Sipping from the internet firehose...
This weekly posting is brought to you courtesy of H.E.Taylor. Happy reading, I hope you enjoy this week's Global Warming news roundup
November 30, 2008
- Top Stories:Poznan, Recession Gambits, ICE, Mandate Survey
- NW Passage, Greenland Geopolitics, Wilkins, Icebergs Calving, Romm & Revkin, Late Comments
- Food Crisis, Food vs. Biofuel, Food Production
- Hurricanes, GHG Stats, Carbon Cycle, Paleoclimate, Glaciers, Sea Levels, Satellites, DSCOVR
- Impacts, Forests, Corals, Floods & Droughts
- Mitigation, Transportation, Buildings, Sequestration, Geoengineering, Adaptation
- Journals, Misc. Science, Hansen
- Kyoto, Kyoto-2, UN
- Politics: America, Britain, Europe, Australia, China, Asia, Canada
- Ecological Economics, Unconsuming, IPAT, Apocalypso, Media, Books, Courts
- Energy, Solar, Coal, Biofuel, Nukes, Peak Oil, Efficiency, Cars, Business, Greenwashing, Insurance
- Carbon Lobby, Miscellaneous Climate, Useful Links
- Shameless Self Promotion, .sig
- 2008/11/30: uComics: (cartoon - Toles) George, Did You Remember...
- 2008/11/29: TI:CF: (cartoon - Roberts) Christmas card
- 2008/11/29: TI:CF: (cartoon - Roberts) Virgin Suicides
- 2008/11/30: uComics: (cartoon - Wiley) A Visitor from the Future
- 2008/11/25: TI:CF: (cartoon - Roberts) Punishing Success
The UNFCCC Poznan meeting gathered steam this week, starts Monday:
- UNFCCC: The United Nations Climate Change Conference in Poznan', 1-12 December 2008
- 2008/11/30: PhysOrg: Climate change gathers steam, say scientists
- 2008/11/29: ABC(Au): Australian delegation heads to Poland for climate talks
Climate Change Minister Penny Wong says an Australia delegation will arrive in Poland this weekend to begin work on a new global climate deal. About 9,000 people are expected to participate in the United Nations Climate Change Conference and meeting of parties to the Kyoto Protocol which start in Poznan on Monday. - 2008/11/29: EUPol: The EU must lead the way at the upcoming UN climate change talks in Poznan, a senior UN official [UNFCCC head, Yvo de Boer] has said
- 2008/11/29: Xinhuanet: UN climate change conference to be held in Poznan next month
- 2008/11/29: Reuters: U.N. urges climate cash boost for poorest
- 2008/11/29: Times(UK): Nations urged to agree new formula for cutting greenhouse gases -- targets would be measured per capita
- 2008/11/28: TheAge: Nations to seek climate pact amid gloom
- 2008/11/28: DeSmogBlog: Twitter the Poznan Climate Change Conference - #poznan
- 2008/11/28: ENN: Poorer nations bear brunt of climate change [Poznan]
- 2008/11/28: EnvEcon: Not so fast international climate negotiators!
[...] to some extent, international climate negotiators will remain in limbo until Jan. 20, when President-elect Barack Obama enters the White House. - 2008/11/27: NYT: Save the Economy, and the Planet [Poznan]
Environment ministers preparing for next week's talks on global warming in Poznan, Poland, have been sounding decidedly downbeat. From Paris to Beijing, the refrain is the same: This is no time to pursue ambitious plans to stop global warming. We can't deal with a financial crisis and reduce emissions at the same time. There is a very different message coming from this country. President-elect Barack Obama is arguing that there is no better time than the present to invest heavily in clean energy technologies. Such investment, he says, would confront the threat of unchecked warming, reduce the country's dependence on foreign oil and help revive the American economy. Call it what you will: a climate policy wrapped inside an energy policy wrapped inside an economic policy. By any name, it is a radical shift from the defeatism and denial that marked President Bush's eight years in office. If Mr. Obama follows through on his commitments, this country will at last provide the global leadership that is essential for addressing the dangers of climate change. - 2008/11/27: PhysOrg: Europeans concerned about US climate commitment
- 2008/11/27: Google:AFP: US ready to climb into hot seat on climate change [Poznan]
- 2008/11/27: NTI: India wants economic package for tackling climate change
- 2008/11/26: Google:CP: UN talks chance for Canada to restore climate-change cred: environmentalists
- 2008/11/27: ChinaDaily: China committed to climate promises
- 2008/11/27: DeSmogBlog: UNFCCC: World leaders face big expectations, weak support
- 2008/11/26: Guardian(UK): Economic slump may constrain US climate ambitions, [John] Kerry warns
- 2008/11/25: EurActiv: UN maps out national positions ahead of climate talks
- 2008/11/26: NatureCF: Looking forward to Poznan, and beyond
- 2008/11/26: Xinhuanet: UN chief to attend climate change conference in Poland
- 2008/11/25: Reuters: Downturn tests resolve at UN climate talks
- 2008/11/26: EarthTimes: Danish minister: EU must lead on climate change
- 2008/11/26: EarthTimes: Sweden sees Poznan climate parley as important 'halfway stage'
- 2008/11/26: EarthTimes: Poorer nations bear brunt of climate change
- 2008/11/26: WSJ:EnvCap: Stern Truths: Climate Guru Still Hopeful Ahead of Polish Summit
- 2008/11/25: ENN: [Economic] Downturn tests resolve at U.N. climate talks
The global recession, the bailouts and the green implications are getting a lot of attention:
- 2008/11/28: Reuters: Rich shelving CO2 cut ambitions as economies slow
- 2008/11/24: REA: A Stimulus Package for Renewable Energy Would Benefit Economy and Climate, Says German Study
The solution to the world's two biggest crisis -- the economic and the global warming crisis -- is exactly the same: a huge government investment plan in renewable energy will not only help kick start economies, but it will also help fight global warming, according to a report by Deutsche Bank. - 2008/11/27: Reuters: Climate fight costs may be three times more [says UN-IEA report]
- 2008/11/28: Google:AFP: Financial crisis no excuse to slow carbon fight: UN climate chief
- 2008/11/27: NatureTGB: Credit crunch chills climate change choices
- 2008/11/27: Reuters: Rich shelving CO2 cut ambitions as economies slow
- 2008/11/26: ClimateP: Green Recovery 'Round the Globe
- 2008/11/25: NYT: Slump May Limit Moves on Clean Energy
- 2008/11/25: Guardian(UK): Financial crisis? That's nothing -- The coming energy crisis is going to dwarf the financial crisis, says the head of Shell: if only he were wrong
- 2008/11/24: FPIF: Bailouts Dwarf Spending on Climate and Poverty Crises
- 2008/11/25: Guardian(UK): The planet is now so vandalised that only total energy renewal can save us
It may be too late. But without radical action, we will be the generation that saved the banks and let the biosphere collapse - 2008/11/28: Telegraph(UK): Lawyers call for international court for the environment
A former chairman of the Bar Council is calling for an international court for the environment to punish states that fail to protect wildlife and prevent climate change - 2008/11/28: CBC: 1st commercial ship sails through Northwest Passage
The Canadian Coast Guard has confirmed that in a major first, a commercial ship travelled through the Northwest Passage this fall to deliver supplies to communities in western Nunavut. The MV Camilla Desgagnés, owned by Desgagnés Transarctik Inc., transported cargo from Montreal to the hamlets of Cambridge Bay, Kugluktuk, Gjoa Haven and Taloyoak in September. "We did have a commercial cargo vessel that did the first scheduled run from Montreal, up through the eastern Arctic, through the Northwest Passage to deliver cargo to communities in the west," Brian LeBlanc of the Canadian Coast Guard told CBC News. "That was the first -- that I'm aware of anyway -- commercial cargo delivery from the east through the Northwest Passage." - 2008/11/30: BCLSB: Meanwhile, In More Important News [NW Passage ship]
- 2008/11/29: ClimateP: First commercial ship sails through Northwest Passage: "I didn't see one cube of ice"
- 2008/11/29: Maribo: Commerical ship uses the Northwest Passage
Greenlanders voted to split from Denmark, changing the geopolitical equation in the Arctic:
- 2008/11/29: Guardian(UK): Great Danes -- But not if you're a Greenlander. The country prefers to go it alone - with a little help from its fossil fuel deposits
- 2008/11/26: TreeHugger: Greenlanders See Independence and Natural Riches as the Upside of Climate Change
- 2008/11/26: NatureN: Greenland gambles on warmer, richer climate -- As melting ice uncovers natural resources, Greenlanders vote to step closer to independence
- 2008/11/26: CBC: Greenlanders vote for more independence
- 2008/11/24: Google:AP: Dreaming of oil, Greenland votes on more autonomy
Otherwise in Arctic news:
- 2008/11/29: Stoat: Another trail of twaddle
- 2008/11/27: PhysOrg: Two degree rise could spark Greenland ice sheet meltdown: WWF
- 2008/11/25: CanWest: Fast-melting Arctic ice, Afghan security greatest challenges for Forces: top soldier -- Defence chief Gen. Natynczyk tells it like it is
- 2008/11/: Atlantic: The transformation of the Arctic - Sea Change [map]
- 2008/11/24: PhysOrg: How Arctic melting could benefit shippers, oil companies
In the Antarctic, the Wilkins Ice Sheet is fracturing:
- 2008/11/29: UPI: Antarctic ice shelf shows new rifts
- 2008/03/25: BAS: Antarctic [Wilkins] ice shelf 'hangs by a thread'
- 2008/11/29: CNN: New rifts form on Antarctic ice shelf
Scientists have identified new rifts on an Antarctic ice shelf - The Wilkins Ice Shelf is connected to two Antarctic islands - Scientists first spotted rifts in the ice shelf in late February - 2008/11/28: ESA: Wilkins Ice Shelf under threat
- 2008/11/28: ClimaticideChronicles: Final Wilkins Ice-Sheet Breakup Looms
- 2008/11/28: PhysOrg: Wilkins Ice Shelf under threat
- 2008/11/28: SciDaily: Antarctica: Wilkins Ice Shelf Under Threat
A theory on how icebergs calve has been posited:
- 2008/11/28: TreeHugger: How Do Icebergs Form? Scientists Explain in New Study
- 2008/11/28: NatureTGB: Ice work guys!
- 2008/11/28: NewScientist: Mystery of iceberg 'birth' solved
- 2008/11/28: ABC(Au): US scientists crack iceberg mystery
US scientists have figured out how icebergs break off Antarctica and Greenland, a finding that may help predict rising sea levels as the climate warms - 2008/11/27: BBC: Clue to break-up of ice shelves -- US researchers have come up with a way to predict the rate at which ice shelves break apart into icebergs
- 2008/11/27: PhysOrg: Speed matters for ice-shelf breaking
- 2008/11/27: Eureka: Speed matters for ice-shelf breaking
Note how survey results can be interpreted at will:
- 2008/11/28: CanWest: Support for climate-change efforts falling -- Fewer people willing to make sacrifices for environment: [international] poll
- 2008/11/26: NewScientist: Climate change survey gives mandate for action
- 2008/11/26: BBC: 'World mandate' on climate action
An opinion poll in 11 countries has produced what organisers term a "global mandate" for action on climate change. About half of the respondents wanted governments to play a major role in curbing emissions, but only a quarter said their leaders were doing enough. In developing countries, a majority of people were prepared to make "lifestyle changes" to reduce climate change. - 2008/11/27: Stoat: When will they learn?
- 2008/11/26: NatureCF: Is it a Pearl Harbor if it has to happen twice?
- 2008/11/25: GristMill: Revkin 'n' Romm
- 2008/11/24: ClimateP: What are the near-term climate Pearl Harbors?
- 2008/11/24: DotEarth: Joe Romm on Hansen's Mistakes, Cap's Limits
The end-of-year roundup stories have started already:
- 2008/11/30: AutoBG: Time's 50 Best Inventions of 2008 includes assorted greenery
A virtual conference in Second Life is coming up next week:
- 2008/11/28: NatureCF: Calling all climate-conscious avatars...[conference in Second Life Dec 3rd]
A multidenominational conference on global warming went down in Uppsala Sweden this week:
- 2008/11/28: NatureTGB: Get right with God: fight climate change
- 2008/11/28: EarthTimes: Swedish archbishop: Faith can help in climate change efforts
- 2008/11/28: BBC: Faiths in climate change summit
Hundreds of representatives of the world's leading religions are in Sweden for a summit on climate change - said to be the first of its kind. The two-day conference involves Christians, Muslims, Jews, Chinese Daoists and a native American representative, among others. They aim to set a manifesto to encourage far-reaching policy goals from the United Nations. They also want to encourage personal commitments from people of faith. BBC religious affairs correspondent Christopher Landau, at the meeting convened by the archbishop of Sweden in Uppsala, says the lack of enthusiasm for action on climate change in some religious quarters is being tackled head on by the meeting. - 2008/11/25: JEB: Eco-genius invents the dehumidifier
Late comment on the IEA WEO:
- 2008/11/24: IR^2: The 2008 IEA WEO - Renewable Energy Highlights
- 2008/11/26: IR^2: Renewable Energy Highlights and Commentary [IEA]
- 2008/11/24: ERabett: Hair on fire
- 2008/11/25: OilDrum: The IEA WEO 2008: Will coal usage be phased out?
- 2008/11/24: ClimateP: Science/IEA: World oil crunch looming? Not if we can find six Saudi Arabias!
- 2008/11/24: BBerg: Governments, Companies Must Hasten Carbon Capture, IEA Says
Late comment on the Living Planet Report:
- 2008/11/28: WorldChanging: WWF Living Planet Report 2008
The food crisis is ongoing:
- 2008/11/30: Guardian(UK): In a land of plenty, why do they still go hungry?
- 2008/11/27: CDreams: Why the Attacks in India Should Surprise Nobody
[...] Americans are largely shielded from the shocking reality of India. According to the World Bank's own estimates on poverty, almost half of all Indians live below the new international poverty line of $1.25 (PPP) per day.[1] The World Bank further estimates that 33% of the global poor now reside in India. [2] Moreover, India also has 828 million people, or 75.6% of the population living below $2 a day, compared to 72.2% for Sub-Saharan Africa.[3] A quarter of the nation's population earns less than the government-specified poverty threshold of $0.40/day. Someone should tell the starving masses who have remained largely marginalized and subjugated that India is a "success story" because that's not reflected in most Indian's lives. Income inequality in India, as measured by the Gini coefficient, is increasing at a disturbingly destabilizing rate.[4] In addition, India has a higher rate of malnutrition among children under the age of three than any other country in the world (46% in year 2007).[5],[6] - 2008/11/26: NYT: Food Prices Expected to Keep Going Up
- 2008/11/25: USAToday: Food banks can't meet growing demand
- 2008/11/25: Yahoo: Food prices in '09 get aid from cheaper oil, grain
- 2008/11/26: WaPo: Americans' Food Stamp Use Nears All-Time High
- 2008/11/25: WpgSun: More Canadians relying on food banks
- 2008/11/21: DeccanHerald: New geopolitics of world agriculture -- The price of crops is rising with the rise in the cost of oil and is thus driving up food prices
- 2008/11/23: DenverPost: Down on the farm, a frenzy over free food - In a sign of bad economic times, more than 40,000 show up when a Weld family invites people to gather surplus produce
- 2008/11/23: RussiaToday: The right to eat: Earth faces starvation
More people -- less food. This is what the world is heading into: millions are already dying from hunger, and this figure is set to increase tenfold if food and agriculture policies of mankind stay the same. - 2008/11/26: EcoWorldly: Biofuels Push Ethiopian Farmers to Food Aid
- 2008/11/26: GristMill: Making biofuel out of small farmers -- Impoverished Africans can't eat their own crops
- 2008/11/26: NUPGE: Biofuels or Biofools?
- 2008/11/23: STimes: Fuel from food? The feast is over
In future years we may look back at the Great Mexican Tortilla Crisis of 2006 as the time when ethanol lost its vroom. - 2008/11/29: CBC: Manitoba to conduct environmental review of farming practices
- 2008/11/27: Guardian(UK): A nation of gardeners
Fruit and vegetable gardens in the US are rising in popularity as environmental consciousness meets depression economics - 2008/11/26: BBC: Farm subsidies - a necessary evil?
Over the last few years, agriculture ministers have been working to dismantle the system of paying farmers subsidies for the food they produce known as the Common Agricultural Policy, or CAP. Originally set up to increase productivity and stabilise markets in a Europe still haunted by the spectre of wartime hunger, by the 1970s and 1980s tales of butter and beef "mountains", bought and stored by European officials to keep the price of produce artificially high, led to calls for reform. It took many years, but payments are now being shifted to instead encourage rural development and good environmental practices on farms. But some agricultural experts are warning that as world food supply is predicted to fall behind global demand, a return to production subsidies may be the only way to ensure we can continue to feed ourselves in the long term. - 2008/11/26: CBC: Wheat Board says grain shipments are at record levels
- 2008/11/26: CCurrents: Restoring Food Security And A Dying Way Of Life : Getting To Know Your Local Farmer
- 2008/11/25: People's Daily: China's grain yield this year will "definitely" hit a record high...a senior agricultural official said
In the hurricane wars, Nisha blew across southern India, but it was quiet in the Atlantic and Pacific:
- 2008/11/29: SciDaily: 2008 Atlantic Hurricane Season Sets Records
- 2008/11/26: TerraDaily: Hurricane season typical -- except for Ike
- 2008/11/26: NOAANews: Atlantic Hurricane Season Sets Records
- 2008/11/26: PhysOrg: 2008 saw record-breaking hurricane season: US agency
- 2008/11/26: QuarkSoup: 2008 hurricane season was more active than usual
- 2008/11/26: Wunderground: Hurricane season of 2008 draws to a close
Meanwhile GHGs are still going up:
- 2008/11/26: People's Daily: WMO: Greenhouse gases reach record highs in 2007
- 2008/11/26: ENN: Greenhouse gases hit record levels last year
- 2008/11/25: WMO: Atmospheric carbon dioxide levels reach new highs
- 2008/11/25: UN: Greenhouse gas level reached all-time high in 2007, UN reports
- 2008/11/25: ABC(Au): Greenhouse gases rise to record levels in 2007: WMO
- 2008/11/25: EarthTimes: Greenhouse gas concentration on the rise, report says
- 2008/11/25: WpgSun: Greenhouse gases at record highs: UN
And in the carbon cycle:
- 2008/11/30: Independent(UK): Greenhouse gases will heat up planet 'for ever' -- New study shows the effects of CO2 pollution will be felt for hundreds of thousands of years
- 2008/11/26: ABC(Au): Southern Ocean study offers help in climate fight -- There is new evidence to suggest that the world's largest carbon sink, the Southern Ocean, is adapting to climate change
- 2008/11/26: ABC(Au): Southern Ocean more resilient than first thought: study
- 2008/11/25: EarthTimes: UN: 'Carbon sink' Africa counters greenhouse gases' impact
- 2008/11/24: Reuters: Southern Ocean changing but still major CO2 sink: study
- 2008/11/24: NatureCF: Antarctic currents aren't a-changing
While in the paleoclimate:
- 2008/11/24: USGS: Getting Warmer? Prehistoric Climate Can Help Forecast Future Changes
Glaciers are melting:
- 2008/11/26: ClimateP: Another climate impact comes faster than predicted: Himalayan glaciers "decapitated"
- 2008/11/25: TreeHugger: Everest and Himalayan Glaciers Could Vanish By 2035, Imperiling a Billion People
- 2008/11/25: ENN: Tibetan glaciers rapidly melting
Sea levels are rising:
- 2008/11/29: SciDaily: Accelerated Melting Of Continental Icepacks Is Major Reason For Rise In Sea Level Between 2003 And 2008
- 2008/11/28: IOL: Global warming a major threat to Nigerians
- 2008/11/28: Google:AFP: Bangladesh's climate refugees search for higher ground
- 2008/11/26: Yahoo: Climate change is a battle for existence in the Maldives
- 2008/11/24: SciDaily: How Global Warming May Affect U.S. Beaches, Coastline
Meanwhile in near earth orbit:
- 2008/11/27: SciDaily: Clouds And Climate Change: CERES Flight Model Moves Toward Launch
- 2008/11/26: BBC: UK weighs into Earth-check system
Britain says it will put substantial investment into the world's biggest environmental monitoring project. The UK delegation to the European Space Agency ministerial meeting in The Hague has pledged 102m euros (£86m) to GMES. The Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) programme will use satellites to build a full picture of the state of the planet. The UK contribution should position its national scientists and engineers to play an important role in the project. GMES, sometimes also referred to as Kopernikus, is a joint venture between the European Union and Esa, and will cost in total in excess of 2bn euros. - 2008/11/23: DeSmogBlog: DesmogBlog Breaks DSCOVR Story in Nature
More GW impacts are being seen:
- 2008/11/24: FuturePundit: Ocean Acidity Growing Faster Than Expected
- 2008/11/29: SciDaily: Influence Of Climate Warming On The Increase In Tick-borne Diseases
- 2008/11/28: SciDaily: Ocean Acidification In The Caribbean Significant, Yet Variable
- 2008/11/27: NewScientist: Did Neanderthal cells cook as the climate warmed?
- 2008/11/26: PhysOrg: Climate change wiped out cave bears 13 millennia earlier than thought
- 2008/11/26: ENN: Climate change wiped out cave bears 13 millennia earlier than thought
- 2008/11/26: PeakEnergy: Ocean acidification increasing faster than previously thought
- 2008/11/25: NatureTGB: File under: 'it's worse than we thought' [ocean acidification]
- 2008/11/25: KSJT: NPR, USA Today, Sci. American, etc: Washington's mussels frayed and dying, --- .or Here may be how an ocean planet enters a new epoch.
- 2008/11/25: Stanford: Stanford researchers investigate how plants adapt to climate
How many mouths does a plant need in order to survive? The answer changes depending on climate, and some of the decisions are made long before a new leaf sprouts. Stanford researchers have found that the formation of microscopic pores called stomata (derived from the Greek word stoma, meaning mouth) is controlled by a specific signaling pathway that blocks activity of a single protein required for stomata development. - 2008/11/25: OilChange: The Other CO2 Problem...
- 2008/11/25: Guardian(UK): Unexpected rise in carbon-fuelled ocean acidity threatens shellfish, say scientists
- 2008/11/24: ABC(Au): Scientists say they could soon have a formula to better predict which species are most vulnerable to climate change
- 2008/11/24: PhysOrg: Global warming is changing organic matter in soil
- 2008/11/23: DeSmogBlog: Climate Change: It's Worse than You Think
- 2008/11/24: SciDaily: Climate Change May Boost Exposures To Harmful Pollutants
- 2008/11/24: Eureka: Ocean growing more acidic faster than once thought -- Increasing acidity threatens sea life
- 2008/11/24: Eureka: Global warming is changing organic matter in soil
- 2008/11/24: ChinaDaily: Climate change may push more Vietnamese below poverty line
And then there are the world's forests:
- 2008/11/29: EarthTimes: Destruction continues in Brazil's rain forest
- 2008/11/28: PhysOrg: Amazon deforestation up almost 4.0 percent
- 2008/11/26: Tyee: The Fraser's Fragile Forests
- 2008/11/28: Reuters: Brazil Amazon destruction rises after 3-year fall
- 2008/11/29: BBC: Amazon deforestation accelerates
The destruction of the Amazon rainforest in Brazil has accelerated for the first time in four years, Brazilian officials say. Satellite images show 11,968 sq km of land was cleared in the year to July, nearly 4% higher than the year before. - 2008/11/28: CBC: Environmentalist turns to online campaign to protect B.C. forest
- 2008/11/28: ABC(Au): Brazil's environment minister has led a crackdown on illegal timber businesses in the Amazon after loggers ransacked government offices and escaped with contraband wood
- 2008/11/27: Reuters: Forests under threat from climate change - study
- 2008/11/27: NewScientist: World's forests face climate-change crisis
- 2008/11/25: WorldChanging: More Provinces May Agree to Protect Boreal Forest
- 2008/11/25: SciDaily: Chinese Forest Project Could Reduce Number Of Environmental Disasters
- 2008/11/24: Guardian(UK): Forest protection plan could displace millions, say campaigners
Livelihoods of 60m indigenous people at risk from plans to tackle climate change by protecting forests, says Friends of the Earth - 2008/11/25: Guardian(UK): Plans to protect forests could do the opposite, warns Friends of the Earth
Alarm sounded in run-up to UN climate change talks - Corruption and threat to indigenous people feared - 2008/11/24: PhysOrg: Chinese forest project could reduce number of environmental disasters
Corals are dying:
- 2008/11/28: ABC(Au): Researchers fear widespread reef coral bleaching
Marine researchers fear the Great Barrier Reef will suffer more coral bleaching than normal over the next 12 months because of rising sea temperatures. - 2008/11/26: PhysOrg: South Florida's ocean floor declared a protected area for corals
- 2008/11/24: ABC(Au): Climate change and a starfish outbreak have shrunk coral reefs near Fiji, forcing locals to change their lifestyle
As for disruptions of the hydrological cycle[floods & droughts]:
- 2008/11/29: EarthTimes: Southern Brazil flood toll rises to 110
- 2008/11/30: SMH: Flooding rains beat down on Tamworth
People were rescued from trees, cars and causeways after flooding cut the northern NSW town of Tamworth in two yesterday. The NSW Government declared it a "natural disaster area" after severe storms and flooding in the city and surrounding districts affected more than 120 homes and businesses. - 2008/11/28: EarthTimes: Brazil floods are early sign of global warming, expert warns
- 2008/11/29: People's Daily: Flooding leaves 46,000 people homeless in Costa Rica
- 2008/11/28: UN: UN aid agencies bring relief to flood-hit northern Sri Lanka
- 2008/11/28: UN: Panama: UN food agency provides assistance to thousands of flood victims
- 2008/11/28: BBC: The number of deaths following flooding and landslides in the southern Brazilian state of Santa Catarina has risen to 97, with 19 people missing
- 2008/11/27: EarthTimes: Chaos and fear take over southern Brazil in the wake of rain
- 2008/11/27: EarthTimes: Floods, landslides kill 97 in southern Brazil
- 2008/11/26: CBC: Brazil flood victims loot stores; death toll at 97
- 2008/11/26: DailyIndia: Heavy rain in Tamil Nadu kills 28, destroys crops
- 2008/11/26: TerraDaily: 84 killed, 54,000 evacuated in Brazil flooding
- 2008/11/24: TerraDaily: Water resources dwindling in Australia's 'food basket': report
- 2008/11/25: EarthTimes: At least 65 dead in heavy rain in southern Brazil
- 2008/11/25: BBC: Flood deaths in Brazil rise to 68, 53,000 homeless
- 2008/11/25: CBC: 65 dead in Brazil floods
- 2008/11/25: People's Daily: Chinese, European scientists discuss climate change & water cycle
- 2008/11/24: Novosti: Heavy rains in Brazil kill 44, leave over 20,000 homeless
- 2008/11/24: EarthTimes: Six people drown, four missing in floods in northern Philippines
- 2008/11/24: BBC: At least 20 people are reported to have died and thousands have been forced from their homes following floods in Brazil's Santa Catarina state
Elsewhere on the mitigation front:
- 2008/11/28: Maribo: Climate change's third rail [meat consumption]
- 2008/11/26: TreeHugger: Phytocapping To Rehabilitate Landfills, Reduce Greenhouse Emissions
Consider transportation & GHG production:
- 2008/11/28: SciDaily: Road Emissions Dominate Global Transport Emissions
- 2008/11/25: B2B: As Gas Prices Plummet, SUVs And Trucks Make A Comeback
While in the endless quest for sustainable building codes:
- 2008/11/25: GreenGrok: The Man from Greensboro and His Super Green [LEEDS] Hotel
- 2008/11/25: PhysOrg: Strong, lightweight green material could replace concrete, but contains no cement [Cenocell aka coal ash]
- 2008/11/24: EurActiv: Knowledge gaps hinder energy-efficient building transition
As for carbon sequestration:
- 2008/11/26: TerraDaily: Analysis: Rocking the CO2 problem [DOE's Carbon Sequestration Second Atlas]
- 2008/11/25: BBerg: Shell Signs Up to Join Australia's Global Carbon Capture Body
- 2008/11/24: ABC(Au): Rudd reveals carbon capture plans -- The Prime Minister has released a paper about Australia's plans to spend up to $100 million a year to encourage carbon capture and storage
- 2008/11/24: RadioAustralia: Australian PM talks up carbon capture
- 2008/11/04: TechRev: Carbon-Capturing Rock -- Geologists discover that certain rock formations could sequester large amounts of carbon dioxide
- 2008/11/24: MTobis: The peridotite solution
Large scale geo-engineering keeps popping up:
- 2008/11/24: WorldChanging: Geoengineering, Caldeira and Politics
While on the adaptation front:
- 2008/11/27: EarthTimes: Climate changing faster than expected, adaption measures needed
- 2008/11/27: Eureka: Climate change puts forests and people at risk, adaptation needed to avert crisis
Meanwhile in the journals:
- 2008/11/28: ACP: Radiative budget in the presence of multi-layered aerosol structures in the framework of AMMA SOP-0 by J.-C. Raut & P. Chazette
- 2008/11/27: ACP: Modeling the effect of plume-rise on the transport of carbon monoxide over Africa with NCAR CAM by H. Guan et al.
- 2008/11/28: ACPD: Atmospheric oxygen and carbon dioxide observations from two European coastal stations 2000-2005: continental influence, trend changes and APO climatology by C. Sirignano et al.
- 2008/11/28: ACPD: Carbon source/sink information provided by column CO2 measurements from the Orbiting Carbon Observatory by D. F. Baker et al.
- 2008/11/28: ACPD: Comparison of tropospheric chemistry schemes for use within global models by K. M. Emmerson & M. J. Evans
- 2008/11/28: ACPD: Estimating surface CO2 fluxes from space-borne CO2 dry air mole fraction observations using an ensemble Kalman Filter by L. Feng et al.
- 2008/11/28: ACPD: The CO2 inhibition of terrestrial isoprene emission significantly affects future ozone projections by P. J. Young et al.
- 2008/11/27: CP: Recent climate change affecting rainstorm occurrences: a case study in East China by M. Domroes & D. Schaefer
- 2008/11/24: CP: Revisiting the absolute calibration of the Greenland ice-core age-scales by L. C. Skinner
- 2008/11/24: CP: Monsoon response to changes in Earth's orbital parameters: comparisons between simulations of the Eemian and of the Holocene by P. Braconnot et al.
- 2008/11/26: CPD: Late Glacial to Holocene environments in the present-day coldest region of the Northern Hemisphere inferred from a pollen record of Lake Billyakh, Verkhoyansk Mts, NE Siberia by S. Müller et al.
- 2008/11/25: TCD: A new 1 km digital elevation model of Antarctica derived from combined radar and laser data - Part 2: Validation and error estimates by J. A. Griggs & J. L. Bamber
- 2008/11/25: TCD: A new 1 km digital elevation model of the Antarctic derived from combined satellite radar and laser data - Part 1: Data and methods by J. L. Bamber et al.
- 2008/11/24: ACP: Clouds-Aerosols-Precipitation Satellite Analysis Tool (CAPSAT) by I. M. Lensky & D. Rosenfeld
- 2008/11/24: ACP: Particle size distributions in the Eastern Mediterranean troposphere by N. Kalivitis et al.
- 2008/11/24: ACP: Trend analysis of greenhouse gases over Europe measured by a network of ground-based remote FTIR instruments by T. Gardiner et al.
- 2008/11/26: ACPD: Springtime warming and reduced snow cover from carbonaceous particles by M. G. Flanner et al.
- 2008/11/25: PNAS: Metagenomic analysis indicates that stressors induce production of herpes-like viruses in the coral Porites compressa by Rebecca L. Vega Thurber et al.
- 2008/11/25: PNAS: Water conservation in irrigation can increase water use by Frank A. Warda & Manuel Pulido-Velazquez
- 2008/11/25: VoxEU: Carbon, trade policy, and carbon free trade areas by Yan Dong & John Whalley
Trade and environmental regimes may need to be more closely linked in a post-Kyoto world. This column discusses trade policy initiatives' potential contribution to global carbon emissions reduction and the potential impacts of proposals for carbon-reduction-motivated geographical trade arrangements. It suggests that the need to link environmental and trade policy may render the WTO obsolete. - 2007/05/17: Science: Saturation of the Southern Ocean CO2 Sink Due to Recent Climate Change by Corinne Le Quéré et al.
- 2008/11/23: Nature:GeoSci: (ab$) The response of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current to recent climate change by C. W. Böning et al.
- 2008/10/03: GRL: (ab$) Gregorian calendar bias in monthly temperature databases by Randall S. Cerveny et al.
Before we get into politics, there was some science done:
- 2008/11/29: People's Daily: Scientists study Yangtze delta monsoons to understand human impact on climate
More Hansen:
- 2008/11/24: GristMill: Juggling two disasters at once -- James Hansen's recent post on climate change
- 2008/11/23: ClimateP: An open letter to James Hansen on the real truth about stabilizing at 350 ppm
- 2008/11/24: WorldChanging: Jim Hansen's Letter to Obama
Meanwhile on the Kyoto front:
- 2008/11/28: PhysOrg: Germany says well on track to meet Kyoto goals
- 2008/11/28: TreeHugger: The U.S. and Turkey: Akin on Kyoto?
- 2008/11/28: EarthTimes: German CO2 emissions fall below Kyoto requirements
- 2008/11/28: DerSpiegel: Germany Reaches Kyoto Emissions Commitments
- 2008/11/25: EnergyBangla: Country's First CDM Project Goes into Operation
And on the Kyoto-2 front:
- 2008/11/28: NatureCF: Will the US be ready in Copenhagen?
While at the UN:
- 2008/11/29: SciDev: UN climate chief calls for green technology 'revolution'
- 2008/11/24: Xinhuanet: Indonesia to implement Bali Climate Change recommendation in 2009
And on the American political front:
- 2008/11/29: GristMill: How much should we spend to green the U.S.? Public investment and regulation can be main means to green
- 2008/11/29: GristMill: Kick them (gently!) when they're down -- Is an economic downturn the perfect time for cap-and-trade?
- 2008/11/28: NewScientist: Hopes high for science-friendly approach in US politics
- 2008/11/27: CSW: The "Fallen Legion" -- Whistleblower thanksgiving
- 2008/11/28: TreeHugger: Santa Clara to Governator: We See Your RE Standards and We Raise You
- 2008/11/26: GristMill: Joe blow -- West Virginia DEP [Department of Environmental Protection] approves permit to blast Coal River Mountain
- 2008/11/26: GristMill: You know your regulatory incentives are perverse when ... [US energy]
- 2008/07/11: EPA: Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking: Regulating Greenhouse Gas Emissions under the Clean Air Act
- 2008/11/26: WarmingLaw: Go Home. Eat Your Turkey. And Please, Don't Come Back
- 2008/11/25: Reuters: Carbon regulation could "cripple" Texas: Perry
- 2008/11/26: WSJ:EnvCap: Harry Reid: No New Coal Plants in Nevada
- 2008/11/24: GristMill: 'Logical but totally insane' -- Summers receieves flack for his tactless pollution-control memo as VP of World Bank in 1991
- 2008/11/25: NEN: Waxman 'da man (to chair House Energy Committee)
- 2008/11/23: ClimateP: Dingell's fatal blunder -- refusal to compromise
- 2008/11/24: GristMill: Finally past the prologue -- Reflections on the Governors' Climate Summit
- 2008/11/23: CSW: Nonviolent climate action group was labeled terrorist by Maryland State Police spies
The Bush administration's midnight regulation changes continue to gather opprobrium:
- 2008/11/28: DeSmogBlog: Bush's Midnight Regulations: The Worse Is Yet to Come
- 2008/11/28: WaPo: EPA, Interior Dept. Chiefs Will Be Busy Erasing Bush's Mark
- 2008/11/28: ClimateP: EPA, Interior Dept. chiefs will be busy cleaning up Bush's crap
- 2008/11/25: CSM: Democrats brace for 'midnight rules' from Bush
The Bush administration is also lobbying against effective global warming action:
- 2008/11/28: TPMM: White House To Allies: Tell Us Why We Shouldn't Regulate Carbon. No Really, Tell Us. Please.
- 2008/11/27: HillHeat: White House Organizes Mayors Against EPA Global Warming Regulations
- 2008/11/26: WaPo: White House Prods Allies to Oppose Limits on Greenhouse Gases
- 2008/11/26: TP:WonkRoom: Shades Of Treason: White House Lobbies Against Federal Global Warming Regulations
The Obama chatter is nonstop:
- 2008/11/30: ClimateP: New Economy, Part 2: The Green Investment Portfolio
- 2008/11/29: TreeHugger: Western US Governors Caught Over-Stuffing Obama's Suggestion Box
- 2008/11/29: TreeHugger: New Deal 2009? Three Plans to Rescue the Economy and the Earth with Public Transportation
- 2008/11/30: SF Gate: Climate change remains a top priority [Obama]
- 2008/11/29: ClimateP: Building a New, Green Economy, Part 1: Calling Dr. Obama...
- 2008/11/28: BNC: Hansen to Obama Pt III - Fast nuclear reactors are integral
- 2008/11/27: BNC: Hansen to Obama Pt II - Carbon tax with 100% dividend
- 2008/11/24: BNC: Hansen to Obama Pt 1 - the Now or Never plan
- 2008/11/29: TreeHugger: Wolves In The Night - What's The Political Climate? [Obama]
- 2008/11/27: NatureCF: Attn Obama: Earth science agency merger
- 2008/11/27: DeSmogBlog: Obama's Security Chief From Big Oil?
- 2008/11/27: NEN: Recommendations and Reports
- 2008/11/27: Guardian(UK): Economy may force Obama to cut back on green pledge
- 2008/11/27: Guardian(UK): Barack Obama's hopes of change are all in the mind
- 2008/11/26: GristMill: Transition talk: The first step to recovery -- Obama forms recovery council with climate-action advocate at helm
- 2008/11/25: GristMill: Transition talk: A 391-page green gorilla in the room -- Enviro coalition delivers a whopping transition plan to Obamaland
- 2008/11/26: GWWatch: Obama wins the US elocution
- 2008/11/26: TreeHugger: Obama's Economic Stimulus Plan: Cleaning Up Washington, or Greenwashing?
- 2008/11/25: ClimateP: Enviros deliver major "Transition to Green" report
- 2008/11/25: DotEarth: Is World in Obama's 'Shock and Trance' Mode?
- 2008/11/24: Guardian(UK): A Detroit bailout must include a green makeover
- 2008/11/24: ClimateP: New Energy Economy: Part 4, Creating a tangible vision of the future
The Gore-apalooza is still bopping along:
- 2008/11/26: NEN: Obama, Gore, Greenpeace -- How long will this be goin' on?
- 2008/11/24: GristMill: An open letter to Al Gore -- Speak now against the rape of Coal River Mountain
While in the UK:
- 2008/11/27: EnvFin: UK chancellor in surprise renewables boost
- 2008/11/28: Guardian(UK): [London's mayor, Boris] Johnson takes axe to congestion charge zone
Mayor abolishes western extension of scheme - Fears over environmental impact of decision - 2008/11/27: Guardian(UK): UK takes legal lead -- the world's first legally-binding targets for a nation to cut its greenhouse gas emissions
- 2008/11/27: Guardian(UK): Testing times for peer juggling financial crisis and climate peril -- Lord Turner puts forward 'budgets' for green progress - recession or not
- 2008/11/27: Guardian(UK): Climate change watchdog backs expansion of Heathrow
- 2008/11/26: Guardian(UK): Support renewables now -- Feed-in tariffs are vital if we want to meet our green targets - we should stop dithering and get them up and running
- 2008/11/26: Guardian(UK): Britain's first space facility will monitor the health of planet Earth
The new space centre - announced by the European Space Agency yesterday - could be up and running within a year - 2008/11/25: Reuters: UK says supports EU climate plan despite recession
- 2008/11/25: BBC: Coughing up to curb climate change
The UK's Climate Change Bill, which commits future governments to cut CO2 emissions by 80% from 1990 levels by 2050, is about to receive Royal Assent but at what cost? Peter Lilley MP asks why ministers failed to mention that the legislation could cost each family in the UK up to £10,000. - 2008/11/26: BBC: Think tank calls for 'home MOTs'
The government's science think tank has proposed that homes in the UK should have regular MOT-type energy check ups. The think tank, Foresight, is to release a report suggesting a number of radical ways to meet the UK's green goals over the next 50 years. The report calls for less centralised, more small-scale energy production. It will also suggests using "intelligent metering" in homes and businesses, to show the real-time costs of different types of energy. Energy efficiency assessments of buildings - which account for half of all energy use - would also help meet the targets for CO2 emissions. - 2008/11/26: Guardian(UK): Homes and offices should take 'green MoT', says thinktank
- 2008/11/26: Guardian(UK): 'Go greener' call to schools, jails and hospitals [Ed Miliband]
- 2008/11/26: Guardian(UK): Consumers rank climate concerns ahead of economy
- 2008/11/25: BBC: Climate law 'could cost billions'
The UK's Climate Change Bill - due to become law this week - may represent a poor deal for taxpayers, a former Conservative minister has said. Peter Lilley MP says government figures show the bill's costs up to 2050 may far outweigh its benefits. - 2008/11/24: Guardian(UK): Environment Agency chairman urges government to launch 'green new deal' -- Former culture secretary Lord Smith to call for a comprehensive long-term environmental strategy
- 2008/11/25: Guardian(UK): Environment watchdog [Lord Smith] urges Obama-style green New Deal
- 2008/11/24: 24Dash: Calls for 'Green New Deal' to tackle economy and environment [from UK Environment Agency]
- 2008/11/24: BBC: Dismay over car duty 'climb down' -- An environmental group has voiced its dismay over the government's decision to limit the proposed increase in excise duty on the most polluting cars
- 2008/11/24: BBC: Bid to cut UK transport emissions
UK transport emissions could be cut by a quarter by 2020 if the government shifted its policies, a report claims. The Campaign for Better Transport study urges ministers to focus on the biggest possible savings - by tackling lorries, vans, and long-distance commuters. It also proposes an extra tax on air passengers... - 2008/11/29: BBC: France-UK split over EU farm plan
France has failed to get unanimous agreement on the future of the EU's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) during EU farm ministers' talks in Brussels. The UK, Sweden and Latvia objected to the final French draft on EU farm policy after 2013. The CAP farm support scheme is the biggest item of EU spending - absorbing about 55bn euros (£45bn) annually - about 40% of the entire EU budget. The UK has argued strongly for bolder reform of the CAP. - 2008/11/28: EarthTimes: Poland's Walesa lashes out at China for calling off EU summit
- 2008/11/27: EurActiv: EU car industry gets 'green' rescue plan
- 2008/11/27: EurActiv: EU eyes tax breaks to 'green' economic recovery
- 2008/11/27: EurActiv: EU heads towards scaled-down climate ambitions
- 2008/11/27: EarthTimes: Rich EU states must make concessions on climate deal, Poland says
- 2008/11/26: EurActiv: Enlargement split in EU climate feud?
- 2008/11/26: TreeHugger: EU Officials to Data Centers: Get Greener!
- 2008/11/26: EarthTimes: Polish coal miners at centre of EU climate tussle
- 2008/11/26: Reuters: Rushed EU climate talks on course for perfect storm
Stormy negotiations in Brussels this week on tackling climate change highlight heavy industry's success in watering down emissions curbs and mounting frustration in the European Parliament as the dealine looms. Lawmakers fear Europe has handed out too many concessions to industry in its rush to clinch a deal and have vowed to make a final stand. Analysts predict mounting friction in coming weeks and the risk that climate laws will be ruined in the crossfire. Key to the discord is the tight political schedule. - 2008/11/25: EUO: Poland looks to climate 'present' from Sarkozy
Eastern European foreign ministers in Warsaw on Monday (24 November) honed their climate package game plan ahead of the upcoming European summit. Led by Poland, many of the newer member states are opposed to many aspects of the EU's climate and energy reforms, currently under negotiation between the European Commission, the European Parliament and EU capitals. - 2008/11/24: Reuters: EU closer to deal on CO2 emissions for cars
- 2008/11/25: PlanetArk: Polish Miners, Greens Clash On Eve Of Climate Talks
Greenpeace protesters clashed with coal miners at a new opencast mine on Monday in an incident highlighting Poland's environmental dilemma on the eve of a major UN-led conference on climate change. - 2008/11/24: EurActiv: MEPs postpone climate vote
Meanwhile in Australia:
- 2008/11/28: ABC(Au): Climate change sparks call for farmers to consider alternatives
A representative from the Premier's Climate Change Council says Eyre Peninsula farmers should not despair at the prospect of less rain in years to come. Suzanne Miller is in Port Lincoln as part of the State's Community Engagement Board regional meeting. She says farmers have a great tradition of adapting to change. - 2008/11/28: ABC(Au): Greens claim forestry cop out [Parsons Brinckerhoff survey]
The Greens have described as a "cop out" Forestry Tasmania's exclusion from an audit of the state's greenhouse gas emissions. The environmental consultancy Parsons Brinckerhoff audited 25 Tasmanian Government departments The findings, which were released yesterday, said government departments produced about one per cent of the state's greenhouse gas emissions. - 2008/11/28: ABC(Au): ACT Government aiming to exceed Garnaut targets
- 2008/11/28: SMH: Solar wants tax break
Renewable energy researchers and businesses believe the Federal Government is allowing Australia to become a solar backwater, and that the proposed emissions trading scheme is not enough to help the nation meet its clean energy targets. A new national tariff that pays households for all the green power they can produce is essential to make renewable energy competitive with cheaper coal-fired power, according to many delegates at an international conference in Sydney. [Sounds more like a feed-in-tariff, not a tax break. -het] - 2008/11/27: ABC(Au): Tasmania's efforts to tackle climate change have been praised by consultants [Parsons Brinckerhoff] who've audited the government's greenhouse gas emissions, but they say more could be done
- 2008/11/25: ABC(Au): Aust could export 'world leading' climate change expertise
- 2008/11/25: ABC(Au): Household emissions cuts 'should be recognised' [says Australia Institute]
- 2008/11/24: ABC(Au): A leading Queensland climatologist says the State Government should consider changes to infrastructure to capture stormwater from intense rain events
- 2008/11/24: ABC(Au): The Climate Institute is calling on the business community to reveal its position on Australia's carbon pollution reduction targets
- 2008/11/24: ABC(Au): The head of the Clean Energy Council says the Federal Government should do more to encourage energy efficiency
- 2008/11/24: ABC(Au): The Queensland Opposition says the State Government has not come through on its promise to provide a clear picture of its carbon footprint
- 2008/11/24: ABC(Au): New South Wales households will become the last in the country to be paid by a state government to feed their spare solar electricity back into the power grid [via feed-in tariff]
- 2008/11/23: ABC(Au): Scheme aims to boosts solar hot water system numbers
While in China:
- 2008/11/28: Guardian(UK): A 'green lining' in China's economic stimulus plan
It may be counter-intuitive, but a global economic slowdown could help the United States and China work together on climate change... - 2008/11/28: PhysOrg: China's Energy Demand Increases Global Pressure to Seek Out New Sources
And in Asia:
- 2008/11/25: Asia Times: 'Brown clouds' stir Asian conspiracy storm
In Canada, minority neocon PM Harper's government introduced a delusional and malign Financial Update [really an FU] so the opposition parties got together and decided to turf them out of office. Much fun has ensued:
- 2008/11/29: TStar: Harper gives in to political temptation
From time to time, prime ministers are expected to resist political temptation. One of those times is when an economic monster has the country in its grip. It's gross understatement to say Stephen Harper succumbed to base political instincts this week. A leader obsessed with destroying opponents couldn't forego a hazardous lunge at the jugular. One result is the needless, irresponsible creation of a domestic political crisis within an international financial calamity. Another is the frenzied recalibration of a status quo established in an election just six weeks ago. - 2008/11/29: CanWest: Harper's economics credibility just disappeared
- 2008/11/29: CanWest: This is not leadership
When the country's in trouble, real leaders find ways to create unity and confidence. Prime Minister Stephen Harper is doing the opposite. He has begun his shaky second mandate with an irresponsible game of chicken. Finance Minister Jim Flaherty might very well have lost the confidence of the House, when he issued this week his statement filled with wishful economics and gratuitous attacks on public-service unions and rival political parties. It might play well with parts of the Conservative base, but it won't get Canada out of its fiscal quandary. - 2008/11/28: OilChange: Shell Postpones Second Oil Sands Project
- 2008/11/25: al Jazeera: Canada eyes US energy markets -- Ottawa fears the US president-elect could adopt policies that hurt its oil industry.
- 2008/11/26: PhysOrg: Canada's vast oil sands hide dirty environmental secret
- 2008/11/26: DeSmogBlog: Edmonton Journal: Oil Industry Flyer Promotes Global Warming
- 2008/11/25: ClimateP: Do NOT read this post on Canada's climate 'secret' if you don't have a security clearance!
- 2008/11/25: DeSmogBlog: Tar Sands: "Every Canadian has a stake in this"
- 2008/11/24: Yahoo: Little gain from oil sands carbon capture: report
- 2008/11/25: BBerg: Petro-Canada Won't Continue Fort Hills Without Lease
- 2008/11/25: 4SW: Alberta and the Carbon Sequestration Boondoggle
- 2008/11/25: CBC: Alberta reaction mixed to questions about carbon capture technology
Senior Alberta government cabinet ministers expressed different opinions Monday on what effect carbon capture technology would have on reducing pollution from the oilsands industry in light of internal government documents that call that technology into question. Previously secret ministerial briefing notes obtained by CBC News under freedom of information legislation said only a small percentage of carbon dioxide released by mining the oilsands can be captured and injected underground for storage. The briefing notes are based on the findings of a joint Canada-Alberta task force on carbon capture and storage. - 2008/11/24: UPI: Indians: Oil sands development 'genocide'
- 2008/11/24: AGRoDT: You mean Carbon Capture and Sequestration isn't a silver bullet for the oilsands??? Whaaaat?
- 2008/11/24: TGBeaver: About those Tar Sands...Why must they always lie and spin?
- 2008/11/24: Far-n-Wide: The Big Lie [tarsand CCS]
- 2008/11/24: DaveBerta: the carbon capture pipe dream. alberta should abandon the public relations facades and plan for the future
- 2008/11/24: CBC: Secret advice to politicians: tarsands emissions hard to scrub -- Briefing document is pessimistic on carbon storage and capture
As for miscellaneous Canadiana:
- 2008/11/29: CanWest: Environment may take back seat to economy, minister says
- 2008/11/27: CBC: Bruce Power eyes northwest Sask. for nuclear plant
- 2008/11/28: CBC: B.C. considers southern Vancouver Island commuter rail service
- 2008/11/26: CBC: Ottawa buildings invest in greener heating, cooling to save money
- 2008/11/25: CBC: Proposed [Manitoba] wind farm to generate electricity exports
- 2008/11/24: CBC: Canada's largest wind farm to be set up in southern Manitoba [300 mw]
- 2008/11/25: CanWest: Green power bids flooding in to BC Hydro -- Power corporation could receive offers of five times the electricity sought
- 2008/11/24: CanWest: 'An electric vehicle revolution' -- Task force sets ambitious clean-car goal
One in every 20 new cars sold in Canada should be electrically powered within a decade, say members of a task force that on Tuesday is to deliver a progress report to the Harper government about the future of plug-in vehicles. The group was set up by the government last winter to design Canada's Electric Vehicle and Technology Road Map for shifting the transportation industry away from fossil fuels. "It's going to be an electric vehicle revolution," said Michael Elwood, chairperson of the task force... - 2008/11/24: BCLSB: Gwyn Dyer On AGW Geo-Politics: We Should Give The Yankees All The Water They Need
The movement toward a long term ecologically viable economics is glacial:
- 2008/11/25: Tyee: Attacking Margaret Atwood: Are Limits to Growth Real?
- 2008/11/26: Guardian(UK): Critical need for a global system that's better, not bigger
- 2008/11/24: AlterNet: Will the Financial Crisis Put an End to Reckless, Planet-Destroying Consumption?
Are you an unconsumer yet?
- 2008/11/29: TreeHugger: Buy Nothing Day: Remember Jdimytai Damour
- 2008/11/28: CSW: Happy Buy Nothing Day!
- 2008/11/28: TreeHugger: Buy Nothing Day 2008 Has a Hollow Ring
IPAT [Impact = Population * Affluence * Technology] raised its head once again:
- 2008/11/29: OpEdNews: Do the Math
- 2008/11/27: MGS: Population density and climate
Apocalypso anyone?
- 2008/11/22: ABC(US): Today's Unsettling Comparison to 'The Great Dying' -- 250 Million Years Ago, Rising Greenhouse Gas Levels Set Off Catastrophic Changes
- 2008/11/24: NewScientist:SSS: We must plan a survival strategy for our species
As for how the media handles the science of climatology:
- 2008/11/26: CJR: Poland Climate Change Conference -- Journalists from Brazil to Bangladesh hope to show what it means to the developing world
- 2008/11/26: KSJT: Toledo Blade, Yale Forum on Climate Change: Reporter tells how he got to go to Greenland
- 2008/11/25: ClimateP: PBS Newshour runs 2 segments on polar bears that never mention human-caused warming
- 2008/11/25: GristMill: AFP failure -- Do we 'have to' keep using coal?
Remember framing?
- 2008/11/27: Denialism: Mathew Nisbet, Beneath Contempt
[...] I'm done. Whether there is anything to "framing science" or if it's just a con that lets Matt Nisbet publish opinion pieces as "research" I don't care anymore. He's not an opponent worth debating. - 2008/11/25: Denialism: Cranks cry persecution, Nisbet listens
Here is something for your library:
- 2008/11/19: EmbassyMag: The Geopolitics Behind Climate Change [Book Review] _Climate Wars_ by Gwynne Dyer
Meanwhile among the 'Sue the Bastards!' contingent:
- 2008/11/26: G&M: B.C. joins California in emissions court case
- 2008/11/25: CBC: B.C. joins California's court challenge over emission standards
British Columbia is joining California in a court challenge after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency refused to implement the state's new vehicle emission standards. Environment Minister Barry Penner said Tuesday the province has filed a legal brief in the United States court case because of its strong relationship with California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. "Our brief explains to the court that this is important not just to the United States or California but also to jurisdictions outside of the United States, like British Columbia, where we want to see a reduction in tailpipe emissions standards to help meet our overall goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by the year 2020," Penner said. - 2008/11/25: WarmingLaw: More on the Rhode Island Ruling: "None So Blind..."
- 2008/11/25: WarmingLaw: One, Two, Three Strikes, You're Out
- 2008/11/24: WarmingLaw: CAC Files Brief in California v. EPA Supporting California's Greenhouse Gas Emissions Standards
- 2008/11/24: NEN: In landmark decision, Wash state supreme court approves wind [court]
Wrestling over a new energy infrastructure continues unabated:
- 2008/11/29: Telegraph(UK): Ocean currents can power the world, say scientists
- 2008/11/30: PeakEnergy: Tide turns for ocean energy
- 2008/11/30: PeakEnergy: The 1872 Energy Crisis
- 2008/11/30: SMH: Tide turns for ocean energy
An Australian company, using technology that a young Queensland engineer designed, is expected this week to announce a string of international contracts. Atlantis Resources Corporation has developed turbines that can generate electricity from the sea's movement. It has begun trials at San Remo in Victoria. - 2008/11/29: TreeHugger: Doubting Renewable Energy
- 2008/11/29: OilDrum: Low Temperature Geothermal Power
- 2008/11/29: Telegraph(UK): How are we going to face up to energy crisis?
As the world economies battle for air, all of us are facing challenging times. But what lies behind the crisis, and what about beyond it? Beneath the surface of world instability bubbles a much more fundamental issue. How are we going to face up to the earth's energy crisis? And at what cost do we ignore that question? - 2008/11/29: PeakEnergy: [Australian] Energy Bills On The Rise
- 2008/11/28: SlashDot: Ubiquitous Hydrogen Power Not Getting Any Closer
- 2008/11/28: NYT: A Land Rush in Wyoming Spurred by Wind Power
- 2008/11/28: NewScientist: Whatever happened to the hydrogen economy?
- 2008/11/26: Yahoo: How Geothermal Heat Pumps Could Power the Future
- 2008/11/27: PhysOrg: A carbon-neutral way to power your home
A super-efficient system that has the potential to power, heat and cool homes across the UK is being developed at Newcastle University. It works by burning vegetable oil to power a generator and provide electricity for the home. The waste heat from this process is then used to provide heating and hot water and is also converted to cool a fridge. At each step, the waste heat that is produced from engine gases and cooling is used elsewhere to recover the maximum amount of energy from the system. In addition to this, the plant producing the fuel absorbs carbon whilst growing -- resulting in near zero overall carbon emissions. - 2008/11/25: SCitizen: The Energy Optimist's Lexicon
The world's energy optimists often employ a particular lexicon to make their case for abundance far into the future. Whether the lexicon is used cynically or out of ignorance, the result is the same: false impressions. - 2008/11/27: PeakEnergy: Smart meters: are they the answer to big bills?
- 2008/11/27: Guardian(UK): The 10 big energy myths
- 2008/11/26: GristMill: Time for an electron superhighway -- Like the interstate system, a new electrical grid would revolutionize power transmission [US energy]
- 2008/11/26: DeSmogBlog: Spain breaks wind power generation record
- 2008/11/26: EarthTimes: Europe's biggest wind energy park inugurated in Portugal
- 2008/11/26: MiamiHerald: Solar power costlier for Florida than nuclear, [Navigant Consulting] report finds
- 2008/11/25: TreeHugger: New Spanish Wind Power Record: Wind Supplies 43% of Spanish Electric Demand
- 2008/11/24: Yahoo: Wind power meets record demand in Spain: industry group
- 2008/11/25: NEN: Moving wind power around -- WAPA has completed a deal to buy up to 50 megawatts of wind power annually from Basin Electric
- 2008/11/25: PeakEnergy: Low Temperature Geothermal Power
- 2008/11/25: NakedCapitalism: Could Natural Gas Go to $4/MMBtu?
- 2008/11/21: NYT: At a New York Seminary, a Green Idea [Geothermal heating] Gets Tangled in Red Tape
- 2008/11/24: PeakEnergy: Saving Iceland With Geothermal Power
Meanwhile among the solar aficionados:
- 2008/11/24: FuturePundit: Reflective Coating Boost Photovoltaic Efficiency
- 2008/11/26: FuturePundit: Thin Plastic Solar Cells Reach 5.6% Efficiency
- 2008/11/28: ClimateP: LA Proposes Major Solar Initiative [1.3 gigawatts]
- 2008/11/27: EETimes: Solar panel sales to contract in 2009, says [market research group The Information Network] forecast
- 2008/11/26: PhysOrg: Boosting the power of solar cells [MIT]
- 2008/11/26: UCLA: UCLA researchers create polymer solar cells with higher efficiency levels
- 2008/11/25: PhysOrg: Nanomanufactured polymer film could lead to lower-cost solar cells
- 2008/11/25: WSJ:EnvCap: Solar City: L.A.'s Solar Power Push a Hint of What's to Come?
- 2008/11/23: BostonGlobe: Brazil's biofuel industry dries up -- Economy stalls ethanol efforts
- 2008/11/24: PhysOrg: [MIT] Researchers boost solar cell efficiency
- 2008/11/24: Eureka: Boosting the power of solar cells -- New MIT research could lead to higher output, lower cost
- 2008/11/24: NEN: International solar company in big 3Q earnings
A San Francisco solar engineering and manufacturing company [Worldwide Energy and Manufacturing USA, Inc.] partnered with Shanghai subsidiaries to grow its sales 546%, its profits 41% and its income 327% in 2008. - 2008/11/24: Guardian(UK): Power in the desert: solar towers will harness sunshine of southern Spain
The arithmetic of coal carbon is striking home:
- 2008/11/28: ABC(Au): Coal industry 'costs environment, society $170b each year'
- 2008/11/26: PeakEnergy: China confirms 23 billion ton coal deposit
- 2008/11/21: People's Daily: 23-billion ton ultra large coal field discovered in China's Turfan Basin
- 2008/11/25: TreeHugger: Score One For the Stupid Fuel: Ohio Coal-to-Liquid Fuel Plant Gets Final Permitting
- 2008/11/24: TP:WonkRoom: Coal Baron Blankenship Calls Critics 'Communists,' 'Atheists,' And 'Greeniacs'
Biofuel bickering abounds:
- 2008/11/25: GristMill: Biofuelishness unbowed -- 'Second generation' or not, biofuels contribute to Peak Soil
- 2008/11/23: Yahoo: Palm oil price crash spells misery for SEAsian farmers
- 2008/11/24: TreeHugger: 90-95% Cost Reduction in Algae Production Claimed by Solix Biofuels
The nuclear energy controversy continues:
- 2008/11/27: EUO: Brussels to renew push for EU-wide nuclear safety rules
Yes we have a peak oil sighting:
- 2008/11/26: PeakEnergy: Hubbert: King Of The Technocrats
And then there is the matter of efficiency & conservation:
- 2008/11/26: CleanBreak: GE suspends development of "high-efficiency incandescent"
- 2008/11/25: Eureka: Bright idea illuminates LED standards
The lack of common measurement methods among light-emitting diode (LED) and lighting manufacturers has affected the commercialization of solid-state lighting products. In a recent paper, researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) proposed a new, economical method to allow LED and lighting manufacturers to obtain accurate, reproducible, and comparable measurements of LED brightness and color. - 2008/11/30: Times(UK): Britain's cars may go electric by 2025
- 2008/11/30: BRitholtz: Tesla Motors Bailout?
- 2008/11/19: EPI: Run Cars on Green Electricity, Not Natural Gas
- 2008/11/29: TreeHugger: Run Cars on Green Electricity, Not Natural Gas
- 2008/11/28: AutoBG: Electric smart not expected until 2012
- 2008/11/26: EarthTimes: Ireland sets 10-per-cent target for electric vehicles by 2020
- 2008/11/25: AutoBG: Honda president pooh-poohs BYD, electric cars in general
- 2008/11/24: GristMill: Car crash -- Who's to blame for the crisis in the auto industry?
- 2008/11/24: TreeHugger: $19,000 Electric Car Coming to US in May 2009: Introducing the Wheego Whip
- 2008/11/23: NolanChart: The case for electric transportation -- Why electricity is currently cheaper than oil for transportation. How electric cars would spur economic growth.
- 2008/11/24: OilChange: Portugal Leads the "Green" Car Revolution...
The reaction of business to climate change will be critical:
- 2008/11/25: GristMill: Panels for Powell's! Northwest bookstore goes solar, gets compared to candy
- 2008/11/24: SwissInfo: Big business doing little to reduce emissions -- Only a minority of Switzerland's biggest companies has a convincing carbon-reduction strategy or concrete plans to reduce emissions.
Meanwhile in the greenwashing chronicles:
- 2008/11/26: PeakEnergy: Black Swans and Greenwashing [Khosla alert]
- 2008/11/25: ClimateP: GM asks students to Greenwash
- 2008/11/25: GristMill: GM asking students to help greenwash
- 2008/11/21: CanWest: Advertising guidelines target 'greenwashing'
Insurance and re-insurance companies are feeling the heat:
- 2008/11/26: InsuranceJournal: Lloyd's Conference Finds Progress in Insurers Efforts on Climate Change
The carbon lobby are up to the usual:
- 2008/11/29: DeSmogBlog: Lawrence Solomon's "Deniers" - A Carefully Calculated Lie is Still a Lie
- 2008/11/23: BNC: What Bob Carter and Andrew Bolt fail to grasp
- 2008/11/29: Deltoid: The Australian's War on Science XXIV
- 2008/11/28: GristMill: Fool me once ... Some final thoughts on Politico, skeptics, and the next con
- 2008/11/28: ERabett: Lying figures
- 2008/11/28: RealClimate: Not the IPCC ("NIPCC") Report
- 2008/11/28: DeSmogBlog: The Heartland Institute touts a long list of global warming "experts"
- 2008/11/27: DeSmogBlog: Heartland Institute's "Journalist Guide on Global Warming Experts" Misguided
- 2008/11/27: JFleck: Have We Finally Whacked the Mole? [the global cooling myth]
- 2008/11/26: ERabett: The Church of Global Cooling
- 2008/11/27: Deltoid: Silenced Plimer somehow appears on TV, on radio, in newspapers. A lot.
- 2008/11/26: ClimateP: Planet Gore, ever wrong, never in doubt, adds libel to denial
- 2008/11/26: Deltoid: Move over, Gregg Easterbrook
- 2008/11/25: DeSmogBlog: Politico Pimps the Global Warming Skeptics
- 2008/11/21: GreenLeft: Oil giants talk tax to kill environment
Evidence is mounting of a coordinated global oil industry effort to seize upon the international economic crisis as an opportunity to 'rebel' against ecological controls and bludgeon concessions out of governments. - 2008/11/25: Guardian(UK): Oiligarchy: A game with a message -- Trash the environment for profit to win!
- 2008/11/25: DeSmogBlog: The Vampires Regroup!
- 2008/11/24: GristMill: [Dessler] Not just a river in Egypt -- A taxonomy of denial
- 2008/11/23: ERabett: So that's where the junk mail came from
"First they say it's not happening;
then they say it's happening, but we aren't doing it;
then they say it's happening & we're doing it, but we can't do anything about it;
then they say it's happening & we're doing it, but it will be good for you;
then they say it's not happening...": - 2008/11/24: CanWest: Warming to global warming -- A warmer climate may be a good thing for countries already inured to the cold, like Canada
Washington flack mag Politico offered up some ripe & steaming denial this week:
- 2008/11/26: CJR: Global Cooling, Confused Coverage -- Politico article demonstrates gross misunderstanding of climate science, journalism
- 2008/11/28: ClimateP: The Politico apologies, sort of.
- 2008/11/26: NatureCF: Lovley's day for a climate bunfight
- 2008/11/26: BSD: Not at all Lovely
- 2008/11/25: TP:WonkRoom: Politico's Erika Lovley Promotes Toxic Stupidity About Global Warming
- 2008/11/25: KSJT: Politico: Just goes to show - the GW skeptics still getting attention in Congress
- 2008/11/25: ClimateP: New media same as the old media. Politico pimps global cooling for Hill deniers
- 2008/11/25: GristMill: Politico's journalist malpractice -- 'Reporter' Erika Lovley pens two of the dumbest stories of the decade on climate science
The Czeck denier PM Vaclav Klaus is about to take the rotating EU presidency, which will no doubt be an opportunity for much nonsense and misdirection:
- 2008/11/27: OilChange: The Climate Sceptic About to Lead the EU
Coby updated his How to Talk to a Climate Sceptic series:
- AFTIC: [H2T2aCS] How to Talk to a Climate Sceptic
- 2008/11/24: AFTIC: [H2T2aCS] Hansen wants the sceptics thrown in jail
Then there was the miscellaneous news and commentary:
- 2008/11/27: F4tF: The new politics of climate change
It is high time we got serious, says Stephen Hale, about understanding why we are failing in the war against climate change -- and how we can succeed. - 2008/11/26: GristMill: Getting past the prologue redux
- 2008/11/25: TerraDaily: Ozone Treaty Parties Agree To Start Cutting More Climate Emissions
- 2008/11/24: GreenGrok: Pulse of the Planet: Predictions of a Cooling Sun
- 2008/11/23: GristMill: If by McKibben you mean McRockStar -- I finally got to see Bill McKibben in action
- 2008/11/24: Tamino: Gregory XIII [calender effects on stats]
- 2008/11/24: WorldChanging: Climate Protests Escalate Worldwide
- 2008/11/24: Wunderground: Winter forecast, part III: the Old Farmer's Almanac
And here are a couple of sites you may find interesting and/or useful:
- Science and Development Network
- BNC: Brave New Climate
- ClimaticideChronicles
- U.S. Geological Survey - News Releases
- GCI: Global Commons Institute
- EDGAR: Emission Database for Global Atmospheric Research
- Plausible Futures
- PNT: Post-Normal Times
- InTheGreen
- ClimateDenial
- SciNews
- Understory: Rainforest Action Network Blog
- USGS:LIMA: Landsat Image Mosaic Of Antarctica
- N3xus6
- GPC: Greenhouse Policy Coalition (New Zealand)
It's always nice to start with a chuckle:
Another call for an International Court of the Environment:
In the Arctic, the first commercial ship has sailed through the Northwest Passage:
Romm & Revkin had themselves a little kafuffle:
A critical view of water magic from James:
The conflict between biofuel and food persists:
And how are we going to feed 9 billion?
The campaign to uncover DSCOVR [Deep Space Climate Observatory] rolls on:
And in Europe:
The tricky & difficult question of the tar sands looms:
Automakers & lawyers, engineers & activists argue over the future of the car:
Low Key Plug
My first novel Water was published in Canada May, 2007. The American release was in October. An Introductionto the novel is available, along with the Unpublished Forewordand the Launch Talk. An overview of my writing is available here.
<regards>
P.S. Recent postings can be found in the week archive and the ancient postings can be accessed here, which should open to this.
"You might think of a roller coaster riding the (Milankovitch) orbital rails, with Heinrich-Bond bungee jumping off the roller coaster while playing with a Dansgaard-Oeschger yo-yo." -Richard B. Alley [describing global climate over last million years in Two Mile Time Machine]
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