Another Week of GW News, November 16, 2008

By illconsidered on November 17, 2008.

Sipping from the internet firehose...

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

(skip to bottom)

November 16, 2008

Top Stories:Bailout, IEA WEO, Asian Smog, Next Ice Age
Arctic Geopolitics, Antarctica, Arnold's Meeting, Permafrost, Carbon Footprint Labels, Late Comments
Food Crisis, Food vs. Biofuel, Food Production
Hurricanes, GHGs, Temperatures, Carbon Cycle, Feedbacks, Paleoclimate, Glaciers, Satellites
Impacts, Forests, Corals, Climate Refugees, Wildfires, Floods & Droughts
Transportation, Buildings, Sequestration, Geoengineering, Adaptation
Journals, Misc. Science, Hansen, Pielke
Kyoto, Kyoto-2, Carbon Trade, Carbon Tax, Optimal Carbon Reduction Strategy
International Politics: America, Obama, Britain, Europe, Australia, China, Japan, Canada
Ecological Economics, IPAT, Media, Books, Courts
Energy, High Cost Impacts, Solar, Coal, Biofuel, Nukes, Peak Oil, Efficiency, Cars, Business
Carbon Lobby, Miscellaneous Climate, Useful Links
Shameless Self Promotion, .sig

Here's a chuckle for ya:

2008/11/13: TI:CF: (cartoon - Roberts) Sow's ears [clean coal]
2008/11/13: EnergyBulletin: Spoof New York Times has new vision for America
2008/11/11: TI:CF: (cartoon - Roberts) Exodus
2008/11/09: TI:CF: (cartoon - Roberts) Status Quo
The credit crunch, the bailout and the green implications are getting a lot of attention:
2008/11/15: Guardian(UK): Dinner date with destiny -- The climate crunch will soon make the credit crunch look trivial, and the G20 summit must tackle it now
2008/11/14: TreeHugger: While GM and Friends Seek $50 Billion in Public Funds, There is no Mention of Help for Public Transit
2008/11/14: SMH: Time to focus on climate change by Ban Ki-moon, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Donald Tusk and Anders Fogh Rasmussen
2008/11/13: NatureCF: Oil crisis, financial crisis, total crisis
2008/11/12: ENS: G20 Leaders Urged to Support Global Green New Deal
2008/11/12: ClimateP: Why bail out the car companies when they bailed out on us?
2008/11/12: SeekingAlpha: Paul Krugman + Al Gore = The Way Forward
2008/11/11: UN: Ban calls on Washington economic summit to tackle global warming as well
2008/11/10: CAP: A Strategy for Green Recovery -- Stimulating the Economy Today by Rebuilding for Future Prosperity
2008/11/11: GristMill: Jerks of the knee -- The Economist blows it on the Green New Deal
The full IEA World Energy Outlook 2008 was released this week:
2008/11/: IEA: World Energy Report 2008
2008/11/12: IR^2: World Energy Outlook 2008 Released
2008/11/12: EnvFin: IEA warns on climate change inaction
2008/11/13: DeSmogBlog: EPA Kills US Coal Plants
2008/11/13: GetRealList: IEA Oil Report: "Time is Running Out" -- Nothing Short of an Energy Revolution
2008/11/13: MongaBay: Developing countries must limit emissions to prevent global warming, says energy agency
2008/11/12: Reuters: Renewables to top gas as power source by 2015: IEA
2008/11/12: EarthTimes: IEA urges 'energy revolution' despite economic downturn
2008/11/13: OilDrum: The 2008 IEA WEO - The World Energy Model and Energy Demand
2008/11/13: NEN: New energy to pass gas within 6 years - IEA
2008/11/12: ArsTechnica: IEA's annual report paints grim picture of our energy future
2008/11/13: Times(UK): IEA report on oil gets angry OPEC reaction
2008/11/12: GP: IEA falls short of an Energy Revolution needed to avert catastrophic climate change
2008/11/12: OilDrum: The 2008 IEA WEO - The Oil Drum Initial Review (Part 1 of a Series)
2008/11/12: IEA: New Energy Realities -- WEO Calls for Global Energy Revolution Despite Economic Crisis
2008/11/13: SMH: Energy revolution vital [IEA]
2008/11/12: ClimateP: Must-read IEA report explains what must be done to avoid 6Â°C warming
2008/11/12: Yahoo: IEA stokes doubts over world's climate fight
2008/11/12: Reuters: Costly oil, gas drive world to burn more coal-IEA
2008/11/12: MWatch: IEA doesn't see peak oil by 2030 -- But energy group warns of under-investment
2008/11/12: Reuters: Credit crisis adds to risk of oil supply crunch-IEA
2008/11/12: Telegraph(UK): Greenhouse gases could rise 45 per cent, IEA say
2008/11/12: BBC: The International Energy Agency (IEA), one of the world's leading authorities on energy supply says the era of cheap oil is over and prices could soon be back up to $100 a barrel
A report on Asian particulates got a lot of attention, while ignoring North American & European contributions:
2008/11/16: SciDaily: Dirty Brown Clouds Impact Glaciers, Agriculture And The Monsoon
2008/11/14: KSJT: NYTimes, Wall St. Journal, AP, Reuters: The (Asian) Brown Cloud isn't just in Asia. It's filthy -- but at least it's cool.
2008/11/14: DotEarth: Bangkok Dispatch: Seeking Clean Asian Air
2008/11/13: PhysOrg: UN sees new peril in Asia's huge brown cloud cover
2008/11/13: EarthTimes: 'Brown clouds' of pollutants darken Asian cities, UN says
2008/11/14: NYT: Report Sees New Pollution Threat
A noxious cocktail of soot, smog and toxic chemicals is blotting out the sun, fouling the lungs of millions of people and altering weather patterns in large parts of Asia, according to a report released Thursday by the United Nations.
2008/11/13: FPB: Brown clouds 'blotting out the sun' across Asia
That AGW interrupting Milankovitch cycles story continues to get attention:
2008/11/14: BBC: A new model of the Earth's climate suggests that human-made carbon dioxide emissions may prevent the onset of the next ice age
2008/11/13: KSJT: Reuters, Wired News, Nat'l Geo, etc: Fire or Ice for Earth? Maybe it was choosing ice, we chose fire. Neither is a good choice.
2008/11/13: DotEarth: More On Whether a Big Chill Is Nigh
2008/11/12: DotEarth: Will the Next Ice Age Be a Very Long One?
2008/11/12: TerraDaily: Earth would be heading to a freeze without CO2 emissions
2008/11/12: Reuters: Earth may face freeze worse than Ice Age: study
2008/11/12: NatureCF: Glaciation ahead - on a geological time scale
2008/11/12: DotEarth: Will the Next Ice Age Be Permanent?
2008/11/12: NewScientist: Humans may have prevented super ice age
The geopolitics of the Arctic resources is a persistent issue:
2008/11/13: EUO: Commission backs Norway's Arctic vision: no new treaty
2008/11/12: CanWest: 'Astonishing' data boost Arctic claim -- A Beaufort seabed survey will enhance Canada's submission to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea
2008/11/10: TerraDaily: EU makes pitch for 'unified' Arctic research
2008/11/11: TreeHugger: Arrr, Thar Be Oil Under Them Icebergs!
While in Antarctica:
2008/11/13: ENN: Science Proves Warming of Antarctica
U.S. governors will be co-hosting the climate meeting this coming week with the Governator:
2008/11/12: Xinhuanet: U.S. governors to co-host global summit on climate change
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger announced on Tuesday that U.S. governors will be joining him as co-hosts of a global summit on climate change. The Governors' Global Climate Summit will be held in Los Angeles on Nov. 18-19 to discuss collaborative action across the globe in the fight against climate change, Schwarzenegger said. "This international summit will bring together world leaders to develop creative, collaborative actions to advance the global climate agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that will be negotiated in Poland in December and in Copenhagen next year," the governor said.

Late comment on NF3:

2008/11/13: Yale360: The Greenhouse Gas That Nobody Knew [NF3]
The food crisis remains a top story:
2008/11/14: AllAfrica: FinGaz: Zimbabwe: 'Hunger is Now in Our Living Rooms'
2008/11/12: AllAfrica: SW Radio: Zimbabwe: UN Cuts Food Aid, as Widespread Starvation Takes Hold
2008/11/12: AllAfrica: IRIN: Zimbabwe: Less Food for More Mouths
2008/11/11: UN: Zimbabwe: UN cuts back food aid to millions amid serious funding crisis
2008/11/11: BBC: The UN food agency says it has had to start cutting rations to 4m people in Zimbabwe because of a lack of funds
The conflict between biofuel and food persists:
2008/11/12: DotEarth: Can Seven Billion Grow Food and Fuel Too?
2008/11/11: GristMill: Feed a company, starve a country -- Monsanto purchased a Brazilian sugarcane ethanol company for $290 million
2008/11/10: NewScientist: Corn-fed animals fuel America
And how are we going to feed 9 billion?
2008/11/16: Guardian(UK): Fruit and veg boom needed to feed Britain
2008/11/14: EarthTimes: Locusts threaten Australia's wheat harvest
2008/11/13: SciDaily: Drought Tolerant Plants? New Technique Enables Assessment Of Drought Performance
2008/11/10: WiredSci: Fast Food: Just Another Name for Corn
2008/11/12: EarthTimes: Call for global fight against wheat killer [wheat stem rust disease strain Ug99]
2008/11/10: ASAgronomy: Tillage, Rotation Impacts Peanut Crops
A new study in Agronomy Journal shows the differing effects of tillage practice and rotation on peanut crop yield and the development of pests
2008/11/10: SwissInfo: Farmers expected to do more for climate
The government has called for a significant reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from Switzerland's agricultural sector

The Atlantic has been quiet since Paloma, while Khai-muk churned the Indian Ocean & Haishen the Pacific:

2008/11/13: Wunderground: Disturbance 95L will bring heavy rains to the Bahamas Friday
2008/11/12: Wunderground: Tropical Atlantic quiet; Southern California fire event possible Friday
2008/11/11: Maribo: Cuba survives Hurricane Paloma
2008/11/09: TerraDaily: Paloma weakens to tropical storm as it passes over Cuba
2008/11/10: Wunderground: Category 4 Paloma pounds the Cayman Islands, heads to Cuba
2008/11/10: Wunderground: Paloma dies; Cayman Brac and Cuba hard-hit
2008/11/09: EarthTimes: Weakening Paloma blows through Cuba
While elsewhere in the hurricane wars:
2008/11/16: PhysOrg: Left untouched, world's largest mangrove forest recovering fast
The world's largest mangrove forest is recovering fast from one of the worst disasters in its history, a year after it was badly damaged by a devastating cyclone, Bangladesh officials say. The Sundarbans bore the brunt when Cyclone Sidr -- packing winds of up to 250 kilometres (150 miles) an hour -- slammed into southern Bangladesh on November 15, 2007, killing over 3,500 people and wiping out thousands of villages.
2008/11/11: OLJ: A hurricane of disenchantment [US & Cuba]
As for GHGs:
2008/11/12: ABC(Au): Japan emissions hit record high in 2007/08
2008/11/12: Tamino: CO2 Blip
2008/11/12: Telegraph(UK): Greenhouse gases could rise 45 per cent, IEA say
2008/11/09: ClimateP: Stabilize at 350 ppm or risk ice-free planet, warn NASA, Yale, Sheffield, Versailles, Boston et al
And in the carbon cycle:
2008/11/13: PhysOrg: Corralling the carbon cycle [carbonyl sulfide]
2008/11/13: PhysOrg: Mysterious Microbe Plays Important Role in Ocean Ecology
2008/11/13: Eureka: Corralling the carbon cycle
Scientists may have overcome a major hurdle to calculating how much carbon dioxide (CO2) is absorbed and released by plants, vital information for understanding how the biosphere responds to stress and for determining the amount of carbon that can be safely emitted by human activities. The problem is that ecosystems simultaneously take up and release CO2. The key finding is that the compound carbonyl sulfide, which plants consume in tandem with CO2, can be used to quantify gas flow into the plants during photosynthesis.

It seems minority neocon PM Harper was informed of the hazaeds of biofuel and yet he persisted. Can you say 'agriculture lobby'?

2008/11/12: CtC: Proof: HarperCons Knew Biofuel a Bad Idea -- They knew it and yet they still endorsed - and funded - biofuel production.
2008/11/12: NatPo: PM warned of biofuel problems
The Harper government was warned by experts at Environment Canada two years ago that a multi-billion-dollar plan to boost production of green fuels could cause more problems than benefits, Canwest News Service has learned.

The tricky & difficult question of the tar sands looms:

2008/11/16: OttawaSun: Oil, well -- Canada awaits Obama's word on oilsands
As the worsening economic crisis has Canadian business and government seeing red ink, the Conservatives' green plans are fading to grey. In an exclusive interview, Canada's newly appointed environment minister, Jim Prentice, made clear the green that matters most to the federal government these days doesn't grow on trees.
2008/11/14: IR^2: The Energy Return of Tar Sands
2008/11/10: DeSmogBlog: Canada's Oil Sands: $1.4 Trillion Worth of Trouble
2008/11/12: OilChange: Barack Beware of the "Friendly Barrels" of Tar Sands
2008/11/10: CBC: Environment minister to hear Fort Chipewyan health concerns
Alberta's environment minister [Rob Renner] is heading to Fort Chipewyan on Monday to meet with aboriginal chiefs and community leaders about complaints of high cancer rates. Since 1999, people in the community have complained about the high incidence of colon, liver, blood and bile-duct cancers -- and many believe there is a connection with nearby oilsands developments. Elders in the community of roughly 1,200 say people started getting sick after major petroleum refineries started production near their homes on the southwestern tip of Lake Athabasca.
2008/11/10: CanWest: Oilsands value put at $1.5 trillion -- Development brings environmental and other challenges, centre says
The wealth in Canada's oilsands, even taking into account the recent plunge in world oil prices, is nearly $1.5 trillion - more than four times the $342 billion officially estimated by Statistics Canada, argues a Canadian think-tank [Canadian Centre for the Study of Living Standards] in a report issued today.

Wrangling over the BC climate plan continues:

2008/11/13: CanWest: [NDP leader Carole] James faces awkward details in plan to tax 'the big polluters'
New Democratic Party leader Carole James has promised to replace the carbon tax with an alternative, targeting "the big polluters." They'd be forced to invest in reducing emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases below a government-imposed cap. Or they'd have to pay some sort of penalty -- "essentially a tax," according to James -- for exceeding the limits. The Opposition leader says her tax will apply to "all significant polluters," including "big industry" and the oil and gas sector.

As for miscellaneous Canadiana:

2008/11/14: TechDirt: Online Carpooling Service Fined For Unregulated Transportation
2008/11/13: CanWest: Carbon 'farming' brings riches back to forests -- Land values climb
2008/11/12: CBC: Nunavut setting energy efficiency, alternative power targets -- Hydro, wind energy being explored as Nunavut cuts down on fossil fuel use
2008/11/12: Daveberta: Alberta could blow more than hot air. -- While Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach continues his tour of Europe...
2008/11/10: CBC: Divide deepens on Nunavut polar bear management: minister
Nunavut's outgoing environment minister says he's worried that Inuit hunters are losing faith in the territory's polar bear co-management system, with some even threatening to set their own quotas if hunting quotas are tightened. [...] Nunavut manages its polar bears with a system based on both Western science and Inuit traditional knowledge, but the two sides have been at odds in recent years over the health of polar bear populations.

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

2008/11/10: MR: Ecology and the Transition from Capitalism to Socialism
2008/11/11: PhysOrg: Reducing consumption key to a sustainable future [Limits to Growth, are still 'on-track']
2008/11/11: SciAlert: Seventies book predicted our future
Based on then ground-breaking modelling, the forecasts of global ecological and economic collapse by mid-century contained in the controversial 1972 book; The Limits to Growth, are still 'on-track' according to new CSIRO research. The Limits to Growth modelled scenarios for the future global economy and environment and recommended far reaching changes to the way we live to avoid disaster. In a paper published in the international journal; Global Environmental Change, CSIRO physicist Dr Graham Turner compares forecasts from the book with global data from the past 30 years. "The real-world data basically supports The Limits to Growth model," he says. "It shows that for the first 30 years of the model, the world has been tracking along the unsustainable trajectory of the book's business-as-usual scenario."

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

2008/11/14: GreenLeft: Climate change: Too many people?
As for how the media handles the science of climatology:
2008/11/14: CJR: Science Reporting By Press Release -- An old problem grows worse in the digital age
Here is something for your library:
2008/11/14: TreeHugger: [Book Review] _The Sustainability Mirage: Illusion and Reality in the Coming War on Climate Change_ by John Foster
2008/11/11: EnergyBulletin: [Book Review] _The Long Descent: A User's Guide To The End Of The Industrial Age_ by John Michael Greer: Coming up short on reality?
Meanwhile among the 'Sue the Bastards!' contingent:
2008/11/11: WarmingLaw: Federal Judge Dismisses a Challenge to Federal Tax Credits for "Clean" Coal
Developing a new energy infrastructure is a fundamental challenge of the current generation:
2008/11/16: Guardian(UK): Britain's water mills given role in clean energy generation
2008/11/15: TreeHugger: Duke Energy Plans 5,000 Megawatts Of Wind Power For Wyoming
2008/11/15: TreeHugger: European Town Heats Up With Closed Coal Mine
2008/11/15: Scotsman: The race begins for tide power bonanza
2008/11/03: SciAm: Plasma Turns Garbage into Gas -- Florida debuts its innovative in plasma technology, backed by Atlanta-based Geoplasma
2008/11/12: Inhabitat: Plasma Plants Will Vaporize Trash While Generating Energy
2008/11/14: ClimateP: A concentrated solar BACT for new coal?
2008/11/14: BCLSB: Alternative Energy & Grid Reliability
2008/11/13: WorldChanging: What Would An Optimistic Forecast for Renewable Energy Look Like?
2008/11/14: TreeHugger: First Nuclear Fusion by 2011? Still No Silver Bullet for Environmental Problems
2008/11/13: TreeHugger: Don't Call it a Wind Farm, It's an EcoPower Centre: Canada's Largest Wind Project (200 MW) Opens
2008/11/13: Yahoo: Oil prices follow Wall Street on wild ride -- Oil prices steady after fall to near $50
2008/11/13: WSJ:EnvCap: Renewable Energy: California Says It Won't Be Cheap or Easy
2008/11/12: CBC: Nunavut setting energy efficiency, alternative power targets -- Hydro, wind energy being explored as Nunavut cuts down on fossil fuel use
2008/11/13: SlashDot: Plasma Plants Vaporize Trash While Creating Energy
2008/11/11: JFleck: Mixing Solar and Coal
2008/11/12: TreeHugger: Battery Life Breakthrough -- could extend lithium ion battery charge life up to 8 times current values
2008/11/12: WaPo: Study Points to Major Source of Natural Gas in Alaska [in the form of gas hydrates]
2008/11/12: NEN: Wind growth -- no end in sight
2008/11/12: SFBG: Clean energy: the next moves -- The bottom line is that this battle isn't over
2008/11/11: OregonLive: Sherman County farmers reap stability from wind
2008/11/12: BBC: Oil price slides to 20-month low
Oil prices have fallen to their lowest levels since the beginning of 2007, amid fears over lower energy demand and worsening economic prospects. US light sweet crude fell by $2.60 to $56.73 a barrel in New York before rebounding to $56.92. Brent crude dropped $2.27 to $53.44 a barrel. Oil prices have fallen about 60% after peaking at $147.27 a barrel in July.
2008/11/12: BRitholtz: Crude Oil = $57
2008/11/10: DotEarth: If You Love Wind (and Solar)...
2008/11/10: GristMill: [Klare] Obama's toughest challenge -- America's energy crunch comes home
2008/11/10: AlterNet: The Energy Challenge of Our Lifetime
2008/11/10: NYT: Report Calls for Overhaul of Power Grid to Handle Sun and Wind Power
2008/11/10: PeakEnergy: Geothermal Power In Queensland
2008/11/10: PeakEnergy: The Energy Challenge of Our Lifetime
Meanwhile among the solar aficionados:
2008/11/14: TreeHugger: 25% Efficiency: SolFocus Introduces New Concentrating Solar PV Product
2008/11/13: PhysOrg: New research expected to improve laser devices and make photovoltaics more efficient
2008/11/10: CleanBreak: Morgan Solar shows tremendous promise
2008/11/12: GristMill: Guten Morgan -- A potentially game-changing development in concentrated solar PV
2008/11/12: PeakEnergy: Better Plastic Solar Cells
2008/11/11: Reuters: Utilities to test solar power at traditional plants
A U.S. utility group announced on Monday a plan to test adding solar thermal energy to natural gas and coal-fired power plants in a move designed to cut fuel costs and greenhouse gas emissions. The Electric Power Research Institute said Dynegy Inc and NV Energy will host case studies of the technology at natural gas plants in Arizona and Nevada, respectively.

The arithmetic of coal carbon is striking home:

2008/11/11: GristMill: Meet the Boomers -- What's the best way to phase out the huge fleet of aging coal plants?
2008/11/11: NEN: From the frontlines of the war on coal
There is a war going on against coal in the U.S. and around the world. It is becoming clear most of what is propagandized about coal from the industry is intentionally misleading. Coal is not abundant, cheap or clean. It is dangerous to humans, animals and the environment. And it is not necessary.

Biofuel bickering abounds:

2008/11/14: CSM: Kenya taps into Brazil's ethanol expertise
2008/11/13: PhysOrg: Montana researchers to study algae as a source of biofuel
2008/11/12: AutoBG: State of the ethanol nation will be solid, but it's tough now
2008/11/12: Slate: The Corn Isn't Green -- The real reason ethanol won't -- and can't -- cut American oil imports.
2008/11/11: CCurrents: The Corn Who Would Be King
2008/10/29: Times(UK): Biofuels debate [Q&A with Rob Routs, Executive Director, Shell]
2008/11/10: Yahoo: Greenpeace stops palm oil shipments from leaving Indonesia
2008/11/10: UIUC: Ethanol will curb farm income until economy rebounds, economist says
2008/11/10: PeakEnergy: Algae Biodiesel In Australia
The nuclear energy controversy continues:
2008/11/14: DerSpiegel: Power Company Gives Consumers the Nuclear Option
A new offer from German power company RWE allows consumers for the first time to select a zero-carbon energy scheme fueled mostly by nuclear sources. But as Germany erupts in anti-nuclear protests, the company may be courting a backlash.
2008/11/12: Yahoo: The US nuclear waste issue -- solved [interim storage]
2008/11/10: Reuters: Total sees nuclear energy for growth after peak oil
Yes we have a peak oil sighting:
2008/11/13: JFleck: The Peak Oil-Climate Linkage
2008/11/13: FCNP: The Peak Oil Crisis: The First Rule of Holes
2008/11/12: WSJ:EnvCap: Peak Oil: Get Ready for the Oil-Supply Crunch, IEA Says
2008/11/10: OilDrum: Jeremy Leggett discusses the UK Industry Taskforce on Peak Oil and Energy Security
2008/11/11: PeakEnergy: Total: Peak Oil Before 2020
And then there is the matter of efficiency & conservation:
2008/11/13: PhysOrg: Water heater choice and maintenance can reduce energy costs
Between 16 and 18 percent of home energy is used to generate hot water, so hot water tank maintenance can pay big dividends on your energy bill.

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

2008/11/14: AutoBG: U.S. cars still polluting tons more than Europe or Japan
2008/11/10: TreeHugger: 7 Electric Motorcycles You Must See (including 1 that does 0-60 MPH in 0.97 seconds)
2008/11/10: AutoBG: Southeast electric utilities to test smart charging PHEV Priuses
2008/11/10: BBC: Bolivia holds key to electric car future
High in the Andes, in a remote corner of Bolivia, lies more than half the world's reserves of a mineral that could radically reduce our reliance on dwindling fossil fuels. Lithium carries a great promise. It could help power the fuel efficient electric or petrol-electric hybrid vehicles of the future. But, as is the case with fossil fuels, it is a limited resource.
2008/11/09: SlashDot: Dean Kamen Combines Stirling Engine With Electric Car
The reaction of business to climate change will be critical:
2008/11/12: EnvFin: Clean energy investment set to stall
Clean energy investment in 2008 is set to fall 4% from 2007 levels, according to New Energy Finance. The UK-based analysis company is projecting total new investment of $142 billion, down from $148 billion last year.
2008/11/12: EnvFin: Investors call for 'strong and binding' climate deal
2008/11/13: CleanBreak: Talk of bursting cleantech bubble getting tired
2008/11/12: NakedCapitalism: Big Investors Call for Action on Climate Change
2008/11/11: IHT: Big global investors urge action on climate change
2008/11/11: ENN: Global investors urge action on climate change
The carbon lobby are up to the usual:
2008/11/16: OttawaSun: Jury out on global warming -- Michael Crichton threw environmentalists off their agenda
2008/11/13: CCD: Postcard from Israel
2008/11/13: Deltoid: The Australian's War on Science XXIII
2008/11/13: ClimateP: "Oh My God, They Admitted It"
2008/11/13: QuarkSoup: NASA Recomputes
2008/11/12: QuarkSoup: Temperature Data
2008/11/11: SMH: Climate doubts based on short-term irrelevancies
2008/11/12: Deltoid: More on Duffy
2008/11/10: Stoat: Nierneberg, concluded: Oreskes is wrong
2008/11/10: ClimateP: Killing the myth of the 1970s global cooling scientific consensus
2008/11/11: Deltoid: Andrew Bolt: clueless and dishonest
2008/11/10: GristMill: [Dessler] Air quote experts -- Heartland's climate experts: No actual expertise required
2008/11/10: Deltoid: Michael Duffy is at it again
As for climate miscellanea:
2008/11/16: ClimateP: 1953 Popular Mechanics: Growing Blanket of Carbon Dioxide Raises Earth's Temperature
2008/11/15: ERabett: How to mitigate adaptation
2008/11/15: ERabett: Freeping** the survey
2008/11/12: EnvFin: World Bank issues first 'green' bond
2008/11/14: AlterNet: Are Human Beings Hard-Wired to Ignore the Threat of Catastrophic Climate Change?
2008/11/14: DerSpiegel: 'Worst Possible Flooding' -- The Dutch Simulate their Demise
Last week the Dutch conducted a dress rehearsal of a scenario that could spell the country's downfall -- a storm surge with many deaths. Climate change is making this scenario more and more likely.
2008/11/14: UN: UN recruits North American youth to join fight against climate change
2008/11/13: DotEarth: Water Laws May Be Used to Fight Warming
2008/11/13: TreeHugger: New Carbon Offset Protocol Launched by US College & University Presidents Group
2008/11/12: GreenGrok: Looking to WWII Lessons to Fight Climate Change: Lester Brown's Plan 3.0
2008/11/11: JFleck: Cities Getting Bad Rap on Climate Change?
2008/11/11: ERabett: The old man and the warming ocean
2008/11/10: EnergyBulletin: Carbon regulation to change all aspects of life
2008/11/10: Tamino: Known Factors
2008/11/10: WorldChanging: The Geography of Hope & The Greening of Silicon Valley
And here are a couple of sites you may find interesting and/or useful:
FTimes: Climate Challenge Competition
Common Tragedies -- Thoughts on Environmental Economics
Wiki: Madden-Julian oscillation
TWCB: The Weather Channel Blog
CCC: 3C - Combat Climate Change - A Business Leaders' Initiative
CA-CP: Clean Air-Cool Planet
2007/01/10: BOM: ENSO Wrap-Up
IRI: Net Assessment Forecasts (global - precip/temp)
Wiki: Climate change and agriculture
Save the Boreal Forest
WSJ Energy Blog
Energy Blue Print

Low Key Plug

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

-het

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

"It is difficult for people living now, who have become accustomed to the steady exponential growth in the consumption of energy from fossil fuels, to realize how transitory the fossil fuel epoch will eventually prove to be when it is viewed over a longer span of human history. The situation can better be seen in the perspective of some 10,000 years, half before the present and half afterward. On such a scale the complete cycle of the exploitation of the world's fossil fuels will be seen to encompass perhaps 1,300 years, with the principal segment of the cycle (defined as the period during which all but the first 10 percent and the last 10 percent of the fuels are extracted and burned) covering only about 300 years." -M. King Hubbert

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November 16, 2008

Here's a chuckle for ya:

The credit crunch, the bailout and the green implications are getting a lot of attention:

The full IEA World Energy Outlook 2008 was released this week:

A report on Asian particulates got a lot of attention, while ignoring North American & European contributions:

That AGW interrupting Milankovitch cycles story continues to get attention:

The geopolitics of the Arctic resources is a persistent issue:

While in Antarctica:

U.S. governors will be co-hosting the climate meeting this coming week with the Governator:

More on the Damoclean sword of permafrost:

How long until these carbon footprint labels are on all merchandise?

Late comment on the solar cycle:

Late comment on NF3:

The food crisis remains a top story:

The conflict between biofuel and food persists:

And how are we going to feed 9 billion?

The Atlantic has been quiet since Paloma, while Khai-muk churned the Indian Ocean & Haishen the Pacific:

While elsewhere in the hurricane wars:

As for GHGs:

And in the carbon cycle:

The temperature record:

Yes we have feedbacks:

The ozone layer is still under threat:

While in the paleoclimate:

Glaciers are melting:

Meanwhile in near earth orbit:

More GW impacts are being seen:

And then there are the world's forests:

Corals are dying:

Climate refugees are becoming an issue:

We have heatwaves and wild fires:

Speaking of floods & droughts:

On the mitigation front, consider transportation & GHG production:

While in the endless quest for sustainable building codes:

As for carbon sequestration:

Large scale geo-engineering keeps popping up:

While on the adaptation front:

Meanwhile in the journals:

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

More Hansen:

A missive from the Pielke fan clubbe:

Meanwhile on the Kyoto front:

And on the Kyoto-2 front:

While at the UN:

And on the carbon trading front:

The idea of a carbon tax is still bouncing around:

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:

Meanwhile on the international political front:

And on the American political front:

The EPA appeal board has ruled future coal plants must take CO2 into consideration:

Obama speculation & commentary remains rife:

The Dingell vs. Waxman contest for chairmanship of the Energy and Commerce Committee is ongoing:

The Bush administration midnight regulation changes has come in for continued scrutiny:

The Bush administration DOE wants to terminate a long-term forestry experiment:

Meanwhile in the tragedy of contradictory desires:

The Gore-apalooza is still bopping along:

While in the UK:

And in Europe:

Meanwhile in Australia:

And in China:

While in Japan:

In Canada, there is a lot of post election adjustment going on:

It seems minority neocon PM Harper was informed of the hazaeds of biofuel and yet he persisted. Can you say 'agriculture lobby'?

The tricky & difficult question of the tar sands looms:

Wrangling over the BC climate plan continues:

As for miscellaneous Canadiana:

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

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

As for how the media handles the science of climatology:

Here is something for your library:

Meanwhile among the 'Sue the Bastards!' contingent:

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

Meanwhile among the solar aficionados:

The arithmetic of coal carbon is striking home:

Biofuel bickering abounds:

The nuclear energy controversy continues:

Yes we have a peak oil sighting:

And then there is the matter of efficiency & conservation: