Another Week of GW News, August 17, 2008

Sipping from the internet firehose...

(skip to bottom)

August 17, 2008

• Top Stories:World Water Week, Electric Bicycles, Grumbine, Melting Arctic, Geopolitics, Antarctica
• Food Crisis, Food vs. Biofuel, Food Production
• Hurricanes, GHGs, Temperatures, Paleoclimate, Glaciers, Sea Levels
• Impacts, Forests, Wildfires, Floods & Droughts
• Mitigation, Transportation, Buildings, Sequestration, Geoengineering, Adaptation
• Journals, Misc. Science, Hansen, Koerner obit
• Kyoto-2, UN, Carbon Trade, International Politics
• America, Britain, Europe, Australia, Pacific Islands, China, Japan, Canada
• Ecological Economics, IPAT, Apocalypso, Media, Books, Video
• Energy, High Cost Impacts, Solar, Coal, Biofuel, Peak Oil, Efficiency, Cars, Business, Greenwashing
• Carbon Lobby, The Usual, Useful Links
• Shameless Self Promotion, .sig

It's always nice to start with a chuckle :

• 2008/08/10: N3xus6: (cartoon - ?) Alarm

  I rather like this turn of phrase. Think it will catch on?

• 2008/08/12: CSpin: Words Matter: call it "climate disruption" says John P. Holdren

  There is a big water conference going on in Sweden:

• 2008/08/17: ABC(Au): 2,000 experts talks world water supplies in Sweden
  More than 2,000 experts have gathered in the Swedish capital Stockholm to discuss how to ensure that the world has adequate supplies of water in the future. The conference which opens to coincide with World Water Week will look at issues including climate change, water scarcity and poor sanitation.
• 2008/08/17: BBC: While global attention has recently focused on energy and food, a global summit this week in Stockholm, Sweden, will tackle the key issue of water

  Is somebody running a PR campaign? All of a sudden a lot of people are talking about electric bicycles:

• 2008/08/17: AutoBG: Electric bicycle sales soar world-wide
• 2008/08/15: CNN: Electric bikes provide greener commute
  Cost of gas and desire for greener commute turns more people to electric bikes - Electric bike dealer says sales are up about 50 percent this year over last - Prices range from a few hundred dollars to more than $2,500 - Electric bikes use foot power and motor to create hybrid-like machine
• 2008/08/15: CBC: Electric bikes selling briskly as gas prices climb
• 2008/08/11: RN: Always cycling with the wind behind you -- You still need to peddle but the battery helps. The electric bike is all the rage on Dutch cycle paths this summer...

  Robert Grumbine of sci.env FAQ fame, is posting for a new generation of climatologists:

• 2008/08/15: MGS: Basic Sciences in Climatology
• FAQs Climate, SeaLevel, CO2, etc.
• 2008/08/12: MGS: Climate Change Detection
• 2008/08/11: Atmoz: The Simplest Climate Model: Oblate Spheroid Edition
• 2008/08/11: MGS: Analyzing the simplest climate model

  The Arctic melt continues to get a lot of attention:

• 2008/08/17: NAT: Arctic Tribe Fights Oil Development in Refuge
• 2008/08/14: AFTIC: Southern Route Through Northwest Passage Opens
• 2008/08/11: ADN: Receding ice pack means more traffic in Arctic -- more shipping traffic to monitor
• 2008/08/14: CanWest: Northwest Passage lane clear of ice for second year
• 2008/08/13: Tamino: Sea Ice Hyperbole
• 2008/08/12: ClimateP: NSIDC: Arctic sea ice declines sharply in August
• 2008/08/11: DeSmogBlog: 'Unprecedented' melt sinks hope for Arctic ice recovery
• 2008/08/12: TerraDaily: Successful Series Of Measurements In Arctic Sea Ice [by German Research Vessel Polarstern]
• 2008/08/11: NatPo: Record-setting meltdown feared for Arctic Ocean
• 2008/08/11: PhysOrg: Successful series of measurements in Arctic sea ice -- German Research Vessel Polarstern
• 2008/08/11: PhysOrg: North Pole could lose summer ice
• 2008/08/11: Stoat: More sea ice
• 2008/08/11: GristMill: Like there are so many other reasons to visit the barren tundra? Alaska claims protecting wildlife would hurt tourism
• 2008/08/11: ENN: Meltdown in the Arctic is speeding up
• 2008/08/11: CanWest: 'Unprecedented' melt sinks hope for Arctic ice recovery - Rapid disintegration of ocean ice cover on track to set record

  As for the geopolitics of the Arctic resources:

• 2008/08/16: CanWest: Arctic ambitions: Canada's stake in the North -- Tough talk taps into national pride, but experts question 'use it or lose it' strategy
• 2008/08/16: DotEarth: The 'Icebreaker Gap' Up North
• 2008/08/15: CBC: Make Arctic ships report to Canadian authorities, agencies say
  There are new calls to make it mandatory for every ship travelling in Canada's Arctic waterways to report to Canadian authorities. Right now it is only voluntary for vessels -- including cruise, mining and resupply ships -- to register with the Canadian Coast Guard's vessel traffic system in the Arctic. The system helps keep track of ships in case the coast guard has to respond to emergencies. About 99 per cent of vessels that travel in Arctic waters do enroll in the system known as NORDREG, said Jean-Pierre Lehnert, who is in charge of the coast guard's Marine Communication Traffic Services Centre in Iqaluit. But, he added, there is no way to be sure. "What we don't know, we don't know," Lehnert told CBC News.
• 2008/08/15: CanWest: Canada's front line for Arctic sovereignty is a lone research vessel in Beaufort Sea
• 2008/08/13: NatureTGB: Arctic cold war gets hotter again
• 2008/08/12: Maribo: Geopolartics
• 2008/08/12: SF Gate: Rush to Arctic as warming opens oil deposits
  It's a scramble for the spoils of global warming as the rapid melting of Arctic sea ice is opening access to previously unreachable deposits of oil and gas, setting off a race by northern nations - including the United States, Canada and Russia - to claim them. The pursuit of those resources will be underscored this week as the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Healy sails north from Barrow, Alaska, on Thursday to map the sea floor of the Chukchi Cap, an area at the northern edge of the Beaufort Sea. The maps could bolster U.S. claims to the area as part of its extended outer continental shelf.
• 2008/08/11: Reuters: U.S. ship heads for Arctic to define territory
• 2008/08/12: CBC: New research hopes to bolster Canada's Arctic claim
• 2008/08/12: NatPo: Arctic rivals break ice, exchange expertise -- U. S. Coast Guard icebreaker Healy & Canadian Coast Guard ship Louis St. Laurent
• 2008/08/11: Reuters: U.S. ship heads for Arctic to define territory

  While in Antarctica:

• 2008/08/15: MTobis: Antarctica
• 2008/08/15: ENN: Antarctic Climate: Short-term Spikes, Long-term Warming Linked To Tropical Pacific
• 2008/08/13: TerraDaily: Antarctic Temperature Changes Linked To Tropical Pacific
• 2008/08/12: Reuters: Human activity, El Nino warming West Antarctic: study
• 2008/08/12: PhysOrg: Antarctic climate: Short-term spikes, long-term warming linked to tropical Pacific
• 2008/08/12: UCAR: Antarctic Climate: Short-Term Spikes, Long-Term Warming Linked to Tropical Pacific
  Dramatic year-to-year temperature swings and a century-long warming trend across West Antarctica are linked to conditions in the tropical Pacific Ocean, according to a new analysis of ice cores conducted by scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and the University of Washington (UW). The findings show the connection of the world's coldest continent to global warming, as well as to periodic events such as El Niño.
• 2008/08/11: NewScientist: Elephant seals track changes to Antarctic seas

  The food crisis remains a top story:

• 2008/08/11: UN: Flood-affected Pakistani region receiving UN food aid
• 2008/08/12: UN: UN agency [WFP] provides $214 million to help 16 countries cope with food crisis
• 2008/08/05: FPIF: The Food Crisis and Global Institutions
  The food crisis reflects a breakdown in our global food system that threatens to worsen poverty, hunger, climate change, and insecurity. Global institutions and governments are responding, yet their answers are vastly inadequate. For decades, trade and investment liberalization have undermined human rights and the environment. The food crisis should help us to understand that now it is time for a new vision of global cooperation, one that is democratic and accountable to people and the planet.

The conflict between biofuel and food persists:

• 2008/08/13: QuarkSoup: Ethanol vs. Food
• 2008/08/13: GristMill: Corn guzzler -- What it means to put 4.1 billion bushels of corn into our gas tanks

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

  And how are we going to feed 9 billion?
• 2008/08/15: QuarkSoup: The Hypoxic Green Revolution
• 2008/08/15: NewScientist: Farms in Brazil and India must adapt or roast in heat [says Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies report]
• 2008/08/13: GristMill: More on markets and 'choice' -- The food system as 'largest quasi-public utility in the world'
• 2008/08/13: GristMill: Corn chronicles -- USDA says crops have shaken off flood damage
• 2008/08/12: Guardian(UK): Soaring fertiliser prices threaten world's poorest farmers
  India and China hoard fertilisers to guarantee food stocks, while riots break out in Vietnam, Africa and Pakistan
• 2008/08/11: Google:AFP: Brazilian agriculture faces huge losses from climate change
• 2008/08/12: CSIRO: CSIRO enlisted to avert global wheat supply crisis
  CSIRO is investigating ways of controlling a devastating new wheat disease strain which could lead to a global wheat production and food supply crisis
• 2008/08/11: Yahoo: Brazilian agriculture faces huge losses from climate change
• 2008/08/10: NGE: Something for nothing? Removing crop residues to make biofuels is not always sustainable

  Hernan, Kammuri, Iselle, Vongfong & Fay blew around the globe:

• 2008/08/17: PhysOrg: 'Fay' expected to become hurricane over Cuba
• 2008/08/17: Wunderground: Fay strengthening south of Cuba; and, the sea turtle forecast for Fay
• 2008/08/16: BBC: The US state of Florida has declared a state of emergency ahead of the arrival of tropical storm Fay, which has swept through the Dominican Republic
• 2008/08/16: CBS: Tropical Storm Fay Threatens Florida -- Gov. Declares State Of Emergency As Heavy Rains Pummel Hispaniola, Kill 2
• 2008/08/16: CNN: Parts of Cuba under hurricane watch; Florida braces
  Florida starts making preparations for storm - Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, naval base activates plan for destructive weather - Tropical Storm Fay could reach hurricane strength by Sunday morning - Sustained winds at 45 mph, with higher gusts
• 2008/08/16: Wunderground: Fay survives passage over Hispaniola, takes aim at Cuba
• 2008/08/16: Reuters: Storm Fay to become hurricane threat to Cuba and U.S.
• 2008/08/15: Wunderground: "The Joker" still not classified as a tropical depression
• 2008/08/15: Wunderground: "The Joker" transforms into Tropical Storm Fay
• 2008/08/14: Wunderground: Dangerous disturbance 92L poised to become a tropical depression
• 2008/08/13: Wunderground: Lesser Antilles disturbance fizzles, but may still cause trouble
• 2008/08/13: Wunderground: Major steering current shift coming; update on Lesser Antilles disturbance 92L
• 2008/08/10: TerraDaily: Tropical storm [Kammuri] leaves 100 dead, missing in Vietnam
• 2008/08/11: Wunderground: Disturbances 92L, 93L a threat to the Lesser Antilles Islands
• 2008/08/10: CBC: Hernan drops to a Category 1 hurricane

  While elsewhere in the hurricane wars:

• 2008/08/14: TerraDaily: Hurricanes And Climate Change: A Sharper View
• 2008/08/12: Eureka: Hurricanes and climate change: A sharper view -- New results support suggestions that global warming will do little to change hurricane activity
• 2008/08/11: Wunderground: August Hurricane Outlook Part III: Wind Shear and African Dust; update on 92L and 93L

  As for GHGs:

• 2008/08/12: WorldChanging: Two Views of Greenhouse Gases
• 2008/08/11: PhysOrg: 21 US cities will measure and disclose their CO2 emissions
• 2008/08/10: Eureka: Carbon Disclosure Project, ICLEI partner to help [21] US cities report local climate actions, emissions
• 2008/08/11: Yahoo: 21 US cities will measure and disclose their CO2 emissions

  And the temperature record:

• 2008/08/15: NOAANews: Fifth Warmest July on Record for Globe

  While in the paleoclimate:

• 2008/08/14: NatureN: Back when the desert was green -- Burial site offers rare glimpse of daily life in the stone-age Sahara.
• 2008/08/14: KSJT: AP, Chicago Trib, New Scientist, NYTimes, etc: Dino hunters find, instead, an ancient human graveyard in the Sahara
• 2008/08/14: NewScientist: Stone Age mass graves reveal green Sahara [10 kya]

  Glaciers are melting:

• 2008/08/14: DailyIndia: Mt. Kilimanjaro snow cap may not disappear by 2030

  Sea levels are rising:

• 2008/08/17: M&C: Climate change could sink much of Cape Town
• 2008/08/15: TiWMN: Shock warning on sea levels
  The coastal map of the Westcountry could be dramatically redrawn by the waves if expert predictions of a rise of up to four metres in sea level become a reality. It would go far beyond previous expectations that remote and sparsely populated coastal areas would be beyond salvation, and mean that large swathes of towns and even cities could be swallowed up by the English Channel over the next century.

More GW impacts are being seen:

• 2008/08/16: EarthTimes: Number of dead in storms throughout Europe
• 2008/08/15: TerraDaily: Climate Change Threatens One In Five Plant Species [in Germany]
• 2008/08/15: BBC: Bats face dark times ahead
  Europe's bat species are facing threats to their survival from climate change and wind farms, says an expert [Anne Youngman, the Bat Conservation Trust's Scottish officer]
• 2008/08/14: BBC: Climate 'altering UK bird habits'
  A number of UK bird species are laying eggs significantly earlier than they were 40 years ago, a report reveals. A conservation coalition's report says some finches, robins and tits are all laying earlier and puts this down to warming caused by climate change. Overall, numbers of farmland birds remain about half of what they were in the 1970s, while wintering populations of water birds have risen considerably. The RSPB said birds were having to respond to climate change to survive.
• 2008/08/14: Guardian(UK): Frogs and other amphibians dying at alarming rates, say scientists
  Some frog populations have declined 95 to 98% in size - Climate change partly, along with introduced species
• 2008/08/15: Guardian(UK): Climate change causes birds to lay eggs early
• 2008/08/14: Eureka: Towards understanding bluetongue outbreaks
• 2008/08/13: ENN: Climate change may boost Middle East rainfall
• 2008/08/13: Scripps: Oceans on the Precipice: Scripps Scientist Warns of Mass Extinctions and 'Rise of Slime'
  Threats to marine ecosystems from overfishing, pollution and climate change must be addressed to halt downward trends
• 2008/08/13: UFZ: Climate change threatens one in five plant species
• 2008/08/12: Eureka: Climate change may boost Middle East rainfall
• 2008/08/12: TerraDaily: Climate Change May Be Pushing Birds Move Farther North
• 2008/08/11: NatureN: How pollution influences the weekend weather -- The effects of weekday emissions differ from country to country
• 2008/08/11: ClimateP: Global warming unleashes "world's largest land predators" on humans
• 2008/08/11: ABC(Au): Coral reef tourism under threat [from rising oil prices, economic volatility & climate change]: academic [Duan Biggs]
• 2008/08/11: PhysOrg: Climate change caused widespread tree death in California mountain range
• 2008/08/11: Eureka: Climate change caused widespread tree death in California mountain range, study confirms -- In just 30 years, plants moved up the mountain an average of 213 feet

  And then there are the world's forests:

• 2008/08/14: Reuters: Amazon Fund seen as 'paradigm shift' for forest
• 2008/08/14: MongaBay: Smoke from Amazon fires reduces local rainfall
• 2008/08/13: MongaBay: Private equity seek profit from rainforest wildlife conservation
• 2008/08/14: ABC(Au): Greens want end to all logging in native forests
• 2008/08/13: NewScientist: Virgin rainforest targeted for oil drilling
• 2008/08/13: ENN: Oil and gas projects in western Amazon threaten biodiversity and indigenous peoples

  We have heatwaves and wild fires:

  As for wild fires:
• 2008/08/15: SOSD: [National Wildlife Federation] Report: Climate change to fuel wildfires in West

  And speaking of floods & droughts:

• 2008/08/17: ShDaily: Myanmar ravaged by floods
• 2008/08/12: CBC: Flood damage adds up for Gambo, Lewisporte, King's Point
• 2008/08/15: CBC: Section of Trans-Canada Highway closes in central Newfoundland
• 2008/08/14: ABC(Au): 20 percent less water expected in 2030
  A New South Wales Government report is predicting climate change could result in a 20 per cent reduction in available water in some areas by 2030. The Government says the report is the first comprehensive modelling work done on the impact climate change could have on rainfall and run-off across the state.
• 2008/08/11: TerraDaily: 148 dead, missing after storms hit northern Vietnam
• 2008/08/13: TerraDaily: 40 dead in southwest China floods, landslides: state media
• 2008/08/13: CBC: 20 die in Mumbai building collapse after monsoon rains
• 2008/08/12: Novosti: Vietnam floods death toll reaches 112
• 2008/08/11: TerraDaily: Twenty die in torrential rain in southwest China: state media
• 2008/08/11: TerraDaily: 150 dead, missing after storms hit northern Vietnam
• 2008/08/11: PhysOrg: Thousands rally to mark 'death' of Australian [Murray] river
• 2008/08/10: BBC: Heavy monsoon rains in southern India have destroyed houses and flooded parts of Andhra Pradesh, killing at least 40 people over the weekend...

  Elsewhere on the mitigation front:

• 2008/08/14: KSJT: ABC Australia: Methane on your mind? Eat kangaroos, mate.
• 2008/08/14: PhysOrg: Germans try to slow glacier melt with giant screen [at Swiss alpine region of Valais]
• 2008/08/12: PhysOrg: Cut energy use by eating better, study says

  As for transportation & GHG production:

• 2008/08/15: CNN: Think flying stinks? It may get worse
• 2008/08/16: AutoBG: Can't stop new public transportation expansions in Philly
• 2008/08/15: Independent(UK): Soaring fuel prices and green pressures herald comeback for Britain's waterways
• 2008/08/14: NYT: Downtowns Across the U.S. See Streetcars in Their Future
• 2008/08/14: CBC: High pump prices not pulling Canadians off roads: StatsCan
• 2008/08/13: CalcRisk: U.S. Miles Driven Declines 4.7% from June 2007
• 2008/08/13: WSJ:EnvCap: Driving's Really Down -- But For How Long?
• 2008/08/12: PhysOrg: Motorists turn to carpool sites as gas prices rise
• 2008/08/11: USAToday: Transport costs could alter world trade
• 2008/08/12: AutoBG: Amtrak ridership up along with gas prices

  While in the endless quest for sustainable building codes:

• 2008/08/12: Reuters: East Asian cities urged to get ready for climate change [Climate Resilient Cities 2008 Primer]
• 2008/08/12: G&M: B.C. green report pushes for carbon-neutral construction - Proposal suggests new houses be built with solar panels, wind turbines or geothermal systems
  British Columbia is escalating its war on greenhouse gases, examining a measure that will require some new buildings to be carbon neutral as early as 2016 - and every new building to have no carbon footprint by 2020

As for carbon sequestration:

• 2008/08/15: PlanetArk: Norway Agrees US$60 Mln Carbon Capture Research
• 2008/08/15: PhysOrg: Farmers get money for capturing carbon
  Everett Dobrinski recently got a $4,000 check for storing carbon dioxide in his soil. Dobrinski, who farms near Makoti in northwestern North Dakota, said protecting the planet from global warming is not the primary reason he enrolled in National Farmers Union Carbon Credit Program. It's about money. "I am considerate of the environment, but I'm doing it more for my own pocketbook," Dobrinski said. "It just makes economic sense." North Dakota Farmers Union President Robert Carlson said 990 farmers and ranchers in the state got about $2.6 million last month for using no-till and other practices to capture carbon dioxide, which is widely blamed for global warming.

Large scale geo-engineering keeps popping up:

• 2008/08/11: NatureTGB: Who'll stop the rain? China will

  While on the adaptation front:

• 2008/08/15: EnergyBulletin: Pondering the Endgame -- How adaptable are we?
• 2008/08/13: PhysOrg: Can NY infrastructure handle floods, intense heat?
• 2008/08/13: ENN: Hot subways to floods, all part of NYC climate risk
• 2008/08/12: Reuters: Hot subways to floods, all part of NYC climate risk
  New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg on Tuesday announced an in-depth study of perils the city faces from climate change, ranging from overly hot subways to shoreline floods.
• 2008/08/11: NewScientist: Can memory save elephants from climate change?
  A study of elephants that survived a drought in Tanzania suggests the clans were saved by the canny old matriarchs

Meanwhile in the journals:

• 2008/08/14: ACPD: Mesoscale temperature fluctuations in the Southern Hemisphere stratosphere by B. L. Gary
• 2008/08/13: CPD: Holocene weak summer East Asian monsoon intervals in subtropical Taiwan and their global synchronicity by K. Selvaraj et al.
• 2008/08/12: CPD: Western Europe is warming much faster than expected by G. J. van Oldenborgh et al.
• 2008/08/12: CPD: Constraining atmospheric CO2 content during the Middle Miocene Antarctic glaciation using an ice sheet-climate model by P. M. Langebroek et al.
• 2008/08/11: TCD: Three examples where the specific surface area of snow increased over time by F. Domine et al.
• 2008/08/12: ACPD: Cloud and aerosol effects on radiation in deep convective clouds: comparison with warm stratiform clouds by S. S. Lee et al.
• 2008/08/11: ACPD: The effects of global changes upon regional ozone pollution in the United States by J. Chen et al.
• 2008/08/12: PNAS: Eutrophication of lakes cannot be controlled by reducing nitrogen input: Results of a 37-year whole-ecosystem experiment by David W. Schindler et al.
• 2008/08/12: PNAS: Hydraulic integration and shrub growth form linked across continental aridity gradients by H. Jochen Schenk et al.
• 2008/08/12: PNAS: Warming of the Indian Ocean threatens eastern and southern African food security but could be mitigated by agricultural development by Chris Funk et al.
• 2008/08/12: PNAS: Phosphorus control is critical to mitigating eutrophication by Stephen R. Carpenter

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

• 2008/08/14: Eureka: NASA study improves ability to predict aerosols' effect on cloud cover
• 2008/08/14: PhysOrg: Study Improves Ability to Predict Aerosols' Effect on Cloud Cover

  More Hansen:

• 2008/08/14: TwinCities: Climate at 'a critical point,' scientist says -- NASA's Hansen issued early warnings

  Koerner Obituary:

• 2008/08/13: Guardian(UK): [Obituary] Fritz Koerner -- Explorer whose polar data illuminated the climate-change debate

  Meanwhile on the Kyoto-2 front:

• 2008/08/17: CanWest: Japan to demand CO2 cuts from developing nations
• 2008/08/14: Reuters: Time short for climate pact, draft by mid-09 - UN [UNFCCC head, Yvo de Boer interview]
• 2008/08/14: TreeHugger: South Africa Capping Greenhouse Gas Emissions. What Say You, India and China?

  And at the UN:

• 2008/08/13: GristMill: Yaoza! Yao Ming to serve as UNEP 'environmental champion'
• 2008/08/09: Yahoo: Yao becomes UN environment campaigner
  Chinese superstar Yao Ming on Saturday became the UN Environment Program's (UNEP) first ever Environmental Champion, tasked with raising awareness of climate change and energy efficiency

As for carbon trading:

• 2008/08/14: EnvFin: Carbon undervalued, says IDEAcarbon

  While on the international political front:

• 2008/08/12: WorldChanging: Inside WCI: Biomass
• 2008/08/12: NGE: Walk softly on the earth and carry a big stick

  And on the American political front:

• 2008/08/15: AlterNet: How Anti-Intellectualism Is Destroying America
  "It's like these guys take pride in being ignorant." Barack Obama finally said it.
  Though a successful political and electoral strategy, the Right's stand against intelligence has steered them far off course, leaving them -- and us -- unable to deal successfully with the complex and dynamic circumstances we face as a nation and a society.
  American 15-year-olds rank 24th out of 29 countries in math literacy, and their parents are as likely to believe in flying saucers as in evolution; roughly 30 to 40 percent believe in each. Their president believes "the jury is still out" on evolution.
• 2008/08/15: GristMill: Voters' Voices: Virginia -- Talking with voters in northern Virginia about the environment and the election
• 2008/08/15: SeattlePI: W's environmental policy woeful to the end
• 2008/08/13: ThinkP: Right-Wing Hate Group Blames Immigrants For Increasing Greenhouse Emissions
• 2008/08/13: NatureCF: Climate research funding slashed
• 2008/08/12: Newsday: NY [state] enacts greenhouse gas regulations
• 2008/08/12: NatureN: Top climate-impacts programme shut -- National Center for Atmospheric Research axes developing-world initiative
• 2008/08/11: NatJo: Waning Warming Debate
  [...] According to a survey...from ABC News, Planet Green and Stanford University, fewer than half -- 47 percent -- of Americans consider global warming an important issue to them personally, down from 52 percent in April 2007.
• 2008/08/11: NOAANews: Bush Administration More Than Quadruples 2009 Hurricane Forecast Improvement Budget Request to $17 Million
• 2008/08/11: PhysOrg: Reduce carbon footprint or find more energy sources? Americans want to do both, poll finds
• 2008/08/11: GristMill: Backwater blues -- West Virginia Governor [Joe] Manchin subsidizes his own state's economic irrelevance with liquid coal subsidies

  The fractious energy debate rolls on:

• 2008/08/13: PNT: Here's the drill
• 2008/08/16: ConnPost: Poll: Government mistrusted on energy
  Many Americans think there is a solution to the nation's energy woes, but they have little confidence that the government will do anything about it. [...] Lindsley found that 74 percent of those polled thought Pickens' plan could work, but 65.7 percent of them said Congress would never allow the initiative to succeed, and would instead pass laws and regulations to block it. Only 28.4 percent believe Congress would help the plan succeed by passing supportive legislation. The results are somewhat surprising, Lindsley said, in that they show Americans are optimistic about the solvability of the energy crisis, but pessimistic about their government. "People see a solution out there, but they don't expect Congress to do anything about it," he said.
• 2008/08/15: REA: More US States Cooking Up Renewable Energy Incentives
• 2008/08/14: GristMill: Dog bites man; more beats less -- On energy, survey results show public favors supply, increasingly favors Republicans
• 2008/08/15: NEN: Mythbusting
• 2008/08/14: ThinkP: CNN's [Democratic & Republican] Convention Coverage Sponsored By Big Oil Giant Exxon Mobil
• 2008/08/15: Wonkette: GOP Congressman [Rep. Bill Sali (R-Idaho)]: There Are 40 Barrels Of Oil In Every Tree
• 2008/08/15: LA Times: Oil and politics -- As the Democrats give ground on offshore drilling, it's the Republicans who are waffling
• 2008/08/14: ClimateP: The Big Energy Lie - Blog round-up
• 2008/08/13: ClimateP: Opportunity Knocked -- Republicans Shut the Door, but Now Protest
• 2008/08/14: ClimateP: Drop in U.S. driving last 8 months exceeds the 1970s' total decline
• 2008/08/13: Reuters: High gas prices cut driving for 8th month: government
• 2008/08/14: GristMill: Priorities
• 2008/08/14: HillHeat: Gang of 10 Energy Proposal
• 2008/08/13: GristMill: Republican rules -- The media will not tell the public the real story on the energy clash in Congress
  I'm not sure what's more astonishing, the current political drama around energy or the utter and complete failure of the media to portray it accurately
• 2008/08/13: GristMill: Follow the coal money -- Boucher and Dingell biggest players in climate policy, biggest recipients of coal money
• 2008/08/12: GristMill: The vow of silence is broken -- Media finally tells public about the real roadblock to good energy policy
• 2008/08/12: HillHeat: League of Women Voters Calls for Coal Moratorium
• 2008/08/12: OilChange: The Republican Horror Show...
• 2008/08/11: EnergyBulletin: The offshore drilling mirage
• 2008/08/11: EnergyBulletin: Oil from the OCS moratoria areas -- a gusher? or too little, too late?
• 2008/08/11: TP:WonkRoom: Earth To [Senator] Jim Webb (D-VA): The Emissions Are The Crisis

  Resistance to the Bush administration's proposed changes to the Endangered Species Act is building:

• 2008/08/14: Columbian: In Our View: Lame-Duck Threat [to Endangered Species Act]
• 2008/08/14: GristMill: Tell us what you think! (Quickly.) (By postal mail only, please.) -- Bush administration hustles through ESA rule change with minimal feedback; Obama opposes
• 2008/08/13: WSWS: Bush administration proposes major cut to endangered species protections
• 2008/08/13: NYT: An Endangered Act
  The Bush administration has never masked its distaste for most environmental laws or its ambitions to thwart Congress's will. Now in its waning months, it is trying to undermine the Endangered Species Act.
• 2008/08/12: NatureN: US may scale back reviews of endangered species listings -- Environmentalists protest early reports of plan
• 2008/08/12: GristMill: 'I ... have never seen such a sneaky attack' -- Green groups and Dems outraged by Bush admin's plan to loosen species protections
• 2008/08/11: ThinkP: The Bush Administration's Plan To Make The Endangered Species Act Extinct
• 2008/08/12: Guardian(UK): US accused of 'sneak attack' on wildlife protection
  The Bush administration yesterday announced plans to relax the law protecting endangered species to allow federal agencies to decide for themselves whether construction projects such as highways, dams or mines might harm endangered animals and plants.
  Under the altered rules, the government would no longer have to consult with independent scientists about the effect of new projects on wildlife. Thousands of consultations take place every year.
  The US interior secretary, Dirk Kempthorne, said the proposal would help the US use the species law "more efficiently and avoid misusing it to regulate global climate change". He added: "It is not possible to draw a link between greenhouse gas emissions and distant observations of impact affecting species."
• 2008/08/11: PhysOrg: Bush to relax protected species rules
  Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne is defending proposed changes to the endangered species law, saying they will ensure the statute is not used as a "back door" to regulate the gases blamed for global warming.

Some idiocy deserves special notice:

• 2008/08/12: ThinkP: [Rep. Michele] Bachmann (R-MN) tells Pelosi to give up on global warming because Jesus already saved the planet
• 2008/08/12: TPM: GOP Rep. To Environmentalists: Jesus Already Saved The Planet

  One hears a lot about the campaigns, not much about their climate & energy policies:

• 2008/08/17: BCLSB: Obama On The Oil Sands
• 2008/08/15: ClimateP: Tire Pressure and Personal Virtue
• 2008/08/14: ClimateP: Why McCain hates renewables but pretends he loves them
• 2008/08/13: HillHeat: Obama Opposes Endangered Species Act Changes; McCain Has No Comment
• 2008/08/14: CNN: Democrats distort oil drilling debate
• 2008/08/11: USAToday: Are we science-savvy enough to make informed decisions?
• 2008/08/12: GristMill: Failures in framing, Chapter XXXIVMMX -- The public's attention, for the first time in ages, is focused on energy policy [2008]
• 2008/08/11: GristMill: Sandor slander -- Head of CCX endorses McCain's cap-and-trade program, reveals misunderstanding of climate policy
• 2008/08/08: FactCheck: Wind Power Puffery -- McCain's new ad touts "renewable energy," but his energy plan offers little to support it.
• 2008/08/10: ClimateP: The NY Times' absurd energy editorial
• 2008/08/10: NYT: Energy Fictions
  A toxic combination of $4 gasoline, voter anxiety and presidential ambition is making it impossible for this country to have the grown-up conversation it needs about energy.
• 2008/08/10: NGE: Trigger a presidential race to the top
  [...] The question is not which policies to use or not use, but whether we're actually going to do anything significant at all.
• 2008/08/11: TP:WonkRoom: McCain: $39 Billion Dollars Of Tax-Payer Money To Big Oil & Gas Over 5 Years

  In the UK, much of the debate centres on energy:

• 2008/08/13: Guardian(UK): Companies face crackdown on electricity greenwash
  Dozens of major companies are frustrated at the prospect of having to report embarrassing sharp increases in their carbon pollution under new government plans
• 2008/08/16: Guardian(UK): Energy: How dirty is your power supplier?
• 2008/08/16: Guardian(UK): Carbon credits tick all the boxes. What's the delay?
• 2008/08/15: WorldChanging: U.K. Biofuels Sources Are Largely Unknown
• 2008/08/12: NewScientist: 80% of British biofuels are unsustainable -- a survey commissioned by the UK government

  The Kingsnorth climate camp roiled the debate:

• 2008/08/15: WSWS: Britain: Policing of climate camp a major attack on democratic rights
• 2008/08/12: Guardian(UK): An environment of repression
  The police at Kingsnorth were harsh, but the consequences of failing to act on climate change are worse than anything the state can throw at us
• 2008/08/13: Guardian(UK): Superglue: the climate activist's latest weapon of choice
• 2008/08/11: Guardian(UK): Protesters vow to set up permanent camp at Kingsnorth
• 2008/08/10: NatureCF: Debate on coal heats up as climate protests reach climax
• 2008/08/11: Guardian(UK): Climate change: High street banks face consumer boycott over investment in coal projects
  Green campaign to attack 'hypocritical' lenders - Kingsnorth protesters threaten to target RBS [HSBC & Barclays]
• 2008/08/11: Guardian(UK): Kingsnorth protest - The coalface of climate change

  While in the background:

• 2008/08/12: Guardian(UK): Water companies press for extra £30 on bills by 2015
  Increase above inflation to cover £27bn investment - Plans include tackling effects of climate change
• 2008/08/11: Guardian(UK): On a planet 4C hotter, all we can prepare for is extinction
  There's no 'adaptation' to such steep warming. We must stop pandering to special interests, and try a new, post-Kyoto strategy
• 2008/08/11: Guardian(UK): [4C Letters] Denial lies at the heart of climate change policy

  And in Europe:

• 2008/08/11: REA: Swiss Adopt Aggressive Feed Law for Renewable Energy
• 2008/08/12: TreeHugger: On Danish Isle Of Samsø Wind Power Is The Heart Of Carbon Neutral Energy Independence

  Meanwhile in Australia:

• 2008/08/16: SMH: State [NSW] begins slow squeeze on emitters
  The state's top 232 greenhouse polluters, ranging from Bluescope Steel to the Sydney Opera House, will be forced to cut their emissions from this year under new energy-efficiency laws. The State Government will pursue a naming and shaming policy for big energy users it deems to be wasting power, backed up by court action if they do not make the required cuts. But the targets so far are modest. The first round, beginning in January, aim to peel back less than 1 per cent of the state's emissions of at least 160 million tonnes of greenhouse gas each year. The first round of efficiency measures will save companies about $40 million on their power bills, the Government says.
• 2008/08/16: ABC(Au): Committee approves plan to bury CO2 emissions
  A federal parliamentary committee has approved a plan for carbon dioxide to be buried in the sea bed to cut greenhouse gas emissions. It is believed if the law is enacted, it will be a world first.
• 2008/08/15: ABC(Au): Paroo satellite snaps anger Murray-Darling farmers
  New satellite images show big storage dams and water diversions along the Murray-Darling Basin's last free-flowing river, the Paroo, in apparent breach of a moratorium designed to save the waterway.
• 2008/08/13: WAToday: Trains, trams and automobiles: getting our priorities right [Melbourne]
• 2008/08/14: PeakEnergy: GM: Australia must end oil dependence
• 2008/08/13: BBerg: Garnaut to Release Australian Emission Trajectories, Targets [Sept. 5]
• 2008/08/13: ABC(Au): Public to pay as polluters drag feet
• 2008/08/13: SMH: Carbon neutral -- The City of Sydney has become Australia's first "carbon neutral" government
• 2008/08/11: ABC(Au): Workers Union: Emissions trading scheme could lead to job losses
  The Australian Workers Union says State and Federal Governments need to ensure jobs are protected under an emissions trading scheme.
• 2008/08/11: ABC(Au): Solar rebate applications up since means test, inquiry told
• 2008/08/11: ABC(Au): The Queensland Government has come under fire for pulling out of a federal Senate inquiry into means testing for solar panel rebates
• 2008/08/11: ABC(Au): Senate inquiry seeks answers into solar panel means test
• 2008/08/11: SMH: Minimising the hurt in an emissions scheme [Aus pol]

  And in the Pacific Islands:

• 2008/08/17: ABC(Au): Aust, NZ urged to cater for climate change refugees
  There has been an urgent call for Australia and New Zealand to tailor their immigration programs to help Pacific Islanders displaced by climate change. Over 100 NGOs from across the Asia-Pacific region have sent a letter to Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and New Zealand's Prime Minister Helen Clark ahead of this week's Pacific Islands Leadership Forum.
• 2008/08/12: Yahoo: Indonesia Urges APFC [Asia Pacific Fishery Commission] to Take Part in Preventing Climate Change
• 2008/08/15: PhysOrg: Indonesia to push renewable energy: president
  Stung by high oil prices, Indonesia plans to tap more into renewable energies and change course from a "nation that splurges" to one that saves, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said Friday. "The soaring prices of oil on the global level during these last six years have reminded us of the importance of safeguarding energy security in our homeland," Yudhoyono said in his annual state-of-the-nation address
• 2008/08/13: Reuters: France's Reunion island aims for zero CO2

  While in China:

• 2008/08/16: McClatchyDC: More Chinese, beset by pollution woes, are going green

  And Japan:

• 2008/08/11: BBerg: Japan Power Exchange to Start Carbon-Credit Trading in October

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

• 2008/08/15: CBC: [Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Danny] Williams lambastes PM over 'laughable' carbon tax comments
• 2008/08/14: LiM: [T]ories prefer treasure hunting over fighting climate change
• 2008/08/14: Far-n-Wide: Will Conservative Plan "Screw" Canadians?
• 2008/08/11: BCLSB: But What Will Ed [Stelmach] Say? [CPC GHG plan]

  The Liberal Green Shift carbon tax plan is still getting press:

• 2008/08/15: CanEast: Green 'shaft' -- Prime Minister Stephen Harper blasted the federal Liberal party's carbon tax Thursday and dared Liberal Leader Stephane Dion to force an election
• 2008/08/15: CanWest: Liberals claim 'no confusion' with Green Shift Inc.
• 2008/08/14: BCLSB: Definitely Worth Writing Down
• 2008/08/14: ChronicleHerald: Baird says Green plan bad for N.S.
• 2008/08/13: BCLSB: High Gas Prices As A Natural Carbon Tax, Part Whatever [gr shift]
• 2008/08/11: HillTimes: Close race in Guelph [byelection] shaping up as a tough test of Dion's Green Shift plan
• 2008/08/11: CanWest: Dion's Green Shift offers a place to start -- Even if you don't believe in climate change, plan would address many problems

  As for miscellaneous Canadiana:

• 2008/08/12: Canoe: Carbon tax head named [chair of NRTEE]
  The federal environment minister has tapped a University of Calgary professor to head a group charged with advising the government on whether to institute a national carbon tax. Bob Page, a research chair and professor of Environmental Management and Sustainability at the U of C, has been appointed chair of the National Round Table on the Environment and Economy, which advises the government on environment policy and this year will take on a number of delicate green subjects

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

• 2008/08/11: BBC: Feeling the heat of food security
  Reforming the economics of food production and supply would be beneficial for a number of environmental and social problems, argues Peter Baker. A key issue, he says, is understanding the energy involved in putting food on your plate

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

• 2008/08/12: Utne: Peak Population -- Let's not repeat our energy failures when addressing the global population crisis
• 2008/08/12: PeakEnergy: The Population Bomb: Has It Been Defused?
• 2008/08/11: TreeHugger: Is Paul Ehrlich's 'Population Bomb' Defusing Itself? Fred Pearce Thinks So

  Apocalypso anyone?

• 2008/08/15: AlterNet: The Delusion Revolution: We're on the Road to Extinction and in Denial
• 2008/08/12: MalaysiaSun: The coming collapse of western civilization as we know it

  As for how the media handles the science of climatology:

• 2008/08/17: ClimateP: Note to media: Enough with the multiple hedges on climate science!
• 2008/08/14: CJR: Quashing Climate Dissent? The media's role in covering the (wide) spectrum of skepticism about global warming
• 2008/08/15: C411: EDF Economist Misquoted in Today's Washington Post
• 2008/08/13: GristMill: [Dessler] The uncertainty agenda -- Journalists need to evaluate strength of scientific consensus
• 2008/08/13: DotEarth: Slate Columnist: 'Find the Arguments' in Climate Science
• 2008/08/13: MTobis: Ludicrous Article on Slate
• 2008/08/12: KSJT: Minnesota Public Radio: A global warming road show
• 2008/08/12: ClimateP: The NY Times blows the solar PV story

  Here is something for your library:

• 2008/08/12: PhysOrg: Professor Examines the Effects of Climate Change on Civilizations [Book Review] _The Great Warming: Climate Change and the Rise and Fall of Civilizations_ by Brian Fagan
• 2008/08/11: DeSmogBlog: [Book plug] Mike Mann and Lee Kump weigh in with "Dire Predictions"

  And for your film & video enjoyment:

• 2008/08/12: SwissInfo: Oil-addicted world faces crude awakening [Film Review] _A Crude Awakening_ aka _The Oil Crash_

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

• 2008/08/17: PhysOrg: Scientists learn from nature to split water
• 2008/08/17: GristMill: Weird scenes inside the gold mine -- The electric sector's price inversion
• 2008/08/15: ClimateP: DOE flushes $15 million down the hydrogen toilet
• 2008/08/15: GristMill: Hydro-power -- Fleet of hydrogen concept vehicles crosses U.S. as part of Hydrogen Road Tour
• 2008/08/16: PeakEnergy: Tackling Indonesia's Power Crisis With Geothermal Power
• 2008/08/16: NGE: Big energy from little friends the cyanobacteria
• 2008/08/16: CleanBreak:Canadian geothermal heat pumps sales "phenomenal"
• 2008/08/15: EnergyBulletin: The path from petroleum shortages to electricity shortages
• 2008/08/15: TreeHugger: 1000 Megawatts of Run-of-River Hydro on Tap for British Columbia
• 2008/08/15: WSJ:EnvCap: Wind Power: Just Can't Get Enough
• 2008/08/15: BBC: Wind turbine-maker powers ahead
  A surge in demand for renewable energy has led to a large order backlog for the world's biggest wind turbine-maker, Vestas Wind Systems. The Danish firm said it had 7.2bn euros ($10.6bn; £5.7bn) worth of orders still to fulfil at the end of June, up 67% on a year earlier. Vestas made 98m euros profit after tax in the first six months of 2008, 44% higher than the same period in 2007. The firm is expecting further growth as the use of wind power grows globally.
• 2008/08/15: G&M: Oil hits a three-month low [US$111.67/barrel]
• 2008/08/15: Times(UK): Western oil demand set for biggest fall in 25 years
  Oil demand in Western countries is set for its biggest fall in 25 years as the global economic slowdown intensifies and consumers respond to high prices.
  Demand in the economies of the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries is set to average 48.6 million barrels per day this year, a decline of 1.3 per cent or 620,000 barrels from 49.2 million in 2007, the International Energy Agency says.
  Gareth Lewis-Davies, director of commodities research at Dresdner Kleinwort, points out that this represents the largest fall since 1983...
• 2008/08/14: GristMill: The (renewable) electron economy, part 5 -- More ideas for a post-oil society
• 2008/08/14: TreeHugger: 100% Renewable Electricity by 2025: Indian Ocean [Reunion] Island Picks Up Al Gore's Gauntlet
• 2008/08/13: DeSmogBlog: T. Boone Pickens Sniffs the Wind, Makes a Plan
• 2008/08/14: Yahoo: Oil edges above $116 after rise on U.S. data
• 2008/08/14: PeakEnergy: US oil demand falls most since 1982
• 2008/08/14: PeakEnergy: The Power Of The Gulf Stream
• 2008/08/14: WSJ:EnvCap: Lights Out: Five Years On, Is Another Big Blackout Likely?
• 2008/08/13: EnergyBulletin: Thinking About Heating and Cooling Differently
• 2008/08/13: ClimateP: Utility decoupling on steroids
• 2008/08/13: Guardian(UK): Fall in oil price comes with a warning -- US demand for crude dips by 800,000 barrels a day - Market still jittery amid geopolitical uncertainties
• 2008/08/12: PhysOrg: Alternative energy hits the road
• 2008/08/12: GristMill: The (renewable) electron economy, part 4 -- Toward the post-oil society
• 2008/08/12: TreeHugger: 5.05 Gigawatt Titan Wind Project is... Titanesque!
• 2008/08/12: Yahoo: Russia's vast energy supplies worry US
• 2008/08/12: NEN: Big wind-makers make $381 million Dakotas deal
• 2008/08/12: PeakEnergy: The Titan - Another "World's Biggest Wind Farm" [5 GW in South Dakota]
• 2008/08/12: OLJ: 5 years after blackout, power grid still in 'dire straits'
• 2008/08/12: TheBigPicture: Oil Update (Including a Chart of the Decade)
• 2008/08/11: CBC:Ideas: [mp3 links] The Hydrogen Solution
• 2008/08/10: GristMill: The (renewable) electron economy, part 3 -- A three-pronged approach to getting off oil for transportation
• 2008/08/11: TreeHugger: Jordan, Royal Dutch Shell Investigate Tapping Environmentally Destructive Oil Shale
• 2008/08/11: SciDaily: 'Anti-noise' Silences Wind Turbines -- an active damping system for wind turbines
• 2008/08/11: NEN: UK building wind with both hands - The logic of New Energy is driving development around the world
• 2008/08/11: PeakEnergy: The Hydrogen Economy and Peak Platinum
• 2008/08/11: OilChange: The oil supply crunch is coming...
• 2008/08/11: CBC: Thermoelectrics turn car's exhaust heat into power

  As for the impacts of high energy costs:

• 2008/08/15: CNN: Dreading winter's bitter bill
  Heating costs are expected to climb this winter putting additional pressure on Americans already hurt by high gasoline and food prices
• 2008/08/11: WaPo: Smart Growth -- The good news about high gas prices

  Meanwhile among the solar aficionados:

• 2008/08/17: PeakEnergy: Solar PV Prices To Fall By 20%
• 2008/08/17: PeakEnergy: New Solar PV Efficiency Record [40.8% under 326 suns]
• 2008/08/15: PhysOrg: Swiss companies to build world's highest solar power station
• 2008/08/15: WSJ:EnvCap: Sun King: Solar Power's Big Day
• 2008/08/14: TreeHugger: IKEA Puts $US 75 Million Toward Cheap Solar
• 2008/08/14: TreeHugger: Day4 Energy Solar Panel Breakthrough: 25% Cheaper, on Sale Within 18 Months
• 2008/08/14: NEN: Solar skin: A sheet of tiny antennas
• 2008/08/14: NGE: The future of solar baseload and solar PV
• 2008/08/13: PhysOrg: NREL Solar Cell Sets World Efficiency Record at 40.8 Percent
• 2008/08/12: UCincin: UC Solar House Serves as a Summer Laboratory for Alternative-Energy Technologies
• 2008/08/12: PeakEnergy: Worley Parsons' [8.5 GigaWatt] Solar Dream
• 2008/08/11: RPTT: Solar nanoantenna energy collectors
• 2008/08/11: TreeHugger: World's Largest Solar Energy Project (5GW!) Planned for Gujarat, India
• 2008/08/10: Eureka: Flexible nanoantenna arrays capture abundant solar energy
• 2008/08/11: NEN: 4 New solar power plants for Spain

  I hope people notice the big IFs attached to this announcement:

• 2008/08/15: NEN: Big Calif solar power plant deal - if...
  The biggest photovoltaic power purchase deal EVER, ANYWHERE, was just announced. Financial terms not disclosed -- except one item: No federal investment tax credits (ITCs), no deal.
  One other little item: No available transmission, no deal.
  The solar companies involved will finance the new transmission. They'll get their investment back in fees, according to FERC regulations. All they need is clearance from regulators.
• 2008/08/15: KSJT: Calif. dailies, etc: Utility to set up gigantic solar farm using photovoltaics - a first
• 2008/08/15: DotEarth: Solar Panels by the Square Mile in California
• 2008/08/15: SF Gate: PG&E plans big investment in solar power - 800 megawatts of photovoltaic

  The arithmetic of coal carbon is striking home:

• 2008/08/15: ClimateP: Forget 7 generations: Tribes gamble on coal, despite climate risks
• 2008/08/14: GristMill: I do not think that word means what you think it means -- 'Clean' coal pollutes more, finds new study
• 2008/08/13: ClimateP: Air Force to abandon a climate-destroying dead end?
• 2008/08/13: WSJ:EnvCap: Burning Cash: Coal-Friendly Banks Under Fire
• 2008/08/12: DeSmogBlog: A Burst of "Green" Power Courtesy of the World Bunk! [Tata Ultra Mega coal plant in western India financed by World Bank]
• 2008/08/12: TP:WonkRoom: The Coal Time Bomb Is Ticking
• 2008/08/12: Guardian(UK): Old King Coal is a brave old soul, but he is talking utter nonsense
• 2008/08/11: GristMill: Coal doublespeak: It's cheap, so give me money! Virginia refuses to compel AEP's customers to share in new coal plant's construction costs

  Biofuel bickering abounds:

• 2008/08/16: PhysOrg: MSU to create genomic clearinghouse for biofuel crops
  Michigan State University scientists, armed with a half-million-dollar federal grant, are creating an easily accessible, Web-based genomic database of information on crops that can be used to make ethanol.
• 2008/08/15: Guardian(UK): Compost bug offers hope for biofuel industry
• 2008/08/13: UN: UN-backed expert group takes steps to establish new biofuel [global sustainability] standard
• 2008/08/11: TreeHugger: North America's Largest Wheat-Based Ethanol Plant Opens in Saskatchewan
• 2008/08/11: SciDaily: Fuel From Cellulose, Cheaper And With Better Yields Than Ever Before

  Yes we have a peak oil sighting:

• 2008/08/14: EnergyBulletin: The peak oil crisis: The Washington Post meets peak oil lite

  And then there is the matter of efficiency & conservation:

• 2008/08/14: PeakEnergy: Fast Green Trains

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

• 2008/08/16: GEA: Huge Mistakes Keep Piling Up At GM, Ford
• 2008/08/15: AutoBG: New electric car coming from Fosh Automotive in three days?
• 2008/08/15: AutoBG: The trend continues: people want smaller cars, not compromises
• 2008/08/14: Fraunhofer: Energy storage for hybrid vehicles
• 2008/08/14: CNN: Converting gas-powered cars to electric
  Switching his truck to an electric engine saved one man about $700 in four months - As gas prices rose, sales tripled for one conversion parts dealer - Some converters are fed up with spending money on gas, foreign oil - Others like the environmental bonus of going electric
• 2008/08/14: AutoBG: Honda's hybrid-only model will hit in April 2009
• 2008/08/14: AutoBG: Massachusetts gets its first hydrogen station
• 2008/08/14: CBC: GM tinkers with design, battery for rechargeable car [Volt]
• 2008/08/12: GristMill: More EEStor lore for the hardcore -- EEStor founder says things are on track for commercial production in 2009
• 2008/08/11: NewScientist: How to turn gas guzzlers into green machines

  The reaction of business to climate change will be critical:

• 2008/08/16: PhysOrg: Carnegie Mellon urges industry to broaden carbon footprint calculations
• 2008/08/15: TreeHugger: The TH Interview: News Corp.'s Carbon Neutral Empire (Part 1) -- In a baffling shift of climate, Hell has frozen over
• 2008/08/11: IHT: World Bank criticized for helping fossil fuel plants

  Meanwhile in the greenwashing chronicles:

• 2008/08/13: PRWatch: Wal-Mart: We're Green, Just Don't Ask How Green
• 2008/08/14: WpgFP: Oilsands ad 'greenwash,' environment group crows
• 2008/08/13: G&M: Shell forced to withdraw two ads in U.K.
• 2008/08/13: OilChange: ASA [(British) Advertising Standards Authority] tells Shell "You can't greenwash tar sands"

  The carbon lobby are up to the usual:

• 2008/08/16: Atmoz: Conservation of Power?
• 2008/08/15: GristMill: Brought to you by -- Exxon sponsors political coverage
• 2008/08/16: MTobis: De Nile
• 2008/08/16: Deltoid: Words fail me
• 2008/08/16: QuarkSoup: Suspicious Graphs [denial]
• 2008/08/13: DeSmogBlog: This is NOT a Hockey Stick [denial]
• 2008/08/14: BSD: Denialists excited by Albertan engineers' disagreements over climate change
• 2008/08/14: PolitickerNJ: [NJ Assemblyman Michael] Doherty: New scientific data justifies repealing global warming response act
• 2008/08/14: DotEarth: JPL on Global Gamble, Harvard's Holdren on Stages of Climate Denial
• 2008/08/14: MTobis: More from Holdren
• 2008/08/14: Deltoid: So what's wrong with Lomborg?
• 2008/08/11: GWWatch: AGW deniers -- sue Hansen, Al Gore! Or shut up
• 2008/08/11: Deltoid: Duffy does a Hovind
• 2008/08/11: Deltoid: Oreskes on Western Fuels Association's war on science

  If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate?

• 2008/08/14: BBerg: Southern Co.'s Ratcliffe Says Earth Can Adapt to Global Warming
  Climate change is no cause for alarm and the U.S. should avoid global warming measures that harm the economy, said David Ratcliffe, chief executive officer of the biggest U.S. electricity producer [Atlanta-based Southern Co., the world's sixth-largest emitter of carbon]
• 2008/08/14: inel: Ratcliffe's heartless statement (Chairman of a top-6 global emitter)

  Oh lordy, don't tell me I need an absolute nuttery category:

• 2008/08/11: KSJT: LA Times: Say what? Counter global warming, sea level rise through irrigation?

  Then there was the usual news and commentary:

• 2008/08/14: Reuters: African firms start to take action on climate change
• 2008/08/14: Reuters: "Green" land grab could sow seeds of new conflict
• 2008/08/13: JPLB: It's a Sure Bet
• 2008/08/14: TerraDaily: Purdue Researcher Identifies Climate Change Hotspots [southern California, northern Mexico and western Texas]
• 2008/08/12: NatureCF: Stern special in Climatic Change
• 2008/08/12: Deltoid: Brave New Climate
• 2008/08/11: GristMill: Leading indicators
• 2008/08/10: RealClimate: Hypothesis testing and long range memory

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

• The Inconvenient Youth
• ReliefWeb
• WB: Climate Resilient Cities
• Follow the Coal Money
• BNC: Brave New Climate
• AGU Press Releases
• 2005/02/: NASA:GISS: Trial of the Century: Co-Conspirators Convicted
• Earth Times
• The Weather Makers: The History and Future Impact of Climate Change
• NASA:GISS: Surface Temperature Analysis
• New Scientist on Climate Change
• GRL: Published This Year in Geophysical Research Letters
• PCCRC: Purdue Climate Change Research Center
• NOAA News mag
• James Annan's Work Page (with list of publications)
• 2005/06/: AIP: The Discovery of Global Warming - A hypertext history
• 2005/06/: AIP: Basic Radiation Calculations
• CACC: Campaign against Climate Change
• EPICA: European Project for Ice Coring in Antarctica
• CRU: STARDEX - Statistical and Regional dynamical Downscaling of Extremes for European regions

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.

"The other thing which I think is very important is vested interests. Who wants to keep the world the way it is? The oil industry; the chemical industry; the food industry; the car industry; the airline industry. These are very powerful. Who rules Britain? Not parliament."
-Michael Meacher, Former Minister of State for the Environment, Privy Counsellor and UK Member of Parliament

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