Another Week of GW News, February 15, 2009

Sipping from the internet firehose...

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Another week of Climate Disruption News

Information overload is pattern recognition

February 15, 2009

• Top Stories:AAAS, Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Nicholas Stern, Open Access, YD Impact
• The Australian inferno
• Melting Arctic, Geopolitics, Antarctica
• Food Crisis, Food vs. Biofuel, Food Production
• Hurricanes, GHGs,Carbon Cycle, Temperatures, Aerosols, Paleoclimate, Glaciers, Sea Levels, Satellites
• Impacts, Forests, Climate Refugees, Wacky Weather, Tornadoes, Wildfires, Floods & Droughts
• Mitigation, Transportation, Buildings, Sequestration, Geoengineering, Adaptation
• Journals, Misc. Science, Doran, Pielke
• Kyoto, Kyoto-2, Carbon Trade, Carbon Tax, Optimal Carbon Reduction Strategy
• Politics:International, America, Britain, Europe, Australia, China, Canada
• Ecological Economics, IPAT, Apocalypso, Media, Vicky Pope, Books, Courts
• Energy, Wind, Solar, Coal, Biofuel, Nukes, Grid, Efficiency, Cars, Business
• Carbon Lobby, Miscellaneous Climate, Useful Links
• Shameless Self Promotion, .sig

Laugh. if you can:

• 2009/02/14: TI:CF: (cartoon - Roberts) Feeding The Hand That Bites you
• 2009/02/10: uComics: (cartoon - Wiley) Danae & Jeffrey discuss GW
• 2009/02/10: TI:CF: (cartoon - Roberts) Beast Market
• 2009/02/09: TI:CF: (cartoon - Roberts) End Daze

  The AAAS meeting in Chicago gave rise to several reports:

• 2009/02/: AAAS: Annual Meeting -- 12-16 February -- Chicago
• 2009/02/14: Yahoo: Climate change even worse than predicted: expert
• 2009/02/15: WaPo: Scientists: Pace of Climate Change Exceeds Estimates
• 2009/02/15: ClimateP: AAAS: Climate change is coming much harder, much faster than predicted
• 2009/02/15: ABC(Au): Global warming worse than predicted, top scientist says
  One of the world's leading experts on climate change says a Nobel Prize-winning panel of scientists seriously underestimated the reality of global warming when it published its report just over a year ago. Professor Chris Field, a leading member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which released the report, says he and his fellow researchers did not have access to vital data.
• 2009/02/14: NewScientist:SSS: Mr. Gore comes to Chicago
• 2009/02/15: NewScientist: Live from the AAAS: Day Three
• 2009/02/15: SciDaily: Climate Change Likely To Be More Devastating Than Experts Predicted, Warns Top IPCC Scientist
• 2009/02/15: BBC: Global warming 'underestimated' [AAAS]
  The severity of global warming over the next century will be much worse than previously believed, a leading climate scientist has warned. Professor Chris Field, an author of a 2007 landmark report on climate change, said future temperatures "will be beyond anything" predicted. Prof Field said the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report had underestimated the rate of change.
• 2009/02/14: SciAm:60SSB: At AAAS, Al Gore urges scientists to get involved in climate change debate
• 2009/02/14: NatureITF: AAAS: Climate issue getting "more complicated"
• 2009/02/14: Eureka: Decisive action needed as warming predictions worsen, says expert [Chris Field of Stanford University and the Carnegie Institution for Science]
• 2009/02/14: Eureka: Biofuels boom could fuel rainforest destruction, Stanford researcher [Holly Gibbs] warns
• 2009/02/14: Eureka: Climate change likely to be more devastating than experts predicted, warns top IPCC scientist [Chris Field of Stanford University and the Carnegie Institution for Science]
• 2009/02/14: Eureka: 'Petascale computing' may improve storm predictions, AAAS Annual Meeting speakers report
• 2009/02/14: IrishTimes: Level of climate change 'without precedent' - Gore
• 2009/02/13: NatureITF: AAAS: Risk assessment for climate reporters
• 2009/02/13: NatureITF: AAAS: Science journalism in crisis?
• 2009/02/13: NatureTGB: Nature at the AAAS
• 2009/02/13: NewScientist: Live from the AAAS: Day One
• 2009/02/12: Eureka: Vital climate change warnings are being ignored, says expert

  The Institution of Mechanical Engineers produced a report that asserted Kyoto was useless & we had to adapt:

• 2009/02/11: IMechE: (6.8 meg pdf) Climate Change: Adaptating to the Inevitable
• 2009/02/12: FTimes: Nations must 'act now' on climate change
  Countries must begin adapting to the effects of climate change as a matter of urgency or face serious effects from global warming, a leading industry group warned on Thursday. Water and sewage infrastructure, the electricity network and transport were all at risk from the effects of climate change, including floods, droughts and severe storms, said the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, an international body for the engineering industry.
• 2009/02/13: BBC: 'CO2 reduction treaties useless'
  A new report says treaties aimed at reducing CO2 emissions are useless. The Institution of Mechanical Engineers report says we have to accept the world could change dramatically. It also says we should start planning our major infrastructure now to accommodate more extreme weather events and sea level rises. While not against attempts to reduce emissions, the report's authors say we should be realistic about what can be achieved with this approach.
• 2009/02/13: Star(My): Model sees severe climate change impact by 2050
  Current efforts to limit greenhouse gas emissions will do little to ease damaging climate change, according to a report issued on Friday that predicts Greenland's ice sheets will start melting by 2050. A computer model calculated that if carbon dioxide emissions continue to grow at the current rate over the next 40 years, global temperatures will still rise 2 degrees Centigrade compared with the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. This would push the planet to the brink, sparking unprecedented flooding and heatwaves and making it even more difficult to reverse the trend, according to the report from the Institute of Mechanical Engineers in Britain.
• 2009/02/13: Guardian(UK): Britain should prepare for massive loss of landmass, warn engineers
  UK should change building design, transport and energy infrastructure ahead of climate change and high sea levels

Nicholas Stern and fellow economists are advocating immediate action:

• 2009/02/11: Guardian(UK): Nicholas Stern: Spend billions on green investments now to reverse economic downturn and halt climate change
  Leading economists -- including Nicholas Stern -- call for immediate £277bn global fund to generate clean power, insulate homes and create jobs
• 2009/02/12: Guardian(UK): $400bn demand for green spending - Experts want low-carbon economy boost in months - Action on climate 'must be central' to fiscal packages
• 2009/02/11: ENN: $400 billion: The price of our future

  Eli put up a post about Open Access, so I get a chance to plug Free Science (News & Sources) again:

• 2009/02/12: ERabett: Cui bono? Cui pendo? Who benefits and who pays are the subterranean questions about Open Access to the scientific literature.
• Free Science News
• Free Science Sources

  Late comment on the YD Impact theory:

• 2009/02/10: BCLSB: Comets Over Canada...Maybe Not!

  The Australian inferno:

  I haven't been as torn and twisted by a story since I logged the Iraq invasion. When I started, it was just another climate impact thread, but it soon became something more. In a way it is ironic, because Nargis killed 130,000+ last year, but due to the lack of reporting -- due to the active discouragement of the junta -- the story came out as little more than that number. I know this is contrary to my notion of the Logarithmic Scale of Disasters to maintain perspective, but damn it just grabbed me. And the trouble is, we are just at the beginning of the beginning...

• 2009/02/15: NewScientist: Climate models predicted Australian bushfires
• 2009/02/12: ENN: Why Global Warming May Be Fueling Australia's Fires
• 2009/02/09: KSJT: Reuters, etc: Giant fires in Australia lead suspicious eyes to --- climate change.
• 2009/02/09: TerraDaily: Australian wildfire ferocity linked to climate change: experts
• 2009/02/08: Guardian(UK): Bushfires and global warming: is there a link?
  Scientists have a hunch rising temperatures due to human activity are making fire and flood more likely
• 2009/02/15: BBC: Australia mourns for fire victims
  Memorial services have been held across Australia to mark one week since bush fires tore through the state of Victoria, killing at least 181 people. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd led emotional tributes in Wandong north of Melbourne. About 4,000 firefighters are still battling nine blazes in Victoria, which are not thought to be life-threatening. People from the most devastated areas have been allowed back to their towns for the first time, but officials say more than 7,000 people are homeless.
• 2009/02/14: CBC: B.C. fire crews to help battle Australian blazes
  A group of B.C. firefighters is heading to Australia to help with wildfires that have killed at least 181 people and left about 5,000 homeless. Two of B.C.'s senior fire managers spent last week in Australia working with officials to figure out how B.C. firefighters could help battle the deadly wildfires still sweeping the southeast part of the country. Nine B.C. firefighters will head to Australia on Tuesday. More than 400 fires have ripped through that country's Victoria state, scorching some 285,000 hectares.
• 2009/02/15: SMH: From the ashes: 'What I saved'
• 2009/02/15: SMH: Hugs, tears and a bus back to what remains of Marysville
• 2009/02/15: SMH: Don't chase us from the bush
  In the aftermath of the Victorian fires, rural communities require long-lasting support. The devastating Victorian fires must not be used as an excuse to depopulate rural and regional Australia. There are lessons for us all in this tragedy but we must not make it more difficult for families to live and work outside our cities.
• 2009/02/14: BCLSB: This Fire, It Didn't Follow The Rules Anyway
• 2009/02/14: CCurrents: Australian Bushfires: The Tragic Outcome Of Government Neglect
• 2009/02/15: TheAge: First we mourn, then we must learn our place
• 2009/02/14: TheAge: Even as recovery begins, the threat remains
• 2009/02/14: TheAge: Don't gape at us, your good little victims
• 2009/02/14: TheAge: Treading a fine line through disaster
  A week after the most devastating bushfires in the nation's history, criticism of the news media is beginning to emerge. Some survivors of the fires that have killed at least 181 people in rural Victoria have begun telling journalists bluntly that they are no longer welcome; that their continued presence is, in fact, ghoulish.
• 2009/02/14: TheAge: It's time we faced up to this harsh, dry reality
• 2009/02/14: TheAge: On life and loss -- The pain of the victims seeped into others.
• 2009/02/14: GEA: On Valentine's Day, Please Hug A Koala
• 2009/02/14: SMH: The painful truth
  The nation is mourning and searching for answers. How do we make sense of losing so many good people, of so much devastation? The search begins in the ashes.
• 2009/02/14: SMH: Stay or go? A question everyone still asks
  Those who survived the bushfires wonder what the future holds...
• 2009/02/14: SMH: Heed wisdom or perish
  How might we look after the land more intelligently, to reduce the risk of fires such as those we've just seen? It might involve asking people who live on the land, with their inherited knowledge.
• 2009/02/14: SMH: A glimpse of his private anguish
  As he met the dispossessed at Whittlesea on Sunday, Kevin Rudd carried with him a little notebook and a pen. Around him, frightened survivors of the previous day's firestorms gathered to ask for help, and Rudd jotted down names, problems, phone numbers. The notebook would not surprise hardened Rudd-watchers - the Prime Minister is a celebrated micro-manager. What might have surprised them more was the ease with which Rudd slipped into the pastoral role. "One of the things I was really struck by was how much people really wanted to be with him, physically," says the Families Minister, Jenny Macklin, who travelled with Rudd. "He was enormously affectionate with people. One man was standing by himself outside the relief centre - he had just come down off the mountain from Kinglake, and his clothes were smoke-filled. He wasn't the sort of guy you would expect to cry, but he broke down when Kevin gave him a hug. People just wanted his comfort." Rudd had had, as per usual, about three hours' sleep. He'd been at Parliament House until 1.30am in conference with Emergency Management Australia, and his national security adviser. Unlike the rest of Australia, he was well aware on Saturday night just how dreadfully damaged Victoria was, and how many people had likely perished.
• 2009/02/13: TerraDaily: Australia blames arsonists for deadly wildfires
• 2009/02/13: BBC: Australian man charged with arson -- Australian police have charged a man with lighting one of the country's deadly bushfires
• 2009/02/12: EconoSpeak: Australia's catastrophic Summer - Update
  [...] World media have focused a lot of attention on the enormity of the tragedy but have failed to mention that all levels of government in Australia have imposed the widescale spread of industrial tree plantations in the very areas most affected by these fires. The fires in Victoria actually began in a pine and eucalyptus monocultures near the township of Churchill.
• 2009/02/06: EconoSpeak: Australia's catastrophic Summer of 2009
• 2009/02/13: SMH: Faces from the front line [firefighters]
• 2009/02/13: SMH: 'We were there trying to save people ...'
• 2009/02/13: SMH: PM and public honour victims
• 2009/02/13: SMH: Union alert: disastrous blazes almost every year
  A firefighters' union has called on the Federal Government to take urgent action against climate change, saying that current policy on greenhouse gas emissions would lead to disasters on the scale of the Victorian fires almost every year.
• 2009/02/13: Guardian(UK): 'A real hero': one man against the inferno, with a hose and a few buckets of water
  Labourer battled the rising flames for over an hour -- Police hunt for serial arsonist behind bushfires
• 2009/02/12: Guardian(UK): After the bushfires: Australia counts the cost (16 pictures)
• 2009/02/12: CNN: Australia's PM announces day of mourning
  Australian PM: "It is important, it is very important that the nation grieves" - Authorities say death toll may have jumped from 181 to around 300 - About 35 separate fires continued burning Thursday morning - 2 men, arrested in connection with wildfires, released without charge
• 2009/02/12: NOAANews: NOAA National Weather Service Fire Weather Experts Assisting in Australia
• 2009/02/12: ABC(Au): 'At risk' firies want urgent global warming action
  Australia is at risk of more tragedies such as the Victorian bushfires if the Federal Government does not reassess its approach to global warming, says the United Firefighters Union of Australia
• 2009/02/10: BNC: Heatwave update and open letter to the PM
  "Given that this was the hottest day on record on top of the driest start to a year on record on top of the longest driest drought on record on top of the hottest drought on record the implications are clear..."
• 2009/02/12: AFTIC: Hot times in Australia
• 2009/02/12: PeakEnergy: Burning Greens At The Stake
• 2009/02/12: Reuters: Australia fires spark calls for climate action
  Firefighters called on the Australian government on Thursday to take a tougher stance against climate change in an effort to avoid more deadly bushfires like those that killed 181 people this week. "Without a massive turnaround in policies, aside from the tragic loss of life and property, we will be asking firefighters to put themselves at an unacceptable risk," United Firefighters Union of Australia said in an open letter.
• 2009/02/12: TerraDaily: Milder weather helps Australian firefighters: officials
• 2009/02/12: CBC: Australian government steps up fire warning system efforts
• 2009/02/12: SMH: What do we tell the children?
• 2009/02/12: SMH: An awful chill in the death zone
• 2009/02/12: SMH: Two blazes still raging out of control
• 2009/02/12: SMH: Building code underestimates heat of fires
  The fire temperature proposed in a draft national building code for bushfire-prone areas is too low and needs to be lifted to a safer level for residents who want to defend their homes and firefighters working to help them, the peak body for emergency services says. The proposal, which could be approved next month, assumes that when a bushfire hits a house the average flame temperature is 1000 Kelvin, or 727degrees. But fire engineers say the temperature should be 1090 Kelvin (817degrees), a spokesman for the Australasian Fire and Emergency Service Authorities Council, Mark Chladil, said.
• 2009/02/12: SMH: 'Foolhardy' to set building code that underestimates heat of fires
  The fire temperature proposed in a draft national building code for bushfire-prone areas is too low for residents who wanted to defend their homes and firefighters working to help them, the peak body for emergency services says. The proposal, which could be approved next month, assumes that when a bushfire hits a house the average flame temperature is 1000 Kelvin, or 727 degrees. But fire engineers say that should be 1090 Kelvin (817 degrees), a spokesman for the Australasian Fire and Emergency Service Authorities Council, Mark Chladil, said. Given the heat generated in the Victorian bushfires, it would be "foolhardy" to set a building code that underestimated the temperature of fires which at their peak could reach 1600 Kelvin (1327 degrees), he said.
• 2009/02/12: SMH: Facing the impossible task of saving God's garden
  Marysville does not exist any more. Residents of the historic mountain village north-east of Melbourne used to call it "God's own garden". Now it is a wasteland of ash and death. Four days after the firestorm, bodies still lay in the street yesterday and just a handful of buildings were standing. As forensic police scoured the ruins, the scale of the disaster became more apparent. "I've seen the inside of hell," a bed-and-breakfast owner, Ian Pearson, said. He left the township on Tuesday, after lingering for two days in one of the surviving buildings. "It's just flat ash. It's like it was never there..."
• 2009/02/12: SMH: Unwelcome guest gatecrashed birthday party
  They were getting ready for a party for Ashlee's first birthday. Twenty people were coming to the Johnsons' place in Flowerdale and the cake was in the fridge. But when black smoke enveloped the area and a fireball came down the hills, Ashlee's grandfather, Terry, ushered his family, his five dogs and neighbours into a convoy of cars and fled as fast as they could. Yesterday was the first time Mr Johnson had returned to where his home - where he had dreamed of retiring soon - once stood. Wiped out, too, was his son Rick's house next door, and the homes of five neighbours in the once picturesque Rosella Court.
• 2009/02/12: SMH: Arms and ears open as people return
  The most common sight in Kinglake is people hugging and crying as they run into each other in the main street, either out of grief for a shared loss or relief that they are still alive. "I'm all right," growled one farmer after a heartfelt embrace. "But I'm looking for some cows. Seen any cows?"
• 2009/02/12: SMH: Stay or go advice is 'nonsense'
• 2009/02/12: SMH: Earth Hour gives people power
• 2009/02/12: SMH: Green ideas must take blame for deaths [says Miranda Devine]
  It wasn't climate change which killed as many as 300 people in Victoria last weekend. It wasn't arsonists. It was the unstoppable intensity of a bushfire, turbo-charged by huge quantities of ground fuel which had been allowed to accumulate over years of drought. It was the power of green ideology over government to oppose attempts to reduce fuel hazards before a megafire erupts, and which prevents landholders from clearing vegetation to protect themselves.
• 2009/02/12: SMH: A deadly reminder that we must tackle climate change [Tim Flannery]
• 2009/02/11: UN: Ban voices sadness at Australia's deadly fires
• 2009/02/11: NatureCF: Lessons from the blaze
• 2009/02/11: ABC(Au): Victoria's DSE defends burn-off management
  As victims of the Victorian bushfires try to grasp what has happened, Victoria's Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE) has defended how it manages burn-offs in fire prone areas. Many of those affected by the bushfires have laid some of the blame with "greenies" and the DSE's management of state forests.
• 2009/02/11: JQuiggin: Fire disaster appeal
• 2009/02/10: TerraDaily: World offers support as Australia battles fires
• 2009/02/10: TerraDaily: Chaplain likens Australian wildfires to 'inland tsunami'
• 2009/02/10: TerraDaily: Australian wildfire death toll to top 200: official
• 2009/02/11: EarthTimes: Australia's scorched animals wait their turn
• 2009/02/11: CSM: Australia's fires, the world's fires -- Scientists say climate change is bringing more intense fires. The watchword? Preparedness.
• 2009/02/11: BBC: Australian officials suspect arsonists were responsible for starting fresh fires in Victoria, as a dozen bushfires continued to burn in the state
• 2009/02/11: BBC: Should bushfire policies be changed?
  A firefighter walks among the blackened remains of trees following devastating bushfires in Bendigo, Australia, on Tuesday Survivors of Australia's bushfires are demanding fundamental changes to the country's emergency response system.
• 2009/02/11: CBC: Australian residents return to fire-ravaged homes
• 2009/02/11: BBC: Fire aftermath 'too distressing'
  Australian police are stopping some residents of bushfire-hit areas from returning to their homes, saying the scenes would be too gruesome.
• 2009/02/10: BBC: UK woman speaks of bushfire loss -- A British woman has spoken of the moment she discovered her sister had been killed in Australia's bushfires
• 2009/02/11: SMH: Two families in ruins as fire shows no mercy to loved ones
• 2009/02/11: SMH: 'I'd thought I'd lost him'- couple's miraculous reunion
• 2009/02/11: SMH: Fears death toll may hit 300
• 2009/02/11: SMH: Police fear 300 dead in the ashes
• 2009/02/11: SMH: Melted shoes pave the way to a town called Hellfire
• 2009/02/11: SMH: Don't expect us to save you: brigade
  Millions of people living near bushland can no longer expect emergency workers to save them in the face of ferocious megafires, the head of the NSW Fire Brigades has said. "We can't be the safety net all the time. Our resources are stretched and we won't be there," said its Commissioner, Greg Mullins, yesterday.
• 2009/02/11: SMH: Grisly task for clean-up crews
• 2009/02/11: SMH: Mental health workers told to stay away from disaster zone
• 2009/02/11: Guardian(UK): Australia braced for bush fire death toll rise
  Several towns were under imminent threat of being consumed by bushfires today, as the suspected death toll in Australia's biggest natural disaster topped 230.
• 2009/02/10: Guardian(UK): 'Everything from 30 years of married life -- furniture to baby photos. It's all gone'
• 2009/02/10: Guardian(UK): Wildfires in Australia (18 pictures)
• 2009/02/11: Guardian(UK): Whoever owns the fuel -- Arson is suspected, but Australians must accept pollution and unbridled growth are firebugs too
• 2009/02/09: Time: Why Global Warming May Be Fueling Australia's Fires
• 2009/02/10: JQuiggin: Fire disaster appeal
• 2009/02/09: QuarkSoup: Australlan Wildfires
• 2009/02/09: TerraDaily: Animals the forgotten victims of Australian fires
• 2009/02/10: TerraDaily: Fresh threat from deadly Australian wildfires
• 2009/02/09: MTobis: Slag in Oz
• 2009/02/09: DeSmogBlog: Scientists Link Climate Change and Wildfires
• 2009/02/10: EarthTimes: Australia's fires taken as a portent of global warming
• 2009/02/09: BBC: Audio slideshow: Fleeing the flames
• 2009/02/10: CBC: Australian wildfire deaths will pass 200: [Victoria] state premier [John Brumby]
• 2009/02/10: ABC(Au): At a glance: lives lost in bushfires
• 2009/02/10: ABC(Au): Kinglake father speaks of unimaginable loss
• 2009/02/10: BBC: Vow to rebuild fire-hit Australia
  Australia's Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has vowed his country would rally after the worst bushfires in its history. Mr Rudd told MPs that areas devastated by bushfires would be rebuilt "brick by brick" and "school by school".
• 2009/02/10: SMH: Time for unity not blame: firefighter
• 2009/02/10: SMH: Fighting Goliath, a bucket at a time
  As a firestorm consumed her neighbours' home and flames licked at her back door, Buffy Leadbeater was armed with little but a few buckets. She filled them with water from her in-ground pool and passed them to her husband, Mark, who was on the roof, pitching relative dribbles of water at the Goliath of fires...
• 2009/02/10: SMH: Firing up for more - blaze risk has gone from bad to worse, says expert
  The number of days with a very high or extreme risk of bushfires has begun rising, with climate change playing a role, a leading CSIRO scientist has said. "We observed a large increase in fire-weather risk from about the year 2000. So part of this increase in risk has begun and has been observed," said Kevin Hennessey, who was attending the 9th International Conference on Southern Hemisphere Meteorology and Oceanography in Melbourne yesterday.
• 2009/02/10: SMH: Another black day proves lightning can strike twice
• 2009/02/10: SMH: The long and complex task ahead
• 2009/02/10: SMH: Grim news for families
• 2009/02/10: SMH: Grief on our minds, strength in our hearts
• 2009/02/10: SMH: Toll rises as villages reveal their dead
• 2009/02/10: SMH: Leaders rethink survival strategy
  The escalating toll from the devastating bushfires has forced a review of the policy of allowing people to defend their own homes, but the country's peak body of fire and emergency authorities appealed that no changes be made "on the run".
• 2009/02/10: SMH: Townships still under threat as fire intensifies
  Hundreds of firefighters are battling to save homes from three bushfires threatening communities north-east of Melbourne.
• 2009/02/10: SMH: Lucky escapes, ghastly losses abound
• 2009/02/10: SMH: Hotel opens doors to homeless
  At the Heartbreak Hotel -- not in Memphis but in suburban Mill Park on Melbourne's northern fringe - the car park is filled with fire-damaged vehicles and crying can be heard behind closed doors at night. The Best Western Mill Park Motor Inn, off Plenty Road, is the closest motel to Whittlesea and its 30 rooms are almost all taken by those forced to flee. Suddenly it has become a de facto emergency centre -- "like a refugee camp", said Sherif Mobayad, of Kinglake West, occupying room 12. Many here have lost their homes. A few have lost family members. The motel owner, Peter Kenyon, is giving away rooms and food either free or significantly discounted. "It's called our emergency policy," he said. "Bugger the cost, let's look after people."
• 2009/02/10: SMH: Scientists warned us this was going to happen
  If seeing is believing, then it's time to accept climate change, writes Freya Mathews. It is only a couple of years since scientists first told us we could expect a new order of fires in south-eastern Australia, fires of such ferocity they would engulf the towns in their path. And here they are. The fires of Saturday were not "once in 1000 years" or even "once in 100 years" events, as our political leaders keep repeating. They were the face of climate change.
• 2009/02/10: SMH: Crumpled remains of hamlets ripped apart
• 2009/02/10: SMH: Devastation meets those with the courage to return
  Slowly, they are coming back to Steels Creek. With haunted faces they drive down the town's one sealed road, examining neighbours' houses, taking in the destruction. They pick through the rubble of what, 48 hours ago, was their home. They stand in old rooms, looking for what, if anything, can be salvaged. Too often, it is a motley, pathetic collection. A dog's bowl, a pair of thongs, an old jack. There is neither rhyme nor reason to what survives and what perishes. Most don't stay long. There is nothing to stay for.
• 2009/02/10: Guardian(UK): Australian bushfires: arsonists could face murder charges
• 2009/02/09: NatureN: Australian bushfires rage -- Heatwaves and fires will become more frequent in a warming world
• 2009/02/09: TerraDaily: Death Stalks Australia As Fire And Heat Kill Hundreds
• 2009/02/09: TerraDaily: Australian Tinderbox Explodes In Searing Heat
• 2009/02/09: Wunderground: Australia's Hell on Earth fires claim 166 lives
• 2009/02/09: EarthTimes: Australia's forest fire toll climbs - 166 dead
• 2009/02/09: EarthTimes: Australians stunned by forest fire mayhem - 135 dead
• 2009/02/09: EarthTimes: Australians stunned by forest fire mayhem - 128 dead
• 2009/02/08: Tamino: Fire Down Below
• 2009/02/09: PeakEnergy: Adding The Toll Of The [Aus.] Heat Wave
• 2009/02/09: Reuters: Australian bushfire toll rises to 171
• 2009/02/09: CBC: Australian wildfire death toll rises to 166
• 2009/02/09: Times(UK): Death toll climbs to 130 in Australia's worst-ever fires
• 2009/02/09: BBC: Australia fire toll 'to increase'
  Australian officials have warned that the death toll from wildfires that have already killed 128 people in the state of Victoria is likely to rise further. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said the numbers were "numbing" and warned the nation to prepare for more bad news.
• 2009/02/09: DailyTelegraph: Inferno's path of destruction
• 2009/02/09: SMH: Many good people lie dead
  Australia has witnessed its greatest natural disaster. Worse than Black Friday. Worse than Ash Wednesday. Only in wartime has the toll of dead and wounded been greater. Last night the official death toll was 84, with at least 750 homes destroyed - 550 of those in Kinglake, north of Melbourne, and surrounding areas. And much worse is still to come. The Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, said: "Hell in all its fury has visited the good people of Victoria in the last 24 hours, and many good people now lie dead; many others lie injured. "I fear in the days ahead that the news is going to be bad and, I believe, the nation needs to prepare itself as full facts become known," he said.
• 2009/02/09: SMH: Rudd activates federal disaster plan to help victims
• 2009/02/09: SMH: Victoria's deadly summers
  Black Saturday, as it will likely be called, has become Victoria's second worst bushfire, killing more than the 1983 Ash Wednesday fire and behind only the Black Friday toll of 1939.
• 2009/02/09: SMH: From holiday centre to tragic wasteland -- Marysville is the town that disappeared
• 2009/02/09: SMH: Fire starters will face murder charges
• 2009/02/09: SMH: A survivor and his horse
• 2009/02/09: SMH: NSW sends help after it escapes the worst
  As more than 50 fires scorched NSW yesterday, the state escaped the devastation south of the border. Firefighters said that by last night more than 6500 hectares of NSW had been burnt, but fires that threatened life or property appeared to be under control.
• 2009/02/09: SMH: It will only get worse as climate changes
  Australia faces "a very dangerous decade or decades" as climate change increases the intensity of fires and lengthens the bushfire season, scientists and environmentalists warn. Research by the Australian Bureau of Meteorology and the CSIRO has found that bushfire seasons will start earlier, end slightly later and become more intense in coming decades. A climate study of south-east Australia by the agencies in 2007 found the number of days with "very high" or "extreme" fire danger ratings would increase significantly. The worst changes were predicted for northern NSW. By 2020, days of extreme fire danger are forecast to increase by 5 to 25 per cent if climate change is low and by 15 to 65 per cent if it is high.
• 2009/02/09: Guardian(UK): At least 108 killed in southern Australia bushfire inferno
  'We're still in the pool - we can smell the fire' - Final death toll may reach hundreds, say authorities - Arsonists blamed as army called in to quell flames

The Arctic melt continues to get a lot of attention:

• 2009/02/11: PhysOrg: British explorer [Pen Hadow] sets off for Arctic ice cap mission
• 2009/02/11: TreeHugger: Scientists [Pen Hadow & team] to Drag Radar All the Way to North-Pole to Measure Ice Thickness

  As for the geopolitics of the Arctic resources:

• 2009/02/12: CBC: Staking claim to the Arctic is top priority for Russia, envoy [Artur Chilingarov] says
• 2009/02/12: Canoe: Claiming the Arctic top priority for Russia
  Russia will modernize its icebreaker fleet and station more researchers in the Arctic as part of its push to stake its claim to the vast resources of the disputed polar region, a presidential envoy said Thursday. Artur Chilingarov, a famed polar scientist who was recently appointed to the post, said that Russia's sizable icebreaker fleet gives the nation a strong edge in Arctic exploration. He said that Russia would build a new Arctic research ship to supplement the Akademik Fyodorov, which conducted a 2007 expedition in which Russian mini-submarines put a capsule with Russian flag on the Arctic seabed. Canada, Russia, the United States and other northern countries are trying to assert jurisdiction over the Arctic, whose oil, gas and minerals until recently have been considered too difficult to recover. The race has intensified with growing evidence that global warming is shrinking polar ice, opening up new shipping lanes and resource development possibilities.

While in Antarctica:

• 2009/02/15: APOD: Antarctic Ice Shelf Vista
• 2009/02/09: PhysOrg: Scientists say Antarctic climate evidence too strong to ignore
• ESA: Satellite Webcam on Wilkins Ice Shelf

  The food crisis is ongoing:

• 2009/02/13: CCurrents: The Largest Wave Of Suicides In History
  The number of farmers who have committed suicide in India between 1997 and 2007 now stands at a staggering 182,936.
• 2009/02/13: MarketSkeptics: The geopolitics of food scarcity
• 2009/02/10: GRC: Catastrophic Fall in 2009 Global Food Production
• 2009/02/13: WSJ: Consumers Cut Food Spending Sharply -- Markets and Restaurants Feel the Pinch as People Purchase Generic Brands and Stay Home
• 2009/02/12: UN: UN predicts fall in global cereal production as record numbers go hungry
• 2009/02/11: DerSpiegel: Worldwide Crisis -- The Geopolitics of Food Scarcity
  In some countries social order has already begun to break down in the face of soaring food prices and spreading hunger. Could the worldwide food crisis portend the collapse of global civilization?
• 2009/02/10: UN: UN appeals for funds to feed hungry Kenyans

  The conflict between biofuel and food persists:

• 2009/02/13: SwissInfo: Land "wasted" for fuel as millions go hungry
  Far from being a miracle alternative energy solution, agrofuels are a dead end with disastrous consequences for developing countries, Swissaid has claimed. Caroline Morel, director of the Swiss non-governmental organisation, says it is unacceptable that agricultural land in the developing world -- where millions suffer from hunger -- is being used to run cars. "To fill the tank of a car with 95 litres of ethanol, 200 kilos of maize are needed -- enough to feed a person for one year," she explained at the launch of Swissaid's campaign condemning the use of such fuel. "From the point of view of energy and climate policy, agrofuels are an absurdity," added Rudolf Rechsteiner, Swissaid's president.

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

• 2009/02/09: TMO: Catastrophic Fall in 2009 Global Food Production
• 2009/02/14: BuckDog: "Canadian Wheat Board Deserves Praise"
• 2009/02/08: Guardian(UK): Our culture of wasting food will one day leave us hungry
• 2009/02/01: Guardian(UK): Britain 'must revive farms' to avoid grave food crisis
• 2009/02/11: SciDaily: Reducing Nitrate Discharge To Downstream Ecosystems
• 2009/02/11: Eureka: Cropland diversity reduces nitrogen pollution -- Biodiversity in crops decreases fertilizer damage to rivers and lakes

  There have been no cyclones this week, but repairs and preparations are being made:

• 2009/02/12: Xinhuanet: UN to help Myanmar replant forest in cyclone-hit area
• 2009/02/10: SMH: Burma cyclone [Nargis] victims still need help: UN
• 2009/02/09: DailyIndia: Mukherjee unveils model of cyclone core shelters in Dhaka
  Visiting Indian External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Monday unveiled a model of a core shelter that is to be used for survivors in villages in Bangladesh that were struck by 'Cyclone Sidr'. [...] India is to help Bangladesh construct 2800 core shelters in these 11 cyclone 'Sidr' affected villages.

Meanwhile GHGs are still going up:

• 2009/02/13: ClimateP: World carbon dioxide levels jump 2.3 ppm in 2008 to highest in 650,000 -- if not 20 million -- years
• 2009/02/12: ENN: CO2 hits new peaks [392 ppm in Svalbard, December 2008], no sign global crisis causing dip
• 2009/02/13: Eureka: Texas researchers provide [ammonia and hydrogen sulfide] emissions data for livestock industry
• 2009/02/11: Eureka: For refrigeration problems, a magnetically attractive solution -- the first near-room-temperature magnetocaloric composed of manganese, iron, phosphorus and germanium
• Wiki: Magnetic refrigeration -- magnetocaloric effect

  And in the carbon cycle:

• 2009/02/09: PhysOrg: New tool gets handle on cropland CO2 emissions

  As for the temperature record:

• 2009/02/13: Wunderground: Record -50°F confirmed for Maine; is this inconsistent with global warming?
• 2009/02/12: MSU: MSU tracks warming trend in northwestern North America
• 2009/02/09: NOAANews: NOAA: January Temperature Slightly Above Average for U.S.

  CSIRO had a comment on aerosols:

• 2009/02/12: CSIRO: Aerosols -- their part in our rainfall
  Aerosols may have a greater impact on patterns of Australian rainfall and future climate change than previously thought, according to leading atmospheric scientist, CSIRO's Dr Leon Rotstayn.

While in the paleoclimate:

• 2009/02/13: BBC: Did climate kill off the Neanderthals?
  Climate change, we're told, poses the single gravest threat to the survival of our species. And if the experience of our ancient relatives the Neanderthals is anything to go by, we should take note of the warnings. Recent research has suggested that climate change may have been the killer blow that finished off our closest evolutionary cousins.
• 2009/02/12: SciDaily: Mediterranean Sea Dried Up Five Million Years Ago
• 2009/02/10: TreeHugger: Unequivocal Evidence Discovered that [400 kya] Sea Levels Were Once 70 Feet Higher
• 2009/02/09: SI: Scientists Uncover a Dramatic Rise in Sea Level [400 kya] and Its Broad Ramifications

  Glaciers are melting:

• 2009/02/13: SeattlePI: Melting glaciers are clear signs of danger

  Sea levels are rising:

• 2009/02/09: Maribo: Levelling the science of sea-level rise

  Meanwhile in near earth orbit:

• 2009/02/09: SciDaily: NOAA-N Prime Environmental Satellite Successfully Launched

  More GW impacts are being seen:

• 2009/02/10: FuturePundit: High CO2 Boosts Soy Respiration
• 2009/02/14: Eureka: Climate change may alter malaria patterns
• 2009/02/14: CCurrents: Global Warming Impacting Humanity
• 2009/02/13: Guardian(UK): Grey whales delay migration due to rise in ocean temperatures, scientists say
  Climate change is causing the whales to spend more time north before swimming to the waters off California's coast
• 2009/02/12: CNN: Fish migrating to cooler waters, study says
  Climate changes could affect the distribution of ocean species, according to study - By 2050, large numbers of fish expected to migrate from tropical seas to cooler areas - Migrations could lead to "numerous extinctions" of species outside polar regions - Scientists used computer models to project the effect of global warming on sea life
• 2009/02/13: NewScientist:SSS: Ocean climate change: a really inconvenient truth
• 2009/02/13: BBC: The world's fish stocks will soon suffer major upheaval due to climate change, scientists have warned.
• 2009/02/11: KSJT: Lots of Ink: For the birds, bad news on the rise.
• 2009/02/11: ENN: Scottish ski industry could disappear due to global warming, warns Met Office
• 2009/02/10: SciDaily: High Carbon Dioxide Boosts Plant Respiration, Potentially Affecting Climate And Crops
• 2009/02/10: Eureka: Plants take a hike as temperatures rise
• 2009/02/10: CBC: Birds moving farther north in response to climate change: study
• 2009/02/09: CanWest: Climate change threatens art
  Art treasures in tropical nations are under threat from climate change which is likely to speed decay, UN experts said yesterday.

And then there are the world's forests:

• 2009/02/15: Guardian(UK): Poor Brazilians rejoice as loggers return to pillage the rainforest
  Twelve months ago, troops and police drove illegal loggers out of the Amazon in an effort to halt deforestation. A year later, the sawmills are starting to reopen - and unemployed locals couldn't be happier.
• 2009/02/15: Guardian(UK): Warning of wildfire threat to tropical forests as planet heats up [AAAS]
• 2009/02/14: PhysOrg: Biofuels boom could fuel rainforest destruction, researcher warns
• 2009/02/13: Eureka: Seeing the forest and the trees helps cut atmospheric carbon dioxide
• 2009/02/10: PhysOrg: Climate change may kill the Amazon rainforest
• 2009/02/09: NewScientist: Humans could provide spark that ignites Amazon

  Climate refugees are becoming an issue:

• 2009/02/13: ABC(Au): Bougainville works to relocate 'climate refugees'
  The residents of the Cartaret Islands, north-east of Bougainville, are likely to become some of the world's first climate change refugees before the end of the year. The Autonomous Bougainville Government has begun searching for land to resettle them. Rising sea levels mean the atolls which make up the Cartaret Island group are regularly being affected by saltwater flooding, which are destroying the fresh water reserves and food gardens that sustain its estimated 1,400 people.
• 2009/02/12: SeattlePI: [Washington] State not ready for 'climate refugees' -- Scientists warn of migration, sickness
• 2009/02/11: Miadhu: Kiribati to follow Maldives and buy land for survival
• 2009/02/09: BBerg: Kiribati Islanders Seek Land to Buy as Rising Seas Threaten

  Yes we have no wacky weather, except:

• 2009/02/10: TerraDaily: Windstorms batter France, Britain on flood alert
• 2009/02/09: TerraDaily: Freak ice storm strikes western Canada
• 2009/02/10: CBC: Windstorm sparks massive power outages in France
• 2009/02/09: CBC: Ice storm one of the worst ever to hit region: RCMP

  Meanwhile in tornado alley:

• 2009/02/11: TerraDaily: Rescue workers search rubble after tornado kills 8 in Oklahoma
• 2009/02/11: Guardian(UK): Tornadoes rip across Oklahoma, killing at least eight people
• 2009/02/11: Wunderground: Year's first deadly tornado kills eight in Oklahoma
• 2009/02/11: HuffPo: Tornadoes Kill 8 People In Oklahoma, Others Injured
• 2009/02/11: BBC: Deadly tornado strikes Oklahoma
  At least eight people have been killed by a tornado which tore into a town in the US state of Oklahoma. The tornado swept through a swathe of the town of Lone Grove on Tuesday evening, reports said. Local reports said up to 15 people may have died. The tornado, one of at least three in the area, also left 14 people injured, a spokeswoman for the state emergency management department said. Several buildings in the town of about 4,600 were destroyed by the tornado.
• 2009/02/10: CBC: Tornado kills at least 4 people in southern Oklahoma
• 2009/02/10: KOCO: 3 Dead, Up To 50 Hurt In Southern Okla. Tornado

  As for heatwaves and wild fires:

• 2009/02/13: EarthTimes: At least three dead as forest fires rage in southern China
• 2009/02/11: TerraDaily: Greece spends millions over fire damage
• 2009/02/10: Tamino: Australia 5+1

  As for hydrological cycle disruptions [floods & droughts]:

• 2009/02/12: TerraDaily: Rains bring relief from China drought
• 2009/02/11: Guardian(UK): Extreme water shortages predicted for tropical Andes
• 2009/02/11: GreenGrok: Drought Blues
• 2009/02/10: TerraDaily: 9 missing after mudslide, flooding in Argentine town
• 2009/02/10: EarthTimes: Rain leaves 3 dead, 12,400 evacuees in Dominican Republic
• 2009/02/10: BBC: Parts of southern Britain have been hit by flooding in the wake of a severe storm which unleashed heavy rain, strong winds and snow
• 2009/02/10: ABC(Au): Parkland trees suffering in drought
  Trees around Adelaide's parklands will have to wait at least until the end of the year to get extra water
• 2009/02/09: EarthTimes: Flooding kills 24 in Morocco
• 2009/02/09: ENN: Fires, floods pressure Australia govt on climate
• 2009/02/08: TerraDaily: Drought-hit China to divert waters from two longest rivers: report
• 2009/02/07: Reuters: China drought deprives millions of drinking water
• 2009/02/08: Reuters: Drought starts to bite in northern Kenya
• 2009/02/14: SMH: One disaster after another: floods cane sugar crops
  From one natural disaster to another: the Governor-General, Quentin Bryce, flew from bushfire-ravaged Victoria to Queensland yesterday to visit victims of the floods that have devastated the state, covered two-thirds of its land mass and left thousands of people homeless.

Elsewhere on the mitigation front:

• 2009/02/08: JFleck: It's the Food

  Consider transportation & GHG production:

• 2009/02/08: SeattlePI: Mass Transit: Wrong way trend
  Just when Americans are turning to transit, transit may turn its back on some of them. It's a national trend that Seattle ought to resolve to avoid. As The New York Times reported last week, St. Louis' bus system is preparing for cutbacks of a scope that would to leave many workers with no way to get to jobs in the suburbs. Washington, D.C., Denver and Charlotte, N.C., are among others that are planning service cuts. Drops in tax collections have created much of the problem, since rider fares almost never cover the full costs of transit systems.
• 2009/02/09: CanWest: First class [air travel] creates more emissions, study finds

  While in the endless quest for zero energy, sustainable buildings and practical codes:

• 2009/02/14: Lansner: Is water the new oil?
• 2009/02/12: Guardian(UK): Ordinary family home pioneers low carbon future for us all
  Victorian house has been transformed from drafty eco-nightmare to low carbon show home - with gas bills of £50 a year
• 2009/02/12: WorldChanging: Miliband Announces Green Makeover for Every Home in Britain by 2030
• 2009/02/11: GaTech: Reducing CO2 Emissions Through Smart Growth and Technology -- hybrid vehicles and higher density cities could eliminate future growth of CO2 emissions from autos
• 2009/02/09: Guardian(UK): Quarter of UK homes to be offered a green makeover
  7m households earmarked for complete refit - Move to cut emissions hinges on funds, say critics

As for carbon sequestration:

• 2009/02/14: SC: Burn coal and save the environment? [with UCG-CCS: underground coal gasification with carbon capture and storage]
• 2009/02/14: CleanBreak: Carbon storage might not be so permanent
• 2009/02/09: BCLSB: The Stuff Leaks...and so the notion of Carbon Sequestration takes another hit

  Large scale geo-engineering keeps popping up:

• 2009/02/15: PeakEnergy: Geoengineering Megaprojects are Bad Planetary Management
• 2009/02/10: FuturePundit: Save Fossil Fuels To Use To Delay Next Ice Age?
• 2009/02/14: EarthTimes: Algae growth in ocean fertilizing test surprises scientists
• 2009/02/13: Guardian(UK): Climate change: Wrapping Greenland in a blanket
  There's a lot of talk about how geoengineering could help in the fight against climate change, but how difficult would it be in practice?
• 2009/02/13: ClimateP: So much for geoengineering, Part 1: Avoiding the Frankenplanet
• 2009/02/13: PeakEnergy: Hacking the Earth
  Jamais Cascio has a book of his collected essays on geoengineering out, available at Lulu.com - Hacking the Earth.
• 2009/02/09: GristMill: Plan B -- Geoengineering is risky but likely inevitable, so we better start thinking it through
• 2009/02/09: WorldChanging: Geoengineering Megaprojects are Bad Planetary Management
• 2009/02/09: AlterNet: Can Crazy Techno Schemes Actually Save Us from Climate Change?

  While on the adaptation front:

• 2009/02/14: TheAge: It's time we faced up to this harsh, dry reality

  Meanwhile in the journals:

• 2009/02/11: IMechE: (6.8 meg pdf) Climate Change: Adaptating to the Inevitable
• 2009/02/12: ACP: Sensitivity of satellite observations for freshly produced lightning NOx by S. Beirle et al.
• 2009/02/09: CP: Recent climate change in Japan -- spatial and temporal characteristics of trends of temperature by D. Schaefer & M. Domroes
• 2009/02/13: CPD: How to treat climate evolution in the assessment of the long-term safety of disposal facilities for radioactive waste: examples from Belgium by M. Van Geet et al.
• 2009/02/10: CPD: Pollen-based biome reconstructions for Latin America at 0, 6000 and 18 000 radiocarbon years by R. Marchant et al.
• 2009/02/09: CPD: Western equatorial African forest-savanna mosaics: a legacy of late Holocene climatic change? by A. Ngomanda et al.
• 2009/02/09: CPD: Astronomical forcing and mathematical theory of glacial-interglacial cycles by A. V. Kislov
• 2009/02/09: TC: Measured and modelled sublimation on the tropical Glaciar Artesonraju, Perú by M. Winkler et al.
• 2009/02/09: ACPD: Asian emissions in 2006 for the NASA INTEX-B mission by Q. Zhang et al.
• 2009/02/09: ACPD: Trans-Pacific dust transport: integrated analysis of NASA/CALIPSO and a global aerosol transport model by K. Eguchi et al.
• 2009/02/11: GRL: (ab$) Long time management of fossil fuel resources to limit global warming and avoid ice age onsets by Gary Shaffer
• 2009/01/20: GRL: (ab$) How declining aerosols and rising greenhouse gases forced rapid warming in Europe since the 1980s by Rolf Philipona et al.
• 2004/06/22: PNAS: Evidence for large methane releases to the atmosphere from deep-sea gas-hydrate dissociation during the last glacial episode by Thibault de Garidel-Thoron et al.
• 2009/02/04: CC: (ab$) Climate benefits of changing diet by Elke Stehfest et al.

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

• 2009/02/13: AFTIC: Excellent compilation of IPCC WG1 authors
• 2009/02/12: KSJT: Not much attention: A high pressure super balloon over Antarctica gathers some data, sets a record
• 2009/02/11: KSJT: Reuters, Otago Daily Times: A New Zealand woman's bull kelp study and climate change's deeper history
• 2009/02/11: MUNews: "Green" Plastics Could Help Reduce Carbon Footprint -- MU researchers working toward making biodegradable plastics from plants a reality
• 2009/02/10: PhysOrg: Unexpected discovery could impact on future climate models
• 2009/02/09: BYU: How an Antarctic worm makes antifreeze and what that has to do with climate change

  An unofficial meeting of scientists...:

• 2009/02/09: OilChange: Scientists Meet to "Influence Policy" on Climate
• 2009/02/09: Guardian(UK): Scientists plan emergency summit on climate change

  Regarding Peter Doran:

• 2009/02/14: SouthTownStar: Professor [Peter Doran] tries to set the record straight on global warming

  The Pielke fan clubbe is back:

• 2009/02/12: MTobis: Pielke Jr: Collapse of Climate Policy, Risk to Science
• 2009/02/08: JFleck: Annan On the Pielke-Hansen Kerfuffle

  Meanwhile on the Kyoto front:

• 2009/02/11: GristMill: Blaze a fail -- Since the Kyoto ETS went into effect, traded emissions have risen

  On the Kyoto-2 front:

• 2009/02/12: NZHerald: Hopes of full climate agreement are 'Noddyland stuff'
  The minister responsible for climate change negotiations, Tim Groser, says we should not expect the big conference in Copenhagen in December to come up with anything like the Kyoto Protocol.
• 2009/02/10: EarthTimes: US, China are central to any global climate deal, panel says
• 2009/02/08: Independent(UK): United on climate change: Obama's Chinese revolution
  US President wants the world's two biggest polluters to form a partnership in the battle against global warming...
• 2009/02/08: STimes: Japan calls on nations to cut emissions
• 2009/02/07: DeepikaGlobal: Rich nations should be ready for deeper cuts at Copenhagen: India
• 2009/02/09: PlanetArk: Hope Builds on China-US Clean-Energy Partnering

  While at the UN:

• 2009/02/10: GristMill: Guest of honor -- Hopes for new U.N. climate meeting hinge on Obama's attendance
• 2009/02/11: Xinhuanet: UN to convene summit on climate change in September
• 2009/02/11: Thaindian: UN chief asks US, China, India to lead way on climate change
• 2009/02/09: Reuters: UN's Ban hopes Obama to star at climate summit
• 2009/02/10: EarthTimes: Ban calls for climate change summit in September

  And on the carbon trading front:

• 2009/02/14: TimesOfMalta: Europe to leave collapsing carbon prices to market
• 2009/02/11: CFO: IEA calls for government response to low carbon prices
• 2009/02/11: NewScientist: What a slump in carbon prices means for the future
• 2009/02/09: EurActiv: Call for 'carbon reserve' as CO2 prices hit record low
  The economic slump is threatening to derail the EU's nascent carbon market, with declining industrial demand reducing the price of CO2 emission allowances to record lows last week. Mark Lewis, director of global carbon research at Deutsche Bank, proposed on Friday (6 February) to establish a reserve price for EU emissions allowances (EUAs) to avoid a price collapse in the third phase of the bloc's trading scheme, which starts in 2013.
• 2009/02/09: Independent(UK): Plunging price of carbon may threaten investment
  The price of carbon has lost almost two-thirds of its value in the past six months, threatening future investments in the energy sector and undermining confidence in the second phase of Europe's Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS). An EU permit to emit one tonne of CO2 cost 10.15 euros (£8.86) at the end of last week, down from 28.50 euros in mid-2008 and a far cry from forecasts of up to 40 euros. The most bearish experts are now predicting that the price could fallas low as 9 euros as global recession, reduced manufacturing output, and the concomitant reduction in consumption of fossil fuels, feeds through to reduce the need for carbon emissions permits. The danger is that business plans for infrastructure projects like power stations and wind farms will founder. In the first phase of the EU ETS, which ran from 2005 to 2008, permits were vastly over-issued, pushing the price of carbon to less than 1 euro and rendering the mechanism meaningless as a predictable revenue stream. A major price drop in the second phase of the scheme, which runs to 2012, could cause a repeat crisis of confidence by throwing future projections into question.

The idea of a carbon tax is still bouncing around:

• 2009/02/12: Yahoo: US energy chief floats idea of a carbon tax: NYT
• 2009/02/13: Yahoo: To slow climate change, tax carbon

  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:

• 2009/02/13: CSM: To slow climate change, tax carbon -- In this economy, cap-and-trade is just too risky
• 2009/02/10: DerSpiegel: Climate Change Paradox -- Wind Turbines in Europe Do Nothing for Emissions-Reduction Goals
  Despite Europe's boom in solar and wind energy, CO2 emissions haven't been reduced by even a single gram. Now, even the Green Party is taking a new look at the issue...

Meanwhile on the international political front:

• 2009/02/12: Mysinchew: Japan: Carbon Emitters Hold Talks In Tokyo
• 2009/02/11: Guardian(UK): China and the US - the road to rapprochement on climate change
• 2009/02/10: UN: Ban calls on US, China, India and Europe to lead way on climate change

  And on the American political front:

• 2009/02/13: GristMill: Hollywood lights -- L.A. ballot initiative on solar energy faces questions about cost and feasibility
• 2009/02/13: GristMill: Farm subsidies, bitter and sweet -- Tufts study: Corn subsidies are a sop to HFCS industry, but don't alone make bad food cheap
• 2009/02/10: ThingsBreak: Is Joe Romm right about conservatives and climate change?
• 2009/02/13: TreeHugger: The US Needs a 'True' Biofuels Policy: Environmental Working Group
• 2009/02/12: GristMill: Prospects for climate/energy action, VI -- The game plan: The mother of all energy bills
• 2009/02/12: GristMill: Governors hate coal -- South Carolina governor joins Wisconsin's and Michigan's in pushing back against coal
• 2009/02/12: GristMill: Don't suffer biofuels gladly -- Is the U.S. ready for sane ethanol policy?
• 2009/02/12: GristMill: Prospects for climate/energy action, V -- The game plan: starting with a bang
• 2009/02/11: GristMill: Prospects for climate/energy action, IV -- The players: cap-and-trade agonistes
• 2009/02/11: NYT: Scientists Disappointed by Direction of Financing
• 2009/02/10: GristMill: Deception by omission (of emissions) -- FCC and FTC need to hold 'clean coal' ads accountable to reality
• 2009/02/10: GristMill: Prospects for climate/energy action, III -- The players: Business, labor, advocates, and the public
• 2009/02/09: GristMill: Aye, Mac! MacArthur Foundation to fund climate change adaptation network
• 2009/02/09: AbqJournal: NM Greenhouse Legislation Introduced
• 2009/02/09: DeSmogBlog: Political trickery keeping Kansas coal plans alive
• 2009/02/10: NEN: Renewable Electricity Standard (RES) = Renewable Energy Standard = Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS)
• 2009/02/10: AlterNet: Everything Still Looks the Same, But We've Become a New Country

  The Obama administration is trying to rein in Bush's midnight regulation changes:

• 2009/02/11: Guardian(UK): US interior secretary halts offshore drilling plan
  Ken Salazar delays a five-year drilling plan that had been issued in the final hours of the Bush administration
• 2009/02/11: NatureTGB: A Bush regulation? Scratch that, says Obama
• 2009/02/10: GristMill: Change we Ken believe in -- Obama administration puts halt to Bush-era oil and gas policies
• 2009/02/10: ThinkP: [Secretary of the Interior Ken] Salazar makes clean break from Bush's midnight 'headlong rush' into offshore drilling
• 2009/02/10: HoustonChronicle: Administration delays move toward more offshore drilling
• 2009/02/10: WSJ:EnvCap: Don't Drill, Baby: Interior Department Halts Offshore Drilling Push

  The Obama chatter is nonstop:

• 2009/02/14: ClimateP: Progressives, Obama keep promise to jumpstart clean energy, economy -- conservatives keep promise to jumpstop the future
• 2009/02/13: DVoice: The Myth of Clean Coal -- Foes of Mountaintop Removal Have No Ally in the White House
• 2009/02/14: AlterNet: Don't Get Duped Like Obama: Here're the Top 5 Myths About Coal
• 2009/02/13: GristMill: Brit's Eye View: Is Barack Obama the American Tony Blair? Is Obama up to the challenge on climate and the economy, or will he disappoint like Blair?
• 2009/02/12: WorldChanging: President Obama: "The days where we're just building sprawl forever, those days are over"
• 2009/02/12: BBC: Obama 'must act now' on climate
  The planet will be in "huge trouble" unless Barack Obama makes strides in tackling climate change, says a leading scientist. Prof James McCarthy spoke on the eve of the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), which he heads.
• 2009/02/11: ClimateP: Podesta: Obama Administration is ready for the carbon revolution
• 2009/02/11: TreeHugger: Quote of the Day: The President on Transit and Sprawl
• 2009/02/09: GristMill: The bully pulpit -- Obama talks tough on energy in first prime-time press conference
• 2009/02/09: WaPo: U.N. Chief Wants Obama at Climate-Change Summit
• 2009/02/10: TreeHugger: The Country With the Cheapest Clean Energy Will Win the Economic Competition of the Future: Obama
• 2009/02/08: Independent(UK): United on climate change: Obama's Chinese revolution
  US President wants the world's two biggest polluters to form a partnership in the battle against global warming...
• 2009/02/09: OilDrum: Some Thoughts on the Obama Energy Agenda from the Perspective of Net Energy
• 2009/02/07: NYT: Why Obama's Energy Savings Estimate May Be Skewed

  The first actions of the Obama administration are being watched closely:

• 2009/02/14: ERabett: If Marc Morano were dead he'd be whirling in his grave
  A recent appearance by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at the Asia Society is an important marker for US energy and environmental policy.
• 2009/02/13: CSW: Holdren and Lubchenco sail through Senate confirmation hearing with flying colors
• 2009/02/12: Yahoo: US energy chief floats idea of a carbon tax: NYT
• 2009/02/14: Guardian(UK): Clinton tries to build China climate pact
  Hillary Clinton hopes to recruit China as a partner in American efforts to reduce global warming when she embarks on her first trip as secretary of state with a seven-day tour through Asia this week.
• 2009/02/13: ClimateP: Gregg does Obama, humanity, next 50 generations huge favor and withdraws as Commerce Secretary
• 2009/02/13: GristMill: For Tom Vilsack, Grist swings both ways -- Our weekly look at the heroes and villains of the climate fight
• 2009/02/11: CSW: Questions for Jane Lubchenco Senate confirmation hearing to become NOAA Administrator
• 2009/02/11: CSW: Questions for John Holdren Senate confirmation hearing to head Office of Science & Technology Policy
• 2009/02/11: TreeHugger: Who's Who on Obama's Green Team: Lisa Jackson, Administrator of the EPA
• 2009/02/10: ThinkP: NOAA Strips Scientist Of Funding Because Of His Marine Conservation 'Advocacy'
• 2009/02/10: WarmingLaw: Good News, Green News
• 2009/02/09: ClimateP: Is [National Security Adviser] Gen. Jones trying to grab part of the energy and climate portfolio -- and should progressives worry?
• 2009/02/09: ClimateP: Stephen Chu's full global warming interview: "This is a real economic disaster in the making for our children, for your children."
• 2009/02/09: GristMill: Prospects for climate/energy action, II -- The players: Obama's people

  As for what is going on in Congress:

• 2009/02/14: GristMill: Carbon Markey -- Markey on cap v. tax and ways to properly regulate carbon markets
• 2009/02/14: ClimateP: [Sen. Barbara Boxer's] Climate Bill: Principle Draws Interest
• 2009/02/09: GristMill: Seeing deforest for the trees -- Senate Foreign Relations Committee leaders urge action to avoid deforestation
• 2009/02/10: FTimes: Markey pushes climate change legislation
• 2009/02/09: ClimateP: Note to media: It's good the Senate cut the $400 Million for ARPA-E from the stimlus. Ask me why.
• 2009/02/09: ClimateP: What are the prospects for climate legislation in the House?
• 2009/02/08: GristMill: Off the RES -- [Senator Jeff] Bingaman (D-N.M.) unveils draft of renewable energy standard

  The stimulus bill gathered much comment:

• 2009/02/14: AutoBG: Stimulus bill pumps up plug-ins, public transit, trains, smart grid
• 2009/02/12: EnvFin: Renewables provisions survive US stimulus compromise
• 2009/02/13: CPunch: $50 Billion Subsidy Stripped from Stimulus Bill -- Striking a Blow Against Nuclear Power
• 2009/02/13: ClimateP: Another big win for renewables in the stimulus bill
• 2009/02/13: GristMill: The coal ball of wax -- Money for fossil fuel research in the stimulus could still go to coal
• 2009/02/12: GristMill: Service first -- Using stimulus funds to make mass transit free
• 2009/02/12: ClimateP: Stimulus deal reached. Here's what's green in it.
• 2009/02/11: ClimateP: Miracles do occur: $50 billion in toxic pork for nuclear energy axed from Stimulus Bill
• 2009/02/12: GristMill: A green-tinged stimulus bill -- The economic-recovery bill includes green funding and drops nuclear and coal subsidies
• 2009/02/12: FOE: Massive Nuclear Bailout Removed from Stimulus
• 2009/02/12: TP:WonkRoom: ACCCE Celebrates Senate's $4.6 Billion Windfall For Coal In Recovery Plan
• 2009/02/10: APA Advocate: Senate Passes Economic Stimulus
• 2009/02/11: ClimateP: How did $50B high-risk, job-killing nuclear loans get in the stimulus? Fraudulent budget gimmickry.
• 2009/02/11: ClimateP: The Generational Theft Act of 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003, 2002, 2001...
• 2009/02/10: ClimateP: The Senate stimulus bill passed 61-37 today. Here's what's green in it
• 2009/02/10: CSW: Economic stimulus bill climate change science provisions for NASA and NOAA
• 2009/02/09: GristMill: Hill heap -- Green spending cuts still on table in Senate, more...
• 2009/02/09: GristMill: Walking, chewing gum -- Fighting economic decline and climate change simultaneously
• 2009/02/09: TreeHugger: Rural Electrification in 1935; Broadband and Green Electricity Today

  While in the UK:

• 2009/02/15: Guardian(UK): Coal at centre of fierce new climate battle
  The debate over the impact of fossil fuels has been reignited by the imminent approval of a power plant at Kingsnorth, Kent. Could advances in technology provide ways of capturing dangerous emissions and make coal safer?
• 2009/02/15: Guardian(UK): Coal-fired power stations are death factories. Close them [by James Hansen]
  The government is expected to give the go-ahead to the coal-burning Kingsnorth power plant. Here, one of the world's foremost climate experts launches an excoriating attack on Britain's long love affair with the most polluting fossil fuel of all
• 2009/02/13: Guardian(UK): Britain should prepare for massive loss of landmass, warn engineers
  UK should change building design, transport and energy infrastructure ahead of climate change and high sea levels
• 2009/02/12: WorldChanging: Miliband Announces Green Makeover for Every Home in Britain by 2030
• 2009/02/11: Guardian(UK): Climate Camp to target the City in summer protest -- Protest group aims to throw spotlight on carbon trading
• 2009/02/11: BBC: UK's CO2 plan 'certain to fail'
• 2009/02/09: Guardian(UK): Quarter of UK homes to be offered a green makeover
  7m households earmarked for complete refit - Move to cut emissions hinges on funds, say critics

Irish environment minister Sammy Wilson has been kicking up a denialist cloud:

• 2009/02/15: Guardian(UK): Row over climate change ad will not cost minister [Wilson] his job, says colleague
• 2009/02/14: Guardian(UK): It's time for Sammy Wilson to go
  An environment minister who opposes green issues? Northern Ireland needs a new party to save us from Stormont's crackpots
• 2009/02/13: Guardian(UK): B&Q bids to restore eco cred with insulation for £1
• 2009/02/12: Guardian(UK): Northern Ireland environment minister [Wilson] receives no-confidence vote
• 2009/02/09: inel: AGW denier Northern Ireland Environment Minister [Wilson] actively misrepresents climate scientists and science
• 2009/02/10: Guardian(UK): DUP stands by climate change sceptic environment minister
• 2009/02/10: Guardian(UK): Calls for Stormont environment minister [Wilson] to quit over CO2 ad ban
• 2009/02/09: DeSmogBlog: Ireland's Democratic Union Party can't have its Climate Cake

  And in Europe:

• 2009/02/13: DerSpiegel: Going Greener? German Energy Roadmap Steers Towards Renewables
  By 2020 almost a third of Germany's energy will come from 'green' sources, the Environment Ministry pledged on Thursday. By European standards it is an ambitious project -- but environmentalists argue more could be done.
• 2009/02/13: EarthTimes: Despite glitches, Swedes want to keep nuclear power, says survey

  350 cities in Europe want more action on climate than the EU has proposed:

• 2009/02/12: NatureCF: European cities sign climate change covenant
• 2009/02/11: EurActiv: Mayors commit to exceeding EU climate goals
• 2009/02/11: NatureTGB: European cities sign climate change covenant
• 2009/02/10: IHT: European cities sign climate change agreement
• 2009/02/11: People's Daily: 350 EU cities commit to going beyond 20% emissions reduction target
• 2009/02/10: EUO: European cities endorse 2020 emissions cuts
  Over 350 cities across Europe signed a non-binding declaration to go further than the existing European Union objective of reducing CO2 emissions by 20 percent by 2020 over the 1990 levels. The commitment, dubbed the "Covenant of Mayors", was formally signed on Tuesday (10 February) in Brussels by representatives of over 350 cities from 23 EU member states as well as several dozen municipalities from non-EU countries such as Ukraine, Turkey or Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Meanwhile in Australia:

• 2009/02/12: Yahoo: Australia calls inquiry into own emissions plan
• 2009/02/12: ABC(Au): Economics committee to examine emissions trading scheme -- Federal Parliament will hold an inquiry into the Government's emissions trading scheme.
• 2009/02/12: ABC(Au): Business chamber wants freeze on carbon scheme
  The Queensland Chamber of Commerce and Industry says the Federal Government's Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme must be postponed until the economy is revived.
• 2009/02/12: DailyTelegraph: Government's Emission Trading Scheme delayed for one year
  The [Australian] Government's emissions trading scheme has been put on hold and might not begin on schedule in 2010.
• 2009/02/11: ABC(Au): Carbon permits for big polluters could spark 'trading war' [says Ross Garnaut]
  The Federal Government's climate change adviser has warned of a possible trading war if Australia's big polluters are over-compensated under an emissions trading scheme. The Government says it will provide certain industries, like aluminium and steel, with the majority of their carbon pollution permits for free. But economist Ross Garnaut has told an agricultural conference in Cairns that assistance should be temporary and phased-out when a global emissions trading regime is in place.
• 2009/02/09: ABC(Au): Farmers get say in climate change inquiry
  A federal parliamentary inquiry is underway into how governments can help farmers deal with the effects of climate change. The Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Tony Burke, called on the the House of Representatives Primary Industries and Resources Committee to enquire and report on strategies to help farmers adapt to the changing conditions. The inquiry will accept public comments until March 20.

While in China:

• 2009/02/09: BBC: Delays block China's giant water scheme
  A multi-billion-dollar project to divert water from southern China to the arid north is already four years behind schedule. The news comes as parts of northern and central China struggle to cope with severe drought. Officials recently admitted that water would not flow along the project's central route - a total of three are planned - until 2014.

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

• 2009/02/11: CFO: Canadian GHG effort under fire
  Canada's commitment to reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and promoting renewable energy has been questioned, particularly as the government cannot account for C$1.5 billion (US$1.2 billion) that was earmarked to reduce emissions and pollution.
• 2009/02/10: VoxEU: Money for nothing? by Johannes Van Biesebroeck
  Following the US bailout of the automotive industry, Canada is now bailing out its own auto firms, lest they risk southward migration. However, this column shows that this most recent action only continues a long history of lavish subsidies for the auto industry. Are governments giving away money for nothing?
• 2009/02/09: Hullabaloos: Photo Ops-R-Us [transit scandal]

  The Tories aren't big on funding science:

• 2009/02/11: APOV: The State Of Science In Harper Land
• 2009/02/11: NatPo: Support our scientists by Marc Garneau
  One of the greatest contributions to Canada made by the Liberal governments of Jean Chretien and Paul Martin was the creation of powerful tools to reinvigorate public research. The Canada Foundation for Innovation, the Canada Research Chairs Program, Genome Canada and the Indirect Costs Program -- the founding of these programs demonstrated both vision and an understanding of the essential role of research in this country. By contrast, the Harper government's recent budget demonstrates that the Conservatives do not grasp the importance of scientific research. Under the new budget, the three national research granting councils, which play an essential role in funding the scientists who conduct the research in our universities and research hospitals, will be subjected to "efficiency and focusing" cuts over the next three years.

The NDP has reintroduced the Climate Change Accountability Act to spur the Tories (and Liberals):

• 2009/02/11: AD: On global solutions
• 2009/02/10: CBC: NDP reintroduces greenhouse gas reduction bill
  NDP Leader Jack Layton says he believes he can muster enough support from opposition MPs to pass the climate change accountability act that died last year because of the election. "I believe there's a very high probability that there will a majority of support in the House," Layton said shortly after the bill was reintroduced in the Commons on Tuesday. The NDP-sponsored bill had passed in the House of Commons with the support of the Liberals and Bloc last June. It was headed to the Senate but never passed because Prime Minister Stephen Harper called an election. Layton said passage of the bill would have made Canada the first country to adopt a UN-based target of an 80 per cent reduction of greenhouse gases by 2050. Those targets differ from the Tories' environmental goals of reaching a 50 per cent reduction by 2050. The NDP bill would also set medium-term targets to bring emissions 25 per cent below 1990 levels by 2020. Passage of the bill in the House and Senate would not require the government to adopt the plan.

The Tories, and Environment Minister Jim Prentice in particular, are still grabbing for Obama's coattails to protect Alberta:

• 2009/02/14: NatPo: Two years' work necessary for North American climate accord: Minister
  Two years of negotiations would likely be necessary to work out a proposed Canada-U. S. energy and climate-change accord that is on the agenda for the Harper-Obama meeting next week, Environment Minister Jim Prentice, pictured, says. Those two years could "pave the way essentially for 50 years of progress" in reducing carbon emissions and radically change the way North Americans produce and consume energy, he said.
• 2009/02/13: Yahoo: Canada touts continental climate change policy
  Canada's environment minister on Thursday heralded a possible continental climate change pact with the United States, saying US President Barack Obama has opened the door.
• 2009/02/13: NatureN: Obama may be tough on Canada's tar sands
  How will future US emissions regulations affect North America's biggest oil owner? When US President Barack Obama visits Canada next week for his first foreign trip, the issues of oil from Alberta's tar sands and, more widely, climate change will be high on the agenda. Alberta's oil is plentiful and handy for US customers, but getting it out of the ground takes a heavy toll on energy and the environment. If Obama stays true to his campaign pledges and initiates tough rules on carbon emissions, this could leave North America's biggest oil field out in the cold.
• 2009/02/11: G&M: Ottawa counters 'dirty oil' campaign
  Environment Minister Jim Prentice hit back yesterday at an environmental campaign pressing Barack Obama to treat Alberta's oil sands as the "world's dirtiest oil," arguing that Canada is only seeking the same treatment that the United States will have to apply to its own coal.

And if it comes to renegotiating NAFTA:

• 2009/02/09: G&M: Majority would limit industry's right to challenge environmental policies
  A new poll of Americans and Canadians by Environics has found that more than 70 per cent of respondents in both countries want restrictions on the ability of energy companies to use the North American free-trade agreement to sue governments over their environmental-protection polices. The survey was commissioned for the Council of Canadians, an Ottawa-based nationalist group, which said the results indicate widespread public support for renegotiating what are known as the investor protection provisions in Chapter 11 of NAFTA.

Late comment on the Commissioner of the Environment report:

• 2009/02/10: CanWest: Greenhouse-gas plans are a bust -- Federal schemes to cut emissions are a waste of money
  Everyone knows that the Harper government takes only baby steps to curb greenhouse gases. But now comes word that even these baby steps can be false steps. That's the disturbing finding of the federal commissioner of the environment.

Late comment on the January 27th budget:

• 2009/02/14: TStar: What you missed in that budget bill
  Those worried about Stephen Harper changing his spots can rest easy. At heart, the prime minister's the same old guy. True, he now plans to run big deficits to fight the economic slump. But Harper is also using the opportunity provided by this slump to quietly ram through laws that punish two groups his governing Conservatives have long had in their sights -- public sector workers and uppity women. At the same time, he is quietly introducing measures to weaken environmental laws affecting rivers and lakes, limit federal oversight of most foreign investment and scale back some of Canada's few remaining restrictions on foreign ownership. All are part of the government's so-called budget implementation Bill C-10. Most were mentioned barely, if at all, in the Jan. 27 budget that gave rise to this bill.

With an election coming up, wrangling over the BC climate plan. energy etc. continues:

• 2009/02/15: CanWest: Liberals' lead over NDP up to 16 per cent
• 2009/02/15: BCLSB: Say, Maybe A Carbon Tax ISN'T Politically Fatal
• 2009/02/13: Tyee: War over River Power Escalates -- Industry, foes clash over massive private Bute Inlet project

  Ontario is struggling with its energy policy:

• 2009/02/11: CleanBreak: Dealing with NIMBYism a balancing act
• 2009/02/10: CBC: New law will keep NIMBY-ism from stopping green projects: Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty
• 2009/02/11: TStar: McGuinty vows to stop wind-farm NIMBYs
  Taking a swipe at those who oppose wind turbines off the Scarborough Bluffs, Premier Dalton McGuinty is signalling he won't hesitate to foist "green" energy projects on communities across Ontario. Only safety and environmental concerns will be legitimate objections to biofuel plants, solar panel fields and wind turbines under a green energy act to be proposed this month, the premier said yesterday in a speech on the economy.
• 2009/02/10: CBC: Ontario could be coal-free by 2010 with aggressive conservation: report

  The tricky & difficult question of the tar sands looms:

• 2009/02/15: TStar: Cleaning up Alberta's 'dirty oil'
• 2009/02/13: NatureN: Obama may be tough on Canada's tar sands
  How will future US emissions regulations affect North America's biggest oil owner? When US President Barack Obama visits Canada next week for his first foreign trip, the issues of oil from Alberta's tar sands and, more widely, climate change will be high on the agenda. Alberta's oil is plentiful and handy for US customers, but getting it out of the ground takes a heavy toll on energy and the environment. If Obama stays true to his campaign pledges and initiates tough rules on carbon emissions, this could leave North America's biggest oil field out in the cold.
• 2009/02/12: CBC: Alberta issues 20-year plan for enviro-friendly tarsands
• 2009/02/10: OilChange: One Hours Profit for 500 Dead Ducks
• 2009/02/10: EdSun: Smell bad PR for oilsands? Time to duck!
• 2009/02/10: CanWest: Dead ducks: Oil execs might be jailed
• 2009/02/09: CBC: Green groups begin campaign to tell Obama about Alberta's 'dirtiest oil'
  A coalition of Canadian and U.S. environmental groups has launched a cross-border campaign ahead of Barack Obama's visit to Canada, urging the U.S. president to stick to his new energy plan amid possible pleas for him to support oil production from the Alberta oilsands.
• 2009/02/09: USO: Alberta cries foul over duck disaster
• 2009/02/09: CBC: Ottawa, Alberta charge Syncrude in tarsands pond duck deaths
• 2009/02/09: G&M: Charges laid over Alberta duck deaths
  Syncrude Canada Ltd. is facing federal and provincial environmental charges and could be liable for up to $800,000 in fines, while executives could be sent to jail in connection with the deaths of 500 ducks in one of the tailings ponds at its oil sands operation north of Fort McMurray.

As for miscellaneous Canadiana:

• 2009/02/14: HoustonChronicle: Exxon Mobil looks to Canada for heavy-duty project [Nfld]

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

• 2009/02/13: CPunch: Four Freedoms, Four Changes
  Everywhere one looks today there's crisis. Economic collapse, war, environmental degradation, health, poverty, mis-education and corruption, all at the same time, with common roots and fruits. What's a poor boy/girl-man/woman to do in such insane and chaotic times? Study history. Learn more about the present, ourselves and others. Channel anger, creativity, love and whatever else we've got into action. Take advantage of the extremely rare opportunity, at such tipping points, to make history by telling our own stories, and create our future.
• 2009/02/14: SeedMag: 2009 Will Be a Year of Panic
• 2009/02/14: PeakEnergy: 2009 Will Be a Year of Panic
• 2009/02/11: OLJ: American apologies
• 2009/02/09: JHK: Poverty of Imagination
• 2009/02/08: EnergyBulletin: Building the sustainable economy

  Meanwhile back in the realm of neoclassical economics:

• 2009/02/13: GristMill: Another misunderstood consensus -- Most economists agree on the economics of climate change mitigation
• 2009/02/13: Deltoid: The economists' consensus on global warming
• 2009/02/11: TBM: Surprise -- Economists Agree!
  A consensus is emerging about the costs of containing climate change. So why is no one writing that?
• 2009/02/13: QuarkSoup: Consensus on Climate Economics
  "...there is a broad consensus that the cost of climate inaction would greatly exceed the cost of climate action..." [Eric Pooley]

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

• 2009/02/14: GristMill: When population growth and resource availability collide -- Many political conflicts stem from undue population pressure on water and grasslands
• 2009/02/06: Oregonian: Population growth: the forgotten worry, though crisis continues

  Apocalypso anyone?

• 2009/02/14: Times(UK): It's too late for Planet Earth, says James Lovelock -- The Gaia thinker's latest book warns that climate disaster is imminent
• 2009/02/08: Times(UK): The fight to get aboard Lifeboat UK
  Last week she played in the snow, but what will Britain be like when she grows up? James Lovelock, the Earth guru, foresees a land where blizzards are long forgotten and national survival depends on a new Winston Churchill
• 2009/02/09: ClimateP: How likely is it that Global Warming will destroy human civilization within the next century?

  As for how the media handles the science of climatology:

• 2009/02/13: NatureITF: AAAS: Science journalism in crisis?
• 2009/02/13: PhysOrg: Mass media often failing in its coverage of global warming, says climate researcher
• 2009/02/13: Eureka: Mass media often failing in its coverage of global warming, says climate researcher
  Stephen Schneider also calls for academics to help by doing outreach and says developed nations must get their own greenhouse gas emissions under control if they expect developing nations to do so.
• 2009/02/10: ClimateP: CNN, ABC, WashPost, AP, blow Australian wildfire, drought, heatwave "Hell (and High Water) on Earth" story -- never mention climate change

  And how scientists handle the media:

• 2009/02/10: NewScientist: Scientists losing war of words over climate change

  Usually headlines are written by copy editors not reporters. Often they are uninformative, sometimes they are misleading or contrary in an attempt to be cute and/or engaging, and sometimes they are just a pain:

• 2009/02/13: ABC(Au): Climate change to cause dark night of the shoal
  Climate change will cause key species of fish to migrate towards the poles, badly depleting many commercial fisheries, scientists say.

Vicky Pope rattled a few cages:

• 2009/02/15: JEB: Pot, meet kettle
• 2009/02/12: DotEarth: Too Much Hot and Cool Hype?
• 2009/02/12: Stoat: 'Apocalyptic climate predictions' mislead the public, say experts
• 2009/02/11: Guardian(UK): 'Apocalyptic climate predictions' mislead the public, say experts
  Met Office scientists fear distorted climate change claims could undermine efforts to tackle carbon emissions
• 2009/02/11: Guardian(UK): Scientists must rein in misleading climate change claims by Dr. Vicky Pope

  Here is something for your library:

• 2009/02/15: PeakEnergy: [Book Plug] Buckminster Fuller's Critical Path
• 2009/02/11: CCurrents: [Book Revu] _When Technology Fails: A Manual For Self-Reliance, Sustainability, and Surviving The Long Emergency_ by Mat Stein

  Meanwhile among the 'Sue the Bastards!' contingent:

• 2009/02/13: ENS: Center for Biological Diversity Declares Legal War on Global Warming
  To fight climate change, the nonprofit Center for Biological Diversity Thursday opened a new law institute in San Francisco and announced the dedication of an initial $17 million to the project. The Climate Law Institute will use existing laws and work to establish new state and federal laws that will eliminate energy generation by the burning of fossil fuels - particularly coal and oil shale.
• 2009/02/09: DeSmogBlog: Landmark Settlement Makes U.S. Agencies Acknowledge Climate Change

  The betting meme rolls on:

• 2009/02/15: BSD: Hoping for a bet with Mark Campbell (selected by Marc Morano)

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

• 2009/02/14: PhysOrg: US petroleum dependency factor of history
• 2009/02/13: Reuters: World oil production potential weakening: Total
• 2009/02/12: WSJ:EnvCap: Oil Prices: What Happens If There's No Economic Recovery?
• 2009/02/11: CleanBreak: LNG lobby's "truth" about CO2 emissions smells fishy
• 2009/02/13: PhysOrg: Paris digs deep to harness Earth's green [geothermal] energy
• 2009/02/12: BBC: Oil prices have fallen by almost $2 a barrel to below $34 as doubts grow that a US stimulus package will reinvigorate America's economy
• 2009/02/11: FTimes: Damning verdict for 'fragile' WTI [West Texas Intermediate crude oil contracts]
• 2009/02/12: Independent(UK): Global demand for oil faces biggest contraction since 1982
• 2009/02/10: QuarkSoup: Wind Employs More than Coal
• 2009/02/10: DotEarth: Could Energy Success Backfire in the End?
• 2009/02/10: TreeHugger: The Country With the Cheapest Clean Energy Will Win the Economic Competition of the Future: Obama
• 2009/02/10: NEN: Renewable Electricity Standard (RES) = Renewable Energy Standard = Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS)
• 2009/02/09: ClimateP: Merrill [Lynch]: Non-OPEC production has likely peaked, oil output could fall by 30 million bpd by 2015
• 2009/02/08: NakedCapitalism: EIA Gasoline Data: Too Often on the High Side

  The answer my friend...:

• 2009/02/10: CleanBreak: Michigan gets serious about offshore wind
• 2009/02/12: DerSpiegel: Gigantic Wind Turbine Installed in Germany
• 2009/02/13: PeakEnergy: The World's Largest Wind Turbine

  Meanwhile among the solar aficionados:

• 2009/02/12: FuturePundit: Solar Photovoltaic Prices Seen Falling
• 2009/02/14: TreeHugger: Arizona Dreams Of Becoming Solar Thermal "Power Colony" Of Western North America
• 2009/02/13: SHNS: Massive desert solar 'colonies' hope to solve energy crisis
• 2009/02/14: PeakEnergy: Solar Power Poles
• 2009/02/12: Mainichi: Japan looks to boost solar energy output to 55 times current levels by 2030
• 2009/02/13: PeakEnergy: Nanosolar making slow progress in Germany
• 2009/02/13: PeakEnergy: Brightsource Signs Deal For 1.3 GW Solar Thermal Plant
• 2009/02/12: NatureTGB: Solar goes up, solar goes down. Again
• 2009/02/11: ClimateP: Biggest CA utility contracts for world's biggest solar power deal -- 1300 MW solar thermal
• 2009/02/11: DotEarth: A Solar Deal to Put Mirrors in the Mojave
• 2009/02/11: TreeHugger: 120 MW of Solar Power to be Installed by New Jersey's Largest Utility
• 2009/02/10: PhysOrg: Research Highlights Potential for Improved Solar Cells
• 2009/02/10: Eureka: Research highlights potential for improved solar cells -- Certain nanocrystals shown to generate more than one electron

  The arithmetic of coal carbon is striking home:

• 2009/02/14: NYT: Is America Ready to Quit Coal?
• 2009/02/15: GristMill: Is America ready to quit the enemy of the human race? Superb NYT story captures both coal's peril and the barriers to its elimination
• 2009/02/14: PhysOrg: US clings to coal energy but wants it clean
  Wedded to its mining industry, the United States is counting on carbon-dioxide capture technology to make coal-generated electricity production less polluting, but the process remains in infancy and is still controversial. Half of the 4,000 gigawatt electrical capacity in the world's largest economy is produced from coal, the most environmentally destructive form of power generation.
• 2009/02/13: GreenGrok: Did a Coal Ash Trade Group Try to Pull a Fast One?
• 2009/02/12: ClimateP: Are we approaching Peak Coal? Part 2
• 2009/02/10: GristMill: This week's coal victories -- Two more coal plants won't be built, another will switch to biomass
• 2009/02/10: WSJ:EnvCap: Goodbye, Coal: What Power Options Are Left?

  Biofuel bickering abounds:

• 2009/02/15: PhysOrg: Biofuels may speed up, not slow global warming: study
  The use of crop-based biofuels could speed up rather than slow down global warming by fueling the destruction of rainforests, scientists warned Saturday. Once heralded as the answer to oil, biofuels have become increasingly controversial because of their impact on food prices and the amount of energy it takes to produce them.
• 2009/02/14: IR^2: Jatropha Curcas
• 2009/02/12: Reuters: U.S. corn for ethanol to rise, growth to slow: USDA
  U.S. corn used to produce ethanol will increase in 2009/10, but beyond that, growth is forecast to slow with demand mirroring changes in gasoline consumption, the Agriculture Department said on Thursday. USDA projected 4.2 billion bushels of corn will be used to produce ethanol in 2009/10, an increase from 3.6 billion bushels forecasted for the current year. Overall, ethanol is forecast to command about 33 percent of the corn crop compared to 30 percent in 2008/09.
• 2009/02/13: Eureka: Figuring out green power -- MSU scientists speed up discovery of plant metabolism genes -- Research could lead to plants bred for biofuel
• 2009/02/10: Eureka: Biofuels can provide viable, sustainable solution to reducing petroleum dependence
• 2009/02/09: WAC: NCGA [National Corn Growers Association] Calls Minnesota Ethanol Study Faulty
• 2009/02/09: AutoBG: Efforts to increase ethanol concentrations in gasoline face UL hurdle

  The nuclear energy controversy continues:

• 2009/02/13: OLJ: Another spectacular $50 billion no nukes victory for the forces of Solartopia

  More people are talking about the electrical grid:

• 2009/02/14: TreeHugger: ITC Holdings Corp. Proposes New Wind Power Transmission Lines Serving US Midwest
• 2009/02/12: PeakEnergy: Google Gets Smart
• 2009/02/10: ClimateP: ITC to build $12 billion in wind farm power lines, JCSP study finds $50+B savings from 20% wind

  And then there is the matter of efficiency & conservation:

• 2009/02/08: FuturePundit: Incentives For Increasing Home Energy Efficiency
• 2009/02/13: TreeHugger: 34% Drop in US Electric Demand Possible Through Energy Efficiency Improvements: Rocky Mountain Institute

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

• 2009/02/10: EUO: France to rescue domestic car industry
  France on Monday (9 February) announced 6.5 billion euros in loans to three national automobile manufacturers in a bid to save jobs.
• 2009/02/10: PhysOrg: Ford to launch electric van in the US next year
• 2009/02/09: CBC: Nissan to slash 20,000 jobs as $3.6B annual loss forecast

  The reaction of business to climate change will be critical:

• 2009/02/12: EnvFin: CDP [Carbon Disclosure Project] to poll 3,700 firms on climate risks

  The carbon lobby are up to the usual:

• 2009/02/13: BSD: Volokh Correction #24 (and Pielke Jr.): Chu isn't abusing science
• 2009/02/12: N3xus6: Andrew Bolt really is dumber than a juvenile sea-sponge
• 2009/02/12: AFTIC: Mark Morano gets a spanking on The Way Things Break
• 2009/02/13: TreeHugger: Who is Calling Who a Hypocrite? New Ad Campaign Denies Climate Change
• 2009/02/12: Guardian(UK): The Christopher Booker prize: our man in Michigan -- Christopher Booker has a major contender: columnist, John Tomlinson, from Flint, Michigan
• 2009/02/12: ClimateP: Uber-denier Inhofe misquotes Hadley, gives big wet Valentine's kiss to Pielke -- go figure!
• 2009/02/07: ERabett: Who do you believe? [Gray]
• 2009/02/11: TP:WonkRoom: Front Group For Polluter Billionaires [Koch] Wastes $140K On Goofy Global Warming Denial Ads
• 2009/02/09: GristMill: Fred Barnes' source for climate science -- The entire conservative media is informed on climate science by the office of James Inhofe
• 2009/02/10: Skeptico: Global Warming Denial
• 2009/02/10: Deltoid: Joanne Nova emails Skeptico
• 2009/02/10: Deltoid: Fred Barnes caught making it up
• 2009/02/09: DeSmogBlog: Bob Lutz, GM's Denier-in-Chief, Makes for the Exit

  Microsoft used to be known for their practice of embracing and extinguishing the opposition through control of the agenda. It looks like the airlines and oil companies are doing the same:

• 2009/02/12: EnvFin: Airlines call for inclusion in Copenhagen climate deal
• 2009/02/12: Yahoo: Major airlines call for climate deal to include aviation
• 2009/02/12: NYT: Oil Industry Ready to Work on Global Warming
• 2009/02/12: NatureCF: Ready to be regulated? Join the queue
• 2009/02/12: Reuters: Top airlines want aviation emissions in climate pact

  As for climate miscellanea:

• 2009/02/14: GristMill: Corny video -- Climate Central takes on Iowa corn
• 2009/02/14: Tamino: The Audacity of Hope
• 2009/02/12: DerSpiegel: 'Yes Men' -- The Gag Guerillas Take on the World
• 2009/02/12: QuarkSoup: Stuff
• 2009/02/12: PhysOrg: Vital climate change warnings are being ignored, say experts in Science
• 2009/02/11: PhysOrg: Avoiding the hothouse and the icehouse
• 2009/02/11: JQuiggin: Insulation and emissions
• 2009/02/08: McClatchyDC: Global warming studies often depend on average citizens
• 2009/02/10: GreenGrok: The Old Ice Age Myth Put to Rest
• 2009/02/10: NatureCF: Dirty money: US agencies rethink fossil fuel funding
• 2009/02/10: GristMill: Minds-per-gallon -- New site to teach students about green vehicle technology
• 2009/02/09: MTobis: A Lumpy Container, Yet.
• 2009/02/10: CSM: Global warming through a mom's eyes -- It is a real threat to my kids' future. But what can I do about it?
• 2009/02/09: GreenGrok: Pulse of the Planet: Can't Turn Down the Heat
• 2009/02/09: GristMill: Innovation and invention in solving the climate crisis -- Deployment precedes innovation

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

• TWTB: Things Break
• Wiki: Magnetic refrigeration -- magnetocaloric effect
• Fuel Our Future Now
• Skeptico (Blog)
• O2C: Tar Sands Don't Fit in the Clean Energy Economy
• HeraldSun: Breaking news from the Victorian bushfires
• ABC(Au): Bushfire Emergency
• AAA: Victorian Bushfire information
• Coal Tattoo (blog)
• ESA: Satellite Webcam on Wilkins Ice Shelf
• Swansea: The Millennium project -- European climate of the last millennium
• Wiki: World energy resources and consumption
• Greenpeace - Making Waves
• PS&D: Production, Supply, and Demand
• Solar Catalyst Group
• NREL: National Solar Radiation Database 1991-2005 Update
• Fermi Paradox
• Tamino: Open Mind

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.

"For some reason, the debate over climate change is essentially over in Australia." -Eric deCarbonnel

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