Another week of GW News, May 2, 2010

Logging the Onset of The Bottleneck Years

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Another week of Climate Instability News

Logging the Onset of The Bottleneck Years

May 2, 2010

• Chuckles, COP15, COP16, Cochabamba, SAARC, BASIC, Mediterranean 5+5, Melting Icebergs, Economists
• Bottom Line, Medupi, Subsidies, Aus ETS, Per-person Quotas, Post CRU, Anthropocene, Volcano, Earth Day
• Melting Arctic, Geopolitics, Antarctica
• Food Crisis, Food vs. Biofuel, Land Grabs, Patent Police, Food Production
• Hurricanes, GHGs, Carbon Cycle, Temperatures, Feedbacks, Ozone, Paleoclimate, Ocean Currents, Satellites
• Impacts, Forests, Desertification, Wacky Weather, Tornadoes, Wildfires
• Corals, Acidification, Glaciers, Sea Levels, Floods & Droughts
• Mitigation, Transportation, Buildings, Sequestration, Geoengineering, Adaptation
• Journals, Other Docs , Misc. Science, Mann, Allègre, Curry, Hansen, Weaver, Wegman
• UN, Carbon Trade, Tobin Tax, Optimal Carbon Reduction Strategy
• International Politics: Misc., Security, Law & Activism, Activism, Religioso, Water Politics & Business
• National Politics: America, Climate Rally, Massey, Obama, USAdmin
• Climate Change Indicators Report, Cape Wind, Congress, Climate Bill, Lobbyists
• Britain, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, India, China, Middle East, South America
• Canada, Arctic Park, Tories & Abortion, Syncrude Trial, Liberals & Tar Sands, BC, Tar Sands, Alberta, Maritimes
• Ecological Economics, IPAT, Apocalypso, Media, Books, Video, Courts
• Energy, Gee Whiz File, Fracking, Wind, Solar, Coal, Biofuel, Nukes, Peak Oil, Grid, Cars, Energy Storage
• Business, Greenwashing, Joe's List, Carbon Lobby, Miscellaneous Climate, Useful Links
• Shameless Self Promotion, .sig

The humour just keeps getting blacker:

• 2010/04/30: uComics: (cartoon - Toles) And Now This,,,
• 2010/04/26: DM:BA: Tremble before Boobquake!
• 2010/04/29: Guardian(UK): What I learned from Boobquake
  When I heard an Iranian cleric claim that immodest dress caused earthquakes, I had to test it out, as scientifically as possible
• 2010/05/02: uComics: (cartoon - Auth) Addicts
• 2010/05/01: TP: Agency postpones awards ceremony celebrating offshore oil drilling safety

  More Copenhagen post mortems:

• 2010/04/26: DerSpiegel: Copenhagen Fallout -- Merkel Abandons Aim of Binding Climate Agreement
  Frustrated by the climate change conference in December, German Chancellor Angela Merkel is quietly moving away from her goal of a binding agreement on limiting climate change to 2 degrees Celsius. She has also sent out signals at the EU level that she no longer supports the idea of Europe going it alone.
• 2010/04/28: GreenGrok: Copenhagen Accord Falling Flat -- Well Not Even That

  Looking ahead to COP16 and future international climate negotiations:

• 2010/04/27: EnergyBulletin: Cochabamba postscript: lessons, reflections, and the road to Cancun
• 2010/04/27: BBC: Reviving the spirit of Rio
  Following the near collapse of the UN climate negotiations in December and the seeming paralysis of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) in March, the whole idea of solving the world's environmental problems through multilateral negotiations seems to be in crisis. But, argue Maurice Strong and Felix Dodds, another recent development holds out the promise of reversing the trend.
• 2010/04/26: Novosti: Post-Kyoto agreement not to be signed in 2010 -- presidential advisor [Alexander Bedritsky]
• 2010/04/30: EarthTimes: Preview: Germany, Mexico host bid to revive global warming pact
• 2010/04/30: Guardian(UK): World must move on from Copenhagen summit, says EU's climate chief
  Connie Hedegaard accepts global deal unlikely in Mexico and denies she blamed failure of talks on Guardian 'Danish text' story
• 2010/04/28: EarthTimes: World's top economic bodies say climate change is priority
  Berlin - The heads of the world's five top financial and economic organizations called on Wednesday for climate change to remain a key issue. The call came during a meeting hosted by German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin. "The global fight against climate change must remain a top priority," read a joint statement issued by Merkel and the heads of the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the World Trade Organization, the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development and the International Labour Organization. The leaders called for "substantive progress" at a climate change conference in the German city of Bonn next month, after the failure of last year's UN summit in Copenhagen.

Cochabamba comments continue:

• 2010/04/27: Rabble:BP: The road from Copenhagen to Cochabamba passes through the Amazon - part II
• 2010/04/25: Grist: Bolivia 'people's conference' calls for system change, not climate change
• 2010/04/24: CubaNews: Cuban VP [Esteban Lazo] Says Bolivia Summit on Climate Change Was a Success
• 2010/04/26: PWCCC: Peoples Agreement
• 2010/04/29: CCurrents: Cochabamba Postscript: Lessons, Reflections, And The Road To Cancun
• 2010/04/29: CCurrents: World Peoples' Conference On Climate Change And The Rights Of Mother Earth -- Indegenous Peoples' Declaration

  The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation [SAARC] met in Bhutan this week:

• 2010/04/28: IndiaTimes: Climate change needs to be discussed in 'meaningful' way [at SAARC]: India
• 2010/04/28: EarthTimes: South Asian regional summit [SAARC] to focus on climate change
• 2010/04/27: BBC: Is climate change South Asia's deadliest threat?
  Tackling climate change is one of the most pressing issues facing South Asia. Regional leaders [SAARC] are meeting in Bhutan this week, but are they any nearer agreeing to an action plan?
• 2010/04/24: BDNews24: Bhutan for common climate strategy
  Bhutan will call for a common SAARC [South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation] position on climate change at the upcoming summit scheduled for April 28-29
• 2010/04/28: Hindu: SAARC leaders propose common stand for Cancun

  The BASIC Group met in Cape Town this week:

• 2010/04/26: NRDC:SwitchBoard: Brazil, South Africa, India and China want Legally Binding Outcome in 2011 at the Latest
• 2010/04/27: IndiaTimes: Brazil, SA, India & China assert BASIC status
  At its third meeting in Cape Town, the BASIC group (comprising Brazil, South Africa, India and China) sought to re-establish its developing country credentials. The four advanced-developing countries made it clear that their forum was firmly anchored in the developing country bloc of G-77 and China. The BASIC group trotted out the long-held positions of developing countries on issues like common but differentiated responsibility, historical responsibility and Kyoto Protocol. At the same time, in an effort to counter the perception that the BASIC was charting a course separate from the G-77, the environment ministers floated the concept of "BASIC plus".
• 2010/04/27: AllAfrica:IPS: No Deal in Sight, Say [BASIC Group] Leading Economies of the South
• 2010/04/25: Yahoo:AFP: Developing nations [BASIC Group] want global climate accord by 2011
• 2010/04/24: Yahoo:AP: South Africa hosts [BASIC] developing countries on climate talk
  As the world struggles to break a deadlock in climate change negotiations, South Africa and three other influential developing nations are gathering for a strategy session to ensure poor countries are heard. Brazil, South Africa, India and China began to coalesce as a bloc at U.N. climate talks in December in Copenhagen. The group, known as BASIC, plans a high-level meeting Sunday and Monday in Cape Town.

The Western Mediterranean 5+5 countries met and called for a comprehensive environmental plan this week:

• 2010/04/26: Yahoo:AFP: West Mediterranean countries unite on climate change
  The countries of the western Mediterranean Monday called for a comprehensive plan for combatting environmental blight and climate change in the region. The meeting of the so-called 5+5 countries on the western Mediterranean rim brought together the environment ministers of Algeria, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia and Mauritania from Africa, and from Europe, France, Spain, Italy, Portugal. Malta is also a member of the informal group but was not in attendance.

Here's another one of those papers that is ripe for misunderstanding &/ distortion:

• 2010/04/28: Eureka: Melting icebergs causing sea level rise
  Scientists have discovered that changes in the amount of ice floating in the polar oceans are causing sea levels to rise. The research, published this week in Geophysical Research Letters, is the first assessment of how quickly floating ice is being lost today. According to Archimedes' principle, any floating object displaces its own weight of fluid. For example, an ice cube in a glass of water does not cause the glass to overflow as it melts. But because sea water is warmer and more salty than floating ice, changes in the amount of this ice are having an effect on global sea levels. The loss of floating ice is equivalent to 1.5 million Titanic-sized icebergs each year. However, the study shows that spread across the global oceans, recent losses of floating ice amount to a sea level rise of just 49 micrometers per year -- about a hair's breadth.
• 2010/04/28: NatureTGB: Melting icebergs raise the sea level
• 2010/04/30: NewScientist: Melting icebergs boost sea-level rise
• 2010/04/29: NatureCF: Melting icebergs raise the sea level

  Economists are doing the Charlie Brown bit:

• 2010/04/26: TCoE: A plea to end economist bashing
• 2010/04/30: OpenEconND: Why Environmentalists Don't Trust Economists

  And on the Bottom Line:

• 2010/04/27: RWER: What is the social cost of carbon?
• 2010/05/02: SolveClimate: With Many Ways to Look at Climate Change Economics, Initial Assumptions Are Key

  More Medupi:

• 2010/04/29: BizDay(Za): Eskom seeks Medupi carbon credits
  Eskom wants to apply for carbon credits for Medupi, its planned coal- fired power station in Limpopo, under the United Nations (UN) Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) programme...

Subsidies, tax exemptions, incentive grants, credits weave a difficult to penetrate web:

• 2010/04/26: SolveClimate: Defining 'Subsidy': The Difficulties in Rolling Back Fossil Fuel Aid -- U.S. Push for Subsidy Reform Faces Seen and Unseen Obstacles
• 2010/04/26: PhysOrg: State biofuel subsidies costly but effective, MSU research shows
• 2010/04/30: SolveClimate: Ethanol Production Follows the Subsidies -- Federal Policy Drives Production Goals, but Huge State Credits Determine Location

  Australia postponed implementing its carbon trading plan until at least 2013 ( see more below):

• 2010/04/27: ABC(Au): Labor shelves emissions scheme
• 2010/04/27: Guardian(UK): Australia puts carbon trading scheme on hold

  Per-person carbon emission quotas?

• 2010/04/27: EarthTimes: German scientists suggest per-person carbon emission quotas
  German scientists called Tuesday for the world to accept per-person quotas for carbon dioxide emissions to kick-start a global trading scheme where poor nations will benefit. The Potsdam Institute for Research on Climate Effects said everyone on the globe should be allowed 5 tons of carbon per year. That is just one quarter of the average per-person emissions for a US citizen, but still far above emissions in poor nations.

Post CRU theft, controversy & inquiry, another challenge and IPCC pushback:

• 2010/04/26: JKB: IPCC-Hearings in Dutch Parliament, part 3
• 2010/04/30: MoD: Changing the rules after the fact
• 2010/04/27: PlanetArk: Climate Debate Gets Ugly As World Moves To Curb CO2
  Climate scientists, used to dealing with skeptics, are under siege like never before, targeted by hate emails brimming with abuse and accusations of fabricating global warming data. Some emails contain thinly veiled death threats. Across the Internet, climate blogs are no less venomous, underscoring the surge in abuse over the past six months triggered by purported evidence that global warming is either a hoax or the threat from a warmer world is grossly overstated. A major source of the anger is from companies with a vested interest in fighting green legislation that might curtail their activities or make their operations more costly. "The attacks against climate science represent the most highly coordinated, heavily financed, attack against science that we have ever witnessed," said climate scientist Michael Mann, from Pennsylvania State University in the United States. "The evidence for the reality of human-caused climate change gets stronger with each additional year," Mann told Reuters in emailed responses to questions. Greenpeace and other groups say that some energy companies are giving millions to groups that oppose climate change science because of concerns about the multi-billion dollar costs associated with carbon trading schemes and clean energy policies.

Another Anthropocene sighting:

• 2010/04/26: TerraDaily: The Age Of Aquarius? Nope, It Is The Anthropocene Epoch

  Late coverage of the volcano:

• 2010/04/28: PlanetArk: Like Sept.11, Volcano Plane Ban May Hold Climate Clue

  Late comment on Earth Day:

• 2010/04/26: CCurrents: Real Sustainability Not Advanced By One Earth Day

  The Arctic melt continues to garner a lot of attention:

• 2010/04/28: PlanetArk: Arctic Explorers Get Nasty Surprise: Rain
• 2010/04/28: SciDaily: Winds from Siberia Reduce Arctic Sea Ice Cover, Norwegian Researchers Find
• 2010/04/27: HotTopic: Feel floes (gone by 2016)
• 2010/04/27: SkeptiSci: A visual depiction of how much ice Greenland is losing
• 2010/04/27: TreeHugger: Melting Ice Uncovering Ancient Artifacts Faster than They Can Be Recovered
• 2010/04/27: CBC: Melting Arctic ice reveals hunting weapons
• 2010/04/26: Eureka: Ancient artifacts revealed as northern ice patches meltScientists hope to save artifacts as ice recedes
  Yellowknife, NT - High in the Mackenzie Mountains, scientists are finding a treasure trove of ancient hunting tools being revealed as warming temperatures melt patches of ice that have been in place for thousands of years. Tom Andrews, an archaeologist with the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre in Yellowknife and lead researcher on the International Polar Year Ice Patch Study, is amazed at the implements being discovered by researchers. "We're just like children opening Christmas presents. I kind of pinch myself," says Andrews.
• 2010/04/30: CBC: Sea ice loss key to Arctic warming: study
• 2010/04/29: CBC: North Pole rainfall 'bizarre': climatologist
  Spring showers are next to non-existent in the High Arctic, so Environment Canada's senior climatologist says he's baffled to hear that it rained near the North Pole this week. A group of British scientists working off Ellef Ringnes Island, near the North Pole, reported being hit with a three-minute rain shower over the weekend. The group reported the rain on Tuesday. Rain in the High Arctic in April is nothing short of bizarre, said David Phillips, senior climatologist with Environment Canada. "My business is weird, wild and wacky weather, and this is up there among fish falling from the sky or Niagara Falls running dry," Phillips told CBC News in an interview that aired Thursday.
• 2010/05/02: SkeptiSci: What causes Arctic amplification?
• 2010/05/01: CCP: J. A. Screen & I. Simmonds, Nature 464 (2010), The central role of diminishing sea ice in recent Arctic temperature amplification
• 2010/04/30: CTV: Global warming unlocks archeological secrets in the North
• 2010/04/29: ABC(Au): Sea ice loss key to Arctic warming: study
  The loss of sea ice in the Arctic is the main reason why temperatures are rising much faster there than elsewhere, a new study has found. Dr James Screen and Dr Ian Simmonds from the University of Melbourne report their findings today in the journal Nature.
• 2010/04/29: PlanetArk: Global Floating Ice In "Constant Retreat": Study
• 2010/04/29: SpaceDaily: Arctic Warming Likely To Reverse [says Russian Vladimir Sokolov]
• 2010/04/29: CanWest: Arctic warming fuelled by ice loss: scientists -- Rise in temperatures in Far North twice global average

  As for the geopolitics of Arctic resources:

• 2010/04/28: CBC: WWF says new Arctic Ocean rules needed
• 2010/04/28: EUO: Russia-Norway pact defuses Arctic tension
• 2010/04/27: PlanetArk: Russia's Medvedev In Oslo For Arctic Energy Talks
• 2010/04/26: CanWest: International accord needed to govern Arctic Ocean: WWF -- Wildlife group finds 'loopholes' in laws, rules governing region
  A World Wildlife Fund report detailing "serious gaps" in global governance of the Arctic Ocean has the influential environmental group calling for a new international accord to regulate commercial development in the rapidly transforming region. The WWF study identified numerous "loopholes" in maritime law, pollution regulation, shipping rules, fishing zones and other spheres of activity "that could allow irreparable damage to the marine environment, its biodiversity and Indigenous peoples." The report claims there are "no clear responsibilities and mechanisms keeping marine resource extraction within sustainable limits, or for preventing and responding to pollution accidents and shipping disasters."
• 2010/04/30: WorldChanging: Preparing for an Ice-Free Arctic: Part 1 - China's Growing Interest in the Thawing North
• 2010/04/29: CanWest: Arctic deal puts pressure on Canada, expert says -- Professor says pact between Norway, Russia will push us to resolve border disputes
  An unexpected landmark agreement this week between Norway and Russia on where to draw an offshore boundary in the oil-rich Barents Sea heralds a new era of circumpolar peace, says a leading Canadian expert on Arctic affairs. But University of British Columbia professor Michael Byers, author of Who Owns the Arctic?, says the Norwegian-Russian deal puts more pressure on Canada, the U.S. and Denmark to resolve their outstanding Arctic territorial disputes at a time when the region's economic opportunities and environmental challenges are coming into sharper focus.

While in Antarctica:

• 2010/04/29: CCP: ANDRILL ice cores show far more dynamic melt history for Antarctica than previously thought

  The food crisis is ongoing:

• 2010/04/28: UN: Funding crisis forces UN agency to cut food rations for conflict-affected Yemenis
• 2010/04/28: BBC: Niger 'faces total crop failure'
  Niger is threatened with total crop failure in some areas and the situation is worse than the 2005 crisis, the UN humanitarian chief [John Holmes] has told the BBC.
• 2010/04/28: AlterNet: The Food Nightmare Beneath Our Feet: We're Running Out of Soil
• 2010/04/26: TerraDaily: Hunger forces mass exodus in parched Niger
  The UN's food agency doubled its aid Monday to Niger as thousands join a desperate exodus from parched farmland in western Africa's Sahel region, where 10 million people are facing hunger. The search for food has sent thousands flocking into Maradi, the main city in south central Niger, a vast arid country on the southern rim of the Sahara desert that has become the epicentre of the crisis. As the UN's humanitarian chief John Holmes arrived in the country on Monday, aid agencies said nearly eight million people -- more than half the population -- were facing food shortages.
• 2010/04/27: BBC: Indian strike over food prices
• 2010/04/26: UN: UN food agency steps up response amid growing food crisis in Niger
• 2010/04/25: UN: UN humanitarian chief in West Africa to focus on food crisis
• 2010/04/30: Sky: UN Pleads For £124m To Help Starving Niger
• 2010/04/26: WFP: Niger: WFP Steps Up Response To Looming Food Crisis
  Amid a worsening food crisis caused by drought in the eastern Sahel, WFP is more than doubling the number of hungry people it feeds in Niger, providing assistance to 2.3 million people.

The conflict between biofuel and food persists:

• 2010/04/28: Grist: Biofooled again -- BBC on the impact of biofuels on Paraguay's ecology and farmers

  So, are these land grabs Colonialism V2.0?

• 2010/04/29: SeedDaily: Food and water drive Africa land grab
  Rich Arab states such as Saudi Arabia have bought huge tracts of land across Africa in recent years in a bid to combat global food shortages, water scarcity and desertification and feed their burgeoning populations. But now the scramble for Africa is intensifying, with investment banks, hedge funds, commodity traders, sovereign wealth funds, corporations and business tycoons out to grab some of the world's cheapest land -- for profit. China has leased 6.91 million acres in the Democratic Republic of Congo for the world's largest oil palm plantation. South Korea's Daewoo conglomerate planned to buy 2.9 million acres of Madagascar until the deal collapsed when rioters toppled the Indian Ocean island's government. "Philippe Heilberg, CEO of the New York-based investment fund Jarch Capital ... has leased between 998,000 and 2.47 million acres in southern Sudan from the warlord Paulino Matip," Le Monde Diplomatique reported. "Foreign direct investment in agriculture is the boardroom euphemism for the new land grab and those promoting the grab spin it as a win-win situation."

Look out! WIPO, ACTA and the copyright cops are coming:

• 2010/04/30: CCurrents: Patenting The Entire Food Chain. After Soybean And Maize, It Is The Turn Of Pig And Meat

  And how are we going to feed 9 billion?

• 2010/04/28: PhysOrg: No single cause for mass die off of honey bees: OIE
  The huge die off of bees worldwide, a major threat to crops depending on the honey-making insects for pollination, is not due to any one single factor, the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) said Wednesday. Parasites, viral and bacterial infections, pesticides, and poor nutrition resulting from the impact of human activities on the environment have all played a role in the decline, the OIE said. At normal times, bee communities naturally lose around five percent of their numbers. But with the syndrome known as colony collapse disorder (CDD), a third, half -- sometimes even 90 percent -- of the insects can be wiped out. In the United States, government figures released last month showed a 29 percent drop in beehives in 2009, coming on the heels of declines of 36 and 32 percent in 2008 and 2007. The mysterious decimation of bee populations in the United States, Europe, Japan and elsewhere in recent years threatens agricultural production worth tens of billions.
• 2010/04/28: NatureCF: PISCES Conference: How much fish in the future?
• 2010/04/28: NatureCF: PISCES conference: disentangling the drivers of change
• 2010/04/26: CSM: One farmer acts to save environment from factory farms
• 2010/04/26: Grist: Cuba's urban-ag revival offers limited lessons
• 2010/04/26: AlterNet: 10 Easiest Vegetables to Grow At Home
• 2010/04/30: PhysOrg: Probing Question: What is seed banking?
  Nearly 1,000 kilometers north of Norway stands an impressive vault. Dug deep below the permafrost into solid rock, so far north that four months out of the year the sun doesn't shine, the vault contains some of mankind's most precious resources, preserved at a constant minus-8 degrees Celsius. What lies inside? Gold? Irreplaceable art or fundamental human knowledge? No. These treasures are tiny, modest, unassuming: seeds. The Svalbard Global Seed Vault is home to nearly half a million specimens from around the world and the most well-known example of a practice called "seed banking."
  So what is seed banking, and why is it important?
• 2010/04/30: AlterNet: Food Among the Ruins: Should Detroit Be Converted Into a Farming Mecca?

  No storms on the hurricane front, but some news:

• 2010/04/28: CCP: Sea surface temperature anomalies for April 26, 2010 -- massive buildup between northern coast of South America and West Africa
• 2010/04/30: UN: Funding gap hinders recovery in Myanmar, two years after cyclone - UN

  As for GHGs:

• 2010/04/28: EurActiv: Europe's transport emissions keep rising
  Greenhouse gas emissions from Europe's transport sector continue to grow as people and goods are travelling longer distances despite the development of cleaner vehicles, which is making Europe's transport more efficient, shows a new report from the European Environment Agency (EEA). The tenth edition of the EEA's annual Transport and Environment Reporting Mechanism (TERM) report, published yesterday (27 April), presents a mixed picture of the transport sector's environmental achievements in all 32 EEA countries during the period 1997-2007. The report came ahead of the publication of the EU's strategy on clean and energy-efficient vehicles today. Greenhouse gas emissions from transport grew by 28% between 1990 and 2007 across the 32 European countries, accounting for 19% of total emissions, the data shows.
• 2010/04/27: TerraDaily: A Non-Organic Mechanism For Production Of Important Greenhouse Gas
  [...]
  "What we found was a suite of brine-rock reactions that generates a variety of products, including nitrous oxide and hydrogen," said [Samantha] Joye [a faculty member in the department of marine sciences in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences]
• 2010/04/25: Eureka: Research in Antarctica reveals non-organic mechanism for production of important greenhouse gas [N2O]
• 2010/04/30: CCP: North American Countries Target "Super" Greenhouse Gases [HFCs] Through Strengthened Ozone Treaty -- Victory Would Eliminate 100 Billion Tonnes of CO2-equivalent
• 2010/04/30: Guardian(UK): The dark side of cloud computing: soaring carbon emissions

  And in the carbon cycle:

• 2010/04/27: Eureka: Microbes contribute less to climate warming
• 2010/04/26: Eureka: Soil microbes produce less atmospheric carbon dioxide than expected -- Key players in carbon cycle multiply slowly when overheated
• 2010/04/26: SciDaily: Soil Microbes Produce Less Atmospheric CO2 Than Expected With Climate Warming
• 2010/05/01: ClimateShifts: 'Black box' of plankton fix oceans' carbon

  As for the temperature record:

• 2010/04/28: SkeptiSci: Why are there fewer weather stations and what's the effect?
• 2010/04/27: CC&G: Climate Oscillations and GISS Temperature Anomaly Trends
  ...the combined impacts of Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO), Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO) and El Nino - Southern Oscillation (ENSO) on the long-term GISS Land and Ocean Temperature Anomaly (LOTA) trend.
• 2010/04/29: QuarkSoup: Hadley's March temperature
• 2010/04/29: CC&G: UAH Channel 5 Anomaly Trends
• 2010/04/29: SkeptiSci: Common graphical tricks and the Medieval Warm Period

  Yes we have feedbacks:

• 2010/04/28: Eureka: Melting sea ice major cause of warming in Arctic, new study reveals
• 2010/04/28: Guardian(UK): Sea ice loss driving Arctic warming cycle, scientists confirm
• 2010/04/29: ABC(Au): Sea ice loss key to Arctic warming: study
  The loss of sea ice in the Arctic is the main reason why temperatures are rising much faster there than elsewhere, a new study has found. Dr James Screen and Dr Ian Simmonds from the University of Melbourne report their findings today in the journal Nature.
• 2010/04/29: TreeHugger: Arctic Sea Ice Loss Confirmed As Main Cause of Faster Polar Warming
• 2010/04/29: CanWest: Arctic warming fuelled by ice loss: scientists -- Rise in temperatures in Far North twice global average

  The ozone layer is still under threat:

• 2010/04/28: NASA:JPL: NASA Study Sheds Light on Ozone Hole Chemistry

  While in the paleoclimate:

• 2010/04/28: Eureka: Research shows part of Alaska inundated by ancient megafloods [17 kya]
• 2010/04/27: PhysOrg: Scientists link ocean acidification to prehistoric mass [Permian] extinction [250 million years ago]
  New evidence gleaned by analyzing calcium embedded in Chinese limestone suggests that volcanoes, which spewed massive amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere for a million years, caused the biggest mass extinction on Earth
• 2010/04/30: PhysOrg: Geologists Study Historic Patterns of Climate Change
• 2010/04/30: PhysOrg: Global glaciation snowballed into giant change in carbon cycle
  For insight into what can happen when the Earth's carbon cycle is altered -- a cause and consequence of climate change -- scientists can look to an event that occurred some 720 million years ago.
• 2010/05/02: SciDaily: Global Glaciation Snowballed Into Giant Change in Carbon Cycle
• 2010/05/01: SciDaily: Through the Looking Glass: Scientists Peer Into Antarctica's Past to See Our Future Climate
• 2010/04/30: Eureka: Global glaciation snowballed into giant change in carbon cycle [720 mya]
• 2010/04/30: ArsTechnica: Draining glacial lakes causes a big chill
• 2010/04/01: UMan: News Release: Lake Agassiz Drained into Arctic Ocean
• 2010/05/01: CBC:Q&Q: Pulling the Plug on the Ice Age
• 2010/04/29: Eureka: Through the looking glass: Scientists peer into Antarctica's past to see our future climate

  As for ocean currents:

• 2010/04/25: Nature:GeoSci: (ab$) Strong export of Antarctic Bottom Water east of the Kerguelen plateau by Y. Fukamachi et al.
• 2010/04/25: Nature:GeoSci: (ab$) Oceanography: Recycling bottom waters by Alejandro H. Orsi
• 2010/04/26: KSJT: ANI and Nature News: Giant Antarctic deep water current discovered, and somebody is copying somebody else to report it
• 2010/04/26: ABC(Au): Ocean studies highlight currents
  Scientists say the discovery of a deep ocean current in the Southern Ocean could provide new insights into climate change.
• 2010/04/26: ABC(Au): Southern Ocean current flows faster than Amazon
  Scientists have measured the most powerful current that helps drive the circulation of the Southern Ocean, paving the way for more accurate climate models
• 2010/04/26: PhysOrg: Massive Southern Ocean current discovered
  A deep ocean current with a volume equivalent to 40 Amazon Rivers has been discovered by Japanese and Australian scientists near the Kerguelen plateau, in the Indian Ocean sector of the Southern Ocean, 4,200 kilometres south-west of Perth.
• 2010/04/26: NatureN: An oceanic 'fast-lane' for climate change -- A deep-sea current moves millions of cubic metres of water northward every second
• 2010/04/25: Reuters: Scientists uncover deep ocean current near Antarctica
  Scientists have discovered a fast-moving deep ocean current with the volume of 40 Amazon Rivers near Antarctica that will help researchers monitor the impacts of climate change on the world's oceans. A team of Australian and Japanese scientists, in a study published in Sunday's issue of the journal Nature Geoscience, found that the current is a key part of a global ocean circulation pattern that helps control the planet's climate. Scientists had previously detected evidence of the current but had no data on it.
• 2010/04/26: CSIRO: Massive Southern Ocean current discovered
  A deep ocean current with a volume equivalent to 40 Amazon Rivers has been discovered by Japanese and Australian scientists near the Kerguelen plateau, in the Indian Ocean sector of the Southern Ocean, 4,200 kilometres south-west of Perth.
• 2010/05/01: NewScientist: Record-breaking current found deep in Southern Ocean

  Meanwhile in near earth orbit:

• 2010/04/27: PhysOrg: GOES-15 Opens Its Infrared 'Eyes' for First Image
• 2010/04/27: NOAANews: New Weather Satellite [GOES-15] Captures its First Thermal Images of Earth
• 2010/04/26: PhysOrg: NASA Scientists Monitor Ocean Temperatures to Understand Weather [Short-term Prediction Research and Transition (SPoRT)]

  More GW impacts are being seen:

• 2010/04/26: WiredSci: What Climate Change Means for Wine Industry
• 2010/04/26: SpaceDaily: Russia Concerned By Impact Of Climate Change On Arctic Peoples
• 2010/04/30: CanWest: Biodiversity loss 'shocking' -- Leaders failed to back commitments to protect planet: report
  World leaders have broken their promise to slow the rate of biodiversity loss across the planet, say scientists tracking everything from vanishing languages to shrinking forests. Animal populations are down 31 per cent since 1970, shorebird populations have dropped 52 per cent, while forests have shrunk three per cent, mangroves by 19 per cent, and seagrass beds by 20 per cent, says an international team that lays out the gloomy situation in a report to be published today in the journal Science. The team points to "a few encouraging achievements" but says international leaders' eight-year-old commitment to slow biodiversity loss by 2010 has not been met and pressures facing Earth's biodiversity continue to mount. Human consumption of the planet's ecological assets is still rising -- and is up a whopping 78 per cent since 1970. World fisheries are in more trouble than ever with "79 per cent of fish stocks over-exploited, fully exploited, or depleted," says lead author Stuart Butchart, a British scientist with the UN Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre. The situation is not much better for birds, he says, with North American grassland and arid land bird populations down by almost 30 per cent.
• 2010/05/02: HotTopic: Time of the season
• 2010/04/29: SciDaily: Climate Change Affects Subterranean Ecosystems
• 2010/04/30: HotTopic: You don't know what you've got 'til it's gone
• 2010/04/28: Grist: Can global warming give you kidney stones?
• 2010/04/29: Eureka: Climate change will speed spread of invasive fish to northern Europe

  And then there are the world's forests:

• 2010/04/28: BCLSB: Canadian Forest Loss Worse Than Brazil's?
• 2010/04/28: Eureka: New afforestation techniques increase tree growth in Mediterranean farmlands
• 2010/04/27: USA Today: U.S. losing trees faster than other heavily forested nations
• 2010/04/27: TreeHugger: US & Canada Lose Higher Percentage of Forests Than Brazil
• 2010/04/29: SolveClimate: Millions of Acres of Southern Forest Lost to Mining and Asphalt -- As Forests Are Destroyed, a Defense Against Climate Change Vanishes
• 2010/04/29: TreeHugger: Large-Scale Soy Farming Pushing Cattle Ranchers Deeper Into Amazon

  Desertification looms as a threat:

• 2010/04/25: TerraDaily: Three dead as sandstorms blanket northwest China

  Yes we have no wacky weather, except:

• 2010/04/30: CanWest: 'Nightmare' storm pelts southern Alberta
• 2010/04/29: CBC: North Pole rainfall 'bizarre': climatologist
  Spring showers are next to non-existent in the High Arctic, so Environment Canada's senior climatologist says he's baffled to hear that it rained near the North Pole this week. A group of British scientists working off Ellef Ringnes Island, near the North Pole, reported being hit with a three-minute rain shower over the weekend. The group reported the rain on Tuesday. Rain in the High Arctic in April is nothing short of bizarre, said David Phillips, senior climatologist with Environment Canada. "My business is weird, wild and wacky weather, and this is up there among fish falling from the sky or Niagara Falls running dry," Phillips told CBC News in an interview that aired Thursday.

Meanwhile in tornado alley:

• 2010/04/27: DWWSJ: 6 Reasons Not To Ride Out A Tornado In A Mobile Home
• 2010/04/27: PhysOrg: VORTEX2 Tornado Scientists Hit the Road Again
  In the largest and most ambitious effort ever made to understand tornadoes, more than 100 scientists and 40 support vehicles will hit the road again this spring
• 2010/04/27: Wunderground: MIssissippi tornado rated a violent EF-4
• 2010/04/26: DWWSJ: High Risk- The Day After [tornadoes]
• 2010/04/25: Wunderground: [EF3?] Tornado kills ten in Mississippi
• 2010/04/26: EarthTimes: Final US tornado death toll is 12
• 2010/04/26: CBC: U.S. storms kill at least 12 -- At least 10 die in rural Mississippi tornado
• 2010/05/01: DWWSJ: Arkansas Tornados, Nashville Floods and Oil Slick Growing
• 2010/05/01: ABC(US): Ark. Tornadoes Kill Woman; Drowning Also Reported -- Ark. tornadoes kill woman, injure dozens; at least 1 person reported drowned after heavy rain
• 2010/05/01: CBS: 1 Dead, 2 Dozen Hurt in Ark. Tornadoes -- Deadly Twisters Tear Through Several Counties; More Severe Weather Forecast
• 2010/05/01: CanWest: From ruins to renewable: Tornado-torn Kansas town grows greener today

  As for heatwaves and wild fires:

• 2010/04/26: EarthTimes: Temperatures reach record highs [45.6C] in central Myanmar

  Corals are dying:

• 2010/04/27: ClimateShifts: Coral bleaching alert for the Western Indian Ocean

  Acidification is changing the oceans:

• 2010/04/27: CSW: Ocean acidification: Senate hearing, National Academies report call attention to growing concerns

  Glaciers are melting:

• 2010/04/27: AFTIC: Extreme ice loss time-lapse video

  Sea levels are rising:

• 2010/04/29: ABC(Au): The Eurobodalla Shire Council on the New South Wales far south coast says it is working to assist developers with the new demands of its interim sea level rise policy
• 2010/04/27: Grist: EPA scientist warns Atlantic seaboard will be swallowed by rising seas
• 2010/04/27: PressEurop: Europe takes on its rising waters
  Even if it can't stop the seas from rising over the course of this century, the EU is trying to stave off the disastrous consequences. Two ambitious projects have just been kicked off to save Europe's most vulnerable coastlines.

As for hydrological cycle disruptions [floods & droughts]:

• 2010/05/01: CNN: At least 5 dead in Tennessee flooding; tornado warnings in Arkansas
  33 Arkansas counties are under a tornado warning, National Weather Service says - 25 counties in Tennessee are under a tornado watch, weather service says - At least 5 people have been killed in severe flooding in central Tennessee - 6-10 inches of rain has fallen in 12 hours in Nashville area
• 2010/04/29: JFleck: River Beat: Colorado River Forecasts Continue to Drop

  Elsewhere on the mitigation front:

• 2010/04/30: Eureka: A roadmap for 'the only practical way to preserve the planet'

  Consider transportation & GHG production:

• 2010/04/27: CalcRisk: ATA Trucking Index increases in March

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

• 2010/04/28: PeakEnergy: Home Sensor Startup Snapped Up
• 2010/04/28: PeakEnergy: Silicon Valley company to replace every window in the Empire State Building
• 2010/04/26: PhysOrg: Houses of 2020 will be all about energy

  As for carbon sequestration:

• 2010/04/26: TEC: [link to 917k pdf] Doubts about carbon capture and sequestration
• 2010/04/28: BBerg: Australia Grants A$40 Million for First Carbon-Capture Project
• 2010/04/27: ClimateP: CCS stunner: New study finds geologic sequestration "is not a practical means to provide any substantive reduction in CO2 emissions"
• 2010/04/27: PlanetArk: EU's Oettinger Skeptical About German CCS Projects
• 2010/04/26: Reuters: Scientists refute carbon capture doubts
• 2010/04/25: Guardian(UK): US research paper [by Michael Economides & Christene Ehlig-Economides] questions viability of carbon capture and storage
  Document from Houston University claims governments overestimated CCS value
• 2010/04/26: DeSmogBlog: New Study Shoots Down Exxon-Massey's Pipedream of Carbon Sequestration
• 2010/04/30: AutoBG: New report concludes carbon sequestration "profoundly unfeasible"
• 2010/04/29: NRDC:SwitchBoard: Economides (x2) try their hand at CCS - and get it wrong
• 2010/04/28: NYT:GW: The Big Question: How Much CO2 Can the Earth Hold?
• 2010/04/29: OilDrum: Carbon Capture and Storage: Economic Costs Revisited

  Large scale geo-engineering keeps popping up:

• 2010/04/27: TreeHugger: Hands Off Mother Earth! Campaign Against Geoengineering Launches [HOME]
• 2010/04/28: Grist: Making the world safe for geoengineering? Hey, Harry, thanks for pimping my book! [Goodell]
• 2010/04/22: Slate: Mother Earth Has a Fever -- Should geoengineering tests be governed by the principles of medical ethics?

  While on the adaptation front:

• 2010/05/01: CanWest: From ruins to renewable: Tornado-torn Kansas town grows greener today
  [...]
  As Greensburg prepares to mark the third anniversary of the tornado, the community is attracting world acclaim for its emergence as a "green" town rebuilt to the highest environmental and energy-efficient standards.

Meanwhile in the journals:

• 2010/04/27: AGWObserver: Papers on laboratory measurements of other GHGs
• 2010/04/27: PNAS: A high-resolution assessment on global nitrogen flows in cropland by Junguo Liu et al.
• 2010/04/27: PNAS: Self-similarity and scaling in forest communities by Filippo Simini et al.
• 2010/04/27: PNAS: Pre-Columbian agricultural landscapes, ecosystem engineers, and self-organized patchiness in Amazonia by Doyle McKey et al.
• 2010/04/27: PNAS: [Letter$] Response to Mölg et al.: Glacier loss on Kilimanjaro is consistent with widespread ice loss in low latitudes by L. G. Thompson et al.
• 2010/04/27: PNAS: [Letter$] Glacier loss on Kilimanjaro is an exceptional case by Thomas Mölg et al.
• 2010/04/26: OS: The contribution of eastern-boundary density variations to the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation at 26.5° N by M. P. Chidichimo et al.
• 2010/04/26: OS: Sensitivity of oxygen dynamics in the water column of the Baltic Sea to external forcing by S. Miladinova & A. Stips
• 2010/04/25: Nature:GeoSci: (ab$) Strong export of Antarctic Bottom Water east of the Kerguelen plateau by Y. Fukamachi et al.
• 2010/04/25: Nature:GeoSci: (ab$) Oceanography: Recycling bottom waters by Alejandro H. Orsi
• 2010/04/26: Nature:GeoSci: [Letter] Soil-carbon response to warming dependent on microbial physiology by Steven D. Allison et al.
• 2010/04/29: CPD: Evaluating climate model performance with various parameter sets using observations over the last centuries by M. F. Loutre et al.
• 2010/04/26: CPD: Impact of brine-induced stratification on the glacial carbon cycle by N. Bouttes et al.
• 2010/04/27: ACP: Airborne measurements of the spatial distribution of aerosol chemical composition across Europe and evolution of the organic fraction by W. T. Morgan et al.
• 2010/04/27: ACP: Volcanic ash as fertiliser for the surface ocean by B. Langmann et al.
• 2010/04/28: ACPD: High variability of the heterogeneous ice nucleation potential of oxalic acid dihydrate and sodium oxalate by R. Wagner et al.
• 2010/04/27: ACPD: The contribution of anthropogenic aerosols to aerosol light-scattering and CCN activity in the California coastal zone by D. A. Hegg et al.
• 2010/04/27: ACPD: Using measurements for evaluation of black carbon modeling by S. Gilardoni et al.
• 2010/04/28: Nature:ISMEJ: (ab$) Significant CO2 fixation by small prymnesiophytes in the subtropical and tropical northeast Atlantic Ocean by Ludwig Jardillier et al.
• 2010/04/29: Nature: (ab$) The central role of diminishing sea ice in recent Arctic temperature amplification by James A. Screen & Ian Simmonds
• 2010/04/26: NERC:NORA: Land cover change in Europe between 1950 and 2000 determined employing aerial photography by F. Gerard et al.
• 2010/04/26: NERC:NORA: British ice sheet dynamics inferred from North Atlantic ice-rafted debris records spanning the last 175,000 years by Fiona D. Hibbert et al.
• 2010/04/27: NERC:NORA: Modeling the surface-atmosphere exchange of ammonia by R. J. Wichink Kruit et al.
• 2010/04/28: NERC:NORA: Quantifying nitrogen fluxes and their influence on the greenhouse gas balance -- recent findings of the NitroEurope Integrated Project. by M. A. Sutton et al.
• 2010/04/28: NERC:NORA: New insights into the surface / atmosphere exchange of particles based on recent advances in measurement technology by E. Nemitz et al.
• 2010/04/28: NERC:NORA: Record low surface air temperature at Vostok Station, Antarctica by John Turner et al.
• 2010/04/28: NERC:NORA: The long-term (1979-2005) effects of the North Atlantic Oscillation on wind-induced wave mixing in Loch Leven (Scotland) by Bryan M. Spears et al.
• 2010/04/29: NERC:NORA: Impacts of agricultural land use on streamwater and sediment P concentrations: implications for P-cycling in lowland rivers by Helen P. Jarvie et al.
• 2010/04/29: NERC:NORA: Perceiving biodiversity changes in daily life: Insights from an exploratory survey across Europe by Isabelle Mauz et al.
• 2010/04/28: TC: Polynyas in a dynamic-thermodynamic sea-ice model by E. Ã. Ãlason & I. Harms
• 2010/04/29: Science: (ab$) Freshwater Outburst from Lake Superior As a Trigger for the Cold Event 9300 Years Ago by Shi-Yong Yu et al.

  And other significant documents:

• 2010/04/28: EPA: [link to 13.2 meg pdf] Climate Change Indicators in the United States
• 2010/04/22: CNAS: [link to 2.5 meg pdf] Broadening Horizons: Climate Change and the U.S. Armed Forces
• 2010/04/26: TEC: [link to 917k pdf] Doubts about carbon capture and sequestration
• 2010/04/26: C4CS: [link to 864k pdf] US-Wide Macroeconomic Assessment Using Stakeholder-Based Strategies
• 2010/04/29: Eureka: [link to 908k pdf] Survey reports latest honey bee losses

  As for miscellaneous science:

• 2010/04/27: ClimateShifts: Do Pressures to Publish Increase Scientists' Bias?
• 2010/04/25: ClimateSight: A Better Credibility Spectrum
• 2010/05/01: ClimateSight: Uncertain Science...Uncertain World
• 2010/04/30: SEasterbrook: Climate Models are Good Quality Software (?!)
• 2010/04/29: Eureka: Study gives green light to plants' role in global warming

  Regarding Mann:

• 2010/04/28: MTobis: Michael Mann in the News
• 2010/04/29: RtH: Oh, Mann: Cuccinelli targets UVA papers in Climategate salvo
  No one can accuse Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli of shying from controversy. In his first four months in office, Cuccinelli directed public universities to remove sexual orientation from their anti-discrimination policies, attacked the Environmental Protection Agency, and filed a lawsuit challenging federal health care reform. Now, it appears, he may be preparing a legal assault on an embattled proponent of global warming theory who used to teach at the University of Virginia, Michael Mann. In papers sent to UVA April 23, Cuccinelli's office commands the university to produce a sweeping swath of documents relating to Mann's receipt of nearly half a million dollars in state grant-funded climate research conducted while Mann -- director of the Earth System Science Center at Penn State -- was at UVA between 1999 and 2005. If Cuccinelli succeeds in finding a smoking gun like the purloined emails that led to the international scandal dubbed Climategate, Cuccinelli could seek the return of all the research money, legal fees, and trebled damages.
  
• 2010/04/30: AFTIC: Mann persecuted by The Man, again
• 2010/05/01: AFTIC: Civil Investigation Demand to Mann - full text
• 2010/05/01: Deltoid: The Republican War on Science [Cuccinelli & Mann]
• 2010/05/01: ERabett: Cuccinelli Covers Up Virtue
• 2010/04/30: ERabett: Where are the tone trolls when you need them

  Real Climate did a major takedown of Allègre:

• 2010/04/28: RealClimate: Claude Allègre: The Climate Imposter

  Regarding Judith Curry:

• 2010/04/28: ClimateP: The curious incident of Judith Curry with the fringe
• 2010/04/27: IoD: Judith Curry doesn't let up
• 2010/04/27: Stoat: Currygate, part 3: the key papers exposed
• 2010/04/26: Stoat: Curry, part 2: the papers
• 2010/04/26: ClimateP: Beef with Curry -- With some heated Stoat on the side
• 2010/04/25: TPL: Oxburgh and Organ Grinders
• 2010/05/01: MTobis: Herring Curry
• 2010/04/27: Collide-a-Scape: Curry: The Backstory
• 2010/04/30: Collide-a-Scape: Curry: The Finale
• 2010/04/29: Stoat: Curry, part 4
• 2010/04/29: CCP: How Judith Curry has embarrassed all women by joining the Climate Denial Machine as a useful idiot a la Roy Spencer
• 2010/04/29: IoD: Who's being naive? Yet more from J. Curry

  More Hansen:

• 2010/04/26: APSmith: Hansen's Climate Stewardship Act: I don't entirely agree
• 2010/04/26: CCP: James Hansen: People's Climate Stewardship / Carbon Fee and Dividend Act of 2010
• 2010/04/26: CCP: People's Climate Stewardship Act by James Hansen
• 2010/04/26: CCP: James Hansen: Earth Day on the Mall

  Regarding Weaver:

• 2010/04/25: BSD: Scientist versus denialist defamers, part 2

  Regarding Wegman:

• 2010/04/27: ERabett: In which Ethon dines at the Wegman buffet

  Meanwhile at the UN:

• 2010/04/28: UN: UN report pushes for energy access and efficiency to fight poverty and climate change
• 2010/04/28: EarthTimes:UN wants modern energy access for billions by 2030
  The United Nations called Wednesday for access to modern energy services for some 2 billion to 3 billion people in poor countries in order to boost economic development. The new UN energy plan unveiled Wednesday also called for rich and developing countries to implement effective policies, market-based mechanisms, investment tools and regulations for energy use, which could lead to the reduction of global energy intensity by 40 per cent by 2030.
• 2010/04/26: DemNow: "The United Nations Is Beyond Reform...It Has to Be Reinvented" -- Former UN General Assembly President Miguel d'Escoto
• 2010/04/27: Grist: The new U.N. climate chief should have a strong understanding of women's issues
• 2010/04/30: SolveClimate: UN Report Calls for Energy Transformation as World Population Grows -- Emerging Economies Would Need to 'Leapfrog Current Systems'
• 2010/04/28: UNDispatch: UN Advisory Body Calls for Universal Access to Modern Energy
• 2010/04/30: UNDispatch: "We need to urgently transform the global energy system:" Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (Video)
• 2010/04/28: Yahoo:AFP: World needs clean energy revolution: UN chief

  And on the carbon trading front:

• 2010/04/28: PlanetArk: CFTC Votes Against More Oversight For Carbon Market
• 2010/04/28: EarthTimes: Raids on German firms in carbon credit tax evasion probe
• 2010/04/30: EurActiv: Germany raids 50 firms in carbon trading inquiry
  German prosecutors said on Wednesday (28 April) they had searched more than 230 sites in a probe based on suspicions of tax evasion in the trading of European Union carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions rights certificates.
• 2010/04/29: BBerg: Seven Deutsche Bank Workers Targeted in CO2 Tax Probe
• 2010/04/30: BBerg: U.K. Arrests 22 as CO2 Tax Probe Widens in Europe
• 2010/04/29: PlanetArk: Climate Bill Delay Stymies Voluntary CO2 Market
• 2010/04/28: Google:AFP: Romania to launch carbon trading scheme
• 2010/04/29: EarthTimes: Deutsche Bank under suspicion in emissions-trading fraud
• 2010/04/29: EarthTimes: Arrests made in German emissions-trading tax-evasion case

  The Tobin tax (or bank levy) is in play at the G20:

• 2010/04/25: SwissInfo: Swiss turn down proposal for tax on banks
  Switzerland's finance minister [Hans-Rudolf Merz] has rejected the idea of a tax on banks, after attending meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund in Washington
• 2010/04/26: EconView: Taxes on the Financial Sector Should be "Fair and Substantial" [Tobin]

  The debate over the optimal strategy [carbon trading, carbon offsets, auction vs. allocation, and/or a carbon tax] to use in dealing with GHGs continues:

• 2010/04/26: TP:WR: Report: Smart Cap And Trade Will Boost Growth, Create 2.8 Million Jobs, And Cut Carbon Pollution
• 2010/04/30: GreenGrok: A Top 5: Candidates for Most Thoughtful, Statesman-Like Quotes on 'Cap and Trade'

  Meanwhile on the international political front:

• 2010/04/27: CCurrents: The Insanities Of Our Times by Fidel Castro
• 2010/04/27: DeSmogBlog: World Continues To Wait On Climate Action from the U.S. Senate
• 2010/04/30: ChinaDaily: Climate change mechanism set up
  A ministerial-level dialogue mechanism on climate change has been set up between China and the European Union, a move analysts believe will help the United Nations climate summit to be held in Mexico in December bear fruit.
• 2010/04/29: ClimateP: U.S. conservatives vs. U.K. conservatives

  As for GW, energy & security:

• 2010/04/22: CNAS: New CNAS Report - Climate Change and the U.S. Armed Forces
• 2010/04/26: ScienceInsider: Military Officials Have a Hard Time Using Climate Data, New Report Says
• 2010/04/29: PhysOrg: Biofuel crops push ignoring biosecurity impacts
  Important biosecurity issues are being ignored in the global push to develop new non-food crops for biofuels and industrial and pharmaceutical uses, according to a report published recently by CSIRO
• 2010/04/29: TreeHugger: 33 US Military Generals, Admirals: "Climate Change is Threatening America's Security"

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

• 2010/04/28: ABC(Au): Fines fail to deter coal protesters
  Greenpeace protesters say they do not regret demonstrating at two north Queensland coal ports, despite being fined $6,000.

What are the activists up to?

• 2010/04/26: Guardian(UK): Coal protest shuts down rail route to opencast mine
  Seven coal activists arrested after chaining themselves to railway track leading to Ffos-y-Fran mine
• 2010/04/28: RMM: 5 arrested at coal plant protest [in Boulder County, Colorado]

  Among the world's religions:

• 2010/04/27: Grist: Jesus and climate change: The journey of evangelical leader Rich Cizik
• 2010/05/01: LA Times: A religious take on climate change
  About 90 people of many faiths gather at a cathedral near downtown Los Angeles to promote what they say is their moral duty to care for the Earth and all of God's creation.

Regarding Water Politics and Business:

• 2010/04/28: Guardian(UK): Private water suppliers poised to grow as demand set to surge
  Global Water Intelligence analysts expect the water supply market to grow about 20% in the next five years
• 2010/04/28: TMoS: The Reality of Private Water is Upon Us
  It's crunch time. Private companies are poised to make a breakthrough in privatizing fresh water supplies in Asia, Africa, even the United States.

And on the American political front:

• 2010/04/28: SolveClimate: California Climate Battle Reveals Lack of Accounting for All Costs -- Opponents Say AB 32 Will Add Costs; Supporters Say Those Costs Already Exist
• 2010/04/28: EnergyDaily: Renewable Energy Atlas Shows Vermont's Energy Options
• 2010/04/27: ABC(Au): Immigration overtaking climate change in US politics
• 2010/04/26: Reuters: Challenges to California climate change law
  California's climate change law is the most aggressive in the United States and it faces challenges this election year. Some of the same forces that may stall federal climate legislation, including oil companies and businesses concerned by higher energy prices, are now taking aim at California's landmark 2006 law. Known as AB 32, the law includes vehicle and fuel standards, a market for pollution trade (still in the works), as well as "green" building and planning policies. Its future depends on three factors: the November governor's race, a ballot effort to put the law on hold, and the fate of the federal climate bill.
• 2010/04/26: NPR: How Cap And Trade Was 'Trashed'
• 2010/04/26: TP:WR: Report: Smart Cap And Trade Will Boost Growth, Create 2.8 Million Jobs, And Cut Carbon Pollution
• 2010/04/29: Atlantic: California Unveils "Plan B"
• 2010/04/30: SciDaily: U.S. Could Eliminate CO2 Emissions from Coal in 20 Years, Experts Say
• 2010/04/29: TreeHugger: 33 US Military Generals, Admirals: "Climate Change is Threatening America's Security"

  A large climate rally in Washington DC:

• 2010/04/25: TerraDaily: 'Green tea party' closes out US Earth Day celebrations
• 2010/04/26: MongaBay: 150,000 turn out for climate rally in Washington DC
• 2010/04/26: ClimateP: Over 100,000 rally for climate and clean energy action
• 2010/04/26: TreeHugger: Does Earth Day Matter? The Climate Rally on the National Mall Offers an Answer (Video)

  They're still beating on Massey:

• 2010/04/30: ClimateP: Investors call for Massey 'safety' directors to resign
• 2010/04/30: TreeHugger: FBI Investigates Bribery Allegations After [UBB] Coal Mine Tragedy
• 2010/04/29: ABC(US): Massey Energy Awarded Coal Boss $2 Million Bonus for Safety Numbers in 2009, Even as Mines Amassed Record Violations
• 2010/04/30: Guardian(UK): Bribery allegation in mine WV probe
• 2010/04/29: Grist: They're still blowing up our mountains and there still oughta be a law

  The Obama chatter is nonstop:

• 2010/04/27: TP:WR: Obama: 'Our Security, Our Economy, And The Future Of Our Planet' Depend On 'Comprehensive Energy And Climate Legislation'
• 2010/04/26: PeakEnergy: Solar Coalition Calls to Install Solar Panels on the White House
• 2010/04/30: Grist: Wake up, Obama. The Gulf spill is our big chance
• 2010/04/30: EarthTimes: Oil spill raises questions on Obama energy policy
• 2010/04/28: KCStar: On visit to Missouri, Obama says U.S. should be No. 1 in biofuels
• 2010/04/28: Grist: With subsidies in the balance, Obama speaks up for ethanol
• 2010/04/29: OilChange: Obama's Foolish Move [offshore oil drilling]

  The actions of the Obama administration are being watched closely:

• 2010/04/28: SolveClimate: Wind Power to Nuclear, Team Obama Talks Up a Diverse Energy Portfolio -- Salazar Approves Cape Wind; Jackson, Chu Discuss Low-Carbon Power, Fuel
• 2010/04/28: PlanetArk: CFTC Votes Against More Oversight For Carbon Market
• 2010/04/27: PlanetArk: USDA's Vilsack Lists Three "B"s [Broadband, Biotech & Biofuels] For Rural Growth
• 2010/04/27: TreeHugger: Steven Chu Announces $200M+ for Clean Solar and Water Power Technologies
• 2010/04/29: NYT:VB: ARPA-E Shells Out $106M More for Disruptive Green Tech
  The U.S. Department of Energy has given out $106 million more in stimulus package funds to 37 groundbreaking green technology projects under the banner of its Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy (know best as ARPA-E). The money will be funneled into microbe, battery and carbon capture research. The Energy Department first announced ARPA-E funding in March, with the explicit goal of backing technologies that would reduce U.S. dependence on fossil fuels, or, alternatively, limit the damage caused by those we still use.
• 2010/04/29: TEC: Solar, Water, Power Rack Up Another $200 Million in Funding [from DOE]

  The EPA released their Climate Change Indicators report:

• 2010/04/28: EPA: [link to 13.2 meg pdf] Climate Change Indicators in the United States
• 2010/04/28: TCoE: EPA: Climate Change Indicators
• 2010/04/28: ClimateP: Climate change indicators in the United States -- Summary of scientific findings
• 2010/04/27: NRDC:SwitchBoard: EPA Climate Change Indicators Report Shows the Evidence of Global Warming All Around Us
• 2010/04/28: SolveClimate: EPA Lists 24 Climate Change Indicators to Inform Future Policy -- Scientists Will Be Watching Birds, Plants and Humans, as well as the Earth
• 2010/04/30: PlanetArk: Climate Change Increases Heat Waves, Floods: EPA [Climate Change Indicators in the United States]

  Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar approved the Cape Cod windfarm this week:

• 2010/04/28: ClimateP: Salazar approves Cape Wind, first U.S. offshore windfarm: "This will be the first of many projects up and down the Atlantic coast."
• 2010/04/28: Grist: Cape Wind offshore project approved by Obama admin after nine-year battle
• 2010/04/28: NRDC:SwitchBoard: Cape Wind Can Now Help America Start the Clean Energy Future
• 2010/04/28: NatureTGB: America's first offshore wind farm gets approved
• 2010/04/28: UCSUSA: Favorable Cape Wind Decision Paves Way for American Clean Energy Development, UCS Says
• 2010/04/28: TreeHugger: US Approves First Offshore Wind Farm
• 2010/04/28: EarthTimes: First US wind farm approved off Massachusetts coastline
• 2010/04/28: CSM: Cape Wind project approved
  The long-embattled Cape Wind project won federal approval today, marking a major step toward becoming the first US offshore wind-power project and paving the way for a new source of renewable energy for America. For nearly a decade, regulatory battles have pitted residents of Massachusetts' cape and islands, Indian tribes, and influential politicians against one another and developers of the project. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar gave the green light for the project Wednesday at the Massachusetts Statehouse with Gov. Deval Patrick at his side.
• 2010/04/28: BBC: First offshore wind farm for US
  US Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has approved controversial plans for the country's first offshore wind farm to operate off Cape Cod, Massachusetts
• 2010/04/26: NYT: Cape Cod Project Is Crucial Step for U.S. Wind Industry
• 2010/04/29: NYT:CW: Obama Administration Advances Cape Wind, but Challenges Remain
• 2010/04/28: UCSUSA: Favorable Cape Wind Decision Paves Way for American Clean Energy Development, UCS Says

  As for what is going on in Congress:

• 2010/04/27: Grist: [Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.)] vows action on both climate and immigration
• 2010/04/27: NPR: Reid: Climate Bill To Precede Immigration In Senate
• 2010/04/27: Grist: Can good climate legislation pass via reconciliation?
• 2010/04/25: SolveClimate: Will Extending the Ethanol Tax Credit Slow Progress Toward Advanced Biofuels?
• 2010/04/26: ClimateP: Climate and clean energy bill boosts farmer income -- Inaction threatens farm income
• 2010/05/01: PhysOrg: US lawmaker pushes for quick growth of wind power
  Democratic lawmaker Rush Holt (D-NJ) told AFP on Friday that in view of the disastrous oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico the United States should quickly focus on developing wind power along its coasts.
• 2010/04/30: WashIndep: Coal Country Lawmakers Stay Silent on Mine Safety Debate -- Politicians with Ties to Coal Industry Steer Clear of Reform Proposals
• 2010/04/28: TheHill: Reid: Despite activist uproar, climate comes before immigration reform

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

• 2010/04/28: SolveClimate: 5 Green Groups Declare Senate Climate Bill 'Unacceptable'
• 2010/04/27: Grist: Climate bill dead or alive? The upside of the Senate climate bill's troubles
• 2010/04/27: Kentucky: GOP senator under fire for trying to cut deals on key issues
• 2010/04/28: TreeHugger: Lindsey Graham: I'll Filibuster My Own Climate Bill
• 2010/04/27: Reuters: Senator Kerry says EPA to start climate bill analysis
• 2010/04/28: Guardian(UK): Green groups divided over US climate bill stand off
• 2010/04/26: BSD: It ain't easy being green (green climate legislation in the Senate, that is)
• 2010/04/27: ClimateP: NYT: 'Energy-only' bill in Senate would be tough sell
• 2010/04/27: SolveClimate: If Sen. Graham Bails, Is There a Climate and Energy Backup Plan?
• 2010/04/27: Grist: Kerry says climate bill is not dead
• 2010/04/27: ScienceInsider: Senate Climate Bill Saga Jerks Forward as Graham Wields Power
• 2010/04/27: AlterNet: GOP Senator Engages in 'Cynical Political Ploy' to Derail Immigration and Climate Bills
• 2010/04/25: Grist: Obama climate agenda in turmoil after Republican pulls out of compromise
• 2010/04/26: NatureTGB: US climate legislation up in the air
• 2010/04/26: UCSUSA: Kevin Knobloch: Senate Must Move Forward with Climate and Energy Bill
• 2010/04/25: TerraDaily: Obama climate agenda in turmoil after political setback
• 2010/04/26: DM:CCM: The Global Warming Bill Crackup
• 2010/04/26: WaPo: On climate bill, Democrats work to overcome Graham's immigration objections
• 2010/04/26: LA Times: Senators scramble to keep climate bill alive -- A GOP senator who had pulled his support is back in the talks, sources say.
• 2010/04/25: TP:WR: Whisper Campaign Derails Climate Bill Rollout
• 2010/04/30: PlanetArk: Climate Bill Analysis To Take Up To Eight Weeks: EIA
• 2010/04/29: Grist: Tragic oil spill = smarter climate bill?
• 2010/04/29: TEC: Back to basics... climate legislation principles matter
• 2010/04/29: ClimateP: Senior military leaders announce support for climate bill
  33 generals, admirals: "Climate change is making the world a more dangerous place" and "threatening America's security"
• 2010/04/29: TreeHugger: Field Guide to a Bipartisan Climate and Clean Energy Jobs Bill
• 2010/04/29: TreeHugger: Is Graham Coming Back to the Climate Bill? To Find Out, Follow the Money . . .

  What are the lobbyists pushing?

• 2010/04/30: NYT:G: War Against a Wind-Rich Super Grid [by the Coalition for Fair Transmission Policy]
• 2010/04/29: AutoBG: Tonight, James Cameron attempts to terminate the oil and coal lobbies (on CNN)

  While in the UK:

• 2010/04/28: BBerg: U.K. Power Plants May Face Early Closure Under EU Carbon Rules, CBI Says
• 2010/04/26: BizGreen: UK wind industry rejects reports of speedy planning system
• 2010/04/29: BBerg: Wind-Power Projects May Stall on U.K. Grid Regulation
  A U.K. plan to install more than 8,000 offshore wind turbines by 2020 may be delayed by a government plan to contract out work to connect the wind farms to the grid, according to Centrica Plc and E.ON AG. Regulator Ofgem has said allowing competitive bids would attract investors to the industry and curb the 15 billion-pound ($23 billion) cost of connecting 33,000 megawatts of capacity over the decade. Wind-power producers contend that awarding the work exclusively to other companies, who may lack expertise in offshore wind, could slow projects

The UK election grinds on:

• 2010/04/28: Guardian(UK): The main parties are spouting greenwash - we are the real deal -- There is only one Green party...
• 2010/04/26: SolveClimate: A Look at UK Energy Policy If the Tories Take Control -- Prime Minister Gordon Brown Set the Election for May 6

  And in Europe:

• 2010/04/28: EurActiv: France seeks to establish local 'eco-governance'
• 2010/04/28: EurActiv: EU 'should involve developing countries' in biofuels debate
  The EU needs to consult developing countries that produce vegetable oils before making policy decisions that establish sustainability criteria for biofuels, Dato' Azhar Abdul Hamid, managing director of Sime Darby Plantation, told EurActiv in an interview.
• 2010/04/28: EurActiv: Brussels pushes for electric cars
• 2010/04/28: EurActiv: Europe's transport emissions keep rising
• 2010/04/28: DerSpiegel: Germany to Promote Electric Cars with Massive State Aid
• 2010/04/27: EurActiv: Commission links CAP reform to 2020 economic agenda
• 2010/04/27: PlanetArk: EU's Oettinger Skeptical About German CCS Projects
• 2010/04/27: Independent(UK): Cash from EU green plan 'to fund dirty coal plants'

  Meanwhile in Australia:

• 2010/04/29: ABC(Au): The Eurobodalla Shire Council on the New South Wales far south coast says it is working to assist developers with the new demands of its interim sea level rise policy
• 2010/04/29: ABC(Au): Voters want climate action now: [Green Senate leader, Bob] Brown
• 2010/04/28: ABC(Au): The Federal Opposition is daring the Government to call a double dissolution election on an emissions trading scheme (ETS)
• 2010/04/27: BBerg: Australia Pursues Clean Energy as Climate Bill Doomed
• 2010/04/29: EarthTimes: Analysis: Saving the planet: Australia slips from leader to laggard

  Malcolm Turnbull has announced he will not be leaving the battle after all:

• 2010/05/01: MTurnbull: Malcolm Turnbull to recontest Wentworth
• 2010/05/01: ABC(Au): Turnbull confirms he'll stay in politics
  Former Opposition leader Malcolm Turnbull has announced he will no longer be retiring from politics and will contest this year's federal election.
• 2010/05/02: ABC(Au): Rudd welcomes Turnbull's return
  Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has welcomed Malcolm Turnbull's decision to reconsider his resignation from the federal parliamentary seat of Wentworth.

In a major reorientation, Kevin Rudd this week announced a three year postponement of the CPRS aka Aus-ETS:

• 2010/04/27: ABC(Au): Labor shelves emissions scheme
• 2010/04/27: Guardian(UK): Australia puts carbon trading scheme on hold
• 2010/04/28: NBR(NZ): Delaying ETS would cause instability - Smith
• 2010/04/28: BBerg: Rudd Should Call Australian Vote, Abbott, Brown Say
• 2010/04/29: ABC(Au): The Member for Eden-Monaro, Mike Kelly, says the New South Wales south east will suffer from the delay of the Government's emissions trading scheme
• 2010/04/28: ABC(Au): The federal Member for Cunningham, Sharon Bird, says the change of leadership in the Liberal Party has had a direct impact on the Government's decision to delay its carbon reduction scheme
• 2010/04/28: ABC(Au): Federal Treasurer Wayne Swan says the Government will reveal on budget night exactly how much money it will save from shelving its emissions trading scheme
• 2010/04/28: ABC(Au): Carbon firm slams ETS delay
• 2010/04/28: ABC(Au): The Climate Institute is criticising the Federal Government's decision to delay the introduction of an emissions trading scheme (ETS)
• 2010/04/28: ABC(Au): Delay proves ETS unpopular: MP [Luke Hartsuyker (National-Cowper)]
• 2010/04/28: ABC(Au): The New South Wales Opposition says the delayed Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) will not bring much relief to households facing higher electricity bills
• 2010/04/27: Reuters: Australia govt says carbon delay to impact budget
• 2010/04/27: ABC(Au): Poll shows strong support for carbon cuts
  A new poll shows that nearly three-quarters of Australians support action to cut the nation's growing carbon emissions before a global agreement is reached.
• 2010/04/28: ABC(Au): The Townsville Chamber of Commerce says north Queensland businesses are "breathing a sigh of relief" after the Federal Government's decision to delay the emissions trading scheme (ETS)
• 2010/04/27: ABC(Au): The Queensland Resources Council (QRC) says the Federal Government's decision to shelve the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) will save thousands of jobs in the mining sector
• 2010/04/27: Grist: Australia delays carbon-trading scheme
• 2010/04/27: NatureTGB: Australia ditches cap-and-trade
• 2010/04/27: NewsCorp: Kevin Rudd delays emissions trading scheme until Kyoto expires in 2012
• 2010/04/27: ABC(Au): Rudd deflects blame for emissions backflip
  Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says he has been forced to put his emissions trading scheme (ETS) on ice because of the Coalition's opposition and the slow pace of international climate change action. Mr Rudd has confirmed the ETS has been shelved until at least 2013 so the Government can consider what the rest of the world will do beyond the expiration of the Kyoto protocol.
• 2010/04/27: EarthTimes: Australia dumps carbon trading scheme
• 2010/04/27: PeakEnergy: CPRS into the deep freeze
• 2010/04/27: CBC: Australia postpones carbon pollution curbs
  Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd announced Tuesday a two-year delay in government plans to tax the country's worst industrial polluters -- a move that puts legislative efforts to curb gases blamed for climate change on hold until after national elections. The government had proposed annual limits on the amount of carbon that major polluters can emit and supported a system whereby companies could exceed their limits if they agreed to buy carbon trading permits. Rudd said he had no choice but to put the legislation on hold after the main opposition Liberal Party withdrew its support because the UN climate change conference last December failed to agree on a legally binding treaty to cut global emissions.
• 2010/04/30: NewsCorp: Emissions to soar during ETS limbo - Government report
• 2010/04/30: JQuiggin: The lost mid-week [Aus ETS]
• 2010/04/30: SMC: Experts on Australia's move to delay ETS introduction
  The delay of the Federal Government's emissions trading scheme (ETS) until at least 2013 has prompted a wave of political backlash. But while it is very much a political decision, what does the back down mean for the science of climate change? Professor Andrew Blakers is Director of the Centre for Sustainable Energy Systems and of the ARC Centre for Solar Energy Systems at the Australian National University, Canberra, comments...
• 2010/04/27: ABC(Au):TDU: Is there a Plan B for the ETS?
• 2010/04/29: ABC(Au): The energy company Santos will not build its $800 million gas-fired power station at Orford, north of Port Fairy, until there is certainty on the price of carbon
• 2010/04/29: ABC(Au): ETS delay paves way for [steel producer] BlueScope [co-generation] plant: MP
• 2010/04/29: ABC(Au): ETS delay 'could cripple energy industry'
  Energy suppliers say the Federal Government's delay on its Emissions Trading Scheme could cripple the industry's growth and threaten supply. The Energy Supply Association of Australia (ESAA) says new power projects worth $2 billion are ready to build now, but investors are waiting for a decision on the ETS.
• 2010/04/28: ClimateShifts: Rudd's suspends Australia's Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme until at least 2013
• 2010/04/29: SMH: Rudd's ETS flip-flop sparks climate chaos
  The Rudd government has conceded its emissions trading scheme could be delayed beyond the 2013 election, and that the politically inspired decision to leave the country in policy limbo for at least three years will make it much more expensive for Australia to meet greenhouse gas reduction targets. Electricity generators have warned ''untenable'' and uncertain climate policies from both main parties will have ''dire consequences'' for investment decisions and possibly even electricity supply. The Climate Change Minister, Penny Wong, told the Herald the government would not try to legislate the ETS even by its new delayed start year of 2013 unless there is ''credible action'' by the end of 2012 from countries such as China, India and the US. It would also require a resolution of the Copenhagen deadlock over how national efforts are checked.
• 2010/04/29: PeakEnergy: Power station plans put on hold by ETS freeze

  And in New Zealand:

• 2010/05/01: EarthTimes: 50,000 march to protest mining in New Zealand

  While in the Indian subcontinent:

• 2010/04/27: BBC: Indian strike over food prices
  Communist and opposition parties in India are holding nationwide protests against rising food and fuel prices.

And in China:

• 2010/04/28: ClimateP: China seals oil deals -- Map of China's major overseas oil deals

  In the Middle East:

• 2010/04/27: EarthTimes: [Jordan Atomic Energy Commission (JAEC)] Study: Site near Red Sea port of Aqaba could house nuclear reactor

  And South America:

• 2010/04/27: PhysOrg: Policy changes needed to protect southeast Mexico's farmers, forests
• 2010/04/26: TreeHugger: Bolivia to Have a Mother Nature Ministry, Held Accountable For Enforcing Cochabamba Declaration

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

• 2010/04/26: CleanBreak: Has Ottawa put moratorium on conventional coal power?
  [...]
  Does this amount to a moratorium on dirty coal? It seems like it does, but the targets are pretty soft and you can bet this government will be so flexible with industry -- particularly in Alberta and Saskatchewan -- that the effect of this moratorium won't be felt for a least two decades. And that, unfortunately, is too late to matter.
• 2010/04/26: G&M: Ottawa tells energy firms to start powering down coal-fired plants
  Gradual shift over the next two decades seen as a boon to natural gas producers Environment Minister Jim Prentice has told Canada's major electricity producers that they'll have to gradually retire their coal-fired plants and replace them with cleaner sources of power - a plan that would be a boon to natural gas producers. As the U.S. Senate struggles to deal with climate legislation, Mr. Prentice met with power company chief executives in Ottawa last week and made it clear the government intends to highlight Canada's relative advantage in clean electricity compared to U.S. reliance on coal. Under Ottawa's proposal, power companies would have to close their coal-fired facilities as they reach the end of their commercial life, largely over the next 10 to 15 years. The companies would not be allowed to refurbish the plants to extend their usefulness or replace them with new coal units, unless they include technology to capture the carbon dioxide and sequester it underground.

More on that proposed Arctic park:

• 2010/04/28: CanWest: Proposed High Arctic park a 'polar desert'
• 2010/04/29: CanWest: Government to create national park in North [around the north end of uninhabited Bathurst Island]

  The G9 Development Ministers met in Halifax this week and the Tories finally came clean about their abortion policy:

• 2010/04/28: ACR: "Imposing Canada's ideological beliefs is ridiculous"
• 2010/04/27: CBC: Oda opens G8 meeting in Halifax
  International Co-operation Minister Bev Oda has welcomed development ministers from around the world to a two-day meeting in Halifax in advance of the G8 leaders summit in Ontario in June.
  [...]
  "Within the scope of this G8 initiative, countries will be able to identify their own priorities," Oda said. "Canada's contribution to maternal and child health may involve various interventions, including family planning, which includes the use of contraceptive methods. "However, Canada's contribution will not include funding abortion," she said.
• 2010/04/26: CBC: No abortion in Canada's G8 maternal health plan
  The federal government has disclosed for the first time that Canada will not fund abortions in its G8 child and maternal health-care initiative for developing countries.

The Syncrude Trial drags on:

• 2010/04/28: CanWest: Oilsands 'doomed' if duck charges stick, Syncrude tells court
• 2010/04/27: CBC: Syncrude delays duck charges dismissal request
  Crown prosecutors in Syncrude's trial on the deaths of hundreds of ducks in a northern Alberta tailings pond will reopen their case Wednesday to allow the company's lawyer to re-examine two witnesses. Syncrude lawyer Robert White said Tuesday he wants to question an environmental officer and a zoologist about new information that has come to light. White made the application one day after the Crown wrapped up its case at the trial, which is now in its ninth week in St. Albert Provincial Court.
• 2010/04/26: CBC: Syncrude lawyer to call for dismissal of charges
  The lawyer for Syncrude said he will ask that all charges against the embattled oilsands giant be dismissed when the trial resumes Tuesday. Syncrude has been charged under the Alberta Environmental Protection and Enhancement Act and the federal Migratory Birds Convention Act with failing to protect migratory birds from a toxic tailings pond. Defence lawyer Robert White said Monday he will argue that the prosecution has not proven its case in the April 28, 2008 incident when 1,600 ducks died on Syncrude's Aurora tailings pond in northern Alberta.
• 2010/04/29: CBC: Syncrude dismissal bid rejected by judge
  An Alberta provincial court judge has rejected Syncrude's request to dismiss the two charges it faces in the deaths of 1,600 ducks on a tailings pond north of Fort McMurray two years ago. The oilsands giant has been on trial on federal and provincial environmental charges in St. Albert since March 1.

So, what do the Liberals think about the tarsands?

• 2010/04/30: LethbridgeHerald: Get facts about oilsands development, says Justin Trudeau during city stop
  While urging more research on its impacts, a prominent Liberal MPcame out Friday in support of Alberta's oilsands. Justin Trudeau said the controversial energy development has become a major factor in Canada's economic growth, and should be defended when foreign critics call for a halt. So Canadians need factual information about oilsands development.

In BC, wrangling over energy is getting louder:

• 2010/04/29: Tyee: What Voters Weren't Told about Clean Energy Act
  Better to call it the 'Flood Valleys for Power for Export Act'. Transform BC Hydro so Californians can blast air conditioners
• 2010/04/27: NRDC:SwitchBoard: Setting a Bad Precedent: British Columbia's Weak Low Carbon Fuel Standard Needs Repair
• 2010/04/27: G&M: Area residents live with effects of [Site C] mega dam
  Locals object to valuable agricultural land being destroyed to create 83-kilometre-long reservoir, area rancher says
• 2010/04/26: CanWest: Wind turbine threatens birds, bats -- Dozens of species at risk, according to report commissioned by resort
  Bats and migrating birds -- some of them species at risk -- face the greatest threat from Grouse Mountain's green-energy wind turbine, according to an environmental report commissioned by the resort. The turbine's threat to dozens of species of birds could be mitigated by reducing artificial illumination on the mountain on cloudy or foggy days, especially during the spring and fall migrations, the report suggests. But there might be no easy fix for bats attracted to the turbine and no way of knowing how severe the threat might be. The Vancouver Sun obtained the report through a freedom-of-information request with the district of North Vancouver.
• 2010/04/26: Tyee: Site C Confirms Libs' Energy Claims Don't Compute
  BC's river giveaway to private producers was never about self-sufficiency, we now see.
• 2010/04/28: CanWest: B.C. Liberals' energy vision sees consumers cut back -- Clean Energy Act calls for smart meters, power exports
  The B.C. Liberals have introduced a new Clean Energy Act that puts unprecedented pressure on BC Hydro customers to cut their consumption of electricity. Legislation introduced Wednesday in the B.C. legislature calls on Hydro to meet 66 per cent - two-thirds - of new power demand through energy efficiency and conservation by 2020, rather than expanded development of new electricity supply. That's up from a 50-per-cent conservation target in 2007.
• 2010/04/30: CanWest: B.C. on the wrong side of the oilsands issue -- Fuel standards, Gateway pipeline show our position needs a rethink
  British Columbia is emerging as a key pawn in a global oilsands chess game. The stakes are huge, and unfortunately B.C. is so far playing for the wrong side.
• 2010/04/29: PlanetArk: British Columbia Sets Out New Clean Energy Plan

  Meanwhile in that Mechanical Mordor known as the tar sands:

• 2010/04/28: PlanetArk: TransAlta Eyes Options To Cut Emissions From Coal
• 2010/04/24: SOE: Alberta's Tailings Pond Dilemma
• 2010/04/29: Reuters: Canadian oil sands producers pump out higher profit
• 2010/04/30: PlanetArk: Shell Not Planning Oil Sands Expansion: [G&M] Newspaper
• 2010/04/30: G&M: Oil sands bitumen to flow to West Coast by 2015: Enbridge
  CEO isn't fazed by environmental opposition and regulatory hurdles to North Gateway project
  Enbridge Inc.'s ENB-T ambitious plan to build an oil sands pipeline to the West Coast will succeed despite opposition from first nations and environmentalists as well as concerns about pipeline overcapacity, the company's chief executive officer says. Enbridge plans to file next month for a permit from the National Energy Board to build the North Gateway project to Kitimat, B.C., says CEO Pat Daniel. He expects the NEB process to take two years and is confident the project will be approved. If all goes according to Enbridge's plans, Alberta bitumen would be flowing to Pacific Rim markets by 2015...

Also in Alberta:

• 2010/04/30: CBC: TransCanada assesses Alaska pipeline interest
  Pipeline and energy company TransCanada Corp. is soliciting producers to see if they're interested in using the proposed Alaska Pipeline Project, a plan to bring natural gas from Alaska's North Slope to southern markets. The "open season" for the project, when potential shippers have a 90-day period to assess the project's design, commercial terms, costs and timelines, began Friday. "The open season puts the project to a test of the market," the company said. Shippers will take the information and decide whether to commit to using the pipeline.

In the Maritimes:

• 2010/04/27: SolveClimate: Nova Scotia Kicks Off Plan to Boost Small-Scale Wind via Feed-In Tariff

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

• 2010/05/02: OilDrum: The Promise of Decentralization, Localization, and Scale-Free Self-Sufficiency
• 2010/05/01: DVoice: Wake Up and Smell the System

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

• 2010/05/01: DVoice: Population Overshoot Is Determined by Food Overproduction
• 2010/04/30: EnergyBulletin: Dissecting those 'overpopulation' numbers: part one -- population where?

  Apocalypso anyone?

• 2010/04/26: CCurrents: What Works, Maybe: Individual Options
• 2010/04/26: CCurrents: What Mother Nature Doesn't Care About by Tim Murray
  Mother Nature doesn't give a crap about our moral imperatives. She doesn't care if people we judge to be worthy (the poor, the persecuted, the people of colour, the handicapped, the fashionably oppressed) should be lifted on to our lifeboat, only if it is overloaded. And whether the passengers live together without class barriers or in feudal subjugation is of no concern to nature either. The laws of physics trump the laws of any Holy Text, ethical system or left-wing manifesto. If we want to survive, we will have to play by nature's rules, not ours.
• 2010/04/30: CCurrents: Warning Shots

  As for how the media handles the science of climatology:

• 2010/04/28: D-HW: Scientific American falls prey to denialist memes
• 2010/04/27: ClimateP: One myth about the Washington Post: It still practices serious journalism -- No myth: Wind power HAS reduced Denmark's CO2 emissions a lot
• 2010/04/27: Deltoid: Leakegate: Leake based story retracted
• 2010/04/29: DeSmogBlog: Washington Post Teams with Dirty Coal Front Group ACCCE on PostPolitics.com Launch
• 2010/04/28: CJR: Green Like Money -- Earth Day coverage shows how much the environmental movement has changed
• 2010/04/30: CJR: Paper or Pixels? News Corp.'s efforts to go carbon-neutral raise questions about the future of sustainable publishing
• 2010/04/28: PRWatch: Washington Post Teams with Coal Industry Front Group
• 2010/04/29: Deltoid: Blue moon at the The Australian

  Regarding the quality of blogospheric discussion:

• 2010/04/30: PRWatch: "Cloaked" Web Sites Disguise Hidden Propaganda

  Here is something for your library:

• 2010/04/28: HotTopic: [Book Review] _Prosperity Without Growth: Economics for a Finite Planet_ by Tim Jackson
• 2010/04/30: CCurrents: [Book Review] _The End of the Long Summer: Why We Must Remake Our Civilization to Survive on a Volatile Earth_ by Dianne Dumanoski

  And for your film & video enjoyment:

• 2010/04/27: EnergyBulletin: Video review: The Road and 2012

  Meanwhile among the 'Sue the Bastards!' contingent:

• 2010/04/27: BostonHerald: Canadian co. sues Mass. over 'green' energy law
• 2010/04/30: EarthTimes: Pacific islanders spotlight Czech power plays
• 2010/04/29: EarthTimes: Czechs allow power plant renovation opposed by Micronesia
  Prague - The Czech Republic's Environment Ministry gave a green light on Thursday to the renovation of a lignite-fired power plant in the country's north, a project which has been opposed by the Pacific island country of Micronesia. The planned renovation of the Prunerov II power station by its owner, the state-controlled energy giant CEZ, made international headlines after the Federated States of Micronesia asked the Czech Republic to halt the project. Based on information from the environmental group Greenpeace, the Pacific islanders argued that the revamped plant's greenhouse gas emissions would contribute to rising sea levels, which threaten their country's existence.

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

• 2010/04/28: BNC: Santos chief's gassy vision Part 2 -- is gas almost as good as nuclear?
• 2010/04/28: SciNow: Catalyst Brings Cheap Hydrogen Fuel Closer to Reality
• 2010/04/28: EnergyDaily: Renewable Energy Atlas Shows Vermont's Energy Options
• 2010/04/28: AutoBG: Oil giant Total invests in cellulosic ethanol company Coskata's latest funding round
• 2010/04/28: BBC: Oil giant Royal Dutch Shell has seen its quarterly profits jump by nearly 50% [to US$4.9bn (£3.2bn)]...
• 2010/04/27: ClimateP: Big Oil is awash in big profits -- while Gulf of Mexico is awash in spilled oil
• 2010/04/27: PhysOrg: Affordable Fuel Cells May Get Boost From Artificial Diamonds
• 2010/04/27: PhysOrg: Explained: Thermoelectricity
• 2010/04/27: BBC: BP doubles profit to hit $5.6bn
• 2010/04/26: TreeHugger: Indonesia to Add 4 GW of Geothermal Power by 2014... And Add Another 10 GW of Coal by 2012
• 2010/04/25: LTU: Shoe power generator earns Louisiana Tech professor national attention
• 2010/04/26: SLAC: Fuel Cells Get Up to Speed with a New Kind of Platinum
• 2010/04/25: BBC: Geothermal energy summit in Bali -- Indonesia is hosting what is being called the world's biggest Geothermal energy conference
• 2010/04/30: LBL: Berkeley Scientists Discover Inexpensive Metal Catalyst [molybdenum-oxo metal complex] for Generating Hydrogen from Water
• 2010/04/29: Guardian(UK): ExxonMobil sees 38% profit jump as oil price surges
  The world's largest publicly traded energy company, ExxonMobil, produced a 38% jump in quarterly profits to $6.3bn (£4.1bn)...
• 2010/04/28: UNDispatch: UN Advisory Body Calls for Universal Access to Modern Energy
• 2010/05/01: TheAge: Indonesia's hot terrain set to power its future
• 2010/04/26: FuturePundit: Big Growth In Geothermal Energy
• 2010/04/30: NBF: Energy Roundup - Another Round of ARPA E funding and a Proposed Plan to Phase out Greenhouse Gas Emissions from US Coal by 2030
• 2010/04/30: NBF: Study Estimates Currently Recoverable Three Forks Formation Oil at 2 billion barrels
• 2010/04/29: PhysOrg: Cheap hydrogen fuel from seawater may be a step closer [with new molybdenum-oxo complex catalyst]

  Meanwhile in the Gee Whiz File:

• 2010/04/29: Economist: A sunnier outlook -- Using a virus to help produce energy the way plants do

  Hey! Let's contaminate the aquifer for thousands of years! It'll be a fracking gas!

• 2010/04/28: USAToday: Natural gas supply, jobs and technique debate booming
• 2010/04/27: TreeHugger: The Folly of Fracking
• 2010/04/26: AlterNet: Flammable Drinking Water? Why Gas Drilling in New York and Nearby States Could Become an Environmental Catastrophe

  The answer my friend...:

• 2010/04/28: PhysOrg: Researchers study feasibility of giant deep-ocean wind turbines
• 2010/04/28: TreeHugger: Multi-Million Dollar Design Flaw Causes Hundreds of Offshore Wind Turbines to Slide on Their Foundation
• 2010/04/28: DerSpiegel: The Future of Renewables? Germany's First Offshore Wind Farm Goes Online
• 2010/04/26: NYT: Cape Cod Project Is Crucial Step for U.S. Wind Industry
• 2010/04/27: TreeHugger: Is Direct Drive the Future? Wind Turbines Without Gears are Lighter, Cheaper, More Reliable
• 2010/04/27: EarthTimes: Germany opens first offshore wind-energy park
• 2010/04/27: PeakEnergy: Wind Turbines Shed Their Gears
• 2010/04/26: CanWest: Wind turbine threatens birds, bats -- Dozens of species at risk, according to report commissioned by resort
• 2010/04/30: PeakEnergy: Daylesford wind farm goes ahead
• 2010/05/01: EnergyBulletin: Wind's latest problem: it . . . makes power too cheap
• 2010/04/28: CleanBreak: Fiddling while Rome burns...As anti-wind folks in rural North America continue their campaign of misinformation
• 2010/05/01: OilDrum: Wind's latest problem: it . . . makes power too cheap
• 2010/04/30: Oregonian: Pentagon drops opposition to big Oregon wind farm
• 2010/04/29: BBerg: Wind-Power Projects May Stall on U.K. Grid Regulation
• 2010/04/29: PlanetArk: Vestas CEO Bets On Surging U.S. Wind Demand

  Meanwhile among the solar aficionados:

• 2010/04/28: PlanetArk: Miasole Signs CIGS Sales Contract With Phoenix
  Germany's Phoenix Solar AG has ordered 4.5 megawatts of a new type of photovoltaic solar panel [copper, indium gallium selenide (CIGS)] from MiaSole under a supply agreement that runs until 2013, the companies said on Tuesday.
• 2010/04/28: PeakEnergy: Accelerating Solar: A Look at the Next Decade
• 2010/04/27: NewScientist: Green machine: Cheaper home power from sunlight
• 2010/04/27: PlanetArk: Solar Sales To Soar, But Will profits Follow?
• 2010/04/26: JQuiggin: High Penetration Solar Deployment
• 2010/04/26: DM:DB: A New Strategy for Cheap Solar Power in Africa: Pokeberries
• 2010/04/28: TechRev: Solar Metamaterials -- A Caltech group has created materials that could improve the efficiency of solar cells
• 2010/04/29: TechRev: Concentrated Solar Set to Shine -- Large investment could jump-start concentrated photovoltaic deployments
• 2010/04/30: REA: Net Metering PV Systems Can Lead to Big Savings
• 2010/04/29: PlanetArk: First Solar Profit Tops Street, Shares Up
• 2010/04/29: PlanetArk: SunPower Sees Oversupply, Falling Prices
• 2010/04/28: WorldChanging: Can the Sahara Light Up Europe with Solar Power?: Recent Developments in CSP
• 2010/04/29: PeakEnergy: Concentrated Solar PV Set to Shine

  On the coal front:

• 2010/04/28: Grist: Peabody Energy exec misleads during coal debate
• 2010/04/26: TreeHugger: What Are The Top 10 Coal-Burning Countries on the Planet? Who's #1?
• 2010/04/26: BBC: UK Coal hit by fall in production
  UK Coal has announced increased losses for 2009 because of low coal prices and reduced production. The UK's largest coal producer made a loss of £129.1m for the full year, compared with a loss of £15.6m the previous year. Revenue fell 20% from £392.5m in 2008 to £316m in what the company described as an "extremely challenging year".
• 2010/04/30: SciDaily: U.S. Could Eliminate CO2 Emissions from Coal in 20 Years, Experts Say

  Biofuel bickering abounds:

• 2010/04/28: Eureka: Sustainable biofuels from forests, grasslands and rangelands -- Analyzing biofuel sources and predicting effects on water, soil and the atmosphere
• 2010/04/26: SciDaily: Pressure-Cooking Algae Into a Better Biofuel
• 2010/04/30: SolveClimate: Ethanol Production Follows the Subsidies -- Federal Policy Drives Production Goals, but Huge State Credits Determine Location
• 2010/04/29: PhysOrg: Biofuel crops push ignoring biosecurity impacts
  Important biosecurity issues are being ignored in the global push to develop new non-food crops for biofuels and industrial and pharmaceutical uses, according to a report published recently by CSIRO
• 2010/04/29: PeakEnergy: Indian Jatropha biofuel efforts falter

  The nuclear energy controversy continues:

• 2010/04/28: Ph&Ph: Ignitor to Challenge ITER
• 2010/04/28: NatureTGB: Italy and Russia fund fusion reactor to rival ITER
• 2009/04/24: WHO: Health effects of the Chernobyl accident
• 2010/04/27: ScienceInsider: Italy and Russia [collaborate] to Build New [tokamak fusion reactor called Ignitor]
• 2010/04/27: TEC: Why public support is thin for nuclear energy
• 2010/04/26: NBF: Progress on Indian and Chinese Nuclear Renaissance and a Reminder on Japan, Vietam and Finland
• 2010/04/27: AlterNet: Book's Astounding Allegation: Chernobyl Radiation Killed Nearly One Million People
• 2010/04/26: CCentral: Nuclear Energy
• 2010/04/30: PhysOrg: New research could help develop gamma ray lasers and produce fusion power
• 2010/04/30: NatureN: Fusion reactor aims to rival ITER -- But scientists doubt that IGNITOR will lead to fusion power
• 2010/05/01: BNC: Why vs Why: Nuclear Power -- new book by BNC author
• 2010/04/30: NBF: Uranium Production in Kazakhstan, Australia and Canada for 2009 and 2010-2014

  Yes we have peak everything:

• 2010/04/28: PeakEnergy: Peak Everything?
• 2010/04/19: MillerMcCune: Peak Wood Forges an Industrial Revolution [400 ya]
• 2010/04/27: EnergyBulletin: Officials wake up to peak oil, part 2
• 2010/04/26: OilDrum: Tipping Point: Near-Term Systemic Implications of a Peak in Global Oil Production -- Contexts and Implications
• 2010/04/30: TreeHugger: How Will Supply and Demand Effect Peak Oil?
• 2010/04/29: CCurrents: Oil Crunch: Act Urgently
• 2010/04/29: OilDrum: Tipping Point: Near-Term Systemic Implications of a Peak in Global Oil Production--Conclusion and Adaptations

  More people are talking about the electrical grid:

• 2010/04/25: BostonGlobe: Utilities start massive upgrade of region's grid -- 'Smart' meters 1st step in plan to save on energy
• 2010/04/28: SciAm: U.S. Electrical Grid Undergoes Massive Transition to Connect to Renewables -- Utilities are spending billions to make the grid more reliable, efficient, and green
• 2010/04/30: PeakEnergy: GE to Tap Demand for Smart Meters in $200 Billion Global Market
• 2010/05/02: PhysOrg: Canada broadcaster seeks to revolutionize energy consumption

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

• 2010/04/28: BBC: Honda sees profits and sales rise -- a net profit of 72bn yen (£507m; $772m) between January and March, with sales up 28%
• 2010/04/27: PhysOrg: More myths busted about electric cars
• 2010/04/27: NRDC:SwitchBoard: Back to the 90s: Emissions Tests Show Diesel Engines Dirtier Than They Are Supposed To Be
• 2010/04/27: Economist: Electric cars - Hub of the matter -- Putting electric motors into the wheels of cars is the way forward
• 2010/04/27: BBC: Car giant Ford has reported net income of $2.1bn for the first three months of 2010, its highest quarterly profit for six years
• 2010/04/27: CBC: Ford profit hits 6-year high -- Automaker earned $2.1B US in first quarter
• 2010/04/26: CBC: All-electric Chinese car [BYD-e6] headed to U.S. market
• 2010/04/26: PeakEnergy: The Parable of the Electric Bike
• 2010/04/30: CBC: Vehicle sales accelerate
  Global car sales continue to accelerate, with purchases advancing 25 per cent year-over-year during March. The latest Global Auto Report from Scotia Economics says it was the sixth consecutive double-digit increase. The bank says emerging nations are leading the way with year-over-year gains in excess of 40 per cent.
• 2010/04/29: PlanetArk: Europe Charts Route For Electric Car Roll-out
• 2010/04/29: AutoBG: Mazda gets patent for offset wheel mounted electric motor

  As for Energy Storage:

• 2010/04/27: WorldChanging: Giant Gravel Batteries: The Key to a Clean Energy Future?
  [...]
  Its system consists of two silos filled with a pulverized rock such as gravel. Electricity would be used to heat and pressurize argon gas that is then fed into one of the silos. By the time the gas leaves the chamber, it has cooled to ambient temperature but the gravel itself is heated to 500C.
  After leaving the silo, the argon is then fed into the second silo, where it expands back to normal atmospheric pressure. This process acts like a giant refrigerator, causing the gas (and rock) temperature inside the second chamber to drop to -160C. The electrical energy generated originally by the wind turbines originally is stored as a temperature difference between the two rock-filled silos. To release the energy, the cycle is reversed, and as the energy passes from hot to cold it powers a generator that makes electricity.
  Isentropic claims a round-trip energy efficiency of up to 80% and, because gravel is cheap, the cost of a system per kilowatt-hour of storage would be between $10 and $55.
• 2010/04/27: EnergyBulletin: The humble battery: 210 years later, the breakthrough we still await
• 2010/04/30: AutoBG: China controls key ingredient for NiMH [nickel metal hydride] batteries, supply may run short as hybrids gain popularity

  The reaction of business to climate change will be critical:

• 2010/05/01: BCLSB: Do Investors Follow The Warming Wars?

  Meanwhile in the greenwashing chronicles:

• 2010/04/30: TP: BP's Greenwashing Masked Dangerous 'Drill, Baby, Drill' Reality

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

• 2010/04/30: ClimateP: Energy and Global Warming News for April 30...
• 2010/04/29: ClimateP: Energy and Global Warming News for April 29...
• 2010/04/28: ClimateP: Energy and Global Warming News for April 28...
• 2010/04/27: ClimateP: Energy and Global Warming News for April 27...
• 2010/04/26: ClimateP: Energy and Environmental News for April 25...[26?]

  Other (weekly) lists:

• 2010/04/29: Grist: A walk through the week's climate news -- The Climate Post: Mighty winds a-blowin'

  The carbon lobby are up to the usual:

• 2010/04/27: BSD: Adding to the Lindzen pile-on, but for an older Wall Street Journal Op-Ed
• 2010/04/27: BRBickmore: Lord Monckton: 3rd Viscount of Brenchley, King of Fantasyland
• 2010/04/27: MTobis: Moe's Catch 22 [Denialist Rules of Engagement]
• 2010/04/28: PeakEnergy: The "Epistemic Closing" of the Conservative Mind
• 2010/04/27: TCoE: Breaking news: Deniers act like jerks
• 2010/04/26: DeSmogBlog: Michelle Malkin's 1994 Big Tobacco Recruitment Drive
• 2010/04/25: EnergyBulletin: How Bjørn Lomborg deceives the public
• 2010/04/30: ClassM: A Christopher Monckton reality check
• 2010/04/29: CCurrents: Why Would Big Oil Ignore Its Own Demise?
• 2010/04/28: PRWatch: Why Facts No Longer Matter
• 2010/04/29: ClimateP: U.S. conservatives vs. U.K. conservatives
• 2010/04/29: SkeptiSci: Common graphical tricks and the Medieval Warm Period
• 2010/04/29: DeSmogBlog: Conservative Talk Show Host Brian Sussman Adds 'Climategate' to His List of Favorite Conspiracy Theories

  Here's one of those quotes that will go down in history:

• 2010/04/30: OilChange: "What the hell did we do to deserve this?"
  "What the hell did we do to deserve this?" is the question, baby-faced BP CEO Tony Hayward apparently asked his stunned fellow BP executives as they saw billions wiped off the company's share price due to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
• 2010/05/01: ACR: "What the hell did we do to deserve this?"

  Morano reveals his character:

• 2010/04/30: CSW: Denialist Morano on scientists: "Rejoicing that their entire careers are getting pissed on"

  As for climate miscellanea:

• 2010/04/28: PlanetArk: Climate Change Not Slowing: German Weather Service
• 2010/04/27: TCoE: Greedy Myopian of the Week
• 2010/04/26: TreeHugger: Are Professionalized Environmentalists the Problem?
• 2010/04/30: SolveClimate: Visualizing CO2: Making Emissions Tangible to Change Behavior
• 2010/04/29: Yale360: The Greening of Silicon Valley: It Looks Like the Next Big Thing
  California's high-tech giants have long used renewable energy to help power their Silicon Valley headquarters. Now, companies such as Google, Adobe Systems, and eBay are preparing for the next step -- investing in off-site solar and wind installations and innovative technologies that will supply their offices and data centers with green electricity.
• 2010/04/29: AlterNet: Can Switching to Hybrid Cars and Organics Really Save the World, or Is It Just Lazy Environmentalism?
• 2010/04/29: APSmith: On fallacies

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

• CanDoBetter: (We) can do better -- You can help turn society back from the brink
• Wiki: Nitrous oxide
• C4CS: Center for Climate Strategies
• WGC: World Geothermal Congress [April 25-30]
• Fallacy Files
• Wiki: Polynya
• SMC: Science Media Centre
• FAO: Global Forest Resources Assessment
• Millennium Ecosystem Assessment
• World Radiation Centre
• NGDC.NOAA: Solar Irradiance Data
• Exxpose Exxon
• IPCC: National Greenhouse Gas Inventories Programme

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.

"Every crisis is an opportunity, and we are about to enter the biggest opportunity of our lives." -Richard Heinberg

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