Another Week of GW News, June 14, 2009

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Another week of Climate Disruption News

June 14, 2009

• Top Stories: Bonn, USA & China, REDD, Peru, Over 2C, Upcoming G8
• Melting Arctic, Geopolitics, Gentle Education, Sol, New Measure
• Food Crisis, Food vs. Biofuel, Food Production
• Hurricanes, GHGs, Temperatures, Paleoclimate, ENSO, Glaciers, Sea Levels
• Impacts, Forests, Corals, Climate Refugees, Wacky Weather, Tornadoes, Wildfires, Floods & Droughts
• Mitigation, Transportation, IATA Meeting, Buildings, Sequestration, Adaptation
• Journals, Other Docs, Misc. Science, Dyson
• UN, Emission Trading, Carbon Tax, Optimal Carbon Reduction Strategy, Offset Fraud
• Politics: International, Security, America, Obama, Britain, Europe, Australia, India, China, Japan, Asia, South America, Canada
• Ecological Economics, IPAT, Apocalypso, Media, Books, Courts
• Energy, Wind, Solar, Coal, Biofuel, Nukes, Peak Oil, Grid, Efficiency, Cars, Business, Insurance, Joe's List
• Carbon Lobby, Miscellaneous Climate, Useful Links
• Shameless Self Promotion, .sig

Lots of chatter about Bonn again this week:

• 2009/06/12: ClimateP: After Bonn, a safe future for youth still in doubt
• 2009/06/12: WorldChanging: Blame Games On Climate Change
• 2009/06/13: EarthTimes: Climate change expert says no deal by Copenhagen [Elliot Diringer of the Pew Centre on Global Climate Change interview]
• 2009/06/13: NYT: Climate Change Treaty, to Go Beyond the Kyoto Protocol, Is Expected by the Year's End
  The world is on track to produce a new global climate treaty by December, the top United Nations climate official said Friday as delegates from more than 100 nations concluded 12 days of talks in Bonn, Germany. The delegates issued a 200-page document that they said would serve as the starting point for treaty negotiations that open in Copenhagen in December. "Time is short, but we still have enough time," the official, Yvo de Boer, who is the executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, said at a briefing. "I'm confident that governments can reach an agreement and want an agreement."
• 2009/06/12: Guardian(UK): Blame games on climate change -- If nations can rise above past conflicts, why can't they work together at the climate change talks in Bonn?
• 2009/06/13: MoD: Why international climate negotiations haven't gone anywhere
• 2009/06/11: EnvFin: Public sector must lead way on climate finance - China
  Governments from developed countries must lead the way on finance for climate change adaptation, mitigation and technology transfer, said a negotiator for China today at UN climate talks. Speaking on the sidelines of UN climate talks in Bonn, Zhu Liucai told Environmental Finance that public financing plays "a crucial role" in future funding mechanisms to support developing nations. "Public finance can play a catalytic role, to leverage the private sector," Zhu said. "If everything depends on the market itself, then why are we here?" China has proposed that 0.5-1% of developed countries' GDP each year be put into a central fund to finance technology transfer, climate change adaptation and mitigation measures, and capacity building in developing nations.
• 2009/06/12: Guardian(UK): Gossip and mistrust replace progress at Bonn as campaigners fear the US will settle for deal with China
  Despite the hardened scientific view since Kyoto, the deal at Copenhagen risks being another messy compromise As another set of climate talks wrap up with little outward sign of progress, are the chances of a new global deal to combat the threat of global warming slipping out of reach? Even battle-hardened green campaigners saw few reasons for optimism this week in Bonn. One group was considering whether to simply reissue the same press release about the state of negotiations they sent out last year, partly as a protest at the impasse, but partly because the picture has simply not changed since.
• 2009/06/12: Guardian(UK): UN says Bonn talks are a step closer to Copenhagen climate treaty
• 2009/06/12: UN: Ambitious global climate change agreement in sight, says top UN official
• 2009/06/11: Reuters: U.S. climate bill, U.N. pact seen more likely in 2010
• 2009/06/12: Reuters: UN climate talks advance, poor urge more CO2 cuts
• 2009/06/12: Times(UK): Climate pact in jeopardy as China refuses to cut carbon emissions
• 2009/06/11: Thaindian: India unhappy with Bonn climate talks
• 2009/06/11: IPSNews: Agreement Prospects Slipping Away
  As the electronic clock at the preparatory talks here in the former West German capital counted up to the crucial UN climate change conference Dec. 7-18 in Copenhagen, the possibility of a new treaty being hammered out appeared rather remote.
• 2009/06/11: TerraDaily: Rich countries failing in climate pledges, says India
• 2009/06/12: Yahoo: Climate talks: Proposals proliferate as clock ticks
  New talks on building a treaty to tackle climate change headed for a close here Friday after a negotiation blueprint ballooned into a forest of rival proposals, leaving only six months on the clock to seal a deal. Delegates saw little common ground in the 12-day talks held under the UN's Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), but some remained upbeat the historic pact would emerge on schedule in Copenhagen in December. A 50-page draft negotiation text grew to more than 200 pages by Friday, generating a phonebook-sized compilation of overlapping or competing proposals and creating an unprecedented task in haggling over the coming months.
• 2009/06/12: SolveClimate: Bonn Talks Produce Ideas for Financing Climate Adaptation but No Agreements
• 2009/06/12: SolveClimate: China's Emissions Targets: a (Non)Reductionist Approach
• 2009/06/11: ABC(Au): Deep injustice at the heart of climate change [Bonn]
• 2009/06/11: Thaindian: No detailed deal in Copenhagen: UN climate chief
• 2009/06/11: NewKerala: No money, no climate change inspection: India
  India will not let the international community check on what it's doing to combat climate change unless industrialised countries provide adequate financing and transfer green technologies, say government delegates.
• 2009/06/10: Grist: Full climate deal unlikely in Copenhagen, warns UN's de Boer
• 2009/06/10: Grist: Transparency at the Bonn climate negotiations
• 2009/06/09: BizMirror(Ph): Glacial pace in climate talks scored
• 2009/06/10: IndiaTimes: Lots of emissions but few solutions at climate meet
• 2009/06/09: Guardian(UK): Climate talks on their own terms
  Powerful global leaders -- including Obama -- are still refusing to take proper action to prevent a 2C+ rise in temperatures
• 2009/06/09: EurActiv: China chides rich countries' low climate ambitions
  "Lack of political will" on the part of developed nations has hindered any substantial progress towards a new climate treaty in the ongoing United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) talks in Bonn, according to the acting chief of the Chinese delegation to the second round of the global climate talks.
• 2009/06/09: PlanetArk: Greens' UN climate advice: slash CO2, pay $160 billion
• 2009/06/09: Grist: At Bonn climate talks, it's a dialogue of the deaf
• 2009/06/08: NYT:GreenInc: How Much Should Poor Countries Be Paid to Fight Climate Change?
• 2009/06/08: TerraDaily: Green groups unveil ideal 'Copenhagen Climate Treaty'
  An alliance of green groups on Monday unveiled their ideal for a new climate treaty, calling on rich nations to slash their carbon pollution by more than 40 percent by 2020 and by 95 percent by 2050. Their envisioned "Copenhagen Climate Treaty" was released at the latest staging post in UN talks towards a real-life pact, designed to be completed in the Danish capital in December.
• 2009/06/08: KSJT: Reuters: The word from the South Pacific as talks intensify toward December's huge int'l climate conference
• 2009/06/08: Grist: Some heated exchanges from Bonn on "binding commitments" for Copenhagen
• 2009/06/08: Grist: The good, the bad, and the ugly at Bonn
• 2009/06/07: NewKerala: West not playing its part to tackle climate change: India
  Industrialised countries are nowhere near meeting their legal obligations to combat climate change and are trying to muddy the waters by saying the global problem cannot be tackled unless developing countries do more, says Shyam Saran, India's chief negotiator at the climate treaty talks.
• 2009/06/08: EarthTimes: Rich nations failing to meet climate targets, UN official says
  Bonn - Climate change talks being held in Bonn have failed to elicit commitments from industrial nations to drastically curtail their greenhouse gas emissions, a senior UN official indicated Monday. Yvo de Boer said the pledges made so far were well below the target for emissions reduction laid down by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The proposals from representatives of more than 30 of the world's richest nations meeting in the former West German capital amount to a reduction in the range of 17 to 26 per cent of 1990 levels by 2020. "This is not enough to address climate change," said de Boer, executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The IPCC proposals, made in a 2007 report, call for a 25 to 40 per cent reduction in order to reduce the risk of climate change caused by human activity. The Bonn meeting, which is due to end on Friday, is discussing new emission targets to be put in place after 2012 when the Kyoto Protocol on curbing greenhouse gas emissions expires.
• 2009/06/08: Guardian(UK): Bonn: Tax on rich nations' ships and planes could fund climate aid
  A levy on rich nations' international flights and shipping fuel could fund climate change adaptation in poorer countries under international global warming deal, conference hears
• 2009/06/07: Guardian(UK): Levy on international air travel could fund climate change fight - Idea put forward by 50 least developed countries - Move could be matched by shipping fuel surcharge

  While Bonn was going on, the USA and China had some climate talks of their own:

• 2009/06/13: PhysOrg: US expects China to cut emissions after a 'peak year'
• 2009/06/11: GWWatch: US Emissions Talks With China Hit Great Wall
• 2009/06/13: TreeHugger: New York Times: China-US Climate Talks are New Cold War
• 2009/06/12: DerSpiegel: America and Global Warming -- US Wants a 'Legally Binding Climate Agreement'
  The United Nations wants a global climate change agreement in place by December. SPIEGEL ONLINE spoke with the US deputy climate change envoy Jonathan Pershing about the difficulties of reaching such a deal. The US and China, he claims, are making progress.
• 2009/06/12: Guardian(UK): US eases pressure on China over climate change targets
  No compulsory cuts in greenhouse gas emissions -- Move brings prospect of deal at Copenhagen closer
• 2009/06/08: Yale360: The Challenge of Copenhagen: Bridging the U.S.-China Divide
  The United States powered its rise to affluence with fossil fuels, and China resents being told it should not be free to do the same. So as negotiators prepare for crucial climate talks this December, the prospects for reaching agreement remain far from certain.
• 2009/06/12: TreeHugger: US Won't Demand China Commit to Binding Emission Reductions Targets, Envoy Says
• 2009/06/11: Yahoo: US climate envoy: China seeks top US technology
• 2009/06/12: Guardian(UK): US says it will not demand binding carbon cuts from China
  Developing nations will be expected to commit to action on energy efficiency and renewables, says US delegation in Bonn
• 2009/06/12: WSJ:EnvCap: U.S. to China: No Emissions Limits, But Please Curb the Growth Rate
• 2009/06/11: SpaceDaily: US, China wrap up climate talks
• 2009/06/11: TreeHugger: China Will Not Commit to Binding Emissions Reduction Targets, Official Says
• 2009/06/11: WBCSD: China says no to greenhouse gas cuts after talks with US
• 2009/06/10: FTimes: Biggest emitters fail to show the way forward
  China and the US failed to achieve a breakthrough at their latest round of climate talks on Wednesday, raising the stakes in the global effort to fight global climate change. The two countries responsible for almost half of the world's greenhouse gas emissions ended three days of negotiations in Beijing. While there are still months to go until the December meeting in Copenhagen, where 181 countries, led by the United Nations, plan to work out a new climate pact, the two biggest emitters' glacial pace towards compromise is likely to discourage others from making concessions during a pre-Copenhagen round of negotiations under way in Bonn, which is set to wrap up on Friday.
• 2009/06/10: TreeHugger: US Posturing on China's Carbon Emissions Scarier Than the Emissions Themselves
• 2009/06/09: Guardian(UK): China alone could bring world to brink of climate calamity, claims US official
  Business as usual in China would lead to 2.7C rise by 2050 even if all other countries slash emissions, says energy assistant [David Sandalow]
• 2009/06/09: TreeHugger: China-US Talks: Tea, a Photo Op and Two Big Question Marks
• 2009/06/09: Yahoo: China response to Obama climate envoy positive
  China said Tuesday that it was committed to making this year's Copenhagen climate change conference a success, sounding a positive note at the close of a two-day visit to Beijing by President Barack Obama's global warming envoy. Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang gave few details and reasserted China's insistence on "common but differentiated responsibilities" under which developed countries such as the U.S. would bear most of the responsibility for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. However, Qin portrayed talks between Obama envoy Todd Stern and Chinese officials, including Vice Premier Li Keqiang, as constructive, possibly indicating positive momentum toward an agreement between the two nations that they can take to the December conference in the Danish capital. The sides agreed to "push forward the Copenhagen climate change conference to yield positive results," Qin said Tuesday.
• 2009/06/09: WaPo: At Odds on Emissions, U.S., China Open Talks
• 2009/06/07: ClimateP: "Let's get this damn thing started!" -- Climate envoy Todd Stern on U.S. climate action and the possibility of deal with China
• 2009/06/07: NYT: China and U.S. Seek a Truce on Greenhouse Gases
  For months the United States and China, by far the world's two biggest emitters of greenhouse gases, have been warily circling each other in hopes of breaking a long impasse on global warming policy. They are, as President Obama's chief climate negotiator [Todd Stern] puts it, "the two gorillas in the room," and if they do not reach some sort of truce, there is no chance of forging a meaningful international treaty in Copenhagen later this year to restrict emissions.
• 2009/06/07: TP:WonkRoom: [Todd] Stern On China: Transparency Is 'Highly Important'

  One important cluster of concerns at Bonn revolves around how to deal with deforestation and carbon credits:

• 2009/06/11: Economist: Deforestation and carbon credits -- Seeing REDD in the Amazon -- Saving rainforests needs both property rights and payments
• 2009/06/13: EconView: Climate Plans and Carbon Markets
• 2009/06/12: BBerg: German Bogs, New Zealand Firs Offer a CO2 'Free Pass'
• 2009/06/11: SolveClimate: Carbon: America's New Crop?
• 2009/06/10: Grist: Agriculture: A necessary complication in the climate negotiations
• 2009/06/10: JakartaPost: Global coalition demands end to deforestation
• 2009/06/10: TreeHugger: What?!? Green Coalition Calls For Forests to Be Left Out of Carbon Offset Programs
• 2009/06/07: REDDMonitor: Anatomy of a deal: The April Salome REDD project in Papua New Guinea
• 2009/06/08: REDDMonitor: Indigenous Peoples on REDD: "REDD is only made for corporations"
• 2009/06/09: TreeHugger: Missing the Trees for the Forest: Carbon Emissions from Forest Degradation Can be Just as Bad as from Deforestation

  The conflict in Peru is not theoretical:

• 2009/06/11: CCurrents: The Global Significance Of The Amazon Protest
• 2009/06/13: WSWS: Peru: Massive protests against GarcÃa government over Amazon massacre
• 2009/06/11: CSM: To quell protests, Peru suspends Amazon investment laws
  Indigenous groups say government is just trying to stop efforts to protect jungle from oil and logging development. More protests are planned today.
• 2009/06/12: BBC: Thousands march over Peru clashes
  Riot police in Peru have fired tear gas to keep protesters away from Congress as thousands marched following the worst political violence in years. Protesters in towns and cities across Peru took to the streets in support of native Amazonians who oppose government plans for their ancestral lands. Confrontations between police and indigenous protesters last week led to the deaths of more than 50 people. Congress in Lima voted on Wednesday to suspend two controversial land decrees. President Alan Garcia hoped it would ease tensions and allow time for negotiations between the government and indigenous groups. But indigenous leaders and opposition groups want the decrees overturned once and for all - and end government plans to allow foreign companies to drill for oil and gas in the Amazon. "The jungle's not for sale", chanted thousands of protesters as they marched on Thursday. Some 20,000 students, labour union members and indigenous Peruvians were among the protesters.
• 2009/06/11: Yahoo: Peru suspends decrees that fueled Amazon violence
  [...] The decrees were originally to be suspended for 90 days, but in the final vote legislators agreed on an indefinite suspension "to negotiate without pressure," said Aurelio Pastor, a legislator with President Alan Garcia's APRA party. Both measures are among decrees issued in 2007 and 2008 by Garcia easing restrictions on mining, oil drilling, logging and farming in the Peruvian Amazon. Garcia issued the laws when Congress granted him special powers to implement a free-trade agreement with the United States.
• 2009/06/10: BBC: Peru's parliament has suspended [for 90 days] two land laws that triggered deadly clashes between police and protesters
• 2009/06/08: WSWS: Peruvian massacre aimed at opening Amazon to transnationals
• 2009/06/10: BBC: Cover-up claim after Peru clashes
  Human rights lawyers have accused Peru's government of a cover-up, after clashes between police and indigenous protesters killed at least 50 people. The lawyers say hundreds more may be missing, amid rumours that the police have hidden bodies. But they say rights groups cannot get in to investigate. The government denies the claims and says police were the victims.
• 2009/06/09: REDDMonitor: Civil Society Condemns Massacre of Indigenous People in Peru
• 2009/06/09: PlanetArk: Peruvian troops patrol Amazon towns after 60 die over forest protests
• 2009/06/09: BBC: Peru protest leader takes refuge
  A Peruvian indigenous leader linked to protests in the Amazon region has sought refuge in the Nicaraguan embassy in Lima, the prime minister says. Alberto Pizango is accused of sedition, conspiracy and rebellion, after clashes in the north of the country with the army that left more than 30 dead. A curfew has now been imposed in the area, after what Mr Pizango called "the slaughter of our people". The protests arose over plans for gas and oil exploration. Indigenous people object to government plans to open up what they consider their ancestral lands.
• 2009/06/08: ABC(Au): Up to 100 dead in Amazon clashes: activist
  Up to 100 Amazon natives have been killed after Friday's military crackdown on protesters in Peru and the situation is expected to worsen, says a Canadian Indigenous rights activist.
• 2009/06/08: CSW: A deadly conflict in Peru over a rush to drill for oil in Amazon rainforest: how culpable is the US?
• 2009/06/06: DiasporaPeruana: Indigenous Uprising -- Peru's President Cornered by Indigenous Uprising
• 2009/06/06: TransformingPower: Live report from Peru by Ben Powless, assault on Indigenous people in Amazonia
• 2009/06/08: DemNow: Peruvian Police Accused of Massacring Indigenous Protesters in Amazon Jungle
• 2009/06/07: Guardian(UK): Peru declares curfew after bloody clashes in Amazon jungle

  Meanwhile scientists are saying current Bonn proposals are insufficient:

• 2009/06/11: TerraDaily: Climate pledges bound to breach key warming target: scientists
• 2009/06/11: PhysOrg: Climate pledges bound to breach key warming target: scientists
  Pledges currently on the table at the UN climate talks will doom Earth to a warming of more than two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit), a figure that has been widely endorsed as a safe limit, scientists said on Thursday.

Little noticed under the glare of Bonn, the G8 energy ministers met on Friday & Saturday this week:

• 2009/06/11: Reuters: World science academies push for G8 climate action

  The Arctic melt continues to garner a lot of attention:

• 2009/06/10: ERabett: Ya gotta get a horse.
• 2009/06/13: GWWatch: Punters and pundits call the Arctic Summer Melt
• 2009/06/13: CCP: S. H. Mernild et al., Greenland Ice Sheet surface mass-balance modelling and freshwater flux for 2007, and in a 1995-2007 perspective
• 2009/06/11: UAF: Study: Greenland ice sheet larger contributor to sea-level rise
• 2009/06/10: MTobis: The Sea Ice Steeplechase
• 2009/06/07: CanWest: Giant iceberg potential Arctic shipping hazard
• 2009/06/08: CCP: Greenland's Petermann Glacier could calve monster ice island this year, hazard for shipping lanes

  As for the geopolitics of Arctic resources:

• 2009/06/11: DerSpiegel: The Major Players -- Who Is Winning the Arctic Game of Monopoly?
  There are five states competing for control of the Arctic's oil and gas reserves, with Russia leading the pack. The US looks likely to remain on the sidelines, but what opportunities will the natural resource grab present for Canada, Norway and Greenland?

And in the groves of gentle education:

• 2009/06/13: Tamino: Take it to the Limit: Part 1, Moments
• 2008/08/26: MGS: Discussion vs. Debate -- How do you have a discussion when you disagree?
• 2009/06/13: MGS: Scientific Specificity

  Sol, redux:

• 2009/06/11: GreenGrok: Update: The Sun's Spots Are Back ... Sort Of
• 2009/06/08: DeSmogBlog: New Study on Solar Variability Is Neither New Nor a Study

  A new set of projected temperatures:

• 2009/06/10: PhysOrg: A new measure of global warming from carbon emissions
• 2009/06/10: Eureka: A new measure of global warming from carbon emissions [0.0000000000015 degrees per tonne of carbon dioxide]

  The food crisis is ongoing:

• 2009/06/11: AlterNet: Why Our Food System May Suffer the Same Fate as Our Financial System
• 2009/06/11: UN: Financial crisis hastening hunger for world's poorest -- UN food agency
• 2009/06/11: Eureka: Abrupt global warming could shift monsoon patterns, hurt agriculture

  The conflict between biofuel and food persists:

• 2009/06/10: PlanetArk: Higher U.S. Ethanol Blends Seen Spiking Food Prices
• 2009/06/10: NEN: Is there a good way to use biofuels?
  Summary: Jason Clay, an anthropologist with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), has long worked to keep AGROfuels from destroying biodiversity. AGROfuels prominent in Clay's fight are corn ethanol and palm biodiesel. He expects the fight over "second generation" or "cellulosic" biofuels to be even more intense.

And how are we going to feed 9 billion?

• 2009/06/12: Tyee: Garden Fresh [Michael Pollan interview]
• 2009/06/11: UN: UN expert puts forward measures to regulate 'land grabbing'
  An independent United Nations human rights expert proposed a set of measures today to guide large-scale international land purchases, known as "land grabbing," ahead of upcoming negotiations by the Group of Eight (G8) industrialized nations on responsible investment in agriculture. The UN Special Rapporteur on the right to food, Olivier De Schutter, identified the practice of international investors buying or leasing large amounts of farmland in developing countries as one of the new trends to emerge out of last year's global food crisis which needs to be addressed.
• 2009/06/11: Grist: A climate policy for agriculture that works
• 2009/06/11: Grist: When it comes to food, we're all in this together
• 2009/06/09: PhysOrg: Is this the beginning of the end of plant breeding?
  No human is a clone of their parents but the same cannot be said for other living things. While your DNA is a combination of half your mother and half your father, other species do things differently. The advantage of clonal reproduction is that it produces an individual exactly like an existing one--which would be very useful for farmers who could replicate the best of their animals or crops without the lottery of sexual reproduction. Clonal reproduction of crop species took a step closer to being realised with new research published in PLoS Biology this week.
• 2009/06/09: KSJT: Seed Magazine: What IS the story about that big seed vault at Svalbard?
• 2009/06/09: PLoS Biology: Turning Meiosis into Mitosis by Isabelle d'Erfurth et al.
• 2009/06/09: StatsCan: Human Activity and the Environment: Food in Canada
• 2009/06/09: CBC: Putting food on the table produces greenhouse gases: StatsCan
  The energy required to put food on the table in Canada produced nearly 46,000 kilotonnes of greenhouse gases in 2003, says a Statistics Canada report. The amount represented 6.4 per cent of total greenhouse gas emissions in Canada that year, the agency said in its annual publication, Human Activity and the Environment, released Tuesday.
• 2009/06/08: Guardian(UK): Indian farmers to insure themselves against climate change crop failure
  UN negotiators at Bonn consider micro-insurance schemes among adaptation measures for Africa, Asia and Latin America

No cyclones again this week, but there were some other tales:

• 2009/06/12: Wunderground: Atlantic hurricane outlook for the remainder of June -- usually one of the quietest portions of hurricane season
• 2009/06/12: Eureka: Making waves: LSU's WAVCIS increases modeling capabilities -- Increased technology offers better ways for officials and public to see the storm ahead
• 2009/06/10: Eureka: Surprise: Typhoons trigger slow earthquakes

  As for GHGs:

• 2009/06/11: EnvFin: Xstrata reports emissions [7%] increase in 2008
• 2009/06/10: BBerg: World CO2-Emissions Growth Keeps Focus on Coal, China
  [...] Fossil-fuel combustion in power plants, vehicles and heaters around the planet released 31.5 billion metric tons of the greenhouse gas, 1.8 percent more than in 2007, the figures show. China's coal consumption climbed 7.1 percent, adding 366 million tons of extra emissions, using conversion factors provided by BP, the U.K. oil company.

As are the temperatures:

• 2009/06/10: NOAANews: U.S. Temperature Warmer than Average for May

  While in the paleoclimate:

• 2009/06/08: SciDaily: Cantabrian Cornice in Spain Has Experienced Seven Cooling And Warming Phases Over Past 41,000 Years

  While on the ENSO front:

• 2009/06/10: ENN: El Niño is coming back
• 2009/06/09: KSJT: Diego Union Tribune plus a dribble of more : El Niño looks to be stirring in the equatorial Pacific
• 2009/06/09: PlanetArk: El Nino could develop within weeks: US forecaster
• 2009/06/08: PhysOrg: Forecasters say El Nino may be developing

  Glaciers are melting:

• 2009/06/10: SwissInfo: [Jungfrau] Climate charter gets "über cool" iPhone boost
  A charter to protect Europe's largest glacier system within the Jungfrau region has been launched with a high-tech spin - climate change tourist trails using iPhones. The Jungfrau Climate Charter aims to strengthen the central Swiss region's commitment to reduce CO2 emissions and better inform the six million annual visitors and local residents about climate change. Taking into account the region's "marked evidence" of the consequences of global warming such as glacier recession, rockfall, glacial lake formation and flooding, Bern University scientists have developed seven climate change trails for tourists to follow via GPS on iPhones.

Sea levels are rising:

• 2009/06/09: C411: Climate Change Hitting Home: Galveston and Houston Residents On Notice
• 2009/06/13: SciDaily: Greenland Ice Sheet Melting Faster Than Expected; Larger Contributor To Sea-level Rise Than Thought
• 2009/06/13: AfterGutenberg: And, that is just a conservative estimate
• 2009/06/12: PhysOrg: Greenland ice sheet larger contributor to sea-level rise
  The Greenland ice sheet is melting faster than expected according to a new study led by a University of Alaska Fairbanks researcher and published in the journal Hydrological Processes. Study results indicate that the ice sheet may be responsible for nearly 25 percent of global sea rise in the past 13 years. The study also shows that seas now are rising by more than 3 millimeters a year -- more than 50 percent faster than the average for the 20th century.
• 2009/06/10: CSW: Rising seas, rising trouble, for US Eastern seaboard projected -- Five state governors form pact
• 2009/06/10: Wunderground: Sea level rise: what has happened so far

  More GW impacts are being seen:

• 2009/06/13: SciDaily: African Bird Species Could Struggle To Relocate To Survive Global Warming
• 2009/06/11: TerraDaily: Climate disasters: UN report sketches countries with risk profile
• 2009/06/12: TreeHugger: Abrupt Climate Change Could Drag Monsoon Over the Ocean, Decreasing Vegetation Growth
• 2009/06/11: BBC: Bird numbers decline 'worrying'
  Scotland's seabird numbers plunged by 19% between 2000 and 2008, a new report has said. Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) said the major cause was almost certainly a shortage of food due to a drop in the number of small fish, such as sandeels. SNH said the fish were probably being affected by rising sea temperatures.
• 2009/06/11: PhysOrg: UN sketches countries with climate risk profile
  Disasters caused by climate change will inflict the highest losses in poor countries with weak governments that have dashed for growth and failed to shield populations which settle in exposed areas, a UN report said on Thursday.
• 2009/06/11: Eureka: Global warming increasing the dispersal of flora in Northern forests
• 2009/06/11: Eureka: Abrupt global warming could shift monsoon patterns, hurt agriculture
• 2009/06/09: McClatchyDC: Scientists: Global warming has already changed oceans
• 2009/06/08: CBC: Lyme disease spreading in Canada, researchers find
  A growing number of Canadians will have to start checking themselves thoroughly for ticks that spread Lyme disease if climate change enables the insects to survive a northern climate, researchers warn.
• 2009/06/08: PhysOrg: Lyme disease is spreading in Canada, and physicians are crucial in helping minimize its impact
  Lyme disease is emerging in Canada, and is expected to increase with climate change, but effective, enhanced surveillance and clinician awareness will be key to minimizing the impact of the disease, write researchers in a review in Canadian Medical Association Journal.
• 2009/06/07: MySanAntonio: State climatologist talks global warming
  In the decades ahead, Texas, like the rest of the globe, appears to be on track to get hotter, water resources will be increasingly stressed and the state will be prone to longer and more severe droughts. That was the face of global warming in Texas offered Saturday by state climatologist John Nielsen-Gammon, who led a forum at Voelcker Park to talk about climate change.
• 2009/06/08: Guardian(UK): Is the daddy-longlegs doomed?

  And then there are the world's forests:

• 2009/06/13: Guardian(UK): 'We are fighting for our lives and our dignity'
  Across the globe, as mining and oil firms race for dwindling resources, indigenous peoples are battling to defend their lands -- often paying the ultimate price
• 2009/06/13: TreeHugger: Repaying a Sultan By Replanting a Forest
• 2009/06/13: Guardian(UK): When Davi Kopenawa Yanomami leaves home, you know the world is in trouble
  Shaman returns to London with warning about future of his people in the Amazon and people all over the planet
• 2009/06/12: TreeHugger: Tropical Deforestation Brings Economic Boom, Followed by Human & Ecological Bust
• 2009/06/10: BBC: 'Hidden cost' of Colombian biofuel
  Colombia's government proudly claims that it is the biggest producer of biodiesel and ethanol in Latin America after Brazil, but human rights groups do not share that enthusiasm. Critics warn that the cultivation of palm trees to produce biodiesel is a threat to Colombia's indigenous groups and other minorities, including Afro-Colombians. In rural areas, there is evidence that some people have been forcibly displaced to make way for biofuel production.
• 2009/06/11: BBC: 'Boom and bust' of deforestation
  Cutting down Amazon forest for cattle and soy does not bring long-term economic progress, researchers say. A study of 286 Amazon municipalities found that deforestation brought quick benefits that were soon reversed.
• 2009/06/11: Guardian(UK): Amazon deforestation leads to development 'boom-and-bust'
• 2009/06/10: UN: UN tree-planting campaign reaches 4 billion mark
• 2009/06/11: ABC(Au): Scientists discover pristine Mozambique rainforest
  British scientists say a rainforest they spotted in northern Mozambique is one of the most significant such discoveries in years
• 2009/06/11: NewScientist: Amazon deforestation leads to economic boom and bust
• 2009/06/11: Eureka: Deforestation causes 'boom-and-bust' development in the Amazon
• 2009/06/10: ClimateP: AP, Washington Times: "Experts suspect global warming may be driving wild climate swings that appear to be punishing the Amazon with increasing frequency"
• 2009/06/08: Guardian(UK): The Amazon is dying
  The Brazilian government is legalising deforestation and western superbrands are benefiting from it. This needs to stop now

Corals are dying:

• 2009/06/12: TreeHugger: Caribbean Coral Reefs 'Flattened' Over the Past 40 Years
• 2009/06/11: G&M: Reefs collapse across Caribbean, study says
• 2009/06/10: KSJT: Reuters, Telegraph: Caribbean reefs in literal collapse - combo of global warming and disease afflicting corals
• 2009/06/10: NewScientist: Caribbean reefs 'flattened' in just 40 years
• 2009/06/10: DM:80B: Climate Change & Disease Have "Flattened" Caribbean Coral Reefs
• 2009/06/10: ENN: Caribbean reefs 'flattened' in just 40 years
• 2009/06/09: Reuters: Climate change blamed for Caribbean coral deaths

  Climate refugees are becoming more of an issue:

• 2009/06/11: NatureCF: Report disperses migration myth
• 2009/06/10: WaPo: Report says climate change is adding to migration
• 2009/06/10: CNN: Climate change may displace up to 200 million -- CARE International report: Up to 200 million people could be on the move by 2050
• 2009/06/10: EurActiv: UN warns about migration impact of climate change
  Some 23.5 million people could be displaced by climate change in the densely-populated Ganges, Mekong and Nile River deltas if the sea level were to rise by a metre, according to new research by the United Nations University Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS), and other research institutes.
• 2009/06/10: UN: Migration spurred by climate change could displace millions -- UN-backed study
• 2009/06/10: Thaindian: Climate change could displace 25 million by 2010
• 2009/06/10: BBerg: Migration From Global Warming May Exceed All Past Displacements
• 2009/06/10: Google:AFP: Water stress, ocean levels to unleash 'climate exodus'
  Tens of millions of people will be displaced by climate change in coming years, posing social, political and security problems of an unprecedented dimension, a new study said on Wednesday.
• 2009/06/10: G&M: World faces daunting refugee crisis because of climate change
  The world should brace itself for millions of climate refugees in coming decades, a mass migration that will be larger than any in human history, says a new report. Although it's too early to estimate exactly how many people might be on the move, the report, compiled by researchers at Columbia University, developmental aid agency Care International and the United Nations University, cites other studies that suggest the number could be as high as 700 million by 2050.
• 2009/06/10: PhysOrg: Climate change could drive vast human migrations
  By mid-century, people may be fleeing rising seas, droughts, floods and other effects of changing climate, in migrations that could vastly exceed the scope of anything before, says a major new report. The document, authored by researchers at Columbia University's Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN), the United Nations University and CARE International, was released at a news conference in Bonn.
• 2009/06/08: BBerg: Water Fights, Wandering Homeless Are Planet's Future

  Yes we have no wacky weather, except:

• 2009/06/11: MTobis: More Drought, More Severe Storms
• 2009/06/10: ENN: Canada frosts the most widespread in recent memory
• 2009/06/08: EarthTimes: Heavy rains kill 20 people across northern India

  Meanwhile in tornado alley:

• 2009/06/08: Wunderground: Vortex2 tornado study finally gets some twisters to study

  As for heatwaves and wild fires:

• 2009/06/12: TerraDaily: Fire Mitigation Work In Western US Misplaced
• 2009/06/11: CNN: Material stops 2,000-degree fires -- but not in California
  An eco-friendly masonry material can withstand a 2,000-degree fire for four hours - Advocates say it may have saved some of the 80 homes destroyed in a recent wildfire - But the product is banned in California because it hasn't passed seismic tests - The material also is impervious to termites and is bulletproof and waterproof
• 2009/06/09: Missoulian: Study: Federal fire effort deficient
• 2009/06/09: CBC: Raging fire burning west of Lillooet, B.C., increases in size
• 2009/06/08: CanWest: Pine beetle culprit in spread of B.C. forest fire
  Since the 1980s, the beetle has been laying its eggs inside trees in the Bridge River Valley, the site of a forest fire burning 65 kilometres east of Lillooet, said fire information officer Mary Ann Leach. "When a tree dies, it drops its needles to the ground. That's fuel. When it dies and falls over, that's fuel on the ground," she said. "It adds to the fuel that the fire eats up as it goes through." Leach said the debris causes the fire to burn hotter and requires firefighters to cut through downed trees with chainsaws.
• 2009/06/08: CBC: Strong winds fuel flames of raging wildfire near Lillooet, B.C.
• 2009/06/08: STimes: Study faults federal wildfire effort
• 2009/06/08: PhysOrg: Fire mitigation work in western US misplaced, says new study
  Only 11 percent of wildfire mitigation efforts undertaken as a result of a long-term federal fuels-reduction program to cut down catastrophic wildfire risk to communities have been undertaken near people's homes or offices in the past five years, says a new study led by the University of Colorado at Boulder.
• 2009/06/08: CBC: Raging Lillooet, B.C., wildfire continues to grow

  As for hydrological cycle disruptions [floods & droughts]:

• 2009/06/08: EDF:WF: Water supply improvements in the San Joaquin Valley
  Anybody reading newspapers or watching television news over the last two months has heard frightening stories of water shortages that threaten the viability of agriculture in the San Joaquin Valley. But information compiled by the California Department of Water Resources reveals that in 2009 water supply in most parts of the valley will be in excess of 80% of average.
• 2009/06/11: CPunch: It's Not Fish v. Jobs After All -- Big Water's Big Lie Unravels [California]
• 2009/06/11: ABC(Au): Murray Darling outlook 'remains grim'
• 2009/06/11: PlanetArk: Australian Farm Irrigators Face Another Grim Year
  Australia's major river system, the Murray-Darling, has recorded its third-lowest water intake in 118 years, due to a long-running drought that will continue to suppress production of export crops such as cotton.
• 2009/06/: Fraunhofer: Drinking water from air humidity
• 2009/06/09: ABC(Au): Drier Murray-Darling Basin? Get used to it
  Recent research into the state of the Murray-Darling Basin shows we need to adapt and adjust downwards our expectations of how much water will be available, writes the University of Adelaide Professor Wayne Meyer.
• 2009/06/08: EarthTimes: Torrential rainstorm costs Hong Kong 75 million US dollars
• 2009/06/08: SciDaily: Drinking Water From Air Humidity

  Elsewhere on the mitigation front:

• 2009/06/10: PhysOrg: Biochar: turning waste into wealth
• 2009/06/10: Eureka: Reviving American chestnuts may mitigate climate change

  Consider transportation & GHG production:

• 2009/06/12: Times(UK): Passengers should pay global carbon tax, says British Airways chief
• 2009/06/12: BBC: Boeing cuts global plane outlook
  US aerospace giant Boeing has slashed its long-term view of the plane industry ahead of the Paris air show. Boeing forecast the number of new planes ordered over the next two decades would be 29,000, instead of the 29,400 it had projected a year earlier. [...] The airline industry has been hit by recessionary pressures, which have led to falling passenger numbers and cargo traffic, coupled with unpredictable fuel prices.
• 2009/06/09: Guardian(UK): Airlines 'must take initiative' before climate-change talks, warns BA boss
  UN's International Civil Aviation Organisation has failed to thrash out an emissions-trading scheme for airlines
• 2009/06/09: PhysOrg: Green but costly, hybrid buses far from mass production
• 2009/06/09: BBC: Fuel emissions focus 'too narrow'
  Policymakers must consider more than just "tailpipe" emissions when assessing the impacts of different modes of transport, say researchers. Many analyses overlook greenhouse gases emitted in constructing and maintaining travel infrastructures, they added. The team found that, based on passenger kilometres travelled, off-peak urban bus services were more carbon-intensive than flights by commercial aircraft.
• 2009/06/08: TreeHugger: Gap Between Train & Airplane Environmental Impact Narrows in New Life-Cycle Analysis
• 2009/06/07: Google:AFP: Think twice about 'green' transport, say scientists
• 2009/06/08: BRitholtz: American Trucking Association Tonnage Index -- declined 2.2% in April (seasonally adjusted), 4.5% in March

  A lot of news arose from an IATA meeting this week:

• 2009/06/11: EnvFin: Airlines promise cap on emissions from 2020
• 2009/06/10: ENN: Aviation Industry Outlines Ambitious Climate Goals
• 2009/06/09: NatureTGB: Airline industry to cut growth in carbon emissions by 2020
• 2009/06/09: PhysOrg: Airlines wary of 2020 carbon-neutral target
• 2009/06/09: PlanetArk: Airlines to achieve CO2-neutral growth by 2020: IATA
• 2009/06/09: Yahoo: Emissions caps seen costing airlines $7 bln a year [by IATA]
  Airlines project that carbon trading will cost the global industry around $7 billion a year from 2020, from when the sector has pledged to grow without adding to greenhouse emissions. The International Air Transport Association, which represents 230 airlines, agreed at a board meeting that it would achieve carbon neutral growth from 2020 through a combination of investment in technology, biofuels and economic measures such as carbon trading. Aviation is likely to be included in any global pact to replace the Kyoto Protocol to cap emissions from 2013, meaning caps on emissions that will make airlines buy credits to exceed those limits.
• 2009/06/08: Guardian(UK): Airlines reject new tax to fight global warming
  International Air Transport Association chief objects to proposed $10bn levy to help developing countries fight climate change
• 2009/06/08: Guardian(UK): How green are the airline industry's environmental promises?
  Emissions growth will be carbon neutral by 2020, says airline trade body, but ...
• 2009/06/08: CBC: World airlines will lose $9B US in 2009, industry group [IATA] warns

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

• 2009/06/12: TreeHugger: 5 Building Code Changes That Absolutely Cannot Wait Until 2030
• 2009/06/08: KSJT: Grist, Lancaster Herald, NYTimes: Heating and cooling houses, big picture and small
• 2009/06/08: TreeHugger: When Carbon Neutral Buildings Don't Add Up
• 2009/06/08: TreeHugger: City of Austin Mandates Home Energy Audits To Avoid Building New Power Plant

  As for carbon sequestration:

• 2009/06/13: G&M: The carbon capture conundrum
  As pressure from governments grows for the oil sands to clean up its act, some energy producers are exploring carbon capture storage -- a process that sequesters CO2 deep below the ground. But is the enormous cost, which would require massive government support and do little to address other sources of emissions, too much to pay?
• 2009/06/12: PlanetArk: CO2 Conversion A Carbon Capture Alternative [convert CO2 to an energy source and valuable organic molecule]
• 2009/06/08: MTobis: CCS NIMBYism

  While on the adaptation front:

• 2009/06/10: NatureCF: Visualizing the assisted migration argument

  Meanwhile in the journals:

• 2009/06/11: CPD: Reconstructing past atmospheric circulation changes using oxygen isotopes in lake sediments from Sweden by C. E. Jonsson et al.
• 2009/06/10: ACP: Impact of climate change on photochemical air pollution in Southern California by D. E. Millstein & R. A. Harley
• 2009/06/08: ACPD: Theoretical implication of reversals of the ozone weekend effect systematically observed in Japan by A. Kannari & T. Ohara
• 2009/06/08: ACPD: Trans-Pacific transport of Asian dust and CO: accumulation of biomass burning CO in the subtropics and dipole structure of transport by J. Nam et al.
• 2009/06/09: PNAS: Elevated water temperature and carbon dioxide concentration increase the growth of a keystone echinoderm by Rebecca A. Gooding et al.
• 2009/03/11: ERL: How difficult is it to recover from dangerous levels of global warming? by J A Lowe et al.
• 2009/06/09: PLoS Biology: Turning Meiosis into Mitosis by Isabelle d'Erfurth et al.

  And other significant documents:

• 2009/06/12: OPEC: [link to 738k pdf] Monthly Oil Market Report -- June 2009
• 2009/06/11: EnvCan: [links to several pdfs] Canada's Offset System for Greenhouse Gases
• 2009/06/: BP: [links to pdfs] Statistical Review of World Energy 2009
• 2009/06/10: PewTrusts: [link to pdf] Clean Energy Economy
• 2009/06/10: VoxEU: Carbon geography: The political economy of congressional support for legislation intended to mitigate greenhouse gas production by Michael I. Cragg & Matthew E. Kahn
  What influences climate change policy? This column shows that a congressional district's per capita carbon emissions and conservative ideology lower the probability that a representative votes in favour of a pro-environment bill, while county per capita income increases it.
• 2009/06/09: StatsCan: [link to 4.6 meg pdf] Human Activity and the Environment: Annual Statistics

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

• 2009/06/11: Eureka: Australia's climate: Drought and flooding in annual rings of tropical trees
• 2009/06/09: TerraDaily: New Formula Uncovers Our Planet's Past And Helps Predict Future
  Studies of climate evolution and the ecology of past-times are often hampered by lost information - lost variables needed to complete the picture have been long thought untraceable but scientists have created a formula which will fill in the gaps of our knowledge and will help predict the future. [...] Published in the June issue of New Journal of Physics (co-owned by the Institute of Physics and German Physical Society) the paper 'Recovering "lost" information in the presence of noise [...] By developing a novel Hamiltonian approach to the problem, using a mathematical algorithm, assuming the dynamics of each system has unknown parameters and that the data are distorted by random fluctuations, the researchers from California and Lancaster were able to successfully recreate measurements...

More on Dyson:

• 2009/06/08: IoD: There are two types of scientists... [Schmidt on Dyson]

  Meanwhile at the UN:

• 2009/06/08: Reuters: Japan, Russia urged to issue 2020 greenhouse goals [by UNFCCC head, Yvo de Boer]
• 2009/06/08: UN: New greenhouse gas emissions pact should consider humanitarian suffering -- UN
• 2009/06/07: TerraDaily: Yvo de Boer, global climate butler

  And on the emission trading front:

• 2009/06/09: NakedCapitalism: Existing [SOx & NOx] Cap and Trade Regime for Power Plant Emissions "Coming Undone"

  The idea of a carbon tax is still bouncing around:

• 2009/06/12: EurActiv: France lines up carbon tax
  The French government has set the ball rolling to introduce a carbon tax in 2011, anticipating support for Sweden's plans to make implementing such a scheme at EU level the priority of its upcoming six-month turn at the bloc's helm.
• 2009/06/11: Grist: France moves to bring in carbon tax by 2011
• 2009/06/09: Yahoo: Sweden to call for CO2 tax as EU president -- Incoming Swedish EU presidency to call on member states to impose 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:

• 2009/06/10: GreenGrok: Cap and Trade Part 3 -- You Ask, "What?" I Say, "How Wide?"
• 2009/06/09: GreenGrok: Cap and Trade Part 2: Walking the International Tightrope
• 2009/06/08: GreenGrok: Cap and Trade Part 1: It's About the Cap, Stupid

  As do the worries about fraud:

• 2009/06/13: GWWatch: Crime will organise to go green
• 2009/06/12: DeSmogBlog: One Solution to the Crisis: Kneecap and Trade
• 2009/06/09: BBerg: France Finds 'Carousel' Tax Fraud in Carbon Emissions Market
• 2009/06/09: NatureTGB: Don't count your carbon before it's credited
  Last week Reuters and The Economist reported on corruption within a yet-to-start programme to save tropical forests and curb climate change. Allegedly, the government of Papua New Guinea has illegally sold the rights to at least 40 projects aimed at averting deforestation, each worth about 1 million tonnes of carbon.

Meanwhile on the international political front:

• 2009/06/11: Guardian(UK): Climate action must be a first resort
  Will we need a climate equivalent of a world war to shake leaders out of their complacency? Next month's G8 will tell
• 2009/06/04: BWeek: A U.S./EU Dogfight Over Greener Air Travel
  American airlines are balking at new EU emission rules, but with British Airways and others on board, they may be fighting a battle they can't win

And on the American political front:

• 2009/06/13: ClimateP: Dude, Where's my Carbon Permit?
• 2009/06/10: StarTelegram: Texas faring well in green economy jobs, Pew study says
• 2009/06/13: Kentucky: Report questions East Ky. Power plans
  A new study commissioned by environmental groups says East Kentucky Power Cooperative is concentrating too heavily on building new coal-fired generating plants, a practice that could mean higher customer bills for decades as new pollution laws take effect.
• 2009/06/12: TP:WonkRoom: What The Frack? Gas Industry's Multimillion-Dollar Campaign Demonizes Hydraulic Fracturing Bill
• 2009/06/10: Reuters: U.S. green economy needs plan to hit potential: study
  The United States should pass a comprehensive energy plan to ensure the number of jobs in environmental fields, such as renewable energy and cutting air pollution, will keep rising as they did in the decade to 2007, a Pew report said on Wednesday. U.S. clean economy jobs grew at rate of 9.1 percent from 1998 to 2007 to 770,385, faster than overall jobs during the decade, said the Pew Charitable Trusts study, which aims to set a baseline to judge how well public policies and investments foster green jobs in the future. In contrast, the traditional energy economy of oil, natural gas, and coal employed about 1.2 million workers in 2007.
• 2009/06/11: LA Times: California leading growth in nation's green jobs economy, study finds
• 2009/06/10: PewTrusts: Pew Finds Clean Energy Economy Generates Significant Job Growth
• 2009/06/10: Guardian(UK): Green collar job creation 'outstripped traditional sectors in US'
• 2009/06/10: Yahoo: 31% - White Evangelicals Reject Global Warming
• 2009/06/10: WSJ:EnvCap: Texas Hold 'Em: Gov. Perry Hates Climate-Change Bill, Loves Clean Energy
• 2009/06/10: SolveClimate: Federal Green Bank Could Jump-Start Clean Energy Revolution
• 2009/06/10: VoxEU: Carbon geography: The political economy of congressional support for legislation intended to mitigate greenhouse gas production by Michael I. Cragg & Matthew E. Kahn
  What influences climate change policy? This column shows that a congressional district's per capita carbon emissions and conservative ideology lower the probability that a representative votes in favour of a pro-environment bill, while county per capita income increases it.
• 2009/06/09: KC: Midwest governors group sets goals to reduce greenhouse gases
  The group charged by six Midwestern governors to come up with an emissions cap-and-trade system is recommending aggressive reduction goals that could bring big changes to a region that relies heavily on coal and manufacturing. The plan calls for a nearly 20 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from 2005 levels by 2020, with an 80 percent reduction by 2050. [...] The recommendations are the result of a 2007 agreement between the governors of Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin and the premier of Manitoba to establish reduction targets and design a cap-and-trade system. The appointed representatives from utility, agriculture, industrial and environmental interests has been working on the plan for the past year and a half.
• 2009/06/09: AlterNet: Why Is the American Coal Foundation Setting the Curriculum at Elementary Schools?
• 2009/06/07: DeSmogBlog: [Former Republican Senator, George Felix] Allen Doing Coal's Dirty Work
• 2009/06/08: ThinkP: Four Right-Wing Supreme Court Justices Argue That Buying Off A Judge Is No Problem

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

• 2009/06/12: PhysOrg: Report: Bush admin's gas leases too close to parks
  Bush administration officials pushed aside the National Park Service and sought to lease public lands for drilling on the borders of Utah's most famous redrock parks during their final days in power, a special report to Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar says.

The Obama chatter is nonstop:

• 2009/06/13: ClimateP: Robert F. Kennedy challenged our Ponzi scheme pursuit of growth for growth's sake, much as his heir, Barack Obama, does
• 2009/06/08: AlterNet: Obama Must Say No to the Coal Barons Desecrating Our Mountains

  The actions of the Obama administration are being watched closely:

• 2009/06/08: CSM: Jon Wellinghoff, Obama's energy futurist -- The chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is committed to renewable energy
• 2009/06/12: NYT:GW: DOE Revives FutureGen, Reversing Bush-Era Decision
• 2009/06/13: ENN: Clean Coal power project [FutureGen] back on the burner
• 2009/06/12: Kentucky: Mountaintop-mining requests will face more stringent review
• 2009/06/12: DOE: Secretary Chu Announces Agreement on FutureGen Project in Mattoon, IL -- Paves Way for First US Commercial Scale Carbon Capture and Storage Project
• 2009/06/12: ScienceInsider: Carbon-Capture Coal Plant Is Back, But Still Bleeding Red Ink
• 2009/06/12: KSJT: Rolling Stone: What's up with Steve Chu?
• 2009/06/12: Grist: This White House science adviser [Dr. Shirley Ann Jackson] thinks America should embrace nuclear power
• 2009/06/12: CommonTragedies: Chu Revives FutureGen
• 2009/06/12: EarthTimes: US backs construction of first-ever clean coal plant
• 2009/06/12: BBerg: FutureGen 'Clean Coal' Plant Gets Federal Backing
• 2009/06/12: WSJ:EnvCap: Energy Department Brings Geothermal to a Boil
• 2009/06/12: WSJ:EnvCap: Clean Coal: Fresh Legs for FutureGen Project
• 2009/06/12: SolveClimate: Appalachia Says 'Not Good Enough' to Obama Mountaintop Mining Plan
• 2009/06/09: ClimateP: Jane Lubchenco interview on NPR: "Ocean acidity has increased by 30%" thanks to human emissions

  As for what is going on in Congress:

• 2009/06/12: Grist: House GOP unveils energy bill heavy on fossil fuels and nuclear power
• 2009/06/13: TP:WonkRoom: Collin Peterson: 'Mixing Climate Change Together With Energy Independence' Is Dumb
• 2009/06/11: ClimateP: "We will have a bill," Pelosi vows -- several House Republicans agree
• 2009/06/12: WSJ:EnvCap: Going Nuclear: GOP Energy Plan Draws Heavy Flak
• 2009/06/11: TP:WonkRoom: House GOP Energy Bill Mentions Oil Three Times More Often Than It Mentions Renewable Energy
• 2009/06/11: CPunch: How the Republicans Do Climate Change -- The GOP's Trillion Dollar Reactor Plan Goes Radioactive
• 2009/06/10: SF Gate: Congress abandoning Obama clean energy goals
  Congress is all but abandoning President Barack Obama's goal of producing fully one-quarter of the nation's electricity from renewable sources -- wind, solar and the like --- by 2025 [...] The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee is expected on Thursday to approve energy measures that call for 15 percent of the country's power to come from renewable sources by 2021. A huge climate bill, likely to be considered in the coming weeks in the House, would require 20 percent renewable energy use by 2020. Nothing near that amount will actually be achieved by the mandate -- or even required -- because of compromises made to exempt some utilities and allow others to substitute efficiency improvements for a large chunk of the renewable energy requirement.
• 2009/06/10: ThinkP: House GOP energy plan declares that impact of global warming 'shall not be considered for any purpose.'
• 2009/06/10: ClimateP: House GOP proposes 25% national energy tax, recycles Cheney energy plan
• 2009/06/10: ClimateP: Gingrich sums up GOP ethos: "I am not a citizen of the world! I think the entire concept is intellectual nonsense and stunningly dangerous."
• 2009/06/09: Reuters: US Senate panel oks drilling near Florida coast
  [...] The Senate panel also approved an amendment that clarifies that federal agencies are not barred from purchasing fuels developed from Canadian oil sands. The 2007 energy bill included a measure that blocked the federal government from buying alternative fuels with greenhouse gas emissions higher than conventional sources. It was aimed at liquid fuel derived from coal, but unintentionally affected oil sands.
• 2009/06/10: NYT: House Republicans Draft Energy Bill With Heavy Focus on Nuclear Power
• 2009/06/09: ClimateP: Environmental groups urge Pelosi to toughen bill
• 2009/06/09: BBerg: U.S. Power Firms Want Free Carbon Permits Until 2040
  The Edison Electric Institute, which represents investor-owned utilities, wants the free carbon- dioxide permits under a proposed "cap-and-trade" program for greenhouse gases to continue for nearly three decades. Cap-and-trade legislation being debated in Congress would enter force in 2012 and eliminate free permits to the electricity sector between 2025 and 2030, allowing a greater share to be auctioned by the federal government. EEI wants a "longer phase-out period," Tom Farrell, chief executive officer of Richmond, Virginia-based Dominion Resources Inc., said today at a hearing of the House Subcommittee on Energy and Environment. While the phase-out could start in 2025, it should not end until 2040, Farrell said.

The climate bill, HR 2454, aka Waxman-Markey, is an ongoing focus of controversy:

• 2009/06/13: WaPo: U.S. Emissions Bill Is Criticized Abroad
• 2009/06/03: TWM: Marathon Man -- Henry Waxman's climate change bill won't make it into law this year. That's why he's the right guy for the job.
• 2009/06/13: Yahoo: GOP slams Democrats' climate bill as an energy tax
• 2009/06/12: Grist: Waxman-Markey, meet House Ag Committee
• 2009/06/12: SF Gate: Agricultural panel jeopardizes climate bill
  Democratic lawmakers on the House Agriculture Committee on Thursday threatened to derail controversial legislation to combat climate change unless it does more to support forestry and farming interests. "As this bill stands today, I can't vote for it," said Rep. Leonard Boswell, D-Iowa. "I don't know anyone else here who can. We've got a lineup of people ... who are very uneasy." Rep. Collin Peterson, D-Minn., the agriculture panel chairman and an outspoken critic of the sweeping climate change legislation, said the measure could be in jeopardy. Without changes, "I don't think you are going to get any type of a bill through Congress - whatever the administration wants," Peterson said.
• 2009/06/11: WSJ:EnvCap: Farm State Wish List Could Hold Key to Waxman-Markey Bill
• 2009/06/11: MinnPost: Peterson urges changes in energy and climate-change legislation
  Rep. Collin Peterson and members of the House Agriculture Committee called on the Obama administration today to pressure Congressional leaders to create a larger role for agriculture and forestry interests in the developing energy and climate-change legislation. "A lot of us on the [Agriculture] Committee do not want the EPA near our farms," Peterson, who chairs the panel, told Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack at today's packed hearing in Washington. "And, I don't think you are going to get any type of a bill through Congress, whatever the administration wants, that is going to have that system, for whatever it is worth." The massive climate-change and energy bill, known as the American Clean Energy and Security Act, passed out of the House Energy Committee last month amid heavy criticism from members representing rural America.
• 2009/06/12: ThinkP: Joe Barton: Democratic clean energy bill is 'C.R.A.P.'
• 2009/06/11: Guardian(UK): US nuclear industry tries to hijack Obama's climate change bill
  Republicans seek federal financing for 100 new reactors despite huge capital costs and unsolved problems of storing waste
• 2009/06/11: ClimateP: Eight reasons for farmers to support global warming action
• 2009/06/11: ClimateP: Boucher predicts "I think we'll do far better than" the 218 votes needed to pass Waxman-Markey, GOP's Walden agrees passage likely
• 2009/06/10: ClimateP: Game changer, Part 2: Why unconventional natural gas makes the 2020 Waxman-Markey target so damn easy and cheap to meet
• 2009/06/11: ArgusLeader: Cap-and-trade faces ag foes -- Farm interests 'left behind,' Herseth Sandlin says
• 2009/06/11: SolveClimate: Waxman: Climate Bill Hits the House Floor in 2 Weeks
• 2009/06/10: TheHill: Dem mutiny on climate bill grows, says Peterson
• 2009/06/09: ClimateP: The triumph of energy efficiency: Waxman-Markey could save $3,900 per household and create 650,000 jobs by 2030
• 2009/06/09: CommonTragedies: Tropical Forest Conservation in Waxman-Markey
• 2009/06/09: ACEEE: H.R.2454 would save $3,900 per household by 2030 -- Energy Efficiency Provisions Will Create 650,000 Jobs by 2030
• 2009/06/10: NEN: It's official -- House energy/climate bill will save money
• 2009/06/09: SolveClimate: CBO Answers Big Climate Bill Question: Cost
• 2009/06/09: PlanetArk: Scenarios: Possible changes to House climate bill
• 2009/06/09: Grist: Why do U.S. environmentalists remain irrationally committed to a losing strategy? [W-M]
• 2009/06/08: NYT:CW: House climate bill would trim budget deficit, CBO says
• 2009/06/08: SolveClimate: Letter to Pelosi: 20 Environmental Groups Call for Stronger Climate Bill
• 2009/06/09: TP:WonkRoom: Brookings: Fears That Cap And Trade Will Hurt Farmers Are Baseless
• 2009/06/08: ClimateP: Everything you wanted to know about Waxman-Markey allocations PLUS why the allocations do not undermine energy efficiency efforts
• 2009/06/08: Grist: Why does the much-touted climate bill look like it was stolen from the Republican playbook?
• 2009/06/08: HillHeat: CBO Releases Analysis of Waxman-Markey
• 2009/06/08: TreeHugger: Cap and Trade Won't Break the Bank: Climate Bill Would Actually Cut US Budget Defecit
• 2009/06/08: WSJ:EnvCap: Conoco's Mulva: Waxman-Markey 'Unfair' to Refiners
• 2009/06/03: CTC: Waxman-Markey: Politics-as-Usual Meets Climate Change

  While in the UK:

• 2009/06/11: BBC: Government 'must back insulation'
  The winner of a clean energy prize says government must show much greater urgency in insulating people's homes. West Yorkshire's Kirklees Council has won the prestigious Ashden award for its major home refurbishment programme. The council says the UK government could save families £200 a year and cut greenhouse gases if it guaranteed the cash for a nationwide "refurb".
• 2009/06/11: BCLSB: British National Party (BNP) Also Anti-Science
• 2009/06/09: Guardian(UK): 'Global warming is hoax': the world according to Nick Griffin -- BNP leader Nick Griffin launches into peak oil and climate change argument
• 2009/06/09: PlanetArk: UK set to cut carbon emissions 23 percent by 2010
• 2009/06/08: ScienceInsider: U.K. Seeks to Adapt to Changing Environment

  And in Europe:

• 2009/06/12: EurActiv: France lines up carbon tax
  The French government has set the ball rolling to introduce a carbon tax in 2011, anticipating support for Sweden's plans to make implementing such a scheme at EU level the priority of its upcoming six-month turn at the bloc's helm.
• 2009/06/12: PlanetArk: Probe Under Way In Alleged French CO2 VAT Fraud
• 2009/06/11: Grist: France moves to bring in carbon tax by 2011
• 2009/06/10: PhysOrg: France moves to bring in carbon tax by 2011
  The French government on Wednesday kickstarted plans for a so-called carbon tax on energy-hungry products, to be rolled out by 2011 as part of France's efforts to slash global warming emissions. Environment Minister Jean-Louis Borloo unveiled a white paper on the new Climate-Energy Contribution, to be posted online for public comment before an experts' panel gathers on July 2-3 to hammer out the details.
• 2009/06/10: PlanetArk: EU Kicks Off Battle For $6 Billion Energy Funds
• 2009/06/10: EarthTimes: EU summit to sidestep key fight on climate-change funding
• 2009/06/09: Yahoo: Sweden to call for CO2 tax as EU president -- Incoming Swedish EU presidency to call on member states to impose carbon tax
• 2009/06/09: NatureN: Green boost in European elections may trigger nuclear fight
• 2009/06/09: PlanetArk: Poor nations need $142 billion a year in climate fight: EU
• 2009/06/09: EarthTimes: Minister urges Sweden's [electric utility] Vattenfall away from fossil fuels
• 2009/06/09: EarthTimes: EU agree deal on helping poorer nations pay to fight climate change
  European Union finance ministers finally reached a deal Tuesday on how to fund the fight against climate change in the developing world. The bloc wants to support climate-change mitigation measures in poorer countries as part of a bid to win global acceptance for strict limits on emissions of greenhouse gases at a crunch summit in Copenhagen in December. But EU diplomats had been unable to agree on how their countries should share the bill. On Tuesday, ministers agreed that such costs should be shared according to a member states' wealth and its emissions.
• 2009/06/09: EurActiv: EU summit to hold off climate funding decision
  EU heads of state and government are expected to yet again postpone a decision to provide poor countries with financial contributions to fight climate change when they meet in Brussels next week (18-19 June), according to diplomatic sources.
• 2009/06/08: EurActiv: New Parliament braced for next round of climate laws
  The newly-elected European Parliament faces a busy climate policy agenda, as Europe attempts to claw its way out of the recession by developing greener policies and convincing the world to agree on an ambitious climate deal. The incoming Parliament is taking office in the midst of global negotiations for a treaty to replace the 1997 Kyoto Protocol on climate change.

Meanwhile in Australia:

• 2009/06/13: ABC(Au): Wong defends policy amid climate change protests
  Federal Climate Change Minister Penny Wong has defended the Government's policies on climate change, despite criticisms of them at protests around the nation today. At a protest rally in central Sydney, streets were blocked off as more than 1,000 people marched through the city streets to the office of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd. Speakers condemned the Government's emissions trading scheme as inadequate and accused the Government of selling out to heavily polluting industries.
• 2009/06/13: BBC: Australians demand climate action
  Thousands of demonstrators have rallied across Australia to demand greater government action to protect the environment from climate change. The National Climate Emergency Rallies called on Australia to take the lead at the UN environment summit in December in Copenhagen.
• 2009/06/12: ABC(Au): Defence needs to recognise climate of risk
  The Rudd Government's new 20 year defence blueprint doesn't recognise that our strategic planners need to embrace new thinking, writes Anthony Bergin from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute. The new defence white paper acknowledges that potential sources of conflict related to our changing climate may give rise to clashes between states over resources. The white paper then dismisses the significance of climate security by stating that any large scale strategic consequences of climate change aren't likely before 2030.
• 2009/06/12: ABC(Au): WA land earmarked for geothermal exploration
  Nearly seven million hectares of land across south-eastern Western Australia will be opened up for geothermal exploration.
• 2009/06/12: Australian: Wong's challenge to Murray farmers
  Water and Climate Change Minister Penny Wong has told Victorian farmers there is "no escaping the scale of adjustment" that needs to be made in the Murray-Darling Basin food bowl. Senator Wong said at a Victorian Farmers Federation meeting in Melbourne that unprecedented action was needed to restore the river system's health and that the federal government's accelerated water purchase program was "smoothing the transition" to new, lower limits on water use in the basin. She said it would be "simply irresponsible" to ignore the possibility that climate change had already caused a "step-change" and regardless of whether or when the drought broke, farmers would be prudent to prepare for lower diversion limits. "The challenge for irrigation operators is to modernise, rationalise and consolidate irrigation delivery systems to reduce system losses and ensure their ongoing financial viability in a future where there will be less water," she said.
• 2009/06/11: ABC(Au): Govt takes on unions, green groups
  The Federal Government is taking on two of its core support bases - unions and green groups - as it pulls out all the stops to get key legislation passed in the next fortnight of parliamentary sittings. The Government is defending its decision to link two key pieces of environmental legislation - the renewable energy targets and the emissions trading scheme.
• 2009/06/11: ABC(Au): Govt 'resorting to trickery' on climate bills
  The Federal Government is under fire from the Opposition and the Greens for linking two major climate change policies.
• 2009/06/11: AsiaOne: Australia opposition accuses government of "blackmail"
  Australia's opposition accused the government on Thursday of "legislated blackmail"after tieing millions of dollars in business compensation for new renewable energy laws to a doomed scheme for carbon emissions trading. The major conservative opposition and Australian Greens, wielding the upper house balance-of-power, said the government was threatening US$22 billion ($31.9 billion) in planned energy investment by linking renewable energy laws to its ill-fated carbon trade regime.
• 2009/06/12: HeraldSun: Climate laws add to police workload
  Frontline police will be forced to become "carbon cops" under the Government's blueprint to cut greenhouse emissions. The Herald Sun can reveal Australian Federal Police agents will have to prosecute a new range of climate offences. But they are yet to be offered extra resources, stretching the thin blue line to breaking point.
• 2009/06/10: ABC(Au): A Gold Coast MP [for Moncrieff, Steven Ciobo] says small businesses will be affected by the Federal Government's decision to curtail a solar panel rebate scheme
• 2009/06/10: PlanetArk: Climate Change Protest Targets Australian Smelter
• 2009/06/09: ABC(Au): Work has officially started today at the site of the Australian National University's (ANU) new $8 million Climate Change Institute
• 2009/06/09: ABC(Au): Emissions scheme 'bad economics'
  Economist and Reserve Bank board member Warwick McKibbin says the Government's emissions trading scheme is driven more by politics than credible economics.
• 2009/06/08: ABC(Au): Energy efficiency guru receives honour
  A key pioneer of the star-rating scheme for energy efficiency has been honoured on the Queen's Birthday List for his services to the environment. Adjunct Professor Alan Pears of RMIT University was today awarded a Member of the Order of Australia (AM).

The Rudd government abruptly changed the solar rebate policy upsetting more than a few:

• 2009/06/10: ABC(Au): Energy group [Clean Energy for Eternity] 'devastated' over Federal back-flip on solar power
  A campaign in the south-east of New South Wales to switch to "green" energy is in jeopardy because of a Federal Government back-flip on solar electricity rebates.
• 2009/06/10: ABC(Au): Federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett has defended his decision to pull the Government's $8,000 solar panel rebate
• 2009/06/09: ABC(Au): Government ditches solar rebate for solar credits
  From today the Federal Government is no longer accepting applications for its $8,000 solar panel rebate, instead starting its replacement scheme of solar credits. Under the new system, suppliers can offer discounts to people or businesses installing renewable energy systems depending on the market price of a solar credit, instead of offering households a flat rebate.
• 2009/06/09: ABC(Au): Solar industry in uproar over rebate guillotine
  The renewable energy industry says tens of thousands of people will miss out on the solar rebate because the Federal Government has brought the cut-off date forward.
• 2009/06/09: BizGreen: Australia puts the brakes on solar rooftop panel rebate
  Australia's federal government has abruptly ended an $8,000 (US$6,300, £3,940) rebate on solar panels after an unexpectedly large number of households claimed more than $690m over an 18-month period. The rebate, which applied to rooftop solar panel systems for households and buildings for community use, ends today, with the public given only one day's notice. The decision was made without consultation with the industry, which expected the rebate to continue until at least the end of the month. It will be replaced by a Renewable Energy Target (RET) scheme, which is expected to commence on 1 January, 2010.

Senator Stephen Fielding is making a name he probably doesn't want for himself:

• 2009/06/13: GWWatch: [Senator Stephen] Fielding staring at the sun for too long
• 2009/06/10: ABC(Au): Family First Senator Steve Fielding says he wants more evidence from the Government that human activity is the main cause of global warming before he will support its carbon trading scheme
• 2009/06/08: BNC: Memo to Stephen Fielding: It's not the sun
• 2009/06/09: ABC(Au): Climate Change Assistant Minister Greg Combet will not say whether he will allow Family First Senator Steve Fielding to speak with Government scientists over the causes of global warming
• 2009/06/08: ABC(Au): Family First Senator Stephen Fielding is under fire from the scientific community over his new-found belief that solar flares - not human activity - might be responsible for climate change
• 2009/06/08: ABC(Au): Family First Senator Steve Fielding says increasing levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere might not be causing global warming

  And in India:

• 2009/06/12: PlanetArk: India Plans Much Solar Power, Slower Emissions Rise
• 2009/06/12: Yahoo: India plans much solar power, slower emissions rise

  While in China:

• 2009/06/12: ABC(Au): China aims to lead in renewable energy
  China is the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gasses, with 80 per cent of its electricity coming from coal-fired powered stations. [...] According to Zhang Xiaoqiang, the vice chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission, China will easily surpass its targets for wind and solar power by 2020, so it is now considering targets three times higher. He told the Guardian newspaper that while the current goal for wind power over the next 11 years is 30 gigawatts the new target could be more like 100 gigawatts over the same time period.
• 2009/06/12: BBC: Environment fears halt China dams
  China's environment ministry has suspended construction of two dams on a tributary of the Yangtze River. The projects on the Jinsha River had been started without environmental assessments or approval from the ministry, officials said.
• 2009/06/11: Guardian(UK): China shakes off image as climate criminal with green revolution
  Coal-hungry China's low-carbon ambitions are to its economic advantage as it jostles for position at Copenhagen with the US
• 2009/06/11: TreeHugger: China's Stunning New Renewable Energy Standard: 20 Percent by 2020
• 2009/06/10: Guardian(UK): China leads escalation of coal consumption
• 2009/06/10: Guardian(UK): China makes renewable power play to be world's first green superpower
• 2009/06/09: Guardian(UK): China launches green power revolution to catch up on west
• 2009/06/08: ClimateP: China begins transition to a clean-energy economy

  While in Japan:

• 2009/06/11: JEB: Appalling!
• 2009/06/11: NYT: Japan Sets New Emission Targets
• 2009/06/11: NYT: Japan Sets Emissions Targets, and No One Seems Pleased
• 2009/06/10: Guardian(UK): Japan's 15% target to cut emissions condemned as 'disaster'
• 2009/06/10: Grist: Japan blasted for weak climate targets
• 2009/06/10: TreeHugger: Japan: "Extremely Ambitious" 15% Emissions Cut
• 2009/06/10: EarthTimes: Japan vows to cut CO2 emissions by 15 per cent [from the 2005 level] by 2020
• 2009/06/10: Yahoo: Japan targets 8% emissions cut from 1990 levels
• 2009/06/10: EarthTimes: Japan to give 2 billion dollars in loans to fight climate change
• 2009/06/10: BBC: Japan sets 'weak' climate target
  Japan has announced a target of cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 15% over the next 11 years - a figure derided by environmentalists as "appalling". The target equates to a cut of about 8% from 1990 levels, the commonly used baseline. By comparison, the EU plans a 20% reduction over the same period. The announcement comes in the middle of talks on the UN climate treaty in Bonn.

And elsewhere in Asia:

• 2009/06/09: PhysOrg: Indonesia launches eco-friendly investment index

  High points for historical irony (so far only potential):

• 2009/06/07: MiamiHerald: Cuba could supply oil to U.S. in post-embargo era -- Cuba could become an oil supplier to the United States in a post-embargo era after the Castros.

  And South America:

• 2009/06/11: PlanetArk: Brazil Could Adopt Greenhouse Targets-Lula
• 2009/06/11: TreeHugger: Chile Announces New Wind Power Projects, Solar Farm, and Thermal Plant
• 2009/06/10: NewScientist: Great land giveaway could be disaster for Amazon
  Brazilian president Ignacio Lula da Silva looks set to ratify a bill that will legalise the criminal occupation of large chunks of the Amazon by companies that have been illegally squatting -- and often deforesting -- them.

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

• 2009/06/11: PEF: Canada at the Climate Crossroads
• 2009/06/09: CanWest: We're no bully at environment talks: Prentice -- Foreign Affairs briefing notes not reflective of Canada's climate change stance, minister says
• 2009/06/08: CanWest: Canada accused of playing bully on Kyoto -- Foreign Affairs memos show 'deliberately provocative' tactics in climate negotiations

  Environment Minister Jim Prentice released a carbon market plan. As for implementing it...:

• 2009/06/11: CBC: Environment minister unveils key part of Canadian carbon market
  The federal government has issued rules for claiming greenhouse gas reductions or "offsets" that will form the basis for a national carbon market. Environment Minister Jim Prentice unveiled two key draft documents Wednesday related to the offset system at a speech before the Economic Club of Canada in Ottawa. The documents set out the rules and requirements for generating offset credits that represent emissions reductions and guidelines for checks to ensure those reductions are real and quantifiable.
• 2009/06/11: G&M: Ottawa unveils carbon market plan
• 2009/06/11: CanWest: Carbon market could be ready by fall: minister -- Plans announced for nationwide trading of emission credits
  The federal government announced plans Wednesday for a national carbon market to encourage companies and individuals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Environment Minister Jim Prentice said while the market would "be establishing a price for carbon in Canada" for the first time, traders, not the government, would determine the eventual price. Prentice said buying and selling carbon credits could begin as early as this fall, but the market probably won't begin operating in a big way until Jan. 1, 2011. That's when Canada's large industrial emitters will have to start complying gradually with mandatory cuts in carbon emissions.
• 2009/06/10: Google:CP: Feds unveil plans for carbon market
  The Harper government took the long-awaited step Wednesday of detailing its plan to trade pollution permits on the open market. Environment Minister Jim Prentice released two draft documents laying the ground rules for a federal carbon-offset scheme.
• 2009/06/11: CanWest: Canadian government to establish carbon trading market
• 2009/06/10: AD: The importance of feigning action -- Jim Prentice declares his dedication to putting a carbon trading system in place

  There was another recording scandal in Ottawa-Halifax this week (which was just too tacky to go into), but one upshot was the revelation that the environment minister moved money from wind to fossil fuel projects:

• 2009/06/12: ChronicleHerald: Group raps Raitt about wind cash
  Wind energy producers that were shortchanged in federal budget wrangling complained on Thursday that federal support for wind energy projects will run out this fall, not years in the future as Natural Resources Minister Lisa Raitt told her aide in January. In a conversation inadvertently recorded by her aide that eventually came into possession of The Chronicle Herald, Ms. Raitt said that she wasn't worried about the post-budget complaints of CanWEA, the Canadian Wind Energy Association, which had expected to get more money in the fund for developing wind farms.
• 2009/06/11: CBC: Prentice moved wind power funds to oil sands projects: Raitt tape
• 2009/06/11: ChronicleHerald: Windmill funding spun off to oilfield -- Raitt tape reveals backroom wrangling over energy funding
  Money earmarked to support wind energy producers was diverted to research and development of rival energy projects -- mostly in the oilpatch -- during backroom budget wrangling, the minister of natural resources said in a conversation with an aide in January. Lisa Raitt told aide Jasmine MacDonnell that she suspects Environment Minister Jim Prentice took the money intended for wind power and redirected it to the $1-billion Clean Energy Fund.

The always fun prospect of a federal-provincial dispute looms:

• 2009/06/09: Reuters: Alberta says Ottawa must consult it on climate pact
• 2009/06/09: TStar: Alberta girds for carbon wars
  The U.S could have cap-and-trade legislation in place in a matter of months. Meanwhile, the Harper government is waiting to see what the Americans do before deciding what it should do to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. But Premier Ed Stelmach served notice recently that Alberta has a mind of its own when it comes to climate-change policies and doesn't intend to go along quietly. In a speech to the party faithful gathered in Calgary for a policy conference, Stelmach made it clear that if the federal government imposes a national cap-and-trade system -- effectively a carbon tax -- Alberta intends to use its muscle to demand something in return.

In BC, adjustments to the election results are ongoing:

• 2009/06/09: Tyee: How I 'Demonized' David Suzuki -- And the screaming-mad results.
• 2009/06/12: CanWest: As she unveils her shadow cabinet, Carole James axes 'axe the tax'
  New Democratic Party leader Carole James said Thursday she will abandon her call to scrap B.C.'s carbon tax, and instead shift her focus to ways the tax can be improved. "The tax is there to stay. The election campaign is over with," James said Thursday, as she announced the members of her opposition shadow cabinet. "Gordon Campbell's tax is in place. We now need to make sure it's fair and that it's effective," she added.
• 2009/06/12: MoD: Carol James and the BC NDP redeem themselves
• 2009/06/11: DeSmogBlog: BC NDP Leader Accepts BC Carbon Tax (Bravo! Carole James)
• 2009/06/10: CanWest: Carbon tax no cash cow in its first year
  The provincial government paid out $38 million more in carbon tax breaks to British Columbians than it collected in carbon taxes in the first year of the climate-change initiative's implementation. However, how much British Columbians reduce their carbon production won't be known until the province starts reporting its emissions figures to the federal government in the coming years, a conference on the carbon tax heard Tuesday. [...] The conference, titled Decoding Carbon Tax Pricing, is being staged by the Pacific Institute for Climate Solution, a collaboration of the University of Victoria, University of B.C., University of Northern B.C. and Simon Fraser University around the first anniversary of the controversial tax. The intent of the conference, which began Monday and runs through today, is to review what industries and institutions are doing in response to the tax and to other B.C. climate-change initiatives.

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

• 2009/06/10: CBC: Ontario proposes tough new wind turbine rules
  The Ontario government is proposing new regulations that would keep wind turbines at least 550 metres away from any house. The province wants that minimum distance, or "setback," to be mandatory for wind developers who install one to five turbines emitting the lowest allowable noise level. Greater distances would be required for larger groups of turbines.

Meanwhile in that Mechanical Mordor known as the tar sands:

• 2009/06/13: G&M: The carbon capture conundrum
  As pressure from governments grows for the oil sands to clean up its act, some energy producers are exploring carbon capture storage -- a process that sequesters CO2 deep below the ground. But is the enormous cost, which would require massive government support and do little to address other sources of emissions, too much to pay?
• 2009/06/07: DeSmogBlog: Carbon Capture Won't Solve the Tar Sands - Canada's Environment Minister
• 2009/06/08: OilChange: Shell Warns of "Oil Spikes" as its Tar Sands Strategy is Criticised
• 2009/06/08: G&M: [Former Alberta premier Peter Lougheed interview]'The people of Alberta are the owner of the resource'

  As for miscellaneous Canadiana:

• 2009/06/10: TStar: Team Canada storms U.S. in war on 'Buy American' -- U.S. business backs diplomats in fight against protectionism
• 2009/06/11: EnvCan: [links to several pdfs] Canada's Offset System for Greenhouse Gases
• 2009/06/12: BCLSB: Black Liquor Takes Down Skookumchuck

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

• 2009/06/09: IR^2: The Long Recession
• 2009/06/12: EconoSpeak: Borrow. Spend. Buy. Waste. Want... File. Part II
• 2009/06/11: SF Gate: Meltdown 101: Rising energy costs and the economy
• 2009/06/10: FormbyTimes(UK): Wartime Tips to Save the Planet
  Long before recycling targets and pay per throw taxes, our grandparents knew a thing or two about being green. Make do and mend was more than a slogan, it was a way of life. And now, as we tighten our collective belts and brace ourselves for economic gloom, seven out of 10 of us believe the country should once again embrace the wartime spirit in an effort to cut down on waste. The results come from research done by the Merseyside-based Energy Saving Trust, the UK's leading organisation set up to help fight climate change.
• 2009/06/07: MTobis: Limits to Growth Kicking In?

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

• 2009/06/14: Guardian(UK): It takes guts to say: 'I don't want children'
  Cameron Diaz admits she's happy to be childless. Yet few women - or men - will praise her stance
• 2009/06/12: Grist: Population: Off the radar, not off the map
• 2009/06/10: SciAm: Population and Sustainability: Can We Avoid Limiting the Number of People?
  Slowing the rise in human numbers is essential for the planet--but it doesn't require population control
• 2009/06/10: AlterNet: Why My Vasectomy Will Help Save the Earth's Resources

  Apocalypso anyone?

• 2009/06/11: DailyAstorian: The five horsemen of our apocalypse
  [Peak oil, global warming, fiscal fraud, debt spending and foreign exchange & our culture of lies]
• 2009/06/11: EnergyBulletin: Humanity's Choice: A Series of Exits -- Not a Fork in the Road
• 2009/06/08: G&M: Brace yourselves for apocalypse now

  As for how the media handles the science of climatology:

• 2009/06/10: ClimateP: Reuters and Greenbiz.com attack all federal clean energy technology development
• 2009/06/09: ClimateP: Memo to media: New Brookings study does NOT model Waxman-Markey, and, contrary to the Washington Times, it finds strong climate action would NOT hurt the economy
• 2009/06/08: ClimateP: The Washington Post launches a paranoid (and naïve) attack on the House clean energy and climate bill for promoting efficient new buildings

  Here is something for your library:

• 2009/06/12: EnergyBulletin: [Book Review] _Sacred Demise, Walking the Spiritual Path of Industrial Civilization's Collapse_ by Carolyn Baker
• 2009/06/12: EnergyBulletin: [Book Review] _Future Scenarios: How Communities Can adapt to Peak Oil and Climate Change_ by David Holmgren

  Meanwhile among the 'Sue the Bastards!' contingent:

• 2009/06/10: Guardian(UK): Fuelling the fury
  As Shell settles a major legal action over protests in Nigeria, closer to home emotions are running high over a gas pipeline near the Irish village of Rossport, sparking violent clashes and bitter recrimination.
• 2009/06/09: BBC: Will Shell pay-out change Nigeria Delta?
• 2009/06/09: OilChange: Shell is Guilty of Much More than Human Rights Abuses
• 2009/06/08: OilChange: Wiwa v Shell Settled
• 2009/06/09: NWANews: Judge dismisses emissions argument
  An administrative law judge Monday threw out arguments on whether carbon dioxide emissions were properly considered when state environmental regulators approved an air permit for a coal-fired power plant near Texarkana.
• 2009/06/09: SolveClimate: Shell Settles Human Rights Case in Nigeria for $15.5 Million
• 2009/06/08: CBC: Royal Dutch Shell will pay $15.5-million to end human rights lawsuit
• 2009/06/08: BBC: Shell settles Nigeria deaths case
  Royal Dutch Shell has agreed to pay $15.5m to settle a lawsuit which accused the oil firm of complicity in rights abuses in Nigeria. [...] the company insists it did nothing wrong ...
• 2009/06/08: Guardian(UK): Shell pays out $15.5m over Saro-Wiwa killing

  Wrestling over a new energy infrastructure continues unabated:

• 2009/06/12: RigZone: US Gas Hydrates Find Has Worldwide Implications
  In a 21-day expedition led by Chevron, DOE's National Energy Technology Lab (NETL), the US Geological Survey, the Minerals Management Service, in addition to a host of other industry experts, the most prospective gas hydrates reservoirs yet found have been located and drilled. "Gas hydrates for a long time have been the most elusive and confounding of hydrocarbon deposits to find," said Dan McConnell, vice president of AOA Geophysics, one of the companies selected for the site selection committee. "This is the very first time that thick hydrates accumulations have been drilled by design, that those hydrates were where they were predicted to be." The Gulf of Mexico Gas Hydrates Joint Industry Program (JIP) was formed by US governmental groups and petroleum companies to investigate the occurrence of gas hydrates and develop technologies for reliable detection and safe drilling.
• 2009/06/10: FTimes: Unconventional sources promise rich natural gas harvest
• 2009/06/13: PeakEnergy: Oil price leaps to year's high
• 2009/06/12: RateCrimes: Sun Belt Rate Plan Survey
• 2009/06/10: IR^2: Time to Switch to Natural Gas?
• 2009/06/10: Telegraph(UK): The centre of gravity in the global energy market has changed and we need to wake up
  Tony Hayward, the chief executive of BP, explains why 2008 is likely to go down in history as a turning point for the way in which the world consumes and produces energy.
• 2009/06/12: BBC: Greater oil demand seen for 2009 [Note misleading headline: Demand to be down 2.9%. -het]
  Demand for oil this year will be more than previously expected, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). The IEA said in its monthly survey that oil consumption would now drop by 2.9% to 83.3 million barrels a day. The body had expected a 3% annual decline this year, the biggest drop since 1981.
• 2009/06/12: OPEC: [link to 738k pdf] Monthly Oil Market Report -- June 2009
• 2009/06/12: CBC: OPEC trims oil demand forecast
  [...] In its Monthly Oil Market Report, OPEC said global demand, which had dropped substantially in the wake of the global economic crisis, "appears to be settling" as the economy regains strength. The cartel said world oil demand for 2009 is forecast to fall by 1.6 million barrels per day year-over-year to average 83.8 million barrels a day. The previous 2009 forecast was for 84.03 million barrels.
• 2009/06/12: AlterNet: Peak Oil Is for Real: The Era of Cheap Oil Is Officially Over
• 2009/06/10: Telegraph(UK): Oil consumption falls by the most since 1982
  Global demand for oil has fallen for the first time in 15 years and by the greatest amount since 1982, according to energy giant BP.
• 2009/06/10: WSJ:EnvCap: Numbers Game: BP Publishes Its Annual Statistics Bible
• 2009/06/11: OilChange: The Beginning of the End of Oil?
• 2009/06/10: Guardian(UK): Oil price leaps to year's high
• 2009/06/10: ChinaDaily: China eyes 20% renewable energy by 2020
• 2009/06/10: BBerg: World Oil Reserves Fell for First Time in 10 Years, BP Says
• 2009/06/09: NYT:GreenInc: Water Scarcity and the Western Oil Shales
• 2009/06/10: SolveClimate: New Technologies Zero in on Wasted Energy
• 2009/06/10: BBC: Oil prices rise to new 2009 high -- Oil prices rose over $71 a barrel, a new high for the year so far, on hopes of an economic recovery.
• 2009/06/10: BBC: First fall in oil use since 1993
  Global oil consumption fell by 420,000 barrels a day, or 0.6%, in 2008, the first fall since 1993 and the biggest drop since 1982, according to BP. Its annual statistical review said global production had grown by 0.4%. But proven oil reserves fell for the first time for a decade, falling by 3bn barrels to 1.258 trillion barrels
• 2009/06/09: Yahoo: Crude passes $70 again, US revises price predictions upward
• 2009/06/07: SF Gate: Energy realism - finding common ground [by Chevron Corp CEO Dave O'Reilly]
  Americans share common ground when it comes to this country's energy goals. We aspire to an environmentally responsible approach to energy that will help our country be more self-sufficient while not putting the cost of energy out of reach for American consumers and businesses. But we seem to have less common ground in the discussion about how, and when, we can realize those aspirations. I support these energy objectives, but believe that policies to achieve them can be successful only if they are rooted in fact and in reality - what I call "energy realism."
• 2009/06/09: NEN: U.S. Scientists design new energy economy
  Summary: Climate 2030; A National Blueprint For A Clean Energy Economy, a two-year, peer-reviewed study from the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), analyzes the economic and technological feasibility of meeting stringent targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions (GhGs). It examines the implications of cutting GhGs to 26% below 2005 levels by 2020 and 56% below 2005 levels by 2030.
• 2009/06/08: Reuters: NY sees clean energy creating up to 50,000 jobs
• 2009/06/07: BusRep: Renewable energy funding down 70% in Asia
• 2009/06/08: PeakEnergy: Mining "Ice That Burns"
• 2009/06/08: SolveClimate: America to Trim Ocean Energy Budget; Britain Plows Ahead

  The answer my friend...:

• 2009/06/13: TreeHugger: DIY Vertical Axis Wind Turbine (Video)
• 2009/06/13: PeakEnergy: Wind Farming in Deep Waters
• 2009/06/11: Kansas: Will wind energy follow ethanol's path?
• 2009/06/09: TreeHugger: World's Largest Wind Power Park To Be Built in Argentina
• 2009/06/09: BBC: Australia wind farm gets go-ahead
  Approval has been given for Australia's biggest wind farm to be built near Broken Hill in New South Wales. Almost 600 turbines will generate enough electricity for more than 400,000 homes.

Meanwhile among the solar aficionados:

• 2009/06/13: NYT: Seeking Growth Market, Chip Maker Eyes Solar Cells
• 2009/06/12: IR^2: Solar Stories
• 2009/06/12: Yahoo: Nation's largest solar plant to be built in NM
• 2009/06/11: PhysOrg: Sunlight Trap Could Lead to New Generation of Solar Devices
• 2009/06/11: PlanetArk: Solar Stocks Rally On China Support, Oil Prices
• 2009/06/11: PeakEnergy: U.S. Largest Solar Power Facility Approved for Austin
• 2009/06/09: Reuters: U.S. demand for residential solar rising in '09
• 2009/06/09: SacBee: Aerojet, Solar Power unveil $20 million [3.5 megawatt, PV] energy project
• 2009/06/08: OPB: Is Solar Power Only A Rich Man's Renewable Source?

  And in the clean coal saga:

• 2009/06/13: AfterGutenberg: Coal Ash Impoundments Too Dangerous
• 2009/06/12: BBerg: FutureGen 'Clean Coal' Plant Gets Federal Backing
• 2009/06/10: WVGazette:CT: Coal ash update: Regulations make economic sense
• 2009/06/11: TreeHugger: Who Wants Some Coal Ash? Tennessee's Mess Getting Shipped Out of State
• 2009/06/08: ThinkP: Four Right-Wing Supreme Court Justices Argue That Buying Off A Judge Is No Problem

  Biofuel bickering abounds:

• 2009/06/07: IR^2: How to Calculate Ethanol's Value
• 2009/06/11: IR^2: It's Always Something [trade-offs & Jatropha]
• 2009/06/10: BBC: 'Hidden cost' of Colombian biofuel
  Colombia's government proudly claims that it is the biggest producer of biodiesel and ethanol in Latin America after Brazil, but human rights groups do not share that enthusiasm. Critics warn that the cultivation of palm trees to produce biodiesel is a threat to Colombia's indigenous groups and other minorities, including Afro-Colombians. In rural areas, there is evidence that some people have been forcibly displaced to make way for biofuel production.
• 2009/06/11: CBC: Ottawa [gas] station 1st in world to sell biofuel from wheat straw
• 2009/06/09: TechRev: All Washed Up for Jatropha? The drought-resistant "dream" biofuel is also a water hog.
• 2009/06/09: PhysOrg: Biodiesel blend performs as well as ultra-low sulfur fuel

  The nuclear energy controversy continues:

• 2009/06/12: TreeHugger: Babcock & Wilcox Shrinks the Nuclear Reactor, But Not the Waste
• 2009/06/12: EarthTimes: Fire breaks out at Taiwan nuclear power plant, no radiation leak
• 2009/06/12: DailyMail: How a trip to the laundry averted nuclear disaster
• 2009/06/11: EarthTimes: New nuclear plant in 2018, says Lithuanian Prime Minister
• 2009/06/11: WSJ:EnvCap: Honey, I Shrunk the Reactor: Small Nukes Arrive
• 2009/06/11: BNC: An inconvenient solution [nukes]
• 2009/06/10: PeakEnergy: "New" Nuclear Reactors, Same Old Story
• 2009/06/09: ABC(Au): Conference focuses on world's energy supply
  The world's future energy supply is set to be discussed at an international uranium conference in Darwin this week. More than 300 delegates from around the world are expected to attend the Institute of Mining and Metallurgy International Uranium Conference.
• 2009/06/08: PhysOrg: [ITER] Nuclear fusion power project to start in slimmed-down version

  Yes we have peak oil, peak coal...:

• 2009/06/12: CCurrents: It's Official: The Era Of Cheap Oil Is Over
• 2009/06/12: CanWest: Peak Oil: Good Things Could Happen to Us
• 2009/06/11: Grist: It's official -- the era of cheap oil is over by Michael T. Klare
  Every summer, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) of the U.S. Department of Energy issues its International Energy Outlook (IEO) -- a jam-packed compendium of data and analysis on the evolving world energy equation. For those with the background to interpret its key statistical findings, the release of the IEO can provide a unique opportunity to gauge important shifts in global energy trends, much as reports of routine Communist Party functions in the party journal Pravda once provided America's Kremlin watchers with insights into changes in the Soviet Union's top leadership circle. As it happens, the recent release of the 2009 IEO has provided energy watchers with a feast of significant revelations. By far the most significant disclosure: the IEO predicts a sharp drop in projected future world oil output (compared to previous expectations) and a corresponding increase in reliance on what are called "unconventional fuels"--oil sands, ultra-deep oil, shale oil, and biofuels. So here's the headline for you: For the first time, the well-respected Energy Information Administration appears to be joining with those experts who have long argued that the era of cheap and plentiful oil is drawing to a close. Almost as notable, when it comes to news, the 2009 report highlights Asia's insatiable demand for energy and suggests that China is moving ever closer to the point at which it will overtake the United States as the world's number one energy consumer. Clearly, a new era of cutthroat energy competition is upon us.
• 2009/06/10: EnergyBulletin: CERA official acknowledges "peak oil is here"
• 2009/06/08: ClimateP: WSJ front-page shocker: "U.S. Foresees a Thinner Cushion of Coal," warns rosy U.S. coal estimates "may be wildly overconfident"
• 2009/06/09: NEN: Not as much coal as they thought
• 2009/06/09: TP:WonkRoom: USGS: We're Not The 'Saudi Arabia Of Coal'
• 2009/06/08: TreeHugger: Jeff Rubin: Peak Oil Will Make Our World A Whole Lot Smaller
• 2009/06/08: PeakEnergy: US Foresees a Thinner Cushion of Coal
• 2009/06/08: WSJ:EnvCap: Peak Coal: What Do Tighter Coal Supplies Mean for 'Clean Coal'?

  More people are talking about the electrical grid:

• 2009/06/10: DiscoverMag: Building an Interstate Highway System for Energy -- Tomorrow's smart grid will keep the lights on and factories humming with clean (but fickle) renewable energy
• 2009/06/11: BBC: Trans-European power grid needed
  European countries must invest in new electricity grids to safeguard their power supplies, scientists have warned. A report from the European Academies Science Advisory Council suggests current national grids are increasingly unfit for purpose.
• 2009/06/11: NewScientist: Virtual power plants could tame coming grid chaos
• 2009/06/08: SF Gate: Security a concern with spread of smart grids

  And then there is the matter of efficiency & conservation:

• 2009/06/10: CNN: Electric Utilities Fail to Promote Their Energy-Efficiency Initiatives
  [...] The problem, according to Gartner analyst Zarco Sumic, is that most utilities are regulated in such a way that they make money from producing more electricity, not less (the exception is states that have decoupling laws, like California). That means they have little incentive to encourage customers to reduce energy use, even if they have energy-saving programs in place. Twisted? Yes.
• 2009/06/09: PhysOrg: Engineers unveil new lighting solutions
  A study by Carnegie Mellon University researchers argues that new lighting technologies can be a key player in the portfolio of strategies needed to promote energy efficiency and to help reduce the emission of greenhouse gases.
• 2009/06/05: YouSustain: In Depth: Phantom Energy

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

• 2009/06/11: ClimateP: Hydrogen fuel cell cars are a dead end from a technological, practical, and climate perspective -- Chu & Obama are right to kill the program, Part 1
• 2009/06/12: TechRev: IBM Invests in Battery Research -- The company hopes to develop powerful, lightweight lithium-air batteries.
  IBM Research is beginning an ambitious project that it hopes will lead to the commercialization of batteries that store 10 times as much energy as today's within the next five years. The company will partner with U.S. national labs to develop a promising but controversial technology that uses energy-dense but highly flammable lithium metal to react with oxygen in the air. The payoff, says the company, will be a lightweight, powerful, and rechargeable battery for the electrical grid and the electrification of transportation.
• 2009/06/08: ClimateP: So what is it like to actually drive the Chevy Volt plug in hybrid electric car?
• 2009/06/07: WaPo: Behind GM's Attempt to Change Its Image Is Ambivalence About Its Car of the Future
• 2009/06/08: Minyanville: Who Killed the Hydrogen-Powered Car?
• 2009/06/08: AutoBG: Zhong Tai, the new Chinese electric SUV, will bring "peace and safety for the people"

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

• 2009/06/13: LA Times: Critics say 'cash for clunkers' bill is a lemon
  The $1-billion bill, backed by the auto industry, would pay consumers to trade in gas guzzlers. Opponents say criteria are so lax that the government could subsidize the trading of one gas hog for another.
• 2009/06/13: AngryBear: Unclear on the Concept
• 2009/06/12: AutoBG: House, Senate reach terms on 'Cash for Clunkers' program - but only with $1B in funding
• 2009/06/11: ClimateP: Cash for Clunkers becomes Handouts for Hummers
• 2009/06/10: PlanetArk: Europe Car Scrapping Seen Failing Green Test
• 2009/06/09: STimes: House voting today on 'cash for clunkers' plan
• 2009/06/09: TP:WonkRoom: Building A Better Cash For Clunkers Plan (Update: Auto Lobby Responds)

  The reaction of business to climate change will be critical:

• 2009/06/11: EnvFin: Investors warned on biodiversity risk in key sectors
• 2009/06/10: PlanetArk: Why Now Is the Time for Business to Go Green
• 2009/06/09: Reuters: Google closing in on cheap renewable energy goal

  Insurance and re-insurance companies are feeling the heat:

• 2009/06/11: NYT:CW: FEMA Launches Effort to Measure Impact of Climate Change on Flood Insurance

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

• 2009/06/12: ClimateP: Energy and Environmental News for June 12th 2009: nuclear disaster avoided by pure chance; Partnership develops first deep-sea floating turbine
• 2009/06/11: ClimateP: Energy and Global Warming News for June 11th: 'Explosive' clean energy jobs growth; Climate change to displace tens of millions
• 2009/06/10: ClimateP: Energy and Global Warming News for June 10th: Hotter planet means more underweight babies; China aims for 20% renewables by 2020
• 2009/06/09: ClimateP: Energy and Global Warming News for June 9th: Drinking water from air humidity; Greens gain in EU parliament vote
• 2009/06/08: ClimateP: Energy and Global Warming News for June 8th: India's 'National Solar Mission' aims for 100,000 MW by 2030; CBO scores the climate bill and overestimates its 2020 cost by 100%

  The carbon lobby are up to the usual:

• 2009/06/12: OGFJ: IPAA still leading the charge against policies harmful to oil and gas interests
• 2009/06/11: BCLSB: British National Party (BNP) Also Anti-Science
• 2009/06/10: Deltoid: Malcolm Walter on Plimer
• 2009/06/09: Guardian(UK): 'Global warming is hoax': the world according to Nick Griffin -- BNP leader Nick Griffin launches into peak oil and climate change argument
• 2009/06/09: Deltoid: Inside The Australian's War on Science
• 2009/06/09: DM:BA: I'm skeptical of denialism
• 2009/06/09: OilChange: Shell is Guilty of Much More than Human Rights Abuses
• 2009/06/08: Guardian(UK): Climate change groundhog day
  The same nonsense, the same confusions - all seem to be endlessly repeated. But what needs more explaining?
• 2009/06/08: ClimateP: Anti-science conservatives are stuck in denial but for climate science activists, the reverse is true
• 2009/06/07: RealClimate: Groundhog day
• 2009/06/08: PRWatch: Behind [Roger] Bate
• 2009/06/08: PRWatch: Slick Award -- APPEA to The Australian
• 2009/06/07: ThinkP: Franchise defends its 'Global warming is baloney' signs: Burger King is acting like 'cockroaches.'

  As for climate miscellanea:

• 2009/06/12: ClimateP: Keeping Cool and Staying Green
• 2009/06/11: Grist: Ditch 'warming' and start talking 'deteriorating atmosphere,' PR firm says
• 2009/06/12: Deltoid: "Land of the Lost" undermines global warming
• 2009/06/11: RealClimate: Winds of change
• 2009/06/09: DotEarth: Contest Seeks Climate Art Beyond 'Embers'
• 2009/06/: YesMag: The New Economy
  Why This Crisis May Be Our Best Chance to Build a New Economy - Wall Street is bankrupt. Instead of trying to save it, we can build a new economy that puts money and business in the service of people and the planet -- not the other way around.
• 2009/06/08: PeakEnergy: Validating The Viridian Vision

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

• Rate Crimes - Bringing transparency to the economics of solar energy
• REDD-Monitor -- Analysis, opinions, news and views about Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation
• Citizens Against CO2 Sequestration [a blog]
• Amazon Watch
• Carbon Tax Center
• YouSustain - Personal Sustainability
• OCCC: Swiss Advisory Body on Climate Change
• GWTimes: Global Warming Times
• ClimateWire
• P&P: People & Planet
• Scientist On Ice
• Science at Stake
• Mark Lynas (blog)
• Stop Global Warming
• NASA: CloudSat
• CICERO: Center for International Climate and Environmental Research - Oslo
• EU Carbon Trading - Kyoto Protocol - Community Transaction Log
• Dr. James E. Hansen homepage
• LDEO: Global Standardized Precipitation Index Analyses

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.

"History is repeating itself. Thousands of miners have come back. They are repairing and expanding the old airstrips. The cattle ranchers are coming in, cutting down the forest. They are coming with planes and helicopters, guns and machines and rafts. They bring malaria and destroy the rivers. We are warning the world that without your help the Yanomami people will die.

"The error of the whites is to take the riches of the land. You only want to take the riches. But the land is sacred. If the Yanomamai die the shamans will disappear and the governments will continue to take the land. You are worried about climate change. It is arriving. The rains come late, the sun behaves in a strange way. The world is ill. The lungs of the sky are polluted. We know it is happening.

"We are shamans. We care for the planet, the sun, the moon the darkness and the light. Everything that exists we look after. You cannnot go on destroying nature. We will all die, burned and drowned, and that is the Yanomamai word." -Davi Kopenawa Yanomami

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