Another week of GW News: October 11, 2009

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(sorry to be late this week!)

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Another week of Climate Disruption News

October 11, 2009

• Chuckle, Bangkok, Tripati et al., 4 Degrees, World Bank, Cosmic Rays , Bottom Line, Planetary Boundaries, GDCA
• Melting Arctic, Methane, Geopolitics, Antarctica
• Food Crisis, Food vs. Biofuel, _Famine_, Food Production
• Hurricanes, Monsoon, GHGs, Temperatures, Feedbacks, Aerosols, Paleoclimate ENSO, Glaciers, Sea Levels, Satellites
• Impacts, Forests, Corals, Climate Refugees, Desertification, Wacky Weather, Wildfires, Floods & Droughts
• Mitigation, Transportation, Buildings, Sequestration, Geoengineering
• Journals, Misc. Science, Leggett
• Kyoto, Copenhagen, UN, Carbon Trade, Optimal Carbon Reduction Strategy
• Politics:International, Security, Law & Activism
• America, Obama, Britain, Europe, Australia, China, Asia, Russia, Canada
• Ecological Economics, IPAT, Apocalypso, Media, Books, Video, Courts, Betting
• Energy, Fracking, Wind, Solar, Coal, Biofuel, Nukes, Peak Oil, Grid, Cars, C4C
• Joe's List, Carbon Lobby, Miscellaneous Climate, Useful Links
• Shameless Self Promotion, .sig

It's nice to start with a smile, even when the news is grim:

• 2009/10/07: BRitholtz: (cartoon - Keefe) Cash for Clunkers Withdrawal
• 2009/10/07: uComics: (cartoon - Toles) US Climate Denial

  The Bangkok climate talks dissolved in rancour and accusations:

• UNFCCC: Bangkok Climate Change Talks - 2009
• 2009/10/10: Reuters: Indian minister urges pared down climate deal
• 2009/10/10: Yahoo:Reuters: China says rich countries undercut climate talks
  China accused rich countries of undermining key elements of an international climate change agreement that nations hope to agree by the end of 2009, adding to a chorus of discord over the negotiations. Su Wei, who led Beijing's delegation to climate treaty talks in Bangkok that ended on Friday, said splits over the framework for a new pact to fight global warming remained "quite large," just two months before negotiations culminate in Copenhagen.
• 2009/10/09: UNEP: UN Climate Change Negotiations result in more clarity on 'bricks and mortar' of Copenhagen agreed outcome
• 2009/10/09: CCurrents: Climate Change: Hollow Rhetoric
• 2009/10/08: CCurrents: Climate Change: A Lack Of Urgency In Bangkok?
• 2009/10/09: Guardian(UK): Bangkok climate talks end in recrimination
  Bitter delegates say no agreement on money or emissions cuts means a deal at Copenhagen will be weak at best
• 2009/10/09: Guardian(UK): Climate talks end with diplomats looking to Obama for leadership
• 2009/10/09: UN: Nations must look beyond self interests to ensure successful climate deal - UN official
  'Sealing the deal' on a successful new climate change pact at December's Copenhagen conference will require nations to look beyond their own interests since "significant differences remain," a top United Nations official said today as the latest round of negotiations wrapped up. "A will has emerged in Bangkok to build the architecture to rapidly implement climate action," said Yvo de Boer, Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), at the end of the two-week talks in the Thai capital attended by some 4,000 people. But he emphasized that "it is time now to step back from self interest and let the common interest prevail."
• 2009/10/09: NatureN: Climate talks stumble in Bangkok -- UN negotiators clash over how to succeed the Kyoto Protocol
• 2009/10/09: ABC(Au): No agreement at Bangkok climate talks
• 2009/10/09: PhysOrg: Climate talks ending with rich-poor rift wide open
• 2009/10/09: IPSNews: Developing Nations Refuse to Ditch Kyoto Protocol
  Bangkok - As the countdown continues towards a United Nations climate change summit in Copenhagen in December, a seemingly intractable tussle between negotiators from the developing and developed world has begun to take shape over international commitments to slash greenhouse gas (GhG) emissions. At the heart of this dispute is the fate of the Kyoto Protocol, a global environmental treaty aimed to slow down the pace of a rapidly heating planet. In December 2007, the hopes offered through the protocol seemed very much alive following a U.N. climate change summit in the Indonesian resort island of Bali. But signs of the Bali Action Plan (BAP) unravelling during the two-week long U.N. climate change talks in Bangkok have become more stark since negotiations commenced here on Sep. 28.
• 2009/10/09: Dawn(Pk): Climate talks concluding with rich-poor rift wide open
• 2009/10/08: TerraDaily: Climate negotiators look to world leaders for boost
  UN climate negotiations are making real progress, but will fail to lay the foundation for a global treaty without a major push from world leaders, the UN climate chief said Thursday. "There is a general sense that this process needs the backing of political leaders at the highest level in order to get to a result," said Yvo de Boer, Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
• 2009/10/09: OilChange: Rich should "rise to the challenge rather than race to the bottom"
  For all the people who dared to dream that some kind of deal could be realised at Copenhagen comes the cold reality that time is basically running out. Fast. And there is less than sixty days to go. The Bangkok talks have ended in failure.
• 2009/10/09: Forbes:AP: UN talks to end without deal on crucial issues
• 2009/10/09: BBC: The latest round of UN climate talks in Bangkok has ended with deep divisions over the shape of a new global treaty
• 2009/10/08: DeSmogBlog: EU, US screwing up climate talks in Bangkok
• 2009/10/08: Guardian(UK): Bangkok diary: acronyms, ambition and underwater meetings
• 2009/10/08: UN: Successful climate deal hangs on emissions cuts and financing -- UN official
• 2009/10/07: Reuters: Senior G77 members protest steps to change Kyoto pact
• 2009/10/08: EarthTimes: Climate-change talks run into 'stark reality' of politics - Summary
• 2009/10/08: Reuters: Rich nations need to ante-up in climate talks-U.N.
• 2009/10/07: NewKerala: China comes out in public support of Indian idea in climate talks
  Bangkok: "Each person is entitled to his fair share of global atmospheric space," China's chief climate negotiator Yu Qingtai said Wednesday, publicly placing for the first time Chinese support to this concept formulated by India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. As the Sep 28-Oct 9 talks here in preparation for this December's climate summit in Copenhagen threatened to get nowhere due to acrimony between developed and developing countries, Yu said: "The (greenhouse gas) emission aggregate of a country does not stand alone. Each person is entitled to his fair share of global atmospheric space.
• 2009/10/07: Guardian(UK): US threatens to derail climate talks by refusing to include Kyoto targets
  Protocol seen as basis for Copenhagen negotiations but America refuses to be 'stuck with agreement 20 years old' The US threatened to derail a deal on global climate change today in a public showdown with China by expressing deep opposition to the existing Kyoto protocol. The US team also urged other rich countries to join it in setting up a new legal agreement which would, unlike Kyoto, force all countries to reduce emissions. In a further development, the EU sided strongly with the US in seeking a new agreement, but said that it hoped the best elements of Kyoto could be kept. China and many developing countries immediately hit back stating that the protocol, the world's only legally binding commitment to get countries to reduce emissions, was "not negotiable".
• 2009/10/07: EurActiv: UN climate talks: China envoy slams rich countries
  China hit out at rich nations at international climate talks in Bangkok yesterday (6 October), saying failure to honour past climate commitments was undermining UN-led efforts to try to seal a broader pact in December to fight global warming. Speaking on the sidelines of talks in the Thai capital, Yu Qingtai, China's special envoy for climate change, said some nations needed to do some "deep soul-searching". "What is happening right now in these negotiations is not very encouraging to say the least," Yu said, repeating a fear he expressed on Monday that some nations were trying to "terminate" the Kyoto Protocol, the UN's top weapon to curb climate change. "Are we serious about the commitments that we undertake? Are we serious about the agreements that we reach? Do we have the political will to act on the basis on what we say?"
• 2009/10/07: Reuters: Mexico calls U.S. a "stumbling block" in U.N. climate talks
• 2009/10/06: Reuters: China says rich need to honour climate commitments [Interview with Yu Qingtai, China's special envoy for climate change]
• 2009/10/07: IndiaTimes: US demands India, others put emission cutting actions under scrutiny
  With seven days of negotiations remaining before Copenhagen, the industrialised countries have still not made a single offer of financial compensation to poor and developing countries for their mitigation actions. At Bangkok negotiations, the US turned around instead to demand that India and other developing countries put their entire set of emissions reducing actions under international scrutiny. The move by US was met with expected opposition from developing countries with G77 deciding to turn it into a non-negotiable issue.
• 2009/10/07: Reuters: Senior G77 members protest steps to change Kyoto pact
  Senior G77 members walked out of a meeting during climate talks in the Thai capital saying they would not discuss a future without the Kyoto Protocol climate pact, delegates said on Wednesday. South Africa's lead negotiator, China and OPEC countries left the informal session late on Tuesday that was discussing the shape of new climate agreement that would bind all nations in the fight against climate change. Tensions have been rising during marathon U.N. climate talks in Bangkok that end on Friday over accusations rich nations are trying to kill off Kyoto, which binds 37 industrialized nations to emissions targets during its 2008-12 first commitment period. The question negotiators are wrestling with is whether to extend Kyoto into a second commitment period from 2013, amend the pact or create a new one, a step many developing nations resist.
• 2009/10/07: Reuters: Mexico calls U.S. a "stumbling block" in U.N. climate talks
• 2009/10/06: NatureCF: Bangkok negotiations: US concedes on funding as accusations fly
• 2009/10/06: PlanetArk: Poor Nations CO2 Curbs Strengthen Hand In U.N. Talks
  In the game of climate poker, developing nations might feel they have the right cards on the table in U.N. talks after ramping up efforts to curb greenhouse gas output. China, India, South Korea and other emerging economic powers have announced a series of measures this year to make their economies greener and limit the increase of carbon dioxide emissions from their farms, forests and factories. The question is whether these domestic steps are enough to seal a new global climate deal, prompt rich nations to toughen their emissions reduction pledges and lead to billions in annual financing to help poorer countries fight global warming.
• 2009/10/05: Google:CP: China accuses industrialized nations of slowing progress on UN climate talks
• 2009/10/06: BangkokPost: Kyoto climate debate talks start to heat up -- Negotiators struggle to agree on global treaty
• 2009/10/05: Telegraph(UK): China: US is sabotaging Copenhagen climate treaty by 'changing Kyoto rules'
  The US and other rich countries are "sabotaging" the Kyoto protocol, the only international treaty in force that fights global warming, by rejecting their historical responsibilities, China and 130 other developing nations have said in coordinated statements.
• 2009/10/05: Google:AFP: 'No global climate accord without US backing' [says Connie Hedegaard, Danish minister for climate and energy]
• 2009/10/06: TerraDaily: India wants less 'evangelical' climate talks
• 2009/10/05: TerraDaily: China: Climate talks sabotaged
• 2009/10/05: Guardian(UK): China leads accusation that rich nations are trying to sabotage climate treaty
  Angry statement from 131 countries at climate talks in Bangkok claims rich nations are rejecting historical responsibilities
• 2009/10/05: Guardian(UK): Secrecy prevails at Bangkok climate talks
  The EU and rich nations are making themselves inaccessible to the press in Bangkok and the developing countries are furious
• 2009/10/05: Reuters: Rich nations trying to kill Kyoto pact, says China
  China and a top G77 official accused rich nations on Monday of trying to kill off the Kyoto Protocol, the U.N.'s main weapon in the fight against global warming, as nations try to craft a broader climate pact. Delegates from about 180 nations are meeting in the Thai capital trying to bridge differences over a draft negotiating text that will allow all countries to deepen efforts to slow the pace of climate change. The United Nations hopes a major climate meeting in Copenhagen in December will lead to a broader framework to expand or replace Kyoto, whose first phase ends in 2012. The talks are deadlocked on rich nations toughening their commitments to cut emissions by 2020 and climate funds to help poorer nations adapt to the impacts of climate change, invest in clean energy and how to manage those funds. "It has become self-evident and actually clear that the intention of the developed countries is to kill off the Kyoto Protocol," Lumumba D'Aping, who chairs the G77 plus China negotiating group, told reporters.
• 2009/10/05: IndiaTimes: Impasse over emission may continue
  It would appear that India need not worry about being the 'deal breaker' at Copenhagen summit on climate change. At the last major negotiating session prior to the December conference, which is underway in Bangkok, developed countries continue to resist demands for tougher and broader emission cuts. The effort to ensure that funding for developing countries to pursue mitigation measures has also been considerably slow. Lack of progress on these two fronts, which form the core of the demands of the developing countries, could endanger an outcome at Copenhagen.
• 2009/10/05: TreeHugger: China Says US & Rich Nations Sabotaging Climate Treaty
• 2009/10/05: EarthTimes: EU sees progress in Bangkok climate talks
• 2009/10/05: EarthTimes: China accuses developed countries of sabotaging climate treaty

  A paper by Tripati et al. reporting CO2 levels over the last 20 million years has raised alarm bells:

• 2009/10/08: Science: (ab$) Coupling of CO2 and Ice Sheet Stability Over Major Climate Transitions of the Last 20 Million Years by Aradhna K. Tripati et al.
• 2009/10/09: CCP: A. K. Tripati, C. D. Roberts & R. A. Eagle, Science (2009): Coupling of CO2 and ice sheet stability over major climate transitions of the last 20 million years
• 2009/10/11: HotTopic: Deep time, deep water
  The last time CO2 hit a sustained level of 400 ppm 15-20 million years ago global average temperatures were 3 - 6ºC warmer than now, and sea level was 25 to 40 m higher, according to research released last week. That's bad news, because the target for current international negotiations to find a successor to Kyoto is 450 ppm.
• 2009/10/08: Time: Fossils Suggest an Ancient CO2-Climate Link
• 2009/10/10: BBC: 'Scary' climate message from past
  A new historical record of carbon dioxide levels suggests current political targets on climate may be "playing with fire", scientists say. Researchers used ocean sediments to plot CO2 levels back 20 million years. Levels similar to those now commonly regarded as adequate to tackle climate change were associated with sea levels 25-40m (80-130 ft) higher than today.
• 2009/10/08: Eureka: Last time carbon dioxide levels were this high: 15 million years ago, scientists report
• 2009/10/08: PhysOrg: Last time carbon dioxide levels were this high: 15 million years ago, scientists report

  And they're still talking about the 4C degrees projections:

• 2009/10/10: CCurrents: Four Degrees Of Devastation
• 2009/10/07: CCP: Four-degree climate change -- alarmist or realist?

  The World Bank continues to demonstrate a difficulty in formulating a coherent policy:

• 2009/10/09: EurActiv: World Bank reaches out to EU for climate change synergies
  The World Bank is seeking synergies with the EU in an attempt to incorporate climate change considerations into the long-term economic planning of developing countries, Michele de Nevers, senior manager of the bank's environment department, told EurActiv.
• 2009/10/07: Grist: World Bank can't wean itself off fossil fuel lending
• 2009/10/06: Guardian(UK): America makes first move to allow independent fund for poor countries
  US breaks deadlock on organisations such as World Bank deciding how to allocate money for clean tech and adaptation

Real Climate wonders what is it about the galactic cosmic ray hypothesis?

• 2009/10/09: RealClimate: Why the continued interest?
• 2009/10/06: SciDaily: Cosmic Ray Decreases Affect Atmospheric Aerosols And Clouds [Svensmark]

  And on the Bottom Line:

• 2009/10/08: GulfTimes: Our low-carbon growth future by Nicholas Stern
• 2009/10/06: ClimateP: Study: 13 gigatonnes of annual CO2 cuts by 2020 -- 3/4 of what is needed for 450 ppm path globally -- can be met at net savings of $14 billion
• 2009/10/06: Grist: The economics of 350
• 2009/10/06: NRDC:SwitchBoard: Benefits of Addressing Global Warming Outweigh the Costs: Says International Energy Agency
• 2009/10/06: EarthTimes: Ten trillion dollars needed to combat global warming, agency [IEA] says
  Paris - Investments of some 10 trillion dollars (6.85 trillion euros) are necessary in the energy sector between the years 2010 and 2030 to fight global warming, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said Tuesday. That amount would represent 0.5 per cent of global GDP in 2020 and 1.1 per cent in 2030 and would achieve what the IEA describes as an "energy revolution," the stabilization of greenhouse gas emissions at 450 parts per million. "The message is simple and stark: If the world continues on the basis of today's energy and climate policies, the consequences of climate change will be severe," IEA executive director Nobuo Tanaka said while presenting the conclusions to a round of climate change talks in Bangkok.
• 2009/10/06: WSJ:EnvCap: Climate Costs: Can The World Really Afford to Roll Back Carbon Emissions? [Can the world afford not to?! -het]
• 2009/10/06: WaPo: New Report Details Costs of Cutting Greenhouse Gas Emissions
• 2009/10/05: Grist: What do we mean when we talk about the cost of climate legislation?

  The Planetary Boundaries story is still hanging around:

• 2009/10/04: MillerMcCune: Planetary Boundaries? Go Ask the Romans
  Scientists propose guardrails for how far mankind can push the planet tomorrow, while others examine how far collapsed civilizations pushed it yesterday.
• 2009/10/06: HotTopic: Nine ways to stuff up a planet

  GDCA approacheth:

• 2009/10/06: MongaBay: Global Day of Climate Action Approaches [Oct 24]

  The Arctic melt continues to garner a lot of attention:

• 2009/10/10: CBC: Arctic voyagers reach Halifax
  Three sailors who crossed the Northwest Passage this summer completed the final leg of their journey Saturday in Halifax harbour. Canadian Cameron Dueck and two Germans set sail from Victoria in early June, hoping to raise awareness about the impact of climate change in the Arctic. The 40-foot fibreglass yacht, Silent Sound, is one of the smallest vessels to sail the passage without the aid of an icebreaker, said Dueck. But such crossings are becoming more common as the summer ice in the Arctic continues to retreat, he said.
• 2009/10/07: PlanetArk: Vanishing Arctic Ice Shows No Sign Of Returning
• 2009/10/06: NSIDC: Arctic sea ice extent remains low; 2009 sees third-lowest mark
• 2009/10/07: ClimateShifts: Arctic sea ice extent remains low; 2009 sees third-lowest mark
• 2009/10/07: EarthTimes: Arctic sea ice at third-lowest mark since 1979
• 2009/10/06: Eureka: Arctic Sea ice extent is third lowest on record
• 2009/10/06: Eureka: Arctic sea ice recovers slightly in 2009, remains on downward trend, says U. of Colorado report

  A spectral Damocles sword hangs overhead:

• 2009/10/09: Reuters: Russian climate goal weak as "methane bomb" ticks

  As for the geopolitics of Arctic resources:

• 2009/10/08: Economist: The Arctic -- Mirror, mirror on the wall -- An icy conflict is far from inevitable, despite some heated talk
• 2009/10/07: TerraDaily: Melting Arctic poses new challenges, naval powers say
• 2009/10/06: Telegraph(UK): Is the Arctic ready to give up its treasures?
  Global warming could reveal lucrative reserves of untapped oil, gas and precious metals beneath the ice caps in the near future - but at what environmental cost?

While in Antarctica:

• 2009/10/08: CNN: NASA flights will study Antarctic ice changes
  First flight over Antarctic scheduled to take off October 15 from Punta Arenas, Chile - Technology onboard will help answer why the ice sheet is changing - Data will help predict how changes might contribute to a global rise in sea levels
• 2009/10/09: Eureka: NASA flies to Antarctica for largest airborne polar ice survey
• 2009/10/07: Eureka: Peering under the ice of a collapsing polar coast -- Low-level aerial surveys aim to understand rapid Antarctic melting
• 2009/10/06: PhysOrg: Antarctic expedition studies survival strategies of Weddell seals

  The food crisis is ongoing:

• 2009/10/11: Guardian(UK): Food, famine & climate change: India's scorched earth
  Suicide is the latest epidemic among farming communities as climate change parches the heart of India, destroying agriculture and plunging the poorest families into crippling debt
• 2009/10/11: Guardian(UK): Food, famine & climate change: How we feed the world on 85p
• 2009/10/11: Guardian(UK): How will climate change affect Britain's crops?
• 2009/10/11: Guardian(UK): How will the world feed itself in 40 years' time?
  By 2050, the predicted world population will require the resources of two Earths to sustain it. How can we possibly meet these demands?
• 2009/10/08: FAO: On horizon 2050 - billions needed for agriculture -- High-level forum to weigh investment needs
• 2009/10/09: TStar: Storms, war spell disaster for hungry -- UN struggles to ship aid despite increased need caused by climate shifts
• 2009/10/10: Guardian(UK): Climate change causing havoc to coffee and tea farmers, says Cafédirect -- Small growers forced to higher altitudes
• 2009/10/09: BBerg: Rice Production in India to Slump, FAO's Calpe Says
  Drought in India may slash rice output in the world's second-largest grower by about 18 percent this year, cutting global supplies available for importers, a United Nations official said. "Unless there is a lot of rain that allows them to replenish the reservoir, even the coming crop will be affected," Concepcion Calpe, senior economist at the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, said in an interview. "It will have an impact on trade next year."
• 2009/10/08: SeedDaily: Could Food Shortages Bring Down Civilization
• 2009/10/06: Guardian(UK): Sugar the new oil as prices soar
• 2009/10/04: BBC: Films chart despair of India's farm suicides [India pol]
  After drinking pesticide out of sheer desperation, poverty-stricken farmer Nandu collapsed. He did this on screen in front of an audience at a packed multiplex cinema, which issued a collective gasp. Nandu is just a character in a recent Indian film about farmer suicides. But his tragic fate has been a reality for thousands of farmers across India. For the first time, this dark aspect of Indian rural life has made it to the big screen.

The conflict between biofuel and food persists:

• 2009/10/05: Yale360: The Other Inconvenient Truth: The Crisis in Global Land Use
• 2009/10/06: Guardian(UK): The other inconvenient truth: the crisis in global land use

  A book you may find informative (not for the weak of heart):

• 2009/05/18: ClevelendPlainDealer: 'Famine: A Short History' by Cormac O Grada is a fascinating, tough and disturbing book
• 2009/10/: OSU:eHistory: [Book Review] _Famine: A Short History_ by Cormac à Gráda
• 2009/05/25: Rorotoko: Cormac O Grada on his book _Famine: A Short History_
• PrincetonPress: [Sample Chapter] _Famine: A Short History_ by Cormac à Gráda

  And how are we going to feed 9 billion?

• 2009/10/09: UN: Food aid from UN agency reaches 1.3 million Somalis
• 2009/10/07: SeedDaily: Calorie switch the key to feeding future billions: researchers
  Feeding Earth's expected population of nine billion by 2050 will need a switch in eating habits and farming practices if inequalities and environmental overload are to be avoided, French researchers said on Wednesday
• 2009/10/08: OilDrum: Saving Seeds: Is this the way to go?
• 2009/10/07: EnergyBulletin: Peak Oil and the Necessity of Transitioning to Regenerative Agriculture
• 2009/10/05: CCurrents: Food Supply Hangs In The Balance
• 2009/10/07: WpgSun: Unusually warm September worth millions for farmers
  A dismal summer that was often cool and overcast could have left Prairie farmers looking at near-empty bins, but instead many are reaping bumper crops thanks to an abnormally warm September.
• 2009/10/06: JFleck: Ag, Land Use and the Whole Crisis

  Typhoon Melor stalked Japan:

• 2009/10/09: PhysOrg: Earth from Space: Typhoon Melor
• 2009/10/08: Eureka: NASA's TRMM satellite captures Typhoon Melor as it reaches Japan
• 2009/10/08: EarthTimes: Typhoon Melor kills at least two in Japan
• 2009/10/08: EarthTimes: Typhoon [Melor] strikes Japan, leaving injured and stopping traffic
• 2009/10/07: Eureka: Typhoon Melor and Tropical Storm Parma mean double trouble in the western Pacific -- 1 NASA satellite [Aqua] gets 2 storms in 1 image
• 2009/10/08: CBC: Typhoon Melor kills 2 in Japan
• 2009/10/08: BBC: Typhoon [Melor] lashes Japan on landfall
• 2009/10/07: CBC: Japan braces for Typhoon Melor
• 2009/10/07: EarthTimes: Typhoon [Melor] expected to make landfall in Japan Thursday
• 2009/10/05: Eureka: 2 NASA satellites capture monster Super Typhoon Melor

  Parma turned back from Taiwan, but soaked the Phillipines twice:

• 2009/10/11: EarthTimes: Death toll from Philippine landslides rises to nearly 300
• 2009/10/10: CBS: Toll From Philippine Typhoons Tops 600
• 2009/10/07: WFP: Philippines: Choppers And Boats Brought In To Reach Hungry
• 2009/10/10: EarthTimes: Death toll tops 200 in Philippine floods, landslides
• 2009/10/09: Guardian(UK): Philippines landslides kill 160 after fresh floods
• 2009/10/09: UN: UNICEF chief meets with storm and flood victims in the Philippines
• 2009/10/09: Wunderground: Quiet in the Atlantic; Melor's rains headed for California; Parma kills 160
• 2009/10/09: EarthTimes: At least 131 dead in Philippine landslides, floods
• 2009/10/08: Eureka: The Philippines may finally get a break from Tropical Depression Parma
• 2009/10/09: CBC: Landslides leave 160 dead in Philippines [Parma]
• 2009/10/07: TerraDaily: Philippines warns of epidemics amid flood victims
• 2009/10/08: EarthTimes: Six people killed in landslides in northern Philippines [Parma]
• 2009/10/06: CNN: Submerged Manila faces disease threat
  Typhoon Parma leaves Philippines capital Manila partly submerged - Disease now a threat from stagnant standing water - Parma remains a threat -- continuing to dump rain on the city
• 2009/10/05: Eureka: NASA's Aqua Satellite sees Tropical Storm Parma lingering in the Luzon Strait
• 2009/10/05: EarthTimes: Typhoon Parma remains stationary in northern Philippines
• 2009/10/05: CBC: Parma weakens but still threatens Philippines -- Southeast Asian country reeling after 16 die

  Henri & Grace didn't do much in the Atlantic:

• 2009/10/08: Eureka: NASA satellite reveals a depressed and disorganized Henri
• 2009/10/08: Wunderground: Henri nearly dead
• 2009/10/07: Eureka: Henri born in Eastern Atlantic... could be short-lived
• 2009/10/07: Wunderground: Henri being torn apart by shear
• 2009/10/05: Eureka: A sudden Tropical Storm Grace explodes in far Eastern Atlantic
• 2009/10/05: CBC: Tropical storm Grace moving across Atlantic
• 2009/10/05: Wunderground: Surprise tropical storm forms near the Azores; Invest 91L has potential to develop

  While elsewhere in the hurricane wars:

• 2009/10/07: EarthTimes: Disaster preparedness spared Vietnam typhoon's full fury, EU says
• 2009/10/06: Wunderground: 91L develops a closed circulation; monsoon floods in India kill over 250
• 2009/10/05: Eureka: NASA satellite sees Olaf stretch out and fizzle over northwestern mainland Mexico
• 2009/10/05: EarthTimes: Vietnam typhoon [Ketsana] death toll hits 159

  As for the Monsoon:

• 2009/10/11: Guardian(UK): Monsoon threatens Sri Lankan refugees with 'humanitarian disaster', warns UN
• 2009/10/06: Eureka: Ancient China's sand dunes reveal unexpected dryness during heavy monsoon rains

  And on the GHG front:

• 2009/10/09: Guardian(UK): Developed country emissions pledges fall short, analysis shows
• 2009/10/07: PlanetArk: U.S. 2009 Carbon Emissions To Fall 5.9 Percent: EIA
• 2009/10/06: Guardian(UK): Carbon emissions will fall 3% due to recession, say [IEA] world energy analysts
• 2009/10/06: NatureTGB: The IEA's take on carbon emissions
• 2009/10/06: ABC(Au): Carbon dioxide emissions, the main driver of global warming, could fall 3 per cent worldwide in 2009 due to the global economic crisis, the International Energy Agency (IEA) has said
• 2009/10/06: Reuters: Major non-OECD must halt CO2 growth by 2020: IEA

  As for the temperature record:

• 2009/10/09: QuarkSoup: UAH's Sept Temperature
• 2009/10/09: BBC: What happened to global warming?
• 2009/10/10: ClimateP: Skeptical Science explains how we know global warming is happening: It's the oceans, stupid!
• 2009/10/08: NOAANews: NOAA: September Temperature Above-Average for the U.S.
• 2009/10/06: RealClimate: A warming pause?

  Yes we have feedbacks:

• 2009/10/08: CC: Re-visiting climate forcing/feedback concepts...

  Aerosols are making their presence felt:

• 2009/10/06: Eureka: Do dust particles curb climate change?

  While in the paleoclimate:

• 2009/10/07: EarthTimes: Temperatures of sea water fringing South Pole were tropical 50 million years ago

  On the ENSO front:

• 2009/10/08: NOAA:NCEP: El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) Diagnostic Discussion
  Synopsis: El Niño is expected to strengthen and last through the Northern Hemisphere winter 2009-2010.
• 2009/10/07: CNN: Is El Nino behind spate of Pacific typhoons?
  Spate of deadly storms have hit East Asia in recent weeks - Statistics show number of storms in Western Pacific in 2009 is below average - El Nino phenomenon likely culprit behind recent spate of Asia-Pacific storms

Glaciers are melting:

• 2009/10/09: NewScientist: Melting glaciers bring 1980s pollution revival
• 2009/10/06: TreeHugger: Black Soot Coating Himalayan Glaciers is Accelerating Melting
• 2009/10/06: SolveClimate: Colombia's Glaciers on Pace to Disappear Within 25 Years
• 2009/10/05: CNN: Himalayan glaciers could disappear by 2035 -- The high stakes of melting Himalayan glaciers
  Climate change has potential for conflict over water resources - Himalayan glaciers could disappear by 2035 according to IPCC - Conflict between countries possible; internal problems more likely - Holy river of Ganges could become seasonal and disrupt religious customs

Sea levels are rising:

• 2009/10/09: Eureka: Rising sea levels are increasing the risk of flooding along the south coast of England
• 2009/10/07: Grist: a sea change in climate -- As the land disappears, the Biloxi-Chitimacha tribe plans to abandon its ancestral Louisiana home
• 2009/10/06: PhysOrg: New coastland map could help strengthen sea defenses
  The 'Coastland Map' produced by scientists from Durham University and published in the Journal GSA Today, charts the post Ice-Age tilt of the UK and Ireland and current relative sea-level changes. According to the map, the sinking effect in the south could add between 10 and 33 per cent to the projected sea-level rises caused by global warming over the next century.
• 2009/10/06: TerraDaily: Mekong climate change risk, WWF warns
• 2009/10/05: FSU: How Will Future Sea-Level Rise Linked to Climate Change Affect Coastal Areas?
• 2009/10/05: Reuters: Climate change threatens many in Mekong region: WWF

  Meanwhile in near earth orbit:

• 2009/10/10: Wunderground: QuikSCAT satellite nearing failure; Congress poised to slash NOAA funding
• 2009/10/07: PhysOrg: Satellite data instrumental in combating desertification

  More GW impacts are being seen:

• 2009/10/10: al Jazeera: Focus: SOS Climate Change -- The 'ground zero' of climate change [Bangladesh]
• 2009/10/09: QuarkSoup: The Maldives
• 2009/10/09: CanWest: Climate change means winners and losers in fisheries: B.C. study
• 2009/10/09: LA Times: Pacific Ocean 'dead zone' in Northwest may be irreversible
  Oxygen depletion that is killing sea life off Oregon and Washington is probably caused by evolving wind conditions from climate change, rather than pollution, one oceanographer [Jack Barth, professor of physical oceanography at OSU] warns.
• 2009/10/08: Guardian(UK): Tropics face fish famine due to climate change, report warns
• 2009/10/07: IRIN: Cholera, climate change and El Niño
• 2009/10/08: Eureka: Tropical regions to be hardest hit by fisheries shifts caused by climate change: UBC research
• 2009/10/07: NatureN: Global warming may worsen locust swarms -- Ancient records link a hotter climate to more damaging infestations
• 2009/10/07: ABC(Au): Dust storm triggers ocean bloom
• 2009/10/07: EarthTimes: Sydney's red dust storm benefits environment
• 2009/10/05: CCurrents: Arctic Seas Turn To Acid
• 2009/10/05: TAMU: Man-Made Activities Affect Blue Haze
• 2009/10/06: EarthTimes: Aid groups call Asia's disasters 'wake-up call' on climate change
• 2009/10/06: Eureka: Climate change triggered dwarfism in soil-dwelling creatures of the past -- Ancient soil biota decreased in size by up to 46 percent during period 55 million years ago
• 2009/10/05: PhysOrg: Acidic clouds nourish world's oceans
  Scientists at the University of Leeds have proved that acid in the atmosphere breaks down large particles of iron found in dust into small and extremely soluble iron nanoparticles, which are more readily used by plankton.
• 2009/10/05: PhysOrg: Panama butterfly migrations linked to El Nino, climate change
• 2009/10/05: TDC: Altered climate forces cultural shift high in Andes
• 2009/10/05: PeakEnergy: Arctic seas turning to acid?
• 2009/10/05: CCP: Across Arctic, time may run out on timeless spectacle of migrating caribou; warming blamed
• 2009/10/04: STimes: Mighty caribou herds dwindle, warming blamed
  Here on the endlessly rolling and tussocky terrain of northwest Canada, where man has hunted caribou since the Stone Age, the vast antlered herds are fast growing thin. And it's not just here.

And then there are the world's forests:

• 2009/10/09: FAO: World Forestry Congress to meet in Buenos Aires -- Linking saving forests to climate change mitigation and sustainable livelihoods
• 2009/10/09: UN: Save the forests, help save the planet - UN agricultural official
• 2009/10/08: Guardian(UK): REDD comes with risks but there is no other choice than to try
  By rewarding transparency and accuracy, we can make the UN's forest protection scheme work
• 2009/10/07: NewScientist: Give forests back to local people to save them
• 2009/10/07: NRDC:SwitchBoard: Indonesia Announces Goals to Curb It's Deforestation Global Warming Emissions
• 2009/10/06: LAT:GreenSpace: Tropical forests: Will the U.S. ride to the rescue?
• 2009/10/06: Eureka: A tree's response to environmental changes: What can we expect over the next 100 years?
  Study explores how increasing CO2 concentrations may be affecting trees and water and carbon cycles
• 2009/10/07: WWF: Saving forests five times better than carbon capture for climate action: WWF Sweden
• 2009/10/06: TP:WR: Saving Ourselves By Saving The Forests
• 2009/10/05: Guardian(UK): UN's forest protection scheme at risk from organised crime, experts warn
  International police, politicians and conservationists warn that the UN's programme to cut carbon emissions by paying poor countries to preserve their forests is 'open to wide abuse'
• 2009/10/05: Guardian(UK): REDD in Africa: 'how we can earn money from air by harvesting carbon'

  Corals are dying:

• 2009/10/05: Maribo: More on the coral reef crisis
• 2009/10/09: ClimateShifts: Coping with Commitment
• 2009/10/06: ABC(Au): Marine researchers are warning increasing ocean acidity may starve corals to death
• 2009/10/05: PhysOrg: Corals 'could starve in high CO2'
• 2009/10/03: ClimateShifts: The coral reef crisis: The critical importance of <350 ppm CO2
• 2009/10/05: TreeHugger: Coral Bleaching Creates a Vicious Cycle of Further Bleaching and Disease

  Climate refugees are becoming an issue:

• 2009/10/09: SolveClimate: Environmental Refugees and the Definitions of Justice

  Desertification looms as a threat:

• 2009/10/07: ESA: Satellite data instrumental in combating desertification
• 2009/10/03: Yahoo:AFP: UN warns of 70 percent desertification by 2025

  Yes we have no wacky weather, except:

• 2009/10/10: CBC: Prairies greet winter early
• 2009/10/05: EarthTimes: Hundreds of cars trapped in snow in New Zealand -- unseasonal springtime snowfall, described as "a freak weather occurrence."

  As for heatwaves and wild fires:

• 2009/10/07: NewScientist: Scorched earth: Wildfires will change the way we live
• 2009/10/05: EarthTimes: Firefighters gain on California blaze
• 2009/10/04: CBC: Wildfire near Los Angeles forces 4,000 to leave

  And speaking of floods & droughts:

• 2009/10/11: TheAge: Water crisis as bad as a war: ALP
• 2009/10/11: BBC: Drought: Kenya's own banking crisis
  The drought which has hit East Africa is wreaking havoc among the region's pastoralists. Their herds of livestock have been decimated. Even the hardy camels are dying.
• 2009/10/10: CBC: Sicily mourns mudslide victims
  Thousands of people attended funeral services Saturday in the Sicilian city of Messina for the victims of deadly mudslides. At least 28 people were killed last week when rivers of mud tore down a mountainside, flooding entire towns.
• 2009/10/09: KSJT: Watery woes. Is it Climate Change? Nat'l Geographic on the Med's mucus; LA Times and the growing Oregon-Washington Dead Zone
• 2009/10/08: TerraDaily: Survivors of deadly India floods return to wrecked homes
• 2009/10/08: DotEarth: Even the Camels Are Dying
• 2009/10/08: CSM: After L.A. wildfire, danger of mudslides
• 2009/10/09: BBC: More than 90 people have been killed by flooding and landslides triggered by heavy rain in the northern Philippines, reports say
• 2009/10/07: EarthTimes: Death toll in India floods tops 300
• 2009/10/06: OpenDem: Central Asia's water problem
  A regional crisis created mainly by disastrous Soviet policies will only be exacerbated by the challenges of climate change, a Kyrgyz water expert tells Isabel Hilton.
• 2009/10/07: BBC: India floods trigger food fears
  Heavy floods in southern India have damaged hundreds of millions of dollars worth of crops and could lead to severe food shortages, aid agencies say.
• 2009/10/06: EarthTimes: Death toll nears 300 in India floods
• 2009/10/06: EarthTimes: Landslide in western Nepal kills at least 12
• 2009/10/06: BBC: Flood misery in Andhra Pradesh -- The worst floods in more than 100 years...
• 2009/10/06: BBC: Jordan faces up to water crisis
• 2009/10/05: Guardian(UK): Climate change 'threatens UK capital's wildlife with floods and drought'
• 2009/10/05: ClimateP: Weather Channel expert on Georgia's record-smashing global-warming-type deluge
• 2009/10/05: BBC: Race to help India flood stranded
  A massive rescue and relief operation is under way after severe flooding in southern India left more than 230 dead and millions without homes. More than 350 villages are still marooned after five days of heavy rain in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka states. Rainfall has eased in the worst affected state of Karnataka but many farms have been destroyed. The rains have come late. Only last week the government said India had been hit by the worst drought in 40 years.
• 2009/10/04: CBC: Torrential rains in southern India kill 205
  Five days of torrential rain caused severe flooding in southern India, killing 205 people and displacing 750,000, authorities said Sunday. The floods submerged villages, wrecked transportation and communication links and raised concerns of disease spreading in relief camps.

Elsewhere on the mitigation front:

• 2009/10/07: PlanetArk: UK Researchers Aim To Prove Farm Climate Cure [biochar]
• 2009/10/07: WWF: Saving forests five times better than carbon capture for climate action: WWF Sweden
• 2009/10/05: TreeHugger: Agriculture to Play a Major Role in Mitigating Climate Change

  Consider transportation & GHG production:

• 2009/10/07: EconView: "The State Put Railways on the Map"
• 2009/10/07: PlanetArk: Climate Pundit [Porritt] Seeks Faster CO2 Shipping Cuts
  The United Nation's shipping agency must move faster to introduce mandatory efficiency measures for vessels, veteran environmental campaigner Jonathon Porritt said on Tuesday. Failure do to so could result in a solution being imposed on the shipping industry by the European Union and others, he said. Shipping and aviation are the only industry sectors not regulated under the Kyoto Protocol, which sets targets for greenhouse gas emissions by rich countries from 2008-12.
• 2009/10/06: Yahoo:AFP: IATA says taxes and levies no quick-fix for climate change
  The aviation industry on Tuesday urged governments against using taxes and levies on airlines as a quick-fix solution to cutting harmful gas emissions.
• 2009/10/05: SolveClimate: High-Speed Rail Study Shows US Potential, but Where's the Funding?
• 2009/10/02: E&C: High Speed Rail: A No-Brainer -- The Transformation of Transportation

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

• 2009/10/09: DM:DB: Color-Changing Solar Tiles Will Blow Your Mind, Heat Your House

  And on the carbon sequestration front:

• 2009/10/08: FuturePundit: Problems With Coal CO2 Capture For Sequestration
• 2009/10/08: JSOnline: We Energies says carbon-capture project works -- Emissions scrubbed at coal plant
  Pleasant Prairie - An $8 million pilot project in Wisconsin successfully showed that carbon dioxide can be captured and kept from being released from the smokestacks of coal-fired power plants, We Energies and two partners said Thursday. The project was the first real-life demonstration of technology that uses chilled ammonia to act as a magnet to capture the greenhouse gas and purify it for possible shipment into underground geological formations instead of into the air. The Wisconsin project, at the Pleasant Prairie Power Plant, was able to grab at least 90% of the greenhouse gas, officials said, and the French company Alstom that developed the technology is optimistic its next test will capture even more carbon dioxide.
• 2009/10/09: AutoBG: Coal plants could emit 90% less CO2 thanks to chilled ammonia
• 2009/10/08: KSJT: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Enviro writers get some news -- carbon capture works at Wisconsin coal plant
• 2009/10/08: SciDaily: Nitrogen Deposition Limits Climate Change Impacts On Carbon Sequestration
  [...] Research results, based on measurements at hundreds of European forest monitoring plots, however, indicate that the effects of climate change and CO2 increase are overestimated when neglecting the limitation induced by low nitrogen availability. Low availability of other nutrients, such as calcium and magnesium, can also limit the growth.
• 2009/10/07: EurActiv: EU lines up multi-million carbon capture projects
  The European Commission last week proposed six carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects that are to receive a total of 1.05 billion euros to help commercialise the low-carbon technology
• 2009/10/06: NYT:GreenInc: Canadian Study Scrutinizes Carbon Capture
• 2009/10/05: NatureTGB: Carbon capture funding rumours: every little 180 million euros helps

  Large scale geo-engineering keeps popping up:

• 2009/10/09: ABC(Au): Snowy cloud seeding results 'average'
  It is unclear what extra run-off has been generated by a near doubling in the size of the cloud seeding trial area in the Snowy Mountains. The sixth season of cloud seeding has been labelled average, despite 10 more generator sites operating this year.
• 2009/10/08: NatureCF: Injecting sulphates into the stratosphere: pros and cons
• 2009/10/08: Yale360: Pulling CO2 from the Air: Promising Idea, Big Price Tag
• 2009/10/08: TreeHugger: CO2 Scrubbing Artificial Trees Won't Save Us - Need Massive Investment, Colossal Infrastructure
• 2009/10/05: TreeHugger: Ocean Iron Fertilization for Geoengineering Should Be Abandoned

  Meanwhile in the journals:

• 2009/10/08: Science: (ab$) Coupling of CO2 and Ice Sheet Stability Over Major Climate Transitions of the Last 20 Million Years by Aradhna K. Tripati et al.
• 2009/10/05: NERC:NORA: Can CO2 hydrate assist in the underground storage of carbon dioxide? by Christopher Rochelle et al.
• 2009/04/26: GRL: (ab$) Anatomy of a Dansgaard-Oeschger warming transition: High-resolution analysis of the North Greenland Ice Core Project ice core by Elizabeth R. Thomas et al.
• 2009/10/08: AGWObserver: Papers on carbon dioxide absorption properties in atmosphere
• 2009/10/09: ACP: Cloud condensation nuclei in pristine tropical rainforest air of Amazonia: size-resolved measurements and modeling of atmospheric aerosol composition and CCN activity by S. S. Gunthe et al.
• 2009/10/09: ACPD: Comparison of a global-climate model to a cloud-system resolving model for the long-term response of thin stratocumulus clouds to preindustrial and present-day aerosol conditions by S. S. Lee & J. E. Penner
• 2009/10/09: ACPD: The net climate impact of coal-fired power plant emissions by D. T. Shindell & G. Faluvegi
• 2009/10/08: ACPD: Saharan dust infrared optical depth and altitude retrieved from AIRS: a focus over North Atlantic -- comparison to MODIS and CALIPSO by S. Peyridieu et al.
• 2009/10/08: CP: A few prospective ideas on climate reconstruction: from a statistical single proxy approach towards a multi-proxy and dynamical approach by J. Guiot et al.
• 2009/10/08: CPD: Post-depositional changes in snow isotope content: preliminary results of laboratory experiments by A. A. Ekaykin et al.
• 2009/10/06: TCD: Assessing high altitude glacier volume change and remaining thickness using cost-efficient scientific techniques: the case of Nevado Coropuna (Peru) by P. Peduzzi et al.
• 2009/10/05: AGWObserver: Papers on atmospheric measurements of GHGs
• 2009/10/06: ACPD: Arctic sea-ice extent and its effect on the absorbed (net) solar flux at the surface, based on ISCCP-D2 cloud data for 1983-2007 by C. Matsoukas et al.
• 2009/10/06: ACPD: What caused extreme ozone concentrations over Cotonou in December 2005? by A. Minga et al.
• 2009/10/06: PNAS: Functionally diverse reef-fish communities ameliorate coral disease by Laurie J. Raymundo et al.
• 2009/10/06: PNAS: [Letter$] Reply to Pfister and Hellweg: Water footprint accounting, impact assessment, and life-cycle assessment by Arjen Y. Hoekstra et al.
• 2009/10/06: PNAS: [Letter$] Reply to Maes et al.: A global estimate of the water footprint of Jatropha curcas under limited data availability by Winnie Gerbens-Leenes et al.
• 2009/10/06: PNAS: [Letter$] Reply to Baird et al.: Mangroves and storm protection: Getting the numbers right by Jeffrey R. Vincent & Saudamini Das
• 2009/10/06: PNAS: [Letter$] Do mangroves provide an effective barrier to storm surges? by Andrew H. Baird et al.
• 2009/10/02: GRL: Total solar irradiance during the Holocene by F. Steinhilber et al.

  And other significant documents:

• NRDC: [link to 2.7 meg pdf] Cultivating Clean Energy -- The Promise of Algae Biofuels
• 2009/09/: WRI: [link to 213k pdf] Comparability of Annex I Emission Reduction Pledges by Kelly Levin & Rob Bradley

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

• 2009/10/09: MTobis: Ludeke, Petschel-Held and Schellnhuber
• 2009/10/08: PhysOrg: Climate models don't tell the full story
• 2009/10/09: PhysOrg: Key new ingredient in climate model refines global predictions
  For the first time, climate scientists from across the country have successfully incorporated the nitrogen cycle into global simulations for climate change, questioning previous assumptions regarding carbon feedback and potentially helping to refine model forecasts about global warming.

Jeremy Leggett Interview:

• 2009/10/05: EnergyBulletin: Jeremy Leggett Interview -- Culture Problem in the Oil Industry?

  Meanwhile on the Kyoto front:

• 2009/10/07: Google:AFP: Climate: What's to become of the Kyoto Protocol?
  Whether to tweak, bolster or bury the Kyoto Protocol -- the only binding global agreement for curbing greenhouse gases -- has become a red-hot issue as UN negotiators in Bangkok try to lay the groundwork for a successor treaty.
• 2009/10/07: Thaindian: Stay with Kyoto protocol, urges UN climate chief
  "When I have only one pair of shoes, it makes sense to stay with that pair." With these words, UN climate chief Yvo de Boer Wednesday came out clearly in favour of retaining the Kyoto Protocol to tackle global warming, despite strong efforts by many industrialised countries to dump it. The issue has become the main point of contention in the Sep 28-Oct 9 talks here in preparation for the climate summit in Copenhagen this December. India, China and other developing countries are strongly opposing what they see as attempts by the industrialised countries - led by the US - to do away with the protocol, which the US has not joined.
• 2009/10/07: Reuters: Senior G77 members protest steps to change Kyoto pact
• 2009/10/07: PhysOrg: Climate: What's to become of the Kyoto Protocol?

  And on the road to Copenhagen:

• 2009/10/08: Rabble: Climate politics on the way to Copenhagen
• 2009/10/09: Guardian(UK): Developed country emissions pledges fall short, analysis shows
• 2009/10/09: NRDC:SwitchBoard: Look Under the Hood of the Climate Negotiations (Getting the Copenhagen Agreement Running)
• 2009/10/09: EarthTimes: Climate talks leave tough political issues for Copenhagen
• 2009/10/09: EarthTimes: Bangkok climate talks leave tough political issues for Copenhagen
• 2009/10/09: BBerg: U.S. May Not Make Emissions Pledge in Copenhagen, [U.S. negotiator Jonathan] Pershing Says
• 2009/10/07: NewScientist: Climate pledges so far are nowhere near enough
• 2009/10/05: CCurrents: India Warms Up To Copenhagen
• 2009/10/06: Guardian(UK): Prepare for a Copenhagen compromise
• 2009/10/06: EurActiv: Danish minister sounds climate wake-up call
  With only 70 or so days to go before leaders meet to agree on a post-Kyoto climate deal in Copenhagen, there is a need to speed up negotiations and "make political choices," Danish Climate Change and Energy Minister Connie Hedegaard told EurActiv in an interview.
• 2009/10/06: ScienceInsider: Lots of Work to Do in Copenhagen
• 2009/10/05: ABC(Au): Copenhagen agreement in doubt

  While at the UN:

• 2009/10/07: UN: Humans undermine nature's help in war on climate change, UN agency warns
• 2009/10/06: UN: UN appeals for $74 million to help flood victims in Philippines
• 2009/10/05: UN: Information technologies vital to tackling climate change - UN Secretary-General

  And on the carbon trading front:

• 2009/10/08: KSJT: LA Times: The cap and trade and offset business gets a big endorsement in new study. UK's Guardian not so optimistic
• 2009/10/07: ABC(Au): ASX announces start for renewable energy trading
  The operator of Australia's futures market, the Australian Securities Exchange, will begin trade in renewable energy certificates from November 24. Renewable energy certificates, or RECs, are a form of currency that can be earned by installing solar panels, wind turbines and micro-hydro plants. Each certificate represents one megawatt hour of electricity generated from renewable energy.

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:

• 2009/10/05: Reuters: Renewables credits are not CO2 offsets: U.S. expert
• 2009/10/06: TreeHugger: UPS Offers CO2 Offsets to Its Customers, $0.05 to $0.20 Per Package
• 2009/10/05: Belfer: Cap-and-Trade versus the Alternatives for U.S. Climate Policy

  Meanwhile on the international political front:

• 2009/10/07: EUO: EU and US cities jointly commit to reducing carbon emissions
• 2009/10/06: EUO: Signs of new EU-Brazil alliance on climate change
• 2009/10/06: EarthTimes: EU, Brazil eye climate partnership ahead of Copenhagen

  As for GW & security:

• 2009/10/08: ABC(Au): Defence unmoved by climate change data
  The science of climate change is too doubtful to dramatically change Australia's national defence plans, according to a key adviser on the Australian Defence Force's recent White Paper. While the white paper acknowledges for the first time climate change is a potential security risk, it says large-scale strategic consequences of climate change are not likely to be felt before 2030. A key adviser on the white paper, Professor Ross Babbage, says he is not convinced that climate change exists at all.
• 2009/10/06: WSJ:EnvCap: Climate Spies: Should the CIA Worry About Climate Change?
• 2009/10/06: PhysOrg: Water scarcity will create global security concerns [says IPCC head, Rajendra Pachauri]

  The issue of the law and activism is playing out around the world as nations scramble to deal with climate change:

• 2009/10/11: ABC(Au): Protesters lock down coal mine
  Four people have chained themselves to the conveyor belt of a coal mine south of Sydney. The three women and one man, in their early 20s, are protesting against the expansion of BHP Billiton's Dendrobium coalmine near Wollongong. Police are at the site negotiating with the group.
• 2009/10/11: EarthTimes: Greenpeace attacks New Zealand dairy company for 'climate crime'
  Wellington - Seven activists of the international Greenpeace environment organization were arrested Sunday after painting a protest slogan on the side of an Indonesian ship unloading palm- kernel animal feed at the New Zealand port of New Plymouth.
• 2009/10/06: ABC(Au): Police to keep watch over [Helensburgh] coal mine protest

  And on the American political front:

• 2009/10/10: OpenLeft: The New Climate Change Denialism
• 2009/10/09: Grist: The place to be if you're young and you care about the climate: Power Shift '09
• 2009/10/09: NRDC:SwitchBoard: California on track to improve TV efficiency and lower consumers' electric bills
• 2009/10/08: USAToday: States not meeting renewable energy goals
• 2009/10/08: PlanetArk: The Michigan Experiment: Rust Belt State Strives for a Green Makeover
• 2009/10/08: TreeHugger: Northeast States Rush to Build Nation's First Offshore Wind Farm
• 2009/10/08: TreeHugger: 92% of Americans Want Solar Power... Now!
• 2009/10/08: TreeHugger: A Solar Village Pops Up on the National Mall
• 2009/10/08: DeSmogBlog: Bipartisan [Commission on Climate and Tropical Forests] Report Claims Solving the Climate Crisis "Depends on Tropical Forests"
• 2009/10/08: LA Times: U.S. companies may look abroad to fight global warming
  Firms could save billions by combating deforestation abroad instead of cleaning up their own emissions at home, [Commission on Climate and Tropical Forests] report says.
• 2009/10/07: Guardian(UK): Texas governor opposes cap-and-trade bill. No surprises there, then
  The Republican Rick Perry makes no attempt to tone down his hatred of the 'radical green energy crowd'
• 2009/10/07: HillHeat: Bingaman: Ted Turner Working 'To Persuade More People in the Senate to Assist with Climate Change Legislation'
• 2009/10/07: CSW: "Lessons learned" while building climate preparedness -- notes from Chicago, Pres. Obama's home town
• 2009/10/07: TreeHugger: Stop Crying Wolf! Cap-and-Trade Will Increase Farmer's Production Costs Less Than 1%
• 2009/10/06: ClimateP: Meg Whitman, former eBay CEO and occasional voter, wants to be governor of California so she can end its leadership in clean energy and destroy its climate
• 2009/10/05: WSJ:EnvCap: Ethanol Tax Credit Is Overkill, Government Watchdog [GAO] Finds

  The Chamber of Commerce imbroglio rolls on:

• 2009/10/07: MoJo: Inside the Chamber of Carbon
  Did the Chamber of Commerce break its own rules when it adopted the hard-line climate policy that scared off Nike and Apple?
• 2009/10/06: C411: Apple Joins List of Former U.S. Chamber Members
• 2009/10/08: C411: As the Chamber Turns: Update on U.S. Chamber vs. Climate Science
• 2009/10/09: ClimateP: PG&E CEO: We left Chamber Of Commerce because they lied to us about climate policy; Chu says "it's wonderful" companies are fleeing the Chamber
• 2009/10/08: TP:WR: PG&E CEO: We Left The U.S. Chamber Of Commerce Because They Lied To Us About Climate Policy
• 2009/10/08: Guardian(UK): White House gloats at chamber of commerce exodus over climate bill
• 2009/10/07: SamFacts: The U.S. Chamber of Commerce instantiates Marx's theory of ideology
• 2009/10/08: NatureTGB: Chamber of Commerce defends climate stance
• 2009/10/08: NRDC:SwitchBoard: Chamber Chief Donohue: The Environmentalists Did It
• 2009/10/07: ClimateP: The Chamber claims its "Board of Directors is the principal governing and policymaking body." Nike says that's false, and American Enterprise Institute agrees, calling the Chamber board "mostly ceremonial."
• 2009/10/07: NRDC:SwitchBoard: The Men Behind the Curtain: Setting the US Chamber's Climate Policy
• 2009/10/07: NRDC:SwitchBoard: Why Are American Companies Leaving the Chamber Ad Campaign
• 2009/10/07: NRDC:SwitchBoard: Microsoft: The Chamber Doesn't Speak for Us on Climate
• 2009/10/07: NRDC:SwitchBoard: US Chamber Reveals Policy-Making Process. Sort of
• 2009/10/06: NRDC:SwitchBoard: Chamber to Apple: Go Rot
• 2009/10/07: BSD: Pressure's on the Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce
• 2009/10/06: TerraDaily: Apple leaves US Chamber of Commerce over climate clash
• 2009/10/07: TP:WR: Chamber To Apple: You Don't Understand Our '21st Century Approach To Climate Change'
• 2009/10/06: Guardian(UK): Apple joins Chamber of Commerce exodus over climate change scepticism
• 2009/10/06: ClimateP: Apple shuffles off the nano-Chamber of Commerce over its 'frustrating' global warming denialism
• 2009/10/06: NRDC:SwitchBoard: Who Makes the Decisions at the Chamber of Commerce?
• 2009/10/05: NRDC:SwitchBoard: Apple Resigns from US Chamber over Climate
• 2009/10/06: DeSmogBlog: Apple Quits U.S. Chamber of Commerce Over Climate
• 2009/10/05: WSJ:EnvCap: Exodus: Apple Leaves Chamber of Commerce Over Climate Spat
• 2009/10/06: WaPo: Apple Leaves U.S. Chamber Over Its Climate Position
• 2009/10/06: SF Gate: Apple falls from chamber over stance on climate
• 2009/10/06: TriCityHerald: U.S. chamber is a dinosaur on climate change
• 2009/10/05: TP: Apple quits the U.S. Chamber of Commerce over its 'frustrating' global warming denialism
• 2009/10/05: NRDC:SwitchBoard: US Chamber of Contradictions

  The Obama chatter is nonstop:

• 2009/10/09: Grist: Looking beyond Copenhagen, with no Plan B
  President Obama's lieutenants put on their game faces as they fielded journalists' questions Friday, but there was a palpable sense that they know the game is already over going into the global talks on climate change in December. I wish I could say something different, but that's the sense I got as these key administration officials appeared here at the annual conference of the Society of Environmental Journalists. Former vice president Al Gore also tried to say a deal is possible at the COP15 negotiations in Copenhagen. But read between the lines, and it's clear that the administration is already focused on what happens after that.
• 2009/10/08: BBerg: Climate Talks Failure Would Embarrass Obama, EU Says
• 2009/10/06: Guardian(UK): Barack Obama demands carbon targets from US government offices
• 2009/10/06: NRDC:SwitchBoard: Obama issues executive order for greener and more efficient federal facilities and operations
• 2009/10/05: SolveClimate: Obama Gives Federal Agencies 90 Days to Set Greenhouse Gas Reduction Targets
• 2009/10/05: Reuters: Obama orders federal government to cut emissions

  The actions of the Obama administration are being watched closely:

• 2009/10/09: TreeHugger: Obama Spares 100,000 Acres from Bush-Approved Oil Drilling
• 2009/10/09: NYT: U.S. Blocks Oil Drilling at 60 Sites in Utah
  The Department of the Interior has frozen oil and gas development on 60 of 77 contested drilling sites in Utah, saying the process of leasing the land was rushed and badly flawed.
• 2009/10/08: Oregonian: Oregon groups attend White House business climate change forum
  Three Oregon companies and organizations attended a Clean Energy Economy Forum at the White House on Wednesday with top administration leaders on climate change. The White House officials called for a new energy policy that would encourage renewable energy and fight global warming while, they say, making U.S. firms more competitive worldwide. Energy Secretary Steven Chu, Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, and Assistant to the President for Energy and Climate Change Carol Browner headlined the meeting, intended to bring together businesses from throughout the nation. The officials reiterated President Obama's call for comprehensive energy and climate laws. They also answered questions and heard from business leaders and non-profits that have experience creating jobs while promoting energy independence.
• 2009/10/08: NewScientist: Roger Beachy: GM crop pioneer now US farm science chief
• 2009/10/07: Reuters: EPA carbon control seen fraught with problems
• 2009/10/07: TreeHugger: The White House Speaks Up for a Carbon Cap
• 2009/10/06: WVGazette: Manchin: EPA overstepped bounds
  Charleston, W.Va. -- Gov. Joe Manchin on Tuesday continued his criticism of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, calling its decision to more closely review mining permits in four states "cruel and inhumane." Last month, the EPA referred 79 pending mining permits, including 23 in West Virginia, to its water quality experts and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for more scrutiny.
• 2009/10/05: TreeHugger: EPA Making 10,000 Industrial Facilities Estimate & Publicly Report Greenhouse Gas Emissions
• 2009/10/05: OilChange: Senate Bill Will not be Signed before Copenhagen [Browner]
• 2009/10/05: SolveClimate: Obama Administration Releases First Funds for Elusive 'Clean Coal'
• 2009/10/04: Guardian(UK): US climate bill not likely this year, says Obama adviser
  Carol Browner's bleak view deepens concerns negotiations will fail to produce meaningful agreement in Copenhagen

As for what is going on in Congress:

• 2009/10/11: NYT: Yes We Can (Pass Climate Change Legislation) by Senator John Kerry (D-Ma) & Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC)
• 2009/10/11: ClimateP: Breakthrough Senate climate partnership: Graham (R-SC) and Kerry (D-Ma) join forces...
• 2009/10/10: Wunderground: QuikSCAT satellite nearing failure; Congress poised to slash NOAA funding
• 2009/10/08: ClimateP: Lindsay Graham (R-SC): "If you had a bill that would allow for responsible offshore drilling, a robust nuclear power title, I think you could get some Republican votes for a cap-and-trade system."
• 2009/10/08: NYT:GW: Fight Brewing Over Possible Rider to Weaken Air Pollution Regs for Ships
  Clean air advocates are girding for a battle over a possible amendment to the annual U.S. EPA spending bill that would weaken the agency's ability to regulate air pollution from oceangoing vessels. [...] "We're shocked that a Democratic Congress would even consider attacking the Obama EPA on such a critical public health issue," said Frank O'Donnell, president of Clean Air Watch.
• 2009/10/07: TreeHugger: CIA Climate Change Office Under Attack Before It Even Opens
• 2009/10/05: ClimateP: Senate Climate Debate: Calling All Green Dog Dems
• 2009/10/05: TP:WR: American Companies Tell The Senate: 'We Can Lead' On Clean Energy
• 2009/10/05: ScienceInsider: Congress Dubs Energy Hubs Mostly Duds
• 2009/10/05: ClimateP: Sen. Barrasso (R-WY) seeks to block intelligence on the national security threat posed by climate change...

  Kerry-Boxer aka CEJAPA defines a battleline:

• 2009/10/07: Grist: Climate bill breakdown
• 2009/10/07: Grist: Are there GOP senators who will back the climate bill?
• 2009/10/08: Grist: How Senate Dems should lure Republicans to a climate bill
• 2009/10/08: AlterNet: Senate Climate Bill Revealed: A Quick Guide
• 2009/10/07: ClimateP: Carol Browner says clean energy bill without carbon cap would be a "big mistake"; Nobelist Chu agrees, warning we otherwise face catastrophe, with St. Louis above 90°F for 1/3 the year
• 2009/10/06: Grist: What to do with the utility handouts in the climate bill?
• 2009/10/07: NYT:CW: Senate Dems Opening to Nuclear as Path to GOP Support for Climate Bill
• 2009/10/06: Reuters: U.S. economy could worsen climate bill prospects
• 2009/10/05: Grist: Economics of climate legislation deserve honest accounting
• 2009/10/06: CSW: Adaptation provisions in the Kerry-Boxer Senate climate and clean energy legislation
• 2009/10/05: NRDC:SwitchBoard: Senate's Climate Bill Puts Green Collar on Carbon
• 2009/10/05: TreeHugger: Big Business Gets Behind the Climate Bill
• 2009/10/05: WSJ:EnvCap: Nuclear Option: The Kerry-Boxer Bill and Nuclear Energy

  The Gore-apalooza is still bopping along:

• 2009/10/05: TreeHugger: Climate Project Heads South of the Border to Train 300 Latin American Presenters

  While in the UK:

• 2009/10/10: Times(UK): Lethal gas may have to be stored under villages, says adviser
• 2009/10/07: CFO: UK eases first year of carbon trading scheme
  Retailers and big business caught in the UK's domestic carbon trading scheme will only need to report on their emissions for the first year of the programme, not surrender allowances, under changes announced today. The UK's Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has published the final details of its Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) Energy Efficiency Scheme, which aims to stimulate energy efficiency investments and cut emissions by 4.4 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) a year by 2020.
• 2009/10/09: BBC: Fear of steep energy bill rises
  Domestic UK energy bills could rise by 60% by 2016 in a worst-case scenario identified by the energy regulator. However, most other estimates outlined in the Ofgem report would see prices rise between 14% and 25% above inflation by 2020. The review also said that up to £200bn of investment was needed to secure supplies and to meet carbon targets. Volatile gas markets and power stations nearing the end of their use were the chief concerns, the regulator said.
• 2009/10/08: PlanetArk: UK Expects $160 Billion Offshore Wind Investment
• 2009/10/08: PlanetArk: UK Firms Face Rising Fines In New Govt Green Plan
  Some British firms could face fines of a minimum of 24,000 pounds ($38,240) annually by 2015 under a new government plan to cut corporate energy usage and carbon emissions, the government said on Wednesday. The Carbon Reduction Commitment Energy Efficiency Scheme (CRCEES) is a mandatory scheme starting in April 2010 that will force businesses like banks, hotels, hospitals and schools to help Britain cut carbon emissions by over 4 million tonnes and save a total 1 billion pounds annually on energy bills by 2020
• 2009/10/07: PlanetArk: Climate Pundit [Porritt] Seeks Faster CO2 Shipping Cuts
  The United Nation's shipping agency must move faster to introduce mandatory efficiency measures for vessels, veteran environmental campaigner Jonathon Porritt said on Tuesday. Failure do to so could result in a solution being imposed on the shipping industry by the European Union and others, he said. Shipping and aviation are the only industry sectors not regulated under the Kyoto Protocol, which sets targets for greenhouse gas emissions by rich countries from 2008-12.
• 2009/10/07: BBC: Scilly switch-off short of target
  Organisers of an energy switch-off on the Isles of Scilly achieved only a 1% drop in power usage but they insist that the experiment was a success. Residents were asked not to use electrical items for 24 hours on Tuesday in the hope that local demand could be cut by 15%. In fact, usage fell by just 1.2% across the various islands.
• 2009/10/06: Guardian(UK): Energy efficient homes and more nuclear power: Conservatives unveil 'green deal'
• 2009/10/05: Guardian(UK): British public refuse to fly less to reduce their carbon footprint
• 2009/10/04: Guardian(UK): Green lobby calls for higher returns on investment in clean energy projects [via feed-in tariff]

  E. ON has postponed the Kingsnorth coal power plant for at least 3 years:

• 2009/10/08: Guardian(UK): Kingsnorth activists: 'The pressure being applied was a factor'
• 2009/10/08: Guardian(UK): The real Kingsnorth victory has been to give coal a black name
• 2009/10/08: Guardian(UK): Kingsnorth climbdown is the British climate movement's biggest victory
• 2009/10/08: Guardian(UK): Without Kingsnorth, we have an energy opportunity
• 2009/10/08: WSJ:EnvCap: Kingsnorth: A Blow Against Coal, or A Move For Clean Coal?
• 2009/10/08: OilChange: King Coal Crumbles [Kingsnorth]
• 2009/10/08: BBC: New Kingsnorth coal plant delayed
  Controversial plans to build a new coal-fired power station at Kingsnorth in Kent have been put on hold for up to three years, energy firm E.On has said. It said it would be delayed until about 2016 because electricity demand had fallen during the global recession.
• 2009/10/07: Guardian(UK): Kingsnorth power station plans shelved by E.ON -- Lower electricity demands due to recession cited as reason
• 2009/10/08: Guardian(UK): Siege of Kingsnorth declared over as E.ON pulls out of plan for coal power plant
• 2009/10/08: Guardian(UK): Q&A: Kingsnorth -- The plans, the protests and the power station

  And in Europe:

• 2009/10/10: DerSpiegel: Merkel's New Coalition Agrees to Extend Nuclear Reactor Lifetimes
  Germany's coalition talks aren't yet complete. But a document from the negotiations shows that Chancellor Angela Merkel's next government wants to jettison a law which limits nuclear reactor lifetimes and stipulates a complete phaseout of atomic energy by the early 2020s.
• 2009/10/09: EurActiv: Parliament set to strip CO2 caps from EU air pollution law
  European legislators have sounded the alarm against controlling CO2 emissions in a revised directive on industrial air emissions, fearing that it would doom the draft law to certain failure. German MEP Holger Krahmer (ALDE), who is steering the revision of the Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC) directive through the European Parliament, told electricity industry representatives yesterday (8 October) in Brussels that he would not bow to the demands of environmentalists who want to add CO2 performance standards to the new directive. The revised directive, combining seven existing EU air pollution laws, will require some 52,000 industrial installations to obtain permits from national authorities to release pollutants into the air, soil and water. The law sets limit values for pollutants that cause acid rain, but it does not touch CO2, which is regulated via the EU's emissions trading scheme (EU ETS...)
• 2009/10/09: TreeHugger: EU Sides with Corrupt African Governments to Block Stronger REDD Forest Protection Scheme
• 2009/10/09: BNC: Germany -- crunched by the numbers [solar vs nukes]
• 2009/10/07: Yahoo:AFP: Norway proposes 40-pct carbon emissions cut by 2020
  The Norwegian government said Wednesday that it was prepared to toughen its target for cutting carbon emissions by 2020 to help support efforts to reach a global climate accord. Oslo said it was prepared to increase its emissions reduction target from 30 percent to 40 percent of their 1990 level by end of the next decade.
• 2009/10/07: EurActiv: Cities puzzled by greenhouse gas measurements
  Many regional initiatives are already taking place in the EU to tackle climate change, but the array of different tools for measuring global warming gases make the results difficult to compare, a recent study showed.
• 2009/10/07: EurActiv: EU lines up multi-million carbon capture projects
  The European Commission last week proposed six carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects that are to receive a total of 1.05 billion euros to help commercialise the low-carbon technology
• 2009/10/07: EurActiv: EU to invest billions in energy research
  The European Commission today (7 October) revealed its long-awaited blueprint for tripling Europe's energy research funding within the next decade, in a bid to shift monies towards supporting the transition to a low-carbon economy in the next EU budget. The EU executive calls for the energy research budget to be increased to 50 billion euros over the next ten years. This would require yearly flows from both the public and private sectors to jump from their current 3bn euros to 8bn euros, it calculated.
• 2009/10/07: NatureTGB: EU sets stage for low-carbon investments
• 2009/10/07: ScienceInsider: European Union Unveils Plan for Low-Carbon Economy
• 2009/10/07: EarthTimes: European Commission calls for extra funds to meet climate targets
  Brussels - The European Union must invest an extra 50 billion euros (73 billion dollars) in solar power and other sources of clean energy if it is to meet its ambitious emission targets, officials in Brussels said Wednesday. "Previous industrial revolutions have proved that the right technologies can transform for the better the way we live. Today we have a unique opportunity to change an energy model based on polluting, scarce and risky fossil fuels, into a clean, sustainable and less dependent one," said Andris Piebalgs, the EU's energy commissioner.
• 2009/10/05: DerSpiegel: Germany's Atomic Energy Phase-Out -- Nuclear Poker Heats Up in Berlin
  It seems a foregone conclusion that Berlin will back away from the nuclear energy phase-out legislated in 2002. But with power companies set to profit handsomely, the bluffing has begun.
• 2009/10/06: PeakEnergy: France Announces $2.2 Billion Electric Car Charging Network
• 2009/10/05: EurActiv: Ministers cautious on EU-wide CO2 tax proposal
  The European Commission's plans to introduce an EU-wide carbon tax to leverage money for financing a post-Kyoto climate treaty received a positive but cautious welcome from finance ministers last week. Meeting in Sweden on 1-2 October, the Commission floated the idea of imposing a carbon tax on sectors outside the EU's emissions trading scheme (EU ETS...) for the first time at ministerial level.

Meanwhile in Australia:

• 2009/10/11: ABC(Au): Rudd calls for 'fair dinkum' climate negotiations
  The Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has made a plea to the Opposition to negotiate a deal on climate change in "good faith".
• 2009/10/09: ABC(Au): Wong demands good faith climate talks
  Climate Change Minister Penny Wong has warned the Opposition that the Government will not stand for a "take it or leave it" approach to negotiations on its emissions trading scheme.
• 2009/10/10: ABC(Au): Farmers want soil offsets at Copenhagen
  A farm research group [Australian Farm Institute] says it wants international rules changed so primary producers can help reduce Australia's greenhouse emissions and benefit under an emissions trading scheme (ETS).
• 2009/10/09: ABC(Au): The chief executive of the Australian Coal Association [Ralph Hillman] says the Government's decision to exclude the coal industry from exemption permits in the new Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme could cost the industry billions of dollars
• 2009/10/09: ABC(Au): The Greens' Senator from Orbost in Gippsland, Sarah Hanson-Young, has indicated her party wants the Government to toughen up its Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS)
• 2009/10/09: ABC(Au): Truss canvassing ETS opinions
  Nationals' leader Warren Truss will be in the Riverina this weekend for talks on water, food security and the reaction to global warming.
• 2009/10/08: ABC(Au): Coast care group gets worst case climate change scenario
  Two coastal management experts have presented the Point Moore Coast Care Group with a worst case scenario of the impacts of climate change on the Geraldton coastline.
• 2009/10/08: ABC(Au): A carbon network forum today in central Queensland will look at the potential impacts of the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme and Emissions Trading Scheme
• 2009/10/08: Australian: Oversubscribed solar panel scheme to cost taxpayers $440m
  Taxpayers will be stumped with a $440 million bill for the Rudd government's wildly popular solar panel rebate scheme which was abruptly terminated earlier this year following higher-than-expected demand. About 64,000 applications for the $8000 rebate were in the pipeline when Environment Minister Peter Garrett terminated the scheme, which the government had agreed to honour. Yesterday, Mr Garrett's office revealed 55,000 of those applications had been approved, potentially at a total cost of $440m. The figure is well in excess of the $271m set aside at the last budget to fund the scheme to June 30.
• 2009/10/07: ABC(Au): Treasurer Wayne Swan has demanded Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull today commit to passing the emissions trading scheme by the end of the year
• 2009/10/07: ABC(Au): Emissions scheme 'threatens 9,000 mine jobs'
  The Australian Coal Association (ACA) says it still supports an emissions trading scheme, despite warnings of job losses under the present proposal
• 2009/10/06: ABC(Au): Climate Change Minister Penny Wong says the Federal Government is mindful that further infrastructure will be needed for mid-west Western Australia to harvest its renewable energy potential
• 2009/10/06: ABC(Au): Vic facing largest electricity price hike under ETS
  Victorian Government economists say the Commonwealth's proposed emissions trading scheme (ETS) will damage the state's economy.
• 2009/10/06: JQuiggin: Options after a double dissolution election
• 2009/10/05: ABC(Au): 'Don't play games' with emissions trading vote
  Federal Climate Change Minister Penny Wong has demanded Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull prevent his senators from trying to stop a vote on the emissions trading scheme.
• 2009/10/04: FarmOnline(Au): Green groups tell Rudd to tow their ETS line or they will walk
  The only environment groups offering any support for the emissions trading scheme have threatened to walk away if the Federal Government accepts amendments from the Opposition. The Climate Institute, the Australian Conservation Foundation and WWF Australia have written to both sides of politics this weekend, saying they would campaign against the scheme if further compensation was given to polluting industries.

Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull is still trying to thresh out a coherent policy position for the Liberals and their Coalition:

• 2009/10/11: ABC(Au): Senior Liberals play down emissions divisions
  Senior Federal Opposition figures have played down divisions within the Liberal Party over the timetable for negotiating on emissions trading. Western Australian Liberals have stepped up pressure on Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull to delay finalising negotiations with the Government until after the Copenhagen summit in December
• 2009/10/10: ABC(Au): Turnbull hits back at critics [in his own (Liberal) party]
  Federal Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull has hit back at his internal critics at a Liberal Party conference in Perth, arguing the party would have no credibility if it did not negotiate with the Government on its emissions trading scheme (ETS).
• 2009/10/10: ABC(Au): Turnbull disquiet on the Western front
  Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull says he will negotiate with the Government on the emissions trading scheme (ETS) despite the WA Liberals pushing for a delay.
• 2009/10/09: ABC(Au): Turnbull evokes Menzies as ETS stance hardens
  Before negotiations have even begun over the emissions trading scheme, the Opposition has hardened its stance - warning the Government that it needs to move its position a long way if it wants to secure Liberal party votes. The strong opening gambit may be an attempt to move on from the leadership woes dogging Malcolm Turnbull and appease those within the Liberal Party who oppose any talks on the ETS.
• 2009/10/08: ABC(Au): Hockey ready to take over if Turnbull falls
  Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull's leadership is under renewed pressure this morning after his treasury spokesman Joe Hockey revealed he had been approached about taking the party's top job.
• 2009/10/06: ABC(Au): Nationals may be a lost cause: Turnbull
  Sunday week will be anything but a day of rest for Malcolm Turnbull and the Coalition, with the Opposition Leader convening a party-room meeting to thrash out amendments on the emissions trading scheme.
• 2009/10/06: ABC(Au): Turnbull calls for talks after poll pummelling
  [...] Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull has taken a hit in the polls as he struggles to get his party under control and has called a special Coalition party room meeting for Sunday week as he desperately tries to unify his colleagues.
• 2009/10/05: ABC(Au): Senior Liberal calls for emissions vote delay
  A senior Federal Liberal MP has publicly disagreed with Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull about the time frame for negotiating changes to the emissions trading scheme. Mr Turnbull wants to negotiate amendments to the Government's plan before the legislation is reintroduced to Parliament in November. The Opposition is working on amendments to the scheme and Mr Turnbull says he wants them through the party room later this month. Senator Mitch Fifield says he agrees on the need to put forward changes, but has told Sky News they should not be locked in before global climate change talks in December. "I hope in doing so that I'm not branded a maverick, a rebel, an outrider, a dissenter," he said. He says it would be premature to lock in changes before the Copenhagen talks.
• 2009/10/05: BrisbaneTimes: Fifield urges Turnbull to delay ETS vote
  Malcolm Turnbull's hold on the Liberal leadership has been dealt another blow as he faces further dissent from within opposition ranks over his climate change strategy.

While in China:

• 2009/10/06: NYT:CW: Energy Efficiency Ranks High in China's Plans; CO2 Is Seldom Discussed
• 2009/10/05: TreeHugger: Is China, Once Climate Scapegoat, Now Our "Sputnik"?

  And elsewhere in Asia:

• 2009/10/11: Guardian(UK): Can Mohamed Nasheed save the Maldives -- and the rest of the world -- from the rising seas?
• 2009/10/10: EarthTimes: East Asian powers promise to make climate talks succeed
• 2009/10/07: Guardian(UK): Maldives ministers prepare for underwater cabinet meeting -- President hopes stunt will draw attention to climate change
• 2009/10/05: BBC: Maldives cabinet to go underwater
  The government of the Maldives is to hold a cabinet meeting underwater to highlight the threat of global warming. President Mohamed Nasheed and his cabinet will sign a document during the 17 October dive, calling for global cuts in carbon emissions.

And in Russia:

• 2009/10/09: Reuters: Russian climate goal weak as "methane bomb" ticks

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

• 2009/10/07: BCLocalNews: Canada is missing in action on climate change front
  During a week when the world leaders met at the United Nations to discuss the importance of taking action on climate change, Stephen Harper once again walked away from the table. If Harper was a private citizen, it would be his right as an individual to flaunt his disdain for the process. As our prime minister, such behaviour is completely unacceptable as it signals the world that Canada is sadly missing in action on this singularly important debate.
• 2009/10/05: HillTimes: Environmental organizations say government isn't talking to them
  Government consulting with corporations, provinces, not civil society organizations and environmental groups, say environmentalists.

The geopolitics of the Arctic is contentious in Camada:

• 2009/10/10: CanWest: Treat Northwest Passage as an internal waterway to boost national security -- That status would make it subject to Canadian law
  Imagine a group of terrorists gaining access to North America by way of an increasingly ice-free and largely unpoliced Canadian Arctic. Imagine them infiltrating the Northwest Passage with ship-launched cruise missiles or weapons of mass destruction. These are the sort of scenarios that pose a real threat to Canadian interests, not the territorial claims of other nations, according to a newly published book, Who Owns the Arctic? Understanding Sovereignty Disputes in the North. Author Michael Byers asserts that, with the Law of the Sea Convention having been globally accepted and the five nations possessed of Arctic interests -- Norway, Denmark, Canada, the U.S., Russia -- cooperatively mapping their seabeds to lawfully establish claims, it is rogue threats that should preoccupy Canada as it strives to assert sovereignty in the north.
• 2009/10/08: CanWest: Renaming Passage shows insecurity: expert
  A Conservative MP's bid to officially rename the Northwest Passage the "Canadian Northwest Passage" -- which garnered praise from all three opposition parties earlier this week -- could backfire in the legal arena, says a leading expert on Arctic geopolitics and international law. University of British Columbia professor Michael Byers says the proposed name change "accomplishes nothing -- apart from revealing insecurity about the strength of our legal claim." And that show of uncertainty, adds Byers, could be seized upon by the U.S. if its long-running dispute with Canada over navigation rights in the passage ever reaches an international tribunal.

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

• 2009/10/06: Reuters: Rich Ontario incentives woo green power investors
  The Canadian province of Ontario is positioning itself as one of the "greenest" locations in North America, and investors are starting to take notice of its rich incentives for renewable power projects, analysts say. Taking a page from Europe's playbook, Ontario launched the most comprehensive and generous set of feed-in tariffs in North America this month. The incentives guarantee sellers of electricity produced from the sun, wind, water and biomass fixed, above-market prices for 20 years.

Meanwhile in that Mechanical Mordor known as the tar sands:

• 2009/10/09: NYT:GW: Canada, Alberta Fund Shell's CCS Project for Oil Sands
  The Canadian and Alberta governments yesterday announced they would spend a combined C$865 million ($822 million) to help Royal Dutch Shell PLC build commercial-scale carbon capture and storage for Alberta's oil sands. The governments said they would cover about two-thirds the cost of Shell's Quest project, which is aimed at capturing and storing 1 million metric tons of carbon dioxide from the Athabasca Oil Sands Project. Shell's Canadian affiliate owns 60 percent of the 155,000-barrel-a-day operation, and Marathon Oil Corp. and Chevron Corp. each own 20 percent. Canada is contributing $120 million from its $1 billion Clean Energy Fund, and Alberta is providing $745 million from a $2 billion carbon capture and storage fund.
• 2009/10/09: Tyee: 'H2Oil' Tears up the Tar Sands -- Documentary focusing on Fort Chipewyan becomes a powerful tool for climate change activists
• 2009/10/08: CBC: Alberta carbon-capture project gets $865M
  A project that will use carbon-capture technology to reduce greenhouse gas emissions at a Shell upgrader has received $865 million in federal and provincial funding, officials announced in Edmonton Thursday. Money for the Shell Quest project -- which is owned by Shell Canada, Chevron Canada and Marathon Oil Sands L.P. -- will be used to develop the technology to eventually capture and store 1.2 million tonnes of carbon dioxide each year from Shell's Scotford upgrader and new expansion east of Edmonton.
• 2009/10/08: CanWest: Alberta, Ottawa to unveil carbon capture funding -- Quest project expected to be among winners

  As for miscellaneous Canadiana:

• 2009/10/06: TreeHugger: Bollywood Star Gives South Asian-Canadians (& Government) a Climate Change Warning

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

• 2009/10/07: EnergyBulletin: Plan B 4.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization by Lester Brown
• 2009/10/07: CCurrents: Economic Democracy Demands One World Balance
• 2009/10/06: OilDrum: Plan B 4.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization by Lester Brown

  Apocalypso anyone?

• 2009/10/07: PhysOrg: The Fall of the Maya: 'They Did it to Themselves' [via deforestation after drought]
• 2009/10/06: EnergyBulletin: Linking the past with the present: resources, land use, and the collapse of civilizations

  As for how the media handles the science:

• 2009/10/09: Grist: Tipping toward disaster -- At SEJ, doom and gloom without the sense of humor
• 2009/10/05: QuarkSoup: Climate Science in the Age of Hypermedia
• 2009/10/08: ClimateP: Wall Street Journal puzzled by a climate, clean energy and security bill that achieves multiple benefits

  While activists search for effective communication techniques:

• 2009/10/09: NatureTGB: Worst. Climate. Campaign. Ever.
• 2009/10/07: CCP: Joseph Romm (on ERW): Publicize or Perish

  Here is something for your library:

• 2009/10/09: Planetizen: [Book Review] _My Kind of Transit: Rethinking Public Transportation in America_ by Darrin Nordahl
• 2009/10/08: ClimateP: The Invention of Lying about Climate Change [Book Review] _Climate Cover-Up: The Crusade to Deny Global Warming_ by James Hoggan
• 2009/10/06: NewScientist: [Book Review] _Don't Be Such a Scientist_ by Randy Olson

  And for your film & video enjoyment:

• 2009/10/09: NatureCF: The Two-Degree Target [video]

  Meanwhile among the 'Sue the Bastards!' contingent:

• 2009/10/09: CCurrents: G8 States Could Face Class Actions On Climate Change
• 2009/10/08: IPSNews: Novel Tribunal Gives Voice to Climate Change Victims
  Shorbanu Khatun flew into the Thai capital to share her pain about being a victim of a natural disaster. In May, Cyclone Aila tore through her community along the coast of Bangladesh, adding another layer of misery to the 36-year- old's already impoverished life. "We have no food, no clean water," the single mother of four children said, fighting back tears. "I am here to tell you that there is nothing left in our village after the cyclone." [...] The 'Asian People's Climate Tribunal' was held in a banquet hall of a hotel a short distance away from where government negotiators from the developing and developed world are meeting at the two-week-long United Nations climate change talks that commenced on Sep. 28.
• 2009/10/08: IrishTimes: G8 states could face class actions on climate change
• 2009/10/07: Guardian(UK): Climate change believer takes firm to tribunal
  Sustainability head says he was unfairly dismissed -- Property firm says views are 'nothing philosophical' A man who claims he was unfairly dismissed from his job because he believes in climate change is attempting to have his environmental views recognised under religious law. Tim Nicholson, 42, says his beliefs on the environment are so strong they led to clashes with other senior staff at Grainger, one of the UK's biggest property companies. He said the chief executive, Rupert Dickinson, showed contempt for his concerns and once flew a member of staff to Ireland to deliver his BlackBerry, which he had left in London. In March, employment judge David Neath gave Nicholson permission to take the firm to a tribunal over his treatment. The company is challenging the ruling, arguing that environmental beliefs are not the same as religious or philosophical ones.
• 2009/10/07: DallasNews: Public Citizen sues [Texas] state, urging regulation of carbon dioxide emissions
• 2009/10/06: WarmingLaw: Call Me Mini-Mass v EPA: Texas Lawsuit Seeks to Compel State to Address CO2 Emissions
• 2009/10/06: PC: Public Citizen Urges Texas Court to Force State Air Agency to Regulate Global Warming Emissions
• 2009/10/07: Tcktcktck: Rich countries put on trial for damages caused by climate change
• 2009/10/07: TreeHugger: Rich Nations Found Guilty at Climate Change Court
• 2009/10/06: SolveClimate: Public Citizen Sues Texas Over Greenhouse Gases

  Among the non-members of Gamblers Anonymous:

• 2009/10/10: Stoat: Sea ice round up
• 2009/10/10: MGS: Sea Ice Finals 2009

  Wrestling over a new energy infrastructure continues unabated:

• 2009/10/11: BNC: TCASE 3: The energy demand equation to 2050
• 2009/10/10: PeakEnergy: Osmotic power plant to debut in Norway
• 2009/10/08: BBerg: Shell to Use World's Biggest Ship at Australian Field
  Royal Dutch Shell Plc plans to deploy a vessel "much larger than an aircraft carrier" off the coast of northwestern Australia to house the world's first floating liquefied natural gas plant.
• 2009/10/10: SlashDot: From Turbines and Straw, Danish Self-Sufficiency [on Samso]
• 2009/10/09: Guardian(UK): Carbon Trust launches £8m competition to search for a cheaper fuel cell
• 2009/10/08: BBC: Tiny 'nuclear batteries' unveiled
  Researchers have demonstrated a penny-sized "nuclear battery" that produces energy from the decay of radioisotopes. As radioactive substances decay, they release charged particles that when properly harvested can create an electrical current. Nuclear batteries have been in use for military and aerospace applications, but are typically far larger. The University of Missouri team says that the batteries hold a million times as much charge as standard batteries.
• 2009/10/07: ClimateP: Deutsche Bank: Oil to hit $175 a barrel by 2016...
• 2009/10/08: PlanetArk: U.N. Says Renewable Energy Investment Down In 2009 [no hard figures]
• 2009/10/08: OilDrum: Reserves and Resources
• 2009/10/08: SolveClimate: Solar Thermal Delivers Face Lift to Carbon-Heavy Coal
• 2009/10/07: MUNews: MU Researchers Create Smaller and More Efficient Nuclear Battery
  Mizzou scientist develops a powerful nuclear battery that uses a liquid semiconductor
• 2009/10/06: IEA: From financial crisis to 450 ppm: the IEA maps out the energy sector transformation and its financial consequences under a global climate agreement
• 2009/10/07: WSJ:EnvCap: Gas Pains: Lots of Supply and Little Demand Spells Bearish Future for Natural Gas
• 2009/10/07: OilChange: De-dollarisation of Oil Market by 2018
• 2009/10/06: EnergyBulletin: The Challenging Incongruity of Cheap Oil
• 2009/10/06: PlanetArk: U.N. Climate Scientist [IPCC head, Rajendra Pachauri] Says Clean Tech Good Investment
• 2009/10/06: SciDaily: Renewable Hydrogen Production Becomes Reality At Winery [microbial electrolysis?]
• 2009/10/06: PeakEnergy: Ceramic Fuel Cells to Start Bluegen Sales Next Year
• 2009/10/05: CleanTechnica: Why Wind Storage Worth Trillions
  Coal power is not base-load electricity by itself. To enable coal to reliably deliver electric power, it took the creation of an entire other national infrastructure; the trans-continental railroad system
• 2009/10/04: BNC: Remote solar PV vs small nuclear reactor -- electricity cost comparison
• 2009/10/05: BBC: Energy-from-waste powers US army -- A system that generates energy from rubbish is being sent by defence firm Qinetiq to the US army

  Fracking and water degradation is back in the news this week:

• 2009/10/06: DemNow: Environmental Battle Brews in New York over Natural Gas Drilling
• 2009/10/07: ProPublica: Gas Drilling Vs. Drinking Water: New York City Consultant's Report Sets Stage for Fight With Albany

  The answer my friend...:

• 2009/10/09: PlanetArk: Texas Power Suppliers Facing Wind Challenges
• 2009/10/09: PeakEnergy: World's Largest Wind Farm Completed in Texas
• 2009/10/06: PhysOrg: AES Geo Energy, a Bulgarian unit of US energy giant AES Corporation, launched on Tuesday the largest 156-megawatt wind farm in Bulgaria...
• 2009/10/05: CNN: Malawian boy uses wind to power hope, electrify village
  Malawi had gone through one of its worst droughts seven years ago - Amid shortage William Kamkwamba realized wind offered hope - Armed with a book the then-14-year-old taught himself to build windmills - His windmills now generate electricity and pump water in his hometown

Meanwhile among the solar aficionados:

• 2009/10/06: FuturePundit: Dow Brings Out Line Of Photovoltaic Solar Shingles
• 2009/10/09: WSJ:EnvCap: Fiddling on the Roof: Dow's Solar-Powered Shingles
• 2009/10/08: Eureka: Toward better solar cells: Chemists gain control of light-harvesting paths
• 2009/10/07: SciDaily: High-efficiency Low-cost Silicon Solar Cell Demonstrated [18% IMEC]
• 2009/10/06: CanWest: Dow to sell solar shingle, sees huge market -- Sees potential revenues of $5B by 2015...
• 2009/10/05: SlashDot: Dow Chemical Rolling Our Solar Shingles Next Year [BIPV]
• 2009/10/05: PhysOrg: Harnessing the sun

  The arithmetic of coal carbon is striking home:

• 2009/10/05: BBerg: Coal India May Complete Mine Acquisition This Year
• 2009/10/06: PeakEnergy: UCG: Fire in the Holes
• 2009/10/05: TreeHugger: Once Upon a Time, Coal Needed a Big Push ($$$) to Become "Base Load" Power

  Biofuel bickering abounds:

• 2009/10/09: AutoBG: Biodiesel myths and facts, simplified
• 2009/10/09: PlanetArk: Commercial Green Fuel From Algae Still Years Away
• 2009/10/04: Time: How a Biofuel 'Miracle' Ruined Kenyan Farmers
• 2009/10/08: PlanetArk: U.S. Ethanol Profits From Bumper Corn Crop
• 2009/10/06: NRDC:SwitchBoard: The Promise of Algae Biofuels - a new NRDC report
• 2009/10/05: NRDC:SwitchBoard: GAO: corn ethanol is risky and tax credit unnecessary

  The nuclear energy controversy continues:

• 2009/10/07: TreeHugger: Nuclear Power: Climate Fix or Folly?
• 2009/10/07: BNC: Backstory -- Barry Brook on 4th Generation Nuclear Power
• 2009/10/05: NBF: Nuclear Fusion Research and Development Renaissance

  Yes we have a peak oil sighting:

• 2009/10/08: FuturePundit: Range Of Peak Oil Dates All Too Soon To Prepare?
• 2009/10/09: CCurrents: Era of Cheap, Easy Oil is Over, Warns Study
• 2009/10/09: OilDrum: What Peaked at the Same Time as Oil Prices? Lots of things.
• 2009/10/08: Guardian(UK): Peak oil could hit soon, report says
• 2009/10/08: NewScientist: Why the 'peak oil' debate is irrelevant -- the difference between even the most pessimistic and optimistic claims is just 15 to 20 years
• 2009/10/08: TreeHugger: If Peak Oil is Now or in 2030, We're Still Woefully Unprepared
• 2009/10/08: BBC: Warning over global oil 'decline'
  There is a "significant risk" that global production of conventional oil could "peak" and decline by 2020, a report has warned. The UK Energy Research Centre study says there is a consensus that the era of cheap oil is at an end. But it warns that most governments, including the UK's, exhibit little concern about oil depletion. The report's authors also state that the 10 largest oil producing fields in the world are all in decline.
• 2009/10/06: PeakEnergy: The End Of the Oil Age is Near, Deutsche Bank Says

  More people are talking about the electrical grid:

• 2009/10/09: PlanetArk: Smart Grid Good For Big Solar, Wind: U.S. Regulator [Jon Wellinghoff, chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission]
• 2009/10/05: BBC: Smart meters 'need live displays'
  The government should require power companies to provide clear visual displays when they install smart meters in homes, says a report. All houses are set to have smart meters by 2020, as part of efforts to cut household emissions of CO2. But the report, from the Energy Saving Trust, says smart meters will be less effective without monitors.

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

• 2009/10/08: PhysOrg: SKorea targets world electric car market
• 2009/10/07: WSJ:EnvCap: Speed Bump: Don't Bank on the Electric-Car Revolution, Lux [Research] Says
• 2009/10/07: G&M: Nissan electric car to hit B.C. roads first
  Nissan's first 'real-world' all-electric car will be introduced to Canadians in British Columbia under a partnership agreement announced Tuesday. The Japanese auto-maker said the Nissan LEAF will be on the road in British Columbia in 2011, before more widespread distribution in 2012.

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

• 2009/10/06: ClevelandFRB: The Effects of "Cash for Clunkers" on the Auto Industry
• 2009/10/06: BBC: [UK] Sales of new cars rose 11.4% in September compared with the same month last year, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).[C4C]

  The reaction of business to climate change will be critical:

• 2009/10/11: ABC(Au): The Hungarian-born billionaire George Soros says he will invest more than $1 billion in clean-energy technology as part of an effort to combat climate change
• 2009/10/10: NakedCapitalism: Soros to Put $1 Billion in Clean Energy
• 2009/10/08: EnvFin: Clean energy investment slips again
• 2009/10/08: CBC: Companies more focused on climate change: report
• 2009/10/07: SolveClimate: Pragmatic Passion in the Green Business World
• 2009/10/05: ClimateP: Cleantech venture capital investment continued recovering in third quarter spurred by stimulus funding -- and is "now eclipsing biotech and IT"

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

• 2009/10/09: ClimateP: Energy and Global Warming News for October 9...
• 2009/10/08: ClimateP: Energy and Global Warming News for October 8...
• 2009/10/07: ClimateP: Energy and Global Warming News for October 7...
• 2009/10/06: ClimateP: Energy and Global Warming News for October 6...
• 2009/10/05: ClimateP: Energy and Global Warming News for October 5...

  The carbon lobby are up to the usual:

• 2009/10/11: GreenFyre: An odd kind of Icon
• 2009/10/10: OpenLeft: The New Climate Change Denialism [US pol]
• 2009/10/08: CSW: CEI global warming denialists try another gambit seeking to derail EPA 'endangerment' finding
• 2009/10/09: DeSmogBlog: Fred Singer: A Man you would be embarrassed to have on your side
• 2009/10/09: DeepClimate: All those funny names look the same to Andrew Bolt
• 2009/10/06: EnergyTrib: Global Warming is Neither [AHorn]
• 2009/10/07: ClimateShifts: Climate denial crock of the week video: arctic melting
• 2009/10/07: DWWSJ: What Do Climate Scientists Think About Senator Laughing Stock?
• 2009/10/06: Guardian(UK): A shroud over the truth
• 2009/10/05: ClimateP: Memo to WashPost, George Will: Cassandra was right
• 2009/10/06: JFleck: Stuff I Wrote Elsewhere: A Look at CO2 is Green
• 2009/10/06: DeSmogBlog: Great News! Polls Show Climate Change Scare is Over!
• 2009/10/06: DeSmogBlog: Climate Denial Crock of the Week/Birth of a Crock
• 2009/10/05: DawgsBlawg: AGW scepticism: no end in sight?
• 2009/10/04: DeSmogBlog: Pompous Prat Alert! Viscount Monckton on Tour
• 2009/10/05: JKB: The Heidelberg Appeal Nederland -- Roots of the Dutch climate skepticism series, part 8
• 2009/10/04: BCLSB: Still A Wee Problem With Alberta

  The Yamal-Briffa-McIntyre kafuffle:

• 2009/10/05: QuarkSoup: Motl's Defamation
• 2009/10/09: QuarkSoup: McIntyre's Misleadings....
• 2009/10/08: DeSmogBlog: Who's paying for McIntyre's attack on Hockey Stick?
• 2009/10/07: Stoat: Lamay
• 2009/10/08: ERabett: Some people, not me
• 2009/10/08: Deltoid: McIntyre had the data all along
• 2009/10/08: BCLSB: A Staggering Display Of Incompetence -- McIntyre was asking the wrong guy for data he already had
• 2009/10/07: DelayedOscillator: Yamal III: Summary and Update
• 2009/10/07: DeepClimate: Let the backpedalling begin
• 2009/10/07: BCLSB: Briffa Ascendant
• 2009/10/05: ERabett: Read the Effing Editorial Guidelines
• 2009/10/05: DelayedOscillator: Yamal Emulation II: Divergence
• 2009/10/05: DelayedOscillator: Yamal Emulation I
• 2009/10/06: DeepClimate: "Delayed Oscillator" on divergence
• 2009/10/05: AFTIC: Yamal...yawn

  Meanwhile in the 'clean coal' saga:

• 2009/10/07: GreenGrok: Image Grok: Mountaintop Removal = Field of Dreams?
• 2009/10/07: SolveClimate: Review Finds 13 North Carolina Coal Ash Ponds Leaking Toxins into Groundwater
• 2009/10/06: TreeHugger: New Clean Coal Hazards Revealed: Could Poison Plants, People
• 2009/10/05: Grist: FACES Runs Bizarre "Bandits" Ads -- Big coal gone wild: The sequel
• 2009/10/05: Kentucky: Pro-coal interests become more vocal -- Groups, public relations campaigns get aggressive to counter critics

  As for climate miscellanea:

• 2009/10/08: ClimateP: Is it just too damn late? Part 1, the Science
• 2009/10/09: Grist: A walk through the week's climate news -- The Climate Post: U.S. to Kyoto Protocol: just not that into you
• 2009/10/09: TreeHugger: Is Climate Change a Moral, Philosophical Belief? And Can You Be Fired Over It?
• 2009/10/08: HotTopic: Fab four: ways to meet the climate challenge
• 2009/10/05: CSM: Reducing greenhouse gases now may lower climate change risk
• 2009/10/07: Guardian(UK): Why global warming isn't taking a break [RealClimate xpost]
• 2009/10/06: ClimateP: Dr. Stephen Leeb is easily duped by deniers, so why would anyone rely on his 'The Complete Investor newsletter'?
• 2009/10/04: ERabett: Small Steps
• 2009/10/06: TreeHugger: The Science of 350, the Most Important Number on the Planet
• 2009/10/06: BBC: The global recession provides a window of opportunity to curb climate change and build a low-carbon future, says the International Energy Agency (IEA)
• 2009/10/05: EnergyBulletin: Forces of Nature Don't Make Deals
• 2009/10/05: BBC: Logbooks may yield climate bounty
  Scientists hope weather data from 18th Century ships' logbooks will throw new light on how the climate has changed in the past 200 years. A new UK project is digitising nearly 300 Royal Navy captains' logs from voyages dating back to the 1760s.
• 2009/10/05: KSJT: Climate Feedback blog and more: A quote that hijacked a news conference on climate change
• 2009/10/05: GreenGrok: The Waxing Sun and Warming Climate
• 2009/10/05: CCP: Stu Ostro, Senior Meteorologist, TWC: Off the chain without a 'cane'

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

• UNEP: Climate Change Page
• CCTF: Commission on Climate and Tropical Forests
• Project Catalyst
• UNFCCC: Bangkok Climate Change Talks - 2009
• Purdue: The Famine Foods Database
• ESA: Desert Watch
• Who does the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Really Represent?
• IEA: International Energy Agency
• DelayedOscillator
• Columbia:IRI: Advanced ENSO Theory: The Delayed Oscillator
• UNEP: Global Deserts Outlook
• CMOS: Canadian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society
• ACS: A Concerned Scientist - Concerned About the Assaults on Science
• NASA: CloudSat
• CommonsBlog
• Charles Komanoff - Fossil Fuels and Earth's Climate
• EcoEco: Ecological Economics - A Cross-Disciplinary Conversation
• Wiki: Global warming
• PSU: Michael Mann articles
• Global Warming Art
• TreeHugger

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

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

"It has become self-evident and actually clear that the intention of the developed countries is to kill off the Kyoto Protocol." -Lumumba D'Aping, chair of the G77

"The reason why we are not making progress is the lack of political will by Annex 1 countries. There is a concerted effort to fundamentally sabotage the Kyoto protocol. We now hear statements that would lead to the termination of the protocol. They are introducing new rules, new formats. That's not the way to conduct negotiations." -Yu Qingtai, China's special representative on climate change

"They [USA] are increasingly identified as a stumbling block for the negotiations and it's up to them to dispel this perception and to show the real leadership we're expecting from them." -Fernando Tudela, head of the Mexican delegation in Bangkok

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