Another Week of GW News, December 9, 2007

Sipping from the internet firehose...

(skip to bottom)

• Bali, Bali Declaration, Rising Tide, Virtual Bali, CCPI, Expanding Tropics
• Hurricane Wars, Carbon Cycle, Paleoclimate, ENSO, Glaciers, Sea Levels, Satellites, DSCOVR
• Impacts, Forests, Amazon, Corals, Floods & Droughts, Pineaple Express, Food vs. Biofuel, Fertilizer
• Mitigation, Transportation, Buildings, Sequestration, Geoengineering, Adaptation
• Journals, Misc. Science, Hansen, Flannery
• Kyoto, Carbon Trade, Carbon Tax, Optimal Carbon Reduction Strategy
• Politics, International, Security, America, Britain, Europe, Australia, China, India, Canada
• Ecological Economics, IPAT, Apocalypso, Media, Courts, Betting
• Energy, Solar, Coal, Biofuel, Nukes, Peak Oil, Efficiency, Cars, Business, Greenwashing, Insurance, Carbon Lobby
• The Usual, Useful Links
• Shameless Self Promotion
• .sig

Ted Glick has been fasting 91+ days:

• 2007/12/04: TruthOut: 91 Days and a Victory in Sight by Ted Glick

  Considering that the America is not going to do a thing until Bush is gone, it has been difficult to discern any rational basis for the hoopla around Bali this week:

• 2007/12/: UNFCCC: United Nations Climate Change Conference, 3-14 December, Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia, (COP 13 and CMP 3)
• 2007/12/09: ABC(Au): Australia told to back short-term emission targets
• 2007/12/09: PhysOrg: US 'Not Ready' to Commit at Bali
• 2007/12/08: Maribo: It just had to be Bali
• 2007/12/08: EnergyDaily: Developing world must be able to lift emissions: Nobel winner [Pachauri]
• 2007/12/09: TerraDaily: Breakthrough sought at global climate talks
• 2007/12/08: CDreams: AP: World Climate Change Protests Kick Off
• 2007/12/09: AFP: Breakthrough sought at global climate talks
• 2007/12/09: CTV: U.S. won't commit to mandatory carbon cap
• 2007/12/09: ABC(Au): Australia 'stalling Bali talks' - Critics say Australia is yet to fully declare its position, and is stalling talks as a result
• 2007/12/06: CDreams: OneWorld: Poor Countries Must Also Curtail Carbon Emissions
• 2007/12/08: BBC: Global rallies focus on climate
  Mass demonstrations have taken place across the UK and worldwide to coincide with UN climate change talks in Bali
• 2007/12/08: CNN: Nations argue over emission cuts
  Nations hopes to reach a pact to replace the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012 - China, developing nations, question fairness of cuts - Green activists accuse Canada of undermining negotiations - Conference chair: No deadlock; 85 percent of attendees going in the same direction
• 2007/12/07: UN: Negotiators at UN Climate Change Conference press forward on key issues
• 2007/12/06: UN: UN Climate Change Conference is 'test of our collective will' - Ban Ki-moon
• 2007/12/06: UN: Negotiators in talks on core climate change issues at UN Conference
• 2007/12/08: NatureCF: Interview: Rajendra Pachauri in Bali
• 2007/12/09: ABC(Au): Bali delegates agree on deforestation talks
• 2007/12/08: GristMill: (video) SustainUS in Action in Bali - Confronting the belligerent U.S. delegation at the 2007 climate talks
• 2007/12/08: inel: US climate objective: "find a way" to grow our economy, and BTW reduce GHG emissions
• 2007/12/07: TerraDaily: Greenpeace urges summit to end Africa's deforestation
• 2007/12/07: TerraDaily: US, poor nations won't pledge binding cuts in Bali: UN
• 2007/12/08: IISD: Day 6 at Climate Talks: Bali Roadmap to take the form of a COP President's Declaration
• 2007/12/07: ENN: Emissions cap for poor unlikely at Bali talks
• 2007/12/08: Yahoo: Australia says poor nations must help stop climate change
• 2007/12/08: Yahoo: Developing world must be able to lift emissions: Nobel winner
• 2007/12/04: Oikos: Bali high - or ballyhoo?
• 2007/12/04: CJR: Fake Press Release Tricks the Morning News - Bali climate talks provoke little excitement otherwise
• 2007/12/08: Xinhuanet: Thousands rally in Bali, urging action on climate change
• 2007/12/08: Xinhuanet: Optimism at halfway stage in negotiations for future climate change regime
• 2007/12/08: Xinhuanet: International groups concerned over free trade in climate policies
• 2007/12/08: Xinhuanet: Developing countries [G77] propose tech fund for climate change
• 2007/12/08: Xinhuanet: Trade ministers discuss trade, climate policies in Bali, Indonesia
• 2007/12/06: IRNA: World's poor need action on climate change: UN official [Yvo de Boer]
• 2007/12/08: AFP: Global green protests to mark Bali parley
• 2007/12/07: NatureCF: Major emitters: binding cuts crawling off the table in Bali
• 2007/12/06: KSJT: UN Climate Meeting Odds and Ends
• 2007/12/07: KSJT: Bali Climate Conference: Things are happening "mostly dull. Reporters scrambling"
• 2007/12/06: TruthOut: US Under Mounting Pressure at Bali
• 2007/12/06: EconTimes: US blasted for carbon greed at UN climate meet
• 2007/12/07: ABC(Au): UN chief seeks move towards binding emissions cuts
• 2007/12/06: ABC(Au): Bali summit highlights Indonesia's rubbish problems
• 2007/12/07: IISD: Day 5 at Climate Talks: Reconciling Asian priorities and global interests in climate regime beyond 2012
• 2007/12/07: DotEarth: Bali Update: Pushing for Action, Not Talk
• 2007/12/07: PhysOrg: China: US Should Take Lead on Climate
• 2007/12/07: JFleck: Rain in Bali
• 2007/12/06: SinoDaily: China resists binding curbs on climate-change emissions
• 2007/12/07: TreeHugger: Introducing World Future Council's Robert Turner: Bali-Blogging UN "Convention Of The Parties"
• 2007/12/07: ENN: Emissions cap for poor unlikely at Bali talks
• 2007/12/07: Yahoo: Indigenous people lash out at Bali climate change talks
• 2007/12/07: Yahoo: US, poor nations won't pledge binding cuts in Bali: UN
• 2007/12/07: Yahoo: China says West should deal with warming
• 2007/12/07: OilChange: Bali: Indonesia hits out at "Empty Propaganda"
• 2007/12/06: EnvFin: 'Positive mood' at Bali climate talks
• 2007/12/07: CSM: In Bali, developing nations push for climate aid...countries seek money to cope with severe floods and other global-warming effects
• 2007/12/07: SMH: Bali or bust
• 2007/12/07: SMH: Indonesia says West stingy
  Indonesia has struck out at developed countries for presenting "empty propaganda" during climate change negotiations in Bali and stalling proposals to pay to protect the world's forests
• 2007/12/06: QuarkSoup: Another Bali Footprint Calculation
• 2007/12/06: TerraDaily: Carbon capture not on table at UN climate talks: UN official
• 2007/12/06: DeSmogBlog: US to world: "Get Lost"
• 2007/12/06: Yahoo: US sticks to divisive climate change policy: official
  The United States delegation at a UN climate change summit said Thursday they would not commit to deep greenhouse gas emissions cuts at the key meeting in Indonesia, despite growing pressure. Harlan Watson, head of the US delegation, said that neither a recent US Senate committee move to limit greenhouse gas emissions or the decision by Australia to ratify the Kyoto Protocol would influence their stance
• 2007/12/06: Yahoo: US under pressure at climate conference
• 2007/12/05: Yahoo: Saudi Arabia's climate stance mocked by green groups
• 2007/12/06: NEN: US in Bali: "We're going to work"
• 2007/12/06: OilChange: Bali: Climate Change is Security Issue
• 2007/12/05: OilChange: Japan Also Under Fire in Bali
• 2007/12/05: OilChange: Greenpeace Accuses Australia of Undermining Bali Talks
• 2007/12/06: TGB: CUJO [Canada, US, & Japan Org] goes to Bali
• 2007/12/06: ChinaDaily: US under pressure at climate conference
• 2007/12/06: CBC: U.S. won't back down on opposing mandatory emissions cuts
• 2007/12/02: CAN: NGO bustle in Bali
• 2007/12/05: NatureCF: Rocky start to Bali relationship
• 2007/12/05: Tamino: U.S. Obstruction [at Bali]
• 2007/12/05: KSJT: AP: News from Bali..on electric reefs, with IPCC an aside
• 2007/12/05: KSJT: Bali climate meeting roundup?
• 2007/12/05: PhysOrg: Japan Climate Proposal Worries Activists
• 2007/12/05: PhysOrg: Nations Divided at Climate Conference
• 2007/12/05: GristMill: Bags of coal given as party favors - Fossil Awards shame obstructionist delegates at Bali talks
• 2007/12/05: GWWatch: Chinese whispers at Bali Climate Conference
• 2007/12/04: TerraDaily: Europe urges steeper greenhouse gas cuts [30 percent by the year 2020]
• 2007/12/04: TerraDaily: Bali climate meet must show results: Pacific islands
• 2007/12/05: ENN: Bali climate talks focus on Kyoto offsets
• 2007/12/05: Yahoo: Nations divided at climate conference
• 2007/12/05: Yahoo: Green groups say Japan, Canada wavering on climate targets [backing away from mandatory emissions cuts]
• 2007/12/05: Yahoo: Sinking islands deride climate change inaction
• 2007/12/04: Yahoo: Climate change meeting adds to emissions
• 2007/12/05: CDreams: IPS: Washington in the Crosshairs at Bali Climate Conference
• 2007/12/05: CSM: In Bali, Germany takes dramatic step on climate change
  The country adopts legislation Wednesday to cut emissions 36 percent [by 2020] as delegates hammer out a post-Kyoto treaty
• 2007/12/03: DerSpiegel: UN Climate Conference Begins in Bali - EU Calls for 50-Percent Cut in Greenhouse Emissions
• 2007/12/03: DerSpiegel: Bali Conference - US Seeks Alliance with China and India to Block Climate Protection
  Officially, the US government says it wants to push in Bali for a climate protection "road map." But Spiegel Online has learned that this may not be true. US government officials are already attempting to coordinate with China and India to prevent binding emissions limits
• 2007/12/05: SMH: Countries split over stance on emission goals
  Concerns are growing at the UN climate conference in Bali that Japan and Canada could throw their weight behind the US to resist a new climate change agreement that includes binding emissions targets for developed countries
• 2007/12/06: TheAge: Australia can lead the way on climate
• 2007/12/05: Guardian(UK): Every reason for optimism [says Achim Steiner, Executive Director of UNEP]
  It's not just the planet and vulnerable communities that will benefit from bold decisions in Bali. Jobs will be created all over the world
• 2007/12/04: NatureCF: UN climate conference sees diverse opinions emerge
• 2007/12/04: KSJT: Too much ink, not much news yet: The big Bali meeting on climate change
• 2007/12/04: ABC(Au): Poor countries appeal for help in fighting climate change [Bali]
• 2007/12/04: GWWatch: Blogging yer Bali Conference
• 2007/12/04: DeSmogBlog: U.S.- China intransigence imperils climate-change breakthrough in Bali
• 2007/12/04: DeSmogBlog: Bali: UNFCC Makes Case for Climate Cure
• 2007/12/03: Xinhuanet: Common but differentiated responsibilities -- basis for tackling climate change
• 2007/12/04: ENN: Bali talks won't agree carbon capture: U.N. official
  Current talks in Bali on climate change will not decide to include support for the burying of greenhouse gases as part of a successor deal to the Kyoto Protocol, the U.N.'s top climate official said. But the talks may put the so-far unproven technology, carbon capture and storage, on the agenda for future backing, Yvo de Boer told Reuters in an interview on Tuesday
• 2007/12/03: NYT: The Climate in Bali and Washington
• 2007/12/04: Yahoo: Bali climate talks advance despite squabbling
• 2007/12/03: Yahoo: US wants to negotiate new climate pact
  American delegates at the U.N. climate conference insisted Monday they would not be a "roadblock" to a new international agreement aimed at reducing potentially catastrophic greenhouse gases. But Washington refused to endorse mandatory emissions cuts, which are seen by many governmental delegations at the meeting as crucial for reining in rising temperatures
• 2007/12/04: CNN: Islanders seek climate summit help
  Island nations report increasingly higher tides - Scientists warn millions of people could be displaced by rising seas - Villagers from island nations seek industrialized countries' help
• 2007/12/03: NewSciBlog: Cool dress code at Bali climate conference
• 2007/12/04: CCurrents: Climate Change: Bangladesh Takes Its Trauma To Bali
• 2007/12/04: SwissInfo: Swiss to target big emitters in Bali
• 2007/12/04: BBC: Time to stop the climate blame game
  As a key UN climate change conference gets underway in Bali, Malini Mehra says the current global political system is "abysmally unfit for purpose"...calls for nations to stop playing the blame game, and work together to deliver a low carbon global economy
• 2007/12/04: SMH: US still all talk at Bali, and no steps on climate
• 2007/12/04: SMH: Now it's time to look beyond Kyoto
• 2007/12/03: Guardian(UK): Bali climate conference wishlist
• 2007/12/03: UN: Looking to Bali and beyond, Ban Ki-moon advocates new 'green economics'
• 2007/12/03: UN: UN climate change conference opens in Bali with call for breakthrough
• 2007/12/03: NatureTGB: Saving the world from paradise
• 2007/12/03: NatureCF: Eyes of the world on Bali
• 2007/12/03: KSJT: Wires, some others: As Bali's climate meeting opens, tropical climate reaches out to us all
• 2007/12/03: WaPo: A New Green Economics - The Test for the World In Bali and Beyond
• 2007/12/02: MongaBay: Largest-ever climate meeting begins in Bali
• 2007/12/03: ClimateP: Bali Flooded by UN Climate Convention
• 2007/12/03: TruthOut: Wen's Challenge on Climate Change Raises Stakes for Bali Talks
  Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao's complaint that developed nations must do more to combat climate change highlights a central conflict confronting delegates at Bali talks on global warming that begin today. Industrialized countries "must bear more responsibility" on harmful emissions, Wen said in Singapore on Nov. 21
• 2007/12/03: ABC(Au): [Victorian Premier, John] Brumby heads to Bali
• 2007/12/04: ABC(Au): Bali summit applauds Rudd for Kyoto move
• 2007/12/03: ABC(Au): Climate change conference opens in Bali
• 2007/12/03: GristMill: Rational expectations - Winning the battle in Bali, and then winning the war
• 2007/12/03: DotEarth: The United States and Liechtenstein -- Odd Pair Out
• 2007/12/03: QuarkSoup: More on Bali Carbon Footprint
• 2007/12/03: DeSmogBlog: As Expected, US Goes Ballistic!
• 2007/12/03: ENN: Australia steals show at Bali climate talks
• 2007/12/03: ENN: Bali meet must spur investment
• 2007/12/03: ENN: U.S. says seeks new climate deal, rejects Kyoto
• 2007/12/03: SciDaily: Achieving Low-carbon Growth For The World
• 2007/12/03: OilChange: Climate Summit Opens in Bali
• 2007/12/03: LA Times: Kyoto's failure haunts new U.N. talks
• 2007/12/03: CSM: In Bali, new urgency for a climate change accord
  As negotiators prepare to discuss a new emissions framework in Bali, environmental damage continues to exceed expectations
• 2007/12/03: NYT: Climate Talks Take on Added Urgency After [IPCC AR4] Report
• 2007/12/03: BBerg: Gore Beats Bush as Bali Talks Embrace Nobel Winner's Agenda
• 2007/12/03: ThinkP: Embattled Larry Craig (R-Id) Escapes To Bali To Stall Global Warming Treaty
• 2007/12/03: AFP: Key climate meeting opens in Bali as Australia ratifies Kyoto
• 2007/12/03: ArabNews: 'Bali and Beyond: A New Green Economics' by Ban Ki-moon
  We have read the science. Global warming is real, and we are a prime cause. We have heard the warnings. Unless we act, now, we face serious consequences. Polar ice may melt. Sea levels will rise. A third of our plant and animal species could vanish. There will be famine around the world, particularly in Africa and Central Asia. Largely lost in the debate is the good news. We can do something about this -- more easily, and at far less cost, than most of us imagine
• 2007/12/03: BBC: Key climate summit opens in Bali
  World governments are meeting for a key UN climate summit that will attempt to reach a deal on what should replace the Kyoto Protocol, which ends in 2012
• 2007/12/03: Guardian(UK): Bali conference - What breakthrough would best advance the fight against climate change?
• 2007/12/03: Guardian(UK): Hope and fear in Bali - The science of climate change is clear. The politics of the world's response are still murky...

  A group of scientists released a Bali Declaration:

• 2007/12/07: CDreams: IPS: Cut GHGs or Face Extreme Events - Scientists
• 2007/12/08: EnergyBulletin: World's top climate scientists call for urgent, tough greenhouse gas limits
• 2007/12/07: CSM: In Bali, climate scientists urge tough emissions limits
  More than 200 scientists signed a petition predicting dire consequences if greenhouse gases are not cut in half by 2050
• 2007/12/06: SwissInfo: Swiss scientists join in climate alarm call
• 2007/12/06: NatureN: Scientists issue declaration at Bali - International researchers put their names to a proposal for emissions cuts
• 2007/12/06: NatureCF: Scientists speak out in Bali
• 2007/12/06: ClimateP: Must Read Bali Climate Declaration by Scientists
• 2007/12/06: TruthOut: Scientists Beg for Climate Action
• 2007/12/06: ABC(Au): Climate scientists say emissions must be halved by 2050
• 2007/12/06: PhysOrg: Scientists issue Bali climate change warning
• 2007/12/06: inel: 2007 Bali Climate Declaration by Scientists (in 10 languages)
• 2007/12/06: CSW: Bali Climate Declaration by Scientists
• 2007/12/07: JEB: That Bali Declaration in full
• 2007/12/07: TerraDaily: Scientists Issue Bali Climate Change Warning
• 2007/12/07: SciDaily: Scientists Issue Bali Climate Change Warning
• 2007/12/05: G&M: World faces 'catastrophic' warming: leading scientists
• 2007/12/: UNSW: 2007 Bali Climate Declaration by Scientists
• 2007/12/06: Guardian(UK): Climate scientists call for urgent emission cuts
• 2007/12/06: Eureka: Scientists issue Bali climate change warning
• 2007/12/06: Yahoo: Scientists demand swift climate action at Bali meet
• 2007/12/06: OilChange: Bali: Scientists Say "No Time to Waste"
• 2007/12/06: Yahoo: Scientists beg for climate action
  For the first time, more than 200 of the world's leading climate scientists, losing their patience, urged government leaders to take radical action to slow global warming because "there is no time to lose." A petition from at least 215 climate scientists calls for the world to cut in half greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. It is directed at a conference of diplomats meeting in Bali, Indonesia, to negotiate the next global warming treaty. The petition, obtained by The Associated Press, is to be announced at a press conference there Wednesday night
• 2007/12/05: ThinkP: Climate scientists "lose their patience," urge govt action

  Now here is a typical Bush administration ploy designed to minimize international entanglements and subvert the Kyoto process:

• 2007/12/06: Reuters: U.S. invites [17] big economies to Hawaii climate talks [on Jan 29-30]
• 2007/12/07: DeSmogBlog: US To Hold Separate Talks With No Balihoo!

  International Rising Tide dinged big oil with an internet hoax, just to clarify the issues:

• 2007/12/04: Guardian(UK): Internet hoax raises pressure over emissions
• 2007/12/03: Guardian(UK): Hoaxers target Big Oil
• 2007/12/03: DotEarth: More Climate Fakery

  Late comment on the Bali Communique:

• 2007/12/06: EnvFin: Businesses ramp up calls for climate change regulations

  How long until these conferences are entirely virtual?

• 2007/12/04: NatureCF: Second Life climate talks on Second Nature - no air travel required
• 2007/12/04: PhysOrg: Virtual world to host parallel climate conference [on SecondLife]

  CAN & GermanWatch released their Climate Change Performance Index:

• 2007/12/07: GermanWatch: Climate Change Performance Index [CCPI] 2008 - A comparison of the 56 top CO2 emitting nations
• 2007/12/07: SwissInfo: Climate ranking causes red Swiss faces
• 2007/12/07: CBC: Canada fourth-worst climate sinner, study finds
• 2007/12/07: DerSpiegel: Commitment to climate - Sweden First, US almost Last, Says Study
• 2007/12/07: DeutscheWelle: Germany Moves Up on Climate Protection Index
  Sweden was first and Germany second on the annual climate protection index put out by the environmental groups CAN-Europe and Germanwatch on Friday...

The expanding tropics has emerged once again:

• 2007/12/04: NatureCF: Tropics expanding fast
• 2007/12/03: CCurrents: Expanding Tropics 'A Threat To Millions'
• 2007/12/03: Independent(UK): Expanding tropics 'a threat to millions'
• 2007/12/04: BBC: 'Tropics expand' as world warms - Climate change is causing the tropics to widen, with possible impacts on the global food supply, research suggests
• 2007/12/03: MongaBay: Tropics are expanding
• 2007/12/03: ABC(Au): Tropics expanding under global warming: study
• 2007/12/02: PhysOrg: Earth's Tropics Belt Expands
• 2007/12/03: PhysOrg: Climate change predicted to drive trees northward
• 2007/12/02: TerraDaily: Global warming is pushing edges of tropics towards poles: study
• 2007/12/02: ENN: Expanding tropics could spur storms: study

  RealClimate posted a good article on reconstructions:

• 2007/12/07: RealClimate: Past reconstructions: problems, pitfalls and progress

  Tamino did the second part of his Milankovitch series:

• 2007/12/02: Tamino: Wobbles, part 2

  Late comment on that McKinsey & Co. report:

• 2007/12/07: ENN: U.S. Emissions Reductions May Be Cheaper Than Thought [McKinsey]

  In the hurricane wars, Cyclone Daman is whipping up the west Pacific:

• 2007/12/08: TerraDaily: Cyclone [Daman] batters Fiji island: officials
• 2007/12/09: SMH: Cyclone [Daman] flattens Fiji villages
• 2007/12/07: CBC: Fiji cyclone [Daman] forecast to whip up 'phenomenal seas'
• 2007/12/08: BBC: Severe cyclone [Daman] skirts Fiji island
  Cyclone Daman has swept past Fiji's second-largest island, Vanua Levu, veering away from populated areas where forecasters had warned of major damage. But the category four storm lashed the small northerly island of Cikobia with winds of up to 250km/h (155mph)

While in other hurricane news:

• 2007/12/07: ENN: Noted forecasters see 7 hurricanes next year
• 2007/12/07: PhysOrg: Forecast Calls for 7 Hurricanes in '08
• 2007/12/07: Wunderground: Hurricane season of 2008 forecast to be moderately more active than average [Gray & Klotzbach]
• 2007/12/07: Reuters: Noted forecasters [William Gray & Philip Klotzbach] see 7 hurricanes next year
• 2007/12/03: UN: Post-cyclone situation in Bangladesh much worse than understood - UN agencies [8.5 million affected]

  Meanwhile GHGs are still going up:

• 2007/12/05: NEN: Emissions: Record high and rising

  And in the carbon cycle:

• 2007/12/03: MongaBay: Forest carbon does not fully offset fossil carbon
• 2007/12/03: Telegraph(UK): Drive for 'green' palm oil adds to CO2 fears
  The destruction of peat bogs in Indonesia is releasing more carbon dioxide every year than all of India or Russia, and three times as much as Germany

While in the paleoclimate:

• 2007/12/06: KSJT: AFP, Toronto Star, etc: That "Snowball Earth" scenario of 700 million years ago? Maybe it was a slushball
• 2007/12/07: Atmoz: Polar Warmth and Sea-level Rise: A Paleoclimatic Perspective
• 2007/12/05: TerraDaily: Thaw point: 'Snowball Earth' was more a slushball
• 2007/12/05: CBC: Climate model doesn't support 'snowball Earth' theory
• 2007/12/05: PhysOrg: Thaw point: 'Snowball Earth' was more a slushball
• 2007/12/03: SciDaily: Rodent Fossils Provide Data On Climate Six Million Years Ago

  And on the ENSO front:

• 2007/12/06: NOAA: El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) Diagnostic Discussion
  Synopsis: La Niña is expected to continue into Northern Hemisphere spring 2008

Glaciers are melting:

• 2007/12/06: MongaBay: Melting of Greenland ice sheet could alter global warming trend
• 2007/12/04: ABC(Au): Call for action to save Himalayan glaciers
• 2007/12/04: Yahoo: Call for action to save Himalayan glaciers

  Sea levels are rising:

• 2007/12/08: TreeHugger: Port Cities at Risk of Climate Change-Induced Coastal Flooding
• 2007/12/04: TerraDaily: Climate change: Asia's mega-deltas in frontline from flood risk
• 2007/12/05: Guardian(UK): Global port cities under threat (11 pictures)
• 2007/12/05: ABC(Au): Pacific islands warn conference of rising sea levels
• 2007/12/03: Yahoo: Climate change may wipe some Indonesian islands off map

  Meanwhile in near earth orbit:

• 2007/12/05: NatureCF: Earth monitoring: Cinderella science
• 2007/12/05: MTobis: See No Evil - our declining capacities for remote earth observation
• 2007/12/05: Wunderground: QuikSCAT satellite showing its age; ASCAT satellite helping out

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

• 2007/12/05: DeSmogBlog: DSCOVR'ing the Earth's Albedo

  More GW impacts are being seen:

• 2007/12/09: Xinhuanet: Report links weather-related disasters with climate change
  The equivalent of a third of the world's population has already been affected by weather-related disasters and this is set to soar because of climate change unless urgent international action is taken, according to a report ["Climate of Disaster" published by Tearfund] issued here this week
• 2007/12/09: Guardian(UK): Water becomes the new oil as world runs dry
• 2007/12/07: DotEarth: Radars Taken Out by Arctic Warming
• 2007/12/06: PhysOrg: Global Warming Wreaks Havoc With Nature
• 2007/12/06: PhysOrg: Stanford researchers say climate change will significantly increase impending bird extinctions
• 2007/12/07: TreeHugger: Tropics Migrating Northward, Hastening Spread of Tropical Diseases
• 2007/12/06: ENN: Climate change will significantly increase impending bird extinctions
• 2007/12/05: Eureka: Stanford researchers say climate change will significantly increase impending bird extinctions
• 2007/12/05: KSJT: Boston Globe: About that idea that diseases are marching across a warmed world?
• 2007/12/05: BostonGlobe: A tussle over link of warming, disease - Scientists' debate on climate could influence policies
• 2007/12/04: TreeHugger: Ships Hauling Less as Water Levels Drop in Great Lakes
• 2007/12/02: CSW: Non-native jellyfish wipe out salmon fishery in Northern Ireland -- another warning sign?
• 2007/12/03: SciDaily: Climate Change Predicted To Drive Trees Northward

  Then there are the world's forests:

• 2007/12/07: ENN: Greenpeace urges EU and Africa to end deforestation
• 2007/12/08: Guardian(UK): The fight for Sumatra's forests - As politicians gather in Bali, a pioneering project is taking on the illegal loggers
• 2007/12/07: TruthOut: [Brazilian & Indonesian] Governors Take Action to Save Rainforests
• 2007/12/06: QuarkSoup: Deforestation
• 2007/12/07: Eureka: New report [REDD] on deforestation reveals problems of forest carbon payment schemes
• 2007/12/06: ChinaDaily: Forest loss in Sumatra becomes a global issue
• 2007/12/05: TruthOut: The Tropical Global Warming Solution - Bali conference could end deforestation overnight
• 2007/12/04: TerraDaily: WHRC Releases 4 Key Reports
• 2007/12/03: PhysOrg: Report finds deforestation offers very little money compared to potential financial benefits
• 2007/12/03: GristMill: The tropical global warming solution - Bali conference could end deforestation overnight
• 2007/12/03: Eureka: Report finds deforestation offers very little money compared to potential financial benefits
• 2007/12/03: Eureka: WHRC releases 4 key reports [REDD]
• 2007/12/03: Eureka: Climate change predicted to drive trees northward - Ranges may decrease sharply if trees cannot disperse in altered conditions
• 2007/12/03: NEN: Europe's forests sucking up emissions

  The state of the Amazon is being spun positively & negatively. And the truth is?

• 2007/12/09: PhysOrg: Amazon Still Faces Threats Old and New
• 2007/12/08: TreeHugger: Amazon Deforestation Slows: the Struggle Continues
• 2007/12/06: Telegraph(UK): Half of Amazon could be gone by 2030
• 2007/12/08: BBC: Deforestation in the Amazon rainforest fell by 20% between August 2006 and July 2007, according to interim figures released by the Brazilian government
• 2007/12/06: MongaBay: Global warming accelerates destruction of the Amazon
• 2007/12/08: ABC(Au): Amazon destruction slowing, Brazil says
• 2007/12/06: ABC(Au): Amazon being destroyed 'faster than predicted' [says WWF]
• 2007/12/06: TerraDaily: Up to 60 pct of Amazon at risk from climate change: WWF
• 2007/12/06: Yahoo: Up to 60 pct of Amazon at risk from climate change: WWF
• 2007/12/06: Guardian(UK): More than half of Amazon will be lost by 2030, report warns
• 2007/12/06: ENN: Climate change speeds up Amazon's destruction

  Corals are dying:

• 2007/12/07: ABC(Au): Research considers how coral copes with climate change
• 2007/12/08: ABC(Au): Corals could resist climate change: study
• 2007/12/06: JQuiggin: Bleached
• 2007/12/05: PhysOrg: Electricity Revives Bali Coral Reefs
• 2007/12/04: SciDaily: Coral Reefs Living In Sites With Variable Temperatures Better Able To Survive Warm Water

  As for floods & droughts:

• 2007/12/06: EnvFin: Global flood risk exposure to soar by 2070
• 2007/12/07: SMH: Dark clouds appeared, and the flash flooding began [Sydney]
• 2007/12/06: TerraDaily: Drought sapping China's biggest fresh water lake [Poyang]: reports
• 2007/12/06: WSWS: Papua New Guinea flood leaves thousands homeless
• 2007/12/04: Guardian(UK): Floods threaten millions of lives unless defences are improved
• 2007/12/03: TerraDaily: Improving Drought Forecasts
• 2007/12/03: DailyStar: Flooding in Algeria kills at least 11 after days of rain

  The Pacific Northwest got whalloped by the Pineaple Express:

• 2007/12/07: GristMill: Climate change and flooded freeways - Climate disruption comes home to the Northwest
• 2007/12/07: GristMill: What does climate change look like? Northwest flooding gives some clues
• 2007/12/05: TerraDaily: Flood damage in northwest US may run into billions: governor
• 2007/12/06: MTobis: Massive Storm, Flooding in WA
• 2007/12/06: QuarkSoup: Pac NW Flooding
• 2007/12/06: Guardian(UK): Storms hit US north-west
• 2007/12/04: QuarkSoup: Pac NW Floods
• 2007/12/03: Wunderground: Huge storm pounds Pacific Northwest with hurricane force winds
• 2007/12/05: BBC: Deadly storms hit US north-west
• 2007/12/04: AP: Guard Evacuates Flooded Oregon Town
• 2007/12/04: KING: At least 5 dead as flooding continues
  Monday's devastating rains and winds that downed trees, cut electricity and caused widespread flooding have left at least five people dead and shut down a stretch of Interstate 5 near Chehalis. Gov. Chris Gregoire declared a state of emergency Monday following a series of storms that hit hardest on the Olympic Peninsula, Kitsap County and the southwest corner of the state. The heavy rains have stopped, but most of those areas were submerged under water with many rivers continuing to flood. About 19 cities and counties have declared flooding emergencies.
• 2007/12/04: SeattlePI: Massive storm swamps Seattle

  More stormy weather forecast in the new climate:

• 2007/12/06: Oregonian: Big, wet storms may become new 'normal'
  Global warming - Faster-than-expected tropical expansion could bring more tempests to the Northwest
• 2007/12/05: SciDaily: Global Warming Likely To Increase Stormy Weather, Especially In Certain US locations
• 2007/12/04: SeattlePI: Climate change could mean more massive downpours
• 2007/12/04: NewScientist: Winter storms are now double the trouble
• 2007/12/04: PhysOrg: Research forecasts increased chances for stormy weather
• 2007/12/03: Purdue: Research forecasts increased chances for stormy weather
• 2007/12/03: MongaBay: Global warming to boost severe thunderstorms in NYC, Atlanta

  The conflict between biofuel and food persists:

• 2007/12/08: IPSNews: Food Prices Climbing, With No End in Sight
  Globalisation, climate change, and the mass production of biofuels are pushing up food prices worldwide, which could jeopardise the livelihoods of the world's poorest, according to a report released Tuesday by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)
• 2007/12/06: Economist: Cheap no more - Rising incomes in Asia and ethanol subsidies in America have put an end to a long era of falling food prices
• 2007/12/07: CNN: Ethanol bill fuels food costs
  Expect the price of beef, pork, chicken and a host of other goods to go up if the House energy bill becomes law. But the trade-off may be worth it

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

• 2007/08/16: CGIAR: Global Climate Change: Can Agriculture Cope?
• 2007/11/: CGIAR: World Development Report Affirms Importance of Agriculture for Development
• 2007/12/08: Xinhuanet: CGIAR calls for more investment in research on food crops for poor countries
  The world's largest alliance of agricultural research centers called on Saturday the international community to step up investment in global climate change research on food crops for poor countries. "We are increasingly alarmed that if we don't move quickly to give farmers in the developing world the tools they need to deal with climate change, we could see food production in places like sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia collapse before the end of the century," said Katherine Sierra, World Bank Vice President for Sustainable Development and the Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) in a press release on Saturday
• 2007/12/05: CasaubonsBook: Strategizing on the Transition to Organic Agriculture
• 2007/12/07: TheAge: Farms face climate devastation
  Australia could suffer a massive decline in farm production and agricultural export earnings in coming decades unless it can halt climate change or adapt to it, a report to the Federal Government has warned
• 2007/12/: AgriNI: Food Summit studies the question: What'll we do when the oil runs out?
• 2007/12/07: SMH: Climate to slash farm exports heavily
  Climate change will hit agricultural production in Australia harder than just about anywhere else on earth, according to the nation's top farming forecaster
• 2007/12/: IFPRI: The World Food Situation - New Driving Forces and Required Actions
• 2007/12/05: TerraDaily: Adapting Agriculture To Climate Change
• 2007/12/04: LCSun: Food shortfall affects up to 60,000 homes this December
  Albuquerque - Many poor families are going to be hard-pressed to put holiday fare on their tables this season because of a 200,000-pound shortfall of food at food banks statewide. High fuel costs and rising food prices are causing the shortage
• 2007/12/05: Scotsman: Fighting climate change may still cost the earth
  Rising food prices and rioting are likely in future because the world is eating more than it produces, according to a report. The cost of everything from bread and milk to meat and vegetables has already risen sharply for shoppers in Britain over the past 18 months. An expansion of biofuel farming could push maize prices up more than two-thirds by 2020 - and increase oilseed costs by nearly half, the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) said. Global cereal stocks - a key buffer used to fight famines around the world - have sunk to their lowest level since the 1980s due to reduced plantings and poor weather, said the institute's director, Joachim von Braun
• 2007/12/04: CDreams: Reuters: World Faces Food Shortages
• 2007/12/03: MongaBay: Food prices to rise due to energy demand, economic trends
• 2007/12/04: TerraDaily: Toll Of Climate Change On World Food Supply Could Be Worse Than Thought
• 2007/12/04: SciDaily: Toll Of Climate Change On World Food Supply Could Be Worse Than Thought
• 2007/12/03: EnergyBulletin: What will we eat as the oil runs out?
• 2007/12/04: Guardian(UK): Riots and hunger feared as demand for grain sends food costs soaring - Expert to warn industry of threats to world supply
• 2007/12/03: MongaBay: Climate risks to global agriculture are underestimated
• 2007/12/03: PhysOrg: Toll of climate change on world food supply could be worse than thought
• 2007/12/03: Eureka: Toll of climate change on world food supply could be worse than thought
  Predictions, already daunting, fail to account for extreme weather, disease and other complications, say new reports
• 2007/12/02: PeakOilDebunked: #317) Electric Agricultural Machinery

  A slight problem with fertilizer supply?

• 2007/12/07: ADN: Agrium begins shutdown of fertilizer plant - Plant managers say they can't find sufficient supplies of natural gas...
• 2007/11/28: FarmersGuardian: Fertiliser at a price -- if you can get it A logistical supply problem with fertilisers in spring 2008 is now a reality not a possibility, say fertiliser companies.
  World demand is outstripping supply and farmers are being advised not only to make sure they have ordered what they need, but to take delivery and make sure they have it
• 2007/11/17: PeakOilDebunked: #314) Peak Oil and Fertilizer: No Problem

  A report on fertilizer tariffs, World Bank policies & Malawi raised a few eyebrows:

• 2007/12/02: GristMill: A bumper crop of corn - Malawi celebrates, but for how long?
• 2007/12/02: GristMill: Our challenge: surviving the rule of economists [WB & Malawi]
• 2007/12/02: NYT: Ending Famine, Simply by Ignoring the Experts
  Malawi hovered for years at the brink of famine. After a disastrous corn harvest in 2005, almost five million of its 13 million people needed emergency food aid. But this year, a nation that has perennially extended a begging bowl to the world is instead feeding its hungry neighbors. It is selling more corn to the World Food Program of the United Nations than any other country in southern Africa and is exporting hundreds of thousands of tons of corn to Zimbabwe. In Malawi itself, the prevalence of acute child hunger has fallen sharply. In October, the United Nations Children's Fund sent three tons of powdered milk, stockpiled here to treat severely malnourished children, to Uganda instead. "We will not be able to use it!" Juan Ortiz-Iruri, Unicef's deputy representative in Malawi, said jubilantly. Farmers explain Malawi's extraordinary turnaround -- one with broad implications for hunger-fighting methods across Africa -- with one word: fertilizer. Over the past 20 years, the World Bank and some rich nations Malawi depends on for aid have periodically pressed this small, landlocked country to adhere to free market policies and cut back or eliminate fertilizer subsidies, even as the United States and Europe extensively subsidized their own farmers. But after the 2005 harvest, the worst in a decade, Bingu wa Mutharika, Malawi's newly elected president, decided to follow what the West practiced, not what it preached
• 2007/12/03: HuffPo: Who Are These People? [WB, Malawi]

  Elsewhere on the mitigation front:

• 2007/12/08: PhysOrg: Group Touts Seaweed As Warming Weapon
  Slimy, green and unsightly, seaweed and algae are among the humblest plants on earth. A group of scientists at a climate conference in Bali say they could also be a potent weapon against global warming, capable of sucking damaging carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere at rates comparable to the mightiest rain forests
• 2007/12/06: Eureka: 'Hellish' hot springs yield greenhouse gas-eating bug - Methane-gobbling bacteria could aid climate change battle
• 2007/12/03: TruthOut: Forests, the Great Green Hope?

  Consider transportation & GHG production:

• 2007/12/06: Guardian(UK): Stagecoach takes on carmakers over green bottleneck
  Big firms should be 'more imaginative and effective' - It's not us, it's the oil companies, GM says
• 2007/12/08: Xinhuanet: California to track emissions from international ships
• 2007/12/06: WarmingLaw: The Plane Truth
• 2007/12/07: ENN: Football field-sized kite powers latest heavy freight ship
• 2007/12/03: NYT: Southern California Ports Move to Curb Emissions From Shipping Industry
• 2007/12/03: Guardian(UK): UK to seek pact on shipping and aviation pollution at climate talks

  While in the endless quest for sustainable building codes:

• 2007/12/08: TreeHugger: US State & Municipal LEEDers Identified:- Who'd Have Thought? [buildings]
• 2007/12/06: WarmingLaw: Seattle's Supersonic Smart Growth
• 2007/12/06: WarmingLaw: CA Lawsuits Spur Planning Changes

  As for carbon sequestration:

• 2007/12/06: NEN: Bali Talks CCS [carbon-capture-and-sequestration]
• 2007/12/03: BBC: Carbon capture plan for the Forth
  New research into capturing carbon dioxide produced by coal-fired power stations and burying it beneath the Firth of Forth has received funding. Scottish Power plans to capture CO2 emissions and bury them deep beneath the seabed in the estuary

Large scale geo-engineering keeps popping up:

• 2007/12/03: G&M: The sequel to Kyoto
  With cracks and holes in the Greenland ice sheet, we may well have to 'geo-engineer' the climate

While on the adaptation front:

• 2007/12/08: TreeHugger: Strengthening The Resiliency Of Communities In The Face Of Global Warming: Lessons From The Pacific Northwest
• 2007/12/03: Eureka: China's new high-yielding, disease-resistant wheat boosting domestic production as world prices soar

  Meanwhile in the journals:

• 2007/12/07: ACP: SCIAMACHY tropospheric NO2 over Switzerland: estimates of NOx lifetimes and impact of the complex Alpine topography on the retrieval by D. Schaub et al.
• 2007/12/06: ACP: Attenuation of global ultraviolet and visible irradiance over Greece during the total solar eclipse of 29 March 2006 by A. Kazantzidis et al.
• 2007/12/06: ACP: Small-scale mixing processes enhancing troposphere-to-stratosphere transport by pyro-cumulonimbus storms by G. Luderer et al.
• 2007/12/03: CPD: Climate fluctuations during the Holocene in NW Iberia: high and low latitude linkages by L. D. Pena et al.
• 2007/12/06: TC: Reconstructing the glacier contribution to sea-level rise back to 1850 by J. Oerlemans et al.
• 2007/12/04: ACP: Spectral absorption properties of atmospheric aerosols by R. W. Bergstrom et al.
• 2007/12/04: ACPD: Quantification of transport across the boundary of the lower stratospheric vortex during Arctic winter 2002/2003 by G. G?nther et al.
• 2007/12/03: ACPD: Retrieval of global water vapour columns from GOME-2 and first applications in polar regions by S. Noa?l et al.
• 2007/12/03: ACPD: A data assimilation method of the Ensemble Kalman Filter for use in severe dust storm forecasts over China by C. Lin et al.
• 2007/12/04: PNAS: Global climate change, war, and population decline in recent human history by David D. Zhang et al.
• 2007/12/03: WHRC: (links to 4 pdfs) Woods Hole Research Center reports on REDD and other Win-Win solutions at COP-13

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

• 2007/12/08: ENN: New research may lead to better climate models for global warming, El Nino
• 2007/12/07: PhysOrg: New research may lead to better climate models for global warming, El Nino [VOCALS: VAMOS Ocean-Cloud-Atmosphere-Land Study]
• 2007/12/05: KSJT: Baltimore Sun, etc: The latest from Lake Vostok, still under ice, still not yet touched by human machine

  The Pielke Fan Club:

• 2007/12/05: Stoat: Food fight

  Late comment on Hansen's _Averting Our Eyes_ essay:

• 2007/12/04: Intersection:CCM: Memo to James Hansen: Knock Off the Holocaust References
• 2007/12/03: DeSmogBlog: James Hansen and the Holocaust Frame: not even heroes are perfect

  Tim Flannery profile:

• 2007/12/03: Yahoo: Climate campaigner's road from 'raving idiot' to Australian of the year
  Australian scientist Tim Flannery grew used to receiving quizzical looks in the 1990s as he pounded the corridors of power in Canberra urging politicians to do something about climate change. "You'd go and see a federal minister and they'd stare at you like you were a raving idiot," Flannery says of his early lobbying efforts. "You could see them thinking 'what's this guy spouting on about?'. "That only changed recently." A shift in the Australian public's attitude towards climate change, brought about in no small part by Flannery himself, means politicans are now far less dismissive of the scientist-turned-environmental campaigner. The extent to which the views that Flannery's critics once derided as fringe nonsense have become part of the mainstream was demonstrated last January, when the 51-year-old was named 2007 Australian of the Year

Meanwhile on the Kyoto front:

• 2007/12/08: CDreams: DetroitMetroTimes: You're Getting Warmer: Ten Years After Kyoto Why So Little Progress? [McKibben]
• 2007/12/07: WWeek: Ten Years After - The hot air and cold facts that show we've wasted a decade since the Kyoto global warming conference
• 2007/12/05: ABC(Au): China says Aust, US failed to deliver on Kyoto

  And on the carbon trading front:

• 2007/12/04: Guardian(UK): Shares in carbon offset business dive after collapse of crucial deal
• 2007/12/03: Stoat: CDM scandals?

  The idea of a carbon tax is still bouncing around:

• 2007/12/08: Guardian(UK): Carbon-taxing the rich by Joseph Stiglitz
  The Bali summit: Countries generating emissions must pay the cost, and the fairest and simplest way of forcing them to do so is through tax

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

• 2007/12/07: GristMill: Cap dunce - A carbon tax isn't the only solution
• 2007/12/05: TWM: Cap and Trade...
• 2007/12/05: ClimateP: How is cap & trade like musical chairs?
• 2007/12/05: GristMill: Keep it simple, stupid! How to structure a cap-and-trade program
• 2007/12/04: TMoS: Another Way to Get to Carbon Caps
• 2007/12/03: SF Gate: 'Cap-and-trade' model eyed for cutting greenhouse gases

  Meanwhile on the international political front:

• 2007/12/08: TreeHugger: Arab World Responds to Climate Change
• 2007/12/05: Oikos: An Inconvenient Truth: US doing better on climate change than Europe?
• 2007/12/06: ABC(Au): US recognises differences with Australia on climate change
• 2007/12/07: NZHerald: Australian defection leaves Bush isolated

  As for GW & security:

• 2007/12/05: CCurrents: Wars And Climate Change: National Interests Versus Global Emergency
• 2007/12/07: TruthOut: Bali Conference: Climate Change Is Security Issue, Not a Green Dilemma
• 2007/12/06: DeSmogBlog: Climate Refugees Make South Asia a Political Powderkeg
• 2007/12/06: CSM: Six places in the world where climate change could cause political turmoil [Nepal, Nigeria, Indonesia, United States, Arctic & East Africa]

  And on the American political front:

• 2007/12/07: CDreams: FPIF: Iraq and Climate Change
• 2007/12/07: DeSmogBlog: Congressmen to UN: Don't blame us -- We just live here!
• 2007/12/07: ENN: California sets key climate targets
• 2007/12/05: CTB: California's Low Carbon Diet
• 2007/12/06: SFBG: The California experiment - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's green state and the mathematics of carbon
• 2007/12/05: SeattlePI: Governor's team recommends 47 ways to cut greenhouse gases
• 2007/12/06: STimes: [Seattle's] Proposals to reduce carbon take shape
• 2007/12/05: CSW: States and enviro groups petition EPA to regulate aviation greenhouse emissions
• 2007/12/05: CSW: Presidential Climate Action Project proposes 300-point climate action agenda for the next President
• 2007/12/05: ENN: EPA Urged To Cut Pollution From Aircraft
• 2007/12/05: NREL: Energy Lab Sets Aggressive Greenhouse Gas Reduction Goal - NREL pledges to cut [it's own] carbon footprint, impact on environment by 75 percent
• 2007/12/05: SeattlePI: Climate Change: A global challenge
• 2007/12/04: EconView: Martin Wolf: We Need Fear without Loathing
  Martin Wolf says that if the U.S. does not take the lead on climate change immediately and forcefully, "the cause, in all probability, will be lost"
• 2007/12/04: DotEarth: A Few (Hundred) Things the Next President Can Do to Limit Warming
• 2007/12/04: WarmingLaw: All Eyez on Stephen Johnson
• 2007/12/03: CSW: Climate Change Science Program assessment failures aired at Senate Commerce oversight hearing
• 2007/12/04: DeSmogBlog: Alaska's Sen. Tim Stevens: It's sunspots! Let's get out the oil drills
• 2007/12/04: ENN: Study: Hybrid Owners: Wealthy, Active, Educated and Democratic
• 2007/12/03: ClimateP: 300 Ideas in 100 Days [Presidential Climate Action Project]
• 2007/12/03: ClimateP: Bush really, really dislikes renewable power...
• 2007/12/03: ClimateP: California dreamin' becomes reality, Part II
• 2007/12/02: ClimateP: More on the Pelosi-Dingell Smackdown
• 2007/12/03: DotEarth: Big Boost in Energy Science Sought in Letter to Elected (and Aspiring) Leaders
• 2007/12/03: HillHeat: Enviro-Energy Corp [McKinsey & Co.] Report Says US Can Achieve Greenhouse Goals
• 2007/12/02: CSW: Marburger vs. Connaughton rhetoric on need for "urgent" action on climate change

  A penchant for contradictory policies?

• 2007/12/06: OilChange: Aiding Oil, Harming the Climate
• 2007/12/06: EugeneWeekly: Our local response to global warming - More Freeways

  The energy and climate change bills are still crawling toward their vetoes:

• 2007/12/07: GristMill: The dinosaur lobby weighs in on the energy bill - Fossil-friendly biz groups send letter to Senate requesting reversal of Supreme Court decision
• 2007/12/07: GristMill: Bartlett opposes energy bill over RFS
  I'm a fairly enthusiastic supporter of the energy bill that just left the House, but I am painfully aware that the Renewable Fuel Standard, which would mandate (insofar as one can mandate ponies) 36 billion gallons of ethanol by 2036 -- and worse yet, 15 billion gallons of corn ethanol by 2015 -- is a grotesquerie that will do far more harm than good.
• 2007/12/07: GristMill: And now a word from their sponsors - Industry groups lobby against climate legislation
• 2007/12/07: GristMill: Cloture vote fails in Senate - Reid will have to decide whether to trim back the bill to get it through
• 2007/12/07: REA: Energy Bill Update: House Passes Bill with Strong Support for Renewables
• 2007/12/07: CSM: Senate rejects far-reaching energy bill
  But Congress could still pass a slimmer version mandating more efficient cars and more biofuel use
• 2007/12/07: NYT: House Sets Higher Goal for Vehicle Fuel Efficiency
• 2007/12/06: ThinkP: House passes energy bill
• 2007/12/08: Guardian(UK): A sea change in US energy policy
  The progressive energy bill - as passed by the House of Representatives - encouraged renewables and told oil and car makers to bugger off
• 2007/12/07: BobPark: What's New? #1) Energy: Legislating Technological Progress
• 2007/12/07: ClimateP: Conservatives block majority on energy bill [in US Senate]
• 2007/12/06: ClimateP: Thumbs up for Pelosi, Dingell, Nissan. Thumbs down for Toyota, GM, Ford, Washington Post
• 2007/12/06: ClimateP: Lieberman-Warner Survives Committee
• 2007/12/06: TruthOut: Major Global Warming Bill Headed for Senate
• 2007/12/07: ABC(Au): US House passes sweeping energy bill
• 2007/12/06: BSD: Maybe I should be paying attention to Lieberman-Warner climate legislation
• 2007/12/06: HillHeat: Democrats and Enviros Praise House Passage of Comprehensive Energy Bill
• 2007/12/06: HillHeat: Democrats Hail, Republicans Attack Lieberman-Warner
• 2007/12/06: WarmingLaw: Whither Dingell? Whither Preemption?
• 2007/12/07: C411: House Passes Energy Bill - Next Up: Climate
• 2007/12/07: BBC: An energy bill that would require the first rise in vehicle fuel efficiency in more than 30 years has been passed by the US House of Representatives
• 2007/12/07: NEN: Energy Bill: Shot heard 'round the House
• 2007/12/07: OilChange: Pelosi Pushes Energy Bill
• 2007/12/06: EnvFin: US GHG bill clears big hurdle; foes vow fight
• 2007/12/07: Guardian(UK): Congress passes global warming bill
• 2007/12/06: C411: Landmark Climate Bill Passes Senate Committee!
• 2007/12/06: DeSmogBlog: Senate Advances Climate Change Bill
• 2007/12/06: EnvEcon: Another step towards "meaningful" climate change legislation in 2007
• 2007/12/06: AutoBG: Energy bill vote delayed, CAFE back on the table
• 2007/12/05: ThinkP: Senate panel advances global warming bill
• 2007/12/05: KSJT: USA Today, California dailies, etc: State sues EPA to restrict airliner greenhouse gases
• 2007/12/05: ClimateP: How many Texas mayors does it take?
• 2007/12/05: TruthOut: Pelosi Targets Oil Firms in Energy Push
  Defying a threat of a presidential veto, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi intends to push ahead with a $21 billion tax package, including repeal of tax breaks for major oil companies, as part of an energy bill, aides to the speaker said Tuesday. Democratic leaders circulated a summary of the legislation that includes the new taxes as well as a requirement for a 40 percent increase in automobile fuel efficiency, a huge increase in the use of ethanol as a motor fuel, and a mandate for utilities to use renewable fuels
• 2007/12/05: GristMill: Tracking Lieberman-Warner - And the vote is ... [passes 11 to 8]
• 2007/12/05: GristMill: Tracking Lieberman-Warner - A strengthened role for the EPA ... or not
• 2007/12/05: GristMill: Tracking Lieberman-Warner - Improving the cap... or not
• 2007/12/05: GristMill: Tracking Lieberman-Warner - Sanders gets smacked down
• 2007/12/05: GristMill: Tracking Lieberman-Warner - Today's takeaway: Modest improvements only
• 2007/12/05: GristMill: Tracking Lieberman-Warner - The problem with 150 amendments
• 2007/12/05: GristMill: Nancy Pelosi is kicking ass - House Speaker restores energy bill, puts it on fast track, parries White House veto threat
• 2007/12/05: GristMill: Tracking Lieberman-Warner - Back online
• 2007/12/05: GristMill: Tracking Lieberman-Warner - End of C-SPAN coverage
• 2007/12/05: GristMill: Tracking Lieberman-Warner - More amendments
• 2007/12/05: GristMill: Tracking Lieberman-Warner - Passage inevitable?
• 2007/12/05: GristMill: Tracking Lieberman-Warner - First amendments
• 2007/12/05: inel: Barbara Boxer begins big bill battle [151 amendments from Republicans, 32 from Democrats]
• 2007/12/05: HillHeat: House Vote on Energy Bill May Slip to Tomorrow
• 2007/12/05: HillHeat: Lieberman-Warner Markup Summary: Morning
• 2007/12/04: HillHeat: Amendment List for Lieberman-Warner Markup
• 2007/12/05: NEN: Energy bill: at long last --- What?
• 2007/12/05: AutoBG: Fuel economy bill has seventy percent chance of passage
• 2007/12/04: TruthOut: White House Signals That It Might Veto Energy Bill
• 2007/12/04: GristMill: If it is to be war ... Senate Republicans vow to filibuster energy bill
• 2007/12/04: GristMill: Lieberman-Warner action already underway - Clinton and Sanders introduce amendments to strengthen the bill
• 2007/12/04: HillHeat: Auto Manufacturers Support Energy Bill
• 2007/12/04: HillHeat: Energy Independence and Security Act Unveiled
• 2007/12/04: WarmingLaw: Energy Bill Redux: Moving Forward
• 2007/12/04: ENN: Dueling videos focus on U.S. climate change bill
• 2007/12/04: NEN: Energy bill: fueled but blocked
• 2007/12/04: WaPo: White House Signals That It Might Veto Energy Bill
• 2007/12/03: GristMill: White House renews energy bill veto threat
• 2007/12/03: HillHeat: White House Threatens Veto of Energy Bill
• 2007/12/03: HillHeat: [Senator Pete] Domenici (R-NM) Criticizes Energy Bill
• 2007/12/03: HillHeat: Stage Set for Lieberman-Warner Markup
• 2007/12/03: NEN: Energy bill this week?

  The 2008 campaign is not making much climate news:

• 2007/12/03: CSM: The candidates on energy: hot topic, diverse views - As gasoline prices rise, voters and US presidential candidates look at how to handle energy

  The Gore-apalooza is still bopping along:

• 2007/12/07: CDreams: Reuters: Gore Calls For Early Climate Pact
• 2007/12/07: DeSmogBlog: Gore pushes Bali delegates for early pact to curb emissions
• 2007/12/07: ENN: Gore calls for early climate pact
• 2007/12/07: Yahoo: Gore in Norway to get Nobel Peace Prize

  While in the UK:

• 2007/12/06: BBC: All nations 'need emission goals'
  Britain's Trade and Development Minister Gareth Thomas has said that developing countries will need targets for greenhouse gas emissions. Rich nations had to lead emissions cuts, he said, but developing countries such as China should have targets too
• 2007/12/07: Guardian(UK): [Letters] Parties' plans for renewable energy
• 2007/12/04: Guardian(UK): Mayor launches green homes services for Londoners
• 2007/12/04: BBC: Long-term flood plan 'essential'
  The government must develop a long-term strategy to manage the UK's growing flood risk, insurers have warned. The Association of British Insurers (ABI) wants a comprehensive assessment of flood risk and a programme of "sustained" long-term investment. It says the summer floods, expected to cost around £3bn, should be a "final wake-up call" for the government. [...] It calls for an investment programme which reflects climate change and what it calls the "real" flood risk from rivers, coasts and drainage.
• 2007/12/03: inel: Adding capacity at Heathrow Airport
• 2007/12/03: Guardian(UK): Parties unite to stop government backsliding over renewables rule
• 2007/12/03: Guardian(UK): Power firms accused of emissions trade cheating
• 2007/12/03: Guardian(UK): [Letters] Business must join climate fight

  And in Europe:

• 2007/12/07: ENN: Barroso seeks to end EU row over car emissions
• 2007/12/08: AutoBG: Austria institutes CO2-based bonus-malus tax system for cars
• 2007/12/07: ENN: Norway seeks talks with Sweden on green energy
• 2007/12/05: TruthOut: In Bali, Germany Takes Dramatic Step on Climate Change
• 2007/12/04: AutoBG: Angela Merkel: The EU will lose legitimacy if CO2 emissions are not reduced
• 2007/12/04: AFP: Europe urges steeper greenhouse gas cuts
• 2007/12/02: ENN: Germany shows contradictions on climate change
• 2007/12/03: Euro2Day: Italian consumers warned of looming energy shortfall

  Meanwhile in Australia:

• 2007/12/03: Oikos: Australia's political climate change
• 2007/12/08: SMH: Howard blamed for carbon failures
• 2007/12/08: SMH: Blown away by climate folly - John Howard clung to a sceptical view of climate change, and the storm of dissent overwhelmed him...
• 2007/12/08: SMH: Tropical fever over targets
  Kevin Rudd will need all his diplomatic skills in Bali, as the sides have already squared off fiercely at the climate change talks...
• 2007/12/07: ABC(Au): Rudd talking climate change in Roma
• 2007/12/07: ABC(Au): Emissions cuts vital to save farming industry: Rudd
• 2007/12/06: ABC(Au): Climate change will hit ag sector hard by 2030: ABARE [Australian Bureau of Agriculture and Resource Economics]
• 2007/12/06: ABC(Au): Emissions targets present 'great opportunity' for business [says Business Roundtable on Climate Change]
• 2007/12/08: GWWatch: Howard years saw 42% increase in carbon emissions
• 2007/12/07: SMH: Just warming up, but Rudd already feels Bali heat
• 2007/12/06: SMH: Washington told it's time to join the Kyoto party [by Rudd]
• 2007/12/06: GWWatch: Labor's climate change policies will 'boost Aust credibility'
• 2007/12/04: ABC(Au): Kyoto protocol 'major challenge' for business [says Chamber of Minerals and Energy]
• 2007/12/04: ABC(Au): [New South Wales government's] Power plans could undermine Kyoto: Greens
• 2007/12/04: SMH: It doesn't have to hurt: report
  Australia can benefit financially from climate change if it takes decisive action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions now, says a new report produced by the Climate Institute, the CSIRO and Monash University
• 2007/12/04: SMH: Chinese coal giant [Shenhua Energy] has eyes on Australia
• 2007/12/04: ABC(Au): Murray-Darling inflows close to 'worst-case scenario'
• 2007/12/04: ABC(Au): Australia 'back on the map' with Kyoto decision [says Federal Climate Change Minister Penny Wong]
• 2007/12/03: ABC(Au): Bali conference 'a key test' for Rudd
• 2007/12/03: ABC(Au): Stern warning for Australia on emissions - set bolder targets for cutting greenhouse emissions
• 2007/12/03: CBC: UN climate change conference hails Australia Kyoto signing

  The powers that be have been busy rearranging Garrett now that the election is over:

• 2007/12/05: ABC(Au): [Treasurer Wayne] Swan denies Garrett sidelined on climate change
• 2007/12/04: QuarkSoup: Peter Garrett
• 2007/12/05: SMH: Garrett as support act: minister sidelined on global warming
• 2007/12/05: ABC(Au): Gillard defends Garrett sidelining
• 2007/12/04: ABC(Au): PM doesn't trust Garrett on climate questions: Nelson

  A new climate change research centre has been set up:

• 2007/12/05: ABC(Au): Climate change research centre launched
• 2007/12/05: ABC(Au): New focus on climate change
  The CSIRO and the Bureau of Meteorology will unveil a new Centre for Australian Weather and Climate Research in Canberra today
• 2007/12/04: ABC(Au): New approach to climate change research [Centre for Australian Weather and Climate Research]

  The Rudd government ratified Kyoto:

• 2007/12/08: WSWS: Australia: Labor government moves to ratify Kyoto Protocol ahead of Bali climate change conference
• 2007/12/03: TerraDaily: Australian PM ratifies Kyoto Protocol
• 2007/12/04: Guardian(UK): Australia signs up to Kyoto deal to end 10-year exile
• 2007/12/03: Guardian(UK): Australia signs up to Kyoto
• 2007/12/03: ABC(Au): Rudd signs Kyoto ratification document
• 2007/12/03: ABC(Au): PM [Kevin Rudd] puts Kyoto high on agenda
• 2007/12/03: HillHeat: Bali: Australia Ratifies Kyoto Protocol
• 2007/12/03: JQuiggin: Australia ratifies Kyoto
• 2007/12/03: Yahoo: Australian PM [Kevin Rudd] ratifies Kyoto Protocol
• 2007/12/03: G&M: Australia's new government ratifies Kyoto pact
• 2007/12/03: NYT: Australian Leader Ratifies Kyoto Pact
• 2007/12/03: BBC: Rudd takes Australia inside Kyoto
  Australian Labor Party leader Kevin Rudd has been sworn in as prime minister, following a landslide victory in parliamentary elections last week. Immediately after the ceremony, he signed documents to ratify the Kyoto Protocol on climate change, reversing the previous administration's policy

It seems Kevin is a bridge?

• 2007/12/06: ENN: Australia's PM offers to bridge climate gap
• 2007/12/06: BBC: Australia to be 'climate bridge'
  Australia's new PM has told China he will act as a bridge between Beijing and the developed world in negotiations on cutting greenhouse gas emissions
• 2007/12/05: SMH: I can unite the world on climate, says Rudd

  However, the Rudd government is not entirely certain about emission cuts:

• 2007/12/09: ABC(Au): Rudd recognises emissions target difficulties
  Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says negotiations to set targets for reductions in greenhouse gas emissions will be tough and hard. [...] New Zealand is supporting a 25 to 40 per cent cut in pollution by 2020, but Australia has not yet set such an interim target
• 2007/12/08: HeraldSun: Kevin Rudd recoils from climate change pledge
  Prime Minister Kevin Rudd last night did an about-face on deep cuts to greenhouse gas emissions, days after Australia's delegation backed the plan at the climate talks in Bali. A government representative at the talks this week said Australia backed a 25-40 per cent cut on 1990 emission levels by 2020. But after warnings it would lead to huge rises in electricity prices, Mr Rudd said the Government would not support the target
• 2007/12/08: NatureCF: Sticker-shocked Rudd backpedals on emissions cuts
• 2007/12/08: ABC(Au): Crean tells China, India to make tough emission cuts
  Trade Minister Simon Crean says developing countries like China and India must set tough binding emissions targets before Australia agrees to a new Kyoto agreement beyond 2012. Last week the Australian delegation indicated it supported a 25 to 40 per cent cut in emissions for developed countries beyond 2012. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said it was not the Government's position. Mr Crean, who is in Bali for trade talks today, says developing countries must agree to binding targets before Australia commits
• 2007/12/06: ABC(Au): PM says big emissions cuts subject to advice
• 2007/12/06: ABC(Au): Proposed emissions cuts 'would be devastating' [says Federal Opposition Leader Brendan Nelson]
• 2007/12/06: Yahoo: Australian PM distances himself from big emissions cuts by 2020
• 2007/12/06: SMH: Rudd backs deep cuts by 2020
• 2007/12/06: ABC(Au): Green groups welcome emission cut targets [25-40% by 2020]
• 2007/12/06: GWWatch: Rudd backs deep 2020 emissions cuts
• 2007/12/05: ABC(Au): Australia undermining Bali talks: Greenpeace
  Greenpeace has accused Australia of undermining negotiations on emissions targets for developed countries at the current United Nations climate talks in Bali. Just days after Prime Minister Kevin Rudd gave the all-clear to ratify the Kyoto Protocol, Greenpeace says Australia is now refusing to take a position on tough emissions targets for developed countries. The European Union wants a 25 to 40 per cent band of emission reductions by 2020 as a basis for future negotiations beyond Kyoto. Greenpeace's Ben Pearson says Australia must come on board. "You're seeing only a few countries saying no to this - Japan, Canada, and the US and then Australia," he said. "That's certainly not a group of countries Australia should be involved with any more."
• 2007/12/04: ABC(Au): Impact of Labor's climate policies to be quantified: [Climate Change Minister, Penny] Wong

  While in China:

• 2007/12/09: Guardian(UK): Why the Himalayas might not look like this for much longer
  China's economic growth, underpinned by a lack of political accountability, will have a devastating environmental impact
• 2007/12/03: SinoDaily: Workers in China strike over rising food costs: officials
• 2007/12/03: Forbes: China releases draft energy law - calling for more environment-friendly energy policies and a more market-based pricing mechanism

  And in India:

• 2007/12/06: Guardian(UK): India's role
  Aditya Ghosh argues that India must address its failure to tackle climate change before it finds itself top of the C02 emission's table

Many Canadians are not pleased with minority neocon PM Harper:

• 2007/12/09: WtEB: What we are witnessing [in Bali] is a fundamental failure of leadership: David Suzuki
• 2007/12/08: Impolitical: Canadians demonstrating and Harper ignoring them
• 2007/12/08: CBC: Demonstrators ski, march, eat fire to protest climate change
  Protesters skied, carried mock coffins and wore windmills on their heads at demonstrations staged around the world on Saturday that were designed to draw attention to climate change
• 2007/12/09: CanWest: Critics blast PM over climate issues - Dion, Layton accuse Harper of sabotaging international efforts
• 2007/12/09: TStar: This guy was the green prime minister?
  Can a Conservative government be a champion of the environment? Looking at Canada's stance at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Bali last week, it would be tough to answer yes
• 2007/12/08: G&M: Dion pledges climate change centre, if elected
• 2007/12/08: CTV: Canada accused of undermining climate talks
  Canada is taking heat from activists at the Bali climate change conference, who are accusing government negotiators of undermining the process. Climate Action Network Canada claims to have a document showing that Canada's negotiators have been instructed to demand that poorer nations accept the same binding, absolute reduction targets as developed nations
• 2007/12/08: CanWest: Dion, Layton rip Harper over Bali talks
  The Harper government is deliberately sabotaging attempts to forge a new climate change agreement at the United Nations conference in Bali, Liberal opposition leader Stephane Dion charged Saturday. Dion's criticism came after a leaked government document showed that Canada would stick firm to its position that binding emissions targets should apply to all countries, including major emitters such as China and India
• 2007/12/08: TStar: Tories not off hook on climate
  [...] John Baird's dissembling in Bali this week is much more in Canada's genes and tradition than an often self-satisfied country is comfortable admitting. In dragging our collective climate change feet the environment minister is doing again what other governments have done before on crises from pandemics to poverty that test the world's will and conscience: not enough and less than promised
• 2007/12/06: DeSmogBlog: You Might Die - But it Will Cost Too Much To Do Anything So Let's Not
• 2007/12/06: G&M: Ottawa gains key allies to 'move beyond Kyoto' - Canada, U.S. and Japan stress economics before environment at Bali
• 2007/12/05: BCLSB: Stephen Harper: I Am Not A Climate Crook
• 2007/12/03: CanWest: Harper's policies could harm ecosystems, officials warn

  And they're not the only ones:

• 2007/12/07: Google:AFP: Nobel climate panel chief [Rajendra K. Pachauri] raps Canada on carbon cuts
• 2007/12/07: DeSmogBlog: IPCC Chief Calls Canada a Climate "Opportunist"
• 2007/12/04: CanWest: Canada tarred as leading polluter at Bali climate change conference
  It's not easy being green. Particularly if you are a big polluter such as Canada, Saudi Arabia and the United States. All three earned the first "Fossil of the Day Awards" at the United Nations-led climate change talks in Bali yesterday, with each receiving a little sack of coal adorned with their national flags at a mock award ceremony filled with boos and laughter
• 2007/12/03: TMoS: It's a Lonely Planet for SHarper
• 2007/12/03: LKO: Well... what a SHOCKER!
  News story #1: Quebec to stand up for Kyoto even if Ottawa won't. News story #2: Tories turn to ex-PQ Premier for Bali talks. Gee, there couldn't be a connection there, could there?
• 2007/12/03: RN: Failing to Sell the Lemons

  It seems the Conservative government is sitting on an inconvenient report:

• 2007/12/05: DeSmogBlog: Bali-bound Baird Hiding Climate Information
• 2007/12/04: CanWest: Government hiding damaging climate report, critics charge
  A new federal report is warning of an international scramble for oil and minerals under melting Arctic ice and water scarcity in the Great Lakes, but the Harper government is keeping the study on the shelf, CanWest News Service has learned. Authors of the Natural Resources Canada report, called From Impacts to Adaptation: Canada in a changing climate 2007, say many of the findings are consistent with recent international reports. They are baffled that the government has delayed its release, which was expected last month.

Some folks in the NHL are turning green:

• 2007/12/08: CMMGreens: Andrew Ference, my new favorite NHL player?
• 2007/12/08: TStar: NHLers to help Suzuki ice global warming
  NHL hockey is going green. In a first for a major North American professional sports league, the National Hockey League Players Association is teaming up with the David Suzuki Foundation to promote action on climate change. And players are taking the lead by buying carbon credits to offset the environmental impact of their extensive travel during season play.

The tricky question of the tar sands looms:

• 2007/12/07: DeSmogBlog: Carbon Prohibition Hurts PM Harper's Backyard Distillery [tar sands]
• 2007/12/07: Guardian(UK): Greenpeace calls BP's oil sands plan an environmental crime
• 2007/12/06: Guardian(UK): Shifting tar sands
  BP is making a return to the Canadian province of Alberta, which deserves better than to be abused by oil companies
• 2007/12/06: OilChange: Meanwhile BP Pumps Billions into Oil Sands [Alberta tar sands]
• 2007/12/04: Tyee: It's the Tar Sands, Stupid - Canada home to global warming's new ground zero

  While in Canuckistan's miscellania:

• 2007/12/05: DeSmogBlog: A Climactic Scandal? Harper Government Cannot Account for $1.5 billion in Climate Change Funds
• 2007/12/03: Eureka: Government of Canada calls on industry to participate in new biofuels initiative
• 2007/12/03: Tyee: Climate Fix: Who Plans? Who Pays? Labour left off premier's action team
• 2007/12/03: CCat: Stephane Dion and the Bali Promise
• 2007/12/08: DeSmogBlog: A New DeSmog Investigation: Operation ecoTRUTH

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

• 2007/12/05: ZMag: The price of climate change
  It is possible to conceive of all manner of climate disasters, it seems, but not to think outside the box of the economic systems that have contributed to their happening in the first place. When political historians look back on 2007, there is a fair chance they will see it as the year that the climate change threat was finally taken seriously.
• 2007/12/05: BDL: Global Climate Change Economic Analysis Cage Match: Robin Robert Hansen Misreads Marty Weitzman [Stern]
• 2007/12/08: GMB: A Reading for the Pigou Club - Hans-Werner Sinn on Public Policies against Global Warming
• 2007/12/05: ERabett: Sternly he said
• 2007/12/04: DerSpiegel: The Era of Green Economics Is Dawning by Ban Ki-moon

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

• 2007/12/03: KSJT: ABC (Australia) Science Show: Overpopulation and climate change

  Apocalypso anyone?

• 2007/12/07: AfterGutenberg: The Syllogism of Doom
• 2007/12/03: Yahoo: Warmageddon

  As for how the media handles the science of climatology:

• 2007/12/03: DotEarth: Are Words Worthless in the Climate Fight?
• 2007/12/02: MTobis: Catastrophizing Disempowers
• 2007/12/01: CanWest: Climate change driven home
  Two UBC scientists employ local images and climate projections to create stark visualizations of global warming's impact on Vancouver area neighbourhoods

Meanwhile among the 'Sue the Bastards!' contingent:

• 2007/12/03: WarmingLaw: Riegel Arguments Tomorrow

  The betting meme rolls on:

• 2007/12/04: Atmoz: Sea Ice Bet
• 2007/12/04: ClimateP: Another big climate bet -- Of Ice and Men
• 2007/12/04: JEB: Another bet on (not so much) climate change
• 2007/12/02: BSD: Got another climate change bet, with a twist - now I'm betting on the cold side
• 2007/12/03: Stoat: Betting on sea ice: following the herd

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

• 2007/12/08: CDreams: NYT: Efforts to Harvest Ocean's Energy Open New Debate Front
• 2007/12/09: Xinhuanet: Wind power to become major electricity supply for British homes
• 2007/12/08: UN: New UN report points to power of renewable energy to mitigate carbon emissions
• 2007/12/09: ABC(Au): Renewables investments seen over $114b in 2007
• 2007/12/05: REA: Are Feed-in Tariffs a Possibility in California?
• 2007/12/06: LFB: Aerospaceplanes and space solar power
• 2007/12/06: NatureTGB: BP back in the tar sands business
• 2007/12/07: NewScientist: Red Sea mega-dam would be 'irresponsible'
• 2007/12/07: inel: Central to next generation success is decentralised microgeneration, and Cameron gets it [UK]
• 2007/12/07: NEN: Geothermal rising
• 2007/12/07: AfterGutenberg: Commitment to a Clean Energy Future
• 2007/12/07: AfterGutenberg: ART [Advanced Renewable Tariffs] a Possibility in California?
• 2007/12/05: EnergyDaily: World's first floating wind turbine launched in Berlin
• 2007/12/06: OilDrum: US Electricity Supply Vulnerabilities
• 2007/12/05: PhysOrg: Study finds that linked wind farms can result in reliable power
• 2007/12/05: inel: Energy policy well and truly nobbled by lobbies
• 2007/12/05: TreeHugger: Gulf Stream's Tidal Energy Could Provide Up to a Third of Florida's Power
• 2007/12/02: ADN: As fuel prices rise, rural Alaska looks at alternative energy

  Meanwhile among the solar afficionados:

• 2007/12/: AmericanScientist: Solar Energy's Red Queen
  Conventional photovoltaic panels will be hard pressed to displace fossil-fuel use anytime soon. But a different kind of solar cell might well do so
• 2007/12/05: NatureN: Solar power: California's latest gold rush
• 2007/12/: MENews: Solar is the Solution
• 2007/12/04: TreeHugger: It's Not A Billboard, It's a Power Plant

  The arithmetic of coal carbon is striking home:

• 2007/12/07: GristMill: Coal's fired - More backlash against new coal power plants
• 2007/12/07: NEN: Coal must be cleaner
• 2007/12/07: Oregonian: PacifiCorp labels coal a no-go for new plants
  Going green - The utility says its long-range plans will look elsewhere for resources to generate electric power PacifiCorp has backed away from plans to build any new coal plants within the next 10 years, conceding that coal no longer can overcome tightening regulations and environmental opposition. In recent filings and communications with regulators in Utah and Oregon, the Portland-based company said three coal plants included earlier this year in long-range resource plans and subsequent requests for proposals were "no longer viable options."
• 2007/12/04: NYT: Stuck on Coal, and Stuck for Words in a High-Tech World
• 2007/12/03: GristMill: Response to Jeremy Carl, part four - Even in the short term, R&E is a better choice than clean coal for developing nations
• 2007/12/03: DeSmogBlog: Washington State Rejects Coal Plant Over Global Warming Concerns

  Biofuel bickering abounds:

• 2007/12/06: FuturePundit: Biomass Energy Push Making Diets Less Healthy?
• 2007/12/06: KSJT: NYTimes: Big money for palm oil means Sumatra's rain forest in trouble
• 2007/12/07: DeSmogBlog: Ethanol: A Worthy Subject for Debate
• 2007/12/06: DeSmogBlog: Ethanol: A "Solution" Without a Problem
• 2007/12/07: SciDaily: Methanol Shows Increasing Promise As An Alternative Fuel
• 2007/12/05: BioEnergyBiz: China's largest biodiesel company to go public in US
• 2007/12/05: GristMill: Ethanol and E. coli, part II - Use of distiller grains in livestock rations has exploded
• 2007/12/04: GristMill: Maybe not such a great idea after all? Feeding ethanol waste to cows [biofuel]
• 2007/12/04: ABC(Au): Orangutans sacrificed in palm oil boom

  The nuclear energy controversy continues:

• 2007/12/07: FuturePundit: Pebble Bed And Other Gen IV Nuclear Reactor Designs
• 2007/12/07: TCulture: David Fleming's New Book Provides Death Knell for Nuclear Power

  Yes we have a peak oil sighting:

• 2007/12/06: OilDrum: IEA: oil demand has surpassed supply

  And then there is the matter of efficiency & conservation:

• 2007/12/07: DotEarth: The Upside and Downside of Low-Energy Lighting
• 2007/12/04: ENN: Let There be Light - for the Next 35 Years: the Green Gift That Keeps on Giving [Pharox LED light]

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

• 2007/12/08: ClimateP: EVS23: The times they are a changin? [cars]
• 2007/12/08: DotEarth: Hydrogen Car [Honda CFX Clarity] Is Here, but Where's the Hydrogen Economy?
• 2007/12/07: ClimateP: Hybrid sales up 82% Nov 07 vs. Nov 06
• 2007/12/07: ENN: New Battery-Electric Vehicles Entering the U.S. Market
• 2007/12/04: TEB: Smith Electric (UK) Launching Electric Truck in U.S., Plans U.S. Facility to Produce 10,000 Trucks per Year
• 2007/12/05: ENN: Daimler AG Introduces New, Compact Vehicle to U.S. Market: "Smart fortwo"
• 2007/12/05: AutoBG: Phillipine's all-electric Eagle G-car takes flight
• 2007/12/05: AutoBG: The Charge of the Ultra - Capacitors
• 2007/12/04: PhysOrg: Daimler expects huge US demand for tiny Smart car
• 2007/12/04: NewScientist: Electric cars could act as batteries for the energy grid
• 2007/12/04: ABC(Au): Petrol guzzlers facing climate crackdown - Manufacturers are coming under increasing pressure to produce more fuel-efficient cars
• 2007/12/03: AutoBG: All 1,500 San Francisco city-owned diesel vehicles ready to run on biodiesel
• 2007/12/03: AutoBG: Air Car's first manufacturing plant will be located in Melbourne, cars sold in Australia next year

  The reaction of business to climate change will be critical:

• 2007/12/06: PRWatch: Green but Not Proud of It
• 2007/12/05: Guardian(UK): A new business perspective on climate change
  For decades, the world's major companies have been increasingly successful in telling governments to keep out of their way. They have demanded that environmental problems be dealt with on a voluntary basis using market forces, and corporate lobby groups have said over and over again that customer demand will solve problems and that firms can rise to the green challenge through choice rather that regulatory requirement. In short, green rules have been deemed to be red tape that would damage competitiveness and stifle innovation. Suddenly, there is a real change of tone. Last week, the Confederation of British Industry published a climate change report that called on the government to deploy the full policy and legal armoury of the state to cut emissions. The next day, legal firm Clifford Chance published a survey of leading corporate executives, to reveal that more than four-fifths believe more regulation, not less, is needed for them to tackle climate change successfully. Then, perhaps most importantly of all, came the initiative launched by the Prince of Wales's business leaders' group, pressing governments to collectively agree a tough, science-based and legally binding treaty to reduce emissions in Bali
• 2007/12/03: PBJ: Esco's Pratt calls for global warming, carbon actions

  Insurance and re-insurance companies are feeling the heat:

• 2007/12/05: PlanetArk: [UK] Insurers Call for 25-Year Flood Strategy

  While in the greenwashing chronicles:

• 2007/12/08: AutoBG: BMW, Daimler and Porsche win "Worst EU Lobbying Award"
• 2007/12/06: PRWatch: Greenwash Hoaxes
• 2007/12/07: WarmingLaw: Inevitable Greenwashing: The More Things Change...
• 2007/12/04: TreeHugger: Greenwash Watch: Exxon's New Improved Lithium Ion Battery

  The carbon lobby are up to the usual:

• 2007/12/09: Deltoid: [link to pdf] Mashey on Monckton/Schulte
• 2007/12/08: inel: The Viscount Monckton of Bali fliers (ho ho)
• 2007/12/08: Deltoid: Monckton watch
• 2007/12/07: CJR: [Wall Street] Journal Plays a Broken Record - Editorial board is clearly still bitter about Gore and climate
• 2007/12/06: CCD: Adverting Disaster - Four more spectacularly idiotic adverts...
• 2007/12/08: GWWatch: Global warming denier's get no hearing in Bali
• 2007/12/07: DeSmogBlog: Fred Singer/Winnipeg Free Press: Two "Institutions" in Decline
• 2007/12/06: DeSmogBlog: Business mouthpiece casts wide net in latest bid to derail climate-change efforts
• 2007/12/06: HuffPo: WSJ Launches Luddite Attack on Climate Scientists and Al Gore
• 2007/12/05: ClimateP: WSJ launches Luddite attack on climate scientists and Al Gore
• 2007/12/05: ThinkP: WSJ editor insults scientists, attacks Gore
• 2007/12/05: AFP: Danish 'best-selling' climate change sceptic swims against the tide
  As world leaders scramble to address global warming, sceptical environmentalist Bjoern Lomborg finds himself increasingly alone in his claim that climate change poses no imminent threat to the planet
• 2007/12/04: JEB: The gathering storm [Piers Corbyn]
• 2007/12/04: Intersection:SRK: The Definition of PRO*PA*GAN*DA
• 2007/12/04: BCLSB: U.N. Stiffs Heartland Institute
• 2007/12/03: Stoat: Silly Singer
• 2007/12/03: CSM: Let policy follow science: Tie a carbon tax to actual warming - The temperature of the troposphere above the tropics has changed little [McKitrick]

  We have a new candidate name for the lobby aka septics, greenhouse mafia, permanently uninformed, denialist, fossil fools, climate contrarian, biostitutes, Slick 60 Climate Change Denial Gang, delusionists, climate cranks, bellignorant, delusionosphere, and denyosphere --- namely Warmocaust Collusionists:

• 2007/12/08: BCLSB: Deniers In Paradise

  Then there was the usual news and commentary:

• 2007/12/06: UN: Increased employment could be climate change's silver lining - UN
• 2007/12/07: GristMill: Simple answers
• 2007/12/04: Maribo: Searching for the right words
• 2007/12/08: MTobis: Economists Untested Claim to Oligarchy
• 2007/12/08: Stoat: Clowns to the left of me...
• 2007/12/07: LNB: Whole Earth Comes Into Focus
• 2007/12/08: TMoS: The Climate Change Shell Game
• 2007/12/07: DerSpiegel: Flipping the switch to save the climate - Will 'Lights Out' Lead to a Brownout?
• 2007/12/07: DeutscheWelle: Climate Change: A Planet at Risk [interactive map]
• 2007/12/08: Guardian(UK): Families and firms warned of rising temperatures
• 2007/12/07: WarmingLaw: CARB-Driven (Emissions) Dieting
• 2007/12/07: FergusB: Slow, slow, slow slow slow?
• 2007/12/06: ERabett: The uncertainty principle
• 2007/12/07: ENN: Greenland ice could be next puzzle for U.N. panel
• 2007/12/07: OilChange: International Day of Action on Climate
• 2007/12/06: ENN: "Green jobs" to outweigh losses from climate change
• 2007/12/04: ERabett: That Strange Weather - A new and interesting climate blog from Julien Emile-Geay...
• 2007/12/05: TreeHugger: Survey: Renaming Global Warming, Round 2.
• 2007/12/05: SciDaily: A Really Inconvenient Truth: Divorce Is Not Green
• 2007/12/04: TheAge: The global warming battle: united we stand, divided we fall
• 2007/12/04: NatureCF: Climate hoaxes and divorced Canadian drunks
• 2007/12/04: ClimateP: NYT's Tom Friedman is wrong: We are NOT (yet) the people we have been waiting for to solve global "weirding"
• 2007/12/04: TruthOut: Climate Fund Falls Far Short
• 2007/12/04: DotEarth: To My Great-Great-Grandchildren: How's Your Climate?
• 2007/12/04: DeSmogBlog: Soaring divorce rates cited as factor in global warming, environmental stress
• 2007/12/04: DeSmogBlog: New York Times Features DeSmog's 100 Year Letter Project
• 2007/12/04: ENN: Like it or not, uncertainty and climate change go hand in hand
• 2007/12/04: ENN: Record breaking year for climate [says WWF]
• 2007/12/04: Eureka: Green morality - Disguising environmental harm eases only our conscience
  We can disguise environmentally harmful practices and dress them up in words to help ease our consciences, argues Albert Bandura of the Department of Psychology at Stanford University, but such practices will have a negative impact on the planet and the quality of life of future generations, no matter how we label them
• 2007/12/04: CCurrents: What Is Progress? [Monbiot]
• 2007/12/04: SMH: Great balls of ire as art tackles warming
• 2007/12/04: Guardian(UK): This crisis demands a reappraisal of who we are and what progress means
• 2007/12/04: ABC(Au): Green group questions post-Kyoto future of air conditioners
• 2007/12/03: GristMill: Rebuild the economy by building green industries - The economy is an ecosystem
• 2007/12/03: C411: Help Developing Countries Cut Carbon, Not Trees
• 2007/12/03: TreeHugger: Survey: What Should We Rename "Global Warming"?
• 2007/12/03: HuffPo: Fiddling as the Planet Warms

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

• Cambridge Zero Carbon Calendar
• Coeruleus: She Flies With Her Own Wings
• Common Tragedies - Thoughts on Environmental Economics
• CGIAR: Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research
• GermanWatch - Climate Protection & Adaptation to climate change
• IISD: IISD Reporting Services
• IFPRI: International Food Policy Research Institute
• That Strange Weather
• NewSciBlog
• The Great Warming
• Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research
• Climate Prediction Net
• BBC Climate Change Experiment
• Berkeley Atmospheric Sciences Center

My first novel Water was published in Canada May, 2007. The American release was in October. An Introductionto the novel is available, along with the Unpublished Forewordand the Launch Talk. 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.

"Carbon cycle feedbacks are not so well understood, but it's becoming increasingly clear that they could literally be deal-breakers for humanity. We may be quite close to creating circumstances in which the biosphere releases huge quantities of carbon into the atmosphere. At that point, warming could become its own cause; it would no longer really matter what we do to mitigate our emissions of carbon dioxide. The global ecosystem would take over." -Thomas Homer-Dixon

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