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:Meetings - UNFCCC, G8 & OECD, Nargis, US Climate Bill, IEA Report, Late Comments
- Food Crisis, Rome Summit, Food vs. Biofuel, Food Production
- Hurricanes, GHGs, Temperatures, Abrupt CC, ENSO, Sea Levels, Satellites
- Impacts, Forests, Desertification, Tornadoes, Wildfires, Floods & Droughts
- Mitigation, Transportation, Buildings, Sequestration, Geoengineering, Adaptation
- Journals, Misc. Science, Hansen
- Carbon Trade, Carbon Tax, Optimal Carbon Reduction Strategy
- Politics: America, Britain, Europe, Australia, Canada
- Ecological Economics, IPAT, Apocalypso, Media, Samuelson
- Energy, Solar, Coal, Biofuel, Nukes, Peak Oil, Efficiency, Cars, Business, Greenwashing, Insurance
- Carbon Lobby, The Usual, Useful Links
- Shameless Self Promotion, .sig
- 2008/06/08: uComics: (cartooon - Toles) SUV: Suddenly Unwanted Vehicle
- 2008/06/04: uComics: (cartoon - Danziger) Myanmar's Final Solution
- 2008/06/03: Salon: (cartoon - TomTom) A Brief History of Gasoline Consumption in America
- 2008/06/02: uComics: (cartoon - Rall) Go Ahead, Charge $15/Gallon!
- 2008/06/02: uComics: (cartoon - Toles) The Government's Climate Plan
In Bonn, Germany the UNFCCC meeting is ongoing:
- UNFCCC: Bonn Climate Talks 2008
- 2008/06/06: IHT: Climate conference demands strong steps against global warming in open letter
- 2008/06/06: Reuters: UN climate talks chairman [Brazilian Luiz Figueiredo Machado] seeks concrete proposals
- 2008/06/05: ENN: Climate Costs
- 2008/06/05: Yahoo: Food, oil crises should not overshadow climate danger: UN [UNEP head, A. Steiner]
- 2008/06/05: Reuters: Tough 2020 climate goals unachievable: U.S.
- 2008/06/03: Reuters: Poor nations demand climate funds
- 2008/06/03: Reuters: U.N. climate change chief confident of 2009 deal
- 2008/06/03: Google:AFP: All three US candidates are strong on global warming: UN climate chief
- 2008/06/02: Forbes: EU urges action on climate change, US wary
- 2008/06/02: Yahoo: New round of climate talks opens in Germany
- 2008/06/02: UN: Latest round of UN climate change talks kicks off in [Bonn] Germany
- 2008/06/02: ENN: Soaring living costs cloud U.N. climate talks [Bonn, June 2-13]
- 2008/06/01: Google:CP: New round of climate talks open Monday with big agenda, small hopes
Bonn, Germany -- Climate change experts from around the world will get their first chance this week to discuss the nuts and bolts of a new global warming agreement designed to take effect after 2012. The meeting builds on a landmark accord reached last December on the Indonesian island of Bali which, for the first time, held out the promise that the United States, China and India will join a co-ordinated effort to control carbon emissions blamed for the unnatural heating of the Earth. The two-week conference, drawing some 2,000 delegates from more than 160 countries and dozens of agencies, begins Monday. - 2008/06/02: OilChange: A Big Agenda, but Small Hope
The G8 energy ministers met in Japan:
- 2008/06/08: CNN: Japan: Oil prices could spur global recession - Energy ministers from Group of Eight nations meeting
- 2008/06/08: PeakEnergy: Energy ministers debate oil price surge
- 2008/06/02: ABC(Au): Japan PM says fuel prices high on G8 agenda...along with the world food crisis and climate change
- 2008/06/02: Reuters: G8 draft shows U.S. blocking emissions targets
The United States is blocking efforts to get next month's Group of Eight summit to agree targets for cutting carbon emissions over the next 10 to 20 years, according to a draft of the declaration seen by Reuters. The draft, dated May 5, shows that Washington wants to make the Major Emitters grouping set up by U.S. President George W. Bush last year the main forum for climate action, taking the initiative away from the smaller group of rich nations. - 2008/06/02: BBC: OECD set to tackle climate change
The world's richest nations are meeting in Paris to try to agree measures to tackle climate change and mitigate the effects of the world financial crisis. The annual meeting of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) comes as the world is facing a sharply slowing economy, - 2008/06/07: CNN: Myanmar: Monsoon season brings more suffering
Housing shortage leaves cyclone survivors at monsoon season's mercy - Aid agencies say there is an urgent need for tarpaulins to provide shelter - There are an estimated 1.5 million homeless survivors in need of help - 2008/06/07: DailyIndia: Cyclone aid organizer [Zarganar] arrested in Myanmar
- 2008/06/06: CBC: Burmese generals lash foreign media for 'false' coverage of cyclone aid effort
- 2008/06/05: WikiNews: U.S. Navy forced to give up on Burma relief
- 2008/06/05: CBC: Burmese junta forcing cyclone victims out of emergency camps: Amnesty
- 2008/06/03: CCurrents: Desolation In Myanmar
- 2008/06/04: BBC: Burma challenge - Aid workers face hurdles despite more access
- 2008/06/04: CBC: U.S. navy ships to leave Burmese coast - Having been denied permission by Burma's ruling military government to drop off aid for cyclone victims...
- 2008/06/03: NYT: Myanmar Rulers Still Impeding Access
- 2008/06/03: AFP: Myanmar denies delays to cyclone aid, as relief effort lags
- 2008/06/03: Guardian(UK): Burma reopens schools hit by cyclone - Regime reopens schools in a bid to restore normality...
- 2008/06/02: CSM: Amid aid delays, locals in Burma (Myanmar) rebuild - Cyclone victims are rebuilding homes and collecting rainwater as foreign aid workers slowly spread out
- 2008/06/02: FPB: Quotable: [U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert] Gates accuses Burmese junta of 'criminal neglect'
- 2008/06/02: CBC: One month after cyclone, Burma still restricting aid workers' access
- 2008/06/02: BBC: Burmese still lack aid a month on
Meanwhile in the US Senate, the Lieberman-Warner climate bill was debated & killed:
- 2008/06/07: GristMill: Climate Security Action - Quick post-mortem on Lieberman-Warner
- 2008/06/07: GristMill: Revkin: Can tax-and-dividend break the political deadlock? Now that L-W is dead, Barnes' sky trust is looking good
- 2008/06/07: ABC(Au): Climate change bill blocked in US Senate
- 2008/06/07: DotEarth: Next Steps on Climate and Energy
- 2008/06/07: BSD: Maybe a two-vote shift will get us climate legislation next year [L-W]
- 2008/06/06: Yahoo: Republican lawmakers block US climate bill
- 2008/06/06: TP:WonkRoom: We Can Build An Inclusive Green Economy [L-W]
- 2008/06/07: Guardian(UK): Republicans scupper plans for climate bill
- 2008/06/06: CNN: U.S. Senate global warming bill blocked
Senate bill on global warming would require big reductions in greenhouse gases - Debate focuses on the expected economic costs of putting a price on carbon dioxide - Both Sens. Obama and McCain have called for capping carbon dioxide - 2008/06/06: Guardian(UK): US Senate Republicans block climate change plan
- 2008/06/06: ClimateP: Post-post mortem on Boxer-Lieberman-Warner debate aka "Weekend at Bernie's"
- 2008/06/06: GristMill: An inhospitable climate - Climate Security Act dies, failing to muster enough votes to move forward
- 2008/06/06: GristMill: LW post-mortem - Lieberman-Warner's failure this year underdetermines next year's efforts
- 2008/06/06: GristMill: Special interested - Top Senate recipients of fossil-fuel money behind climate-bill stall tactics
- 2008/06/06: GristMill: Week not a total wash for environmental action in the Senate - Budget resolution includes funds to clean up nuclear sites
- 2008/06/05: GristMill: For whatever it's worth - A list of strengthening amendments to the climate bill that will probably never be introduced
- 2008/06/06: TP:WonkRoom: Fossil-Based Politicians Filibuster Climate Legislation
- 2008/06/06: HillHeat: Lieberman-Warner Filibustered, 48-36
- 2008/06/06: C411: Opponents Block Action on Climate Bill --- For Now
- 2008/06/06: Yahoo: Senate action on climate bill seems doomed
- 2008/06/06: ENN: Carbon-capping climate Senate bill dies
- 2008/06/06: ENN: Senate Democrats May Pull Climate Bill
- 2008/06/06: Yahoo: Vote on climate bill is blocked in Senate
- 2008/06/06: BBC: US climate change bill is blocked
A US attempt to establish a system of caps and tax relief to cut carbon emissions has been blocked in Congress. The bill was backed by most senators, but did not get the 60 votes needed to stop a delaying tactic - a filibuster - used by the bill's opponents. Even if it had succeeded in passing Congress, President George W Bush had pledged to veto the bill. Lawmakers will now wait until next year - when there will be a new president - before attempting to pass a new bill. - 2008/06/03: Independent(UK): US coal lobbyists unveil nightmarish vision of life after cap-and-trade law
- 2008/06/05: Guardian(UK): Climate plan heads for make-or-break US Senate vote
- 2008/06/05: ClimateP: Reid says Senate debate ends Friday, reads cynical GOP strategy email
- 2008/06/05: ClimateP: Senate fight, round one: Delayers 2, Future Generations, 0
- 2008/06/05: DotEarth: [L-W] Climate Debate: Democracy In Action?
- 2008/06/05: PhysOrg: Climate bill stalls in Senate after dispute
- 2008/06/05: PhysOrg: Senate action on climate bill seems doomed
- 2008/06/05: GristMill: Senate all before - GOP leaders resort to high jinks to stall climate bill
- 2008/06/04: GristMill: Stalled - Will the Senate ever get to constructive (or destructive) debate on climate bill?
- 2008/06/05: HillHeat: Lieberman-Warner Amendments
- 2008/06/04: HillHeat: Conservative Senators Compare Lieberman-Warner to New Deal, Oppose "Expansion of Government"
- 2008/06/05: C411: Senate Debate on CSA: Fact Check
- 2008/06/05: ENN: Eleven Major Corporations Urge Senate Passage Of Climate Change Legislation
- 2008/06/05: Yahoo: Climate bill stalls in Senate after dispute
- 2008/06/05: NEN: The Senate's climate change bill: Dress Rehearsal
- 2008/06/05: TP:WonkRoom: GOP Memo: Goal For Climate Debate Is "Making Political Points"
- 2008/06/04: TP:WonkRoom: Right-Wing Senators Oppose New Deal [L-W] To Solve Global Warming
- 2008/06/04: Guardian(UK): Climate bill stalls in Senate after dispute [for reading]
- 2008/06/04: ClimateP: Senate conservatives give new meaning to the term "Delayer"
- 2008/06/04: GristMill: Delay, delay - Senate GOP delays climate debate still further by forcing clerk to read Boxer amendment
- 2008/06/03: GristMill: Creeping toward productive conversation - Senate begins debate on Lieberman-Warner climate bill -- sort of
- 2008/06/03: Yahoo: US experts, activists slam Bush opposition to climate change bill
- 2008/06/04: STimes: Spread the burden of climate change [L-W]
- 2008/06/04: SF Gate: GOP tries to scuttle climate-change bill
- 2008/06/02: HillHeat: Senate Votes to Proceed to Debate on Lieberman-Warner
- 2008/06/02: HillHeat: USCAP Offshoot Announces Support For Lieberman-Warner
- 2008/06/02: Reuters: Comments on U.S. climate change bill [by various politicos]
- 2008/06/02: Yahoo: Senate votes to begin global warming debate
- 2008/06/02: Guardian(UK): Bush criticises Senate emissions reduction bill
- 2008/06/02: KSJT: Wash. Post, AP, etc: Senate tackles climate bill that's a dead duck, but also is great target practice
- 2008/06/02: PhysOrg: Economic cost drives Senate climate debate
- 2008/06/02: PhysOrg: Senate to take up climate bill
- 2008/06/02: PhysOrg: Bush weighs in against Senate climate bill
- 2008/06/02: GristMill: The strange case of Bob Corker - Conservative senator offers two progressive amendments to climate bill
- 2008/06/02: GristMill: Lame duck quacking - White House says it will veto Lieberman-Warner climate bill
- 2008/06/02: GristMill: The fruits of labor - Climate Security Act gets support from labor unions
- 2008/06/02: GristMill: Don't say we didn't Warner you - National Association of Manufacturers releases anti-climate legislation video
- 2008/06/02: GristMill: Just around the Warner - Lieberman-Warner climate bill hitting the Senate floor
- 2008/06/02: HillHeat: White House Threatens Veto of Lieberman-Warner
- 2008/06/02: HillHeat: Bush Criticizes Lieberman-Warner Bill
- 2008/06/02: HillHeat: Boxer Delivers Democratic Radio Address On Global Warming
- 2008/06/02: DeSmogBlog: Your Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act Talking Points
- 2008/06/02: Yahoo: Senate to take up climate bill
- 2008/06/01: AngryBear: Cap-and-trade: Senate Debate This Week
The International Energy Agency startled some by calling for massive investment in energy:
- 2008/06/07: NakedCapitalism: International Energy Agency Calls for Much Higher Carbon Prices
- 2008/06/07: NYT: [International Energy] Agency Calls for 'Energy Revolution'
- 2008/06/06: WSJ:EnvCap: Reality Check: IEA Wants "Immediate" Climate Action; Senate Kills Bill
- 2008/06/06: NYT: Study Calls for 'Energy Revolution'
The world needs to invest $45 trillion in energy in coming decades, build some 1,400 nuclear power plants and vastly expand wind power in order to halve greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, according to an energy study released Friday. The report by the Paris-based International Energy Agency envisions a "energy revolution" that would greatly reduce the world's dependence on fossil fuels while maintaining steady economic growth. - 2008/06/06: BBC: Green energy 'revolution' needed
A leading energy body is calling for a $45 trillion (£23 trillion) green revolution to tackle global warming. The International Energy Agency (IEA) said nations must spend 1% of annual economic output on new technology to halve carbon dioxide emissions by 2050. - 2008/06/06: Yahoo: $45 trillion needed to combat warming
The world needs to invest $45 trillion in energy in coming decades, build some 1,400 nuclear power plants and vastly expand wind power in order to halve greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, according to an energy study released Friday. The report by the Paris-based International Energy Agency envisions a "energy revolution" that would greatly reduce the world's dependence on fossil fuels while maintaining steady economic growth. - 2008/06/04: PlanetArk: Tough Climate Goals Cost $45 Trillion By 2050-IEA
Late comment on the US CCSP & USDA report:
- 2008/06/02: LA Times: A chilling global warming forecast
There's always a new report about global warming, but the one released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, with its charts on optimal temperatures for soybeans and peanuts, is downright creepy in its detail. This isn't your usual futuristic fodder, with vague but dire predictions. The USDA report is more frightening because it states matter-of-factly the practical changes in farming, forestry and water that are transforming the landscape now and will do so again over the next few decades. - 2008/06/06: GristMill: Tough but fair criticism - BBC program on Kyoto offsets
- 2008/06/05: BBC: The great carbon bazaar
Evidence of serious flaws in the multi-billion dollar global market for carbon credits has been uncovered by a BBC World Service investigation. The credits are generated by a United Nations-run scheme called the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). The mechanism gives firms in developing countries financial incentives to cut greenhouse gas emissions. But in some cases, carbon credits are paid to projects that would have been realised without external funding. - 2008/06/02: JEB: More on that SST change
- 2008/06/02: Stoat: It is too early to tell
- 2008/06/02: RealClimate: Of buckets and blogs
- 2008/06/02: PeakEnergy: Case against climate change discredited by study [buckets]
The food crisis remains a top story:
- 2008/06/06: CSM: Food crisis: A daily quest for bread in Cairo - A 'bread crisis' that broke out in January has not subsided despite government efforts.
- 2008/06/06: CD: Women's rights and global food crisis [MADRE]
- 2008/06/06: BBC: One killed in Tunisian [food] price riot
- 2008/06/05: JQuiggin: Fin article on food
- 2008/06/05: TheBigPicture: US Agriculture Secy [Ed Schafer]: Food Inflation to Hit 43%
- 2008/06/02: ZMag: How Speculators are Manipulating & Profiting from the Global Food Crisis
- 2008/06/02: Guardian(UK): The salvation of high prices
Capitulating to demands for cheaper fuel and food will only ensure that both run out sooner and inflict untold damage on the poor - 2008/06/04: BBC: Tortilla prices put pressure on poor [in Mexico]
- 2008/06/03: Guardian(UK): Harvests of hunger
The world has enough food but high prices are causing hunger. It's time to stop treating food as just another commodity - 2008/06/02: AllAfrica: IRIN: Winter Wheat Season Set for Failure [Zimbabwe]
- 2008/06/01: EUO: Europe's food prices up twice the inflation rate
- 2008/06/02: UN: Haiti needs help to deal with food crisis, Ban says ahead of world summit
- 2008/05/31: JapanFocus: How to manufacture a global food crisis: The destruction of agriculture in developing countries
How "free trade" is destroying Third World agriculture-and who's fighting back. - 2008/06/07: SMH: Hunger summit leaps the free-trade barrier
A world summit on hunger almost collapsed when Latin American countries objected to a final, watered-down resolution designed to boost agriculture and control soaring food prices. But the declaration was adopted with about 180 countries pledging late on Thursday to work to eliminate hunger and secure access to food "for all, today and tomorrow" through urgent actions including the easing of trade barriers and the supply of seeds and fertiliser to poor farmers. The resolution did not contain stronger language sought by critics of biofuels, which are strongly supported by the Bush Administration. - 2008/06/06: NYT: U.N. Food Meeting Ends With a Call for 'Urgent' Action
- 2008/06/06: UN: $6 billion in new funding for global food crisis, says UN aid chief [John Holmes]
- 2008/06/05: UN: UN announces increased funding for food crisis at Rome summit
- 2008/06/04: SwissInfo: Food summit to serve up old recipes warns NGO
As the United Nations world food summit takes place in Rome, observers are questioning whether it will lead to the radical changes needed to tackle the crisis. - 2008/06/06: SwissInfo: Promises and mixed feelings mark [Rome] food summit
The 181 countries at a United Nations summit have pledged to fix the global food crisis, but the meeting's final outcome has left anti-poverty campaigners dismayed. - 2008/06/06: Xinhuanet: World leaders hammer out common response to food crisis
- 2008/06/06: Times(UK): Hunger crisis pact agreed as biofuels clash set aside
- 2008/06/06: BBC: UN plan to increase food supplies
Global food production must be doubled by 2030 and farmers in poor countries better supported, a UN summit on the current food crisis has concluded - 2008/06/06: Guardian(UK): Food summit fails to agree on biofuels
- 2008/06/03: NewScientist: Rich countries 'failed to heed' food crisis warnings
- 2008/06/05: NewScientist: Calls for a food-aid revolution in a post-surplus world
- 2008/06/05: BBC: UN food summit stalls over trade
The United Nations food summit in Rome is struggling to reach agreement on its final declaration as Argentina objects to a call to reduce trade barriers. A member of the Argentine delegation said it wished to achieve consensus but added that "the trade language [was] very controversial". Other areas of disagreement are said to be Cuba and biofuel cultivation. Delegates had been due to issue a declaration on "eliminating hunger and securing food for all" - 2008/06/05: CBC: Food summit marred by political squabbling
An international summit aimed at devising strategies to combat the growing global food crisis struggled Thursday to agree on a final declaration of intent because of political squabbling, according to observers. - 2008/06/05: AFP: Fractious food summit struggles to agree crisis plan
- 2008/06/03: EUO: Western biofuel policies 'incomprehensible,' says UN
In an impassioned speech, Jacques Diouf, the director-general of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation told some 60 heads of state that it is "incomprehensible...that subsidies worth Euros 7-8 billion ($11-12 billion) in 2006 were used to divert 100 million tonnes of cereals from human consumption mostly to satisfy a thirst for fuels for vehicles." He also called on world leaders -- gathered to tackle the ongoing food crisis -- to commit an additional Euros 19 billion ($30 billion) a year to re-launch agricultural support schemes and avert the threats of future conflicts over food. Mr Diouf said that from 1980 to 2005 aid to agriculture fell by 58 percent, while agriculture's share of foreign aid dropped from 17 percent to three percent over the same period. "Regrettably the international community only reacts when the media beam the distressing spectacle of world suffering into the homes of the wealthy countries," Mr Diouf commented. The barnstorming speech did not limit itself to western biofuels policies, but also attacked EU and US agricultural subsidies and, as he put it, a world economy that is more committed to buying arms than feeding people. OECD countries are "distorting" world markets, he said, "spending Euros 240 billion in 2006 alone to support their agriculture." "In 2006, the world spent Euros 775 billion on arms, while food wasted in a single country could cost Euros 65 billion and excess consumption by the world's obese amounted to Euros 13 billion." - 2008/06/03: FAO: The world only needs 30 billion dollars a year to eradicate the scourge of hunger - Time for talk over - Action needed
- 2008/06/03: Yahoo: World leaders get down to nitty-gritty on food price crisis
- 2008/06/04: CSM: UN aid debate: Give cash, not food?
- 2008/06/03: DerSpiegel: 'We're Only at the Beginning' of the Food Crisis
The UN's Food and Agriculture Organization is holding a summit in Rome this week to discuss the global food crisis. Assistant Director-General Alexander Müller speaks to SPIEGEL ONLINE about the rising oil prices, the risk of biofuels and how agriculture could be transformed to help tackle climate change. - 2008/06/04: BBC: UN increases food aid by $1.2bn
- 2008/06/04: CBC: Billions needed annually to raise food production: UN chief
- 2008/06/04: AFP: Billions pledged at food summit, but more needed UN chief says
- 2008/06/04: Guardian(UK): US attacked at food summit over biofuels
- 2008/06/03: UN: At Rome summit, Ban urges 'bold and urgent' steps to tackle global food crisis
- 2008/06/03: NewScientist: Rich countries 'failed to heed' food crisis warnings
- 2008/06/03: AutoBG: Global biofuel industry representatives defend their product at UN [Rome] conference
- 2008/06/03: NYT: U.N. Chief Warns on Food Production
- 2008/06/03: FPB: U.N. food summit a shortage of solutions
It's easy to identify a global crisis, but much more difficult to resolve it when all parties act exclusively in their own self-interest. - 2008/06/03: CBC: Raise food production 50% by 2030: UN chief
- 2008/06/03: AFP: UN chief calls for food output hike at crisis summit
- 2008/06/03: G&M: Egyptian leader attacks biofuels [Rome]
- 2008/06/03: BBC: A key UN-sponsored summit is set to open in Rome aimed at addressing the problem of soaring global food prices
- 2008/06/03: SMH: Lower food barriers to avert crisis, UN pleads
- 2008/06/03: Guardian(UK): 'This is like inviting Pol Pot to a human rights conference' - Robert Mugabe's appearance at a world food summit has drawn fierce criticism from the British government
- 2008/06/02: BBC: UN faces food crisis challenge
Food prices have been rising significantly for two years now, but it took the huge spike in prices that peaked in February this year to engage the world's attention, as a realisation of the scale of the crisis emerged in many countries. The food price index of the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) rose by a steep but manageable 8% in 2006, but then much more sharply - by 24% - in 2007, and 53% in the first three months of this year alone - an unprecedented rise. The summit beginning in Rome on 3 June will try to find a way out, and since the crisis has many causes, the solution, too, is expected to be complex. - 2008/06/02: AFP: World at 'alarming juncture' as leaders gather for FAO summit
- 2008/06/02: BBC: Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe has arrived in Rome to attend a United Nations food summit
- 2008/06/02: BBC: Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda has called for urgent action to ensure food supplies to poor nations struggling with sharp price rises.
The conflict between biofuel and food persists:
- 2008/06/05: CFR:BSetser: Surprising fact du jour - In 2009, the US expects 33% of the corn it produces will go to biofuels.
- 2008/06/04: NatureTGB: Biofuel row at UN food meeting
- 2008/06/04: NatureCF: Food fears and biofuel blame at UN meeting
- 2008/06/04: TreeHugger: FAO Takes on Biofuel Subsidies, U.S. Claims 2020 Climate Targets "Unachievable"
- 2008/06/04: TreeHugger: Brazil's Lula Rebuffs Biofuels Critics at World Food Summit
- 2008/06/04: BBC: Bioenergy: Fuelling the food crisis?
- 2008/06/04: Times(UK): Biofuels make useful villain for food crisis
- 2008/06/03: Reuters: End to ethanol could stave off grain crisis
And how are we going to feed 9 billion?
- 2008/06/07: CCurrents: Destroying African Agriculture
- 2008/06/04: IPSNews: 'Food Scarcity Creating New World Order'
Unprecedented food scarcity is beginning to dictate the rules of a new political order where individual countries are scrambling to secure their own food supplies with little concern for the rest of the world, says the founder of the Earth Policy Institute. Recent manifestations of national food insecurity like export restrictions imposed by some grain-producing countries are the troublesome portents of an "entirely new chapter in the book of food security," Lester Brown told foreign correspondents in Beijing on Tuesday. "We are in the midst of the most severe food crisis in the world's history," Brown said. "This is not your mother's food shortage... but a chronically tight food situation, a serious and long-term problem." - 2008/06/06: GristMill: All hail Monsanto! When the benevolent seed giant declares it's going to save the world, why be skeptical?
- 2008/06/06: AlterNet: Is Famine Inevitable?
- 2008/06/05: WorldChanging: Food Mayhem and Corn Education
- 2008/06/02: Yahoo: Farmers switch from diesel-powered irrigation [to electric]
- 2008/06/02: BBC: Unnatural roots of the food crisis - Why the loss of biodiversity and abandonment of ecology-friendly farming undermine attempts to feed the world
- 2008/06/02: KSJT: CBC Quirks and Quarks: Bad soil? Fortify it with biochar.
Nakri died unreported in the West Pacific, otherwise it has been quiet in the hurricane wars:
- 2008/06/07: BBC: Florida's hurricane simulator
A team of scientists and graduate students at the University of Florida has developed the world's most powerful portable hurricane simulator, a giant machine capable of reproducing winds in excess of 120mph (193kph) and recreating rain. - 2008/06/04: Wunderground: Above average hurricane season expected by Dr. Bill Gray's team
- 2008/06/03: Wunderground: Arthur claims the season's first victims
- 2008/06/02: JFleck: Hurricanes and Global Warming
- 2008/06/03: TerraDaily: African Dust Forecast May Help Hurricane Season Predictions
- 2008/06/02: KSJT: AP: Every year, some meteorologists predicts hurricane activity. Reporters finally ask "so what?"
- 2008/06/02: Wunderground: June hurricane season outlook and Arthur/Alma post-mortem
Meanwhile GHGs are still going up:
- 2008/05/29: MongaBay: Carbon dioxide levels at highest level in 800,000 years
As for the temperature record:
- 2008/06/06: NOAANews: U.S. Has 36th Coolest Spring on Record
- 2008/06/06: ArxivBlog: Western Europe warming much faster than expected
Oopsie Daisie. Abrupt climate change:
- 2008/06/05: CCurrents: Awakening To Abrupt Climate Change
While on the ENSO front:
- 2008/06/05: NCEP:NOAA: El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) diagnostic discussion
Synopsis: A transition from La Niña to ENSO-neutral conditions is expected during June-July 2008. - 2008/06/05: JFleck: Wave goodbye to La Nina
Sea levels are rising:
- 2008/06/06: NatureTGB: "Too late" to save Pacific island nation from submersion - Kiribati's 97,000 citizens face homelessness this century, president warns.
- 2008/06/06: ABC(Au): Kiribati likely doomed by climate change: President
- 2008/06/05: ABC(Au): Endangered Pacific islet [Kiribati] facing mass relocation
- 2008/06/05: ENN: Endangered Pacific islet facing mass relocation
- 2008/06/04: ENN: Climate change causes forced migration
- 2008/06/05: Yahoo: Kiribati [a low-lying Pacific atoll nation] likely doomed by climate change: president
- 2008/06/04: ABC(Au): Rising sea levels threaten buildings
A geoscientist [Chris Sharples] has told a inquiry that some of the state's coastal buildings will be under water in the future if there is no action taken to stop coastal erosion. A Joint Tasmanian Parliamentary Committee is meeting in Hobart as part of its investigation into coastal erosion and its link to rising sea levels. - 2008/06/03: ABC(Au): Public hearings on impacts of rising sea levels
- 2008/06/03: SMH: Erosion warning for peak high tides
Meanwhile in near earth orbit:
- 2008/06/03: Eureka: A new satellite remote sensing tool for improving agricultural land use observation
More GW impacts are being seen:
- 2008/06/07: ABC(Au): Concern at lack of climate change research into marine eco-systems
- 2008/06/07: SMH: Putting sea life to the acid test - Global warming and chemical change are creating a deadly double threat to our oceans...
- 2008/06/06: ABC(Au): Climate change effect on oceans underestimated: CSIRO
- 2008/06/06: PhysOrg: Ocean life under threat from climate change
- 2008/06/06: CSIRO: Ocean life under threat from climate change
- 2008/06/04: Eureka: Weather, stomach bugs and climate change: Refining the model
- 2008/06/03: KSJT: Edmonton Sun, Great Falls Tribune: Two countries, same problem - mountain pine beetles on the march
- 2008/06/02: UN: Sahel stands at 'ground zero' of climate change, top UN adviser [Jan Egeland] warns
- 2008/06/02: ABC(Au): Ocean acidity on the rise
- 2008/06/02: PhysOrg: Complex dynamics underlie bark beetle eruptions
- 2008/06/02: PhysOrg: Brown Argus butterfly sees positive effects of climate change
And then there are the world's forests:
- 2008/06/08: MongaBay: Rainforest species particularly vulnerable to global warming
- 2008/06/02: FuturePundit: Rapid Destruction Of Papua New Guinea Rainforests
- 2008/06/07: PhysOrg: Brazil creates 3 new Amazon reserves
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva created three nature reserves in the Amazon on Thursday, while warning foreigners they lack the "moral authority" to tell Brazilians how to preserve the rain forest. Silva also announced he would send a bill to Congress to create a national policy on climate change, without providing further details. - 2008/06/05: TerraDaily: Brazilian president rages at 'meddlers' criticizing Amazon policies
- 2008/06/03: ENN: Brazil minister says Amazon trend worrying
- 2008/06/05: SciDaily: Forest Canopies Help Determine Natural Fertilization Rates
- 2008/06/03: Guardian(UK): Third largest tropical forest [PNG] could be halved by 2021, study warns
- 2008/06/03: NatureTGB: Papua New Guinea forests under threat
- 2008/06/03: AutoBG: Trees can capture 20 percent of a country's carbon emissions
- 2008/06/02: Guardian(UK): Satellite images show Papua New Guinea deforestation at critical level
- 2008/06/02: ABC(Au): Satellite images uncover rapid PNG deforestation
- 2008/06/02: ABC(Au): Satellite images reveal Papua forest destruction
- 2008/06/02: PhysOrg: Half of Papua New Guinea's forests gone by 2021: study
- 2008/06/02: Yahoo: Half of Papua New Guinea's forests gone by 2021: study
- 2008/06/02: BBC: Images reveal 'rapid forest loss'
High-resolution satellite images have revealed the "rapid deforestation" of Papua New Guinea's biodiversity rich rainforests over the past 30 years. An international team of researchers estimates that the current rate of loss could result in more than half of the nation's tree cover being lost by 2021. - 2008/06/03: ENN: Desert is claiming southeast Spain
Meanwhile in tornado alley:
- 2008/06/08: DailyIndia: Tornadoes, flooding hit Upper Midwest
- 2008/06/06: Yahoo: Tornado tears through swath of Minnesota
- 2008/06/05: Yahoo: Storms pop up in Plains as forecasters sound alarm
- 2008/06/04: WaPo: One Dead After Powerful Storms - Tornado Sightings Reported in [Wash. DC] Region - Power Outages, Road Debris Widespread
- 2008/06/04: CNN: Midwest storms leave 1 dead, 1 impaled
Floods leads to drowning in West Virginia - Woman impaled, critically injured as tornado hits small Indiana community - Tornado destroyed one house, damaged others in Moscow, Indiana - Separate tornado damaged 40 buildings at National Guard's Camp Atterbury - 2008/06/04: NOAANews: Early And Intense Tornado Season Could Be Record
- 2008/06/04: SciDaily: Tornados, Flooding May Warn Of Climate Change
As for wild fires:
- 2008/06/07: CBS: Wildfire Burns N.C. Wildlife Refuge - 30,000 Acres Charred At Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge
And speaking of floods & droughts:
- 2008/06/08: DailyIndia: Flash flooding inundates Indiana
- 2008/06/07: CNN: Heavy rains swamp Indiana - Flash-flood warnings were issued in 15 counties - Emergencies declared in four central counties
- 2008/06/07: ABC(Au): Rainfall trickles into South-East Queensland dams
- 2008/06/07: CBC: Thunder Bay area soaked with near-record rainfall - Travel advisory issued because of flooded roads
- 2008/06/06: NakedCapitalism: California Water Rules Curtailing New Development
- 2008/06/06: SciDaily: Australian Dryness Linked To Sea Surface Temperatures
- 2008/06/05: SOSD: California: More cuts loom as drought declared - Greater conservation effort needed, water officials say
- 2008/06/05: Telegraph(UK): Water crisis to be biggest world risk
- 2008/06/04: Reuters: California governor declares state in drought
- 2008/06/04: PhysOrg: Researcher: Drought slowing Old Faithful geyser
- 2008/06/03: JFleck: Drought in Iraq
- 2008/06/03: DerSpiegel: Flash Floods - Deadly Storm in Southwest Germany Kills 3
- 2008/06/03: NYT: In Spain, Water Is a New Battleground
Elsewhere on the mitigation front:
- 2008/06/05: TerraDaily: Possible to slash CO2 emissions by 85 percent by 2050: NGO
- 2008/06/05: GristMill: Feeding climate change - Still more reasons to eat local and lay off the beef
As for transportation & GHG production:
- 2008/06/08: AFP: Fewer, pricier flights and job cuts: airlines' response to oil prices
- 2008/06/01: FuturePundit: Airlines Expected To Shrink As Peak Oil Bites
- 2008/06/03: FuturePundit: New Train Designs Boost Rail Freight In Europe
- 2008/06/07: IBJ: Rail to Riches? Rising fuel costs may mean comeback for freight trains
- 2008/06/05: Guardian(UK): Could Zeppelin's airships soon be gracing our skies again?
- 2008/06/06: AutoBG: Back to the fuel efficient future: airlines go turboprops
- 2008/06/05: AFP: Continental Airlines to cut 3,000 jobs, 67 planes as fuel costs bite
- 2008/06/04: CSM: Mass transit demand rises, costs soar - Fuel prices and smaller government subsidies are squeezing transit budgets
- 2008/06/04: AFP: United Airlines to slash fleet, jobs as fuel prices soar
- 2008/06/03: EconView: More Buses, More Trains, More Light Rail" - Robert Reich says it's time to build "a modern, efficient system of public transportation"
- 2008/06/03: Guardian(UK): IATA conference - Airbus maker pledges green planes by 2020
- 2008/06/03: Guardian(UK): Airlines stage fightback on environmental criticism
- 2008/06/03: GristMill: Train of thought - Rail and the coming changes in transport
- 2008/06/03: OilChange: Airlines Battle the Horsemen of the Apocalypse
- 2008/06/03: Guardian(UK): [Letters] Transport protests great and small
- 2008/06/03: NYT: Airline Group [IATA] Sees 'Desperate' Times
- 2008/06/01: USAToday: Ridership on mass transit breaks records
While in the endless quest for sustainable building codes:
- 2008/06/06: GristMill: For all the world to see - California launches database of green state buildings
- 2008/06/05: CBC: Calgary achieves gold for greenest building [Water Centre]
As for carbon sequestration:
- 2008/06/02: NEN: Storing emissions: still the hope, still experimental
- 2008/06/02: Guardian(UK): A captivating remedy
Large scale geo-engineering keeps popping up:
- 2008/06/06: WorldChanging: How Do We Intelligently Discuss Politicized Geoengineering?
- 2008/06/06: PeakEnergy: Putting The Brakes On Ocean Fertilisation Geoengineering Schemes
- 2008/06/05: ABC(Au): Storm brewing over ocean fertilisation
An Australian company says it will continue plans to fertilise the ocean with nitrogen to develop its commercial carbon-sequestration technology, despite a growing chorus of opposition to such activities. The comments follow an agreement at the recent Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) meeting in Bonn that ocean fertilisation research should be small-scale, tightly-regulated and non-commercial. Sydney-based company, Ocean Nourishment Corporation (ONC) plans to eventually use its technology to generate carbon credits. - 2008/06/02: NatureTGB: "Carbon scrubber" breakthrough [Lackner]
While on the adaptation front:
- 2008/06/02: Tyee: Get Ready for Nasty Weather - Canada must hurry to adapt to big climate shifts: expert.
- 2008/06/02: Guardian(UK): Cooling on warming
We should tackle climate change through research and adaptation instead of trying to transform human behaviour [says David Cox] - 2008/06/06: ACP: Measurement of the water vapour vertical profile and of the Earth's outgoing far infrared flux by L. Palchetti et al.
- 2008/06/05: ACP: Adjoint inversion modeling of Asian dust emission using lidar observations by K. Yumimoto et al.
- 2008/06/05: ACP: The role of ammonia in sulfuric acid ion induced nucleation by I. K. Ortega et al.
- 2008/06/06: ACPD: Attribution of aerosol light absorption to black carbon, brown carbon, and dust in China - interpretations of atmospheric measurements during EAST-AIRE by M. Yang et al.
- 2008/06/05: ACPD: Continuous monitoring of the boundary-layer top with lidar by H. Baars et al.
- 2008/06/04: Arxiv: Western Europe is warming much faster than expected by Geert Jan van Oldenborgh et al.
- 2008/06/05: CPD: Mid-depth South Atlantic ocean circulation and chemical stratification during MIS-10 to 12: implications for atmospheric CO2
- 2008/06/04: ACP: Variability of the total ozone trend over Europe for the period 1950-2004 derived from reconstructed data by J. W. Krzy?cin & J. L. Borkowski
- 2008/06/04: ACPD: Evolution of NOx emissions in Europe with focus on road transport control measures by V. Vestreng et al.
- 2008/06/04: ACPD: Mixing processes and exchanges in the tropical and the subtropical UT/LS by R. James & B. Legras
- 2008/06/03: ACPD: Mesospheric N2O enhancements as observed by MIPAS on Envisat during the polar winters in 2002-2004 by B. Funke et al.
- 2008/06/03: PNAS: Impact of geoengineering schemes on the global hydrological cycle by G. Bala et al.
Before we get into politics, there was some science done:
- 2008/06/05: Wunderground: Climate Change Shifts Jet Stream - higher and closer to the pole in both the Northern and Southern Hemisphere
- 2008/06/06: SciDaily: Antarctic [Circumpolar] Current Roils Deep Ocean Waters
- 2008/06/04: Eureka: Data show Antarctic ice stream radiating seismically - Stick, slip, like an earthquake
More Hansen:
- 2008/06/05: ClimateP: James Hansen's latest PowerPoint presentation
- 2008/06/06: DotEarth: Hansen on Next Climate Steps: Charge Polluters; Pay People
Meanwhile on the carbon trading front:
- 2008/06/04: CarbonFinance: Phase II carbon price should be Euros 40/t -- Deutsche Bank
The price of EU Allowances (EUAs) will reach Euros 40/tonne ($60/t), with a risk of spiking up to Euros 100/t near the end of Phase II of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), according to research by Deutsche Bank. The German bank has revised its price prediction upwards, from Euros 35/t to Euros 40/t, based on the price at which it expects carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology to become commercially viable and predictions on how installations will use their ability to bank EUAs between Phase II and Phase III. - 2008/06/06: NatureCF: Putting a price on carbon
The idea of a carbon tax is still bouncing around:
- 2008/06/08: MTobis: Green Tomatoes
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:
- 2008/06/06: GristMill: C.A.R.E. (Cap & Auction, Rebate Everything) - Peter Barnes on cap-and-dividend in U.S. News & World Report
- 2008/06/06: BCLSB: Hansen On A Carbon Tax [Tax & dividend]
- 2008/06/05: QuarkSoup: rights to atmospheric carbon [Tax & dividend]
- 2008/06/06: OilChange: Carbon Credits: Getting Money for Nothing?
- 2008/06/03: WCI: Carbon taxes vs cap-and-trade
- 2008/06/05: GristMill: A final entry on the cap-and-trade debate
- 2008/06/05: Stoat: Tax and Dividend?
- 2008/06/04: RReich: Why Revenues from Cap-and-Trade Should Be Returned to Us As Dividends
- 2008/06/05: EconView: What Should We Do with the Revenues from Cap-and-Trade?
- 2008/06/03: RAvent: One Last Thing on Cap and Trade
- 2008/06/03: MMcardle: Capped! cap and trade versus carbon taxes
- 2008/06/04: BDL: Megan McArdle Moves the Ball Downfield on the Cap-and-Trade vs. Carbon-Tax Discussion
- 2008/06/05: AngryBear: Cap&Trade: We Are All Socialists Now
- 2008/06/03: EconView: Carbon Taxes vs Cap-and-Trade
And on the American political front:
- 2008/06/06: Google:AP: In Congress, gas prices trump global warming
- 2008/06/06: CSW: Bush administration moves toward the climate science mainstream -- Rick Piltz interview
- 2008/06/05: HillHeat: Markey Climate Legislation Referred to Ten Committees
- 2008/06/05: HillHeat: Boehner Calls for Debate on Markey Climate Legislation
- 2008/06/05: TreeHugger: Schwarzenegger Heads Climate Coalition of Cities and Corporations
- 2008/06/04: DeSmogBlog: A Dazzling Display of America's 'Can't Do' Spirit [G8]
- 2008/06/05: OilChange: US Climate Goals "Unachievable"
- 2008/06/05: AutoBG: [Rep. Vern] Buchanan (R-Florida) calls for bipartisan effort to convert nation to "green" energy
- 2008/06/04: GristMill: The truth will set you free - Democrats are undermining the strongest message behind climate policy
- 2008/06/04: GristMill: Best foot forward - Climate bills will only get better from here
- 2008/06/04: TP:WonkRoom: Report: Strong Climate Policy Would Protect 14 Million American Jobs
- 2008/06/03: GristMill: Jumping ship from the USS Fossil - Climate action advocates need a simple, compelling message on costs
- 2008/06/03: GristMill: The price isn't quite right yet - Carbon pricing is about tweaking the little, everyday decisions we make
- 2008/06/02: Yahoo: Trouble with Congress' Green Gambit
- 2008/06/02: TP:WonkRoom: Bush Calls Inaction The "Right Way" To Deal With Global Warming
- 2008/06/01: GristMill: White paper trail - Dingell issues another glimpse at where he stands on climate legislation [US pol]
The NASA Inspector General reported on the political manipulation of science:
- 2008/06/06: TerraDaily: Inspector General Says NASA Political Appointees Mischaracterized Global Warming Findings
- 2008/06/06: DeSmogBlog: White House Slammed in New York Times Editorial
- 2008/06/04: NYT: The Science of Denial
The Bush administration has worked overtime to manipulate or conceal scientific evidence -- and muzzled at least one prominent scientist -- to justify its failure to address climate change. Its motives were transparent: the less people understood about the causes and consequences of global warming, the less they were likely to demand action from their leaders. And its strategy has been far too successful. Seven years later, Congress is only beginning to confront the challenge of global warming. - 2008/06/04: SMH: White House censored NASA on climate change
- 2008/06/04: Guardian(UK): NASA climate reports 'swayed by politics'
- 2008/06/03: NatureTGB: NASA PR "mischaracterized climate change science"
- 2008/06/03: PhysOrg: NASA's own watchdog: Agency misled on global warming
- 2008/06/03: Yahoo: NASA's own watchdog: Agency misled on global warming
- 2008/06/03: WaPo: Climate Findings Were Distorted, Probe Finds -- Appointees in NASA Press Office Blamed
- 2008/06/03: NYT: NASA Office Is Criticized on Climate Reports
- 2008/06/02: CNN: Watchdog: NASA misled on global warming studies
Watchdog alleges "inappropriate political interference" - NASA's press office allegedly "mischaracterized" global warming studies - Inspector general's report blamed "political appointees" - 2008/06/02: DotEarth: NASA Investigation: Press Office "Mischaracterized" and Limited Flow of Findings on Climate Science
- 2008/06/02: GristMill: NASA inspector general: NASA suppressed climate science
One hears a lot about the campaign(s), not so much about climate:
- 2008/06/08: ClimateP: Energy Industry Cash Fuels Double Talk Express
- 2008/06/07: ClimateP: Obama: Climate bill is "good first step" but "not perfect"
- 2008/06/06: ClimateP: McCain double-talk express: Reid chose "to put politics above policy"
- 2008/06/06: ClimateP: B-L-W dies (again) 48-36, McCain still wants more nuclear pork
- 2008/06/05: AngryBear: Tariffs on Sugar Based Ethanol - Score One for McCain
- 2008/06/04: ThinkP: McCain Falsely Claims He Has "Supported Every Investigation" Into Katrina Failures
- 2008/06/02: GristMill: It's nukes to me - Climate-bill sponsors talk about nukes and wooing McCain
The Gore-apalooza is still bopping along:
- 2008/06/02: GristMill: Gore at the right time - America's climate guru issues statement of support for America's Climate Security Act
- 2008/06/02: HillHeat: Al Gore Praises Boxer, Lieberman-Warner Bill
While in the UK:
- 2008/06/08: Guardian(UK): Britain's climate target 'impossible'
Efforts to help keep world temperature rises under 2C will fail, says thinktank, even if UK sticks to policy on carbon emissions Britain will find it 'impossible' to meet its target as part of the world's battle to ensure temperatures do not rise more than 2C - a key threshold for dangerous climate change, according to a study by a panel of leading experts. The report 'Carbon Scenarios' by the Stockholm Network thinktank says that if existing policies and hopes of international agreement on reducing emissions were implemented, there would still be a 90 per cent chance the temperature rise would reach about 3C, a level that experts fear would provoke 'feedback' of more carbon by melting permafrost, threatening the world's forests. - 2008/06/05: WorldChanging: U.K. Committee Supports Personal Carbon Trading
- 2008/06/04: ENN: U.K. Committee Supports Personal Carbon Trading
- 2008/06/04: PeakEnergy: The real energy alternative?
The energy options for Britain - decentralised renewable energy generation vs centralised nuclear power - 2008/06/02: TreeHugger: Rationing Of Carbon Contemplated in UK
And in Europe:
- 2008/06/05: EUO: EU states set for clash over CO2 caps for cars
- 2008/06/05: Guardian(UK): It's lean and mean, but is it green? EU plans clampdown on car ads
- 2008/06/04: AutoBG: Who said 130? 120? The EU could ask automakers go down to 95 g/km
- 2008/06/02: DerSpiegel: Knuckling Under - Is Germany's 'Climate Chancellor' a Failure?
A year after pitting herself against the world's leaders over climate change, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has backed down and gone silent on key environmental policies. It seems that the one opponent she can't bear confronting is the German voter. - 2008/06/08: ABC(Au): [Northern Territory] Govt looking to balance resource exports, climate change action
- 2008/06/07: ABC(Au): [Federal Treasurer Wayne] Swan calls for broad emissions trading scheme
- 2008/06/06: ABC(Au): Govt prepared for tough decisions on climate change: [Climate Change Minister Penny] Wong
- 2008/06/06: ABC(Au): NT to consider climate change impact on infrastructure
- 2008/06/06: PeakEnergy: Climate change will probably beat us: Garnaut
- 2008/06/06: SMH: Wong sets sights on coal-fired power
The Minister for Climate Change, Penny Wong, has given her strongest signal yet that the country's coal-fired electricity producers will have to pay for their greenhouse gas emissions when the emissions trading system begins. - 2008/06/05: ABC(Au): Climate change policy must target pastoralists: WWF
- 2008/06/06: ABC(Au): Petrol rise to limit emissions unsustainable: economist
- 2008/06/05: ABC(Au): [Northern] Territory to face 'unique climate challenges'
- 2008/06/04: ABC(Au): Environment Victoria questions carbon neutral claims [for a new fertiliser producing plant]
- 2008/06/04: ABC(Au): Climate change boost for councils
A climate change strategy for South Australian councils will get $100,000 in state funding. Premier Mike Rann has announced the funding at the Local Government Association's (LGA) climate change summit in Adelaide. - 2008/06/04: ABC(Au): Emissions trading scheme will impact on prices: Treasury
The Rudd government is opting to support domestic green automakers:
- 2008/06/06: ABC(Au): Rudd determined to see 'green car' production
- 2008/06/06: AutoBG: Australian Premier [Morris Iemma, NSW] wants automakers to build domestic hybrids
- 2008/06/06: SMH: Green-car fund to hurt economy
The Federal Government's $500 million plan to subsidise Australian car manufacturers to build green cars is unlikely to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and would hurt the economy, says the Productivity Commission. - 2008/06/05: ABC(Au): Rudd flags future of fuel-efficient cars
Meanwhile the solar means testing policy is still drawing fire:
- 2008/06/08: ABC(Au): Solar industry faces bleak future: Hunt
- 2008/06/05: ABC(Au): Opposition takes aim at solar rebate test
- 2008/06/05: ABC(Au): Opposition pushes to overturn solar means-testing
In Canada, minority neocon PM Harper, continues his do-nothing policy:
- 2008/06/07: G&M: Agreement with Ottawa - Atlantic provinces sign 'empty' environment deal, expert says
- 2008/06/06: CanWest: Canada needs ideas, not fear
Just as political momentum to tackle greenhouse gas emissions is accelerating, oil and gas prices are hitting record levels, threatening to derail green progress, the Canadian auto industry and the economy generally. It is a moment of rare political opportunity - and danger. - 2008/06/05: CanWest: Tory transit plan carries hefty price estimates for Canadians
- 2008/06/05: DeSmogBlog: Environment Canada Report Pans Harper Government's Climate Plan
- 2008/06/02: TStar: Green auto-rebates running over budget
The Harperites led us further into ingnominy, by ignoring the Rome Food Crisis summit:
- 2008/06/05: Impolitical: Our Minister of Agriculture snubs and trashes the UN food summit
- 2008/06/05: TGBeaver: The Harperites ignore the world stage
Because when things get really busy on that stage and the choreography goes beyond two basic steps and the music gets more complicated than what can be produced by a four note jug band, the Harperites are so outclassed that they don't even bother to show up. - 2008/06/03: G&M: Why Canada should be well represented at Rome food summit
There are dozens of heads of state and government at the United Nations Food Summit in Rome, from Japan's Yasuo Fukuda to Brazil's Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. There are dozens of agriculture ministers and aid agency leaders. [...] Yet prime minister Stephen Harper is not here. The bigger surprise: Agriculture minister Gerry Ritz is also absent. - 2008/06/03: JBS: Ag Minister Ritz a No-Show at Rome Food Summit
Ontario & Quebec shook things up by announcing a cap & trade plan:
- 2008/06/05: BCLSB: Ontario And Quebec: Capping and Trading
- 2008/06/05: TSun: Gas this scheme - Cap-and-trade process fails in Europe, so why try it here?
- 2008/06/04: TStar: Join provinces' climate strategy, Ottawa urged - McGuinty touts scheme for nation but Baird says no opting out of his plan
- 2008/06/04: CBC: Number of carbon control plans a concern, Canada West says
It will be a headache for business if the western provinces end up with a variety of different rules for controlling carbon emissions, the head of a Calgary-based think tank says. - 2008/06/03: TStar: Provinces lead on climate file
- 2008/06/03: CanWest: Baird should applaud Quebec and Ontario
- 2008/06/02: TreeHugger: Ontario and Quebec Create Carbon Cap-and-Trade System
- 2008/06/02: BaDH: Provincial premiers urge movement on Layton's cap-and-trade plan
- 2008/06/02: Far-n-Wide: Federal Government "Obsolete"
- 2008/06/02: TSDoM: Uh Oh, Climate Change Deniers in a Twist!
- 2008/06/02: APOV: Environment: Walking The Walk Vs Talking The Talk
- 2008/06/02: ScottsDiatribe: Baird feels attacking Ontario and now Quebec will win votes?
- 2008/06/02: JWaugh: Harris veterans starting to damage Harper
- 2008/06/02: JBS: Do McGuinty and Charest Reject Carbon Tax?
- 2008/06/02: Impolitical: Panic much, Mr. Baird?
- 2008/06/02: CBC: Ontario, Quebec unveil carbon cap-and-trade plan
- 2008/06/02: G&M: Quebec, Ontario sign historic climate pact
The Ontario and Quebec governments have signed an accord on fighting global warming after a historic joint cabinet meeting Monday that gives the clearest signal yet the country's two most populous provinces are turning their backs on Ottawa. The accord establishes a market-based trading system to cut greenhouse-gas emissions ? an initiative that will lay the foundation for a national cap-and-trade program and an alternative to the Harper government's blueprint on climate change. Premier Dalton McGuinty said he and Premier Jean Charest want the cap-and-trade program in place by 2010. - 2008/06/08: BCLSB: Only A Party With Money To Burn [Tory attack ads]
- 2008/06/08: TGV: Dion's ® Carbon Shift - Tory Attack Ads Begin Today
- 2008/06/08: TSun: Tories pumped for Grit attack - Ads on radio, online and at gas pumps take on Dion's new carbon tax plan
- 2008/06/03: G&M: Mr. Dion might want to look beyond B.C. for an eco-tax model
- 2008/06/02: CanWest: A carbon tax is the wrong approach
BC is still wrangling over their climate plan:
- 2008/06/03: Tyee: Enviros Wary of Campbell's Plans - Secret, conflicting climate change actions hurt support.
- 2008/06/04: Tyee: NDP Takes Heat on Global Warming - Stance against carbon tax steams BC enviros.
- 2008/06/05: Tyee: The Carbon Campaign of '09 - Campbell's tax is an NDP wedge issue. But at what risk?
- 2008/06/03: CanWest: Becoming a leader on global warming [BC]
The tricky & difficult question of the tar sands looms:
- 2008/06/07: CanWest: Canadian oil sure to be U.S. election issue
Canadian oil is set to take a greater role in the American election now that the United States' presidential candidates have been determined, say observers on both sides of the border. Environmentalists are pinning their hopes on a change in the U.S. government -- and especially the ascension of Democratic nominee Barack Obama -- to stem what they see as a rising tide of "dirty oil" from Alberta, a coalition of Canadian and American environment groups said. - 2008/06/06: CanWest: Layton wants new oilsands project halted
Federal NDP Leader Jack Layton called on the federal government Thursday to halt development of a new oilsands site in northern Alberta, saying it has the potential to be a pollution nightmare, even though it appears that Ottawa has already quietly approved the mine. Imperial Oil Ltd. plans to spend $8 billion on what is known as the Kearl project, a new oilsands development about 70 kilometres north of Fort McMurray, Alta. - 2008/06/05: CanWest: U.S. warned about 'dirty oil' from Canada - Activists say oilsands products poison American refineries
The Tories made another one of those late friday afternoon announcements:
- 2008/06/06: G&M: Imperial gets green light in oil sands
Federal cabinet approval reverses court ruling that halted $8-billion Kearl mine due to environmental concerns - 2008/06/06: DeSmogBlog: Canadian Government, Media Officially Unconcerned About Environment
- 2008/06/06: OilChange: [Kearl] Oil Sands Project Gets Goahead
And then there is the miscellaneous Canadiana:
- 2008/06/05: CBC: Hot summer ahead, Environment Canada predicts
- 2008/06/04: NatPo: The Simple Solution by Green Party leader Elizabeth May
- 2008/06/04: NatPo: In praise of cap-and-trade - It's simply the most effective way to price carbon by NDP leader Jack Layton
- 2008/06/02: CanWest: Climate change jumps to the foreground for corporate Canada - Measuring a company's carbon footprint becomes part of doing business
- 2008/06/02: G&M: Guzzling up their way of life
Fuel costs may be frustrating city-dwellers, but in rural Canada it's a much grimmer picture. Gas prices are virtually doubling community budgets and driving farmers to question their profession - 2008/06/02: NatPo: Canada's claim could go beyond North Pole - Arctic nations vie for potential seabed oil
The movement toward a long term ecologically viable economics is glacial:
- 2008/06/07: BCLSB: How Neo-Classical Economics Sucks As A Tool For Tackling Global Warming (And How Economists Are Trying To Make It Suck Less)
- 2008/06/06: MTobis: More Fish, Same Barrel
- 2008/06/05: GristMill: Calling all economists - Are the CGE [Computable General Equilibrium] models useful for predicting the effects of climate policy?
- 2008/06/04: S&M: Greens vs "conventional economics"
- 2008/06/04: WW: More on Carbon Policy Equivalence
- 2008/06/04: MTobis: Why Criticize Economics?
- 2008/06/03: DeSmogBlog: Does economists' change of tune herald turning point on climate change?
- 2008/06/01: GP: Limits of Economic Growth in Latin America
IPAT [Impact = Population * Affluence * Technology] raised its head once again:
- 2008/06/02: FirstPost: A reduction in human numbers is inevitable - The current array of global crises is more intractable than we realise, says David Cox
Apocalypso anyone?
- 2008/06/05: GPM: How Do You Like the Collapse So Far?
- 1993/05/30: Well:NYTM: Is Humanity Suicidal? by Edward O. Wilson
As for how the media handles the science of climatology:
- 2008/06/05: CJR: Climate, Ethics, and the News - The role of morality in global warming coverage
- 2008/06/05: ClimateP: Is NYT's Revkin pushing unjustified "balance" in the Senate climate debate coverage?
- 2008/06/03: TP:WonkRoom: New York Times Uses Inhofe Talking Points
A commentary by R. Samuelson raised a storm:
- 2008/06/04: BDL: Cap-and-Trade Once Again: The Highly-Intelligent, Thoughtful, and Honorable Tyler Cowen Misreads Robert Samuelson
- 2008/06/04: GristMill: Who is being misleading? A Post columnist's defenders can't salvage his poor cap-and-trade logic
- 2008/06/04: EconView: Someone on the Internet is Wrong... [Samuelson, media, cap & trade]
- 2008/06/02: GristMill: Post hack - How not to inform readers about cap-and-trade
- 2008/06/03: TP:WonkRoom: Robert J. Samuelson's Essentially Deceptive Rhetoric
- 2008/06/02: EconView: "His Readers are Now Dumber for His Efforts"
The betting meme rolls on:
- 2008/06/03: BSD: Climate bet offer to Charles Krauthammer
Wrestling over a new energy infrastructure continues unabated:
- 2008/06/08: CNN: Average gas price tops $4 a gallon for the first time-AAA
- 2008/06/06: ClimateP: If this is just speculation, I'd hate to see the price when we actually peak!
- 2008/06/07: IR^2: The Ripple Effect - as the full impact of the current oil price starts
- 2008/06/05: EnvFin: Ex-Airtricity chief's new firm [Mainstream Renewable Power] to raise Euros 200 million
- 2008/06/06: PeakEnergy: Racing For Affordable Wind Power
- 2008/06/06: EconBrowser: The oil shock of 2008
- 2008/06/05: SciDaily: Are Microbes The Answer To The Energy Crisis?
- 2008/06/05: NEN: Utility builds wind & sun, likes carbon caps
- 2008/06/03: Straight: David Suzuki: A nuclear reaction
[...] As we rethink our energy future in light of the dangers of further increasing greenhouse gases, we have an enormous opportunity. I believe that rather than putting all of our faith in big technology (big dams, coal plants, nuclear), investing in a decentralized grid of diverse, small-scale renewable energy sources would be far more resilient and reliable. - 2008/06/04: OilDrum: Predictions for Canada's Natural Gas Production
- 2008/06/04: PeakEnergy: The Beginning of the (rapid) End of the Petroleum Era Change
- 2008/06/04: PeakEnergy: Tidal Power Gathering Momentum
- 2008/06/04: DerSpiegel: Pioneering Power From Geothermal Energy
- 2008/06/03: PhysOrg: Electricity from the exhaust pipe [thermoelectric]
- 2008/06/03: Acorn: Doomsday: What happens when gas is $10 a gallon
- 2008/06/03: PeakEnergy: A Tidal Power Test Bed
- 2008/06/03: PeakEnergy: Geothermal energy in Germany
- 2008/06/03: CanWest: B.C.'s wind-power industry looks to a bright future
- 2008/06/03: NakedCapitalism: Quick Summary of Soros Testimony on Oil
- 2008/06/03: Guardian(UK): Home energy generation
- 2008/06/03: Guardian(UK): How power from the people could cut CO2 emissions - with government help
- 2008/06/02: TreeHugger: Texas Utility Spends $690 Millions on Smart Meters
- 2008/06/02: PeakEnergy: Floating Wind Turbines
- 2008/06/01: Yahoo: US Treasury chief: no 'quick fix' on oil
U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said Sunday that there was no quick fix to high oil prices, which he called an issue of supply and demand. - 2008/06/02: FuturePundit: Expanding Silicon Crystal Production To Lower Photovoltaics Costs?
- 2008/06/07: IR^2: Largest Affordable Solar Housing Installation
- 2008/06/07: PeakEnergy: What Silicon Shortage?
- 2008/06/05: EnvFin: Concentrated solar power has a bright future
- 2008/06/06: NEN: Evergreen Solar to build plant in Michigan
- 2008/06/02: BBerg: Germany Slashes Solar Subsidies, Threatening Industry
- 2008/06/06: Guardian(UK): World's biggest solar farm at centre of Portugal's ambitious energy plan
- 2008/06/05: PhysOrg: Africa's deserts could supply solar electricity to continent: experts
- 2008/06/05: CSM: Brighter future for solar panels: silicon shortage eases
- 2008/06/04: NEN: Solar breakthrough: one step closer [titanium oxide single crystals]
- 2008/06/03: GristMill: Bright lights, big energy - Hybrid solar lighting: a solar retrofit for hot climates
- 2008/06/03: GristMill: Beam me down, Scotty - Can we shoot concentrated solar power down from space?
The arithmetic of coal carbon is striking home:
- 2008/06/05: DeSmogBlog: Rick Santorum's dirty [coal] words
- 2008/06/05: GristMill: Beyond coal - Coal is no longer cheap -- so what comes next?
- 2008/06/03: ABC(Au): Coal put forward as alternative source of diesel [by the coal industry]
Biofuel bickering abounds:
- 2008/06/05: NEN: Another biofuel bad [invasive alien species]
- 2008/06/04: PhysOrg: Money -- and patience -- needed for 2nd-generation biofuels
- 2008/06/04: TreeHugger: First Cellulosic Ethanol Biorefinery in the U.S. Opens [Jennings, Louisiana]
- 2008/06/04: WSJ:EnvCap: Corn Pipe: Will Falling Ethanol Prices Mean Savings at the Pump?
The nuclear energy controversy continues:
- 2008/06/01: GristMill: Rebuklear - The latest sorties in the war over nuclear power
Yes we have a peak oil sighting:
- 2008/06/06: KSJT: ABC Australia: peak oil? What about peak fuel, period?
- 2008/06/05: PeakEnergy: Fatih Birol [of IEA] On Peak Oil
- 2008/06/04: DailyReckoning: Peak Oil, Peak Food and Peak Everything Else
And then there is the matter of efficiency & conservation:
- 2008/06/08: PeakEnergy: Streamlining The Path To Energy Efficiency
- 2008/06/02: PeakEnergy: The NYT On Energy Efficiency
Automakers & lawyers, engineers & activists argue over the future of the car:
- 2008/06/07: TreeHugger: Oh How the Mighty Have Fallen: Hummer's Gas-Induced Collapse
- 2008/06/07: GristMill: Demand outstripping supply again - Buying a high-mileage car easier said than done
- 2008/06/06: GristMill: Car culture on the skids - USA Today: oil prices drive up ashpalt costs, derail road maintenance
- 2008/06/06: AutoBG: New Toyota fuel cell hybrid has over 500 mile range
- 2008/06/06: REA: Japanese Automaker, U.S. Firm Team Up To Convert Cars to Electric Power
- 2008/06/07: People's Daily: China's car sales up 17.41% in first five months of 2008
- 2008/06/07: Guardian(UK): The end of the road
- 2008/06/06: NEN: A Good Th!nk Coming
- 2008/06/06: CBC: Toyota develops new fuel cell vehicle
Toyota has developed a new fuel cell vehicle, a green car powered by hydrogen and electricity, that can travel more than twice the distance of its predecessor model without filling up, the automaker said Friday. The improved model's maximum cruising range is 516 miles (830 kilometres)... - 2008/06/04: AfterGutenberg: No New Car without Medium Speed Electric Drive
- 2008/06/04: AfterGutenberg: Super Lattice Cathode [cars]
- 2008/06/04: CTB: Electric Cars for 2010
- 2008/06/03: CalcRisk: Ford, Toyota Report Lower Sales
- 2008/06/03: DeSmogBlog: Is General Motors Ditching the Hummer?
- 2008/06/03: AutoBG: Superlattice Power Inc. claims new EV battery will offer 200+ mile range
- 2008/06/03: AutoBG: Japan Post plans a switch to electric cars, Mitsubishi stock soars
- 2008/06/03: CalcRisk: GM Reduces Production
- 2008/06/02: Atmoz: How much does an electric car cost?
- 2008/06/02: AutoBG: Honda and Toyota to lower hybrid battery replacement costs
The carbon lobby are up to the usual:
- 2008/06/08: GWWatch: Spotted by Bolty's dotty denialists
- 2008/06/07: GWWatch: Spot the climate change sceptic -- pink
- 2008/06/01: FergusB: The Skeptic problem
- 2007/11/01: Grinzo: Resurrecting The Inhofe Scale
- 2008/06/07: TreeHugger: 1.0 On The "Inhofe Scale": Climate Bill Stopped In US Senate
- 2008/06/03: PRWatch: More Hot Air from Exxon?
- 2008/06/07: Guardian(UK): Climate of suspicion - Global warming is a fact whatever its deniers - encouraged by a cool year - have to say
- 2008/06/05: JFleck: Explaining the Temperature Record
- 2008/06/05: Deltoid: The Denial Industrial Complex
- 2008/06/04: QuarkSoup: Inhofe Lies
- 2008/06/05: DeSmogBlog: General Electric Press Release Claims CO2 "a possible" Factor in Climate Change
- 2008/06/04: ThinkP: GE claims CO2 is a "possible contributing factor to climate change."
- 2008/06/04: GristMill: James and the giant lie - Oklahoma senator makes stuff up, wastes time in climate change debate
- 2008/06/04: NYT: The Science of Denial
The Bush administration has worked overtime to manipulate or conceal scientific evidence -- and muzzled at least one prominent scientist -- to justify its failure to address climate change. Its motives were transparent: the less people understood about the causes and consequences of global warming, the less they were likely to demand action from their leaders. And its strategy has been far too successful. Seven years later, Congress is only beginning to confront the challenge of global warming. - 2008/06/03: ThinkP: Inhofe: "Everything" in Gore's "science-fiction movie" has been refuted
- 2008/06/03: ThinkP: Army scientist [Dr. Bruce West]: The sun is responsible for global warming
- 2008/06/02: DeSmogBlog: The 'Carbon Belch Day' Conundrum
Then there was the usual news and commentary:
- 2008/06/06: Guardian(UK): Don't give up - Do you feel it's a waste of time trying to prevent climate change?
- 2008/06/05: MTobis: Union of Concerned Scientists Letter
- 2008/06/05: ENN: World Environment Day calls for end to CO2 addiction
- 2008/06/05: OilChange: Going backwards, further and faster...
- 2008/06/05: NatPo: Join The Green Wave [Suzuki]
- 2008/06/05: EnvFin: Banco Real [of Brazil] named sustainable bank of the year
- 2008/06/04: GristMill: The problem with 'We Can Solve It' - An ad campaign on climate needs spokespeople who believe what they're saying
- 2008/06/04: OilChange: UNEP Urges People to "Kick the CO2 Habit"
- 2008/06/03: JFleck: the climate policy dilemma
- 2008/06/03: OilChange: "Doing nothing is not an option"
- 2008/06/02: GristMill: Some like it really hot - An Inconvenient Musical plays on
- 2008/06/02: MTobis: Getting Things Backwards
And here are a couple of sites you may find interesting and/or useful:
- UN: The Secretary General's High Level Task Force on the Global Food Security Crisis
- Wiki: Accumulated cyclone energy
- WFP: United Nations World Food Programme
- Yale Environment 360
- Sermitsiak [Greenland news]
- WL: Warming Law - Changing the Climate in the Courts
- ENN: Environmental News Network
- MongaBay
- MTobis: Only In It For The Gold
- CCD: Climate Change Denial
- Solar Electricity Action SOLAREC
- PVGIS: Geographical Assessment of Solar Energy Resource and Photovoltaic Technology
Laugh. I dare ya:
And the OECD met in Paris:
The news from Myanmar, post Nagris, remains scarce & dismal:
Late comment on the failing CDMs story:
Late comment on buckets & SSTs:
In Rome, the UN FAO sponsored a conference on the Global Food Crisis:
Desertification looms as a threat:
Meanwhile in the journals:
Meanwhile in Australia:
And they're still arguing over the Liberal's unreleased carbon tax plan:
Meanwhile among the solar afficionados:
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.
"If you are in a shipwreck and all the boats are gone, a piano top... that comes along makes a fortuitous life preserver, but this is not to say that the best way to design a life preserver is in the form of a piano top. I think that we are clinging to a great many piano tops in accepting yesterday's fortuitous contrivings." -Buckminster Fuller
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