Another Week of GW News, May 4, 2008

Sipping from the internet firehose...

(skip to bottom)

• Top Stories:Keenlyside, Dead Zones
• Melting Arctic, Antarctica, Stern, CH4 Rising, Late Comments
• Global Food Crisis
• Hurricanes, Nargis, GHGs, Temperatures, Carbon Cycle, Feedbacks, Paleoclimate, Glaciers, Satellites
• Impacts, Forests, Tropical Rainforests, Corals, Wacky Weather
• Wildfires, Floods & Droughts, Food vs. Biofuel, Food Production
• Mitigation, Transportation, Buildings, Sequestration, Geoengineering, Adaptation
• Journals, Misc. Science, Connolley, Hansen, Pielke
• Kyoto, Carbon Trade, Carbon Tax, Optimal Carbon Reduction Strategy
• Politics: America, Britain, Europe, Australia, China, Canada
• IPAT, Apocalypso, Media, Books, Video, Betting
• Energy, Solar, Coal, Biofuel, Nukes, Peak Oil, Efficiency, Cars, Business, Greenwashing, Insurance
• Carbon Lobby, Gray, Heartland, The Usual, Useful Links
• Shameless Self Promotion, .sig

Definitely in the laugh, it's funny, damnit department:

• 2008/04/27: SeattlePI: (cartoon - Horsey) Feeding the beast, instead of the children

  The Keenlyside paper on ocean currents & decadal oscillations has raised a ruckus:

• 2008/05/02: Nature: (ab$) Advancing decadal-scale climate prediction in the North Atlantic sector by N. S. Keenlyside et al.
• 2008/05/02: ClimateP: Nature article on "cooling" confuses media, deniers: Next decade may see rapid warming
• 2008/05/02: C411: A Decade of Cooler Temperatures?
• 2008/05/02: BCLSB: Global Warming: What Will The Next Decade Bring?
• 2008/05/01: Guardian(UK): Ocean currents may offset global warming over coming decade
• 2008/05/01: NatureCF: "Decade break" in global warming
• 2008/05/01: JEB: Another decadal prediction...
• 2008/05/01: Stoat: The malign Nature effect, again
• 2008/05/01: QuarkSoup: The Coming Global Cooling
• 2008/04/30: TerraDaily: Global warming? Next decade could be cooler, says study
• 2008/05/01: TreeHugger: Cooler Climate Will Prevail in Europe and North America Next Decade: Is Global Warming Over?
• 2008/04/30: Yahoo: Global warming? Next decade could be cooler, says study
• 2008/04/30: Telegraph(UK): Global warming may 'stop', scientists predict
• 2008/05/01: BBC: Next decade 'may see no warming'
• 2008/04/30: BBerg: Ocean Cooling to Briefly Halt Global Warming, Researchers Say
• 2008/05/01: NEN: Global climate change does not mean uninterrupted warming
• 2008/05/01: NYT: In a New Climate Model, Short-Term Cooling in a Warmer World
• 2008/04/30: PhysOrg: Global warming? Next decade could be cooler, says study
• 2008/04/30: AFP: Global warming? Next decade could be cooler, says study
  Global warming could take a break in the next decade thanks to a natural shift in ocean circulations, although Earth's temperature will rise as previously expected over the longer term, according to a study published on Thursday in the British journal Nature. Climate scientists in Germany base the prediction on what they believe is an impending change in the Gulf Stream -- the conveyor belt that transports warm surface water from the tropical Atlantic to the northern Atlantic and returns cold water southwards at depth. The Gulf Stream will temporarily weaken over the next decade, in line with what has happened regularly in the past, the researchers say.

Oceanic dead zones are growing:

• 2008/05/02: KSJT: Wires, LA Times, Telegraph, more: Ocean's O2-low "dead zones" spreading to deeper water
• 2008/05/02: TruthOut: Oxygen-Poor Ocean Zones Are Growing
• 2008/05/02: ABC(Au): Global warming could starve oceans of oxygen: study
• 2008/05/02: ENN: Global warming could starve oceans of oxygen: study
• 2008/05/02: TMoS: Ocean "Dead Zones" Growing
• 2008/05/01: NatureN: 'Ocean deserts' are growing - Low-oxygen regions have expanded over the past half-century.
• 2008/05/01: NewScientist: Growing ocean dead zones leave fish gasping
• 2008/05/01: Eureka: Oxygen depletion: A new form of ocean habitat loss
  Scientists confirm computer model predictions that oxygen-depleted zones in tropical oceans are expanding, possibly because of climate change

The Arctic melt continues to get a lot of attention:

• 2008/05/02: PhysOrg: Major Arctic sea ice melt is expected this summer
• 2008/05/02: TerraDaily: CU-Boulder Researchers Forecast 3-In-5 Chance Of Record Low Arctic Sea Ice In 2008
• 2008/05/01: CSM: Lots of climate-change studies, still few certainties - The Arctic can be frustrating for scientists trying to predict global warming
• 2008/05/01: KSJT: Chr. Science Monitor: The arctic is melting faster than climage models are solidifying
• 2008/05/01: ClimateP: Forecast: 3-in-5 chance of record low Arctic sea ice in 2008
• 2008/05/01: ENN: Arctic sea ice forecast: another record low in 2008
• 2008/05/01: Reuters: Arctic sea ice forecast: another record low in 2008
• 2008/05/01: DailyIndia: Record low 2008 Arctic ice a probability
• 2008/04/30: TruthOut: Climate Change Hitting Arctic Faster, Harder
• 2008/04/30: PhysOrg: CU-Boulder researchers forecast 3-in-5 chance of record low Arctic sea ice in 2008
• 2008/04/30: ENN: Climate change hitting Arctic faster, harder
• 2008/04/30: Eureka: CU-Boulder researchers forecast 3-in-5 chance of record low Arctic sea ice in 2008
• 2008/04/28: Atmoz: Arctic Ocean Ice Free in 2008?

  This would seem to correlate:

• 2008/05/03: PhysOrg: Baltic sea ice cover hits an all-time low: meteorologists

  Compare & contrast the poles:

• 2008/05/03: ENN: Climate change warms Arctic, cools Antarctica
• 2008/05/02: NOAANews: Arctic, Antarctic: Poles Apart in Climate Response
• 2008/04/29: NatureN: Antarctic ice threatened by ozone-hole recovery

  More from Stern:

• 2008/04/30: Reuters: Rich world must make 80 percent carbon cuts - Stern
• 2008/05/01: EnvFin: Stern spells out long-term climate proposal

  More on rising CO2 and methane:

• 2008/05/01: C411: CO2 and Methane Rose Sharply in 2007
• 2008/04/29: QuarkSoup: Methane
• 2008/04/29: TerraDaily: Study: CO2, methane up sharply during 2007
• 2008/04/28: CSM: Potent greenhouse-gas methane has been rising - Methane levels in the atmosphere rose in 2007 after 10 years. Scientists are trying to find out why

  Late comment on Earth Day:

• 2008/05/01: MongaBay: No longer a fan of Earth Day
• 2008/04/29: GristMill: Earth Day preachin' -- By caring for God's creatures, we avert a second flood

  Late comment on Earth Hour:

• 2008/05/02: SMH: Women embrace Earth Hour but many men find it a turn-off

  Late comment on Vulcan:

• 2008/04/29: ERabett: It's the cows - Vulcan Project

  Late comment on the Paris major Economies conference:

• 2008/04/27: NEN: U.S. blocks agreement at Paris climate change talks

  The food crisis remains a top story:

• 2008/05/04: AFP: Japan warns rising food prices could lead to unrest in Asia
• 2008/05/04: SMH: World hungers for converts
• 2008/05/03: RadioAustralia: Southeast Asia to cooperate over food security
• 2008/05/01: DerSpiegel: Ministerial Food Fight - Berlin Drops the Ball on Tackling World Hunger
• 2008/05/03: BBC: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has warned that the crisis of rising food prices could reverse gains made in reducing poverty across the continent
• 2008/05/03: BBC: Food price crisis bites in Egypt
  Liberal and left-wing political activists in Egypt have called for a general strike on Sunday to protest against rising prices
• 2008/05/03: SMH: Bush digs deeper to combat food crisis
• 2008/05/03: SMH: As prices soar, all India turns to watch the sky [for the monsoon]
• 2008/05/02: Guardian(UK): Bush approves $770m in food crisis aid
• 2008/05/01: USAToday: Surplus U.S. food supplies dry up
  [...] U.S. government food surpluses have evaporated because, with record high prices, farmers are selling their crops on the open market, not handing them over to the government through traditional price-support programs that make up for deficiencies in market price
• 2008/05/01: BBC: Former UN head Kofi Annan has called for a "green revolution" to solve the food crisis threatening Africa
• 2008/05/02: CBC: OPEC-style rice cartel proposed by Thailand
• 2008/05/02: EconView: "Soaring Food Prices Mean Less Education for Poor"
• 2008/05/02: AngryBear: Food Prices and Poverty: Martin Wolf v. Dani Rodrik
• 2008/05/02: BBC: George W Bush has offered $770m (£390m) in international food aid to help ease the effects of surging food prices that have sparked riots in some countries
• 2008/05/01: UN: Marginalized groups must not be forgotten in response to food crisis - UN rights chief
• 2008/04/30: FinalCall: Could the global food crisis impact America?
• 2008/04/30: CCurrents: The Lords of Capital Decree Mass Death by Starvation
• 2008/04/29: CCurrents: Food Crisis And The Failure Of The Capitalist Model
• 2008/04/29: CCurrents: Hunger Plagues Haiti And The World
• 2008/04/29: CCurrents: The Global Food Crisis? And The Ravenous System Of Capitalism
• 2008/04/28: CCurrents: Indian Food Crisis?
• 2008/04/28: CCurrents: Financial Speculators Reap Profits From Global Hunger
• 2008/05/01: GAB: Rice Cartel - Coming to a famine near you
• 2008/05/01: Xinhuanet: Thai gov't to rent state-owned lands to farmers to cope with food crisis threat
• 2008/05/01: BBC: Haiti facing 'major food crisis'
  Haiti faces a "major crisis" if the international community does not increase food aid to the country, the UN's food agency has warned
• 2008/04/30: UN: UN to draw up comprehensive plan to address world food crisis
• 2008/04/30: IndexResearch: Index on Afghanistan April 2008: Famine
• 2008/04/29: TruthOut: Emptying the Breadbasket - For decades, wheat was king on the Great Plains and prices were low everywhere. Those days are over.
• 2008/04/29: TerraDaily: UN chief orders task force to tackle food crisis
• 2008/04/30: JBS: Food Crisis: More on Ethanol, GM Crops, Commodities Speculation
• 2008/04/30: CBC: Ottawa pledges extra $50M for global food crisis
• 2008/04/30: ABC(Au): UN chief warns of civil unrest amid world food shortage
• 2008/04/30: CTV: Ottawa to give an extra $50 million for food aid
• 2008/04/29: BBerg: Ban Ki-Moon to Chair UN Task Force on Food Crisis
• 2008/04/30: Guardian(UK): UN taskforce to tackle global food price crisis
• 2008/04/30: Guardian(UK): Growth factors
  It is the poorest people who are most in danger from increasing food prices, says chief scientist Robert Watson. Yet, with our knowledge and technology, we can drive the agricultural revolution needed to end world hunger
• 2008/04/29: UN: Ban Ki-moon to lead task force to tackle global food crisis
• 2008/04/29: CanWest: Next few years may be tough
  We may have not seen such headlines in many decades. Food prices are soaring, and in the poorest nations of the world -- in parts of the Caribbean, South East Asia and Africa -- the cost of basic foodstuffs means that the line of subsistence is being eradicated. The next stop for these people is starvation. The estimate is that 100 million people will see their current means to buy food siginificantly curtailed, if not eradicated.
• 2008/04/29: FIP: Food Crisis: Emptying The U.S. Breadbasket
• 2008/04/29: GAB: Hoarding, starvation and disincentive to farm
• 2008/04/29: BBC: Task force faces major challenge
  The sheer scale of the food price crisis was revealed by the figures talked about at the end of a two-day summit meeting of the heads of UN agencies in Bern. The UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said the world would need to find $1.7b (£860m) to help farmers in the poorest countries buy the seeds and fertilizers they needed. That is almost twice the present annual budget of the UN agency involved - the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). The head of the FAO, Jacques Diouf, said that a failure to act earlier on warnings meant that already "people have died, a government has been toppled, there is a risk of more people dying". A former British diplomat, Sir John Holmes, currently head of the UN's Humanitarian Affairs programme, will set up a "task force" to co-ordinate policy across more than 20 UN agencies.
• 2008/04/29: CBC: High-level UN task force to tackle global food crisis
• 2008/04/29: AFP: UN chief orders task force to tackle food crisis
• 2008/04/29: NZHerald: Fidel Castro warned of food crisis a year ago (+video)
• 2008/04/29: G&M: Toronto feeling effects of global rice shortage
• 2008/04/29: G&M: UN sets up task force on food crisis
• 2008/04/29: BBC: UN chiefs hold food crisis summit
  UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is due to announce details of new measures to tackle the global food crisis. The announcement is expected after a meeting of UN aid agency chiefs in the Swiss capital Berne.
• 2008/04/28: GristMill: There is no food shortage - A gap between rich and poor makes free markets fail
• 2008/04/28: MSNBC: Food prices rising, but no shortage in U.S. - Tight supplies may ultimately force Americans to adjust diets
• 2008/04/28: Ha'aretz: Agriculture experts: Food costs could keep rising for years
• 2008/04/28: BBC: UN meeting to address food crisis
  Key United Nations development agencies are meeting in Switzerland to try to develop solutions to ease the escalating global food crisis. Led by secretary general Ban Ki-Moon, officials want to mitigate the impact of the steep rise in staple food prices and prevent food shortages worsening. The World Food Programme (WFP) says an extra 100 million people cannot afford enough food because of higher prices. Food has become increasingly expensive, triggering unrest in several countries.
• 2008/04/28: SwissInfo: Global food crisis dominates talks in Bern
  The United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, has been looking at ways to solve the current food crisis in talks with 27 UN organisations in Bern.
• 2008/04/28: SwissInfo: UN rapporteur calls for action on food crisis
  The United Nations special rapporteur on the right to food has urged donors to increase humanitarian aid or see more people dying of starvation in the coming months. Jean Ziegler made the appeal as 27 key UN agencies met in the Swiss capital, Bern, on Monday to come up with solutions to ease the escalating global food crisis.
• 2008/04/28: AFP: UN meets on food crisis [Berne conf]
• 2008/04/28: Times(UK): World food crisis turns rice into gold

  Tropical Cyclone Nargis whalloped Myanmar, aka Burma:

• 2008/05/04: DailyIndia: Tropical cyclone hits Myanmar
• 2008/05/04: AFP: Myanmar cyclone [Nargis] kills at least 241
• 2008/05/04: BBC: Burma cyclone [Nargis] death toll 'at 243'
  A tropical cyclone has killed at least 243 people in Burma and damaged thousands of buildings, according to state television
• 2008/05/03: RadioAustralia: Cyclone [Nargis] slams into Burma's city
• 2008/05/02: Intersection:CCM: Cyclone Nargis Uncoils [Cat 4]
• 2008/05/01: TerraDaily: Cyclone to hit Bangladesh and Myanmar coast: official
• 2008/05/02: Xinhuanet: Severe cyclone Nargis over Bay of Bengal moves closer to Bangladesh's coast
• 2008/04/28: Intersection:CCM: A Scary Storm [Nargis] Developing in the North Indian Basin

  And elsewhere in the hurricane wars:

• 2008/05/02: Wunderground: First tropical wave of the year; Postcards V: Hurricane warning probabilities
• 2008/05/01: Wunderground: Postcards IV: Katrina's storm surge, and the Rita evacuation
• 2008/04/30: Wunderground: Postcards III: Robot aircraft for hurricane research
• 2008/04/29: Wunderground: Postcards II: hurricane database issues, and the Bill Gray show
• 2008/04/29: Wunderground: Postcards from the Orlando Hurricane Conference

  Meanwhile GHGs are still going up:

• 2008/05/02: Maribo: China's CO2 emissions
• 2008/04/30: KSJT: NPR: You're Number One Houston! Ahead of LA! (Biggest CO2 emitter among US cities)
• 2008/04/28: ClimateP: Humans boosting CO2 14,000 times faster than nature, overwhelming slow negative feedbacks
• 2008/04/29: SciDaily: Monitoring Of Carbon Dioxide Will Require Global Data Collection Ten Times Larger Than Current Set Up
• 2008/04/29: SciDaily: Carbon Footprint Of Best Conserving Americans Is Still Double Global Average
• 2008/04/16: MITNews: Leaving our mark -- MIT class tracks carbon footprint of different lifestyles; finds even the smallest U.S. footprints are relatively large

  And in the carbon cycle:

• 2008/04/27: Eureka: Emissions irrelevant to future climate change?
• 2008/04/28: CDreams: Reuters: Human Warming Hobbles Ancient Climate Cycle
• 2008/04/28: BBC: Nature's carbon balance confirmed
  Scientists have found new evidence that the Earth's natural feedback mechanism regulated carbon dioxide levels for hundreds of thousands of years. But they say humans are now emitting CO2 so fast that the planet's natural balancing mechanism cannot keep up. The researchers, writing in the journal Nature Geoscience, say their findings confirm a long-believed theory

As for the temperature record:

• 2008/05/02: GristMill: [Dessler] Has global warming stopped? Climate change must be examined over decades, not years
• 2008/04/28: Tamino: Central England Temperature
• 2008/04/28: JEB: Has global warming stopped?

  Yes we have feedbacks:

• 2008/04/27: Maribo: The pine beetle and carbon cycle feedbacks

  While in the paleoclimate:

• 2008/04/30: RealClimate: Back to the future
• 2008/04/29: PhysOrg: Before fossil fuels, Earth's minerals kept CO2 in check
• 2008/04/28: Eureka: Before fossil fuels, Earth's minerals kept CO2 in check
• 2008/04/28: KSJT: Reuters: Yes, the Earth does naturally temper swings in CO2 levels and climate. But better be patient
• 2008/04/29: SciDaily: Formation Of Ice Sheets 34 Million Years Ago Changed Ocean Acidity

  Glaciers are melting:

• 2008/04/30: ClimateP: A Vicious Cycle - melting glaciers

  Meanwhile in near earth orbit:

• 2008/04/29: PhysOrg: 'Broken Heart' Image the Last for NASA's Long-Lived Polar [satellite] Mission
• 2008/04/29: SciDaily: How Dry We Are: European Space Agency To Test Earth's Soil Moisture Via [SMOS: Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity] Satellite [this fall]

  More GW impacts are being seen:

• 2008/05/04: Guardian(UK): Surge in fatal shark attacks blamed on global warming
• 2008/05/02: UN: Climate change could imperil poverty goals, ECOSOC [Economic and Social Council] hears
• 2008/04/28: GWWatch: First to go: Iconic Polar Bear or Fabled Narwal?
• 2008/05/03: TreeHugger: IPCC Chairman Rajendra Pachauri Discusses How Climate Change Could Affect 21st Century Society
• 2008/05/02: Telegraph(UK): European rainfall could decline by 20 per cent [says the Meteorological Office's Hadley Centre]
• 2008/05/02: NatureN: Climate troubles brewing for beer makers - Rising temperatures are affecting European hop harvests.
• 2008/05/02: PhysOrg: Global Warming Linked to Caribou-Calf Mortality
• 2008/05/02: SciDaily: Global Warming Linked To Caribou-calf Mortality
• 2008/05/02: CBC: Climate change claims caribou calves: study
• 2008/05/01: UN: Indigenous peoples most affected by climate change, Assembly President says
• 2008/04/30: NSF: Global Warming Affects World's Largest Freshwater Lake - Lake Baikal in Siberia had been thought resistant to climate change
• 2008/04/30: ENN: World's largest lake warming rapidly: scientists
• 2008/05/01: BBerg: Lake [Baikal] With 20% of Earth's Fresh Water Is Warming Faster Than Air
• 2008/04/29: CCurrents: Climate Change Could Force One Billion From Their Homes By 2050
• 2008/04/30: PhysOrg: Climate modelers see modern echo in '30s Dust Bowl
• 2008/04/30: Eureka: Climate change threats to HIV rates
• 2008/04/30: Guardian(UK): Agents and not victims - The world's children will be first to pay the price for climate change, and they deserve to be heard
• 2008/04/29: KSJT: Toronto Star: Canada, whole northern Earth actually, seems to be getting wetter
• 2008/04/29: OilChange: Climate Change "Affecting Poor Children"
• 2008/04/29: SMH: Climate change will hurt poor and elderly most
• 2008/04/29: BBC: Warming 'affecting poor children'
  Climate change is already affecting the prospects for children in the world's poorer countries, according to UNICEF.

And then there are the world's forests:

• 2008/04/28: Tyee: Who Will Revive BC's Forests? World relies on our 'lungs,' but replanting is lowest in 20 years.
• 2008/04/29: MongaBay: No sacrifices to ending deforestation in the Amazon, only gains
• 2008/04/28: GristMill: Food crisis resolved! Let's raze more Amazon rainforest!

  Corals are dying:

• 2008/05/01: TerraDaily: Increasingly intense storms threaten coral
• 2008/05/01: PhysOrg: Increasingly intense storms threaten coral
• 2008/04/29: SciDaily: Will Corals Survive The Stormy Future?

  Yes we have no wacky weather, except:

• 2008/05/04: BBC: High waves in S Korea kill eight
• 2008/05/04: AFP: High waves kill nine in S.Korea
• 2008/05/03: BBC: At least eight people have been killed in Arkansas after violent storms and tornadoes swept across the central United States
• 2008/05/03: CTV: Arkansas cleans up after killer tornadoes strike
• 2008/05/02: CNN: Seven killed in Arkansas storms
  National Guard moves into position around state for security, governor says - Girl, 15, crushed by tree while sleeping; teen among seven killed in Arkansas - "It sounded like all hell was breaking loose," one man says - Three of the seven killed were members of the same family, official says
• 2008/04/29: BBC: Three tornadoes have ripped through the US state of Virginia, injuring more than 200 people and damaging buildings
• 2008/04/28: SMH: Extreme weather is here to stay

  As for wild fires:

• 2008/04/28: ABC(Au): Bad bushfire season ahead
• 2008/04/27: CBC: Southern California wildfire forces residents to leave homes
• 2008/04/27: KNBC: Heat Fueling SoCal Flames, Some Areas Evacuated - Containment Could Take 2-3 Days, Officials Say

  And speaking of floods & droughts:

• 2008/05/03: Aquafornia: Water shortage worst in decades, official says
• 2008/05/03: JFleck: California Dry
• 2008/05/03: CBC: 'We haven't seen water levels like this': N.B. official
• 2008/05/02: ABC(Au): Murray-Darling woes linked to global warming: [South Eastern Australian Climate Initiative (SEACI)] report
• 2008/05/01: TerraDaily: Eastern Canadian city flooded amid rains and spring thaw
• 2008/05/02: SFGate: Need to deal with water needs crucial
  Two parched years - punctuated by the driest spring in at least 150 years - could force districts across California to ration water this summer...
• 2008/05/02: BBC: 'Big Dry' hits Australian farmers
  More than 10,000 Australian farming families have had to leave their land as a result of the country's ongoing drought, new figures reveal. There has been a 10% drop in the number of farmers in the past five years, the figures released by the Australia Bureau of Statistics revealed. Australia is presently in the grip of the what's known locally as the "Big Dry" - the worst drought in a century. The figure's reveal its impact on the nation's farming communities. They show that the number of farmers in Australia has dropped by a third in just 20 years
• 2008/04/30: G&M: Flood-swollen Saint John River could surpass record levels
• 2008/04/29: CBC: Rising waters raise more concerns in N.B. - EMO says flood levels will likely exceed 2005 levels of 7.8 m

  The conflict between biofuel and food persists:

• 2008/05/03: ABC(Au): UN adviser calls for halt on biofuels investment
  New United Nations special adviser on food Olivier de Schutter has called for an immediate freeze on investment in biofuels - crops which can be converted into energy, instead of food. Mr de Schutter says the pursuit of biofuels is contributing to a global food crisis threatening 100 million of the world's poorest people.
• 2008/04/30: BioEnergyBiz: Pressure builds on biofuels over impact on food supplies
• 2008/05/03: CanWest: Biofuels boom suddenly goes silent
  Turning grains into fuel gives farmers a new market, but with prices soaring, food scarce, and the impact on the environment dubious, the industry is less healthy...
• 2008/05/02: BBC: UN urges biofuel investment halt
  The UN's new top adviser on food has urged a freeze on biofuel investment, saying the blind pursuit of the policy is "irresponsible". Olivier de Schutter also wants curbs on investors whose speculation is, he says, driving food prices higher
• 2008/04/30: TruthOut: Siphoning Off Corn to Fuel Our Cars - As farmers feed ethanol plants, a costly link is forged between food and oil.
• 2008/05/01: WaPo: [Online conf with Bruce Babcock] Wheat, Corn and Ethanol Fight for Acres
• 2008/04/29: EnergyDaily: 'Biofuels frenzy' fuels global food crisis: experts
• 2008/04/30: EnergyCurrent: Scientists call for halt in grain-based biofuel production
• 2008/04/30: CBC: Stop biofuels to fight world hunger, food scientists say
• 2008/04/30: AFP: UN food supremo [John Holmes] warns against 'knee-jerk' response to biofuels
• 2008/04/29: PhysOrg: Food scientists say stop biofuels to fight world hunger
• 2008/04/28: EnergyDaily: US secretary [of State] concedes biofuels may spur food price rises
• 2008/04/29: CSM: Biofuels can't feed starving people - Using crops for energy is a noble idea, but it's led to a hunger crisis. by Romano Prodi
• 2008/04/28: UN: Biofuel production is 'criminal path' leading to global food crisis - UN expert
• 2008/04/27: ClimateP: Let them eat biofuels!

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

• 2008/05/04: ABC(Au): Farmers face climate challenge for more food
• 2008/05/04: Yahoo: Farmers face climate challenge in quest for more food
  If farmers think they have a tough time producing enough rice, wheat and other grain crops, global warming is going to present a whole new world of challenges in the race to produce more food, scientists say. In a warmer world beset by greater extremes of droughts and floods, farmers will have to change crop management practices, grow tougher plant varieties and be prepared for constant change in the way they operate, scientists say
• 2008/05/03: PeakEnergy: The Path To Better Soil
• 2008/05/02: EconView: Paul Collier: Reforming Agriculture
• 2008/05/03: SMH: Sowing the seeds of a food crisis
• 2008/05/02: PeakEnergy: Fertiliser Shortages Hitting Home
• 2008/05/02: TWM: Agribusiness Update...
• 2008/04/29: ABC(US): Suburbanites Turn Green Yards Into Cash With Minifarms - Yes, in My Backyard: Rising Prices Prompt Some to Grow Their Own Food
• 2008/04/30: NakedCapitalism: Fertilizer Scarcity Threatens Agricultural Productivity
• 2008/04/30: NakedCapitalism: Martin Wolf on Reforming Agriculture
• 2008/04/30: TheBigPicture: Worldwide Fertilizer Usage
• 2008/04/30: NYT: Shortages Threaten Farmers' Key Tool: Fertilizer
• 2008/04/27: BostonGlobe: The future of dirt
  Better soil could accomplish some surprising things, researchers find, but improving it is no small task.
• 2008/04/29: NewScientist: World food price crisis blamed on government neglect
  Fund another Green Revolution -- or people will starve. That's the message from heads of several international farm research institutes galvanised by the food price crisis. Scientists who run three of the world's leading international agricultural research labs say the worldwide surge in food prices is a predictable result of the neglect of agricultural research over the past two decades. They say the only way to prevent further price hikes, starvation and political instability is to fund more research into increased crop yields.
• 2008/04/28: UN: UN to assist African farmers threatened by climate change
• 2008/04/26: CDreams: IPS: Neglect of Farming Led to Rice Crisis [says PAN]

  Elsewhere on the mitigation front:

• 2008/05/02: PhysOrg: Limitations of charcoal as an effective carbon sink
• 2008/05/01: TreeHugger: Native Seeds Fight Food Shortage and Global Warming
• 2008/05/01: SLU: Limitations of charcoal as an effective carbon sink
• 2008/05/01: NatureN: Charcoal's green image blackened - The idea of using charcoal as a carbon sink may be over-optimistic.
• 2008/04/29: MongaBay: Biodiversity key to fighting climate change
• 2008/04/29: PhysOrg: Can a Polymer Help Curb Arctic Ice Melting? [albedo]
• 2008/04/28: PhysOrg: Pricing can cut CO2 emissions from electric generators
• 2008/04/28: SciDaily: Pricing Can Cut Carbon Dioxide Emissions From Electric Generators
• 2008/04/28: PeakEnergy: 14 Wedges Please - And Make It Snappy!

  As for transportation & GHG production:

• 2008/05/02: RadioAustralia: Aircraft emissions unlikely to meet climate change targets: study
• 2008/05/02: ABC(Au): Aviation industry's emissions taking off: report
• 2008/05/01: Reuters: Airlines face worst crisis since 2001 - U.S. jet fuel prices hit another record over $3.50 a gallon

  While in the endless quest for sustainable building codes:

• 2008/05/04: ClimateP: California tightens building standards yet again

  And on the carbon sequestration front:

• 2008/04/30: ABC(Au): Vic budget funds carbon capture research
  The Victorian Premier John Brumby says investment in large-scale carbon capture and storage projects in the La Trobe Valley will make the state a world leader in clean coal technology. Next week's State Budget will include $127-million for research projects in the La Trobe Valley to further develop carbon capture and storage technology. The aim is to make the process commercially viable.
• 2008/04/29: BBerg: Shell Examines Carbon Capture Project at Its Canadian [Scotford] Refinery

  Large scale geo-engineering keeps popping up:

• 2008/05/03: NewScientist: Don't stop hurricanes, guide them
• 2008/04/30: KSJT: LA Times: The latest word, with a fine not-new image, on engineering ourselves out of global warming [CO2 scrubbers]
• 2008/04/28: OilChange: Climate Fix "Harms" Ozone

  While on the adaptation front:

• 2008/04/30: PeakEnergy: Pine Beetles And Biochar

  Meanwhile in the journals:

• 2008/05/01: JDAnnan: Comment on "'Heat capacity, time constant and sensitivity of Earth's climate system' by S. Schwartz" by G. Foster et al.
• 2008/05/02: Nature: (ab$) Advancing decadal-scale climate prediction in the North Atlantic sector by N. S. Keenlyside et al.

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

• 2008/05/02: JEB: Comment on Schwartz: final version
• 2008/04/30: LDEO: Did dust storms make the Dust Bowl drought worse?
• 2008/04/30: GaTech: Scientists Discover New Ocean Current - North Pacific Gyre Oscillation
• 2008/04/29: PhysOrg: Scientists head to warming Alaska on ice core expedition
• 2008/04/29: TreeHugger: Global Warming Is Man-Made; Antarctic Ice Bubbles Tell the Tale
• 2008/04/29: Eureka: Scientists head to warming Alaska on ice core expedition
• 2008/04/28: Eureka: 'New' ancient Antarctic sediment reveals climate change history [ANDRILL]
• 2008/04/28: PhysOrg: 'New' Ancient Antarctic Sediment Reveals Climate Change History [ANDRILL]

  William Connolley lionized:

• 2008/05/03: BCLSB: William Connolley: Climate Scientist And Grumpy Guy
• 2008/05/03: Stoat: Who am I?

  More Hansen:

• 2008/04/28: ClimateP: "Tipping Point" -- A non-technical Hansen piece

  Pielke fan club redux:

• 2008/05/02: JEB: "What observations would be inconsistent with climate model predictions?" [PFC]

  Meanwhile on the Kyoto front:

• 2008/05/03: TreeHugger: Austria Not Pulling its Weight in Meeting Kyoto Objectives
• 2008/04/29: ENN: Russia says has no plans to cap carbon emissions
• 2008/04/28: Forbes: Russia says has no plans to cap carbon emissions
  Russia will not accept binding caps on its greenhouse gas emissions under a new climate regime, currently being negotiated to succeed the Kyoto Protocol after 2012, top officials said on Monday. Kyoto puts a cap on the average, annual greenhouse gas emissions from 2008-12 for some 37 industrialised countries, including Russia. But former communist countries are well within their emissions targets, which are compared to 1990 levels, because their industries and carbon emissions subsequently collapsed after they struggled to adapt to free markets. As a top energy producer and consumer, Russia welcomed the fact that Kyoto had not limited its carbon emissions and expected the same of any future climate deal, said Vsevolod Gavrilov, the official in charge of Russia's Kyoto obligations.
• 2008/04/28: WSJ:EnvCap: Nyet: Russia Doesn't Want a Tough Cap on Carbon

  And on the carbon trading front:

• 2008/04/30: DerSpiegel: A lucrative green business - Europe's Carbon-Trading Pioneers

  The idea of a carbon tax is still bouncing around:

• 2008/05/02: AngryBear: A carbon tax system begins
• 2008/05/01: GristMill: Passing on taxes - Empirical data and theory both show that emissions taxes get passed to consumers

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

• 2008/04/30: CarbonFinance: Carbon caps no hindrance to economic growth -- OECD
• 2008/04/30: GristMill: Another way of 'picking winners' - Output-based carbon regulations ignore critical types of efficiency
• 2008/04/30: GristMill: One hand clapping - Economic naïvete on carbon prices
• 2008/04/30: GristMill: Carbon policy dilemma, #3 -- Trading efficiency for inevitability
• 2008/04/30: GristMill: Recycling a carbon tax into carbon fighting - Perpetual motion does not work any better in economics than it does in technology
• 2008/04/29: GristMill: Markets vs. emission reductions - Why secondary carbon markets should be minimized in climate legislation
• 2008/04/29: GristMill: Carbon policy dilemma, #2 - Two simple, effective, and diametrically opposed climate policy proposals
• 2008/04/27: BSD: Cap and Dividend sounds fine to me

  And on the American political front:

• 2008/05/02: AbqJournal: Poll Data Trumps Science on Global Warming
• 2008/05/03: MTobis: The Great Divide
• 2008/05/02: GristMill: Create a diversion - Diverting war spending to green investments is both politically possible and neccesary
• 2008/05/02: TreeHugger: EWG Reveals Who Benefits Most from Direct Subsidy-Laden Farm Bill
• 2008/05/01: RedOrbit: U.S. Oil Addicts Deny Need To Change Energy Policy
  The addicts have spoken. Not only do they want more oil and gas drilling, anywhere and all the time. They also want to continue huge tax breaks for oil companies that are rolling in dough. For decades they have supported giant oil industry tax breaks like the oil depletion allowance. Now they oppose even short-term tax credits for renewable energy and energy efficiency -- unless future generations pay for them by adding them to the federal deficit created by wasteful spending and tax breaks.
• 2008/05/02: ThinkP: Sen. [Sheldon] Whitehouse (D-RI) On EPA Politicization: "It Looks Like Deja Vu All Over Again"
• 2008/05/02: JLaxer: America's Energy Crisis: The Realities the Politicians Won't Talk About
• 2008/05/01: NatureTGB: Keep your damn eco-cars, say US politicians
• 2008/05/01: WarmingLaw: Blame California! And Other State (And International!) News
• 2008/05/01: CSW: Questions for Climate Change Science Program Director William J. Brennan nomination hearing
• 2008/05/01: CNN: Farmer payouts, oil nabbed in food price runup
  Congressional panel probes food inflation. Lawmaker blames subsidies to farmers but farming representative cites oil prices as 'main culprit.'
• 2008/04/30: CCurrents: Another American War? Look Out Earth!
• 2008/04/30: HillHeat: OMB Uses Misleading Appeal to 'Deliberative Process Privilege' to Shield EPA Corruption
• 2008/04/30: CCSP: Abrupt Climate Change - Public Review Draft for Synthesis and Assessment Product 3.4
• 2008/04/29: ClimateP: Bush goes dark green, endorses local food
• 2008/04/29: ClimateP: Bush energy/food strategy: ANWR, nukes, more ethanol, new technology, blah, blah, blah
• 2008/04/29: AutoBG: Now we know why the automakers weren't screaming over the CAFE rules
• 2008/04/28: GristMill: Carbon tax shifts? The only obstacle more state carbon taxes is politics
• 2008/04/27: GristMill: The thing you really never hear - the horrendous costs that will come if we don't tackle global warming
• 2008/04/28: C411: Why the Farm Bill Matters for Global Warming
• 2008/04/28: Guardian(UK): US air force calls for mission to combat climate change

  A judge has ordered the US F&WS to decide if polar bears are endangered:

• 2008/04/29: MongaBay: Endangered species status of the polar bear to be decided May 15
• 2008/04/30: DeSmogBlog: Judge tells US to decide on polar bears, poll tells presidential hopefuls to gird for action
• 2008/04/30: OilChange: US Ordered to Act on Polar Bear
• 2008/04/29: STimes: Judge orders federal government to decide polar bear listing
• 2008/04/29: Guardian(UK): Bush has 16 days to decide whether polar bears are endangered
• 2008/04/29: DotEarth: Court Forces Government to Move on Polar Bear Status
• 2008/04/29: PhysOrg: Judge orders federal government to decide polar bear listing
• 2008/04/29: WarmingLaw: Federal Judge: Interior Must Grin and (Polar) Bear It
• 2008/04/29: CSW: Judge orders Bush administration to stop delaying polar bear protection
• 2008/04/29: ThinkP: Judge rules against Bush Administration in polar bear protection case
• 2008/04/29: BBC: A judge has told the US government to decide within weeks whether to list polar bears as an endangered species
• 2008/04/29: CBC: Judge orders U.S. government to decide polar bear listing
• 2008/04/28: NatureTGB: Polar bear not "endangered", just "concerning"

  Regarding the various climate bills:

• 2008/05/02: HillHeat: Responses to Voinovich Climate Bill
• 2008/05/02: C411: Voinovich Bill: Detailed Prescription for Doing Nothing
• 2008/05/01: GristMill: Details matter: The New York Knicks as GHG policy - Lieberman Warner criticism, Part 4
• 2008/05/01: WSJ:EnvCap: Dollars in Details: Climate Bill Boon To Some Utilities, Bust To Others
• 2008/04/29: GristMill: Coal and agrofuels win the subsidy sweepstakes
• 2008/04/30: WSJ:EnvCap: Good News, Bad News: Bean-Counters Parse Climate Bill
• 2008/04/29: Yahoo: Higher energy costs from climate bills
• 2008/04/29: GristMill: The fossil bloc makes its play - New Senate alternatives to L-W would take climate policy backwards -- way backwards
• 2008/04/29: GristMill: Details matter: Winner-picking and social engineering - Lieberman Warner criticism, Part 3
• 2008/04/27: ClimateP: Boucher lets conservatives block House climate bill
• 2008/04/28: GristMill: There's a hole in my energy bill - Biofuels loophole in 2007 energy bill grandfathers in pollution
• 2008/04/28: GristMill: Carbon policy dilemma - You can't achieve the three goals of climate policy at once

  The EPA kafuffle shuffles ever onward:

• 2008/05/01: GristMill: Shades of U.S. attorney scandal - Top EPA official forced out by political appointees
• 2008/05/01: HillHeat: EPA Dances Around Request to Curb Greenhouse Gases from Refineries
• 2008/05/01: WarmingLaw: Yet Another Silver Lining, Courtesy of NHTSA This Time
• 2008/04/30: WarmingLaw: EPA Dances Around Request to Curb Greenhouse Gases from Refineries
• 2008/04/28: CSW: Union of Concerned Scientists study: Hundreds of EPA scientists report political interference

  A new round in the Kansas coal war has played out in Sibelius' favour:

• 2008/05/03: ClimateP: Kansas House Sustains Veto
• 2008/05/02: ERabett: Moles whacked
• 2008/05/02: TreeHugger: The Kansas Coal Battle
• 2008/05/01: ClimateP: Kansas Senate overrides veto (again), and then some
• 2008/04/28: C&E: News Updates: Kansas Coal Controversy
• 2008/04/29: WarmingLaw: Kansas Court to Coal Industry: Check Back Later
• 2008/04/28: ClimateP: Kansas' Coal, Coal Heart

  One hears a lot about the campaign(s), not much about climate:

• 2008/05/03: TP:WonkRoom: McCain Seemingly Agrees With Glenn Beck That Solutions To Climate Change Can Be Delayed
• 2008/05/03: TP:WonkRoom: What The Gas Tax Holiday Has To Do With Global Warming
• 2008/05/01: ClimateP: Gas tax holiday, Part 3: It is cynical and indefensible no matter who proposes it[2008]
• 2008/05/01: GristMill: Climate poll
• 2008/05/01: GristMill: Obama on rail transit -- A candidate finally discusses public transit ... at a random lunch
• 2008/04/29: AbqJournal: Republican Senate Candidates Talk Climate Change
• 2008/04/27: GristMill: Obama plays it straight - Energy prices that tell the truth: the real presidential litmus test
• 2008/04/28: MTobis: Agreeing with WSJ Op-Ed - "Someone should put this question to the candidates. And not let them slide past it with glittering generalities."

  Joe is continuing his 450ppm series:

• 2008/04/30: ClimateP: Is 450 ppm (or less) politically possible? Part 3: The breakthrough technology illusion
• 2008/04/29: ClimateP: Is 450 ppm (or less) politically possible? Midcourse correction

  It's not often one sees US corporate media calling Bush on his 'facts':

• 2008/04/29: Google:AP: Bush rhetoric on energy strays from the facts
• 2008/04/29: ClimateP: Even the AP mocks Bush's energy remarks

  While in the UK:

• 2008/05/02: OilChange: Britons "Will Not Foot Bill to Save Planet"
• 2008/05/02: Guardian(UK): Brown suffers rebellion as [33] MPs attempt to boost green power
• 2008/04/30: GristMill: Sun is in the sky, oh why, oh why, would she wanna be anywhere else? Lily Allen backs U.K. solar incentive campaign
• 2008/05/01: Guardian(UK): [Letters] A cap on carbon
• 2008/04/29: Guardian(UK): [Letters] Green strategy

  Tesco is starting a limited carbon labelling program:

• 2008/04/29: BBC: Supermaket chain Tesco has announced that a range of its own-brand products will carry labels showing the size of the goods' carbon footprints
• 2008/04/28: Stoat: Tesco to put carbon scores on goods

  Council elections did not go well for the Labour party:

• 2008/05/04: SMH: Boris the clown claims the crown of London
• 2008/05/02: DerSpiegel: Voters Punish Gordon Brown - Conservatives Make Big Gains in British Local Elections
• 2008/05/03: BBC: Boris Johnson has won the race to become the next mayor of London - ending Ken Livingstone's eight-year reign at City Hall

  And in Europe:

• 2008/04/29: EUO: US subsidies killing off EU biodiesel producers, trade group complains
• 2008/04/29: EUO: Brussels blames part of food price rise on US biofuels policy
• 2008/04/28: OilChange: Trade War Over Biofuel Subsidies
  Oh the irony, the poor starve, yet the rich squabble over subsidies. European biodiesel producers have triggered a fresh transatlantic trade war by urging the EU to impose punitive duties on cheap imports from the US. They claim that low-priced imports of biofuels are putting many European producers out of business. Their American rivals immediately hit back by urging the federal government to take action against any protective measures for the European industry.
• 2008/04/29: Guardian(UK): Sweden's carbon-tax solution to climate change puts it top of the green list

  Meanwhile in Australia:

• 2008/05/03: ABC(Au): Carbon trading scheme worries energy sector
  The energy sector has warned a national carbon emissions trading scheme will not be effective if the Rudd Government grants exemptions to too many industries. The paper, dairy, steel, mining, cement, petrol and plastics industries are reportedly seeking to qualify for exemptions under the new scheme.
• 2008/04/28: GWWatch: Brendan Nelson holds the line on global warming
• 2008/04/30: ABC(Au): Resource council pushes for emissions compensation
  The Queensland Resources Council says it will lobby hard for industry compensation when Australia's emissions trading scheme is introduced. The Council has submitted a six-point plan to the Federal Government's climate change review and it includes measures to help protect resource interests in the state
• 2008/04/29: PeakEnergy: The Solar Continent
• 2008/04/29: SMH: Renewables policy under attack
  The nation's biggest oil and gas lobby group has attacked the Rudd Government's renewable energy policy, citing a consultant's report that says the policy will cost $1.8 billion to the economy and 3600 full-time jobs
• 2008/04/29: ABC(Au): Most at risk: Study reveals Sydney's climate change 'hotspots'
• 2008/04/28: ABC(Au): Coalition warms to solar power
  The Federal Opposition says its new climate change policy includes increasing the use of solar power in Australia. Opposition spokesman for climate change Greg Hunt has spoken on energy issues at a conference in Sydney this afternoon. Previously the federal Liberal Party has dismissed solar power as a major energy provider, but Mr Hunt says the Opposition now has a vision of Australia becoming a solar continent
• 2008/04/28: SMH: Government urged to cut fossil fuel subsidies

  Late comment on the Vision 2020 summit:

• 2008/04/29: ABC(Au): Solar? Wind? Forget it, we're goin' to gas!

  While in China:

• 2008/04/29: Xinhuanet: China's oil consumption hits record high in Q1

  In Canada, minority neocon PM Harper, continues his do-nothing policy:

• 2008/05/01: CBC: Military expertise put to work in Canada's Arctic mapping research
• 2008/04/30: BCLSB: Blame Mulroney For World Food Crisis
• 2008/04/24: G&M: Taking the blame for eco-woes
  During the 1980s, Canadians typically blamed corporations for many of the world's environmental ills. But today, they have another target as eco-villain: themselves. A new survey of environmental attitudes, one of the most extensive undertaken in the country, has revealed a profound shift in public opinion on the causes of environmental problems: People now suggest harm to the planet is being driven by their own demand for consumer goods and wasteful activities, rather than by causes such as company-produced pollution.

The federal biofuel subsidy program is being questioned:

• 2008/05/03: AutoBG: Support for biofuel subsidies collapsing in Canadian parliament
• 2008/04/30: G&M: Harper's biofuels policy sputters out on the Hill
  Use of food crops for fuel has some MPs urging caution and others expressing concern about a 'global food catastrophe' When the Harper government made support for biofuels its biggest environmental policy, the aggressive push to produce gasoline from farmers' crops received broad support from opposition parties. A year later, that political consensus in favour of biofuels is suddenly breaking down on Parliament Hill. At $2.2-billion, federal support for Canadian biofuels is the government's most expensive environmental program. It had also been the least controversial. But a series of high-profile international attacks on the use of food crops for fuel has some MPs questioning the impact of biofuels on rising food prices and social havoc among the world's poor.
• 2008/04/29: OttawaSun: Food or fuel? NDP says biofuels bill a bad idea

  Not much news about RadarSat-2 while that 30 day waiting period runs out:

• 2008/05/02: SpaceMart: RADARSAT-2 Commissioned And Ready For Commercial Operation
• 2008/05/01: CanWest: High-tech satellite could be offered to Ottawa
  Firm seeks to save $1.33-billion deal. MacDonald Dettwiler's 340 employees in Montreal would be involved in transaction

Liberal leader Stéphane Dion has come out for "a price on carbon":

• 2008/05/04: TStar: A tax on carbon worthy of debate
• 2008/05/04: TStar: To fight climate change, 'we need to put a price on carbon'
• 2008/04/28: G&M: Liberals study use of carbon tax to fight emissions
  Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion says he is "very seriously" considering a carbon tax to combat emissions if his party forms the next government. Ways to break Canadians' dependence on oil and gas are being studied now at the highest levels of the party, according to insiders. A carbon tax and other proposals are being tested on focus groups and, according to a senior Liberal source, a key caucus committee led by Nova Scotia MP Geoff Regan has looked at measures including a cap-and-trade system.

Wrangling over BC's climate plan continues:

• 2008/05/01: Tyee: BC's Liberals Deserve Prize for Climate of Secrecy - Give Campbell's global warming team a Code of Silence Award!
• 2008/05/01: TruthOut: The Intent of the Carbon Tax Is to Make Us Feel the Pain
• 2008/05/01: CanWest: The intent of the carbon tax is to make us feel the pain
• 2008/04/29: CBC: B.C. gas prices to rise 2.4 cents with carbon tax - Controversial tax is supported by environmentalists but opposed by the NDP
• 2008/04/29: G&M: [BC] Province introduces carbon tax legislation
• 2008/04/29: ChronicleHerald: B.C. carbon tax to raise $1.8b over three years
• 2008/04/28: Yahoo: B.C. government introduces carbon tax on fossil fuels starting July 1
  The B.C. government introduced legislation Monday for its carbon tax that will see a cut in greenhouse gas output and an increase for those heating their homes or driving their vehicles. The phased in tax which was promised in the February budget will start Canada Day. "Bill 37 introduces a ground-breaking, revenue-neutral carbon tax that will encourage all British Columbian families and businesses to lower their carbon footprint," said Finance Minister Carole Taylor as she introduced the Carbon Tax Act 2008. Taylor told MLAs and the public galleries filled with green activists, climate change advocates and public service tax experts that the carbon tax will help meet the goal of reducing emissions by 33 per cent by 2020. The new tax will impose a surcharge of $10 per metric tonne of carbon dioxide emissions in the first year, climbing to $30 per tonne by 2012. At service station pumps across the province that will translate to a price increase of about 2.5 cents per litre of gasoline and about 2.75 cents per litre of diesel fuel starting July 1. By 2012 the increase to a litre of gasoline will be about 7.25 cents per litre. On the home heating front, it will mean an immediate 50 cent per gigajoule jump in the price of natural gas and an increase of more than 2.75 cents per litre of furnace oil.

The tricky & difficult question of the tar sands looms:

• 2008/05/03: CBC: Oil company ad apologizes for Alberta duck deaths
• 2008/05/02: NatureTGB: Duck deaths highlight tar sands problems
• 2008/05/02: Daveberta: How to save alberta's tarsands from the ducks
• 2008/05/01: DeSmogBlog: Alberta Deputy Premier's "Mission Accomplished" Blog Missing In Action
• 2008/05/01: DeSmogBlog: Dead Ducks a Disaster for Alberta Oil Sands
• 2008/05/01: OilChange: Dead Ducks Spoil Ron's Day
• 2008/04/30: DeSmogBlog: Alberta Oil Sands Pioneer Says Envrionmental Problems Must be a Priority
• 2008/04/29: OilChange: Don't Buy It! Tar Sands Oil Still Dirty
• 2008/04/28: BLongstaff: Tar sands: the "baby seal" issue of the 21st century?

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

• 2008/05/01: DotEarth: C.I.A. Chief Lists Population as a Top Concern
• 2008/05/01: GristMill: The mirror, not Malthus - The rhetoric of population in the hunger crisis

  Apocalypso anyone?

• 2008/05/02: ClimateArk: Why the demise of civilisation may be inevitable

  As for how the media handles the science of climatology:

• 2008/05/01: ClimateP: Unintentionally funny climate headline
• 2008/04/29: TP:WonkRoom: Ali Velshi Hosts Glenn Beck To Promote Liquid Coal
• 2008/04/28: ThinkP: CNN's Velshi: I'm not even as "clean" as coal when I "get out of the shower."
• 2008/04/28: Guardian(UK): Tabloids rapped over climate coverage
• 2008/04/28: PhysOrg: UK tabloids contribute to climate complacency
• 2008/04/28: TP:WonkRoom: CNN's Ali Velshi Promotes False Coal-Based "Solution" To Gas Prices

  Here is something for your library:

• 2008/05/03: Guardian(UK): Market failures [Book Review] _Common Wealth: Economics for a Crowded Planet_ by Jeffrey D Sachs
• 2008/04/29: CSM: Global warming: What can we do? A pair of new books offer solutions on climate change
  [Book Reviews] _The Hot Topic: What We Can Do About Global Warming_ by Gabrielle Walker & Sir David King
  _Fixing Climate: What Past Climate Changes Reveal About the Current Threat --- And How to Counter It_ by Robert Kunzig & Wallace Broecker
• 2008/04/27: WaPo: Heating System - Why the environmental movement cannot prevent catastrophe.
  [Book Review] _The Bridge at the Edge of the World - Capitalism, the Environment, and Crossing From Crisis to Sustainability_ by James Gustave Speth
• 2008/04/27: CSW: Ross Gelbspan review of new book on capitalism and the environmental crisis by Gus Speth

  And for your film & video enjoyment:

• 2008/05/01: GristMill: 650 million years in 94 minutes - A History Channel production on climate is worthwhile
• 2008/04/27: CSW: "Hot Politics" re-aired -- PBS FrontLine program on global warming politics and online interviews

  The betting meme rolls on:

• 2008/05/01: BSD: Climate bet proposal for Bill Gray in the Rocky Mountain Chronicle
• 2008/05/01: ERabett: Ethon revs up the transport module
• 2008/04/30: JEB: More on the 4-year bet

  Wrestling over a new energy infrastructure continues unabated:

• 2008/05/04: Advertiser: Mexican oil production is a concern for U.S.
• 2008/04/28: FuturePundit: Mainstream Takes Oil Supply Problem More Seriously
• 2008/05/03: Telegraph(UK): Oil is expensive because oil is scarce
• 2008/05/02: TruthOut: Dawn of an Energy Famine
• 2008/05/02: TruthOut: The New Geopolitics of Energy
• 2008/05/02: ABC(Au): [New South Wales based] Company [Granite Power] to explore geothermal viability
• 2008/05/02: Guardian(UK): Jeremy Leggett - Dawn of an energy famine
• 2008/05/02: PeakEnergy: Shell Pulls Out Of London Array
• 2008/05/02: Nation: The New Geopolitics of Energy
• 2008/05/01: TruthOut: Shell to Exit Wind Project
• 2008/05/01: MIT: Nanotech advance heralds new era in heating, cooling and power generation
• 2008/05/01: TreeHugger: Superconducting Cables Beat Back NIMBY
• 2008/05/01: TreeHugger: GMZ Energy Announces Efficient Thermo-Electric Means To Convert Waste Heat To Electrcity
• 2008/05/01: MediaNewswire: World Energy Crunch Is Here To Stay
• 2008/05/01: PeakEnergy: Tapping The Gulf Stream
• 2008/05/01: WSJ:EnvCap: Shell Game: Oil Giant Pulls out of U.K. Wind Farm
• 2008/05/01: WSJ:EnvCap: Chevron's O'Reilly: Global Oil Demand is the Culprit
• 2008/05/01: OilChange: Shell Dumps Renewable Key Stake
• 2008/05/01: BBC: A plan to build the world's largest wind farm in the Thames Estuary looks uncertain after Shell said it wants to pull out of the [London Array] project
• 2008/04/29: BWeek: X Prize: $100 Million for Clean Fuels
• 2008/04/30: GristMill: The unbearable tightness of oil markets - America is ill equipped to handle expensive oil
• 2008/04/30: Independent(UK): Hamish McRae: We will never have cheap oil again
• 2008/04/30: PeakEnergy: Natural Gas - the future of fuel?
• 2008/04/30: NEN: Solar breakthrough: how plants do it
• 2008/04/30: ABC(Au): Floating turbines may join Norway's offshore rigs
• 2008/04/29: PhysOrg: Scientists aim to boost world energy supplies -- with microbes
• 2008/04/29: OilDrum: The Energy Return of (Industrial) Solar - Passive Solar, PV, Wind and Hydro (#4 of 5)
• 2008/04/29: NEN: Rx for Ohio: RES, Wind and Sun
• 2008/04/29: AFP: BP, Shell profits soar on sky-high oil prices
• 2008/04/28: NYT: Amid High Oil Prices, Danger Signs in Production
• 2008/04/28: NEN: Big utility, big oil to build big wind
• 2008/04/28: TEB: Missouri City Goes 100% Wind Power
• 2008/04/28: WSJ:EnvCap: Big Gust: China Boosts Wind-Power Goal
• 2008/04/28: OilChange: Oil Close to $120 a Barrel and Rising

  Meanwhile among the solar afficionados:

• 2008/05/02: FuturePundit: Big Photovoltaic Price Drop Due To Large Silicon Supplies?
• 2008/05/02: AutoBG: SUNRGI tempts us with solar power for 5 cents per Kwh
• 2008/05/03: TEB: Sungri Claims 5-7 cents per kWh for CSP Solar Technology
• 2008/05/02: NEN: Not just concentrating solar, Xtreme concentrating solar
• 2008/05/01: PhysOrg: U.S. to support some solar power research
• 2008/05/01: NEN: More big bucks to solar power plants [eSolar]
• 2008/04/30: KSJT: Der Spiegel: Good news, says an aerospace expert. We don't have an energy problem? [desert solar]
• 2008/04/30: DerSpiegel: Is Desert Solar Power the Solution to Europe's Energy Crisis?
• 2008/04/29: SciDaily: An Organizer For Structuring Silicon Without High Temperatures Developed: Useful For Solar Cells
• 2008/04/28: TreeHugger: Solar Thermal Power in North-Africa: How Much Land to Power the World?
• 2008/04/28: NEN: Install solar panels & be a power producer?
• 2008/04/28: CTB: The Other Solar Energy

  The arithmetic of coal carbon is striking home:

• 2008/05/02: ABC(Au): New technology makes brown coal green
  Australian company Exergen says a multi-million-dollar investment will allow it to build a new plant to make brown coal more environmentally friendly. The company has successfully trialled new technology at its pilot plant at Beaconsfield in northern Tasmania. The technology removes moisture and contaminants from the coal, reducing carbon emissions
• 2008/05/01: OilDrum: The Coal Crunch is Materializing
• 2008/04/29: TruthOut: Dirty Smoke Signals - Navajo Nation weighs costs and benefits of coal mining on its land.
• 2008/04/29: GristMill: The latest on the expensivest cheap power around - The fight over coal heads to a climax in Kansas

  Biofuel bickering abounds:

• 2008/05/04: TreeHugger: World's Biggest Consumer Goods Company To Use Certified Sustainable Palm Oil
• 2008/05/04: CanWest: Biofuel mania bad for farmers - Subsidized fuel crops cause price hikes in getting hogs to market
• 2008/05/02: TEB: GM Invests in Mascoma
• 2008/04/30: McClatchyDC: Brazil can't find world market for its ethanol
• 2008/04/29: C411: Corn Ethanol: Importance of Performance Standards
• 2008/04/28: TruthOut: Here's a Bad Idea: Gas From Trees

  The nuclear energy controversy continues:

• 2008/05/01: OilChange: Nuclear's CO2 Cost "Will Climb"
• 2008/04/30: TruthOut: What Nuclear Renaissance?
• 2008/04/30: ABC(Au): Nuclear power could lose green tag, research shows
• 2008/04/30: BBC: Nuclear's CO2 cost 'will climb'
  The case for nuclear power as a low carbon energy source to replace fossil fuels has been challenged in a new report by Australian academics. It suggests greenhouse emissions from the mining of uranium - on which nuclear power relies - are on the rise. Availability of high-grade uranium ore is set to decline with time, it says, making the fuel less environmentally friendly and more costly to extract.
• 2008/04/28: CBC: Sask. might be good bet for nuke plant, TransCanada CEO says
• 2008/04/29: WSJ:EnvCap: Going Nuclear: What To Do With the Waste?
• 2008/04/28: TreeHugger: Mother Jones Starts Dialogue on Nuclear Power with Experts

  Yes we have a peak oil sighting:

• 2008/05/02: SeekingAlpha: Why Exxon Still Denies Peak Oil
• 2008/04/29: RReich: What to Do About the Oil Crisis
  [...] So there's really only one way for us to go: Alternative sources of energy - wind, solar, biomass, water, and if we can make it safe enough, nuclear.
  Why aren't oil companies investing in these alternatives? They have more money now than they know what to do with. Their quarterly reports, out this week, will show galactic profits. But for them, basic research in alternatives is too risky. And why should we expect them to invest in alternatives to oil, anyway? They aren't even putting as much as they did five years ago into oil exploration, as a percent of their profits. They figure the best way to keep their stock price high is to use their windfall profits to buy back their shares. This may be good for their shareholders but it's terrible for America.
  That's why it's time for a windfall profits tax on oil companies to finance our way to sensible and sustainable sources of energy. Forget the summer tax holiday on gas. We need a permanent holiday from oil.
• 2008/04/28: RaiseTheHammer: Yes, It's a Crisis
• 2008/04/29: ClimateP: "The End of the World as You Know It" -- or not
• 2008/04/28: Straight: Gwynne Dyer: Climate change could fend off peak oil crisis
• 2008/04/29: NAM: Rising Powers, Shrinking Planet -- Global Fight for Oil [Michael Klare interview]

  And then there is the matter of efficiency & conservation:

• 2008/05/01: TreeHugger: Beating the Energy Efficiency Paradox (Part I) [Jevons]
• 2008/05/01: PeakEnergy: LED Lights [EvoLux]
• 2008/04/28: NEN: Efficiency, efficiency, efficiency

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

• 2008/05/03: CNN: Long-awaited electric sports car rolls out
  Tesla Roadster is powered by lithium-ion battery and costs $109,000 - Officials say it can go 225 miles on one charge and fully recharge in 3½ hours - First store opens in California, with more planned next year - Delivery will take about 15 months, company says
• 2008/05/02: PhysOrg: Tesla rolls out its long-awaited electric sports car
• 2008/05/02: OilChange: RIP the SUV?
• 2008/05/01: CalcRisk: Auto Sales Sharply Lower in April - GM 16% down, Ford 12% down. Chrysler 23% down Toyota 3.4% up
• 2008/04/30: DeSmogBlog: Solutions: Electric Car to Make Euro Debut in 2009
• 2008/05/01: MSNBC: U.S. automobile sales fell sharply in April -- GM, Ford, Chrysler suffer double-digit declines; Toyota edges up 3 percent
• 2008/04/30: PeakEnergy: An Electrifying Startup [A123]
• 2008/04/30: AutoBG: A123: History and Progress [cars]
• 2008/04/29: AutoBG: Softening demand hits GM full-size truck production
• 2008/04/28: PhysOrg: High fuel prices force Californians into hybrids, or off the road
• 2008/04/28: AutoBG: Is GM "a genius or a dolt for developing the Volt"?
• 2008/04/28: PRWatch: Toyota: Mean and Not So Green?
• 2008/04/28: SMH: CARS are no more fuel-efficient today than they were in the 1960s, a transport expert [Paul Mees] says

  The reaction of business to climate change will be critical:

• 2008/05/01: EnvFin: Generation closes $683m climate fund
• 2008/05/01: EnvFin: Business is unprepared for financial risks of climate - survey

  Meanwhile in the greenwashing chronicles:

• 2008/05/01: PRWatch: Brits on the Lookout for Greenwashing
• 2008/05/01: TreeHugger: Complaints Against Greenwashing Quadruple in the UK
• 2008/04/30: NatureTGB: "Greenwashing" complaints rise
• 2008/04/28: CorpResp: Blogs turn up heat on greenwash
• 2008/04/28: TruthOut: Scrubbing King Coal
• 2008/04/25: Telegraph(UK): Record complaints over 'greenwashing'
  Record numbers of complaints have been levelled at major businesses who "severely exaggerate" their environmental credentials, the advertising watchdog will say next week.

Insurance and re-insurance companies are feeling the heat:

• 2008/04/28: GWWatch: Sell all your re-insurance stock

  The carbon lobby are up to the usual:

• 2008/05/04: CanWest: Scientists try to speak with authority, but real authority resides elsewhere [denial]
• 2008/05/04: GWWatch: Tackle a climate change troll
• 2008/05/02: MTobis: The Falsifiability Question
• 2008/05/03: Guardian(UK): 'They cheat, I tell you' [Nigel Lawson interview]
• 2008/05/02: JEB: Woohoo! Corbyn nails it!
• 2008/05/02: MTobis: Blaming the Messenger
• 2008/05/02: DeSmogBlog: Bjorn Lomborg Bibliography
• 2008/05/01: NatureTGB: Taking oil companies to task [Exxon Rockefeller]
• 2008/05/01: Atmoz: More Carbon Dioxide, Please? [Spencer]
• 2008/05/01: DeSmogBlog: Bjorn Lomborg's Apples and Oranges Argument
• 2008/05/01: DawgsBlawg: Creationists and denialists: liars and charlatans
• 2008/04/30: TruthOut: Rockefellers call for change at Exxon Mobil
• 2008/04/30: ThinkP: Right-wing organization [WND] paying kids for denying global warming
• 2008/04/29: AngryBear: Climate and discussions
• 2008/04/30: WarmingLaw: James Inhofe: Defender of Science?
• 2008/04/30: CSW: Rockefellers call for change in ExxonMobil leadership
• 2008/04/28: DotEarth: Arctic Explorer Rebuts "Warming Island" Critique
• 2008/04/28: inel: RevkinDotEarth@NYT on Arctic Explorer Rebuts [Michaels'] "Warming Island" Critique
• 2008/04/28: Deltoid: Latest on Listener vs free speech
• 2008/04/28: Deltoid: Et tu, Ockham's razor?
• 2008/04/28: BBC: Exxon 'ranks low on transparency'
  The world's largest energy group, Exxon-Mobil, is as secretive as its Russian and Chinese rivals, new research has suggested. Transparency International evaluated the reporting practices of 42 oil and gas firms including payments made to resource-rich countries. Exxon was the least transparent along with China's CNOOC and Russia's Lukoil.

The William Gray teacup tempest:

• 2008/04/29: NatureTGB: Storm over global-warming sceptic hurricane man
• 2008/04/30: NatureTGB: Update: Storm over global-warming sceptic hurricane man
• 2008/04/29: CSU: Response to Inaccurate News Stories Appearing Today Regarding CSU Hurricane Team Future
• 2008/04/30: KSJT: Nature Great Beyond: A tempest erupts over hurricane-guru and climate skeptic, and blows over fast?

  The Heartland Institute has started a race to the bottom:

• 2008/05/03: DeSmogBlog: Heartland Institute Condemned for "Major Ethical Transgression"
• 2008/05/02: GristMill: Skeptics lie; news at 11 - DeSmogBlog uncovers Heartland lies
• 2008/05/01: DeSmogBlog: Distinguished Scientist Calls Heartland 500 List "Offensive and Wrong"
• 2008/04/30: DeSmogBlog: Senator James Inhofe's Blog: the Greatest Hoax Perpetrated on the American People
• 2008/04/30: MTobis: Skepticism regarding "thermodynamics"
• 2008/04/30: DeSmogBlog: A Few Scientists Who Won't Deny Being Deniers
• 2008/04/29: DeSmogBlog: 500 Scientists with Documented Doubts - about the Heartland Institute
• 2008/04/29: Atmoz: Quotes from Some Scientists Doubting Anthropogenic Global Warming
• 2008/04/29: Deltoid: Heartland's bogus list of 500 scientists
• 2008/04/29: BCLSB: Martians, AGW Deniers, and The Wiki Wars
• 2008/04/29: DeSmogBlog: Are You on Heartland's 500 List of "Doubters"

  Then there was the usual news and commentary:

• 2008/05/03: JEB: Train wreck on Wikipedia: Confidence interval
• 2008/05/02: BobPark: What's New? #2) Food panic: not enough food, or too many mouths? #4) Climate: it's warming - except right now it's cooling.
• 2008/04/29: SFGate:Blog: Food, fuel, finance: The world's crises are inescapably intertwined
• 2008/05/03: SMH: New climate figures would make a great debate them
• 2008/05/01: GristMill: Impossible emission force - Emission prices don't reduce consumption sufficiently
• 2008/05/02: WSJ:EnvCap: Hot Words: A WSJ Editor Mulls Global-Warming Language
• 2008/05/01: DotEarth: Can Climate Campaigns Withstand a Cooling Test?
• 2008/05/01: GristMill: Thought of the day: Social engineering and climate chaos - Social engineering can't be avoided; why make it benefit only the rich?
• 2008/05/01: WarmingLaw: More on Inhofe and Science
• 2008/05/01: JFleck: What I need from climate science
• 2008/04/30: Atmoz: Limited Time Period Trends: 1 Year Periodicity in Interannual Cycle
• 2008/04/30: DotEarth: Moving from Projections to Predictions on Climate
• 2008/04/28: G&M: We should warm to the idea of melting poles
• 2008/04/28: ClimateP: What climate change drives behavior change -- or what can kids in the SW look forward to...

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

• MulchBlog - agriculture, farm policy, and food safety
• Greenwash Guerrillas
• JISAO: The Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO)
• Climate and Energy (blog)
• Gaian Economics
• Wiki: Ecological economics
• ESF: EPICA - European Project for Ice Coring in Antarctica
• PAGES: Past Global Changes
• ACP: The Alliance for Climate Protection
• New Scientist Environment
• CEOS: Committee on Earth Observation Satellites
• Earth911 - Global Warming
• COSMIC: Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere & Climate
• UCSUSA: The A to Z Guide to Political Interference in Science
• GWWatch: Global Warming Watch

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.

"If there are no bees, there will be no steak." -Tony Riome, Beekeeper

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