Another Week of GW News, February 3, 2008

By illconsidered on February 4, 2008.

Sipping from the internet firehose...

This weekly posting is brought to you courtesy of H.E.Taylor. Happy reading, I hope you enjoy this week's Global Warming news roundup

(skip to bottom)

Top Stories:China, Major Economies Conference, FutureGen Killed
Baffin Island, Antarctica, $20 Trillion?, AGU, Bali, Anthropocene
Hurricanes, GHGs, Temperatures, Sea Levels, ENSO, DSCOVR
Impacts, Forests, Corals, Desertification, Wacky Weather
Floods & Droughts, Food vs. Biofuel, Food Production
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Politics:International, Security, America, Britain, Europe, Australia, Japan, Canada
Ecological Economics, IPAT, Apocalypso, Media, Books, Courts
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Nukes, Peak Oil, Cars, Business, Greenwashing, Insurance
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Shameless Self Promotion, .sig

China has been whalloped with a once-in-50-years snow storm with major energy & agricultural ramifications:

2008/02/03: CNN: Fog worsens travel nightmare in China
Fog on Sunday falls delays flights freezes traffic in Hunan province - More snow forecast for Monday and Tuesday as holidays approach - Millions are trying to return home to see their families for Lunar New Year - Three weeks of snow storms across China have claimed at least 60 lives
2008/02/02: People's Daily: Snow havoc losses mount to 53.8 bln yuan
2008/02/03: People's Daily: China's winter storms delay 141 trains, affect 212,000 passengers
2008/02/03: People's Daily: "We have faith," Chinese Premier tells country
2008/02/03: BBC: Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao has urged people to "have faith" that some of the worst snow storms in 50 years can be overcome...
2008/02/03: AFP: China's army of migrant workers stranded in winter freeze
2008/02/02: Turkish Press: China warns worst not over in weather crisis
2008/02/02: BBC: China warns of more bad weather
2008/02/01: WSWS: Snowstorms and blackouts create chaos in China
2008/02/01: Google:AP: China Storms Cause $7.5b in Damages
2008/02/01: Yahoo: China snow leaves millions in cold and dark
2008/02/01: People's Daily: New snow set to cause further havoc on central China roads
2008/02/01: BBC: China freeze 'has cost billions' - Chinese officials say recent bad weather has caused 54bn yuan (Â£3.8bn) of damage and killed 60 people
2008/01/31: BBC: China is struggling to cope with its worst snowfall in decades, with officials warning of future food shortages as winter crops are wrecked
2008/01/31: Guardian(UK): Wild weather hits power supply [in China]
2008/01/30: ENN: China's crops badly damaged by icy storms: AgMin
2008/01/31: Guardian(UK): Half a million troops to fight snow in China
2008/01/28: TerraDaily: China issues severe weather warning amid fuel shortage fears
2008/01/29: AFP: Strain shows as China buckles under harsh winter
2008/01/29: Guardian(UK): 24 die in worst Chinese blizzards for 50 years
There has been surprisingly little news out of Bush's Major Economies Conference in Hawaii:
2008/02/01: CNN: U.S. stance on climate change shifting, conference delegates say [MEC]
2008/02/01: KSJT: Trickle of Ink: US hosts climate change summit in Hawaii. It's over. What happened?
2008/02/01: Yahoo: No targets reached at climate conference
A meeting of delegates from the nations that emit the most pollutants ended without concrete targets for slashing greenhouse gas emissions, but participants praised what they saw as a new willingness by the United States to discuss possible solutions
2008/02/01: People's Daily: U.S. officials: Hawaii climate talks held in "good mood"
2008/02/01: BBC: Bush's climate talks 'engaging'
The latest US-led climate talks in Honolulu, Hawaii, have been described by delegates as the most frank and engaging climate negotiations so far. It was the second in a series of Major Economies Meetings called by US President George W Bush. He called the first in Washington last year after expressing a desire to find a solution to the climate issue. That first meeting was described by angry EU delegates as a waste of time, a PR stunt for the American elections. But this time the tone was very different. One EU delegate said: "I came expecting nothing and was very pleasantly surprised. Normally, we get sterile pre-prepared statements of policy, but this time there was a very frank discussion exploring the very difficult and different conditions facing each of the countries. It was very constructive." Brice Lalonde, the French climate ambassador, added: "It was very low-key but people just got on with it. The talks were very positive...until the final statement was discussed." At that point, he said, Russia and India refused to include a statement that they had been discussing mandatory, internationally binding commitments, even though that is exactly what had been discussed.
2008/01/31: CBC: Countries at Hawaii conference try to refine road map for facing climate change
2008/01/30: CSM: Bush's much-maligned climate talks could yet help global-warming treaty
2008/01/29: Oxfam: Major emitters must commit to mandatory emissions cuts and adaptation funding in Hawaii
2008/01/28: EnergyDaily: Bush wants climate deal that gives 'none a free ride'
2008/01/30: CSM: Bush's much-maligned climate talks could yet help global-warming treaty
At the meeting of the world's biggest polluters in Hawaii this week, host US has a chance to show it is serious about action on climate change.
2008/01/30: DerSpiegel: Climate Talks in Hawaii - Europeans Test US Commitment to Climate Change
2008/01/30: DerSpiegel: Interview with German Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel - 'Butting Heads with the Americans Doesn't Do Any Good'
2008/01/30: BBC: Hawaii hosts Bush climate talks
Climate experts from 16 of the world's largest economies are in Hawaii for the second in the series of President Bush's Major Economies Meetings. They will be looking to forge common ground between "old" emitters like the US and Europe and the "new" polluters, such as China and India. The meeting aims to feed ideas into the UN climate negotiations process.
2008/01/29: DotEarth: Bali to Hawaii: The Climate Caravan Moves On
2008/01/28: Reuters: Bush to commit $2 billion to climate change fund
2008/01/28: TruthOut: World's Big Polluters Meet in Hawaii Over Climate
In the USA, the FutureGen "clean coal" Carbon Capture & Sequestration project was cancelled:
2008/02/03: DotEarth: Is Capturing CO2 a Pipe Dream?
2008/01/31: TEB: FutureGen Scrapped, CCS to be Demonstrated on Multiple Clean Coal Power Plants
2008/01/30: CTB: FutureGen Stalled?
2008/01/31: EnvFin: US DoE cuts funding for FutureGen carbon capture scheme
2008/02/01: AutoBG: DOE scraps advanced coal fired power plant in Illinois
2008/02/01: CSM: U.S. scraps ambitious clean-coal power plant - Citing high costs of FutureGen, the Energy Department funds less ambitious projects
2008/01/31: ClimateP: In seeming flipflop, Bush drops mismanaged "NeverGen" clean coal project
2008/01/31: WaPo: Plan for Carbon Storage Dropped - Energy Dept. Scraps FutureGen Alliance
2008/01/30: KSJT: Lots of Ink: Feds may pull out of vaunted FutureGen clean coal and sequestration pilot plant
2008/01/30: Stoat: Less clean coal [FutureGen]
2008/01/29: GristMill: Dept. of Energy pulls support for FutureGen
2008/01/30: DeSmogBlog: Cheap "Clean Coal" Myth Takes Hit From US Department of Energy
2008/01/30: NEN: DOE Dropping Futuregen?
This is huge news. In essence, the Department of Energy (DOE) is announcing that "clean" coal costs too much.

In a similar vein, the Tories decided the country didn't need a National Science Adviser:

2008/02/02: G&M: Science adviser to Ottawa stunned by termination
National Science Adviser Arthur Carty is expressing dismay over the Conservative government's decision to terminate his position, saying Canada needs a non-partisan voice for science at the heart of federal power
2008/01/31: BCLSB: Scientists? We Don't Need No Stinkin' Scientists!
2008/01/30: DeSmogBlog: Canadian Government Sacks Science Advisor - Mainstream Media Ignore the Story
2008/01/30: NatureN: Canada abolishes its national science adviser
Meanwhile that big provincial meeting went down this week in Vancouver:
2008/02/01: TStar: The Alberta elephant
We learned this week that four provinces - Ontario, Quebec, British Columbia and Manitoba - are in talks about forming a common front on climate change. Specifically, they are discussing the creation of a market-based trading system to rein in greenhouse gas emissions. The system would impose a hard cap on emissions, with producers over that level buying "credits" from those below the line. It's an idea that has been endorsed by a wide range of thinkers, from environmentalists to economists, and the four provinces should be applauded for pursuing it. However, missing from the provincial coalition is Alberta, producer of 30 per cent of Canada's greenhouse gas emissions. Indeed, Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach left this week's premiers' conference in Vancouver early, before the discussion on climate change. That's why Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty said at the conclusion of the conference that it would be preferable for the federal government to introduce a cap-and-trade system for the whole country, including Alberta. "We're all going to do what we can as individual premiers representing our respective constituencies," said McGuinty. "But at the end of the day - I'll speak just for a moment as a Canadian - I count on a higher level of government, the federal government, to breathe real life into our ambitions as a country." Unfortunately, added McGuinty, while cap-and-trade systems are being embraced by both Europeans and the Americans, our federal government "suffer(s) from a poverty of ambition."
2008/01/31: CanWest: No unity in emissions agenda - Hydro-rich provinces target Saskatchewan and Alberta
2008/01/31: CanWest: Alberta position on emissions means trouble down the road
Development of Alberta's oilsands, portrayed until now as a good news story for Canada, is coming to be seen as a dirty business. Canadians have been grateful for U.S. interest in the sands and happy for the cash that has been enriching the Prairie province thanks to big-ticket oil. But is it worth it? Increasingly there is a focus on the heavy environmentalist price being paid for the black stuff north of Edmonton. And what of the burden Alberta is placing on the rest of the country in terms of greenhouse gas emissions? With less than 10 per cent of Canada's population, Alberta spews nearly one-third of its greenhouse gas emissions. Which makes it astounding that this week Premier Ed Stelmach up and quit a premier's conference in Vancouver aimed at comparing notes on greenhouse gas emissions. He departed after the first day, advertising an unfortunate lack of concern.
2008/01/30: ENN: Canadian provinces eye carbon-trading plan
2008/01/30: OilChange: Stelmach Defends Climate-Change Plan
2008/01/29: G&M: Stelmach refuses Campbell's invitation - Albertan heads home before climate talks
2008/01/30: CanWest: Another showdown with Alberta - This time, pressure on the oil patch will come from the green policies of the rest of Canada
None of Canada's premiers wants to say it. But here it is: We're probably seeing the beginnings of another national showdown with Alberta, not unlike the battle over the National Energy Program, when Albertans complained the rest of the country was trying to steal their birthright: oil.
2008/01/30: CanWest: Three premiers say they'll bypass Harper, go with B.C. on climate change
Three premiers representing a majority of Canadians said Tuesday they will bypass Prime Minister Stephen Harper's national climate-change plan to pursue a strategy like the one B.C. has been developing.
2008/01/30: G&M: Four provinces unite in emissions fight - Quebec and Ontario join Manitoba and B.C. in talks to set cap-and-trade system
2008/01/30: TStar: Premiers waffle on green plan - Ontario, Quebec stop short of committing to carbon emission caps and trading system
Premiers from Ontario and Quebec say a "cap and trade" system to limit carbon emissions is inevitable for Canada, but they want Ottawa to take the lead in implementing it
2008/01/30: CanWest: Premiers look ahead to climate disasters
2008/01/30: CBC: Ontario premier rips Harper's Tories for 'poverty of ambition' on climate change
2008/01/29: CanWest: Alberta gets a free pass from Campbell - Premier won't discuss Stelmach's stand on emissions policy
2008/01/29: G&M: Alberta to miss climate talks
Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach will reinforce his image as Canada's maverick on climate change today by skipping a meeting with every other provincial leader on how to adapt to a changing environment. Mr. Stelmach, who attended the first day of a premiers meeting yesterday in Vancouver, defiantly defended his climate-change plan unveiled last week - one that has been assailed by environmentalists and business leaders for being out of step with the rest of Canada.
2008/01/28: G&M: Campbell, McGuinty to push climate agenda - Global-warming fallout at issue
2008/01/28: CBC: Premiers conference in Vancouver to focus on climate change
2008/01/28: G&M: No need to sell Alberta's climate plan, Stelmach suggests [Premiers meeting]
Then Alberta & the feds announced a Carbon Capture & Sequestration project:
2008/02/01: Maribo: Supporting carbon capture and storage in Alberta
2008/02/01: CBC: Task force releases carbon capture and storage plan
A $2-billion carbon capture and storage plan aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions was released Thursday by a task force established by the Alberta and federal governments in March 2007. Carbon capture and storage means that the CO2 emitted from oil and gas operations, coal-fired power plants and industrial facilities is injected deep into the ground rather than released into the atmosphere. The report, called Canada's Fossil Energy Future: The Way Forward on Carbon Capture and Storage, examined what needs to be done to move ahead with the technology in Canada.

Are we going to see an Alberta vs federal Tory tussle?

2008/01/30: CanWest: Another showdown with Alberta - This time, pressure on the oil patch will come from the green policies of the rest of Canada
2008/01/30: NatPo: Tory titans to tussle over emissions - Alberta can't really win in fight with Ottawa
Back off, Alberta. That's the official word from high in the federal Environment Ministry as two Conservative government titans square off over the degree and speed with which greenhouse gases must be cut over the next 40 years to avert global warming. That's a tough concept to sell as a negative during the currently deep-frozen Prairies. An industrial hue and cry is expected to erupt next month when the federal government releases long-awaited regulations to reduce the "intensity" of greenhouse-gas emissions by the heftiest carbon-belchers in the country. And nowhere will the hit be harder than on Alberta and the frantic expansion of its energy sector. Oilsands extractors and coal-devouring power plant operators will take one look at the federal numbers and declare their preference for the province's pale green scheme, a kinder, gentler series of targets announced last week that won't impose actual reductions for another dozen years. But a top federal official called me to eliminate any doubt: When hard federal regulations conflict with soft Alberta targets, Ottawa's numbers rule.
2008/01/28: TStar: Climate change is Ottawa's brief [Can pol]
The Conference Board came out in support of a Canadian carbon tax:
2008/02/01: TMoS: Conference Board Backs Carbon Taxes
2008/02/01: CanWest: Conference Board supports a Canadian carbon tax - Seen as effective way to level playing field
Suncor is pouring more money in the tar sands:
2008/01/31: OilChange: Suncor to Invest $20 Billion in Oil Sands
2008/01/30: CBC: Suncor announces $20.6B oilsands expansion plan
2008/01/28: TreeHugger: Edward Burtynsky on the Alberta Tar Sands
2008/01/28: OilChange: Albertans "Hooked on" Oil Sands
2008/01/28: TStar: Climate Neros fiddle while Rome burns
Late comment on Alberta's climate change plan:
2008/02/01: DeSmogBlog: Required Reading on Alberta "Green Plan"
And then there were the usual shenanigans:
2008/02/01: BCLSB: Canadian AGW Regulations
2008/01/31: CanWest: It seems like I'm mortgaging my future to go green
2008/01/29: CanWest: Tories downplay plan to exclude emitters - Smaller firms to be exempt from greenhouse gas targets
The Harper government is downplaying its proposal to overlook up to 10 million tonnes of greenhouse gas pollution from the oil and gas industry in its plan to fight global warming. Environment Canada has proposed that some smaller companies in the sector be exempt from regulations to avoid administrative burdens. But opposition parties said the approach only appears to favour a single sector in the economy, while others are forced to pay.
2008/01/28: TStar: Canadian CEOs urge certainty on climate plan
The movement toward a long term ecologically viable economics is glacial:
2008/02/02: AngryBear: Exponential Growth
Exponential growth is assured to bring with it exponential resource depletion, the effects of which ... will last until we understand that long-term sustainability and growth are mutually exclusive
2008/02/01: EnergyBulletin: The limits to scenario planning
2008/01/31: PeakEnergy: The Limits To Scenario Planning
2008/01/30: CanWest: Heavy footprint weighs down U.S. empire
Is the decline of the status of the United States a result of its heavy ecological footprint? A strong argument can be made that the fading of the American empire is fundamentally an environmental issue.

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

2008/02/02: Guardian(UK): [Letters] The world is not big enough
2008/02/01: TruthOut: Population Growth Is a Threat. But It Pales Against the Greed of the Rich
1999/02/25: OilCrash: Will Limits of the Earth's Resources Control Human Numbers? by David Pimentel et al.
1996/12/: DS: Laws Relating to Sustainability
2008/01/30: EnergyBulletin: Abortion and the Earth
2008/01/30: Guardian(UK): Population growth is a threat. But it pales against the greed of the rich
It's easy to blame the poor for growing pressure on the world's resources. But still the wealthy west takes the lion's share

Apocalypso anyone?

2008/01/31: BBC: The first consignment of seeds bound for the "doomsday vault" on Svalbard has arrived in Norway
2008/01/30: Eureka: African seed collection first to arrive in Norway on route to Arctic seed vault
2008/01/30: TheBigPicture: Dude: Settle the F%$# Down
As for how the media handles the science of climatology:
2008/01/30: DotEarth: New Journal Blog a Sign of Murdoch's Green Bent?
2008/01/29: DeSmogBlog: Self-abuse in the Daily Press
Take one Bill Clinton, add one out-of-context quote that plays to right wing fantasies, spin widely, yields one controversy:
2008/02/03: BCLSB: Investor's Business Daily Smears Bill Clinton Over AGW
2008/02/01: CJR: A "Slow-Blog" Movement? Clinton's cryptic quote causes frustration
2008/01/31: ClimateP: Bill Clinton hypothetical + lame ABC News blog = mother of all out-of-context quotes
2008/02/01: DotEarth: Bill Clinton, Climate and the "Instanet"
2008/01/31: ThinkP: ABC Publishes Hit Piece Against Bill Clinton, Peddles Right-Wing Misinformation On Global Warming
Here is something for your library:
2008/01/29: GristMill: (etext) [Cooling It!] No Hair Shirt Solutions to Global Warming [by Gar Lipow]: Now available free online!
2008/01/29: Wunderground: [Book Review] _Rough Guide to Climate Change_ by Robert Henson
Meanwhile among the 'Sue the Bastards!' contingent:
2008/01/30: WarmingLaw: Judicial Ethics and Global Warming: Let the Sunshine In
2008/01/28: WarmingLaw: Prof. Adler and I Discuss the Standing Ruling in Mass. v. EPA
Wrestling over a new energy infrastructure continues unabated:
2008/02/03: ClimateP: GE Growing Their Green Side [energy]
2008/02/03: TreeHugger: New York City Energy Shortage Projected: Nuclear & "Clean Coal" Proposed As Solution By "Some Experts"
2008/02/03: PeakEnergy: An empire from a tub of goo [many G&M tarsand links]
2008/02/02: PhysOrg: Wind Farms Need Techs to Keep Running
2008/02/01: NYT: A Green Energy Industry Takes Root in California
2008/02/01: G&M: The climatic costs of rapid growth
2008/01/31: SciDaily: Oil Exploration In Arctic Highly Risky: 'Response Gap' In Case Of Oil Spill, According To New Report
2008/01/31: NEN: Australian utility in big wind buy
2008/01/30: NEN: Tough going for new energy incentives
2008/01/29: TruthOut: Renewables From the Bottom Up - While Germany empowers citizens, the US protects corporations
2008/01/29: TEB: Seadog Wave Pump Exceeds Epectations
2008/01/29: CTB: Smart Grids and Electric Vehicles
2008/01/28: CTB: [link to pdf] Powering the Planet - an extraordinary speech that is regularly given by Nate Lewis, Professor of Chemistry at CalTech
2008/01/28: OilDrum: Powering Civilization to 2050
2008/01/28: NEN: Wind will boom in Europe
More than one person had something to say about Big Oil's profits:
2008/02/02: WSWS: As layoffs and prices rise, Big Oil posts record profits
2008/02/01: ClimateP: ExxonMobil pumps its way to record profits while President Bush pumps up Big Oil
2008/02/01: BBC: The world's largest publically listed company, the oil giant Exxon Mobil, has reported $40.6bn (Â£20.4bn) net profits during 2007, a record for a US company
2008/02/01: AFP: ExxonMobil posts record 40.6-bln-dlr profit in 2007
2008/02/01: Yahoo: Rising Oil Prices Push Exxon Mobil to U.S. Record Annual, Quarterly Profits [US$40.6 billion]
2008/01/31: OilChange: Shell Makes 'Obscene' Profits
2008/01/31: AFP: Shell profits hit record 31 billion dollars in 2007
2008/01/31: Yahoo: Shell 4Q Net Profit Rises 60 Percent to $8.47 Billion - Full-year net profit was a record $31.3 billion, up 23 percent...
Politicians talk green while paying billions in fossil fuel subsidies:
2008/01/30: Oikos: How much should we spend to reward pollution?
2008/02/01: GristMill: Oil industry barely hangs on, thanks to brave Republican defense of subsidies
Meanwhile among the solar afficionados:
2008/02/01: PhysOrg: Electricity from a thin film [organic solar cells]
2008/01/31: ClimateP: California Solar Applications Brighten
2008/01/30: ClimateP: Here comes the sun, at least to CA and NJ
2008/01/30: NEN: Stirling Energy: concentrating solar
2008/01/29: PhysOrg: Screen-printed solar cells
2008/01/29: TreeHugger: Green Stats: 29,628 - the number of grid-connected solar photovoltaic installations in California in January 2008
2008/01/29: NEN: Better thinner solar
2008/01/28: NEN: Turn toward solar in desperate South Africa
The arithmetic of coal carbon is striking home:
2008/02/02: TEB: Plans for Coal-to-Liquids Facility Announced
2008/02/01: EconView: Clean Coal?
2008/01/31: NEN: "Clean" coal: cure or curse?
2008/01/30: BBerg: NTPC [India's biggest utility] Coal Imports to Jump 67%, May Burn Lower Grades
2008/01/28: GristMill: The health externalities of coal
Biofuel bickering abounds:
2008/02/02: AutoBG: Green Star Products grows biodiesel algae in cold Montana winter
2008/02/01: TCulture: "Realism Needed on Biofuel Future": Anthony Gibson of the NFU Responds
2008/01/29: FSF: Ethanol and E Coli
2008/02/01: Eureka: International effort takes critical steps to accelerate growth of global biofuels market
2008/01/31: MoJo: $1 Ethanol Isn't Innovation, It's a Commitment to Business as Usual
2008/01/30: AutoBG: Mother Jones not too keen on Coskata/GM cellulosic ethanol development
2008/01/29: ACP: N2O release from agro-biofuel production negates global warming reduction by replacing fossil fuels by P. J. Crutzen et al.
[from the abstract] the production of commonly used biofuels, such as biodiesel from rapeseed and bioethanol from corn (maize), depending on N fertilizer uptake efficiency by the plants, can contribute as much or more to global warming by N2O emissions than cooling by fossil fuel savings.
2008/01/30: AutoBG: DOE finds $114m for cellulosic ethanol
The nuclear energy controversy continues:
2008/02/02: Reuters: US nuclear power plants to get more Russia uranium
Yes we have a peak oil sighting:
2008/01/31: Gauntlet: Surviving the end of the oil age - James Howard Kunstler discusses his new book
2008/02/01: EurActiv: IEA refutes 'peak oil', points to lack of investment
2008/01/31: OilDrum: Former CEO of Talisman Energy: Peak oil is 'here or hereabouts'
2008/01/30: MBTMag: Oil scarcity has 'snuck up on us', expert says
The idea that the world's supplies of oil have either peaked or will soon start declining has suddenly gained new respectability. The concept of 'peak oil' has been derided by the big oil companies for years, but at the end of last week came a turnabout. The chief executive of the oil giant Royal Dutch Shell, Jeroen van der Veer, put out a paper on Friday forecasting the end of easy oil.
2008/01/30: SiouxCityJournal: Days of cheap energy are over, lawmaker says - Group pushes 'green' jobs, energy conservation
2008/01/29: OilChange: Shell Sparks Fears Over Reserves
2008/01/29: OilChange: Shell: We Will Begin to Run Out of Oil in 7 Years
2008/01/28: EnergyBulletin: The WSJ article on a CERA oil decline study by Robert L. Hirsch
Automakers & lawyers, engineers & activists argue over the future of the car:
2008/02/02: TreeHugger: First Lithium-Ion Car Battery Factory to Open in France
2008/02/01: AutoBG: Nissan confirms the "Cube," a 37 MPG, hybrid, Scion-look-a-like, is coming to the US
2008/02/01: GristMill: Green fantasy tech one step closer to reality - Lockheed Martin signs exclusive contract with Eestor for energy storage units
2008/02/01: ITWire: FOSS to electric cars: not such a big leap
2008/02/01: SMH: Plug-in car first of its kind in Australia
2008/01/30: AutoBG: Don't believe everything you read out there, Tesla production date has not slipped again
2008/01/31: TGBeaver: Your Moment of ZENN...
2008/01/29: GristMill: Why are American automakers special? The Big Three attempt to persuade other states of the danger of fuel efficiency standards
2008/01/28: WarmingLaw: The Disinformation Campaign That Won't Die
2008/01/27: Reuters: Auto companies press states on California emissions
The reaction of business to climate change will be critical:
2008/01/30: TEB: Big Business Says Addressing Climate Change 'Rates Very Low on Agenda'
2008/01/31: EnvFin: UN Global Compact ejects 400 companies
2008/01/31: EnvFin: Intel makes largest purchase of renewable electricity
2008/02/01: NEN: Businesses measuring emissions [CDP]
2008/01/30: GreenBiz: The State of Green Business in 2008: Are We Swimming, Treading or Sinking?
2008/01/30: ABC(Au): Businesses looking for leadership on climate change
2008/01/29: NEN: Biggest U.S. corps ready to count & cap emissions
Meanwhile in the greenwashing chronicles:
2008/01/30: GristMill: Greenwashing Index - See how easy it is being Green(TM)! Just use Greenwash!
Insurance and re-insurance companies are feeling the heat:
2008/02/03: SMH: Storm damage shaves $280m off Suncorp profits [insurance]
The carbon lobby are up to the usual:
2008/02/03: AngryBear: CoRev on Global Warming, Cactus Responds
2008/02/01: Atmoz: Surface Stations Ratings
2008/01/31: CCDenial: More Dire Ads
2008/02/01: ThinkP: Global Warming Denier Group Funded By Big Oil Hosting Climate Change Denial Conference
2008/02/01: JEB: Corbynwatch: The Verdict
2008/01/30: Atmoz: Is There a True Average Global Temperature?
2008/01/31: Deltoid: Neil Munro on global warming and y2k
2008/01/30: RealClimate: What if you held a conference, and no (real) scientists came?
2008/01/29: Atmoz: On the Insignificance of a 5 Year Temperature Trend
Wiki:KDB: Inhofe's 400 "scientists"
2008/01/30: Stoat: Morano madness
2008/01/29: SeanInSask: Its Downright Cold on the Praries today.....Bring Out the GW Nuts! [denial]
Then there was the usual news and commentary:
2008/02/02: CBC:Q&Q: (mp3/ogg) Kangaroo Burps, Geothermal - The Energy Underground
2008/02/03: SMH: Family on climate-change quest
Meet the Swiss family who put even the "greenest" among us to shame. The Schworers are on a round-the-world mission powered only by wind, solar and human energy to raise awareness for global warming. Seven years into an adventure they estimate will take them 14, Dario and Sabine aim to break a world record by climbing seven summits and crossing seven seas, all without the use of a motor.
2008/02/02: JFleck: Global Warming and Football
2008/01/31: CanWest: League [NHL] can't really go green without axing jet fuel
2008/02/01: ClimateP: MIT Part 2: Tackling the biggest source of climate confusion
2008/02/01: MLive: Former oil company exec takes on global warming
2008/01/31: Atmoz: Regional Radiative Imbalance from Global Warming
2008/01/30: ERabett: WGIII o gee - the list of WGIII authors.
2008/01/31: EurActiv: [Jeremy Rifkin Interview] A 'Third Industrial Revolution' is nigh
2008/01/31: SF Gate: It's really not that easy being green
Despite the increased hype about companies going green, American business isn't making much of a dent in major environmental problems, according to a new report card on the state of corporate environmental initiatives. American companies as a whole are making progress in eight out of 20 environmental categories tracked in the State of Green Business 2008 study, while losing ground in two categories and treading water in 10 others.
2008/01/28: Atmoz: Exxon Mobil Wants You Betting on Climate
2008/01/26: HHummel: Tracing the Basis for a Claim about Near-Term Emission Reduction Targets for Industrialized Countries on a Path to Climate Stabilization at 2 degC
2008/01/29: ClimateP: For carbon-target junkies only
2008/01/29: TreeHugger: Iraq Again Focuses Attention on U.S., This Time By Ratifying Kyoto
2008/01/28: GristMill: Global warming in seven words - Here's your chance to be the Pollan of climate change
2008/01/28: Times(UK): Let's hope talk on climate change is not just hot air
2008/01/28: GristMill: Eco-Farm: California dreaming - Notes on California's big sustainable-farming conference
And here are a couple of sites you may find interesting and/or useful:
NSIDC: Glacier Photograph Collection
Climate For Change
The EnviroMedia Greenwashing Index
WSJ: Environmental Capital
Tamino's Climate Data Links
LDEO: Global Standardized Precipitation Index Analyses
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Low Key Plug

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

-het

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

"...there are already more human beings alive than the world's _renewable_ resources can perpetually support. We have built complex societies that therefore _depend_ on rapid use of exhaustible resources. Depletion of resources we don't know how to do without is _reducing_ this finite planet's carrying capacity for our species. That is one jaw of the closing vise. The other is the accumulation of harmful substances..."
-William R. Catton Jr.,Overshoot, The Ecological Basis of Evolutionary Change, page 10

Another Week of GW News, February 3, 2008

Sipping from the internet firehose...

China has been whalloped with a once-in-50-years snow storm with major energy & agricultural ramifications:

There has been surprisingly little news out of Bush's Major Economies Conference in Hawaii:

In the USA, the FutureGen "clean coal" Carbon Capture & Sequestration project was cancelled:

The Laurentide ice cap is disappearing:

And in the Antarctic:

I haven't seen this report yet, but these figures might give you pause:

Late comment on the AGU statement:

Late comment on Bali:

Late comment on the Anthropocene:

In the hurricane wars, Gene battered Fiji:

And then there were the usual arguments:

While GHGs are still going up:

And in the carbon cycle:

As for the temperature record:

While on the ENSO front:

Sea levels are rising:

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

More GW impacts are being seen:

And then there are the world's forests:

Corals are dying:

Desertification looms as a threat:

Yes we have no wacky weather, except:

And speaking of floods & droughts:

A study on the US SouthWest drought blames humans:

And another is calling for a change in water planning:

The conflict between biofuel and food persists:

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

Elsewhere on the mitigation front:

Consider transportation & GHG production:

Large scale geo-engineering keeps popping up:

Meanwhile in the journals:

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

While on the carbon trading front:

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

Meanwhile on the international political front:

And on the security front:

And on the American political front:

George Who? gave a SOTU speech:

So, how do the military vs. climate change budgets shake out?

The Focus The Nation teach-in went down this week:

Now here is a colourful evangelical turn of phrase:

The 2008 campaign is not making much climate news:

Let's see. All the Republican candidates support California's EPA waiver. Arnie throws his support behind McCain. Romney flips. Is it any wonder no one trusts politicians?

Big Coal is funding politicians left, right & centre:

Do you think this judge will get canned?

While in the UK:

The Labour government tried to release partial GHG statistics, again:

There is still a lot of noise about UK energy policy:

And about airplane emissions, airports:

While in Europe:

Meanwhile in Australia:

And in Japan:

In Canada, minority neocon PM Harper is trying to perfect his Republican imitation by muzzling federal scientists:

In a similar vein, the Tories decided the country didn't need a National Science Adviser:

Meanwhile that big provincial meeting went down this week in Vancouver:

Then Alberta & the feds announced a Carbon Capture & Sequestration project:

Are we going to see an Alberta vs federal Tory tussle?

The Conference Board came out in support of a Canadian carbon tax:

Suncor is pouring more money in the tar sands:

Late comment on Alberta's climate change plan:

And then there were the usual shenanigans:

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

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

Apocalypso anyone?

As for how the media handles the science of climatology:

Take one Bill Clinton, add one out-of-context quote that plays to right wing fantasies, spin widely, yields one controversy:

Here is something for your library:

Meanwhile among the 'Sue the Bastards!' contingent:

Wrestling over a new energy infrastructure continues unabated:

More than one person had something to say about Big Oil's profits:

Politicians talk green while paying billions in fossil fuel subsidies:

Meanwhile among the solar afficionados:

The arithmetic of coal carbon is striking home:

Biofuel bickering abounds:

The nuclear energy controversy continues:

Yes we have a peak oil sighting:

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

The reaction of business to climate change will be critical: