Logging the Onset of The Bottleneck Years
This weekly posting is brought to you courtesy of H. E. Taylor. Happy reading, I hope you enjoy this week's Global Warming news roundupskip to bottom
Another Week of Anthropocene Antics
Information is not Knowledge...Knowledge is notWisdom
July 8, 2012
- Chuckles, Post Rio+20, Derecho, Power Failure, Heatwave, Colorado, Bottom Line, Cook
- Fukushima Note, Fukushima News, Kurokawa, Nuclear Policy
- Melting Arctic, Geopolitics, Antarctica
- Food Crisis, Fisheries, Food Prices, Land Grabs, GMOs, Food Production
- Hurricanes, Monsoon, GHGs, Temperatures, Attribution
- ENSO, Proxies, Volcanoes, Satellites
- Impacts, Forests, Disease, Extreme Weather, Tornadoes
- Wildfires, Corals, Glaciers, Sea Levels, GW Deluge, Floods & Droughts
- Cities, Transportation, Sequestration, Restoration, Adaptation
- Journals, Other Docs, Misc. Science, DIY Science, Thompson
- International Politics: UN, Carbon Trade, Carbon Tax, Carbon Labelling
- Hormuz, Rare Earths, South China Sea, TPP, Misc., Security, Law & Activism, Activism, Polls, H2O Biz, Groundwater
- National Politics: America, 2012, Keystone, Canute, Coal Exports, Birth Control, Obama, USAdmin, Congress, Lobbyists
- Britain, Europe, Australia, Carbon Law, Murray-Darling, New Zealand, China, South America
- Canada, Post G20, Streamlining, Ashfield, Northern Gateway, NDP, Wheat Board
- Salmon, BC, Tar Sands, Alberta, Ontario, Maritimes, North, Canadiana
- Ecological Economics, Media, Books, Video, Courts, Betting
- Energy, Transitions, Fracking, Coal, Oil & Gas, The Corps, Oil & Economy, Pipelines, Peak Oil
- Biofuel, Wind, Solar, Nukes, Nuclear Waste, LENR, Grid, Cars, Energy Storage
- Business, FAQs, Joe's List, Carbon Lobby, Miscellaneous Climate, Useful Links
- Shameless Self Promotion, .sig
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- 2012/07/07: TP:JR: (cartoon - Luckovich) America's Hotter Than...
- 2012/07/05: TheCanadian: (cartoon - Hummel) Murphy's War
- 2012/07/03: uComics: (cartoon - Auth) Meanwhile, in Washington...
- 2012/07/03: uComics: (cartoon - Danziger) One of us...
Looking back at Rio+20:
- 2012/07/05: TreeHugger: Rio +20: Who is Really Responsible for Responsibility
- 2012/07/05: EnergyBulletin: Ordeal - mulling the meaning of Rio+20
- 2012/07/05: al Jazeera: What Rio tells us about the Arctic
The recent Rio+20 conference in Brazil was 'a show of good intentions devoid of political will', says author. Manuela Picq - 2012/07/03: CCurrents: Rio+20: An Undesirable U-Turn by Vandana Shiva
- 2012/07/02: al Jazeera: The great Rio U-turn by Vandan Shiva
Most countries are moving backwards, environmentally speaking - though Ecuador and Bhutan are notable exceptions. - 2012/07/02: Patexia: Intellectual property rights: the quiet killer of Rio+20
- 2012/07/02: SlashDot: Intellectual Property Rights: The Quiet Killer of Rio+20
- 2012/07/02: Grist: After the Earth Summit, young people push for real change
- 2012/07/01: Grist: The Earth Summit debacle: Why our leaders don't have game
The Eastern USA got zapped by a Derecho:
- NASA: About Derechos
- 2012/07/03: IOTD: Derecho Strikes the Eastern United States
- 2012/07/02: PSinclair: Word of the Day: "Derecho"
After the storm millions were without electrical power:
- 2012/07/05: CBC: Hundreds of thousands still without power in U.S.
- 2012/07/04: BBC: Nearly one million people went without power on Independence Day as utilities worked to restore service five days after severe storms hit the eastern US
- 2012/07/04: Guardian(UK): Power outages leave nearly 1m facing Fourth of July headache
- 2012/07/04: IOTD: Power Outages in Washington, DC Area [before & after sat pix]
- 2012/07/03: BBC: Some 1.4m storm-struck households in the eastern US are without electricity for a fourth day amid sweltering temperatures
- 2012/07/03: SlashDot: After Recent US Storms, Why Are Millions Still Without Power?
- 2012/07/03: CNN: More than 1.3 million customers lack power amid unrelenting heat
- 2012/07/03: CSM: As utility crews scramble, 1.4 million remain without power after storm
- 2012/07/03: CBC: Millions in U.S. without power for 4th day -- Crews repair storm damage, but not fast enough
- 2012/07/03: al Jazeera: The US swelters
Millions are still without power, as high temperatures continue to grip the eastern half of the US - 2012/07/02: BBC: US storm-hit millions swelter in heatwave
At least two million people remain without power in the eastern US following storms that have been blamed for 22 deaths since Friday. - 2012/07/02: CNN: Millions still without power amid record heat wave -- Extreme heat strikes U.S.
Ten people died from weekend storms in Virginia, the governor says - At least 19 people are dead from the storms - Nearly 2 million customers are without power after weekend storms - At least 18 states are under heat advisories or warnings Monday - 2012/07/02: CNN: Millions still without power amid record heat wave
Power company CEO: "Our foot is on the pedal" - Nearly 2 million customers are without power after weekend storms - At least 18 states are under heat advisories or warnings on Monday - The storms, spurred in part by extreme heat, left at least 16 people dead - 2012/07/02: CSM: Summer storms leave 2 million people without power (+video)
- 2012/07/02: CBC: U.S. storms leave 2 million without power -- Death toll at 17 as Canadian crews from Hydro One offer assistance
The accompanying record heatwave has proven deadly:
- 2012/07/08: BBC: US record heatwave leaves dozens dead
At least 42 people have died in a heatwave that has brought soaring temperatures to a dozen US states from the Midwest to the East Coast. - 2012/07/08: CBC: Record U.S. heat wave leads to 30 deaths -- Scorching temperatures cause roads to buckle and train to derail
- 2012/07/07: Guardian(UK): US bakes under heatwave as fears grow over rising death toll among elderly
- 2012/07/07: CSM: Heat wave 2012 culprit? That pesky Atlantic oscillation
- 2012/07/06: BBC: US sizzles in record heat wave
Parts of the US are baking in record heat as nearly half a million people remain without power a week after severe storms. - 2012/07/06: Wunderground: Chicago and Milwaukee hit 103°; relief coming by Sunday
- 2012/07/03: UNDispatch: It's So Hot Outside...
- 2012/07/07: Tamino: Whew!
- 2012/07/07: DD: Rising temperatures and drought create fears of a new Dust Bowl
- 2012/07/07: DD: U.S. heat wave breaks more all-time records in Midwest - Indiana drought worse than Dust Bowl
- 2012/07/07: MGS: In the weekend heat
- 2012/07/07: Wunderground: Heat wave breaks more all-time records in Midwest; relief coming Sunday
- 2012/07/05: Guardian(UK): Heat wave bakes eastern half of the US but is climate change to blame?
- 2012/07/07: QuarkSoup: The USA48 Problem: Warmer and Warmer
- 2012/07/05: PlanetArk: More than 2,000 heat records matched or broken
More than 2,000 temperature records have been matched or broken in the past week as a brutal heat wave baked much of the United States, and June saw more than 3,200 records topped, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said Monday. From June 25 to July 1, some 2,171 record temperatures were either broken or matched, the NOAA said. For the 30 days of June, that number rose to 3,215. - 2012/07/04: PlanetArk: Scorching heat roasts eastern United States
- 2012/07/04: Wunderground: The June 2012 U.S. heat wave: one of the greatest in recorded history
- 2012/07/03: ERabett: Hot Times
- 2012/07/02: Grist: What those extreme temperatures look like on the ground
- 2012/07/02: Guardian(UK): US heatwave sets more temperature records
- 2012/07/01: DD: Historic heat wave topples Dust Bowl-era extreme heat records
In Colorado they are dealing with record wildfires:
- 2012/07/05: Grist: This image of the Colorado wildfire scar will blow your mind
- 2012/07/06: IOTD: Waldo Canyon Fire Burn Scar
- 2012/07/05: PlanetArk: Natural gas wells shut in Colorado due to wildfires
- 2012/07/04: PlanetArk: Firefighters gain upper hand in Colorado, see long wildfire season
- 2012/07/02: PlanetArk: People return to charred cities after Colorado wildfires
- 2012/07/03: JFleck: Stuff I wrote elsewhere: Las Conchas and a search for optimism about wildfire
- 2012/07/02: TreeHugger: Record-breaking wildfires are "a window into what global warming really looks like"
- 2012/07/03: CSM: Key part of firefighting fleet grounded after fatal S.D. C-130 crash
- 2012/07/02: BBC: Colorado Waldo Canyon fire battle gains ground
The most destructive wildfire in the US state of Colorado's history is now 70% contained, officials say. - 2012/07/02: Guardian(UK): Colorado wildfires: Cedar Heights gets lucky as residents return home
- 2012/07/02: CNN: Evacuee: Colorado wildfire's destructive aftermath is 'kind of like the twilight zone'
Fire growth has stopped; crews are in "mop-up mode," incident commander says - Some remaining evacuees could be home in days, an official says - The Waldo Canyon Fire is 55% contained, fire officials say - So far this year, 1.9 million acres have burned in wildfires, federal agency says - 2012/07/01: WaPo: Colorado's table was set for monster fire
Snow hardly fell during winter in snowy Colorado. On top of that, the state's soaking spring rains did not come. So it was no wonder that normally emerald landscapes were parched as summer approached, tan as a pair of worn khakis. All the earth needed was a spark. - 2012/07/02: CSM: Colorado Springs residents tour 'unreal' wildfire devastation
- 2012/07/01: Independent(UK): In scorching heat, the US is burning -- Record temperatures have sparked devastating fires and storms
- 2012/07/02: ABC(Au): Colorado residents return home to looters, bears
And on the Bottom Line:
- 2012/07/06: TreeHugger: Should Billionaires Be Forced to Pay a 1% Tax for International Development?
John Cook and friends continue their point-counterpoint articles:
- 2012/07/08: SkeptiSci: Climate change is simple: We do something or we're screwed by dana1981
- 2012/07/07: SkeptiSci: Roy's Risky Regression by Dikran Marsupial
- 2012/07/06: SkeptiSci: Lindzen and Choi 2011 - Party Like It's 2009 by dana1981
- 2012/07/05: SkeptiSci: Murry Salby's Correlation Conundrum by Dikran Marsupial
- 2012/07/04: SkeptiSci: The GLOBAL global warming signal by Kevin C
- 2012/07/03: SkeptiSci: Ocean heat flux and the Arctic by Neven
- 2012/07/02: SkeptiSci: New research from last week 26/2012 by Ari Jokimäki
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. [Whoops, that has now been updated to 40 years.] We'll see. At any rate this situation is not going to be resolved any time soon and deserves its own section.
Meanwhile...
It is very difficult to know for sure what is really going on at Fukushima. Between the company [TEPCO], the Japanese government, the Japanese regulator [NISA], the international monitor [IAEA], as well as independent analysts and commentators, there is a confusing mish-mash of information. One has to evaluate both the content and the source of propagated information.
How knowledgeable are they [about nuclear power and about Japan]?
Do they have an agenda?
Are they pro-nuclear or anti-nuclear?
Do they want to write a good news story?
Do they want to write a bad news story?
Where do they rate on a scale of sensationalism?
Where do they rate on a scale of play-it-down-ness?
One fundamental question I would like to see answered:
If the reactors are in meltdown, how can they be in cold shutdown?No good news out of Fukushima yet:
- 2012/07/07: EneNews: Gundersen: Latest probe at Unit 1 indicates nuclear fuel has left containment (video)
- 2012/07/06: EneNews: Shock: "Outside is too full" - Tokyo police blockade subway exits preventing protesters from reaching streets (photos & video)
- 2012/07/06: NBF: Japan will probably restart most nuclear reactors during 2013 and China accelerating shift to Gen III Nuclear reactors
- 2012/07/06: DemNow: As Japan Says Fukushima Disaster "Man-Made" & "Preventable," Fears Grow for Nuclear Plants Worldwide
- 2012/07/05: EneNews: Japan Gov't: "System must be established to deal with long-term public health effects" of Fukushima disaster - Grave concerns about radiation exposure
- 2012/07/05: EneNews: Fukushima Daiichi Worker: Tepco is hiding information about leakage of radioactive water from plant
- 2012/07/06: EneNews: Fukushima Daiichi Employee: Shortage of nuclear workers is becoming real - More and more companies to close as personal dose limits are exceeded
- 2012/07/06: TheCanadian: Counting the Nuclear Fallout from Fukushima
- 2012/07/04: VoR: Flaws in US General Electric Reactors: Japan starts up after Fukushima
- 2012/07/04: Asahi: NISA calls for reviews of fault lines near Fukui nuclear reactors
- 2012/07/04: EneNews: Financial Times Covers Japan Protests: Public has shifted significantly against nuclear power and have taken to streets - Opposition has grown considerably - Protesters from all walks of life and age groups (video)
- 2012/07/04: EneNews: Kyodo Feature: Residents complaining of unexplained hair loss, diarrhea, fatigue around Fukushima plant -Retired Doctor
- 2012/07/03: EneNews: Swiss Think-Tank: Dire situation for global environment if No. 4 fuel pool releases all radioactive material - Gov't appears to be keeping information classified
- 2012/07/03: CCurrents: Japanese Nuclear Reactor Re-activated Despite Mass Protest
- 2012/07/03: EneNews: Restarted reactors sit next to "Devil's Triangle" where northern and southern halves of Japan meet - "How could we have built so many nuclear plants in such a place?" -Tokyo Prof.
- 2012/07/02: EneNews: Kyodo: Highly contaminated fish detected in Fukushima rivers and lakes - Up to 25 times legal limit
- 2012/07/02: ABC(Au): Japan restarts nuclear reactor as protests mount
- 2012/07/01: EneNews: Inside the Tokyo Protest: "People are piping mad... they finally got angry" - Police barricades collapsed one after another - Riot buses blocked crowd from entering Prime Minister's office (videos)
A Japanese parliamentary investigative commission produced a startlingly frank report:
- 2012/07/06: BLongstaff: Fukushima - Japan's remarkable mea culpa
- 2012/07/06: EurActiv: Japanese cultural traits 'at heart of Fukushima disaster'
In his combative preface to the report, Kiyoshi Kurokawa, a medical doctor and professor emeritus at Tokyo University, said the crisis was the result of "a multitude of errors and willful negligence", by the government, safety officials and the plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power [Tepco]. But behind the safety missteps and lack of readiness for a tsunami in a region known for powerful earthquakes, are cultural traits that ensured the disaster was "made in Japan", Kurokawa said. "Its fundamental causes," he wrote, "are to be found in the ingrained conventions of Japanese culture: our reflexive obedience; our reluctance to question authority; our devotion to 'sticking with the programme'; our groupism; and our insularity. "What must be admitted -- very painfully -- is that this was a disaster 'Made in Japan'. - 2012/07/06: DD: Japan's nuclear power disaster due to 'collusion' between government and TEPCO: panel report
- 2012/07/06: DM:80B: Independent Report: Fukushima Disaster was Entirely Preventable
- 2012/07/05: TreeHugger: Fukushima Disaster Declared 'Manmade' in Final Report
- 2012/07/07: BBC: How TEPCO glossed over Fukushima's vulnerability
- 2012/07/05: Guardian(UK): Fukushima reactor meltdown was a man-made disaster, says official report
- 2012/07/05: ABC(Au): Fukushima nuclear meltdown labelled a man-made disaster
A scathing Japanese parliamentary report into last year's meltdowns at Fukushima has found that the accident was a 'man-made' disaster and that it was entirely preventable. The report is scathing about the failures of all involved, the company TEPCO, the government, and the nuclear regulators. It says collusion between the three betrayed Japan's right to be safe. - 2012/07/05: ScienceInsider: Report: Fukushima 'A Manmade Disaster'
- 2012/07/05: BBC: Japan panel: Fukushima nuclear disaster 'man-made'
The crisis at the Fukushima nuclear plant was "a profoundly man-made disaster", a Japanese parliamentary panel has said in a report. The disaster "could and should have been foreseen and prevented" and its effects "mitigated by a more effective human response", it said. The report catalogued serious deficiencies in both the government and plant operator Tepco's response. It also blamed cultural conventions and a reluctance to question authority. - 2012/07/05: ABC(Au): Japan declares Fukushima crisis 'man-made'
- 2012/07/05: CBC: Japan nuclear crisis called 'man-made' [by parliamentary investigative commission]
- 2012/07/05: al Jazeera: Japan says Fukushima disaster was 'man-made'
Parliamentary panel finds that meltdown at nuclear site was not only due to tsunami, and criticises official response. The nuclear accident at Fukushima last year was a "man-made disaster" and not only due to the tsunami, a Japanese parliamentary panel said in its final report on the catastrophe. "Governments, regulatory authorities and Tokyo Electric Power [TEPCO] lacked a sense of responsibility to protect people's lives and society," the Diet's Fukushima Nuclear Accident Independent Investigation Commission said on Thursday. "They effectively betrayed the nation's right to be safe from nuclear accidents. Therefore, we conclude that the accident was clearly 'man-made'," it said. - 2012/07/06: SwissInfo: Nuclear plants must resist extreme weather
Switzerland's nuclear power plants have until the end of 2013 to demonstrate to the country's safety watchdog that they are equipped to withstand weather conditions such as tornados, high winds, heavy snowfall and extreme temperatures. - 2012/07/06: CBC: Nuclear power at record levels, despite Fukushima disaster
Japan restarts reactors, global reactor construction boom underway - 2012/06/28: TBAS: China responds to Fukushima
- 2012/07/02: National(Ae): Shock of Japan disaster still ripples round globe
The Arctic melt continues to garner attention:
- 2012/07/08: IOTD: Sea Ice Retreat in the Beaufort Sea
- 2012/07/06: CCP: PIOMAS Arctic Sea Ice Volume Falls Off Cliff
- 2012/07/06: PSinclair: NSIDC Sea Ice Update: Largest June Ice Loss in Satellite Record
- 2012/07/06: ASI: PIOMAS July 2012
- 2012/07/06: UMelbourne: Arctic warming linked to combination of reduced sea ice and global atmospheric warming
The combination of melting sea ice and global atmospheric warming are contributing to the high rate of warming in the Arctic, where temperatures are increasing up to four times faster than the global average, a new University of Melbourne study has shown. - 2012/07/06: ERW: Arctic sea-ice levels at record low for June
- 2012/07/02: ArcticNews: Arctic waters are heating up
- 2012/07/05: ArcticNews: Supplementary evidence to the EAC from John Nissen on behalf of AMEG - The Growing Crisis in the Arctic
- 2012/07/06: ArcticNews: Albedo change in the Arctic
- 2012/07/05: ASI: NSIDC Arctic sea ice news June 2012
- 2012/07/05: NSIDC: Rapid sea ice retreat in June
- 2012/07/04: Guardian(UK): Protect whales from new oil industry threat, warns WWF
Conservationists call on nations to protect cetacean populations as climate change opens up new areas of the Arctic - 2012/07/03: ASI: Fringe fries part 2
- 2012/07/03: CCP: Arctic sea ice concentration meltdown, June 27, 2011, compared to June 27, 2012
- 2012/07/02: Maribo: The north, melting
- 2012/07/01: ASI: ASI 2012 update 6: piggy bank
- 2012/07/01: ASI: The dark side of Greenland
As for the geopolitics of Arctic resources:
- 2012/07/05: LA Times: Shell may be ready for the Arctic, but its oil spill barge isn't
- 2012/07/06: BBerg: Barge Flaws Delay Shell Alaska Drilling, Coast Guard Says
- 2012/07/03: Europa: EU's Arctic Policy: Questions and Answers
- 2012/07/03: CBC: Arctic exploration licences to be extended -- Companies say they lost time taking part in Arctic drilling review
- 2012/06/29: Cryptome: Coast Guard Bans Protest at Shell Artic Drilling
- 2012/07/01: BBC: Whaling talks focus on 'too commercial' Arctic claims
The annual meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) has opened with the focus on hunting by indigenous groups mainly in the Arctic. The five-yearly quotas awarded to Inuit and other peoples are due for renewal, with Greenland asking for an increase. - 2012/07/01: CCP: Greenpeace shadows Shell drilling vessels bound for Arctic Alaska
- 2012/07/02: TP:JR: Shell Clarifies: It Can 'Encounter' 95 Percent Of An Arctic Oil Spill, Not Collect It
While in Antarctica:
- 2012/07/05: CAbyss: Another Reason the Public Is Confused
The food crisis is ongoing:
- 2012/07/06: UN: UN food and agriculture agency warns about negative impact of food speculation
- 2012/07/06: ProMedMail: Brown streak, cassava - Uganda: (AD)
- 2012/07/06: TP:JR: Intensifying Midwestern Drought Threatens Farmers, Water Supplies
- 2012/07/06: Grist: Sudden desert: Midwest drought is bad news for farmers and eaters
- 2012/07/06: FAO: Experts eye commodities speculation, food price swings
"Tremendous human impact," says Dominican Republican President at high-level event on issue - 2012/03/28: TexasTrib: Texas Farmers Watered Crops Knowing They Wouldn't Grow
Last summer, during the height of the drought, West Texas farmers kept watering their cotton crops despite knowing they wouldn't grow. They needed to do so to qualify for federal crop insurance. - 2012/07/04: NYT: Searing Sun and Drought Shrivel Corn in Midwest
- 2012/07/05: BBC: Somalia facing 'fresh hunger emergency'
Poor rains and continuing conflict in Somalia are threatening the recovery from last year's famine, the charity Save the Children has warned. This could put hundreds of thousands of children at risk of hunger again. - 2012/07/03: ABC(Au): Increasing pessimism about Queensland sugar crop
- 2012/07/02: EnergyBulletin: Stuffed and Starved round two: Raj Patel talks to Jonny Gordon-Farleigh about our crazy global food system
- 2012/07/02: NBF: 6-25 million tons of grain rot while 3000 child malnutrition deaths occur each day in India
- 2012/07/01: AlterNet: As Farms Bite the Dust, "Megadrought" May Be the New Normal in the Southwest
The state of the world's fisheries is a concern:
- 2012/07/06: ABC(Au): Coral trout fishery - economic crisis or biological disaster
Fishermen say alarm bells are ringing after the fleet managed only 60 per cent of its coral trout quota this season. The $40 million coral trout fishery is the jewel in the crown of the seafood industry But now fishers say lucrative coral trout stocks in Queensland are being put at risk because fisheries managers won't cut the quota. - 2012/07/03: UBC: The EU underpays Madagascar for access to fish: UBC research
- 2012/07/02: CDreams: Factory-Fed Fish: Monsanto and Cargill's Plan for the Ocean
Industrial food model and soy-based aquaculture a disaster for fish, environment - 2012/07/02: Eureka: NOAA researchers see dramatic decline of endangered white abalone
- 2012/06/20: KUOW:EarthFix: Spring Chinook Numbers Lower Than Expected
- 2012/07/03: CBC: Sockeye salmon adult populations in widespread decline
Sockeye salmon spawning on the rivers and streams of Washington state, British Columbia and southeastern Alaska have been producing fewer and fewer adults over the last six decades, a new study suggests. - 2012/07/02: CBC: U.S. cod crisis comes 20 years after Canada's moratorium
NOAA cuts fishermen's cod allocations by 22% in 2012 - 2012/06/29: CBC: Requiem for the once mighty cod fishery, 20 years of moratorium
Food Prices are still problematic:
- FAO: World Food Situation - Food Price Indices
- 2012/07/05: FAO: FAO Food Price Index falls again -- Latest update on food prices released
The FAO Food Price Index fell for the third consecutive month in June 2012, dipping 1.8 percent from May to its lowest level since September 2010. The four-point drop in June brought the index to 201 points from a revised level of 205 points in May 2012. - 2012/07/05: UN: UN food price index registers drop in prices for third consecutive month
- 2012/07/05: WSJ: As U.S. Corn Belt Bakes, Wheat Heats Up in Europe
- 2012/07/02: Guardian(UK): Food prices could rocket as US harvest continues to wilt in blistering heat
So, are these land grabs Colonialism V2.0?
- 2012/07/05: Guardian(UK): Guatemala farmers losing their land to Europe's demand for biofuels
Indigenous smallholder farmers are being violently evicted as companies move in to satisfy Europe's hunger for biofuels - 2012/07/05: TreeHugger: Thousands of [Guatemalan] Indigenous Farmers Chased Off Their Land to Make Room for Biofuel Companies
Regarding the genetic modification of food:
- 2012/07/05: ABC(Au): GM canola contamination leads to court showdown
- 2012/07/03: NatureN: Genetically modified cotton gets high marks in India
Engineered plants increased yields and profits relative to conventional varieties. - 2012/07/03: UCSUSA:B: Monsanto Improves its Bottom Line...But Not Agriculture
- 2012/07/03: UCSUSA: UCS Ads Show Monsanto is Failing to Improve Agriculture
And how are we going to feed 9 billion, 10 billion, 15 billion?
- 2012/07/06: EnergyBulletin: The food co-op revolution
- 2012/07/05: BPA: Assorted Graphics from Jason Henderson Related to Agricultural Economics
- 2012/07/05: AlterNet: 6 Bogus Economic Arguments Used to Trash Local Food
- 2012/07/02: Grist: Local haterade: Authors say locavores do more harm than good
- 2012/07/05: Grist: Let them eat kale: In Harlem, a farm share for the people
In the Eastern Pacific, amid a couple of numbered storms, Daniel spun up:
- 2012/07/06: NASA: NASA's TRMM Satellite Sees Heavy Rainfall in Tropical Storm Daniel's Center
- 2012/07/06: Eureka: NASA's TRMM Satellite sees heavy rainfall in Tropical Storm Daniel's center
While elsewhere in the hurricane wars:
- 2012/07/02: NASA: TRMM Sees Post-Season South Pacific Tropical Cyclone 21P
And on the Monsoon front:
- 2012/07/06: FirstPost: Assam flood situation remains grim, toll at 117
- 2012/07/05: CCurrents: Delayed Monsoon Keeps India On Edge
- 2012/07/05: al Jazeera: Update on the Indian Monsoon
The worst flooding in years has caused disruption and loss of life in NE India. The rain is late too in the NW. - 2012/07/04: CNN: Devastating India floods leave 95 dead, millions homeless
At least 95 people dead, almost 2 million others forced from their homes - Indian state of Assam in the northeast is the most affected area - It is considered the worst flooding since 2004 - Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has committed $90 million for relief effort - 2012/07/02: CBC: Deadly floods hit northeastern India More than 80 dead, 2 million displaced after Brahmaputra river overflows its banks
As for GHGs:
- 2012/07/06: Harvard:SEAS: Atmospheric scientists release first "bottom-up" estimates of China's CO2 emissions
Estimates capitalize on instrumental measurements of CO2 in smokestacks and pollutants in the air by satellites and surface stations - 2012/07/04: ERW: Early land clearance boosts Chinese and Indian emissions
- 2012/07/02: CER:RRapier: Global Carbon Dioxide Emissions - Facts and Figures
- 2012/07/04: TCoE: Carbon's long non-goodbye
And the temperature record:
- 2012/07/06: QuarkSoup: Lower Troposphere: 3rd Warmest June
- 2012/07/05: PlanetArk: More than 2,000 heat records matched or broken
More than 2,000 temperature records have been matched or broken in the past week as a brutal heat wave baked much of the United States, and June saw more than 3,200 records topped, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said Monday. From June 25 to July 1, some 2,171 record temperatures were either broken or matched, the NOAA said. For the 30 days of June, that number rose to 3,215. - 2012/07/03: CSM: Why has 2012 been the hottest year on record in the US?
While in the attribution debate:
- 2012/07/06: Grist: Journalists and climate disclaimers
- 2012/07/04: FuturePundit: Humans Causing US Southwest Forest Burn Out
- 2012/07/04: AlterNet: Scientists Say Ongoing Weather Extremes Offer Proof of Climate Change
- 2012/07/03: Guardian(UK): Is it now possible to blame extreme weather on global warming?
Wildfires, heatwaves and storms witnessed in the US are 'what global warming looks like', say climate scientists - 2012/07/03: CCP: Is it now possible to blame extreme weather on global warming? Yup!
- 2012/07/03: WaPo: Heat, wind, fires: Just freakish weather or something more? 'Told you so,' one scientist says
And on the ENSO front:
- 2012/07/06: ITracker: Brace yourselves. El Nino is coming
- 2012/07/06: PlanetArk: El Nino may strike in third quarter: forecaster
- 2012/07/05: NOAA:NCEP: El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) Diagnostic Discussion
Synopsis: Chances increase for El Niño beginning in July-September 2012. - 2012/07/05: TP:JR: NOAA Says 'Chances Increase For El Niño': That May Be Good for U.S. In Short Term, But Would Lead To Rapid Warming
- 2012/07/05: Wunderground: Borderline El Niño conditions arrive; Chicago, Detroit, and Milwaukee hit 102°
What's new in proxies?
- 2012/07/07: CCP: Greenland ice may exaggerate magnitude of 13,000-year-old deep freeze (Younger Dryas)
What's up with volcanoes this week?
- 2012/07/05: CSM: Can small volcanic eruptions affect global climate?
Meanwhile in near earth orbit:
- 2012/07/06: Eureka: Images in an instant: Suomi NPP begins direct broadcast
- 2012/07/05: BBC: Meteosat launches to maintain Europe's weather services
The latest spacecraft in Europe's long-running Meteosat series has just gone into orbit on an Ariane rocket. - 2012/07/05: ASI: First images from AMSR2
- 2012/07/03: ESA: ESA's mission control ready for MSG-3 launch
Europe's new meteorology mission is set to soar into space on an Ariane 5 from Kourou on 5 July. - 2012/07/03: ESA: SMOS satellite measurements improve as ground radars switch off
More GW impacts are being seen:
- 2012/07/06: CBC: New fish kill strikes P.E.I.'s Trout River
- 2012/07/07: P3: Lake Michigan Soup
- 2012/07/05: EPOnline: Global Warming Favors Proliferation of Toxic Cyanobacteria
- 2012/07/04: Eureka: Extreme weather conditions cost EU's transport system at least E15 billion annually
- 2012/07/04: 350orBust: A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall
- 2012/07/04: NatureN: Climate change linked to shrinking leaves -- Australian shrub has lost 40% of its leaf width as temperatures rise
- 2012/07/04: BBC: Climate 'causes leaves to narrow'
Leaves are getting narrower on some plant species as a result of changes to the climate, a study has suggested. - 2012/07/04: ABC(Au): Plants take narrow view on climate change
- 2012/07/02: SciAm:PI: Get Used to It
- 2012/07/03: Eureka: Global warming favors proliferation of toxic cyanobacteria
- 2012/07/02: CoralCOE: Fish learn to cope in a high CO2 world
- 2012/07/01: SciNews: Climate adaptation may be a family affair
Newborn reef fish can cope with changed water conditions if their parents have already adjusted - 2012/07/01: Eureka: Rising heat at the beach threatens largest sea turtles, climate change models show
And then there are the world's forests:
- 2012/07/05: ScienceInsider: Turning Over a New Leaf in China's Forests
- 2012/07/04: NatureN: Palm-oil boom raises conservation concerns
Industry urged towards sustainable farming practices as rising demand drives deforestation. - 2012/07/04: BBC: Public forests must not be sold, say advisers
Independent advisers appointed by the government say England's publicly owned forest estate is a national asset and should not be sold off. - 2012/07/03: al Jazeera: IKEA's 'sustainable' logging faces criticism
The furniture giant isn't living up to its standards by cutting down primeval forests in Russia, say ecologists. - 2012/07/05: UIllinois: Heat, rainfall affect pathogenic mosquito abundance in catch basins
- 2012/07/05: ERW: Climate changes for dengue fever in US
- 2012/07/06: CBC: Heat waves negatively affect mental health
This week in the New Normal -- extreme weather:
- 2012/07/05: NASA: NASA Satellites Examine a Powerful Summer Storm
- 2012/07/07: TP:JR: What Is Causing The Climate To Unravel?
- 2012/07/06: DeSmogBlog: Hot Enough For Ya? Extreme Weather Events Consistent With Climate Change Science
- 2012/07/05: Guardian(UK): Extreme weather events forecast storm over climate change denial
- 2012/07/05: PlanetArk: More than 1 million in US still without power five days after storm
- 2012/07/05: al Jazeera: One extreme to another
Whilst parts of Europe are melting, other parts are longing for sunshine. - 2012/07/04: Guardian(UK): As the climate changes, extreme weather isn't that extreme any more
With the US heatwave and Europe's rain, records are tumbling. Formerly rare occurrences are becoming the new normal - 2012/07/04: WtD: The new normal (part 4): 11:1 its all red
- 2012/07/03: WtD: The new normal (part 3): millions displaced in Indian floods
- 2012/07/02: WtD: The new normal (part 2)
- 2012/07/02: DemNow: "This Is Just the Beginning": Forest Fires, Deadly Storms, Record Heat Reveal a Changed Climate
- 2012/07/02: DerSpiegel: Weather Chaos in Germany -- Hundreds Injured by Lightning Strikes and Storms
Violent electrical storms swept across Germany over the weekend, causing havoc at music festivals and chaos on the roads. A single lightning strike injured over 50 concertgoers near Leipzig on Saturday night. - 2012/07/03: Guardian(UK): Scientists say ongoing weather extremes offer proof of climate change
Record-shattering heatwaves, wildfires and freak storms are a sampling of what is to come in 2012 and a window to the future - 2012/07/02: TP:JR: We Are All 'Climate Test Dummies' Now, Providing Data On How Humans Respond To Extreme Weather
- 2012/07/02: 350orBust: Extreme Weather Blasts U.S.: "The Sun Felt Like Fire On Our Skin"
- 2012/07/02: ABC(Au): How extreme weather affects the ocean
- 2012/07/02: Wunderground: Violent thunderstorms kill 3 in North Carolina; extreme heat continues in Southeast
On the tornado front:
- 2012/07/03: CBC: Tornado touches down in Saskatchewan
[...] The tornado left a trail of damage at a local farm near Davidson, located about 100 kilometres southeast of Saskatoon. - 2012/07/02: SaskBoy: The Moose Jaw Tornado
As for heatwaves and wild fires:
- 2012/07/06: KSJT: Australian, AP, etc: US weather and Earth warming not the same, but one has Americans thinking about t'other
- 2012/07/06: CBC: Extreme heat bakes [Ontario]
High temperatures are coming later Friday to the West, starting with B.C. interior - 2012/07/05: 350orBust: Climate Crisis: Humanity At Its Finest?
- 2012/07/04: CBC: Extreme heat alert declared for Toronto
- 2012/07/02: PlanetArk: Spanish forest fires rage out of control near Valencia
- 2012/07/03: CBC: U.S. summer a global warming preview, scientists say -- 3,215 daily high temperature records set in June
- 2012/07/02: CSW: Kevin Trenberth on US wildfires, drought, and global warming
- 2012/07/03: PeakEnergy: This US summer is 'what global warming looks like'
- 2012/07/01: EuroNews: Fires ravage forest land in Spain
Corals are a bellwether of the ocean's health:
- 2012/07/06: CBC: Coral reefs show sensitivity to climate change
Past climate extremes shut down reefs for thousands of years, study says - 2012/07/06: TreeHugger: Coral Reefs Rebounded from Hot Seas In Past, Study Says
- 2012/07/07: DD: Ancient climate change: 'We were shocked to find 2,500 years of reef growth were missing'
- 2012/07/06: Grist: Warming waters pose a huge threat to the world's coral
- 2012/07/03: SciAm: Field Trip: Can Corals Survive Warming Ocean Temperatures? [Slide Show]
Data from remote coral reefs in the central Pacific suggest that, although many corals are harmed by heat, certain kinds can adapt to warmer water - 2012/07/03: DerSpiegel: Melting Point -- Bavarian Glaciers Could Disappear in 30 Years
The high-altitude landscape of the Bavarian Alps is prized by mountain sports lovers around the world, but it could change significantly in the coming years. Temperatures in the region are rising at an above-average rate, which will likely melt most of the glaciers there within the next 20 to 30 years, Bavaria's environment minister has warned. - 2012/07/04: ABC(Au): Scientists shed more light on sea level rise [ACECRC]
- 2012/07/03: ACE: [link to 2.2 meg pdf] Sea-Level Rise Report Card released
- 2012/07/03: ABC(Au): Pinpointing the source of sea level rise
- 2012/07/03: ABC(Au): Scientists to predict sea level rises more accurately
- 2012/07/03: TreeHugger: Sea Level Rise Cannot Be Stopped, Say Scientists
- 2012/07/01: Tamino: Sea Level Rises ... Tisdale Falls
- 2012/07/02: InsuranceJournal: Scientists Conclude Rise in Sea Level Cannot Be Stopped
- 2012/07/02: Tamino: Hotspot Data
These 100, 200, 500 year storms are becoming all too frequent:
- 2012/07/06: MGS: Century storms
- 2012/07/05: MGS: Normally abnormal
- 2012/07/07: BBC: Russia flash floods: 134 killed in Krasnodar region
[...]
The rains dumped as much as 28cm (11 inches) of water on parts of the Krasnodar region overnight... - 2012/07/07: ABC(Au): Record floods kill 134 in southern Russia
Flash floods in Russia's southern Krasnodar region have killed at least 134 people and affected nearly 13,000 in the area's worst natural disaster in decades, officials said Saturday.
[...]
Gelendzhik alone received five months' worth of rain in 24 hours... - 2012/07/07: al Jazeera: Scores dead in southern Russia flooding
Severe floods in Krasnodar region kill over one hundred people and cause chaos for thousands of others. - 2012/07/06: BBC: Flood warnings remain in place in many parts of the UK as heavy rain continues to cause disruption
- 2012/07/06: TP:JR: Intensifying Midwestern Drought Threatens Farmers, Water Supplies
- 2012/07/05: Eureka: US Drought Monitor shows record-breaking expanse of drought across US -- Nearly 47 percent of nation experiencing some level of drought, officials say
- 2012/07/07: DD: At least 103 dead in southern Russia floods - "Nobody remembers such a flood in all of our history"
- 2012/07/07: ABC(Au): Record floods kill 99 in southern Russia
- 2012/07/07: BBC: Russia flash floods: Dozens die in Krasnodar region
At least 78 people have been killed after torrential rains leading to flash floods swept through parts of the south Russian Krasnodar region. - 2012/07/07: CBC: U.K. heavy rains cause flooding
- 2012/07/05: BBC: UK braced for further severe flooding
Experts are warning of flood risks for large parts of the UK, with a month's rain due to fall in 24 hours. The Environment Agency has urged 78 communities in the north and east of England, the Midlands and parts of Wales to prepare for flooding. - 2012/07/08: CBC: Russia flood death toll now 150 -- Federal investigators say water had been released from local reservoir
- 2012/07/08: al Jazeera: Russia's Putin orders probe of deadly floods
President calls for investigation of flood-prevention methods in Krasnodar region where at least 150 people have died. - 2012/07/08: al Jazeera: More deadly floods hit Black Sea
A 'supercell' seems to have been responsible for torrential rain which swept through Krasnodar in southern Russia. - 2012/07/07: Guardian(UK): Over 100 die in Russia as floods and landslides hit Krasnodar region
Thousands of homes flooded in Black Sea region after nearly a foot of rain falls overnight - 2012/07/07: BBC: In pictures: Southern Russia floods
- 2012/07/04: ColumbusDispatch: Drought envelops Ohio -- Conditions expected to worsen with more hot days ahead
- 2012/07/02: MoJo: 72 Percent of the US Is Experiencing Dry or Drought Conditions
- 2012/07/03: EarlyWarning: European Drought Map
Can cities take up the slack when nations shirk their responsibilities?
- 2012/07/05: TP:JR: Cities Are Leading The Charge On Climate Action
Consider transportation & GHG production:
- 2012/07/03: CalcRisk: U.S. Light Vehicle Sales at 14.1 million annual rate in June
As for carbon sequestration:
- 2012/07/07: GEP: David Suzuki Urges Opposition to CCS
- 2012/07/03: GEP: New Investments in CCS Demonstration, Research
- 2012/07/03: Straight: David Suzuki: Renewable energy, not carbon capture and storage
- 2012/07/02: WaPo:B: CBO: Carbon capture efforts aren't going so well
What's new in restoration?
- 2012/07/05: NatureN: Fish return to undammed Elwha River
First hope for salmon and trout restoration in biggest dam-removal project in US history. - 2012/07/04: P3: Adaptation
- 2012/07/03: MGS: Adapted to the weather?
Meanwhile in the journals:
- 2012/07/03: ACP: Assessing large-scale weekly cycles in meteorological variables: a review by A. Sanchez-Lorenzo et al.
- 2012/07/03: ACP: Development of a climate record of tropospheric and stratospheric column ozone from satellite remote sensing: evidence of an early recovery of global stratospheric ozone by J. R. Ziemke & S. Chandra
- 2012/07/05: ACPD: Measurements and modelling of ozone in the Mediterranean MBL: an investigation of the importance of ship emissions to local ozone production by I. M. Hedgecock et al.
- 2012/07/04: ACPD: Aerosol lifetime and climate change by G.-J. Roelofs
- 2012/07/04: ACPD: Urban aerosol size distributions over the Mediterranean city of Barcelona, NE Spain by M. Dall'Osto et al.
- 2012/07/02: ACPD: Characteristics of tropospheric ozone depletion events in the Arctic spring: analysis of the ARCTAS, ARCPAC, and ARCIONS measurements and satellite BrO observations by J.-H. Koo et al.
- 2012/07/02: ACPD: Simultaneous assimilation of satellite NO2, O3, CO, and HNO3 data for the analysis of tropospheric chemical composition and emissions by K. Miyazaki et al.
- 2012/07/05: ESDD: The influence of vegetation dynamics on anthropogenic climate change by U. Port et al.
- 2012/07/05: CPD: Mapping uncertainties through the POM-SAT model of climate reconstruction from borehole data by M. G. Bartlett
- 2012/07/03: CPD: Automated ice-core layer-counting with strong univariate signals by J. J. Wheatley et al.
- 2012/07/03: CPD: Sea-ice dynamics strongly promote Snowball Earth initiation and destabilize tropical sea-ice margins by A. Voigt & D. S. Abbot
- 2012/07/06: Science: (ab$) ENSO Drove 2500-Year Collapse of Eastern Pacific Coral Reefs by Lauren T. Toth et al.
- 2012/05/29: AtmosEnv(via doi): (ab$) China's CO2 emissions estimated from the bottom up: Recent trends, spatial distributions, and quantification of uncertainties by Yu Zhao et al.
- 2012/07/02: NERC:NORA: Modeling the carbon fluxes of the northwest European continental shelf: Validation and budgets by S.L. Wakelin et al.
- 2012/07/03: NERC:NORA: Extracting sea level residual in tidally dominated estuarine environments by Jennifer M. Brown et al.
- 2012/07/03: NERC:NORA: Where might we find evidence of a Last Interglacial West Antarctic ice sheet collapse in Antarctic ice core records? by S.L. Bradley et al.
- 2012/07/03: NERC:NORA: Diurnal and semidiurnal tide-induced lateral movement of Ronne Ice Shelf, Antarctica by Keith Makinson et al.
- 2012/07/03: NERC:NORA: Global vegetation dynamics and latitudinal temperature gradients during the Mid to Late Miocene (15.97-5.33 Ma) by Matthew J. Pound et al.
- 2012/07/06: ACP: In situ measurements of aerosol optical properties and number size distributions in a coastal region of Norway during the summer of 2008 by S. Mogo et al.
- 2012/07/06: ACPD: Characteristics and sources of carbonaceous aerosols from Shanghai, China by J.-J. Cao et al.
- 2012/07/06: ACPD: On the spatial distribution and evolution of ultrafine aerosols in urban air by M. Dall'Osto et al.
- 2012/07/05: GMD: MAESPA: a model to study interactions between water limitation, environmental drivers and vegetation function at tree and stand levels, with an example application to [CO2] × drought interactions by R. A. Duursma & B. E. Medlyn
- 2012/07/06: GMDD: Unified parameterization of the planetary boundary layer and shallow convection with a higher-order turbulence closure in the community atmosphere model: single column experiments by P. A. Bogenschutz et al.
- 2012/07/06: TC: Extrapolating glacier mass balance to the mountain-range scale: the European Alps 1900-2100 by M. Huss
- 2012/07/04: TCD: Investigating the dynamics of bulk snow density in dry and moist conditions using a one-dimensional model by C. De Michele et al.
- 2012/07/04: TCD: Future projections of the Greenland ice sheet energy balance driving the surface melt, developed using the regional climate MAR model by B. Franco et al.
- 2012/06/25: ERL: Water use by terrestrial ecosystems: temporal variability in rainforest and agricultural contributions to evapotranspiration in Mato Grosso, Brazil by Michael J Lathuillière et al.
- 2012/07/03: PNAS: (ab$) Thylakoid potassium channel is required for efficient photosynthesis in cyanobacteria by Vanessa Checchetto et al.
- 2012/07/03: PNAS: (ab$) Lycopene cyclase paralog CruP protects against reactive oxygen species in oxygenic photosynthetic organisms by Louis M. T. Bradbury et al.
- 2012/07/03: PNAS: (ab$) Deer, predators, and the emergence of Lyme disease by Taal Levi et al.
- 2012/07/03: PNAS: (ab$) Low demand for nontraditional cookstove technologies by Ahmed Mushfiq Mobarak et al.
- 2012/07/03: PNAS: (ab$) Rainfall-induced carbon dioxide pulses result from sequential resuscitation of phylogenetically clustered microbial groups by Sarah A. Placella et al.
- 2012/07/03: PNAS: (ab$) Environmental and biotic controls on the evolutionary history of insect body size by Matthew E. Clapham & Jered A. Karr
- 2012/07/03: PNAS: (letter$) Reply to Caldeira and Myhrvold: Radiative forcing is a useful, accepted metric to compare climate influence of alternative energy choices by Ramón A. Alvarez et al.
- 2012/07/03: PNAS: (letter$) Temperature change vs. cumulative radiative forcing as metrics for evaluating climate consequences of energy system choices by Ken Caldeira & Nathan P. Myhrvold
- 2012/07/03: CJFAS: A widespread decrease in productivity of sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) populations in western North America by Randall M. Peterman & Brigitte Dorner
- 2012/07/02: AGWObserver: New research from last week 26/2012
And other significant documents:
- 2012/07/03: ACE: [link to 2.2 meg pdf] Sea-Level Rise Report Card released
- 2012/06/17: IHDP: [link to 11.2 meg pdf] Inclusive Wealth Report 2012
As for miscellaneous science:
- 2012/07/06: Tamino: How Long?
One of the most often-asked questions about climate data is, "How long a time period do we need to establish a statistically significant trend?" - 2012/07/06: NatureNB: Spanish scientists ask for European intervention on national R&D policy
- 2012/07/06: NatureN: Nature Publishing Group wins long-running libel trial
Case brought by Mohamed El Naschie dismissed, but campaigners say it proves need for libel reform. - 2012/07/05: NSF: Scientists Discover New Trigger for Immense North Atlantic Plankton Bloom
- 2008/11/26: NatureN: Self-publishing editor set to retire
Criticism grows over high number of self-penned articles in physics journal. The editor of a theoretical-physics journal, who was facing growing criticism that he used its pages to publish numerous papers written by himself, is set to retire early next year. - 2012/07/06: BBC: Nature journal libel victory prompts libel reform call
Scientific journal Nature has won a libel case over an article that was critical of a scientist. Physicist Prof Mohamed El Naschie said an article published in November 2008 had damaged his reputation. However, the publishers argued that the report was fair and honest, and in the public interest. - 2012/07/05: ERabett: Ice Ages and Delayed Feedbacks - Shakun et al.
- 2012/07/03: NatureN: Academics protest shrinking funds in Pakistan -- Budget cuts and withheld funds put research at risk
- 2012/07/03: NatureN: Britain names next chief science adviser
Immunologist Mark Walport, head of one of the world's largest biomedical charities, will take on role in 2013. - 2012/07/03: NatureN: Turkey cracks down on academic freedom -- External groups hope scrutiny will restrain government
- 2012/07/02: SciAm:Obs: Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting: From the Big Bang to the Big Controversy (aka Climate Change)
- 2012/07/01: EconView: The Strange Case of 'Global Warming'???
More DIY science:
- 2012/07/05: Ph&Ph: "Measuring the eccentricity of the Earth orbit with a nail and a piece of plywood"
Regarding Thompson:
- 2012/07/02: NYT: A Climate Scientist [Lonnie Thompson] Battles Time and Mortality
While at the UN:
- 2012/07/04: FAO: New effort to harmonize measurement of livestock's environmental impacts
Common indicators and guidelines for environmental assessments will lead to shared understanding of environmental impacts, better policymaking - 2012/07/05: WMO: WMO Council Issues Guidance on Climate Services Road Map
And on the carbon trading front:
- 2012/07/05: BBerg: World Bank Blocks Recast of Trading Emissions Plc. Contracts
- 2012/07/05: EurActiv: EU puts finishing touches on CO2 market review plans
The European Commission has yet to set a date for publishing plans to bolster the EU Emissions Trading System, but still aims to release them before the summer recess begins in August, a spokesman said yesterday (4 July). - 2012/07/06: EurActiv: Tory MP calls for personal carbon-trading scheme
The chair of the British Parliament's energy and climate change committee has called for the launch of a pilot personal carbon allowance (PCA) trading scheme, which could be based in his own constituency, and funded by the private sector and possibly the EU. - 2012/07/02: PlanetArk: New Zealand extends carbon trade rules until 2015
New Zealand's government said on Monday it would continue allowing carbon emitters to offset just half of their emissions until at least 2015 to avoid putting New Zealand firms under more financial pressure as the economy struggles to improve. In addition, the government will allow unrestricted use of cheaper, international carbon credits in the country's emissions trading scheme (ETS) through 2015 and cap the price of each carbon-offsetting unit at NZ$25 ($20.09). - 2012/07/03: HotTopic: Government confirms NZ ETS to be watered down
The idea of a carbon tax is still bouncing around:
- 2012/07/04: NYT: The Most Sensible Tax of All
- 2012/07/05: PSinclair: The Most Sensible Tax?
- 2012/07/04: JQuiggin: Moderation problems at the Bolt blog
- 2012/07/04: JQuiggin: Quiggin and Bolt agree
- 2012/07/02: ERabett:BSD: America != Europe. How's that for insight?
How will Carbon Labelling work?
- 2012/07/04: EurActiv: EU wants carbon labels to do what they say on the tin
A European Commission review of carbon dioxide labelling methodologies for commercial products, due later this year, is likely to propose a grading system similar to the EU energy consumption labels for products, goods and services, EurActiv has learned. "This approach could simplify the way in which the information is delivered, without requiring a simplistic approach," said Joe Hennon, spokesman for Environment Commissioner Janez Potocnik. - 2012/07/06: EurActiv: Swiss opt out of Iran oil ban backed by EU, US
The Swiss government will not match European Union sanctions on Iran, deciding yesterday (5 July) that its own pending set of toughened measures would exclude a ban on trading Iranian oil and defending its traditional neutrality in the face of EU and U.S. pressure. - 2012/07/05: CCurrents: Strait History And Iran 's Options
- 2012/07/05: AntiWar: US-Led Sanctions Cut Iran's Oil Exports in Half
The sanctions, supposedly in place to deter Iran from a weapons program it doesn't have, are primarily harming ordinary Iranians - 2012/07/05: GRC: Blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. Iran's Options -- A Historical Perspective
- 2012/07/04: BBC: Kenya has cancelled plans to import crude oil from Iran following threats of sanctions, an official at the Kenyan energy ministry has said
- 2012/07/03: AntiWar: US Reinforces Military Presence in Persian Gulf to Intimidate Iran
The US posture has nothing to do with Iran's nuclear program. It is a bid to dominate the region. - 2012/07/04: al Jazeera: Iran test-fires medium-range missile
Launch carried out two days after new EU oil embargo took effect, increasing tension around Strait of Hormuz. - 2012/07/02: al Jazeera: Iran's MPs debate Strait of Hormuz closure
Iranian MPs sign a draft law aimed at blocking Europe-bound oil tankers from using the Strait of Hormuz. - 2012/07/02: EUO: US welcomes EU embargo on Iran oil
- 2012/07/01: AntiWar: Iran Braces for Economic Hardship as EU Sanctions Begin
Inflation-Torn Iran Will Hurt, But Will Sanctions Also Harm Western Economies? - 2012/07/05: Google:AFP: China starts stockpiling rare earths: report
- 2012/07/06: GRC: The Planet's "Rare Earth Elements" (REEs): The Worldwide Battle for Strategic Resources
South China Sea tension persists:
- 2012/07/05: AntiWar: Philippines President Denies Plans to Ask for US Drones -- Insists Philippines Can Keep Eye on Disputed Waters Itself
Faced with a flurry of speculation after comments earlier this week, Philippines President Benigno Aquino denied having ever asked the US for military drones for the surveillance of disputed waters in the South China Seas. - 2012/07/04: al Jazeera: How to resolve conflicts in the South China Sea
Southeast Asian states should collectively negotiate with powerful China to resolve territory disputes. - 2012/07/02: AntiWar: Philippines Mulls Seeking US Drones for South China Sea -- US Drones Would Surveil Disputed Waters
The Trans-Pacific Partnership looks like a stealth corporate takeover:
- 2012/07/05: CCurrents: The Trans-Pacific Partnership: An Extremist 1% Global Attack
- 2012/07/07: OpenMedia: Large petition against TPP's Internet trap hand-delivered to negotiations in San Diego
- 2012/07/06: OpenMedia: Infojustice: TPP negotiators are trying to shut you out
- 2012/07/05: GRC: Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP): More Power to Corporations to Attack Nations
Extreme Foreign Investor Rights & Private Enforcement Would Promote Offshoring, Attacks Against Our Laws - 2012/07/05: GRC: The Trans-Pacific Partnership: A Global Coalition of Big Business Actors
- 2012/07/03: EFF: Joint Statement of Civil Society Groups on U.S. TPP Copyright Proposal
- 2012/07/05: OpenMedia: It's time to amplify our voice against the TPP's Internet Trap
- 2012/07/03: OpenMedia: The Electronic Frontier Foundation give a rundown on the TPP's Internet trap
And in miscellaneous international political jousting:
- 2012/07/06: HuffPo: Mohamed Nasheed, Former Maldives President, Calls For U.S. To Embrace Climate Change Reality
- 2012/07/06: PeakEnergy: Timor Sea hides fight for taxes and royalties
- 2012/07/03: EurActiv: EU faces prolonged wait in aviation ETS row
A global resolution to Europe's battle with China and other countries over curbing aviation emissions is unlikely before October 2013, risking growing pressure from domestic airlines and trade partners. Senior EU officials say they will not retreat from enforcing obligations under the Emissions Trading System (ETS) that took effect in January. The law requires domestic carriers as well as any foreign airline landing in the EU to pay for their emissions under a cap-and-trade system. A decision is expected shortly on how the EU will respond to defiant Chinese and Indian airlines that failed to meet a 31 March deadline to submit an annual emissions report to the European Commission. - 2012/07/06: BPA: Water as Source of Conflicts Talk at the 2012 Aspen Ideas Festival
- 2012/07/02: Eureka: War-related climate change would reduce substantially reduce crop yields
The issue of the law and activism is playing out around the world:
- 2012/07/06: Guardian(UK): China releases three more copper plant protesters
Plans for Shifang city plant were halted after violent protests by residents concerned at environmental impact of scheme - 2012/07/06: PlanetArk: China stops copper plant, frees 21 after protests
- 2012/07/05: Guardian(UK): How many wrongly convicted over secret work of Mark Kennedy and other police spies?
- 2012/07/05: ABC(Au): Police fine anti Kimberley gas hub protesters
- 2012/07/04: al Jazeera: China frees protesters after halting project
Uncommon steps of halting metals project and releasing demonstrators, comes after thousands protested in [Shifang] southwest city. - 2012/06/29: Cryptome: Coast Guard Bans Protest at Shell Artic Drilling
- 2012/07/03: BBC: China factory construction halted amid violent protests
Chinese officials have halted the construction of a copper alloy plant in Sichuan province following violent protests by local residents. Local officials said large crowds of residents gathered on Sunday and Monday in Shifang city to protest against the plant on environmental grounds. Both police and residents were injured in the clashes as bottles were thrown and cars damaged, they said. Officials said they would now consult residents on the project. Local authorities said hundreds of residents and students were involved in the protests, while state-run Global Times, quoting an unnamed police officer, said "several thousand" took part. - 2012/07/03: CBC: China warns against further pollution protests
What are the activists up to?
- 2012/07/05: TreeHugger: Stop the Frack Attack: Join Us July 28 in Washington DC
- 2012/07/06: TreeHugger: Watch the Climate HOAX Melt in D.C. Tomorrow
- 2012/07/07: Guardian(UK): Protesters take 16-metre wind turbine blade to Tate Modern
Activists who oppose BP's sponsorship of the gallery carried one and a half tonne blade across Millennium bridge - 2012/07/03: TDB: Bill McKibben on the Global Warming Hoax
- 2012/07/03: DbP: 350.org's Bill McKibben on Colorado fires and the global warming threat
Polls! We have polls!
- 2012/07/05: STimes: Official: More in US convinced of climate change
Increasingly common experiences with extreme climate-related events such as the Colorado wildfires, a record warm spring and preseason hurricanes have convinced many Americans climate change is a reality, the head of a U.S. scientific agency [NOAA chief Jane Lubchenco] said Friday. - 2012/07/04: TP:JR: Climate Change Understanding Rebounds To 2009 Levels
- 2012/07/02: WaPo: Global warming no longer Americans' top environmental concern, poll finds
Regarding Water Politics and Business:
- 2012/07/01: RI: Pincushion America: The irretrievable legacy of drilling everywhere on drinking water
- 2012/07/05: CensoredNews: Navajo Council votes NO! to Little Colorado River water rights settlement
- 2012/07/03: MIT: Book details a new model for sharing water
Sure, water is in great demand - but that doesn't mean supply is a zero-sum game among neighboring countries, an MIT professor says in a new book.
[Book Review] _Water Diplomacy_ by Larry Susskind & Shafiqul Islam - 2012/07/02: TreeHugger: Coal & Nuclear Power Have Over 15x the Water Footprint of Renewable Energy Sources
- 2012/07/02: JFleck: Checking the conventional wisdom on the Clean Water Act
- 2012/06/30: AlterNet: It's No Longer Enough to Regulate Corporate Greed: The Global Water Crisis Demands a Paradigm Shift
- 2012/07/01: EnergyBulletin: Pincushion America: The irretrievable legacy of drilling everywhere on drinking water
And on the groundwater front:
- 2012/07/03: TexasTrib: Drought Caused Big Drop in Texas Portion of Ogallala
And on the American political front:
- 2012/07/05: WaPo: Washington's Hell Week puts climate change back on the radar
- 2012/07/06: TP:JR: What DC Can Teach California About Putting Together A Climate Bill
- 2012/07/05: Grist: Complete jerks think fracking is more important than democracy
- 2012/07/06: USA Today: Calif. lawmakers OK billions for 1st U.S. high-speed rail line
- 2012/07/06: HoustonChronicle: First casualty of greenhouse gas rules may be Texas plant
- 2012/07/07: BBC: California high-speed rail wins approval
California lawmakers have approved financing for a bullet train that would eventually become part of the first dedicated high-speed line in the US. - 2012/07/04: AlterNet: How Climate Change Is Worsened by Attacks on the Public Sector, Science and Regulation
- 2012/07/06: AutoBG: California approves $27 million in green-vehicle incentives
- 2012/03/28: TexasTrib: Texas Farmers Watered Crops Knowing They Wouldn't Grow
Last summer, during the height of the drought, West Texas farmers kept watering their cotton crops despite knowing they wouldn't grow. They needed to do so to qualify for federal crop insurance. - 2012/07/05: EnvEcon: Job-killing regulations?
- 2012/07/05: PlanetArk: Two states receiving federal storm relief aid
Federal emergency money began filtering out this week to two storm-ravaged states, with funds going to help West Virginia and Ohio buy generators and other equipment needed to restore power. - 2012/07/05: DeSmogBlog: The Politics of Ice and Fire
- 2012/07/02: PlanetArk: North Carolina governor rejects fracking law
North Carolina Governor Beverly Perdue on Sunday vetoed legislation that would have lifted a ban on hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, and opened the door to shale gas exploration in that state. Perdue, a Democrat, said she supports shale gas exploration and fracking, but that a measure approved by the Republican-led legislature in June to permit the practices would not ensure adequate environmental protections. It's the second time in as many years the governor has put the brakes on Republican efforts to push fracking and shale gas exploration in North Carolina, where it is currently not permitted. - 2012/07/02: DemNow: Climate Disasters' Toll Worsened by Sustained Attacks on Public Sector, Science and Regulation
- 2012/07/04: AlterNet: ConEdison Puts New York's Power at Risk During Heat Wave with Lockout of Workers
- 2012/07/03: DeSmogBlog: Bloomberg Stunner: How Chesapeake Energy Paid Less Than a 1% Tax Rate On $5.5 Billion in Profits
- 2012/07/03: Wonkette: Saddest Lady In World Presses Wrong Button, Legalizes Fracking In North Carolina
- 2012/07/02: NOAANews: New NOAA website offers tips to prepare for coastal flooding
- 2012/07/02: TreeHugger: Chesapeake Energy Paid Just 1% Tax Over Past 23 Years
- 2012/06/30: S&R: Texas GOP makes a critical error
So do you want a vulture capitalist or the hopey-changey kill-list guy? Choose by November:
- 2012/07/07: DeSmogBlog: What To Expect When You're Electing: President Barack Obama
- 2012/07/06: DeSmogBlog: What To Expect When You're Electing: Part 2 - Mitt Romney
- 2012/07/02: AlterNet: Bipartisan Support for Romney's Business Past Should Scare Us All
- 2012/07/01: al Jazeera: Will global warming melt Mitt's chances?
Ironically, Romney's lack of belief in global warming did not stop it from spurring the US economy in favour of Obama. - 2012/07/05: iPolitics: Has decision on Keystone XL poisoned Canada-U.S. relations?
- 2012/07/01: TP:JR: Must Read: [ICN] Investigation Reveals True Hazards Of Piping Tar Sands Across America
The sea level nonsense continues in North Carolina:
- 2012/07/06: PSinclair: North Carolina Legislature Votes to Put Physics on Hold
- 2012/07/03: ScienceInsider: Update: Revised North Carolina Sea Level Rise Bill Goes to Governor
- 2012/07/03: Yahoo:Reuters: North Carolina lawmakers reject sea level rise predictions
- 2012/07/02: EnvEcon: NC sea-level rise follies: part 5
The North west coal port issue is still percolating:
- 2012/07/03: LA Times: Derailed coal train fuels critics of increased Northwest shipping
- 2012/07/: Oregonian: [series] Coal Clash
As is the birth control issue:
- 2012/07/03: RawStory: Iowa Republicans seek to halt Medicaid funded abortions for rape victims
The Obama chatter is nonstop:
- 2012/07/02: CSW: Washington Post connects wildfires, climate disruption; Obama doesn't
The actions of the Obama administration are being watched closely:
- 2012/07/02: GreenGrok: Carbon Emissions Regulations: A Hemline Debate?
- 2012/07/06: NatureNB: Study says US conservation agency ignored scientific advice
- 2012/07/06: ScienceInsider: NSF Finds an Icebreaker to Reach McMurdo
After 2 months of negotiations, the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) has struck a deal with a Russian shipping company to charter a heavy-duty icebreaker to clear a path this winter to the largest U.S. scientific base in the Antarctic. - 2012/07/05: CBD: Study: Fish and Wildlife Service Routinely Ignored Scientific Experts When -- Choosing Protected Habitat for Endangered Species
- 2012/07/06: BBerg: Barge Flaws Delay Shell Alaska Drilling, Coast Guard Says
- 2012/07/04: TP:JR: BLM Sells $60 Worth Of Coal For A Buck And Change
- 2012/07/02: TP:JR: Agriculture Undersecretary On Wildfires: 'The Climate Is Changing, And These Fires Are A Very Strong Indicator Of That'
- 2012/07/02: TP:JR: EPA's Carbon Pollution Rule Gets Largest Number Of Public Comments For Any Federal Rule
As for what is going on in Congress:
- 2012/07/05: TheHill:e2W: Rural energy programs cut under House panel's version of farm bill
Five rural energy programs will end while others will be slimmed down if a draft version of the 2012 farm bill released Thursday becomes law. - 2012/07/03: DailyKos: Congressional investigations: Sunny and Spurious? Cash and Curious
- 2012/07/05: Grist: Stamp of disapproval: House farm bill to gut nutrition program - cut food stamps $16.5 billion over 10 years
- 2012/07/06: AlterNet: The 'Monsanto Rider': Are Biotech Companies About to Gain Immunity from Federal Law?
- 2012/07/05: TP:JR: A Perfect Storm of Support for Flood Insurance Reform: Coalition Praises Congressional Action
- 2012/07/05: TP:JR: Wind Manufacturer Plans 165 Layoffs In Pennsylvania Due To Congressional Inaction On Key Tax Credit
- 2012/07/05: AutoBG: House chair Issa questions CARB's influence on new truck-efficiency rules
- 2012/07/03: UCSUSA:B: A Senate Leader Lights the Way
What are the lobbyists pushing?
- 2012/07/03: TreeHugger: Monsanto Outspends All Other Ag Companies on Lobbying, Except Big Tobacco
While in the UK:
- 2012/07/06: Guardian(UK): John Gummer picked as favourite to head climate change committee
Former environment secretary confirmed as preferred candidate to replace Lord Turner at committee on climate change - 2012/07/06: BBC: Real-time flood map goes online in UK
A live flood warning system has gone online as the UK experiences unseasonable amounts of heavy rain. The system aims to allow people to track areas that are in danger of imminent flooding. The FloodAlerts map offers people real-time updates on areas at risk in England and Wales. The system, developed by Shrewsbury-based firm Shoothill, uses data from the Environment Agency's nationwide network of monitoring stations. - 2012/07/07: BBC: Wind farms off East coast approved by government
Two large wind farms off the Norfolk coast have been approved by the government. The £3bn Race Bank and Dudgeon wind farms will provide enough power for 730,000 homes, the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) said. A third proposed development, the Docking Shoal wind farm, has been refused over wildlife concerns. - 2012/07/05: Guardian(UK): MPs urge government to set targets for water meters
- 2012/07/05: Guardian(UK): How many wrongly convicted over secret work of Mark Kennedy and other police spies?
- 2012/07/05: BBC: UK 'biorenewables' centre opens
A facility designed to make the UK a world leader in green chemistry has opened at the University of York. The Biorenewables Development Centre (BDC) aims to bridge the current gap between laboratories and the chemicals industry, say researchers. The centre, which received £2.5m funding from the government, was opened by Business Secretary Vince Cable. Chemicals derived from plants are expected to play an important role in the future as oil supplies decline. - 2012/07/05: BBC: Fight on for wind power subsidies
Wind power firms warn they may take the government to court if they get caught in a political row over subsidies. After conducting technical studies, the energy department proposed a subsidy cut of 10% for power from onshore wind. But the chancellor is under pressure from back-benchers to scrap subsidies, and is said to favour a 25% cut. The industry body, Renewable UK, says it may take legal action if the government makes a decision that overrides its own technical evidence. - 2012/07/04: BBC: Public forests must not be sold, say advisers
Independent advisers appointed by the government say England's publicly owned forest estate is a national asset and should not be sold off. - 2012/07/02: Guardian(UK): MPs give green light to loan plan for home insulation
And in Europe:
- 2012/07/05: EurActiv: Food waste, greening diets become EU policy goals
The European Commission wants to help consumers cut food waste by making 'best before' and 'use by' dates clearer on the packaging. But measures to green up our diets will not stop here, with policymakers' attention turning to the entire food chain. - 2012/07/06: EurActiv: Budget plan for regions contradicts 'green' ambitions
MEPs are rushing to get an agreement on how EU funds will be spent on regions in the next budgetary period (2014-2020), but it remains to be seen how 'green' the proposal will be with some lawmakers saying it retains subsidies for non-climate-friendly gas and oil projects. - 2012/07/02: PlanetArk: Fiat clashes with German carmakers on EU CO2 law
- 2012/07/03: Europa: EU's Arctic Policy: Questions and Answers
- 2012/07/03: EurActiv: Finding the right mix to spur greener consumption
World leaders attending the recent Rio+20 conference agreed to promote sustainable consumption and production, but analysts say getting businesses and buyers to do just that will require far more than words on paper. - 2012/07/03: EurActiv: Green groups: Barroso team too slow on environment
The European Commission has been too slow in advancing earth-friendly policies on agriculture and energy, a group of environmentalists said today (3 July) in a mid-term scorecard of the EU executive's performance. - 2012/07/02: UCopenhagen: Denmark can triple its biomass production and improve the environment
Meanwhile in Australia:
- 2012/07/06: ABC(Au): Opposition refuses to guarantee future of Biodiversity Fund grants
The Federal Coalition won't commit to maintaining the Biodiversity Fund if it wins the next election. The six-year $946 million grants program was introduced alongside the carbon tax and is available to landholders for vegetation protection, reafforestation and weed management. - 2012/07/06: ABC(Au): Mid West wind farm on hold until demand grows
[WA] State-owned power generator Verve says it will only go ahead with a proposed 250 megawatt wind farm in the Mid West when there is sufficient demand for power. - 2012/07/06: ABC(Au): Coral trout fishers urge quota cut
An unlikely stoush has erupted between commercial fishers and Queensland authorities over one of the state's most lucrative fish stocks. Commercial fishers say in the eight years since new management laws came into effect, they have never met their quota for coral trout. - 2012/07/06: ABC(Au): Coal seam gas blamed for health problems
Queensland doctors have reported seeing patients with health problems believed to be related to coal seam gas activities - 2012/07/07: ABC(Au): EPA fines CSG explorer over polluted water
The Environment Protection Authority has issued two fines against coal seam gas explorer Eastern Star Gas, now owned by Santos, totalling $1,500 each. - 2012/07/07: ABC(Au): Milne defends 'mainstream' Greens after Labor attack
Greens leader Christine Milne has defended her party's policies as mainstream after a Labor powerbroker called on his party to dump the Greens to the bottom of preferencing at the ballot box. New South Wales Labor secretary Sam Dastyari says Labor must send a clear message to the electorate and distance themselves from the Greens, who he has described as "extremists not unlike One Nation". - 2012/07/05: ABC(Au): Lake Council stands by sea level rise policy
Lake Macquarie Council says it chose not to adopt a sea level rise planning clause, which neighbouring Gosford Council has now repealed. This week, Gosford Council voted to withdraw a message on 149 planning certificates that stated coastal properties would potentially be affected by sea level rise of up to 90 centimetres. Property owners claimed the clause was driving down house prices and hiking up their insurance premiums. - 2012/07/04: BLongstaff: Australia's Dutch disease
- 2012/07/04: ABC(Au): Gosford Council repeals controversial sea level policy
A Council on the New South Wales Central Coast has voted to repeal its controversial sea level rise policy, just months after hundreds of waterfront property owners rallied against it. Two months ago, crowds of residents from the Coast and Lake Macquarie took to the streets, angry at state legislation and their councils' actions in response to the projected sea level threat over the next 90 years. They argue they are being unfairly burdened by sea level warnings attached to their property certificates, which are driving down house prices and hiking up insurance premiums. Last night, Gosford City Council voted to remove those notifications. - 2012/07/03: ABC(Au): Hedging bets against sea level rise
- 2012/07/03: ABC(Au): Nuclear waste dump in 'national interest': Abbott
Federal Opposition Leader Tony Abbott says he is confident a nuclear waste dump can be built safely in the Northern Territory. The Federal Government's preferred site for a waste facility is Muckaty Station, near Tennant Creek. The plan opposed by some traditional owners and local politicians. - 2012/07/06: ABC(Au): Carbon tax winners: clean energy producers
- 2012/07/07: ABC(Au): Bradbury backs Brumby's on removing Liberal placards
The Federal Government has backed a major bakery chain's advice to its franchisees to take down Liberal Party placards criticising the carbon tax. Brumby's is seeking to repair its reputation after the resignation of the company's managing director over an internal memo in which he urged shops to "let the carbon tax take the blame" for price rises. - 2012/07/06: ABC(Au): Port Macquarie landfill charges drop
Hastings ratepayers are to get a reduction in their landfill charges. The Port Macquarie-Hastings Council has admitted that it miscalculated the impact that the carbon tax will have on its waste management and landfill operations. - 2012/07/07: ABC(Au):TDU: Delusional carbon tax comparisons with GST
- 2012/07/06: ABC(Au): Brumby's boss quits over carbon tax letter
- 2012/07/05: ABC(Au): Greens want ACCC to police carbon price costs for farmers
The Greens have acknowledged that supermarket power could make it hard for farmers to pass on increased costs under a carbon price. But Greens Leader Christine Milne says the benefits to rural Australia of pricing carbon will be significant, because it will help prevent further damaging climate change. - 2012/07/05: ABC(Au): Industry fumes as refrigerant costs soar
Farmers, retailers and other sectors of industry are concerned about a huge jump in the price of refrigerants. The price rises - some as steep as 400 per cent - kicked in at the same time the carbon tax came into effect. But the Federal Government has questioned the carbon tax's impact on refrigerant prices. The scale of the refrigerant price increase has fishmongers and farmers fuming. According to one industry price list, the cost of popular commercial refrigerant R404A jumped $285 per kilo, an increase of more than 300 per cent in just a fortnight. But a carbon price calculator provided by the Department of Environment shows the increase from the carbon price on R404A should be $75. - 2012/07/05: ABC(Au): Swan won't rule out carbon price rethink
Deputy Prime Minister Wayne Swan has refused to rule out changes to Labor's carbon pricing scheme, amid reports the Government is considering dumping the floor price from the policy. The $15 per tonne minimum price is due to come into effect once the carbon tax transitions to a fluctuating market-based scheme in 2015. - 2012/07/05: ABC(Au): Government rejects rumors it will change the carbon floor price
- 2012/07/04: ABC(Au): Carbon tax bothering aerial sprayers
- 2012/07/04: ABC(Au): Companies respond to the carbon tax
- 2012/07/04: ABC(Au): Push for forests to be used for carbon credits
- 2012/07/04: ABC(Au): Potential carbon credit boom for south-west
- 2012/07/04: ABC(Au): Carbon tax blamed for Munmorah power plant shutdown
- 2012/07/04: ABC(Au): Hydro cashing in on carbon tax
The state-owned electricity generator Hydro Tasmania is looking to cash in on the carbon tax. The carbon price raises production costs for gas and coal-fired energy generators, making renewable energy companies like Hydro Tasmania more competitive. - 2012/07/04: ABC(Au): Great Lakes council wants carbon tax compensation
- 2012/07/02: ABC(Au): Carbon tax talk about the cash, not the climate
- 2012/07/04: ABC(Au): Combet refutes claims carbon tax to blame for power closure
The Federal Climate Change Minister, Greg Combet has dismissed claims the carbon tax is partly responsible for the closure of a power plant on the New South Wales Central Coast, saying that is 'utterly ridiculous'. The Munmorah coal fired power station was due to close in 2014 but Delta Electricity yesterday announced that has now been brought forward partly because of the tax. Delta Electricity's Chief Executive Greg Everett says while Munmorah has high emissions it is not as dirty as several other plants that have received Federal Government compensation to keep operating. - 2012/07/04: ABC(Au): Brumby's under fire over 'blame carbon tax' memo
One of Australia's largest bakery chains, Brumby's, is under fire for an internal memo that suggests franchisees increase their prices and "let the carbon tax take the blame". In the memo, Brumby's managing director Deane Priest says there are some simple things franchisees can do to find extra sales. "We are doing an RRP (recommended retail price) review at present which is projected to be in line with CPI (Consumer Price Index), but take the opportunity to make some moves in June and July," Mr Priest wrote in the June edition of Backmix - an internal publication. "Let the carbon tax take the blame, after all, your costs will be going up due to it." The memo, which was obtained by the West Australian Newspaper and provided to the ABC, has prompted action by the competition watchdog. - 2012/07/03: ABC(Au): Carbon farming rewards bad land management, says Indigenous ranger group
- 2012/07/03: ABC(Au): Green power consumers exit scheme as taxed
Dozens of customers have pulled out of a green power scheme in WA because they are being slugged with the carbon tax. Electricity provider Synergy is passing on the costs of the carbon price to all its customers, including over 7,000 who pay a premium to support renewable energy. The Greens and the Sustainable Energy Association have reported the move to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, and the Energy Ombudsman has also been notified. - 2012/07/02: Crikey: Labor and the myth of the rational voter
- 2012/07/03: PeakEnergy: Carbon Price Comes Into Effect, World Doesn't End - Not That It Will Help Labor
- 2012/07/03: ABC(Au): Grocery prices unchanged under carbon tax
- 2012/07/03: ABC(Au): Carbon tax 'seals fate' of closing power station
The carbon tax has been partially blamed for the decision to close a coal-fired power station in the Hunter Valley. Munmorah Power Station began operating on the shores of Lake Macquarie 45 years ago, making it one of NSW's oldest coal-fired stations. Its owner, Delta Electricity, announced today the plant will close. - 2012/07/02: ABC(Au): Emerson defends Whyalla wipeout stunt
Trade Minister Craig Emerson has brushed aside criticism of his theatrical attempt to ridicule the Opposition's campaign against the carbon tax. During an interview with the ABC yesterday, Dr Emerson started dancing and singing "No Whyalla wipe-out, there on my TV" to the tune of Skyhooks' 1970s hit Horror Movie. Dr Emerson was responding to Opposition Leader Tony Abbott's previous comments that the South Australian city of Whyalla would be "wiped off the map" because of the carbon tax. - 2012/07/02: Guardian(UK): Australian PM campaigns to sell unpopular carbon tax
- 2012/07/02: ABC(Au): Queensland irrigation prices rise
Thousands of Queensland irrigators will pay more for water from this week. A new five-year rural irrigation price plan for water provided by SunWater will affect cotton, sugarcane, grain, fodder and other crop producers. - 2012/07/02: ABC(Au): Refrigeration a big carbon tax cost for horticulture
- 2012/07/02: ABC(Au): Coke company waiting for carbon compensation
One of the nearly 300 companies paying the carbon price says it still doesn't know what level of compensation it will receive. The Illawarra Coke Company produces coke at plants in Corrimal and Coalcliff, north of Wollongong. It produces about 170,000 tonnes of coke annually and is likely to face a carbon tax bill of a quarter of a million dollars a year. - 2012/07/02: ABC(Au): [Mount Isa] Council hopes to ease carbon tax impact
- 2012/07/02: ABC(Au): Irrigators warned of carbon tax impact
The chief executive of the Central Irrigation Trust says the new carbon pricing structure introduced yesterday will severely impact on irrigators. Gavin McMahon says that water prices, coupled with an increase in electricity prices, will rise by up to 8 per cent. He says pumping water uses a lot of energy and there are few options to reduce this cost. - 2012/07/02: ABC(Au): Farmers hope to earn money by storing carbon in soil
- 2012/07/02: ABC(Au): Carbon pricing brings harder sales pitch
- 2012/07/02: ABC(Au): Carbon tax 'economically efficient': Garnaut
- 2012/07/02: ABC(Au): Swan confident of sophisticated tax debate
Federal Treasurer Wayne Swan is confident the carbon tax debate will move away from stunts and slogans now the reality of the policy is sinking in. The carbon price came into effect on Sunday and the Government has been ridiculing Opposition suggestions it will cause major economic damage across the nation. Opposition Leader Tony Abbott maintains the tax will dramatically increase cost of living pressures and make every job in the country less secure. Mr Swan has told 7.30 the reality is that the tax will be modest and people will be compensated. - 2012/07/02: OnlineOpinion(Au): Peak oil and the lost message of the [Aus] carbon tax
- 2012/07/02: BBerg: Carbon-Price Future Clouded as Gillard Trails in Polls
- 2012/07/02: ABC(Au): Judge for yourselves on carbon tax, Gillard tells voters
The Murray-Darling Basin Plan controversy continues:
- 2012/07/06: ABC(Au): Parliamentary inquiry demands more information on Murray Darling plan
- 2012/07/07: ABC(Au): East coast low research key to water planning
A University of Newcastle researcher says a new study aims to provide Hunter Water with information about what water storage is needed to secure local water supplies. The University is examining the frequency of east coast lows and their influence on the future water security of the country's eastern seaboard. - 2012/07/06: ABC(Au): Inquiry demands more detail on Murray-Darling plan
A parliamentary inquiry into the proposed Murray-Darling Basin Plan wants a better explanation of how the Government intends to return water to the river system. The inquiry says the Government has outlined how much water it wants to return but has so far failed to say where it will get about half of it. Irrigators have welcomed the inquiry's findings and they agree that Parliament should not consider legislation on the issue without more detail. But one group of environmental scientists says the inquiry failed to address a much bigger issue. [what volume of water we actually need for a healthy river system] - 2012/07/04: ABC(Au): New Basin Plan model request dubbed extraordinary
A local irrigators group is gobsmacked by new modelling for more water in the Murray Darling Basin to be returned to the environment. The New South Wales and Victorian governments have agreed to South Australia's request for the Murray Darling Basin Authority to model for 3200 gigalitres, when the revised draft plan recommended 2750 gigalitres be returned to the river system. The new figure follows agreement by basin states last Friday and it has upset local residents who opposed the original lower figure. The executive officer of Southern Riverina Irrigators, Louise Burge says releasing water from high country dams and watching it flow downstream is not effective. - 2012/07/03: ABC(Au): Mid-north urged to be vocal on Murray
MP Geoff Brock says if the Murray-Darling Basin Plan fails to strike the right balance it could affect the mid-north of South Australia. Mr Brock and several councils in the region have been highlighting their heavy dependence on the Murray for human and industrial water needs. - 2012/07/03: ABC(Au): Mixed response to new water trading system
- 2012/07/02: ABC(Au): Queensland threatens to withdraw Murray-Darling Basin powers from Commonwealth
- 2012/07/02: ABC(Au): Irrigators opposed to another basin model
And in New Zealand:
- 2012/07/07: HotTopic: John Key's fossilised vision for NZ
- 2012/07/03: HotTopic: Government confirms NZ ETS to be watered down
While in China:
- 2012/07/05: CBC: China's costly pollution problem
And South America:
- 2012/07/06: NewInt: Police beat up Peru's green priest
- 2012/07/06: DemNow: Peru Declares State of Emergency as 5 Die in Protest Against Gold Mine Owned by U.S. Firm, Newmont
- 2012/07/06: BBC: Mexico's Pena Nieto's presidential victory confirmed
- 2012/07/06: al Jazeera: Peru protests ensue despite emergency decree
Government declares state of emergency after clashes between police and activists left four people dead and 21 injured. [Protesters say the Conga mining project will pollute the area's lakes and rivers, contaminating water supplies] At least four people have been killed and 21 injured after security forces clashed with demonstrators protesting a planned $4.8 billion gold mine by US-based Newmont in northern Peru. The latest death came a day after Peru's government declared a state of emergency on Wednesday in three northern provinces after protests against the mining project turned violent. - 2012/07/04: PlanetArk: Argentine court upholds glacier law in mining area
In Canada, neocon PM Harper pushes petroleum while ignoring climate change:
- 2012/07/02: Yale360: Oh Canada: The Government's Broad Assault on Environment
Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government has been weakening Canada's environmental regulations and slashing funds for oversight and research -- all while promoting aggressive resource development. Critics warn these unprecedented actions pose a major threat to the nation's vast natural heritage. - 2012/07/06: EnergyBulletin: Oh Canada: The government's broad assault on environment
- 2012/07/01: TheCanadian: Former Conservative Environment Minister Prentice Warns Harper Govt. on Ignoring First Nations
- 2012/07/04: CSW: Canada: Entering a new Dark Age for science and environmental protection?
- 2012/07/04: iPolitics: No science, no evidence, no truth, no democracy
The people in white coats are coming for Stephen Harper. On July 10, an as-yet-to-be-determined number of scientists, evolutionary biologists to be precise, will begin winding through the streets of downtown Ottawa on their way to a protest on Parliament Hill. Their official business will take place at the Canadian Society of Ecology and Evolution Conference. But the big story will be how they decide to spend their lunch break on the second last day of their convention. The scientists who are willing to participate have been asked by protest organizers to wear their lab coats that day. They hope that will remind Canadians that scientists stand for the objective and rational pursuit of knowledge. You know, the opposite of Peter Kent. Not for nothing is the July 10th event called the Death-of-Evidence rally. That might yet be the epitaph written across the experiment in Republican politics in Canada otherwise known as the Harper government. - 2012/07/02: Guardian(UK): Oh Canada: the government's broad assault on the environment
Prime minister Stephen Harper's government has been weakening Canada's environmental regulations and slashing funds for oversight and research - while promoting aggressive resource development - 2012/07/06: Dominion: Alex Hundert Sentenced to 13.5 Months in Prison
Under the smokescreen of fiscal responsibility, the Harper gang is streamlining environmental reviews out of existence:
- 2012/07/07: TheCanadian: From Moran Dam to Enbridge: The Danger of Focusing on Economics Over Environment
- 2012/07/02: TheCanadian: Hill Times: Harper to "Streamline" Environmental Assessments for $500 Billion of Resource Projects
- 2012/07/03: TheCanadian: Harper Wasting No Time Slashing DFO Habitat Jobs as Notices go out to Staff
- 2012/07/04: HillTimes: "We were kind of the last man standing"; outgoing National Round Table on the Environment and Economy president defends its track record as closure approaches
David McLaughlin says the agency's reports will influence policy long after closing its doors, but critics say feds haven't listened to NTREE. - 2012/07/02: HillTimes: Feds look to streamline $500-billion worth of investments in resource projects
Environment Minister to set new timelines for assessments underway. - 2012/07/05: PostMedia: Water pollution law meant to assist oilsands: Liberal MP
New laws offering the government more tools to "authorize" water pollution appear to be designed to remove obstacles for expansion of Canada's oilpatch, says a Liberal MP from Montreal who spearheaded a parliamentary investigation into the environmental footprint of the oilsands. "I just found it curious that they're trying to hide their motive," said Francis Scarpaleggia, the Liberal water critic. "This is all being done for the oilsands. It's not being done for the pulp and paper industry. They have their house in order." Scarpaleggia made the comments in response to recent Postmedia News reports about a letter signed by Fisheries and Oceans Minister Keith Ashfield that explained the government was amending the Canada's Fisheries Act, previously considered to be the country's strongest environmental protection law, in order to make it easier to "authorize" water pollution. - 2012/07/06: TheCanadian: Financial Post: Enbridge's Spill Liability Limited - BC Would Bear Brunt of Cleanup Costs
- 2012/07/05: PostMedia: Taxpayers need protection in event of Northern Gateway spill, says former insurance executive
Canadian and especially B.C. taxpayers aren't adequately protected in the event Enbridge Inc.'s proposed Northern Gateway oilsands pipeline suffers the same kind of catastrophic failure that resulted in a $765 million U.S. - and counting - spill in Michigan two years ago, says a former senior Canadian insurance executive. Former Insurance Corp. of B.C. chief executive Robyn Allan also argues the 2010 U.S. disaster proves Enbridge is underestimating the potential of human error turning a relatively minor spill into a major one. She made the assertions in a submission filed last month at the request of the Joint Review Panel (JRP), which was established under the authority of the National Energy Board and the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act. The JRP, which has sent written questions to Enbridge as well as to Allan about the company's ability to cover costs if there's a massive spill, is due to release its findings in late 2013. - 2012/07/02: CBC: Enbridge faces $3.7M fine for Michigan oil spill -- Leak into Kalamazoo river went undetected for 17 hours say U.S. officials
The Federal NDP has come out against the Northern Gateway pipeline:
- Radicals 4 Our Coast -- Stop the Enbridge pipeline
- 2012/07/03: iPolitics: NDP dig into anti-pipeline sentiment
- 2012/07/04: BCLSB: NDP Courts B.C.
- 2012/07/03: CPW: Wanted: "Radicals" Against Enbridge's Northern Gateway Pipeline
Early repercussions from shutting down the Wheat Board:
- 2012/07/03: G&M: Wheat Board demise fuels Ontario food fight
The impending end of the Canadian Wheat Board monopoly has inflamed passions among Western Canadian farmers. It has also sparked an unusual and nasty takeover fight between two century-old Canadian agriculture firms. - 2012/07/03: CTV: Parasite-ridden salmon sold in B.C. stores
Some B.C.-farmed salmon is reaching store shelves with a parasite that can liquefy the fish's flesh into an unappetizing goop, CTV News has learned.
[...]
Marine Harvest Canada, B.C.'s largest fish farming company, confirmed to CTV News that the fish was infested with the Kudoa thyrsites parasite -- the second most common parasite in farmed salmon, which causes a condition known as "soft flesh" syndrome. - 2012/07/05: AlexandraMorton: CTV News - Farm Salmon Diseased
- 2012/07/06: TheCanadian: Newfoundland Salmon Farm Quarantined due to Suspected ISA Virus Outbreak
- 2012/07/03: TheCanadian: Parasite Turning Farmed Salmon Sold at Costco to Mush
- 2012/07/07: G&M: 450,000 salmon to be destroyed after outbreak of anemia in Newfoundland and Labrador
Newfoundland and Labrador is dealing with its first outbreak of infectious salmon anemia at an aquaculture site. Miranda Pryor, executive director of the province's aquaculture industry association, said they've detected the virus in the wild before, but Friday's news that it had hit an aquaculture site near Conne River was a first. - 2012/07/07: NI: Fisheries Canada: "Virus, what virus?"
- 2012/07/03: CBC: Sockeye salmon adult populations in widespread decline
In BC, the stage is set. Now what will Clark and Dix do?
- 2012/07/03: Tyee: Carbon Tax: Empty Promise for Enviros -- Fuel sales still status-quo while emissions-heavy industry booms under BC Liberals
- 2012/07/04: Tyee: BC Carbon Map: Sources, Sinks and Unknowns
- 2012/07/06: Tyee: Dix to Clark: Time to Break Pipeline Silence -- No evidence submitted to Gateway hearings, no public stand. Who will speak for BC?
- 2012/07/04: PI: Let the evidence speak for itself on the effect of carbon taxes
- 2012/07/05: VanObs: BC's acclaimed carbon tax makes final climb, but critics warn of trouble ahead
The benefits of BC's carbon tax start bearing fruit, but as the province plans to develop and export liquid natural gas to Asia, will it be able to maintain its status as a leader in combatting climate change? - 2012/07/04: NYT: The Most Sensible Tax of All
- 2012/07/05: TheCanadian: If I was a BC Tory Under Harper, I'd Resign
- 2012/07/05: Tyee: The Interactive BC Carbon Map: Lessons Learned
Are BC forests a sink or source? Eelgrass a super-sequesterer? What we know and don't know about our footprint. - 2012/07/02: TheCanadian: Rafe Takes his MP John Weston to Task on Pipelines, Tankers, Fish Habitat
- 2012/07/02: CBC: B.C. flood threat eases as temperatures cool -- Lower Fraser recedes, expected to keep lowering
Meanwhile in that Mechanical Mordor known as the tar sands:
- 2012/07/07: TP:JR: Tar Sands Giants' Sneaky New Playbook Revealed
- 2012/07/01: PI: Shine a light on the oil sands boom
- 2012/07/04: OilChange: How Fracking Boosts the Tar Sands
Also in Alberta:
- 2012/07/04: CBC: Proposal for fracking close to Calgary stirs opposition
A company that wants to frack for oil close to Calgary city [resevoir] limits is facing opposition from nearby residents who fear the project will poison their tap water. - 2012/07/05: CBC: First Nation fights for control in Ontario's 'oil sands' -- Tiny First Nation takes on an mining giant at obscure provincial tribunal
In the Maritimes:
- 2012/06/29: CBC: Requiem for the once mighty cod fishery, 20 years of moratorium
In the North:
- 2012/07/03: CBC: Arctic exploration licences to be extended -- Companies say they lost time taking part in Arctic drilling review
As for miscellaneous Canadiana:
- 2012/07/04: PI: Canada's economic challenges go beyond Dutch disease
The movement toward a long term ecologically viable economics is glacial:
- 2012/07/06: CCurrents: It's Complicated
- 2012/07/05: EnergyBulletin: End of Growth Update: Blowing in the Wind
- 2012/07/07: EnergyBulletin: Resilience through simplification: revisiting Tainter's theory of collapse (part 1)
- 2012/07/04: CCurrents: Energy, Economy, And The Impending Rite Of Passage
- 2012/07/03: EnergyBulletin: Can humus save humans?
- 2012/06/20: AlterNet: 10 Steps We Can Take Right Now to Build the New Economy
- 2012/07/02: EnergyBulletin: Dramatic socio-economic paradigm shift is ahead: Interview with Nathan Hagens, ASPO-Vienna 2012
- 2012/07/02: EurActiv: Facing up to the sustainable consumption conundrum
The earth is running out of natural resources like land, water and minerals so quickly that if nothing is done, some predictions say that by 2030 humankind will need the equivalent of two planets to sustain our current lifestyle. Those chilling figures come from a famous World Wildlife Fund 'Living Planet' report in 2008, but what exactly can we do to reduce our environmental impact -- which has got worse since then -- and how should we go about doing it? - 2012/07/07: Deltoid: The Australian's war on technology
- 2012/07/07: CensoredNews: New media, or bad journalism? We're ready for news that is true
- 2012/07/08: HotTopic: Roughan's ready theory
- 2012/07/07: S&R: Birth of a climate change meme: Inadequate reporting followed by inept blogging
- 2012/07/03: MediaMatters: Study: Media Avoid Climate Context In Wildfire Coverage
- 2012/07/04: TP:JR: Snowmaggedon Vs. Hotpocalypse: The Washington Post Helpfully Explains It's Better To Die Of Cold Than Heat
- 2012/07/03: TreeHugger: Just 3% of News Stories about the Wildfire Epidemic Even Mention Climate Change
- 2012/06/29: MediaMatters: What AP Isn't Telling You About Abound Solar
- 2012/07/03: TP:JR: Media Connecting The Dots On U.S. Storms, Heat And Wildfires: 'This Is What Global Warming Looks Like'
- 2012/07/02: Wunderground: Wunderground.com sold to The Weather Channel Companies
- 2012/07/01: CCP: Miles Grant: Heating of Pot No Reason for Alarm, Reports Frog Media
Here is something for your library:
- 2012/07/03: MIT: Book details a new model for sharing water
Sure, water is in great demand - but that doesn't mean supply is a zero-sum game among neighboring countries, an MIT professor says in a new book.
[Book Review] _Water Diplomacy_ by Larry Susskind & Shafiqul Islam - 2012/07/06: TP:JR: Video: Finding His Home Burned To The Ground, Colorado Man Calls For Action On Climate Change
- 2012/07/06: 350orBust: The Climate Crisis: It's Time To Take Back The Land [Vandana Shiva]
- 2012/07/08: PSinclair: Meteorologist Explains what a Derecho is
- 2012/07/05: PlanetJ: Climate change explained in 15 minutes
- 2012/07/05: PeakEnergy: Climate change is simple: We do something or we're screwed
- 2012/07/04: ERabett:JF: Modern Anthropogenic Global Warming in 5 minutes
- 2012/07/03: DbP: Earth: the planet we risk destroying
- 2012/07/03: P3: The View from Nowhere Interviews Trenberth
- 2012/07/03: CCP: Kevin Trenberth on PBS NewsHour: "This is a view of the Future. So Watch Out!"
- 2012/07/03: TP:JR: Homeless Polar Bear Roams The Streets Of London After Destruction Of The Arctic
- 2012/07/01: PSinclair: Time Lapse: Waldo Canyon Fire
Meanwhile among the 'Sue the Bastards!' contingent:
- 2012/07/05: ABC(Au): GM canola contamination leads to court showdown
Australia's system of organic certification will come under intense scrutiny when two neighbouring farmers do battle in the Western Australian Supreme Court in a test case on genetically modified crop contamination. Organic farmer Steve Marsh, from Kojonup in the state's Great Southern region, is suing his neighbour Michael Baxter for alleged negligence and nuisance. Mr Marsh claims genetically modified (GM) canola seed blew onto his farm in 2010, causing him to lose his organic status. - 2012/07/03: WtD: This is how science works: US Court of Appeals dismisses challenge to climate science, answers the question of "Is the science settled?"
Among the non-members of Gamblers Anonymous:
- 2012/07/03: Guardian(UK): How to bet on climate change [Pascal's Wager]
Developing a new energy infrastructure is a fundamental challenge of the current generation:
- 2012/07/06: PeakEnergy: India's first tidal energy plant coming up in Gujarat
- 2012/07/04: Guardian(UK): China's controversial Three Gorges dam completed
- 2012/07/05: PeakEnergy: System for Predicting Wave Energy Could Double Wave Power Generation
- 2012/07/04: PeakEnergy: Canberra grants pave way for world's biggest wave turbine
- 2012/07/04: PeakEnergy: E.ON heats up plans for five deep-geothermal power plants in UK
- 2012/07/04: PeakEnergy: 1MW Orkney tidal project paves way for "world's first" tidal array
- 2012/07/03: TP:JR: How To Keep The Lights On: More Reliable Electricity Will Require Smart Investments And Clean Energy Solutions
- 2012/07/02: UCSUSA:B: Energy Elsewhere: What's Happening in Clean Energy Outside the Continental United States?
- 2012/07/03: PeakEnergy: It's time to redesign the world's energy markets
- 2012/07/03: PeakEnergy: GDF Suez spells out big ambitions for French tidal power
- 2012/07/02: PSinclair: Millions Swelter Without Power. In a Renewable World, it Need Not Be.
Dave Roberts did an extended interview with Michael Liebreich:
- 2012/07/02: Grist: The new fossil-fuel glut: Less glutty than you think
- 2012/07/03: Grist: Coal and China: Bad, but maybe not as bad as you think
- 2012/07/05: Grist: The future of solar
- 2012/07/06: Grist: We're fighting the wrong fights over energy subsidies
Transitioning from energy source to another:
- 2012/07/06: TP:JR: King Coal's Throne Under Threat? U.S. Natural Gas Generation Rivaled Coal In April
- 2012/07/06: TreeHugger: Coal Power Falls Even with Natural Gas for the First Time in U.S. History
Hey! Let's contaminate the aquifer for thousands of years! It'll be a fracking gas!
- 2012/07/06: ABC(Au): Coal seam gas blamed for health problems
Queensland doctors have reported seeing patients with health problems believed to be related to coal seam gas activities - 2012/07/06: DeSmogBlog: EOG Resources: The Gas Corporation That Does It All From Cradle to Grave
- 2012/07/03: GreenGrok: Fracking in Pennsylvania: A Boom That's Fizzling?
- 2012/07/03: EnergyDigital: Is Fracking Cemeteries Immoral? Plot Owners Have No Say -- Natural gas drillers explore controversial grounds
- 2012/07/04: OilChange: How Fracking Boosts the Tar Sands
- 2012/07/03: OilChange: Fracking the Dead
- 2012/06/30: Missoulian: Blackfeet women join together to oppose oil, gas 'fracking'
On the coal front:
- 2012/07/03: Grist: Coal and China: Bad, but maybe not as bad as you think
- 2012/07/02: TP:JR: A Risky Proposition: Why Cheap Coal Is Really, Really Dead
- 2012/07/: Oregonian: [series] Coal Clash
On the gas and oil front:
- 2012/07/06: BBerg: Closing oil prices Friday
OIL (US$/bbl)
Nymex Crude Future...84.45
Dated Brent Spot.....98.20
WTI Cushing Spot.....84.45 - 2012/07/05: BBerg: JPMorgan Told to Explain Withholding Energy-Probe E-Mails
- 2012/07/02: StarTelegram: Drilling trucks have caused an estimated $2 billion in damage to Texas roads
- 2012/07/08: OilDrum: Tech Talk - the "best of the rest" in Saudi Arabia
- 2012/07/05: EarlyWarning: Rising Energy Output/Input Ratio for US Oil and Gas
- 2012/07/05: PeakEnergy: New Energy Report from Harvard Makes Unsupportable Assumptions
- 2012/07/04: EarlyWarning: US Crude Production by State
- 2012/07/02: Grist: The new fossil-fuel glut: Less glutty than you think
- 2012/07/04: CCurrents: New Energy Report From Harvard Makes Unsupportable Assumptions
- 2012/07/02: AntiWar: ExxonMobil Announces Bid for Afghan Oilfields
Exxon is in competition with Chinese and Indian bids for Afghan oil and gas - 2012/07/03: BBC: Nigeria has signed a preliminary $4.5bn (£2.9bn) deal with US-based Vulcan Petroleum to build six oil refineries
- 2012/07/02: EnergyBulletin: Natural gas liquids by James Hamilton
In the gas and oil corps:
- 2012/07/06: Grist: Duke Energy CEO Bill Johnson resigns after one day, gets $44 million in severance
Regarding oil and the economy:
- 2012/07/05: OilDrum: Lower Oil Prices - Not a Good Sign!
And in pipeline news:
- 2012/07/03: TreeHugger: Enbridge Slapped With Record $3.7 Million Fine for 2010 Tar Sands Spill in Michigan
- 2012/07/02: BBerg: Mongolia Pushes Russia, China to Re-Route Planned Gas Line
Mongolia is calling upon China and Russia to re-direct a planned natural-gas pipeline across its territory as the world's fastest growing economy seeks to tap the cleaner-burning fuel. Altering the route to pass through Mongolia would save 1,000 kilometers (622 miles) of pipeline, Mongolian President Tsakhia Elbegdorj said in an interview in Ulan Bator... - 2012/07/07: FarmOnline: Peak theories 'trashed'
- 2012/07/04: DVoice: Civilization and the Price of Oil
- 2012/07/05: Rabble:CM: In the valley of the shadow of peak oil
- 2012/07/04: Guardian(UK): Monbiot says he was wrong on peak oil but the crisis is undeniable by Jeremy Leggett
- 2012/07/05: PeakEnergy: Monbiot says he was wrong on peak oil but the crisis is undeniable
- 2012/07/04: EnergyBulletin: Enough fossil fuels to fry us all
- 2012/07/04: PeakEnergy: The Death Of Peak Oil?
- 2012/07/04: CCurrents: Treehugger, Monbiot And Is Peak Oil Over?
- 2012/07/02: DStrahan: Peakonomics: why the oil price slide is temporary
- 2012/07/03: Guardian(UK): We were wrong on peak oil. There's enough to fry us all
- 2012/07/03: OilDrum: The Last ASPO Conference
- 2012/07/02: EnergyBulletin: Peak Denial
- 2012/07/02: OnlineOpinion(Au): Peak oil and the lost message of the [Aus] carbon tax
Biofuel bickering abounds:
- 2012/07/05: CleanTechnica: Ancient Fungus Ended Coal Formation, _Could_ Boost Biofuel Production
- 2012/07/04: NatureN: Palm-oil boom raises conservation concerns
Industry urged towards sustainable farming practices as rising demand drives deforestation. - 2012/07/07: Grist: Blowing in the right direction: Two big wind projects are moving forward
- 2012/07/05: TreeHugger: NASA Developing High-Flying Wind Technology
Meanwhile among the solar aficionados:
- 2012/07/04: DerSpiegel: Sunny Business -- Germans Cough Up for Solar Subsidies
Solar subsidies cost German consumers billions of dollars a year and are widely regarded as inefficient. Even environmentalists are concerned that Berlin's focus on solar comes at the detriment of other renewables. But the solar industry has a powerful lobby, and politicians have proven powerless to resist. - 2012/07/06: TechRev: New Solar Panel Designs Make Installation Cheaper
Companies in Germany and China have made simpler designs that make it easier and quicker to mount panels to roofs. - 2012/07/05: NBF: New Solar Designs for Reduced Installation Costs
- 2012/07/05: PSinclair: Solar Power in Rural India
- 2012/07/05: TreeHugger: Hybrid Solar Electric/Solar Thermal Panels Could Make Rooftop Solar Mainstream
- 2012/07/05: TreeHugger: Passive Solar Design Is Changing In the Face of New Technology and a Changing Climate
- 2012/07/03: Grist: How to put solar panels on your roof, even if you don't have a roof
- 2012/07/03: TP:JR: Solar Thermal Scales New Heights in China
- 2012/07/03: TreeHugger: Double-Sided Solar Cells Produce Up to 50% More Energy
- 2012/07/02: TreeHugger: Solar Breweries Come to Michigan
The nuclear energy controversy continues:
- 2012/07/05: GreenGrok: The Nuclear Power Conundrum -- Are fossil fuels the retro fallback option for a nuclear-free future?
- 2012/07/07: NTH: When It Comes to Nuclear and Global Warming, It's Cult-vs.-Cult
- 2012/07/07: DD: Chernobyl's radioactive trees and the forest fire risk
- 2012/07/04: EurActiv: France, US and Russia bid for Czech nuclear plant
Czech energy company C(EZ announced it has received bids from French, American and Russian companies to build two new reactors at the Temelín nuclear power plant. - 2012/07/02: al Jazeera: Danger Zone: Ageing Nuclear Reactors
Following Japan's nuclear disaster last year there are fears the US may be heading for a nuclear catastrophe of its own. - 2012/07/03: ABC(Au): Nuclear waste dump in 'national interest': Abbott
- 2012/06/30: IdahoStatesman: Nuke waste to stay in Idaho?
In 1995, the feds agreed to remove it by 2035, but there's no place to take it. - 2012/07/04: NBF: Solid State Energy Catalyzer
More people are talking about the electrical grid:
- 2012/07/02: GTM: New Federal Grid Rules for Solar and Wind
Automakers & lawyers, engineers & activists argue over the future of the car:
- 2012/07/06: DerSpiegel: Making Trolleys Out of Trucks -- 'Green' Transport Idea Is Expensive Folly
The German engineering giant Siemens is researching the idea of using overhead electricity lines to power truck traffic. But the state-supported project makes no sense. It would cost billions to implement -- and only lead to higher fuel consumption and more pollution. - 2012/07/06: AutoBG: California approves $27 million in green-vehicle incentives
- 2012/07/05: AutoBG: Joule of Denial: [South African EV manufacturer] Optimal Energy sails into the sunset
- 2012/07/03: TP:JR: Top EV-Friendly Cities: What Are They Doing Right?
As for Energy Storage:
- 2012/07/04: BBC: Graphene gives Thomas Edison's [nickel-iron] battery a new life
The reaction of business to climate change will be critical:
- 2012/07/03: Grist: We can't solve our environmental problems without business
Who's fielding theFAQs?
- 2012/07/02: Guardian(UK): What is the 'polluter pays' principle?
Joe Romm posts a daily list of top energy and climate stories:
- 2012/07/06: TP:JR: July 6 News...
- 2012/07/05: TP:JR: July 5 News...
- 2012/07/03: TP:JR: July 3 News...
- 2012/07/02: TP:JR: July 2 News...
Other (weekly) lists:
- 2012/07/06: EnergyBulletin: ODAC Newsletter
- 2012/07/06: TreeHugger: Energy News...
- 2012/07/02: BPA: The Ag Hot Five No. 13
The carbon lobby are up to the usual:
- 2012/07/06: DeSmogBlog: FreedomWorks Fails Basic Math And Economics To Smear Renewable Energy Investments
- 2012/07/05: CAbyss: Another Reason the Public Is Confused
- 2012/07/05: ITRacker: Lomborg's lies, part one
- 2012/07/08: WottsUWT: Detecting regime shifts in climate data - the modern warming regime ended in 1997
- 2012/07/04: Tamino: Sum Fun
- 2012/07/03: Tamino: Denier Denier Denier ...
- 2012/07/03: DeSmogBlog: New Study: Climate Deniers Are Emoting--Especially the Conspiracy Theorists
- 2012/07/02: EurActiv: Exxon boss speaks out against climate change 'fear factor'
Fears about climate change are overblown and shifting weather patterns and rising sea levels should be considered an engineering problem, said the head of the world's largest oil refiner, ExxonMobil. - 2012/07/02: HotTopic: Exxon boss: intellectually obtuse position on climate impacts
- 2012/07/02: HC: Why climate skepticism works
- 2012/07/02: JEB: Cast ne'er a clout till May's out
- 2012/07/02: TP:JR: Shell Clarifies: It Can 'Encounter' 95 Percent Of An Arctic Oil Spill, Not Collect It
- 2012/07/02: UCSUSA:B: Tell Pfizer's Board to Break with Heartland
- 2012/07/02: OilChange: Exxon: Climate Change "Overblown"
As for climate miscellanea:
- 2012/07/06: P3: Quote of the day
- 2012/07/07: ITracker: Quote of the day: Andy Lacis FTW
- 2012/07/07: P3: Quote of the day
- 2012/07/05: HotTopic: The truth is molten
- 2012/07/04: TP:JR: The Declaration of Interdependence
- 2012/07/02: FAIR: Do You Change the Weather When You Change the Climate? Yes
- 2012/07/03: PSinclair: "Welcome to the Rest of Our Lives"
- 2012/07/03: UCSUSA:B: Beef, Tropical Forests, Our Climate, and Our Health
- 2012/07/02: Moyhu: CPS proxy reconstruction - analysis and selection bias
And here are a couple of sites you may find interesting and/or useful:
- Merck Veterinary Manual
- Ground Reality - Understanding the politics of food, agriculture and hunger
- [UK] Flood Alerts
- 2012 US Biochar Conference
- Radicals 4 Our Coast -- Stop the Enbridge pipeline
- Renew Economy
- NASA: About Derechos
- ACE: Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems
- NOAA: Storm Surge and Coastal Inundation
- CJFAS: Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
- Wiki: CLAW hypothesis [CLAW := Charlson, Lovelock, Andreae & Warren]
- ACC: Australian Climate Commission
- CCAFS: Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security
- Nature Climate Change
- Environmental and Urban Economics
No matter how dark things seem, there are always bad jokes:
Post Fukushima, nuclear policies are in flux around the world:
Emerging diseases accompany ecological change:
Glaciers are melting:
Sea levels are rising:
As for hydrological cycle disruptions [floods & droughts]:
While on the adaptation front:
On the international political front, tensions continue as the USA and Israel lean on Iran:
In the Rare Earths' tussle:
Climate Change is a threat multiplier exacerbating existing conflicts in food, energy, water, race, ideology ... etc.:
The Keystone XL saga rolls along:
The carbon bill is law. Now comes the implementation:
The G20 controversy lingers:
More comment on that Ashfield slip:
The battle over the Northern Gateway pipeline rages on:
The ISA/PRV/IHN/Alpha virus in Canadian waters is potentially disastrous:
Meanwhile in Ontario:
How do the media measure up?
And for your film & video enjoyment:
Yes we have peak everything:
The answer my friend...:
Nuclear waste storage requires _very_ long term thinking:
Low energy nuclear keeps coming up:
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>
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."The E.P.A. is not required to reprove the existence of the atom every time it approaches a scientific question." - DC Court of Appeals
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A breath-taking analysis...
http://questioneverything.typepad.com/question_everything/2012/07/what-…
Steven Earl Salmony
AWAREness Campaign on The Human Population
established 2001
Chapel Hill, NC
http://www.panearth.org/