Logging the Onset of The Bottleneck Years
This weekly posting is brought to you courtesy of H. E. Taylor. Happy reading, I hope you enjoy this week's Global Warming news roundup
Another week of Climate Instability News
Sipping from the internet firehose...
July 11, 2010
- Chuckles, COP16+, USSF, GGCS, Ooops, Beer et al., Hoegh-Guldberg & Bruno, PepsiGate
- Subsidies, Abuse, NEAA-PBL, Slant, Muir Russell, Post CRU, Media Complicity, FOI Attack
- Melting Arctic, Polar Bears, Methane, Geopolitics, Antarctica
- Food Crisis, GMOs & IP Issues, FAOSTAT, Food Production
- Hurricanes, Monsoon, GHGs, Temperatures, Aerosols, Paleoclimate
- ENSO, Solar, Climate Sensitivity, Satellites
- Impacts, Forests, Desertification, Tornadoes, Wildfires, Acidification, Glaciers, Sea Levels, Floods & Droughts
- Transportation, Buildings, Sequestration, Geoengineering
- Journals, Other Docs , Misc. Science, Whittington, Pielke
- UN, Carbon Trade, Carbon Tax, Bank Tax
- International Politics: Misc., Security, Law & Activism, Activism, Polls, Water Politics & Business
- National Politics: America, BP Disaster, PACE, The Energy Debate, Cuccinelli
- Obama, USAdmin, Congress, Climate Bill, Lobbyists
- Britain, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, India, China, Japan, Asia, Africa, South America
- Canada, G20 Inquiries, G20 Results, Offshore Drilling, Tarsands Investigation, Carbon Tax
- Budget, Ignatieff, Pipeline, Greens, BC, Tar Sands, Alberta, Ontario, Maritimes, Canadiana
- Ecological Economics, IPAT, Apocalypso, Media, Books, Video, Courts, Betting
- Energy, Fracking, Wind, Solar, Coal, Biofuel, Nukes, Peak Oil, Grid, Efficiency, Cars, Gee Whiz, Energy Storage
- Business, Insurance, Joe's List, Carbon Lobby, Miscellaneous Climate, Useful Links
- Shameless Self Promotion, .sig
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- 2010/07/09: uComics: (cartoon - Rall) Poor Dead Pelicans
- 2010/07/09: uComics: (cartoon - Auth) Pay Our Fair Share?
- 2010/07/07: AFTIC: (cartoon - Roberts) The crumbling edifice of IPCC science
- 2010/07/06: MollyMew: (cartoon - dan) They told you so ?: Tales from the Toronto police...
- 2010/07/05: uComics: (cartoon - Rall) It Was My Fault
Among those who enjoy challenging Poe's Law:
- 2010/07/08: ClimateScum: Whitewash! Whitewash!
Looking ahead to COP16 and future international climate negotiations:
- 2010/07/06: EurActiv: China to host climate talks before Mexico meeting
China will host an extra round of international negotiations in October aimed at fostering agreement over a new climate treaty, the United Nations' top environment official said in remarks published on Monday. Achim Steiner, a UN under-secretary general who is director of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), told the China Daily the extra round of negotiations would take place in the north Chinese port city of Tianjin, which is close to Beijing. - 2010/07/05: Reuters: China to host climate talks before Mexico meeting -report
- 2010/07/05: Yahoo:AFP: China to host new round of climate talks: report
- 2010/07/05: People's Daily: Climate talks to pave way for Cancun summit
China will host an additional round of climate talks in October in Tianjin before UN members convene in Mexico's Cancun at the end of this year for a climate change summit, a senior UN official and a Chinese policy insider said on Sunday. China and the UN are working closely to prepare for the Tianjin meeting, although Chinese authorities have not officially announced it, said UN Under-Secretary General Achim Steiner. - 2010/07/07: CCurrents: Five Heady Days At The United States Social Forum
The Arnold announced the 2010 Governors' Global Climate Summit for later this summer:
- 2010/07/10: Xinhuanet: Schwarzenegger to host third round of Governors' Global Climate Summit
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger announced on Friday that he will host the third round of the Governors' Global Climate Summit later this year to rally efforts in confronting climate change. Building on the accomplishments made at the first two summits in 2008 and 2009, the upcoming Governors' Global Climate Summit will bring together leaders from around the world to collaborate on efforts that will further the global fight against climate change, work towards collaborative actions to help reduce emissions and build green economies, the governor said. - 2010/07/06: CDreams: Global Emissions Targets Will Lead to 4C Temperature Rise, Say Studies
Studies predict major extinctions and collapse of Greenland ice sheet with temperatures rising well above UN targets - 2010/07/05: Guardian(UK): Global emissions targets will lead to 4C temperature rise, say studies
The Christian Beer et al. paper on the carbon cycle has provided the first measurement of Gross Primary Production:
- 2010/07/05: Science: (ab$) Terrestrial Gross Carbon Dioxide Uptake: Global Distribution and Covariation with Climate by Christian Beer et al.
- 2010/07/06: NatureTGB: Savannah surprise in plants' carbon capturing
The first solidly evidence-based estimate for how much carbon the world's plants suck up each year has been produced by an international team of scientists. Their new figure of 123 billion tons per year is remarkably close to the tentative previous numbers, but important differences in the details that combine to give this overall figure will require even state of the art climate models to be revised. Christian Beer and his colleagues have come up with a new number for terrestrial 'gross primary production' (GPP) -- the total amount of carbon dioxide that plants 'breathe' in every year. Their new number -- published in Science and presented at the ESOF meeting in Turin -- comes from a combination of observational data and modelling. - 2010/07/05: SciDaily: Breath of the Earth: Cycling Carbon Through Terrestrial Ecosystems
- 2010/07/10: Stoat: Carbon cycle feedbacks: tiptoeing forwards
- 2010/07/08: ClimateP: Climate scientist: "Positive carbon-climate feedback is still very likely" -- and even without "a runaway feedback," warming will be "substantial and critical"
- 2010/07/06: MPG(DE): A new balance for the global carbon balance
Researchers determine how rates of photosynthesis and ecosystem respiration depend on the climate in order to obtain a better assessment of the consequences of climate change - 2010/07/06: CBC: Plants suck 123 billion tonnes of CO2 a year -- Total carbon exchange by plants huge, but net amount tiny
Trees, shrubs and grasses around the world take in 123 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide a year through photosynthesis, an international research team has calculated. The results published online in Science Xpress on Monday mark the first time researchers have based such a calculation on such a large number of actual measurements instead of mainly computer modelling, said Altaf Arain, an associate professor of geography and earth sciences at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ont. He was one of 25 co-authors of the paper, based on a study led by Christian Beer at the Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry in Jena, Germany. - 2010/06/18: Science: (ab$) The Impact of Climate Change on the World's Marine Ecosystems by Ove Hoegh-Guldberg & John F. Bruno
- 2010/07/06: TreeHugger: Irreversible Changes in Oceans Leading to Global Mass Extinction
- 2010/07/05: CCP: Oceans face a "fundamental and irreversible ecological transformation" not seen in millions of years
- 2010/07/05: CCP: Impact of climate change on the world's marine ecosystems, Science, 328 (2010), O. Hoegh-Guldberg & J. F. Bruno
- 2010/07/05: PhysOrg: Report: Oceans' deteriorating health nearing 'irreversible'
A sobering new report [Ove Hoegh-Guldberg & John Bruno] warns that oceans face a "fundamental and irreversible ecological transformation" not seen in millions of years as greenhouse gases and climate change already have affected temperature, acidity, sea and oxygen levels, the food chain and possibly major currents that could alter global weather. - 2010/07/08: LayScience: An Analysis of 'PepsiGate'
- 2010/07/09: Guardian(UK): This isn't the first time Seed has sacrificed editorial independence
Journalist Gaia Vince recalls how Seed magazine, owner of ScienceBlogs, spiked one of her articles because it was critical of a potential advertiser
[...]
...I received an email from my editor ... explaining that they wouldn't be publishing the Bhopal piece because it was critical of Dow Chemical, which now owns the company that caused the gas leak in 1984, and that Seed was seeking an advertising contract with Dow. - 2010/07/10: DM:NERS: I've got your missing links right here...[pepsi at top]
- 2010/07/10: SlashDot: ScienceBlogs.com Deals With Community Backlash Over PepsiCo Column
- 2010/07/08: TerraSigillata: PepsiCo Food Frontiers blog did not have to be a #SbFAIL
- 2010/07/08: LatticeQCD: PepsiCo's science blogging PR desaster
- 2010/07/08: QuarkSoup: The PepsiCo Blog
- 2010/07/08: QuarkSoup: More on PepsiCo and Scienceblogs
- 2010/07/08: ClassM: Failing the Pepsi Challenge
- 2010/07/08: JEB: Take the Pepsi Challenge
- 2010/07/07: SitS: The sciencebloggosphere is a changing!
- 2010/07/08: KSJT: ScienceBlogs credibility loss: A second response from the CEO
- 2010/07/08: Pharyngula: PepsiCo has been expelled
- 2010/07/07: DM:Loom: Oh, Pepsi, What Hast Thou Wrought?
- 2010/07/07: TQP: So Long and Thanks For All the Fish!
- 2010/07/07: Atmoz: Pepsigate
- 2010/07/07: ClassM: Beyond the pale
- 2010/07/07: MTobis: Famous Last Words
- 2010/07/07: KSJT: ScienceBlogs trashes its bloggers' credibility.
- 2010/07/07: KSJT: ScienceBlogs trashes credibility: Leaked response from editor.
Who's getting the subsidies, tax exemptions, loan guarantees, grants...?
- 2010/07/08: CSM: Why India's fuel subsidies actually benefit the rich
- 2010/07/06: ClimateP: Turn Off the Oil Subsidy Spigot
- 2010/07/06: TEC: Renewed Call to end Oil Company Tax Breaks
- 2010/07/04: TWM: Putting oil industry subsidies on the table...
- 2010/07/03: NYT: As Oil Industry Fights a Tax, It Reaps Subsidies
The vilification and abuse of climate scientists is finally being reported:
- 2010/07/06: Guardian(UK): The hate emails sent to climate scientists - a collection
- 2010/07/05: DWWSJ: Science in America 2010- From The Guardian in London
- 2010/07/06: Deltoid: The hate mail campaign against climate scientists, part 2
- 2010/07/05: TCoE: Deniers on parade, again -- US climate scientists receive hate mail barrage in wake of UEA scandal
- 2010/07/05: CSW: Leading US climate scientists are being subjected to a barrage of right-wing lunatic hate mail
- 2010/07/05: Guardian(UK): US climate scientists receive hate mail barrage in wake of UEA scandal
Vitriolic campaign targets American scientists following leak of climate unit emails - 2010/07/05: PBL: [link to 1.9 meg pdf] Assessing an IPCC assessment. An analysis of statements on projected regional impacts in the 2007 report
- 2010/07/05: PBL: Key findings of IPCC on regional climate-change impacts overall considered well founded
- 2010/07/06: ERabett: Bart can retire - Part I [NEAA report]
- 2010/07/06: KSJT: Times, Time Mag, AP: Dutch list mistakes in climate report, say overall message unchanged. Media don't all see it that way.
- 2010/07/05: BBC:RB: Dutch courage for climate mainstream
- 2010/07/06: CBC: Dutch take blame for UN climate report error -- Despite errors in report, fundamental message sound
- 2010/07/05: Guardian(UK): Review of questioned IPCC report says conclusions 'well-founded'
Dutch government finds minor inaccuracies in contested paper, but reasserts that 'climate change poses "substantial risks" to most parts of the world' - 2010/07/05: ClimateP: Dutch assessment of IPCC: "Overall the summary conclusions are considered well founded and none were found to contain any significant errors."
- 2010/07/05: NatureN: Few fishy facts found in climate report -- Dutch investigation supports key warnings from the IPCC's most recent assessment
- 2010/07/05: BBC: Dutch [NEAA aka PBL] review backs UN climate panel report
A Dutch inquiry into the UN's climate science panel has found "no errors that would undermine the main conclusions" on probable impacts of climate change. However, it says the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) should be more transparent in its workings. The Dutch parliament asked for the inquiry after two mistakes were identified in the IPCC's 2007 report. The inquiry is the latest in a series that have largely backed "mainstream" climate science against detractors. - 2010/07/05: PhysOrg: Dutch agency admits mistake in UN climate report
A leading Dutch environmental agency, taking the blame for one of the glaring errors that undermined the credibility of a seminal U.N. report on climate change, said Monday it has discovered more small mistakes and urged the panel to be more careful. But the review by the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency claimed that none of the errors effected the fundamental conclusion by U.N. panel of scientists: that global warming caused by humans already is happening and is threatening the lives and well-being of millions of people. - The Independent Climate Change Email Review
- 2010/07/07: RealClimate: The Muir-Russell report
- 2010/07/11: HotTopic: Climategate: the missing context
The Muir Russell report into the "climategate" email affair has its good parts (the seven points on page 154 make certain prominent CRU critics and their "free the data" campaign look -- how shall I put it -- less than competent, more than disingenuous), but it also exemplifies a key failing of all the investigations that have exonerated Phil Jones and his team. It makes no attempt to examine the real context for the theft of the emails and their use as a pre-Copenhagen propaganda tool. - 2010/07/09: BobPark: What's New?
#2. Climategate: Climate Research Group is cleared sort of. - 2010/07/08: Crikey: The IPCC truth: flawed, but don't believe everything you read
- 2010/07/09: WtD: The chief lesson of Climategate: the depths of our naivety
- 2010/07/08: Stoat: A classic from the Climate Scum
- 2010/07/08: IJISH: Muir Russell report on CRU's computer network and security during the SwiftHack cyber-attack
- 2010/07/08: SolveClimate: Hacked Email Scientists Exonerated of Misconduct for a Third Time -- Russell Review declares scientific honesty and rigor 'not in doubt' but criticizes lack of openness
- 2010/07/08: ABC(Au): Climategate scientists cleared by British inquiry
- 2010/07/08: PlanetArk: UK Inquiry Finds Emails Do Not Undermine Climate Science
- 2010/07/07: ScienceInsider: Climate Guru Kevin Trenberth: Russell Report Went Easy on Skeptics
- 2010/07/07: ScienceInsider: Authoritative Skeptic John Christy: Russell Report 'Without Serious Merit'
- 2010/07/07: TerraDaily: British climate change scientists cleared of dishonesty
- 2010/07/08: Economist: Climate controversies -- Flawed scientists
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change needs reform. The case for climate action does not - 2010/07/08: ENS: Climategate Scientists Vindicated, 'Honesty Not in Doubt'
- 2010/07/08: Reuters: Climate scientists praise report on hacked email scandal
- 2010/07/07: RawStory: British climate scientists cleared of dishonesty
- 2010/07/07: TCoE: Climategate, again
- 2010/07/07: DeSmogBlog: Climategate Is Dead! Or Long Live Climategate?
- 2010/07/07: SEasterbrook: Another tiresome exoneration for climate science
- 2010/07/07: Guardian(UK): 'Climategate' review clears scientists of dishonesty over data
- 2010/07/07: Guardian(UK): Q&A: 'Climategate'
- 2010/07/07: Guardian(UK): Climate scientist vilified by sceptics 'relieved, vindicated' and back at CRU
Climate scientist Phil Jones to lead research at CRU after third independent report clears his name and backs his science - 2010/07/07: Guardian(UK): 'Climategate' review: verdict
- 2010/07/07: Guardian(UK): 'Climategate' report: the main points
From manipulating data to censoring articles, 150-page report clears scientists of main allegations against them - 2010/07/07: Guardian(UK): The 'climategate' inquiry at last vindicates Phil Jones -- and so must I
The UEA's climate science chief has been cleared: he was provoked beyond endurance. It was unfair to call for his resignation - 2010/08/07: Guardian(UK): Climate change: The science stands
Nothing about the so-called Climategate affair challenges the fact that climate change is real, urgent and increasing - 2010/07/08: Guardian(UK): Climategate scientists cleared of manipulating data on global warming
- 2010/07/07: IJISH: Sir Muir Russell: "Climategate" still dead; climate 'skeptics' start kangaroo inquiry into inquiries
- 2010/07/07: JEB: Muir Russell savages CRU!
- 2010/07/07: DeepClimate: Muir Russell report on CRU: "Their rigour and honesty as scientists is not in doubt"
- 2010/07/07: CCP: Phil Jones cleared and reinstated. Rigor and honesty of CRU climatologists not in doubt
- 2010/07/07: KSJT: Reuters, AAAS Science Insider, Time Mag, lots more : Will this never end? East Anglia climate emailers cleared yet again of sin.
- 2010/07/07: ClimateP: Final 'forensic' UK report on emails vindicates climate science and research underlying the Hockey Stick
- 2010/07/07: PhysOrg: 'Climategate' inquiry mostly vindicates scientists
- 2010/07/07: NatureN: UK climate data was not tampered with -- Science sound despite researchers' lack of openness, inquiry finds
- 2010/07/07: ScienceInsider: Michael Mann on Russell Review: 'We Can Now Put This Bogus, Manufactured Scandal Behind Us'
- 2010/07/07: ScienceInsider: East Anglia Climate Scientists Largely Cleared in Final Major Investigation
- 2010/07/07: Stoat: Yet more clearing
- 2010/07/07: Deltoid: Climate Scientists vindicated yet yet yet yet again
- 2010/07/07: NYT: British Panel Clears Climate Scientists
- 2010/07/07: CNN: 'Climategate' review clears scientists of dishonesty
Independent review clears scientists involved in the scandal - Climate skeptics claimed e-mails showed threat of global warming had been exaggerated - Head of Climatic Research Unit Professor Phil Jones stepped down during investigation - Jones returns to university in new post of Director of Research - 2010/07/07: UCSUSA: Final University of East Anglia Report Clears Scientists
- 2010/07/07: NYT: British Panel Clears Climate Scientists
- 2010/07/07: TreeHugger: 3rd Major 'ClimateGate' Investigation Vindicates Scientists (Again)
- 2010/07/07: BBC: CRU climate scientists 'did not withold data'
Climate scientists at a top UK research unit have emerged from an inquiry with their reputations for honesty intact but with a lack of openness criticised. - 2010/07/06: BBC: Climate e-mail inquiry prepares to report
An inquiry into questions raised by the so-called ClimateGate affair will release its conclusions on Wednesday. The Independent Climate Change Email Review was commissioned by the UK's University of East Anglia following the hacking of emails from its servers. - 2010/07/06: Guardian(UK): The climate science scapegoats
Today's report into the hacked climate science emails follows two previous investigations that cleared the scientists involved of fraud and corruption, but with charges of secrecy upheld - 2010/07/07: Yahoo:Reuters: UK inquiry finds emails do not undermine climate science
- 2010/07/05: NewScientist:CL: The climate scandal that never was
Post CRU theft, controversy & inquiry:
- 2010/07/11: MTobis: NYTimes Hopes for Better from NYTimes
- 2010/07/09: MTobis: More Journalism Like This, Please
- 2010/07/08: MoD: Climategate: The scandal that wasn't, Part 3
- 2010/07/08: HotTopic: Climategate's final fizzle
- 2010/07/08: Guardian(UK): How has 'Climategate' affected the battle against climate change?
- 2010/07/08: CSM: Climate scientists exonerated in 'climategate' but public trust damaged
- 2010/07/08: BBC:RB: Climate data: what's hidden?
- 2010/07/07: FDL: Truth moves slowly, while bullshit travels at the speed of sound
The complicity of the media in playing up the climategate controversy is relevant:
- 2010/07/08: CJR: Shameful Obstinacy at The Sunday Times -- Paper finally retracts Amazongate, aggressive-blondes articles
- 2010/07/08: NRDC:SwitchBoard: News Media Complicity With Climate Science Deniers
- 2010/07/08: WtD: The end of Climategate: review finds no scandal, now will Andrew Bolt retract his statements?
- 2010/07/07: S&R: Mainstream media joins Climategate whitewash [Russell]
- 2010/07/06: ClimateShifts: Poor journalism plagues The Australian front page yet again.
- 2010/07/06: ClimateP: UK Telegraph retracts and apologies for bogus Tata story, but doesn't apologize to Pachauri for smear
- 2010/07/06: NewScientist: Climate change report is 'reliable but flawed' [Pearce]
- 2010/06/13: Telegraph(UK): Tata- an Apology
- 2010/07/05: BCLSB: Another Media Retraction [from Telegraph]
- 2010/07/05: JEB: It's the end of the world as we know it!
It is distressing to see how little recognition there yet is that FOI was used a weapon:
- 2010/07/07: NewScientist: Climategate inquiry: no deceit, too little cooperation [Pearce]
- 2010/07/07: ScienceInsider: Russell Review Calls for More Openness in Climate Science
- 2010/07/07: BBC:MR: Climate e-mails review condemns lack of openness [FOI attack]
- 2010/07/07: CBC: 'Climategate' scientists honest: report -- But climate researchers at University of East Anglia weren't open enough, inquiry finds
The Arctic melt continues to garner a lot of attention:
- 2010/07/10: ASI: Sea ice extent update 14: back to the 30's
- 2010/07/09: BBC: Feeling the heat: Unlocking the Arctic's frozen secrets
Forecasts suggest that this year will see the amount of sea ice in the Arctic retreat to one of the lowest extents since satellite records began. So what will be the impact of an Arctic devoid of sea-ice during the summer in the future? Science writer Richard Hollingham has joined a scientific expedition trying to find out. - 2010/07/06: NSIDC: Rapid ice loss continues through June
- 2010/07/07: ASI: Sea ice extent update 13: closing in
- 2010/07/06: CCP: NSIDC Arctic Sea Ice Report, July 6, 2010: Rapid ice loss continues through June
- 2010/07/06: ClimateP: NSIDC: In June, Arctic sea ice saw lowest extent and fastest rate of decline in the satellite record
- 2010/07/06: NatureTGB: The Bering Sea Project: Phytoplankton, micropoop, and the bottom of the food chain
- 2010/07/05: ASI: Sea ice extent update 12: taking it slow
- 2010/07/05: SkeptiSci: Arctic Ice Part 2: A Review of Factors Contributing to the Recent Decline in Arctic Ice
As for the charismatic megafauna:
- 2010/07/08: Yale360: For Hudson Bay Polar Bears, The End is Already in Sight
The polar bear has long been a symbol of the damage wrought by global warming, but now biologist Andrew Derocher and his colleagues have calculated how long one southerly population can hold out. Their answer? No more than a few decades, as the bears' decline closely tracks that of the Arctic's disappearing sea ice. - 2010/07/05: SciNews: Methane releases in Arctic seas could wreak devastation -- Potential impacts include dead zones, acidification, shifts at the base of the ocean's food chain
Massive releases of methane from arctic seafloors could create oxygen-poor dead zones, acidify the seas and disrupt ecosystems in broad parts of the northern oceans, new preliminary analyses suggest. Such a cascade of geochemical and ecological ills could result if global warming triggers a widespread release of methane from deep below the Arctic seas, scientists propose in the June 28 Geophysical Research Letters. - 2010/07/09: Guardian(UK): Cairn Energy's Arctic oil drilling plan condemned as irresponsible -- Greenpeace urges Cairn Energy to halt oil plans off Greenland
- 2010/07/10: CanWest: New Arctic shipping regulations draw fire
Carriers pan 'drastic' system. Stricter rules could impede ship movements, organization says
The federal government's tough new rules regulating Arctic shipping have drawn fire from the largest international association of maritime cargo carriers, which describes the mandatory registration system introduced by Canada on July 1 as "drastic" and a potential threat to the long-standing "right to innocent passage" on the world's oceans. BIMCO, the Denmark based Baltic and International Maritime Council, includes companies accounting for 65 per cent of the cargo shipped annually around the world. - 2010/07/08: CBC: Deepwater oil exploration too risky: NDP -- Gulf of Mexico disaster brings new scrutiny to N.L. industry
While in Antarctica:
- 2010/07/08: CCP: More on the Pine Island Glacier (PIG) melting and acceleration mechanisms -- Exploring ice shelves
The food crisis is ongoing:
- 2010/07/09: RadioAustralia: Wild weather could tip global food bowl
Extreme weather patterns across Asia are raising concerns about a new global food crisis. Climate scientists say recent floods and droughts have lead to below average crop yields across Asia. And they warn the flow on affect will be a rise in food prices and an increase in hunger among the world's poor. - 2010/07/09: BBC: Food for thought on 'Fish Debt Day'
- 2010/07/08: CBC: $450M pledged for flooded-out Prairie farmers
- 2010/07/08: BWeek: Soybean Yields to Drop on Climate, Ozone, U.S. Researcher Says
- 2010/07/07: ABC(Au): Victorian farmers' grain crops are under a double pest attack, first from locusts and then from mice.
- 2010/07/07: ABC(Au): Frost in cropping districts of South Australia is giving farmers another headache, as many already deal with outbreaks of plagues and mice
- 2010/07/05: BBC: Climate change 'bringing new crops' to South East
Rising temperatures could see lemons and sunflowers being grown as crops in the South East, a Kent agricultural college has predicted. - 2010/07/06: PhysOrg: Hunger atlas takes a new look at an old problem
- 2010/07/06: CSM: What Burma (Myanmar) needs to fill its rice bowl
- 2010/07/02: Asia Times: Drought threatens global rice supply
Thailand and Vietnam, the world's two largest rice exporters, face severe drought conditions that threaten to severely undermine this year's crops and global supplies. Climate change and El Nino are variously being blamed for the unusually hot weather and lack of rainfall, which began with an early end to last year's tropical rainy season. - 2010/07/05: ABC(Au): Mouse plague 'worse than drought'
Hundreds of thousands of hectares of new crops have been devoured across South Australia, Victoria and Western Australia in the worst mouse plague since 1993. - 2010/07/05: PeakEnergy: How Goldman gambled on starvation
- 2010/07/05: AllAfrica: ZimStandard: Zimbabwe: Food Shortages to Worsen in Drought-Prone Areas
Look out! the IP Rentiers are coming!
- 2010/07/07: ScienceInsider: European Ruling Curbs Monsanto's Claims on GM Crops
- 2010/07/07: SlashDot: Avoiding GM Foods? Monsanto Says You're Overly Fussy
- 2010/07/06: BBC: Fussy eaters - what's wrong with GM food?
With the world's food security facing a looming "perfect storm", GM food crops need to be part of the solution, argues Professor Jonathan Jones. In this week's Green Room, he wonders why there is such a fuss about biotechnology when it can help deliver a sustainable global food system. - 2010/07/06: NatureTGB: DNA patent ruling balks Monsanto
The FAO has opened the world's largest database of food, hunger and agricultural information:
- FAO: FAOSTAT provides time-series and cross sectional data relating to food and agriculture for some 200 countries
- 2010/07/09: FAO: FAO provides free access to statistics treasure trove [FAOSTAT]
World's largest database of food, hunger and agricultural information now fully accessible online - 2010/07/09: UN: UN agency opens up access to [FAOSTAT] largest database of hunger statistics
And how are we going to feed 9 billion?
- 2010/07/11: Eureka: Red hot chili peppers arrive in sub-zero Arctic Seed Vault
US seed collection delivers valuable varieties of chili peppers and hundreds of sorghum varieties, an essential 'climate ready' crop - 2010/07/07: AlterNet:SE: What Really Is 'Sustainable Food'?
- 2010/07/07: PhysOrg: What plant genes tell us about crop domestication
- 2010/07/02: AlterNet: Global Food Problems Are About Justice Not Scarcity by Frances Moore Lappe
- 2010/07/06: CCP: Global fishery development patterns are driven by profit but not trophic level, PNAS 107, Suresh A. Sethi, Trevor A. Branch & Reg Watson
- 2010/07/06: Rutgers: Rutgers Researchers Discover Secrets of Nutritious Corn Breed That Withstands Rigors of Handling
- 2010/07/05: CBC: Canada, China sign $130M wheat deal
- 2009/09/: MoJo: Looks Great, Less Nutritious? What's changed in the vitamin content of store-bought broccoli, tomatoes, and carrots.
A Tropical Depression in the gulf, otherwise it has been relatively quiet:
- 2010/07/09: Eureka: NASA satellites see high, cold thunderstorm cloud tops in Tropical Depression 2
- 2010/07/08: Wunderground: Tropical Depression Two Along South Texas Coast
- 2010/07/08: Wunderground: Invest 96L: Organizing in the Gulf
- 2010/07/07: PhysOrg: GOES-13 satellite sees elongated system 96L getting organized
- 2010/07/07: Wunderground: Invest 96L: Not Looking So Good
While elsewhere in the hurricane wars:
- 2010/07/08: NASA:JPL: NASA to Fly Into Hurricane Research this Summer
- 2010/07/06: DM:CCM: Somewhat Tardy Reflections on Hurricane Alex
- 2010/07/06: Wunderground: Invest 95L Brushes Louisiana Coastline
- 2010/07/06: CBC: Hurricanes forecast to be bigger, more frequent -- La Nina creating conditions for powerful storms
And on the Monsoon front:
- 2010/07/09: EarthTimes: 15 killed in monsoon-driven floods in northern India
As for GHGs:
- 2010/07/09: Reuters: EU sets 2013 industry CO2 cap at 1.927 bln tonnes
Greenhouse gas emissions from heavy industry currently regulated under the European Union's Emissions Trading Scheme will be capped at 1,926,876,368 tonnes of carbon dioxide in 2013, the EU Commission said on Friday. - 2010/07/08: TCoE: Latest CO2 data: NOAA is gonna need a bigger graph
- 2010/07/08: BBC: How methane is measured with a 'burp gun'
- 2010/07/07: TreeHugger: China No Longer a Developing Nation - Per Capita Carbon Emissions Higher Than France's
- 2010/07/06: NBF: Ranking US Electric Power Companies by Emissions
As for the temperature record:
- 2010/07/10: ClimateP: NASA: First half of 2010 breaks the thermometer -- despite "recent minimum of solar irradiance"
- 2010/07/10: DWWSJ: June 2010 Ties 2006 for 3rd Warmest on Record
- 2010/07/08: BBerg: World on Track for Warmest Year on Record in 2010, U.S. Scientist Says
- 2010/07/09: ABC(Au): 2010 on track to be hottest year
Last year was the second warmest on record, and this year could be the planet's hottest, according to a forecast from the Bureau of Meteorology, which says uncharacteristically warm conditions are being felt across the northern hemisphere. - 2010/07/08: Grist: New report suggests more record heat for U.S. this decade and beyond
- 2010/07/09: NOAANews: U.S. Had Eighth Warmest June on Record, Above-Normal Precipitation
- 2010/07/08: Cleveland: Scientists say we'd better get used to sweating out heat waves
- 2010/07/08: UCSUSA: Climate Change is Hazardous to Your Health, Scientist Say -- Heatwaves to Become the Norm; Some Regions Could Become too Hot and Humid for Humans
- 2010/07/09: TreeHugger: More Frequent Extreme Heatwaves Commonplace Across the US by 2040
- 2010/07/06: GreenFyre: 303
- 2010/07/06: SkeptiSci: Tai Chi Temperature Reconstructions by Peter Hogarth
Aerosols are making their presence felt:
- 2010/07/09: PhysOrg: The aerosols conundrum: Research shows that aerosols not only cool, but also heat the planet
While in the paleoclimate:
- 2010/07/09: NewScientist: Soaring Arctic temperatures -- a warning from history
- 2010/07/08: PhysOrg: The North Pacific, a global backup generator for past climate change
Toward the end of the last ice age, a major reorganization took place in the current system of the North Pacific with far-reaching implications for climate, according to a new study published in the July 9, 2010, issue of Science by an international team of scientists from Japan, Hawaii, and Belgium. - 2010/07/07: NewScientist: Prehistoric humans may have pushed climate change
- 2010/07/06: ABC(Au): Stalagmites unlock climate history
Scientists are unlocking the climate history of South Eastern Australia, by analysing 1,000 year old stalagmites. Previously scientists used climate records dating back around 150 years, to analyse drought and rainfall patterns and help with water management and planning. The stalagmites in Wombeyan Caves in New South Wales provide a 1,000 year rainfall record. - 2010/07/05: CCP: Significantly warmer Arctic surface temperatures during the Pliocene indicated by multiple independent proxies by A. P. Ballantyne et al., Geology, 38 (July 2010)
While on the ENSO front:
- 2010/07/06: WMO: El Niño/La Niña Update
Following the rapid dissipation of the 2009/10 El Niño in early May 2010, a brief period of neutral conditions prevailed, leading to the current state of borderline La Niña conditions. These borderline conditions are more likely than not to strengthen to become a basin-wide La Niña episode during the second half of 2010. It is also possible, but less likely, for neutral conditions to prevail during the remainder of 2010. Re-development of El Niño during the period is considered very unlikely. - 2010/07/08: NOAA:NCEP: El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) Diagnostic Discussion
Synopsis: La Niña conditions are likely to develop during July - August 2010 - 2010/07/07: PlanetArk: La Nina Expected In Pacific This Year: WMO
- 2010/07/06: UN: UN meteorological agency reports end to El Niño pattern over the Pacific
- 2010/07/06: PhysOrg: La Nina likely to develop in coming months: UN weather body
Regarding solar issues:
- 2010/07/08: DWWSJ: Stormy Sun May Be About To Cause Trouble
Regarding Climate Sensitivity:
- 2010/07/08: SkeptiSci: Is Willis wrong at WUWT? or Sensitivity and Sensibility II
- 2010/07/07: SkeptiSci: Is Willis Wrong at WUWT? or Sensitivity and Sensibility I by Mark Richardson
Meanwhile in near earth orbit:
- 2010/07/08: Yale360: High Above the Earth, Satellites Track Melting Ice
The surest sign of a warming Earth is the steady melting of its ice zones, from disappearing sea ice in the Arctic to shrinking glaciers worldwide. Now, scientists are using increasingly sophisticated satellite technology to measure the extent, thickness, and height of ice, assembling an essential picture of a planet in transition. - 2010/07/10: DWWSJ: A Story About Science - (How rising greenhouse gases are increasing the risk of the ISS hitting space junk.)
- 2010/07/09: StarTrib: Great lake warms up
Long notorious for its bone-chilling frigidity, Lake Superior is far warmer than normal, and could be headed for record-setting high temperatures later this summer. - 2010/07/09: PhysOrg: Redwood forest ecosystem of northern California depends on fog to stay hydrated during rainless summers
- 2010/07/08: ABC(Au): Global warming could make it tough for crocs
- 2010/07/07: TP:WR: Climate Scientist: Even Without 'Very Likely' Feedback Loops, Warming Will Be 'Substantial And Critical'
- 2010/07/07: Guardian(UK): Over 25% of flowers face extinction -- many before they are even discovered
- 2010/07/07: NewScientist: Climate change could drive crocs out of the water
- 2010/07/07: Eureka: Thousands of undiscovered plant species face extinction
- 2010/07/06: CBC: Northward-bound bugs studied -- 'Excellent barometers for environmental change'
Canadian researchers have scattered across the North this summer to study insects not normally found in the region, like wasps and hornets, and figure out how those bugs got to the Arctic in the first place. Biologist Donna Giberson of the University of Prince Edward Island has set up teams of graduate students in various northern communities to collect insects. - 2010/07/06: ISU: Changing climate could alter meadows' ecosystems, says ISU researcher
- 2010/07/05: NewScientist: Warm climates boost bird beak size
And then there are the world's forests:
- 2010/07/08: MongaBay: Controversial changes to Brazilian forest law passes first barrier
- 2010/07/07: TerraDaily: Paper's toll on Indonesia's rainforests
- 2010/07/08: BBC: European Parliament bans illegal timber
- 2010/07/07: PlanetArk: Q+A: Indonesia Issues Draft Rules On Forest Clearing
- 2010/07/07: NatureTGB: Proposal to scale back Brazilian forest code advances
- 2010/07/07: EarthTimes: EU to ban illegal timber from 2012
- 2010/07/07: MSU: First research trip across western Amazon yields surprising results
- 2010/07/06: CCP: R. A. Betts et al., Role of ecosystem-atmosphere interactions in simulated Amazonian precipitation decrease and forest dieback under global climate warming [Note from June 2004]
- 2010/07/06: CCP: P. M. Cox et al., Amazonian forest dieback under climate-carbon cycle projections for the 21st century [Note from June 2004]
- 2010/07/06: CCP: Large parts of Amazon predicted to become desert by 2100
- 2010/07/05: NYT: Indonesian Firm Accused of Clearing Rain Forests
- 2010/07/06: EarthTimes: Greenpeace accuses [Asia Pulp and Paper Co.] paper firm of destroying Indonesian forest
- 2010/07/05: PhysOrg: Scientists study global warming's effect on California redwoods
Desertification looms as a threat:
- 2010/07/07: CCurrents: Greening The Desert; Eritrea's Manzanar Mangrove Miracle
About that Saskatchewan tornado:
- 2010/07/05: CBC: Sask. tornado confirmed as F3
- 2010/07/04: CBC: Saskatchewan tornado stronger than thought -- Winds estimated at 300 km/h [F3]
As for heatwaves and wild fires:
- 2010/07/09: CBC: Montreal death rate jumps during heat wave
The first heat wave of the summer in Quebec has had fatal consequences, according to Montreal public health authorities. - 2010/07/08: TerraDaily: National park under threat from Pantanal wild fire [on the border of Bolivia, Paraguay and Brazil]
- 2010/07/09: ENS: Climate Change Means More Heatwaves, Premature Deaths, Scientists Warn
- 2010/07/07: TerraDaily: Bolivia wildfire threatens world's largest wetland
- 2010/07/07: TerraDaily: China on heatwave alert as temperatures soar
- 2010/07/08: Eureka: Heat waves could be commonplace in the US by 2039, Stanford study finds
- 2010/07/07: SolveClimate: Extreme Heat, a Public Health Emergency, Will Be More Frequent and Severe
- 2010/07/07: CTV: Extreme heat wave example of climate change: expert
- 2010/07/07: Wunderground: The Northeast Heatwave
- 2010/07/06: CCentral: Record-Breaking Heat
- 2010/07/07: CSM: Global heat wave hits US, reignites climate change debate
- 2010/07/07: BBC: The eastern US and parts of Canada are in the grip of a heatwave which is straining power grids and forcing some residents to seek shelter in city cooling centres
- 2010/07/07: CBC: No heat relief for Ontario, Quebec -- High temperatures hitting parts of New Brunswick
- 2010/07/06: BBC: Beijing boils in China's record heatwave
- 2010/07/05: TerraDaily: Hundreds of Russians die from drowning during heatwave
- 2010/07/06: CSM: Heat wave: Triple-digit temperatures push East Coast to pools, malls
- 2010/07/06: CBC: Hot, hazy weather blankets Ont., Quebec -- 'You can almost cut the air, it's so humid': climatologist
- 2010/07/05: CNN: Blistering heat expected in Northeast
National Weather Service issues excessive-heat advisory for several northeastern cities - Triple digit temperatures that could trigger "a dangerous situation," weather officials said. - Tuesday is expected to be the hottest day - 2010/07/05: ClimateP: We're having a heat wave. New daily high temperature records beat new cold records by nearly 5 to 1 in June
[...]
... the global record temperatures we're seeing now are especially impressive because we've been in "the deepest solar minimum in nearly a century." - 2010/07/05: CBC: Hot weather hits Ontario, Quebec
Acidification is changing the oceans:
- 2010/07/07: CCP: Replenishment of fish populations is threatened by ocean acidification, PNAS, P. L. Munday et al.
- 2010/07/06: CoralCOE: Carbon emissions threaten fish populations
Glaciers are melting:
- 2010/07/06: CSM: Melting ice reveals ancient atlatl dart
- 2010/07/05: IrishTimes: Melting ice fields pose serious threat to water supply in Asia
Sea levels are rising:
- 2010/07/08: EnergyBulletin: The rising sea
- 2010/07/07: ABC(Au): Expert issues sea level warning
A lead author of the next international climate change assessment says his ice research supports predictions of a doubling in the rate of sea-level rise over the next century. Professor Tim Naish, director of New Zealand's Antarctic Research Centre, has been appointed a lead author of the next assessment by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. - 2010/07/07: ABC(Au): Government plays down rising sea level projections
The Federal Government says it is too soon to act on the latest projections of a doubling in the rate of sea level rise within a century. - 2010/07/10: CNN: Heavy rains cause flash floods in greater Boston area
Storms cause flash flooding in eastern Massachusetts - Several cars stuck in water in Somerville area - Floodwaters cause delays for mass transit system - 2010/07/11: BBC: Children survive Mexican floods by sheltering in tree
Rescuers looking for flood survivors in northern Mexico have found two girls clinging to the branches of a tree. The children who are nine and 10 years old were forced to seek refuge there during flooding. They told rescue workers they had spent almost four days there without food and water. - 2010/07/10: Wunderground: Flooding Continues Along the Rio Grande [video]
- 2010/07/10: EarthTimes: Flooded Romanian provinces continue to be battered by rain
- 2010/07/07: Examiner: Rio Grande flood causes evacution of Texas homes, death of Mexican mayor
- 2010/07/09: CBC: U.S.-Mexico border towns brace for flood
A strong storm dumped rain on the already high Rio Grande River with those living downstream on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border bracing for a torrent of water. That flood has already led to the closure of two international bridges and evacuations on both sides of the border further up the river. - 2010/07/07: TerraDaily: Romanians brace for Danube flood peak
- 2010/07/08: BBC: Colombian city of Barranquilla hit by powerful floods
- 2010/07/06: EarthTimes: EU emergencies commissioner to visit Romania as flood surge nears
- 2010/07/05: TerraDaily: Romania issues flooding red alert on the Danube
- 2010/07/05: EurActiv: EU countries send assistance to flood-hit Romania
- 2010/07/04: CBC: Peguis flooding forces residents out
Consider transportation & GHG production:
- 2010/07/09: G&M: Clean-fuel rules may prompt cruise line to bypass Canada
Industry asks Transport Canada to consider economic impact of requiring low-sulphur fuel within 200 miles of shore A British cruise line has said it will likely drop its Canada-New England itinerary as a result of requirements to use cleaner fuel within 200 nautical miles of North American shores, according to industry reports. - 2010/07/04: NYT: Airlines Fret as Emission Rules in Europe Are Set to Kick In
While in the endless quest for zero energy, sustainable buildings and practical codes:
- 2010/07/08: PortlandTrib: New greenie goal: getting to net zero -- Filmmaker going to great lengths to retrofit his house
- 2010/07/06: OilDrum: Land coral: Mediterranean stone architecture - Implications for Sustainability
As for carbon sequestration:
- 2010/07/06: DOE: Research Projects to Convert Captured CO2 Emissions to Useful Products
Six Projects Selected by DOE Will Further Important Technologies for Helping Reduce CO2 Emissions and Mitigate Climate Change - 2010/07/07: CCentral: Would Leaky Underground CO2 Storage Still Help Avoid Global Warming?
- 2010/07/07: DOE: Ten Projects Selected by DOE to Advance State-of-the-Art Carbon Capture from Coal Power Plants
Large scale geo-engineering keeps popping up:
- 2010/07/08: DemNow: A Debate on Geoengineering: Vandana Shiva vs. Gwynne Dyer
- 2010/07/07: CCurrents: The Link Between BP, Geoengineering And GM
- 2010/07/06: Independent(UK): How to regulate climate control
Scientists are trying to regulate the weather with ambitious experiments that may even tackle global warming. Is this a great step forward -- or will it simply let the worst polluters off the hook? - 2010/07/05: NERC:NORA: Ice and ocean processes in the Bellingshausen Sea, Antarctica by Paul Holland et al.
- 2010/07/05: NERC:NORA: Modeling of El Nino Events Using a Simple Model by V. N. Stepanov
- 2010/07/06: NERC:NORA: Above ground biomass is not consistently related to wood density in tropical forests by James C. Stegen et al.
- 2010/07/07: NERC:NORA: Sources of variability in estimates of greenhouse gas emissions and energy requirements for biofuel production by Jeanette Whitaker et al.
- 2010/07/07: NERC:NORA: Variability of the meridional transport processes in the Southern Ocean and its possible relation to El Nino by V.N. Stepanov
- 2010/07/07: NERC:NORA: The role of sea ice formation in cycling of aluminium in northern Marguerite Bay, Antarctica by Katharine R. Hendry et al.
- 2010/07/09: ACP: Spectroscopic studies of molecular iodine emitted into the gas phase by seaweed by S. M. Ball et al.
- 2010/07/09: ACP: Microphysical variability in southeast Pacific Stratocumulus clouds: synoptic conditions and radiative response by D. Painema & P. Zuidema
- 2010/07/09: ACP: Measured and modeled humidification factors of fresh smoke particles from biomass burning: role of inorganic constituents by J. L. Hand et al.
- 2010/07/09: ACPD: Suppression of warm rain by aerosols in rain-shadow areas of India by M. Konwar et al.
- 2010/07/09: ACPD: A model study on the influence of overshooting convection on TTL water vapour by M. E. E. Hassim & T. P. Lane
- 2010/07/07: TCD: Understanding snow-transport processes shaping the mountain snow-cover by R. Mott et al.
- 2010/07/09: OSD: Stability and forcing of the Iceland-Faroe inflow of water, heat, and salt to the Arctic by B. Hansen et al.
- 2010/07/05: CP: The Southern Hemisphere semiannual oscillation and circulation variability during the Mid-Holocene by D. Ackerley & J. A. Renwick
- 2010/07/09: CPD: A ~400 ka supra-Milankovitch cycle in the Na, Mg, Pb, Ni, and Co records of a ferromanganese crust from the Vityaz fracture zone, central Indian ridge by R. Banerjee et al.
- 2010/07/07: CPD: Variations of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation in control and transient simulations of the last millennium by D. Hofer et al.
- 2010/07/01: Geology: (abs) Significantly warmer Arctic surface temperatures during the Pliocene indicated by multiple independent proxies by A.P. Ballantyne et al.
- 2010/07/09: Science: (ab$) Deepwater Formation in the North Pacific During the Last Glacial Termination by Y. Okazaki et al.
- 2010/07/08: ACP: Regional-scale geostatistical inverse modeling of North American CO2 fluxes: a synthetic data study by S. M. Gourdji et al.
- 2010/07/07: ACP: Interpreting the cloud cover - aerosol optical depth relationship found in satellite data using a general circulation model by J. Quaas et al.
- 2010/07/05: ACP: The impact of the 1783-1784 AD Laki eruption on global aerosol formation processes and cloud condensation nuclei by A. Schmidt et al.
- 2010/07/05: ACP: Anthropogenic aerosol radiative forcing in Asia derived from regional models with atmospheric and aerosol data assimilation by C. E. Chung et al.
- 2010/07/05: ACP: Geoengineering by stratospheric SO2 injection: results from the Met Office HadGEM2 climate model and comparison with the Goddard Institute for Space Studies ModelE by A. Jones et al.
- 2010/07/05: ACP: Comparison of UV irradiances from Aura/Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) with Brewer measurements at El Arenosillo (Spain) - Part 1: Analysis of parameter influence by M. Antón et al.
- 2010/07/08: ACPD: Irreversible loss of ice nucleation active sites in mineral dust particles caused by sulphuric acid condensation by R. C. Sullivan et al.
- 2010/07/07: ACPD: Residual circulation trajectories and transit times into the extratropical lowermost stratosphere by T. Birner & H. Bönisch
- 2010/07/06: ACPD: Aerosols indirectly warm the Arctic by T. Mauritsen et al.
- 2010/07/05: ACPD: Modeling of photolysis rates over Europe: impact on chemical gaseous species and aerosols by E. Real & K. Sartelet
- 2010/07/06: PNAS: Survival differences and the effect of environmental instability on breeding dispersal in an Adélie penguin meta-population by Katie M. Dugger et al.
- 2010/07/06: PNAS: Global fishery development patterns are driven by profit but not trophic level by Suresh A. Sethi et al.
- 2010/07/06: PNAS: Expert credibility in climate change by William R. L. Anderegg et al.
- 2010/07/06: PNAS: Abrupt change of Antarctic moisture origin at the end of Termination II by V. Masson-Delmotte et al.
- 2010/07/05: Science: (ab$) Global Convergence in the Temperature Sensitivity of Respiration at Ecosystem Level by Miguel D. Mahecha et al.
- 2009/02/26: PNAS: Assessing dangerous climate change through an update of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) "reasons for concern" by Joel B. Smith et al.
- 2010/06/26: GRL: (ab$) Geochemistry of clathrate-derived methane in Arctic ocean waters by Scott Elliott et al.
And other significant documents:
- 2010/07/05: PBL: [link to 1.9 meg pdf] Assessing an IPCC assessment. An analysis of statements on projected regional impacts in the 2007 report
- [link to 1.9 meg pdf] The Independent Climate Change Email Review
As for miscellaneous science:
- 2010/07/10: MTobis: Jaworowski Refutation
- 2010/07/10: UCSUSA: UCS Mounts New National Ad Campaign to Bring Climate Scientists' Personal Stories Directly to the Public
- 2010/07/06: SEasterbrook: Tracking down the uncertainties in weather and climate prediction
- 2010/07/06: TerraDaily: Nitrogen Pollution Alters Global Change Scenarios From The Ground Up
- 2010/07/02: UPittsburgh: Pitt-Based Researchers Devise Technique to Predict Dust Storms With Infrared Satellite, Shows Potential for Global Monitoring
- 2010/07/05: NatureN: Journals step up plagiarism policing -- Cut-and-paste culture tackled by CrossCheck software
- 2010/07/05: OilDrum: Arrogance and Scientific Rules of Thumb
Whittington obit:
- 2010/07/08: Guardian(UK): Harry Whittington obituary -- Palaeontologist who advanced knowledge of the origins of animal diversity
Pielke, alas:
- 2010/07/05: MTobis: Roger Jr's Top Ten Opinions
While at the UN:
- 2010/07/10: DM:CCM: "Keep a Distance From the Media"...a letter from the IPCC...
- 2010/07/08: BizGreen: Christiana Figueres takes the reins at UN climate secretariat
- 2010/07/07: CCurrents: Millennium Goals Revisited: Noble Ideas, And Feel-Good Moments
- 2010/07/05: NewScientist: Rio hopes of conservation cash were never met
And on the carbon trading front:
- 2010/07/06: TTKN: CDM Panel Calls for Investigation Over Carbon Market Scandal
- 2010/07/05: PlanetArk: Kyoto May Push Factories To Pollute More: U.N. Report
- 2010/07/04: HindustanTimes: UN panel recommendation may make India lose half carbon credits
The idea of a carbon tax is still bouncing around:
- 2010/07/07: Rice: Researchers calculate the cost of CO2 emissions, call for carbon tax
- 2010/07/06: BCLSB: Because The Answers Are Always The Same
- 2010/07/05: TStar: It's time to talk carbon taxes
Canadians, if they're truly interested in the country's long-term prosperity and global competitiveness, have to start banging the pots and beating the drums on the issue of carbon pricing. - 2010/07/06: EurActiv: Hungary's banks reeling after government tax
Meanwhile on the international political front:
- 2010/07/07: Reuters: Western Climate group [WCI] sees carbon cuts and savings
Plans could produce $100 billion in savings - Sees carbon price at $33 per tonne by 2020
A coalition of U.S. states and Canadian provinces planning a cap-and-trade market to curb carbon emissions, can meet their environmental goals and reap modest cost savings, a study released on Wednesday said. The analysis by the Western Climate Initiative (WCI) said the effort to foster a clean-energy economy can significantly reduce emissions of the greenhouse gases linked to climate change and achieve about $100 billion in net savings by 2010. - 2010/07/05: NatureTGB: Biodiversity aid lags in corrupt countries
As for GW, energy & security:
- 2010/07/09: C-a-S: The Climate Risk Spectrum
- 2010/07/08: DemNow: Gwynne Dyer on "Climate Wars: The Fight for Survival as the World Overheats"
- 2010/07/06: ClimateP: Video: Climate Change and National Security
- 2010/07/06: TreeHugger: How Climate Change is a Threat to National Security (Video)
The issue of the law and activism is playing out around the world:
- 2010/07/06: DemNow: Environmentalist [Ted Glick] Facing 3-Year Prison Sentence For Unfurling Banners in Senate Office Building
- 2010/07/06: RawStory: Environmentalist faces jail for hanging banner in Senate office building
- 2010/07/05: CDreams: Change? Green Jobs Advocate Faces Prison for Dropping Banner While BP and Massey Go Free?
The climate change and clean energy debates might have reached a new low--just ask the US Attorney General's office. Ted Glick, a legendary nonviolent advocate, who dropped a "Green Jobs Now" banner down the hallway of the Hart Senate Office Building last fall, goes to trial on Tuesday, July 6th, at the Superior Court in Washington, DC. He faces up to three years in prison. Three years for dropping a banner that reminds Congress to pursue green jobs and clean energy? - 2010/07/08: Yahoo:AP: 3 Greenpeace activists disrupt Israel-bound [coal] ship
- 2010/07/07: TreeHugger: Earth First! Activists Arrested Protesting Maine Wind Farm - 'It's Too Big'
Polls! We have polls!
- 2010/07/07: DM:CCM: More on that Smithsonian Poll: The Rise of Denial
- 2010/07/06: Scotsman: Big freeze changes minds on global warming
A third of Scots have changed their views on climate change due to the winter big freeze and the "climategate" scandal, a study for The Scotsman has revealed. More than 1,000 people in Scotland were questioned about their opinions on climate change and 72 per cent said they believed global warming was caused by human activity. - 2010/07/10: NYT: Arid Australia Sips Seawater, but at a Cost
- 2010/07/09: AlterNet: How a Tiny Town Sent an International Water Giant Packing
- 2010/07/08: TerraDaily: Ethiopia seeks to reassure Egypt over Nile waters
- 2010/07/08: EnergyBulletin: Improving the sustainability of water treatment systems: Opportunities for innovation
And on the American political front:
- 2010/07/11: OilDrum: Dear Candidate - What Will You Do if Growth Is Over...?
- 2010/07/09: Grist: California scheming -- The climate war's western front
- 2010/07/10: LA Times: California utilities struggle to meet renewable-power requirement
The three large investor-owned utilities have less than six months to comply with a law requiring them to procure 20% of retail electricity sales from clean sources. - 2010/07/08: LATimes:Tech: DWP [Department of Water and Power] financing plan would spur solar power and jobs in Southern California, business group says
- 2010/07/09: NRDC:SwitchBoard: The "new" ACCF Michigan report: recycling old bunk analysis
- 2010/07/08: NRDC:SwitchBoard: Turning the Page on Old Energy Policy
- 2010/07/09: NPR: An Oil Pipeline [Keystone XL] From Canada? Some Say 'No Way'
- 2010/07/09: TreeHugger: Yes, We Can Afford Clean Energy & Climate Legislation
- 2010/07/09: AutoBG: California extends unrestricted use of carpool lanes by EVs until 2015, removes hybrids
- 2010/07/08: SolveClimate: Battle Over California Climate Law Will Have National Ripple Effect -- Victory for Texas oil interests would squash forward progress of state's burgeoning clean energy economy
- 2010/07/08: Grist: California's photovoltaic push
- 2010/07/07: Grist: With cap-and-trade on the ropes, what's the next move for greens?
- 2010/07/06: Grist: Cash, jobs, and deficit reduction: a way forward on climate
- 2010/07/06: Grist: Winning on climate may require reforming the U.S. Senate
- 2010/07/06: TEC: Don't Let Texas Oil Companies Kill California Clean Tech!
- 2010/07/06: JuneauEmpire: Alaska editorial: Energy future
- 2010/07/05: SMandia: I am Tired of Being Charlie Brown. Are You?
- 2010/07/05: ClimateP: Bipartisan economists: Legislation Beats Regulation
- 2010/07/05: TreeHugger: Quote of the Day: Why America Needs to Free Itself From Oil
- 2010/07/04: CCP: John Kerry: Why I won't back down on climate change "Climate instability and our oil addiction present immediate, direct threats to America's national security."
The disaster in the gulf still has US politics in a vise:
- 2010/07/09: DemNow: Report: 27,000 Abandoned Wells Pose Threat to Gulf Coast
- 2010/07/09: DemNow: ProPublica: BP Texas Refinery Had Huge Toxic Release Just Before Gulf Blowout
- 2010/07/09: DemNow: Photographer Harassed by BP Security, Detained by Police While on Assignment at BP Texas Refinery
- 2010/07/07: ProPublica: ProPublica Photographer: I Was Followed by BP Security and Then Detained by Police
- 2010/07/07: ProPublica: When the Police Control the Press
- 2010/07/09: Suite101: The Gulf Spill -- The Battle over the Drilling Moratorium
- 2010/07/08: SF Gate: Legal showdown over drilling moratorium looms
The oil industry and Obama administration are set to face off in a New Orleans federal appeals court today in the latest round of a high-stakes legal battle over the drilling ban that has idled deep-water rigs across the Gulf of Mexico. The White House and environmentalists are asking the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans to reinstate the drilling moratorium or risk a devastating repeat of the April 20 Deepwater Horizon explosion that killed 11 workers and unleashed the spill at BP's exploratory well in the Gulf of Mexico. - 2010/07/07: DJID: No Free Press for BP Oil Disaster
- 2010/07/07: AlterNet: Freelance Photographer: 'I Was Followed by BP Security and Then Detained by Police'
- 2010/07/06: TP:WR: BP Slated To Claim $600 Million In Ethanol Tax Credits This Year
- 2010/07/07: DemNow: Media Clampdown in the Gulf Coast: Government and BP Place More Restrictions on Journalists Covering the Oil Spill
- 2010/07/07: DemNow: BP Oil Spill Cleanup Workers Getting Sick, Exxon Valdez Survivor Warns of Long Term Health Effects
- 2010/07/05: Salon:GG: The BP/Government police state [US pol]
Fannie & Freddie vs PACE?:
- 2010/07/07: SolveClimate: Villains Again? Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Nix Innovative Home Energy Programs -- Accelerating clean energy program for homeowners comes to a sudden nationwide standstill
- 2010/07/07: Grist: Fannie and Freddie are clueless in smacking down PACE
- 2010/07/07: TEC: Treasury Department piles on PACE solar loan restrictions
- 2010/07/06: Grist: Fannie and Freddie to clean-energy program: Drop dead
- 2010/07/06: Grist: Fannie and Freddie won't let this teacher green her home
- 2010/07/07: TEC: Fannie MAE and Freddie MAC attack on [PACE] solar energy program
- 2010/07/07: SF Gate: Feds [FHFA] pull plug on cities' green home [PACE] loans
- 2010/07/05: LA Times: PACE loan program makes solar energy more affordable for homeowners
A program in which people get loans from municipalities for energy efficiency upgrades and pay it back in property taxes is heating up. - 2010/07/07: TWM: The problem with the energy debate, in a nutshell...
Tit for tat?
- 2010/07/06: SolveClimate: Attorney General Cuccinelli Under Investigation for Climate Probe -- By Greenpeace
Is his investigation of climatologist Michael Mann an unlawful, unduly burdensome and impermissible intrusion into scientific research? - 2010/07/06: CSW: Turning the tables: Virginia AG Cuccinelli under investigation for climate probe by Greenpeace
The Obama chatter is nonstop:
- 2010/07/09: BWeek: Obama Seeks $5 Billion to Create Clean-Energy Jobs
- 2010/07/05: EarthTimes: President Obama Announces $2 Billion for Solar Projects
- 2010/07/01: Newsweek:TG: Obama May Back Down on Carbon Regulation Deadline to Court Republicans
The actions of the Obama administration are being watched closely:
- 2010/07/10: TreeHugger: Obama Administration Opens Up 1.8 million Acres Of Alaska's National Petroleum Reserve
- 2010/07/09: Grist: From the Dept. of not learning -- Obama admin announces Alaska drilling. What could go wrong?
- 2010/07/10: WaPo: U.S. agencies try to restore faith in Energy Star appliance testing
- 2010/07/09: SolveClimate: New Clean Air Act Rules Likely to Apply to Embattled Kansas Coal Plant -- Final permitting will probably not be complete before new federal rules kick in January 2nd
- 2010/07/08: PlanetArk: EPA Gives Final "No" To Texas Refinery Permits
- 2010/07/08: TreeHugger: EPA Approves First Mountaintop Removal Coal Mine Under More Stringent Guidelines
- 2010/07/06: NBF: EPA Proposed Transport Rule Would Reduce Air Pollution and Save Tens of thousands of Lives
- 2010/07/08: EconView: Will the New Transport Rule Gut Cap and Trade?
- 2010/07/07: SolveClimate: EPA Okays First Mountaintop Removal Mining Project Under New Guidelines -- Decision made quietly disappoints opponents, skirts science
- 2010/07/06: ScienceInsider: EPA Rule Would Reduce Interstate Pollution
- 2010/07/06: ENS: EPA Curbs Air Pollution From Power Plants in Eastern States
- 2010/07/06: CSM: EPA moves to cut power plant emissions to fight air pollution
- 2010/07/06: TP:WR: New Clean Air Rule To Tame The Coal Plant Monster
- 2010/07/06: NYT: New Rules Issued on Coal Air Pollution
Acting under federal court order, the Obama administration proposed new air-quality rules on Tuesday for coal-burning power plants that officials said would bring major reductions in soot and smog from Texas to the Eastern Seaboard. The Environmental Protection Agency is issuing the rules to replace a plan from the administration of President George W. Bush that a federal judge threw out in 2008, citing numerous flaws in the calculation of air-quality effects. Gina McCarthy, head of the E.P.A.'s air and radiation office, said the new rules would reduce emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides by hundreds of thousands of tons a year and bring $120 billion in annual health benefits. Those benefits, Ms. McCarthy said, include preventing 14,000 to 36,000 premature deaths, 23,000 nonfatal heart attacks, 21,000 cases of acute bronchitis, 240,000 cases of aggravated asthma and 1.9 million missed school and work days. The rule would substantially reduce the unhealthy smog that shrouds American cities, especially during heat waves like the one now enveloping much of the East. - 2010/07/06: NRDC:SwitchBoard: EPA Proposes Rule to Cut Smog and Soot Pollution From Power Plants in the Eastern & Midwestern U.S.
- 2010/07/06: NOAANews: NOAA Selects the University of Wisconsin as its Cooperative Institute for Satellite Meteorology Studies
- 2010/07/06: EarthTimes: US [EPA] seeks power plant emissions cuts to reduce smog
- 2010/07/05: PressHerald: FEMA's new flood plain mapping could cost coastal Mainers dearly
Some communities in York and Cumberland counties hire a consultant to challenge the agency's findings - 2010/07/10: TheHill:e2W: GOP: Dems wrongly linking carbon caps, oil reliance after spill
- 2010/07/09: Reuters: US Senate set for energy, environmental bill debate
- 2010/07/08: Grist: Science vindicated as Senate edges closer to climate and energy debate
- 2010/07/06: Yahoo:Reuters: House Energy and Commerce Committee chairmanm Henry Waxman, opposes Canadian tar sands [Keystone XL] pipeline
A key U.S. lawmaker has called on the government to block a TransCanada pipeline designed to supply U.S. refineries with Canada's oil sands crude, arguing the "dirtiest" fuel undermined efforts to battle global warming. Henry Waxman, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce committee, urged the State Department to block TransCanada's planned Keystone XL pipeline. - 2010/07/06: G&M: TransCanada pipeline faces new hurdle -- Congressman Henry Waxman urges re-examination of the pipeline based on potential contributions to global warming
- 2010/07/07: TP:WR: [Rep. Pat] Toomey (R-PA) Says [Rep. Joe] Sestak (D-PA) Is 'Far To The Left' For Supporting Mainstream Climate Policy
- 2010/07/06: SolveClimate: Battle Over Extension of $31Bn Corn Ethanol Subsidy Heats Up -- Both sides use mounting frustration over America's oil dependence to sway the public
Kerry-Boxer, Waxman-Markey, KGL, Cantwell-Collins, the APA or whatever -- the future climate bill -- defines a battleline:
- 2010/07/08: GreenGrok: Does America Have What It Takes to Pass a Climate Bill? by Tim Profeta
- 2010/07/07: USAToday:GH: CBO: Climate bill would cut deficit by $19B
- 2010/07/08: NRDC:SwitchBoard: The Climate Bill Endgame
- 2010/07/08: TreeHugger: CBO Says Climate Bill Will Cut Deficit, Emissions Set To Rise
- 2010/07/07: STimes: CBO says climate bill would cut deficit by $19B
Congressional budget experts say a climate and energy bill now stalled in the Senate would reduce the federal deficit by about $19 billion over the next decade. - 2010/07/06: NRDC:SwitchBoard: Ten Key Clean Energy Policies for Senate Legislation
- 2010/07/06: Grist: If Bingaman is the climate bill's best hope, where does that leave us?
- 2010/07/06: TEC: First Do No Harm: Making Sure an Energy Bill Doesn't Fuel Even More Global Warming
What are the lobbyists pushing?
- 2010/07/09: ClimateP: Podesta to Obama: "Nothing less than your direct personal involvement, and that of senior administration officials, can secure America's clean energy future,"
- 2010/07/08: EnergyBulletin: 350.org urges Obama to put solar back on the White House
- 2010/07/06: NYT:CW: Dow Chemical Standing Apart From Industry on Cap and Trade
While in the UK:
- 2010/07/08: Guardian(UK): Carbon emissions by local authority
For the first time the carbon emissions of every local authority have been released. Find out how yours does - 2010/07/06: ScienceInsider: U.K. Seeks Sites to Store the Nation's Nuclear Waste
- 2010/07/07: BBC: Budget cuts caution on UK nuclear waste plan
The UK's deep store for nuclear waste should open for business around 2040 - but spending cuts could delay the plans, and community support is vital - 2010/07/05: EnergyBulletin: A government says NO to airport expansion
And in Europe:
- 2010/07/09: Reuters: EU sets 2013 industry CO2 cap at 1.927 bln tonnes
Greenhouse gas emissions from heavy industry currently regulated under the European Union's Emissions Trading Scheme will be capped at 1,926,876,368 tonnes of carbon dioxide in 2013, the EU Commission said on Friday. - 2010/07/07: FuturePundit: Renewable Energy Capacity Growth In Europe
- 2010/07/09: EurActiv: Oettinger backs EU-wide renewables feed-in tariff
Speaking in Brussels yesterday (8 July), European Energy Commissioner Günther Oettinger said the EU would need a harmonised feed-in tariff to boost investment in solar power and other renewable energies. His comments came as the parliament in his native Germany was voting to approve cuts to the national feed-in tariff. The commissioner praised the German Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG) for guaranteeing "a fair price" for renewable energy, urging Europe to adopt something similar. "I think we need a European EEG," the German suggested. - 2010/07/09: EarthTimes: EU sets industrial emissions target below 2 billion tons in 2013
Brussels - The European Union's executive on Friday set the bloc the target of reducing its annual greenhouse-gas emissions from heavy industry below 2 billion tons for the first time, as the first step towards making the deep cuts it has pledged for 2020. The EU's legally-binding target is to reduce overall emissions to 20 per cent below 1990 levels by 2020. A key part of that strategy is to make industrial plants pay for permits to emit greenhouse gases as a way of making it relatively cheaper for them when they cut emissions. The European Commission has decided that the bloc will issue a total of 1.93 billion emissions permits in 2013, officials in Brussels said. Each permit allows the buyer to emit 1 ton of carbon dioxide (CO2) or equivalent greenhouse gases. It is the first time that the cap on the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) has fallen below 2 billion tons. The average annual cap for the first stage of its existence, 2005-07, was 2.2 billion tons, the cap for the second stage (2008-13) was 2.03 billion tons. The commission's goal is to reduce the cap by 1.74 per cent every year until 2020 to force industries to cut their emissions. - 2010/07/08: EurActiv: Parliament approves Industrial Emissions Directive
The European Parliament yesterday (7 July) endorsed a new directive strengthening pollution limits that industrial installations will have to comply with. - 2010/07/08: EUO: Parliament sets out demands on CAP reform
MEPs have set out their list of demands regarding the future shape of the EU's common agricultural policy (CAP), insisting that EU farm payments should not be reduced. - 2010/07/08: PlanetArk: Germany Could Kick Fossil Fuel Habit By 2050: Study
- 2010/07/07: Guardian(UK): Germany targets switch to 100% renewables for its electricity by 2050
- 2010/07/08: BBC: European Parliament bans illegal timber
The European Parliament has voted to ban imports of illegal timber. From 2012, companies importing timber will need to prove where it came from, and will face legal sanctions if they do not comply with the new law. - 2010/07/07: PlanetArk: Greece Seeks Regional Deal To Aid UN Climate Talks
- 2010/07/07: PlanetArk: Businesses Push For Decisions On EU Carbon Scheme
- 2010/07/06: PlanetArk: Special Report: Europe Finds Politics And Biofuels Don't Mix
- 2010/07/06: EarthTimes: EU backs 57 million dollars in German aid for solar energy firm
- 2010/07/04: Reuters: German coalition backs longer nuclear life -report
- 2010/07/03: BBerg: France to Shut Half Its Coal-Fed Power Plants [by 2015], Curb Energy Use [double renewables by 2020.]
Meanwhile in Australia:
- 2010/07/10: TheAge: With the ETS now in the too hard basket, Labor searches for plan to fill the vacuum
A climate policy is next, but Labor's got a lot of convincing to do
Mining tax? Check. Asylum seekers? Check (well, kind of).
Climate change policy? That's next in line, with cabinet to discuss an answer on Tuesday.
The government faces a challenge: how to convincingly fill a policy vacuum when its preferred solution, an emissions trading scheme, has been put back on the shelf until at least 2013.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard told Lateline on Wednesday that she remained committed to the Rudd-era timetable of reviewing the ''nature of the community consensus'' on emissions trading in 2012. She ruled out a carbon tax. - 2010/07/09: PlanetArk: Where Next For Climate Policy In Australia?
- 2010/07/09: ABC(Au): Opposition wants Green Loans inquiry
- 2010/07/08: SMH: Back me on climate, says PM as emission trading stays on ice
- 2010/07/07: BBerg: Gillard Says Australia to Review Carbon-Trading Legislation Plans in 2012
- 2010/07/08: ABC(Au): Government dumps Green Loans after scathing reports
Climate Change Minister Penny Wong is to dump the Government's Green Loans scheme, after three scathing independent reports exposed extensive mismanagement. The scheme was aimed at making it more affordable for Australians to make their homes more energy efficient. The reports found widespread lack of compliance with government regulations on procurement, absence of effective program supervision and poor financial controls for the program, among other things. The reports blame the department's focus on speed rather than on quality. The Government will replace the scheme with a grants-based program. - 2010/07/08: ABC(Au): Economist warns Gillard on carbon price delay
A member of the Reserve Bank board says Prime Minister Julia Gillard's decision to rule out a price on carbon for some years is ill advised. Professor Warwick McKibbin, also an economist at Australian National University (ANU), says industry wants a price on carbon and the alternative will prove more costly. - 2010/07/08: EarthTimes: Australia backs away from carbon trading
- 2010/07/07: ABC(Au): Government plays down rising sea level projections
The Federal Government says it is too soon to act on the latest projections of a doubling in the rate of sea level rise within a century. - 2010/07/08: ABC(Au): Prime Minister Julia Gillard says she will not revive the Government's emissions trading scheme until at least 2013
- 2010/07/07: ABC(Au): Brown urges Gillard to adopt Greens' carbon policy
Greens Leader Bob Brown says he suspects the Prime Minister's new climate change policy will fail to properly address the issue. Julia Gillard has indicated she will revise Labor's policy before the election. - 2010/07/06: ABC(Au): Water supplies not yet desperate
The Water Minister Graham Jacobs says Perth's drinking water supplies are not getting desperate despite a long, dry winter spell. Perth recorded its second driest June on record and has received just a fraction of its average monthy rainfall. - 2010/07/06: ABC(Au): A former resident of Waubra, west of Ballarat, has commissioned a study into the inaudible noise coming from a 128-turbine wind farm
- 2010/07/06: ABC(Au): Continued dry spell puts pressure on water supply
The WA Greens says the Water Corporation's admission that it may need to access more groundwater from the Gnangara mound proves water supplies are being mishandled. - 2010/07/06: BBC: Mining groups Xstrata and Rio Tinto have said they will resume projects in Australia after a deal was agreed last week over controversial tax plans
- 2010/07/05: ABC(Au): Tasmanian farms are carbon sinks
A report from a Tasmanian environment group has found that farms store more carbon dioxide than they emit. - 2010/07/05: ABC(Au): Residents reject wind farm health findings
Campaigners against wind farms have rejected a report finding no scientific evidence to link wind turbines to health problems. - 2010/07/05: ABC(Au): Residents of Waubra, west of Ballarat, say a Government report into the health effects of wind turbines carries no weight
- 2010/07/05: PeakEnergy: [Australian] Government urged to boost gas, oil reserves
- 2010/07/05: CBC: Man tried in Australian wildfire deaths
A man pleaded not guilty Monday to charges that he deliberately started one of the deadly wildfires that swept through southern Australia last year. The fires in Victoria state in February 2009 were Australia's deadliest, killing 173 people and destroying more than 2,000 homes. Brendan Sokaluk is accused of starting one blaze that investigators say killed 10 people. - 2010/07/07: HotTopic: Under Milk Woodford
While in the Indian subcontinent:
- 2010/07/08: NRDC:SwitchBoard: Protest Against Fuel Subsidies Cutback - Test of Leadership for Indian Government
- 2010/07/08: CSM: Why India's fuel subsidies actually benefit the rich
- 2010/07/05: NYT: Protests Over Fuel Costs Idle Much of India
Protests against a recent increase in fuel prices shut down markets, schools, airports and businesses across India on Monday, and thousands of people were arrested as violence flared in some cities. The effect of the demonstrations -- led by political parties that oppose the governing coalition led by the Indian National Congress -- far exceeded expectations, although no official estimates of crowds were available. - 2010/07/09: Reuters: Climate change biggest restriction on China's development -economist [Hu Angang, from Tsinghua University in Beijing]
- 2010/07/08: BBC: China to roll out nationwide tax on oil and gas sales
China has confirmed that a new tax on sales of primary resources will be rolled out nationwide. - 2010/07/08: ClimateP: The food-energy-water nexus in China
- 2010/07/09: ScienceInsider: China's Largest Global Change Research Is Break From the Past
- 2010/07/07: TreeHugger: China No Longer a Developing Nation - Per Capita Carbon Emissions Higher Than France's
- 2010/07/06: BWeek: China Needs to Increase Renewable Energy Capacity
- 2010/07/06: BBerg: China Starts Generation at Its Largest Offshore Wind Farm, Xinmin Reports
While in Japan:
- 2010/07/08: Yomiuri: Govt to stop buying intl CO2 credits / Eyes domestic trades to offset shortfall
The government has decided to stop purchasing greenhouse gas emission credits from other nations and boost domestic carbon reduction, The Yomiuri Shimbun has learned. Sources said the move is intended to revitalize local industries and expand employment by accelerating energy-saving efforts in local areas. - 2010/07/11: 3News: Tuvalu faces uncertain future
- 2010/06/30: BBC: Pakistan government defaults on its electricity bill
Government institutions in Pakistan owe $2bn to the cash-strapped national power company, it has emerged. Power Production Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf told parliament that the defaulters included the army, the Supreme Court and the presidency. Pakistan is currently going through a major power crisis which has slowed down the economy and led to riots. The latest disclosures will embarrass the government which has threatened to jail people who do not pay their bills. - 2010/07/09: UN: Asia-Pacific nations agree to promote low-carbon economic growth - UN
- 2010/07/06: BBC: Asian flood alert systems make 'significant progress'
A number of South Asian countries and China have made significant progress to improve the region's flood warning system, officials have said. Countries plan to exchange rainfall and river flow data in order to provide advance warning of potential floods. The idea is a decade old, but has not yet been implemented. Officials now say that a recent meeting in the Nepalese capital, Kathmandu, made headway as all participating countries were positive about sharing the information. - 2010/07/05: JakartaPost: Doubt lingers on [Indonesian] govt's emission target
Nine months after Indonesia declared its ambitious pledge to cut emissions with its own money, doubts remain on if the government can meet its own target, with no clear supporting regulations made. - 2010/07/09: BusinessDay(Za): Climate change 'not relevant' to most in South Africa
- 2010/07/06: UN: UN-supported renewable energy centre for West Africa opens in Cape Verde
- 2010/07/06: BBC: China to build $8bn oil refinery in Nigeria
And South America:
- 2010/07/07: NRDC:SwitchBoard: Saying no to large hydropower and yes to solar and wind in Chile
In Canada, minority neocon PM Harper, continues his do-nothing policy:
- 2010/07/07: TheMark: Canada: The Saudi Arabia of the North?
Canada's road to becoming a petro-state is lined with lies, greed, and pollution. Canada now suffers from an advanced state of "petromania," a condition of rank moral dishonesty compounded by visions of oily grandeur. When a nation becomes the number one supplier of petroleum to the United States as well as a gleeful addict of its associated trade revenue ($40 billion), it can't do so without carbonizing its political and economic character. - 2010/07/09: CanWest: Climate-change bill called threat -- Chamber launches campaign to derail it
Canada's largest and most influential business organization has launched a lobbying campaign urging Canadian senators to kill legislation requiring the government to deliver a science-based plan to fight global warming and provide regular reports on its progress. In a policy alert obtained by Canwest News Service, the Canadian Chamber of Commerce is calling on its members to sign and send a template letter complaining that the Climate Change Accountability Act, Bill C-311, adopted in the House of Commons, is a threat to Canada's economic competitiveness. - 2010/07/08: CBC: $450M pledged for flooded-out Prairie farmers
Up to $450 million will be made available to help flooded-out Prairie farmers, the federal and provincial governments say. Under a plan announced by agriculture ministers Thursday in Saskatoon, affected farmers in flood-ravaged areas in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba will receive about $30 per acre. The money is above what's available though crop insurance and other farm aid programs. The deal comes following one of the wettest springs on record, leaving millions of acres of farmland unseeded. - 2010/07/08: CBC: Plug-in hybrid battery gets federal boost -- 18 companies get total of $40M in clean-tech funds
Three inquiries have been announced so far and still the controversy over G8/G20 policing continues:
- 2010/07/10: WMTC: thousands take to the streets demanding g20 public inquiry
- 2010/07/10: CBC: Toronto G20 rally calls for public inquiry -- 'Mass arrests are unacceptable'
- 2010/07/09: CCurrents: Free Our Friends! Community Update on G20 Detainees
- 2010/07/10: TStar: Chain of command questioned in G20 -- Toronto police wasn't always in charge
- 2010/07/07: CBC: G20 protester claims police took prosthetic leg
Complaint follows Toronto Police Services' order that summit policing be reviewed - 2010/07/07: CBC: No more G20 summits in Toronto: McGuinty
- 2010/07/07: Impolitical: "Still waiting for the real public inquiry"
- 2010/07/07: TStar: Board review of G20 not enough
- 2010/07/07: CBC: Police union chief calls G20 review 'lame'
The head of the Toronto Police union is calling an independent civilian review of G20 policing a "lame duck" inquiry because it has no legal power to effect changes in police operations. The comments made by Mike McCormack come one day after Toronto Police Services Board, a civilian agency overseeing the police force, approved an independent review of police tactics during the G20 protests. The review is not a full-fledged public inquiry, which would be legally binding. - 2010/07/07: CanWest: G20 police 'yanked' off prosthetic leg: amputee -- 'I feel like I've been brutalized'
A 57-year-old amputee says he was "brutalized" and "humiliated" by police patrolling the G20 summit when they confiscated his prosthetic leg, labelled it a "weapon" and ordered him to "hop" into a paddy wagon. John Pruyn, a Revenue Canada employee from Thorold, Ont., was in Toronto on June 26 with his wife and daughter to participate in the peaceful Canadian Labour Congress march and rally. - 2010/07/05: CBC: Release G20 'political prisoners': rights groups
The mass detention of people and widespread use of police force over the G20 summit weekend was a gross abuse of state power that demands an independent inquiry and the immediate release of "political prisoners," a civil-rights coalition said Monday. In addition, they said, those responsible for "one of the most grotesque public expressions of police brutality, intimidation and mass violation of civil liberties" need to be held to account. Mark Calzavara, of the Council of Canadians, said police detained more than 1,000 people after a some protesters broke windows and burned a few police cruisers. "When the police are the ones that are breaking the law, that's when all of society has to really start to pay attention," Calzavara said. - 2010/07/06: CanWest: Canada disregards fossil fuel phase-out -- Recent G20 summit didn't advance plan despite federal vows, document shows
The Harper government has protected several incentive and subsidy programs for fossil fuels, despite making a G20 pledge to phase them out, according to a leaked document from last month's conference in Toronto. The annex, which circulated at the summit, summarizes measures by other countries to eliminate taxpayer support for the industries blamed for producing emissions that trap heat in the atmosphere and contribute to global warming. But Canada's submission only included previously announced measures, including a decision made in 1987. - 2010/07/08: CBC: Deepwater oil exploration too risky: NDP -- Gulf of Mexico disaster brings new scrutiny to N.L. industry
The regulator supervising Newfoundland and Labrador's offshore oil industry has approved new exploration in deep waters, sparking mixed political opinions. The Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board called for bids for two parcels located in an area known as the Flemish Pass, which is north of the basin on the Grand Banks where four commercial fields have already been discovered. Three of them are in production. The new exploration areas, though, have depths ranging from 1,000 metres to 2,000 metres. The Hibernia platform, by contrast, is just 80 metres above the ocean floor. - 2010/07/06: G&M: Increase in oil spill liability caps urged
At just $30-million to $40-million, some say that low level does not provide an incentive for safety Canadian governments are facing pressure to raise liability limits for offshore oil spills, as critics argue that companies are being indirectly subsidized and encouraged to engage in reckless behaviour. - 2010/07/07: DSanders: Offshore Oil Drilling Explodes off Canada's Arctic Coast Despite Ban
- 2010/07/07: CanWest: Board invites oil-drilling bids off East coast -- Critics say delay exploration licences until causes of BP blowout known
The agency that regulates oil and gas drilling off the coast of Newfoundland is inviting bids for new deepwater exploration licences, despite ongoing reviews at the provincial and federal levels of whether proper safeguards are in place to prevent a major spill. The Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board on Tuesday issued a new call for bids on three offshore parcels of land roughly 500 kilometres east of St. John's. The parcels are located in the Flemish Pass basin, where the board has estimated there are as many as 1.7 billion barrels of undiscovered oil. - 2010/07/05: G&M: Relief well rules under review at NEB
While regulators for the Gulf and Atlantic Canada aren't likely to adopt such a costly approach, in the Arctic it's a different story
The National Energy Board is considering forcing oil companies to drill a secondary relief well in any deepwater Arctic exploration project, as part of a review of its regulations following BP BP-N Gulf of Mexico blowout. - 2010/07/05: HillTimes: Canada's regulatory system 'one of the best in the world,' says Energy Minister Paradis
The Senate Natural Resources, Energy and the Environment Committee is studying whether a sub-ocean blowout like BP's in the Gulf of Mexico could happen in Canada. Oil companies say no, but some Senators aren't convinced. - 2010/07/08: CanWest: MPs destroy drafts of pollution review -- Decision to dump investigation 'frustrating,' Duncan says
An 18-month review of Alberta's oilsands has come up empty after federal politicians from all parties -- including Edmonton-Strathcona NDP MP Linda Duncan -- decided to scrap its lengthy investigation and destroy drafts of any final report. Duncan said Tuesday the decision was "frustrating," but she shed little light on a discussion that happened behind closed doors. The private debate among MPs ended without an agreement being reached. Canwest News Service has learned the investigation into the oilsands' impact on water ended after an in-camera meeting June 17. Opposition members of the House of Commons committee blame the government for dragging its feet, and many plan to write their own reports as a result of hearings in Edmonton, Calgary, Fort McMurray, Fort Chipewyan and Ottawa. Duncan called the opportunity to write her own report the "silver lining" of the committee's failure. - 2010/07/07: EugeneForseyLiberal: 'MPs cancel oilsands pollution probe, tear up draft reports'-But How? Opposition Had Majority On Committee!
- 2010/07/08: EugeneForseyLiberal: NDP Duncan Voted For Killing Probe! WTF?! 'MPs destroy drafts of pollution review'
- 2010/07/07: CanWest: Politicians cancel oilsands pollution probe, tear up draft reports
Federal politicians from the government and opposition benches have mysteriously cancelled an 18-month investigation into oilsands pollution in water and opted to destroy draft copies of their final report, Canwest News Service has learned. The aborted investigation comes as new questions are being raised about the Harper government's decision to exempt a primary toxic pollutant found in oilsands tailings ponds from a regulatory agenda. - 2010/07/05: CleanBreak: Time to re-ignite talk of a carbon tax; cap-and-trade is a scandal in waiting
- 2010/07/05: TStar: It's time to talk carbon taxes
Canadians, if they're truly interested in the country's long-term prosperity and global competitiveness, have to start banging the pots and beating the drums on the issue of carbon pricing. - 2010/07/08: G&M: Senators carve up bloated budget bill
- 2010/07/08: WCEL: Senate Finance Committee votes against gutting Environmental Assessment laws
Ignatieff penned an editorial:
- 2010/07/05: CanWest: Protecting our oceans, protecting our economy by Michael Ignatieff
Liberal government would formalize moratorium on crude-oil tanker traffic to prevent spill from occurring off B.C.'s north coast - 2010/07/09: NPR: An Oil Pipeline [Keystone XL] From Canada? Some Say 'No Way'
- 2010/07/08: CBC: Stelmach writes Clinton to defend [Keystone XL] pipeline
- 2010/07/06: Yahoo:Reuters: House Energy and Commerce Committee chairmanm Henry Waxman, opposes Canadian tar sands [Keystone XL] pipeline
A key U.S. lawmaker has called on the government to block a TransCanada pipeline designed to supply U.S. refineries with Canada's oil sands crude, arguing the "dirtiest" fuel undermined efforts to battle global warming. Henry Waxman, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce committee, urged the State Department to block TransCanada's planned Keystone XL pipeline. - 2010/07/06: G&M: TransCanada pipeline faces new hurdle -- Congressman Henry Waxman urges re-examination of the pipeline based on potential contributions to global warming
- 2010/07/07: CBC: Conservationists warn of [Keystone XL] pipeline dangers
An international group of scientists is warning that the proposed Keystone XL pipeline from Alberta to Texas could cause huge environmental problems. The Society for Conservation Biology released a report at its annual conference in Edmonton on Tuesday warning that the project could have long-lasting impacts on the environment and threaten endangered species. - 2010/07/06: DeSmogBlog: Powerful US Congressman Sends Serious Opposition to Canada Oil Sands Pipeline
- 2010/07/05: NRDC:SwitchBoard: We can't afford bad assessments of tar sands oil pipeline risks
The Greens are having a leadership convention later this summer:
- 2010/07/10: TStar: Infighting over Green Party leadership comes to a head
- 2010/07/10: BCLSB: Green Party Prepares To Commit Self-Hippycide?
BC is still wrangling over energy:
- 2010/07/08: Tyee: California's Big 'No' to British Columbia
Lobbying effort to get 'renewable energy' approval from state's politicians came up empty. The provincial government has been pushing California to count the electricity generated by British Columbia's independent run-of-the-river power projects as renewable energy -- allowing it be sold at a premium to the state's electric utilities. - 2010/07/08: OSW: U.S. uncertain about oil sands: How should Canada respond?
A vigorous debate is occurring in the U.S. over the use of oil from oil sands and particularly about a proposed pipeline, the Keystone, that would transport that oil from Alberta to the U.S. Gulf coast. As the debate unfolds, an appropriate question to be asking is: How should Canada respond? - 2010/07/07: CBC: Total buys UTS Energy for $1.5B
French energy giant Total SA is acquiring a bigger stake in Alberta's oilsands industry through the purchase of Calgary-based UTS Energy Corp. in a deal worth more than $1.5 billion. - 2010/07/07: G&M: French energy giant Total buying Calgary's UTS
After two failed takeover bids, global major joins the rush to the oil sands with $1.15-billion offer - 2010/07/06: CBC: CPP invests $250M in oilsands -- Federal pension plan buys 17 per cent of Laricina Energy Ltd.
- 2010/07/05: G&M: The quest for truth in the oil sands -- Are they an economic bonanza? Or an environmental apocalypse?
- 2010/07/05: Hullabaloos: Oil Sands Lament
- 2010/07/05: SolveClimate: Sierra Club Intervenes to Block New Oil Sands Project
But Alberta's regulatory body [ERCB: Energy Resources Conservation Board] has never denied an oil sands permit before - 2010/07/07: Tyee: Ed Stelmach's Clumsy American Romance -- Alberta's premier made citizens buy a heavy-breathing Washington Post ad pushing dirty energy. Embarrassing.
- 2010/07/06: PI: Capital Power breaks a key promise to Albertans
Capital Power trying to 'wish away' its progressive 2001 public hearing commitment in favor of simple compliance Environmental groups and landowners have joined forces to block Capital Power's bid to remove a legal requirement that it offset 50 per cent of the greenhouse gas emissions that are released from the Genesee 3 coal power plant. In 2001 the company (then EPCOR) had voluntarily committed to offset its emissions in response to public concern about the climate impact of burning coal to make power. The commitment was written right into the company's approval by the Alberta Utilities Commission (AUC, then named the Alberta Energy and Utilities Board) and was a factor in the Board's 2002 decision to approve the plant. - 2010/07/06: CBC: Alberta's boreal forest protected: minister
Alberta's minister of sustainable resource development says the government is doing what is necessary to protect the boreal forest. Mel Knight was responding to criticism by a leading conservation expert at an international conservation congress on Monday that Alberta is falling behind other provinces when it comes to protection of the forest. - 2010/07/09: TStar: [Ontario] Liberals' solar subsidy cut sparks fears of losing seats
In the Maritimes:
- 2010/07/10: CBC: Exxon pullout 'serious morale kick' in N.S.
Nova Scotia Energy Minister Bill Estabrooks says the news that ExxonMobil will not extend the life of its Sable offshore energy project is a "huge concern" for the government. - 2010/07/08: CBC: Areva, N.B. reveal nuclear plans -- French company considers second N.B. reactor
New Brunswick has signed a letter of intent to look at building a second reactor at NB Power's Point Lepreau nuclear plant. Premier Shawn Graham, Energy Minister Jack Keir and officials from French nuclear giant Areva made the announcement Thursday in Saint John. - 2010/07/06: Rabble: No fracking way: Ban hydraulic fracturing in Canada
The movement toward a long term ecologically viable economics is glacial:
- 2010/07/10: ClimateP: Money can't buy me sustainability
- 2010/07/08: EnergyBulletin: Another anxious plea to recognize limits
- 2010/07/09: EnergyBulletin: How long and how fast will we deleverage?
- 2010/07/07: TerraDaily: Ethical Issues Ignored In Sustainability Education
- 2010/07/07: CCurrents: The Sheep Look Up
IPAT [Impact = Population * Affluence * Technology] raised its head once again:
- 2010/07/11: Grist: On World Population Day, take note: population isn't the problem [Pearce]
- 2010/07/04: AlterNet: The Tea Party and Christian Right's Sneaky Anti-Abortion Crusade
- 2010/07/07: CCurrents: Peak Oil, Time, And Population
Apocalypso anyone?
- 2010/07/08: CCurrents: Those Extinguishing Life Count On Shakier And Shakier Status Quo
- 2010/07/07: CCurrents: Oceans' Demise Near Irreversible
- 2010/07/06: CCP: Dark Mountain Project: Uncivilization Festival, Llangollen, Wales
As for how the media handles the science of climatology:
- 2010/07/09: KSJT: Wash. Post: The science of climate change (and, on the good one that got away...)
- 2010/07/09: ClimateP: Eugene Robinson: "The climate science? Don't sweat it."
- 2010/07/09: HotTopic: A new journalistic fiction
- 2010/07/08: TWTB: Debunking Jim Manzi in 5 Easy Steps
- 2010/07/08: JEB: Monbiot exonerated
- 2010/07/08: Stoat: More kinky stuff
- 2010/07/08: MTobis: Press Criticism Below the Fold
- 2010/07/07: ClimateP: How hot is it? So hot that even the Washington Post mentions climate change (though not what causes it)
Consider how this media melange will evolve:
- 2010/07/10: QuarkSoup: Citizen Journalism Doesn't Cut It
While activists search for effective communication techniques:
- 2010/07/11: RealClimate: Information levels
- 2010/07/06: CC: The Greenhouse Effect for different audiences
Here is something for your library:
- 2010/07/08: S&R: [Book Review] _Merchants of Doubt_ by Naomi Oreskes & Erik M. Conway
- 2010/07/05: S&R: Fiction about Climate Change
- 2010/07/05: HotTopic: [Book Review] _Climate Capitalism: Global Warming and the Transformation of the Global Economy_ by Peter Newell & Matthew Paterson
And for your film & video enjoyment:
- 2010/07/07: JKB: Bill Maher -- Some new rules and thoughts about global warming [video]
- 2010/07/04: DWWSJ: BBC Video of the Greenhouse Effect- It's Really True and Not New
Meanwhile among the 'Sue the Bastards!' contingent:
- 2010/07/09: NYT:GW: Court Rejects Interior's Bid to Reinstate Deepwater Drilling Moratorium
- 2010/07/09: Suite101: The Gulf Spill -- The Battle over the Drilling Moratorium
- 2010/07/08: NYT: U.S. Appeals Court Turns Down Moratorium on Drilling in Gulf
- 2010/07/09: Grist: Court rejects Obama's appeal for drilling moratorium
Among the non-members of Gamblers Anonymous:
- 2010/07/07: NBF: The Peak Oil Bet
Developing a new energy infrastructure is a fundamental challenge of the current generation:
- 2010/07/07: RWER: Oil-industry statistics are full of errors, omissions and bald-faced lies
- 2010/07/08: UNDispatch: Tim Wirth: #1 Goal of Natural Gas Industry Should be to Support the EPA
- 2010/07/07: FuturePundit: Renewable Energy Capacity Growth In Europe
- 2010/07/09: CCurrents: Can The World Run On Renewables, Nuclear Energy And Geo-Sequestration? The Negative Case
- 2010/07/09: NYT:CW: Utilities Face the Decision Point of Big Shifts -- to Gas, Renewables and Efficiency
- 2010/07/08: OilDrum: Revisiting the 'Fake Fire Brigade' - Part 1 - General Issues
- 2010/07/07: Eureka: New [heat pump] system to reduce heating costs in cold climates
- 2010/07/07: OilDrum: How Fast will China's Oil Demand Grow?
- 2010/07/07: IdahoStatesman: Boise is extending its geothermal pipeline
Senator, city leaders will discuss the long-awaited clean energy expansion project Wednesday. - 2010/07/06: QuarkSoup: Historical U.S. Energy Use
- 2010/07/06: TCoE: Climate change impacts on energy
- 2010/07/05: NBF: Outline for Key Approaches to Reducing Usage of Coal and Oil
- 2010/07/05: CalcRisk: Update on Oil Prices
- 2010/07/05: Eureka: Renewables account for 62 percent of the new electricity generation capacity installed in the EU in 2009
- 2010/07/04: TCoE: China's oil consumption
Hey! Let's contaminate the aquifer for thousands of years! It'll be a fracking gas!
- 2010/07/09: NYT:CW: Concerns Spread Over Environmental Costs of Producing Shale Gas
- 2010/07/08: NYT:CW: Big Money Drives Up the Betting on the Marcellus Shale
- 2010/07/08: Grist: Pennsylvania cattle quarantined from gas fracking contamination
- 2010/07/06: PlanetArk: China's CNPC Eyes 500 Mcm Shale Gas Output By 2015
- 2010/07/06: Rabble: No fracking way: Ban hydraulic fracturing in Canada
- 2010/06/30: AlterNet: Actor Mark Ruffalo Plays the Role of His Life: Defender of New York's Water, Land and Air From Dangerous Natural Gas Drilling
The answer my friend...:
- 2010/07/10: TreeHugger: Yacht Club, Cottage Owners, Fishermen Opposed To Billion Dollar, Eastern Lake Ontario Wind Farm
- 2010/07/09: NewScientist: Stabilisers will let deep-sea wind turbines stand tall
- 2010/07/06: BBerg: China Starts Generation at Its Largest Offshore Wind Farm, Xinmin Reports
Meanwhile among the solar aficionados:
- 2010/07/10: PhysOrg: As overhead costs shrink, solar becomes newly attractive
- 2010/07/09: BBerg: U.S. to Test `Cutting-Edge' Solar Energy at Former Nuclear Bomb Test Site
- 2010/07/09: ABC(Au): A diesel engine maker is the first industrial business in South Australia to take up solar panels under a federally-funded scheme
- 2010/07/08: NRDC:SwitchBoard: A cool performer in the heat: solar can deliver the goods
- 2010/07/09: ENS: Nevada Nuclear Test Site to Host Solar Demonstration Zone
- 2010/07/09: REA: IMS: Global PV Market to Reach 14.6 GW in 2010
- 2010/07/07: BBerg: China Calls for Bids to Develop 13 Solar Power Projects in Western Regions
- 2010/07/06: PhysOrg: Dutch researchers raise energy yield of 'cheap' solar panels
Researchers from TU Delft in the Netherlands have shown how the energy yield of relatively cheap solar panels, made of amorphous silicon, can be considerably raised: from around 7 percent to 9 percent. - 2010/07/05: BBerg: Abengoa Surges After Solar-Plant Builder Wins $1.45 Billion Loan Guarantee
On the coal front:
- 2010/07/10: JSOnline: We Energies' Valley plant operates under more lenient standards
Many of Wisconsin's oldest coal-fired power plants are shutting down or are being upgraded as regulators tighten standards to improve air quality. But We Energies' Valley plant - with its twin 400-foot smokestacks that tower over the High Rise Bridge a mile south of downtown Milwaukee - is a glaring exception. The utility has avoided installing costly pollution controls by capitalizing on the plant's age, its unique role in producing steam to heat many downtown buildings and a court settlement with environmental regulators. - 2010/07/09: Grist: My old Kentucky home: Threatened by mountaintop removal
- 2010/07/11: ChicagoTrib: Clean coal dream a costly nightmare
Five Chicago suburbs and dozens of other Midwest towns in power-plant deal now face the prospect of rising electricity bills
Sold on a promise of cheap, clean electricity, dozens of communities in Illinois and eight other Midwest states instead are facing more expensive utility bills after bankrolling a new coal-fired power plant that will be one of the nation's largest sources of climate-change pollution. As the Prairie State Energy Campus rises out of a Downstate field, its price tag already has more than doubled to $4.4 billion - costs that will largely be borne by municipalities including the suburbs of Naperville, Batavia, Geneva, St. Charles and Winnetka. The communities are locked into 28-year contracts that will require higher electricity rates to cover the construction overruns, documents and interviews show. Municipal officials told the Tribune they expect costs to soar even higher before the plant begins operating next year. Then there are the environmental costs of the project, which was designed by St. Louis-based Peabody Energy, the world's largest private coal company, to burn fossil fuel from one of its nearby coal mines. - 2010/07/04: OilDrum: Tech Talk: Coal mining - robbing the pillars
Biofuel bickering abounds:
- 2010/07/07: RRapier: Fun with Numbers: The New USDA Report on Corn Ethanol
- 2010/07/06: Purdue: New biofuels processing method for mobile facilities
- 2010/07/07: TEC: Fun with Numbers: The New USDA Report on Corn Ethanol
- 2010/07/06: PlanetArk: Analysis: Bioethanol Trumps Biodiesel Say Europe's Producers
- 2010/07/06: SF Gate: Dead zone in gulf linked to ethanol production
The nuclear energy controversy continues:
- 2010/07/10: OilDrum: A Brief Nuclear Update
- 2010/07/08: BNC: TCASE 11: Safety, cost and regulation in nuclear electricity generation
- 2010/07/07: TreeHugger: Russia Launches Barge For Floating Nuclear Power Plant
- 2010/07/06: TEC: Are investors wary of new nuclear builds?
Yes we have peak everything:
- 2010/07/06: EnergyBulletin: Strike one ... you're out?
- 2010/07/05: EnergyBulletin: EIA's first Peak Oil statement...how was their vision a decade ago?
- 2010/06/29: SciAm:Obs: What happens when coal is gone?
More people are talking about the electrical grid:
- 2010/07/: NatGeo: The 21st Century Grid
- 2010/07/08: PeakEnergy: Meter trial to teach energy savvy to WA consumers
- 2010/07/06: PhysOrg: How a smart, decentralized Energy Web is essential for managing renewable energy sources
- 2010/07/05: PhysOrg: Firms plan green energy power lines under Med
- 2010/07/05: TEC: The Smart Grid Improves the Reliability of the Electric Grid
And then there is the matter of efficiency & conservation:
- 2010/07/06: TreeHugger: Energy Efficiency: Twice the Impact of Renewables, Nuclear and Clean Coal. Combined.
- 2010/07/05: PhysOrg: An energy-saving magnetic fridge? Perhaps, but first some basic research
- 2010/07/05: PhysOrg: Michigan Tech Professor Helps Draft Road Map to Fuel-Efficient Trucks, Cars
Automakers & lawyers, engineers & activists argue over the future of the car:
- 2010/07/08: PeakEnergy: Detroit looks east: GM sells more cars in China than in the US
- 2010/07/05: NewScientist: Green machine: The dream of green cars meets reality
- 2010/07/05: CBC: Quiet hybrid [and electric cars] a safety issue for lawmakers
This week in the Gee Whiz File:
- 2010/07/04: GizMag: 'Never-before-seen material' can store vast amounts of energy [xenon difluoride compressed by million+ atmospheres]
As for Energy Storage:
- 2010/07/05: PlanetArk: Toshiba Develops Battery Systems With Mitsubishi Motors
The reaction of business to climate change will be critical:
- 2010/07/07: Reuters: More shareholders vote yes on climate goals -study
Insurance and re-insurance companies are feeling the heat:
- 2010/07/09: DerSpiegel: Munich Re CEO Nikolaus von Bomhard -- 'Hardly a Catastrophe in the World We Aren't Involved In'
Nikolaus von Bomhard, the 53-year-old chairman and CEO of insurance giant Munich Re, shares his views with SPIEGEL on the predictability of natural disasters, the evidence of climate change, the financial crisis and his company's involvement in the World Cup. - 2010/07/08: ABC(Au): Bookies [reinsurer Munich Re] buying into climate change race
Joe Romm posts a daily list of top energy and climate stories:
- 2010/07/09: ClimateP: Energy and Global Warming News for July 9...
- 2010/07/08: ClimateP: Energy and Global Warming News for July 8...
- 2010/07/07: ClimateP: Energy and Global Warming News for July 7...
- 2010/07/06: ClimateP: Energy and Global Warming News for July 6...
Other (weekly) lists:
- 2010/07/09: NRDC:SwitchBoard: India Climate Change and Energy News - Week of June 28, 2010 to July 5, 2010
- 2010/07/07: MTobis: Dizzying Array of Climate News
The carbon lobby are up to the usual:
- 2010/07/10: Deltoid: The Australian's War on Science 50: 'one-sided' reporting
- 2010/07/06: C411: Five Denier Myths about the Climate & Energy Bill
- 2010/07/09: Guardian(UK): Richard North: It's useful to know what you're up against
Blogger Richard North is threatening to sue the Guardian for a piece I wrote criticising his stance on global warming. A quick look at his blog gives you some insight into the motivation behind his campaign against the EU - 2010/07/09: TCoE: Howler of the week: National Post's Terence Corcoran
- 2010/07/09: PlanetJ: Global Warming Contrarians Part 1.1: Amateur Temperature Records
- 2010/07/09: DeepClimate: Terence Corcoran whopper: Mann's hockey stick "eliminated some of the data from 1960 forward ... and then spliced on actual temperature data"
- 2010/07/09: SolveClimate: BP's Major Investors Not Calling for CEO to Step Down
- 2010/07/09: SolveClimate: BP Executive Running Alaska Pipeline Co. Steps Down after Exposé -- Concerns raised over cost-cutting mandated by BP that threatened safety and integrity of 800-mile Trans-Alaska pipeline
- 2010/07/09: CanWest: Climate-change bill called threat -- Chamber launches campaign to derail it
- 2010/07/08: ClimateP: In a bizarre self-inflicted wound, The New Republic hires right-wing misinformer to debunk its articles -- Jim Manzi's flawed critique of Al Gore's piece
- 2010/07/08: MoD: Dishonesty and hate; my brush with Marc Morano
- 2010/07/07: Grist: Remember when the blizzards killed global warming?
- 2010/07/05: MTobis: There Are Skeptics and Then There Are Skeptics
- 2010/07/06: ClimateP: Joe Bastardi, worst long-range forecaster on Earth, asserts "The coming cooling of the planet overall will return it to where it was in the '60s, '70s, and '80s."
- 2010/07/05: Ph&Ph: Another Sokal Hoax?
- 2010/07/05: SkeptiSci: Archibald's take on world temperatures by John Chapman
Meanwhile in the 'clean coal' saga:
- 2010/07/05: TreeHugger: Why We Need Federal Safeguards for Coal Ash
As for climate miscellanea:
- 2010/07/10: BSD: What I think about global warming
- 2010/07/04: Stoat: What I think about global warming
- 2010/07/10: AGWObserver: Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change [misc]
- 2010/07/09: MTobis: Arrogance
- 2010/07/07: GreenGrok: Revolutionary Road: The Path to a Bright, Green Tech Future by Benjamin Abram
- 2010/07/09: SkeptiSci: Italian translation of A Scientific Guide to the 'Skeptics Handbook'
- 2010/07/08: Grist: Do enviros need to reassess their big-picture climate strategy? [panel discussion]
- 2010/07/08: SciNow: Farming Kicked Up Dust in West Africa
- 2010/07/08: AFTIC: Logging the Onset of the Bottleneck Years
- 2010/07/07: SkeptiSci: German translation of Scientific Guide to 'Skeptics Handbook'
- 2010/07/06: DerSpiegel: Liquid Farewell -- Belgian Undertakers Seeking Permission to Dissolve Corpses
Belgian undertakers have proposed protecting the environment by dissolving corpses. The process of turning the deceased into liquid and ash would use far less energy than a crematorium, and there wouldn't be any CO2 emissions either. Authorities are pondering the controversial idea. - 2010/07/06: MTobis: Quote Gallery
- 2010/07/05: RealClimate: A simple recipe for GHE [GH Effect]
- 2010/07/04: Stoat: Common abbreviations and uncommon words
And here are a couple of sites you may find interesting and/or useful:
- USGS: The Water Cycle: Water Storage in the Atmosphere
- PhysicalGeography: The Hydrologic Cycle
- Wiki: Water cycle
- ISU:BI: Biochar Conference papers
- Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change
- FAO: FAOSTAT provides time-series and cross sectional data relating to food and agriculture for some 200 countries
- Climate Scum
- WCEL: West Coast Environmental Law
- The Independent Climate Change Email Review
- Environmental Defence
- Science Express
- Climate Interactive
- CDM Watch
- European Commission - Joint Research Centre - Institute for Energy
It's always nice to start with a smile, even if it is rueful:
More on the USSF:
Ooops! Back to the drawing board boys:
That Hoegh-Guldberg & Bruno paper still has people upset:
ScienceBlogs sold Pepsi an advertorial spot and it blew up in their faces:
The Dutch NEAA largely vindicated the IPCC:
Check out this headline slant:
The Muir Russell report landed with a bang:
Oh Look! That shimmering sword is back:
As for the geopolitics of Arctic resources:
More GW impacts are being seen:
As for hydrological cycle disruptions [floods & droughts]:
Meanwhile in the journals:
The proposed G20 Bank Tax went nowhere, but Hungary is doing it anyway:
What are the activists up to?
Regarding Water Politics and Business:
This report is worth highlighting:
As for what is going on in Congress:
And in New Zealand:
And China:
And elsewhere in Asia:
While in Africa:
And on the G20 policy front:
Questions and debate about offshore and Arctic drilling continue:
For some unknown reason, a House of Commons committee investigating tarsands pollution decided to destroy its draft report:
A carbon tax? In Canada?:
In an uncharacteristic display of common sense the Senate has carved up Harper's omnibus budget bill:
The pipeline controversies continue:
Meanwhile in that Mechanical Mordor known as the tar sands:
Also in Alberta:
Ontario is still wrestling with its energy policy:
As for miscellaneous Canadiana:
Low Key Plug
My first novel Water was published in Canada May, 2007. The American release was in October. An Introductionto the novel is available, along with the Unpublished Forewordand the Launch Talk. An overview of my writing is available here.
<regards>
P.S. Recent postings can be found in the week archive and the ancient postings can be accessed here, which should open to this.
"If we cannot stabilize population and if we cannot stabilize climate, there is not an ecosystem on earth we can save." -Lester Brown
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