Another Week of GW News, June 21, 2009

By illconsidered on June 22, 2009.

Sipping from the internet firehose...

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

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Another week of Climate Disruption News

Sipping from the internet firehose...

June 21, 2009

Chuckle, Top Stories:Solstice, UKCP09, USGCRP, Synthesis Report, GLOBE, Chapman, DB Clock, Desertec
Melting Arctic, Geopolitics, Honisch, Sol, Sarychev, Late Comments on Bonn
Food Crisis, Food vs. Biofuel, Food Production
Hurricanes, Monsoon, GHGs, Carbon Cycle, Temperatures, Aerosols, Paleoclimate, Glaciers, Sea Levels, Satellites
Impacts, Forests, Corals, Climate Refugees, Desertification, Wacky Weather, Wildfires, Floods & Droughts
Mitigation, Transportation, Buildings, Sequestration, Geoengineering, Adaptation
Journals, Misc. Science, Lindzen, Pielke, Dyson, Eddy, N&S BI
Kyoto, Kyoto-2, UN, Carbon Trade, Optimal Carbon Reduction Strategy
Politics:International, America, Obama, Britain, Europe, Australia, India, China, Middle East, Canada
Ecological Economics, Apocalypso, Media, Effective Communication, Books, Courts
Energy, Wind, Solar, Coal, Biofuel, Nukes, Peak Oil, Grid, Efficiency, Cars, Business, Joe's List
Carbon Lobby, Miscellaneous Climate, Useful Links
Shameless Self Promotion, .sig

The Senate Opposition succeeded in delaying the Aus-ETS vote until at least the fall:

2009/06/17: Reuters: Australia Senate delays renewable energy laws
The Australian parliament's upper house Senate on Thursday postponed a debate on renewable energy laws until at least August, dashing government hopes of passing the laws by the end of June. The laws, which set a 20 percent target for renewable energy use by 2020 in Australia's coal-reliant electricity supply, would unlock up to $22 billion worth of investment in solar and wind projects. The government and Greens opposed the delay, saying the move would undermine investment in Australia's renewable energy sector and would lead to job losses. "The people who are pushing for this delay are the big emitters. I want to see this legislation through, I want to give certainty to the renewable energy industry that they have got their target," Greens Senator Christine Milne told parliament. Independent Senator Steve Fielding successfully moved that the laws be sent to a Senate inquiry, to report back by August 12, to examine the impact on big business. He was supported by fellow independent Nick Xenophon and the conservative opposition parties, who said the government had forced their hand by linking industry assistance to the separate emissions trading laws.
2009/06/14: GWWatch: Australia's climate bill may be scuttled
And in India:
2009/06/17: WSJ:EnvCap: India's Big Push for Solar Power (and Coal)
2009/06/15: CCurrents: Climate Change's Challenge To India
While in China:
2009/06/19: PhysOrg: Study advises Chinese government to change fuel in millions of households
Scientists in China are recommending that the Chinese government consider phasing out the direct burning of traditional chunks of coal in millions of households. It suggests that the government substitute coal briquettes and improved stoves for cooking and heating to help reduce the country's high air pollution levels.
2009/06/16: BBC: China 'unfairly seen as eco-villain'
China's rapid economic expansion in recent years has been matched by its increasingly voracious appetite for energy and natural resources, says William Bleisch. But, as he explains in this week's Green Room, the nation has sometimes been unfairly portrayed as the world's biggest environmental villain.

And in Russia:

2009/06/21: PlanetArk: Russia Offers Climate Goal With No Real Bite
The plan would reduce emissions by 10-15 percent from Russia's emissions in 1990 when it was part of the Soviet Union and its emissions were far higher than they are today. [...] The target laid out on Friday meant cumulative cuts of 30 billion tonnes of greenhouse gases from 1990 to 2020, Medvedev said. This implies Russia will emit about 3 billion tonnes of greenhouse gas in 2020 compared with 2.2 billion tonnes in 2007.

Yet more complications in the Middle East:

2009/06/18: OilChange: The Great Gazan Gas Robbery
In Canada, minority neocon PM Harper, continues his do-nothing policy:
2009/06/15: TStar: Tory baby steps on carbon gases
As the campaign to curb greenhouse gas emissions heats up, with politicians in the United States and in provincial capitals generating a whirlwind, our own federal government has been left in the dust. Frustrated by inaction in both Washington and Ottawa, U.S. governors long ago teamed up with provincial premiers to lay the foundations for a "cap-and-trade" regime. More recently, with the new Obama administration energizing climate change policies, Canada's Conservative government has been trying to make up for lost time. Environment Minister Jim Prentice deserves some credit for putting greenhouse gas emissions back on the federal government's radar screen. In a speech last week, Prentice signalled the need to catch up with governments in Ontario and Quebec, which advanced their own cap-and-trade frameworks last month. But it remains a painfully slow process. Prentice may merely be buying time until he has a better sense of what Washington will do. Despite his bold assertions that the government is making an "important" move toward setting up a carbon market in Canada, Prentice is really only taking baby steps.
2009/06/17: EmbassyMag: Gov't Planned to Split EU on Climate Change Talks
In an attempt to bolster Canada's case, a strategy was devised last year to find EU allies and put conditions on developing country assistance. The Harper government recognized last year that its plan to tackle greenhouse gas emissions was extremely weak compared to other developed countries. As such, government documents show it devised a strategy that included trying to split European Union members and tying assistance to developing countries to binding emission reduction targets as part of a bid to influence international talks. The environment minister denies he or Canada's climate change ambassador have ever seen the documents, which were prepared by the Department of Foreign Affairs last year for Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon, Prime Minister Stephen Harper and others and obtained by the David Suzuki Foundation through Access to Information requests. However, opposition critics and environmental activists say the government's position over the past year shows the controversial strategy was largely adopted, even if it has been ultimately unsuccessful.
2009/06/19: CBC: Funding battle with Ottawa sidetracks Toronto streetcar project
The pattern is big talk about the Arctic, little cash or action:
2009/06/17: CBC: Construction of promised Arctic patrol boats postponed
2009/06/16: CTV: Navy waters down plans for Arctic patrol ships
The federal government has put off asking shipbuilders for ideas on the construction of a flotilla of Arctic patrol boats, a sign that the two-year-old program is in trouble. The navy's project management office advised the defence industry on June 10th that the long-anticipated letters of intent had been delayed.

Saskatchewan is wrestling with the idea of nukes:

2009/06/16: Rabble: Saskatchewan NDP divided on nuclear power
Meanwhile in that Mechanical Mordor known as the tar sands:
2009/06/19: G&M: Suncor answers critics with green targets
2009/06/18: CBC: Canada's 'toxic secret' soon to be made public
Environmental groups have long called the tailings lakes in the Alberta oilsands Canada's toxic secret, but companies operating there will soon be required to disclose exactly what pollutants are there. In April, a federal court ordered Ottawa to make the mining industry release a complete inventory of what material they release into the environment. Now companies in the oilsands will also have to comply, CBC News has learned. "It'll be the first time that Canadians have actually known what is in these tailings facilities and the extent of the pollution that these companies are producing," said Justin Duncan, a lawyer for the environmental groups that took the federal government to court on the issue and won. Environment Canada has confirmed the lakes of sludge produced in the Alberta oilsands also fall under the ruling. The pollution data will be ammunition for critics like David Schindler, a professor of ecology at the University of Alberta. "The magnitude of the numbers is going to really shock people," Schindler said. "It's huge compared to any other mining development anywhere on the planet."
2009/06/16: CanWest: Clean up Alberta oilsands: U.S. officials -- Obama administration committed to boosting clean-energy production
Two of U.S. President Barack Obama's top advisers on energy and climate change said Monday the Alberta oilsands are a key part of the U.S. energy mix. But they warned its development must be cleaned up, because there's "a lot of concern" south of the border about their environmental footprint. U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu and Nancy Sutley, chairwoman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, said the Obama administration is committed to increasing clean-energy production in the U.S., and the carbon-intensive oilsands are "very tricky."

As for miscellaneous Canadiana:

2009/06/16: Google:AFP: Oil drilling to expand off Canada's Atlantic coast
2009/06/16: TStar: Canada called on to join renewable-energy agency [IRENA] -- Cooperation crucial to developing booming sector, industry says
The country's solar and wind industries, with support from federal opposition parties, are calling on the Harper government to sign up Canada to a new international agency created to promote renewable-energy technologies. They argue that international cooperation is crucial if Canada is to take advantage of the boom in green-energy development and innovation taking place around the globe. The Conservative government has so far ruled out membership, citing overlap with existing agencies, such as the International Energy Agency, and the fact that the United States, China and other major countries have yet to join.
2009/06/16: WalrusMag: Off the Rails -- How Canada fell from leader to laggard in high-speed rail, and why that needs to change
The movement toward a long term ecologically viable economics is glacial:
2009/06/19: EnergyBulletin: The commons of the future
2009/06/19: Tyee: From Crisis Comes Hope -- But only if a weary left can lead with new ideas. Here's a few to start.
2009/06/17: Rabble: Putting our descendants first
Apocalypso anyone?
2009/06/16: PS: Can We Survive the 'Anthropocene' Period? by Paul J Crutzen
As for how the media handles the science of climatology:
2009/06/16: CJR: Gene Randall "Reporting," Inc. -- Will journalists' flight toward PR mean the end of reportorial integrity?
2009/06/20: ClimateP: [Michael C.] MacCracken: The New York Times quote did not represent my views, and it did not even represent the reporter's attempt to portray my comments
2009/06/18: ClimateP: The New York Times sells its integrity to ExxonMobil with front-page ad that falsely asserts "Today's car has 95% fewer emissions than a car from 1970"
2009/06/16: MTobis: Journalism and Numeracy
2009/06/16: ClimateP: Memo to White House: The NYT buried the 'exclusive' you gave them on the landmark U.S. climate impacts report
While activists search for effective communication techniques:
2009/06/18: GreenPeace: Fake IHT Page
2009/06/18: LNB: A Glimpse of a Future to Change the Now
2009/06/15: DotEarth: A Climate (Communication) Crisis?
Here is something for your library:
2009/06/15: HotTopic: [Book Review] _Heatstroke: Nature in an Age of Global Warming_ by Anthony Barnosky
Meanwhile among the 'Sue the Bastards!' contingent:
2009/06/17: OilChange: Shell Worried Ogoni PR was "Green Imagery"
2009/06/17: OilChange: Shell's Secret Collusion Documents [Nigeria]
Developing a new energy infrastructure is a fundamental challenge of the current generation:
2009/06/19: GreenGrok: Statistically Speaking: New Fuel Resources - Worth Drilling For?
2009/06/19: PeakEnergy: A new geothermal power station for Birdsville
2009/06/18: NEN: New player in space solar [SPS]
2009/06/16: VoxEU: Oil prices and the economic recession of 2007-08 by James D. Hamilton
Past oil price spikes associated with Middle East conflicts and OPEC embargos were each followed by a global economic recession. This column argues that the onset of the current economic downturn of is also partly attributable to a sharp increase in the price of oil. Moreover, the interaction of high oil prices and housing problems contributed to the severity of the downturn.
2009/06/17: Guardian(UK): Hot tub technology -- New research suggests the simple immersion heater could be key to a renewable electricity solution
2009/06/17: PhysOrg: Passing cars to generate energy for new UK supermarket
2009/06/17: Reuters: PowerSat: Space Solar Flies Closer to Earth
2009/06/16: WSJ:EnvCap: Spaced Out: Is Solar Power From Satellites Achievable?
2009/06/16: BNC: Steel yourself -- a clear role for hydrogen
2009/06/15: McClatchyDC: Fertilizer industry finds its alternative energy: corncobs
2009/06/16: Google:AFP: Oil drilling to expand off Canada's Atlantic coast
2009/06/15: SF Gate: State gasoline price passes $3 mark again
The answer my friend...:
2009/06/21: PeakEnergy: Wind Could Power Europe Many Times Over
2009/06/17: CBC: Texas oil billionaire eyes Alberta wind power
Texas billionaire T. Boone Pickens told a Calgary business audience he's looking to make a potential investment in wind energy in Alberta. "If it's a better deal in Alberta than it is in Texas, I'd be more interested in Alberta than I would Texas," he said on Wednesday at a sold-out luncheon at the Westin Hotel. "I want to make the best deal I can wherever I invest my money." The Pickens Plan, introduced last year, calls for the United States to cut its dependence on foreign oil by more than one-third by making natural gas and wind power much bigger parts of America's energy supply.
2009/06/17: SciDaily: How To Get Wind Turbines To Work Harder
2009/06/16: USAToday: Clean-energy windmills a 'dirty business' for farmers in Mexico
2009/06/17: SwissInfo: Country's largest wind farm gets green light
Two Swiss energy companies will erect 40 wind turbines at a cost of SFr240 million ($221 million) in the Jura region, between Lake NeuchÃ¢tel and the Val-de-Travers. The joint project between Romande Energie and the city of Zurich's power utility will be the country's largest wind farm
2009/06/16: CNN: High-altitude wind machines could power NYC
Study: Wind machines placed thousands of feet above New York could power the city - Enough wind energy exists at high altitudes to meet global demand 100 times over - A kite-like device could transmit energy to generators that turn it into electricity - Startups are developing turbines, although they are still in the prototype stage
2009/06/15: Eureka: Is the sky the limit for wind power?
Meanwhile among the solar aficionados:
2009/06/17: PhysOrg: A Polymer Solar Cell with Near-Perfect Internal Efficiency
2009/06/17: CharlotteObserver: Duke Energy starts 'smart' solar initiative -- Company says plan has the potential to save customers money and, possibly, delay need for new power plants
2009/06/16: SciDaily: Transparent Solar Cells Made For Windows
And in the clean coal saga:
2009/06/19: WSJ:EnvCap: Cleaner Coal: Fixing Existing Plants Is Crucial, MIT Says
2009/06/18: HuffPo: Coal Ash Sites Kept Secret, While Industry Works to Prevent Regulations
2009/06/18: Guardian(UK): Obama administration criticised over failure to disclose coal dump locations
2009/06/18: TreeHugger: Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. Talks Dirty Coal at Bonnaroo, and More
2009/06/15: TreeHugger: It's a Matter of National Security: Gov [DHS] Refuses to Reveal Hundreds of Hazardous Coal Ash Sites
Biofuel bickering abounds:
2009/06/19: PlanetArk: Manila OKs Foreign Firm To Plant Biofuel Coconut
2009/06/18: EarthTimes: [Economic] Crisis [& falling fuel prices] cuts viability of large-scale biofuels production in Asia
2009/06/18: AlterNet: Help Save the Earth, Time to Subsitute Hemp for Oil
The nuclear energy controversy continues:
2009/06/16: FuturePundit: 150 MW Nuclear Reactor To Fit On Rail Cars
2009/06/19: PlanetArk: Nuclear Nations Rush To Lock In Uranium Deals
2009/06/19: ColumbusDispatch: Report: Nuclear plant a pricey plan
2009/06/19: WSJ:EnvCap: Going Nuclear: Duke's Push for New Nukes in Ohio
2009/06/19: SolveClimate: Duke Considering First New U.S. Nuclear Plant in 30 years
2009/06/20: BNC: Why is the US ignoring the Integral Fast Reactor?
2009/06/18: ScienceInsider: ITER Chooses a Cautious, Slower, Approach To Fusion
2009/06/18: KSJT: Scattered ink: New nukes for USA
2009/06/18: PhysOrg: [ITER] Nuclear fusion power project to start in 2018: official
2009/06/16: AfterGutenberg: Horsefeathers
2009/06/17: BRitholtz: Fed Financing $18.5 billion NextGen Nukes
2009/06/16: NBF: A Proposed Factory Built Modular Light Water Reactor and Review of Other Types of Proposed Factory Built Reactors
2009/06/17: BBC: Fusion [ITER project] falters under soaring costs
An international plan to build a nuclear fusion reactor is being threatened by rising costs, delays and technical challenges. Emails leaked to the BBC indicate that construction costs for the experimental fusion project called ITER have more than doubled. Some scientists also believe that the technical hurdles to fusion have become more difficult to overcome and that the development of fusion as a commercial power source is still at least 100 years away. At a meeting in Japan on Wednesday, members of the governing Iter council will review the plans and may agree to scale back the project.
2009/06/17: PlanetArk: Factbox: European Nuclear Plant Life Extensions
Yes we have peak oil, peak coal sightings:
2009/06/19: EnergyBulletin: IDA study on Peak Oil debate (August 2008) (review)
2009/06/16: TreeHugger: It's Time For an Inconvenient Talk About Peak Fossil Fuels
2009/06/15: HillTimes: Global economy to get 'shock of its life' when oil hits triple digits
Energy expert and former CIBC economist Jeff Rubin says he's doesn't give a hoot if politicians read his book. When oil prices soar, 'the folk' will force the political players to do the right thing. Jeff Rubin says global economy will get the "shock of its life" within 12 months of the end of the recession when oil prices hit triple digits and the age of globalization starts to come to an end. The former maverick chief economist for CIBC's World Markets for about 20 years and author of the new book Why Your World Is About To Get A Whole Lot Smaller: Oil and the End of Globalization, says demand for oil will outstrip supply, food prices will soar, and countries will be shocked into growing their own food, manufacturing their own products, and paying a lot money more for everything. There will be winners and losers. The triple digit oil prices will do more for the environment "than 100 Kyotos," he says, but if the world doesn't get off oil, "the values of tolerance and equality may turn out to be artifacts of the era of cheap oil, and the world may face political and cultural upheaval in the stagnant economy of decades ahead."
2009/06/14: TDG: Peak Coal, Global Warming Policy and Exponential Math -- Three reports say coal is not nearly so abundant, or cheap, as we think it is.
More people are talking about the electrical grid:
2009/06/14: SacBee: SMUD rolls out a smart electrical grid
This week, the Sacramento Municipal Utility District is set to take its first step toward what promises to be the most significant development in electricity in a century: the "smart" grid. Thursday, the SMUD board is scheduled to approve a 30-month rollout of 620,000 meters for the Internet age. Instead of today's "dumb" odometer-style counters, the devices will be brainy hubs in a new electrical nervous system that promises to save money and power and foster the next tech boom.

And then there is the matter of efficiency & conservation:

2009/06/19: EarthTimes: Bangladesh introduces daylight saving time
2009/06/18: EarthTimes: UN: Energy efficiency can create jobs, save 900 billion dollars
2009/06/18: SSTM: Analysis: Many LED patents set to expire in 2010
2009/06/18: PlanetArk: EU And U.S. Set Energy Standards For Office Equipment
2009/06/18: TreeHugger: New LED Bulbs by Sharp Can be Remotely Tuned Between 7 Shades of White
Automakers & lawyers, engineers & activists argue over the future of the car:
2009/06/20: ENN: Nissan to make electric cars in U.S.
2009/06/18: FuturePundit: Battery Venture Capital Spending Up
2009/06/15: Tyee: Will Canada Post Deliver the Electric Car? Switching the massive mail fleet to e-vehicles could make green cars cheaper for everyone
2009/06/19: HoustonChronicle: Toyota gets 180,000 orders for new Prius hybrid
Toyota Motor Corp. got 180,000 orders for the new Prius hybrid in Japan in just a month, far surpassing its target of 10,000 vehicles in monthly sales, the automaker said Friday.
2009/06/17: Guardian(UK): Multinationals eye up lithium reserves beneath Bolivia's salt flats -- Metal deposits may be key to green car revolution but government in La Paz yet to agree deal
2009/06/17: DallasNews: Dealers facing tight supply of SUVs, trucks
2009/06/19: BBC: Porsche global sales slump by 28%
2009/06/19: BBC: UK car production drops sharply
The number of new cars made in the UK fell 43% in May from the same month a year earlier, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) said. However the drop, to 67,754 cars, was the smallest of the year. Commercial vehicle production fell 73.5%.
2009/06/17: BBC: Hydrogen car to be 'open source'
The manufacturer of a hydrogen car unveiled in London on Tuesday will make its designs available online so the cars can be built and improved locally. The Riversimple car can go 80km/hr (50mph) and travels 322km (200mi) per re-fuelling, with an efficiency equivalent to 300 miles to the gallon. The cars will be leased with fuel and repair costs included, at an estimated Â£200 ($315) per month. The company hopes to have the vehicles in production by 2013.
2009/06/16: NewScientist: New hydrogen-powered city car takes to the road
2009/06/16: TreeHugger: TH!NK Electric Cars Gets Massive Funding Boost
2009/06/16: TreeHugger: Plug In America's Electric & Plug-in Hybrid Vehicle Tracker
Cash-for-Clunkers, aka Scrappage, Plans are being legislated and argued around the world:
2009/06/17: FuturePundit: Cash For Clunkers Seen As Bad Energy Policy
2009/06/19: WSJ:EnvCap: Cash-for-Clunkers: Senate Version Could Get Greener Later
2009/06/19: AutoBG: Senate passes Cash for Clunkers, sends it to President's desk for approval
2009/06/17: SF Gate: How 'cash-for-clunkers' bill got junked
2009/06/17: AutoBG: House narrowly passes scaled-back 'Cash-for-Clunkers' legislation
2009/06/15: BBC: 60,000 take up car scrappage cash [in UK]
More than 60,000 orders for cars under the UK's scrappage subsidy scheme have been placed since the initiative was announced, new government figures show. Car buyers are given a Â£2,000 discount on a new car if they scrap one that is at least 10 years old. Business Secretary Lord Mandelson said the scheme had given the carmaking industry the boost it needed.

The reaction of business to climate change will be critical:

2009/06/19: PlanetArk: "Green" Investing Bolsters Winslow Fund
2009/06/17: IndiaTimes: ADB says it will double clean energy investment by 2013
2009/06/16: TreeHugger: Wal-Mart Reports Its Global Carbon Emissions in 2009 Sustainability Report
2009/06/15: BBerg: World Renewable-Energy Investment to Drop 38% in 2009, IEA Says
2009/06/15: TreeHugger: World Bank, Wal-Mart Take Stand Against Brazilian Deforestation Beef
Joe Romm posts a daily list of top energy and climate stories:
2009/06/19: ClimateP: Energy and Global Warming News for June 19th: CO2 currently at highest level in 2.1 million years, Summer 'dead zone' could be largest on record, Are Macbooks "the world's greenest family of notebooks"?
2009/06/18: ClimateP: Energy and Global Warming News for June 18th: African farms to be devastated by warming; UN SecGen on security, forced migration, and desertification
2009/06/17: ClimateP: Energy and Global Warming News for June 16 [17?]: ConocoPhillips chief warns of impending oil crisis, says we must keep destroying a livable climate
2009/06/16: ClimateP: Energy and Global Warming News for June 16th -- A car charging infrastructure takes shape; Siemens, Munich Re study $555 Billion, 100 GW concentrated solar project in the Sahara
2009/06/15: ClimateP: Energy and Global Warming News for June 15th: Coal port built to withstand rising sea levels, Lifestyle melts away with Uganda peak snow cap
The carbon lobby are up to the usual:
2009/06/20: ClimateP: Denier Stephen Moore says climate change is "climate improvement" and "the truth is the 1930s was a warmer decade than the last decade"
2009/06/20: TP:WonkRoom: 'Clean Coal' Front Group Opposes Global Warming Bill with Billions for Clean Coal
2009/06/18: DeSmogBlog: Republicans Cribbing from Big Coal?
2009/06/18: WaPo: Oil industry cranks up lobbying effort
2009/06/19: TP:WonkRoom: Global Warming Denier Stephen Moore: Climate Change Is 'Climate Improvement'
2009/06/18: ThinkP: GOP 'Rural American Solutions Group' Peddles Coal Company Document As Its Own
2009/06/16: DeSmogBlog: Three Full-Page Whoppers from the Heartland Institute (Part Two)
2009/06/16: DeSmogBlog: Three Full-Page Whoppers from the Heartland Institute (Part One)
2009/06/16: Deltoid: Monckton's vision of the future: an IPCC boot stamping on a human face forever
2009/06/15: TP:WonkRoom: Big Oil Releases Report Exposing Continued Refusal To Invest In Renewables
2009/06/15: Deltoid: David Karoly on Plimer
2009/06/15: DeSmogBlog: Slamming the Climate Skeptic Scam
Coby updated his How to Talk to a Climate Sceptic series:
AFTIC: [H2T2aCS] How to Talk to a Climate Sceptic
2009/06/16: AFTIC: [H2T2ACS] Revisiting the source of the observed CO2 rise
As for climate miscellanea:
2009/06/21: BCLSB: Global Warming...Its Not Back Because It Never Went Away!!!
2009/06/15: Tamino: Take it to the Limit: Part 2, the Central Limit Theorem
2009/06/18: DeSmogBlog: The Climate Change Hangover
2009/06/19: CanWest: Machiavelli's Insight
2009/06/18: Guardian(UK): Greening the apocalypse -- Climate change should be countered by working with nature rather than relying on untried technology
2009/06/18: NOAANews: NOAA Forecast Predicts Large "Dead Zone" for Gulf of Mexico this Summer
2009/06/18: UMich: U-M researcher and colleagues predict large 2009 Gulf of Mexico 'dead zone'; Chesapeake Bay's oxygen-starved zone likely to shrink
2009/06/18: ClimateP: The Great Transformation: Climate change as cultural change [Podesta speech]
2009/06/17: CSW: Climate Science Watch joins the e-fray: we post on Daily Kos, and Tweet on Twitter -- what's next?
2009/06/15: WorldChanging: Climate Debate Overlooks Small Businesses
And here are a couple of sites you may find interesting and/or useful:
SLCC: Specialized Library on Climate Change
Severe Weather Information Centre
University of Copenhagen: Climate Change Congress
DEFRA: UK Climate Projections
DEFRA: UK Climate Projections
WB: Development in a Changing Climate
Deep Climate
Weathervane
UNEP: Global Deserts Outlook
CMOS: Canadian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society
ACS: A Concerned Scientist - Concerned About the Assaults on Science
NASA: CloudSat
CommonsBlog
Charles Komanoff - Fossil Fuels and Earth's Climate
EcoEco: Ecological Economics - A Cross-Disciplinary Conversation
Wiki: Global warming
PSU: Michael Mann articles
Global Warming Art
TreeHugger

Low Key Plug

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

-het

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

"Our approach to alternative energy in the near term is alternative ways to consume fossil fuels." -Rex Tillerson, Exxon CEO

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June 21, 2009

Here's a chuckle for ya:

Happy Solstice:

Two big impact reports this week, one in the USA and one in the UK. First the UK:

And in the USA, the USGCRP report was published:

A synthesis report has been produced by the Copenhagen scientists:

And yet another from GLOBE:

The AGU Chapman Conference on Abrupt Climate Change:

The Deutsche Bank has put up a large CO2 counter in NYC:

A $500 billion solar energy project in the Sahara to power Europe?

The Arctic melt continues to garner a lot of attention:

As for the geopolitics of Arctic resources:

A study has dramatically extended the CO2 record:

Solar cycles redux:

The Sarychev volcano in Eastern Siberia has erupted. I haven't seen any analysis of possible climatic effects yet:

Late comment on the Bonn talks:

Late comment on the carbon recalculation:

The food crisis is ongoing:

The conflict between biofuel and food persists:

And how are we going to feed 9 billion?

Typhoon Linfa is sweeping up the Western Pacific:

While elsewhere in the hurricane wars:

A monsoon forecast from India:

As for GHGs:

And in the carbon cycle:

As for the temperature record:

A surprising report on aerosols by Gunnar Myrhe:

While in the paleoclimate:

Glaciers are melting:

Sea levels are rising:

Meanwhile in near earth orbit:

More GW impacts are being seen:

And then there are the world's forests:

In Peru, the laws that triggered the Amazon protests have been repealed:

Corals are dying:

Climate refugees are becoming an issue:

Desertification looms as a threat:

Yes we have no wacky weather, except:

As for heatwaves and wild fires:

As for hydrological cycle disruptions [floods & droughts]:

Elsewhere on the mitigation front:

As for transportation & GHG production:

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

As for carbon sequestration:

Large scale geo-engineering keeps popping up:

While on the adaptation front:

Meanwhile in the journals:

And other significant documents:

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

Lindzen gets to enjoy his notoriety:

And Pielke:

And Dyson:

Jack Eddy obit:

Regarding Nordhaus & Shellenberger's Breakthrough Institute:

Meanwhile on the Kyoto front:

And on the Kyoto-2 front:

While at the UN:

And on the carbon trading front:

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

Meanwhile on the international political front:

And on the American political front:

The Obama chatter is nonstop:

The actions of the Obama administration are being watched closely:

As for what is going on in Congress:

Wrangling continues over the climate bill, HR 2454, aka Waxman-Markey:

What are the lobbyists pushing?

The Gore-apalooza is still bopping along:

While in the UK:

And in Europe:

Meanwhile in Australia:

The Senate Opposition succeeded in delaying the Aus-ETS vote until at least the fall:

And in India:

While in China:

And in Russia:

Yet more complications in the Middle East:

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