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
Another week of Climate Disruption News
September 6, 2009
- Chuckle, WCC, Royal Society on GeoEngineering, Himalayan Conference, Thailand, 10:10, G20
- Melting Arctic, Kaufman et al., Methane, Geopolitics, Antarctica
- Tipping Points, Sunspots, Money, Tobis, Grumbine, Late Comments
- Food Crisis, Food vs. Biofuel, Food Production
- Hurricanes, GHGs, C & N Cycles, Temperatures, Feedbacks, Aerosols, Paleoclimate, Glaciers, Sea Levels
- Impacts, Forests, Corals, Climate Refugees, Desertification, Wacky Weather, Wildfires, Floods & Droughts
- Mitigation, Transportation, Buildings, Sequestration, Geoengineering, Adaptation
- Journals, Misc. Science, Hansen, Pielke
- Copenhagen, UN, Carbon Trade, Carbon Tax, Optimal Carbon Reduction Strategy
- Politics:International, Security, Law & Activism, America, Obama
- Britain, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, India, China, Japan, Asia, Africa, Brazil, Canada
- Ecological Economics, IPAT, Apocalypso, Media, Video, Courts
- Energy, Wind, Solar, Coal, Biofuel, Nukes, Peak Oil, Grid, Efficiency, Cars, Business, Greenwashing, Insurance
- Joe's List, Carbon Lobby, Miscellaneous Climate, Useful Links
- Shameless Self Promotion, .sig
- 2009/09/03: SeattlePI: (cartoon - Horsey) The Real Patriot?
- 2009/09/04: ClimateP: (cartoon - ?) Nobelist Krugman eviscerates macroeconomics
- 2009/09/01: uComics: (cartoon - Toles) ...and now, The Climate Bill
- 2009/08/31: QuarkSoup: (cartoon - SMBC) How Science Reporting (Too Often) Works
Here's a curiosity for ya. (Think it's photoshopped?):
- 2009/09/03: OBMB: Mother Nature in Tears
- 2009/09/02: Telegraph(UK): Icecap photo shows 'mother nature in tears'
A photograph of a shrinking icecap that looks like 'mother nature in tears' is set to become a stark image of the dangers of global warming. - 2009/09/03: FAO: Third World Climate Conference -- Geneva meeting to examine vital role of climate information and prediction
- 2009/09/03: WMO: World Climate Conference - 3 Establishes a global framework for climate services
World Climate Conference-3 (WCC-3), which has brought together from 31 August to 4 September 2009, in Geneva, Switzerland, more than 2 000 climate scientists, sectoral experts and decision-makers today established a Global Framework for Climate Services "to strengthen production, availability, delivery and application of science-based climate prediction and services." - 2009/08/31: WMO: WCC-3: Working to make climate services available to all -- (Geneva, Switzerland, 31 August - 4 September 2009)
- 2009/09/04: UN: New UN pact aims to boost sharing of climate-related data to fight hunger
- 2009/09/04: NatureN: Nations commit to share climate information -- But proposed international service will face scientific and political hurdles
- 2009/09/04: NatureCF: WCC-3: Global 'climate services' framework agreed, but long process ahead
- 2009/09/04: DotEarth: Countries Pledge to Boost Climate Forecasts
- 2009/09/04: NewScientist: World's climate could cool first, warm later
- 2009/09/04: PhysOrg: New climate forceasting system to be created
The World Climate Conference has approved the creation of a new climate forecasting system to help countries adapt to climate change and enable them to better prepare for natural disasters, officials said Friday. - 2009/09/04: PlanetArk: Factbox: Climate Risks, And How To Limit Damage
- 2009/09/03: Xinhuanet: Climate conference agrees on framework for climate services
- 2009/09/03: EarthTimes: Countries adopt climate-data sharing agreement
- 2009/09/03: CBC: UN chief warns of climate-related disaster
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon speaks during the opening of the World Climate Conference in Geneva on Thursday.UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon speaks during the opening of the World Climate Conference in Geneva on Thursday. (Martial Trezzini/Keystone/Associated Press)UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon had more dire warnings about climate change Thursday as he spoke to a United Nations conference in Geneva. He told officials from about 150 countries that time is running out for a new climate deal to cut greenhouse gas emissions. Only limited progress has been made to hammer out a new accord to replace the 1997 Kyoto Protocol on reducing the gases blamed for global warming. - 2009/09/02: NatureCF: WWC-3: Should all climate data be freely available?
- 2009/09/01: NatureCF: WCC-3: Forecasts are not enough
- 2009/09/01: Reuters: Better climate information seen aiding UN pact
- 2009/09/02: Time: In Geneva, Designing a Global Climate-Alert System
- 2009/08/31: UN: UN talks seek to boost global access to climate data
- 2009/08/30: VOA: World Climate Conference to Focus on Adaptation to Climate Change
- 2009/08/31: PeninsulaQatar: UN holds separate talks to help nations cope with effects of climate change
- 2009/08/31: EarthTimes: Climate conference strives for global cooperation on data
- 2009/08/31: BBC: Officials from UN member states are gathering in Geneva for a five-day conference on climate change.[WCC]
The UK Royal Society released a report on geo-engineering this week:
- 2009/09/01: RoyalSoc: [link to 4.7 meg pdf] Geoengineering the climate: science, governance and uncertainty
- 2009/09/04: WorldChanging: Influential U.K. [Royal Society] Panel Outlines Possible Geo-engineering Ideas
- 2009/09/03: BCLSB: You Figure It Out: Royal Society On Geo-Engineering
- 2009/09/02: Independent(UK): Man-made eruptions -- 'Plan B' in the battle for the planet -- Royal Society says geo-engineering projects may help limit global warming
- 2009/09/02: NatureCF: Geoengineering report baffles reporters
- 2009/09/01: TerraDaily: Risky schemes may be only hope for cooling planet: scientists
- 2009/09/02: Reuters: World must plan for climate emergency: academy [Royal Society]
- 2009/09/02: G&M: The most radical ideas on Earth might just save it
Sending gigantic mirrors in space and scattering iron in the ocean are examples of large-scale climate interventions urged by key [Royal Society] study - 2009/09/01: BBC: Earth experiment could buy precious time
As the UK's Royal Society prepares to publish its conclusions on whether geo-engineering can help combat climate change, physicist Alan Gadian argues that geo-engineering techniques, in particular cloud whitening, must be properly tested - and soon. - 2009/09/01: Guardian(UK): Investment in geo-engineering needed immediately, says Royal Society
Techniques such as CO2 removal and radiation reflection are 'untested parachutes' until they are rigorously tested, it says - 2009/09/01: NatureN: Climate-control plans scrutinized -- The Royal Society reviews options for fighting global warming with geoengineering
- 2009/09/01: ScienceInsider: Royal Society Prods, Cautions on Fixing Climate
- 2009/09/01: DotEarth: Engineering a Climate Solution
- 2009/09/01: NewScientist: Top science body [Royal Society] calls for geoengineering 'plan B'
- 2009/09/01: TreeHugger: Royal Society Says Geoengineering Humanity's Last Hope - But Emissions Reductions Must Be Top Priority
- 2009/09/01: SciDaily: Stop Emitting Carbon Dioxide, Or Geoengineering Could Be Only Hope For Earth's Climate, [Royal Society] Experts Warn
- 2009/09/01: Eureka: Time to lift the geoengineering taboo
- 2009/09/01: Eureka: Scientists study possible responses to climate emergencies
- 2009/09/01: TWTB: Geo-engineering is mainstream
- 2009/09/01: BBC: Engineering Earth 'is feasible'
A UK Royal Society study has concluded that many engineering proposals to reduce the impact of climate change are "technically possible". - 2009/09/02: ABC(Au): No rain on roof of the world
The first climate change talks between Himalayan nations have ended, with mounting concern over the impact of global warming on the region's water supplies and agriculture. Glaciers in the Himalayas are rapidly melting and drying up. In Nepal's capital, Kathmandu, regional delegates have been meeting for a climate change conference dubbed Kathmandu to Copenhagen - trying to put the environmental challenges facing South Asia on the map. - 2009/09/01: HotTopic: Nepal: warming in the high Himalaya
- 2009/08/31: Xinhuanet: Regional conference on climate change to be held in Nepal
- 2009/08/31: BBerg: South Asian Nations Meet to Combat Climate Threat to Himalayas
- 2009/08/31: Yahoo:AFP: Himalayan nations hold first climate talks [in Kathmandu]
There was another largely unreported meeting in Thailand this week as well:
- 2009/08/31: UN: South-East Asian countries hold UN-backed meeting [in western Thailand] to discuss green growth strategies
The Guardian/Observer group kicked off a PR campaign this week (which I mostly ignored):
- 2009/09/06: HotTopic: 10:10 trumps 50:50
- 2009/09/03: BBC: Green pledge campaign launches
A new environmental campaign, backed by a variety of businesses and celebrities, is launching on Tuesday. Organisers of the campaign, 10:10, aim to get people in the UK to reduce their carbon footprint by 10% in 2010. - 2009/09/01: KSJT: Guardian Launches Campaign to Slow Global Warming
The G20 finance ministers had another meeting:
- 2009/09/04: Reuters: U.S. wants G20 to axe fuel subsidies
The United States plans to call on the Group of 20 to eliminate fossil fuel subsidies in five years and increase oil market transparency when the group meets at the end of the month, according to a source familiar with the proposal. The world's biggest energy user intends to argue fuel subsidies distort oil and product markets and artificially raise fuel demand, leading to higher greenhouse gas emissions, said the source, who asked not to be named. - 2009/09/05: Reuters: Climate change funding talks stall at G20
The Arctic melt continues to garner a lot of attention:
- 2009/09/05: Time: Studies of the Arctic Suggest a Dire Situation
- 2009/09/05: HotTopic: (Arctic) Change is now
- 2009/09/04: NatureTGB: Hot times on the tundra
- 2009/09/04: ABC(Au): [Arctic Sunrise] Expedition finds Arctic melting fast
- 2009/09/04: DotEarth: Commercial Arctic Passage Nearing Goal
- 2009/09/03: ERabett: Merry-go Round -- Both the Northern and the Northwest Passages are open...
- 2009/09/03: Eureka: Arctic lakes [sediment] help scientists understand climate change
- 2009/09/02: ABC(Au): Arctic heating up fast, [WWF] report warns
- 2009/09/02: EarthTimes: World Wide Fund for Nature: Arctic getting hotter than ever - Summary
- 2009/09/02: G&M: Arctic climate change at 'tipping point'
- 2009/09/02: WWF: Warming Arctic's global impacts outstrip predictions
- 2009/09/02: Reuters: Sea levels could rise more than a meter by 2100: WWF
- 2009/09/02: WpgSun: Arctic climate change may force rapid warming of planet
- 2009/08/31: MongaBay: Summer sea ice likely to disappear in the Arctic by 2015
- 2009/09/01: UN: Above the Arctic Circle, Ban sees first-hand view of climate change's impact
- 2009/09/01: TreeHugger: Arctic Ocean Ice-Free in Summer by 2015, New Research Shows - Greenland Ice Sheet Shows Rapid Losses, Too
- 2009/09/01: Eureka: Satellites and submarines give the skinny on sea ice thickness -- since a peak in 1980, sea ice thickness has declined 53 percent
- 2009/09/01: Guardian(UK): The Sermilik fjord in Greenland: a chilling view of a warming world
The D. S. Kaufman et al. paper generated a lot of comment:
- 2009/09/04: Science: (ab$) Recent Warming Reverses Long-Term Arctic Cooling by Darrell S. Kaufman et al.
- 2009/09/05: CCP: D. S. Kaufman et al., Science, 325 (2009): Recent warming reverses long-term Arctic cooling
- 2009/09/05: LA Times: The Arctic's geological record indicates warming is human-caused
Close study of the sediment timeline shows that increased ice melt coincides with the birth of the Industrial Age. It's strong evidence that global warming is man's work, researchers say. - 2009/09/03: CNN: Warmest Arctic temperatures for 2,000 years, says new study
Human activities in 20th century made Arctic temperatures warmest for 2,000 years - Report says Arctic would naturally be cooling if not for human impact - Arctic warming will exceed temp increases in the rest of the N. hemisphere - 2009/09/04: KSJT: Lots of Ink: Let's look at 2000 years' worth of Arctic data on cooling and warming (but please, the 2000 years is NOT the news)
- 2009/09/03: ClimateP: Human-caused Arctic warming overtakes 2,000 years of natural cooling, 'seminal' study finds
- 2009/09/04: TerraDaily: Recent Arctic Warming Reverses Millennia-Long Cooling Trend
- 2009/09/04: TreeHugger: Arctic Now at Warmest Temperature in 2000 Years
- 2009/09/04: Wunderground: Arctic temperatures the warmest in 2,000 years; 2009 Arctic sea ice loss 3rd highest
- 2009/09/03: UCAR: Arctic Warming Overtakes 2,000 Years of Natural Cooling
- 2009/09/04: BBerg: Arctic's 2,000-Year Cooling Ended With Coal Burning, Ice Shows
- 2009/09/03: STimes: Arctic reverses trend, is warmest in two millennia
The Arctic is warmer than it's been in 2,000 years, even though it should be cooling because of changes in the Earth's orbit that cause the region to get less direct sunlight. Indeed, the Arctic had been cooling for nearly two millennia before reversing course in the last century and starting to warm as human activities added greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. - 2009/09/03: CBC: Recent Arctic warming follows centuries of natural cooling
- 2009/09/04: CanWest: Arctic warming ends cooling cycle -- 'Something perturbed the system'
- 2009/09/03: BBC: Arctic temperatures are now higher than at any time in the last 2,000 years, research reveals
- 2009/09/03: Guardian(UK): Global warming has made Arctic summers hottest for 2,000 years
The Arctic has warmed as a result of climate change, despite the Earth being farther from the sun during summer months - 2009/09/03: MongaBay: Sea levels set to rise as Arctic warming replaces millennia long natural cooling cycle
- 2009/09/03: DotEarth: Humans May Have Ended Long Arctic Chill
- 2009/09/03: NewScientist: Has runaway Arctic warming already begun?
- 2009/09/03: NYT: Global Warming Could Forestall Ice Age
The human-driven buildup of heat-trapping greenhouse gases in the atmosphere appears to have ended a millenniums-long slide toward cooler summer temperatures in the Arctic, the authors of a new study report. Scientists familiar with the work, to be published Friday in the journal Science, said it provides fresh evidence that human activity is not only warming the globe, particularly the Arctic, but could even fend off what had been presumed to be an inevitable descent into a new ice age over the next several dozen millenniums. The reversal of the slow cooling trend in the Arctic, recorded in samples of layered lakebed mud, glacial ice and tree rings from Alaska to Siberia, has been swift and pronounced, the team writes. Earlier studies have also shown that the Arctic, more than the planet as a whole, has seen unusual warming in recent decades. But the new analysis provides decade-by-decade detail on temperature trends going back 2,000 years -- five times further than previous work at that detailed a scale. - 2009/09/03: CSW: What will the global warming disinformation campaign do with this new study of Arctic warming?
- 2009/09/03: Eureka: The Arctic offers more evidence of human influences on climate change
Recent, sudden and dramatic Arctic warming was preceded by almost 2,000 years of natural cooling - 2009/09/03: Eureka: Recent Arctic warming reverses millennia-long cooling trend -- Researchers link reversal to increases in greenhouse gases
- 2009/09/03: Eureka: Long-term cooling trend in Arctic abruptly reverses, signaling potential for sea rise
- 2009/09/03: Eureka: Arctic at warmest levels in 2,000 years or more
That spectral Damocles sword hangs overhead:
- 2009/09/01: MTobis: Ice and Fire
- 2009/09/02: MIT: Methane gas likely spewing into the oceans through vents in sea floor
- 2009/08/31: KSJT: Arctic bubbling with methane. It's a puzzle, it might not be so bad, it's an emergency, time for a task force -- (pick one, or all or none)
- 2009/08/31: Grist: Notable quotable -- If you're not worried about melting permafrost, you should be
- 2009/08/31: JE: Climate trouble may be bubbling up in far north -- Methane gas from underwater vents adds to global warming
- 2009/08/30: ColumbiaTrib: Troubling bubbles -- Methane oozes from thawing permafrost.
As for the geopolitics of Arctic resources:
- 2009/09/01: G&M: Danish defence chief quietly tours Canadian Arctic -- Ottawa silent on trip, which included talks with top soldier and visit to northernmost military base
While in Antarctica:
- 2009/09/02: PhysOrg: What's Holding Antarctic Sea Ice Back From Melting?
Global temperatures are increasing. Sea levels are rising. Ice sheets in many areas of the world are retreating. Yet there's something peculiar going on in the oceans around Antarctica: even as global air and ocean temperatures march upward, the extent of the sea ice around the southern continent isn't decreasing. In fact, it's increasing. - 2009/08/31: TerraDaily: Map Characterizes Active Lakes Below Antarctic Ice
- 2009/08/31: ENN: West Antarctica Key to Missing Ice
Yes, we have tipping points...:
- 2009/09/04: Time: Is There a Climate-Change Tipping Point?
- 2009/09/02: WiredSci: Scientists Seek Warning Signs for Catastrophic Tipping Points
- 2009/09/02: Eureka: Dead ahead: Similar early warning signals of change in climate -- Scientists identify 'tipping points' at which sudden shifts to new conditions occur
Sunspots redux:
- 2009/09/03: PhysOrg: Are Sunspots Disappearing?
The sun is in the pits of the deepest solar minimum in nearly a century. Weeks and sometimes whole months go by without even a single tiny sunspot. The quiet has dragged out for more than two years, prompting some observers to wonder, are sunspots disappearing? - 2009/08/31: KSJT: Reuters, LiveScience -- not much more: Sun spots really do signal a change in weather; here's how, maybe.
And on the bottom line:
- 2009/09/04: NewScientist: Climate will cost much more than UN thinks
- 2009/09/04: FTimes: [WTO head, Pascal] Lamy warns of risk to Doha if climate talks fail
- 2009/09/02: NatureTGB: Calculating costs: the United Nations on clean energy commitments
- 2009/09/03: MongaBay: Investing in conservation could save global economy trillions of dollars annually
- 2009/08/31: OilChange: Copenhagen: Climate Change to Cost $300 Billion/Yr
Michael Tobis outlines a general problem:
- 2009/09/05: MTobis: On Developing Better Immunity to Bullshit
- How's yer crap detector?
Rob Grumbine continues his gentle education project:
- 2009/09/02: MGS: Models and Modelling
- 2009/09/04: MGS: One dimensional climate models
Late comment on the IIED report:
- 2009/08/31: CSW: Pay now, or pay more later... global climate adaptation price tag climbs, says new [IIED] report
The food crisis is ongoing:
- 2009/09/05: MTobis: "I May Die Before I Repay That Loan"
- 2009/09/04: CCurrents: Crisis And Hope: Theirs And Ours by Noam Chomsky
- 2009/09/04: FTimes: US families turn to food stamps as wages drop
- 2009/09/04: NakedCapitalism: Food Stamp Use Rising, Even Among Wage-Earners
- 2009/09/02: BBerg: U.S. Food-Stamp Recipients Reach Record 35.1 Million
- 2009/09/03: Reuters: Food stamp list soars past 35 million: USDA
More than 35 million Americans received food stamps in June, up 22 percent from June 2008 and a new record as the country continued to grapple with the worst recession since the Great Depression of the 1930s.
- 2009/09/03: UN: UN refugee agency distribute food aid to thousands of refugees in Yemen
- 2009/09/02: Grist: California's ag crisis and our concentrated food system
- 2009/09/02: Yahoo:AP: Study: 1.6 billion face water, food threat in Asia
Effects of climate change including the melting of Himalayan glaciers threaten water and food security for more than 1.6 billion people living in South Asia, according to a study released Wednesday. India, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, and Nepal will be most vulnerable to falling crop yields caused by glacier retreat, floods, droughts and erratic rainfall, said the study financed by the Asian Development Bank. - 2009/09/: BostonReview: Crisis and Hope, Theirs and ours by Noam Chomsky
The conflict between biofuel and food persists:
- 2009/09/03: BBC: Sugar rush for hyperactive BRICs [Brazil, Russia, India & China]
The price of raw sugar is hitting highs not seen for nearly three decades - and the surge is having a sweet-and-sour effect on two of the burgeoning Bric economies. - 2009/09/04: PhysOrg: Watermelon's hidden killer [Watermelon vine decline (WVD)]
- 2009/09/04: Eureka: Environmental effects of cold-climate strawberry farming -- Advanced matted-row system proves most environmentally sustainable
- 2009/09/04: Eureka: Safe seed: Researchers yielding good results on food cotton in field
- 2009/09/04: NewsObserver: Farmers warned to get ready -- Climate change threatens crops
- 2009/09/04: FinMail: Solving SA's Food Crunch -- Raising the stakes
- 2009/09/02: AlterNet: How Farm-Raised Salmon Are Turning Our Oceans Into Dangerous and Polluted Feedlots
- 2009/08/28: AlterNet: How on Earth Can We Feed 8 Billion People?
- 2009/09/03: ENN: Can Dirt Really Save Us From Global Warming? [no till]
- 2009/09/02: ClimateP: Imagine a World without Fish: Deadly ocean acidification -- hard to deny, harder to geo-engineer, but not hard to stop -- is subject of documentary
- 2009/09/02: Eureka: Sustainable fertilizer: Urine and wood ash produce large harvest
- 2009/09/02: SolveClimate: Solving Kenya's Food Crisis, One Indigenous Crop at a Time
- 2009/08/31: Grist: The way we eat is trashing the fragile conditions that make human life possible
- 2009/08/31: SciDaily: Creating The Ultimate Drought-Resistant Lawn/Pasture Grass
In the hurricane wars, Jimena zapped the Baja:
- 2009/09/04: CBC: Jimena weakens to tropical depression
- 2009/09/03: EarthTimes: Hurricane Jimena damages roofs, trees in Mexico's Baja Peninsula
- 2009/09/02: EarthTimes: Hurricane Jimena makes landfall on Baja Peninsula
- 2009/09/03: CBC: Jimena dumps rain on Mexican peninsula
- 2009/09/02: TerraDaily: Weakened Hurricane Jimena nears Mexican coast
- 2009/09/02: Wunderground: Little change to Erika; Jimena makes landfall as a Category 2 hurricane
- 2009/09/02: EarthTimes: No major damage as Hurricane Jimena moves along Baja Peninsula
- 2009/09/02: NASA: Hurricane Jimena Lashing Southern Baja California
- 2009/09/02: BBC: [Cat 2] Hurricane Jimena has lashed the middle of Mexico's Baja California peninsula with rains and winds, forcing residents and tourists to take refuge
- 2009/09/01: BBC: Thousands of residents in Mexico's Baja California peninsula have ignored pleas to evacuate as Hurricane Jimena bears down on the region
- 2009/09/02: CBC: Mexican peninsula prepares for hurricane's landfall
- 2009/09/01: Wunderground: Hurricane Jimena, California smoke, and Invest 94L
- 2009/09/01: EarthTimes: Hurricane Jimena begins dumping rain on Mexico
- 2009/09/01: EarthTimes: Hurricane Jimena strengths further on way to Mexico
- 2009/09/01: CBC: Hurricane Jimena prompts Mexico evacuations
- 2009/08/31: PlanetArk: Hurricane Jimena Bellows Off Mexican Pacific
- 2009/08/30: TerraDaily: Powerful Hurricane Jimena could hit Mexican coast
- 2009/08/31: Wunderground: Jimena nears Category 5 status; 94L getting sheared
- 2009/08/31: EarthTimes: Hurricane Jimena gains strength as it heads towards northern Mexico
- 2009/08/31: Eureka: NASA satellite sees Hurricane Jimena explode in strength over 4 days
- 2009/08/31: CBC: Hurricane Jimena heads for Mexico's Baja region
- 2009/08/30: BBC: Hurricane [Jimena] threatens Mexican coast
A hurricane which has already brought flooding to Mexico's Pacific coast has strengthened into a category four storm, forecasters say. - 2009/08/31: DemNow: Four Years After Katrina, New Orleans Still Struggling to Recover from the Storm
- 2009/08/29: TPR: Hurricane Dubya: Four Years On
- 2009/08/28: AlterNet: Four Years After Katrina, Thousands Are Homeless and Struggling In New Orleans
While elsewhere in the hurricane wars:
- 2009/09/06: BBC: Bangladesh diary: Cyclone aftermath
Repeatedly struck by cyclones, flooding and even drought, Bangladesh is reckoned to be one of the countries most vulnerable to the effects of climate change. - 2009/09/03: UN: No remaining humanitarian needs in China in wake of deadly typhoon, UN finds
- 2009/09/03: PhysOrg: When it comes to hurricanes, what's in a name?
- 2009/08/31: BBC: The Dalai Lama is visiting the typhoon [Morakot]-hit areas of southern Taiwan on a tour
- 2009/08/31: CBC: Danny floods homes, forces evacuations
Post-tropical storm Danny caused havoc through many parts of southern New Brunswick over the weekend as heavy rains pounded the area and flooded dozens of basements. - 2009/09/03: Wunderground: Erika steadily weakening
- 2009/09/02: Wunderground: Tropical Storm Erika's future highly uncertain
- 2009/08/31: TerraDaily: Typhoon [Krovanh] rains lash eastern Japan
As for GHGs:
- 2009/09/04: BBerg: IEA to Cut 2030 Emissions Forecast on Recession
- 2009/09/02: BBC: India emissions 'triple by 2030'
India's greenhouse gas emissions will more than triple over the next two decades, a report has projected. But the document, compiled by experts for the government, also says India's per-capita emissions will be much lower than major industrialised countries. The report will form the basis of India's negotiating position at a UN climate change conference in December. India, like China, has refused to commit to cuts until developed nations also pledge to meet targets. According to the report, India's greenhouse gas emissions will rise from about 1.2bn tonnes at present to between 4bn and 7bn by 2030. - 2009/09/02: Guardian(UK): Atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration [Table of emissions by country in 1990 and 2005]
- 2009/09/02: Guardian(UK): A history of CO2 emissions [Table of cumulative emissions by country from 1900-2004]
- 2009/09/02: Guardian(UK): Carbon emissions per person, by country [Table of emissions per person by country in 1992, 2000 & 2006]
- 2009/09/02: EUO: Recession and hot weather push CO2 emissions down in EU
- 2009/09/02: Yahoo:Reuters: Govt says greenhouse emissions to soar by 2030
India's greenhouse gas emissions are expected to jump to between 4 billion tonnes and 7.3 billion tonnes in 2031 but the Asian power's rapid economic growth will be sustainable, a government-backed report said on Wednesday. Per-capita emissions are estimated to rise to 2.1 tonnes by 2020 and 3.5 tonnes by 2030, according to a government-funded study by five different organisations, including environmental groups and the management consultancy firm, McKinsey. The report did not give a figure for present emission levels but Indian climate negotiators say per-capita emissions are 1.2 tonnes at present. - 2009/09/01: EurActiv: Recession brings EU closer to Kyoto climate targets
EU greenhouse gas emissions declined for the fourth year running in 2008, driven by falling industrial production in the wake of the economic recession, provisional EU data showed yesterday (31 August). EU emissions last year fell by 1.3% in the EU-15, which have committed to reducing their emissions under the Kyoto Protocol, the European Environment Agency (EEA) said. They now stand at around 6.2% below the Kyoto base-year emissions, closer to the EU-15's collective 8% target, it said. [...] Emissions in the entire EU-27 fell by 1.5% last year. This includes the 12 member states that did not sign up to a collective target at the time of the Kyoto Protocol's ratification. - 2009/09/01: WSJ:EnvCap: Europe's Emissions Recipe: A Dash of Regulation, a Dollop of Recession
- 2009/08/31: MongaBay: Greenhouse gas emissions drop in the EU for the fourth year in a row
- 2009/08/31: SanLuisObispo: Going, going Do I hear 450? 350?
When the Industrial Revolution started, the atmosphere of our home planet had a carbon dioxide concentration of roughly 280 parts per million. That has, of course, increased. We're now at about 385 parts per million. The big question is: How high can we go before things get really, really bad? Before things are irreversible? - 2009/09/01: DM: Oceans Could Absorb Much More CO2
- 2009/08/31: ABC(Au): A new study has found manure is the major driver behind a rise in atmospheric nitrous oxide levels since the beginning of last century
As for the temperature record:
- 2009/09/03: BBC: Australia has experienced its warmest August on record amid soaring winter temperatures
- 2009/09/01: BCLSB: Hottest August Ever?
- 2009/08/31: GreenGrok: Medieval Warm Period and Hockey Stick Revisited
Yes we have feedbacks:
- 2009/09/03: SolveClimate: Warming Seas Signal Bad News for the Climate: The Feedback Loops are Starting
- 2009/09/01: TP:WR: Global Boiling: Dangerous Feedback Loop Of Fire And Climate Change Nears The Tipping Point
Aerosols are making their presence felt:
- 2009/08/31: PhysOrg: Black carbon is not chemically inert as previously thought
While in the paleoclimate:
- 2009/08/31: MongaBay: Destructive farming practices of early civilization may have altered climate long before industrial era
Glaciers are melting:
- 2009/08/31: UIllinois: Shrinking Bylot Island glaciers tell story of climate change
Sea levels are rising:
- 2009/08/31: Tamino: Sea Level Rise
- 2009/09/02: NYT:Reuters: Coastal Home Owners Face Huge Losses From Rising Seas
- 2009/09/03: Reuters: Coastal home owners face huge losses from rising sea
- 2009/08/31: NOAANews: NOAA Report Explains Sea Level Anomaly this Summer along the U.S. Atlantic Coast
- 2009/08/31: RealClimate: Ups and downs of sea level projections
- 2009/08/31: SciDaily: High Sea Level Along U.S. Atlantic Coast Due To Ocean Current And Wind Changes
- 2009/08/31: SacBee: Delta levee projects [in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta] must now prepare for rising sea level
More GW impacts are being seen:
- 2009/09/06: Guardian(UK): Climate change: melting ice will trigger wave of natural disasters
- 2009/09/04: ABC(Au): Study links Phillip Island penguin breeding patterns to climate change
Scientists say Phillip Island's penguins are hatching smaller chicks, as changing weather conditions caused by climate change disrupt their normal feeding patterns. - 2009/09/04: ABC(Au): A new study has found that the genes of many species won't allow them to adapt to a warming climate
- 2009/09/04: NewScientist: Warmer climate could make succulent meat a memory
- 2009/09/02: Guardian(UK): Meat consumption per capita [Table of per capita meat consumption by country in 1961, 1970, 1980. 1990, 2000 & 2002]
- 2009/09/04: Guardian(UK): The butterfly blip
In spring we warned that British butterflies were on a terrible decline. So how come we saw so many of them this summer? - 2009/09/03: Eureka: Nowhere to hide: Some species are unable to adapt to climate change due to their genes
- 2009/09/02: SciDaily: Changes In California's Bird Communities Due To Climate Change, Study Finds
- 2009/09/02: SF Gate: Vast shift in bird species expected from warming
- 2009/08/31: TreeHugger: How Will Global Warming Change Our Oceans? A Quick Primer
- 2009/08/31: Eureka: Human impacts and environmental factors are changing the northwest Atlantic ecosystem
And then there are the world's forests:
- 2009/09/03: Reuters: Fall colors fade in U.S. west as aspen trees die
- 2009/09/02: Yahoo:AFP: India's forestry plan in spotlight
India has turned to its vast forest cover to absorb its growing greenhouse gas emissions and stem international pressure to sign on to binding carbon reduction targets. Authorities pinned their hopes earlier this month on the concept of carbon capture in an effort to boost India's environmental credentials ahead of global talks in Copenhagen aimed at reaching a consensus on fighting climate change. But with forest expansion restricted and woodland degradation on the rise, it is likely to be an uphill battle, experts say. - 2009/09/01: Reuters: Brazil points to sharp drop in Amazon destruction
- 2009/09/01: TerraDaily: World's Last Great Forest Under Threat
Corals are dying:
- 2009/09/02: Guardian(UK): Why coral reefs face a catastrophic future
Destroyed by rising carbon levels, acidity, pollution, algae, bleaching and El Niño, coral reefs require a dramatic change in our carbon policy to have any chance of survival - 2009/09/02: ABC(Au): Millions pledged to help save reef
A new study has painted a grim picture for the future of the Great Barrier Reef off Queensland. - 2009/09/02: ABC(Au): Ocean temperatures on the northern Great Barrier Reef have stayed a degree above average through winter
- 2009/09/02: BBerg: Great Barrier Reef Said to Face Catastrophic Damage
- 2009/09/02: Reuters: Outlook "poor" for Great Barrier Reef: study
- 2009/09/02: GBRMPA: [links to many pdf sections] Great Barrier Reef Outlook Report
- 2009/09/02: BBC: Climate targets 'will kill coral'
Current climate targets are not enough to save the world's coral reefs - and policymakers urgently need to consider the economic benefits they bring. Those are two of the conclusions from a UN-backed project aiming to quantify the financial costs of damaging nature. Studies suggest that reefs are worth more than $100bn (£60bn) annually, but are already being damaged by rising temperatures and more acidic oceans. The study puts the cost of forest loss at $2-5 trillion annually. Looking ahead to December's UN climate conference in Copenhagen, study leader Pavan Sukhdev said it was vital that policymakers realised that safeguarding the natural world was a cost-effective way of protecting societies against the impacts of rising greenhouse gas levels. - 2009/09/03: UN: UN refugee agency distribute food aid to thousands of refugees in Yemen
- 2009/09/03: EurActiv: EU refugee scheme receives mixed welcome
- 2009/09/02: BBC: EU plans to admit more refugees
The European Commission has unveiled plans to allow more refugees from conflict zones and poor nations into European countries. - 2009/09/04: Eureka: Perennial vegetation, an indicator of desertification in Spain
- 2009/09/02: Eureka: Humans causing erosion comparable to world's largest rivers and glaciers
Yes we have no wacky weather, except:
- 2009/09/03: MTobis: Cold Summer, Hot Winter
- 2009/09/03: BNC: Australia's weird winter
As for heatwaves and wild fires:
- 2009/09/05: CNN: California fire 49 percent contained, official says
Cold front moving into area could help firefighters, CNN meteorologist says - Blaze has scorched 154,655 acres, killed two firefighters - Forest Service expects fire to be contained by middle of month - 2009/09/05: CBC: Calif. firefighters contain almost half of massive blaze
- 2009/09/04: PhysOrg: Pollution from California Wildfires Spreads Across the United States (w/ Video)
- 2009/09/04: EarthTimes: Massive California fire sparked by arson
- 2009/09/03: EarthTimes: California firefighters extend gains on massive blaze
- 2009/09/04: BBC: Los Angeles wildfire ruled arson
- 2009/09/04: CBC: Fire crews make progress battling L.A. blaze
- 2009/09/03: CBC: B.C. fire watch continues despite cooler wet weather
- 2009/09/03: KSJT: LATimes, Chicago Trib, etc: The Battle for Mount Wilson Observatory
- 2009/09/03: CBC: California wildfire flares up in canyon
- 2009/09/02: EarthTimes: Cooler weather helps California firefighters hold blaze
- 2009/09/01: CSM: Huge L.A. fire threatens more than 10,000 homes -- California firefighters battle a terrible fire season caused by weeks of hot and dry weather.
- 2009/09/02: BBC: California emergency workers have made progress overnight in their battle against the huge wildfire blazing north of Los Angeles. Helped by cooler temperatures and lower humidity...
- 2009/09/02: WpgSun: 'Fighting for every foot' in wildfires
- 2009/09/02: WpgSun: Humidity, wind aid crews battling Calif. wildfire
- 2009/09/01: BBC: Emergency crews in California say they are optimistic they can control an intense wildfire that has been burning since Wednesday north of Los Angeles
- 2009/09/01: Guardian(UK): Calmer winds slow California wildfires - but threat to homes remains
- 2009/09/01: CNN: Cooler temperatures may help in battling California blaze
Officials say it could take more than two weeks to contain fire fully - Deadly wildfire has charred nearly 122,000 acres in Southern California - Two firefighters killed; fire north of Los Angeles is 5 percent contained - Station Fire forces thousands of evacuations; Mount Wilson Observatory threatened - 2009/09/01: NatureTGB: California wildfires creep closer to observatory
- 2009/09/01: ClimateP: Global warming, California, and "What a 1-Degree Temperature Increase Means for Wildfires"
- 2009/09/01: PhysOrg: Smoke From Station Fire Blankets Southern California
- 2009/09/01: EarthTimes: California wildfire rages, only 5 per cent contained
- 2009/09/01: EarthTimes: Wildfires continue ravaging northern Portugal
- 2009/09/01: EarthTimes: California wildfire doubles in size, threatens 12,000 homes
- 2009/09/01: Xinhuanet: Frequent wildfires indicate need to combat climate change
- 2009/09/01: LA Times: Learning to live with wildfires
The fiery eruptions are part of California's natural landscape -- but there are ways to reduce the devastating effects. - 2009/09/01: LA Times: Huge wildfire shows little sign of slowing down
The Station blaze has destroyed more than 50 buildings and burned more than 105,000 acres of mountainous brush. Little hope of containment is seen as long as hot, dry conditions continue. - 2009/09/01: CBC: Wildfires send smoke billowing above L.A.
- 2009/08/31: Guardian(UK): Thousands flee California wildfires -- Two firefighters killed as intense fires threaten 12,000 homes around Los Angeles
- 2009/08/31: CNN: Thousands of Californians ordered to flee wildfire
Five people who refused to evacuate are trapped by flames - Fast-growing wildfire nearly doubles to 164-square-mile conflagration - Mandatory evacuations ordered for residents of 10,000 threatened homes - Two firefighters killed battling blaze when vehicle went down steep embankment - 2009/08/31: ScienceInsider: Wildfire Threatens California Observatory
- 2009/08/31: KSJT: New Scientist (w/ Sky & Tel.): A huge fire threatens famed So. Cal. Mount Wilson Observatory
- 2009/08/31: NewScientist: California fire threatens historic [Mount Wilson] observatory
- 2009/08/31: PlanetArk: Los Angeles Fire "Out Of Control"-Schwarzenegger
- 2009/08/31: EarthTimes: California wildfire doubles in size, threatens 12,000 homes
- 2009/08/31: EarthTimes: California wildfires threaten thousands of homes
- 2009/08/31: BBerg: California Fire Threatens Homes as 2 Firefighters Die
- 2009/08/31: LA Times: Los Angeles-area wildfire fight seems unhampered by budget cuts
But some are warning that a bad fire season could make next year's deficit worse. Also, cuts the state made to local governments' budgets could cause them to pull out of mutual aid firefighting pacts. - 2009/08/31: Times(UK): Mushroom cloud of smoke rises over Los Angeles as wildfire burns
- 2009/08/31: BBC: California fire 'serious threat'
Firefighters tackling an intense wildfire north of Los Angeles say the blaze remains "very dangerous". Fuelled by hot weather and dense, dry brush, the blaze is threatening 12,000 buildings and key communications masts. Two firefighters were killed on Sunday after their vehicle was overrun by flames and rolled down a mountainside. - 2009/08/31: CBC: California fire zones in state of emergency
- 2009/08/31: BBC: California fire 'out of control'
A wildfire in the mountains above Los Angeles is threatening 12,000 buildings and continuing to spread, officials in California say. - 2009/09/04: NYT: Drought Puts Focus on a Side of India Left Out of Progress
- 2009/09/05: BBC: UN warns on West Africa floods
Heavy flooding has now affected some 350,000 people across West Africa, killing at least 32 in Ghana and Burkina Faso, UN officials say. More than 150,000 people in Burkina Faso have fled their homes, mainly in the capital Ouagadougou. A UN spokeswoman said the amount of rain that fell in Ouagadougou on one day this week was equal to a quarter of the whole country's annual rainfall. - 2009/09/04: UN: UN sends disaster assessment team as floods hit capital of Burkina Faso
- 2009/09/04: BBC: Heavy rain has flooded homes and brought disruption to roads in areas across the north and east of Scotland
- 2009/09/03: Guardian(UK): East Africa -- 'Climate change is here, it is a reality'
As one devastating drought follows another, the future is bleak for millions in east Africa. John Vidal reports from Moyale, Kenya - 2009/09/03: PlanetArk: Thousands Flee Flooding In Burkina Faso
- 2009/09/02: TerraDaily: Water Scarcity Started 15 Years Ago
- 2009/09/01: EarthTimes: Torrential rains kills 15 in [Karachi] Pakistani's biggest city
- 2009/08/30: JFleck: Stuff I Wrote Elsewhere: It's All About the Evaporation
- 2009/08/31: TreeHugger: Himalayas, Africa Facing Climate Change-Induced Water Shortages - Yemen's Already Rioting
- 2009/08/30: GreenFyre: Hydropolitics: climate change and the Afghan War
- 2009/08/30: BBC: Arduous life in Nepal's parched hills
As for bottled water:
- 2009/09/: MoJo: H2Uh-Oh -- From Arrowhead to Volvic, Fiji's not the only bottled water with a PR challenge
- 2009/09/03: DemNow: "Spin the Bottle" -- Expose Raises Alarming Questions About Fiji Water's Ties to Military Junta, Environmental Record and Impact on Fijians
- 2009/09/02: Guardian(UK): Total bottled water consumption by region
Anybody know what is really going on with the Tigris & Euphrates?
- 2009/09/04: NatureTGB: Iraq hopes for Turkish water
Turkey has indicated it may be willing to allow Iraq and Syria to have more water from the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, after both nations complained they were not being given their fair share. - 2009/09/03: TerraDaily: Turkey unable to give more water to Iraq, Syria: minister
Elsewhere on the mitigation front:
- 2009/09/04: PlanetArk: Wetlands To Fight Climate Change: Study
- 2009/09/03: DM:80B: The Maldives Enlists New Fertilizer/Carbon Remover: Charred Coconuts
- 2009/09/02: Eureka: Time to tap climate-change-combating potential of the world's ecosystems -- Inaction already threatening multi-billion dollar coral reef services and livelihoods of half a billion people
- 2009/09/02: Yahoo: Scientists Argue that Climate Change Mitigation Strategies Fall Short, Ignoring Significant Carbon Cycling Processes of Inland Waters
- 2009/09/01: Eureka: Scientists say climate change mitigation strategies ignore carbon cycling processes of inland waters [C cycle]
- 2009/08/30: CCP: James Lovelock on biochar: Let the Earth remove CO2 for us
Consider transportation & GHG production:
- 2009/09/04: NRDC:SwitchBoard: [California] State Transit Cuts: The Aftermath
- 2009/09/02: Yahoo: U.S., Canada near agreement to control pollutants from ships
- 2009/09/03: SolveClimate: The Shipping Industry's Pollution Problem
- 2009/09/01: NorthWestHub: NRC Report: Increasing Density Could Reduce Vehicle Travel, Fuel Use and CO2 Emissions
- 2009/09/02: WSJ:EnvCap: Planes, Trains, and Automobiles: Is America Allergic to High-Speed Rail?
- 2009/09/01: BBC: Airline losses 'hit $1bn a month'
Airlines are likely to have lost more than $6bn (£3.7bn) in the first half of 2009, according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA). - 2009/09/06: SolveClimate: Leaving Suburbia: An American Shift to Urban Living Could Cut Emissions 11%
- 2009/09/03: FuturePundit: Higher Density Housing To Do Little To Cut Fossil Fuels
- 2009/09/04: NewScientist: California encourages buildings that are sure to burn [perverse incentives]
- 2009/09/04: PlanetArk: Factbox: [US] Incentives To Retrofit Buildings
- 2009/09/03: PlanetArk: Energy-Gulping U.S. Buildings Ripe For Savings
- 2009/09/01: PlanetArk: Autodesk's Ambition To Change The Green Building Industry
- 2009/09/01: Eureka: Increasing residential and employment density could mean reductions in vehicle travel, fuel use and CO2 emissions
- 2009/09/01: Yahoo: Eco-Cities: Building a Comeback?
- 2009/08/31: E2T: Energy Retrofits Not so Stimulated by Stimulus Bill
- 2009/08/30: NYT: Some Buildings Not Living Up to Green Label
As for carbon sequestration:
- 2009/09/02: ABC(Au): Turnbull casts doubt over carbon capture technology
The Federal Opposition Leader says clean coal technology will not insulate the Hunter's power industry from the full effects of an emissions trading scheme. During an address to Newcastle business leaders yesterday, Malcolm Turnbull also told power generators not to pin their hopes on unproven technology like carbon capture and storage. He says it would also be extremely costly to implement. - 2009/09/02: WSJ:EnvCap: Clean Coal: Utilities Scrambling to Capture, If Not Store, Emissions
- 2009/09/01: BBerg: Coal Plant Buries U.S. Taxpayers' $1.5 Billion Along With CO2
- 2009/08/31: Cryptome: Federal Requirements Under the Underground Injection Control (UIC) Program for Carbon Dioxide (CO2) Geologic Sequestration (GS) Wells
Large scale geo-engineering keeps popping up:
- 2009/09/01: RCUK: Research Councils UK Energy Programme announces funding support for Geoengineering research
- 2009/09/04: PlanetArk: Sweet Dreams Are Made Of Geoengineering
- 2009/09/03: Grist: Geoengineering schemes shouldn't be dismissed out of hand, scientists say
- 2009/09/01: MillerMcCune: Let's Just Rejigger the Globe To Cool It Off
Serious scientists are mulling geoengineering -- from space sunshades to planetwide aerosols -- as reduced-sacrifice methods to address global warming. - 2009/09/03: NewScientist: Geoengineering is no longer unmentionable
- 2009/09/02: OpenDem: Geoengineering: do we intervene? [Ken Caldeira interview]
- 2009/09/01: TreeHugger: Fleet of Wind-Powered [Cloud-Making] Yachts Could Hold Off Climate Change for 25 Years
- 2009/09/01: BBerg: Space Mirrors, Rocks May Form Emergency Climate Plan
While on the adaptation front:
- 2009/08/31: Maribo: More on climate change adaptation [Lomborg alert]
- 2009/08/30: CSW: Assessing the costs of adaptation to climate change: A critique of the UNFCCC underestimates
Meanwhile in the journals:
- AGW Observer [links to many journal papers]
- 2009/09/04: ACP: Impact of tropospheric nitrogen dioxide on the regional radiation budget by A. P. Vasilkov et al.
- 2009/09/03: ACP: The two-day wave in the Antarctic and Arctic mesosphere and lower thermosphere by V. M. Tunbridge & N. J. Mitchell
- 2009/09/03: CP: Pleistocene glacial variability as a chaotic response to obliquity forcing by P. Huybers
- 2009/09/04: Science: (ab$) Recent Warming Reverses Long-Term Arctic Cooling by Darrell S. Kaufman et al.
- 2009/09/02: ACP: Tropospheric methane in the tropics -- first year from IASI hyperspectral infrared observations by C. Crevoisier et al.
- 2009/08/31: ACP: Increasing surface ozone concentrations in the background atmosphere of Southern China, 1994-2007 by T. Wang et al.
- 2009/09/01: ACPD: Results from the CERN pilot CLOUD experiment by J. Duplissy et al.
- 2009/09/02: ACPD: Wildfire smoke in the Siberian Arctic in summer: source characterization and plume evolution from airborne measurements by J.-D. Paris et al.
- 2009/09/01: PNAS: Geological sulfur isotopes indicate elevated OCS in the Archean atmosphere, solving faint young sun paradox by Yuichiro Ueno et al.
- 2009/09/01: PNAS: Incorporating model quality information in climate change detection and attribution studies by B. D. Santer et al.
- 2009/09/01: PNAS: The physical basis for increases in precipitation extremes in simulations of 21st-century climate change by Paul A. O'Gorman & Tapio Schneider/A>
- 2009/09/01: PNAS: [Letter$] The water 'shoesize' vs. footprint of bioenergy by Stephan Pfister & Stefanie Hellweg
- 2009/09/01: PNAS: [Letter$] The water footprint of bioenergy from Jatropha curcas L by R. E. E. Jongschaapet al.
And other significant documents:
- 2009/09/03: Polaris: [link to 1.1 meg pdf] Toxic Trail Exposure: Youth Delegation Tracks Tar Sands in Great Lakes Region
- 2009/09/03: VoxEU: The improbable 2°C global warming target by Carlo Carraro & Emanuele Massetti
Mitigating global warning is a pressing and daunting task for the world's major economies. This column says that the 2°C target set by G8 leaders is both politically and technologically unrealistic. It argues they must adopt more realistic targets and long-term commitments to adaptation plans.- 2009/09/02: GBRMPA: [links to many pdf sections] Great Barrier Reef Outlook Report
- 2009/09/01: RoyalSoc: [link to 4.7 meg pdf] Geoengineering the climate: science, governance and uncertainty
- 2009/08/31: HotTopic: [link to 733k pdf] ETS report: wishy-washy and a waste of time [NZ pol]
The ETS review committee has published its report, and recommends that an all sectors, all gases emissions trading scheme should be the "primary economic mechanism" in the government's response to climate change. [...] The majority report -- supported by National and United Future -- is accompanied by minority reports from Labour, the Greens, the Maori Party and ACT. Labour, the Greens and the Maori Party want tougher action, while ACT still denies the reality of climate change. The Maori Party and ACT would prefer a carbon tax to an ETS, but are otherwise on different planets.Before we get into politics, there was some science done:
- 2009/09/02: JEB: Uncanny
More Hansen:
- 2009/09/05: JQuiggin: Hansen on climate change over centuries
Pielke alas:
- 2009/09/03: ERabett: Jumping into the Klotzbach
- 2009/08/31: JEB: But they also laughed at Bozo the Clown
Meanwhile on the road to Copenhagen:
- 2009/09/04: EnergyBulletin: India, China and Copenhagen
- 2009/09/04: Guardian(UK): Current economic growth model is 'immoral', says Prescott
With the world's population growing to nine million by 2050, the Britain's former deputy PM predicts far more crucial and complex talks in Copenhagen than in Kyoto- 2009/09/03: Reuters: China still wary about industry CO2 cuts: officials
- 2009/09/03: BBerg: Ethiopia's Meles Says Africa May 'Walk Out' Over Climate Talks
- 2009/09/03: Yahoo:AFP: Africa to abandon climate talks if demands not met: Ethiopian PM
African nations will walk out of climate change talks in Copenhagen if their demands, including hefty compensations from the West, are not met, Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said Thursday. One of the key demands that the world's poorest continent is making is billions of dollars in compensation to help it cope with the effects of climate change.- 2009/09/03: Guardian(UK): The US freezes on climate change
The stalled US climate change debate has killed the hope of reaching a final agreement at the Copenhagen summit- 2009/09/02: Forbes: China Changes The Climate Debate
The factory to the world says consumers, not poor countries, should pay to clean up the skies. China has just laid out its negotiating position for the upcoming summit in Copenhagen, where diplomats will gather in December to try to hammer out an agreement on how to battle climate change. The West is not going to like it. Essentially, China will argue that Western consumers buying Chinese-made goods should pay their fair share of the cost of cutting the pollution used to make the goods.- 2009/09/02: Reuters: U.N. climate talks bogged down, need impetus
Talks on a U.N. climate pact have become bogged down like "walking in wet sand" but a U.N. summit this month could give impetus for a deal due in December, the head of a key U.N. negotiating group said on Wednesday. Michael Zammit Cutajar, who chairs a group of 190 nations working on the planned climate pact due to be sealed in Copenhagen on December 18, said a draft text was still 200 pages or more long despite efforts to cut back at a U.N. meeting in mid-August. "I think we're walking through wet sand. There's masses of text," Zammit Cutajar told Reuters on the sidelines of a World Climate Conference in Geneva, a separate U.N. initiative trying to find ways to improve information about the climate.- 2009/09/02: Rabble: Obstacles on the road to Copenhagen climate summit
- 2009/09/02: Guardian(UK): India will be key player at Copenhagen conference, says [UK climate change secretary, Ed] Miliband
- 2009/09/02: FTimes: UN official warns on Copenhagen deal hopes
- 2009/09/01: MongaBay: Maldives president tells world: 'please, don't be stupid' on climate change
- 2009/08/31: TerraDaily: Walker's World: Climate and China
- 2009/08/31: Time: Climate-Summit Agreement Still Far Off -- Friday marked 100 days before...Copenhagen
- 2009/08/30: Reuters: Activists seek tough U.N. climate pact in 100 days
While at the UN:
- 2009/09/04: Reuters: Widen global warming fight beyond CO2: U.N.
- 2009/09/04: UN: UN agency urges measures to slash non-carbon dioxide greenhouse gas pollutants
- 2009/09/03: Reuters: U.N.'s Ban seeks strong climate pact, fears sea rise
- 2009/09/03: TerraDaily: World heading for climate 'abyss': UN chief
- 2009/09/03: Google:AFP: UN's Ban calls deforestation summit -- to bring together leaders of the world's most forested nations
- 2009/09/03: CBC: UN chief warns of climate-related disaster
- 2009/09/03: UN: Ban urges rapid progress in negotiations on new climate change pact
- 2009/09/03: EarthTimes: UN's Ban: Time ticking to reach a climate deal
- 2009/09/03: Yahoo: World heading for climate 'abyss': UN chief
The world is speeding towards a climate catastrophe, UN chief Ban Ki-moon warned on Thursday, urging rapid progress in talks to cut emissions and tackle global warming. "Our foot is stuck on the accelerator and we are heading towards an abyss," the UN Secretary General said in a speech to the World Climate Conference.- 2009/09/02: UN: From Polar ice rim, Ban issues call for urgent action on climate change
- 2009/09/02: UN: Time ripe to tap into world's ecosystems to tackle climate change -- UN
- 2009/09/01: VOA: UN Report Calls for More Funds to Combat Global Warming
- 2009/09/02: TreeHugger: New Report: Developing Nations Need at Least $500 Billion a Year to Combat Climate Change
- 2009/09/02: EarthTimes: UN chief Ban Ki-moon concludes visit to Arctic region off Norway
- 2009/09/01: NYT: U.N. Reports on Developing Nations' Energy Needs
It will cost between $500 billion and $600 billion every year for the next 10 years to allow developing nations to grow using renewable energy resources, instead of relying on dirty fuels that worsen global warming, according to a United Nations report released Tuesday. That astronomical estimate, far higher than any previously suggested by the United Nations, comes at a time when developed and developing nations are still deeply divided over who bears the responsibility for shouldering the expense of deploying cleaner energy resources, much less what the actual amount might be. The issue of who will foot the bill remains one of the significant hurdles to reaching a global agreement on combating climate change by December in Copenhagen. Much of the focus in the talks has also been on significant emissions cuts.- 2009/09/01: Google:AFP: Poor nations need 'wartime' support against climate change: UN -- a 600-billion-dollar "Marshall Plan" annually
- 2009/09/01: Guardian(UK): UN: Rich countries will suffer unless they help poor on climate change
- 2009/08/31: Xinhuanet: UN chief visits Norway to observe climate change
- 2009/09/01: EarthTimes: UN: Poor need 500 billion-plus a year to adapt to climate change
- 2009/09/01: BBC: UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is visiting the Arctic Circle in Norway to draw attention to the need for action at climate change talks in December
- 2009/08/31: EarthTimes: Ban defends leadership on visit to Norway; climate also in focus
And on the carbon trading front:
- 2009/09/04: SMH: Australian firm linked to PNG's $100m carbon trading scandal
- 2009/09/02: PlanetArk: EU Carbon Market Still Open To Tax Fraud
A patchwork of unilateral actions by a few European Union nations to prevent suspected tax fraud in carbon permit trading could serve only to push the activity into neighboring states. A Reuters investigation into suspected carousel tax fraud exposed a mix of tax loopholes, lack of regulatory oversight and easy market access that could open the EU's $90 billion emissions trading scheme to abuse. Investment banks and brokers said they are worried they may have to foot unpaid tax bills left after any fraud or face legal action for having traded unknowingly with anyone charged.- 2009/08/31: IPSNews: Uganda: Carbon Trading Scheme Pushing People off Their Land
The idea of a carbon tax is still bouncing around:
- 2009/09/04: UPI: French carbon tax hotly debated
- 2009/09/04: BizGreen: France to set carbon tax at 14 Euros a tonne -- New carbon tax on fuel to come into effect from 2010
- 2009/09/03: PlanetArk: France Sees Initial Carbon Tax At 14 Euros Per Tonne
- 2009/09/03: EarthTimes: France to impose carbon tax in 2010
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:
- 2009/08/31: SciAlert: Why emission trading schemes are not the answer - a left critique
- 2009/08/31: AngryBear: Clean Coal and Cap and Trade
Meanwhile on the international political front:
- 2009/09/04: ClimateP: Sen. Cantwell (D-WA): U.S.-China climate deal likely at Obama visit, Senate has "50-50 chance" of passing climate bill this year
- 2009/09/04: TreeHugger: US-China Bilateral Climate Deal Likely in November, Senator Says
- 2009/09/04: Reuters: U.S.-China climate deal likely at Obama visit: senator
The United States and China are likely to sign a new bilateral agreement to combat climate change during President Barack Obama's visit to Beijing in November, Washington senator Maria Cantwell said on Friday. Cantwell, who is in Beijing to discuss clean energy and intellectual property issues with Chinese officials, said a deal between the world's two biggest CO2 polluters would also help build global confidence in the efforts to curb global warming.- 2009/09/02: Yahoo: U.S., Canada near agreement to control pollutants from ships
- 2009/09/02: WSJ:EnvCap: New Ambassador in China Says Energy, Climate Obama's Priorities
- 2009/09/01: SF Gate: EU presses US on climate change
The European Union urged U.S. lawmakers on Tuesday to ensure the United States makes deep cuts in carbon emissions as part of negotiations to reach a new global climate change accord. Sweden's Environment Minister Andreas Carlgren said the 27-nation bloc, as well as the United States and other developed countries, "should deliver" on promises to cut emissions by 80 percent by 2050, from 1990 levels. "It's the real substance of credibility that will be judged," Carlgren told reporters after talks with lawmakers at the European Parliament. Carlgren, whose country currently holds the EU presidency, is leading the EU team at U.N. negotiations to reach a deal on a successor to the 1997 Kyoto Protocol by the end of the year in Copenhagen.As for GW & security:
- 2009/08/24: TBAS: Avoid hyperbole, oversimplification when climate and security meet
The issue of the law and activism is playing out around the world as nations scramble to deal with climate change:
- 2009/09/04: EarthTimes: World Rally Championship disrupted in Australia
Protesters on Friday disrupted the Australian leg of the World Rally Championship by placing boulders in the path of the racing cars and pelting them with stones. Drivers were held up at the end of stage five at Kyogle in northern New South Wales while officials cleared the roadway. A second afternoon stage had to be cancelled.- 2009/09/01: Guardian(UK): Met promises to repeat low-key Climate Camp policing at future demonstrations
And on the American political front:
- 2009/09/05: TreeHugger: Utah Wakes Up To The Smell Of Coal - In Fear Of Economic "Disaster"
- 2009/09/04: Grist: Will Glenn Beck bring down Van Jones after all?
- 2009/09/04: MVGazette: Power Struggle Looms in Plans to Regulate Wind Turbines at Sea
- 2009/09/04: TreeHugger: Avoiding a Climate Bill Backlash
- 2009/09/04: Yahoo:Reuters: Saudi prince urges U.S. to recognize oil dependency [Turki al-Faisal again]
- 2009/09/04: SF Gate: Renewable-power fight at crossroads [Calif.]
- 2009/09/02: ClimateP: Swing state poll finds 60% "would be more likely to vote for their senator if he or she supported the bill" and Independents support the bill 2-to-1
- 2009/09/03: PhysOrg: How to advance scientific literacy
Society needs science, and scientists need an informed, thoughtful, and open-minded citizenry. Thus, the obvious dependence of American society on science is strikingly inconsistent with the low level of scientific literacy among U. S. citizens.- 2009/09/02: SDEntertainer: California green energy plan
- 2009/09/03: AlbanyHerald: Energy policy tank on empty
- 2009/09/02: SolveClimate: 5 AGs Urge Senate to Let States Set Higher Climate Standards
- 2009/09/03: SF Gate: Feds: Calif. water crisis isn't Washington's fault
- 2009/09/02: Reuters: Schwarzenegger to Obama cabinet: Water... please!
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has demanded that President Barack Obama's cabinet rethink federal policy that would divert water from parched farms and cities to threatened fish, his administration said on Wednesday. California's rivers used to brim with salmon and sturgeon, but a massive system of canals diverted water that fed farms and cities, now suffering through a third year of drought. Schwarzenegger has gained credibility as an environmentalist for his push to curb greenhouse gases but he argued that federal plans to save fish will worsen a water crisis that has cost farmers more than $700 million and caused mandatory rationing in cities of the most populous state.- 2009/09/02: MongaBay: Political heat rising on climate change, but does the United States feel it?
- 2009/09/01: ClimateP: Is the U.S. consumption binge over? NYT reports "Sales of vegetable plants swelled fivefold in March over past years."
- 2009/09/01: Yahoo: US agriculture interests split over climate bill
- 2009/09/01: Eureka: Green production guidelines give 'road map' for new administration
- 2009/09/01: SolveClimate: Big Goals, Long Way to Go to Shrink Military's Massive Carbon Bootprint
- 2009/08/31: NRDC:SwitchBoard: California's proposed 33% Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS)
- 2009/08/31: IBA: A good chance to sidetrack high-speed rail boondoggle
- 2009/08/31: WSJ:EnvCap: Fuel Fight: The Battle over Low-Carbon Fuel Standards
It hasn't quite been made explicit, but if the Senate fails to pass a climate/energy bill, the EPA could accomplish almost the same goal by regulation:
- 2009/09/02: InsideEPA: EPA Climate Rules Gain Significance Given Doubts Over Senate Action
- 2009/09/01: CBD: EPA Takes Another Step Toward Implementing Clean Air Act to Address Global Warming Crisis
- 2009/09/01: Grist: Could Waxman and Markey have used the EPA threat more effectively?
- 2009/09/01: TreeHugger: EPA Draft Rules Would Regulate Large Industrial Sources of CO2
- 2009/09/01: SF Gate: EPA to declare CO2 a dangerous pollutant
Carbon dioxide will soon be declared a dangerous pollutant - a move that could help propel slow-moving climate-change legislation on Capitol Hill, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency said Monday. EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson told reporters that a formal "endangerment finding," which would trigger federal regulations on greenhouse gas emissions, probably would "happen in the next months." Jackson announced her timeline even as top senators said they were delaying plans to introduce legislation that would set new limits on carbon dioxide emissions. Senators had been scheduled to unveil legislation next Tuesday, but the date has now been pushed back to later in September.The Obama chatter is nonstop:
- 2009/09/03: UNDispatch: Susan Rice briefs reporters on Obama's agenda for UN Week
- 2009/09/01: ClimateP: The rhetoric gap: Can Obama give 'em Hell (and High Water) before it's too late?
- 2009/09/01: CSW: Washington Post Capital Weather Gang agrees: "Obama Needs to Give a Climate Speech"
- 2009/08/31: CSW: Obama on 4th anniversary of Katrina: We must be more prepared for future disasters and challenges
The actions of the Obama administration are being watched closely:
- 2009/09/06: Grist: Paranoid racists ascendent -- Thoughts on Van Jones' resignation
- 2009/09/06: MTobis: Retrograde Anti-Green Decision out of FHA
- 2009/09/06: RawStory: Obama's environmental adviser resigns: report
- 2009/09/06: TP: Van Jones Resigns
- 2009/09/06: BBC: Embattled Obama adviser on green jobs, Van Jones resigns
A White House adviser has resigned in a row about crude remarks he made about Republicans, and over his signing of a controversial 9/11 petition. - 2009/09/03: EnvFin: US awards $500m in grants to renewables projects
- 2009/09/04: CJR: EPA Targets Major Emitters -- Journal sees an admission that limiting carbon will be costly
- 2009/09/03: ScienceInsider: Holdren Gets Warm Embrace From Letterman on Climate Policies
- 2009/09/03: CSW: "High science should meet up with civic science" for climate adaptation says former Holdren student
- 2009/09/02: VBeat: DOE cools off on FutureGen's clean coal plant
- 2009/09/02: VBeat: Treasury Dept. pours $502M into renewable energy
- 2009/09/01: TreeHugger: Dept. of Energy Debunks Anti-Green Jobs Study Once and For All
- 2009/09/01: WSJ:EnvCap: Fallout Shelter: Team Obama Seeks to Limit Reach of CO2 Ruling
- 2009/08/31: TP:WR: Department Of Energy Eviscerates Right-Wing Spanish 'Green Jobs' Study
- 2009/08/31: NRDC:SwitchBoard: US Gov't Debunks "Spanish" Study Promoted by Big Oil Bus Tour
As for what is going on in Congress:
- 2009/09/04: NYT: U.S. - China Climate Deal Likely At Obama Visit: Senator
- 2009/09/04: DeseretNews: Hatch, Herbert dislike cap-and-trade measure
It's clear that some of Utah's leaders have no love for the so-called "cap-and-trade" bill scheduled for Senate debate this month: They predicted in a Thursday forum that its dire impacts would cause an economic train wreck for the state. "It is very telling that India, China and Mexico have all balked at committing to strong carbon reductions," Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said during a forum at the State Office Building. "The fact of the matter is that even with U.S. and European leadership, we could very well end up going it alone. "Considering the pain Utahns would be asked to bear, and the loss of competitiveness for our entire nation, Waxman-Markey is a risk I am not willing to take." Hatch and Utah Gov. Gary Herbert hosted the event outlining the potential costs of HR2454, also known as the Waxman-Markey cap-and-trade bill, and were joined by the heads of the Utah Petroleum Association and the Utah Farm Bureau Federation, as well as several representatives from Utah power suppliers. - 2009/09/03: GreenGrok: On the Climate Bill Fence: Senators in the Peace Garden State [Byron Dorgan (D-ND) & Kent Conrad (D-ND)]
- 2009/09/03: ABC(Au): US climate bill faces new delay
- 2009/09/02: PlanetArk: Senate Urged To Let States Keep Climate Plans
- 2009/09/01: TreeHugger: Senate Climate Bill Delayed - Why That's Not Such a Bad Thing
- 2009/08/31: RigZone: Congress Hears Alaskan Views on Arctic Ocean Issues
- 2009/08/31: Reuters: US climate change bill encounters new Senate delay
- 2009/08/31: BBerg: Senate Democrats Push Back Climate Measure Schedule
The chief Senate sponsors of a bill aimed at curbing global warming have pushed back its introduction from next week until later in September. Democratic Senators Barbara Boxer of California and John Kerry of Massachusetts, in an e-mailed statement today, cited Kerry's hip surgery this month, the death of Senator Edward Kennedy and the debate over health-care legislation as reasons for the delay. - 2009/08/31: ClimateP: Boxer and Kerry to delay introducing climate bill -- thank goodness (again)!
- 2009/08/30: BSD: Chuck Grassley and stratospheric cooling
What are the lobbyists pushing?
- 2009/09/02: CFO: US cap and trade is affordable, says EDF
- 2009/09/03: BRH: Chamber opposes cap-and-trade legislation
- 2009/09/02: USAToday: Backers of climate bill spend more on ads
- 2009/09/02: ClimateP: WWF, world's leading conservation organization, launches "act for our future" campaign urging voters to ask senators to support climate bill
- 2009/08/31: Grist: 350 or bust -- Push is on to strengthen climate bill
While in the UK:
- 2009/09/04: CCurrents: Not Even Wrong
- 2009/09/04: Guardian(UK): Drax climate change protesters sentenced today
- 2009/09/04: Guardian(UK): Climate Rush -- time to get on your high horse and cart [UK pol]
- 2009/09/04: Guardian(UK): Labour failure on climate change a 'political crime', says Green leader
Caroline Lucas tells party conference that 300,000 people a year are dying because of global warming - 2009/09/04: Guardian(UK): Drax coal train hijackers sentenced
Judge orders fines, unpaid work and conditional discharges for group of activists including senior lecturer, teachers and preacher - 2009/09/03: Guardian(UK): Boris Johnson announces London's 10 'low-carbon zones'
Ten boroughs awarded £200,000 to develop energy efficient neighbourhoods of 13,000 homes and 1,000 businesses - 2009/09/03: Guardian(UK): Miliband's new mayor poo-poos global warming 'scam'
[Doncaster] Mayor Peter Davies has urged local residents to halt plans for wind farms 'blocking out sunlight' and encourages driving as we are 'in the age of the car' - 2009/09/02: NatureTGB: 'Climate Camp': more stunts, fewer stand-offs
- 2009/09/02: BBC: Kayak protest over climate change
Campaigners sat in kayaks outside government offices in London to protest at "false solutions" to climate change. Twenty activists wearing flippers and goggles demonstrated at the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) to mark the end of the Climate Camp. - 2009/09/02: BBC: Climate camp targets BP oil plan
Climate Camp protesters have made energy giant BP their latest target by protesting against its plans to extract oil from tar sands in Canada. - 2009/09/01: Guardian(UK): Britain admits it is not green enough, reveals poll
- 2009/08/31: Telegraph(UK): Britain facing blackouts for first time since 1970s
Demand for power from homes and businesses will exceed supply from the national grid within eight years, according to official figures. The shortage of supplies will hit the equivalent of many as 16 million families for at least one hour during the year, it is forecast. - 2009/08/30: BBC: Winning over the 'Nimby blockade'
Developers of wind turbines and other energy schemes need to learn to work with - not against - local communities to get their plans approved, according to a new UK government study. There's BLOT- Belvoir Locals Opposing Turbines, there's HALT in Beccles, there's AMP in Matlock and SOUL- Save Our Unspoiled Landscape in Berwickshire. All over the country there are groups - more than 150 of them at the last count - fighting against renewable energy projects in their neighbourhoods. - 2009/08/30: Guardian(UK): Climate Camp finally swings into action
- 2009/08/30: Guardian(UK): How green socialism can save the UK
And in Europe:
- 2009/09/05: Reuters: Anti-nuclear rally enlivens German campaign
- 2009/09/04: Reuters: EU details funding to break climate stalemate
- 2009/09/05: EarthTimes: Thousands take part in anti-nuclear protest in Berlin
- 2009/09/04: PlanetArk: Tractor Trek Flags German Nuclear Split Before Vote
Farm tractors are rumbling across Germany to a mass anti-nuclear rally in Berlin at the weekend which promises to thrust the divisive issue into the federal election campaign weeks before polling day. The future of Germany's 17 nuclear power plants, due to be shut down by the early 2020s, is one of the major issues that divides Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives from the Social Democrats (SPD) of her challenger, Frank-Walter Steinmeier. But it has been largely ignored in the run-up to the September 27 election, in which Merkel's conservatives and their preferred coalition partners, the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP), are campaigning for an extension of nuclear power. Thousands are expected to join Saturday's rally against those plans, led by farmers from Wendland -- a region through which nuclear waste is transported. - 2009/09/04: PlanetArk: EU's Barroso Plans "Radical" Action To Cut CO2
Europe must take bold steps to strip carbon emissions out of its transport and electricity generation systems, European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso said on Thursday. "We need to start working now on a radical pathway to reaching a far more sustainable Europe by 2020," Barroso said in a policy document laying out his priorities if he wins a second five-year term - 2009/09/03: EurActiv: Greek fires spark political blaze
- 2009/09/02: EurActiv: EU pressures emerging economies to act on climate
The EU expects China and other emerging economies to cut their emissions by up to a third compared to business-as-usual scenarios, Swedish Environment Minister Andreas Carlgren said yesterday (1 September). While the EU is prepared to push for funding for adaptation and mitigation for the majority of poor countries in exchange for national climate plans, advanced developing countries will have to deliver more, the EU's Environment Council chair told reporters. - 2009/09/02: EurActiv: EU lawmakers to lobby US on climate
- 2009/09/01: TerraDaily: French carbon tax debate turns toxic for Sarkozy
- 2009/09/01: EurActiv: Recession brings EU closer to Kyoto climate targets
EU greenhouse gas emissions declined for the fourth year running in 2008, driven by falling industrial production in the wake of the economic recession, provisional EU data showed yesterday (31 August). EU emissions last year fell by 1.3% in the EU-15, which have committed to reducing their emissions under the Kyoto Protocol, the European Environment Agency (EEA) said. They now stand at around 6.2% below the Kyoto base-year emissions, closer to the EU-15's collective 8% target, it said. [...] Emissions in the entire EU-27 fell by 1.5% last year. This includes the 12 member states that did not sign up to a collective target at the time of the Kyoto Protocol's ratification. - 2009/09/04: ABC(Au): No time for 'beating chests' on Murray use: Wong
Federal Water Minister Penny Wong says she is focused on achieving sustainable water allocations for Murray-Darling Basin users rather than blaming upstream states for downstream drought woes. South Australia's Environment Minister Jay Weatherill opened a Murray-Darling conference in Adelaide this week with criticism of eastern states' water use. Among other things, he demanded an end to growing cotton and rice crops. Senator Wong says she is not paying too much attention to political arguments over the Murray-Darling. - 2009/09/05: ABC(Au): Green groups concerned over Galilee mine proposal -- Environmentalists are concerned about the impact of proposed coal mines in Queensland's central west
- 2009/09/04: ABC(Au): Qld noise experts to test Waubra wind farm
Noise measurement experts from Queensland will today travel to Waubra at the request of a local farmer to conduct noise testing. Noel Dean says he has been forced to leave his property because low frequency noise from a nearby wind farm is making him sick. He says residents want to know what is causing their health problems. - 2009/09/04: ABC(Au): The federal Minister for Climate Change and Water, Penny Wong, says the Government's priority is in projects that will prepare communities for a future with less water
- 2009/09/03: ABC(Au): A federal parliamentary inquiry into farmers and climate change is inspecting properties in Victoria's Otways and Hamilton this week
- 2009/09/03: ABC(Au): McNamara backs nuclear power
A former sustainability minister [Andrew McNamara] says Australia needs nuclear energy. - 2009/09/02: ABC(Au): Turnbull casts doubt over carbon capture technology
The Federal Opposition Leader says clean coal technology will not insulate the Hunter's power industry from the full effects of an emissions trading scheme. During an address to Newcastle business leaders yesterday, Malcolm Turnbull also told power generators not to pin their hopes on unproven technology like carbon capture and storage. He says it would also be extremely costly to implement. - 2009/09/03: ABC(Au): Union opposes Minerals Council carbon compo claim
The coal miners' union has criticised industry groups that want additional compensation to meet carbon reduction targets. The Minerals Council of Australia says tens of thousands of jobs will be lost in the coal mining industry and mines will close in the New South Wales' Illawarra region as a result of the targets. But Tony Maher, the general president of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU), says the council's position amounts to scare mongering and any compensation should be targeted at mines with high methane gas emissions. "The Minerals Council is wrong - they've got a dodgy report and the union opposes their claim for $10 billion," he said. - 2009/09/03: ABC(Au): Water security needs climate change priority: Murray users
The Murray-Darling Association says water security must be given the same priority as tackling climate change and dangerous emissions. Its annual conference is starting in Adelaide, with more than 100 delegates from councils and communities of the Murray-Darling Basin taking part. Association general manager Ray Najar say, with average storage levels of just 23 per cent, delegates need to work collectively to protect the water available. - 2009/09/01: ABC(Au): Federal Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull has met with Hunter Valley business representatives to discuss the Government's emissions trading scheme (ETS)
- 2009/09/01: ABC(Au): Greens renew pressure over Gorgon site
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has toured the site of the proposed Gorgon gas project, off the West Australian coast, as questions remain about its environmental suitability. [...] But Greens Senator Rachel Siewert says geosequestration has not been proven. "There is no guarantee that the geosequestration will actually work. It hasn't been proven around the world and the project plans to sequest less than half of the greenhouse gases or the carbon that they'll be omitting," she said. - 2009/09/03: Guide2(NZ): Call For Stronger Leadership To Cope With Climate Change
- 2009/09/03: HotTopic: On the eve of destruction
- 2009/09/01: PlanetArk: NZ Government Committee Backs Carbon Trading Scheme
- 2009/08/31: Scoop(NZ): Transport Minister shuts door on reducing carbon
The Government has rejected one of the simplest and most effective ways of reducing New Zealand's carbon emissions, the Green Party said today. "Stephen Joyce's announcement that work will stop on fuel economy standards for vehicles coming into New Zealand condemns motorists to high fuel costs and rising emissions," Jeanette Fitzsimons, Spokesperson on climate change and transport, said. - 2009/08/31: BBerg: N.Z. Should Proceed With Emission Plan, Lawmakers Say
- 2009/08/31: HotTopic: [link to 733k pdf] ETS report: wishy-washy and a waste of time [NZ pol]
The ETS review committee has published its report, and recommends that an all sectors, all gases emissions trading scheme should be the "primary economic mechanism" in the government's response to climate change. [...] The majority report -- supported by National and United Future -- is accompanied by minority reports from Labour, the Greens, the Maori Party and ACT. Labour, the Greens and the Maori Party want tougher action, while ACT still denies the reality of climate change. The Maori Party and ACT would prefer a carbon tax to an ETS, but are otherwise on different planets. - 2009/08/17: Ecologist: Half India's land degraded: agro-chemicals partly to blame
Deforestation, wind erosion and poor farming practices blamed for deterioration of soil as the real costs of the Green Revolution are measured Almost half of India's total land area is classified as 'degraded' according to a government report. - 2009/09/02: TerraDaily: India's forestry plan in spotlight ahead of climate talks
- 2009/09/02: BBC: India emissions 'triple by 2030'
India's greenhouse gas emissions will more than triple over the next two decades, a report has projected. But the document, compiled by experts for the government, also says India's per-capita emissions will be much lower than major industrialised countries. The report will form the basis of India's negotiating position at a UN climate change conference in December. India, like China, has refused to commit to cuts until developed nations also pledge to meet targets. According to the report, India's greenhouse gas emissions will rise from about 1.2bn tonnes at present to between 4bn and 7bn by 2030. - 2009/09/02: DotEarth: India Sees Tripled CO2 Emissions by 2031
And China:
- 2009/09/01: FTimes: China's high price for emission cuts
The cost of reducing China's total greenhouse gas emissions is likely to reach $438bn a year within 20 years, and developed economies will have to bear much of that cost, according to a group of Beijing's leading climate economists. The figure, equivalent to about 7.5 per cent of China's estimated gross domestic product in 2030, is likely to be deployed to support Beijing's argument at December's climate change summit in Copenhagen that industrialised nations must share the cost of cutting emissions in developing countries. The analysis suggests that China must substantially increase its spending on curbing greenhouse gases in the next 20 years, or face enormous bills for cutting emissions from 2030. - 2009/08/31: WBCSD: China leads the pack in the race to go green-report
In Japan, much post-election positioning & commentary has ensued:
- 2009/09/04: NatureTGB: Japan caveats climate target
- 2009/09/04: PlanetArk: Japan Business Lobby To Oppose Climate Target: Report
- 2009/09/04: Reuters: Japan emissions target hinges on international deal
The greenhouse gas emissions target for 2020 set by Japan's incoming Democratic Party government is based on the premise that there will be an international agreement including China and India, a party executive said on Friday. The party, promising a more aggressive green policy than the outgoing government, has called for a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent by 2020 from 1990 levels, although the target faces resistance from industries. - 2009/09/04: WSJ:EnvCap: Not So Fast: Japan Climate Pledge Conditional on China, India
- 2009/09/03: JapanTimes: Big business plans revolt against DPJ's 25% emissions-reduction goal
- 2009/09/03: JapanTimes: DPJ's emission goals seen leading to carbon tax
- 2009/09/02: PlanetArk: Q+A: How Will Japan's Next Government Tackle Climate Change?
- 2009/09/02: BBerg: Sharp, Kyocera Set to Gain From DPJ Emissions Plan
- 2009/08/30: ClimateP: Japanese opposition easily wins elections -- running on a much stronger climate target
- 2009/08/31: WorldChanging: Japan's Yukio Hatoyama and Climate Change
- 2009/08/31: BBerg: Japan Carmakers, Utilities Say DPJ Carbon Plan May Not Work
Japan's carmakers led by Toyota Motor Corp., refiners and utilities said carbon-emission targets set by the Democratic Party of Japan may hurt their industries. The DPJ, which swept to power yesterday, promised during the election that it would cut the country's carbon emissions by 25 percent by 2020 compared with the level of 1990. Japan is the world's fourth-largest energy user. - 2009/08/31: CPositive: Japan election: Impact for global climate talks
And elsewhere in Asia:
- 2009/09/03: BBC: Coconuts used to capture carbon
The Maldives aims to reduce its CO2 emissions using fertiliser. The "biochar" is a charcoal made from bio-wastes such as coconut shells. - 2009/09/04: NatureTGB: Africa: Still pulling together on climate
- 2009/09/03: BBerg: Ethiopia's Meles Says Africa May 'Walk Out' Over Climate Talks
- 2009/09/02: UN: UN Economic Commission for Africa hosts climate change meeting [tomorrow in Addis Ababa]
And Brazil:
- 2009/09/03: BBerg: Brazil Group Says [Lula] Plan Unfair to Petrobras Minorities
- 2009/09/02: NatureTGB: Lula reasserts Brazilian control over new oilfield
- 2009/09/02: BBerg: Lula Oil Rules Stir 'Intense Debate,' Lawmakers Say
In Canada, minority neocon PM Harper, continues his do-nothing policy:
- 2009/09/05: BCLSB: Tory Election Strategy: Screw The Rest, We'll Take The West
- 2009/09/05: TStar: New climate plan would favour oil sands
Ottawa's pitch helps economies of Saskatchewan, Alberta at expense of other provinces, critics say Ottawa is eyeing a climate change plan that would allow Alberta's oil sands to continue growing -- and polluting -- but would clamp down on industries in the rest of the country, multiple sources have told the Toronto Star. Environment Minister Jim Prentice has pitched the two-tier approach in meetings with industry executives and provincial governments aimed at setting up a market to cap greenhouse gas emissions and let companies trade carbon credits to reduce pollution. Though plans are described as a work in progress, numerous accounts say the Conservatives intend to put a cap on the emissions from Ontario's manufacturing sector and other polluting industries across Canada, while letting oil and gas companies meet less stringent intensity targets which allow output, and pollution, to increase. That could jeopardize the economies of eight provinces and three territories for the sake of continued growth in Alberta and Saskatchewan, detractors say. - 2009/09/01: Maribo: Does Canada have a Minister of the Environment?
- 2009/09/01: CanWest: Environment minister optimistic about new deal
Tucked at the bottom of this diatribe on US fossil foolery, is
a succinct encapsulation of the Canadian political scene: - 2009/08/31: TMoS: Screw the Planet, Screw Your Kids and Screw You! Big Oil and Big Coal ride again! [Can Pol]
[re US fossil fuel anti-climate/energy bill campaign]
Of course, who are we to criticize? Here in Canada the leaders of both major parties are unrepentant Tar Sands boosters. Even Jack Layton dummies up when it comes to climate change lest he be seen as supporting even a small tax on SUV juice. Self-serving cowards, the lot of them. Harper has EnviroCan's top climate scientists gagged and locked away in a closet and that's just fine with Ignatieff and Layton. Ignatieff even proclaims the Athabasca bitumen a "key to national unity." - 2009/09/04: CBC: Ontario should pay for clunkers: Detroit 3
The organization representing the Detroit Three automakers in Canada says it's disappointed the Canadian government has decided not to beef up its vehicle scrappage program. The Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers' Association says a more robust cash-for-clunkers program would have provided a much-needed boost to the economy while taking polluting vehicles off the road. - 2009/09/03: CBC: No expanded car scrappage program: Prentice
Environment Minister Jim Prentice says the federal government has no plans to offer a more robust vehicle scrappage program in Canada. The federal government was under pressure to announce improved consumer incentives after similar programs in Europe and the United States gave an undeniable boost to car sales. Since January, the government has offered Canadians $300 in cash or other small rewards to turn in their old clunkers. - 2009/09/01: CBC: Canadian car, truck sales fall in August
Canadian car and truck sales dropped in August for the 10th month in a row, a prominent sector analyst said Tuesday. Dennis DesRosiers, who runs his own consultancy, said Canadians bought slightly more than 135,000 cars and trucks in August, a drop of 7.9 per cent compared with August 2008. As well, vehicle sales were off 15 per cent for the first eight months of 2009, or almost 200,000 cars and trucks, versus the same time frame in 2008. - 2009/09/06: PTS: [BC] Transit infected with HST
- 2009/09/03: Tyee: 'Our Hopes Dashed' by Budget, Say BC's Enviros -- Campbell government opts to 'invest in climate unfriendly programs.'
- 2009/09/04: G&M: Make drivers pay up: transit report
Road tolls, higher vehicle fees and even increases to insurance are among commissioner's recommendations British Columbia needs to drive up the cost of driving to push people onto public transit in the Lower Mainland, says the first review from the provincially appointed transit commissioner. Options in the report include road tolls, higher vehicle fees and even increases to insurance -- measures that the provincial government has previously rejected. - 2009/09/03: G&M: Electric Cars -- Plugged in
Vancouver won't be left in the dark if electric vehicles catch on. The city council has unanimously approved new regulations for electric vehicle charging stations for the car-unfriendly city - 2009/09/01: CBC: B.C. budget bites into green programs
Public transit and energy-efficient renovations are two programs that will take a hit from the B.C. budget courtesy of changes due to the new harmonized sales tax. When the HST replaces the GST and the PST in July 2010, money from the seven per cent provincial sales tax on parking fees will stop being routed to Translink, Metro Vancouver's transportation authority. Currently, Translink gets $15 million to help fund buses and the SkyTrain rapid transit system. Loss of that money, Translink says, could result in cuts to service and mean fewer buses on the road. Environmentalists are also disappointed that subsidies for energy-efficient retrofits and appliances that are now exempt from PST will also be subject to HST. - 2009/09/04: TStar: Ontario to cut back coal power 40 per cent -- Move makes province 'part of the solution'
- 2009/09/03: G&M: Ontario to close four coal units -- Once they are taken off-line in 2010, the province will have reduced its burning capacity by 40 per cent
- 2009/09/03: CBC: 4 Ont. coal power plants to close in 2010
Meanwhile in that Mechanical Mordor known as the tar sands:
- 2009/09/05: CTV: Protests in Britain target Canada's oilsands
A handful of First Nations activists returned home last week after grabbing national headlines in England for protesting Alberta's oilsands developments. They had travelled to a London suburb as part of a week-long gathering of several thousand environmental campaigners, dubbed the Climate Camp. - 2009/09/03: Polaris: New Report Exposes Toxic Tar Sands Impacts in the Great Lakes Region
- 2009/09/03: Polaris: [link to 1.1 meg pdf] Toxic Trail Exposure: Youth Delegation Tracks Tar Sands in Great Lakes Region
- 2009/09/04: OilChange: Chinese in $2 Billion Tar Sands Deal
- 2009/09/03: CBC: Suncor trims 1,000 jobs after merger
Suncor Energy Inc. expects to shed 1,000 jobs by next month as a result of the company's recent merger with Petro-Canada, the firm reported Thursday. - 2009/09/03: CanWest: First Nations' oilsands fight hits court
A debate over when aboriginal groups should be consulted during the development of oilsands sites hit an Alberta court this week, with the province arguing the time to object to specific oilsands leases had passed. The Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation filed a court challenge last year, questioning leases granted to Shell Canada and other oil companies on lands that are part of their traditional territory, without consultation. - 2009/09/03: CanWest: Oil sands output to double by 2013: report -- Profit to triple
Output from Canada's oil sands will double and profits in the oil business will triple by 2013 as rising crude prices kick-start mega-projects delayed by the economic downturn, the Conference Board of Canada said yesterday. The board's summer outlook for the Canadian oil-extraction business forecasts that crude prices driven south by the economic downturn will slash pre-tax profits for Canadian producers by 24% from the record $15.3-billion in 2008 to $11.6-billion in 2009. - 2009/09/01: BBC: PetroChina has agreed to buy a 60% stake in two planned Canadian oil sands projects for $1.7bn (£1bn)
- 2009/09/01: PeakEnergy: Dirty Oil Sands
- 2009/09/01: OilDrum: Canada's Oil Sands - Part 2
- 2009/09/01: WSJ:EnvCap: Chinese Canucks: PetroChina's Move Into Oil Sands
- 2009/08/31: CBC: PetroChina offers $2B for oilsands stake
PetroChina will acquire a 60 per cent interest in two Canadian oilsands projects for $1.9 billion. Athabasca Oil Sands Corp. on Monday announced plans to sell working interests in the company's MacKay River and Dover oilsands projects to the Chinese energy giant. - 2009/09/01: CanWest: What is 'dirty oil' to U. S. is anything but to China
- 2009/08/26: SCitizen: Burning Picassos for Heat
- 2009/08/31: G&M: PetroChina buys 60% stake in oil sands project
$1.9-billion deal for Athabasca stake gives state-owned firm access to major bitumen source - 2009/09/02: CBC: N.W.T. gets greenhouse gas observation station
Environment Canada plans to install a station near Great Slave Lake that will measure greenhouse gas levels in the Northwest Territories. The global atmospheric watch station, to be set up within a year, will join a network of eight existing stations across Canada. - 2009/08/31: G&M: Yukon minister's resignation threatens to collapse government
Energy minister quits, saying Premier 'lied' to public in denying that private talks took place regarding selling off energy assets - 2009/09/06: OilDrum: Tragedy of the Commons Re-Visited [Garret Hardin, Jay Hanson, etc.]
- 2009/09/04: Reuters: Try nature, not tech, to fix economic woes -UNEP
- 2009/09/04: Guardian(UK): Current economic growth model is 'immoral', says Prescott
With the world's population growing to nine million by 2050, the Britain's former deputy PM predicts far more crucial and complex talks in Copenhagen than in Kyoto - 2009/09/01: Coloradoan: Sustainable use of resources not an alternative
- 2009/08/31: DotEarth: Do We Have to Outgrow Growth?
- 2009/08/30: SolveClimate: To Reduce Climate Change, Reduce Consumption
IPAT [Impact = Population * Affluence * Technology] raised its head once again:
- 2009/09/02: OLJ: Rome falls while the sun shines
- 2009/09/02: Guardian(UK): World population growth -- More people on the planet will put more pressure on resources
- 2009/08/31: EnergyBulletin: ZPG2: zero population and zero oil growth
Apocalypso anyone?
- 2009/09/03: EnergyBulletin: "Peak Civilization": The Fall of the Roman Empire
- 2009/08/29: Grist: Can we make it? Or Are We Already Made?
- 2009/08/31: DVoice: Will Earthlings Survive the Earth -- Or Vice Versa?
- 2009/08/30: EnergyBulletin: There won't be any separate peace
As for how the media handles science:
- 2009/09/05: DeepClimate: ABC claims Ian Plimer is "a legitimate voice"
- 2009/09/04: Grist: Does the Wall Street Journal employ anyone who understands energy markets?
- 2009/09/02: ClimateP: Fox News on EPA endangerment finding: "Some skeptics say regulating carbon dioxide, a byproduct of burning fossil fuels, may be a difficult task, especially since people emit carbon dioxide with every breath"
- 2009/08/31: ClimateP: In lead story on climate debate, WashPost pushes a dubious narrative at odds with their own polling
- 2009/08/31: Grist: Washington Post gives polluters a free pass on dirty money and lies
- 2009/08/31: DCActionFactories: Washington Post: Snark Posing as News
- 2009/08/31: WaPo: Environmentalists Slow to Adjust in Climate Debate -- Opponents Seize Initiative as Senate Bill Nears
Somebody at CSM decided to rerun this misleading headline from a month ago:
- 2009/09/03: ENN: Our best guess about global warming may be wrong
This poll echoed all over the place. Now what is the validity of a poll of 30 people!?!?
- 2009/09/02: ENN: People won't change lifestyle for planet: straw poll
While activists search for effective communication techniques:
- 2009/09/02: Grist: Rogue 9/11 ad isn't from WWF -- and its science is bogus
For your film & video enjoyment:
- 2009/09/04: TreeHugger: [mp3/itunes] Director Joe Berlinger on "Crude" and the Amazonian Chernobyl
Meanwhile among the 'Sue the Bastards!' contingent:
- 2009/09/04: TreeHugger: US State Dept. Sued Over Tar Sands Oil Pipeline
- 2009/09/03: ENS: Secretary of State Clinton Sued Over [Alberta Clipper] Tar Sands Pipeline Permit
- 2009/09/03: CanWest: First Nations' oilsands fight hits court
A debate over when aboriginal groups should be consulted during the development of oilsands sites hit an Alberta court this week, with the province arguing the time to object to specific oilsands leases had passed. The Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation filed a court challenge last year, questioning leases granted to Shell Canada and other oil companies on lands that are part of their traditional territory, without consultation. - 2009/09/02: AlterNet: Call Chevron to Account for Its Assault on the Amazonian Ecosystem
- 2009/09/01: BBerg: Chevron Accuses Ecuadorean Judge of Bribery, Seeks His Removal
Chevron Corp. said it will seek to replace an Ecuadorean judge overseeing a $27 billion environmental lawsuit against the company, claiming videotapes show him saying he would rule against Chevron in meetings with businessmen seeking pollution cleanup work. Chevron says a company contractor and an American businessman used a pen and watch with tiny cameras to secretly record meetings they had with Judge Juan Nunez and a Quito political coordinator for Alianza Pais, the party of Ecuador President Rafael Correa. - 2009/08/31: WarmingLaw: Another Step in the Right Direction
Developing a new energy infrastructure is a fundamental challenge of the current generation:
- 2009/09/02: CleanBreak: Japanese to pursue space-based solar power plant
- 2009/09/03: FTimes:ES: Shale gas scepticism, and shale gas enthusiasm
- 2009/09/04: Yahoo:Reuters: Saudi prince urges U.S. to recognize oil dependency [Turki al-Faisal again]
- 2009/09/04: SolveClimate: Hydropower's Dirty Little Secret
- 2009/09/02: PhysOrg: What's Smelly But Can Fuel a Car? [ammonia electrolysis ->H2]
- 2009/09/02: FTimes: US utilities hit as consumers go green
- 2009/09/03: WSJ:EnvCap: BP's Tiber Find: Fodder for Oil Optimists or Pessimists?
- 2009/09/03: NYT: Energy Company Calls Halt to Drilling Project
A $17 million energy project in California that was supposed to demonstrate the feasibility of extracting vast amounts of heat from the earth's bedrock has been suspended indefinitely after the drilling essentially snagged on surface rock formations. - 2009/09/02: BizInsider: BP's Ocean Of Oil Is Just A Drop In The Bucket (BP)
- 2009/09/02: Guardian(UK): Energy use around the world -- Demand rises, as calls for increased efficiency increase
- 2009/09/02: KSJT: High Country News: In Washington State, solar panels and wind turbines bloom in timber country.
- 2009/09/02: PlanetArk: U.S. Ethanol Group Wants Origin Labeling For Oil
- 2009/09/02: BBerg: BP's Tiber Find Underscores Challenges of Deepwater Exploration
BP Plc's announcement of a "giant" discovery in the Gulf of Mexico underscores the technical challenges of deepwater exploration after Europe's second- biggest oil company drilled to a depth that's greater in height than Mount Everest. The Tiber well, about 250 miles (400 kilometers) south east of Houston, was drilled to about 35,055 feet (10,685 meters), making it the world's deepest exploration well to date, the London-based company said today. It may contain as many as 3 billion barrels, according to BP. Everest stands 29,029 feet tall in comparison. - 2009/09/02: CBC: BP finds huge oil field [Tiber] in Gulf of Mexico
- 2009/08/31: ClimateP: The Holy Grail of clean energy economy is in sight: Affordable storage for wind and solar
- 2009/08/31: Grist: Quest for Storage -- "Holy Grail" of New Energy Economy -- Nears Goal -- Enabling wind, sun to be our main power supplies
- 2009/08/30: Dominion: Return to Tarmageddon -- An Italian company's plan to develop tar sands in the Congo has activists worried
- 2009/08/31: Telegraph(UK): Britain facing blackouts for first time since 1970s
Demand for power from homes and businesses will exceed supply from the national grid within eight years, according to official figures. The shortage of supplies will hit the equivalent of many as 16 million families for at least one hour during the year, it is forecast. - 2009/08/30: EnergyBulletin: Enabling Wind, Sun To Be Our Main Power Supplies: Quest for Storage -- "Holy Grail" of New Energy Economy -- Nears Goal
- 2009/08/31: SolveClimate: Electric Energy Storage: Digging the Foundations (Part II)
Space Based Solar [SBS] is back:
- 2009/09/03: KSJT: Yale E360: Solar energy beamed from space. A long shot -- but not NO shot
- 2009/09/03: ClimateP: Harvard Business Review and Yale e360 hype space solar. Why?
- 2009/09/03: TreeHugger: Japan's Moonshot? $21 Billion Invested in Space-Based Solar Power
- 2009/09/01: Inhabit: Japan Plans $21 Billion Solar Space Post to Power 294,000 Homes
- 2009/09/01: SlashDot: Japan Plans $21B Space Power Plant
- 2009/08/31: Yale360: Solar Power from Space: Moving Beyond Science Fiction
The practice of hydraulic fracturing is causing problems:
- Wiki: Hydraulic fracturing [aka fracking]
- 2009/08/25: ProPublica: EPA: Chemicals Found in Wyo. Drinking Water Might Be From Fracking
- 2009/09/03: DemNow: Fracking and the Environment: Natural Gas Drilling, Hydraulic Fracturing and Water Contamination
The answer my friend...:
- 2009/09/04: CSlash: E.ON Completes Massive TX Wind Farm
- 2009/09/03: TreeHugger: Michigan's Plan To Manage Development Of 322,000 Megawatts Of Offshore Wind Power Potential
- 2009/09/03: TreeHugger: Surface Area Required to Power the Whole World With Solar and Wind Power
- 2009/09/02: EarthTimes: Dutch plan new wind farm 75km out in the North Sea
- 2009/09/01: TreeHugger: 200 MW More Wind Power Coming to Wyoming via Duke Energy
- 2009/09/01: WSJ:EnvCap: Clean-Energy Grants: Iberdrola Cleans Up -- Iberdrola snapped up grants worth $294 million for five wind farms
Meanwhile among the solar aficionados:
- 2009/09/04: Reuters: Not so sunny: trade war looms in solar space
- 2009/09/04: FuturePundit: Lowest Cost Solar Power At Coal Plants
- 2009/09/04: Rabble:MCB: Weekly Mulch: Solar power flares up
- 2009/09/04: NakedCapitalism: "Solar Crisis Set to Hit in 2010?"
The solar industry is already suffering from significant overcapacity, yet incumbents are adding still more manufacturing to try to secure a cost competitive position after the shakeout. [...] The Information Network forecasts that as many as 50% of the producers could fail in 2010 as prices plunge: - 2009/09/04: SolveClimate: Evolution Solar: China Now 'Center of Gravity' for Solar Manufacturing
- 2009/08/13: LandArtGenerator: Total Surface Area Required to Fuel the World With Solar
- 2009/09/03: PeakEnergy: Australian Researchers Help Break Solar Power Conversion Record [43%]
- 2009/09/02: PeakEnergy: Spectrolab Hits 41.6% PV Cell Efficiency Record
- 2009/08/31: BNC: Solar thermal questions
The arithmetic of coal carbon is striking home:
- 2009/09/03: EconView: "What is the Future of Coal?" [Stavins]
- 2009/09/02: SLTrib: Plans for coal-fired power plant canceled
State air-quality officials formally pulled the plug this week on the new coal-fired power plant planned in central Utah by the Intermountain Power Agency. James A. Hewlett, IPA's general manager, asked the state in an Aug. 12 letter to scrap the pollution permit granted to the company five years ago for the new 900-megawatt unit at its Intermountain Power Plant in Delta. - 2009/09/02: NRDC:SwitchBoard: EPA Data Reveals Nearly Double the Number of Coal Ash Dumps
- 2009/09/02: EMag: Is This the End for Coal?
Momentum is building to block new coal-fired power plants and end mountaintop removal mining. Is there enough political will to make the break? - 2009/09/01: SolveClimate: EPA Study Finds Dangers in Coal Ash Ponds Nationwide
- 2009/08/31: Grist: EPA reveals almost twice as many dangerous coal ash dumps as previously known
- 2009/08/31: NRDC:SwitchBoard: TVA Ash Holes
- 2009/08/31: TreeHugger: Coal Ash from Tennessee Spill Shipped to Poor County in Alabama
Biofuel bickering abounds:
- 2009/09/02: IR^2: Biofuel Contenders
- 2009/09/03: PlanetArk: Clean Energy Brazil Sells Sugar Mill Stake At A Loss
- 2009/09/03: OilDrum: Renewable Fuel Pretenders
- 2009/09/02: Grist: Khosla Ventures raises $1 billion for green tech
The nuclear energy controversy continues:
- 2009/09/05: PeakEnergy: Nuclear decline set to continue, says report
- 2009/08/27: NEIMag: Nuclear decline set to continue, says report
- 2009/09/02: PlanetArk: Financial Crisis Hurts Some Eastern Europe Nuclear Plans
- 2009/09/01: ClimateP: The Nukes of (legal) Hazard, Episode 5: Areva threatens work stoppage at Finnish nuke
Yes we have peaks galore:
- 2009/09/04: FP: Oil Spin -- Ignore the optimists. Peak oil is real.
- 2009/09/05: PeakEnergy: Matt Simmons On "Oil Spin"
- 2009/09/04: McGillReporter: ...for Jeff Rubin [Q&A]
- 2009/09/03: EnergyBulletin: The Peak Oil Crisis: As Summer Ends
- 2009/09/02: SolveClimate: 500,000 Electric Cars Would Take 10% of World Lithium. Only.
- 2009/09/01: TreeHugger: China Tightens Grasp on Rare Earth Metals Vital for Green Technologies
- 2009/09/01: PeakEnergy: World faces hi-tech crunch as China eyes ban on rare metal exports?
- 2009/08/31: AutoBG: REPORT: Toyota braces for rare earth metal shortage
- 2009/08/31: Reuters: As hybrid cars gobble rare metals, shortage looms
- 2009/08/31: EnergyBulletin: Commentary: Michael Lynch, Daniel Yergin--The Denizens of Peak Oil Denial
- 2009/08/31: Yahoo:Reuters: As hybrid cars gobble rare metals, shortage looms
More people are talking about the electrical grid:
- 2009/09/05: OilDrum: Will Residential Power Systems Disrupt the Grid?
- 2009/08/31: WSJ:EnvCap: Grid Lock: New Transmission Lines Key for Clean Energy -- And Coal
- 2009/08/31: SolveClimate: 2009 Smart Grid Rankings Are Out: California's Sempra Energy in 1st
And then there is the matter of efficiency & conservation:
- 2009/09/01: GreenGrok: Let's Ban the Light Bulb Confusion
- 2009/09/01: TreeHugger: Selfish, Uninformed Europeans Hoarding Incandescents as Ban on 100 Watt Bulbs Takes Effect Today
- 2009/09/01: BBC: EU bans old-fashioned light bulbs
- 2009/08/31: EurActiv: EU light bulb ban attacked from all sides as phase-out starts
- 2009/08/31: EarthTimes: The lights go out for inefficient bulbs -- the incandescent light bulb is being phased out in Europe
Automakers & lawyers, engineers & activists argue over the future of the car:
- 2009/09/06: TreeHugger: Toyota Prius Faces Ban Due to [Paice] US Patent Suit
- 2009/09/04: AutoBG: GM responds to Audi's "Volt is for idiots" remark
- 2009/09/03: Economist: The electrification of motoring -- The electric-fuel-trade acid test
After many false starts, battery-powered cars seem here to stay. Are they just an interesting niche product, or will they turn motoring upside down? - 2009/09/04: AutoBG: Greenlings: What are the promises and pitfalls of carbon fiber?
- 2009/09/02: Time: Zero-Emission Cars: A Battle Among Technologies
- 2009/09/03: AutoBG: Audi of America president calls Chevy Volt "a car for idiots," slams electric vehicles
- 2009/09/01: AutoBG: C/D [Car & Driver] drills down to find out what goes into EPA fuel economy ratings
[...] C/D says that just 15 percent of new cars get tested by the EPA each year for fuel efficiency, and the rest get their ratings from testing performed by the manufacturer using the government agency's guidelines. - 2009/09/01: FreeP: EPA drafts fuel economy rules -- 35.5-m.p.g. standard is planned for 2016
- 2009/08/30: SeekingAlpha: PHEVs and EVs: Plugging into a Lump of Coal
- 2009/08/31: NRDC:SwitchBoard: Apocalypse Now in Nebraska: Meet Carhenge
The usual end-of-the-month car sales figures had to consider Cash-for-Clunkers this month:
- 2009/09/04: AutoBG: Toyota tops 2 million hybrid sales worldwide
- 2009/09/02: AutoBG: 2010 Prius posts 45% sales increase last month over previous year
- 2009/09/04: BBC: [UK] Scrappage scheme lifts car sales
- 2009/09/02: BBC: Carmakers see upturn in US sales
- 2009/09/01: CBC: Canadian car, truck sales fall in August
Canadian car and truck sales dropped in August for the 10th month in a row, a prominent sector analyst said Tuesday. Dennis DesRosiers, who runs his own consultancy, said Canadians bought slightly more than 135,000 cars and trucks in August, a drop of 7.9 per cent compared with August 2008. As well, vehicle sales were off 15 per cent for the first eight months of 2009, or almost 200,000 cars and trucks, versus the same time frame in 2008. - 2009/09/01: CBC: Ford sales up in August
New figures released Tuesday showed that the popular Cash for Clunkers program boosted Ford Motor Co.'s U.S. sales in August by more than 17 per cent over the same month last year. But shortages of smaller vehicles weighed on rivals Chrysler Group LLC and General Motors Co. - 2009/09/01: CalcRisk: Autos: Ford U.S. August sales rise 17%
- 2009/09/01: CalcRisk: Light Vehicle Sales 14.1 Million (SAAR) in August
- 2009/09/01: Guardian(UK): 'Cash for clunkers' boosts US car industry -- Ford sales up 17% as consumers snap up incentives
- 2009/09/01: CNN: Clunkers rush lifts auto sales
Sales at Ford, Toyota and Honda are up from a year ago, while GM, Chrysler post gains from July. Will sales remain strong now that Cash for Clunkers is history? - 2009/08/31: CalcRisk: Clunkers and August Auto Sales
Cash-for-Clunkers, aka Scrappage, Plans are being legislated and argued around the world:
- 2009/09/03: CJR: Calculating the Benefits of Cash for Clunkers
- 2009/09/04: CBC: Ontario should pay for clunkers: Detroit 3
The organization representing the Detroit Three automakers in Canada says it's disappointed the Canadian government has decided not to beef up its vehicle scrappage program. The Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers' Association says a more robust cash-for-clunkers program would have provided a much-needed boost to the economy while taking polluting vehicles off the road. - 2009/09/03: BBC: Car scrappage: Winners and losers
- 2009/09/03: CBC: No expanded car scrappage program: Prentice
Environment Minister Jim Prentice says the federal government has no plans to offer a more robust vehicle scrappage program in Canada. The federal government was under pressure to announce improved consumer incentives after similar programs in Europe and the United States gave an undeniable boost to car sales. Since January, the government has offered Canadians $300 in cash or other small rewards to turn in their old clunkers. - 2009/09/02: AutoBG: France extends "cash for clunkers" scheme for two additional years
- 2009/09/02: BBC: German car scrappage scheme ends
Government funding for the German car scrappage scheme has run out, marking an end to a scheme that has provided a much-needed boost to car sales. The 5bn-euro ($7.1bn; £4.4bn) scheme has encouraged almost two million motorists to scrap their old car and exchange it for a new one. The scheme helped boost car sales by 28% in August compared with a year ago. - 2009/08/31: EurActiv: Green merits of car-scrapping plans questioned -- As European countries start to wind down their car-scrapping schemes...
The reaction of business to climate change will be critical:
- 2009/09/03: EurActiv: London brokers turn attention to green finance
Bonds providing a hedge against the risk of governments missing their climate commitments could give investors the necessary confidence to invest in low-carbon projects, Professor Michael Mainelli from Z/Yen, a City of London-based risk management firm, told EurActiv in an interview. - 2009/09/01: Ecologist:DB: Catastrophe bonds: a financial symptom of climate change?
Verizon is playing with fire:
- 2009/09/05: NRDC:SwitchBoard: Verizon Clueless: Company Continuing to Ignore Customer Ire Over Anti-Climate Rally
- 2009/09/04: DeSmogBlog: Verizon Wireless Joins Massey Energy To Celebrate Mountaintop Removal and Climate Change Denial
- 2009/09/03: ClimateP: 'Green' Verizon sponsoring anti-climate rally backed by coal giant Massey Energy
- 2009/09/03: NRDC:SwitchBoard: Verizon Wireless Invites Backlash by Supporting Controversial Climate Denier Rally
- 2009/09/02: TP: Verizon Sponsoring Anti-Climate Rally Backed By Coal Giant Massey Energy
Meanwhile in the greenwashing chronicles:
- 2009/09/03: DeSmogBlog: Is ExxonMobil Really the "Green Company of the Year"?
Joe Romm posts a daily list of top energy and climate stories:
- 2009/09/04: ClimateP: Energy and Global Warming News for September 4: Coal with carbon capture and storage in China to face 'staggering' costs
- 2009/09/03: ClimateP: Energy and Global Warming News for September 3: U.N. chief pushes for rapid progress on climate talks; Climate change's role in wildfires
- 2009/09/02: ClimateP: Energy and Global Warming News for September 2: The U.S. awards $503 million for clean energy projects; 1.6 billion face water, food threat in Asia
- 2009/09/01: ClimateP: Energy and Global Warming News for September 1: Big Money Returns to Wind Power
- 2009/08/31: ClimateP: Energy and Global Warming News for August 31: Can push for climate bill forge lasting labor-enviro alliance?
The carbon lobby are up to the usual:
- 2009/09/06: IJI: 4th I'C'CC: who are these people?
- 2009/09/03: GreenFyre: Deniers denying denial, the EPA Scopes trial on trial
- 2009/09/04: GreenFyre: Is global warming a real threat to the planet? -- Kansas City Star
- 2009/09/05: ClimateP: Caldeira calls the vision of Lomborg's Climate Consensus "a dystopic world out of a science fiction story"
- 2009/09/04: Grist: Polluter fraud du jour -- Big Oil creates phony climate denial site, lies about it
- 2009/08/31: Tamino: Pants on Fire [Plimer]
- 2009/09/04: Tamino: Arctic non-analysis
- 2009/09/04: DeSmogBlog: American Petroleum Institute Astroturf campaign: When Does "Spin" Become a Lie?
- 2009/09/04: NRDC:SwitchBoard: Wall Street Journal Outfoxed
- 2009/09/03: BSD: Nice to see Watts Up taken down a peg
- 2009/09/04: Reuters: Engineering better than tax on climate: economists [Lomborg]
- 2009/09/03: NYT: Another Astroturf Campaign [API]
- 2009/09/03: DeSmogBlog: Public Support for Energy Bill Shows the Deception in Bonner Astroturf Campaign
- 2009/09/02: DeSmogBlog: Protesters Outnumber Attendees At Ohio GOP 'Energy Summit'
- 2009/09/03: GreenFyre: Plimer to Monbiot, what was the question again?
- 2009/09/03: JKB: Not exxon again
- 2009/09/02: ClimateP: Chamber admits calling for 'Scopes monkey trial of the 21st century' was dumb -- but it still apes the deniers
- 2009/09/02: Grist: Chamber of Commerce keeps stepping on rakes
- 2009/09/02: Deltoid: Ian Plimer is a big chicken
- 2009/09/02: EarthTimes: Global Warming: Debunking the Bunk
- 2009/09/01: TWTB: Jonah Goldberg's classic know-nothing, non-denial climate denial
- 2009/09/01: TGN: Clean energy issue draws crowd at Carolina First Center
A clean energy bill currently in Congress would bring South Carolina to its knees, folks who attended a rally for jobs and affordable energy said Monday, while a much smaller number of proponents of energy independence who wore green hard hats outside the rally said they saw the event as a tool of big oil. - 2009/09/01: TP: Chamber of Commerce admits calling for 'the Scopes monkey trial of the 21st century' was inappropriate
- 2009/08/31: ClimateP: Deniers go ape for Scopes climate trial, Inhofe quotes John Stuart Mill -- an early proponent of sustainability!
- 2009/08/31: ClimateP: The Bjorn Irrelevancy: Duke dean disses Danish delayer
- 2009/08/31: PRWatch: Attack of the Living Front Groups: PRWatch Offers Help to Unmask Corporate Tricksters
Meanwhile in the 'clean coal' saga:
- 2009/09/05: CCP: Duke Energy leaves anti-environment American Coalition for Clean Coal Energy because the coalition will not support climate change legislation in 2009
- 2009/09/02: C411: Duke Energy Bails Out of Coal Industry Group
- 2009/09/04: Grist: ACCCE in the hole (and not in a good way) -- Shake-ups at high-profile coal industry group
- 2009/09/04: BBerg: Clean Coal in China Said to Face 'Staggering' Costs
- 2009/09/02: WSJ:EnvCap: Clean Split: Duke Energy Leaves Clean-Coal Group
- 2009/09/02: ClimateP: Duke Energy quits coal front group over climate bill -- GE and Caterpillar should do the same
- 2009/09/02: NRDC:SwitchBoard: Duke Departs Coal Coalition, Alcoa Has Said Adios to ACCCE As Well
- 2009/09/02: DeSmogBlog: Is Controversial Coal Lobby Front Group ACCCE On The Verge of Implosion?
- 2009/09/02: DeSmogBlog: Duke Energy Quits Controversial Coal Lobby Front Group
- 2009/09/02: TP: Duke Energy quits scandal-ridden, right-wing American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity [ACCCE]
The Bonner and Assoc. scandal grinds on:
- 2009/09/03: NWF: Groups Launch Polluter Fraud Citizen Tip Line
- 2009/09/03: DeSmogBlog: Astroturf-Busting Hotline Launched
- 2009/09/03: TPMM: Liberal Groups Set Up Hotline For Forged Letters
- 2009/08/31: IJI: A newsfeed devoted to Bonner and Associates
- 2009/08/31: DeSmogBlog: Bonner & Associates Never Contacted Rep. Perriello and Several Charities Defrauded In Forged Letter Scandal
As for climate miscellanea:
- 2009/09/05: WWWeather: Climate News Going from Bad To Worse
- 2009/09/02: Maribo: Should I fly or should I type?
- 2009/09/04: Tamino: Urgent ...the misconception that if we stop greenhouse gas emissions, levels will soon return to their previous values
- 2009/09/04: ClimateSight: A Course for Beginners
- 2009/09/05: Guardian(UK): Climate change funds: the next mega-trend?
- 2009/09/03: Grist: The Climate Post: When climate change leads to...m-u-u-u-u-u-r-der...
- 2009/09/03: SeedMag: A Manifesto for the Planet -- Stewart Brand on four green heresies, developing-world ingenuity, and the new face of environmentalism
- 2009/09/03: NatureCF: Why a climate crisis is like an epileptic seizure
- 2009/09/03: TreeHugger: Jargon Watch: "Transportation Energy Intensity" of Buildings
- 2009/08/31: Stoat: Midsummer madness
- 2009/08/31: ERabett: Getting Rudy's Back
- 2009/09/01: GWWatch: What's the worse that could happen?
And here are a couple of sites you may find interesting and/or useful:
- AGW Observer [links to many journal papers]
- RCUK: Research Councils UK
- CBD: Overpopulation
- CBD: Center for Biological Diversity
- Wiki: Hydraulic fracturing [aka fracking]
- EnvCan: The Dr. Neil Trivett Global Atmosphere Watch Observatory (Alert, NU)
- Dirty Oil Sands
- GBRMPA: Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority
- TBAS: The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
- UAF: AMSR-E Sea Ice Extent
- Ecologist
- Ecologist: Blogs
- World Radiation Centre
- NGDC.NOAA: Solar Irradiance Data
- Exxpose Exxon
- SciAmP: SciAm Perspectives
- IPCC: National Greenhouse Gas Inventories Programme
It's always nice to start with a chuckle:
The World Climate Conference in Geneva this week produced a Global Framework for Climate Services agreement:
The Himalayan conference went down in Kathmandu this week:
And how are we going to feed 9 billion?
More Katrina retrospectives:
And in the carbon & nitrogen cycles:
Climate refugees are becoming an issue:
Desertification looms as a threat:
And speaking of hydrological cycle disruptions [floods & droughts]:
While in the endless quest for zero energy, sustainable buildings and practical codes:
Meanwhile in Australia:
And in New Zealand:
While in India:
While in Africa:
Regarding the Canadian Cash-4-Clunkers program:
In BC, the post-election HST blues are being sung:
Ontario has it's Green Energy Act, now comes the implementation:
As for miscellaneous Canadiana:
The movement toward a long term ecologically viable economics is glacial:
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.
<regards>
P.S. Recent postings can be found in the week archive and the ancient postings can be accessed here, which should open to this.
"If we lost just 1 percent of the carbon in permafrost today, we'd be close to a year's contributions from industrial sources. I don't think policymakers have woken up to this. It's not in their risk assessments." -Chris Burn, Carleton University
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That's not a sip.... that's the whole firehose, isn't it.
That image of "mother nature" is beautiful and fine example of the human imagination to see things that are evocative. I suggest those are tears of joy on learning that yet another boreal growing season has passed without killing frosts wiping out our crops and causing mass famine and death to the many people here on earth that love her. Where would we be without some kind of warming to counterbalance the inevitable plunge back into a frozen world?
Personally I'm less concerned about an ice age thousands of years in the future than I am about the total disruption in the world economy that we're facing in the next century due to AGW.
That image of "mother nature" is beautiful and fine example of the human imagination to see things that are evocative. I suggest those are tears of joy on learning that yet another boreal growing season has passed without killing frosts wiping out our crops and causing mass famine and death to the many people here on earth that love her. Where would we be without some kind of warming to counterbalance the inevitable plunge back into a frozen world??
I wasnât sure where to put this Coby, I suggest you have a topic titled âGW propagandaâ as this is where this post should reside.
I wait with much anticipation at Bob Geldofs latest attempt to resurrect his one hit wonder career as you can see below it should be a real hoot. This musical love in will rival the halcyon days of the 1960âs.
"MIDNIGHT Oil's hit song Beds are Burning is to be recorded by a group of 55 world celebrities, including British rock group Duran Duran and Irish singer/composer Bob Geldof, who have joined together to draw attention to the global warming crisis, organisers say."
w.w.w.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,26074691-5005962,00.html
Most of Midnight Oils songs were protest songs, for example âbeds are burningâ was written to highlight the plight of the Australian Aborigines, but here is Bob turning it into a song to combat the GW crisis. The lyrics of the song are as follows:
Beds are burning
Out where the river broke
The bloodwood and the desert oak
Holden wrecks and boiling diesels
Steam in forty five degrees
The time has come
To say fair's fair
To pay the rent
To pay our share
The time has come
A fact's a fact
It belongs to them
Let's give it back
How can we dance when our earth is turning
How do we sleep while our beds are burning
Four wheels scare the cockatoos
From Kintore East to Yuendemu
The western desert lives and breathes
In forty five degrees
In fact I think Bob is onto something here, all of his previous attempts to reignite his career have failed but not now. You see once this little propaganda stunt has run its course and his whining voice grates on political nerves enough to stop AGW he can then go on to stop the production of nuclear power plants with this Midnight Oil song.
Harrisburg
The empire rings
The umpire's not laughing
The President's resented,
The Ambassador's a night club
You cannot get it out
It's stuff you cannot taste or see
It's stuff you cannot smell
It's stuff that's twenty times as hot
As the hottest stuff in hell
Harrisburg, oh Harrisburg
The plant is melting down
The people out in Harrisburg
Are getting out of town
And when the stuff gets in
You cannot get it out
The company said it would not blow
The Government said it might
Harrisburg, Oh Harrisburg
I wonder who was right
Who can leave it behind,
The curtains are drawn
There's something I must say to you
You cannot get it out
But it does not end there, no sureee Bob his next little adventure can be to stop the US led Christian Crusades in the middle east with this Midnight Oil song.
US Forces
US Forces give the nod, it's a setback for your country
Bombs and trenches all in rows, bombs and threats still ask for more
Divided world the CIA, who controls the issue
You leave us with no time to talk, you can write your assessment
Sing me songs of no denying, seems to me too many trying
Waiting for the next big thing
Will you know it when you see it, high risk children dogs of war
Now market movements call the shots, business deals in parking lots
Waiting for the meat of tomorrow
Sing me songs...
Everyone is too stoned to start emission
People too scared to go to prison
We're unable to make decision
Political party line don't cross that floor
L. Ron Hubbard can't save your life
Superboy takes a plutonium wife
In the shadow of Ban The Bomb we live
Sing me songs...
Or if he finds this to sensitive for American ears maybe he can go around the world kicking out all the tin pot dictators he can find with this Midnight Oil song.
When the Generals talk
Up there on the platform
He is speaking to the people
The people are responding
With clapping and a'cheering
But the meaning of the message
Not revealed to those assembled
They're taken for a ride
Taken In his stride
When the Generals talk
You better listen to him
When the Generals talk
You better do what he say
There's a rumour in the ranking
Someone's talking insurrection
So the General has a purge
'Cos he wants to win elections
With the certain satisfaction
That the people are appeased
Long live the revoluton
The General's very pleased
Sitting on the fence both ears to the ground
The fat cats still push the thin cats around
And then his world wind tour of protest can end in all the countries that have nuclear weapons (this includes Israel) where he can perform this little Midnight Oil number.
Put down that weapon
Under the waterline
No place to retire
To another time
The eyes of the world now turn
And if we think about it
And if we talk about it
And if the skies go dark with rain
Can you tell me will our freedom remain
Put down that weapon or we'll all be gone
You can't hide nowhere with the torchlight on
And it happens to be an emergency
Some things aren't meant to be
Some things don't come for free
Above the waterline
Point the finger yeah point the bone
It's the harbour towns
That the grey metal ships call home
And if we think about it
And if we talk about it
And if the seas go boiling black
Can you tell me what you'll do about that
Put down that weapon or we'll all be gone
I must know something to know it's so wrong
And it happens to be an emergency
Some things aren't meant to be
Some things don't come for free
They keep talking about it
They keep talking...
Put down that weapon or we'll all be gone
You must be crazy if you think you're strong
Just a short note about Peter Garret, Garret was the lead singer of Midnight Oil and when the band broke up he went into politics, he was elected to parliament as a Greens minister on the back of his green credentials. However this did not last very long, Very quickly Peter sold his political soul and joined the Labor party where he is now the minister for the environment.
So far Peter has given approval for a wood chip mill in Tasmania to chop down old growth forest (some of the oldest in the world).
He has played a large role in overturning Labors âset in stoneâ two mine policy (uranium) and allowed a third mine to open, he played a large role in selling uranium to India who is not a signatory to the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty (NNPT) but yet lambasts Iran who has signed.
He has just given approval for the massive Gorgon gas and oil fields to be mined in the North West cape, he has a string of other similar anti green anti environment victories to his name. It is now fair to say that Garret is the (well one of many) laughing stocks of Australian politics.