Another Week of GW News, May 24, 2009

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Another week of Climate Disruption News

May 24, 2009

• Chuckle, Top Stories:UNFCCC Negotiating Text, MIT Study, Obama CAFE, US Poll, Biz Conference, C40 Summit
• Melting Arctic, Geopolitics, Conveyor Belt, Food Crisis, Food Production
• Hurricanes, GHGs, Carbon Cycle, Temperatures, Paleoclimate, Glaciers, Sea Levels, Satellites
• Impacts, Forests, Corals, Climate Refugees, Desertification, Wacky Weather, Wildfires, Floods & Droughts
• Mitigation, Transportation, Buildings, Sequestration, Geoengineering
• Journals, Misc. Science, Broecker
• Kyoto-2, China's Position, Carbon Trade, UN, Optimal Carbon Reduction Strategy
• Politics:International, Black Liquor, Security, America, Obama, Britain, Europe, Australia, China, Russia, Canada
• Ecological Economics, Media, Books, Courts
• Energy, Wind, Solar, Coal, Biofuel, Nukes, Peak Oil, Grid, Efficiency, Cars, Business, Insurance, Joe's List
• Carbon Lobby, Miscellaneous Climate, Useful Links
• Shameless Self Promotion, .sig

Here's a wee chuckle for you:

• 2009/05/21: Asymptotia: (cartoon - Chua) The Science News Cycle Summarised

  The UN released a 'Negotiating Text' for the UNFCCC December Copenhagen meeting:

• 2009/05/: UNFCCC: [385k pdf] Negotiating Text [for the nations this December in Copenhagen]
• 2009/05/20: UN: Another step towards new climate change pact taken with online UN publication
• 2009/05/20: CFO: Market welcomes UN negotiating texts
  Carbon market participants have welcomed the publication of three negotiating texts for a post-2012 climate change treaty, despite them showing the mountain of work that needs to be done before December's Copenhagen talks.
• 2009/05/20: EarthTimes: Climate treaty draft proposes first targets for developing nations
• 2009/05/21: BBC: UN [UNFCCC head Yvo de Boer] hopeful about climate change
  The head of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change says he has seen "encouraging developments" in recent climate change negotiations. His comments come as the first "negotiating text" for the UN's December climate change conference is published on the UNFCCC website. Yvo de Boer said this document marked "an important point on our road". The text collates discussion proposals from all of the nations that will take part in the December talks.
• 2009/05/20: EurActiv: Post-Kyoto climate deal takes shape [with release of first draft]
• 2009/05/20: NASDAQ: UN Panel Eyes 45% Rich State Emission Cut 2020 Vs 1990 -Kyodo
  Developed countries as a group should reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 45% in 2020 from 1990 to lead the fight against climate change, according to a negotiating text released by the chair of a U.N. climate change panel, Kyodo News reported.

A study out of MIT is casting a shadow:

• 2009/05/19: MITNews: Climate change odds much worse than thought -- New analysis shows warming could be double previous estimates
  The most comprehensive modeling yet carried out on the likelihood of how much hotter the Earth's climate will get in this century shows that without rapid and massive action, the problem will be about twice as severe as previously estimated six years ago - and could be even worse than that. The study uses the MIT Integrated Global Systems Model, a detailed computer simulation of global economic activity and climate processes that has been developed and refined by the Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change since the early 1990s. The new research involved 400 runs of the model with each run using slight variations in input parameters, selected so that each run has about an equal probability of being correct based on present observations and knowledge. Other research groups have estimated the probabilities of various outcomes, based on variations in the physical response of the climate system itself. But the MIT model is the only one that interactively includes detailed treatment of possible changes in human activities as well - such as the degree of economic growth, with its associated energy use, in different countries.
• 2009/05/23: Tamino: It's going to get worse
• 2009/05/22: CJR: Probability Problems -- Clumsy numbers in coverage of MIT's "Greenhouse Gamble" study
• 2009/05/21: KSJT: Guardian, USA Today, NYTimes, wires..: MIT study sees global warming's pace even worse than we'd been told
• 2009/05/20: DotEarth: High Odds of Hot Times
• 2009/05/20: USAToday: Global warming may be twice as bad as previously expected
• 2009/05/20: Guardian(UK): Price of doing nothing costs the earth
  MIT scientists forecast a global temperature rise of 5.2C by 2100 - but climate change deniers reject models devised by the world's finest minds. So what do they suggest instead... seaweed?
• 2009/05/20: MongaBay: Global warming estimates double in severity according to new MIT modeling
• 2009/05/20: ClimateP: M.I.T. doubles its 2095 warming projection to 10°F -- with 866 ppm and Arctic warming of 20°F
• 2009/05/20: WSJ:EnvCap: Nuclear Revival: Still On Hold, MIT Study Says
• 2009/05/19: WSJ:EnvCap: Climate Changes: MIT Study Says Temperatures Could Rise Twice As Much
• 2009/05/19: Reuters: Global warming could be twice as bad as forecast
• 2009/05/19: PhysOrg: Climate change odds much worse than thought: New analysis shows warming could be double previous estimates

  In the States, Obama announced new mileage efficiency standards:

• 2009/05/21: IR^2: Thoughts on New Fuel Efficiency Standards
• 2009/05/21: CTB: New Cars that Already Meet 2016 Fuel Economy Standards
• 2009/05/21: EUO: Obama fuel standards lag behind EU effort
• 2009/05/21: ENN: New auto standards: the start of Obama's green revolution
• 2009/05/21: BaselineScenario: The Economics of CAFE
• 2009/05/20: PlanetArk: Factbox: Auto Emission Standards Around The World
• 2009/05/20: PlanetArk: Obama Takes Aim At Climate-Warming Car Emissions
• 2009/05/19: EarthTimes: Obama launches first ever US greenhouse gas standards
• 2009/05/20: NYT: The Earth Wins One -- The nationwide automobile mileage and emissions standards announced by President Obama on Tuesday represent a huge step forward...
• 2009/05/19: McClatchyDC: Schwarzenegger: White House invitation trumped special election
  Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger skipped out on California's special election Tuesday, but he had an excuse. "When the president asks you to come and to be part of a celebration and to sign an agreement, you do it, especially when you feel so passionate about the subject," the Republican governor told reporters Tuesday. After voting absentee in an election that will go a long way in determining the state's finances, Schwarzenegger flew to Washington to meet with President Barack Obama as he announced higher fuel-efficiency standards. "I'm delighted to be here," said the governor, who congratulated the president on striking the deal. And he made it clear that he believes his home state shares much of the credit.
• 2009/05/20: BBC: Obama's first emission cap
• 2009/05/20: G&M: North American roads will never be the same thanks to fuel-efficient fleets
• 2009/05/19: Guardian(UK): Obama sets strict limits on car exhaust emissions
  Policy requires US automakers to produce cars and trucks that get an average 35.5mpg by 2016
• 2009/05/19: Guardian(UK): Obama to overhaul car industry with stringent exhaust targets
• 2009/05/19: Guardian(UK): Curbing gas guzzlers is the easy part
  Obama's new fuel efficiency standards are ambitious and welcome. But they alone won't combat climate change
• 2009/05/19: GreenGrok: Obama Steers American Cars Into the 21st Century
• 2009/05/19: ABC(Au): Obama sets tough new vehicle standards
  The United States has embarked upon its first comprehensive effort to curb greenhouse gas emissions from cars, while also reducing the country's reliance on foreign oil.
• 2009/05/19: DotEarth: America's Slow Road to Efficient Driving
• 2009/05/19: PhysOrg: California agrees to new, tougher national emissions standards
• 2009/05/19: PhysOrg: Q&A on new auto emissions standards
• 2009/05/19: Grist: The scoop on Obama's new fuel-economy rules
• 2009/05/19: WarmingLaw: A Victory for Clean Air, California, and the Constitution!
• 2009/05/19: TreeHugger: Obama Announces New Fuel Economy Standards (35.5 MPG in 2016)
• 2009/05/19: TreeHugger: Obama And Clean[er] Cars: One For The History Books
• 2009/05/19: EarthTimes: Obama launches first ever US greenhouse gas standards
• 2009/05/19: AutoBG: Obama: CAFE increase is "an historic agreement to help American break its addiction to oil"
• 2009/05/19: TP:WonkRoom: Auto Industry Applauds Obama's New Fuel Economy Standard

  A survey of American attitudes on global warming resonated with some:

• 2009/05/19: PhysOrg: From 'Alarmed' to 'Dismissive': The Six Ways Americans View Global Warming
  Americans fall into six distinct groups regarding their climate change beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors, according to a new report, "Global Warming's Six Americas," by researchers at Yale and George Mason universities. The researchers, who surveyed 2,129 adult Americans in the fall of 2008, found that these "six Americas" include:
  • The Alarmed, (18 percent of the population) are most convinced that global warming is happening, caused by humans, and a serious and urgent threat.
  • The Concerned (33 percent) believe global warming is a serious problem and support an active national response, but are less personally involved and have taken fewer actions than the Alarmed.
  • The Cautious (19 percent) believe global warming is a problem, but are less certain it is happening. They neither view it as a personal threat nor feel a sense of urgency about it.
  • The Disengaged (12 percent) do not know much about global warming or whether it is happening and have not thought much about the issue.
  • The Doubtful (11 percent) are not sure whether global warming is happening, but believe that, if it is, it is caused by natural environmental changes and is a distant threat.
  • The Dismissive (7 percent) are actively engaged in the issue, but believe that global warming is not happening and does not warrant a national response.
  "When we talk about 'the American public' and its views on global warming, that's a misnomer," said Anthony Leiserowitz, director of the Yale Project on Climate Change and a co-author of the report. "There is no single American voice on this issue."
• 2009/05/22: TreeHugger: Which of Global Warming's Americas Do You Live In? The Alarmed, the Concerned, the Dismissive?
• 2009/05/21: AmProgress: Global Warming's Six Americas -- An Audience Segmentation Analysis
• 2009/05/21: NatureCF: US climate poll: the difference a year makes
• 2009/05/19: ClimateP: Global warming's "Six Americas"

  A business conference on climate change is going down in Copenhagen on May 24-26:

• 2009/05/24: EarthTimes: Ban: Businesses too passive against climate change
  UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Sunday criticized the lack of engagement by businesses in the fight against the threat of climate change. Speaking at a climate conference in Copenhagen attended by nearly a thousand business representatives, Ban said that up till now only a small portion of the business world and investors have made climate change a top priority.
• 2009/05/24: ENN: Climate Change on Business Agenda in [Copenhagen] Denmark [May 24-26]
  Businesses leaders met in Denmark on Sunday to try to unite behind a call for long-term climate policies on oil, power and technology ahead of a U.N. conference in December that aims to replace the Kyoto Protocol.
• 2009/05/22: OilChange: Climate Summit Inc. -- World Business Summit on Climate Change
• 2009/05/19: CopenhagenPost: Business summit sets focus on climate
  Hundreds of delegates will arrive in Copenhagen this weekend for a business orientated climate summit to promote the idea of green investments

The C40 Large Cities Climate Summit went down in Seoul, Korea, this week:

• 2009/05/21: EarthTimes: [C40] Large cities seek more money to fight climate change
• 2009/05/19: KoreaHerald: World leaders urge 'swift action' on climate change
• 2009/05/19: Yahoo: World city chiefs told to act fast to save planet
• 2009/05/19: EarthTimes: At cities' meeting, Bill Clinton urges action on climate change
  Former US President Bill Clinton on Tuesday called for action to protect the climate, at a conference of representatives of the world's large cities and scientists in Seoul. "You do not have the luxury of just debating what we are going to do and how much money we are going to spend on it," Clinton said on the first day of the meeting attended by delegates from some 80 cities including London, New York and Tokyo.

The Arctic melt continues to garner attention:

• 2009/05/20: Guardian(UK): Q&A - Sea ice: what it is and why it is important
• 2009/05/19: GristMill: The iceman walketh [Catlin Arctic Survey]

  As for the geopolitics of Arctic resources:

• 2009/05/20: TSun: Russians grabbing our Arctic -- Power play underway as superpower positions itself to nab land, resources in the North
• 2009/05/19: DailyMail(UK): The coldest war: Russia and U.S. face off over Arctic resources
  As the oil wells run dry, the planet's last great energy reserves lie miles beneath the North Pole. And as the U.S. and Russia race to grab them at any cost, the stage is set for a devastating new cold war
• 2009/05/18: CanWest: Key mission to map Arctic successful
  Days after a Russian government report raised the spectre of military conflict over Arctic oil, Canadian scientists have accomplished a key mission to help secure this country's claim to a vast section of the polar sea floor -- and its potential petroleum riches. In a two-pronged operation beyond the northern reaches of Canadian territory, teams of federal geologists and oceanographers completed a six-week sonar survey by helicopter and a separate airplane aerogravity probe that together covered thousands of square kilometres of Arctic Ocean seabed between Ward Hunt Island -- the northern tip of Canada's land mass -- and the North Pole.
• 2009/05/19: CanWest: Canada's push to the Pole
  Potential petroleum riches are at stake in Canada's race against a UN deadline to claim ownership of Arctic seabeds

Late coverage of the conveyor belt story:

• 2009/05/21: TerraDaily: Surprising New Pathway For North Atlantic Circulation
• 2009/05/20: GreenGrok: Deep Ocean [Circulation] Revisions Do Not Spell Global Warming Rethink

  The food crisis is ongoing:

• 2009/05/23: PeakEnergy: Cheap Food...the "global food crisis" and the "end of plenty"
• 2009/05/22: AllAfrica: IRIN: Zimbabwe: Another Year Without Much Food
• 2009/05/22: AllAfrica:Fahamu: Tanzania: Imperial Projects And the Food Crisis in the Periphery
• 2009/05/21: Guardian(UK): America's hunger crisis
  As the US economy has tanked, tens of millions of Americans have become too poor to buy enough food to survive
• 2009/05/20: UN: UN prepares to feed Kenya's drought victims
• 2009/05/17: al Jazeera: Global Recession -- The 21st century's bleak harvest -- Rising food prices increased the aid dependency of developing countries

  Anybody would think the system was designed to maximize corporate profits, not feed people or foster self sufficiency:

• 2009/05/22: EurActiv: NGOs stress EU, US role in global food crisis
  Unfair bilateral trade agreements and development policies in the European Union and the United States have laid the foundations for global food insecurity, argues a new NGO report. "Policies enacted by the United States and the European Union, and aggressively pushed through global institutions over the last several decades laid the ground for the ongoing food crisis," argues a new reportPdf external published by the International alliance of Catholic development agencies (CIDSE) and the Institute for Agriculture Policy (IATP).
• 2009/05/20: AlterNet: Corporate Agriculture Is to Blame for the Hundreds of Thousands of Farmer Suicides in India

  And how are we going to feed 9 billion?

• 2009/05/22: TreeHugger: Slash-and-Burn Agriculture Isn't Great For Southeast Asia's Forest, But Monoculture Plantations are Even Worse
• 2009/05/20: OilDrum: Ecological Economics and the Food System
• 2009/05/19: CGC: Transitioning our food system from fossil fuel based to sun based

  A numbered, unnamed storm is troubling Bangladesh, but otherwise it has been quiet, if wet:

• 2009/05/23: Wunderground: 90L comes close to being the season's first named storm
• 2009/05/22: Wunderground: Gulf of Mexico storm not likely to become a depression; storm kills 11 in Haiti
• 2009/05/21: Wunderground: Gulf of Mexico low growing more organized

  While elsewhere in the hurricane wars:

• 2009/05/22: RigZone: NOAA Predicts 9 to 14 Tropical Storms, 4 to 7 Hurricanes
• 2009/05/21: CBC: Get ready for hurricanes, Environment Canada warns
• 2009/05/21: TerraDaily: US sees milder Atlantic hurricane season this year
• 2009/05/21: NOAANews: NOAA Issues [a near-normal] Atlantic Hurricane Season Outlook, Encourages Preparedness
• 2009/05/21: NOAANews: NOAA Predicts Normal or Below Normal Eastern Pacific Hurricane Season
• 2009/05/21: NOAANews: NOAA Predicts Near to Below Normal Central Pacific Hurricane Season -- Emergency Planning is Essential
• 2009/05/21: RealClimate: Of tempests, barren ground and a thousand furlongs of sea
• 2009/05/18: EnvEcon: Does this make hurricane prediction more or less confusing?

  As for GHGs:

• 2009/05/21: Guardian(UK): Q&A - Carbon emissions
  We hear about emissions all the time and they seem to be the number one climate change issue, but what exactly are they?
• 2009/05/21: DotEarth: Drop in CO2 in U.S. and Power Use in China - for Now
• 2009/05/21: ENN: U.S. Carbon Emissions Fall by Most Since '82
• 2009/05/04: EnergyFarms: More on greenhouse gas from the US food system
• 2009/05/20: Guardian(UK): US carbon dioxide emissions drop -- US government reports energy-related CO2 emissions declined by 2.8% in 2008
• 2009/05/20: DOE:EIA: U.S. Carbon Dioxide Emissions from Energy Sources 2008 Flash Estimate
• 2009/05/20: ClimateP: Energy-related CO2 emissions declined by 2.8 percent in 2008
• 2009/05/19: Reuters: Norway's greenhouse gases down 2.2 percent in 2008
• 2009/05/20: TreeHugger: 2008 US Carbon Emissions Were Lowest in 8 Years
• 2009/05/19: Upstream: 'Norway emissions drop not enough'
  Norway's greenhouse gas emissions fell by 2.2% in 2008, led by a decline in the manufacturing industry, but were still far above goals under the UN's Kyoto Protocol, Statistics Norway said today.
• 2009/05/18: NSF: How Solid Is Concrete's Carbon Footprint? Concrete may absorb more carbon dioxide than earlier estimates suggested

  And in the carbon cycle:

• 2009/05/18: PhysOrg: Carbon measuring system to help mitigate climate change
  The $9.16m Carbon Benefits Project, which involves the Overseas Development Group at the University of East Anglia (UEA), hopes to encourage sustainable development schemes in developing countries that generate climate adaptation, mitigation and conservation benefits, as well as improve quality of life.
  
  Over the next two years an innovative web-based system will be developed for measuring, monitoring and modelling the amount of carbon, and other greenhouse gas emissions, produced and stored in soil and vegetation by activities in a range of landscapes. Schemes involving agriculture, land use, forestry and rangeland improvement will be studied, using the huge carbon-storing potential provided by soil and vegetation and addressing issues of sustainable development for poverty alleviation.

As for the temperatures:

• 2009/05/19: ClimateP: NOAA: Fifth warmest [global] April on record
• 2009/05/18: NOAANews: Fifth Warmest April for Globe

  While in the paleoclimate:

• 2009/05/24: SciDaily: Seeing Beyond The Invisible: Uncovering Our Planet's Past To Help Predict Its Future [paleo]
• 2009/05/22: SciDaily: Earth's Climate And Ocean Acidification History
  A scientific research cruise following the palaeo-equator has uncovered nearly 53 million years of climate and ocean acidification history. [IODP]
• 2009/05/19: SciDaily: From Greenhouse To Ice House: Important Role Of The Indonesian Gateway Suggested

  Glaciers are melting:

• 2009/05/19: TDC: Glaciers go, leaving drought, conflict and tension in Andes
• 2009/05/18: KSJT: NYTimes: In Juneau the ice is melting and sea level is going DOWN (relatively)
• 2009/05/18: ENN: As Alaska Glaciers Melt, It's Land That's Rising
• 2009/05/18: NYT: As Alaska Glaciers Melt, It's Land That's Rising

  Sea levels are rising:

• 2009/05/17: CCP: 17 Million Bangladeshis to be displaced: Sea level rise due to meltdown of West Antarctic ice

  Meanwhile in near earth orbit:

• 2009/05/22: SpaceMart: Key NPOESS [National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System] Sensor Starts Thermal Vacuum Testing

  More GW impacts are being seen:

• 2009/05/23: BBC: Chile faces climate change challenge
  Chile has enjoyed one of the most dynamic economies in Latin America in recent years, largely based on a booming export sector. But new studies by Chilean scientists suggest climate change could pose huge challenges for the country. The scientists say their models show projected temperature increases of at least 1C to 1.5C and a drop in rainfall of at least 10 to 15% in the next 40 years. These changes could have a particular impact on agriculture in Chile's central zone, home to a large part of the country's population.
• 2009/05/21: NewScientist: Earth's 'hum' may reveal stormier climate
• 2009/05/21: Eureka: When climate is iffy, birds sing a more elaborate tune
• 2009/05/20: NOAANews: World's Large Marine Ecosystems Heating Up, Altering Fisheries Catches
  A new United Nations report, with key contributions from NOAA, found that 61 of the world's 64 large marine ecosystems -- large coastal ocean waters adjacent to continents -- show a significant increase in sea surface temperatures in the last 25 years, contributing to decreasing fisheries catches in some areas and increasing catches in others.
• 2009/05/19: NatureCF: Q&A: Anthony Costello -- Climate change represents the biggest health threat of the twenty-first century, according to a new report...
• 2009/05/19: SciDaily: Global Warming May Result In Some Periods Of Cooling In Southeastern United States
• 2009/05/18: PhysOrg: Acidic oceans could aid photosynthesis
• 2009/05/18: PhysOrg: Summer haze cools southeastern US
• 2009/05/18: IndiaTimes: Poorest countries unprepared for impacts of climate change

  And then there are the world's forests:

• 2009/05/23: ENN: Yosemite's giant trees disappear
• 2009/05/22: NatureN: Attempts to preserve world's forests falling short -- International targets will not be met by 2010
• 2009/05/21: SciAm: Tread Heavily: China's Tire Demand Rolls over Southeast Asian Forests -- China's thirst for rubber is destroying the environment--and livelihoods--in Southeast Asia
• 2009/05/22: SeattlePI: Global warming's impacts on state forests: Burn baby burn! Lands commissioner says our children will live with consequences
  State Lands Commissioner Peter Goldmark looks out at Washington's unhealthy forests from a pilot's seat, flying his plane from Olympia to his family's ranch in the remote reaches of Okanogan County.
  "It is just mind-numbing the damage you see on west facing and south facing slopes . . . an overburden of dead and dying trees," Goldmark said yesterday, referring mainly to predation by pine bark beetles.
  Goldmark had just shared his up-close perspective on global warming, and its consequences for trees in the Evergreen State, at a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency hearing here.
  The likely future for our forests through the 21st Century: Burn Baby Burn.
• 2009/05/21: Guardian(UK): The trees that we need -- North America's primary forests have a big role in preventing climate change. They need our protection
• 2009/05/21: MongaBay: Green groups, corporations call for forest conservation to counter global warming
• 2009/05/18: Guardian(UK): Peru army moves into Amazon after tribes blockade rivers and roads
  Ecology and culture at stake say environmentalists, as government plans to exploit rainforest for oil, gas and timber

Corals are dying:

• 2009/05/22: ENN: Shellfish reefs are 'most imperilled sea habitat'
• 2009/05/22: NewScientist: Corals upgrade algae to beat the heat
• 2009/05/21: TreeHugger: 85% of World's Oyster Reefs Already Gone, Many Functionally Extinct
• 2009/05/20: ENN: Stanford scientists find heat-tolerant coral reefs that may resist climate change
• 2009/05/19: PlanetArk: Asia Coral Protection Pact Seen As Important Step [although the pact is non-binding and key details still need to thrashed out]

  Climate refugees are becoming an issue:

• 2009/05/22: PlanetArk: Over 11 million Displaced In Central, East Africa - UN
• 2009/05/20: UN: Top UN refugee official calls for meeting on Mediterranean irregular migration

  Desertification looms as a threat:

• 2009/05/18: Guardian(UK): China at the crossroads -- 'We have taken every measure we can think of to stop the desert moving closer and submerging our crops and villages'
• 2009/05/18: Guardian(UK): Minqin County [China] swallowed by the desert (14 pictures)

  Yes we have no wacky weather, except:

• 2009/05/23: ABC(Au): Wild weather washes sperm whale ashore
  The wild weather along the New South Wales north coast is believed to have cause a juvenile pygmy sperm whale to wash ashore near Coffs Harbour yesterday.
• 2009/05/22: PlanetArk: In Brazil, extreme weather stokes climate worries
• 2009/05/20: TerraDaily: Australia's Queensland declares emergency amid wild weather

  On the wild fire front:

• 2009/05/22: CBC: B.C. Interior faces high risk of catastrophic forest fires: expert

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

• 2009/05/23: BBC: Thousands flee Australia floods
  Torrential rains and strong winds have left at least two people dead and forced thousands from their homes on Australia's east coast, officials say. Large areas of New South Wales and Queensland have been declared disaster zones. As many as 20,000 people have been cut off by the floodwaters. The flooding is the most extensive in the two states for 30 years.
• 2009/05/24: Guardian(UK): Thousands flee storms in Australia
• 2009/05/23: BBC: Thousands flee Australia floods
  Torrential rains and strong winds have left at least two people dead and forced thousands from their homes on Australia's east coast, officials say. Large areas of New South Wales and Queensland have been declared disaster zones. As many as 20,000 people have been cut off by the floodwaters. The flooding is the most extensive in the two states for 30 years. Earlier, evacuation orders were issued for five more communities, including 2,000 people in the town of Kempsey.
• 2009/05/23: CBC: Torrential rain, high winds force evacuations in New South Wales
• 2009/05/23: NZHerald: Australia: Flooding drives hundreds from their homes
  New South Wales Premier Nathan Rees yesterday declared the state's north coast a natural disaster zone after severe storms and flooding battered the region.
• 2009/05/22: ABC(Au): South-East Queensland braces for further flooding
• 2009/05/21: TerraDaily: Heavy rains leave 11 dead in Haiti: official
• 2009/05/22: DM:80B: Dams May Degrade One of China's Remaining Healthy Rivers [Mekong]
• 2009/05/22: EarthTimes: Australia's east coast lashed by storms
• 2009/05/22: OrlandoSentinel: New damage estimate for Volusia floods: $52M
• 2009/05/21: EarthTimes: Buckets of rain ease Australian drought
  Parts of Australia in drought for nine years were under water Thursday as Brisbane and the rest of south-east Queensland received four months' rain in one day. Damage from strong winds and flash flooding stretches 300 kilometres along the east coast.
• 2009/05/19: TerraDaily: Brazil floods leave 45 dead, 378,000 homeless
• 2009/05/20: TreeHugger: Western China is Drying Up, But Is Moving Farmers to Cities the Right Answer?
• 2009/05/20: TreeHugger: NASA Documents the Evaporation of the Aral Sea (2000-2009)
• 2009/05/18: Guardian(UK): China at the crossroads -- Thirst of the cities drives the giant drills to water China's parched north
  Fifty-year project to stem depletion of the Yellow river dubbed a mega-project too far by critics
• 2009/05/18: Wunderground: Florida poised for a substantial soaking

  Elsewhere on the mitigation front:

• 2009/05/21: PlanetArk: Cement Makers Eye Big Cuts To Greenhouse Gases
• 2009/05/21: ENN: Drain rice fields to cut methane, say scientists

  Consider transportation & GHG production:

• 2009/05/22: CBC: British Airways reports biggest loss since 1987 privatization
• 2009/05/22: PhysOrg: ESA map reveals European shipping routes like never before
• 2009/05/21: PhysOrg: Wings that waggle could cut aircraft emissions by 20 percent
• 2009/05/20: CalcRisk: D.O.T.: U.S. Vehicle Miles off 1.2% YoY in March
• 2009/05/19: EurActiv: Report paves way for shipping's inclusion in climate deal
  Shipping could cut greenhouse gas emissions by at least a fifth while reaping considerable economic gains, finds a new report from the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and seen by EurActiv, prompting arguments that the sector should be part of a new global climate accord.
• 2009/05/18: BizGreen: Shipping would profit from 20 per cent emission reduction -- IMO study to argue that carbon-cutting measures will save shipping operators money
• 2009/05/18: TE: Climate impact of aviation greater than IPCC report
  A group of experts reporting to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has increased dramatically the figure it believes aviation contributes to climate change. In a report published last month, the eight international scientists put aviation's total contribution ('radiative forcing') in 2005 at 4.9%. This is well over the 3% these same authors came up with two years ago in the IPCC's Fourth Assessment Report on the state of global warming.

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

• 2009/05/21: WorldChanging: Green Building for All

  And on the carbon sequestration front:

• 2009/05/20: TWTB: Nature jumps on the coal bandwagon

  Large scale geo-engineering keeps popping up:

• 2009/05/: 21CC: Engineering our climate - what role for geoengineering?

  Meanwhile in the journals:

• 2009/05/20: CPD: Quantifying the roles of ocean circulation and biogeochemistry in governing ocean carbon-13 and atmospheric carbon dioxide at the last glacial maximum by A. Tagliabue et al.
• 2009/05/19: CPD: Dendroclimatology in Fennoscandia -- from past accomplishments to future potentials by H. W. Linderholm et al.
• 2009/05/19: TCD: Forecasting temperate alpine glacier survival from accumulation zone observations by M. S. Pelto
• 2009/05/21: ConserveOnline: Shellfish Reefs at Risk Report by Michael W. Beck et al.
• 2009/05/21: UCSUSA: [link to 3.9 meg pdf] Climate 2030: A National Blueprint for a Clean Energy Economy
• 2008/04/16: ACS: Food-Miles and the Relative Climate Impacts of Food Choices in the United States by Christopher L. Weber & H. Scott Matthews
• 2009/05/: UNFCCC: [385k pdf] Negotiating Text [for the nations this December in Copenhagen]
• 2009/05/19: PNAS: The worm turned, and the ocean followed by T. W. Lyons & B. C. Gill
• 2009/05/19: PNAS: Large-river delta-front estuaries as natural "recorders" of global environmental change by Thomas S. Bianchi & Mead A. Allison

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

• 2009/05/21: PhysOrg: [Something like] CT Scan To Help Scientists Diagnose Role of Clouds in Climate
• 2009/05/18: SciDaily: Biological Particles Trigger Ice Formation In High-altitude Clouds
• 2009/05/18: Eureka: Arctic river deltas may hold clues to future global climate [sediment proxies]

  Regarding Wallace Broecker:

• 2009/05/18: NZHerald: CO2 release out of control says scientist
  Wallace Broecker is annoyed when he thinks his life's work could be overshadowed - just because he inadvertently coined the term "global warming". To the 77-year-old geochemist, oceanographer and palaeoclimatologist, the fact he paired the "obvious" two words in a 1975 paper (Climate Change: Are we on the brink of a pronounced Global Warming?) is far less important than a life spent helping to understand climate change. "I've written 480 scientific papers and ... 10 books and if the thing I'm remembered for is coining the term 'global warming', that is sort of sad, because I would have wasted my life."

Meanwhile on the Kyoto-2 front:

• 2009/05/22: BtP: The U.S. and Europe Are in Fact Responsible for Most Greenhouse Gas Emissions
• 2009/05/22: EurActiv: US climate strategies appear to be losing steam
  US-led talks on strategies for major nations to fight global warming may stop short of setting firm new targets and dates, such as 2050 goals for greenhouse gas emissions, Washington's top climate envoy said on 21 May.
• 2009/05/22: EurActiv: World Bank sees key role for offsets in post-Kyoto deal
• 2009/05/22: PlanetArk: EU, U.S. Plans Allow Most Carbon Cuts To Be Exported
• 2009/05/22: BBerg: U.S. Climate Plan Threatens EU Goal for Global Accord
  The European Union may have to scale back its goals to reduce global-warming emissions after a less- ambitious plan won initial approval in U.S. Congress. The 27-nation bloc has asked all industrialized countries to reduce greenhouse gases an average 30 percent over 30 years. The first U.S. legislation ever to cap emissions, which passed a committee vote yesterday, calls for a 5 percent cut by American industry in the period. The gap poses a potential conflict when global talks on a new climate treaty resume June 1 in Bonn.
• 2009/05/21: Reuters: Forest-carbon scheme [REDD] gaining favour in climate talks
• 2009/05/20: Reuters: World "not standing still" on climate pact: U.N.
• 2009/05/21: OilChange: 199 Days to Stop Climate Disaster [at the Copenhagen Climate talks]
• 2009/05/20: DotEarth: Bracket Time for Climate {Treaty}{Pact}
• 2009/05/16: JakartaPost: We have the numbers to push our agenda at the Copenhagen talks [say small island states]
• 2009/05/17: Guardian(UK): Thinktanks seek funds to back green technologies in poor countries

  It looks like China is going to make the First World get real:

• 2009/05/22: EurActiv: China raises pressure on climate change
  China upped pressure on industrialised nations to cut emissions 40% below their 1990 levels by 2020 and dedicate part of their GDP to help developing as part of a new global climate pact to be agreed in Copenhagen later this year.
• 2009/05/22: PhysOrg: China: rich nations must cut emissions by 40 pct
• 2009/05/22: PlanetArk: China Tells Rich Nations To Cut Emissions By 40 Percent [by 2020 from 1990 levels]
• 2009/05/22: WSJ: China Looks for Big Cuts in Emissions
  China, in a new document outlining its stance ahead of December climate talks in Copenhagen, says it wants developed nations to cut their greenhouse-gas emissions by at least 40% by 2020 from 1990 levels. But that is a far more aggressive cut than the level proposed in the U.S.'s Waxman-Markey bill. Europe, in turn, has pledged to cut emissions by at least 20% by 2020 from 1990 levels, and by 30% if other advanced economies follow suit. The divergent views come as negotiations begin in earnest for a successor to the Kyoto Protocol, which expires at the end of 2012. China's 40% target represents the high end of cuts in emissions mentioned in the 2007 Bali road map, which stopped short of endorsing a specific target.
• 2009/05/22: FTimes: China gets tough on climate talks
  China adopted a hard line yesterday ahead of climate change negotiations, calling on rich countries to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 40 per cent by 2020 from 1990 levels and help pay for reduction schemes in poorer countries. Beijing reiterated its belief that developing countries, including China, should curb emissions on a voluntary basis, and only if the cuts "accord with their national situations and sustainable development strategies". It also demanded that developed countries be bound to give at least 0.5-1.0 per cent of their annual economic worth to help poorer countries, including China, to cut their greenhouse gas emissions and cope with global warming Although it only spells out China's initial bargaining position, the strident stance will encourage other developing nations to take tougher positions.
• 2009/05/21: ABC(Au): China calls for 20pc [40%?] emissions cut
  China has told rich nations they should cut their greenhouse gas emissions by at least 40 per cent by 2020 from 1990 levels, as part of a new global climate change pact.

While at the UN:

• 2009/05/22: PlanetArk: Ban Ki-Moon Calls For "Green [New] Deal"
• 2009/05/17: KoreaTimes: Climate Meeting to Be Held in Busan in 2010
  The 32nd general meeting of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) will be held in Busan next year, the local government and Korea Meteorological Administration officials said Sunday.

And on the carbon trading front:

• 2009/05/21: EnvFin: Investors call for stronger carbon market
  An alliance of institutional investors managing 4 trillion euros in assets has called for carbon markets to be strengthened and broadened -- but is also calling for alternative policies to attract climate-related investments in developing countries.

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:

• 2009/05/20: NEN: Cap&trade, the history and the reality
• 2009/05/19: WSJ:EnvCap: Forget Cap-and-Trade, Just Deliver Clean-Tech Investment [N&S]
• 2009/05/19: CommonTragedies: How International Offsets Hurt Low Income Families
• 2009/05/19: Yale360: The Flawed Logic of The Cap-and-Trade Debate [N&S]
• 2009/05/19: TreeHugger: Do Cap-and-Trade and Carbon Tax Advocates Both Miss the Point of How to Best Beat Global Warming?

  Meanwhile on the international political front:

• 2009/05/21: PlanetArk: EU And China Pledge New Ties On Trade, Climate
• 2009/05/20: EurActiv: Climate change, trade top agenda at EU-China summit
• 2009/05/19: ClimateP: Have China and the U.S. been holding secret talks aimed at a climate deal this fall?
• 2009/05/19: PlanetArk: Brazil Hopes To Team Up With China In Biofuel - Media
• 2009/05/19: PlanetArk: [EU Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs interview] EU Urges Deeper Carbon Cuts On Australia
• 2009/05/19: AmericaBlog: China and US holding secret talks on climate change
• 2009/05/18: Guardian(UK): China and US held secret talks on climate change deal
  Negotiations began in final months of Bush administration -- Obama could seal accord on cutting emissions by autumn
• 2009/05/18: BBerg: Japan Needs 'Ambitious' Carbon Target, Hedegaard Says
  Danish Climate Minister Connie Hedegaard will urge Japan to set an "ambitious" target for cutting greenhouse gases by 2020 to lead the way for developed nations negotiating a climate treaty this year.

The Black Liquor subsidy con may get corrected:

• 2009/05/22: CanWest: Canada fights back over U.S. tax credit for pulp producers
  Canada has threatened trade action against the United States over a massive "black liquor" tax credit to its pulp and paper industry that has distorted global pulp markets. In a statement Thursday, International Trade Minister Stockwell Day said Canada has joined the European Union, Brazil and Chile in demanding that the credit, estimated to be worth between $4 billion and $8 billion, be withdrawn. Ambassadors from the four pulp-producing regions urged termination of the tax credit in a letter Wednesday to the U.S. Congress.
• 2009/05/23: BCLSB: Scrapping Over The Black Liqour
  America's weirdest "green" initiative threatens to trigger a trade war: Canada has threatened trade action against the United States over a massive "black liquor" tax credit to its pulp and paper industry that has distorted global pulp markets.

As for GW & security:

• 2009/05/19: CDreams:AFP: US Energy Use a National Security Threat: Study
• 2009/05/20: TP:WonkRoom: Repowering America's Defense: Energy And The Risks To National Security

  And on the American political front:

• 2009/05/23: ClimateP: The Clean Energy Bank: Financing the transition to a low-carbon economy
• 2009/05/23: MiamiHerald: GOP: Alternative energy alone won't meet US needs
• 2009/05/19: KC: Totaling up windmills, Kansas doesn't fare so well
• 2009/05/21: IdahoStatesman: Historic green victory at Idaho Power annual meeting could mean higher electric bills
  Even supporters of a resolution urging Idaho Power to reduce greenhouse gases were surprised when shareholders approved it with a 52 percent majority Thursday at the company's annual meeting. The resolution asked Idaho Power to adopt specific goals -- by Sept. 30 -- for reducing the gases that scientists say contribute to climate change. No matter how the company responds, electric rates are expected to rise.
• 2009/05/21: ADN: Palin vetoes include some stimulus money -- $28.6M: Lawmakers dispute her claims that the stimulus money comes with too many conditions.
• 2009/05/21: Yale360: Regional Climate Pact's Lesson: Avoid Big Giveaways to Industry
• 2009/05/22: ClimateP: Why is the Chamber of Commerce a right-wing echo chamber when much of its Board supports a strong clean energy and climate bill?
• 2009/05/21: ThinkP: Fissures Grow In Right-Wing Business Lobby As Caterpillar Speaks Out In Favor Of Clean Energy Legislation
• 2009/05/21: TP:WonkRoom: Reports: A Strong Federal Renewable Electricity Standard Would Save Over $200 Billion While Raising Rates Less Than One Percent
• 2009/05/20: MongaBay: Study refutes criticism of polar bear listing under the Endangered Species Act
• 2009/05/20: WSJ:EnvCap: Green Berets: Military Brass Urge American Energy Revolution
• 2009/05/18: ClimateP: EIA projects wind at 5% of U.S. electricity in 2012, all renewables at 14%, thanks to Obama stimulus! Now can we get a stronger renewable standard?
• 2009/05/19: WhitehouseBlog: A Culture Change on Climate Change
• 2009/05/19: SolveClimate: Retired Generals Call on Military, Citizens to Step Up to Climate Challenge
• 2009/05/18: EnergyBulletin: The Great Divide on Energy Policy

  Late coverage of the OMB kafuffle:

• 2009/05/18: GWWAtch: Obama's Bush [OMB] holdovers attack EPA CO2 ruling
• 2009/05/18: TreeHugger: Bush's Enviro Team Returns to DC to Once Again Fight Climate Progress

  The Obama chatter is nonstop:

• 2009/05/23: HuffPo: Charles Bolden, Obama's NASA Chief Pick
  The nation's turbulent space program will be run by one of its own, a calming well-liked former space shuttle commander. President Barack Obama on Saturday chose retired astronaut Gen. Charles Bolden to lead NASA. He also named former NASA associate administrator Lori Garver as the agency's No. 2. If confirmed, Bolden, who has flown in space four times and was an assistant deputy administrator at one point, would be the agency's first black administrator.
• 2009/05/20: PlanetArk: Obama Vehicle Plan Another Pothole For Ethanol
• 2009/05/20: OilChange: Obama's Political Fudge on Fuel Standards

  The actions of the Obama administration are being watched closely:

• 2009/05/24: Guardian(UK): America's new green guru sparks anger over climate change U-turns
  President Obama's energy secretary, Nobel prize-winner Steven Chu, arrives in Europe this week to discuss global warming. But his recent policy decisions on coal-fired power stations and hydrogen cars have angered many environmentalists
• 2009/05/23: TreeHugger: Crowds Turn Out For EPA Global Warming Hearings -- Monday in Arlington, Va, and Thursday in Seattle, Wa
• 2009/05/22: AfterGutenberg: Chu's on Point
• 2009/05/22: TreeHugger: Energy Secretary Chu Says Emission Reduction Targets Politically Hindered... So, Let's Allow More Coal Plants!
• 2009/05/21: BBC: US CO2 goals 'to be compromised'
  US Energy Secretary Steven Chu says the US will not be able to cut greenhouse emissions as much as it should due to domestic political opposition. Prof Chu told BBC News he feared the world might be heading towards a tipping point on climate change. This meant the US had to cut emissions urgently - even if compromises were needed to get new laws approved. Environmentalists said Prof Chu, a Nobel physicist, should be guided by science not politics. The American political system is in the throes of a fierce battle over climate policy. President Barack Obama says he wants cuts in greenhouse gases but has left it to Congress to make the political running. The House of Representatives is debating a climate and energy bill but even if it passes it may be rejected by senators, many of whom are funded by the energy industry.
• 2009/05/18: DOE: Locke, Chu Announce Significant Steps in Smart Grid Development
  U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke and U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu today announced significant progress that will help expedite development of a nationwide "smart" electric power grid.
• 2009/05/18: WSJ:EnvCap: Team Obama Announces New Standards, More Cash for Smart Grid

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

• 2009/05/22: NatureTGB: Obama overturns (another) Bush EPA policy
  [..] The gist is that EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson has formally restored the role of its independent science advisors in producing a staff paper detailing recommendations on air quality standards
• 2009/05/21: WarmingLaw: President Obama Reverses Bush Administration's Preemption Policy

  As for what is going on in Congress:

• 2009/05/23: TP:WonkRoom: Rep. Doris Matsui (D-Ca): The Importance of Planting Trees
• 2009/05/21: CommonTragedies: The carbon offset and international development act of 2009
• 2009/05/21: GreenGrok: Ag Chair [Rep, Collin Peterson (D-MN)] Introduces Bill to Bypass EPA on Renewable Fuels
• 2009/05/21: KSJT: Wash. Post: In Capitol Hill's climate skeptics corner, time stands still
• 2009/05/19: WaPo: Warming Skeptics Get Heard on the Hill
  More GOP Doubts Expressed as House Prepares to Take Up Emissions-Cap Bill After the decade they've had, Capitol Hill's climate-change skeptics might well feel like polar bears on a shrinking ice floe. Scientists around the globe have rejected their main arguments -- that the climate isn't clearly warming, that humans aren't responsible for it, or that the whole thing doesn't amount to a problem. Public opinion has also shifted and even Exxon Mobil talks about greenhouse gases. But this spring, it's been obvious: Doubt is not dead. In fact, as Congress considers placing a national limit on emissions, Washington's climate skeptics have been louder than usual -- and they've been reinforced by other voices in the Republican Party.
• 2009/05/21: ClimateP: Rep. Scalise attacks building efficiency standards: "We're Setting Up A Global Warming Gestapo!"
• 2009/05/21: PlanetArk: U.S. Lawmakers Reject Nuclear In Renewable Power Goal
• 2009/05/20: Reuters: U.S. lawmakers reject nuclear in renewable power goal
  U.S. lawmakers pushing to include greater recognition for existing nuclear power in a national renewable energy standard failed to win new breaks for the industry when a U.S. congressional panel on Wednesday voted down an amendment to a controversial climate change bill.
• 2009/05/20: TP:WonkRoom: [Rep. Steve] Scalise (R-La) On Building Efficiency Standards: 'We're Setting Up A Global Warming Gestapo!'
• 2009/05/20: ClimateP: Republicans (sic) for Environmental Protection "call out those Republicans who continue to spread the false claim that capping greenhouse gas pollution will -- supposedly -- cost American families $3,100 every year."
• 2009/05/20: ClimateP: Devoid of ideas on climate and clean energy, House GOP attacks big business, science, legislative process, and even Joe Barton!
• 2009/05/20: CSW: Climate adaptation policy remains underdeveloped as cap-and-trade dominates the legislative debate
• 2009/05/20: BBerg: Democrats Reject Pollution-Control Conditions in Climate Plan
• 2009/05/19: EVWorld: HR 2326 and the Doomsday Book
• 2009/05/19: NYT:GW: House panel approves 'clean energy' bank
• 2009/05/19: Freep: Cash-for-clunkers added to climate bill
• 2009/05/19: Reuters: House panel tackles climate change bill
• 2009/05/19: ThinkP: [Rep. "Smokey Joe"] Barton (R-TX) : We Shouldn't Regulate CO2 Because 'It's In Your Coca-Cola' And 'You Can't Regulate God'
• 2009/05/19: ClimateP: Opponents continue to obstruct clean energy jobs push in Energy & Commerce Committee debate...
• 2009/05/19: Reuters: House panel tackles climate change bill
• 2009/05/18: TerraDaily: US lawmakers open tough climate bill debate
• 2009/05/19: WaPo: Warming Skeptics Get Heard on the Hill -- More GOP Doubts Expressed as House Prepares to Take Up Emissions-Cap Bill
• 2009/05/18: PC: Climate Change Bill Suffers from Backroom Dealings, Industry Influence
• 2009/05/18: SolveClimate: Clean Energy Climate Bill Gives Coal a Competitive Future
• 2009/05/18: TP:WonkRoom: Attacking Clean Energy Legislation, [Rep. Phil] Gingrey (R-GA) Calls Green Jobs 'Subprime'
• 2009/05/18: PlanetArk: Oil Refiners To Get Break Under US Climate Bill
• 2009/05/17: MTobis: waxing poetic [W-M bill]

  HR 2454 made it through one committee; with about 10 to go (and much wrangling):

• 2009/05/22: Reuters: Refiners [US National Petrochemical and Refiners Association] blast proposed climate bill
• 2009/05/21: TWTB: The Mustache of Justice...profile of Henry Waxman
• 2009/05/21: EnvFin: Waxman moves House closer to Senate on renewables
  The loosening of renewable energy targets in the proposed US House of Representatives climate and energy bill brings its provisions closer to Senate renewables proposals -- making federal targets more likely, say observers.
• 2009/05/22: TP:WonkRoom: Cleaning Up The Polluter Influence On Waxman-Markey
• 2009/05/19: PRWatch: [US] Climate Lobbying Heats Up
• 2009/05/22: DemNow: Native American Environmental Leader Tom Goldtooth: Climate Change Bill Fails to Address Indigenous Rights
• 2009/05/22: DemNow: Environmental Groups See Divide over Landmark Climate, Energy Bill Weakened by Industry Lobbying
• 2009/05/22: Guardian(UK): Obama climate change bill defies Republicans to pass key committee
  Bill weakened on its way to full House of Representatives, but still regarded as tough on fossil fuel emissions
• 2009/05/22: NatureTGB: Climate change: the need for speed (reading)
• 2009/05/22: ClimateP: AFL-CIO's John Sweeney endorses approach of Waxman-Markey climate and clean energy bill -- "an important step forward"
• 2009/05/21: ClimateP: House committee approves landmark (bipartisan!) clean energy and climate bill -- political realists rejoice, climate science realists demand more
• 2009/05/21: ClimateP: Smokey Joe Barton (R-TX) throws in the towel to the Dems: "You should have a tremendous celebration tonight for your effort on this bill"
• 2009/05/21: Grist: Waxman-Markey bill would do more for climate without cap-and-trade provision
• 2009/05/21: HillHeat: Energy Committee Approves American Clean Energy and Security Act 33 to 25
• 2009/05/22: DM:CCM: Climate Bill Passes House Committee, and Some Enviros Jump Ship
• 2009/05/22: TreeHugger: The Biggest Threat to the Democrats' Climate Bill: Democrats
• 2009/05/22: Yahoo: Global Warming Bill With Cap-and-Trade Plan Gains Committee Nod
• 2009/05/21: Economist: Cap and trade, with handouts and loopholes -- The first climate-change bill with a chance of passing is weaker and worse than expected
• 2009/05/22: NEN: Summer on capitol hill with the energy/climate bill
  Summary: The House of Representatives' breakthrough energy and climate change legislation, H.R. 2454, the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 (ACESA), co-written by Representative Henry Waxman (D-Calif), Chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and Representative Ed Markey (D-Mass), Chair of the House Energy Subcommittee, has moved by its first hurdle on its way to becoming law but still faces serious obstacles to passage despite a dominant House Democratic majority.
• 2009/05/22: NEN: Senate committee remains committed to new energy
  Summary: The Senate energy bill's Renewable Electricity Standard (RES) passed an important test when Senator Jeff Sessions (R-Ala) submitted to the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee an amendment that would have removed the RES from the legislation and the Committee voted the amendment down, 13-9.
• 2009/05/22: WSJ:EnvCap: Waxman-Markey Bill: What's Next for Global Climate Deal?
• 2009/05/22: WaPo: House Panel Passes Limit on Greenhouse-Gas Emissions
• 2009/05/21: Grist: In landmark vote, House committee approves climate bill
• 2009/05/22: NYT: Climate Bill [HR2454] Clears Hurdle, but Others Remain
• 2009/05/22: ThinkP: After Promising To Have Waxman 'By The Nuts,' Joe Barton Whines About Getting Beat 'Time After Time'
• 2009/05/21: TPM: Speed Reading Clerk Reads Stalling Amendment To House Climate Change Legislation
• 2009/05/21: ClimateP: Waxman's speed-reading clerk -- hired to thwart GOP stalling tactics -- gets 2 minutes of fame
• 2009/05/20: ClimateP: Preventing windfalls for polluters but preserving prices -- Waxman-Markey gets it right with its allocations to regulated utilities
• 2009/05/20: ClimateP: House panel to approve energy and climate bill: Reuters poll
• 2009/05/21: NEN: Business says energy/climate bill [HR 2454] is good for business, lobby says no
  Summary: 10,000 small business leaders, including hundreds that are members of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, signed on to a petition asking the Chamber to stop lobbying against H.R. 2454, the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 (ACESA), co-written by Representative Henry Waxman (D-Calif), Chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and Representative Ed Markey (D-Mass), Chair of the House Energy Subcommittee. The bill is currently undergoing mark up preparation for being submitted to the full House of Representatives and the final Committee vote could come as early as Thursday night.
• 2009/05/21: NEN: Climate/energy bill [HR 2454] will protect forests -- business & environment coalition
• 2009/05/20: TP:WonkRoom: EPA: Markup Of Clean Energy Act Has Lower Compliance Costs
• 2009/05/20: TP:WonkRoom: Weakening Amendments Fail as American Clean Energy and Security Act Moves Through Markup
• 2009/05/19: Grist: The Waxman-Markey Rorschach blot
• 2009/05/18: CommonTragedies: A compromising position [W-M]
• 2009/05/19: HillHeat: Waxman-Markey Legislation Gives Coal a Competitive Future
• 2009/05/19: GESN: Pulling out the Stubby Pencil -- and an ACES provision
• 2009/05/19: MTobis: Waxy Markup
• 2009/05/19: BCLSB: On Cap & Trade ( Waxman Markey) And Real World Compromises
• 2009/05/19: AlterNet: Good News, There's a Climate Bill -- Bad News, It Stinks
• 2009/05/18: Reuters: US Rep. Waxman predicts climate bill victory
• 2009/05/18: GreenGrok: Indiana Governor [Mitch Daniels]: Cap and Trade Unfair to Hoosiers. Really?
• 2009/05/18: ClimateP: Nobelist Krugman strongly endorses Waxman-Markey: "The claim that carbon taxes are better than cap and trade is, in my view, just wrong."
• 2009/05/18: ClimateP: 10 Reasons to support Waxman-Markey energy bill
• 2009/05/18: ClimateP: A summary of the climate bill plus ...
• 2009/05/17: ClimateP: Greenpeace's indefensible attack on the House clean energy bill perpetuates myths about the European carbon trading system
• 2009/05/17: ClimateP: Contempt of Congress: House GOP reveals disdain for clean energy, livable climate with 450 planned amendments to Waxman-Markey and a more-of-the-same rehash of Cheney energy plan
• 2009/05/18: PlanetArk: US Climate Bill Outlines 15 Pct Sale Of Permits
• 2009/05/18: PlanetArk: US House Climate Bill Aims To Minimise Price Rise [for industry]
• 2009/05/18: Grist: [House Ag committee chair Collin] Peterson (D.-Minn.): Leave ethanol alone, or I'll nuke Waxman-Markey
• 2009/05/17: HillHeat: Official Summary of Waxman-Markey American Clean Energy and Security Act (H.R. 2454)
• 2009/05/18: DM:CCM: The Climate Pragmatists: Romm and Krugman vs. Greenpeace [W-M bill]
• 2009/05/16: Time: Environmentalists Attack House Global Warming Deal
• 2009/05/18: NEN: Energy & climate law - the debate is joined
  The House Energy and Commerce Committee formally presented H.R. 2454, the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 (ACESA)
• 2009/05/18: NEN: Wind leaders warn on weak RES [Renewable Electricity Standard]
• 2009/05/18: WSJ:EnvCap: Climate Bill: Plenty of Sound and Fury in Waxman-Markey Hearings
• 2009/05/18: WSJ:EnvCap: Climate Bill: Lots of Compromises -- For What?
• 2009/05/16: BDT: Boucher: Cap and trade deal preserves coal jobs
• 2009/05/18: ThinkP: House compromises on clean energy legislation may not 'fully satisfy' some Senate Democrats
• 2009/05/17: TP:WonkRoom: Smokey Joe Barton Bets He Will Have Henry Waxman 'By The Nuts'
• 2009/05/16: BBerg: Obama's Climate Plans Spark Lobbying Boom by Shell, Boeing, 3M
• 2009/05/15: SciAm:GW: How Should U.S. Government Apportion the Right to Pollute? House Democrats have come up with a plan to hand out and auction allowances to emit carbon dioxide
• 2009/05/18: EconView: Paul Krugman: The Perfect, The Good, The Planet
  Is the proposed climate change bill good enough to support, or have compromises watered it down so much that it would be better to hold out in the hopes of getting something better?

The Gore-apalooza is still bopping along:

• 2009/05/21: ClimateP: Gore mobilizes his "army" to fight for climate action and take on gravest U.S. security threat
• 2009/05/22: BNC: Al Gore's blind spot on nuclear power

  While in the UK:

• 2009/05/23: Guardian(UK): Stern words -- The government's authority on climate change, Nicholas Stern has attacked Heathrow expansion
• 2009/05/22: Guardian(UK): Wales plans for energy self-sufficiency with renewables in 20 years
  Ambitious, legally binding plans 'set an example for the rest of the world to follow', says Jonathan Porritt
• 2009/05/22: Guardian(UK): New Labour architect attacks government for failing to convince public on climate change urgency
• 2009/05/22: Guardian(UK): Heathrow third runway a mistake, says Nicholas Stern
• 2009/05/20: Guardian(UK): Energy hungry government buildings undermine Miliband's good intentions
• 2009/05/19: BBC: Lakes face 'complex' challenges
  Urgent measures are needed to protect lakes in England and Wales from pollution and climate change, according to the Environment Agency
• 2009/05/18: Guardian(UK): Profile of UK Green party leader Caroline Lucas
• 2009/05/18: Guardian(UK): G20 police are not above the law -- But seeking a judicial review of the way the 1 April protests were policed is unlikely to be an easy process

  And in Europe:

• 2009/05/18: CeskeNoviny: Klaus to complicate climate debate at EU-China summit - EUobserver
• 2009/05/18: NatureN: EU climate change and energy department criticised

  Meanwhile in Australia:

• 2009/05/22: ABC(Au): CFMEU rejects carbon trading job claims
  The Construction, Forestry, Mining and Electrical Union (CFMEU) says the release of figures warning that emissions trading will cost thousands of jobs is part of a scare campaign.
• 2009/05/22: ABC(Au): The Federal Government's former climate change adviser [Professor Ross Garnaut] has swung his support behind the Government's changes to its emissions trading scheme
• 2009/05/22: ABC(Au): The mining industry has released modelling saying 23,500 jobs will be lost by 2020 under the Federal Government's emissions trading scheme
• 2009/05/21: ABC(Au): Govt 'scripting' Senate on emissions scheme
  The Federal Government is accused of blocking unfavourable witnesses from appearing before a Senate inquiry into the proposed emissions trading scheme. Nationals Senator Barnaby Joyce says the Government has rejected most of the proposed witnesses put forward by the Opposition.
• 2009/05/21: ABC(Au): Activists charged over Hazelwood protest
  Victorian police have charged seven Greenpeace activists over a protest at a power station in the state's east. It is alleged the five women and two men were part of a group that scaled a fence to gain access to the Hazelwood Power Station this morning. They spent almost seven hours chained to machinery before being cut free and removed by search and rescue police this afternoon.
• 2009/05/21: ABC(Au): Biochar research gets $1.4m funding boost -- The Federal Government has announced $1.4 million in funding for research into a charcoal that can store carbon
• 2009/05/21: ABC(Au): Australia 'lagging' in green industry growth
  A sustainable energy expert says Australia lacks an adequate "greenprint" for the future and is lagging behind the rest of the developed world when it comes to alternative technology.
• 2009/05/20: ABC(Au): Greens slam 'inappropriate' ACT climate change spending
• 2009/05/20: ABC(Au): Face-off over car emission targets
  The Australian Government is considering introducing mandatory CO2 vehicle emissions standards. Australia's biggest motoring group - the NRMA - supports the emission reduction targets, but the automotive industry says it would not make sense.
• 2009/05/20: ABC(Au): Australia urged to follow Obama on car targets
  Green groups say Australia's voluntary vehicle fuel-efficiency targets do not go far enough and are calling on the Government to follow a tough new scheme announced by US President Barack Obama.
• 2009/05/19: ABC(Au): [Greg] Combet in Rockhampton to discuss green targets
  The Federal Parliamentary Secretary for Climate Change is set to meet Teys Brothers executives and Gladstone industry representatives to discuss the impact of the proposed emissions trading scheme.
• 2009/05/19: TreeHugger: Australia: The Politics of Environment - A Brief Round-Up

  While in China:

• 2009/05/23: AutoBG: Beijing to ban all non-green vehicles from city center
• 2009/05/22: REA: China's New Focus on Solar
• 2009/05/21: Guardian(UK): China at the crossroads -- The path to reason
  Beijing can best help to meet global challenges if the west respects its perspective and thinking
• 2009/05/21: TreeHugger: China in 2020: Powered by 35% Clean Energy
• 2009/05/21: WSJ:EnvCap: China's Energy Math: Clean-Energy Numbers Don't Add Up
• 2009/05/20: Reuters: China says developing long-term climate change plan
  China is drafting a long-term plan for climate change that will focus on raising energy efficiency, developing clean-coal technology and expanding carbon-absorbing forests, a top climate policy official said. Xie Zhenhua, a deputy chief of the National Development and Reform Commission who steers climate change policy, said the plan would strengthen China's "capacity to enforce international covenants".
• 2009/05/20: TreeHugger: Don't You Wonder What Happened to Huangbaiyu? The eco-village that never was.
• 2009/05/19: Guardian(UK): China at the crossroads -- Supplying a greener industry
  Disclosure of environmental records all the way down the production chain means multinationals can't turn a blind eye
• 2009/05/18: PlanetArk: Foreign Firms Cry Foul Over China Wind Power Rules

  And in Russia:

• 2009/05/20: ENN: Russia's climate policy fails to raise hopes

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

• 2009/05/19: CanWest: Harper is killing our research community
  In his recent article in the Post ("Beggars in lab coats," May 14)Michael Bliss tried to defend the Harper government's ill-considered science and research policies by blaming the scientists who dare to offer criticism. But researchers know best what is happening and the Prime Minister should start listening to what they're saying. Yes, this year's budget did provide $2.75-billion for university and college infrastructure and scientific equipment, but it cut funding to the three granting councils that provide the bulk of money for scientific research in Canada's universities and colleges.
• 2009/05/18: HillTimes: Conservatives still don't have draft regulations for environment plan three years later
  The Tories have been in power for more than three years, and still don't have a plan. The federal government still doesn't have draft regulations to implement its "Turning the Corner" environment plan, it has not complied with the requirements of the Kyoto Protocol Implementation Act, it's overstating cuts to greenhouse gases, and Environment Canada can not show how it has arrived at its numbers, says Environment Commissioner Scott Vaughan in his audit released last week...

They call it the Clean Energy Fund, but it should be the Dirty Energy Fund:

• 2009/05/20: PlanetArk: Canada Details Fund For Carbon Capture, Clean Energy
• 2009/05/19: CBC: Details announced for federal Clean Energy Fund
  Two-thirds of the money set aside for the new federal $1-billion Clean Energy Fund will go towards developing carbon capture and storage (CCS) demonstration projects, Canada's natural resources minister announced in Edmonton Tuesday.
• 2009/05/20: CanWest: Ottawa to spend $1-billion on clean-energy research
  Ottawa launched a plan Tuesday to spend $1-billion over the next five years on clean-energy research and demonstration projects, with an emphasis on reducing carbon dioxide emissions. [...] The fund will invest $850-million in technology development and demonstration, which will include $650-million for large-scale carbon capture and storage (CCS) demonstration projects in "real world applications." [...] Another $200-million will be set aside for smaller-scale demonstration projects of renewable and alternative energy technologies, with a maximum of $50 million for an individual project. [...] In addition, there will be a $150-million research component. Funding for research and development will be for technological breakthroughs needed for renewable clean energy, for hydrogen and fuel cells, for lowering the costs of carbon and better knowledge on geological storage potential, and for technologies to address environmental challenges in the oilsands.

The elephant and mouse syndrome:

• 2009/05/23: CanWest: Evolving U.S. climate policy not seen as a threat to Canada
  Prime Minister Stephen Harper says he's"comfortable" with the new U.S. position on climate change, while stressing it's important that the massive oilsands resource in northern Alberta be developed. On Thursday, a key U. S. congressional panel embraced President Barack Obama's plan to create a new, market-driven system for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The bill aims to cut American emissions of heat-trapping gases by 17 per cent below 2005 levels by 2020 and 83 per cent by 2050. Speaking in Calgary on Friday, Harper said he's still reviewing the latest U. S. step, but added: "Our sense is it's moving in a direction we are comfortable with." "To be quite blunt, the more iterations the American plan goes through, the closer it looks like the Canadian plan because we have grappled with many of the tough decisions that are involved."
• 2009/05/20: CBC: Obama's nationwide auto emissions standards gives Canada what it wanted
  U.S. President Barack Obama's plan to curb vehicle emissions is a double-edged sword for Canada -- while Ottawa is getting the universal standards it was hoping for, automakers will now have to meet costly new regulations four years earlier than expected. [...] Most importantly from a Canadian perspective, the plan effectively ends a feud between the Big Three automakers and state legislatures over emission standards as the car companies get the single national standard they've been seeking. [...] The new national standard roughly mirrors the proposed California clean car standards -- cutting global warming emissions approximately 30 per cent by 2016, four years earlier than the original deadline of 2020. Canada was desperately hoping for nationwide guidelines they could match back home, amounting to a North American standard. Canadian officials argued that a number of differing standards from state to state and province to province would spell chaos for the auto industry.
• 2009/05/20: CanWest: Canada poised to follow Obama on vehicle-emission reductions
  Canada's government intends to largely fall in line with the tough automobile-emission standards U.S. President Barack Obama introduced Tuesday, rules that would add $600 US to the cost of producing a U.S. car and improve fuel efficiency by an average of five per cent a year, starting in 2012. Implications for the Canadian industry are unclear, but one analyst said it would be "near impossible" for Canada to achieve what Obama has outlined.

And what is becoming of the Liberal party?

• 2009/05/18: TStar: Green shift gone but not forgotten
  Stéphane Dion announced at the recent Liberal convention in Vancouver that he would be staying in politics. This is a good thing because a future Liberal government will have great need of his intelligence, commitment and stubbornness in dealing with climate change.

In BC, post election chatter abounds:

• 2009/05/18: Tyee: Where Was the Media?
  I tried to raise key election issues. Some big enviro groups, and most reporters, looked away. As the provincial election unfolded, we saw serious rifts exposed in the environmental movement. Where does it go now after the massive Campbell win, ratifying his plans to ravage our seas and rivers? In the vacuum created by that rift, the news media of B.C. utterly failed in its duty to inform the voters about critical environmental issues.
• 2009/05/20: G&M: Carbon offsets: It really isn't easy being green -- B.C. learns that it's hard to navigate the murky world of offsets
• 2009/05/20: Rabble: B.C.'s winners and losers [post election]
• 2009/05/18: G&M: How a B.C. carbon tax rose from Dion's ashes
  [...] B.C.'s carbon tax managed to stave off elimination last week. Although widely regarded - by both environmentalists and economists - as an essential tool in growing green jobs and combatting climate change, many Canadian politicians perceived carbon taxes as toxic after Stéphane Dion's defeat. The results of this week's B.C. election should help put that notion to rest.

Ontario has it's Green Energy Act, now comes the implementation:

• 2009/05/19: JLaforet: Update on the Green Energy Act and Toronto Hydro's Illegal Application

  Meanwhile in that Mechanical Mordor known as the tar sands:

• 2009/05/22: USO: Harper says Canada needs tar sands
  Canada's tar sands are critical to the Canadian economy and must be developed, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said today.
• 2009/05/21: Rabble: Cloudy forecast
  It's been a bad political week for the tar sands. Publicly, the Tories are still clinging to the cupid face they pulled on when U.S. President Barack Obama touched down in Ottawa this winter, but they've just pulled out the big, fat arrows and are aiming low. As U.S. climate initiatives rev into real action, it shamefully ain't our love that we Canucks are sending stateside.
• 2009/05/22: CTV: Oil sands' impact on climate change 'overblown'
  Rhetoric claiming the oil sands are a major contributor to global warming may simply be hot air, according to a new report from the Council on Foreign Relations.
• 2009/05/22: WSJ:EnvCap: Oil Sands: Energy Security Outweighs Environmental Harm, [CFR] Report Says
• 2009/05/21: CanWest: Oilsands the wrong whipping boy
  The self-described environmental activist group Greenpeace is not letting up on its single-track mission to stop oilsands development.
• 2009/05/20: TreeHugger: Profits Trump the Environment, Again: StatoilHydro Shareholders Vote Against Getting Out of the Tar Sands
• 2009/05/20: OSun: No sermons needed on tarsands
• 2009/05/18: PennEnergy: IHS [CERA] study sees oil sands move from the "fringe to center" of energy supply
• 2009/05/18: Reuters: Canada oil sands emit more CO2 than average: [CERA] report
• 2009/05/19: CanWest: Oilsands output could rise to 6.3 million barrels a day [by 2035], [CERA] study says
• 2009/05/18: Reuters: Norway's ruling parties delay oil sands vote
• 2009/05/18: NYT: [CERA] Report Weighs Fallout of Canada's Tar Sands
• 2009/05/15: Reuters: Norway group tables parliament vote on tarsands
  A Norwegian opposition group said on Friday it would ask for a parliamentary vote next week over whether majority-owned oil producer StatoilHydro (STL.OL) should withdraw from its $2 billion Canadian oil sands venture. The move marks an escalation in a row between oil interests and the environment just four months before Norway -- the world's No. 4 oil exporter -- holds a parliamentary election. Norway's Labour-led government said this week it would not back a resolution by environment activist group Greenpeace calling on Statoil to withdraw from the oil sands. Without state support, the motion has no chance of passing at a Statoil shareholders meeting on May 19.

And then there is the miscellaneous Canadiana:

• 2009/05/19: CanWest: New high-speed Canadian trains touted to match U.S. vision
  A multibillion-dollar Canadian high-speed rail project could inject new life into the domestic steel industry and allow the country to keep pace with a "visionary" plan launched last month by U.S. President Barack Obama, railway industry and public transit advocates said on Tuesday.
• 2009/05/19: Straight: David Suzuki: Is Canada a petro-state or prosperous nation?

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

• 2009/05/24: PeakEnergy: Are we entering an age of reverse-globalization?
• 2009/05/18: PBJ: Earth Day leader warns of 'ecological bubble'
• 2009/05/21: EnergyBulletin: Humanity at a crossroads
• 2009/05/20: EnergyBulletin: The myth of efficiency

  As for how the media handles the science of climatology:

• 2009/05/22: ClimateP: Memo to media: Don't be suckered by bad analyses from the Breakthrough Institute the way Time, WSJ, NPR, and The New Republic have been
• 2009/05/20: NatureCF: Copenhagen Congress: why the biased reporting?
• 2009/05/19: ClimateP: Memo to NBC's Chuck Todd: Energy and climate shake up the traditional political categories

  Here is something for your library:

• 2009/05/17: TLC: Saving the Enviroment Thru Ecological Intelligence [Author Interview] _Ecological Intelligence_ by Daniel Goleman
• 2009/05/17: ITT: [Book Review] _Future Scenarios: How Communities Can Adapt to Peak Oil and Climate Change_ by David Holmgren

  Meanwhile among the 'Sue the Bastards!' contingent:

• 2009/05/24: Guardian(UK): Now at last it's time for Shell to atone for my father's death
  The son of the executed activist faces the oil giant in a human rights trial this week. He seeks understanding rather than retribution
• 2009/05/21: CSW: Update on defense strategy in the Tim DeChristopher monkey-wrench BLM oil lease case [the "choice of evils" defense]
• 2009/05/20: DeSmogBlog: The Oceans v. EPA
• 2009/05/21: NYT: Oil Industry Braces for U.S. Trial on Rights Abuses [Nigeria, Ecuador, Indonesia]
• 2009/05/19: Guardian(UK): Ken Saro-Wiwa: the day of truth?
  It will send shockwaves through boardrooms if the predictions of the executed campaigner are proved right in a US court [...] Before he was hanged, Saro-Wiwa predicted that one day Shell would be held accountable for "the crimes of ecological war the company has waged in the [Niger] Delta". The case in New York -- brought under the US alien tort statute -- offers an opportunity for individuals who were tortured and family members of those who were killed in Nigeria to make formal allegations against Shell in a court of law.
• 2009/05/19: NewScientist: Comment: Don't criticise, or we'll sue
• 2009/05/18: WarmingLaw: More News Regarding California Emissions Waiver: Ninth Circuit Stays Preemption Lawsuit Against the State
• 2009/05/18: WarmingLaw: NYT: Obama to Grant California Emissions Waiver

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

• 2009/05/24: SciDaily: Synthetic Catalyst Mimics Nature's 'Hydrogen Economy'
• 2009/05/24: PeakEnergy: A New Wave Farm For Portugal
• 2009/05/23: CNN: Renewables: America's next heavy industry
  How three manufacturers in three Midwest states are picking up where the auto sector is laying off.
• 2009/05/23: SciDaily: Surprising Twist To Photosynthesis: Scientists Swap Key Metal Necessary For Turning Sunlight Into Chemical Energy
• 2009/05/21: IdahoStatesman: Historic green victory at Idaho Power annual meeting could mean higher electric bills
  Even supporters of a resolution urging Idaho Power to reduce greenhouse gases were surprised when shareholders approved it with a 52 percent majority Thursday at the company's annual meeting. The resolution asked Idaho Power to adopt specific goals -- by Sept. 30 -- for reducing the gases that scientists say contribute to climate change. No matter how the company responds, electric rates are expected to rise.
• 2009/05/22: PhysOrg: Engineering Carbon for Impressive Hydrogen Storage
  University of Missouri researchers recently showed how carbon nanostructures can be engineered to become excellent media for hydrogen storage, work that may be important for the advancement of hydrogen-energy technologies for vehicles and other applications, which have been slow to develop due to the lack of suitable storage materials
• 2009/05/22: Edie: Consumer habits must adapt to cut oil industry carbon
• 2009/05/21: HUGazette: Looking at 'spoiled' Americans through an energy lens
• 2009/05/21: FTimes: Global electricity use forecast to fall
  Global electricity consumption will fall this year for the first time since 1945, according to the International Energy Agency. The watchdog for developed energy consuming countries will tell energy ministers from the Group of Eight leading economies on Sunday that electricity demand will fall 3.5 per cent in 2009.
• 2009/05/21: EnergyBulletin: Mr. Market gets it wrong again
• 2009/05/21: BBerg: Nigeria's Oil Production Drops to Half Total Capacity
• 2009/05/21: NewScientist:SSS: Ignore the spin: Coal gasification is a stupid idea
  For anyone lured by the prospect of "clean coal" - the process of pumping huge amounts of energy into a solid fuel simply to change it into a gas or liquid before burning it - take note. The US National Academy of Sciences (NAS) just released a comprehensive study on coal gasification that came to the following conclusions:
  * Without geologic storage of the CO2 produced in the conversion process, the greenhouse gas emissions from coal-based fuel would be about twice that of oil. * With geologic storage, CO2 emissions would be nearly equivalent to those from oil.
• 2009/05/21: PeakEnergy: South Korea completes Uldolmok tidal plant [1MW now, 90MW by 2013]
• 2009/05/19: NBF: Bakken and Oilsands Update
• 2009/05/21: EnergyBulletin: Climate 2030: a national blueprint for a clean energy economy [UCS]
• 2009/05/19: Reuters: U.S. offshore oil study not done as storm season nears
  Study of the hurricane fitness of 92 key Gulf of Mexico oil platforms, begun a year ago, is not finished as the 2009 storm season nears, U.S. Minerals Management Service officials said Tuesday. The work is taking longer than expected, MMS Gulf Region Director Lars Herbst told a briefing on preparations for the upcoming season, which begins June 1 and ends November 30.
• 2009/05/20: WSJ:EnvCap: IEA: Recession Slams Clean-Energy Investment, Threatens Climate Targets
• 2009/05/20: BBC: Oil prices are hovering around $61 a barrel, as supply concerns were prompted after two key US refineries were hit by fires
• 2009/05/19: NewScientist: Breathing batteries could store 10 times the energy
• 2009/05/19: G&M: Energy, carbon taxes and the winds of change [Rubin]
• 2009/05/19: G&M: A coming world that's 'a whole lot smaller' [Rubin]
• 2009/05/19: OilDrum: World Oil Production Forecast
• 2009/05/19: NEN: Another look at space based solar [SPS]
• 2009/05/18: PhysOrg: Scientists work to plug microorganisms into the energy grid
• 2009/05/18: PlanetArk: US Gulf Gas Hydrate Find Most Promising Yet - DOE

  The rentiers want to get theirs:

• 2009/05/21: DotEarth: Will Energy Ideas Be Private or Public?
• 2009/05/20: Guardian(UK): Green technology should be shared
  Big business is gearing up to fight the use of [intellectual property rights] green technology by developing countries seeking to reduce carbon emissions

The answer my friend...:

• 2009/05/23: PeakEnergy: Europe's Largest Onshore Wind Farm Switched on in Scotland
• 2009/05/19: KC: Totaling up windmills, Kansas doesn't fare so well
• 2009/05/22: PlanetArk: Big U.S. Offshore Wind Farm Wins Crucial Permit
• 2009/05/21: WSJ:EnvCap: HSBC Gets More Bullish On U.S. Wind-Power Market
• 2009/05/20: PlanetArk: Factbox: Brazil Wind Energy Sector Taking Off
• 2009/05/20: TreeHugger: Europe's Largest Onshore Wind Farm Given Permission to Expand to 452 MW
• 2009/05/20: BBC: Largest wind farm to be expanded
  Europe's largest onshore wind farm is to be expanded further, Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond has announced. Mr Salmond was speaking as he officially switched on the 140-turbine Whitelee wind farm on Eaglesham Moor in East Renfrewshire. He said developers ScottishPower Renewables had been given permission to add a further 36 turbines to the site. That will allow the £300m wind farm to power 250,000 homes and could create up to 300 jobs, Mr Salmond said.

Meanwhile among the solar aficionados:

• 2009/05/20: FuturePundit: Micro-Inverter Cuts Solar Power Cost
• 2009/05/23: PeakEnergy: Solar Carbon Payback...net energy return of thin film solar...
• 2009/05/22: PlanetArk: Chinese Solar Companies Lower Forecasts, Shares Fall
• 2009/05/20: PlanetArk: [Chinese solar company] Suntech [Power Holdings Co Ltd] To Start New Solar Project In Jiangsu, China
• 2009/05/20: TreeHugger: Mon Dieu! France to Quadruple Solar Power Capacity by 2011
• 2009/05/19: PlanetArk: Analysis - 'Made In Germany' Not Enough For Solars To Prosper
• 2009/05/19: TreeHugger: Ultrathin, Ultra-Tiny Solar Cells Fit for Your T-Shirt?
• 2009/05/18: WorldChanging: Solar Carbon Payback
• 2009/05/18: SF Gate: Startup sells solar panels online

  And in the clean coal saga:

• 2009/05/19: TreeHugger: [Coal] Ash Spill Fallout Continues: Now "260 Times the Allowable Amount" of Arsenic in Drinking Water Supply

  Biofuel bickering abounds:

• 2009/05/23: NewScientist: Growing biofuel without razing the rainforest
• 2009/05/23: IR^2: Chemistry: The Future of Cellulose
• 2009/05/18: IR^2: Pacific Ethanol Plants Declare Bankruptcy
• 2009/05/22: PlanetArk: Ethanol Industry Sees Havoc In Land-Use Formula
• 2009/05/18: NatureTGB: Slime start up slides [GreenFuel out of business]

  The nuclear energy controversy continues:

• 2009/05/22: DerSpiegel: Nuclear Renewal -- Siemens Seeks to Cash In on Russia's Atomic Adventure
  Nuclear power is back in vogue in Russia, with 26 new reactors scheduled for construction by 2030. German industrial giant Siemens has grabbed a piece of the pie. But safety and financial concerns threaten to overshadow the country's atomic ambitions.
• 2009/05/22: EarthTimes: Nuclear fuel bank plans get push as three are plans tabled
• 2009/05/21: SciAm: Will the Nuclear Power "Renaissance" Ever Reach Critical Mass?
  Despite an abundance of plans and applications, new nuclear reactors outside of Asia are few and far between, which puts nuclear's contribution to fighting greenhouse gas emissions at risk
• 2009/05/21: WSJ:EnvCap: Is Nuclear Power Renewable Energy?
• 2009/05/17: CCP: John J. Fialka, ClimateWire: Robust new fuel supply for nuclear power plants -- ultra-high-speed centrifuge for enriched uranium

  Yes we have a peak oil sighting:

• 2009/05/22: OilDrum: Oilwatch Monthly May 2009 [See graph of World liquids production from January 2004 to May 2009]
• 2009/05/15: WalrusMag: An Inconvenient Talk -- Dave Hughes's guide to the end of the fossil fuel age

  More people are talking about the electrical grid:

• 2009/05/23: Ph&Ph: Wire Power...the effort (and advantages) of using superconducting wires for power transmission
• 2009/05/21: EnergyGrid: The Blame Game
• 2009/05/23: AFTIC: Energy Grid: The Blame Game
• 2009/05/21: Guardian(UK): Let there be smart power
  The electrical grid in the US is old, outmoded and wasteful. All this is to change with a massive government investment
• 2009/05/20: EurActiv: Power sector calls for smart grid support
  Europe's electricity industry yesterday (19 May) called on regulators to increase their incentive to develop and commercialise smart grid technologies.
• 2009/05/18: BBC: Electricity to power 'smart grid'
  Global electricity networks could become smart grids that can help us monitor and control our energy usage, if plans from net firm Cisco take off.
• 2009/05/18: PhysOrg: Cisco outlines strategy for Smart Grid infrastructure
• 2009/05/18: TreeHugger: Cisco Is the Next Big Player in Smart Grid Scene
• 2009/05/19: BBC: Thinking smart on energy savings
  Smart meters will play a central role in delivering an energy infrastructure fit for the 21st Century, says Stephen Cunningham. In this week's Green Room...

And then there is the matter of efficiency & conservation:

• 2009/05/24: NewScientist: Power-hungry gadgets must learn to diet
• 2009/05/24: Guardian(UK): Gadget boom sends electric bills soaring -- Growing love of computers and plasma TVs could soon account for nearly half our electricity bills
• 2009/05/18: PeakEnergy: How to save energy: plug in a new gadget

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

• 2009/05/18: FuturePundit: US Auto Fuel Efficiency To Rise Even Faster
• 2009/05/23: FuturePundit: Lithium Sulfur Batteries To Make Electric Cars Viable?
• 2009/05/23: AutoBG: Argonne project mixes lithium-ion batteries with ultracapacitors
• 2009/05/21: USAToday: This year's auto sales forecast falls to 10 million
• 2009/05/22: PhysOrg: Toyota Not Too Keen On Plug-In Hybrids
• 2009/05/22: PlanetArk: Zenn Motor Confirms EEStor Battery Results
• 2009/05/22: AutoBG: Nissan Japan says green car orders jumped 30 percent in May
• 2009/05/21: PeakEnergy: Daimler grabs Tesla stake in electric-car push
• 2009/05/21: AutoBG: ZENN: Trust us, the EESTOR thing is totally cool, like $700,000 cool
• 2009/05/20: DerSpiegel: Dreams of an Electric Sedan -- Daimler Takes 10 Percent Stake in Tesla
  A $50 million vote of confidence by the German giant could give a jolt to Tesla's plan for the electric sedan.
• 2009/05/20: CBC: GM Canada plans to cut 42% of its dealer network
• 2009/05/19: TreeHugger: Daimler Buys a 10% Stake in Electric Car Maker Tesla Motors
• 2009/05/19: AutoBG: Live Blog: Daimler announces new strategic partnership with Tesla for EVs, takes 10% stake
• 2009/05/18: PhysOrg: Toyota rolls out new Prius to fend off rivals
• 2009/05/18: TreeHugger: Lithium-Air Battery Could Have Up to 10x Storage Capacity of Current Lithium-Ion Tech
• 2009/05/18: SciDaily: Air-fueled Battery Could Last Up To 10 Times Longer: Ground-breaking Technology For Electric Cars
• 2009/05/18: Eureka: Canadian research team reports major breakthrough in lithium [-sulphur] battery technology
• 2009/05/18: AutoBG: Could a lithium sulfur be the next big battery breakthrough?
• 2009/05/18: CBC: Canadian scientists create powerful new lithium battery material

  Cash-for-Clunkers, aka Scrappage, Plans are being legislated and argued around the world:

• 2009/05/20: NEN: The cash-for-clunkers scam
• 2009/05/19: PlanetArk: [UK] Car Scrappage Incentive Scheme Begins
• 2009/05/19: AutoBG: [Spanish] Green group [Ecologistas en Acción] says scrappage plans are bad business
• 2009/05/18: WSJ:EnvCap: Cash-for-Clunkers: More Sniping at Car-Scrappage Plan

  The reaction of business to climate change will be critical:

• 2009/05/20: SF Gate: The greening of corporate America

  Insurance and re-insurance companies are feeling the heat:

• 2009/05/22: DerSpiegel: Insuring the Future -- Counting the Cost of Catastrophe
  How will the climate change affect us? What damage will be caused by future storms? What will be the impact of rising levels of obesity? Experts at Munich Re, one of the world's largest reinsurers, spend their days calculating what the future will hold.

Joe Romm posts a daily list of top energy and climate stories:

• 2009/05/22: ClimateP: Energy and Global Warming News for May 22nd: Still a long way to go to pass an energy and climate bill in the House
• 2009/05/21: ClimateP: Energy and Global Warming News for May 21st: Google rolls out home energy software
• 2009/05/20: ClimateP: Energy and Global Warming News for May 20th: Climate bill could be a $750 billion boon for consumers, study finds
• 2009/05/19: ClimateP: Energy and Global Warming News for May 19th: Air-fueled battery could last up to 10 times longer
• 2009/05/18: ClimateP: Energy and Global Warming News for May 18th: Carbon capture is the longest of long shots

  The carbon lobby are up to the usual:

• 2009/05/22: GreenGrok: WSJ Climate Naysayer [BL] Has New Culprit: Big Business
• 2009/05/21: Stoat: Global cooling awareness in the 60's?
• 2009/05/22: WSJ:EnvCap: Exxon Mobil Trims It Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Talks Energy Efficiency
• 2009/05/21: KSJT: Wash. Post: In Capitol Hill's climate skeptics corner, time stands still
• 2009/05/19: WaPo: Warming Skeptics Get Heard on the Hill
  More GOP Doubts Expressed as House Prepares to Take Up Emissions-Cap Bill After the decade they've had, Capitol Hill's climate-change skeptics might well feel like polar bears on a shrinking ice floe. Scientists around the globe have rejected their main arguments -- that the climate isn't clearly warming, that humans aren't responsible for it, or that the whole thing doesn't amount to a problem. Public opinion has also shifted and even Exxon Mobil talks about greenhouse gases. But this spring, it's been obvious: Doubt is not dead. In fact, as Congress considers placing a national limit on emissions, Washington's climate skeptics have been louder than usual -- and they've been reinforced by other voices in the Republican Party.
• 2009/05/21: Deltoid: Plimer and Arctic warming
• 2009/05/20: Deltoid: Free publicity from Andrew Bolt
• 2009/05/21: TreeHugger: George Will is Just Plain Wrong...Here Are Five Cities Where More Than .01% Ride Bikes to Work
• 2009/05/20: DeSmogBlog: US Chamber of Commerce Implodes on Climate Policy
• 2009/05/18: GWWAtch: AGW denier says peer-review is a public enemy
• 2009/05/19: ThinkP: [Rep. "Smokey Joe"] Barton (R-TX) : We Shouldn't Regulate CO2 Because 'It's In Your Coca-Cola' And 'You Can't Regulate God'
• 2009/05/19: Pandagon: George Will will grump your ass right into your car
• 2009/05/19: TWTB: George Will briefly redirects his hatred from casual dress to bicycles, continues descent into self-parody
• 2009/05/19: OilChange: Shell: World's Most Carbon Intensive Oil Company
• 2009/05/19: BSD: My tiny infraction of Godwin's Law: Singer's Downfall parody
• 2009/05/19: DM:CCM: The Deniers' Last Stand -- The Post has an interesting profile today of remaining global warming deniers in Congress
• 2009/05/18: BNC: Climate Denial Crock
• 2009/05/18: Grist: Local chambers going their own way -- U.S. Chamber of Commerce split grows wider

  As for climate miscellanea:

• 2009/05/22: CDreams: A Failure of Leadership: Rapid and Massive Action Needed to Avert Climate Change
• 2009/05/23: Guardian(UK): Climate change and the everyday
  The message is loud and internationally wide-reaching -- so why are the issues still not in the mainstream?
• 2009/05/22: DotEarth: Navigating the Fog of Climate Policy
• 2009/05/22: Grist: A green elephant in the room -- Climate change legislation, beyond party and faction
• 2009/05/22: Guardian(UK): Fizzy drinks, farts and the future -- Leo Hickman's guide to climate change for children
• 2009/05/21: Guardian(UK): 'Why don't we stop hurting the planet?'
  Telling our children about climate change could leave them angry, worried or even traumatised. So when and how should we do it, asks Leo Hickman
• 2009/05/19: GWWAtch: Do future generations have rights to a stable climate?
• 2009/05/19: Eureka: Michigan scientist, ethicist urge scientists to speak out on environmental policy
• 2009/05/19: AFTIC: The baptist and the bootlegger: Any takers?
• 2009/05/19: WorldChanging: Latest to Sound the Climate Alarm: Doctors, Lawyers, Generals, Bankers and Diplomats
• 2009/05/18: UN: UN-backed forum in Australia studies climate forecasting and sustainable farming
• 2009/05/18: AFTIC: Comment on unproven models
• 2009/05/18: Deltoid: Sydney Writers' Festival 2009: Stories from the Climate Change Front

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

• TDC: The Daily Climate
• Energy Farms
• U.S. Carbon Cycle Science Program
• DeSmogBlog - Clearing the air on climate change
• Rising Tide (UK) - Taking Action on the Root Causes of Climate Change
• CCI: Mass Balance of the Greenland Ice Sheet using precision GPS measurements
• UTexas: AGASEA: Airborne geophysical survey of the Amundsen Sea Embayment, Antarctica
• Climate Change Action
• Climate Justice Now!
• Climate IMC
• CRU: Climatic Research Unit - Information Sheets
• Bryan's Blog [Bryan Lawrence]
• SierraClub: Global Warming and Clean Energy
• Columbia: Dr. James E. Hansen [web page]
• ESA: GLOBCARBON - Global Land Products for Carbon Model Assimilation
• CDP: The Carbon Disclosure Project
• Wiki: Carbon cycle

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.

"Mother Nature doesn't do bailouts. One day, Mother Nature shows up and blows out your knee caps." -Denis Hayes

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• H.E. Taylor (homepage)