Another Week of GW News, July 19, 2009

Sipping from the internet firehose...

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Another week of Climate Disruption News

Sipping from the internet firehose...

July 19, 2009

• Chuckle, Post G8-MEF, UK Low Carbon Transition Plan, Exxon Algae, Desertec, PETM, THC
• Melting Arctic, Geopolitics, Carbon Tariffs, Solar Cycle, State of the Future
• Food Crisis, Food Production
• Hurricanes, Monsoon, GHGs, Temperatures, Paleoclimate, ENSO, Glaciers, Sea Levels, Satellites
• Impacts, Forests, Corals, Desertification, Wildfires, Floods & Droughts
• Mitigation, Transportation, Buildings, Sequestration, Geoengineering, Adaptation
• Journals, Misc. Science, Schelling, Hansen, Pielke
• Kyoto, Kyoto-2, UN, IPCC, Carbon Trade, Optimal Carbon Reduction Strategy
• Politics:International, Security, America, Obama, Britain, Europe, Australia, India, China, Japan, Asia, Canada
• Ecological Economics, IPAT, Apocalypso, Media, Books, Courts, Betting
• Energy, Wind, Solar, Coal, Biofuel, Nukes, Peak Oil, Grid, Efficiency, Cars, Business, Greenwashing, Insurance
• Carbon Lobby, Joe's List, Miscellaneous Climate, Useful Links
• Shameless Self Promotion, .sig

Laugh. I dare ya:

• 2009/07/15: TI:CF: (cartoon - Roberts) Wind and Water
• 2009/07/14: TI:CF: (cartoon - Roberts) More Noxious Emissions

  There was a lot of jockeying after the G8-MEF wipeout:

• 2009/07/19: PeakEnergy: A monumental failing
• 2009/07/17: Yahoo: G8 outcome falls short of needs - IPCC chief
  The head of the UN's panel of climate-change experts said on Friday he was encouraged by climate pledges at last week's G8 summit but warned commitments still fell short of what was required by science. Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the Nobel-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), told AFP the outcome of the L'Aquila talks was "a bit of a dichotomy." "On the one hand, the G8 leaders have agreed to this so-called aspirational goal of reducing (greenhouse-gas) emissions by 80 percent up to 2050, and seeing that temperature increase doesn't exceed two degrees (Celsius)," he said. "But on the other hand, they haven't take into account the IPCC's assessment that if we want to limit the increase to two degrees, we have to ensure that emissions peak no later than 2015."
• 2009/07/13: DerSpiegel: The G-8 Is Dead
  The L'Aquila summit showed just how irrelevant the G-8 has become, as emerging economies demand more and more of a say at the negotiating table. But the new focus on common survival means that Western values such as human rights and democracy are being neglected. Democracy no longer counts for much. Neither does freedom. And human rights have lost their claim to universal validity.
• 2009/07/08: COTO: The Alternative G8 Summit: Final Summary Statement
• 2009/07/15: NatureCF: What the G8 target means
• 2009/07/15: Grist: Despite Ban Ki-Moon's complaint, G8 summit produced climate progress
• 2009/07/15: NatureCF: Stern urges India to lead on climate
• 2009/07/14: GreenGrok: Climate Change for the Haves and the Have-Nots
• 2009/07/14: PlanetArk: Global Climate Deal Still Possible: Brazil's Lula
• 2009/07/13: Reuters: EU president Sweden says U.N. climate talks too slow

  Britain has introduced a potentially significant Low Carbon Transition Plan:

• 2009/07/15: DECC: The UK Low Carbon Transition Plan
• 2009/07/19: PlanetArk: Factbox: Key Facts From Britain's Low Carbon Route Map
• 2009/07/19: Guardian(UK): [Editorial] A fine green start, but Miliband must go further
• 2009/07/17: WSJ:EnvCap: The Emerald Isles: Britain's Low-Carbon Blueprint
• 2009/07/16: Guardian(UK): Is the clean energy cashback tariff high enough to stimulate investment?
• 2009/07/16: Guardian(UK): Turn green words into green deeds
  Despite government talk, transport emissions are rising because carbon-generating schemes are being given the go-ahead
• 2009/07/16: EurActiv: UK climate plan builds on wind, nuclear, clean coal
• 2009/07/15: PennEnergy: UK announces long-term carbon reduction strategy
• 2009/07/16: PlanetArk: Britain To Double Low Carbon Power Role By 2020
• 2009/07/16: OilChange: UK Outlines Flawed "Low Carbon Transition Plan"
• 2009/07/15: Guardian(UK): Ed Miliband has his head in the clouds
  [...] The climate change and energy secretary told the Guardian that he didn't "want to have a situation where only rich people can afford to fly", and would therefore not be seeking to include aviation within the government's broad commitment to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 80% by 2050
• 2009/07/15: Guardian(UK): Energy bill rises to tackle climate change are tiny
  Compared with wildly fluctuating wholesale gas and electricity prices, the cost of cutting emissions will scarcely be detectable on future energy bills
• 2009/07/15: Guardian(UK): Miliband takes the greener path
  A new low-carbon road map sets the government on the right track on emissions reduction -- now we should all do our bit
• 2009/07/15: Guardian(UK): Labour orders green energy revolution - Miliband takes control of power grid and lays out plan for low-carbon UK
• 2009/07/15: Guardian(UK): Dawn of a renewable energy era as government unveils climate plans
• 2009/07/15: NatureTGB: UK low carbon drive: at last the right sounds; now let's see it happen
• 2009/07/16: ABC(Au): The British government has unveiled comprehensive plans to transform the UK into a low-carbon economy by 2020
• 2009/07/15: TreeHugger: UK Announces Low Carbon Transition Plan - 34% Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reductions by 2020
• 2009/07/15: BBC: Tyre tracks on the low carbon road [UK Low Carbon Transition Plan]
• 2009/07/14: PlanetArk: UK to Set Out Route Map for Cutting Emissions

  Exxon announced it is investing US$600 million in algae derived biofuel this week:

• 2009/07/14: BizWire: ExxonMobil to Launch Biofuels Program
• 2009/07/15: NEN: Exxon buys algae
• 2009/07/14: TreeHugger: ExxonMobil Bets on Algae in First Major Biofuel Investment
• 2009/07/13: NYT: Exxon to Invest Millions to Make Fuel From Algae

  More details on Desertec:

• 2009/07/13: DerSpiegel: Interview with Siemens CEO on the Desertec Project -- 'On the Brink of a New Era in Energy'
  The biggest solar energy project in the world is about to get off the drawing board. And leading German firm, Siemens, is just one of around a dozen organizations getting behind Desertec. SPIEGEL asked Siemens CEO Peter Löscher about his company's role in the project.
• 2009/07/14: NatureTGB: Desertec gains momentum
• 2009/07/14: NEN: Desert sun turns Europe on
  Summary: A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to establish the Desertec Industrial Initiative (DII), a breathtakingly ambitious undertaking to build New Energy in Europe (EU), the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) and link it via a massive high voltage transmission system from the North and Baltic Seas to the Mahgreb and the Levant, has been completed.
• 2009/07/14: PlanetArk: Desertec to Develop Investment Plans by 2012 - DII [Desertec Industrial Initiative]
• 2009/07/13: EarthTimes: German firms launch Sahara energy project
  German firms on Monday launched a renewable energy project designed to provide European households with electricity from solar power plants in the Sahara. Utilities giants RWE and E.ON, electro-engineering group Siemens and Deutsche Bank are among the dozen companies involved in the 400- billion-euro (552-billion-dollar) Desertec Industrial Initiative. "If things go according to plan we can begin building the first power station in 2015," said Torsten Jeworrek, board member of insurer Munich Re, another firm involved in the project. The consortium agreed to form a consultancy by the end of October, which would have three years to conduct a feasibility study, look into methods of financing and evaluate political issues involved. The initial budget for this preparatory work would be 1.8 million euros a year, Jeworrek said, adding it would take decades for the project to reach full capacity.

For some reason, probably because an early press release implied the unreliability of models & the deniers picked up on that, this study of PETM received a lot of attention:

• 2009/07/13: Nature:GeoSci: [Letter abstract] Carbon dioxide forcing alone insufficient to explain Palaeocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum warming by Richard E. Zeebe et al.
• 2009/07/17: ClimateP: Climate change deniers misrepresent new [PETM] study that finds climate models underestimate warming
• 2009/07/16: Eureka: Ancient [PETM] global warming episode holds clues to future climate, UH Manoa researcher says
• 2009/07/16: BCLSB: Our Best Guess Is Is Likely Wrong (AGW Could Be WORSE Than Expected)
• 2009/07/15: TreeHugger: CO2 Increases Responsible for Only 40% of Ancient Warming - Could the World Get Even Hotter Than Models Predict?
• 2009/07/15: MoD: Bad news on the feedback front [PETM]
• 2009/07/14: NatureCF: Unknown climate culprit for Palaeocene-Eocene warming
• 2009/07/15: Reuters: Past warming shows gaps in climate knowledge - study
• 2009/07/14: Rice: Global warming: Our best guess is likely wrong -- Unknown processes account for much of warming in [PETM] ancient hot spell
• 2009/07/13: Yahoo:AFP: Mystery mechanism drove [PETM] global warming 55 million years ago
• 2009/07/13: PhysOrg: Mystery mechanism drove global warming 55 million years ago

  If the THC shuts down, it may happen more slowly than feared:

• 2009/07/17: TerraDaily: Research Indicates Ocean Current Shutdown May Be Gradual
• 2009/07/16: PhysOrg: Research indicates ocean current shutdown may be gradual
  The findings of a major new study are consistent with gradual changes of current systems in the North Atlantic Ocean, rather than a more sudden shutdown that could lead to rapid climate changes in Europe and elsewhere. The research, based on the longest experiment of its type ever run on a "general circulation model" that simulated the Earth's climate for 21,000 years back to the height of the last Ice Age...

The Arctic melt continues to garner a lot of attention:

• 2009/07/18: CCP: Snowcone Western Greenland Ice Sheet and the Jakobshavn Glacier, July 17, 2009
• 2009/07/17: CCP: NASA's Science Instrumentation Evaluation Remote Research Aircraft (SIERRA) -- NASA Airborne Expedition Chases Arctic Sea Ice Questions
• 2009/07/17: RealClimate: Sea ice minimum forecasts
• 2009/07/17: Eureka: NASA, CU-Boulder airborne expedition chases Arctic sea ice questions
• 2009/07/15: FTimes: Melting ice threatens polar life
• 2009/07/16: HotTopic: First we lose Manhattan...
• 2009/07/15: TreeHugger: Greenland [Petermann] Glacier About to Lose Manhattan-sized Ice Chunk (Video)
• 2009/07/14: NewScientist: Arctic glacier to lose Manhattan-sized 'tongue' [Petermann glacier]
• 2009/07/14: CCP: Whirlpool (on the Petermann Glacier, where warmer ocean waters are melting its underbelly) by Dave of Greenpeace
• 2009/07/13: CCP: What do the Western Greenland ice sheet and the Wicked Witch of the West have in common? They're MELTING!!!!!

  As for the geopolitics of Arctic resources:

• 2009/07/17: Guardian(UK): Global warming to open up north-east Arctic tanker route
  Melting ice in the Russian Arctic will create a safer, shorter route cut for tankers, but will have even bigger implications for the global energy market
• 2009/07/16: BBC: Denmark plans forces for Arctic
  Denmark plans to set up an Arctic military command and task force because the melting of the ice cap is opening up access to the region's resources. Denmark's activities will be focused on its vast ice-covered island Greenland and the Faroe Islands. Details of the plan, for the period 2010-2014, have emerged in recent days. Danish MPs approved it last month. The retreat of sea ice is fuelling rivalry between Russia, Denmark and other nations bordering on the Arctic. Canada, Denmark, Norway, Russia and the US are staking claims to Arctic territory, based on geological and other data collected in the region. The sovereignty claims are being submitted to the UN.

Carbon tariffs:

• 2009/07/16: People's Daily: China minister [Xie Zhenhua, head of China's Climate Change and Coordinating Committee] rejects US pollution duty idea
• 2009/07/15: NASDAQ: Carbon Tariffs A Veil For Protectionism: China
  China said Wednesday it was against proposals to impose "carbon tariffs" on goods manufactured in the developing world, saying such moves were a pretext for trade protectionism. Any such laws, which have been mooted in the U.S. and France, would breach World Trade Organisation rules, said Yao Jian, a Chinese commerce ministry spokesman.

I suspect we will hear a lot about this:

• 2009/07/16: Eureka: Solar cycle linked to global climate, drives events similar to El Nino, La Nina
• 2009/07/16: Eureka: Solar cycle linked to global climate -- Drives events similar to El Niño, La Niña
  Establishing a key link between the solar cycle and global climate, research led by scientists at the National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colo., shows that maximum solar activity and its aftermath have impacts on Earth that resemble La Niña and El Niño events in the tropical Pacific Ocean. The research may pave the way toward predictions of temperature and precipitation patterns at certain times during the approximately 11-year solar cycle. "These results are striking in that they point to a scientifically feasible series of events that link the 11-year solar cycle with ENSO, the tropical Pacific phenomenon that so strongly influences climate variability around the world," says Jay Fein, program director in NSF's Division of Atmospheric Sciences. "The next step is to confirm or dispute these intriguing model results with observational data analyses and targeted new observations." The total energy reaching Earth from the sun varies by only 0.1 percent across the solar cycle. Scientists have sought for decades to link these ups and downs to natural weather and climate variations and distinguish their subtle effects from the larger pattern of human-caused global warming. Building on previous work, the NCAR researchers used computer models of global climate and more than a century of ocean temperature to answer longstanding questions about the connection between solar activity and global climate. The research, published this month in a paper in the Journal of Climate, was funded by NSF, NCAR's sponsor, and by the U.S. Department of Energy.

Late comment on the State of the Future preview:

• 2009/07/14: CCurrents: Climate Change 'Will Cause Civilization To Collapse'

  The food crisis is ongoing:

• 2009/07/16: VOA: Financial Crisis Expected To Increase World Hunger
• 2009/07/16: FAO: Food prices in many countries remain very high -- High prices affect poor people in rural and urban areas
• 2009/07/16: FAO/GIEWS: Argentina: Unfavourable prospects for 2009 cereal production
• 2009/07/14: FAO: FAO/WFP Crop, Livestock and Food Security Assessment Mission to Namibia
• 2009/07/: FAO: Crop Prospects and Food Situation
• 2009/07/17: McClatchyDC: Once world's bread basket, Iraq now a farming basket case
• 2009/07/16: SeedDaily: Arab states in 'neo-colonial' food grab
  A Kuwaiti company partly owned by the emirate's sovereign wealth fund is preparing to join other Gulf states in buying up agricultural land in Asia, part of a global land grab to ensure food security. Unlike the governments and corporations in the Gulf that have been acquiring vast tracts of arable land, mainly in poor countries of Africa, Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe, to produce food for their own people, the Kuwait China Investment Co. wants to invest on a purely commercial basis, selling its produce to anyone who can pay for it.
• 2009/07/07: YaleGlobal: Hungry World: A Silent Crisis Calls for Urgent Action -- Developed nations should reform aid and launch a new Green Revolution
• 2009/07/17: AllAfrica: IRIN: Zimbabwe: Widespread Food Shortages Looming
• 2009/07/15: CCurrents: 25,000 Starving Kids Can't Be Wrong
• 2009/07/14: SciDaily: One Billion Hungry People: Multiple Causes Of Food Insecurity Considered
• 2009/07/13: BBC: Higher food costs still a concern

  And how are we going to feed 9 billion?

• 2009/07/17: ProMedMail: Stem rust, wheat - India: new strain
• 2009/07/15: WorldChanging: Vandana Shiva on Sustaining India's Agriculture
• 2009/07/16: SolveClimate: Agriculture Industry's Oil Addiction Threatens Food Security
• 2009/07/15: GRC: The World Food Crisis in Historical Perspective
• 2009/07/13: GG&G: Conservation programs drive crop production
• 2009/07/13: PhysOrg: Arizona researchers to sequence West African rice strain
• 2009/07/13: TreeHugger: Are We Near Peak Phosphorus?
• 2009/07/13: OO(Au): Peak oil means peak food as well

  Carlos & Dolores blew across the East Pacific, while Molave blew across the NorthWest Pacific and into China:

• 2009/07/19: People's Daily: Typhoon Molave to bring heavy rains to South China
• 2009/07/17: PhysOrg: A NASA 2-for-1: Carlos and Dolores in 1 satellite image
• 2009/07/16: EarthTimes: Taiwan issues sea warning for Typhoon Molave
• 2009/07/15: Reuters: Tropical storm [Dolores] forms off Mexico's Pacific coast
• 2009/07/14: NASA: NASA Sees Carlos Power Back Up to Hurricane Status in 3-D
• 2009/07/13: EarthTimes: Heavy rain causes flooding and traffic jams in Hanoi [Tropical storm Souderler]

  While elsewhere in the hurricane wars:

• 2009/07/17: Wunderground: An African wave worth watching; 2nd warmest June on record
• 2009/07/17: Eureka: Scientists assess flooding and damage from 2008 Myanmar cyclone [Nargis] -- Natural disaster killed 138,000
• 2009/07/17: NASA: Two NASA Satellites See Remnant Low Dolores Go Out Kicking
• 2009/07/15: Wunderground: Remainder of July hurricane outlook
• 2009/07/15: Eureka: FSU scientists unveil new seasonal hurricane forecasting model

  As for the Monsoon:

• 2009/07/19: PlanetArk: India Monsoon Picks Up; Government Says no Need to Panic
• 2009/07/19: EarthTimes: Twenty two die as monsoon batters Pakistan's largest city
• 2009/07/16: Reuters: Monsoon rain too late for sugarcane, rice
• 2009/07/15: TreeHugger: From Drought to Deluge: Mumbai Water Shortage Ends as Rains Increase
• 2009/07/15: PlanetArk: Weak Indian Monsoon Threatens Farms, Power Supply

  On the GHG front:

• 2009/07/17: TreeHugger: Half of Los Angeles' Methane Emissions Unaccounted For - Cities May Be Bigger Climate Culprits Than Previously Thought

  And the temperature record:

• 2009/07/16: JEB: Yet more on decadal prediction and record temperatures
• 2009/07/17: MTobis: Texas Drought, Global Heat
• 2009/07/14: Tamino: Warming, Interrupted?
• 2009/07/17: CCP: National Climate Data Center June 2009 Analysis
• 2009/07/17: GreenGrok: Has the Climate Worm Turned?
• 2009/07/17: NOAANews: Global Ocean Surface Temperature Warmest on Record for June
• 2009/07/16: ClimateP: NCDC: Second hottest June on record -- and once El Nino really kicks in, expect global temperatures "to threaten previous record highs"
• 2009/07/16: AFTIC: GISS record changes
• 2009/07/12: RealClimate: Warming, interrupted: Much ado about natural variability

  In the paleoclimate:

• 2009/07/17: KSJT: Sci. American, etc: Huge supercomputing modeling exercise mimics and explains a temperature flip flop 14,000 years ago - and implies it's unlikely now
• 2009/07/14: SciNow: Ancient Climate-Change Event Puzzles Scientists
• 2009/07/15: PhysOrg: Early initiation of Arctic sea-ice formation [46 mya]

  While on the ENSO front:

• 2009/07/14: Guardian(UK): It looks like El Nino is back -- what will it mean for our weather?
• 2009/07/13: Guardian(UK): Climate scientists warn of wild weather in the year ahead as El Niño begins

  Glaciers are melting:

• 2009/07/13: ClimateP: Lost Horizons: Melting glaciers in Kashmir causing regional chaos over water shortages

  Sea levels are rising:

• 2009/07/13: Wunderground: How much will global sea level rise this century?

  Meanwhile in near earth orbit:

• 2009/07/16: WiredSci: Spy Satellite Sea Ice Images Finally Made Public
  [...] mere hours after a National Academy of Sciences committee recommended that the intelligence community "should release and disseminate all Arctic sea ice" imagery that can be created from the classified satellite data, the United States Geological Service has published the set of high-res images. The new data provides what NAS committee member Thorsten Markus called "a dramatic improvement" in what we can see. The previously off-limits sea ice data has a resolution of one meter. The previous scientific standard sea ice images from the Landsat program have a resolution of 15 meters. [...] Less than a day after the NAS panel briefed Congress Tuesday, and within hours of the report's official publication, the website with the images went live. "I was shocked, in a positive way," said Markus. "Normally, you do a recommendation and then nothing happens for months. This is quite unusual."
• 2009/07/17: NatureTGB: Why the orbiting observatory failed to orbit
• 2009/07/17: PhysOrg: NASA Releases Orbiting Carbon Observatory Accident Summary
• 2009/07/17: Reuters: U.S. releases unclassified spy images of Arctic ice
• 2009/07/17: SciDaily: Arctic Sea Ice Images Derived From Classified Data Should Be Made Public, According To A New Report
• 2009/07/15: NAS: Arctic Images Derived From Classified Data Should Be Made Public To Help Scientists Examine Climate Change and Impacts of Diminishing Sea Ice

  More GW impacts are being seen:

• 2009/07/18: CSW: Climate change impacts in our backyards: the Southwest
• 2009/07/18: CSW: Is climate change adding risks to beachgoing?
• 2009/07/15: SciDaily: Climate Change May Spell Demise Of Key Salt Marsh Constituent [a species of plants known as forbs]
• 2009/07/13: PJStar: Rain, rain, here to stay? Climatologists say Illinois seeing warmer winters and wetter springs
• 2009/07/13: NewScientist: Cassavas get cyanide hike from carbon emissions
• 2009/07/13: Eureka: Climate change may spell demise of key salt marsh constituent
• 2009/07/12: BBC: Children die in harsh Peru winter
  Almost 250 children under the age of five have died in a wave of intensely cold weather in Peru. Children die from pneumonia and other respiratory infections every year during the winter months particularly in Peru's southern Andes. But this year freezing temperatures arrived almost three months earlier than usual.

And then there are the world's forests:

• 2009/07/14: CBC: Pine beetles continue to infest Alberta trees
  Last winter's cold temperatures did kill some mountain pine beetles in Alberta, but it wasn't enough to reduce the threat of additional infestations, according to recent field surveys.
• 2009/07/14: CanWest: Winter not cold enough to kill Alberta's pine beetles
  The temperatures last winter just weren't cold enough to rid Alberta of mountain pine beetles, the province said Tuesday. As a result, the provincial government is continuing its efforts to reduce the spread of the beetles, especially north and south along the Eastern Slopes and in the boreal forest, using methods such as single-tree removals, stand-level harvest and controlled fires.
• 2009/07/13: SolveClimate: Violent Crackdown on Amazon Oil Protest Reverberates Around the World
• 2009/07/13: CPositive: Indonesia reveals REDD revenue shares
  Indonesia has released rules governing revenue sharing for carbon market payments in the preservation of its forests. Under the rules, up to 50 per cent of all carbon credit revenues envisaged would go to various levels of government and as little as 20 per cent given to forest communities.

Corals are dying:

• 2009/07/14: TreeHugger: Limiting CO2 to 450ppm Will NOT Prevent Catastrophic Loss of Coral Reefs

  Desertification looms as a threat:

• 2009/07/16: BBC: Are the deserts getting greener?

  As for heatwaves and wild fires:

• 2009/07/19: PlanetArk: Spain Fire Destroys 4,000 Hectares, Hundreds Flee
• 2009/07/18: CBC: Raging B.C. wildfire forces thousands to flee
• 2009/07/18: CTV: Thousands flee massive wildfire near Kelowna, B.C.
• 2009/07/15: TerraDaily: Hundreds flee wildfire in southern Spain
• 2009/07/15: EarthTimes: Fires force evacuation of 500 people in southern Spain
• 2009/07/12: Macon: [USGCRP] Report predicts even hotter Southeast in decades to come

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

• 2009/07/19: PlanetArk: Bangladesh Ex-PM Asks India to Scrap River Dam Plan
• 2009/07/18: EarthTimes: The southeastern Austrian city of Graz is declared a flooding disaster zone
• 2009/07/17: EarthTimes: Five dead as heavy rains fall over South Korea
• 2009/07/15: TerraDaily: Four killed, three missing in Turkey floods
• 2009/07/12: JFleck: Three Weeks Without Rain?
• 2009/07/13: SacBee: Feds document shrinking San Joaquin Valley aquifer
  
California's San Joaquin Valley has lost 60 million acre-feet of groundwater since 1961, according to a new federal study. That's enough water for 60 Folsom reservoirs. [...] In the Sacramento Valley, the study found groundwater levels have remained stable. Virtually all of the groundwater loss has occurred in the San Joaquin Valley, where aquifer levels have dropped nearly 400 feet since 1961...

Elsewhere on the mitigation front:

• 2009/07/13: SciDaily: Trapping Carbon Dioxide Or Switching To Nuclear Power Not Enough To Solve Global Warming Problem, Experts Say

  Consider transportation & GHG production:

• 2009/07/19: ClimateP: Making Buses Cool Again
• 2009/07/18: BBC: Shipping emissions plan 'stalls'
  Plans to reduce rising emissions from global shipping have faltered at a key international meeting. The International Maritime Organization delayed a decision to raise the cost of ships' fuel and use the money to help poor nations tackle climate change. Delegates from developing countries complained that rich nations had reneged on other promises. Environmental groups criticised the lack of progress, saying that the world could not afford to wait any longer. When the Kyoto Protocol was agreed, the shipping and aviation sectors were left out because no-one could agree on how the emissions should be allocated. The International Maritime Organization (IMO) was given the task of finding a way around the problem, but there has been little progress to date.
• 2009/07/17: NatureN: Climate targets for ships deferred -- Nations agree to cut some pollutants but not carbon dioxide
• 2009/07/14: BBerg: UAL, Continental May Lead Carriers to $1 Billion Loss
• 2009/07/16: BBC: The United Nations is discussing rules to cut the soaring emission of greenhouse gases from shipping
• 2009/07/15: PhysOrg: Camelina jet fuel could cut carbon emissions by 84 percent
• 2009/07/13: NYT:GreenInc: A Turning Point for the Shipping Industry?
• 2009/07/14: BBC: Harrabin's Notebook: How will global shipping cope with emissions control?
• 2009/07/13: Grist: Seattle light rail finally opens doors to passengers

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

• 2009/07/18: NYT: A New Enforcer in Buildings, the Energy Inspector
• 2009/07/16: Grist: Little green houses for you and me -- The case for a national building energy code
• 2009/07/16: PhysOrg: General Electric Plans Net-Zero Energy Home by 2015
• 2009/07/15: MTobis: Building Green

  As for carbon sequestration:

• 2009/07/13: CNN: Countries betting tech can clean up coal
  Technology to make coal cleaner has stalled -- but there's hope on the horizon - U.S. invests $1 billion in a carbon capture-and-storage project in Illinois - China, Europe, Australia move ahead with similar demonstrations - Some say the investment is misguided; Greenpeace calls CCS "a scam"
• 2009/07/15: Eureka: Capturing CO2 in a bowl
• 2009/07/14: PhysOrg: Carbon sequestration may enhance energy production, researchers say
• 2009/07/13: ABC(Au): FPC secures land for carbon sequestration project
  The Forests Product Commission (FPC) has acquired more than 5,000 hectares of land in south-west Western Australia for its tree planting project with Synergy Energy.
• 2009/07/15: Reuters: US DOE takes step forward on FutureGen coal project
  The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) took another step forward on the coal-fueled 275-megawatt FutureGen carbon capture and sequestration power project in Illinois, the DOE said in a release late Tuesday. Specifically, the DOE said it issued a National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) Record of Decision.
• 2009/07/13: Grist: What the heck is CCS and can it really help fight climate change? An expert explains

  Large scale geo-engineering keeps popping up:

• 2009/07/15: NatGeo: Shading the Earth
  If we don't cut fossil fuels fast enough, global warming may get out of hand. Some scientists say we need a plan B: a giant sunshade that would cool the whole planet.
• 2009/07/16: DM:80B: Bill Gates Patents a Device Aimed at Halting Hurricanes
• 2009/07/15: Nola: Bill Gates of Microsoft envisions fighting hurricanes by manipulating the sea

  While on the adaptation front:

• 2009/07/13: BBC: Learning to live with the floods [in Bangladesh]

  Meanwhile in the journals:

• 2009/07/17: ACP: BrO, blizzards, and drivers of polar tropospheric ozone depletion events by A. E. Jones et al.
• 2009/07/17: ACP: Significant variations of trace gas composition and aerosol properties at Mt. Cimone during air mass transport from North Africa -- contributions from wildfire emissions and mineral dust by P. Cristofanelli et al.
• 2009/07/16: ACP: Spatial and temporal UV irradiance and aerosol variability within the area of an OMI satellite pixel by S. Kazadzis et al.
• 2009/07/16: ACP: Variability in regional background aerosols within the Mediterranean by X. Querol et al.
• 2009/07/17: ACPD: A modelling system for the exhaust emissions of marine traffic and its application in the Baltic Sea area by J.-P. Jalkanen et al.
• 2009/07/16: ACPD: 27-day variation in cloud amount and relationship to the solar cycle by Y. Takahashi et al.
• 2009/07/14: CP: Relationship between Holocene climate variations over southern Greenland and eastern Baffin Island and synoptic circulation pattern by B. Fréchette & A. de Vernal
• 2009/07/17: CPD: Climate in continental interior Asia during the longest interglacial of the past 500 000 years: the new MIS 11 records from Lake Baikal, SE Siberia by A. A. Prokopenko et al.
• 2009/07/16: CPD: A 70-yr record of oxygen-18 variability in accumulation from the Tanggula Mountains, central Tibetan Plateau by D. R. Joswiak et al.
• 2009/07/15: CPD: Pliocene three-dimensional global ocean temperature reconstruction by H. J. Dowsett et al.
• 2009/07/14: CPD: Paleometeorology: visualizing mid-latitude dynamics at the synoptic level during the Last Glacial Maximum by M. B. Unterman et al.
• 2009/07/13: CPD: Sea level 400 000 years ago (MIS 11): analogue for present and future sea-level by D. Q. Bowen
• 2009/07/15: TC: Role of glaciers in watershed hydrology: ''Himalayan catchment'' perspective by R. J. Thayyen & J. T. Gergan
• 2009/06/30: Cellulose: (ab$) Corn stover availability for biomass conversion: situation analysis by J. Richard Hess et al.
• 2009/07/15: ACP: Ozone in the boundary layer air over the Arctic Ocean: measurements during the TARA transpolar drift 2006-2008 by J. W. Bottenheim et al.
• 2009/07/15: ACPD: Reduction in biomass burning aerosol light absorption upon humidification: roles of inorganically-induced hygroscopicity, particle collapse, and photoacoustic heat and mass transfer by K. A. Lewis et al.
• 2009/07/15: ACPD: The representation of dust transport and missing urban sources as major issues for the simulation of PM episodes in a Mediterranean area by E. Flaounas et al.
• 2009/07/13: ACPD: Changes in the production rate of secondary aerosol particles in central Europe in view of decreasing SO2 emissions between 1996 and 2006 by A. Hamed et al.
• 2009/07/13: ACPD: Sensitivity studies of different aerosol indirect effects in mixed-phase clouds by U. Lohmann & C. Hoose
• 2009/07/14: PNAS: Linking social norms to efficient conservation investment in payments for ecosystem services by Xiaodong Chen et al.
• 2009/07/14: PNAS: Re-evaluation of forest biomass carbon stocks and lessons from the world's most carbon-dense forests by Heather Keith et al.
• 2009/07/14: PNAS: Biological consequences of earlier snowmelt from desert dust deposition in alpine landscapes by Heidi Steltzer et al.
• 2009/07/14: PNAS: Large and unexpected enrichment in stratospheric 16O13C18O and its meridional variation by Laurence Y. Yeung et al.
• 2009/07/13: Nature:GeoSci: [Letter abstract] Carbon dioxide forcing alone insufficient to explain Palaeocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum warming by Richard E. Zeebe et al.

  And other significant documents:

• 2009/07/18: VoxEU: How to set greenhouse gas emission targets for all countries by Jeffrey Frankel
  Is a credible multilateral climate change agreement feasible? This column says that such global cooperation is necessary and attempts to address the political hurdles. The proposed emissions reduction plan develops formulas to cap atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide at 500 ppm while obeying political constraints regarding cost, fairness, and timing.

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

• 2009/07/19: PhysOrg: Digging for answers to climate change -- Pulling up cores of prehistoric sediment, forty miles off the Jersey Shore
• 2009/07/16: SciAm: New Model Aims to Predict Quick Climate Changes
  Scientists are checking advanced climate simulation models against existing data to find that they're running right on track to better predict drastic climate change
• 2009/07/17: CCP: Z. Liu et al., Science, 325 (July 17, 2009), Transient simulation of last deglaciation with a new mechanism for Bølling-Allerød Warming
• 2009/07/17: CCP: Z. Liu & B. Otto-Bliesner: Oak Ridge Supercomputers Provide First Simulation of Abrupt Climate Change

  Thomas Schelling interviews:

• 2009/07/15: EconView: Thomas Schelling on Climate Change
• 2009/07/14: Atlantic: An Interview With Thomas Schelling, Part Two
• 2009/07/13: Atlantic: An Interview With Thomas Schelling, Part One

  More Hansen:

• 2009/07/15: SolveClimate: Climate Tipping Points and Political Leadership by James Hansen
• 2009/07/14: CCP: Does NASA's James Hansen still matter in climate debate? (Yeah, buddy, he sure as hell does!)
• 2009/07/13: CCP: James Hansen: Strategies to Address Global Warming & Is Sundance Kid a Criminal?

  Alas, the Pielke fan clubbe:

• 2009/07/16: BCLSB: Pielke Jr: Global Cooling Debate Over

  Meanwhile on the Kyoto front:

• 2009/07/15: ClimateP: The CDM: Rip-offsets or real reductions?

  And on the road to Copenhagen:

• 2009/07/16: PlanetArk: Forests [REDD] Best Chance For New Climate Pact: Economist
• 2009/07/14: DotEarth: Divvying Up the CO2 Cuts
• 2009/07/14: NZHerald: Vision dimming for climate deal
• 2009/07/14: TreeHugger: Three Things the Developing World Wants From a Global Climate Deal
• 2009/07/11: Xinhuanet: Ambitious short-term target for industrialized countries, strong financial support essential for Copenhagen, says UN climate chief [UNFCCC head, Yvo de Boer]
• 2009/07/13: TreeHugger: Green Technology Transfer the Key for International Climate Deal, Brazilian Official Says

  While at the UN:

• 2009/07/14: UN: Five top UN officials appeal to world leaders to 'seal the deal' on new climate pact
• 2009/07/15: EarthTimes: World leaders to meet in September for climate change summit

  Something to look forward to in the next IPCC report:

• 2009/07/19: PlanetArk: Clouds, Seas to Be Targeted by U.N. Climate Report

  And on the carbon trading front:

• 2009/07/16: PlanetArk: Netherlands Acts On Tax Fraud In Carbon Market

  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:

• 2009/07/15: C411: Four Reasons to Use Cap and Trade to Fight Global Warming
• 2009/07/14: ClimateP: Why Warren Buffett Is Wrong About Cap and Trade
• 2009/07/14: NEN: How to keep U.S. emissions trade from [turning into a bubble] bubbling
• 2009/07/13: TreeHugger: The Balancing Act: When Carbon Pricing Isn't Enough

  Meanwhile on the international political front:

• 2009/07/18: CBS: Hillary to India: Don't Err on Climate -- Cites Mistakes Made by U.S. in Carbon Emissions...
• 2009/07/18: EarthTimes: Sarkozy calls for global organization to combat climate change
• 2009/07/17: UN: Climate change tops Ban's talks with French leader
• 2009/07/15: EurActiv: EU ups pressure on China to agree emissions cuts
• 2009/07/16: WaPo: Asian Nations Could Outpace U.S. in Developing Clean Energy
• 2009/07/15: SolveClimate: Western Institutions Bankrolling Dirty Power in Developing Countries
• 2009/07/14: Reuters: EU carbon reform proposals no threat to China-official [Interview: Jurgen Lefevere, European Commission policy coordinator for climate change negotiations]
• 2009/07/13: Guardian(UK): Britain accused of 'double counting' over climate aid to Bangladesh
  £60m fund promised for sea defences and farmland protection will not be new money but come from existing aid budgets

As for GW & security:

• 2009/07/17: FP: The Last Straw -- If you think these failed states look bad now, wait until the climate changes

  And on the American political front:

• 2009/07/17: DH: In Provo, a call to action against federal climate bill
• 2009/07/16: Yale360: Its Economy in Shambles, The Midwest Goes Green
  It took awhile, but the U.S. Midwest finally has recognized that the industries that once powered its economy will never return. Now leaders in the region are looking to renewable energy manufacturing and technologies as key to the heartland's renaissance.
• 2009/07/15: PlanetArk: Calif. Climate Change Law Cost Underrated: Study
• 2009/07/14: TerraDaily: US Cities Have Power To Mitigate Climate Change [CDP/ICLEI report]
• 2009/07/13: NYT: Debate on Clean Energy Leads to Regional Divide
• 2009/07/13: BBC: [MTR] Battle raging in US mining country
  Opinion is divided in West Virginia's coal belt over a controversial mining technique, reports Jean Snedegar for the BBC's Americana programme. For years, a battle has been raging in the Appalachian Mountains over a coal-mining practice known as "mountaintop removal mining". In the last three decades this kind of mining has flattened some 2,500 square miles, and buried more than 1,200 miles of mountain streams. With a new administration in Washington, the battle over mountaintop removal mining is heating up, most notably in southern West Virginia - and grassroots activists are at the forefront.
• 2009/07/13: Grist: West Virginia redefines dirty energy as "alternative"
• 2009/07/13: DM:CCM: How Scientific Illiteracy Cost Us 20 Years on Global Warming
• 2009/07/13: NYT: Boiling the Frog -- Is America on its way to becoming a boiled frog?

  The Obama chatter is nonstop:

• 2009/07/16: TreeHugger: Obama Approves Logging in Biggest US Rainforest - Is the Green Honeymoon Over?
• 2009/07/14: CCurrents: Obama Leadership On Climate Health
• 2009/07/15: WSJ:EnvCap: Back to the Future: Carter, Obama, and Clean Energy in America
• 2009/07/12: CSW: Obama talks about climate impacts and adaptation at G-8 -- now should take the message to U.S. public

  The actions of the Obama administration are being watched closely:

• 2009/07/16: EnvFin: Questions persist on US renewables grants
• 2009/07/16: Yahoo: U.S. Interior proceeding with contested offshore plan
  The U.S. Interior Department on Thursday said that it will go ahead with an offshore oil and natural gas lease sale in the Gulf of Mexico scheduled next month, despite some legal concerns about the Bush-era drilling plan.
• 2009/07/17: AutoBG: DOE readies $85 billion for algal and advanced biofuels
• 2009/07/15: ClimateP: The dangerous myth that the EPA's endangerment finding can somehow stop dangerous warming if the climate bill dies
• 2009/07/15: Reuters: US DOE takes step forward on FutureGen coal project
  The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) took another step forward on the coal-fueled 275-megawatt FutureGen carbon capture and sequestration power project in Illinois, the DOE said in a release late Tuesday. Specifically, the DOE said it issued a National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) Record of Decision.
• 2009/07/15: NEN: The trouble with solar energy zones [wind, geothermal & biomass are left out]
• 2009/07/13: NYT:CW: SEC Turnaround Sparks Sudden Look at Climate Disclosure
  Federal regulators are preparing to launch "a very serious look" at requiring corporations to assess and reveal the effects of climate change on their financial health, according to a commissioner on the Securities and Exchange Commission.
• 2009/07/14: TP:WonkRoom: Chamber Of Commerce CEO Bill Kovacs Accuses EPA Of 'Cherry-Picking' Global Warming Science

  Steve Chu and Gary Locke took a widely commented trip to China:

• 2009/07/19: PlanetArk: China Carbon Capture Costs Worth Paying: U.S. Energy Sec
• 2009/07/17: PlanetArk: U.S. Officials Praise China Emissions Efforts
• 2009/07/16: TerraDaily: U.S. calls on China to act on emissions
• 2009/07/17: TreeHugger: US Must Pay for Climate Change Impact of Its Goods Produced in China: Commerce Secretary
• 2009/07/17: WSJ:EnvCap: Commerce Secretary [Gary Locke]: Americans 'Need to Pay' for Chinese Emissions
• 2009/07/17: Reuters: U.S. should pay for carbon content of imported goods: Locke
• 2009/07/16: PlanetArk: U.S. And China Launch Clean Vehicle, Building Project
• 2009/07/16: Yahoo: Top US officials [Trade Secretary Gary Locke & Energy Secretary Steven Chu] to meet China PM [Wen Jiabao] on climate
• 2009/07/16: Yahoo: China carbon capture costs worth paying: U.S. energy sec
  The huge costs required to capture CO2 emitted by China's vast coal-fired power sector is a price worth paying to cut greenhouse gases to reasonable levels, U.S. energy secretary Steven Chu said.
• 2009/07/16: Yahoo: Top US officials to meet China PM on climate
• 2009/07/15: Reuters: China emissions cap an open question: U.S. officials
  Top U.S. officials on Wednesday left open the possibility that China might not have to accept a hard cap on its greenhouse gas emissions under a new global climate change treaty.
• 2009/07/15: TreeHugger: US and China to Create Cooperative Clean Energy Research Center
• 2009/07/15: WSJ:EnvCap: Chinese Checkers: Steven Chu, China, and the Clean-Tech Question
• 2009/07/15: Yahoo: US, China announce clean energy research center
• 2009/07/15: LA Times: U.S., China try to reach accord on reducing greenhouse gas emissions
• 2009/07/14: PlanetArk: Factbox: US, China Key to Climate Change Challenge
• 2009/07/14: PlanetArk: U.S. to Press China on Tariffs on Clean Energy Trade
• 2009/07/12: Yahoo: U.S. officials to prod China on climate change

  The Obama administration is still undoing Bush era regulations:

• 2009/07/19: PlanetArk: U.S. Interior Dept Throws Out Bush Logging Plan
• 2009/07/17: TreeHugger: Obama Reverses Bush's Oregon Logging Rule, Saves Millions of Acres of Forest

  As for what is going on in Congress:

• 2009/07/13: CQPolitics: [Senator GV] Voinovich (R-Ohio) Has Hold on EPA Nominee
  Sen. George V. Voinovich is blocking Senate confirmation of the EPA's deputy administrator because of concern with the agency's economic analysis of the House energy bill. In a June 13 letter to EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson , the Ohio Republican said he has a procedural hold on Robert Perciasepe, President Obama's nominee for the No. 2 position at the agency. Voinovich said his hold was unrelated to the nominee himself. Instead, he is dissatisfied with an EPA report on the economic effects of a climate change bill (HR 2454) that passed the House in June.
• 2009/07/16: SolveClimate: 43 New Coal Plants Would Escape Climate Bill CO2 Standards
• 2009/07/15: HuffPo: NAACP Endorses Climate Change Legislation
• 2009/07/14: MapLight: How Money Watered Down the Climate Bill
• 2009/07/15: OilChange: How Corporate Money Corrupted the Climate Bill
• 2009/07/10: TCE: Energy Bill Ignores Oil Depletion
• 2009/07/13: NRDC:SwitchBoard: Lunatic Fringe Watch: Wing Nuts Unleashed on ACES Climate Bill

  Congress killed the DOE "baby-Bell" type research centres funding and triggered a great uproar:

• 2009/07/16: NatureTGB: Nobelists call for energy R&D in climate bill
• 2009/07/16: ScienceInsider: Nobelists Plead for More Money for Clean Energy Research
• 2009/07/17: TreeHugger: Renewable Energy R&D Spending is Not a Luxury: US Nobel Laureates Tell Obama, Congress
• 2009/07/16: Grist: 34 Nobel winners write Obama about lack of support for energy R&D in climate/energy bill
• 2009/07/13: WiredSci: DOE's New Baby Bell Labs on Budget Chopping Block
• 2009/07/13: ScienceInsider: Hill Blocks DOE Plan to Create "Bell Lab-lets"

  Sausage-making is full speed ahead in the Senate:

• 2009/07/19: PlanetArk: Senators Seek Climate Bill Analysis for Farmers
• 2009/07/15: C411: EDF to the Senate: Agricultural Offsets Are Key to Climate Policy
• 2009/07/17: ClimateP: Black Chamber of Commerce CEO calls Barbara Boxer a racist -- when she's trying to stop future Katrinas and he wants dozens more
• 2009/07/17: PlanetArk: U.S. Lawmakers Debate Climate Bills' Economic Impact
• 2009/07/17: HillHeat: Senate Watch: Alexander, Bond, Boxer, Carper, Chambliss, Corker, Inhofe, Kerry, Kyl, Landrieu, Lincoln, McCain, Murkowski, Reid, Voinovich, Whitehouse
• 2009/07/16: EJ: Locking in Coal, Locking Out Facts -- While Washington debates climate change, coal mining in the West gets a pass
• 2009/07/16: GreenGrok: On the Climate Bill Fence: What Sen. [Lamar] Alexander (R-Tenn) Is Thinking
• 2009/07/16: NYT:CW: Power Industry Infighting Heats Up Over Climate Legislation
  The feuding clans of the electric power industry are quarreling over newer ground: which of them most deserves the free carbon emission allotments that would be distributed if the House-passed climate bill became law. An unlikely alliance of public power providers, electric cooperatives, utility consumer advocates and utility commissioners joined together yesterday to attack the allotments provision of the House bill that they say would give windfall profits to merchant power providers with no assurance that the funds would be invested in reducing carbon dioxide emissions.
• 2009/07/15: ClimateP: Boxer planning Sept. 8 rollout for climate bill
• 2009/07/06: 538: How Can the Climate Bill Get to 60 Votes?
• 2009/07/14: ClimateP: Epic Battle 3: Who are the swing Senators?
• 2009/07/13: Grist: Old dog, nuke tricks -- Sen. Alexander calls for 100 new nuke plants, won't work with Dems on climate bill
• 2009/07/14: Grist: The enemy of my enemy is my friend, ACES edition [Inhofe cites Hansen]
• 2009/07/14: Grist: Alternate Reality -- Senate GOP: Nuke, baby, nuke!
• 2009/07/13: TP:WonkRoom: [Senator Lamar] Alexander (R-Tn) Seeks 'Presidential Leadership' To Oppose President Obama's Energy Plan
• 2009/07/14: TP:WonkRoom: [Senator] Kit Bond (R-Missouri) Cites Junk Report To Claim Clean Energy Will Hurt Missouri Farmers
• 2009/07/13: ClimateP: Senate battle 2: Sherrod Brown (D-OH) says he won't filibuster climate bill
• 2009/07/13: Grist: Reid between the lines -- Will Senate leadership crack the whip on the climate bill?

  What are the lobbyists pushing?

• 2009/07/16: Reuters: Energy-intensive industries want more CO2 permits
• 2009/07/17: Grist: Coal industry downplays prospects for CCS as it seeks more handouts in Senate climate bill
• 2009/07/15: Grist: Big Ag not content with concessions in House climate bill
• 2009/07/14: MapLight: How Money Watered Down the Climate Bill
• 2009/07/15: OilChange: How Corporate Money Corrupted the Climate Bill

  The Gore-apalooza is still bopping along:

• 2009/07/15: ABC(Au): Gore applauds Rudd on climate action
  Former US vice-president and climate change campaigner Al Gore has warned that no country is more vulnerable to the effects of climate change than Australia
• 2009/07/15: Google:AFP: Gore urges Australia to lead global warming fight
• 2009/07/14: ABC(Au): Gore brings hope of global emissions reduction
  A Gippsland delegate at the Safe Climate seminar in Melbourne has returned home more optimistic about the possibility of global emissions reductions. Dr Jo McCubbin from Sale was one of 300 people selected nationwide by former US vice-president Al Gore to join the seminar. Dr McCubbin says Mr Gore presented an updated slideshow of the accelerating effects of climate change on the global environment. But she says he also demonstrated more solutions and ways to spread the message about carbon dioxide reductions.
• 2009/07/13: ABC(Au): Former US vice-president and environmental activist Al Gore says Victoria's recent bushfires underline the importance of a global deal on climate change
• 2009/07/13: ABC(Au): Climate change campaigner Al Gore has backed the [Australian] Federal Government's push for emissions trading legislation to be passed by Parliament ahead of global talks later this year

  While in the UK:

• 2009/07/19: Guardian(UK): Expensive air travel? It's just not cricket
• 2009/07/16: EnvFin: UK sees five-fold growth in renewables to hit climate targets
• 2009/07/18: Guardian(UK): These signs of life won't quicken Labour's heartbeat
• 2009/07/15: Guardian(UK): Activists: we'll 'rush' parliament to pressure Copenhagen climate summit
• 2009/07/15: Guardian(UK): How nice it must be to live in a sane country
• 2009/07/14: Guardian(UK): The dawn of carbon budgeting: now every tonne counts [UK pol]
• 2009/07/13: Guardian(UK): Energy white paper is set to shake up the green industry
• 2009/07/13: Guardian(UK): The rich can relax. We just need the poor world to cut emissions. By 125%
  British and G8 climate strategy just doesn't add up. As soon as serious curbs are needed it turns into impossible nonsense
• 2009/07/13: Times(UK): Number of wind turbines to quadruple under Renewable Energy Strategy
• 2009/07/13: BBC: Energy policy 'too wind focused'
  The UK must invest more in nuclear and clean coal energy and put less emphasis on wind power if it wants a secure low-carbon future, business leaders say. The CBI says government energy policy is "disjointed" and it is urging a "more balanced" energy mix.

And in Europe:

• 2009/07/16: NewScientist: First 'climate friendly' labels appear on foods [in Sweden]

  Meanwhile in Australia:

• 2009/07/17: ABC(Au): Climate change group questions Govt coal talks
  Climate Action Newcastle says it cannot understand why the Commonwealth is courting the coal industry when it has continually maintained it will not give it more compensation under its emissions trading scheme. The Acting Climate Change Minister and local MP, Greg Combet, held talks with the Australian Coal Association in Newcastle yesterday. Mr Combet maintains the Government will not increase its offer of $750 million to help the coal industry adapt to the scheme.
• 2009/07/16: ABC(Au): Scheme to cut pollution
  The proponents of a carbon pollution reduction scheme in the eastern Wheatbelt say the project will be the biggest of its kind in Australia. Origin Energy and Carbon Conscious Limited say their plan to grow up to 30 million mallee eucalypts will remove about six million tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
• 2009/07/16: ABC(Au): Greens reject Bligh's carbon scheme fears
  The Queensland Greens say Premier Anna Bligh's Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS) concerns will lead to the state having a stockpile of coal with no buyers. The Premier released her CPRS concerns yesterday, saying the mining industry needs more assistance before the scheme goes ahead.
• 2009/07/16: ABC(Au): Seven Greenpeace activists are due to appear in court in Melbourne today, over a protest at the Hazelwood power station earlier this year
• 2009/07/15: ABC(Au): Solar station scrapping 'disappointing'
  The Sustainable Energy Association (SEA) has expressed disappointment at the scrapping of a proposed solar power station in Western Australia's goldfields. Last year, the former state government pledged $4.5 million towards the 1.8 megawatt power station in Kalgoorlie. The proposal has since been scrapped after a lack of Commonwealth funding forced the proponents to pull out.
• 2009/07/15: ABC(Au): Bligh goes into bat for coal industry
  The Federal Government now has to contend with more than Opposition criticism of its emissions trading scheme, with Queensland Premier Anna Bligh also pushing for changes.
• 2009/07/14: ABC(Au): Governments 'must boost' carbon capture investment
  The developer of a new carbon capture plant at the Hazelwood power station, in south-east Victoria, is supporting calls from power companies for more government investment in technology.
• 2009/07/13: ABC(Au): FPC secures land for carbon sequestration project
  The Forests Product Commission (FPC) has acquired more than 5,000 hectares of land in south-west Western Australia for its tree planting project with Synergy Energy.
• 2009/07/13: ABC(Au): Family First Senator Steve Fielding has written to senators on both sides of politics urging them to demand more proof from the Government that carbon emissions are the main driver of climate change

  Now isn't this a cute ploy?

• 2009/07/15: BSD: India commits to binding emission limits; no one cares; everyone still demand Indian emission limits
  [...] "the Prime Minister of India made a commitment that India's per capita emissions will at no time exceed the average of the per capita emissions of developed, industrialized countries."

While in China:

• 2009/07/17: Grist: Clean Energy Economy -- Is China Winning the Clean Energy Race?
• 2009/07/14: OilChange: Outrage as China Protects its Renewables Industry
• 2009/07/13: NYT: China Builds High Wall to Guard Energy Industry

  While in Japan:

• 2009/07/13: BBerg: Japan's Power Output Falls for 11th Straight Month on Recession

  And elsewhere in Asia:

• 2009/07/13: BBC: A power company in Pakistan has obtained a decree - or fatwa - from 12 senior Islamic scholars, declaring the theft of electricity a sin

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

• 2009/07/16: Guardian(UK): Canada's dirty secret
  Despite its environmentally friendly reputation, Canada's efforts on climate change rank last among the G8 nations
• 2009/07/13: OSun: Court: Feds breaks law by failing to save habitat

  Ontario is still wrestling with its energy policy:

• 2009/07/15: TStar: [Ontario] Turbine rules may foil wind ventures -- Dozens of projects, billions in investment at risk, energy group says
  A majority of "construction ready" wind projects in Ontario won't go forward if the province passes regulations that keep wind turbines a minimum distance from residences, roads and railway lines, warns Canada's wind energy association. Association president Robert Hornung, in a lengthy letter to Environment Minister John Gerretsen, said more than three-quarters of 103 advanced-stage wind projects will likely be affected if the new rules are enacted. "The net effect is that 79 construction-ready projects representing 2,591 megawatts would either be rendered immediately non-viable or would require a complete `back to the drawing board' redesign," wrote Hornung. The Canadian Wind Energy Association is concerned specifically about two proposed rules, one that would require turbines to be a minimum of 550 metres away from residences, and the other requiring turbines to be 120 metres or more away from roads, railway lines, and property lot lines. Both rules were designed to satisfy health and safety concerns while creating a provincial standard that replaces a patchwork of municipal bylaws. Wind turbines emit noise, and some rural residents have complained that the massive machines are disrupting sleep and making people sick.
• 2009/07/14: CleanBreak: Ontario homebuilder pursues district heating with geothermal
• 2009/07/14: GuelphMercury: New power plant a quick fix to energy shortage -- Natural gas station to power peak times in Toronto, and maybe Guelph

  The nuclear power play between Ontario and Ottawa is still developing:

• 2009/07/15: ClimateP: Nuclear Bombshell: $26 Billion cost -- $10,800 per kilowatt! -- killed Ontario nuclear bid
• 2009/07/14: CleanBreak: Cost of new nuclear in Ontario? Anywhere from $7,400 to $10,800 per kilowatt, depending on your appetite for risk
• 2009/07/14: HamiltonSpectator: Premier says nuke program still on track
  Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty says a reported $26-billion price tag for two new nuclear reactors isn't going to derail the province's nuclear ambitions. McGuinty says he's confident ongoing talks with the federal government over Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd.'s bid will yield a better deal, but he hasn't set a firm deadline. And while the project is more expensive than anticipated, McGuinty says Ontario has the information ahead of time and that means it will be able to better assess how to deal with possible costs overruns. Ottawa, McGuinty adds, must take into account the future of Canada's domestic nuclear industry as it "sharpens its pencils" to try to help top bidder AECL come up with a more competitive deal. His comments follow reports that AECL wanted $26 billion to build two new reactors in Darlington, east of Toronto -- a total that would wipe out the whole amount budgeted for nuclear expansion in the province.
• 2009/07/15: TSun: Ontario wants cheaper reactor deal
• 2009/07/15: TStar: 'Good news' in stalled reactor plan -- At least high cost [$26B] of proposed nuclear project was discovered early, McGuinty says
• 2009/07/15: TStar: Risky political strategies could turn out the lights
• 2009/07/14: TStar: $26B cost killed nuclear bid -- Ontario ditched plan over high price tag that would wipe out 20-year budget

  Ontario announced a C$10,000 rebate for electric cars this week:

• 2009/07/17: ScottsDiatribe: The Ontario Government needs to have rebates for all green cars, not just one brand
• 2009/07/17: AutoBG: Toyota chafes at Ontario $10,000 EV rebate, calls it GM subsidy
• 2009/07/17: CanWest: Toyota slams Ontario's plan for electric-car rebates -- Poorly thought out, poor planning, poor policy
• 2009/07/17: TStar: Dubious subsidy for electric cars
• 2009/07/17: CanWest: The Volt: Ontario-made, Ontario-subsidized
• 2009/07/17: TStar: Incentives for plug-ins a subsidy for failure?
• 2009/07/15: TreeHugger: Ontario to Offer up to $10,000 in Incentives for Plug-In Hybrids and Battery Electric Cars
• 2009/07/15: CleanBreak: Ontario signals to automakers, and consumers, that it's serious about electric cars
• 2009/07/15: CBC: Ontario pushes electric cars as auto-sector boost
• 2009/07/15: TStar: McGuinty promises to boost plug-in car -- Up to $10,000 rebate expected to tempt Ontarians to go electric

  Meanwhile in that Mechanical Mordor known as the tar sands:

• 2009/07/17: CCP: Palin's Pipeline From Hell
• 2009/07/17: G&M: Letter gives EnCana three months to leave or attacks will 'get a lot worse'

  Elsewhere in Alberta:

• 2009/07/15: BCLSB: Alberta Greens De-registered
• 2009/07/15: FFwdWeekly:CB: Alberta Greens no longer a political party
  After months of internal struggle and infighting, the Green Party of Alberta has been de-registered. For now, anyway.
• 2009/07/14: CBC: Pine beetles continue to infest Alberta trees
  Last winter's cold temperatures did kill some mountain pine beetles in Alberta, but it wasn't enough to reduce the threat of additional infestations, according to recent field surveys.
• 2009/07/14: CanWest: Winter not cold enough to kill Alberta's pine beetles
  The temperatures last winter just weren't cold enough to rid Alberta of mountain pine beetles, the province said Tuesday. As a result, the provincial government is continuing its efforts to reduce the spread of the beetles, especially north and south along the Eastern Slopes and in the boreal forest, using methods such as single-tree removals, stand-level harvest and controlled fires.

As for miscellaneous Canadiana:

• 2009/07/17: PuzzledCat: Brilliant environmental concept the Liberal Party should adopt
• 2009/07/17: CanWest: Local carbon offset vendors say they're rated too low in new guide
  The Suzuki Foundation and the Pembina Institute want Canadians to be more environmentally friendly by buying the highest-quality carbon offsets. The two groups released a new guide Thursday that ranks carbon offsets and vendors and is intended to help conscientious Canadians make informed choices as they head off for summer vacation. The Purchasing Carbon Offsets guide ranks 14 carbon-offset vendors based in Canada and six international vendors, targeting Canadians who want to offset air travel and other activities that generate greenhouse gas emissions.
• 2009/07/15: AutoBG: Magna wants to build electric vehicles in Canada within 3 years
• 2009/07/13: CanWest: Canada may already be 'plugged-in' for electric cars [block heater plugins]
• 2009/07/12: EnergyBulletin: Canada is leaking emergy

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

• 2009/07/15: CCurrents: After America -- Narratives For The Next Global Age

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

• 2009/07/15: MailOnSunday: Our exploding population is the gravest threat Britain faces today
• 2009/07/13: DotEarth: 90 Billion People, 1 Planet?
• 2009/07/13: OLJ: Society, politics, and the overpopulation problem

  Apocalypso anyone?

• 2009/07/13: SolveClimate: Could Climate Change Be the End of the 'Third World'?

  As for how the media handles the science of climatology:

• 2009/07/18: ClimateP: The clean energy revolution will not be televised, Part 2: Kathleen Hall Jamieson lambastes MSM for under-reporting climate bill
• 2009/07/17: SLR: The good life 2.0
  Davie Philip introduces The Village, a project that is a model for a sustainable future through building resilient communities We urgently need to take an evolutionary leap in the way we do things and to design systems from the bottom up in ways that fit this planet's carrying capacity and we need to do this together, as communities.
• 2009/07/16: ClimateP: The NY Times gets it wrong, again!
• 2009/07/15: JQuiggin: WaPo: Surveying the flaming wreckage
• 2009/07/14: ClimateP: Washington Post, Fred Hiatt turn op-ed page into a "joke" with yet another falsehood-filled piece attacking climate action and clean energy -- by GOP quitter-in-chief Sarah "Four Pinocchios" Palin!
• 2009/07/13: Guardian(UK): BBC still walking with dinosaurs when it comes to climate change
  The BBC's output treats the findings of thousands of scientists on climate change as no more than 'views' or 'opinion'

While activists & scientists search for effective communication techniques:

• 2009/07/16: MGS: Communicating Science 2
• 2009/07/14: MGS: Communicating Science
• 2009/07/17: QuarkSoup: Chris Mooney's latest bad idea
• 2009/07/16: Stoat: Communicating Science

  Here is something for your library:

• 2009/07/17: HotTopic: Climate classic: Kolbert's Field Notes -- [Book Review] _Field Notes From a Catastrophe: A Frontline Report on Climate Change_ by Elizabeth Kolbert

  Meanwhile among the 'Sue the Bastards!' contingent:

• 2009/07/17: BBerg: Exxon Sabotage May Merit $1 Billion Fine, Agency [Texas General Land Office] Says
• 2009/07/14: Reuters: Non-green asset managers could be sued: U.N. report
• 2009/07/14: EarthTimes: Suit Threatens Nuclear Plant Vogtle
  The Southern Alliance for Clean Energy (SACE) recently filed a suit against the Georgia Public Service Commission (GPSC) and Gov. Sonny Perdue that could prevent ratepayers from having to prepay for the proposed Plant Vogtle nuclear reactors. By asking the Court to review the constitutionality of the Georgia Nuclear Energy Financing Act (SB 31) and the legality of the GPSC's approval of Georgia Power's request to certify additional nuclear reactors at Plant Vogtle, SACE is taking legal action to halt nuclear construction that is too costly and too high-risk for Georgia.

Among the non-members of Gamblers Anonymous:

• 2009/07/19: BSD: The baseball stats wizard jumps into climate betting

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

• 2009/07/19: PeakEnergy: For Cheap Clean Energy, Go Geothermal, Study Says
• 2009/07/18: BWeek: Is a Clean-Energy Economy Our 'Next Internet'?
  Just as the race from mainframes to smartphones made information free, surging innovation can make energy so abundant that it becomes nearly free
• 2009/07/17: Grist: Timothy Wirth, natural-gas advocate, takes gas industry to task
• 2009/07/17: OilDrum: Update on US GOM [Gulf of Mexico]: Methane Hydrates
• 2009/07/17: BBC: Oil rebounds above $62 a barrel
• 2009/07/17: G&M: $20 oil? You bet, says one expert -- Philip Verleger expects excess supply to depress prices to levels last seen in February, 2002
• 2009/07/16: KSJT: AP: In Truth or Consequences this company will turn wind into electricity, turn that into hydrogen, then burn that to make electricity again. Make sense?
• 2009/07/16: TreeHugger: First Utility-Scale, Zero Emissions, [Wind & solar to] Hydrogen Power Plant Begins Construction in New Mexico
• 2009/07/16: PlanetArk: Four North American Geothermal Companies Plan Tie-Up
• 2009/07/16: PNNL: New geothermal heat extraction process to deliver clean power generation
• 2009/07/16: PlanetArk: World Dependent On Fossil Fuels For A Century
  The world will remain heavily dependent on fossil fuels such as oil, gas and coal for the rest of this century, despite the best efforts of governments to move toward renewable energy, an energy economist said on Wednesday. Peter Odell, professor of international energy studies at Erasmus University, Rotterdam, and author of the bestselling World and Oil Power, said the drive to limit greenhouse gases was likely to be held back by both technology and economics.
• 2009/07/16: LA Times: Energy: the next frontier -- Like the race to the moon, the challenge to replace fossil fuels is not simply a pie-in-the-sky idea
• 2009/07/14: ClimateP: Game changer 4: Tim Wirth delivers must-read "extreme words" to natural gas execs: "You don't have the right to sit back and do nothing" about climate change. "We are in very deep trouble, the edge of catastrophe, and you can help."
• 2009/07/15: SciDaily: Reversible Generation Of High Capacity Hydrogen Storage Material [aluminum hydride] Demonstrated
• 2009/07/14: Eureka: Wood stoves -- a viable home heat source?
• 2009/07/14: TreeHugger: New US Renewable Energy Record Set: 13% of Total Electric Generation in April
• 2009/07/14: BBC: Crude oil's rollercoaster prices
• 2009/07/12: EnergyBulletin: Canada is leaking emergy

  The answer my friend...:

• 2009/07/19: PeakEnergy: Study Suggests Wind Power Potential Is Much Higher Than Current Estimates
• 2009/07/16: LBL: New Study Sheds Light on the Growing U.S. Wind Power Market
• 2009/07/17: NEN: Store or send the wind?
• 2009/07/17: SolveClimate: The Wind Power Variability Myth Gets Debunked, Again
• 2009/07/16: NYT:GreenInc: Study Suggests Wind Power Potential Is Much Higher Than Current Estimates
• 2009/07/14: SolveClimate: 'B' Overall: America's 20% Wind Power Progress Gets Graded [by AWEA]

  Meanwhile among the solar aficionados:

• 2009/07/17 WorldChanging: Home Solar Arrays Expand Rapidly in California
• 2009/07/17: SolveClimate: Intersolar 2009: A Window into Today's Global Solar Industry
• 2009/07/16: TreeHugger: Supersized Solar Panels Could Reduce System Costs, But No One's Interested
• 2009/07/15: NYT: With Push Toward Renewable Energy, California Sets Pace for Solar Power
• 2009/07/14: DerSpiegel: Nitol, Russia's Emerging Solar Power Star
• 2009/07/15: PlanetArk: Suntech Gets Four Big Solar Projects in China
• 2009/07/14: TreeHugger: Prometheus Institute Study: Solar Power to Reach Grid Parity in U.S. in 2015

  Meanwhile in the clean coal saga:

• 2009/07/13: GreenGrok: Coal Ash Waste: Where We Are Now and Where We Still Have to Go
• 2009/07/13: CNN: Months after ash spill, Tennessee town still choking
  On December 22, town was buried in coal ash spilled from power plant - Spill released potentially cancer-causing chemicals, radioactive materials - Some residents report new health problems since the disaster - Reports by EPA, plant operator say air, water, general environment are safe

Biofuel bickering abounds:

• 2009/07/19: PlanetArk: EU Biodiesel Output up 35 Percent, Capacity Growing
• 2009/07/17: Maribo: Beneficial biofuels
• 2009/07/18: PeakEnergy: Exxon to Invest Millions to Make Fuel From Algae

  The nuclear energy controversy continues:

• 2009/07/17: BBC: UK nuclear waste strategy in jeopardy
  The UK government's strategy for dealing with deadly nuclear waste is in jeopardy three years after it accepted the idea of disposing of it deep underground. Just two local councils in one region, west Cumbria, have shown any interest in hosting the £13.8bn underground facility. Thirteen local councils who enquired decided not to go any further according to a new report being finalised by the Committee on Radioactive Waste Management (CoRWM) which advises the British government.
• 2009/07/15: NewScientist: Interview: Fusion in a cold climate [Martin Fleischmann interview]
• 2009/07/15: EarthTimes: Damaged rod found at crippled German nuclear site [Kruemmel near Hamburg]
• 2009/07/14: HalifaxCourier(UK): Can thorium save the planet?
• 2009/07/14: WSJ:EnvCap: Going Nuclear: Atomic Power Fuels Political Debate in U.S., Europe
• 2009/07/14: BNC: Counterpoint -- nuclear power and the low carbon economy
• 2009/07/13: PRWatch: The French Disconnection

  Yes we have peak everything:

• 2009/07/18: OilDrum: Is Peak Oil Real? A List of Countries Past Peak
• 2009/07/13: EnergyBulletin: Three Plans for Fuel Emergencies
• 2009/07/10: TCE: Energy Bill Ignores Oil Depletion
• 2009/07/13: TreeHugger: Are We Near Peak Phosphorus?
• 2009/07/13: OO(Au): Peak oil means peak food as well

  More people are talking about the electrical grid:

• 2009/07/14: FuturePundit: Smarter Grid Seen As More Important Than Long Distance Grid
• 2009/07/18: PeakEnergy: The Big Smart Grid Challenges
• 2009/07/17: SolveClimate: FERC Adopts Smart Grid Policy with Rules for Raising Rates
• 2009/07/15: TreeHugger: Amsterdam is Starting Work on a Smart Grid
• 2009/07/14: TechRev: A Costly and Unnecessary New Electricity Grid
  A national interstate system for distributing power may prove an expensive boondoggle.
• 2009/07/14: TreeHugger: Baltimore Announces Massive Smart Grid Program - 2 Million Meters to be Installed
• 2009/07/13: NEN: Solar power plants vs. distributed generation
  Summary: Transmission is urgently needed, transmission isn't happening. Deal with it.

And then there is the matter of efficiency & conservation:

• 2009/07/16: Guardian(UK): Q&A: Energy efficiency
• 2009/07/16: PeakEnergy: The Transition to LED Lighting

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

• 2009/07/15: FuturePundit: Diesel And Hybrid Cars Seen As Cost Effective
• 2009/07/18: AutoBG: Automotive Energy Supply Corp starts pilot production of batteries
• 2009/07/17: AutoBG: Toyota's Bill Reinert lets loose on ethanol, li-ion batteries, plug-in vehicles
• 2009/07/17: BBC: Renault says that car sales in the first half of 2009 fell 16.5% as the downturn hit demand for vehicles
• 2009/07/16: TreeHugger: Should Governments Offer Incentives for Electric Cars?
• 2009/07/16: PeakEnergy: Eight electric vehicle startups to watch
• 2009/07/15: OilDrum: Who Killed the Electric Gas Tank? [EEStor]
• 2009/07/15: BBC: Sales of new cars across Europe rose [2.4% yoy] for the first time in 14 months in June, buoyed by a number of national scrappage schemes, figures have shown
• 2009/07/14: CTV: New vehicle sales up in May, down in June: StatsCan
• 2009/07/14: KSJT: Reuters, CNET, etc: Big study says electric cars could dominate car market in just 20 years. The key: quick-change batteries.
• 2009/07/14: CBC: Toyota rolls out full-hybrid Lexus to boost lagging sales
• 2009/07/14: CBC: Segways touted by B.C. town mayor -- High-tech personal transporters not legal on streets or sidewalks
  The northeastern B.C. town of Tumbler Ridge is calling for changes to the province's Motor Vehicle Act that would allow people to use Segway personal transporters on the province's streets and sidewalks. Mayor Larry White said the two-wheeled electric vehicles, which look like a cross between a pogo stick and a kick scooter, would make sense in the small town. "We don't have a heavy traffic. There's not a lot of pedestrians on the sidewalks. Our town's easily accessible within 10-15 minutes," said White. But Segways can't legally be operated on B.C. roads or on sidewalks because they cannot be licensed or insured as a vehicle in B.C., said Insurance Corporation of B.C. spokeswoman Alysson Gourley-Cramer.

The reaction of business to climate change will be critical:

• 2009/07/16: Macleans: The corporate climate crusaders -- Think big business is against tough new climate change laws? Well, think again.
• 2009/07/16: EurActiv: Industry chiefs call for sectoral approach to climate change

  Meanwhile in the greenwashing, greenbashing & greenwrapping chronicles:

• 2009/07/16: TreeHugger: National Greenwash Day: Perfect as the Enemy of Good?
• 2009/07/14: TreeHugger: Jargon Watch: Greenbashing

  Insurance and re-insurance companies are feeling the heat:

• 2009/07/16: ENN: AIG Closed Climate Change Program Last Month
• 2009/07/13: TreeHugger: AIG's Latest Failure: Climate Change

  The carbon lobby are up to the usual:

• 2009/07/18: GreenFyre: New study, climate Deniers are "fundamentally wrong"
• 2009/07/17: ClimateP: Climate change deniers misrepresent new [PETM] study that finds climate models underestimate warming
• 2009/07/16: ClimateP: Memo to enviros, progressives: The deniers and dirty energy bunch are "full of passionate intensity" -- and eating our lunch on the climate bill!
• 2009/07/17: BCLSB: The Many Forms Of Denial
• 2009/07/17: TreeHugger: After Sabotaging Own Oil Wells, Exxon Faces $1 Billion in Fines
• 2009/07/16: DeSmogBlog: Farm Bureau President Bob Stallman Believes in Global Cooling
• 2009/07/17: DeepClimate: Friends of Science: They're back!
• 2009/07/16: MTobis: The Return of Forecasting Principles
• 2009/07/15: GreenFyre: Climate Deniers literally are "Flat Earthers"
• 2009/07/14: TP:WonkRoom: Farm Bureau Chief Bob Stallman Believes In Global Cooling
• 2009/07/14: CSW: Denialist attack on EPA handling of Carlin document -- Part 3: Govt Accountability Project statement
• 2009/07/14: CSW: Denialist attack on EPA handling of Carlin global warming contrarian document -- Part 2: The e-mails
• 2009/07/14: CSW: Denialist attack on EPA handling of Carlin global warming contrarian document -- Pt 1: The document
• 2009/07/15: Deltoid: Jim Lippard on Plimer
• 2009/07/14: DeSmogBlog: Run! The Glaciers Are Coming!
• 2009/07/14: TWTB: Washington Post and Fred Hiatt escalate their war on WaPo readers' self-respect
• 2009/07/14: SolveClimate: West Virginia Redefines Dirty Energy as 'Alternative'
• 2009/07/13: Grist: West Virginia redefines dirty energy as "alternative"

  Sarah Palin wrote a risible editorial that generated a lot of comment:

• 2009/07/17: C411: Link Round-Up: How Many Ways Can Sarah Palin Get It Wrong?
• 2009/07/16: DeSmogBlog: Sarah Palin Wants to Be Poster Child of Anti-Science and GOP Fear Mongering
• 2009/07/15: TP:WonkRoom: Energy Analyst: Cap-And-Trade Advocates Should Welcome Palin 'To The Debate With Open Arms'
• 2009/07/15: Guardian(UK): Sarah Palin's energy ignorance
  Palin's criticism of Barack Obama's cap-and-trade energy plan is loaded with plenty of rhetoric -- and zero facts
• 2009/07/14: Grist: Palin's Recipe for Baked Alaska
• 2009/07/14: HuffPo: What Gov. Palin Forgot by Senator John Kerry (D-Mass)
• 2009/07/15: EconoSpeak: Sarah Palin's Supply-side Silliness on Cap & Trade
• 2009/07/13: Grist: Palin eschews facts and economics in blasting cap-and-trade bill
• 2009/07/14: TreeHugger: Sarah Palin Slams Cap and Trade in Op-Ed, Completely Misses the Point

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

• 2009/07/17: ClimateP: Energy and Environmental News for July 17th: Wind power potential much higher than previous estimated; Alaska legislature set to overturn Palin's veto of energy stimulus funds
• 2009/07/16: ClimateP: Energy and Global Warming News for July 16th: British government puts clean energy in overdrive; solar power empowers Ethiopian village
• 2009/07/15: ClimateP: Energy and Global Warming News for July 15th: Following fraud case, U.S. unlikely to hit 2010 cellulosic target; Melting Alps forces Italy, Switzerland, others to redraw national borders
• 2009/07/14: ClimateP: Energy and Global Warming News for July 14: "Serious" nuclear reactor failure in Germany a result of "carelessness and mismanagement"; China using "protectionist tactics" to develop economies of scale in renewable energy
• 2009/07/13: ClimateP: Energy and Global Warming News for July 13: 6,700-page report by world leaders concludes that climate change "will cause civilization to collapse"

  As for climate miscellanea:

• 2009/07/16: Grist: A walk through the week's climate news -- The Climate Post: Pools of oil, plumes of gas
• 2009/07/10: IGHiH: Introducing "The Citizen's Guide to Climate Policy"
• 2009/07/15: NatureCF: Indian Ocean: Gatekeeper to climate extremes?
• 2009/07/16: AFTIC: What does Climate Model output look like?
• 2009/07/15: GreenGrok: The Nation's Energy Expert Speaks Out on Climate ... Not
• 2009/07/13: MTobis: The Postcautionary Principle
• 2009/07/14: WorldChanging: Five smart new things to read about climate change
• 2009/07/13: Guardian(UK): The Manchester Report: 20 ideas for solving the climate crisis
  The solutions picked by the Guardian and Manchester International Festival's expert panel as the most promising for tackling global warming
• 2009/07/13: CCP: Tim Naish: Evidence for anthropogenic climate change is unassailable
• 2009/07/13: AlterNet: Taking Shorter Showers Doesn't Cut It: Why Personal Change Does Not Equal Political Change

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

• ClimateSight
• DOE:EIA: Annual Energy Review
• US National Academy of Sciences newsroom
• GP: Climate Rescue Weblog
• Guardian(UK): The Manchester Report
• NRDC: SwitchBoard Blog
• Wiki: Flow Battery
• EPI: Eco-Economy Indicators: Trends to Track
• Congressional Budget Office - Director's Blog
• Andris Piebalgs' blog [European Energy Commissioner with responsibility for shaping European Union (EU) energy policy]
• Wiki: Rossby wave
• GTM: Greentech Media
• Wiki: Carbon tax

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.

"Science is basically an inoculation against charlatans." -Neil Tyson

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