Another Week of GW News, December 11, 2011

Logging the Onset of The Bottleneck Years

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Another week of Climate Disruption News

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December 11, 2011

• Chuckles, COP18+, Durban: Accord, Text, Reports, Kyoto, GCF, Protests, Misc
• Horn of Africa, AGU, Huber & Knutti, Bottom Line, Subsidies, GFIs, Free Science, CCPI, Ecocide, Cook, Post CRU
• Fukushima Note, Fukushima News, Nuclear Policy
• Melting Arctic, Polar Bears, Methane, Geopolitics, Antarctica
• Food Crisis, Food Prices, Land Grabs, GMOs, Food Production
• Hurricanes, GHGs, Temperatures, Paleoclimate, ENSO, Climate Sensitivity, State of the Oceans, Satellites
• Impacts, Forests, Wacky Weather, Extreme Weather, Corals, Glaciers, Sea Levels, Floods & Droughts
• Mitigation, Buildings, Sequestration, Geoengineering
• Journals, Other Docs , Misc. Science, DIY Science, Models, Hansen, Mann, Curry
• International Politics: UN, Carbon Trade, Bank Tax, EU ETS, Solar Spat
• Law & Activism, Activism, Polls, H2O Biz, Religioso, Ethics
• National Politics: America, BP Disaster, 2012, Keystone XL, Fracking, Plan B, Obama, USAdmin, Congress, Lobbyists
• Britain, Europe, Australia, Carbon Law, Murray-Darling, India, China, Asia, Middle East
• Canada, Post G20, Durban, Pipelines, NDP, Ownership, CWB, ISA, BC, Tar Sands, Ontario, Maritimes, Canadiana
• Ecological Economics, IPAT, Media, Books, Video, Courts
• Energy, Fracking, Coal, Oil & Gas, Peak Oil, Biofuel
• Wind, Solar, Nukes, Nuclear Waste, LENR, Grid, Efficiency, Cars
• Business, FAQs, Joe's List, Carbon Lobby, Miscellaneous Climate, Useful Links
• New Web Site, Shameless Self Promotion, .sig

No matter how dark things seem, there are always bad jokes:

1. 2011/12/04: TI:CF: (cartoon - Roberts) f....f....f....fade away
2. 2011/12/04: TI:CF: (cartoon - Roberts) Occupying Only Planet
3. 2011/12/07: uComics: (cartoon - Toles) Why we haven't been contacted...

   And for those who enjoy challenging Poe's Law:

4. 2011/12/05: Onion: Report: Global Warming May Be Irreversible By 2006
5. 2011/12/03: Onion: Rumors Of Extramarital Affair End Campaign Of Presidential Candidate Who Didn't Know China Has Nuclear Weapons

   Looking ahead to COP18 and future international climate negotiations:

6. 2011/12/06: DemNow: Labor Leaders Call for Review of Decision to Host 2012 U.N. Climate Talks in Qatar

   I haven't seen the text yet, but there is a Durban Accord:

7. 2011/12/11: NatureNB: Climate negotiators huddle for a dramatic deal in Durban
   [...]
   Despite universal acknowledgements that the deal does nothing to reduce emissions or increase funding beyond existing commitments...
8. 2011/12/10: ERabett: Sometimes you take what you can get
   Durban kicked the can down the road, the key points being that the Kyoto process survived and that the developing countries (India and China) accepted some responsibility for limiting emissions.
9. 2011/12/11: HotTopic: A MAD deal in Durban
   Let's revisit that cold war phrase: mutually assured destruction. Fifty years ago, MAD meant that in the event of conflict the USA and USSR could and would ensure the total annihilation of the other, thus ensuring what Wikipedia rather tamely describes as "a tense but stable global peace". Having lived through those years, the tension was notable, and in some cases inspirational. The madness on display in Durban is of another kind, and of a different character. The destruction on offer will be (we can only hope) slower, but it is likely to be just as total -- and is certainly being mutually assured. The governments of the world, by kicking the can down the road aways, have just ensured that the task of reducing emissions will be harder than it need be, and that the ultimate damage will be greater than it might have been.
10. 2011/12/11: UN: Ban welcomes climate change deal reached at UN conference in Durban
11. 2011/12/11: CAT: Durban Agreements a step towards a global agreement, but risk of exceeding 3°C-warming remains - scientists.
12. 2011/12/11: Guardian(UK): Climate deal: A guarantee our children will be worse off than us
    Getting a deal was a success, but a pitiful one. The world's climate debt is soaring and postponing action threatens an environmental austerity far greater than today's economic woes
13. 2011/12/11: Guardian(UK): Durban climate deal struck after tense all-night session
    Talks came close to collapse when India insisted on concessions for developing countries, forcing 3am 'huddle to save the planet'
14. 2011/12/11: CCP: Gareth Renowden: A MAD deal in Durban
15. 2011/12/11: ABC(Au): Combet says climate pact validates carbon tax
    Climate Change Minister Greg Combet says the Federal Government has been validated in legislating for a carbon tax after the outcome of international climate talks in Durban. It is the first time all 190 UN member countries, including the United States and China, have agreed to negotiate such a deal.
16. 2011/12/11: ABC(Au): UN climate talks: key points
17. 2011/12/11: ABC(Au): Climate deal clears major hurdle
    UN climate change talks have agreed on a pact that for the first time would force all the biggest polluters to take action to slow the pace of global warming.
18. 2011/12/11: NYT: U.N. Climate Talks End With Deal for New Emissions Treaty
19. 2011/12/11: AllAfrica:UNFCCC: Durban Conference Delivers Breakthrough in International Community's Response to Climate Change
20. 2011/12/11: AllAfrica:EU: Durban Conference Delivers Breakthrough for Climate
21. 2011/12/10: USAToday: Climate conference approves landmark deal
22. 2011/12/11: Reuters: U.N. climate talks agree legal pact on global warming
    U.N. climate change talks agreed a pact on Sunday that for the first time would force all the biggest polluters to take action to slow the pace of global changing
23. 2011/12/11: MySinchew: World's nations set course for 2015 global climate pact
24. 2011/12/11: Star(My): U.N. climate talks reach modest deal
25. 2011/12/11: BBC: Reaction to UN climate deal
    Reaction to the deal reached by negotiators at UN climate talks in Durban, South Africa, that for the first time would bring all major emitters into international efforts to limit global warming, but which environmentalists say did not go far enough.
26. 2011/12/11: G&M: New U.N. climate deal struck, critics say gains modest
    Climate negotiators agreed a pact on Sunday that would for the first time force all the biggest polluters to take action on greenhouse gas emissions, but critics said the action plan was not aggressive enough to slow the pace of global warming. The package of accords extended the Kyoto Protocol, the only global pact that enforces carbon cuts, agreed the format of a fund to help poor countries tackle climate change and mapped out a path to a legally binding agreement on emissions reductions. But many small island states and developing nations at risk of being swamped by rising sea levels and extreme weather said the deal marked the lowest common denominator possible and lacked the ambition needed to ensure their survival. Agreement on the package, reached in the early hours of Sunday, avoided a collapse of the talks and spared the blushes of host South Africa, whose stewardship of the two weeks of often fractious negotiations came under fire from rich and poor nations.
27. 2011/12/10: al Jazeera: UN climate conference approves landmark deal
    New accord will put all countries under the same legal requirements to control greenhouse gases by 2020 at the latest.
28. 2011/12/10: CBC: Deal reached at UN climate talks -- Kyoto Protocol provisions extended for 5 years

    Durban (pre-Accord) Text:

29. 2011/12/10: AllAfrica:IPS: Draft Climate Deal Dubbed a 'Death Sentence for Africa'
30. 2011/12/09: PWCCC: New negotiation text is out: a secure climate regime is falling apart
31. 2011/12/09: PWCCC: New Durban negotiation text: second try of the day
32. 2011/12/09: CJN: "Various Approaches" text to go to ministers
33. 2011/12/09: CBC: 7 key negotiations at Durban climate talks -- UN conference not all about new binding carbon emissions regime
34. 2011/12/09: Guardian(UK): COP17 climate talks: Durban text follows EU roadmap for new global deal
35. 2011/12/06: PWCCC: New negotiation text in Durban full of dangers - Part 1: mitigation again disregarded
36. 2011/12/07: PWCCC: New Negotiation text in Durban full of dangers - Part 2: Carbon markets
37. 2011/12/08: PWCCC: New Negotiation text in Durban full of dangers - Part 3: Legal issues may screw up the future
38. 2011/12/05: IndiaTimes: Durban climate talks: India gives guarded response to draft negotiating text
    A 73-page draft negotiating text was issued at the end of the first week of climate talks in the South African city of Durban. The text, issued by the chair of the Bali track of the negotiations, is an "amalgamation" of draft texts and will provide the basis for the final document that will be considered by the Conference of Parties or the general assembly of the 193 countries and the European Union.

Durban Reports:

39. COP17/CMP7 - Durban
40. UNFCCC: The United Nations Climate Change Conference in Durban, South Africa, COP 17 / CMP 7, 28 November - 9 December 2011
41. UNFCCC: Durban Climate Change Conference - November 2011
42. 2011/12/09: Guardian(UK): Durban climate change conference in [22] pictures: week two
43. 2011/12/05: IISD: Durban Climate Change Conference - Coverage on Monday, 5 December 2011
44. 2011/12/06: IISD: Durban Climate Change Conference - Coverage on Tuesday, 6 December 2011
45. 2011/12/07: IISD: Durban Climate Change Conference - Coverage on Wednesday, 7 December 2011
46. 2011/12/08: IISD: Durban Climate Change Conference - Coverage on Thursday, 8 December 2011
47. 2011/12/09: IISD: Durban Climate Change Conference - Coverage on Friday, 9 December 2011

    Durban Kyoto:

48. 2011/12/09: PWCCC: Climate Change: Kyoto Protocol converted into a Zombi
49. 2011/12/04: MLynas: COP17: Why the 'Kyoto or bust' positions must change
50. 2011/12/10: PWCCC: A second commitment period for the Kyoto Protocol: a victory or a deception?
51. 2011/12/08: Guardian(UK): Kyoto was built to fail. It is time the world abandoned it
52. 2011/12/08: ABC(Au): Combet casts doubt on Kyoto extension
    Climate Change Minister Greg Combet has threatened Australia will not be part of the next round of the Kyoto Protocol unless it is part of a wider agreement covering major polluters.
53. 2011/12/07: Grist: Durban dispatch: Fear of Kyoto commitment
54. 2011/12/08: AllAfrica:RDNA: Nations Fumes Over Flailing Kyoto Rescue Bid
    Africa is furious over the collapse of negotiations to save the troubled Kyoto Protocol without an appropriate replacement to the 'legally' binding document that could lift the continent from its quagmire following reproach by developed countries. The 54-member African Group of negotiators said its minimum expectation from the shaky COP 17 climate change talks was a second commitment period to the Kyoto Protocol as well as the establishment of the Green Climate Fund. The group, which put forward five key demands late on Wednesday, whittled them down to two when it became apparent that the United States, Japan, Canada, the European Union and Russia's embedded positions would not change.
55. 2011/12/08: AsiaNewsNet: Big emerging nations call for Kyoto extension
    As the world's heads of state arrive in Durban, South Africa, to begin the high-level segment of the United Nations climate negotiations, the largest emerging economies said they were united in wanting a legal agreement on the Kyoto Protocol. In their first joint press conference of this instalment of the climate talks, Brazil, South Africa, India and China said on Tuesday they wanted a second commitment period to the 14-year-old Kyoto Protocol.
56. 2011/12/08: AsiaNewsNet: Kyoto pact likely to be extended -- Japan, Canada and Russia are opposed to the extension
57. 2011/12/05: CCurrents: COP17: Why The 'Kyoto or Bust' Positions Much Change [Lynas]
58. 2011/12/05: PostMedia: Ditching Kyoto called bad for Canada's reputation -- Canadian environmental and industry players question move
59. 2011/12/05: CBC: China's climate concession won't move Canada on Kyoto
60. 2011/12/05: Guardian(UK): China favours EU plans for Kyoto replacement -- but with conditions
    UN climate talks back on track after China and Brazil say they will consider the 'right' legally-binding treaty on emission cuts
61. 2011/12/05: BBerg: China, EU Seek to Avoid Blame for Expiring Kyoto Pact

    Durban GCF:

62. 2011/12/08: EurActiv: EU's climate aid pledge under the microscope
    As negotiators haggle over a climate deal in Durban, the European Commission has adopted proposals to ring-fence one-fifth of its E70 billion external finance budget for climate finance in the 2014-2020 period.
63. 2011/12/08: UN: Climate funding for poor countries should not add to their debt burden - UN expert
64. 2011/12/08: TP:JR: Making the Green Climate Fund a Reality in Durban
65. 2011/12/10: TP:JR: Negotiators Come Closer to Reaching a Deal on the Green Climate Fund
66. 2011/12/10: CJN: Climate finance should not add to the external debt burdens of poor recipient countries, says UN expert
67. 2011/12/09: DemNow: Developing Countries Call for Green Climate Fund Independent of Western Control
68. 2011/12/07: DeutscheWelle: Africans cry foul over climate money pledges
    African nations say promises of billions of dollars to help them adjust to the impacts of climate change have mostly proved little more than hot air. Germany says its money is good and wants to host a Green Climate Fund.
69. 2011/12/08: PlanetArk: U.N. Climate Conference Close To Deal On Green Fund
70. 2011/12/08: Reuters: UN Climate Conference close to deal on Green Fund
    Negotiators are close to agreeing the shape of a Green Climate Fund, which is designed to help poor nations tackle global warming and nudge them towards a new global effort to fight climate change. Rich countries have pledged up to $100 billion a year by 2020 to aid poor states most directly affected by rising global temperatures to adapt their economies and protect themselves from adverse weather. But critics say it could remain a hollow shell unless there is also agreement on where the actual funds come from -- and how the money is spent.
71. 2011/12/08: M&G: UN chief upbraids dithering nations over climate fund
    United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called on heads of state to show leadership and resolve any differences they may have on the Green Climate Fund in Durban, so the fund can be launched.
72. 2011/12/08: al Jazeera: UN edges towards global climate fund
    States represented at climate conference in South Africa are close to establishing a fund to tackle global warming.
73. 2011/12/06: TP:JR: Climate Finance Is Key to U.S. Climate Credibility and Averting Catastrophic Climate Change

    Durban Protests:

74. 2011/12/09: AllAfrica:BushRadio: U.S. Youth [Abigail Borah] Ejected From Climate Talks
75. 2011/12/09: TreeHugger: Hundreds of Activists Protest Inside COP17 Climate Talks In Solidarity With Africa, Small Island Nations
76. 2011/12/04: CJN: COP17 civil society statement on conflict during the Global Day of Action
77. 2011/12/09: DemNow: "Get It Done": Urging Climate Justice, Youth Delegate Anjali Appadurai Mic Checks U.N. Summit
78. 2011/12/09: DemNow: Frustrated by Inaction, Youth Delegates Occupy COP 17 Plenary in Durban
79. 2011/12/08: DemNow: "I'm Scared for My Future": Student Disrupts Speech by U.S. Climate Envoy Todd Stern in Durban
80. 2011/12/07: DemNow: Canadian Activists Barred from Durban Summit for Protesting Environment Minister
81. 2011/12/09: DeSmogBlog: Youth Delegate Anjali Appadurai Speaks Truth to Power at Conclusion of COP17 in Durban [video]
82. 2011/12/09: DerSpiegel: Young Activists in Durban -- Rebelling Against the Climate Change Dinosaurs
    Climate change will affect young people the most, but they are grossly under-represented at UN climate negotiations in Durban. A group of students from China and the US, however, is trying to challenge this with a shared vision for the future.
83. 2011/12/05: DeutscheWelle: Greenpeace arrests mark the start of climate talks' second week
84. 2011/12/09: BBC: Activists protest at the UN climate change talks venue
85. 2011/12/09: Guardian(UK): Executive director of Greenpeace removed from UN climate conference in Durban - video
86. 2011/12/08: EnergyBulletin: US college student shames US climate delegation in Durban
87. 2011/12/08: SSM: Brigette DePape marches on. Shows up at Durban Climate Summit
88. 2011/12/08: ABC(Au): Lion's head formed calling for climate change
89. 2011/12/07: 350orBust: Durban: Youth Turn Their Backs In Response To Canadian Government's Disregard For Their Future
90. 2011/12/08: TreeHugger: US Youth Steal the Show at the UN Climate Talks in Durban
91. 2011/12/07: Rabble: Canadian youth ejected from #COP17 in Durban for turning backs to Environment Minister
92. 2011/12/06: DemNow: Indigenous Activists from Canada Protest Tar Sands Oil at Durban Climate Change Summit
93. 2011/12/05: DemNow: Thousands March at U.N. Climate Summit in Durban to Demand Climate Justice
94. 2011/12/05: DemNow: South Africa Arrests, Deports Greenpeace Activists After Attempted High Stakes Banner Hang
95. 2011/12/05: DemNow: Greenpeace Director Kumi Naidoo, from Anti-Apartheid Activist to Leading Voice for Climate Justice
96. 2011/12/06: Guardian(UK): Kumi Naidoo: 'I hope sanity will prevail with climate change, just as it did with apartheid'
    Greenpeace International's director says the struggle for climate justice is similar to the fight against apartheid
97. 2011/12/06: AllAfrica:BuaNews: Greenpeace Activists Deported
    Three foreigners are in the process of being deported after they tried to scale the walls of the Protea Edward Hotel on the beachfront during a protest at COP17. The three men - belonging to Greenpeace - were joined by other climate change activists in trying to erect a banner on the hotel reading "Listen to the people, not the polluters". A World Business Council on Sustainable Development conference was taking place at the venue at the time.

Durban Misc:

98. 2011/12/11: ABC(Au): South Africa urges world to approve climate deal
99. 2011/12/11: AllAfrica:BuaNews: Nkoana-Mashabane Takes Stock At COP17
100. 2011/12/10: CCurrents: The Durban Babel
101. 2011/12/10: CCurrents: Behind The Durban Blame Game
102. 2011/12/10: Guardian(UK): Durban climate change talks: a deal currently on hold
103. 2011/12/10: Guardian(UK): Durban climate change talks: false text diverts race to reach deal
     COP17 president issues official denial of fake negotiating text sent to delegates trying to seal last-minute agreement
104. 2011/12/10: Guardian(UK): Climate summit in disarray as exhausted ministers row -- Delegates clash over an attempt to make an agreement legally binding
105. 2011/12/09: al Jazeera: Legally binding climate treaty seems unlikely
     Draft text outlines step toward "framework" for carbon emissions cuts as US envoy Todd Stern accused of dragging feet.
106. 2011/12/09: EurActiv: African nations move closer to EU position at Durban
     Europe's position at the UN climate talks in Durban won support yesterday (8 December) from the chair of the 54 African nations. As the negotiations moved into their final 36 hours, Tosi Mpanu Mpanu, chair of the Africa group, said that its position had moved closer to Europe and those developing countries who have supported the EU's calls for a legally binding agreement covering all nations to begin as soon as possible.
107. 2011/12/10: AllAfrica:BuaNews: EU Teams Up With Smaller States At COP17
108. 2011/12/10: AllAfrica:SEACCSF: Stormy Night Ahead for COP 17
109. 2011/12/08: CCurrents: Pass The Buck And Ignore The Problem
110. 2011/12/08: CCurrents: Declaration Of The Indigenous Peoples Of The World To COP17
111. 2011/12/09: CJN: Durban Diary: Climate Reality Check
112. 2011/12/10: HotTopic: Durban heads into final hours, outcome could go either way
113. 2011/12/10: TP:JR: Deal or No Deal? Live-Blogging Durban: Final Hours Turn into a Full Day of Extended Negotiation
114. 2011/12/10: ABC(Au): Australia accused of siding with big polluters
     The Greens say Australia has sided with the big polluters by not backing a legally binding global agreement to tackle climate change.
115. 2011/12/10: ABC(Au): Last-ditch effort to save climate talks
     Developing states most at risk from global warming have rebelled against a proposed deal at UN climate talks, forcing host South Africa to draw up new draft documents to try to stop the talks collapsing. After 12 days of wrangling, the talks have gone into extra time as big emitters China, the US and India drag their feet on a European bid for a new worldwide pact on greenhouse gases.
116. 2011/12/09: ABC(Au): Australia 'playing games' at climate talks
117. 2011/12/08: Grist: Durban dispatch: U.S. takes 'recourse to nonsense'
118. 2011/12/08: NatureNB: Durban climate talks go down to the wire
119. 2011/12/09: AllAfrica:PublicAgenda: Cop 17 Diaries, Durban, 2011
120. 2011/12/09: AllAfrica:SEACCSF: A New Coalition of the Willing at COP 17
     Negotiating blocks, stalemates and impasses have characterized much of COP 17. The US, Canada, New Zealand, Japan and others have been blocking the road to meaningful agreement on almost every turn along the way, and the need for a breakthrough in these final moments is becoming increasingly exigent. Throughout COP 17 the African Group have bandied together and united their voice in order to create a strengthened position with more political clout.
121. 2011/12/09: AllAfrica:iMaverick: Deconstructing the African Position At COP17
122. 2011/12/09: AllAfrica: 'How Good is Money When You are Leaving a Devastated World for Your Children?'
123. 2011/12/09: AllAfrica:RDNA: Stop It - EU Tells U.S., China
     As the UN climate change talk's inches to a close, the European Union (EU) believes the whole world is being held hostage by the uncompromising stands of just a few countries including the United States and China among others.
124. 2011/12/09: AllAfrica:RDNA: COP 17 - Which Way Forward?
125. 2011/12/09: PWCCC: Results of exclusive, closed meetings in Durban made public
126. 2011/12/09: Google:UKPA: UN discusses new climate treaty
127. 2011/12/09: Reuters: Support grows for Durban climate deal
128. 2011/12/08: VOANews: EU Says Closer to Deal on Climate Pact 'Road Map' at Durban Conference
129. 2011/12/10: Reuters: Ministers battle to save U.N. climate talks
     Ministers fought to save U.N. climate talks from collapse on Saturday, searching to narrow differences between rich and poor nations over how quickly to fight global warming.
130. 2011/12/09: DemNow: U.S. Publicly Shifts Climate Stance in Face of Widespread Criticism -- Then Quietly Backtracks
131. 2011/12/08: DemNow: Critics: Rich Polluters -- Including U.S. -- Should Face Sanctions for Rejecting Binding Emissions Cuts
132. 2011/12/08: DemNow: Wanjira Maathai: U.S. Should "Shape Up or Get Out" at U.N. Climate Talks
133. 2011/12/07: DemNow: Hopes Fade for Binding Climate Deal as Durban Summit Enters Final Stages
134. 2011/12/07: DemNow: Tuvalu Minister Urges World Leaders to Save Pacific Nations from Rising Seas
135. 2011/12/07: DemNow: Least Developed Countries, Small Island States Face U.S. Resistance to Binding Climate Deal
136. 2011/12/10: 350orBust: Dr. Seuss On U.N. Climate Talks: "On Wednesday My Chicken Laid Eggs That Were Fried"
137. 2011/12/09: DerSpiegel: The Geopolitics of Climate Change -- Will China Become the Green Superpower?
     At the UN climate summit in Durban, China has signalled for the first time that it could sign up to a binding global agreement on CO2 emissions. Indeed, fighting climate change will be impossible without the future superpower on board. Taking a green approach to economic development could bring China massive benefits -- if Beijing decides to go down that road.
138. 2011/12/09: DerSpiegel: Addressing Climate Change -- 'Humankind Cannot Afford Negotiations Until 2020'
     At the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Durban it is becoming apparent that, instead of making decisions, the global community intends to continue negotiating new climate goals until 2020. In an interview with Spiegel online, Achim Steiner, the head of the United Nations Environment Program, calls the delay "irresponsible."
139. 2011/12/09: DerSpiegel: Climate Negotiations in Durban -- Usual Suspects Continue to Block Emissions Deal
     Progress has been made on providing aid to poor countries to help them deal with the effects of climate change. Beyond that, however, the summit in South Africa has produced little agreement. Several countries, led by the US, continue to block a binding deal to take over from Kyoto.
140. 2011/12/08: DeutscheWelle: Tourism industry takes heat at climate talks for protecting aviation
     Critics of the tourism industry say it is hindering efforts to curb its climate impact and is hiding behind false claims of promoting poor countries' development at climate talks in Durban South Africa.
141. 2011/12/10: DeutscheWelle: Hope fades for meaningful deal at Durban climate talks
     European representatives worry climate talks in Durban could be set to collapse. There's no breakthrough on the horizon and delegates remain deeply divided.
142. 2011/12/10: BBC: UN climate talks look set for deal, but time presses
     Agreement on new measures to combat global warming appears within reach at the UN climate talks in South Africa. But with talks already into an extra day, there were warnings that ministers may have to leave - or may choose to leave - before signing off the package. Draft documents issued overnight appear to address the concerns of all parties.
143. 2011/12/09: BBC: UN climate talks heading to deal
     Nations at the UN climate talks appear to be edging their way to agreeing that a process towards a new carbon-cutting deal should start in the New Year.
144. 2011/12/10: al Jazeera: UN climate talks scramble to reach a deal
     Durban conference extended as 194 nations try to reach a deal on how to deal with global warming over the coming decade.
145. 2011/12/09: CCP: Brad Johnson: Top Eight Climate Disasters During The Durban Climate Talks
146. 2011/12/09: BBC: UN climate talks heading to deal
     At the UN climate talks, nations appear to be edging their way to agreeing that a process towards a new carbon-cutting deal should start in the New Year.
147. 2011/12/09: CBC: UN climate talks struggle to reach deal -- Europe, United States offering differing visions for post-2020 agreement
148. 2011/12/09: Guardian(UK): Durban COP17: Connie Hedegaard puts pressure on China, US and India
149. 2011/12/09: Guardian(UK): An insider's view of the Durban climate change conference
150. 2011/12/09: Guardian(UK): Durban climate change talks - Friday as it happened
     The UN's COP17 negotiations saw plenty of drama over the timetable and legal status of a global deal on Friday, but the talks ran over into Saturday
151. 2011/12/10: Guardian(UK): Durban climate conference stalemate pushes talks into extra time
     Old rifts healed at Durban, but new fault lines emerge -- Kyoto agreement under threat without UN deal
152. 2011/12/09: Guardian(UK): Climate change conference in trouble as China rejects proposals for new treaty
     China's chief negotiator says proposals on final day of Durban talks were unacceptable as they would lead to the end of the Kyoto protocol
153. 2011/12/09: BBC: UN climate talks 'approaching decision time'
     The UK Climate Change Secretary says UN climate talks are at a crunch point. On the final morning of talks in Durban, Chris Huhne said countries must decide whether they want a treaty that can really curb global warming. The EU has made an ad-hoc alliance with some of the world's poorest nations to push for a strong deal here. Ministerial talks overnight made little concrete progress, with big-emitting countries sticking out for a new deal that would take effect only after 2020. That is too late for the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and the Alliance of Small Island States (Aosis), who both say talks must begin in January and conclude at the end of next year. No big new treaty is going to be agreed at this meeting. What the LDCs, Aosis and the EU are seeking is a firm timetable - a mandate - leading to a new treaty.
154. 2011/12/08: AlterNet: How the US Is Undermining Critical Climate Talks and Putting the World in Jeopardy
155. 2011/12/08: PWCCC: Leading southern NGOs slam Durban proposal to create new forest carbon market
156. 2011/12/08: PWCCC: Critics: Rich Polluters -- Including U.S. -- Should Face Sanctions for Rejecting Binding Emissions Cuts
157. 2011/12/09: PlanetJ: What Should Happen in Durban
158. 2011/12/08: EnergyBulletin: Declaration of the indigenous peoples of the world to COP17
159. 2011/12/08: DeSmogBlog: Will Durban Climate Talks Leave Us On the Wrong Side of History?
160. 2011/12/08: DeSmogBlog: Small Island States Fear "Annihilation" From Failed Climate Negotiations, Protests Mark COP17 Closing Hours
161. 2011/12/08: BBC: Alliance pushes for climate deal
     The EU and some of the world's poorest nations have launched a joint bid for a strong outcome at the UN climate talks.
162. 2011/12/08: Guardian(UK): What will it take for Durban climate change conference to end positively?
163. 2011/12/08: Guardian(UK): African nations move closer to EU position at Durban climate change talks
164. 2011/12/08: Guardian(UK): Durban climate talks see US back EU proposal
165. 2011/12/08: Guardian(UK): UN climate change talks: EU plan raises hopes of last-ditch deal
166. 2011/12/07: TP:JR: REDD Eye: World Leaders Call for a Deforestation Deal in Durban, Progress is Steady but Slow
167. 2011/12/08: PlanetArk: Debt And Doubt Loom Large Over Durban Climate Talks
     Economic crisis and the top three polluters China, the United States and India, loomed as obstacles to a new global deal at the start of a second make-or-break week of U.N. climate talks in the South African city of Durban. After a first week of preliminary discussion, serious doubt hangs over the future of the Kyoto Protocol, whose first commitment period on tackling climate change expires at the end of next year. The other major issue for debate is how to drum up finance to help poorer nations adapt to a warmer planet, while the developed world wrestles with sovereign debt problems.
168. 2011/12/08: BBerg: U.S. Delay on Climate-Change Deal Prompts Backlash From Europe to Barbados
169. 2011/12/07: Grist: U.S. 2020 climate treaty proposal isn't a delay -- it's a death sentence
170. 2011/12/07: Grist: Which countries fail the most at climate leadership?
171. 2011/12/07: AllAfrica:FOE: Climate Agenda of South African Energy Giant Sasol Exposed
     Polluting companies and multinational corporations are exerting pressure on government climate policies and seeking to undermine global action on the climate crisis, Friends of the Earth International warned today.
172. 2011/12/08: AllAfrica:Monitor: We Need a Legally Binding Deal From Durban Climate Conference
173. 2011/12/08: AllAfrica:FOE: Pro-Zuma Supporters Physically Attack Civil Society At Durban Townhall Meeting On Climate Change
174. 2011/12/08: AllAfrica:AlertNet: Delayed Climate Deal a Risk to Food Production, AG Specialists Say
175. 2011/12/08: AllAfrica:RDNA: COP17 Volunteers Beat Zuma Protesters in Rowdy Face Off
176. 2011/12/08: AllAfrica:FOE: Durban Inaction a Recipe for Climate Catastrophe
     Friends of the Earth International has issued strong warnings against climate inaction at the UN climate talks in Durban, and blamed industrialised countries like the US, Canada, Japan and Europe for seeking to unravel existing agreements under the guise of a "new mandate" for the climate negotiations.
177. 2011/12/08: IOL(za): COP17: Agreement may not be reached
178. 2011/12/08: ERabett: Durban
179. 2011/12/07: TreeHugger: Why 2020 is Too Late for the Climate
180. 2011/12/08: OilChange: "Time to Leave 'Fossil' Canada Behind"
181. 2011/12/08: PressEurop: Europe must change its attitude
     As the Durban climate conference draws to a close, the European Union can not continue to address the issue of climate change with a condescending attitude towards emerging countries. Needing these same countries to help it emerge from the financial crisis, the EU risks having the terms of any future agreement being dictated to it.
182. 2011/12/06: CDreams: Kyoto Protocol on Life Support
183. 2011/12/08: BBC: Climate talks 'lacking urgency'
     Lack of urgency in the Durban meeting halls and pressing issues elsewhere threaten to block progress as the UN climate summit enters its final days.
184. 2011/12/07: DeSmogBlog: U.S. 2020 climate treaty proposal isn't a delay -- it's a death sentence
185. 2011/12/07: CBC: Kent's climate change speech disrupted by protest -- 'Kyoto, for Canada, is in the past,' says environment minister
186. 2011/12/07: Guardian(UK): Durban COP17 climate talks: day 10 diary
187. 2011/12/07: Guardian(UK): Accountability is a vital weapon in the battle against climate change
     Giving those affected by climate change a greater say in the selection and monitoring of aid projects would save lives
188. 2011/12/07: Guardian(UK): Derailing Durban's climate change conference
     With the US dragging its feet at the Durban climate change conference, the influence of a powerful industry lobby is worrying
189. 2011/12/07: UN: Ban presses for support for UN initiative to combat deforestation
190. 2011/12/07: Guardian(UK): Barack Obama urges nations to follow lead of Wangari Maathai
191. 2011/12/07: AllAfrica:SEACCSF: Durban's Dirty Number: 2020
192. 2011/12/07: AllAfrica:RDNA: COP17 Climate Lords Must Listen to Scientists
193. 2011/12/07: AllAfrica:RDNA: UN Climate Talks in a Spin, BUT . . .
     UN climate talks became decidedly fractious on Tuesday as the rift between developing countries on one hand and the US and its allies on the other, widened amid calls to extend the Kyoto Protocol. Divisions were also distinctly evident over other issues such as the immediate formation of the Green Climate Fund, fast start finance and the drawing up of a Durban Accord.
194. 2011/12/07: AllAfrica:RDNA: Zuma Urges Parties to Secure Multi-Lateralism in Climate Talks
     President Jacob Zuma urged negotiating parties to secure an enhanced multilateral, rules-based response to climate change that is equally binding on all. Speaking at the opening of high level segment in Durban on Tuesday...
195. 2011/12/06: Google:AFP: Ban pleads for Kyoto in warning of climate deadlock
196. 2011/12/07: TimesLive(za): You must lead world from abyss, urges Ban
     The world is nearing a point of no return and only decision makers at the climate change conference in Durban "can bring us from the edge", United Nations secretary-general Ban Ki-moon said.
197. 2011/12/07: IOL(za): "Act while you still can" - Zuma
198. 2011/12/07: FTChinese: UN chief fears climate accord is 'beyond reach'
199. 2011/12/06: Reuters: "Big Three" polluters oppose binding climate deal
     The world's three biggest polluters China, the United States and India refused to move toward a new legal commitment to curb their carbon emissions Tuesday, increasing the risk that climate talks will fail to clinch a meaningful deal this week.
200. 2011/12/05: NewInt: "There is no planet B"
201. 2011/12/07: Rabble: Opposing corporate influence on climate negotiations
202. 2011/12/06: DemNow: At Durban Summit, Leading African Activist Calls U.S. Emissions Stance "A Death Sentence for Africa"
203. 2011/12/06: DemNow: U.S. Focus on China, India Emissions Burdens World's Poor, Skirts Own Responsibility - Praful Bidwai
204. 2011/12/05: DemNow: The Road to Durban: Tracking Global Warming's Devastating Impact Across the African Continent
205. 2011/12/06: Guardian(UK): Why south Durban stinks of rotten cabbage, eggs and cat wee
206. 2011/12/06: Guardian(UK): Durban talks unlikely to result in climate change deal
207. 2011/12/06: Guardian(UK): India dampens Europe's hopes of a new climate change agreement
     India's environment minister reiterated her challenge to rich countries to ratify second commitment period of Kyoto protocol
208. 2011/12/06: UN: Ban urges leaders to make real progress at UN climate change talks
209. 2011/12/06: KSJT: BBC -- When the news in the news room is slow (ie, Durban), get to something else important..
210. 2011/12/05: TP:JR: [UNFCCC head, Christiana Figueres] Blasts U.S. Climate Policy: Americans Must Realize "This Is Their Future They're Compromising"
211. 2011/12/06: Grist: Poor nations demand stringent emissions deal, unicorns
212. 2011/12/06: Grist: Durban dispatch: Practical progress and water woes
213. 2011/12/05: Grist: Durban dispatch: Climate-talks failure is 'moral apartheid'
214. 2011/12/06: NatureN: The science behind the Durban talks -- What do researchers do at the United Nations climate talks, and why do they bother?
215. 2011/12/06: AllAfrica:IPS: Growing Calls for Water to Be Prioritised
216. 2011/12/06: AllAfrica:AlertNet: Family Planning 'Effective' but Unpopular Climate Change Solution
     As the world's population races past 7 billion, curbing population growth is crucial to slowing the climate-changing emissions people cause, scientists say. But getting U.N. climate negotiators to even mention the controversial issue is nearly as difficult as getting them to agree a long-delayed new global climate treaty.
217. 2011/12/06: AllAfrica:BushRadio: United States Still Not Prepared to Sign a Legally Binding Agreement
218. 2011/12/06: AllAfrica:RDNA: 'We'll Be Tough With the Big Boys'
     Ghana's Environment and Science Minister, Sherry Ayittey has warned that the 54 African countries at the UN climate change conference in Durban will not be bullied into making concessions to the developed countries at the expense of the African poor.
219. 2011/12/06: M&G(za): Crunch time at COP17 as high-level negotiations begin
220. 2011/12/06: NDTV: Climate talks: India dismisses reports of differences with China
221. 2011/12/05: BizGreen: India and US accused of blocking roadmap for Durban deal
     EU secures support from developing countries [48 Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and the 42-strong Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS)] for new plan that would see parallel treaty run alongside Kyoto
222. 2011/12/05: TStar: China's climate compromise won't woo Canada back into Kyoto: Kent
223. 2011/12/06: Xinhuanet: China sets conditions on binding climate change commitment after 2020
     [...]
     The conditions include: new carbon-cutting pledges by rich nations in the second commitment period under the Kyoto Protocol; fast launch of the Green Climate Fund agreed on in Cancun under a supervisory regime; implementing the consensus of adaptation; technology transfer, transparency, capability building and other points agreed upon in the former conferences as well as appraising developed countries' commitment during the first period of the Kyoto Protocol.
224. 2011/12/05: TreeHugger: The Tragically Repetitive Groundhog Day That Is COP17
225. 2011/12/06: TreeHugger: COP17 UnMerry-Go-Round: US Delays, Canada Obstructs, China Willing To Act, But India Won't
226. 2011/12/06: TreeHugger: The Calm Before the Storm at the Durban Climate Talks
227. 2011/12/06: 350orBust: Durban: "Down With Canada"
228. 2011/12/06: BBC: UN climate talks 'ambition' call
     The Earth is likely to be about 3.5C warmer in 2100 than it was before human industry and agriculture began putting greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
229. 2011/12/06: BBC: Climate models yield confidence question
     Grand statements about climate change impacts are all very well for scientists - a global average temperature rise of so many degrees Celsius, a global change in precipitation of such-and-such percent. But no-one lives on the global average. We all have a home - and what might be very useful, be you a farmer or a city-dweller, would be some precise indications of what the future holds for your farm, your street, your village. It's precisely what many people here at the UN climate talks are worrying about.
230. 2011/12/05: BBC: UN climate talks looking to China
     China is emerging as the key deal-maker or deal-breaker as the UN climate talks head into ministerial discussions.
231. 2011/12/05: BBC: Durban: Climate summit looks back and forward
232. 2011/12/05: Guardian(UK): Durban climate talks: we still have a chance to talk about success
233. 2011/12/05: Guardian(UK): Durban climate talks: day eight diary
234. 2011/12/05: EUO: Thousands protest in Durban
235. 2011/12/05: TP:JR: Video: Top U.S. Climate Negotiator Todd Stern Questions China's Signal to Accept Binding Targets
236. 2011/12/05: PlanetArk: UNFCCC Head, Christiana Figueres Sees Air Clearing On Cut Pledges
237. 2011/12/05: PlanetArk: U.S. Sees Little New In China Greenhouse Gas Cut Pledge
238. 2011/12/05: NatureNB: Updated: Durban deforestation agreement promotes transparency, scientific verification
     Climate negotiators in South Africa struck a preliminary deal on forestry over the weekend, advancing a technical document that lays out what could be the first real 'rules of the road' for initiatives that seek to reduce greenhouse gases by curbing deforestation in tropical countries.
239. 2011/12/05: AllAfrica:Independent(Ug): COP17 - Africa Must Not Betray Africa in Durban
     Messages about: climate smart agriculture, green economy, renewable energy, establishing a green climate fund as a moral obligation, voices of farmers, the need for binding agreement that will guarantee extension of Kyoto Protocol, etc, compete for attention at the UN climate talks in Durban. Alongside these messages are the groups of demonstrators in designated spaces shouting climate-related missives to whoever may care to listen. Bombarded with this thicket of information, a journalist has to deal with competing press releases and conferences from several interest groups and at the same time follow the several negotiation meetings at Durban's vast conference facility. It's all climate-related business happening here. Just outside the main conference centre is a group of women farmers (with handwritten banners) who travelled all the way from East, Central and Southern Africa to have their voices heard at the high level conference UN Framework on Climate Change meeting -the seventeenth conference of parties (COP17). Unfortunately few or none of these farmers has direct access to the official negotiations in board and conference rooms. Farmers are shouting themselves hoarse to be heard. The technocrats have their heads buried in the computers discussing the text, its comas, paragraphs and legal implications as millions of lives are increasingly put at the mercy of ruthless impact of climate change attributed to activities of industrialists.
240. 2011/12/05: AllAfrica:RDNA: A Dozen Heads of State to Attend UN Climate Talks
241. 2011/12/05: AllAfrica:RDNA: Africa Changes Climate Talks Ball Game
     Africa has changed 'the ball game' after a week of vacillation, by demanding an ambitious second commitment period under the Kyoto Protocol, effective action under the Bali Action Plan and scaled-up 'start up' finance ahead of the high-level international ministerial segment of the UN climate talks later this week.
242. 2011/12/05: News24: 'Climate poker' set for Durban
     UN climate talks on Monday enter their second week entangled in a thick mesh of issues with no guarantee that negotiators and their ministers will be able to sort them out.
243. 2011/12/04: Google:AFP: China lays out conditions for legally binding climate deal
244. 2011/12/04: WaPo: Chinese climate negotiators raise possibility of global warming pact by 2020
245. 2011/12/05: BizDay: COP-17: Business takes bull by horns as leaders talk
     It is crunch time for delegates attending the 17th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change under way in Durban -- and the outcome is likely to be difficult, Yvo de Boer, the former head of the process, warned yesterday. However, where governments were failing to act, many businesses were showing the way, Mr de Boer said.
246. 2011/12/05: TreeHugger: Life and Death Decisions in Durban
247. 2011/12/05: 350orBust: COP17: Politicians, Get Your Head Out Of The Sands And Lead!
248. 2011/12/05: HotTopic: Welcome political forthrightness [COP17]
249. 2011/12/05: HotTopic: NZ in Durban: delegation gone mad? Or just business as usual?
250. 2011/12/04: TP:JR: Durban Climate Talks: How Do We Judge Success?
251. 2011/12/04: Guardian(UK): Durban climate talks 'roadmap' held up by India
     EU plan to preserve Kyoto protocol and establish new parallel treaty finds support among some developing countries A European plan to unblock UN climate talks with a new global treaty is being held up by India and some developing countries who feared it would take too long to negotiate and lead to lweaker pledges by wealthy countries.
252. 2011/12/04: Guardian(UK): Science Weekly podcast: Durban climate change talks -- deal or no deal?

     The Horn of Africa drought and famine continues to be a major disaster, with amazingly little coverage:

253. 2011/12/08: Time: Viewpoint: Famine as a Weapon: It's Time to Stop Starvation in Sudan
254. 2011/12/06: al Jazeera: Horn of Africa Crisis: Drought Zone
     As millions in Kenya suffer from extreme hunger, is the US addressing the causes of the crisis or just its syptoms?

The annual AGU conference went down this week in San Fran:

255. 2011/12/05: AGU: AGU 2011 Fall Meeting Media Advisory
256. 2011/12/06: RealClimate: AGU 2011: Day 1
257. 2011/12/07: RealClimate: AGU 2011: Day 2
258. 2011/12/09: RealClimate: AGU Days 3&4
259. 2011/12/07: JEB: AGU 2011 Day 1
260. 2011/12/09: JEB: AGU 2011 Days 2 and 3
261. 2011/12/10: JEB: AGU day 4 and 5
262. 2011/12/10: P3: Brilliant Lecture: Self Organized Criticality and Tropical Storms
263. 2011/12/10: SEasterbrook: The Software Architecture of Global Climate Models
264. 2011/12/09: CCP: James Hansen at 2011 AGU speaks of current CO2 levels already being in the danger zone, must act now [video]
265. 2011/12/: AMEG: [link to 10.1 meg pdf] Dec 2011 AGU - Arctic Methane Emergency Group
266. 2011/12/09: CAbyss: Last dispatch from AGU: The new CMIP5 models
267. 2011/12/07: KSJT: SF Ink: American Geophysical Union Mtg: Tsunami, Climate, Strange Asteroid, and more
268. 2011/12/08: NatureNB: 2-degree global warming limit is a 'prescription for disaster', says Hansen
269. 2011/12/07: SciNow: Lessons from the Mississippi Floods
270. 2011/12/06: TDC: New perils seen to even modest warming
     Letting global temperatures rise even 2ºC -- as the Copenhagen Climate Accord permitted -- could trigger catastrophic sea-level rise and major social upheaval, scientists say.
271. 2011/12/06: SEasterbrook: A Hierarchical Systems Approach to Model Validation
272. 2011/12/05: Wunderground: Climate change education in zoos
273. 2011/12/05: NASA: Ancient Dry Spells Offer Clues About the Future of Drought
274. 2011/12/06: Eureka: Tropical sea temperatures influence melting in Antarctica
275. 2011/12/05: Eureka: PNNL talks climate, wind and carbon at AGU
276. 2011/12/05: Eureka: Global winds could explain record rains, tornadoes
     Two talks at a scientific conference this week will propose a common root for an enormous deluge in western Tennessee in May 2010, and a historic outbreak of tornadoes centered on Alabama in April 2011. Both events seem to be linked to a relatively rare coupling between the polar and the subtropical jet streams, says Jonathan Martin, a University of Wisconsin-Madison professor of atmospheric and oceanic sciences. But the fascinating part is that the change originates in the western Pacific, about 9,000 miles away from the intense storms in the U.S. midsection, Martin says.

The Huber & Knutti paper kicked off a round of comments:

277. 2011/12/04: Nature:GeoSci: (ab$) Anthropogenic and natural warming inferred from changes in Earth's energy balance by Markus Huber & Reto Knutti
278. 2009/09/09: GRL: (ab$) An observationally based energy balance for the Earth since 1950 by D. M. Murphy et al.
279. 2011/12/06: RealClimate: Global Temperature News
280. 2011/12/07: SwissInfo: Energy balance sheet gives new climate clues
     Three quarters of climate change is manmade, according to two Swiss scientists who have come up with a radically new way of modelling the climate. The work by Professor Reto Knutti and doctoral student Markus Huber of the Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Science of the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich is published in the latest edition of the journal Nature Geoscience.
281. 2011/12/05: TP:JR: It's "Extremely Likely That at Least 74% of Observed Warming Since 1950" Was Manmade; It's Highly Likely All of It Was
282. 2011/12/05: Grist: New study shows 3/4 of global temperature rise is humans' fault
283. 2011/12/04: NatureN: Three-quarters of climate change is man-made -- Independent study quantifies human influence on global warming.
284. 2011/12/04: BBC: Climate research bolsters 'action' call to UN talks
     As ministers begin arriving at the UN climate talks in South Africa, new science is showing the challenges they face in trying to curb global warming. Using a new methodology, a Swiss team has calculated that about three-quarters of the warming seen since 1950 is down to human influences. A second report says glacier loss in parts of the Himalayas is accelerating. And an international research group has confirmed that emissions have soared despite the global financial crisis.

And on the Bottom Line:

285. 2011/12/09: Wunderground: Twelve U.S. billion-dollar weather disasters in 2011 so far: NOAA
286. 2011/12/07: TP:JR: NOAA: U.S. Sets Record With a Dozen Billion-Dollar Weather Disasters in One Year

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

287. 2011/12/07: Guardian(UK): Lord Stern: rich nations should stop subsidising fossil fuel industry

     What are the global financial institutions up to?

288. 2011/12/08: EurActiv: EIB accused of financing fossil fuels with climate cash
     The European Investment Bank has been accused of funding the fossil fuel industry with E16 billion of loans since 2007, more than that stumped up for any other energy source.
289. 2011/12/08: Guardian(UK): European Investment Bank criticised for 'hypocrisy' of fossil fuel lending
290. 2011/12/06: Reuters: OECD says committed $23 billion in climate aid in 2010
291. 2011/12/06: Rabble:TS: OECD on inequality
292. 2011/12/07: Rabble:AJ: Mind the OECD credibility gap

     Oh Look! Another excuse to ride my Free Sciencehobby horse:

293. 2011/12/09: SciAm:GB: 1 Percent versus the 99 Percent -- A Case for Open Access
294. 2011/12/06: NatureN: Global portal throws spotlight on open access movement -- United Nations website tracks international initiatives that provide free access to research

     The 2011 Climate Change Performance Index was released this week:

295. 2011/12/06: GermanWatch: [link to many pdfs] Climate Change Performance Index 2012

     The world inches toward creating a global legal framework for ecological crime:

296. 2011/12/10: AllAfrica:RNW: Climate Cases Surge - Time for a Climate Court?
     Pleas to set up an international climate court were frequently voiced at this week's climate talks in Durban. A climate court would enable victims of climate change to call the perpetrators to account. There is little chance of a court like this actually being realised, says Professor of International and European Environmental Law Jonathan Verschuuren, but in future more climate cases will end up in court. An NGO from Bangladesh is the latest in a long list of organisations, lawyers, professors and others to propose setting up a climate court. The reason for these proposals is that international environmental law has proved inadequate. It is nearly impossible to get the whole world to agree on legally binding obligations on global environmental issues such as climate change. No far-reaching agreements will be made in Durban. And a climate court will certainly not materialise. The world's industrialised countries have more sense than that. But this doesn't mean victims of climate change have no one to turn to. Already there are examples of legal proceedings against companies with high CO2 emissions and even against states. Such cases can be taken to two types of organisations: international human rights courts or national courts.
297. 2011/12/05: Guardian(UK): Climate change is a matter of justice
298. 2011/12/05: al Jazeera: In need of climate justice
     'The richest countries caused the problem, but it is the world's poorest who are suffering from the effects.'

John Cook and friends continue their point-counterpoint articles:

299. 2011/12/09: SkeptiSci: Plimer vs Plimer: a one man contradiction
300. 2011/12/11: SkeptiSci: (Fahrenheit) 451 ppm by Sphaerica
301. 2011/12/08: SkeptiSci: 2011 AGU Conference Day One by dana1981
302. 2011/12/07: SkeptiSci: It's Not About The Hockey Stick! [Dr. Richard Alley] by Rob Honeycutt
303. 2011/12/07: SkeptiSci: The Monckton Maneuver by Rob Honeycutt
304. 2011/12/06: SkeptiSci: Nils-Axel Mörner is Wrong About Sea Level Rise by dana1981
305. 2011/12/05: SkeptiSci: Separating signal and noise in climate warming by John Hartz

     Post CRU-Two....boredom:

306. 2011/12/06: CassandrasLegacy: Climategate 2.0: fool me once.....
307. 2011/12/08: QuarkSoup: Why the Climategate 2.0 Emails are Devastating
308. 2011/12/05: ABC(Au): Leaked emails confirm climate change questions
309. 2011/12/04: IJISH: SwiftHack 2.0: public clue trail goes cold, again

     A note on theFukushima disaster:

     It is evident that the Fukushima disaster is going to persist for some time. TEPCO says 6 to 9 months. The previous Japanese Prime Minister, Naoto Kan, said decades. Now the Japanese government is talking about 30 years. We'll see. At any rate this situation is not going to be resolved any time soon and deserves its own section.

     Not much good news coming out of Fukushima:

310. 2011/12/09: PlanetArk: TEPCO May Dump Decontaminated Water Into Sea
311. 2011/12/08: ProMedMail: Radiation, baby formula - Japan
312. 2011/12/09: NSF: Scientists Assess Radioactivity in the Ocean from Japan Nuclear Power Facility -- New study analyzes radioactivity from facility in first months after accident
313. 2011/12/10: EneNews: Kyodo: Baby food maker ignored info on cesium contamination for weeks -- Initially concluded "further investigation was unnecessary"
314. 2011/12/10: EneNews: NHK: Plant operators trying to find nuclear cores -- All fuel has melted through, much of it into containment vessel... So where's the rest? (VIDEO)
     * The fuel inside 3 reactors has melted through the bottoms of their furnaces
     * Plant operators try to identify where all the fuel has gone
     * Analysts estimate all of the fuel has melted through the furnace, much of it into the containment vessel
315. 2011/12/09: EneNews: AP: Nuclear fuel moved as it melted -- Little known about location and condition of reactor cores -- Limited info on spent fuel pools
316. 2011/12/08: EneNews: New Study: 'Fuel rod materials' may have been released when acid seawater interacted with ruptured fuel rods, carrying radioactive materials into ground -- "Full magnitude of release has not been well documented"
317. 2011/12/08: EneNews: Groundwater a likely source for continued flow of radiation into ocean -- "Complete melt through" so "not surprising" discharges continue, says study
318. 2011/12/08: EneNews: Fukushima Worker: Situation is totally out of control -- Nobody can actually measure the temperature of dropped nuclear fuel
319. 2011/12/09: BBC: Japan's Yukio Edano rebuffs Tepco bailout claim
     Japan's trade minister Yukio Edano has denied reports that troubled nuclear firm Tepco is about to receive a huge government bailout.
320. 2011/12/06: FukushimaDiary: Actual Fukushima worker talks: water purifying system has never worked
321. 2011/12/07: ABC(Au): Fukushima secrecy over workers and conditions
322. 2011/12/06: NYT: Japan Split on Hope for Vast Radiation Cleanup
     Futaba is a modern-day ghost town -- not a boomtown gone bust, not even entirely a victim of the devastating earthquake and tsunami that leveled other parts of Japan's northeast coast. Its traditional wooden homes have begun to sag and collapse since they were abandoned in March by residents fleeing the nuclear plant on the edge of town that began spiraling toward disaster. Roofs possibly damaged by the earth's shaking have let rain seep in, starting the rot that is eating at the houses from the inside. The roadway arch at the entrance to the empty town almost seems a taunt. It reads: "Nuclear energy: a correct understanding brings a prosperous lifestyle."
323. 2011/12/09: Asia Times: Returnees fear Fukushima's invisible touch
324. 2011/12/08: EneNews: Report: TEPCO to be "effectively nationalised" -- Shares plunge
325. 2011/12/08: EneNews: Radiation expert back from Japan: "Clear that the situation in Fukushima is rapidly spinning out of control" -- "Gov't doesn't know how to deal with the massive contamination"
326. 2011/12/06: NYT: Japan Split on Hope for Vast Radiation Cleanup
327. 2011/12/06: WHOI: Researchers Assess Radioactivity Released to the Ocean from the Fukushima Dai-Ichi Nuclear Power Facility
328. 2011/12/05: CCurrents: Fukushima Plant Leaks Radioactive Water
329. 2011/12/06: EneNews: AFP: Tepco says water with high levels of strontium leaked into Pacific
330. 2011/12/06: APR: Process water leakage at Fukushima Daiichi, and power lunch!
331. 2011/12/07: al Jazeera: Japanese firm recalls tainted baby milk
     Affected formula contains traces of radiation from Fukushima plant, but manufacturer says levels within safety limits.
332. 2011/12/06: CBC: Radiation traces found in Japanese baby formula
333. 2011/12/05: EneNews: Radio: Just a matter of time before molten core reaches groundwater at Fukushima, says architect of Reactor No. 3 (video)
334. 2011/12/06: EneNews: Japan Newspaper: Fukushima "world's largest nuclear disaster"
335. 2011/12/06: EneNews: Nuclear Expert: Tepco is admitting they are very close to China Syndrome at Fukushima, where melted fuel penetrates earth (video)
336. 2011/12/06: BBC: Japan's Meiji recalls baby milk after caesium find
     Japanese milk powder maker, Meiji, has recalled its baby formula after discovering radioactive caesium in the product.
337. 2011/12/05: BBerg: TEPCO Says More Radioactive Water Leaks at Fukushima Plant
338. 2011/12/05: CNN: Contaminated water found leaking at Japanese nuclear plant
     TEPCO says water in the area has a slightly elevated level of a radioactive material - The company is trying to see how much contaminated water may have reached the ocean - Sandbags are used to stop the leak, the operator says - A 9.0-magnitude earthquake and a subsequent tsunami damaged the plant in March
339. 2011/12/05: ABC(Au): Fukushima plant leaks radioactive water
     The operator of Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant says at least 45 tonnes of highly radioactive water has leaked from the facility, possibly into the Pacific Ocean. A statement by the operator TEPCO said workers noticed a leak in a purification device, with radioactive water escaping through a crack in a catchment wall. The leaking water contained about 1 million times as much strontium as the maximum safe level.
340. 2011/12/04: EneNews: German Radiation Expert: No way to stop nuclear fuel that's melted-through -- Can only pray it does not touch underground water vein (video)
341. 2011/12/05: EneNews: WSJ: New Leak Detected at Fukushima Plant -- Asahi: Strontium at 1,000,000 times gov't limit?

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

342. 2011/12/10: CleanBreak: Nuclear power at a crossroads
343. 2011/12/07: ChinaDaily: Nuclear power to become 'foundation' of country's electrical system

     The Arctic melt continues to garner a lot of attention:

344. 2011/12/09: OSU: 2010 Spike in Greenland ice loss lifted bedrock, GPS reveals
345. 2011/12/08: CBC: Sea ice shrank throughout Canada's Arctic waters
346. 2011/12/07: CCP: Global Warming Has Pushed the Arctic into a "New Normal," Report Says
347. 2011/12/10: CCP: Retreat of Greenland's Helheim Glacier
348. 2011/12/06: AFTIC: Upside down hockey stick
349. 2011/12/05: ASI: Arctic Report Card 2011

     As for the charismatic megafauna:

350. 2011/12/09: TreeHugger: More Polar Bears Turn to Cannibalism to Avoid Starvation
351. 2011/12/08: Grist: Polar bears may be driven to cannibalism by climate change
352. 2011/12/08: SciNow: Polar Bear Cannibalism on the Sea Ice
353. 2011/12/08: BBC: Polar bear 'cannibalism' pictured

     That Damoclean sword still hangs overhead:

354. 2011/12/10: GEB: Arctic Methane Alert

     As for the geopolitics of Arctic resources:

355. 2011/12/06: CBC: Soviets familiar with Canada's Arctic waters

     While in Antarctica:

356. 2011/12/07: Guardian(UK): Frozen Planet: On Thin Ice -- in [12] pictures
357. 2011/12/07: Guardian(UK): Frozen Planet: capturing the Wilkins ice shelf in full collapse
358. 2011/12/05: BBC: Antarctic's hidden world revealed -- Ever wondered what Antarctica would look like without all that ice?

     The food crisis is ongoing:

359. 2011/12/04: WFP: 7 Facts About Climate Change And Hunger
360. 2011/12/08: BPA: The Report on 2011 Input Costs for Farming from the USDA
361. 2011/12/09: Guardian(UK): Land of the free, home of the hungry
     Nowhere is the chasm between America's political class and its working poor more vast than in the demand to cut food stamps
362. 2011/12/09: AllAfrica: SW Radio: Zimbabwe: MDC Members Denied Government Inputs By Soldiers and Chiefs
     Seeds and fertilizer that are meant for all Zimbabweans under a presidential scheme are being distributed to ZANU PF members only, by soldiers and traditional chiefs campaigning for Robert Mugabe and ZANU PF in parts of Manicaland. Reporting from Chimanimani, SW Radio Africa's contact Peter explained that ZANU PF may feel they are fooling some villagers, but they are not, because the villagers are well informed. They know the inputs are supposed to be distributed to everyone, regardless of what party they support.
363. 2011/12/08: AllAfrica:AlertNet: Delayed Climate Deal a Risk to Food Production, AG Specialists Say
364. 2011/12/06: WSJ:RTE: Food Stamp Use on the Rise
365. 2011/12/06: BPA: FAO Report Warns About Fossil Fuel Dependence in Global Agriculture
366. 2011/12/05: CCurrents: The Slap That Failed To Shake The Nation
367. 2011/12/06: CBC: Mom shoots kids when denied food stamps
     A Texas woman unable to qualify for food stamps for months walked into a state welfare office with a gun, then shot her two children and killed herself during a seven-hour standoff, officials said Tuesday.
368. 2011/12/06: CBC: Wheat, canola crops hit record high -- Corn, soybean harvests declined
369. 2011/12/06: CBC: Overfishing dramatically depleting ocean stocks -- B.C. study says supply in northern waters down 90% since 1950s
370. 2011/12/05: SciNow: Tuna Stocks at Edge of Sustainability
371. 2011/12/05: Grist: Food Studies: The invisibility of modern hunger

     Food Prices are still problematic:

372. FAO: World Food Situation - Food Price Indices
373. 2011/12/08: UN: Food prices remain steady during November, UN agency reports
374. 2011/12/08: FAO: Food prices almost unchanged -- Record cereal harvest forecast
375. 2011/12/09: USAToday: Food prices likely to remain high as corn supply lags

     So, are these land grabs Colonialism V2.0?

376. 2011/12/05: TheEcologist: Biomass is the next biofuel 'land grab' on tropical forests, warn campaigners
     Just as biofuels have gobbled up farmland that should have been growing food so the push on biomass by Monsanto, Cargill and others will see an 'unprecedented' grab on land, plants and biodiverse-rich forests
377. 2011/12/07: EnergyBulletin: GRAIN calls for end to land grabbing at Swedish Parliament [Right Livelihood Award]

     Regarding the genetic modification of food:

378. 2011/12/06: Grist: Hungary destroys 1,000 acres of Monsanto maize

     And how are we going to feed 9 billion, 10 billion, 15 billion?

379. 2011/12/07: AlterNet: Bugs and Krill, the Other White Meats: Time to Start Eating at the Bottom of the Food Chain
380. 2011/12/08: Grist: New Agtivist: Edith Floyd is making a Detroit urban farm, empty lot by empty lot
381. 2011/12/07: EnergyBulletin: Review of FAO Issue Paper, Energy-Smart Food for People and Climate
382. 2011/12/07: UN: UN agency [WFP], Italian energy company [Enel] partner to combat hunger and climate change
383. 2011/12/06: UN: UN relief fund allocates $6 million to alleviate food crisis in Niger
384. 2011/12/07: NatureNB: Agricultural time travel: adapting through 'climate analogues'
385. 2011/12/07: CSM: A success story in parched India
     In India, the tiny village of Wankute agreed to manage its watershed and since then everything from crops to jobs and income have flourished.
386. 2011/12/05: DerSpiegel: Urban Agriculture -- Industrial-Sized Rooftop Farm Planned for Berlin
     It is hardly a logical spot for a farm, but three Berliners have earmarked a massive former factory roof for an unusual urban agriculture venture. The sustainable set-up will produce both vegetables and fish for local residents and could be a model for future city farms as the world continues to urbanize.
387. 2011/12/06: AlterNet: Occupy Your Food Supply: Radical Farmer's March Aims to Bridge Urban-Rural Divide, Focus in on "Food Justice"
388. 2011/12/05: UN: South-South cooperation crucial to guarantee food security - top UN official
389. 2011/12/02: IATP: The water, energy and food nexus

     Cyclone Alenga spun up in the Southern Indian Ocean, otherwise it has been quiet:

390. 2011/12/08: Eureka: NASA sees Alenga become a cyclone in the Southern Indian Ocean
391. 2011/12/07: Eureka: NASA sees Tropical Storm Alenga intensifying
392. 2011/12/06: NASA: NASA's TRMM Satellite Sees the Power in Tropical Storm Alenga [was TS01S]
393. 2011/12/05: NASA: NASA Sees Birth of First Southern Indian Ocean Season Tropical Storm
     The Southern Indian Ocean cyclone season is off and running and NASA's Aqua satellite saw the birth of Tropical Cyclone 01S.

While elsewhere in the hurricane wars:

394. 2011/12/07: Wunderground: CSU and TSR predict above average 2012 Atlantic hurricane season

     As for GHGs:

395. 2011/12/09: PlanetArk: Exxon Mobil Sees Global CO2 Emission Peak In 2030
396. 2011/12/04: FuturePundit: CO2 Emissions Soared In 2010
397. 2011/12/09: TreeHugger: Why We Should Really Be Talking About National Carbon Footprint, Not Just Carbon Emissions
398. 2011/12/07: NBF: Bridging the Carbon Dioxide Emissions Gap of 6 to 12 billion tons of CO2 per year by 2020
399. 2011/12/06: RawStory: World 'heading for 3.5 C warming': study
400. 2011/12/06: CCurrents: The Most Important News Story Of The Day/Millennium [McKibben]
401. 2011/12/07: CBC: Canada's fossil-fuel powerplants rapped
     Canada's fossil fuel-powered generating plants average higher greenhouse gas emissions for the same amount of electricity than American or Mexican stations, an international report has found. The figures, compiled by the commission that oversees the environmental portions of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), found that Canadian plants release an average of 0.9 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent for every megawatt-hour generated. That compares with 0.8 tonnes for U.S. plants and less than 0.7 tonnes for those in Mexico.
402. 2011/12/06: Guardian(UK): Poorer countries overtake rich world's consumption carbon footprint
403. 2011/12/06: EurActiv: Carbon dioxide emissions show record jump
     Carbon dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuels have soared in the last 20 years, giving the world much less chance of avoiding dangerous climate change, new data show.
404. 2011/12/05: CSIRO: Global Carbon Project annual emissions summary
     Global carbon dioxide emissions increased by a record 5.9 per cent in 2010 following the dampening effect of the 2008-2009 Global Financial Crisis (GFC), according to scientists working with the Global Carbon Project.
405. 2011/12/05: ORNL: Carbon dioxide emissions rebound quickly after global financial crisis
406. 2011/12/06: CBC: Deeper carbon emissions cuts called essential by UN -- 'We are losing time,' [UNEP] chief [Achim Steiner] says
407. 2011/12/06: CBC: Carbon dioxide emissions break growth records -- Emissions rebound fast from global financial crisis, driven by developing world
408. 2011/12/05: Guardian(UK): Carbon dioxide emissions show record jump
     Latest research on carbon dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuels shows they have increased by half in the last 20 years
409. 2011/12/05: GCP: Carbon Budget annual update
410. 2011/12/04: ITracker: 5.9%
411. 2011/12/05: ABC(Au): Study finds industry CO2 output rising
     On the rise Global carbon dioxide emissions from industry rose about three per cent despite a weak global economy, a new [GCP] study shows.
412. 2011/12/05: ABC(Au): Scientists shocked by record rise in carbon emissions
413. 2011/12/05: PlanetArk: Global Industry CO2 Output Rising Even In Weak Economy: Study
414. 2011/12/05: Grist: What record emissions growth really shows us
415. 2011/12/04: NatureNB: How the financial crisis barely dented carbon emissions
416. 2011/12/04: Eureka: Global carbon emissions reach record 10 billion tons -- threatening 2 degree target
417. 2011/12/05: OilChange: Record CO2 Emissions and a Deal by ... 2020
418. 2011/12/04: NBF: Global carbon emissions reach record 10 billion tonnes/ Over 36.7 billion tons of CO2 - threatening two degree target

     And the temperature record:

419. 2011/12/07: NOAANews: NOAA: Autumn and November both warmer than average in the United States -- U.S. sets record with a dozen billion-dollar weather disasters in one year
420. 2011/12/06: ERW: Rate of global warming 'remarkably steady' since 1979
     Removing short-term natural temperature changes from five data sets of global temperatures has revealed that underlying global warming rates have been "remarkably steady" from 1979 to 2010. The different data collections showed consistent warming trends of from 0.014 to 0.018 K per year, and no sign of any acceleration or deceleration in the rate of warming.
421. 2011/12/05: al Jazeera: Another hot year -- 2011 is one of the warmest on record

     While in the paleoclimate:

422. 2011/12/08: NASA: Paleoclimate Record Points Toward Potential Rapid Climate Changes
423. 2011/12/07: SciNow: Hide and Seek in the Cambrian
424. 2011/12/01: NSF: Path to Oxygen in Earth's Atmosphere: Long Series of Starts and Stops -- Rock cores from Northwest Russia provide new insights
425. 2011/12/05: Eureka: Early Earth may have been prone to deep freezes, says CU-Boulder study
426. 2011/12/05: BBC: Sediments drilled from beneath the Dead Sea reveal that this most remarkable of water bodies all but disappeared 120,000 years ago

     On the ENSO front:

427. 2011/12/08: NOAA:NCEP: El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) Diagnostic Discussion
     Synopsis: La Niña is expected to continue through the Northern Hemisphere winter 2011-12.
428. 2011/12/08: al Jazeera: La Nina expected to strengthen
     After little break from last season's La Nina event, countries prepare for more flooding while others drought

Regarding Climate Sensitivity:

429. 2011/12/06: USouthampton: Global sea surface temperature data provides new measure of climate sensitivity over the last half million years

     And the State of the Oceans:

430. 2011/12/09: TP:JR: Blue Carbon: The Role of Oceans in Climate Change
431. 2011/12/09: NOAA:NMFS: NOAA researcher collaborates on important study of how ocean dead zones are shrinking habitat for blue marlins, other tropical billfish and tunas
432. 2011/12/07: NatureN: Ocean conservation: Uncertain sanctuary
     Nations are racing to establish marine protected areas, but it's not clear whether many are living up to the name.

Meanwhile in near earth orbit:

433. 2011/12/07: NASA: Satellite Data Shows that Kirtland's Warblers Prefer Forests After Fire
434. 2011/12/08: BBC: UK to build atmospheric sentinel
     British industry has been contracted to build a major European satellite to monitor atmospheric composition. Known as Sentinel 5 Precursor (S5P), the spacecraft will track a range of chemical species, from protective gases such stratospheric ozone to damaging pollutants like sulphur dioxide. S5P is part of a series of Earth observation satellites being launched by the European Union this decade. The spacecraft is expected to go into orbit in early 2015.
435. 2011/12/06: NOAANews: NOAA activates GOES-15 satellite; deactivates GOES-11 after nearly 12 years in orbit
436. 2011/12/04: NBF: NASA satellites show 40% decline in SO2 values over the largest US coal power plants between 2005-2007 and 2008-2010

     More GW impacts are being seen:

437. 2011/12/09: QuarkSoup: Research study shows link between earthquakes and tropical cyclones
438. 2011/12/09: ABC(Au): Study links tropical cyclones to earthquakes
     Double disaster US researchers say they have found evidence that tropical cyclones in Haiti and Taiwan were followed by earthquakes, suggesting that heavy rains and landslides may unleash temblors.
439. 2011/12/08: NASA: Study Shows More Shrubbery in a Warming World
     Scientists have used satellite data from NASA-built Landsat missions to confirm that more than 20 years of warming temperatures in northern Quebec, Canada, have resulted in an increase in the amount and extent of shrubs and grasses.
440. 2011/12/10: Wunderground: Watch out for the bugs
441. 2011/11/17: Stanford: A squid mystery in Mexican waters is unraveled by a Stanford biologist and a class of biology students
     Stanford marine biologist William Gilly is studying Humboldt squid in Mexico's Sea of Cortez, where the creatures have been spawning at a much younger age and a far smaller size than normal. El Niño is apparently to blame.
442. 2011/12/09: P3: A Year for the Record Books
443. 2011/12/07: Grist: Study: The climate is changing faster than species can adapt
444. 2011/12/08: Eureka: Climate change driving tropical birds to higher elevations
445. 2011/12/07: TP:JR: Climate Change Harms Human Health
446. 2011/12/07: ABC(Au): Report details climate change in Pacific
     A new report shows for the first time detailed projections of the effects of climate change on the Pacific's 15 small island states. The three-year study by Australia's CSIRO and Bureau of Meteorology predicts increased air and sea temperatures, more extreme rainfall days, a more acidic ocean and rising sea levels
447. 2011/12/07: BBC: Butterflies: 72% of UK species in decline
448. 2011/12/05: Grist: The brutal logic of climate change
449. 2011/12/06: UNC: Is climate change altering humans' vacation plans?
     Plants' and animals' seasonal cycles, such as flowering dates and migration patterns, have shifted in recent decades due to climate change. Now a new study seems to indicate that some human weather-related behavior also is being influenced by global warming.
450. 2011/12/05: Eureka: Dust storms affect subsequent emergency hospital admissions
451. 2011/12/05: UN: UN study reveals impact of climate change in livelihoods in Sahel and West Africa
452. 2011/12/09: SciNews: Weather affects timing of some natural hazards -- Seasonal patterns in earthquakes and volcanic eruptions can be linked to rain and snow
453. 2011/12/05: PlanetArk: Gorillas, Tigers At Risk Due To Climate Change
454. 2011/12/05: Grist: Climate change finally hits Apple geeks where it hurts: Mac shortages
455. 2011/12/05: TreeHugger: Swiss Ski Season Start Stalled, As Alps Suffer From Driest Autumn on Record
456. 2011/12/05: CoralCOE: When the heat's on, fish can cope
457. 2011/12/05: Eureka: Study finds climate changes faster than species can adapt
458. 2011/12/04: Eureka: Global warming changes balance between parasite and host in fish -- new study
     Worms infecting fish grow 4 times faster at higher temperatures and manipulate the behavior of fish
459. 2011/12/05: BBC: Threatened species need farmland
     Several threatened species in the developing world are completely dependent on human agriculture for their survival, say scientists.

And then there are the world's forests:

460. 2011/12/08: UN: UN-led campaign that planted 12 billion trees worldwide starts new phase
461. 2011/12/09: UN: Loss of mountain forests would unleash serious socio-economic effects - UN
462. 2011/12/09: FAO: Mountain forests under threat -- FAO urges increased attention to conservation of highland forest ecosystems
463. 2011/12/09: CSM: Why deforesters could soon have freer rein in the Amazon
464. 2011/12/07: NatureN: Brazilian bill weakens Amazon protection -- Agricultural lobby praises passed law, but it could encourage deforestation
465. 2011/12/07: ScienceInsider: Controversial Changes to Forest Law Pass Brazilian Senate
466. 2011/12/07: BBC: Forest change risks climate goal
     Brazil's new Forest Code means it will struggle to meet its targets on curbing greenhouse emissions, according to a former environment minister.
467. 2011/12/06: PostMedia: 'It looks like Armageddon': The destruction of B.C. pine forests
468. 2011/12/07: BBC: Brazilian Senate eases Amazon protection rules
     The Brazilian Senate has approved controversial legislation that reforms rules on the amount of land farmers must preserve as forest. The bill, which now returns to the lower house, also eases fines for some previous illegal clearance if farmers commit to a reforestation programme. Supporters say Brazil needs land for food production, but environmentalists warn of increased Amazon destruction.
469. 2011/12/06: BBC: Brazil Amazon deforestation 'at lowest level in years' [only 6,238 square km disappeared between August 2010 and July 2011]
470. 2011/12/06: NatureNB: Brazil: Amazon deforestation declines to record low [deforestation from August 2010 to July of 2011 -- 6,238 square kilometres]
471. 2011/12/06: Grist: Amazon deforestation decreasing ... but not for long
472. 2011/12/06: UCSUSA: New Deforestation Data From Brazil Shows Continued Progress [only 6,238 km2 deforested in 2010-2011]
473. 2011/12/06: TreeHugger: "Clean" Energy Project in Amazon to Flatten Town and Rainforest: David de Rothschild Fights Back With Art
474. 2011/12/04: Guardian(UK): Britain spends £10m to fight deforestation in Brazil

     Yes we have no wacky weather, except:

475. 2011/12/10: BBC: Storm-hit North Sea oil vessels now 'safe'
     One of the vessels lost five of its ten anchors as the storm swept across the North Sea Two linked oil vessels which suffered anchor damage in severe storms have been reported to be "stable and safe" by their operators.
476. 2011/12/09: BBC: Scotland storm: Engineers battling to restore power
     Engineers are working into the night to reconnect thousands of homes left without electricity by severe storms in Scotland.
477. 2011/12/09: CBC: Howling winds, snow batter Newfoundland and Labrador -- Parts of Labrador blanketed by 40 centimetres of snow
478. 2011/12/08: BBC: Scotland storm: Work to restore power to homes
     Efforts are continuing to restore power to almost 60,000 homes in Scotland amid warnings of further severe weather. Gusting winds on Thursday reached up to 165mph, bringing down trees, closing roads and knocking out power lines.
479. 2011/12/07: BBC: Scottish government calls for school closures as gales threaten
     Scotland is preparing for severe winds, with gusts of up to 90mph being forecast.
480. 2011/12/07: BBC: Windy weather warning for Scotland and parts of England
     The UK is likely to be hit by strong winds across much of the country, the BBC Weather Centre has warned.
481. 2011/12/05: PlanetArk: High Winds Leave Thousands Without Power In California

     This week in the New Normal -- extreme weather:

482. 2011/12/09: CCP: Brad Johnson: Top Eight Climate Disasters During The Durban Climate Talks
483. 2011/12/07: CCP: 2011's Record Number of Billion Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters
484. 2011/12/07: KSJT: Wild weather in the U.S. sets a new record, NOAA says

     Corals are a bellwether of the ocean's health:

485. 2011/12/11: Grist: Is climate change hitting the world's coral reef epicenter?

     Glaciers are melting:

486. 2011/12/08: TreeHugger: Chilean Glacier Recedes Half-Mile in Just One Year
487. 2011/12/07: TreeHugger: French Glaciers Have Melted 25% Since The 1970s
488. 2011/12/06: BBC: French Alpine glaciers in retreat
     Glaciers in the French Alps have lost a quarter of their area in the past 40 years, according to new research. In the late 1960s/early 1970s, the ice fields slipping down Mont Blanc and the surrounding mountains of the European range covered some 375 sq km. By the late 2000s, this area had fallen to about 275 sq km.
489. 2011/12/05: TreeHugger: Himalayan Climate Change Impact Given "New Baseline" By New Reports
490. 2011/12/05: AdelaideNow: Scientists say Himalayan glaciers melting
     Glaciers in the Himalayas have shrunk by as much as a fifth in just 30 years and scientists say climate change is to blame.

Sea levels are rising:

491. 2011/12/08: ABC(Au): Locals gather on Funafui runway
492. 2011/12/10: ITracker: Sea Level

     As for hydrological cycle disruptions [floods & droughts]:

493. 2011/12/08: CNN: Peru finds new solution to an old problem
     Communities use "fog traps" in an arid land - The region is under heavy fog eight months a year - Nets trap the fog, condense it, and produce water right away
494. 2011/12/09: TP:JR: Climate Change Threatens Western States' Water Supplies
495. 2011/12/08: TCN: Collage of catastrophe: New statistics portray scope, toll of heat, drought
496. 2011/12/05: EnergyBulletin: The Parching of the West
497. 2011/12/02: ABC(US): Unusual Drought Triggers Alarm Across Balkans
     Ships stranded, crops in jeopardy, power shortages as drought hits eastern Europe
498. 2011/12/04: AlterNet: The Greatest Water Crisis in the History of Civilization: Coming to the American West?

     Elsewhere on the mitigation front:

499. 2011/12/08: Grist: The brutal logic of climate change mitigation
500. 2011/12/08: GEP: Biochar Fund Giving Biochar a Bad Name?
501. 2011/12/09: CCurrents: The Brutal Logic Of Climate Change Mitigation
502. 2011/12/05: TP:JR: To Avoid Expensive, Disruptive Rates of Emissions Cuts In Coming Decades World Must Strengthen 2020 Pledges Today

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

503. 2011/12/05: BNT: Ballard couple unveils Seattle's first zero-energy home

     As for carbon sequestration:

504. 2011/12/09: GEP: Even Higher Cost for Direct Air Capture
505. 2011/12/06: MIT: Carbon capture? Go for the source -- New analysis shows pulling CO2 from the air would not be cost-effective in the foreseeable future
506. 2011/12/07: NBF: New Study Says Carbon Capture will not be cost-effective for the foreseeable future
507. 2011/12/06: TP:JR: Economist Debate Concludes "Climate-Control Policies Cannot Rely on Carbon Capture and Storage"
508. 2011/12/05: SciNow: Capturing CO2 Too Costly to Combat Climate Change?

     Large scale geo-engineering keeps popping up:

509. 2011/12/05: GEP: New Spending in US and Australia
510. 2011/12/05: Guardian(UK): The clique that is trying to frame the global geoengineering debate
     Suspicious of the UN, resistant to regulation and leading inquiries -- how has this group become the 'go-to scientists'?

Meanwhile in the journals:

511. 2011/12/08: ACPD: Impact of mineral dust on cloud formation in a Saharan outflow region by L. Smoydzin et al.
512. 2011/12/07: ACPD: Evaluating the influences of biomass burning during 2006 BASE-ASIA: a regional chemical transport modeling by J. S. Fu et al.
513. 2011/12/05: ACPD: Hindcast experiments of tropospheric composition during the summer 2010 fires over Western Russia by V. Huijnen et al.
514. 2011/12/05: ACPD: Saharan dust event impacts on cloud formation and radiation over Western Europe by M. Bangert et al.
515. 2011/12/06: ESDD: Rolling stones; fast weathering of olivine in shallow seas for cost-effective CO2 capture and mitigation of global warming and ocean acidification by R. D. Schuiling & P. L. de Boer
516. 2011/12/09: CP: Late Holocene plant and climate evolution at Lake Yoa, northern Chad: pollen data and climate simulations by A.-M. Lézine et al.
517. 2011/12/08: CP: Quantifying sea surface temperature ranges of the Arabian Sea for the past 20 000 years by G. M. Ganssen et al.
518. 2011/12/09: CPD: Hydrometeorological extremes and their impacts, as derived from taxation records for south-eastern Moravia, Czech Republic, AD 1751-1900 by R. Brázdil et al.
519. 2011/12/08: CPD: Extreme pointer years in tree-ring records of Central Spain as evidence of volcanic eruptions (Huaynaputina, Peru, 1600 AC) and other climatic events by M. Génova
520. 2011/12/05: CPD: Snow and weather climatic control on snow avalanche occurrence fluctuations over 50 yr in the French Alps by H. Castebrunet et al.
521. 2011/12/05: NERC:NORA: Warming Alters the Metabolic Balance of Ecosystems by Gabriel Yvon-Durocher et al.
522. 2011/12/05: NERC:NORA: Modelling the impacts of a nitrogen pollution event on the biogeochemistry of an Arctic glacier by Tjarda J. Roberts et al.
523. 2011/12/06: NERC:NORA: Pre MIS 12 glaciations in Britain and Ireland: synchronisation with other European and circum North Atlantic ice sheets, and geological controls on their preservation by Jonathan Lee et al.
524. 2011/12/06: NERC:NORA: Terrestrial response to Milankovitch-scale climate change - multi-proxy lithological evidence from the Early and Middle Pleistocene of eastern England by Jonathan R. Lee et al.
525. 2011/12/07: NERC:NORA: Pronounced warmth during early Middle Pleistocene interglacials : investigating the Mid-Bruhnes Event in the British terrestrial sequence by I. Candy et al.
526. 2011/12/09: ACP: The influence of eruption season on the global aerosol evolution and radiative impact of tropical volcanic eruptions by M. Toohey et al.
527. 2011/12/09: ACP: Continental-scale enrichment of atmospheric 14CO2 from the nuclear power industry: potential impact on the estimation of fossil fuel-derived CO2 by H. D. Graven & N. Gruber
528. 2011/12/09: ACP: A method for evaluating bias in global measurements of CO2 total columns from space by D. Wunch et al.
529. 2011/12/09: ACPD: The 2009-2010 arctic stratospheric winter - general evolution, mountain waves and predictability of an operational weather forecast model by A. Dörnbrack et al.
530. 2011/12/09: ACPD: Parameterization of black carbon aging in the OsloCTM2 and implications for regional transport to the Arctic by M. T. Lund & T. Berntsen
531. 2011/12/09: ACPD: Modelling the effects of (short-term) solar variability on stratospheric chemistry by R. Muncaster et al.
532. 2011/12/09: ACPD: Geographic and seasonal distributions of CO transport pathways and their roles in determining CO centers in the upper troposphere by L. Huang et al.
533. 2011/12/07: OS: Extraction of spatial-temporal rules from mesoscale eddies in the South China Sea based on rough set theory by Y. Du et al.
534. 2011/12/09: OSD: Three-dimensional modelling of wave-induced current from the surf zone to the inner shelf by H. Michaud et al.
535. 2011/12/07: OSD: Characteristics of the seasonal cycle of surface layer salinity in the global ocean by F. M. Bingham et al.
536. 2011/12/08: TCD: Seasonal speed-up of two outlet glaciers of Austfonna, Svalbard, inferred from continuous GPS measurements by T. Dunse et al.
537. 2011/12/09: ACS: Impacts of the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plants on Marine Radioactivity by Ken Buesseler et al.
538. 2011/12/02: PLoS One: Pleistocene Climate, Phylogeny, and Climate Envelope Models: An Integrative Approach to Better Understand Species' Response to Climate Change by A. Michelle Lawing & P. David Polly
539. 2011/12/06: PNAS: (abs) Microbial methane production in oxygenated water column of an oligotrophic lake by Hans-Peter Grossart et al.
540. 2011/12/06: PNAS: (abs) Evolution and structure of sustainability science by LuÃs M. A. Bettencourt & Jasleen Kaur
541. 2011/12/06: PNAS: (ab$) Cesium-137 deposition and contamination of Japanese soils due to the Fukushima nuclear accident by Teppei J. Yasunari et al.
542. 2011/12/06: PNAS: (ab$) Assessment of individual radionuclide distributions from the Fukushima nuclear accident covering central-east Japan by Norikazu Kinoshita et al.
543. 2011/12/06: PNAS: (ab$) The role of terrestrially derived organic carbon in the coastal ocean: A changing paradigm and the priming effect by Thomas S. Bianchi
544. 2011/12/06: PNAS: (letter$) What kind of a science is sustainability science? by Robert W. Kates
545. 2011/12/06: PNAS: (letter$) Improving the scientific foundations for estimating health risks from the Fukushima incident by Edward Calabrese
546. 2011/12/07: Nature: (ab$) Acute vision in the giant Cambrian predator Anomalocaris and the origin of compound eyes by John R. Paterson et al.
547. 2011/12/05: GMD: Evaluation of a Global Vegetation Model using time series of satellite vegetation indices by F. Maignan et al.
548. 2011/12/05: GMDD: Set-up and preliminary results of mid-Pliocene climate simulations with CAM3.1 by Q. Yan et al.
549. 2011/12/05: GMDD: Supersaturation calculation in large eddy simulation models for prediction of the droplet number concentration by O. Thouron et al.
550. 2011/12/06: ERL: Global temperature evolution 1979-2010 by Grant Foster & Stefan Rahmstorf
551. 2011/12/05: AGWObserver: New research from last week 48/2011
552. 2009/09/09: GRL: (ab$) An observationally based energy balance for the Earth since 1950 by D. M. Murphy et al.
553. 2011/12/04: Nature:GeoSci: (ab$) Anthropogenic and natural warming inferred from changes in Earth's energy balance by Markus Huber & Reto Knutti

     And other significant documents:

554. 2011/12/: AMEG: [link to 10.1 meg pdf] Dec 2011 AGU - Arctic Methane Emergency Group
555. 2011/12/06: PI: [Link to 465k pdf] Evaluation of the Government of Canada's Greenhouse Gas Reduction Policies [for CCPI]
556. 2011/12/07: CAWCR: [links to many pdfs] Climate Change in the Pacific: Scientific Assessment and New Research

     As for miscellaneous science:

557. 2011/12/10: SkeptiSci: Huber and Knutti Quantify Man-Made Global Warming by dana1981
558. 2011/12/07: IsaacHeld: 20. The moist adiabat and tropical warming
559. 2011/12/06: NatureNB: Turkish scientists form breakaway academy
560. 2011/12/05: ScienceInsider: European Commission Confirms New Chief Science Adviser
     Two years after announcing that he will be appointing the European Union's first chief science adviser, European Commission President José Manuel Barroso has confirmed today that Scottish microbiologist Anne Glover will be taking up the job in January. (Science Insider reported Glover's pending appointment last week.) She will act as an independent adviser to Barroso on scientific issues and controversies.
561. 2011/12/04: EnergyBulletin: Recognizing good science when you see it: climate change seen by depletion scientists

     More DIY science:

562. 2011/12/08: moyhu: Nov temps displayed with HTML 5
563. 2011/12/05: moyhu: A Javascript Gallery

     What's new in models?

564. 2011/12/05: USNews: New Approach to Climate Modeling -- Center factors in variability of clouds
565. 2011/12/06: BBC: Urban ecology model 'needs to change'
     The way researchers assess urban ecology needs to change in order to take into account the way modern cities are developing, a study suggests.
566. 2011/12/06: BBC: Climate models yield confidence question
     Grand statements about climate change impacts are all very well for scientists - a global average temperature rise of so many degrees Celsius, a global change in precipitation of such-and-such percent. But no-one lives on the global average. We all have a home - and what might be very useful, be you a farmer or a city-dweller, would be some precise indications of what the future holds for your farm, your street, your village. It's precisely what many people here at the UN climate talks are worrying about.
567. 2011/12/05: Eureka: People matter in climate change models

     Regarding Hansen:

568. 2011/12/08: Independent(UK): Father of climate change: 2C limit is not enough
     Talks to limit global temperature rises to 2C will not prevent the possibility of dangerous climate change, warns the scientist who first raised the alarm over global warming. James Hansen, director of Nasa's Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York, said there was a widespread misconception among international climate negotiators meeting in Durban, South Africa, that the 2C "safe" target would stop extreme changes.

Regarding Mann:

569. 2011/12/05: CCP: Michael Mann, WSJ: Climate Contrarians Ignore Overwhelming Evidence
570. 2011/12/05: PSinclair: Perfect Timing! New "Hockey Stick" Video/Mike Mann in WSJ

     Regarding Curry:

571. 2011/12/07: ITracker: Why the decision to ignore Judith Curry isn't simple

     Meanwhile at the UN:

572. 2011/12/06: WMO: Renewable energy contributes to the Global Framework for Climate Services
     The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to jointly implement activities related to the assessment of renewable energy potentials.
573. 2011/12/09: WMO: WMO and South African Weather Service sign agreement for regional training centre
574. 2011/12/09: WMO: Norway and WMO sign an agreement to strengthen climate services in Africa
575. 2011/12/07: NBF: UN Recommended Actions against Soot, Methane and Ozone could save 2.5 million lives per year

     And on the carbon trading front:

576. 2011/12/08: Forbes: California Becoming World's Second Largest Carbon Market

     The Robin Hood tax, aka the Tobin tax, aka the Bank tax, aka the Financial Transaction tax keeps coming up:

577. 2011/12/07: WiC: The Robin Hood tax

     As the deadline for applying the EU-ETS to airlines draws near, we will see who is serious about reducing carbon emissions:

578. 2011/12/07: EurActiv: Ruling on airline carbon limits expected soon
     The European Union's highest court is expected to give its final ruling on Dec. 21 on a European law that would force all airlines to pay for their carbon emissions, an EU source said yesterday (6 December). The ruling was previously expected in early 2012. "It will be on December 21 at 1100 CET," an EU diplomatic source said at United Nations'
579. 2011/12/07: PlanetArk: EU Court To Rule On Airline CO2 Cap On December 21
     The European Union's highest court is expected to give its final ruling on December 21 on a European law that would force all airlines to pay for their carbon emissions, an EU source said on Tuesday. The ruling was previously expected early next year.

While in the solar panel trade war between China and the USA:

580. 2011/12/05: PlanetArk: China Says U.S. Solar Ruling Smacks Of Protectionism
581. 2011/12/04: BBerg: China Rejects U.S. Solar Imports Ruling
     China rejected a preliminary ruling by a U.S. trade panel that imports of Chinese solar panels are harming the domestic industry, saying the decision shows the country's "inclination to trade protectionism." The U.S. International Trade Commission on Dec. 2 took the first step toward imposing added tariffs on Chinese solar imports, voting unanimously in Washington on a petition by Bonn- based SolarWorld AG (SWV) that called for antidumping and countervailing duties. The commission will now hold a full investigation.

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

582. 2011/12/06: BBC: Failings over Mark Kennedy undercover officer case
     A prosecutor is to face disciplinary action for alleged failings over undercover police officer Mark Kennedy. But a report has cleared the Crown Prosecution Service of deliberately withholding information from climate activists who were on trial. Earlier this year, 20 people were cleared on appeal of trying to shut down the massive Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station in Nottinghamshire. A linked case collapsed when Mr Kennedy's existence emerged. Mr Kennedy was an undercover police officer who had spent seven years underground, infiltrating green groups.

What are the activists up to?

583. 2011/12/04: DeSmogBlog: The twisted logic, and ethics, of nature's opponents by David Suzuki

     Polls! We have polls!

584. 2011/12/09: TP:JR: Poll: Majority of Americans Understand Global Warming Worsens Extreme Weather and Want Nation to Act
585. 2011/12/09: ARBell: Britain, a nation of climate sceptics? Really?
586. 2011/12/09: TreeHugger: Most Americans Think We Can Afford to Fight Global Warming, Despite Crappy Economy
587. 2011/12/07: UMD: U.S. Believers Favor International Action on Climate Change, Nuclear Risk: UMD Poll
588. 2011/12/07: Guardian(UK): Public support for tackling climate change declines dramatically [in UK]
     Survey shows 17% fall in number of people who would pay 'much higher prices' for 'sake of the environment'

Regarding Water Politics and Business:

589. 2011/12/09: ABC(Au): Laos Mekong superdam put on hold
590. 2011/12/08: JFleck: A change in the Vegas business model
591. 2011/12/05: ERW: Insight: Korean water system faces major overhaul to withstand typhoons
592. 2011/12/07: CSW: Colorado Basin Institutions
593. 2011/12/08: BBC: Laos' Mekong Xayaburi dam plan delayed again
     A decision on a controversial plan to build a hydro-power dam on the Mekong River has been postponed pending further environmental studies. The project at Xayaburi in Laos would be the first to be built on the mainstream of the lower Mekong. Laos wants to sell most of the electricity to neighbouring Thailand. But Cambodia and Vietnam say the dam will hit fish stocks and threaten the livelihoods of millions of people downstream who depend on the river.
594. 2011/12/07: PlanetArk: Desalination Plant Could Make Israel Water Exporter [post 2013]
595. 2011/12/07: PlanetArk: Pennsylvania Village Fights Cut In Water Supply
     Residents of Dimock, a small village in northern Pennsylvania, are set for a legal battle to restore their water supply after an oil and gas company blamed for polluting wells stopped trucking in fresh water last week.

Among the world's religions:

596. 2011/12/07: CCP: A climatologist in West Texas, Katharine Hayhoe, takes on skeptics with scientific data -- and her own faith as an evangelical Christian

     Ethics? You want to talk about ethics?

597. 2011/12/09: CCurrents: Is Terminating The Industrial Economy A Moral Act?

     And on the American political front:

598. 2011/12/09: PlanetArk: California Proposes Rules To Spur Clean Car Growth
599. 2011/12/09: Grist: Bonneville Power unfairly favored hydro over wind, rules FERC
600. 2011/12/09: LA Times: Ignoring a global warning -- Those in the U.S. who deny climate change have nothing on Nero
601. 2011/12/07: UCSUSA: California Releases Comprehensive Plan for Clean Car Future
602. 2011/12/07: Oregonian: Regulators tell Bonneville Power Administration to stop pulling the plug on wind farms
603. 2011/12/07: EnergyBulletin: 'Net Energy' ignorance reigns on Capitol Hill
604. 2011/12/10: ERabett:BDS: Glenn Greenwald is primarily responsible for the failure of progressive legislation since 2008
605. 2011/12/07: CBC: U.S. Arctic drilling target of TV ads
606. 2011/12/06: Grist: Sow seeds, not greed: Farmers gather on Wall Street
607. 2011/12/06: P3: The "contrived phony mess that is falling apart" that won't go away
608. 2011/12/06: TP:JR: What Are the Near-Term Climate Pearl Harbors? What Will Take Us from Procrastination to Action?
609. 2011/12/05: CSW: "Smog Rules"

     The BP disaster continues to twist US politics:

610. 2011/12/09: Grist: Sea change: Asian Americans and seafood in the gulf [Part 1]
611. 2011/12/08: NatureNB: Gulf of Mexico gets $50 million to improve water quality
612. 2011/12/06: Guardian(UK): BP accuses Halliburton over Gulf of Mexico oil spill
613. 2011/12/05: CNN: BP says Halliburton 'intentionally destroyed evidence' after Gulf oil spill
     Halliburton was a contractor for BP at the ill-fated Deepwater Horizon oil drilling operation - BP and its contractors have been locked in legal battles since last year - An explosion aboard the Deepwater Horizon killed 11 and injured 16 - The explosion led to more than 200 million gallons of oil being released into the Gulf of Mexico
614. 2011/12/06: DeSmogBlog: BP Accuses Halliburton Of Destroying Evidence In Gulf Deepwater Horizon Disaster
615. 2011/12/06: Grist: White House goals for cleaning the Gulf: Fix stuff
616. 2011/12/06: Grist: Bad guys bicker over Gulf oil spill
617. 2011/12/06: NOAANews: Challenges to assuring the health of the Gulf of Mexico
     State of the Gulf Summit 2011 - Houston, TX -- Jane Lubchenco, Ph.D., Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans & Atmosphere and NOAA Administrator
618. 2011/12/05: Reuters: BP says Halliburton destroyed Gulf spill evidence
     BP Plc accused Halliburton Co of destroying evidence that the oilfield services company did inadequate cement work on the Gulf of Mexico oil well that blew out last year, and asked a federal judge to punish Halliburton.
619. 2011/12/06: al Jazeera: BP accuses Halliburton of hiding evidence
     Oil giant accuses Halliburton of destroying evidence showing sub-standard cement work led to Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
620. 2011/12/06: CSM: BP says Halliburton destroyed evidence behind Gulf oil spill
621. 2011/12/06: BBC: Halliburton 'destroyed' Gulf of Mexico spill evidence
     Oil giant BP has accused oilfields services firm Halliburton of destroying damaging evidence relating to last year's oil well blast in the Gulf of Mexico in which 11 people were killed.
622. 2011/12/05: WpgFP: BP: Halliburton 'intentionally destroyed' damaging evidence about work on well before spill

     On the 2012 campaign trail:

623. 2011/12/08: ABC(Au):TDU: 2016 holds hope for Republicans
624. 2011/12/11: JQuiggin: The show just goes on, and on
625. 2011/12/07: TWTB: Moving slowly and avoiding whiplash: John Huntsman and Climate Edition
626. 2011/12/07: TP:JR: Call Jon Huntsman "Crazy": He Flips on Climate Science (and Earns an F in Geography). UPDATE: Huntsman Mostly Flops Back
627. 2011/12/06: TreeHugger: The Last Climate Science-Respecting GOP Candidate Turns to Denial
628. 2011/12/06: PSinclair: One Flew Back to the Cuckoo's Nest -- Huntsman Lobotomizes Self
629. 2011/12/05: TP:JR: Newt Gingrich Wins Rare Upside Down Pinocchio for Fibbing on his Cap-and-Trade Flip-Flop
630. 2011/12/02: SST: The GOP Menagerie

     The Keystone XL pipeline is back because the Republicans are trying to tie it to the Payroll Tax Cut:

631. 2011/12/09: TP:JR: House GOP Hold Tax Cut Hostage to Keystone XL Pipeline, Based on Discredited Job Numbers
632. 2011/12/09: PlanetArk: Republicans Tie Keystone Pipe To Tax Cut Bill
633. 2011/12/09: PostMedia: Republicans try to force Obama's hand on Keystone -- GOP bill would force decision in one month
634. 2011/12/07: TP:JR: Obama: "Any Effort to Tie Keystone to the Payroll Tax Cut, I Will Reject"
635. 2011/12/07: PlanetArk: Keep Pipeline Out Of Tax Cuts, Senators Tell Reid
     Five U.S. senators urged Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to reject Republican efforts to make approval of the Keystone XL pipeline part of a payroll tax cut bill expected to pass through Congress in the next two weeks. Last week Republicans in the House of Representatives said they would include a measure in the payroll tax cut bill that would give the power to approve the $7 billion Canada-to-Texas pipeline to an energy regulator, taking the decision out of the hands of the administration of Democratic President Barack Obama.
636. 2011/12/05: CBC: Keystone XL could make comeback

     The EPA announced the results of a Wyoming fracking study this week:

637. 2011/12/09: Guardian(UK): Shale gas drilling's dirty secret is out
     The EPA's findings about fracking's contamination of ground water have sent a shockwave through a gas industry in denial
638. 2011/12/08: EPA: EPA Releases Draft Findings of Pavillion, Wyoming Ground Water Investigation for Public Comment and Independent Scientific Review
639. 2011/12/09: PlanetArk: EPA Says Fracking Likely Polluted Wyoming Aquifer
640. 2011/12/10: TreeHugger: Shocking Revelation: EPA Declares 'Fracking May Be To Blame For Causing Groundwater Pollution'
641. 2011/12/08: NYT: E.P.A. Links Tainted Water in Wyoming to Hydraulic Fracturing for Natural Gas
642. 2011/12/09: Tyee: US Study Casts Pall over BC's Shale Gas Biz
     Despite industry safety assurances, EPA finds hydraulic fracturing fluids in drinking water.
643. 2011/12/08: TP:JR: EPA Implicates Fracking in Groundwater Pollution at Wyoming Gas Field
644. 2011/12/08: DeSmogBlog: EPA Connects Dots Between Groundwater Contamination and Fracking in Wyoming
645. 2011/12/08: CBC: Fracking likely linked to groundwater pollution in U.S.

     Katherine Sebilius vetoed a freely available "Plan B" morning-after pill:

646. 2011/12/08: ScienceInsider: Plan B Ruling Ignores Solid Science, Says FDA Head
647. 2011/12/08: UCSUSA: UCS Questions Whether Plan B Decision Was Based on Data or Politics
648. 2011/12/07: Slate: Sebelius Overrules FDA on Plan B
649. 2011/12/08: AlterNet: Obama's Cowardly Capitulation to Religious Right-Wingers Scared of Sex
650. 2011/12/08: LFR: Morning after madness. Kansasanine Katherine Sebilius vetoes FDA-recommended morning-after pill
651. 2011/12/08: KSJT: HHS Sec overrules FDA: Who's right, and where's the evidence?
652. 2011/12/07: NatureNB: US denies young teens easy access to morning after pill
653. 2011/12/08: CBC: No morning-after pill sales without script in U.S.
     In a surprise move, the U.S. health secretary stopped the Plan B morning-after pill from moving onto drugstore shelves next to the condoms. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration was preparing to lift a controversial age limit and make Plan B One-Step the nation's first over-the-counter emergency contraceptive, available for purchase by people of any age without a prescription. The U.S. health secretary said she doesn't believe there is enough data to support making Plan B One-Step available over-the-counter for all girls of reproductive age.The U.S. health secretary said she doesn't believe there is enough data to support making Plan B One-Step available over-the-counter for all girls of reproductive age. Seth Perlman/Associated Press But Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius intervened at the eleventh hour on Wednesday and overruled her own experts. Plan B instead will remain behind the pharmacy counter, as it is sold today -- available without a prescription only for those 17 and older who show an ID proving their age.

The Obama chatter is nonstop:

654. 2011/12/08: DeSmogBlog: Climate Denier Marc Morano Praises "George W. Obama" at COP17
655. 2011/12/09: DemNow: Obama Admin Denounced for "Startling Level of Obstructionism and Defeatism" on U.N. Climate Deal
656. 2011/12/08: DemNow: "His Nickname Is George W. Obama": Leading Climate Change Denier Embraces U.S. Stance at U.N. Talks
657. 2011/12/07: DemNow: Nobel-Winning IPCC Chair Rajendra Pachauri Urges Obama to "Listen to Science" on Global Warming

     The actions of the Obama administration are being watched closely:

658. 2011/12/08: GreenGrok: EPA Chief Lisa Jackson's Not Done Yet
659. 2011/12/08: ScienceInsider: ARPA-E's [Arun] Majumdar Takes First Step Toward No. 3 Post at Energy
660. 2011/12/09: NBF: NRC battle Jaczko vs. fellow commissioners
661. 2011/12/10: EneNews: NRC Chairman says commission 'not as protective of public health and safety as I believe is necessary' -- Commissioners claim his behavior is increasingly 'erratic', causing 'serious damage'
662. 2011/12/08: WaPo: After complaint, he landed in basement
     Walt Tamosaitis thought he was doing the right thing when he blew the whistle on problems with an Energy Department project. He was banished to the basement for his trouble. The Richland, Wash., engineer was working as a federal contractor on the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant (WTP) project, which he described as "our nation's most contaminated facility, containing two-thirds of the nation's high level nuclear waste." It's an Energy Department program, run by Bechtel Corp. and URS Corp. as the prime subcontractors. Tamosaitis said the objective "is to put 56 million gallons of hazardous nuclear waste into a stable waste form to eliminate an environmental and safety threat." Tamosaitis fully supports that objective, but he wants it done right. So in June 2010, he submitted a long list of technical issues that needed attention. "I am opposed to efforts to cut corners in order to meet artificial deadlines in order to earn fees," he said in congressional testimony Tuesday. His efforts apparently were not appreciated. "I was suddenly terminated from the WTP job and escorted off the premises after I continued to raise valid safety and technical concerns," he said.
663. 2011/12/08: NatureNB: US oceans and atmosphere agency releases scientific integrity policy
664. 2011/12/07: NOAANews: NOAA issues scientific integrity policy
665. 2011/12/07: CCP: Michael Bromwich says his oil industry savvy 'could fit in a thimble' when he was named offshore drilling regulator
666. 2011/12/07: CCP: Offshore drilling safety chief, Michael Bromwich, leaving Obama administration
667. 2011/12/07: TP:JR: Obama Gets Efficient: $4 Billion For Energy Efficient Building Upgrades
668. 2011/12/07: UCSUSA: NOAA Boosts Scientific Integrity with New Policy -- White House Leadership Needed to Tackle Greater Issues
669. 2011/12/06: DeSmogBlog: Bowing to Republican Pressure, EPA Eases Boiler Emission Standards, Threatening U.S. Economy and Health

     As for what is going on in Congress:

670. 2011/12/08: TreeHugger: RIP, American High Speed Rail
     Obama's $8 billion effort to kickstart high speed rail development across the nation, beloved by cleantech and transit enthusiasts everywhere, has more or less collapsed. Two weeks ago, Congress voted to strip most of that funding from the budget, leaving only a few projects to continue.
671. 2011/12/09: DeSmogBlog: Congressmembers Implicated in Insider Stock Trading on TransCanada, Keystone XL Pipeline
672. 2011/12/09: DeSmogBlog: House Republicans Working On Huge Polluter Giveaways
673. 2011/12/09: Guardian(UK): Land of the free, home of the hungry
     Nowhere is the chasm between America's political class and its working poor more vast than in the demand to cut food stamps
674. 2011/12/07: ScienceInsider: Gulf Restoration Bill Gets House Hearing, But Obstacles Remain
675. 2011/12/07: OilChange: "Liability" Don Young Faces Ethics Probe [congress]
676. 2011/12/05: BPA: The 2012 Farm Bill: Another Can Kicked Down the Road
677. 2011/12/04: FoodPolitics: Farm bill needs a major overhaul

     What are the lobbyists pushing?

678. 2011/12/08: TP:JR: Koch-Fueled Americans for Prosperity Takes Credit for Bullying GOP Lawmakers into Climate Denial
679. 2011/12/07: CCP: BP, ConocoPhillips renew calls for Alaska oil tax cut

     While in the UK:

680. 2011/12/08: Guardian(UK): Scottish plan to cut CO2 emissions could cost £11bn, warns watchdog
681. 2011/12/07: Guardian(UK): UK government climate advisers call for biomass push
682. 2011/12/07: Guardian(UK): MPs demand clarity on carbon capture funding
     Energy and climate change committee chair Tim Yeo tells of shock at decision to shift £1bn CCS funding to infrastructure budget
683. 2011/12/07: Guardian(UK): [Letters] Sellafield and the selling of nuclear 'solutions'
684. 2011/12/05: Guardian(UK): UK government shared intelligence with nuclear industry, documents show
685. 2011/12/05: Guardian(UK): Met Office warns of UK climate risks
686. 2011/12/05: Guardian(UK): Energy companies have lent more than 50 staff to government departments
     Oil and nuclear industries' presence throughout Whitehall exposed by Green MP, who warns of undue influence on policy
687. 2011/12/05: NatureN: Why has Britain done a U-turn on plutonium?
     Is there any logic behind the decision to convert Britain's stockpile of plutonium into fuel for future reactors?

And in Europe:

688. 2011/12/08: EurActiv: Energy efficiency faces storm of ideas, funding remains taboo
     The proposed Energy Efficiency Directive, the focus of the upcoming Danish EU presidency, is lacking key details in its current form, one of which is funding.
689. 2011/12/09: Guardian(UK): The EU's climate evangelism has got us nowhere
690. 2011/12/08: TreeHugger: Controversial German [Stuttgart 21] Rail Project Approved Over Green Party Opposition
691. 2011/12/07: EurActiv: Canada's tar sands lobbying gets murky
692. 2011/12/05: EurActiv: Switzerland warned over energy isolation
     Switzerland is at risk of energy isolation in Europe because of its position outside the EU, according to Jean Arnold Vinois, the acting director of the EU's internal energy market directorate.
693. 2011/12/05: ScienceInsider: European Commission Confirms New Chief Science Adviser

     Meanwhile in Australia:

694. 2011/12/11: ABC(Au): Nuns join campaign against CSG mine
     A group of reclusive nuns in New South Wales has unexpectedly joined activists protesting against the coal seam gas industry. Miner AGL plans to build six gas wells adjacent to the Carmelite nuns' convent in south-west Sydney. Sister Jocelyn Kramer told a New South Wales Upper House inquiry at Mittagong in the Southern Highlands that the wells will dramatically reduce their quality of life.
695. 2011/12/09: ABC(Au): One million trees plan for Geraldton
696. 2011/12/09: ABC(Au): Fracking sparks fears for aquifers
697. 2011/12/08: TP:JR: Australian Green Party Leader: U.S. Climate Denial Machine "Being Directed Straight into Australia" Via Murdoch's News Corp
698. 2011/12/08: ABC(Au): CSG mine leaking dangerous levels of chemicals: green group
     Environmentalists say a coal seam gas site in north-central New South Wales is discharging water with high levels of ammonia into the Murray-Darling river system.
699. 2011/12/08: ABC(Au): Fewer turbines for wind farm near Barossa
     The company behind a planned wind farm at Keyneton, west of Sedan in South Australia, says that project will now have 15 fewer turbines.
700. 2011/12/07: ABC(Au): Gloucester CSG blockade continues
     A group of Gloucester landowners blockading a coal seam gas (CSG) mining project says it is determined to continue its action. The residents are trying to prevent AGL moving drilling equipment onto a property where it has development approval for a 110-well gas field. A Gloucester vineyard owner, Robyn Dugas, says the group spent another night blocking access to the property. She says it is expected police will try and break up the blockade today.
701. 2011/12/06: PeakEnergy: Chart of Australian Oil Consumption and Production
702. 2011/12/06: al Jazeera: Australia downplays arms control ruminations
     NAJ Taylor follows up on his two-part essay on the concerns of Australia selling uranium to India.
703. 2011/12/05: ABC(Au): Council makes bid for $5m seawalls revamp
     The Torres Strait Island Regional Council says it has started work on a project to upgrade seawalls, despite no commitment from the Federal Government to fund the project.
704. 2011/12/05: ABC(Au): Mixed reaction to CSG moratorium
     Gloucester Basin opponents of coal seam gas (CSG) mining are not reassured by the New South Wales Government CSG moratorium. The State Government has extended a moratorium on CSG activity from the end of December 2011 until April 2012 and will also review fracking, a gas extraction method.
705. 2011/12/05: ABC(Au): SA leaders argue about climate for uranium sales
     South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill says Australia should promote nuclear power in developing countries as a way of tackling climate change.

The carbon bill has passed the House and the Senate. Now comes the implementation:

706. 2011/12/08: ABC(Au):TDU: Double dipping on the carbon tax

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

707. 2011/12/09: ABC(Au): Cracks spark call for coal mining halt
708. 2011/12/09: ABC(Au): Murray flow more than double entitlement
709. 2011/12/08: ABC(Au): Murray group says basin plan better without figures
710. 2011/12/06: ABC(Au): Narrandera dam still being investigated
     The New South Wales Primary Industries Minister has joined the Water Commissioner in calling for local water saving ideas, to help ease the impact of the Murray-Darling Basin plan.
711. 2011/12/06: ABC(Au): [South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill] leads talks on Murray water plan
712. 2011/12/05: ABC(Au): Basin plan 'not good enough'
     A meeting of about 400 members of the Griffith community has overwhelmingly rejected the draft Murray-Darling Basin Plan.

While in the Indian subcontinent:

713. 2011/12/05: CCurrents: The Slap That Failed To Shake The Nation
714. 2011/12/05: CCurrents: When Media Is Nuked!

     And in China:

715. 2011/12/09: TP:JR: Reading China's Climate Change Tea Leaves
716. 2011/12/05: CER:RRapier: China to Embrace Fracking In an Effort to Ramp up Energy Production
717. 2011/12/07: ChinaDaily: Nuclear power to become 'foundation' of country's electrical system
     China will make nuclear energy the foundation of its power-generation system in the next 10 to 20 years, said a senior official on Tuesday. The country will increase generation capacity by 2 billion kilowatts (kW) during that period, with as much as 300 million kW coming from nuclear power, said Shi Lishan, deputy director of the National Energy Administration's new-energy and renewable energy department, at the 21st Century Low-Carbon Chinese Development Summit held in Beijing on Tuesday. He said renewable energy will account for a greater proportion of the energy consumed during the 12th Five Year Plan (2011-2015) period. China now has 40 million kW of nuclear capacity, and an industry insider said it will have to add another 26 million kW each year to reach its goal. Achieving that will force the country to spend about 800 billion yuan ($125 billion) annually in the next 10 to 20 years.
718. 2011/12/08: al Jazeera: Travellers wait out the smog
     Beijing airports cancel hundreds of flights due to dense smog across the region.
719. 2011/12/07: TP:JR: While International Negotiators Deal with China's Carbon, Chinese Citizens Deal With Impacts Closer to Home [China pol]
720. 2011/12/06: NatureN: China pushes to rule the waves -- Launch of huge Kexue research vessel could put country at forefront of ocean science

     While elsewhere in Asia:

721. 2011/12/09: DVoice: Pakistani Editorial Says Nuclear War with India "Inevitable" as Water Dispute Continues

     In the Middle East:

722. 2011/12/09: ScienceInsider: Controversial Turkish Internet Censorship Program Targets Evolution Sites
723. 2011/12/08: CCurrents: Iran: Possible Implications Of An Oil Embargo
724. 2011/12/06: CCurrents: Saudi Arabia - Headed For A Downfall?

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

725. 2011/12/06: NUPGE: Parliamentary review of Canadian Environmental Assessment Act abruptly terminated
     Environmental groups are expressing shock over the abrupt termination of the Parliamentary review of the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act (CEAA). Committee hearings scheduled for Nov. 29 were cancelled without warning, and written submissions are no longer being accepted. "The House of Commons Environment and Sustainable Development Committee has apparently been told to abandon half-way the job that it is legally required to do," said MiningWatch Canada's Jamie Kneen. "It seems the government has now given its MPs -- and the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency -- marching orders to implement its agenda of eliminating federal environmental assessment requirements. We can only conclude that the hatchets are being sharpened behind closed doors to dismember this key federal law."
726. 2011/12/07: HillTimes: Tory government using 'authoritarian tactics' to push through Wheat Board, long-gun registry bills, says Mendes
     The Conservative government is using "authoritarian tactics" by overriding existing laws to deliver on longstanding promises to the Conservative Party's base in Western Canada, a leading expert in constitutional law says. A Federal Court ruling Wednesday found the government's rush to end the Canadian Wheat Board's powers without consulting grain growers, as required by the existing Wheat Board Act, is an "affront to the rule of law."
727. 2011/12/07: iPolitics: Transport officials reveal $170M
     Nearly 20 per cent of the federal government's Green Infrastructure Fund has been quietly diverted to such things as oil and gas exploration, a natural gas pipeline and grants to forestry companies, top officials revealed Wednesday. Testifying before members of the transport committee, Deputy Transport Minister Yaprak Baltacioglu said $617 million of the $1 billion fund has been committed to 17 projects, but $170 million of the fund has been used for things unrelated to green infrastructure.
728. 2011/12/05: TRPS: Dude, Where's Our Climate Policy?

     The G20 controversy lingers:

729. 2011/12/09: TStar: [Ontario] Liberals set to replace G20 'secret law'
     Ontario is moving forward with legislation to replace the controversial "G20 secret law" in the New Year, the Star has learned. Community Safety Minister Madeleine Meilleur said Thursday the bill is a top priority and she is hopeful the minority Liberals can gain support from the Progressive Conservatives and New Democrats when it is introduced in the parliamentary session that begins Feb. 21. "Because of the impact that the G20 incident had on everyone, it's important to make sure that we consult everyone and we have it right," Meilleur said in an interview. The obscure 1939 Public Works Protection Act, enacted to secure against Nazi saboteurs early in World War II, was used to quietly pass a regulation giving police broad powers of arrest during the June 2010 G20 summit of world leaders in Toronto.
730. 2011/12/08: LinchPin: Ryan Rainville's Statement to the Courts
731. 2011/12/02: MediaCoop: The G20 Papers: Links to articles based on summit security Documents

     Canada at Durban:

732. 2011/12/02: BBerg: Canada May Miss $6.7 Billion Carbon Offset Bill by Exiting Kyoto Protocol
733. 2011/12/10: G&M: Kent defends himself against India's scorn at marathon climate talks
     With exhausted negotiators still unable to reach agreement at the Durban climate talks, Canadian environment minister Peter Kent is defending himself against a scathing attack from an Indian minister who was angered by Canada's criticism of the major developing nations.
     [...]
     According to a report in the Times of India, Ms. Natarajan said she was "astonished and disturbed" that the Canadian government had signed the Kyoto climate treaty and then "junked" the treaty "in a cavalier manner...without even a polite goodbye."
734. 2011/12/10: LFR: Just what Canada needs at Durban - another Conservative asshole
735. 2011/12/10: CBC: Canadian environment minister rebukes India remark -- Indian minister gets standing ovation for Durban speech
736. 2011/12/06: PI:B: Canada's performance and positions in Durban
737. 2011/12/09: THW: Peter Kent: Let's do Nothing!
738. 2011/12/07: EmbassyMag: Diplomats decry Canada's Kyoto wavering -- Brazil, India, and Germany all favour Kyoto over withdrawal
739. 2011/12/09: G&M: Will Canada be left behind on climate change?
740. 2011/12/08: CBC: Kent supports broader climate deal by 2015
     Green Party Leader Elizabeth May says climate talks 'easier if Canada is not in the room"
741. 2011/12/08: DeSmogBlog: Will Durban Climate Talks Leave Us On the Wrong Side of History?
742. 2011/12/08: OilChange: "Time to Leave 'Fossil' Canada Behind"
743. 2011/12/08: NorRe: Canada At Durban
744. 2011/12/08: 350orBust: Canadian Government Reminded To Stop Their "Fuelish" Ways
745. 2011/12/07: BBC: Canada wins few friends on climate
746. 2011/12/07: CBC: Kent's climate change speech disrupted by protest -- 'Kyoto, for Canada, is in the past,' says environment minister
747. 2011/12/05: PostMedia: Ditching Kyoto bad for Canada's reputation
     Canada risks irreparably damaging its global reputation by walking away from the Kyoto Protocol, said environmental and industry representatives. Federal Environment Minister Peter Kent confirmed Monday that Canada would not support the second phase of the international agreement on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, focusing instead on the Copenhagen and Cancun agreements.
748. 2011/12/06: TStar: Score one for Harper's climate-change wrecking crew
     The Kyoto accord on climate change is flawed. Many of its signatories, including Canada, have not lived up to its goals. The United States has refused to ratify it. But it exists. This is its virtue. It remains the only international pact on global warming that virtually all countries of the world have agreed on. That is why it is so depressing to see Canada's Conservative government doing its utmost at this week's climate-change conference in Durban, South Africa, to deep-six Kyoto.
749. 2011/12/06: CBC: Kyoto pull-out won't come this week, Canada vows
750. 2011/12/05: TStar: China's climate compromise won't woo Canada back into Kyoto: Kent
     Canada won't be shifted off its anti-Kyoto stance even with a new concession that could see the world's largest emitter, China, pledge to cut its greenhouse gases. The Conservative government's long-standing goal in global climate negotiations has been to replace the Kyoto Protocol with a signed deal that binds all countries with large greenhouse gas outputs to lower their emissions. China took a huge step toward that eventual deal, on the condition that developed countries take on new commitments after 2012 under the Kyoto Protocol. In response, Canada scoffed.
751. 2011/12/06: 350orBust: Durban: "Down With Canada"
752. 2011/12/05: PostMedia: Ditching Kyoto called bad for Canada's reputation -- Canadian environmental and industry players question move
     Canada risks irreparably damaging its global reputation by walking away from the Kyoto Protocol, said environmental and industry representatives. Federal Environment Minister Peter Kent confirmed Monday that Canada would not support the second phase of the international agreement on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, focusing instead the Copenhagen and Cancun agreements.
753. 2011/12/05: CBC: China's climate concession won't move Canada on Kyoto
754. 2011/12/05: Impolitical: Opposition MP part of official delegation in Durban
     Yep, Green Party MP Elizabeth May is an official delegate for Papua New Guinea.
755. 2011/12/05: YDM: Canada denies "arm-twisting" in UN climate talks
756. 2011/12/04: CBC: Canada slammed at Durban climate talks

     The battle over the Keystone XL and Northern Gateway pipelines rages on:

757. 2011/12/06: PI:B: Raising the bar on the Gateway pipeline
758. 2011/12/08: PlanetArk: Enbridge Pipeline Deal With Native Group Fraying
759. 2011/12/07: TreeHugger: Canada's Northern Gateway Tar Sands Pipeline Decision Delayed Until 2013
760. 2011/12/06: PostMedia: Protests won't stop Northern Gateway pipeline, minister says
     The oil industry's "nation-building" attempt to link Canada's vast oilsands resources to Asian markets can't be stopped by protesters using civil disobedience, Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver said Tuesday. He said he will respect the regulatory process that Enbridge Inc. must go through to get approval for its $5.5-billion Northern Gateway pipeline, but said the project, if approved by the National Energy Board, shouldn't be held hostage by aboriginal and environmental groups threatening to create a human "wall" to prevent construction.
761. 2011/12/07: PostMedia: Northern Gateway pipeline process pushed back by a year -- Hearings to begin Jan. 10 in Kitimat
     The joint review panel hearing submissions on the controversial Northern Gateway oil pipeline to the B.C. coast will take a year longer than expected to deliver its final report. In a projected schedule made public late Tuesday, the three-member panel said it "would anticipate releasing the environmental assessment report in the fall of 2013 and its final decision on the project around the end of 2013." That's a year later than expected, confirmed Annie Roy, a spokeswoman for the panel.
762. 2011/12/06: PostMedia: Northern Gateway pipeline decision will be delayed until late 2013: panel
     The joint review panel hearing submissions on the controversial Northern Gateway oil pipeline to the B.C. coast will take a year longer than expected to deliver its final report. In a projected schedule released late Tuesday, the three-member panel said it "would anticipate releasing the environmental assessment report in the fall of 2013 and its final decision on the project around the end of 2013." That's a year later than expected, confirmed Annie Roy, panel spokeswoman.
763. 2011/12/06: DeSmogBlog: Northern Gateway Pipeline Decision Delayed Until Late 2013
764. 2011/12/06: SSM: update to Truth in Journalism
765. 2011/12/05: TheCanadian: Embattled Gitxsan Treaty Rep, Enbridge Deal-Maker Elmer Derrick Has Long Ties to BC Liberals
766. 2011/12/04: SSM: Truth in Journalism
767. 2011/12/04: TheCanadian: Why First Nations Are Undeniably United Against Pipelines, Tankers...and The Sun is Full of Crap

     The NDP leadership race is beginning to warm up:

768. 2011/12/09: PostMedia: NDP candidate would keep, but change, oilsands
     New Democratic Party MP Thomas Mulcair said Thursday he has no plans if he becomes prime minister to shut down Canada's oilsands industry, as he announced Thursday an aggressive environmental strategy that won an endorsement from one of Canada's top climate scientists.
769. 2011/12/09: Tyee: Harper Team 'Lousy' Managers of Canada: Mulcair
     NDP leadership candidate Thomas Mulcair on his 'cap and trade' climate plan, economic 'realism,' playing to win, and more.
770. 2011/12/08: PostMedia: Victoria climate scientist endorses NDP leadership candidate
     Prominent Victoria climate scientist Andrew Weaver endorsed federal NDP leadership candidate Montreal MP Thomas Mulcair in Vancouver today. Candidates are swooping into B.C. this weekend to attend the B.C. NDP's 50th anniversary convention. Calling B.C. a deal maker in the race, many of the candidates are using their time here to shake hands and announce endorsements.

This article is behind a paywall, but the stat is worth noting:

771. 2011/12/07: EmbassyMag: Foreign ownership of oil sands assets steadily rising
     35.3 per cent of the oil and gas extraction and support industry in Canada was foreign controlled in 2009.

Meanwhile in the CWB saga:

772. 2011/12/07: CoC: Federal Court rules attempt to dismantle the Canadian Wheat Board illegal
773. 2011/12/09: GRC: The Destruction of Canada's Family Farm -- Open Letter To Environmental Groups from an Alberta grain farmer by Arthur W. Macklin
774. 2011/12/09: Impolitical: Wheat Board update
775. 2011/12/09: iPolitics: Banana republic tactics topple wheat board
     So here's the deal. The Federal Court has ruled in no uncertain terms that the Conservative government broke the law in introducing a bill to strip the Canadian Wheat Board of its powers.
     In response, the Conservatives are moving to pass the bill anyway.
     Question. How do you pass legislation that the courts have ruled to be illegal?
     I asked around legal circles and, though there could well be one, no one seemed to be able to find a precedent for this. In a banana republic maybe, but not in a modern democracy.
776. 2011/12/09: LFR: Conservatives: to hell with the courts. Where's the outrage?
777. 2011/12/08: G&M: Conservatives to invoke closure on Wheat Board bill in Senate
778. 2011/12/09: BarrieExaminer: Tories can't cherry pick which laws they'll follow
779. 2011/12/08: BuckDog: Conservative Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz - Above The Law!
780. 2011/12/08: CBC: Wheat board ruling sparks appeals to Speakers -- Liberal MP and senators want to stop debate
781. 2011/12/07: TStar: Ritz broke law by tabling bill to dismantle Wheat Board: judge
782. 2011/12/08: BuckDog: Gerry Ritz's Discount Grain Sale (or) Farmers Dump Wheat In Front Of Saskatchewan Conservative MP's Offices
783. 2011/12/08: ScottsDiatribe: Cutting legal corners to fit your ideology isn't correct -- Federal Court Judge on CWB
784. 2011/12/07: CBC: Tories to reform wheat board despite court ruling
     [...]
     A Federal Court judge in Winnipeg ruled Wednesday that Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz breached the Canadian Wheat Board Act by making changes without holding a plebiscite for producers.
785. 2011/12/07: Impolitical: Judge says Ritz breached Wheat Board Act
786. 2011/12/07: BuckDog: Saskatchewan Agriculture Minister Urges Harper Government To Continue Breaking The Law Concerning The Canadian Wheat Board
787. 2011/12/07: PostMedia: Federal court judge will rule Wednesday on wheat board case
788. 2011/12/06: CBC: Wheat board fight hits federal court in Winnipeg
     Lawyers for the Canadian Wheat Board have told a federal court that Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz broke the law when he decided to allow western wheat and barley farmers to bypass the marketing agency.
789. 2011/12/05: CBC: Grain dumped at Regina MPs' offices
     Two Regina Conservative MPs have been targeted in an apparent protest over the federal government's plans to dismantle the Canadian Wheat Board's marketing monopoly. Someone dumped piles of grain in front of the riding offices of Tom Lukiwski (Regina-Lumsden-Lake Centre) and House Speaker Andrew Scheer (Regina-Qu'Appelle) on Monday. Some farmers in Saskatchewan have opposed the Conservative government's move to end the wheat board's monopoly over the marketing of western wheat and barley.

The ISA virus in BC waters is potentially disastrous:

790. 2011/12/07: AlexandraMorton: What we know about ISA virus in British Columbia
791. 2011/12/08: AlexandraMorton: Tribute to the movement to protect wild salmon from farm salmon [video]
792. 2011/12/09: AlexandraMorton: Open Letter to Minister Ashfield

     In BC, the stage is set. Now what will Clark and Dix do?

793. 2011/12/04: G&M: Builders revise plans as higher sea levels predicted
     City engineers and developers are beginning to revise building plans to allow for new projections for higher sea-level rises on the B.C. coast. In Vancouver, the company building a significant development along the Fraser River in the southeast part of the city is planning to raise its land about two-thirds of a metre. Dikes along the river in Richmond are also being planned to go higher.
794. 2011/12/05: Tyee: Why the Pacific Carbon Trust Draws Political Heat -- Making hospitals and schools transfer tight dollars to corporations is no easy climate policy to sell

     Meanwhile in that Mechanical Mordor known as the tar sands:

795. 2011/12/09: PlanetArk: Total's Alberta Oil Sands Project Gets Approved
796. 2011/12/05: CanBiz: Shell accused of lowballing environmental impact of oilsands expansion
797. 2011/12/06: PI:B: Shell's "too good to be true" environmental assessment leaves decision-makers relying on faulty data
798. 2011/12/09: PostMedia: No 'credible information' to support claims oilsands are green, says Environment Canada
     Canada lacks "credible scientific information" to support its claims that oilsands development is environmentally responsible, putting the industry's economic future in jeopardy, says newly-released briefing material prepared for Environment Minister Peter Kent and senior management in his department. The background notes, emailed to Environment Canada's top bureaucrat, Paul Boothe, cast doubt on the integrity of environmental assessments on new projects exploiting Alberta's natural bitumen deposits, also known as the oilsands. They also noted that the regulatory shortcomings have left the industry ill-prepared to defend itself from foreign environmental policies, such as proposed climate legislation in Europe to reduce pollution from transportation fuels, as well as criticism on the international stage at events such as the global warming summit in this coastal resort town.
799. 2011/12/08: CBC: $9B Joslyn oil sands project gets green light
800. 2011/12/08: CBC: Canadian Oil Sands to spend $1.46B on Syncrude
     Calgary-based Canadian Oil Sands Ltd. plans to spend $1.46 billion on increasing production from the Syncrude oilsands project in 2012. Canadian Oil Sands, which owns a 37 per cent stake in the mine north of Fort McMurray, Alta., said Thursday the consortium behind the project is aiming for production of between106 million to 117 million barrels next year.
801. 2011/12/07: TiaW: The Brits Are Not Amused: A Tale of Fibs & Desperation
802. 2011/12/07: EurActiv: Canada's tar sands lobbying gets murky
     A row has broken out over a Canadian lobbying mission to the British Foreign Office that opposes the EU's proposed Fuel Quality Directive. The dispute involves apparently inaccurate information about California's fuel quality regulations and threats of legal action. In an internal UK Foreign Office e-mail reporting the meeting and seen by EurActiv, Canada's trade commissioner in the UK, Sushma Gera, reportedly told British officials that "lawyers were looking at a potential WTO case" against the EU. She said Canada had support from Spain, Estonia and Poland in its opposition to the EU's proposed default fuel values for the oil sands -- also known as 'tar sands' -- and that the Dutch would propose an alternative option.

Ontario is wrestling with its energy policy:

803. 2011/12/07: CBC: Ontario doesn't know if 'smart meters' are working
     Ontario's environmental watchdog says the province has no idea if its hydro 'smart meters' are having any effect on electricity conservation. The report is likely to cause controversy given the Ontario government's plan to install the meters at every home and apartment in the province. The meters are supposed to allow utilities to charge consumers different prices for electricity at different times of day: high prices during peak times, lower prices at off-peak times.
804. 2011/12/05: TStar: Paying a political price for going green in a hurry
805. 2011/12/05: TRR: Ontario's Auditor General slams McGuinty for 'hasty' green energy investments

     In the Maritimes:

806. 2011/12/09: CBC: N.B. to break natural gas agreement with Enbridge -- Enbridge says it will continue to work with province
     The New Brunswick government is escalating its fight with Enbridge Gas New Brunswick over high natural gas prices by bringing in legislative reforms that are intended to reduce rates. Energy Minister Craig Leonard said in the legislature on Friday that he will introduce amendments to the Gas Distribution Act that he said will bring in price sustainability for natural gas users.

As for miscellaneous Canadiana:

807. 2011/12/09: RedTory: Tom Flanagan: Out of the Closet!
808. 2011/12/09: SSM: Tom Flanagan: Time For Climate Change Deniers to Come Out of The Closet
809. 2011/12/07: CBC: Canada's fossil-fuel powerplants rapped

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

810. 2011/12/05: FuturePundit: Innovation Costs For Maintaining Civilization
811. 2011/12/08: EnergyBulletin: Economy: Ecological Economics
812. 2011/12/06: al Jazeera: Is modern capitalism sustainable?
     Is there a viable option besides capitalism for today's world? Or is it possible to adjust the system to make it work?

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

813. 2011/12/09: CBC: Abortion doesn't raise mental illness risk, U.K. study says
814. 2011/12/06: AllAfrica:AlertNet: Family Planning 'Effective' but Unpopular Climate Change Solution
     As the world's population races past 7 billion, curbing population growth is crucial to slowing the climate-changing emissions people cause, scientists say. But getting U.N. climate negotiators to even mention the controversial issue is nearly as difficult as getting them to agree a long-delayed new global climate treaty.
815. 2011/12/05: AlterNet: Who's Winning the War on Abortion, Birth Control, and Sex?
816. 2011/12/06: al Jazeera: Indian state offers prizes for sterilisation
     Women in Rajasthan offered chance to win food processors and cars in controversial effort to slow baby boom.

How do the media measure up?

817. 2011/12/08: Nature: [Editorial] The press under pressure
818. 2011/12/07: CJR: Frozen Planet's Final Episode Will Air in US -- Discovery Channel reverses course following wave of criticism, but what will viewers get?
819. 2011/12/08: WtD: Miranda Devine's Annus Mirabilis: 2011 the year she overturned climate science in a single article
820. 2011/12/06: MediaMatters: Media Ignore Report Undermining Their Solyndra Hype
821. 2011/12/06: CSM: Discovery Channel to air full 'Frozen Planet' series despite controversy
822. 2011/12/02: MediaMatters: Fox Denigrates The "ENTIRE Solar Industry"
823. 2011/12/06: Tamino: We must be doing something right

     Here is something for your library:

824. 2011/12/07: CSW: [Book Review] _Fool Me Twice: Fighting the Assault on Science in America_ by Shawn Lawrence Otto
825. 2011/12/11: SciAm:GP: [Book Review] _Shifting Baselines: The Past and the Future of Ocean Fisheries_ edited by Jeremy B.C. Jackson, Karen Alexander & Enric Sala

     And for your film & video enjoyment:

826. 2011/12/09: TreeHugger: Summer Rayne Oakes and Director Clayton Haskell Encapsulate the Planet's Dilemma in the Strikingly Personal "eXtinction"
827. 2011/12/08: HotTopic: The scientization of politics
828. 2011/12/08: PSinclair: Stephen Schneider (1945 - 2010) -- Consummate Science Communicator
829. 2011/12/08: CSW: Stephen Schneider: Science and Distortion
830. 2011/12/11: PSinclair: The Weekend Wonk: Monckton Humiliated by Potholer (again)
831. 2011/12/07: PSinclair: Michael Mann's TED Talk
832. 2011/12/05: CCurrents: An Interview With Jeremy Leggett

     Meanwhile among the 'Sue the Bastards!' contingent:

833. 2011/12/08: Grist: The young and the restless: Kids sue government over climate change

     Developing a new energy infrastructure is a fundamental challenge of the current generation:

834. 2011/12/09: Grist: Tokelau, population 1,500, goes renewables-only
835. 2011/12/09: SciAm:PI: Energy source transitions over time -- what comes next?
836. 2011/12/09: BBC: Tokelau plans an all-renewables future
837. 2011/12/08: Guardian(UK): Pacific micro-state switches entirely to renewable energy
     Tokelau challenged world leaders at the UN climate talks in Durban to follow its lead
838. 2011/12/08: TreeHugger: First Floating Offshore Wind Turbine Deployed in Atlantic Ocean
839. 2011/12/08: PeakEnergy: IEA sees a world run on solar
840. 2011/12/07: EnergyBulletin: Wind fights solar; Triangle wins
841. 2011/12/11: BNC: The Guardian questions: thorium, shale gas, off-grid renewables, and much more...
842. 2011/12/07: PlanetArk: China's Green Revolution To Keep Growing: IEA
     China will install wind and solar power capacity equivalent to 180 nuclear power reactors in the next 10 years to meet its growing energy needs, the International Energy Agency said on Monday, citing its latest estimate.
843. 2011/12/07: TreeHugger: [US] Renewable Energy in 1970, Renewable Energy Now (Maps)
844. 2011/12/07: TreeHugger: One Trillion Dollars Invested in Clean Energy In Past 7 Years
845. 2011/12/06: Time: Five Truths About Our Energy Future
846. 2011/12/07: OilDrum: Thoughts on why energy use and CO2 emissions are rising as fast as GDP
847. 2011/12/05: GizMag: New wave of ocean energy to be trialed off the coast of Australia
848. 2011/12/06: Grist: A visual representation of renewable energy growth in the U.S.
849. 2011/12/05: PeakEnergy: A Geothermal power plant for Malaysia

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

850. 2011/12/09: Guardian(UK): Shale gas drilling's dirty secret is out
     The EPA's findings about fracking's contamination of ground water have sent a shockwave through a gas industry in denial
851. 2011/12/09: PlanetArk: EPA Says Fracking Likely Polluted Wyoming Aquifer
852. 2011/12/09: NatureN: Method predicts size of fracking earthquakes -- Scientists develop way to forecast worst-case tremor scenario
853. 2011/12/10: TreeHugger: Shocking Revelation: EPA Declares 'Fracking May Be To Blame For Causing Groundwater Pollution'
854. 2011/12/05: CER:RRapier: China to Embrace Fracking In an Effort to Ramp up Energy Production
855. 2011/12/08: EPA: EPA Releases Draft Findings of Pavillion, Wyoming Ground Water Investigation for Public Comment and Independent Scientific Review
856. 2011/12/08: DeSmogBlog: EPA Connects Dots Between Groundwater Contamination and Fracking in Wyoming
857. 2011/12/08: CBC: Fracking likely linked to groundwater pollution in U.S.
858. 2011/12/08: PeakEnergy: Australia's Gas Pains
859. 2011/12/07: PlanetArk: Pennsylvania Village Fights Cut In Water Supply
     Residents of Dimock, a small village in northern Pennsylvania, are set for a legal battle to restore their water supply after an oil and gas company blamed for polluting wells stopped trucking in fresh water last week.

On the coal front:

860. 2011/12/09: TreeHugger: Wyoming Coal-to-Liquids Plant Has A Buyer For Its Double-the-Emissions Gasoline
861. 2011/12/08: Yale360: As Coal Use Declines in U.S., Coal Companies Focus on China
     With aging coal-fired U.S. power plants shutting down, major American coal companies are exporting ever-larger amounts of coal to China. Now, plans to build two new coal-shipping terminals on the West Coast have set up a battle with environmentalists who want to steer the world away from fossil fuels.
862. 2011/12/07: TreeHugger: Coal Company Gets Record $200 Million Penalty for Mine Disaster that Left 29 Dead
863. 2011/12/06: PSinclair: Coal's Death Spiral

     On the gas and oil front:

864. 2011/12/09: BBerg: Closing oil prices Friday
     OIL (US$/bbl)
     Nymex Crude Future...99.41
     Dated Brent Spot.....108.73
     WTI Cushing Spot.....99.41
865. 2011/12/09: DeSmogBlog: Another LNG Deal Inked, Fracking Export Bonanza Continues
866. 2011/12/10: NBF: Rail and Pipeline expansions and project to move more Bakken Oil from North Dakota and Saskatchwan
867. 2011/12/09: OilDrum: Geologic Resources Supply - Demand Model (GeRS-DeMo)
868. 2011/12/08: PlanetArk: Chevron Keen For More Brazil Oil, Despite Spill
869. 2011/12/08: PeakEnergy: [Henry] Blodget: It's Time To Start Freaking Out About Oil Prices
870. 2011/12/10: CSM: Oil prices rise. US costs, OPEC sales hit records
     American drivers this week broke a record that will bring them no joy. They collectively spent more than $448 billion on gasoline since the beginning of the year, according to the Oil Price Information Service, putting the previous record for gas expenditures -- set in 2008 -- in the rearview mirror with weeks of driving still to go. It's also a huge jump over last year, when U.S. drivers spent more than $100 billion less on gas. The major reason for the record-setting gas spending in 2011 was that oil prices were consistently high all year. And that probably brought joy at the other end of the pipeline. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries is on pace to top $1 trillion in net oil exports for the first time, or 29 percent more than last year.
871. 2011/12/06: OilDrum: Iran - Possible Implications of an Oil Embargo
872. 2011/12/06: PeakEnergy: Chart of Australian Oil Consumption and Production
873. 2011/12/05: EnergyBulletin: Saudi Arabia - Headed for a downfall?
874. 2011/12/05: PlanetArk: Brazil Probes Petrobras Role In Chevron Spill: Report
875. 2011/12/05: OilDrum: A Reality Check on U.S. Oil Imports and the Shale Revolution for Mortimer Zuckerman

     Yes we have peak everything:

876. 2011/12/10: LJWorld: Good news: The Lawrence Peak Oil Plan is Finished!
877. 2011/12/09: EnergyBulletin: World Petroleum Congress in Doha, Qatar - ExxonMobil: 'Technology to beat Peak Oil' and Total pulls itself into line
878. 2011/12/08: EnergyBulletin: When oil disruptions lead to crises: Learning from the Arab oil embargoes 1967 and 1973-74
879. 2011/12/06: TreeHugger: "When The Oil Runs Out" - A Sadly Relevant Punk Rock Classic (Video)

     Biofuel bickering abounds:

880. 2011/12/05: SciNow: Fuel From Waste?

     The answer my friend...:

881. 2011/12/08: TreeHugger: Wind Power Produces Just 4-14% Emissions of Fossil Fuels, Even With Manufacturing & Decommissioning

     Meanwhile among the solar aficionados:

882. 2011/12/08: TreeHugger: Solar Panels Are Cheaper Than We've Been Told
883. 2011/12/09: Eureka: Solar power development in US Southwest could threaten wildlife -- Environmental impacts of planned installations largely unknown
884. 2011/12/09: USGS: Scientific Literature Review Finds Opportunities for More Research on Solar Energy Development and Impacts to Wildlife
885. 2011/12/09: Guardian(UK): Global warming will boost solar power in Europe but cause losses elsewhere
886. 2011/12/11: Grist: Group purchase gets residential solar to grid parity in Los Angeles
887. 2011/12/07: TreeHugger: Warren Buffett's Utility to Buy Massive Californian Solar Farm (550MW) from First Solar
888. 2011/12/06: TreeHugger: IKEA to Expand US Solar Investment to 75% of Stores
889. 2011/12/07: QueensU: Solar power much cheaper to produce than most analysts realize, study finds
890. 2011/12/07: CleanBreak: A Brazilian solar initiative serves as model to better the lives of world's poorest

     The nuclear energy controversy continues:

891. 2011/12/08: BBC: China and Bill Gates discuss [Terrapower] nuclear reactor plan
892. 2011/12/07: NBF: Uranium Mining Company Cameco Discusses Possible Uranium Shortfall and Higher Prices
893. 2011/12/07: NBF: Nuclear power to become foundation of China's Electrical system
894. 2011/12/07: NBF: Bill Gates in talks with China National Nuclear Corporation for Terrapower nuclear reactor
895. 2011/12/07: CBC: Bill Gates, China jointly developing nuclear reactor
896. 2011/12/07: Guardian(UK): Bill Gates and China in discussions over new nuclear reactor
     The Microsoft co-founder has confirmed plans to jointly develop a new nuclear reactor, which can run on depleted uranium
897. 2011/12/05: CrossCut: Soaring Hanford costs raise new clean-up questions
     If expenses continually go up, it becomes hard to see how the legal mandates to clean up the most dangerous wastes can ever be met, at least on time.
898. 2011/12/05: NatureN: Why has Britain done a U-turn on plutonium?
899. 2011/12/05: al Jazeera: Greenpeace penetrates French nuclear plant
     Activists hang banner on reactor building in what they say was operation to expose weaknesses in national security.
900. 2011/12/05: BBC: Greenpeace France nuclear action prompts security alert
     Environmental activists have broken into a French nuclear power station, to highlight the "vulnerability" of atomic sites in France. Greenpeace campaigners entered the site at Nogent-sur-Seine, 60 miles (95km) south-east of Paris, before dawn. The activists climbed on top of a reactor building and unfurled a banner, said a Greenpeace spokesman.

Nuclear waste storage requires _very_ long term thinking:

901. 2011/12/07: Guardian(UK): [Letters] Sellafield and the selling of nuclear 'solutions'
902. 2011/12/07: GEReports: GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy Proposed to Turn World's Biggest Civilian Plutonium Stockpile into Electricity
903. 2011/12/05: Monbiot: Why bury nuclear waste, when it could meet the world's energy needs?

     The Rossi Energy Catalyzer keeps coming up:

904. 2011/12/07: FCNP: The Peak Oil Crisis: E=mc2
905. 2011/12/08: NBF: NewEnergyTimes gets three NASA powerpoint LENR presentations

     More people are talking about the electrical grid:

906. 2011/12/08: TP:JR: Hottest Issues in Smart Grid, Part 2: Interoperability Standards "Doing it Fast" Versus "Doing it Right"
907. 2011/12/08: SciAm:PI: (A Lack of Good) Electricity Outage Data
908. 2011/12/06: NBF: Joe Eck at Superconductors.org claims Room Temperature Superconductor
909. 2011/12/06: TP:JR: Hottest Issues in Smart Grid, Part 1: Data Access Versus Security

     And then there is the matter of efficiency & conservation:

910. 2011/12/05: Grist: Efficiency standards are the single biggest climate deal ever

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

911. 2011/12/09: TreeHugger: 100 Years of Electric Car History
912. 2011/12/09: AutoBG: GM gets serious about widespread use of carbon fiber
913. 2011/12/08: Grist: Tighter efficiency standards may lead to bigger, more ironic vehicles2011/12/07: AutoBG: Nissan on coal-powered EVs being dirtier than gas cars: Bullsh*t
915. 2011/12/06: EurActiv: Electric car rental scheme hits Paris streets
     Pay-as-you-drive electric car rentals are expected to help cut pollution and reduce traffic in Paris, as the new fleet of fully electric Autiolib' vehicles hits the French capital.
916. 2011/12/05: AutoBG: GM says very few Chevy Volt owners selling car back, taking out loaners
917. 2011/12/05: EurActiv: CO2 targets fuel auto industry divisions
     Meeting in Brussels on Friday (2 December), car manufacturers failed to agree a common position towards EU proposals that would cap automobile CO2 emissions at 95 grammes per kilometer (g/km) by 2020. On their way in, attendees had to brave a phalanx of Greenpeace protestors dressed as storm troopers from the film Star Wars, calling on them to avoid the "dark side" of increased CO2 emissions. But they did not inspire a common car industry position.

The reaction of business to climate change will be critical:

918. 2011/12/07: Grist: Walmart spends big to help anti-environment candidates

     Who's fielding the FAQs?

919. 2011/12/06: Guardian(UK): What is the IPCC?

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

920. 2011/12/05: TP:JR: December 5 News...

     Other (weekly) lists:

921. 2011/12/09: EnergyBulletin: ODAC Newsletter
922. 2011/12/05: BPA: Agriculture News

     The carbon lobby are up to the usual:

923. 2011/12/08: DeSmogBlog: Climate Denier Marc Morano Praises "George W. Obama" at COP17
924. 2011/12/09: S&R: Climate disruption denier Ian Plimer debunks climate disruption denier Ian Plimer
925. 2011/12/09: PSinclair: SkepticalScience Pounds Plimer
926. 2011/12/06: GreenGrok: The Strange State of Climate Change Denial
927. 2011/12/10: DeSmogBlog: North American Air Pollution Statistics Will Take Your Breath Away
928. 2011/12/09: DemNow: Lauding "Collapse of Global Warming Movement," Sen. Inhofe Tells U.N. Summit "You Are Being Ignored"
929. 2011/12/09: ABC(Au):TDU: How can climate change denialism be explained?
930. 2011/12/09: Tamino: Oh Pleeze
931. 2011/12/09: PSinclair: "George W. Obama"? Denialist Freak Show as rudderless Durban winds down
932. 2011/12/09: LA Times: Ignoring a global warning -- Those in the U.S. who deny climate change have nothing on Nero
933. 2011/12/09: RedTory: Tom Flanagan: Out of the Closet!
934. 2011/12/09: SSM: Tom Flanagan: Time For Climate Change Deniers to Come Out of The Closet
935. 2011/12/08: Guardian(UK): 'Patronising and wrong': Frozen Planet scientist refutes Nigel Lawson criticism
936. 2011/12/08: TP:JR: Australian Green Party Leader: U.S. Climate Denial Machine "Being Directed Straight into Australia" Via Murdoch's News Corp
937. 2011/12/10: TPL: One Climate Treaty to Rule Them All
938. 2011/12/07: TP:JR: 16,000 People Ignore Jim Inhofe's Lame Video Message, in Which He Claims Durban Talks Are "Being Ignored"
939. 2011/12/07: DeSmogBlog: The Sky Is Falling! Climate Deniers Parachute Into COP17 In Durban
940. 2011/12/06: Tamino: Johnny's Growth
941. 2011/12/05: TP:JR: Inhofe: Calling Climate Change "The Greatest Hoax Ever" Is "Doing The Lord's Work"
942. 2011/12/06: DeSmogBlog: Denial Of Facts Is No Way To Understand Science
943. 2011/12/04: TCoE: Climate change deniers answer a burning question
944. 2011/12/04: Tamino: Best Defense

     As for climate miscellanea:

945. 2011/12/09: ClassM: Two degrees of separation
946. 2011/12/08: ABC(Au): Sprites may play role in Earth's climate
947. 2011/12/08: BBC: A green shoot in the economic mire
948. 2011/12/08: WtD: High confidence, robust evidence: response to a failed experiment in planetary engineering
949. 2011/12/06: SciAm:Obs: Two-Degree Global Warming Limit Is Called a 'Prescription for Disaster'
950. 2011/12/05: CCurrents: Is Climate Change An Emergency?
951. 2011/12/06: CNN: In austere times, world needs a climate change 'Plan B'
     Simon Zadek advises governments on the economic dimensions of sustainability - Zadek: There are concerns that a deal will not be made at U.N. Climate Change conference in Durban - Says there needs to be a Plan B; world must not fall back on free-for-all aligned to narrow economic interests - Incentives must be given to countries already investing in green economies to cooperate
952. 2011/12/06: Tamino: The Real Global Warming Signal
953. 2011/12/06: InformedComment: Kepler 22b and Climate Change: Instead of Obsessing over Earth-Like Planets, lets Try to Keep this one Earthlike
954. 2011/12/05: BBickmore: Bickmore's Laws updates
955. 2011/12/05: KSJT: One-dimensional Permafrost and Malaria news - German Lang. Media

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

956. NCSU: Global Patterns - Arctic & North Atlantic Oscillations (AO & NAO)
957. Arctic Methane Emergency Group
958. CJN: Climate Justice Now!
959. GGGI: Global Green Growth Institute
960. PWCCC: World People's Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth
961. CAT: Climate Action Tracker
962. Sea Level Report
963. PCCSP: Pacific Climate Change Science Program
964. GOAP: Global Open Access Portal
965. Beyond Nuclear
966. The Global Carbon Project
967. itsnotnova
968. IATP: Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy
969. YDM: Youth Delegate Manitoba

     ---

     Low Key Plug

     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.

     <regards>
     

     -het

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

     I notice moyhu has set up a monster index to old AWoGWN on AFTIC.

     ---

     "What's holding the climate talks back is one question, and it's the same question whether you're a senator in Illinois or an MP in India or any European country. Fundamentally, it is whether a transition to a low-carbon economy is compatible with continued economic growth; and no-one knows the answer, because no country has made the transition yet." -Greg Barker, UK Climate Minister

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