Another Week of GW News, October 21, 2007

Sipping from the internet firehose...

(skip to bottom)

• Top Stories, Gore's Nobel, AIT Verdict, BAD, WFD, UK's Antarctic Claim, UMD Report
• Melting Arctic, NOAA Arctic Report Card, Coast Guard Base, Trekking, Mud Proxy, CO2 Absorption, Polls
• Hurricanes, GHGs, Temperatures, Sea Levels, ENSO, Satellites, DSCOVR
• Impacts, Rainforests, Wacky Weather, Floods & Droughts, Lake Lanier, Food vs. Biofuel, Cereal Production
• Mitigation, Shipping, Geoengineering, Adaptation
• Journals, Misc. Science
• Kyoto, Kyoto-2, Carbon Tax, Carbon Trade, Optimal Carbon Reduction Strategy
• Politics, International, Security, Cities, America, Britain, Europe, Australia, China, Canada
• Ecological Economics, Media, Betting
• Energy, Coal, Biofuel, Nukes, Peak Oil, Efficiency, Cars, Business, Insurance, Carbon Lobby
• The Usual, Useful Links
• Shameless Self Promotion
• .sig

Live & direct from the GW black humour department:

• 2007/10/17: uComics: (cartoon - Danziger) China Starting Coal-fired Generating Plants at Rate of One a Week
• 2007/10/16: uComics: (cartoon - Toles) Half Earth Catalog
• 2007/10/16: HuffPo: (cartoon - Gerberg) Out Of Line: Nobel Prize

  Ted Glick is still fasting; now 41+ days:

• 2007/10/18: TruthOut: Not Just Our Minds and Hearts but Our Bodies

  Al Gore, the Nobel & the British AIT verdict remain top stories. First the Nobel, pro & con:

• 2007/10/13: VDM: Viridian Note 00496: Al Gore Wins Nobel
• 2007/10/18: CCurrents: Nobel Hypocrisy
• 2007/10/18: Nation: Inconvenient Truth-Tellers
• 2007/10/18: MTobis: Planetary Emergency: To Go Far Quickly
• 2007/10/18: DeSmogBlog: The Paradox of Al Gore [CCM]
• 2007/10/17: Denialism: Al Gore and the Attack of the Global Warming Cranks
• 2007/10/17: CanWest: Counterpoint - Hate Al Gore all you want. Global warming is real
• 2007/10/16: CPunch: Al Gore's Wacky Facts
• 2007/10/15: CPunch: Nobel Gore?
• 2007/10/13: TKaron: Can Al Gore's Vision Avert a Climate-Change Catastrophe?
• 2007/10/16: DerSpiegel: The Al Gore Factor
• 2007/10/16: GristMill: Sticks and stones - Right wing commentators react to Gore's Nobel
• 2007/10/16: GristMill: Respect - Al Gore's commitment to public service in the face of cynicism
• 2007/10/15: CSpin: Have you heard?! Gore wins Nobel!
• 2007/10/16: CCM: Nobel Prize Fallout: Media Framing as Bush vs Gore?
• 2007/10/15: TCE: Why Does the Right Hate Gore? Because He's Right
• 2007/10/14: ZMag: Al Gore should be arrested
• 2007/10/16: HuffPo: Al Gore's commitment to public service in the face of cynicism
• 2007/10/16: HuffPo: Ignobel Moments
• 2007/10/14: NYB:HH: Planet Gore Gored
  It's a glum weekend on Planet Gore, by which I don't mean the third planet from the sun, the one that the people's choice for President in 2000 seems so irritatingly determined to save. I mean the right-wing group blog.
• 2007/10/16: G&M: Stop trying to scare us, Goracle
• 2007/10/15: ClimateP: Paul Krugman on Gore Derangement Syndrome
• 2007/10/14: GristMill: A prize for Mr. Gore and science - NY Times editors get the Gore Nobel story right
• 2007/10/14: inel: Duh [Gore Nobel]
• 2007/10/15: Deltoid: Krugman on Gore Derangement Syndrome
• 2007/10/15: RealClimate: Did you stop beating your wife? (yes/no)
• 2007/10/14: DeSmogBlog: National Post Attack on Gore a Last Gasp from Some Sore Losers
• 2007/10/15: DeSmogBlog: An Inconvenient Judgment? U.K. Court Actually Endorsed Gore's Film
• 2007/10/14: ENN: Planet Wins Nobel Prize
• 2007/10/13: LA Times: Al Gore: the anti-Bush - No wonder conservatives are apoplectic - Gore's fortunes rise as the president's plummets.
• 2007/10/15: CDreams: NYT: Gore Derangement Syndrome
• 2007/10/13: CDreams: BostonGlobe: A Nobel For Truth
• 2007/10/15: Oregonian: Gore gets what he deserves
• 2007/10/15: ThinkP: The right wing's "Gore derangement syndrome." [Paul Krugman: The worst thing about Mr. Gore, from the conservative point of view, is that he keeps being right.]
• 2007/10/15: EconView: Paul Krugman: Gore Derangement Syndrome
• 2007/10/15: CarsonsPost: Gore, driving the Right insane
• 2007/10/15: OurFuture:CS: Conservatives and Al Gore's Nobel
• 2007/10/14: ThinkP: Sam Donaldson blasts George Will's climate denial [Nobel]

  Second the AIT verdict:

• 2007/10/20: inel: AIT through students' eyes
• 2007/10/19: ERabett: Not getting it
  There appears to be a confusion about in the land that An Inconvenient Truth (AIT) was the long awaited prequel to the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report (AR4)
• 2007/10/19: MTobis: Gore Responds to 9 'errors'
• 2007/10/19: Tyee: Al Gore's 'Errors': The Verdict - Judge rules on climate film and 'balance' in the classroom
• 2007/10/18: WaPo:FC: An Inconvenient Truth: Team Gore Responds
• 2007/10/17: Stoat: AIT: The party line
• 2007/10/18: Deltoid: Update on the nine alleged errors in An Inconvenient Truth
• 2007/10/16: GristMill: Think you very much - Smart commentary on Gore's Nobel
• 2007/10/17: BBC: UK scientists defend Gore film
  Two of the UK's leading climate scientists have hit out at the judge who made the controversial ruling last week on Al Gore's movie An Inconvenient Truth Professor Chris Rapley, head of the Science Museum (and also a Gore science adviser) and Professor John Shepherd from the National Oceanography Centre accuse the judge of misleading the public by ruling that Gore had made "errors". The professors have no grouse with Mr Justice Burton's main conclusion that Al Gore's film should be accompanied by guidance notes in class. And they agree that Gore presented some climate extreme scenarios. But they say the judge's comments themselves were liable to misinterpretation. The trouble, according to the professors, was that the judge referred to "errors" in the film. He put the word "errors" in inverted commas because the points were debatable rather than wrong. But the professors say the judge should have known the error word would be repeated in the media without its inverted commas.
• 2007/10/17: inel: The error of 'errors'
• 2007/10/17: CSW: Setting the record straight on purported 'errors' in "An Inconvenient Truth"
• 2007/10/16: TCE: UK Court Defends Use of Gore Film in Classrooms
• 2007/10/16: DeSmogBlog: U.K. Court Coverage: A Clean Kill for Climate Confusion
• 2007/10/16: RealClimate: Convenient Untruths
• 2007/10/15: PRWatch: Well-Connected Skeptics Behind UK Attack on Global Warming Film
• 2007/10/15: inel: Context, context, context (AIT in general and Tuvalu in particular)
• 2007/10/14: Deltoid: Monckton was behind Dimmock's lawsuit

  The UN sponsored a Blogger Action Day for climate:

• 2007/10/15: UN: Thousands of bloggers unite to issue call to save planet - UN
• 2007/10/15: BoomanTrib: For Our Habitat: Blog Action Day
• BAD: Blog Action Day
• 2007/10/15: Atmoz: Blog Action Day: Solar Power for the World
• 2007/10/15: GristMill: Blog Action Day
• 2007/10/15: inel: Blog Action Day Environment 15 October 2007
• 2007/10/15: WarmingLaw: Prayer for More Than A Prius
• 2007/10/15: Stoat: BAD
• 2007/10/15: FergusB: Strangely (,) like a hobbit: is this B.A.D.?
• 2007/10/15: MTobis: About China, for Blog Action Day
• 2007/10/15: C411: International Blog Action Day

  And the next day was World Food Day:

• 2007/10/16: HuffPo: World Food Day: Weathering The Storm

  In a fine display of 19th century imperialism, the UK has claimed a large area of Antarctic sea floor. Of course, Chile & Argentina immediately challenged the claim:

• 2007/10/19: Guardian(UK): Argentina ready to challenge Britain's Antarctic claims - Buenos Aires to apply for sovereignty over seabed
• 2007/10/19: BBC: Chile repeats own Antarctic claim
  The Chilean government has reiterated its own claims to parts of Antarctic territory and waters. Chile's comments come after the UK government this week announced plans to claim sovereignty over a large area of the seabed around British Antarctica. The UK move could spark disputes with Chile and Argentina which both regard large areas of the region as theirs
• 2007/10/18: SciDaily: Claiming Antarctica: Oil, Water And Environmental Risks
• 2007/10/17: Guardian(UK): The tip of the iceberg
  Britain's new claim for sovereignty in Antarctica is all about energy, but we should now expect a sharp backlash and criticism from around the world
• 2007/10/18: FPB: Britain claims territory in Antarctica and near the Falklands
• 2007/10/18: SMH: Britain's claim puts heat on battle for Antarctica
• 2007/10/18: Guardian(UK): Green groups condemn UK's claim in Antarctica
• 2007/10/17: ABC(Au): Britain stakes claim for Antarctic seabed
• 2007/10/17: OilChange: UK Claims Rights to One Million Sq Km of Antartica
• 2007/10/17: Guardian(UK): Britain to claim more than 1m sq km of Antarctica - Move would extend UK oil, gas and mineral rights
  The United Kingdom is planning to claim sovereign rights over a vast area of the remote seabed off Antarctica, the Guardian has learned. The submission to the United Nations covers more than 1m sq km (386,000 sq miles) of seabed, and is likely to signal a quickening of the race for territory around the south pole in the world's least explored continent. The claim would be in defiance of the spirit of the 1959 Antarctic treaty, to which the UK is a signatory. It specifically states that no new claims shall be asserted on the continent. The treaty was drawn up to prevent territorial disputes

A UMD report on the costs of climate change inaction raised a lot of comment:

• 2007/10/16: UMD: The US Economic Impacts of Climate Change and the Costs of Inaction
• 2007/10/18: EnergyBulletin: Hidden costs of climate change [UMD]
• 2007/10/17: WaPo: Warming's Costs to Top Its Benefits, Study Says
• 2007/10/17: C411: The Most Expensive Solution: Do Nothing
• 2007/10/18: CDreams: OneWorld: Economic Costs of Climate Change "Will Affect Every American" [UMD]
• 2007/10/16: MongaBay: Climate change will impact U.S. economy [UMD]
• 2007/10/17: TruthOut: Climate Change-US: Delay Now, Pay Dearly Later [UMD]
• 2007/10/17: SciDaily: Hidden Costs Of Climate Change In US: Major, Nationwide, Uncounted

  The Arctic melt continues to get a lot of attention:

• 2007/10/20: FergusB: Hey, Bill, you're gonna have to fix it again! [Arctic]
• 2007/10/20: SciDaily: Greenland Ice Study: Could Higher Sea Level Come Sooner Than Expected?
• 2007/10/19: SF Gate: The meltdown of Greenland's way of life - In the Arctic, a shockingly sudden retreat of the ice is changing everything
• 2007/10/20: People's Daily: Arctic "shrubifying" because of global warming
• 2007/10/18: EnergyBulletin: The Big Melt
• 2007/10/18: CasaubonsBook: The Big Melt
• 2007/10/18: OilChange: A 'Warm Wind' in the Arctic
• 2007/10/17: CBC: Arctic warming threatening caribou, northern wildlife - Largest declines of caribou in Canada, Alaska, Yukon expert says
• 2007/10/17: TCulture: The Single Most Depressing Thing I Have Ever Read [Arctic]
• 2007/10/17: PhysOrg: Rising Temperatures Said Endanger Arctic
• 2007/10/16: CSM: As a land thaws, so do Greenland's aspirations for independence
• 2007/10/15: BBC: Arctic voice drowning in climatic shift

  The NOAA updated their Arctic Report Card:

• NOAA: Arctic Report Card
• 2007/10/18: KSJT: AP, Reuters: NOAA's gloomy "Arctic Report Card 2007"
• 2007/10/18: ENN: Bleak "report card" finds warming Arctic
• 2007/10/17: NOAA News: Arctic "Report Card" Shows Continued Climate Changes
• 2007/10/18: BBC: 'Warm wind' hits Arctic climate
  The Arctic is being hit by melting ice, hotter air and dying wildlife, according to a US government report on the impact of global warming there. A new wind circulation pattern is blowing more warm air towards the North Pole than in the 20th Century, scientists found. Shrubs are now growing in tundra areas while caribou herds are dwindling in Canada and parts of Alaska.
• 2007/10/18: Reuters: Bleak US "Report Card" Finds Warming Arctic [NOAA]
• 2007/10/18: LFPress: Arctic exhibits effects of warming climate temperatures - An annual update reports a wide range of changes, from wildlife habitat to ice cover

  Related to the Arctic melt, the US Coast Guard is setting up a base there:

• 2007/10/19: NatureTGB: Sea change brings coast guard to Arctic
• 2007/10/19: KSJT: NYTimes: Coast Guard setting up a small base on Arctic Ocean - other Arctic news, too
• 2007/10/19: NYT: New Coast Guard Task in Arctic's Warming Seas
  For most of human history, the Arctic Ocean has been an ice-locked frontier. But now, in one of the most concrete signs of the effect of a warming climate on government operations, the Coast Guard is planning its first operating base there as a way of dealing with the cruise ships and the tankers that are already beginning to ply Arctic waters

In an Arctic first, a Russian ship has made the trip from Russia to Churchill:

• 2007/10/18: G&M: Russian ship crosses 'Arctic bridge' to Manitoba
  Arrival of the Kapitan Sviridov at the port in Churchill marks historic first step in the construction of a new trade route, officials say
• 2007/10/18: BuckDog: Russian Ship Crosses Arctic Seaway To Churchill, Manitoba

  In yet another Arctic first, a British explorer will measure ice thickness while walking to the pole:

• 2007/10/17: NatureTGB: Ice surveyors will walk to pole
• 2007/10/16: TerraDaily: British explorer to measure depth of Arctic ice cap
• 2007/10/16: NewScientist: Polar expedition to record shrinking Arctic ice
• 2007/10/16: BBC: Explorers' quest for key ice data - A team of explorers will head to the Arctic this winter to measure the thickness of the ever shrinking sea ice

  And another team is using sea floor mud to track sea ice extent:

• 2007/10/15: PhysOrg: British scientists dig in arctic mud - a new method of tracking changes in Arctic sea ice over the past 1,000 years
• 2007/10/15: BBC: Arctic muds reveal sea ice record
  A new technique to track changes in the extent of Arctic sea ice over the past 1,000 years is being developed by a UK team from the University of Plymouth

In a slightly ominous note, there is a report the Atlantic's CO2 absorption capability has diminished:

• 2007/10/20: ABC(Au): Atlantic Ocean's CO2 absorption halves
• 2007/10/20: PhysOrg: Oceans absorbing less greenhouse gases - The levels of CO2 uptake in the North Atlantic have dropped by half...
• 2007/10/20: BBC: Oceans are 'soaking up less CO2'
  The amount of carbon dioxide being absorbed by the world's oceans has reduced, scientists have said. University of East Anglia researchers gauged CO2 absorption through more than 90,000 measurements from merchant ships equipped with automatic instruments. Results of their 10-year study in the North Atlantic show CO2 uptake halved between the mid-90s and 2000 to 2005
• 2007/10/18: CanWest: Oceans act as global warming 'safety valve' - But they are getting less efficient at storing C02: study
• 2007/10/18: TreeHugger: Oceans No Longer as Effective at Storing Carbon Dioxide

  Polls we have polls:

• 2007/10/20: ThinkP: Poll: Americans increasingly concerned about warming
• 2007/10/19: GristMill: Coal is the enemy of the human race: Survey says edition - New poll finds public wants renewables over coal
• 2007/10/19: CSpin: Recent polls on global warming
• 2007/10/18: CanWest: Politicians ignore climate at their peril, survey finds
• 2007/10/16: GWWatch: World poll tolls death knell for global warming denialists

  Nothing much happening in the hurricane wars:

• 2007/10/17: Wunderground: Quiet in the tropics; major severe weather outbreak in the U.S.
• 2007/10/16: Wunderground: Outlook for the remainder of hurricane season
• 2007/10/15: Wunderground: Two unimpressive Atlantic disturbances to watch

  More on GHG sources:

• 2007/10/16: TreeHugger: Cement, the Unheralded Polluter

  As for the temperature record:

• 2007/10/16: FergusB: Would Mr. McIntyre care to step forward..?

  The ozone layer is shrinking:

• 2007/10/20: UN: Antarctic ozone hole shrinking because of mild weather, not recovery: UN agency [WMO]
• 2007/10/20: PhysOrg: NASA: Ozone Hole Returns to Average Size

  While on the ENSO front:

• 2007/10/21: NewScientist: How El Niño slows the Earth's spin
• 2007/10/18: ENN: La Nina onset expected in November

  Sea levels are rising:

• 2007/10/20: PhysOrg: Rising Seas Threaten 21 Mega-Cities
• 2007/10/20: PhysOrg: Bangkok Has That Sinking Feeling
• 2007/10/20: KC: Rising seas threaten 21 mega-cities
  Cities around the world are facing the danger of rising seas and other disasters related to climate change. Of the 33 cities predicted to have at least 8 million people by 2015, at least 21 are highly vulnerable, says the Worldwatch Institute. They include Dhaka in Bangladesh; Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro; Shanghai and Tianjin in China; Alexandria and Cairo in Egypt; Mumbai and Kolkata in India; Jakarta in Indonesia; Tokyo and Osaka-Kobe in Japan; Lagos in Nigeria; Karachi in Pakistan; Bangkok in Thailand, and New York and Los Angeles in the United States, according to studies by the United Nations and others. More than one-tenth of the world's population, or 643 million people, live in low-lying areas at risk from climate change, say U.S. and European experts. Most imperiled, in descending order, are China, India, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Indonesia, Japan, Egypt, the U.S., Thailand and the Philippines
• 2007/10/17: MTobis: Sea Level Risk in East Texas
• 2007/10/15: TerraDaily: Tiny Pacific islands say climate change threatens survival
• 2007/10/16: Mercury(Au): Climate scientists paint grim coastal picture

  Meanwhile in near earth orbit:

• 2007/10/19: ESA: Earth from Space: Birth of an iceberg [September 2006 - October 2007]
• 2007/10/17: ABC(Au): Scientists keeping eye in the sky on ice [sea ice near Antarctica]
• 2007/10/15: JFleck: Drought From Orbit

  The campaign to uncover DSCOVR [Deep Space Climate Observatory] rolls on:

• 2007/10/19: ClimateP: White House believes in freedom for rest of world... but not Freedom of Information at home [DSCOVR]
• 2007/10/19: DeSmogBlog: 9 month waiting game for State Department FOIA request
• 2007/10/18: DeSmogBlog: Whitehouse Stonewalls DSCOVR Information Request

  More GW impacts are being seen:

• 2007/10/20: SciDaily: Climate Change Drives Endangered Seabird Into UK Waters
• 2007/10/19: OilChange: Climate Change Will Disrupt US Oil Production
• 2007/10/18: PhysOrg: When Ants Go Sweating: Zoologists to Study Climate Change Effects
• 2007/10/18: TerraDaily: Acid Oceans Warning
• 2007/10/18: TreeHugger: Obvious Feedback Loop: Global Warming Could Threaten U.S. Oil Output
• 2007/10/16: ABC(Au): Climate change contributing to Swan River algal blooms
• 2007/10/16: PhysOrg: Why are we losing Louisiana?
• 2007/10/16: TerraDaily: International Team Of Scientists Warns Of Climate Change's Impact On Global River Flow
• 2007/10/16: ABC(Au): Top End jellyfish season to start earlier: scientists
• 2007/10/15: ABC(Au): Experts discuss climate change impact on [mosquito] mozzie-borne disease
• 2007/10/15: GristMill: Climate equity: A conversation - Introducing an ongoing series on the most undercovered aspect of climate change

  And then there are the tropical rainforests:

• 2007/10/16: MongaBay: Amazon rainforest fires "worst" in memory
• 2007/10/18: BBC: Costa Rica gets forest fund boost
  The US and conservation groups will cut $26m (£12.8m) from Costa Rican debt in return for the country spending the same sum on forest protection. Costa Rica will spend the money over the next 16 years on large swathes of its tropical forest
• 2007/10/17: GristMill: Bush swaps debt for nature - Costa Rica and Guatemala deals could point to common ground on climate crisis
• 2007/10/17: ENN: Amazon loggers hold activists captive
• 2007/10/16: TruthOut: The Amazon Burns Once Again
• 2007/10/16: Guardian(UK): The Amazon burns once again - The restraint of the last few years is brought to an end by rising demand for crops the land could bear
• 2007/10/15: TruthOut: New Money Is Last Hope in Battle to Save Rainforests
• 2007/10/14: MercoPress: "Hands off the Amazon", Brazil tells environmentalists

  Corals are dying:

• 2007/10/20: JQuiggin: Coral Reef Futures Forum
• 2007/10/20: ABC(Au): Too late to save coral species: researchers
  Australia's leading researchers on coral say many species will become extinct over the next 50 years. A conference in Fremantle has looked at the effects of global warming on marine life, and specifically the effects of rising sea temperatures and acid levels. Conference participant Doctor Bruce Russell from the Northern Territory's Department of Natural Resources says the impact of global warming on coral is now irreversible
• 2007/10/19: TreeHugger: Increasing Ocean Acidification Eroding Coral Reefs
• 2007/10/18: ABC(Au): Researchers to highlight climate change reef impact
• 2007/10/17: ClimateP: Ocean Acidification Warning
• 2007/10/17: PhysOrg: Acid oceans warning
  The world's oceans are becoming more acid, with potentially devastating consequences for corals and the marine organisms that build reefs and provide much of the Earth's breathable oxygen. The acidity is caused by the gradual buildup of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere, dissolving into the oceans. Scientists fear it could be lethal for animals with chalky skeletons which make up more than a third of the planet's marine life
• 2007/10/17: ABC(Au): Emissions cut needed to save reef: researcher
• 2007/10/17: CoralCOE: Acid Oceans Warning
• 2007/10/17: SciDaily: Acid Oceans From Carbon Dioxide Will Endanger One Third Of Marine Life, Scientists Predict

  Desertification looms:

• 2007/10/16: ENN: China launches Effort To Green Inner Mongolian Desert

  Yes we have no wacky weather, except:

• 2007/10/19: CBC: Storms kill 6 across U.S., spawn tornadoes

  We have heatwaves and wild fires:

• 2007/10/17: Atmoz: Distributed Computing, Fire, and the Monsoon

  And as for floods & droughts:

• 2007/10/21: NYT: The Future Is Drying Up
• 2007/10/18: UN: As Mali copes with recent floods, UN delivers relief supplies
• 2007/10/19: USAToday: Southeast drought hits crisis point
• 2007/10/18: IdahoStatesman: ID water [Idaho Department of Water Resources] director sending early warning about next summer
• 2007/10/17: JFleck: Water in the Desert: Cattle Edition
• 2007/10/17: TerraDaily: Drought, demand push up food prices in Australia: report
• 2007/10/18: EnvEcon: Some additional costs of the 2007 summer drought
• 2007/10/18: BBC: Some Uganda flood victims cut off
  Aid agencies in Uganda are struggling to reach tens of thousands of people in the east and north of the country, two months after rains inundated the area. Around 300,000 people lost their homes or crops after Uganda's heaviest rainfall in a generation. The United Nations says some may not get help before December
• 2007/10/16: CNN: Drought in West and Southeast spreads to Mid-Atlantic
  About 43 percent of contiguous U.S. facing moderate to extreme drought - Worldwide, year to date has been the warmest on record for land - September dryness extended across the Ohio Valley into southern Great Lakes - Half the counties in Maryland and Pennsylvania were under a drought watch
• 2007/10/17: KSJT: AP, etc: Drought in US reaching extreme levels
• 2007/10/17: ClimateP: And the drought goes on
• 2007/10/16: ClimateP: 2007: A record-setting U.S. drought year
• 2007/10/16: TruthOut: Drought-Stricken South Facing Tough Choices
• 2007/10/16: PhysOrg: NCDC [National Climate Data Center]: Drought Spread Through US in Sept.
• 2007/10/16: C411: Floods Devastate Asia and Africa
• 2007/10/16: TreeHugger: Water Crisis Scenarios For The US Southeast
• 2007/10/16: DeSmogBlog: Coming soon: Southern Comfort on the Rocks -- But Without the Rocks!
• 2007/10/16: NYT: Drought-Stricken South Facing Tough Choices
• 2007/10/16: HuffPo: 2007: A Record-Setting U.S. Drought Year
• 2007/10/15: Yahoo: Drought tightens its grip on Southeast
• 2007/10/14: JFleck: Tallying Drought's Horrifying Toll
• 2007/10/14: TerraDaily: Australian drought pushes up price of beer
• 2007/10/14: ENN: Torrential rains, floods kill 20 in Central America

  The Lake Lanier situation is blowing up:

• 2007/10/20: CNN: Parched Georgia declares drought emergency
  Army Corps official denies there is a Lake Lanier water crisis - Army Corps releases millions of gallons daily from the lake - Georgia will seek injunction to stop water releases from reservoir - Governor asks president to declare North Georgia a disaster area
• 2007/10/20: PhysOrg: Georgia Seeks Water Disaster Declaration
  With water supplies rapidly shrinking during a drought of historic proportions, Gov. Sonny Perdue declared a state of emergency Saturday for the northern third of Georgia and asked President Bush to declare it a major disaster area
• 2007/10/19: AP: No Backup if Atlanta's Faucets Run Dry
• 2007/10/19: JFleck: Questions About the Georgia Drought
• 2007/10/19: JFleck: More Georgia Drought Numbers
• 2007/10/18: JFleck: Georgia's Problems In Perspective
• 2007/10/17: JFleck: Yankees Once Again March on Georgia
• 2007/10/18: EnvEcon: Atlanta's water problems and the blame game
• 2007/10/17: CNN: Corps could limit discharges from Georgia lake amid drought worries
  Army Corps of Engineers sidesteps the governor's demand to drain reservoirs - Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue said he will sue - Drought has heightened tensions between Atlanta, Georgia and Alabama - At issue is the flow of water from reservoirs
• 2007/10/16: TreeHugger: Water Running Out in Atlanta
• 2007/10/16: CharlotteObserver: Fires feared as drought grows dire - Some areas down to 3 months' supply; sharing may be in forecast

  The conflict between biofuel and food persists:

• 2007/10/17: TEB: IMF Warns About Impact of Biofuels on Food Prices
• 2007/10/18: Yahoo: IMF concerned by impact of biofuels on food prices

  And the troubling matter of falling food production is not going away:

• 2007/10/20: SeoulTimes: The Globalization of Hunger
• 2007/10/17: EnergyBulletin: Farming faces phosphate shortfall
• 2007/10/15: Madre: The Globalization of Hunger
• 2007/10/15: TA: Farming Faces Phosphate Shortfall - Global reserves of phosphorous, essential for agriculture, could run out in 60 to 100 years, warn experts
• 2007/10/15: USAToday: World events work against grain buyers
  [...] The tightest world grain stocks in about 30 years are contributing to rising food inflation, fueling worries about food shortages in some countries and straining international aid budgets. Russia recently imposed taxes on barley and grain exports to control domestic food prices before pending presidential elections. Prices are being pushed up by bad weather in a host of countries, surging world demand and a drive in the USA and abroad to devote more acres to corn for ethanol production, which has tightened supplies of some grains and tied crop prices more closely to energy prices.
• 2007/10/16: PhysOrg: A wheat for all seasons -- and reasons [perennial wheat study]
• 2007/10/16: Reuters: Cost of food aid soars as need rises
  A "perfect storm" of drought, conflict and rising costs has increased the ranks of the chronically hungry by millions of people, and forced aid workers to find and fund longer-term solutions to the food crisis. The United Nations says the number of chronically hungry people worldwide rises by an average of 4 million each year. At the same time global fuel prices have soared, pushing up road transport costs and global maritime shipping rates. The U.N.'s World Food Programme (WFP) says the cost of cereals has risen 50 percent over the past five years, which experts say is due to the world's growing population -- particularly in non-food producing urban areas -- combined with bad harvests and an increased demand for cereal products in previously rice-eating India and China

Elsewhere on the mitigation front:

• 2007/10/15: SciDaily: Green Skies: Engineer's Work May Reduce Jet Travel's Role In Global Warming

  The question of GHGs & shipping remains:

• 2007/10/19: ABC(Au): Emissions from shipping rise as trade grows
• 2007/10/19: BBC: Ships' CO2 'twice that of planes'
  Global emissions of carbon dioxide from shipping are twice the level of aviation, one of the maritime industry's key bodies has said. A report prepared by Intertanko, which represents the majority of the world's tanker operators, says emissions have risen sharply in the past six years. Previous International Maritime Organisation estimates suggested levels were comparable with those of planes.

Large scale geo-engineering keeps popping up:

• 2007/10/18: NatureCF: Geo-engineering cause, not cure
• 2007/10/18: ClimateP: Geo-engineering remains a bad idea
• 2007/10/15: TerraDaily: Can A Dose Of Iron Supplements Improve The Health Of The Ocean And Climate?

  While on the adaptation front:

• 2007/10/17: WarmingLaw: O (Global Warming) Pioneers! [taking climate-change impacts into account when reviewing development proposals]
• 2007/10/17: PRoJo: Coastal planners ready for sea-level rise
  This fall, the state agency that regulates coastal development in Rhode Island plans to become one of the first local regulatory agencies in the country to officially recognize the likelihood of sea-level rise and write policies and regulations to prepare for higher water. The rising waters will require that new buildings in flood zones be constructed at higher elevations, says Grover Fugate, executive director of the Coastal Resources Management Council. He says there should also be changes in the state building code for coastal development and different rules for septic systems. Sewer outfalls and bridges may be affected
• 2007/10/15: Yahoo: Austria to host global warming meeting [on how to cope with the warm winters and lackluster snowfall]

  Meanwhile in the journals:

• 2007/10/19: Science: (ab$) Southern Hemisphere and Deep-Sea Warming Led Deglacial Atmospheric CO2 Rise and Tropical Warming by Lowell Stott et al.
• 2007/10/19: ACP: ACE-FTS observation of a young biomass burning plume: first reported measurements of C2H4, C3H6O, H2CO and PAN by infrared occultation from space by P.-F. Coheur et al.
• 2007/10/17: ACP: Towards a better representation of the solar cycle in general circulation models by K. M. Nissen et al.
• 2007/10/19: ACPD: Nitrogen Oxide biogenic emissions from soils: impact on NOx and ozone formation in West Africa during AMMA (African Monsoon Multidisciplinary Analysis) by C. Delon et al.
• 2007/10/19: ACPD: Experimental studies on particle emissions from cruising ship, their characteristic properties, transformation and atmospheric lifetime in the marine boundary layer by A. Petzold et al.
• 2007/10/19: ACPD: NO2 climatology in the northern subtropical region: diurnal, seasonal and interannual variability by M. Gil et al.
• 2007/10/18: ACPD: Modelling sea salt aerosol and its direct and indirect effects on climate by X. Ma et al.
• 2007/10/05: Science: Toward Direct Measurement of Atmospheric Nucleation by Markku Kulmala et al.
• 2007/10/16: ACP: Influence of trans-Pacific pollution transport on acyl peroxy nitrate abundances and speciation at Mount Bachelor Observatory during INTEX-B by G. M. Wolfe et al.
• 2007/10/16: ACP: Middle atmosphere water vapour and dynamical features in aircraft measurements and ECMWF analyses by D. G. Feist et al.
• 2007/10/16: ACP: CALIPSO observations of stratospheric aerosols: a preliminary assessment by L. W. Thomason et al.
• 2007/10/16: ACPD: GEM-AQ, an on-line global multiscale chemical weather system: model description and evaluation of gas phase chemistry processes by J. W. Kaminski et al.
• 2007/10/16: ACPD: Influence of Giant CCN on warm rain processes in the ECHAM5 GCM by R. Posselt & U. Lohmann
• 2007/10/16: ACPD: The wintertime two-day wave in the Polar Stratosphere, Mesosphere and lower Thermosphere by D. J. Sandford et al.
• 2007/10/16: ACPD: Global anthropogenic aerosol effects on convective clouds in ECHAM5-HAM by U. Lohmann
• 2007/10/16: ACPD: Global modeling of secondary organic aerosol formation from aromatic hydrocarbons: high- vs low-yield pathways by D. K. Henze et al.
• 2007/10/16: PNAS: Plant nuclear factor Y (NF-Y) B subunits confer drought tolerance and lead to improved corn yields on water-limited acres by Donald E. Nelson et al.
• 2007/10/16: PNAS: Strategies for developing Green Super Rice by Qifa Zhang
• 2007/10/16: PNAS: Ecological consequences of early Late Pleistocene megadroughts in tropical Africa by Andrew S. Cohen et al.

  Before we get into politics, there was some science done:

• 2007/10/17: ABC(Au): Scientists collect Antarctic climate change data
• 2007/10/17: SciDaily: Ancient Fossil Evidence Supports Carbon Dioxide As Driver Of Global Warming
• 2007/10/16: NCDC: Climate of 2007 September in Historical Perspective
• 2007/10/16: TerraDaily: Geoscientist Receives Grant To Study Effects Of Volcanoes On Climate Change In Arctic
• 2007/10/15: ClimateP: Nature: It's not just the heat, it's the humidity
• 2007/10/15: SciDaily: Reading Past Climates From Ice Cores
• 2007/10/15: SF Gate: Scientists gauge greenhouse gases above S.F. in warming experiment

  As for Kyoto:

• 2007/10/18: DeSmogBlog: Bush, Harper, Howard: Lies, damn lies and statistics
  The three "world leaders" who are working hardest these days to kill the Kyoto Accord are also asking their public to believe numbers that are, at best, misleading
• 2007/10/15: ABC(Au): Kyoto approach on climate is bad policy: Bush

  While on the Kyoto-2 front:

• 2007/10/20: ABC(Au): Climate change progress rests on Bali talks: UN
  International efforts to limit greenhouse gases will be in "deep trouble" unless global warming talks in Bali in December make a breakthrough, the top United Nations climate official [UNFCCC head, Yvo de Boer] says
• 2007/10/20: ENN: U.N. climate chief [UNFCCC head, Yvo de Boer] looks for Bali breakthrough

  And on the carbon trading front:

• 2007/10/16: BioEnergyBiz: Rich nations' huge biofuel subsidies distort carbon market, says study
• 2007/10/16: CFinance: Warnings grow of 2008 CER [Certified Emission Reductions] delivery squeeze

  The idea of a carbon tax is still bouncing around:

• 2007/10/14: WaPo: We're Carboholics. Make Us Stop.
  [...] Why does America's power industry emit such a stunning amount of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere in this age of climate change? We do so because CO2 emissions are free. And in a world where CO2 has no price, removing CO2 before or after the combustion process is vastly more expensive and problematic than just venting it into the atmosphere.
• 2007/10/15: CTB: Carboholics Anonymous
• 2007/10/16: TreeHugger: Mortgage Deduction Limit Gaining Traction
• 2007/10/16: NEN: A yes for the carbon tax? Really?

  The debate over the optimal strategy [carbon trading, carbon offsets and/or a carbon tax] to use in dealing with GHGs continues:

• 2007/10/17: BCLSB: Winners And Losers In An International Carbon Regulation Protocol

  Meanwhile on the international political front:

• 2007/10/18: Guardian(UK): Don't neglect poor for sake of the environment, says World Bank boss [Robert Zoellick]
• 2007/10/16: CCurrents: Climate Change Threatens The Fight To End Poverty by Rajendra Pachauri [IPCC head]
• 2007/10/16: SwissInfo: Swiss urged [by Rajendra Pachauri] to take action on climate change
• 2007/10/16: BBC: Brazilian President Luiz Ignacio Lula da Silva has urged African countries to take up the use of biofuels as a way of improving their economic independence
• 2007/10/14: ENN: Five Asian nations to study flood, climate risks
• 2007/10/14: Yahoo: Commonwealth warns of devastating impact of global warming
  Global-warming and its devastating environmental effects were to top the agenda of a two-day meeting of finance ministers from more than 50 Commonwealth countries due to open here Monday
• 2007/10/15: CDreams: SMH: Climate Change Threatens the Fight to End Poverty by Rajendra Pachauri
• 2007/10/15: STimes: World warms up to climate challenge

  The GW security meme is still kicking:

• 2007/10/17: GristMill: Connecting the dots: Part II - Stopping global warring and global warming
• 2007/10/15: C411: Climate Change and World Peace
• 2007/10/14: TerraDaily: Greenhouse gas and war: How they are related?

  A common pattern: national governments refuse to act, so states, provinces and/or municipalities take over their responsibilities:

• 2007/10/15: KSJT: SF Chronicle, AP: Near and far, cities tackling CO2 emissions on their own
• 2007/10/14: PhysOrg: European Cities Tackling Climate Change

  And on the American political front:

• 2007/10/21: TreeHugger: Friedman of the Week Dept: Save the Planet, Vote Smart
• 2007/10/19: BobPark: What's New?
  #1) Climate Advice: Who speaks for American science? #2) Emissions: "This doesn't look like Kansas," Dorothy said
• 2007/10/19: GristMill: Lame duck quacking - Bush threatens to veto Democratic energy bill
  [...] For those of you following along at home, as we approach an election year Republicans will have gone on record denying children health care and shutting down an effort to reduce dependence on foreign oil
• 2007/10/20: AutoBG: Senator Carl Levin (D-Mi) pushes to water down Senate energy bill
• 2007/10/19: CSM: Some cities try going 'green' with blackouts - The aim is to raise awareness of light pollution and the energy wasted by lights left on
• 2007/10/17: CQ: At the End of the Climate Policy Tunnel, Will the Light be Out?
• 2007/10/: TimberJay: We've reached the tipping point on global warming debate
• 2007/10/19: WarmingLaw: Washington State Rumblings
• 2007/10/18: PRNewsWire: 'Post-Fossil Fuel America' Survey: Bipartisan Support Seen For Coal-Fired Power Plant Moratorium, Stepped-Up Focus on Renewables, Higher Vehicle MPG Standard and More Green Building
  In Face of Climate Threat, Americans Ready to End Addiction to Coal, Other Fossil Fuels -- New "Call to Action" Lining Up Grassroots Support for Comprehensive National Energy Action
• 2007/10/19: NEN: Southern Republican calls for climate change action
• 2007/10/18: TruthOut: Energy Package Is Hung Up on Taxes - White House threatens veto; Democrats dig in heels.
• 2007/10/18: HillHeat: Sanders and Lautenberg State Climate Legislation Principles
• 2007/10/17: CSW: Eileen Claussen: "The first thing the CCSP [U.S. Climate Change Science Program] needs is strong and independent leadership"
• 2007/10/18: TreeHugger: Congress to Consider Global Warming Wildlife Survival Bill
• 2007/10/18: NEN: Energy Bill: What the White House wants
• 2007/10/16: HChronicle: Energy package is hung up on taxes - White House threatens veto; Democrats dig in heels
  The White House is threatening to veto any energy bill that seeks to raise taxes on oil companies, prompting Democratic lawmakers Tuesday to accuse the administration of being too cozy with the industry.
• 2007/10/17: ClimateP: If you'd like to see a good energy bill this year...
• 2007/10/17: ClimateP: Some more actual progress on climate [US - Cal]
• 2007/10/16: ClimateP: A Good Month for Science
• 2007/10/16: ClimateP: (A few) opinion Leaders do get global warming - Part II
• 2007/10/16: TruthOut: Bush, Climate and the Technology Illusion
• 2007/10/16: TreeHugger: Quote of the Day: Paul Krugman on Doing the Right Thing
• 2007/10/16: DeSmogBlog: Bush: "Read My Lips! No New Caps!"
• 2007/10/16: AutoBG: Bush tells Congress how to write an energy bill [so he does not veto it]
• 2007/10/15: AlterNet: We Can't Wait for Politicians to Embrace Clean Energy
• 2007/10/16: HuffPo: Star Trek and the Farm Bill
• 2007/10/15: GristMill: Killing me loudly - Big Green savages Dingell's carbon tax
• 2007/10/15: HillHeat: Congressional Leaders Moving Forward on Closed-Door Energy Bill Negotiations 1
• 2007/10/15: NEN: Energy bill to be settled w/secret talks [US pol]
• 2007/10/14: CDreams: McClatchy: The Texas Lesson: Bush's Global Warming Reduction Goals Won't Work
• 2007/10/14: STimes: "Carbon tax" goes after mortgage deduction [Dingell]

  John Marburger disagrees with the IPCC:

• 2007/10/19: TruthOut: Bush Aide Rejects Climate Goal - Science adviser's stance at odds with panel on warming
• 2007/10/19: WaPo: Bush Aide [Marburger] Rejects Climate Goal - Science Adviser's Stance at Odds With Panel on Warming
• 2007/10/20: QuarkSoup: Marburger and 2 C

  It looks like California is going to sue the EPA:

• 2007/10/20: CDreams: SF Chronicle: California To Sue Bush Administration Over Law To Limit Emissions
• 2007/10/20: WarmingLaw: Hearing Monday in California Cars Case
• 2007/10/20: ENN: California To Sue EPA next week on Carmaker Emissions Waiver
• 2007/10/19: WarmingLaw: Say Hello To California's Little Friends...
• 2007/10/18: WarmingLaw: Crunch Time for EPA

  Evangelicals are still in conflict:

• 2007/10/20: GristMill: Values - Evangelicals gather in D.C. and reaffirm that climate is not their focus

  The 2008 campaign is seeing more climate &/ energy action:

• 2007/10/18: GMB: McCain on Climate Change - John McCain appears confused about the relationship between carbon taxes and cap-and-trade...
• 2007/10/16: Grist: Paul on the Record - An interview with Ron Paul about his presidential platform on energy and the environment
• 2007/10/17: ClimateP: Global warming divides the GOP Presidential field
• 2007/10/17: NYT: Global Warming Starts to Divide G.O.P. Contenders
• 2007/10/10: HeatIsOn: Where the Candidates Currently Stand
• 2007/10/15: CSM: Where the '08 contenders stand on global warming - Their positions range from enacting a corporate carbon tax to dismissing the threat
• 2007/10/15: TruthOut: Where the '08 Contenders Stand on Global Warming
• 2007/10/14: GristMill: Edwards: Friend of FOE - The environmental endorsements start rolling in
• 2007/10/15: TreeHugger: Obama Steps It Up On Climate Change

  Kansas has rejected a coal based power plant because of GHGs:

• 2007/10/19: TruthOut: Power Plant Rejected Over Carbon Dioxide for First Time
• 2007/10/19: MTobis: Kansas Rejects Coal!
• 2007/10/20: DeSmogBlog: King Coal Scorned in the US Heartland!
• 2007/10/19: GristMill: Coal is the enemy of the human race: Roderick Bremby is a hero edition - Kansas coal plant air permit denied on basis of CO2
• 2007/10/19: ClimateP: Huge win for climate -- in an unlikely place!
• 2007/10/19: WaPo: Power Plant Rejected Over Carbon Dioxide For First Time
  The Kansas Department of Health and Environment yesterday became the first government agency in the United States to cite carbon dioxide emissions as the reason for rejecting an air permit for a proposed coal-fired electricity generating plant, saying that the greenhouse gas threatens public health and the environment
• 2007/10/18: HillHeat: Kansas Blocks New Coal Plants

  The Warner - Lieberman Bill has been introduced:

• 2007/10/19: TruthOut: Historic [Warner - Lieberman] Bill in Senate to Fight Warming
• 2007/10/19: GristMill: In the pack - Environmental Defense responds on Lieberman-Warner support
• 2007/10/20: HillHeat: Lieberman-Warner Co-Sponsors
• 2007/10/18: NSU: US climate bill calls for emission caps [Warner-Lieberman]
• 2007/10/18: GristMill: A green civil war? Environmental Defense has abandoned other green groups on Lieberman's bill; how should they respond?
• 2007/10/17: OpenLeft: The Green Civil Wars Need to Begin
• 2007/10/18: C411: A New Climate Change Bill with Promise [lieberman-warner]
• 2007/10/19: SF Gate: Historic bill in Senate to fight warming - California law a model for new measure
• 2007/10/18: ClimateP: Center for American Progress statements on Warner-Lieberman bill
• 2007/10/17: GristMill: More on the new Lieberman-Warner bill - A detailed breakdown of the differences from earlier drafts
• 2007/10/17: GristMill: Changes in the Lieberman-Warner bill - Consensus Senate climate bill will largely retain original weaknesses
• 2007/10/18: HillHeat: PG&E, Boxer, Sanders respond to Lieberman-Warner
• 2007/10/18: HillHeat: Initial Responses to Lieberman-Warner
• 2007/10/18: HillHeat: Lieberman-Warner Releasing Draft Legislation: America's Climate Security Act
• 2007/10/18: WarmingLaw: Congress Gets It [Lieberman-Warner]
• 2007/10/17: ClimateP: Update on Warner-Lieberman and Energy Bill
• 2007/10/17: GristMill: Jostling over climate legislation - Lieberman-Warner bill to be introduced tomorrow; green groups fight over strategy

  Besides the Nobel & AIT malarkey, the Gore-apalooza is still bopping along:

• 2007/10/19: CSpin: Al Gore to launch $100 million climate change ad campaign
• 2007/10/17: Guardian(UK): Gore rules out White House bid despite Nobel prize
• 2007/10/17: GristMill: The enGorsement - Who will Gore endorse, and does it matter?
• 2007/10/13: WaPo: Despite Big Honor for Gore, Climate Not Top Issue in U.S.
• 2007/10/15: Independent(UK): Gore Nobel prize puts environment back on Democrats' agenda
• 2007/10/15: SacBee: Does Nobel change debate? California prepares to file lawsuit: Award could add fuel to fight against climate change

  While in the UK:

• 2007/10/19: PhysOrg: Why 'Made in China' should increase our carbon footprint
• 2007/10/19: inel: Tyndall report on China's CO2 for exports
• 2007/10/19: BBC: Exports fuel China's CO2 output
  A quarter of China's greenhouse gas emissions are produced making goods exported to the West, a report from a UK government-funded body has found. Climate research body the Tyndall Centre, using 2004 data, estimates the emissions are double those of Britain for the same period. It wants rich nations to take the lead in cutting the pollution they cause. In the last year, UK imports from China rose by 10%, nearing 6.5 million tonnes, according to a recent study
• 2007/10/15: Guardian(UK): High street's climate message not getting through
• 2007/10/15: CBC: Global warming protester booted from [British] museum

  And in Europe:

• 2007/10/18: TerraDaily: Swiss vote goes green with climate change
• 2007/10/18: AutoBG: The EU reduces subsidies for biofuel crops

  Meanwhile in Australia:

• 2007/10/19: ABC(Au): Gilmore MP goes carbon neutral on campaign trail
  The federal Member for Gilmore, Joanna Gash, has purchased carbon credits to offset the carbon emissions that will be produced during her election campaign
• 2007/10/19: ABC(Au): PM [Howard] told to get moving on emissions trading
• 2007/10/18: ABC(Au): Drought-hit farmers [from Tasmania] want Federal conservation laws set aside [to give them emergency access to water]
• 2007/10/17: ABC(Au): Telstra embraces carbon reduction report
• 2007/10/17: ABC(Au): Alice council challenged over climate change [admits it has been slow]
• 2007/10/17: SMH: Green tape will make polluters measure up - From July, many companies will be obliged by law to go public with their footprints...
  With the introduction of the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Act, the era of voluntary reporting for companies that emit substantial amounts of greenhouse gases has come to an end. Under the new system, companies that emit 125,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas (measured in carbon dioxide equivalence) and/or 500 terajoules of energy in the financial year starting July 2008 will be required to report. So, too, will facilities that emit more than 25,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas and/or 100 terajoules of energy. Registration and reporting obligations will be phased in over three years. Threshold levels will be reduced to 50,000 tonnes or 200 terajoules for companies at the three-year mark
• 2007/10/17: ABC(Au): Calls for mining companies to cut emissions
  The Queensland Resources Council says mining companies will have to help cut greenhouse gas emissions if they want to prosper from long-term demand for the state's coal
• 2007/10/17: ABC(Au): Coalition, Labor fail green test
• 2007/10/16: SMH: Greens seek plans to oil-proof Australia
• 2007/10/14: ABC(Au): Tax, climate change policies [of both major parties] 'need clarification'
• 2007/10/16: ABC(Au): Farmers could reap $3b carbon harvest
  A new report says farmers could make an extra $3 billion a year by helping to produce clean energy and by offering carbon offsets to big polluters. The CSIRO report was commissioned by a group called the Agricultural Alliance on Climate Change, which includes farming and green organisations.

In China, a big CPC Congress went down this week:

• 2007/10/15: TreeHugger: When China's Green Goals Clash Against Red Ones

  In Canada, minority neocon PM Harper presented a gormless throne speech this week:

• 2007/10/19: G&M: Canada won't actually quit Kyoto, Baird says
  Environment Minister John Baird said Friday that Canada will not formally withdraw from the Kyoto protocol, even though the Conservative government's latest Throne Speech declared the objectives in the global climate-change treaty unattainable
• 2007/10/17: DeSmogBlog: Canadian Climate Change Policy: Let's Be First Among the World's Worst Polluters
• 2007/10/17: TreeHugger: Canadian Enviros Wearing Bags Over Their Heads Today [throne speech]
• 2007/10/16: Yahoo: Canada says can't meet Kyoto targets
• 2007/10/17: CanWest: Tory climate plan misses Kyoto target

  The Conservatives made the Arctic a plank of their throne speech, but...:

• 2007/10/20: CanWest: Canada 'Behind' On Arctic Surveillance
• 2007/10/20: G&M: Treading on thin ice
  Stephen Harper is beefing up Canada's claims on the Arctic, but it's not clear who owns the northern sea and the potential resource windfall beneath it

The Greens released their Green Vision policy paper:

• 2007/10/16: TStar: May slams PM, outlines Green platform
  Prime Minister Stephen Harper has brought "shame" on Canada because of his unwillingness to take global warming seriously, Green Party Leader Elizabeth May says.
• 2007/10/15: WtEB: Green Party Releases their "Green Vision"
• 2007/10/15: CTindal: Death Of A One-Issue Party - Greens release a major policy paper [Vision Green]

  And StatsCan released an environmental report card:

• 2007/10/15: CBC: Canada missing environmental targets, StatsCan says
  Canada's air and water quality is worsening and the country continues to lag in meeting its greenhouse gas emission targets, according to a Statistics Canada report released Monday.

Details on BC premier Campbell's climate plan are slow to emerge, which likely means...:

• 2007/10/15: CanWest: Premier's fight for the planet unveiled
  Here is a glimpse of the government's PowerPoint show [Premier Gordon Campbell's plan to deal with global-warming] being given by deputy minister Graham Whitmarsh who is running the climate change agenda for Campbell

Robert Bateman made a strong statement advocating a carbon tax:

• 2007/10/19: CanWest: Bateman: We need a carbon tax
  World-renowned B.C. nature artist Robert Bateman said yesterday people should have to pay a carbon tax on their greenhouse-gas emissions. Appealing to people's better nature won't work, he said. "I don't believe in education. I believe in legislation," Bateman, 77, said yesterday. "You need something with teeth in it. "We need something along the lines of a carbon tax. We have to face it." And he said B.C. has to stop subsidizing industrial polluters in the energy, farming, fisheries and forestry sectors.

Still the tricky question of the oil sands (& their royalties) looms:

• 2007/10/20: CanWest: Oilsands pace a 'big mistake' - Inflationary costs hurt province, Lougheed says
• 2007/10/17: RigZone: Higher Alberta Levies Threaten Oil Sands Pipeline Plans
• 2007/10/15: DominionPaper: Oil Versus Water - Toxic water poses threat to Alberta's Indigenous communities [tar sands]

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

• 2007/10/18: GristMill: Economics and environmental protection - Nobel winner explains why markets can't replace public goods
• 2007/10/17: EnergyBulletin: The age of scarcity industrialism
• 2007/10/17: GristMill: Climate equity: Andrew Pendleton - On how to divvy up responsibility for climate change
• 2007/10/14: CDreams: SF Chronicle: On the Climate Change Front Look Who's In Denial About Global Warming Now [by S&N]

  Apocalypso anyone?:

• 2007/10/10: TBoucher: Lost In The Immense Suffering

  As for how the media handles the science of climatology:

• 2007/10/20: ClimateP: CNN worries about a "Planet in Peril" -- they shouldn't
• 2007/10/19: Deltoid: The Washington Post's war on Gore, continued
• 2007/10/16: Consortium: Why Big Media Slimes Al Gore
• 2007/10/16: MediaMatters: Media ignore British judge's conclusion that An Inconvenient Truth is "substantially founded upon scientific research and fact"
• 2007/10/16: Deltoid: John Mashey: What to do about poor science reporting
• 2007/10/14: BSD: Mind-numbingly stupid, Washington Post Op-Ed - but I'm being redundant
• 2007/10/12: MediaBloodhound: Story of the Day: Gore Wins Nobel, NY Times Slights Him on Cover

  So, do you believe this whole hydrogen energy schtick?

• 2007/10/20: TreeHugger: Joseph Romm and Greg Blencoe Bet On Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicles
• 2007/10/18: AutoBG: Glencoe-Romm hydrogen debate gets a bet: how many hydrogen cars in 2015?

  Wrestling over a new energy infrastructure continues unabated:

• 2007/10/20: PhysOrg: German Team Wins Solar Home Competition
• 2007/10/20: GristMill: Over the moon for cow power - Methane from Vermont dairy farms to provide electricity for utility customers
• 2007/10/15: FuturePundit: Solar Energy Seen As Really Plentiful
• 2007/10/18: PhysOrg: First Analysis of the Water Requirements of a Hydrogen Economy
• 2007/10/18: MWatch: As oil super-spike hits, stocks pay attention
  ...I knew Wednesday morning that the current spike, a speculative frenzy if there ever was one, was the real thing when I saw a story in my newspaper about how higher oil prices no longer mean much to the U.S. economy
• 2007/10/18: AutoBG: Ottowa's (sic) first permanent hydrogen fuelling station now open
• 2007/10/16: WorldChanging: A Carbon-Negative Fuel [gasification & terra preta]
• 2007/10/16: HuffPo: A Call to Arms
  The world is at an energy crossroads, and the decisions made about cars and oil in America and China over the next decade or so will set the course for the coming century. That is because energy infrastructure, be that automobile factories or petrochemical refineries, can last for decades, and the greenhouse gases emitted can last even longer. If we are to set our energy system on the right course before real crisis hits in a decade or two, we need to start that transition now.
• 2007/10/16: NEN: Midwest utility chief in energy straight talk
• 2007/10/15: PhysOrg: Think Round: Korean Company Develops Spherical Solar Cell [able to capture the sun in all directions]
• 2007/10/15: Eureka: Leading experts in organic solar cells say the field is being damaged by questionable reports
• 2007/10/15: NuncScio: Orbital solar power? Sure! Why not?

  A devastating overview of energy, ecology & population over the next 100 years:

• 2007/10/17: OilDrum: World Energy and Population: Trends to 2100

  The arithmetic of coal carbon is striking home:

• 2007/10/19: FuturePundit: Opposition Builds Against Coal Electric Power Plants
• 2007/10/17: HChronicle: US Coal Plant Plans Scrapped, Delayed
  At least 16 coal-fired power plant proposals nationwide have been scrapped in recent months and more than three dozen have been delayed as utilities face increasing pressure due to concerns over global warming and rising construction costs
• 2007/10/16: GristMill: Just in time for Halloween - A scary pro-coal op-ed

  Biofuel bickering abounds:

• 2007/10/20: CDreams: IPS: Biofuels - Great Green Hope or Swindle
• 2007/10/20: NewScientist: Brazil rides biofuel bandwagon to Africa
• 2007/10/17: IMC: BP Executive pied as Europe's largest BioFuels Event disrupted
• 2007/10/18: GristMill: Get your industrial agrodiesel here - Profit motive is eating the planet
• 2007/10/17: PhysOrg: Researchers examine world's potential to produce biodiesel [SAGE]
• 2007/10/16: GristMill: Kill King Corn - The editors at Nature discover that corn ethanol sucks...
• 2007/10/: Wisc:SAGE: Biodiesel and Ethanol
• 2007/10/17: Eureka: Researchers examine world's potential to produce biodiesel
• 2007/10/16: Eureka: If corn is biofuels king, tropical maize may be emperor
• 2007/10/16: NEN: Algae: Born to be biofuel
• 2007/10/16: OilChange: Lula Promotes Biofuels in Africa

  The nuclear energy controversy continues:

• 2007/10/20: HuffPo: No Nukes Is Back for a Green Armageddon

  Yes we have a peak oil sighting:

• 2007/10/18: DailyGreen: When Peak Oil Meets Global Warming

  And then there is the matter of efficiency & conservation:

• 2007/10/18: EnvFin: Conservation is 'key to curbing climate change' [says ACORE: American Council on Renewable Energy]
• 2007/10/19: TEB: Ann Arbor to Install LED Street Lighting
• 2007/10/18: ABC(Au): GPS, efficiency tools can save $6b in energy: study
• 2007/10/17: WaPo: Va. Tech, Investor Aim To Cut Area Energy Use - 100 Properties To Get Upgrades
• 2007/10/17: SciDaily: Switchgrass: Bridging Bioenergy And Conservation

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

• 2007/10/20: TreeHugger: Carbon Health Warnings on New British Cars
• 2007/10/19: TreeHugger: Who Killed the Electric Car?
• 2007/10/19: AutoBG: Alliance to Save Energy calls on increasing CAFE standards and offers tips to save energy
• 2007/10/18: TEB: EnerDel to Provide Lithium Batteries for Th!nk Electric Car
• 2007/10/18: ClimateP: Ad of the Day [cars]
• 2007/10/18: PhysOrg: Zippy new electric car looks like a three wheeled shoehorn
• 2007/10/18: AutoBG: Could explosive growth in Chinese electric bikes be driving up lead prices?
• 2007/10/16: AutoBG: Could Norway ban all gasoline powered cars?
• 2007/10/17: AutoBG: Chrysler chimes in on CAFE proposals
• 2007/10/11: Time: The History of the Electric Car
• 2007/10/14: HuffPo: Toyota's Betrayal: Oh, What a (Crummy) Feeling!

  The reaction of business to climate change will be critical:

• 2007/10/18: EnvFin: Deutsche Bank steps up climate change effort
• 2007/10/18: EnvFin: BT to develop £250 million wind portfolio
• 2007/10/19: Guardian(UK): BT [British Telecom] leads green revolution with £250m wind farm project
• 2007/10/19: inel: British Windicom :-)
• 2007/10/19: STimes: Giving climate change the business
• 2007/10/16: RReich: Don't Count on Corporations to Lead on Global Warming
• 2007/10/15: TreeHugger: Industry Coming a-Round -- We All Need to Take Action on Climate Change
• 2007/10/15: Oregonian: The greening of Wal-Mart
  Growing evidence suggests that Wal-Mart's legions of critics have been a tad too hasty in heaping scorn on the company's sustainability initiative. Two years ago, when the world's largest retailer rolled out its new program, detractors promptly dismissed it as a public relations gimmick. They called it a hoax, cynically designed to divert attention from the company's controversial labor and health care policies. Since then, however, Wal-Mart has indeed shown itself to be more eco-friendly. And because of its enormous size and impact, some of the company's changes are having a ripple effect, improving the sustainability practices of suppliers, shippers, competitors and customers

Insurance and re-insurance companies are feeling the heat:

• 2007/10/17: IHT: Lawyer: Whistleblower suit against insurers tossed out
  A federal judge on Wednesday threw out a so-called "whistleblowers'" lawsuit that accuses insurance companies of overbilling the federal government for Hurricane Katrina's flood damage to Louisiana homes. Allan Kanner, the New Orleans-based attorney who filed the suit on behalf of a group of former insurance adjusters, said U.S. District Judge Peter Beer dismissed the case on procedural grounds and didn't rule on the merits of the allegations
• 2007/10/15: NYT: Hurricane Fears Cost Homeowners Coverage
• 2007/10/16: DeSmogBlog: You're In Good Hands -- Until They Drop You!

  The carbon lobby are up to the usual:

• 2007/10/20: GristMill: Low-budget Bjornography - George Will's latest column tests the limits of self parody
• 2007/10/19: GristMill: Another skeptic zombie killed, probably not for the last time - More on the nine 'errors' in Gore's movie
• 2007/10/19: GristMill: [Dessler] Are scientists losing the global warming debate? Delayers are replacing deniers
• 2007/10/19: DeSmogBlog: ABC's John Stossel's Embarrassing Global Warming Rhetoric
• 2007/10/19: CCD: Sour Milk
• 2007/10/19: RealClimate: Global Warming Delusions at the Wall Street Journal
• 2007/10/18: DeSmogBlog: Exxon attacked by polar bears!
• 2007/10/19: CanWest: Carbon catastrophe - Kyoto causes rainforest cutting and food-price hikes
• 2007/10/18: ABC(Au): Climate change sceptics fight campaign in classrooms
  A lobby group of climate sceptics is to send every British school a copy of the film The Great Global Warming Swindle, a controversial film that claims climate change is a myth
• 2007/10/18: JEB: Exxon Geosciences Union?
• 2007/10/18: BCLSB: Tom Harris Sticks His Nose Down Dirty Hole
• 2007/10/18: CSM: How can you predict global warming if you can't predict rain?
  Some say climate change is part of a complex natural cycle - so complex, in fact, that it can't be forecast. Are current climate models reliable?
• 2007/10/17: Guardian(UK): Sucked Dry [Lomborg]
• 2007/10/16: ERabett: Cluster growth [cosmic rays]
• 2007/10/16: MTobis: Worried About the Intellectual Climate
• 2007/10/17: DeSmogBlog: Does This Count as a National Post Apology?
• 2007/10/16: Herald(UK): Laird prepares an inconvenient rival to film [Monckton]
• 2007/10/16: inel: Cloburn Quarry Fuel and Mining Party, the Scientific Alliance and Foresight Communications
• 2007/10/16: BSD: Lomborg's actually right about something [renewable funding]
• 2007/10/16: Deltoid: Now Tim Ball says that global warming ended in 1930
• 2007/10/15: QuarkSoup: Tim Ball's comments
• 2007/10/16: DeSmogBlog: The Observer Confirms Source of U.K. Suit Funding
• 2007/10/14: ERabett: Shellenberger and Lomborg
• 2007/10/15: FergusB: Cabbage does not exist and here is the proof
• 2007/10/15: MTobis: Gravityism
• 2007/10/15: OilChange: Climate Sceptics to Send Own Film to British Schools
• 2007/10/15: ThinkP: 'Top Meteorologist' [Dr. William Gray] Hailed By Traditional Media Once Compared Gore To Hitler

  Then there was the usual news and commentary:

• 2007/10/20: PBS:Correlations: Climate, Chaos and Confusion
• 2007/10/19: GristMill: The ridiculous and the sublime - From denying climate disruption to denying a coal plant permit application
• 2007/10/19: OrganicToBe: Big Tractor, Green Hypocrisy
• 2007/10/19: FGuide: "Little Green Lies"
• 2007/10/19: Tamino: Not Alike [MWP & now]
• 2007/10/19: ClimateP: I am pretty sure you are not aware of this [Energy Awareness Month]
• 2007/10/19: FergusB: Maintaining a healthy perspective?
• 2007/10/19: C411: Why We Need to Cut Emissions as Soon as Possible
• 2007/10/18: AddisonIndependent: Organizers plan for second big climate change protest [Step It Up 2]
• 2007/10/19: StCloudTimes: Eliminating global warming requires bold actions
• 2007/10/18: Atmoz: Global Warming Signal in Sea Surface Temperature Data
• 2007/10/17: inel: An oracle at Oracle
• 2007/10/18: FergusB: Reconstruction deconstruction; oy vay!
• 2007/10/18: Stoat: 8 photos of Global Warming for your blog/web site
• 2007/10/18: CCM: A Reason For Hope
• 2007/10/18: C411: We Can Stop Global Warming without Hurting the Poor
• 2007/10/18: DeSmogBlog: Step it Up 2007 - Action on Climate Change
• 2007/10/17: Yahoo: Annan urges united action to tackle climate change
• 2007/10/17: Reuters: Do food miles make a difference to global warming?
• 2007/10/17: CasaubonsBook: Have We Hit the Critical Climate Tipping Point?
• 2007/10/17: Stoat: 3% chance of +10 oC by 2100?!?
• 2007/10/17: BCLSB: Will The British Coal Industry Get A Portion Of Nobel Prize Money?
• 2007/10/17: TreeHugger: Climate Neutral Driving...for Dummies?
• 2007/10/17: DeSmogBlog: Speak Up, David, Goliath Has A Hearing Problem [Suzuki]
• 2007/10/16: CCurrents: Escaping BAU - 450ppm, 2 Degrees C, Change Now
• 2007/10/16: Tamino: Many Factors
• 2007/10/16: ClimateP: Racking Up Climate Debt
• 2007/10/17: ABC(Au): Canada's green prophet a voice in the wilderness [DSuzuki]
• 2007/10/16: GristMill: Climate equity: Danielle Deane - A foundation officer on the need for coordination and funding for equity efforts
• 2007/10/15: TerraDaily: Asking The Wrong Questions On Global Warming
• 2007/10/16: StanfordDaily: Climate change: no more 'wait and see'
• 2007/10/15: CasaubonsBook: 100% Emissions Reduction
• 2007/10/15: Tamino: The best of times, the worst of times
• 2007/10/15: ClimateP: Most opinion leaders just don't get global warming - Part I
• 2007/10/15: GristMill: Stepping it up on activism - New book from McKibben & co. aids grassroots action
• 2007/10/15: inel: Climate change action: how parents can switch to help kids
• 2007/10/14: inel: Royal Society climate change resources
• 2007/10/14: JFleck: Climate Quiz
• 2007/10/09: PNT: Between a hoax and a catastrophe
• 2007/10/15: FergusB: Turning the volume knob down on the tomorrow machine
• 2007/10/15: TreeHugger: The Windbelt: Third-World Wind Power
• 2007/10/14: IEET: Solving the Climate Crisis
• 2007/10/15: OpenTheFuture: Solving the Climate Crisis
• 2007/10/15: APoV: The Health Of The Planet: The Road Not Taken

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

• WOU: Coal
• WOU: Energy From Fossil Fuels
• WOU: Historical Perspectives of Energy Consumption
• PaulChefurka: Peak Oil and the World Problematique
• NCDC: National Climate Data Center
• BAD: Blog Action Day
• USGS: WaterWatch -- Maps and graphs of current water resources conditions
• WtEB: While the Earth Burns
• Millennium Ecosystem Assessment
• World Radiation Centre
• NGDC.NOAA: Solar Irradiance Data
• Exxpose Exxon
• SciAmP: SciAm Perspectives

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

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

"...winning the Nobel Prize does not automatically qualify you to be commander in chief. I think George Bush has proved definitively that to be president, you don't need to care about science, literature or peace." -Stephen Colbert

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