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
- Top Stories:WGMS Report, X-Prize, Opportunity Cost
- Melting Arctic, Arctic Oil & Gas Claim, Earth Hour, PCA, ECO:nomics, G20
- Hurricanes, GHGs, Temperatures, Glaciers, Sea Levels, Satellites, DSCOVR
- Impacts, Forests, Corals, Wacky Weather, Floods & Droughts, Food Production
- Mitigation, Transportation, Buildings, Sequestration, Geoengineering
- Journals, Miscellaneous Science, Hansen
- Kyoto, Carbon Trade, Carbon Tax, Optimal Carbon Reduction Strategy
- Politics:G8, Security, America, Britain, Europe, Australia, China, Japan, Canada
- Ecological Economics, Apocalypso, Media, Books
- Energy, Solar, Coal, Biofuel, Nukes, Peak Oil, Efficiency, Cars, Business
- Carbon Lobby, The Usual, Useful Links
- Shameless Self Promotion, .sig
- 2008/03/21: PeakEnergy: (cartoon - Ramirez) Food For Oil
- 2008/03/18: PeakEnergy: (cartoon - ???) Withdrawal Symptoms
The WGMS melting glaciers report got major coverage:
- 2008/03/01: WGMS: glacier mass balance data 2003/2004, 2004/2005, and 2005/2006
- 2008/03/18: CCurrents: A Glacial Vanishing Act
- 2008/03/18: OneWorld: Record Glacier Melt Spurs New Calls for Action
- 2008/03/17: DerSpiegel: Alarming Thaw - UN Report Reveals Glaciers Melting at Record Speed
- 2008/03/16: UN: World's glaciers melting at record rate - UN
- 2008/03/18: ENN: Vanishing central African glaciers threaten water supplies of millions
- 2008/03/18: SciDaily: Glaciers Are Melting Faster Than Expected, UN Reports
- 2008/03/18: PeakEnergy: Glaciers melt 'at fastest rate in past 5,000 years'
- 2008/03/18: CDreams: IPS: A Glacial Vanishing Act
- 2008/03/17: NatureTGB: Glacier melt speeding up
- 2008/03/17: ClimateP: Record global glacial melt
- 2008/03/17: TruthOut: Glaciers Suffer Record Shrinkage
- 2008/03/17: ENN: Meltdown in the Mountains
- 2008/03/16: TerraDaily: UN warns climate change melting glaciers at alarming rate
- 2008/03/17: OilChange: Glaciers Melting at Fastest Rate for 5,000 Years
- 2008/03/16: SwissInfo: Glaciers melting at record pace
Zurich-based scientists have found that ice loss in glaciers reached record levels in 2006, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has said. - 2008/03/17: BBC: Glaciers suffer record shrinkage
The rate at which some of the world's glaciers are melting has more than doubled, data from the United Nations Environment Programme has shown - 2008/03/21: PhysOrg: Green cars to compete for 10-million-dollar prize
- 2008/03/21: AutoBG: New York 2008: Progressive Insurance CEO on why he's spending $10m on the Auto X Prize
- 2008/03/20: KSJT: AP, Wired, etc: An X-Prize for a 100 mpg car
- 2008/03/20: CNN: X Prize offering $10M purse for 100-mpg vehicle
Only production-ready, consumer-friendly cars to be chosen from applicants - Cross-country races in 2009, 2010 will gauge speed, range, overall performance - Minimum requirements: Top speed of at least 80 mph, range of 100 miles or more - 2008/03/20: SlashDot: New X-Prize for Fuel Efficient Cars Announced
Welcome to the wonderful world of Opportunity Cost:
- 2008/03/19: GristMill: What we can afford - The money we've spent on the five-year Iraq War could have shifted the world to renewables
- 2008/03/19: DeSmogBlog: The Global Warming Costs of the Iraq War
The Arctic is losing long-term ice cover:
- 2008/03/20: ERabett: Halloween Pictures [Arctic ice]
- 2008/03/19: CCurrents: Arctic Losing Long-Term Ice Cover
- 2008/03/19: MongaBay: Perennial [Arctic] ice disappears, media yawns
- 2008/03/18: ERabett: Eli will have some ice on that [Arctic]
- 2008/03/19: KSJT: Wash. Post, Reuters, AP, SF Chron, etc : NASA survey says Arctic winter ice is broad, but thin. Another big-melt summer looks likely
- 2008/03/19: ClimateP: NOAA/NASA/NSIDC: Arctic ice is alarmingly scarce and thin
- 2008/03/19: TruthOut: NASA Data Shows Thickest and Oldest Arctic Ice Is Melting
- 2008/03/19: ABC(Au): Arctic could be ice-free in a year: scientist
- 2008/03/19: TerraDaily: Researchers Say Arctic Sea Ice Still At Risk Despite Cold Winter
- 2008/03/19: AfterGutenberg: Skating on Thin (Arctic and Antarctic) Ice
- 2008/03/19: SF Gate: Arctic ice thinning, glacier melt accelerates
- 2008/03/19: ThinkP:WR: Spin Watch: Arctic Sea Ice
- 2008/03/18: NASA: Sea Ice Conditions
- 2008/03/18: CNN:SciTech: The Arctic on Thin Ice
- 2008/03/18: NatureTGB: The incredible shrinking sea ice
- 2008/03/18: DotEarth: A Farewell to Ice
- 2008/03/18: PhysOrg: Researchers say Arctic sea ice still at risk despite cold winter
- 2008/03/18: Eureka: Researchers say Arctic sea ice still at risk despite cold winter
- 2008/03/18: BrisbaneTimes: This is not science fiction
Ice scientists around the world watched with a mixture of alarm and astonishment as the great Arctic Sea ice sheet shrank over the northern summer to its lowest level in memory. - 2008/03/18: BBC: Arctic losing long-term ice cover
The Arctic is losing its old, thick ice faster than in previous years, according to satellite data. [...] Ice more than two years old now makes up about 30% of all the ice in the Arctic, down from 60% two decades ago. - 2008/03/21: CanWest: U.S. firm [Arctic Oil & Gas] lays claim to 'potentially vast' Arctic oil resources
U.S. firm lays claim to nearly all of what it says will be 400 billion barrels A U.S.-based company that has controversially laid claim to nearly all of the Arctic Ocean's undersea oil said yesterday that new geological data suggest a "potentially vast" petroleum resource of 400 billion barrels. That figure is backed by a respected Canadian researcher who recently signed on as the firm's chief scientific adviser. Las Vegas-based Arctic Oil & Gas has raised eyebrows around the world with its roll-of-the-dice bid to lock up exclusive rights to extract oil and gas from rapidly melting areas of the central Arctic Ocean, currently beyond the territorial control of Canada, Russia and other polar nations. The company, which counts retired B.C. senator Edward Lawson among its directors, has filed a claim with the United Nations to act as the sole "development agent" of Arctic seabed oil and gas. - 2008/03/23: CanWest: Canadians to get 'busy' for Earth Hour
- 2008/03/20: SMH: Helping Earth [Hour], no strings attached
- 2008/03/18: Intersection:SRK: Earth Hour
Tamino dropped an unexpected article on Principal Components Analysis:
- 2008/03/19: Tamino: PCA part 5: Non-Centered PCA, and Multiple Regressions
Late comment on ECO:nomics:
- 2008/03/20: GristMill: ECO:nomics: More evidence of Exxon's evil genius
- 2008/03/19: GristMill: Eco:nomics: The decline and fall of the ideologues - Delayers and doomsayers receive a chilly reception from pragmatic business leaders
- 2008/03/17: GristMill: Eco:nomics: Wal-Mart -- CEO H. Lee Scott Jr. offers a realistic assessment of his company's sustainability efforts
- 2008/03/16: GristMill: Eco:nomics: Presidential energy advisers, miscellania - More notable stuff from a panel with the campaigns' energy folk
About that G20 meeting that went down in Japan last week:
- 2008/03/17: ChinaDaily: G20 climate-change meeting concludes without agreement
- 2008/03/16: ABC(Au): G20 backs climate fight, divided over industry caps
No new hurricanes, but cleaning up after Jokwe:
- 2008/03/18: UN: Mozambique asks for UN food assistance in wake of deadly cyclone [Jokwe]
- 2008/03/17: TerraDaily: Mozambican government seeks urgent food aid after cyclone [Jokwe]
Meanwhile GHGs are still going up:
- 2008/03/20: ENS: U.S. Power Plant Carbon Emissions Zoom in 2007
As for the temperature record:
- 2008/03/22: Tamino: Autocorrelation - Global temperature shows a lot of variations...
- 2008/03/20: ENN: Icy start, but 2008 may be in top 10 warmest years
- 2008/03/19: NPR: The Mystery of Global Warming's Missing Heat
- 2008/03/16: ClimateP: NOAA Part 1: February unusually warm
- 2008/03/17: ABC(Au): Hot weather breaking records in Northern Victoria
More on glaciers:
- 2008/03/20: CSM: Tropical glaciers slowly vanish - Rivers fed by melting glaciers across Latin America may soon dry up, forcing changes on the people who depend upon them.
- 2008/03/17: Guardian(UK): Melting glaciers (8 pictures)
- 2008/03/20: NewScientist: Melting glaciers will trigger food shortages
Sea levels are rising:
- 2008/03/21: WaTi: Warming scenario sees flooded airport
The Bush administration has set aside its skepticism about global warming to begin planning for the possibility that major Washington-area infrastructure, including Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, could be inundated by rising seawaters. The U.S. Capitol and Lincoln Memorial also could be flooded frequently in a global-warming scenario described in a new study sponsored by the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT). The study anticipates a 12-inch rise in sea level along the Atlantic coast by 2050 if the ice caps continue to melt from a buildup of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. It includes maps of how the Washington area could be affected. The study does not represent a policy change by the Bush administration, but is merely an attempt to plan ahead, said Ian Grossman, a spokesman for the Federal Highway Administration. - 2008/03/17: KSJT: Telegraph, Bloomberg, Financial Times etc: Growing dams overlooked (till now) in sea level rise analyses
Meanwhile in near earth orbit:
- 2008/03/21: TreeHugger: Europe's Most Polluted Area: Germany's Steel and Coal Haven
- 2008/03/20: SciDaily: Satellite [Envisat] Makes First Ever Observation Of Regionally Elevated Carbon Dioxide From Manmade Emissions
- 2008/03/19: TerraDaily: Envisat Makes First Ever Observation Of Regionally Elevated CO2 From Manmade Emissions
- 2008/03/19: DeutscheWelle: Europe's Worst Pollution Pocket Found Above Western Germany
Home to Germany's steel and coal industries, the area between Amsterdam and Frankfurt is the most polluted in Europe, scientists said. German researchers in Bremen based their findings on new, unique satellite data. For the first time ever, scientists have been able to measure the regional concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, a research team from Germany's Bremen University announced on Tuesday, March 18. - 2008/03/18: PhysOrg: Envisat makes first ever observation of regionally elevated CO2 from manmade emissions
- 2008/03/18: ESA: Envisat makes first ever observation of regionally elevated CO2 from manmade emissions [using data from the SCIAMACHY instrument]
- 2008/03/18: Eureka: Satellites can help Arctic grazers survive killer winter storms
- 2008/03/17: PhysOrg: Satellite measures pollution from East Asia to North America
The campaign to uncover DSCOVR [Deep Space Climate Observatory] rolls on:
- 2008/03/19: DeSmogBlog: More Dirt on the DSCOVR Climate Satellite
More GW impacts are being seen:
- 2008/03/23: Guardian(UK): Hugo Potter's minutiae - Seasonal effects of climate change
- 2008/03/20: TruthOut: Water Shortages Affect Food, Transit, Security - A thousand tons of water produces just one ton of grain
- 2008/03/21: CCurrents: Climate Change Deepening World Water Crisis
- 2008/03/20: KSJT: AP: Phenology all over - seasons are sliding across the calendar: just check the cherry trees, checker spot butterflies, and spring's first robins
- 2008/03/20: SeattlePI: Spring's sprung earlier, warmer - Climate change puts the greening season ahead of schedule for many species in the Northwest
- 2008/03/20: CSM: Water shortages affect food, transit, security - A thousand tons of water produces just one ton of grain.
- 2008/03/20: Guardian(UK): New horizon: what we can expect as nature changes
- 2008/03/19: PhysOrg: Global Warming Rushes Timing of Spring
- 2008/03/19: BBC: New bluetongue cases confirmed - Bluetongue precautions have been extended after new cases were confirmed in Hertfordshire and Lincolnshire
- 2008/03/18: KSJT: Boston Globe: New England's trees are changing fast as climate warms
- 2008/03/17: Maribo: Hypoxic zones around the world
- 2008/03/18: TreeHugger: Reporting the Obvious: Climate Change Will Impact Transportation
- 2008/03/18: ClimateP: More corn ethanol = Bigger Gulf dead zone
- 2008/03/18: TruthOut: In a Warmer Yellowstone Park, a Shifting Environmental Balance
- 2008/03/18: NYT: In a Warmer Yellowstone Park, a Shifting Environmental Balance
- 2008/03/17: ABC(Au): Emerald Isle could turn brown
And then there are the world's forests:
- 2008/03/21: WaPo: Brazil Pursues Crackdown on Loggers After Surge in Cutting
- 2008/03/20: MongaBay: Markets could save forests: An interview with Dr. Tom Lovejoy
- 2008/03/19: AutoBG: Poor country in need of cash? Sell forests to trade off pollution.
- 2008/03/19: BBC: Vietnam 'hub for illegal timber'
Vietnam has become a major South-East Asian hub for processing illegally logged timber, according to a report from two environmental charities. The trade threatens some of the last intact forests in the region, say the UK-based Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) and Indonesia's Telapak. Because Vietnam has increased measures to protect its own forest, producers are getting timber from other nations. - 2008/03/18: KSJT: SciDevNet: Big Chinese plan for biofuels could mean curtains for some of the nation's last unspoilt forests
- 2008/03/18: TruthOut: Clearcutting the Climate
As for the world's corals:
- 2008/03/22: TreeHugger: New Research Indicates Some Corals Are Taking the Heat and Surviving
- 2008/03/20: ABC(Au): Some algae help coral survive warming waters: study
- 2008/03/20: BBC: Fish key to reef climate survival
A healthy fish population could be the key to ensuring coral reefs survive the impacts of climate change, pollution, overfishing and other threats - 2008/03/19: NewScientist: Corals kick out housemates that can't stand the heat
Yes we have no wacky weather, except:
- 2008/03/17: Wunderground: Atlanta tornado one the most damaging on record
And speaking of floods & droughts:
- 2008/03/21: PhysOrg: China's Yellow River floods town: report
- 2008/03/23: SciDaily: Current Major Flooding In U.S. A Sign Of Things To Come, NOAA Predicts
- 2008/03/19: JFleck: Drought in Israel
- 2008/03/20: TreeHugger: Marseille to Send Water to Barcelona by Boat to Help City Fight Drought
- 2008/03/20: Wunderground: Spring flooding hits Midwest; Southeast drought eases
- 2008/03/18: AfterGutenberg: Drought Eases in Southeast for Now
- 2008/03/17: UN: Zambian flood victims assisted by UN telecoms agency
- 2008/03/17: USAToday: Drought eases, water wars persist [Southeast USA]
The US MidWest has been hit hard:
- 2008/03/22: CBC: U.S. Midwest nervously watches water levels rise
- 2008/03/21: People's Daily: U.S. midwest ravaged by rains
- 2008/03/21: BBC: The central US is being threatened with worsening weather conditions, after at least 16 people died and hundreds of homes were evacuated because of floods
- 2008/03/21: Yahoo: Midwest rivers rise; snow hits Chicago
Flood-weary Midwesterners fought Friday to save their homes and businesses from rivers spilling over their banks after rainstorms blamed for at least 16 deaths moved through the region. Thousands of people from Arkansas through Ohio were staying in shelters or with relatives as flood waters lapped against their homes. - 2008/03/20: AP: Soggy Midwest Braces for More Flooding
- 2008/03/20: BBC: Severe rains in US leave 13 dead
- 2008/03/19: CBC: 13 dead as floods sweep central U.S.
- 2008/03/19: Yahoo: 13 dead, 3 missing in central US storm
- 2008/03/19: McClatchyDC: Rain closes Dallas/Fort Worth Airport, stranding thousands
- 2008/03/19: Yahoo: 9 dead, 4 missing in central US storm
- 2008/03/18: CNN: Storms flood Southern states, killing two
Widespread flooding in Missouri, Arkansas; flights canceled in Texas - Teen swept away by high waters near Dallas, Texas - Body of 81-year-old man found in water in Ellington, Missouri - 2008/03/21: TreeHugger: Melting Glaciers Could Hike Price Of Our Daily Bread
- 2008/03/21: ENN: Melting glaciers will shrink grain harvests in China and India
- 2008/03/19: GristMill: Grain drain - With global wheat stocks at all-time lows, a killer fungus looms
- 2008/03/17: BBC: Egypt army to tackle bread crisis
Egypt's president has ordered the army to increase the production and distribution of bread, in an attempt to cope with serious shortages. Rising prices and alleged corruption have sparked recent clashes at bakeries in poorer neighbourhoods, leading to several deaths. Hosni Mubarak said eradicating bread queues was "imperative". The army and interior ministry control numerous bakeries normally used to supply bread for troops and police. - 2008/03/16: IdahoStatesman: Rising food costs sending more families to food banks
- 2008/03/16: SlashDot: Newly Discovered Fungus Threatens World Wheat Crop
Elsewhere on the mitigation front:
- 2008/03/21: PhysOrg: Scientists look to cut cow flatulence [with fumaric acid]
- 2008/03/18: SciAm: Keys to Climate Protection
Dramatic, immediate commitment to nurturing new technologies is essential to averting disastrous global warming - 2008/03/21: ClimateP: Reducing your carbon footprint from travel
- 2008/03/19: GreenRising: Use of Public Transportation on the Rise
- 2008/03/20: DotEarth: The Return of Sail, and Hemp?
- 2008/03/20: NEN: Air flight emissions war heats up
- 2008/03/19: TreeHugger: Cargo Ship with Kites: First Trans-Atlantic Trip a Success!
- 2008/03/18: GristMill: 'But Americans won't ride trains' - Defying conventional wisdom, NC residents express desire for public transport
While in the endless quest for sustainable building codes:
- 2008/03/20: SwissInfo: UN to use lake water to reduce carbon footprint
The United Nations in Geneva has signed up to an energy-saving project that uses lake water to cool and heat its buildings. - 2008/03/18: SciDaily: Promote Green Buildings For Biggest, Easiest Cuts In North American Carbon Dioxide Emissions
- 2008/03/16: Missoulian: Green and lean: Carbon-neutral home results in $28 February power bill
As for carbon sequestration:
- 2008/03/18: G&M: Why carbon capture is an illusion
[...] Simply put, taking the carbon dioxide out of emissions (from a power plant or installation), and finding a safe place to tuck it away permanently isn't easy, isn't cheap and isn't going to happen in time to save the climate. There are problems with the technology that no one has been able to solve on an industrial scale. Enormous amounts of money will have to be spent just to try and make it work. - 2008/03/19: SMH: Fast-track for seabed storage of emissions
An ambitious plan to allow millions of tonnes of carbon emissions from coal-fired power stations to be stored under Australia's seabeds will go to federal cabinet within weeks despite environmental objections. The federal Energy Minister, Martin Ferguson, said yesterday the plan was vital to making Australia a leading player in clean coal technology. - 2008/03/18: DeSmogBlog: The Clean Coal Scam and the Carbon Sequestration Myth
- 2008/03/18: AutoBG: Repsol fills old oil fields in the Mediterranian with CO2
- 2008/03/18: CDreams: Guardian(UK): Carbon Capture Is Turning out to Be Just Another Great Green Scam
- 2008/03/18: Guardian(UK): Carbon capture is turning out to be just another great green scam
Large scale geo-engineering keeps popping up:
- 2008/03/19: ClimateP: Time on Geo-engineering: What are they thinking? Part 1
- 2008/03/17: Time: What's Next 2008 -- Future Revolutions -- 6) Geoengineering
- 2008/03/17: Intersection:CCM: Geoengineering Time
Meanwhile in the journals:
- 2008/03/20: ACP: Cirrus, contrails, and ice supersaturated regions in high pressure systems at northern mid latitudes by F. Immler et al.
- 2008/03/20: ACPD: Odin/OSIRIS observations of stratospheric NO3 through sunrise and sunset by C. A. McLinden & C. S. Haley
- 2008/03/19: CPD: Provenance changes of eolian dust at Lingtai section in the Chinese Loess Plateau since 7 Ma and its implication for desert development in East Asia by Y. Isozaki et al.
- 2008/03/18: CPD: Influence of the Atlantic thermohaline circulation on neodymium isotopic composition at the Last Glacial Maximum – a modelling sensitivity study by T. Arsouze et al.
- 2008/03/18: TC: Modelling historical and recent mass loss of McCall Glacier, Alaska, USA by C. Delcourt et al.
- 2008/03/17: Columbia: (1.2 meg pdf) Target Atmospheric CO2: Where Should Humanity Aim? by James Hansen et al.
- 2008/03/18: ACP: Operational retrieval of Asian sand and dust storm from FY-2C geostationary meteorological satellite and its application to real time forecast in Asia by X. Q. Hu et al.
- 2008/03/18: ACP: NO2 climatology in the northern subtropical region: diurnal, seasonal and interannual variability by M. Gil et al.
- 2008/03/17: ACP: Aerosol distribution over Europe: a model evaluation study with detailed aerosol microphysics by B. Langmann et al.
- 2008/03/19: ACPD: Odin stratospheric proxy NOy measurements and climatology by S. Brohede et al.
- 2008/03/18: ACPD: Influence of future air pollution mitigation strategies on total aerosol radiative forcing by S. Kloster et al.
- 2008/03/18: ACPD: Source-receptor relationships between East Asian sulfur dioxide emissions and Northern Hemisphere sulfate concentrations by J. Liu et al.
- 2008/03/19: ACPD: Three years of greenhouse gas column-averaged dry air mole fractions retrieved from satellite - Part 1: Carbon dioxide by O. Schneising et al.
- 2008/03/18: PNAS: Corn-based ethanol production compromises goal of reducing nitrogen export by the Mississippi River by Simon D. Donner & Christopher J. Kucharik
- 2008/03/18: PNAS: Heat stress causes inhibition of the de novo synthesis of antenna proteins and photobleaching in cultured Symbiodinium by Shunichi Takahashi et al. [j/coral]
- 2008/03/18: PNAS: A rapid upward shift of a forest ecotone during 40 years of warming in the Green Mountains of Vermont by Brian Beckage et al.
Before we get into politics, there was some science done:
- 2008/03/23: ABC(Au): Climate change researchers take to the high seas
- 2008/03/23: CanWest: Scientists hunt for climate clues in Antarctic
- 2008/03/19: LBL: How Iron Gets into the North Pacific - Is the Dust-Storm Theory Overblown?
- 2008/03/19: BBC: Robots fly into Antarctic skies - A pair of lightweight, robotic planes have made the first unmanned flights over Antarctica's icy expanses
- 2008/03/18: NatureN: Unmanned craft chart the Antarctic winter - Sea-ice study benefits from first robotic flights over Weddell Sea
- 2008/03/16: RealClimate: Venus Unveiled
James Hansen is in the news:
- 2008/03/21: DemNow: (mp3/transript) Censoring Science: Inside the Political Attack on Dr. James Hansen and the Truth of Global Warming
- 2008/03/17: Columbia: (1.2 meg pdf) Target Atmospheric CO2: Where Should Humanity Aim? by James Hansen et al.
- 2008/03/19: DotEarth: Back to 1988 on CO2, Says NASA's Hansen
- 2008/03/18: ClimateP: Hansen (et al) must read: Get back to 350 ppm or risk an ice-free planet
- 2008/03/18: Stoat: He's at it again [Hansen]
Meanwhile on the Kyoto front:
- 2008/03/20: NatureCF: Trading Kyoto
And on the carbon trading front:
- 2008/03/21: NEN: Texans train to trade emissions
- 2008/03/17: ENN: Lehman [Brothers] sees U.S. climate move to spur carbon trade
- 2008/03/17: WSJ:EnvCap: Making Carbon Markets, Two: The RGGI Bar
- 2008/03/17: WSJ:EnvCap: Making Carbon Markets: Nymex's Future Options
The idea of a carbon tax is still bouncing around:
- 2008/03/22: TreeHugger: What Would a Carbon Tax Look Like?
- 2008/03/21: TreeHugger: Al Gore Says Carbon Tax Best Choice
- 2008/03/19: GTM: Al Gore Backs Carbon Tax
The Nobel laureate and former vice president advocates a tax on carbon dioxide emissions as the U.S. Senate continues to debate a carbon cap-and-trade system. - 2008/03/21: NEN: The case for a carbon tax
- 2008/03/17: PEF: More on carbon taxes
The debate over the optimal strategy [carbon trading, carbon offsets and/or a carbon tax] to use in dealing with GHGs continues:
- 2008/03/22: GristMill: Thought of the day: Don't call 100 percent auctioning cap-and-trade - If 100 percent auctioning is done right, the trade component will be trivial
- 2008/03/19: GristMill: Letting what market figure out the best way? A cap-and-trade system will not by itself eliminate dirty energy's unfair advantages
Meanwhile on the international political front:
- 2008/03/18: ENN: Japan to host [G8] climate change summit [July 9th]
As for GW & security:
- 2008/03/22: EnergyBulletin: A global threat multiplier
And on the American political front:
- 2008/03/23: ClimateP: A Man for no Seasons (literally): Bush is no More
- 2008/03/21: GristMill: Weak brew in Maryland - Climate bill passes state Senate after being severely weakened
- 2008/03/22: TreeHugger: American Council for Capital Formation: Panzer Attack On Cap & Trade Bill
- 2008/03/21: CSW: National Climate Change Preparedness Initiative -- Initial prospectus for review and comment
- 2008/03/20: TerraDaily: Reducing Carbon Emissions Could Help US Economy
- 2008/03/20: OilChange: US Business Groups Campaign Against Climate
- 2008/03/19: Missoulian: Business groups campaign against climate change bill
- 2008/03/19: PhysOrg: Carbon dioxide allowances head for auction [RGGI]
- 2008/03/19: PhysOrg: Reducing carbon emissions could help -- not harm -- US economy
- 2008/03/19: Eureka: Reducing carbon emissions could help -- not harm -- US economy
- 2008/03/19: Helanair: Governor: State fuel efficiency standards won't work
Gov. Brian Schweitzer said Tuesday that Montana can't set its own fuel efficiency and emissions standards as suggested in a global warming report because the state has too little buying power. - 2008/03/18: HillHeat: PEER: FWS Scientists in "Ethics Tug of War"; IG Launches Inquiry
- 2008/03/18: AutoBG: Plug-in America to Gov. Schwarzenegger: Revive the ZEV program
- 2008/03/17: ENN: DoT releases study of climate change and effects on Gulf Coast transportation
Wrangling in and over the EPA is proceeding apace:
- 2008/03/18: Oikos: EPA: US can halve greenhouse emissions for the cost of a cup of coffee a day
- 2008/03/20: HillHeat: Under Subpoena, EPA Instead Demands Docs From Oversight Committee
- 2008/03/20: WarmingLaw: EPA Asks Waxman For a Pony
- 2008/03/18: WarmingLaw: Laws Are Stubborn Things...
- 2008/03/17: ClimateP: EPA finds low cost for deep GHG cuts
The politics of coal:
- 2008/03/21: GristMill: Poof! 132 coal plants disappear - The magic mouse of [EIA's] Guy Caruso
- 2008/03/21: GristMill: Latest hot commodity: coal - As coal prices rise, U.S. coal exports boom
- 2008/03/17: CTB: Coal on the Offensive
- 2008/03/21: PeakEnergy: Surging US Coal Exports
- 2008/03/20: WaPo: Coal Can't Fill World's Burning Appetite - With Supplies Short, Price Rise Surpasses Oil and U.S. Exporters Profit
- 2008/03/20: NYT: States' Battles Over Energy Grow Fiercer With U.S. in a Policy Gridlock [coal]
- 2008/03/20: KSJT: Two coal stories in NYTimes: 1) US has oodles of it, making $$$ ???.. 2) Some states trying to throttle it
- 2008/03/19: NYT: An Export in Solid Supply [coal]
Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius vetoed a coal bill this week:
- 2008/03/21: ClimateP: Kansas Gov. Sebelius vetoes coal plants
- 2008/03/21: ClimateP: Kansas Coal in the WSJ
- 2008/03/21: GristMill: [Kansas Governor Kathleen] Sebelius vetoes coal bill - Governor plays chicken with legislature over coal in Kansas
- 2008/03/21: WarmingLaw: Little Coal Plant on the Prairie: Sebelius Administration Outshines Bush Administration
This afternoon brings word that Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius has vetoed legislation that would essentially overturn October's landmark decision by her Secretary of Health and the Environment, Roderick Bremby, to deny construction permits for two new coal-fired power plants based on concerns about global warming emissions. Bremby, citing scientific evidence and an opinion from the state's Attorney General, had utilized his authority under state law to deny permits. In turn, a majority (but not a veto-proof one) of legislators were seeking to strip Bremby of any authority to regulate carbon emissions, instead tying this decision and all others to the fate of the EPA's long-delayed federal action. - 2008/03/19: WSJ:EnvCap: Bloody Kansas: Big Coal's New Battlefield
The Bush administration DoT is decidedly anti-public transit:
- 2008/03/19: GristMill: Priced to move - A comprehensive solution to end congestion
- 2008/03/17: WaPo: Letting the Market Drive Transportation - Bush Officials Criticized for Privatization
- 2008/03/20: GristMill: Highwaymen take over the Transportation Department - The WaPo reveals why mass transit gets the shaft on the national level
One hears a lot about the campaign(s), not much about climate:
- 2008/03/20: ClimateP: McCain's non-straight talk on nuclear power
- 2008/03/19: GristMill: Trading off jobs and lives for the 'economic necessity' of coal - Hillary Clinton gives tepid response on question about mountaintop-removal mining
The Gore-apalooza is still bopping along:
- 2008/03/19: CBC: Technology key to fighting global warming, Al Gore says
Better technology -- such as video conferencing -- can help fight climate change and reduce carbon emissions, according to former U.S. vice-president and environmental crusader Al Gore. - 2008/03/16: Yahoo: India can lead world in renewable energy: Al Gore
While in the UK:
- 2008/03/22: Guardian(UK): Britain and France to take nuclear power to the world
Brown and Sarkozy agree joint measures on energy and illegal immigration - The pact is to be announced at the "Arsenal summit" next week... - 2008/03/19: Guardian(UK): Standard criticised for 'alarmist' Heathrow story
The Press Complaints Commission has condemned the London Evening Standard for running an "inaccurate" article that reported that climate change militants planned to bring Heathrow to a standstill - 2008/03/20: Guardian(UK): Shut that door! Britain's shops waste hundreds of millions on fuel - and emit vast quantities of CO2...
- 2008/03/17: Guardian(UK): Climate change and cyber attacks among security threats - Gordon Brown set to reveal long-delayed national security strategy this week
- 2008/03/17: Guardian(UK): [Letters] Cash to pay for climate change disasters
- 2008/03/17: Guardian(UK): $1m prize for climate change professor [Geoffrey Eglinton of Bristol University]
Gordon Brown's Labour Party is struggling for credibility:
- 2008/03/18: OilChange: UK Government Loses Credibility on Climate
- 2008/03/18: Guardian(UK): Government 'missing its own carbon targets'
- 2008/03/17: Guardian(UK): Carry on polluting - Ministers cannot claim to take climate change seriously - and then trivialise the measurement of progress
- 2008/03/17: Guardian(UK): Government figures hide scale of CO2 emissions, says [National Audit Office] report
Britain's climate change emissions may be 12% higher than officially stated, according to a National Audit Office investigation which has strongly criticised the government for using two different carbon accounting systems. There is "insufficient consistency and coordination" in the government's approach, the NAO said. Using one system, which the government presents to the UN and in public, Britain emitted 656m tonnes of CO2 in 2005, and claims an improvement on 1990 figures. However, the lesser-known but more accurate data in the government's national environmental accounts show emissions to be in the region of 733m tonnes in 2005, a NAO report says today. "There are two different bases on which the government reports emissions: that required for the UN, and the environmental accounts prepared for the Office of National Statistics ... [which are] more comprehensive as they include aviation and shipping emissions. They present UK progress in reducing emissions in a markedly different light", says the report. The report says there have been "no reductions in UK emissions" if measured by the national accounts method. - 2008/03/23: AFP: Ken v Boris: London mayoral contest gets personal
- 2008/03/23: Guardian(UK): When Thom met Ken [Livingstone] - Thom Yorke questions the Mayor of London about his radical eco vision for the capital.
- 2008/03/23: Guardian(UK): Livingstone fury at green plans veto
London's Mayor claims civil servants blocked his energy proposals for the capital because they put the interests of big business first - 2008/03/19: Guardian(UK): Greens and Livingstone join forces against Johnson
- 2008/03/20: Guardian(UK): Mayor tries to build coalition in attempt to defeat Johnson
And in Europe:
- 2008/03/22: DotEarth: Norway's Green Plans - and Carbon Reality
- 2008/03/20: IHT: A carbon-neutral Norway: Fine print in the plan
- 2008/03/21: BBC: EU 'committed' to stiff CO2 cuts
Europe's environment chief Stavros Dimas says the EU's leaders are still committed to ambitious CO2 cuts of up to 30% by 2020, despite the appearance of back-tracking at last week's European summit - 2008/03/18: AutoBG: Madrid announces plans to ban polluting cars from city center
Meanwhile in Australia:
- 2008/03/23: SMH: Tie me emissions down, sport, tie me...Forget the kangaroo, sport. Rolf Harris wants people to tie themselves to Earth Hour's mission.
- 2008/03/17: Oikos: Rudd's tax cuts - inflationary or illusory?
- 2008/03/21: PeakEnergy: Tim Flannery On Biochar And The Renewable Age
- 2008/03/20: ABC(Au): Rudd 'must face up' to carbon trading costs [says Federal Opposition]
- 2008/03/18: ABC(Au): Queensland [Public Sector] union joins greenhouse emissions fight
- 2008/03/18: ABC(Au): Latrobe Valley power generators seek clean coal compo
- 2008/03/18: ABC(Au): [Coonamble Shire] Council plants trees to tackle climate change
- 2008/03/18: ABC(Au): [Australian Opposition Leader, Brendan] Nelson to focus on climate change
- 2008/03/18: PeakEnergy: Big polluters demand billion-dollar ransom
- 2008/03/17: ABC(Au): Academic wants more research on climate change preparation
A Northern Territory academic [Charles Darwin University Professor Rolf Gerritsen] is calling for more research into how central Australia can prepare for the adverse effects of climate change. - 2008/03/17: ABC(Au): Climate change scheme two years away: Wong
- 2008/03/17: PhysOrg: Australia to have carbon trading scheme by 2010: minister
- 2008/03/17: Yahoo: Australia to have carbon trading scheme by 2010: minister
- 2008/03/17: SMH: Australia confronts cold facts
The Minister for Climate Change, Penny Wong, warns the Government's plan to cut greenhouse gases will produce the biggest shake-up to the economy in decades, and she has promised to set out by July how households and businesses will be hit. Senator Wong unveiled her timetable as the United Nations published an alarming report showing the world's glaciers are melting at a record rate under the impact of climate change, threatening millions of people with water shortages. - 2008/03/22: SMH: Polluters add fuel to carbon deal speculation
The fossil fuel industry and its allies in the NSW Government believe the Prime Minister will ignore his chief economic adviser on climate change and give power companies financial compensation for taking part in a carbon trading scheme. The battle lines have been drawn by the release of Ross Garnaut's report on emissions trading, which categorically rejects free permits for electricity generators. The NSW Government, which is moving to privatise the state's power generators, finds itself in an unlikely alliance with the Federal Opposition in the lobbying war against Professor Garnaut, whose view is supported by many scientists and green groups. The National Generators Forum, representing power station owners, said signals put out by the Minister for Climate Change, Penny Wong, were "very encouraging".Senator Wong had indicated that the Garnaut proposals would be "only one area of input", said John Boshier, director of the forum. - 2008/03/21: GristMill: The Even Sterner Review - Australia's pivotal Garnaut climate report to back 100 percent permit auctions
- 2008/03/21: SMH: Compo for green energy casualties
The price of electricity and petrol will rise for all Australians under the Rudd Government's plan to slash greenhouse gas emissions, and poorer households will be hardest hit, its chief economic adviser on climate change warned yesterday. In a blunt report which puts him in conflict with the NSW Government and the nation's power industry, Ross Garnaut argues that coal-fired power generators should not be compensated with free permits to emit greenhouse gases when the federal emissions trading scheme is introduced in two years. Money raised by selling the permits should be used to compensate the poor instead, and help Australians adjust to the new carbon-constrained economy. This could include making payments to households, supporting declining communities around the coal-fired generators, investments in clean energy technology, and public transport. - 2008/03/21: SMH: The green man
He's no soft touch, but Ross Garnaut's climate change proposals may win more friends in the environmental movement than the boardroom. - 2008/03/21: SMH: Carbon permits promise rivers of cash
Selling permits to businesses that wanted to emit greenhouse gases would raise large amounts of government revenue, the climate change review head, Ross Garnaut, said yesterday. - 2008/03/20: ABC(Au): Garnaut outlines emissions trading proposal
- 2008/03/20: ABC(Au): Emissions trading 'could produce $20b windfall'
A new report says the Federal Government could reap up to $20 billion in new revenue under the national emissions trading scheme. Economist Ross Garnaut - who is working on a comprehensive report on the impact of climate change in Australia - will today release a discussion paper outlining the guiding principles for a trading scheme in Australia - 2008/03/20: SMH: Tax cut urged in carbon plan
Business wants a $3 billion tax cut to cope with the impact of the Federal Government's climate change policies. In its budget submission to the Government, the Australian Industry Group says the Government should phase in a 5 per cent cut in company tax by 2010, bringing it down to 25 per cent. - 2008/03/18: PeakEnergy: Australian Government Funds Shun Renewable Energy
- 2008/03/18: SMH: Funds shun renewable energy
Australian Government investment funds are putting nearly 50 times more money into the fossil fuel and uranium industries than into renewable energy, a new report has found. Large Government-owned investors, including the Federal Government's Future Fund and state bodies such as the Workcover Authority, are investing in direct conflict with their governments' plans to reduce greenhouse emissions, according to the report, to be released today by the Australian Conservation Foundation. - 2008/03/18: ENN: Aid needed to help China make carbon cuts
- 2008/03/19: CSM: China's pollution nightmare is now everyone's pollution nightmare
The environmental disaster springs largely from its emulation of the American way of life -- so let's set a better example. - 2008/03/18: People's Daily: Clean energy, a great opportunity for U.S.-China cooperation
While in Japan:
- 2008/03/19: PhysOrg: Japan to Pay Billions to Cut Emissions
- 2008/03/19: WSJ:EnvCap: In Kyoto's Home, Japan Tallies the Costs
In Canada, a poll reports Canadians climate confused:
- 2008/03/19: OilChange: Can Canadians Square a Green Circle?
- 2008/03/19: CanWest: Canadians in fog over causes of global warming: poll
- 2008/03/16: DeSmogBlog: Survey Shows Canadians Confused about Climate Science
The sale of Radarsat-2 is allegedly under review:
- 2008/03/20: CBC: Ruling on sale of Radarsat-2, Canadarm to U.S. arms maker delayed
The tricky & difficult question of the tar sands looms:
- 2008/03/23: ScruffyDan: Syncrude acknowledges Tar Sands 'reclamation' is only skin deep
- 2008/03/21: DeSmogBlog: Calgary Herald: where oily opinion trumps fact
- 2008/03/21: DeSmogBlog: Syncrude acknowledges Tar Sands "reclamation" is skin deep
- 2008/03/20: OilChange: Shell to Produce Five Times More Oil from Tar Sands
- 2008/03/18: OilChange: Shell's Oil Sands Squeezed by Rising Costs
And then there is the miscellaneous Canadiana:
- 2008/03/20: EnergyBulletin: The peak oil crisis: stirrings in Ottawa
- 2008/03/19: NatureCF: Tax or trading for Canadian carbon?
- 2008/03/18: KSJT: Toronto Star: On scene report - Canadian icebreaker needs more ice to study global warming
- 2008/03/17: CBC: Opposition to Prince George biomass power plant heats up
- 2008/03/18: CanWest: Charlottes warned about warming
A new federal government report is predicting major impacts from climate change on the economies and communities of Graham Island. The Northern Queen Charlotte Islands, with its sand dunes and bluffs, have officially been listed as one of the two areas that are most vulnerable to rising sea levels in the country. Currently, there is no plan in place to deal with future impacts. - 2008/03/18: CanWest: Finally, a report on climate change that doesn't strive to scare us silly [From Impacts to Adaptation: Canada in a Changing Climate]
- 2008/03/17: TSun: Time to come clean on nukes [Goldstein]
The movement toward a long term ecologically viable economics is glacial:
- 2008/03/21: OilDrum: The Problem of Growth
- 2008/03/18: EnergyBulletin: Making the most of a global depression
- 2008/03/17: SciAm: The Economist Has No Clothes - Unscientific assumptions in economic theory are undermining efforts to solve environmental problems
Apocalypso anyone?
- 2008/03/22: ClimateP: Lovelock: Malthus was right, and Climate Progress is way, way too optimistic
As for how the media handles the science of climatology:
- 2008/03/19: ERabett: Elocution Lessons
- 2008/03/19: ArsTechnica: Communicating good science to a polarized US public
Here is something for your library:
- 2008/03/18: NatureCF: The road well travelled [Book Review] _The Hot Topic_ by Gabrielle Walker & David King
The betting meme rolls on:
- 2008/03/20: JEB: What odds a hot 2008?
Developing a new energy infrastructure is a fundamental challenge of the current generation:
- 2008/03/23: GristMill: Climate action opponents: We're doomed - For fossil fuel fans, bleak is the new black
- 2008/03/23: TreeHugger: Air Force Asks Wall Street Investors For Coal-To-Liquids Money
- 2008/03/23: TreeHugger: With Diesel at $4 a Gallon, Truckers Are Slowing Down
- 2008/03/21: TruthOut: Energy, Water In "Catch-22"
- 2008/03/22: PeakEnergy: The Power Of Osmosis
- 2008/03/17: Wired: Investor [Eric Janszen]: Clean Tech Is Only Hope for the Collapsing Economy
- 2008/03/21: TreeHugger: Global Wind Power Capacity Reaches 100,000 Megawatts
- 2008/03/21: Guardian(UK): Reichstag to run solely on renewable power
- 2008/03/20: Eureka: Boston College, MIT researchers achieve dramatic increase in thermoelectric efficiency
- 2008/03/19: PhysOrg: Findings Could Improve Fuel Cell Efficiency
- 2008/03/18: GristMill: Smart grid to rock Boulder - City selected for largest U.S. smart grid project
- 2008/03/19: WorldChanging: Boulder: The U.S.'s First Smart Grid?
- 2008/03/18: OilDrum: UK Natural Gas Prices, Already at Historically High levels, Set To Rise
- 2008/03/19: NEN: Scotland set to capture waves, tides
- 2008/03/18: AngryBear: Frankel and Rapier: The Rising Cost of Oil
- 2008/03/18: Maribo: Is energy expensive?
- 2008/03/18: OilDrum: An EROEI Review
- 2008/03/18: NEN: New energy becoming big energy
- 2008/03/18: WSJ:EnvCap: A Mighty Wind: What Will China's Green Appetite Mean?
- 2008/03/16: WorldChanging: How to Become Energy Literate and Battle Climate Change
- 2008/03/17: PeakEnergy: Lunar Energy To Build World's Largest Tidal Power Scheme In South Korea
- 2008/03/17: NakedCapitalism: 2016 Oil Contract Rise Above $100 a Barrel
Long-term supply worries, and the poor prospects for the dollar have pushed long-term oil supply contract north of $100 a barrel. This is a negative development for airlines and utilities, who buy oil under long term contracts - 2008/03/17: AutoBG: Expensive gas worries GM purchasing chief
Meanwhile among the solar afficionados:
- 2008/03/16: FuturePundit: Thinner Silicon Photovoltaics For Lower Cost
- 2008/03/20: TreeHugger: Solaria: Finding Clever Ways to Make Cheaper Solar Panels
- 2008/03/20: Eureka: Substantial improvement in essential cheap solar cell process [dye-sensitised solar cells]
- 2008/03/20: WSJ:EnvCap: Setting Sun? The "End of the Beginning" for Solar Bonanza
- 2008/03/19: PhysOrg: Mitsubishi Electric plans major solar cell investment
- 2008/03/19: TreeHugger: Ausra: Solar Power Around the Clock, Enough for 90% of U.S. Grid
- 2008/03/19: AutoBG: Mitsubishi boosts output of solar cells [from 120 megawatts/year to 230 mw/y]
- 2008/03/18: WSJ:EnvCap: Sand Pebbles: Solar Power's Silicon Dreams in China
- 2008/03/17: PhysOrg: Toward the next generation of high-efficiency plastic solar cells
- 2008/03/17: TreeHugger: Torresol to Build 3 Solar Thermal Power Plants in Spain for $1.24 Billion
- 2008/03/16: Oregonian: Tax breaks turn solar power into cold cash
The state makes it easy to switch to alternative energy; critics say the cost to public coffers is too much. Tax breaks and cash rebates have done what the most gung-ho green talk has not: ignited a solar power boom in Oregon. Oregon officials expect the amount of solar power in the state to jump more than eightfold this year as businesses, nonprofits and government agencies install rooftop and ground-mounted photovoltaic systems at record rates - 2008/03/20: McClatchyDC: Coal-produced electricity, long cheaper, rising in cost
- 2008/03/20: DerSpiegel: Making Dirty Power Green - Is Carbon Capture a False Hope for Coal Power?
- 2008/03/21: GristMill: Tell us something we don't know - The Kansas City Star: New coal plants are expensive
- 2008/03/20: ClimateP: Up against a wall -- of coal
- 2008/03/20: GristMill: World's dumbest project: Tata Ultra Mega - How a twisted definition is setting up a monumental folly in India
- 2008/03/19: ThinkP:WR: Spin Watch: Coal
- 2008/03/17: PhysOrg: Coal reemerges as important raw material in chemical manufacturing industry
- 2008/03/16: BillingsGazette: Concerns make coal future unclear
Biofuel bickering abounds:
- 2008/03/21: GristMill: Biodiesel in the dumps - To survive, producers wanly import feedstock and export fuel
- 2008/03/20: AfterGutenberg: Whatever Emperor Fossil Wants [biofuel]
- 2008/03/20: GristMill: Hurtling down a bridge to nowhere - Another study says cellulosic ethanol ain't happening
- 2008/03/20: EnergyDaily: CleanTech Biofuels Begins First Phase Of Municipal Solid Waste To Ethanol Project
- 2008/03/19: TruthOut: Corn Can't Save Us [Pimentel]
- 2008/03/19: TreeHugger: Chinese Biofuel Push Could Devastate Remaining Forests' Biodiversity
- 2008/03/19: BBC: Green power station site opened - First Minister Alex Salmond has officially opened a £90m biomass power station near Lockerbie
- 2008/03/17: GristMill: Misplaced priorities - Thoughts from a cellulosic ethanol agnostic
- 2008/03/18: CDreams: St.LouisPost-Dispatch: Corn Can't Save Us
- 2008/03/16: PRWatch: Global Warming Hurts Our Feelings [biofuels, Univ. funding]
The nuclear energy controversy continues:
- 2008/03/22: BBC: Anti-nuclear groups have expressed their disappointment at reports that Britain is poised to join France in creating new nuclear generators
- 2008/03/21: WSJ:EnvCap: Nuclear in the U.K.: And Then There Were Three
- 2008/03/21: Hindu: 'Nuke energy crucial in fighting global warming' [says Japan's Atomic Energy Commission]
- 2008/03/18: ClimateP: Look up nuclear bottleneck in the dictionary...
Yes we have a peak oil sighting:
- 2008/03/22: FuturePundit: Peak Oil By 2012?
- 2008/03/18: ABC(Au): Global energy crunch 'the new Cold War'
- 2008/03/18: PeakEnergy: Global energy crunch 'the new Cold War'
- 2008/03/17: CSM: Sleepily eyeing a peak in world oil output
And then there is the matter of efficiency & conservation:
- 2008/03/22: SlashDot: A Super-Efficient Light Bulb [Luxim]
- 2008/03/21: TruthOut: Shining a Light on Fluorescent Bulbs - Energy-efficient coils booming, but disposal of mercury poses problems
- 2008/03/21: WSJ:EnvCap: How the West Will Be Won: Energy Efficiency for More Power
- 2008/03/20: PhysOrg: Luxim's tiny plasma lightbulb outshines LEDs
- 2008/03/20: NEN: Energy Star to mean more efficient
- 2008/03/18: TEB: GE Demonstrates World's First "Roll-to-Roll" Manufactured Organic Light Emitting Diodes (OLEDs)
Automakers & lawyers, engineers & activists argue over the future of the car:
- 2008/03/23: Guardian(UK): Current affairs - Neat, clean and silent ... the electric Mega City is the future of urban motoring...
- 2008/03/21: AutoBG: Study: zero emission vehicles could save $142 billion in health care costs
- 2008/03/20: Guardian(UK): Reinventing the wheel: how the motor industry is reacting to climate change
- 2008/03/20: AutoBG: Lutz: GM is OK with losing money on the Volt for a while
- 2008/03/19: Yahoo: Chrysler sees "big" drop in March U.S. sales
- 2008/03/19: NatureTGB: Tesla roadster: dawn of the electric age or misfire?
- 2008/03/19: AutoBG: GM: by 2015, one-third of our US car sales will be hybrids, and the V-8 engine will quasi-disappear
The reaction of business to climate change will be critical:
- 2008/03/19: BBC: Global IT sector 'needs strong Kyoto'
The global IT sector needs a strong post-2012 Kyoto climate deal if it is going to deliver big carbon savings, a senior businessman has suggested. IBM's climate change programme chairman Graham Whitney said globally binding targets were needed to ensure companies made "investments in significant ways". IT equipment accounted for about 2% of the world's carbon emissions, he told delegates at a conference in London. - 2008/03/19: Guardian(UK): HSBC commits £100m to renewable energy
The carbon lobby are up to the usual:
- 2008/03/23: Deltoid: A forum for laundering pseudo-science, part 2
- 2008/03/22: Deltoid: A forum for laundering pseudo-science
- 2008/03/21: ERabett: GOGI [was Beckies] [Ernst-Georg Beck]
- 2008/03/22: TheBigPicture: Investing in the Post-Fact World (a/k/a, Were the Good Times a Mirage?)
- 2008/03/17: N3xus6: Bolt caught deceiving (yet again)
- 2008/03/19: IGHIH: The Last Gasp of the Climate Deniers, Detractors and Doomsayers?
- 2008/03/20: Atmoz: Hay Springs MMTS Adjustment Still Wrong
- 2008/03/19: ClimateP: Chris Mooney: Does refuting Deniers only strengthen and empower them?
- 2008/03/20: Denialism: Chris Mooney on ignoring the cranks
- 2008/03/19: ERabett: Gassing it up
- 2008/03/19: Atmoz: "We're Here Because you are Looking for the Best of the Best of the Best, Sir!" [denial]
- 2008/03/19: WarmingLaw: CEI's Ideas Can No Longer Compete (Outside of Congress and the EPA)
- 2008/03/19: Intersection:CCM: How Science Defenders Enable Anti-Science Forces
- 2008/03/19: DeSmogBlog: Fraser Institute pitching to students in latest attempt to cloud global-warming evidence
- 2008/03/18: DeSmogBlog: Duke Energy Talking Out Both Sides of Its Mouth
- 2008/03/18: Atmoz: Hay Springs Surface Station
- 2008/03/18: ClimateP: Roger Pielke defends his absurd delayer post -- by quoting a global warming denier!
- 2008/03/18: ClimateP: Hadley Center to delayers (this means you Pielke): We're warming, not cooling
- 2008/03/16: ERabett: Pass it on - Watch S. Fred play telephone.
- 2008/03/17: ClimateP: A new comment-response policy for deniers and delayers
- 2008/03/16: Deltoid: Nexus 6's School of Denial
- 2008/03/17: DeSmogBlog: ECOworld: a website officially unconcerned about accuracy
Then there was the usual news and commentary:
- 2008/03/23: TreeHugger: Galoshes Good For Viewing Oslo Global Warming Installation
- 2008/03/23: Guardian(UK): The Big Picture (8 pictures)
- 2008/03/23: Guardian(UK): Climate change 'is accelerating'
- 2008/03/23: Guardian(UK): Editor's letter: Thom Yorke - Radiohead's frontman on his own green conversion, and why he is a 'climate optimist'
- 2008/03/21: BobPark: What's New? 3) Peer review: court upholds confidentiality. 4) Water: too little water, or too many people?
- 2008/03/21: CCurrents: Climate Change Requires Herculean Effort
- 2008/03/20: TreeHugger: Jargon Watch: How to Stop Global Warming with CRAGs [Carbon Rationing Action Groups]
- 2008/03/19: PhysOrg: Arctic pollution's surprising history
- 2008/03/19: PhysOrg: How Iron Gets into the North Pacific
- 2008/03/18: GristMill: Culture war: country music edition - Global warming could thaw relations between enviros and those who live closest to 'the environment'
- 2008/03/19: TreeHugger: Facts, Figures, and Charts from Plan B 3.0
- 2008/03/18: Eureka: Arctic pollution's surprising history - Study: Early explorers saw particulate haze in late 1800s
- 2008/03/18: WorldChanging: The Climate Game Plan - Global Step 1
- 2008/03/18: PeakEnergy: The Cost Of The Heatwave
- 2008/03/18: Guardian(UK): [Letters] The truth about CO2
- 2008/03/17: NEN: The solution is technology - Frmr Energy Sec'y [James Schlesinger]
And here are a couple of sites you may find interesting and/or useful:
- GTM: Greentech Media
- Wiki: Carbon tax
- Green Rising
- Yale: See for yourself how reducing greenhouse gas emissions will affect the American economy
- BCLSB: BigCityLib Strikes Back (some Canadian GW)
- ConsciousEarth
- Wiki: Madden-Julian oscillation
- TWCB: The Weather Channel Blog
- CCC: 3C - Combat Climate Change - A Business Leaders' Initiative
- CA-CP: Clean Air-Cool Planet
- 2007/01/10: BOM: ENSO Wrap-Up
- IRI: Net Assessment Forecasts (global - precip/temp)
- Wiki: Climate change and agriculture
This is definitely in the "laugh, it's funny, damnit!" class:
X-Prize is offering US$10 million for a 100 mpg car:
In a move that will no doubt trigger counterclaims, legal jousting and possibly conflict, the U.S. company Arctic Oil & Gas has laid claim to Arctic oil resources:
Earth Hour goes down this coming week:
And the troubling matter of falling food production is not going away:
As for transportation & GHG production:
The London mayoralty race is getting lively:
Speculation, spin and positioning are rampant before Dr. Ross Garnaut releases his carbon trading suggestions:
Meanwhile in the "every crisis is a reason to advance the agenda" department:
And in the category of conflicting policies:
While in China:
The arithmetic of coal carbon is striking home:
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.
<regards>
P.S. Recent postings can be found in the week archive and the ancient postings can be accessed here, which should open to this.
"The creature that wins against its environment destroys itself."
-Gregory Bateson, _Steps to an Ecology of Mind_, page 493
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