Another Week of GW News, January 20, 2013

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 of Global Warming News

Information is not Knowledge...Knowledge is not Wisdom

January 20, 2013

• Chuckles, COP19+, Mercury, Bond, Australian, The Holmes, Attributions
• Bottom Line, Thermodynamics, Cook,
• Fukushima Note, Fukushima News
• Melting Arctic, Megafauna, Geopolitics, Antarctica
• Food Crisis, Fisheries, Food vs. Biofuel, GMOs, Food Production
• Hurricanes, Monsoon, Temperatures, Paleoclimate
• Solar, Biosphere, Extinctions, Bees & CCD, Satellites
• Impacts, Forests, Climate Refugees, Disease, Weather: Notable, Wacky, Extreme, New
• Wildfires, Corals, Glaciers, Sea Levels, Floods & Droughts
• Mitigation, Transportation, Sequestration, Geoengineering, Conservation
• Journals, Other Docs, Misc. Science, Free Science, Hansen, Mann, Pielke
• International Politics: Carbon Trade, Carbon Tax, Hormuz, South China Sea, EU ETS & Airlines
• Rare Earths., Security, Law & Activism, Polls, H2O Biz, Religioso, Education
• National Politics: America, Post Sandy, Keystone, Carbon Tax, Birth Control
• Skocpol, NASA/NOAA, NCADAC, Cuccinelli, Obama, USAdmin, Congress
• Britain, Europe, Australia, Carbon Law, Post-Fires, MDBP, India, China, Japan, South America
• Canada, Idle No More, ITTO, Courts, Dutch Disease, Liberals, Northern Gateway
• CWB, Salmon, BC, Tar Sands, Alberta, Sask, Ontario, Canadiana
• Ecological Economics, IPAT, Apocalypso, Media, Books, Video, Courts
• Energy, Transitions, Fracking, Coal, Oil & Gas, Economy, Pipelines, Peak Oil, US Tar Sands, Biofuel
• Wind, Solar, Nukes, Nuclear Waste, Nuclear Fusion, LENR, Grid, Efficiency, Cars
• Insurance, Joe's List, Carbon Lobby, Misc., Useful Links
• Shameless Self Promotion, .sig

 

Here's a wee chuckle for ye:

• 2013/01/20: uComics: (cartoon - Wiley) Winter Treasure Hunting
• 2013/01/18: XKCD: (cartoon - Munro) Log Scales
• 2013/01/18: uComics: (cartoon - Wiley) Weird Weather
• 2013/01/17: LA Times: (cartoon - Horsey) New Western governor sets his sights on climate change solutions
• 2013/01/16: ParliamAnthill: (cartoon - Sadlemyer) Protesters arrested at community hearings on Northern Gateway
• 2013/01/14: uComics: (cartoon - Rall) In A World Without Common Decency, The Only Way To Survive Is...
• 2013/01/14: uComics: (cartoon - Wiley) The Climate Change Deniers' Pond Hockey Tournament
  

  Looking ahead to COP19 and future international climate negotiations:

• 2013/01/18: RTCC: Belarus, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Russia meet to discuss Kyoto
  Representatives of Belarus, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Russia will meet next week in Minsk to decide if they will play any further part in the Kyoto Protocol, the Belarussian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has announced.
• 2013/01/16: RTCC: [UNFCCC chief] says domestic climate laws will underpin 2015 deal
  The fate of a global climate deal in 2015 depends on governments implementing ambitious carbon reduction plans at home, the UN climate chief has warned. Christiana Figueres told a gathering of lawmakers in London that progress at the notoriously difficult UN negotiations will rely on efforts at a national and sub national level to cut fossil fuel consumption and develop renewable energy capabilities.
• 2013/01/16: RTCC: USA says 2015 may be last chance for global UN climate change deal
• 2013/01/13: Guardian(UK): Domestic climate laws are essential, says UN
  Legislation at national level essential because 'it is linchpin between action on the ground and international agreement'
• 
  

  I can't help but wonder what this Mercury treaty will mean for one primary source ... coal:

   

• 2013/01/19: UN: Governments at UN forum agree on legally-binding treaty to curb mercury pollution
• 2013/01/19: BBC: Nations agree on legally binding mercury rules
  More than 140 countries have agreed on a set of legally binding measures to curb mercury pollution, at UN talks.
• 2013/01/19: ABC(Au): World's first binding mercury treaty adopted
• 2013/01/19: al Jazeera: Nations agree first mercury-emissions treaty
  More than 140 countries at UN meeting in Geneva adopt legally binding international treaty to reduce mercury emissions.
• 
  

  The Bond et al. paper on black carbon, aka soot, reprised an old theme with new numbers:

   

• 2013/01/15: WOL:JGR-A: (ab$) Bounding the role of black carbon in the climate system: A scientific assessment by T. C. Bond et al.
• 2013/01/17: Yale360: Black Carbon and Warming: It's Worse than We Thought
  A new study indicates soot, known as black carbon, plays a far greater role in global warming than previously believed and is second only to CO2 in the amount of heat it traps in the atmosphere. Reducing some forms of soot emissions -- such as from diesel fuel and coal burning - could prove effective in slowing down the planet's warming.
• 2013/01/16: TP:JR: Black Carbon Larger Cause Of Climate Change Than Previously Assessed
• 2013/01/16: GreenGrok: New Climate Change Study: The Bad News and Almost Good News
• 2013/01/16: DD: Black soot impact on global warming worse than thought: study
• 2013/01/15: SciNow: Soot Is Warming the World, A Lot
• 2013/01/15: NatureN: Soot a major contributor to climate change -- Black carbon could result in twice as much global warming as previously estimated
• 2013/01/15: NBF: New study shows that Soot is twice as bad for the Environment
• 2013/01/15: CSM: Soot is No. 2 global-warming culprit, study finds
• 2013/01/15: BBC: Climate change: Soot's role underestimated, says study
• 2013/01/15: Guardian(UK): Black carbon causes twice as much global warming than previously thought
• 2013/01/15: Eureka: Black carbon larger cause of climate change than previously assessed -- Reducing diesel engine emissions would reduce warming
  

  The Australian heatwave has toned down a bit, but there are still wildfires:

• 2013/01/20: ABC(Au): Live: Fire threat eases across southern Australia
• 2013/01/20: ABC(Au): Fires come under control as cool change continues [pix]
  Residents are returning to their homes as cool weather conditions help firefighters contain more blazes in New South Wales and Victoria. All bushfire alerts across the two states remained at advice status on Sunday, as firefighters carried out major backburning operations in an effort to build on containment lines. The New South Wales Rural Fire Service (RFS) says there are still 84 fires burning across the state - eight of which are uncontained.
• 2013/01/19: DD: 80 percent of Australia's Warrumbungle National Park incinerated
• 2013/01/19: ABC(Au): Live: Bushfires burn across southern Australia
• 2013/01/19: ABC(Au): Gippsland fire claims a life and destroys homes
• 2013/01/19: ABC(Au): Cool change helps firefighters contain blazes
• 2013/01/19: ABC(Au): Body found as bushfires continue across Vic, NSW [pix]
• 2013/01/18: ABC(Au): Live blog: Homes lost in Gippsland bushfires [pix]
• 2013/01/18: ABC(Au): Heat records fall as Sydney sizzles
  Sydney has experienced its hottest day on record, with temperatures passing 45 degrees across the greater city area. The mercury hit 45.8 degrees Celsius at Observatory Hill at 2.55pm, 0.5 above Sydney's previous hottest day in 1939.
• 2013/01/18: BBC: Sydney bakes in hottest day on record as bushfires rage
  The Australian city of Sydney is experiencing its hottest day on record, with temperatures reaching nearly 46C. A temperature of 45.8C was recorded at Observatory Hill in the city at 14:55 local time (01:55 GMT). Some areas in the wider Sydney region were even hotter, with the town of Penrith, to the west, registering a temperature of 46.5C. In Victoria state, one man has been killed by a bushfire, one of dozens raging across southern Australia.
• 2013/01/18: DD: 'Terrible conditions' for Australia firefighters in record heat wave - 'Imagine being in this heat next to a blast furnace'
• 2013/01/18: ABC(Au): Large Gippsland fire destroys at least five homes
• 2013/01/18: ABC(Au): NSW town of Boorowa latest under bushfire threat
• 2013/01/18: WtD: Sydney temperature record smashed: 45.7c
• 2013/01/18: DD: Sydney endures hottest day ever recorded - Emergency services council warns government of worse to come
• 2013/01/17: ABC(Au): No let up for firefighters
  Fire crews battling uncontrolled bushfires in Tasmania's south are not slowing down their efforts despite cooler weather conditions. Mild temperatures are expected to rise and winds strengthen throughout the afternoon, with a top of 30 degrees forecast for the Upper Derwent Valley where crews are trying to contain a large blaze. Crews are also fighting major fires at Steppes and between Forcett and the Tasman Peninsula.
• 2013/01/17: ABC(Au): NSW braces for return to dangerous fire conditions
• 2013/01/16: ABC(Au): NSW bushfire victims waiting to return home
• 2013/01/15: ABC(Au): Fire wreaks destruction on houses, livestock
  Firefighters in New South Wales are working hard to contain a blaze in the state's north-west, which the fire commissioner has described as horrific. The bushfire in the Warrumbungle National Park west of Coonabarabran has already destroyed 33 homes and torn through 40,000 hectares.
• 2013/01/15: ABC(Au): Crews make progress fighting major NSW bushfire
• 2013/01/14: WtD: The new normal: parts of Australian observatory destroyed in fires
• 2013/01/14: DD: 'Shocking' Australia bushfire destroys 33 homes, burns over 150 square miles of land
• 2013/01/14: ABC(Au): Blaze destroys dozens of homes in northern NSW
  Firefighters are working hard to contain a large bushfire in the Warrumbungle National Park near Coonabarabran that's been burning out of control for more than 24 hours. Those on the ground described the blaze as a firestorm in the sky as it ravaged 40,000 hectares of land. In the line of fire was the Siding Spring Observatory, which was hit but mostly saved. Thirty-three homes have been damaged and the Rural Fire Service expects that number will rise.
• 2013/01/14: ABC(Au): Crews battle blaze in Murrumbateman
• 2013/01/14: CSM: Wildfires uncover drug lab in Australia, but miss big telescopes [at Siding Springs Observatory]
• 2013/01/15: ABC(Au): Firefighters hope to contain 'horrendous' NSW fire
• 2013/01/13: ClimateShifts: Trains have been halted in western Queensland amid fears tracks may buckle in the scorching heat
• 2013/01/14: ABC(Au): Homes destroyed in NSW bushfire
  The New South Wales Rural Fire Service says at least 28 homes have been lost in a bushfire west of Coonabarabran, which also damaged the Siding Spring Observatory. The fire in the Warrumbungle National Park in the north-west of the state has burnt out nearly 40,000 hectares and has already forced the evacuation of over 100 residents.
• 2013/01/14: ABC(Au): Storms hit NSW areas blighted by bushfires
  Storms have moved through north-western New South Wales, bringing down power poles and trees, and tearing roofs off houses overnight. Emergency services in the area have already been dealing with dozens of bushfires, with more fires now burning as a result of lightning.
• 
  

  The Holmes family is going to rebuild:

   

• 2013/01/18: ABC(Au): Dunalley family to rebuild after devastating bushfire
  The Tasmanian family that made international headlines when they sheltered from a devastating bushfire under a jetty is planning to rebuild. Tammy Holmes and her five grandchildren took shelter under a jetty as the fire ripped through the small town of Dunalley. Both the Holmes' house and their daughter's family home on a property near Dunalley were destroyed. The two families are now living in the accommodation known as "Potters Croft", which was the only structure left standing out of five on the property. Tammy's husband Tim says the family is committed to staying in the town and rebuilding.
• 
  

  Attributions of Australia's heat wave are appearing:

   

• 2013/01/18: TheConversation: What's causing Australia's heat wave?
• 2013/01/18: ClimateShifts: What's causing Australia's heat wave?
• 2013/01/15: ABC(Au): UN group links heatwave to climate change
  The United Nations's (UN) chief climate science body says there is no doubt last week's extreme heat in Australia is part of a global warming trend. More than 250 of the world's top climate scientists are meeting in Hobart today to prepare the next major report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). They have vowed to deliver "scientifically defensible" findings when the report is released in just over eight months' time.
• 2013/01/14: ABC(Au): Bushfires and heat a sign of climate change: Milne
  The Greens leader Christine Milne says this summer's bushfires and record temperatures are providing a glimpse of what Australia's climate might look like in the future. Australia has experienced one of its hottest starts to the year on record, and large bushfires are still burning in New South Wales and Tasmania. The Tasmanian Senator says climate change is making extreme weather events more common and they should be a wake up call for the major parties.
• 
  

  And on the Bottom Line:

   

• 2013/01/15: QuarkSoup: Drought Cost: $5.20 per ton of CO2
• 2013/01/13: CChallenge: Considering the cost/benefit equation of accepting AGW consensus science
  

  Delving into the laws of thermodynamics this week:

• 2013/01/20: TSoD: Visualizing Atmospheric Radiation - Part Nine - Reaching Equilibrium
• 2013/01/16: CChallenge: CO2 - An Insignificant Trace Gas? The Science of Doom
• 2013/01/14: TSoD: Visualizing Atmospheric Radiation - Part Eight - CO2 Under Pressure
  

  John Cook and friends continue their point-counterpoint articles:

• 2013/01/20: SkS: Ed Hawkins: Hiatus Decades are Compatible with Global Warming by dana1981
• 2013/01/19: SkS: 2013 SkS Weekly News Roundup #3 by John Hartz
• 2013/01/18: SkS: Skeptical Science and social media - Ask not what SkS can do for you, but what you can do for SkS by Anne-Marie Blackburn
• 2013/01/17: SkS: Accumulated Cyclone Energy Questions and Answers by Klaus Flemløse
• 2013/01/16: SkS: Ridley, Murdoch, and Lomborg Attempt to Greenwash Global Warming by dana1981
• 2013/01/15: SkS: Ocean Heat Came Back to Haunt Australia by Rob Painting
• 2013/01/14: SkS: 2012 Shatters the US Temperature Record. Fox, Watts, and Spencer Respond by Denying Reality by dana1981
  

  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:

   

• 2013/01/19: EneNews: Radio: "Continually, radioactive elements are being flushed into the Pacific" - "The Fukushima accident will never end, they have no idea how to clean it up" -Caldicott (audio)
• 2013/01/19: EneNews: Fish with cesium near gov't limit caught hundreds of miles from Fukushima
• 2013/01/18: EneNews: AFP: Record high radiation found in Fukushima fish -- 2,500 times cesium limit
• 2013/01/17: Asahi: Crooked Cleanup: Photos, videos show contractors lied in decontamination reports
• 2013/01/15: EneNews: Tepco Official in US: "We are still seeing leakage" - Contaminated groundwater seeping into reactor areas
• 2013/01/16: NatureN: Fukushima: Fallout of fear
  After the Fukushima nuclear disaster, Japan kept people safe from the physical effects of radiation -- but not from the psychological impacts.
• 2013/01/15: EneNews: First layer for cover at Fukushima Unit 4 (photo)
• 2013/01/15: Asahi: Crooked Cleanup: Fukushima city not sticking to plan to decontaminate homes
  

  The Arctic melt continues to garner attention:

• 2013/01/15: AWI: Melt ponds cause the Artic sea ice to melt more rapidly
• 2013/01/14: ERW: Greenland ice sheet set to see surface ice loss
• 2013/01/17: ArcticNews: Accelerated Arctic Warming
• 2013/01/17: DosBat: A Correction from the Brink
• 2013/01/13: DodBat: An Observation from the Brink
• 2013/01/16: DailyKos: Sudden Stratospheric Warming Split the Polar Vortex in Two
• 2013/01/17: TMoS: WTF? The Polar Vortex Has Split in Two?
  

  As for the charismatic megafauna:

• 2013/01/18: NOAANews: NOAA releases environmental study on arctic bowhead whale subsistence harvest catch limits
• 2013/01/18: RTCC: Arctic species set to suffer as warming grips polar region
• 2013/01/16: ERabett: News from the North
• 2013/01/15: Grist: Court: Polar bear habitat that interferes with oil drilling has to go
  

  As for the geopolitics of Arctic resources:

• 2013/01/18: TheHill:e2W: Obama allies Browner, Podesta now oppose Arctic drilling
• 2013/01/16: EurActiv: UK seeks to water down Arctic oil drilling proposals
  The UK government is seeking to water down planned EU regulations on deep-sea oil drilling, even while insisting to MPs that it wants "robust environmental protection" for oil drilling in the Arctic. In leaked EU documents seen by the Guardian, the UK has sought to change proposals that could prevent oil and gas drilling operations that would leave fragile areas vulnerable. The UK is insisting that this clause be removed, because "oil spills may be effectively dispersed by wind and wave action and this is in itself one form of effective response".
• 2013/01/15: Guardian(UK): UK seeks to water down Arctic oil drilling proposals
  Leaked documents reveal the government has sought to change proposals that could prevent deepsea drilling operations
• 2013/01/15: CCP: Russia roars ahead in race to develop Arctic shipping route
• 2013/01/15: Reuters: UK opposes Arctic drilling ban, to update policy this year
• 2013/01/15: OilChange: Despite Shell's "Epic Failure", UK Backs Arctic Drilling
  

  While in Antarctica:

• 2013/01/14: NatureNB: Antarctic team reaches Lake Whillans
  

  The food crisis is ongoing:

• 2013/01/19: CCurrents: Climate Crisis Will Worsen World Food Crisis And Increase Child Malnourishment
• 2013/01/18: ProMedMail: Stripe rust, wheat - India: (Punjab)
• 2013/01/17: BPA: The Question of Rising Farm Production Expenses
• 2013/01/17: BPA: Average Price of Nebraska's Non-Irrigated Cropland is Up 69 Percent in Two Years
• 2013/01/16: Guardian(UK): Can vegans stomach the unpalatable truth about quinoa?
  Ethical consumers should be aware poor Bolivians can no longer afford their staple grain, due to western demand raising prices
• 2013/01/18: AllAfrica:ZimIndependent: Zimbabwe: Land Grabs - the New 'Hard Work'
  Yesterday Zimbabwe woke up to disturbing news that President Robert Mugabe's wife, Grace, had seized an estate owned by ZSE-listed Interfresh Holdings backed by a piece of paper signed by Mashonaland Central governor Martin Dinha, a lawyer by profession, known as an offer letter. The occupation curiously came at a time when Agriculture minister Herbert Murerwa earlier this month said government would stop seizing land protected under Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection Agreements. Although Interfresh is not protected under bilateral laws, it is a public company owned by black Zimbabwean shareholders.
• 2013/01/18: AllAfrica:SW Radio: Zimbabwe: Govt Urged to Stop Land Grabs to End Hunger Crisis
  The government is once again facing an urgent appeal to once and for all stop the ongoing illegal seizure of productive farm land across the country, to bring an end to the worsening hunger crisis. Zimbabwe's once prosperous agricultural sector is again unable to feed the country, after years of chaos caused by the land grab campaign. On Tuesday the United Nations (UN) announced that it needs at least US$131 million in aid for Zimbabwe this year, mainly to meet food assistance demands. The UN said that at least 1.7 million people are facing hunger in the coming year.
• 2013/01/18: CBC: Quinoa boom offers hard lesson in food economics -- Superfood from the Andes is so popular that the farmers can't afford it
• 2013/01/18: al Jazeera: Asparagus industry starves Peruvians of water
  Government says within three years one region could have no more water left for agriculture. Asparagus farming, which is highly water intensive, has grown so fast in parts of Peru that it is drying up some of the country's aquifers.
• 2013/01/15: Eureka: Federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program use grows in 2011 -- 13 percent of all households relied on former food stamps program
• 2013/01/15: ABC(Au): Climate change will force farmers to adapt: CSIRO
• 2013/01/14: TP:JR: The World Wastes As Much As Half Its Food, New Study Finds
• 2013/01/12: DesMoinesRegister: Iowa corn yield, production fell 20% last year
• 2013/01/13: Guardian(UK): Global food crisis will worsen as heatwaves damage crops, research finds
  Harvests will fall dramatically during severe heatwaves, predicted to become many times more likely in coming decades
• 
  

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

   

• 2013/01/19: ABC(Au): Scientists, rangers team up to track ghost nets
  Scientists and Indigenous ranger groups are working together to track where so-called ghost nets are travelling in Australian waters. Thousands of abandoned fishing nets have washed up on shores across northern Australia in the past few years. The ghost nets capture marine life and have a devastating impact across Queensland and the Northern Territory.
• 
  

  The conflict between biofuel and food persists:

   

• 2013/01/19: BBerg: Nestle Chairman Brabeck Says Biofuels Helped Boost Food Prices
  Biofuel production from agricultural commodities has contributed to surging world food prices in the past decade, said Nestle SA (NESN) Chairman Peter Brabeck-Letmathe. Blaming the tripling of the price of some food products on speculation is "completely wrong," and politicians have failed to consider the link with energy markets, Brabeck-Letmathe said at the Global Forum for Food and Agriculture in Berlin. "It is really unbelievable that when we have insufficient food in our world that we give it to cars," Brabeck-Letmathe said. "I plead very openly, no food for fuel. Give the food to people but not to cars." World food prices as tracked by the United Nations' Food & Agriculture Organization have more than doubled in the past 10 years, while the U.S. price of corn, a raw material for ethanol, has more than tripled.
• 2013/01/18: ConversableEconomist: Biofuels and Hunger in Low-Income Countries
  

  Regarding the genetic modification of food:

• 2013/01/14: NatureNB: European Food Authority to open up GMO data
• 2013/01/14: al Jazeera: Monsanto versus the people
  

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

• 2013/01/19: FAO: Call for more responsible investments in agriculture to eradicate hunger and poverty
  German Agriculture Minister Aigner and FAO head Graziano da Silva urge international community to develop principles for responsible investments
• 2013/01/19: FAO: FAO and International Finance Corporation join forces -- Accord aims to promote responsible private sector investment in agriculture
• 2013/01/15: FAO: Sowing the seeds of food security in South Sudan -- FAO and France join efforts to improve farmers' livelihoods
• 2013/01/15: TreeHugger: How China's Rising Soybean Consumption Is Reshaping Western Agriculture by Lester Brown
• 2013/01/15: EurActiv: Oxfam: Africa can produce the food it needs
  The number of people who go hungry in Africa's poorest countries is growing despite advances in food production, say Oxfam researchers who urge European donors and African governments to invest more in small farms and give rural people a bigger stake in decision-making. A new report by the global anti-poverty group says more than 230 million people - or one-in-four Africans living south of the Sahara - are undernourished, up 38% from 20 years ago.
• 
  

  A relatively quiet week in the hurricane wars. An unreported storm in mid-South Pacific and this potential cyclone:

   

• 2013/01/19: ABC(Au): Gulf of Carpentaria braces for potential cyclone
  A cyclone watch has been issued for communities along the eastern coast of Queensland's Gulf of Carpentaria. The Bureau of Meteorology says a developing tropical low may intensify into a cyclone over the next two days, bringing gale-force winds and heavy rain to communities between Mornington West and Aurukun. About 5:20am AEST, the system was estimated to be 235 kilometres west of Mornington Island and moving west at 16 kilometres per hour.
• 2013/01/14: ABC(Au): Tonga prepared for possible cyclone
  

  Emang faded in the South Indian Ocean:

• 2013/01/15: NASA: Infrared NASA Imagery Shows Sinking Air, Elongation in Tropical Storm Emang (Southern Indian Ocean)
  

  Narelle faded in the South Eastern Indian Ocean:

• 2013/01/20: MODIS: Tropical Cyclone Narelle (08S) off Australia [on Jan 11th]
• 2013/01/18: MODIS: Tropical Cyclone Narelle (08S) off Australia [on Jan. 10]
• 2013/01/14: NASA: NASA Sees Tropical Storm Narelle Winding Down Near Western Australia
  

  And on the Monsoon front:

• 2013/01/19: CBC: Jakarta flooding death toll reaches 14
• 2013/01/19: ABC(Au): Jakarta flooding: 12 dead, thousands homeless
  About a 250,000 people have been hit by flooding in the Indonesian capital Jakarta. So far a dozen people have died including a baby girl and a small boy, and a number of people are missing. About 20,000 houses have either been destroyed or are completely under water, forcing residents into shelters. Next week, things are likely to get worse with rivers expected to swell and rain forecast to increase.
• 2013/01/19: ABC(Au): Jakarta cleans up, prepares for more floods
• 2013/01/18: ABC(Au): At least five dead in Jakarta flooding
• 2013/01/18: CSM: Jakarta, Indonesia's megacity of 10 million, is under water
• 2013/01/18: ABC(Au): Monsoon arrives but wet season heading below average
  Despite the arrival of monsoonal rains this week, the Northern Territory is on track for a below average wet season.
• 2013/01/18: CNN: Indonesia floods kill 12; thousands flee raging waters in capital
  Dirty flood water has inundated the central business district and closed schools - It has even entered the presidential palace after a dike burst - About 19,000 people relocate to safer areas - More rain and flooding is expected over the next few days
• 2013/01/17: ABC(Au): Jakarta floods leave hundreds of thousands homeless
• 2013/01/17: ABC(Au): Thousands evacuated as Jakarta floods
  Indonesian disaster teams are preparing to evacuate up to 350,000 people as major floods take hold in Jakarta. Monsoonal downpours and swollen rivers are pouring into areas of the capital that are rarely affected. Authorities say they can't keep track of how many residents are now homeless. So far four people, including a nine-year-old boy, have died in the deluge.
• 2013/01/17: BBC: Indonesian capital Jakarta hit by deadly flooding
  At least four people have been killed by heavy flooding in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, say officials.
• 2013/01/17: CBC: Floods in Indonesian capital kill 4 -- 2-metre high floodwaters paralyze Jakarta
• 2013/01/17: al Jazeera: Thousands evacuated amid Jakarta floods
  At least four people dead and 20,000 evacuated as a result of intense rain storm which has hit the Indonesian capital.
• 2013/01/17: ABC(Au): Thousands flee from Jakarta floods
  Widespread flooding across the Indonesian capital of Jakarta has forced more than 10,000 people to flee their homes, with two people killed so far in the seasonal chaos. Disaster management authorities are preparing for the possible evacuation of up to 350,000 people, with 30 per cent of the city already inundated by floodwaters.
• 
  

  And the temperature record:

   

• 2013/01/17: CChallenge: What Ocean Warming?
• 2013/01/17: CChallenge: Global increase in record-breaking monthly-mean temperatures
• 2013/01/18: CAbyss: Dispatch from AMS: Looking at Land Surface Temperatures
• 2013/01/18: al Jazeera: Southern hemisphere sizzles -- Record temperatures hit Southern Africa and Australia
• 2013/01/17: CCP: James Hansen: 2012 9th warmest year in global record
• 2013/01/15: Wunderground: 2012: Earth's 10th warmest year on record, and warmest with a La Niña
• 2013/01/16: IOTD: Long-Term Global Warming Trend Continues
• 2013/01/15: CCP: NOAA: 2012 global temperatures 10th highest on record
• 2013/01/14: PIK: Global warming has increased monthly heat records [worldwide] by a factor of five
  

  Aerosols are making their presence felt:

• 2013/01/20: IOTD: Ship Tracks off North America
• 2013/01/17: IOTD: Dust Storm in Colorado and Kansas
• 2013/01/18: IOTD: Pollution across Southwestern Asia
• 2013/01/15: IOTD: Air Quality Suffering in China
  

  While in the paleoclimate:

• 2013/01/17: Eureka: Great Oxidation Event: More oxygen through multicellularity
  

  Regarding the solar hypothesis:

• 2013/01/19: Stoat: Shocker: solar physicists interested in solar physics
  

  What's new in Biodiversity?

• 2013/01/18: ABC(Au): A process for tracking global biodiversity
  

  What's new on the extinction front?

• 2013/01/17: TheConversation: Australian endangered species: Southern Bluefin Tuna
• 2013/01/16: PLoS One: Comparative Demography of an At-Risk African Elephant Population by George Wittemyer et al.
• 2013/01/16: SciNow: The Elephant Killing Fields
• 2013/01/17: SciAm:EC: Amazing Hawaiian Plant Loved by Tourists but Endangered by Climate Change
• 2013/01/17: TreeHugger: Are Elephants Doomed?
• 2013/01/18: BBC: Attacks prompt Nepal to cap wildlife growth
• 2013/01/15: SciAm:EC: Rare Japanese Rabbit Leaves Endangered Species List
• 2013/01/16: Eureka: Yaks are back -- Conservationists find nearly 1,000 wild yaks in remote Tibetan Plateau
• 2013/01/15: DD: Rhino poaching hits new record in 2012
• 2013/01/15: DD: Extinction looms as Indonesia opens forests for logging - 'We'll see the extinction of all the charismatic species in 10 to 20 years'
• 2013/01/11: TekNat: Will changes in climate wipe out mammals in Arctic and sub-Arctic areas?
  The climate changes depicted by climatologists up to the year 2080 will benefit most mammals that live in northern Europe's Arctic and sub-Arctic land areas today if they are able to reach their new climatic ranges. This is the conclusion drawn by ecologists at Umeå University in a recently published article in the journal Plos ONE.
• 2013/01/14: BBC: African elephant poaching threatens wildlife future
• 2013/01/14: ABC(Au): Western and central African lions virtually extinct
• 2013/01/14: ABC(Au): Africa battles poachers to save its wild lions
  Zambia has become the latest country to ban the hunting of lions and other endangered wild cats as the continent tries to arrest the predators' plummeting population. UK charity LionAid chief executive and biologist Dr Pieter Kat says the number of lions across Africa has dropped dramatically in recent decades, with lions extinct in 25 African countries. "About 50 years ago we had about 200,000 lions living in Africa," he said. "I'd estimate from our own research that perhaps today we have about 15,000 left. Now 15,000 still sounds like a relatively large number but, you know, you can't put more than 15,000 into even a small space."
• 
  

  The bees and Colony Collapse Disorder are a constant worry:

   

• 2013/01/17: CCP: Neonicotinoid pesticides determined unsafe for bees by the European Food Safety Authority
• 2013/01/16: NatureN: Row over reports on bee-bothering insecticides -- Syngenta brands risk assessment 'hurried and inadequate'.
• 2013/01/16: TheCanadian: Report: World's Most Popular Insecticide Puts Bees in 'Unacceptable' Danger
  

  Meanwhile in near earth orbit:

• 2013/01/17: BBC: Landsat aims to maintain gold standard
  One of the very best ways to understand the changes taking place on Planet Earth is to make observations from space. And to get a true sense of any trends, you really need those measurements to be long-term and unceasing.
• 
  

  More GW impacts are being seen:

   

• 2013/01/16: CSM: Climate change alters ecosystems from Walden Pond to 'The Shack'
• 2013/01/18: SimpleC: Temperature cuts swathe through Australian seaweed
• 2013/01/16: News24: Will Australia become uninhabitable? by Clem Sunter
• 2013/01/15: USGS: Global Warming May Have Severe Consequences for Rare Haleakala Silverswords
• 2013/01/18: ABC(Au): Fish in hot water as climate changes
  As the planet continues its warming trend, climate scientists say whole marine ecosystems are also feeling the heat. The east coast of Australia is now considered one of the fastest warming areas in the region. The CSIRO says fish are moving south in search of cooler waters, and marine heatwaves like the recent one off Western Australia are likely to cause major damage to corals and fisheries.
• 2013/01/17: GreenGrok: Climate Change and Ratsnakes
• 2013/01/17: ABC(Au): Global warming to threaten Australian wildlife
• 2013/01/16: ABC(Au): Heatwave suddenly shrinks seaweed's range
• 2013/01/16: Grist: European mammals make like Gerard Depardieu, flee to Russia
• 2013/01/14: CCurrents: Global Warming Is Changing American Way Of Life
• 2013/01/13: TP:JR: Snakerats May Join Bark Beetles, Jellyfish, Tropical Diseases, And Invasive Species As Winners In A Warming World
• 2013/01/14: NatureN: Climate change may bring bigger waves for down under
  Changes could affect shipping lanes and beach erosion -- and make Australian surfers happy.
• 
  

  And then there are the world's forests:

   

• 2013/01/18: DD: Study finds megadrought jeopardizing Amazon rainforest
• 2013/01/18: Eureka: Climate change's effects on temperate rain forests surprisingly complex
• 2013/01/17: NASA:JPL: Study Finds Severe Climate Jeopardizing Amazon Forest
• 2013/01/17: DerSpiegel: Woodland Heists: Rising Energy Costs Drive Up Forest Thievery
  With energy costs escalating, more Germans are turning to wood burning stoves for heat. That, though, has also led to a rise in tree theft in the country's forests. Woodsmen have become more watchful.
• 2013/01/18: Guardian(UK): Amazon showing signs of degradation due to climate change, NASA warns
  Rainforest area twice the size of California experiencing drought rate that is unprecedented in a century, study shows
• 2013/01/16: TheConversation: Victorian forestry is definitely not ecologically sustainable
• 2013/01/13: Guardian(UK): Ecuadorean tribe will 'die fighting' to defend rainforest
  Kichwa villagers from Sani Isla vow to resist oil prospecting by state-backed company Petroamazonas at all costs
• 2013/01/13: TheCanadian: The Business of a Cortes Forest
  

  Climate refugees are becoming an issue:

• 2013/01/17: CCurrents: More Than A Hundred-Thousand People Crossed Sea To Reach Yemen In 2012
  

  Emerging diseases accompany ecological change:

• 2013/01/16: ABC(Au): Tropical diseases could be hidden risk of climate change
• 2013/01/16: ABC(Au): Human health to feel impact of warmer future
  

  This week in notable weather:

• 2013/01/17: Wunderground: DC snowstorm not enough for a white inauguration; extreme heat in Southern Hemisphere
• 2013/01/18: CSM: Winter storm buries parts of the Southeast
  Hundreds of people spent a cold night trapped on Interstate 65 in central Alabama as a winter storm dumped snow around the Southeast and caused at least one death.
• 2013/01/19: al Jazeera: Snow brings the UK to a standstill
  The UK and Ireland were covered with winter white on Friday and will be spending the rest of the weekend cleaning out
• 2013/01/18: BBC: UK snow: Schools and transport hit by disruption
  More than 3,000 schools have been closed in England and Wales as a band of heavy snow affects most of the UK.
• 2013/01/20: BBC: Frozen UK braced for more ice and snow
  Ice and freezing temperatures are to continue across the UK, as further snow falls - particularly in eastern parts of the country.
• 2013/01/20: al Jazeera: Temperatures are taking a nose dive -- Arctic air is moving into eastern Canada and could be extremely dangerous
• 2013/01/16: BBC: Snow shuts hundreds of Norfolk schools
  Heavy snow and freezing temperatures have forced the closure of more than 260 schools in Norfolk.
• 2013/01/15: al Jazeera: Snow grinds Tokyo to a halt
  Tokyo sees its heaviest snowfall in seven years causing travel chaos across the Japanese Capital.
• 
  

  Let's face it... wacky weather just isn't very wacky any more:

   

• 2013/01/17: ABC(Au): Karlgarin mops up after wild storm
  The Shire of Kondinin says, while it is too early to know the total cost of a storm which devastated the small town of Karlgarin, it will be significant. Tuesday evening's storm tore roofs off nearly 10 buildings, while the shire estimates about 90 per cent of the town's buildings received some damage.
• 2013/01/16: NewsCorp: Freak storm ruins tiny WA Wheatbelt town
• 2013/01/16: WAToday: Roofs peeled from buildings in Karlgarin
• 2013/01/16: DD: Australia town virtually blown off the map after a freak storm - 'I've never been in anything like it before, it was very scary'
• 2013/01/15: ABC(Au): Wild weather batters the west [of Queensland]
  Storms floating around at the moment are not only starting fires, but wind generated by them is causing some considerable damage. Last night residents reported winds of 120 kilometres per hour at Blackall and 110 kilometres per hour at Camooweal. Over the weekend Inkerman station, west of Isisford, sustained damage with the house roof being blown off as well as sheds obliterated.
• 2013/01/15: ABC(Au): Stonehenge among towns damaged in outback storm
  Authorities says a wild storm has damaged around 80 per cent of buildings in the central-western Queensland town of Jundah. The storm also tore through the nearby town of Stonehenge, damaging the pub and downing powerlines. The storm hit Jundah, south of Longreach, around 2:00pm, packing strong winds, lightning and rain.
• 
  

  This week in extreme weather:

   

• 2013/01/18: DD: Wild weather: Extreme is the new normal
• 2013/01/17: ABC(Au): The 2013 climate change wake-up call
  Is an extreme heatwave enough for people to start taking the science of climate change seriously in Australia? Dr Paul Willis hopes so.
• 
  

  Rossby Waves? Blocking Patterns? Arctic Oscillation? What is the Arctic melt doing to our weather?

   

• 2013/01/14: Wunderground: Extreme jet stream causing record warmth in the east, record cold in the west
  

  As for heatwaves and wild fires. See also:

• 2013/01/16: MODIS: Fires in West Africa
  

  Corals are a bellwether of the ocean's health:

• 2013/01/18: ABC(Au): Great Barrier Reef threatened by warming trend
  

  Glaciers are melting:

• 2013/01/19: FaGP: Corihuasi East Glacier Retreat, Peru
• 2013/01/18: RTCC: Third highest rate of glacier melt observed
  Glacier melt reached its third highest ever recorded rate during 2010/2011, according the latest data released this week. The World Glacier Monitoring Service (WGMS), which has more than 100 years of records, found a one metre water equivalent (m w.e) drop in glacier thickness.
• 2013/01/17: WGMS: preliminary glacier mass balance data 2010/2011
• 2013/01/16: FaGP: Riggs Glacier Retreat from the Sea, Alaska
  

  Sea levels are rising:

• 2013/01/16: Eureka: New Antarctic geological timeline aids future sea-level predictions
• 2013/01/14: ABC(Au): Rising seas may put $300b of property at risk: scientists
  

  As for hydrological cycle disruptions [floods & droughts]:

• 2013/01/20: ABC(Au): Qld storms cause flash flooding, cuts roads
  An intense overnight thunderstorm has dumped more than 200 millimetres of rain on parts of Queensland's Western Downs, causing flash flooding and cutting off roads. The towns of Chinchilla, Tara and Moonie all received a drenching and authorities are now monitoring river rises in Charley's Creek and the Condamine, Moonie and Weir rivers.
• 2013/01/18: DD: No relief in sight for drought-stricken Plains - U.S. declares Wheat Belt a natural disaster area
• 2013/01/18: TP:JR: How Climate Change Is Damaging The Great Lakes, With Implications For The Environment And The Economy
• 2013/01/17: Reuters: As [US] drought persists, many scramble to save every drop of water
• 2013/01/17: JFleck: Running the table: dry at all relevant time scales
• 2013/01/18: CSW: On floods and climate change
• 2013/01/18: UCSUSA:B: 2013 Begins Without Respite from Drought
• 2013/01/18: Wunderground: Drought predicted to continue though April; record low Lake Michigan water levels
• 2013/01/17: WHOI: Study Provides New Insights on Drought Predictions in East Africa
• 2013/01/19: IOTD: Despite Rain, Drought Lingers in the United States
• 2013/01/18: AllAfrica:SW Radio: Zimbabwe: Heavy Rains Bring Chaos to Manicaland
  Heavy rains for the past three weeks have swelled rivers and cut-off bridges and traffic to many parts of Manicaland province, the deputy director-general of the Civil Protection Unit (CPU) said on Thursday. Weeks of heavy rain have left large parts of the province under water with the levels of most dams and rivers appearing to have peaked, leaving the situation critical in many areas, particularly along rivers.
• 2013/01/17: RStone: Don't Ignore the Drought -- The current drought is a bad one, and it's not going away
• 2013/01/15: BBerg: Mississippi Shutdown Averted as Rains Ease Danger at Choke Point
• 2013/01/14: PopSci: Mississippi River May Soon Be Unnavigable, Despite Army Geoengineers' Best Efforts
  The Army Corps of Engineers is nearly out of options for keeping a section of the upper Mississippi River flowing.
• 2013/01/14: TP:JR: Texas And Oklahoma, Hotbeds Of Climate Change Denialism, Wracked By Another Year Of Warming-Worsened Droughts
• 2013/01/14: ABC(Au): Drought figures for NSW
  New South Wales is edging closer to drought, according to figures released by the Department of Primary Industries which show 73% of the state is now 'marginal'.
• 
  

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

   

• 2013/01/16: LoE: We have the cure for our ailing planet...
• 2013/01/15: GreenGrok: Climate Change Mitigation: Caught Between a Wedge and a Hard Place
• 2013/01/14: ABC(Au): Emissions [reductions now] could cut climate damage by 60pc [at the end of this century]
  

  Consider transportation & GHG production:

• 2013/01/17: EUO: EU car sales at 17-year low [of 12 million]
• 2013/01/16: BBC: EU car sales fell 8.2% in 2012, say carmakers
  New car registrations in the European Union fell by 8.2% in 2012, hitting their lowest level since 1995, according to the region's biggest carmakers. Carmakers across the 27 EU countries saw 12.05 million new registrations last year, said the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association.
• 2013/01/14: CBC: Toyota surpasses GM as world's biggest car seller
  [...] The Japanese company sold 9.7 million cars and trucks worldwide in 2012, although it's still counting. GM sold 9.29 million.
• 2013/01/14: BBC: Volkswagen sales hit record high in 2012
  [...] The German carmaker sold 9.07 million cars last year, up 11% from 2011.
• 
  

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

   

• 2013/01/16: TreeHugger: IBS Home Gets LEED Points, But Misses the Green Point
  

  As for carbon sequestration:

• 2013/01/14: GEP: New Life for CCS in California?
• 2013/01/15: EurActiv: Brussels steers towards 'resolute' new CCS targets by 2014
  Europe's failing plans to encourage the burial of carbon dioxide emissions underground should be boosted by new laws for emissions performance standards or mandatory carbon capture and storage (CCS) certificates, according to a draft EU communication seen by EurActiv.
• 
  

  Large scale geo-engineering keeps popping up:

   

• 2013/01/: NAE: Offsetting Climate Change by Engineering Air Pollution to Brighten Clouds by Lynn M. Russell
• 2013/01/: NAE: Overview of Climate Engineering by Eli Kintisch
• 2012/02/21: WOL:D&C: (ab$) Geoengineering: Re-making Climate for Profit or Humanitarian Intervention? by Holly Jean Buck
• 2013/01/18: ACS:ES&T: (ab$) Passive Sequestration of Atmospheric CO2 through Coupled Plant-Mineral Reactions in Urban soils by David A. C. Manning & Phil Renforth
• 2013/01/18: OnCirc: Let's THINK about geo-engineering (Part One: Ocean Fertilization)
• 2013/01/10: ASP: The Risks of Geoengineering
• 2013/01/14: PSinclair: Could GeoEngineering Spawn Rogue Planet Hackers?
  

  What's new in conservation?

• 2013/01/17: TheConversation: Australia's new marine protected areas: why they won't work
• 2013/01/15: Eureka: In search of the big questions: Conserving the European Alps
  

  Meanwhile in the journals:

• 2013/01/: NAE: Offsetting Climate Change by Engineering Air Pollution to Brighten Clouds by Lynn M. Russell
• 2013/01/: NAE: Overview of Climate Engineering by Eli Kintisch
• 2013/01/15: PNAS: (ab$) Widespread horizontal transfer of retrotransposons by Ali Morton Walsh et al.
• 2013/01/15: PNAS: (ab$) Hydroxylamine as an intermediate in ammonia oxidation by globally abundant marine archaea by Neeraja Vajrala et al.
• 2013/01/15: PNAS: (abs) Recurrent jellyfish blooms are a consequence of global oscillations by Robert H. Condona et al.
• 2013/01/15: PNAS: (abs) Conversion of the Amazon rainforest to agriculture results in biotic homogenization of soil bacterial communities by Jorge L. M. Rodrigues et al.
• 2013/01/15: PNAS: (ab$) Impact of nitrogen deposition at the species level by Richard J. Payne et al.
• 2013/01/15: PNAS: (ab$) Global land and water grabbing by Maria Cristina Rulli et al.
• 2013/01/15: PNAS: (ab$) Hyperspectral remote sensing of foliar nitrogen content by Yuri Knyazikhin et al.
• 2013/01/17: ACP: Extreme C13 depletion of CCl2F2 in firn air samples from NEEM, Greenland by A. Zuiderweg et al.
• 2013/01/17: ACP: Interrelated variations of O3, CO and deep convection in the tropical/subtropical upper troposphere observed by the Aura Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) during 2004-2011 by N. J. Livesey et al.
• 2013/01/16: ACP: Summertime cyclones over the Great Lakes Storm Track from 1860-2100: variability, trends, and association with ozone pollution by A. J. Turner et al.
• 2013/01/16: ACP: The effects of recent control policies on trends in emissions of anthropogenic atmospheric pollutants and CO2 in China by Y. Zhao et al.
• 2013/01/15: ACP: Comparison of global 3-D aviation emissions datasets by S. C. Olsen et al.
• 2013/01/15: ACP: Regional and monthly and clear-sky aerosol direct radiative effect (and forcing) derived from the GlobAEROSOL-AATSR satellite aerosol product by G. E. Thomas et al.
• 2013/01/17: ACPD: Retrieving volcanic, desert dust, and sea-salt particle properties from two/three-component particle mixtures after long-range transport using UV-VIS polarization Lidar and T-matrix by G. David et al.
• 2013/01/16: ACPD: High concentrations of biological aerosol particles and ice nuclei during and after rain by J. A. Huffman et al.
• 2013/01/15: ACPD: Constraints on emissions of carbon monoxide, methane, and a suite of hydrocarbons in the Colorado Front Range using observations of 14CO2 by B. W. LaFranchi et al.
• 2013/01/16: PLoS One: Comparative Demography of an At-Risk African Elephant Population by George Wittemyer et al.
• 2013/01/15: Duke:JHPPL: Arrests of and Forced Interventions on Pregnant Women in the United States, 1973-2005: Implications for Women's Legal Status and Public Health by Lynn M. Paltrow & Jeanne Flavin
• 2012/02/21: WOL:D&C: (ab$) Geoengineering: Re-making Climate for Profit or Humanitarian Intervention? by Holly Jean Buck
• 2013/01/18: ACS:ES&T: (ab$) Passive Sequestration of Atmospheric CO2 through Coupled Plant-Mineral Reactions in Urban soils by David A. C. Manning & Phil Renforth
• 2013/01/16: ESD: Excitation of equatorial Kelvin and Yanai waves by tropical cyclones in an ocean general circulation model by R. L. Sriver et al.
• 2013/01/16: CP: Climate, people, fire and vegetation: new insights into vegetation dynamics in the Eastern Mediterranean since the 1st century AD by J. Bakker et al.
• 2013/01/14: CP: An underestimated record breaking event - why summer 1540 was likely warmer than 2003 by O. Wetter & C. Pfister
• 2013/01/18: CPD: Petrophysical characterization of the lacustrine sediment succession drilled in Lake El'gygytgyn, Far East Russian Arctic by A. C. Gebhardt et al.
• 2013/01/18: CPD: A Last Glacial Maximum World-Ocean simulation at eddy-permitting resolution - Part 2: Confronting the paleo-proxy data by M. Ballarotta et al.
• 2013/01/18: CPD: A Last Glacial Maximum world-ocean simulation at eddy-permitting resolution - Part 1: Experimental design and basic evaluation by M. Ballarotta et al.
• 2013/01/17: CPD: The effect of precipitation seasonality on Eemian ice core isotope records from Greenland by W. J. van de Berg et al.
• 2013/01/15: CPD: Vegetation responses to interglacial warming in the Arctic, examples from Lake El'gygytgyn, northeast Siberia by A. V. Lozhkin & P. M. Anderson
• 2013/01/14: CPD: Multivariate statistic and time series analyses of grain-size data in Quaternary sediments of Lake El'gygytgyn, NE Russia by A. Francke et al.
• 2013/01/14: ACS: (ab$) Source signature of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from oil and natural gas operations in northeastern Colorado by Jessica B. Gilman et al.
• 2013/01/18: Science: (ab$) Essential Biodiversity Variables by H. M. Pereira et al.
• 2013/01/17: Science: (ab$) InP Nanowire Array Solar Cells Achieving 13.8% Efficiency by Exceeding the Ray Optics Limit by Jesper Wallentin et al.
• 2013/01/14: NERC:NORA: Behavioural mapping of a pelagic seabird: combining multiple sensors and a hidden Markov model reveals the distribution of at-sea behaviour by Ben Dean et al.
• 2013/01/18: ACP: Assessment of the Level-3 MODIS daily aerosol optical depth in the context of surface solar radiation and numerical weather modeling by J. A. Ruiz-Arias et al.
• 2013/01/18: ACP: Stratospheric impact on tropospheric ozone variability and trends: 1990-2009 by P. G. Hess & R. Zbinden
• 2013/01/17: GMD: Performance of McRAS-AC in the GEOS-5 AGCM: aerosol-cloud-microphysics, precipitation, cloud radiative effects, and circulation by Y. C. Sud et al.
• 2013/01/18: GMDD: PRACTISE - Photo Rectification And ClassificaTIon SoftwarE (V.1.0) by S. Härer et al.
• 2013/01/18: GMDD: Evaluation of WRF-SFIRE performance with field observations from the FireFlux experiment by A. K. Kochanski et al.
• 2013/01/17: GMDD: The ICON-1.2 hydrostatic atmospheric dynamical core on triangular grids - Part 1: Formulation and performance of the baseline version by H. Wan et al.
• 2013/01/17: OS: Evaluation of global monitoring and forecasting systems at Mercator Océan by J.-M. Lellouche et al.
• 2013/01/16: OS: Toward a multivariate reanalysis of the North Atlantic Ocean biogeochemistry during 1998-2006 based on the assimilation of SeaWiFS chlorophyll data by C. Fontana et al.
• 2013/01/17: OSD: Combining in-situ measurements and altimetry to estimate volume, heat and salt transport variability through the Faroe Shetland Channel by B. Berx et al.
• 2013/01/16: TCD: North Atlantic warming and declining volume of arctic sea ice by V. A. Alexeev et al.
• 2013/01/17: Nature:SR: (ab$) A sclerite-bearing stem group entoproct from the early Cambrian and its implications by Zhifei Zhang et al.
• 2013/01/15: WOL:JGR-A: (ab$) Bounding the role of black carbon in the climate system: A scientific assessment by T. C. Bond et al.
• 2013/01/15: OS: Assimilation of sea-ice concentration in a global climate model - physical and statistical aspects by S. Tietsche et al.
• 2013/01/15: OSD: NEMO on the shelf: assessment of the Iberia-Biscay-Ireland configuration by C. Maraldi et al.
• 2013/01/15: TC: Climatic drivers of seasonal glacier mass balances: an analysis of 6 decades at Glacier de Sarennes (French Alps) by E. Thibert et al.
• 2013/01/15: AGWObserver: Papers on the Anthropocene
• 2012/12/20: PLoS One: Future Climate Change Will Favour Non-Specialist Mammals in the (Sub)Arctics by Anouschka R. Hof et al.
• 2013/01/13: Nature:GeoSci: (ab$) Atlantic Ocean CO2 uptake reduced by weakening of the meridional overturning circulation by Fiz F. Pérez et al.
• 2013/01/13: Nature:GeoSci: (ab$) Links between the East Asian monsoon and North Atlantic climate during the 8,200 year event by Y-H. Liu et al.
• 2013/01/13: Nature:GeoSci: (ab$) Enhanced seasonal forecast skill following stratospheric sudden warmings by M. Sigmond et al.
• 2013/01/13: Nature:GeoSci: (ab$) Atmospheric iodine levels influenced by sea surface emissions of inorganic iodine by Lucy J. Carpenter et al.
• 2013/01/13: Nature:CC: (ab$) Projected changes in wave climate from a multi-model ensemble by Mark A. Hemer et al.
• 2013/01/13: Nature:CC: (ab$) A global assessment of the effects of climate policy on the impacts of climate change by N. W. Arnell et al.
  

  And other significant documents:

• 2013/01/17: CCPA: [link to 1.83 meg pdf] The Petro-Path Not Taken by Bruce Campbell
  Comparing Norway with Canada and Alberta's Management of Petroleum Wealth
• 2013/01/: SSN: [1.4 meg pdf] Cap and Trade Report by Theda Skocpol
• 2013/01/17: PI: [link to 890k pdf] The climate implications of the proposed Keystone XL oilsands pipeline
• 2013/01/04: NebraskaDEQ: [links to several pdfs] Keystone XL Pipeline Evaluation - Final Evaluation Report
  

  As for miscellaneous science:

• 2013/01/16: NASA: PODEX Experiment to Reshape Future of Atmospheric Science
• 2013/01/16: VoxEU: Moving to Greenland in the face of global warming by Klaus Desmet & Esteban Rossi-Hansberg
  There are two ways to deal with climate change: mitigation and adaptation. This column argues that in order to adapt, we need to take another look at an age-old coping mechanism: migration. Indeed, if overall hotter temperatures lower productivity in hot regions but raise productivity in what are currently cooler regions, the negative economic effects of climate change are likely to stem from frictions preventing the movement of people and goods. Without these frictions, adapting to climate change becomes that much easier. Climate change policy ought to aim at alleviating mobility frictions.
• 2013/01/13: Eureka: New study reveals gas that triggers ozone destruction
• 2013/01/13: EarlyWarning: CO2 Concentration in "Panic and Repent" Scenarios
  

  What developments in the ongoing struggle for Open Science?

• 2013/01/18: viXra: The Dark Side of Open Access
• 2013/01/18: NatureN: Mathematicians aim to take publishers out of publishing
  Episciences Project to launch series of community-run, open-access journals. Mathematicians plan to launch a series of free open-access journals that will host their peer-reviewed articles on the preprint server arXiv. The project was publicly revealed yesterday in a blog post by Tim Gowers, a Fields Medal winner and mathematician at the University of Cambridge, UK. The initiative, called the Episciences Project, hopes to show that researchers can organize the peer review and publication of their work at minimal cost, without involving commercial publishers.
• 2013/01/16: TGowers: Why I've also joined the good guys
• 2013/01/17: ABC(Au):TDU: Open access research: you should get what you pay for
  Tax-payer funded research is just that: funded by the taxpayers. But the outcomes of that research are conveyed through papers in academic journals that cost money to access. Why can't the public view these papers for free?
• 2013/01/18: al Jazeera: The political consequences of academic paywalls
  Academic paywalls unwittingly benefit oppressive regimes - at society's expense. The suicide of Aaron Swartz, the activist committed to making scholarly research accessible to everyone, has renewed debate about the ethics of academic publishing. Under the current system, academic research is housed in scholarly databases, which charge as much as $50 per article to those without a university affiliation. The only people who profit from this system are academic publishers. Scholars receive no money from the sale of their articles, and are marginalized by a public who cannot afford to read their work. Ordinary people are denied access to information and prohibited from engaging in scholarly debate.
• 2013/01/15: P3: Aaron Swartz, 1986-2013
• 2008/07/: Archive: Guerilla Open Access Manifesto by Aaron Swartz
• 2013/01/14: RWER: Open access, JSTORE, 35 years in prison, and a suicide
• 2013/01/14: al Jazeera: Academic paywalls mean publish and perish
  Academic publishing is structured on exclusivity, and to read them people must shell out an average of $19 per article.
• 
  

  Regarding Hansen:

   

• 2013/01/15: CCP: James Hansen: Remarks at the Whitehouse on January 15, 2013
• 2013/01/15: ArcticNews: Remarks at the White House - by James Hansen
  

  Regarding Mann:

• 2013/01/18: ERabett: Eli Has Been Asked
  

  The Pielke fan clubbe, alas:

• 2013/01/16: ERabett: 'Bout What Ethon Expected
  

  And on the carbon trading front:

• 2013/01/17: EurActiv: Hedegaard: Carbon plan needs German backing
  A European Commission plan to reduce a glut of carbon emissions allowances, which are trading close to record lows, can pass provided it gets German support, EU Climate Commissioner Connie Hedegaard said.
• 2013/01/17: RTCC: China to launch seven carbon trading schemes by 2014
• 2013/01/14: RTCC: Kazakhstan and Croatia join world's carbon trading schemes
• 2013/01/15: TheConversation: Carbon trading in the Asian Century: China's ETS on track
  

  The idea of a carbon tax is still bouncing around:

• 2013/01/15: Rabble:ML: Next steps for B.C.'s carbon tax in 2013
• 2013/01/14: PEF: What's next for BC's carbon tax?
• 2013/01/14: PSinclair: So, We're All on the Same page Then? Marin County, Exxon and the Washington Post Support Carbon Tax
• 2013/01/14: TP:JR: A Sweltering Planet's Agenda: Washington Post Editorial Board Calls For Carbon Tax
• 2013/01/13: QuarkSoup: Carbon Tax: Australian's Losing Interest?
  

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

• 2013/01/18: al Jazeera: No deal in Iran-IAEA talks
  New meeting scheduled for February 12 after talks between Tehran and UN atomic agency falter.
• 2013/01/18: BBerg: UN Atomic Inspectors, Iran Fail to Bridge Differences
  United Nations atomic inspectors returned from Tehran without a deal after two days of negotiations with Iranian officials over broader access to suspected nuclear sites. Iran refused to let the International Atomic Energy Agency team visit the Parchin military complex, where intelligence given to the IAEA suggests nuclear work took place, said chief inspector Herman Nackaerts. The sides will meet again on Feb. 12, he said, without providing more details.
• 2013/01/13: Guardian(UK): How life-saving drugs are caught up in Iranian sanctions
  The US and EU's explicit exemptions and waivers linked into the sanctions legislation are not working
• 
  

  South [& East] China Sea tension persists:

   

• 2013/01/20: al Jazeera: Japan warns China over 'airspace violations'
  Tokyo's warning comes as China rebukes US for opposing actions that "undermine" Japan's administration of islands.
• 2013/01/18: CNN: Former Japanese prime minister slammed as 'traitor' at home
  Hatoyama contradicts Japan's position of indisputable territorial sovereignty over islands - Japan calls disputed islands Senkaku; China claims them as "Diaoyu" - Hatoyama and his wife visited the Nanjing Memorial for victims of 1937 massacre - Chinese media covered extensively his "apology for Japan's wartime crimes"
• 2013/01/17: Asia Times: US pivot sparks Asian arms race
• 2013/01/17: DerSpiegel: Atavistic Abe: Japan's PM Courts Old Dangers
  Japan's once and current prime minister, Shinzo Abe, is determined to restore his country to its former greatness. Apart from focusing on its ailing economy, the nationalist leader is talking tough with its much stronger neighbors.
• 2013/01/15: al Jazeera: US and Japan carry out joint air exercises
  Drill over Pacific waters staged amid renewed tensions between Japan and China over disputed East China Sea islands.
• 2013/01/15: BBC: China 'to survey disputed East China Sea islands'
  China says it is to conduct a survey of disputed East China Sea islands, amid a bitter diplomatic row with Japan.
• 
  

  Now that the EU-ETS for airlines is in year long limbo, will it ever be realized?

   

• 2013/01/15: CSM: US-Europe fight over airline emissions could help talks on climate change
  

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

• 2013/01/18: DD: Dietary shifts driving up phosphorus use - World phosphorus footprint increased 38 percent since 1960s
• 2013/01/15: Yahoo:AP: Official: Rare-earth elements in Jamaica's red mud
• 2013/01/15: EurActiv: Greenland rejects EU request to limit rare earths exports
  Greenland's prime minister said on Monday (14 January) he has rejected requests from the European Union to block access to its deposits of rare earths, strategically important metals in which China has a near monopoly.
• 2013/01/10: TD: The Next Oil?: Rare Earth Metals
  

  Climate Change is a threat multiplier exacerbating existing conflicts in food, energy, water, race, ideology ... etc.:

• 2013/01/14: SciNews: Cold spells were dark times in Eastern Europe -- Cooler periods coincided with conflicts and disease outbreaks
  

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

• 2013/01/17: ABC(Au): North coast police defend CSG role
  An assistant police commissioner is denying suggestions local officers are be used as a defacto security service for coal seam gas companies.
• 2013/01/17: ABC(Au): Anti-logging protesters face crack-down
  The Victorian Government has announced a crack-down on protesters who trespass in operating logging coupes. It has introduced new "public safety zones" within 150 metres of logging coupes, and will charge people who enter the zones without permission.
• 2013/01/16: ABC(Au): Police defend removal of child CSG protester
  Police on the north coast are denying accusations they dragged a 10-year-old girl away from a coal seam gas protest site.
• 2013/01/14: PostMedia: Five climate change protesters charged with trespassing after crashing Vancouver Enbridge hearing -- Three men and two women have been taken to a city jail.
  

  Polls! We have polls!

• 2013/01/16: Reuters: As "Roe v. Wade" turns 40, most oppose reversing abortion ruling
• 2013/01/15: Grist: Broad support and $1 will get a pol a cup of coffee
  

  Regarding Water Politics and Business:

• 2013/01/18: UCSUSA:B: Drought Pits Big River against Big Ag
• 2013/01/18: JFleck: OMG, we're running out of water!
• 2013/01/17: BBC: China leads on watershed protection investment
  China is the leading nation in terms of global investment in protecting natural watersheds, an assessment has found. The report's authors said water insecurity was probably "the single biggest risk to the country's continued economic growth". Globally, US$8.17bn (£5.07bn) was spent in 2011 on projects to protect areas that provided drinking water and supplies, the assessment reported. The review was produced by US-based NGO Forest Trends' Ecosystems Marketplace.
• 2013/01/16: ABC(Au): WWF calls for Mekong River dam halt
• 2013/01/16: NatureNB: $10 billion pipeline linking Red Sea to Dead Sea is 'feasible', says World Bank
• 2013/01/15: CCurrents: The Global Problem Of River Water Salinity
• 2013/01/15: DD: New water lows for Great Lakes could drain local economies - 'In years past, there was always a buffer. That buffer's gone.'
• 2013/01/14: KWCH: Wichita officials recommend water restrictions for citizens
• 2013/01/14: DD: As Texas bakes in a long drought, water becomes a focus for legislators
• 2013/01/13: JFleck: Draining the Colorado River's reservoirs, 2013 edition
• 2013/01/14: LoE: The future is already here
  

  Among the world's religions:

• 2013/01/17: CCP: Religion and Science at a Climate Protest
• 2013/01/16: TP:JR: Interfaith "Pray-In" Honors Dr King's Birthday With Demand for White House Leadership on Climate
• 2013/01/18: CleanBreak: Could "switchable salts" be a game-changer for desalination market?
  

  Regarding science education:

• 2013/01/18: SEasterbrook: Notes for a high school student
• 2013/01/15: RealClimate: What to study?
  

  And on the American political front:

• 2013/01/16: QuarkSoup: Rick Perry: Praying Yet Again
• 2013/01/16: Grist: The road forward from cap-and-trade
• 2013/01/18: TheHill:e2W: Obama allies Browner, Podesta now oppose Arctic drilling
• 2013/01/19: TP:JR: Despite Conservative Attacks, States Continue to Realize the Benefits of Renewable Energy Standards
• 2013/01/17: NYT:PK: On the Non-equivalence of Greenhouse Gases and Entitlement Spending
• 2013/01/17: BRitholtz: Global Warming Debate is No Debate At All
  Funny thing happens sometimes when you look at who the witnesses are in a public policy debate . . .
• 2013/01/16: TMoS: Records Upon Records
• 2013/01/16: ERabett: News from the North
• 2013/01/16: AutoBG: Virginia's Gov. McDonnell proposes elimination of gasoline tax
• 2013/01/15: TP: Virginia Waters Down Report On Impacts Of Climate Change After Tea Party Complaints
• 2013/01/14: Grist: Beyond baby steps: Analyzing the [US Congress' failure to pass a climate bill] [McKibben]
• 2013/01/15: Eureka: Federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program use grows in 2011 -- 13 percent of all households relied on former food stamps program
• 2013/01/14: CCP: Join Mark Ruffalo: Sign [WhiteHouse] petition for Declaration of War on Climate Change
• 2013/01/14: DD: As Texas bakes in a long drought, water becomes a focus for legislators
  

  Post-Sandy commentary and news:

• 2013/01/16: FDL: House Passes Sandy Relief Bill Despite Republican Opposition
• 2013/01/16: NatureNB: Hurricane Sandy relief bill clears first barrier, stirs debate
• 2013/01/16: al Jazeera: US House approves Sandy aid package
  Lawmakers passed a long-delayed $50.4bn disaster relief package for victims of last year's superstorm Sandy.
• 2013/01/15: TP:JR: House Passes $50 Billion in Sandy Aid Over GOP Opposition
• 2013/01/15: TP:JR: Fuggedaboutit: No Climate Change Questions For Chris Christie During Interview Blitz On Superstorm Sandy
• 2013/01/15: BBC: US House approves Sandy aid package of $51bn
• 2013/01/15: HillHeat: GOP 'Jackasses' Line Up Series of Votes Against Sandy Survivors
• 2013/01/14: Grist: Why New York's Sandy commission recommendations matter
• 2013/01/15: CBC: Hurricane Sandy aid faces amendments by U.S. budget hawks -- House vote expected Tuesday afternoon
• 2013/01/14: WSWS: Columbia geophysicist Klaus Jacob on Hurricane Sandy - "Disasters always amplify pre-existing inequities"
  

  The Keystone XL saga grinds slowly. And it grinds woe:

• 2013/01/04: NebraskaDEQ: [links to several pdfs] Keystone XL Pipeline Evaluation - Final Evaluation Report
• 2013/01/17: PI: [link to 890k pdf] The climate implications of the proposed Keystone XL oilsands pipeline
• 2013/01/17: PI:B: Climate concerns are key in Keystone XL pipeline debate
• 2013/01/17: CSM: Keystone XL pipeline, global warming on Obama's energy agenda
• 2013/01/17: CBC: Keystone XL pipeline opponents ramp up U.S. campaign -- U.S. environmental report on northern leg of pipeline expected soon
• 2013/01/18: CSM: Keystone XL pipeline: Could blocking it be bad for the environment?
• 2013/01/16: CEP: CEP President to Oppose Keystone XL in New York City
• 2013/01/18: CBC: John Kerry owns stock in Canadian pro-Keystone XL firms -- Environmentalists urge Kerry to divest stocks in Sunco, Cenovus Energy
• 2013/01/17: LoE: What the Keystone XL people don't want you to know
• 2013/01/17: TP:JR: New Analysis Shows Simple Math: Keystone XL Pipeline = Tar Sands Expansion = Accelerated Climate Change
• 2013/01/17: CBC: Sask. premier urges Obama to approve Keystone XL -- 10 Republican governors sign Brad Wall's letter
• 2013/01/15: G&M: Environmental groups redouble efforts to block U.S. Keystone expansion
• 2013/01/16: OilChange: New Research to Reveal Full Climatic Impact of KXL
• 2013/01/15: CCP: Nation's Top Climate Scientists Urge President Obama to Reject Keystone XL Pipeline
• 2013/01/15: CSW: Scientists call on President to reject the Keystone XL pipeline
• 2013/01/15: TP:JR: Top Climate Scientists Urge Obama To Reject Keystone XL Pipeline, Warn Approval Would 'Undermine Your Legacy'
• 2013/01/15: TP:JR: An Open Letter To President Obama: The Time On The Doomsday Clock Is Five Minutes To Midnight
• 2013/01/14: ICN: Report Fails to Settle Concerns Over Oil Spill Risk to Ogallala Aquifer
  A thorough and adequate study of the impacts has not been done, a scientist says; it's a rigorous and comprehensive review, says TransCanada's CEO.
• 
  

  With the deficit hawks panicking about the fiscal cliff, there has been talk of a carbon tax solution:

   

• 2013/01/14: PSinclair: So, We're All on the Same page Then? Marin County, Exxon and the Washington Post Support Carbon Tax
• 2013/01/14: TP:JR: A Sweltering Planet's Agenda: Washington Post Editorial Board Calls For Carbon Tax
  

  The GOP War on Women continues. See also:

• 2013/01/16: Reuters: As "Roe v. Wade" turns 40, most oppose reversing abortion ruling
  Most Americans remain opposed to overturning the controversial Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade, which 40 years ago legalized abortion at least in the first three months of pregnancy, according to a poll released Wednesday.
• 2013/01/18: DemNow: Criminalizing Pregnancy: As Roe v. Wade Turns 40, Study Finds Forced Interventions on Pregnant Women
• 2013/01/19: MSNBC:RM: TRMS special report: What 'Roe' means now
  [...]
  There are four states in this country where there is only one abortion clinic in the whole state, including Mississippi, which is facing the prospect of becoming the first state where abortion access is, effectively, gone.
• 2013/01/15: Guardian(UK): Study finds widespread 'criminalisation of pregnancy' in US institutions [ipat]
• 2013/01/15: Wonkette: Yes Virginia, You Elected These Idiot GOP Legislators
• 2013/01/14: SciAm:SS: Gingrey is a bad doctor, says science
• 2013/01/11: RealityCheck: Jamie Lynn Russell: One Pregnant Woman's Tragic Death Reveals the Human Cost of Devaluing Women [ipat]
• 2013/01/14: Guardian(UK): Planned Parenthood moves away from 'pro-choice' label amid abortion debate
  

  There was lots of chatter about the Theda Skocpol paper analyzing the US failure to pass a climate bill:

• 2013/01/: SSN: [1.4 meg pdf] Cap and Trade Report by Theda Skocpol
• 2013/01/19: PSinclair: The Weekend Wonk: Romm on Why Climate Legislation Stalled
• 2013/01/18: TP:JR: What Theda Skocpol Gets Wrong About The Climate Bill Fight
• 2013/01/18: Grist: Why the climate bill failed: It's not that simple
• 2013/01/17: Grist: If you want to pass climate legislation, fix U.S. politics
• 2013/01/17: PSinclair: Dave Roberts: The Way Through Climate Politics
• 2013/01/17: Guardian(UK): US environmentalists challenged to get climate change laws through Congress
• 2013/01/16: DeSmogBlog: Harvard Report [by Theda Skocpol] Sets Path Towards US Climate Change Law
• 2013/01/15: Grist: What Theda Skocpol gets right about the cap-and-trade fight
• 2013/01/14: Guardian(UK): Climate change inaction the fault of environmental groups, report says
  Academic paper [by Theda Skocpol] largely clears President Obama of blame over failure to pass climate legislation through Congress
• 
  

  This week it is NASA and NOAA releasing a year end heat report:

   

• 2013/01/19: CSW: Release of National Climate Assessment review draft: Roundup of media coverge
• 2013/01/17: CCurrents: 2012: 9th Warmest Year Since 1880, Find NASA Scientists
• 2013/01/16: Guardian(UK): 2012 among the 10 warmest years on record, figures show
  NASA and NOAA scientists say 2012 global temperature records further consolidate a pattern of global warming
• 2013/01/15: TP:JR: NOAA And NASA: 2012 Warmest 'La Niña Year' On Record, Sustaining Long-Term Climate Warming Trend
• 2013/01/15: EnvEcon: How you feeling? (Hot hot hot)
• 2013/01/15: SciNow: It's Official ... Last Year Was One of the Warmest on Record
• 2013/01/: NOAA:NCDC: State of the Climate Global Analysis Annual 2012
• 2013/01/15: Wunderground: 2012: Earth's 10th warmest year on record, and warmest with a La Niña
• 2013/01/15: CCP: NOAA: 2012 global temperatures 10th highest on record
• 2013/01/15: NASA: NASA Finds 2012 Sustained Long-Term Climate Warming Trend
• 2013/01/15: BBC: US scientists say that 2012 was among the 10 warmest years the world has experienced since 1880
• 2013/01/15: BBerg: 2012 Was One of Earth's 10 Warmest Years, NOAA and NASA Say
• 2013/01/11: ArsTechnica: False balance: Fox News demands a recount on US' warmest year
  

  Still a lot of chatter about the NCADAC report:

• 2013/01/18: Eureka: Climate change to profoundly affect the Midwest in coming decades
• 2013/01/17: DeSmogBlog: National Climate Assessment Delivers Dire Warning On Climate Threat
• 2013/01/16: TP:JR: Beltway Heat: Sweltering Summers To Become The Norm For Nation's Capital, According To New Climate Report [NCA]
• 2013/01/15: KSJT: US Nat'l Climate Assessment draft has no good news. Unless making Fox News look bad counts as good.
• 2013/01/15: TreeHugger: Wake-up Call Climate Report from U.S. Government Made Public
• 2013/01/14: Grist: The 32 most alarming charts from the government's climate change report
• 2013/01/15: Impolitical: Worthwhile American initiative
• 2013/01/14: TMoS: What Lies in Store for Our Neighbours to the South
• 2013/01/14: GLaden: An Assessment of Climate Under Global Warming
  

  Cuccinelli, ALEC and such like are doing their petro-masters bidding and trying to eliminate the competition:

• 2013/01/16: MediaMatters: Media Ignore VA Attorney General's Conflict Of Interest In Energy Proposal
• 2013/01/17: PSinclair: Tea Party on the Attack Against Renewable Standards
• 2013/01/16: CCP: Corrupt Climate Denier Cuccinelli in cahoots with ALEC and Dominion Power want to repeal Virginia's clean energy law
• 2013/01/16: Grist: Virginia AG Cuccinelli leads charge to yank renewable energy credits
• 2013/01/15: DeSmogBlog: ALEC to Attack North Carolina Renewable Energy Initiatives
  

  Now that Obama doesn't need their votes any more, how will he treat liberals and their policy issues?

• 2013/01/18: NatureNB: Obama's environmental team makes for the exit
• 2013/01/17: RStone: Obama's Climate Challenge
  As America wakes up to the dangers ahead, the president has a historic opportunity to take bold action on global warming
• 2013/01/17: UCSUSA:B: Obama's Climate Legacy
  

  The actions of the Obama administration are being watched closely:

• 2013/01/17: ICN: Wyoming Gov. Disappointed by EPA Delay in Pavillion Groundwater Pollution Report
• 2013/01/17: Grist: EPA drops methane inquiry to keep oil company happy
• 2013/01/16: ScienceInsider: USGS Director Marcia McNutt: 'We're Happy That We Don't Make Headlines'
• 2013/01/16: Yahoo:AP: EPA changed course after oil company protested
  When a man in a Fort Worth suburb reported his family's drinking water had begun bubbling like champagne, the federal government sounded an alarm: An oil company may have tainted their wells while drilling for natural gas. At first, the Environmental Protection Agency believed the situation was so serious that it issued a rare emergency order in late 2010 that said at least two homeowners were in immediate danger from a well saturated with flammable methane. More than a year later, the agency rescinded its mandate and refused to explain why. Now a confidential report obtained by The Associated Press and interviews with company representatives show that the EPA had scientific evidence against the driller, Range Resources, but changed course after the company threatened not to cooperate with a national study into a common form of drilling called hydraulic fracturing. Regulators set aside an analysis that concluded the drilling could have been to blame for the contamination.
• 2013/01/16: CCP: Obama EPA Shut Down Weatherford, TX, Shale Gas Water Contamination Study
• 2013/01/16: DeSmogBlog: Obama EPA Shut Down Weatherford, TX Shale Gas Water Contamination Study
• 2013/01/16: StLToday: Feds withdraw new furnace efficiency standards
• 2013/01/15: TP:JR: DOE Caves On Natural Gas Efficiency, Costing Consumers $10 Billion Plus 100 Million Tons Of Needless Carbon Pollution
  The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has just retreated on important new energy efficiency standards for natural gas furnaces that were scheduled to go into effect in May...
• 2013/01/16: ABC(US): EPA reversed course on tainted Texas water wells after gas company protested
• 2013/01/17: EneNews: Homeland Security: 2 U.S. power plants victim of cyber attack - Reports: Occurring at alarming rate... "Reminiscent of Stuxnet"
  [...] The energy sector was the target of more than 40 percent of all reported cyberattacks on critical infrastructure networks last year...
• 2013/01/17: CCP: Dir. USGS Dr. McNutt says US East Coast cities are sitting ducks for super storms
• 2013/01/16: ScienceInsider: Marcia McNutt Leaving as USGS Director
• 2013/01/16: NOAANews: NOAA gives $3.5 million to help two states address effects of climate change -- Smaller grants given to encourage federal, state, local collaboration
• 2013/01/15: NOAA: NOAA issues new call for nominations for International Pacific Halibut Commission seats
• 2013/01/14: NOAANews: NOAA deploys high-tech plane to improve winter storm forecasts
  

  As for what is going on in Congress:

• 2013/01/18: TP:JR: House Science Chair's First Action Is To Hold A Climate Change Denier Hearing
• 2013/01/15: Grist: New GOP House Science committee chair to hold totally objective climate hearings
  

  While in the UK:

• 2013/01/17: CCP: UK Government response to Environmental Audit Committee based on non-existing observations, says AMEG
• 2013/01/16: EurActiv: UK seeks to water down Arctic oil drilling proposals
  The UK government is seeking to water down planned EU regulations on deep-sea oil drilling, even while insisting to MPs that it wants "robust environmental protection" for oil drilling in the Arctic. In leaked EU documents seen by the Guardian, the UK has sought to change proposals that could prevent oil and gas drilling operations that would leave fragile areas vulnerable. The UK is insisting that this clause be removed, because "oil spills may be effectively dispersed by wind and wave action and this is in itself one form of effective response".
• 2013/01/15: Guardian(UK): UK seeks to water down Arctic oil drilling proposals
  Leaked documents reveal the government has sought to change proposals that could prevent deepsea drilling operations
• 2013/01/15: BizGreen: MPs slam Cameron for failing to protect Arctic from oil spill risk
• 2013/01/15: Guardian(UK): Ed Davey: UK companies support decarbonising target
• 2013/01/15: OilChange: Despite Shell's "Epic Failure", UK Backs Arctic Drilling
• 2013/01/15: BBC: Refusal over Arctic drilling ban
  The UK government has refused to support a moratorium on Arctic drilling, despite new concerns after the grounding of a Shell oil rig.
• 
  

  And in Europe:

   

• 2013/01/18: EurActiv: Green cars legislation faces 'dilution', says Irish presidency
  Tough new EU carbon dioxide emissions targets for cars are facing "dilution" due to heavy pushback from member states with strong auto-industry lobbies, such as Germany, according to an Irish presidency source, who was speaking on condition of anonymity at a press briefing on 16 January.
• 2013/01/18: EurActiv: EU fallow farmland goal 'absurd', says German minister
  Germany's agriculture minister described as "absurd" the European Commission's proposals to keep 7% of EU farmland fallow for environmental reasons and she urged it to reconsider.
• 2013/01/18: EurActiv: UN official: The EU should consider the global impact of its farm policy
  A UN rights official is urging the European Parliament to require that the EU monitor how Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) subsidies and other support for growers affect farmers in developing nations.
• 2013/01/18: TP:JR: New Report Calls On Europe To Meet Its 2020 Transport Fuel Standards Without Reliance On Biofuels
• 2013/01/17: EurActiv: Ukraine readies giant shale gas deal with Shell
  Ukraine took a step closer to a breakthrough shale gas deal with global energy major Royal Dutch Shell when local authorities in the eastern Donetsk region approved a planned production sharing agreement. Ukraine, which hopes its big shale gas reserves will help end reliance on costly imports of Russian natural gas, chose Shell last May as a partner to develop the Yuzivska shale gas field. Deputies of the Donetsk regional council voted to approve the deal with Shell, removing one of the final hurdles to an agreement. Ukraine is said to have Europe's third-largest shale gas reserves at 1.2 trillion cubic metres behind those of France and Norway, according to the US Energy Information Administration.
• 2013/01/16: EUO: Energy efficiency report based on outdated studies
  Tuesday's EUobserver article "No benefits from EU energy projects for 150 years" seems to imply that energy efficiency projects are a waste of money. CAN Europe would rather the article focused on the real problem: the lack of oversight on the types of projects that received EU funding during the study period. There are many examples of energy efficiency projects in the EU with pay-back periods as short as 6 years, such as one audited social housing project in Lubeck, Germany. Clearly this time frame is much shorter than the 150 years cited in the EUobserver headline. This project, however, did not receive EU funding. The studies cited in the European Court of Auditors (ECA) report were performed on projects that were developed more than a decade ago, long before the existence of coherent EU energy efficiency policy.
• 2013/01/16: BBerg: Merkel's Offshore Wind-Power Dream for Germany Stalls
  RWE AG (RWE) is delaying investments. SIAG Nordseewerke GmbH filed for insolvency. REpower Systems SE is cutting temporary staff. All show how German Chancellor Angela Merkel's 550 billion-euro ($734 billion) plan to replace nuclear reactors with renewable sources is stalling. About 700 workers demonstrated in Hanover last week calling for more support from Merkel to the offshore wind industry. Her 2011 plan to shutter atomic plants and add sea-based wind farms that could cover an area six times the size of New York City remains bogged down amid wrangling over financial risk-sharing and upgrading the transmission grid. "It's a chaotic standstill," Claudia Kemfert, who heads the energy unit at the Berlin-based DIW economic institute and advises the government, said in an interview. "Actions have failed to live up to promises."
• 2013/01/15: MLynas: Germany's 'Energiewende' - the story so far
• 2013/01/15: Guardian(UK): François Hollande: invest in renewable energy to avert 'catastrophe'
• 2013/01/15: EurActiv: EU to revive debate on minimum energy tax levels
  EU officials are to debate a new set of tax proposals to promote clean fuel and erode fiscal advantages that have made diesel relatively cheap, a document seen by Reuters showed. The Commission has long been seeking to change energy taxation, but some member states have repeatedly thwarted progress and are likely to continue to do so.
• 2013/01/15: EurActiv: Bulk of EU energy efficiency funds misused, says auditor
  Only 10% of EU cohesion funds earmarked for energy efficiency - in total worth E5 billion - are being used correctly, an author of a report by the European Court of Auditors (ECA) announced yesterday (14 January). Harald Wögerbauer, the court member responsible for the report, said in a statement: "Member states were essentially using this money to refurbish public buildings while energy efficiency was, at best, a secondary concern."
• 2013/01/15: EUO: EU energy projects: no benefit for 150 years
  EU energy efficiency projects in member states are too expensive and have little environmental benefit, says a new report by the European Court of Auditors (ECA). The study, released on Monday (14 January), found that money spent to cut energy expenditure in public buildings will not show any benefits for 50 years. In some cases, the benefits will not be felt for 150 years - long after the lifespan of certain components like windows would have expired.
• 2013/01/14: NatureNB: European Food Authority to open up GMO data
• 2013/01/14: BBC: EU auditors criticise energy efficiency projects
  An audit has found that EU-funded energy efficiency projects are not cost-effective in EU member states. The projects examined by the Court of Auditors were in the Czech Republic, Italy and Lithuania. Those countries received the most EU funding for such projects in 2007-2013. National authorities used the funds to refurbish buildings, but the spending would not be recouped for 50 years on average, the report said.
• 
  

  Meanwhile in Australia:

   

• 2013/01/19: AIMN: An Abbott in the Lodge - Never
• 2013/01/19: UKISS: Never - the persona of the leader of the Opposition
• 2013/01/19: PlanetJ: It's high time we talked about coal
• 2013/01/18: ABC(Au):TDU: Who pays for pollution: socialist undertones in carbon price opposition
  By looking at the basic capitalist ideology of personal responsibility, Adam McHugh considers the debate around the pricing of carbon emissions.
• 2013/01/17: ABC(Au): Taskforce names regions most at risk of coastal inundation
  The National Seachange Taskforce says coastal communities between Mackay and the Gold Coast are the most at risk in Queensland from predicted sea level rises.
• 2013/01/17: WSWS: New Australian Greens platform marks further rightward shift
• 2013/01/17: ABC(Au): Eleventh hour attempt to stop mega coal mine [Xstrata's Wandoan]
• 2013/01/17: ABC(Au): Farmers in last-ditch bid to stop $7bn Xstrata mine
  A group of Queensland farming families is launching a last-ditch effort to stop the southern hemisphere's biggest coal mine being built on their land. The battle over Xstrata's Wandoan project will reach the Supreme Court later this month, when the farmers will argue the State Government should never have approved the mine.
• 2013/01/17: ABC(Au): Burke warns of potential for [Tasmanian] forest deal collapse
  The Federal Environment Minister has interrupted his holidays to travel to Hobart and warn Legislative Councillors the forest peace deal could collapse if it is not resolved quickly.
• 2013/01/16: GReadfearn: Senate inquiry looks at Australia's extreme weather and asks if we're ready
• 2013/01/16: PlanetJ: Liberals Part 3: False crimes of a climate crook
• 2013/01/16: ABC(Au): Calls to curb coal industry expansion
  A group of environmentalists is campaigning to cease the expansion of Australia's $48 billion coal export industry. In a letter printed in a national newspaper, the alliance of academics and environmental groups says coal mining is the biggest contributor to Australian climate change. Georgina Woods from Greenpeace Australia Pacific, says climate change is causing extreme weather such as this month's bushfires and coal production needs to slow.
• 2013/01/16: ABC(Au): Tasmanian primary industries adapting to climate change
• 2013/01/14: ABC(Au): Rising seas may put $300b of property at risk: scientists
• 2013/01/16: RTCC: Solar and wind could power Australia
  Australia could be self-sufficient in renewable energy in 10 years by converting to solar and wind energy if the country had the right social and political leadership, according to the Energy Research Institute of the University of Melbourne.
• 2013/01/15: CCP: Solar electricity now under half the cost of grid power for Australian households
• 2013/01/15: ABC(Au): Woodside allowed to disrupt Aboriginal heritage sites
  The Western Australian Government's decision to allow Woodside to disrupt archaeological sites north of Broome has provided more ammunition for gas hub opponents who say the system is geared against Aboriginal people. The Minister for Indigenous Affairs has granted Woodside approval to disrupt Aboriginal heritage sites as it plans a $40 billion liquefied natural gas precinct north of Broome. The sites include Indigenous artefacts that predate European settlement.
• 2013/01/14: WtD: Off the charts: Climate Commission on the current heat wave
• 2013/01/14: Tamino: Impeach Craig Kelly
• 2013/01/14: JQuiggin: Greg Hunt: Can't add, can't read
  

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

• 2013/01/16: ABC(Au): Camel cull carbon credits fail to get over hump
• 2013/01/13: QuarkSoup: Carbon Tax: Australian's Losing Interest?
  

  After the fires, come the politicians:

• 2013/01/19: WSWS: Australian fire-fighting budget cuts place lives at risk
• 2013/01/18: ABC(Au): Fire appeal tops $4.5m
  Tasmania's bushfire appeal has reached $4.5 million after a boost from big business. A major supermarket chain and food processor have donated a combined $450,000 to the appeal to help families affected by the fires. Premier Lara Giddings says eligible families could receive the funds within two weeks.
• 2013/01/17: ABC(Au): Fire fighters battled 'a perfect storm': Gillard
  Prime Minister Julia Gillard has paid tribute to the fire fighters who have been fighting a massive blaze in north western New South Wales which has destroyed 49 homes. Ms Gillard arrived in Coonabarabran this morning to meet with locals and volunteers who have been fighting the blaze, which has burnt out 42,000 hectares in and around the Warrumbungle National Park. She has been briefed on the disaster and has met Rural Fire Service volunteers and residents. Ms Gillard says the efforts of all involved have been amazing. "It is incredible that no lives have been lost and that is an incredible tribute to everybody that has bravely fought these fires," she said. "We are not counting the cost in lives and that is a tremendous achievement."
• 2013/01/17: ABC(Au): PM arrives in Coonabarabran
  The Prime Minister Julia Gillard has visited properties destroyed by the the Coonabarabran fires.
• 2013/01/16: ABC(Au): Residents warned to have bushfire plan
  Albury Wodonga residents are being reminded living in a city is not a form of protection against bushfires. Two weeks ago, a fire at Nail Can Hill threatened nearby homes. The New South Wales Rural Fire Service is urging all residents, regardless of where they live, to prepare a bushfire plan.
• 2013/01/16: ABC(Au): Greens call for forest fund spending on bushfire prevention
• 2013/01/15: ABC(Au): Criticism comes early for Tasmanian Bushfire Recovery Taskforce
  

  After years of wrangling, the Murray Darling Basin plan is in place. Now the real fight begins:

• 2013/01/18: ABC(Au): $5m to help ease Emerald flood risk
  Premier Campbell Newman has announced $5 million in Royalties for Regions funding for flood mitigation work in Emerald in central Queensland.
• 2013/01/17: ABC(Au): CSIRO investigating irrigation potential of NW Queensland
• 2013/01/17: ABC(Au): Plan promises to help drought-proof south-east Qld
  Queensland Water Minister Mark McArdle says he is impressed with a proposal to help drought and flood-proof south-east Queensland. This morning, Mr McArdle met the three men who developed the plan. Mary Valley grazier Ron McMah, John Hodgkinson and Trevor Herse want the wall of Borumba Dam raised to increase its capacity and a pipeline connected to Wivenhoe and Somerset dams. Mr McArdle says on the surface the proposal looks viable but he wants engineering experts at Seqwater to examine it more thoroughly.
• 2013/01/15: ABC(Au): Water project raises salinity concerns for farmers
• 2013/01/15: ABC(Au): No need for buyback caps, says water authority
• 2013/01/15: ABC(Au): Politics behind NSW Murray Darling buyback cap: [Craig] Knowles
• 2013/01/15: ABC(Au): NSW limits Murray-Darling water buybacks
• 2013/01/15: ABC(Au): NSW introduces cap on Murray Darling buybacks
  

  And in the Indian subcontinent:

• 2013/01/16: CCurrents: We Are Not Asking For Time
  

  While in China:

• 2013/01/20: al Jazeera: Beijing to unveil new rules against pollution
  Measures will include shutting down factories and banning certain vehicles when pollution hits unacceptable levels.
• 2013/01/19: CNN: Living with Beijing's 'air-pocalypse'
  FlorCruz: On bad days in Beijing, seeing, breathing is difficult - Rapid industrialization, explosive growth in cars contribute to China's air pollution - State-run media acknowledge China's lead status as emitter of greenhouse gases - Health is the big casualty
• Wiki: Great Smog - London Killer Smog of 1952
• 2013/01/18: Asia Times: Winds of change in China's smog
  [...] There are signs that China's new leadership is taking the issue seriously. Beyond incremental policies to ease the current situation, the most important indication of change is the fact that China's state-run media has extensively covered the ongoing "Airpocalypse".
• 2013/01/15: DD: China shuts factories in latest bid to cut pollution levels...
• 2013/01/15: Grist: China's smog is so bad, people didn't notice a factory fire burning for three whole hours
• 2013/01/14: CSM: Air pollution in Beijing: Off the charts and (now) on the agenda
• 2013/01/15: IOTD: Air Quality Suffering in China
  

  After the change of government in Japan:

• 2013/01/14: ICN: Weekly Anti-Nuclear Rallies Resume in Central Tokyo
  

  And South/Central America:

• 2013/01/18: RTCC: Mexico's climate law under threat as car efficiency measures eased
  The new Mexican government has eased back on tight new vehicle efficiency measures in an attempt to avoid a legal challenge from carmakers that threatened its ambitious climate change legislation.
• 2013/01/17: Guardian(UK): Ecuadorian tribe gets reprieve from oil intrusion
  Residents of Sani Isla have built up an arsenal of weapons to fend off Petroamazonas, in a confrontation which did not take place as expected
• 
  

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

   

• 2013/01/18: EclecticLip: Alberta oil selling at 50% discount to world price...
  ...which explains why the Canadian government is Hell-and-High-Water-bent on building a pipeline, any pipeline, anywhere.
• 2013/01/15: PostMedia: Pipelines to U.S. gulf coast seen as panacea for slumping Alberta oil prices
  A spike in U.S. oil production won't eliminate American demand for Alberta crude provided new pipelines are built to carry bitumen to gulf coast refineries, says a new report from economics firm IHS. The report says the United States will remain the primary market for Alberta crude and that import levels will continue to grow, only the destination and type of oilsands imports will change. Provincial leaders have blamed the surge in U.S. oil production for plummeting oil prices and a consequent drop in royalty revenue, which has set the stage for a deficit budget on March 7.
• 2013/01/14: HarperWatch: Harper Watch - January 8 to 14, 2013
• 2013/01/18: DeSmogBlog: Retreat from Science: Interview with Federal Scientist Peter Ross Part 1 of 2
• 2013/01/18: PostMedia: Stephen Harper's environment watchdog to resign after series of stinging reports
  Federal environment watchdog Scott Vaughan is resigning two years before the end of his term.
• 2013/01/16: TMoS: Beelzebub's Minions Have Done His Bidding
• 2013/01/14: TStar: A year of extreme weather could put the heat on Ottawa's environmental indifference
  

  The IdleNoMore movement continues to grow:

• 2013/01/17: TStar: Salutin: Whose country is it, anyways
• 2013/01/18: CBC: Manitoba reserve stays out of Idle No More politics
• 2013/01/18: CPW: AFN update on meeting with PM Harper, Chief Spence and Idle No More
• 2013/01/18: CPW: NWAC President writes to PM Harper regarding Chief Spence
• 2013/01/17: CBC: Queen declines to intervene in Chief Spence's protest -- Buckingham Palace says chief should appeal to federal cabinet
• 2013/01/17: iPolitics: The national media chorus rips into Theresa Spence
• 2013/01/17: CPW: Idle No More Racism Watch: Manitoba Newspaper's Racist Editorial
• 2013/01/17: MSimon: Why We Should Thank Idle No More
• 2013/01/17: LRI: Pulling Out the Big Puns: "Ottawapiskat", Hypocrisy, and Native Humor
• 2013/01/15: Resilience: Idle No More rises to defend ancestral lands -- and the planet by Bill McKibben
• 2013/01/16: BBC: Thousands of First Nations Canadians have launched protests over treaty disputes and budget bills they say weaken environmental oversight
• 2013/01/03: LRI: Five Arrested at Idle No More Flash Mob Round Dance in Broomfield, CO
• 2013/01/16: Grist:Idle No More: A primer on the indigenous green movement
• 2013/01/16: Tyee: Media Elders Fail Us by Sneering at Idle No More -- This could be a learning moment but Canada's ossified pundits aren't really about that
• 2013/01/16: BuckDog: Here Are The Changes That The Harper Conservatives Hid In Their Huge 'Omnibus Bill' That Spawned 'Idle No More'
• 2013/01/16: CBC: Idle No More activities planned nationwide
• 2013/01/15: NatPo: First Nations protests 'have the ability to paralyze this country': Ontario's top police officer
• 2013/01/14: TheCanadian: AFN Chief Shawn Atleo Takes 'Brief' Medical Leave in Midst of Heated Political Debate Over First Nations Issues
• 2013/01/15: TheCanadian: Rafe Mair: Why BC's First Nations Should Refuse Harper Meetings...For Now
• 2013/01/14: NatPo: First Nations leaders, Idle No More activists warn peaceful protests could turn into months-long blockades this spring
• 2013/01/15: WSWS: Burgeoning native protests shake Canadian establishment and official native leadership
• 2013/01/14: CPW: Welcome to #Ottawapiskat, the "Settler Nations" reserve and Canada's capital
• 2013/01/14: OilChange: Idle No More to Target Tar Sands
• 2013/01/13: G&M: First Nations protests take aim at oil sands
• 2013/01/14: NorRe: It's Crunch Time
• 2013/01/14: MSimon: Idle No More and the Bigot Bullies
• 2013/01/13: DeSmogBlog: Respect Costs Nothing
• 2013/01/13: CBC: AFN leader prepares for follow-up meeting with PM
  Atleo concedes the way the AFN is structured does not reflect all First Nations voices The national chief of the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) -- who persisted in meeting with the prime minister despite opposition from hunger-striking Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence, other prominent aboriginal chiefs, and Idle No More protesters -- emerged from Friday's meeting determined in his resolve to improve the plight of Canada's First Nations.
• 
  

  The Harper gang doesn't care much for international cooperation:

   

• 2013/01/15: EmbassyMag: Canada pulling out of world timber, tourism, expo groups
  Money and differing priorities cited in tropical timber group withdrawal.
  [...]
  The International Tropical Timber Organization is made up of about 64 members divided into two groups: producers like Cameroon, Indonesia, and Guatemala; and consumers including the European Union, China, Australia, Japan, and the United States. Together, they make up about 90 per cent of the global trade in tropical lumber.
  The group formed in the mid-1980s amid concern about tropical deforestation. It's a forum for country representatives to talk, develop policy, and support projects to promote the sustainable management and trade of tropical wood. It funds projects and academic fellowships, for instance, and produces a biweekly report on market trends and trade news.
  Major donors have recently included Japan, Switzerland, the United States, Norway, the Netherlands, and the European Union.
  Member countries pay dues, and may also voluntarily pledge funds for projects.
  It's a relatively cheap group to be part of, said Sean Thomas, a forestry professor at the University of Toronto.
  Canada's departure would be shocking for the organization, he said. "It sends a message that Canada is a country that's not concerned with the conservation of tropical forests."
• 
  

  Demonstrations are one thing, but the courts could make things interesting:

   

• 2013/01/17: PostMedia: Aboriginal status ruling challenges policymakers
  Recent developments in relations with aboriginal peoples - the prime minister's meeting with First Nations leaders, the protest by Chief Theresa Spence, who is on a liquid fast, and especially the Idle No more demonstrations - are likely to be significant. But equally important to this relationship is the ground-breaking decision of Federal Court Judge Michael Phelan in the Daniels case. That decision held that federal jurisdiction over "Indians and Land Reserved for Indians" in the 1867 Constitution Act included authority over all aboriginal peoples. This decision has come after decades of refusal by the federal government to accept that Métis and "non-status Indians" are within federal constitutional power. In federal states, such as Canada, governments normally fight to defend or expand their jurisdictions. But not in this case. The federal government, for instance, accepted constitutional responsibility for the Inuit only after the Supreme Court ordered that jurisdiction over "Indians" must include the Inuit.
• 2013/01/18: CPW: Aboriginal status ruling challenges policymakers
• 2013/01/10: TheCanadian: Yukon First Nation's Legal Victory Undermines 'Free Entry' Rules for Mining Companies
  

  Remember the Dutch Disease?

• 2013/01/18: MSimon: The Con Assault on the Dutch Disease
  Nothing Tom Mulcair has ever said scares Stephen Harper more than his claim that the Dutch Disease is killing jobs all over Canada. Especially in vote-rich Ontario where the next election will be decided. Because if the people in that province ever realize how much Harper's Alberta First economic policies are hurting them and the future of their kids, the Cons will be out of power sooner than you can say howdy cowboy. So the Cons and the right-wing conspiracy are always trying to claim that the Dutch Disease is just a myth, and here they go again.
• 2013/01/17: G&M: Why there is little satisfaction to be found in Canadian manufacturing [Dutch Disease]
• 2013/01/17: PEF: Macdonald-Laurier Institute on Dutch Disease
• 2013/01/16: CBC: Dutch Disease not a major Canadian issue, [Macdonald-Laurier Institute] report says
• 2013/01/16: WpgFP: Dutch Disease not a major factor in Canada's manufacturing woes, [Macdonald-Laurier Institute] report argues
  

  The Liberal party leadership race is on:

• 2013/01/17: CBC: Liberal debate will see 9 candidates on crowded stage -- Leadership contenders show their debating chops for the 1st time Sunday
• 2013/01/17: RTCC: Efforts to stop Alberta Tar Sands 'delusional' says Canadian MP David McGuinty (Ottawa)
  A leading Canadian Liberal MP says it is 'delusional' to think the exploitation of the Alberta Tar Sands can be stopped in the coming decades, urging environmentalists to rethink negative campaigns that he believes are counter-productive.
• 
  

  The battle over the Northern Gateway pipeline rages on:

   

• 2013/01/18: DeSmog: Why it Takes a Whale to be Heard: Public Blocked From Enbridge Hearings
• 2013/01/17: TMoS: To All My Progressive Friends, You Dwindling Few
• 2013/01/16: PEF: Marc's Enbridge Testimony
• 2013/01/16: Rabble: Enbridge Joint Review Panel in Vancouver: Protests continue, both outside and inside the hearings
• 2013/01/16: BCLSB: Emissions From Northern Gateway And Kinder Morgan
• 2013/01/16: ParliamAnthill: (cartoon - Sadlemyer) Protesters arrested at community hearings on Northern Gateway
• 2013/01/14: PostMedia: Five climate change protesters charged with trespassing after crashing Vancouver Enbridge hearing -- Three men and two women have been taken to a city jail.
  Five protesters have been charged with trespassing after crashing Tuesday's public hearings on Enbridge's Northern Gateway project at its Vancouver venue. The five were taking aim at what they say is a flawed review process that excludes the public and any mention of the proposed pipeline's contribution to climate change, according to Sean Devlin - one of those charged. Vancouver police spokesman Sgt. Randy Fincham said three men and two women were taken to a city jail, charged and released after they entered a conference room at the Sheraton Wall Centre hotel at 11 a.m., where the joint review panel was sitting.
• 2013/01/15: LiP: Fightback in Vancouver - the Dirty Oil Hearings -- Thousands jeer Northern Gateway hearings in Vancouver
• 2013/01/15: CBC: Protesters arrested at pipeline hearing in Vancouver
  Public banned from attending community hearings on Northern Gateway
• 2013/01/15: WpgFP: Northern Gateway hearings in Vancouver greeted by thousands of protesters
  The nationwide Idle No More movement merged with ongoing protests against oil pipeline projects proposed for British Columbia, to bring more than a thousand protesters out to greet the federal review panel conducting hearings in Vancouver. The community hearings by the federal panel on the Northern Gateway project are scheduled to resume this morning, after a noisy start on Monday night. First Nations from as far as the Haisla Nation on the North Coast, near the would-be tanker port of Kitimat, B.C., and from the Interior took part in a march to the downtown hotel where the hearings are being held.
• 2013/01/14: WCEL: From Oolichan to Enbridge: Getting to the Heart of Cumulative Impacts Management in the Northwest
  

  Well now it's official. The Harper gang screwed the CWB all proper & legal like:

• 2013/01/17: CBC: Supreme Court refuses to hear wheat board appeal
  The federal government scored another court victory Thursday in an ongoing battle over its changes to the Canadian Wheat Board. The Supreme Court of Canada indicated Thursday it will not hear an appeal by eight former board directors, who accused the government of breaking its own law by making radical changes without first holding a plebiscite among grain producers.
• 
  

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

   

• 2013/01/17: AlexandraMorton: Dear BC Salmon Farmers - a couple of questions
• 2013/01/14: UWashington: Salmon runs boom, go bust over centuries
  

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

• 2013/01/19: CBC: B.C. premier slams Ottawa for closing Coast Guard station
  Clark issues YouTube plea asking federal governement to reconsider decision
• 2013/01/18: Rabble:BP: The Great Bear Rainforest: Carbon store or carbon story?
• 2013/01/13: TheCanadian: First Nations Look to Sell Carbon Credits from Great Bear Rainforest
• 2013/01/18: Tyee: Why Such Secrecy About Great Bear Carbon Offsets?
• 2013/01/15: Rabble:ML: Next steps for B.C.'s carbon tax in 2013
• 2013/01/14: PEF: What's next for BC's carbon tax?
  

  Meanwhile in that Mechanical Mordor known as the tar sands:

• 2013/01/18: DD: 2 reports on Athabasca oil sands paint a dire picture
• 2013/01/18: DeSmogBlog: Federal Study Reignites Pollution Concern in Expanding Tar Sands Region
• 2013/01/17: OilChange: There's coal hiding in the tar sands, and the emissions are not being counted
• 2013/01/16: TheCanadian: Nuclear Reactor Being Developed by Toshiba to Power Alberta Tar Sands Operations
• 2013/01/16: TheCanadian: Suncor Attacks Kinder Morgan for Overcharging to Pipe Bitumen to Vancouver
• 2013/01/16: CBC: Griffiths Energy facing corruption charge -- Issue concerns contracts signed by prior management
  

  Also in Alberta:

• 2013/01/17: CPW: Canada can learn from Norway's management of oil wealth: Study
• 2013/01/17: CCPA: [link to 1.83 meg pdf] The Petro-Path Not Taken by Bruce Campbell
  Comparing Norway with Canada and Alberta's Management of Petroleum Wealth
• 2013/01/16: Tyee: How Alberta Will Fight Fracking Folk Hero Jessica Ernst
  In famous flaming water case, regulator to argue 'no duty of care' to landowners or groundwater. Alberta's main oil and gas regulator will argue in an Alberta court this Friday that it owes "no duty of care" to protect groundwater from hydraulic fracturing and that a regulator can violate the basic rights of citizens if it regards them as an "eco-terrorist." In a landmark case that has attracted global attention, Jessica Ernst, a 55-year-old scientist and oil patch consultant is suing the Energy Resources Conservation Board (ERCB), the Alberta Environment and Encana for contaminating her water well with methane and other chemicals nearly a decade ago. The $33-million lawsuit, which has attracted media attention around the world, effectively puts the practice of hydraulic fracturing on public trial.
• 
  

  While in Saskatchewan:

   

• 2013/01/17: CBC: Sask. premier urges Obama to approve Keystone XL -- 10 Republican governors sign Brad Wall's letter
  

  Now that Dalton has quit, the Liberal leadership is in play and then probably an election:

• 2013/01/14: BCLSB: OLP Candidates On Wind Tubines
  

  As for miscellaneous Canadiana:

• 2013/01/17: CBC: Canadians produce more garbage than anyone else -- Conference Board calls Canada an 'environmental laggard'
• 2013/01/17: DeSmog: Cleaning Up Canada's Polluted Public Square
• 2013/01/15: BCLSB: Calling The Canadian Revenue Agency. Hellooo? Hellloooo?
• 2013/01/15: DClimenhaga: In 2011, Fraser Institute continued to take Koch Brothers donations and file tax returns claiming no political activity
  

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

• 2013/01/19: CCurrents: What Would A Down-to-Earth Economy Look Like?
• 2013/01/17: Grist: The sharing economy wants to play with the big kids -- is it ready?
• 2013/01/17: YesMag: What Would a Down-to-Earth Economy Look Like? by David Korten
• 2013/01/14: CCurrents: How To Mobilise $2.8tr To Finance The Global Sharing Economy
  

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

• 2013/01/16: NPFPC: China Maintains Family Planning Policy: Official
• 2013/01/18: DD: China: One-child policy is here to stay
• 2013/01/17: Eureka: Abortions are safe when performed by advanced practice nurses and physician assistants, study shows
  First trimester abortions are just as safe when performed by trained nurse practitioners, physician assistants and certified nurse midwives as when conducted by physicians, according to a new six-year study led by UCSF.
• 2013/01/16: BobPark: What's New?
  3. Kyoto: Why did the emissions protocol end in total failure?
• 2013/01/13: CCurrents: Optimum Population In The Future
  

  Apocalypso anyone?

• 2013/01/17: ERabett: What the C Stands For
• 2013/01/14: CCurrents: The Myth Of Human Progress by Chris Hedges
• 2013/01/13: TruthDig: The Myth of Human Progress by Chris Hedges
• 2013/01/15: CCP: Chris Hedges: Climate Change and the Myth of Human Progress
  

  How do the media measure up?

• 2013/01/17: ICN: About a Dozen Environment Reporters Left at Top 5 U.S. Papers
  As NYT dismantles its environment desk, increased pressure on a handful of remaining journalists covering complexity of climate change.
• 2013/01/17: UCSUSA:B: All The Science News That Fits? The New York Times Disbands Its Environment Desk
• 2011/02/28: C&BP: The Silent Treatment: Why those out west are watching the fracking reports from the east
• 2013/01/16: ClimateShifts: Media is missing climate in heatwave story
• 2013/01/11: EFF: European Newspapers Seek Royalties for Linking and Citing to News Content
• 2013/01/17: GReadfearn: The Australian admits it misinterpreted research on sea level rise linked to climate change
• 2013/01/17: ClimateShifts: The Australian: Front page error, tiny second page correction.
• 2013/01/17: CJR: Here? Now? Media squander rare opportunity to localize climate coverage
• 2013/01/17: CJR: Faded green -- Environment reporters endangered, regardless of exact number
• 2013/01/15: CJR: Environment coverage TBD -- The Times says it's committed, but only time will tell
• 2013/01/18: FAIR: NYT Leaves Readers High and Dry on Causes of Mississippi Drought
• 2013/01/16: WtD: Staring down denial: The Australian forced to correct story, admits sea rise linked to global warming
• 2013/01/15: FAIR: Ignoring Climate Change When It Stares You in the Face
• 2013/01/15: WtD: The Australian: sea rise not linked to warming! Oops our bad, sea rise is linked to warming...
• 2013/01/15: TP:JR: Fuggedaboutit: No Climate Change Questions For Chris Christie During Interview Blitz On Superstorm Sandy
• 2013/01/15: GReadfearn: Murdering a scientific paper on sea-level rise - the Graham Lloyd way
• 2013/01/15: ClimateShifts: 'The Australian' goofs it up again while IPCC chief calls for 'sane voices' in local climate debate.
• 2013/01/13: HuffPo: Wall Street Journal: Get a Fact Checker by Jeffrey Sachs
• 2013/01/11: ArsTechnica: False balance: Fox News demands a recount on US' warmest year
• 2013/01/14: Guardian(UK): The heat is on as the New York Times closes its environment desk
• 2013/01/13: CassandrasLegacy: Can we trust the reporting of environmental issues by the mainstream media?
• 2013/01/13: TP:JR: New York Times Widely Cricitized For Dismantling Its Environment Desk, Eliminating Editorial Positions
• 2013/01/13: Deltoid: The Australian's War on Science 81: Matt Ridley's 20 year old wrong prediction
  

  While activists search for effective communication techniques:

• 2013/01/17: TWTB: Climate Change Communication - The Up Goer Five Edition
  

  Here is something for your library:

• 2013/01/18: SciAm:PI: Weekend Reading: "What We Know About Climate Change"
  [Book Plug] _What We Know About Climate Change_ by Kerry Emanuel
• 2013/01/14: SciAm:CC: Why I Want My Students to Read Jared Diamond's Latest Blockbuster
  [Book Plug] _The World Until Yesterday_ by Jared Diamond
• 
  

  And for your film & video enjoyment:

   

• 2013/01/17: TP:JR: Video: The Year Climate Change Got Real For Americans
• 2013/01/17: CO2Art: Chasing Ice: The Largest Calving Event Ever Filmed
• 2013/01/17: AFTIC: 16 years
• 2013/01/18: PSinclair: Global Warming Transforming Lake Waters around the Planet
• 2013/01/18: CCP: Limits to Growth: Bacteria in a Bottle
• 2013/01/18: CPW: How global temperatures have changed since 1880 - video
• 2013/01/16: PSinclair: New Temp Data in a Nutshell
• 2013/01/16: PSinclair: I'm Warm Enough. You Can Turn it Down Now
• 2013/01/06: TheCanadian: Mark Hume: New Films Spoltlight 'Fracking' - Including Damien Gillis' Fractured Land
• 2013/01/15: PSinclair: Paul Douglas on Climate Flip Flops. Get Used to It.
• 2013/01/14: QuarkSoup: Swimming Through Beijing -- Some incredible air pollution in Beijing
• 2013/01/14: PSinclair: Will Media Crack the Door on Climate Coverage?
  

  Meanwhile among the 'Sue the Bastards!' contingent:

• 2013/01/16: Tyee: How Alberta Will Fight Fracking Folk Hero Jessica Ernst
  In famous flaming water case, regulator to argue 'no duty of care' to landowners or groundwater. Alberta's main oil and gas regulator will argue in an Alberta court this Friday that it owes "no duty of care" to protect groundwater from hydraulic fracturing and that a regulator can violate the basic rights of citizens if it regards them as an "eco-terrorist."
• 2013/01/18: AutoBG: Federal court denies trade groups' request to ban E15
• 2013/01/17: BBC: Upper Big Branch: Gary May given 21 months in prison
• 2013/01/15: Grist: Court: Polar bear habitat that interferes with oil drilling has to go
• 2013/01/14: al Jazeera: Monsanto versus the people
  Many farmers have decided to forego growing corn and soybeans due to the "inevitable contamination that will result". Last week Monsanto announced staggering profits from 2012 to celebratory shareholders while American farmers filed into Washington, DC to challenge the Biotech giant's right to sue farmers whose fields have become contaminated with Monsanto's seeds. On January 10 oral arguments began before the U.S. Court of Appeals to decide whether to reverse the cases' dismissal last February.
• 
  

  Wrestling over a new energy infrastructure continues unabated:

   

• 2013/01/16: BNC: Zero emission synfuel from seawater
• 2013/01/18: ERW: Fuelwood set to run out in South Africa
  The savannah in South Africa's Lowveld region has just 13 years' supply of fuelwood left, if current usage rates continue.
• 2013/01/15: PSinclair: Running the Numbers, and the Country, on Renewables
• 2013/01/16: RTCC: Solar and wind could power Australia
  Australia could be self-sufficient in renewable energy in 10 years by converting to solar and wind energy if the country had the right social and political leadership, according to the Energy Research Institute of the University of Melbourne.
• 2013/01/14: TheConversation: Reducing peak demand: lowering prices, but what about emissions?
• 2013/01/13: RawStory: First world atlas on renewable energy launched
• 2013/01/13: Resilience: Not at that price: Why long-term forecasts for cheap oil and natural gas are baseless
• 2013/01/13: BBC: UK tidal power has huge potential, say scientists
  

  What do you have in energy comparisons and transitions?

• 2013/01/16: Eureka: Photovoltaics beat biofuels at converting sun's energy to miles driven
  New study shows solar power is not only better in terms of energy efficiency, land use, and greenhouse gas emissions -- but cost competitive, too
• 2013/01/18: CleanBreak: Wind power isn't perfect, but it's a hell of a lot better than the alternatives
  

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

• 2013/01/18: LoE: Methane from fracking could trigger irreversible change
• 2013/01/17: EurActiv: Ukraine readies giant shale gas deal with Shell
• 2011/02/28: C&BP: The Silent Treatment: Why those out west are watching the fracking reports from the east
• 2013/01/16: Yahoo:AP: EPA changed course after oil company protested
  When a man in a Fort Worth suburb reported his family's drinking water had begun bubbling like champagne, the federal government sounded an alarm: An oil company may have tainted their wells while drilling for natural gas. At first, the Environmental Protection Agency believed the situation was so serious that it issued a rare emergency order in late 2010 that said at least two homeowners were in immediate danger from a well saturated with flammable methane. More than a year later, the agency rescinded its mandate and refused to explain why. Now a confidential report obtained by The Associated Press and interviews with company representatives show that the EPA had scientific evidence against the driller, Range Resources, but changed course after the company threatened not to cooperate with a national study into a common form of drilling called hydraulic fracturing. Regulators set aside an analysis that concluded the drilling could have been to blame for the contamination.
• 2013/01/16: CCP: Obama EPA Shut Down Weatherford, TX, Shale Gas Water Contamination Study
• 2013/01/16: Tyee: How Alberta Will Fight Fracking Folk Hero Jessica Ernst
• 2013/01/18: TheCanadian: Huffinton Post on Fractured Land, Caleb Behn, Fracking
• 2013/01/16: TimesCall: CU-Boulder, NOAA study uncovers oil and gas emission's 'chemical signature'
  Study finds that more than half of ozone-forming pollutants in Erie come from drilling activity
• 2013/01/18: LoE: Methane from fracking could trigger irreversible change [Leahy]
• 2013/01/13: AutoBG: In producing natural gas, excessive methane leaks offset environmental benefits
  

  On the coal front:

• 2013/01/18: DeSmogBlog: Thousands of Miners' Benefits In Jeopardy As Patriot Coal Claims Bankruptcy
• 2013/01/17: BBC: Upper Big Branch: Gary May given 21 months in prison
  The former superintendent at a mine where 29 men were killed in a blast has been given a 21-month prison term. Gary May admitted in March to charges he falsified records, disabled a methane gas monitor and tipped off workers ahead of inspections at Upper Big Branch mine in West Virginia. The April 2010 explosion was one of the worst US mining accidents in 40 years. Investigators concluded then-owner Massey Energy allowed explosive methane and coal dust to build up in the mine.
• 
  

  On the gas and oil front:

   

• 2013/01/18: BBerg: Closing oil prices Friday
  OIL (US$/bbl)
  Dated Brent Spot....111.89
  WTI Cushing Spot.....95.56
• 2013/01/17: TP:JR: Study Links Oil And Gas Extraction To Ozone Chemicals
• 2013/01/17: CDreams: BP's Big Plan: Burn It. Burn It All.
  Showing no concern for climate, CEO of oil giant [Bob Dudley] says notions of Peak Oil are 'increasingly groundless'
• 2013/01/15: SciAm:PI: Navigating the New World of Oils
• 2013/01/15: OilDrum: Oil Watch: Reconciliation of JODI and EIA C+C production data
• 2013/01/10: FPIF: The Great Oil Swindle
• 2013/01/14: CSM: Natural gas, oil prices: why the long-term forecasts are wrong
  

  Regarding oil and the economy:

• 2013/01/19: CSM: Will oil troubles push the US into a severe recession?
• 2013/01/19: National(AE): High oil prices nothing to do with supply and demand, IEA head [Maria van der Hoeven] says
  

  And in pipeline news:

• 2013/01/16: BBerg: Enbridge Losing Bakken Oil Business to Railroads, Refiner Says
• 2013/01/16: BBC: Brent shutdown: Pipeline 'safe to resume flow' after Cormorant Alpha leak
• 2013/01/16: NewsOK: TransCanada continues building pipeline across Oklahoma to Gulf Coast
  Crews are spread out across Oklahoma working on TransCanada's Gulf Coast project, a 485-mile oil pipeline from Cushing to the Gulf Coast.
• 2013/01/15: PostMedia: Pipelines to U.S. gulf coast seen as panacea for slumping Alberta oil prices
• 2013/01/16: BBC: Cormorant Alpha leak shuts down up to 27 UK oil fields
  A pipeline system servicing up to 27 oil fields has been shut down after a leak on the Cormorant Alpha platform, north-east of Shetland. The fields affected, and another eight associated platforms, produce about 10% of the UK's oil output. Hydrocarbons were detected inside a leg of the Cormorant Alpha platform.
• 
  

  Yes we have a peak oil sighting:

   

• 2013/01/16: Guardian(UK): Peak oil theories 'increasingly groundless', says BP chief
  The US will be self-sufficient in energy by 2030, with only 1% coming from imports, the company's analysts predict
• 2013/01/16: KSJT: Guardian: BP's disastrous forecast on peak oil
  

  Marvelous. Now the USA can have their own Mechanical Mordor:

• 2013/01/18: EarlyWarning: Bakken Well Stats
• 2013/01/16: EarlyWarning: US Oil Rig Count Declining
• 2013/01/17: SciAm:PI: A New Light in the Sky - "Kuwait on the Prairie"
  

  Biofuel bickering abounds:

• 2013/01/13: SF Gate: Biofuel created by explosive technology
• 2013/01/18: AutoBG: Federal court denies trade groups' request to ban E15
  

  The answer my friend...:

• 2013/01/16: BBerg: Merkel's Offshore Wind-Power Dream for Germany Stalls
• 2013/01/16: Grist: Japan plans world's largest offshore wind farm near Fukushima
• 2013/01/13: TheCanadian: Wind Power Without Blades
  

  Meanwhile among the solar aficionados:

• 2013/01/17: TP:JR: Report: Solar Could Meet All The World's Electricity Needs In 2050 Using Under One Percent Of World's Land
• 2013/01/18: Grist: Fiddling on the roof: Can $10 million in prize money spark a solar revolution?
• 2013/01/17: TreeHugger: Chile is Undergoing a Massive Solar Boom
• 2013/01/18: Eureka: Breakthrough for solar cell research
  In the latest issue of Science, researchers from Lund University in Sweden have shown how nanowires could pave the way for more efficient and cheaper solar cells.
• 2013/01/19: NatureN: Novel solar photovoltaic cells achieve record efficiency [~14%] using nanoscale structures -- The devices could lead to better, cheaper solar power
• 2013/01/19: BBerg: Edison, BrightSource Cancel California Solar Power Contract
• 2013/01/15: CCP: Solar electricity now under half the cost of grid power for Australian households
• 2013/01/15: CSM: In India, SELCO brings solar power to the people
• 2013/01/15: BBerg: China Solar Instalations May Reach 31 Gigawatts...
  

  The nuclear energy controversy continues:

• 2013/01/17: EneNews: Unprecedented Move: IAEA shifts 47 Japan reactors to 'Long Term Shutdown' - Number of reactors [390] 'in operation' worldwide at lowest level since Chernobyl in 1986
• 2013/01/18: APR: FANC [the Belgian regulator] decides to request information on Doel / Tihange vessel situation
• 2013/01/16: TheCanadian: Nuclear Reactor Being Developed by Toshiba to Power Alberta Tar Sands Operations
• 2013/01/16: TBAS: On second thought: IAEA re-categorizes the operational status for 47 of Japan's nuclear reactors
• 2013/01/14: RT: Rosatom spares no expense to buy out Canada's Uranium One
  

  Nuclear waste storage requires _very_ long term thinking:

• 2013/01/18: KSDK: EPA: Public is safe despite high levels of radioactive material at St. Louis landfill
  About 200 North County residents squared off against EPA officials Thursday night over tons of illegally dumped radioactive material that is sitting on a flood plain. The West Lake landfill in Earth City near Bridgeton is filled with 8,700 tons of decaying uranium, thorium, and radium waste from the Manhattan project used to make the first atomic bombs.
• 2013/01/16: Guardian(UK): 'Nuclear waste? No thanks,' say Lake District national park tourism chiefs
  Board joins clamour against idea of digging repository to hold power station waste under landscape much loved by visitors
• 2013/01/15: BBC: Sizewell B builds new radioactive nuclear waste store
  An energy firm has begun work on a new store for radioactive waste at Sizewell B nuclear power station. EDF Energy said the dry fuel store at its site on the Suffolk coast would provide capacity for all the spent fuel created until the plant shuts in 2035. The store for uranium oxide waste should by completed by 2015. EDF will also spend £200,000 on local roads.
• 
  

  Nuclear fusion projects around the world limp along:

   

• 2013/01/17: ScienceInsider: After ITER, Many Other Obstacles for Fusion Power
• 2013/01/16: EFDA: Bringing fusion electricity to the grid
• 2013/01/16: NatureNB: ITER gets a home - 300 million euor building to be completed in 2018
  

  Low energy nuclear keeps coming up:

• 2013/01/15: CassandrasLegacy: The end of the E-Cat story? Andrea Rossi loses supporters for his "cold fusion" device
  

  More people are talking about the electrical grid:

• 2013/01/18: Grist:U.S. military gets serious about microgrids ... which is more exciting than it sounds
• 2013/01/17: TreeHugger: Edison Has Last Laugh in Current Wars
• 2013/01/16: DerSpiegel: Power Play: Politician Calls for Nationalization of Electricity Grid
  Germany urgently needs to expand and update its power grid to meet its goal of phasing out nuclear energy and going green, but development appears to have short circuited. A member of Chancellor Angela Merkel's cabinet is calling for a radical change: the partial nationalization of the grid.
• 2013/01/16: SciAm:PI: Towards a Distributed, Intelligent Electric Grid
  

  And then there is the matter of efficiency & conservation:

• 2013/01/17: Grist: How are we doing on energy efficiency?
• 2013/01/17: Eureka: Doubling down on energy efficiency
  Berkeley Lab research finds utility customer-funded energy efficiency programs expanding across the United States; Midwest and South on the rise
• 
  

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

   

• 2013/01/20: Grist: In Detroit, automakers gear up to meet new fuel-efficiency standards
• 2013/01/18: CSM: 'The electric car is not dead,' says GM chief Mark Reuss
• 2013/01/16: CSM: Detroit auto show: the future of energy-efficient cars and trucks
• 2013/01/15: TreeHugger: New Entry-Level Model Almost 20% Cheaper than 2012 Model
• 2013/01/14: Time: Why the Car of the Future Will Be Powered by ... Gasoline
  

  Insurance and re-insurance companies are feeling the heat:

• 2013/01/16: Grist: Crop insurance claims likely to hit $16 billion in wake of 2012 drought
  

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

• 2013/01/18: TP:JR: January 18 News...
• 2013/01/17: TP:JR: January 17 News...
• 2013/01/15: TP:JR: January 15 News...
• 2013/01/14: TP:JR: January 14 News...
  

  Other (weekly) lists:

• 2013/01/19: SkS: 2013 SkS Weekly News Roundup #3 by John Hartz
• 2013/01/14: BPA: Boulder's Dead Elk. Plus, Global Agricultural News from the Past Week
  

  The carbon lobby are up to the usual:

• 2013/01/18: CChallenge: Examining a Fake Skeptics' tricky Rhetorical Sleight of Hand
• 2013/01/17: S&R: Media Trackers writer ignorant of academia and climate issues, hypocritical regarding ethics
• 2013/01/16: S&R: Words Matter: a "denier" is someone who denies, nothing more or less
• 2013/01/16: ABC(Au):TDU: Don't give up on the facts
  Stating the facts about industrial relations or climate change won't convince those who are set in their opinions, but it might just persuade the majority, writes Greg Jericho.
• 2013/01/19: LoE: Moisture + Cold Air => Snow
• 2013/01/18: WtD: Sydney hits 45c: breaks the 1790 "record" claimed by LNP sceptic Craig Kelly
• 2013/01/16: NewAnthropocene: The "True" Story of Lord Christopher Monckton
• 2013/01/15: RTCC: UK climate chief Deben warns of 'unpleasant' organisations blocking action
  The UK government's leading independent climate advisor says the fossil fuel lobby and industrial groups are investing heavily in blocking climate action around the world.
• 2013/01/16: Tamino: He knows not what he's doing
• 2013/01/15: PSinclair: Climate Scientists Misquoted. Dog Bites Man. Pope Catholic. Water Wet. Film at Eleven.
• 2013/01/14: Grist: 16 years of no global warming? Yeah, right
• 2013/01/14: Deltoid: Matt Ridley responds with a "sleight of hand"
• 2013/01/14: TP:JR: Slate: 'Climate Change Denial Is Purely, 100% Made-Up Political And Corporate-Sponsored Crap'
  

  Tony has his knickers in a knot:

• 2013/01/19: Stoat: Saturday morning breakfast cereal editon
• 2013/01/18: ERabett: Appeal to the Bunnies
• 2013/01/18: GLaden: Anthony Watts is threatening to sue me
  

  Remember the Heartland saga?

• 2013/01/17: ERabett: Always Use Protection
  

  So, is this guy doing anything beside flakking for his book?

• 2013/01/18: CSM: Whole Foods' John Mackey speaks out against Obamacare while promoting his new book
• 2013/01/18: Guardian(UK): Whole Foods CEO: 'climate change is not necessarily bad'
  'Ethical vegan' John Mackey claims he is not a climate change sceptic but says global warming is 'perfectly natural'
• 2013/01/18: Guardian(UK): Whole Foods CEO John Mackey calling Obamacare fascist is tip of the iceberg
  

  As for climate miscellanea:

• 2013/01/16: ITracker: Farm subsidies, disaster relief, and broken incentives
• 2013/01/16: QuarkSoup: Exaggerating the Effects of Climate Change
• 2013/01/17: AMAWr: We have nothing to fear
• 2013/01/18: Resilience: Exxon Mobil and the precautionary principle
• 2013/01/17: Wunderground:RR: The Role of Short Timers
• 2013/01/16: MoJo: Enviro Crusader Turns Pro-GMO, Anti-Organic -- And Anti-Logic [Lynas]
• 2013/01/20: al Jazeera: Why we won't stop global warming
  Unless our short- and long-term interests align, it's unlikely that we'll ever do anything about climate change.
• 2013/01/19: DeSmogBlog: Communicating for Change: Anthony Leiserowitz on Climate Change Psychology
• 2013/01/16: ICN: Q&A: The Challenges of Facing Coming Climate Extremes
• 2013/01/14: RTCC: Former Met Office chief says 2°C climate target missed
• 2013/01/14: Grist: Changing behaviors: You're doing it wrong
• 2013/01/15: ERabett:BSD: Key the extremes to their context
• 2013/01/14: MLive: David Kolb: Standing mute in the face of climate catastrophe
  It's amazing how much more interest was paid to the ridiculous Mayan apocalypse prediction than to last year's ominously growing body of evidence suggesting our planet is teetering on the knife-edge of a mass extinction event as the result of global warming.
• 2013/01/13: QuarkSoup: Ocean Weather
• 2013/01/14: TheConversation: How we lost 20 years on climate change action
• 2013/01/13: SciAm:PI: It's time to accept the facts about climate change and move on
• 2013/01/13: BBC: Climate change measures: Report praised politicians
  Politicians are doing more to combat climate change than they are given credit for, according to a [Globe] report.
• 
  

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

   

• Interfaith Moral Action on Climate
• Last Real Indians - The New Indigenous Millennium
• Foundation For Deep Ecology
• Wiki: Equatorial waves
• GEOBON: GEO Biodiversity Observation Network
• ALA: Atlas of Living Australia
• EFDA: European Fusion Development Agreement
• Harper Watch - Compiling the Harper Government's Crimes Against Democracy
• NASA: World of Change: Global Temperatures
• Wiki: Great Smog - London Killer Smog of 1952
• Wunderground: Jet Stream
• IRENA: Global Atlas for Solar & Wind
• Wiki: Anoxic event
• Tides Canada
• Forest Ethics

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.

A Simple Plea

Webmasters, web coders and content providers have mercy on your low bandwidth brethren. Because I am on dial-up, I am a text surfer -- no images, no javascript and no flash. When you post a graphic, will you please use the alt text field ... and when you embed a youtube/vimeo/flash video, please add some minimal description. Thank you.

<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.

"... [D]oing an hour documentary on climate change and not mentioning fossil fuels is like doing an hour on sexually-transmitted diseases and not mentioning sex." -Peter Dykstra

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