Another week of GW News, April 10, 2011

Logging the Onset of The Bottleneck Years

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Another week of Climate Disruption News

Information Overloadis Pattern Recognition

April 10, 2011

• Chuckles, Bangkok, COP17+, Fukushima News, Nuclear Policy, Fukushima Talk, IRENA, Goals, BEST
• Carbon Tariffs, Subsidies, GFIs, McKinsey, Psych, Thermodynamics, Open Science, Cook, MDGs
• Melting Arctic, Fresh Water Pool, Geopolitics, Antarctica
• Food Crisis, Food Prices, Food vs. Biofuel, Land Grabs, GMOs, Food Production
• Hurricanes, GHGs, Temperatures, Ozone, Paleoclimate, ENSO, Climate Sensitivity, Extinctions, Satellites
• Impacts, Forests, Extreme Weather, Wildfires, Corals, Glaciers, Sea Levels, Floods & Droughts
• Mitigation, Transportation, Sequestration, Geoengineering, Adaptation
• Journals, Other Docs , Misc. Science, DIY Science, Christy, Pielke, Spencer
• UN, Carbon Trade, Bank Tax, Security, Law & Activism, Activism, Water Politics & Business, Software
• National Politics: America, BP Disaster, 2012, McCollum & Abraham, Obama, USAdmin, Congress, Lobbyists
• Britain, Europe, Australia, Carbon War, Murray-Darling, New Zealand, China, Japan, Middle East
• Canada, Offshore Drilling, PQ vs Nfld, BC, Tar Sands, Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, Canadiana
• Ecological Economics, IPAT, Media, Books, Video
• Energy, Fracking, Wind, Solar, Coal, Biofuel, Nukes, Peak Oil, Grid, Cars, Gee Whiz, Energy Storage, Oil & Gas
• FAQs, Joe's List, Carbon Lobby, Miscellaneous Climate, Useful Links
• Shameless Self Promotion, .sig

"I have no stomach for jokes today. The truth is too sad, and the lies too numerous." -Bob Park, April 1, 2011

• 2011/04/03: TruthDig: (cartoon - Mr.Fish) Elephant in the Room

  And for those who enjoy challenging Poe's Law:

• 2011/04/06: Wonkette: Fires Rage & Farms Dry Up Across the Oklahoma-Texas New Dust Bowl
• 2011/04/04: Grist: George Will takes the train, may have been collectivized

  The Bangkok meeting produced a roadmap to paper over their fundamental differences (and postpone the inevitable failure?)

• 2011/04/04: GlobalPost: Three major issues dominate new UN climate conference
  Nuclear fears, rich-poor bitterness and the Kyoto Protocol's shaky future are all on the table.
• 2011/04/08: Reuters: Climate agenda agreed in Bangkok but Kyoto's future remains uncertain
• 2011/04/09: BangkokPost: Bangkok summit adopts road map
• 2011/04/08: Reuters: U.N. climate agenda agreed, roadmap set for 2011
• 2011/04/08: UNEP: UN Climate Change Conference in Bangkok highlights both progress and divisions between governments on central issues
• 2011/04/08: Guardian(UK): Bangkok climate talks stall
  Hopes fade of a deal in Durban later this year as deep divisions continue over the fate of the Kyoto protocol
• 2011/04/08: UN: UN official exhorts countries to work harder to build climate change consensus
• 2011/04/08: PlanetArk: U.N. Climate Talks Risk Backsliding on Cancun Outcome
• 2011/04/08: PlanetArk: Arguments Over Agenda Stall U.N. Climate Talks
• 2011/04/07: PlanetArk: Progress On Cancun Climate Goals Uncertain: Envoy
  Tensions between developed and developing countries in global climate talks could hamper progress on U.N. agreements hammered out in Mexico last year, the U.S. climate envoy said on Wednesday. At annual U.N. climate talks in Cancun, Mexico, last December, environment ministers agreed on modest steps to combat climate change, widely seen as saving the process from collapse. Those included drafting guidelines on making emissions curbs more transparent, establishing a Green Fund, and helping developing countries adapt to global warming. Negotiators hope to work on the issues at this year's first negotiator meeting, taking place this week in Bangkok, ahead of the annual meeting that will be held in South Africa late this year.
• 2011/04/06: PlanetArk: Kyoto Pact Rift Threatens Progress At U.N. Climate Talks [in Bangkok]
• 2011/04/06: PlanetArk: Japan Says Not Seeking Exemption From Kyoto CO2 Pledge
• 2011/04/06: People's Daily: Rich nations' finance pledges inadequate to avert global warming: experts
• 2011/04/06: Reuters: [Interview with Oleg Shamanov, head Russian negotiator] U.N. climate talks risk backsliding on Cancun outcome
• 2011/04/06: Reuters: Arguments over agenda stall U.N. climate talks
  U.N. climate talks remained deadlocked on Wednesday over a debate on the agenda for negotiations, with developing countries pushing hard for a greater focus on the fate of the Kyoto Protocol.
• 2011/04/06: BizGreen: Bangkok talks hit Kyoto roadblock
  Entrenched positions on the future of emissions commitments dominate first day of climate negotiations
• 2011/04/05: MLynas: Two degrees is out of reach
• 2011/04/05: PostMedia: Kyoto pact rift threatens progress at U.N. climate talks -- Fate of Kyoto Protocol takes centre stage at talks
  Poorer nations upped the ante on rich countries at U.N. climate talks on Tuesday by demanding that the world's main climate treaty be extended from 2013 and for industrialised countries to deepen carbon-cutting pledges.
• 2011/04/04: Guardian(UK): Q&A: UN climate change conference in Bangkok [April 3-8]

  Looking ahead to COP17 and future international climate negotiations:

• 2011/04/06: ClimateSight: The Rest of the World
• 2011/04/05: MLynas: The 350 climate goal: dead or merely MIA?
• 2011/04/04: CDialogue: International Climate Policy: Let's Get the Lipstick off the Pig

  The Fukushima question of the moment would seem to be: How many years will this decommissioning take?

• 2011/04/09: ABC(Au): Japan will pump radioactive water into the sea from a crippled nuclear plant until Sunday, a day later than previously planned, its nuclear safety agency said
• 2011/04/06: NYT: N.R.C. Suspects Leak in Core of Japan Nuclear Reactor Was More Advanced -- Core of Stricken Reactor Probably Leaked, U.S. Says
• 2011/04/05: NYT: U.S. Sees Array of New Threats at Japan's Nuclear Plant
• 2011/04/07: PSinclair: Leaked Study from Nuclear Regulatory Commission: Fukushima Far from Over
• 2011/04/06: UCSUSA: Internal NRC Documents Reveal Doubts About Measures to Ensure U.S. Plants Survive Fukushima-Type Events
• 2011/04/05: CCurrents: Radioactivity In Sea Up 7.5 Million Times
• 2011/04/05: NatureN: Japan faces more than a decade of nuclear clean-up -- Experts fear that damage to the Fukushima reactors is worse than partial meltdown
• 2011/04/05: Cryptome: Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant Hi-Res Photos 3
• 2011/04/05: CBC: Japan nuclear plant still spewing radiation into sea
  Radiation in seawater at the shoreline off Japan's tsunami-ravaged nuclear power plant has measured several million times the legal limit over the past few days, though officials contend that the contamination still does not pose an immediate danger.

Post Fukushima, nuclear policies are in flux around the world:

• 2011/04/10: BRitholtz: WashingtonsBlog: Japan's Nuclear Meltdown, the Economic Crisis, and Gulf Oil Spill All Happened for the SAME REASON
• 2011/04/07: DerSpiegel: Why German Nuclear Worries Are Both Wrong and Harmful
• 2011/04/08: EurActiv: Bulgarians irked at Turkey's nuclear power plan
• 2011/04/08: ScienceInsider: Indian Scientists Call for Moratorium on New Nuclear Plants
• 2011/04/08: TreeHugger: Is Now the Time to Rethink Japan's Energy Future?
• 2011/04/07: PlanetArk: Officials Doubted Nuclear Safety Plans: Watchdog [UCSUSA]
• 2011/04/07: PlanetArk: Environmental Groups Seek Delay In New U.S. [Westinghouse AP1000] Nuclear Plants
• 2011/04/06: PlanetArk: German Nuclear U-Turn Links Power With Coal Prices
• 2011/04/07: CBC: Nuclear fears may boost climate change -- As nations scale back nuclear plans, renewables and fossil fuels vie to fill gap
  In wake of radiation leaks at the damaged a nuclear plant in Fukushima, Japan, shown above, many countries are expected to halt new nuclear plants and phase out older ones sooner than planned. In wake of radiation leaks at the damaged a nuclear plant in Fukushima, Japan, shown above, many countries are expected to halt new nuclear plants and phase out older ones sooner than planned. (Reuters) Worldwide calls to curb nuclear power amid Japan's plant crisis could be bad news for the fight against global warming -- unless nations finally go all-out to tap wind, solar and other clean, renewable energy, climate change negotiators and activists say.
• 2011/04/06: Guardian(UK): Meltdown: not just a metaphor by Joseph Stiglitz
  Vested interests cause both our financial system and the nuclear industry to compulsively underestimate risk
• 2011/04/06: CBC: Nuclear power faces public-image battle -- Building more reactors in wake of Japan disaster doesn't make sense, say some
• 2011/04/05: DemNow: U.N. Nuclear Watchdog Says It Will Continue to Push for New Nuclear Power Plants Despite Growing Global Nuclear Concern
• 2011/04/05: DerSpiegel: Globalized and Green? Siemens Said to Consider a Retreat from Nuclear Power
  Siemens, the German engineering giant, may have no room in its portfolio for nuclear projects following the Fukushima disaster, according to media reports. It would mean a loss of revenue -- and a serious reconsideration of what "sustainable energy" means.
• 2011/04/06: DerSpiegel: Interview with Environment Minister Röttgen -- 'The German Nuclear Debate Is Objective and Rational'
  Germany is quickly moving away from nuclear power and towards renewable energies. Spiegel spoke with Environment Minister Norbert Röttgen about his government's policy reversal, the costs for German consumers and whether his conservative party might partner with the Green Party in the future.
• 2011/04/04: DerSpiegel: Impact of Reactor Shutdown -- Germany May Be Importing Nuclear Power to Meet Energy Needs
  Germany may have begun importing atomic energy from France and the Czech Republic since it shut down seven of its own nuclear power stations pending a three-month safety check following the Fukushima accident. Chancellor Angela Merkel had stressed last month that she wanted to avoid such imports.
• 2011/04/04: BSD: Wish I didn't have Shellenberger on my (partly) pro-nuke side
• 2011/04/05: PlanetArk: Germany To Phase Out Nuclear Power: Deputy Minister [Juergen Becker]
• 2011/04/05: InformedComment: Japan Nuclear Woes Galvanize Indian Protests
• 2011/04/04: EUO: EU: Japanese nuclear accident will affect UN climate talks
  The crisis at Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant will have a major impact on global climate talks, a senior EU official has said, adding that the 27-member bloc will now study low-nuclear energy solutions more closely. "We haven't seen the end of what is going to happen in Fukushima," top EU climate negotiator Artur Runge-Metzger told a news conference on the sidelines of UN climate talks in Bangkok, Thailand, on Sunday (3 April).
• 2011/04/04: PlanetArk: U.S. Nuclear Investment To Pause: Analysts
• 2011/04/04: CBC: Japan crisis fuels wider nuclear safety concerns -- UN agency's aim is to avoid disasters like the one at Fukushima
  The head of the UN's atomic watchdog says the Japanese nuclear crisis presents a major challenge and has enormous implications for nuclear power. Yukiya Amano, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, says the global community cannot take a "business as usual approach" and that more needs to be done to strengthen the safety of power plants to reduce the risk of future disasters such as the one at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi plant that has been releasing radiation since it was hit by an earthquake and tsunami on March 11. Amano spoke Monday in Vienna, Austria, at the opening session of a meeting that has drawn representatives from dozens of countries to scrutinize safety at each other's power plants.

And of course, the pundits. lobbyists and politicians have a lot to say:

• 2011/04/07: Google:CP: Japan's tsunami-ravaged towns forgot wisdom left by their ancestors centuries ago
  Modern sea walls failed to protect coastal towns from Japan's destructive tsunami last month. But in the hamlet of Aneyoshi, a single centuries-old tablet saved the day. "High dwellings are the peace and harmony of our descendants," the stone slab reads. "Remember the calamity of the great tsunamis. Do not build any homes below this point." It was advice the dozen or so households of Aneyoshi heeded, and their homes emerged unscathed from a disaster that flattened low-lying communities elsewhere and killed thousands along Japan's northeastern shore. Hundreds of such markers dot the coastline, some more than 600 years old. Collectively they form a crude warning system for Japan, whose long coasts along major fault lines have made it a repeated target of earthquakes and tsunamis over the centuries.
• 2011/04/10: TreeHugger: Nuclear Industry Shows Their True Green Cards
• 2011/04/08: BPA: IEA Report: Where is the New Energy Coming From? Coal.
• 2011/04/08: CCurrents: Fukushima Disaster: Are We Told The Truth?
• 2011/04/07: CCurrents: US Report Points To Serious Dangers At Japanese Nuclear Plant
• 2011/04/08: WashingtonsBlog: When This Happens, Most Nuclear Power Plants in the World Could Melt Down
• 2011/04/07: WashingtonsBlog: Ongoing Cover Up of Nuclear Crisis By Governments and Nuclear Power Companies
• 2011/04/06: KSJT: NYTimes, etc: Reactors in Japan could be lurching closer to worst-case scenario, confidential US NRC analysis says
• 2011/04/06: ScienceInsider: Primer: Will Radiation Lay Waste to Japan's Fish?
• 2011/04/04: Monbiot: Evidence Meltdown
• 2011/04/06: ClassM: The nuclear misdirection
• 2011/04/06: ClimateP: Does nuclear power have a negative learning curve? 'Forgetting by doing'? Real escalation in reactor investment costs
• 2011/04/05: CCurrents: The Fukushima Nuclear Disaster And Carl Sagan's Baloney Detection Kit
• 2011/04/04: CCurrents: Japan Starts Dumping Radioactive Water Into Sea
• 2011/04/03: CCurrents: Japan's Apocalypse
• 2011/04/03: CCurrents: Situation At Japanese Nuclear Plant Still "Very Serious"
• 2011/04/05: DemNow: Japan Releases Radioactive Water Several Million Times the Legal Limit into Ocean
• 2011/04/04: DerSpiegel: Interview with Energy Commissioner Oettinger -- 'Fukushima Has Made Me Start to Doubt'
  Energy Commissioner Günther Oettinger used to be a firm supporter of nuclear energy. But now he's not so sure. SPIEGEL spoke with Oettinger about Chancellor Angela Merkel's about-face on nuclear energy, what it means for the European energy supply and whether other EU countries will follow suit.
• 2011/04/05: OSU: Historian says history of nuclear power needs to be addressed
• 2011/04/03: Guardian(UK): The incalculable cost of nuclear power
  Despite the Fukushima catastrophe, nuclear energy has green advocates. Low carbon it may be, but are they pricing it right?

There was an IRENA meeting in Abu Dhabi, Monday:

• 2011/04/05: UNEP: World Plugs-In to New Renewables Agency -- UNEP Applauds IRENA As New Key Clean Energy Catalyst
  Renewable energy was given a boost with the opening of the first General Assembly of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) which opened in Abu Dhabi on Monday. The two-day meeting with 800 delegates from 150 countries confirmed in its first session that Abu Dhabi would host the new intergovernmental organization that will advocate for renewable energy worldwide.

Here's a cheery bit of news to set off your day:

• 2011/04/08: SciNow: U.N. Goal of Limiting Global Warming Is Nearly Impossible, Researchers Say

  There's still some chatter about BEST:

• 2011/04/08: ClimateShifts: Anthony Watts, Richard Muller and the GOP three ring circus
• 2011/04/07: ABC(Au): Heat rises in the search for temperature data truth
• 2011/04/06: ScienceInsider: Q&A With Richard Muller: A Physicist and His Surprising Climate Data
• 2011/04/05: Stoat: Muller is rubbish
• 2011/04/04: QuarkSoup: For Muller Before They Were Against Him
• 2011/04/04: LA Times: Critics' review unexpectedly supports scientific consensus on global warming
  A UC Berkeley team's preliminary findings in a review of temperature data confirm global warming studies.

Oh Look. A Carbon Tariff suggestion:

• 2011/04/07: EurActiv: Leading MEPs propose VAT, carbon tariff for EU budget

  Subsidies, tax exemptions, loan guarantees & grants weave a difficult to penetrate web:

• 2011/04/07: TreeHugger: Scrap Subsidies For Fossil Fuels & Support Renewables, CCS to Cut Emissions: IEA [CEP Report]

  What are the global financial institutions up to?

• 2011/04/04: Grist: World Bank to the poor: 'Coal's good enough for you!'
  The World Bank -- famous for funding gobsmackingly huge, planet-killing coal-fired power plants -- is changing its tune, sort of. Under a new set of proposed rules, the Bank would only be allowed to fund gobsmackingly huge, planet-killing coal-fired power plants in the world's poorest countries. Progress!
• 2011/04/04: Guardian(UK): World Bank to limit funding for coal-fired power stations

  McKinsey has found itself in a bit of a controversy:

• 2011/04/08: ABC(Au): Firm's climate advice to PNG flawed: Greenpeace
  Greenpeace has slammed a global consulting firm over the advice it gives to countries like Papua New Guinea on combating climate change. McKinsey and Co provides advice on cutting carbon emissions to several developing countries seeking international funds to protect their forests.
• 2011/04/08: PlanetArk: McKinsey Defends Its Climate Costs Slide Rule

  Ah psychology. Ya gotta love it:

• 2011/04/08: ABC(Au): Climate beliefs change with the weather
  US researchers have found people's climate beliefs blow hot and cold depending upon the weather of the day.
• 2011/04/08: DM:DB: If the Catastrophic Weather Events Don't Get Us, the Stupidity Might
  What the weather's like affects some people's beliefs about global climate change, a new study found: On hot days, they're all over it, but on cold days, they're not so sure.
• 2011/04/06: Eureka: Some people's climate beliefs shift with weather -- Study shows daily malleability on a long-term question

  Delving into the laws of thermodynamics this week:

• 2011/04/07: TSoD: Simple Atmospheric Models - Part Two
• 2011/04/05: TSoD: Simple Atmospheric Models - Part One

  This is a step past open science sources and news:

• 2011/04/08: DM:CV: Open Science
• Free Science News
• Free Science Sources

  John Cook and friends continue their point-counterpoint articles:

• 2011/04/10: SkeptiSci: Christy Crock #2 - Jumping to Conclusions? by grypo
• 2011/04/10: SkeptiSci: The e-mail travesty in misquoting Trenberth's by villabolo
• 2011/04/09: SkeptiSci: From The Halls of Montezuma by citizenschallenge & Daniel Bailey
• 2011/04/08: SkeptiSci: How I lived through a carbon tax and survived to tell the tale by Dan Moutal
• 2011/04/08: SkeptiSci: Christy Crock #1: 1970s Cooling by dana1981
• 2011/04/07: SkeptiSci: Geologist Richard Alley's 'Operators Manual' TV Documentary and Book -- A Feast for Viewers and Readers by budward
• 2011/04/07: SkeptiSci: Has sea level rise accelerated since 1880? by Tamino

  Remember the Millennium Development Goals?

• 2011/04/05: EUO: Bill Gates: Millennium Development goals still 10 years away

  The Arctic melt continues to garner a lot of attention:

• 2011/04/09: CCP: NSIDC: What is the connection between Arctic sea ice and U.S. weather?
• 2011/04/05: ERW: Shrinking tundra, advancing forests: the Arctic by 2099
• 2011/04/06: ASI: Trends in Arctic Sea Ice Extent
• 2011/04/08: BBC: New warning on Arctic sea ice melt
  Scientists who predicted a few years ago that Arctic summers could be ice-free by 2013 now say summer sea ice will probably be gone in this decade.
• 2011/04/05: ASI: IceBridge, ICEX 2011, Catlin Arctic Survey

  News of a fresh water pool in the Arctic got a buzz:

• 2011/04/05: CCP: Benjamin Rabe et al., Deep Sea Research Part I: Ocean. Res. Papers, 58 (2), An assessment of Arctic Ocean freshwater content changes from the 1990s to the 2006-2008 period
• 2011/04/05: SciNews: Arctic Ocean hosts weird freshwater pond -- Odd, persistent winds prevent river inputs from mixing with the sea
• 2011/04/06: TreeHugger: Increase In Fresh Water Flowing Into Arctic Ocean Could Threaten Gulf Stream
• 2011/04/06: CBC: Arctic fresh water could affect Europe's climate
• 2011/04/05: ABC(US): New Fresh Water in Arctic Could Shift Gulf Stream
  Scientists concerned massive pool of fresh water in Arctic Ocean could alter Atlantic currents
• 2011/04/05: CBC: Arctic fresh water could affect Europe's climate
• 2011/04/05: Guardian(UK): Arctic Ocean freshwater will cause 'unpredictable changes on climate'

  As for the geopolitics of Arctic resources:

• 2011/04/07: OpenDem: The new Arctic: trade, science, politics
  The opening of the Arctic to ship-passage will transform the region's political as well as environmental landscape, says Ãyvind Paasche.
• 2011/04/08: BBC: BP Rosneft share deal in further set-back
  A $16bn (£10bn) share exchange between BP and state-owned Russian counterpart Rosneft has been blocked, once again. An arbitration panel in London upheld an injunction on the deal, but gave BP more time to find a solution. Russian shareholders of TNK-BP - an earlier joint venture of the UK firm - have argued that the Rosneft tie-up breaks promises BP made to them.
• 2011/04/06: PlanetArk: Analysis: Huge Barents Oil Find Shifts Focus Back To Arctic
  Statoil's half-a-billion barrel oil find in the Barents Sea will shift Norway's oil industry away from the North Sea and toward the Arctic -- a harsh region where costs and technical challenges mount. Further east, in the Russian part of the Barents, a long awaited offshore boom may also soon begin as foreign partnerships help supply knowhow to tap potentially huge resources.

While in Antarctica:

• 2011/04/04: NatureN: Antarctic microbes live life to the extreme -- Chilean Antarctic survey finds dramatic variety of organisms adapted to unusual conditions

  The food crisis is ongoing:

• 2011/04/06: CCP: NYT: Heat damages Colombia coffee, raising prices...
• 2011/04/06: TreeHugger: 80% of India's Alphonso Mango Crop Destroyed By Extreme Weather
• 2011/04/05: ABC(Au): Locust swarms destroying crops
  Growers in Carnarvon say they are unlikely to benefit from high prices for their fruit and vegetables, with swarms of locusts destroying much of their crops.

Food Prices dipped slightly this month:

• FAO: World Food Situation - Food Price Indices
• 2011/04/07: FAO: Global food prices decline -- Latest FAO Food Price Index shows first decrease in eight months
• 2011/04/08: BPA: A Comment About the Lower Food Price Index
• 2011/04/07: UN: Global food prices fall, but still significantly higher than a year ago - UN
• 2011/04/07: BBC: Food prices fall from record highs, says UN food agency
  Global food prices fell in March after eight months of rising to record highs, according to the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Its index of global food prices, which measures monthly changes for foods including cereals, meat and sugar, averaged 229.8 points in March, down from February's record of 236.8 points. Unrest in the Middle East and the natural disaster in Japan dented demand for grain, depressing the price. The UN warned the fall could be a blip.

The conflict between biofuel and food persists:

• 2011/04/07: CCP: Rush to use crops as fuel raises food prices and hunger fears. China using Thailand's casava exports for biofuel
• 2011/04/06: NYT: Rush to Use Crops as Fuel Raises Food Prices and Hunger Fears
• 2011/04/05: AutoBG: AAPS: Making more biofuels could kill 200,000 people a year

  So, are these land grabs Colonialism V2.0?

• FAC: International Conference on Global Land Grabbing [6-8 April 2011]
• 2011/04/08: TreeHugger: Proposed Biofuel Project in Kenya Would Produce More Emissions Than Fossil Fuels
• 2011/04/07: NatureTGB: Rush for farmland in Africa on the rise
• 2011/04/04: Guardian(UK): Land deals in Ethiopia bring food self-sufficiency, and prosperity [by Berhanu Kebede, Ethiopia's ambassador to the UK]

  Regarding the genetic modification of food:

• 2011/04/06: BPA: Rate of Increased Use of Genetically Engineered Soybeans, Cotton, and Corn in the U.S.
• 2011/04/03: CCurrents: Lawsuit Seeks To Invalidate Monsanto's GMO Patents

  And how are we going to feed 9 billion?

• 2011/04/06: BPA: Geographic Wheat Class Areas in the U.S.
• 2000/10/: AgBioWorld: Ending World Hunger: The Promise of Biotechnology and the Threat of Antiscience Zealotry by Norman E. Borlaug

  Another blessedly quiet week in the hurricane wars:

• 2011/04/07: Wunderground: Early 2011 Atlantic Hurricane Season Forecasts
• 2011/04/05: Eureka: NASA's Aqua Satellite catches brief life of season's first NW Pacific tropical depression
• 2011/04/04: ABC(Au): Global warming may mean fewer cyclones in far north Queensland but they could get stronger, scientists say at a national climate change conference in Cairns

  As for GHGs:

• 2011/04/09: ClimateShifts: Do the numbers: gas emits as much CO2 as coal
• 2011/04/08: ClimateP: Gas flaring remains a big global problem, 2% of global CO2 emissions from energy
• 2011/04/06: AutoBG: EIA: U.S. greenhouse gas emissions drop by record-setting 5.8% in 2009
• 2011/04/05: TCoE: CO2 longevity is the nastiest reality
• 2011/04/05: ClassM: Mom and dad just cut our allowance ... to zilch
• 2011/04/04: TreeHugger: Natural Gas Flaring Emits as Much CO2 as 77 Million Cars, Wastes 5% of World Production

  And in the temperature record:

• 2011/04/08: NOAANews: U.S. had above normal temperatures and precipitation in March
• 2011/04/05: IsaacHeld: 7. Why focus so much on global mean temperature?
• 2011/04/04: APSmith: Predicting future temperatures
• 2011/04/04: CCP: Current Northern Hemisphere Temperature (°F) Anomalies...

  An ozone hole in the Northern Hemisphere...?

• 2011/04/05: WMO: Record stratospheric ozone loss in the arctic in spring of 2011
• 2011/04/05: CCP: ESA's Envisat satellite has measured record low levels of ozone (-70%) over the Euro-Atlantic sector of the northern hemisphere during March 2011
• 2011/04/05: UN: Ozone layer over Arctic region experiences record loss, UN agency reports
• 2011/04/05: NatureTGB: Arctic ozone hole causes concern
• 2011/04/05: AWI: Record depletion of Arctic ozone layer caused increased UV radiation in Scandinavia - Brief episodes of increased UV radiation may also occur over Central Europe
• 2011/04/05: BBC: Arctic ozone levels in never-before-seen plunge
  The ozone layer has seen unprecedented damage in the Arctic this winter due to cold weather in the upper atmosphere. By the end of March, 40% of the ozone in the stratosphere had been destroyed, against a previous record of 30%.
• 2011/04/05: CBC: Arctic ozone layer hits record low
• 2011/04/05: WpgFP: Ozone layer faces record loss over Arctic due to chemicals, cold winter

  While in the paleoclimate:

• 2011/04/07: UCLA: Ancient fossils hold clues for predicting future climate change, scientists report
• 2011/04/07: Eureka: Ancient corals provide insight on the future of Caribbean reefs
  University of Miami scientists using the geologic record of corals to understand how reef ecosystems might respond to climate change

And on the ENSO front:

• 2011/04/07: NOAA:NCEP: El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) Diagnostic Discussion
  Synopsis: A transition to ENSO-neutral conditions is expected by June 2011.

Regarding Climate Sensitivity:

• 2011/04/09: MTobis: Engineer's Survey of Climate Sensitivity

  What's new on the extinction beat?

• 2011/04/07: PlanetArk: Biodiversity Vital To Streams As Extinctions Rise
• 2011/04/07: Eureka: Scientists have new measure for species threat [SAFE: Species Ability to Forestall Extinction]
• 2011/04/04: CCP: Carl Zimmer, NYT: Multitude of Species Face Climate Threat
• 2011/04/04: ClassM: 50 ways to leave your lover

  Meanwhile in near earth orbit:

• 2011/04/06: CCP: JPL: For NASA's Aquarius, Quest for Salt a Global Endeavor [Launch date: June 9, 2011]

  More GW impacts are being seen:

• 2011/04/09: BBC: Carbon emissions linked to Europe's hay fever rise
  Carbon dioxide emissions may be raising pollen counts in European cities, according to a continent-wide study.
• 2011/04/08: ClimateP: British Medical Journal: Climate change "poses an immediate and grave threat, driving ill-health and increasing the risk of conflict, such that each feeds upon the other."
• 2011/04/08: PlanetArk: Climate Change Targets Developing World's Cities
• 2011/04/08: TreeHugger: British Medical Journal Letter Calls Climate Change An 'Immediate & Grave Threat'
• 2011/04/07: Eureka: Unprepared cities vulnerable to climate change
• 2011/04/07: NSF: Climate Change Poses Major Risks for Unprepared Cities -- Fast-growing urban areas most likely to feel the heat
• 2011/04/06: NSF: Precedent-Setting Evidence of the Benefits of Biodiversity
  New evidence that biodiversity promotes water quality suggests that accelerating species losses may compromise water quality
• 2011/04/05: Purdue: Drought-exposed leaves adversely affect soil nutrients, study shows
• 2011/04/04: USGS: Rare Alpine Insect May Disappear with Glaciers
• 2011/04/05: CBC: Seal hunt thwarted by lack of ice -- Only 1 per cent of southern Gulf of St. Lawrence quota caught
• 2011/04/04: ClimateP: AMA: Climate change is affecting the health of patients --- and physicians are starting to see the results
• 2011/04/04: MPG: Climate change and evolution of Cross River gorillas

  And then there are the world's forests:

• 2011/04/09: CBC:Q&Q: (mp3) Pine Beetle Knows Jack
• 2011/04/07: GreenGrok: Losing Carbon: Man Oh Man, Those Mangroves
• 2011/04/06: GreenGrok: Climate Change: Larch in the Lurch -- The retreat of larch from the Siberian boreal forest could accelerate warming
• 2011/04/07: Eureka: Low fertilizer use drives deforestation in West Africa, imperils REDD implementation says new study
  Researchers call for greater focus on 'fertilizers for forest' mitigation in West Africa to improve food security, protect biodiversity and reduce emissions from deforestation
• 2011/04/06: BBC: Brazil rejects request to halt Belo Monte dam in Amazon
  Brazil has said a request to halt work on its massive hydro-electric dam in the Amazon rainforest is unjustified despite environmental concerns.
• 2011/04/06: UN: UN forms partnership with Mediterranean countries to save region's forests
• 2011/04/06: FAO: Forests and climate change in the Mediterranean -- New partnership established to address threats to forests
• 2011/04/05: CIFOR: New research finds mangroves key to climate change
• 2011/04/06: BBC: Partnership to tackle Mediterranean forest threats
  A partnership has been established to tackle the range of threats facing forests in the Mediterranean region, such as water scarcity and fires. Each year, wildfires in the region claim up to 1m hectares of forests, at an estimated cost of 1bn euros (£870m). The new partnership was launched at the 2nd Mediterranean Forest Week, which is being held in Avignon, France. It will bring together scientists, policymakers, landowners and farmers.
• 2011/04/05: TreeHugger: Mangroves Are World's Most Carbon-Rich Tropical Forests & They've Disappearing Fast
• 2011/04/04: Eureka: Mangroves among the most carbon-rich forests in the tropics -- Coastal trees key to lowering greenhouse gases
• 2011/04/03: Guardian(UK): The last stand of the Amazon
• 2011/04/05: PeakEnergy: The last stand of the Amazon
• 2011/04/05: PostMedia: Species jump: Mountain pine beetles could infect forests across Canada -- Species makes jump to jack pine in Alberta
• 2011/04/04: CBC: Pine beetle finds new home: Alta. researchers -- Destructive bugs now threaten boreal forest
• 2011/04/03: NatureN: Carbon-rich mangroves ripe for conservation -- Failing to preserve mangrove forests could cause sizeable carbon emissions
• 2011/04/04: Eureka: Mountain pine beetle marching east from Alberta
  A University of Alberta-led research team has determined that the mountain pine beetle has invaded jack pine forests in Alberta, opening up the possibility for an infestation that could stretch across the Prairies and keep moving east towards the Atlantic. . A group of U of A tree biologists and geneticists discovered that, as the mountain pine beetle spread eastward from central British Columbia, it successfully jumped species from its main host, the lodgepole pine, to the jack pine. Jack pine is the dominant pine species in Canada's boreal forest, which stretches east from Alberta all the way to the Maritime provinces.

This week in extreme weather:

• 2011/04/05: CBC: Deadly storms batter southern U.S.
  Fast-moving spring storms packing high winds, hail and lightning blew through the U.S. South, uprooting trees, knocking out power to hundreds of thousands and killing at least nine people. The storms were part of a system that cut a wide swath from the Mississippi River across the Southeast to Georgia and the Carolinas on Monday and early Tuesday.

As for heatwaves and wild fires:

• 2011/04/08: QuarkSoup: Europe's Heat Waves
• 2011/04/06: CBC: Wildfires burn across several central U.S. states -- Drought threatens crops
• 2011/04/05: PlanetArk: Wildfires Fed By "Perfect" Conditions In Southwest

  Corals are dying:

• 2011/04/05: CNN: New study warns on coral reef diversity
  New two-year field study says destruction of coral reefs may have been underestimated - Study which included nearly 2000 reef systems found reef biomass is non-saturating - Coral destruction likely to increase due to growth of human coastal populations
• 2011/04/04: ABC(Au): Expert warns of reef climate change deadline
  A Queensland climate change scientist says the world has only another decade to reduce greenhouse gasses to save the Great Barrier Reef. The director of the Global Change Institute at the University of Queensland, Professor Ove Hoegh Guldberg, is addressing a climate change conference in Cairns in the far north today.

Glaciers are melting:

• 2011/04/03: BBC: Glaciers in Chile 'melt at fastest rate in 350 years'
  Melting mountain glaciers are making sea levels rise faster now than at any time in the last 350 years, according to new research.

Sea levels are rising:

• 2011/04/08: BBC: New York set to be big loser as sea levels rise
• 2011/04/07: SkeptiSci: Has sea level rise accelerated since 1880? by Tamino

  As for hydrological cycle disruptions [floods & droughts]:

• 2011/04/07: ClimateP: USGS on Dust-Bowlification: Drier conditions projected to accelerate dust storms in the U.S. Southwest
• 2011/04/07: Eureka: Number of days of rain in Iberian Peninsula has increased since 1903
• 2011/04/04: CSW: A Few Drops of Rain in Austin

  Elsewhere on the mitigation front:

• 2011/04/07: CleanBreak: Forget about local foods. It's better on the climate to reduce red meat intake: Carnegie Mellon
• 2011/04/04: PlanetArk: New Diets For Cows, Sheep Could Cut Emissions: Report
• 2011/04/03: ClimateP: Can biochar help suppress greenhouse gases? New study shows biochar to decrease nitrous oxide emissions

  Consider transportation & GHG production:

• 2011/04/08: CalcRisk: AAR: Rail Traffic increases in March

  As for carbon sequestration:

• 2011/04/07: ABC(Au): The Peel region has been chosen for a new study which aims to increase the amount of carbon that can be stored underground
• 2011/03/29: FHI(No): CO2 capture -- Health effects of amines and their derivatives

  Large scale geo-engineering keeps popping up:

• 2011/04/09: GEP: Brief Update on Solar Radiation Management Governance Initiative [SRMGI] Conference
• 2011/04/07: NERC:NORA: Efficacy of geoengineering to limit 21st century sea-level rise by J. C. Moore et al.
• 2011/04/06: BBC: Climate 'technical fix' may yield warming, not cooling
  Whitening clouds by spraying them with seawater, proposed as a "technical fix" for climate change, could do more harm than good, according to research. Whiter clouds reflect more solar energy back into space, cooling the Earth. But a study presented at the European Geosciences Union meeting found that using water droplets of the wrong size would lead to warming, not cooling.
• 2011/04/03: Yahoo:AP: Tweaking the climate to save it: Who decides?
  To the quiet green solitude of an English country estate they retreated, to think the unthinkable. Scientists of earth, sea and sky, scholars of law, politics and philosophy: In three intense days cloistered behind Chicheley Hall's old brick walls, four dozen thinkers pondered the planet's fate as it grows warmer, weighed the idea of reflecting the sun to cool the atmosphere and debated the question of who would make the decision to interfere with nature to try to save the planet. The unknown risks of "geoengineering" -- in this case, tweaking Earth's climate by dimming the skies -- left many uneasy.
• 2011/04/04: KSJT: AP: An inside look at climate scientists in full-fret mode. Can we geo-engineer ourselves out of this mess?

  While on the adaptation front:

• 2011/04/05: Guardian(UK): Bangladesh communities show how they adapt to climate change
• 2011/04/05: CSM: Dodge catastrophe by prepping for climate change

  Meanwhile in the journals:

• 2011/04/04: NERC:NORA: Forecasting the impact of climate change on water supplies using groundwater residence times by D.J. Lapworth et al.
• 2011/04/07: NERC:NORA: Efficacy of geoengineering to limit 21st century sea-level rise by J. C. Moore et al.
• 2011/04/08: ACP: Space-based evaluation of interactions between aerosols and low-level Arctic clouds during the Spring and Summer of 2008 by K. Tietze et al.
• 2011/04/08: ACPD: Potential evaporation trends over land between 1983-2008: driven by radiative or turbulent fluxes? by C. Matsoukas et al.
• 2011/04/08: OSD: ENSURF: multi-model sea level forecast -- implementation and validation results for the IBIROOS and Western Mediterranean regions by B. Pérez et al.
• 2011/04/07: OSD: Tidal generation of large sub-mesoscale eddy dipoles by W. Callendar et al.
• 2011/04/06: TCD: Modelling the 20th and 21st century evolution of Hoffellsjökull glacier, SE-Vatnajökull, Iceland by G. Aðalgeirsdóttir et al.
• 2011/04/08: ESDD: The energetics response to a warmer climate: relative contributions from the transient and stationary eddies by D. Hernández-Deckers & J.-S. von Storch
• 2011/04/06: ESDD: No way out? The double-bind in seeking global prosperity along with mitigated climate change by T. J. Garrett
• 2011/04/04: CP: Solar-forced shifts of the Southern Hemisphere Westerlies during the Holocene by V. Varma et al.
• 2011/04/08: CPD: Sensitivity of Red Sea circulation to sea level and insolation forcing during the last interglacial by G. Trommer et al.
• 2011/04/08: CPD: A refined TALDICE-1a age scale from 55 to 112 ka before present for the Talos Dome ice core based on high-resolution methane measurements by S. Schüpbach et al.
• 2011/04/04: CPD: The calcium-dust relationship in high-resolution data from Dome C, Antarctica by F. Lambert et al.
• 2011/04/06: CPD: Methane release from gas hydrate systems during the Paleocene-Eocene thermal maximum and other past hyperthermal events: setting appropriate parameters for discussion by G. R. Dickens
• 2011/04/07: ACP: New particle formation events in semi-clean South African savannah by V. Vakkari et al.
• 2011/04/07: ACP: The Smithsonian solar constant data revisited: no evidence for a strong effect of solar activity in ground-based insolation data by G. Feulner
• 2011/04/06: ACP: Analysis on the impact of aerosol optical depth on surface solar radiation in the Shanghai megacity, China by J. Xu et al.
• 2011/04/05: ACP: Saharan and Asian dust: similarities and differences determined by CALIPSO, AERONET, and a coupled climate-aerosol microphysical model by L. Su & O. B. Toon
• 2011/04/05: ACP: African biomass burning plumes over the Atlantic: aircraft based measurements and implications for H2SO4 and HNO3 mediated smoke particle activation by V. Fiedler et al.
• 2011/04/07: ACPD: Ozone database in support of CMIP5 simulations: results and corresponding radiative forcing by I. Cionni et al.
• 2011/04/07: ACPD: Black carbon emissions from biomass and fossil fuels in rural India by I. H. Rehman et al.
• 2011/04/06: ACPD: Aerosol modelling in Europe with a focus on Switzerland during summer and winter episodes by S. Aksoyoglu et al.
• 2011/04/06: ACPD: Projections of UV radiation changes in the 21st century: impact of ozone recovery and cloud effects by A. F. Bais et al.
• 2011/04/06: ACPD: Reactive nitrogen, ozone and ozone production in the Arctic troposphere and the impact of stratosphere-troposphere exchange by Q. Liang et al.
• 2011/04/05: ACPD: Impacts of global, regional, and sectoral black carbon emission reductions on surface air quality and human mortality by S. C. Anenberg et al.
• 2011/04/04: ACPD: Study on long-term aerosol distribution over the land of East China using MODIS data by Q. He et al.
• 2011/04/04: ACPD: Aerosol Climatology over Nile Delta based on MODIS, MISR and OMI satellite data by H. S. Marey et al.
• 2011/04/07: ESA:FE&E: The SAFE index: using a threshold population target to measure relative species threat by Gopalasamy Reuben Clements et al.
• 2011/04/05: PNAS: (abs) Global growth and stability of agricultural yield decrease with pollinator dependence by Lucas A. Garibaldi et al.
• 2011/04/05: PNAS: (ab$) Responses to historical climate change identify contemporary threats to diversity in Dodecatheon by Brad Oberle & Barbara A. Schaal
• 2011/04/05: PNAS: (abs) Diatoms respire nitrate to survive dark and anoxic conditions by Anja Kamp et al.
• 2011/04/05: PNAS: (ab$) How frequency and intensity shape diversity-disturbance relationships by Adam D. Miller et al.
• 2011/04/05: PNAS: (ab$) Spatial characterization of the meltwater field from icebergs in the Weddell Sea by John J. Helly et al.
• 2011/04/05: PNAS: (abs) Towards a quantitative understanding of the late Neoproterozoic carbon cycle by Christian J. Bjerrum & Donald E. Canfield
• 2011/04/05: PNAS: (ab$) Eastern Equatorial Pacific productivity and related-CO2 changes since the last glacial period by Eva Calvo et al.
• 2011/04/05: PNAS: (ab$) A competitive network theory of species diversity by Stefano Allesina & Jonathan M. Levine
• 2011/03/10: GRL: (ab$) Carbon emission limits required to satisfy future representative concentration pathways of greenhouse gases by V. K. Arora et al.
• 2011/04/04: TCD: Permafrost degradation risk zone assessment using simulation models by R. P. Daanen et al.
• 2011/04/04: WOL:ME: Mountain pine beetle host-range expansion threatens the boreal forest by Catherine I. Cullingham et al.
• 2011/04/04: AGWObserver: New research from last week 13/2011

  And other significant documents:

• 2011/04/07: PI: [links to several pdfs] Canadian Index of Wellbeing Environment Report Highlights
• 2011/04/05: EIA: World Shale Gas Resources: An Initial Assessment of 14 Regions Outside the United States
• 2011/04/06: IEA: [link to 2.5 meg pdf] IEA releases first Clean Energy Progress Report
• 2010/10/28: IPRD: [link to 1.85 meg pdf] The Post-Peak World by Dr. Colin J. Campbell
• 2011/02/15: IPRD: [link to 399k pdf] Report: Beyond Growth, or Beyond Capitalism?

  As for miscellaneous science:

• 2011/04/07: RealClimate: Rescuing data...
• 2011/04/06: BBC: Thunderstorm numbers calculated -- The Earth sees about 760 thunderstorms every hour, scientists have calculated
• 2011/04/06: Maribo: Faster sailing across the Central Pacific: Wind speeds and El Nino
• 2011/04/05: SciNews: AGU conference on climate and civilizations -- AGU Chapman Conference on Climates, Past Landscapes, and Civilizations, Santa Fe, N.M., March 22, 2011
• 2011/04/05: MTobis: Cat out of Bag
• 2011/04/05: MGS: Starting to work with data
• 2011/04/04: ABC(Au): Oceans storing majority of excess heat, study finds
  A new study has found that more than half the excess heat being absorbed by the earth's oceans is being stored in the southern hemisphere.

More DIY science:

• 2011/04/08: moyhu: TempLS Ver 2.1 release

  Regarding Christy:

• 2011/04/04: CCP: Climate Myths and other Fairy Tales by John Christy
• 2011/04/10: SkeptiSci: Christy Crock #2 - Jumping to Conclusions? by grypo
• 2011/04/08: SkeptiSci: Christy Crock #1: 1970s Cooling by dana1981

  The Pielke fan clubbe, alas:

• 2011/04/04: MTobis: The Devil His Due

  Regarding Spencer:

• 2011/04/05: BBickmore: Roy Spencer's Non-Response

  While at the UN:

• 2011/04/05: UNEP: UNEP and Environment Agency of Abu Dhabi meet to discuss cooperation and partnership

  And on the carbon trading front:

• 2011/04/07: Guardian(UK): EU plans to link emissions trading scheme with California
• 2011/04/08: EUO: EU and California to link emissions trading schemes
• 2011/04/06: EurActiv: EU carbon market 'needs more centralisation'
  Greater centralisation of the European carbon market is the only lasting answer to the recent carbon permit theft, according to Christian de Perthuis, an economics professor at Paris-Dauphine University. He was speaking to EurActiv France. So far, EU member states have enjoyed a large degree of autonomy in managing their national CO2 markets, but in the medium term, coordination must be improved, Perthuis believes.
• 2011/04/06: EurActiv: Europe, California discuss harmonised carbon market
  Carbon markets in Europe and California could soon be working in synch, after a meeting between EU Climate Commissioner Connie Hedegaard and California Governor Jerry Brown on Tuesday (April 5).
• 2011/04/01: Sandbag: Banking pollution - mountain of surplus carbon permits grows
  The EU Emissions Trading System is still failing to check the growth of carbon emissions, and instead continues to build up a mountain of surplus permits. Data released by the European Commission today, analysed by Sandbag, shows that the budget of carbon permits continues to be far higher than actual carbon emissions, with spare permits adding to the huge surplus, which now stands at 170 million tonnes - the same as the annual emissions from 40 million cars.

The proposed Bank Tax refuses to die:

• 2011/04/05: JQuiggin: Financial transactions tax letter
• 2011/04/04: RWER: Sign petition for Robin Hood Tax

  As for GW, energy & water security:

• 2011/04/09: SkeptiSci: From The Halls of Montezuma by citizenschallenge & Daniel Bailey

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

• 2011/04/05: BBC: G20 inquest: Pc pushed Ian Tomlinson 'to move him away'
  The Pc who pushed Ian Tomlinson at the April 2009 G20 protests did so after a strike on the thigh had failed to move the newspaper seller away from the police line, an inquest has heard. Pc Simon Harwood told the London hearing he had been "amazed" when Mr Tomlinson fell forward. The 47-year-old collapsed and died moments after he had been pushed.
• 2011/03/28: AlterNet: How I Almost Got Put on the Domestic Terrorist List for Handing Out Leaflets

  What are the activists up to?

• 2011/04/10: EnergyBulletin: Joining 350.org: the next phase by Naomi Klein
• 2011/04/08: Rabble: Looking ahead with 350.org by Naomi Klein
• 2011/04/08: DeSmogBlog: People Power: How We Can Fight Back and Win Against Powerful Polluter Interests [McKibben & Klein]
• 2011/04/07: Grist: 350.org and 1Sky merge into one mass climate movement
• 2011/04/04: AlterNet: Floods, Earthquakes, Landslides: Are We to Blame for So Many Disasters? [McKibben]
• 2011/04/04: ABC(Au): About 12 protesters remain in a Forestry Tasmania logging coupe near Mount Barrow in the state's north-east, stopping work at the site

  Regarding Water Politics and Business:

• 2011/04/08: JFleck: River Beat: Equalization
• 2011/04/08: NatureN: Conservationists protest Mekong dam -- Laotian hydroelectric plan tests power of river commission
• 2011/04/08: CBC: Mekong dam plan sparks environmental battle -- Opponents fear Xayaburi dam in Laos will disrupt farming, fish migrations
• 2011/04/06: JFleck: Rainwater Harvesting, Arizona Style
• 2011/04/06: EurActiv: NATO warned against strikes on Libya's 'great river'
  NATO-led air strikes on Libya could trigger a human and environmental disaster if they were to damage the country's massive Great Man-Made River (GMMR) project, which facilitates agricultural production in the middle of the Sahara Desert and provides drinking water for over 70% of the Libyan population. The Great Man-Made River (GMMR) project -- globally recognised as the largest water transport system in the world -- is among the lesser-known projects undertaken by Muammar Gaddafi, who himself describes the undertaking as the eighth wonder of the world. The Western world is virtually unaware that underneath the North African country's arid landscape lies a true ocean of high quality fresh water, discovered by chance in the 1950s as part of efforts to find oil in southern Libya. The artificial river project was conceived in the 1960s and launched in 1984. Today, a total of 4,000 kilometres of pipelines of four metres in diameter have been laid at a depth of two to three metres, running across the country from south to north. High-quality fossil water is being pumped from hundreds of wells hundreds of metres deep and transported from the south to populated coastal areas in the north, where most of the country's six million inhabitants live and work.
• 2011/04/03: JFleck: Something Else I Wrote Elsewhere: Supplementing the River
• 2011/04/03: JFleck: Stuff I Wrote Elsewhere: Moving Water, New Mexico Style

  As for SW tools:

• 2011/04/06: SkeptiSci: Call for beta testers of the latest SkS Firefox Add-on

  And on the American political front:

• 2011/04/09: AutoBG: Nissan says government should put up charging stations if it's serious about EVs
• 2011/04/09: EnergyBulletin: The governance of children
• 2011/04/09: ClimateP: Environmentally active youth head to DC [Power Shift 2011 conference]
• 2011/04/08: TreeHugger: Seven Lessons From Lawrence Livermore Laboratory's Energy Use Graph
• 2011/04/08: TreeHugger: Michigan Lawmakers Propose Ban on Offshore Wind in Great Lakes
• 2011/04/08: TreeHugger: Growing Amtrak Ridership On A Collision Course With Political Surrealism
• 2011/04/08: AutoBG: Report: Automaker group [AAM] voices concerns over federal ethanol legislation
• 2011/04/04: RRapier: Contradicting Goals: Cheap Gas and Lower Carbon Emissions
• 2011/04/08: AlterNet: Our Lives Are Under Threat From Some of the Most Powerful and Richest Entities -- Here's How We Can Fight Back and Win
• 2011/04/08: BBickmore: Another Republican Climate Scientist
• 2011/04/08: ClassM: Tennessee
• 2011/04/08: ClimateP: Clean energy manufacturing drives Michigan job boom
• 2011/04/08: Grist: Nothing will change until greens mount some primary challenges and collect some scalps
• 2011/04/07: ScienceInsider: Bill Allowing Teachers to Challenge Evolution Passes Tennessee House
• 2011/04/08: DM:BA: Antiscience bill passes Tennessee House vote
• 2011/04/07: ClimateP: Nurses to dirty air supporters: Enough is enough
• 2011/04/06: Grist: America's energy use, in one nifty chart
• 2011/04/06: CCP: Dr. Kerry Emanuel speaks to congressional committee as a private citizen
• 2011/04/05: Grist: Do environmental justice groups have a legitimate beef with California's cap-and-trade program?
• 2011/04/06: USAToday: More state bills are targeting abortion
• 2011/04/05: CCP: Don Shelby: When politicians request information: Some danger signs...
• 2011/04/06: SkeptiSci: Learning from the Climate Hearing
• 2011/04/05: SkeptiSci: Climate myths at the U.S. House Hearing on climate change
• 2011/04/04: NBF: The Benefits of Stronger air pollution standards for Cars and Trucks
• 2011/04/04: TreeHugger: Could LA's Plan to Build 30 Years of Transit Projects in Just 10 Work for the US?

  The BP disaster continues to twist US politics:

• 2011/04/08: TreeHugger: Gulf Coast Resident Marches to DC from Louisiana to Demand Justice After BP Spill
• 2011/04/08: PlanetArk: U.S. Issues 9th Deepwater Drill Permit Since BP Spill
• 2011/04/05: ProMedMail: Undiagnosed die-off, turtles - USA: (Gulf Coast)
• 2011/04/05: TreeHugger: Transocean Gives Execs Multi-Million Dollar Bonuses In The Same Year It Caused Biggest Oil Spill in US
• 2011/04/04: Wonkette: BP Resumes Drilling In the Gulf, Oil Rig Executives Receive 'Safety Bonuses'
• 2011/04/04: DeSmogBlog: Bonuses After Blowouts: Transocean Rewards Executives for Shoddy Safety
• 2011/04/04: Grist: Deepwater Horizon firm gives execs safety bonuses, with no apparent sense of irony
• 2011/04/04: OilChange: BP: Back in the Gulf
• 2011/04/04: BBC: BP close to deal on re-starting Gulf of Mexico drilling
• 2011/04/04: CBC: BP eyes return to Gulf drilling: report
  The U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement denied reports Monday that London-based BP PLC had struck a deal allowing it to resume drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.
• 2011/04/03: Guardian(UK): BP expected to resume drilling in Gulf of Mexico after deal with US regulators

  So, do you want a corporate dweeb, or a sociopathic corporate dweeb? Your choice:

• 2011/04/05: CCP: [GOP Presidential hopeful, Tim] Pawlenty: Science divided on human contribution to climate change
• 2011/04/04: al Jazeera: Obama announces re-election bid
  US president releases e-mail and online video announcing his intention to stand for a second term in office in 2012.

McCollum & Abraham wrote an op-ed worth noting:

• 2011/04/06: SMandia: Congress on wrong side of history in denying climate change
  Reposted from The Hill and written by Rep. Betty McCollum (D-Minn.) and John Abraham
• 2011/04/06: PSinclair: Abraham writing in The Hill: Congress on the Wrong Side of History
• 2011/04/06: CCP: "Congress on wrong side of history in denying climate change" by Rep. Betty McCollum (D-Minn.) and Dr. John Abraham

  The Obama chatter is nonstop:

• 2011/04/07: TreeHugger: Obama's Energy Speech Adeptly Avoided Mentioning Any Policy Option That'll Do Some Good
• 2011/04/06: CBC: Oilsands questions need answers, Obama says
  U.S. President Barack Obama says questions need to be answered before the U.S. increases its use of crude from the Canadian oilsands through projects like proposed Keystone XL project. "These tarsands. There are some environmental questions about how destructive they are, potentially, what are the dangers there and we've got to examine all those questions," Obama told an energy town hall Wednesday in Fairless Hills, PA. "So we've got to do some science there to make sure that the natural gas that we have in this country, we're extracting in a safe way. The same thing is true when it comes to oil that's being piped in from Canada, or Alaska, for that matter. We've got to do these evaluations." Last month, the U.S. State Department announced a supplemental draft environmental impact statement and comment period to evaluate TransCanada's $13 billion US Keystone XL pipeline, which is proposed to bring oil from Alberta to Texas.
• 2011/04/05: Grist: Obama did not 'promise' to veto an EPA-blocking bill
• 2011/04/06: OilDrum: President Obama's Blueprint for Energy, the world situation and the current TWIP [This Week in Petroleum]
• 2011/04/05: Grist: The missing piece of Obama's energy security plan: cities

  The actions of the Obama administration are being watched closely:

• 2011/04/07: NatureN: US science agencies brace for shutdown -- As a budget deadline looms, researchers fear setbacks and lost opportunities
• 2011/04/07: CSW: National Climate Assessment team convenes in Washington, DC, to begin producing a major new assessment due in 2013
• 2011/04/07: NOAANews: Towards a sustainable future: reasons for urgency and hope -- Opening keynote address as delivered on April 5 by Jane Lubchenco
• 2011/04/05: AutoBG: EPA streamlines alt-fuel conversions with amended regulations
• 2011/04/05: ClimateP: Support for EPA, Clean Air Act is deep and broad
• 2011/04/04: ClimateP: Salazar blasts Gulf disaster company Transocean for touting "best year in safety"
• 2011/04/04: NOAANews: Department of Commerce appoints and convenes first Climate Assessment Advisory Committee meeting

  As for what is going on in Congress:

• 2011/04/07: APS: U.S. House Budget Plans Would Jeopardize National Scientific Research Facilities -- Government Shutdown would hurt America's Spirit of Innovation
• 2011/04/08: S&R: GOP swallows blue pill of delusion, votes to strip EPA of greenhouse gas authority
• 2011/04/08: CCP: Miles Grant: Will the GOP shut down the government over mountaintop removal mining?
• 2011/04/07: BSD: Names of US Congressmembers who deny climate change, so their grandchildren can find them
• 2011/04/08: ClimateP: Will Tea Party extremists shut down the government because they stand against science and public health?
• 2011/04/08: ClimateP: Ed Markey slams GOP: "You know who ruined the auto industry? You did!"
• 2011/04/08: PlanetArk: House Passes Bill To Stop EPA Climate Program
• 2011/04/08: CSW: Budget cuts loom as the U.S. launches a National Climate Assessment
• 2011/04/08: TreeHugger: House Votes Yes For Polluters, No To A Clean Environment For The American People
• 2011/04/08: TreeHugger: Battle Over Clean Air Act Behind Looming Government Shutdown
• 2011/04/07: DeSmogBlog: U.S. Congress Votes On Republican Bill To Kill The EPA's Authority To Control Climate Change Pollution
• 2011/04/07: NYT: House Votes to Bar E.P.A. From Regulating Industrial Emissions
• 2011/04/07: ClimateP: The fight over international climate investments
• 2011/04/07: CCP: Russell Train, former EPA administrator (1973-1977) urges the House of Representatives to reject H.R.910 and any other legislative proposals to curtail or delay the ability of the EPA to implement the Clean Air Act and its provisions to protect the health and welfare of all Americans
• 2011/04/07: ClimateP: Congress on wrong side of history in denying climate change
• 2011/04/07: ClimateP: McConnell fails to get majority to deny climate science and block EPA Clean Air rules
• 2011/04/07: Grist: Why Congress will destroy America sooner than touch oil subsidies
• 2011/04/06: Grist: Republican overreach may save EPA
• 2011/04/06: NatureTGB: EPA takes a bashing - but prevails - on Capitol Hill
• 2011/04/06: ScienceInsider: Senate Rejects Bid to Stymie EPA Climate Regs
• 2011/04/06: UCSUSA: House Poised to Vote on Bill Blocking EPA from Setting First National Limits on Carbon Pollution and New Vehicle Emission Standards -- Bill Undermines Science, Health Benefits, Consumer Savings
• 2011/04/07: TreeHugger: House Votes To Deny Climate Change Causes Again, While Senate Supports EPA Authority on Emissions
• 2011/04/06: OilChange: The well-trodden road to ruin...
• 2011/04/06: NYT: Senate Rejects Bills to Limit E.P.A.'s Emissions Programs
  The Senate on Wednesday rejected efforts to block the Environmental Protection Agency's program to regulate greenhouse gases, defeating four bills that would have limited the agency's attempts to address global warming.
• 2011/04/07: LA Times: Senate votes down GOP bill to curb the EPA
  The Republican legislation would have limited the Environmental Protection Agency's regulatory powers and its program to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from vehicles and industries.
• 2011/04/06: ClimateP: GOP-led House rejects science, 240-184
• 2011/04/06: ClimateP: Paul Ryan's Big Oil budget halts energy innovation
• 2011/04/06: ClimateP: Landry (R-LA) says Big Oil CEOs deserve excessive pay...
• 2011/04/06: Grist: The Congressional Carbon Circus
• 2011/04/05: ClimateP: Inhofe to Dems defending EPA, clean air: "Get a life." Markey replies, "More like 'save a life'."
• 2011/04/05: CCP: Brian Angliss: Latest hearing shows GOP is the Ministry of Magic to climate disruption's Death Eaters
• 2011/04/05: ClimateP: Tea Party played for suckers by their Big Oil backers
• 2011/04/04: Grist: Budget fight threatens to turn Farm Bill into Industrial Ag Bill
• 2011/04/04: ScienceInsider: Will EPA Lose Control of Greenhouse Gas Rules?
• 2011/04/05: CSM: With 'riders,' GOP seeks to undo Obama environmental policies
• 2011/04/04: ClimateP: Climate hawks Boxer, Kerry, Cardin & Merkley confirm opposition to all climate zombie amendments
• 2011/04/04: ClimateP: GOP's austerity budget apparently gives Big Oil a free ride
• 2011/04/04: PlanetArk: [Republican] Lawmakers Probe Plan To Shelve Yucca Nuclear Dump

  What are the lobbyists pushing?

• 2011/04/06: HuffPo: How The Oil Lobby Greases Washington's Wheels
  Clout in Washington isn't about winning legislative battles -- it's about making sure that they never happen at all. The oil and gas industry has that kind of clout. Despite astronomical profits during what have been lean years for most everyone else, the oil and gas industry continues to benefit from massive, multi-billion dollar taxpayer subsidies. Opinion polling shows the American public overwhelmingly wants those subsidies eliminated. Meanwhile, both parties are hunting feverishly for ways to reduce the deficit. But when President Obama called on Congress to eliminate about $4 billion a year in tax breaks for Big Oil earlier this year, the response on the Hill was little more than a knowing chuckle.
• 2011/04/06: CPI: Koch's web of influence
  Koch spends tens of millions trying to shape federal policies that affect their global business empire
• 2011/04/06: DeSmogBlog: Koch Industries' Lobbying Curtain Lifted By Center For Public Integrity
• 2011/04/04: Grist: The coal power industry's willfully deceptive picture of EPA rules
• 2011/04/04: CAP: The Koch Brothers -- What You Need to Know About the Financiers of the Radical Right
• 2011/04/04: DeSmogBlog: Required Reading: American Progress Koch Report

  While in the UK:

• 2011/04/05: AutoBG: Study: UK needs 6.4M plug-in vehicles on roads by 2030 to reach climate change goals

  And in Europe:

• 2011/04/08: EurActiv: Pan-European forest talks to aim for 2013 deal
• 2011/04/08: EurActiv: Bulgarians irked at Turkey's nuclear power plan
• 2011/04/07: EurActiv: EU farm policy reform seen affecting land prices
  Plans for a more equal share-out of direct subsidies to farmers in different European Union countries are set to affect farmland prices from 2014, a senior EU official said on Wednesday (6 April).
• 2011/04/07: EurActiv: Leading MEPs propose VAT, carbon tariff for EU budget
• 2011/04/07: PlanetArk: Russia, Turkey Climate Action Insufficient: EBRD
  Insufficient support is holding back climate action across the bloc of former communist countries and Turkey, an EBRD report said on Wednesday. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development called for a sweeping system of carbon pricing, whether through taxes or cap and trade schemes, across the region which extends from eastern Europe through to Ukraine, Russia and Kazakhstan.
• 2011/04/01: Sandbag: Banking pollution - mountain of surplus carbon permits grows
  The EU Emissions Trading System is still failing to check the growth of carbon emissions, and instead continues to build up a mountain of surplus permits. Data released by the European Commission today, analysed by Sandbag, shows that the budget of carbon permits continues to be far higher than actual carbon emissions, with spare permits adding to the huge surplus, which now stands at 170 million tonnes - the same as the annual emissions from 40 million cars.
• 2011/04/05: EurActiv: EU steels itself for carbon rules challenge
  A legal challenge to draft EU rules for including steel plants in Europe's carbon emissions market is being planned by industry body Eurofer. Eurofer claims the EU's proposals do not properly implement laws allowing the industry's most efficient 10% of factories to get free pollution permits after 2013. The European Commission said it was confident of the methodology agreed last October, which followed two years of consultation with industry and EU member states. The EU is aiming to cut CO2 emissions to 20% below 1990 levels by 2020, largely through an Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), which forces companies to buy permits to pollute. But some industries, including steel, have been given free permits to prevent their possible 'carbon leakage' or relocation abroad due to rising costs. This has often translated into large windfall profits for the companies involved. Provisional EU data revealed last week that 10 of the biggest steel plants in the EU were given excess carbon permits worth almost one billion euros last year.
• 2011/04/04: EurActiv: Research group defines 2050 vision for aviation
  The EU aviation sector will reduce flight delays to just one minute regardless of weather conditions and cut CO2 emissions by 75% by mid-century, according to a visionary report by an industry-led European research group.
• 2011/04/04: EurActiv: EU's airline emission goals under scrutiny
  When the European Commission unveiled plans to slash transport CO2 emissions by 60% by 2050 last week, many assumed the figure would apply to road, rail and air travel in the same way. But EurActiv has learned that the cut for aviation is only 34%, a target both environmentalists and industry sources say is unrealistic.

Meanwhile in Australia:

• 2011/04/08: ABC(Au):TDU: How science lost its voice
• 2011/04/08: ABC(Au): Putty residents 'anxious' about gas exploration
• 2011/04/07: ABC(Au): [Lake Macquarie] Council a Climate Champion
  Lake Macquarie Council has been named a "Champion of Climate Adaptation" for its proactive response to planning for rising sea levels. The Council is one of only three organisations across Australia to receive the recognition, awarded by the National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility.
• 2011/04/07: ABC(Au): The Peel region has been chosen for a new study which aims to increase the amount of carbon that can be stored underground
• 2011/04/07: JQuiggin: Phoning it in
• 2011/04/07: ABC(Au):TDU: Believing the evidence on climate change policy
• 2011/04/05: ABC(Au): The Federal Government's chief climate adviser Ross Garnaut has blamed "high-profile" commentators for spreading misinformation about global warming
• 2011/04/05: ABC(Au): The latest Newspoll shows support for Labor at its lowest point in eight years amid a continuing political row over Prime Minister Julia Gillard's carbon tax plan
• 2011/04/05: BBC: Australia posts trade deficit as disasters hit exports
  Australia has posted a shock trade deficit for the first time in 11 months as twin natural disasters dented the country's exports.
• 2011/04/04: ABC(Au): New South Wales Premier Barry O'Farrell has dismissed claims he has abandoned the environment by abolishing its dedicated department
• 2011/04/04: BBC: Australia raises cost of twin natural disasters to $9bn
  The twin natural disasters that hit Australia early this year will cost its economy A$9bn ($9.4bn; £5.8bn), according to the Treasury department. The latest figure is a substantial increase on the earlier estimate of A$5.6bn. Treasurer Wayne Swan said the biggest impact will be felt by the country's resources and agriculture sectors. The Australian states of Queensland and Victoria were hit by floods and a cyclone in January and February.

The Australian carbon war rages on:

• 2011/04/10: ABC(Au): Carbon tax compo to be finalised post-budget
  Finance Minister Penny Wong says price and compensation elements of the carbon tax will not be worked out until after next month's budget. The Federal Government is yet to announce many of the elements of the proposed carbon price, including how much it would cost and who would be compensated.
• 2011/04/09: ABC(Au): [1,000] Carbon tax supporters converge on Brisbane CBD
• 2011/04/09: ABC(Au): [1,000] Anti carbon tax protesters rally in Sydney
• 2011/04/09: SkeptiSci: Photos from the Brisbane Rally for Climate Action
• 2011/04/06: ABC(Au): Miners want EU-style protection for carbon tax
  The Minerals Council has warned that Australian exporters will be put at "extreme risk" if the carbon tax is modelled on the former emissions trading scheme (ETS). The mining sector wants Australia to emulate the approach of the European Union (EU) and give free emissions permits to trade exposed sectors. But Climate Change Minister Greg Combet says the EU scheme offers significantly less compensation.
• 2011/04/05: ABC(Au): Carbon tax impact on Aboriginal land unknown: CLC
  The director of the Central Land Council says it is too early to tell if the proposed carbon tax will disadvantage Aboriginal people living in remote communities.
• 2011/04/05: ABC(Au): MP urged to rethink carbon tax stance
  The Australian Greens party says the federal Member for O'Connor, Tony Crook, has been influenced by his National party colleagues in the east in his opposition to a carbon tax.
• 2011/04/05: ABC(Au): Carbon tax boosts renewable energy interest
  A Western Australian renewable energy company says the Federal Government's proposed carbon tax has seen inquiries from Australian mining companies skyrocket.
• 2011/04/05: ABC(Au): Labor has gone into damage control after former prime minister Kevin Rudd confirmed some of his cabinet ministers argued last year for the emissions trading scheme to be killed off
• 2011/04/05: PlanetArk: Analysis: Australia Carbon Farming Needs CO2 Price To Bloom
• 2011/04/04: ABC(Au): Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd says he was wrong to abandon the Federal Government's emissions trading scheme (ETS) when he was prime minister
• 2011/04/04: ABC(Au): Carbon tax to push up Qantas prices
  Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce says he supports the Federal Government's carbon tax in principle, but says the company needs to see more details.
• 2011/04/04: ABC(Au): Federal Opposition Leader Tony Abbott is urging West Australian Nationals MP Tony Crook to oppose Labor's planned carbon tax
• 2011/04/04: ABC(Au): CSIRO boss [Dr Megan Clark] backs carbon price
  The head of Australia's leading science body says a carbon price should be a key part of the nation's overall climate action. CSIRO chief Dr Megan Clark will today join 600 of Australia's top climate change scientists at a meeting in Cairns to update the latest observations. Dr Clark says global warming is one of the most challenging issues facing humanity and needs careful consideration.
• 2011/04/04: ABC(Au): Their federal cousins may not like it, but the West Australian National Party has kept open the possibility it might support a market-based price on carbon

  After a 10 year drought and recent massive flooding, water usage planning is controversial and difficult:

• 2011/04/08: ABC(Au): Sydneysiders hear about Basin Plan
  Irrigators in the heart of the Murray Darling Basin, are being encouraged to read up about environmental benefits of returning water to the system.
• 2011/04/07: ABC(Au): [National] Water Commission sounds quality warning
  The authority advising the Federal Government on water policy has released a report warning of a serious risk to the future quality and supply of urban water.
• 2011/04/06: ABC(Au): Pipeline from the north not ruled out
  The state's Water Minister says it is time the government started considering the possibility of piping water from the Kimberley to Perth to meet supply needs.
• 2011/04/05: ABC(Au): Tough water restrictions may be needed
  The CSIRO says Western Australia has been far more pro-active than the rest of the country in finding new sources of water in the drying climate. The Water Corporation has warned water supplies are running low and Perth needs 76 billion litres of water this year to meet demand.
• 2011/04/04: ABC(Au): The Water Corporation says water supplies in Perth and the South West have reached critically low levels after almost a year with no significant rain

  And in New Zealand:

• 2011/04/07: HotTopic: The billion dollar gap
• 2011/04/04: TCoE: Energy at all costs

  While in China:

• 2011/04/06: BBC: China increases fuel prices as crude costs hit refiners
• 2011/04/06: NatureTGB: China announces 20-year plan to protect the Tibetan plateau
• 2011/04/05: DeSmogBlog: There Goes The Neighbourhood: China Rushes To Develop Shale Gas At Home And Abroad
• 2011/04/04: NatureTGB: China unveils ten-year plan to develop electric vehicles
  China will invest 100 billion yuan (US$16 billion) in developing the production and commercialisation of electric cars in the coming decade, according to a report published last week in The China Business News (CBN), a Chinese-language newspaper. The plan promises to produce 5 million such vehicles - half of which will be all-electric, with the remainder being hybrids - by 2020. Half of the budget will be used to promote research and development of key technologies.

And in Japan:

• 2011/04/04: PlanetArk: Japan Has No Immediate Plan To Review [its emission reduction pledge for 2020]

  In the Middle East:

• 2011/04/08: PlanetArk: Iraq Signs $4 Billion Deals To Boost Power Supply

  In Canada, climate change is back-burner issue in the May 2nd election campaign:

• 2011/04/07: G&M: Climate change? Not in this campaign
• 2011/04/09: DeSmogBlog: Canadian Leadership Has Failed To Honor Its Commitment To Curb Climate Pollution, It's Time For Action
• 2011/04/08: PI: Pembina reacts to Conservative Party platform
• 2011/04/07: PI: Pembina reacts to the Green Party platform
• 2011/04/08: PI:B: Cap-and-trade: Canadian after all?
• 2011/04/07: PI:B: Who's afraid of carbon pricing?
• 2011/04/08: BCLSB: Gruending On Climate Change
• 2011/04/08: G&M: Different methods, tough choices in parties' GHG plans
• 2011/04/08: THW: We Will Suffer Because of Our Environment
• 2011/04/08: WpgFP: Greens fight hard for that elusive seat -- Leader May's effort in chosen B.C. riding could make history
• 2011/04/07: BCLSB: And Elizabeth May Is The One Being Excluded From The Debate?
• 2011/04/07: CBC: Greens pledge carbon tax, corporate tax hike -- Party would legalize marijuana and tax it - but also try to discourage its use
  A Green Party government would raise corporate taxes to 2009 levels and charge $60 per tonne of carbon emitted, but promises a revenue-neutral "green tax shift" that would cut EI and CPP contributions for both workers and employers. Leader Elizabeth May was announcing the party's election platform in Toronto Thursday morning, a platform she says is fully costed.
• 2011/04/07: PostMedia: Harper slammed for climate change inaction
  Environment Canada study says change needed now to stay below the 2 C warming threshold Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his international colleagues have not gone far enough to avoid "dangerous" climate change, according to an Environment Canada report that could cause problems for the Conservatives on the campaign trail. The study, published this week in a leading science journal, suggests global greenhouse gas emissions "must ramp down to zero immediately" to avoid a 2 C rise in the planetary temperature this century. Allowing temperatures to climb more than 2 C could wipe out thousands of species, melt Arctic ice and trigger a rise in sea level of several metres.
• 2011/04/06: BCLSB: Did John Baird Just Propose A Carbon Tax?
• 2011/04/06: PostMedia: Ignatieff defends tarsands -- Shift to green power won't be fast, he says
  One day after promoting a strategy to make Canada a "green-energy superpower," Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff found himself defending what many consider to be the country's fastest-growing source of greenhouse gas emissions -Alberta's oilsands industry. At a morning campaign stop at a Newfoundland and Labrador coffee shop, Ignatieff rejected suggestions from a patron that the industry must be shut down.
• 2011/04/05: BCLSB: But They've Got One Too--Why Iggy's Cap And Trade Plan Shouldn't Get Him In Too Much Trouble
• 2011/04/05: CBC: Court won't hear Greens' challenge before debates
• 2011/04/04: CBC: Tories opt out of campaign tour carbon offsets
• 2011/04/04: PostMedia: Environmental issues loom large in B.C., where Green party hopes to stake its claim
  Federal election issues affecting West Coast include salmon, oil tankers and climate change
  [...]
  [Elizabeth] May is making her third federal election attempt after second-place losses in Nova Scotia in 2008 and Ontario in 2006, this time vying for the environmentally conscious riding of Saanich-Gulf Islands. The Greens took 10 per cent of the riding's votes in 2008, compared to 43 per cent for Conservative Gary Lunn, Minister of State for Sport. However, Briony Penn, widely known for her environmental activism, scored 39 per cent for the Liberals. (Penn is not running in this election. Renée Hetherington, a climate scientist, represents the Liberals this time around, while Saanich school trustee Edith Loring-Kuhanga is running for the NDP.) May's political future could be on the line -and perhaps her party's, too -should support slip from the almost one million votes or 6.8 per cent of the popular vote garnered nationally by the Green Party in 2008, up from 4.5 per cent in 2006. And while the Greens stress they are not a one-issue party, it won't help if environmental issues take a back seat in this election.
• 2011/04/04: AD: Uncapped
  Yesterday, I noted that the Libs' supposed cap and trade plan is utterly lacking in credibility since it doesn't include any targets to actually define a cap. But since the loudest response to the Libs' lack of any targets for the next 39 years has somehow been a series of high-pitched shrieks that the Libs' plan to do nothing is going too far, let's note how bizarre that response sounds coming from the Cons and their oil-patch allies.
• 2011/04/04: CBC: Some leaks in green home retrofit plans -- Liberal plan less lucrative but would reach more homeowners
  If the latest campaign promises are to be believed, homeowners will once again be able to get government grants to help insulate their houses, no matter which party wins the current federal election.

Questions about offshore and Arctic drilling linger:

• 2011/04/08: CBC: Offshore board failed to disclose spill quickly: chair
  The board that regulates Newfoundland and Labrador's offshore oil industry admits it failed to quickly notify the provincial government about a spill of drilling mud at an exploration well east of St. John's on March 28.

The perpetual Newfoundland - Quebec tussle over Labrador's hydro electricity is an election issue:

• 2011/04/09: ChronicleHerald: Hydro-politics: Quebec plays monopoly

  With the Liberals choosing Clark and the NDP to decide on April 17, how long until the election?

• 2011/04/07: Tyee: What Separates Top Three BC NDP Leadership Candidates?
• 2011/04/02: PostMedia: Candidates take a swing at 'out of touch' axe-the-tax carbon concept
  Potential party leaders say opposition to levy may have cost them the last election
  Candidates for the leadership of the provincial NDP have axed former party head Carole James's controversial "axe-the-tax" opposition to B.C.'s groundbreaking levy on carbon. "I think we made a mistake in the last election. We as a party got it wrong," said Mike Farnworth, speaking during an all-candidates' debate this weekend in Vancouver. "We were out of touch with the majority of British Columbians and I think that is one of the key reasons why we lost the last election." The New Democrats' aggressive opposition to the carbon tax in the period leading up to the 2009 election upset many NDP supporters and outraged many environmental activists, including David Suzuki.

Meanwhile in that Mechanical Mordor known as the tar sands:

• 2011/04/06: Tyee: Oil Sands Lobbying Without End, Vows American Petroleum Institute
  With millions to spend opposing climate change laws, and 'allies' in Canada's government, API reps 460 oil and gas corporations.
• 2011/04/05: PI: Pembina Institute calls for independent science review of draft oilsands plan
• 2011/04/07: Tyee: Could Financial Might Backing Oil Sands Shift to Renewables?
• 2011/04/07: NBF: Canada's Oilsands Could Boom to 5 million barrels per day by 2020 and Water and CO2 flooding are increasing oil from Canadas part of Bakken
• 2011/04/06: CBC: Oilsands questions need answers, Obama says
• 2011/04/05: G&M: Alberta conservation plan stuns oil patch
  The Alberta government has proposed new environmental rules that would revoke a number of oil sands leases -- including those which already have active projects -- in an effort to protect sensitive habitat, wildlife and forest land in the most industrialized area of the province. The government on Tuesday unveiled a plan to set aside two million hectares, or about 20 per cent, of Alberta's oil sands zone, for conservation.
• 2011/04/06: TreeHugger: Alberta Oil Industry "Stunned" By Venezuelan-Style Regulation of Tar Sands

  Also in Alberta:

• 2011/04/05: Tyee: Killer of US Clean Energy Laws Now Running for Alberta Premier
  Gary Mar brags of defeating emissions reductions as province's man in Washington.
• 2011/04/07: PI:B: Alberta's draft plan misses the mark on protecting land and species in the Lower Athabasca
• 2011/04/06: GP:B: Alberta Government Fails Us Yet Again ;)
• 2011/04/05: DeSmogBlog: Greenwashed Alberta Land Use Plan Protects Tar Sands and Timber Interests Over Athabascan Environment

  In Manitoba, people have flooding on their minds:

• 2011/04/09: CBC: Man, 61, drowns at flooded road
• 2011/04/09: CBC: More Manitoba homes evacuated as Red River rises
• 2011/04/09: CBC: Winnipeg floodway to be activated
• 2011/04/08: CBC: Dual flood crests could hit Winnipeg
  The Red and Assiniboine rivers could crest at the same time this spring in Winnipeg, flood officials say.
• 2011/04/07: CBC: Social media used in flood fight
  The City of Winnipeg has turned to social media to get out its flood fight messages. It activated Facebook, Twitter and YouTube accounts on Monday to provide residents with more ways to access up-to-date information on emergency preparedness.
• 2011/04/06: CBC: Military barriers drafted for flood fight
  A new technology is being used for the first time in Manitoba's flood fight. Provincial crews put up a Hesco Bastion along River Road in the Rural Municipality of St. Andrews, just north of Winnipeg, on Wednesday.
• 2011/04/05: CBC: Red River quickly rising -- Red River's crest could hit Winnipeg by early May
• Wpg: River Levels at Winnipeg, Manitoba
• 2011/04/04: CBC: Flood forecast unchanged by weekend weather -- Red River in Grand Forks expected to be just under major flood stage by Sunday
• 2011/04/05: WpgFP: Battle of bulging Red begins -- Sandbags start flying as rising river triggers dike-building

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

• 2011/04/07: PI:B: Costly new nuclear plant could limit growth of green power in Ontario

  While in la Belle Province:

• 2011/04/08: TreeHugger: Québec to Offer Up to $8000 in Rebates for Electric Cars

  As for miscellaneous Canadiana:

• 2011/04/04: Tyee: Gary Doer's Startling Embrace of the Oil Sands
  As Manitoba's NDP premier, he was a top fighter against climate change. Now as Canada's US ambassador, he's done an about face, say chagrined former allies.
• 2011/04/06: CBC: Canada's power grid needs $293B infusion: report [an annual investment of $15 billion for the next 20 years]
• 2011/04/04: CBC: Privatization of Canada's electrical grid accelerating
• 2011/04/06: CCurrents: Greed Is Not A Virtue
• 2011/04/03: CCurrents: How A Community-Based Co-op Economy Might Work

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

• 2011/04/06: HotTopic: Lester Brown and the water lilies
• 2011/02/15: IPRD: [link to 399k pdf] Report: Beyond Growth, or Beyond Capitalism?

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

• 2011/04/07: NBF: Gendercide in China, India and other countries -- India gender imbalance is heading to 110 boys to 100 girls
• 2011/04/06: NBF: World population could peak at 11 billion instead of 9.4 billion
• 2011/04/06: USAToday: More state bills are targeting abortion

  As for how the media handles the science:

• 2011/04/09: EconView: Why Oh Why?
• 2011/04/09: IJISH: Climate Progress blog to do its own investigative reporting; and on the word "Hackergate"...
• 2011/04/05: CJR: The Climate Context in Japan -- Crisis tests media's ability to frame nuclear debate in a world beset by energy risks
• 2011/04/08: CJR: The Importance of Energy Reporters -- A Q&A with the NYT's Matthew Wald about Japan's nuclear crisis
• 2011/04/08: ClimateP: Climate Central veers off course on adaptation
• 2011/04/04: ClimateP: Yes, wind and wave power are renewable; New Scientist pulls a Charlie Sheen

  While activists search for effective communication techniques:

• 2011/04/08: ERabett: Eli Is Old
• 2011/04/07: MTobis: Okies from Muskogee

  Remember PepsiGate?

• 2011/04/07: WiredSci: The Independent Sells Some Ed Space

  Here is something for your library:

• 2011/04/07: HotTopic: [Book Review] _Earth: The Operators' Manual_ by Richard Alley
• 2011/04/04: SkeptiSci: Upcoming book: Climate Change Denial by Haydn Washington and John Cook

  And for your film & video enjoyment:

• 2011/04/09: PSinclair: Texas' Driest March on Record in US: Mindbending Sandstorm vid from Downunder
• 2011/04/09: CSW: Richard Alley PBS special on climate change and sustainable energy debuts April 10
• 2011/04/08: PSinclair: Edward Markey: Who killed Detroit? The GOP.
• 2011/04/07: Deltoid: John Mashey seminar live on web
• 2011/04/: PBS: Plan B: Mobilizing to Save Civilization[April only]
• 2011/04/05: EnergyBulletin: A film review: 'Gasland'

  Wrestling over a new energy infrastructure continues unabated:

• 2011/04/09: ClimateShifts: Do the numbers: gas emits as much CO2 as coal
• 2011/04/08: TreeHugger: Seven Lessons From Lawrence Livermore Laboratory's Energy Use Graph
• 2011/04/07: CCurrents: Energy Is Ugly
• 2011/04/08: BPA: IEA Report: Where is the New Energy Coming From? Coal.
• 2011/04/08: ClimateP: Gas flaring remains a big global problem, 2% of global CO2 emissions from energy
• 2011/04/08: AutoBG: Pew: Clean energy investments hit record-setting $243B globally in 2010
• 2011/04/07: WiC: Ellen Cantarow: dirty energy's dirty deeds
• 2011/04/07: TreeHugger: Scrap Subsidies For Fossil Fuels & Support Renewables, CCS to Cut Emissions: IEA [CEP Report]
• 2011/04/06: Grist: America's energy use, in one nifty chart
• 2011/04/06: EurActiv: 5% of world's gas wasted in flaring
• 2011/04/05: Grist: Powering up: Green tech investment surges
• 2011/04/06: InformedComment: Green Energy in 20-40 Years?
• 2011/04/05: Grist: How America could easily add 12 nuclear reactors' worth of hydro power
• 2011/04/05: PeakEnergy: Anglesey £70m tidal power project plans go forward
• 2011/04/04: NBF: 5% of the annual production of natural gas is flared and this tens of billions of dollars in waste could be fixed in 5 years

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

• 2011/04/08: ABC(Au): Putty residents 'anxious' about gas exploration
• 2011/04/07: NBF: QuickFRAC will enable faster and more profitable horizontal oil drilling
• 2011/04/05: EIA: World Shale Gas Resources: An Initial Assessment of 14 Regions Outside the United States
• 2011/04/05: EIA:TiE: Shale gas is a global phenomenon
• 2011/04/06: NBF: Global shale gas boosts total recoverable natural gas resources by 40%
• 2011/04/05: DeSmogBlog: There Goes The Neighbourhood: China Rushes To Develop Shale Gas At Home And Abroad
• 2011/04/01: ProPublica: Time Magazine on "The Gas Dilemma"

  The answer my friend...:

• 2011/04/04: FuturePundit: Wind Energy Growth Slowed By Lower Demand
• 2011/04/08: TreeHugger: New Wind Farm Brings Clean Energy to Maine and Contributes to Local Economy
• 2011/04/08: BBC: Wind farm efficiency queried by John Muir Trust study
  Wind farms are much less efficient than claimed, producing below 10% of capacity for more than a third of the time, according to a new report. The analysis also suggested output was low during the times of highest demand. The report, supported by conservation charity the John Muir Trust, concluded turbines "cannot be relied upon" to produce significant levels of power generation. However, industry representatives said they had "no confidence" in the data.
• 2011/04/07: Grist: Money is a miracle cure for 'wind turbine syndrome'
• 2011/04/07: TreeHugger: Scottish Wind Power Output Claims Slightly Deflated by New Report
• 2011/04/06: NBF: Global wind power capacity grew 24 percent to 197 gigawatts in 2010

  Meanwhile among the solar aficionados:

• 2011/04/08: PlanetArk: GE Bets $600 Million On Solar, Sees Plant Up By 2013
• 2011/04/07: TreeHugger: GE to Build the Biggest Solar Panel Factory in US (400 Megawatts per Year)
• 2011/04/06: NBF: Chinese Solar Power Companies and Bloomberg New Energy Finance Tout competitive Solar Power Costs
• 2011/04/07: BBC: GE to build the US's largest solar panel factory
• 2011/04/05: BBerg: Solar Power May Already Rival Coal, Prompting Installation Surge
  Solar panel installations may surge in the next two years as the cost of generating electricity from the sun rivals coal-fueled plants, industry executives and analysts said. Large photovoltaic projects will cost $1.45 a watt to build by 2020, half the current price, Bloomberg New Energy Finance estimated today. The London-based research company says solar is viable against fossil fuels on the electric grid in the most sunny regions such as the Middle East.
• 2011/04/06: CCurrents: A Solar Transition Is Possible: Report
• 2011/04/05: TreeHugger: Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition Reveals the Secret Dirtiness of the Solar Power Industry
• 2011/04/04: Eureka: First polymer solar-thermal device heats home, saves money

  On the coal front:

• 2011/04/05: Grist: A year after the deadly Upper Big Branch mine disaster, not much has changed

  Biofuel bickering abounds:

• 2011/04/07: FuturePundit: Skepticism On Algae Biodiesel Yields
• 2011/04/04: BPA: Map: Number of Ethanol Refineries Per State
• 2011/04/04: AutoBG: Brazil imports record amount of ethanol in 1st quarter; almost all from U.S.

  The nuclear energy controversy continues:

• 2011/04/06: UCSUSA: Internal NRC Documents Reveal Doubts About Measures to Ensure U.S. Plants Survive Fukushima-Type Events
• 2011/04/04: Eureka: Addressing the nuclear waste issue
  Pond alga could help scientists design effective method for cleaning up nuclear waste

Yes we have peak everything:

• 2011/04/05: ClimateP: Science: "Peak oil production may already be here" -- HSBC Bank: Oil will be gone in 50 years
• 2011/04/06: TreeHugger: HSBC Economist Says We've Got Just 50 Years of Oil Left
• 2011/04/04: EnergyBulletin: Will we be able to maintain & replace our energy & transportation infrastructure in a post-peak oil world?
• 2011/04/04: Grist: In face of 'peak everything,' governments shrug at environmental cost of energy

  More people are talking about the electrical grid:

• 2011/04/08: PeakEnergy: The fruits of smart meter phobia
• 2011/04/06: CBC: Canada's power grid needs $293B infusion: report [an annual investment of $15 billion for the next 20 years]
• 2011/04/06: CTB: Top Ten Smart Grid Projects Globally

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

• 2011/04/07: EurActiv: Electric car makers fight over plug standard
• 2011/04/06: AutoBG: Check out the EPA's new electric vehicle page
• 2011/04/05: AutoBG: Hybrid sales up 46.5% in March...
• 2011/04/04: AutoBG: Report: Sales of fuel-efficient vehicles too low to meet 2016 CAFE standards
• 2011/04/04: AutoBG: Automotive News [AN]: CO2 emission tests, real-world numbers don't match
• 2011/04/04: Mercury: Will buying an electric car make an environmental difference?

  Two Gee Whiz followups:

• 2011/04/07: TechRev: A Greener 'Artificial Leaf' -- New device offers distinct advantages over previous attempts to improve upon natural photosynthesis.
• 2011/04/07: NyTeknik: Swedish physicists on the [Rossi & Focardi] E-cat: "It's a nuclear reaction"
  In a detailed report, two Swedish physicists exclude chemical reactions as the energy source in the Italian 'energy catalyzer'. The two physicists recently supervised a new test of the device in Bologna, Italy.
• 2011/04/06: NBF: Swedish Researchers confirm Rossi and Focardi Energy Catalyzer as a Nuclear Process
• 2011/04/07: NBF: If Rossi and Focardi can Deliver

  As for Energy Storage:

• 2011/03/28: Risoe:DTU: Research into batteries will give electric cars the same range as petrol cars
• 2011/04/06: Eureka: Replacing batteries may become a thing of the past, thanks to 'soft generators'
• 2011/03/31: Fraunhofer: Hannover Messe: Giant batteries for green power

  In the gas and oil biz:

• 2011/04/08: BBerg: Closing oil prices Friday
  OIL (US$/bbl)
  Nymex Crude Future 112.79
  Dated Brent Spot 126.74
  WTI Cushing Spot 112.79
• 2011/04/08: Guardian(UK): Libyan unrest sends oil prices soaring to $124 a barrel
  Gold and silver prices also rally amid uncertainty caused by problems in the Middle East
• 2011/04/08: BBC: Oil prices surge to fresh two and a half year highs
  Oil prices have surged to a two-and-a-half-year high on concerns about supply and a weaker dollar. Brent crude rose $1.82 to $124.49, while US crude was up $1.29 at $111.59.
• 2011/04/08: CBC: Oil hits multi-year high
• 2011/04/05: Reuters: Brent crude jumped to a 2-1/2 year peak above $122 a barrel on Tuesday
• 2011/04/04: BBC: Supply fears push oil price to two-and-a-half year high

  Who's fielding the FAQs?

• 2011/04/07: Guardian(UK): Is there a scientific consensus on man-made climate change?

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

• 2011/04/08: ClimateP: April 8 News...
• 2011/04/07: ClimateP: April 7 news...
• 2011/04/06: ClimateP: April 6 News...
• 2011/04/05: ClimateP: April 5 News...
• 2011/04/04: ClimateP: April 4 News...

  Other (weekly) lists:

• 2011/04/08: CCentral: This Week in Climate Science: Contrails, Chinese Nuclear Power, Mangroves etc.
• 2011/04/09: BPA: Agriculture News

  The carbon lobby are up to the usual:

• 2011/04/09: ERabett: Beyond Denial
• 2011/04/09: MTobis: Liljegren and McIntyre
• 2011/04/06: DeSmogBlog: What Motivates a Climate Skeptic?
• 2011/04/05: STimes: Climate-change deniers can't handle the inconvenient truth [Krugman]
• 2011/04/04: DeSmogBlog: Paul Krugman's Must-Read NY Times Op-Ed On Immoral Climate Denial
• 2011/04/03: NYT:PK: The Truth, Still Inconvenient
  So the joke begins like this: An economist, a lawyer and a professor of marketing walk into a room. What's the punch line? They were three of the five "expert witnesses" Republicans called for last week's Congressional hearing on climate science. But the joke actually ended up being on the Republicans, when one of the two actual scientists they invited to testify went off script.

As for climate miscellanea:

• 2011/04/09: HotTopic: Telling the whole truth
• 2011/04/07: DeepClimate: John Mashey lecture tour
• 2011/04/07: TCoE: The stupidity feedback loop
• 2011/04/07: ERabett: Blog Pimping
• 2011/04/06: SciNews: Why diversity rules -- Experiment shows how a multitude of species gets the job done
• 2011/04/05: Guardian(UK): Doctors urged to take climate leadership role
• 2011/04/05: WottsUWT: Rising From My Long Winter's Nap
• 2011/04/05: GreenFyre: Climate Justice and Stupid White Men
• 2011/04/05: HotTopic: Routefinding the future: reflecting on the climate futures forum
• 2011/04/05: MoD: Quote of the day: Climate change vs global warming
• 2011/04/04: ClimateP: David Orr on confronting climate collapse
• 2011/04/04: Grist: How to make energy savings info compelling
• 2011/04/03: CSW: For Eli and Keith, Among Others of their Ilks

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

• JMA: Japan Meteorological Agency -- Tropical Cyclone Information
• Severe Weather Information Centre
• Power Shift 2011
• NCCARF: National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility
• EGU: European Geosciences Union General Assembly 2011, 03-08 April 2011
• FAO: Collaborative Partnership on Mediterranean Forests
• CIFOR: Center for International Forestry Research
• IPRD: Institute for Policy Research & Development
• Mark Lynas
• FAC: International Conference on Global Land Grabbing [6-8 April 2011]
• Wpg: River Levels at Winnipeg, Manitoba
• Tria Project: Mountain Pine Beetle System Genomics
• Wiki: Timeline of glaciation
• Wiki: Marine isotope stage
• Wiki: Stratospheric sulfur aerosols
• GreenFyre
• STWR: Share The World's Resources
• EII: Earth Island Institute

My first novel Water was published in Canada May, 2007. The American release was in October. An Introductionto the novel is available, along with the Unpublished Forewordand the Launch Talk(which includes some quotations), 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 creature that wins against its environment destroys itself." -Gregory Bateson

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