Another week of GW News, February 28, 2010

Logging the Onset of The Bottleneck Years

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Another week of Climate Disruption News

February 21, 2010

• Chuckles, Copenhagen, Nusa Dua, Blue Carbon, COP-16, China's Emissions, Bonn, WMO Meeting, iPhone App
• Bottom Line, Hamilton, McKibben, Gates, IPCC Review, CRU Inquiry
• Melting Arctic, Megafauna, Methane, Geopolitics, Antarctica, Mertz Glacier Tongue
• Food Crisis, Food Production
• Hurricanes, GHGs, Carbon Cycle, Temperatures, Paleoclimate, ENSO, Solar, Ocean Currents, Satellites
• Impacts, Forests, Climate Refugees, Wacky Weather, Wildfires, Corals, Glaciers, Sea Levels, Floods & Droughts
• Mitigation, Transportation, Adaptation
• Journals, Misc. Science, DIY Science, Mann, Hansen, Beniston, Pielke
• UN, Carbon Trade, International Politics, Security, Polls
• America, Obama, Congress, Britain, Europe, Australia, India, China, Japan, Canada
• Ecological Economics, IPAT, Apocalypso, Media, Books, Video, Courts
• Energy, Fracking, Wind, Solar, Coal, Biofuel, Nukes, Peak Oil, Grid, Efficiency, Cars, Business, Greenwashing
• Joe's List, Carbon Lobby, Miscellaneous Climate, Useful Links
• Shameless Self Promotion, .sig

Here's a wee chuckle for ya:

• 2010/02/27: TI:CF: (cartoon - Roberts) Vox Pop
• 2010/02/25: TI:CF: (cartoon - Roberts) Built-in Obsolescence
• 2010/02/22: TI:CF: (cartoon - Roberts) Re-introducing Ugmug McDuff
• 2010/02/22: TI:CF: (cartoon - Roberts) Waste Not Want Not
• 2010/02/23: ClimateShifts: (cartoon - Toles) When should we accept climate change as a reality?
• 2010/02/24: MTobis: (cartoon - Macleod) Lack of Consensus
• 2010/02/22: uComics: (cartoon - Toles) After a comprehensive review...
• 2010/02/22: ClimateP: (cartoon) Toles on scientific uncertainty
• 2010/02/21: TPL: (cartoon - TomTom) A bit of levity...

  They're still talking about Copenhagen:

• 2010/02/27: CCurrents: Copenhagen Climate Summit : The Role Of India's Rulers
• 2010/02/25: CCurrents: After Copenhagen: How Can We Move Forward?
• 2010/02/26: Reuters: China, India back Copenhagen Accord: UN Climate chief
  India and China have demonstrated commitment to a climate accord struck in Copenhagen last year and their refusal so far to "associate" with it should not be overblown, the UN's climate chief said on Friday. The Copenhagen Accord reached last year was not legally binding, but over 100 countries have already said they are willing to "associate" with it, which means their names are listed at the top of the document. China and India are yet to say if they will associate or not, but the head of the U.N. Climate Secretariat, Yvo de Boer, said he was unworried by that.
• 2010/02/25: EurActiv: EU official warns climate aid 'will not come for free'
  China and India's hesitation to formally back a Copenhagen climate agreement could jeopardise $30 billion of climate aid to the developing world, a senior European Union official said on Wednesday.
• 2010/02/22: EngNews: More countries pledge to cut emissions under Copenhagen Accord
• 2010/02/22: Reuters: U.N. official [Achim Steiner] sees climate aid scheme within months

  The UNEP conference in Indonesia produced a Nusa Dua Declaration:

• 2010/02/27: JakartaPost: Green economy, climate change get support
  Countries agreed to step up the global response to major environmental and sustainability challenges at the closing session the UN environment conference here on Friday. The Nusa Dua Declaration underlines the vital important of biodiversity, the urgent need to combat climate change and work toward a good outcome in Mexico at the end of this year, as well as recognizing key opportunities from the accelerated transition to a low-carbon, resource efficient, green economy. The declaration also highlights the need to streamline international environmental governance architecture as it has been too complex and fragmented.
• 2010/02/27: Telegraph(UK): 'Greening' economies may be the best way to save them
  In Bali, 130 governments quite rightly agreed that low-carbon growth offers a better future than the oil-soaked present...
• 2010/02/26: ABC(US): End to Bickering Urged to Achieve New Climate Pact -- Environmental officials say bickering and mistrust must end for sake of new UN climate pact
• 2010/02/26: Bernama: UNEP Chief [Steiner]: Environment Ministers Find Collective Voice Again
• 2010/02/26: Guardian(UK): UN climate heads call for consensus and urge attempts to rebuild trust
  UN climate chiefs meet in Bali, admitting they face 'existential challenge' after failure of Copenhagen climate change talks
• 2010/02/26: UNEP: World Environment Ministers Signal Resolve to Realize Sustainable Development
  Accelerating a Green Economy to Cooperative Action to Protect Human Health and Combat Climate Change Gets Support at Bali Meeting - 11th Special Session of the UN Environment Programme's Governing Council/Global Ministerial Environment Forum
• 2010/02/24: UNSG: Window of Opportunity to Protect Natural Capital Diminishing, Secretary-General Warns, As He Urges Bold, Creative New Thinking from UNEP Governing Council
• 2010/02/26: UN: Environment ministers pledge to strengthen fight against climate change - UN
  Governments reached a landmark agreement today to boost the global response to the impact of climate change at the close of a United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) gathering in Indonesia. The wide-ranging agreement, known as the Nusa Dua Declaration, underscores the vital importance of biodiversity, the urgent need to combat climate change and work towards a positive outcome for the UN climate conference in Mexico later this year and advantages gained from advancing towards a 'green economy.'
• 2010/02/25: UPI: Climate change a global danger, Ban says [at the U.N. Environment Program Governing Council/Global Ministerial Environment Forum in Bali, Indonesia]
• 2010/02/24: VoA: Ecologists at Bali's Environment Summit Call for a New Economic Order
• 2010/02/24: People's Daily: Indonesia's president officially opens UNEP conference on environment
  Indonesia's President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono officially opened the 11th Special Session of the UNEP (United Nations Environment Program) Governing Council/Global Ministerial Environment Forum at 11:00 Bali times ( 0300 GMT) on Wednesday. The president said that he hopes the event could find the right solution on economic development for current generation and in the same time saving the next one. "With the theme of "One Planet Our Responsibility", the event stressed the importance of the Earth for our next generation. Let' s find the best solution for this generation without sacrificing the next one," said the president in his opening speech.
• 2010/02/23: MTobis: UNEP - More Ambition Needed
• 2010/02/22: VoA: International Community Meets in Bali to Address Environment
• 2010/02/23: JakartaPost: Green Watch: Can the United Nations environmental summit in Bali succeed?
  The largest global environmental gathering since the Copenhagen climate change summit last year is now being held in Bali, where ministers from over 100 countries are convening together with scientists and ecology experts, business and non-governmental organizations. Arranged by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), participants are coming from all over the world for a wide range of different meetings taking place at the Bali International Conference Center all week.

That conference also produced the Blue Carbon Initiative:

• 2010/02/26: CCurrents: The Blue Carbon Initiative
• 2010/02/25: UNEP: UNEP and Government of Indonesia Emphasize Role of Blue Carbon in Combating Climate Change
  Nusa Dua Bali, Indonesia - In a joint statement issued today at the XIth Special Session of the UNEP Governing Council, Indonesia's Minister of Marine Affairs and Fisheries Dr. Fadel Muhammad and UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner have emphasized the important role of marine and coastal ecosystems in the fight against climate change. The concept of Blue Carbon, which emphasizes the ability of marine and coastal ecosystems to sequester carbon, was introduced by UNEP in cooperation with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the United Nations Education and Science Organization (UNESCO). Blue Carbon emphasizes the key role of marine and coastal ecosystems, which are dominated by marine vegetation such as mangrove forests, seagrass, brackish marshes and salt marshes. Coastal and marine ecosystems are believed to be able to complement the role of forests (Green Carbon) in taking up carbon emissions through sequestration.
• 2010/02/25: EarthTimes: Indonesia, UN launch ocean climate initiative

  COP16 expectation management is well underway:

• 2010/02/26: EarthTimes: EU climate commissioner [Connie Hedegaard]: Climate deal 'unrealistic' this year
• 2010/02/26: EarthTimes: UN official [Yvo de Boer]: 'Huge opportunity' [in Mexico] for stronger climate deal
• 2010/02/24: Yahoo:Reuters: U.S., China at odds over climate talks in 2010
  The United States is at odds with China and other developing nations by favouring a Copenhagen climate accord as the blueprint in 2010 for a stronger deal to fight global warming, documents showed on Wednesday. In a sign of hurdles ahead, developing nations are instead stressing U.N. texts worked out since 2007 to guide talks after the Copenhagen climate summit in December disappointed many nations by failing to agree a legally binding treaty. A 5-page U.S. document outlining ideas for 2010 praises the non-binding Copenhagen Accord, the main outcome of the summit, as the basis for work due to culminate with a meeting of environment ministers in Cancun, Mexico, from Nov. 29-Dec. 10.
• 2010/02/24: PlanetArk: Hard To Agree On U.N. Climate Treaty In 2010: De Boer
• 2010/02/24: Star(My): China envoy [Special Representative for Climate Change Negotiations, Yu Qingtai] says deep divides threaten climate talks
• 2010/02/23: EUO: EU climate chief [Hedegaard]: 'No climate deal likely before 2012'
  Global divisions on climate are so acute that a binding UN deal is unlikely for almost another two years, Europe's new climate commissioner believes. Speaking to a meeting of the foreign ministers of EU member states in Brussels on Monday, commissioner Connie Hedegaard warned that while she very much hoped for a legally binding deal to be reached as soon as possible, this was most likely not achievable before the 'COP 17' - shorthand for the meeting of the Conference of Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, which is to take place in December 2011 in South Africa.
• 2010/02/22: FTimes: A new approach to tackling climate change
  The resignation last week of Yvo de Boer, the Dutch diplomat, as executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, reflected his frustration over the Copenhagen meeting and problems in climate change treaty design. In fact, the soon-to-expire Kyoto protocol before it was also flawed. Nearly all of the 36 industrialised rich countries in annex 1 (which excluded the developing countries) failed to fulfil the emission-reduction targets they had signed on to. The US (along with Australia) had not even ratified the protocol. The Senate, in a bipartisan 99-1 demonstration of defiance, had also rejected the protocol under the administration of Bill Clinton. The failure of Copenhagen lay in the fact that creativity was required to bridge differences between rich and poor countries. It was badly missing. Building international institutions requires that we seek their principles in actual practice, not utopian ideas. We need to build the new protocol on principles in existing international institutions, such as the World Trade Organisation. How can this be done?
• 2010/02/22: Xinhua: Mexico-Caricom Summit Pledges Fight against Crime, Climate Change

  China made it's COP15 position quite clear:

• 2010/02/25: ChinaDaily: 'No intention' of capping emissions -- But country 'still committed' to reducing carbon intensity
  China has no intention of capping its greenhouse gas emissions even as authorities are committed to realizing the nation's target to reduce carbon intensity through new policies and measures, the country's top climate change negotiators said yesterday. The negotiators also warned that rich and developing countries have little hope of overcoming key disagreements over how to fight global warming. China "could not and should not" set an upper limit on greenhouse gas emissions at the current phase, said Su Wei, the chief negotiator of China for climate change talks in Copenhagen, at a meeting in Beijing on China's climate change policies in the post-Copenhagen era.
• 2010/02/25: Yahoo:AFP: China says no emissions cap for now
  China's top climate change negotiator has said the world's biggest carbon polluter has no intention of capping greenhouse gas emissions for the time being, state media reported Thursday. Su Wei, who led China's negotiating team at the UN climate change talks in Copenhagen in December, said the country's carbon emissions had to increase because the economy was still developing, the China Daily said.

Germany is to host a round of climate talks in Bonn from April 9-11:

• 2010/02/24: TerraDaily: U.N. has extra round of climate talks
• 2010/02/23: ABC(Au): Germany to host next climate summit
  UN-sponsored talks will take place in Germany in April to plan the next steps in the effort toward a global treaty on climate change, Danish minister for climate and energy Lykke Friis said. The April 9 to 11 meeting will take place in Bonn, gathering senior officials of signatories of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), said Mr Friis, whose country currently chairs the negotiating process. The date was set at a meeting of the UNFCCC bureau, tasked with drawing up a calendar of meetings for 2010 in the aftermath of the controversial climate summit in Copenhagen in December.
• 2010/02/23: EarthTimes: Germany to host new round of climate talks [in Bonn from April 9-11]
• 2010/02/22: Grist: Climate meeting in April will aim to revive U.N. process
• 2010/02/22: Reuters: Bonn to host extra U.N. climate talks, treaty unsure Germany will host an extra session of U.N. climate talks in April [9-11] but it is too early to say if the world will agree a new treaty this year after falling short at a summit in Copenhagen in December, Denmark said on Monday.
• 2010/02/22: TreeHugger: New UN Talks in Bonn to Lay Out 2010 Climate Agenda [April 9-11 and May 31-June 11]

  At a WMO conference, the UK Met Office proposed revamping weather metrics:

• 2010/02/25: Independent(UK): World's temperature record to be re-analysed
  The whole of the world's instrumental temperature record -- millions of observations dating back more than 150 years -- is to be re-analysed in an attempt to remove doubts about the reality of global warming. The new analysis, an enormous task which will be carried out by several groups of scientists working independently in different countries, has been proposed by the UK Met Office in the wake of recent controversies over climate science, such as the "climategate" email affair at the University of East Anglia and revelations that the last report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) contained inaccuracies and exaggerations. The proposal was put to the World Meteorological Organisation by the Met Office at a meeting in Antalya, Turkey, earlier this week, and accepted by 150 delegates from around the world. Its detailed terms will be agreed at a conference to be held in Britain later this year. The plan is for the entire global record of land-based air temperatures from 5,000 weather stations, which began before 1860, to be made freely available to anyone. It will then be reanalysed by at least three and possibly five groups of experts, whose different methods will be made transparent and open to scrutiny, and whose conclusions will be peer-reviewed. The task is expected to take three years, and it is likely that its findings will form a core part of the next IPCC report, provisionally due in 2013 or 2014.
• 2010/02/25: NatureCF: Met Office calls for improved global temperature record
• 2010/02/22: WMO: Experts at global meeting discuss action plan for improved climate products and services
• 2010/02/24: CBC: UN weather meeting agrees to refine climate data
• 2010/02/25: TStar: Answering climate-change skeptics -- World's scientists agree to collect more precise global-warming data in face of deniers' barbs
• 2010/02/25: Guardian(UK): Met Office wants re-examination of 150 years of climate data
• 2010/02/24: CBC: UN weather meeting agrees to refine climate data
• 2010/02/24: PhysOrg: UN weather meeting agrees to refine climate data
• 2010/02/23: TPL: Met Office Proposal

  The Skeptical Science iPhone app is still drawing comment:

• 2010/02/25: DWWSJ: I Highly Reccommend This iPhone/iTouch App.
• 2010/02/24: NatureCF: There's an app for that
• 2010/02/24: Crikey:PP: Evil biased leftist free markets [with no skeptical iphone app]
• 2010/02/25: GWWatch: It's the quick and the dead in the climate wars with this killer iPhone app
• 2010/02/23: Deltoid: Skeptical Science iPhone app
• 2010/02/24: SkeptiSci: A brief history of our iPhone app
• 2010/02/22: Guardian(UK): Skeptical Science blogger [John Cook] on how the climate sceptic iPhone app came about

  And on the Bottom Line:

• 2010/02/22: BizGreen: World Bank's green bonds clear $1bn mark -- Bond issues raise finance for low-carbon and climate adaptation projects in developing world

  This 5 part series of essays by Clive Hamilton drew a lot of comment:

• 2010/02/26: ABC(Au):TDU: Who's defending science?
• 2010/02/25: ABC(Au):TDU: Manufacturing a scientific scandal
• 2010/02/24: ABC(Au):TDU: Think tanks, oil money and black ops
• 2010/02/23: ABC(Au):TDU: Who is orchestrating the cyber-bullying?
• 2010/02/22: ABC(Au):TDU: Bullying, lies and the rise of right-wing climate denial
• 2010/02/26: ClimateShifts: Denialist Agenda (Part 5): Who's defending science?
• 2010/02/25: Deltoid: Clive Hamilton on the War on Science
• 2010/02/25: ABC(Au): Cyber-bullies on both sides of climate debate
  Climate sceptics have answered claims that scientists who advocate action on global warming have been threatened by email, saying cyber-bullying is a two-way street.
• 2010/02/24: ClimateShifts: Manufacturing a scientific scandal
• 2010/02/23: ClimateShifts: Think tanks, oil money and black ops
• 2010/02/22: ClimateShifts: Who is orchestrating the cyber-bullying?
• 2010/02/22: ABC(Au): Climate scientists 'under cyber attack'
  An organised cyber-bullying campaign, including abusive emails, is targeting Australian climate scientists who speak out on climate change, according to author Clive Hamilton.
• 2010/02/21: ClimateShifts: Bullying, lies and the rise of right-wing climate denial
• 2010/02/22: CCP: Newsweek libels Michael Mann and James Hansen, printing lies from Steve McIntyre, will it never ever end!?!?!
• 2010/02/22: CCP: Bullying, lies and the rise of right-wing climate denial by Clive Hamilton
• 2010/02/22: Deltoid: The hate mail campaign against climate scientists

  This essay by Bill McKibben showed up all over the net:

• 2010/02/27: AlterNet: How the Mountain of Climate Change Evidence Is Being Used to Undermine the Cause [McKibben]
• 2010/02/25: HuffPo: The Attack on Climate-Change Science...[McKibben]
• 2010/02/25: DeSmogBlog: Bill McKibben on O.J. Simpson and the Attack on Climate Science
• 2010/02/25: Grist: The attack on climate science is the O.J. moment of the 21st century [McKibben]

  There's still some chatter about Bill Gates & his last essay:

• 2010/02/25: CCurrents: Open Letter To Bill Gates

  The IPCC is setting up a review panel:

• 2010/02/27: NYT: Independent Board to Review Work of Top Climate Panel
• 2010/02/26: Guardian(UK): UN to commission independent scientific inquiry into IPCC
  UN climate body to appoint scientists to review climate change panel as UK climate change secretary writes to Rajendra Pachauri to express concern over 'damaging mistakes'
• 2010/02/26: ScienceInsider: Possible U.N. Review of IPCC Would Break New Ground
• 2010/02/26: MongaBay: UN to appoint independent board to audit the IPCC
• 2010/02/26: ABC(Au): UN creates new panel for IPCC review
• 2010/02/26: EarthTimes: Scientists to review climate panel after errors, UN says
• 2010/02/26: SolveClimate: Climate Scientists Defend IPCC Peer Review as Most Rigorous in History
• 2010/02/26: Reuters: U.N. to create science panel to review IPCC
  An independent board of scientists is to review the work of a U.N. climate panel, whose credibility came under attack after it published errors, a U.N. environment spokesman said on Friday. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) accepted last month that its 2007 report had exaggerated the pace of melt of Himalayan glaciers, and this month admitted the report had also overstated how much of the Netherlands is below sea level. The report shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, and has driven political momentum to agree a new, more ambitious climate treaty to replace the Kyoto Protocol. The remit and process of the review panel would be disclosed next week, said Nick Nuttall, spokesman for the U.N. Environment Programme, on the sidelines of a UNEP conference of environment ministers and officials from more than 135 countries in the Indonesian island of Bali.
• 2010/02/24: ClimateSight: IPCC Reform
• 2010/02/23: ClimateShifts: Scientists Defend UN Climate Change Report From Right Wing Assault

  The CRU inquiry is underway in Britain:

• 2010/02/27: C4: Sceptics seek second Climategate [Inquiry] panel casualty
• 2010/02/27: TPL: Inquiry Submission -- Downplaying uncertainty?
• 2010/02/27: BCLSB: Even More FOI Follies: UEA Vs. ICO
• 2010/02/26: CCP: Statement from the University of East Anglia in response to 'UK scientist hid climate data flaws' (The Guardian, 2010.02.02)
• 2010/02/26: TPL: The Inquiry -- Submissions
• 2010/02/26: BCLSB: FOI Fight: UEA VS. ICO
• 2010/02/25: Guardian(UK): University of East Anglia rejects lost climate data claims
  Submission ahead of next week's parliamentary inquiry 'strongly rejects' accusations university lost or manipulated climate data
• 2010/02/25: UEA: Submission to the Parliamentary Select Committee
• 2010/02/25: BCLSB: University Of East Anglia Strikes Back

  The Arctic melt continues to garner a lot of attention:

• 2010/02/26: Guardian(UK): Trial by ice -- what it takes to be an Arctic explorer
  The Catlin Arctic Survey team is off to the north pole. They face exhaustion, numbing cold -- and hungry polar bears
• 2010/02/26: NewScientist: Arctic arch failure leads to sea-ice exodus
• 2010/02/25: Guardian(UK): Catlin Arctic team brave thin ice and polar bears to monitor acid oceans
• 2010/02/24: PhysOrg: Polar explorer Hadow takes on Arctic Ocean trek
  British polar explorer Pen Hadow on Thursday unveiled his latest challenge, leading a team of scientists to investigate rising acid levels in the Arctic Ocean that threaten marine life.
• 2010/02/25: CCP: Permafrost line recedes 130 km in 50 years in James Bay region, Canada
• 2010/02/25: CCP: Greenland melt: Is there something in the water? Eric Rignot et al., Nature Geosci.
• 2010/02/21: EarthTimes: Mild winter sees Arctic ice formation lagging

  Charismatic Arctic megafauna put in an appearance:

• 2010/02/25: CBC: Countries urged [by CITES secretariat] to reject U.S. ban on polar bear trade
• 2010/02/25: KSJT: BBC, NPR, etc: Grizzlies and Polar bears. Again.
• 2010/02/24: BBC: Grizzlies encroach on polar bears
  Grizzly bears are being spotted in Manitoba, Canada, where biologists say only polar bears are usually found.
• 2010/02/24: MongaBay: Grizzly bears move into polar bear territory, threatening polar cubs
• 2010/02/23: Eureka: Grizzly bears move into polar bear habitat in Manitoba, Canada -- Competition from other bears may threaten a polar bear population

  That Damoclean sword still hangs overhead:

• 2010/02/22: CCurrents: Methane Levels May See 'Runaway' Rise
• 2010/02/22: HotTopic: Methane rise continues
• 2010/02/22: Independent(UK): Methane levels may see 'runaway' rise, scientists warn -- A rapid acceleration may have begun in levels of a gas far more harmful than CO2
  Atmospheric levels of methane, the greenhouse gas which is much more powerful than carbon dioxide, have risen significantly for the last three years running, scientists will disclose today -- leading to fears that a major global-warming "feedback" is beginning to kick in. For some time there has been concern that the vast amounts of methane, or "natural gas", locked up in the frozen tundra of the Arctic could be released as the permafrost is melted by global warming. This would give a huge further impetus to climate change, an effect sometimes referred to as "the methane time bomb".
• 2010/02/22: TCoE: Methane update -- Methane levels may see 'runaway' rise, scientists warn...

  As for the geopolitics of Arctic resources:

• 2010/02/19: GlobalBrief: Pax Arctica
• 2010/02/22: CanWest: Scholar debunks Arctic conflict -- Says international co-operation in harvesting riches far more likely
  An Arctic thaw among Cold War foes means there will be no foreseeable major conflict over seabed resources, says a leading Arctic scholar. Michael Byers, writing in Canada's new world affairs magazine Global Brief, says polar politics and media hype about a potential international clash over undersea oil and gas reserves obscure the reality of growing strategic co-operation among Canada, the U.S., Russia, Denmark and Norway.

While in Antarctica:

• 2010/02/22: USGS: Ice Shelves Disappearing on Antarctic Peninsula -- Glacier Retreat and Sea Level Rise are Possible Consequences
• 2010/02/22: USGS: Coastal-Change and Glaciological Map of the Palmer Land Area, Antarctica: 1947-2009
• 2010/02/23: ClimateP: USGS reports dramatic retreat of ice shelves in southern Antarctic Peninsula
• 2010/02/22: Reuters: Climate change melts Antarctic ice shelves: USGS
  Climate change is melting the floating ice shelves along the Antarctic Peninsula, giving scientists a preview of what could happen if other ice shelves around the southern continent disappear, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) said on Monday.
• 2010/02/23: MongaBay: Climate change melting southern Antarctic Peninsula ice shelves [USGS]
• 2010/02/22: PhysOrg: Ice shelves disappearing on Antarctic Peninsula
  Ice shelves are retreating in the southern section of the Antarctic Peninsula due to climate change. This could result in glacier retreat and sea-level rise if warming continues, threatening coastal communities and low-lying islands worldwide.

The fracturing of the Mertz Glacier tongue is drawing a lot of comment:

• 2010/02/26: PhysOrg: Iceberg breaks in Antarctica not where expected
• 2010/02/27: NASA:EO: Collision Calves Iceberg from Mertz Glacier Tongue, Antarctica
• 2010/02/27: TCoE: NASA images of Mertz iceberg
• 2010/02/27: CCurrents: Giant Iceberg Breaks Free From Antarctic In Collision
• 2010/02/26: NatureTGB: Giant iceberg of DEATH!
• 2010/02/26: KSJT: AP plus more : An iceberg that threatens the world's oxygen, a little bit, maybe....WHAT!?
• 2010/02/26: PhysOrg: Two huge icebergs let loose off Antarctica's coast
• 2010/02/26: DM:80B: An Iceberg the Size of Luxembourg Breaks Free From Antarctica
• 2010/02/26: Reuters: Giant iceberg breaks off from Antarctic glacier
• 2010/02/26: BBC: Huge iceberg 'threatens sea-life'
  A vast iceberg that broke off eastern Antarctic earlier this month could disrupt marine life in the region, scientists have warned. They say the iceberg, which is 78km long and up to 39km wide, could have consequences for the area's colonies of emperor penguins.
• 2010/02/26: CBC: Massive icebergs drift from Antarctic coast
• 2010/02/26: AAD: Massive iceberg calves from the Mertz Glacier
• 2010/02/26: EarthTimes: Billion-ton iceberg breaks away from Antarctic
• 2010/02/26: TasmanianExaminer: Scientists tracking giant new iceberg
• 2010/02/25: CanWest: Mammoth iceberg may alter ocean circulation: Study
  An iceberg the size of Luxembourg knocked loose from the Antarctic continent earlier this month could disrupt the ocean currents driving weather patterns around the globe, researchers said Thursday. While the impact would not be felt for decades or longer, a slowdown in the production of colder, dense water could result in less temperate winters in the north Atlantic, they said. The 2550 square-kilometre block broke off on February 12 or 13 from the Mertz Glacier Tongue, a 160-kilometre spit of floating ice protruding into the Southern Ocean from East Antarctica due south of Melbourne, researchers said. Some 400 metres thick, the iceberg could fill Sydney Harbour more than 100 times over.
• 2010/02/26: ABC(Au): A chip off the old iceberg
  Scientists say climate change is not to blame for a massive iceberg that broke off from a glacier in Antarctica. With an area of more than 2,500 square kilometres, the iceberg is bigger than the Australian Capital Territory, and holds enough fresh water to supply all of the earth's human needs for a year. It broke off the Mertz Tongue Glacier two weeks ago.
• 2010/02/25: CCP: Mammoth iceberg from the Mertz Glacier Tongue, Antarctica, could alter ocean circulation
• 2010/02/25: PhysOrg: Mammoth iceberg could alter ocean circulation: study
  An iceberg the size of Luxembourg knocked loose from the Antarctic continent earlier this month could disrupt the ocean currents driving weather patterns around the globe, researchers said Thursday.

The food crisis is ongoing:

• 2010/02/28: Times(Zm): Farming: Unpredictable weather patterns hurting
• 2010/02/27: RawStory: Coffee producers 'getting hammered' by global climate change
• 2010/02/23: FAO: FAO/WFP crop and food security assessment mission to Guatemala
• 2010/02/26: Grist: Coffee hit by global warming, growers say
• 2010/02/25: UN: One third of Yemen's 23 million people struggle to find food, UN reports

  And how are we going to feed 9 billion?

• 2010/02/25: WFP: WFP Boosts Humanitarian Rapid Response Capacity in Asia With New Base in Malaysia
• 2010/02/26: AlterNet: 7 Reasons Why You Should Grow Your Own Food
• 2010/02/24: IRIN: Finding the food crops of the future
• 2010/02/24: CCP: 'The Soil is Bleeding': New research from Univ. Illinois: synthetic nitrogen destroys soil carbon, undermines soil health
• 2010/02/23: Grist: 'The Soil is Bleeding' -- New research: synthetic nitrogen destroys soil carbon, undermines soil health
• 2010/02/23: SciDaily: Roots Key to Second Green Revolution
  Root systems are the basis of the second Green Revolution, and the focus on beans and corn that thrive in poor growing conditions will help some of the world's poorest farmers, according to a Penn State plant scientist.
• 2010/02/19: AlterNet: Does It Really Matter Whether Your Food Was Produced Locally?
• 2010/02/22: Eureka: Small family farms in tropics can feed the hungry and preserve biodiversity

  Because it is never simple:

• 2010/02/27: BBC: Somali rebels 'block UN food aid'
  Islamist militants in Somalia are stopping convoys of food reaching more than 360,000 displaced people, the UN's World Food Programme (WFP) says. The agency says trucks travelling from the capital Mogadishu to camps in Afgoye have been stopped by armed men. Insurgent group al-Shabaab says the WFP is ruining local farming by forcing Somalis to rely on imports. But the UN says that without help, Somali farmers cannot supply enough food for those in need.

Sarah and 17P blew around the south central Pacific, but it was otherwise quiet:

• 2010/02/23: PhysOrg: 17P is now a fading [tropical] depression
• 2010/02/22: Eureka: Tropical Storm 17P forms in South Pacific

  While elsewhere in the hurricane wars:

• 2010/02/27: PBDN: Scientists agree global warming boosts hurricane strength
• 2010/02/24: Time: Study: Can Hurricanes Cause Climate Change?
• 2010/02/23: WMO: WMO experts issue update on the impacts of climate change on tropical cyclones
• 2010/02/24: SciNow: Tropical Cyclones Turn Up the Heat
• 2010/02/24: PhysOrg: More tropical cyclones in past could play role in warmer future
  More frequent tropical cyclones in Earth's ancient past contributed to persistent El Nino-like conditions, according to a team of climate scientists led by Yale University. Their findings, which appear in the Feb. 25 issue of the journal Nature, could have implications for the planet's future as global temperatures continue to rise due to climate change.
• 2010/02/22: TechRev:ArxivB: A Frightening New Law of Hurricane Formation
  [...]
  The exponent of 3.5 in Ehrlich's power law means that numbers of hurricanes should increase sharply as the world warms and much more dramatically than climatologists have been expecting. His prediction is that a 2 degree C increase in average temperature will lead to an 11-fold increase in the number of hurricanes.
• 2010/02/23: TreeHugger: A Universal Hurricane Frequency Function - Ready For Some Hot Climate Action?
• 2010/02/23: TWTB: Tropical cyclones, climate, and consensus, cont'd
• 2010/02/22: KSJT: USA Today, AP, Chr. Sci. Monitor: A research team splits the difference on hurricanes and CO2. But not down the middle
• 2010/02/21: Yahoo:AFP: Tropical storms to be more intense but less frequent: climate study
• 2010/02/22: CBC: Climate change to bring fewer, stronger storms

  As for GHGs:

• 2010/02/25: Reuters: EU industry CO2 fell 11 percent in 2009: analysts
  Carbon dioxide emissions by companies regulated under the European Union's Emissions Trading Scheme fell by 11 percent last year in the wake of the economic downturn, analysts said on Thursday.
• 2010/02/23: EarthTimes: UN says tougher targets needed to avert climate disaster
• 2010/02/23: UNEP: More Ambition Needed if Greenhouse Gases are to Peak in Time, Says New UNEP Report
  Pledges Post Copenhagen Unlikely to Keep Temperatures Below 2 Degrees Celsius by Mid Century UNEP Year Book Also Launched Today Outlines Growing Governance Challenge from Climate to Chemicals
• 2010/02/23: Reuters: U.N. says emissions vows not enough to avoid rise of 2 degrees C
• 2010/02/21: PhysOrg: Governments 'misjudging' scale of CO2 emissions
  Policy makers in Europe and United States are markedly underestimating the changes needed to mitigate CO2 emission required to prevent dangerous climate change because they work in 'silos', according to pioneering research. Dr Sebastian Carney, from The University of Manchester, discovered that the lack of communication between government departments, NGOs and other authorities has resulted in significant differences over who is responsible for what.

And in the carbon cycle:

• 2010/02/26: BBC: Whaling 'worsens carbon release'
• 2010/02/26: NatureN: Carbon credits proposed for whale conservation -- Stopping whale hunting could help sequester millions of tonnes of carbon
• 2010/02/26: SciNews: The carbon footprint of industrial whaling
• 2010/02/26: BBC: A century of whaling may have released more than 100 million tonnes - or a large forest's worth - of carbon into the atmosphere, scientists say

  As for the temperature record:

• 2010/02/26: RA: The Temperature of Ocean Water at a Given Depth
• 2010/02/23: GreenGrok: Warming Is Unequivocal
• 2010/02/26: PlanetArk: World Warming Unhindered By Cold Spells: Scientists
• 2010/02/25: Tamino: False Claims Proven False
• 2010/02/23: Tamino: GHCN: preliminary results

  While in the paleoclimate:

• 2010/02/23: PhysOrg: Marine Scientist Finds 'Little Ice Age' Had Dramatic Effect on Gulf
  More than 350 years ago, the temperatures in northern Europe dropped dramatically in an event known as the "Little Ice Age." Now - deep below the waters of the Gulf of Mexico and buried in the sand, silt and mud - a USF marine geologist has discovered new evidence showing just how this long-ago climate change also affected the low latitude of subtropical areas. Using deep-sea sediment samples pulled from below the gulf floor, climate change researcher Julie Richey has been able to reconstruct what happened to temperatures on the gulf's surface. Her discovery: the Gulf of Mexico cooled 2 to 3-degrees during the Little Ice Age, a much more dramatic effect that suggests the region may be more sensitive to climate change than scientists expected.
• 2010/02/23: PhysOrg: Geologists look for answers in Antarctica
  Focusing on a controversial hypothesis that ice existed at the equator some 300 million years ago during the late Paleozoic Period, two University of Oklahoma researchers originated a project in search of clues to the Earth's climate system.

While on the ENSO front:

• 2010/02/24: PlanetArk: Indian Ocean Clues To Predicting El Nino: Study

  And on the Solar front:

• 2010/02/27: NewScientist: A quiet sun won't save us from global warming

  As for ocean currents:

• 2010/02/24: SciDaily: Barents Sea: An Effective Ocean Cooler
  The Barents Sea is a robust and effective ocean cooler. Despite its fairly shallow depth of 230 meters, it releases more energy to the atmosphere than any other sea around the Arctic.

Meanwhile in near earth orbit:

• 2010/02/24: BBC:JA: Making a 'carbon copy' of a spacecraft [OCO-2]
• 2010/02/25: NatureTGB: Watching the world's water -- with ESA's Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) satellite
• 2010/02/23: PhysOrg: Temperature Trackers Watch Our Watery World
• 2010/02/23: PhysOrg: NASA, NOAA Ready GOES-P Satellite for March 2 Launch
• 2010/02/23: PhysOrg: Meteosat Third Generation takes a step forward

  More GW impacts are being seen:

• 2010/02/28: GFHerald: Report: Warming climate threatens Prairie Pothole Region
• 2010/02/28: France24: Warm winters distress [Russia's Arctic] reindeer herders
• 2010/02/28: SpaceDaily: Warm winters distress reindeer herders in Russian Arctic
• 2010/02/26: NatureTGB: UN steps in as Mongolian 'dzud' kills millions of animals
• 2010/02/26: ClimateP: So long Pika, we hardly knew ya -- Another species on the brink -- thanks to human-caused global warming -- is abandoned
• 2010/02/26: Eureka: Climate may keep beautiful killer plant [purple loosestrife] in check
• 2010/02/25: NOAA:NEFSC: NOAA, NASA and Old Dominion Researchers Measure Impacts of Changing Climate on Ocean Biology -- Results of Northwest Atlantic Field Program Could Be Applied Worldwide
• 2010/02/23: SciAm: Waiting to Inhale: Deep-Ocean Low-Oxygen Zones Spreading to Shallower Coastal Waters
  Oxygen-deprived areas in the world's oceans usually found in deeper water are moving up to offshore areas and threatening coastal marine ecosystems by spurring the die-off of some species and overpopulation of others
• 2010/02/22: CCurrents: CO2 Mass Extinction Of Species And Climate Change
• 2010/02/23: MongaBay: Local vegetation can point to the consequences of climate change, Israeli scientists say after extensive studies
• 2010/02/23: ABC(Au): Loggerhead turtle breeding affected by global warming
  A turtle researcher says global warming is behind an influx of loggerhead turtles breeding in south-east Queensland. Jennie Truman monitors loggerhead and green turtle nests on beaches at North Stradbroke Island, off Brisbane. She has seen a big increase in breeding activity on the Island, and believes that is due largely to global warming which is making beaches further north too hot for nests.
• 2010/02/23: IrishTimes: Disease peril from global warming
  An expert on the effects climate change has on public health has warned that countries such as Ireland could be at risk from tropical diseases such as malaria and dengue fever in the future. Prof Mike Gill, co-chairman of the British Climate and Health Council, said projected rises in temperatures would see diseases migrate north and allow parasites arriving in imported fruit to thrive and infect the general population. He cited bluetongue disease as an example of the impact climate change has had on general health. Bluetongue, which affects sheep and cattle, has usually been confined to hot climates, but has gradually migrated northwards and has reached the UK in recent years.

And then there are the world's forests:

• 2010/02/26: CCurrents: India Leads The Way- Joins UNEP's Billion Tree Campaign
• 2010/02/25: UNEP: India joins UNEP's Billion Tree Campaign -- The world's second most populous country plants for the planet
• 2010/02/25: UN: India's contribution pushes UN global campaign to over 10 billion trees planted
• 2010/02/25: OilChange: A complete mockery of forest protection
• 2010/02/23: SolveClimate: Deforestation Pushing Amazon to Its Ecological Limits -- Many of the Risks and Ecological Processes are Poorly Understood, Studies Warn
• 2010/02/22: TreeHugger: Oil and Gas Exploration Threatens Peruvian Amazon

  Climate refugees are becoming an issue:

• 2010/02/27: CCurrents: Climate Refugees, 'Hotspot' Case Study: Mexico
• 2010/02/26: CCurrents: Climate Migration In Latin America: A Future 'Flood of Refugees' To The North?

  Yes we have no wacky weather, except:

• 2010/02/27: TerraDaily: Three killed as storm lashes Spain, Portugal and France
• 2010/02/28: TerraDaily: Storm moves into France leaving three dead
• 2010/02/27: CBC: Spain braces for hurricane-strength storm
• 2010/02/26: TerraDaily: Stormy weather wreaks havoc across Egypt
• 2010/02/27: Guardian(UK): New Yorkers battle third heaviest snowstorm on record -- US National Weather Service says city's total snowfall for the month is approaching a metre
• 2010/02/26: CCP: Dr. Jeff Master's wunderblog: East Coast storm, meteorological "bomb" hits Atlantic coast of Europe, 2nd lowest temperature record in Europe in Russia
• 2010/02/26: CBC: Winter storm hits Eastern Canada -- Storm moves north after cutting power to 700,000 U.S. homes and businesses
• 2010/02/24: Wunderground: Europe braces for destructive weekend winter storm
• 2010/02/22: Wunderground: Russia's Pole of Cold hits -70°F: Europe's 2nd coldest reading of all-time
• 2010/02/22: Tamino: Snow

  As for heatwaves and wild fires:

• 2010/02/28: NewScientist: Smart CCTV raises bush-fire alarm
• 2010/02/24: OSU: More frequent fires could aid ecosystems

  Corals are dying:

• 2010/02/23: FuturePundit: Fishing Bans Protect Coral Reefs
• 2010/02/26: KSJT: Tampa Tribune: Fixing reefs, no matter what's killing them
• 2010/02/24: GreenGrok: Can Coral Reefs Adapt to Climate Change?
• 2010/02/24: ClimateShifts: Evaluating the effectiveness of the protection of coral reefs
• 2010/02/23: Maribo: Will Coral Reefs Disappear? Results from AAAS Symposium
• 2010/02/23: Guardian(UK): World's coral reefs could disintegrate by 2100
• 2010/02/23: NatureN: Red Sea corals mapped in unprecedented detail -- Maps reveal effects of past climates
• 2010/02/22: ABC(Au): Scientists have recorded mild coral bleaching around Heron Island at the southern end of the Great Barrier Reef
• 2010/02/22: PhysOrg: Will coral reefs disappear?
• 2010/02/21: ClimateShifts: Mild summer coral bleaching at Heron Island
• 2010/02/22: CoralCOE: World class protection boosts Australia's Great Barrier Reef

  Glaciers are melting:

• 2010/02/23: TCoE: Picturing climate change

  Sea levels are rising:

• 2010/02/22: WhiskeyFire: Now That's a Hit [Siddall et al.]
• 2010/02/27: Deltoid: Bad news: sea level rise may be worse than we thought
• 2010/02/26: ABC(Au): The risk of rising sea levels has put an end to plans for residential development in coastal Victoria
• 2010/02/26: MoD: Study that underestimates sea level rise pulled, deniers cheer... huh?
• 2010/02/25: SkeptiSci: Misinterpreting a retraction of rising sea level predictions
• 2010/02/24: NatureCF: Sea level paper withdrawn on account of miscalculation
• 2010/02/22: ClimateP: Scientists withdraw low-ball estimate of sea level rise -- media are confused and anti-science crowd pounces
• 2010/02/22: Guardian(UK): Information is Beautiful: When Sea Levels Attack
• 2010/02/22: TP:WR: Climate Scientists Withdraw Journal Claims Of Limit To Rising Sea Levels
• 2010/02/21: Guardian(UK): Climate scientists withdraw journal claims of rising sea levels
  Study claimed in 2009 that sea levels would rise by up to 82cm by the end of century -- but the report's author now says true estimate is still unknown

As for hydrological cycle disruptions [floods & droughts]:

• 2010/02/28: SciDaily: Tropics: Global Warming Likely to Significantly Affect Rainfall Patterns
• 2010/02/28: BBC: At least eight people have been killed in floods triggered by heavy rain in Haiti...
• 2010/02/28: BBC: Large parts of the UK are on flood alert after heavy rain, with further torrential downpours and strong winds predicted for southern England
• 2010/02/27: MTobis: Paging Doctor Malthus
• 2010/02/23: OpenDem: Too many refugees, too little water -- A photo essay on water problems in Eastern Chad
• 2010/02/26: NatGeo: Nuclear Reactors, Dams at Risk Due to Global Warming
• 2010/02/27: BBC: Warning as floods hit parts of UK
  Parts of the UK have been hit by floods, with heavy rains and wind forecast to continue over the weekend.
• 2010/02/26: Wunderground: Heavy snow, high winds, flooding for the Northeast; destructive Winter Storm Xynthia nears Europe
• 2010/02/26: BBC: New rainstorm threatening Madeira
  Portugal's island of Madeira is bracing for a new rainstorm a week after a flood disaster killed as many as 70 people and destroyed infrastructure.
• 2010/02/25: Wunderground: Heavy snow, rain, and flooding for the Northeast U.S.
• 2010/02/24: TreeHugger: Drought Uncovers City Submerged For Decades
• 2010/02/24: Reuters: Venezuelan drought reveals a long-submerged town
  For most Venezuelans, the El Nino-linked drought that has struck the country this year means inconveniences like power and water rationing. But for some, the extreme dry spell is stirring up bittersweet memories. The Uribante reservoir that feeds a hydroelectric dam here is at its lowest level in decades, and the receding waters have uncovered a village that has been mostly underwater since 1985, when it was flooded.
• 2010/02/23: EarthTimes: Heavy rain leaves 18 dead in Bolivia
• 2010/02/24: EarthTimes: Over 1,000 people evacuated in Spanish floods
• 2010/02/24: BBC: Up to 70 people are feared dead after being trapped under piles of mud when a landslide hit a village near the Indonesian city of Bandung
• 2010/02/23: EarthTimes: Dozens feared buried by mudslide on Indonesia's Java
• 2010/02/23: EarthTimes: Drop in Mekong River level threatens Vientiane rice fields
• 2010/02/23: CBC: Indonesian landslide kills 5 [after days of heavy rain]
• 2010/02/23: WpgFP: 'Significant' flooding risk -- South likely to be hit due to U.S. snow, province says
  Southern Manitoba will likely see "significant" flooding this spring due to heavy snowfall south of the border and ground soil still soaked from last summer's frequent rainstorms.
• 2010/02/22: Guardian(UK): Madeira floods death toll rises as searches continue -- Death toll likely to exceed 42...
• 2010/02/22: CBC: Survivors sought after Portuguese flood
  Emergency crews used sniffer dogs Monday to search through huge piles of debris for at least four people still missing in Madeira after flash floods and rockslides killed 42 people on the Portuguese island.
• 2010/02/22: Guardian(UK): British woman reported missing in Madeira
• 2010/02/21: Guardian(UK): Madeira floods: death toll rises to 40

  Elsewhere on the mitigation front:

• 2010/02/27: TerraDaily: Sierra Leone takes steps to save mangroves

  Consider transportation & GHG production:

• 2010/02/25: EnergyBulletin: Sailing into the Future
• 2010/02/24: NRDC:SwitchBoard: Cars, Trucks and Climate Change
• 2010/02/25: CalcRisk: ATA Truck Tonnage Index increases in January
• 2010/02/22: WorldChanging: NASA: Cars Greatest Net Contributor to Climate Change

  While on the adaptation front:

• 2010/02/25: BBC: Action call on flood protection
  UK businesses should spend more effort on developing innovative devices to help protect homes from flooding, the Environment Agency's chairman says. ... Chris Smith called for more action as climate change meant flooding would become more "commonplace". He said one in six properties in England and Wales was already at risk.
• 2010/02/23: TerraDaily: Helping Marine Species Cope With Climate Change

  Meanwhile in the journals:

• 2010/02/22: NERC:NORA: Groundwater Drought in the UK by Terry Marsh & Melinda Lewis
• 2010/02/22: NERC:NORA: Regionalised impacts of climate change on flood flows: rationale for definition of climate change scenarios and sensitivity framework. Milestone report 2 - Project FD2020. Revised November 2009 by C. Prudhomme & N. Reynard
• 2010/02/23: NERC:NORA: Greenhouse gas emission in SE Asia: contrasts between an oil palm plantation and a primary forest. by C. Helfter et al.
• 2010/02/24: NERC:NORA: Oxidant and particle photochemical processes above a south-east Asian tropical rain forest (the OP3 project): introduction, rationale, location characteristics and tools by C. N. Hewitt et al.
• 2010/02/24: NERC:NORA: Back to the future: using palaeolimnology to infer long-term changes in shallow lake food webs by Ruth Rawcliffe et al.
• 2010/02/26: ACPD: Variability and budget of CO2 in Europe: analysis of the CAATER airborne campaigns - Part 1: Observed variability by I. Xueref-Remy et al.
• 2010/02/26: ACPD: Aerosol optical properties and radiative forcing in the high Himalaya based on measurements at the Nepal Climate Observatory - pyramid site (5100 m a.s.l) by S. Marcq et al.
• 2010/02/26: CP: An introduction to stable water isotopes in climate models: benefits of forward proxy modelling for paleoclimatology by C. Sturm et al.
• 2010/02/23: CP: Dendroclimatology in Fennoscandia -- from past accomplishments to future potential by H. W. Linderholm et al.
• 2010/02/24: CPD: Detecting instabilities in tree-ring proxy calibration by H. Visser et al.
• 2010/02/22: CPD: The Southern Hemisphere semiannual oscillation and circulation variability during the Mid-Holocene by D. Ackerley & J. A. Renwick
• 2010/02/23: ACP: Physicochemical properties and origin of organic groups detected in boreal forest using an aerosol mass spectrometer by T. Raatikainen et al.
• 2010/02/22: ACP: Potential climatic impacts and reliability of very large-scale wind farms by C. Wang & R. G. Prinn
• 2010/02/22: ACPD: Transport of dust particles from the Bodélé region to the monsoon layer: AMMA case study of the 9-14 June 2006 period by S. Crumeyrolle et al.
• 2010/02/24: AGWObserver: Papers on temperature reconstructions from boreholes
• 2010/02/22: TCD: An algorithm to detect sea ice leads using AMSR-E passive microwave imagery by J. Röhrs & L. Kaleschke
• 2010/02/23: PNAS: Evidence for a recent increase in forest growth by Sean M. McMahon et al.
• 2010/02/23: PNAS: Indirect land-use changes can overcome carbon savings from biofuels in Brazil by David M. Lapola et al.
• 2010/02/23: PNAS: Attribution of climate forcing to economic sectors by Nadine Unger et al.
• 2010/02/24: OSD: Seismic imaging of a thermohaline staircase in the western tropical North Atlantic by I. Fer et al.
• 2010/02/24: OS: Heat in the Barents Sea: transport, storage, and surface fluxes by L. H. Smedsrud et al.
• 2010/02/17: arXiv: A Universal Hurricane Frequency Function by Robert Ehrlich
• 2010/02/21: Nature:GeoSci: Retraction: Constraints on future sea-level rise from past sea-level change by Mark Siddall et al.

  As for miscellaneous science:

• 2010/02/26: Eureka: Tackling the challenges of survival in a changing world
• 2010/02/25: APSmith: My response to APS "commentary" on climate change statement
• 2010/02/25: ABC(Au): Expert links corals to clouds
  A researcher says he has found proof that corals help to form clouds. Southern Cross University Associate Professor Graham Jones says algae living on corals release a gas called dimethyl sulphide.
• 2010/02/24: SmithsonianMag: Barrow, Alaska: Ground Zero for Climate Change
  Scientists converge on the northernmost city in the United States to study global warming's dramatic consequences
• 2010/02/24: Eureka: New clues found linking larger animals to colder climates -- Scientists at UH publish breakthrough research on [Bergmann's rule] 163-year-old puzzle
• 2010/02/23: JEB: Impact of atmosphere and sub-surface ocean data on decadal climate prediction
• 2010/02/22: MongaBay: "No change whatsoever" in scientists' conviction that climate change is occurring

  Sci00:

  Here's a DIY science thought:
• 2010/02/26: Rabble: MakerCulture: Dr. Everyman

  Regarding Michael Mann:

• 2010/02/27: DM:CCM: Mike Mann on How to Fight the Deniers
• 2010/02/26: ClimateP: Michael Mann responds to the "false and misleading claims" in the error-riddled, defamatory WSJ piece by Jeffrey Ball and Keith Johnson

  Regarding Hansen:

• 2010/02/22: BNC: After Copenhagen -- James Hansen in Adelaide

  Regarding Martin Beniston:

• 2010/02/22: SwissInfo: "Vital climate decisions must not be delayed" -- Recent attempts to cast doubt over global warming are not a coincidence, according to a top climatologist

  The Pielke fan clubbe, alas:

• 2010/02/26: BSD: Fun and games with Roger Pielke Jr. at the NY Times

  While at the UN:

• 2010/02/26: WMO: High-level task force for climate services starts work at WMO
• 2010/02/25: UNEP: New "Low Carbon World website" to Accelerate Transition to Green Economy
• 2010/02/25: Guardian(UK): UN launches Mongolia $4m appeal to clear up livestock killed by big freeze
  Nomads paid to collect goats and yaks killed by extreme drought followed by harsh winter to stop disease and soil contamination
• 2010/02/25: Guardian(UK): Yvo de Boer reveals KPMG job was lined up before Copenhagen summit
• 2010/02/24: Guardian(UK): Reject sceptics' attempts to derail global climate deal, UN chief Ban Ki-moon urges

  And on the carbon trading front:

• 2010/02/24: Reuters: Slow recovery deters voluntary carbon investors -- Market not yet on track to robust recovery
• 2010/02/24: PlanetArk: EU CO2 Lacks Direction Amid 2010 Permit Issuance
  European carbon emissions futures lacked clear direction on Tuesday as traders seek news on the speed and volume of newly issued carbon permits coming to market. EU Allowances for December delivery inched up 2 cents or 0.16 percent to 12.80 euros ($17.50) a tonne at 1355 GMT, having reached an intra-day high of 12.92 euros in early trade. Volume was heavy at 4,578 lots traded. Spot EUAs on France's BlueNext exchange were up 5 cents at 12.66 euros a tonne. A German spot EUA auction cleared at 12.62 euros on Tuesday.

Meanwhile on the international political front:

• 2010/02/24: EmbassyMag: EU takes aim at Canada Post, Ontario Green Energy Act

  On the security front, the tussle betwen Britain & Argentina over possible Falklands oil carries on:

• 2010/02/28: Guardian(UK): How realistic are the chances of finding oil in Falklands waters?
• 2010/02/25: BBC: Spanish firm seeks Falklands oil
  Spanish oil company Repsol is to drill for oil in an area near the Falkland Islands. It will drill about 200 miles off Argentina's coast by December, "well within Argentinean waters," a spokesman told the BBC. The move comes as UK oil companies begin to search for oil in the Falklands, despite strong opposition from Argentina.
• 2010/02/24: BBC: Falklands oil dispute goes to UN
  Argentina is seeking United Nations support in its new row with the UK over oil drilling off the Falkland Islands. Argentine Foreign Minister Jorge Taiana is set to meet UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to call for his help in opening talks on the islands' sovereignty.
• 2010/02/22: EarthTimes: British firm starts oil drilling in Falkland Islands waters
• 2010/02/23: CBC: Rio summit leaders back Argentina
  Latin American and Caribbean nations renewed their support for Argentina's claim of sovereignty over the Falkland Islands on Monday, the same day a British oil exploration company announced drilling plans near the disputed territory. At the Rio Group summit of 32 countries hosted by Mexico, Argentina presented a statement quoting Mexican President Felipe Calderon as saying that "the heads of state represented here reaffirm their support for the legitimate rights of the republic of Argentina in the sovereignty dispute with Great Britain." Britain and Argentina have long disputed sovereignty over the Falkland Islands, known in Latin America as La Malvinas, and fought a brief war there in 1982.
• 2010/02/22: EarthTimes: British firm starts oil drilling in Falkland Islands waters
• 2010/02/22: BBC: A British rig is due to begin drilling for oil in the territorial waters of the Falkland Islands, despite strong opposition from Argentina

  Polls! We have polls!

• 2010/02/23: Reuters: U.S. stands out for climate-change skepticism
  History, religion differentiate U.S. on climate change - Obama climate bill push faces distrust of 'science' - Opinion poll confirms Americans' doubts
• 2010/02/23: DeSmogBlog: Denial Campaign's Success Evident in Two New Polls
• 2010/02/23: Guardian(UK): Sharp decline in public's belief in climate threat, British poll reveals
• 2010/02/23: KSJT: Texas Tribune: A state poll on people, dinosaurs, Bible lore, science (fat chance), etc. [polls]
• 2010/02/23: TreeHugger: Nearly 40% of Americans Alarmed or Concerned About Climate Change - But Those Dismissing It Double

  And on the American political front:

• 2010/02/26: NYT:GW: Pennsylvania Special Election Shaping Up as Another Early Test of 2010 Climate
  The contest to fill the seat previously held by the late Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.) is quickly shaping up as yet another special election battle whose implications are likely to stretch far beyond one congressional district. Analysis say the Pennsylvania 12th District battle might provide the clearest sign to date of the kind of political climate facing the two parties in November and represents exactly the kind of battleground on which much of the 2012 election will be fought.
• 2010/02/26: C411: China Takes the Lead on Clean Energy Jobs: How the U.S. Can Still Win
• 2010/02/25: NRDC:SwitchBoard: Cut the Drama: We Need the Senate to Create Clean Energy Jobs
• 2010/02/26: TEC: Arizona Anti-Solar Bill Demise Creates More Questions Than Answers
• 2010/02/25: OnEarth: Arizona Governor Jan Brewer: Controversial "Anti-Solar" Bill Dropped
• 2010/02/22: TEC: Arizona Bill Would End Key Support for Solar -- Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory
• 2010/02/23: Oregonian: Oregon Senate approves bill to cut greenhouse gas emissions from cars and trucks
  Despite unanimous opposition from Republicans, Oregon's Senate passed a bill this afternoon aimed at cutting greenhouse gas emissions from cars, SUVs and pickup trucks in metropolitan areas even as the state's population grows. Senate Bill 1059 would require Oregon's departments of transportation and land conservation to develop a statewide transportation strategy on greenhouse gases and educate the public about "the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from motor vehicles" and the costs and benefits of doing so.
• 2010/02/25: HuffPo: A Clean Energy Triple Play by Michigan Governor Jennifer M. Granholm (D)
• 2010/02/25: PlanetArk: Factbox: Key Dates, Past And Future In Climate Debate
• 2010/02/25: Yahoo:AP: Vermont Senate votes to close nuke plant in 2012
• 2010/02/25: BH: Whatcom County votes emergency moratorium on wind power
• 2010/02/25: PortlandTrib: Solar highway pushed back a year -- but it's still on track
• 2010/02/24: TP:WR: Republican Stimulus Opponents Brag About Clean Energy Spending
• 2010/02/22: WaPo: Climate insurance
• 2010/02/24: ClimateP: WashPost editorial: "If current trends persist, it's likely that in coming decades the globe's climate will change with potentially devastating effects for billions of people."
• 2010/02/24: NewScientist: Utah alleges conspiracy on climate change data
• 2010/02/23: TEC: BP's Exit from USCAP: An Alarm Signal?
• 2010/02/24: TP: GOP Senate candidate Trey Grayson attacks Rand Paul for acknowledging coal is a dirty fossil fuel
• 2010/02/23: USAToday: Cash-for-clunkers rebates offered on new appliances
  Three dozen states will launch programs in March and April to distribute almost $300 million in rebates to consumers buying energy-efficient appliances. The federally funded programs, similar to the cash-for-clunkers auto rebate program last year, are intended to improve energy efficiency and stimulate the economy. Rebates differ by state and appliance.
• 2010/02/22: ClimateP: The gold medal for climate flip-flopping goes to Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who now calls cap-and-trade a "disaster" three years after endorsing it
• 2010/02/22: ClimateP: John Podesta: First, Cap Emissions
• 2010/02/22: JQuiggin: Ideology and agnotology
• 2010/02/22: BWeek: Climate-Change Fervor Cools Amid Disputed Science
• 2010/02/22: SolveClimate: Venture Capitalists: Move to Repeal California Climate Law Endangers a Job Creator
• 2010/02/21: TP: [Governor Tim] Pawlenty (R-MN) completes global warming flip-flop, calls cap and trade a 'disaster.'

  Some lapses deserve notice:

• 2010/02/26: DM:CZ: This Is The Dawning of Aquarius --- In South Dakota
• 2010/02/25: ClimateP: South Dakota legislators tell schools to teach 'astrological' explanation for global warming

  The Obama chatter is nonstop:

• 2010/02/26: McClatchyDC: Environmentalists question coal's place in Obama policy
• 2010/02/25: TreeHugger: Obama: Key to Competitive America is Pricing Carbon Pollution
• 2010/02/24: SolveClimate: Obama's Energy Plan: All of the Above -- Including a Price on Carbon
• 2010/02/22: NYT:CW: Obama Mounts a Last-Ditch Attempt to Pass a 'Hybrid' Climate and Energy Bill
• 2010/02/22: TreeHugger: Obama Explains Climate Change Science and Extreme Weather (Video)

  The actions of the Obama administration are being watched closely:

• 2010/02/24: ScienceInsider: Holdren Takes Lumps From House Panel on Scientific Integrity
• 2010/02/24: ClimateP: Why the NYT's criticism of DOE's weatherization program misses the point
• 2010/02/23: NYT: Hiring Freezes Hamper Weatherization Plan
  President Obama's plan to create jobs and rein in energy costs through a steep increase in money for weatherizing the homes of low-income Americans has so far borne little fruit, with many of the biggest states meeting less than 2 percent of their three-year goals to date, the Department of Energy's inspector general [Gregory H. Friedman] said in a report Tuesday.
  [...]
  the report said action was hobbled by bureaucratic delays and by the recession itself, as spending cuts resulting from the economic downturn forced states to trim personnel expenses. Many states either furloughed the state employees who would administer such programs or instituted hiring freezes that prevented state offices from processing additional work -- even though the federal government would have paid the additional salaries, the report found.
• 2010/02/23: Grist: Obama's [ARPA-E] 'director of game changers' talks energy breakthroughs
• 2010/02/22: NYT: U.S. Offers Solar Project a Crucial Loan Guarantee
  The United States Department of Energy offered a $1.37 billion loan guarantee on Monday to a California company planning to build a large-scale solar power plant in the Southern California desert. The loan guarantee for BrightSource Energy of Oakland, Calif., is the largest the department has given for a solar power project. BrightSource's planned project, the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System, is the first utility-scale solar power plant to undergo licensing in California in nearly two decades. It would use solar thermal technology, in which mirrors concentrate sunlight to heat a fluid and generate steam. If built, it would be the largest of its kind.
• 2010/02/23: TreeHugger: Good News for Solar Thermal: $1.37B in Loan Guarantees to BrightSource Energy for 400 MW
• 2010/02/22: WaPo: Solar power project in Mojave Desert gets $1.4 billion boost from stimulus funds
• 2010/02/23: BBerg: U.S. Aims for Legally Binding Climate Change Agreement in 2010
  The U.S. said it wants to reach a legally binding climate-change agreement at a summit in Mexico in December, a sign President Barack Obama hasn't given up the fight for a global accord to limit greenhouse gases. The pact should cover "all major economies," and include elements from the non-binding Copenhagen Accord made in December, the State Department said in a letter released today by the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, or UNFCCC. With China and India resisting mandatory curbs on their emissions and legislation in the U.S. outlining domestic commitments stalled in the Senate, Obama is attempting to keep the talks alive. A two-year push for a treaty ended in December with a voluntary deal that wasn't accepted by all of the 193 nations present.
• 2010/02/22: PlanetArk: USDA's Vilsack Backs Revival Of Biodiesel Credit
• 2010/02/22: Grist: Energy Secretary Steven Chu posts his nuclear rationale on Facebook
• 2010/02/20: TheHill: Chu to governors: Capitol Hill renewable energy plans too weak

  The EPA spelled out how it would apply endangerment regulations this week:

• 2010/02/25: NYT:GW: EPA Will Need Increased Climate Funding as Regs Ramp Up, Jackson Says
• 2010/02/24: NYT: Curbing Smokestack Emissions Tops EPA's 2011-2013 Enforcement Goals
• 2010/02/24: EconoSpeak: Will The EPA Drop The Ball On Regulating Carbon Emissions?
• 2010/02/23: Time: EPA Prepares to Take the Lead on Regulating CO2
• 2010/02/23: TripleCrisis: Climate Change and the U.S.: Is the Environmental Protection Agency under-pricing carbon?
• 2010/02/24: EconView: "Is the Environmental Protection Agency Under-Pricing Carbon?"
• 2010/02/23: Grist: EPA's Jackson establishes deliberative path to control global warming pollution
• 2010/02/23: WarmingLaw: EPA's Jackson: "Major Emitters" Could Face GHG Regulations at Start of 2011
• 2010/02/23: TreeHugger: Don't Be Afraid of the EPA! 5 Facts You Need to Know About the Plan to Curb US Greenhouse Gas Emissions
• 2010/02/23: SolveClimate: US Plans for Greenhouse Gas Regulations in 2011, Hopes for CCS -- Jackson: Blocking EPA Would Put US Behind China, in Line with Saudi Arabia
• 2010/02/23: WaPo: EPA lays out timetable for regulating greenhouse gas emissions
• 2010/02/22: TP:WR: Lisa Jackson Announces EPA Will Delay And Weaken Proposed Greenhouse Standards
• 2010/02/22: NYT: E.P.A. Plans to Phase in Regulation of Emissions
  Facing wide criticism over their recent finding that greenhouse gases endanger the public welfare, top Environmental Protection Agency officials said Monday that any regulation of such gases would be phased in gradually and would not impose expensive new rules on most American businesses. The E.P.A.'s administrator, Lisa P. Jackson, wrote in a letter to eight coal-state Democrats who have sought a moratorium on regulation that only the biggest sources of greenhouse gases would be subjected to limits before 2013. Smaller ones would not be regulated before 2016, she said. "I share your goals of ensuring economic recovery at this critical time and of addressing greenhouse gas emissions in sensible ways that are consistent with the call for comprehensive energy and climate legislation," Ms. Jackson wrote.

Meanwhile the campaign to block EPA endangerment regulations is ongoing:

• 2010/02/27: DetNews: NHTSA: Blocking EPA gas rules may backfire -- Carmakers may face higher costs if tailpipe emission limits killed
• 2010/02/26: Reuters: House members seek to block EPA carbon limits
  Two senior Democrats [Rep. Ike Skelton (D-Missouri) and Rep. Collin Peterson (D-Minn) with Rep. Jo Ann Emerson (R-Missouri)] in the U.S. House filed a resolution to block the Obama administration from regulating greenhouse gases on its own if a climate change bill fails to pass Congress soon.
• 2010/02/23: TheHill: Republicans seize on climate errors to challenge EPA
• 2010/02/24: TreeHugger: AFP Spreads Anti-EPA Propaganda Through Tea Party Movement
• 2010/02/21: ERabett: They Got Nothin'

  As for what is going on in Congress:

• 2010/02/27: TreeHugger: 16 GW of Renewable Energy to be Created in US by Stimulus Bill
• 2010/02/27: TP: Rep. Tom Perriello (D-Va) Tells 'Spineless' Senate To Get 'Its Head Out Of Its Rear End' And Confront Climate Crisis
• 2010/02/25: GreenGrok: Climate and Changing Times in Congress
• 2010/02/26: ClimateP: Dirty Air Act Roundup
  Public health organizations oppose Murkowski resolution; DOT finds Murkowski will block cleaner, more efficient cars; Murkowski struts past protesters to attend lobbyist fundraiser for her; American public power association misleads its members
• 2010/02/26: HillHeat: Senate Watch: Graham, Kerry, McCain, Rockefeller
• 2010/02/25: AutoBG: NHTSA chief counsel [O. Kevin Vincent] says Murkowski Resolution will hurt the environment, car companies and consumers
• 2010/02/26: TP:WR: After Sanders Compares Climate Deniers To Nazi-Era Isolationists, They Deny There's A Threat
• 2010/02/25: TreeHugger: Why is GOP Senator Lisa "Dirty Air" Murkowski Calling for a Carbon Tax?
• 2010/02/23: NatureTGB: Global warming, IPCC, challenged in the Senate
• 2010/02/23: TP: Newt Gingrich 'Sharing Resources, Coordinating Efforts' With Oil Lobby
• 2010/02/23: TP:WR: Sen. Merkley: 'We're Going To Create Jobs By Cleaning Up Carbon Dioxide Pollution'
• 2010/02/22: Grist: Sen. Mark Udall (D-Colo): "I think it's crucial to price carbon"
• 2010/02/22: SolveClimate: Congress Considers Fracking Regulation Amid Hodgepodge of State Drilling Rules -- Oil and Gas Industry Leaders Oppose Federal Involvement
• 2010/02/21: Yahoo:Reuters: Senate weighs final push to move climate bill

  Kerry-Boxer, Waxman-Markey or whatever -- the future climate bill -- defines a battleline:

• 2010/02/27: WaPo: Senators to propose abandoning cap-and-trade
• 2010/02/27: TreeHugger: Just What Exactly Are Lieberman, Kerry and Graham Cooking Up for the Climate?
• 2010/02/27: ClimateP: Graham, Kerry, Lieberman almost ready to run their bipartisan climate and clean energy bill up the flagpole -- But will 60 Senators salute?
• 2010/02/25: Reuters: Key senators do not see climate bill in 2010 [12 Democrat & Republican swing vote Senators]
• 2010/02/25: NYT:GW: Reid Calls for Comprehensive Bill ASAP
• 2010/02/24: NYT:CW: Carbon Pricing Sticks Out as Senate Climate Bill's Main Obstacle
  Senate advocates of comprehensive global warming and energy legislation are stuck on a fundamental question: How should they structure the first-ever price on greenhouse gas emissions? "What's the mechanism for pricing carbon is the real key here," Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), a lead author of the nascent bill, said yesterday. "That's what we're trying to figure out, is how we do that in the most effective way." The search includes a cap-and-trade system like the one in the House-passed climate bill, which divided up valuable emission credits among constituents representing more than three-quarters of the U.S. economy. They are also looking at how to mesh other popular approaches, including a cap-and-dividend system that auctions off pollution permits with the revenue sent back to the public to compensate for higher costs on energy bills and consumer goods. Kerry and Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) are also weighing a plan to phase in emission limits for different industrial sectors, beginning with power plants and large stationary sources, and placing the nation's transportation fuels under a carbon tax that rises based on the compliance costs faced by the other major emitters.
• 2010/02/24: ClimateP: Senate Majority Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has instructed Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) to produce a revamped climate bill as soon as possible...
• 2010/02/23: Yahoo:AFP: Kerry insists US to move on climate
• 2010/02/23: BBerg: Senators Moving 'Rapidly' on Climate Bill, Kerry Says
• 2010/02/23: Reuters: Senator Kerry says compromise climate bill coming
  Senator John Kerry said a bipartisan climate change bill would emerge soon in the U.S. Senate, contradicting what he called the "conventional wisdom" that the legislation was dead this election year.
• 2010/02/23: Guardian(UK): Democrats launch desperate effort to resurrect climate bill in Congress
• 2010/02/22: Reuters: Key US senator [Baucus] sees no quick move on climate bill

  What are the lobbyists pushing?

• 2010/02/26: NYT:GW: Grass-Roots Organizer Jumps From Nature Conservancy to API
  The oil industry's biggest trade group has nabbed one of the environmental community's top grass-roots organizers as it ramps up efforts to build a network of citizen lobbyists. Deryck Spooner, who ran Nature Conservancy's push to spur legislative action on climate change, will now head American Petroleum Institute's grass-roots activism arm
• 2010/02/24: DemNow: "The Media-Lobbying Complex": Investigation Exposes Undisclosed Corporate Ties of Network Political Pundits
• 2010/02/25: NRDC:SwitchBoard: Who Says U.S. Businesses are Pulling Back on a Climate Bill?
• 2010/02/22: CDreams: EPA Petitioned [by CBD] to Reduce Black Carbon 'Soot' Under Clean Water Act
• 2010/02/22: CBD: EPA Petitioned to Reduce Black Carbon "Soot" Under Clean Water Act -- Potent Global Warming Pollutant Accelerates the Melting of Sea Ice and Glaciers

  The Gore-apalooza is still bopping along:

• 2010/02/27: NYT: We Can't Wish Away Climate Change by Al Gore
• 2010/02/27: ClimateShifts: We Can't Wish Away Climate Change: an op-ed by Al Gore
• 2010/02/27: CSW: Al Gore New York Times op-ed a lesson for Obama in how to talk about climate change with candor
• 2010/02/28: CCP: Al Gore: We Can't Wish Away Climate Change
• 2010/02/27: ClimateP: Al Gore's must read op-ed in the NY Times (annotated): We Can't Wish Away Climate Change
• 2010/02/25: CNet: Al Gore a lightning rod at Apple shareholder meeting -- Gore was re-elected to Apple's board of directors

  While in the UK:

• 2010/02/25: EnvFin: 30+ carbon footprint guidelines baffle companies
  Companies are struggling to comprehend the thirty-odd number of guidelines for reporting their carbon footprints. Executives at a meeting of lobby group the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) in London this week reiterated the need to agree a common method for measuring and reporting greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This comes as governments worldwide are introducing emissions legislation and major companies, such as Wal-Mart and Tesco, begin to demand that suppliers report the carbon impact of their products.
• 2010/02/26: PlanetArk: UK Government To Pay 25 Percent Of Electric Car Price
• 2010/02/26: NYT:CW: U.K. and [Drax] Its Major Power Producer Brawl Over Biomass Subsidies
• 2010/02/26: Times(UK): Climate change report sets out an apocalyptic vision of Britain
• 2010/02/25: TEC: Conservative Proposals for 'Open Source' Planning
• 2010/02/25: Guardian(UK): Drax power plant is no greener than the coal it burns [Pearce]
• 2010/02/25: Guardian(UK): Councils to generate green power in Miliband plan to curb emissions
  Climate change secretary [Ed Miliband] wants to legislate for 'local energy revolution' in next parliament
• 2010/02/24: BBC: Biofuel power plant plan refused
  An application to build a biofuel power station at Avonmouth, capable of powering 25,000 homes, has been refused by city councillors. The plant, which would had been fuelled initially by palm oil, was attacked by critics who blamed the demand for palm oil for rainforest destruction. The meeting was told the decision had to be made according to material planning considerations, not emotions. But councillors went against advice from planners and voted 6-2 against it.
• 2010/02/24: BBC: Biofuel power plant decision due
  An application to build a controversial biofuel power station is being considered by councillors in Bristol. Environmental groups oppose the plant, and the city's council leader says it is likely to lead to rainforest destruction and food insecurity. But council officials say there are no good grounds to block the proposal under existing planning law. It is one of several plants around the UK under consideration; one in Weymouth has already been approved. The firm applying to build the bio-liquids power plant, W4B, says it will power 25,000 homes. It would be fuelled by 70,000 tonnes of vegetable oil a year, first perhaps with palm oil but later with jatropha oil.
• 2010/02/24: Guardian(UK): Tory MPs threaten to send green image up in smoke with emissions vote
• 2010/02/24: Guardian(UK): GM and farming technology 'key to fighting climate change' [says Chris Smith]
• 2010/02/24: Guardian(UK): Scotland not doing enough to meet emissions target, ministers told
  Emissions cuts from cars, homes and farming are key if Scotland is to meet its target of a 42% reduction [by 2020], new report says
• 2010/02/24: Guardian(UK): Ofcom to investigate government climate change TV campaign
• 2010/02/22: PlanetArk: [UK] Drax Calls For Biomass Support To Cut Coal Burn

  And in Europe:

• 2010/02/25: EnvFin: EIB [European Investment Bank] to raise climate lending to 20 billion euros
• 2010/02/25: EnvFin: Recession cuts [German utility giant] RWE emissions by 13%
• 2010/02/26: EurActiv: EU accession 'boosted' Czech green business
  Companies investing in renewables in the Czech Republic say the country's EU accession provided a major boost for green businesses. However, they complained of a "huge administrative burden" and favouritism of certain technologies. EurActiv Czech Republic reports.
• 2010/02/26: EurActiv: EU rules out binding green criteria for biomass
  The European Commission yesterday (25 February) ruled out binding EU-wide sustainability criteria for biomass, offering member states recommendations for national action instead. The European Commission said the wide variety of biomass feedstocks make it impossible to devise a harmonised scheme, which would require taking into account their varying potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It also said that the environmental risks related to domestic biomass production "are currently low" and do not require specific EU rules.
• 2010/02/25: EnergyBulletin: Gypsies at the peak
• 2010/02/24: EarthTimes: European leaders discuss energy cooperation at Hungarian summit
• 2010/02/25: PlanetArk: Green Electricity Meeting More Of Dutch Needs [7,5% in 2008, 9.0% in 2009]
• 2010/02/24: NYT:CW: Reaping the Whirlwind? Europe's Big Wind Subsidy Race
• 2010/02/25: BizGreen: Italy delays solar incentive plan, again
• 2010/02/24: EurActiv: Hungarian climate law postponed over job concerns
  Hungary could have become the second EU member state after the UK to pass an overarching climate framework bill. But the ruling socialist party backed down on Monday (22 February) citing job concerns after heavy pressure from the industrial lobby. EurActiv Hungary reports. The Hungarian parliament decided not to vote on a draft climate bill in Monday's final plenary sitting, despite strong support from its environment committee a week before. Because Hungary is holding general elections in April, the parliament is not expected to sit again before May, delaying the adoption of the bill.
• 2010/02/24: EarthTimes: European leaders discuss energy cooperation at Hungarian summit
• 2010/02/23: EarthTimes: German politicians settle cuts in solar-power tariffs
  Berlin - German officials trying to pare back pioneering subsidies for electricity-generating solar panels agreed Tuesday to block new arrays of photovoltaic panels on farmland. German utilities are legally obliged to pay higher-than-market prices for electricity from solar panels on roofs and in fields. After a decade the government says it is time to unwind this start-up assistance, but has been bitterly opposed by a solar-power lobby. A broad deal struck Tuesday in Berlin between the main parties in Chancellor Angela Merkel's coalition government means the subsidies will only be retained for panels on buildings and on wasteland such as rubbish dumps, old artillery ranges or factory ruins. The rates of return are fixed for 20 years from the date the panels are first connected to the electricity grid. Farm groups, who have been angered by big city investors buying up farm land to "harvest the sunshine," sought the change, which means the last subsidies go to farm-field arrays which were given building permits by last December and go online by the end of this year. For rooftop arrays commissioned after July 1 this year, the feed-in tariffs are to be slashed by 16 per cent. Those rates of return had previously been cut by 9 per cent for photovoltaic systems commissioned after January 1 this year, and currently stand at 0.3914 of a euro (52 US cents) per kilowatt-hour.
• 2010/02/22: EurActiv: Brussels to table EU clean cars strategy
  The European Commission is set to propose a strategy on clean and fuel-efficient cars by May, followed later by an action plan to help introduce green vehicles to the market.
• 2010/02/22: EurActiv: Europe worried about standstill on US climate bill
  European concern is growing about the prospects of securing a new international climate treaty, as support appears to be waning in the US for domestic climate legislation that would include a cap-and-trade system.

Meanwhile in Australia:

• 2010/02/28: SMH: Rudd not backing down on ETS
• 2010/02/27: ABC(Au): Opposition calls for independent insulation inquiry
  The Federal Government is under pressure to refer new claims concerning the mismanagement of its home insulation program to the Auditor General. The Federal Opposition is calling for an independent inquiry into whether Environment Minister Peter Garrett ignored warnings from his own department about potential problems with the home insulation program. The Opposition's call comes after Mr Garrett was yesterday stripped of his responsibility for overseeing the troubled scheme.
• 2010/02/26: GWWatch: Australia's carbon intensity begins to fall
• 2010/02/26: ABC(Au): ETS will 'force retailers to increase prices'
  A retail lobby group says Prime Minister Kevin Rudd needs to meet with small business owners to understand the impact of the Federal Government's proposed emissions trading scheme (ETS).
• 2010/02/26: ABC(Au): Wong splits renewable energy scheme
  The Federal Government says it is making changes to its renewable energy target scheme to give industry groups more certainty. The scheme will be split into two to separate large-scale renewable energy projects such as commercial solar plants, wind farms and geothermal from small-scale projects such as solar panels and solar hot water systems. The Government says the changes mean the scheme is likely to exceed its target of 20 per cent of energy coming from renewable sources by 2020.
• 2010/02/26: ABC(Au): The risk of rising sea levels has put an end to plans for residential development in coastal Victoria
• 2010/02/26: Reuters: AGL shelves over A$1 billion investments in wind energy
  Australia's top operator of renewable energy assets, AGL Energy Ltd., will shelve up to A$1 billion worth of planned investments in wind energy, citing uncertainty in the government's climate change policies.
• 2010/02/26: ABC(Au): Farmers' changes bypass climate debate
  Many Australian farmers are accepting the variable nature of the weather and adapting their practices to deal with climate change, rather than getting caught up in the political debate on whether that change is natural or man-made.
• 2010/02/26: Reuters: Australia overhauls troubled renewable energy scheme
• 2010/02/26: BBC: Australian Environment Minister Peter Garrett demoted
  One of the Australia's most well-known politicians has been demoted following a bungled home insulation programme.
• 2010/02/26: ABC(Au): Queensland's energy efficiency program 'politically motivated'
  The Queensland Opposition wants a thorough review of the State Government's multi-million-dollar energy efficiency schemes. A report found there is little information about how effective the programs are. A Queensland parliamentary committee looked into the energy efficiency programs. Opposition MPs on the committee have labelled the Queensland Government's energy efficiency initiatives as politically motivated.
• 2010/02/26: ABC(Au): Former Australian Defence Force chief Peter Cosgrove says Australia should adopt nuclear power as its response to climate change
• 2010/02/24: ABC(Au): Coalition pushes for ETS inquiry
  The Federal Government's climate change policy looks set to be examined by another Senate inquiry. The Government is making its third attempt to get an emissions trading scheme (ETS) through Parliament. The Senate has pushed back debating the scheme until May. Liberal Senator Eric Abetz says in the meantime there should be a Senate inquiry into the amended scheme, which includes more industry help.
• 2010/02/24: ABC(Au): The Queensland Opposition says problems with the Federal Government's insulation and solar rebate schemes have flowed into the state arena
• 2010/02/24: ABC(Au): Population summits 'likely to become talkfests'
  An environment group says investigations into population growth in south-east Queensland will turn into talkfests. Several population growth forums are being held next month including a State Government growth summit. The Local Government Association of Queensland (LGAQ) will also hold public hearings next month as part of its inquiry into the need for a state population policy. Sustainable Population Australia (SPA) spokesman Simon Baltais says he does not expect the growth summit or the inquiry will lead to changes.
• 2010/02/24: SMH: Senate delays ETS vote until May
• 2010/02/23: ABC(Au): Queensland solar hot water rebates 'on hold'
  The Queensland Government's solar hot water scheme will be put on hold because the Commonwealth has reduced its rebate by $600. Natural Resources Minister Stephen Robertson says 1,600 Queensland households have taken advantage of the state scheme, and other installations that have already been booked will go ahead. But he has told Parliament there will be no new bookings for the time being.
• 2010/02/23: ABC(Au): A business group says an emissions trading scheme (ETS) could have a bigger impact on central Queensland than other parts of the state
• 2010/02/23: TreeHugger: How Australia Could Be Carbon Neutral in 10 Years
• 2010/02/22: ClimateShifts: Would you like to fry with that?
• 2010/02/22: SolveClimate: Australia Group Rolls Out Plan for 100% Renewable Energy by 2020 -- 'There Are No Technological Impediments'

  While in the Indian subcontinent:

• 2010/02/26: BBerg: India to Start Clean Energy Fund by Taxing Coal Use
  India, the world's fourth-largest polluter, plans to levy a tax on coal and use the money to start a national fund to back renewable energy projects.
• 2010/02/22: ZeeNews: Jairam bid to rework stand on climate...
  New Delhi: Within a couple of days of the Prime Minister's Office announcing that Shyam Saran, PM's special envoy on climate change, was quitting, there's turmoil in the Indian climate team. Indian negotiators are up in arms against minister of state for environment and forest Jairam Ramesh commissioning a study and proposing a meeting of experts that could redefine India's fundamental principle of 'per capita emissions' norm while negotiating how the burden of reducing greenhouse gases is shared. The exit of Saran, who was seen to have resisted the move to alter India's traditional red lines in climate change, has caught Indian negotiators off guard and deepened their suspicion of Ramesh's 'flexibility' mantra.

And in China:

• 2010/02/24: ChinaDaily: Tackling climate change 'urgent,' Hu says -- China's leaders begin challenging goal of cutting carbon emissions
• 2010/02/22: Reuters: Bitter winter puts Mongolia in bind over mining

  Across the sea in Japan:

• 2010/02/27: FresnoBee: Bill in Japanese stipulates 25% emissions cuts
  Tokyo -- The Japanese government will set a midterm target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent from 1990 levels by 2020 if all major emitters agree with a fair, effective framework, according to the outline of a bill in the legislature to tackle global warming. The outline, announced by the country's Environment Ministry on Friday, also stipulates that until such an agreement is reached, the government will instead focus on its long-term target to slash greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent by 2050. The bill includes the government's basic environmental measures...

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

• 2010/02/25: CBC: How Greenpeace beat Hill security: RCMP -- Protesters managed to climb onto Parliament building roofs in December
• 2010/02/22: CBC: Inuit group blasts Cannon over summit
  Canada's national Inuit organization says it's unacceptable for Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon to exclude indigenous groups from an upcoming Arctic summit, even though Cannon has offered to consult them in advance. Cannon has invited foreign ministers from Norway, Russia, Denmark (which includes Greenland) and the United States to Chelsea, Que., next month to discuss economic development and other issues faced by Arctic coastal nations. But Cannon did not invite Arctic indigenous groups, such as the Inuit Circumpolar Council, nor did he invite Iceland, Sweden and Finland, which are members of the Arctic Council. "If the government is going to be talking about economic development, then the people of the Arctic should be invited to discuss economic development in the Arctic," Pita Aatami, acting president of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami in Canada, told CBC News in an interview. "Government can't just unilaterally make decisions on our behalf without consulting us properly or inviting us to be in this meeting."

Disgraced ex-minister Maxime Bernier posted a denialist essay which triggered a round of speculation:

• 2010/02/26: Far-n-Wide: Bernier On Thin Permafrost
• 2010/02/26: TStar: Hébert: Ex-Tory minister Bernier aims for PM's job
• 2010/02/26: CanWest: Green rift for Conservatives
  It is absurdly premature to talk about the race to replace Stephen Harper, but rare fractures in Conservative group-think have appeared recently, this time on the environment -- and the rift opens intriguing possibilities.
• 2010/02/25: DeSmogBlog: Canadian Government Doubts Climate Science?
• 2010/02/25: DawgsBlawg: Mr. Bernier: Caution is the right tone for Canada, denialism is not!
• 2010/02/24: Far-n-Wide: Thank-You Maxime
  Rather than shake your head at Maxime Bernier's comments on global warming, we should really applaud his honesty. Bernier has done nothing more than confirm a view we all know resonates behind the official government rhetoric. Bernier essentially admits that the government is dragging their heels on the issue, because they remain fundamentally sceptical about global warming...
• 2010/02/24: Equivocator: Maxime Bernier: "No Science please, we're Conservative."
• 2010/02/24: CBC: Bernier urges skepticism on climate change -- Environment minister, Conservative party distance themselves from MP's views
• 2010/02/24: G&M: Siding with skeptics, Conservative MP decries climate-change 'alarmism'
  Opposition attacks Conservative government's sincerity on global warming after Maxime Bernier publicly questions scientific consensus
• 2010/02/24: BCLSB: Wells On Bernier
• 2010/02/24: G&M: Maxime Bernier challenges climate science [Spector]
  

Prentice had a comment on Bernier while making up with Quebec:

• 2010/02/25: CanWest: Prentice wants to play nice with Charest on emissions -- Feds had blasted province's vehicle rules as 'folly'
  Federal Environment Minister Jim Prentice is seeking to make peace with Premier Jean Charest after sharply criticizing the province's decision to introduce its own vehicle emissions standards to fight climate change. As the United States and Canada prepare next month to unveil "identical" tailpipe emissions regulations, Prentice says he is hopeful Quebec will agree to harmonize its rules with those adopted by the Harper government and the Obama administration.
• 2010/02/25: CanWest: Prentice denies delaying action on climate file -- Refutes Bernier's suggestions that evidence doubted
• 2010/02/23: G&M: Prentice versus Charest: Round 2? [Spector]

  Oh look. Harper technique number 7. Defund the blighters!

• 2010/02/24: CanWest: Climate scientists fight for renewed research funding -- Petition; 1,400 demand Ottawa renew money in budget
  The Harper government is under mounting pressure to save an endangered climate program in next week's budget. A petition, signed by close to 1,400 graduate students and researchers, is demanding new funding for the Canadian Foundation for Climate and Atmospheric Sciences, which will die without a cash infusion. The foundation's projects at universities across the country, which are seen as key to understanding the remarkable change under way in the climate, are already being dismantled. And young scientists, trained at substantial cost to Canadian taxpayers, have begun leaving the country in search of work.

The NEB asked for updated data on the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline project:

• 2010/02/23: CBC: Mackenzie pipeline backers agree to update
  The National Energy Board has asked Imperial Oil and other backers of the Mackenzie Valley gas pipeline to update the project's economic feasibility assessment and construction schedule. In a letter dated Monday, the federal energy regulator said the companies involved in the proposed Northwest Territories pipeline are using information that is "out of date and should be updated." The request came after Yellowknife-based social justice group Alternatives North demanded that the pipeline consortium, led by Imperial Oil, provide new data related to economic feasibility and natural gas market demand. The group claims that demand for natural gas has changed significantly since the pipeline project's economic figures were last updated in 2007.

In BC, the 5 ring circus is winding down:

• 2010/02/23: BCLSB: How Unusual Is Vancouver's Current Weather?

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

• 2010/02/24: EmbassyMag: EU takes aim at Canada Post, Ontario Green Energy Act

  In New Brunswick the government embarked on a PR exercise to mollify the public:

• 2010/02/26: CBC: NB Power deal delayed for public debate -- Consultations won't affect agreement itself
  The New Brunswick government is delaying the $3.2-billion sale of NB Power assets to Hydro-Québec for nearly two months in order to hold a full public debate on the controversial deal. A committee of MLAs will hold at least 50 hours of public hearings in April, the Liberals announced Friday morning. But House leader Greg Byrne said the public consultations won't lead to any changes to the agreement itself.

Meanwhile in that Mechanical Mordor known as the tar sands:

• 2010/02/26: Ecologist: BP and Shell face new shareholder revolt over tar sands
  Investors want oil giants to answer questions on their involvement in the environmentally damaging extraction of oil from tar sands
• 2010/02/28: Guardian(UK): British firms face onslaught from tar sands campaigners -- Lobbyists bid to turn RBS, BP and Shell annual meetings into green referendums
• 2010/02/26: OilChange: Cheap Gas Fuels Tar Sands Expansion
• 2010/02/01: CCPA: Private Gain or Public Interest? Canadians should benefit fairly from oil and gas they own
  Canada's oil and gas industry can and should be converted to a public-interest industry whose mandate would be to serve the broader public interest, not just the private interests of owners and shareholders. At present, the private corporations that dominate the oil and gas industry in Canada are inflicting serious environmental harm and causing major social and economic problems. The environmental impacts of oil and gas extraction, especially from Alberta's tar sands, are staggering. The toxic lakes created by the tar sands are just one example. Gas wells degrade local air quality; coal-bed methane development contaminates groundwater; and pipelines blight habitat, sometimes causing as much forest loss as industrial logging. The oil and gas corporations strenuously resist paying adequate royalties to the public owners of these resources, resulting in a loss of government revenue to support public services, infrastructure, and long-term savings.
• 2010/02/24: CBC: Alberta least competitive energy hub: economist
• 2010/02/24: NRDC:SwitchBoard: The Oil-ympics - Canada's darker side
• 2010/02/21: CBC: Ludwig among protesters at sour gas well

  As for miscellaneous Canadiana:

• 2010/02/23: CBC: Arctic survey bid hits snag over Franklin ships
  An Alberta archeological firm's proposal to test survey equipment in an Arctic waterway has hit a roadblock over concerns about the long-lost ships of Sir John Franklin.

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

• 2010/02/27: CCurrents: Going Local
  Today, the planet is on fire with global warming, toxic pollution and species extinction, with fundamentalism, terrorism and fear. The dominant media tell us that WE are to blame: our greed is the cause, and we as individuals must change our consumer habits. However, if we try to deal with these crises individually, we won't get very far. We need to stand back and look at the bigger picture. It then becomes obvious that the driving force behind our crises is a corporate -led globalization. Despite the apparent enormity of making changes to our economic system, isolating this root cause can be very empowering. Rather than confront an overwhelming list of seemingly isolated symptoms, we can begin to discern the disease itself.In so doing it also becomes apparent that joining hands with others is a key to reversing environmental and social breakdown.
  
  The most powerful solutions involve a fundamental change in direction - towards localizing rather than globalising economic activity. In fact, "going local" may be the single most effective thing we can do.
• 2010/02/26: CCurrents: The Economics Of Happiness
  Global warming and the end of cheap oil demand a fundamental shift in the way that we live. The choice is ours. We can continue down the path of economic globalisation, which at the very least will create greater human suffering and environmental problems, and at worst, threatens our very survival. Or, through localisation, we can begin to rebuild our communities and local economies, the foundations of sustainability and happiness.
• 2010/02/25: CCurrents: "The Future Of Our Cities Lies In Their Integration With The Environment"
• 2010/02/25: CCurrents: Climate Change: Greening The Economy? Monkeywrenching Collapse?
• 2010/02/23: AlterNet: We're Headed for the Greatest Resource-Sharing Problem of All Time
• 2010/02/24: PhysOrg: Learning sustainability from the rainforest
• 2010/02/22: CCurrents: The Battle Of Ideas, Part 1; Private Property vs. The Commons
• 2010/02/22: EnergyBulletin: Sustainability, lasting recovery, and other myths

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

• 2010/02/27: Guardian(UK): Cutting teen pregnancy the Dutch way
  An educational focus on the link between sex and reproduction -- and being able to say no -- has had success in the Netherlands

Apocalypso anyone?

• 2010/02/25: EnergyBulletin: Toward the Collapse: Growth-Economy = Climate Disaster (interview with Keith Farnish)

  As for how the media handles the science of climatology:

• 2010/02/25: CJR: Online and Overseas -- Less hand-wringing over state of science journalism
• 2010/02/26: MTobis: How It's Done [Economist & Deltoid]
• 2010/02/22: Economist:DiA: Journalistic malpractice on global warming
• 2010/02/26: Deltoid: The Economist calls a lie a lie
• 2010/02/23: YaleCMF: A Down-Under Journalistic 'Wipeout' In Covering Risks to the Great Barrier Reef
• 2010/02/25: KSJT: Yale Forum on Climate & Media (plus a blogger) : Is The Australian newspaper at war with science?
• 2010/02/25: ClimateP: [Maxwell] Boykoff on "Exaggerating Denialism: Media Representations of Outlier Views on Climate Change"
• 2010/02/25: SolveClimate: 20 Ethical Questions the Press Should Ask Opponents of Climate Change Policies
• 2010/02/24: KSJT: FOXnews : New US Climate Change agency boss tried to suppress data, some say...
• 2010/02/24: KSJT: Wash. Post THE HILL: An old fashioned on-the-one-hand, and on-the-other story that works. Or, UN v. Inhofe.
• 2010/02/24: NewScientist: Can we trust the IPCC on the big stuff? [Pearce]
• 2010/02/23: ClimateShifts: A Down-Under Journalistic 'Wipeout' In Covering Risks to the Great Barrier Reef
• 2010/02/23: AlterNet: Corporate Media Are Using Industry Talking Points to Lie to Us About Nuclear Power
• 2010/02/23: RealClimate: The Guardian disappoints
• 2010/02/23: APSmith: The death of science journalism - and what could replace it
• 2010/02/23: MoJo: Quote of the Day: Climate Change and the Media
• 2010/02/23: IoD: Where's there's a Will, there's a way to obfuscate
• 2010/02/22: TPL: MSM Coverage
• 2010/02/22: Maribo: Highlights of AAAS: Communicating science
• 2010/02/22: DeepClimate: Lorne Gunter -- again (and again)
• 2010/02/22: ABC(Au): Malice, misquotes and Media Watch
  Last week, Media Watch became embroiled in a war of words with Sunday and Daily Telegraph columnist Piers Akerman.
• 2010/02/22: Eureka: CU-Boulder prof speaks on mass media role in climate change skepticism
• 2010/02/22: MTobis: Misleading Denial-Friendly Headlines
• 2010/02/22: DM:Loom: George Will: Time For Some Significant Fact-Checking
• 2010/02/21: ClimateP: Newsweek staff who play fast and loose with the facts are imperiling not just their profession but the planet
• 2010/02/21: HotTopic: The Listener joins the attack

  Here is something for your library:

• 2010/02/23: NewsWeek: [Book Review] _The Lomborg Deception_ by Howard Friel -- Debunking the claims of the climate-change skeptic.
  [...] in a display of altruistic masochism that we should all be grateful for (just as we're grateful that some people are willing to be dairy farmers), author Howard Friel has checked every single citation in Cool It. The result is The Lomborg Deception, which is being published by Yale University Press next month. It reveals that Lomborg's work is "a mirage," writes biologist Thomas Lovejoy in the foreword. "[I]t is a house of cards...Friel has used real scholarship to reveal the flimsy nature" of Lomborg's work.
• 2010/02/17: NewScientist:CL: Jeremy Rifkin: The third industrial revolution [Book Plug & interview]

  And for your film & video enjoyment:

• 2010/02/28: SkeptiSci: YouTube video on the empirical evidence for man-made global warming
• Gasland

  Meanwhile among the 'Sue the Bastards!' contingent:

• 2010/02/26: PlanetArk: South Carolina To Sue Government Over Nuclear Waste Decision
  South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster said on Wednesday he would take legal action to stop President Barack Obama from dropping plans to build a nuclear waste storage facility in Nevada. Last month the Obama administration announced it was stopping the license application for a long-planned nuclear waste storage site at Yucca Mountain near Las Vegas, which is opposed by environmental groups. McMaster said that he would file a petition to intervene with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission this week and plans to take additional legal action in appellate courts in Washington and Virginia on Friday.
• 2010/02/23: PlanetArk: Ecuadorean Judge Changed On [US$27 billion] Chevron Pollution Case
  Quito - The provincial court in Ecuador's Amazon region that is hearing a $27 billion environmental damages case against Chevron Corp has changed the judge in charge of the case, court officials said on Monday. The change was described as an administrative matter not expected to impact the outcome of the case. Leonardo Ordonez, the newly named president of Sucumbios provincial court, was named to replace outgoing court president Nicolas Zambrano. Local law says the court's chief judge must hear environmental damages cases in the northern province. "I see no problem with Ordonez continuing the process," plaintiffs' lawyer Pablo Fajardo told Reuters. "It is an administrative matter, a routine rotation of the presidency of the Sucumbios provincial court," said Chevron spokesman James Craig. "On the face of it, it should not have any impact on Chevron's case." Zambrano took over the case last year when the previous judge, Juan Nunez, stepped down after he was secretly taped discussing the suit with two mysterious men who recorded the conversation with secret cameras stuck inside a wristwatch and a pen. Plaintiffs accuse Texaco, which was bought by Chevron in 2001, of polluting the Amazon with faulting drilling practices in the 1970s and 1980s. Chevron denies the accusations.

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

• 2010/02/26: C411: China Takes the Lead on Clean Energy Jobs: How the U.S. Can Still Win
• 2010/02/27: TEC: Fighting words from John E. Rosenthal, Wealthy Boston Real Estate Developer Who Prefers Solar Subsidies to Nuclear Loan Guarantees
• 2010/02/21: IR^2: Answering Questions on OTEC - Part I
• 2010/02/22: IR^2: Answering Questions on OTEC - Part II
• 2010/02/25: REA: Energy Storage: Will We Find the Holy Grail?
• 2010/02/25: NBF: eSolar Targets Solar Electricity Less than The Price of Coal and Has 2 Gigawatt Project in China
• 2010/02/26: CCurrents: If Fossil Fuel Reserves Rise, Carbon Should Be Left Where It Belongs: In The Ground
• 2010/02/26: PlanetArk: Bloom vs. Solar: Which One Is Best?
• 2010/02/26: AES: Grid-Based Energy Storage; A $200 Billion Opportunity
• 2010/02/17: G&M: When do smart prices get dumb?
• 2010/02/24: CNN: The new wave: Harnessing the power of the ocean
• 2010/02/24: PhysOrg: Boost to UK geothermal energy prospects
  Geothermal energy in the UK is a step closer to reality after exploratory drilling by experts at Newcastle University revealed record levels of permeability in granite.
• 2010/02/25: PlanetArk: Green Electricity Meeting More Of Dutch Needs [7,5% in 2008, 9.0% in 2009]
• 2010/02/24: TEC: The Economics of Bloom Energy's "Breakthrough" Fuel Cell
  [...]
  It appears that the unsubsidized price of the Bloom Box is about $7-8,000/kW so their 100 kW units cost $700,000-800,000 without subsidy. As a fuel cell, it also needs fuel to run, in this case natural gas or another source of methane (such as landfill gas or biogas from anaerobic digesters). After federal subsidies for fuel cells (they can claim the same 30% investment tax credit that solar gets) and a $2,500 California rebate, and assuming $7/mmBTU price for natural gas, a 100 kW Bloom Box unit generates electricity at 8-10 cents/kWh.
• 2010/02/24: PhysOrg: Bloom Energy unveils [silicon] fuel cell...
• 2010/02/24: PhysOrg: An electrifying discovery: New material to harvest electricity from body movements
  Scientists are reporting an advance toward scavenging energy from walking, breathing, and other natural body movements to power electronic devices like cell phones and heart pacemakers. In a study in ACS' Nano Letters, they describe development of flexible, biocompatible rubber films for use in implantable or wearable energy harvesting systems. The material could be used, for instance, to harvest energy from the motion of the lungs during breathing and use it to run pacemakers without the need for batteries that must be surgically replaced every few years.
• 2010/02/24: PlanetArk: Geothermal Energy Gets Cash But Hits Roadblocks
• 2010/02/24: Grist: Policy fixes to unleash clean energy, part 7
• 2010/02/24: TreeHugger: Are Ground Source Heat Pumps (AKA Geothermal Systems) A Good Choice?
• 2010/02/23: BBC: Tidal energy scheme is launched
  A study to find ways of generating green energy using tidal power has been launched in Cumbria. Experts think the Duddon Estuary near Barrow can generate enough energy to power 200,000 homes in South Cumbria.
• 2010/02/23: OilDrum: The Bloom Box: Initial Evaluations of an Energy Breakthrough
• 2010/02/22: SciNow: Harvesting Heat for Power
• 2010/02/22: SolveClimate: Australia Group Rolls Out Plan for 100% Renewable Energy by 2020 -- 'There Are No Technological Impediments'

  Fracking is back:

• 2010/02/26: ProPublica: New Yorkers' Drilling Comments Are In --- Now What?
• 2010/02/24: CCP: Halliburton, Schlumberger, B. J. Services using carcinogens for fracking, contaminating ground and drinking water
• 2010/02/25: Rabble: Fracking: An explosive problem
• 2010/02/23: PlanetArk: Schlumberger Sees Gas Drill Growth In Smith Deal
  Oilfield services leader Schlumberger Ltd aims to gain market share in shale gas drilling with its purchase of rival Smith International Inc, and expects few antitrust hurdles for the takeover.
• 2010/02/23: TEC: Shale Gas and Drinking Water
• 2010/02/23: DemNow: Congress to Investigate Safety of Natural Gas Drilling Practice Known as Hydraulic Fracturing
• 2010/02/22: ProPublica: Gas Drillers Plead Guilty to Felony Dumping Violations
• 2010/02/22: PlanetArk: Water Waste A Kink In New York Shale Gas Future
• 2010/02/22: PlanetArk: House Committee Probes Natgas Drilling Practice
• 2010/02/22: OilDrum: ExxonMobil's Acquisition of XTO Energy: The Fallacy of the Manufacturing Model in Shale Plays
• 2010/02/22: SolveClimate: Congress Considers Fracking Regulation Amid Hodgepodge of State Drilling Rules -- Oil and Gas Industry Leaders Oppose Federal Involvement

  The answer my friend...:

• 2010/02/26: PhysOrg: German wind power firm to withdraw from Taiwan
  Germany-based InfraVest, the largest private wind power company in Taiwan, said Friday it will withdraw from the island because it does not have confidence in the government's energy policies.
• 2010/02/26: Reuters: AGL shelves over A$1 billion investments in wind energy
  Australia's top operator of renewable energy assets, AGL Energy Ltd., will shelve up to A$1 billion worth of planned investments in wind energy, citing uncertainty in the government's climate change policies.
• 2010/02/24: NYT:CW: Reaping the Whirlwind? Europe's Big Wind Subsidy Race
• 2010/02/24: InvW: Study: At least theoretically -- numerically speaking -- we could get all U.S. electricity from wind power
• 2010/02/22: ClimateP: NREL: US has three times more wind electrictiy potential than previously thought
• 2010/02/22: NRDC:SwitchBoard: U.S. Wind Energy Potential Triples

  Meanwhile among the solar aficionados:

• 2010/02/27: ENS: California Raises Solar Net Metering Cap
• 2010/02/26: TEC: Texas utility lets its customers go solar
• 2010/02/25: PhysOrg: Solar panels go through extreme tests at San Jose lab
• 2010/02/26: LA Times: Incentives to rise for home solar arrays -- A new law will double the cap on how much energy customers can sell back to utilities
• 2010/02/25: SolveClimate: Chinese Solar Firms Eye Fast-Growing Japanese Market -- U.S. Market Remains Fragmented but Future Bright
• 2010/02/25: BizGreen: Italy delays solar incentive plan, again
• 2010/02/24: Yahoo:AP: Chevron to build [CPV] solar plant at NM tailings site
• 2010/02/23: EurActiv: World's largest solar project set to gain new partners
  The Desertec project, which aims to power Europe with solar energy from the deserts of North Africa and the Middle East, is to go truly international next month as five new companies from Spain, Italy, France, Morocco and Tunisia join the scheme. The project aims to cover 15% of Europe's electricity needs by 2050 by importing renewable energy, primarily solar power ... via a high voltage cable. It utilises concentrating solar thermal power (CSP), which collects sunlight via mirrors to produce steam, which then drives turbines to generate electricity.
• 2010/02/23: TreeHugger: New Solar Cell is 98% Plastic and Catches a Record-Breaking 96% of Incident Light
• 2010/02/22: EarthTimes: Asia turns to the sun

  On the coal front:

• 2010/02/24: Grist: Coal-fired power on the way out? [Lester Brown]

  Biofuel bickering abounds:

• 2010/02/23: IR^2: Broken Promises from Range Fuels
• 2010/02/24: REA: Biomass -- An Emerging Fuel for Power Generation
• 2010/02/26: NatureTGB: A new entry in the biomass-to-fuel race [Dumesic]
• 2010/02/25: CBC: Chemists create biofuel from plant waste
• 2010/02/25: SciNow: A New Route to Grassoline [Dumesic]
• 2010/02/25: Eureka: New process yields high-energy-density, plant-based transportation fuel
• 2010/02/23: TEC: Broken Promises from Range Fuels
• 2010/02/23: SciDaily: Biogas Climate Benefit Greater Than Previously Thought?
• 2010/02/23: Eureka: Waste could generate up to 7 percent of electricity in Spain
• 2010/02/23: EarthTimes: Brunei's first methanol plant to open by April

  The nuclear energy controversy continues:

• 2010/02/25: CBC: Nuclear power enjoying renaissance: [uranium mining company] Cameco CEO
• 2010/02/24: DemNow: In Historic Vote, Vermont Poised to Shut Down Lone Nuclear Reactor
• 2010/02/24: DemNow: Anti-Nuclear Activists Mobilize to Oppose Obama-Funded Construction of Georgia Nuke Plants
• 2010/02/25: TEC: [Hans] Blix to head UAE nuclear board
• 2010/02/25: Yahoo:AP: Vermont Senate votes to close nuke plant in 2012
• 2010/02/26: BNC: Would 10,000 nuclear power stations cook the planet?
• 2010/02/24: SolveClimate: Uranium in the Grand Canyon: USGS Report Examines Impacts of Mining
• 2010/02/23: Guardian(UK): Obama's nuclear vision suffers setback as [tritium leaking] Vermont plant faces shutdown
• 2010/02/23: NatureN: Pebble-bed nuclear reactor gets pulled -- South Africa cuts funding for energy technology project.
• 2010/02/22: TEC: Texas nuclear renaissance moves ahead with lure of loan guarantees

  Yes we have a peak oil sighting:

• 2010/02/25: Scitizen: Do Texas and the North Sea Foretell the Future of Oil Production?
• 2010/02/24: EnergyBulletin: Review of "Eastern Canadian crude oil supply and its implications for regional energy security"
• 2010/02/24: EnergyBulletin: The peak oil crisis: Some perils of 2010
• 2010/02/23: CCurrents: Saudi Arabia Preparing For Oil Demand To Peak
• 2010/02/22: CCurrents: The Peak Oil Crisis: The Crunch
• 2010/02/23: WorldChanging: Preparing for 2014-15 "Oil Crunch" Forecast by UK Industry Group
• 2010/02/21: EnergyBulletin: Peak demand: The cornucopians reach for a fig leaf

  More people are talking about the electrical grid:

• 2010/02/24: PhysOrg: Neighbourhood grids promise energy gains
• 2010/02/22: TEC: Vehicle-to-grid income and analysis

  And then there is the matter of efficiency & conservation:

• 2010/02/24: PhysOrg: CeBIT 2010: Intelligent energy management for the home
  In order to save energy, consumers need to be able to obtain up-to-date information at any time about the energy consumption of their appliances, and be able to control them while away from home. At CeBIT 2010, Fraunhofer scientists unveil two applications that help consumers manage their power use.
• 2010/02/23: CSM: For a more energy-efficient home, ample insulation is key
• 2010/02/24: WpgSun: LED, solar technology give Transcona park lighting first

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

• 2010/02/26: Tyee: He's Paving the Way for Electric Cars -- Vancouver-raised Ron Chung is readying Hong Kong for a new revolution
• 2010/02/26: AutoBG: Avis will rent out Renault electric vehicles starting in 2011
• 2010/02/26: AutoBG: Pike Research predicts 2.8 million fuel cell vehicles sold by 2020
• 2010/02/25: NBF: Electric scooters, bikes and hybrid scooters for China, India and the World
• 2010/02/25: NBF: New Lithium Sulfide Batteries Could have Four times the Specific Energy of Lithium Ion Batteries
• 2010/02/26: DerSpiegel: Electric Avenue -- Riding the Electromagnetic Wave of the Future
  Christian Förg devoted his student thesis to solving the distance problem in driving electric cars. At the same time he developed a whole new concept for freeways. The project, called "Speedway," earned him a top grade from his polytechnic university. But there's lots of work to be done.
• 2010/02/24: NYT: G.M. to Close Hummer After Sale Fails
• 2010/02/24: Jalopnik: GM Kills Hummer, Officially

  The reaction of business to climate change will be critical:

• 2010/02/28: NakedCapitalism: How Sincere is Wal-Mart's Demand that Chinese Suppliers Meet Labor and Environmental Standards?
• 2010/02/27: ClimateP: Wal-Mart to cut 20 million metric tons of greenhouse gas pollution by 2015
• 2010/02/25: C411: Why Walmart's Carbon Commitment Can Make Such a Difference
• 2010/02/25: Grist: Matter of factories -- Making sense of Wal-Mart's big green announcement
• 2010/02/25: TEC: Two cheers for Wal-Mart's CO2 pledge

  Meanwhile in the greenwashing chronicles:

• 2010/02/21: SolveClimate: Hanging the Greenwash Out to Dry

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

• 2010/02/26: ClimateP: Energy and Global Warming News for February 26...
• 2010/02/25: ClimateP: Energy and Global Warming News for February 25...
• 2010/02/24: ClimateP: Energy and Global Warming News for February 24...
• 2010/02/23: ClimateP: Energy and Global Warming News for February 23...
• 2010/02/22: ClimateP: Energy and Global Warming News for February [22]...

  The carbon lobby are up to the usual:

• 2010/02/25: Good: How Cultural Values Shape Climate Change Beliefs
• 2010/02/27: TreeHugger: Can a Climate Change Denier's World View Accept a Carbon Solution?
• 2010/02/23: NPR: Belief In Climate Change Hinges On Worldview
• 2010/02/22: WhiskeyFire: Now That's a Hit [Siddall et al.]
• 2010/02/27: HotTopic: Weekend reading: dealing with noise
• 2010/02/25: TheNESS: Scientific Consensus, Climate Change, and Vaccines
• 2010/02/26: DM:BadA: Two posts about denialism, climate change and otherwise
• 2010/02/26: TreeHugger: "Most Credible" Climate Skeptic [Michaels] Revealed to Receive Funding from Big Polluters
• 2010/02/26: MoD: Study that underestimates sea level rise pulled, deniers cheer... huh?
• 2010/02/25: SkeptiSci: Misinterpreting a retraction of rising sea level predictions
• 2010/02/26: MoJo: Most Credible Climate Skeptic Not So Credible After All
  Scientist Pat Michaels is often quoted as a "reasonable" climate skeptic. But no-one ever mentions his financial ties to big polluters.
• 2010/02/25: MoD: The Lomborg Deception
• 2010/02/25: DeSmogBlog: Common Sense and the Attack on the IPCC
• 2010/02/25: JQuiggin: Two kinds of ignorance
• 2010/02/25: TreeHugger: Morano Goes To CPAC To Embarrass Himself Over Climate Change
• 2010/02/25: Tamino: False Claims Proven False
• 2010/02/25: Tamino: Shame -- Two of the most prominent claims of global warming denialists have been proven wrong.
• 2010/02/24: TPL: Enron and the Case of the Zombie Fungus
• 2010/02/24: TCoE: You can't make me! [You can't make me be reasonable, that is.]
• 2010/02/24: DeSmogBlog: Lou Dobbs thinks Jim Inhofe deserves a round of applause
• 2010/02/24: OilChange: Oil companies threaten Nigeria over reforms
• 2010/02/23: Reuters: Nigeria oil reform would worsen bad situation -Shell
  Nigeria's proposed oil industry reforms could drive away $50 billion in investment if passed in their current form and make a bad situation for the sector even worse, Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L) said on Tuesday. Oil majors say the terms proposed in the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) will make it hard for them to develop new resources in deep offshore waters as well as to run current operations.
• 2010/02/24: MoD: Lies, damn lies, and fake quotes
• 2010/02/24: MoD: 1995gate and statistical significance
• 2010/02/22: CCurrents: Bullying, Lies And The Rise Of Right-Wing Climate Denial
• 2010/02/24: BCLSB: Hard Rockin Denier' Endorses CRU Data!!!
• 2010/02/22: DVoice: Media Distortions And "Real" Climate Scandals
• 2010/02/24: HotTopic: Denialism's allies: nasty work in Australia
• 2010/02/23: Guardian(UK): True climate sceptics must stop the war on science
  David Davis and fellow honourable sceptics of climate change should distance themselves from the extremists and put forward their own proposals for mitigation
• 2010/02/23: Guardian(UK): Climate wars damage the scientists but we all stand to lose in the battle
• 2010/02/21: ERabett: Leakeng Ship
• 2010/02/21: ERabett: Houghtongate Bites Booker
• 2010/02/22: ERabett: Cue Whining Stage Right
• 2010/02/22: Guardian(UK): Do climate change sceptics give scepticism a bad name?
  There is a crucial difference between scepticism and non-belief in the face of overwhelming evidence
• 2010/02/22: SkeptiSci: Have American Thinker disproven global warming?
• 2010/02/22: JFleck: The Recycling of Falsehoods
• 2010/02/21: JFleck: Boslough in SI: Playing By Different Rules
• 2010/02/22: JQuiggin: Ideology and agnotology

  The Senate clown put on a McCarthy-ite masque this week:

• 2010/02/26: UNDispatch: Inhofe Explains Climate "Hoax"
• 2010/02/26: SkeptiSci: Senator Inhofe's attempt to distract us from the scientific realities of global warming
  There has been a shift in the climate debate over recent months. It seems people are talking less about the science and more about the alleged actions of a small group of climate scientists. Senator Inhofe is an extreme example with his recent attempt to criminalize 17 leading scientists. These accusations are largely based on stolen private emails that are being quoted out of context and/or without understanding of the science involved. Unfortunately, this is shifting the focus away from the most important element of the climate debate: the scientific reality of global warming. The empirical evidence that global warming is happening and that humans are the primary cause has been and continues to be observed, measured and documented in the peer-reviewed scientific literature.
• 2010/02/25: Grist: James Inhofe, Senate's top skeptic, explains his climate-hoax theory
• 2010/02/26: SolveClimate: Opponents of Climate Regulations Start Targeting Scientists -- Senator's Attack Names Names, Alleges 'Potentially Illegal Behavior'
• 2010/02/25: MongaBay: James Inhofe is not a climatologist: a journalist's perspective
• 2010/02/25: ClimateP: Sen. Inhofe inquisition seeking ways to criminalize and prosecute 17 leading climate scientists
• 2010/02/25: TreeHugger: Sen. Inhofe Leading Witch Hunt to Prosecute 17 Climate Scientists
• 2010/02/24: CSW: Sen. Inhofe inquisition seeking ways to criminalize and prosecute 17 leading climate scientists
• 2010/02/24: ERabett: A Sister Soljah Moment -- James Inhofe has a little list of scientists he wants to throw in jail.
• 2010/02/22: ResidualA: The Greenland Canard
• 2010/02/21: BCLSB: The Denier Denies [CRU]

  Tim is not relenting:

• 2010/02/27: Deltoid: Leakegate: If you refuse to talk to Jonathan Leake, he'll quote you anyway
• 2010/02/26: Deltoid: Let's hope this reference checking thing catches on
• 2010/02/23: Deltoid: The Lomborg Deception
• 2010/02/22: Deltoid: Leakegate roundup
• 2010/02/21: Deltoid: Leakegate: "not based on any research"

  Meanwhile in the 'clean coal' saga:

• 2010/02/26: DemNow: As Obama Pushes "Clean Coal," Jeff Biggers Tracks History of Destructive Mining in "Reckoning at Eagle Creek: The Secret Legacy of Coal in the Heartland"
• 2010/02/24: ENS: Groups ID [31] Toxic Coal Ash Sites in 14 States, Demand Regulations

  As for climate miscellanea:

• 2010/02/28: DWWSJ: The Two Most Powerful Images of Climate Change
• 2010/02/27: MTobis: The Big Big Picture
• 2010/02/26: BobPark: What's New?
  1. Energy: The Bloom box deflowered.
  2. Water: European hydrological satellite gets first results.
• 2010/02/22: MGS: Which sources to trust?
• 2010/02/26: TCoE: Ice dynamics, again
• 2010/02/26: NatureCF: The climate machine
• 2010/02/26: Tamino: Thanks
• 2010/02/25: Guardian(UK): Is the climate change movement splintering? [what movement?]
• 2010/02/24: RealClimate: Close Encounters of the Absurd Kind [Ben Santer]
• 2010/02/24: Guardian(UK): Academic attempts to take the hot air out of climate science debate
  Judith Curry aims to turn inflammatory debate of 'climategate' into reasoned online discussions to rebuild trust with the public
• 2010/02/24: ClimateP: Will novels save the world?
• 2010/02/24: BSD: Two climate shorts - Phil Jones joins Tautology Club, and a new blog debuts
• 2010/02/23: CSW: Scientists ill-equipped to deal with all-out war on climate science community
• 2010/02/24: TCoE: Must-see site: Global Warming Art
• 2010/02/22: GreenGrok: Screwups in Climate Science
• 2010/02/22: InvW: What's in a name? When the issue is "climate change," plenty, linguist says
• 2010/02/21: Eureka: Better snowfall forecasting -- National Weather Service adopts U of Utah powder prediction method
• 2010/02/22: OilChange: Shifting Geo-Politics not Good for the Climate
• 2010/02/22: AlterNet: Ecological Intelligence: Do Humans Have What it Takes to Survive?
• 2010/02/21: Stoat: Misc

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

• Climate Change Science of Africa
• CSULB: Gray Literature
• UNEP: Climate Neutral Network
• Wiki: Greenhouse Effect
• Wiki: Black Body
• ACECRC: Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems Research
• AAD: Australian Antarctic Division
• WPA: Wind Powering America
• WPA: Wind Maps and Wind Resource Potential Estimates
• NASA - Warming World
• OSD: Ocean Science - Papers in Open Discussion
• ABC(Au):TDU: The Drum Unleashed
• Gasland [video]
• Resource Insights

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

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

"Science is not a democracy. Quality trumps equality." -Steve Schneider

• Global Warming Links
• Global Warming News Archive
• Energy
• Energy News
• Environmental Issues
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• H.E. Taylor (homepage)