Another Week of GW News, December 14, 2008

Sipping from the internet firehose...

(skip to bottom)

December 14, 2008

• Top Stories:Poznan, EU 20/20/20 Plan, Recession
• Melting Arctic, Wilkins SatWebCam, Methane, CCPI, Late Comment
• Food Crisis, Food Production
• Hurricanes, GHGs, Temperatures, Carbon Cycle, Feedbacks, Paleoclimate, ENSO, Glaciers, Sea Levels
• Impacts, Forests, Corals, Climate Refugees, Wacky Weather, Floods & Droughts
• Mitigation, Transportation, Buildings, Sequestration, Geoengineering, Adaptation
• Journals, Misc. Science
• Kyoto, IPCC Kvetch, Carbon Trade, Carbon Tax, Optimal Carbon Reduction Strategy
• Politics: America, Britain, Europe, Australia, China, Canada
• Ecological Economics, Apocalypso, Media, Courts
• Energy, Wind, Solar, Coal, Biofuel, Nukes, Peak Oil, Efficiency, Cars, Business, Greenwashing
• Carbon Lobby, Miscellaneous Climate, Useful Links
• Shameless Self Promotion, .sig

It's always nice to start with a larf:

• 2008/12/07: ArcticCircle: (cartoon - Hallatt) Death in the Arctic
• 2008/12/09: TI:CF: (cartoon - Roberts) There's no need for language!
• 2008/12/08: uComics: (cartoon - Danziger) W in the Whirlpool

  The big story of the week is Poznan:

• 2008/12/12: UND: Polish Coal, Yvo de Boer's Need for a Vacation, and Why Poznan is Like an Ant Colony
• 2008/12/12: UND: Poznan Update: Finger-pointing, Energy Efficiency, and Trust
• 2008/12/12: UND: [video] Al Gore in Poznan
• 2008/12/12: UND: Gore on Ban, Barack, and Bali
• 2008/12/12: UND: Bottom of the Ninth in Poznan
• 2008/12/13: ClimateP: Pew Center: Bush team at Poznan' doing "a very good job, actually, of representing US interests"
• 2008/12/14: ABC(Au): Oxfam disappointed by climate change funds outcome
• 2008/12/13: NYT: Amid a Hopeful Mood, U.N. Talks Set Countries on Path Toward a Global Climate Treaty
• 2008/12/13: Google:AFP: UN talks set programme to a landmark climate pact in '09
• 2008/12/13: JakartaPost: Gore lends his voice, charm to Poznan climate change talks
• 2008/12/12: Mercury: Despite questions over equity, countries on track for new climate treaty by end of '09
• 2008/12/12: Reuters: U.N. climate talks agree fund to help poor states
• 2008/12/12: TerraDaily: UN talks set programme to landmark climate pact in '09
• 2008/12/13: EarthTimes: UN climate talks end with small signs of progress
• 2008/12/12: EarthTimes: Fund to help poor nations tackle climate change
• 2008/12/14: ShanghaiDaily: Rift develops at end of UN climate change talks
  A UN climate conference closed yesterday in contention over a proposal to raise what could amount to billions of dollars for poor countries by levying a tax on carbon trading among the world's wealthy nations.
• 2008/12/10: CarbonFinance: UN climate chief lowers expectations for 2009 deal
• 2008/12/11: SwissInfo: Environment ministers face double challenge
  The world must work out a "Green New Deal" to fix its twin climate and economic crises, according to United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
• 2008/12/13: SwissInfo: Poznan talks "step on way to new climate regime"
  The Swiss government says the climate talks in Poznan, Poland, which ended early on Saturday, made progress towards an agreement to replace the Kyoto Protocol. In a statement, the environment ministry called the outcome an "intermediate step on the way to a new climate regime"
• 2008/12/12: DerSpiegel: Hype Won't Solve Climate Problem
  Like so many climate change conferences before it, the one in Poznan, Poland this week will likely end in disappointment. The issue of global warming still isn't taken seriously enough to bridge opposing interests and mobilize the funding needed to deal with the problem.
• 2008/12/13: BBC: Mood mixed as climate summit ends
  The UN climate summit has ended with delegates taking very different views on how much it has achieved. Western delegates said progress here had been encouraging, but environment groups said rich countries had not shown enough ambition. Developing nations were angry that more money was not put forward to protect against climate impacts.
• 2008/12/12: Guardian(UK): Let's get real on the environment
  After the failure in Poznan, it's time to be honest: the world is not going to be cutting greenhouse gases anytime soon
• 2008/12/12: Guardian(UK): The UK must lead on climate change
  With European partners at the Poznan summit distracted, Britain must direct real action on the fight against global warming
• 2008/12/12: Guardian(UK): "We're still way, way off the mark" -- Europe's leaders are not doing their job on climate change, argues Greenpeace executive director John Sauven
• 2008/12/12: Guardian(UK): Global climate change decisions on hold for Obama administration
  New targets would not be discussed until the summer, to give the US president-elect time to signal his intention
• 2008/12/12: Guardian(UK): Lack of progress at Poznan -- Anyone concerned about the future of the planet and its people should be alarmed at the UN climate talks
• 2008/12/12: EurActiv: Developing countries steal limelight at UN climate talks
• 2008/12/11: UN: Secretary-General calls for 'Green New Deal' at UN climate change talks
• 2008/12/12: ClimateP: Gore's Poznan' speech is online: "We cannot negotiate with the facts."
• 2008/12/11: NatureTGB: Visa problems delay reps to Poznan conference
• 2008/12/13: ABC(Au): UN climate talks progress on fund for poor nations
• 2008/12/11: DotEarth: Poznan Postcard: A 'Window' on Climate Talks
• 2008/12/12: NewScientist: EU and US line up for climate crunch-time
• 2008/12/12: GristMill: Gore to U.N.: 350 or bust -- Al Gore calls for 350 ppm goal at Poznan climate summit
• 2008/12/12: Google:AFP: Global climate deal? Yes we can, Gore says
• 2008/12/13: NTI: Lack of breakthrough at climate summit does not worry India
• 2008/12/12: MaltaTimes: UN Secretary General recalls Malta's climate change initiative
• 2008/12/12: TerraDaily: Forests Must Be Included In Next Global Climate Agreement
• 2008/12/12: DeSmogBlog: Poznan - What we have here is a failure to communicate
• 2008/12/12: DeSmogBlog: Poznan: Fiddling while Rome burns
• 2008/12/12: EarthTimes: Deal near for global warming aid to poor countries
• 2008/12/12: EarthTimes: Gore fires up struggling UN climate talks
• 2008/12/12: EarthTimes: Background: The world's great powers and climate change
• 2008/12/12: EarthTimes: Gore says world faces 'fateful decision' on global warming
• 2008/12/12: EarthTimes: UN climate talks struggle for progress on last day
• 2008/12/12: TP:WonkRoom: Dispatch From Poznan: When Asked About Climate Regrets, Bush Advisers Blame Russia
• 2008/12/12: TP:WonkRoom: Dispatch From Poznan: The Clock Is Ticking, And The US Is Playing 'Hide And Seek'
• 2008/12/12: TP:WonkRoom: Pew Center At Poznan: Bush Doing 'A Good Job Of Protecting US Interests'
• 2008/12/12: BBC: Gore's tough message to leaders
  Leaders will have to embrace tougher targets on reducing emissions if they want to prevent dangerous climate change, according to Al Gore. Speaking here at the UN climate conference, the former US presidential candidate said the "sclerotic" politics of today had to change. His speech was met with rapturous applause by thousands of delegates.
• 2008/12/11: Guardian(UK): Mexico leads the way with carbon reduction pledge
• 2008/12/11: NatureTGB: Visa problems delay reps to Poznan conference
• 2008/12/11: KSJT: Wash. Post, Wires, Chr. Sci. Monitor, etc: Poznan climate talks slog along, chm. calls for Green New Deal, EU mulls carbon cuts
• 2008/12/11: ABC(Au): UN chief invokes 'New Deal' on climate action
  United Nations secretary-general Ban Ki-moon has called on the United States and Europe to lead the way in avoiding a climate catastrophe
• 2008/12/11: DeSmogBlog: Poznan Spin: Don't Say We're Waiting for Obama
• 2008/12/11: EarthTimes: Kerry: US will insist any climate plan be global
• 2008/12/11: WorldChanging: Poznan', Days 6 & 7: More Cash for Adaptation?
• 2008/12/11: ENN: World must avoid backsliding in climate fight: U.N.
• 2008/12/11: IHT: Mexico pledges 50 percent cut in greenhouse gases [by 2050]
• 2008/12/11: Guardian(UK): At Poznan, no one is listening -- At the world climate change summit, few delegates paid attention to the tale of oil's inevitable demise - Jeremy Leggett
• 2008/12/10: DailyWorld: Quinault leader joins U.N. climate conference in Poland
  Fawn Sharp, president of the Quinault Indian Nation, has been selected to participate in a series of climate meetings with United Nations delegates in Pozan, Poland, beginning this week and concluding Dec. 12.
• 2008/12/11: TP:WonkRoom: Dispatch From Poznan: The American Problem
• 2008/12/10: ThinkP: U.S. Climate Change Delegate [Paula Dobriansky]: My Biggest Regret Is Not Putting More Spin On Bush's Record
• 2008/12/11: CBC: UN head urges investment in fighting climate change
  UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Thursday warned the world against backsliding in the fight against climate change amid the global financial crisis, calling for a renewed sense of urgency in facing "the defining challenge of our era." Ban spoke at an international climate conference in Poznan, Poland, as some 145 environment ministers and other top officials gathered to help push forward efforts to secure agreement next year on a new worldwide treaty to cut greenhouse gas emissions, which would take effect in 2013.
• 2008/12/11: SMH: Poznan conference should not be living in past
• 2008/12/10: Guardian(UK): Europe pledges strict emissions cut to tempt China and India into climate deal
  European climate chiefs to pledge 85-90% emissions cut by 2050 in exchange for 15-30% reduction by developing countries
• 2008/12/10: Guardian(UK): Poznan progress slow but steady, say officials
• 2008/12/10: NatureCF: Progress predictably slow in Poznan
• 2008/12/10: Reuters: UN talks split on aiding poor to cope with warming
  U.N. climate negotiators sought on Wednesday to break deadlock on the launch of a new fund in 2009 to help poor nations adapt to more floods, droughts and rising seas. The 189-nation talks split between rich and poor nations about controlling planned payouts under the Adaptation Fund, which could grow to about $300 million a year by 2012 to help developing nations cope with global warming.
• 2008/12/10: IrishTimes: UN negotiators to present draft climate treaty in June
  United Nations climate change negotiators agreed today to present a draft treaty to stem global warming in June, the latest they could legally produce such a text.
• 2008/12/10: BizGreen: EU tables Poznan pledge to cut emissions 95 per cent
  EU delegates in Poznan claim the continent will go virtually zero carbon by 2050 if China and India sign up to binding emission reduction deal
• 2008/12/10: BBerg: UN Envoys Drop Plan to Back Carbon-Capture Projects
  United Nations negotiators dropped plans to back the use of devices that capture carbon-dioxide emissions from power plants in developing countries and pump it underground for storage.
• 2008/12/10: Hindu: 'Countries must commit to act against global warming'
  As the UN climate change summit nears its end, the man in charge maintains that the event has not been a failure but ministers from all over the world need to send out a strong message that they will act against global warming. Yvo de Boer, executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), told IANS in an interview on the sidelines of the Dec 1-12 UN climate change summit: "It may not have grabbed headlines, but we have made progress towards preparing essential building blocks."
• 2008/12/10: WorldChanging: Mid-Point, Poznan': Risky Business
• 2008/12/10: TreeHugger: Postcards from UN Climate Change Conference
• 2008/12/10: DeSmogBlog: Damning the Danes: Canada Not the Only Backslider in Poznan
• 2008/12/10: DeSmogBlog: Poznan: Canada's GHG Performance Nearing Bottom
• 2008/12/09: DeSmogBlog: Poznan: Canadian Negotiating Position "Profoundly Hypocritical"
• 2008/12/10: WSJ:EnvCap: Political Potato: Climate Negotiators in Poland Fail to Agree on Clean Coal
• 2008/12/09: Reuters: Climate talks to fail without tough CO2 goals: U.N.
• 2008/12/10: DeSmogBlog: Poznan: UN Accredits DeSmog Reporter - First Blog in History
• 2008/12/11: Xinhuanet: Leaders, ministers arrive in Poznan for high-level climate talks amid low expectations
• 2008/12/10: Yahoo: Not waving but drowning: Island states plead at UN talks
• 2008/12/09: NEN: Poznan struggle to make cap-and-trade work
• 2008/12/09: BBC: We need to turn carbon into gold
  Little meaningful progress seems to have been made at the UN climate summit in Poznan, Poland, says Oliver Tickell, author of Kyoto2. In this week's Green Room, he calls on world leaders to back a deal that will raise the serious funds needed to deliver a low carbon future.
• 2008/12/10: BBC: A postcard from Poznan to my son
  The UN climate talks in Poland are at risk of faltering, with accusations from Green groups about Europe's failure to show the leadership it promised.
• 2008/12/10: CBC: Scientists hope Poland treaty can mitigate climate change effects
  Scientists studying the changing nature of the Earth's climate said at an international climate conference in Poznan, Poland, that they have completed one crucial task -- proving beyond a doubt that global warming is real. Now, they have to figure out just what to do about it.
• 2008/12/10: Independent(UK): Climate change: A battle for the planet
  The Polish city of Poznan, host of this week's vital climate change summit, may become known as the place where the Earth was saved -- or doomed
• 2008/12/10: Guardian(UK): [Letters] Can Poznan make climate change history?
• 2008/12/09: KSJT: Scattered ink: In Poznan, talks drone on, some on the side discuss caribou...
• 2008/12/09: Guardian(UK): Indigenous rights row threatens rainforest protection plan
  Green groups accuse US, Australia, New Zealand and Canada of deleting lines on indigenous peoples' rights in draft agreement in Poznan on climate change and deforestation
• 2008/12/09: EurActiv: UN climate talks make little progress
• 2008/12/09: EurActiv: [EU environment commissioner, Stavros Dimas Interview] EU aims for 'shared vision' at UN climate talks
• 2008/12/09: GreenGrok: Working to Get Forests Into the Next Climate Agreement
• 2008/12/09: Thaindian: UN climate chief [UNFCC head Yvo de Boer] doesn't expect detailed outcome even in Copenhagen
• 2008/12/10: TheAge: 'Groundhog day' at climate talks
  Australian diplomats have been accused of helping turn UN climate talks in Poland into "groundhog day" by failing to support a proposal that rich countries look to the advice of climate scientists when setting greenhouse targets. It is believed that Australia has joined Japan, Canada and Russia in wanting changes to a proposed agreement that says greenhouse cuts should be "informed" by advice that the developed world needs to cut emissions by 25-40 per cent below 1990 levels by 2020.
• 2008/12/09: PolishMarket: Adaptation fund discussed at Poznan world climate change summit
• 2008/12/09: inel: The Poznan Communiqué on Climate Change by the Prince of Wales's Corporate Leaders Group with Cambridge University Programme for Industry
• 2008/12/09: DeSmogBlog: Poznan: Surrealism Reigns at Climate Conference
• 2008/12/09: BBC: Poor countries 'need carbon cuts'
  People in developing countries will need to make big cuts in greenhouse gas emissions if "dangerous" climate change is to be avoided, a report warns. Researchers at the Third World Network calculate that even if rich nations make deep cuts, the developing world will face per-capita reductions of 60%. It suggests this would pose challenges to these countries' development.
• 2008/12/09: Guardian(UK): Too late? Why scientists say we should expect the worst
• 2008/12/08: EurActiv: [William Ramsay Interview] UN climate talks must move beyond rhetoric
• 2008/12/08: GristMill: Copenhagen deal? That ain't nothin'! Congress and Obama team signal that they will be ready for Copenhagen
• 2008/12/07: GristMill: Equity and justice: The only solutions -- Youth advocate for equitable international response to climate change in Poznan
• 2008/12/08: Reuters: Ambitions for 2009 U.N. climate pact fade in Poznan
• 2008/12/08: Google:AP: Slow movement at climate conference
• 2008/12/08: BizInsurance: Munich Re initiative presents climate change proposals to U.N.
• 2008/12/08: DeSmogBlog: Poznan, Sleep Deprivation and Promises of Disappointment
• 2008/12/08: EarthTimes: Insurers seek funding for countries at risk of global warming
  Poznan, Poland - A UN agreement to fight global warming should include financing to help insure countries most at risk from natural disasters attributable to climate change, insurance firms said Monday. Insurers made their appeal during this year's main UN climate conference, where some 190 countries hope to agree on the blueprint for a year of talks meant to produce a global deal by December 2009.
• 2008/12/08: SMH: Australia warned on climate stance
  A Chinese Government climate adviser has issued a stark warning that Australia would derail global climate talks if its maximum 2020 greenhouse target were less than a 25 per cut in emissions. Dr Jiahua Pan, a member of the Chinese Experts Committee for Climate Change, said Australia would be acting as though it considered itself a poor nation if it set a maximum target of a 15 per cent cut at the end of United Nations climate talks in Poland. The public call is a sign of disenchantment among developing nations, including China - the world's biggest greenhouse emitter - that Australia, Japan and Canada have not joined Europe in promising deep emission cuts to take a lead in stalling negotiations.
• 2008/12/08: Guardian(UK): Road to Copenhagen
• 2008/12/08: Guardian(UK): Planet under pressure
  This week, ministers and officials gather in Poznan at the start of a one-year countdown to the Copenhagen summit, at which experts say a deal must be reached if we are to have a chance of averting catastrophic warming. Today, in the first of a major series, we look at the crucial question: will China and the US sign up?

The EU has agreed to a 20/20/20 by 2020 plan
ie. cut emissions 20%, cut energy consumption 20% & use 20% renewables energy by 2020:

• 2008/12/13: PhysOrg: EU hails climate deal as example for the world
  European nations on Friday dared the United States, Russia and China to follow their lead on global warming after agreeing on a plan to meet the so-called "20-20-20" targets: reducing greenhouse emissions by 20 percent and ensuring that 20 percent of energy comes from wind, sun and other renewable sources by 2020.
• 2008/12/13: Times(UK): Green lobby cry foul as biggest polluters get more time to clean up
  EU Summit criticised as missed opportunity for giving heavy industry concessions over carbon emissions
• 2008/12/13: AfterGutenberg: Big Concessions by EU to Steel and Cement Polluters
• 2008/12/11: EnvFin: EU reaches deal on renewables target
• 2008/12/13: TStar: EU leaders ink deals on climate, economy
• 2008/12/13: BBC: Eleventh-hour deals mark EU summit
• 2008/12/12: Guardian(UK): Climate change: EU leaders reach compromise deal on emissions -- Plan explains how 27 countries will cut carbon emissions by 20% by 2020
• 2008/12/12: Guardian(UK): "It's a good deal for business" -- The European deal on climate change emissions is good for business, argues Neil Bentley, the CBI's environment director
• 2008/12/12: Guardian(UK): Two years of leading battle on climate change end in two days of hard haggling
  [EU] Package details cuts emissions and energy consumption by 20% and raises energy from renewables by 20% all by 2020
• 2008/12/12: Guardian(UK): EU leaders claim historic leap towards low-carbon future
  Ambitious climate change pact makes generous concessions to the big polluters in European heavy industry
• 2008/12/12: Guardian(UK): This won't deliver without a global deal -- It was always going to be complicated but the EU climate agreement is particularly complex...
• 2008/12/13: Guardian(UK): EU leaders claim historic agreement on cutting pollution -- Big concessions to heavy industry seal agreement
• 2008/12/13: Guardian(UK): A mix of rules and markets, held together by trade-offs
• 2008/12/12: EurActiv: EU leaders clinch deal on CO2 storage financing
• 2008/12/12: EUO: Climate deal slammed as a 'mirage'
• 2008/12/12: UN: Top UN official welcomes European Union climate change deal
• 2008/12/11: NYT: Money and Lobbyists Hurt European Efforts to Curb Gases
  The European Union started with a high-minded ecological goal: encouraging companies to cut their greenhouse gases by making them pay for each ton of carbon dioxide they emitted into the atmosphere. But that plan unleashed a lobbying free-for-all that led politicians to dole out favors to various industries, undermining the environmental goals. Four years later, it is becoming clear that system has so far produced little noticeable benefit to the climate -- but generated a multibillion-dollar windfall for some of the Continent's biggest polluters. As President-elect Barack Obama considers how to curb the gases that contribute to global warming, Europe's struggle with the problem illustrates the momentous task ahead for the United States.
• 2008/12/13: ABC(Au): EU seal deals on economy, climate packages
• 2008/12/12: NewScientist: EU agrees cut in greenhouse gas emissions
• 2008/12/12: PhysOrg: EU leaders agree on climate change deal
• 2008/12/12: BBerg: EU Reaches Climate Accord With Industry Concessions
• 2008/12/12: IHT: EU leaders dramatically scale back their ambition on emissions
• 2008/12/13: Xinhuanet: Environment commissioner: EU breakthrough on climate change package to lay ground for new green deal
• 2008/12/12: TreeHugger: European Union Agrees to New Emissions Reduction Plan: 20/20/20 by 2020
• 2008/12/12: EarthTimes: Analysis: The EU's climate laws: a good deal for the world?
• 2008/12/12: EarthTimes: EU leaders approve climate-change laws
• 2008/12/12: Yahoo: Unanimous agreement on climate package: Sarkozy
• 2008/12/12: CBC: EU leaders agree on climate-change deal
• 2008/12/12: SpaceDaily: Czech president hits at EU climate deal

  The global recession looms over all climate discussion:

• 2008/12/11: DerSpiegel: The World from Berlin -- 'Global Warming Pays No Attention to the Economy'
• 2008/12/10: DerSpiegel: The Poznan Problem -- How to Save the Climate from the Recession
• 2008/12/13: BBC: Stumbling block -- Climate change plays second fiddle to financial crisis
• 2008/12/10: VoxEU: Saving the economy and the planet by Ralf Martin
  The current crisis offers an opportunity to set the world on the right track for addressing climate change. This column suggests governments should seize this chance to promote pro-environment fiscal stimuli and to embrace future pollution taxes to pay for them.
• 2008/12/09: UN: Financial, climate crises could threaten development gains in Asia-Pacific
• 2008/12/09: ABC(Au): It's the climate, stupid
  In the context of the financial crisis, it is understandable that major economic transformation is giving the government, business and the public the heebie-jeebies. It seems that many, including the government, no longer believe it is "realistic" to take the action necessary to prevent substantial shifts in the global climatic system. However, failing to take adequate action to mitigate climate change will impose substantial economic and societal costs, as well as locking Australia out of the benefits of the emerging green economy.

The Arctic melt continues to get a lot of attention:

• 2008/12/14: ABC(Au): Canadian scientists predict ice-free Arctic summer in 6yrs
• 2008/12/13: SciDaily: ESA Satellites Focusing On The Arctic
• 2008/12/13: TStar: The glaciologist's worst nightmare -- Forget melting. The possibility of ice break-up could lead to an irreversible catastrophe

  ESA has set up a satwebcam page to monitor the Wilkins Ice Shelf:

• 2008/12/12: ESA: Keeping an eye on Wilkins Ice Shelf

  The Climate Change Performance Index was released this week:

• 2008/12/08: GermanWatch: Countries emissions rise faster than ambitions -- CCPI 2009 report: no country on track to prevent dangerous climate change
• 2008/12/10: PhysOrg: Sweden cleanest, S. Arabia dirtiest: climate index [Climate Change Performance Index]
• 2008/12/11: OttawaCitizen: Canada trails the world on climate change -- Only Saudi Arabia has worse plan, [Climate Change Performance Index] report says
• 2008/12/10: DeSmogBlog: Poznan: Canada's GHG Performance Nearing Bottom

  Another data reminder of the Damoclean sword:

• 2008/12/11: SciDaily: Methane, Potent Greenhouse Gas, Flowing Into The Atmosphere From Tundra Much Faster Than Expected
• 2008/12/09: NewScientist: Arctic tundra releases annual methane 'burp'

  Late comment on the IEA WEO 2008 report:

• 2008/12/08: EnergyBulletin: Gleanings from Fatih Birol's presentation of the [IEA] WEO 2008 to the Council on Foreign Relations

  The food crisis is ongoing:

• 2008/12/10: Guardian(UK): Environment minister calls for a 'food Kyoto' as a billion people face starvation
  Hilary Benn to propose global action to secure food supplies as population booms -- along with starvation
• 2008/12/12: OilDrum: A distant mirror: Ireland's great famine
• 2008/12/12: JBS: Food Crisis Continues Killing Millions While Economic Crisis Takes Centre Stage
• 2008/12/10: BBerg: World Bank's 'Wrong Advice' Left Silos Empty in Poor Countries
  Inside and out, the rusted towers of El Salvador's biggest grain silo show how the World Bank helped push developing countries into the global food crisis. Inside, the silo, which once held thousands of tons of beans and cereals, is now empty. It was abandoned in 1991, after the bank told Salvadoran leaders to privatize grain storage, import staples such as corn and rice, and export crops including cocoa, coffee and palm oil. Outside, where Rosa Maria Chavez's food stand is propped against a tower wall, price increases for basic grains this year whittled business down to 16 customers a day from 80. "It's a monument to the mess we are in now," says Chavez, 63.
• 2008/12/10: Guardian(UK): Nearly a billion people worldwide are starving, UN agency warns
  Rising prices mean 14% now under-nourished - Urgency over food crisis lost amid credit crunch
• 2008/12/09: UN: Number of hungry people worldwide nears 1 billion mark, UN agency reports

  And how are we going to feed 9 billion?

• 2008/12/08: RussiaToday: Financial crisis hits world's largest seed bank
  The Millennium Seed Bank in Britain -- a sort of Noah's Ark for plants -- is under threat due to a lack of funding caused by the credit crunch
• 2008/12/12: GristMill: Food is different -- Food should be controlled by farmers, not corporations
• 2008/12/12: DailyAstorian: The greatest generation saves the environment! First, help bring back the Victory Garden...teach us to cook again
• 2008/12/05: NatPat: Fast food: on the fast track to environmental ruin
• 2008/12/11: SMH: Swarms form on the horizon -- The drought has eased in NSW but plague locust conditions have worsened
• 2008/12/10: Guardian(UK): Brazilian eco-farmers thrive -- even as climate change bites
• 2008/12/10: Guardian(UK): Eco-farming brings hope to Brazil's dry north-east (10 pictures)
• 2008/12/09: TreeHugger: First Summit on Building Integrated Sustainable Agriculture
• 2008/12/08: CBC: Want to stop climate change? Put a fork in it, advocates say
• 2008/12/08: CBC: Canadian Wheat Board election results announced
  Supporters of the Canadian Wheat Board's grain marketing monopoly are hailing recent elections for farmer-directors. After election results were announced Sunday, the National Farmers Union said four of the five new directors were strong supporters of the Winnipeg-based grain-marketing agency's "single-desk" system. The wheat board has a monopoly on the export of western Canadian wheat and barley.

In the West Pacific, Dolphin blew around unreported, but otherwise it was quiet:

• 2008/12/11: NatureCF: Forecasting the future of hurricanes
• 2008/12/10: Wunderground: Active 2009 hurricane season predicted by Colorado State scientists [Dr. Bill Gray and Phil Klotzbach]
• 2008/12/08: TAMU: Dune and dirty: Hurricane teaches lessons through ecosystem research

  As for GHGs:

• 2008/12/08: GermanWatch: Countries emissions rise faster than ambitions -- CCPI 2009 report: no country on track to prevent dangerous climate change
• 2008/12/09: StatsCan: Study: Household greenhouse gas emissions 1994-2004
• 2008/12/10: DeSmogBlog: Poznan: Canada's GHG Performance Nearing Bottom
• 2008/12/09: Guardian(UK): It's official: China is the world's bigger polluter -- A new global dataset confirms China as the most prolific producer of carbon dixoide

  And in the carbon cycle:

• 2008/12/11: NatureCF: The latest on the Southern Ocean sink

  As for the temperature record:

• 2008/12/11: NOAANews: November Warmer than Average in U.S., January-November Temperature Near Average for U.S.
• 2008/12/11: PhysOrg: Earth has warmed 0.4 C in 30 years

  Another nasty feedback:

• 2008/12/08: PhysOrg: Global warming aided by drought, deforestation link

  While in the paleoclimate:

• 2008/12/07: FuturePundit: Roman Empire Felled By Declining Rains?

  And on the ENSO front:

• 2008/12/11: NOAA:NCEP: El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) Diagnostic Discussion
  Synopsis: ENSO-neutral or La Niña conditions are equally likely through early 2009.
• 2008/12/10: PhysOrg: Oscillation Rules as the Pacific Cools
  The latest image of sea-surface height measurements from the U.S./French Jason-1 oceanography satellite shows the Pacific Ocean remains locked in a strong, cool phase of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation, a large, long-lived pattern of climate variability in the Pacific associated with a general cooling of Pacific waters. The image also confirms that El Niño and La Niña remain absent from the tropical Pacific.

Glaciers are melting:

• 2008/12/08: PhysOrg: Chilean glaciers retreating due to global warming: report
• 2008/12/08: SciDaily: Wind Screen Collects Cool Air To Help Save The Rhône Glacier In Switzerland

  Sea levels are rising:

• 2008/12/12: WorldChanging: Sea Level Rise: We Decide How Much
• 2008/12/11: MTobis: Black Carbon -- Dangerous Sea Level Rise Imminent...
• 2008/12/10: ABC(Au): Coastal strategy outlines predicted sea level rise
  The Victorian Government is releasing a coastal strategy today specifying a predicted sea level rise of 0.8 of a metre...over the next 100 years
• 2008/12/10: Yahoo: Not waving but drowning: Island states plead at UN talks
• 2008/12/10: Guardian(UK): Bad tidings
  Vietnam is the country most at risk from rising sea levels, according to a new study, as rich nations are being called on to bail out vulnerable populations
• 2008/12/09: Guardian(UK): Ice sheet at risk
  Melting of polar regions could lead to large rise in sea levels but scientists differ over speed and extent of change

More GW impacts are being seen:

• 2008/12/11: GreenGrok: Pulse of the Planet: Ocean Acidification Faster Sooner
• 2008/12/12: PhysOrg: Stanford researchers predict heat waves and crop losses in California
• 2008/12/12: TerraDaily: Disasters hit 18 million people in Latin America in 2008: UN
  Natural disasters such as floods, hurricanes and droughts hit 18 million people in Latin America this year causing around 1,000 deaths and seven billion dollars' worth of damages, the UN said Thursday.
• 2008/12/12: Eureka: Climate-change set-back for acidified rivers
• 2008/12/11: PhysOrg: Climate change effects on imperiled Sierra frog examined
• 2008/12/11: Eureka: Climate change alters ocean chemistry
• 2008/12/09: Guardian(UK): Group asks US government to add whitebark to endangered species list -- threatened by climate change
• 2008/12/09: NatureTGB: Moose can't handle the heat
• 2008/12/09: NatureN: Ozone hole weakens oceanic carbon sink -- A new model links stratospheric ozone depletion to ocean acidification
• 2008/12/09: PhysOrg: Surface-level ozone pollution set to reduce tree growth 10 percent by 2100

  And then there are the tropical rainforests:

• 2008/12/12: Guardian(UK): UK promises £100m to help reduce tropical deforestation
• 2008/12/08: GristMill: REDD hot forests -- Forest policy is a hot topic at international climate negotiations
• 2008/12/07: BBC: Peru aims for zero deforestation
  The Peruvian government says it can reach zero deforestation in just 10 years with the help of funds from Western governments. It is taking its ambitious proposal to the latest round of UN talks on climate change, which are taking place in Poznan. The government claims more than 80% of Peru's primary forests can be saved or protected. Peru has the fourth largest area of tropical forest in the world after Brazil, Democratic Republic of Congo and Indonesia. It has around 70 million hectares of tropical forest covering nearly 60% of its territory.

Corals are dying:

• 2008/12/14: ABC(Au): Scientists hunt deep sea coral for clues on climate change
• 2008/12/12: TreeHugger: Many of World's Coral Reefs Will Be Gone By 2050: 25% of Marine Species Too & Half a Billion People Without a Job
• 2008/12/12: ENN: Coral Reef Loss Suggests Global Extinction Event
• 2008/12/10: Guardian(UK): Fifth of world's coral reefs dead, say marine scientists
• 2008/12/10: PhysOrg: Fifth of world's corals already dead, say experts
• 2008/12/10: Eureka: Time running out on coral reefs as climate change becomes increasing threat
• 2008/12/10: STimes: 1/5 of coral reefs already lost, much more feared

  Climate refugees are becoming an issue:

• 2008/12/10: ABC(Au): Protect climate change refugees, [Canberra] conference hears
  There has been a call today for human rights protection for people who are forced to leave their homes because of rising sea levels. Experts and representatives from affected island nations met in Canberra today for a United Nations-sponsored conference to discuss the forced displacement of people because of climate change. One of the organisers, Scott Leckie, says the majority of people who will be forced to migrate will be from the larger nations such as China and Bangladesh, rather than small islands. "Current predictions indicate that 50 million to 1 billion people are going to be forcibly displaced from their homes and lands over the next 40 to 50 maybe 100 years due to climate change," he said.

Yes we have no wacky weather, except:

• 2008/12/14: SMH: States of emergency in ice storm's wake
• 2008/12/13: EarthTimes: Ice storms sweep northeast US; 1 million without power
• 2008/12/13: CTV: Ice storm cuts power to 1.25M U.S. customers
• 2008/12/12: CNN: Storm leaves at least 1 million without power in Northeast
• 2008/12/12: Wunderground: Rare snowstorm hits Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas
• 2008/12/12: BBC: Southern US hit by rare snowfall
  Snow has blanketed parts of the US states of Louisiana and Mississippi, causing disruption and leaving thousands without power.
• 2008/12/09: Wunderground: Severe weather outbreak in the South; 2008 the 2nd busiest tornado season

  And speaking of floods & droughts:

• 2008/12/13: BBC: Torrential rain has caused flash flooding in parts of England, Wales and Scotland, stranding drivers and causing water to enter hundreds of homes
• 2008/12/11: CNN: Drought parches much of the U.S., may get worse
  Over the past three years a drought has affected large swaths of the U.S. - Report: At least 36 states expect to face water shortages within the next five years - Experts say main causes are rapid population growth and unwise farming practices - Marjorye Heeney, 83, remembers the Dust Bowl storms of the 1930s in Oklahoma
• 2008/12/11: SMH: Drought hits cost of feed and puts [Rockdale] abattoir's future in doubt
• 2008/12/09: PeakEnergy: South Australia Running Out of Water
• 2008/12/08: CSW: Western water shortages: "Clearly, we're on a collision course between supply and demand"

  Elsewhere on the mitigation front:

• 2008/12/10: Guardian(UK): Rich nations must plan for floods, heat and drought now, warns panel
• 2008/12/09: PhysOrg: A 'black magic' CO2 fix [biochar]
• 2008/12/09: PhysOrg: Scientists try to mitigate climate change effects
• 2008/12/08: Reuters: Scientist says ancient technique [biochar] cuts greenhouse gas
• 2008/12/08: Agronomy: Oil Spray Reduces Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Pig Finishing Barns

  As for transportation & GHG production:

• 2008/12/11: GristMill: How things changed -- The transportation story at the heart of a history-making crisis
• 2008/12/10: GristMill: Come on ride the train ... hey ride it -- Transit ridership up; everyone agrees it should be funded
• 2008/12/08: GristMill: Notable quotable -- Michael Moore on the Big Three and transit
• 2008/12/08: WaPo: New Ridership Record Shows U.S. Still Lured to Mass Transit

  While in the endless quest for sustainable building codes:

• 2008/12/13: EnergyBulletin: Suburbs, cities and sustainability
• 2008/12/14: SMH: A green vision of our future -- a real-life, self-sufficient city being planned for Seoul, South Korea
• 2008/12/12: EnergyBulletin: Promoting the passive house -- a report on the 3rd annual North American Passive House Conference
• 2008/12/12: PhysOrg: Black & Decker Unveils Their New Thermal Leak Detector
• 2008/12/12: Guardian(UK): Don't be defeatist: all new homes can be zero carbon by 2016 -- Prototype buildings may be expensive, but costs will come down substantially

  As for carbon sequestration:

• 2008/12/13: SciDaily: Computer Quantifies Carbon Sequestration Of Urban Trees
• 2008/12/09: Eureka: Application quantifies carbon sequestration of urban trees

  Large scale geo-engineering keeps popping up:

• 2008/12/07: FuturePundit: Supersonic Jets Sonic Booms Could Stop Hurricanes?
• 2008/12/08: CTB: Another Way to Skin the Carbon Cat
• 2008/12/07: TerraDaily: Climate change: Sci-fi solutions no longer in the margins

  While on the adaptation front:

• 2008/12/08: NatureTGB: Waterproof rice coming soon
• 2008/12/05: TerraDaily: Eastern Caribbean to get early warning weather system

  Meanwhile in the journals:

• 2008/12/11: ACP: Cosmic rays, cloud condensation nuclei and clouds -- a reassessment using MODIS data by J. E. Kristjánsson et al.
• 2008/12/11: ACP: Emission of sunscreen salicylic esters from desert vegetation and their contribution to aerosol formation by S. N. Matsunaga et al.
• 2008/12/11: ACPD: Size-resolved aerosol chemistry on Whistler Mountain, Canada with a High-Resolution Aerosol Mass Spectrometer during INTEX-B by Y. Sun et al.
• 2008/12/11: ACPD: The potential contribution of organic salts to new particle growth by K. C. Barsanti et al.
• 2008/12/11: ACPD: Multi-species inversion of CH4, CO and H2 emissions from surface measurements by I. Pison et al.
• 2008/12/11: CERES: Corporate Governance on Climate Change Report
• 2008/12/09: CP: The Southern Hemisphere at glacial terminations: insights from the Dome C ice core by R. Röthlisberger et al.
• 2008/12/11: CPD: Modeling sensitivity study of the possible impact of snow and glaciers developing over Tibetan Plateau on Holocene African-Asian summer monsoon climate by L. Jin et al.
• 2008/12/08: TC: Exploring uncertainty in glacier mass balance modelling with Monte Carlo simulation by H. Machguth et al.
• 2008/12/08: TC: Partitioning of melt energy and meltwater fluxes in the ablation zone of the west Greenland ice sheet by M. van den Broeke et al.
• 2008/12/11: FAS:SN: [links to 9 pdfs] CRS [Congressional Research Service] on Climate Change
• 2008/12/10: VoxEU: Saving the economy and the planet by Ralf Martin
  The current crisis offers an opportunity to set the world on the right track for addressing climate change. This column suggests governments should seize this chance to promote pro-environment fiscal stimuli and to embrace future pollution taxes to pay for them.
• 2008/12/10: ACP: Mechanisms for synoptic variations of atmospheric CO2 in North America, South America and Europe by N. C. Parazoo et al.
• 2008/12/09: ACP: Saharan dust levels in Greece and received inhalation doses by C. Mitsakou et al.
• 2008/12/08: ACP: Climate forcing and air quality change due to regional emissions reductions by economic sector by D. Shindell et al.
• 2008/12/10: ACPD: Analysis of atmospheric neutral and charged molecular clusters in boreal forest using pulse-height CPC by K. Lehtipalo et al.
• 2008/12/10: ACPD: What would have happened to the ozone layer if chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) had not been regulated? by P. A. Newman et al.
• 2008/12/10: ACPD: Carbon monoxide distributions from the upper troposphere to the mesosphere inferred from 4.7 ?m non-local thermal equilibrium emissions measured by MIPAS on Envisat by B. Funke et al.
• 2008/12/09: ACPD: Global distribution and radiative forcing of soil dust aerosols in the Last Glacial Maximum simulated by the aerosol climate model by T. Takemura et al.
• 2008/12/08: ACPD: Effects of model resolution on entrainment (inversion heights), cloud-radiation interactions, and cloud radiative forcing by H. Guo et al.
• 2008/12/09: PNAS: The payoff of conservation investments in tropical countryside by Kai M. A. Chan & Gretchen C. Daily
• 2008/12/09: PNAS: Canopy nitrogen, carbon assimilation, and albedo in temperate and boreal forests: Functional relations and potential climate feedbacks by S. V. Ollinger et al.
• 2008/12/09: PNAS: Global temperature responses to current emissions from the transport sectors by Terje Berntsen & Jan Fuglestvedt

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

• 2008/12/13: SciDaily: Why Atmospheric Pressure Peaks At 10am And 10pm In The Tropics
• 2008/12/11: NOAANews: Humans, Oceans Shaped North American Climate over Past 50 Years -- Sea-Surface Temperatures Vital to Predicting U.S. Regional Climate Changes
• 2008/12/12: GKSS(De): On the Trail of Polar Lows
• 2008/12/12: TerraDaily: Research Into Fair-Weather Clouds Important In Climate Predictions
• 2008/12/12: CBC: Study of sun could help rainfall forecasts, researcher says
• 2008/12/10: SciDaily: Tropics No Longer Museum Of Plant Biodiversity
• 2008/12/08: CSIRO: Southern Ocean resistant to changing winds
  Intensifying winds in the Southern Ocean have had little influence on the strength of the Southern Ocean circulation and therefore its ability to absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, according to a study published yesterday in Nature Geoscience

Meanwhile on the Kyoto front:

• 2008/12/11: TerraDaily: Rich countries reaffirm Kyoto cuts, but footnote the numbers
• 2008/12/09: Independent(UK): Dominic Lawson: Kyoto is worthless (and you don't have to be a sceptic to believe that now)
  The EU has managed to claim success while increasing emissions by 13 per cent
• 2008/12/08: Guardian(UK): Analysis: Has the Kyoto protocol worked?
• 2008/12/08: Guardian(UK): How the different countries stand on climate change

  Kvetching at the IPCC:

• 2008/12/13: CasaubonsBook: Why the IPCC Report Has To Go

  And on the carbon trading front:

• 2008/12/11: Guardian(UK): Greenwash: Are carbon offsetters ripping you off?
• 2008/12/09: NEN: Poznan struggle to make cap-and-trade work
• 2008/12/09: NatureN: UN suspends leading carbon-offset firm [Det Norske Veritas] -- Emissions trading rocked as Norwegian company is left in limbo
• 2008/12/08: WaPo: Report Says 2 Global Programs [EU-ETS & CDM] To Curb Emissions Fall Short
• 2008/12/08: KSJT: Wash. Post: By one accounting, the fave way to curb greenhouse gases isn't working so much, at all

  The idea of a carbon tax is still bouncing around:

• 2008/12/11: IR^2: The Case for Higher Gas Taxes
• 2008/12/12: GristMill: A challenge to carbon tax advocates -- A carbon tax has efficient sticks, but what about carrots?
• 2008/12/09: GristMill: The taxmen cometh -- Hill briefing tries to stir support for a carbon tax

  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:

• 2008/12/12: NEN: Turning carbon into gold?
• 2008/12/11: CommonTragedies: Ryan Avent is angry
• 2008/12/09: NewScientist: Give everyone CO2 permits, say scientists
  Everyone on the planet could get identical greenhouse-gas emission rights as part of a drive to halve emissions by 2050, according to a study by Chinese scientists. The work was presented on the sidelines of a UN conference on fighting global warming that is currently taking place in Poznan, Poland. It would force nations such as the US, which have used the most fossil fuels since the Industrial Revolution to buy emission rights from poor nations. "Developed countries [should] take the lead in reducing emissions," said Su Wei, head of climate change at China's National Development and Reform Commission. The Carbon Budget Proposal suggests that emission allowances could be set at 2.33 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year for each person on the planet in the period 1900 to 2050 as part of a goal of halving world emissions by 2050.
• 2008/12/09: EnvEcon: Some arguments for cap-and-trade
• 2008/12/08: GreenGrok: Cap and Trade Under Attack - Say It Ain't So, Mr. Nader

  And on the American political front:

• 2008/12/13: ClimateP: "Bush will go down in history as possibly a person who has doomed the planet"
• 2008/12/14: WaPo: Why 'Energy Independence'? We're Focusing on the Wrong Goal
• 2008/12/05: Platts:OilBlog: 'Drill, Baby, Drill' crowd meets market realities
• 2008/12/11: ClimateP: Principles for Green & Equitable Stimulus
• 2008/12/12: DotEarth: 'R2-D2? and Other Lessons from Bell Labs
• 2008/12/12: GristMill: [Lester Brown] Invested interests -- Create jobs, cut emissions, and reduce oil imports by investing in renewables and energy efficiency
• 2008/12/12: CommonTragedies: Apparently CO2's gonna cost $680/ton by 2010 if the Dems get their way
• 2008/12/12: WarmingLaw: Good Riddance and Hello: Thanks to the Bush White House, the Auto Industry Can Use Taxpayers' Money to Sue the States
• 2008/12/11: EnvEcon: The basic economic analysis of a (green) subsidy in the context of 5 million green jobs
• 2008/12/11: ClimateP: Dispatch From Poznan': The American Problem
• 2008/12/11: GristMill: Flaccid apparatchik -- The Stephen Johnson story
• 2008/12/11: Tamino: Yes. We Can.
• 2008/12/11: TerraDaily: Science And The White House
• 2008/12/11: DeSmogBlog: Poznan Spin: Don't Say We're Waiting for Obama
• 2008/12/11: EarthTimes: Kerry: US will insist any climate plan be global
• 2008/12/10: CNN: History of [US] environmental movement full of twists, turns
• 2008/12/10: KSJT: Phil. Inquirer: Four part series disembowels the Bush White House version of the EPA
• 2008/12/10: ClimateP: McKibben and Berry call for civil disobedience at DC coal plant: "Bear witness to an evil"
• 2008/12/10: NEN: Co-op America to be Green America, announces at Greenopolis
• 2008/12/09: ClimateP: Uncle Sam: Superhero?
• 2008/12/09: ClimateP: Bank of America to stop financing mountaintop removal
• 2008/12/09: ClimateP: The conservative stagnation, Part 12: Cap & trade bill will return GOP to power "in 2010"
• 2008/12/09: CommonTragedies: Intellectual Infrastructure
• 2008/12/08: QuarkSoup: Oregon Conflicts of Interest
• 2008/12/09: DotEarth: Are Chemists, Engineers on Green Jobs List?
• 2008/12/08: ClimateP: Draft auto bailout bill plus Ford and GM can meet the CA standard
• 2008/12/08: ClimateP: If dumping GM's Wagoner is part of the deal, get rid of Bob Lutz, too
• 2008/12/08: SF Gate: Clean energy technology? We're not there yet -- Clean energy appears out of reach for years

  California introduced new state regulations:

• 2008/12/13: FresnoBee: Diesel vehicles must cut pollution -- New state regulations aim to help clean Valley air
• 2008/12/11: PhysOrg: Calif. adopts tough greenhouse gas restrictions
• 2008/12/11: inel: California Approves Plan to Implement Climate Change Law, Sets Precedent for National, International Action
• 2008/12/12: SF Gate: State OKs tough plan to counter global warming
  California's air quality board approved on Thursday the nation's most sweeping plan to reduce global warming by curbing emissions, a move that state regulators hailed as a nationwide model for President-elect Barack Obama. State leaders predicted that the blueprint, unanimously approved by the California Air Resources Board, would stimulate California's lagging economy by creating thousands of jobs and billions of dollars of commerce, while business owners said the plan would worsen the state's fiscal woes.
• 2008/12/11: PhysOrg: Calif. set to adopt sweeping global warming plan
• 2008/12/11: Yahoo: Calif. adopts tough greenhouse gas restrictions
  California air regulators adopted a sweeping new climate plan Thursday that would require the state's utilities, refineries and large factories to transform their operations to cut greenhouse gas emissions. The California Air Resources Board voted unanimously to adopt the nation's most comprehensive global warming plan, outlining for the first time how individuals and businesses would meet a landmark 2006 law that made the state a leader on global climate change.

The Bush administration's midnight regulation changes continue to gather opprobrium:

• 2008/12/14: Guardian(UK): Bush sneaks through host of laws to undermine Obama
  The lame-duck Republican team is rushing through radical measures, from coal waste dumping to power stations in national parks, that will take months to overturn...
• 2008/11/18: ProPublica: Midnight Regulations [list]
• 2008/12/11: TPMM: Ex-EPA Official To Congress On Midnight Regs: "Maybe We Should Have A Little More Polite Discussion."
  Then, Jeff Holmstead, the lone witness called by the GOP minority, was given a chance to speak. Holmstead, once the head of the Air office at the EPA and now a lawyer at Bracewell & Giuliani, gamely attempted to defend his own record, touting an improvement in air quality in his opening statement. But hostile questioning put him on the defensive. The timing of the last-minute proposals, he said, was simply due to human responsiveness to deadlines. And as for global warming, other countries "have not achieved anything either." Finally, Holmstead gave up. "Maybe we should have a little more polite discussion," he said.
• 2008/12/11: RS: Bush's Final F.U. -- The administration is rushing to enact a host of last-minute regulations that will screw America for years to come
• 2008/12/12: NatureTGB: Bush push for biologist bypass
• 2008/12/11: PhysOrg: Bush reduces [revises] protections for endangered species
• 2008/12/11: BBC: The Bush administration has made it easier for drilling, mining and major construction projects to go ahead without a full scientific assessment
• 2008/12/11: WaPo: EPA Abruptly Backs Away From Proposals to Alter Air-Pollution Rules
• 2008/12/08: ThinkP: Fratto Whitewashes Bush's Midnight Regulatory Blitz As 'Transparent,' 'Routine,' And 'Responsible'
• 2008/12/07: ThinkP: Burrowing watch: Bush appointed 18 administation officials last Tuesday alone

  The Obama chatter is nonstop:

• 2008/12/08: IR^2: Obama's Change of Heart on WPT [Windfall Profits Tax on oil companies]
• 2008/12/12: Guardian(UK): Global climate change decisions on hold for Obama administration
  New targets would not be discussed until the summer, to give the US president-elect time to signal his intention
• 2008/12/12: CSW: Combining energy and climate advice into one White House position is not a perfect solution
• 2008/12/11: CSW: Commmunities call for strong federal support from President Obama to tackle climate disruption
• 2008/12/12: NEN: Get on energy now and stay on it -- Carter to Obama
• 2008/12/11: Reuters: Obama can sign U.N. climate pact before U.S. law: Kerry
  The U.S. Senate will let President-elect Barack Obama sign up to a U.N. pact to fight global warming in late 2009 even if U.S. climate laws are not yet in place, U.S. Senator John Kerry predicted on Thursday. But Kerry, designated head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said on the sidelines of U.N. climate talks in Poland that China, India and Russia would also have to promise to cut greenhouse gas emissions to win Senate blessing of any pact.
• 2008/12/11: BBC: US 'willing to lead climate push' [says Obama envoy John Kerry]
• 2008/12/09: ClimateP: Obama, after meeting Gore: "This is a matter of urgency and national security"
• 2008/12/10: DotEarth: Does Obama Need a Department of Innovation?
• 2008/12/10: CSW: We need a strong Obama appointee to head NOAA, a key agency on climate change
• 2008/12/10: GristMill: Why is McCaskill off the res? Missouri Senator says Obama will have to delay his cap-and-trade program
• 2008/12/09: Yahoo: Obama vows to end global warming 'denial' after Gore talks
• 2008/12/10: FPB: Add Latin America's climate to Obama's agenda
• 2008/12/09: Denialism: Obama Meets With Gore, Rejects Denial
• 2008/12/09: EarthTimes: Obama and Gore discuss climate, energy
• 2008/12/08: BBC: Barack Obama's coal conundrum
• 2008/12/08: ClimateP: Obama is right: Higher gasoline taxes to boost efficiency would be "a mistake"
• 2008/12/08: ETS: Can Obama Really Afford His Infrastructure Program? Price of Asphalt, CO2 Cost From Cement, Raise Doubts
• 2008/12/08: NEN: Obama, cap-and-trade and the emissions tax
• 2008/12/08: WaPo: Transition's Timing Hits Climate Talks -- U.S. Delegates Report to Bush, Not Obama

  And there has been a fair amount of talk about Obama's appointments:

• 2008/12/13: GristMill: A renewed call for food reform -- Updates on secretary of agriculture appointment
• 2008/12/12: NatureN: Nobel physicist to run energy agency -- Obama appointments likely to focus on renewable energy and implementing cap and trade
• 2008/12/12: KSJT: Wash. Post: More on Professor Chu and the DOE job
• 2008/12/12: ClimateP: Do-nothing Whitman disses Nobelist Steven Chu
• 2008/12/12: GristMill: Notable quotable -- New EPA pick Lisa Jackson on Katrina and the failures of government
• 2008/12/11: GristMill: Transition talk: How dreamy is the new team? Obama's green administration picks signal major shifts in policy
• 2008/12/11: QuarkSoup: Chu as SecEn
• 2008/12/11: DeSmogBlog: Will ExxonMobil and Peabody Coal Chu up the New Energy Secretary?
• 2008/12/11: Guardian(UK): Obama's new team raises hope for US environment -- Roll-back of George Bush's environmental polices expected
• 2008/12/11: DeSmogBlog: Chuse Science
• 2008/12/11: WSJ:EnvCap: Steven Chu: Probable Next Energy Secretary Big Efficiency Fan
• 2008/12/10: Guardian(UK): President Environment -- In order to tackle climate change, Obama must salvage the US department of energy from the wreckage of the Bush years
• 2008/12/10: ClimateP: Obama does pick Steven Chu for Energy Secretary

  Houston, you have a problem:

• 2008/12/12: KSJT: Orlando Sentinel, Houston Chron, etc: Obama teams size up NASA - and some say it's not for pleasantries
• 2008/12/12: GristMill: Transition talk: Lost in space -- Bush appointee reportedly holding up transition efforts at NASA
• 2008/12/11: ThinkP: NASA Administrator [Michael Griffin] Muzzles Employees From Speaking Openly With Obama Agency Review Team
• 2008/12/10: OS:WriteStuff: NASA has become a transition problem for Obama

  The Gore-apalooza is still bopping along:

• 2008/12/12: Guardian(UK): Al Gore calls for tougher global limit on CO2 levels
• 2008/12/12: ClimateP: Gore's Poznan' speech is online: "We cannot negotiate with the facts."
• 2008/12/12: ClimateP: Gore embraces 350 ppm target at Poznan'
• 2008/12/12: BBC: Gore's tough message to leaders
  Leaders will have to embrace tougher targets on reducing emissions if they want to prevent dangerous climate change, according to Al Gore. Speaking here at the UN climate conference, the former US presidential candidate said the "sclerotic" politics of today had to change. His speech was met with rapturous applause by thousands of delegates.

While in the UK:

• 2008/12/14: Guardian(UK): Meet Britain's new army of young eco warriors
  While governments talk of climate change, a growing band of young, committed environmentalists is emerging in the UK. The storming of Stansted was just the beginning
• 2008/12/12: BBC: Government's CO2 cuts 'too slow'
  The UK government is not doing enough to cut its own emissions, its environmental advisory body has said. The Sustainable Development Commission said the government's efforts fell some way short of the action needed to meet the targets in the Climate Change Act. The new law requires future governments to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 80% from 1990 levels by 2050.
• 2008/12/12: Guardian(UK): Britain to give tropical countries £100m to protect rainforest
• 2008/12/10: Guardian(UK): Lily savaged -- Shame on the journos who smeared us Plane Stupid activists as 'posh'. Climate change doesn't care what class you are
• 2008/12/10: STimes: [UK] Climate entrepreneur seeks EU help [financing offshore windmills]
• 2008/12/08: Guardian(UK): How to take action on climate change -- If invading airport runways is a bit too dramatic for you...
• 2008/12/08: Guardian(UK): Popular mobilisation around global warming - what the campaigners say
• 2008/12/08: Guardian(UK): Today's protesters, tomorrow's saviours
• 2008/12/08: Guardian(UK): Botched [UK] biofuel legislation stalls climate change initiative

  Plane Stupid activists shut down Stansted airport:

• 2008/12/12: Guardian(UK): Why I support Plane Stupid
• 2008/12/09: Guardian(UK): Heathrow next, warn activists who caused Stansted chaos
• 2008/12/09: Guardian(UK): How handcuffs and bicycle locks were used to bring UK's third biggest airport to a standstill
• 2008/12/09: Guardian(UK): [Plane Stupid] 'They are growing fast and are prepared to act'
• 2008/12/08: Guardian(UK): Climate activists held after Stansted runway protest
  Flights delayed as more than 50 campaigners with Plane Stupid break into secure area at airport to protest second runway plans
• 2008/12/08: Guardian(UK): Stansted protest: Passengers vent frustration as officials pass blame
• 2008/12/08: ABC(Au): [Plane Stupid] Activists close runway at UK's Stansted airport
• 2008/12/08: EarthTimes: Environmentalists stop flights from major London airport
• 2008/12/08: OilChange: Over 50 Arrested at London's Third Airport...

  A few eyebrows were raised by the lone saboteur who waltzed into Kingsnorth and shut down the plant:

• 2008/12/11: TreeHugger: Renegade Activist Single-Handedly Shuts Down Power Plant
• 2008/12/11: Guardian(UK): No new coal - the calling card of the 'green Banksy' who breached fortress Kingsnorth
  Saboteur breezes in to shut 500MW turbine -- Act single-handedly cuts UK carbon output by 2%

And in Europe:

• 2008/12/10: DerSpiegel: Merkel's global warming waffling -- Europe Puts Hurdles in Obama's Climate Path
• 2008/12/08: DerSpiegel: Putting jobs first -- Merkel Backpedals on Climate
• 2008/12/11: DerSpiegel: Why Merkel's Climate About-Face Is Bad for Business
  The economy or the environment? That is the choice as Angela Merkel sees it -- and she has chosen the former. But the dichotomy is no longer valid, and Merkel's choice is a grave mistake. These days, one can have both the economy and the environment.
• 2008/12/09: DerSpiegel: 'Climate Chancellor' No More
• 2008/12/12: EurActiv: Industry set to win EU climate concessions
• 2008/12/12: EurActiv: EU anxious to keep global climate leadership
• 2008/12/12: BBC: Leaders of the European Union are said to be close to a compromise agreement on how to achieve ambitious targets to fight global warming
• 2008/12/10: GristMill: A vicious Merkel -- International youth call out Merkel and Tusk in Warsaw
• 2008/12/11: Yahoo: World looks to EU for leadership on climate change: UN chief
• 2008/12/11: TerraDaily: Climate: new proposals for compromise at EU summit
• 2008/12/11: EarthTimes: EU summit heading for compromise on climate change - Summary
• 2008/12/11: EarthTimes: EU 'heading for deal' on climate, Berlusconi says
• 2008/12/11: EarthTimes: Watered-down climate laws on table for EU summit
• 2008/12/11: EarthTimes: All eyes on Brussels as EU gropes for climate trump
• 2008/12/11: EarthTimes: France proposes watered-down climate laws for EU summit
• 2008/12/11: EarthTimes: Vaclav Klaus: 'We will not be campaigners for the climate package'
• 2008/12/11: EarthTimes: UN chief urges Europe, US to lead on climate
• 2008/12/11: EarthTimes: Background: The numbers in the EU's climate and energy package
• 2008/12/11: OilChange: EU Credibility on Line over Climate Deal
• 2008/12/11: WaPo: Before Summit, E.U. Debates Limits on Carbon Emissions -- Nations Weigh Economic, Climate Risks
• 2008/12/11: BBC: As ministers begin two days of talks on climate change, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the world's financial woes must not block climate progress
• 2008/12/11: BBC: The EU's credibility will be at stake at a summit opening on Thursday, with France pushing hard for deals on a key energy package and the Lisbon Treaty
• 2008/12/10: Guardian(UK): EU will stick to pledges on emissions cuts [20% by 2020], says environment commissioner [Stavros Dimas]
• 2008/12/10: Guardian(UK): European leaders clash over pledges on global warming
• 2008/12/10: Guardian(UK): Carbon capture funding row looms at Euro summit
• 2008/12/10: EUO: Energy and climate change shape EU security strategy
• 2008/12/10: EUO: Summit to test EU credibility on climate, Barroso says
• 2008/12/11: ABC(Au): The European Union's Environment Commissioner [Stavros Dimas] says he is confident the EU will agree on a climate package at a summit this week
• 2008/12/10: Xinhuanet: EU summit to focus on economy, climate, Lisbon treaty
• 2008/12/10: EarthTimes: Czechs want 'win-win' climate-package deal, says Czech official
• 2008/12/10: EarthTimes: EU heads for 'most crucial' year-end summit
• 2008/12/09: Guardian(UK): EU agrees 2020 clean energy deadline
  Green lobby and politicians hail agreement to use 20% renewables within 12 years as climate change landmark
• 2008/12/09: EurActiv: Italy defies EU summit deal on climate change
  Despite "significant steps" taken to soften the impact of the EU's climate change goals on its industry, Italy yesterday (8 December) continued to maintain a tough negotiating line ahead of a decisive EU summit on 11-12 December. During separate meetings of foreign affairs and energy ministers in Brussels, the Italian government firmly restated its intention to obtain exemptions from the package for its energy-intensive industrial sectors such as paper, glass, steel and brick industries.
• 2008/12/10: Guardian(UK): EU Leaders agree 20% 2020 renewable energy target
• 2008/12/09: EurActiv: Deal secured on ambitious EU renewables law
• 2008/12/09: EUO: Greens hail EU deal on renewable energy
• 2008/12/09: EarthTimes: Sarkozy not willing to compromise on EU climate package
• 2008/12/09: EarthTimes: EU states, parliament reach informal deal on renewable energy
• 2008/12/09: EarthTimes: Poland, Germany hold talks on EU summit, climate package
• 2008/12/08: EurActiv: Sarkozy confident about EU climate 'solidarity' deal
• 2008/12/08: EUO: French sweetener fails to clinch EU climate deal
• 2008/12/09: BBC: A European Union report has recommended banning conventional incandescent light bulbs by 2012 to save energy and cut down on greenhouse gas emissions
• 2008/12/08: Guardian(UK): Why Poland is biting the hand that feeds it
• 2008/12/08: EarthTimes: EU to shut off old-fashioned [incandescent] light-bulbs

  Meanwhile in Australia:

• 2008/12/11: ABC(Au): The Greens say the Federal Government is hindering international climate change talks in Poland and should not have taken part
• 2008/11/13: TTrainer: The Final Garnaut Report; A Radical Critique of its Energy Assumptions
• 2008/12/10: SMH: Al Gore got her going, now she's telling everyone
  Canberra mother Hilary Thomson signed up as a climate project connector as soon as the call went out from the Australian Conservation Foundation in October.
• 2008/12/08: ABC(Au): CSIRO blames media for negative climate change focus
  The CSIRO says its climate modelling for future water availability in the Murray-Darling Basin presents a range of scenarios, but the media has tended to focus on the most negative.
• 2008/12/08: ABC(Au): Govt still pushing for global climate change plan: [Foreign Affairs Minister Stephen] Smith
• 2008/12/08: ABC(Au): Wong defends against China emissions attack -- Climate Change Minister Penny Wong says the Government is committed to leading the way at climate talks in Poland this week

  The Rudd government is due to release the details of their ETS targets tomorrow:

• 2008/12/14: SMH: Rudd put on notice over emissions
  The Government's emissions trading scheme could be in strife in the Senate if a target cut of less than 15 per cent in greenhouse gases by 2020 is announced tomorrow.
• 2008/12/14: SMH: Lead on environment, PM by Senator Bob Brown, Australian Green leader
  Kevin Rudd's position on global warming will define his tenure - and Australia's future...
• 2008/12/14: SMH: Climate may turn chilly -- The PM's handling of the economic crisis has been popular but emissions targets will be trickier...
• 2008/12/13: ABC(Au): Greens pressure Govt to match Europe's emissions cuts
• 2008/12/11: ABC(Au): Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says he will not bow to pressure from business groups to delay the start of an emissions trading scheme
• 2008/12/11: ABC(Au): Two-tiered emissions strategy likely
  The Federal Government appears set to adopt a two-tiered strategy on cutting greenhouse gas emissions, leaving open the option of a 25 per cent reduction by 2020 if the world agrees to a tough climate change agreement next year.
• 2008/12/11: SMH: Rudd told to go with Garnaut
  A leading climate change economist, Nicholas Stern, has urged Australia to accept the advice of Professor Ross Garnaut and leave open the idea of a 25 per cent cut in greenhouse emissions by 2020. Speaking at the United Nations climate change talks in Poznan in Poland, Lord Stern said it would be "worrying" if the targets announced next week were less ambitious than those backed by Professor Garnaut after 18 months of careful economic analysis.
• 2008/12/11: ABC(Au): International agreement essential for emissions scheme: Wong
  The Federal Government looks likely to tie its plans for cuts to greenhouse gas emissions directly to the actions of other countries. Federal Climate Change Minister Penny Wong is at global climate talks in the Polish city of Poznan this week, and is due to announce the Government's 2020 target and emissions trading scheme design next Monday.
• 2008/12/10: ABC(Au): Emissions trading scheme a tax in current form: Joyce
  Nationals Senate leader Barnaby Joyce says he is not the only one in the Opposition who believes an emissions trading scheme should not be introduced if the global financial situation does not improve
• 2008/12/10: SMH: The hour's getting darker
  Green groups and the Federal Government, going head-to-head over Australia's carbon emissions cuts, will unite briefly today in the name of Earth Hour
• 2008/12/09: ABC(Au): Fed Govt urged to show leadership on climate change -- Climate change expert Tim Flannery says Australia needs to lead the world in carbon reduction policies
• 2008/12/09: ABC(Au): Poland talks won't produce concrete targets: Wong
  Federal Climate Change Minister Penny Wong has rejected suggestions that Australian officials are trying to water down the agreement set to come out of global climate change talks in Poland this week. Senator Wong is at the talks in Poznan, but is not revealing the Government's mid-term target for emissions cuts until next week.
• 2008/12/09: SMH: Greenhouse targets locked in
  Federal cabinet will approve its greenhouse gas targets for 2020 on Monday, but the details have already been locked in and are highly unlikely to be changed any further. A cabinet subcommittee on climate change finalised the details of the Emissions Trading Scheme last week, and there was no further discussion at the full cabinet meeting yesterday. It is expected the Government, in its white paper to be published next Monday, will aim to reduce greenhouse gases by 2020 by between 5 per cent and 15 per cent. The final figure will be set after an international meeting on climate change in Copenhagen late next year, when the intentions of the rest of the world will be better known. The 5 per cent to 15 per cent target range will be considered too low by scientists, environmentalists and some businesses. But a source told the Herald that political reality in a faltering economy had to be factored in.

And in New Zealand:

• 2008/12/12: Scoop: Climate Change Coalition Warns Governments Against Global Cap on Emissions

  While in China:

• 2008/12/09: ETS: 2 New Reports Indicate China's Water and Soil May Be Too Far Gone to Support a Growing Economy

  In Canada, minority neocon PM Harper, continues his do-nothing policy & the Liberals choose a new leader:

• 2008/12/10: TreeHugger: Canadian Political Crisis Ends, Not With A Bang But a Whimper
• 2008/12/10: CBC: Ignatieff gets full Liberal caucus support as interim leader

  Canada's behaviour at Poznan has been less than exemplary:

• 2008/12/13: CBC: 'Embarrassing' to be a Canadian at climate talks: Green party leader
  The UN climate conference in Poznan, Poland, was a "mark of shame" for Canada, Green Party Leader Elizabeth May said on Saturday. Delegates from poorer nations were angry at Canada for not meeting its commitments under the Kyoto protocol, as well as all industrialized countries for stalling on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, May told CBC News. During the conference, which began Dec. 1, Canada won several Fossil of the Day Awards, announced by Climate Action Network International, a group that includes more than 400 non-governmental organizations. "It was embarrassing being a Canadian at these meetings," May said. "Canada, unfortunately, was about the worst performer here, and that's saying a lot. That means worse than the United States with the lame-duck Bush administration, still doing what it can to obstruct. "But in the negotiations, Canada, I say, won. It's really a mark of shame," she said. May said the mood was anything but upbeat as the talks came to a close with a post-midnight session, ending early Saturday, nine hours after the conference had been due to close.
• 2008/12/13: TStar: Prentice says climate a priority for Tories
• 2008/12/13: OttawaCitizen: Tories 'embarrassing' Canada on world stage, senior scientists says
• 2008/12/12: DeSmogBlog: Poznan: Canada replaces U.S. as "single worst" country
• 2008/12/12: DTakacs: Canada's International Reputation Takes Another Beating
• 2008/12/11: CBC: Canada a 'constructive force' at climate talks: Prentice
• 2008/12/11: Greens(Ca): Canada continues to disappear on the world stage
• 2008/12/10: Greens(Ca): Canada Losing the "Confidence of the Planet"?
• 2008/12/05: PEJ: Climate Change Conference in Posnan, Poland: Canada receives 4 fossil awards, and is possibly trying to exempt tar sands
• 2008/12/11: PEJ: At Climate change conference, Jim Prentice faces widespread criticism against Canada
• 2008/12/12: G&M: Ottawa's stand at climate talks hurting native rights, chiefs say
• 2008/12/12: OttawaCitizen: Canada pushes for global climate battle - Call for action comes amid criticism of Tory record at Poznan summit
• 2008/12/12: TStar: Canada to work with U.S. on climate -- North America-wide approach needed, Prentice tells summit
• 2008/12/12: TSun: Green's May has minister seeing red
  Environment Minister Jim Prentice has fired a warning shot at Green Party Leader Elizabeth May for a series of critical comments she made on Canada's environmental record at an international conference in Europe this week. [but they never tell you what May said. -het]
• 2008/12/11: DeSmogBlog: Poznan: Canada Snags Another Fossil of the Day
• 2008/12/11: DeSmogBlog: Poznan: Green Leader Despairs at Conference Potential -- "It's like attending a family reunion on the Titanic."
  Canadian Green Party leader Elizabeth May is a difficult person to interview at the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in Poznan, Poland. She seems to know nearly everyone, and when she isn't waving and smiling at passersby, she is fending off phone calls or emails buzzing on her blackberry. But regardless of the old-home week atmosphere, she is bleakly disappointed about what's going on in this sprawling conference centre. Having attended the organizational meeting for the UNFCCC in 1990 and the inaugural meeting in Rio in 1992, and being a veteran of many "COP" (Conference of the Parties) meetings for the inrternational biodiversity treaty, she has seen her share of such events. "But this has a dreadful pall to it."
• 2008/12/11: OttawaCitizen: Canada trails the world on climate change -- Only Saudi Arabia has worse plan, [Climate Change Performance Index] report says
• 2008/12/10: DeSmogBlog: Poznan: Canada's GHG Performance Nearing Bottom
• 2008/12/09: DeSmogBlog: Poznan: Canadian Negotiating Position "Profoundly Hypocritical"
• 2008/12/10: MontGaz: The Harper chill factor
  Canada is being ridiculed at a climate change conference in Poland, and delegates from all over the world are hoping our government will fall
• 2008/12/09: CBC: Deep cuts to greenhouse gas emissions not in the cards: Prentice
  Canada's Environment Minister Jim Prentice says he will not commit to what he calls unrealistic targets when he attends climate change talks in Poland this week. The newly-minted minister, who took over the job from John Baird after October's federal election, told CBC News he will not agree to the deep greenhouse gas emission cuts some are pushing for. National environmental organizations and northern indigenous groups want emissions reduced by 25 per cent below 1990 levels by the year 2020 and further cuts still by 2050. But Prentice said cuts of that magnitude would hurt the economy. He'd prefer a 20 per cent reduction of 2006 levels, with a 60 per cent reduction by 2050.
• 2008/12/08: TSun: Tories ease climate stance
  The Conservative government is leaving the door ajar for emerging economies like China and India to set their own targets to lower greenhouse gases. Environment Minister Jim Prentice says he's open to a range of targets as long as countries can show they're trying to curb emissions.

The MacIver affair:

• 2008/12/12: Maribo: Supressing Canadian science
• 2008/12/12: CBC: Scientist dropped from climate delegation to save money: Prentice
• 2008/12/12: G&M: Scientists predict seasonal ice-free Arctic by 2015
  Canadian scientist Don MacIver resigned yesterday as chair of the working group organizing the next World Climate Congress after the federal government revoked his permission to speak at an event in Poznan, Poland, where United Nations climate-change negotiations are being held.

The tricky & difficult question of the tar sands looms:

• 2008/12/12: FinPo: End of the oil sands' building frenzy?
• 2008/12/12: TStar: Energy giants trim spending plans for 2009 -- Industry absorbing shock of market whiplash
  Alberta's oil balloon continued to deflate yesterday after Canadian petroleum giants EnCana Corp. and Petro-Canada squeezed more than $3 billion from their 2009 capital spending plans, citing the need to stay flexible during uncertain economic times.
• 2008/12/11: BBC: Canada's 'dirty oil' challenge
• 2008/12/10: TSDoM: Alberta: Now 50% More Toxic!
• 2008/12/10: BBC: Black gold fever -- Canada's giant tar sands industry faces testing times
• 2008/12/08: G&M: Alberta to seek tax breaks for tar sands -- Capital writeoffs for bitumen upgraders on wish list for struggling sector, as finance ministers prepare to meet

  A study of the water demands of the tar sands raised a ruckus:

• 2008/12/09: ED: (link to 2.4 meg pdf) 11 Million Litres a Day: The Tar Sands' Leaking Legacy
• 2008/12/09: ED: 4 Billion Litres a Year: Tar Sands' Toxic Leakage -- Groundwater pollution could grow five-fold within decade
• 2008/12/10: Straight: Tar sands leaking 11 million litres of tailings water a day: report
• 2008/12/09: CBC: Millions of litres leak each day from tarsands tailings ponds: report
• 2008/12/09: WpgSun: Toxic tailings leak into Alberta water supply: report
• 2008/12/09: OttawaCitizen: Oilsands leaking billions of litres of tainted water: report
  Alberta dismisses study as 'false'. Oilsands production is releasing four billion litres of contaminated water into Alberta's groundwater and natural ecosystems every year, according to a new national report that was immediately dismissed as "false" by the provincial government. The annual volume of water pollution in 2007 would have been enough to fill the Rogers Centre in Toronto, but could be stopped if the federal government started enforcing its Fisheries Act, the report says. "Virtually everyone close to the tarsands industry knows that all tarsands tailings ponds leak -- even the new ones -- and that while steps are taken to recapture the leakage, a significant portion of contaminated water still escapes into the environment," said the study, 11 Million Litres a Day: the Tar Sands' Leaking Legacy, released by Environmental Defence.

As for miscellaneous Canadiana:

• 2008/12/13: TreeHugger: Canada In 12'th Place On Wind Power Capacity
• 2008/12/12: CBC: Inuit group denounces EU decision to ban import of polar bear parts
• 2008/12/11: CBC: Ethanol at the pumps part of Alberta's new energy strategy
• 2008/12/09: CanWest: Emissions by individuals on the rise: StatsCan
• 2008/12/09: CanWest: BC Hydro's call for bioenergy yields four projects

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

• 2008/12/11: Guardian(UK): It's our time -- The era of laissez-faire small government is over. Now we can start fixing the big problems the market can't solve
• 2008/12/10: Intelligencer: Coalition of all parties needed to promote living within our means
• 2008/12/08: CCurrents: It's Not Just The Economy Stupid
• 2008/12/08: NYT: Back at Junk Value, Recyclables Are Piling Up
• 2008/12/07: EnergyBulletin: Our Humpty-Dumpty economy -- We are reeling from two entwined problems, "Bad Money" and "The Bottleneck" of ecological pressures

  Apocalypso anyone?

• 2008/12/13: EnergyBulletin: Apeakalypse Now

  As for how the media handles the science of climatology:

• 2008/12/08: ABC(Au): CSIRO blames media for negative climate change focus
  The CSIRO says its climate modelling for future water availability in the Murray-Darling Basin presents a range of scenarios, but the media has tended to focus on the most negative.
• 2008/12/06: PRWatch: No Science for You! [CNN]

  Meanwhile among the 'Sue the Bastards!' contingent:

• 2008/12/12: WarmingLaw: At What Cost? More Thoughts on the Auto Bailout.
• 2008/12/10: Maribo: Is climate science strong enough for the courts?
• 2008/12/09: OilChange: Hey Big Oil, We Will See You in Court...
• 2008/12/09: Guardian(UK): Science paves way for climate lawsuits [court]

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

• 2008/12/11: FuturePundit: Methane Hydrate Extraction To Become Viable?
• 2008/12/12: WorldChanging: New Research Ranks Top Renewable Energy Options
• 2008/12/12: CalcRisk: DOT: Gasoline Demand Increases in October
• 2008/12/01: RSC:EES: Review of solutions to global warming, air pollution, and energy security by Mark Z. Jacobson
• 2008/12/10: Stanford: Wind, water and sun beat other energy alternatives, study finds
• 2008/12/12: SciDaily: Wave Power Facility Successful in Sweden
• 2008/12/11: SA: Three Inconvenient Energy Policy Truths
• 2008/12/11: NYT:TB: So, How Bad Will the Energy Crisis Be in 2025?
• 2008/12/12: RigZone: Post-Ike Gas Line Fixes Slow Return of US Gulf Oil
• 2008/12/12: BBerg: U.S. Northeast Heating-Oil Delinquent Bills Top $100 Million
• 2008/12/10: GristMill: Report card -- A roundup of [energy] reports I ought to read but in reality have only skimmed
• 2008/12/10: Forbes:AP: Survey: Oil may lose top rank as cheapest energy
• 2008/12/09: PeakEnergy: Lithium Ion Batteries For Grid Backup?
• 2008/12/10: PeakEnergy: Tidal Projects Flowing In Europe
• 2008/12/10: CCTimes: DOE slashes energy demand forecast
• 2008/12/10: Eureka: Wind, water and sun beat biofuels, nuclear and coal for clean energy, Stanford researcher says
  The best ways to improve energy security, mitigate global warming and reduce the number of deaths caused by air pollution are blowing in the wind and rippling in the water, not growing on prairies or glowing inside nuclear power plants, says Mark Z. Jacobson, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford. And "clean coal," which involves capturing carbon emissions and sequestering them in the earth, is not clean at all, he asserts. Jacobson has conducted the first quantitative, scientific evaluation of the proposed, major, energy-related solutions by assessing not only their potential for delivering energy for electricity and vehicles, but also their impacts on global warming, human health, energy security, water supply, space requirements, wildlife, water pollution, reliability and sustainability. His findings indicate that the options that are getting the most attention are between 25 to 1,000 times more polluting than the best available options.
• 2008/12/09: FTimes: Global demand for oil to plummet
  Global oil demand will collapse next year and commodities will not return to the highs they reached this summer in the foreseeable future, two authoritative reports said on Tuesday as they forecast a long and painful worldwide recession. The stark conclusions came as the World Bank's chief economist predicted that the world faced "the worst recession since the Great Depression". The US energy department said global oil demand will fall this year and next, marking the first two consecutive years' decline in 30 years.
• 2008/12/09: PhysOrg: New work on leading wave power
• 2008/12/09: SciDaily: Challenges To Environmentally Responsible Energy Use In Today's Society
• 2008/12/08: PhysOrg: Some see energy future in old mill dams
• 2008/12/09: PeakEnergy: Floating Offshore Wind Power
• 2008/12/08: AutoBG: Michigan farms producing electricity and natural gas from dung
• 2008/12/08: Yahoo: Price of gas hits lowest point in nearly 5 years
• 2008/12/07: CalcRisk: Thoughts on Oil

  One has to wonder about the survey & the experts:

• 2008/12/09: Guardian(UK): Climate change experts 'lose faith' in renewable technology
  Specialists less optimistic that wind, solar and hydro power have 'high potential' to solve climate crisis, survey shows

The answer my friend...:

• 2008/12/12: PhysOrg: German islands tilting at windmills lose court case
• 2008/12/11: TreeHugger: Wind Power Beats Nuclear & Clean Coal, Other Renewables As US's Best Energy Option
• 2008/12/11: NEN: Wind wins, new energy leads and 'clean' coal isn't -- Stanford prof
• 2008/12/10: NEN: Big Wind
• 2008/12/09: DeSmogBlog: Downdraft Turns Mighty Gust into Slim Pickens

  Meanwhile among the solar aficionados:

• 2008/12/12: TreeHugger: Glut Of Solar Panels in 2009 Could Benefit Consumers
• 2008/12/09: CleanBreak: Solar to reach grid parity in Ontario by 2020, maybe earlier
• 2008/12/10: PhysOrg: Finding better materials for solar cells
• 2008/12/10: TreeHugger: 166 MW Solar Power Plant Will Be China's Largest
• 2008/12/10: PeakEnergy: Do It Yourself CSP
• 2008/12/08: NatureN: Efficiency records claimed for solar devices -- Light concentrator promises higher power output
• 2008/12/08: TreeHugger: 1 Gigawatt Solar Power Plant (Plus Factory) Planned For Jordan

  The arithmetic of coal carbon is striking home:

• 2008/12/10: DeSmogBlog: The reality of the US coal power industry
• 2008/12/08: ClimateP: Clean coal: Claptrap or crap trap?
• 2008/12/07: ERabett: An idea?? Eli has been thinking about clean coal.

  Biofuel bickering abounds:

• 2008/12/10: N3xus6: Well worth a read -- a look at algal biofuels
• 2008/12/10: EUO: Biofuel groups win EU Worst Lobbying Awards
• 2008/12/09: PeakEnergy: Falling Oil Price Threatens Advanced Biofuel Firms
• 2008/12/08: PhysOrg: Scientists turning CO2 from coal-fired plants, algae into oil
• 2008/12/08: NewScientist: Super-biofuel cooked up by bacterial brewers
• 2008/12/08: PhysOrg: Synthetic e. coli could build a better biofuel: study

  The nuclear energy controversy continues:

• 2008/12/13: TriCities: Proposed TVA Nuclear Plant Comes With Exorbitant Price Tag
• 2008/12/12: CleanBreak: Cha-Ching: More evidence nuclear power costs have skyrocketed
• 2008/12/12: WSJ:EnvCap: Nuclear Power: Should the U.S. Emulate France?
• 2008/12/11: Stoat: CO2 from nukes
• 2008/12/08: WSJ:EnvCap: Nuked: Economic Downturn Threatens Nuclear Power's Renaissance, Too

  Yes we have a peak oil sighting:

• 2008/12/13: OilDrum: Hubbert: King Of The Technocrats
• 2008/12/11: FCNP: The Peak Oil Crisis: The Great December Bailout
• 2008/12/10: Asia Times: Cheap-oil era is over

  And then there is the matter of efficiency & conservation:

• 2008/12/12: PhysOrg: 'Light within a light' offers CFL efficiency with incandescent bulb shape
• 2008/12/12: GristMill: Effing brilliant -- The light-related news keeps flooding in
• 2008/12/09: EurActiv: EU to switch off traditional light bulbs by 2012
• 2008/12/08: PhysOrg: EU agrees to switch off old-style light bulbs by Sept. 2012

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

• 2008/12/13: BBC: Revving China's auto industry
  A model poses by a F3DM electric vehicle at 2008 China High-tech Fair (October 2008) in Shenzhen Cars leave me cold, but not the BYD F3DM. I drove it the other day, and it really is remarkable.
• 2008/12/13: AngryBear: Plunging U.S. car sales for September
• 2008/12/12: CNN: U.S. driving on the decline -- Americans continue to avoid the open roads, even as gas prices continue to fall, says the Department of Transportation
• 2008/12/12: WSJ:EnvCap: Bailout Blues: Is That the End of Detroit's Green Revolution?
• 2008/12/12: BBC: Chinese car sales hit by slowdown
  Chinese car sales have plummeted and the country's retail sales have slowed as the global economic downturn hits the economy. Car sales fell by 14.6% in November compared with the same month last year, a bigger drop than had been expected.
• 2008/12/11: GristMill: Can we get those good cars here? NYT: Temporarily relax regulations to allow Big Three's European models in the U.S.
• 2008/12/10: ERabett: Who says?
• 2008/12/11: AutoBG: Nissan electric vehicle Cube prototype on display to the public in Tokyo
• 2008/12/10: PeakEnergy: Zenn and the art of electric car maintenance
• 2008/12/09: WSJ:EnvCap: Like a Rock: Hybrid Car Sales Plummet
• 2008/12/09: TreeHugger: GM, Ford Can Meet US's Strongest Emissions Standards by 2012, Based on New Fuel Economy Proposals
• 2008/12/09: DeSmogBlog: Great Idea! Bob Lutz Offers Himself as GM Sacrifice
• 2008/12/09: ThinkP: Lutz Off Message: 'The American Public Wants Sport Utilites And Large Pickup Trucks'
• 2008/12/08: BCLSB: Good News On Electric Vehicles
• 2008/12/08: TreeHugger: Norway Electric Car Sales Set Records: High Gas Prices Anyone?
• 2008/12/08: AutoBG: Ontario will allow low-speed electric vehicles, with warnings, on public roads
• 2008/12/08: CBC: Ontario to set standards for electric car

  I wonder two things -- Will this report ever be released & How did he reach this conclusion?

• 2008/12/13: AutoBG: EU-sponsored report critical of electric vehicles?
• 2008/12/11: FTimes: Politically inconvenient truth about electric cars
  [...] the automobile industry has found itself at the heart of the climate change debate. Indeed, Mr Sarkozy's own government commissioned months ago one of France's leading energy experts -- Jean Syrota, the former French energy industry regulator -- to draw up a report to analyse all the options for building cleaner and more efficient mass-market cars by 2030. The 129-page report was completed in September to coincide with the Paris motor show. But the government has continued to sit on it and seems reluctant to ever publish it. Yet all those who have managed to glimpse at the document agree that it makes interesting reading. It concludes that there is not much future in the much vaunted developed of all electric-powered cars. Instead, it suggests that the traditional combustion engine powered by petrol, diesel, ethanol or new biofuels still offers the most realistic prospect of developing cleaner vehicles.

The reaction of business to climate change will be critical:

• 2008/12/11: EnvFin: Asset managers must do more on climate, says Blood
• 2008/12/11: CERES: Corporate Governance on Climate Change Report
• 2008/12/12: Yahoo: Climate change 'largely ignored' by many big firms: report
• 2008/12/11: Google:AP: UN's Ban: invest in fighting climate change
• 2008/12/11: Xinhuanet: Ban calls for investment in green future at UN climate talks
• 2008/12/11: TerraDaily: Climate change: Asian Development Bank sets up carbon fund
• 2008/12/10: TreeHugger: Two Banks Turning a (Slightly) Darker Shade of Green: HSBC and Bank of America Review Enviro Policies
• 2008/12/08: ABC(Au): Global business leaders call for tougher emissions targets

  Anyone would think these guys were appointed by Bush:

• 2008/12/09: GristMill: Coal hard cash -- Amid climate talks, World Bank considers $5 billion loan for most carbon-intensive project ever
• 2008/12/09: Xinhuanet: Activists: World Bank unfit to manage climate funds

  Meanwhile in the greenwashing chronicles:

• 2008/12/12: TreeHugger: Greenwash Watch: Catching CO2 With A Butterfly Net
• 2008/12/10: Maribo: Coal-powered holiday rituals
• 2008/12/09: GristMill: O come all ye enemies of the human race

  The carbon lobby are up to the usual:

• 2008/12/13: Deltoid: Potty peer pokes 'pedia
• 2008/12/12: MTobis: Googlebombed
• 2008/12/13: BCLSB: No Effect
• 2008/12/12: ClimateP: Scientist: "Our conclusions were misinterpreted" by Inhofe, CO2 -- but not the sun -- "is significantly correlated" with temperature since 1850
• 2008/12/11: ClimateP: Council on Foreign Relations is duped by Inhofe, labels denial rehash an "Essential Document" and a "primary source"
• 2008/12/11: BSD: Watts Up With That mistranslates Norwegian glacier news
• 2008/12/12: Stoat: Monckton again
• 2008/12/11: ERabett: The Tim Ball Nominees
• 2008/12/12: Maribo: Attack of the skeptics XXIII: Imhofe won't quit
• 2008/12/08: N3xus6: Silenced
• 2008/12/12: QuarkSoup: No Gore Effect in Poznan
• 2008/12/12: SpaceDaily: Czech president hits at EU climate deal
• 2008/12/11: ClimateP: Inhofe recycles long-debunked denier talking points -- will the media be fooled (again)?
• 2008/12/11: ERabett: Via Quark Soup -- Notice of an interesting debate...
• 2008/12/11: Deltoid: 650 international scientists? Err, not exactly.
• 2008/12/11: Deltoid: And the winner is ...
• 2008/12/10: DeSmogBlog: Poznan: (Insincere) Praise for Marc Morano
• 2008/12/10: KSJT: Arizona Daily Star (or, Call Climate Central!): Guest columnist provides all-star list of reasons to love CO2 and hope for more...
• 2008/12/09: GristMill: The 25 middle-aged white guys who are frying the earth
• 2008/12/09: JEB: Do solar/heliospheric changes affect the earth's climate?
• 2008/12/09: Deltoid: How would you describe this graph of global sea level?
• 2008/12/09: Guardian(UK): Cyberspace has buried its head in a cesspit of climate change gibberish
  The Stansted protesters get it. The politicians of Poznan don't quite. But online, planted deniers drive a blinkered fiction
• 2008/12/08: RealClimate: Contrarians and consensus: The case of the midwife toad
• 2008/12/08: Intersection:SRK: The Rise Of The Deniers
• 2008/12/07: TP:WonkRoom: Polluter Front Group Prepares Attack Against Western Climate Initiative

  Massey CEO Don Blankenship outdid himself this week:

• 2008/12/13: TP:WonkRoom: Video Of Dirty Coal King Blankenship: 'The Greeniacs Are Taking Over The World'
• 2008/12/11: TreeHugger: If You Don't Like Coal You Are A Commie! Atheist! Enemy! [Don Blankenship]
• 2008/12/11: DeSmogBlog: Massey Energy CEO [Don] Blankenship's anti-environment screed caught on tape

  ACCCE dropped a PR campaign in shame:

• 2008/12/12: ClimateP: The day the (coal) music died
• 2008/12/12: TreeHugger: Clean Coal Carolers Slink out of Town in Shame
• 2008/12/12: DeSmogBlog: ACCCE Coal Carolers scrubbed, scrapped and gone forever (I hope)
• 2008/12/12: ThinkP: Coal Front Group Forced To Take Down 'Coal Carolers' Campaign In The Face Of Widespread Scorn
• 2008/12/11: AFTIC: "Frosty the Coalman"
• 2008/12/10: ThinkP: 'Frosty the Coalman': King Coal Launches Holiday-Themed Greenwashing Campaign
• 2008/12/10: ClimateP: You won't believe your ears: Frosty the Coalman, Clean Coal Night, Deck the Halls with Clean Coal ...an unintentionally brilliant parody of The Onion...

  Mixed emotion, sad news:

• 2008/12/10: HillHeat: Quietly, Goliath Wins in Exxon Valdez

  As for climate miscellanea:

• 2008/12/13: CJR: A One-Stop Shop for Climate Information? Princeton startup [Climate Central] attempts to pair journalists' yin with scientists' yang
• 2008/12/12: GristMill: Who says economists don't have a sense of humor? Climate website combines economics with climate change realities
• 2008/12/12: QuarkSoup: Watch Global Warming As It Happens
• 2008/12/11: Guardian(UK): Carbon-calculating data site Amee scores seven-figure investment
• 2008/12/11: CommonTragedies: Suggestions for climate and trade policy
• 2008/12/10: CNN: Good planets are hard to find
  Larry Schweiger: Global warming is the defining issue of the 21st century - He says warming could contribute to extinction of many species - Schweiger says disastrous drought and flooding could result from warming - Schweiger: We must balance human needs with preservation of natural world
• 2008/12/10: JFleck: Meanwhile, Back at Earth's Climate
• 2008/12/10: EarthTimes: Diverse Latin America can lead climate solutions, World Bank says
• 2008/12/10: ENN: Wetter and wilder: the signs of warming everywhere
• 2008/12/10: OilChange: Last Orders in the Last Chance Saloon
• 2008/12/10: Guardian(UK): Wetter and wilder: the signs of warming everywhere
• 2008/12/09: ClimateP: Monbiot: Cyberspace has buried its head in a cesspit of climate change gibberish
• 2008/12/09: GristMill: The good borg -- The World Community Grid sets its sights -- and processing power -- on clean energy
• 2008/12/09: UCAR: Climate Change Threat: Developing Countries Lack Means to Acquire More Efficient Technologies
• 2008/12/08: KSJT: CJR: Climate Central, a journalism-research combo to the rescue of mainstream news?
• 2008/12/08: TreeHugger: Your Computer Could Save the World While Idling
• 2008/12/08: HuffPo: A Gift to Planet Earth and Humanity
  A miracle has occurred. Many were beginning to contemplate a survival strategy because of the dual hammer of Peak Oil and Global Warming. But a funny thing happened on our way to doomsday. It is appearing that we are getting a reprieve, and, ironically, the gift is this serious, but fixable, economic collapse.

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

• Food Timeline: food history & historic recipes
• Arctic Circle Cartoons
• GermanWatch: Climate Change Performance Index 2009 -- A comparison of the 57 top CO2 emitting nations
• Berkeley: Tad W. Patzek, Biofuel/Sustainability Papers
• IBI: International Biochar Initiative
• CCE: Climate Change Economics
• PEJ: Peace, Earth & Justice News
• AMEE: Avoiding Mass Extinction Engine
• INECE: The International Network for Environmental Compliance and Enforcement
• SourceWatch: Key private sector decision makers on coal
• Twine: Geoengineering -- Information about and discussion of Geoengineering, planetary engineering, or [re]terraforming to affect the Earth's environment
• Environmental Defence
• WCG: The Clean Energy Project
• 2008/12/12: ESA: Keeping an eye on Wilkins Ice Shelf

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.

"...we are coming of age on a finite planet and only just now recognizing that it is finite. So how we mesh infinite aspirations of a species that's been on this explosive trajectory -- not just of population growth but of consumptive appetite -- how can we make a transition to a sort of stabilized and still prosperous relationship with the Earth and each other is the story of our time." -Andrew Revkin

• Global Warming Links
• Global Warming News Archive
• Energy
• Energy News
• Environmental Issues
• ---
• H.E. Taylor (homepage)