Another Week of GW News, November 4, 2007

Sipping from the internet firehose...

(skip to bottom)

• Top Stories, Mexican Floods, Mayors Meeting, Carbon Cycle
• Melting Arctic, ICAP, Ocean Sink, California Wildfires
• Hurricanes, GHGs, Temperatures, Glaciers, Sea Levels, ENSO, Satellites
• Impacts, Rainforests, Corals, Wildfires, Floods & Droughts, Food vs. Biofuel
• Mitigation, Transportation, Building, Sequestration, Geoengineering
• Journals, Misc. Science
• Kyoto-2, Carbon Trade, Carbon Tax, Optimal Carbon Reduction Strategy
• Politics, International, Security, Levels of Gov't, America, Britain, Europe, Australia, China, Canada
• Ecological Economics, Apocalypso, Lovelock, Media, Books, Video, Courts
• Energy, Solar, Coal, Biofuel, Nukes, Efficiency, Cars, Business, Insurance, Carbon Lobby
• The Usual, Useful Links
• Shameless Self Promotion
• .sig

The big story this week has to be the extraordinary flooding in Tabasco, Mexico:

• 2007/11/04: CNN: Mexico flood toll rises to eight
  Death toll rises to eight, authorities say - Health officials warn against epidemics of cholera, other diseases - 900,000 people's homes flooded, damaged or cut off - Weeklong heavy rain overflows rivers, flooding 80 percent of Tabasco state
• 2007/11/04: ENN: Thousands perched on rooftops in Mexico floods
• 2007/11/03: CBC: Thousands remain stranded by Mexico floodwaters
• 2007/11/04: AFP: Hungry Mexico flood victims turn to looting
• 2007/11/04: SMH: Monster deluge leaves 800,000 homeless
• 2007/11/02: QuarkSoup: Mexican floods
• 2007/11/03: AFP: More than a million affected by floods in southern Mexico
• 2007/11/03: BBC: Mexico head pledges disaster aid
  Mexican President Felipe Calderon has pledged the full support of his government to help more than a million people hit by floods in Tabasco state. Mr Calderon said on a visit to Tabasco that the entire air force was involved in shifting supplies to the region where more than 800,000 are homeless. Some 80% of the state is under water in the worst flooding for 50 years. Heavy rain is forecast for the weekend and there are concerns that disease could spread in the murky waters
• 2007/11/03: Guardian(UK): Million people hit as Mexico flood waters continue to rise -- more rain is forecast
• 2007/11/03: AP: Hundreds of Thousands Flee Mexico Floods
• 2007/11/02: ENN: Tens of thousands trapped in Mexico floods
• 2007/11/02: BBC: Flooding traps 300,000 in Mexico
• 2007/11/02: CBC: 300,000 stranded by flooding in Mexico - 'Situation is extraordinarily grave,' says president
• 2007/11/02: AP: Floods in Mexico Strand Thousands
• 2007/11/02: BBC: Race to save Mexico flood victims
  A massive rescue operation is under way in the southern Mexican state of Tabasco after rains caused the worst flooding there in more than 50 years. As many as 700,000 people are believed to be affected by the floods, and almost half that number are thought to be trapped in their homes. Most of the state is under water...
• 2007/11/01: BBC: Floodwaters swamp Mexican state
  Tens of thousands of people have been forced to flee their homes in Mexico where massive floods have swamped much of the south-eastern state of Tabasco. "We have lost 100% of our crops and 70% of the state is under water," Tabasco's governor said. Rescuers have been using boats and helicopters to try to reach people stranded on rooftops
• 2007/11/01: Guardian(UK): Fears grow for 150,000 people as flood chaos hits Mexico

  The US Conference of Mayors went down in Seattle this week:

• 2007/11/04: SMH: New York set to tax carbon emissions
  New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg proposed a national "pollution pricing" plan that would tax companies directly for the greenhouse gases they release. "If you really want to reduce carbon emissions, tax carbon at the source, which would mean at the mine head, at the oil well, whatever," Bloomberg told more than 100 other mayors at a climate summit sponsored by the US Conference of Mayors. Bloomberg suggested a fee of $US15 ($A16.5) for every ton of greenhouse gas companies emit, with the money used to reduce payroll taxes and finance tax credits for companies that reduce their greenhouse gas pollution
• 2007/11/01: SeattlePI: U.S. mayors meet in Seattle to push for a green revolution
• 2007/11/02: KSJT: Seattle PI, Times, etc: Those weenie CFL bulbs were just climate change training wheels. Now, Mr. Mayor, for the real work?
• 2007/11/02: PhysOrg: Clinton, Wal-Mart Push 'Green' Cities
• 2007/11/02: GristMill: U.S. Mayors Climate Conference: Clinton I - Clinton and Gore, fox and hedgehog
• 2007/11/02: GristMill: U.S. Mayors Climate Conference: Gore VI - Gore: What we can learn from the ozone hole
• 2007/11/02: GristMill: U.S. Mayors Climate Conference: Gore V - Gore: Population is one of the causes of climate change, but it's not one of the policy solutions
• 2007/11/02: GristMill: U.S. Mayors Climate Conference: Gore IV - Gore: no more coal plants without sequestration
• 2007/11/02: GristMill: U.S. Mayors Climate Conference: Gore III - Gore: It's not Kyoto but its successor that needs political support
• 2007/11/02: GristMill: U.S. Mayors Climate Conference: Gore II - Gore: carbon credits and offsets a good thing if used responsibly
• 2007/11/01: GristMill: U.S. Mayors Climate Conference: Gore I - Gore addresses mayors via satellite
• 2007/11/02: BBC: US mayors meet on climate change
  More than 100 US mayors are attending a summit in the western city of Seattle to share and develop policies aimed at tackling climate change. Seattle's own mayor said it was up to individual cities to take on the principles of the Kyoto Protocol, which the US government has not signed up to. "Our federal government has ignored the problem," Greg Nickels said. Seattle says it has exceeded Kyoto goals itself, cutting greenhouse gas emissions to 8% below 1990 levels
• 2007/10/30: TruthOut: Seattle Reports Milestone in Cutting Emissions
• 2007/10/30: SeattlePI: Global Warming: Learning by doing
  Consider the gathering later this week of U.S. mayors in Seattle to talk about global warming a learning opportunity. When it comes to combating climate change, the mayors are among those who have the best plans and are doing something with their ideas. While containing global warming is likely to require efforts at every level from international to individual, cities have made some of the strongest commitments to change. Seattle's Greg Nickels has had an impressive role leading the U.S. mayors' efforts. While we wish that Congress and President Bush would bestir themselves to appropriately strong action against global warming, we have to lean heavily on cities, counties and states
• 2007/10/29: SeattlePI: City beats its goal, but auto emissions still are growing - It's now residents' turn to reduce our carbon footprint
• 2007/10/30: STimes: Seattle reports milestone in cutting emissions
  Seattle is one of the first major U.S. cities to claim it has cut greenhouse-gas emissions enough to meet the targets of the international Kyoto treaty aimed at combating global warming. The achievement, at a time when the city has enjoyed a boom in population and jobs, sets Seattle apart both from the nation as a whole and other cities that have seen greenhouse gases soar in recent years

A paper on the carbon cycle in the boreal forest raised a few eyebrows:

• 2007/11/03: TreeHugger: Boreal Forests Found to be Net GHG Emitters
• 2007/11/01: inel: U.S. wildfires' CO2 emissions estimates in Carbon Balance and Management Journal
• 2007/11/02: PhysOrg: If not in atmosphere, where does carbon go?
• 2007/11/02: TerraDaily: US Faces Burning Emissions Issue
• 2007/11/01: Eureka: US faces burning emissions issue [CO2 from wildfires]
• 2007/11/01: OilChange: Forests Losing Ability to Absorb Carbon
• 2007/10/31: CBC: Wildfires turning northern forests into carbon-dioxide sources
  A group of U.S. researchers have found that wildfires -- fuelled by climate change -- may be turning boreal forests into sources of carbon dioxide. The boreal forests -- found in northern Canada, Alaska, Siberia, China, Scandinavia and elsewhere -- make up the second largest type of forest in the world behind the tropical rainforest. Scientists have historically believed that the boreal forests act as a carbon sink, as trees absorb carbon emissions and reduce them in the atmosphere. But new research from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, published in the Nov. 1 issue of the journal Nature, has found that the forests may be emitting more carbon than they are absorbing
• 2007/10/31: PhysOrg: Wildfire drives carbon levels in northern forests
• 2007/10/31: Eureka: Wildfire drives carbon levels in northern forests

  The Arctic melt continues to get a lot of attention:

• 2007/11/01: CDreams: Reuters: Nordic Nations Sound Alarm Over Melting Arctic
• 2007/11/02: NewScientist: Shrinking ice means Greenland is rising fast
• 2007/11/02: PhysOrg: [Alaska] Governor [Sarah Palin] opposes polar bear protection
• 2007/10/30: Tamino: Frozen North
• 2007/10/31: ENN: Nordic nations sound alarm over melting Arctic
• 2007/10/30: IHT: Global warming opens Arctic seabed to the search for oil and gas
• 2007/10/29: GWWatch: Arctic melt drives Alaskan Walrus onto land
• 2007/10/29: TerraDaily: New Wrestling Bout Over The Arctic
• 2007/10/29: SciDaily: Arctic Ice Breaking-up Faster Than Predicted, Icebergs Risk To Shipping [says International Ice Charting Working Group]

  The International Carbon Action Partnership held their first meeting in Spain:

• ICAP: International Carbon Action Partnership
• 2007/11/01: EnvFin: Carbon trading schemes seek global link-up [ICAP]
• 2007/11/01: NEN: First international cap-and-trade launches [ICAP]
• 2007/10/29: Yahoo: Countries launch carbon trading market [ICAP]
• 2007/10/29: Yahoo: Schwarzenegger regrets US's poor effort on global warming [ICAP]
• 2007/10/29: ICAP: Nations, States, Provinces Announce Carbon Markets Partnership to Reduce Global Warming
• 2007/10/29: GristMill: The International Carbon Action Partnership - A new int'l org works toward a global carbon market, leaves U.S. federal gov't out

  Late comment on Canadella & the ocean carbon sink:

• 2007/11/01: RealClimate: Is the ocean carbon sink sinking?
• 2007/10/30: AFTIC: Oceans are 'soaking up less CO2'

  Late comment on the Southern California wildfires:

• 2007/11/02: GristMill: The blame game - Who is at fault for the fires in SoCal?
• 2007/11/02: CJR: Those Complicated California Wildfires - Journalists, scientists analyze carbon emissions
• 2007/11/02: MercedSunStar: Out of the smoke: Tales from the wildfires' front lines
• 2007/11/03: AP: California Prepares for More Fires
• 2007/11/01: ClimateP: Global warming and the California wildfires - Update
• 2007/11/01: ENN: California wildfires unleash climate-warming carbon
• 2007/10/29: KSJT: Wash. Post, NYTimes, etc: Verdict is in - those So. Cal fires were the fault of fire fighters, not the high winds (and, yes, fire fighters are still heroic..)
• 2007/10/29: TreeHugger: Quote of the Day: Ronald Neilson on the Southern California Fires
• 2007/10/29: TreeHugger: Global Warming or Not: The Debate Over California's Wildfires

  Noel raised a ruckus in the Caribbean and up the east coast:

• 2007/11/03: ENN: Remains of Hurricane Noel batter New England coast
• 2007/11/03: CBC: Thousands without power as Noel rolls into Eastern Canada - Outages reported in N.S., N.B.
• 2007/11/03: Wunderground: 'Noreaster Noel pounds New England; new tropical depression may hit Nicaragua
• 2007/11/02: Wunderground: Noel the hurricane becomes Noel the 'Noreaster
• 2007/11/01: Wunderground: Noel to bring big winds to Massachusetts and Nova Scotia
• 2007/11/01: ENN: Noel becomes hurricane, moves toward Bermuda
• 2007/11/02: ERabett: Noel, Noel, a bit early a bit late
• 2007/11/01: TerraDaily: Deadly storm Noel barrels over Bahamas
• 2007/11/02: CBC: Hurricane Noel barrels toward Bermuda, eastern Canada
• 2007/11/02: CBC: Nothing merry about Noel, forecasters say
• 2007/11/02: AFP: Deadly Hurricane Noel churns north toward Canada
• 2007/11/02: BBC: Noel reaches hurricane strength [now 108 dead]
• 2007/11/01: BBC: At least 90 people have died in floods and mudslides sparked by Tropical Storm Noel in the Dominican Republic and Haiti, officials say
• 2007/10/31: AP: Tropical Storm [Noel] Death Toll Rises to 81
• 2007/10/31: Wunderground: Noel over water, headed north towards the Bahamas
• 2007/10/30: ENN: Tropical Storm Noel drenches Cuba, Bahamas
• 2007/10/31: Xinhuanet: Tropical Storm Noel kills at least 38 in Caribbean
• 2007/10/31: Yahoo: Noel kills 48 in Haiti, Dominican Rep.
• 2007/10/29: TerraDaily: Tropical Storm Noel kills 11
• 2007/10/30: Wunderground: Noel hits Cuba and weakens significantly
• 2007/10/29: Wunderground: Disorganized Noel still dumping heavy rains
• 2007/10/30: ENN: More than dozen dead as storm drenches Hispaniola
• 2007/10/30: BBC: Caribbean storm kills 20 people
  At least 20 people have been killed in flooding in the Dominican Republic following torrential rains dumped by Tropical Storm Noel
• 2007/10/30: AFP: Tropical Storm Noel kills 11, moves over Cuba
• 2007/10/30: AP: Tropical Storm [Noel] That Killed 20 Hits Cuba
• 2007/10/28: ENN: Tropical Storm Noel strengthens, threatens Haiti

  Meanwhile GHGs are still going up:

• 2007/10/31: NEN: Emissions Rising

  As for the temperature record:

• 2007/10/29: ERabett: Where is the European Warm Period in the Bristlecone Record?

  While on the ENSO front:

• 2007/11/03: Xinhuanet: U.N. says La Nina weather to last 5 more months
• 2007/11/01: ABC(Au): Farmland misses out on La Nina rains
  The high rainfall expected with a La Nina weather event has failed to eventuate for drought-stricken inland Australia
• 2007/10/31: PhysOrg: La Nina anomaly behind Australian drought: UN weather agency
• 2007/10/31: ENN: La Nina seen persisting into 2008

  Glaciers are melting:

• 2007/11/02: PhysOrg: Shrinking glaciers threaten China
• 2007/10/31: TerraDaily: Western Canada's Glaciers Hit 7000-Year Low
• 2007/10/30: JFleck: Melting Glaciers

  Sea levels are rising:

• 2007/10/31: Atmoz: Sea Level Rise due to Thermal Expansion

  Meanwhile in near earth orbit:

• 2007/11/01: PhysOrg: NASA Data May Help Improve Estimates of a Hurricane's Punch
• 2007/10/31: PhysOrg: Digital Eyes in the Sky Play Key Role in Battling Flames in Southern California

  More GW impacts are being seen:

• 2007/10/31: MuskogeePhoenix: Global warming will impact Oklahoma agriculture, experts say
• 2007/10/31: CCM: From Hurricanes to Wildfires: How to Think About Climate-Disaster Linkages
• 2007/10/31: ENN: [White-bearded De Brazza] Monkey sighting stirs climate fears in Kenya
• 2007/10/30: Guardian(UK): Malaria moves in behind the loggers
  Deforestation and climate change are returning the mosquito-borne disease to parts of Peru after 40 years
• 2007/10/30: inel: Children's vulnerability to adverse health effects of climate change
• 2007/10/29: ADT: Global warming could alter Valley life
  Global warming could have impacts right here in the Rogue Valley, boosting the number and size of wildfires, harming salmon and reducing the snowpack people rely on for drinking water and irrigation
• 2007/10/29: ABC(Au): Aussies face ailing health from warming planet

  And then there are the tropical rainforests:

• 2007/10/29: Guardian(UK): Uganda 'averts tragedy' with reversal of decision to clear virgin forest for biofuel
• 2007/10/28: SpaceMart: DMCii Satellite Imaging Helps Dramatically Reduce Deforestation Of Amazon Basin

  Corals are dying:

• 2007/10/31: PhysOrg: Coral reefs will be permanently damaged without urgent action
• 2007/10/31: Eureka: Coral reefs will be permanently damaged without urgent action

  As for heatwaves and wild fires:

• 2007/11/01: KSJT: San Diego Union-Tribune, AP: Big wildfires are polluters, too. CO2 just part of it
• 2007/10/31: ScienceP: Fire Fight - Applied Climate Science Could Make Vulnerable Regions Safer
• 2007/10/31: C411: How Global Warming Stokes Wildfires

  And speaking of floods & droughts:

• 2007/10/31: Guardian(UK): Thirst refusal
  The California fires are the result of an increasingly severe drought now stretching over much of the south and west of the US. Edward Helmore on how development and climate change are leading to water conflicts. The destruction of nearly 182,000 hectares (450,000 acres) and the displacement of a million people by the worst Californian fire-storms in decades are focusing attention on what may, over the next 50 years, become the most pressing environmental issue in the US - the south-western states are drying up
• 2007/11/02: CharlotteObserver: Tennessee town [Orme] has run out of water
• 2007/11/03: TreeHugger: What If Drought Forces Cooling Towers? How Much Will It Cost Power Consumers [energy]
• 2007/10/29: TulsaWorld: Plan is urged for dry spell - State's climatologist says Oklahoma should prepare for drought conditions
• 2007/11/01: JFleck: Drought Portal
• 2007/11/01: TerraDaily: Suburban murder over water shocks Australia
• 2007/10/30: ENN: Southeast drought leads to spat over lake [Lanier]
• 2007/10/28: GristMill: Drying up - A global trend toward drought
• 2007/10/28: TerraDaily: Drought in southeast US fuels battle over water resources
• 2007/10/28: ENN: Australian country life riven by drought, isolation
• 2007/10/29: G&M: Water supply shrinks, pool of ill will grows

  The conflict between biofuel and food persists:

• 2007/11/01: OilChange: Oxfam: Biofuel Rush 'Harmful'
• 2007/11/01: BBC: Biofuel rush harmful, Oxfam warns - The rush for biofuels could harm the world's poorest people...
• 2007/10/31: TreeHugger: Biofuels: Possible "Crime Against Humanity"?
• 2007/10/31: CDreams: Feed People, Not Cars: We Need a Moratorium on Agrofuels
• 2007/10/31: SMH: Poor outlook for grain stokes fight over biofuels
• 2007/10/29: OilChange: Biofuels Are a "Crime Against Humanity" [Ziegler]

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

• 2007/11/04: GristMill: Farming and climate change - More evidence that industrial ag is destroying the planet
• 2007/11/03: Guardian(UK): Global food crisis looms as climate change and fuel shortages bite
  Soaring crop prices and demand for biofuels raise fears of political instability
• 2007/11/01: GristMill: High crop prices, more chemicals - All hail the biofuel boom
• 2007/11/01: OilDrum: The World's Expected Carrying Capacity in a Post Industrial Agrarian Society
• 2007/10/30: TerraDaily: Drought slashes Australian wheat crop
• 2007/10/30: FWi: Can GM crops end food supply shortage fears?
• 2007/10/30: TEB: Human-generated Ozone Could Reduce Production by More Than 10 Percent by 2100
• 2007/10/30: TerraDaily: Human-Generated Ozone Will Damage Crops
• 2007/10/29: UIUC: Study Reveals that Nitrogen Fertilizers Deplete Soil Organic Carbon
• 2007/10/29: TreeHugger: Ozone Could Slash Global Crop Yields by 40% by Century's End
• 2007/10/26: MIT: Human-generated ozone will damage crops... Could reduce production by more than 10 percent by 2100
• 2007/10/29: PeakEnergy: The Fat Man, The Population Bomb And The Green Revolution

  Elsewhere on the mitigation front:

• 2007/10/29: TruthOut: Rethinking Fire Policy in the Tinderbox Zone

  Consider transportation & GHG production:

• 2007/11/03: AutoBG: French Monoprix supermarket chooses rail and natural gas for delivery trucks
• 2007/10/30: IHT: Changing climate haunting tourism

  While in the endless quest for sustainable building codes:

• 2007/10/31: GristMill: Growing cooler - Can urban planners save the earth?
• 2007/10/30: EnergyBulletin: Building post carbon cities

  As for carbon sequestration:

• 2007/11/03: AutoBG: Europe decides to push forward with carbon capture
• 2007/10/30: ENN: Norway upbeat on backing for CO2 storage aid [from EU]

  Large scale geo-engineering keeps popping up:

• 2007/10/30: CCM: I get email: Iron Fertilization 101
• 2007/10/30: PeakEnergy: The Politics of Geoengineering

  Meanwhile in the journals:

• 2007/11/04: CP: Thermal signal propagation in soils in Romania: conductive and non-conductive processes by C. Demetrescu et al.
• 2007/10/31: TC: Reconstruction of the 1979-2006 Greenland ice sheet surface mass balance using the regional climate model MAR by X. Fettweis
• 2007/10/30: ACPD: CO measurements from the ACE-FTS satellite instrument: data analysis and validation using ground-based, airborne and spaceborne observations by C. Clerbaux et al.
• 2007/10/30: PNAS: Drought mediates the importance of stochastic community assembly by Jonathan M. Chase
• 2007/10/30: 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:

• 2007/11/02: Stoat: Stealth paper: Association of parameter, software, and hardware variation with large-scale behavior across 57,000 climate models
• 2007/10/31: JEB: Roe and Baker
• 2007/10/30: TreeHugger: Major Source of Atmospheric Methane Identified Near Arctic Lakes
• 2007/10/29: Scripps: Unprecedented Global Measurement Network [Argo] Achieves Full Coverage of Oceans
• 2007/10/30: DailyIndia: Earth's oceans monitored simultaneously - The [Argus] network of sensor-bearing floats measures ocean temperature, salinity and velocity

  Meanwhile on the Kyoto-2 front:

• 2007/10/31: ABC(Au): Developing nations to act on climate change: UN
• 2007/10/30: GristMill: Post-Kyoto international climate policy [Prins & Rayner]
• 2007/10/29: JQuiggin: Prins and Rayner on Kyoto
• 2007/10/29: TSun: Kyoto accord, RIP

  And on the carbon trading front:

• 2007/11/01: EnvFin: South Africa plans to expand its carbon market

  The idea of a carbon tax is still bouncing around:

• 2007/11/03: Yahoo: Bloomberg proposes greenhouse gas tax
• 2007/11/02: EnvEcon: Bloomberg supports national carbon tax

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

• 2007/11/02: EnvEcon: Carbon tax vs. cap-and-trade
• 2007/11/01: GMB: Is cap-and-trade a tax increase?
• 2007/11/02: GristMill: Bloomberg speaks out in Seattle - NYC mayor climbs aboard the carbon tax train
• 2007/11/02: GristMill: My reply to Bloomberg's speech in Seattle - Carbon taxes, cap-and-trade, and getting things right
• 2007/11/01: DemNow: Carbon Trading: Practical Solution to Global Warming or Corporate Greenwash? A Debate
• 2007/10/31: VoxEU: Greenhouse gases: Demand control policies, supply and the time path of carbon prices
• 2007/10/30: EnvEcon: Carbon tax vs cap-and-trade in California
• 2007/10/29: NEN: Carbon caps: tricky; Carbon tax: treat?

  Meanwhile on the international political front:

• 2007/10/30: ENN: Merkel asks India to do more on climate change

  It looks like the GW & security theory will get a major airing next week:

• 2007/11/04: Guardian(UK): Climate wars threaten billions
  More than 100 countries face political chaos and mass migration in global warming catastrophe - This stark warning will be outlined by the peace group International Alert in a report, A Climate of Conflict, this week
• 2007/11/03: WomanAtMile0: Climate Change Will Mean More War
• 2007/11/03: DeSmogBlog: Global Warming Plays on Our Insecurities
• 2007/11/03: Yahoo: Think tank: Climate affects security

  This pattern is common in several jurisdictions -- national governments refuse to act, so lover levels try to take over their responsibilities:

• 2007/10/27: NYT: Listen to the States
  For years, most of the important initiatives to deal with global warming have been undertaken at the state and local level, while Washington has largely dithered. This is still true. The hope, as always, is that pressure from below will jolt Washington from its slumber.

And on the American political front:

• 2007/10/31: SeattlePI: [US] Religious leaders act on climate change
• 2007/11/03: TreeHugger: Biofuels: When Subsidies and Special Interests Collide
• 2007/11/02: WarmingLaw: EPA Waives Comment
• 2007/11/01: CSW: Screw-up at House Judiciary Committee sends whistleblower e-mail addresses to Cheney
• 2007/11/01: CSW: The War on Whistleblowers
• 2007/11/02: DeSmogBlog: Evangelical Powerhouses Ignoring God's Green Earth
• 2007/10/31: GristMill: Newt? Seriously? On Gingrich's new conservative environmentalism
• 2007/10/31: WarmingLaw: Does Jerry Brown Read Warming Law? [US pol]
• 2007/10/31: WarmingLaw: Congress Examines the Wildfire-Warming Connection
• 2007/10/31: EnvEcon: Wildfires, Global Warming and Congress
• 2007/10/: House: Select Committee to Examine Link Between Changing Climate, Frequency and Intensity of Wildfires on Thursday
• 2007/10/30: HillHeat: UCS Releases Report on 15% by 2020 RES
• 2007/10/29: ClimateP: Solidarity with Power Shift and StepItUp 2007
• 2007/10/29: GristMill: Putting the OK in Oklahoma - Inhofe challenger the real deal

  The Warner-Lieberman bill is inching toward it's veto:

• 2007/11/02: ClimateP: Warner-Lieberman eke out subcommittee win
• 2007/11/02: TruthOut: US Edges Towards Cap on Greenhouse Gases
• 2007/11/01: TruthOut: Is the Latest Climate Change Bill Getting Warmer?
• 2007/11/02: GristMill: Energy bill for dummies - What's going on with the energy bill in Congress
• 2007/11/01: HillHeat: Lieberman-Warner Bill Moves to Full Committee
• 2007/11/02: CSW: Senate subcommittee approves cap-and-trade bill --- New climate assessment and adaptation provisions
• 2007/11/02: TreeHugger: Quote of the Day: Frances Beinecke on America's Climate Security Act
• 2007/11/01: ENN: Climate bill seen as sign of political shift
• 2007/11/02: OilChange: US Moves Towards Greenhouse Cap
• 2007/11/01: Yahoo: Global warming bill advances in Senate
• 2007/11/01: Guardian(UK): US takes first step towards climate change law
• 2007/11/02: Guardian(UK): US edges towards cap on greenhouse gases [L-W]
• 2007/10/30: GristMill: Tracking Lieberman-Warner: Next steps - What to expect going into Thursday
• 2007/10/30: GristMill: Tracking Lieberman-Warner: Bernie bashes the bill - Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders is no fan
• 2007/10/31: HillHeat: Republican Senators on Lieberman-Warner
• 2007/10/30: HillHeat: Friends of the Earth Excoriates Lieberman-Warner Polluter Giveaways
• 2007/10/30: HillHeat: Lieberman-Warner Subcommittee Markup on Thursday
• 2007/10/29: GristMill: A Lieberman-Warner bill tracker - Keeping tabs on who's backing America's Climate Security Act

  The 2008 campaign is not making much climate news:

• 2007/11/03: CDreams: OneWorld: Nationwide Climate Rallies to Demand Action from Candidates
• 2007/11/01: CSpin: Climate change polls presidential candidates should look at

  Late comment on the Whitehouse censoring CDC testimony:

• 2007/11/02: NatureCF: White House advisor edits climate report
• 2007/10/30: CSW: CSW director ABC News Now interview on CDC climate testimony censorship
• 2007/10/30: BostonGlobe: The climate change censor [CDC]
• 2007/10/26: CQ: Panel Posts Text It Said Was Deleted From CDC on Global Warming Testimony
• 2007/10/28: CSW: Censored Testimony from Centers for Disease Control: Update
• 2007/10/29: BostonGlobe: Now with 50 percent less truth [CDC]

  The Gore-apalooza is still bopping along:

• 2007/10/31: GristMill: Lock box? Should Gore get arrested protesting coal?
• 2007/10/31: DeSmogBlog: Al Gore Chained to a Tree?
• 2007/10/29: AFTIC: What If Al Gore Were Arrested?

  While in the UK:

• 2007/11/03: AutoBG: UK Government wants EU to back off on CO2 regulations
• 2007/11/02: ENN: Britons may be aware but unwilling on climate change
• 2007/11/02: BBC: UK energy savings 'miscalculated'
  Energy savings in UK households could be up to 30% lower than previously thought, jeopardising efforts to cut the nation's carbon dioxide emissions. The UK Energy Research Centre (UKERC) blamed the miscalculation on "rebound effects" from energy-saving measures. As people cut their bills by using more efficient devices, they tend to spend the extra money buying additional goods that cancel out some of the savings
• 2007/10/31: Guardian(UK): Rising fear of [UK] energy crisis this winter - Electricity shortages and gas supply problems predicted to push bills up
• 2007/10/29: OilChange: UK: We Need A Climate Change Minister
• 2007/10/29: TCulture: "Climate Change + Peak Oil = Cutting Carbon + Resilience Building" or "Why [UK Energy Minister] Malcolm Wicks Really Hasn't Got This Peak Oil Thing"

  Labour introduced a new climate change bill:

• 2007/10/30: Guardian(UK): Government accused over emissions bill
  Plans do not take aviation and shipping into account - Benn's 60% cut in CO2 [by 2050] too low, say campaigners
• 2007/10/29: Guardian(UK): Q&A: Climate change bill
• 2007/10/29: Guardian(UK): [UK Environment Secretary, Hilary] Benn announces 'stronger' climate change bill
• 2007/10/29: Guardian(UK): Politicians cannot combat climate change by themselves, says Benn
• 2007/10/29: inel: UK Draft Climate Change Bill Consultation Summary of Responses published today
• 2007/10/29: BBC: Benn pledges tougher climate bill
  Environment Secretary Hilary Benn says he is putting forward a tougher, more effective and more transparent bill to help tackle climate change. There will be a new carbon trading scheme for large and medium-sized firms which will cut more than 4m tonnes of carbon dioxide a year by 2020. The Bill will make the UK the first country to put carbon emissions reduction targets into law. He spoke as MPs called for a climate change minister to be appointed

I just love it when politicians use this 'black is white' logic:

• 2007/10/31: Guardian(UK): More planes, trains and roads can still bring cut in CO2, argues [UK Transport Secretary, Ruth] Kelly

  And in Europe:

• 2007/10/30: CarbonFin: European Parliament agrees 2015 deadline for cars CO2 target
• 2007/10/29: ENN: German carmakers blast motorway speed limit idea
• 2007/10/29: AutoBG: Study shows new car CO2 emissions dropping in Europe

  Meanwhile in Australia, accusations, innuendo and blarney are flying thick & fast in the Nov 24th federal election campaign:

• 2007/11/03: PeakEnergy: The only thing stopping renewable energy in Australia is policy
• 2007/11/03: SMH: Divide on whether Kyoto cuts are emmission impossible
  Australia's position on climate change faces a massive shift as the parties slug out the feasibility of a real commitment. If the Opposition Leader, Kevin Rudd, wins the election, one of his first acts as prime minister will be to consider advice that he should personally lead the new Labor government's delegation to the United Nations climate talks in Bali in December, marking a dramatic shift in Australia's climate policy. There, he would formally announce that Australia has finally agreed to ratify the Kyoto Protocol 10 years after it was launched as a way of cutting greenhouse gas pollution and slowing dangerous climate change
• 2007/11/03: SMH: Loyalty to coal takes wind out of clean energy advocates' sails
• 2007/11/03: SMH: Fuelled up and belching, but main parties look the other way
• 2007/11/03: SMH: Unpopular option on back burner [nukes]
• 2007/11/03: SMH: Kyoto: the Japanese feast where you eat your own words
• 2007/11/02: ABC(Au): Climate change to cut Wimmera water: study
• 2007/11/02: ABC(Au): Mineral Council rejects clean coal feasibility doubts
• 2007/11/02: ABC(Au): ALP pledges $500m to cut greenhouse gas
• 2007/11/02: ABC(Au): UN climate change vote claims 'complete rot'
• 2007/11/02: ABC(Au): High carbon emissions put Aust in 'weak position'
• 2007/11/01: ABC(Au): Labor candidate takes Vaile to task on climate change
• 2007/11/02: SMH: Leak reveals limited say at climate talks
  Leaked government documents reveal that Australia's failure to ratify the Kyoto Protocol will limit its influence at next month's United Nations climate talks in Bali, making it take a "low-profile role" in some of the key discussions
• 2007/11/02: SMH: Clean coal a furphy, says Dr Karl
  The celebrity scientist and Climate Change Coalition candidate for the Senate, Karl Kruszelnicki, has described clean coal as a "complete furphy", likening it to Nazi propaganda. The colourful campaign of the physicist-turned-politician took a serious turn when he slammed Labor and the Coalition for propagating the "myth of carbon capture" and wasting taxpayers' money
• 2007/11/01: SMH: Coalition walks both sides of renewable energy fence
• 2007/11/01: SMH: Dead treaty, but Labor's flogging it
• 2007/10/31: ABC(Au): [Federal Opposition Leader Kevin] Rudd moves to differentiate Labor's climate change policy
• 2007/10/31: ABC(Au): Farmers push for bigger role in climate change debate
  The New South Wales Farmers Association says the agricultural sector should be at the forefront of attempts to address the issue of climate change
• 2007/10/30: ABC(Au): [Federal Labor leader, Kevin] Rudd denies rushing out renewable energy policy
• 2007/10/30: ABC(Au): PM [Howard] taunts Labor over emissions gaffe
• 2007/10/30: ABC(Au): [Federal Labor leader, Kevin] Rudd forced to clear up climate change stance
• 2007/10/29: ABC(Au): Greens want clarification on climate change agreement
  The Greens are calling on Prime Minister John Howard to explain what kind of global climate agreement the Coalition would be willing to ratify. Mr Howard said this morning that his Government would be willing to sign and ratify an international agreement, as long as it applied to major emitters like China and India in an appropriate way
• 2007/10/29: ABC(Au): PM [Howard] tight-lipped on Cabinet support for Kyoto stance
• 2007/10/29: ABC(Au): Birds, fish disappearing as Murray wetlands die
  A new report from the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) says the Murray River's wetlands are dying while the Federal Government's $10 billion water plan gathers dust. The report describes the state of the river's mouth as being in extreme crisis - so dire that some bird species may become extinct
• 2007/10/29: ABC(Au): Vaile questions climate change
  Climate change has dominated the start of the third week of the federal election campaign, but federal Nationals leader Mark Vaile says there is still doubt as to whether the phenomenon is actually occurring
• 2007/10/29: ABC(Au): ACF [Australian Conservation Foundation] backs Labor's global emission target
• 2007/10/29: ABC(Au): Labor commits to new global warming deal
  The Federal Opposition says it is willing to commit to a new international greenhouse gas emissions target, even if big polluters like China and the United States do not sign up. Labor's environment spokesman Peter Garrett says Labor's policies will not nearly be as effective in tackling global warming without a worldwide commitment on emissions cuts
• 2007/10/28: TerraDaily: Climate controversy heats up Australian election

  While in China:

• 2007/10/31: ClimateP: The immorality of China's coal policy is breathtaking (literally) - Part I
• 2007/10/30: TruthOut: Coal Use Grows Despite Warming Worries [China]
• 2007/10/29: ClimateP: Are China's Carbon Emissions China's?
• 2007/10/29: GristMill: The other black gold - U.S. investors make a killing off of Chinese coal
• 2007/10/28: PhysOrg: Coal Use Grows Despite Warming Worries [in China]

  And in Canada, minority neocon PM Harper is still doing as little as possible:

• 2007/11/04: TStar: [Green party Leader, Elizabeth] May sets out Green future
• 2007/11/03: TStar: Kyoto? No way. Now about those tax cuts...
• 2007/11/02: CanWest: Getting on the green parade
  Even right-leaning leaders like Campbell and Harper have got the message that they are supposed to act as if they take climate change seriously. But numbers don't lie. Emissions are going up, up, up.
• 2007/10/30: EnergyDaily: Sustainable development a huge failure in Canada: audit
  A decade-old plan to introduce sustainable development strategies and green thinking into the Canadian government's daily work has failed miserably, the environment commissioner said Tuesday. The 1997 plan "to encourage government departments to green their policies and programs" has become a "major disappointment," said environment commissioner Ron Thompson, releasing his annual audit.
• 2007/10/30: DeSmogBlog: Gov't Commissioner says Feds Still Failing on the Environment
• 2007/10/27: CanWest: Canadians want action, vision, leadership on climate change

  It looks like the BC green plan is a work in progress:

• 2007/11/01: Tyee: Why 70 Economists Urge BC Carbon Tax - Premier asked for support, we supplied some.
• 2007/10/28: GristMill: Shifting on the tax shift - B.C. considers a carbon tax
• 2007/10/29: G&M: B.C.'s plan to go carbon neutral
• 2007/10/29: G&M: Campbell to sign [ICAP] emissions deal for B.C.
  In an apparent end-run around Ottawa, Premier Gordon Campbell will be in Europe today to sign a deal that puts British Columbia in an international league of players for the emerging market of carbon-emissions trading. Mr. Campbell is the only Canadian at the Lisbon summit, which is to launch the International Carbon Action Partnership. There he joins a number of European Union countries, three U.S. states, and other jurisdictions aiming to create a global market for buying and selling greenhouse-gas emission rights.

The tricky question of the tar sands looms:

• 2007/10/29: TheDominion: Smoking in the Greenhouse - Tar sands growth makes meeting Kyoto targets less likely
• 2007/10/31: TreeHugger: Oil Companies and Alberta Government Go After Little Old Lady
• 2007/10/30: FPB: The dirty truth about Canada's tar-sands baby
• 2007/10/30: OilChange: The "Dark Side" of Oil Sands

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

• 2007/10/30: CarsonsPost: The Stern Review: one year on
• 2007/10/29: GristMill: Experts agree: We should all lie. A lot. About important stuff - Nobody fights for change unless they see there's a problem

  Apocalypso anyone?

• RainbowBody: (etext) The Final Empire: The Collapse of Civilization and The Seed of the Future by Wm. H. Kötke
• 2007/10/27: CDreams: Don't Rush It. Dig In: Defining Advice for the Possibilities Ahead
• 2007/10/29: CCurrents: Peak Oil And Famine: Four Billion Deaths

  James Lovelock has a fan club:

• 2007/10/29: Guardian(UK): It's too late for greenhouse gas cuts, says scientist [Lovelock]
• 2007/10/30: TreeHugger: Ignore Lovelock
• 2007/10/29: CCurrents: The Prophet Of Climate Change: James Lovelock
• 2007/10/29: CCurrents: Rapid Global Warming Will Create Famine And Drought, Lovelock Warns
• 2007/10/29: RoyalSociety: Humans at war with Earth on climate change says James Lovelock
• 2007/10/29: BCLSB: Lovelock Is Bummed, The Telegraph Confused

  As for how the media handles the science of climatology:

• 2007/11/02: Deltoid: Two Pinocchios for the Fact Checker

  Here is something for your library:

• 2007/10/30: Guardian(UK): [Book Plug] Civilisation ends with a shutdown of human concern. Are we there already?

  And for your film & video enjoyment:

• 2007/11/04: Guardian(UK): New 'disaster' movie warns world of oil apocalypse
  The latest gloves-off documentary to hit screens predicts a global meltdown as vital fuel runs out Oil is 'the bloodstain of the earth's economy' and will soon trigger a global conflict that will cost millions of lives. That is the stark claim of a controversial new film, which says a crash in oil production is about to set off worldwide recession and economic collapse. A Crude Awakening: The Oil Crash, which opens in UK cinemas this week, shows stark images of rusting Texan and Venezuelan wells and fuel riots in Asia and Africa. Such scenes will be repeated thousands of times around the planet in the near future, argue the film's makers, who say the world is facing changes 'more frightening than a horror movie'

Meanwhile among the 'Sue the Bastards!' contingent:

• 2007/10/30: WarmingLaw: Questions and Answers: CA Waiver Edition
• 2007/10/30: WarmingLaw: Jerry Brown's "Big Stick" Policy
• 2007/10/29: WarmingLaw: They Took The Words Right Out Of Our Mouth
• 2007/10/28: USAToday: California gears up for car emissions fight
  California plans to sue the Environmental Protection Agency this week for delaying a decision over whether to let the state aggressively reduce car and truck tailpipe emissions. The lawsuit's outcome could affect not only the California law aimed at cutting greenhouse gases but also the ability of other states to take similar actions

Wrestling over a new energy infrastructure continues unabated:

• 2007/11/02: UPI: Russia dangles nuclear carrot
  As Russia and China quietly maneuver for control of the Caspian region's vast energy reserves, both are looking ahead to a post-hydrocarbon world and beginning to cooperate on nuclear power.
• 2007/11/02: NYT: Citing Oil Prices, Asia Starts Reducing Fuel Subsidies
• 2007/10/28: SeattlePI: Mammoth wind farm slated for South Dakota
• 2007/11/: Orion: The Unsung Solution - What rhymes with waste-heat recovery?
• 2007/11/01: GristMill: McKibben on waste-heat recovery - A very promising climate change solution with an image problem
• 2007/10/31: OilChange: US: Oil Sands are "Threat Number One" [in the battle against greenhouse gas emissions]
• 2007/10/29: GristMill: Revenue-neutral emission reduction for cities - What if there were more Berkeleys? [energy]
• 2007/10/30: GPM: (transcript) Chris Skrebowski on alarming new peak oil report [EWG]
• 2007/10/29: IHT: No real alternative to oil: Rise in demand seems unavoidable
• 2007/10/29: CNN: All About: Waste heat
  Globally homes responsible for 19 percent of greenhouse gas emissions - Household energy use to increase by 15 percent by 2015 - Recycling waste heat could slash fossil fuel usage by half - CHP [Combined Heat & Recovery plants]-generated CO2 emissions 49 percent lower than standards power stations

Meanwhile among the solar afficianados:

• 2007/11/03: TEB: 400 MW Solar Tower System for California
• 2007/10/28: TEB: REC to Build World's Largest Solar Manufacturing Complex in Singapore
• 2007/10/30: NewScientist: Waste wafers give solar power a silicon boost

  The arithmetic of coal carbon is striking home:

• 2007/11/01: DenverPost: "Clean coal" plant setbacks mount in U.S.
• 2007/11/01: ClimateP: Memo to Air Force: Stop misleading the public on liquid coal
• 2007/10/30: AzCentral: World's growing dependence on coal leaving a trail of environmental devastation

  Biofuel bickering abounds:

• 2007/11/01: ABC(Au): EU biofuels bid could spark Asia-Africa 'land rush'

  The nuclear energy controversy continues:

• 2007/11/02: ABC(Au): Nuclear recycling plan condemned by US scientists
• 2007/10/30: KSJT: AP etc.: Nat'l Research Council tells White House to slow down on advanced nuclear fuel cycles, and TVA moves toward a new nuke soon
• 2007/10/30: ClimateP: The Achilles Heel of Nuclear Power [cool water]
• 2007/10/30: EnergyDaily: Report Prioritizes Programs Of DOE Office Of Nuclear Energy [GNEP]
• 2007/10/30: Yahoo: Panel urges Bush to drop nuke waste plan
  A panel of the National Academy of Sciences urged President Bush on Monday to abandon an ambitious plan to resume nuclear waste reprocessing that is the heart of the administration's push to expand the civilian use of nuclear power. A 17-member panel of the Academy's National Research Council said the proposed Global Nuclear Energy Partnership, or GNEP, has not been adequately peer reviewed and is banking on reprocessing technology that hasn't been proven, or isn't expected to be ready in the time the administration envisions

Yes we have a peak oil sighting:

• 2007/11/03: EnergyBulletin: DOE publishes poster: "Peak Oil - the Turning Point"
• 2007/11/02: EnergyBulletin: Total boss on why oil production will never top 100 mb/d
• 2007/10/29: NewScientist: Depleting oil supplies threaten 'meltdown in society' [EWG]

  And then there is the matter of efficiency & conservation:

• 2007/10/30: IHT: Efficiency replaces conservation as the goal of energy saving policies

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

• 2007/11/03: AutoBG: Reason think tank: Hydrogen cars will do exactly squat for greenhouse gas emissions
• 2007/11/03: AutoBG: Zenn is now legal to drive on Canada's streets
• 2007/11/03: TEB: Latest on the Volt: Lutz Sees 60,000 to 100,000 the First Year, First Battery Delivered
• 2007/10/29: NYT: Reimagining the Automobile Industry by Selling the Electricity

  Meanwhile in the greenwashing chronicles:

• 2007/10/29: ABC(Au): ACCC targets green claims
  The competition watchdog is cracking down on companies that think it is easy being green. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) plans to put environmentally friendly marketing claims to the test after being swamped with complaints about the widespread "greenwashing" of consumer and industrial products. In addition to loose green language the regulator will pay particular attention to the use of carbon offset programs, amid growing concern that some of the marketing may amount to little more than hot air

Insurance and re-insurance companies are feeling the heat:

• 2007/11/03: C411: Insurance Coverage Crumbles in Coastal States

  The carbon lobby are up to the usual:

• 2007/11/02: DeSmogBlog: Friends of Science Caught in the Gauntlet
• 2007/10/30: AFTIC: Exxon Hires Dogbert Consulting
• 2007/10/29: Atmoz: Buchanan straw mans with Gray
• 2007/10/29: DeSmogBlog: CNN's Glenn Beck confused over "global" warming concept
• 2007/10/29: DeSmogBlog: Good News: Friends of Science Running Out of Friends

  Then there was the usual news and commentary:

• 2007/11/03: BCLSB: The Carbon Neutral Individual
• 2007/11/03: TreeHugger: Is a Negative CO2 Footprint Possible? [Metabolix and their bioplastic resins]
• 2007/11/01: Tamino: Red River
• 2007/11/02: ClimateP: Torture and Global Warming: Can a moral argument succeed in an immoral world?
• 2007/10/31: TruthOut: World's Local Governments Vow to Combat Climate Change
• 2007/10/30: TruthOut: Science in Denial - Professor Jean-Jacques Salomon accuses scientists of social irresponsibility
• 2007/11/02: CSpin: Step it Up tomorrow
• 2007/11/02: AFTIC: Breaking News? or Broken Record...
• 2007/11/02: FergusB: Global warming; it's the end of the world (as we know it), or not
• 2007/11/02: MTobis: Carbon Cycle Misfortunes
• 2007/10/31: AFTIC: Bright Scientists, Dim Notions
• 2007/10/31: FergusB: What is the point of climate science?
• 2007/10/30: PBS:Correlations: Like a Model on the Cover of a Magazine
• 2007/10/31: DeSmogBlog: The Mike Tidwell Dilemma, Part II
• 2007/10/30: ClimateP: If you worry about the impact of climate mitgation on the poor...
• 2007/10/29: TruthOut: Who Are the Real Leaders on Climate Change?
• 2007/10/30: GristMill: Climate equity: Saleemul Huq - From citizens of nation states to citizens of the world
• 2007/10/30: GristMill: Great Lakes water wars - Race to make the Earth look like the Moon
• 2007/10/29: GristMill: Industry's plan for us - The many ways big money seeks to avoid reducing fossil fuel use [Montague]
• 2007/10/29: AFTIC: Tim Flannery on Democracy Now
• 2007/10/30: SeattlePI: Don't mess with Mother Nature
• 2007/10/30: CTindal: Red Alert [GEO4]
• 2007/10/29: ClimateP: The link between temperature and mass extinction
• 2007/10/29: ClimateP: Introducing Auden Schendler - Part I: Those quotes in Businessweek's "Little Green Lies"
• 2007/10/29: GristMill: Friedman asks the wrong question - It's not whether we're responsible, but whether we're prepared that counts
• 2007/10/29: GristMill: The other side of global warming - We have plenty of solutions at hand beyond technology

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

• RainbowBody Network
• Wiki: Jevons paradox
• Wiki: Polyculture
• Drought Portal
• The Oil (Tar) Sands of Canada
• WikiNews: Environment
• ICAP: International Carbon Action Partnership
• The Blue Marble
• EPA: Global Warming
• EPA: Global Warming - 2
• CACC: Campaign against Climate Change
• ClimateCrisis
• ARCSS: Arctic System Science Program
• Kerry Emanuel's Homepage

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.

"Action is the best antidote to despair." -Joan Baez

• Global Warming Links
• Global Warming News Archive
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• H.E. Taylor (homepage)

Last modified November 4, 2007