Another Week of GW News, March 22, 2009

By illconsidered on March 23, 2009.

Sipping from the internet firehose...

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

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Another week of Climate Disruption News

Information overload is pattern recognition

March 22, 2009

Top Stories: Earth Hour, Maldives, US Polls, Copenhagen
Melting Arctic, Polar Bear, Arctic Geopolitics, Grumbine, Late Comments
Food Crisis, Food Production
Hurricanes, GHGs, Carbon Cycle, Temperatures, Sea Levels, Satellites
Impacts, Forests, Wacky Weather, Wildfires, Floods & Droughts, World Water Forum, Red River
Mitigation, Transportation, Buildings, Sequestration, Geoengineering
Journals, Misc. Science, Hansen
Kyoto, Kyoto-2, Copenhagen Posturing, UN, IPCC, UN-EU, Carbon Trade, Carbon Tax, Optimal Carbon Reduction Strategy
Politics: International, Security, America, Britain, Europe, Australia, Canada
Ecological Economics, IPAT, Apocalypso, Media, Books, Video, Courts
Energy, Wind, Solar, Coal, Biofuel, Nukes, Peak Oil, Grid, Efficiency, Cars, Business, Greenwashing, Insurance
Carbon Lobby, Steele, Will Nonsense, Miscellaneous Climate, Useful Links
Shameless Self Promotion, .sig

Ilsa blew around off the West coast of Australia, but otherwise it has been quiet in the hurricane wars:

2009/03/19: McClatchyDC: Final victim of Hurricane Katrina identified
2009/03/16: NOAANews: Hurricane Forecasters Bring Preparedness Message to Bahamas, Mexico and Caribbean -- Public Invited to Tour Air Force Reserve "Hurricane Hunter" Aircraft
As for GHGs:
2009/03/20: Maribo: Recent changes in per capita emissions
2009/03/19: TGBeaver: The ANDRILL discovery. 400 parts per million
2009/02/: EPA: 2009 Draft U.S. Greenhouse Gas Inventory Report -- Draft Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks: 1990-2007
And in the carbon cycle:
2009/03/16: MSU: Mighty diatoms: Global climate feedback from microscopic algae
2009/03/11: CSIRO: Carbon sinks losing the battle with rising emissions
The stabilising influence that land and ocean carbon sinks have on rising carbon emissions is gradually weakening, say scientists attending this week's international Copenhagen Climate Change Conference

As for the temperature record:

2009/03/20: Wunderground: 9th warmest February on record; La NiÃ±a conditions continue but weaken
Sea levels are rising:
2009/03/20: TerraDaily: Rising Sea Levels Set To Have Major Impacts Around The World
2009/03/19: EarthTimes: Scientists: Sea levels could rise 1 metre as Antarctic ice melts
2009/03/16 DeSmogBlog: Bobbing in the Big Apple?
2009/03/16: BBC: Netherlands learns to go with the flow [SLR]
The Netherlands throughout its history has had an ongoing struggle with the sea. Even its mythology reflects this battle, with the story of the little boy who put his finger in a dyke to stop the land being flooded with seawater. Now, it seems as the tension between land and water is set to reach a new level as rising sea levels and overflowing rivers leave this low-lying nation increasingly vulnerable.
2009/03/16: NatureTGB: Will warming wash-away Wall Street?
2009/03/16: KSJT: Wires, New Scientist, etc. : Is this a plot, too? WORST sea level rise foreseen in New York City and environs
2009/03/16: NewScientist: New York will bear brunt of uneven sea level rise
Meanwhile in near earth orbit:
2009/03/21: CBC:Q&Q: [mp3/ogg] GOCE - Feeling Gravity's Pull
2009/03/20: ESA: GOCE completes early orbit phase
2009/03/19: PhysOrg: GOCE satellite: Critical operations ongoing
2009/03/19: CCP: NASA-MODIS image of Nepal forest fires and drought in the Himalayas, March 2009
2009/03/17: BBC: The European Space Agency has launched its GOCE gravity mapping satellite
2009/03/16: BBC: The launch of a European Space Agency (ESA) gravity mapping satellite, called GOCE, has been delayed
More GW impacts are being seen:
2009/03/18: USGS: Science for Understanding the Impacts of Climate Change
2009/03/21: ABC(Au): Japan monitors climate link as cherry blossoms appear early
2009/03/20: Guardian(UK): One-third of US birds are endangered, says conservation report
2009/03/19: NewScientist: Fish numbers drop as reefs take a bashing
2009/03/19: Eureka: Arctic governments and industry still unprepared for oil spills 20 years after Exxon Valdez
And then there are the world's forests:
2009/03/16: FAO: [links to pdfs] The State of the World's Forests 2009
2009/03/16: FAO: FAO launches latest report on the State of the World's Forests 2009
2009/03/20: NatureTGB: Farmers lose Amazon court case
2009/03/20: SwissInfo: Swiss group turns up heat on loggers
A Swiss environmental group has persuaded an international hotel chain to help safeguard the rights of one of Malaysia's indigenous peoples, the Penan
2009/03/20: CBC: Brazil's top court backs indigenous land rights in Amazon
Brazil's Supreme Court has sided with Amazonian indigenous tribes in a land dispute that some have called critical for determining the future of the rainforest that sprawls the size of Western Europe. The court ruling on Thursday upholds the Raposa Serra do Sol reservation for 18,000 indigenous people who lay claim to their ancestral land, despite a handful of large-scale farmers who also occupy the territory in the northernmost reaches of Amazon jungle bordering Venezuela. The dispute over the 1.7 million-hectare (4.2 million-acre) reservation turned violent last year when authorities tried to evict the farmers.
2009/03/19: MongaBay: Norway emerges as champion of rainforest conservation
2009/03/19: CarbonPositive: REDD funds approved for pilot nations
UN agencies have released initial funding to five pilot countries to prepare avoided deforestation action plans. The move is a further step in the development of an international financial payments system to stem the loss of climate-critical tropical rainforests. The UN Environment Programme (UNEP), Food and Agriculture Organization and the UN Development Programme are jointly developing the Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) initiative with the aim of having it rolled out widely from 2013 as part of a new global climate treaty.
2009/03/19: EarthTimes: Greenpeace says activists beaten during protest rally [against Indonesian largest palm oil companies]
2009/03/16: UN: Economic crisis poses dire consequences for forests, warns new UN report
2009/03/16: BBC: World forests face the dual challenge of climate change and the global economic crisis, ...UN FAO report says
Here's some good news. The normal winter in Alberta this year has killed many pine beetles:
2009/03/20: CBC: Most mountain pine beetles in Alberta killed over winter, data shows
Frigid temperatures this winter have killed off more than 90 per cent of the mountain pine beetles in Alberta forests, new scientific data suggests. But experts won't know until this spring if the death rate is high enough to actually stop the destructive bugs from continuing to spread to new healthy trees Computer models run by the Canadian Forest Service on Thursday indicate that 95 per cent of the beetles have died in southern Alberta and the mountain parks because of the harsh winter. About 90 per cent have died in northern Alberta. "What we can say categorically is that this cold snap will buy some time," said Barry Cooke, a scientist with the federal department.

Yes we have no wacky weather, except:

2009/03/21: CBC: Sheila's Brush: Snow, winds wallop eastern Newfoundland
As for heatwaves and wild fires:
2009/03/21: SMH: Tree debris made town a 'death trap'
Towering roadside gums and a lack of fuel reduction burning turned the major road that leads to the Victorian town of Flowerdale into a "death trap", a bushfire Royal Commission community meeting was told yesterday. Eight people died there during the fires. Before the meeting - closed to the media - Flowerdale resident Pat Cowman said that while she had successfully defended her home of 35 years, she would never stay back and fight another fire because Victoria's Department of Sustainability and Environment regularly refused to clear tree debris. Mrs Cowman attacked the department. "My house is right up the creek and the fire just roared around it. They [the DSE] just poison the fuel and leave it dry," she said. "We kept telling them to burn but they did nothing. [The Whittlesea-Yea Road] became a death trap during the fire. A mother and her two kids were lost there. You ask the DSE about that and they pass the buck to VicRoads." When she first moved to Flowerdale, the Country Fire Association was allowed to burn around the road. That was no longer the case.
2009/03/19: ABC(Au): Indigenous fire could save CO2 emissions
Traditional Aboriginal burning practices in Australia's savannah country could reduce national greenhouse emissions by nearly five megatonnes a year and trigger a $52 million-a-year industry, says one expert
2009/03/17: ABC(Au): Bushfire risk to water quality 'could last years'
Water catchments affected by Australia's most deadly bushfire disaster could be at risk from pollution for several years, experts say.

As for hydrological cycle disruptions [floods & droughts]:

2009/03/18: TerraDaily: Despair as California's Central Valley dries up
2009/03/19: EarthTimes: Nearly 100 dead in Namibia's worst floods in decades
2009/03/17: JFleck: Stuff I Wrote Elsewhere, Colorado River Edition
2009/03/17 Wunderground: U.S. heavy precipitation events are increasing, but drought is not increasing
2009/03/17: TerraDaily: Namibia declares flood emergency, seeks aid
The World Water Forum went down in Turkey:
2009/03/20: EurActiv: World leaders urged to link water to climate negotiations
2009/03/17: TerraDaily: Climate change: Act now on floods, drought, says [World Water] forum
2009/03/17: SMH: Activists scornful of water forum
Political leaders, specialists and activists are attending a gathering in Istanbul aimed at averting a world water shortage but denounced by critics as a front for companies seeking profits and privatisation. An estimated 20,000 delegates are expected at the world water forum, the fifth organised by the World Water Council, of Marseilles, whose members include the World Bank, the International Committee of the Red Cross and the US Army Corps of Engineers.
2009/03/15: Star(My): Climate change woes at heart of Turkey water meet
2009/03/16: TreeHugger: 120 Nations Meet in Attempt to Avert Global Water Crisis
2009/03/16: EarthTimes: World Water Forum opens in Istanbul
There is a flood threat in the Red River valley:
2009/03/19: TerraDaily: US weather service warns of major floods in midwest
2009/03/20: CBC: Rainy forecast raises flood concerns along Red River -- Provincial officials issue standby orders in Manitoba
2009/03/19: NOAANews: Major Midwest Flooding Highlighted in U.S. Spring Outlook
2009/03/19: PhysOrg: Melting snow threatens spring flooding in north
The Red River of the North along the Minnesota-North Dakota border faces the nation's greatest threat of spring flooding, the government said in it's weather outlook Thursday
2009/03/17: WpgFP: 'Significant' flooding on way -- Red River Valley could see communities evacuated, farmland submerged
Elsewhere on the mitigation front:
2009/03/16: BBC: Biochar: Is the hype justified?
Green guru James Lovelock claims that the only hope of mitigating catastrophic climate change is through biochar - biomass "cooked" by pyrolysis

Consider transportation & GHG production:

2009/03/21: AfterGutenberg: Delivering Freight Cheaper and with Much Less Environmental Impact
2009/03/18: Guardian(UK): UK road traffic rises 25% in 15 years
Increases in traffic have made transport the fastest growing source of domestic UK carbon emissions
2009/03/15: Times(UK): Air passenger numbers drop for first time in 17 years
Britain's airports were hit by recession and high fuel prices last year, with 4.6 million fewer people taking to the air, the first passenger decline in 17 years. The escalating cost of jet fuel in the first half of 2008 pushed up ticket prices while recession delivered a further blow to the air travel market in the second half. The 1.9 per cent decline in passenger numbers was the first drop since 1991 and only the fourth since the end of the Second World War, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said.
2009/03/16: SMH: Carbon output falls as car use drops
Australia's greenhouse gas emissions fell over summer, apparently because fewer people relied on cars to get around. But the fall was slight because the drop in car use was mostly cancelled out by the increasing amount of carbon released by coal-fired power stations.

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

2009/03/17: TreeHugger: The Four Sins of LEEDwashing: LEED Green Buildings That Perhaps Aren't Really Green
2009/03/15: CBC: Edmontonians get a peek at zero-energy houses -- Similar homes have been built in Ontario and Quebec
2009/03/16: ClimateP: The first five steps to a greener home are not what the NYT's Green Home column says
As for carbon sequestration:
2009/03/16: USGS: New Science Gauges Potential to Store CO2 -- Injecting Carbon Dioxide in Rocks Could Mitigate Climate Change Effects
2009/03/17: KSJT: NYTimes, McClatchy, etc: Smatterings on Sequestration - a news roundup
2009/03/17: Eureka: Europe now has a scientific authority on CO2 storage
CO2GeoNet, Europe's Network of Excellence working on the geological storage of carbon dioxide (CO2), will meet in Venice on 18-20th March 2009 to present highlights from five years of research and development carried out by hundreds of scientists and to interact with stakeholders on future needs to be addressed by science
2009/03/20: NewScientist: Future looks bright for US carbon capture project
Large scale geo-engineering keeps popping up:
2009/03/16: OTF: Geoengineering: New Problems, Old Politics
2009/03/15: Times(UK): Plan B: scientists get radical in bid to halt global warming 'catastrophe'
2009/03/18: SciProg: When Will Geoengineering Tip?
RoyalGeographicalSociety: 21st Century Challenges -- Geoengineering
2009/03/16: ClimateP: Memo to DARPA, Pentagon: Stay out of geoengineering -- aka climate manipulation!
2009/03/16: GristMill: What could go wrong? DARPA to investigate geoengineering
2009/03/16: OTF: Geoengineering's Drawbacks
Meanwhile in the journals:
2009/03/19: CP: Borehole climatology: a discussion based on contributions from climate modeling by J. F. GonzÃ¡lez-Rouco et al.
2009/03/17: CP: Exploring the climatic impact of the continental vegetation on the Mezosoic atmospheric CO2 and climate history by Y. Donnadieu et al.
2009/03/20: CPD: 2-D reconstruction of past sea level (1950-2003) using tide gauge records and spatial patterns from a general ocean circulation model by W. Llovel et al.
2009/03/18: CPD: Glacial climate sensitivity to different states of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation: results from the IPSL model by M. Kageyama et al.
2009/03/17: CPD: Investigating the evolution of major Northern Hemisphere ice sheets during the last glacial-interglacial cycle by S. Bonelli et al.
2009/03/20: TC: Comparison of the meteorology and surface energy balance at Storbreen and Midtdalsbreen, two glaciers in southern Norway by R. H. Giesen et al.
2009/03/18: TC: Changes of Wilkins Ice Shelf over the past 15 years and inferences on its stability by M. Braun et al.
2009/03/20: ACP: Attribution of aerosol light absorption to black carbon, brown carbon, and dust in China -- interpretations of atmospheric measurements during EAST-AIRE by M. Yang et al.
2009/03/19: ACP: Characterisation of episodic aerosol types over the Australian continent by Y. Qin & R. M. Mitchell
2009/03/18: ACP: Automatic detection of ship tracks in ATSR-2 satellite imagery by E. Campmany et al.
2009/03/16: ACP: Large surface radiative forcing from topographic blowing snow residuals measured in the High Arctic at Eureka by G. Lesins et al.
2009/03/20: ACPD: On the capability of IASI measurements to inform about CO surface emissions by A. Fortems-Cheiney et al.
2009/03/20: ACPD: Importance of fossil fuel emission uncertainties over Europe for CO2 modeling: model intercomparison by P. Peylin et al.
2009/03/20: ACPD: Tracking the emission and transport of pollution from wildfires using the IASI CO retrievals: analysis of the summer 2007 Greek fires by S. Turquety et al.
2009/03/18: ACPD: Tropospheric water vapour above Switzerland over the last 12 years by J. Morland et al.
2009/03/17: PNAS: Nitrous oxide emission by aquatic macrofauna by Peter Stief et al.
2009/03/17: PNAS: Decentralization for cost-effective conservation by E. Somanathan et al.
2009/03/17: PNAS: Assessing dangerous climate change through an update of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) "reasons for concern" by Joel B. Smith et al.
2009/03/17: PNAS: Geochemical evidence for combustion of hydrocarbons during the K-T impact event by Claire M. Belcher et al.
2009/03/17: PNAS: Defining dangerous anthropogenic interference by Michael E. Mann
2009/01/26: KSwanson: [draft] Has the climate recently shifted? by Kyle L. Swanson & Anastasios A. Tsonis
2009/03/18: Nature: [Letter] Modelling West Antarctic ice sheet growth and collapse through the past five million years by David Pollard & Robert M. DeConto
2009/03/18: Nature: (ab$) Obliquity-paced Pliocene West Antarctic ice sheet oscillations by T. Naish et al.
2009/03/15: Nature: (Letter$) Electromotive force and huge magnetoresistance in magnetic tunnel junctions by Pham Nam Hai et al.
Before we get into politics, there was some science done:
2009/03/20: BCLSB: A Noisy Climate [Swanson & Tsonis]
2009/03/19: SciDaily: Odds Of Tipping: Better Than Even Chance Of Major Changes In Global Climate System, Experts Predict
An international team of researchers, led by Elmar Kriegler of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), elicited the opinions of 52 climate scientists about the sensitivity of five so-called tipping elements. Tipping elements are parts of the climate system which, through human interference, can change quickly and irreversibly. In the current study, the sensitivity of the following tipping elements is evaluated: Atlantic thermohaline circulation, El NiÃ±o phenomenon, Amazon rainforest, Greenland, and West Antarctic ice sheets.
2009/03/16: MongaBay: Experts forecast probability of global warming tipping points
2009/03/17: CCP: Re: Elmar Kriegler et al. -- Climate roulette by James Dacey of physicsworld.com
2009/03/17: PhysOrg: Scientists warn on climate tipping points
A survey of top climate scientists has revealed there is a real chance of key climate tipping points being passed with serious consequences for the planet. In a major study involving 43 of the world's leading climate experts, scientists have for the first time worked out the likelihood of one of the major climate thresholds being breached. Tipping points are used to describe a situation where damage due to climate change occurs irreversibly and at an increasing rate.

More Hansen:

2009/03/18: Guardian(UK): Leading climate scientist: 'democratic process isn't working'
James Hansen, a climate modeller with NASA, told the Guardian today that corporate lobbying has undermined democratic attempts to curb carbon pollution. "The democratic process doesn't quite seem to be working," he said. Speaking on the eve of joining a protest against the headquarters of power firm E.ON in Coventry, Hansen said: "The first action that people should take is to use the democratic process. What is frustrating people, me included, is that democratic action affects elections but what we get then from political leaders is greenwash. "The democratic process is supposed to be one person one vote, but it turns out that money is talking louder than the votes."

Meanwhile on the Kyoto front:

2009/03/18: IPSNews: Climate Change: A Development Mechanism That Cleans Little
The clean development mechanism, the Kyoto Protocol instrument that allows industries in rich countries to earn emission reduction credits by financing environment-friendly projects in developing countries, is a perverse but at the moment necessary tool to fight global warming, says a German environmental expert.

And on the Kyoto-2 front:

2009/03/19: FN: Brazil wants developing country climate targets
Work on a new U.N. deal on global warming is threatened by a "climate apartheid" between rich and poor countries, and emerging economies must do their part by setting emissions targets, Brazil's environment minister said. Carlos Minc told Reuters developing countries such as Brazil, India and China should adopt targets to curb greenhouse gas emissions but that rich countries need to honor their pledges on existing climate targets and the transfer of technology and finance to poor countries.
2009/03/17: Reuters: UN climate chief [UNFCCC head, Yvo de Boer] hustles on global warming deal
Big gaps remain in a new U.N. deal on global warming meant to be agreed in December and time is running worryingly short with just 265 days left, the U.N. climate chief said on Tuesday
2009/03/18: AngryBear: Cap and Trade Will Not Work: China
Posturing for Copenhagen by the USA & China picked up this week:
2009/03/18: CarbonFinance: China, US eye border carbon tax
2009/03/19: ClimateP: China's argument du jour for finishing off a livable climate
2009/03/18: Google:AFP: China says US could hold up climate deal
2009/03/18: Reuters: China minister rejects U.S. pollution duty idea
China's top climate change official rejected as protectionist on Wednesday a U.S. idea to put tariffs on some imports from countries that do not place a price on carbon, chiding the United States to do more to cut its greenhouse gas emissions. U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu on Tuesday told a congressional panel that once Washington develops a system limiting carbon emissions, if other countries do not impose a cost on carbon emissions the United States will be at a disadvantage.
2009/03/18: WSJ: Energy Chief Says U.S. Is Open to Carbon Tariff
Energy Secretary Steven Chu on Tuesday advocated adjusting trade duties as a "weapon" to protect U.S. manufacturing, just a day after one of China's top climate envoys warned of a trade war if developed countries impose tariffs on carbon-intensive imports. Mr. Chu, speaking before a House science panel, said establishing a carbon tariff would help "level the playing field" if other countries haven't imposed greenhouse-gas-reduction mandates similar to the one President Barack Obama plans to implement over the next couple of years. It is the first time the Obama administration has made public its view on the issue. "If other countries don't impose a cost on carbon, then we will be at a disadvantage...[and] we would look at considering perhaps duties that would offset that cost," Mr. Chu said.
2009/03/17: ABC(Au): China wants exports excluded from climate deal
China has appealed to exclude its giant export sector from the next treaty on climate change, as doubts grow whether the world can close ranks by a deadline of December.
2009/03/17: Guardian(UK): Consuming nations should pay for carbon dioxide emissions, not manufacturing countries, says China
2009/03/17: BBC: China has proposed that importers of Chinese-made goods should be responsible for the carbon dioxide emitted during their manufacture
2009/03/16: CBC: Western consumers should be responsible for China's CO2 emissions: China
2009/03/16: EarthTimes: China: Rich nations should pay for pollution from exports
The world's wealthiest nations should be responsible for China's pollution coming from exports, Chinese officials said Monday amid talks with the United States on how to combat global warming. China - the world's largest polluter together with the United States - has a plan in place to reduce greenhouse gas emissions blamed for global warming even as its economy grows rapidly, said Li Gao, director of China's department of climate change.

And that posturing raised the spectre of a green trade war:

2009/03/20: Australian: Green trade war a threat to Australia
Fears are rising of a global green trade war if Copenhagen climate change talks fail, after US Energy Secretary Stephen Chu suggested the Obama administration would consider "carbon tariffs" against countries that had not put a cost on pollution when the US introduced its emissions trading regime. "If other countries don't impose a cost on carbon, then we will be at a disadvantage ... (and) we would look at considering perhaps duties that would offset that cost," Mr Chu told a house science panel. Mr Chu said a carbon tariff would help "level the playing field" if other countries hadn't put a cost on carbon when a US emission trading regime came in. Climate Change Minister Penny Wong said protectionist carbon tariffs could be "very costly for a small, open economy like Australia" and would in any event be very difficult to administer.
2009/03/20: CanWest: Climate protectionism
In terms of world trade, U.S. global warming policy and its eco-tariffs are Smoot-Hawley on steroids

While at the UN:

2009/03/18: UN: UN scheme provides $18 million to five countries to slash emissions, create jobs
2009/03/19: Reuters: $750 billion "green" investment could revive economy: U.N.
Investments of $750 billion could create a "Green New Deal" to revive the world economy and protect the environment, perhaps aided by a tax on oil, the head of the U.N. environment agency said on Thursday. Achim Steiner said spending should focus on five environmental sectors including improved energy efficiency for buildings and solar or wind power to create jobs, curb poverty and fight climate change.

As for the IPCC:

2009/03/16: ClimateP: Why the world's top scientists underestimated how fast we're destroying the climate
2009/03/16: TreeHugger: Is the IPCC Assessment on Global Climate Change Wrong?
The UN accused the EU of retroactively changing the Bali agreement this week:
2009/03/19: OilChange: UN Accuses EU of "Shifting the Goalposts" on Climate
2009/03/20: EUO: EU leaders kick third-world climate finance into long grass
2009/03/20: EUO: Third world must commit to reductions to get EU climate cash
2009/03/18: Guardian(UK): Is the EU moving the goalposts on climate change?
2009/03/17: IHT: UN warns EU to keep promise on climate aid
2009/03/17: BBerg: EU Asks Too Much of Poor Nations on Climate, UN Says
2009/03/17: Reuters: Developing nations must do more for carbon cash -EU
2009/03/18: BBC: UN accuses EU over climate change
The UN's climate change chief has accused Europe's politicians of shifting the goalposts in global talks on climate change. The EU agreed at the Bali climate summit last December to bankroll clean technology in developing countries if they agreed to take appropriate actions to curb emissions growth. The fragile deal was reached after marathon talks. But EU politicians are now asking for more action for their money. They want developing countries to produce plans to cut emissions across their entire economy before getting cash help from the EU. Yvo de Boer, secretary of the UN climate programme (UNFCCC) told BBC News: "Quite frankly the language from (EU) ministers re-writes some of the fundamental agreements we made in Bali. "I don't think it's constructive to enter into a negotiation by trying to change the fundamental principles on which you've just agreed the negotiation will be based." Mr de Boer urged EU national leaders meeting at a summit in Brussels on Thursday to re-affirm that they would stick to the agreement they made in Bali without turning the screws on developing countries

And on the carbon trading front:

2009/03/19: Guardian(UK): Worlds of business and activism collide at carbon trading conference [Carbon Market Insights Conference]
2009/03/19: BBerg: Japan Buys Ukraine Carbon Credits to Keep Within Cap
2009/03/17: Guardian(UK): Carbon trading: pulling the cap on tight at Copenhagen
Carbon trading permits prices have plummeted, so the EU needs to strip out all the spare permits, or hot air, created by the recession

The idea of a carbon tax is still bouncing around:

2009/03/19: RStavins: A Tale of Two Taxes
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:
2009/03/19: EnvEcon: Grist(ly) infighting over cap and trade revenue rebates
2009/03/19: EnvEcon: Why revenue rebates?
2009/03/19: GristMill: Gold that's put to use begets more gold -- How cap-and-rebate brings about carbon reductions
2009/03/19: CommonTragedies: I was gonna respond to Grist but then read Env Econ
2009/03/19: CommonTragedies: WRI's got my back - regional incidence of cap and trade
2009/03/17: NewScientist: 'Cap the rich' to keep emissions targets fair
2009/03/18: GristMill: Sound and fury -- How would rebating carbon revenue to taxpayers give anyone incentive to reduce emissions?
2009/03/18: AngryBear: Cap and Trade and Non-Tradeable Emissions
2009/03/17: GristMill: CBO blind spot -- Why it makes sense to use carbon revenue to fund efficiency programs
2009/03/17: GristMill: Stealing our semantics back -- If it walks like a tax and quacks like a tax ... then it's called cap-and-trade?
2009/03/16: GristMill: Eat the rich or beat the poor -- The choice of what to do with carbon revenue is a clear-cut issue of justice
Meanwhile on the international political front:
2009/03/17: EarthTimes: EU expects more US climate action to restore credibility
2009/03/16: PlanetArk: Japan Unveils $5 Bln Green Loans For Asia At G20
Free Trade is really an imperial fairy tale:
2009/03/18: BioEnergyBiz: Obama rejects Lula's call for end to ethanol import tariff
As for GW & security:
2009/03/18: MTobis: Climate Change as Security Threat
And on the American political front:
2009/03/21: PhysOrg: Feinstein seeks block solar power from desert land
California's Mojave Desert may seem ideally suited for solar energy production, but concern over what several proposed projects might do to the aesthetics of the region and its tortoise population is setting up a potential clash between conservationists and companies seeking to develop renewable energy.
2009/03/20: SciAm:GreenWire: Stimulus Appears to Be Sparking Alt-Energy Revival -- But clean-tech still must clear the hurdle of a frozen credit market
2009/03/20: ClimateP: Newt Gingrich's voodoo cap-and-trade economics
2009/03/20: KSJT: Washington Monthly: Feed-in Tariffs. They've made one Florida town a renewable energy recession-bucking, photovoltaic hot spot
2009/03/20: Intersection: On Michael Steele's 'Cooling Process'
2009/03/20: TreeHugger: Republican Leader Michael Steele is a Climate Change Denier
2009/03/19: TP:WonkRoom: Newt Gingrich's Voodoo Cap-And-Trade Economics
2009/03/18: ClimateP: House GOP pledge to fight all action on climate. "Why do conservatives hate your children?"
2009/03/19: GristMill: Motion to reconsider [National Call to Action on Global Warming] -- U.S. groups desert precautionary principle, 53 to 6
2009/03/16: USA Today: $8 billion could help revive travel by train
2009/03/18: PhysOrg: New government brochure ["Climate Literacy: The Essential Principles of Climate Science"] explains climate science
2009/03/17: OPB: [Washington Governor Chris] Gregoire Lobbies Legislature To Resurrect Cap And Trade
2009/03/18: STimes: Gregoire pleads for teeth in a climate bill
Gov. Chris Gregoire made a rare appearance Tuesday before a state legislative committee to urge a stronger climate-change measure aimed at cutting pollution. [...] The Senate passed a bill last week but gutted much of the governor's initial proposal for such a system. It doesn't set a cap on emissions and asks the state to study the issue more.
2009/03/17: CCurrents: In Search Of A Green Economic Stimulus
2009/03/17: TP:WonkRoom: GOP Taps Global Warming Denier To Speak Out Against Health Care Reform
2009/03/16: ClimateP: Whistleblower's Revenge
2009/03/15: GristMill: Pay now or pay later -- It is conservatives who want to redistribute costs and burdens -- to future generations
2009/03/16: ENN: America Unprepared for Climate Change, Say Policy Advisers
2009/03/16: USNWR: Hot Docs: Clean Coal Program Shift 'Not Well Considered,' [by DOE says GAO]
Late coverage of the Washington climate change lobbyist throng:
2009/03/18: PRWatch: Spending Storm on Climate Change
2009/03/20: TreeHugger: Will Obama's Cap-and-Trade Ideas Survive a Gauntlet of Lobbyists?
2009/03/19: DeSmogBlog: Climate Battle Spawns More than 2,300 DC Lobbyists
2009/03/19: Guardian(UK): An army of lobbyists readies for battle on the climate bill
2009/03/17: DeSmogBlog: Oil and Gas Lobbying on Capitol Hill up a Whopping 64% in 2008
The Obama administration is still undoing Bush's midnight regulation changes:
2009/03/20: WarmingLaw: A Little More Judicial Notice: NHTSA Is Removing Bush-Era Preemption Language from Fuel Economy Regulations
The Obama chatter is nonstop:
2009/03/21: ClimateP: Another key climate and clean energy pick by Obama: Wellinghoff for Energy Commission Chief
2009/03/21: GristMill: More carrots please -- Does Obama's cap-and-trade plan have a rational policy basis?
2009/03/20: NatureTGB: Former Caltech provost tapped for DOE science post
Steve Koonin, the former provost of Caltech and current chief scientist of BP, has been tapped by President Obama to serve as undersecretary of science at the Department of Energy. He would replace Ray Orbach in a position that oversees the department's science portfolio, including running the national laboratory system. The position requires Senate confirmation.
2009/03/20: ABC(Au): Obama aims for a million green cars by 2015
2009/03/19: DotEarth: Obama's Science Team Is Official
2009/03/19: Google:AP: Obama: Investment in energy research creates jobs
President Barack Obama on Thursday said his administration's plans to invest heavily in energy research during hard times will create the kinds of jobs and technology the United States needs to survive economically.
2009/03/20: AutoBG: President Obama announces $2.4 Billion for electric vehicles
2009/03/17: MongaBay: Mr. President, it is time for a speech on climate change
2009/03/19: ClimateP: Obama at SCE Electric Vehicle Technical Center: "The nation that leads on energy will be the nation that leads the world in the 21st century"
2009/03/16: CSW: On the Obama scientific integrity directive
2009/03/18: NYT: Obama Tries to Draw Up an Inclusive Energy Plan
2009/03/17: NEN: Obama wants to make cap&trade work
2009/03/15: ClimateP: Obama, cap-and-trade, and voodoo economists
2009/03/16: PlanetArk: Obama Compromise On Carbon Could Cut Revenues
The actions of the Obama administration are being watched closely:
2009/03/20: DotEarth: Lubchenco's Goals on Oceans and Climate
2009/03/19: PhysOrg: New head of NOAA says science will guide policy
2009/03/20: HillHeat: DOE Grants $535 Million Loan Guarantee for Solar Power
2009/03/19: DOI: Secretary Salazar Releases Study Showing Widespread Declines in Bird Populations, Highlights Role of Partnerships in Conservation
2009/03/19: EnergyBulletin: Steven Chu's energy miscalculations
2009/03/18: GristMill: The Department of Nukes -- DOE has nuclear energy in its bloodstream
2009/03/18: PeakEnergy: DOE to Invest in Enhanced Geothermal Systems
2009/03/10: EPA: [links to many pdfs] Proposed Mandatory Greenhouse Gas Reporting Rule
As for what is going on in Congress:
2009/03/19: NOAANews: Jane Lubchenco Confirmed as NOAA Administrator -- Pledges to lead with the "best science as our guide"
2009/03/20: ClimateP: Climate science stars Holdren and Lubchenco confirmed...
2009/03/19: CSW: John Holdren and Jane Lubchenco confirmed as OSTP Director and NOAA administrator
2009/03/20: LA Times: Pioneering ecologist to head NOAA
Jane Lubchenco of Oregon State says she's eager to take on issues including global warming, polluted coastal waters and severely depleted fish populations. The Senate gave its blessing late Thursday to key members of President Obama's science team, including an Oregon State University ecologist who will be the first woman and first marine scientist to lead the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The Senate voted unanimously to confirm Harvard physicist John Holdren as Obama's top science advisor and Oregon State ecologist Jane Lubchenco as administrator of NOAA, an agency that conducts much of the nation's climate-change research, forecasts the weather and regulates commercial fishing.
2009/03/18: ClimateP: Senator Lieberman: Industry's Bag Man on Climate Change
2009/03/18: GristMill: A tax to grind -- Rep. John Larson pushes a carbon tax bill in the House
2009/03/17: WarmingLaw: Congress Sets Deadline for Decision on CA Emissions Waiver
2009/03/16: NEN: Tax vs. cap&trade -- the tax gets a bill
Summary: Representative John Larson (D-Conn) introduced House of Representatives legislation to tax greenhouse gas emissions, setting an initial moderate price and increasing it annually until emissions fall.

Debate over the climate & energy bill(s) rages on:

2009/03/19: AfterGutenberg: Utility Companies Falsely Claim Free Cap And Trade Credits Will 'Mitigate Cost Impact' On Customers
2009/03/20: ClimateP: The Campaign for an Energy Efficient America pushes an Energy Efficiency Resource Standard
2009/03/19: ClimateP: Why the United States REQUIRES a strong climate bill to remain competitive, Part 1
2009/03/18: ClimateP: CBO: Free cap and trade CO2 credits won't reduce consumer costs
2009/03/19: TreeHugger: The Obama Cap and Trade Debate Rages On
2009/03/18: TheHill: Climate debate focus shifts away from environment, toward jobs
2009/03/18: TP:WonkRoom: Utility Companies Falsely Claim Free Cap And Trade Credits Will 'Mitigate Cost Impact' On Customers
2009/03/18: WTimes: Obama climate plan could cost $2 trillion
2009/03/18: USNews: Will Cap-and-Trade Cost You $2 Trillion?
2009/03/18: WSJ:EnvCap: Climate Politics II: Will Carbon Permits Be Even Pricier?
2009/03/17: ClimateP: House GOP assail offsets as climate boondoggle
2009/03/16: GristMill: Nice package -- Will combining climate and energy into one big bill help or hurt the climate cause?
The Gore-apalooza is still bopping along:
2009/03/16: Guardian(UK): Gore on Lovelock, nuclear power and climate change sceptics
2009/03/16: JFleck: Yulsman on Gore
While in the UK:
2009/03/20: Guardian(UK): It's time to clear the air -- To cut carbon emissions, we must switch to renewable energy sources - and get polluting industries to foot the bill
2009/03/18: Guardian(UK): [Green party candidate for mayor of London, Sian] Berry's nuclear fallout has lost her my vote
As a seeming relic of the war with a bad haircut, have I lost my entitlement to an opinion?
2009/03/17: Guardian(UK): Heathrow's third runway: planning for aviation boom times is no way to deal with economic bust
Even without the overwhelming environmental case against airport expansion, the economic case is crumbling too
2009/03/17: Guardian(UK): Economic crisis gives us a chance of repairing climate damage
Large-scale investment to fix global finances is an opportunity to move quickly to a low-carbon economy
2009/03/17: Guardian(UK): UK government carbon targets 'too weak' to prevent dangerous climate change, scientists say
Official advice being used to set Britain's first carbon budget is "naÃ¯vely optimistic" and will not stop dangerous climate change, experts from the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research say
2009/03/16: Guardian(UK): Anger after [UK] government halts solar energy grant programme
2009/03/16: Guardian(UK): The night Ed Miliband said 'I'm with Stupid, but...'
Leicester Square last night hosted a spat between campaigners and government over Kingsnorth on the green carpet
2009/03/16: Guardian(UK): UK economic rescue plans 'must be greener', MPs say
Environmental Audit Committee report says Â£535m green stimulus package must include more money for measures to slash industrial, domestic and aviation emissions
2009/03/16: Guardian(UK): Boris Johnson mulls 'intelligent' congestion charge system for London
2009/03/16: BBC: People living in fuel poverty are to receive more help from the Welsh Assembly Government as part of plans to improved energy efficiency
And in Europe:
2009/03/19: EnvFin: EU power sector commits to 'carbon neutrality' by 2050
2009/03/20: Guardian(UK): EU 'jeopardising' fight against climate change
Leaders insist emerging economies need to agree to substantial emissions cuts before money is given to developing nations
2009/03/20: EUO: EU leaders kick third-world climate finance into long grass
2009/03/20: EUO: Third world must commit to reductions to get EU climate cash
2009/03/20: IHT: EU energy companies get 1B euro subsidy for clean coal
2009/03/19: Guardian(UK): Europe's energy chiefs aim for carbon-neutral electricity by 2050
2009/03/17: NewKerala: Copenhagen aims to be first carbon neutral capital
2009/03/16: EarthTimes: Russia gas spat boosts support for nuclear power in Poland
Meanwhile in Australia:
2009/03/22: ABC(Au): Protesters say they shut down a coal port in the Hunter region of New South Wales, stopping all ships from entering and leaving the harbour
2009/03/21: EarthTimes: Protesters close Australian coal terminal
2009/03/21: PeakEnergy: A Low Carbon Economy By 2050 For Australia
2009/03/20: ABC(Au): A climate researcher [Professor Barry Brook of Adelaide University] says South Australia needs a specific agency to help accelerate investment in renewable energy projects.
2009/03/20: SMH: Green power solution at hand for little cost: experts
Australia could build a low-carbon economy based on solar, wind and geothermal power by the middle of the century for less than half the cost of the Federal Government's economic stimulus package, says a report commissioned by WWF Australia. As Earth Hour approaches, the event's organiser, WWF, is trying to shift debate back to what it sees as the modest cost of turning Australia into a society based on renewable power.
2009/03/19: ABC(Au): A deal is being signed today to create two new supercomputers in Australia to forecast weather and track climate change
2009/03/19: ABC(Au): Alliance close to releasing draft climate change response
The New England Strategic Alliance of Councils says it is close to releasing its draft policy guiding members' response to the problems of climate change. The alliance chairman, councillor Hans Hietbrink says once it is approved, it will become members' strategy to long-term management of climate change risks.
2009/03/19: ABC(Au): A south-west Queensland mayor says the Federal Government's climate change initiatives need to be reviewed so people in remote areas can take advantage of them
2009/03/19: ABC(Au): Queensland's Energy and Mining Minister Geoff Wilson has rejected accusations an ALP policy to bulk-buy 200,000 solar hot water systems will distort the local market
2009/03/18: ABC(Au): Bligh accused of killing solar power industry
The Queensland Labor Party has been accused of destroying the local solar power industry with its pledge to bulk buy 200,000 solar hot water systems and sell them at a discount
2009/03/17: ABC(Au): Lower lakes residents take drought message to Canberra
People representing lower lakes communities in South Australia are at Parliament House in Canberra to highlight the plight of their local environment with federal MPs.
2009/03/17: SMH: Power and passion pop: nine-foot baldie gets to speak
The fight over the ETS continues:
2009/03/22: ABC(Au): Nationals Senate Leader Barnaby Joyce says he does not believe Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is still committed to the introduction of the Government's carbon trading scheme
2009/03/20: Crikey: Getting skeptical about TruEnergy's ETS apocalypse
2009/03/20: SMH: Big coal digs in on emissions
Greg Combet has been saddled with one of the most demanding tasks in Government - trying to convince a hostile coal industry to accept Labor's emissions trading scheme. Appointed last month as the parliamentary secretary for climate change, Mr Combet has relieved the minister, Penny Wong, from dealing with an industry that claims the scheme will cause mines to close and thousands of jobs to be shed. It is understood the division of labour within the climate change portfolio was agreed to between Senator Wong and Mr Combet, who lives in Newcastle and used to work in the industry. Industry sources said the former union leader led negotiations this week with representatives from companies including Xstrata and BHP, who were in Canberra lobbying.
2009/03/20: SMH: Polluters could shift greenhouse burden to poor countries, say critics
Australia's biggest greenhouse polluters will be given carte blanche to shift the burden of cutting their emissions to poorer countries under the Federal Government's proposed climate change laws. Lawyers examining the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme say it allows any big Australian polluter to buy unlimited "offset" pollution credits in developing countries under a United Nations scheme, the Clean Development Mechanism, which encourages rich nations to invest in clean energy in poorer nations.
2009/03/19: ABC(Au): Committee demands 80pc emissions cuts
A Labor-dominated parliamentary committee is calling on the Federal Government to significantly toughen up its greenhouse gas emission cuts targets. The Federal Government's existing target is to make cuts of 60 per cent by 2050, but Labor and Greens members on the joint standing committee on treaties have released a report saying nothing less than 80 per cent will be sufficient
2009/03/17: ABC(Au): The Federal Opposition is continuing to attack the Federal Government's emissions trading scheme (ETS), saying it will cost too many jobs
2009/03/17: ABC(Au): Landowners told to prepare for emissions scheme
A property rights expert will tell local landowners in Armidale they must start to prepare themselves for the Federal Government's emissions trading scheme, or risk being caught in a legal trap they will not get out of. John Sheehan, from the Australian Property Institute, will discuss the role banks, big polluters and private carbon companies will play in changing farmers' traditional relationship with the land. Mr Sheehan says schemes offering big money to farmers who are willing to store carbon in trees on their land must be carefully examined.
2009/03/17: ABC(Au): Mining town mayors call for ETS delay
The mayors of three of Australia's largest mining cities are urging the Federal Government to hold off on its carbon emissions trading scheme (ETS), due to the impact on regional economies and jobs.
2009/03/17: SMH: Carbon plan will kill jobs, miner says
The mining company Xstrata will sack 1000 workers and shelve plans to employ 4000 more if the Government's emissions trading scheme goes ahead, the federal Opposition said yesterday. The prospect of the ETS passing the Senate faded further yesterday when the independent Nick Xenophon added his opposition to the scheme. "It should be pretty clear to the Government now that in its current form this legislation won't pass the Senate," he said.
2009/03/16: ABC(Au): Turnbull steps up attack on ETS
Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull has stepped up his attack on the Government's emissions trading scheme (ETS), saying it will cost thousands of jobs and billions of dollars.
2009/03/17: ABC(Au): ETS will kill jobs, boost homelessness: Abbott
Federal Opposition frontbencher Tony Abbott has warned of a social catastrophe if the recession leads to increased homelessness.
2009/03/15: Reuters: Opposition grows to Australia's CO2 trade scheme
In Canada, minority neocon PM Harper, continues his do-nothing policy:
2009/03/20: DeSmogBlog: Harper Handout for Friends at National Post?
2009/03/18: TStar: [Transport Minister John] Baird downplays high-speed rail link
2009/03/17: APOV: Harper And The Environment: Remember When ...
The Tories have relaxed environmental assessment regulations cause they could never get it passed in a bill:
2009/03/19: CanWest: This change doesn't add up
In a rush to get "stimulus" projects started, Ottawa will exempt many construction projects from the federal environmental-assessment process. Environment Minister Jim Prentice said this two-year relaxation of the rules will apply to "public projects where we know from our accumulated experience that there are no adverse environmental consequences - in fact, where there are net environmental gains." Wait a minute. Something doesn't add up here. Why have we been paying for so many costly and time-consuming environmental assessments until now, if they're really needless? And whose "accumulated experience" is now going to be invoked in approving all these projects: that of developers eager to make a buck? That of local politicians eager to increase their tax base and comfortably living in a nicer part of town than the one getting the new factory or high-rise? The opinion we will not be using, apparently, is that of experts who actually understand the issues and know how to apply principles of environmental defence in particular circumstances. If there is so much waste in the current system - and it's true that environmental assessments can run to millions of dollars, and can take years - then why isn't Ottawa proposing a long-term remedy?
2009/03/16: CBC: New environmental regulations to speed up infrastructure: Prentice
Streamlining the environmental review process for federal infrastructure projects will accelerate the work and related job creation, federal Environment Minister Jim Prentice said Monday. There will be fewer federal assessments and reduced duplication with provincial and municipal reviews on federally funded public projects, Prentice told a Calgary Chamber of Commerce luncheon as the new regulations came into effect.
2009/03/17: G&M: Tories place two-year waiver on assessments
Minister cites need to create jobs, stimulate economy in broadening exemptions from federal environmental regulations For the next two years, certain public projects will be excused from the rigorous federal environmental assessment process in order to get Canadians working and stimulate the sluggish economy, the Conservative government announced yesterday. Environment Minister Jim Prentice told a receptive business audience in Calgary that the move is intended to streamline the approval process, and insisted that projects won't go ahead at the expense of the environment.

Another embarassment in the Harper cabinet:

2009/03/20: G&M: Does Canada's science minister really see the evolutionary light? Does Gary Goodyear really get this evolution thing?
2009/03/19: BuckDog: It's NOT About 'Faith' Mr. Asper - It's About 'Stupidity'!
2009/03/18: CBC: Scientists still wary after science minister confirms belief in evolution
2009/03/17: Maribo: Does Canada's minister in charge of science question evolution?
2009/03/18: BCLSB: Tories Embrace Science...16th Century Science!!!
2009/03/18: CBC: 'Of course I believe in evolution': science minister
2009/03/17: CBC: Science minister's coyness on evolution worries researchers
Federal Science Minister Gary Goodyear's refusal to say whether he believes in evolution has left scientists questioning what that means for Canadian research.
2009/03/18: G&M: It's not easy being a religious science minister
2009/03/18: CanWest: Tories' science initiatives need to evolve
2009/03/17: Impolitical: Tell us more, Mr. Science
Gary Goodyear, the Minister of State for Science and Technology who has been in the news of late for budget cuts to science funding and for a reported unprofessional outburst is the subject of a big Globe report today: "Science minister won't confirm belief in evolution."
2009/03/17: MH: Reverend Gary Goodyear
2009/03/17: G&M: [Gary Goodyear,] Minister [of State for Science and Technology] won't confirm belief in evolution
Researchers aghast that key figure in funding controversy invokes religion in science discussion Canada's science minister, the man at the centre of the controversy over federal funding cuts to researchers, won't say if he believes in evolution. "I'm not going to answer that question. I am a Christian, and I don't think anybody asking a question about my religion is appropriate," Gary Goodyear, the federal Minister of State for Science and Technology, said in an interview with The Globe and Mail. A funding crunch, exacerbated by cuts in the January budget, has left many senior researchers across the county scrambling to find the money to continue their experiments. Some have expressed concern that Mr. Goodyear, a chiropractor from Cambridge, Ont., is suspicious of science, perhaps because he is a creationist.

Ontario is still wrestling with its energy policy:

2009/03/19: CleanBreak: Solar manufacturers, suppliers eye Ontario's new feed-in tariffs
2009/03/16: TreeHugger: Ontario Proposes Massive Renewable Energy Boost With New Feed-In Tariff Program
Meanwhile in that Mechanical Mordor known as the tar sands:
2009/03/21: CCP: Elizabeth Kolbert: Canadian tar sands, oil shale, synthetic crude, peak oil, SAGD, bitumen, strip mining, ExxonMobil, Chevron
2009/03/16: GristMill: Mucked Up -- Free download of book that exposed the messy conditions of Canada's tar sands
As for miscellaneous Canadiana:
2009/03/16: CBC: Ontario company's green ads promote nuclear power in Alberta
2009/03/16: HillTimes: Canada should be out front on climate change, before it's too late, say experts
The movement toward a long term ecologically viable economics is glacial:
2009/03/22: PeakEnergy: Time To Study Postcapitalism?
2009/03/21: PeakEnergy: Douglas Rushkoff On The Economy: Let it die
2009/03/20: Guardian(UK): Problems this big need more than the state v market stuff
If climate change is to be tackled, or the financial system rebuilt, we need to move beyond the old, dumb, polarising politics
2009/03/17: Guardian(UK): Time to gamble on a post-carbon world
An economy that promotes quality over quantity will restore the confidence we need to live within our ecological means

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

2009/03/17: WorldChanging: U.N. Raises "Low" Population Projection for 2050
2009/03/22: Guardian(UK): Britain set to become most populous country in EU
Soaring population will force millions to flee water shortages in search of refuge - and, according to new figures, Britain will be one of the world's 'lifeboats'.
2009/03/21: Guardian(UK): Natural resources -- The Malthusian question
2009/03/20: Eureka: A quarter of the world's population depends on degrading land -- Productive cropland and forest most affected
2009/03/19: PeakEnergy: Planet Overload?
2009/03/17: EnergyBulletin: Common myths of the population debate
Apocalypso anyone?
2009/03/20: PeakEnergy: "World faces 'perfect storm' of problems by 2030"
2009/03/19: NatureTGB: Global doom by 2030, says UK chief scientist
2009/03/19: BBC: Global crisis 'to strike by 2030'
Growing world population will cause a "perfect storm" of food, energy and water shortages by 2030, the UK government chief scientist has warned. By 2030 the demand for resources will create a crisis with dire consequences, Prof John Beddington said. Demand for food and energy will jump 50% by 2030 and for fresh water by 30%, as the population tops 8.3 billion, he told a conference in London. Climate change will exacerbate matters in unpredictable ways, he added.
2009/03/18: Guardian(UK): World faces 'perfect storm' of problems by 2030, chief scientist to warn
Food, water and energy shortages will unleash public unrest and international conflict, Professor John Beddington will tell a conference tomorrow

As for how the media handles the science of climatology:

2009/03/19: Nature: [Editorial] Filling the void -- As science journalism declines, scientists must rise up and reach out
2009/03/19: KSJT: Nature: Science writing in major media way down, but plenty of jobs elsewhere - and lots of blogging scientists in the mix
2009/03/18: MTobis: Journalists, Advocates and Scientists
2009/03/17: ClimateP: U.S. media largely ignores latest warning from climate scientists: "Recent observations confirm ... the worst-case IPCC scenario trajectories (or even worse) are being realised" --- 1000 ppm
2009/03/17: TreeHugger: Both Scientists and Media To Blame For Climate Change Miscommunication: Elizabeth Kolbert
Here is something for your library:
2009/03/19: CCurrents: [Book Review] _Future Scenarios_ by David Holmgren
2009/03/21: AlterNet: [Book Excerpt] _Unquenchable: American's Water Crisis and What We Can Do About It_ by Robert Glennon
2009/03/21: AlterNet: Why Dumpster Diving Can Save You from Going Off the Deep End [Book Excerpt] _The Scavenger's Manifesto_ by Anneli Rufus and Kristan Lawson
2009/03/18: EnergyBulletin: [Book Review] _Future Scenarios_ by David Holmgren
2009/03/18: BNC: [Book Review] _The Solar Fraud: Why Solar Energy Won't Run the World_ by Howard Hayden
And for your film & video enjoyment:
2009/03/19: AlterNet: The Age of Stupid: New Film Gives Us a Painfully Realistic Look at Life in 2055
2009/03/17: ClimateP: Living in the Age of Stupid
2009/03/17: TreeHugger: Tom Brokaw Takes Another Look at Global Warming in New Hour-Long Discovery Channel Special
2009/03/16: ABC(Au): London hosts world's first solar-powered film premiere [for The Age Of Stupid]
Meanwhile among the 'Sue the Bastards!' contingent:
2009/03/17: WarmingLaw: Congress Sets Deadline for Decision on CA Emissions Waiver
Wrestling over a new energy infrastructure continues unabated:
2009/03/19: EnvFin: Shell to focus on biofuels, ditches wind and solar
2009/03/17: PRWatch: Shell Ends Its Small Investment in Renewables
2009/03/20: SciAm:GreenWire: Stimulus Appears to Be Sparking Alt-Energy Revival -- But clean-tech still must clear the hurdle of a frozen credit market
2009/03/20: KSJT: Washington Monthly: Feed-in Tariffs. They've made one Florida town a renewable energy recession-bucking, photovoltaic hot spot
2009/03/20: BBC: First liquid gas delivery in port
The first giant tanker carrying super-cooled gas from the Middle East to one of two new terminals in Pembrokeshire has arrived in port. Once fully operational, the liquefied natural gas plants at Milford Haven will be capable of meeting up to 25% of the UK's current gas requirements.
2009/03/19: GristMill: Big Oil [hearts] biofuels -- Shell: biofuel rocks; solar and wind, not so much
2009/03/19: CNN: Oil above $50 -- Crude prices rocket higher on government program to buy up its own debt. Oil touches $50 for first time since January
2009/03/19: BBC: Crude oil prices back above $50
Crude oil's price has risen back above $50 a barrel for the first time in ten weeks, pushed higher by a weaker dollar and hopes of an economic upturn. US light crude gained $2.40, or 5.2%, to $50.63 a barrel in New York trading. Earlier, oil prices jumped as much as 8% to $52.25. Oil has gained more than 15% since the start of the year. Oil gained after the US Federal Reserve announced a plan to buy $1.2tn (Â£843bn) of debt to boost its economy, which in turn may stoke oil demand. In London, Brent oil gained by $2.85, or 6%, to $50.51.
2009/03/19: Yahoo: Oil hits [US$52.25] high for 2009 as dollar plunges
2009/03/18: Guardian(UK): Shell's subtle switch from renewables to the murky world of 'alternative' energy
Shell's spending on renewables -- except biofuel -- appears to have fallen from $200m a year to zero over the past nine years
2009/03/18: ClimateP: Southern Company embraces the only practical and affordable way to 'capture' emissions at a coal plant today -- run it on biomass
2009/03/18: ClimateP: Shell shocker: Once 'green' oil company guts renewables effort
2009/03/18: DeSmogBlog: So it was Just a Shell Game After All!
2009/03/18: SciDaily: Making Wood A Clean, Efficient Energy Source With New Process [torrefaction]
2009/03/17: Guardian(UK): Shell dumps wind, solar and hydro power in favour of biofuels
2009/03/18: OilChange: Shell Dumps Wind and Solar
2009/03/16: FTimes: Emissions disclosure study puts Shell bottom of the big oil class
Royal Dutch Shell's disclosure of its carbon emissions lags behind its closest rivals and falls well short of best practice, a study by an industry consultant has said. PFC Energy said Shell, which has sought to assert its green credentials, was rated bottom out of six multi-national oil companies surveyed on the level of detail, frequency and coherency of their emissions disclosures
2009/03/18: OilChange: Shell Bottom of Emission Disclosure Ratings
2009/03/17: TreeHugger: Portugal's Pelamis Wave Power Project Dead In the Water
2009/03/13: TWM: The Rooftop Revolution [feed-in tariffs]
The answer my friend...:
2009/03/19: TreeHugger: The Jellyfish Wind Appliance: Plug-In Wind Power for $400
Meanwhile among the solar aficionados:
2009/03/22: ClimateP: First Energy Department loan guarantee goes to --- a solar manufacturer
2009/03/16: FuturePundit: 1366 Technologies Aims For Cheap Silicon Photovoltaics
2009/03/17: FuturePundit: Nanocups Will Boost Solar Concentrator Efficiency
2009/03/21: TreeHugger: California Homeowner Association Fails To Block Installation Of Low Cost "Blue" Solar Panels
2009/03/20: GristMill: Hello sunshine? Los Angeles rejects solar plan, still likes solar power
2009/03/20: TreeHugger: Los Angeles Voters Reject 400 Megawatts of City's Ambitious Solar Power Plan
2009/03/20: TreeHugger: Solyndra Gets $535 Million Loan Guarantee from Dept of Energy for New Solar Panel Facility
2009/03/20: NYT: Calif. solar effort flags in frozen housing market
2009/03/19: GTM: Solar Power Capacity Grows 17% in the U.S., Says Industry Group
2009/03/19: NEN: Foreseeing PV Sun
Summary - The "Anatomy of a Shakeout" series, the latest in the fine reports on New Energy produced by Greentech Media and the Prometheus Institute, applies a supply-demand analysis to the solar energy photovoltaic (PV) industry to forecast where the sector is headed.
2009/03/16: GTM: Report: Global Solar Industry Raked In $37.1B in 2008
Solarbuzz's new report shows that Spain overtook Germany as the largest market in 2008, although the installation number differs from reports by other research firms. Worldwide installation reached 5.95 gigawatts last year.
2009/03/18: PeakEnergy: Utility Scale Thin Film Solar Power In Germany
2009/03/17: ClimateP: Solar PV market doubled to 6 Gigawatts in 2008 -- U.S. left in dust, having invented the technology
2009/03/16: TreeHugger: Solar Water Heating is Best Use of Solar Power, Indian Scientists Assert
2009/03/16: SMH: [UNSW] Uni's solar panel captures more light
The arithmetic of coal carbon is striking home:
2009/03/20: DeSmogBlog: Clean Coal Opposition Mounting
2009/03/16: G&M: How do you produce clean energy from dirty coal?
Biofuel bickering abounds:
2009/03/21: Google:GC: Study shows biofuels have no value and are a waste of money
2009/03/22: PhysOrg: City buses turn to sewage for 'clean' [bio]fuel
2009/03/18: TechRev: A Better Biofuel Bug -- Zymetis is testing genetically modified bacteria that efficiently convert biomass into sugar
2009/03/19: CleanBreak: Enerkem to build $250M trash-to-ethanol plant in Mississippi
2009/03/19: GristMill: Biomess 2009 -- The DOE's annual biofuels conference doesn't inspire confidence
2009/03/19: NEN: Second-generation biofuels still a decade away
The nuclear energy controversy continues:
2009/03/18: GristMill: The Department of Nukes -- DOE has nuclear energy in its bloodstream
Yes we have a multiple peaks...:
2009/03/19: EnergyBulletin: The peak oil crisis: government in the transition
2009/03/17: GreenGrok: How Much Coal Is Really in Them Thar Hills?
2009/03/17: ERabett: Hubbert Hearts Hansen
More people are talking about the electrical grid:
2009/03/22: PhysOrg: US economic stimulus money fuels 'smart' power grid surge
2009/03/19: PeakEnergy: A Green Grid
2009/03/18: TP:WonkRoom: Glenn Beck Attacks Smart Grid As Socialist Plot To Steal Our Thermostats
2009/03/17: GristMill: Gridtastic -- The net's best introduction to the smart grid
2009/03/16: NEN: New energy depends on fight for wires
Summary: In order to deliver New Energy generated in resource rich regions of the U.S. to the population centers where it is needed, political and New Energy Inudstry leaders say a new national transmission system is necessary.

And then there is the matter of efficiency & conservation:

2009/03/18: ACEEE: Study finds national standard for energy efficiency can save U.S. consumers and businesses nearly $170 billion
2009/03/20: NEN: Efficiency is even more efficient than they thought
2009/03/18: PhysOrg: Manufacturing inefficiency: Study sees 'alarming' use of energy, materials in newer manufacturing processes
Automakers & lawyers, engineers & activists argue over the future of the car:
2009/03/21: AutoBG: How Magna's ready-made electric car helps Ford, and everyone else
2009/03/20: BBC: UK car production in record drop
The number of new cars produced in the UK fell by a record 59% in February, year-on-year, as the motor industry continues to suffer from weak demand
2009/03/19: CalcRisk: DOT: U.S. Vehicle Miles Off 3.1% in January
2009/03/19: TreeHugger: City of Paris Puts Map of Electric Vehicle Charging Stations Online
2009/03/19: AutoBG: Porsche will cut CO2 emissions by 25% by 2012
2009/03/18: AutoBG: Zurich joins the Renault-Nissan EV bandwagon
2009/03/17: Inhabit: The Inizio Electric Supercar Takes Aim at Tesla
2009/03/15: USAToday: California utility prepares for surge in plug-in electric cars
2009/03/17: LA Times: Hybrid car sales go from 60 to 0 at breakneck speed
The gas-electric vehicles are piling up on dealers' lots as anxiety over gasoline prices evaporates. But more hybrid models are on the way.
2009/03/16: AutoBG: Can EV startups survive mainstream auto collapse?
The reaction of business to climate change will be critical:
2009/03/16: JFleck: Stuff I Wrote Elsewhere: A Business Exec Approaches Climate Change
Insurance and re-insurance companies are feeling the heat:
2009/03/19: EnvFin: Insurers push back on climate risk disclosure
Insurers operating in the US will be required to disclose the financial risks associated with climate change and the actions they are taking to mitigate those risks, following a ruling by insurance regulators. However, an insurance trade association has come out against the regulations -- arguing that the public disclosure will see proprietary information put into the public domain.

The carbon lobby are up to the usual:

2009/03/21: ERabett: The Second Law and its Criminal Misuse
2009/03/20: BCLSB: Coming Soon From A Bunch Of Climate Change Deniers Near You
2009/03/18: NewYorker: Elizabeth Kolbert: Donating to the Deniers -- There's green and then, of course, there's green.
2009/03/19: DeSmogBlog: New Yorker Slams U.S. CAP Members for "Donating to the Deniers"
2009/03/19: DeSmogBlog: Climate Clowns Grumpy Over New Learning Resource
2009/03/19: MGS: Unreliability at co2sceptics/climatrealists
2009/03/16: Deltoid: Shorter Heartland Conference
2009/03/17: ERabett: IOKIYAAD** -- Really little bunnies, It's OK if you are a Denialist.
2009/03/16: DeSmogBlog: Vancouver Province Jon Ferry's Wonderful World of the Illogical
2009/03/16: Guardian(UK): Bellamy the Bearded Bungler doesn't disappoint
Eight falsehoods and a startling assertion of independence 'peer-reviewed journals - it's the last thing I would use now'
2009/03/15: ERabett: It gains something in translation
The head of the Republican National Committee is defining himself as a climate change denier:
2009/03/20: TreeHugger: Republican Leader Michael Steele is a Climate Change Denier
2009/03/18: DeSmogBlog: Michael Steele Helps Make "Sense" of Global Warming
2009/03/16: ClimateP: RNC head Steele: "The supposed warming, and I am using my finger quotation marks here, is part of the cooling process.... It was once called Greenland for a reason.... Oh I love this."
2009/03/16: GristMill: Brains of Steele -- Titular head of GOP says we're in period of global cooling
Gee, it's enough to make you wonder who owns the media...:
2009/03/19: RawStory: Climate change deniers have media outlets 'everywhere' now
Gerlich and Tscheuschner have recycled some old assertions:
2009/03/20: Deltoid: Gerlich and Tscheuschner, oh my
2009/03/19: ERabett: A burrow project?
2009/03/04: Arxiv: Falsification Of The Atmospheric CO2 Greenhouse Effects Within The Frame Of Physics by Gerhard Gerlich & Ralf D. Tscheuschner
The Will nonsense got a reprise this week when Michel Jarraud & Chris Mooney replied in the Post:
2009/03/21: WaPo: Climate Change Myths and Facts [CCM]
2009/03/21: GristMill: Triumph of the Will bashers -- Scientists and science writers take Will to task in the WaPo
2009/03/21: TP:WonkRoom: Washington Post Publishes Science Progress Editor Chris Mooney's Response To George Will
2009/03/21: ClimateP: Washington Post publishes two strong debunkings of George Will's double dose of disinformation
2009/03/21: JFleck: Washington Post Publishes Mooney Reply to Will
2009/03/21: Deltoid: Chris Mooney replies to George Will
2009/03/21: MTobis: Chris Mooney Responds to Will in Washington Post
2009/03/21: Intersection: My Washington Post Answer to George Will
2009/03/21: WaPo: Understanding Climate Change [Letter from Michel Jarraud, Secretary General, WMO]
2009/03/21: ThinkP: WMO: George Will's climate change denial column was a 'misinterpretation' of the facts
Then there was the miscellaneous news and commentary:
2009/03/18: USGS: It's for the Birds: Historical Bird Files Give Insight into Climate Change: Online Volunteers Recruited
2009/03/17: McClatchyDC: Commentary: Honest accounting of pollution's true costs
2009/03/20: AFTIC: 2 C or not 2 C?
2009/03/20: CNN: Turning toxic coal ash into bridges, buildings
Coal combustion products used in concrete, roadbeds, drywall - Chemist: Fly ash makes concrete less porous, more durable - Smokestack scrubbers generate synthetic gypsum for wallboard - Three months after Tennessee spill, EPA says it plans inspections, regulations
2009/03/19: TWTB: Embracing a low profile in the climate debate
2009/03/18: KSJT: NPR: The man watching climate change -- via time lapse photography
2009/03/16: CCurrents: Ten Ways To Save The World
2009/03/13: MIT: As planet warms, poor nations face economic chill -- Climate change may widen gap between rich and poor, study finds
2009/03/17: Guardian(UK): If we behave as if it's too late, then our prophecy is bound to come true
However unlikely success might be, we can't afford to abandon efforts to cut emissions - we just don't have any better option
2009/03/16: GreenGrok: Corn Ethanol or Conservation? What Do You Think?
2009/03/16: NewScientist: Fumigating your greenhouse could drive climate change [sulfuryl fluoride]
And here are a couple of sites you may find interesting and/or useful:
WMO: Severe Weather Information Centre
Clean Technica
ManitobaGovt: Flood Watches, Warnings and Advisories
ANDRILL drills deep into Antarctic sediment to reveal past glacial history and to predict Earth's future climate
CEJ: Center for Environmental Journalism
2007/06/27: NOAA: AGGI: Annual Greenhouse Gas Index
Denialism
Environmental Graffiti
APUPCC: American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment
IEA: Global Renewable Energy Policies and Measures

Low Key Plug

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

-het

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

"The laws of nature and the laws of economics are unforgiving. We can abuse our environment, but only for a while. We can spend beyond our means, but only for a while. We can free ride on the investments made in the past, but only for a while. Even the richest country in the world ignores the laws of nature and the laws of economics at its peril." -Joseph E. Stiglitz

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Another Week of GW News, March 22, 2009

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It's always nice to start with a larf:

Happy (late) Equinox:

Earth Hour coverage is picking up:

The Maldives gambit:

Late comment on that US poll and a new one:

Late coverage of Copenhagen:

The Arctic melt continues to garner a lot of attention:

The adventures of Mad Dogs and English Women:

A conference on the Polar Bear went down this week in Norway:

As for the geopolitics of Arctic resources:

While in Antarctica:

Don't you just love these contrary headlines:

Rob Grumbine continues his education project:

Late coverage of aerosols:

Late coverage of the Spin Battery:

Late coverage of Nanoballs:

Spin Batteries, Nanoballs and then Nanocapacitors:

The food crisis is ongoing:

And how are we going to feed 9 billion?

Ilsa blew around off the West coast of Australia, but otherwise it has been quiet in the hurricane wars:

As for GHGs:

And in the carbon cycle:

As for the temperature record:

Sea levels are rising:

Meanwhile in near earth orbit:

More GW impacts are being seen:

And then there are the world's forests:

Here's some good news. The normal winter in Alberta this year has killed many pine beetles:

Yes we have no wacky weather, except:

As for heatwaves and wild fires:

As for hydrological cycle disruptions [floods & droughts]:

The World Water Forum went down in Turkey:

There is a flood threat in the Red River valley:

Elsewhere on the mitigation front:

Consider transportation & GHG production:

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

As for carbon sequestration:

Large scale geo-engineering keeps popping up:

Meanwhile in the journals:

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

More Hansen:

Meanwhile on the Kyoto front:

And on the Kyoto-2 front:

Posturing for Copenhagen by the USA & China picked up this week:

And that posturing raised the spectre of a green trade war:

While at the UN:

As for the IPCC:

The UN accused the EU of retroactively changing the Bali agreement this week:

And on the carbon trading front:

The idea of a carbon tax is still bouncing around:

The debate over the optimal strategy [carbon trading, carbon offsets, auction vs. allocation, and/or a carbon tax] to use in dealing with GHGs continues:

Meanwhile on the international political front:

Free Trade is really an imperial fairy tale:

As for GW & security:

And on the American political front:

Late coverage of the Washington climate change lobbyist throng:

The Obama administration is still undoing Bush's midnight regulation changes:

The Obama chatter is nonstop:

The actions of the Obama administration are being watched closely:

As for what is going on in Congress:

Debate over the climate & energy bill(s) rages on:

The Gore-apalooza is still bopping along:

While in the UK:

And in Europe:

Meanwhile in Australia:

The fight over the ETS continues:

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

The Tories have relaxed environmental assessment regulations cause they could never get it passed in a bill:

Another embarassment in the Harper cabinet:

Ontario is still wrestling with its energy policy:

Meanwhile in that Mechanical Mordor known as the tar sands:

As for miscellaneous Canadiana:

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

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

Apocalypso anyone?