Sipping from the internet firehose...
This weekly posting is brought to you courtesy of H. E. Taylor. Happy reading, I hope you enjoy this week's Global Warming news roundup
Another week of Climate Disruption News
November 1, 2009
- Chuckle, Copenhagen, Brussels, Barcelona, Borenstein, Cosmic Rays, WFC, SuperFree
- Bottom Line, Carbon Tariffs, 4 Degrees, IDoCA
- Melting Arctic, Polar Bears, Geopolitics, Antarctica
- Food Crisis, Food Production
- Hurricanes, GHGs, Temperatures, Aerosols, Paleoclimate
- ENSO, Glaciers, Sea Levels, Ocean Currents, Satellites
- Impacts, Forests, Corals, Wacky Weather, Floods & Droughts
- Mitigation, Transportation, Sequestration, Geoengineering, Adaptation
- Journals, Other Docs , Misc. Science, Tiljander, Pielke, Tingley/Huybers
- Kyoto, UN, Carbon Trade, International Politics, Security, Law & Activism
- America, Obama, Congress, Britain, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, India, China, Japan, Asia, Africa, South America, Canada
- Ecological Economics, IPAT, Media, Books, Video, Courts
- Energy, Fracking, Wind, Solar, Coal, Biofuel, Nukes, Peak Oil, Grid, Efficiency, Cars, Greenwashing, Insurance
- Joe's List, Carbon Lobby, Miscellaneous Climate, Useful Links
- Shameless Self Promotion, .sig
- 2009/10/29: TI:CF: (cartoon - Roberts) Modification
- 2009/10/29: uComics: (cartoon - Toles) Still Fighting
Anticipation battles _COP15 Expectation Management_ on the road to Copenhagen:
- 2009/11/01: Guardian(UK): Forty days to get a climate deal
The Copenhagen summit opens in December. Many see it as the last chance to limit the consequences of global warming -- but failure is a real prospect. Here, we examine the complex trade-offs that will have to take place for the summit to succeed - 2009/11/01: Guardian(UK): Copenhagen is only the start of climate change
- 2009/10/26: UNEP: Africa Takes Firm Stance on Climate Change
- 2009/10/30: DerSpiegel: EU Summit Dallying -- Copenhagen Heads for a Crash
Angela Merkel is blocking aid commitments for climate protection and risking the failure of a global deal in Copenhagen. The chancellor is squandering an opportunity to demonstrate European leadership and show Barack Obama what it really means to be a "citizen of the world." - 2009/10/30: DeSmogBlog: Halloween Murder Mystery: Who is killing Copenhagen?
- 2009/10/31: EarthTimes: Singapore to cut emissions if other countries do their bit
- 2009/10/30: NatureCF: Countdown to Copenhagen
- 2009/10/30: PlanetArk: China Steps Up Climate Diplomacy
- 2009/10/30: COP15: IPCC: India and China have "moral force"
India and China could bring themselves into a favorable position in the climate negotiations by doing more than what is expected of them, says UN top climate scientist Rajendra Pachauri. - 2009/10/29: AllAfrica: TimesOfZambia: African MPs to Push for Kyoto Protocol
African parliamentarians meeting at the Pan-African Parliament (PAP) in Johannesburg, South Africa, have resolved to push for the full implementation of the Kyoto Protocol at the forthcoming Copenhagen conference in Denmark this December. - 2009/10/29: Guardian(UK): Nothing will happen at Copenhagen until the 11th-and-a-half hour
- 2009/10/29: EurActiv: UN climate chief downgrades hopes for post-Kyoto treaty
It seems unlikely that a comprehensive climate treaty will be sealed at December's UN conference in Copenhagen despite progress made, but a political agreement is still very much possible, Yvo de Boer, the UN's top climate official, told journalists yesterday (28 October). - 2009/10/29: NatureCF: Climate games: small pacts are no big deal
- 2009/10/29: Reuters: Analysis - China steps up climate diplomacy as Copenhagen looms
- 2009/10/29: EarthTimes: UN chief [Secretary General Ban Ki-moon] remains optimistic of success in Copenhagen climate summit
- 2009/10/29: SP:Bullet: When the Climate Change Center Cannot Hold
- 2009/10/29: BBC: Denmark in climate deal warning
Denmark's prime minister says he does not think a comprehensive deal on climate change will be finalised at a December summit in Copenhagen. Lars Loekke Rasmussen spoke ahead of an EU summit at which climate change will be one of the main topics. - 2009/10/28: PlanetArk: Big Polluters To Reap Benefit Of [COP15] Climate Deal
- 2009/10/28: COP15: Norway pushes for "COP 15.5"
If the UN conference in Copenhagen this December should fail to provide a legally binding global agreement on climate change, both Norway and Sweden would favour a new conference in early 2010. - 2009/10/28: COP15: UN climate chief: No final, global warming treaty in 2009
It is physically impossible to finalize all the details of a treaty in Copenhagen. But the principles of a deal must be settled at the conference in December, the UN's top climate official, Yvo de Boer says. - 2009/10/27: Reuters: Backers of UN climate treaty look to 2010 for deal
- 2009/10/28: TreeHugger: Global Climate Treaty "Impossible" this December
- 2009/10/27: NatureCF: Countdown to Copenhagen
- 2009/10/26: Reuters: U.N. lowers expectations for Copenhagen climate deal
- 2009/10/23: CFM: Message from the XIII World Forestry Congress to the COP 15 of the UNFCCC
- 2009/10/27: TreeHugger: More COP15 Expectation Management: UN Plans Post-Copenhagen Talks - Kerry Says We've Done All We Can
- 2009/10/27: EarthTimes: Vattenfall boss doubts 'fully fledged' climate deal in Copenhagen
- 2009/10/27: CBC: Climate change treaty in doubt: UN official
An upcoming international conference on climate change is looking less likely to produce a new treaty to slow global warming, says a United Nations official. Janos Pasztor, director of the secretary general's Climate Change Support Team, said Monday a number of factors are making it less likely that climate talks in Copenhagen in December will produce a deal to replace the Kyoto Protocol. - 2009/10/27: G&M: Copenhagen climate-change talks will produce only disappointment -- Wide gaps exist between taking the issue seriously and taking serious action
- 2009/10/26: EnergyBulletin: Copenhagen Is Supposed to Fail. DIY!
- 2009/10/26: PlanetArk: Japan May Cut Emissions By Less Than 25 Percent [if Copenhagen falls short on ambition]
- 2009/10/26: Google:AFP: UN chief urges compromise ahead of climate summit
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urged member nations Monday to reach a compromise ahead of a climate change summit scheduled for December in Copenhagen and called on the United States to stay engaged. "All agree that climate change is an existential threat to humankind," Ban wrote in an op-ed article published by The New York Times. "Yet agreement on what to do still eludes us." - 2009/10/25: GWW: Glasses charged for Copenhagen
I just love these contradictory takes:
- 2009/10/28: Reuters: Robust climate deal still possible in December: U.N. [UNFCC head, Yvo de Boer]
- 2009/10/28: TerraDaily: Sealing climate treaty in Copenhagen 'impossible': de Boer
An EU meeting in Brussels on Thursday & Friday may have a lot of influence on Copehagen:
- 2009/10/30: Guardian(UK): EU climate aid: The politicians are the only winners in this deal
The laboured negotiations over the EU's announcement on climate aid is a taste of what's to come in Copenhagen - 2009/10/30: Guardian(UK): EU puts 100bn euros a year price on tackling climate change
Leaders agree cost will amount to 100bn euros a year by 2020, but fail to agree on short-term aid for developing world - 2009/10/30: EurActiv: East-West divide stalls EU climate funding talks
- 2009/10/30: EurActiv: EU leaders fail to hammer out climate funding details
EU leaders have agreed on the need to provide 100 billion euros a year to fund climate efforts in developing countries, but failed to commit the EU to any specific sums, delaying their decision until after December's UN conference in Copenhagen. - 2009/10/30: EUO: Eastern states continue to play tough in climate talks
- 2009/10/30: EUO: Latest EU climate deal remains vague on funding
- 2009/10/30: Grist: E.U. agrees on helping poor nations fight climate change
- 2009/10/31: ABC(Au): EU climate deal angers green groups -- Greenpeace accused the EU of failing to produce firm figures
- 2009/10/30: COP15: EU leaders agree on climate funding
Developing nations will need 100 billion euro annually from 2020 to tackle climate change, the EU says. It is still unsettled, however, on how much of that money should come from Europe. - 2009/10/30: EarthTimes: EU baits the Copenhagen hook
- 2009/10/30: EarthTimes: EU agrees climate change funding offer
- 2009/10/30: EarthTimes: Eastern Europe entrenches position on climate change
- 2009/10/30: BBC: EU strikes climate funding deal
The EU has agreed a conditional deal on how to help other nations fight global warming, ahead of a key climate summit, but set no figure on what it would pay. The EU agreed climate change would need 100bn euros ($148bn; £90bn) a year by 2020, and would pay its "fair share", conditional on other nations. - 2009/10/30: CBC: EU agrees to climate aid
The European Union's member states said Friday they have agreed to pay "their fair share" into a global fund to aid developing countries in curbing their emissions and adapting to climate change, but didn't specify how much. - 2009/10/29: BBC: East-west climate row at EU talks
EU leaders have begun a summit in Brussels deeply divided over how much money to offer developing nations to cope with climate change. - 2009/10/30: Guardian(UK): East-west tussle erupts [in EU] over bill for combating climate change
- 2009/10/29: EurActiv: EU summit to back 95% emissions reduction goal
- 2009/10/29: EUO: EU leaders head for difficult summit on climate and institutions
EU leaders gather in Brussels on Thursday (29 October) for a two-day summit to try and shape a common position on climate issues... - 2009/10/28: Grist: Letter from Europe -- Global climate pact may hinge on EU summit
- 2009/10/29: COP15: EU still divided on climate plan
At the Brussels summit today, nine Eastern European Union countries opposed the current plan for burden-sharing the costs of climate change. - 2009/10/29: OilChange: EU "Deadlocked" over Climate Deal
- 2009/10/29: CBC: EU debates climate fund for developing world
European Union leaders met Thursday in Belgium to begin talks to determine how much aid they were willing to offer developing countries to bring them into a new climate change pact. Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, chair of the two-day summit in Brussels, said the EU's credibility is on the line to reach an agreement. If they can't, he said, a United Nations climate conference in Copenhagen in December is unlikely to produce an agreement to replace the Kyoto Protocol. Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen agreed, saying "a good outcome in Copenhagen requires a concrete financial offer for developing countries." - 2009/10/28: EUO: EU credibility at stake over climate financing
EU leaders meeting in Brussels on Thursday (29 October) face an international credibility test as they struggle to firm up their financial commitment to fighting climate change. The meeting comes a few weeks ahead of a gathering in Copenhagen where a global deal on reducing greenhouse gas emissions after 2012 - when the current Kyoto set-up expires - is supposed to be reached. - 2009/10/27: Guardian(UK): Europe puts figure on green aid to push climate change deal
- 2009/10/27: EurActiv: EU farm policies to include climate 'pillar'
The EU's post-2013 Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) may well include a 'third pillar' on climate change and make direct support for farmers subject to the delivery of "public goods" such as biodiversity or sustainable farming practices, according to a draft European Commission proposal seen by EurActiv. - 2009/10/27: EurActiv: EU summit might fail on climate funding
EU leaders are set for difficult talks as they meet this week (29-30 October) to reach an agreement on funding under a new climate treaty ahead of the UN-led Copenhagen conference in December. As Copenhagen approaches, the pressure is on to find consensus at the highest political level on the exact figures that the EU is willing to put on the table to secure a new climate treaty. The bloc has been postponing the decision since last spring, and the June summit settled on hammering out all the details at the October European Council. - 2009/10/26: COP15: A crucial moment for EU's climate position
This week's summit in Bruxelles is expected to see a battle over how much the union should contribute to financing adaptation in developing countries - 2009/10/26: EarthTimes: EU hopes summit will break climate finance deadlock
The European Union should be able to break its deadlock on how to fund the fight against climate change at a summit later this week, EU foreign ministers said Monday. The bloc wants to agree on how it should pay poor countries to fight climate change before crucial United Nations talks in Copenhagen in December, but a bitter fight between Eastern and Western member states has deadlocked talks. - 2009/10/30: SolveClimate: Barcelona Climate Talks to Open [Monday Nov 2.] Amid Discord Over Key Issues
An article by AP's Seth Borenstein debunking the climate cooling myth drew a lot of comment:
- 2009/11/01: JEB: No, global warming hasn't stopped (part 94)
- 2009/10/26: CSpin: Recent global cooling isn't in the statistics
- 2009/10/28: DeSmogBlog: Skeptics Have Touted "Global Cooling" Theory Anywhere They Could [AP stats]
- 2009/10/26: Grist: "Global cooling"scam debunked yet again
- 2009/10/27: ClimateShifts: Global cooling? Statisticians reject claims that climate trend is shifting
- 2009/10/26: ERabett: Statisticians reject global cooling
- 2009/10/27: CCP: Seth Borenstein: Global cooling rejected by statisticians
- 2009/10/27: DM:CCM: An Exquisite Debunking of Global Cooling Claims
- 2009/10/27: GWW: Last 10 years period warmest on modern record
- 2009/10/26: KSJT: AP: That global cooling trend we hear about is just statistical ignorance announcing itself to the world
- 2009/10/26: ClimateP: Must-read AP story: Statisticians reject global cooling...
- 2009/10/26: Yahoo:AP: Statisticians reject global cooling
- 2009/10/26: TreeHugger: AP Throws Cold Water on Skeptics' Global Cooling Claims
- 2009/10/26: DeSmogBlog: Statisticians Confirm: No Global Cooling Despite Skeptic Spin
Cosmic rayzzzzzzz:
- 2009/10/28: ERabett: Punching bag Unnoticed in the recent pile-ons, our friends from outer space have been taking it in the chin.
WFC wrap up:
- 2009/10/27: TreeHugger: Conclusions of the 2009 World Forestry Congress
SuperFreakonomics is still getting free publicity:
- 2009/10/31: GreenFyre: Ouch ... more Superfreakonomic Uber-Pwnage (all sorts)
- 2009/10/30: EnvEcon: Real climate scientists aren't happy [SuperFree]
- 2009/10/31: EnvEcon: This is really scary -- I continue to cringe at the SuperFreakonomics reviews, but...
- 2009/10/30: CJR: More On Super Freaks and Troubling Temps
- 2009/10/30: ClimateP: Rep. Jay Inslee slams SuperFreakonomics: "People are still trying to write books to deceive the American public" on climate science.
- 2009/10/30: JQuiggin: Unforgivable, at least by me [superfree]
- 2009/10/29: Deltoid: Dubner falsely claims that ocean acidification is addressed in Superfreakonomics
- 2009/10/29: RealClimate: An open letter to Steve Levitt
- 2009/10/29: BSD: My last, somewhat contrarian, Superfreaks post
- 2009/10/29: TWTB: The Freakonomics solution to finding yourself in a hole -- Or: Levitt and Dubner Keep Digging, Part One
- 2009/10/29: ClimateP: Contrarian Chic: Why can't the media tell the difference between an attack on dubious 'conventional' wisdom and an attack on genuine scientific wisdom?
- 2009/10/29: Deltoid: Levitt and Dubner liken climate scientists to flat Earthers
- 2009/10/29: Deltoid: Superfreakonomics: Levitt missing the point
- 2009/10/28: TP: Jon Stewart Praises 'SuperFreak' Author: 'I'm Sorry You've Taken So Much S**t'
- 2009/10/28: TP:WR: Jon Stewart Argues That Concern About Global Warming Is Just A 'Secular Religion'
- 2009/10/28: ClimateP: Harvard Business Review: SuperFreakonomics Ignores the Business Case for Sustainability
- 2009/10/26: GreenFyre: Scary Monsters (And superfreakonomics)
- 2009/10/26: TP:WR: Answers For DeLong About The SuperFreaks, Part Three: Solar Power And Warming Debts
And on the Bottom Line:
- 2009/10/27: COP15: Mitigation costs below three percent of GDP
By 2030, the costs to the global economy from cutting emissions can be kept below three percent of annual Gross Domestic Product, says climate panel's chair [Rajendra Pachauri] - 2009/10/29: Reuters: Carbon tariff proposals unworkable - China WTO rep
Proposals to impose "carbon tariffs" on countries that do not make efforts to reduce their CO2 emissions are unworkable and counterproductive, a Chinese trade representative said on Thursday. Zhang Xiangchen, one of China's permanent representatives at the World Trade Organisation in Geneva, said "all countries should firmly oppose" the proposals, which have been raised by both the European Union and the United States. - 2009/10/27: CCurrents: The World At 4C By 2060
Late comment on IDoCA:
- 2009/10/27: RealClimate: 350
- 2009/10/27: Guardian(UK): The 350.org climate change worldwide protest (16 pictures)
- 2009/10/26: WorldChanging: Bill McKibben's wrap up of the more than 4300 demonstrations for 350 ppm around the planet
The Arctic melt continues to garner a lot of attention:
- 2009/10/30: FTimes: Greenland is warming up
- 2009/10/29: Reuters: Multiyear Arctic ice is effectively gone: expert
- 2009/10/29: DWWSJ: Why The Vanishing Polar Ice Cap Will Impact You
- 2009/10/30: CanWest: Multiyear Arctic ice effectively gone: expert
- 2009/10/29: Reuters: Multiyear Arctic ice is effectively gone: expert
The multiyear ice covering the Arctic Ocean has effectively vanished, a startling development that will make it easier to open up polar shipping routes, an Arctic expert said on Thursday. Vast sheets of impenetrable multiyear ice, which can reach up to 80 meters (260 feet) thick, have for centuries blocked the path of ships seeking a quick short cut through the fabled Northwest Passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific. They also ruled out the idea of sailing across the top of the world. But David Barber, Canada's Research Chair in Arctic System Science at the University of Manitoba, said the ice was melting at an extraordinarily fast rate. "We are almost out of multiyear sea ice in the northern hemisphere," he said in a presentation in Parliament. The little that remains is jammed up against Canada's Arctic archipelago, far from potential shipping routes. - 2009/10/29: TerraDaily: Arctic Sediments Show 20th Century Warming Is An Unnatural Variation
- 2009/10/29: TreeHugger: Multiyear Arctic Sea Ice Practically Gone - Not in the Future, Today
- 2009/10/28: Rabble: Grand Arctic promises [Michael Byers interview]
- 2009/10/28: GreenGrok: Arctic Plankton Sing the Global Warming Blues
- 2009/10/28: ClimateP: Arctic sea ice is refreezing quite slowly. Go figure!
As for the iconic (Arctic) species:
- 2009/10/31: PhysOrg: Canada, Greenland accord to protect polar bears
- 2009/10/30: CBC: Canada, Greenland to set up polar bear commission
Canada and Greenland are setting up a polar bear commission that will ensure bear populations that are shared between both nations will be protected and managed properly, Environment Minister Jim Prentice said Friday. Speaking to reporters from Kangerlussuaq, Greenland, where he signed a memorandum of understanding with his counterparts in Greenland and Nunavut, Prentice said the joint commission will have representatives from all three governments. The commission will come up with appropriate polar bear hunting quotas -- known as total allowable harvests -- for parts of the Arctic that are shared by the two regions. - 2009/10/30: NewScientist: We still have a chance to save polar bears
- 2009/10/30: CanWest: Canada to sign polar bear protection agreement
- 2009/10/29: CBC: Canada, Greenland to sign polar-bear agreement
A much-anticipated polar bear conservation agreement between Greenland, Canada and Nunavut will be signed Friday. Federal Environment Minister Jim Prentice is travelling to Kangerlussuaq, Greenland, to sign the agreement, which involves the Canadian and Greenland governments as well as the Nunavut territorial government. All three parties have been working for months on a conservation agreement that covers hunting areas shared by Nunavut and Greenland, including Baffin Bay and Kane Basin. - 2009/10/28: NewScientist: Plan to protect polar bears' icy habitat
- 2009/10/27: NRDC:SwitchBoard: Investor's Business Daily Misleads on Polar Bears
And the geopolitics of Arctic resources:
- 2009/10/30: CBC: Russia to launch Arctic Sea shelf mission
Russia is planning extensive research to help uphold its claim to the energy-rich Arctic Sea shelf, which the country believes is an extension of the Eurasian continent, an official says. At a conference in Moscow Friday, Andrei Smirnov of the state-run company Atomflot said Russia is planning icebreaker missions in the Arctic over the next three years to conduct a detailed geological analysis of the seabed. The mission will kick off with an atomic-powered icebreaker and a research ship travelling to the Arctic next summer, Smirnov said. - 2009/10/27: RealClimate: Putting the recent Antarctic snowmelt minimum into context
- 2009/10/26: ClimateP: Nature: "Dynamic thinning of Greenland and Antarctic ice-sheet ocean margins is more sensitive, pervasive, enduring and important than previously realized"
The food crisis is ongoing:
- 2009/10/30: AllAfrica: SW Radio: [Zimbabwe] Food Crisis Set to Worsen as Farmers Remain Under Threat
The food crisis that is threatening to leave millions of Zimbabweans once again facing severe hunger in the coming months is set to worsen, as the country's remaining commercial farmers continue to come under both physical and legal attack. According to the Commercial Farmers Union (CFU) the ongoing offensive against the farming community is having a 'disastrous' effect on the current summer cropping programme. Already, the US based Famine Early Warning System Network (FEWSNET) has said more than two million people are facing hunger, detailing in a report that only a maximum of 1.4 million metric tonnes of cereals will be available in the coming months, compared with the more than 2 million tonnes needed to meet Zimbabwe's basic food needs. - 2009/10/27: COP15: UN food agency says 200 million more people hungry
Most of the developing world is paying more for food despite drops in commodity market prices during the global economic slowdown, with 200 million people joining the ranks of the hungry in the past two years, the UN World Food Program said Monday. - 2009/10/26: FAO: Locust infestation in Mauritania -- Country teams and FAO bring situation under control
- 2009/10/29: Tyee: The Potato Underground -- How the 'outlaw' Cariboo spud, once blacklisted by agribiz advocates, was saved.
- 2009/10/26: NYT:R4D: Can Biotech Food Cure World Hunger? [6 articles]
- 2009/10/17: FTimes: Feed the world [5 Book Reviews]
- 2009/10/30: PhysOrg: Hard Winter Wheat Varieties Released
The first hard winter wheat varieties bred and developed for production in the eastern United States have been released by the Agricultural Research Service (ARS). NuEast, a hard red winter wheat, and Appalachian White, a hard white winter wheat, were bred by ARS plant pathologist and geneticist David Marshall, research leader of the Plant Science Research Unit in Raleigh, N.C. - 2009/10/29: SeedDaily: Tests on treasured maize ignite fears in Mexico
As scientists race the clock to increase food production worldwide, new trials to plant genetically-modified maize have stoked anger in Mexico, the cradle of corn. - 2009/10/26: OpenDem: Greening the next green revolution
- 2009/10/28: PhysOrg: Rot-resistant wheat could save farmers millions
CSIRO researchers have identified wheat and barley lines resistant to Crown Rot - a disease that costs Australian wheat and barley farmers $79 million in lost yield every year. - 2009/10/28: PhysOrg: Maize research reduces poverty in west and central Africa
- 2009/10/28: Forbes: More Food On Less Carbon -- How do we get there?
- 2009/10/28: AlterNet: What's So Scary About Michael Pollan? Why Corporate Agriculture Tried to Censor His University Speech
- 2009/10/26: GG&G: Climate change, food supply and the role of genetically modified crops
- 2009/10/26: Eureka: Modified crops reveal hidden cost of resistance
Typhoon Mirinae zapped the Philippines:
- 2009/11/01: CNN: At least 14 dead after Typhoon Mirinae lashes Philippines...will hit Vietnam on Monday
- 2009/11/01: EarthTimes: Typhoon Mirinae leaves 14 dead in Philippines
- 2009/11/01: Guardian(UK): Death toll mounts as Philippines hit by third typhoon in a month
- 2009/10/31: CNN: Fourth typhoon in month hits Philippines
- 2009/10/31: Wunderground: Typhoon Mirinae less destructive than feared for Philippines
- 2009/10/31: EarthTimes: Powerful typhoon hits Philippines, kills 11
- 2009/10/31: EarthTimes: Powerful typhoon hits Philippines, kills five
- 2009/10/31: CBC: Philippines typhoon now tropical storm -- Flooding kills at least 7
- 2009/10/30: PhysOrg: Typhoon Mirinae already raining on the Philippines
- 2009/10/30: Wunderground: Tornado rips Shreveport; Typhoon Mirinae deluging the Philippines
- 2009/10/30: EarthTimes: Thousands stranded as typhoon [Mirinae] nears Philippines
- 2009/10/30: Eureka: Typhoon Mirinae already raining on the Philippines
- 2009/10/29: Eureka: Typhoon Mirinae is already scaring Philippine residents before Halloween
- 2009/10/30: BBC: Fourth storm [Typhoon Mirinae] lashes Philippines
The fourth storm to hit the Philippines in a month has lashed the eastern province of Quezon, bringing heavy rain and winds to the region. Forecasters said Typhoon Mirinae was following the same route as September's storm, Ketsana, which dumped the heaviest rains in 40 years on Manila. - 2009/10/30: CBC: Battered Philippines hit by another storm [Mirinae]
- 2009/10/28: TerraDaily: WHO experts helping Philippines contain deadly disease: UN
UN health experts began field investigations on Wednesday to help the Philippines contain an outbreak of a deadly disease in the wake of massive storms that claimed more than 1,000 lives, officials said. - 2009/10/29: Wunderground: Philippines brace for Typhoon Mirinae; big snowstorm wallops Colorado
- 2009/10/29: EarthTimes: Philippines warns of floods, landslides as Typhoon Mirinae nears
- 2009/10/28: PhysOrg: [Typhoon] Mirinae intensifying while moving away from the northern Marianas
- 2009/10/28: Wunderground: Winter forecast for the U.S.; Typhoon Mirinae threatens the Philippines
- 2009/10/27: PhysOrg: Microwave satellite imagery shows an eye developing in Mirinae
While elsewhere in the hurricane wars:
- 2009/10/27: PhysOrg: Tropical Depression Neki nulled by cool waters and wind shear
- 2009/10/26: TerraDaily: Typhoon Lupit nears southern Japan
- 2009/10/26: Wunderground: A quiet week for the Atlantic; another typhoon for the Philippines? [W 23]
- 2009/10/26: Eureka: NASA gets a 3-D look at Neki becoming extra-tropical
- 2009/10/26: NASA: A 2-for-1 for NASA's Aqua Satellite: Lupit and 23W in Western Pacific
As for GHGs:
- 2009/10/29: Eureka: NASA researchers explore lightning's 'NOx-ious' impact on pollution, climate
- 2009/10/29: GreenGrok: Cows Let Go a Sigh of Relief
- 2009/10/27: SolveClimate: While Politicians Debate HFCs Phase-Down, Companies Innovate
And the temperature record:
- 2009/10/27: CCP: Seth Borenstein: In hot water -- world sets ocean temperature record in August 2009
Aerosols are making their presence felt:
- 2009/10/30: Times(UK): Methane's impact on global warming far higher than previously thought [aerosols]
- 2009/10/29: SciNews: Aerosols cloud the climate picture
New work suggests scientists and policy makers can't ignore interactions between greenhouse gases and light-scattering particles - 2009/10/30: KSJT: USA Today, Times & Telegraph in UK: Methane + aerosols may boost greenhouse more than we thought
- 2009/10/29: NatureN: Aerosols make methane more potent -- Air pollution linked more closely to climate concerns
While in the paleoclimate:
- 2009/10/29: PhysOrg: Previously Unknown Volcanic Eruption Helped Trigger Cold Decade [before Tambora in 1809]
- 2009/10/29: Eureka: A new wrinkle in ancient ocean chemistry [GOE 2.4 bya]
- 2009/10/27: SciDaily: Climate Events Let Ice Age Mammoths Pass Far Below 40 Degrees North Latitude
- 2009/10/26: PlanetArk: Palms Grew In Ice-Free Arctic 50 Million Years Ago: study
- 2009/10/26: COP15: Palm pollen in Arctic ice may hide unpleasant surprises
As the Arctic warmed 50 million years ago due to increased atmospheric CO2 concentrations, it may have formed new types of clouds, trapping ever more heat and accelerating warming. - 2009/10/21: OSU: Volcanoes played pivotal role in ancient ice age, mass extinction [450 mya]
On the ENSO front:
- 2009/10/27: ClimateP: The weak El Niño appears to be strengthening, as expected, so record temperatures will continue
- 2009/10/27: Wunderground: El Niño intensifies from weak to moderate; Phillippines under the gun again
Glaciers are melting:
- 2009/10/29: CCurrents: Climbing A 'Dead' Glacier
- 2009/10/27: Enviralment: All The Earth's Ice Cream Is Melting
- 2009/10/28: BBC: Melting Kyrgyz glaciers pose threat
Sea levels are rising:
- 2009/10/31: CCP: Sea level rises would flood Philly -- and NYC and DC and Miami
- 2009/10/31: CCP: Sea level rise: Current global average is 3.2 mm per year -- Sea Level Change Data from the University of Colorada at Boulder
- 2009/10/31: CCP: New Hampshire could lose entire coastline by 2100, according to Dr. Gordon Hamilton of the Hip Boot Tour
- 2009/10/30: CCP: Global warming is putting the [US] East Coast cities at risk for severe flooding
- 2009/10/29: CCP: Andrew Kemp: North Carolina sea levels rising three times faster than in previous 500 years, Penn study says
- 2009/10/28: Eureka: North Carolina sea levels rising 3 times faster than in previous 500 years, Penn study says
- 2009/10/26: ABC(Au): Sea level has risen 135mm [over 20 years] in Darwin: scientist
- 2009/10/25: Guardian(UK): Storm threat to New Orleans out of our control, says general
Flooding can't be stopped, says chief of city defences - Half of Louisiana will be under water by 2100 - 2009/10/29: CCP: Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) and glacier runoff from Greenland
Meanwhile in near earth orbit:
- 2009/10/30: BBC: Mapping the 'great wheel of water'
[...] Europe's new Earth observation satellite [...] the Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) spacecraft [...] SMOS is scheduled to launch on its Rockot vehicle from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in Russia at 0450 local time (0150 GMT) on Monday. - 2009/10/29: NERC: Soil moisture and ocean salinity satellite ready for launch [SMOS]
More GW impacts are being seen:
- 2009/11/01: ClimateShifts: Contrasting regional impacts of climate change upon fisheries
- 2009/10/29: Guardian(UK): Spanish winemaker Torres warms to environmentalism -- Climate change could devastate vineyards so Miguel Torres is preparing his family company for the worst
- 2009/10/29: COP15: Radical ecological shift in the North Sea
Warming of the North Sea leads to jellyfish and crabs replacing cod and flatfish, new study concludes. - 2009/10/28: NatureTGB: El Niño hits endangered primates
- 2009/10/27: PhysOrg: Global warming cycles threaten endangered primate species
- 2009/10/25: JFleck: Stuff I Wrote Elsewhere II: Birds, warming and the desert
- 2009/10/26: Eureka: Ocean acidification may contribute to global shellfish decline
Stony Brook University researchers find elevated carbon dioxide concentrations impede growth and survival of bivalve larvae - 2009/10/29: USGS: Global Tree Death Patterns Reveal Emerging Climate Change Risks for Forests
- 2009/10/30: GreenGrok: Deforestation Role Demoted
- 2009/10/29: Guardian(UK): Canada sets aside its boreal forest as giant carbon vault
By banning logging, mining and oil drilling in an area twice the size of California, Canada [provincial governments and aboriginal leaders] is ensuring its boreal forests continue to soak up carbon - 2009/10/29: PlanetArk: Factbox - Carbon Offsets, Wood Chips Fuel Forests Interest
Forests are a growing investment prospect as climate incentives place new value on wood chips and standing trees, say fund managers. An economic recovery will also drive demand for more traditional products such as pulp and lumber, investors say. Following is a summary of some recent forest fund-raisings and deals. - 2009/10/29: PlanetArk: Carbon Values Drive Forest Investment, Greens Wary
New rewards to store carbon in trees are driving forestry investments, but green groups fear they pose a threat to ancient woodlands and rainforests. - 2009/10/28: Eureka: Trees facilitate wildfires as a way to protect their habitat
- 2009/10/27: MongaBay: Will Ecuador's plan to raise money for not drilling oil in the Amazon succeed?
- 2009/10/27: OilChange: $3 Billion to Keep Amazon Oil in the Soil
- 2009/10/26: Independent(UK): Rainforest treaty 'fatally flawed' -- Climate summit loophole lets palm oil producers cull vital wilderness
A vital safeguard to protect the world's rainforests from being cut down has been dropped from a global deforestation treaty due to be signed at the climate summit in Copenhagen in December. Under proposals due to be ratified at the summit, countries which cut down rainforests and convert them to plantations of trees such as oil palms would still be able to classify the result as forest and could receive millions of dollars meant for preserving them. An earlier version of the text ruled out such a conversion but has been deleted, and the EU delegation -- headed by Britain -- has blocked its reinsertion. - 2009/10/26: OilChange: Forest Agreement is "Fundamentally Flawed"
Corals are dying:
- 2009/10/30: ClimateShifts: Cryogenic reefs
- 2009/10/26: ABC(Au): Plan to freeze threatened coral
An international meeting on climate change in Copenhagen has heard the prospects of saving the world's coral reefs now appear so bleak there are plans to freeze samples to preserve them for the future. - 2009/10/26: PlanetArk: One Dead, One Missing After Storms Hit Greece
Speaking of floods & droughts:
- 2009/10/31: CCP: Population explosion and over usage of ground water dry out Yemen
- 2009/10/27: WFP: Rains Arrive in Kenya But Food in Short Supply
- 2009/10/29: TerraDaily: Yemen's water crisis a Mideast warning
- 2009/10/30: ABC(Au): Drought beats cotton giant Cubbie
Australia's largest irrigation property, Cubbie Station, is about to be placed in voluntary administration. - 2009/10/29: MTobis: Texas Drought Abates
- 2009/10/29: TreeHugger: 6 Solutions for California's Water Crisis and How We Can Help
- 2009/10/28: COP15: Switzerland is drying out
The devastating drought that hit the Alpine country in 2003 will soon become a frequent summertime condition, a new report states. - 2009/10/27: KSJT: AP: Aral Sea reborn?
- 2009/10/26: NYT: A Drought-Stricken Land Offers Help With Water
Elsewhere on the mitigation front:
- 2009/11/01: ABC(Au): Academic says cull buffalo to curb emissions
An environmental science academic says the estimated 150,000 feral buffalo roaming the Top End should be culled to cut greenhouse gas emissions. Charles Darwin University's Professor Stephen Garnett says an individual buffalo emits the equivalent of about a tonne of carbon dioxide each year. He says feral animals release around 4 per cent of the Northern Territory's annual greenhouse gas emissions. - 2009/11/01: ClimateShifts: Eat your dog (or cat), save the planet
- 2009/10/27: CCurrents: Climate Change: Do We Consider Livestock Emissions?
- 2009/10/28: BBC: The methane makers
The man behind one of the most influential reports on climate change, Lord Stern, has highlighted the impact meat production has on greenhouse gas emissions. Part of it comes through methane made by the animals as they digest food. So which farm animals expel the most methane? - 2009/10/27: Guardian(UK): Go green, go vegan
It may not be his only concern, but Lord Stern's suggestion that changing our diet would help slow climate change is important - 2009/10/27: NatureTGB: Down on the farm with Citizen Stern
- 2009/10/27: NewScientist: How laundry could slash US carbon emissions -- the carbon-saving impact of 17 practices
- 2009/10/27: TStar: Man's best friend, mankind's worst enemy? Scientists warn of Fido's big ecological paw print
- 2009/10/26: Guardian(UK): People may have to go vegetarian to save planet says Lord Stern
- 2009/10/26: Eureka: Simple measures can yield big greenhouse gas cuts, scientists say
Consider transportation & GHG production:
- 2009/10/30: CCurrents: Climate Change: Set That 110 Limit
- 2009/10/30: OilDrum: The Future of European Transport: iTREN-2030
- 2009/10/30: CanWest: Flying eco-friendly skies: Nav Canada upgrade leads to fewer emissions from jets
As for carbon sequestration:
- 2009/11/01: PhysOrg: Japan aims to bury greenhouse gas emissions
- 2009/11/01: CCP: Australian farmer sequesters 1,100 kilos of carbon per hectare by injecting the fumes from his diesel tractor into the soil as he plants his crops, saving $1200 per hectare in fertilizer costs
- 2009/11/01: TheAge: A farmer's field of dreams buries climate change war
A battle is raging beneath the bobbing heads of Ian Linklater's wheat crop in the red, loamy soils of Gol Gol. [...] Mr Linklater is literally ploughing ahead, injecting his tractor's fossil fuel exhaust fumes directly into the ground, where they enhance the biochemical interaction between plants and soil microbes. - 2009/10/29: ABC(Au): Clean coal power 20 years away
The vision of clean coal powering our future electricity has taken a blow, with new costings revealing the technology will not be viable for 20 years. The Federal Government's own global carbon capture and storage institute says clean coal power generation will not be commercially worthwhile unless the carbon price hits at least $60 a tonne. That is not expected until 2030. Clean coal advocates want the Government to lend a hand to make the first commercial-sized plants affordable. - 2009/10/28: BizGreen: CCS at coal-fired plants to almost double cost of power production -- [GCCSI] Report urges governments to lead carbon capture and storage projects as high costs deter private sector
- 2009/10/29: MoJo: Not Under My Backyard -- Big Coal wants to bury its carbon deep underground. Care to volunteer your town?
- 2009/10/28: Reuters: Audit finds high risk of CO2 capture project failure
Carbon capture and storage projects, seen as crucial in the fight against global warming, face a high risk of failure due to their high costs and should be applied across many sectors to ensure success, an audit says. The Global Carbon Capture and Storage Institute, in an audit of the world's carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects aimed at reducing carbon dioxide emissions, found 213 projects active or planned. Only seven were operating and capturing CO2 at all stages. The world needs to build 100 major projects for capturing and burying greenhouse gases by 2020 and thousands more by 2050 to help combat climate change, says the International Energy Agency. Carbon capture and storage could lower CO2 emissions by about 19 percent, it says. - 2009/10/27: Guardian(UK): Civil engineers call for greater speed in UK carbon capture drive
Report from the Institution of Civil Engineers calls for the UK government to set the framework for industry to develop and implement carbon capture and storage technology - 2009/10/31: CNet: Researchers ask how best to engineer the planet
- 2009/11/01: TP:WR: What Not To Name Your Geoengineering Project: Ice-Nine-One-One
- 2009/10/: ERL: Focus on Climate Engineering: Intentional Intervention in the Climate System
- 2009/10/26: Heliophage: Why people disagree about geoengineering
- 2009/10/29: Grist: GMO wishes, geo-engineering dreams -- Save us, [insert techno-fix here], you're our only hope!
While on the adaptation front:
- 2009/10/30: IPSNews: Investment in Ecosystems Key to Adaptation
Investing in the sustainable management of ecosystems and curbing environmental degradation greatly improves the capacity of nations to adapt to climate change, according to a study carried out in 16 countries by two environmental organisations. - 2009/10/28: MTobis: Transition Towns: Mostly Harmless
Meanwhile in the journals:
- 2009/10/31: AGWObserver: Papers on anthropogenic carbon dioxide observations
- 2009/10/26: NERC:NORA: Response of surface energy balance to water regime and vegetation development in a Sahelian landscape by F.Timouk wt al.
- 2009/10/30: TCD: Quasi-3-D resistivity imaging - mapping of heterogeneous frozen ground conditions using electrical resistivity tomography by C. Kneisel et al.
- 2009/10/30: CP: Tree ring-based February-April temperature reconstruction for Changbai Mountain in Northeast China and its implication for East Asian winter monsoon by H. F. Zhu et al.
- 2009/10/26: CP: Western equatorial African forest-savanna mosaics: a legacy of late Holocene climatic change? by A. Ngomanda et al.
- 2009/10/27: CPD: Productivity feedback did not terminate the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) by A. Torfstein et al.
- 2009/10/29: Geology: (ab$) Timing and magnitude of recent accelerated sea-level rise (North Carolina, United States) by Andrew C. Kemp et al.
- 2009/10/28: AGWObserver: Papers on sea ice amount observations
- 2009/10/26: AGWObserver: Papers on cloud feedback observations
- 2009/10/28: ACP: New particle formation from the oxidation of direct emissions of pine seedlings by L. Q. Hao et al.
- 2009/10/27: ACPD: Model of optical response of marine aerosols to Forbush decreases by T. Bondo et al.
- 2009/10/27: ACPD: The municipal solid waste landfill as a source of ozone-depleting substances in the United States and United Kingdom by E. L. Hodson et al.
- 2009/10/27: PNAS: An independent evaluation of the Younger Dryas extraterrestrial impact hypothesis by Todd A. Surovell et al.
- 2009/10/27: PNAS: [Letter$] Reply to Grubler and Pachauri: Developing national obligations from individual emissions by Shoibal Chakravarty et al.
- 2009/10/27: PNAS: [Letter$] Problems with burden-sharing proposal among one billion high emitters by Arnulf Grubler & Shonali Pachauri
- 2009/10/27: PNAS: [Letter$] Reply to Meerburg et al.: Growing areas in Brazil and the United States with similar exposure to extreme heat have similar yields by Wolfram Schlenker & Michael J. Roberts
- 2009/10/27: PNAS: [Letter$] Do nonlinear temperature effects indicate severe damages to US crop yields under climate change? by B. G. Meerburg et al.
And other significant documents:
- 2009/10/29: Pembina: [link to 2.4 meg pdf] Climate Leadership, Economic Prosperity
- 2009/10/29: DSuzuki: [link to 2.4 meg pdf] Climate Leadership, Economic Prosperity
- Ecofys: Reports and books [links to Sectoral Emission Reduction Potentials and Economic Costs for Climate Change subsections]
- 2009/10/27: USGS: [link to 4.75 meg pdf] Estimated Use of Water in the United States in 2005 by Joan F. Kenny et al.
- 2009/10/28: CRU: Examining the validity of the published RCS Yamal tree-ring chronology by Keith R. Briffa & Thomas M. Melvin
Before we get into politics, there was some science done:
- 2009/10/26: MGS: Doing science, with sea ice
Tiljander:
- 2009/10/29: Stoat: Tiljander
Pielke, alas:
- 2009/10/27: Stoat: Oh dear oh dear oh dear oh dear
Further on Tingley/Huybers:
- 2009/10/27: CCP: Novel analysis [Tingley/Huybers] confirms climate "hockey stick" graph: A new analysis creates a better look at rising temperatures
Meanwhile on the Kyoto front:
- 2009/10/26: EurActiv: Developing countries 'not ready' for clean tech transfers
Major institutional building will be necessary if a new climate treaty is to move from the Kyoto Protocol's Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) to sectoral crediting as planned by the EU, a European Commission official said last week (22 October). - 2009/10/29: COP15: Ministers to UN: Create new strong environment organization
The UN must create a strong world environment organization that can deal effectively with global environmental crises like climate change, the environment ministers of Italy and Kenya suggest. - 2009/10/28: Guardian(UK): Why we need a world environment organisation [UN]
There is an urgent need for an environmental organisation within the UN system with real political clout - 2009/10/27: UN: Climate change tops the agenda of Ban's visit to United Kingdom and Greece
- 2009/10/26: Grist: The whole world is watching -- U.N. chief will pressure senators on climate bill
And on the carbon trading front:
- 2009/10/28: CFO: Carbon markets don't motivate clean investment, says Deutsche Bank
- 2009/10/28: CFO: VAT clampdown leads to carbon market's first quarterly drop
- 2009/10/28: PlanetArk: EU Carbon Closes At Key Support Level
- 2009/10/26: WBCSD: Carbon market growth stalls in 2009
The world carbon market will be worth $122 billion in 2009, just $3 billion higher than last year. The forecast, from UK research group New Energy Finance, marks a severe drop in growth amid the global economic downturn. - 2009/10/27: NYT:GreenInc: E.U. Faces Oversupply of Carbon Credits
- 2009/10/26: COP15: Indonesia: Beware the carbon cowboys
Foreign so called carbon brokers outline a golden future in forest projects to local communities but often their promises are just hot air. - 2009/11/01: EarthTimes: Climate change on the agenda at US-EU summit
- 2009/10/30: FTimes:ES: US wind turbines: Blame the Europeans...Or, blame the shortcomings of policy.
The US and China might be making nice this week, with several trade disputes being resolved at a meeting in Hangzhou - which included a promise by China to drop the 'local content' requirement on wind farm tenders. Meanwhile a big wind project in Texas announced yesterday will use turbines supplied by a Chinese company, A-Power Energy. But if US wind turbine manufacturers want another foreign renewables contingent to worry about, there's always the Europeans. A study by non-profit group the Investigative Reporting Workshop found that 84 per cent of the $1.05bn handed out by the US government since September 1 has gone to foreign companies - mostly European. - 2009/10/31: PeakEnergy: Military Experts Call for Action on Climate Change to Avoid Security Threats
- 2009/10/30: CSW: Senate testimony on climate change and national security raises questions: Whose security?
- 2009/10/28: Newser:AP: Military experts say failure to address climate change brings national security risks -- Turmoil from climate change poses security risks
- 2009/10/28: Guardian(UK): Thirst for oil poses threat to US national security, says military adviser
Democratic senators today pivoted from the economy to national security in push for climate change bill - 2009/10/31: BBC: Release of Turkmen activist [Andrei Zatoka] urged
An environmental activist sentenced to five years in prison in Turkmenistan was jailed on trumped-up charges, rights campaigners have said. Andrei Zatoka was arrested for assault after an altercation with a stranger in a market - an incident campaign group Human Rights Watch said was staged. It also said his trial was fixed and he was not allowed any legal defence. - 2009/10/28: Yahoo:AFP: Greenpeace dumps 18 tonnes of coal at Swedish govt offices
- 2009/10/27: Guardian(UK): Didcot demonstration: Police use bail restrictions to stifle climate protest
- 2009/10/28: EUO: Climate activists shut down European business conference
British-style "climate camp" activists shut down the annual conference of the Confederation of European Business in Brussels on Wednesday (28 October) morning, occupying and blockading the European Commission building where industrialists were due to talk about global warming. The new group, Climate Alarm, accused the EU executive of getting into bed with the businesses sponsoring the conference, which include Shell, Daimler and Arcelor-Mittal, companies it says are some of the worst carbon emitters in the world. - 2009/10/28: EarthTimes: Greenpeace activists block Polish railyard in ecology protest
- 2009/10/27: CCP: Activists turn up the heat on climate: Effort to raise awareness of warming risks
- 2009/10/26: Guardian(UK): Kingsnorth: How climate protesters were treated as threat to the country
And on the American political front:
- 2009/11/01: ClimateP: Honey, I shrunk the GOP, Part 4: Moderate GOP candidate yields to angry conservative. Gingrich says if this keeps up, "we'll make Pelosi speaker for life and guarantee Obama's re-election."
- 2009/10/27: C411: Four Signs that Clean Energy Opponents are Getting Desperate
- 2009/10/28: ERabett: Elections have consequences [Steiner - Alaska]
- 2009/10/28: DeSmogBlog: Can you trust Frank Luntz?
- 2009/10/26: WWI: U.S. Public Still Unconvinced on Climate Change [Pew]
- 2009/10/27: ClimateP: New CNN poll finds "nearly six in 10 independents" support cap-and-trade
- 2009/10/27: BBerg: Deal-Breaker for Climate-Change Treaty May Be Obama's Congress
- 2009/10/26: ANorton: American climate change scepticism growing too [Pew]
The Chamber of Commerce imbroglio rolls on:
- 2009/10/31: ABC(US):S&S: The Yes Men [vs. U.S. Chamber of Commerce]
- 2009/10/30: PlanetArk: Chamber Faces Dissent From Big U.S. Firms On Climate
- 2009/10/29: NRDC:SwitchBoard: Cisco Systems: The Chamber Doesn't Represent this Company on Climate
- 2009/10/29: TPMM: Yes Man: Chamber Lawsuit Is "A Comedy And A Travesty"
- 2009/10/30: TPMM: Chamber Ripped On Its Facebook Page
- 2009/10/28: TPMM: Chamber Vs. Yes Men: Frivolous Lawsuit, Or IP Theft?
- 2009/10/27: NRDC:SwitchBoard: Washington Post Assails Chamber's Honesty and Credibility
- 2009/10/26: Guardian(UK): Toyota: We're staying in US chamber of commerce
- 2009/10/26: NRDC:SwitchBoard: Dow and PEPCO Disagree with US Chamber Climate Stance, Too
- 2009/10/26: NRDC:SwitchBoard: NRG [Energy Inc.] Rejected US Chamber Membership Over "Extreme" Climate Position
- 2009/10/26: TP: Chamber Of Commerce President [Donohue] Questions Climate Change: 'Is Science Not Right? I Don't Know'
That report on the hidden damages of fossil fuels continues to draw comment:
- 2009/10/30: Grist: When will we stop paying the hidden [damages] fossil fuel tax?
The Obama chatter is nonstop:
- 2009/10/28: TreeHugger: The White House (Finally) Begins Major Push for Clean Energy Reform
- 2009/10/27: Grist: Obama launches climate push with December goal
- 2009/10/26: DM:KAM: Obama's MIT Speech on Energy and Climate: A Critical Take
The actions of the Obama administration are being watched closely:
- 2009/10/31: ClimateP: Energy Secretary Steven Chu on home weatherization: Saving money by saving energy
- 2009/10/30: ScienceInsider: Interior Department Urged to Identify Arctic Unknowns
- 2009/10/29: PhysOrg: Funding A Greener Grid: How Obama plans to spend billions on modernizing the U.S. electrical network
- 2009/10/28: PhysOrg: Obama team: US needs bill to lead in clean energy
- 2009/10/29: PeakEnergy: Obama awards $3.4 billion in 'smart grid' grants
- 2009/10/29: SLTrib: Salazar order on climate change riles GOP -- Republicans say Utah and it's neighbors will be harmed.
Western Republicans fear Interior Secretary Ken Salazar is trying to skirt congressional authority by issuing an administrative order on climate change that the GOP members say could hurt businesses and cost taxpayers millions. Utah Reps. Rob Bishop and Jason Chaffetz and Sen. Orrin Hatch joined 13 other Western Republicans who charge in a letter Wednesday that the administration is trying an end-run around Congress on climate change legislation. At issue is Salazar's September "Secretarial Order" that creates a Climate Change Response Council and allows Interior agencies to coordinate efforts to combat the impacts of increased carbon in the atmosphere. - 2009/10/28: ScienceInsider: ARPA-E: Three Answers and Three Questions
- 2009/10/28: KSJT: Ink: Smart grid billions of $$ announced in a Florida solar field
- 2009/10/28: STimes: EPA pushes strict pollution rule
- 2009/10/27: KSJT: More News on that ARPA-E slug of DOE advanced energy grants
- 2009/10/27: ClimateP: Obama announces $3.4 billion in smart grid investments...
- 2009/10/27: PhysOrg: Obama unveils historic power grid reform
- 2009/10/27: Grist: President Obama announces $3.4 billion investment to spur transition to smart energy grid
- 2009/10/27: TreeHugger: Obama's Big Smart Grid Stimulus: $3.4 Billion Going to 100 Projects
- 2009/10/27: GTM: Smart Grid Gets $3.4B in DOE Stimulus
- 2009/10/26: WSJ:EnvCap: Lab Rats: DOE Awards $150 Million to 'Breakthrough' Energy Projects
- 2009/10/26: NYT: Energy Dept. Aid for Scientists on the Edge [ARPA-E - 37 grants totaling $151 million]
As for what is going on in Congress:
- 2009/11/01: ClimateShifts: Letter from the American Association for the Advancement of Science to the US Senate
- 2009/10/31: WaPo: Republicans move to delay climate bill progress
All seven Republicans on the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee plan to boycott next week's work session on a climate-change bill, an aide said on Saturday, in a move aimed at thwarting Democratic efforts to advance the controversial legislation quickly. - 2009/10/30: Grist: Republicans threaten to boycott Kerry-Boxer markup over substanceless procedural complaint
- 2009/10/30: ClimateP: Republicans for Enviromental Protection push back on Big Oil's attack on Lindsey Graham
- 2009/10/29: HillHeat: Senate Watch, Strength of Targets: Baucus, Boxer, Graham, Inhofe, Kerry, Lautenber, Sanders, Specter, Stabenow, Voinovich
- 2009/10/30: HillHeat: Senate Watch, Targets and Allocations: Bond, Byrd, Carper, Casey, Dorgan, Graham, Inhofe, Murkowski, Rockefeller, Specter, Vitter, Voinovich
- 2009/10/29: Reuters: Sen. Boxer to move ahead on climate bill
- 2009/10/29: TP: Inslee slams SuperFreakonomics for 'absolute deception' on climate science
- 2009/10/30: TP:WR: Sen. Jeff Merkley: Kerry-Boxer Sets The Stage For A Clean Energy Future
- 2009/10/29: ClimateP: Senate shocker: Second biggest U.S. coal producer [Rio Tinto] believes in global warming and strong climate action
- 2009/10/29: NRDC:SwitchBoard: Senate Moving Forward on Climate
- 2009/10/28: TheHill:BR: Graham floats climate compromise tying in offshore drilling
A climate bill tying regulations on carbon output to more offshore drilling could win support in the Senate, one senator suggested Wednesday. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said he is working on a compromise that would allow for new regulations on carbon-based pollutants in exchange for new permission to explore for oil and gas offshore as well as build new nuclear power plants. - 2009/10/28: ClimateP: Memo to Baucus: Your state's trees are being ravaged by warming-driven pests now and Montana faces 175% to 400% increase in wildfire burn area
- 2009/10/28: ClimateP: Washington Post mocks Inhofe as "the last flat-earther"
- 2009/10/28: HillHeat: Senate Watch, Progressives: Gillibrand, Lautenberg, Merkley, Sanders, Whitehouse
- 2009/10/28: DeSmogBlog: WaPo to Inhofe: "It must be very lonely being the last flat-earther"
- 2009/10/27: SolveClimate: Key Senate Democrat Raises Questions about Climate Bill Emissions Cuts, Costs
- 2009/10/28: NYT:GW: Conferees Vote to Increase Agency Funding by 36%
House and Senate conferees yesterday approved a $10.3 billion spending plan to fund U.S. EPA for fiscal 2010, a 36 percent boost over last year's levels. - 2009/10/28: WaPo: A senator [Jim Inhofe (R-Oklahoma)] in a hostile climate -- It must be very lonely being the last flat-earther
- 2009/10/27: ScienceInsider: Boxer: Low 2009 Greenhouse Emissions Could Be Politically Useful
- 2009/10/27: Grist: Kerry smacks down Inhofe's lies about the cost of climate policy
- 2009/10/26: TreeHugger: The US Senate's Very Own Climate Week
Congress is investigating the ACCCE sponsored Bonner & Assoc. forged letters:
- 2009/10/30: PRWatch: House Panel Calls Out Energy Astroturfers for Corrupting Democratic Process
- 2009/10/30: TreeHugger: Did Clean Coal Exec Lie to Congress? Twice?
- 2009/10/29: SolveClimate: Congress Grills Coal Group ACCCE Over Failure to Disclose Forged Letters
- 2009/10/29: TPMM: Could Coal Lobby Chief Be Probed For Perjury?
- 2009/10/29: TP: During Forged Letter Investigation Hearing, Coal Industry Lies Under Oath About Its Lobbying History
- 2009/10/29: ClimateP: During forged letter investigation hearing, coal industry lies under oath about its lobbying history
- 2009/10/28: DeSmogBlog: Astroturf King Jack Bonner's Long History of Deceitful "Grassroots" Lobbying
- 2009/10/15: TPM: Bonner Testimony on forged Letters
- 2009/10/29: TPMM: Coal Lobby Paid $7 Million To PR Firm That Hired Bonner
- 2009/10/29: TPMM: [Rep. Tom] Perriello (D-Va): Don't Hide Behind Front Groups
- 2009/10/29: TPMM: ACCCE: We're Done With Bonner
- 2009/10/29: TPMM: Bonner: "This Incident Was An Anomaly"
- 2009/10/29: TPMM: Bonner: We Should Have Notified Lawmakers Right Away
- 2009/10/29: TPMM: [Rep. Jay] Inslee (D-Wa): Bonner Phone Script Is "Wholly Wrong And Fraudulent"
- 2009/10/29: TPMM: [Rep. Jay] Inslee (D-Wa) To Coal Rep: As "Penance," Run Ads In Support Of CO2 Regulation -- And Tell Inhofe Too
- 2009/10/29: TPMM: Did ACCCE Chief Lie To Congress?
- 2009/10/29: TPMM: Markey To Coal Lobby: You Should Have Told Lawmakers About Forged Letters
- 2009/10/29: TPMM: Did ACCCE Chief Mislead Congress Again?
- 2009/10/29: MoJo: Inside Bonner's Climate Letter Forgeries
- 2009/10/28: MoJo: The Latest in the Bonner Forged Letters Controversy
- 2009/10/29: TP:WR: Flashback: ACCCE Said It 'Cannot Support' Waxman-Markey
In the hearing investigating fraudulent letters forged on behalf of the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity (ACCCE) to attack the Waxman-Markey American Clean Energy and Security Act (H.R. 2454), ACCCE chief Steve Miller told Congress his organization has never opposed the legislation.
The record shows otherwise. - 2009/10/25: HuffPo: Telling the Whole Story on Global Warming by Senator Barbara Boxer (D - Calif)
Kerry-Boxer aka CEJAPA defines a battleline:
- 2009/10/31: WaPo: Cap-and-trade mirage
- 2009/10/29: TreeHugger: The Climate Battle Is Ours To Lose, As Corporate Execs Fragment Over Cap & Trade Legislation
- 2009/10/28: Reuters: U.S. climate bill spurs low-carbon jobs debate
Leaders at companies that develop low-carbon energy told a Senate panel that climate legislation would create millions of new jobs, but lawmakers from fossil-fuel dependent states said the bill would hit employment in the traditional energy economy - 2009/10/29: WSJ:EnvCap: Energy Fight: ...the third day of Senate hearings on the climate bill...
- 2009/10/29: NPR: Senate Hearing On Climate Bill Heats Up
The Senate's Environment and Public Works committee has begun hearings on climate legislation, and the heat in the hearing room is spiraling upward. Predictions of what will happen with, or without, the legislation, range from dire to apocalyptic. - 2009/10/29: MoJo: The Climate Countdown -- Stop the dithering and give our kids a chance.
- 2009/10/28: NRDC:SwitchBoard: U.S. Climate Bill Unlocks Path to Preventing Dangerous Global Warming
- 2009/10/28: NRDC:SwitchBoard: It's the Economy, Stupid: U.S. Can Cash in on Clean Energy Legislation
- 2009/10/28: SolveClimate: I'm Just a Bill, Getting Mugged Here Up on Capitol Hill ...
- 2009/10/28: WaPo: Economics of climate change in forefront -- Senate panel takes up bill, setting stage for fight over estimates
- 2009/10/27: Guardian(UK): Senate Democrats push for climate bill ahead of Copenhagen
- 2009/10/27: NatureTGB: US Senate begins climate proceedings
- 2009/10/27: TP:WR: Who's Who On The EPW: Senate Committee Begins Landmark Climate Hearings
- 2009/10/27: ClimateP: The landmark Senate climate hearings: Day 1 debrief
- 2009/10/27: ClimateP: Sen. Kerry downplays prospect of floor debate on the climate bill this year; Sen. Alexander is still unaware of staggering cost of nuclear power
- 2009/10/27: PlanetArk: Senate Democrats Set Climate Bill Industry Permits
Democrats in the U.S. Senate will push climate change legislation that would grant, initially at no cost, pollution permits to an array of industries, similar to legislation passed by the House of Representatives last June. Details unveiled by the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee show the Democratic bill would allocate about 30 percent of the free pollution permits to local electric distribution companies and another 5 percent to merchant coal firms. The grants are intended to smooth their transition to cleaner fuels while protecting consumers against price increases, and would mostly phase out by 2030. - 2009/10/27: NRDC:SwitchBoard: Latest Draft of Senate Climate Bill: What's Good and What Needs Work
- 2009/10/27: Yahoo:Reuters: Senate panel kicks off climate bill drive
- 2009/10/27: WSJ:EnvCap: Climate Bill: Senators Stake Out Familiar Ground in Energy Debate
- 2009/10/27: BBerg: Senate Climate Bill Revives Complaints of Coal-Dependent States
- 2009/10/27: RechargeNews: US Senate begins hearings on Democrats' climate bill
- 2009/10/27: TPMDC: Major Climate Hearings Start Today On Capitol Hill As Administration Makes 'Green' Announcements
- 2009/10/25: PhysOrg: EPA: Climate bill could cost family $100 annually
- 2009/10/25: PhysOrg: Nuclear energy becomes pivotal in climate debate
- 2009/10/26: Grist: One step forward, several back -- The Kerry-Boxer bill is not "more ambitious" than Waxman-Markey
- 2009/10/26: Grist: Five scoops of compromise -- Sampling the competing flavors of the Senate climate debate
- 2009/10/26: WSJ:EnvCap: Climate Primer: What to Expect As The Senate Tackles the Energy Bill
- 2009/10/25: NYT: Senate Global Warming Bill Is Seeking to Cushion the Impact on Industry
- 2009/10/24: BBerg: Senate Climate Measure Would Give Away Most Pollution Permits
Lawmakers would give away for free the bulk of all pollution permits under a plan to curb global warming introduced yesterday by Senator Barbara Boxer. The 923-page measure is similar to legislation the House passed in June. The Senate bill gives away free carbon dioxide emission permits to some industries, including 35.5 percent for utilities, 15 percent for manufacturers and 2.25 percent for oil refineries. The free allocations fill in blanks in the outline for a cap-and-trade system that Boxer, chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee, issued on Sept. 30. The panel has scheduled hearings on the measure starting Oct. 27. - 2009/10/30: SolveClimate: How Congress Threatens to Undermine the Clean Energy Future: Sidelining Renewables
- 2009/10/29: SolveClimate: How Congress Threatens to Undermine the Clean Energy Future: Handouts and Offsets
- 2009/10/28: SolveClimate: How Congress Threatens to Undermine the Clean Energy Future: Protecting Coal
- 2009/10/27: SolveClimate: How Congress Threatens to Undermine the Clean Energy Future: Weak Carbon Caps
- 2009/10/26: SolveClimate: How Congress Threatens to Undermine the Clean Energy Future: The Clean Air Act
What are the lobbyists pushing?
- 2009/10/26: NYT:GW: Lobbying Disclosure Forms Don't Tell Full Story
The Gore-apalooza is still bopping along:
- 2009/10/31: NewsWeek: The Evolution Of An Eco-Prophet
Al Gore's views on climate change are advancing as rapidly as the phenomenon itself. - 2009/10/27: Guardian(UK): Didcot protesters spend second night up power station chimney -- Activists plan to stay on top of 600ft chimney for a week
- 2009/10/28: Guardian(UK): Didcot power station protest ends with arrests
Nine protesters descend chimney at Didcot A power station in Oxfordshire after realising they would be unable to shut down the facility as planned - 2009/10/27: Guardian(UK): Civil engineers call for greater speed in UK carbon capture drive
Report from the Institution of Civil Engineers calls for the UK government to set the framework for industry to develop and implement carbon capture and storage technology - 2009/10/26: Guardian(UK): Reverse the decline in green taxes
The Green Fiscal Commission's report shows how the transition to a low-carbon economy can be helped by smart taxation - 2009/10/26: Guardian(UK): Kingsnorth: How climate protesters were treated as threat to the country
And in Europe:
- 2009/10/29: EnvFin: German coalition steers away from solar tariff cuts
The recently elected German coalition government has dropped plans for major cuts to solar photovoltaic (PV) feed-in tariffs. - 2009/10/29: EurActiv: Commission waters down CO2 proposal for vans
The European Commission has caved in to industry and member-state pressure and significantly backtracked on earlier ambitions to introduce legally-binding CO2 cuts for new vans and minibuses. - 2009/10/29: PlanetArk: EU Can Cut CO2 By 30 Percent By 2020 At No Cost: [Ecofys] Report
The European Union can cut carbon dioxide emissions by 30 percent from 1990 levels by 2020 at almost no cost, according to a report by climate consultancy firm Ecofys released on Wednesday. EU leaders have a target to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 20 percent by 2020 from 1990 levels. They have pledged to increase the target to 30 percent if other world leaders at a U.N. climate summit this December agree to join in. By replacing all energy equipment at the end of its life with low-carbon technologies, the 27-nation bloc could halve its greenhouse gas emissions within two decades, the report found. - 2009/10/28: EUO: Commission unveils van CO2 emissions standards proposal
The European Commission has proposed a significantly watered-down bill that aims to reduce CO2 emissions from vans. The new legislation, approved at the last meeting of the college of commissioners in its the current term before it transforms into a caretaker executive, requires that emissions for each new model of van from a manufacturer cough out no more than 175 grammes of carbon dioxide per kilometre. The limit will be phased in slowly, with three quarters of vans required to meet the target by 2014, four fifths by 2015 and all vans by 2016. A tighter target of 135g/km would be scheduled for 2020. However, earlier texts had suggested the 175g/km target be met by 2012, with a second target of 160g/km to be met by 2015. In a further weakening, minibuses are to be exempted from the law. - 2009/10/28: EarthTimes: Brussels proposes weakened targets for van CO2 emissions
- 2009/10/27: EurActiv: EU farm policies to include climate 'pillar'
The EU's post-2013 Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) may well include a 'third pillar' on climate change and make direct support for farmers subject to the delivery of "public goods" such as biodiversity or sustainable farming practices, according to a draft European Commission proposal seen by EurActiv. - 2009/10/27: EurActiv: 'Investment strategy' needed to cut emissions
The EU should look into pouring a high proportion of carbon revenues into energy efficiency, but not before an institutional framework to reallocate the money efficiently is in place, Richard Cowart, director of European programmes for the Regulatory Assistance Project (RAP), told EurActiv in an interview. - 2009/10/27: PlanetArk: EU Looks To Divert Budget Spending Towards Climate
Meanwhile in Australia:
- 2009/10/30: ABC(Au): [Former finance minister Nick] Minchin accused of emissions scheme hand grenade
[Lindsay Tanner has accused Liberal frontbencher Nick Minchin (pictured) of not negotiating 'in good faith' over the ETS.] The Government has accused a senior Liberal frontbencher of "throwing a hand grenade" into negotiations over the emissions trading scheme. - 2009/10/30: ABC(Au): Grampians Wimmera Mallee Water in western Victoria has been awarded a research grant to study the impact of climate change on water supply systems
- 2009/10/29: ABC(Au): The Global Carbon Capture and Storage Institute says financial incentives might be needed to entice Hunter Valley power stations to embrace low emissions technology
- 2009/10/29: ABC(Au): Clean coal power 20 years away
The vision of clean coal powering our future electricity has taken a blow, with new costings revealing the technology will not be viable for 20 years. The Federal Government's own global carbon capture and storage institute says clean coal power generation will not be commercially worthwhile unless the carbon price hits at least $60 a tonne. That is not expected until 2030. Clean coal advocates want the Government to lend a hand to make the first commercial-sized plants affordable. - 2009/10/30: ABC(Au): Drought beats cotton giant Cubbie
Australia's largest irrigation property, Cubbie Station, is about to be placed in voluntary administration. - 2009/10/29: ABC(Au): Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says he will lead a national response to the impacts of climate change on coastal communities
- 2009/10/29: ABC(Au): Businesses slow to cut carbon
A new survey by the Illawarra Regional Information Service (IRIS) reveals only 37 per cent of local businesses have taken steps to reduce direct carbon emissions. Seventy manufacturing, transport and construction companies in the Wollongong region responded to questions about the proposed carbon pollution reduction scheme (CPRS). The executive director of IRIS, Simon Pomfret, presented the findings to an Australian Industry Group conference in Wollongong yesterday. He says small to medium business owners in particular still do not understand how the scheme will impact them. - 2009/10/29: ABC(Au): $100m needed for clean energy corridor: Katter
The Member for Kennedy says a multi-million dollar subsidy will be needed to support the North Australia Clean Energy Corridor, which involves projects from Townsville to Mount Isa. More than 70 international, national and local clean energy entrepreneurs attended the North Queensland Energy Roundtable to discuss renewable energy opportunities. - 2009/10/28: ABC(Au): Council 'apathetic' about climate change
A former Newcastle councillor [Barbara Gaudry] says the current council seems apathetic about preparing the city for climate change and rising sea levels. - 2009/10/27: ABC(Au): Kakadu [National Park] 'vulnerable' to climate change
The coastal climate change report triggered a wave of commentary:
- 2009/10/28: ABC(Au): Coastal climate change report 'overdue'
A new report into the effect of climate change on coastal Australia has been welcomed on the New South Wales mid-north coast. An 18 month inquiry has been completed by Federal Parliament's Standing committee on Climate Change, Water, Environment and the Arts. Lyne MP Rob Oakeshott says the report calls on all tiers of government to negotiate a policy pact to deal with the coastal threats of climate change. - 2009/10/28: PlanetArk: Australia Needs National Plan For Rising Seas
- 2009/10/27: BBC: Australia coastal living at risk
Australians may have to leave coastal areas as rising sea levels threaten homes, according to a new report. - 2009/10/27: Guardian(UK): Climate change threatens Australia's coastal lifestyle, report warns
Australian government environmental committee report warns that thousands of miles of coastline are under threat from rising sea levels and suggests banning people from living in vulnerable areas - 2009/10/27: NatureTGB: Australia frets over coastal impact of climate change
- 2009/10/27: ABC(Au): National approach needed to prevent coastal 'nightmare'
Calls are mounting for a national approach after a report raised the possibility of banning homes that could be threatened by rising sea levels and coastal erosion. Parliament's Lower House Environment Committee has spent 18 months examining the effect the changing climate will have on coastal Australia. The report has found planning laws and insurance rules covering buildings in affected areas will need to change to cope with the evolving coastline. - 2009/10/27: ABC(Au): Rudd to play high-profile role at climate talks
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd will play an increased role in helping to secure a deal at the Copenhagen international climate change talks. Mr Rudd has been asked by Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen to serve as a friend to the chair - along with Mexico and the United Nations - in the lead up to the talks in December. - 2009/10/27: ABC(Au): Councils plan for rising sea levels
Local government in Western Australia says the State's councils are prepared to cope with rising sea levels. - 2009/10/27: ABC(Au): Water supply, homes at risk as sea levels rise
A federal parliamentary report warns sea level rises over the next century could contaminate Newcastle's water supply and inundate thousands of coastal homes. - 2009/10/27: ABC(Au): 900 buildings in NT at risk of rising seas
A new report has found almost 900 buildings along the Northern Territory coastline are vulnerable to rising sea levels. It is just one of the findings from the Federal Parliamentary Climate Change Committee's 18 month study. - 2009/10/27: ABC(Au): Up to 17,000 buildings along Tasmania's coast could be at risk from rising sea levels in the next 50 to 100 years
- 2009/10/27: ABC(Au): Byron Mayor welcomes climate change report
The Byron Shire Mayor supports calls for a new national approach to cope with the effects of climate change. Mayor Jan Barham has welcomed the report and says a national approach to mitigate the effects of rising sea levels and coastal erosion is needed. - 2009/10/27: ABC(Au): Vic coastal properties at risk of climate change
- 2009/10/27: TheAge: $2bn threat from rising oceans
More than 80,000 coastal buildings in Victoria are at risk and large parts of Western Port are likely to be swamped as climate change triggers rising seas, floods and erosion, a report to Federal Parliament has warned. - 2009/10/27: WpgFP: Climate change report forces Australians to consider the unthinkable: life away from the coast
- 2009/10/26: ABC(Au): Development ban flagged for eroding coastline
A Federal Parliamentary report has raised the possibility of banning human occupation in areas of Australia's coastline threatened by rising sea levels. - 2009/10/26: ABC(Au): Climate change a threat to coastal development
A parliamentary committee on the effect of climate change on Australia's coastline has flagged a plan to ban the occupation of areas threatened by rising sea levels. - 2009/10/26: ABC(Au): Sea level has risen 135mm [over 20 years] in Darwin: scientist
Are the Coalition's days numbered?
- 2009/11/01: ABC(Au): Nationals Senate Leader Barnaby Joyce says he is frustrated by personal criticism from within the Liberal Party and has threatened to quit the Coalition
- 2009/10/31: ABC(Au): Another member of the Federal Opposition [Nick Minchin] has stopped short of confirming the Coalition will support the emissions trading scheme even if all its amendments are accepted.
- 2009/10/30: ABC(Au): Liberals plagued with doubt over climate deal
Comments by senior Opposition frontbencher Nick Minchin have cast fresh uncertainty over whether the Government's emissions trading scheme will be passed by the Senate before the end of the year. - 2009/10/30: EarthTimes: New Zealanders suffer 'green fatigue', survey shows
While in the Indian subcontinent:
- 2009/10/30: WorldChanging: India Summit Strives for Global Access to Climate-Friendly Technologies
And China:
- 2009/10/29: ClimateP: Increasing competitiveness through clean energy: Taking on China's broad-based effort to be the world's clean energy leader
- 2009/10/29: NewScientist: China outperforms US on green issues
In Japan:
- 2009/10/26: PlanetArk: Japan May Cut Emissions By Less Than 25 Percent [if Copenhagen falls short on ambition]
And elsewhere in Asia:
- 2009/10/29: CNA: ASEAN ministers form working group on climate change// another meeting I didn't know anything about...
- 2009/10/30: Xinhuanet: Int'l meeting on climate change in Indonesia's Bali ends
While in Africa:
- 2009/10/26: UNEP: Africa Takes Firm Stance on Climate Change
- 2009/10/29: AllAfrica: TimesOfZambia: African MPs to Push for Kyoto Protocol
African parliamentarians meeting at the Pan-African Parliament (PAP) in Johannesburg, South Africa, have resolved to push for the full implementation of the Kyoto Protocol at the forthcoming Copenhagen conference in Denmark this December. - 2009/10/28: Guardian(UK): Climate change will devastate Africa, top UK scientist warns
- 2009/10/28: PhysOrg: Expect the unexpected when adapting to climate change in Africa, says researcher
And South America:
- 2009/10/27: Reuters: Brazil eyes deeper CO2 cuts, backs U.N. forest plan
Brazil's Environment Minister Carlos Minc said on Tuesday that the government is studying deeper emissions cuts than previously announced and that it favors a U.N.-backed forest preservation scheme. The South American nation is expected to play a key role in negotiations at a Copenhagen summit in December that will seek to frame a new international treaty on climate change. Brazil was studying a reduction of 40 percent from its anticipated 2020 emissions of 2.7 billion tons of carbon dioxide equivalent to 1.7 billion tons. That compares to emissions of 2.1 billion tons in 2005 and 1.7 billion tons in 1994. Minc had previously said the objective was to freeze emissions at 2005 levels. - 2009/10/28: ScienceInsider: Brazil Weighs Curbs on Greenhouse Gases
In Canada, minority neocon PM Harper, continues his do-nothing policy:
- 2009/10/28: DSuzuki: Environment Minister Breaks Promise to Release Climate Policies Before Copenhagen
- 2009/10/27: BuckDog: There Are NO Climate Change 'Deniers' Amongst The Inuit In Canada's Arctic
- 2009/10/27: BuckDog: Harper Government Quietly Deals With Arctic Climate Change So As To Not Upset Their 'Denier' Supporters
- 2009/10/26: OSun: Canada passing on wind
While the rest of the world's governments plunge ahead in developing more wind energy, Canada is dithering. A federal program to spur investment in wind farms will expire this year, but the government refuses to say what, if anything, will replace it. - 2009/10/29: Pembina: [link to 2.4 meg pdf] Climate Leadership, Economic Prosperity
- 2009/10/29: DSuzuki: [link to 2.4 meg pdf] Climate Leadership, Economic Prosperity
- 2009/10/31: AD: On useless alternatives
- 2009/10/30: Hullabaloos: Climate Cacophony -- Environment Minister Jim Prentice has summarily dismissed yesterday's Suzuki / Pembina climate change report...
- 2009/10/30: G&M: Climate change report 'irresponsible,' Prentice says
Western provinces believe landmark study on economics of climate-change targets reaches unworkable conclusions - 2009/10/29: DSuzuki: New study shows Canada can meet global-warming reduction targets while growing jobs and economy
- 2009/10/29: CBC: Alberta premier rejects carbon targets that limit western growth -- Study says wealth would flow from West to East
Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach on Thursday rejected a new report that says Ottawa can only achieve its greenhouse gas emissions targets by limiting growth in Saskatchewan, Alberta and B.C. The Calgary-based Pembina Institute and Vancouver's David Suzuki Foundation conducted the study released Thursday. - 2009/10/29: G&M: With eyes open to cost of climate change, it's time to decide
Canadians must determine whether they're willing to bear the burden of cutting greenhouse-gas emissions - 2009/10/29: G&M: Canada can meet its climate goals, but the West will write the cheques -- Report reveals costs of taking action, now Canadians have to decide
A group of activists disrupted Parliament, protesting C-311 inaction:
- 2009/10/28: Rabble:BP: "Bloodynosegate" and the distraction from Parliament's climate protests
- 2009/10/28: OBMB: Ignatieff, the Liberals, and Bill-311
- 2009/10/27: TStar: 'Flash mob' screams for action on climate -- Green activists warn of cross-country action
- 2009/10/26: CBC: Protesters disrupt question period
A loud protest in the visitors gallery of the House of Commons resulted in several arrests and the brief shutdown of question period on Monday. Around 200 young protesters chanted slogans to support Bill C-311, an NDP private member's bill on climate change. Six people were reported to have been detained. The protesters yelled, "I say 311; you say 'Sign it'." Parliamentary security guards eventually cleared the public gallery by removing the demonstrators in small groups. - 2009/10/28: CanWest: Mackenzie gas pipeline all but dead after fed's role nixed
- 2009/10/28: CanWest: Pipeline to nowhere -- If the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline doesn't make economic sense without a massive infusion of federal cash...
- 2009/10/27: CanWest: Pipeline dream in peril -- Mackenzie Valley plan too costly, sources say
In BC, post election adjustments are ongoing:
- 2009/10/30: CanWest: Government clears way for greener power expansion -- BC Hydro should focus on sources of clean, renewable, cost-effective electricity, minister says
The British Columbia government has ordered BC Hydro to yank the aging Burrard Thermal generating plant off its roster of baseline electricity sources. The decision throws open the doors to a significant expansion of private-sector power development, and sparked a fresh round of debate Thursday among private power supporters and opponents. The decision, which came in the form of a special Cabinet directive to the B.C. Utilities Commission, forces Hydro to accelerate power-acquisition plans established to meet B.C.'s goal of being electricity self-sufficient by 2016. - 2009/10/29: CBC: SaskPower outlines plans to boost wind power
SaskPower, the province's government-owned utility, wants to double the amount of electricity it gets from wind over the next four years -- adding 200 megawatts of generating capacity. - 2009/10/26: CleanBreak: German solar industry, EU not happy with Ontario local content rules
Meanwhile in that Mechanical Mordor known as the tar sands:
- 2009/10/27: BizGreen: Report slams low-carbon tar sand "myth"
- 2009/10/26: NewScientist: Canada's tar sands may to be just too dirty
- 2009/10/26: TreeHugger: Canadian Tar Sands: Still Super Dirty, Even With the Best Carbon Capture & Storage Technology
As for miscellaneous Canadiana:
- 2009/10/31: CanWest: Europe's Green Shift
- 2009/10/28: CanWest: Soldiers may move in with researchers in Arctic -- DND considers doubling up to save on $61M for training
The Canadian Forces will have a better idea by the end of this year on whether it will build a brand new training centre in the Arctic or use and expand an existing government research facility for its base in the far North. The Defence Department has budgeted $61 million for a new training site in Resolute Bay, Nunavut, but it could take a cheaper route and enter into a long-term arrangement to use a federal science research building already at that location. - 2009/10/30: CanWest: Flying eco-friendly skies: Nav Canada upgrade leads to fewer emissions from jets
- 2009/10/29: Guardian(UK): Canada sets aside its boreal forest as giant carbon vault
By banning logging, mining and oil drilling in an area twice the size of California, Canada [provincial governments and aboriginal leaders] is ensuring its boreal forests continue to soak up carbon - 2009/11/01: OilDrum: Tricking and Treating the Future
- 2009/10/29: CCurrents: Impossibleism
IPAT [Impact = Population * Affluence * Technology] raised its head once again:
- 2009/10/29: CCurrents: Climate Change Is A Feminist Issue
- 2009/10/29: Grist: By the numbers -- data highlights on poverty and population
- 2009/10/27: Guardian(UK): Climate change is a feminist issue
As for how the media handles the science of climatology:
- 2009/10/31: NRDC:SwitchBoard: The WSJ's tries to use biofuels fear factor to urge climate inaction
- 2009/10/31: MTobis: Against Overstating or Understating the Case
- 2009/10/29: ClimateP: Limbaugh rejects an apology for Revkin
- 2009/10/27: GreenFyre: Actually it's the WSJ, not a parody site -- i think
While activists search for effective communication techniques:
- 2009/10/28: ClimateSight: Activists and Scientists [PowerShift]
Here is something for your library:
- 2009/11/01: HotTopic: [Book Review] _Climate Change in Africa_ by Camilla Toulmin
- 2009/10/31: Grist: Michael Specter's new book 'Denialism' misses its targets
- 2009/10/17: FTimes: Feed the world [5 Book Reviews]
- 2009/10/28: DeSmogBlog: Great Climate Cover Up Review in the [Van] Sun Today
- 2009/10/26: TreeHugger: [Book Review] _Crude World_ by Peter Maass
And for your film & video enjoyment:
- 2009/10/29: Grist: Cheerful, huh? Children and riot police face off in Canadian "Moms" video
- 2009/10/29: ClimateShifts: Birth of a denial argument [video]
- 2009/10/29: ClimateShifts: Climate Denial crock of the Week: "Temp leads Carbon"
Meanwhile among the 'Sue the Bastards!' contingent:
- 2009/10/31: AlterNet: Chevron Employs Felon and Drug-Trafficker to Derail Trial to Escape Enviro Crimes
- 2009/10/27: TPMM: Chamber Suing Yes Men For "Commercial Identity Theft"
- 2009/10/27: SameFacts: Climate Change Litigation: The Fifth Circuit Follows the Second Circuit
Developing a new energy infrastructure is a fundamental challenge of the current generation:
- SyracuseU: Energy: Production and Consumption
- 2009/10/29: REA: How to Compare Power Generation Choices -- Understanding a few basic factors will help make an informed comparison
- 2009/10/29: EnergyBulletin: Critique of Scientific American's October, 09 essay: Squeezing More Oil from the Ground
- 2009/10/30: WSJ:EnvCap: Getting Hotter: Geothermal Power Attracts the Big Boys
- 2009/10/29: SolveClimate: West Coast Awash in Wave Power Proposals, But Progress Is Slow
- 2009/10/27: Yahoo:AFP: BP net profit falls 34%
- 2009/10/29: BBC: Lower oil prices hit Exxon profit [Q3 down 68% yoy]
- 2009/10/29: BBC: Shell profits show sharp decline [Q3 down 73% yoy]
- 2009/10/28: OilDrum: Reflections from ASPO: Contradiction, EROI, and Future Energy Supplies
- 2009/10/26: CCurrents: The End Of Electricity
- 2009/10/27: PeakEnergy: A rethink on geothermal risk
[...] The shorthand summary: by 2020, geothermal energy might not just be cheaper than oil and gas and other competing base-loads such as carbon capture and nuclear, it will also carry significantly less investment risk. - 2009/10/26: SolveClimate: 100% Renewables by 2030 for Less Than Fossil Power: A Case is Made
The fracking issue is still getting attention:
- 2009/10/28: Tyee: Tap Water Burning
- 2009/10/28: ProPublica: Company [Chesapeake Energy Corporation] Won't Drill in NYC Watershed
- 2009/10/29: ProPublica: Feisty Audience Tackles Natural Gas Drilling Report
- 2009/10/30: NRDC:SwitchBoard: New York Times Agrees: Ban Drilling in NYC's Watershed
- 2009/10/28: NRDC:SwitchBoard: No More Excuses: NY Must Ban Gas Drilling in the NYC Watershed Now
- 2009/10/28: WSJ:EnvCap: Watershed Down: Chesapeake Won't Drill Where New York City Drinks
Chesapeake Energy, the sultan of shale gas, says it won't drill wells in the upstate New York watershed that supplies fresh water to New York City.[...] This isn't material for Chesapeake which has a scant 5,000 acres in the watershed -- and won't noticeable slow down development of the giant Marcellus Shale, which stretches from upstate New York, across Pennsylvania and into West Virginia. - 2009/10/29: FuturePundit: Wind Turbine Transmission Technology
- 2009/10/31: PeakEnergy: Vertical Axis Wind Turbine Market Continues to Expand
- 2009/10/29: OilDrum: Wind powered factories: history (and future) of industrial windmills
- 2009/10/29: WSJ:EnvCap: Lone Star, Meet Red Star: China's $1.5 Billion Wind-Power Deal in Texas
- 2009/10/29: BizGreen: GE reveals plans for revolutionary lightweight wind turbine -- European research lab's projects poised to deliver new carbon fibre wind turbine blades
- 2009/10/28: WSJ:EnvCap: Supersize Me: Vestas Talks Up Giant Offshore Turbines
- 2009/10/28: SolveClimate: Britain Blows Past 4GW Wind Mark, Still Has Long Way to Go
- 2009/10/27: PlanetArk: German Firm Plans 100 MW Wind Farm In Bulgaria
- 2009/10/27: KCStar: Kansas wind energy suffers a blow
Meanwhile among the solar aficionados:
- 2009/11/01: PeakEnergy: A Solar Hybrid: Crystalline Silicon and Thin Film in One Cell
- 2009/10/29: EnvFin: Flurry of deal-making in solar sector
- 2009/10/27: PlanetArk: SMA Solar To Open New Plant In Colorado -- a 15 million euros ($22 million) factory
- 2009/10/27: COP15: Mutual US-China solar power rush
A sunny two-way street: First US company enters the fast-growing Chinese market for solar power just as China's number one producer is about to set up its first plant in USA. - 2009/10/27: DeSmogBlog: Solar Power Boss to Announce "A Solar Bill of Rights"
- 2009/10/27: WSJ:EnvCap: Annie, Get Your Gun: The Solar Industry's Call to Arms
- 2009/10/26: NewScientist: Solar superpower: Should Europe run on Sahara sun?
- 2009/10/26: PlanetArk: Solar Power Gives Andean Villages New Lease On Life
- 2009/10/25: NBF: Status and Potential of Pyrite Solar Power
The arithmetic of coal carbon is striking home:
- 2009/10/31: NRDC:SwitchBoard: Biofuels and climate: first step to getting them right is counting them
- 2009/10/30: C411: 'Marketplace' Report Misses the Real Story on Coal -- how many old-line energy producers have crossed the divide and embraced the reality
- 2009/10/25: Grist: Join the Green Jobs Vs. Big Coal Showdown -- Battle at Coal River Mountain explodes
Biofuel bickering abounds:
- 2009/10/29: Guardian(UK): Why growing virgin vegetable oil to burn is crazy
The chief executive of Blue-NG implies he's greener than the Greens -- but the argument for his grotesque trade falls flat - 2009/10/28: TreeHugger: Only One-Sixth of European Retailers Showing Sustainable Palm Oil Progress
- 2009/10/27: Guardian(UK): International palm oil strategy falters as producers question emission cuts
Insiders say international initiative to set environmental standards for palm oil production is 'on brink of collapse' - 2009/10/25: GreenLeft: Nuclear debate: A dangerous option that won't solve climate change (Jim Green)
- 2009/10/25: GreenLeft: Nuclear debate: For climate, nuclear a necessity (Barry Brook)
- 2009/10/28: ClimateP: Toshiba tells San Antonio its new twin $13 billion nukes will cost $4 billion more! The city balks. This looks like a job for clean energy.
Yes we have a peak oil sighting:
- 2009/10/26: PeakEnergy: A post-oil world gets less sci-fi by the day
More people are talking about the electrical grid:
- 2009/10/29: Oregonian: Wind energy's success creates a power grid challenge
- 2009/10/26: PeakEnergy: A National 'Smart Grid' Remains a Vision With Many Gaps In The US
And then there is the matter of efficiency & conservation:
- 2009/10/27: Grist: Listen to the coal guy! Why it's better to invest in efficiency than to hold electricity rates down
- 2009/10/26: ClimateP: Rural Electric Cooperatives: Efficiency measures more important than allowance allocations [cejapa]
- 2009/10/27: NRDC:SwitchBoard: New Reports Show Successes and Failures of Energy Star
Automakers & lawyers, engineers & activists argue over the future of the car:
- 2009/10/30: TechRev: Ultracapacitor Startup [FastCAP Systems] Gets a Big Boost -- An energy storage startup gets new government funding
- 2009/10/30: PhysOrg: North America automobile sector bottom of 'world sustainability league'
North American car manufacturers have come bottom of the league in the largest ever international study of the global automobile sector's sustainability performance. - 2009/10/28: Grist: PBS NOW - Electric Car Dreams -- The long and wind-powered road
- 2009/10/30: SciDaily: Battery Of The Future: New Storage Material Improves Energy Density Of Lithium-ion Battery
- 2009/10/30: AutoBG: Greenlings: How does weight affect a vehicle's efficiency?
- 2009/10/30: AutoBG: Ford dismisses battery swaps
- 2009/10/29: PhysOrg: Zero-emission scooter to debut in Japan
The Japanese electric zero-emission hybrid scooter "Miletto" to be released in 2010, which runs 10 times as economically as a petrol-engine bike and can be assisted by human pedal power, at the Prostaff company headquarters in Ichinomiya, Aichi prefecture, central Japan. - 2009/10/29: PhysOrg: New rechargeable zinc-air batteries coming soon
- 2009/10/28: TechRev: High-Energy Batteries Coming to Market -- Rechargeable zinc-air batteries can store three times the energy of a lithium-ion battery
- 2009/10/29: PeakEnergy: High-Energy Zinc-Air Batteries Coming to Market
- 2009/10/27: BBerg: Electric-Car Companies Grab U.S. Cash to Blunt Risks
Electric-car makers ranging from Ford Motor Co. to California startups are using $11 billion in taxpayer funds to supply a market that doesn't yet exist. Fisker Automotive Inc., backed by a $528.7 million U.S. loan, said today it will join the rush to the assembly line by buying a closed Delaware plant from the former General Motors Corp. for $18 million. It will spend $175 million to refurbish and retool the factory to build plug-in hybrid cars. - 2009/10/29: BBC: Honda profit hit by falling sales [Q3 down 56% yoy]
- 2009/10/28: TreeHugger: Very Promising! Zinc-Air Battery Could Hold 300% More Energy Than Lithium-Ion
- 2009/10/27: PhysOrg: Toyota to release solar charger for electric vehicles
- 2009/10/27: CSIRO: Plugging into an electric vehicle revolution
A road trial of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), which could one day end up in every Australian driveway, is underway. - 2009/10/27: PeakEnergy: GM exec: Volt not yet cost competitive
- 2009/10/27: AutoBG: Report: Detroit ignored voices who called for fuel efficient vehicles, says GM insider
- 2009/10/27: AutoBG: Report: Honda plans a return to larger hybrids
- 2009/10/26: CalcRisk: ATA Truck Tonnage Index Declines in September
Cash-for-Clunkers, aka Scrappage, Plans are being legislated and argued around the world:
- 2009/10/27: Guardian(UK): These snobs are blind to the one economic policy that works
The scrappage scheme should go far beyond cars, but politicians, in thrall to bankers, fixate on credit and neglect demand - 2009/10/27: BBC: Nissan welcomes scrappage boost
Car maker Nissan says the government's scrappage scheme has resulted in a 40% increase in production of Micras at its Sunderland plant. - 2009/10/31: Telegraph(UK): Insurers warn of the chill blast of climate change in new report
The cost of insurance will soar across Britain unless urgent measures are taken to halt the rise in global temperatures, industry experts will warn this week. - 2009/10/27: ChronicleHerald: Climate change causing spike in insurance claims
Harsh weather whipped up by climate change has caused insurance claims to surge as more and more flash floods, hailstorms and hurricanes wallop the Canadian landscape, industry experts say. And -- because of global warming -- there's more of that to come, a conference in Montreal was told Monday. Martin-Eric Tremblay of the Co-operators Group Ltd. said that insurance companies now expect to pay out claims on catastrophic events four times more often than they did in the 1980s. - 2009/10/28: Guardian(UK): ASA clears EDF over 'green' TV ads
Advertising watchdog rules the French energy company's Green Britain Day campaign was not likely to mislead the public - 2009/10/30: ClimateP: Energy and Global Warming News for October 30...
- 2009/10/29: ClimateP: Energy and Global Warming News for October 29...
- 2009/10/28: ClimateP: Energy and Global Warming News for October 28...
- 2009/10/27: ClimateP: Energy and Global Warming News for October 27...
- 2009/10/26: ClimateP: Energy and Global Warming News for October 26...
The carbon lobby are up to the usual:
- 2009/10/31: BSD: First draft attempt at Argumentum ad Galileo
- 2009/10/31: ERabett: Freak this poll -- Tom Fuller has put up a push poll...
- 2009/10/30: Guardian(UK): Climate change denier Lord Monckton meets Glenn Beck
Monckton finds out his views on the Copenhagen summit were too extreme even for the Fox News host - 2009/10/30: ERabett: Critical Review of Robinson, Robinson, and Soon's "Environmental Effects of Increased Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide" prepared by Mike Powell (December 2007)
- 2009/10/29: SLTrib: Heed the warnings -- Denying climate crisis is risky
- 2009/10/30: DeepClimate: Briffa teaches, but will McIntyre ever learn?
- 2009/10/30: AFTIC: Reflecting on crakar and snowman
- 2009/10/29: ERabett: Rabett goes Romm -- Ian Plimer has written the most Titanic load of nonscience in the history of make believe...
- 2009/10/30: DeSmogBlog: A Scary Halloween for the Climate Denial Industry
- 2009/10/29: ClimateShifts: Climate Denial crock of the Week: "Temp leads Carbon"
- 2009/10/28: Maribo: The climate science filibuster
- 2009/10/29: HotTopic: ...Some fish, some barrel
- 2009/10/27: MoJo: The Anti-Denialism Deniers
- 2009/10/28: ClimateP: Washington Post mocks Inhofe as "the last flat-earther"
- 2009/10/28: DeSmogBlog: WaPo to Inhofe: "It must be very lonely being the last flat-earther"
- 2009/10/28: WaPo: A senator [Jim Inhofe (R-Oklahoma)] in a hostile climate -- It must be very lonely being the last flat-earther
- 2009/10/28: BCLSB: Gruending On God And AGW
- 2009/10/28: BCLSB: Briffa, Mark II: McIntyre Used Biased Sample
- 2009/10/27: ACR: I can't see global climate change from my house.
- 2009/10/27: NRDC:SwitchBoard: Investor's Business Daily Misleads on Polar Bears
- 2009/10/27: Deltoid: Janet Albrechtsen warns that Copenhagen will impose a communist world government
- 2009/10/25: AFTIC: How to talk to crakar - point 5
- 2009/10/25: ERabett: Ian Plimer is a con artist
- 2009/10/25: Deltoid: Plimer the plagiarist
- 2009/10/26: HotTopic: Stairway from Heaven
Meanwhile in the 'clean coal' saga:
- 2009/10/29: WSJ:EnvCap: Clean Coal: The Future's Not So Bright [GCCSI]
You know clean coal is in trouble when Greenpeace and the coal industry basically agree: Clean coal is going nowhere fast. - 2009/10/28: ClimateP: University Of Kentucky approves new $7 million industry-funded dorm named after "Coal"
- 2009/10/28: NRDC:SwitchBoard: EPA: Coal Ash Poses Significant Health Risk
As for climate miscellanea:
- 2009/11/01: TreeHugger: The Youth Voice on Climate Change: We'll Listen, But Will We Act?
- 2009/10/30: MTobis: Dogs, SUV's, and Freaks
- 2009/10/30: DerSpiegel: The Underwater Obama -- Maldives President Leads the Charge against Climate Change
The Maldives Islands in the Indian Ocean could disappear by the end of the century. Global warming threatens to raise sea levels, submerging the low-lying archipelago. Newly-elected President Mohamed Nasheed has therefore set himself the task of holding back the tide of climate change. - 2009/10/29: NatureCF: Climate Prediction: keeping it in perspective
- 2009/10/30: JEB: A Stern talking-to [at Asahi Blue Planet awards]
- 2009/10/29: BNC: Energy dialogue, Green debate, Blog updates
- 2009/10/28: PlanetArk: Factbox: Deciphering The Jargon In The Climate Debate
- 2009/10/26: CSM: How to keep track of climate change -- Complex data, distilled and delivered in real time, could shed light on a global issue [Global Climate Change Index?]
- 2009/10/27: Irrawaddy: Carbon Dioxide Goal Too Ambitious, Say Lawmakers [GLOBE]
- 2009/10/26: CC: Consequences of being over-concerned
- 2009/10/26: SciNews: Cutting Carbon Emissions, One Household at a Time
- 2009/10/26: GreenGrok: 450 or 350 -- Choose One and Go
- 2009/10/26: Reuters: Public finance can scale up climate investment
And here are a couple of sites you may find interesting and/or useful:
- 2009/10/05: GuruC: Underpinnings of Informal Fallacies
- Ecofys
- Heliophage
- GCCSI: Global Carbon Capture and Storage Institute (Global CCS Institute)
- Nature Bats Last
- Enviralment
- Solar Power International 2009
- EESI: Environmental and Energy Study Institute Briefings
- WWF on Climate Change
- European Commission on the Environment
- Metis: Discussion and announcements on climate science policy
- NEN: New Energy News
- CTW: Carbon Trade Watch
It's always nice to start with a larf:
Another meeting I didn't know about...:
Carbon Tariffs still have people on edge:
They're still talking about 4 degrees C:
While in Antarctica:
And how are we going to feed 9 billion?
As for ocean currents:
And then there are the world's forests:
Yes we have no wacky weather, except:
Large scale geo-engineering keeps popping up:
And at the UN:
Meanwhile on the international political front:
As for GW & security:
The issue of the law and activism is playing out around the world as nations scramble to deal with climate change:
While in the UK:
And in New Zealand:
The TD Bank commissioned Suzuki & Pembina to study Canadian Energy, Economic & Environment policy:
It appears the Mackenzie valley gas pipeline is toast:
Some wind in Saskatchewan?
Ontario has it's Green Energy Act, now comes the implementation:
The movement toward a long term ecologically viable economics is glacial:
The answer my friend...:
The nuclear energy controversy continues:
Insurance and re-insurance companies are feeling the heat:
Meanwhile in the greenwashing chronicles:
Joe Romm posts a daily list of top energy and climate stories:
Low Key Plug
My first novel Water was published in Canada May, 2007. The American release was in October. An Introductionto the novel is available, along with the Unpublished Forewordand the Launch Talk. An overview of my writing is available here.
<regards>
P.S. Recent postings can be found in the week archive and the ancient postings can be accessed here, which should open to this.
"In our every deliberation, we must consider the impact of our decisions on the next seven generations." -Iroquois Nation Maxim
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