Another Week of GW News, October 14, 2012

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 roundup

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Another Week in the Ecological Crisis

Sipping from the Internet Firehose...

October 14, 2012

• Wonderment, COP18+, State of the Planet, Conservation Targets, Maldives
• Subsidies, World Bank, Cook
• Fukushima Note, Fukushima News, Nuclear Policy
• Melting Arctic, Methane, Geopolitics, Antarctica
• Food: Crisis, Fisheries, Prices, Food vs. Biofuel, Land Grabs, GMOs, Production
• Hurricanes, Monsoon, GHGs, Temperatures, Feedbacks, Uncertainties
• Risk, Attribution, Climate Sensitivity, Extinctions, Volcanoes, Satellites
• Impacts, Forests, Disease, Notable Weather, Wacky Weather, New Weather
• Wildfires, Corals, Acidification, Glaciers, Sea Levels, Floods & Droughts
• Mitigation, Transportation, Buildings, Sequestration, Geoengineering, Conservation
• Journals, Other Docs, Misc. Science, DIY Science, Open Science, Lamb, Commoner, Mann, Rabalais, Pielke
• International Politics: UN, IPCC, Carbon Trade, Carbon Tax, Bank Tax
• Hormuz, China Sea, Rare Earths, Trade Wars, Law & Activism, Activism, Polls, H2O Biz, Education
• National Politics: America, BP Disaster, 2012, Gas Prices, Keystone, Coal Export, Ethanol, Obama, USAdmin, Congress
• Britain, Europe, Australia, Carbon Law, Minority Govt., MDBP, India, South America
• Canada, Huawei, CNOOC/Nexen, Northern Gateway, Kinder Morgan, Woodworth
• Energy Policy, Salmon, BC, Tar Sands, Alberta, Sask, Ontario, Maritimes, North
• Ecological Economics, IPAT, Media, Video, Podcasts, Courts
• Energy, Transitions, Fracking, Coal, Oil & Gas, Oil & the Economy, Pipelines, Peak Oil, Biofuel
• Wind, Solar, Nukes, Nuclear Fusion, FITs, Grid, Efficiency, Cars, Gee Whiz, Energy Storage
• Insurance, Greenwashing, FAQs, Joe's List, Carbon Lobby, Misc., Useful Links
• Shameless Self Promotion, .sig

 

Nothing funny this week, but here's a wonderment:

• 2012/10/09: al Jazeera: Riding the waves of the sky
  Pilots flock to the remote northern reaches of Australia to brave one of nature's wonders [Morning Glory clouds]

Looking ahead to COP18 and future international climate negotiations:

• 2012/10/13: SimpleC: Focus on uncertain climate cliff-edge invites disaster
• 2012/10/08: CCentral: Temperature Target May Doom Climate Talks, Study Says
  At the much-heralded climate summit in Copenhagen in 2009, world leaders agreed to limit manmade global warming to less than 2°C (3.6°F) above preindustrial levels. The agreement at Copenhagen, however, and in multiple rounds of subsequent negotiations, hasn't led countries to make actual commitments to the kind of emissions reductions that would put the world on a path to meeting that 2°C target.
• 
  

  There was a State of the Planet 2012 conference apparently:

   

• State of the Planet 2012
• 2012/10/13: SciAm: State of the Earth: Still Seeking Plan A for Sustainability
• 2012/10/12: Guardian(UK): Extreme weather adds urgency for action on climate change - panel
  

  Do you honestly think there's a snowball's hope in hell of this happening?

• 2012/10/12: BBC: Scientists say billions required to meet conservation targets
  Reducing the risk of extinction for threatened species and establishing protected areas for nature will cost the world over $76bn dollars annually. Researchers say it is needed to meet globally agreed conservation targets by 2020.
• 2012/10/11: NatureN: Global biodiversity priced at $76 billion -- Researchers hope estimates of conservation cost will spur government action
• 2012/10/12: ABC(Au): Pinning down the price of biodiversity
• 2012/10/11: Reuters: Halting extinctions would cost $80 bln; half of bankers' bonuses
  Governments need to spend $80 billion a year to halt extinctions of endangered animals and plants, many times current levels and only half the amount paid to bankers in bonuses last year, a study showed.
• 
  

  The Maldives tragedy plays out:

   

• 2012/10/08: CNN: Former Maldives president arrested while campaigning
  A court has issued an arrest warrant for ex-president Mohamed Nasheed - Police arrest him while he campaigns for upcoming elections - Nasheed and his supporters say he was forced from power in a coup in February - But the authorities want him to stand trial over allegations of abuse of power
• 2012/10/08: al Jazeera: Police arrest former Maldives president
  Mohamed Nasheed placed under custody for reportedly ignoring a court summons and defying travel ban, police say.
• 
  

  Who's getting the subsidies?

   

• 2012/10/10: RWER: $775 billion fossil fuels subsidies in 2012 (that's more than $ 100,- per human)
  

  What's the World Bank up to?

• 2012/10/11: ScienceInsider: New World Bank Head Wants to Address Climate Change
  Jim Yong Kim, the new president of the World Bank, said in Tokyo today that dealing with climate change will be one of his priorities. "Since becoming president of the World Bank, I have looked deeply into the data on climate change, and I have to say I was surprised that even in last 6 months to a year, the data has become ever more frightening," he said. "As a scientist, I feel a moral responsibility to be very clear in communicating the dangers of climate change."
• 2012/10/07: CCurrents: World Bank Rejects Oxfam Call For Moratorium On Land Grab
• 2012/10/04: BBerg: World Bank Rejects Oxfam Call to Freeze Land Investment
  The World Bank rejected a call by aid group Oxfam International to freeze the lender's investment in land-intensive agricultural projects, saying such a move would not help prevent abusive practices in the purchase of acreage. Oxfam, in a report released yesterday, urged the Washington-based bank to declare a moratorium on its agricultural investments in land to "create space to develop policy and institutional protections to ensure that no bank- supported project resulted in land grabbing." According to the report, there have been 21 formal complaints since 2008 by communities from Asia to Africa saying projects funded by the bank violated their land rights. A global rush to buy farmland triggered by the 2007-2008 spike in food prices has continued, with international investors focusing on the poorest countries with weak land-rights security for deals, a report by the Land Matrix research group said in April. According to Oxfam's report released yesterday, an area of land the size of London is sold to foreign buyers every six days in poor countries.
• 
  

  John Cook and friends continue their point-counterpoint articles:

   

• 2012/10/14: SkS: 2012 SkS Weekly News Round-Up #5 by John Hartz
• 2012/10/14: SkS: Most coral reefs are at risk unless climate change is drastically limited by John Hartz
• 2012/10/13: SkS: A comprehensive review of research into misinformation
• 2012/10/12: SkS: Nuccitelli et al. (2012) Show that Global Warming Continues by dana1981, robert way, Rob Painting, John Cook
• 2012/10/11: SkS: Jerry Mitrovica: Current Sea Level Rise is Anomalous. We've Seen Nothing Like it for the Last 10,000 Years by Rob Painting
• 2012/10/10: SkS: Lessons from Past Climate Predictions: Arctic Sea Ice Extent 2012 Update by dana1981
• 2012/10/09: SkS: Update from Easton Glacier: Climate Crocks on Ice by greenman3610
• 2012/10/09: SkS: New research from last week 40/2012 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?

•  

  Not much good news coming out of Fukushima:

   

• 2012/10/13: Asahi: Some progress, but radiation remains high at Fukushima nuclear plant
• 2012/10/12: EneNews: WSJ: Tepco in stunning reversal - Admits knowing of problems before 3/11 and doing nothing... then blames actions on anti-nuclear movement
• 2012/10/12: CBC: Japan utility admits nuclear crisis avoidable
  [TEPCO] Tokyo Electric Power Co. says it feared consequences of new safety measures
  The utility behind Japan's nuclear disaster is acknowledging for the first time that it could have avoided the crisis. Tokyo Electric Power Co. said in a statement issued Friday that it had known safety improvements were needed before last year's tsunami triggered three meltdowns, but it had feared the political, economic and legal consequences of implementing them.
• 2012/10/12: al Jazeera: Japan's Tepco admits downplaying Tsunami risk
  Tepco feared efforts to better protect facilities like Fukushima Dai-ichi would trigger anti-nuclear sentiments.
• 2012/10/12: EneNews: Japan Official: We said Unit 4 must be flooded with concrete to reinforce building - "Plug every available space on the lower floors" - Gov't gave up on plan
• 2012/10/12: CNN: Japanese nuclear plant operator admits playing down risk
  TEPCO says "severe accident measures" were taken in 2002, but nothing further was done - Part of the reason was a concern over spreading anxiety "in the sitting community" - TEPCO adds that the measures could also "add momentum to anti-nuclear movements"
• 2012/10/11: Asahi: Despite more water, radiation still high in Fukushima reactor
• 2012/10/11: ABC(Au): Fukushima tobacco contaminated with radiation
  Japan's largest cigarette maker has cancelled the purchase of tobacco leaves from Fukushima after they were found to be contaminated with elevated levels of radiation.
• 2012/10/11: JapanTimes: Noda lauds work to ease reactor 4 fuel threat; fears remain -- Progress seen toward extraction but big quake could derail process
• 2012/10/12: CSM: Why Tokyo Electric Power didn't act on safety issues before tsunami
  The utility behind Japan's nuclear disaster acknowledged for the first time Friday that it could have avoided the crisis. Tokyo Electric Power Co. said in a statement that it had known safety improvements were needed before last year's tsunami triggered three meltdowns, but it had feared the political, economic and legal consequences of implementing them.
• 2012/10/10: EneNews: Mystery Continues: 'Difficult to determine' location of melted fuel during Unit 1 investigation, says TEPCO - Radiation dose highest at top of containment vessel
• 2012/10/10: EneNews: New footage inside Fukushima Unit 1 containment vessel — Thick steam, blackened piping (video & photos)
• 2012/10/09: EneNews: Tepco camera "unable to find the water" in Reactor No. 1 containment vessel - "Some damage was found" (photo)
• 2012/10/07: EneNews: Former Japan Ambassador: US gov't is main reason why crisis at Fukushima Unit 4 has been "toned down" (video)
• 2012/10/08: EneNews: The Economist: "Something strange was afoot" during Prime Minister's visit to plant - Fukushima 50 muzzled
  

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

• 2012/10/10: DerSpiegel: Merkel's Blackout -- German Energy Plan Plagued by Lack of Progress
  Germany plans to abandon nuclear power by 2022, but its government hasn't been doing enough to ensure that the project succeeds. Needed infrastructure and technology is lacking, and coordination is a mess. Meanwhile, weary consumers are paying more for electricity, and the supply is in jeopardy.
  [...]
  If the federal government wants to have all of Germany's nuclear power plants phased out by 2022, why is it doing so little to ensure that the project will succeed? Billions are currently being spent on the unchecked expansion of solar energy -- a technology that contributes the least to a reliable power supply in Germany, which isn't exactly famous for abundant sunshine. The comparatively efficient building renovation programs, on the other, have come to a standstill because the federal and state governments have been quarreling over funding for more than a year now. There is far too little storage capacity to serve as a buffer against the fluctuating supply of wind and solar energy. In addition, there are no conventional replacement power plants in the works. In fact, energy utilities are thinking about shutting down existing plants.
  [...]
  Instead of agreeing on a concept for the energy turnaround, the parties in the ruling coalition are arguing over who is responsible for the program.
• 
  

  The Arctic melt continues to garner attention:

   

• 2012/10/13: RBroberg: Renowden's Threnody Reprised
• 2012/10/13: Tamino: Arctic Amplification
• 2012/10/11: TreeHugger: Arctic Sea Ice in Free Fall by Lester Brown
• 2012/10/09: ERW: Carbon entering Arctic Ocean from Yedoma permafrost
• 2012/10/10: ArcticNews: Arctic summer wind shift -- Arctic summer wind shift could affect sea ice loss and U.S./European weather
• 2012/10/10: ArcticNews: Saving the Arctic Ice (#1) -- Greenpeace, Greenwashing and Geoengineering
• 2012/10/09: ArcticNews: The certain catastrophic effects of allowing the Arctic snow summer sea ice to melt away
• 2012/10/07: EarthMag: Arctic humidity on the rise
  As the Arctic warms and sea ice melts, scientists suspect that system feedback cycles may further speed up the warming process. Now, a new study looking specifically at the Arctic water vapor cycle shows how shifting patterns of humidity may bring about changes in the Arctic atmosphere. The moisture-holding capacity of the atmosphere is temperature dependent. As the atmosphere warms, it holds more water vapor. The loss of sea-ice cover in the Arctic means more moisture is available. "Sea ice usually separates the ocean and atmosphere like a lid," says Mark Serreze, an atmospheric scientist at the University of Colorado at Boulder and lead author of the new study, published in the Journal of Geophysical Research. "Less sea ice means more water is being pumped up into the atmosphere."
• 2012/10/08: DD: High Arctic warming surpasses Viking era, study shows
  

  That Damoclean sword still hangs overhead:

• 2012/10/13: EarthGauge: Arctic Methane Leak Possibly Accelerating Climate Change
• USGS Fact sheet: Gas (Methane) Hydrates
• 2012/10/08: CCentral: Scientists Close in on the Cause of Arctic Methane Leaks
  

  As for the geopolitics of Arctic resources:

• 2012/10/13: PostMedia: There may be more to the Arctic thaw than global warming
  Conversations with half a dozen of Russia's top northern experts over the past few weeks have led me to several firm conclusions. In what appears to be a deliberate tension-reducing mode, the Russians I spoke with carefully stressed how potentially explosive issues such as which of the countries with competing claims in the Arctic Ocean - Russia, Canada, Denmark (for Greenland) and the U.S. - will get what share of the top of the world must be achieved through consultation rather than by provocative rhetoric or actions. It was equally plain from speaking with the Russians that their country remains far more capable of operating in the High Arctic than any potential rivals. Moreover, to build on the lead they inherited from the Soviet Union, they are already devoting more resources and intellectual energy than anyone else.
• 2012/10/12: TDC: First photos of Shell's Arctic rig add perspective to drilling debate
• 2012/10/10: EurActiv: Lawmakers turn down EU Arctic drilling moratorium
  The European Parliament's industry committee has rejected attempts to introduce a moratorium on offshore oil and gas drilling in the Arctic, overruling a contrary vote by its environment committee last month. The key vote in the industry committee yesterday (9 October) instead proposed a new directive to ensure that companies have "adequate financial security" to cover the liabilities that could be incurred by any accidents. Drilling companies would also have to submit to national authorities a safety hazard and emergency response report at least 24 weeks before the planned start of operations.
• 
  

  While in Antarctica:

   

• 2012/10/12: ABC(Au): Cameras reveal Antarctic underwater world
• 2012/10/11: ABC(Au): 'Hills and valleys' found under Antarctic ice
  Scientists have more pieces to add to the climate change puzzle after seeing life under the East Antarctic ice for the first time. Researchers on a two-month voyage are using a underwater robot with a multi-beam sonar to take measurements underneath the sea ice. Tas van Ommen from the Australian Antarctic Division says the robot is providing scientists with a three-dimensional image.
• 2012/10/11: IOTD: Antarctic Sea Ice Reaches New Maximum Extent
• 2012/10/10: WaPo: As strange as it seems, scientists say increase in Antarctic ice may be sign of climate change
• 2012/10/11: CCurrents: Mischievous Global Warming Is Increasing Ice In The Antarctica
  

  The food crisis is ongoing:

• 2012/10/13: Guardian(UK): UN warns of looming worldwide food crisis in 2013
  Global grain reserves hit critically low levels - Extreme weather means climate 'is no longer reliable' - Rising food prices threaten disaster and unrest
• 2012/10/13: Guardian(UK): Food scarcity: the timebomb setting nation against nation
  As the UN and Oxfam warn of the dangers ahead, expert analyst Lester Brown says time to solve the problem is running out
• 2012/10/12: DD: Kashmiri farmers face drought losses without government support - Spring and autumn have disappeared due to climate change - 'We are helpless before nature'
• 2012/10/11: Independent(UK): The year the grains failed: Why poorer countries are scheduling 'food-free days'
  Our wet summer has resulted in crop yields lower than at any point since the 1980s. And while our food bills will rise, in the developing world the consequences will be disastrous
• 2012/10/11: IFPRI: 2012 Global Hunger Index
• 2012/10/11: BBC: Africa shows progress on hunger, report says
  [...]
  The wide-ranging report also says the world as a whole is running out of productive land as populations increase. Produced by the International Food Policy Research Institute, Welthungerhilfe, and Concern Worldwide, the paper identifies 20 countries which have "alarming" or "extremely alarming" levels of hunger.
• 2012/10/11: FAO: FAO and EU join forces to fight hunger -- EU Commission President Barroso meets with FAO Director-General
• 2012/10/10: MoJo: How Not to "Feed the World"
  A blistering new Oxfam report debunks the theory that export crops are the best use of land in the developing world.
• 2012/09/25: WWI:NtP: Global Grain Production at Record High Despite Extreme Climatic Events
• 2012/10/10: Guardian(UK): The food security risk index - map [Maplecroft]
• 2012/10/10: Maplecroft: Food security in 75% of African countries at high or extreme risk - Maplecroft global index
• 2012/10/10: al Jazeera: Africa facing intensified 'food crisis'
  New report suggests that numerous African and Middle East countries are at a high or extreme risk of a food crisis.
• 2012/10/10: Guardian(UK): UK pledges to tackle malnutrition in Yemen as hunger crisis fears grow
• 2012/10/09: FAO: [link to several pdfs] The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2012
• 2012/10/09: FAO: Globally almost 870 million chronically undernourished - new hunger report
• 2012/10/11: CCurrents: From Boardroom To Table: Food Soaked In Toxicity
• 2012/10/12: Guardian(UK): A bad harvest, rising prices ... isn't it time to change the way food is done?
  We need to face up to the reality of climate change's effects on food production and let the era of big farming come to an end
• 2012/10/10: DD: Feeding 10 billion people in 2060 as desertification and freshwater depletion take toll on agriculture
• 2012/10/10: ABC(Au): More food, less land
  In order to feed the world's growing population, farmers will have to increase food production by 70%.
• 2012/10/14: al Jazeera: Learning to tackle malnutrition: Afghanistan's silent child killer
  Malnutrition is the underlying cause for one third of child mortality in Afghanistan.
• 2012/10/09: Grist: Climate change: The elephant in the dining room
• 2012/10/09: CRS: Report: Climate Change Threatens One Million Maize and Bean Farmers in Central America
• 2012/10/09: Reuters: Hot, dry weather batter maize crops across eastern Europe
  Sizzling temperatures and lack of rains have scorched maize or corn crops across eastern Europe, further reducing global supplies already hit after the worst drought in the United States in 50 years.
• 2012/10/09: Reuters: Climate change to hit Central America's food crops
• 2012/10/10: BBC: Nyetimber vineyard scraps 2012 grape harvest
  A multi-award winning English vineyard has decided not to harvest its grapes this year because of the bad weather. Nyetimber, in West Sussex, said the quality and volume of the 2012 harvest was not up to standard.
• 2012/10/09: BBC: Wet weather set to hit UK food prices
• 2012/10/09: UN: Nearly 870 million people chronically undernourished, says new UN hunger report
• 2012/10/09: Grist: UN: Global hunger not as bad as we thought, but it's still bad [870 million hungry]
• 2012/10/08: Guardian(UK): Somalia facing aid shortfall after al-Shabaab bans Islamic Relief
  

  The state of the world's fisheries is a concern:

• 2012/10/13: CBC: Bluefin tuna could be added to species at risk list
• 2012/10/11: EUO: Study: EU-accredited ships plundering African fish
• 2012/10/11: BBC: Fishermen are calling for Royal Navy protection after claims they were attacked by French vessels
• 2012/10/10: EJF: Pirate Fishing Exposed
• 2012/10/10: BBC: Pirate fishermen off Sierra Leone 'export to EU'
  The vast majority of pirate vessels illegally fishing off Sierra Leone are accredited to export their catches to Europe, an environmentalist group says. A report by the Environmental Justice Foundation says West Africa has the highest levels of illegal fishing in the world.
• 2012/10/07: FuturePundit: Restraint On Global Fishing Could Boost Future Yields
• 2012/10/10: ABC(Au): Mystery of giant Australian cuttlefish decline
  Brendan Trembath: It's a real mystery of the sea. The giant Australian cuttlefish turned up for its annual breeding cycle in disastrous numbers this year, and no one knows why. Environmentalists are calling for stricter fishing regulations and more research.
  Nicola Gage: Twenty years ago the elusive alien-like creature was gathering in the cool waters off Point Lowly Peninsula in the hundreds of thousands. Last year only 20,000 showed up, and this year no more than 6,000 were recorded.
• 2012/10/08: EUO: Sea of subsidies
  [...]
  The state of European fisheries is no laughing matter; 47 percent of the assessed fish stocks in the Atlantic and 80 percent in the Mediterranean are overfished. Yet despite the precarious condition of fisheries in Europe and beyond, member states continue to provide massive subsidies to support and maintain fleets that are too large for what the ocean can sustainably provide.
• 
  

  Food Prices are rising:

   

• FAO: World Food Situation - Food Price Indices
• 2012/10/10: Guardian(UK): UN warns of rising food costs after year's extreme weather
  Warning comes as shops struggle to fill shelves and farmers' union reports wheat yields are at lowest level since 1980s
• 2012/10/10: Guardian(UK): UN warns of rising food costs after year's extreme weather
• 2012/10/10: Guardian(UK): Rising food prices are climate change's first tangible bite into UK lives
• 2012/10/10: BPA: Food Prices Have Been Less Volatile than Fuel Prices
• 2012/10/10: BPA: Real Agricultural Prices Have Gone Down as Population Has Headed Up
• 2012/10/11: BizInsider: Corn Prices Are Surging After A New Crop Report
  Corn is up 3.5 percent after the USDA cut its crop yield forecast by 16 percent, to 122.8 bushels per acre. Global corn stocks have fallen to their lowest level in 39 years.
• 2012/10/10: DD: The FAO Food Price Index up 1.4 percent in September
• 2012/10/09: BWeek: Milk-Cow Drought Culling Accelerates as Prices Jump: Commodities
  U.S. milk production is headed for the biggest contraction in 12 years as a drought-fueled surge in feed costs drives more cows to slaughter.
• 2012/10/10: BWeek: Drought Cuts U.S. Crops Below Demand First Time in 38 Years
  Drought damage to corn and soybean fields in the U.S., the world's top grower and exporter, is eroding supplies of the nation's two largest crops to below year-earlier consumption levels for the first time since 1974.
• 
  

  The conflict between biofuel and food persists:

   

• 2012/10/10: DMR:B: U.S. ethanol policy harmful to developing countries, study claims
• 2012/10/11: CCurrents: US Biofuel Is Consuming Corn While The World Is Facing Food Crisis
• 2012/10/10: CDreams: US corn ethanol fuels food crisis in developing countries
  The US ethanol programme pushed up corn prices by up to 21 per cent as it expanded to consume 40 per cent of the harvest
• 
  

  So, are these land grabs Colonialism V2.0?

   

• Oxfam: Land grabs Q&A
• 2012/10/04: Oxfam: Land sold off in last decade could grow enough food to feed a billion people
• 2012/10/07: CCurrents: World Bank Rejects Oxfam Call For Moratorium On Land Grab
• 2012/10/04: BBerg: World Bank Rejects Oxfam Call to Freeze Land Investment
  The World Bank rejected a call by aid group Oxfam International to freeze the lender's investment in land-intensive agricultural projects, saying such a move would not help prevent abusive practices in the purchase of acreage. Oxfam, in a report released yesterday, urged the Washington-based bank to declare a moratorium on its agricultural investments in land to "create space to develop policy and institutional protections to ensure that no bank- supported project resulted in land grabbing." According to the report, there have been 21 formal complaints since 2008 by communities from Asia to Africa saying projects funded by the bank violated their land rights. A global rush to buy farmland triggered by the 2007-2008 spike in food prices has continued, with international investors focusing on the poorest countries with weak land-rights security for deals, a report by the Land Matrix research group said in April. According to Oxfam's report released yesterday, an area of land the size of London is sold to foreign buyers every six days in poor countries.
• 
  

  Regarding the genetic modification of food:

   

• 2012/10/13: Guardian(UK): GM food: we can no longer afford to ignore its advantages by Robin McKie
• 2012/10/12: UCSUSA:B: Rachel Carson's Nightmare: Herbicide-Tolerant Weeds
• 2012/10/10: VoXXI: Monsanto corn and cotton, an 'attack to sovereignty' in Paraguay
• 2012/10/10: ScienceInsider: Indian Advisory Panel Defends GM Research
• 2012/10/10: NatureN: Hyped GM maize study faces growing scrutiny
  Food-safety bodies slam feeding study that claims increased cancer incidence in rats.
• 2012/10/08: EnergyBulletin: Who owns life?
• 2012/10/05: Reuters: U.S. Supreme Court to review Monsanto seed patents
  The U.S. Supreme Court agreed on Friday to consider an Indiana soybean farmer's appeal of a decision finding that he infringed Monsanto Co patents over seeds containing the company's genetically altered Roundup Ready technology. The case is one of seven that the highest U.S. court agreed to hear on Friday, with oral arguments likely to be scheduled for January or February of 2013.
• 
  

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

   

• 2012/10/12: ABC(Au): Irrigating with fertiliser good for the environment
  The use of fertigation has gained popularity across Australia, because it saves water, money and has better results.
• 2012/10/11: UN: European Union pledges increased support for UN efforts to slash world hunger
• 2012/10/11: UCSUSA:B: Crop Rotation Generates Profits without Pollution (or, What Agribusiness Doesn't Want You to Know)
• 2012/10/10: CBC: Winnipeg group targets food deserts
• 2012/10/10: Guardian(UK): The growing appeal of national gardening leave
  Fancy a day off each week to grow your own food? We would all reap numerous lifestyle, health and environmental benefits
• 2012/10/09: ArcticNews: How to avert an intensifying food crisis
• 2012/10/10: EUO: Red Cross to feed hungry Spanish people
• 2012/10/09: Grist: These grassroots heroes are fighting for food democracy
• 2012/10/10: AaltoU: Halving the food losses would feed an additional billion people
  

  Thankfuly, a relatively quiet week in the hurricane wars, at least in terms of landings.
  First, in the Western Pacific:

• 2012/10/11: NASA: NASA Sees Typhoon Prapiroon Doing a "Sit and Spin" in the Philippine Sea
• 2012/10/13: MODIS: Typhoon Prapiroon (22W) in the Philippine Sea
• 2012/10/09: NASA: NASA Eyes Typhoon Prapiroon Intensifying
• 2012/10/08: MODIS: Tropical Storm Gaemi (21W) approaching Vietnam
  

  Then, in the South Indian Ocean:

   

• 2012/10/12: NASA: NASA Spots First Tropical Cyclone of Southern Indian Ocean Season
• 2012/10/14: al Jazeera: The tropical storm season moves south [Anais]
  The first storm of the southern hemisphere season has developed in the Indian Ocean.

• And in the Eastern Pacific:

   

• 2012/10/09: NASA: NASA Sees Brief Life of Tropical Storm Olivia
  

  And finally, in the Atlantic:

   

• 2012/10/14: MODIS: Tropical Storm Patty (16L) in the Atlantic Ocean
• 2012/10/13: Wunderground: Tropical Storm Rafael drenching the Lesser Antilles
• 2012/10/12: NASA: NASA Sees Some Strength in Tropical Storm Patty's Brief Debut
• 2012/10/12: Wunderground: Patty little threat to the Bahamas; 98L close to tropical storm status
• 2012/10/11: Wunderground: Tropical Depression Sixteen has formed; 98L likely to develop
• 2012/10/11: NASA: Satellite Sees 16th Atlantic Tropical Depression Born Near Bahamas
• 2012/10/11: Wunderground: 98L may develop this weekend; 97L no threat
• 2012/10/10: Wunderground: 98L may develop early next week
• 2012/10/09: Wunderground: 98L may develop next week; 97L not a threat to land
• 2012/10/08: Wunderground: Bahamas disturbance 97L little threat; 98L worth keeping an eye on
  

  As for the Monsoon:

• 2012/10/09: IndiaTimes: Global warming behind monsoon's extended stay?
  Mumbai: The thunder, lightning and rainfall every single evening of late have nailed one fact—the monsoon is in no hurry to retreat from the city. While its average withdrawal date is September 28, the monsoon has been stretching its stay to October in the past few years. In 2005, when the city received record rainfall, it retreated on October 7. A year later, it withdrew in the second week of October. This trend continued till 2010, when it made its exit in the third week of October. While weather experts are uncertain about reason behind the October shift, they agree that the monsoon pattern is changing.
• 
  

  Meanwhile on the GHG front:

   

• 2012/10/10: YaleFES: Palm Oil [deforestation] Massive Source of Carbon Dioxide
• 2012/10/11: StarTelegram: UT-Austin to study methane emissions in natural gas fields
• 2012/10/11: Tamino: CO2 Velocity
• 2012/10/10: BBC: US researchers map carbon emissions at street level
  US scientists have developed new software that can accurately measure greenhouse gas emissions down to individual buildings and streets. The system combines information from public databases with traffic simulations and energy consumption models. Researchers believe it could help identify the most effective places to cut emissions.
• 2012/10/09: TreeHugger: Indonesian Palm Oil Plantation Expansion to Emit More Greenhouse Gases Than Canada by 2020
• 2012/10/08: Guardian(UK): Why we can't bank on recessions to keep global warming in check
  Carbon emissions and GDP rise together almost in lockstep, but emissions are slower to fall when economies contract
• 2012/10/08: ABC(Au): Greenhouse link to GDP not symmetric: study
  

  As for the temperature record:

• 2012/10/13: Moyhu: September GISS Temp up 0.03°C
• 2012/10/13: CapClimate: Record Daily Low Temperatures in N.Y. Metro Area
• 2012/10/09: Wunderground: September 2012 the 23rd warmest on record for the U.S.
• 2012/10/09: CapClimate: U.S. Heat Streak Extends Into October With 43rd Consecutive Week; September 16th Consecutive Month
• 2012/10/09: Moyhu: September TempLS Global Temp up 0.04°C
  

  Yes we have feedbacks:

• 2012/10/08: Tamino: Snow+Ice (by request)
  

  Dealing with uncertainties:

• 2012/10/11: P3: A Comment About the Culture Gap
• 2012/10/09: SciAm:PI: Coping with deep climate uncertainty
  

  How to deal with Risk:

• 2012/10/10: ScienceInsider: Disaster Risk Gets a Broad Look at Sendai Meeting
  

  In the attribution debate:

• 2012/10/12: LA Times: Some climate scientists, in a shift, link weather to global warming
  Drought and intense heat in the last decade leads some to believe there's enough evidence to establish a statistical pattern. It's a break with mainstream scientific thought.
• 
  

  Regarding Climate Sensitivity:

   

• 2012/10/11: TWTB: A new LGM reconstruction, with implications for climate sensitivity
  

  What's new on the extinction front?

• 2012/10/12: SciAm:EC: Last Siamese Crocodile in Vietnam Found Strangled to Death
• 2012/10/11: SciAm:EC: Solenodon: 'Extinct' Venomous Mammal Rediscovered in Cuba after 10-Year Search
• 2012/10/12: DerSpiegel: Papua New Guinea's Royal Trophy -- Are Collectors Key to Saving Giant Butterfly?
  Papua New Guinea is home to the world's largest butterfly, but oil palm plantations are threatening the rare species' habitat. Conservationists and local residents alike would like to save the species by lifting a ban on trade in the butterfly and selling it for thousands of dollars to collectors.
• 
  

  What's up with volcanoes this week?

   

• 2012/10/09: IOTD: Ash Plume from Shiveluch [Kamchatka]
  

  Meanwhile in near earth orbit:

• 2012/10/12: IOTD: Spare Weather Satellite Proves Its Worth
• 2012/10/09: NOAANews: NOAA satellites - helping save lives for 30 years -- October 1982 marks first U.S. life saved by satellite assist
  

  More GW impacts are being seen:

• 2012/10/11: CBC: High levels of CO2 make ice caps more likely to crack
  Carbon dioxide weakens 'fracture toughness' of glacial ice, new MIT study finds
• 
  

  And then there are the world's forests:

   

• 2012/10/14: ABC(Au): Conservationists slam logging of 600-year-old trees
  A conservation group is calling on the West Australian Government to change the criteria for classifying old growth forest after it found karri trees up to 600 years old are being wood-chipped.
• 2012/10/14: ABC(Au): Australians involved in PNG land [grab] scandal
  An Australian-led logging company in Papua New Guinea has been involved in arrangements which have seen more than 2 million hectares of land, much of it pristine forest, taken out of customary ownership. Land in PNG is almost sacred but over the past eight years it has been under assault from a land scandal that has seen 11 per cent of the country leased under controversial Special Agricultural and Business Leases. The leases are meant to be for small agricultural developments, not for logging, but they have been rorted by logging interests.
• 2012/10/09: CDreams: Re-Occupied: Indigenous Groups Retake Brazil's Belo Monte Dam
• 2012/10/07: Eureka: Stanford researchers show oil palm plantations are clearing carbon-rich tropical forests in Borneo
  

  Emerging diseases accompany ecological change:

• 2012/10/12: CBC: 1st West Nile death since 2007 confirmed in Alberta
  

  This week in notable weather:

• 2012/10/12: ABC(Au): 19 dead, 1,500 missing in Bangladesh storm
  At least 19 people have been killed and an estimated 1,500 fishermen are missing after tropical storms smashed into Bangladesh's southern coastal islands and districts. Police say at least 1,500 mud, tin and straw-built houses were also levelled in the storms that swept Bhola, Hatiya and Sandwip Islands and half a dozen coastal districts on Thursday morning (local time). At the worst-hit island of Hatiya, at least seven people were killed after they were buried under their houses or hit by fallen trees, local police chief Moktar Hossain said. More than 1,000 houses were flattened.
• 2012/10/12: ABC(Au): Snow causes havoc across eastern Australia
  About 470 properties in the Blue Mountains will remain without electricity overnight after a day of wild winds, rain and snow. At its height, snowfalls of 15 centimetres and wind damage cut roads and rail access to the upper Blue Mountains for more than six hours.
• 
  

  Yes we have no wacky weather, except:

   

• 2012/10/11: al Jazeera: Fog dissipating below the Burj -- Dense fog has been creating havoc for commuters across the UAE
  

  Rossby Waves? Blocking Patterns? Arctic Oscillation? --- What's changing the weather?

• 2012/10/10: GRL: (ab$) The recent shift in early summer Arctic atmospheric circulation by James E. Overland et al.
• 2012/10/07: Nature:GeoSci: (ab$) Atlantic Ocean influence on a shift in European climate in the 1990s by Rowan T. Sutton & Buwen Dong
• 2012/10/12: ERW: Warm North Atlantic Ocean causing UK's wet summers, study shows
• 2012/10/11: TP:JR: NOAA Bombshell: Warming-Driven Arctic Ice Loss Is Boosting Chance of Extreme U.S. Weather
• 2012/10/10: CSW: NOAA-led [Overland] study: 'Arctic amplification' could add to U.S. and European weather extremes
• 2012/10/11: Eureka: Documented decrease in frequency of Hawaii's northeast trade winds
  Scientists at University of Hawaii at Manoa (UHM) have observed a decrease in the frequency of northeast trade winds and an increase in eastern trade winds over the past nearly four decades...
• 2012/10/11: EENews: Researchers find links between Arctic melting and summer floods and fires
• 2012/10/10: Guardian(UK): Global warming could make washout UK summers the norm, study warns
  Scientists have established a clear link between shrinking Arctic ice and extreme weather in lower latitudes
• 2012/10/10: NOAANews: Arctic summer wind shift could affect sea ice loss and U.S./European weather, says NOAA-led study
• 2012/10/08: DD: Climate expert: Record loss of arctic ice could impact U.S.
• 2012/10/07: BBC: Recent warming in the Atlantic Ocean is the main cause of wet summers in northern Europe, according to a new study
• 2012/10/07: Guardian(UK): Warm North Atlantic ocean causing UK's wet summers, study shows
  

  As for heatwaves and wild fires:

• 2012/10/13: ABC(Au): Investigation after firefighters badly burnt in WA
  [...] Two female firefighters are in intensive care after they were trapped in a fire truck while battling the blaze in the Two Peoples Bay nature reserve, near Albany in the state's Great Southern, on Friday afternoon.
• 2012/10/11: MODIS: Smoke and fires in eastern China
• 2012/10/14: ABC(Au): Authorities battle large grassfire in north Queensland
• 2012/10/08: DD: U.S. runs out of firefighting funds during worst wildfire season on record
• 2012/10/09: MODIS: Fires across northern Yugoslavia
• 2012/10/08: DD: A forecast for the American West: hot and hotter
  

  Corals are a bellwether of the ocean's health:

• 2012/10/14: TP:JR: The Coral Reef Crisis Threatens Nature's Ability To Help Us Deal With Climate Change
• 2012/10/11: Eureka: A new cave-dwelling reef coral discovered in the Indo-Pacific -- Coral named Leptoseris troglodyta sheds light on coral-algal symbiosis
  

  Acidification is changing the oceans:

• 2012/10/09: CrossCut: Science faces the fate of the sea
  Nearly 500 researchers from around the world meet in Monterey for an epic conference on ocean acidification...
• 
  

  Glaciers are melting:

   

• 2012/10/08: FaGP: Thwaites Glacier Tongue Major Calving Event, Antarctica
  

  Sea levels are rising:

• 2012/10/11: UCSUSA:B: The Tides They Are A-Changin'
• 2012/10/11: UCSUSA: Florida Scientists and Local Government Officials Urge Presidential Candidates to Address Sea Level Rise -- Sea Level Rise Impacts Felt Around the State
  

  As for hydrological cycle disruptions [floods & droughts]:

• 2012/10/12: UN: Donations urgently needed for UN efforts to aid millions of Pakistani floods victims
  With nearly five million Pakistanis hit by floods that have already claimed some 400 lives, ruined tens of thousands of houses and vast swathes of crops, and left hundreds of thousands living in camps or simply under tarpaulins, the United Nations today appealed for more donations to bolster relief efforts.
• 2012/10/12: UN: UN begins relocation of Central African Republic refugees affected by floods in Chad
• 2012/10/12: al Jazeera: Nigeria flooding called 'natural disaster'
  Worst floods in 50 years have killed 140 people, left hundreds of thousands homeless, and raised fears of a food crisis.
• 2012/10/12: al Jazeera: Nigeria hit by worst flooding in a generation
  Much of the country has been badly affected by exceptional monsoon rain.
• 2012/10/10: al Jazeera: Torrential rains swamp South America -- Uruguay is the worst hit as the storms rage for several days
• 2012/10/13: BBC: Clean-up after severe rain hits Scotland
  A clean-up operation is under way after severe rains brought flooding to parts of Scotland. Weather warnings have now been lifted but flood warnings are still in place in parts of the north east, Easter Ross and Tayside.
• 2012/10/13: al Jazeera: Flooding hits Scotland
  Torrential rain caused widespread disruption across the country through Friday.
• 2012/10/09: DD: Pakistan: No end to humanitarian crises after three successive years of devastating floods
• 2012/10/09: DD: Even after rains, West Texas faces long-term water depletion
  

  First, stop subsidizing fossil fuels
  Second, put a price on carbon
  And elsewhere on the mitigation front:

• 2012/10/14: TP:JR: What Climate Solutions Can We Achieve Together?
• 2012/10/10: DM:80B: Peat Wars: Should Ancient Bogs Be Miracle Plant Food? Or Precious Carbon Sink?
• 2012/10/09: P3: Agriculture Expert: "Mitigation is not yet really something our society wants to talk about"
• 2012/10/08: JFleck: Agriculture and climate change
  

  Consider transportation & GHG production:

• 2012/10/09: ABC(Au): No high speed rail link: Qantas
  Qantas boss Alan Joyce has dismissed the idea of a high speed rail link between Sydney and Canberra, saying a second Sydney airport is the only way to meet the growing demand. However Mr Joyce says Canberra might be a viable origin point for international flights to Asia in the future.
• 
  

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

   

• 2012/10/11: DemNow: "Earthship Biotecture": Renegade New Mexico Architect's Radical Approach to Sustainable Living
• 2012/10/12: EnergyBulletin: "Earthship Biotecture": Renegade New Mexico architect's radical approach to sustainable living
  

  As for carbon sequestration:

• 2012/10/11: WaPo: How's that big carbon-capture push going? Slowly. Too slowly.
• 2012/10/11: Guardian(UK): Carbon capture: 130 plants needed 'to avoid dangerous climate change'
  Report by CCS group says huge investment needed by 2020 - Fears that UK will miss out on EU cash pot for CCS projects
• 2012/10/10: GlobalCCSInstitute: [pdfs] The Global Status of CCS: 2012
• 2012/10/10: GlobalCCSInstitute: [Videos] The Global Status of CCS: 2012
  

  Large scale geo-engineering keeps popping up:

• 2012/10/11: PNL: Earth sunblock only needed if planet warms easily
• 2012/10/11: GEP: [Afforestation/Reforestation] Credits Issued to Ethiopian Reforestation Project
• 2012/10/10: GEP: ETC Group Lays Out Wish List for CBD COP11
• 2012/10/10: ArcticNews: Saving the Arctic Ice (#1) -- Greenpeace, Greenwashing and Geoengineering
• 2012/10/09: ArcticNews: Terraforming Earth
• 2012/10/09: HuffPo: Saving the Arctic Ice: Greenpeace, Greenwashing and Geoengineering (#1)
• 2012/10/05: EtcGroup: The ABCs of Ensuring Precaution on Geoengineering -- A briefing for delegates to CBD COP11
• 2012/10/08: Eureka: Super-microbes engineered to solve world environmental problems
  

  What's new in conservation?

• 2012/10/12: BBC: Marine Protected Areas increase 10-fold in a decade
  A 10-fold rise in Marine Protected Areas has been recorded over a decade. A report to a UN meeting on biodiversity in Hyderabad reports that more than 8.3 million sq km - 2.3% of the global ocean area - is now protected.
• 
  

  Meanwhile in the journals:

   

• 2012/10/11: ACP: Parameterization of homogeneous ice nucleation for cloud and climate models based on classical nucleation theory by V. I. Khvorostyanov & J. A. Curry
• 2012/10/10: ACP: Extreme ozone depletion in the 2010-2011 Arctic winter stratosphere as observed by MIPAS/ENVISAT using a 2-D tomographic approach by E. Arnone et al.
• 2012/10/11: ACPD: A unified approach to aerosol remote sensing and type specification in the infrared by L. Clarisse et al.
• 2012/10/11: ACPD: Optical properties of Saharan dust aerosol and contribution from the coarse mode as measured during the Fennec 2011 aircraft campaign by C. L. Ryder et al.
• 2012/10/10: ACPD: Evaluation of a new middle-lower tropospheric CO2 product using data assimilation by A. Tangborn et al.
• 2012/10/09: ACPD: Environmental impacts of shipping in 2030 with a particular focus on the Arctic region by S. B. Dalsøren et al.
• 2012/10/09: ACPD: Comparison of three vertically resolved ozone data bases: climatology, trends and radiative forcings by B. Hassler et al.
• 2012/10/09: ACPD: The size distribution and mixing state of black carbon aerosol over Europe by C. L. Reddington et al.
• 2012/09/13: ACS:ES&T: The U.S. Drought of 2012 by Jerald L. Schnoor
• 2012/10/02: WOL:CC: (ab$) Is climate change the number one threat to humanity? by Indur M. Goklany
• 2012/06/12: GRL: (ab$) Changes of the prevailing trade winds over the islands of Hawaii and the North Pacific by Jessica A. Garza et al.
• 2012/10/10: ESDD: Carbon farming in hot, dry coastal areas: an option for climate change mitigation by K. Becker et al.
• 2012/10/09: ESDD: The support of multidimensional approaches in integrate monitoring for SEA: a case of study by C. M. Torre & M. Selicato
• 2012/10/11: CP: Modelling large-scale ice-sheet-climate interactions following glacial inception by J. M. Gregory et al.
• 2012/10/11: CP: Constraining the temperature history of the past millennium using early instrumental observations by P. Brohan et al.
• 2012/10/11: CP: Isotopic and lithologic variations of one precisely-dated stalagmite across the Medieval/LIA period from Heilong Cave, central China by Y. F. Cui et al.
• 2012/10/10: CP: Cascading climate effects and related ecological consequences during past centuries by B. Naef-Daenzer et al.
• 2012/10/10: CP: Planetary fertility during the past 400 ka based on the triple isotope composition of O2 in trapped gases from the Vostok ice core by T. Blunier et al.
• 2012/10/10: CP: Stable isotope and trace element investigation of two contemporaneous annually-laminated stalagmites from northeastern China surrounding the "8.2 ka event" by J. Y. Wu et al.
• 2012/10/10: CPD: Palaeostages of the Caspian Sea as a set of regional benchmark tests for the evaluation of climate model simulations by A. Kislov et al.
• 2012/10/10: CPD: A new global reconstruction of temperature changes at the Last Glacial Maximum by J. D. Annan & J. C. Hargreaves
• 2012/10/08: CPD: Impact of precipitation intermittency on NAO-temperature signals in proxy records by M. Casado et al.
• 2012/10/05: Springer:CC: (ab$) The long-term policy context for solar radiation management by Steven J. Smith & Philip J. Rasch
• 2012/10/12: ACP: The effects of mineral dust particles, aerosol regeneration and ice nucleation parameterizations on clouds and precipitation by A. Teller et al.
• 2012/10/12: ACPD: Quantification of structural uncertainty in climate data records from GPS radio occultation by A. K. Steiner et al.
• 2012/10/11: GMD: A semi-analytical solution to accelerate spin-up of a coupled carbon and nitrogen land model to steady state by J. Y. Xia et al.
• 2012/10/10: GMD: TopoSUB: a tool for efficient large area numerical modelling in complex topography at sub-grid scales by J. Fiddes & S. Gruber
• 2012/10/12: GMDD: A new method to diagnose the contribution of anthropogenic activities to temperature: temperature tagging by V. Grewe
• 2012/10/12: OS: Evaluation of Release-05 GRACE time-variable gravity coefficients over the ocean by D. P. Chambers & J. A. Bonin
• 2012/10/12: OSD: Chaotic variability of the meridional overturning circulation on subannual to interannual timescales by J. J.-M. Hirschi et al.
• 2012/10/10: OSD: Recirculation in the Fram Strait and transports of water in and north of the Fram Strait derived from CTD data by M. Marnela et al.
• 2012/10/12: TC: Accelerated contributions of Canada's Baffin and Bylot Island glaciers to sea level rise over the past half century by A. Gardner et al.
• 2012/10/12: TCD: Thinning and slowdown of Greenland's Mittivakkat Gletscher by S. H. Mernild et al.
• 2012/10/12: TCD: Variability of light transmission through Arctic land-fast sea ice during spring by M. Nicolaus et al.
• 2012/10/11: TCD: Bedmap2: improved ice bed, surface and thickness datasets for Antarctica by P. Fretwell et al.
• 2012/09/18: Geology: (ab$) Twentieth-century warming revives the world's northernmost lake by Bianca B. Perren et al.
• 2012/10/10: GRL: (ab$) The recent shift in early summer Arctic atmospheric circulation by James E. Overland et al.
• 2012/10/09: OS: High resolution 3-D temperature and salinity fields derived from in situ and satellite observations by S. Guinehut et al.
• 2012/10/08: AGWObserver: New research from last week 40/2012
• 2012/10/07: Nature:CC: (ab$) Stock dynamics and emission pathways of the global aluminium cycle by Gang Liu et al.
• 2012/10/07: Nature:CC: (ab$) Asymmetric effects of economic growth and decline on CO2 emissions by Richard York
• 2012/10/07: Nature:CC: (ab$) Carbon emissions from forest conversion by Kalimantan oil palm plantations by Kimberly M. Carlson et al.
• 2012/10/07: Nature:GeoSci: (ab$) Atlantic Ocean influence on a shift in European climate in the 1990s by Rowan T. Sutton & Buwen Dong
  

  And other significant documents:

• 2012/10/10: GlobalCCSInstitute: [pdfs] The Global Status of CCS: 2012
• 2012/10/09: FAO: [link to several pdfs] The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2012
  

  As for miscellaneous science:

• 2012/10/10: NSF: Freshwater Flows Into the Arctic and Southern Oceans Appear to Determine the Composition of Microbial Populations
• 2012/10/10: GreenGrok: Climate Science and Science Literacy: The Strange Divergence
• 2012/10/12: ABC(Au): Australia hosts climate-change course for Pacific
  Meteorologists and climate scientists from across the Pacific are in Australia to learn how to educate people about the effects of climate change.
• 2012/10/11: ABC(Au): Robots to collect data on changing Pacific ocean
  A team of scientists will set sail from New Zealand this weekend to deploy a small army of robotic climate monitors in the southern Pacific Ocean. The 120 "argo floats" will be dropped in the ocean between New Zealand and South America. It's part of a global program, led by Australia's CSIRO and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, to monitor and measure the effects of climate change.
• 2012/10/09: WtD: Experiencing the landscape: essential training for environmental scientists (reprint)
• 2012/10/08: Eureka: DRI scientist co-authors study outlining vast differences in polar ocean microbial communities
• 2012/10/08: Eureka: Adaptable button mushroom serves up genes critical to managing the planet's carbon stores
  

  More DIY science:

• 2012/10/11: Moyhu: Fancy graphics and climate data
  

  What developments in the ongoing struggle for Free/Open Science?

• 2012/10/08: BostonGlobe: A plan to open up science journals -- Cambridge's Labtiva applies the iTunes sales approach to often costly research
  

  Regarding Hubert Lamb:

• 2012/10/11: Stoat: Adoration of the Lamb
  

  Regarding Commoner:

• 2012/10/10: CCurrents: Barry Commoner: The Greatest Environmentalist Of The 20th Century by Ralph Nader
  

  Regarding Mann:

• 2012/10/09: SBrophy: Michael Mann and the Climate Wars: An Update
• 2012/10/07: CCP: Michael Mann warns island nations evacuation needed within a decade
  

  Regarding Nancy Rabalais:

• 2012/10/09: Grist: Back from the dead: MacArthur genius wants to keep runoff out of the Gulf
  

  The Pielke fan clubbe, alas:

• 2012/10/12: P3: Vague Accusations of Alarmism
  

  While at the UN:

• 2012/10/11: UN: UN environmental agency to help Afghanistan combat effects of climate change
  

  The Fifth IPCC report is coming up:

• 2012/10/12: ABC(Au): US climate expert [Trenberth] questions IPCC assessment process
• 2012/10/09: WtD: The coming assault on AR5: get ready for the next war on the IPCC in 2013
  

  And on the carbon trading front:

• 2012/10/14: EnvEcon: Another grand experiment [California's cap and trade]
• 2012/10/12: BBerg: China Carbon Debut Defies Emission Doubters
  China's first steps to build what is destined to be the world's second-biggest emissions market are boosting the prospects for fledgling programs from Australia to California. Four cement makers in China, the world's biggest emitter, bought 1.3 million pollution permits for 60 yuan ($9.55) a metric ton last month in Guangdong. The province plans the largest of seven pilot programs for a proposed national market within three years. Exchanges will trade permits to emit an estimated 1 billion metric tons of greenhouse gases a year by 2015, close to half the volume in the European Union system. By setting its own emission limits and allowing polluters to buy and sell permits, China's domestic market is set to dwarf its own participation in the UN market, Bloomberg New Energy Finance forecasts. The country's commitment may also help break a logjam in global-treaty negotiations and support trade in Australia and the U.S., where opposition to carbon pricing is unwavering, according to Climate Bridge, which has developed projects in China since 2006.
• 2012/10/11: NYT: U.S. Struggles to Rescue Green Program Hit by Fraud
• 2012/10/10: BWeek: China's Emissions Trading May Spur Global Accord, Report Says
  China, the world's biggest emitter of greenhouse gases linked to climate change, may create the impetus for a global carbon market as it begins pilot trading programs, according to the Climate Institute.
• 2012/10/08: BBerg: UN Regulator May Need Expanded Global Carbon Role: Marcu
  

  The idea of a carbon tax is still floating around:

• 2012/10/11: Guardian(UK): Norway to double carbon tax on oil industry
• 2012/10/12: TreeHugger: Oil-Rich Norway Doubles Its Carbon Tax on Oil Companies
• 2012/10/09: EnvEcon: A nonzero probability of a U.S. carbon tax?
  

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

• 2012/10/10: EurActiv: Eleven euro zone states back financial transaction tax
  Eleven eurozone countries agreed on Tuesday (9 October) to press ahead with a disputed tax on financial transactions aimed at making traders share the cost of fixing a crisis that has rocked the single currency area. The initiative, pushed hard by Germany and France but strongly opposed by Britain, Sweden and other proponents of free markets, gained critical mass at a European Union finance ministers' meeting in Luxembourg, when more than the required nine states agreed to use a treaty provision to launch the tax.
• 2012/10/09: DerSpiegel: Taming the Markets -- Eleven EU Countries Agree on Transaction Tax
  The idea of a financial transaction tax in the European Union has been slowly gaining support over the last two years, with Germany and France advocating most vehemently in favor. Now they have convinced nine other EU states to join them -- though details remain scarce.
• 2012/10/09: EurActiv: One country still needed to launch FTT
  As EU finance ministers meet in Luxembourg today (9 October), Germany and France will step up a diplomatic drive to convince more EU countries, even outside the eurozone, to join them in setting up a financial transactions tax (FTT).
• 2012/10/09: EUO: EU financial transactions tax gets enough support to take off
  

  On the international political front, tensions continue as the empire leans on Iran:

• 2012/10/14: OilDrum: Tech Talk - Iran as an exporter of natural gas
• 2012/10/09: FTAlphaville: The rial-ity of Persia-stroika
• 2012/10/08: RFERL: Interrupting Iran's Oil: The Price The West Can Now Afford
  [...]
  The real reason the West intensified sanctions now was that they could, because the potential political costs of removing Iranian oil from the market have fallen dramatically with the recent increase of production in Iraq. Iraqi oil production has gone from a low of less than 2 million barrels of oil a day at the height of the war, to almost 3.4 million barrels a day in September 2012. The Iraqis have a target of 4 million barrels a day by 2014, which, if the last year is any indication, they are quite likely to meet and perhaps exceed.
• 2012/10/07: Guardian(UK): Iran sanctions now causing food insecurity, mass suffering
  Yet again, the US and its allies spread mass human misery though a policy that is as morally indefensible as it is counter-productive
• 
  

  The anniversary is past, but South & East China Sea tension persists:

   

• 2012/10/10: al Jazeera: China officials to skip IMF meetings in Japan
  Cancellations by bank governor and finance minister come as two nations remain at odds over islands in East China Sea.
• 2012/10/08: WSWS: IMF chief warns: China-Japan dispute threatens world economy
  

  In the global competition for Rare Earths and finite natural resources:

• 2012/10/11: ABC(Au): Lynas forced to suspend Malaysia operations [until at least November 8th]
  WA rare earth miner Lynas Corporation has been forced to further suspend operations at its processing plant in Malaysia. A Malyasian court has extended the suspension while it hears the 'Save Malaysia Stop Lynas' group's request for an injunction against the plant's temporary operating licence.
• 2012/10/11: CCurrents: Natural Resources: Heading To The Bottom
• 2012/10/13: WSWS: Detroit man killed in attempted copper theft
  A 34-year-old Detroit man was electrocuted while apparently attempting to strip copper from a transformer on a utility pole Tuesday night.
  [...]
  Copper theft is an increasingly common occurrence in the city and throughout the country. According to the US Department of Energy, copper thefts cost the federal government $1 billion per year; utility companies spend some $60 million replacing stolen wiring and transformers.
• 
  

  What do we have this week in clean tech squabbles?

   

• 2012/10/12: EurActiv: EU warned: Clean tech trade wars 'could spiral out of control'
  A spate of climate and clean energy-related trade squabbles is heightening fears that as recession advances, the world could be entering a period of tit-for-tat conflicts, many involving China. In the last month, the EU has followed the US in launching an 'anti-dumping' probe into Chinese solar panels, China announced a suit against Washington for blocking a wind farm deal on national security grounds, and the US Senate passed a bill exempting its airlines from the EU's Emissions Trading System (ETS).
• 2012/10/12: ICN: For Solar Panel Industry, a Volley of Trade Cases
• 2012/10/11: CSM: Obama administration and China feud over clean energy
• 2012/10/11: SciAm:PI: Chinese Solar Tariffs Moving Forward
• 2012/10/11: BBC: US unveils higher tariffs on China solar cell imports
  The US is to impose sharply higher tariffs on solar cells imported from China, which it says will offset the subsidies China pays its manufacturers. The Department of Commerce said it will impose tariffs of between 14.78% to 15.97% on Chinese firms. This compares with an earlier level of between 2.9% and 4.73% it announced in March. China has criticised the move saying it will hurt trade relations and will provoke trade friction.
• 2012/10/10: TheHill:e2W: US confirms tariffs on China's solar industry
• 2012/10/02: Cryptome: Prez Order to Halt OR Wind Farms by Chinese
  

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

• 2012/10/08: TreeHugger: Activist Tim DeChristopher to be Released From Jail [on October 24], Serves Remainder of Sentence at Halfway House
  

  What are the activists up to?

• 2012/10/13: RWER: Peaceful activism: 1, billionaire oil company: 0
• 2012/10/13: ABC(Au): Thousands join stop CSG protests across NSW
  Up to 3,000 people have donned yellow clothing in the New South Wales north coast town of Murwillumbah as they march in protest to coal seam gas mining. They were joined by about 1,000 protesters in Sydney's inner-west, who formed a human sign spelling out "Stop CSG". Murwillumbah rally spokeswoman Amanda Shoebridge says comments by the New South Wales Government this week that coal seam gas mining is inevitable failed to dampen the community's resolve.
• 
  

  Polls! We have polls!

   

• 2012/10/12: TP:JR: Yale Poll: 'Large And Growing Majority Of Americans' Say 'Global Warming Is Affecting Weather In The United States'
• 2012/10/09: YaleCCC: Extreme Weather and Climate Change in the American Mind
• 2012/10/09: TreeHugger: Three-Fourths of Americans Now Think Climate Change Is Influencing the Weather
• 2012/10/09: PSinclair: Polls Show Jump in US Climate Awareness
  

  Regarding Water Politics and Business:

• 2012/10/11: EurActiv: Bailout terms force water utility sale in Greece, Portugal
  EU leaders are under fire for pressuring troubled eurozone governments to sell public water utilities as part of their bailout deals, with environmentalists and rights activists saying that privatisation will only feed public anger.
• 2012/10/12: CCurrents: Water Wars: The Kaveri Battle
• 2012/10/09: EmbassyMag: Why Canada should invest more in water and sanitation
• 2012/10/09: JFleck: Stuff I wrote elsewhere: Happy New Water Year!
• 2012/10/08: DD: U.S. water costs rushing higher
  

  Regarding science education:

• 2012/10/12: SEasterbrook: My first year climate course
  

  And on the American political front:

• 2012/10/12: EnvEcon: Shock: a useful post on a Friday afternoon...(Should There Be a Price on Carbon?)
• 2012/10/12: WSWS: Federal home heating cuts spell hardship for US families this winter
• 2012/10/12: al Jazeera: Energy interests square off over US heartland
  With plentiful natural gas and cheap electric rates during election year, Oklahoma renewables struggle for traction.
• 2012/10/11: EneNews: Watch: Pilot films "substantial amounts of fresh-looking oil" in Gulf around BP's Macondo reservoir (photos & video)
• 2012/10/11: EneNews: Newspaper: Concern that BP's fresh oil is coming from fractures in floor of Gulf
• 2012/10/10: TP:JR: Special Interest Groups Spent Nearly $11 Million On Solyndra Attack Ads Since April -- But They Didn't Work
• 2012/10/10: Guardian(UK): Joe Romm on why climate change is a winning political strategy
• 2012/10/12: CSW: Climate change: Winning issue or losing battle?
• 2012/10/12: EENews: Political slugfest in Mich. over renewable energy ballot proposal
• 2012/10/12: CSM: Coal state Dems diverge on Obama policies
• 2012/10/12: CJR: TNR causes trouble for coal baron -- Exposé on pressuring employees to make campaign contributions stirs inquiry
• 2012/10/10: PSinclair: Extremes Driving Voter Shift on Climate
• 2012/10/10: TP:JR: [EPI] Report: 'The Greener The Industry, The Higher The Job Growth Rate Over The Last Decade'
• 2012/10/09: BBerg: Cuomo's Fracking Dilemma Poses Political Risk Beyond New York
  New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is caught between gas-rich Marcellus shale and a hard place. On one side are the thousands of jobs that might be created if New York approves hydraulic fracturing for natural gas. On the other are fellow Democrats and a coalition of celebrities including Lady Gaga who say that forcing millions of gallons of chemically treated water into the underground rock will damage the environment. How Cuomo extricates himself from the dilemma may affect his political career beyond the state. The governor, 54, must issue fracking regulations by Nov. 29 or risk having the issue sent back for a two-month public- comment period, further delaying a decision that has already taken the state more than four years. Should Cuomo decide to run for president in 2016, a permanent ban on gas drilling may hurt his chances in states such as Ohio and Pennsylvania, where fracking has been a boon to the economy.
• 2012/10/08: P3: The Opposite of Progress
• 2012/10/08: Grist: Could Washington state elect the greenest governor in the nation?
• 2012/10/08: JQuiggin: Republican conspiracy theory update
• 2012/10/08: FP: Climate Deniers -- When the economy is suffering, no one wants to hear about an impending environmental catastrophe
  

  The BP disaster continues to twist US politics:

• 2012/10/12: EneNews: Washington Post: Persistent rumors on 'blogs' that BP's oil continues to spew into Gulf - FSU Expert: May be freshly released from Macondo reservoir
• 2012/10/11: TreeHugger: Oil Sheen in Gulf of Mexico Probably Coming From BP Spill Site
• 2012/10/11: EneNews: *Confirmed* Gov't: Oil reported in Gulf matches BP's Macondo Well
• 2012/10/11: GreenGrok: The [BP] oil spill that keeps on surfacing
• 2012/10/11: RawStory: Coast Guard warns of fresh oil sheen from Deepwater Horizon
• 2012/10/09: Bellona: Post Hurrican Isaac oil washing up on Gulf of Mexico shores tied to BP Deepwater Horizon blowout
• 2012/10/10: EneNews: "Second Coming of Macondo Oil": Beach closures still in effect since Isaac - Orange-yellow sand - Expert says this is 'new normal' for Gulf
  

  So, do you want the etch-a-sketch vulture capitalist or the hopey-changey kill-list guy?

• 2012/10/12: CDreams: Five Simple Realities Missing from the Campaign
• 2012/10/12: AntiWar: Don't Ask and Don't Tell -- Six Critical Foreign Policy Questions That Won't Be Raised in the Presidential Debates
• 2012/10/14: Grist: Mitt Romney's winners and losers by Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt)
• 2012/10/12: CNN: Fact Check: Wind power, electric cars and the stimulus
• 2012/10/13: CDreams: Going Bankrupt on Planet Earth: The Debate Subject for the Ages
• 2012/10/12: Grist: Questions at VP debate reveal bankrupt Beltway thinking
• 2012/10/12: Rabble: Election USA 2012: The death of hope and change?
• 2012/10/12: FAIR: Debate Deceptions Are a Time-Tested GOP Strategy
• 2012/10/12: Grist: In VP debate, Ryan complains of 'green pork' and fact-checkers swat him down
• 2012/10/12: Wonkette: A Children's Treasury of Butthurt Reactions To Joe Biden's Debate Demeanor
• 2012/10/12: TP:JR: Joe Biden Slams Paul Ryan For His Past Support Of The Clean Energy Stimulus
• 2012/10/12: NatureNB: Florida experts call for debate on rising tides
• 2012/10/12: TP:JR: Florida Experts To Obama And Romney: Sea Level Rise 'Must Be Considered By The Next President Of The United States'
• 2012/10/11: Grist: Romney's new farm platform is all about big business
• 2012/10/11: TreeHugger: Paul Ryan vs. Joe Biden: The VP Debate Tackles "Green Pork," Oil, & Solyndra
• 2012/10/10: TreeHugger: Romney Energy Advisor [Oren Cass]: Government Has No Business Reducing CO2 Emissions from Coal
• 2012/10/10: EconView: Why Aren't Politicians Talking about Climate Change?
• 2012/10/10: DeSmogBlog: Heritage Foundation Distributes List Of Fallacies Regarding Obama's Energy Policies
• 2012/10/10: Guardian(UK): Mitt Romney flips then flops on support for abortion legislation
• 2012/10/07: HuffPo: Bill Nye: Paul Broun 'Unqualified To Make Decisions About Science, Space, And Technology'
• 2012/10/10: TP:JR: The Sounds Of Climate Silence: Mitt Mocks Carbon-Fueled Drought, Obama Calls It A Distant Threat
• 2012/10/05: TruthOut: Noam Chomsky: Issues That Obama and Romney Avoid
• 2012/10/07: CCurrents: Issues That Obama And Romney Avoid by Noam Chomsky
• 2012/10/09: FAIR: Factchecking Impossible, Pointless, Say Factcheckers
• 2012/10/09: DeSmogBlog: Are Coal Mine Employees Forced To Support Romney?
• 2012/10/09: TP:JR: Things Reporters Can't Say: Mitt Romney Is Lying About The Environmental Protection Agency
• 2012/10/08: TheHill:e2W: Obama surrogate opens, closes door to carbon tax
  An Obama campaign representative speculated Friday that the White House would consider a carbon emissions tax if Republicans were interested in negotiating -- a political circumstance the surrogate cast as highly unlikely. "So whether or not [President Obama] would actually consider it, I think is actually a more important question for whether or not the other side of the political aisle would consider it," said Joseph Aldy during a debate on energy between campaign representatives at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on Friday night. Aldy, a White House energy aide in 2009 and 2010, bashed Republican "intransigence" on climate change proposals during the debate with Oren Cass, who is Mitt Romney's domestic policy adviser. He noted that Republicans opposed cap-and-trade, and after that bill died, opposed Obama's proposal for a nationwide "clean energy standard" to require major increases in low-emissions power generation.
• 2012/10/08: SciAm:PI: Don't forget the "global" in global climate change
• 2012/10/09: PSinclair: While Romney and Tea Party Ramp up Hate for Renewables - Germany Blasts Ahead with Lower Costs and Surprising Benefits
• 2012/10/08: PSinclair: Climate Issue Refuses to be Ignored
• 2012/10/08: TP:JR: Mitt Romney Has Indeed Become The Etch-A-Sketch Candidate
• 2012/10/05: AlterNet: Noam Chomsky: The Fate of Humanity Is at Stake -- Why Are Romney and Obama Too Cowardly to Talk About What Really Matters?
  

  Gas Prices are up. down, up. down:

• 2012/10/10: BBerg: California Gasoline Falls From Record as Refiners Switch Fuel
• 2012/10/07: CER:RRapier: Understanding California's Gasoline Prices
• 2012/10/09: CSM: Why do gas prices vary state to state? It's not just taxes.
• 2012/10/07: EconBrowser: California gas price spike
• 2012/10/08: CSM: California moves to ease sky-high gas prices. How soon will they fall?
• 2012/10/07: Guardian(UK): California gas prices reach all-time high following drop in supply
  

  The Keystone XL saga bumps along:

• 2012/10/13: CCP: TransCanada Tramples Free Press, Police Detain New York Times Reporter, Photographer on Private Property
• 2012/10/12: ICN: NYT Reporters Detained Covering Keystone XL Protests in East Texas
• 2012/10/11: HuffPo: Keystone XL Protests: New York Times Reporter Detained While Covering Texas Pipeline Opposition
• 2012/10/12: CBC: TransCanada reproached by NEB over pipeline compliance
  A complaint by a former TransCanada Pipelines employee has prompted the National Energy Board to warn the company that its pipeline inspection practices aren't up to snuff. The federal energy industry regulator has told the Calgary-based company in a letter, which has been posted on the NEB website, that it will not put up with further infractions of regulations related to welding inspections, the training of pipeline inspectors and internal engineering standards. The company is a subsidiary of TransCanada Corp., which is proposing to build the controversial $12-billion Keystone XL pipeline to transport 830,000 barrels a day of mostly Alberta oilsands crude to refineries on the U.S. Gulf Coast.
• 2012/10/09: G&M: Video: Pipeline protesters tell Enbridge to 'go away'
• 2012/10/09: DemNow: As Texas Pipeline Blockade Continues, Activists Challenge First U.S. Tar Sands Strip Mine in Utah
• 2012/10/08: ICN: Why Susan Scott Buried TransCanada's Money on Her Family Farm
• 2012/10/07: TP:JR: Keystone Kops: During Pipeline Protest, Texas Woman Arrested For Trespassing — On Her Own Property!
  

  The NorthWest coal export debate remains heated:

• 2012/10/11: DeSmogBlog: White House Holds Meeting to Address Coal Export Terminals
• 2012/10/12: EENews: Combatants start 'huge, multidimensional chess game' over Northwest exports
• 2012/10/08: Grist: Plans to ship coal to China face a hurdle: The West Coast
  

  There's a date set for the Ethanol Mandate?

• 2012/10/12: DetroitNews: EPA nears ethanol decision -- Rule waiver pits livestock, corn farmers
  

  The Obama chatter is nonstop:

• 2012/10/09: CSW: "Obama and the Politics of Climate Science Communication"
• 2012/10/08: TreeHugger: Obama Says There's No Green "Socialist Plot," Further Convinces the Right That There Is
  

  The actions of the Obama administration are being watched closely:

• 2012/10/14: CSM: Renewable energy: US takes new tack with 'solar energy zones'
• 2012/10/13: LA Times: Federal plan designed to create large solar energy plants
  Incentives to cluster projects on 285,000 acres of U.S. land in the West will be offered and an additional 19 million acres of the Mojave Desert opened for new facilities.
• 2012/10/12: TP:JR: New Solar Energy Program Signals A Paradigm Shift In Our Approach To Energy Development On Public Lands
• 2012/10/11: NYT: U.S. Struggles to Rescue Green Program Hit by Fraud
  A Maryland man is awaiting sentencing for what may seem an unusual crime: selling bogus renewable energy credits ...
  [...]
  Under the E.P.A. program, initiated in 2009, a producer who makes diesel fuel from vegetable oils and animal fats receives renewable energy credits for every gallon manufactured. The producer can then resell the credits to refiners, who pay millions of dollars for them under a government mandate to support a minimum level of production. The credits can also be resold, a commonplace activity in the arena of corporate compliance with federal environmental rules. The problem is that at least three companies were selling bogus credits without producing any biodiesel at all, the E.P.A. has said in announcements over the last year. Agency officials declined to comment for this article.
• 2012/10/11: TP:JR: Dept. Of Commerce Slaps Tariffs On Chinese Solar Cells: Will It Impact China's Domestic 'Solar Shakeout?'
• 2012/10/10: USGS: Secretary Announces Climate Science Funding
• 2012/10/12: BPA: Dr. Chu's Remarks About Biofuels at Biomass 2012
• 2012/10/10: TP:JR: Interior Dept: 10,000 Megawatts Of Renewable Energy Have Been Authorized On Public Lands
• 2012/10/09: BWeek: Salazar approves massive Wyoming wind farm project
  Interior Secretary Ken Salazar on Tuesday authorized what he described as potentially the largest wind energy project in the United States, if not the world: A Wyoming wind farm with up to 1,000 turbines that would provide electricity to some 1 million homes.
• 2012/10/07: WaPo: U.S. runs out of funds to battle wildfires
  In the worst wildfire season on record, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service ran out of money to pay for firefighters, fire trucks and aircraft that dump retardant on monstrous flames. So officials did about the only thing they could: take money from other forest management programs. But many of the programs were aimed at preventing giant fires in the first place, and raiding their budgets meant putting off the removal of dried brush and dead wood over vast stretches of land — the things that fuel eye-popping blazes, threatening property and lives.
• 2012/10/10: TreeHugger: 10,000 MW of Renewable Energy on Public Lands Has Been Approved by Obama Administration
• 2012/10/08: DD: U.S. runs out of firefighting funds during worst wildfire season on record
• 2012/10/08: TP:JR: The Brainless Frog, Episode 98: Out of Funds To Fight Wildfires, U.S. Shifts Money From Fire Prevention Programs
  

  As for what is going on in Congress:

• 2012/10/10: TP:JR: Republican Congressman Falsely Claims That 'Almost All' Clean Energy Companies Go Bankrupt
• 2012/10/10: TP:JR: Documenting Votes From 'The Most Anti-Clean Energy, Do-Nothing, Pro-Pollution Congress In History'
• 2012/10/09: TP:JR: GOP Rep. [Steve Pearce (R-NM)] Promises To 'Reverse This Trend Of Public Ownership Of Lands'
• 2012/10/09: TreeHugger: The GOP-Controlled House Has Voted 223 Times Against Clean Energy & For Oil
• 2012/10/08: AGupta: Our Scientific Congressmen - 3
• 2012/10/07: NBF: National Ignition Facility Funding is at Risk
• 2012/10/07: RBroberg: Rep Broun (GA-R): Lies Straight From the Pit of Hell
  

  While in the UK:

• 2012/10/12: TreeHugger: Queen's Crown Estate Identifies 180GW of Potential Marine Power
• 2012/10/12: BBC: Npower has joined rival British Gas in announcing it is increasing gas and electricity prices in the UK
• 2012/10/12: AutoBG: UK government joining the club to rethink EV incentives
• 2012/10/10: Guardian(UK): Alex Salmond hits back at critics of Scotland's energy policies
  Scotland first minister says there is no contradiction between pursuing renewable targets and exploiting oil and gas reserves
• 2012/10/10: OilChange: Tories "Dismantle" EU Offshore Safety Rules
• 2012/10/10: BBC: [Scotland's] Alex Salmond launches £103m renewable energy fund
  First Minister Alex Salmond has launched a £103m fund for Scottish renewable energy projects. The Renewable Energy Investment Fund (REIF) aims to attract more private investment to the sector. Its priorities include wave and tidal energy, and renewable district heating.
• 2012/10/09: Guardian(UK): Scotland's North Sea energy policies 'irreconcilable with green government'
• 2012/10/09: EurActiv: UK Tories warned by EU against stifling green agenda
  Brussels has placed itself on a collision course with Britain's ruling Conservative party by issuing a blunt warning on the dangers of stifling the green agenda.
• 2012/10/09: OilChange: UK Government Goes Fracking Mad
• 2012/10/09: BizGreen: Paterson challenges 'inappropriate' rural renewables
  New Environment Secretary also reveals plans to make it 'easy' for shale gas developers to clear permitting hurdles Environment secretary Owen Paterson has today taken a swipe at onshore wind energy and promised to make it "easy" for shale gas developers to get permits. Addressing the Conservative Party conference this morning, Paterson failed to make any mention of climate change, further fuelling fears his stance on green issues is less than sympathetic.
• 2012/10/08: Guardian(UK): Raise the price of producing carbon dioxide, says Lib Dem minister
  Ed Davey, the climate change minister, calls for 30% EU carbon reduction target by 2020, far tougher than the existing 20%
• 2012/10/08: BizGreen: Green energy giants join calls for Osborne to drive green growth
• 2012/10/08: BBC: Carbon emissions target urged by business leaders
  Ministers must set a specific target for restricting carbon emissions from power generation, businesses have said. The plea is made in an open letter to Chancellor George Osborne signed by 50 businesses and organisations. They want a target for how emissions should be curbed by 2030, arguing that a failure to show commitment to reducing carbon emissions may harm the economy and their commercial prospects.
• 2012/10/08: LoE: Greenest government ever - FAIL
  

  And in Europe:

• 2012/10/12: EurActiv: Oettinger tells Volkswagen he relaxed new CO2 targets
  EU Energy Commissioner Günther Oettinger has written to Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn, reassuring him that proposed EU regulations to cut vehicle CO2 emissions will not harm the German automobile giant because of relaxed rules for "supercredits". EurActiv reveals the content of the leaked letter.
• 2012/10/12: BBerg: Merkel Curbs Renewables to Limit Voter Anger on Power Bills
  German Chancellor Angela Merkel's decision to cap taxpayer subsidies for renewable energy is aimed at limiting the political fallout among voters from a surge in electricity bills due next week. With the grid operators planning to announce an increase in the surcharge consumers pay for clean energy on Oct. 15, the government said it will extend caps on subsides for solar energy to more technologies including wind and biomass. The plan is designed to contain the rising costs of scrapping nuclear power.
• 2012/10/11: Guardian(UK): Norway to double carbon tax on oil industry
  Extra funding for climate change mitigation and forestry programmes also part of oil-rich nation's radical programme
• 2012/10/11: Guardian(UK): British Gas set to raise gas and electricity prices
• 2012/10/11: UN: European Union pledges increased support for UN efforts to slash world hunger
• 2012/10/10: DeSmogBlog: Shale Gas Industry Brings PSYOPs and Spy Ops to Poland
• 2012/10/10: DerSpiegel: Merkel's Blackout -- German Energy Plan Plagued by Lack of Progress
• 2012/10/10: EurActiv: Lawmakers turn down EU Arctic drilling moratorium
• 2012/10/10: BBC: Ireland 'close to oil billions'
• 2012/10/10: BBC: Northern Ireland green energy licences granted
  Licences have been granted for three renewable energy projects off the coast of Northern Ireland. The Crown Estate has signed deals with First Flight Wind Ltd, Tidal Ventures and DP Marine Energy Ltd of Ireland, and DEME, of Belgium. The deals will see the creation of a 600MW wind farm off Ardglass, County Down, and two 100MW tidal turbines off Fair Head and Torr Head, County Antrim. Work on the projects is expected to start from 2016.
• 2012/10/08: BBC: Climate change: EU rebrands green energy campaign [as Worldulike]
• 2012/10/08: EurActiv: No new EU climate targets until 2015 at earliest
  No new carbon dioxide emissions reductions targets for 2030 will be announced until after the next EU parliamentary elections in 2014, the EU's top climate civil servant has said.
• 2012/10/08: EUO: Sea of subsidies
• 2012/10/08: Reuters: Norway to nudge up oil money spending, hike carbon tax
  The Norwegian government plans to spend more of its oil revenues in 2013 than it has earmarked for this year, when it expects the economy to grow faster than earlier thought, a budget draft showed on Monday. It also plans to nearly double its carbon taxes on the oil industry in 2013 and raise cash to help developing nations protect tropical forests as part of measures to combat climate change, the draft showed. High oil prices and low interest rates have fuelled a boom in Norway, the world's eighth-largest oil exporter and a star European economic performer. Investment in its oil sector is expected to jump in coming years thanks to new oil discoveries off the country's long coastline. Norway has no national debt, and its oil wealth allows it to run structural budget deficits and still use only a fraction of its oil revenue for budget purposes.
• 
  

  Meanwhile in Australia:

   

• 2012/10/14: PlanetJ: A terrible week for the climate
• 2012/10/14: ABC(Au): Coal companies to cut jobs due to royalty increase
  An industry survey shows Queensland's top coal producers all plan to cut jobs and costs in response to the recently announced increase in State Government royalties. The Queensland Resources Council conducted the survey of the state's coal company chief executives.
• 2012/10/13: ABC(Au): Cubbie sold, with conditions, to China-led bid
  The sale of Australia's largest irrigation property to a Chinese-led consortium now looks all but certain. Cubbie Station's administrators have signed a formal agreement to sell the vast property, and its extensive water rights, to the consortium led by the Shandong Ruyi Group. Since Australia's Foreign Investment Review Board approved the sale at the end of August, there's been a fierce debate about whether or not the sale is in the national interest.
• 2012/10/13: ABC(Au): Martu people sign historic uranium agreement in The Pilbara
• 2012/10/13: ABC(Au): Cubbie Station deal is done
  A Chinese-controlled consortium now owns Australia's largest cotton farm. Textile-manufacturer Shandong RuYi and Lempriere signed the sale agreement on Friday. However, the price has not been revealed.
• 2012/10/11: ABC(Au): Call for solar projects funding review
  The Berri Barmera council is calling on the Federal Government to provide more funding for solar energy projects in South Australia. Council CEO David Beaton says the state is at a disadvantage under the current funding model because it does not produce as much carbon as other states.
• 2012/10/12: ABC(Au): Report rejects crop insurance for Australian farmers
  A National Rural Advisory Council report has found that North American-style crop insurance just isn't a viable option for Australian farmers.
• 2012/10/12: ABC(Au): Analysts warn more coal mining jobs will go in Queensland
  As Queensland's coal mining sector battles falling commodity prices, rising costs and the high Australian dollar, it's shedding thousands of jobs. One central Queensland mine closed this week and in the past few months other major companies have flagged hundreds more jobs losses. Analysts are warning to expect more of the same.
• 2012/10/11: ABC(Au): Minister 'brain-washed' on gas industry
  A Hunter Valley vigneron says New South Wales Resources Minister Chris Hartcher's call to ramp up coal seam gas production across the State undermines the Government's recently released regional land use policy.
  [...]
  But the Hunter Valley Protection Alliance's Graeme Gibson says the comments do not make sense. "Minister Hartcher's basically living in a fantasy land," he said. "He doesn't really know the dangers of coal seam and methane gas exploration and extraction. "I think he's relying on his own bureaucrats and he's relying on the coal seam-methane gas industry itself."
• 2012/10/11: PeakEnergy: The Empire Strikes Back - Gross Feed In Tariffs
• 2012/10/10: ABC(Au): Fears Queensland's gas export boom threatens carbon emissions
  Analysts say central Queensland's developing gas export industry could increase Australia's carbon emissions. It is estimated Gladstone's liquefied natural gas plants will produce more than 30 million tonnes of gas per year for export within the decade.
• 2012/10/10: PeakEnergy: RIP Alan Jones?
• 2012/10/10: ABC(Au): Burke approves new Abbot Point coal terminal
  Federal Environment Minister Tony Burke has approved a proposed new coal terminal at the Abbot Point port in north Queensland. Mr Burke says the joint GVK-Hancock Coal project will be subject to 60 strict conditions.
• 2012/10/09: ABC(Au): Giant solar farm to officially open
  The doors to Australia's largest solar power farm, located in Mid-West Western Australia, will officially open this week. All 150,000 of the farm's solar panels have been installed at the site in Greenough, south of Geraldton. The site's developers, Verve Energy and GE Solar, say the 10-megawatt project will supply clean energy for 25 years.
• 2012/10/08: WtD: Merchants of hate: the right wing popularism of Alan Jones versus "decent Australia"
• 2012/10/08: ABC(Au): Green light for salmon farm expansion
  The Federal Government has given the go ahead to the multi million dollar expansion of fish farming on the West Coast of Tasmania.
• 2012/10/08: ABC(Au): Abbott holds firm on wheat deregulation
  

  The carbon bill is law. The Aus-EU ETS is codified. Now come the practicalities...and the finagling:

• 2012/10/12: PlanetJ: Reflections on carbon price amendments
• 2012/10/12: ABC(Au): Outback carbon farming venture faces shake-up
  An ambitious $13 million "learning by doing" carbon trading venture at a former cattle station in the Northern Territory is going back to school. RM Williams Agricultural Holdings says it is going to completely restructure its carbon conservation project model at the 5,000 square kilometre Henbury Station in central Australia.
• 2012/10/10: ABC(Au): Carbon tax debate blamed for renewable blow
  The wind energy industry has blamed uncertainty before the carbon tax's introduction for the collapse of a leading wind tower manufacturer. RPG Group is in administration and half of its 310 staff in South Australia and Queensland have lost their jobs. But others argue the industry has been built on false hope.
• 2012/10/10: ABC(Au): Abbott 'caught out' on use of pensioner's power bill
  

  Regarding Julia's majority:

• 2012/10/11: ABC(Au): Slipper votes with Labor to ditch carbon floor price
  Peter Slipper has sided with Labor to pass legislation removing the floor price from the carbon tax and linking Australia's emissions trading scheme to that operating in the European Union. Mr Slipper's decision to vote with the Government on the legislation is his first major indication since stepping down from the Speaker's role on Tuesday that he will not be tied to the policies of his former party - even on issues of carbon pricing.
• 2012/10/11: ABC(Au): Coalition accused of 'double standards' over Thomson letter
  Julia Gillard has accused the Opposition of double standards following revelations a senior Liberal senator sought out the "tainted vote" of crossbench MP Craig Thomson. Shadow assistant treasurer Mathias Cormann wrote to Mr Thomson on Tuesday, suggesting the Coalition's amendments to superannuation legislation were "worthy of your support". "If you would like to discuss the amendments feel free to give me a call," Senator Cormann wrote. Mr Thomson sits on the crossbench because his membership of the Labor Party was suspended in the wake of the investigation into the Health Services Union. Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has repeatedly insisted that Mr Thomson's vote is "tainted" by the Health Services Union scandal, and the Coalition will not accept his support.
• 2012/10/11: Guardian(UK): In praise of ... Julia Gillard -- Australia's prime minister has put up with too much nonsense for too long from her Liberal opponent
• 2012/10/10: NakedCapitalism: Can We Get Australian PM Julia Gillard to Give Debate Lessons in America?
• 2012/10/10: ABC(Au):TDU: Gone is the turned cheek: Gillard as we've rarely seen her
• 2012/10/12: Guardian(UK): Julia Gillard's attack on sexism hailed as turning point for Australian women
• 2012/10/10: al Jazeera: Australia PM calls opposition leader 'sexist'
  Julia Gillard's parliamentary tirade against Tony Abbott for "misogynist" comments draws international media attention.
• 2012/10/10: WSWS: Australia: Speaker's resignation deepens Gillard government crisis
• 2012/10/10: ABC(Au): Gillard's misogyny speech wins global praise
• 2012/10/10: ABC(Au): Slipper's departure sparks slanging match over sexism
• 2012/10/10: ABC(Au): Slipper's resignation puts focus back on numbers game
  The Federal Government's manoeuvre to bolster its numbers by installing Peter Slipper as Speaker imploded dramatically last night when he quit after just 11 controversial months in the job. The former Liberal and member of the Liberal National Party will now sit on the crossbenches, while Labor's Anna Burke has been elected Speaker.
• 2012/10/09: ABC(Au): Slipper resigns as Speaker
• 2012/10/09: ABC(Au): Slipper issue dominates torrid Question Time
  Peter Slipper has narrowly survived a vote to remove him from the parliamentary Speaker's position amid a blistering and personal debate over accusations of sexism.
• 2012/10/09: ABC(Au): Coalition says texts make Slipper's position untenable
  Senior Coalition MPs have launched a coordinated attack on Peter Slipper, saying his position as parliamentary Speaker is now "untenable" and Labor should dump him. Copies of text messages sent by Mr Slipper to his stood-aside staffer James Ashby have been tendered to the Federal Court as part of a sexual harassment case. They show Mr Slipper used lurid language to describe female genitalia.
• 
  

  After years of drought and flooding, water usage planning is controversial and difficult:

   

• 2012/10/12: ABC(Au): Water authority rejects groundwater licence claims
• 2012/10/11: ABC(Au): Doubt aired over new Murray modelling
• 2012/10/11: ABC(Au): World water experts praise Australia's handling of Murray-Darling Basin
• 2012/10/12: ABC(Au): Federal Government lets its water buyback intentions be known
  For the first time the Commonwealth has announced it will be trading in the temporary water market. The Environmental Water Holder will be using the markets across the Murray-Darling Basin to balance environmental returns to the system.
• 2012/10/10: ABC(Au): SA Government backs 3200 GL return
• 2012/10/10: ABC(Au): Basin Authority wants to stick to 2,750-gigalitre target
  The Murray-Darling Basin Authority maintains that 2,750 gigalitres is the appropriate target for water to be returned to the Basin environment.
• 2012/10/10: ABC(Au): Councils unmoved over latest Murray modelling
  Northern Victorian councils say they have not been swayed by the most recent Federal Government modelling looking at increased water flows in the Murray-Darling Basin. The Government released modelling yesterday that indicated bigger than planned releases of water could substantially improve the river system's health. South Australia welcomed the report but the Victorian and New South Wales governments said they were worried about the potential for flooding.
• 2012/10/10: ABC(Au): Farmers fear Basin flooding
  Irrigators and basin communities are worried farms will flood if the Government accepts modelling to push more water down the Murray Darling system. The modelling shows the environmental impact if 3,200, and not 2,750 gigalitres were returned to the Basin if the 'capacity constraints' were removed.
• 2012/10/10: ABC(Au): Push on to boost Pilbara water supply
  The [WA] Water Minister says a number of projects are underway to help supply the Pilbara with more water.
• 2012/10/10: ABC(Au): Water sales open tomorrow for South East Irrigation project
  The government has announced the sale of 5000 megalites of additional water for the $40 million South East Irrigation project. Farmers in the region between Brighton, through the Coal valley and Sorell to Forcett now have a month to decide whether to take up the offer.
• 2012/10/09: ABC(Au): New modelling has better outcome for Murray-Darling
• 2012/10/09: ABC(Au): New Murray-Darling modelling boosts environmental yields
• 2012/10/09: ABC(Au): Mixed response to new River Murray modelling
• 2012/10/09: ABC(Au): Flow modelling released for Murray plan
  The Federal Government has released the latest round of modelling on the effects of releasing more water down the Murray. The modelling was requested by a ministerial council to assess the flow effects.
• 2012/10/08: ABC(Au): Conservationists claim Basin plan breaches Australia's obligations to protect wetlands
  The Australian Conservation Foundation says the current Murray-Darling Basin plan will breach Australia's international legal obligations to the RAMSAR convention on wetlands. Its report has been published in a legal journal, the Australian Environment Review.
• 2012/10/08: ABC(Au): End of Sustainable Irrigation program leaves a void
• 2012/10/08: ABC(Au): Murray Darling communities brace for new Basin Plan
• 2012/10/08: ABC(Au): Murray still enjoying top flows
  The Department of Environment and Water says it has been more than 10 years since South Australia has received such good spring rains and flows into the River Murray. Flows at the South Australia-Victoria border reached 49,000 megalitres a day last week.
• 2012/10/08: ABC(Au): Fears aired over Jigalong drinking water
  

  While in the Indian subcontinent:

• 2012/10/09: CCurrents: Koodankulam Solidarity Protest In New Delhi
• 2012/10/08: CCurrents: Anti-Nuclear Protestors Lay Siege To Koodankulam Nuclear Power Plant
  

  And South America:

• 2012/10/10: CSM: Will Chávez victory fulfill Nicaragua's megaproject dream?
  Last Sunday's reelection of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez could turn Nicaragua into major oil exporter before the end of the decade.
  [...]
  The so-called "Supreme Dream of Bolívar" refinery in Nicaragua would give Chávez a Pacific gateway to China...
• 2012/10/08: al Jazeera: Venezuela's Chavez revels in election victory
  Hugo Chavez wins fourth term in office, calling it a "perfect" battle and vowing to be a better president.
• 
  

  In Canada, neocon PM Harper pushes petroleum while ignoring climate change:

   

• 2012/10/09: Guardian(UK): Canada's ozone science group falls victim to government cuts
  Budget cuts to the ozone monitoring department were $13.3m this year, the 25th anniversary of the Montreal protocol
• 2012/10/08: TStar: In defence of reason by Allan Gregg
• 2012/10/07: Reuters: Canada says India slow to invest in Alberta oil sands
  Indian companies are lagging behind when it comes to investing in Canada's giant oil sands but could well start making deals within the next five years, Canadian Energy Minister Joe Oliver says. Oliver, speaking to Reuters before a visit to Delhi and Mumbai, said Canadian energy industry needs C$650 billion ($663 billion) in investment over the next decade. Ottawa concedes much of it will have to come from abroad.
• 2012/10/08: CBC: Harper rebuked officials for doing their job, documents suggest -- Decision to close water-monitoring stations in North wasn't a surprise
  

  Harper has more than one problem now dealing with Chinese corporations:

• 2012/10/11: TStar: U.S. report on Chinese telecom snooping puts Harper in a pickle
• 2012/10/11: BCLSB: Will the Opposition Stand Up for Canada?
• 2012/10/09: Greens(CA): What Has Harper Done?
• 2012/10/11: Tyee: Chairman Harper and the Chinese Sell-Out
  Who needs democracy? Secret treaty is a massive giveaway of Canadian resources and rights with no vote in Parliament.
• 2012/10/11: BuckDog: Attention Premier Brad Wall: Former Nortel exec warns against working with Huawei
• 2012/10/11: CBC: Former Nortel exec warns against working with Huawei
  Brian Shields, former Nortel security adviser, alleges Huawei hacked company for 10 years
• 2012/10/10: Tyee: Canada's Prized Customer China May Prove a Mirage
  China's energy imports are slowing and some experts see cracks in its economy. Should Canada be selling so hard?
• 2012/10/12: PostMedia: Canada should heed warnings of 'cyber Pearl Harbor,' security experts say
• 2012/10/09: CBC: Canada 'at risk' from Chinese firm, U.S. warns
  Head of U.S. committee says ordinary Canadians should be worried about Huawei
• 
  

  The CNOOC bid for Nexen has been approved by the shareholders. Now the ball is in Harper's court:

   

• 2012/10/11: CBC: Nexen takeover review extended by 1 month
  State-owned Chinese oil firm CNOOC's $15-billion bid needs government approval
• 2012/10/10: PostMedia: B.C. Liberals take aim at Enbridge at Northern Gateway hearing
• 2012/10/09: iPolitics: China syndrome: is sinophobia driving dread of Nexen takeover?
  

  The battle over the Northern Gateway pipeline rages on:

• 2012/10/12: PostMedia: Enbridge hammered with record -- Environmentalists demand guarantees Gateway pipeline will be built safely
  The company proposing to build the Northern Gateway pipeline to British Columbia's pristine coast was hammered with its own record Thursday by a lawyer for environmentalists who wanted to know how the company can be trusted even to conduct the building phase without environmental damage.
• 2012/10/12: BCLSB: Northern Gateway: Not Going That Way
• 2012/10/11: DeSmogBlog: Foreign Funding? So Glad You Asked: Enbridge Renews Attack Against Canadian Environmental Groups
• 2012/10/10: PostMedia: Enbridge oil leak effectiveness can't be known until pipeline is built, lawyer tells hearing
  According to U.S. data, there were 31 leaks from Enbridge pipelines in that country since 2002, and six of the 10 largest spills by volume in that time were from Enbridge pipelines. The ability to detect leaks along the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline won't be known until the pipeline is built and pumping oil through the remote wilderness of northern British Columbia, a lawyer for the province noted at a hearing deciding the pipeline's fate. Chris Jones grilled a panel of company experts on the design of the 1,100-kilometre pipeline that would deliver oil from the Alberta oilsands to a tanker port on the B.C. coast.
• 2012/10/10: WCEL: Regulating raw bitumen exports: an extremist notion or Conservative election promise?
• 2012/10/10: CBC: B.C. focuses on Northern Gateway spill response
• 2012/10/13: Guardian(PE): Former Suncor CEO says B.C. pipelines a matter of Canadian sovereignty
• 2012/10/12: TheCanadian: Enbridge's Pipeline Plans Keep Changing, Critics Charge
• 2012/10/08: TreeHugger: Is the Northern Gateway Tar Sands Pipeline a Dead Deal?
• 2012/10/08: PostMedia: Energy advocate doubts Enbridge's ability to get Northern Gateway pipeline built
  Former B.C. energy minister Richard Neufeld says company 'has left sour taste' in the mouths of many One of Canada's most outspoken champions of the oil and gas industry has doubts whether Enbridge will ever build a pipeline to the B.C. coast - even if the $6-billion project gets federal approval. Former B.C. energy minister Richard Neufeld, now a Conservative senator, said he strongly supports the construction of pipelines to the B.C. coast so Canada can ship Alberta's diluted bitumen crude to booming Asian markets. But he said Enbridge has so badly mismanaged the $6-billion project that he questions whether the Calgary company has the public credibility to proceed with the megaproject even if the National Energy Board approves the application next year.
• 2012/10/09: WpgFP: Environmental assessment hearings on Northern Gateway pipeline return to B.C.
  The environmental assessment panel examining the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline returns to British Columbia on Tuesday, for final hearings that will put the project's environmental impact and emergency planning under a microscope. The hearings slated to begin in Prince George will see the proponent, Enbridge Northern Gateway (TSX:ENB), scientists and project critics questioned under oath about the evidence they've submitted to the panel.
• 2012/10/09: WpgFP: Nobel Prize winner arrives in Fort McMurray before touring pipeline route
  A woman who won a Nobel Peace Prize for her work to ban landmines is leading a delegation of women on a trip from the oilsands in northern Alberta to the coast of B.C. to get a female perspective on energy and pipeline development. Jody Williams, who shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997 with the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, will begin a week-long series of meetings along the proposed Northern Gateway Pipeline route on Tuesday in Fort McMurray.
• 2012/10/08: TheCanadian: Rafe Responds to BC Environment Minister's Enbridge Op-ed
  

  And the Kinder Morgan expansion:

• 2012/10/11: TheCanadian: Packed Burnaby Hall Hears About Risks from Kinder Morgan's Proposed Vancouver Oil Pipeline, Tanker Expansion
  

  Woodworth is not relenting:

• 2012/10/09: TStar: Conservative anti-abortion MP has new ultrasound plan
  

  About that energy policy:

• 2012/10/09: iPolitics: We need a "Made in Canada" energy policy [not a "made in the USA" energy policy]
• 2012/10/09: Rabble:DS: An energy plan must be about more than just energy
  

  The ISA/PRV/IHN/Alpha virus in Canadian waters is potentially disastrous:

• 2012/10/10: AlexandraMorton: Nova Scotia - Day 1
• 2012/10/12: WCEL: Lessons from a fish farm defamation lawsuit
• 2012/10/12: TheCanadian: Rafe Mair's Landmark Free Speech Case Credited in Salmon Activist Staniford's Victory
  

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

• 2012/10/10: PostMedia: B.C. Liberals take aim at Enbridge at Northern Gateway hearing
  The B.C. government hardened its stance in the debate over the controversial Northern Gateway Pipeline on Wednesday, using a late-afternoon news release to fire a direct shot at Enbridge. "The responses from Enbridge/Northern Gateway to cross-examination by our legal counsel are too often incomplete and lacking in commitment," said the statement from Environment Minister Terry Lake after a day of pipeline hearings in Prince George. "Their answers suggest that the company is not taking the very real concerns of British Columbians seriously."
• 2012/10/11: PostMedia: B.C. Conservative leader John Cummins: "I will be leading the party into the next election"
• 2012/10/09: Tyee: Big Oil and Gas Pumps Money to Christy Clark -- BC's premier criticized Alberta publicly while fundraising oil money there in private
• 2012/10/10: Tyee: NDP Sets Fire to Libs' Forest Industry Fix -- BC government's new action plan blasted by opposition as 'business as usual'
• 2012/10/12: TStar: B.C.'s low-wage migrant coal mining jobs send us back to the future
• 2012/10/12: WCEL: Upholding the Law, Protecting the Land, Sharing the Wealth
• 2012/10/10: CBC: Logging of old-growth forest mulled by B.C. government
  Logging would take place only in areas devastated by pine beetle, minister says The B.C. government will examine the contentious possibility of opening old-growth forests to logging in parts of the province hardest hit by plummeting timber supplies.
• It's an idea that both proponents and opponents say would require chopping protective measures that took years to create.
• 2012/10/09: PostMedia: Chinese nationals brought in to fill B.C. coal miner shortage
  The first of a group of 200 temporary Chinese workers approved by the federal government will start arriving in B.C. in coming weeks to work in the burgeoning northeast coal industry, a mine project spokeswoman confirmed Tuesday. In total, anywhere from 1,600 to just under 2,000 Chinese nationals could find full-time work in four projects being proposed in coming years for the region, due to the shortage of underground mining skills in Canada, according to industry officials.
• 2012/10/07: CBC: B.C.'s Cowichan River in danger of drying up -- Record-breaking drought threatens salmon runs
  

  Meanwhile in that Mechanical Mordor known as the tar sands:

• 2012/10/11: G&M: Majority [of Canadians] back oil sands development if environmental impact limited: poll
• 2012/10/13: WpgFP: No special regulations prevent moving crude by rail: briefing note to Harper
• 2012/10/13: TStar: Quebec 'Non' looms over west-to-east pipeline gambit
• 2012/10/08: G&M: [Suncor funded] Study finds little environmental impact from oil sands
• 2012/10/08: DeSmogBlog: Oil On the Tracks: How Rail Is Quietly Picking Up the Pipelines' Slack
  

  Also in Alberta:

• 2012/10/12: CBC: TransCanada reproached by NEB over pipeline compliance
  

  While in Saskatchewan:

• 2012/10/10: BuckDog: Closing Potash Tax Loopholes
  

  And in Ontario:

• 2012/10/10: TStar: Oakville gas plant cancellation costs ballooning, says analyst
• 2012/10/12: G&M: Gas plants: The sticky issue that won't go away for McGuinty
• 2012/10/10: CBC: Misinformation, stigma plague emergency contraception in Hamilton
  

  In the Maritimes:

• 2012/10/11: CBC: ExxonMobil to pay $150 million to resolve Hebron dispute
• 2012/10/13: CBC: Bluefin tuna could be added to species at risk list -- P.E.I. tuna fishermen keeping close eye on public consultation by D.F.O.
• 2012/10/08: CBC: Shale gas report by health officer may remain secret -- Dr. Eilish Cleary looked at potential health impacts of the shale gas industry
  The Alward government will not say whether it will release a report by the province's chief medical officer of health on the potential health impacts of the shale gas industry. Dr. Eilish Cleary spent part of the summer drafting recommendations for the provincial government on possible shale gas development in New Brunswick.
• 
  

  In the North:

   

• 2012/10/11: CBC: Company withdraws request for fracking in Yukon -- Yukoners want public debate on whether practice should be allowed in territory
  An Alberta-based gas company has withdrawn its proposal for fracking at its Eagle Plains, Yukon, exploration site. Northern Cross did so after the Yukon Environmental and Socio-economic Assessment Board requested more information on the subject. The assessment board received hundreds of comments from Yukoners concerned about hydraulic fracture stimulation.
• 
  

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

   

• 2012/10/11: al Jazeera: Financing a greener future
  We have built an economy that does not reliably value or conserve the natural capital on which it depends, writes [Jim] Leape.
• 2012/10/08: EnergyBulletin: A true economics
  [Book Excerpt] _The Possibility of Progress_ by Mark Braund
• 2012/10/12: EnergyBulletin: Heroic endeavor: The seed farm
• 2012/10/12: EnergyBulletin: Res Communes - the rise of citizen-led, fair-market alternatives to capitalism
• 2012/10/09: Rabble:DS: An energy plan must be about more than just energy
• 2012/10/08: EnergyBulletin: A practical proposal to erase externalities
  

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

• 2012/10/13: ABC(Au): Court overturns ban on rape victim's abortion
  Argentina's Supreme Court has ruled that a woman who says she was kidnapped, forced into prostitution and raped can end her pregnancy. The case has led to days of protests and revived the debate on abortion in Argentina, a predominately Roman Catholic country where abortion is illegal except in rape cases or to protect a woman's health.
• 2012/10/10: CBC: Misinformation, stigma plague emergency contraception in Hamilton
  [...]
  The Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada (SOGC) said that more than half of Canadian women are unfamiliar with emergency birth control. To encourage greater awareness about emergency contraception--sometimes known as the "morning after pill"-- the SOGC made a public appeal on World Conception Day (Sept. 26) to dispel some of the myths and misinformation surrounding its use and accessibility.
• 
  

  How do the media measure up?

   

• 2012/10/11: P3: Climate Desk: Major Effort in Climate Journalism
• 2012/10/11: FAIR: Washington Post Greens Fracking
• 2012/10/09: CJR: The value of skepticism -- Why science reporters should question research
• 2012/10/11: CJR: Jackpot lost -- Is a $75K prize or better training more likely to improve environmental coverage?
• 2012/10/09: TreeHugger: Climate Skeptics Given Much More Space by US Newspapers Than Foreign Press
• 2012/10/09: FAIR: Factchecking Impossible, Pointless, Say Factcheckers
• 2012/10/08: MediaMatters: Fair And Balanced? Fox News' Hour-Long Attack On Obama's "Green Agenda"
• 2012/10/09: TP:JR: Things Reporters Can't Say: Mitt Romney Is Lying About The Environmental Protection Agency
• 2012/10/09: TreeHugger: Bloomberg Becomes First News Organization to Get WindMade Certification
• 2012/10/07: NakedCapitalism: New York Times Story Bizarrely Downplays Impact of Ocean Acidification
  

  While activists search for effective communication techniques:

• 2012/10/13: TP:JR: Brilliant Headline: 'Obscure Expert Joins Little Known Think Tank To Battle Issues Most Prefer To Ignore'
  

  And for your film & video enjoyment:

• 2012/10/13: PSinclair: The Weekend Wonk: Mike MacCracken Interview
• 2012/10/11: PSinclair: The Cost of Coal
• 2012/10/11: PSinclair: The National Academy: Everyman's Evidence for Climate Change
• 2012/10/11: CassandrasLegacy: Colin Campbell on Peak Oil
• 2012/10/10: GlobalCCSInstitute: [Videos] The Global Status of CCS: 2012
• 2012/10/10: CCP: Bill McKibben politely demolishes weak denier fallacies on Bill Maher
• 2012/10/10: GLaden: Global Warming Kills People
• 2012/10/09: RealClimate: Climate Change videos: Part I
• 2012/10/09: WtD: Smackdown: Bill McKibbon versus GOP denier
• 2012/10/07: CSW: Chasing Ice
  

  As for podcasts:

• 2012/10/13: CBC:Q&Q: Greenland's Clearwater Revival
  

  Meanwhile among the 'Sue the Bastards!' contingent:

• 2012/10/11: CNN: Farmers sue oil giant Shell over Niger Delta pollution
  The case was brought by four Nigerian farmers and the Dutch Friends of the Earth - They want compensation for damage caused by oil spills and a proper cleanup - Shell says it is "committed to cleaning up all spills from its facilities" - The oil giant blames pipeline thieves and saboteurs for causing oil spills
• 2012/10/11: BBC: Nigeria oil spills: Dutch case against Shell begins
  Representatives of Anglo-Dutch oil giant Shell are appearing in a Dutch court to face charges of polluting Nigerian villages. The case is being brought by four Nigerian farmers and the Dutch branch of campaigners Friends of the Earth. It is the first time a Dutch multinational has been taken to a civil court in the Netherlands in connection with damage caused abroad.
• 2012/10/11: CBC: Nigerian farmers sue Shell in Dutch court over oil cleanup -- Landmark case against overseas oil giant could set precedent
  Nigerian farmers began a landmark compensation case against Shell in a Dutch court Thursday, asking judges to order the oil multinational to clean up environmental damage they claim is caused by leaking pipes. The case at The Hague Civil Court marks the first time a Dutch company has been sued for alleged environmental mismanagement caused by an overseas subsidiary and could pave the way for similar claims if it succeeds.
• 2012/10/11: al Jazeera: Shell to face Dutch court over Nigeria spills
  Activists and Nigerian plaintiffs hope case will bring "an end to the corporate crimes committed by oil giants".
• 2012/10/11: Guardian(UK): Nigerian farmers sue Shell in Dutch court
• 2012/10/12: CCurrents: Shell Sued By Nigerian Farmers And Fishermen
• 2012/10/10: Grist: Seeding justice: Monsanto vs. soybean farmer case hits the Supreme Court
• 2012/10/10: TreeHugger: Chevron Appeal Against $18 Billion Ecuadorean Fine Rejected by Supreme Court
• 2012/10/10: al Jazeera: Chevron loses bid against $18bn Ecuador fine
  US Supreme Court rejects oil giant's attempts to block an $18bn judgment in a case over pollution in the Amazon jungle.
• 2012/10/09: BBC: Supreme Court denies Chevron $19bn Ecuador appeal
  The US Supreme Court has declined to block a judgement from an Ecuadorian court that a US oil firm pay billions in damages for pollution in the Amazon. Chevron was fighting a ruling that it must pay $18.2bn (£11.4bn) in damages, a sum increased to $19bn in July. It is the latest move in a decades-long legal wrangle between Texaco, bought by Chevron in 2001, and the people of the Lago Agrio region of Ecuador.
• 2012/10/09: BBerg: Chevron Rebuffed by Top U.S. Court on Ecuador Award
  Chevron Corp. (CVX) lost a U.S. Supreme Court bid to block a $19 billion judgment by an Ecuadorean court in an almost two-decade legal battle over pollution in the Amazon rain forest. The highest U.S. court, without comment, today let stand a federal appeals court ruling against Chevron. The appellate court said a federal trial judge in New York couldn't bar a group of Ecuadoreans from seeking to collect the award anywhere in the world. Chevron says the judgment is the product of fabricated evidence and is the largest awarded by a foreign court against a U.S. company. The Ecuadoreans blame Texaco Inc., which Chevron acquired in 2001, for destroying the environment in the Lago Agrio region of the rain forest.
• 2012/10/08: ICN: Landowners Sue Exxon Over Yellowstone Oil Spill
• 2012/10/05: Reuters: U.S. Supreme Court to review Monsanto seed patents
  The U.S. Supreme Court agreed on Friday to consider an Indiana soybean farmer's appeal of a decision finding that he infringed Monsanto Co patents over seeds containing the company's genetically altered Roundup Ready technology. The case is one of seven that the highest U.S. court agreed to hear on Friday, with oral arguments likely to be scheduled for January or February of 2013.
• 
  

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

   

• 2012/10/11: EurActiv: Clean energy investment plummeting, says Bloomberg report
  Global investment in clean energy fell to $56.6 billion (E43.9 billion) in the third quarter of 2012, down 20% year-on-year and signalling that 2012 will see the first annual decline in eight years, according to a report by Bloomberg New Energy Finance.
• 2012/10/10: CSM: Staying warm could be a bit pricey this winter. Is anyone to blame?
• 2012/10/13: TP:JR: The Promise Of Open Energy Data
• 2012/10/09: RWER: Investments in renewable energy, 2011
• 2012/10/09: PSinclair: While Romney and Tea Party Ramp up Hate for Renewables - Germany Blasts Ahead with Lower Costs and Surprising Benefits
  

  What do you have in energy comparisons and transitions?

• 2012/10/12: TreeHugger: Renewables, Efficiency Could Easily Replace Indian Point's Nuclear Power: Report
• 2012/10/11: NBF: EIA Energy Costs Estimate for Different Energy Generation brought online for 2017
  

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

• 2012/10/12: Wonkette: Florida To Get Flaming Tap Water, Officially Become Hell
• 2012/10/12: NatureNB: Criticism leveled at natural gas emissions study, part II
• 2012/10/11: CBC: Company withdraws request for fracking in Yukon
• 2012/10/11: TP:JR: Fracking Companies Using 'Psychological Warfare' Tactics To Silence Critics?
• 2012/10/10: BWeek: Wyoming Water Tests in Line With EPA Finding on Fracking
  The latest test results on water near Pavillion, Wyoming, show pollutants "consistent" with findings used last year to link tainted water there to hydraulic fracturing, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said. The EPA yesterday issued its follow-up analyses of two test wells it drilled and of five residents' water wells.
• 2012/10/10: BWeek: Industry-Funded Study Finds Fracking Safe for Los Angeles
  Fracking for oil in Los Angeles County poses no threat to the environment and doesn't add to the risk of earthquakes, according to a report funded by the owner of one of the largest urban oil fields in the U.S. The findings come from a yearlong study by Plains Exploration & Production Co. (PXP), owner of the Inglewood oil field in the Baldwin Hills section of Los Angeles.
• 2012/10/11: StarTelegram: UT-Austin to study methane emissions in natural gas fields
• 2012/10/11: DeSmogBlog: Frackademia: Controversial SUNY Buffalo Shale Institute's Reputation Unraveling
• 2012/10/12: TheCanadian: Blackstone, Goldman and Other Wall Street Hedge Fund, Investment Banks Fueling Fracking Boom
• 2012/10/08: OilChange: "A World of Infinite Gas"
  

  On the coal front:

• 2012/10/09: Grist: Comically evil coal honcho could face investigations into fundraising trickery
• 2012/10/08: Grist: Yes, coal is dying, but no, EPA is not the main culprit
• 2012/10/09: TreeHugger: Twice as Many Coal Plants Will Be Closed by 2016 Than We Originally Thought
  

  On the gas and oil front:

• 2012/10/12: BBerg: Closing oil prices Friday
  OIL (US$/bbl)
  Nymex Crude Future...91.86
  Dated Brent Spot....114.21
  WTI Cushing Spot.....91.86
• 2012/10/12: NBF: US Oil Shale Future is Drilling Faster and Cheaper
• 2012/10/11: Reuters: U.S., OPEC cut global oil demand estimates
• 2012/10/11: al Jazeera: The new 'golden age of oil' that wasn't [Klare]
  Output from unconventional oil operations may show some growth ahead, but there is no "golden age" on the horizon.
• 2012/10/11: OilChange: US crude exports: the fight for climate just got that little bit tougher
• 2012/10/11: NBF: Continental Resources says Oklahoma [shale-oil] discovery may add 1.8 billion barrels
• 2012/10/09: Platts: IEA sees Iraqi oil output doubling to 6.1 mil b/d in 2020
• 2012/10/09: IEA: Iraqi oil poised to become game-changer for world markets, landmark IEA report says
• 2012/10/11: DeSmogBlog: Oil Giant Citgo Criminally Convicted in Bird Deaths (remind you of something?)
• 2012/10/10: BBC: Ireland 'close to oil billions'
  Ireland is on the verge of securing revenue from oil that could run into billions of pounds. Providence Resources Plc, an Irish and UK company, has confirmed its Barryroe site, 30 miles off the Cork coast, should yield 280m barrels of oil. The money generated will depend on the market value at the time of extraction and on licensing arrangements.
• 2012/10/09: Guardian(UK): Iraq could become world's second biggest oil exporter
  IEA report says Iraq could soon be responsible for nearly half of all anticipated growth in global oil output
• 2012/10/08: BBC: BP sells Texas City refinery and US assets for $2.5bn
  BP has agreed a deal to sell a number of US assets, including its Texas City refinery, to Marathon Petroleum for $2.5bn (£1.6bn). The deal includes $600m in cash, $1.2bn for the plant's inventories, and a further $700m depending on future output and margins. The sale comes as the UK oil giant continues to raise cash to pay for the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
• 2012/10/07: NBF: EIA Forecasts 2.5 Million bpd in Texas and 1 million bpd in North Dakota by January 2014
  

  Regarding oil and the economy:

• 2012/10/09: OilDrum: Can an Economy Learn to Live with Increasingly High Oil Prices?
  

  And in pipeline news:

• 2012/10/11: ICN: EPA Worried Dilbit Still a Threat to Kalamazoo River, More Than 2 Years After Spill
  Enbridge needs to dredge accumulating oil from 100 acres of the river's bottom, EPA says. The work could take up to a year and cost tens of millions more.
• 
  

  Yes we have a peak oil sighting:

   

• 2012/10/07: RI: How we misjudge the risks of oil depletion and climate change
• 2012/10/10: DD: Underestimating the dangers of peak oil and climate change
• 2012/10/08: CSM: Underestimating the dangers of peak oil and climate change
• 2012/10/07: EnergyBulletin: How we misjudge the risks of oil depletion and climate change
  

  Biofuel bickering abounds:

• 2012/10/11: UCSUSA: U.S. Biomass Has Huge Potential for Renewable Energy -- Enough to Produce Four Times The Biofuel Made from Corn
• 2012/10/12: BPA: Reference: NPC's 2012 Biofuels Analysis Report
• 2012/10/03: LiU: Bioenergy - The broken promise
  Biofuels are going to save us from climate threats and the oil crisis, while at the same time providing an opportunity to the smallholder farmers of the world. Hopes are high, but completely unrealistic. It is like trying to push a square peg into a round hole, according to a current thesis at Linköping University.
• 
  

  The answer my friend...:

   

• 2012/10/11: TP:JR: How Wind Power Helps Lower Electricity Prices
• 2012/10/11: CSM: UK gets huge new offshore wind farm
• 2012/10/12: UCSUSA:B: Proposal 3: Wind Companies Ready to Create Jobs in Michigan
• 2012/10/08: TreeHugger: Block Island Offshore Wind Power Project Steps Closer to Approval
• 2012/10/08: NewScientist: The sickening truth about wind farm syndrome
  

  Meanwhile among the solar aficionados:

• 2012/10/11: UWarwick: Organic solar cells with high electric potential for portable electronics
• 2012/10/11: Eureka: Transparent solar cells for windows that generate electricity
• 2012/10/12: TreeHugger: Nanotechnology Could Lead to Ultra-Thin Flexible Solar Cells
• 2012/10/10: TreeHugger: SolarCity Files for IPO, Aims to Raise About $200 Million to Expand Internationally
• 2012/10/10: NBF: Thin Film Solar Might be a winner when solar demand increases
• 2012/10/10: LoE: Saved by the Sun
• 2012/10/09: ICN: With Odds Stacked, Tiny Solar Manufacturer Looks to Create 'American Success Story'
  Already branded the next Solyndra by some, government-backed SoloPower claims its flexible, lighter panels will beat the odds -- even as major shakeout looms.
• 2012/10/01: Fraunhofer: Solar cells made from black silicon
  Solar cells convert three-quarters of the energy contained in the Sun's spectrum into electricity - yet the infrared spectrum is entirely lost in standard solar cells. In contrast, black silicon solar cells are specifi cally designed to absorb this part of the Sun's spectrum -- and researchers have recently succeeded in doubling their overall efficiency.
• 
  

  The nuclear energy controversy continues:

   

• 2012/10/11: NBF: China nuclear plant construction progressing and on track for 27 new reactors by the end of 2015
• 2012/10/08: Economist: Japan's nuclear disaster -- Meet the Fukushima 50? No, you can't
• 2012/10/11: DemNow: After Decades of Uranium Mining, Navajo Nation Struggles With Devastating Legacy of Contamination
• 2012/10/10: DD: Leaked EU nuclear stress tests reveal hundreds of defects - None of France's 58 nuclear power plants meet IAEA standards
  

  Nuclear fusion projects around the world limp along:

• 2012/10/08: GreenGrok: Fusion: Maybe Less than 30 Years but This Year Unlikely
• 2012/10/09: TP:JR: NY Times: Funding For Fusion 'Better Spent On Renewable Sources Of Energy That Are Likely To Be Cheaper And Quicker'
• 2012/10/07: NBF: National Ignition Facility Funding is at Risk
  

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

• 2012/10/11: PeakEnergy: The Empire Strikes Back - Gross Feed In Tariffs
  

  More people are talking about the electrical grid:

• 2012/10/10: ERW: Connecting wind plants long distance doesn't smooth power output
• 2012/10/09: TP:JR: Marketing The Smart Grid: The Complex Challenge of Selling Complexity
  

  And then there is the matter of efficiency & conservation:

• 2012/10/10: TreeHugger: Samsung and Sharp Lead Energy Efficiency Rankings for TVs
  

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

• 2012/10/13: AutoBG: Pike Research: 11.4 million charging stations installed by 2020
• 2012/10/12: AutoBG: Ford working on mass-market carbon fiber components to save weight, improve efficiency
• 2012/10/11: AutoBG: Ford C-Max Energi plug-in hybrid rated at 100 MPGe, combined
• 2012/10/11: AutoBG: Honda joins hydrogen fuel cell vehicle effort in Nordic countries
• 2012/10/11: CSM: Move over electric: Are natural gas vehicles the future of cars?
• 2012/10/12: UCSUSA:B: What We Should Learn from a Lifecycle Assessment of EVs in the EU
• 2012/10/09: CSM: Toyota Prius Plug-in: the little electric hybrid that could
  

  This week in the Gee Whiz File:

• 2012/10/11: NCSU: Researchers Create 'Nanoflowers' for Energy Storage, Solar Cells
  

  As for Energy Storage:

• 2012/10/13: AutoBG: Denso creates li-ion battery designed for stop-start vehicles
• 2012/10/08: MIT: New technique reveals lithium in action
  Fundamental reactions behind [solid-state lithium-air] advanced battery technology, revealed in detail by advanced imaging method, could lead to improved materials.
• 
  

  Insurance and re-insurance companies are feeling the heat:

   

• 2012/10/10: USAToday: Report: Climate change behind rise in weather disasters
  Reinsurer Munich Re reports climate change behind rise in disasters - Weather disasters in North America are among the worst - Other experts take issue with Munich Re's findings
• 2012/10/10: TreeHugger: Climate Change Causing Increased Risk From Extreme Weather, World's Largest Reinsurance Company [Munich Re] Says
  

  Meanwhile in the greenwashing chronicles:

• 2012/10/09: TP:JR: From Kermit to Coal, Book Reveals How World's Top Brands Greenwash The Public
  

  Who's fielding theFAQs?

• 2012/10/11: Guardian(UK): What's the 'hydrogen economy'?
• 2012/10/08: Guardian(UK): Will climate change lead to more flooding?
  

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

• 2012/10/12: TP:JR: October 12 News...
• 2012/10/11: TP:JR: October 11 News...
• 2012/10/10: TP:JR: October 10 News...
• 2012/10/09: TP:JR: October 9 News...
  

  Other (weekly) lists:

• 2012/10/14: SkS: 2012 SkS Weekly News Round-Up #5 by John Hartz
• 2012/10/12: EnergyBulletin: ODAC Newsletter
• 2012/10/08: BPA: Hot 5: Crop Inputs. Global Food Prices. Dry Bulk Shipping Declines. Rice Stocks. "Farm Kings" Show
• 2012/10/09: BPA: Agriculture News
  

  The carbon lobby are up to the usual:

• 2012/10/12: KSJT: Climate Depot: Don't let Logic Get in the Way of a Good Attack
• 2012/10/11: TP:JR: Trick Or Treat: A Koch Brother Dresses Up As An Environmentalist In His Fight Against Cape Wind
• 2012/10/11: TP:JR: Fracking Companies Using 'Psychological Warfare' Tactics To Silence Critics?
• 2012/10/10: GreenGrok: Climate Science and Science Literacy: The Strange Divergence
• 2012/10/10: DeSmogBlog: Shale Gas Industry Brings PSYOPs and Spy Ops to Poland
• 2012/10/12: CJR: TNR causes trouble for coal baron -- Exposé on pressuring employees to make campaign contributions stirs inquiry
• 2012/10/12: ERabett: Nothingburgers
• 2012/10/13: ERabett: Wattsbusters
• 2012/10/14: DailyMail(UK): Global warming stopped 16 years ago, reveals Met Office report quietly released... and here is the chart to prove it
• 2012/10/13: WtD: Andrew Bolt: "China has zero intention" of setting up carbon tax? Sorry Andrew, they are
• 2012/10/09: UKISS: Denier comment of the day October 10, 2012
• 2012/10/09: DeSmogBlog: Are Coal Mine Employees Forced To Support Romney?
• 2012/10/09: Grist: Comically evil coal honcho could face investigations into fundraising trickery
• 2012/10/08: CassandrasLegacy: The power of legends
• 2012/10/08: Stoat: More use and abuse of IPCC 1990 fig 7.1(c) by John Mashey
  

  The Schnare affair:

• 2012/10/09: MoJo: Lawyer in Climate Science Case May Have Broken Ethics Rules -- Did a climate change denying attorney at the EPA mislead his bosses?
• 2012/10/10: CSW: Did denialist EPA lawyer break ethics rules in his attack on Michael Mann?
• 2012/10/09: ERabett: Enschnared
• 2012/10/09: GLaden: Did Science Denialist David Schnare Break Ethics Rules In His Attack On Michael Mann?
  

  As for climate miscellanea:

• 2012/10/11: P3: The Conversation We Ought to be Having - A Report from SXSW Eco 2012
• 2012/10/11: Guardian(UK): Why do we play down the horror of climate change?
• 2012/10/11: Guardian(UK): Novacem's green technology rights bought by mystery firm
  'Carbon negative' cement technology put up for sale when its British developer was declared insolvent
• 2012/10/10: CCP: Nathan Currier, HuffPo: Saving the Arctic Ice: Greenpeace, Greenwashing and Geoengineering. Part I
• 2012/10/09: al Jazeera: Lifting the curse of Apollo: Climate change as metaphor and reality
  The threats posed by global warming are situated primarily in the future, despite some claims of present harm. [...] The sad story of Cassandra's destruction is suggestive of the dilemma confronting the climate change scientific community.
• 2012/10/08: BVerheggen: Climate Science Survey - the questions
• 2012/10/07: TP:JR: 'End of Nature' Question Of The Week: Are 'We As Gods Upon This Earth' Or 'More Like Chewbacca in Star Wars'?
  

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

• 2012/10/11: IFPRI: 2012 Global Hunger Index
• EJF: Environmental Justice Foundation
• Sustainable Corn
• State of the Planet 2012
• Ecocentric: A blog about food, water and energy
• Global Thermostat - low-cost solutions to capture CO2
• Enervee: Energy Efficiency - Energy Conservation and Saving Tips
• Oxfam: Land grabs Q&A
• Chasing Ice [film site]
• GEOMAR - Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel
• USGS Fact sheet: Gas (Methane) Hydrates
• Permafrost Carbon Network
• NCSU: Global Patterns - Arctic & North Atlantic Oscillations (AO & NAO)
• Arctic Methane Emergency Group
• CJN: Climate Justice Now!
• GGGI: Global Green Growth Institute
• PWCCC: World People's Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth
• CAT: Climate Action Tracker

Low Key Plug

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

<regards>

-het

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

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

"Healing the wounds of the earth and its people does not require saintliness or a political party, only gumption and persistence. It is not a liberal or conservative activity; it is a sacred act." -Paul Hawken

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