Another Week of GW News, October 28, 2007

Sipping from the internet firehose...

(skip to bottom)

• Top Stories, Accelerating CO2 Growth, GEO-4, Mass Extinctions, Roe & Baker, Prins & Rayner, IAC
• Melting Arctic, California Wildfires, Catch Up
• Hurricanes, GHG Sources, Glaciers, Pine Island, Sea Levels, Satellites, DSCOVR
• Impacts, Rainforests, Corals, Wildfires, Floods & Droughts, Food vs. Biofuel, Cereal Production
• Mitigation, Transportation, Building, Sequestration, Geoengineering
• Journals, Misc. Science, Steve Running
• Kyoto-2, Bali Preparations, Carbon Trade, Carbon Tax
• International Politics, Security, America, Britain, Europe, France
• Australia, New Zealand, Chile, China, Japan, Canada
• Ecological Economics, IPAT, Apocalypso, Media, Books, Video, Courts, Betting
• Energy, Solar, Coal, Biofuel, Nukes, Efficiency, Cars, Business, Carbon Lobby
• The Usual, Useful Links
• Shameless Self Promotion
• .sig

More in the GW black humour department:

• 2007/10/25: uComics: (cartoon - Toles) If This Is Global Warming...
• 2007/10/26: uComics: (cartoon - Trudeau) The Press Keeps Asking About Dana
• 2007/10/26: SeattlePI: (cartoon - Horsey) A Little Editing
• 2007/10/25: ClimateP: (cartoon - Toles) Hellish humor

  Ted Glick has now been fasting 50+ days:

• 2007/10/23: DemNow: 60 Arrested at No War, No Warming Protests in Washington [Ted Glick interview]

  A string of unsettling reports and articles this week. First the change in the rate of CO2 absorption by the ocean:

• 2007/10/25: PNAS: Contributions to accelerating atmospheric CO2 growth from economic activity, carbon intensity, and efficiency of natural sinks by Josep G. Canadella et al.
• 2007/10/26: IPSNews: CO2 Levels Begin Accelerated Climb
• 2007/10/27: CBC:Q&Q: (mp3/ogg) Stepping on the CO2 Pedal - Dr. Chris Field interview
• 2007/10/22: NSU: Greenhouse-gas levels accelerating - Decline in oceans' ability to store carbon partly to blame, study suggests
• 2007/10/26: ClimateP: More on soaring carbon concentrations
• 2007/10/26: Stoat: Airbourne fraction [proportion of emitted CO2 that stays in the atmosphere]
• 2007/10/25: inel: GCP, UEA and BAS announce [Unexpected growth in atmospheric CO2]
• 2007/10/24: SciDaily: Could Warmer Oceans Make Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide Rise Faster Than Expected?
• 2007/10/23: CSIRO: Decline in uptake of carbon emissions confirmed
• 2007/10/22: SciAm: Climate Change Pollution Rising -- Thanks to Overwhelmed Oceans and Plants
• 2007/10/23: GCP: Contributions to accelerating atmospheric CO2 growth from economic activity, carbon intensity, and efficiency of natural sinks
• 2007/10/23: KSJT: Lots of Ink: PNAS study confirms accelerating CO2 level - more emission as natural sinks falter
• 2007/10/23: MongaBay: North Atlantic carbon sinks absorbing less CO2
• 2007/10/22: MongaBay: Carbon sinks failing to keep up with emissions
• 2007/10/23: ClimateP: Carbon emissions race past all predictions
• 2007/10/22: ERabett: There goes the neighborhood - North Atlantic is not absorbing as much CO2 as it warms
• 2007/10/23: TerraDaily: Rise In Atmospheric CO2 Accelerates As Economy Grows, Natural Carbon Sinks Weakening
• 2007/10/23: TreeHugger: Carbon Dioxide Production Much Faster than Originally Anticipated
• 2007/10/23: SciDaily: Unexpected Growth In Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide
• 2007/10/23: SciDaily: North Atlantic Slows Its Uptake Of Carbon Dioxide
• 2007/10/22: Eureka: Rise in atmospheric CO2 accelerates as economy grows, natural carbon sinks weaken
• 2007/10/22: USAToday: World's carbon dioxide emissions rising at alarming rate
• 2007/10/23: DeSmogBlog: Ooops! Someone misunderestimated again!
• 2007/10/23: OilChange: CO2 Rising Much Faster Than Forecast
• 2007/10/23: G&M: A clog in the world's carbon dioxide 'sinks'
  Nature is having a harder time absorbing greenhouse-gas emissions, which may increase the pace of global warming, research shows
• 2007/10/23: SeattlePI: Atmospheric CO2 growing faster than expected, study finds
• 2007/10/22: CCurrents: Fears That Seas Soak Up Less Greenhouse Gas
• 2007/10/23: BBC: 'Unexpected growth' in CO2 found
  Carbon dioxide (CO2) levels in the atmosphere have risen 35% faster than expected since 2000, says a study. International scientists found that inefficiency in the use of fossil fuels increased levels of CO2 by 17%. The other 18% came from a decline in the natural ability of land and oceans to soak up CO2 from the atmosphere
• 2007/10/23: CBC: CO2 levels rising faster as oceans trap less of greenhouse gas
• 2007/10/23: Times(UK): New CO2 evidence means climate change predictions are 'too optimistic'
• 2007/10/23: Guardian(UK): Carbon output rising faster than forecast, says study
• 2007/10/22: ClimateP: Big news: The ocean carbon sink is saturating
• 2007/10/22: PhysOrg: Rise in atmospheric CO2 accelerates as economy grows, natural carbon sinks weaken
• 2007/10/21: Stoat: Scientists fear climate change speed-up as oceans fail to hold greenhouse gases
• 2007/10/22: QuarkSoup: Oceans taking up less carbon
• 2007/10/22: Eureka: North Atlantic slows on the uptake of CO2

  UNEP released its GEO-4 report:

• 2007/10/27: TreeHugger: Quote of the Day: Achim Steiner on the State of the Environment
  "The difference between this GEO and the third report, which was released in 2002, is that claims and counter claims over climate change are in many ways over. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has put a full stop behind the science of whether human actions are impacting the atmosphere and clarified the likely impacts -- impacts not in a far away future but within the lifetime of our generation."
• 2007/10/25: UN: UN report finds environmental progress inadequate, urges stepped-up action [GEO4]
• 2007/10/26: TruthOut: UN Issues "Final Wake-Up Call" on Population and Environment [GEO4]
• 2007/10/26: MTobis: UNEP Gets It
• 2007/10/26: ABC(Au): Humanity at risk as planet suffers: UN
• 2007/10/25: GristMill: Everything: Still going to hell - Brundtland update finds problems unsolved
• 2007/10/26: OilChange: Humanity's Survival is at Risk, Says UN
• 2007/10/26: CDreams: Times(UK): Earth Is Reaching The Point of No Return, Says Major UN Environment Report
• 2007/10/26: NYT: U.N. Warns of Rapid Decay of Environment
• 2007/10/26: SMH: Population pressure takes Earth to its limits [GEO4]
• 2007/10/26: Guardian(UK): Environmental failures 'put humanity at risk'
• 2007/10/25: UNEP: Planet's Tougher Problems Persist, UN Report Warns
• 2007/10/25: BBC: Natural decline 'hurting lives'
  Continuing destruction of the natural world is affecting the health, wealth and well-being of people around the globe, according to a major UN report. The Global Environment Outlook says most trends are going the wrong way. It lists degradation of farmland, loss of forest cover, pollution, dwindling fresh water supplies and overfishing among society's environmental ills. The UN Environment Programme (Unep) says there is a "remarkable lack of urgency" to reverse these trends
• 2007/10/25: AFP: Save the planet? It's now or never, warns landmark UN report [GEO-4]

  An article on past coincidences of global warming & mass extinctions raised the stakes:

• 2007/10/23: RoyalSoc_B: A long-term association between global temperature and biodiversity, origination and extinction in the fossil record by Peter J. Mayhew et al.
• 2007/10/25: NatureCF: Global warming = mass extinctions
• 2007/10/24: MongaBay: Worst mass extinctions occur when temperatures are the warmest
• 2007/10/25: ABC(Au): Global warming to cause mass extinction: report
• 2007/10/24: PhysOrg: Fossil record supports evidence of impending mass extinction
• 2007/10/24: CCM: Warnings from The Fossil Record: Higher CO2 and Temperature Link to Mass Extinctions
• 2007/10/24: NatGeo: Scientists Link Extinctions, Rising Temperatures
• 2007/10/24: Eureka: Fossil record supports evidence of impending mass extinction
• 2007/10/24: TerraDaily: Climate change: Fossil record points to future mass extinctions
• 2007/10/23: ENN: Warming said to have potential to wipe out most species
• 2007/10/23: Yahoo: Climate change: Fossil record points to future mass extinctions
• 2007/10/24: York: Fossil record supports evidence of impending mass extinction
• 2007/10/24: BBC: Climate threat to biodiversity - Global temperatures predicted for the coming centuries could trigger a mass extinction, UK scientists have warned
• 2007/10/24: DailyTelegraph: Global warming will 'cull world's species'
• 2007/10/24: Guardian(UK): Warming could wipe out half of all species

  And just to top off your cup of woe, a report on current primate extinctions:

• 2007/10/25: NatureCF: Global warming = mass extinctions
• 2007/10/26: Guardian(UK): The edge of oblivion: conservationists name 25 primates about to disappear
  Biofuel plantations, logging and hunting are stealing habitats from our closest relatives, says report
• 2007/10/26: CDreams: Guardian(UK): The Edge of Oblivion: Conservationists Name 25 Primates about To Disappear
• 2007/10/26: AFP: Nearly one-third of primates in peril: world conservation body
• 2007/10/26: BBC: Almost a third of the world's primates are in danger of extinction because of destruction of their habitats, a report by conservation groups has warned

  Roe & Baker's article on climate sensitivity and certainty garnered a lot of attention:

• 2007/10/26: Science: Why Is Climate Sensitivity So Unpredictable? by Gerard H. Roe & Marcia B. Baker
• 2007/10/26: RealClimate: The certainty of uncertainty
• 2007/10/27: ZMag: Climate Change's Uncertainty Principle
  Scientists say they can never be sure exactly how extreme global warming might become, but that's no excuse for delaying action
• 2007/10/27: Tamino: Uncertain Sensitivity
• 2007/10/25: FuturePundit: Two Scientists Predict Climate Models Never Can Be Accurate
• 2007/10/25: MongaBay: Climate sensitivity to rising CO2 levels still uncertain
• 2007/10/26: PhysOrg: Exactly how sensitive is our climate? It may not matter...
• 2007/10/25: NewScientist: Climate is too complex for accurate predictions
• 2007/10/25: Eureka: Like it or not, uncertainty and climate change go hand-in-hand

  Prins & Rayner stuck a pin in Kyoto:

• 2007/10/24: Nature: (Commentary) Time to ditch Kyoto by Gwyn Prins & Steve Rayner
• 2007/10/25: NatureTGB: Kyoto's failings
• 2007/10/24: NatureCF: The wrong trousers
• 2007/10/25: MongaBay: Kyoto Protocol is fatally flawed; replacement needed
• 2007/10/26: CanWest: Kyoto's death certificate
• 2007/10/25: ABC(Au): Australia right to reject Kyoto: British experts
• 2007/10/25: OilChange: Kyoto Protocol is "Outdated Failure"
• 2007/10/25: CanWest: Kyoto must go, science journal says - Protocol failing to combat climate change [Prins & Rayner]

  And the InterAcademy Council [IAC] released a report on global energy policy:

• 2007/10/24: TruthOut: Panel [IAC] Urges Global Shift
  Energy experts convened by the world's scientific academies yesterday urged nations to shift swiftly away from coal and other fuels that are the main source of climate-warming greenhouse gases and to provide new energy options for the two billion people who still mostly cook in the dark on wood or dung fires.
• 2007/10/: IAC: Lighting the Way: Toward a Sustainable Energy Future - Executive Summary
  Making the transition to a sustainable energy future is one of the central challenges humankind faces in this century. The concept of energy sustainability encompasses not only the imperative of securing adequate energy to meet future needs, but doing so in a way that (a) is compatible with preserving the underlying integrity of essential natural systems, including averting dangerous climate change; (b) extends basic energy services to the more than 2 billion people worldwide who currently lack access to modern forms of energy; and (c) reduces the security risks and potential for geopolitical conflict that could otherwise arise from an escalating competition for unevenly distributed energy resources.
• 2007/10/: IAC: Lighting the Way: Toward a Sustainable Energy Future
• 2007/10/24: WorldPress: Notes on the Looming Global Energy Crisis
• 2007/10/23: TruthOut: Steep Decline in Oil Production Brings Risk of War and Unrest, Says New Study
• 2007/10/23: ABC(Au): Energy crisis looming as threat to humanity: experts
  Energy poses one of the greatest threats facing humanity this century, the world's leading academies of science warned, highlighting the peril of oil wars and climate change driven by addiction to fossil fuels. Nations must provide power for the 1.6 billion people who live without electricity but still wean themselves off energy sources that stoke global warming and geopolitical conflict, the scientists demanded
• 2007/10/22: PhysOrg: Energy poses major 21st century crisis: scientists

  The big Arctic melt continues to get a lot of attention:

• 2007/10/27: TreeHugger: Ice-Tethered Profilers: Monitoring Changes in the Arctic Ocean
• 2007/10/26: PhysOrg: Less Arctic ice means higher risks, experts warn
• 2007/10/26: FergusB: A review of Arctic sea ice data so far this year
• 2007/10/26: ESA: Less Arctic ice means higher risks, experts warn
• 2007/10/23: EnergyDaily: Arctic oil competition rages
• 2007/10/23: CNN: Greenland's ice sheet melts as temperatures rise
  Greenland's ice melt area increased 30% in 30 years, one scientist says - The island is now losing more ice each year than it gains from new snow - This melting ice is causing sea levels to rise around the world - Scientists fear low-lying areas could be flooded if seas continue to rise
• 2007/10/23: KSJT: Wash. Post: Warming Arctic is like a disaster movies, only it's no movie
• 2007/10/23: FergusB: Understanding seasonal sea ice levels [Arctic]
• 2007/10/22: WaPo: At the Poles, Melting Occurring at Alarming Rate

  And the California wildfires raged:

• 2007/10/28: PhysOrg: California wildfires could snuff out rare species
• 2007/10/25: EnvFin: California wildfires to cost insurers $1-1.6 billion
• 2007/10/27: SMH: One of the worst disasters in California's history, says governor
• 2007/10/27: Guardian(UK): Journey through the California wastelands - The worst wildfires in the state's history have left 2,000 people homeless...
• 2007/10/25: WSWS: The California wildfires and the American social crisis
• 2007/10/25: Atmoz: Will the California Fires Bring Redder Sunsets?
• 2007/10/24: TruthOut: California's Age of Megafires - Drought, housing expansion, and oversupply of tinder make for bigger, hotter fires.
• 2007/10/26: Wunderground: California fires and global warming; 90L lashes Puerto Rico
• 2007/10/25: ENN: Break in Weather Slows California Wildfires
• 2007/10/23: TruthDig: Hold Politicians' Feet to the [California] Fire
• 2007/10/25: AP: 4 Charred Bodies in Calif. Migrant Camp
• 2007/10/25: AP: Calif. Fires Burn Nearly 500,000 Acres
• 2007/10/24: PhysOrg: Massive California fires consistent with climate change
• 2007/10/24: inel: Bambi had wildfires. But not as bad as *this*
• 2007/10/25: Aquafornia: Are the fires sweeping Southern California part of climate change?
• 2007/10/25: JFleck: Climate Change and California Fires
• 2007/10/24: CCM: The California Wildfires, Global Warming, and Nuance
• 2007/10/24: TerraDaily: Billion dollars in damage as California fires rage into 4th day
• 2007/10/25: CBS: Cheney Nods Off During Meeting On Calif. Wildfires
• 2007/10/24: HuffPo: Global Warming Not Behind SoCal Fires
• 2007/10/24: HuffPo: White House Pretends that Probable Cause of California Wildfires Simply Doesn't Exist
• 2007/10/24: HuffPo: The Flames of Nemesis
• 2007/10/25: BBC: Bush flying over California fires
• 2007/10/25: Guardian(UK): California sifts ashes of $1bn blaze - Homes destroyed and thousands of acres burned as Bush declares major disaster - and the criticism starts
• 2007/10/23: TerraDaily: California: a victim of climate and its own success
• 2007/10/24: SciDaily: Wildland Fire Experts Respond To Southern California Wildfires
• 2007/10/24: SciDaily: Massive California Fires Consistent With Climate Change, Experts Say
• 2007/10/23: Eureka: Massive California fires consistent with climate change
• 2007/10/24: DeSmogBlog: The Planet Heats Up and The Fires Rage On
• 2007/10/24: HuffPo: Global Warming and the California Wildfires
• 2007/10/23: BoomanTrib: Guess Who Rush Blames for California's Fires?
• 2007/10/24: BBC: Bush declares major fire disaster
  US President George W Bush has declared California a major disaster after four days of wildfires sparked the biggest US evacuation since Hurricane Katrina. The fires left three dead, burned 1,500 homes and are threatening 68,000 more, causing more than $1bn in damages. More than 500,000 people have been ordered to evacuate as fierce winds fan fast-moving fires that have ravaged land from Santa Barbara to Mexico
• 2007/10/24: AFP: Billion dollars damage as California fires rage into fourth day
• 2007/10/23: BBC: More than half a million people have been ordered to evacuate parts of the US state of California being engulfed by massive wildfires
• 2007/10/24: TheHill: Wildfires get personal for lawmakers
• 2007/10/24: SMH: Thousands flee as California burns
• 2007/10/24: Guardian(UK): 500,000 forced to flee California wildfires driven by winds
• 2007/10/23: AP: Raging Calif. Wildfires Force 1M to Flee
• 2007/10/23: KSJT: AP, San Diego Union: About that Santa Ana driving the devasting SoCal wildfires
• 2007/10/22: MTobis: Nature is not a Luxury
• 2007/10/23: Wunderground: California fires fueled by record drought
• 2007/10/23: SciDaily: NASA Satellite Images Show Rapid Growth Of California Wildfires
• 2007/10/23: DemNow: Environmental Journalist Bill McKibben on the Links Between Global Warming & the California Wild Fires
• 2007/10/23: HuffPo: The Color of Dawn: Day 2 of the San Diego Firestorm
• 2007/10/23: AFP: 300,000 evacuated as California wildfires rage for third day
• 2007/10/23: CBC: California's 'perfect firestorm' prompts evacuation order to 500,000
• 2007/10/23: LA Times: Massive evacuations ordered as onslaught of fires spreads - Half a million in San Diego County told to evacuate
• 2007/10/21: TerraDaily: Thousands flee California wild fires
• 2007/10/22: BBC: Wildfires blaze across California
  Wildfires burning out of control are continuing to threaten thousands of homes in the US state of California. At least one person has been killed and some 250,000 people evacuated as the fires spread, fanned by fierce winds. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency in seven counties, with 40,000 acres (16,000 hectares) burnt from Santa Barbara to San Diego
• 2007/10/22: AFP: Hundreds of thousands flee California wildfires
  Wind-whipped wildfires raged unchecked across California on Monday, forcing the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of people and besieging homes from Los Angeles to the Mexican border
• 2007/10/21: KNBC: Governor: 'It's A Tragic Time For California' - Wildfires Prompt State Of Emergency In 7 Counties

  Coby spent some time catching up with parts of the blogosphere:

• 2007/10/24: AFTIC: Caught up on Catching up
• 2007/10/24: AFTIC: Catching up with Real Climate
• 2007/10/23: AFTIC: Catching up with Rabett Run
• 2007/10/22: AFTIC: Catching up with In It For the Gold

  How do we get off this roller coaster?

• 2007/10/24: TruthOut: Global Warming "Is Happening Faster"
• 2007/10/24: TCE: Global Warming Critics Proved Right [models have been too conservative]
• 2007/10/23: Guardian(UK): Predictions overtaken by events

  We have a tropical depression in the Caribbean & a Cat 1 in the Northwest Pacific:

• 2007/10/28: Wunderground: Tropical Depression 16 forms
• 2007/10/27: Xinhuanet: Typhoon nears Tokyo area, 2 missing
• 2007/10/22: ENN: NHC sees no tropical cyclones in Atlantic basin

  More on GHG sources:

• 2007/10/26: NYT: Cement Industry Is at Center of Climate Change Debate

  Yes we have bubbling methane lake feedbacks:

• 2007/10/26: TerraDaily: Study Reveals Lakes A Major Source Of Prehistoric Methane
• 2007/10/26: SciDaily: Methane Bubbling From Arctic Lakes, Now And At End Of Last Ice Age

  Glaciers are melting:

• 2007/10/23: PhysOrg: Geologists: Collier Glacier Is Shrinking

  Pine Island glacier calved:

• 2007/10/16: BAS: Giant iceberg breaks off from Antarctic glacier [Pine Island Glacier]
• 2007/10/23: Stoat: Sane response to press release [Antarctic iceberg calving - ignore it]
• 2007/10/23: TreeHugger: Witnessing the Birth of an Iceberg [Pine Island Glacier, Sept2006 - Oct 2007]

  Sea levels are rising:

• 2007/10/27: inel: Tuvalu's worries in the news again
• 2007/10/23: TruthOut: Rising Seas Will Swamp America's Shores, Study Says
• 2007/10/23: TechRev: Measuring the Polar Meltdown
  At a remote outpost in northern Greenland, a team of scientists are attempting to resolve the central mystery of global warming: how quickly will sea levels rise?
• 2007/10/22: KSJT: AP: In Bangkok, the water is getting deeper as sea rises and the land sinks

  Meanwhile in near earth orbit:

• 2007/10/26: SlashDot: NASA Ikhana [UAV] Assists SoCal Firefighters
• 2007/10/23: NASA: California Wildfires Continue to Grow: NASA Images Show Fire's Immense Size
• 2007/10/24: TreeHugger: NASA Satellite Pictures Capture Wildfires' Breadth

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

• 2007/10/22: DeSmogBlog: Did Bush's Mars Plan Scuttle DSCOVR?

  More GW impacts are being seen:

• 2007/10/24: SMH: Browning of the planet there for all to see
• 2007/10/23: Yahoo: Global warming may be leading to higher rice yields in China: IRRI
• 2007/10/18: NatureCC: Atlantic invaders - The melting of Arctic sea ice is blurring the biological boundaries between Pacific and Atlantic
• 2007/10/22: KSJT: Alaska Daily News: Cost of global warming in Alaskan villages is staggering. Money's just not there
• 2007/10/22: PhysOrg: Shipping suffers as Great Lakes shrink

  And then there are the tropical rainforests:

• 2007/10/22: BBC: Seeing the carbon for the trees
  Protecting the world's remaining tropical forests will play a vital role in preventing dangerous climate change in the future, says Peter Seligmann. In this week's Green Room, he calls for a global system that offers nations an economic incentive to halt the destruction of the Earth's "lungs".

Corals are dying:

• 2007/10/22: CoralCOE: Consensus Declaration on Coral Reef Futures

  We have heatwaves and wild fires:

• 2007/10/22: FuturePundit: More Megafires In California Future?
• 2007/10/24: Tamino: Wildfire!
• 2007/10/25: ABC(Au): Scientist warns Tas of rising bushfire risk from climate change
• 2007/10/24: SeattlePI: Climate Change (part I): Age of mega-fires
• 2007/10/24: OPB: Fires In Keeping With Global Climate Change Predictions
• 2007/10/23: TruthOut: Expert: Warming Climate Fuels Mega-Fires
• 2007/10/21 CBS: Expert: Warming Climate Fuels Mega-Fires

  And speaking of floods & droughts:

• 2007/10/21: FuturePundit: US West Facing Long Drought?
• 2007/10/26: HuffPo: Many States Seen Facing Water Shortages
  The government projects that at least 36 states will face water shortages within five years because of a combination of rising temperatures, drought, population growth, urban sprawl, waste and excess.
• 2007/10/26: PhysOrg: Much of U.S. Could See a Water Shortage
• 2007/10/25: TerraDaily: After deadly floods, Burkina Faso faces 'wet' drought
• 2007/10/25: BCLSB: California Wildfires, Drought Down In Georgia
• 2007/10/24: Yahoo: Climate change will hurt NM water supply
• 2007/10/23: ClimateP: Dry me a River: Climate change and drought
• 2007/10/23: GristMill: Transitions - Soviet-induced water crises push Eastern European nations to consider solutions
• 2007/10/22: GristMill: [Dessler] Fresh water in peril - Investments are needed to stave off climate-induced water crisis
• 2007/10/23: IdahoStatesman: Fall storms don't put dent in Idaho drought
• 2007/10/22: KSJT: NYTimes Magazine: Water's low, American West is up (a dry creek)
• 2007/10/22: GristMill: [Dessler] Fresh water in peril - Investments are needed to stave off climate-induced water crisis
• 2007/10/22: WarmingLaw: The Chinatown Conundrum

  The Georgia drought - Lanier Lake conflict goes back a while:

• 2007/10/25: JFleck: Dave: Take Shorter Showers
• 2007/10/24: TerraDaily: Georgia slashes water consumption amid historic drought
• 2007/10/25: TreeHugger: Southeast & Mid-Atlantic US Drought Update
• 2007/10/23: MTobis: Water Fireworks
• 2007/10/23: GainesvilleTimes: Genesis: Tri-state water wars kicked off 17 years ago - Georgia wanted to build reservoir; Alabama filed suit
• 2007/10/23: TreeHugger: Two Remaining Pieces To The Atlanta Drought Puzzle
• 2007/10/21: ENN: Georgia declares state of emergency over drought

  The conflict between biofuel and food persists:

• 2007/10/25: AutoBG: Mexico wants to limit corn ethanol with "Food comes first" law
• 2007/10/21: BostonGlobe: The heat or eat dilemma
• 2007/10/23: CSM: Halt the gold rush to corn fuel - To take corn out of cereal bowls and put it into our gas tanks isn't an answer to global warming
• 2007/10/23: CarsonsPost: The price of the corn alternative to oil may be too high

  UN special rapporteur Jean Ziegler has suggested a five year moratorium on food feedstock biofuel plants:

• 2007/10/27: ABC(Au): Biofuel ban proposed to avoid 'recipe for disaster'
• 2007/10/27: AutoBG: Five-year moratorium on food feedstock biofuel plants suggested at the UN
• 2007/10/27: BBC: Biofuels 'crime against humanity'
  A United Nations expert has condemned the growing use of crops to produce biofuels as a replacement for petrol as a crime against humanity. The UN special rapporteur on the right to food, Jean Ziegler, said he feared biofuels would bring more hunger. The growth in the production of biofuels has helped to push the price of some crops to record levels
• 2007/10/26: TEB: U.N. Rapporteur Calls for Moratorium on Building Biofuel Plants Using Food Feedstocks

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

• 2007/10/27: EconView: Environmental Change and Agricultural Output
• 2007/10/25: TreeHugger: The Tar Sands Are Eating Our Dinner
• 2007/10/24: ENN: Australian farmers face bankruptcy from drought
• 2007/10/23: BBerg: Wheat Rises for Fourth Day as Importers Seek Supplies; Corn Up
• 2007/10/22: ChinaDaily: Grain price hikes set to continue
• 2007/10/24: CattleNet: Australian Food Company CEOs Forecast Rocketing Food Prices
• 2007/10/22: IGHiH: After Peak Oil, Peak Food
• 2007/10/23: OilDrum: The Connection Between Food Supply and Energy: What Is the Role of Oil Price?

  Elsewhere on the mitigation front:

• 2007/10/25: GristMill: The dawning recognition - Climate change mitigation: not all gravy and low-hanging fruit

  Consider transportation & GHG production:

• 2007/10/23: VoxEU: Transport, Competition and the Environment: How compatible are they?
  Trains use three times less energy than cars to transport people; six times less energy than trucks to move freight. Trains use and emit just one-fifth the amount of carbon dioxide. Governments can help fight global warming by using competition policy and tax incentives to induce transportation customers to switch to rail

While in the endless quest for sustainable building codes:

• 2007/10/23: ClimateP: And the Winner is... Germany

  As for carbon sequestration:

• 2007/10/26: CNet: Research on a dire problem--carbon capture--gets going
  "Without carbon capture and sequestration, we are all toast." Jiang Lin, a scientist with the China Sustainable Energy Program with Lawrence Berkeley Lab, issued that gloomy proclamation earlier this week, and it's a fitting description of the current world situation when it comes to global warming
• 2007/10/26: TreeHugger: The Carbon Sequestration Cost Everyone Else Forgot
• 2007/10/25: PhysOrg: Underground CO2 storage study to begin
  The University of Texas has received a $38 million subcontract to conduct the first U.S. long-term study of underground carbon dioxide storage. The university's Bureau of Economic Geology said the 10-year project is designed to build public assurance about the use of underground carbon sequestration to reduce atmospheric emissions. The project is a phase III research program, funded by the National Energy Technology Laboratory of the U.S. Department of Energy

Large scale geo-engineering keeps popping up:

• 2007/10/24: GristMill: The debate heats up - Is geoengineering worth a second look?
• 2007/10/25: RealClimate: Gee-Whiz Geoengineering
• 2007/10/24: TreeHugger: How to Cool The Globe: Not
• 2007/10/24: NYT: How to Cool the Globe [tossing small particles into the stratosphere]
• 2007/10/24: EconView: Stratospheric Reflections: The Mount Pinatubo Solution to Global Warming
• 2007/10/21: BCLSB: Controlling The Weather
• 2007/10/21: Telegraph(UK): Scientists a step closer to steering hurricanes
  Scientists have made a breakthrough in man's desire to control the forces of nature -- unveiling plans to weaken hurricanes and steer them off course, to prevent tragedies such as Hurricane Katrina

Meanwhile in the journals:

• 2007/10/25: TC: Thresholds in the sliding resistance of simulated basal ice by L. F. Emerson & A. W. Rempel
• 2007/10/26: CP: LGM and Late Glacial glacier advances in the Cordillera Real and Cochabamba (Bolivia) deduced from 10Be surface exposure dating by R. Zech et al.
• 2007/10/26: CPD: Reconstructing glacier-based climates of LGM Europe and Russia - Part 3: Comparison with GCM and pollen-based climate reconstructions by R. Allen et al.
• 2007/10/26: CPD: Reconstructing glacier-based climates of LGM Europe and Russia - Part 2: A dataset of LGM climates derived from degree-day modelling of palaeo glaciers by R. Allen et al.
• 2007/10/26: CPD: Reconstructing glacier-based climates of LGM Europe and Russia - Part 1: Numerical modelling and validation methods by R. Allen et al.
• 2007/10/26: Science: Why Is Climate Sensitivity So Unpredictable? by Gerard H. Roe & Marcia B. Baker
• 2007/10/25: PNAS: Contributions to accelerating atmospheric CO2 growth from economic activity, carbon intensity, and efficiency of natural sinks by Josep G. Canadella et al.
• 2007/10/23: RoyalSoc_B: A long-term association between global temperature and biodiversity, origination and extinction in the fossil record by Peter J. Mayhew et al.
• 2007/10/22: PNAS: Antarctic climate signature in the Greenland ice core record by Stephen Barker& Gregor Knorr

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

• 2007/10/25: Eureka: Agricultural soil erosion not contributing to global warming, study shows
• 2007/10/8: NWO: Texel paleothermometer for climate reconstruction perfected

  A Steve Running interview:

• 2007/10/25: MissoulaNews: A Nobel cause - Q&A with UM climate guru Steve Running
  [...] When I think of it now, the issue started to get political in 1988 when Dr. James Hansen [director of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies] announced to Congress that global warming had started. [...] I think back then even the rest of us earth scientists were a little stunned to hear him say that. We knew by then what computer models suggested for some future, decades away, but even we thought it was a little premature to be talking about global warming starting in 1988. It's interesting. Now that we look back at the graphs over the last 20 years, we discovered he was right

Meanwhile on the Kyoto-2 front:

• 2007/10/27: CanWest: 'Move past Kyoto' to lure U.S., China - Broader framework needed, conference told
  Saving the planet from catastrophic climate change will require getting the United States, the world's largest greenhouse-gas emitter, back to the negotiation table - and that won't happen under the Kyoto Protocol, an international conference was told yesterday. "It is time to move past Kyoto and build around it," said Elliot Diringer of the Pew Centre on Global Climate Change, one of the organizers of the conference, called Climate 2050 Technology and Policy Solutions. "We don't throw (the protocol) out but we have to recognize its limits. It exists. It is international law. But we need to build a broader framework around it."

Preparations are being made for the Bali meeting:

• 2007/10/26: SMH: Deadline set for Kyoto successor
  The world's most influential environment ministers have endorsed finalising a successor to the Kyoto Protocol by 2009, laying down a plan for December's negotiations in Bali to design new measures to combat global warming
• 2007/10/25: ABC(Au): Indonesia hosts talks ahead of Bali climate meeting
• 2007/10/25: ENN: Environment Ministers Target 2009 Climate Treaty
• 2007/10/25: Xinhuanet: U.S., Australia to commit on new climate change regime
  The United States and Australia have given signal to commit with the new regime of climate change after the Kyoto protocol expiry on 2012, top U.N. officials said here on Thursday. Executive Secretary of the United Nations framework Convention on Climate Change 13th Conference (UNFCCC) Yvo de Boer and President of the UNFCCC Rahmat Witoelar told a joint press conference that the two countries would commit with the new protocol. Both the U.S. and Australia indicated that they are willing to take on commitments on a future climate change regime, they said after the three-day informal ministerial meeting that took place in a historical palace at the botanical garden in scenic Bogor town in the slope of Jakarta. Witoelar said a new consciousness had made him optimistic that the U.S. would change its stance
• 2007/10/22: TerraDaily: Environment ministers to meet in Indonesia [to set the stage for the Bali summit in December]

  And on the carbon trading front:

• 2007/10/25: EnvFin: EU, Norway to agree ETS link [CO2 trading]
• 2007/10/24: EcoEcon: Carbon Trading Schemes Backed by Big Banks
• 2007/10/24: GristMill: Slow down - China has not officially endorsed a carbon price
• 2007/10/24: CanWest: The second inconvenient truth - We must tax greenhouse gases or they will keep rising; wishful thinking about voluntary cuts just won't work

  The idea of a carbon tax is still bouncing around:

• 2007/10/27: EcoEcon: Christian Science Monitor Endorses Carbon Tax
• 2007/10/25: EnergyDaily: Sarkozy backs 'carbon tax' to fight climate change
• 2007/10/26: CSM: A tax on carbon to cool the planet - Forcing higher prices for fossil fuels would be simple, fair, and effective. Why do politicians fear to do it?
• 2007/10/25: CTC: Sarkozy backs carbon tax, EU levy on non-Kyoto imports
• 2007/10/25: GristMill: Cheese-eating tax monkeys - French PM Sarkozy backs carbon tax

  Meanwhile on the international political front:

• 2007/10/27: AFTIC: Going it alone
• 2007/10/26: TruthOut: Paris Suggests EU Tax on Imports From Non-Kyoto States
• 2007/10/26: EUO: Paris suggests EU tax on imports from non-Kyoto states
• 2007/10/26: Guardian(UK): Brussels and US deal will bring huge expansion in biodiesel
  The EU and America are expected to agree early next month international standards for trading biofuels that could see a huge expansion in the global market for alternative sources of power such as jatropha, senior US diplomats said yesterday. C Boyden Gray, US ambassador to the EU, said he expects the two sides to signal the adoption of "pretty firm" international standards at a meeting of the new Transatlantic Economic Council (TEC) in Washington on November 9. These could be fully adopted by the end of the year
• 2007/10/22: RigZone: Chile to Lay Claim to Piece of Antarctica

  And in the dreaming in technicolour department:

• 2007/10/26: UNDispatch: US Softening its Position on Climate Change?

  The GW security meme:

• 2007/10/23: ENN: [German FM Frank-Walter] Steinmeier: climate change growing threat to peace
• 2007/10/23: OilChange: No War No Warming!
• 2007/10/22: CDreams: TheHill: 60 Arrested Near Capitol At "No War No Warming" Protests

  And on the American political front:

• 2007/10/26: GristMill: Cities and counties take note
  Berkeley shows the way to climate change mitigation at a local level [by paying up-front costs to help residents switch to solar power]
• 2007/10/26: HillHeat: Rep. Markey on Wildfire-Climate Connection
• 2007/10/27: CCM: John Marburger Does it Again
• 2007/10/25: ClimateP: What to do about the Farm Bill? [US pol]
• 2007/10/26: WarmingLaw: The Thaw Next Time
• 2007/10/26: SacBee: [Calif.] State boosts its war on global warming
• 2007/10/24: HillHeat: Enviro Group Climate Legislation Principles
• 2007/10/24: CCM: The Politics and Science Games Continue
• 2007/10/25: C411: Religious Leaders Awaken to Global Warming
• 2007/10/23: WarmingLaw: Beyond Brandeis
• 2007/10/23: AbqJournal: Warming Could Be Costly to State
• 2007/10/22: ClimateP: Taking on the 'China Excuse' for inaction
• 2007/10/28: GristMill: On climate, Hu's leading whom? Snappy comebacks for the climate do-nothing set who's using China as an excuse

  Marking the stages of a climate bill's progress:

• 2007/10/23: REA: The Energy Minefield on Capitol Hill
• 2007/10/26: ClimateP: Baucus boosts Warner-Lieberman prospects
• 2007/10/25: TruthOut: Critiques of a Climate Bill
• 2007/10/25: LA Times: Cap-and-trade bill is second-rate
• 2007/10/24: GristMill: Lieberman-Warner meets the microscope - America's Climate Security Act gets its first hearing
• 2007/10/23: HillHeat: House Passes Energy Storage and Industrial Energy Efficiency Bills
• 2007/10/22: HillHeat: Congress Nears Conference on Energy Bill

  The Bush administration severely redacted some CDC testimony and a controversy ensued. First, the before & after documents:

• 2007/10/26: DeSmogBlog: Full Version of White House "Edited" CDC Climate Report - with highlights!
• 2007/10/24: CSW: The censored testimony of CDC Director Julie Gerberding

  Then the commotion:

• 2007/10/25: TruthOut: Senator Boxer Seeks Answers on Redacted Testimony
• 2007/10/26: HillHeat: White House Censors CDC Climate Health Testimony
• 2007/10/26: CSW: Climate Science Watch in the News on Controversy over CDC Congressional Testimony
• 2007/10/24: ClimateP: White House climate censorship continues
• 2007/10/24: TruthOut: White House Cut Warming Impact Testimony
• 2007/10/26: C411: White House Censors CDC Testimony
• 2007/10/25: ThinkP: Scientists denounce White House censoring
• 2007/10/24: EconBrowser: Still fighting the rear guard action against reality
• 2007/10/24: PhysOrg: White House Chided for Editing Testimony
• 2007/10/23: CSW: White House 'eviscerated' Centers for Disease Control testimony on climate change health impacts
• 2007/10/25: DeSmogBlog: Scientists Publicly Denounce Latest White House Climate Change Muzzling [CDC]
• 2007/10/25: NYT: Climate Change Testimony Was Edited by White House
• 2007/10/25: WaPo: Sen. Boxer Seeks Answers On Redacted Testimony - White House Cut Climate Warnings
• 2007/10/24: CBS: White House Slashed CDC Warming Report
• 2007/10/24: DeSmogBlog: White House Muzzles CDC Chief on Climate Health Impacts
• 2007/10/23: Yahoo: White House edits CDC climate testimony
• 2007/10/24: WaPo: Heavy Editing Is Alleged In Climate Testimony
• 2007/10/24: TPM: War on Science
• 2007/10/24: TCR: The administration's war on science -- revisited
• 2007/10/24: Google:AP: White House Edited CDC Climate Testimony
• 2007/10/23: ThinkP: White House 'Eviscerates' CDC Director's Senate Testimony On Global Warming

  White House spokesperson Dana Perino distinguished herself by touting the benefits of GW:

• 2007/10/25: ThinkP: Perino: "There Are Public Health Benefits To Climate Change" For People Who Die From "Cold"
• 2007/10/25: TerraDaily: White House defends 'health benefits' of climate change
• 2007/10/25: DeSmogBlog: Research refutes White House Perino's global warming "public health benefit" claim

  California was going to sue the EPA over the delayed waiver, but the fires intervened:

• 2007/10/23: BostonGlobe: Wildfires force California to postpone EPA lawsuit
• 2007/10/26: HillHeat: Multiple States to Join California Lawsuit Against EPA's Delay on Waiver
• 2007/10/24: WarmingLaw: Is Congress MIA?
• 2007/10/24: SeattlePI: Automobile Emissions: Public protections
• 2007/10/23: NYT: States Set to Sue the U.S. Over Greenhouse Gases
  New York is one of more than a dozen states, led by California, preparing to sue the Bush administration for holding up efforts to regulate emissions from cars and trucks, several people involved in the lawsuit said on Tuesday
• 2007/10/23: NatureTGB: California sues for cleaner air
• 2007/10/23: PhysOrg: California to Sue Over Auto Emissions [The lawsuit, expected to be filed Wednesday...]
• 2007/10/23: WarmingLaw: If At First You Don't Succeed...
• 2007/10/23: TreeHugger: What's the EPA Waiting for on Clean Cars?

  The 2008 campaign is ticking along:

• 2007/10/25: ClimateP: Presidential campaigns, including Giuliani's, discuss energy and climate
• 2007/10/23: ClimateP: Tom Friedman on "the greenest thing you can do"
• 2007/10/22: GristMill: Election news - Second Republican candidate [Mike Huckabee] backs cap-and-trade

  The Gore-apalooza is alive & well:

• 2007/10/26: GristMill: Can't we all just get along? Gore, partisanship, and climate change
• 2007/10/26: GristMill: Gore's flaw: He doesn't sound enough like an uptight libertarian wonk - Says uptight libertarian wonk
• 2007/10/25: TruthOut: If Gore Were Arrested...
• 2007/10/23: Yahoo: World leaders should speed up work on climate change deal: Gore
• 2007/10/23: Reuters: Gore says 2007 pivotal year in climate change fight
• 2007/10/21: BaltimoreSun: Nobel Prize makes Gore a target of angry readers
  [...] the overall tone of reactions to The Sun's Oct. 13 front-page article, "Award Echoes Global Alarm," was astonishing, even to me - and I'm used to hearing complaints. Despite some intelligent and thoughtful criticism of the Gore news story, the outpouring of outrage at the Nobel committee's decision and the furious denigration of Gore himself was disturbing. This follows a recent spate of mean-spirited commentary about Baltimore's Frost family, who used and endorsed the State Children's Health Insurance Program. A number of the responses on The Sun's Web site and e-mails I've received about the Frost and Gore stories suggest indifference to thoughtful consideration or facts - and to the basic tenets of civility
• 2007/10/21: ERabett: Gore right again - Sadly, one often has to write that line...

  While in the UK:

• 2007/10/27: DailyMail: Fuel price rises are crippling us, hauliers warn Chancellor
• 2007/10/22: BBC: MPs' concerns over UK carbon plan
  MPs have asked the government to provide evidence that the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) is helping cut the UK's greenhouse gas emissions. The Environmental Audit Committee has sought reassurances that the reduction in CO2 emissions are a result of the EU ETS and not "merely coincidental". It said carbon trading schemes were too complex and that greater transparency was needed to assess their success
• 2007/10/24: Guardian(UK): It's rip-off Britain, even when it comes to climate change
  Gordon Brown's reluctance to embrace the economic and environmental potential of renewable energy technology is costing us time, money and could eventually cost us the climate
• 2007/10/25: Guardian(UK): Surrendering our future - While Germany races to deliver renewable energy, Britain's sluggish policies will cost its citizens dear
• 2007/10/23: Guardian(UK): Labour's plan to abandon renewable energy targets
• 2007/10/23: Guardian(UK): We're caught with our pants down
  Britain wants to pretend it is leading the global debate about climate change, but its attitude towards renewable energy shows a reluctance to act
• 2007/10/23: OilDrum: Energy: the fundamental unseriousness of Gordon Brown
• 2007/10/23: OilChange: British U-Turn On Renewable Targets
• 2007/10/23: AutoBG: British auto industry doesn't think emissions-based congestion charge will help
• 2007/10/22: ENN: UK says will not use carbon revenues for climate
  Britain will not use money the government gets from auctioning carbon emissions permits to help it in the fight against climate change, it said on Monday. Selling carbon emissions permits to businesses participating in Europe's carbon trading scheme could raise 60 billion euros ($85.24 billion) a year for European Union governments from 2013, Deutsche Bank estimates, and businesses are already lobbying for a slice of the windfall. But Britain will pool any revenues into the general government budget, rather than earmark, or hypothecate, them to particular causes in advance

And in Europe:

• 2007/10/27: AutoBG: EU backing off on tight CO2 emissions limits
• 2007/10/24: TreeHugger: Clashing Nordic Capitals Up CO2 Ante
• 2007/10/22: Guardian(UK): EU row delays plans to cut greenhouse gas emissions

  In France, the neocon Sarkozy is developing a greenish tinge:

• 2007/10/25: Google:AFP: Climate change: Sarkozy backs carbon tax, EU levy on non-Kyoto imports
• 2007/10/26: DeSmogBlog: Sarkozy Speaks In Earth-Saving Sintax
• 2007/10/24: Times(UK): The next French revolution: Nicolas Sarkozy sets out his plans for a green future Target
• 2007/10/26: Guardian(UK): Sarkozy puts France on green track - Old-style light bulbs and single glazing to be banned - Carbon tax and nuclear question bypassed
• 2007/10/25: ABC(Au): France aims for 'green revolution'
• 2007/10/24: EnergyDaily: France aims for 'green revolution'
  Green campaigners, scientists and big business Wednesday hammered out plans to slash France's greenhouse gas emissions at a round-table aimed at launching an environmental revolution in Europe's third-biggest economy
• 2007/10/25: BBC: French President Nicolas Sarkozy has called for taxes to target polluters and said French use of pesticides should be halved

  Meanwhile in Australia:

• 2007/10/26: ABC(Au): Global warming marchers query police request to pay for traffic ads
• 2007/10/26: ABC(Au): Labor unveils $489m solar plan for schools
• 2007/10/26: ABC(Au): PM [Howard] announces $75m renewable energy plan
• 2007/10/25: SMH: [Catholic Archbishop, George] Pell out of touch on climate - bishop [George Browning]
• 2007/10/23: ABC(Au): Climate change a threat to economy: Greenpeace
  Greenpeace is warning Australia's economic prosperity will falter unless federal Labor and the Coalition address its link to climate change. Energy campaigner Mark Wakeham says neither major political party has guaranteed greenhouse emissions will fall in the next decade
• 2007/10/23: ABC(Au): Come clean on nukes: Wilderness Society
  The Wilderness Society is calling on the Federal Government to release the four 'work plans' it has had prepared on nuclear energy. The Society's Imogen Zethoven says the Government is trying to hide its real stance on nuclear power until after the election, because the issue is deeply unpopular.
• 2007/10/23: ABC(Au): Farmers reject offer to walk off the land
  A month has passed since the Federal Government offered farmers $150,000 to walk off their drought-ravaged farms, but so far no-one has taken up the invitation
• 2007/10/23: ABC(Au): Alice meeting looks to speed up climate change response
• 2007/10/22: ABC(Au): More bleak news on Murray-Darling outlook

  Rumours, leaks and obfuscation are the order of the day in the Nov 24th federal election campaign:

• 2007/10/28: ABC(Au): PM [Howard] silent on Kyoto leak claims
• 2007/10/28: ABC(Au): Greens criticise Govt over Kyoto refusal
• 2007/10/27: ABC(Au): Turnbull not denying reported support for Kyoto
• 2007/10/27: ABC(Au): Turnbull wants to ratify Kyoto: Labor
  The Federal Opposition has criticised the Government over reports that Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull unsuccessfully tried to convince Prime Minister John Howard to ratify the Kyoto Protocol on climate change
• 2007/10/26: ABC(Au): 'Pollute-o-meter' to monitor climate policies
• 2007/10/25: JQuiggin: [Paul] Kelly on climate - Howard's refusal to ratify Kyoto, despite accepting all the key terms, is evidence of paralysis
• 2007/10/22: ABC(Au): Dr Karl's party vows to 'keep the bastards focused'
  Science broadcaster Dr Karl Kruszelnicki's party has launched its campaign for a New South Wales Senate seat, in a bid to put climate change at the top of the election agenda. Dr Kruszelnicki is heading up the Climate Change Coalition with former journalist and bio-farmer Patrice Newell. Co-opting a phrase from the Democrats, Ms Newell said the aim of the party was to "keep the bastards focused" on the climate.
• 2007/10/22: ABC(Au): PM fleshes out climate change fund plans
  Prime Minister John Howard says he cannot say how much money will be in the Coalition's promised climate change fund, after revealing the new plan during the leaders' debate last night. He said its priorities would be to invest in clean energy technology and support households most affected by the higher prices after a carbon price is set. Mr Howard has announced some more details about the fund this morning and says he expects it to build up quickly, with permit auctions under the carbon emissions trading scheme yielding "very significant" amounts of money for the fund
• 2007/10/22: ABC(Au): Opposition moves to highlight climate change differentials
• 2007/10/22: ABC(Au): [Opposition environment spokesman Peter] Garrett says 2011 climate fund far down track

  While in New Zealand:

• 2007/10/25: EnvFin: Australasian firms fare poorly on emissions disclosure
• 2007/10/24: ABC(Au): NZ should ditch Kyoto: think tank
  A New Zealand right-wing think tank says Wellington should abandon its support for the Kyoto Protocol and only reduce its carbon emissions when other countries do. The New Zealand Institute estimates it could cost nearly $600 million to meet Kyoto's 2012 deadline for reducing the country's emissions to 1990 levels, and cheaper alternative strategies need to be considered. But the Business Council for Sustainable Development believes giving up on Kyoto would be foolish in the long-term and compromise New Zealand's clean green trading image in key areas such as agriculture and tourism
• 2007/10/22: WorldChanging: New Zealand Aims to be World's First Carbon Neutral Nation
• 2007/10/23: BCLSB: New Zealand Follows Canada's Lousy Example

  And in Chile:

• 2007/10/23: McClatchyDC: Global warming in Chile threatens industry, water supplies

  While in China:

• 2007/10/26: GristMill: An artefact of prior decisions otherwise concealed, part deux - Why coal is cheaper in China

  While in Japan:

• 2007/10/25: ENN: Japan Weather Seen Average to Milder in Nov-Jan
• 2007/10/24: ENN: More Japan Industries Raise CO2 Emission Cut Targets

  And in Canada, minority neocon PM Harper, continues to do as little as possible:

• 2007/10/27: Far-n-Wide: Baird Acknowledges Failure
• 2007/10/26: CTV: Radarsat-2 to protect Arctic sovereignty: Prentice
  Industry Minister Jim Prentice said a sophisticated satellite set to launch into space in December will help "vigorously protect" Canada's Arctic sovereignty as worldwide interest in the region increases. The Radarsat-2 is scheduled to launch Dec. 8 from Baikonur, Kazakhstan. It's billed as a "next generation" commercial satellite that will be carried into space by the Russians on board a Soyuz launch vehicle.
• 2007/10/26: CanWest: Few travellers ready to pay green premium
• 2007/10/24: CanWest: Let's make Vancouver a carbon-trading centre
• 2007/10/24: CanWest: B.C. reaches climate-change deals with Oregon, Manitoba - Greenhouse gas reduction, cleaner ports on agenda
• 2007/10/23: CBC: B.C., Manitoba could see new climate change rules this fall
• 2007/10/24: DeSmogBlog: Confucius to Stephen Harper: Get the Lead Out

  BC floated a carbon tax trial balloon:

• 2007/10/26: CTV: B.C. considering a carbon tax: finance minister [Carole Taylor]
• 2007/10/26: G&M: Brave B.C. talks true carbon tax
• 2007/10/25: CanWest: B.C. government eyes carbon tax in next budget - Levy on gasoline could be a start, says finance minister

  The tricky question of the tar sands (& royalties) looms:

• 2007/10/26: CBC: Alberta royalty change barely shakes energy markets - Petro-Canada will carry on with scheduled new oilsands projects
• 2007/10/26: ROB: Is Alberta out of step with the world?
• 2007/10/26: G&M: Alberta royalty grab stuns oil industry
• 2007/10/25: EnergyBulletin: Where is Alberta? Why should you care?

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

• 2007/10/24: EnvEcon: Climate policy is not likely to increase jobs
• 2007/10/23: Guardian(UK): How to aid destruction - My former employers, the World Bank, are damaging the planet and punishing the poor

  Another IPAT [Impact = Population * Affluence * Technology] sighting:

• 2007/10/24: MTobis: How Many People Can the Earth Support?
• 2007/10/25: Telegraph(UK): Global over-population is the real issue

  Apocalypso anyone?

• 2007/10/26: ClimateP: James Lovelock turns everyone into a climate optimist
• 2007/10/26: TreeHugger: Why Is This Man Smiling?
• 2007/10/23: GristMill: Don't panic - James Lovelock's terror masks the same old industrial-era thinking
• 2007/10/22: CBaker: Stop calling me a "Doomer"
• 2007/10/17: RS: The Prophet of Climate Change: James Lovelock
  One of the most eminent scientists of our time says that global warming is irreversible -- and that more than 6 billion people will perish by the end of the century

As for how the media handles the science of climatology:

• 2007/10/27: BSD: The one Pinocchio given by 'Fact-Checker' is fair, the text isn't fair, and Dobbs forgot to give himself two

  The Landsburg tempest in a teapot:

• 2007/10/26: ClimateP: Save the Earth in Two Not-So-Hard Questions: My reply to that silly Slate piece
• 2007/10/26: Slate: Save the Earth in Two Not-So-Hard Questions - What Steven Landsburg doesn't understand about climate change

  Here is something for your library:

• 2007/09/12: CGDev: [Book] _Global Warming and Agriculture: Impact Estimates by Country_ by William R. Cline

  And for your film & video enjoyment:

• 2007/10/27: OilDrum: Review of What a Way to Go: Life at the End of Empire [video]

  While among the 'Sue the Bastards!' contingent:

• 2007/10/23: LA DN: California plans global warming suit against EPA

  And in the "mother nature doesn't sue, she extincts" department:

• 2007/10/25: MTobis: Jeffrey Sachs vs U of C Law Profs

  The betting meme rolls on:

• 2007/10/21: ClimateP: The big hydrogen bet - your chance to get in on the action

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

• 2007/10/27: ENN: U.S. Air Force Turns To Alternative Fuel, Slashing CO2
• 2007/10/26: FuturePundit: India Embracing Nuclear Power While China Sticks With Coal
• 2007/10/25: REA: Green Power Suppliers: Marketing Renewable Energy to the Masses
• 2007/10/26: OilChange: Oil Price Bigger Threat Than Climate Change in Next 10 Years
• 2007/10/25: EnergyBulletin: Beyond the age of petroleum
• 2007/10/25: PhysOrg: Duke Energy Indiana seeks energy sources
• 2007/10/25: NEN: Wind: A billion dollar business
• 2007/10/23: NEN: New energy insight from carbon alley guru
  Nobel laureate physicist Steven Chu's advice to young scientists: "The single most important problem science and technology has to solve is this energy issue. Getting carbon-neutral energy in a cost-effective way, it's really scary."
• 2007/10/22: CNN: Electricity prices see biggest jump in 25 years - The East sees largest price jumps, as price caps were lifted in many markets in 2006
• 2007/10/23: TriCityHerald: Permanent wind-farm ban best option for Rattlesnake
• 2007/10/23: NYT: Panel Urges Global Shift on Sources of Energy

  Meanwhile among the solar afficianados:

• 2007/10/22: FuturePundit: GE Engineer Sees Competitive Photovoltaics In Under 10 Years
• 2007/10/26: ChinaDaily: Norway's REC [Renewable Energy Corp] to build world's largest solar plant
• 2007/10/25: NEN: Solar wants tax credits, extensions from Congress
• 2007/10/23: PhysOrg: From moths and cicadas come improvements to solar cells
• 2007/10/23: PeakEnergy: Solar Power to Reach Parity with Fossil Fuels in Sunny Countries in Five Years, Most Countries by 2020
• 2007/10/23: NEN: Solar Boom Coming

  The arithmetic of coal carbon is striking home:

• 2007/10/27: MaineToday: World's addiction to coal growing - Despite concerns about global warning, use of the cheap, black- buring fuel is expanding quickly in China
• 2007/10/25: CSM: Pace of coal-power boom slackens
• 2007/10/25: NEN: Kansas rejects emissions
• 2007/10/23: ClimateP: Hansen testimony to the Iowa Utilities Board on coal and climate -- comments welcome
• 2007/10/23: GristMill: Coal isn't cheap - Don't believe the power company hype about coal's low price
• 2007/10/23: NYT: Montana and Kansas Take on Big Coal
• 2007/10/23: Missoulian: Coal on hold: Dozens of plants delayed due to costs, climate concerns
• 2007/10/22: KSJT: Reuters, WaPost, etc: Kansas's rejection of a coal plant sending ripples around the US
• 2007/10/21: GristMill: Coal is the enemy of the human race: Western coalition edition - The fight against coal makes for strange bedfellows out West

  Biofuel bickering abounds:

• 2007/10/28: SciDaily: When Will Biofuels Be At Every Fuel Pump, And From Where Will They Come?
• 2007/10/26: Eureka: The race for biofuels driving alternative sources of biomass
• 2007/10/26: TomPaine: Biofuel Backfire
• 2007/10/23: EnergyDaily: Researchers Examine World's Potential To Produce Biodiesel
• 2007/10/21: ClimateP: Another study dissing biofuels

  The nuclear energy controversy continues:

• 2007/10/26: CDreams: Nation: Everybody Look What's Going Down
• 2007/10/23: PhysOrg: Nuclear power worldwide: status and outlook

  Yes we have a peak oil sighting:

• 2007/10/23: DeSmogBlog: Worried about the future? Then don't peek!
• 2007/10/21: EnergyBulletin: Steep decline in oil production brings risk of war and unrest, says new [EWG] study

  I didn't hear about this until it was over:

• 2007/10/23: PhysOrg: Change a Light Bulb U.S. bus tour ends

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

• 2007/10/27: AutoBG: C-NET tries to count all the electric car start-ups [16?]
• 2007/10/26: CBC: Electric car maker [ZENN] charges Ottawa blocking its sale in Canada
• 2007/10/26: GristMill: URGE2, baby - Automakers debate skipping directly to full-electric cars
• 2007/10/26: CSM: This electric bike has zip to spare [Vectrix]
• 2007/10/24: PhysOrg: Green, mean or just wacky: automakers tout cars of future
• 2007/10/24: PhysOrg: Toyota offers lightweight solution [1/X] to cut emissions
• 2007/10/25: GWWatch: Car makers abandon petrol for electricity
• 2007/10/24: AutoBG: Daimler wants to mass produce fuel cell vehicles by 2012-2015
• 2007/10/24: AutoBG: [GM vice Chairman] Bob Lutz can't seem to decide on just what impact CAFE legislation has
• 2007/10/23: PhysOrg: Honda sees future for fuel-cell cars
  Honda Motor Co. on Tuesday predicted a bright future for hydrogen fuel-cell cars, saying mass production of the next-generation, eco-friendly vehicles may happen within a decade
• 2007/10/23: AutoBG: Honda president, CEO: plug-in hybrids "unnecessary," don't reduce emissions
• 2007/10/22: ENN: China Needs More Than Electric Cars: Toyota

  The reaction of business to climate change will be critical:

• 2007/10/25: EnvFin: Q3 sees record US clean-tech VC investment
  US venture capitalists (VCs) invested a record $844 million in 61 clean-technology deals in the third quarter, according to figures from the National Venture Capital Association and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC)
• 2007/10/25: EnvFin: ESG analysis 'positive' for fund performance
• 2007/10/26: G&M: On the cusp of a new industrial revolution - a green one
• 2007/10/: BWeek: Little Green Lies
  The sweet notion that making a company environmentally friendly can be not just cost-effective but profitable is going up in smoke
• 2007/10/23: TreeHugger: Little Green Lies
• 2007/10/22: GristMill: Yahoo! goes carbon neutral - Web company announces selection of offset projects

  The carbon lobby are up to the usual:

• 2007/10/27: inel: No hope: Inhofe's despair
• 2007/10/28: BCLSB: The Trees Are Wise; They Speak To Us [note denyosphere]
• 2007/10/26: BadAstronomy: Glenn Beck: idiot [Calif wildfires]
• 2007/10/27: TStar: A sneak attack on humanity [Lomborg]
• SourceWatch: Science and Public Policy Institute
• 2007/10/27: inel: American think-tank [SPPI] finances Swindle and Apocalypse No! for UK and US students
• 2007/10/26: GristMill: The twilight of Inhofe - One last rant from the Senate's loopy streetcorner anti-prophet
• 2007/10/27: ERabett: The loons take flight - As Halloween nears...
• 2007/10/26: HR: Global Warming Alarmism Reaches A 'Tipping Point' [Sen. James Inhofe (R-Ok)]
• 2007/10/25: MediaMatters: Beck falsely claimed "the globe was the hottest" in 1934 -- it was actually 2005
• 2007/10/24: GristMill: Lyin' and Steven - Fox pundit blames wildfires on federal government
• 2007/10/24: Deltoid: Stossel's tall tales about global warming
• 2007/10/25: DeSmogBlog: New Scientist slamming the "skeptic scam"
• 2007/10/25: DeSmogBlog: NRSP's Tom Harris on the offensive after CBC "Denial Machine" rebroadcast last night
• 2007/10/24: ThinkP: Beck Blames California Wildfires On The "Damn Environmentalists"
• 2007/10/23: Tamino: How to Fool Other People
• 2007/10/21: Tamino: How to Fool Yourself
• 2007/10/22: CanWest: Hardly 'junk' science: Royal Society examines climate change
• 2007/10/18: MediaLens: "Red Herring" - Al Gore, The Climate Sceptics And The BBC
• 2007/04/: RoyalSociety(UK): Climate change controversies: a simple guide
• 2007/10/22: Stoat: Meanwhile, over on the Dark Side

  Then there was the usual news and commentary:

• 2007/10/27: OilDrum: Avoiding Harmful Solutions (to Our Climate and Energy Problems)
• 2007/10/24: FGuide: A back-of-the-envelope sense of the socio-economic impact of reducing fossil fuel usage to fight global warming
• 2007/10/27: TWN: The Human Face of Climate Change
• 2007/10/26: BWeek: The Fuzzy Math of Eco-Accolades - Plaudits for lower emissions don't mean they've been cut
• 2007/10/26: GristMill: [Dessler] Everything old is new again - U.S. blocks consensus at international global warming conference ... 17 years ago
• 2007/10/26: GristMill: A nice rundown in layman's terms - Physical chemist on climate change
• 2007/10/26: GristMill: Poll: Americans deeply, perhaps irredeemably, confused
• 2007/10/25: MTobis: Nature is not a Budget Item
• 2007/10/26: TreeHugger: Land Use and Climate Change
• 2007/10/24: GristMill: Wanted: climate disaster rapid response - Greens should talk about climate disasters when people are listening
• 2007/10/25: WarmingLaw: The Fiery Urgency of Now
• 2007/10/25: FergusB: Another reconstruction to throw into the (tree) ring
• 2007/10/24: RealClimate: Younger Dry-as dust?
• 2007/10/25: DemNow: Leading Australian Scientist Tim Flannery on Global Warming and the Worsening Dangers of Climate Change Denial
• 2007/10/24: SeattlePI: Climate Change ( Part II): Ignore the science
• 2007/10/24: DeSmogBlog: [CCM] The Mike Tidwell Dilemma, Part I
• 2007/10/24: ENN: CNN's "Planet in Peril" Confronts Tough Issues
• 2007/10/23: WaPo: Forecast: Heavy Weather
  [...] The weird weather does tend to concentrate the mind, though. Even George W. Bush acknowledges the scientific consensus that climate change is real. Most people, even conservatives, now have no problem taking the next step and acknowledging that human activity -- the burning of fossil fuels and the release of heat-trapping carbon dioxide into the atmosphere -- is causing climate change, or at least accelerating it. Beyond those fundamentals, though, are a couple of even more inconvenient truths that few seem ready to come to terms with. One is the fact that if climate change follows its projected course, many people around the world will suffer. But some people, as George Orwell noted, are more equal than others.
• 2007/10/23: SciAm: Solution to Energy and Climate Crises? A Game of Leapfrog
• 2007/10/23: TheAge: Climate change is a war that we must fight
• 2007/10/24: Guardian(UK): Facing down the heat
• 2007/10/22: CSpin: Chicago Humanities Festival takes on climate change
• 2007/10/23: FergusB: With all the coverage going to the PNAS CO2 findings, you might have overlooked?
• 2007/10/23: C411: We Still Have Time to Avoid Dangerous Climate Change
• 2007/10/23: Missoulian: NASA scientist urges action on climate change
• 2007/10/22: Atmoz: No Global Warming Signal in Sea Surface Temperature Data?
• 2007/10/22: GristMill: Climate equity: Wolfgang Sachs - Climate change is about equality among nations and fundamental human rights
• 2007/10/22: Stoat: Thaas outrageous, big Mammy
• 2007/10/22: RealClimate: Sweatin' the Mediterranean Heat
• 2007/10/21: EnergyBulletin: Willits meets the S-curve
  ...rational explanations of such threats as peak oil and climate change can only get one so far. People in any group or community adopt ideas at different paces based on their orientation toward change.

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

• CTC Blog
• GW News & Facts
• NYT: DotEarth (Andrew Revkin)
• IPCC: National Greenhouse Gas Inventories Programme
• UNFCCC: Greenhouse Gas Inventory Database
• GEOSS: Global Earth Observation System of Systems
• GristMill
• CarboEurope
• CCI: Climate Change Institute

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.

"Like it or not, we are the brains and nervous system of Gaia. We have now assumed responsibility for the welfare of the planet. How will we manage it?" -James Lovelock

• Global Warming Links
• Global Warming News Archive
• ---
• Energy
• Energy News
• Environmental Issues
• ---
• H.E. Taylor (homepage)