Another Week of GW News, May 17, 2009

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Another week of Climate Disruption News

Sipping from the internet firehose...

May 17, 2009

• Chuckle, World Ocean Conference, Ocean Circulation, Sol, Climate Project, Melting Arctic, Geopolitics, Antarctica
• Food Crisis, Food Production
• Hurricanes, GHGs, Carbon Cycle, Temperatures, Paleoclimate
• Impacts, Forests, Corals, Climate Refugees, Wacky Weather, Tornadoes, Wildfires, Floods & Droughts
• Mitigation, Buildings, Sequestration, Geoengineering, Adaptation
• Journals, Misc. Science
• Kyoto, Kyoto-2, Carbon Trade, Carbon Tax, Optimal Carbon Reduction Strategy
• Politics:International, Security, America, Obama, Britain, Europe, Australia, India, China, Canada
• Ecological Economics, IPAT, Apocalypso, Media, Video, Courts
• Energy, IRENA, Wind, Solar, Coal, Biofuel, Nukes, Peak Oil, Grid, Efficiency, Cars, Business, Greenwash, Insurance
• Joe's List, Carbon Lobby, Miscellaneous Climate, Useful Links
• Shameless Self Promotion, .sig

It's always nice to start with a laugh, no matter how black:

• 2009/05/17: TI:CF: (cartoon - Roberts) Bent As A Nine Bob Note?
• 2009/05/15: TI:CF: (cartoon - Roberts) On The Rebound
• 2009/05/15: uComics: (cartoon - Toles) Cap & Trade
• 2009/05/13: TI:CF: (cartoon - Roberts) Active Listening
• 2009/05/10: TI:CF: (cartoon - Roberts) Bad Dream Time
• 2009/05/11: TI:CF: (cartoon - Roberts) Con-Fusion?

  The World Ocean Conference went down this week in Indonesia:

• World Ocean Conference 2009
• 2009/05/15: CBC: Asia-Pacific nations to protect sprawling coral reef network
  Six Asia-Pacific countries agreed Friday on a wide-ranging plan to protect one of the world's largest networks of coral reefs, promising to reduce pollution, eliminate overfishing and improve the livelihoods of impoverished coastal communities. The agreement at the World Ocean Conference creates a voluntary management plan for an area defined as the Coral Triangle, which spans Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and East Timor. It accounts for a third of the world's coral reefs and 35 per cent of coral reef fish species.
• 2009/05/14: ABC(Au): Dying oceans 'life and death issue': Indonesia
  The destruction of the world's oceans due to climate change and overuse is a "life and death issue" for humanity, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said today.
• 2009/05/14: FTimes: Scientists fear for seas at climate talks
• 2009/05/14: EarthTimes: Fishermen, coastal residents sidelined at ocean conference -- "government officials only"
• 2009/05/14: Yahoo: Nations demand oceans be included in climate talks
• 2009/05/12: VoA: Scientists Discuss Climate Change at World Ocean Conference
• 2009/05/13: EarthTimes: Ocean conference: Not enough money for adapting to climate change
• 2009/05/13: ENN: Fears of collapse as coral reefs feel the heat
• 2009/05/12: NatureCF: Verbal exchange at major ocean conference
• 2009/05/12: Yahoo: Disaster looms with rising sea levels: islands
• 2009/05/11: Grist: Global ocean talks underway in Indonesia
• 2009/05/11: Xinhuanet: Indonesia urges world to act now on climate change issues
• 2009/05/11: Bernama: UNEP Chief [Achim Steiner]: Improve Health Of Ocean
• 2009/05/09: TerraDaily: Nations gather for oceans talks in Indonesia [World Ocean Conference]
• 2009/05/11: EarthTimes: World Ocean Conference draws horror scenarios on climate change

  A paper that says the conveyor belt model of ocean circulation is simplistic pricked up a few ears:

• 2009/05/05: Nature: [Letter$] Interior pathways of the North Atlantic meridional overturning circulation by Amy S. Bower et al.
• 2009/05/15: ENN: New Ocean Circulation Experiment has Potential Big Climate Model Impact
• 2009/05/15: CCP: Susan Lozier & Amy Bower: Gulf Stream and Deep Ocean Boundary Current transport cold Arctic waters differently than expected
• 2009/05/13: NatureCF: Atlantic Ocean circulation: the inside story
• 2009/05/13: PhysOrg: Ocean Circulation Doesn't Work As Expected
• 2009/05/13: Eureka: Cold water ocean circulation doesn't work as expected
  The familiar model of Atlantic ocean currents that shows a discrete "conveyor belt" of deep, cold water flowing southward from the Labrador Sea is probably all wet. New research led by Duke University and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution relied on an armada of sophisticated floats to show that much of this water, originating in the sea between Newfoundland and Greenland, is diverted generally eastward by the time it flows as far south as Massachusetts. From there it disburses to the depths in complex ways that are difficult to follow. A 50-year-old model of ocean currents had shown this southbound subsurface flow of cold water forming a continuous loop with the familiar northbound flow of warm water on the surface, called the Gulf Stream. "Everybody always thought this deep flow operated like a conveyor belt, but what we are saying is that concept doesn't hold anymore," said Duke oceanographer Susan Lozier.

Sol, redux:

• 2009/05/01: Science: [$ummary] Study Challenges Cosmic Ray-Climate Link by Richard A. Kerr
• 2009/05/12: MoD: Another study debunks the blame the sun myth
• 2009/05/12: ClimateP: Another long-debunked denier talking point is debunked again: Changes in the Sun are not causing global warming
• 2009/05/12: ENN: Changes In The Sun Are Not Causing Global Warming
• 2009/05/12: SciDaily: Changes In The Sun Are Not Causing Global Warming, New Study Shows
• 2009/05/11: PhysOrg: Scientists: No link cloud coverage and global warming

  The Climate Project held a conference in Nashville this week:

• 2009/05/14: PRWeb: The Climate Project Brings Together Historic Gathering of World's Experts on Climate Change
• 2009/05/14: UPI: Summit eyeing emission reductions
  The North American Summit taking place in Nashville Thursday is oriented toward reducing emissions that can cause climate change, experts say. The Climate Project Executive Director Jenny Clad, whose organization is behind the three-day event, said former U.S. Vice President Al Gore is among those scheduled to take part in the summit, The (Nashville) Tennessean said.

The Arctic melt continues to garner a lot of attention:

• 2009/05/15: KSJT: Lots of Ink: Brit trekkers on Arctic Ice call it quits. There to measure its thickness, they find it is too thin to continue
• 2009/05/15: PhysOrg: British explorers cut short trek to North Pole
  British explorers in northern Canada to measure the thickness of floating Arctic sea ice ended their expedition short of reaching the North Pole due to an early summer ice melt, the team said Thursday.
• 2009/05/13: ClimateP: North Pole poised to be largely ice-free by 2020: "It's like the Arctic is covered with an egg shell and the egg shell is now just cracking completely"
• 2009/05/14: PhysOrg: A new insight into the decline of the Arctic sea ice cover
  The mechanical behavior of the Arctic sea ice cover appears to favor its rapid decline. Scientists from INSU-CNRS, Université J. Fourier and Université de Savoie, France, have analyzed the trajectories of drifting buoys anchored in the ice and found that the mean drift rate and deformation rate of Arctic sea ice has strongly increased over the last three decades. These effects, related to the mechanical properties of the cover, contribute to the faster- than-expected decline of Arctic sea ice. This work is published in the 14 may 2009 issue of the Journal of Geophysical Research - Oceans.
• 2009/05/14: PlanetArk: Arctic Explorers [Catlin Arctic Survey] Find More Evidence Of Global Thaw
• 2009/05/13: TerraDaily: North Pole trek mapping Arctic sea ice ends early
• 2009/05/13: BBC: The Catlin Arctic Survey, a gruelling 10-week expedition to measure the thickness of sea-ice, has ended
• 2009/05/13: Guardian(UK): Arctic explorers end mission to survey sea ice
• 2009/05/13: CBC: British explorers relieved to be off Arctic ice, after 73-day scientific trek
• 2009/05/13: BBC: Arctic diary: Explorers' ice quest
  Polar explorers Pen Hadow, Ann Daniels and Martin Hartley are nearing the end of an epic trek across the Arctic. They have been taking measurements of sea-ice thickness - primarily from drilling following the failure of a mobile radar unit - in a bid to help scientists better understand the changes taking place at the highest latitudes. As their diary entries and videos reveal, the team has not only had to suffer the harsh Arctic elements, but has also been besieged by technical failures and delays.

As for the geopolitics of Arctic resources:

• 2009/05/16: G&M: Hands off our Arctic, Canada tells Europeans
  As countries scramble to grab a piece of the Arctic, Ottawa is fighting back with an aggressive PR campaign across Europe that this isn't an unclaimed wasteland. It's active, it's a home -- and it's ours
• 2009/05/15: PhysOrg: First comprehensive geological Arctic map published
• 2009/05/14: Times(UK): Russia warns of war within a decade over Arctic oil and gas riches
• 2009/05/14: CanWest: Canada ready to defend Arctic sovereignty: Cannon
  Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon said Thursday that the Conservative government will strive to "work peacefully" with other polar nations but "will not hesitate to defend Canadian Arctic sovereignty." The statement came a day after the release of a new Russian government report that predicts possible military conflict over Arctic oil.
• 2009/05/14: NatureTGB: Russia hints at Arctic war
• 2009/05/14: OilChange: Russia Warns of Oil Wars in the Arctic
• 2009/05/13: Guardian(UK): Energy conflicts could bring military clashes, Russian security strategy warns -- Kremlin names Arctic as potential flashpoint
• 2009/05/07: ISA: Arctic project faces never-before-seen obstacles

  While in Antarctica:

• 2009/05/14: Science: (ab$) Reassessment of the Potential Sea-Level Rise from a Collapse of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet by Jonathan L. Bamber et al.
• 2009/05/14: Reuters: West Antarctic ice threat revised down; still dire
• 2009/05/15: KSJT: Lots of Ink: A new estimate cuts in half the sea level rise for a collapse of West Antarctic ice
• 2009/05/15: DM:80B: Melting Antarctic Ice May Raise Sea Levels Less Than Previously Feared
• 2009/05/14: STimes: Researchers scale back forecast of sea level rise -- The global sea level will only rise about 10 feet if the West Antarctic ice sheet collapses
• 2009/05/14: CBC: Sea level rise from Antarctic ice sheet collapse overestimated, scientists say
• 2009/05/14: BBC: Ice sheet melt threat reassessed
  The collapse of a major polar ice sheet will not raise global sea levels as much as previous projections suggest, a team of scientists has calculated. Writing in Science, the researchers said that the demise of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) would result in a sea level rise of 3.3m (10 ft). Previous estimates had forecast a rise in the region of five to six metres.
• 2009/05/14: NYT: Study Halves Prediction of Rising Seas
  A new analysis halves longstanding projections of how much sea levels could rise if Antarctica's massive western ice sheets fully disintegrated as a result of global warming. The flow of ice into the sea would probably raise sea levels about 10 feet rather than 20 feet, according to the analysis, published in the May 15 issue of the journal Science.
• 2009/05/14: DotEarth: A New View of Antarctic Melting
• 2009/05/14: NewScientist: Flood risk from Antarctic ice 'overestimated'
• 2009/05/14: TreeHugger: West Antarctic Ice Sheet Not Likely to Melt Completely, But Sea Rise Still Significant
• 2009/05/14: Eureka: Melting threat from West Antarctic Ice Sheet may be less than expected, could hit US hardest
• 2009/05/14: Eureka: Threat from West Antarctica less than previously believed
  The potential contribution to sea level rise from a collapse of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) have been greatly overestimated, according to a new study published in the journal Science. Scientists estimate global sea level would rise 3.3 metres, not five or six, as previously thought.

The food crisis is ongoing:

• 2009/05/15: BBC: Food prices vary but crisis remains
  By some measures food prices have come down, but there is still a problem for many people, especially those on low incomes. A BBC World Service index of retail food prices has actually gone up in the ten months since it was launched. It is based on a check of some basic foods in eight cities, including Washington, Nairobi and Buenos Aires. It is not comprehensive but useful nonetheless. The average for all the cities covered is up by eight per cent from July last year. But there are some striking variations. In Nairobi, there was a rise of getting on for fifty per cent. In Brussels and Washington, where general levels of inflation are lower, the food prices we checked recorded double digit falls.
• 2009/05/11: WSWS: US: 12 million children face hunger and food insecurity
• 2009/05/11: Australian: Drought and floods cut rice harvest back to 5pc
  The rice harvest has been ravaged by both drought and flooding, with the NSW Riverina expected to deliver just 5 per cent of its normal output. About 65,000 tonnes are expected to be harvested this year in the nation's rice growing heartland - down from 1.2 million tonnes in a typical year - while trial crops in northeast NSW have been destroyed by heavy rainfall.

And how are we going to feed 9 billion?

• 2009/05/16: TreeHugger: Will Allen: "Industrial Agriculture One of Most Polluting & Dangerous Industries"
• 2009/05/15: TreeHugger: 50 Million Acres in Africa Snapped Up in 'Massive Neocolonial Grab'
• 2009/05/15: AlterNet: Michael Pollan: "Don't Buy Any Food You've Ever Seen Advertised"
• 2009/05/14: UN: Urgent agricultural reform vital to avert looming African food crisis -- UN report
• 2009/05/14: ProMedMail: Stripe rust, wheat - UK (02): new strain
• 2009/05/14: AlterNet: The Ugly Truth Behind Organic Food
• 2009/05/13: UN: Ban urges steps to revitalize agriculture, ensure food security for all
• 2009/05/13: AlterNet: Would You Call 60,000 Cows Fenced Together on a Dirt Patch a "Farm?"
• 2009/05/12: TerraDaily: Better Water Use Could Reduce Future Food Crises
• 2009/05/12: AlterNet: Agriculture Is One of the Most Polluting and Dangerous Industries

  The Philippines had to deal with the aftermath of Typhoon Chan-Hom; otherwise it was quiet:

• 2009/05/11: PhysOrg: TRMM satellite captures rainfall from 2 typhoons that soaked Philippines
• 2009/05/11: PlanetArk: Storm [Typhoon Chan-Hom] Death Toll In Philippines Jumps To 36
• 2009/05/10: TerraDaily: Toll of dead, missing from Philippine typhoon rises to 48

  While elsewhere in the hurricane wars:

• 2009/05/16: Wunderground: Still watching for a potential early-season Atlantic subtropical storm
• 2009/05/15: Wunderground: An early season Atlantic named storm looking less likely
• 2009/05/14: Wunderground: An early start to hurricane season? And, tornado kills 3 in Missouri
• 2009/05/13: PlanetArk: Monsoon Rains Threaten Myanmar Cyclone Survivors - UN
• 2009/05/13: PlanetArk: [NHC director Bill Read] interview - Hurricane Intensity Forecasting Still A Puzzle

  As for GHGs:

• 2009/05/11: ClimateP: I predict U.S. carbon dioxide emissions peaked in 2007!

  And in the carbon cycle:

• 2009/05/16: TreeHugger: Jellyfish Take Carbon To The Ocean Floor
• 2009/05/14: PlanetArk: Carbon Geography Of The United States

  As for the temperature record:

• 2009/05/11: Tamino: Dangerous Curves
• 2009/05/12: CCP: NASA's Earth Observatory: 2008-2009 Winter Land Surface Temperature Anomalies

  While in the paleoclimate:

• 2009/05/13: NatureN: Asteroid impact may have gassed Earth -- Did dinosaur-killing space rock create enough carbon monoxide to trigger extreme global warming?

  More GW impacts are being seen:

• 2009/05/: WMO:Bulletin: Weather and climate change implications for surface transportation in the USA by Marjorie McGuirk et al.
• 2009/05/13: Grist: Report: Climate change will bring big problems for small number of countries
• 2009/05/06: Reuters: Global warming threatens Tibet railway: report
• 2009/05/15: SciDaily: Climate Change, Fishing And Commercial Shipping Top List Of Threats To Ocean Off West Coast Of U.S.
• 2009/05/14: Guardian(UK): The NHS must wake up to climate change -- Climate change will have a catastrophic effect on human health, but the NHS could do much to protect people from it
• 2009/05/14: KSJT: BBC, ABC, Bloomberg, etc: Global warming takes top spot among world health hazards?
• 2009/05/14: ClimateP: The Lancet's landmark Health Commission: "Climate change is the biggest global health threat of the 21st century"
• 2009/05/14: ABC(Au): Report outlines global warming health impact
• 2009/05/14: ABC(Au): A report in the medical journal The Lancet warns that climate change is the biggest global health threat in the 21st century
• 2009/05/14: NewScientist: Climate change diagnosed as biggest global health threat
• 2009/05/14: PlanetArk: Hail Deals Serious Blow To Bordeaux Wine Harvest
• 2009/05/14: BBerg: Global Warming May Exceed Infections as Health Threat
• 2009/05/14: BBC: Climate 'biggest health threat'
  Climate change is "the biggest global health threat of the 21st Century", according to a leading medical journal. The Lancet, together with University College London researchers, has published a report outlining how public health services will need to adapt. It also highlights the consequences of climate-related mass migrations.
• 2009/05/13: CBC: Health effects of climate change will affect billions: report
• 2009/05/13: Guardian(UK): Climate change biggest threat to health, doctors say
• 2009/05/12: UMich: Climate change driving Michigan mammals north
• 2009/05/12: PhysOrg: Climate change driving Michigan mammals north
• 2009/05/11: USAToday: Climate change could sting allergy, asthma sufferers
• 2009/05/11: TreeHugger: Climate Change to Cause "Cultural Genocide" for Australia's Aborigines
• 2009/05/11: SciDaily: Future Climate Change Likely To Cause More Respiratory Problems In Young Children

  And then there are the world's forests:

• 2009/05/17: BBC: Peru moves to end Amazon protest -- Peru's military have been authorised to give support to the police for 30 days in an escalating dispute over Amazon resources with indigenous groups
• 2009/05/16: NewScientist: Land clearances turned up the heat on Australian climate
  Deforestation by European settlers may be to blame for making Australia's drought longer, hotter and dryer than it would be otherwise.
• 2009/05/12: CBC: Songbird decline shows need to protect boreal forest, environmentalists say
• 2009/05/11: NatureTGB: Congo cracks down on illegal logging

  Corals are dying:

• 2009/05/13: Guardian(UK): WWF warns vast coral reef in south-east Asia may disappear by end of the century
• 2009/05/13: CNN: Report warns against Coral Triangle collapse
  Southeast Asia's Coral Triangle could disappear by end of the century - WWF-commissioned report says reef collapse would impact 100 million people - Report outlines scenarios outlined at World Ocean Conference in Indonesia
• 2009/05/13: WWF: WWF Study Says Climate Change Could Displace Millions In Asia's Coral Triangle
  Catastrophic Loss of Coral Predicted for World's Richest Reefs by End of Century, Threatening Food, Livelihoods
• 2009/05/13: BBC: Key coral reefs 'could disappear'
• 2009/05/11: CoralCOE: Rules proposed to save the world's coral reefs

  Climate refugees are becoming an issue:

• 2009/05/13: ABC(Au): 'Coral triangle' a global emergency
  Australian scientists are warning of the possibility of a future wave of economic refugees from south-east Asia and the Pacific if one of the world's most important marine ecosystems is devastated by climate change.
• 2009/05/11: ClimateP: Prudent planning: President of Maldives wants to move his island nation
• 2009/05/11: NewScientist: Paradise lost: [Maldive] Islanders prepare for the flood

  Yes we have no wacky weather, except:

• 2009/05/14: EarthTimes: Storms destroy thousands of hectares of Bordeaux grapes
• 2009/05/14: TP:WonkRoom: Global Boiling: Storms And Floods Bring States Of Emergency In Alaska, Arkansas, Illinois, Kentucky, Missouri, And West Virginia
• 2009/05/12: EarthTimes: 27 killed as storm lashes northern India

  Meanwhile in tornado alley:

• 2009/05/14: CNN: Scientists chasing killer tornadoes across Midwest
  VORTEX2 is the largest field experiment in history devoted to studying tornadoes - Under way through June 13, the project brings together almost 100 scientists - V2 teams are criss-crossing the Midwestern plains in search of violent storms - Researchers are studying how tornadoes form to help forecasters warn people
• 2009/05/14: CNN: Storms tear through Midwest
  Official: At least 3 people in Missouri are dead after the state is hit by a twister - Oklahoma officials trying to confirm twisters hit that state, causing major damage
• 2009/05/13: PhysOrg: A new twist on tornado study [VORTEX2]
• 2009/05/12: TerraDaily: World's Largest Tornado Experiment Heads For Great Plains
• 2009/05/12: Wunderground: Vortex2: world's largest tornado research project ever, is underway

  As for heatwaves and wild fires:

• 2009/05/16: WSWS: Australia: Royal Commission inquiry forced to investigate "stay or go" bushfire policy
• 2009/05/12: PlanetArk: California Fire Claims 77 Homes, Tools Suspected
• 2009/05/11: TerraDaily: Australian fire chief defends fatal blaze warnings
• 2009/05/11: EarthTimes: California fire caused by botched safety measure
• 2009/05/11: BBC: Australia probes Victoria fires
  A public inquiry is due to open in Australia to look into the bush fires in Victoria state in February - the worst in the country's history. The Royal Commission will consider the official response, and whether warning systems in place were adequate. The panel will also look at a controversial plan to change the law to force people to leave their homes when bush fires approach. More than 170 people were killed and 2,000 homes destroyed by the blazes.

And hydrological cycle disruptions [floods & droughts]:

• 2009/05/16: EarthTimes: Bangladesh to issue formal protest against Indian dam project
• 2009/05/15: MiamiHerald: South Florida suburbs, not farms, spared new water restrictions
  Water managers put off sweeping new restrictions for the suburbs but imposed new ones for farmers as the managers combat a deepening drought they hope ends during the rainy season.
• 2009/05/15: SciDaily: Warming Climate Is Affecting Cascades Snowpack In Pacific Northwest
• 2009/05/15: WpgSun: Plan to remove Breezy Point houses launched
  This will be the last summer cottagers will ever be able to enjoy Breezy Point North. The province announced an "incentive plan" yesterday to permanently remove people from all 42 of the cottages located on leased Crown land in the Breezy Point area north of Selkirk. And while the buyouts may technically be voluntary, the leaving part is mandatory.
• 2009/05/14: CBC: Flood-prone properties in north Breezy Point to be decommissioned
  The Manitoba government is getting rid of flood-prone properties located in the north portion of Breezy Point, advising homeowners their leases of the Crown land will be terminated. There are 42 homes in the area that are affected. "The government is very sympathetic to the plight of flood-prone lot holders and has carefully considered how to deal with the ongoing flooding issues at Breezy Point," Conservation Minister Stan Struthers said Friday afternoon. "Flood prevention and protection measures in this area are not viable, and flooding will continue to pose an ongoing risk to the lives of both cottagers and rescuers for as long as settlement remains in this area." Cottagers will be given the option to voluntarily terminate their lease or permit and the province would compensate the lot holder based on an appraised pre-flood market value, Struthers said. Cottage owners will have until the fall to work out an agreed value with the province. If they don't voluntarily terminate the lease and work out an agreement, the province will simply pull the lease and not allow them to return.
• 2009/05/13: PlanetArk: Worst Drought In Decade Deepens Somalia Crisis - UN
• 2009/05/12: SacBee: Economic, environmental hurdles block critical California water transfers
• 2009/05/12: STimes: Climate change cutting Wash. Cascade snowpack
  Climate change appears to be cutting the winter snowpack in Washington's Cascade Range by at least 20 percent, according to a researcher at the University of Washington.
• 2009/05/13: BBC: Tens of thousands of people in north-eastern Brazil have begun returning home, after devastating floods there
• 2009/05/11: Australian: Drought and floods cut rice harvest back to 5pc
  The rice harvest has been ravaged by both drought and flooding, with the NSW Riverina expected to deliver just 5 per cent of its normal output. About 65,000 tonnes are expected to be harvested this year in the nation's rice growing heartland - down from 1.2 million tonnes in a typical year - while trial crops in northeast NSW have been destroyed by heavy rainfall.
• 2009/05/12: PhysOrg: QuikScat Sees Santa Barbara 'Quick Dry'
• 2009/05/11: TerraDaily: Floods and drought in Brazil point to climate change: president
• 2009/05/11: Yahoo: Floods in Brazil point to climate change: Lula
• 2009/05/12: Eureka: Any way you slice it, warming climate is affecting Cascades snowpack
• 2009/05/08: TerraDaily: After four months of floods, Namibia begins cleanup
• 2009/05/09: TerraDaily: Brazil floods leave 44 dead, 126,000 homeless
• 2009/05/11: ENN: Drought, Politics Trouble Farmers In California

  Elsewhere on the mitigation front:

• 2009/05/16: AlterNet: Our Appetite for Animals Is Taking Us Toward Apolcalypse
• 2009/05/14: Guardian(UK): Day of the lentil burghers: Ghent goes veggie to lose weight and save planet

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

• 2009/05/14: Oregonian: Stripping away efficiency: It turns out humans can undo the savings of green buildings
• 2009/05/11: Grist: Radiant Cities: Getting (Retro)Fit -- In some cities, the greenest buildings are already built

  As for carbon sequestration:

• 2009/05/15: CourierJournal: [Kentucky] Well project tests storage of carbon dioxide -- Effort could hold key to continued coal use
• 2009/05/15: Kentucky: One of state's deepest wells would lock away gas in W. Ky.
• 2009/05/11: Guardian(UK): CCS: Energy firms seek opt-outs over 2025 carbon capture deadline
  Power companies to ask the government not to force coal-fired plant closures in 2025 if carbon capture technology is not ready
• 2009/05/11: Guardian(UK): British businesses seek to cash in on carbon capture
  UK firms in strong position to run CCS projects around the world
• 2009/05/11: UNDispatch: Farming carbon [in Western Kenya]
• 2009/05/11: UN: Kenyan villagers to test out UN carbon benefits project
• 2009/05/11: PhysOrg: Major funding to help cut CO2 emissions
  The University of Nottingham is to share in £6.9m of research funding to investigate carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies which could drastically cut CO2 emissions from fossil-fuel power stations. The funding from E.ON and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council is to support four university-led projects

Large scale geo-engineering keeps popping up:

• 2009/05/15: IEET: Planet-scale Engineering
• 2009/05/14: OmniClimate: Live Blogging From RGS Geoengineering Debate In London
• 2009/05/03: Scitizen: Geoengineering the Climate: Bad for You and Our Energy Future

  While on the adaptation front:

• 2009/05/14: OilDrum: Dealing with Climate Risks: Adaptation

  Meanwhile in the journals:

• 2009/05/15: ACPD: Northern winter stratospheric temperature and ozone responses to ENSO inferred from an ensemble of Chemistry Climate Models by C. Cagnazzo et al.
• 2009/05/15: ACPD: Direct measurements of the effect of biomass burning over the Amazon on the atmospheric temperature profile by A. Davidi et al.
• 2009/05/14: ACPD: Dust events in Beijing, China (2004-2006): comparison of ground-based measurements with columnar integrated observations by Z. J. Wu et al.
• 2009/05/: WMO:Bulletin: Weather and climate change implications for surface transportation in the USA by Marjorie McGuirk et al.
• 2009/05/13: CPD: High resolution climate and vegetation simulations of the Mid-Pliocene, a model-data comparison over western Europe and the Mediterranean region by A. Jost et al.
• 2009/05/13: CPD: The MIS 11 - MIS 1 analogy, southern European vegetation, atmospheric methane and the "early anthropogenic hypothesis" by P. C. Tzedakis
• 2009/05/14: Science: (ab$) Reassessment of the Potential Sea-Level Rise from a Collapse of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet by Jonathan L. Bamber et al.
• 2009/05/05: Nature: [Letter$] Interior pathways of the North Atlantic meridional overturning circulation by Amy S. Bower et al.
• 2009/05/13: TC: Increased rate of acceleration on Pine Island Glacier strongly coupled to changes in gravitational driving stress by J. B. T. Scott et al.
• 2009/05/01: Science: (ab$) High-Frequency Holocene Glacier Fluctuations in New Zealand Differ from the Northern Signature by Joerg M. Schaefer et al.
• 2009/05/13: ACP: A simulation of the global distribution and radiative forcing of soil dust aerosols at the Last Glacial Maximum by T. Takemura et al.
• 2009/05/11: ACP: Simulation of the climate impact of Mt. Pinatubo eruption using ECHAM5 -- Part 2: Sensitivity to the phase of the QBO and ENSO by M. A. Thomas et al.
• 2009/05/12: ACPD: Error correlation between CO2 and CO as constraint for CO2 flux inversions using satellite data by H. Wang et al.
• 2009/05/12: ACPD: Investigation of ship-plume chemistry using a newly-developed photochemical ship-plume model by H. S. Kim et al.
• 2009/05/11: ACPD: First multi-year occultation observations of CO2 in the MLT by ACE satellite: observations and analysis using the extended CMAM by S. R. Beagley et al.
• 2009/05/12: PNAS: Impacts of tropical cyclones on U.S. forest tree mortality and carbon flux from 1851 to 2000 by Hongcheng Zeng et al.
• 2009/05/12: PNAS: Anthropogenic osmium in rain and snow reveals global-scale atmospheric contamination by Cynthia Chen et al.
• 2009/05/12: JGR: [1.3 meg pdf preprint] Sulfuric acid deposition from stratospheric geoengineering with sulfate aerosols by Ben Kravitz et al.
• 2009/05/01: Science: [$ummary] Study Challenges Cosmic Ray-Climate Link by Richard A. Kerr

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

• 2009/05/16: SciDaily: Peruvian Stalagmites Hold Clues To Climate Change
• 2009/05/13: JKB: Dirk Callebaut is not a climate skeptic
• 2009/05/14: CCP: Mediaeval Warming Period and Little Ice Age out of synch with Southern Hemisphere during past 7,000 years (Holocene)
• 2009/05/11: ENN: Survey Of Ocean Climate May Improve Climate Predictions
• 2009/05/11: SciDaily: Ocean Acidification: Understanding How Mussels Have Adapted To Extremely Acidic Waters Near Underwater Volcanoes

  Meanwhile on the Kyoto front:

• 2009/05/11: UN: Kenyan villagers to test out UN carbon benefits project

  And on the Kyoto-2 front:

• 2009/05/15: Yahoo: Draft U.N. climate texts mark step towards treaty
• 2009/05/15: Guardian(UK): A green deal for Africa by Kofi Annan & Nicholas Stern
  Violence, disease and drought can be averted, if the voice of the poor gets a hearing at the Copenhagen climate change summit
• 2009/05/15: Xinhuanet: UN official: Climate change agreement achievable at Copenhagen meeting
• 2009/05/14: Google:AFP: Donors urged to help poor countries adapt to climate change
• 2009/05/15: Xinhuanet: International climate commission urges additional funds for developing countries
• 2009/05/15: JakartaPost: RI to lead negotiations at int'l climate talks
  Indonesia will represent all World Ocean Conference member countries at global climate talks, following the adoption by leaders of ocean states of the much-awaited Manado Ocean Declaration (MOD) on Thursday.
• 2009/05/15: TreeHugger: Let's Find $2 Billion a Year to Help Poor Countries Adapt to Climate Change
• 2009/05/14: PlanetArk: China Calls For Deeper CO2 Cuts From Developed World
• 2009/05/13: Reuters: EU warms to Mexican path to global climate deal
  Global talks on combating climate change this year might progress best by focusing on Mexico's proposal for a world climate change fund, one of the European Union's top negotiators said. The talks in Copenhagen to find a successor to the U.N.'s Kyoto protocol from 2012 are seen as the world's last chance to avert catastrophic climate change and the drought, famine and huge migrations of people it is expected to cause. Jos Delbeke, number two in the European Commission's environment directorate, told Reuters the Mexican approach might offer the flexibility needed to unlock a deal.
• 2009/05/13: NatureTGB: Seeing REDD over forest management
• 2009/05/12: NYT:CW: Big questions linger around [REDD] major source of carbon emissions
  As environmentalists and politicians rally around the inclusion of avoided deforestation projects in an international climate change agreement, some big questions about forest and land ownership loom unanswered.
• 2009/05/12: IndiaTimes: China's exit may leave India isolated on climate
  The first signs of a break up in the G77 plus China grouping in the climate negotiations emerged at the Obama sponsored 20-country Major Economies Forum in Washington with South Korea breaking away from the developing and poor country block.
• 2009/05/13: Yahoo: China calls for deeper CO2 cuts by rich nations
  China urged rich nations on Wednesday to sign up to tougher 2020 targets to cut carbon emissions, as U.N.-led negotiations intensify on a broader climate pact meant to rein in the pace of global warming. Skip related content An official with China's National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said rich nations must commit to cutting emissions by 25-40 percent by 2020 as well as ramp up funding for developing countries.
• 2009/05/13: EarthTimes: US and Australia 'falling short' on climate goals, [Nicholas] Stern says
• 2009/05/13: CCP: Durwood Zaelke, Denise Mauzerall: Black carbon presents key opportunity for U.S.-China cooperation on climate change, health
• 2009/05/12: Reuters: New U.N. climate deal: not much bolder than Kyoto?
• 2009/05/11: TMoS: Reviving Kyoto - Because That Worked So Well the First Time

  While at the UN:

• 2009/05/14: UN: Top UN officials exhort countries to take action on climate change
• 2009/05/14: Xinhuanet: UN chief calls for "necessary political impetus" to seal deal on climate change

  And on the carbon trading front:

• 2009/05/15: PlanetArk: Japan Power Firms Pay $1 Billion For CO2 Credits In 08/09

  The idea of a carbon tax is still bouncing around:

• 2009/05/11: MoJo: Taxing Carbon - Part 4
• 2009/05/11: NEN: Conservatives for a carbon tax

  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:

• 2009/05/14: MTobis: A bit more on cap and trade
• 2009/05/12: MTobis: A Couple of Defenses of Cap and Trade
• 2009/05/12: ClimateP: CEO of Progress Energy: Auctioning Allowances Will Not Cut Carbon Emissions Faster

  Meanwhile on the international political front:

• 2009/05/15: ENN: US and Japan Collaborate on Key Climate Issues
• 2009/05/13: TreeHugger: US Emission Reduction Efforts Inadequate: IPCC Chair [Dr. Rajendra Pachauri] and Lord Stern Play Good Cop-Bad Cop
• 2009/05/09: Xinhuanet: The green dawn in U.S.-China relations

  As for GW & security:

• 2009/05/13: Grist: Treating climate change as a security threat

  And on the American political front:

• 2009/05/16: TreeHugger: Weak Renewable Energy Laws Would Lose US Jobs to Asia, Europe
• 2009/05/14: ClimateP: Is the U.S. consumption binge over?
• 2009/05/13: TreeHugger: Conservative Kansas Voters Heart Renewable Energy
• 2009/05/12: ThinkP: Palin distinguishes herself as the only governor to refuse energy conservation funds
• 2009/05/13: Yahoo: US efforts on climate insufficient: experts
  US plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions fall short of what is needed, climate change experts said after talks with the European Commission in Brussels. "The US objectives are not strong enough, they have to make their commitments stronger," said Nicholas Stern, a British former world bank chief economist whose 2006 Stern Review put the economic case for green policies.
• 2009/05/10: KC: Coal-plant decision fires up critics
  After only six days in office, Kansas Gov. Mark Parkinson did last week what state legislators couldn't do in two years: resolve the rancorous row over Western Kansas coal plants. But the Democrat also succeeded in angering some in his own party and environmental groups that had viewed Parkinson as their champion. After all, they'd repeatedly fought off the coal plant project, then saw Parkinson give in for environmental concessions they view as inconsequential.

Dubya's OMB doesn't like the idea of the EPA using the Clean Air Act to regulate GHGs. Great controversy ensues:

• 2009/05/15: Grist: Is the Clean Air Act designed to regulate GHGs? House Democrat [Rep. Nydia M. Velázquez (D-NY)] defends OMB memo source
• 2009/05/13: CSW: Reporters' misuse of memo on EPA endangerment finding aided global warming disinformation campaign
• 2009/05/13: DeSmogBlog: The OMB-EPA Kerfuffle That Wasn't
• 2009/05/13: NatureTGB: White House memo reveals rifts on climate regulations
• 2009/05/13: GristMill: Professional FUD creation -- How the 'OMB memo' non-story happened
• 2009/05/13: TWTB: Evolution of a denier talking point, "OMB memo" edition
• 2009/05/13: LA Times: EPA's greenhouse gas ruling criticized within the government
  The agency's declaration that emissions pose a health danger could have 'serious economic consequences,' Bush-era holdovers in the Small Business Administration assert
• 2009/05/12: DotEarth: Did E.P.A. Ignore Critique of CO2 Finding?

  The Obama chatter is nonstop:

• 2009/05/16: ClimateP: Obama radio address: "For the first time, utility companies and corporate leaders are joining, not opposing, environmental advocates and labor leaders to create a new system of clean energy initiatives that will help unleash a new era of growth and prosperity."
• 2009/05/14: DotEarth: Obama and 'Generation E' in Arizona -- Q&A with Charles L. Redman, director of the ASU School of Sustainability
• 2009/05/13: ClimateP: Obama praises climate deal, Sierra Club vows to "strengthen this bill," House GOP vows to kill it
• 2009/05/12: TheHill: Carter advises Obama to follow his lead on energy
• 2009/05/11: NatureCF: Obama backs Bush on polar bear
• 2009/05/11: PlanetArk: Obama Budget Sticks To Auctioning All CO2 Permits
• 2009/05/11: PlanetArk: Obama Team Keeps Bush Polar Bear Climate Rule
• 2009/05/11: DM:80B: Obama Agrees With Bush: Endangered Species Won't Drive Warming Policy
• 2009/05/11: OilChange: Obama Backs Bush on Bears
• 2009/05/10: RegisterGuard: Obama errs on polar bear -- He might need a regulatory threat to prod Congress

  The actions of the Obama administration are being watched closely:

• 2009/05/15: TreeHugger: 'Clean Coal' Gets $2.4 Billion Boost from Department of Energy
• 2009/05/13: ENN: US EPA Outlines Ways to Reduce Our Carbon Footprint
• 2009/05/11: Yahoo: EPA to oversee cleanup of TVA coal ash spill
• 2009/05/12: WSJ:EnvCap: EPA's Jackson: Then Again, Maybe We Won't (Regulate Emissions)
• 2009/05/12: WSJ:EnvCap: Secretary Chu: Calling All Cold Fusion Inventors...and Other Revolutionaries
• 2009/05/11: GreenGrok: EPA's New Biofuel Standard: No Joy in Cornville
• 2009/05/11: PlanetArk: US Commerce Chief [Gary Locke] Plans Clean Energy Trip To China
• 2009/05/11: Cryptome: [link to 2.3 meg zip] Obama Sets Biofuels and Rural Economic Development
  EPA Notice of Proposed Rulemaking: Regulation of Fuels and Fuel Additives: Changes to Renewable Fuel Standard Program

As for what is going on in Congress:

• 2009/05/16: TreeHugger: Republicans Unveil Their Own Climate Bill
• 2009/05/16: TreeHugger: Barton Questions Waxman's "Nuts" In Climate Dustup
• 2009/05/15: WSJ:EnvCap: Biofuels Battle: House, Senate Bills Push Back Against New Ethanol Rules
• 2009/05/14: IR^2: Congress Kills a Biofuel Project
• 2009/05/13: CFO: Bigger role for international offsets rumoured in Waxman-Markey compromise
• 2009/05/13: McClatchyDC: Republican lawmakers back carbon tax (yes, that's right)
• 2009/05/12: McClatchyDC: As hurricane season nears, Vitter relents on FEMA nominee
• 2009/05/15: Grist: King Corn vents spleen -- Why farm-state pols rage against the EPA's biofuel stance
• 2009/05/15: WarmingLaw: Republican Congressman Seeks to Overturn Mass v. EPA. (Among Other Horrible Things.)
• 2009/05/14: TP:WonkRoom: Deep In Denial, Smokey Joe Barton Unleashes Dirty Energy Plan
• 2009/05/14: Guardian(UK): Barack Obama's US climate bill seen as a step forward
• 2009/05/14: Guardian(UK): Barack Obama's climate change bill is weakened, but still intact
  The ambitious agenda introduced to Congress six weeks ago has been compromised by hold-outs and it now seems clear that the US will come nowhere close to European targets
• 2009/05/14: GreenGrok: Climate Change Legislation: House Democrats Come Together
• 2009/05/14: PlanetArk: Republicans Push Changes To US Climate Bill
• 2009/05/14: Grist: Should the Republican carbon tax bill be taken seriously?
• 2009/05/14: CSW: Congress takes step to create a National Climate Service - but beware of shackles and poison pills
• 2009/05/14: TreeHugger: GOP Attempts to "Nitpick" Climate Bill into Oblivion
• 2009/05/14: Yahoo: Renewable Energy Penalties to Be Cut by Waxman, Lawmaker Says
• 2009/05/14: NEN: Dems to settle on diminished new energy standard
  Summary: In a huge disappointment to the New Energy community, House Democrats are reportedly going to settle for a national Renewable Electricity Standard (RES) requiring U.S. utilities to obtain 15% of their power from New Energy sources by 2020 and drop their initial proposal that would have required 25% of utilities' power to come from New Energy by 2025.
• 2009/05/13: WSJ:EnvCap: Democratic Unity Elusive on Waxman Climate Bill
• 2009/05/14: Politico: GOP plans climate bill stall in committee
  Republicans know they can't stop Henry Waxman's ambitious climate change bill from clearing the Energy and Commerce Committee, but they're promising to make the ride as bumpy as possible. They plan to nitpick the Waxman bill into legislative oblivion by introducing more than 100 amendments during the committee debate. Some of those, they hope, will lure Democrats worried about the impact of energy proposals on hometown industries. "This is not going to be one of gentlemanly, pro forma markups," said Texas Rep. Joe Barton, the top Republican on the committee. "We're prepared for it to take weeks or months."
• 2009/05/13: FTimes: Bill Clinton urges 'strong' climate change bill
  The US Congress must pass a "strong" climate change bill before the global warming summit in Copenhagen this December if it is to have a chance of persuading China and India to sign up to a new treaty, says Bill Clinton.
• 2009/05/13: Guardian(UK): US Senate blocks Obama's nominee for top environmental post
  Republicans accused of using vote as payback after Obama's administration revoked oil-drilling permits near national parks President Barack Obama suffered a very public rebuff to his plans to green America's economy today when Republicans in the Senate blocked his choice of overseer for oil and gas exploration. David Hayes, an environmental lawyer, fell three votes short of the 60 needed for confirmation as the deputy interior secretary. Hayes had served in the same post when Bill Clinton was president. It was the first time an Obama nominee has fallen on the Senate floor, in a defeat engineered by Republicans from oil-rich states.
• 2009/05/13: EurActiv: US Democrats watering down climate targets
• 2009/05/13: NatureTGB: House Democrats report progress on climate
• 2009/05/13: ClimateP: "Democrats to Relax House Emissions Bill" -- now it gets a B or B- grade. Waxman asserts, "I believe we will have the votes to pass the bill" next week
• 2009/05/12: ClimateP: How I learned to stop worrying and love Waxman-Markey, Part 2: In praise of domestic offsets
• 2009/05/12: ClimateP: Global warming debate befuddles GOP: Joe Barton says regulating CO2 could 'close down the New York and Boston marathons'
• 2009/04/20: WRI: Brief Summary of the Waxman-Markey Discussion Draft
• 2009/05/12: CSM: Sticker shock in acting on global warming -- A House climate-change bill is watered down as its price goes up. Is that leadership?
• 2009/05/13: Yahoo: Democratic Climate Plan Would Trim CO2 Emissions 17%
• 2009/05/13: SavannahNow: Cap-and-trade act would help Georgia -- Proposed energy efficiency goal would save Georgia $6.3 billion in costs and create 9,000 jobs over the next decade.
• 2009/05/12: TheHill: Democrats break logjam on climate change bill
• 2009/05/11: ClimateP: House Dems near agreement on energy and climate bill. Energy and Commerce markup may be set for Thursday
• 2009/05/12: NEN: House energy/climate bill shaping up
• 2009/05/11: TheHill: Red wine, Blue Dogs, green agenda
• 2009/05/12: ThinkP: 'Smokey' Joe Barton: Regulating CO2 Could 'Close Down The New York And Boston Marathons'
• 2009/05/10: ClimateP: How I learned to stop worrying and love Waxman-Markey, Part 1: WRI calculates it will lead to a 31%* or higher cut in U.S. GHGs by 2020
• 2009/05/11: PlanetArk: US Climate Bill Unlikely To Pass This Year - Experts

  The draft text of the Waxman-Markey climate bill has been released:

• 2009/05/15: WarmingLaw: [link to 1.5 meg 927 page pdf] Waxman and Markey Release Full Text of American Clean Energy and Security Act
• 2009/05/15: CommonTragedies: 932 pages of excitement
• 2009/05/15: DM:CCM: The Waxman-Markey Climate Bill -- Tuff Enuff?
• 2009/05/15: EarthTimes: Democratic legislators unveil compromise US climate bill
• 2009/05/16: ENN: Climate Bill CO2 Allocations Strategy
• 2009/05/16: TBB: Dems' climate bill shortchanges Obama tax credit
• 2009/05/15: ClimateP: Waxman and Markey divvy up the goods -- I wish my parents had given me allowances like this!
• 2009/05/15: ClimateP: Pollution cuts in 2020 from House clean energy bill equal to taking 500 million cars off the road -- and double that in 2030
• 2009/05/14: ClimateP: Waxman's big get: VA Rep. Boucher says, "I intend to vote yes and I intend to encourage all other members of the committee to do the same" -- but who called the bill "a legislative Susan Boyle"? Pelosi backs off summer floor vote
• 2009/05/15: PlanetArk: House Democrats Retool U.S. Climate Bill
• 2009/05/15: WSJ:EnvCap: Waxman-Markey Bill: It's Giveaway Time for Emissions Permits
• 2009/05/13: Grist: Revamped House climate and energy bill has the votes to pass, says Waxman

  The vested interests are flexing their muscles against climate and energy legislation:

• 2009/05/12: PRWatch: Industry Tries to Put a Cap in Cap-and-Trade
• 2009/05/15: Guardian(UK): How to follow the fossil fuel money on Capitol Hill
  It is not easy to untangle the web of information available on which lobbyists are trying to influence who, but it can be done
• 2009/05/15: PlanetArk: U.S. Steelmakers Fear Burden In Climate Rules
• 2009/05/14: WSJ:EnvCap: Chamber of Commerce Details Opposition to Waxman-Markey Bill
• 2009/05/14: ClimateP: Follow the money: Global warming polluters pay to undermine Waxman-Markey clean energy bill [US pol & denial]
• 2009/05/14: PlanetArk: US Power Utilities Hail Carbon Bill Compromises
• 2009/05/14: AutoBG: Let's Make a Deal: Automakers reportedly reach agreement with lawmakers on carbon cap legislation
• 2009/05/12: TP:WonkRoom: [Senator Sheldon] Whitehouse (D-RI): Senate Is Corrupted By Carbon Pollution Cash
• 2009/05/12: TP:WonkRoom: Climate Pollution Cash Shaping Fate Of Waxman-Markey Clean Energy Legislation
• 2009/05/11: TP:WonkRoom: NAM Tries To Hide Its Opposition To Clean Energy Legislation After Utility Company Departs
• 2009/05/12: ThinkP: Analysis: Carbon cash to energy committee shapes climate debate
• 2009/05/13: OilChange: Fossil Fuel Lobby's $45 Million Propaganda Campaign
• 2009/05/12: Guardian(UK): Obama's key climate bill hit by $45m PR campaign
  America's oil, gas and coal industry has increased its lobbying budget by 50%, with key players spending $44.5m in the first three months of this year in an intense effort to cut off support for Barack Obama's plan to build a clean energy economy
• 2009/05/12: Guardian(UK): Dozen wavering Democrats hold key to fate of crucial climate change bill
  2,500 lobbyists, $45m on PR -- but just 12 views could make or break global carbon deal
• 2009/05/13: Guardian(UK): The key Democrat swing members in the House of Representatives energy subcommittee [list]
• 2009/05/11: Yahoo: The Influence Game: Firms exact climate price
  Utilities, steelmakers and oil industry lobbyists have tried to ease the pain of President Barack Obama's push to curb global warming, and they've gotten an early return on the millions of dollars they've spent influencing Congress. Lawmakers determined to get a deal on climate change are going along with valuable concessions to polluters. It's part of the political trading necessary when powerful industries are involved. The firms, many of which depend on coal -- the biggest source of heat-trapping gases -- hold heavy sway on Capitol Hill, where they have spent millions working to change policy and contributing to politicians' campaigns. They have a long history of halting environmental initiatives that threaten their profits, and their stance on the climate change measure -- a key element of Obama's agenda -- can't be ignored.
• 2009/05/12: ThinkP: Analysis: Carbon cash to energy committee shapes climate debate.
• 2009/05/12: TP:WonkRoom: Climate Pollution Cash Shaping Fate Of Waxman-Markey Clean Energy Legislation

  The Gore-apalooza is still bopping along:

• 2009/05/15: Grist: Al Gore rallies his grassroots supporters to help pass House climate bill
• 2009/05/15: Yahoo: Al Gore: US climate change bill a 'good start'
• 2009/05/11: Grist: Former McCain spokesperson joins Gore's team

  While in the UK:

• 2009/05/17: Guardian(UK): Which ministry is least green? The one that runs climate change
• 2009/05/16: TreeHugger: UK Wind Energy Companies in Open Conflict
• 2009/05/14: Guardian(UK): Green feed-in tariff needs to maximise solar power
  MPs and others are now starting to recognise the potential of solar power technology in the UK, but we are still only scratching the surface
• 2009/05/13: Guardian(UK): UK advertising rules save us from the climate lobbying mess in the US
  Freedom to buy public opinion curtails US democracy. The UK's political advertising restrictions are one thing we've got right
• 2009/05/12: NatureN: The way forwards for Britain's environment policy -- Bob Watson, the UK environment department's chief scientist, discusses research priorities
• 2009/05/12: PeakEnergy: G20 police 'used undercover men to incite crowds'
• 2009/05/11: BBC: Centrica in British Energy deal
  British Gas owner Centrica has said it is buying a 20% stake in nuclear firm British Energy for £2.3bn. Centrica had first agreed a £3.1bn deal with British Energy's French owner EDF last summer, and this would have seen it take a 25% stake. However, talks on the deal had dragged on after electricity prices fell. EDF's £12.5bn takeover of British Energy, which runs eight UK nuclear power plants, was concluded in January of this year. Centrica and EDF plan to build four new nuclear plants on existing sites as part of the the UK government's plans for the country to get more of its electricity from nuclear generation.
• 2009/05/11: Guardian(UK): CCS: Energy firms seek opt-outs over 2025 carbon capture deadline
  Power companies to ask the government not to force coal-fired plant closures in 2025 if carbon capture technology is not ready
• 2009/05/11: Guardian(UK): British businesses seek to cash in on carbon capture
  UK firms in strong position to run CCS projects around the world
• 2009/05/11: Guardian(UK): We must cut our emissions without cutting energy supply by Dorothy Thompson, CEO of Drax Group
  Chief executive of Britain's single biggest source of electricity -- and carbon -- calls for safety net in energy policy
• 2009/05/11: Guardian(UK): Centrica and EDF to build new generation of nuclear plants
  Two of the new nuclear plants are expected to be sited alongside the existing reactors at Sizewell in Suffolk and Hinkley Point in Somerset
• 2009/05/11: Guardian(UK): UK nuclear hopeful Areva attacked on safety
• 2009/05/11: Guardian(UK): Boxing clever: every UK household may get smart meter for gas and electricity
• 2009/05/11: BBC: The government is to unveil plans for every home in the UK to be equipped with smart meters by the end of 2020
• 2009/05/10: Guardian(UK): Government climate change report calls for new institutions to curb global warming

  And in Europe:

• 2009/05/14: EnvFin: WWF slams Commission proposal on carbon leakage
  The European Commission's plans to offer the EU's biggest polluters free emissions allowances to protect them from overseas competition could undermine the bloc's climate change credibility and reduce its clout in Copenhagen, warned the WWF today.
• 2009/05/15: EarthTimes: EU industrial emissions plunge as recession bites
• 2009/05/15: BBerg: EU Says CO2 Trade Helped Cut Emissions for First Time
• 2009/05/14: PlanetArk: EU Targets Transport, Power For Next Climate Action
• 2009/05/13: EarthTimes: Barroso: Next EU commission must target clean cars and power
• 2009/05/13: AutoBG: Spain announces 2,000 euro scrappage plan
• 2009/05/11: PlanetArk: Spain Plans Changes To Renewable Energy Aid Rules

  Meanwhile in Australia:

• 2009/05/17: ABC(Au): Rudd plans 'world's largest' solar project
  The Federal Government says it wants to create the largest solar energy project in the world. It says the project will be as close as possible to the existing energy grid. Visiting Liddell Power station in the Hunter Valley, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said the Government would spend almost $1.4 billion creating the project. The funding is part of the Government's commitment to spend $4.5 billion on reducing carbon pollution.
• 2009/05/13: GWWatch: Government ETS delay: A back-flip to the future
• 2009/05/15: WSWS: Australian government announces more pro-business concessions on carbon trading
• 2009/05/15: ABC(Au): Developers urge revision of sea level predictions
  Developers have asked the New South Wales Government to revise its forecast for sea level rises caused by climate change. New South Wales has predicted the sea level on its coast will rise 40 centimetres by 2050. But the development industry group, Urban Taskforce, says that is at least 10 centimetres higher than the level predicted by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia. A spokesman for the group, Aaron Gadiel, says the state government has chosen to take a doomsday approach to climate change.
• 2009/05/15: BNC: Voluntary Actions and the Rudd Government's changes to its proposed Carbon Pollution Reduction System
• 2009/05/14: ABC(Au): Emissions scheme 'unfair on coal miners'
  The union representing coal miners has called on the Federal Government to give the industry more compensation under its emissions trading scheme.
• 2009/05/14: ABC(Au): Govt seeks backing on emissions trading bill
  The Federal Government is trying to convince the Opposition and the crossbench senators to support its emissions trading legislation. The Government has introduced bills for its Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme to parliament and wants them passed by mid-year. But the scheme has been criticised by the other parties for being both too tough and too soft.
• 2009/05/14: ABC(Au): Govt to introduce carbon trade bill
  The Federal Government is still to convince the Opposition and minor parties to support its revised emissions trading scheme (ETS) legislation. The Government will introduce the laws into the Lower House this morning and hopes to have the scheme through Parliament by the end of June. But Greens Senator Christine Milne says she is certain the legislation will not pass in its present form. She says the Greens will not offer their support without Australia taking tougher emission reduction targets to a meeting of world leaders later this year.
• 2009/05/14: ABC(Au): Solar city push for NT
  One of four major solar energy farms flagged under this week's Federal Budget should be built in Katherine, says the Northern Territory Environment Centre.
• 2009/05/12: ClimateP: What exactly is the difference between journalism and blogging? ABC's Jake Tapper and the AP blow the "White House disses EPA endangerment finding" non-story.
• 2009/05/13: ABC(Au): Protesters disrupt Swan's post-Budget speech
  Climate change activists have strung a banner across the front of Parliament House to protest against the Federal Government's carbon emissions trading scheme (ETS). Half a dozen people were involved in the protest, which called on the Government to set tougher emissions reduction targets.
• 2009/05/12: ABC(Au): Green groups declare Budget 'mixed bag'
  Greenpeace says the Government's promise of $2 billion in extra funding to clean up coal is a waste of money that should go to renewable energy.
• 2009/05/12: ABC(Au): Clean energy gets $4.5b Budget boost
  The Federal Government has committed $4.5 billion to clean energy in the 2009-10 Budget, which it says will reduce emissions and boost employment. Under the plan, which includes $1 billion in existing funds, the Government aims to have 20 per cent of Australia's electricity coming from renewable sources by 2020.
• 2009/05/12: ABC(Au): The ACT Liberals say the Government should be focussing on cutting carbon emissions in the short term, instead of setting long term targets
• 2009/05/12: ABC(Au): Company to produce oil from carbon emissions
  A new-generation energy company is hoping to use carbon emissions from the Latrobe Valley to produce oil and stockfeed. MBD Energy has signed a memorandum of understanding with Loy Yang Power. The company wants to use carbon emissions to heat and feed strains of algae and then produce oil and stockfeed from the algae.
• 2009/05/12: ABC(Au): The ACT Government has set an ambitious goal to achieve zero net greenhouse gas emissions in the Territory but it will not say when it hopes to reach the target
• 2009/05/12: TheAge: Climate change sparks electricity change
  Australia is to change the way it makes electricity, with huge new solar power plants and cleaner coal facilities to be built. The federal government will spend billions "greening up" electricity and says it wants to lead the world in the field. Emissions trading has been delayed so the government is forging ahead with other ways to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
• 2009/05/11: ABC(Au): Coal industry not getting any credit for clean moves: ACA
  The Australian Coal Association (ACA) says the Federal Government has failed to take into account the industry's efforts in clean coal technology in its emissions trading scheme (ETS).
• 2009/05/11: PlanetArk: Australia Govt Rejects Coal Compensation Report
• 2009/05/11: BNC: Australia will break the world's carbon budget

  And in India:

• 2009/05/13: Reuters: Climate debuts in India polls, but little policy impact
  India's main parties are offering environment plans in their manifestos for the first time, but the chances of climate policies to limit emissions after the election are slim because of low public awareness.

While in China:

• 2009/05/15: TreeHugger: As China Rejects Carbon Caps, Krugman Pushes Carbon Tariffs
• 2009/05/15: NYT: Empire of Carbon
• 2009/05/10: NYT: China Outpaces U.S. in Cleaner Coal-Fired Plants
  China's frenetic construction of coal-fired power plants has raised worries around the world about the effect on climate change. China now uses more coal than the United States, Europe and Japan combined, making it the world's largest emitter of gases that are warming the planet. But largely missing in the hand-wringing is this: China has emerged in the past two years as the world's leading builder of more efficient, less polluting coal power plants, mastering the technology and driving down the cost. While the United States is still debating whether to build a more efficient kind of coal-fired power plant that uses extremely hot steam, China has begun building such plants at a rate of one a month.
• 2009/05/11: NYT: China Outpaces U.S. in Cleaner Coal-Fired Plants
• 2009/05/10: NEN: China building new energy with both hands
  Summary: In response to severe, health-threatening air pollution and rising costs for imported energy, especially oil, China has set aggressive goals for New Energy and nuclear energy.
• 2009/05/11: PeakEnergy: China poised to go all out with clean tech

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

• 2009/05/11: DeSmogBlog: The Stephen Harper War on Climate Science
• 2009/05/11: CBC: Uncertainty over feds' green plan wards off energy investments: report
  The Conservative government's cloudy greenhouse-gas policy is jeopardizing investments in Canada's energy sector, warns a government document. "Lack of clarity and certainly with respect to greenhouse-gas policy increases investment risks," says a briefing note prepared for Lisa Raitt when she became natural resources minister last autumn. A three-page briefing on energy and investment says "significant investments" are needed over the next decades to expand the country's energy infrastructure and develop new resources. But the industry is still waiting for regulations that were promised two years ago before players will spend on some of those projects. Draft rules were supposed to be published last fall after lengthy consultations, but that hasn't been done yet.
• 2009/05/11: DawgsBlawg: Descent into madness -- the retreat from science into a dark-age bunker of superstition and illiteracy, fortified with far-right ideology, is something we've already witnessed south of the border.
• 2009/05/11: G&M: Global warming critics appointed to science boards
  Harper government's actions are 'dreadful' and undercut public pledges to tackle climate change, leading glaciologist says. Top Canadian scientists are accusing the Harper government of politicizing science funding and jeopardizing climate research by naming global warming critics to key boards that fund science. The government's actions are "dreadful," said Garry Clarke, a leading international glaciologist at the University of British Columbia, and undercut public pledges to tackle climate change. "Their mouths are doing one thing and their hands are doing something different," Prof. Clarke said.

The Tories are worried US climate legislation will drag them into the 21st century:

• 2009/05/14: CanWest: U. S. Climate bill would be 'disaster' -- Prentice urges D. C. to drop proposed sanction
  Jim Prentice, the Minister of the Environment, yesterday warned U. S. lawmakers to drop proposed trade sanctions on imports from countries with higher levels of greenhouse gas emissions, saying the measure would be a "prescription for disaster" for the global economy. In the Harper government's toughest critique yet of draft U. S. climate legislation, Mr. Prentice told a Washington audience a proposal to slap a "carbon-border adjustment" fee on foreign manufacturers violates the core principles of international trade. In addition, any U. S. decision to impose such a trade tariff threatens the chances of reaching an international climate change deal later this year in Copenhagen, Mr. Prentice said.
• 2009/05/13: CBC: Canada's environment minister calls U.S. green tariff plan 'discrimination'
• 2009/05/13: CBC: Canada's environment minister to speak against U.S. green tariff proposal
  Canada's environment minister was to tell an American business organization that tariffs shouldn't be imposed on imports from countries that allow greater greenhouse-gas emissions than the United States. "Trade protectionism in the name of environmental protection would be a prescription for disaster for both the global economy and the global environment," says an advance copy of Jim Prentice's speech to the Council of the Americas. "And the threat of such unilateral action is a threat to global progress at this critical time in multilateral negotiations."

The Tories are pushing ethanol in spite of demonstrated problems:

• 2009/05/12: AutoBG: Canadian E5 mandate to move ahead despite concerns
• 2009/05/11: G&M: Ottawa to push ethanol, despite concerns
  As Prentice prepares bio-fuel regulation, controversy grows in the U.S. over indirect land-use emissions Ottawa is set to push ahead with a plan to dramatically increase the use of grain-based ethanol, despite growing controversy over the greenhouse gas emissions that result from agricultural practices used to grow the feedstock grains. Environment Minister Jim Prentice has won cabinet approval to proceed with regulations requiring refiners to include at least 5 per cent ethanol in their gasoline by September, 2010, sources say. A spokesman for Mr. Prentice's office said the Minister had "nothing to announce" on the issue of ethanol regulations. The department has invited the industry to a briefing this week in which officials will outline how the government intends to proceed.
• 2009/05/11: TreeHugger: No! Canada to Mandate 5% Ethanol in Gasoline by 2010

  The Commissioner of the Environment had bad things to say about Canadian governement GHG stats:

• 2009/05/08: OAG:GC: 2009 Spring Report of the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development
• 2009/05/12: CBC: Federal predictions of greenhouse gas reductions are exaggerated: watchdog
  The federal government has overstated greenhouse gas reductions expected as a result of its climate change plans and is failing to count the actual reductions to see if they match with predictions, according to a report tabled in Parliament. "Without a system to count real emission reductions that result from its measures, the government will not be able to inform Parliament whether the measures are working," Scott Vaughan, commissioner of the environment and sustainable development, said Tuesday in the text of a prepared statement. Vaughan, who works in the Office of the Auditor General of Canada, made the findings in audit reports tabled in Parliament Tuesday alongside reports from the auditor general
• 2009/05/12: Yahoo: Canada scolded over greenhouse gas estimates
  Canada has overstated how effective its efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions will be, the country's top environmental watchdog said on Tuesday. The government has also not set up systems for accurately monitoring reductions in greenhouse gases or where the emissions are coming from, according to Commissioner of the Environment Scott Vaughan. Ottawa is required to make annual reports on emission reductions, but Vaughan said the government's reports for the past two years lack key information needed to see if Canada is making any progress in cutting emissions of gases such as carbon dioxide, which are blamed for global warming. "The expected emission reductions claimed in the plans are overstated, and the uncertainties related to these reductions are not disclosed," the report said.
• 2009/05/13: PlanetArk: Canada Scolded Over Greenhouse Gas Estimates

  And one gets the impression the Tories are still fighting the cold war:

• 2009/05/16: G&M: Hands off our Arctic, Canada tells Europeans
  As countries scramble to grab a piece of the Arctic, Ottawa is fighting back with an aggressive PR campaign across Europe that this isn't an unclaimed wasteland. It's active, it's a home -- and it's ours
• 2009/05/14: CanWest: Canada ready to defend Arctic sovereignty: Cannon
  Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon said Thursday that the Conservative government will strive to "work peacefully" with other polar nations but "will not hesitate to defend Canadian Arctic sovereignty." The statement came a day after the release of a new Russian government report that predicts possible military conflict over Arctic oil.
• 2009/05/14: Google:CP: Harper government foisting Arctic policy on northerners: Senate committee
• 2009/05/15: OttawaSun: Climate change situation in North heats up

  Now this could be a good thing, but it will require buy-in by a lot of manufacturers:

• 2009/05/15: CBC: Government gets power to set energy standards for turned-off devices
  The federal government can now set limits on the amount of power that electronic devices such as computers and televisions can draw while they're turned off. The government was given the power to set those standards in amendments to the Energy Efficiency Act that gained royal assent Thursday, said a news release from Natural Resources Canada.

BC had their election. The government won:

• 2009/05/13: PEF: Reading the entrails of BC's election
• 2009/05/12: DeSmogBlog: Carbon Tax Wins: Cheap Politics Loses in B.C. Election
• 2009/05/12: CanWest: B.C. election: Gordon Campbell wins third consecutive term as premier
• 2009/05/13: MoD: The BC carbon tax referendum says YES! to the tax
• 2009/05/12: CBC: Campbell wins third straight term in B.C.
• 2009/05/09: Straight: Peak oil fails to register with Gordon Campbell and Carole James
• 2009/05/11: DeSmogBlog: Former NDP Premier Mike Harcourt Throws Support Behind BC Carbon Tax
• 2009/05/10: DeSmogBlog: B.C. NDP - Greens = Liberal victory Tuesday

  The Ontario legislature has passed the Green Energy Act:

• 2009/05/15: Tyee: Ontario passes Green Energy Act
• 2009/05/14: CleanBreak: Historic energy law: Ontario Green Energy Act passes by significant margin
• 2009/05/14: G&M: Ontario passes Green Energy Act
• 2009/05/14: CBC: Bill promising to boost green projects, create jobs, passes in [Ontario] legislature
  New legislation promising to create thousands of jobs and make more room for renewable energy has passed in the legislature. The green energy act is being touted as a key piece of legislation that will transform the province's struggling economy. It passed in a 59 to 13 vote, despite opposition from the Progressive Conservatives.
• 2009/05/14: G&M: Ontario passes Green Energy Act

  And elsewhere in Ontario:

• 2009/05/16: TSun: Nuke deal could fuel jobs -- Awarding reactor contract to Canuck firm would be a massive jolt to ailing Ontario economy
• 2009/05/15: BBerg: Ontario Picks Atomic Energy of Canada for Reactors, Globe Says
• 2009/05/15: G&M: AECL favoured to build Ontario reactors -- Risk-sharing deal with Ottawa sought

  Quebec has proposed legislation adopting the WCI-ETS:

• 2009/05/13: G&M: Quebec moves to adopt [WCI] cap and trade system
  Participation aimed at pressuring Ottawa to help 'develop a Canadian carbon market compatible with what is taking place elsewhere'
• 2009/05/13: CBC: New Quebec law will legislate greenhouse gas cuts, carbon trade
  The Quebec government has tabled legislation that aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and set up a carbon trading market across North America. Provincial Environment Minister Line Beauchamp introduced the bill Tuesday in the national assembly, Quebec's provincial legislature. Bill 42 is designed to allow Quebec to participate in the Western Climate Initiative, a carbon trade agreement between four Canadian provinces and seven U.S. states.

Meanwhile in that Mechanical Mordor known as the tar sands:

• 2009/05/14: Reuters: Churches to probe impacts of Canadian oil sands
• 2009/05/15: CanWest: Church leaders to judge tarsands morality
  Canadian church leaders -- including three from the heart of the oilpatch in Calgary-- will explore moral, ethical and spiritual issues surrounding tarsands development when they travel to northern Alberta next week on a fact-finding mission. After the visit, delegates say, churches around the country will be better educated to formulate an official stance for their congregations on the environmental impact of tarsands development.
• 2009/05/14: DeSmogBlog: The Fantasy of "Green Bitumen"
• 2009/05/12: CanWest: Developing oil sands to become even more costly: CERI [Canadian Energy Research Institute]
  Even as oil briefly crossed above US$60 a barrel Tuesday, what's becoming increasingly clear is that Canada's oil sands won't be the Holy Grail everyone expected to meet the energy supply needs of the future. As shown in a report Tuesday by the Canadian Energy Research Institute, the cost of complying with climate-change legislation that is being aggressively pushed in the United States will make Canada's oil sands, already the world's most expensive to develop, even more costly. It will probably also make them the world's most regulated.
• 2009/05/13: WSJ:EnvCap: Shifting Sands: Taxing Carbon Could Stall Oil Sands Growth
• 2009/05/13: CBC: Alberta collecting 48 cents per barrel of bitumen: Liberals
  Alberta is only getting 48 cents in royalties on a barrel of oilsands bitumen, down from more than $14 a barrel a year ago, according to documents dug up by the provincial Liberals. Liberal energy critic Kevin Taft presented the figures Tuesday in the legislature, saying the numbers came from the first-quarter report of Canadian Oilsands Trust, the largest shareholder in Syncrude Canada Ltd. The documents show that in the first quarter of 2008, the company paid $14.57 in royalties and had a net income per barrel of $32.95, compared to only 48 cents this year and a net income of $4.60.
• 2009/05/12: G&M: Bigger penalties key to tackling 'dirty oil': study -- 'Going green is a challenge that can be met'
  Governments will have to dramatically increase the penalties for emitting greenhouse gases before Canada's oil sands producers have a financial incentive to invest in carbon capture and storage, says a new study by the Canadian Energy Research Institute. In a report released yesterday, the Calgary-based institute's research director David McColl offered "plausible" scenarios under which projects now known for producing "dirty oil" would yield "green bitumen," with less greenhouse gas emissions than conventional oil production. "Going green is a challenge that can be met," Mr. McColl said, citing both carbon capture and nuclear power as alternative technologies. He noted that Canadian and U.S. jurisdictions are adopting low-carbon fuel standards that will force Alberta's oil companies to come to grips with the cost of abatement.

As for miscellaneous Canadiana:

• 2009/05/16: CanWest: The threat of a cap-and-trade swindle
  The closer the United States gets to adopting a cap-and-trade system to control greenhouse gas emissions, the more frightening it gets.
• 2009/05/10: G&M: Canadians cool on carbon tax: poll
  Canadians are willing to flirt with a nationwide carbon tax to fight climate change, but bets are off when it comes to paying the bill, a new poll has found. A Harris-Decima telephone poll conducted exclusively for The Canadian Press found 49 per cent of respondents said they supported bringing in a carbon tax. But when asked specifically if they'd support a carbon tax like British Columbia's which would incrementally hike the cost of gas and home heating oil, support dropped to 42 per cent.
• 2009/05/11: CBC: Sask. government to release greenhouse gas plan
• 2009/05/11: CBC: U.S. polar bear decisions frustrate Nunavut Inuit group

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

• 2009/05/14: BristlingBadger: Economists vs climate
• 2009/05/16: MTobis: The Cruel Hoax: Growth and Equity Cannot be Sustained
• 2009/05/11: Zone5: Global Citizenship- Opportunities for Change
• 2009/05/10: MTobis: The Great Relaxation Revisited
• 2009/05/07: EPI: Needed: A Copernican Shift

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

• 2009/05/17: DotEarth: Disaster Hot Spots on a Crowding Planet
• 2009/05/15: NewScientist: David Attenborough: Our planet is overcrowded

  Apocalypso anyone?

• 2009/05/15: ABC(US): 'Recession Apocalypse': Preparing for the End of the World -- Economic Survivalists Hunker Down for Doomsday; Recession Triggers Movement Toward Self-Sufficiency
• 2009/05/15: AlterNet: Humans Seem Hell Bent on Committing Mass Suicide -- But There's Still Hope
• 2009/05/13: OilDrum: On American Sustainability - Anatomy of Societal Collapse (Summary)

  As for how the media handles the science of climatology:

• 2009/05/14: Grist: The Climate Post: The blind press grope the carbon legislation elephant
• 2009/05/17: Guardian(UK): Writers and artists are getting warmer
  From daring London plays to Hollywood films, global warming is at last taking centre stage
• 2009/05/14: ClimateP: New York Times runs absurdly misleading headline on Revkin's sea level rise (non)story
• 2009/05/14: Guardian(UK): The public deserves the full picture on climate change -- Simplistic stories and cliché pictures of polar bears have failed to engage people in the true debate, says Nasa scientist [Gavin Schmidt]
• 2009/05/12: ClimateP: What exactly is the difference between journalism and blogging? ABC's Jake Tapper and the AP blow the "White House disses EPA endangerment finding" non-story.
• 2009/05/10: BSD: Question for Howard Kurtz about George Will; and critiquing Elizabeth Kolbert

  And for your film & video enjoyment:

• 2009/05/09: BC: DVD Review: _Crude Impact_

  Meanwhile among the 'Sue the Bastards!' contingent:

• 2009/05/15: WarmingLaw: Whatever You Do, Don't Mess With Big River Spinedace
  The Center for Biological Diversity announced Wednesday that it has filed notice with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service -- both housed within the Department of Interior - stating that it intends to file a lawsuit challenging a government plan that includes selling public lands in eastern Nevada for construction of three coal-fired power plants.
• 2009/05/14: STimes: Enviros sue EPA over ocean acidification

  Wrestling over a new energy infrastructure continues unabated:

• 2009/05/16: SciDaily: New Fuel Cell Catalyst Uses Two Metals: Up To Five Times More Effective
  Material scientists at Washington University in St. Louis have developed a technique for a bimetallic fuel cell catalyst that is efficient, robust and two to five times more effective than commercial catalysts. The novel technique eventually will enable a cost effective fuel cell technology, which has been waiting in the wings for decades, and should give a boost for cleaner use of fuels worldwide.
• 2009/05/16: TStar: A maverick's message on oil -- Jeff Rubin says prices are going nowhere but up, and life as we know it will change forever
• 2009/05/16: CleanBreak: GE adds a bit of sodium to its diet
  ...a new manufacturing facility for sodium-nickel-chloride (or molten salt) batteries, an energy-dense storage chemistry that will be targeted at new hybrid-electric trains, tugboat electrification, and utility-scale storage
• 2009/05/14: EnvFin: EU, US renewables growth outstrips conventional sources
  More renewable energy than conventional power capacity was added in both the EU and the US for the first time in 2008, according to the annual report from stakeholder group REN21.
• 2009/05/14: EnvFin: VC investment in clean-tech plummets -- Ernst & Young
• 2009/05/15: NEN: New energy a best bet long term
  Summary: The New Energy industries expect slow short term growth but Kiplinger, known for its astute market forecasts, predicts that when credit frees up and the ground rules for the use of the stimulus monies are clarified New Energy will boom.
• 2009/05/15: NEN: Texas study says emissions cuts could come at moderate cost
  Summary: The price of electricity may only be affected modestly by climate change legislation requiring significant cuts in greenhouse gas emissions (GhGs) if the cuts are accompanied by improvements in Energy Efficiency. That is the conclusion of a study performed by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) at the request of the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT).
• 2009/05/13: CNN: Let's get real about alternative energy
  David MacKay: Replacing fossil fuels will take a massive level of construction - He says most people don't understand the size and scope of the effort needed - Turning off cell phone charger is a minuscule contribution to saving energy, he says - He says hydrogen-powered cars use too much energy to solve the problem
  David MacKay is a professor of physics at the University of Cambridge. His book, "Sustainable Energy - Without the Hot Air," is published by UIT Cambridge and is also available in electronic form forfree...
• 2009/05/11: Reuters: RAND says cost of oil supply disruption worst threat
• 2009/05/13: UNDispatch: What to burn in the developing world?
• 2009/05/13: PlanetArk: Australia To Build Clean-Power Stations
• 2009/05/11: BBC: BP brings 'green era' to a close
• 2009/05/11: SacBee: Prominent power lines dim green enthusiasm for some
• 2009/05/13: EconView: Energy Update -- Dallas Fed's Quarterly Energy Update
• 2009/05/07: E&C: 10 Inconvenient Truths from the World's Biggest O&G [Oil&Gas] Conference
• 2009/05/11: EnergyBulletin: Never put off until tomorrow...

  Remember the Internation Renewable Energy Agency?

• 2009/05/13: EarthTimes: Bangladesh supports UAE to host IRENA headquarters

  The answer my friend...:

• 2009/05/14: EnvFin: Despite Array, clouds on horizon for UK offshore wind
  The UK government will have to extend its additional subsidy for offshore wind, or the industry will have to cut its costs, if the UK's medium-term targets for renewable energy are to remain in sight, according to bankers and analysts.
• 2009/05/15: PlanetArk: [Spanish wind turbine manufacturer] Gamesa First Quarter Core Earnings Up 22 Percent
• 2009/05/13: Times(UK): The Value of Wind -- why more renewable energy means lower electricity bills
• 2009/05/13: PlanetArk: London Array Offshore Wind Project To Go Ahead
• 2009/05/13: NEN: $3 bil for gigantic London offshore wind
• 2009/05/12: EarthTimes: Pioneering off-shore wind farm projects gets go-ahead in Britain
• 2009/05/12: TreeHugger: The 1 GW London Array Offshore Wind Farm (Again) Moving Forward: First Electricity in 2012
• 2009/05/12: TStar: For and against wind power -- Utility-scale wind energy, critics insist, is neither as green as supporters say, nor as economical
• 2009/05/12: ScottsDiatribe: Pros and cons of wind power
• 2009/05/11: CBC: Ottawa invention aims to quiet helicopters, wind turbines
• 2009/05/11: EurActiv: US overtakes Germany as 'country for wind'

  Meanwhile among the solar aficionados:

• 2009/05/17: ABC(Au): Rudd plans 'world's largest' solar project
  The Federal Government says it wants to create the largest solar energy project in the world. It says the project will be as close as possible to the existing energy grid. Visiting Liddell Power station in the Hunter Valley, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said the Government would spend almost $1.4 billion creating the project. The funding is part of the Government's commitment to spend $4.5 billion on reducing carbon pollution.
• 2009/05/17: EarthTimes: Sunny Australia warms to solar power
• 2009/05/15: PlanetArk: PG&E Expands Deal With BrightSource [for more than 1.3 gigawatts (GW) of clean, solar energy]
• 2009/05/15: PlanetArk: German Solars See Stronger Second Half
• 2009/05/14: TreeHugger: 1.3 Gigawatts of Solar Thermal Power in California to be Developed by PG&E and BrightSource
• 2009/05/13: ClimateP: World's largest solar plant with thermal storage to be built in Arizona -- total of 8500 MW of this core climate solution planned for 2014 in U.S. alone
• 2009/05/13: TreeHugger: Largest Solar Plant in the World Coming to Arizona?
• 2009/05/13: TreeHugger: Stadium in Taiwan Almost Completely Covered in Solar Panels
• 2009/05/13: Reuters: Solar power unlikely to be competitive - BP [CEO Tony Hayward]
• 2009/05/12: SciDaily: Concentration Solar Power Module Integrates Into Side And Roof Of Buildings
• 2009/05/12: Guardian(UK): Cost of solar energy will match fossil fuels by 2013, claims Solar Century
  Falling production costs for solar panels and increasing nonrenewables electricity costs have brought parity closer
• 2009/05/11: TreeHugger: San Francisco's New Solar Power Array Will Triple Renewable Energy Capacity [to 5 megawatts]
• 2009/05/10: PeakEnergy: Cheaper Solar Concentrators

  Meanwhile in the clean coal saga:

• 2009/05/15: TreeHugger: 'Clean Coal' Gets $2.4 Billion Boost from Department of Energy
• 2009/05/11: DeSmogBlog: Cheap, Clean Coal: Ain't Clean - and it Ain't Cheap, Either

  Biofuel bickering abounds:

• 2009/05/16: PeakEnergy: GreenFuel Technologies Closing Down
• 2009/05/15: IR^2: GreenFuel Bites the Dust
• 2009/05/15: Yahoo: The Great Ethanol Scam
• 2009/05/14: TreeHugger: Algae Biofuel Pioneer GreenFuel Technology Closes Down
• 2009/05/14: BBC: Going bananas for energy in Africa
• 2009/05/13: PlanetArk: Palm Oil Buyers Face Green Scorecard, WWF Says
• 2009/05/13: TreeHugger: Jatropha Biofuel Yields in Indian Wastelands 80% Below Forecasts
• 2009/05/13: SciDaily: Advance Toward Producing Biofuels [via GE microbes] Without Stressing Global Food Supply
• 2009/05/13: NEN: Agrofuels -- the real emissions count
• 2009/05/12: GreenGrok: Biofuels Can Be Electrifying
• 2009/05/08: Reuters: White Energy files for bankruptcy protection
  Ethanol producer White Energy Inc filed for Chapter 11 protection in a Delaware bankruptcy court on Thursday, citing adverse market conditions, court documents showed. In court filings, the company said that while cost of raw materials to produce ethanol were high, excess supply of ethanol in the market has kept ethanol prices low, resulting in "minimal or non-existent profit margins."

The nuclear energy controversy continues:

• 2009/05/14: EarthTimes: New nuclear reactor 'off schedule', admits Latvia Prime Minister
• 2009/05/14: WSJ:EnvCap: Yucca Mountain: From Hole in the Desert to True Money Pit
• 2009/05/12: EarthTimes: Nuclear agency wants to halt work at Finnish plant pending checks

  Yes we have peak everything:

• 2009/05/14: T&L: Peak oil an imminent threat, warns expert
• 2009/05/11: MTobis: Peak All
• 2009/05/11: Discovery: Coal Supply May Be Vastly Overestimated

  More people are talking about the electrical grid:

• 2009/05/13: WSJ:EnvCap: Moving Electricity via Super-Cold Cables Wins Influential D.C. Ally
• 2009/05/12: BBerg: Edison's 230-Mile 'Extension Cord' Fuels U.S. Fight
• 2009/05/12: PeakEnergy: 'Distributed power' to save Earth
• 2009/05/11: NEN: All South Dakota needs is wire for its wind

  And then there is the matter of efficiency & conservation:

• 2009/05/14: CleanBreak: Efficiency debate: The pros and cons of consumer electronics
• 2009/05/15: Eureka: Researchers closer to the ultimate green ['magnetic' refrigerators and air conditioning systems]
• 2009/05/14: MNN:KBK: 7 amazing facts about energy efficiency -- The Sustainable Energy Coalition's list of 7 facts about energy efficiency
• 2009/05/14: Guardian(UK): 'Rebound effects' of energy efficiency could halve carbon savings, says study
• 2009/05/14: TreeHugger: Energy Usage Increases Despite Efficiency Efforts
• 2009/05/14: WSJ:EnvCap: Energy Efficiency: Silver Bullet or Double-Edged Sword?
• 2009/05/13: PhysOrg: IEA urges more energy-efficient gadgets

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

• 2009/05/15: EurActiv: Bicycles touted as 'first modern post-fossil vehicle'
• 2009/05/13: MTobis: Car Free
• 2009/05/13: AutoBG: Toyota apparently not giving up on fuel cells, may move it up to 2014
• 2009/05/13: CBC: Toyota slashes annual production goal [28%] to 7-year low
• 2009/05/13: GEA: 1000 GM Dealerships Forced Out May 15; Executives Dump Shares; Restructuring May Fail
• 2009/05/13: AutoBG: Spain announces 2,000 euro scrappage plan
• 2009/05/13: AutoBG: Cash-for-Clunkers bill may get fast tracked
• 2009/05/12: CommonTragedies: A Bit More on Cash-for-Clunkers
• 2009/05/11: USAToday: Q&A: How the 'cash-for-clunker' plan would work
• 2009/05/11: PhysOrg: Lightweight electric motor on track
• 2009/02/02: Progressive: The Myth of the Efficient Car

  The reaction of business to climate change will be critical:

• 2009/05/12: NEN: As predicted, 1Q-'09 VC spending on new energy way off

  Meanwhile in the greenwashing chronicles:

• 2009/05/10: PRWatch: The Best Media Chevron Can Buy
• 2009/05/14: DeSmogBlog: The Fantasy of "Green Bitumen"

  Insurance and re-insurance companies are feeling the heat:

• 2009/05/13: PlanetArk: Perils Says Jan. Storm Cost Insurers $2 Bln
  Perils AG, established this year to aggregate and provide industry-wide European catastrophe insurance data, said on Tuesday that January's deadly storm in France and Spain had cost insurers about 1.55 billion euros (US$2.11 billion).

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

• 2009/05/15: ClimateP: Energy and Global Warming News for May 15th: Climate change drives new Southwest Dust Bowl, Clunkers deal hits Senate pothole
• 2009/05/14: ClimateP: Energy and Global Warming News for May 14th: Joe 'get shade' Barton and House GOP plan to fiddle furiously while planet burns
• 2009/05/13: ClimateP: Energy and Global Warming News for May 13
• 2009/05/12: ClimateP: Energy and Global Warming News for May 12: Australian region loses 95% of rice harvest to drought, floods
• 2009/05/11: ClimateP: Energy and Global Warming News for May 11th: 'Cash for clunkers' deal not a climate winner

  The carbon lobby are up to the usual:

• 2009/05/10: BristlingBadger: god forbids climate change
• 2009/05/12: GWWatch: AGW deniers deny World Vision children
• 2009/05/13: GWWatch: Is Ian Plimer's Heaven and Earth a sell-out?
• 2009/05/11: PRWatch: BP: We Won't Blow You Up, Just Ruin the Planet
• 2009/05/15: Deltoid: Ian Plimer lies about source of his figure 3
• 2009/05/14: CNN:Fortune: What if global-warming fears are overblown? [John Christy]
• 2009/05/15: IJI: Heartland Institute tries to save climate 'skepticism' from wingnuts --- and fails?
• 2009/05/13: ThinkP: Glenn Beck Exhales And States: 'Look How Much Pollution I Just Put Out!'
• 2009/05/13: Deltoid: Ian Enting is checking Plimer's claims
• 2009/05/13: DM:CCM: Dear Wingnut: You're a Wingnut
• 2009/05/12: BCLSB: Anthony Watts And Surface Stations: The Wait Is Still On
• 2009/05/12: OilChange: Sunset for the Sceptics
• 2009/05/11: Grist: Just the (industry-sponsored) facts -- Chevron hires former CNN correspondent to spin report on Amazon destruction
• 2009/05/11: DeSmogBlog: ACCCE's Wild and Crazy Advertising Claims Debunked

  Then there was the miscellaneous news and commentary:

• 2009/05/11: PEF: Planet Before Politics
• 2009/05/13: GWWatch: Reduced emissions with increased productivity
• 2009/05/14: Reuters: Poorest need funds to combat climate change: report
• 2009/05/14: EarthTimes: Swedish study: Climate change efforts should focus on poor
• 2009/05/15: LA Times: Can 350.org save the world? [Bill McKibben]
• 2009/05/13: ClimateP: Mark Mellman must read on climate messaging: "A strong public consensus has emerged on the reality and severity of global warming, as well as on the need for federal action" -- ecoAmerica "could hardly be more wrong"
• 2009/05/13: NewScientist: The man who discovered greenhouse gases
• 2009/05/12: Eureka: Scientists aim to bring indigenous people into climate change monitoring and policy
• 2009/05/12: FP: Nicholas Stern's new climate crusade
• 2009/05/11: ClimateP: Dealing with climate trauma and global warming burnout
• 2009/05/09: HND: Loss of Peat Bogs Around the World Affects Climate Change
• 2009/05/11: NZHerald: Michel Jarraud [WMO Secretary-General]: Global warming proof undeniable

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

• Bristling Badger
• GCC: Green Car Congress
• MNN: Mother Nature Network
• Wilderhill Clean Energy Index
• WRI: World Resources Institute
• Atmoz
• World Ocean Conference 2009
• Global Climate Change
• EESI: Environmental and Energy Study Institute Briefings
• WWF on Climate Change
• European Commission on the Environment
• Metis: Discussion and announcements on climate science policy
• The Climate Change Caucus in the US House of Representatives
• PEARL: Paleoecological Environmental Assessment and Research Laboratory
• Stefan Rahmstorf - List of Publications
• JEB: James' Empty Blog
• Konrad Steffen Research Group, CIRES/University of Colorado
• NASA:GSFC: ICESat (Ice, Cloud,and land Elevation Satellite)
• Publications - Innsbruck Tropical Glaciology Group (many in .pdf)
• EDGAR: Emission Database for Global Atmospheric Research

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.

"Are We That Stupid? Because we have done nothing yet, now we must prepare for a world 4° C warmer. This used to be the 'worst case' scenario and is now the best we can hope for, accompanied by abrupt and irreversible climate shifts. And new studies show that it is the total amount of CO2 released, not the emission rate nor the atmospheric concentration that is the deciding factor. The longer we wait to Do Something, the quicker we will have to stop burning fossil fuel. Not cut back, stop.No oil, no coal. And, yes, we are exactly that stupid." -CK Michaelson

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