Another Week of GW News, March 15, 2009

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Another week of Climate Disruption News

March 15, 2009

• Top Stories:Copenhagen, Nanoballs, Spin Battery, Particulates, Polls, Planetary Skin
• Melting Arctic, Arctic Geopolitics, Antarctica, Methane, CC Debate, Maldives, Earth Hour, Recession, Late Comments
• Food Crisis, Food Production
• Hurricanes, GHGs, Carbon Cycle, Temperatures, Paleoclimate, Glaciers, Sea Levels, Satellites
• Impacts, Forests, Corals, Wacky Weather, Tornadoes, Wildfires, Floods & Droughts
• Mitigation, Transportation, Sequestration, Geoengineering, Adaptation
• Journals, Misc. Science
• Kyoto, Kyoto-2, UN, Ban in Washington, Pachauri, Carbon Trade, Carbon Tax, Optimal Carbon Reduction Strategy
• Politics:International, Security, America, Britain, Europe, Australia, Canada
• Ecological Economics, IPAT, Media, Video, Courts
• Energy, Wind, Solar, Coal, Biofuel, Nukes, Peak Oil, Grid, Efficiency, Cars, Business
• Carbon Lobby, Miscellaneous Climate, Useful Links
• Shameless Self Promotion, .sig

Ho hum. More depressing humour:

• 2009/03/14: TI:CF: (cartoon - Roberts) Age of Stupid - People's Premiere
• 2009/03/13: TI:CF: (cartoon - Roberts) At least the handle is one of us
• 2009/03/13: TI:CF: (cartoon - Roberts) Equal Rights and Stern Warnings
• 2009/03/11: TI:CF: (cartoon - Roberts) Media Friendly
• 2009/03/10: TI:CF: (cartoon - Roberts) Cognitive Malfunction
• 2009/03/09: TI:CF: (cartoon - Roberts) A question of taste

  The Copenhagen conference went down this week:

• 2009/03/: IOP: (abstracts of accepted papers) Climate Change: Global Risks, Challenges and Decisions
• 2009/03/10: ClimateCongress: Climate Change: Global Risks, Challenges and Decisions
• Wiki: [Copenhagen Conference] Climate Change: Global Risks, Challenges and Decisions
• Erantis: Copenhagen 2009 -- Climate Conference in Copenhagen 6. - 18. December 2009
• 2009/03/13: NYT: Scientists are grim, economists more optimistic about climate change's effects
• 2009/03/13: CCurrents: Global Warming Even Worse Than Previously Thought
• 2009/03/14: SMH: Alarm at 'weak' greenhouse targets
  Leading scientists at a global climate change conference have issued a direct and unprecedented plea to the world's politicians, saying weak 2020 targets for greenhouse gas cuts such as those proposed by the Rudd Government would let the world slip into catastrophe. The message was stark: climate change is real, it is happening faster than thought even a couple of years ago, and the effects are likely to be severe if political leaders do not act decisively and soon. "There is no excuse for inaction," said the strongly worded communique signed in Copenhagen yesterday by more than 2000 researchers from 80 countries, including leading climate scientists from the University of NSW and the Australian National University. They called on political leaders to reduce "the influence of vested interests" - which, they claimed, hampered efforts to cut carbon emissions.
• 2009/03/12: CNN: World faces 'irreversible' climate change, researchers warn
  Worst-case scenarios warned of two years ago are being realized, says scientists - Findings came at the end of a three-day conference in Copenhagen - Poor nations will be disproportionately affected by climate change
• 2009/03/13: EurActiv: Climate inaction 'inexcusable', scientists tell leaders
• 2009/03/12: NatureN: Copenhagen summit urges immediate action on climate change -- Scientists report intensifying impact of global warming
• 2009/03/13: NatureCF: Copenhagen: Prognosis on global warming worsens
• 2009/03/13: NatureCF: Copenhagen: Why the media matters
• 2009/03/12: Yahoo: Scientists warn of 'irreversible' climate shifts
• 2009/03/12: TWTB: Climate Change Conference in Denmark concludes, but will its message get through?
• 2009/03/13: OilChange: Scientists Warn of Catastrophic Cost of Political Failure
• 2009/03/12: BBC: Climate fears 'being realised''
  The worst-case scenarios on climate change envisaged by the UN two years ago are already being realised, say scientists at an international meeting. In a statement in Copenhagen on their six key messages to political leaders, they say there is a increasing risk of abrupt or irreversible climate shifts. Even modest temperature rises will affect millions of people, particularly in the developing world, they warn.
• 2009/03/12: Guardian(UK): Replace Kyoto protocol with global carbon tax, says Yale economist [William Nordhaus]
  The Kyoto protocol is reckless gamble that penalises participating countries, Copenhagen climate change congress told
• 2009/03/12: Guardian(UK): Global warming 'will be worse than expected' warns Stern
  Economist says his 2006 groundbreaking report underestimated risk and accuses governments of not being ready for consequences of 6C temperature rise
• 2009/03/12: Guardian(UK): Time to change 'climate change'
  What's clear from Copenhagen is that policymakers have fallen behind the scientists: global warming is already catastrophic
• 2009/03/12: Guardian(UK): Green shoots before the recovery
  Speaking in Copenhagen, Nicholas Stern explained how we can use the economic downturn to tackle climate change and poverty
• 2009/03/12: Guardian(UK): Six ways to save the world: scientists compile list of climate change clinchers
• 2009/03/13: Guardian(UK): A kick-start in Copenhagen -- The picture scientists laid out at our climate summit is bleak, but the research paves the way for action
• 2009/03/13: Guardian(UK): Stern attacks politicians over climate 'devastation'
• 2009/03/12: NatureTGB: Lessons from Copenhagen
• 2009/03/12: NatureCF: Copenhagen: Food insecurity
• 2009/03/12: NatureCF: Copenhagen: Who's reporting? [media]
• 2009/03/12: NatureCF: Copenhagen: Has the Amazon tipping point tipped?
• 2009/03/12: KSJT: Lots of two-headed ink: In Copenhagen warnings of global sea level rise. And in California, some details...
• 2009/03/12: DotEarth: Copenhagen Summit Seeks Climate Action
• 2009/03/12: Google:AFP: Scientists must raise climate alarm: Nicholas Stern
• 2009/03/12: EarthTimes: Copenhagen - Scientific climate summit ends with calls for more action
• 2009/03/12: ClimateCongress: Key Messages from the Congress
  1: Climatic Trends, 2: Social disruption, 3: Long-Term Strategy, 4: Equity Dimensions, 5: Inaction is Inexcusable, 6: Meeting the Challenge
• 2009/03/12: ClimateCongress: Fighting global warming offers growth and development opportunities -- Leading economist [Terry Barker] proposes "Climate Marshall Plan"
• 2009/03/11: Guardian(UK): If we can't stop change, we must adapt
  Today's meeting of climate change scientists in Copenhagen shows that mitigation alone is not the answer
• 2009/03/11: NatureTGB: Copenhagen Climate Change Congress Coverage
• 2009/03/11: NatureCF: Copenhagen: The truth is not yet out there
  [...] The problem is in some ways pretty obvious: No one knows whether geoengineering can really be made to work.
• 2009/03/10: BBerg: Climate Urgency Stressed as 2,000 Researchers Meet
• 2009/03/11: OilChange: I am hearing only bad news...from Radio Copenhagen
• 2009/03/10: Guardian(UK): Scientists on the streets -- To get the climate change message across, environmental scientists need better arguments - and more public protests
• 2009/03/10: Guardian(UK): Stern: Climate change deniers are 'flat-earthers'
  Economist Nicholas Stern warns of 'absolute lunacy' of do-nothing approach of Czech president Václav Klaus and fellow climate change sceptics
• 2009/03/10: Guardian(UK): Chaos at the climate conference
  Copenhagen's frustrating, poorly organised climate conference does not augur well for the UN summit in December
• 2009/03/10: NatureCF: Copenhagen: International climate science congress kicks off
• 2009/03/10: NatureCF: Copenhagen: Greenland tipping points
• 2009/03/09: IHT: [Copenhagen] Scientists present latest news on climate change
• 2009/03/10: ClimateCongress: Rising sea levels set to have major impacts around the world - Even the lower ranges of the plausible sea level rise are likely to hit low lying countries hard
• 2009/03/10: BBC: Sea rise 'to exceed projections'
  The global sea level looks set to rise far higher than forecast because of changes in the polar ice-sheets, a team of researchers has suggested. Scientists at a climate change summit in Copenhagen said earlier UN estimates were too low and that sea levels could rise by a metre or more by 2100. The projections did not include the potential impact of polar melting and ice breaking off, they added. The implications for millions of people would be "severe", they warned. Ten per cent of the world's population - about 600 million people - live in low-lying areas.
• 2009/03/10: CBC: Scientists warn seas to rise faster than expected
• 2009/03/10: BBC: 'More bad news' on climate change
  More bad news on climate change is expected as more than 2,000 climate scientists gather in Copenhagen. They will be trying to pull together the latest research on global warming ahead of political negotiations later in the year. The scientists are concerned that the 2007 reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) are already out of date. Their data suggests greater rises in sea levels this century. For the scientists gathering in the Danish capital, this meeting is about removing as much wriggle room as possible from the political negotiations on a new global climate treaty taking place in December. While the IPCC reports of 2007 were praised for their recognition of the causes of global warming, the slow, consensus-based nature of the process, meant more recent data was not included.
• 2009/03/09: EurActiv: Scientists to adopt tough stance for Copenhagen talks
  Top scientists from across the world are gathering in an emergency summit today (9 March) to warn international negotiators of a new UN climate agreement that a tough deal is required, in light of their latest studies. The scientific community is concerned that the negotiations taking place in Copenhagen in December are not based on scientific realities.

There were two potentially major energy developments this week.
First nanoballs...:

• 2009/03/12: FuturePundit: MIT Team Develops Fast Charging Lithium Battery
• 2009/03/12: PhysOrg: Nanoball Batteries Could Charge Electric Cars in 5 Minutes
• 2009/03/12: KSJT: Boston Globe, Economist, Reuters, Register etc: A new lithium battery that's even better than the old one that car makers sure hope works without exploding
• 2009/03/12: NewScientist: 'Nanoball' batteries could recharge car in minutes
• 2009/03/12: TreeHugger: Lithium-Ion Breakthrough! A Battery that Charges as Fast as a Supercapacitor
• 2009/03/11: BBC: Battery that 'charges in seconds'
  A new manufacturing method for lithium-ion batteries could lead to smaller, lighter batteries that can be charged in just seconds
• 2009/03/11: NatureN: Lithium batteries charge ahead -- Researchers demonstrate cells that can power up in seconds
• 2009/03/11: Eureka: MIT battery material could lead to rapid recharging of many devices
  MIT engineers have created a kind of beltway that allows for the rapid transit of electrical energy through a well-known battery material, an advance that could usher in smaller, lighter batteries -- for cell phones and other devices -- that could recharge in seconds rather than hours.

A spin battery could potentially have a high energy density:

• 2009/03/11: Eureka: University of Miami physicist develops battery using new source of energy -- His discovery is a 'proof of principle' of the existence of a 'spin battery'
• 2009/03/13: SlashDot: "Spin Battery" Effect Discovered
• 2009/03/11: PhysOrg: Physicist develops battery using new source of energy
  Researchers at the University of Miami and at the Universities of Tokyo and Tohoku, Japan, have been able to prove the existence of a "spin battery," a battery that is "charged" by applying a large magnetic field to nano-magnets in a device called a magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ). The new technology is a step towards the creation of computer hard drives with no moving parts, which would be much faster, less expensive and use less energy than current ones. In the future, the new battery could be developed to power cars.

Particulates and global dimming turned up in several articles:

• 2009/03/11: FuturePundit: Atmospheric Sulfur Particles Cut Solar Power Output
• 2009/03/13: RedOrbit: Pollution Causing Global Dimming
• 2009/03/14: RealClimate: Olympian efforts to control pollution
• 2009/03/13: NatureCF: Bryter Layter? [global dimming]
• 2009/03/13: KSJT: Wires, Financial Times, USA Today etc: Pollution dims skies almost worldwide
• 2009/03/13: CanWest: First global warming, now global dimming
• 2009/03/12: NatureN: Rising air pollution clouds climate debate -- Darker skies have uncertain effect on global warming
• 2009/03/13: SciDaily: Clear Sky Visibility Over Land Has Decreased Globally, Indicative Of Increases In Aerosols, Or Airborne Pollution
• 2009/03/12: Eureka: New aerosol observing technique turns gray skies to blue
  Tiny, ubiquitous particles in the atmosphere may play a profound role in regulating global climate. But the scientists who study these particles -- called aerosols -- have long struggled to accurately measure their composition, size, and global distribution. A new detection technique and a new satellite instrument developed by NASA scientists, the Aerosol Polarimetry Sensor (APS), should help ease the struggle. Some types of small aerosols -- such as black carbon from motor vehicle exhaust and biomass burning -- promote atmospheric warming by absorbing sunlight. Others, such as sulfates from coal-fired power plants, exert a cooling effect by reflecting incoming solar radiation back into space. Overall, aerosols present one of the greatest areas of uncertainty in understanding what drives climate change. But quantifying the influence of aerosols on the atmosphere and climate has been hampered by difficulties in measuring the aerosols themselves. The problem is especially acute over land, where the glare from sunlight reflecting off Earth's surface overwhelms the passive imaging instruments scientists typically use to detect aerosols. In recent years, however, researchers from NASA Goddard's Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York City have developed new remote-sensing techniques to more accurately measure aerosols over land. [Research Scanning Polarimeter (RSP)]
• 2009/03/11: NOAANews: Atmospheric 'Sunshade' Could Reduce Solar Power Generation

  An American poll this week got under some people's skin:

• 2009/03/14: GristMill: Polling my leg -- Americans care about global warming, but don't see how it connects to other environmental problems
• 2009/03/13: CJR: Gallup: Many Americans Think Media Exaggerate Global Warming -- Latest poll also finds waning concern about climate change
• 2009/03/13: KSJT: Columbia Journalism Review: About that Gallup poll on global warming's place (low) on public's priorities
• 2009/03/13: TreeHugger: 41% of Americans Think the Media Exaggerate Climate Change Seriousness, Too Bad That Perception is Wrong
• 2009/03/12: MongaBay: More Americans than ever believe global warming is 'exaggerated' by media
• 2009/03/12: ClimateP: Gallup poll shows catastrophic failure of media, conservatives still easily duped by deniers, scientists & progressives still lousy at messaging, Obama could get a better climate bill in 2010
• 2009/03/11: DotEarth: Gallup: Rising View That Climate Risk Exaggerated?

  NASA and Cisco are collaborating on a climate project called "Planetary Skin":

• Planetary Skin
• 2009/03/03: NYT: NASA-Cisco climate project to flash 'Planetary Skin'
• 2009/03/03: NASA: NASA, Cisco Partnering For Climate Change Monitoring Platform
• 2009/03/08: SlashDot: Cisco, NASA Plan 'Planetary Skin' For Monitoring Earth Climate

  The Arctic melt continues to garner a lot of attention:

• 2009/03/12: ClimateP: What exactly is polar amplification and why does it matter?
• 2009/03/12: BBC: Arctic diary: Explorers' ice quest
• 2009/03/11: Guardian(UK): Caught on camera: The Greenland tunnels that could speed ice melt
• 2009/03/11: CNN: Team battles Arctic winter to measure melting ice caps
  "No substitute for getting down on your hands and knees," says polar explorer - U.K. explorers en route to North Pole to measure thickness of ice cap - Some scientists predict polar ice cap could completely melt as soon as 2013 - Melting ice could accelerate effects of global climate change
• 2009/03/11: KSJT: CNN: Oh no, the polar sea ice is melting. Yes - but, why should that change sea level?
• 2009/03/11: NewScientist: Witness a journey to the bottom of an ice sheet
• 2009/03/10: Guardian(UK): Greenland ice tipping point 'further off than thought'
  Previous studies have misjudged the so-called Greenland tipping point at which the ice sheet is certain to melt completely, expert claims

As for the geopolitics of Arctic resources:

• 2009/03/12: Impolitical: A moment of sanity in a sea of crazy
• 2009/03/12: CBC: North Pole may belong to Denmark, early mapping data suggests: scientist
  Preliminary results from scientific mapping of the Arctic seabed indicate that the North Pole likely falls within Denmark's boundaries, a Canadian scientist says. No country currently has sovereign rights over the North Pole, though Russia has tried to lay claim to it in recent years. Five coastal northern nations, including Canada, the United States and Russia, are currently mapping the Arctic seabed in the hopes of bolstering their efforts to extend sovereign claims on Arctic coastal areas under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
• 2009/03/10: CBC: Work together on Arctic sovereignty disputes, expert urges Canada, U.S.
• 2009/03/11: TStar: Canada takes steps to protect Arctic -- Cannon set to meet Russian, U.S. officials

  While in Antarctica:

• 2009/03/12: Yahoo: Climate change effects seen in Antarctic winds
• 2009/03/12: CBC: Global warming affects food supplies for Antarctic wildlife: study
• 2009/03/11: NewScientist: Global warming reaches the Antarctic abyss

  Oh Look! There's Damocles sword again:

• 2009/03/10: Guardian(UK): Global warming may trigger carbon 'time bomb', scientist warns
  Billions of tonnes of carbon dioxide and methane could be released from thawing Arctic soils, says climate researcher

Michael Tobis posted a pointed graph describing the climate change debate:

• 2009/03/12: MTobis: How the "Climate Debate" Works
• 2009/03/14: ScruffyDan: An illustration of the climate change debate

  The Maldives is going carbon neutral:

• 2009/03/15: Guardian(UK): Maldives first to go carbon neutral
  The pioneering new president of the Indian Ocean nation announces plans for his country - under grave threat from climate change - to go carbon-neutral in a decade
• 2009/03/15: Guardian(UK): Why we are opting out of this pact with the [carbon] devil [by the President of the Republic of Maldives, Mohamed Nasheed]

  Earth Hour is coming up:

• 2009/03/13: Intersection:SRK: Join Us For Earth Hour [Saturday March 28, 2009 at 8:30PM (your local time)]

  Rob Grumbine continues his gentle educating:

• 2009/03/10: MGS: Misleading yourself with graphs

  I thought this end of history nonsense had disappeared with Bush's clash of civilizations:

• 2009/03/11: Guardian(UK): This climate crunch heralds the end of the end of history
  We are on the brink of a revolution: the demise of the fossil-fuel economy. A new deal must jolt us out of orthodox thinking

The recession impacts the climate disruption fight:

• 2009/03/13: Guardian(UK): Let's bank on low carbon -- We can bail out a bank with billions overnight, but it seems we can't decide what to do when it comes to energy
• 2009/03/13: NTI: 'Meltdown forcing rich nations to shelve anti-greenhouse projects'
• 2009/03/12: HuffPo: Recession, Climate Change and the Return to Planning
• 2009/03/12: TreeHugger: Here's Why Strong Carbon Emission Reductions Could Bring Great Economic Gains
• 2009/03/11: Xinhuanet: Is economic recession slowing down actions against climate change?
• 2009/03/11: SF Gate: Recession has taken toll on alternative energy
• 2009/03/10: Reuters: Economy to slow U.S. nuclear power growth: NRC head
• 2009/03/09: Guardian(UK): Aid must go on despite bank rescues, say Geldof and Stern

  Late comment on the PowerShift march:

• 2009/03/09: Guardian(UK): US climate activists lead by example

  The food crisis is ongoing:

• 2009/03/12: ProMedMail: Wheat rusts - Kenya, India, Australia
• 2009/03/12: LA Times: World hunger, the crisis inside the economic crisis
  As food prices skyrocket, the jobs and wages of the poorest are being devastated. But will the developed world act when it's focused on averting a financial meltdown?
• 2009/03/09: UN: Food crisis not yet over, warns top UN rights official

  And how are we going to feed 9 billion?

• 2009/03/15: TreeHugger: Brazilian City Makes Food A Basic Right And Ends Hunger
• 2009/03/12: CSM: New way to farm boosts climate, too
  'Organic no-till' combines best of two methods and sequesters most carbon. But can it work consistently?
• 2009/03/11: SciDaily: Huge Corn Plants Developed: Doubling A Gene In Corn Results In Giant Biomass
• 2009/03/10: OilDrum: How Might We Be Fed? Part One
• 2009/03/10: GristMill: Less is almost as much -- Using less fertilizer has no meaningful effect on yield
• 2009/03/10: Eureka: Greatest thing since sliced bread: New data offer important clues toward improving wheat yields
• 2009/03/09: EnergyBulletin: 100 million new farmers? North Carolina writer calls for agricultural revolution
• 2009/03/09: ABC(Au): WAFF backs soil carbon research
  The Western Australian Farmers Federation (WAFF) has welcomed the Federal Government's plans to spend millions of dollars on soil carbon research.

Hamish churned down the Queensland coast but didn't come ashore, while Joni blew around the SE Pacific:

• 2009/03/09: TerraDaily: Cyclone loses intensity off Australia coast
• 2009/03/10: ABC(Au): Cyclone Hamish downgraded to category 3
• 2009/03/10: SMH: Cyclone danger eases but more rain expected
  Fears of a tropical cyclone to rival the destruction of Larry abated yesterday as meteorologists downgraded the threat of cyclone Hamish to the Queensland coast.
• 2009/03/09: CBC: Some ports reopen as Cyclone Hamish downgraded [to Cat 4]
• 2009/03/08: CBC: Category 5 cyclone [Hamish] moves closer to mainland Australia

  And elsewhere in the hurricane wars:

• 2009/03/13: PhysOrg: Rice University report shows lessons from Hurricane Rita not practiced during Ike
• 2009/03/10: Wunderground: National Hurricane Center proposes Storm Surge Warnings

  Meanwhile GHGs are still going up:

• 2009/03/13: ABC(Au): Emissions on the rise, despite shrinking economy
  A climate change lobby group says Australia's greenhouse gas emissions are continuing to rise, even though the economy is shrinking. The Climate Institute says carbon emissions increased by 800,000 tonnes in the December quarter. In the same period, economic activity slid backwards by 0.5 per cent.

Lots of people jumped on the sulfuryl fluoride story:

• 2009/03/15: SciDaily: Termite Killer [Sulfuryl fluoride] Lingers As Potent Greenhouse Gas
• 2009/03/12: MongaBay: New greenhouse gas [Sulfuryl fluoride] '4,800 times more potent' than carbon
• 2009/03/11: MIT News: New greenhouse gas identified [sulfuryl fluoride]
• 2009/03/10: PhysOrg: New greenhouse gas [sulfuryl fluoride] identified
  A gas used for fumigation has the potential to contribute significantly to future greenhouse warming, but because its production has not yet reached high levels there is still time to nip this potential contributor in the bud, according to an international team of researchers.

And in the carbon cycle:

• 2009/03/14: TerraDaily: Carbon Sinks Losing The Battle With Rising Emissions

  As for the temperature record:

• 2009/03/13: NOAANews: NOAA: Ninth Warmest February for Globe
• 2009/03/13: QuarkSoup: Feb 09 from NASA
• 2009/03/10: NOAANews: U.S. December-February Temperature Near Average, Above Average for February
• 2009/03/10: QuarkSoup: February RSS & UAH temperatures

  While in the paleoclimate:

• 2009/03/14: BNC: Did climate change kill off woolly mammoths and giant wombats?
• 2009/03/13: NTI: Huge CO2 releases may have amplified global warming at end of last ice age
• 2009/03/12: Eureka: Wind shifts may stir CO2 from Antarctic depths -- Releases may have speeded end of last ice age -- and could act again [paleo]
• 2009/03/09: PhysOrg: Researchers Study Cave's 'Breathing' for Better Climate Clues

  Glaciers are melting:

• 2009/03/10: PNT: Time to consider what an ice sheet is worth

  Sea levels are rising:

• 2009/03/13: PhysOrg: Sea Level Rise Due to Global Warming Poses Threat to New York City
• 2009/03/12: GristMill: Surf's up -- California has much to lose from rising sea levels, study says
• 2009/03/10: FuturePundit: Sea Level Rise Seen Accelerating
• 2009/03/12: Stoat: Sea level rise?
• 2009/03/11: Time: Could Rising Seas Swallow California's Coast?
• 2009/03/12: CCP: James Hrynyshyn: Sea level rise a red herring?
• 2009/03/11: Economist: A sinking feeling -- Sea levels are rising twice as fast as had been thought
• 2009/03/12: SMH: Sea levels may rise twice as high as predicted
• 2009/03/11: UNDispatch: How High is the Water, Momma?
• 2009/03/11: ABC(Au): Sea levels may rise by double earlier estimates: study
• 2009/03/10: EarthTimes: Climate researchers discuss rising sea levels
• 2009/03/11: SciDaily: Rising Sea Levels Set To Have Major Impacts Around The World
• 2009/03/11: Guardian(UK): Sea level could rise more than a metre by 2100, say experts
  Increase much higher than previously forecast - Change could displace 10% of world's population
• 2009/03/10: NewScientist: Sea level rise could bust IPCC estimate
• 2009/03/10: PhysOrg: Rising sea levels set to have major impacts around the world
• 2009/03/10: TreeHugger: Sea Level Rise Best Case Scenario: 50cm Rise, 10% of World Population Hit
• 2009/03/10: Yahoo: Sea levels to surge 'at least a metre' by century end

  Meanwhile in near earth orbit:

• 2009/03/14: SpaceMart: CALIPSO Finds Smoke At High Altitudes Down Under
• 2009/03/12: QuarkSoup: GOCE on Twitter
• 2009/03/09: Eureka: Satellite spies on tree-eating bugs

  More GW impacts are being seen:

• 2009/03/13: MongaBay: Shells thinning due to ocean acidification
• 2009/03/13: CCurrents: Severe Global Warming Will Render Half Of World's Inhabited Areas Unliveable
• 2009/03/14: SMH: Marsupials at risk if temperatures rise
• 2009/03/13: DotEarth: Scientist: Warming Could Cut Population to 1 Billion
• 2009/03/13: TreeHugger: Global Warming Speeding Up Erosion in Alaska
• 2009/03/12: Guardian(UK): Europe 'will be hit by severe drought' without urgent action on emissions
  Southern England would be badly affected -- while Spain, Portugal, southern Italy, Greece would turn into semi-desert
• 2009/03/12: Guardian(UK): Severe global warming will render half of world's inhabited areas unliveable, expert warns
  Parts of China, India and the eastern US could all become too warm in summer for people to lose heat by sweating, expert warns
• 2009/03/12: SacBee: Dire scenarios presented on global warming
  Global warming is likely to take a greater toll on California than previously believed unless strong measures are taken to combat it, a state panel was told Wednesday. The potential impacts -- according to a flurry of new scientific studies -- include major property damage along the coast from rising sea levels, worsening drought, widespread crop damage, increasing wildfires and a diminished Sierra Nevada snowpack. The gloomy scenarios were presented to the Climate Action Team, a group of state officials established to monitor global warming and help the state meet its goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020.
• 2009/03/12: GreenGrok: Update: Thinner Shells Put Ocean on Thin Ice
• 2009/03/12: NewScientist: Climate change already shaping society
• 2009/03/12: PhysOrg: Global warming to carry big costs for California
• 2009/03/12: PhysOrg: Phytoplankton is changing along the Antarctic Peninsula
• 2009/03/12: CBC: Fredericton EMO official warns flood conditions similar to 2008
• 2009/03/11: Reuters: Sea-level rise poses new flood risk to California
  480,000 people would live in expanded flood zone - $100 billion in property at risk from rising sea - Erosion expected to take additional toll on coast - New sea walls, levees could minimize threat
• 2009/03/11: UN: Health hazards demand stronger climate change measures, argues UN agency
• 2009/03/10: NatureCF: Thinning shells in the Southern Ocean
• 2009/03/11: KSJT: BBC, Reuters, Sydney Morning Herald, etc: She better sell those sea shells by the sea shore while she can. Acidifying ocean is starting to bite.
• 2009/03/11: ABC(Au): Climate change to 'bring feral pest threat'
• 2009/03/11: Eureka: Climate change means bigger medical, council and property bills
• 2009/03/10: NWO: Climate change reduces nutritional value of algae
• 2009/03/11: CanWest: Killer whales benefit from global warming: researchers
  Scientists fear melting sea ice could one day make killer whales the Hudson Bay's top predator, a startling ecosystem shift and a blow for Inuit populations already reeling from dwindling polar bear numbers. After four years of studying the Arctic's little-known orcas, or killer whales, researchers have more evidence their numbers have gone up in recent decades, a change that's particularly noticeable in the western Hudson Bay, bordering Manitoba.
• 2009/03/11: BBC: Acidic seas fuel extinction fears
  Carbon dioxide emissions from human activities are acidifying the oceans and threaten a mass extinction of sea life, a top ocean scientist warns. Dr Carol Turley from Plymouth Marine Laboratory says it is impossible to know how marine life will cope, but she fears many species will not survive. Since the Industrial Revolution, CO2 emissions have already turned the sea about 30% more acidic, say researchers. It is more acidic now than it has been for at least 500,000 years, they add. The problem is set to worsen as emissions of the greenhouse gas increase through the 21st Century.
• 2009/03/10: NatureCF: Phytoplankton choked by dust
• 2009/03/10: TerraDaily: Dust Deposited In Oceans May Carry Elements Toxic To Marine Algae
• 2009/03/10: TerraDaily: Climate Change Affecting Europe's Birds Now
• 2009/03/10: Guardian(UK): Carbon emissions creating acidic oceans not seen since dinosaurs
  Chemical change placing 'unprecedented' pressure on marine life and could cause widespread extinctions, warn scientists
• 2009/03/09: NatureN: Phytoplankton survival clouded by dust particles -- Aerosols can kill as well as nourish ocean organism.
• 2009/03/09: ABC(Au): CO2 levels thinning out ocean life: study
• 2009/03/09: PhysOrg: Silica algae reveal how ecosystems react to climate changes
• 2009/03/09: SMH: Greenhouse gas threatens ocean food chain
  Rising concentrations of acid in the Southern Ocean caused by greenhouse gases are damaging the ability of some sea creatures to form shells, posing a serious threat to marine life, a study by Australian scientists has found.

And then there are the world's forests:

• 2009/03/12: CCurrents: Fate Of The Rainforest Is 'Irreversible'
  A third of the Amazonian 'carbon sink' is doomed whether or not emissions are cut, Copenhagen conference is told
• 2009/03/12: Guardian(UK): 'Amazon is both victim and villain'
• 2009/03/12: Telegraph(UK): Amazon rainforest at risk of ecological 'catastrophe'
  Climate change could kill the Amazon rainforest even if deforestation and emissions are curbed, scientists at the Met Office fear.
• 2009/03/11: Guardian(UK): Climate change transforming rainforests into major carbon emitters, warn scientists
• 2009/03/11: Guardian(UK): Amazon could shrink by 85% due to climate change, scientists say
  Scientists say 4C rise would kill 85% of the Amazon rainforest -- Even modest temperature rise would see 20-40% loss within 100 years
• 2009/03/11: Guardian(UK): China's approach to tree-planting cannot get us out of the climate crunch
• 2009/03/10: Straight: David Suzuki: Forests are another piece of the global warming puzzle
• 2009/03/10: UN: Sustainable forest management could net 10 million new jobs, UN agency says
• 2009/03/06: Yahoo: DR Congo signals reversal of forest reforms: NGOs
  Democratic Republic of Congo authorities have signaled their intention to reverse forest reforms and expand industrial logging, a statement from major environmental groups said Friday. "Congolese government authorities are ... signalling their intent to backtrack on decisions and expand industrial logging activities in the DRC," a statement from Global Witness, Greenpeace and Rainforest Foundation said.

Corals are dying:

• 2009/03/12: BBC: 'Coral lab' offers acidity insight
• 2009/03/09: Eureka: Coral reefs may start dissolving when atmospheric CO2 doubles

  Yes we have no wacky weather, except:

• 2009/03/13: Wunderground: Is U.S. climate getting more extreme?

  A look back at the Atlanta tornado:

• 2009/03/11: Eureka: Drought, urbanization were ingredients for Atlanta's perfect [tornado] storm

  As for heatwaves and wild fires:

• 2009/03/11: DailyMail(UK): Heatwave deaths will quadruple in cities like London by end of the century, say climate experts
• 2009/03/09: SMH: Final sweep of fire-hit areas
  Some of the towns worst hit by Victoria's Black Saturday bushfires will be open to the public this month, police hope. [...] Police said disaster victim identification teams would begin a final sweep of the area on Wednesday. "They are hoping to have it completed by Friday the 20th," the spokesman said.

As for disruptions of the hydrological cycle[floods & droughts]:

• 2009/03/13: CCurrents: UN Warns Of Widespread Water Shortages
• 2009/03/09: Yahoo: Climate change accelerates water hunt in U.S. West
• 2009/03/13: EurActiv: World Water Forum to discuss climate change
  As world water experts head for Istanbul for major international discussions next week, during which adapting water policy to climate change will feature high on the agenda, the Commission is underlining that the issue is largely about "managing uncertainty".
• 2009/03/13: BBC: Water pipe sparks Ethiopian conflict
  Some 70,000 people have fled their homes in a remote part of southern Ethiopia, after a deadly conflict broke out between rival groups - apparently triggered by the construction of a new borehole.
• 2009/03/12: TerraDaily: Population growth, climate change sparking water crisis: UN
• 2009/03/10: USAToday: Record dry start to 2009 worries farmers, firefighters
  The first two months of 2009 are the driest start of any year since the USA began keeping records over a century ago, leading to severe drought in Texas, dipping reservoir levels in Florida and a surge in wildfires across the nation. Farmers, cattlemen, firefighters and others worry that the dry start may be a harbinger of a bleak summer that could lead to increasing risk of fire and poor crop conditions.
• 2009/03/10: ENN: Climate change accelerates water hunt in U.S. West
• 2009/03/06: Reuters: [Texas] Governor [Rick Perry (R)] requests emergency aid for Texas drought
• 2009/03/09: Reuters: Drought, recession scorch Texas cattle ranchers
• 2009/03/09: SMH: The land runs low on livelihoods and hope
  The 1400 farm businesses in the Murray Irrigation Area have lost up to $4.2 billion in production over the past seven years due to drought and water cuts, says one farmer whose family has worked land in the area for 90 years.
• 2009/03/09: SMH: Murray towns 'are living hand to mouth'
  Hundreds of thousands of fruit trees have been pulled out, rice production has plunged by 93 per cent and vineyards lie abandoned as the "irrigation drought" continues unabated in Australia's southern food bowl. Farmers and the regional towns that rely on them in the giant Murray-Darling Basin are suffering from a cruel, unprecedented combination of low rainfall and severe cuts in water allocations as the reservoirs dry up, leading to a population exodus in the worst-hit areas, including the southern Riverina.
• 2009/03/09: SMH: Rain declines 40 per cent over 10 years
  "I'm farming dust," said Howlong farmer Paul Hickey, at 39 the youngest in his district, with an agricultural science degree, a masters of business administration and a set of rainfall statistics that scares him about his own future and Australia's. The spring rains have failed to eventuate at his 526-hectare property, Morebringer, 25 kilometres west of Albury, and nearly every year his rain gauge has shown the average fall dipping. The decline has been 40 per cent over 10 years, during which rainfall has been substantially below the long-term average, which Mr Hickey sees as a significant indicator of climate change.

Elsewhere on the mitigation front:

• 2009/03/13: Guardian(UK): 'Biochar' goes industrial with giant microwaves to lock carbon in charcoal
  Climate expert claims to have developed cleanest way of fixing CO2 in 'biochar' for burial on an industrial scale
• 2009/03/13: TreeHugger: Carbonscape: Microwaved Biochar for Massive Carbon Sequestration
• 2009/03/13: TreeHugger: Vegetarian Diet Could Cut Climate Change Mitigation Costs by 70%, If Enough Of Us Make the Switch
• 2009/03/10: AlterNet: A Call to Go (Nearly) Paperless

  Consider transportation & GHG production:

• 2009/03/13: SF Gate: [California] High-speed rail lays out ambitious scenario
• 2009/03/11: ClimateP: California Hydrogen Highway R.I.P.
• 2009/03/11: AutoBG: Is the Hydrogen Highway going nowhere?
• 2009/03/10: Guardian(UK): US governors picture eco-friendly fuelling stations along western route
  Governors in Washington, Oregon and California are considering a plan to create a 'green freeway' [...] As the plan stands, motorists eventually would be able to pull off at I-5 rest stops for more than a cup of coffee and roadside relief: They also would be able to charge, or swap out, their electric-vehicle batteries or fill their tanks with biodiesel, ethanol, hydrogen or compressed natural gas.
• 2009/03/10: GreenGrok: The Road to 21st Century Transportation
• 2009/03/10: Maribo: By boat, by train, by plane, by bike
• 2009/03/10: TreeHugger: U.S. Public Transit Ridership in 2008: Highest Level in 52 years!
• 2009/03/09: Consumerist: Public Transit Ridership Highest In 52 Years [during 2008]
• 2009/03/09: ClimateP: Public transit ridership rises to highest level in 52 years

  As for carbon sequestration:

• 2009/03/11: OilDrum: Carbon capture and storage

  Large scale geo-engineering keeps popping up:

• 2009/03/09: GeoEngineering: Open letter to Dr Rajendra K. Pachauri, IPCC chair from John Nissen et al.
• 2009/03/13: SMH: The bizarre ideas that could help the world
• 2009/03/11: NatureCF: Copenhagen: The truth is not yet out there
  [...] The problem is in some ways pretty obvious: No one knows whether geoengineering can really be made to work.
• 2009/03/08: Eureka: It's raining pentagons [geo-eng]

  While on the adaptation front:

• 2009/03/13: CSM: Time to prepare for climate change -- Weather patterns will transform over decades but planning must begin now
• 2009/03/11: Guardian(UK): If we can't stop change, we must adapt
  Today's meeting of climate change scientists in Copenhagen shows that mitigation alone is not the answer

Meanwhile in the journals:

• 2009/03/12: ACP: HOCl chemistry in the Antarctic Stratospheric Vortex 2002, as observed with the Michelson Interferometer for Passive Atmospheric Sounding (MIPAS) by T. von Clarmann et al.
• 2009/03/12: ACPD: A new insight on tropospheric methane in the Tropics -- first year from IASI hyperspectral infrared observations by C. Crevoisier et al.
• 2009/03/13: ACPD: Comparison of simulated and observed vegetation for the mid-Holocene in Europe by S. Brewer et al.
• 2009/03/12: ACPD: Ecosystem effects of CO2 concentration: evidence from past climates by I. C. Prentice & S. P. Harrison
• 2009/03/12: ACPD: Changes in atmospheric variability in a glacial climate and the impacts on proxy data: a model intercomparison by F. S. R. Pausata et al.
• 2009/03/10: ACPD: Relationship between Holocene climate variations over southern Greenland and eastern Baffin Island and synoptic circulation pattern by B. Fréchette & A. de Vernal
• 2009/03/13: Science: (ab$) Clear Sky Visibility Has Decreased over Land Globally from 1973 to 2007 by Kaicun Wang et al.
• 2009/03/10: ACP: Measurements of Pollution In The Troposphere (MOPITT) validation through 2006 by L. K. Emmons et al.
• 2009/03/10: ACPD: Particulate absorption of solar radiation: anthropogenic aerosols vs. dust by C. Wang et al.
• 2009/03/10: ACPD: Evolution, current capabilities, and future advances in satellite ultra-spectral IR sounding by W. L. Smith Sr. et al.
• 2009/03/10: ACPD: Recent trends in atmospheric methyl bromide: analysis of post-Montreal Protocol variability by S. A. Yvon-Lewis & E. S. Saltzman
• 2009/03/10: ACPD: n operational system for the assimilation of satellite information on wild-land fires for the needs of air quality modelling and forecasting by M. Sofiev et al.
• 2009/03/10: PNAS: (ab$) The potential for behavioral thermoregulation to buffer "cold-blooded" animals against climate warming by Michael Kearney et al.
• 2009/03/10: PNAS: (ab$) Impact of deforestation in the Amazon basin on cloud climatology by Jingfeng Wang et al.
• 2009/03/10: PNAS: [Letter$] Can behavior douse the fire of climate warming? by Raymond B. Huey & Joshua J. Tewksbury
• 2009/03/10: PNAS: [Letter$] Reply to McDonald et al.: Climate change, not deer herbivory, has shaped species decline in Concord, Massachusetts by Charles G. Willis et al.
• 2009/03/10: PNAS: [Letter$] An alternative to climate change for explaining species loss in Thoreau's woods by John McDonald, Jr. et al.

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

• 2009/03/15: MTobis: Summit on America's Climate Choices [Mon Mar 30 - Tue Mar 31]
• 2009/03/11: NCM: Humidity Trends from ECMWF
• 2009/03/13: CSW: National Academy of Sciences releases a must-read report: Informing Decisions in a Changing Climate
• 2009/03/10: PhysOrg: The Agulhas Current, in the southern hemisphere, may influence climate in Europe
  The PhD project presented by Gema MartÃnez-Méndez from the Institute of Environmental Science and Technology at the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, Spain, focuses on the Agulhas Current and the ensuing warm water transports from the tropical Indian Ocean to the southern tip of Africa. The data generated provide for the first time evidence in support of the hypothesis that the Agulhas water "leakage" into the Atlantic can affect the climate in Europe.

Meanwhile on the Kyoto front:

• 2009/03/12: Star(My): Finnish firm plans CDM partnerships

  And on the Kyoto-2 front:

• 2009/03/14: TreeHugger: Focus on Green Economic Development in Developing Countries, Not Just Emission Reductions: Chair of IPCC
• 2009/03/13: EnergyBulletin: The Zero Carbon caravan: sail and bike to Copenhagen!
• 2009/03/14: Guardian(UK): We will create green new deal, says Gore -- Global campaigner and investment sidekick call for 'sustainable capitalism'
• 2009/03/14: Guardian(UK): World will agree new climate deal, says Al Gore
• 2009/03/13: UN: Arctic peoples must be consulted on adaptation to warming, says UN-backed group
• 2009/03/10: BBC: Cold reality of global warming efforts
  Setting targets to cut emissions is easy, achieving them is not, says Martin Livermore. In this week's Green Room, he questions the current wisdom of placing so much faith in systems that have failed to deliver.
• 2009/03/09: Times(UK): Hopes of climate change accord 'are sinking'
  Two leading climate scientists have broken ranks with their peers to declare that hopes of getting a meaningful deal on halting global warming this year are already lost. Professor Kevin Anderson, director of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, and Professor Trevor Davies, one of the centre's founders, told The Times that it was time to start looking for alternatives to an international deal. They made their comments on the eve of a three-day conference in Copenhagen this week in which thousands of climate change researchers will meet to discuss the latest discoveries in the field. The findings will be used in December when world leaders attend a UN summit, also in Copenhagen, to try to work out an international treaty on greenhouse gas emissions.
• 2009/03/09: OilChange: Hopes of Climate Deal "Already Lost"
• 2009/03/09: Independent(UK): Carbon cuts 'only give 50/50 chance of saving planet' -- As states negotiate Kyoto's successor, simulations show catastrophe just years away

  While at the UN:

• 2009/03/12: UN: Leaders of UN, US declare 2009 the year of climate change
• 2009/03/11: Guardian(UK): UN climate chief: US carbon cuts could spark 'revolution'

  Ban went to Washington this week & called the yanks "deadbeat donors," which must have gone down well:

• 2009/03/11: Google:AP: In Congress, UN chief calls US 'deadbeat' donor
  A day after his White House meeting with President Barack Obama, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon raised congressional hackles by calling the United States a "deadbeat" donor to the world body.
• 2009/03/11: ENS: Obama Will Intensify Climate Cooperation with United Nations
• 2009/03/10: CBC: UN chief, Obama to discuss global economy, climate and Darfur

  Pachauri has got himself a new gig:

• 2009/03/10: Hindu: New Yale body will analyse climate change options: Pachauri
• 2009/03/10: NatureCF: Pachauri to lead Yale climate and energy research institute
• 2009/03/10: DotEarth: Chief of Climate Panel [Rajendra K. Pachauri] to Lead Yale Center

  And on the carbon trading front:

• 2009/03/12: EnvFin: Climate Exchange profits up as volumes soar
  Pre-tax profits more than trebled at Climate Exchange, operator of the leading US and European carbon exchanges, as volumes continue to grow.

The idea of a carbon tax is still bouncing around:

• 2009/03/14: CCP: Carbon Tax Proponents in Copenhagen and Washington Steadfast, Lonely
• 2009/03/12: Guardian(UK): Replace Kyoto protocol with global carbon tax, says Yale economist [William Nordhaus]
  The Kyoto protocol is reckless gamble that penalises participating countries, Copenhagen climate change congress told
• 2009/03/11: TerraDaily: Carbon tax only way to keep planet cool: Hansen
• 2009/03/10: Oregonian: Friedman calls for carbon tax to spark change -- Climate - Americans will cut back on fossil fuels, writer tells Portland, if costs get too high

  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:

• 2009/03/13: CommonTragedies: Write a letter to the editor, and nobody cares. Call someone an idiot on the internet and...
• 2009/03/09: GristMill: The carbon-pricing bogeyman: not real -- Carbon pricing does not necessarily cause high energy prices

  Meanwhile on the international political front, Ban's climate meeting got folded into the upcoming London G-20 confab:

• 2009/03/11: Reuters: London summit to include climate talks -diplomats
  [...] A summit meeting on the financial crisis in London next month will tackle the issue of climate change, which the U.N. chief had planned to make the focus of a separate gathering in New York, diplomats said.
• 2009/03/09: ClimateP: Gates Foundation strategy raises key question: Can the problems of the developing world be solved by ignoring global warming?
• 2009/03/09: ENN: U.S. needs to do more on climate: EU official [Delbeke, the European Commission's deputy director-general of the environment]

  As for GW & security:

• 2009/03/10: TreeHugger: Climate Change is Not a Prediction Problem, It's a Risk Problem: Manage it as Such
• 2009/03/09: Times(UK): Climate scientists warn that world is heading for war of the resources

  And on the American political front:

• 2009/03/14: TerraDaily: Main Federal Disaster Relief Law Has Fallen Behind Modern Threat Levels
• 2009/03/13: TP:WonkRoom: New Yorker Reporter Elizabeth Kolbert: Global Boiling Inaction Is A 'Total System Failure'
• 2009/03/12: Guardian(UK): America unprepared for climate change, say policy advisers
  National Research Council claims US agencies and political leaders not getting the right information or guidance
• 2009/03/12: ENN: California panel urges 'immediate action' to protect against rising sea levels
• 2009/03/11: GristMill: Getting rid of the gas tax -- A mileage tax may be the best idea that everyone loves to hate
• 2009/03/10: CSW: CSW weighs in with NOAA advisory board on criteria for forming a National Climate Service
• 2009/03/06: Reuters: [Texas] Governor [Rick Perry (R)] requests emergency aid for Texas drought

  Now here is a depressing survey:

• 2009/03/12: Eureka: American Adults Flunk Basic Science
  National survey shows only one-in-five adults can answer three science questions correctly

Some funny-huh? stories emerged about FutureGen this week:

• 2009/03/15: PeakEnergy: Who killed clean coal?
• 2009/03/13: ClimateP: Sen. Corker on CCS: "It seems like when donkeys fly they'll do it on a commercial basis. Secondly, a lot of water is used in that process."
• 2009/03/11: McClatchyDC: Obama administration may revive carbon-capture project [FutureGen]
• 2009/03/11: ClimateP: Bush wanted to destroy the future of coal as much as the industry did, Futuregen was "nothing more than a public relations ploy," House study finds
• 2009/03/11: CommonTragedies: How the DOE deflated FutureGen
• 2009/03/11: TreeHugger: $500 Million Math Error Shut Down "Near Zero Emissions" Coal Plant [FutureGen]

  And some not so funny stories about coal ash:

• 2009/02/19: CPI: Coal Ash: The Hidden Story
  How Industry and the EPA Failed To Stop a Growing Environmental Disaster
• 2009/03/14: TreeHugger: "Filthy Fifteen" Fly-Ash Producing US States Named By Natural Resources Defense Council
• 2009/03/13: Kentucky: Kentucky makes 'filthy 15' for coal ash
• 2009/03/11: GreenGrok: Finally Standards for Coal Ash -- Just in Time?
• 2009/03/11: GristMill: Notable quotable -- TVA: making Bozo look good
• 2009/03/11: AfterGutenberg: Just a Minor Spill, No Big Back Room Deal
• 2009/03/10: ClimateP: DC to coal: You are a big danger to public health. Coal to DC: Kiss my ash.
• 2009/03/10: TreeHugger: Yet Another Coal Ash Spill, This Time in Luke, Maryland (Upriver of Washington DC!)
• 2009/03/10: ThinkP: Coal ash spill may reach Washington, DC.
• 2009/03/09: GristMill: Bull Connor lives! TVA watchdogs arrested, harassed

  The Obama chatter is nonstop:

• 2009/03/13: GristMill: Tough noogies -- Obama tells business leaders he's serious about changing energy policy
• 2009/03/13: GristMill: This is news? WSJ: hacks and handout-seekers hate O's climate plan
• 2009/03/14: BBC: Obama warns of US food 'hazard'
  President Barack Obama has said the US food safety system is a "public health hazard" and in need of an overhaul. He sounded the warning during his weekly radio and video address, as he appointed a new head of the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA). New York Health Commissioner Margaret Hamburg has been named for the post.
• 2009/03/13: ClimateP: Obama tells Business Roundtable: "If you're giving away carbon permits for free ... it doesn't work" and "the science is overwhelming"
• 2009/03/13: AlterNet: Obama Needs to Spark a Global Green Deal to Create a Sustainable Economy
• 2009/03/12: OrlandoSentinel: Obama: NASA's next leader must end agency's 'drift'
  President Barack Obama said Wednesday that NASA is an agency afflicted by "a sense of drift" and that it needs "a new mission that is appropriate for the 21st century." Obama said the first priority of a new agency administrator -- whom he promised to appoint "soon" -- would be "to think through what NASA's core mission is and what the next great adventures and discoveries are under the NASA banner." Until that happens, he said during a session with reporters from the Orlando Sentinel and other regional newspapers, the White House would delay any major policy decisions about the agency.
• 2009/03/12: Guardian(UK): [Letters] Obama can lead us to a green economy
• 2009/03/10: NatureN: Obama order deals with scientific integrity -- Memo puts emphasis on transparency and the best advice
• 2009/03/10: ClimateP: Obama picks Van Jones to be green jobs adviser
• 2009/03/08: Google:AFP: Could climate prove a change too far for Obama?
  European enthusiasm for President Barack Obama's ambitious programme of US renewal does not hide deep uncertainty over the likelihood of his delivering on measures to combat climate change.

The actions of the Obama administration are being watched closely:

• 2009/03/15: ClimateP: Van Jones: Not the "green-jobs czar," but "the green-jobs handyman."
• 2009/03/11: CarbonFinance: US mulls first proposals for national GHG reporting
• 2009/03/11: BioEnergyBiz: US agriculture secretary backs increase in ethanol blending limit
• 2009/03/11: CarbonPositive: EPA moves on Obama climate policy
• 2009/03/12: GristMill: Making a list -- The EPA announces its plan for a national greenhouse-gas reporting system
• 2009/03/12: TreeHugger: Renewable Energy Development to be a "Top Priority" for Department of Interior
• 2009/03/11: EarthTimes: Obama sets stage for pollution limits with new reporting rule
  The United States will ask companies to report on their greenhouse-gas emissions that are blamed for global warming, setting the stage for government-imposed limits on climate pollution supported by President Barack Obama and long resisted by his predecessor. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Tuesday said it will ask most major polluting firms to submit annual reports on their emissions levels beginning with 2010. Congress ordered the EPA to set up a monitoring system in 2007, but the initiative was blocked by then-president George W Bush.
• 2009/03/11: WaPo: EPA Plans U.S. Registry of Greenhouse Gas Emissions
  The Environmental Protection Agency plans to establish a nationwide system for reporting greenhouse gas emissions, a program that could serve as the basis for a federal cap on the buildup of carbon dioxide and other gases linked to global warming. The registry plan, which was announced yesterday, would cover about 13,000 facilities that account for 85 to 90 percent of the nation's greenhouse gas output. It was drafted under the Bush administration but stalled after the Office of Management and Budget objected to it because the EPA based the rule on its powers under the Clean Air Act.
• 2009/03/11: NYT: E.P.A. Proposes Tracking Industry Emissions
• 2009/03/09: GristMill: Ash and ye shall receive -- EPA announces plans to regulate coal ash
• 2009/03/10: TreeHugger: USEPA Evaluates The Fly Ash Mess Nationally: First Self-Reporting Deadline In 10 Days
• 2009/03/10: AutoBG: Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack supports E15 or E20 blend
• 2009/03/10: WSJ:EnvCap: Endanger Zone: EPA To Rule on Greenhouse-Gas Emissions in April
• 2009/03/10: AutoBG: EPA proposes mandatory Greenhouse Gas Emissions report for automakers, big emitters
• 2009/03/08: NYT: Administration Plans New Regulations on Coal-Ash Ponds
• 2009/03/10: ThinkP: Leaked slides show Obama EPA is fast-tracking global warming endangerment finding

  Meanwhile in Congress:

• 2009/03/13: ClimateP: Senate panel (finally) approves Holdren and Lubchenco
• 2009/03/11: Google:AFP: [US Senator John] Kerry (D-MA): Climate change delay is 'suicide pact'
• 2009/03/09: GristMill: Lighting the tent on fire -- On Sen. Bob Corker's 'support' for carbon legislation
• 2009/03/08: IHT: Tough odds facing bill to impose carbon tax
  Representative John Larson has embarked again on his lonely quest to enact a national tax on carbon dioxide emissions. His idea is to set a modest price on a ton of emissions, gradually increasing it each year until the desired reduction in heat-trapping-gas pollution is achieved. Under the bill he introduced last week, virtually all the revenues from the tax would be returned to the public in lower payroll taxes.

The eventual climate and energy bill(s) are being widely argued in the USA:

• 2009/03/14: GristMill: Cap-and-Cashback: Regional fairness -- Climate policy can be fair to families all across the country
• 2009/03/13: ENN: Trade Concerns Raised in U.S. Climate Debate
• 2009/03/13: WaPo: Push to Reduce Greenhouse Gases Would Put a Price on Emitting Pollution
  President Obama's endorsement of climate legislation to clamp down on greenhouse gases has set off a lobbying rush in Congress and made the air thick with rival proposals. Coal companies, utilities, economists and environmentalists are vying to shape legislation that could rechannel hundreds of billions of dollars from one part of the economy to others. The sense of urgency has been heightened by House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry A. Waxman's push to have a bill ready by the end of May; the California Democrat plans to circulate a draft in about two weeks. Because of regional differences in energy sources, the political lines are blurred, potentially uniting Democrats and Republicans from states heavily dependent on coal plants against other parts of the nation looking for alternatives.
• 2009/03/12: TP:WonkRoom: Donna Edwards: Cap And Trade Revenues Should Build Green Infrastructure Instead Of A 'Check In Hand'
• 2009/03/10: GristMill: Dude, where's my carbon? As EPA moves on greenhouse gases, pressure builds on Congress to pass a climate bill
• 2009/03/10: NYT: In early stages, Obama lets Congress work its will on climate bill

  Obama's cap and trade plan in the budget is drawing fire:

• 2009/03/12: NYT: Budget move for climate bill draws rebuke from 28 senators
  A White House-led push to move global warming legislation in the Senate without having to deal with an expected GOP filibuster has drawn opposition from 28 senators, including six Democrats and several moderate Republicans. Critics of using the budget reconciliation process as a vehicle for President Obama's cap-and-trade plan weighed in with a letter (pdf) to the Democratic and Republican leaders of the Senate Budget Committee, saying the fast-track strategy should not be used for something as complex as a climate bill.
• 2009/03/14: TreeHugger: 28 Senators Protest Obama's Cap and Trade
• 2009/03/13: TP:WonkRoom: Sen. Robert Casey (D-PA) Joins Filibuster Threat Against Obama's Cap And Trade Plan
• 2009/03/11: Yahoo: US senators attack cap-and-trade for climate change
• 2009/03/10: GristMill: Lighting the tent on fire, part two -- Lieberman-Warner supporter Gregg says Obama's climate proposal spends too much on 'special interests
• 2009/03/06: MoJo: How to Make Cap-and-Trade Into a Bad Joke
• 2009/03/08: Times(UK): The Obama permits plan [US-ETS] won't work -- Green Money: A straightforward tax would produce results much quicker

  How will the Western Climate Initiative fare with Obama and the recession?

• 2009/03/13: AbqJournal: New Mexico's WCI Legislation Chances Dwindling

  The Gore-apalooza is still bopping along:

• 2009/03/14: TerraDaily: Gore optimistic for new climate deal in Copenhagen

  While in the UK:

• 2009/03/12: EnvFin: Low-carbon economy worth £3 trillion - UK government
  The global low-carbon and environmental sector was worth £3 trillion ($4.1 trillion) last year, according to research commissioned by the UK government. The UK is the sixth-largest economy for low-carbon and environmental goods and services (LCEGS), such as renewable energy, nuclear power and recycling, analysts Innovas found, in market research carried out for the country's Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform.
• 2009/03/13: EurActiv: UK to go ahead with domestic emissions scheme
  The UK is going ahead with a plan to make energy-intensive businesses, including banks, hotels and schools, cut their energy use and carbon emissions, the country's Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) said yesterday (12 March).
• 2009/03/12: Guardian(UK): Protesters fought the law, but the law fought back ... very, very loudly
• 2009/03/11: Guardian(UK): 'Green' Range Rover wins government funding [£27m]
• 2009/03/10: Guardian(UK): This scam is nothing but a handout for motor companies, resprayed green
  Paying drivers to scrap their old cars and buy new ones will do nothing to catalyse a low-carbon transport revolution
• 2009/03/10: Guardian(UK): We were wrong to film journalists covering protest, say Kent police
  Climate camp surveillance mistaken, force accepts - Met asked to clarify its evidence in separate case
• 2009/03/09: Guardian(UK): Deep domestic cuts are need to bring our housing footprint down [UK pol]
• 2009/03/09: Guardian(UK): Mandelson earned that custard [by Leila Deen]
  I would not have resorted to throwing pudding had this government proved itself capable of mature debate
• 2009/03/08: Reuters: Activist arrested for Mandelson custard attack
  An environmental activist who threw green custard at Business Secretary Peter Mandelson has been arrested and bailed, police said on Sunday. Leila Deen, 29, was arrested on Saturday and bailed to return to a central London police station in April.
• 2009/03/08: Independent(UK): Darling vetoes plans for green revolution in snub to Mandelson
  Brown says low-carbon plans are 'imperative', but Treasury block could hit new accord with Obama Alistair Darling is blocking a multibillion-pound plan to green Britain, even though Gordon Brown last week described it as an "urgent imperative" for economic recovery, The Independent on Sunday can reveal. The Chancellor's opposition, which has lasted for months, has led to Britain falling far behind other countries in launching a Green New Deal, even as the Prime Minister and other cabinet ministers promise to "lead the world" on this path out of the recession.

And in Europe:

• 2009/03/13: EurActiv: EU wants ICT industry to cut emissions by 20%
• 2009/03/12: Yahoo: Czech minister slams president over climate change
• 2009/03/12: EurActiv: EU steps up energy-efficiency rules, starting with motors
• 2009/03/12: EarthTimes: Swedes favour continued use of nuclear power, survey says
  The autumn 2008 survey by Gothenburg University researchers suggested that 51 per cent of the 3,250 people polled wanted to keep the 10 current reactors. Of the 51 per cent, 30 per cent favoured replacing the reactors when they become outdated with new reactors while 21 per cent said they wanted to build even more reactors in future.
• 2009/03/11: Guardian(UK): £50bn of European investment needed to kick-start Saharan solar plan
• 2009/03/11: EurActiv: Activists arrested as ministers fail to decide on climate funding
• 2009/03/11: PhysOrg: Sweden unveils 'ambitious' clean energy strategy
  Sweden's government on Wednesday presented what it described as Europe's "most ambitious" strategy to improve energy efficiency and cut greenhouse gas emissions. "As the first industrialised country, we are presenting a concrete plan towards becoming independent of fossil fuels and reducing emissions to a level that the climate requires," Environment Minister Andreas Carlgren said. The government said it now aims by 2020 for renewable energy to comprise 50 percent of all energy produced, for the Swedish car fleet to be independent of fossil fuels 10 years later and for the country to be carbon neutral by 2050.
• 2009/03/10: EurActiv: EU regions to get 105 billion euros for green projects
• 2009/03/10: EurActiv: Poland demands international rules on climate burden sharing
• 2009/03/10: TreeHugger: Sweden's Inspiring Plan to Phase Out All Fossil Fuel Burning Cars by 2030
• 2009/03/10: EarthTimes: Swedish government to raise fuel taxes to cut greenhouse gases
• 2009/03/09: PhysOrg: Going green: Entire Swedish city [Kalmar] switches to biofuels to become environmentally friendly
  Though a fraction of Chicago's size, this industrial city in southeast Sweden has plenty of similarities with it, including a long, snowy winter and a football team the town's crazy about. One thing is dramatically different about Kalmar, however: It is on the verge of eliminating the use of fossil fuels, for good, and with minimal effect on its standard of living.
• 2009/03/09: AutoBG: Get your Geld ready: Germany issues final draft on CO2-based taxes

  Meanwhile in Australia:

• 2009/03/15: BBC: Australia hosts bushfire benefit
  Music stars from Australia and beyond have joined forces to raise funds for victims of recent natural disasters, including fires that killed 210 people. Thousands attended the Sound Relief concerts in Sydney and Melbourne, despite stormy and wet weather. Coldplay, Kings of Leon and Kylie were among the performers. "I'm so thankful I can make it home tonight and share this with all of you," said Minogue. The star led the 80,000 Melbourne crowd singing I Still Call Australia Home. Recent weeks saw the worst fires in Australian history devastate the south of the country, while floods hit the north.
• 2009/03/14: ABC(Au): Greens defend support for protest group
  The New South Wales Greens have defended their support of a group that advocates some illegal activities to protest climate change. Rising Tide is a Newcastle-based environmental group that regularly protests at coal-fired power stations.
• 2009/03/13: ABC(Au): Emissions on the rise, despite shrinking economy
  A climate change lobby group says Australia's greenhouse gas emissions are continuing to rise, even though the economy is shrinking. The Climate Institute says carbon emissions increased by 800,000 tonnes in the December quarter. In the same period, economic activity slid backwards by 0.5 per cent.
• 2009/03/13: ABC(Au): Rooftop revolution: NSW looks to boost solar investment
• 2009/03/12: ABC(Au): Nationals Senate Leader Barnaby Joyce says Australia's approach to climate change is a "solo crusade"
• 2009/03/11: EarthTimes: Australian poll tracks changed climate
  More than a third of Australians don't know what carbon trading is and two-thirds are unaware that the government's 2020 carbon reduction target is 5 per cent from the 2000 level, a poll published Thursday showed.
• 2009/03/11: SMH: Green power uptake still rising
  The uptake of green power continues to rise in NSW, despite concerns it may end up subsidising heavy-polluting industry under the Federal Government's carbon trading scheme. About 226,000 homes paid extra on their power bills to support renewable energy in the last three months of 2008, a jump of 17 per cent on the corresponding period in 2007. Nearly one in 10 of the state's households now support the program, along with 10,300 businesses, according to the latest audit.
• 2009/03/11: SMH: 50 houses a day have electricity cut off [in NSW, 18,162 households in 2007-08]
• 2009/03/09: ABC(Au): WAFF backs soil carbon research
  The Western Australian Farmers Federation (WAFF) has welcomed the Federal Government's plans to spend millions of dollars on soil carbon research.
• 2009/03/09: ABC(Au): Climate change still on the radar: survey
  A study says Australians still consider climate change a major concern and believe it should be dealt with alongside the country's other major concern, the global economic crisis. The Climate Institute commissioned an online survey of 1,400 people to get their opinions on climate change. The results indicate concern over climate change is still as high as 78 per cent, as the Government prepares to release draft legislation for its carbon reduction scheme tomorrow. The level of concern is only 4 per cent lower than it was in October of 2008, despite the escalating concern over Australia's economic position.
• 2009/03/09: SMH: Great soil for growing rice: just add water
  Rice is the crop that feeds David Alexander's family, but for three years he has been unable to grow any because the NSW Government has allocated rice farmers no irrigation water for two years and less than one-tenth of their entitlements this year, even though they have paid for it. Mr Alexander pays about $25,000 every year so he can use about 1200 megalitres of water for irrigating his 730-hectare farm which sits on the Murray floodplains between the little towns of Berrigan and Finley. This is the heart of the "irrigation drought", where thousands of farms have been hit with the double whammy of low rainfall and little or no water released from the weirs to wet their paddocks and fill their stock dams.
• 2009/03/09: SMH: Murray towns 'are living hand to mouth'
  Hundreds of thousands of fruit trees have been pulled out, rice production has plunged by 93 per cent and vineyards lie abandoned as the "irrigation drought" continues unabated in Australia's southern food bowl. Farmers and the regional towns that rely on them in the giant Murray-Darling Basin are suffering from a cruel, unprecedented combination of low rainfall and severe cuts in water allocations as the reservoirs dry up, leading to a population exodus in the worst-hit areas, including the southern Riverina.
• 2009/03/09: SMH: Rain declines 40 per cent over 10 years
  "I'm farming dust," said Howlong farmer Paul Hickey, at 39 the youngest in his district, with an agricultural science degree, a masters of business administration and a set of rainfall statistics that scares him about his own future and Australia's. The spring rains have failed to eventuate at his 526-hectare property, Morebringer, 25 kilometres west of Albury, and nearly every year his rain gauge has shown the average fall dipping. The decline has been 40 per cent over 10 years, during which rainfall has been substantially below the long-term average, which Mr Hickey sees as a significant indicator of climate change.

The fight over the Aus-ETS is just getting underway:

• 2009/03/15: ABC(Au): The Greens say the Federal Government must negotiate on its proposed emissions trading scheme (ETS) now that the Opposition intends to oppose the plan
• 2009/03/12: SMH: Fielding urges delay on emissions trading
  The Government's chances of getting its emissions trading system through the Senate by the middle of the year took another hit when the Family First senator Steve Fielding confirmed that he believed the scheme should be delayed. All the cross-party senators as well as the Opposition have now said they will not pass the legislation in its current form, leaving the Government scrambling to secure the scheme's future.
• 2009/03/13: ABC(Au): Opposition anger on 'farcical' ETS inquiry
  The scheme commits Australia to a 5 to 15 per cent reduction in emissions on 2000 levels by 2020. The Federal Opposition says a parliamentary inquiry into the Government's emissions trading scheme is a disgrace because there is not much time for people to make submissions.
• 2009/03/11: ABC(Au): Alcoa says emissions scheme risks jobs
• 2009/03/11: ABC(Au): Hunter smelter says ETS will cost jobs
• 2009/03/11: ABC(Au): Farms to forests under emissions scheme: ABARE
  A report has found that millions of hectares of farm land could be converted into timber plantations under an emissions trading scheme. The Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics (ABARE) says the Federal Government's emissions trading scheme would lead to significantly more forests.
• 2009/03/11: SMH: Emissions trading scheme hits turbulence
  Three separate parliamentary investigations will be held into the Federal Government's emissions trading system, including one that threatens to derail the timetable for the legislation's passage. The draft legislation setting up the scheme was released yesterday and includes the commitment to reduce Australia's emissions by between 5 and 15 per cent by 2020. The Minister for Climate Change, Penny Wong, urged the Coalition and minor parties to support the legislation. The Government was open to negotiation but had no intention of delaying the scheme beyond 2010, as the Coalition and industry groups are demanding.
• 2009/03/10: ABC(Au): Miners, green groups unhappy with 'lemon' ETS draft
  Industry and green groups are both seeking changes to the Federal Government's draft legislation for its emissions trading scheme (ETS).
• 2009/03/10: ABC(Au): [Federal Climate Change Minister, Penny] Wong open to ETS negotiation
  The draft says auctions for the emissions trading scheme will be held monthly from 2010. Climate Change Minister Penny Wong says the Government is willing to negotiate changes to its carbon trading scheme with the Opposition and crossbench senators, but warned the scheme must not be delayed. Senator Wong this afternoon released the draft legislation of the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS), which commits Australia to a 5 to 15 per cent reduction in emissions on 2000 levels by 2020.
• 2009/03/10: ABC(Au): ETS will kill jobs, investment: Robb
  A two-month Senate inquiry into the Government's emissions trading scheme (ETS) is needed because the plan is so flawed, Opposition emissions trading spokesman Andrew Robb says.
• 2009/03/10: ABC(Au): [Aus-]ETS faces uphill battle as [Federal Climate Change Minister, Penny] Wong holds firm
  The Federal Government's proposed emissions trading scheme appears increasingly unlikely to pass the Senate. The Opposition and cross bench Senators are all pushing for major changes. The Government has released draft legislation for its emissions trading scheme, but the Greens' climate change spokeswoman Christine Milne, says it proves the Government is not serious about tackling the issue.
• 2009/03/10: ABC(Au): CLP says an emissions trading scheme should include jobs
  The Northern Territory Environment Centre says the Territory economy will suffer, if the Federal Government takes a soft approach to an emissions trading scheme.
• 2009/03/10: BBerg: Australia Affirms Carbon Emissions Target Amid Growth Concerns
• 2009/03/11: JQuiggin: [Aus-]ETS legislation
• 2009/03/10: BBerg: Woodside [Petroleum Ltd.] 'Remains Dismayed' at Australia Carbon Plan
• 2009/03/10: ABC(Au): Coal industry cries foul over 'political' ETS exclusion
  The coal and mining industries have accused the Federal Government of putting political concerns ahead of environmental concerns in designing its emissions trading scheme. The Government will publicly release the draft legislation for its Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme today. The coal industry is set to get hundreds of millions of dollars in compensation, but no free emissions permits, while industries such as liquid natural gas, identified as trade-exposed, will not have to pay for 60 per cent of their emissions. Coal lobbyists say the sector has the same reliance on export markets as the natural gas industry, but is being exluded due to fears of a political backlash.
• 2009/03/09: ABC(Au): ETS unduly influenced by industry: Garnaut -- The ETS draft legislation will be released tomorrow
  The Federal Government's climate change adviser has criticised the controversial emissions trading scheme (ETS), a day before the Government releases the scheme's draft legislation. The author of the Garnaut Climate Change Review, Professor Ross Garnaut, has told ABC1's Four Corners that he is disappointed with the scheme.
• 2009/03/09: SMH: Big polluters lobby politicians over jobs
  The campaign to overhaul the Federal Government's climate change policy will escalate this week as big greenhouse polluting companies and their lobbyists target politicians representing voters in coal-mining, steel and aluminium towns. MPs and senators will be warned of job losses, risks to regional economies and a fall in investment unless the scheme gives more help to industry. Lobbyists and MPs said Labor and Coalition backbenchers would be targeted by companies including Rio Tinto, BHP-Billiton and Xstrata when the Minister for Climate Change, Penny Wong, makes public the new draft laws for the carbon pollution reduction scheme tomorrow.

The Aus-ETS tussle seems to be morphing into an internal Liberal power struggle as well:

• 2009/03/15: ABC(Au): MPs back Turnbull as leadership speculation mounts
  Federal Liberal frontbenchers are publicly backing their leader, Malcolm Turnbull, as talk of disunity in the party continues.
• 2009/03/15: ABC(Au): Leadership concerns made Turnbull change mind on ETS: Govt
  The Federal Government has used the Opposition's new, tougher stance against its emissions trading scheme (ETS) to mock its leader, Malcolm Turnbull. Mr Turnbull has strengthened his position against the Government's Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme. He says the Liberals will vote against the bill, in its current form, in the Senate. Treasurer Wayne Swan says Mr Turnbull has changed his mind about the ETS because he is worried about former treasurer Peter Costello challenging him for the party's leadership.
• 2009/03/14: ABC(Au): The Federal Government says Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull is "walking away" from the emissions trading scheme (ETS) to shore up his own political position
• 2009/03/14: ABC(Au): [Federal Opposition Leader Malcolm] Turnbull won't back ETS in current form
  The Federal Coalition has strengthened its opposition to the Government's proposed emissions trading scheme (ETS).

And in Africa:

• 2009/03/12: Guardian(UK): Uganda's response to climate change 'inadequate'

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

• 2009/03/13: CBC: Canadian Polar Commission needs new mandate, Arctic expert warns
  Canada's lead agency on polar research needs to start fresh with a new mandate, more funding and more staff, says an independent Arctic expert. The Canadian Polar Commission, a federal agency set up in 1991 to monitor and promote science in Canada's Arctic, has been operating without a board of directors since October, because the federal government has yet to appoint people to the board.

Like all good neocons, Harper & co. are seeking to undo scientific oversight:

• 2009/03/14: G&M: Prentice confirms cuts planned to environment reviews
  The Conservative government plans dramatic cuts to the number of projects that require federal environmental assessments, triggering accusations that Ottawa is abandoning its environmental duties under the banner of economic stimulus. A leaked government document outlining the proposed changes to the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act indicates Environment Minister Jim Prentice has asked for a bill "overhauling" the legislation as soon as possible. Under the new system, the government should "expect to capture 200-300 projects per year," the document states. That would represent a more than 95 per cent drop from the roughly 6,000 federal environmental assessments that currently take place each year.
• 2009/03/13: CBC: Proposed bill could cut federal environmental assessments, NGOs warn
  New nuclear, tarsands and fish farm projects could end up exempt from routine federal studies to determine whether they would harm the environment if a proposed bill becomes law, says a report signed by 37 Canadian environmental groups.

The cynical positioning of Michael Ignatieff is coming into focus:

• 2009/03/09: HillTimes: Canada will fail if there's no tar sands plan, say experts
  Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff shouldn't play politics with tar sands, says Andrew Nikiforuk.
• 2009/03/09: TStar: Ignatieff's broom sweeps Dion era clean
  Leader makes clean break from his predecessor, ramps up efforts to revive fundraising, membership They are the acts of a politician turning the page. The Green Shift carbon tax that was the centrepiece of the Liberals' election platform? Denounced and ditched. The coalition pact formed with other opposition parties on Parliament Hill with an eye to toppling the minority Conservatives? Dead and buried. The decision to give Green Party Leader Elizabeth May a free ride in the last election? Tossed overboard. Alberta's oil sands? Not so bad after all. Like the housecleaning that follows a divorce, Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff has been making a clean break from the troubled era -- and policies -- of predecessor Stéphane Dion.

With an election coming up, BC is wrangling over climate plans:

• 2009/03/13: CanWest: Hydrogen highway on track: Lekstrom
  B.C. energy minister says 'everything looks very favourable' for 2010 A plan to build a so-called "hydrogen highway" from B.C. to Baja is more than just hot air.
• 2009/03/13: CanWest: Drivers face tax of up to $100 to fund transit, roads
  TransLink proposes to slap Metro Vancouver drivers with a controversial vehicle tax and higher levies on gas and pay parking as part of a plan to generate $300 million a year for transit and road expansion. The revived vehicle tax, which could mean $75 to $100 a year for each vehicle in Metro Vancouver, is being considered as the transportation authority tackles a looming cash crunch - and potentially deep cuts to its bus service - by the end of 2011. The original vehicle levy, which was supposed to finance the transportation authority when the agency was created by the provincial government in the late 1990s, was scrapped as a result of a huge public outcry. Then-NDP premier Ujjal Dosanjh backed away from the tax without providing other revenue sources, setting the scene for a decade of chronic financial shortfalls for TransLink. Now TransLink is hoping to boost revenues by reintroducing the tax, along with increasing passenger fares and taxes on property.
• 2009/03/09: CanWest: BC Hydro prepares for electric car boom
  BC Hydro assumed the role of social engineer on Monday, moving beyond its traditional duty as an electricity provider to commence development of an electric car grid in British Columbia. The Crown corporation announced it has commissioned a study for development of electric car infrastructure - specifically, the wires and plugs needed to allow drivers to charge up their vehicles at home, at work, at the mall, or anywhere else that would lend itself to plug-in charging. Fully electric cars draw substantially greater amounts of electricity than gasoline-electric plug-in hybrids, and can't reasonably recharge on a conventional 110-volt outlet, according to one Vancouver advocate.

Ontario is still wrestling with its energy policy:

• 2009/03/12: CleanBreak: Continental first: Ontario proposes ambitious feed-in tariffs for wind, solar, biogas/biomass and hydro

  Meanwhile in that Mechanical Mordor known as the tar sands:

• 2009/03/12: OilChange: Tar Sands Lobby Launches PR Offensive

  As for miscellaneous Canadiana:

• 2009/03/09: CCfPA: We need protection now against home heating emergencies - say authors of new reports

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

• 2009/03/14: MTobis: Kim Stanley Robinson Gets It
• 2009/03/10: CCurrents: Selfless Side Of Humans Can Overcome Crisis -- Mohammad Yunis interviewed by Tetsuo Kogure
  The interlinked crises of food, finance and climate change illustrate the weaknesses of our current economic system. It is possible to integrate selflessness into a market long dominated by the selfish pursuit of profits, says Muhammad Yunus.
• 2009/03/10: NatureCF: Ackerman's response to Bauman

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

• 2009/03/14: WebDiary: Depopulate or perish
• 2009/03/14: AlterNet: Rebuttal to Chris Hedges: Stop the Tired Overpopulation Hysteria
• 2009/03/13: DotEarth: Scientist: Warming Could Cut Population to 1 Billion
• 2009/03/12: APOV: Say - About That Overpopulation Gig We've Got Going ...
• 2009/03/12: UN: Ballooning global population adding to water crisis, warns new UN report
• 2009/03/11: MTobis: It's the Food, Stupid
  It's time we faced the facts:
  * The world is overpopulated, near or beyond its long-term carrying capacity for modern humans
  * Resources are being depleted and environmental supports weakened
  * Energy usage is getting tangled in supplies of water and fair weather
  * Economic systems designed for none of the above are misfiring for various reasons including but not limited to the above
  We are going to have to think carefully and learn how to decide to make difficult decisions together.
• 2009/03/11: UN: Revised UN estimates put world population at over 9 billion by 2050
• 2009/03/11: DotEarth: U.N.: Young and Old Boom on the Road to 9 Billion
• 2009/03/11: EarthTimes: Population to reach 7 billion people by 2012
• 2009/03/11: AlterNet: Are We Breeding Ourselves to Extinction?
• 2009/03/08: TruthDig: We Are Breeding Ourselves to Extinction
• 2009/03/08: EnergyBulletin: The population problem

  As for how the media handles the science of climatology:

• 2009/03/14: JFleck: The Difference Between Climate Scientists and Economists
• 2009/03/11: Yale360: A Reporter's Field Notes on The Coverage of Climate Change
  For nearly a decade, The New Yorker's Elizabeth Kolbert has been reporting on climate change. In an interview with Yale Environment 360, she talked about the responsibility of both the media and scientists to better inform the public about the realities of a warming world.
• 2009/03/12: Intersection:CCM: Kolbert on Global Warming, Scientists, and the Media: "Total System Failure"
• 2009/03/11: GristMill: WSJ fail -- Wall Street Journal editors make bone-headed mistake; get called on it; fail to correct
• 2009/03/10: BSD: NY Times also flubs non-climate science
• 2009/03/11: Intersection: Now the Boston Globe Cuts Its Science Section
• 2009/03/10: TP:WonkRoom: Wolf Blitzer Parrots Right-Wing Talking Points On Global Warming
• 2009/03/13: CommonTragedies: Write a letter to the editor, and nobody cares. Call someone an idiot on the internet and...
• 2009/03/10: CommonTragedies: The Wall Street Journal is an idiot
• 2009/03/09: CommonTragedies: Misleading chart of the day (or The WSJ doesn't understand the difference between production and consumption)
• 2009/03/10: CommonTragedies: Evidenceless Grist argument of the day
• 2009/03/10: Intersection:SRK: The Guardian Gets It Wrong

  And for your film & video enjoyment:

• 2009/03/13: Guardian(UK): Age of Stupid -- Postlethwaite lambasts climate deniers on eve of green film premiere

  Meanwhile among the 'Sue the Bastards!' contingent:

• 2009/03/13: WarmingLaw: Supreme Court Decisions Bode Well for Global Warming-Related Preemption Cases
• 2009/03/09: BizWeek: Federal court vacates Alaska drilling decision
  A federal appeals court has vacated an opinion issued last year that halted Shell Oil Co. drilling plans for the Beaufort Sea off Alaska's northern coast, leaving both sides in the case wondering what the action means.

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

• 2009/03/13: NYT: Europe's Way of Encouraging Solar Power Arrives in the U.S. [feed-in tariff]
• 2009/03/13: GristMill: Canning the 'can't' cant -- New Greenpeace report details path to clean energy
• 2009/03/13: TechRev: Cash-Strapped Green Tech Changes Strategy
  The economy is slowing the progress of green technologies, but energy efficiency and clean coal continue to attract money.
• 2009/03/13: PhysOrg: The Day the Sun Brought Darkness
  On March 13, 1989 the entire province of Quebec, Canada suffered an electrical power blackout. Hundreds of blackouts occur in some part of North America every year. The Quebec Blackout was different, because this one was caused by a solar storm!
• 2009/03/10: BNC: Total energy independence in 12 years
• 2009/03/12: SymmetryMag: Can basic research bring renewable energies to scale?
• 2009/03/12: TreeHugger: 40% of World's Electricity Will Come From Wind and Solar Power by 2050, With Proper Support
• 2009/03/12: Eureka: Revealing new applications for carbon nanomaterials in hydrogen storage
• 2009/03/11: Platts: China's Feb crude imports dive to 26-month low at 11.73 mil mt
• 2009/03/11: NewScientist: From AC to DC: Going green with supergrids
• 2009/03/11: PhysOrg: New renewables to power 40 per cent of global electricity demand by 2050
• 2009/03/11: PhysOrg: Sweden unveils 'ambitious' clean energy strategy
  Sweden's government on Wednesday presented what it described as Europe's "most ambitious" strategy to improve energy efficiency and cut greenhouse gas emissions. "As the first industrialised country, we are presenting a concrete plan towards becoming independent of fossil fuels and reducing emissions to a level that the climate requires," Environment Minister Andreas Carlgren said. The government said it now aims by 2020 for renewable energy to comprise 50 percent of all energy produced, for the Swedish car fleet to be independent of fossil fuels 10 years later and for the country to be carbon neutral by 2050.
• 2009/03/10: LBNL: Turning Sunlight into Liquid Fuels: Berkeley Lab Researchers Create a Nano-sized Photocatalyst for Artificial Photosynthesis
• 2009/03/11: PeakEnergy: Clean Energy Trends 2009
• 2009/03/09: CleanBreak: Climate change increasing subsurface temperatures [geothermal]
• 2009/03/10: ClimateP: Pickens: "You don't want to turn it over to the greenies, or what'll happen is they'll want to shut down every coal plant"
• 2009/03/10: NEN: Wind, waves, wires and controversy
• 2009/03/09: EnergyBulletin: New online report: Energy security in the residential sector
• 2009/03/09: GreenBiz: Green Power Forecast: Partly Cloudy -- For the Short Term

  The answer my friend...:

• 2009/03/15: Guardian(UK): Sioux tribe set to reap a whirlwind of green profit
• 2009/03/12: EnvFin: HSBC gets gloomier on wind turbine makers -- for now
• 2009/03/13: WSJ:EnvCap: Thar She Blows: Industry Forecast Calls for More Wind
  The global wind industry will weather the recession and keep growing at more than 20% for the next five years, the worldwide wind lobby said today.
• 2009/03/11: SMH: Wind power runs out of puff
  They call North Dakota the "Saudi Arabia of wind energy". The howling prairie gales that blow almost continually across this flat and empty state could be harnessed, it has been estimated, to light up a quarter of America. If there was one industry whose future looked assured, it was green energy, particularly wind, which is widely regarded as the most promising alternative to fossil fuels. However, just as its fortunes rose last year, so they are on the wane now.
• 2009/03/06: Yahoo: Siemens wins major renewable energy order -- worth more than two billion euros (2.5 billion dollars) for wind turbines

  Meanwhile among the solar aficionados:

• 2009/03/09: FuturePundit: Concentrating Solar Power Needed For Moon Base
• 2009/03/13: NanoWerk: EU project to develop nanomaterials for more efficient solar cells
• 2009/03/14: MCNO: Solar energy industry's situation bittersweet
• 2009/03/13: NewScientist: Solar power schemes could protect nature reserves
• 2009/03/12: PeakEnergy: Solar in the Sahara 'could power the whole of Europe'
• 2009/03/09: StarTelegram: Oncor [Texas utility] to unveil incentives for solar heaters
• 2009/03/12: ClimateP: The Solar Surge in Colorado
• 2009/03/09: PhysOrg: Getting into hot water: Solar water heating pays for itself five times over

  The arithmetic of coal carbon is striking home:

• 2009/03/12: KCStar: Rush for coal plants slows to a stagger
• 2009/03/13: TreeHugger: With or Without Carbon Capture, Coal-to-Liquids Are Climate Change Disaster
• 2009/03/13: PeakEnergy: Democracy and science vs Big Coal: the final round?
• 2009/03/08: USAToday: Companies rethink coal plants
  Even as demand for electricity rises, energy companies are delaying or scrapping plans for new coal-burning power plants because of the prospect of restrictions imposed by federal global warming legislation.

Biofuel bickering abounds:

• 2009/03/12: EurActiv: Biofuel from waste 'can reduce landfill'
• 2009/03/10: BioDieselMag: A Sober Look at Biofuels From Algae

  The nuclear energy controversy continues:

• 2009/03/15: AJC: Nuclear waste: No solution yet, but expansion continues -- Georgia Power's nuclear affiliate says it can store byproducts safely
• 2009/03/12: EarthTimes: Swedes favour continued use of nuclear power, survey says
  The autumn 2008 survey by Gothenburg University researchers suggested that 51 per cent of the 3,250 people polled wanted to keep the 10 current reactors. Of the 51 per cent, 30 per cent favoured replacing the reactors when they become outdated with new reactors while 21 per cent said they wanted to build even more reactors in future.
• 2009/03/11: SlashDot: National Ignition Facility Fires 192-Beam Pulse
• 2009/03/09: SF Gate: [US] Nuclear power industry sees opening for revival

  Yes we have a multiple peaks...:

• 2009/03/10: IR^2: The 2005 Peak Falls [now July 2008]
• 2009/03/07: ZDNet:GTP: Peak oil, peak coal and a peek at the future

  More people are talking about the electrical grid:

• 2009/03/13: Nature: [Editorial] Smart thinking -- The US electricity grid needs to evolve and requires fresh standards of communication

  And then there is the matter of efficiency & conservation:

• 2009/03/13: Guardian(UK): Energy efficiency -- the Cinderella at the climate policy ball -- can steal the show
  Saving energy isn't just about insulation and new boilers - small changes in behaviour can make a big difference
• 2009/03/12: EurActiv: EU steps up energy-efficiency rules, starting with motors

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

• 2009/03/13: CSM: Electric cars charge ahead -- At least nine major car companies promise plug-in vehicles by 2013
• 2009/03/14: AutoBG: VW's Jacoby says few countries ready for electric vehicles
• 2009/03/13: TreeHugger: New Car Registrations in Europe: -18.3% in February 2009 [compared to February 2008]
• 2009/03/13: CNN: America's vanishing cars
  Through recessions and gas shocks, the number of autos on the road every year has increased since the end of WWII. Until now.
• 2009/03/10: Guardian(UK): This scam is nothing but a handout for motor companies, resprayed green
  Paying drivers to scrap their old cars and buy new ones will do nothing to catalyse a low-carbon transport revolution
• 2009/03/09: PhysOrg: Startup gives boost to electric cars: 'vending machines for electricity'
• 2009/03/09: OregonLive:JMoP: Automakers press fight on car emission rules
• 2009/03/10: CBC: Ford Canada CEO urges feds to provide car-buying incentives -- a substantial incentive beyond the current $300 credit to scrap old cars and purchase new ones.
• 2009/03/09: AutoBG: Should the U.S. institute a vehicle scrapping plan?
  Last month, Germany reported a shocking 21 percent improvement in auto sales, and the greatest driver in the uptick was a used vehicle scrapping plan that pays drivers 2,500 euros ($3,150) to remove their old car from the road. With new car sales in most other countries down by at least that much, it was widely speculated that other governments would look closely at Germany's new system to see if it would be worth adopting in their areas.
• 2009/03/08: EconBrowser: Update on the auto sector

  The reaction of business to climate change will be critical:

• 2009/03/12: EnvFin: Element closes $486 million clean-tech growth equity fund
• 2009/03/13: TreeHugger: Microsoft Aims At 30% Emissions Reduction by 2012
• 2009/03/10: Guardian(UK): Disney seeks to slash its carbon emissions in half

  The carbon lobby are up to the usual:

• 2009/03/15: CanWest: Global warming's no longer happening -- So why are eco types moaning about record highs while ignoring record lows?
• 2009/03/14: JEB: More ado about nothing
• 2009/03/11: JEB: Notes on a scandal
• 2009/03/12: GreenFyre: That "Denier vs Septic" thing again
• 2009/03/14: CCP: Stuart Gaffin's reply to Holman Jenkins of the Wall Street Journal's editorial board concerning rising CO2 levels, human activity, and global warming
• 2009/03/14: PRWatch: Oil Industry Advisor Comes Out of His Shell
• 2009/03/13: TP:WonkRoom: Jim Manzi, Ross Douthat's 'Kick-Ass' Global Warming Guru Has His Head In The Sand
• 2009/03/12: Deltoid: Monckton error count is conserved
• 2009/03/12: DeSmogBlog: More Blather From the National Post
• 2009/03/11: Guardian(UK): Climate change deniers: failsafe tips on how to spot them
• 2009/03/11: Denialism: George Monbiot's Top Ten Climate Change Denialists
• 2009/03/11: MGS: Not even wrong
• 2009/03/09: GristMill: More fuzzy economics -- Marshall Institute misrepresents costs of climate action
• 2009/03/10: DeSmogBlog: George Monbiot's Top Ten
• 2009/03/10: DeSmogBlog: Rush Limbaugh the Republican Global Warming Mouthpiece
• 2009/03/09: DeSmogBlog: National Post Disgraces Itself Again (Again)
• 2009/03/10: ScruffyDan: Monckton's silly graph: Part 3
• 2009/03/09: Guardian(UK): Climate sceptics confuse the public by focusing on short-term fluctuations
  Stefan Rahmstorf: Bjørn Lomborg denies data that sea levels are rising faster than expected with no sign of slowing down
• 2009/03/09: Guardian(UK): Monbiot's royal flush: Top 10 climate change deniers
• 2009/03/09: Guardian(UK): Monbiot's royal flush: Cut out and keep climate change denier cards (10 pictures)
• 2009/03/09: NatureTGB: Global warming now past tense
• 2009/03/08: ERabett: The Tale of the Expert Reviewer
• 2009/03/08: BCLSB: But Who Shall Maintain inhofe's List?
• 2009/03/09: QuarkSoup: Fleck Interviews Schmidt
• 2009/03/09: DeSmogBlog: National Post Disgraces Itself Again
• 2009/03/08: DeSmogBlog: Report: How to Manufacture Public Doubt about Global Warming
• 2009/03/08: DeSmogBlog: Earth to Jacoby: I Got Your Global Warming Right Here
• 2009/03/08: DeSmogBlog: Wanted: Coal Industry Spin Doctor - Ethics Not Required
• 2009/03/09: TWTB: Lomborg yet again tries to mislead on SLR, gets taken to the woodshed by Rahmstorf

  The Heartland denial-fest in NYC looks to have been a lame affair:

• 2009/03/12: Guardian(UK): Meet the sceptics
• 2009/03/11: DotEarth: No Skepticism on the Energy Gap
• 2009/03/10: DeSmogBlog: Truth or Consequences [Copenhagen vs. NYC]
• 2009/03/09: DeSmogBlog: PR Watch on the Heartland Conference: The Monkeys and Their Organ Grinders
• 2009/03/09: DeSmogBlog: Heartland Conference Speakers and Attendees still fighting the Cold War
• 2009/03/10: OilChange: Its Serious Science Versus the Sceptics [Copenhagen vs. NYC]
• 2009/03/09: KSJT: Albuquerque Journal: Geologist astronaut Harrison Schmitt heads for NY climate skeptics meeting
• 2009/03/09: ClimateP: Shame on Richard Lindzen, MIT's uber-hypocritical anti-scientific scientist
• 2009/03/08: DotEarth: Skeptics Question Warming, and Each Other
• 2009/03/08: Deltoid: Heartland's Denialist Conference: the Australian connection
• 2009/03/08: DeSmogBlog: Heartland Institute trying to make the old new
• 2009/03/09: UPI: Warming skeptics face shrinking support
  Climate change skeptics meeting at an annual conference in New York Monday are showing signs of internal disputes and weakening support, observers say.
• 2009/03/09: NYT: Skeptics Dispute Climate Worries and Each Other
• 2009/03/09: TP:WonkRoom: The Heartland Conference: Last Cries From The Climate Denial Extremists
• 2009/03/09: Guardian(UK): Czech leader [Klaus] joins meeting of climate change deniers

  As for climate miscellanea:

• 2009/03/14: Stoat: Yet another bunch of people kicking the IPCC
• 2009/03/14: TerraDaily: CSIRO Takes Kitchen Table Climate Change Talk Global
• 2009/03/14: CCurrents: Small, Green And Good
• 2009/03/11: CJR: Ménage à Green Blogs -- Three new science and environment blogs get experimental
• 2009/03/14: SMH: Wanted: future leaders with a green heart
• 2009/03/13: DotEarth: An Update on Climate and Energy Basics
• 2009/03/12: DeSmogBlog: Paris Hilton and the End of the World
• 2009/03/11: BSD: Iago quits Othello, and other climate news
• 2009/03/11: CCP: Michael E. Mann, Faustian Bargain: Defining dangerous anthropogenic interference
• 2009/03/: EarthIsland: Paltry Predictions
  Why Have Some of the World's Best and Brightest Minds Underestimated How Quickly We're Scorching the Atmosphere?
• 2009/03/10: NewScientist: Earth may be entering climate change danger zone
• 2009/03/10: ERabett: Eli is # 105,096 and it's your fault
• 2009/03/10: RealClimate: Advice for a young climate blogger
• 2009/03/10: TreeHugger: Why the Word 'Uncertainty' Has Gotten Us into Climate Change Trouble
• 2009/03/09: GreenGrok: 'Non-Climate Scientist' Climate Scientist Sets the Record Straight
• 2009/03/09: ClimateP: Ponzi 2: What year will coastal property values crash?
• 2009/03/09: Guardian(UK): Jeremy Clarkson and Michael O'Leary won't listen to green cliches and complaints about polar bears
  Let's talk about global warming in language deniers understand: energy independence and potential for new enterprise

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

• GreenFyre
• STWR: Share The World's Resources
• Manitoba: Flood Watches, Warnings and Advisories
• EII: Earth Island Institute
• Science Policy of Geoengineering (blog)
• 2009/03/10: ClimateCongress: Climate Change: Global Risks, Challenges and Decisions
• Planetary Skin
• Science Blog
• ABC(Au): Environment
• ABC(Au): Climate Change
• The Global Warming Challenge
• DEFRA: Calculate your carbon footprint!
• Climate Counts - make climate change history
• Encyclopedia of Earth
• Prof. Dr. Martin Grosjean - Publications

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.

"Recent observations confirm that, given high rates of observed emissions, the worst-case IPCC scenario trajectories -- or even worse -- are being realised" -from Copenhagen Conference's closing statement

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