  The proposed G20 Bank Tax is turning into a tussle:

• 2010/05/20: TerraDaily: Merkel to campaign for markets tax at G20
  German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Thursday she would lead a campaign for a tax on financial markets at the next summit of the Group of 20 major economies in June and called for international support. Speaking at a conference on financial regulation here, Merkel said: "We have now stated that we will campaign for a tax on the financial markets and we will campaign for that at our (G20) summit in Canada." She did not specify whether she was seeking a financial activity tax, which would cover profits and bonuses, or a financial transaction tax, an across-the-board levy on all market dealings.
• 2010/05/19: DerSpiegel: The World from Berlin -- 'A Tax Would Not Prevent the Next Crash'
  The German government has come out in favor of a tax on financial markets in a bid to reduce turmoil on the stock exchanges. German commentators warn that such a levy would cause investors to take their business elsewhere and could hit ordinary people and companies instead of speculators.
• 2010/05/17: WaPo: Canada to voice international bank tax opposition
• 2010/05/18: G&M: Tories launch global fight against bank tax -- PM aims to turn aside U.S. and EU initiative...

  Meanwhile on the international political front:

• 2010/05/21: EarthTimes: Bolivian leader Morales visits Sami parliament
• 2010/05/19: EUO: Thorny issues punctuate EU-Latin America summit
  The validity of European farm subsidies and rights over the Falkland Islands were among the thorny issues to resurface at a summit meeting between European Union and Latin American leaders in Madrid on Tuesday (18 May).
• 2010/05/18: Xinhuanet: EU, CariForum launch specific dialogue on climate change

  As for GW, energy & security:

• 2010/05/21: ClimateP: Climate change: The new national security challenge
• 2010/05/17: PlanetArk: Two Dead After Yemenis Clash Over Water Rights

  The issue of the law and activism is playing out around the world:

• 2010/05/19: EarthTimes: Four arrested after Greenpeace protest at dairy giant [Fonterra Co-operative Group Ltd]
• 2010/05/17: WaPo: 2 mountaintop mining foes held on $100,000 bail
• 2010/05/18: DeSmogBlog: Judge Sets $100,000 Bail for Anti-Coal Activists
• 2010/05/17: IGHIH: Two held on $100,000 bails for non-violent protest [against Massey Energy]

  What are the activists up to?

• 2010/05/20: Guardian(UK): Greenpeace activists scale BP's London headquarters in oil protest
• 2010/05/18: ABC(Au): YouTube hit gives Nestle the finger
  A gory YouTube video has prompted food giant Nestle to stop buying palm oil from companies that destroy Indonesian rainforests.
• 2010/05/18: EarthTimes: Greenpeace steps up climate change pressure on [NZ] dairy giant [Fonterra Cooperative Group Ltd]

  Polls! We have polls!

• 2010/05/19: AutoBG: Poll: Americans favor raising gas mileage requirement to 50 mpg
• 2010/05/19: CanWest: Most Canadians won't stop driving

  Regarding Water Politics and Business:

• 2010/05/21: USGS: Contaminants in Groundwater Used for Public Supply
  More than 20 percent of untreated water samples from 932 public wells across the nation contained at least one contaminant at levels of potential health concern, according to a new study by the U.S. Geological Survey.
  [...]
  Findings showed that naturally occurring contaminants, such as radon and arsenic, accounted for about three-quarters of contaminant concentrations greater than human-health benchmarks in untreated source water.
  [...]
  Man-made contaminants were also found in untreated water sampled from the public wells, including herbicides, insecticides, solvents, disinfection by-products, nitrate, and gasoline chemicals. Man-made contaminants accounted for about one-quarter of contaminant concentrations greater than human-health benchmarks, but were detected in 64 percent of the samples, predominantly in samples from unconfined aquifers.
• 2010/05/20: TerraDaily: Egypt rails against new Nile treaty
  Egypt, which takes the lion's share of water from the Nile River, is refusing to give up a drop to upstream African states that signed a treaty for more equitable sharing, escalating a long-running dispute over the river. Meantime, as climate change and inefficient water management take an increasing toll of Africa's water resources, the World Food Program warned a conference of regional leaders in Tanzania earlier this month that conflict over water is already prevalent across the continent.
• 2010/05/17: PlanetArk: Israel Opens Largest Desalination Plant Of Its Kind
• 2010/05/14: AlterNet: Tainted Water: Nitrate Contamination Spreading in California Communities

  Regarding the psychology of conservation:

• 2010/05/19: VoxEU: Energy conservation "nudges" and environmentalist ideology: Evidence from a randomized residential electricity field experiment by Dora L. Costa & Matthew E. Kahn
  How should households be encouraged to reduce electricity consumption? This column presents evidence from the US of a randomised "nudging" strategy -- providing energy saving tips as well as information on electricity usage relative to neighbours. It finds that while energy conservation nudges work with liberals, they backfire with conservatives. Certain pockets of Republican registered voters actually increased their electricity consumption in reaction to the nudge.

And on the American political front:

• 2010/05/21: Grist: Tea Party helps pass carbon tax
  Maryland's Montgomery County Council passed the nation's first county-level carbon tax on Wednesday thanks in part to a little heckling from a group of rowdy Tea Party protesters.
• 2010/05/21: TP:WR: Rand Paul Falsely Accuses The EPA of Running 'Amok' Without 'Congressional Oversight'
• 2010/05/21: ACSB: Louisiana Lawmakers Try to Hinder Tulane Environmental Law Clinic
  [...]
  Elie Mystal of Above the Law suggests that the proposed legislation was prompted not by a concern that the Tulane legal clinic was acting irresponsibly but rather by corporate lobbyists for oil companies who are trying to limit the legal efficacy of an organization that has brought successful suits against those companies in the past: "It is...surprising that state legislators are totally unashamed to appear to be in the back pocket of their corporate handlers." The measure was defeated yesterday, as the recent BP oil spill was reaching Louisiana's wetlands.
• 2010/05/20: NYT:GW: Resurgent Pombo Taps Anti-Enviro Vein in Bid for Calif. Seat
  Four years after being voted from office, former Rep. Richard Pombo (R) of California is attempting to resurrect his political career in a new district where few voters know his record for seeking to rewrite some of the nation's premier environmental laws. But observers of environmental politics during the 1990s and 2000s are all too familiar with Pombo, whose re-emergence has set off a flurry of opposition from advocacy groups who believe his return to Congress would rekindle the rancorous -- and some say anti-environmental -- debates that defined his tenure as chairman of the House Resources Committee from 2003 to 2008.
• 2010/05/20: Grist: Oil companies fund initiative to repeal California's landmark climate law
  Big Oil is nothing if not brazen, so while BP works to protect its tattered reputation in the Gulf, two Texas oil companies are on the attack in California. Their target is Assembly Bill 32, the most ambitious cap-and-trade climate plan in the nation, which was signed into law by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) in 2006 and is set to really kick into gear next year.
• 2010/05/20: SolveClimate: New Hampshire Utility's Move to Control Green Energy Dollars is Rebuffed
• 2010/05/19: Grist: Rand Paul's Copenhagen rant and other election notes
• 2010/05/18: Grist: The American Power Act and California's AB 32
• 2010/05/19: Grist: Home Star: Let's move past the talk and get to the action
• 2010/05/19: WashExaminer: Montgomery poised for carbon tax to fight global warming
• 2010/05/19: LA Times: Poizner goes from backer to foe of global warming law
  The Republican primary candidate for governor now wants California to roll back AB 32. Four years ago he called the law a bold effort to reduce dependency on fossil fuels.
• 2010/05/18: SolveClimate: Fierce Fight Expected Against Texas Oil's Effort to Derail California Climate Law
• 2010/05/18: UCSUSA: Billions of Dollars Leaving State Economies Annually to Import Coal, Report Finds
• 2010/05/18: TEC: Coal: The Southeast's Ten Billion Dollar Habit
• 2010/05/12: FAS:SN: A New Push for the Office of Technology Assessment
• 2010/05/18: AlterNet: PG&E's Audacious Attempt to Enshrine Its Energy Monopoly In the California Constitution
• 2010/05/17: PeakEnergy: Per capita energy consumption has declined in the United States

  The National Academy of Sciences has released the America's Climate Choices report:

• America's Climate Choices
• 2010/05/21: CJR: Muddling On -- Lukewarm media reception to comprehensive new reports on climate change
• 2010/05/20: Grist: Top U.S. scientists to Congress: No more 'business as usual' on climate change [ACC]
• 2010/05/20: NRDC:SwitchBoard: The National Academy of Sciences is Also Clear about the Urgent Need to Cut Carbon Pollution [ACC]
• 2010/05/20: ClassM: The trillionth tonne meme gets some traction [ACC]
• 2010/05/19: GreenGrok: The Climate Choices Are on the Table
• 2010/05/20: DWWSJ: Some Well Said Facts from America's Top Scientific Body
• 2010/05/20: KSJT: AP, WSJournal, NYT, and more: National Academy panel tells Congress to tax, cap, do anything to pole-ax carbon emissions
• 2010/05/20: PlanetArk: U.S. reports urge a price on climate emissions [ACC]
• 2010/05/19: NatureTGB: US climate science panel calls for "fundamental, use-inspired research"
• 2010/05/19: ScienceInsider: Three Academy Reports Urge Climate Action
• 2010/05/19: TerraDaily: Tough US measures needed to beat climate change: experts [ACC]
• 2010/05/19: EarthTimes: Three new US reports strengthen case for climate action
• 2010/05/19: USAToday: 3 climate change reports call for setting price on carbon emissions
• 2010/05/19: NYT:GW: National Academy of Sciences Urges Swift U.S. Action to Curb Greenhouse Gases
• 2010/05/19: SeattlePI: US top scientists urge coal, oil use penalties [ACC]
• 2010/05/19: NYT: U.S. Science Body Urges Action on Climate [ACC]
• 2010/05/19: CSM: March and April warmest ever. Humans must adapt, report says.
  Against a backdrop of the warmest March and April on record globally, the US National Research Council on Wednesday called for accelerated action to curb greenhouse gases, greater emphasis on research into technologies that will help wean the US from its fossil-fuel habit, and more focus on adaptation to global warming. The conclusions and the scientific results backing them appear in three volumes the council released Wednesday, with two more due out later this year. Congress requested the reports in 2008 to help set out choices the country faces in its efforts to deal with global warming. Climate change is occurring, it's largely caused by human activity, and the US already is experiencing consequences, explains Pamela Matson, dean of Stanford University's School of Earth Sciences. She chaired the panel reviewing the latest scientific results.
• 2010/05/19: Atmoz: NRC 2010: Yawn
• 2010/05/19: SlashDot: National Academy of Science Urges Carbon Tax
• 2010/05/19: KSJT: AP: Now comes the real grappling over carbon fees. Nat'l Academy of Sciences says it's time to buckle down. Now.
• 2010/05/19: ClimateP: U.S. National Academy of Sciences labels as "settled facts" that "the Earth system is warming and that much of this warming is very likely due to human activities"
• 2010/05/19: PhysOrg: US top scientists urge coal, oil use penalties [ACC]
• 2010/05/19: ScienceInsider: National Academy Report Calls for Geoengineering Research
• 2010/05/18: UCSUSA: UCS Backgrounder: National Academy of Sciences to Release Reports on Climate Change
• 2010/05/19: UCSUSA: National Academy of Sciences Reports Confirm Human-Caused Climate Change Poses Significant Risks [ACC]
• 2010/05/19: Google:AFP: Tough US measures needed to beat climate change: experts [ACC]
• 2010/05/19: SciDaily: Strong Evidence on Climate Change Underscores Need for Actions to Reduce Emissions and Begin Adapting to Impacts, [ACC] Report Finds
• 2010/05/19: Eureka: New climate change reports underscore need for action
  As part of its most comprehensive study of climate change to date, the National Research Council today issued three reports emphasizing why the U.S. should act now to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and develop a national strategy to adapt to the inevitable impacts of climate change. The reports by the Research Council, the operating arm of the National Academy of Sciences and National Academy of Engineering, are part of a congressionally requested suite of five studies known as AMERICA'S CLIMATE CHOICES. "These reports show that the state of climate change science is strong," said Ralph J. Cicerone, president of the National Academy of Sciences. "But the nation also needs the scientific community to expand upon its understanding of why climate change is happening, and focus also on when and where the most severe impacts will occur and what we can do to respond."
• 2010/05/18: ClimateP: National Academy to release 3 major climate studies

  Cuccinelli's witch hunt is still on:

• 2010/05/21: GreenGrok: Climate Science Politics: Mann-hunt
• 2010/05/21: CSW: Nine ways to undermine Virginia AG Cuccinelli's McCarthyite demand for scientists' communication
• 2010/05/20: DM:BA: Climate change attacks followup
• 2010/05/19: DM:CCM: The AAAS on Cuccinelli Probe: Scientific Disagreement and Controversy Do Not Imply Fraud (Duh)
• 2010/05/18: TPMM: Eight Hundred Scientists And Profs To Cuccinelli: Drop Climate-Science Probe
• 2010/05/18: ScienceInsider: Eight-Hundred Virginia Scientists Slam Attorney General on Mann Probe
• 2010/05/18: UCSUSA: 800 VA Scientists, Academic Leaders Tell Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli to Stop Harassing Climate Scientist

  NREL released the Western Wind and Solar Integration Study this week:

• 2010/05/20: NREL: [links to several pdfs] Western Wind and Solar Integration Study
• 2010/05/20: PhysOrg: [NREL-WWSIS] Study Shows Power Grid can Accommodate Large Increase in Wind and Solar Generation
• 2010/05/21: PlanetArk: U.S. Power Grid Could Tap More Wind, Solar: [NREL-WWSIS] Study
• 2010/05/20: NRDC:SwitchBoard: Meeting the Challenge of 35% Wind and Solar Energy in the West

  The administration has proposed carbon pollution and fuel economy standards for medium and heavy trucks:

• 2010/05/21: NRDC:SwitchBoard: Nation's First-Ever Carbon Pollution and Fuel Economy Standards for Medium and Heavy Trucks Can Help Cut Oil Dependence, Cool the Planet and Save Consumers Money
• 2010/05/21: Grist: Obama calls for better fuel economy for big trucks
• 2010/05/21: UCSUSA: Obama Kickstarts Process for Truck and Car Fuel Economy, Emissions Standards
• 2010/05/21: ClimateP: Obama proposal on truck and car efficiency to cut oil use 1.8 billion barrels and CO2 by nearly a billion tons
• 2010/05/22: TEC: White House Announces New Clean Car and Truck Peace Treaty
• 2010/05/21: CBC: Obama orders new emission rules for trucks
• 2010/05/20: UCSUSA: Improving Truck Fuel Economy Would Create Thousands of Jobs, New Study Finds

  The Obama chatter is nonstop:

• 2010/05/20: Yahoo:AP: Obama seeking more nuclear energy loan guarantees
• 2010/05/18: TheHill:e2W: Obama breaks with his party on issue of oil spill liability caps
  The Obama administration broke away from Senate Democrats on Tuesday when it echoed a Republican argument against raising liability claims on oil companies.
• 2010/05/19: Grist: Friedman nails Obama for his timid response to the "environmental 9/11"

  The actions of the Obama administration are being watched closely:

• 2010/05/21: TEC: DOE Grants $38m For University-led Nuclear R&D Projects
• 2010/05/20: IdahoStatesman: Obama Administration says climate change has already hurt salmon -- Calls for more studies and monitoring
• 2010/05/19: NOAANews: NOAA Seeks Public Comments on its Draft Arctic Vision and Strategy
• 2010/05/18: SolveClimate: Research Shows Federal Oil Leasing and Royalty Income a Raw Deal for Taxpayers -- Oil industry controls huge swaths of public land at world's cheapest prices

  As for what is going on in Congress:

• 2010/05/21: CSW: Climate scientists tell House committee: We know the risk, now it's up to policymakers to act
• 2010/05/20: SolveClimate: Climatologists Tell Congress About Abuse They Face For Doing Their Jobs
  Personal attacks, intimidation and death threats are now part of being a climate scientist; new federal studies vindicate their demanding work
• 2010/05/21: SolveClimate: Senator Byrd: Massey A Rogue Mining Company, Disgraceful -- CEO Blankenship's 'Safety First' Claim Angers Senators in Hearing on Deadly Mine Blast
• 2010/05/21: Grist: Safety '#1 priority,' coal chief Blankenship assures congress
• 2010/05/20: SF Gate: As oceans get warmer, Congress is facing heat
• 2010/05/19: Grist: Big Oil's friends on Capitol Hill block spill liability increase
• 2010/05/19: ScienceInsider: COMPETES Loses Again in House After Failing to Clear Higher Bar
• 2010/05/19: UCSUSA: More Scientists Urge Congress to Reject Sen. Murkowski's Attack on the EPA
• 2010/05/17: McCookGazette: Looking out for Nebraskans over cap and trade by Sen. Ben Nelson [D]
• 2010/05/18: DeSmogBlog: House Select Committee Hearing Thursday On Political Attacks Against Climate Scientists
• 2010/05/18: ScienceInsider: The Republican Assault on Science Funding: Could It Have Been Avoided?
• 2010/05/17: DM:BA: Texas congressman uses porn to kill science funding
  I know that there are rules to the way laws are made by our government here in the U.S., and that sometimes these rules seem weird and arcane. In general, these rules have evolved to make sure that the majority doesn't stomp on the minority, and the minority still has a voice. But it's also clear that those rules can be abused. In the case of U.S. Congressman Ralph Hall (R-TX), "abuse" isn't nearly a big enough word. "Cynically manipulated" might be a bit better. He killed a bill that would fund science innovation and education by tying it to punishing people who look at porn at work.

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

• 2010/05/20: TechRev: Senate Energy Bill Less Costly than Alternatives -- Economists and utilities say the draft legislation could help avoid costly regulations
• 2010/05/21: ACSB: The Clean Air Act & Emerging Federal Climate Legislation
• 2010/05/20: ClimateP: WashPost: Senate needs to act now on climate bill
• 2010/05/21: NRDC:SwitchBoard: Packing the Nuclear Pork Barrel is the Wrong Approach to Low-Carbon Energy [APA]
• 2010/05/20: NRDC:SwitchBoard: New study predicts increased employment, energy security, and household energy savings from the American Power Act
• 2010/05/21: TEC: Why the American Power Act is Not a Corporate Give-Away
• 2010/05/21: TEC: Principle Trumps Pragmatism: Grassroots Greens Campaign Against Clean Energy, American Power Act
• 2010/05/20: NYT:GW: Study: Kerry-Lieberman Climate Bill Would Prompt Decade of Job Growth
• 2010/05/20: ClimateP: 2,000 Hispanic business leaders urge support for clean energy and climate bill
• 2010/05/19: Grist: Outcomes, not mechanisms: the effects of the American Power Act
• 2010/05/20: NRDC:SwitchBoard: Independent Study: Climate Bill Will Create Jobs, Cut Oil Imports
• 2010/05/20: DallasNews: John Kerry, T. Boone Pickens bury the hatchet with climate-change bill
• 2010/05/20: TEC: Senate Climate and Energy Bill Boosts U.S. Manufacturing
• 2010/05/19: BBerg: Refiners See Carbon Costs as Much as $42.3 Billion
  U.S. refiners and other fuel providers would pay as much as $42.3 billion for pollution rights in the first year of a newly proposed program to limit U.S. greenhouse gases, an industry group said today. Legislation proposed last week by Senators John Kerry and Joseph Lieberman requires companies that sell transportation fuels to buy roughly 1.7 billion government-issued pollution permits, each equal to one metric ton of carbon dioxide, in 2013, the Washington-based National Petrochemical and Refiners Association said. The permits would cover the carbon dioxide from vehicles when they burn the fuel. The greenhouse-gas program would start with a minimum price of $12 a permit and a maximum of $25. That means fuel refiners, wholesalers, marketers and retailers would need to spend $20.3 billion to $42.3 billion on pollution permits in 2013, Greg Scott, the association's executive vice president, said in a telephone interview. The higher estimate is "probably about equal to the industry's annual environmental compliance spending" to meet existing pollution laws, Scott said. The costs would climb in later years and put U.S. refiners at a disadvantage to foreign competitors, he said.
• 2010/05/12: CDreams: Grassroots Clean Energy/Environmental Groups: Kerry-Lieberman Dirty Energy Bill Is No Solution to Climate Crisis
  200 environmental, peace, consumer, religious organizations and small businesses today joined together to blast the Kerry-Lieberman "climate" proposal as a taxpayer bailout of the nuclear power industry and other dirty energy interests that would be ineffective at addressing the climate crisis. The groups pledged to oppose the Kerry- Lieberman bill unless substantial changes are made, including removing all support for nuclear power. "This bill is just business-as-usual: taxpayer giveaways to giant nuclear and other energy corporations wrapped in the guise of doing something about our climate crisis. To call this a climate bill is greenwashing in the extreme. We need to direct our resources to the fastest, cheapest, cleanest and safest means of reducing carbon emissions-this bill does just the opposite," said Michael Mariotte, executive director of the Nuclear Information and Resource Service, a national organization based in Takoma Park, MD, which coordinated this statement.
• 2010/05/18: Grist: Leaning forward: Why the American Power Act is worth fighting for
• 2010/05/18: Grist: Big Green and little green clash over the American Power Act
• 2010/05/19: TEC: Climate Legislation Continues To Languish in U.S. Senate
• 2010/05/19: WaPo: The Senate needs to act now on the climate bill
• 2010/05/18: Reuters: U.S. Senate climate bill stuck in limbo for now -- Some senators question bill's prospects this year
• 2010/05/18: Belfer: Here We Go Again: A Closer Look at the Kerry-Lieberman Cap-and-Trade Proposal by Robert Stavins
• 2010/05/17: NRDC:SwitchBoard: The American Power Act and California
• 2010/05/17: Reuters: Senate climate bill cuts aid to global forests
  The climate bill unveiled in the U.S. Senate last week cuts funds to projects protecting tropical forests that also are inexpensive ways to reduce global pollution and keep U.S. power bills affordable, environmentalists and electric utilities said on Monday. "Unfortunately the Kerry-Lieberman bill ... cuts the heart out of some of the most positive features of the bill that passed the House," said Douglas Boucher, the chairman of the Tropical Forest and Climate Coalition, which consists of environmental groups, power utilities and other companies.
• 2010/05/18: TEC: Here We Go Again: A Closer Look at the Kerry-Lieberman Cap-and-Trade Proposal [Stavins]
• 2010/05/17: SolveClimate: Senate Climate Bill Draws Both Praise and Ire from Energy Industry
• 2010/05/17: NewScientist: What the climate bill means for the US way of life
• 2010/05/17: Grist: What the Kerry-Lieberman climate bill means for farmers

  What are the lobbyists pushing?

• 2010/05/19: NYT:GW: Transportation Lobby Girds for Assault on Kerry-Lieberman Climate Bill
• 2010/05/18: NYT:GW: WWF Emerges as Leading Lobbyist on Senate Climate Bill

  The Gore-apalooza is still bopping along:

• 2010/05/21: RawStory: Fox News 'Red Eye' host: Al Gore 'hates human beings'

  While in the UK:

• 2010/05/20: Guardian(UK): National Grid's green revamp will add £4 to energy bills
  Network operator launches rights issue and announces £22bn spending plan to modernise ageing infrastructure
• 2010/05/20: BBC: Policy-by-policy: The coalition government's plans [Scroll down to Energy and Climate Change section]
• 2010/05/20: Guardian(UK): Offshore energy report could dash defeatist arguments against the rocks [Monbiot]
• 2010/05/20: BBC: UK 'will push EU on CO2 targets'
  The UK government will push the EU to move to a higher target for cutting greenhouse gas emissions. It will urge the EU to cut emissions by 30% from 1990 levels by 2020, rather than the current 20% target, partly through more support for renewables.
• 2010/05/19: Guardian(UK): [Energy and climate change minister, Chris] Huhne 'sceptical' on nuclear power in talks with utility boss
  Climate change minister described as enthusiastic towards wind power, according to UK's largest renewable generator
• 2010/05/19: Guardian(UK): Offshore green energy could make UK net exporter by 2050
• 2010/05/19: SolveClimate: Cloudy Cornwall's 'Silicon Vineyards' aim to triple solar capacity in UK
• 2010/05/18: NatureTGB: British science set for cuts
• 2010/05/17: TreeHugger: How Green is Britain's New Conservative Government?
• 2010/05/17: PeakEnergy: Will the new U.K. government support nuclear energy?

  And in Europe:

• 2010/05/21: PlanetArk: EU Agrees Mandate For "Nearly Zero Energy" Homes
• 2010/05/20: EurActiv: Brussels to play down 'carbon leakage' threat
  A draft European Commission proposal, seen by EurActiv, plays down the risk of industries relocating outside Europe if the 27-member bloc were to step up its climate policies.
• 2010/05/20: BBerg: Greek Crisis and Euro Fall Snare Clean-Energy Stocks
  As Europe grapples with the fallout from Greece's economic woes, at least one unexpected corner of the economy is suffering: renewable energy companies. That's because few wind, solar, and other green power installations would be profitable without subsidies, and as governments across Europe curb spending in response to the Greek crisis, those funds are being cut back, Bloomberg BusinessWeek reports in its May 24 issue.
• 2010/05/20: PlanetArk: EU agrees mandate for virtually carbon-neutral homes
  All new buildings constructed in Europe after 2020 will have to be virtually carbon-neutral after the European Parliament gave new energy standards the last approval they needed Tuesday.
• 2010/05/19: EurActiv: EU ministers agree broad outline for climate aid
  EU finance ministers yesterday (18 May) endorsed a report laying down Europe's priorities on climate aid for developing countries but left open details of how they will share the costs.
• 2010/05/19: EarthTimes: EU parliament approves updated energy [efficiency] labels for electronic goods
• 2010/05/18: EurActiv: Farm ministers want global recognition of EU agri-food model
• 2010/05/18: EUO: Early EU climate funds falling short of promises
• 2010/05/18: EUO: EU urges higher water prices as supplies dry up
  Brussels has warned that Europe is facing water scarcity and droughts, and not just in the drier Mediterranean countries, with even the Czech Republic and Belgium at risk. However, the commission's main solution - higher prices for water - is already creating the new phenomenon of 'water poverty', researchers warn. Describing the problem as "a major concern for many areas in Europe," a European Commission report published on Tuesday (18 May) said that even the greater rains in the south last year did not halt the dwindling of water stocks. Some EU member states have begun to suffer permanent scarcity across the whole of their territory. The Czech Republic has reported areas with frequent water scarcity, and France and Belgium have reported over-exploited aquifers.
• 2010/05/18: EarthTimes: EU confirms 9bn-dollar climate funding pledge, amidst doubts
• 2010/05/17: EurActiv: EU boiler efficiency negotiations drag on
  The European Commission has delayed tabling planned energy-efficiency standards for central heating boilers commonly used by households, after its attempts to put together a proposal repeatedly bounced back due to technical difficulties.

Meanwhile in Australia:

• 2010/05/22: SMH: Out of the desert: Brown leads Greens to the promised land
  Kevin Rudd is likely to be given a second term in power and if he is, he will face a new phenomenon. He will be the first prime minister to confront a Senate where the balance of power is controlled by the Greens, according to the consensus of expert analysis. The Greens leader, Bob Brown, will become the final arbiter of any contentious proposals in the Parliament when the new senators take their seats in the middle of next year. Rudd will be obliged to join with Brown in shaping the Australia of tomorrow.
• 2010/05/21: BBerg: Australian Climate Law Delay Stalls Carbon-Storing Forest Plans
  Carbon Conscious Ltd., an Australian company that plants gum-trees to absorb greenhouse gas emissions, said demand from customers for forests has stalled after the nation shelved climate-change laws. "We were having quite a detailed conversation with a particular client, which has pretty much stopped since the government made the announcement," Chief Executive Officer Peter Balsarini said in a telephone interview yesterday. "We've certainly stopped fielding interest in Australia." BP Plc, Europe's second-largest oil company, and Origin Energy Ltd. last year hired Carbon Conscious to plant as many as 40 million eucalypt trees on less-arable farmland. Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd delayed the climate change bill on April 27, and will assess actions taken by other nations at the end of 2012 before reintroducing it in parliament.
• 2010/05/21: ABC(Au): Campaigners power renewable energy debate
  Sustainable energy campaigners say now is the time to start switching Australia over to renewable power plants. The campaign group, Beyond Zero Emissions, argues that the technology is already available to make the change.
• 2010/05/21: ABC(Au): Wannon Water has received $135,000 from the Victorian Government to research whether biosolids can be used to generate electricity
• 2010/05/20: ABC(Au): Wind-powered desal plan for SA
  A proposal has been announced for about 20 wind-powered desalination plants across the Eyre Peninsula and the upper Spencer Gulf in South Australia.
• 2010/05/20: SMH: Energy efficiency efforts will hurt our profits, says big polluter
  A confidential submission released accidentally by the federal government shows the owners of the the heavy-polluting Hazelwood brown coal power plant will resist energy efficiency efforts because they could hit their bottom line. International Power's submission to a taskforce developing an energy efficiency policy also states that energy efficiency is only about power use, not energy production. ''International Power rejects any proposal to introduce climate change policy under the guise of energy efficiency measures, which has the potential to destroy the value of existing investments in the generator sector,'' the submission says. International Power's assets include Victorian brown coal power plants Hazelwood and Loy Yang B, both among the highest carbon-emitting plants in the developed world.
• 2010/05/20: SMH: Australian price on carbon inevitable, concedes Hockey
  It is ''inevitable'' Australia would put a price on its carbon dioxide emissions, the shadow treasurer, Joe Hockey, said amid mixed messages from the Coalition about its approach to climate change.
• 2010/05/20: TerraDaily: Nationwide Sea-Floor Ecology Study Starts Off WA [Western Australia's Rottnest Island]
• 2010/05/19: ABC(Au): Report highlights climate change jobs
  A new report shows more jobs could be created in central Victoria if the Federal Government took stronger action on climate change. The report, commissioned by unions and the Conservation Foundation, says nearly 9,000 jobs could be created in the Bendigo region by 2030.
• 2010/05/19: ABC(Au): Farmers protest against coal seam gas exploration
• 2010/05/16: SMH: Growing problem needs radical ideas
  The nation must completely rethink where and how it grows its food, a prominent scientist and NSW government adviser says. John Williams, head of the NSW Natural Resources Commission, said we must shift production from the dry inland to the coast and stop development from devouring farms around our cities and large towns.
• 2010/05/17: ABC(Au): Australia to open up seabed for oil exploration -- Federal Resources Minister Martin Ferguson has announced 31 new offshore petroleum exploration areas

  And in New Zealand:

• 2010/05/22: SMH: NZ takes a 'smooth path' to emissions trading
  Its greenhouse gas emissions are minuscule - 0.2 per cent of the world's annual total and it's 21st among rich countries on absolute levels. Rank it on emissions per person and New Zealand does not look so good: fifth among rich nations, behind Australia, Luxembourg, Canada and the United States. But it is doing more than most to counter it. From July 1, its emissions trading scheme begins operating - from forestry (a massive carbon sink) to petrol, electricity and industry.
• 2010/05/18: HotTopic: Bum notes from the Brill building (and a question for the minister)

  While in the Indian subcontinent:

• 2010/05/21: IndiaTimes: Govt rejigs climate talks team
  New Delhi: The hold-outs against the Jairam Ramesh line on climate change have been dropped from the team of climate negotiators decided for the UN negotiations slated to start in Bonn on June 1. Chandrashekhar Dasgupta and Prodipto Ghosh, members of the PM Council on climate change and two senior-most negotiators, who along with Shyam Saran, PM's erstwhile envoy on climate change, had opposed the environment minister's controversial positions on climate change, have been taken off the list of negotiators.
  [...]
  The government had been left bruised by two conflicting views, one suggesting that sticking to traditional lines was to India's advantage while Ramesh advocated a dilution of the stance. The lack of clarity in PMO during and after the talks had caused immense confusion in the climate team. With Shyam Saran's resignation from his position after the Copenhagen talks and the minister's recommendation to drop the two ex-bureaucrats and old hands, Dasgupta and Ghosh from the CNG it was expected that the PM would reconstitute the team. But the PM's continued reluctance to take a call till date on the CNG has again generated anxiety.

And elsewhere in Asia:

• 2010/05/22: JakartaPost: Rachmat named special climate envoy
  President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has named former environment minister Rachmat Witoelar special envoy for climate change to bolster Indonesia's position at international environmental forums, says a decree dated May 10. Rachmat will join noted expert Emil Salim, the President's special advisor for environmental problems, and Agus Purnomo, special assistant to the President for climate change affairs, in Yudhoyono's circle of climate counselors.
• 2010/05/19: UN: Asia-Pacific nations call for 'green' economic growth strategies at UN forum
  More than 60 nations in Asia and the Pacific have underscored the urgent need for 'green' strategies to spur economic growth in the region, wrapping up a weeklong United Nations gathering. The Incheon Declaration was adopted today in the Republic of Korea city at the end of the high-level segment of the annual session of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).
• 2010/05/21: MetroNews: Pacific island nations compare global warming to 'invading army,' plead for UN climate help

  While in Africa:

• 2010/05/19: PlanetArk: Cheap, clean energy in Africa given $12 mln boost

  And South America:

• 2010/05/22: BBC: Brazil environment officials arrested for logging
  Police in Brazil have arrested at least 70 people suspected of illegal logging in the Amazon - including officials employed to protect the rainforest.
• 2010/05/20: EarthTimes: Bolivian leader Morales calls for more cooperation on climate
• 2010/05/17: PlanetArk: Brazil Amazon Dam Seen Having 10 Percent Return: Report

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

• 2010/05/19: EmbassyMag: Climate change negotiating seat goes unfilled for months
  While the Harper government continues to be hit with criticism over its environmental policies, Canada has been left without a permanent climate change negotiator at high-level talks for months.
• 2010/05/20: BLongstaff: Climate change is a sideshow
  The Prime Minister has spoken. Climate change is a sideshow. At a recent event on Parliament Hill, PM Stephen Harper, addressing host Senator Mike Duffy, said, "Everything else that also gets so much attention from your former media colleagues, Mike, these are sideshows. The economy is what matters." So there you have it. According to our leader, global warming and all that stuff is a mere distraction.
• 2010/05/19: Canoe: Prentice dismisses [James Hansen] NASA scientist's tarsands comments
  Federal Environment Minister Jim Prentice brushed off calls from a top NASA scientist for Norway's state oil company to pull out of Alberta's oilsands. But while Michael Ignatieff also defended the oilsands, the Liberal leader said clean technology is needed more than public relations campaigns to ensure the massive extraction projects are sustainable. "It's not just a matter of getting better publicity, we've got to get the water use down; we've got to get the tailing ponds problems sorted out, the CO2 down," Ignatieff said. "These are real problems for a great industry." Dr. James Hansen, a NASA scientist and climate change activist has sent a letter to Norway's national oil company Statoil, urging it to end its investment in the oilsands due to what he calls the project's environmental degradation. Hansen also said burning the fossil fuels extracted from the oilsands could dangerously tip the global warming balance.
• 2010/05/18: Section15: Harper: The Environment is a Sideshow
• 2010/05/17: POGGE: If at first you don't succeed, rig the game in your favour -- Feds move to revoke Wheat Board voting rights for small-scale growers

  The NRTEE released an uncomplimentary benchmark report on G8 nations, which of course, the Tories disputed:

• 2010/05/20: NRTEE: Measuring Up: Benchmarking Canada's Competitiveness in a Low-Carbon World -- NRTEE Creates New G8 Low-Carbon Performance Index
• 2010/05/20: CBC: Canada ranked low in [NRTEE] climate report

  The G8/G20-abortion issue is still nipping the Tories heels:

• 2010/05/23: G&M: Canada's reputation for low infant mortality takes stunning decline
  Once at No. 6 in world ranking, 'shockingly high' death rate now puts Canada at No. 24, prompting urgent request to Health Minister
• 2010/05/19: EmbassyMag: CIDA and the Money Doublers
• 2010/05/19: WMTC: quebec stands up for women, smacks down harper
• 2010/05/19: CBC: Abortion 'ambiguity' must end: Quebec
  The Quebec legislature has taken aim at the Harper government over abortion and demanded a clear expression of support for a woman's right to choose. With that, a debate that remained largely dormant in national politics for over two decades suddenly threatens to become a federal-provincial issue. Politicians on both sides of the legislature unanimously adopted, by a margin of 109-0, a pro-choice motion Wednesday.
• 2010/05/16: WpgFP: Canadians object to Harper refusing funds for safer abortion in G8 plan: poll
• 2010/05/17: G&M: Silence is no answer for Planned Parenthood funding
  The Canadian government needs to reinstate financial support -- on hold for 11 months -- for the International Planned Parenthood Federation, one of the oldest and most highly regarded organizations funding sexual and reproductive health programs.
  This organization provides gynecological care, treatment for HIV, diagnosis and treatment of sexually transmitted diseases, contraception -- and yes, abortion-related counseling -- to 31 million women and children in 174 different countries every year. Canada has funded the agency, without apparent controversy, in past years, and has even been a major donor.
  As a policy decision, it makes little sense to refuse to respond to an $18-million grant application -- made almost a year ago by Planned Parenthood -- even as Prime Minister Stephen Harper champions the health of women and children as the centrepiece of next month's G8 meeting. The government appears to be undermining one of its central objectives by placing vital programs in the developing world at risk.
  
• 2010/05/17: APicazo: Who's Influencing Policy Decisions In Stephen Harper's Government?
• 2010/05/17: DawgsBlawg: Marci McDonald and her critics
• 2010/05/16: Impolitical: Of course we do -- "Canadians reject PM's abortion stand: poll."

  Another Made In Canada policy. The Tories plan to move its emissions standards for heavy trucks in lockstep with the US:

• 2010/05/21: Reuters: Canada plans new emission rules for heavy trucks
  Canada is on schedule for developing new emissions standards for heavy trucks, although the draft regulations will not be ready until later this year, the environment minister said on Friday.
• 2010/05/21: G&M: Canada, U.S. plan new emission standards for heavy trucks -- 'Harmonized approach makes sense' in integrated North American market, Environment Minister says...
• 2010/05/21: CBC: Canada, U.S. to toughen truck emission rules -- Some companies making changes to truck fleets now
  Canada will impose new fuel consumption and emission standards for large rigs and work trucks, and these rules will be aligned with the United States, Environment Minister Jim Prentice says.

Farm income forecast to drop 91%:

• 2010/05/17: WpgFP: Farm income forecast to drop across nation -- Decline of 91 per cent seen after record stats last year
• 2010/05/: GC:Agr: Canada's Farm Income Forecast for 2009 and 2010
• 2010/05/17: CBC: Farmers' net income to nosedive in 2010
  [...]
  ...the latest farm income forecast from Agriculture Canada.
  The agency quietly released its 2010 predictions in late April, two months later than usual. It said realized net income for farmers across Canada is expected to total $291.5 million -- a 91 per cent drop from 2009.

With Gulf spill getting so much attention in the states, scrutiny of Canada's offshore drilling is increasing:

• 2010/05/21: TreeHugger: Canada Increases Scrutiny of Offshore Drilling
• 2010/05/21: CBC: Tighter rules for Chevron drill applauded
  A regulator's decision to keep a closer watch on an unprecedented deepsea drill to find oil off Newfoundland's east coast is a sensible move, an environmental advocate says. The Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board (CNLOPB) said Thursday it will use greater oversight in managing Chevron's exploration for oil in the Orphan Basin on the Grand Banks. The company started sinking a well about 2,500 metres below the ocean surface, in the deepest drill in Canadian history. The CNLOPB, a federal-provincial board that holds regulatory control, made the new moves -- which will include more frequent inspections -- in light of the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
• 2010/05/20: CanWest: Oil cleanup unlikely off N.L. coast -- Drilling under way; Spill redress 'difficult,' Chevron said in 2005
  Chevron Canada warned regulators five years ago it would be unable to clean up the vast majority of any big oil spill at a rig off the coast of Newfoundland that is poised to set a record for the deepest offshore oil well drilled in Canada. Chevron began exploratory drilling this month in the Orphan Basin, about 430 kilometres northeast of St. John's. The project is known as Lona O-55. At 2,600 metres below sea level, it is considerably deeper than the existing White Rose, Terra Nova and Hibernia rigs off the Newfoundland coast. Those three rigs are the only active offshore projects in Canada. The well at BP's Deepwater Horizon rig in the Gulf of Mexico is about 1,500 metres deep. The unprecedented nature of the Lona O-55 project has raised concerns among environmentalists and industry observers about how Chevron would respond were the well to blow out, as it did in the Deepwater Horizon case.
• 2010/05/19: CBC: Shell promises Arctic drilling will be safe -- Critics say company still not equipped to handle remote spill

  More privatizing:

• 2010/05/18: CBC: Canada Post to lose Food Mail Program
  A federal program that subsidizes the shipping of nutritious, perishable foods by air to remote northern communities will be awarded to three retailers instead of Canada Post, CBC News has learned.

Regarding Tainted Water:

• 2010/05/22: CanWest: Tainted-water case goes to Supreme Court -- Could have big impact on environmental lawsuits

  That two-headed Arctic Park story just keeps getting stranger:

• 2010/05/20: CBC: Arctic spill exercise won't use oil: coast guard -- Controlled spills of the real thing might be needed eventually, scientist says
• 2010/05/19: CBC: Arctic oil spill cleanup research cancelled
  Federal government plans to perform a controlled oil spill in the High Arctic have been cancelled this year because the scientist spearheading the project is working on the massive spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The Department of Fisheries and Oceans planned to dump 1,200 litres of oil in Barrow Strait, Wellington Channel and Lancaster Sound in August to test spill dispersion methods. The project, called "Improvement of Marine Oil Spill Response Methods for Use in the Arctic," was proposed by Kenneth Lee, a research scientist with Fisheries and Oceans in Dartmouth, N.S.
• 2010/05/18: ChronicleHerald: Arctic oil spill test is scrubbed
  Ottawa has dropped plans to dump crude into northern waters next to a proposed ocean park to test new ways of cleaning up oil spills in the Arctic. The decision came within hours of protests from Inuit groups. "This test will not proceed this year," said an email from Nelson Kalil, a spokesman for the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. Last Thursday, the department applied to a northern regulatory board for permission to dump up to 1,200 litres of oil into Lancaster Sound in the Northwest Passage this summer. The area is adjacent to a proposed national marine conservation area.

Geothermal in Canada:

• 2010/05/19: REA: CanGEA responds to Grasby and Majorowicz report
• 2010/05/17: TStar: Hamilton: Geothermal could meet Canada's power needs
  Canada could technically meet all its electricity needs and dramatically lower greenhouse-gas emissions if it moved aggressively to develop enhanced geothermal power projects, according to the first comprehensive assessment of the country's deep geothermal resources. The study, published online in the Journal of Geophysics and Geoengineering, reports on the potential of using enhanced geothermal systems (EGS) to tap hot temperatures kilometres below the earth's surface as a way of generating clean electricity. It found that the most promising Canadian sites are located in parts of British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan at depths ranging from 3.5 to 6.5 kilometres. Drill deeper, however, and the potential extends right across the country -- including parts of Ontario.
• 2010/05/17: CleanBreak: There's enough deep geothermal to power all of Canada. So why can't we try just a bit?
• 2010/05/18: PeakEnergy: Geothermal could meet Canada's power needs

  Late comment on that Ban Ki-Moon visit last week:

• 2010/05/19: EmbassyMag: Climate change criticism reaches new level -- Leaders' comments show international frustration over Canada's position, experts say.
  UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon wasted no time during his whistle-stop visit to Ottawa last week in levelling a clear challenge to the Harper government on what many consider its Achilles heel: climate change.

In BC, wrangling over energy is front and centre:

• 2010/05/17: Tyee: Is This Any Way to Finance Clean Energy?
  BC Hydro borrows capital at 1 per cent, private power firms pay 12 per cent or more. Campbell chose builders sure to make green power far more expensive.
• 2010/05/19: Tyee: Is BC Ready for Smart Meters?
• 2010/05/20: Tyee: Fairness of Hydro's Clean Power Call Entrusted to Lib Donor -- Lawyer had billed $2.4 million to BC Hydro, gave to the BC Liberals.
  The independent observer in charge of ensuring the fairness of B.C. Hydro's clean power call was a B.C. Liberal Party donor whose firm had previously done millions of dollars worth of work for the Crown energy utility.
  [...]
  The minister responsible, Blair Lekstrom, expressed complete confidence in both Singleton's independence and the integrity of the process that saw B.C. Hydro awarding contracts to firms to purchase energy -- contracts that could potentially earn those firms hundreds of millions of dollars.
• 2010/05/21: CanWest: B.C. industry offered $80 million to save energy -- Four-year Power Smart program targets conservation
  BC Hydro expects to recoup $120 million on an $80-million investment in a new Power Smart program for industrial customers. Hydro is offering to pay its industrial customers up to 100 per cent of the cost of energy-efficient investments under $1 million, and up to 75 per cent of the cost of projects over $1 million. Hydro has only a few dozen large industrial customers, but they collectively account for one-third of the electricity consumed each year in British Columbia -- about the same amount as each of the residential and commercial customer groups.

Meanwhile in that Mechanical Mordor known as the tar sands:

• 2010/05/20: ClimateP: Canadian tar sands set to be top U.S. oil import [CERA]
• 2010/05/20: TreeHugger: Canadian Tar Sands Will Be US' Largest Imported Oil Source in 2010: Ecologically Destructive & Immoral.
• 2010/05/18: NYT: Reliance on Oil Sands Grows Despite Environmental Risks
• 2010/05/19: Times(UK): Investors reject Royal Dutch Shell oil sands review
• 2010/05/19: G&M:JR: China, not U.S., will be tar sands' market
• 2010/05/19: CanWest: Oilsands could supply one-third of U.S. oil within 20 years: [CERA] report
  Despite environmental and economic challenges, Canada's oilsands could account for more than one-third of U.S. oil supply within two decades, says a new report from U.S.-based Cambridge Energy Research Associates. Depending on the rate of growth, oilsands crude could eventually supply 20 to 36 per cent to the world's largest consumer by 2030, the report states.
• 2010/05/18: CBC: Alberta backing oil refinery proposal
  The Alberta government is backing a proposal by North West Upgrading and its part owner, Canadian Natural Resources Ltd., to build a new bitumen upgrading refinery in the province's Industrial Heartland, northeast of Edmonton. The 150,000 barrel-per-day refinery will be built in three stages and include integrated carbon capture and storage technology to cut CO2 emissions, the province said in a Tuesday release.
• 2010/05/17: SolveClimate: Report for Investors Says Oil Sands' Economic Viability Sits on a Knife's Edge
• 2010/05/17: IPSNews: Oil Sands Riskier than Gulf Spill, Say Investor Groups
  As the oil leaking into the Gulf of Mexico destroys habitat and livelihoods, the extraction of oil from Canadian oil sands deposits is having a similar impact on fragile ecosystems and communities deep in the North American interior.
• 2010/05/18: OilChange: Investors Warned Tar Sands are a "Slow Motion" Oil Spill

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

• 2010/05/21: TStar: Wind turbines pose no health hazard, says Ontario's top doc
  Provincial study finds no evidence people get sick from the low frequency noise

In the Maritimes:

• 2010/05/19: CBC: Norwegian solar company delays N.B. plant
  Umoe Solar is postponing the construction of a solar project slated for Miramichi, N.B., blaming high capital costs and the uncertainty over renewable energy sales. The company will continue developing the Miramichi site, which used to be the home of a large UPM mill, and has left open the possibility that the project will continue in the future.
• 2010/05/19: CBC: P.E.I. moving to biomass heating
  The P.E.I. government is looking to trade in some heating oil bills to jumpstart a biomass heating industry on the Island. Energy Minister Richard Brown is putting out a request for proposals on Friday for long-term contracts to heat six government buildings with biomass instead of oil. Biomass heating uses renewable resources such as wood chips or straw. Brown believes it can be a moneymaker for some Island businesses.

As for miscellaneous Canadiana:

• 2010/05/19: CanWest: Most Canadians won't stop driving
  Campaign wants to curb car use; Many claim concern for environment but few willing to give up their wheels
  Our nation's environmental footprint is looking a lot like a tire tread, with a new survey finding just one per cent of Canadians are willing to give up their cars. Nearly eight in 10 people (78 per cent) claim to be concerned about the environmental impact of their wheels, as transportation is the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in this country. But even when walking, biking or public transit are viable options for them, three-quarters of Canadians (75 per cent) will still choose to drive.

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

• 2010/05/20: PeakEnergy: Prosperity cannot be paid forever by maxing out our green credit

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

• 2010/05/22: CCurrents: The B.S. Factor In Post-Industrial Society
  [...]
  The b.s. that I've heard over the last couple of years is immeasurable. If I point out that the world's nearly seven billion humans will have to be reduced to less than a billion in a few decades, what I generally face is a torrent of ad-hominem arguments to the effect that I am a heartless Nazi butcher and murderer.
• 2010/05/17: Grist: How green are the 'childless by choice'?

  Apocalypso anyone?

• 2010/05/20: EcoShock: The coming greenhouse world
• 2010/05/21: EnergyBulletin: Singularity > Climate Change > Peak Oil > Financial Crisis
• 2010/05/19: HuffPo: The Perfect Storm: Six Trends Converging on Collapse
• 2010/05/21: CBC: UN official warns on fisheries losses
  The UN's top environment official has echoed warnings that commercial fishing could be destroyed within 50 years. "It is not a science fiction scenario. It is within the lifetime of a child born today," said Achim Steiner, head of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP).
• 2010/05/19: People's Daily: Extinction rate hits 65M-year high: report

  As for how the media handles the science of climatology:

• 2010/05/18: CJR: Who's Watching the World, Now? Changes in media climate snuff out two in-depth environmental reporting outlets
• 2010/05/21: CJR: Muddling On -- Lukewarm media reception to comprehensive new reports on climate change
• 2010/05/20: AFTIC: Why Climate Journalism is a Rotting Carcass
• 2010/05/19: OilChange: Financial Times Pulls Anti-Shell Advert
• 2010/05/18: C-a-S: Why Climate Journalism is a Rotting Carcass
• 2010/05/16: ClimateP: Worst news article ever published on global warming?
• 2010/05/16: MTobis: Exasperated Experts
• 2010/05/16: MTobis: What Story Is He Going To Tell?

  Here is something for your library:

• 2010/05/22: ClimateP: Review of Bill Mckibben's must-read book "Eaarth"
• 2010/05/19: RRapier: [Book Review] _Julian Comstock: A Story of 22nd-Century America_ by Robert Charles Wilson
• 2010/05/21: HotTopic: [Book Review] _The Clean Industrial Revolution: Growing Australian Prosperity in a Greenhouse Age_ by Ben McNeil
• 2010/05/18: ClimateSight: [Book Review] _The Discovery of Global Warming_ by Spencer Weart
• 2010/05/17: NewScientist:CL: Where we're at with geoengineering [Book Reviews]
  _How to Cool the Planet: Geoengineering and the audacious quest to fix Earth's climate_ by Jeff Goodell
  _Hack the Planet: Science's best hope - or worst nightmare - for averting climate catastrophe by Eli Kintisch
• 2010/05/17: HotTopic: [Book Review] _No Rain in the Amazon_ by Nikolas Kozloff

  And for your film & video enjoyment:

• 2010/05/18: EnergyBulletin: The post-apocalypse movies we'd like to see

  Meanwhile among the 'Sue the Bastards!' contingent:

• 2010/05/22: CanWest: Tainted-water case goes to Supreme Court -- Could have big impact on environmental lawsuits
  In a ruling that could have major implications for environmental litigation across the country, a farm couple who have been in a legal battle with the Ontario government for the last 16 years over chemical contamination at their farm have won the right to have their case heard before the Supreme Court of Canada.
  [...]
  If the court rules that the government should be held responsible for historical environmental contamination, it could potentially open the doors to cases dating back decades.

Wrestling over a new energy infrastructure continues unabated:

• 2010/05/23: HotTopic: Offshore energy for export [Aus & UK]
• 2010/05/22: BNC: TCASE 10: Not all capacity factors are made equal (Part 1)
• 2010/05/21: PhysOrg: Paper supercapacitor could power future paper electronics
• 2010/05/21: PeakEnergy: $5m Port Kembla wave generator wrecked
• 2010/05/20: PlanetArk: Saudi eyes big jump in renewable output by 2020
  Top oil exporter Saudi Arabia believes renewable sources could account for up to 10 percent of its power output by 2020 with prices coming down and a regulatory framework in place, an executive from state oil giant Saudi Aramco said.
• 2010/05/20: Grist: 'Too big to fail' isn't working out in the energy world either
• 2010/05/20: PeakEnergy: Google-funded hot rock 'water' drill could reduce cost of geothermal energy
• 2010/05/19: EnergyBulletin: The relentless pursuit of extreme energy [Klare]
• 2010/05/19: PeakEnergy: Natural gas: transition fuel or greenhouse menace?
• 2010/05/19: PeakEnergy: UK Wave Hub Project on Track
• 2010/05/17: BNC: Learning the truth about energy

  Tar sands extraction is spreading around the world:

• 2010/05/17: Guardian(UK): Tar sands oil extraction spreading rapidly, report warns
  Friends of the Earth reports says extraction threatens environment as well as vulnerable communities
  The Albian Sands mine near Fort McMurray in Alberta, Canada, are at the vaguard of a global rush for 'unconventional' deposits. Photograph: Jeff McIntosh/AP The successful development of Canada's tar sands has triggered a rush by Shell and other oil companies to set up similar operations in Russia, Congo and even Madagascar, a new report reveals. Soaring crude prices and an growing shortage of drilling sites have encouraged the energy industry to look at a series of "unconventional" hydrocarbon deposits threatening vulnerable environment and communities in places such as Jordan, Morocco as well as the US, Friends of the Earth says in a review called Tar sands -- fuelling the energy crisis.

Fracking is back:

• 2010/05/21: NRDC:SwitchBoard: Montana Supreme Court rules to keep tainted natural gas production water out of streams and rivers
• 2010/05/18: SolveClimate: To Drill or Not To Drill (Part II) -- A Natural Gas Rush in the Northeast Is Forcing Farmers to Choose Between Income and Land

  The answer my friend...:

• 2010/05/17: FuturePundit: Wind Turbine Arrangement Boosts Efficiencies
• 2010/05/21: TreeHugger: Solar Aero Develops Bladeless, Tesla-Inspired Wind Turbine
• 2010/05/20: Yahoo:AP: Wind turbine parts maker to build Arkansas plant
  German manufacturer Beckmann Volmer said Thursday it plans to build a $10 million plant in Osceola to produce steel components for wind turbines that will employ up to 500 people.
• 2010/05/20: CBC: Wind turbine link to ill health lacks proof: report
• 2010/05/19: REA: Siemens Secures 343-MW U.S. Wind Turbine Order

  Meanwhile among the solar aficionados:

• 2010/05/23: Reuters: First Solar awaiting China decision on subsidy
  U.S. company First Solar, which plans to build the world's largest solar power plant in Inner Mongolia, could hear from China in coming months the amount of subsidy it will get, the company's president said.
• 2010/05/20: E2T: BrightSource Brings In Massive $150M for Solar Thermal
• 2010/05/17: BizJo: Solexant plans massive Oregon solar plant
• 2010/05/20: Fraunhofer: High efficiency concentrator solar cells and moduls
• 2010/05/19: UI: Semiconductor manufacturing technique [thin film GaAs] holds promise for solar energy
• 2010/05/20: Eureka: Solar power manufacturing makes good business sense for governments: Queen's University study
  Canadian and provincial governments could spend $2.4 billion to build a large scale solar photovoltaic manufacturing plant and then give it away for free and still earn a profit in the long run, according to a financial analysis conducted by the Queen's University Applied Sustainability Research Group in Kingston, Canada.
• 2010/05/20: TEC: Solar Leases: A New Way to Finance Solar
• 2010/05/19: PhysOrg: High efficiency concentrator solar cells and modules
  Solar energy will play a crucial role in the energy mix of tomorrow as solar energy is available in unlimited quantities. With the aid of concentrator solar cells, even more sunlight can be converted into electricity.
• 2010/05/19: NatureN: Solar cells sliced and diced -- Peel-and-stamp technique could pave the way for more efficient semiconductors
• 2010/05/19: TEC: Solar Power To Increase Fivefold Across the UK
• 2010/05/19: REA: [Solar Electric Power Association] SEPA's Top Ten Solar Utilities Report Shows Strong Solar Growth
  The number of solar megawatts that utilities integrated in 2009 increased by 66% over 2008.
• 2010/05/18: PhysOrg: Japan's solar cell market more than tripled in 2009
• 2010/05/18: PlanetArk: Sharp Sees European Solar Sales Above 500 Million Euros
• 2010/05/17: NBF: Shrink Solar Achieves 12.6% Optical Efficiency with Quantum Dot Solar Cells
• 2010/05/17: SolveClimate: Research Spurs Hope of Mimicking Photosynthesis to Boost Solar Efficiency
• 2010/05/17: PlanetArk: SMA Solar Unable To Meet Demand In Q2, Shares Down
  SMA Solar, the world's No.1 maker of solar inverters, warned it could not fully meet strong demand in the second quarter due to component shortages, sending its shares more than 2 percent lower. "The inadequate supply of electronic components affects not only all inverter manufacturers but a number of other sectors as well," SMA Solar Technology AG Chief Executive Guenther Cramer said in a statement on Friday.

On the coal front:

• 2010/05/21: ChicagoTrib: Michigan rejects permit for proposed coal plant
• 2010/05/18: UCSUSA: Burning Coal, Burning Cash -- Ranking the States That Import the Most Coal
• 2010/05/17: TimesDispatch: Protesters criticize Massey; CEO defends company

  Biofuel bickering abounds:

• 2010/05/21: RRapier: Methanol versus Ethanol: Technical Merits and Political Favoritism
• 2010/05/20: Eureka: Biodiesel from sewage sludge within pennies a gallon of being competitive
• 2010/05/20: OilDrum: Further Implications of the Ethanol Tariff Issue
• 2010/05/18: ABC(Au): YouTube hit gives Nestle the finger
  A gory YouTube video has prompted food giant Nestle to stop buying palm oil from companies that destroy Indonesian rainforests.
• 2010/05/17: MongaBay: Nestle caves to activist pressure on palm oil
• 2010/05/17: PlanetArk: Auditor Suspends Green Certification For Indonesian Paper Firm [APRIL: Asia Pacific Resources International Holdings Limited]

  The nuclear energy controversy continues:

• 2010/05/20: FuturePundit: Small Nuclear Reactors Under Development
• 2010/05/21: NBF: Nuclear Roundup - Russia and Namibia to Cooperate on Uranium, China Will Start Reactor in 2010, and 2010 Nuclear Generation Statistics
• 2010/05/19: DerSpiegel: Inside Gorleben -- A Visit to Germany's Proposed Nuclear Waste Site
  Will a salt mine in Gorleben become Germany's permanent nuclear waste dump? After a 10-year moratorium on research on the project, the government in Berlin is preparing to resume work. It will likely still take years before the site is approved for storage. Spiegel Online took a peek inside a mine that has been the source of protests for years.
• 2010/05/19: BNC: Counterpoint ABC radio debate -- Does being green mean going nuclear?
• 2010/05/17: BBerg: UN Atomic Chief Amano Warns That Nuclear Accidents May Rise
  Nuclear accidents may occur more often as atomic technology spreads and countries build more reactors, International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Yukiya Amano said. "Member states are considering the introduction of nuclear power plants," Amano said during a May 14 interview in his 28th-floor office overlooking Vienna. "We cannot exclude accidents. If there are more, we have certain risks." The IAEA expects as many as 25 nations to start developing nuclear-power facilities by 2030. The total global investment in building new atomic plants is about $270 billion, the Arlington, Virginia-based Pew Center on Global Climate Change said on Feb. 17. Interest in nuclear power is growing at the fastest rate since the Three Mile Island accident in the U.S. in 1979 and the Chernobyl explosion in Ukraine in 1986, IAEA statistics show.
• 2010/05/18: EarthTimes: Official: Russia planning financing of Ukraine reactors
• 2010/05/18: NBF: Hyperion Power Generation Will Apply for a License Starting in 2011 For Its 25 MW Uranium Nitride Reactor
• 2010/05/17: BBerg: Miniature Nuclear Plants Seek Approval to Work in U.S
  Manufacturers of refrigerator-sized nuclear reactors will seek approval from U.S. authorities within a year to help supply the world's growing electricity demand. John Deal, chief executive officer of Hyperion Power Generation Inc., intends to apply for a license "within a year" for plants that would power a small factory or town too remote for traditional utility grid connections.
• 2010/05/17: PhysOrg: Stanford physicist: Americans should overcome doubts about nuclear power plants
  Stanford's Burton Richter, a Nobel laureate in physics, calls for construction of more nuclear power plants to counter climate change.

Yes we have peak everything:

• 2010/05/20: LeMonde:OilMan: How the global oil watchdog failed its mission (2/3)
• 2010/05/18: LeMonde:OilMan: How the global oil watchdog failed its mission (1/3)
• 2010/05/19: Grist: Peak oil production coming much sooner than expected
• 2010/05/19: EnergyBulletin: Peak Fish and the biodiversity crisis

  More people are talking about the electrical grid:

• 2010/05/20: TEC: Siemens, FGC To Upgrade Russian Power Grids
• 2010/05/18: DenverPost: New electricity grids may be smart, but not so private
• 2010/05/19: PeakEnergy: Mitsubishi plugs in smart-grid pilot project
• 2010/05/17: PhysOrg: Mitsubishi Electric launches 'smart grid' pilot project
• 2010/05/17: PeakEnergy: Silicon Valley and the Smart Grid

  And then there is the matter of efficiency & conservation:

• 2010/05/19: Grist: Home Star: Let's move past the talk and get to the action
• 2010/05/19: TEC: European Parliament approved new energy efficiency legislation for buildings

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

• 2010/05/22: AutoBG: Nissan Leaf's fast-charge capability optional. Why?
• 2010/05/21: BBerg: Toyota Buying Tesla Stake for Electric Car Tie-Up
• 2010/05/20: AutoBG: Toyota and Tesla to partner on EV production in California
• 2010/05/21: NBF: Toyota Partners with Telsa Motors
• 2010/05/21: CBC: Toyota investing $50m in electric car firm Tesla Motors
• 2010/05/20: AutoBG: Greenpeace opposed to nuclear and coal powered electric vehicles
• 2010/05/20: E2T: The Next Google-Microsoft Rivalry: Electric Vehicles?
• 2010/05/20: TreeHugger: LEAF Pre-Orders Exceed Production Capacity Months Before Launch
• 2010/05/20: AutoBG: BYD E6 electric taxi fleet takes to the roads in China
• 2010/05/19: PhysOrg: Electric vehicles given thumbs up
  The first trial of electric vehicles in North East England has been a major success, leaving hundreds of drivers ready to make the switch to low carbon transport.
• 2010/05/19: OilDrum: The status quo of electric cars: better batteries, same range
• 2010/05/19: AutoBG: Report: Toshiba working with automakers on lithium ion batteries
• 2010/05/19: AutoBG: Japan loves the hybrid, sales twice as high as U.S.
• 2010/05/19: AutoBG: Honda skeptical of EV future, doesn't "recommend them"
• 2010/05/18: AutoBG: New car sales show buyers are less interested in efficient vehicles as economy rebounds
• 2010/05/17: AutoBG: Calculating how many solar panels are needed for your new electric car
• 2010/05/17: AutoBG: Officially Official: 2011 Ford Fiesta rated at 40 mpg highway
• 2010/05/17: AutoBG: Megacity to kick off new BMW sub-brand lineup of radical electric vehicles, some sporty
• 2010/05/17: CBC: GM makes first profit in 3 years
  General Motors reported its first quarterly profit in almost three years Monday. The Detroit automaker said cost controls and strong sales of new models led it to a $865 million US profit in the period from January through March, a strong sign GM has reversed course from staggering losses that nearly caused its death.

This week in the Gee Whiz File:

• 2010/05/18: TreeHugger: Scientists Creating 'Extremophile' Super Bug to Make Fuel

  As for Energy Storage:

• 2010/05/18: FuturePundit: Lithium Air Batteries Still A Distant Prospect
• 2010/05/20: AutoBG: Researchers identify cause of li-ion battery fires, fast-charging an issue
• 2010/05/17: SciDaily: Scientists Home in on Lithium Battery Safety Flaws

  The reaction of business to climate change will be critical:

• 2010/05/21: FreeP: Ford surveys suppliers to cut carbon emissions -- Automaker pledges a 30% reduction in greenhouse gases
• 2010/05/20: TEC: Walmart: Still the green giant
• 2010/05/18: Guardian(UK): Bonuses can be a good thing - if they're linked to carbon emissions
  Growing numbers of firms are linking executive remuneration to environmental performance...
• 2010/05/18: AutoBG: Ford goes green the old fashioned way, by recycling

  Meanwhile in the greenwashing chronicles:

• 2010/05/17: Tyee: How the World's Oil Giants Are Selling the 'Captured Carbon' Dream
  Inside a global effort to convince the public an unproven technology will let us have our fossil fuels and a cooler planet, too.

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

• 2010/05/21: ClimateP: Energy and Global Warming News for May 21...
• 2010/05/20: ClimateP: Energy and Global Warming News for May 20...
• 2010/05/19: ClimateP: Energy and Global Warming News for May 19...
• 2010/05/18: ClimateP: Energy and Global Warming News for May 19 [18?]...
• 2010/05/17: ClimateP: Energy and Global Warming News for May 17...

  Other (weekly) lists:

• 2010/05/20: Grist: A Walk Through the Week's Climate News -- The Climate Post: Defining moment still seeks definition

  The carbon lobby are up to the usual:

• 2010/05/21: HotTopic: Cooling-gate! Easterbrook fakes his figures, hides the incline
• 2010/05/21: HotTopic: Greasy Heart(land)
• 2010/05/23: BCLSB: More On Dr. Arthur Robinson
• 2010/05/22: ERabett: Slippery slopes
• 2010/05/22: Deltoid: James M. Taylor hides the decline
• 2010/05/21: BBC: Climate sceptics rally to expose 'myth'
• 2010/05/21: QuarkSoup: Can Art Robinson Win in Oregon? No.
• 2010/05/21: DWWSJ: Man Behind The Oregon Petition [Art Robinsen] Headed To Congress???
• 2010/05/20: SolveClimate: Climatologists Tell Congress About Abuse They Face For Doing Their Jobs
  Personal attacks, intimidation and death threats are now part of being a climate scientist; new federal studies vindicate their demanding work
• 2010/05/21: Deltoid: Don Easterbrook hides the incline
• 2010/05/20: TCoE: Deniers: Dancing on thin ice, as usual
• 2010/05/20: NewScientist: Living in denial: How corporations manufacture doubt
• 2010/05/19: UCSUSA: Industry-Funded Think Tank CEI Launches More Misleading Ads About Climate Science
• 2010/05/18: DeSmogBlog: Will Happer To Testify At Congressional Hearing on Climate Science
• 2010/05/19: DeSmogBlog: McIntyre Disappoints Denier Conference; doesn't call for jailing of scientists
• 2010/05/19: Guardian(UK): Richard Lindzen seeks new name for climate sceptics
• 2010/05/19: MTobis: Scientist Sneaks Science into Heartland Meeting
• 2010/05/19: SkeptiSci: Has the greenhouse effect been falsified?
• 2010/05/19: NewScientist: Living in denial: Why sensible people reject the truth
• 2010/05/18: DeSmogBlog: New Scientist's "Living In Denial" Special Issue Discusses Climate Deniers
• 2010/05/18: HotTopic: Fools rush in...
• 2010/05/18: KSJT: New Scientist: The difference between wacko denialism, and healthy skepticism? Could be one of those know-it-when-I-see-it things
• 2010/05/18: HotTopic: Bum notes from the Brill building (and a question for the minister)
• 2010/05/18: NewScientist: Living in denial: When a sceptic isn't a sceptic [Shermer]
• 2010/05/17: NewScientist: [links to several articles] Living in denial
• 2010/05/17: Deltoid: McIntyre the quote mining executive
• 2010/05/16: AFTIC: Monckton's complaint rejected

  As for climate miscellanea:

• 2010/05/21: SolveClimate: Universities Work to Push Cleantech Discoveries Out of the Lab, Into the Market
• 2010/05/19: ScienceInsider: Oil and the Dead Zone
• 2010/05/20: AlterNet: Coming to Terms with Climate Change and the Economy
• 2010/05/12: BoingBoing: Confident dumb people
• 2010/05/19: PhysOrg: Explained: The Carnot Limit
• 2010/05/18: CBO:DB: Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions: Five Lessons of Economic Analysis
• 2010/05/18: ERabett: More arrogant physicists
• 2010/05/18: ClassM: Climate change math made simple
• 2010/05/17: SkeptiSci: Woody Guthrie award to The Science of Doom
• 2010/05/16: Stoat: surfacetemperatures.org

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

• UW:PSC: Arctic Sea Ice Volume Anomaly
• NRTEE: National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy
• TSC: The Climate Scum
• CanGEA: Canadian Geothermal Energy Association
• NIRS: Nuclear Information and Resource Service
• ESF: European Science Foundation
• America's Climate Choices
• IJISH: Decoding SwiftHack
• Wiki: I PAT
  I PAT is the lettering of a formula put forward to describe the impact of human activity on the environment.
  I = P * A * T
  In words:
  Human Impact (I) on the environment equals the product of population (P), affluence (A: consumption per capita) and technology (T: environmental impact per unit of consumption).
  This describes how our growing population, affluence, and technology contribute toward our environmental impact.
• CCaLC: Carbon Calculations over the Life Cycle of Industrial Activities
• Earth Summit 2012
• UCSUSA: Coal Import Index
• AlphaGalileo - Europe's leading resource for research news
• The Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement
• Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
• Wiki: Bakken Formation

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.

"Science is what we do to keep from lying to ourselves." -Richard Feynman

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