Another week of GW News, August 1, 2010

Logging the Onset of The Bottleneck Years

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Another week of Climate Instability News

Sipping from the internet firehose...

August 1, 2010

• Chuckles, BASIC, Bonn, COP16+, Water, Phytoplankton, State of the Climate, WCI, Free Access
• Subsidies, Psych, Snowstorms, Post CRU, Pepsigate
• Melting Arctic, HMS Investigator, Geopolitics
• Food Crisis, Food vs. Biofuel, Land Grabs, GMOs, Food Production
• Hurricanes, Monsoon, Temperatures, Feedbacks, Aerosols, Solar, State of the Oceans
• Impacts, Forests, Climate Refugees, Wacky Weather, Tornadoes
• Wildfires, Acidification, Glaciers, Sea Levels, Floods & Droughts
• Mitigation, Transportation, Buildings, Sequestration, Geoengineering
• Journals, Other Docs , Misc. Science, Schneider, Hansen, Fung, Broeker, Pielke, Curry
• UN, Carbon Trade, Carbon Tax, Tobin Tax, Optimal Carbon Reduction Strategy
• International Politics: Misc., Security, Activism, Water Politics & Business
• National Politics: America, PACE, 2010 Elections, BP Disaster, Assault on America
• Endangerment Finding, Obama, USAdmin, Congress, Climate Bill, Lobbyists, Al Gore
• Britain, Europe, Australia, Australian Election, New Zealand, China, South America
• Canada, G20 Policing, Offshore Drilling, Pipelines, WCI
• Greens, Fracking, BC, Tar Sands, Sask, Manitoba, Maritimes
• Ecological Economics, IPAT, Apocalypso, Media, Books, Video, Podcasts, Courts
• Energy, Fracking, Wind, Solar, Feed-In-Tariffs, Coal
• Biofuel, Nukes, Peak Oil, Grid, Efficiency, Cars, Energy Storage
• Insurance, Greenwashing, Joe's List, Carbon Lobby, Miscellaneous Climate, Useful Links
• Shameless Self Promotion, .sig

Note: As mentioned last week, I was involuntarily offline again. This is no more than a sip, but coverage from Saturday to Tuesday is light.

The things that pass for humour nowadays:

• 2010/07/30: MRoberts: (cartoon - Roberts) Whale tale
• 2010/07/27: MRoberts: (cartoon - Roberts) Job's a good 'un
• 2010/07/25: MRoberts: (cartoon - Roberts) Kicking Cousins
• 2010/07/29: BBC:RB: Climate campaigns down the pan
• 2010/07/28: BBC: WWF says sorry to Saudi Arabia over vandalism
  Environmental group WWF has apologised to Saudi Arabia after one of its workers vandalised the country's nameplate at a climate conference. The employee broke the plastic nameplate into two pieces, threw it into a toilet, took photographs of it and distributed the pictures. The incident caused uproar at a UN conference in June in the German city of Bonn. Saudi Arabia, a major oil producer, is often criticised by environmentalists.
• 2010/07/28: ENS: NGOs Apologize for Offending Saudi Arabia at [COP15] Climate Meeting
• 2010/07/27: uComics: (cartoon - Toles) Mysterious Ways
• 2010/07/27: ClimateP: (cartoon - Toles) Toles on record heat, extreme weather, climate bill and how "Everyone feels entitled to their own science now."
• 2010/07/26: ClimateP: (cartoon - Toles) The failed presidency of Barack Obama, Part 1.5

  And for those who enjoy challenging Poe's Law:

• 2010/07/24: AFTIC: DenialDepot: Arctic Ice Continues it's Recovery

  The BASIC Group wrapped up their meeting in Rio with one message:

• 2010/07/28: IndiaTimes: Show dollars for Cancun success: BASIC
  New Delhi: The Rio de Janeiro meeting of BASIC countries -- Brazil, South Africa, India and China -- ended without a consensus on equitable share of carbon space. But on core issues of a climate deal like finance, BASIC spoke in one voice. BASIC ministers are of the view that without a clear and perceptible movement of finance, especially the $30 billion fast track financing, a global agreement in Cancun was unlikely.
• 2010/07/28: ChinaDaily: Climate still waiting on the rich
  Beijing - Developing countries once again urged rich nations to keep their promise to help them in the fight against climate change. The ministers of four major emerging economies said at the conclusion of a meeting on Monday that developed countries should provide detailed and comprehensive information on their pledge to provide a climate-change fund. Rich countries pledged to provide $30 billion by 2012 to help developing countries reduce carbon emissions and adapt to the impact of climate change, with the commitment to increase that to $100 billion per year by 2020. The commitment came on the heels of the Copenhagen conference in December.
• 2010/07/27: PlanetArk: Developing Nations [BASIC Group] See Cancun Climate Deal Tough
• 2010/07/27: Xinhuanet: BASIC meeting ends without consensus on climate change
  A meeting of the BASIC group, formed by Brazil, South Africa, India and China, ended on Monday without consensus on a unified plan to deal with the global climate change. The group, which met in Rio over the weekend, tried to reach a common ground on the maximum limit of carbon emissions for developing countries, to be presented to the upcoming UN Climate Change Conference, which will take place in Cancun, Mexico, in November. As they failed to reach a common ground, the four countries decided to hold another meeting in Beijing in October. According to Brazilian Environment Minister Izabela Teixeira, the countries expect to achieve a convergent position at the Beijing meeting so they can work together in Cancun.

The UNFCCC has another meeting in Bonn next week:

• 2010/07/30: EurActiv: Global climate effort 'still inadequate' as talks continue
  Countries' pledges to reduce greenhouse gas emissions offer virtually no chance of halting global warming before it reaches dangerous levels, researchers said as negotiators gather in Bonn to continue climate talks next week. The upcoming Bonn talks (2-6 August) will prepare the ground for the high-level conference in Cancún, Mexico, at the end of the year.
• 2010/07/29: EuVoice: US delay overshadows climate-change talks -- Concern that US decision will affect Bonn talks, which will set the stage for Cancún summit.
  European Union negotiators head to Bonn next week to conti-nue international climate-change talks in the shadow of delays to US legislation on the environment. The official task is to work on a negotiating text supposed to become a legally-binding global treaty to cut greenhouse-gas emissions. But the five-day meeting (2-6 August) will also be a chance to test reactions to a decision by the US Senate earlier this month to postpone draft legislation that would cap emissions from large swathes of the economy.

Elsewhere on the road to COP16 and future international climate negotiations:

• 2010/07/29: EarthTimes: Chinese [Foreign] Minister [Yang Liechi] pledges to help Cancun climate parley to succeed
• 2010/07/28: Grist: With the global climate pact dead, China gets hungry for U.S. factory pork
• 2010/07/29: Reuters: ANALYSIS-Action on global climate may drift for years
  Delay to U.S. bill is blow for UN talks, resume next week - No clear catalyst for global action, may drift - Ambitious temperature targets out of reach
• 2010/07/27: EnergyBulletin: What Now? Redux

  The UN declared water a human right this week:

• 2010/07/31: CCurrents: At Last, A Human Right To Water
• 2010/07/29: ENS: UN Recognizes Access to Clean Water as a Human Right
• 2010/07/29: DemNow: In Historic Vote, UN DeclaresWater a Fundamental Human Right
• 2010/07/29: ABC(Au): UN enshrines water access as a human right
  The United Nations General Assembly has declared that access to clean water and sanitation is a fundamental human right.
• 2010/07/28: EarthTimes: UN declares access to clean water a human right
• 2010/07/28: RawStory: UN declares access to clean water a human right
• 2010/07/28: BBC: UN declares clean water a 'fundamental human right'
  The UN has declared that access to clean water and sanitation is a fundamental human right. A non-binding resolution was passed with 122 nations in favour, none against and 41 abstentions.
• 2010/07/28: EarthTimes: UN declares access to clean water a human right

  A disastrously bad report on the state of phytoplankton in the oceans:

• 2010/07/29: Nature: (ab$) Global phytoplankton decline over the past century by Daniel G. Boyce et al.
• 2010/07/29: DerSpiegel: Phytoplankton's Dramatic Decline -- A Food Chain Crisis in the World's Oceans
  It is the starting point for our oceans' food chain. But stocks of phytoplankton have decreased by 40 percent since 1950, potentially as a result of global warming. It is an astonishing collapse, say researchers, and may have dramatic consequences for both the oceans and for humans.
• 2010/07/30: TCoE: The plankton are dying
• 2010/07/29: CSM: Are we causing a mass extinction in our oceans?
• 2010/07/30: WtD: Dead seas -- The most terrifying thing I've read all year
• 2010/07/29: ClimateP: Nature Stunner: "Global warming blamed for 40% decline in the ocean's phytoplankton"
• 2010/07/29: KSJT: AP, ClimateWire-SciAm: Drops in the bucket are adding up. Now the ocean's phytoplankton are dying away
• 2010/07/29: ABC(Au): Warmer seas put marine food chain at risk
  A study published in the journal Nature finds a strong link between higher sea surface temperatures and a major decline in phytoplankton, which forms the base of the marine food chain.
• 2010/07/28: TerraDaily: Declining algae threatens ocean food chain: study
• 2010/07/29: TreeHugger: Plankton in Peril as Warming Oceans Causes Steady Population Decline
• 2010/07/28: CSM: Vital ocean phytoplankton a casualty of global warming?
• 2010/07/28: BBC: Plankton decline across oceans as waters warm
• 2010/07/28: Guardian(UK): Scientists warn of global warming threat to marine food chain
  Numbers of phytoplankton - the microscopic organisms that sustain the marine food chain - are plummeting as sea surface temperatures rise
• 2010/07/28: CBC: Phytoplankton vanishing from warming oceans
• 2010/07/28: MongaBay: Backbone of marine food chain [phytoplankton] in alarming decline
• 2010/07/28: NatureN: Ocean greenery under warming stress -- A century of phytoplankton decline suggests that ocean ecosystems are in peril
• 2010/07/28: SciNow: Critical Ocean Organisms Are Disappearing
• 2010/07/28: DM:NERS: A warmer ocean is a less green one
• 2010/07/28: Eureka: New study reveals decline of marine phytoplankton over the past century -- Striking global changes at the base of the marine food web linked to rising ocean temperatures

  The State of the Climate Report got a lot of coverage:

• 2010/07/28: NOAA: [links to many pdfs] State of the Climate in 2009
• 2010/07/29: Reuters: Ten key indicators show global warming "undeniable"
  Melting glaciers, more humid air and eight other key indicators show that global warming is undeniable, scientists said on Wednesday, citing a new comprehensive review of the last decade of climate data.
  [...]
  The 10 key planet-wide indicators of a warming climate identified by the report are:
  
  • Higher temperatures over land
  • Higher temperatures over oceans
  • Higher ocean heat content
  • Higher near-surface air temperatures (temperatures in the troposphere, where Earth's weather occurs)
  • Higher humidity
  • Higher sea surface temperatures
  • Higher sea levels
  • Less sea ice
  • Less snow cover
  • Shrinking glaciers
  The seven indicators expected to rise in a warming world rose over the last decade, the report said; the three indicators expected to decline did so over that same period.
• 2010/07/28: TCoE: Doc alert: State of the Climate report
• 2010/07/30: C411: NOAA Report Confirms: Yes, the World Is Warming
• 2010/08/01: TEC: Warming to the science of global warming
• 2010/07/29: G&M: The Earth is hotter than ever, global warming is real, researchers warn -- Scientists hope findings will debunk some growing skepticism about climate change
• 2010/07/29: CBC: NOAA annual report -- A warming planet -- A graphic look at the world's changing climate
• 2010/07/30: SkeptiSci: 10 Indicators of a Human Fingerprint on Climate Change
• 2010/07/29: TWTB: New study lays out 11 indicators of a warming world, media focuses on contrarian views
• 2010/07/29: ABC(Au): Climate check-up 'screams world is warming'
  A report on the world's climate has confirmed that 2009 was one of Australia's hottest years on record and provides more evidence of global warming. Three hundred scientists from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association compiled the report, which the association's data centre chief Deke Arndt says paints a compelling picture.
• 2010/07/28: CCentral: Annual Climate Report Shows We Live in a Warming World
• 2010/07/29: ScienceInsider: NOAA Has 10 Answers to Allegations That 'Climategate' Disproves Warming
• 2010/07/28: NOAANews: Past Decade Warmest on Record According to Scientists in 48 Countries -- Earth has been growing warmer for more than fifty years
• 2010/07/28: EarthTimes: All signs point to an ever-warming world, new study finds
• 2010/07/29: RawStory: Scientists say global warming is continuing -- International panel of 300 scientists report that global warming is still under way
• 2010/07/29: CBC: Global warming 'undeniable,' report says
  Scientists from around the world are providing even more evidence of global warming. "A comprehensive review of key climate indicators confirms the world is warming and the past decade was the warmest on record," the annual State of the Climate report declares. Compiled by more than 300 scientists from 48 countries, including Canada, the report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said its analysis of 10 indicators that are "clearly and directly related to surface temperatures, all tell the same story: Global warming is undeniable."
• 2010/07/29: SkeptiSci: 10 key climate indicators all point to the same finding: global warming is unmistakable
• 2010/07/28: DeSmogBlog: International Scientists Confirm Climate Change is "Undeniable"
• 2010/07/29: HotTopic: Count to ten
• 2010/07/28: CCentral: Annual Climate Report Shows We Live in a Warming World
• 2010/07/28: SolveClimate: State of the Climate Report: Unmistakable Signs of Warming, Decade to Decade
  Best evidence yet from 11 different indicators measured by multiple data sets stretching back to 1850s

With the failure of the climate bill in the US Senate, more attention is falling on local initiatives:

• 2010/07/30: TreeHugger: Not Waiting For National Action, Western Climate Initiative Carbon Trading Scheme Moves Forward
• 2010/07/29: G&M: Ottawa praises three provinces set to introduce cap-and-trade system
  Critics say move by Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia reduces pressure for federal action
• 2010/07/28: G&M: Biggest provinces push plan to cap emissions -- B.C., Ontario, Quebec embrace [WCI] cap-and-trade system...
• 2010/07/28: PostMedia: B.C. adopts new limits for greenhouse-gas emissions with new [WCI] 'cap and trade' system
• 2010/07/28: LA Times: California, New Mexico and 3 Canadian provinces outline regional cap-and-trade program
  The Western Climate Initiative would cut greenhouse gas emissions 15% below 2005 levels by putting restrictions on the energy sector, large industrial plants and transportation.
• 2010/07/27: OPB: State-Level Politics Could Threaten Western Climate Initiative
• 2010/07/28: G&M: Biggest provinces push plan to cap emissions [WCI]
  B.C., Ontario, Quebec embrace cap-and-trade system to fight global warming that is based on plan dropped by U.S. Senate
• 2010/07/26: NYT:CW: Regional and State Interests May Dominate Future Climate and Energy Policy
• 2010/07/27: UCSUSA: Western Climate Initiative Carbon Market Plan Shows States Are Again Leading the Way

  I get to ride my Free Access hobby horse again:

• 2010/07/30: ScienceInsider: House Hearing Explores Debate Over Free Access to Journal Articles
• Free Science News
• Free Science Sources

  Who's getting the subsidies?

• 2010/07/29: BizWire: Subsidies for Renewables, Biofuels Dwarfed by Supports for Fossil Fuels
  Bloomberg New Energy Finance Preliminary Analysis Highlights Wide Gap Between Government Help for Clean, Dirty Power Sources
• 2010/07/29: TechRev: Fossil Fuel Subsidies Dwarf Support for Renewables
• 2010/07/31: SlashDot: Fossil Fuel Subsidies Dwarf Support For Renewables
• 2010/07/30: SolveClimate: Corn Ethanol Subsidy Under Siege from Many Quarters, Renewal in Question
• 2010/07/29: REA: Fossil Fuel Subsidies Outpace Renewables [$557bn to $43-46bn]

  More on the depressing psychology of people who don't want to know:

• 2010/07/28: WtD: When facts fail: study notes that facts can reinforce false beliefs

  Here's something to remember next January when the deniers are pushing their latest campaign:

• 2010/07/27: ClimateP: Research says big snow storms not inconsistent with -- and may be ampliflied by -- a warming planet
• 2010/07/27: TreeHugger: A Warming World Will Still See Severe Snowstorms - Columbia University Scientists Remind Us

  Post CRU theft, controversy & inquiry:

• 2010/07/31: IJISH: cce-review.org lists FOI/EIR requests to CRU; CRU deluged with FOIs right after FOI2009.zip came out
• 2010/07/29: S&R: Final CRU email review considers, overwhelmingly rejects critics' accusations of misconduct
• 2010/07/29: KSJT: New Scientist: Q&A with the man hurt most by Climategate attacks
• 2010/07/29: BCLSB: CRU Hack: One Lingering Question
• 2010/07/28: NewScientist: Climategate scientist [Phil Jones] breaks his silence
• 2010/07/27: NewScientist: Climategate data sets to be made public

  Late comments on Pepsigate:

• 2010/07/31: QuarkSoup: PepsiCo's New Blog

  The Arctic melt continues to garner a lot of attention:

• 2010/07/31: DWWSJ: Oldest Greenland Ice Core Recovered
• 2010/07/31: CCP: History of the Greenland Ice Sheet: Paleoclimatic insights, Quatern. Sci. Rev., 29 (July 2010), Richard B. Alley et al.
• 2010/07/31: CCP: Greenland Ice Sheet, July 30, 2009, and July 31, 2010
• 2010/07/31: SkeptiSci: The Past and Future of the Greenland Ice Sheet
• 2010/07/30: ASI: Animation 9: sea ice concentration
• 2010/07/29: ASI: Sea ice extent update 20: spread it!
• 2010/07/29: PhysOrg: Highlight of the Polarstern expedition...Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) on an under-ice mission at about 79° North...
• 2010/07/29: SpaceDaily: Cutting Into Arctic Sea Ice -- NASA's ICESCAPE oceanographic mission on the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Healy
• 2010/07/29: Eureka: Signs of reversal of Arctic cooling in some areas -- New data indicate rapid temperature rise in the coldest region of mainland Europe
• 2010/07/28: ASI: SEARCH September sea ice outlook: July report
• 2010/07/28: MGS: Revisiting a sea ice prediction
• 2010/07/28: Tamino: Sea Ice Curiosity
• 2010/07/28: PhysOrg: Earth's climate future may be etched in Greenland bedrock
  Scientists hit Greenland bedrock this week after five years of drilling through 2.5 kilometres (1.6-mile) of solid ice, a 14-nation consortium announced Wednesday. Ice core samples from 130,000 to 115,000 years ago -- the last time Earth's climate was a few degrees warmer than today -- could help forecast the impacts of current global warming, the researchers said.
• 2010/07/28: Itar-Tass: Research ship Akademik Fyodorov leaves for 100-day Arctic expedition
• 2010/07/27: Sci2.0:TCB: Arctic Ice July - Update #5
• 2010/07/27: ASI: Passing the Passages
• 2010/07/26: Tamino: Summer Ice
• 2010/07/26: CCP: Snowcone Greenland: Not For The Faint of Heart
• 2010/07/26: RealClimate: An icy retreat
• 2010/07/26: MoscowNews: The non-Ice Age cometh
  The fast-disappearing Arctic ice cap could indicate that Russia is in for more summer heat waves -- and winter deep freezes -- as climate change creates more instability in global weather.

The sunken HMS Investigator has been found in Mercy Bay:

• 2010/07/30: PostMedia: Camera footage shows well-preserved glimpses of sunken Arctic ship
• 2010/07/29: BBC: Canadian team finds 19th Century HMS Investigator wreck
  Canadian archaeologists have located a British ship abandoned in the Arctic while on a 19th Century rescue mission.
• 2010/07/28: CBC: Abandoned 1854 ship [HMS Investigator] found in Arctic
• 2010/07/28: PostMedia: Canadians discover long-lost ship 'fundamental' to arctic sovereignty
  Mercy Bay, N.W.T. - The ship whose crew discovered Canada's Northwest Passage has been found 155 years after it was abandoned and disappeared in this isolated Arctic bay, a historic find and one that may help bolster Canadian claims to Arctic sovereignty. The wreck of HMS Investigator was detected in shallow water within days of Parks Canada archeologists launching an ambitious search for the 422-ton ship from a chilly tent encampment on the Beaufort Sea shoreline.

As for the geopolitics of Arctic resources:

• 2010/07/26: USGS: Scientists Set Sail to Map the Arctic Seafloor
• 2010/07/30: PlanetArk: Analysis: BP Spill Seeps Into Norway's Arctic Drilling Debate
• 2010/07/27: CBC: Canada, U.S. map disputed [Beaufort] seabed -- Both countries claim potentially resource-rich area
• 2010/07/27: CBC: Canada, U.S. map Beaufort Sea floor
  Canada and the United States are sending research icebreakers into disputed waters in the western Arctic to study how the two countries could divide up a vast part of the potentially resource-rich sea floor. Although the Canadian Coast Guard's Louis St. Laurent and the American vessel Healy have been on two previous joint missions to map the bottom of the Arctic Ocean, this will be the first time they will venture into a pie-shaped slice of the Beaufort Sea both countries claim as their own.

The food crisis is ongoing:

• 2010/07/27: WFP: Niger: Why People Are Going Hungry
  Hunger is an ever-present problem in extremely poor countries like Niger, but a hard drought last year has made a bad situation immeasurably worse. WFP's Director for West Africa, Thomas Yanga, explains why so many people in Niger are going hungry and what's being done to help them.
• 2010/07/29: DerSpiegel: Choc Finger's Big Bet -- Speculators Rediscover Agricultural Commodities
  With the financial crisis fading into the past, speculation on agricultural commodities markets has returned in force. Food prices are climbing once again as hedge funds rediscover the immense profits that can be made -- led by a British chocolate baron.
• 2010/07/30: CBC: Wheat board dampens outlook for new crop
• 2010/07/28: NatureN: Food: The growing problem
  World hunger remains a major problem, but not for the reasons many suspect. Nature analyses the trends and the challenges of feeding 9 billion by 2050.
• 2010/07/26: EurActiv: Europe heat wave sparks surge in grain prices
  Surging European grain prices following a scorching heat wave in recent weeks are likely to raise flour prices, and farmers are facing higher bills for animal feed, industry executives and analysts said on Friday (23 July). But some analysts say they doubt whether recent price rises are sustainable in view of large global grain stocks and the fact that overall grain supplies are currently still satisfactory.

The conflict between biofuel and food persists:

• 2010/07/28: KSJT: Sci Dev.net: The serious third world science news agency on biofuels v. food, training mathematicians, research ethics, cactus as fodder...

  So, are these land grabs Colonialism V2.0?

• 2010/07/28: ABC(Au): The Greens are calling for a national register of foreign ownership of agricultural assets

  Regarding genetic modification of food plants:

• 2010/07/30: EurActiv: EU governments seen opposing GM crop proposals

  And how are we going to feed 9 billion?

• 2010/07/29: WFP: WFP Executive Director sees revolution in fighting hunger by Africa helping itself
• 2010/07/31: CCurrents: Peak Food: Can Another Green Revolution Save Us?
• 2010/07/29: AlterNet: Michael Pollan: The Mighty Rise of the Food Revolution
• 2010/07/28: TreeHugger: Two Visionaries In Vertical Farming Plan Project In New Jersey
• 2010/07/27: CCurrents: The Story Of Soil
• 2010/07/26: EnergyBulletin: The Story of Soil
• 2010/07/27: UN: UN agency chief pledges support for Africa's efforts to boost food security
• 2010/07/26: UN: UN agency pledges to double food purchased in Millennium Villages

  It's been a relatively quiet week in the hurricane wars:

• 2010/07/30: Wunderground: Little change to 90L; new African tropical wave is worth watching
• 2010/07/29: Wunderground: Invest 90L in the Tropical Atlantic
• 2010/07/29: SciDaily: Birth of a Hurricane -- the Pre-Depression Investigation of Cloud Systems in the Tropics (PREDICT) mission
• 2010/07/27: PhysOrg: Birth of a hurricane: Researchers will fly into tropical weather disturbances
• 2010/07/26: EarthTimes: Tropical Storm Chanthu kills 11 in Vietnam
• 2010/07/27: BBC: Freshwater coastal wetlands are more vulnerable to erosion during hurricanes than habitats with higher levels of salinity, a study has suggested

  The Monsoon has drowned Pakistan this year:

• 2010/07/31: BBC: Pakistan floods 'kill 800' people and affect a million
  The worst monsoon floods in living memory have killed at least 800 people and affected one million in north-west Pakistan, a local official has said.
• 2010/08/01: EarthTimes: Pakistan flood victims desperate for emergency relief
• 2010/08/01: BBC: Pakistan flood death toll 'passes 1,000'
• 2010/07/31: CBS: Pakistan Flood Death Toll Rises Above 800
• 2010/07/31: Wunderground: Pakistan monsoon floods kill at least 800
• 2010/07/31: EarthTimes: Death toll reaches 870 in Pakistan floods
• 2010/07/31: EarthTimes: Death toll reaches 837 in Pakistan floods
• 2010/07/31: EarthTimes: Death toll tops 670 in Pakistan floods
• 2010/07/31: BBC: UN voices Pakistan flood fears as death toll soars
• 2010/07/31: CBC: Pakistan flooding deaths rise to 800 -- Thousands more remain stranded
• 2010/07/30: Guardian(UK): Hundreds dead in Pakistan flooding
  North-west region hardest hit as floodwaters wash away roads and bridges, leaving an estimated 400,000 people stranded
• 2010/07/30: UN: UN agencies step up efforts as Pakistani floods affect nearly a million people
• 2010/07/30: EarthTimes: Death toll reaches 400 in Pakistan floods
• 2010/07/30: BBC: Flooding kills hundreds in Pakistan and Afghanistan
  The BBC's Aleem Maqbool says whole villages have been washed away Floods caused by heavy monsoon rains have killed hundreds of people in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Some 325 people died in north-west Pakistan, while across the border in Afghanistan at least 60 were killed.
• 2010/07/30: CBC: Pakistan flood death toll hits 430
  Massive flooding in Pakistan has killed at least 430 people as monsoon rains continue to bloat rivers, submerge villages and trigger landslides, according to rescue and government officials. At least 291 people have died in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, in the country's northwest, since Wednesday, said Mujahid Khan of the Edhi Foundation, a privately run rescue service that operates morgues and ambulances across the South Asian country. Provincial officials called the flooding the worst in 90 years.
• 2010/07/29: BBC: At least 100 people have been killed in floods triggered by heavy monsoon rains in north-west Pakistan
• 2010/07/29: EarthTimes: Torrential rains, floods kill over 100 in Pakistan

  As for the temperature record:

• 2010/07/29: KSJT: Lots of Ink: New data confirm that 2000 onward hottest decade ever measured (Skeptics might say so? - we said that already)
• 2010/07/29: EconBrowser: NOAA: Past Decade Warmest on Record
• 2010/07/28: ClimateP: After the hottest decade on record, it's the hottest year on record, hottest week of all time in satellite record, and we may be at record low Arctic sea ice volume
• 2010/07/28: Guardian(UK): Global warming pushes 2010 temperatures to record highs
• 2010/07/28: NOAANews: Past Decade Warmest on Record According to Scientists in 48 Countries
• 2010/07/28: TreeHugger: 2010 to be the Hottest Year on Record: NASA
• 2010/07/27: CCP: Moscow Has Hottest Month in at Least 130 Years
• 2010/07/26: NYT: The Numbers Behind a July That's Headed for the Books

  Yes we have feedbacks:

• 2010/07/27: TerraDaily: Unaccounted Ecosystem Change Feedbacks May Increase Future Climate Warming

  Aerosols are making their presence felt:

• 2010/07/28: FuturePundit: Soot Seen As Major Climate Warmer
• 2010/07/30: CCP: Cutting Black Carbon Soot Could Save Arctic (Mark Jacobson, JGR, 2010)
• 2010/07/29: WiredSci: Controlling Soot _Might_ Quickly Reverse a Century of Global Warming
• 2010/07/27: UIowa: UI researcher finds black carbon implicated in global warming
• 2010/07/29: TCoE: How big a deal is reducing black soot?
• 2010/07/29: PhysOrg: Study finds black carbon implicated in global warming
  Increasing the ratio of black carbon to sulfate in the atmosphere increases climate warming, suggests a study conducted by a University of Iowa professor and his colleagues and published in the July 25 issue of the journal Nature Geoscience.
• 2010/07/29: TreeHugger: Stopping Soot Emissions Only Way to Prevent Runaway Arctic Sea Ice Melting
• 2010/07/28: SF Gate: Scientists say soot a key factor in warming

  Regarding the solar hypothesis:

• 2010/07/31: NewScientist: Solar cycle may drive Venice's floods

  And the State of the Oceans:

• 2010/07/28: CBC: Marine 'hot spots' surprise researchers
  Ocean warming such as that due to climate change may rearrange the distribution of marine life, harming some species, according to a new study conducted by researchers from Dalhousie University in Halifax.
• 2010/07/28: PhysOrg: Scientists uncover global distribution of marine biodiversity
  A team of scientists have mapped and analyzed global biodiversity patterns for over 11,000 marine species ranging from tiny zooplankton to sharks and whales.
• 2010/07/28: PeakEnergy: NASA Map Illustrates Extent of the Planet's Marine Dead Zones

  More GW impacts are being seen:

• 2010/07/29: TreeHugger: New York City to Have More Frequent, Intense Heat Waves - Due to Climate Change & Urban Heat Island
• 2010/07/25: SMandia: Climate Change is NOT Being Nice to Mother Nature -- Overview
• 2010/07/27: TDC: Spread of disease linked to warming climate
  CDC warns doctors to be on the alert after concluding a once-tropical disease is spreading in the Pacific Northwest

And then there are the world's forests:

• 2010/07/31: EarthTimes: Madagascar rain forests, US Everglades in danger
• 2010/07/30: PhysOrg: Reforestation projects capture more carbon than industrial plantations, reveals new research
  Australian scientists researching environmental restoration projects have found that the reforestation of damaged rainforests is more efficient at capturing carbon than controversial softwood monoculture plantations. The research, published in Ecological Management & Restoration, challenges traditional views on the efficiency of industrial monoculture plantations.
• 2010/07/29: TerraDaily: Violence erupts at protest over Russian forest
• 2010/07/30: Eureka: Reforestation projects capture more carbon than industrial plantations, reveals new research
• 2010/07/29: SciDaily: A Future With or Without Trees: Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Brazilian Amazon State
• 2010/07/29: EarthTimes: Greenpeace: Indonesian palm oil firm [Sinar Mas Group] breaks promise, destroys forest
• 2010/07/26: Reuters: Analysis: Proposed law seen as new threat to Brazil's Amazon
  A proposed overhaul of Brazilian forest policy being considered in Congress is raising concern that the world's largest forest could be left more vulnerable than in decades to razing by farmers despite recent progress in protecting it.
• 2010/07/26: TEC: Just how big is the Amazon?
• 2010/07/26: PeakEnergy: Brazil tribes seize hydro-electric plant
• 2010/07/26: NYT: Pines, Beetles and Bears
  White bark pine forests are in trouble all across Wyoming, Idaho and Montana.
  [...]
  Last summer, pilots working with the United States Forest Service and the Natural Resources Defense Council made low-level flights over 25 million acres of forest, trying to gauge how much damage has been done. The results, released this month, are devastating. Just over half the white bark pine forests are dead; one-fourth have medium to high mortality; few forests have escaped some damage. The wider ecological effects could be serious.

Climate refugees are becoming an issue:

• 2010/07/28: ABC(Au):PM: Climate change refugees still waiting for help
• 2010/07/28: ERabett: The Daily Mislead
• 2010/07/27: DM:80B: Will Climate Change Really Spur Mass Migrations of Mexicans to the U.S.?
• 2010/07/26: SciAm: Climate Change May Mean More Mexican Immigration -- A reduction in crop yields could spur even more migration from south to north, a new analysis finds
• 2010/07/27: TreeHugger: Climate Change Could Push Millions of Mexicans Into United States: Report
• 2010/07/27: BBC: Climate change 'will increase Mexico-US migration'
  A warming climate could see millions of adult Mexicans migrate to the US as rising temperatures cause a drop in crop yields, according to a study by researchers at Princeton University. For every 10% of lost crop yields in Mexico, another 2% of Mexicans are likely to leave their country, the study says. The research draws a clear connection between climate change and immigration - two heavily debated issues in the US. It says warming may bring between 1.4m and 6.7m Mexicans to the US by 2080. Many climate experts say human activity is contributing to an increasingly warm planet.

Yes we have no wacky weather, except:

• 2010/07/29: CCP: 1.9 pound hailstone falls in Vivian, South Dakota -- break national record
• 2010/07/27: CBC: Storm makes lakes in south Calgary

  Just the odd tornado:

• 2010/07/27: CNN: 2 killed, 1 hurt in rare Montana tornado
  The tornado touched down in very remote area, weather officials said - One family's ranch was "basically greeted by the tornado," official says - "It's going to have a devastating effect on the community," the coroner says

As for heatwaves and wild fires:

• 2010/07/31: CBC: Water bomber crashes fighting B.C. wildfires
  A water bomber helping to battle more than 300 wildfires burning across B.C. has crashed south of Lytton in the Fraser Canyon.
• 2010/07/31: CBC: Wildfires devouring B.C. forests
• 2010/07/31: CBS: Russian Army to Battle Deadly Wildfires -- 28 Dead, More Than 300 Sq. Miles Burned as Villages Are Reduced to Cinders
• 2010/07/31: EarthTimes: States of emergency spread through Russia as fires burn on
• 2010/07/31: EarthTimes: Wildfires force evacuation of 300 homes in California
• 2010/07/30: EarthTimes: Firefighters attack California blaze
• 2010/07/31: EarthTimes: Putin plans emergency meeting on forest fires
  Moscow - Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has called an emergency meeting with the governors of the regions devastated by the worst forest and peat fires that Russia has seen in decades, to be held on Monday in the capital Moscow. "The situation remains tense," Putin noted. The broadcaster Echo of Moscow reported Saturday that officials in 14 of Russia's regions have declared a state of emergency due to the fires, which have killed some 30 people, injured hundreds and left thousands homeless.
• 2010/07/30: CSM: Third California wildfire erupts, first two now half contained
• 2010/07/31: BBC: Russia mobilises 240,000 to fight deadly wildfires
• 2010/07/30: BBC: Australia awaits 2009 Victoria bushfire verdict
• 2010/07/30: CCP: Moscow hits 102 °F, July 30, 2010; goes over 100 °F for the first time in recorded history
• 2010/07/30: CCP: From Moscow, July 30, 2010: my best friend, Natasha Petrova reports on the heat and smoke
• 2010/07/30: Wunderground: Moscow hits 102°F; hottest day ever in Finland; 90L a long-range threat
• 2010/07/30: EarthTimes: Dozens killed in Russian forest fires
• 2010/07/30: EarthTimes: Russian forest fires kill at least five
• 2010/07/29: NYT: From Fires to Fish, Heat Wave Batters Russia
• 2010/07/30: Google:AFP: Forest fires kill 29 in Russia heatwave
• 2010/07/30: BBC: Russia forest fires leave 23 people dead amid heatwave
  The forest fires are continuing to spread as the heatwave continues At least 23 people are now reported to have died in forest fires which are raging in central Russia as a heatwave grips much of the country. More than 2,000 people have been left homeless and President Dmitry Medvedev has ordered the armed forces to help fight the flames. He also ordered ministers to visit affected regions to assess their needs.
• 2010/07/30: CBC: California wildfire spreading quickly
• 2010/07/28: CBC: Wildfire north of Kamloops forces 125 to flee -- New fire scorches 150 hectares
• 2010/07/29: CBC: Lightning sparks 165 new B.C. wildfires
• 2010/07/28: EarthTimes: Wildfires destroy homes, force evacuations in Southern California
• 2010/07/28: CBC: Kamloops wildfire evacuation order lifted
• 2010/07/28: CNN: Wildfires put Kern County, California under state of emergency
  Fire officials say 30-40 homes and buildings were destroyed in the latest fire - The state of emergency was declared Tuesday after wildfires burned 15,000 acres - Authorities say 25 homes were destroyed and 2,300 people evacuated
• 2010/07/28: MTobis: Russian Heat Wave and Peat Fires
• 2010/07/27: TerraDaily: Forest fires rage in Portugal
• 2010/07/27: TerraDaily: Japan summer heat wave blamed for 66 deaths
• 2010/07/28: WpgFP: Wildfire forces evacuations threatens hundreds of Kamloops, B.C. homes
• 2010/07/27: CNN: Wildfire grows to 6,000 acres in California's Sequoia National Forest
  About 1,000 firefighters are battling a growing wildfire in California - The fire is northeast of Bakersfield, California - Six homes were destroyed in Riverkern community
• 2010/07/27: MongaBay: Record highs, forest fires, and ash-fog engulf Moscow
• 2010/07/26: ClimateP: As nation, Russia, and world swelter under record-smashing heat waves, The New York Times sets one-day record for most unilluminating stories [media]
• 2010/07/27: EarthTimes: Extreme heat and smog leaves Russians gasping for air
• 2010/07/27: EarthTimes: Spain helps Portugal fight raging wildfires
• 2010/07/27: EarthTimes: Wildfires ravage Portugal
• 2010/07/27: MontgomeryAd: Heat wave to continue in central Alabama
• 2010/07/26: Reuters: Smog blankets Moscow on city's hottest day
  Moscow sweltered on Monday through its hottest day since records began 130 years ago, as temperatures hit 37.4 degrees Celsius (99.3 degrees Farenheit) sparking peat fires that blanketed the city in smog.
• 2010/07/27: ABC(Au): Dozens die in Japan heatwave
  A heatwave in Japan is being blamed for more than 60 deaths as more than 15,000 people have needed hospital treatment.
• 2010/07/27: CBC: Lillooet fire still burns out of control -- 29 significant fires burning across British Columbia

  Acidification is changing the oceans:

• 2010/07/28: TreeHugger: Ocean Acidification Changing Polar Waters Fastest
• 2010/07/26: TerraDaily: In Arctic, scientists see dire effect of ocean acidification

  Glaciers are melting:

• 2010/07/30: PlanetArk: Trapped Glacier Water Threatens French Alps Valley
• 2010/07/26: CCP: David Breashears: "Our Beaker Is Beginning to Boil" by Nicholas Kristof

  Sea levels are rising:

• 2010/07/29: TerraDaily: Whether Glaciers Float May Affect Sea-Level Rise

  As for hydrological cycle disruptions [floods & droughts]:

• 2010/07/30: UN: UN rushing aid to flood-stricken areas of north-western DR Congo
• 2010/07/30: Xinhuanet: Flood kills 29, brings fear of water contamination in northeast China province
• 2010/07/28: Guardian(UK): China's Three Gorges dam close to limit as heavy rains persist -- Flooding across the country has left 1,200 dead or missing
• 2010/07/28: CBC: China floods strand thousands
• 2010/07/28: EarthTimes: Flash floods kill 31 in northern Afghanistan
• 2010/07/28: EarthTimes: Central China city [Wuhan] braces for Yangtze River flood peak
• 2010/07/27: ENS: Deadly Rainstorms Swell Chinese Rivers, Force Evacuations
• 2010/07/28: Xinhuanet: Yangtze city at center of China's latest flood battle
• 2010/07/28: BBC: China's Three Gorges Dam has faced a second test as floods pushed the water in its reservoir to near its capacity, state media said
• 2010/07/28: WpgFP: Floodwaters trap 30,000 people in northeastern China as worst flooding in a decade continues
• 2010/07/27: UN: Floods kill two and destroy scores of homes in southern Sudan - UN agency
• 2010/07/26: UN: UN agencies provide aid to flood victims in eastern Afghanistan
• 2010/07/24: NYT: Iowa Dam Ruptures Under Torrential Rain
• 2010/07/26: EarthTimes: Floods bring dozens more deaths to China; worse to come
• 2010/07/27: BBC: China Three Gorges flooding set to peak

  Elsewhere on the mitigation front:

• 2010/07/28: Guardian(UK): Sparks fly over study suggesting wildfires cut CO2
  A controversial NOAA study estimating CO2 released by US wildlifes says they could actually cut emissions

Consider transportation & GHG production:

• 2010/07/29: CalcRisk: ATA Truck Tonnage Index declines in June
• 2010/07/25: Guardian(UK): Modern cargo ships slow to the speed of the sailing clippers

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

• 2010/07/28: TEC: If insulation is sexy, Arizona is totally hot
  [...]
  ...Arizona's adoption, Tuesday, of a toughest-in-the-nation rule on energy efficiency.
  [...]
  The new rules require state-regulated utilities to cut the amount of electricity they sell 22 percent by the year 2020, through a variety of measures that help customers increase energy efficiency. These include rebates for insulating homes, planting shade trees, and buying more efficient air conditioners.

As for carbon sequestration:

• 2010/07/27: F4tF: Soil sequestration hotspots mapped -- Research project to identify the best UK locations for biomass crops
• 2010/07/26: CBC: Carbon sequestration deal stalls -- Saskatchewan may go ahead without Montana
  A lack of money has forced Saskatchewan and Montana to reconsider a program to sequester carbon from a SaskPower plant. But Energy Minister Bill Boyd said the province may go ahead alone.A lack of money has forced Saskatchewan and Montana to reconsider a program to sequester carbon from a SaskPower plant. But Energy Minister Bill Boyd said the province may go ahead alone. (CBC) Money troubles have stalled indefinitely a proposal to capture carbon dioxide emissions from a Canadian coal plant and store the gas underground in Montana -- a largely unproven concept considered key for addressing climate change. Montana and Saskatchewan's elected leaders had sought $100 million from each of their federal governments for the proposal but have failed to deliver the money. It was billed as an industrial-scale test of technologies that could reduce carbon emissions from some of the 650 coal-fired power plants in the two countries.

Large scale geo-engineering keeps popping up:

• 2010/06/17: MetOffice(UK): Geoengineering: the risks and rewards of tackling climate change
• 2010/07/26: DM:SNF: The Best Flavor of Geoengineering Stills Leaves a Bad Taste

  Meanwhile in the journals:

• 2010/07/27: NERC:NORA: Optimisation of photosynthetic carbon gain and within-canopy gradients of associated foliar traits for Amazon forest trees by J. Lloyd et al.
• 2010/07/27: NERC:NORA: Observations beneath Pine Island Glacier in West Antarctica and implications for its retreat by Adrian Jenkins et al.
• 2010/07/27: NERC:NORA: Optimal estimation of changes in the mass of ice sheets by R.J. Arthern et al.
• 2010/07/30: ACPD: The influence of small-scale variations in isoprene concentrations on atmospheric chemistry over a tropical rainforest by T. A. M. Pugh et al.
• 2010/07/30: ACPD: An overview of the Amazonian Aerosol Characterization Experiment 2008 (AMAZE-08) by S. T. Martin et al.
• 2010/07/01: GRL: (ab$) A discussion of the links between solar variability and high-storm-surge events in Venice by David Barriopedro et al.
• 2010/07/29: CP: Asian aridification linked to the first step of the Eocene-Oligocene climate Transition (EOT) in obliquity-dominated terrestrial records (Xining Basin, China) by G. Q. Xiao et al.
• 2010/07/26: CP: Holocene land-cover reconstructions for studies on land cover-climate feedbacks by M.-J. Gaillard et multi al.
• 2010/07/26: CP: Characteristics of cold-warm variation in the Hetao region and its surrounding areas in China during the past 5000 years by M.-Q. Li et al.
• 2010/06/29: ACS:EF: (ab$) Life-Cycle Assessment of Potential Algal Biodiesel Production in the United Kingdom: A Comparison of Raceways and Air-Lift Tubular Bioreactors by Anna L. Stephenson et al.
• 2010/07/29: GRL: (ab$) Short-term effects of controlling fossil-fuel soot, biofuel soot and gases, and methane on climate, Arctic ice, and air pollution health by Mark Z. Jacobson
• 2010/07/29: ACP: An investigation of the sub-grid variability of trace gases and aerosols for global climate modeling by Y. Qian et al.
• 2010/07/26: ACP: Relationships between mineral dust and cloud properties in the West African Sahel by L. Klüser & T. Holzer-Popp
• 2010/07/26: ACP: Atmospheric diurnal variations observed with GPS radio occultation soundings by F. Xie et al.
• 2010/07/29: ACPD: Characterization of non-methane hydrocarbons in Asian summer monsoon outflow observed by the CARIBIC aircraft by A. K. Baker et al.
• 2010/07/29: ACPD: Evaluating a 3-D transport model of atmospheric CO2 using ground-based, aircraft, and space-borne data by L. Feng et al.
• 2010/07/26: ACPD: Source attribution of climatically important aerosol properties measured at Paposo (Chile) during VOCALS by D. Chand et al.
• 2010/07/25: Nature:GeoSci: (ab$) Warming influenced by the ratio of black carbon to sulphate and the black-carbon source by M. V. Ramana et al.
• 2010/05/: BioOne:AA&AR: Regional Summer Temperature Reconstruction in the Khibiny Low Mountains (Kola Peninsula, NW Russia) by Means of Tree-ring Width during the Last Four Centuries by Yu M. Kononov et al.
• 2010/07/29: Nature: (ab$) Global phytoplankton decline over the past century by Daniel G. Boyce et al.
• 2010/07/27: PNAS: (abs) Control of transpiration by radiation by Roland Pieruschka et al.
• 2010/07/26: OSD: Influence of cross-shelf water transport on nutrients and phytoplankton in the East China Sea: a model study by L. Zhao & X. Guo
• 2010/07/27: AGWObserver: Papers on Hadley Cell expansion

  And other significant documents:

• 2010/07/30: PI: [links to several pdfs] Climate change adaptation case studies -- How communities in the global south are coping with climate change
• 2010/07/21: PI: [link to 820 k pdf] Fact Sheet: Geoexchange
• 2010/07/30: PI: [link to 1.3 meg pdf] Canadian Oil Sands and Greenhouse Gas Emissions: The Facts in Perspective
• 2010/07/30: GreenPeaceCanada: [link to 1,3 gig pdf] Thousands of industrial incidents raise serious concerns about toxic oil industry
  Greenpeace Canada, Sierra Club Prairie, Keepers of the Athabasca and Global Forest Watch Canada today released two databases compiled by prominent scientist Dr. Kevin Timoney, one with more than 6,500 incidents, regarding tar sands operations that raise serious concerns about how the Alberta government allows oil companies to operate in this province.
• 2010/07/30: NRDC:SwitchBoard: [link to 417k pdf] New information on greenhouse gas emissions from natural gas production
• 2010/07/28: NOAA: [links to many pdfs] State of the Climate in 2009

  As for miscellaneous science:

• 2010/07/31: AFTIC: Expertise, Elitism and Credibility
• 2010/07/30: MGS: The small world of science and internationality
• 2010/07/29: MTobis: The Authoritarianism Claim
• 2010/07/29: NatureTGB: Drilling project hits Greenland bedrock
  The North Greenland Eemian Ice Drilling (NEEM) project earlier this week reached the bedrock at a depth of exactly 2537.36 metres. The drill, carried out by a 14 nation consortium under Danish leadership, had started in 2007 at a site in northern Greenland. More than 300 ice core researchers have since worked at the remote NEEM camp. On Tuesday, 27 July, lead scientist Dorthe Dahl-Jensen of the University of Copenhagen proudly lifted the last ice core -- a sample of ice more than 130,000 years old.
• 2010/07/28: CCP: How difficult is it to recover from dangerous levels of global warming? ERL, J. A. Lowe et al.

  More Stephen Schneider memorials:

• 2010/07/29: BSD: Remembering Stephen Schneider, and voting No on Proposition 23
• 2010/07/25: CSW: Stephen Schneider: Eulogies and Tributes

  More James Hansen:

• 2010/07/30: CCP: James Hansen: Message from Sophie Prize Winner
• 2010/07/30: CCP: James Hansen: Experience in Norway

  Regarding Inez Fung:

• 2010/07/30: Grist: Spotlight: Inez Fung -- Math whiz tackles the big carbon sink puzzle

  Regarding Wally Broeker:

• 2010/07/30: AFTIC: "Global Warming" turns 35
• 1975/08/08: Science: (ab$) Climatic Change: Are We on the Brink of a Pronounced Global Warming? by Wallace S. Broecker
• 2010/07/28: RealClimate: Happy 35th birthday, global warming!

  The Pielke fan clubbe, alas:

• 2010/07/30: AFTIC: Only In It For The Gold: Roger at Face Value
• 2010/07/31: ERabett: What is the Honest Broker?
• 2010/07/30: MTobis: Pielke vs Schneider
• 2010/07/26: MTobis: Roger at Face Value

  Regarding Judith Curry:

• 2010/08/01: ClimateP: Lost in translation: In a Brazilian interview, Judith Curry incluir uma cena demasiado longa ou uma variação do tema de um programa de televisão indicando que este está com os seus dias contados
• 2010/07/29: CCP: More Currygate: Judith Curry has spread disinformation in Brazil. Interview from Ãpoca magazine, May 1, 2010
• 2010/07/29: CCP: Currygate, again! Judith Curry just can't shut up!
• 2010/07/29: CCP: Currygate: Judith Curry proved some time ago she has no analytical abilities
• 2010/07/29: CCP: Currygate: More unbearably lame comments by Judith Curry on RealClimate, with replies by Gavin Schmidt
• 2010/07/29: Deltoid: Judith Curry and the hockey stick
• 2010/07/28: ClimateP: Curry Favor
• 2010/07/27: D-HW: How the mighty have fallen
• 2010/07/27: CCP: More on Judith Curry's self-immolation...
• 2010/07/26: CCP: Garbage In, Garbage Out -- the sad case of Judith Curry...
• 2010/07/26: AFTIC: Hey JC, JC, that's not alright by me
• 2010/07/25: ClimateP: Hockey Stick fight at the RC Corral
  Schmidt to Curry: "In future I will simply assume you are a conduit for untrue statements rather than their originator."
• 2010/07/27: Stoat: Curry jumps the shark

  While at the UN:

• 2010/07/26: PlanetArk: Beijing Fund Warns On Kyoto CO2 Offset Rule Changes
• 2010/07/26: NYT:CW: U.N. Body Probes Cases of Paying Greenhouse Gas Emitters, Which Then Produce More [HFC 23]
• 2010/07/26: BizGreen: Don't reform the CDM, says China -- Project developers refute claim that firms have been deliberately over-producing HFC 23

  And on the carbon trading front:

• 2010/07/29: Yahoo:Reuters: U.N. ends Kyoto CO2 offset drought ahead of key meeting
  The United Nations' climate secretariat on Thursday issued 228,400 Kyoto Protocol carbon offsets to three Asian clean energy projects, ending a two-week issuance drought but failing to reassure concerned investors.
• 2010/07/26: BBerg: European Union Carbon Drops to 3-Month Low as Global Economy Seen Slowing
• 2010/07/26: SolveClimate: Left-Wing 'Hactivists', Right-Wing Conservatives Work to Oppose Carbon Markets
  Climate justice advocates 'cyberjack' EU carbon trading website on heels of climate bill's death in Congress
• 2010/07/26: Guardian(UK): Hackers shut down EU carbon-trading website
  Hackers hijacked Europe's carbon-trading website and replaced it with spoof page detailing flaws in cap and trade scheme

The idea of a carbon tax is still bouncing around:

• 2010/07/27: PostMedia: B.C.'s carbon tax is looking like a winner
  [...]
  On July 1, 2008, B.C. embarked on an ambitious climate policy path; it brought in North America's first ever carbon tax shift.
  [...]
  Two years later, it is possible to make a preliminary assessment of the tax, to see what lessons it may offer for the rest of the country, and the world. The result: B.C.'s policy experiment seems to be working.

The idea of a Tobin tax popped up again:

• 2010/07/28: SolveClimate: Tiny Tax on Wall Street Trades to Pay for Climate Mitigation? Secure California Democrat introduces bill into Congress ahead of the midterm elections

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

• 2010/07/31: VoxEU: The distributional burden of cap and trade by Gilbert E. Metcalf et al.
  The carbon-pricing implications of cap-and-trade programmes have raised concern that they might be a regressive policy tool. This column documents how allowance allocation schemes similar to those in recently proposed US legislation address distributional concerns and challenges the view that carbon pricing is necessarily regressive.
• 2010/07/28: ClimateP: Stavins and Schmalensee: "Demonizing cap-and-trade in the short term will turn out to be a mistake with serious long-term consequences for the economy, for business, and for consumers."

  Meanwhile on the international political front:

• 2010/07/28: EarthTimes: Britain to supply India with civil nuclear technology

  As for GW, energy & security:

• 2010/07/30: C-a-S: The Geopolitics of Climate Change

  What are the activists up to?

• 2010/07/27: Grist: Greenpeace shuts down 30 London BP stations
• 2010/07/26: PeakEnergy: Brazil tribes seize hydro-electric plant

  Regarding Water Politics and Business:

• 2010/07/30: BBC: Innovative India [reverse osmosis] water plant opens in Madras
  A desalination plant which begins operating in Madras on Saturday will provide some of the cheapest drinking water in India, backers say.
• 2010/07/28: National(AE): India's new dams threaten Pakistan's farming sector
• 2010/07/28: CCurrents: Collecting Rainwater Now Illegal In Many States In USA
• 2010/07/28: BBC: Giant Mekong catfish 'faces extinction'
  The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) says that dams on the Mekong River may wipe out several endangered fish species. Among them is the Mekong giant catfish, one of the world's biggest freshwater fish. Its bulk alone is impressive, it weighs up to 300kg (661lb) and can grow as long as 3m (10ft). China, Laos, Thailand and Cambodia are all planning hydropower dams along the river to meet the increasing demand for electricity.
• 2010/07/27: PlanetArk: Pollution Makes Quarter Of China Water Unusable: Ministry
  Almost a quarter of China's surface water remains so polluted that it is unfit even for industrial use, while less than half of total supplies are drinkable, data from the environment watchdog showed on Monday. Inspectors from China's Ministry of Environmental Protection tested water samples from the country's major rivers and lakes in the first half of the year and declared just 49.3 percent to be safe for drinking, up from 48 percent last year, the ministry said in a notice posted on its website (www.mep.gov.cn). China classifies its water supplies using six grades, with the first three grades considered safe for drinking and bathing. Another 26.4 percent was said to be categories IV and V -- fit only for use in industry and agriculture -- leaving a total of 24.3 percent in category VI and unfit for any purpose.
• 2010/07/27: PlanetArk: Egypt Extends Olive Branch In Nile River Row

  And on the American political front:

• 2010/07/31: ClimateP: Big Oil showdown in California: Weekly Prop 23 news
• 2010/07/29: APSmith: How about a truly representative Senate?
• 2010/07/30: ClimateP: Politician behind the campaign to repeal California's clean energy laws calls global warming "a scam"
• 2010/07/30: ClimateP: Both regular and 'shadow' RNCs brought to you by Big Oil
• 2010/07/30: SolveClimate: Corn Ethanol Subsidy Under Siege from Many Quarters, Renewal in Question
  Study finds elimination of 'blender's credit' would have little market impact and save taxpayers billions
• 2010/07/29: Grist: The blame game -- The filibuster undermines democratic accountability
• 2010/07/29: Grist: Delaware passes a state Renewable Energy Portfolio Standard while Congress passes the buck
• 2010/07/29: Mercury: Jerry Brown calls state's global warming law the key difference between him, Meg Whitman
• 2010/07/30: TreeHugger: Why We Need to Reform the Filibuster to Fight Climate Change
• 2010/07/28: Kentucky: Coal execs hope to spend big to defeat Conway and Chandler -- Companies seek to pool funds to defeat chandler, Conway, and delay disclosure
  Several major coal companies hope to use newly loosened campaign-finance laws to pool their money and defeat Democratic congressional candidates they consider "anti-coal," including U.S. Senate nominee Jack Conway and U.S. Rep. Ben Chandler in Kentucky. The companies hope to create a politically active nonprofit under Section 527 of the Internal Revenue Code, so they won't have to publicly disclose their activities -- such as advertising -- until they file a tax return next year, long after the Nov. 2 election. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled last winter that corporations and labor unions may pour unlimited funds into such efforts to influence elections.
• 2010/07/29: ClimateP: Big Oil showdown in California: A bipartisan partnership to defeat Proposition 23
• 2010/07/29: Grist: Rules of enragement: The filibuster and Senate reform - A Grist Special Series
• 2010/07/29: Grist: The Senate is just not that into you -- The filibuster is giving enviros unwarranted self-esteem issues
• 2010/07/28: PS: Making Sense of the Climate Impasse by Jeffrey D. Sachs
• 2010/07/28: PhysOrg: Federal OK sought for loans for California energy projects
  Plans for a massive expansion of clean energy in California are being jeopardized by federal foot-dragging, according to state officials who say that more than 20 nearly shovel-ready solar and wind projects are being held up by the U.S. Department of Energy.
• 2010/07/24: APSmith: A proposal for fixing the US Senate
• 2010/07/26: KSJT: NYTimes and more: Algae biofuel getting lots of $$, promotion, and even flying an airplane around
• 2010/07/27: NRDC:SwitchBoard: Top U.S. oil refiner says corn ethanol tax credit is unnecessary
• 2010/07/26: SciAm: NASA Puts the "Green" in Its Other Mission: Developing Revolutionary, Energy-Efficient Airplanes
• 2010/07/26: C-a-S: Suffer the Grandchildren?

  The PACE saga drags on:

• 2010/07/30: Grist: California pulls home-energy stimulus funding in PACE dispute
• 2010/07/29: NYT:GW: U.S. Crackdown Forces Calif. To Yank Home Solar, Energy-Retrofit Loans
  California pulled funding for its home solar and energy-retrofit loans yesterday in response to federal mortgage overseers' negative ruling on the program. The California Energy Commission's (CEC) decision removes $30 million in federal stimulus funds awarded by the state last February to five counties for county and municipal home energy loans. The state said the five were expected to create 4,400 jobs and avoid 187,000 tons of greenhouse gas emissions through 2012. Loans from the property-assessed clean energy (PACE) program are tied to property tax bills, allowing homeowners to extend payments and carry loans over when the house is sold.

So how do you figure the 2010 elections will crack up?

• 2010/07/28: TP: Taking Advantage Of Citizens United, Dirty Coal Groups Form 527 To Elect Industry-Friendly Republicans
• 2010/07/27: TP: Blankenship's Dirty Coal Money Pollutes West Virginia Congressional Races
• 2010/07/27: TP:WR: Smelling A Chance To Burn Oil Money, Tobacco Lobbyists Orchestrate Effort To Repeal CA Clean Energy Law

  The BP Gulf disaster still has US politics in a vise:

• 2010/07/29: CJR: BP Defines Deviancy Down -- The national press is slow off the mark on the huge oil spill in Michigan
• 2010/07/30: ProPublica: BP Keeps Up Its Negligence Denials Despite Texas Officials' Insistence
• 2010/07/30: CBC: Enbridge cited for problems in U.S.
  A Canadian company at the centre of a huge oil spill in southern Michigan has a history of pipeline problems, including leaks, an explosion and dozens of regulatory violations. Enbridge Inc. and its affiliates have been cited for 30 enforcement actions since 2002 by the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, which is the U.S. Department of Transportation's regulatory arm.
• 2010/07/29: ScienceInsider: Scientists Balk at BP Recruitment Efforts, Restrictive Contracts
• 2010/07/27: CSW: Netroots Nation Day 2: Separation of oil and state
• 2010/07/28: NatureN: Freedom of spill research threatened -- Scientists call for impartial funding and open data as BP and government agencies contract researchers
• 2010/07/28: DeSmogBlog: BP Legal Strategy: Hire and Gag Scientists
• 2010/07/28: TEC: Following the Oil Money: How 'Slick' are Your Representatives?
• 2010/07/28: OilChange: 100 Days That Changed the Industry .. Or Did it?
• 2010/07/27: NatureN: Muddying the waters on Gulf oxygen data
  Independent researchers claim oxygen depletion in the Gulf of Mexico is real, but a US government report advises caution.
• 2010/07/22: PRWatch: Does BP Have an ACE Up Its Sleeve on Climate Education?

  After the Gulf and Michigan spills, the NWF released a report on spills:

• 2010/07/30: NRDC:SwitchBoard: New [NWF] report on hundreds of accidents related to oil and gas production, some deadly
• 2010/07/28: NWF: Assault on America: A Decade of Petroleum Company Disaster, Pollution, and Profit
  New report shows how today's oil and gas industry threatens Americans in countless ways.
• 2010/07/30: CCP: Assault on America: A Decade of Petroleum Company Disaster, Pollution, and Profit New report shows how today's oil and gas industry threatens Americans in countless ways
• 2010/07/29: Guardian(UK): Oil industry safety record blown open
  National Wildlife Federation says catalogue of oil industry accidents proves BP disaster in Gulf of Mexico is not a one-off
• 2010/07/30: OilChange: National Wildlife Federations [NWF] Attack Oil Industry's "Assault on America"

  The EPA has rejected the petitions asserting climate science is flawed:

• 2010/07/29: SolveClimate: EPA Rejects 10 Petitions Charging Climate Science is Flawed -- EPA's review finds climate science is credible, compelling, and growing stronger
• 2010/07/30: CCP: EPA Rejects Claims of Flawed Climate Science
• 2010/07/29: NRDC:SwitchBoard: EPA Follows the Science, Denies Climate Deniers' Petition
• 2010/07/29: ScienceInsider: EPA to Virginia: What Climate Conspiracy?
• 2010/07/29: EarthTimes: US rejects claims of falsified climate science
  Washington - US environmental regulators on Thursday rejected a series of challenges to the science behind climate change, reaffirming that global warming is real and the result of man-made pollution. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ruling was welcomed by US climate groups and comes after a number of recent controversies over the workings of climate scientists provided fodder for skeptics around the world. The EPA reaffirmed its 2009 "endangerment finding," which for the first time declared climate change a threat to public health and could serve as a basis for the US government taking action to reduce pollution.
• 2010/07/29: ENS: EPA Rejects Petitions to Reverse Climate Change Endangerment Finding
• 2010/07/29: ERabett: Eli can retire Part XV - Bart blushes
• 2010/07/30: Politico: EPA rejects challenge to climate rules
• 2010/07/29: ClimateP: EPA strongly reaffirms scientific basis for regulating greenhouse gas emissions that endanger public health
• 2010/07/29: CSW: EPA denies all petitions for reconsideration of its Endangerment Finding on greenhouse gases
• 2010/07/29: UCSUSA: EPA Correctly Rejects Petitioners Challenging Climate Science in Endangerment Finding
  The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today rejected petitions from Peabody Coal, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Commonwealth of Virginia and others that asked the agency to rescind its scientific finding that heat-trapping gases pose a threat to public health.

The Obama chatter is nonstop:

• 2010/07/30: HotTopic: Obama's failed climate strategy
• 2010/07/28: Guardian(UK): Obama must take a lead on climate change -- and soon
  The US leader must lay out a comprehensive and costed plan to the American people showing how he will move beyond oil
• 2010/07/27: Grist: Obama vows to fight on for climate change bill
• 2010/07/26: Grist: The blame Obama game

  The actions of the Obama administration are being watched closely:

• 2010/07/30: UNDispatch: USAID Administrator Raj Shah Unveils US Strategy to Achieve the MDGs
• 2010/07/30: ABC(Au): The White House says its cash for clunkers scheme worked well but that it will not be repeating the offer
• 2010/07/28: LA Times: California's clean energy future threatened by federal delays, state officials say
  The U.S. Department of Energy is accused of foot-dragging in approving loan guarantees to finance several major projects worth an estimated $30 billion.
• 2010/07/30: REA: DOE Backs Hawaiian Wind Power Project
• 2010/07/29: ClimateP: More climate baby steps: Federal government to reduce its own carbon pollution by 100 million tons
• 2010/07/28: NRDC:SwitchBoard: There Goes Another Mountain
  As expected, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers approved a permit for Arch Coal's Pine Creek No. 1 Surface Mine in southern West Virginia.
  
  In addition to removing the mountain to access the coal, the company will bury more than 14,500 feet of streams under toxic mining waste and debris. The permit requires mitigation to the tune of roughly 37,000 feet of new streams that will be "created" elsewhere -- as if engineered waterways could ever compensate for the loss of natural, life-giving headwater streams.
  
  This greenlighted permit is one of 79 applications for Appalachian mountaintop removal operations that EPA froze in September, citing concerns about significant water quality impacts. Six other permits have been issued since then; 36 have been withdrawn by the applicants; and 36 are still pending.
• 2010/07/28: CSW: White House Ends Climate Change Gag Order: EPA Whistleblowers Now Free to Speak Out
• 2010/07/28: CSW: Netroots Nation: On holding the Obama Administration accountable on climate and energy
• 2010/07/29: REA: U.S. DOE Funds 'Sunlight-to-Fuel' Project
• 2010/07/27: SolveClimate: EPA Slams State Department on Proposed Oil Pipeline
  White House could intervene as environmental security takes equal place next to energy security as concern of national interest
• 2010/07/26: NRDC:SwitchBoard: In the midst of heightened interest, tar sands pipeline permitting process extended
• 2010/07/26: NRDC:SwitchBoard: U.S. Department of Energy questions the core arguments in support of the Keystone XL pipeline
• 2010/07/27: NatureN: US seeks solar flair for fuels -- Energy department launches initiative to commercialize artificial photosynthesis
• 2010/07/26: GreenBiz: Feds Feed $100M to CO2-Recycling Projects

  As for what is going on in Congress:

• 2010/07/30: NRDC:SwitchBoard: House passes oil spill legislative package
• 2010/07/29: TheHill:e2W: Reid eyes likely Wednesday test vote on disputed oil spill bill
• 2010/07/29: ProPublica: Drilling Accountability Bill Would Regulate Fracturing Too
• 2010/07/28: NYT:GW: Sen. Lautenberg Proposes Overhaul of Oil Dispersant Rules
• 2010/07/26: ClimateP: Washington Post headline says it all: "GOP lawmakers optimistic about 'no' votes" -- The Audacity of Nope
• 2010/07/27: Grist: How Reid's parliamentary maneuvering could doom reforms to the oil industry
• 2010/07/27: TWM: Climate peacocks show their feathers...

  The future climate bill defines a battleline:

• 2010/07/30: TEC: What Does an Oil Industry Climate Bill Look Like?
• 2010/07/30: HotTopic: After the defeat
• 2010/07/30: KSJT: Plenty of Ink: Feeble new Senate energy bill does give electric cars a boost. Time for reporters to dig into the claims on their efficiency?
• 2010/07/30: Grist: Y'all come out behind an RES, y'hear? -- The South has renewable energy too!
• 2010/07/29: Yahoo:McClatchy: Renewable energy advocates make push [for RES] in climate bill
• 2010/07/30: TEC: A Lost Opportunity?
• 2010/07/29: TEC: The Incredible Shrinking Energy Bill
• 2010/07/27: NYRB: The Senate's Energy Failure
• 2010/07/29: Guardian(UK): Where next for the wrecked US climate bill?
• 2010/07/29: PlanetArk: Analysis: Bill Boosts Natural Gas Vehicles But Hurdles Remain
• 2010/07/29: Grist: Reid between the lines -- Breaking the wall of climate opposition
• 2010/07/29: Grist: Here's why renewable energy needs a [RES] boost from Congress
• 2010/07/28: NRDC:SwitchBoard: Senate bill: more than $4 billion for natural gas -- what about environmental protections?
• 2010/07/28: NRDC:SwitchBoard: Coulda, Shoulda, Woulda: Lessons from Senate Climate Fail
• 2010/07/29: NatureTGB: Senate to take up modest energy bill; oil-spill research included
• 2010/07/29: ScienceInsider: After Carbon Cap Funeral, Renewables Mandate Probably Dead in Senate, Too
• 2010/07/29: TreeHugger: It's Not Too Late to Save the Senate's Greatest Missed Opportunity by Robert Redford
• 2010/07/28: EurActiv: US Senate unveils energy bill, doubts on passage
• 2010/07/27: TheHill:e2W: Reid: Renewable electricity mandate still lacks 60 votes
• 2010/07/28: Grist: Honey, they shrunk the bill -- Congress rolls out its spill bills
• 2010/07/27: NRDC:SwitchBoard: Senator Reid introduces oil spill response package
• 2010/07/23: FP: Who Killed the Climate Bill?
• 2010/07/28: TreeHugger: Experts Dish on the Death of the Climate Bill
• 2010/07/28: TEC: Reid Unveils Weak Energy Bill
• 2010/07/28: REA: No RES in Senate Energy Bill
• 2010/07/27: CCurrents: Why Did The Climate Bill Fail?
• 2010/07/27: EnergyBulletin: What Now? Redux
• 2010/07/26: ThgeHill:e2W: House Dems unveil oil spill plan ahead of Friday debate
• 2010/07/27: HillHeat: Under Threat of Republican Obstruction, Reid Abandons Climate Push
• 2010/07/26: MongaBay: US government fails on climate change
• 2010/07/27: ClimateP: What are the prospects for comprehensive climate and clean energy legislation in the coming years ...
• 2010/07/25: ClimateP: Friedman on climate inaction: We're Gonna Be Sorry
• 2010/07/27: PlanetArk: Senate Democrats Battling For Viable Energy Bill
• 2010/07/27: Grist: Is a renewable electricity standard really back from the dead?
• 2010/07/26: Grist: Why did the climate bill fail?
• 2010/07/27: WaPo: Among House Democrats in Rust Belt, a sense of abandonment over energy bill
• 2010/07/26: TEC: News Roundup on Climate Bill Death
• 2010/07/27: TEC: "Climate Bill Set Aside, What's Next for U.S. Energy Policy"
• 2010/07/27: REA: 360+ Organizations Release Statement on Senate Inaction on Energy Bill
  Clean Energy Works, a diverse coalition of more than 80 grassroots organizations representing more than 12 million Americans emailed a statement signed by more than 360 groups bemoaning the Senate's failure to address a clean energy and climate policy.
• 2010/07/27: STimes: Greed, aided by cowardice, kills climate-change legislation
  So it wasn't the science, the scientists, or the economics that killed federal action on climate change, writes columnist Paul Krugman. It was the usual suspects: greed and cowardice. If you want to understand opposition to climate action, follow the money.

What are the lobbyists pushing?

• 2010/07/29: NRDC:SwitchBoard: Ads Call Out Clean Air Act Attackers
• 2010/07/29: NRDC:SwitchBoard: 4 editorials and two confessions highlight wasteful ethanol tax credit

  The Gore-apalooza is still bopping along:

• 2010/07/30: Guardian(UK): Al Gore will not face charges, say police
  Oregon police say 'lack of credible evidence' in claims of sex abuse made against the former US Vice President
  [...]
  "Prosecutors said they declined to pursue the case for several reasons including: Hagerty failed a polygraph test, hotel workers provided conflicting information about that evening and Hagerty appears to have been paid by the National Enquirer, which first broke the story of the accusations."
• 2010/07/31: ClimateP: DA, Portland police clear Al Gore of charges
• 2010/07/30: TPMM: DA Won't Pursue Charges Against Gore
• 2010/07/30: CBC: Gore cleared of sexual assault allegations
• 2010/07/30: BBC: Former US VP Al Gore 'will not face assault charges'
• 2010/07/27: TPMM: Portland Police Finally Interview Al Gore In Assault Case

  While in the UK:

• 2010/07/27: BizGreen: DECC lays out six possible futures for low-carbon energy
  2050 Pathways Analysis illustrates energy supply and demand trade-offs required over next 40 years
• 2010/07/27: DECC: 2050 Pathways Analysis
• 2010/07/29: EurActiv: Britain pledges millions in electric car subsidies
  Britain's coalition government will commit 43 million pounds (51.6 million euros) over 18 months to subsidising the uptake of electric cars, the Department for Transport (DfT) said on Wednesday (28 July). British motorists will receive up to 5,000 pounds towards the purchase of a low-carbon car from January 2011 to March 2012, Transport Secretary Philip Hammond said. The amount committed on Wednesday is less than the 250 million pounds pledged by the previous Labour government over a five-year period.
• 2010/07/28: Guardian(UK): UK electric car grant scheme 'cut by 80%'
  Government commits to just £43m of the original £230m promised for programme to subsidise the uptake of electric cars
• 2010/07/28: PlanetArk: UK Says Big Changes Needed To Meet Climate Targets
• 2010/07/27: Guardian(UK): Go for nuclear or ramp up solar with DECC's carbon calculator
  The new 'pathways' calculator lays out ways the UK could hit its target of cutting greenhouse gas emissions 80% by 2050
• 2010/07/27: Guardian(UK): UK businesses face steep rise in energy bills
• 2010/07/27: BizGreen: Carbon policies will drive heavy industry out of UK, report warns -- Call to Government to decarbonise in an economically efficient way

  And in Europe:

• 2010/07/30: EurActiv: EU governments seen opposing GM crop proposals
  European Union governments have signalled their strong opposition to proposals allowing member states to decide whether to grow or ban genetically modified (GM) crops, a Belgian EU Presidency source said on Thursday (29 July). The bloc's executive, the European Commission, tabled proposals earlier this month giving governments the freedom to choose whether or not to grow GM crops (EurActiv 14/07/10). To pass, the plans must first be approved by EU governments and lawmakers.
• 2010/07/30: EurActiv: Eastern Europe struggling to meet EU climate targets
  The EU's Eastern European newcomers, who still need to catch up with the rest of the Union in terms of economic and social development, face an uphill battle to attain the 'climate targets' laid out in the bloc's 'Europe 2020' strategy, a round-up of articles from the EurActiv media network reveals.
• 2010/07/30: EUO: Berlin angered by German commissioner's absence during coal subsidies decision
  German EU commissioner Guenther Oettinger is in Berlin's bad books for missing a meeting last week where his colleagues agreed a tougher-than-expected line on subsidies to ailing coal mines, a decision with important implications for thousands of jobs in his home country. According to a news report in Spiegel Online, Chancellor Angela Merkel is furious that Mr Oettinger missed the crucial meeting last Tuesday (20 July) to attend at a mid-level conference in Washington instead.
• 2010/07/30: PlanetArk: Analysis: BP Spill Seeps Into Norway's Arctic Drilling Debate
• 2010/07/29: EurActiv: France tables strategy for green economy
  Paris hopes to tune into the green economy by increasingly placing eco-labels on everyday products, designing a green industrial policy and developing a more sustainable farming model. EurActiv France reports.
• 2010/07/28: PlanetArk: Spain Sees Temperatures Rising 3 to 6 Degrees By 2100
• 2010/07/28: TEC: Germany's love hate relationship with nuclear energy -- Greens want to close them. Government wants to tax them.

  Meanwhile in Australia:

• 2010/07/31: ABC(Au): House energy star ratings 'unreliable'
  The Housing Industry Association (HIA) has discredited the energy star rating system used to assess new houses.
• 2010/07/30: BBC: Australia awaits 2009 Victoria bushfire verdict
  A report into Australia's worst bushfire disaster is to be made public. One hundred and seventy three people died and hundreds of homes were destroyed when fires tore across the state of Victoria in early 2009. For 18 months, a royal commission headed by a former Supreme Court judge has been investigating the causes of the tragedy and the emergency response. It is expected to recommend an overhaul of national fire-management policies, including the "stay or go" guideline. A lack of official information about the speed and direction of the fires was a major complaint among residents who spoke to the commission.
• 2010/07/30: SMH: Solar centre powers on despite $20M hit
  A world-renowned solar research centre has lost $20 million in federal funding in what green advocates say is a massive blow to Australia's efforts in renewable energy. The decision to deny research funding to the award-winning University of NSW Photovoltaic Centre of Excellence comes as the prime minister faces continued criticism for planned cuts to solar programs to fund her "cash-for-clunkers" low-emissions car program
• 2010/07/28: AutoBG: Australia's Blade EV maker reportedly upset over government opting for Mitsubishi i-MiEV
• 2010/07/28: EarthTimes: Analysis: Australia fights shy of pricing carbon

  The election campaign jolts along:

• 2010/07/31: Australian: Labor's great climate change choke
• 2010/07/27: ABC(Au):TDU: Greens' population policy no better than the others
• 2010/07/30: PeakEnergy: Energy and Climate Policy A Low Priority Election Issue
• 2010/07/30: PeakEnergy: Abbott's plans don't stack up as power prices set to rise
• 2010/07/30: PeakEnergy: The Non-debate About Climate policy In Australia
• 2010/07/29: ABC(Au): The Coalition has announced it will appoint an independent commissioner to oversee all major environmental programs
• 2010/07/29: JQuiggin: Splitting the progressive vote
• 2010/07/29: JQuiggin: Race to the bottom
• 2010/07/28: WtD: Nasty, brutish and short: The Climate Sceptics television ad pleads for us to "stop the green slaughter"
• 2010/07/28: ABC(Au): The Greens are calling for a national register of foreign ownership of agricultural assets
• 2010/07/27: ABC(Au): The Greens candidate for Eden-Monaro in South East New South Wales, Catherine Moore, says the Government is going backwards with its new climate change policy
• 2010/07/26: ABC(Au): Green groups say Prime Minister Julia Gillard's new climate change policy is of no benefit to central Victoria
• 2010/07/25: JQuiggin: Votes for clunkers

  And in New Zealand:

• 2010/07/29: TVNZ: Worry over foreign "carbon foresters"
  Foreign-owned "carbon foresters" have ambitions to turn a fifth of New Zealand sheep and beef farmland into forests and that will devastate many rural towns, the national farmers' lobby says. Federated Farmers president Don Nicolson said the organisation strongly believed that farm forestry was integral to farms where suited. This made the government's axing of the Afforestation Grants Scheme (AGS) in preference to the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) "incredibly perplexing".
• 2010/07/28: HotTopic: No energy for change
• 2010/07/26: HotTopic: Brownlee's energy strategy: dig and burn

  While in China:

• 2010/07/28: NBF: China Energy Mix Now, 2015 and 2020
• 2010/07/27: PlanetArk: Pollution Makes Quarter Of China Water Unusable: Ministry

  And South America:

• 2010/07/30: TEC: Brazil: Energy superpower

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

• 2010/07/31: BLongstaff: Conservatives and the mistrust of science
• 2010/07/30: PI:CC: Loopholes will delay progress on reducing greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles
• 2010/07/29: PI: First in-depth analysis finds federal greenhouse gas regulations may have little or no effect

  The G8/G20 policing rumble rolls on:

• 2010/07/30: Rabble:KK: G8/G20 Communique: The police's five metre backtrack and criminal charges that never existed?
• 2010/07/19: ActForClimateJustice: The London call: No more police state tactics
• 2010/07/30: TobanBlack: Oil, civil liberties, and the G20 Summit
• 2010/07/30: PostMedia: Police deny muzzling protesters -- Pair arrested at G20 given 'fair warning' statements could put bail status at risk
  Two G20 protesters out on bail were warned by police this week they face re-arrest because they were close to violating the conditions of their release. Their friends claim the tactic is an attempt by police to muzzle freedom of speech. Ontario Provincial Police said Thursday they have been monitoring Leah Henderson, 25, and Alex Hundert, 30, since their release on bail on July 19.
• 2010/07/29: CfC: Questions about the G20
• 2010/07/29: SketchyThoughts: G20 Activists warned that speaking to media could lead to jail
• 2010/07/29: SSM: He Had a G20 Charge: Now He Don't, But is That Really Good News?
• 2010/07/29: CBC: Lost G20 charge puzzles man's lawyer
  The lawyer of a man who was told he was charged under what has become known as the "G20 five-metre rule," only to find out later there was no record of the charge ever being filed, says he is still waiting for an explanation. Dave Vasey, 31, was arrested June 24 near the G20 security fence in Toronto under a new regulation reportedly added to Ontario's Public Works Protection Act -- one he says he didn't know existed. Vasey was subsequently detained for five hours in a police detention centre on Eastern Avenue and told he was charged with refusing a request of a peace officer. As a condition of his release, he was to appear in court in Toronto on Wednesday. But when Vasey got there, his name did not appear on the court docket and there was no document chronicling the charges, said his lawyer Howard Morton.

Questions and debate about offshore and Arctic drilling continue:

• 2010/08/01: PostMedia: 3 years to cap an Arctic oil spill, officials say -- Regulator Told MPs. Relief well can't be drilled in one ice-free season
  Drilling a relief well in the ice-infested waters of the Beaufort Sea would take at least three years, leaving an oil spill off Canada's Arctic coast to gush until the job is done, Canadian regulators warn in newly released documents. Under the policy of the National Energy Board, which regulates drilling in the Canadian side of the Beaufort, oil companies must demonstrate the capacity to drill a relief well in the same season in which they dig their original well. However, briefing notes prepared for NEB chairman Gaetan Caron, and obtained by Postmedia News under the federal Access-to-Information Act, suggest that companies looking to explore for oil in the Beaufort would be unable to meet that requirement.
• 2010/07/30: ChronicleHerald: Quebec seeking offshore deal -- Talks underway with Ottawa on drilling in area contested by N.L.
  Negotiations have been launched between the federal government and Quebec in an attempt to strike an offshore drilling deal similar to those that have enriched Atlantic provinces. Federal Natural Resources Minister Christian Paradis expressed confidence this week that the sides are moving toward an arrangement that could unlock the potential windfall in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
• 2010/07/28: CBC: Chevron spill plan questioned by expert
  A St. John's oceanographer is not ready to accept Chevron Canada's belief that a potential oil spill at a deep-sea drill site off Newfoundland would not affect the island's coastline. Chevron, which began exploratory work at the Orphan Basin site this spring, made the disclosure in regulatory documents made public this month. In a February report, Chevron told the Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board, known as the CNLOPB, that it expected any possible spill at the site would stay well off-shore. But Brad deYoung, a professor of physics and oceanography at Memorial University, said he is not at all convinced of that claim, nor of a statement that spill oil would barely touch the Grand Banks to the south of the Orphan Basin.

The Keystone XL and Gateway pipelines are still generating controversy:

• 2010/07/31: ClimateP: Michigan oil spill harms wildlife, forces residents to evacuate
• 2010/07/31: Tyee: The Enbridge Dirty Dozen
  Michigan disaster follows 12 other big spills or penalties this decade for giant aiming to pipe tar sands oil to Kitimat
• 2010/07/30: CBC: Enbridge cited for problems in U.S.
  A Canadian company at the centre of a huge oil spill in southern Michigan has a history of pipeline problems, including leaks, an explosion and dozens of regulatory violations. Enbridge Inc. and its affiliates have been cited for 30 enforcement actions since 2002 by the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, which is the U.S. Department of Transportation's regulatory arm.
• 2010/07/30: AlterNet: Ruptured Oil Pipe Sends 877,000 Gallons of Crude Oil into Kalamazoo River, Threatening People and Wildlife
• 2010/07/29: CBC: Alberta pipeline spills unlikely: regulator
  As Calgary-based Enbridge Inc. works to clean up a major oil spill from one of its aging pipelines in Michigan, Alberta officials say the province's network is safe.
• 2010/07/28: CBC: Greenpeace mock oil spill targets Enbridge -- Vancouver protesters say Michigan leak reveals risks of Alberta-B.C. pipeline
• 2010/07/27: SolveClimate: EPA Slams State Department on Proposed Oil Pipeline
  White House could intervene as environmental security takes equal place next to energy security as concern of national interest
• 2010/07/26: NRDC:SwitchBoard: In the midst of heightened interest, tar sands pipeline permitting process extended
• 2010/07/26: NRDC:SwitchBoard: U.S. Department of Energy questions the core arguments in support of the Keystone XL pipeline

  The Western Climate Initiative provinces are moving ahead with their ETS:

• 2010/07/29: G&M: Ottawa praises three provinces set to introduce cap-and-trade system
  Critics say move by Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia reduces pressure for federal action
  The federal Conservative government says it is pleased to learn Canada's three largest provinces are working independently with two U.S. states to introduce a cap-and-trade system that would put a price tag on greenhouse-gas emissions. But critics say the government is happy only because the provincial action will reduce the pressure for a national cap-and trade program - something that would not play well in Alberta. It was announced on Tuesday that Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia will join with California and New Mexico, as part of the Western Climate Initiative, to impose a system of caps on large industrial emitters starting as early as January, 2012. Companies that produce more emissions than allowed would be required to buy credits from companies that emit less.
• 2010/07/28: G&M: Biggest provinces push plan to cap emissions -- B.C., Ontario, Quebec embrace [WCI] cap-and-trade system...
• 2010/07/28: PostMedia: B.C. adopts new limits for greenhouse-gas emissions with new [WCI] 'cap and trade' system
• 2010/07/28: G&M: Biggest provinces push plan to cap emissions [WCI]
  B.C., Ontario, Quebec embrace cap-and-trade system to fight global warming that is based on plan dropped by U.S. Senate

The Green Party leadership convention approaches:

• 2010/07/31: G&M: Green Party names ex-NHL tough guy as deputy leader -- Former Canadiens enforcer Georges Laraque expected to help party drop the gloves in Quebec
• 2010/07/31: CBC: Green Party names ex-NHLer Laraque deputy leader

  Fracking in Canada:

• 2010/07/26: TStar: Proceed with caution on shale gas
• 2010/07/27: Straight: Shale gas development could thwart B.C. emissions reduction targets, report says

  BC is still wrangling over energy:

• 2010/07/29: G&M: California dreamin' -- The state might not be such a lucrative customer
• 2010/07/29: G&M: Export opportunities -- Selling green power beyond border fuels programs at home
• 2010/07/30: CanWest: B.C. will hit industrial emitters from two directions -- But a government official says cap-and-trade program, carbon tax will be mutually exclusive
  British Columbia industries will face two sets of environmental regulations for their greenhouse gas emissions. At a conference call on Thursday by the Environment Ministry's Climate Action Secretariat, a government official said B.C.'s major industries will still pay carbon taxes after the 2012 introduction of a cap-and-trade program regulating their smokestack emissions. Cap-and-trade regulations will apply to emissions from stationary assets such as smelters and gas processing plants, while the carbon tax would apply to transportation fuel such as diesel for large mining trucks.
• 2010/07/29: PostMedia: B.C. to unveil new greenhouse gas emissions rules -- Companies await one paper on emission trading, another on carbon offsets
  British Columbia's largest industries today will get their first look at proposed new regulations governing greenhouse gas emissions. The province's climate action secretariat will release two papers, one proposing details of a B.C. emissions trading regulation and one a B.C. carbon dioxide offsets regulation. The release will launch a 45-day consultation period that will be limited to written comments. The secretariat says it hopes the regulations will be finalized by year's end.
• 2010/07/20: CCPA: Fossil fuel peddling impedes BC's progress toward a green future

  Meanwhile in that Mechanical Mordor known as the tar sands:

• 2010/07/30: GreenPeaceCanada: [link to 1,3 gig pdf] Thousands of industrial incidents raise serious concerns about toxic oil industry
  Greenpeace Canada, Sierra Club Prairie, Keepers of the Athabasca and Global Forest Watch Canada today released two databases compiled by prominent scientist Dr. Kevin Timoney, one with more than 6,500 incidents, regarding tar sands operations that raise serious concerns about how the Alberta government allows oil companies to operate in this province.
• 2010/07/30: CBC: Oilsands database shows chronic pollution
  A new database that compiles thousands of government and industry records on Alberta's oilsands shows that the industry is a constant source of low-level pollution in the area's land, air and water, says the scientist who pulled it all together. Kevin Timoney, an independent biologist who has criticized the oilsands before, said the vast database on the industry's environmental performance suggests Alberta isn't doing enough to enforce standards. Timoney's research was made public Friday on the websites of various environmental groups, including Greenpeace Canada, the Sierra Club Prairie, Keepers of the Athabasca and Global Forest Watch Canada.
• 2010/07/29: Reuters: Canadian oil sands profits jump amid green battle
  Suncor EPS C$0.31 vs yr earlier C$0.06/shr loss - Cenovus EPS C$0.23 vs C$0.21 - Imperial EPS C$0.60 vs C$0.64 - Cdn Oil Sands Trust C$0.49 vs C$0.10 - Michigan oil spill emboldens oil sands critics - Suncor shares up 2 pct, Cenovus down 4.7 pct
• 2010/07/29: Tyee: Alberta Hides Dirty Truth as US Demands Tar Sands Facts -- Potential buyers of tar sands oil want to know its true carbon footprint, but industry won't come clean
• 2010/07/30: DeSmogBlog: Nikiforuk on Hiding the Alberta Tar Sand's Dirty Truth
• 2010/07/29: OilChange: The Boom Times Are Back
• 2010/07/29: CBC: Suncor Energy returns to profit

  In Saskatchewan, nukes are back:

• 2010/07/28: PostMedia: Nuclear power expensive option for Saskatchewan: report
  Constructing a nuclear reactor in Saskatchewan could triple consumers' power bills and would not decrease greenhouse-gas emissions, said a report released Tuesday. "It is an expensive option for Saskatchewan to pursue. It's not cost-effective," said Heath Packman, a former Saskatchewan government official and author of In the Red: The Green Behind Nuclear Power.
• 2010/07/29: BuckDog: 'Nuclear power expensive option for Saskatchewan': Report

  In Manitoba (and the Prairies):

• 2010/07/30: CBC: Wheat board dampens outlook for new crop
  The Canadian Wheat Board is reporting the strongest sales in a decade for the crop year that ends Saturday. But the marketing agency says prices were lower than hoped for and farmers will likely face bleaker returns in the coming year because of heavy rains in recent months that soaked much of the Prairies. "We undertook a very strategic sales program that enabled us to increase our exports in an aggressively competitive international market that was saturated with grain," Ian White, the wheat board's CEO, said Friday. "It was certainly not as good as the past two years of high prices. There has been a significant supply response to those high prices and this has, in turn, led to lower prices around the world."

In the Maritimes:

• 2010/07/28: CBC: Ottawa balks at new costs for delayed N.B. [Point Lepreau] reactor -- Minister says federal government will stick to contract
• 2010/07/25: ChronicleHerald: NDP sets a bad power precedent
  Three years after the passage of the Environmental Goals and Sustainable Prosperity Act and an agreement to meet the national standard for mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants, the mercurial NDP government has turned on a dime. The "dime" was the higher power rates forecasted by Nova Scotia Power to offset the cost of burning cleaner fuel to comply with the law. After meeting privately this month with business, community, environmental and university groups, government determined the public would happily accept higher levels of the neuro-poison for several more years in exchange for lower power bills next year. By pushing the agreed mercury cap back four years to 2014 -- beyond the next election -- the NDP judged it could avert the backlash that would have been triggered by steep power rate hikes.

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

• 2010/07/29: CCurrents: The End of Capitalism? Part 2B. Social Limits And The Crisis
• 2010/07/28: Rabble: Sustainability means consume less
• 2010/07/29: DVoice: The End of Capitalism? Interview of Alex Knight -- Part 1. Crisis and Opportunity
• 2010/07/30: OilDrum: Hollow Men of Economics
• 2010/07/29: EnergyBulletin: Beyond the limits to growth
• 2010/07/29: EnergyBulletin: Why permaculture design?
• 2010/07/29: AlterNet: Are Nations Going Extinct?
• 2010/07/27: EnergyBulletin: The End of Capitalism? Part 2B. Social Limits and the Crisis
• 2010/07/27: CCurrents: The End Of Capitalism? Part 2A. Capitalism And Ecological Limits
• 2010/07/20: CCurrents: The End of Capitalism? Part 1. Crisis And Opportunity
• 2010/07/26: EnergyBulletin: The End of Capitalism? Part 2A. Capitalism and Ecological Limits

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

• 2010/07/28: EUO: EU population over half-a-billion
• 2010/07/27: AlterNet: How Racist Anti-Immigrant Groups Are Trying to Recruit Environmentalists

  Apocalypso anyone?

• 2010/07/26: NYT:EconoMix: Armageddon Wars: Overpopulation Vs. Global Warming

  As for how the media handles the science of climatology:

• 2010/07/30: TP:WR: Megan McArdle Has No Idea What She's Talking About, Global Warming Edition
• 2010/07/30: Deltoid: Misleading reporting from Fiona Harvey of the Financial Times
• 2010/07/30: TreeHugger: The US Media Still Failing on Climate Change
• 2010/07/29: ERabett: When John Fleck calls
• 2010/07/29: ClimateP: How the status quo media failed on climate change
• 2010/07/28: MTobis: Misleading Headline Again

  While activists search for effective communication techniques:

• 2010/08/01: SkeptiSci: Visually depicting the disconnect between climate scientists, media and the public
• 2010/07/31: SkeptiSci: The four sides model for improving climate communication by Oliver Marchand
• 2010/07/30: BSD: Response to Michael Tobis: everyone knows the climate's gone screwy, so let's use it

  Here is something for your library:

• 2010/07/25: CSW: 'Merchants of Doubt' responsible for climate confusion
  [Book Review] _Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming_ by Naomi Oreskes & Erik Conway
• 2010/07/26: Wunderground: [Book Review] _Storms of My Grandchildren_ by Dr. James Hansen

  And for your film & video enjoyment:

• 2010/07/30: ClimateP: Video: Everything you wanted to know about climate science in under 10 minutes
• 2010/07/29: MoD: Climate Crock - Heat Wave edition
• 2010/07/29: TCoE: Must see: Climate Crock and the heat wave
• 2010/07/29: PSinclair: Climate Crock: Heat Wave Edition Part 1
• 2010/07/28: PSinclair: World Bakes. Congress fiddles. Wind industry goes to China.

  As for podcasts:

• 2010/07/31: MoD: Irregular Climate Episode 10

  Meanwhile among the 'Sue the Bastards!' contingent:

• 2010/07/26: Yahoo:AP: Texas challenges EPA on overturning permit program
  Texas officials on Monday appealed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's decision to overturn a 16-year-old state air permitting program. Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott filed the petition for reconsideration with the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans.
• 2010/07/30: SundayGazetteMail: Coal firm 'grandstanding,' judge says
  Charleston, W.Va. -- Massey Energy's Performance Coal Co. is "grandstanding" in its lawsuit challenging the government's procedures for investigating the deaths of 29 workers at the company's Upper Big Branch Mine, a federal administrative law judge has ruled. Judge Margaret Miller of the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission blasted Massey subsidiary Performance Coal in a ruling that turned down the company's request for an expedited hearing in its lawsuit. Miller concluded that she was "troubled by the misrepresentations" made by Massey lawyers in the case, by the company's "overstated allegations" and by the "waste of time and resources" in filing of documents without information helpful to resolving the matter. "Performance treats this court as a forum for grandstanding and, in doing so, attempts to interfere with the ongoing investigation," Miller wrote in a six-page ruling issued last week.

Wrestling over a new energy infrastructure continues unabated:

• 2010/07/30: TEC: Brazil: Energy superpower
• 2010/07/29: PI:RE: Geoexchange explained: how to efficiently heat and cool buildings using free energy
• 2010/07/28: NBF: China Energy Mix Now, 2015 and 2020
• 2010/07/29: PeakEnergy: Gulf of Mexico's Deepwater Oil Industry Is Built on Pillars of Salt
• 2010/07/29: BBC: Royal Dutch Shell profits almost double [to US$4.5bn (£2.9bn)]
• 2010/07/29: CBC: Exxon earnings jump 91%
  Exxon Mobil Corp. said Thursday its second-quarter income soared 91 per cent to $7.56 billion US as oil prices increased from last year.
• 2010/07/28: PeakEnergy: Indonesia Seeks to Tap Its Huge Geothermal Reserves
• 2010/07/28: BBC: British Gas sees profits rise 98% in first half of year
• 2010/07/27: CBC: [Underwater] Power turbines will harness St. Lawrence
• 2010/07/27: SkeptiSci: Waste heat vs greenhouse warming
• 2010/07/26: Grist: As energy use goes, so goes the economy
• 2010/07/26: DM:SRK: The Flow of Energy in the United States
• 2010/07/26: EnergyDaily: China's demand for LNG to soar
• 2010/07/27: TEC: Study: Solar power is cheaper than nuclear

  Hey! Let's contaminate the aquifer for thousands of years! It'll be a fracking gas!

• 2010/07/28: PRWatch: Fight Over Fracking
• 2010/07/29: ProPublica: Drilling Accountability Bill Would Regulate Fracturing Too
• 2010/07/30: AlterNet: Fracking With Food: How the Natural Gas Industry Poisons Cows and Crops
• 2010/07/27: NRDC:SwitchBoard: Drilling planned next to a school in Ohio
• 2010/07/28: OilDrum: Arthur Berman talks about Shale Gas
• 2010/07/28: CCurrents: "Fracking" Poisons Your Drinking Water: Stand Up To The Oil Giants And Help Stop The Catastrophe
• 2010/07/23: NYT: E.P.A. Considers Risks of Gas Extraction
• 2010/07/26: TStar: Proceed with caution on shale gas
• 2010/07/27: Straight: Shale gas development could thwart B.C. emissions reduction targets, report says
• 2010/07/26: NRDC:SwitchBoard: Letter from the gaspatch: "We are sick of the noise and stench"
• 2010/07/26: AlterNet: "Fracking" Poisons Your Drinking Water: Stand Up to the Oil Giants and Help Stop the Catastrophe

  The answer my friend...:

• 2010/07/27: Reuters: U.S. wind power installations drop in first half of 2010
  New wind capacity down 71 pct in first half - Industry presses for federal renewable energy standard
• 2010/07/29: REA: World's Largest Wind Project is Underway
• 2010/07/28: TreeHugger: 1,550 MW Wind Farm, World's Current Largest, Breaks Ground in Mojave, California
• 2010/07/28: CCurrents: Wind Power Can Change The World -- Why Aren't We Investing In It?
• 2010/07/26: MillerMcCune: Clean Energy and the U.S. Handicap: One Man's Story
  On-again, off-again federal support cripples emerging industries in the United States, America's pre-eminent wind energy pioneer believes.
• 2010/07/27: LA Times: Wind farm 'mega-project' underway in Mojave Desert
  The Alta Wind Energy Center -- with plans for thousands of acres of turbines to generate electricity for 600,000 Southern California homes -- officially breaks ground Tuesday.
• 2010/07/26: NewScientist: All power to the wind -- it cuts your electricity bills
• 2010/07/26: Guardian(UK): Engineers race to design world's biggest offshore wind turbines
  British firm to design mammoth offshore wind turbines with 275m wingspan that produce three times power of standard models
• 2010/07/27: REA: Rough Year for Wind...U.S. wind installations dropped 71% in the second quarter of this year compared to 2009...
• 2010/07/26: NBF: Kitegen had to Abandon Another Site But Its 3 Megawatt Prototype at Sommariva Perno Should be Flying in August 2010
• 2010/07/25: AlterNet: Wind Power Can Change the World -- Why Aren't We Investing In It?

  Meanwhile among the solar aficionados:

• 2010/07/30: PlanetArk: First Solar Profit Tops Street, Trims Sales View
• 2010/07/30: SMH: Solar centre powers on despite $20M hit
• 2010/07/30: PeakEnergy: First Solar Drops Cost to 76 Cents a Watt
• 2010/07/28: SusBiz: Solar Market Report: Module Shipments To Decline 10%
• 2010/07/29: BBC: Jobs boost with expansion at Wrexham [Wales] solar panel plant
• 2010/07/28: TreeHugger: Utility-Scale Solar Power. In Rainy England?!
• 2010/07/27: PhysOrg: Developing More Efficient Solar Energy Cells
• 2010/07/26: PeakEnergy: Bumpy Coatings for Better Solar Cells

  Feed-In-Tariffs are being variously implemented around the world:

• 2010/07/29: SolveClimate: Rep. Inslee Proposes Shared Fee on Electric Bills for Clean Energy
  Bill introduced in Congress is modeled on Germany's success in using feed-in-tariffs to power a clean energy boom

On the coal front:

• 2010/07/28: NRDC:SwitchBoard: There Goes Another Mountain
• 2010/07/29: TWM: Mountain-top removal just needs some rebranding...
• 2010/07/26: SolveClimate: Vilified Coal King [Blankenship] Makes His Case in Rambling Talk, Despite Protesters
• 2010/07/26: NRDC:SwitchBoard: Dana Milbank: "Blankenship must have no sense of shame"

  Biofuel bickering abounds:

• 2010/07/30: RRapier: Thoughts on an Ethanol Pipeline
• 2010/07/30: TreeHugger: Algae Biofuel Grown in Bioreactors Has 3.7x the Carbon Footprint of Petro-Diesel: Study
• 2010/07/28: Reuters: Indonesian Sinar Mas-linked firms cutting virgin forest - report
• 2010/07/29: NewScientist: E. coli engineered to make convenient 'drop-in' biofuel
• 2010/07/29: PlanetArk: Indonesian Sinar Mas-Linked Firms Cutting Virgin Forest: Report
• 2010/07/29: NatureTGB: Fuel from microbes -- another LS9 production
• 2010/07/29: EarthTimes: Greenpeace: Indonesian palm oil firm [Sinar Mas Group] breaks promise, destroys forest
• 2010/07/28: CCurrents: Net Energy Of Ethanol Minimal: Study
• 2010/07/26: IndiaTimes: Don't fall for jatropha plants, warns UN body
  New Delhi: In a significant implication for the country's biofuel policy, a specialised arm of the United Nations has warned that the developing countries should not buy blindly into the 'jatropha for biodiesel' argument. Warning against the hype and half-truths around jatropha curacas, an oil seed plant touted as a major potential source of biofuels, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation has warned in a special report that yields need to improve significantly for the crop to give an adequate return.
• 2010/07/27: NewScientist: Biodiesel from algae may not be as green as it seems
• 2010/07/26: OilDrum: New Perspectives on the Energy Return on (Energy) Investment (EROI) of Corn Ethanol: Part 1 of 2

  The nuclear energy controversy continues:

• 2010/07/30: ScienceInsider: New Director Shakes Up Management of [ITER] Fusion Project
• 2010/07/29: NBF: US Nuclear Reactors 395.15 Terawatt hours for first half of 2010 and China Starts Building Two More Reactors
• 2010/07/28: ScienceInsider: International Fusion Effort Finally Gets Go-Ahead, and a New Leader
• 2010/07/29: TEC: Licensing small nuclear reactors -- American Nuclear Society committee white papers are out
• 2010/07/28: BBC: The European Union and six member states have reached a deal on the financing and timetable for an experimental nuclear fusion reactor
• 2010/07/24: BBC: Iran launches nuclear fusion bid
  Iran has launched a programme aimed at developing a nuclear fusion reactor - an ambition long-cherished by Western nations. Asghar Sediqzadeh, head of the fusion research institute, said initial studies would last for two years, and a reactor would take 10 years to build. Fusion is used in hydrogen bombs, but scientists have been unable to harness the energy created in such reactions. Iran is already under UN sanctions because of its nuclear activities.
• 2010/07/28: BNC: Nuclear Power - Yes Please! (why we need nuclear energy to beat climate change)
• 2010/07/26: EnergyDaily: Nuclear experts seek to advance [ITER] fusion project
• 2010/07/25: AlterNet: 6 Reasons Nuclear Energy Advocate Stewart Brand Is Wrong by Harvey Wasserman

  Yes we have peak everything:

• 2010/07/31: CCurrents: World Oil Reserves At Tipping Point
• 2010/07/28: GreenGrok: A Global Rare Earth Element Crisis on the Horizon?
• 2010/07/28: EarlyWarning: Global Oil Supply Now Contracting?
• 2010/07/28: PeakEnergy: Global Oil Supply Now Contracting?
• 2010/07/28: RWER: Peak oil -- the writing is on the wall
• 2010/07/27: OilDrum: Steve Mohr's Thesis: Projection of World Fossil Fuel Production with Supply and Demand Interactions

  More people are talking about the electrical grid:

• 2010/07/31: PeakEnergy: Smart Grid Meter Usage in Europe Growing 17.9 Percent Annually
• 2010/07/30: TreeHugger: Is It Possible To Really Go Off The Grid?
• 2010/07/29: NRDC:SwitchBoard: NERC Identifies Solutions to Address the Grid Reliability Challenges of a Transition to Clean Energy
• 2010/07/27: NYT:CW: Monitor Urges Utilities to Go Slow on Smart Grid Renovations
  A report by the operations monitor of the North American electricity grid, issued today, raises a large yellow caution flag over climate policy initiatives that would require a massive change in the nation's power and transmission infrastructure. A task force on climate change formed by North American Electric Reliability Corp. urges that policymakers not count on large amounts of renewable energy, demand reduction from smart grid systems or new storage technologies before they prove they can be worked onto the grid without endangering the system's reliability. Deep cuts in generators' greenhouse gas emissions require an unprecedented transformation from current generation, says Mark Lauby, NERC's director of reliability assessment and performance analysis.
• 2010/07/26: TEC: Distributed Generation --- Giving Power and Money to the People

  And then there is the matter of efficiency & conservation:

• 2010/07/30: WorldChanging: Thermografische Kaart: Heat Seeking Camera Used to Assess Home Energy Use
• 2010/07/29: TreeHugger: Appliance Efficiency is an Easy Win for Consumers and the Climate

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

• 2010/07/30: G&M: Merging onto electric avenue
  Hype over the new battery-powered Volt from GM may be surging but every major car maker has jumped onto what some are already calling a global revolution
• 2010/07/30: AutoBG: Report: Large SUV segment outpacing small car sales growth in America
• 2010/07/30: AutoBG: GM will increase Volt production by 50% - to 45,000 units - in 2012
• 2010/07/29: NBF: Automotive XPrize Finalists that Advance to the Final Validation Phase -- From 136 vehicles by 111 teams to 9 vehicles by 7 teams
• 2010/07/28: SolveClimate: GM to Be First in U.S. to Air Condition Autos with Climate Friendly Coolant -- Some herald it as the end of climate-damaging HFCs; others warn of the 'green' substitute's toxicity
• 2010/07/27: Reuters: Analysis: Europe's CO2 war has room for electrics, hybrid cars
  European carmakers are likely to rely on a mix of clean car technologies to achieve big emission cuts even as they gear up for fully electric cars, battling to put infrastructure in place and convince wary drivers.

As for Energy Storage:

• 2010/07/25: FuturePundit: Planar Energy Roll-To-Roll Solid Lithium Battery Process
  Technology Review has an article about an approach that might substantially boost the density of lithium batteries while also lowering their cost
• 2010/07/28: DM:80B: Toshiba's Ultra-Long-Lasting Battery May Be in Cars as Early as Next Year
• 2010/07/27: NYT: Wind Drives Growing Use of Batteries
  The rapid growth of wind farms, whose output is hard to schedule reliably or even predict, has the nation's electricity providers scrambling to develop energy storage to ensure stability and improve profits. As the wind installations multiply, companies have found themselves dumping energy late at night, adjusting the blades so they do not catch the wind, because there is no demand for the power. And grid operators, accustomed to meeting demand by adjusting supplies, are now struggling to maintain stability as supplies fluctuate.
• 2010/07/28: SlashDot: Long In Development, Toshiba 'SCiB' Battery Debuts

  Insurance and re-insurance companies are feeling the heat:

• 2010/07/28: Guardian(UK): UK house insurance premiums to rise dramatically as climate change increases flood risk
  Association of British Insurers warns some areas of Britain will become uninsurable

Meanwhile in the greenwashing chronicles:

• 2010/07/29: TP: Flashback: Oil greenwashing campaign scammed Mr. Bill in 2005
• 2010/07/29: TreeHugger: Sandra Bullock Gets Duped by Big Oil's Restore the Gulf Campaign
• 2010/07/29: TP: Sandra Bullock Disowns BP-Backed Greenwashing Campaign

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

• 2010/07/30: ClimateP: Energy and Global Warming News for July 30...
• 2010/07/29: ClimateP: Energy and Global Warming News for July 29...
• 2010/07/28: ClimateP: Energy and Global Warming News for July 28...
• 2010/07/27: ClimateP: Energy and Global Warming News for July 27...
• 2010/07/26: ClimateP: Energy and Global Warming News for July 26...

  Other (weekly) lists:

• 2010/07/30: Grist: Gigantic wind turbines, flush power, biodegradable coffins, and 7 more tales of green
• 2010/07/28: CSW: Climate Science Watch Weekly Update

  The carbon lobby are up to the usual:

• 2010/07/31: TCoE: Denier Watch
• 2010/08/01: Guardian(UK): A dark ideology is driving those who deny climate change
  People who claim that climate science is a conspiracy or the work of charlatans are talking rubbish
  [...]
  ...scientists' warnings -- that without action the world will get at least two degrees hotter this century -- have been obscured by a small group of ideologues who believe individual liberties are more important than any other cause. Our planet may burn, millions may die, and cities such as Moscow and New York may smoulder, but at least we will be free of petty regulation and bureaucracy. It seems a stiff price to pay.
• 2010/07/31: BBickmore: The Monckton Files: Papa is a Rollin' Stone
• 2010/07/30: DeSmogBlog: Lexus: the Darker Side of Climate Denial
• 2010/07/30: Stoat: Eating their own
• 2010/07/29: DeepClimate: Wegman Report update, part 1: More dubious scholarship in full colour
• 2010/07/26: MoD: The Laughlin contradiction
• 2010/07/29: AFTIC: Eating their own
• 2010/07/28: WtD: Nasty, brutish and short: The Climate Sceptics television ad pleads for us to "stop the green slaughter"
• 2010/07/28: ClimateP: Billionaire polluter David Koch: Global warming is good for you
• 2010/07/28: ERabett: The Daily Mislead
• 2010/07/27: MoD: Denier denies climate change!
• 2010/07/27: WtD: An echo in the echo chamber: Nova spins for spin-doctor Marc Morano and lies about Richard Courtney.. again!
• 2010/07/26: BBickmore: The Monckton Files: The Rap Sheet
• 2010/07/26: CCP: Lord Monckton's Rap Sheet by Barry Bickmore
• 2010/07/25: CCP: Unbelievable! Monckton's mad ravings and astonishing statements during telephone interview by Alex Jones, who seems completely witless
• 2010/07/25: CCP: St. Thomas Prof. John Abraham in royal smackdown with global-warming denier Christopher Monckton
• 2010/07/25: CCP: Scientist John Abraham is interviewed about Monckton's ridiculous claims of libel
• 2010/07/25: SkeptiSci: Rebutting skeptic arguments in a single tweet
• 2010/07/26: BCLSB: Marc Morano's New Hero
• 2010/07/27: TreeHugger: Pat Sajak Says Manmade Global Warming Is Simple to Solve
• 2010/07/26: DeSmogBlog: Marc Morano Manufacturing the Hype.... again
• 2010/07/26: DeSmogBlog: Busted: New Climate Denial Site - Climatechange101.ca - Shares Mailing Address with the Oily Friends of Science
• 2010/07/27: TP:WR: Billionaire Polluter David Koch: Global Warming Is Good For You

  The Laws of Thermodynamics questioned?

• 2010/07/31: TSoD: The Amazing Case of "Back Radiation" -- Part Three
• 2010/07/26: TSoD: Do Trenberth and Kiehl understand the First Law of Thermodynamics?
• 2010/07/27: ERabett: Follow the Bunny
• 2010/07/24: MTobis: Tamino vs Montford
• 2010/07/26: MTobis: The Greenhouse Effect Denied

  Meanwhile in the 'clean coal' saga:

• 2010/07/30: AJC: Southern Co. moves ahead on 'clean coal'
• 2010/07/29: Grist: Why 'clean coal' will never, ever matter

  As for climate miscellanea:

• 2010/08/01: Guardian(UK): We must restart the fight against global warming -- Climate change was once top of the agenda. We can't afford to let it slip
• 2010/07/30: DeseretNews: Climatologist sees disastrous weather in future
• 2010/07/31: BNC: Balancing carbon with smoke and mirrors
• 2010/07/28: CCP: NewScientist: End dirty tactics in the climate war (editorial)
• 2010/07/28: ClimateShifts: Human being and fish can coexist peacefully
• 2010/07/25: LNB: Dystopian Utopia
• 2010/07/28: DVoice: Taking Strong Action For Capitalist-Led Environmental Destruction
• 2010/07/26: CCP: Paul Krugman: Who Cooked the Planet?
• 2010/07/27: NewScientist: Green machine: Aircon that doesn't warm the planet
• 2010/07/27: Stoat: Kkinky again
• 2010/07/25: ERabett: Reading Assignments
• 2010/07/26: BBC:RB: Common climate in Canberra and Washington

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

• Global Forest Watch Canada
• Wiki: Idealized Greenhouse Model
• 2010/07/30: BBC:RB: An equal partnership with the land?
• BioOne Online Journals
• SciDevNet
• Wiki: Phytoplankton
• BBickmore: Lord Monckton's Rap Sheet
• Wiki: Madden-Julian oscillation
• TWCB: The Weather Channel Blog
• CCC: 3C - Combat Climate Change - A Business Leaders' Initiative
• CA-CP: Clean Air-Cool Planet
• 2007/01/10: BOM: ENSO Wrap-Up
• IRI: Net Assessment Forecasts (global - precip/temp)
• Wiki: Climate change and agriculture
• Save the Boreal Forest

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

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

"The problem is not in the science, or with scientists at all, nor with a culture gap between science and the media. The problem is with this third group, the disinformers, who have completely dominated the framing of the story, and how honest journalists have been completely taken in by this framing." -Steve Easterbrook

• Global Warming Links
• Global Warming News Archive
• Energy
• Energy News
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