Another week of GW News, May 1, 2011

Logging the Onset of The Bottleneck Years

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Another week of Climate Instability News

Sipping from the Internet Firehose...

May 1, 2011 -- Happy May Day!

• Chuckles, COP17+, Fukushima News, Nuclear Policy, Fukushima Talk, Chernobyl
• Tuscaloosa, Attribution, Nisbet, MEF, Williams, Boyce, UNGCF
• Bolivia, US CoC Hack, Thermodynamics, Cook, Post CRU
• Melting Arctic, Methane, Antarctica
• Food Crisis, Agro-Corps, Food Prices, Food Riots, Food Production
• Hurricanes, GHGs, Temperatures, Aerosols, Ozone, Paleoclimate
• Cosmic Rays, Overshoot, Ocean Currents, Satellites
• Impacts, Forests, Extreme Weather, Tornadoes, Wildfires, Glaciers, Floods & Droughts
• Mitigation, Buildings, Sequestration, Geoengineering, Adaptation
• Journals, Other Docs , Misc. Science, Models, Santer, Schneider, Muller
Law & Activism, Activism, Water Politics & Business
• National Politics: America, BP Disaster, 2012, Gasoline, Budget, Post-Truth Politics
• FOIA, Obama, USAdmin, Congress, Lobbyists, Subsidies, Shelby, Al Gore
• Europe, Australia, Carbon War, Murray-Darling, New Zealand, China
• Canada, Post G20, Offshore Drilling, WikiLeak, Pipelines, Gag Order
• Flooding, Tar Sands, Alberta, Sask, Manitoba, Ontario
• Ecological Economics, IPAT, Apocalypso, Media, Books, Video, Podcasts, Courts
• Energy, Fracking, Coal, Oil & Gas Oil & Gas Corps Peak Oil, Biofuel
• Wind, Solar, Nukes, Grid, Efficiency, Cars, Gee Whiz
• FAQs, Joe's List, Carbon Lobby, Miscellaneous Climate, Useful Links
• Shameless Self Promotion, .sig

Laugh. I dare ya:

• 2011/04/30: NakedCapitalism: (21 cartoons) Gas Pump Woes
• 2011/04/29: GreenFyre: (cartoon, flowchart & tweet) Pausing for fun in DenierLand
• 2011/04/28: ERabett: (flowchart - Honan) Rejection is fungable
• 2011/04/28: MoJo: (flowchart - Honan) How to Make Your Lie Go Mainstream in 26 Easy Steps
• 2011/04/25: uComics: (cartoon - Wiley) The Big Picture

  And for those who enjoy challenging Poe's Law:

• 2011/04/29: AFTIC: Obama reveals long form birth certificate

  Looking ahead to COP17 and future international climate negotiations:

• 2011/04/26: BBC:RB: Climate laws don't wait for UN
  With UN climate negotiations in something of a quagmire, you might assume that fewer and fewer governments were passing national legislation on the issue. According to a report just out from Globe International, the parliamentarians' alliance, you'd be mistaken.
• 2011/04/26: GlobeInt: Results of 1st GLOBE Climate Legislation Study Launched
• 2011/04/26: Guardian(UK): Nauru will use UN spotlight to confront developed world over climate change

  Not much good news coming out of Fukushima:

• 2011/04/27: BBerg: Radiation Readings in Fukushima Reactor Rise to Highest Since Crisis Began
• 2011/05/01: PeakEnergy: Radiation Readings in Fukushima Reactor Rise to Highest Since Crisis Began
• 2011/04/30: CBC: Japanese government nuclear adviser quits -- Toshiso Kosako says radiation limits too high
• 2011/04/29: ScienceInsider: Government Adviser Quits Post to Protest Japan's Policy on Radiation Exposure for Fukushima Schools
• 2011/04/28: CCurrents: Crowdsourcing Japan's Radiation Levels
  A group of motivated individuals have come together to create a community approach to gathering radiation data in Japan
• 2011/04/30: al Jazeera: Aide to Japan PM quits over radiation limits
  A top nuclear adviser says government's radiation limit is too high, and it takes ad-hoc measures to control crisis.
• 2011/04/29: Google:AFP: Japan prime minister's nuclear adviser resigns
• 2011/04/29: PSinclair: Top Fukushima Advisor: "This is nuts. I'm out of here."
• 2011/04/28: NatureTGB: Fukushima update: TEPCO delays plans to submerge reactor vessels
• 2011/04/27: APR: Wednesday morning update... Fukushima Daiichi
• 2011/04/27: APR: TEPCO revises fuel damage estimates...
• 2011/04/27: APR: NISA 'instructs' TEPCO to report....
• 2011/04/23: MiamiHerald: Japanese government considers underground wall to contain Fukushima radiation
  The Japanese government is considering building an underground barrier near the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant to prevent radioactive material from spreading far from the plant via soil and groundwater, a senior government official said.
• 2011/04/26: PeakEnergy: Tokyo Electric admits fuel could be melting at Fukushima nuke plant
• 2011/04/25: APR: Further brief details on Fukushima Daiichi
• 2011/04/25: APR: Monday afternoon update: Fukushima Daiichi
• 2011/04/26: BBerg: Japan's Terrifying Day Saw Unprecedented Exposed Fuel Rods
• 2011/04/25: BBC: Japan: Huge troop search for quake and tsunami bodies
  Japan has deployed nearly 25,000 troops to search for the bodies of those missing since the earthquake and tsunami that devastated north-eastern areas more than six weeks ago. The search is the third such large-scale effort since the disaster. Twelve thousand people are unaccounted for and it is feared many were swept out to sea and will never be recovered.
• 2011/04/25: CBC: Japan launches largest search for quake victims -- Recovery effort finds 38 bodies
  Japanese Self-Defense Force members are carrying out the largest search yet for 12,000 people who went missing after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. The U.S. military and the Japanese police are also taking part in the search, which will involve 25,000 people, 90 aircraft and 50 ships over the next two days.
• 2011/04/21: Cryptome: Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant Photos 12
• 2011/04/20: Cryptome: Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant Photos 11
• 2011/04/19: Cryptome: Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant Photos 10
• 2011/04/23: LWH: Hi-res photographic proof reactor core exploded at unit 3
• 2011/04/24: Guardian(UK): Japan deploys 25,000 troops in search for disaster victims
  Two-day operation involving aircraft, boats, divers and robots will scour towns and areas up to 12 miles out to sea

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

• 2011/04/27: WorldRadio(ch): Former nuclear safety official says [Swiss] Mühleberg plant should be shut down
• 2011/04/29: NBF: Russia is reconfirming plans to build 32 nuclear reactors by 2020
• 2011/04/28: EurActiv: Citizens' initiative to help Faymann's anti-nuclear crusade
  The Chancellor of Austria, Social Democrat Werner Faymann, joined anti-nuclear activists on Monday (25 April) to call for a public campaign to eliminate nuclear power in the European Union. His aides now say the Chancellor hopes to mobilise public opinion to prompt the launch of a European Citizens' Initiative.
  [...]
  The European Citizens' Initiative allows EU citizens to propose legislation if one million signatures are collected, and the mechanism will be valid from 1 April 2012.
• 2011/04/27: PlanetArk: U.N.'s Ban To Convene Nuclear Safety Summit In September
• 2011/04/27: BBC: Chernobyl anniversary: Medvedev seeks nuclear rules
  Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has called for new international rules covering safety at nuclear plants.
• 2011/04/26: NatureN: Nuclear agency faces reform calls -- International Atomic Energy Agency's remit under scrutiny
• 2011/04/25: BBC: Anti-nuclear protests in Germany and France
  Thousands of people in France and Germany have staged protests calling for an end to nuclear power.
• 2011/04/27: BBC: Fears rise in India of Fukushima-style nuclear disaster
  A leading campaigner against a massive nuclear power plant in India has pledged that villagers are ready to sacrifice their lives in order to prevent a repeat of Japan's nuclear disaster. Praveen Gavhankar, a farmer and fruit transporter, said he and thousands of villagers in western Maharashtra, had become totally frustrated over the government's determination to allow the construction of six large reactors at Jaitapur, in an active earthquake zone.

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

• 2011/04/29: PSinclair: "Unequivocal" Criticality continues at Fukushima
• 2011/04/26: NYT: Culture of Complicity Tied to Stricken Nuclear Plant
• 2011/04/27: PSinclair: Fukushima: Why you can't just Cap it with Concrete...
• 2011/04/27: TCoE: Peak Competence
• 2011/04/26: CCurrents: Japan's Nuclear Crisis Far From Over
• 2011/04/26: ScienceInsider: Fukushima Crisis Shouldn't Blunt Long-Term Investment in Nuclear Power, Says MIT Report
• 2011/04/25: ENS: Tokyo Electric Struggles to Control Unstable Nuclear Plant

  The Chernobyl 25th Anniversary was this week:

• 2011/04/26: CCurrents: Chernobyl Survivor Warns Of 'Bombshell' In Japan
• 2011/04/26: DemNow: Chernobyl Catastrophe: 25th Anniversary of World's Worst Nuclear Accident
• 2011/04/26: DerSpiegel: Remembering the Nuclear Winter -- Ukraine Marks a Quarter Century Since Chernobyl
• 2011/04/26: DerSpiegel: Beyond the Sarcophagus -- The Overwhelming Challenge of Containing Chernobyl
  Work on the new sarcophagus meant to contain Chernobyl's reactor 4 is a decade behind schedule. But significant problems will remain even once it is complete. For one, it is only meant to last for 100 years. For another, no one knows what to do with the vast quantities of radioactive waste left behind.
• 2011/04/26: ENS: 25th Chernobyl Anniversary Prompts Vows of Safety, Security
• 2011/04/26: EurActiv: Chernobyl remembered, Fukushima protested
  Ukraine marked the 25th anniversary of the world's worst nuclear accident at its Chernobyl plant today (26 April), as global protests sparked by leaks from reactors at Japan's Fukushima plant continued.
• 2011/04/26: ABC(Au): Sombre ceremonies in Ukraine have marked the 25th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster
• 2011/04/26: NatureTGB: 25th anniversary of Chernobyl accident
• 2011/04/25: APR: Chernobyl: Plant background
• 2011/04/25: APR: Chernobyl anniversary... and events today
• 2011/04/25: BBC: Chernobyl nuclear disaster: Ukraine marks anniversary

  The Southern USA got whalloped by a major multi-day tornado outbreak:

• 2011/04/30: NOAANews: NOAA releases aerial imagery of Tuscaloosa, Ala. tornado damage
• 2011/04/30: CNN: Harrowing stories emerge from storm's aftermath
  Death toll from South's latest tornado outbreak tweaked to 337 - Alabama death toll adjusted to 249 - Storms causes at least $2 billion in insured losses, catastrophe expert firm says - Deadliest single day from tornadoes was in 1925 when 747 people died
• 2011/04/29: APR: Browns Ferry - LOOP [Loss Of Offsite Power post tornado]
• 2011/04/30: BBC: US tornadoes: Death toll rises as more bodies found
• 2011/04/30: CBC: U.S. tornado toll rises to 342 -- 2nd deadliest twister outbreak in U.S. history
• 2011/04/29: IBTimes: NASA Satellite Shows Southern Tornadoes From Space
• 2011/04/30: al Jazeera: US reels from deadly storms
  Death toll from southern US twisters hits 337, as survivors struggle with blackouts and damaged infrastructure.
• 2011/04/29: BBC: Tuscaloosa tornado survivors pick through rubble
• 2011/04/29: CNN: Shaken, dazed residents recount tornado horrors
  Nearly 300 are killed across the South, and dozens are killed in Tuscaloosa, Alabama - Survivors tell harrowing tales of the storm - Witness: "It looked like an atomic bomb went off in a straight line" - "It's mind-boggling to think you walked away," one survivor says
• 2011/04/29: CNN: Obama visits Alabama as South reels in tornado aftermath
  President Barack Obama: "I've never seen devastation like this." - President promises "to do everything we can" to aid rebuilding - Death toll reaches at least 298 in six southern states - 35 emergency response teams deployed across Alabama
• 2011/04/29: PlanetArk: Tornadoes Rip South, At Least 295 Dead
• 2011/04/29: Wunderground: Over 300 dead in historic tornado outbreak; one violent EF-5 tornado confirmed
• 2011/04/28: Eureka: TRMM Satellite sees massive thunderstorms in severe weather system
• 2011/04/28: CSM: Tornado outbreak is possibly the deadliest in 37 years
• 2011/04/29: CBC: U.S. storm toll rises to 297
• 2011/04/28: ClimateP: Tennessee Valley Authority: "We have never experienced such a major weather event in our history"
• 2011/04/28: Guardian(UK): Deadliest tornadoes since 1974 rip apart towns and lives in six US states -- Death toll close to 300...
• 2011/04/28: Guardian(UK): Hundreds dead as tornadoes rip through southern US states
• 2011/04/28: CNN: Severe weather across South could set tornado record, experts say
  Tornadoes can be spawned from rotating thunderstorms called supercells - Authorities are assessing damage from the storms - CNN meteorologist: "It is very rare to have all these ingredients come together" - The worst tornado outbreak in U.S. history occurred in April 1974
• 2011/04/28: CNN: Tuscaloosa shaken after massive tornado hits
  As many as 272 people in six states have been killed in the storms - Debris was littered on the streets of Tuscaloosa - The tornado was like "a silent monster," says one resident
• 2011/04/28: CNN: Southern storms: 'I don't know how anyone survived'
  President Obama calls storms "heartbreaking," will travel to Alabama on Friday - The death toll is at least 272 people in six states - More than 980 are people treated at hospitals - Hundreds of thousands of people are without power
• 2011/04/28: S&R: Alabama tornado video
• 2011/04/28: NatureTGB: Storms in US cause loss of external power at three nuclear reactors
• 2011/04/28: Wunderground: Massive tornado outbreak kills 202; 100-year flood coming on Mississippi River
• 2011/04/28: CSM: 'Dixie Alley' as dangerous as the better-known Tornado Alley, say scientists
• 2011/04/28: CSM: Tornadoes take staggering toll in Alabama and Deep South (video)
• 2011/04/28: CSM: Alabama tornadoes: Why was state's tornado death toll so high? (video)
• 2011/04/28: al Jazeera: Storms leave hundreds dead in southern US
  Tornadoes and storms wreak havoc across southern US, killing at least 220 people and causing floods and power outages.
• 2011/04/28: BBC: Tuscaloosa, Alabama devastated by 'monster' tornado
• 2011/04/28: BBC: Storms and tornadoes kill scores in southern US
• 2011/04/28: BBC: In pictures: Deadly US storms
• 2011/04/28: CBC: U.S. severe storms kill 178
• 2011/04/27: S&R: Tornado live streaming from Alabama -- Parts of Tuscaloosa are simply gone
• 2011/04/27: BBC: Deadly US storms kill 18 from Arkansas to Alabama
  A series of thunderstorms with near hurricane force winds and suspected tornadoes have struck the south-eastern US, killing at least 18 people in states from Arkansas to Alabama. The storm system pummelled states from Texas to Georgia on Tuesday evening and Wednesday.
• 2011/04/27: CBC: Tornadoes, storms kill 54 in southern U.S. -- Alabama town [Tuscaloosa] devastated by tornado
  A wave of severe storms laced with tornadoes strafed the South on Wednesday, killing at least 54 people in four states and splintering buildings across swaths of an Alabama university town. In Alabama alone, at least 25 people died Wednesday. There were 11 deaths in Mississippi, including a father killed as he tried to shelter his daughter from the storm at a campsite. Tuscaloosa's mayor said sections of the city that's home to the University of Alabama had been destroyed by a massive tornado, while a hospital there said its emergency room had admitted at least 100 people.

The relationship/attribution of tornadoes and climate change is good for a controversy:

• 2011/04/30: MTobis: Spinning Tornados
• 2011/04/30: KSJT: AP, NYTimes: Tornado outbreak leaves experts agape. They cannot quite explain it either.
• 2011/04/28: France24: Tornadoes whipped up by wind, not climate: officials
• 2011/04/29: TP:WR: Top Climate Scientist [Dr. Kevin Trenberth] On The Monster Tornadoes: 'It Is Irresponsible Not To Mention Climate Change'
• 2011/04/29: CCP: Andrew Freedman, WaPo: Are La Nina and global warming behind the extreme tornado activity?
• 2011/04/29: QuarkSoup: Tornado Hypocrites
• 2011/04/29: TreeHugger: Are The Latest US Storms, Floods & Fires Related to Climate Change? Yes, Yes, They Are
• 2011/04/28: HuffPo: A Cost of Denying Climate Change: Accelerating Climate Disruptions, Death, and Destruction by Peter H. Gleick
• 2011/04/28: TCoE: Must read: Peter Gleick on the cost of denial

  I wonder how to frame this blogostorm...:

• 2011/04/30: Deltoid: There's no fooling Bryan Walsh
• 2011/04/26: Grist: Why I've avoided commenting on Nisbet's 'Climate Shift' report
• 2011/04/25: ClimateP: False narratives and ozone revisionism
• 2011/04/24: ERabett: Strange Choices
• 2011/04/25: DeSmogBlog: Climate Policy Failure, and Laying Blame [CCM]
• 2011/04/25: Eureka: In cap and trade fight, environmentalists had spending edge over opponents, new report finds

  There was a Major Emitters Forum meeting this week in Brussels. They decided to do nothing:

• 2011/04/27: NYT: Outlook Dim for Climate Agreement by Year's End [MEF]
  Major greenhouse gas-emitting nations on Wednesday ruled out reaching a global agreement to limit such gases at a meeting this year in Durban, South Africa, but they pledged to continue working toward that goal in future. "I don't think anyone thinks there's going to be an actual, completed legally binding agreement in Durban," Todd Stern, the U.S. special envoy for climate change, said at a news conference after a two-day meeting of the so-called Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate in Brussels.
• 2011/04/28: MLynas: Reflections from the Major Economies/Emitters Forum
• 2011/04/28: Guardian(UK): Durban climate deal impossible, say US and EU envoys
• 2011/04/28: PlanetArk: Major Polluters Say 2011 Climate Deal "Not Doable"

  Here is the study & look how it is reported:

• 2011/04/29: WOL:CB: (ab$) Chilean Blue Whales as a Case Study to Illustrate Methods to Estimate Abundance and Evaluate Conservation Status of Rare Species by Rob Williams et al.
• 2011/04/28: SciDaily: Plenty More Fish in the Sea? New Method for Measuring Biomass Reveals Fish Stocks Are More Stable Than Widely Believed
• 2011/04/28: Eureka: New method for measuring biomass reveals fish stocks are more stable than widely believed

  That Boyce et al. paper from last year on phytoplankton decline is being challenged:

• 2010/06/09: Nature: (ab$) Global phytoplankton decline over the past century by Daniel G. Boyce et al.
• 2011/04/13: Nature: (ab$) Boyce et al. reply by Daniel G. Boyce et al.
• 2011/04/13: Nature: (ab$) A measured look at ocean chlorophyll trends by Ryan R. Rykaczewski & John P. Dunne
• 2011/04/13: Nature: (ab$) Does blending of chlorophyll data bias temporal trend? by David L. Mackas
• 2011/04/13: Nature: (ab$) Is there a decline in marine phytoplankton? by Abigail McQuatters-Gollop et al.

  The UNGCF is in play:

• 2011/04/25: CPunch: Risking Global Bankruptcy -- The Banksters and the Climate Fund

  Bolivia's Law Of Mother Earth:

• 2011/04/24: CCurrents: The Law Of Mother Earth: Behind Bolivia's Historic Bill
• 2011/04/24: EnergyBulletin: The Law of Mother Earth: behind Bolivia's historic bill

  There is an alleged crack of US Chamber of Commerce & Mackinac Center sites:

• 2011/04/29: DailyKos: Anonymous Urges Caution on Chamber Release
• 2011/04/30: DailyKos: Anonymous Hits Chamber!
• 2011/04/30: CCP: Anonymous Hits Chamber! -- Releases thousands of documents that contain content from the American Legislative Exchange Council, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and the ultra-right-wing, Koch-backed, union-killer Mackinac Center

  Delving into the laws of thermodynamics this week:

• 2011/05/01: TSoD: The Mystery of Tau -- Miskolczi -- Part Four -- Emissivity
• 2011/04/30: TSoD: Understanding Atmospheric Radiation and the "Greenhouse" Effect -- Part Twelve -- Curve of Growth
• 2011/04/26: TSoD: The Mystery of Tau - Miskolczi - Part Three - Kinetic Energy
• 2011/04/25: TSoD: The Mystery of Tau - Miskolczi - Part Two - Kirchhoff

  John Cook and friends continue their point-counterpoint articles:

• 2011/04/30: SkeptiSci: Medieval project gone wrong by Hoskibui
• 2011/04/28: Guardian(UK): How climate change deniers led me to set up Skeptical Science website
• 2011/04/29: SkeptiSci: Lindzen Illusion #2: Lindzen vs. Hansen - the Sleek Veneer of the 1980s by dana1981
• 2011/04/28: SkeptiSci: How climate change deniers led me to set up Skeptical Science website by John Cook
• 2011/04/27: SkeptiSci: CO2 is plant food? If only it were so simple by Dawei

  Post CRU theft, controversy & inquiry:

• 2011/04/28: CSW: A review of the climate science stolen email controversy, with a few lessons for the future

  The Arctic melt continues to garner a lot of attention:

• 2011/04/30: CCP: G. Svensson & J. Karlsson, J. Climate (2011), On the Arctic wintertime climate in global climate models
• 2011/04/30: ASI: Arctic faces
• 2011/04/29: NatureTGB: Greenland reveals its warm secrets
• 2011/04/29: SciNews: With warming, Arctic is losing ground -- Scientists anticipate big ecosystem changes from erosion
• 2011/04/28: Wunderground:RR: Sea Ice North: The new field of ice-free Arctic Ocean science
• 2011/04/27: ScienceInsider: Scientists Urge Greater Protection for Arctic as Ice Recedes
• 2011/04/28: CBC: Massive Greenland [Petermann Glacier] iceberg drifts towards N.L.
  A massive iceberg, originally about 250 kilometres by 250 kilometres, that broke off a Greenland glacier last August is near northern Labrador, according to the Canadian Coast Guard. The drifting ice island that broke off the Petermann Glacier on Aug. 5 moved into Canadian waters this spring.

That Damoclean sword still hangs overhead:

• 2011/04/26: CCP: Sam Carana: Runaway Global Warming
• 2011/04/25: ClimateP: The methane hydrate feedback revisited

  While in Antarctica:

• 2011/04/30: CBC:Q&Q: (mp3) Whales Go In For The Krill
• 2011/04/27: SciNow: Biggest Ever Assemblage of Whales Isn't Necessarily Good News

  The food crisis is ongoing:

• 2011/04/29: M&C: Never-ending food scarcity in Nepal's mountains
• 2011/04/27: BPA: Foreign Policy Magazine Challenges the Accepted Notion that "More Than 1 Billion People Are Hungry in the World"
• 2011/04/29: UN: DPR Korea: UN agencies begin emergency operations to feed 3.5 million people
• 2011/04/27: FP: How Goldman Sachs Created the Food Crisis
  Don't blame American appetites, rising oil prices, or genetically modified crops for rising food prices. Wall Street's at fault for the spiraling cost of food.
• 2011/04/28: BBC: Ex-President Jimmy Carter calls for North Korea aid
  Former US President Jimmy Carter has accused the US and South Korea of human rights violations against North Koreans by withholding food aid. Mr Carter made the comments after a three-day private visit to Pyongyang.
• 2011/04/26: CrossCut:B: Hunger and insecurity about food haven't gone away
• 2011/04/25: ProMedMail: Rice diseases - Costa Rica, Bangladesh
• 2011/04/24: CBC: Seeding delayed for flooded prairie farmers
  The Saskatchewan government says not a single farmer has put a crop in the ground and things aren't looking much better on farms elsewhere across the waterlogged prairies.

As for the agro-chem corps:

• 2011/04/27: OpenDem: Ukraine: pain, but no grain
  Ukraine is known as the breadbasket of Europe, but something very strange is going on in the grain market, writes Anna Babinets. A hitherto unknown company with dubious connections has been appointed state trading agent, the farmers and traders are being badly hit, and there is no prospect of clarity any time soon.
• 2011/04/29: AllAfrica: SW Radio: Fertilizer Manufacturer Suspends Operations
  Zimbabwe's sole manufacturer of ammonium nitrate fertilizer, Sable Chemical Industries Ltd, has been forced to suspend operations after the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA) cut off power over a US$30 million debt. A report by NewsDay says most of the workers have now been sent home as a result.

Food Prices are still problematic:

• FAO: World Food Situation - Food Price Indices
• 2011/04/26: CBC: Soaring food prices to raise Asian poverty: report -- Poses major risk for developing world
• 2011/04/26: BBC: Soaring food prices to dent Asia's growth, ADB warns
  Soaring food and fuel prices are threatening to derail growth in Asian economies, according to a report by the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

Regarding the food factor in the ongoing revolutions:

• 2011/04/24: WiC: This will be the Arab world's next battle

  And how are we going to feed 9 billion?

• 2011/04/25: WFP: Bolivia: Food Aid Saves Flood Victim And Her Chickens
• 2011/04/27: BPA: Agriculture and the Oil Supply
• 2011/04/29: EnergyBulletin: Innovation of the Week: Creating farms that produce food and energy
• 2011/04/26: BPA: Canadian Citizens Aim for a National Food Policy
• 2011/04/21: AlterNet: How the Florida Tomato Industry Went from Being One of the Most Repressive Employers to the Most Progressive
• 2011/04/25: Grist: A star Silicon Valley investor puts his money where his mouth is for sustainable ag
• 2011/04/25: EnergyBulletin: San Francisco passes progressive urban agriculture policy

  Another blessedly quiet week in the hurricane wars:

• 2011/04/27: PlanetArk: U.S. May See Several Hurricane Landfalls In 2011: WSI
• 2011/04/25: NOAANews: NOAA hurricane team to embark on East Coast awareness tour -- Public and media invited to tour hurricane hunter aircraft

  As for GHGs:

• 2010/04/30: SKS: Global Carbon Emissions
• 2011/04/30: Tamino: The China Syndrome
• 2011/04/29: NatureTGB: Chinese emissions: these, too, shall peak
• 2011/04/29: EarthTimes: Rose-tinted report on China's emissions can't dodge bullet
• 2011/04/29: Stoat: Airbourne fraction (again, again)
• 2011/04/29: Tamino: Airborne Fraction
• 2011/04/28: ClassM: A roadmap to clean living

  This study touches on carbon tariffs and raises questions about the validity of national GHG measures:

• 2011/04/25: CICERO: International trade may offset reported carbon emission reductions
• 2011/04/25: Guardian(UK): Carbon cuts by developed countries cancelled out by imported goods
• 2011/04/25: BBC: Carbon emissions 'hidden' in imported goods revealed

  As for the temperature record:

• 2011/04/25: Wunderground: March is the 13th warmest on record; major tornado outbreak expected

  Aerosols are making their presence felt:

• 2011/04/28: ClimateSight: An Unmeasured Forcing

  More on the Arctic ozone hole this year:

• 2011/04/25: EarthTimes: Ozone Hole Over the Arctic is of Record Proportions

  While in the paleoclimate:

• 2011/04/28: AGWObserver: Baby mammoth ate the evidence of its environment
• 2011/04/26: UChicago: Siberian hot springs reveal ancient ecology

  Regarding the cosmic ray hypothesis:

• 2011/04/26: AGWObserver: Cosmic ray contribution to global warming negligible

  Intimations of Overshoot:

• 2011/04/28: SciNow: An Early Warning Sign for Ecosystem Collapse?
• 2011/04/28: BBC: Boom and bust signals ecosystem collapse

  As for ocean currents:

• 2011/04/27: NSF: Threading the Climate Needle: The Agulhas Current System -- Increased Agulhas "leakage" significant player in global climate variability
• 2011/04/28: Eureka: Water currents of South Africa could stabilize climate in Europe
  An international team of marine scientists studies the effects salt water from the Agulhas Current can have on global warming
• 2011/04/27: BBC: 'Neglected' [Agulhas] current could keep Europe warm
• 2011/04/27: Eureka: Agulhas leakage fueled by global warming could stabilize Atlantic overturning circulation

  Meanwhile in near earth orbit:

• 2011/04/26: NASA: GOES-13 Satellite Eyeing System [over northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin] With a High Risk of Severe Weather

  More GW impacts are being seen:

• 2011/04/30: WiredSci: Truffle-Hunting Dog Finds Jackpot in Unexpected Place
• 2011/04/30: Independent(UK): Why an ancient symbol of love is heading for an unhappy ending -- The turtle dove has vanished from half its nesting sites in the past 20 years
• 2011/04/27: ABC(Au): Climate change experts consider weather changes
  Scientists in Perth are studying various coral and tree species in Western Australia to determine how climate has changed over the past 2,000 years.
• 2011/04/26: MTobis: CO2 fertilization
• 2011/04/27: Wunderground: Tornadoes, floods, and fires continue to pound U.S.
• 2011/04/27: BBC: Desert dragonflies arrive in UK
  The UK is seeing record numbers of migrant dragonflies, says the British Dragonfly Society.
• 2011/04/26: Wunderground: Tornadoes, floods, and fires assault the nation

  And then there are the world's forests:

• 2011/04/29: SciNow: Tropical Peat Forests in Trouble
• 2011/04/29: ERW: Forest management policy 'should include local residents' -- evidence from more than 80 forest sites in six tropical countries
• 2011/04/26: ERW: Siberia's boreal forests 'will not survive climate change'
  The boreal forests of Siberia are a vast, homogenous ecosystem dominated by larch trees. The trees survive in this semi-arid climate because of a unique symbiotic relationship they have with permafrost -- the permafrost provides enough water to support larch domination and the larch in turn block radiation, protecting the permafrost from intensive thawing during the summer season.
• 2011/04/27: GreenGrok: Peruvian Gold Rush Wreaking Environmental Havoc -- Commodity prices go up; Amazonian forests come down
• 2011/04/29: Grist: Environmental regulations visible from space
• 2011/04/27: TreeHugger: Debate Over Plantations in Degraded Forests Bog Down Indonesia Anti-Deforestation Plans
• 2011/04/27: TreeHugger: 10-Year-Old Pressures KFC to Stop Destroying U.S. Forests (Video)

  This week in extreme weather:

• 2011/04/29: ClimateP: 2010 extreme weather cost lives, health, economy

  Meanwhile in tornado alley:

• 2011/04/25: CSM: St. Louis tornado strongest so far for this season
• 2011/04/26: BBC: Storms and tornadoes hit central US, killing five
• 2011/04/26: CBC: Arkansas storms leave 7 dead
  Authorities have confirmed two more deaths in Arkansas after a severe storm dumped heavy rain and spawned likely tornadoes, raising the statewide toll to seven.

As for heatwaves and wild fires:

• 2011/04/26: CBC: Brush fire season begins in Edmonton
  Brush fire season began Monday in Edmonton with two fires -- one at Rundle Park and another in the Kennendale Ravine in Clareview. The sun and wind are creating tinder-dry conditions, said fire captain Dave Morawski. "It's like a light switch," he said Monday. "It's just literally yesterday nothing, and now today they're popping up all over the place."

Glaciers are melting:

• 2011/05/01: BBC:RB: Personal tales: a climate-changer?

  As for hydrological cycle disruptions [floods & droughts]:

• 2011/04/30: CCP: K. E. Trenberth et al., J. Climate (2011), Atmospheric moisture transports from ocean to land and global energy flows in reanalyses
• 2011/04/30: CCP: F. Giorgi et al., J. Climate (2011), Higher hydroclimatic intensity with global warming
• 2011/04/27: EarthTimes: Driest March for 50 years in UK prompts fears of summer drought
• 2011/04/27: ClimateP: Masters: Midwest deluge enhanced by near-record Gulf of Mexico sea surface temperatures -- Unprecedented flooding predicted for Ohio River
• 2011/04/27: PlanetArk: Climate Change To Hit American West Water Supply
• 2011/04/26: BBC: Climate change to reduce US West water supply - report
  Scarce water supplies in the western US will probably dwindle further as a result of climate change, causing problems for millions in the region, a government report has said. Climate change could cut water flow in several of the American West's largest river basins by up to 20% this century, the interior department report said. Those rivers provide water to eight US states, from Texas to California.
• 2011/04/26: CBC: Missouri rains threaten to burst levees -- More than 25 cm of rain has fallen in places

  Elsewhere on the mitigation front:

• 2011/04/28: SMandia: Webinar: Climate Stabilization Targets: Emissions, Concentrations, and Impacts Over Decades to Millennia
• 2011/04/26: BPA: Charles Rice on Livestock's Contribution to Climate Change
• 2011/04/27: BPA: Dr. Frank Mitloehner on Greenhouse Emissions from Livestock

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

• 2011/04/28: PeakEnergy: Ceramic Fuel Cells In Amsterdam

  As for carbon sequestration:

• 2011/05/01: TStar: Climate change: Ottawa's plan to bury the problem
  Canadians are about to find out whether Stephen Harper's magic bullet works. The Prime Minister has gambled $1.4 billion of taxpayers' money on a high-cost, unproven technology he hopes will turn Canada into a clean energy producer. Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is the centrepiece of his climate change strategy. Saskatchewan gave the concept a pre-election boost last week. The province announced it would build one of the world's first commercial-scale carbon sequestration projects, using $240 million of the federal money. It is scheduled for completion in 2014. This will tell energy producers whether it is feasible to capture carbon dioxide emissions before they escape from the smokestack and bury them deep on the ground. But it won't tell them -- or taxpayers -- whether the technology will work in the oilsands. Saskatchewan is testing the technology on a coal-fired power plant. Nor will it answer the big question: would the process work on the massive scale needed to scrub Canada's reputation as a producer of dirty oil? Most researchers are dubious. The technology is meant for small, geographically concentrated energy projects. The oilsands sprawl for 170,000 square kilometres across northern Alberta and Saskatchewan. They spew 80 million tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere a year.
• 2011/04/27: PlanetArk: Canada To Build Carbon-Capture Coal-Power Plant [Estevan]
• 2011/04/27: NatureN: Is FutureGen betting on the wrong rock? Commercial rival says gas spreading and leakage could harm US carbon-sequestration effort

  Large scale geo-engineering keeps popping up:

• 2011/04/25: NBF: Hurricane suppression system - Salter Sink

  While on the adaptation front:

• 2011/04/27: HotTopic: Adapting to climate change in Vietnam and the Philippines

  Meanwhile in the journals:

• 2011/04/26: NERC:NORA: Quantifying nitrogen fluxes and their influence on the greenhouse gas balance: recent findings of the NitroEurope Integrated Project by Stefan Reis et al.
• 2011/04/29: ACP: Cosmic rays, aerosol formation and cloud-condensation nuclei: sensitivities to model uncertainties by E. J. Snow-Kropla et al.
• 2011/04/29: ACP: An accuracy assessment of the CALIOP/CALIPSO version 2/version 3 daytime aerosol extinction product based on a detailed multi-sensor, multi-platform case study by M. Kacenelenbogen et al.
• 2011/04/29: ACPD: Spatiotemporal distribution of light-absorbing carbon and its relationship to other atmospheric pollutants in Stockholm by P. Krecl et al.
• 2011/04/29: GMDD: The JGrass-NewAge system for forecasting and managing the hydrological budgets at the basin scale: the models of flow generation, propagation, and aggregation by G. Formetta et al.
• 2011/04/29: GMDD: Evaluation of a Dynamic Global Vegetation Model using time series of satellite vegetation indices by F. Maignan et al.
• 2011/04/27: OSD: Development of Black Sea nowcasting and forecasting system by G. K. Korotaev et al.
• 2011/04/29: CP: A regional climate simulation over the Iberian Peninsula for the last millennium by J. J. Gómez-Navarro et al.
• 2011/04/29: CP: Links between MIS 11 millennial to sub-millennial climate variability and long term trends as revealed by new high resolution EPICA Dome C deuterium data - A comparison with the Holocene by K. Pol et al.
• 2011/04/28: CP: Seasonal climate impacts on the grape harvest date in Burgundy (France) by M. Krieger et al.
• 2011/04/28: CP: A comparison of the present and last interglacial periods in six Antarctic ice cores by V. Masson-Delmotte et al.
• 2011/04/29: CPD: Sub-decadal- to decadal-scale climate cyclicity during the Holsteinian interglacial (MIS 11) evidenced in annually laminated sediments by A. Koutsodendris et al.
• 2011/04/27: PLoS One: Super-Aggregations of Krill and Humpback Whales in Wilhelmina Bay, Antarctic Peninsula by Douglas P. Nowacek et al.
• 2011/04/29: WOL:CB: (ab$) Chilean Blue Whales as a Case Study to Illustrate Methods to Estimate Abundance and Evaluate Conservation Status of Rare Species by Rob Williams et al.
• 2011/04/28: ACP: On the structural changes in the Brewer-Dobson circulation after 2000 by H. Bönisch et al.
• 2011/04/28: ACP: Global retrieval of ATSR cloud parameters and evaluation (GRAPE): dataset assessment by A. M. Sayer et al.
• 2011/04/27: ACP: The role of tropical deep convective clouds on temperature, water vapor, and dehydration in the tropical tropopause layer (TTL) by J. H. Chae et al.
• 2011/04/27: ACP: Magnitude and seasonality of wetland methane emissions from the Hudson Bay Lowlands (Canada) by C. A. Pickett-Heaps et al.
• 2011/04/26: ACP: Dynamical states of low temperature cirrus by D. Barahona & A. Nenes
• 2011/04/28: ACPD: The impact of China's vehicle emissions on regional air quality in 2000 and 2020: a scenario analysis by E. Saikawa et al.
• 2011/04/27: ACPD: A 6-year global climatology of occurrence of upper-tropospheric ice supersaturation inferred from the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder after synergetic calibration with MOZAIC by N. Lamquin et al.
• 2011/04/27: ACPD: Impact of a large wildfire on water-soluble organic aerosol in a major urban area: the 2009 Station Fire in Los Angeles County by A. Wonaschütz et al.
• 2011/04/27: ACPD: Three-dimensional variations of atmospheric CO2: aircraft measurements and multi-transport model simulations by Y. Niwa et al.
• 2011/04/27: Nature: (ab$) On the role of the Agulhas system in ocean circulation and climate by Lisa M. Beal et al.
• 2011/04/26: PNAS: (ab$) A mathematical model for adaptive prediction of environmental changes by microorganisms by Amir Mitchell & Yitzhak Pilpel
• 2011/04/26: PNAS: (ab$) Sublethal exposure to crude oil during embryonic development alters cardiac morphology and reduces aerobic capacity in adult fish by Corinne E. Hicken et al.
• 2011/04/26: PNAS: (abs) CO2-limitation-inducible Green Recovery of fatty acids from cyanobacterial biomass by Xinyao Liu et al.
• 2011/04/26: PNAS: (ab$) Genome-wide nested association mapping of quantitative resistance to northern leaf blight in maize by Jesse A. Poland et al.
• 2010/06/09: Nature: (ab$) Global phytoplankton decline over the past century by Daniel G. Boyce et al.
• 2011/04/13: Nature: (ab$) Boyce et al. reply by Daniel G. Boyce et al.
• 2011/04/13: Nature: (ab$) A measured look at ocean chlorophyll trends by Ryan R. Rykaczewski & John P. Dunne
• 2011/04/13: Nature: (ab$) Does blending of chlorophyll data bias temporal trend? by David L. Mackas
• 2011/04/13: Nature: (ab$) Is there a decline in marine phytoplankton? by Abigail McQuatters-Gollop et al.
• 2011/04/26: TCD: Simulation of permafrost and seasonal thaw depth in the JULES land surface scheme by R. Dankers et al.
• 2011/04/23: Paleoceanography: (ab$) Late Eemian warming in the Nordic Seas as seen in proxy data and climate models by A. Born et al.
• 2011/04/25: AGWObserver: New research from last week 16/2011

  And other significant documents:

• 2011/04/29: GEP: [link to 461k pdf] New RAND Study [titled Governing Geoengineering Research]
• 2011/04/28: PI: [link to 3.8 meg pdf] Solving the Puzzle: Environmental responsibility in oilsands development

  As for miscellaneous science:

• 2011/05/01: ABC(Au): Deep-sea robot to probe Great Barrier Reef
  Japanese researchers will head to Osprey Reef on a boat chartered from Cairns in far north Queensland to scan parts of the Great Barrier Reef with a special deep-sea robot. Project leader Dhugal Lindsay says the robotic device can dive to 1,000 metres and will record high definition video and data about conditions on the sea floor.
• 2011/04/28: CCP: S. Schubert, H. Wang & M. Suarez, J. Climate (2011), Warm season subseasonal variability and climate extremes in the Northern Hemisphere: The role of stationary Rossby waves
• 2011/04/27: IsaacHeld: 9. Summer is warmer than winter
• 2011/04/25: QD: Open Access to Scientific Knowledge

  What's new in models?:

• 2011/04/29: SEasterbrook: Workshop on Advancing Climate Modeling
• 2011/04/25: CCP: The Sea Level Affecting Marshes Model (SLAMM)...
• 2011/04/25: ASI: Ice thickness models

  Regarding Santer:

• 2011/04/27: ClimateP: Ben Santer elected AGU fellow

  Regarding Schneider:

• 2011/04/25: RealClimate: Steve Schneider's first letter to the editor

  Regarding Muller:

• 2011/04/26: GreenFyre: Richard Muller is a well bad tosser

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

• 2011/04/27: BBC: Undercover police officer [Mark Kennedy] 'torn apart' by role
  A former undercover police officer who worked with environmental activists said he was "torn apart" by the role. Mark Kennedy, who was with the Metropolitan force, spent seven years as part of a Nottingham-based group which took part in protests. A case against six people accused of planning to disrupt Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station collapsed when Mr Kennedy's role was revealed. He denied he "went rogue" - but admitted questioning his role.

What are the activists up to?

• 2011/04/30: TreeHugger: Don't Agonize, Organize! Powershift Re-launches Web Site for Climate Activists
• 2011/04/27: AlterNet: Power Shift: How the Youth Climate Movement is Changing the Game
• 2011/04/26: TreeHugger: Talented 11-Year-Old Paints Birds, Raises Over $200,000 For Gulf Coast Relief Efforts (Slideshow)
• 2011/04/19: AlterNet: Diary of An Eco-Outlaw: Taking on the Corporate Polluters, Jail Be Damned

  Regarding Water Politics and Business:

• 2011/04/26: JFleck: Is Desal Really Only an Option at the Margins?
• 2011/04/24: JFleck: Is it about the alfalfa? Thinking Like a River Basin...

  And on the American political front:

• 2011/04/30: TCoE: American tipping points
• 2011/04/29: CDreams: Who Covereth the Heaven With Clouds, Who Prepareth Rain For the Earth, Who Hasn'teth A Clue
• 2011/04/27: AlterNet: Why Is Damning New Evidence About Monsanto's Most Widely Used Herbicide Being Silenced?
• 2011/04/29: DeSmogBlog: State Of Florida To Fast Track Environmental Destruction
• 2011/04/28: PostCarbon: University Vows to Lock Out Students Opposed to ExxonMobil
• 2011/04/29: GreenGrok: How Much Black Gold Is in Them Thar Hills?
• 2011/04/28: ClimateP: Bush's chief economist schools Bush and GOP: Domestic drilling won't lower gas prices
• 2011/04/28: Grist: Little piggies, crawling in the dirt: Minnesota reps behind ag-gag bill have factory-farm ties
• 2011/04/27: MTobis: On Waking Up, Or Perhaps Not
• 2011/04/27: SeattlePI: Shipping coal to China: A big export terminal north of Bellingham?
• 2011/04/28: CrossCut:B: Bellingham's first debate on coal-for-China project reflects growing tensions
• 2011/04/25: AlterNet: Increasing Numbers of Women Face Jail Time for Wanting an Abortion
• 2011/04/21: AlterNet: Potential Global Warming Law Shifts Responsibility from Polluters to Communities [Contains Photo Slideshow]
• 2011/04/27: Grist: Want people to get on board with a shift to clean energy? Shield them from economic insecurity [US pol]
• 2011/04/26: MTobis: Not Boring
• 2011/04/25: MoJo: Inside the GOP's Fact-Free Nation
  From Nixon's plumbers to James O'Keefe's video smears: How political lying became normal.
• 2011/04/25: AlterNet: Texas GOP Fights Catastrophic Wildfires With Prayer and Global Warming Denial [McKibben]
• 2011/04/25: AlterNet: The Authoritarian Agenda Behind Attacks on Contraception
• 2011/04/25: ClimateP: Schwarzenegger weeps over GOP attacks on the Clean Air Act and the health of our kids
• 2011/04/20: AlterNet: Shameless GOP Lies: Is There Any Limit to What Republicans Will Say -- And What People Will Believe?

  The BP disaster continues to twist US politics:

• 2011/04/28: NatureTGB: BP's beach clean-up 'contaminated clean sand'
• 2011/04/27: ProPublica: Chief Offshore Drilling Regulator Criticizes Lack of Oversight for Contractors
• 2011/04/27: ClimateP: As Gulf Coast suffers, BP Q1 profits soar to $7 billion
• 2011/04/27: PlanetArk: Carnival [Corp.] Sues BP, Others For Oil Spill Damages
• 2011/04/25: CCurrents: BP Stonewalling Compensation To Gulf Residents
• 2011/04/25: NatureTGB: Research board calls for Gulf Coast proposals
• 2011/04/25: ScienceInsider: Details Revealed on BP's Funds for Continued Oil Spill Research
• 2011/04/22: BostonGlobe: Gulf oil spill one year later [36 pix]

  On the 2012 election trail:

• 2011/04/30: ClimateP: Is Donald Trump serious -- or is he punking the GOP?
• 2011/04/27: ClimateP: The top 5 ways the 'birthers' are like the deniers
• 2011/04/27: Grist: Ron Paul hates energy subsidies, doubts climate change, and loves riding his bike

  The cost of gasoline is a political hot potato:

• 2011/04/30: NakedCapitalism: (21 cartoons) Gas Pump Woes
• 2011/04/30: HuffPo: The Oil War at Home
  Whom should we blame for high gasoline prices? The president? Oil companies? Price gougers? Protestors in the Arab Spring? People who drive Hummers? The answer to that question is one of the first serious issues of the 2011 presidential campaign. (Sorry, Trump. Sorry, Birthers.) It's an issue that could -- and perhaps should -- become an oil war at home, politically speaking. The issue is heating up because gas prices affect us all, whether we're buying fuel, food or consumer goods. Rising gas prices threaten our recovery from the recession and our ability to put Americans back to work.
• 2011/04/25: RRapier: The Witch-Hunt Begins as Gas Prices Continue to Climb
• 2011/04/28: RRapier: Breaking Down Gas Prices for Whoopi Goldberg
• 2011/04/28: PlanetArk: Republicans Turn Up Heat On Obama Over Oil Prices
• 2011/04/26: CrossCut: $4-a-gallon gasoline brings immediate pain, and incentive to look at future options
  The family math doesn't work when it costs $100 to fill up a pickup truck. Indian Country, like any community that is geographically isolated, faces especially big challenges.
• 2011/04/25: QuarkSoup: Price of Gas
• 2011/04/24: TCoE: Logic Easter Egg: Gasoline prices

  Further implications of the austerity budget:

• 2011/04/28: MWatch: EIA budget cuts to curb some energy data gathering
• 2011/04/28: MTobis: Energy Information Administration Press Release
• 2011/04/28: CCP: Immediate Reductions in EIA's Energy Data and Analysis Programs Necessitated by FY 2011 Funding Cut

  A notable essay by Dave Roberts:

• 2011/04/28: Grist: Policy in an age of post-truth politics

  How UVa is handling FOIA requests:

• 2011/04/27: UCSUSA: University of Virginia Will Use Exemptions for Request for Scientist's Private Documents

  The Obama chatter is nonstop:

• 2011/04/30: Yahoo:AFP: Obama renews call for ending oil subsidies
• 2011/04/27: OilChange: "We simply can't afford wasteful subsidies"
• 2011/04/26: ClimateP: Ezra Klein: "Obama, if you look closely at his positions, is a moderate Republican of the early 1990s."
• 2011/04/25: EnergyBulletin: Energy déjà vu: Obama must break with failed U.S. policies

  The actions of the Obama administration are being watched closely:

• 2011/04/29: Grist: Monsanto-tied scientist abruptly quits key USDA research post
• 2011/04/29: NatureTGB: National Institute of Food and Agriculture chief [Roger Beachy] stepping down
• 2011/04/29: ScienceInsider: [Roger] Beachy [director of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) at the USDA] to Leave Key Agriculture Research Post in Washington
• 2011/04/29: PlanetArk: Cattle Groups Sue To Stop Water Rule In Florida
• 2011/04/27: PlanetArk: EPA Examines Well Blowout For Hazardous Substances
• 2011/04/27: PlanetArk: Fracking Regulations Could Ease Public Concerns: White House
• 2011/04/25: Belfer: Good News from the Regulatory Front [Stavins]
• 2011/04/25: DOI: Interior Releases Report Highlighting Impacts of Climate Change to Western Water Resources
• 2011/04/24: NetworkWorld: US [DOE] goes after some game-changing energy projects

  As for what is going on in Congress:

• 2011/05/01: ClimateP: Tornado forecasting saved countless lives this week. Too bad Congress, including Alabama's entire delegation, voted against maintaining forecast quality
• 2011/04/30: ClimateP: Rep. [Lou] Barletta (R-PA) laughs at constituents who question his support for oil subsidies
• 2011/04/29: CSW: Texas wildfires rage amidst historic drought conditions. Denial of science in Washington, DC, confronted by climate reality.
• 2011/04/28: RawStory: House to vote on anti-abortion bill H.R.3 next week
• 2011/04/27: ClimateP: Limbaugh tells Boehner to flip-flop and "defend Big Oil" --- and the House Speaker does

  What are the lobbyists pushing?

• 2011/04/30: DeSmogBlog: Business Groups Lobby EPA to Drop Gas Emission Standards
• 2011/04/26: OilChange: API's Latest "Ridiculous" Anti-Tax Campaign
• 2011/04/25: BRitholtz: The Lobbying Bubble

  It is a measure of American imbalance that subsidies for corporations earning billions in profit is even an issue:

• 2011/05/01: ClimateP: GOP Rep. Webster calls for an end to oil subsidies and "corporate welfare"
• 2011/04/30: Yahoo:AFP: Obama renews call for ending oil subsidies
• 2011/04/29: ClimateP: Paul Ryan endorses ending oil subsidies, even though he voted for them
• 2011/04/29: OilChange: Independent oil & gas producers don't need subsidies any more than big oil does
• 2011/04/28: TheHill: Boehner rejects oil-subsidy vote
  As the country's largest oil companies report near-record profits, the office of House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) rejected on Thursday Democratic calls to consider legislation eliminating billions of dollars in tax breaks for the same corporations.
• 2011/04/28: Missoulian: Baucus to propose ending subsidies for biggest oil, gas companies
• 2011/04/26: ClimateP: Kudos to John Boehner who courageously supported ending taxpayer subsidies to Big Oil for 12 hours
• 2011/04/26: TreeHugger: For Approximately 12 Hours, Speaker John Boehner Supports Ending Oil Subsidies

  Don Shelby apologizes:

• 2011/04/25: TreeHugger: Yes, Climate Skeptics Can Change
• 2011/04/25: CCP: Longtime Minnesota TV reporter digs into global climate change.
  After spending 32 years in front of the camera as an anchorman and investigative reporter for WCCO-TV in Minneapolis, Don Shelby wanted to apologize to people about climate change
• 2011/04/25: Grist: Open letter to a climate change convert

  It's been a while since we heard from Al:

• 2011/04/29: Grist: Want to save the planet? Al Gore has an app for that
• 2011/04/29: ClimateP: Al Gore's Our Choice is a spectacular must-have interactive digital book on climate solutions
• 2011/04/29: TreeHugger: Al Gore Launches Interactive Digital Book App About Climate Crisis (Interview)

  And in Europe:

• 2011/04/29: EurActiv: EU biodiversity strategy to account for value of nature
  The EU's 2020 biodiversity strategy, to be presented next week, will pave the way for the value of nature to be taken into account across all policies, including factoring the environment and ecosystems into national economic plans.
• 2011/04/29: PlanetArk: Italy Offers Extension To Solar Incentives To End Of August
• 2011/04/28: EurActiv: European businesses sound 2020 green targets alarm
  BusinessEurope, the European employers' association, told EurActiv that it supports calls made in the last two days by British and French industry associations for better environmental planning and more financial support for green industry. The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) issued a report on 26 April, warning that the UK was in danger of under-shooting its 2020 targets due to a cocktail of low investment, financial risk, poor planning, delays in approving renewable energy projects and policy uncertainty. Its concerns were echoed on 27 April by France's Syndicat des Energies Renouvelables (SER), which said that France was on track to miss its 2020 targets as a result of a lack of financial support and administrative bureaucracy, particularly for wind power projects.
• 2011/04/27: DerSpiegel: North Coast Doldrums -- Why Germany's Offshore Wind Parks Have Stalled
  With Chancellor Merkel's government turning its back on nuclear power, offshore wind parks are set to pick up the slack. But the installation of gigantic turbines in the North and Baltic seas has proven challenging, slow and hindered by bureaucratic hurdles. Could the future of wind be on land after all?
• 2011/04/27: DerSpiegel: A Green Future for Europe's Biggest Economy -- What Germany Must Learn from Chernobyl and Fukushima
  Germany must speed up its transition to renewable energy in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear accident, writes Norbert Röttgen, the German environment minister, in an opinion piece. He says Germany can lead the way with a successful shift into green power that will boost its economy.

Meanwhile in Australia:

• 2011/04/29: ABC(Au):TDU: Macfarlane says the unthinkable
• 2011/04/28: ABC(Au): Forums increase climate change awareness
  The Northern Agricultural Catchments Council says its series of seminars on climate change in coastal areas have been overwhelmingly popular with the Geraldton community. The seminars explore how climate change will affect future development in coastal communities.
• 2011/04/28: ABC(Au): Climate Commission in Port Macquarie
  The Climate Commission is holding its first public forum in New South Wales, on the mid north coast this evening. Earlier this year the federal government set-up the Climate Commission as an independent body to provide expert information and advice on climate change. The Commission has a public outreach role to help build greater understanding about reducing Australia's carbon pollution.
• 2011/04/27: ABC(Au): Uni seeks further funds from coal giants
  The University of Newcastle says efforts to reduce its carbon footprint, do not conflict with the millions of dollars it accepts from the region's coal industry.
• 2011/04/26: ABC(Au): Council Sea Level Rise policy goes on public display
  A mid north coast council has developed a policy to deal with predicted sea level rises. The Greater Taree City Council has put its Draft Sea Level Rise Policy on public display until May 19.

The Australian carbon war rages on:

• 2011/04/29: ABC(Au):TDU: Aim high on climate change action
• 2011/04/27: ABC(Au): Carbon tax will create economic wasteland: Abbott
• 2011/04/26: ABC(Au): Forest group urges carbon farming changes
  The Australian Forest Products Association wants changes to the proposed Carbon Farming Initiative to increase the participation of commercial timber plantations.

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

• 2011/04/27: ABC(Au): Flood damage keeps camping ground closed
  Parks Victoria says it could be months before the Wilsons Promontory National Park is completely reopened.
• 2011/04/26: ABC(Au): Murray flow still above expectations

  And in New Zealand:

• 2011/04/30: HotTopic: Don't Hide your love away: Don Brash, climate and a very particular kind of coup

  While in China:

• 2011/04/28: CBC: Chinese census reveals aging population
  China's population is aging rapidly, the government said Thursday, though its leaders are refusing to relax strict family planning controls that are part of the cause. The results of a national census conducted late last year show the proportion of elderly people in the country of 1.34 billion jumped, while that of young people plunged sharply.
• 2011/04/27: LBL: A Surprise: China's Energy Consumption Will Stabilize -- New Berkeley Lab study forecasts peak in energy use in China within 20 years
• 2011/04/25: PeakEnergy: China: Thousands of Truck Drivers Riot in Shanghai Over Fuel Prices

  In Canada, climate change has barely been mentioned in the May 2nd election campaign:

• 2011/05/01: TStar: Climate change: Ottawa's plan to bury the problem
  Canadians are about to find out whether Stephen Harper's magic bullet works. The Prime Minister has gambled $1.4 billion of taxpayers' money on a high-cost, unproven technology he hopes will turn Canada into a clean energy producer.
• 2011/04/27: Tyee: Bruce Carson Scandal Greased by Harper's Oil Sands Agenda
  Taxpayer millions set up PM advisor to push petro interests from U of Calgary.
• 2011/04/29: PI:B: Cap-and-trade's costs -- and benefits
• 2011/04/29: Rabble: Raising the subject matter of Canadian energy policy
• 2011/04/29: DeepClimate: Conservative Democracy Deficit on Vancouver Island
• 2011/04/29: CBC: The NDP's cap-and-trade plan: Brace for sticker shock
• 2011/04/27: Tyee: Climate Change, Ghost Issue of 2011 Election
• 2011/04/24: G&M: Oil rises to the surface as an election issue in B.C.

  The G20 controversy lingers:

• 2011/04/28: MediaCoop: Jaggi Singh pleads guilty to urging people to tear down G20 security fence, facing six months prison
• 2011/04/28: TSun: G20 riot should never have happened
• 2011/04/28: CBC: Controversial G20 law to be repealed by Ontario
  The Ontario government says it will repeal a decades-old law that it used to give law enforcement officials controversial new powers around the site of the G20 summit site in downtown Toronto last summer. The move comes after former chief justice Roy McMurtry released a report Thursday criticizing the Ontario government for its secrecy in applying the Public Works Protection Act -- enacted in 1939 to protect infrastructure works from wartime enemies -- to the area around the G20 summit, which ran June 26-27.
• 2011/04/28: CBC: Court won't hear G8 audit case before election
• 2011/04/27: CBC: Court to rule Thursday on speeding up G8 case -- Judge to decide whether to hear lawsuit seeking report's release before election
• 2011/04/26: CBC: Group [Avaaz] sues auditor general to release G8 report

  Questions and debate about offshore and Arctic drilling continue:

• 2011/04/28: CBC: Burning suggested for offshore oil spills -- No plan in place for catastrophic spill, consultant finds

  Another peek inside courtesy of WikiLeaks:

• 2011/04/28: EmbassyMag: Negative media coverage of oil sands top of mind for Harper government: Diplomatic Cables
  Jim Prentice realized the potential damage to Canada's reputation during a trip to Norway, while a US official appears to have provided the playbook the government is now using to highlight the oil sands' positive aspects.

The Trans Mountain pipeline sprang a leak:

• 2011/04/26: CBC: Trans Mountain pipeline set to restart
• 2011/04/25: CBC: Kinder Morgan shuts pipeline after possible leak
  Kinder Morgan has shut down a pipeline that runs from Alberta to the West Coast while it investigates a possible oil leak.

Airing some Tory misdirection for the election:

• 2011/04/29: KSJT: CBC: Canadian science writers protest alleged muzzling of scientists
• 2011/04/26: CBC: Unmuzzle scientists, federal leaders urged -- 'We would remove the gag order,' Liberals say
  The party leaders vying to form the next Canadian government are being urged to "take off the muzzles" from federal scientists. A group representing 500 science journalists and communicators across Canada sent an open letter Tuesday to Conservative Leader Stephen Harper, Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff, NDP Leader Jack Layton and Green Party Leader Elizabeth May documenting recent instances where they say federal scientists have been barred from talking about research funded by taxpayers. "We urge you to free the scientists to speak," the letter said. "Take off the muzzles and eliminate the script writers and allow scientists -- they do have PhDs after all -- to speak for themselves."

Flooding across the Prairies is going to be a long term affair:

• 2011/04/30: CBC: Sask. flood barrier broken by wind -- Community exhausted by water fight
• 2011/04/30: CBC: Snowstorm blankets parts of Man., Sask. -- Trans-Canada Highway closes in eastern Saskatchewan
• 2011/04/28: CBC: Flood bill could top $70M
  Municipalities across Manitoba are already looking past the floods many are still facing towards the cost of repairs. With about 590 municipal roads closed, many of them washed out or damaged, along with bridges and culverts, the repairs are going to be expensive. The damage bill in 2009 was $70 million, and provincial officials expect the tab this year to be the same or higher because the water covered more territory.
• 2011/04/26: CBC: Manitoba river levels decline, lowering flood risk
• 2011/04/25: CBC: Manitoba flood evacuees could be out for weeks -- Sask. communities still on high alert
• 2011/04/24: CBC: Seeding delayed for flooded prairie farmers
  The Saskatchewan government says not a single farmer has put a crop in the ground and things aren't looking much better on farms elsewhere across the waterlogged prairies.

Meanwhile in that Mechanical Mordor known as the tar sands:

• 2011/04/28: PI: New report outlines solutions to improve oilsands management
• 2011/04/28: PI:B: New report shows responsible oilsands development is only limited by political will
• 2011/04/28: CBC: Imperial's Kearl oilsands project on schedule -- CEO says equipment holdups haven't delayed startup
• 2011/04/25: IdahoStatesman: Fate of Idaho megaloads hangs at stake at hearings
  Boise, Idaho - The fate of ExxonMobil's plan to haul massive shipments of oil refinery equipment along U.S. Highway 12 in north central Idaho is at stake in a hearing that started Monday with objections from residents and business owners along the route. The hearing, expected to last at least four days, is the latest challenge to the plan by ExxonMobil subsidiary Imperial Oil to ship giant loads of equipment from the port in Lewiston, into Montana and ultimately to the Kearl Oil Sands in southern Alberta, Canada.
• 2011/04/25: Tyee: 'Tar Sands' vs. 'Oil Sands' Political Flap Misguided?
• 2011/04/26: CBC: Christina Lake expansion approved
  Cenovus Energy Inc. has received regulatory approval for a major expansion at the Christina Lake oilsands project south of Fort McMurray, Alta., the Calgary-based company announced Tuesday. The green light from Alberta's Energy Resources Conservation Board covers three new phases, each capable of producing 40,000 barrels per day. That would bringing total production capacity at the site to 218,000 barrels per day once complete.

Also in Alberta:

• 2011/04/28: Tyee: Albertan, Tired of Her Tap Water Catching Fire, Sues -- Scientist Jessica Ernst hits gas giant EnCana, regulators with fracking lawsuit
• 2011/04/29: CBC: TransCanada quarterly profit up 39%
• 2011/04/28: Upstream: Canadian Oil Sands profit soars
  Profit at Canadian Oil Sands, which has the biggest stake in the Syncrude Canada oil sands consortium, rose 84% in the first quarter due to higher production and prices, the company said on today.

In Saskatchewan:

• 2011/04/26: CBC: Sask. going ahead with $1.2B carbon capture project

  In Manitoba:

• 2011/04/26: CBC: Manitoba puts up cash for all-electric bus
  The Manitoba government is investing $1 million to develop a model for an all-electric transit bus that the province says could one day be used all over North America. Premier Greg Selinger says Manitoba is aiming to be a leader in developing electric vehicles to help cut greenhouse gas emissions.

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

• 2011/04/26: CBC: OPG wants to store nuclear waste underground
  Ontario Power Generation is seeking federal approval to build underground vaults near Lake Huron to store low- and intermediate-level radioactive nuclear waste. The utility has submitted 12,500 pages of documents, including an environmental impact statement on the Deep Geologic Repository, to support its claim that the project "will not likely result in any significant adverse environmental or public health effects." What little moisture there is 680 metres below the surface of the proposed site is trapped in rock so dense it doesn't move, said Albert Sweetnam, an executive vice-president at OPG who is in charge of the project.

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

• 2011/04/29: CCurrents: "Energy And Economic Myths" by Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen (Reprinted from Southern Economic Journal 41, no. 3, January 1975)
• 2011/04/27: OilDrum: Global World Product Will Not Grow at 4%+ for Five Years
• 2011/04/26: CCurrents: Partial Understanding On Planet Easter Island
• 2011/04/26: CCurrents: Cornerstones Of A Rooted Economy
  Can the small fishers of Trinidad and Tobago become pillars of a new economy when the oil- and gas-based economy finally runs dry?
• 2011/04/26: CCurrents: Living Economies: Learning From The Biosphere [Korten]
• 2011/04/24: CCurrents: "Modern Times" Really Akin To The "Dark Ages" [ecologist Carl Safina]
• 2011/04/26: EnergyBulletin: National Wildlife Federation adopts key element of steady-state thinking
• 2011/04/25: SameFacts: Club of Rome Redux

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

• 2011/04/28: BBC: China's census shows its population grew to 1.34 billion people by 2010, with a sharp rise in those over 60
• 2011/04/25: AlterNet: Increasing Numbers of Women Face Jail Time for Wanting an Abortion
• 2011/04/25: AlterNet: The Authoritarian Agenda Behind Attacks on Contraception
• 2011/04/24: Grist: Climate-change planning should include family planning

  Apocalypso anyone?

• 2011/04/29: CCurrents: The Economic And Social Losses On The Way
• 2011/04/28: CCurrents: Bearing Witness To Collapse
• 2011/04/27: EnergyBulletin: There's Something Happening Here...
• 2011/04/26: MTobis: Not Boring
• 2011/04/24: EnergyBulletin: My chestnut seedlings don't know the economy is about to collapse

  As for how the media handles science:

• 2011/04/27: KSJT: Laelaps: Bloggers, journalists, and the future of science writing
• 2011/04/27: ClimateP: Annals of Complacency: NY Times and Jesse Ausubel render word 'decarbonization' meaningless

  Apparently big changes are underway at Scienceblogs. I have no idea what that will mean for me (or Coby):

• 2011/04/26: CJR: National Geographic Taking the Wheel at Scienceblogs.com -- Report of merger prompts campfire history tale on Twitter
• 2011/04/25: RW: So who bought ScienceBlogs? Retraction Watch exclusive: National Geographic
• 2011/04/26: ScienceInsider: Mixed Feelings Over Migration of ScienceBlogs.com to National Geo

  Here is something for your library:

• 2011/04/28: SkeptiSci: [Book Plug] _Climate Change Denial: Heads in the Sand_ by Haydn Washington & John Cook
• [Book Site] _Green is the New Red_ by Will Potter
• 2011/04/28: TreeHugger: [Book Review] _Green is the New Red_ by Will Potter
• 2011/04/25: DeSmogBlog: New Weaver Book a Gift for the Climate Confused

  And for your film & video enjoyment:

• 2011/05/01: SkeptiSci: Video and podcast about confusing the hockey stick with the 'decline'
• 2011/04/30: PSinclair: What do these videos tell us about Climate Denial?
• 2011/04/29: PSinclair: LED Lights: The Next Green Thing
• 2011/04/28: PSinclair: Unwinding "Hide the Decline"
• 2011/04/27: PSinclair: Fukushima: Why you can't just Cap it with Concrete...
• 2011/04/27: PSinclair: Climate Change: Pay now, or Pay Later
• 2011/04/27: Deltoid: Steaming Toad with HG Nelson - Cardinal Pell on Pagan Greens
• 2011/04/26: PSinclair: The Deep Future: An Interview with Curt Stager
• 2011/04/24: GreenFyre: Adapting to Climate Change Now

  As for podcasts:

• 2011/04/23: ABC(Au): Peak oil: just around the corner

  Meanwhile among the 'Sue the Bastards!' contingent:

• 2011/04/29: Grist: Chamber of Commerce and auto dealer group lose last-gasp lawsuit to stop clean cars
• 2011/04/28: Tyee: Albertan, Tired of Her Tap Water Catching Fire, Sues -- Scientist Jessica Ernst hits gas giant EnCana, regulators with fracking lawsuit
• 2011/04/29: AutoBG: Federal court denies NADA/CoC challenge to California's EPA waiver status
• 2011/04/29: PlanetArk: Cattle Groups Sue To Stop Water Rule In Florida
  Two cattle groups filed suit in Florida on Thursday to overturn U.S. water pollution rules that also are challenged by Florida state officials and businesses as ruinously expensive. The Environmental Protection Agency set numerical limits last fall for nutrient levels in Florida lakes and waterways. It estimates 2,000 miles of rivers and streams are affected by excess fertilizer, stormwater and wastewater runoff.
• 2011/04/27: LA Times: Greenhouse gases: Too hot for the courts
  A lawsuit filed by six states over greenhouse gases seems headed for defeat, but the EPA can still act.

Wrestling over a new energy infrastructure continues unabated:

• 2011/04/30: EarthTimes: Google says cheap renewable energy will take longer than expected
• 2011/04/28: ClimateP: Electricity prices in America are low
• 2011/04/28: PlanetArk: Google: Renewable Energy Is Long-Term Effort
• 2011/04/27: PeakEnergy: Chart of the day: the U.S. energy mix in 2035
• 2011/04/27: PeakEnergy: Oregon Wave Energy Test Site Selected
• 2011/04/24: CCurrents: Renewable Energy: No Solution For Consumer Society
• 2011/04/25: QuarkSoup: Wise Words -- Marty Hoffert's opinion piece in Nature: "Governments must pay for clean-energy innovation"

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

• 2011/04/26: GreenGrok: Wicked Leaks of the Gaseous Kind
• 2011/04/29: PlanetArk: Fracking To Face More Scrutiny And Rules: MIT's Moniz
• 2011/04/28: Upstream: ExxonMobil warns of new fracking regulations
• 2011/04/28: PruningShears: The high cost of fracking - and the movement against it
• 2011/04/26: ProPublica: Response to Pa. Gas Well Accident Took 13 Hours Despite State Plan for Quick Action
• 2011/04/27: CBC: Shale gas worse than coal: study
• 2011/04/27: PlanetArk: EPA Examines Well Blowout For Hazardous Substances
• 2011/04/27: PlanetArk: Fracking Regulations Could Ease Public Concerns: White House
• 2011/04/27: PeakEnergy: China risks cost of fracking to exploit shale gas
• 2011/04/24: DeSmogBlog: Check Out Earthjustice's Fracking Video Short "Things Always Find A Way To Happen"

  On the coal front:

• 2011/04/29: DeSmogBlog: Air Pollution: The Problem With Coal-Fired Power Plants And Ocean Vessels
• 2011/04/27: DeSmogBlog: National Coal Expert: "Mining is a Loser" in Practically Every Way
• 2011/04/27: TreeHugger: See 25 Years of Mountaintop Removal Mining Destruction in 10 Seconds
• 2011/04/26: ClimateP: TVA agrees to retire 2,700 megawatts of coal -- Tennessee Valley Authority plans for a clean energy future

  On the gas and oil front:

• 2011/04/30: Eureka: Chemical found in crude oil linked to congenital heart disease -- Study shows fetal exposure to solvents may damage heart
• 2011/04/29: BBerg: Closing oil prices Friday
  OIL (US$/bbl)
  Nymex Crude Future..113.93
  Dated Brent Spot....126.06
  WTI Cushing Spot....113.93
• 2011/04/28: RTE(Ie): Oil down, Russia halts petrol exports
• 2011/04/29: Eureka: Baker Institute researchers conclude Mexico could become oil importer by 2020 without new investment
• 2011/04/26: NBF: North Dakota and Montana Oil production to 2017
• 2011/04/26: PeakEnergy: Russian Oil Production Update
• 2011/04/25: TCoE: US Petroleum Imports by Country

  In the gas and oil corps:

• 2011/05/01: ClimateP: Report: From 2005-2010, Big Oil spent vast majority of its net profit enriching executives
• 2011/04/29: CCurrents: Oil Bosses Rake In Record Profits As US Economy Stalls
• 2011/04/29: PlanetArk: Total To Tender For Majority Stake In SunPower
  French energy company Total SA offered to pay up to $1.37 billion for a majority stake in U.S. solar company SunPower Corp, one of the biggest moves ever by an oil and gas giant into the market for renewable energy.
• 2011/04/28: G&M: Big oil: Massive profits, big problems
• 2011/04/29: CSM: The oil company gusher
• 2011/04/28: CBC: Exxon results soar on gas prices
  Exxon Mobil Corp. earned nearly $11 billion US in the first quarter, a performance that will likely land it in the centre of the national debate over high gasoline prices.
• 2011/04/28: ClimateP: Pump pain, Big Oil gain -- Oil giants post massive Q1 profits, demand huge subsidies
• 2011/04/28: Grist: BP's still making bank
• 2011/04/28: BBC: Shell profits rise on higher oil prices
  Royal Dutch Shell has announced a 41% increase in first quarter profits on the back of higher world oil prices. The Anglo-Dutch company said profits for the first three months of the year were $6.9bn (£4.1bn) compared with $4.9bn a year ago.
• 2011/04/26: ClimateP: Halliburton brings in record $5.3 billion in first quarter, credits increased U.S. oil production under Obama
• 2011/04/27: BBC: BP profits dip on Gulf of Mexico clean up costs
  Profits at BP have fallen as the firm continues to be affected by the impact of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon blast. Replacement cost profit for the first quarter of 2011 was $5.5bn (£3.3bn) compared with $5.6bn last year.

Yes we have peak everything:

• 2011/04/30: PeakEnergy: Peak oil highlights need for a unified policy
• 2011/04/29: DVoice: Economic and Social Losses to Come
• 2011/04/27: Grist: Did we just hit peak cars?
• 2011/04/29: OilDrum: Time to Wake Up: Days of Abundant Resources and Falling Prices Are Over Forever
• 2011/04/29: PeakEnergy: How close is peak oil?
• 2011/04/28: TreeHugger: Jeff Rubin: Is Peak Coal Coming?
• 2011/04/27: EnergyBulletin: The peak oil crisis: Dimming of the globe
• 2011/04/27: PeakEnergy: Catalyst: The Oil Crunch
• 2011/04/25: TreeHugger: From Protesting Chinese Truckers to Cash-Strapped US Voters, Not Mentioning Peak Oil Helps No One
• 2011/04/24: NBF: EIA reports a new peak in crude oil at 75.282 million barrels per day

  Biofuel bickering abounds:

• 2011/04/28: EarthTimes: Biofuels tipped to fuel transportation sector by 2050
• 2011/04/28: Grist: Government-backed corn ethanol lurches on, paving a road to nowhere
• 2011/04/25: AutoBG: Study: Fuel from algae could cut oil imports by 17% by 2022

  The answer my friend...:

• 2011/04/28: CleanBreak: Modifying wind turbines so they kill fewer bats... it can -- and is -- being done
• 2011/04/26: NOAANews: In the wake of a wind turbine
  NOAA scientists, colleagues study the wake effect of wind turbines for improved efficiency, reduced damage
• 2011/04/26: UColorado: CU-Boulder leading study of wind turbine wakes

  Meanwhile among the solar aficionados:

• 2011/04/29: Grist: Is the future of solar centralized or distributed?
• 2011/04/29: NBF: US Solar Startup TenKSolar matches low cost of Chinese Solar companies but can produce 25-50% more power in the same area
• 2011/04/26: PeakEnergy: Transparent Solar Cells Can Turn Windows into Solar Panels
• 2011/04/25: NBF: MIT researchers use genetically modified virus to produce structures that improve solar-cell efficiency by nearly one-third

  The nuclear energy controversy continues:

• 2011/04/26: ClimateP: NRG to abandon two new South Texas nuclear plants, write down $481 million investment
• 2011/04/26: Grist: Unsure about nuclear power? Here are the five questions you must answer to decide
  [...] 1. Do you think the global community can prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons, and, if not, do you think it can prevent a nuclear weapon being used?
  [...] 2. Is the hazard of climate change greater than that posed by a nuclear disaster?
  [...] 3. Is global political will too weak to create a low-carbon energy future that does not involve nuclear power and in time to avert climate chaos?
  [...] 4. Is nuclear power vital to ensuring the security of energy supply?
  [...] 5. Can the full costs of nuclear truly be calculated?
• 2011/04/24: Guardian(UK): Nuclear waste: Keep out -- for 100,000 years
  Few architects have to design anything to last more than 100 years, so how do you build a nuclear waste facility to last for millennia? And what sign do you put on the door?

More people are talking about the electrical grid:

• 2011/04/28: PeakEnergy: Smart Transformers

  And then there is the matter of efficiency & conservation:

• 2011/04/27: DM:80B: Move Server Farms to Desert? Data Is Easier to Move Than Power, After All

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

• 2011/04/30: AutoBG: UK electric truck maker Modec to cease operations
• 2011/04/29: AutoBG: BYD claims EV fleet rapid-charged batteries show no capacity loss after one year
• 2011/04/29: AutoBG: Study: 85% of U.S. consumers willing to buy a plug-in vehicle when ...
• 2011/04/29: PeakEnergy: BYD Announces EV Fleet Results at Anniversary of Green-Taxi Project
• 2011/04/28: CSM: Hybrid cars: Does environment or price matter most?
• 2011/04/27: AutoBG: In most U.S. markets, arrival of plug-in vehicles still months (years?) away
• 2011/04/27: AutoBG: U.S. DOE, Google hitch up for electric vehicles
• 2011/04/27: AutoBG: Study ranks most efficient powertrains, lowest energy consumption chassis
• 2011/04/26: PeakEnergy: Electric (vehicle) dreams: the charge ahead
• 2011/04/25: AutoBG: Hybrid Cars achieves 68.7 mpg in 2012 Honda Civic Hybrid
• 2011/04/24: AutoBG: Chevy Volt owners average 1,000 miles between fill-ups in March

  This week in the Gee Whiz File, a good example of US National Laboratories PR:

• 2011/04/29: ORNL: New ORNL solar cell technology cranks up efficiency
  With the creation of a 3-D nanocone-based solar cell platform, a team led by Oak Ridge National Laboratory's Jun Xu has boosted the light-to-power conversion efficiency of photovoltaics by nearly 80 percent.
  [...]
  With this approach at the laboratory scale, Xu and colleagues were able to obtain a light-to-power conversion efficiency of 3.2 percent compared to 1.8 percent efficiency of conventional planar structure of the same materials.

Who's fielding the FAQs?

• 2011/04/28: Guardian(UK): Which industries and activities emit the most carbon?
• 2011/04/27: Guardian(UK): What are CO2e and global warming potential (GWP)?

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

• 2011/04/29: ClimateP: April 29 News...
• 2011/04/28: ClimateP: April 28 News...
• 2011/04/27: ClimateP: April 27 news...
• 2011/04/26: ClimateP: April 26 news...
• 2011/04/25: ClimateP: April 25 news...

  Other (weekly) lists:

• 2011/04/30: IJISH: Mindless Link Propagation ...1.2Gb data dump from Anonymous attack on US CoC, and more
• 2011/04/25: BPA: Agriculture News

  The carbon lobby are up to the usual:

• 2011/04/30: WottsUWT: World Opinion on global warming: not so hot
• 2011/04/29: ERabett: More Rejectionism at the Las Vegas Review Journal
• 2011/04/28: GreenFyre: "Hide the decline" ... in Denier intelligence
• 2011/04/28: GreenFyre: Are you disrespectin my family?
• 2011/04/28: MTobis: What to Believe and Why
• 2011/04/28: RealClimate: Review of Spencer's 'Great Global Warming Blunder'
• 2011/04/28: HotTopic: Climate Change Denial: Heads in the Sand
• 2011/04/21: MoJo: A Field Guide to Climate Change Skeptics -- Meet the lukewarmers, the sunspotters, and the Rapture-ready
• 2011/04/21: PuckerLust: Scientific scholarship vs. pseudoscholarship
• 2011/04/17: PuckerLust: Physics trumps right-wing ideology

  As for climate miscellanea:

• 2011/04/29: HotTopic: Climate: The Counter Consensus
• 2011/04/27: SciNow: Colonial-Era Erosion May Have Fueled Wetland Growth
• 2011/04/26: SciNow: Watching Climate Change Through a Farmer's Eyes
• 2011/04/25: NJP: Happy Eaarth Day?

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

• We Are PowerShift
• WWI:NtP: Nourishing the Planet
• NOAA:SPC: Warning Coordination Meteorologist's Introduction
• ScienceNewsline - Daily News in Science & Technology
• Wiki: Brewer-Dobson circulation
• Wiki: Enhanced Fujita Scale
• Energy Shortage
• Hunger In America
• CICERO: Center for International Climate and Environmental Research - Oslo
• PuckerLust
• WRI: World Resources Institute
• TDC: The Daily Climate
• GoogleGroups: Climate Intervention
• Wind-Works by Paul Gipe
• Geology Times
• WFP: World Food Programme
• Amazon Watch

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.

"I suggest we be clear that our goal is not to reform global corporate and financial rule--it is to end it. The publicly traded, limited liability corporation is a pathological institutional form and financial speculation is inherently predatory. As a first step both must be regulated. The appropriate longer term goal is to rid our economic affairs of these institutional pathologies--much as our ancestors eliminated the institution of monarchy." -David Korten, Corporate Accountability: Who Rules?, 12/3/99

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