Another week of GW News, July 4, 2010

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

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Another week of Climate Instability News

Logging the Onset of The Bottleneck Years

July 4, 2010

• Note, Chuckles, Post G20, COP16, COP15 Cash, MEF, US Social Forum, AR5
• Bottom Line, Subsidies, Anderegg et al., Michael Mann, Post CRU
• Melting Arctic, Geopolitics, Antarctica
• Food Crisis, GMOs, Food Production
• Hurricanes, GHGs, Temperatures, Paleoclimate, Climate Sensitivity, Tipping Points, Satellites
• Impacts, Forests, Climate Refugees, Tornadoes, Acidification, Glaciers, Sea Levels, Floods & Droughts
• Mitigation, Transportation, Buildings, Sequestration, Geoengineering
• Journals, Other Docs , Misc. Science, Inconvenience, Washington, Tiljander, Pielke
• UN, Carbon Trade, Carbon Tax, Bank Tax, Optimal Carbon Reduction Strategy
• International Politics: Misc., Law & Activism, Water Politics & Business,
• National Politics: America, PACE, Indian Coal, Cuccinelli, Obama & Senators
• Obama, USAdmin, Congress, Climate Bill, Lobbyists, Byrd obit, Principles, Al Gore
• Britain, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, India, China
• Canada, G20 Police, G20 Policies, Syncrude, Pipelines, BC, Tar Sands, Alberta, Maritimes
• Ecological Economics, IPAT, Apocalypso, Media, Books, Video, Courts, Betting
• Energy, Fracking, Wind, Solar, Coal, Biofuel, Nukes, Peak Oil, Grid, Efficiency, Cars, Energy Storage
• Joe's List, Carbon Lobby, Miscellaneous Climate, Useful Links
• Shameless Self Promotion, .sig

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Note:

I was involuntarily offline Sunday to Tuesday this week due to a telephone cable problem in the backlane, so those days will be spotty. -het

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More in the black humour vein:

• 2010/07/04: SkeptiSci: (cartoon - Wagner) Climate cartoon: when positive is a negative
• 2010/04/09: SciFriday: (cartoon - Wagner) When positive is a negative
• 2010/07/03: PeakEnergy: (cartoon - Bors) America's Energy Sacrifices
• 2010/06/30: Dominion: (cartoon - Meek) Indelible

  Not much post-G20 talk:

• 2010/07/02: CDreams: Maude Barlow: 'The World Has Divided into Rich and Poor as at No Time in History' [G20]
• 2010/06/29: WRMead: G-20 Fiddles; World Burns
• 2010/06/28: PressEurop: G8 / G20 -- Another dead-end summit
• 2010/06/28: EUO: Wins and losses for EU at G20A range of compromise agreements enabled leaders to save face on Sunday (27 June) as the Group of 20 meeting in Canada drew to a close.
• 2010/06/30: TEC: Countries Start to Outline their Plans to Phase-out Fossil Fuel Subsidies at the G20--a mixed bag
• 2010/06/29: Rabble: There is no Planet B for the G20
• 2010/06/29: DerSpiegel: The European Press on the G-20 -- Another Dead-End Summit
  Marked by the EU-US divide over the best way out of the crisis, the world leaders at the G-20 summit in Toronto spurned Europe's proposals to tax banks and regulate markets. The only consensus reached was on deficit reduction, an objective championed by all 27 EU member states. European papers are scathing in their editorials on the G-20 gathering.

Looking ahead to COP16 and future international climate negotiations:

• 2010/07/01: BBerg: Success of Climate Plans Hinges on Energy Saving, Carbon Storage, IEA Says
• 2010/07/02: TEC: The battle over CO2 emissions
• 2010/07/01: HuffPo: Redesigning the International Approach to Climate Change
• 2010/06/30: HindustanTimes: India for reintroduction of equity in climate talks
• 2010/06/30: WorldChanging: A Plurilateral Climate Agreement: We Need to Recognize Our Humanity Over Our Nationality and Show Some Guts! by James Cameron
• 2010/06/29: NatureTGB: Can Cancun or Cape Town cap Copenhagen? [cop15]
• 2010/06/28: Yahoo:AFP: Developing countries 'must feel benefit of climate action'
  Developing nations must feel the benefits of fighting global warming otherwise lasting success will be impossible, a senior US climate advisor [Jonathan Pershing] said during a visit to Gabon's capital Monday.

About that Copenhagen cash:

• 2010/06/30: AllAfrica: The Africa Progress Panel Says World Leaders Must Honour Pledge to Provide Additional Annual U.S.$100 Billion in Climate Finance by 2020

  The MEF meeting in Rome went down without any fanfare:

• 2010/07/01: Yahoo:AP: Italy sees intermediate steps at UN climate summit [MEF]
  A U.N. climate summit in Mexico later this year won't broker a global accord on climate change, but may represent a positive intermediate step, the Italian environment minister said Thursday after co-hosting climate change talks. Minister Stefania Prestigiacomo said the year-end summit in Cancun will not represent a "turnaround" but can still end with a "shared framework agreement" that can serve as a basis for a future global agreement.
• 2010/07/01: PhysOrg: Polluting countries talk climate control in Rome
• 2010/06/30: Yahoo:AP: Climate talks under way in Rome [MEF]

  The US Social Forum went down in Detroit:

• 2010/07/01: EnergyBulletin: Declaration adopted by the Ecojustice People's Movement Assembly at the US Social Forum, in Detroit, June 2010

  The IPCC Fifth Assessment Report has a home:

• IPCC: Fifth Assessment Report (AR5)

  And on the Bottom Line:

• 2010/07/02: SolveClimate: IEA: $46 Trillion Roadmap for Halving Global Emissions a "Bargain" -- Agency head says energy revolution has begun, but needs a concerted global effort to succeed
• 2010/07/02: PlanetArk: Governments Face Cost Hurdle To Halve CO2 By 2050: IEA

  Who's getting the subsidies?

• 2010/07/02: NRDC:SwitchBoard: India Cuts Subsidies and Increases Taxes on Fossil Fuels
• 2010/06/30: NRDC:SwitchBoard: Fossil Fuel Subsidies Dwarf Global Clean Energy Assistance: New Analysis

  Some talk about the Anderegg et al. paper:

• 2010/07/01: MoD: Those accepting the science of global warming have more credibility and prominence than those who remain unconvinced [Anderegg]/A>
• 2010/06/30: KSJT: Columbia Journalism Review: More on study on global warming mainstream. How to use it in reporting..??
• 2010/06/29: MTobis: Godwin's Law, Humor, and Fun
• 2010/06/27: MTobis: Fuller's complaints w/ Anderegg, Prall et al.

  PSU exonerated Michael Mann this week:

• 2010/07/02: BobPark: What's New?
  #3. Climate gate: Penn State clears Michael Mann of something.
• 2010/07/03: BCLSB: Michael Mann: First Targeted, Now Vindicated
• 2010/07/02: Guardian(UK): Michael Mann cleared of science fraud charges made by climate sceptics
• 2010/07/02: MoD: Once again Michael Mann has been exonerated
• 2010/07/02: WtD: Penn State clears Michael Mann of all charges... now, will Climategate please go away?
• 2010/07/02: ABC(Au): 'Climategate' scientist cleared by US university -- American climate change scientist Michael Mann has been cleared of manipulating his research findings
• 2010/07/01: NYT: Climate Scientist Cleared of Altering Data
  An American scientist accused of manipulating research findings on climate science was cleared of that charge by his university on Thursday, the latest in a string of reports to find little substance in the allegations known as Climategate. An investigative panel at Pennsylvania State University, weighing the question of whether the scientist, Michael E. Mann, had "seriously deviated from accepted practices within the academic community for proposing, conducting or reporting research or other scholarly activities," declared that he had not. Dr. Mann said he was gratified by the findings...
• 2010/07/02: NatureTGB: Penn State clears Michael Mann again; legal battle continues in Virginia
• 2010/07/01: CSW: Interview with Michael Mann on the Penn State Final Report and the war on climate scientists
• 2010/07/02: Deltoid: Michael Mann exonerated yet yet again
• 2010/07/02: MTobis: Mann Re-Re-Re-Re-Re-Exonerated -- So can we stop now?
• 2010/07/01: TDC: Climategate scientist [Michael Mann] cleared in inquiry, again
• 2010/07/01: UCSUSA: Scientist Michael Mann Exonerated by Penn State University
• 2010/07/01: ENS: Penn State Clears Climate Scientist Mann of Climategate Wrongdoing
• 2010/07/02: TreeHugger: Yes, the Climate Change 'Hockey Stick' Still Stands
• 2010/07/02: DawgsBlawg: Man oh Mann
• 2010/07/01: DeepClimate: Mann exonerated by PSU inquiry: "No substance to the allegation"
• 2010/07/01: ERabett: Watt now? McIntyre will have a cow
• 2010/07/01: PSU: Investigation of climate scientist at Penn State complete
• 2010/07/01: Stoat: Mann cleared, again
• 2010/07/01: TCoE: Mann and the deniers
• 2010/07/01: ClassM: Michael Mann cleared ... again
• 2010/07/02: JEB: Penn State Live - Investigation of climate scientist at Penn State complete
• 2010/07/01: ClimateP: Much-vindicated Michael Mann and Hockey Stick get final exoneration from Penn State --- time for some major media apologies and retractions
• 2010/06/30: APSmith: Michael Mann's errors
• 2010/07/01: RealClimate: Penn State reports
• 2010/07/01: DeSmogBlog: Penn State Completely Exonerates Climate Scientist Michael Mann On Bogus Climategate Accusations
• 2010/07/01: TWTB: Exoneration fails to appease conspiracy theorists, cont'd, cont'd
• 2010/07/01: ScienceInsider: Michael Mann Exonerated as Penn State Inquiry Finds 'No Substance' To Allegations
• 2010/06/28: Telegraph(UK): Michael Mann says hockey stick should not have become 'climate change icon'
  The scientist behind the controversial 'hockey stick' graph has said it was 'somewhat misplaced' to make his work an 'icon of the climate change debate'.

Post CRU theft, controversy & inquiry:

• 2010/06/28: GreenGrok: A Climate Retraction of a Different Sort
• 2010/07/01: DM:BA: Climategate's death rattle
• 2010/07/02: SlashDot: Climategate's Final Days
• 2010/07/01: ClimateP: Media ran with now-retracted attack on IPCC in their assault on global warming science
• 2010/06/27: APSmith: Where's the fraud?

  The Arctic melt continues to garner a lot of attention:

• 2010/07/03: ASI: Sea ice extent update 11: the tables are turning
• 2010/07/02: ASI: Petermann Glacier Rift
• 2010/07/02: NatureTGB: The Bering Sea Project: The Pribilof Islands
• 2010/07/01: SolveClimate: Returning from Arctic Voyage, Researchers Call for Action on Record Ice Loss
• 2010/07/01: ASI: Sea ice extent 10: leg broken?
• 2010/07/01: CCP: Drift pumice, ice sheets and toothpaste (ice sheets, rebound, sea level rise)
• 2010/07/01: Tamino: On Thin Ice
• 2010/06/30: DeSmogBlog: Contemplating Arctic sea ice collapse
• 2010/06/28: CC&G: Comparing 2010 and 2007 Arctic Sea Ice Extent Trends
• 2010/06/29: ASI: Sea ice extent update 9: break a leg
• 2010/06/29: NatureTGB: The Bering Sea Project: What is happening to pollock?
• 2010/06/29: PhysOrg: Arctic climate may be more sensitive to warming than thought, says new study
  A new study shows the Arctic climate system may be more sensitive to greenhouse warming than previously thought, and that current levels of Earth's atmospheric carbon dioxide may be high enough to bring about significant, irreversible shifts in Arctic ecosystems.

As for the geopolitics of Arctic resources:

• 2010/07/01: BLN: Future U.S.-Canada Joint Arctic Security and Control
• 2010/06/30: PhysOrg: China sets sail for the Arctic
  A Chinese research vessel and ice-breaker is due to set sail this week for the Arctic, a region much coveted by Beijing for its wealth of scientific data and natural resources.
• 2010/06/30: CBC: Greenland defends offshore drilling
  The premier of Greenland says Inuit in the circumpolar world should respect his government's decision to drill for oil and gas in Davis Strait. Premier Kuupik Kliest made the remark during the Inuit Circumpolar Council's 11th general assembly, which runs this week in Nuuk, Greenland. Inuit officials from Canada, the United States and Russia, as well as Greenland, are at the five-day event. Addressing the assembly's 65 delegates on Monday, Kliest responded to public concerns about his government's recent approval of Cairn Energy's plans to start drilling next month on two exploratory wells off Greenland's west coast, in the Davis Strait between Greenland and Baffin Island in Nunavut.
• 2010/06/30: ChronicleHerald: Little interest in Arctic shipping -- Survey: Most firms wouldn't use route
  A recent survey is pouring cold water on the prospect of international shipping traffic steaming through Canada's Northwest Passage despite visions that melting sea ice and longer periods of open water will turn the fabled waterway into a busy cargo route. "These companies are really, really not interested in Arctic routes," said Frederic Lasserre of Quebec's Laval University. "It's never going to be a Panama Canal."
  [...]
  Lasserre contacted 125 shipping firms from Asia, Europe and North America and got responses from 34 companies representing 62 per cent of the market in 2008. Only 11 of them expressed any interest at all in shipping through the Northwest Passage.

While in Antarctica:

• 2010/07/03: DWWSJ: Drilling For Ancient Ice At The Top Of The World
• 2010/07/01: CCP: Shuhei Masuda et al.: increases in heat transport from the atmosphere into the ocean off Antarctica can warm deep waters in the North Pacific within 40 years

  The food crisis is ongoing:

• 2010/07/02: CBC: Niger has food emergency: UN
  The World Food Program has declared its work in Niger an "emergency operation" after a survey found a sharp rise in malnutrition rates among young children. WFP spokeswoman Emilia Casella said 16.7 per cent of children under five years of age suffer from acute malnutrition in the African country. Children under three are particularly affected. She said that last year the malnutrition rate was 12.3 per cent. The threshold for declaring an emergency is 15 per cent.
• 2010/07/02: WFP: WFP to Double Number of People Receiving Food Assistance in Drought hit Niger
• 2010/06/29: UNEP: Urgent Action Needed for Pastoralists to Cope with Climate Change
• 2010/07/02: AlterNet: How Goldman Sachs Caused a 'Silent Mass Murder,' Gambling on Starvation in the Developing World
• 2010/07/02: CDreams: How Goldman Gambled on Starvation
  Speculators set up a casino where the chips were the stomachs of millions. What does it say about our system that we can so casually inflict so much pain?
• 2010/07/02: CBC: Niger has food emergency: UN
• 2010/07/02: UN: Food crisis in Niger prompts UN agency to scale up emergency aid operation
• 2010/07/02: BLN: USDA Reports Food Shortages: Wall Street 'Caught Off Guard' by Severity
• 2010/07/01: UN: UN continues rushing food aid to Kyrgyzstan
• 2010/06/30: SeedDaily: Maize Prices Driving A Rise In Feed Prices
  Himfr reports that in 2009, maize transaction prices dropped to their lowest in two years, at 1,330 RMB per ton. While from March of this year, maize prices began sharply rising, with a rise from 1,762 RMB to 2,000 RMB per ton. In the non-producing areas of Jiangsu and Sichuan, corn prices have already reached 2,010 RMB / ton. China is not experiencing a shortage of maize. The rise in price is mainly due to last year's drought. Among agricultural products, the rise in wheat and corn prices has been relatively low. Wheat rose 8% last year, rice rose 14%, and corn 20%, while cereals rose 50%-60%, and some grains and field crops doubled in price.
• 2010/06/29: DM:SRK: More Hungry Children, Fewer Free Meals

  GMOs receive a steady round of press releases:

• 2010/06/30: NewScientist: Europe's science-free plan for gene-modified crops

  And how are we going to feed 9 billion?

• 2010/07/02: WFP: Statement by WFP Executive Director on Purchase for Progress Initiative in Malawi
• 2010/07/01: ProMedMail: Karnal bunt, wheat - Europe: risk assessment
• 2010/07/01: KSJT: SF Chronicle: Sustainable Food Movement gets thumb's up from National Research Council
• 2010/07/01: Grist: Organic farmers better at pest control, study says
• 2010/06/30: SciDaily: 'Balanced' Ecosystems Seen in Organic Agriculture Better at Controlling Pests, Research Finds
• 2010/07/01: Eureka: Study finds that simple 2-question survey can better identify hungry children
• 2010/06/29: BBC: Calling for an 'old-fashioned' green revolution
  Using "good old-fashioned" farming techniques will help deliver a sustainable green revolution in Africa, says Tensie Whelan. In this week's Green Room, she warns that failure to protect biodiversity, water supplies and forests could spell disaster for the continent.
• 2010/06/30: NatureTGB: Research needed to make farming sustainable
• 2010/06/30: NatureN: Organic farms win at potato pest control -- Why ecological evenness is as important as relative richness
• 2010/06/30: USDA:ARS: ARS Releases Heat-Tolerant Beans
• 2010/06/28: Eureka: AgriLife Research economist: Manure provides higher returns than chemical fertilizers
• 2010/06/28: ASA: Can One-time Tillage Improve No-till?
  Study examines the effects of a one-time tillage on yield and soil structure in no-till crop production
• 2010/06/30: PeakEnergy: 'Biggest thing in farming for 10,000 years on horizon' [increasing the yield of perennial crops]
• 2010/06/30: SF Gate: National council report backs sustainable food
  The prestigious National Research Council threw its considerable heft behind the sustainable food movement Tuesday with a 570-page report that endorses the new food and farm practices that began in the Bay Area and have taken the nation by storm. There are now twice as many farmers - 30,000 to 40,000 - selling local meat and produce in farmers' markets than there are growing cotton, a major industrial crop, said August Schumacher, an author of the report and a former undersecretary of agriculture in the George H.W. Bush administration.

Hurricane Alex shook up the Caribbean:

• 2010/07/02: CNN: 6 dead in Mexico from Alex drenching, government says
  Nuevo Leon received more rain than it does in a year, official says - Deaths resulted from mudslides, fall, electrocution, drowning, falling structure - Alex no longer is a tropical depression - Rain breaks record set in 1988, water agency says
• 2010/07/02: Wunderground: Alex is gone; the tropics are relatively quiet
• 2010/07/01: EarthTimes: First Atlantic hurricane [Alex] wanes after lethal strike
• 2010/07/02: Eureka: Alex's aftermath brings flash flood watches to Texas
• 2010/07/01: Eureka: NASA TRMM satellite data show areas of Alex's heavy rainfall
• 2010/07/01: BBC: Hurricane Alex brings floods to north-east Mexico
• 2010/07/01: ABC(Au): Hurricane Alex has been downgraded to a Category 1 storm after making landfall in north-east Mexico and threatening to disrupt the BP oil spill clean-up efforts
• 2010/07/01: ABC(Au): Hurricane Alex has roared ashore in north-eastern Mexico south of the US border, after earlier being upgraded to a Category 2 storm
• 2010/06/30: EarthTimes: Hurricane Alex targets Tex-Mex border, oil platforms cleared
• 2010/07/01: Wunderground: Alex, strongest June hurricane in 44 years, is now a tropical storm
• 2010/07/01: Wunderground: Category 2 Alex Makes Landfall on the Mexican Coast
• 2010/07/01: EarthTimes: Hurrican Alex pounds Mexico, Texas
• 2010/07/01: Eureka: GOES-13 satellite catches Alex as a tropical storm now, after a landfall in northeastern Mexico
• 2010/07/01: BBC: Hurricane Alex makes landfall in north-eastern Mexico
• 2010/07/01: CBC: Hurricane Alex weakens to tropical storm
• 2010/06/30: CBC: Gulf oil cleanup stalled by hurricane
• 2010/06/30: BBC: Texas on alert as [Cat 2] Hurricane Alex sweeps in
• 2010/06/30: Wunderground: Alex Becomes a Hurricane
• 2010/06/30: Wunderground: Large and intensifying Hurricane Alex bears down on northeastern Mexico, South Texas
• 2010/06/30: EarthTimes: Alex becomes first hurricane of 2010
• 2010/06/29: ENS: Hurricane Alex Hampers Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill Cleanup
• 2010/06/29: Eureka: NASA data see Alex's core aligned, growing toward hurricane strength
• 2010/06/28: Eureka: Tropical Storm Alex now in Gulf of Mexico, brought heavy rainfall to Belize, Yucatan
• 2010/06/30: TEC: Hurricane Alex Forces Suspension of Oil Spill Cleanup
• 2010/06/29: NASA:JPL: Alex Stirs Up the Gulf
• 2010/06/29: CSM: Hurricane season bears down on BP Gulf oil spill
• 2010/06/29: CSM: Hurricane Alex, first of 2010 season, heads for Texas, Mexico
• 2010/06/30: CBC: Hurricane Alex moves toward Mexico, Texas
• 2010/06/29: BBC: Gulf storm Alex delays BP oil clean-up efforts
• 2010/06/29: CBC: Tropical storm Alex churns across Gulf
• 2010/06/29: CBC: Gulf oil cleanup stalled by tropical storm [Alex]

  While elsewhere in the hurricane wars:

• 2010/07/04: Wunderground: A Tale of Two Invests [95L & 96L]
• 2010/07/03: Wunderground: Gulf of Mexico disturbance 95L worth watching
• 2010/06/29: Eureka: GOES satellite sees Celia's remnants a shadow of her former self
• 2010/06/29: Eureka: TRMM satellite sees Darby's remnants still kicking up isolated showers
• 2010/06/28: Eureka: Celia and Darby are now both weakening tropical storms

  As for GHGs:

• 2010/07/03: TCoE: It's crunch time
• 2010/07/02: TCoE: The battle over CO2 emissions [NEEA report]
• 2010/07/02: Google:AFP: Chinese, Indian emissions nullified world cuts: report
  A strong rise in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from China and India nullified a decline achieved by industrialised countries last year, a Dutch environmental agency said on Thursday.
• 2010/07/02: BostonGlobe: [Netherlands Environment Assessment] Agency says global carbon dioxide levels stayed flat in '09
• 2010/07/01: Guardian(UK): Global carbon emissions steady for first time since 1992
• 2010/07/01: SciDaily: Emissions of Greenhouse Gases Methane and Nitrous Oxide Underestimated
• 2010/06/30: WtD: The shape of things to come.. CO2 at 800ppm by 2100?
• 2010/06/30: NewScientist: Climate control: Is CO2 really in charge?

  As for the temperature record:

• 2010/06/29: ClimateP: How hot is it? So hot that 8 countries in Africa and Asia set all-time high temperature records

  While in the paleoclimate:

• 2010/07/02: KSJT: LiveScience, Scotsman, ScienceNOW: No, wait! Maybe mammoths' demise warmed the planet? Anybody paying attention here?
• 2010/07/02: SciNow: Did Mammoth Extinction Warm Earth?
• 2010/06/30: AGU: Man-made global warming started with ancient hunters
• 2010/06/30: PhysOrg: Man-made global warming started with ancient hunters: study

  Regarding Climate Sensitivity:

• 2010/06/30: TCoE: Arctic climate sensitivity

  The cliff, aka tipping points, aka planetary boundaries, put in an appearance:

• 2010/06/28: Independent(UK): Scientists 'expect climate tipping point' by 2200
• 2010/06/30: JEB: Oh noes we're all going die...by 2200
• 2010/06/29: ENS: Ancient Fossils Show Arctic Now Near Climate Tipping Point
• 2010/06/29: Eureka: Arctic climate may be more sensitive to warming than thought, says new study

  Meanwhile in near earth orbit:

• 2010/07/01: ESA: CryoSat-2 exceeding expectations
• 2010/06/30: BBC: SMOS 'space chopper' returns first global maps
  Europe's SMOS mission is slowly but surely meeting the challenge of measuring Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity from space.
• 2010/06/29: NatureTGB: GOCE depicts gravity in high resolution
• 2010/06/30: NatureN: [SMOS] Satellite spots soggy soil -- European Space Agency mission provides the first global map of a key climate variable
• 2010/06/29: ScienceInsider: Solar Sensor Dropped From First Environmental Satellite in Troubled Program
• 2010/06/30: ESA: SMOS shines at symposium
• 2010/06/29: NASA:JPL: NASA [Aura] Satellite Adds Carbon Dioxide to its Repertoire [with the Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer (TES) instrument]
• 2010/06/29: BBC: Cryosat-2 focuses on ice target
  The Cryosat-2 mission is delivering on its promise to make high-precision radar measurements of polar ice. The first data from the European spacecraft has been presented at an Earth observation meeting in Norway. The information clearly shows Cryosat has the required sensitivity to assess the state of Antarctic and Arctic ice, according to its lead scientist. "All of the measurement concepts have been confirmed," UCL Professor Duncan Wingham told BBC News. The European Space Agency's Cryosat-2 satellite was launched in April on a quest to map the thickness and shape of the Earth's polar ice cover.

More GW impacts are being seen:

• 2010/07/03: WpgFP: Saving forest for the trees: Canada leads globe in boreal conservation
• 2010/07/03: UNDispatch: Bangladesh and Our Global Future
  Agriculture researchers in Bangladesh have released a new report on climate change. They predict that if nothing is done, rice production will dramatically decline by 2050, just as the nation's population is peaking. As a hot, low-lying, agricultural nation, Bangladesh is especially vulnerable to climate change.
• 2010/07/03: SmithsonianMag: Rising Seas Endanger Wetland Wildlife
  For scientists in a remote corner of coastal North Carolina, ignoring global warming is not an option
• 2010/07/02: ABC(Au): Poor countries suffer more from climate change: researcher
  A British researcher says the urban poor in developing countries are likely to bear the brunt of the effects of climate change, even though they do little to cause it. Speaking at an international climate change conference on Queensland's Gold Coast, Dr David Dodman says the poor do very little to cause climate change but will be affected by rising sea levels, changing water patterns, and effects on the economy.
• 2010/07/02: ABC(Au): Earlier ripening due to more than climate change
• 2010/07/02: TerraDaily: Warmer Ecosystems Could Absorb Less Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide
• 2010/07/01: SciDaily: Warmer Is Better: Invasive Cane Toads Set to Thrive Under Global Warming
• 2010/06/30: QMUL: Warmer ecosystems could absorb less atmospheric carbon dioxide

  And then there are the world's forests:

• 2010/07/03: TreeHugger: Proposed Changes To Brazil's Forest Code Could Cause Massive Deforestation
• 2010/06/30: SolveClimate: US Forest Report May Fuel More Deforestation in Brazil
• 2010/06/30: PhysOrg: Scientists warn increase in Amazon fires threatens UN-led carbon savings
• 2010/06/28: WWF: New threat to Amazon as Brazilian legislators lay siege to forest law
• 2010/06/29: TEC: Amazon Rainforest Faces New Threat from Brazilian Lawmakers

  Climate refugees are becoming an issue:

• 2010/07/01: UN: UN refugee agency sounds alarm after 16 migrants drown on Turkish-Greek border

  A couple of relatively minor tornadoes in Canada:

• 2010/07/02: CBC: Tornado hits Sask. reserve
  As many as 13 homes were destroyed and several others were damaged when a tornado struck a small Saskatchewan community, 120 kilometres north of Regina, Friday evening. There were no immediate reports of injuries on the Kawacatoose First Nation after the tornado touched down.
• 2010/06/29: CBC: Quebec funnels were tornadoes
  Environment Canada says funnel clouds that rolled through the greater Montreal region Monday afternoon were in fact tornadoes. The federal weather bureau said two tornadoes were registered in the island region: one in Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, on Montreal's West Island, at 3:30 p.m., and one in Mascouche, east of the city, just before 5 p.m. Both tornadoes were rated as F0, the lowest intensity on the Fujita scale. Winds up to 90 kilometres per hour were recorded in both areas, said Environment Canada meteorologist René Héroux.

Acidification is changing the oceans:

• 2010/07/01: Economist: Ocean acidification -- The other carbon-dioxide problem

  Glaciers are melting:

• 2010/07/02: PhysOrg: US scientist in race to learn from Indonesia's dying [Punjak Jaya] glacier
• 2010/07/01: TreeHugger: Last Glacier in the Pacific to Melt in a Matter of Years
• 2010/06/29: SkeptiSci: Return to the Himalayas by Doug Bostrom
• 2010/06/29: Eureka: CU-Boulder researcher finds 10,000 year-old hunting weapon in melting ice patch
• 2010/06/30: TEC: At Top of the World, New Evidence of Melting in the Himalayas

  Sea levels are rising:

• 2010/06/30: SMH: IPCC expects increase in sea-level forecasts
• 2010/06/30: SMH: IPCC expects big increase in sea-level forecasts

  As for hydrological cycle disruptions [floods & droughts]:

• 2010/07/01: TerraDaily: Romania flood death toll climbs to 24: official
• 2010/07/03: CBC: Storm-ravaged Sask. gets provincial aid
  About 350 property owners in Saskatchewan will qualify for disaster relief from the province after weeks of stormy weather that has destroyed homes and ravaged communities.
• 2010/07/02: EarthTimes: Romania braces for more flooding on 10th day of rising water
• 2010/07/02: CBC: Canoes used to rescue flood victims in Sask.
  People had to be rescued by canoes Thursday after 100 millimetres of rain fell in minutes in Yorkton, Sask. Overnight, 70 people were forced from their homes due to severe flooding. More were leaving their homes Friday morning and seeking shelter. Many streets in the city of 15,000 people were under water. An emergency evacuation centre was set up for Yorkton residents at the Gallagher Centre, which is the city's main recreational centre and fairground.
• 2010/06/30: CCP: Andrew Freedman, WaPo: precipitation extremes already increasing in frequency and severity due to global climate change
• 2010/06/28: SMandia: O Water, Water, Wherefore Art Thou Water? Third part of the Impacts of Climate Change series
• 2010/06/30: EarthTimes: At least 21 dead after eight days of flooding in Romania
• 2010/06/29: Google:AFP: Romania flood death toll climbs to 16

  Elsewhere on the mitigation front:

• 2010/07/01: NewScientist:SSS: Turbo-boosting plants won't save us from climate change
• 2010/06/28: ABC(Au): Carbon reduction scheme not enough: professor
  An academic on Queensland's Gold Coast says there needs to be a combination of mechanisms to deal with climate change, not just a a carbon pollution reduction scheme. Professor Jean Palutikof from Griffith University says there needs to be practical steps to deal with climate change. The issue will be discussed, among others, by around 1,000 delegates at the Climate Adaptation Futures Conference on the Gold Coast this week.

Consider transportation & GHG production:

• 2010/07/01: CalcRisk: U.S. Light Vehicle Sales 11.1 Million SAAR in June
• 2010/07/02: HuffPo: What Ever Happened to Public Transportation?
• 2010/07/01: Berkeley:E&E: How green is high-speed rail?
• 2010/06/30: WorldChanging: Blimps for Freight on the Way!
• 2010/07/01: MWatch: General Motors U.S. June sales rise 10.7%
  [...] General Motors Co. said Thursday that June U.S. sales rose 10.7% to 195,380 vehicles from 176,571 in the year-ago period. Chevrolet sales increased by 32.5% to 141,381 vehicles, and Buick sales jumped 52.7% to 13,133 vehicles.
• 2010/06/30: Guardian(UK): Blimps could replace aircraft in freight transport, say scientists
• 2010/06/28: Guardian(UK): Invest in rail, not roads

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

• 2010/06/29: AlterNet: Why 'Green' Building Standards May Actually Threaten Sustainable Forestry

  As for carbon sequestration:

• 2010/07/02: BBerg: China Starts Building Country's First Emissions Capture, Storage Project
• 2010/07/02: TreeHugger: Scrubbing CO2 From Atmosphere Could Be A Centuries-Long Commitment
• 2010/07/01: Eureka: Scrubbing CO2 from atmosphere could be a long-term commitment
• 2010/07/01: SciDaily: Scrubbing CO2 from Atmosphere Could Be a Long-Term Commitment
• 2010/06/28: ABC(Au): Concerns raised over carbon capture
• 2010/06/28: CBC: Carbon capture concerns raised
  A new study claims there are unanswered questions about carbon sequestration and the impact of leakage on global warming. Carbon sequestration or carbon capture and storage (CCS) is being promoted as a way to remove growing levels of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Governments around the world are investing billions of dollars over the next decade developing carbon capture and storage systems to extract CO2 at power plants and other combustion sites and store it underground. Prof. Gary Shaffer from the Danish Centre for Earth System Science examined a range of CCS methods to determine their effectiveness and long-term impacts. Reporting in the journal Nature Geoscience, Shaffer says there are still questions over which sequestration process is best and which is least likely to leak carbon.

Large scale geo-engineering keeps popping up:

• 2010/06/29: FuturePundit: Climate Engineering With White Clouds
  One of the methods proposed to cool the planet involves building lots of large floating spray pump systems that would use wind or wave energy to spray water into the atmosphere. The purpose of the water would be to create more white clouds that would reflect away more sunlight and thereby cool the planet. Ken Caldeira and associates find that the ocean spray approach would increase the amount of precipitation on land.
• 2010/06/30: PhysOrg: Nutrients, viruses and the biological carbon pump
  Adding nutrients to the sea could decrease viral infection rates among phytoplankton and enhance the efficiency of the biological pump, a means by which carbon is transferred from the atmosphere to the deep ocean, according to a new mathematical modelling study. The findings, published in the Journal of Theoretical Biology, have implications for ocean geo-engineering schemes proposed for tackling global warming.
• 2010/06/28: Time:EcoCentric: A Quick Fix for Climate Change Falls Flat
• 2010/06/28: Eureka: Whiter clouds could mean wetter land

  Meanwhile in the journals:

• 2010/07/02: ACP: Relationship between wind speed and aerosol optical depth over remote ocean by H. Huang et al.
• 2010/07/02: ACP: Accelerating growth of HFC-227ea (1,1,1,2,3,3,3-heptafluoropropane) in the atmosphere by J. C. Laube et al.
• 2010/07/02: ACP: Remote sensing of the tropical rain forest boundary layer using pulsed Doppler lidar by G. Pearson et al.
• 2010/07/02: ACP: Aerosol optical properties and radiative forcing in the high Himalaya based on measurements at the Nepal Climate Observatory-Pyramid site (5079 m a.s.l.) by S. Marcq et al.
• 2010/07/02: ACPD: The vorticity budget of developing Typhoon Nuri (2008) by D. J. Raymond & C. López Carrillo
• 2010/07/02: ACPD: Deep convective clouds at the tropopause by H. H. Aumann & S. G. DeSouza-Machado
• 2010/07/02: OS: Seismic imaging of a thermohaline staircase in the western tropical North Atlantic by I. Fer et al.
• 2010/07/01: OS: Anthropogenic carbon dynamics in the changing ocean by J. F. Tjiputra et al.
• 2010/06/29: CPD: Sea-surface salinity variations in the Northern Caribbean Sea across the mid-Pleistocene transition by S. Sepulcre et al.
• 2010/06/28: CP: Coral Cd/Ca and Mn/Ca records of ENSO variability in the Gulf of California by J. D. Carriquiry & J. A. Villaescusa
• 2010/07/02: CP: Comment on "Using multiple observationally-based constraints to estimate climate sensitivity" by J. D. Annan and J. C. Hargreaves, Geophys. Res. Lett., 2006 by S. V. Henriksson et al.
• 2010/07/01: ACP: Chemistry of hydrogen oxide radicals (HOx) in the Arctic troposphere in spring by J. Mao et al.
• 2010/07/01: ACP: Modelling the chemically aged and mixed aerosols over the eastern central Atlantic Ocean - potential impacts by M. Astitha et al.
• 2010/07/01: ACP: The Coupled Aerosol and Tracer Transport model to the Brazilian developments on the Regional Atmospheric Modeling System (CATT-BRAMS) -- Part 2: Model sensitivity to the biomass burning inventories by K. M. Longo et al.
• 2010/06/30: ACP: Estimated total emissions of trace gases from the Canberra Wildfires of 2003: a new method using satellite measurements of aerosol optical depth & the MOZART chemical transport model by C. Paton-Walsh et al.
• 2010/06/30: ACP: Impact of West African Monsoon convective transport and lightning NOx production upon the upper tropospheric composition: a multi-model study by B. Barret et al.
• 2010/06/28: ACP: Hygroscopic properties of Amazonian biomass burning and European background HULIS and investigation of their effects on surface tension with two models linking H-TDMA to CCNC data by E. O. Fors et al.
• 2010/07/01: ACPD: Laboratory measurements of trace gas emissions from biomass burning of fuel types from the Southeastern and Southwestern United States by I. R. Burling et al.
• 2010/07/01: ACPD: Comparison of UV irradiances from Aura/Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) with Brewer measurements at El Arenosillo (Spain) - Part 2: Analysis of site aerosol influence by V. E. Cachorro et al.
• 2010/07/01: ACPD: Statistical dynamics of equatorial waves in tropical radiosonde wind data by T.-Y. Koh et al.
• 2010/07/01: ACPD: A very high-resolution global fossil fuel CO2 emission inventory derived using a point source database and satellite observations of nighttime lights, 1980-2007 by T. Oda & S. Maksyutov
• 2010/06/30: ACPD: Global fire emissions and the contribution of deforestation, savanna, forest, agricultural, and peat fires (1997-2009) by G. R. van der Werf et al.
• 2010/06/30: ACPD: Anthropogenic sulfur dioxide emissions: 1850-2005 by S. J. Smith et al.
• 2010/06/28: ACPD: Modeling natural emissions in the Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) model -- Part 2: Modifications for simulating natural emissions by S. F. Mueller et al.
• 2010/06/28: ACPD: Present and future impact of aircraft, road traffic and shipping emissions on global tropospheric ozone by B. Koffi et al.
• 2010/06/28: ACPD: Quantifying immediate radiative forcing by black carbon and organic matter with the Specific Forcing Pulse by T. C. Bond et al.
• 2010/06/24: Science: (ab$) Simulated Rapid Warming of Abyssal North Pacific Waters by Shuhei Masuda et al.
• 2010/06/29: PNAS: Greenhouse gas mitigation by agricultural intensification by Jennifer A. Burney et al.
• 2010/06/29: PNAS: Economic aspects of global warming in a post-Copenhagen environment by William D. Nordhaus
• 2010/06/29: PNAS: Assessing the climatic benefits of black carbon mitigation by Robert E. Kopp & Denise L. Mauzerall
• 2010/06/29: PNAS: [Letter$] Reply to Firestone et al.: No confirmation of impact at the lower Younger Dryas boundary at Murray Springs, AZ by C. Vance Haynes Jr. et al.
• 2010/06/29: PNAS: [Letter$] Confirmation of the Younger Dryas boundary (YDB) data at Murray Springs, AZ by Richard B. Firestone et al.
• 2010/06/30: OSD: Thermophysical property anomalies of Baltic seawater by R. Feistel et al.
• 2010/06/29: TC: Runoff and mass-balance simulations from the Greenland Ice Sheet at Kangerlussuaq (Søndre Strømfjord) in a 30-year perspective, 1979-2008 by S. H. Mernild et al.
• 2010/06/30: TCD: A numerical study of glacier advance over deforming till by G. J.-M. C. Leysinger Vieli & G. H. Gudmundsson

  And other significant documents:

• 2010/06/29: PI: [link to 367k pdf] How Do Two Pipelines Stack Up?
• 2010/06/28: EPA: [links to several pdfs] Final Rule: Mandatory Reporting of Greenhouse Gases from Magnesium Production, Underground Coal Mines, Industrial Wastewater Treatment, and Industrial Waste Landfills
• 2010/07/01: TCoE: Doc alert: IEA's Energy Technologies Perspectives
• 2010/06/30: ERabett: [link to 1.1 meg pdf] Eli Re- Retires [Swiss Re pamphlet answering climate sceptics]

  As for miscellaneous science:

• 2010/07/03: Stoat: Well write a bloody paper about it, then [Oreskes & Nierenberg]
• 2010/07/02: SkeptiSci: What happened to greenhouse warming during mid-century cooling?
• 2010/07/01: SEasterbrook: The IPCC timeline and its impact on climate science

  Oh, those inconvenient truths:

• 2010/07/03: Guardian(UK): When the scientific evidence is unwelcome, people try to reason it away
  Research results not consistent with your world view? Then you're likely to believe science can't supply all the answers

Warren Washington profile:

• 2010/06/30: Grist: Spotlight: Warren Washington, super modeler -- The man behind the climate models

  Regarding Tiljander:

• 2010/06/28: AGWObserver: Tiljander

  Alas, the Pielke fan clubbe:

• 2010/07/03: CCP: Roger Pielke, Jr., says he does fundamental research -- give me a break!!!
  Then, he claims that the IPCC consults with him. The idiot interviewer doesn't know enough about the subject to call him on this, and furthermore says the IPCC committed "two major blunders." Fire her now! (Oh, I forgot. There are no real science journalists anymore.)

While at the UN:

• 2010/07/02: Macon: UN report fuels criticism of carbon-cutting scheme
  European and U.S. environmentalists demanded action Friday after an obscure U.N. advisory panel lent credence to their claims that industrialized nations are wasting billions of dollars on carbon-cutting projects. The dispute revolves around the validity of some of the largest projects funded by the $2.7 billion U.N.-managed Clean Development Mechanism.
• 2010/07/02: Reuters: Kyoto may push factories to pollute more: U.N. report
• 2010/06/30: EurActiv: Carbon offset auditors get poor grade
• 2010/06/29: PlanetArk: Emissions Auditors Get Poor Grades For Second Year
• 2010/06/29: Novinite: UN Confirms All-Out Ban on Bulgaria's Carbon Emissions Trade
• 2010/06/28: TriplePundit: More Fraud Within the Clean Development Mechanism

  And on the carbon trading front:

• 2010/07/01: UPI: New Zealand launches emissions trading
• 2010/07/01: PlanetArk: Kyoto CO2 Offset Issuances Grind To Crawl In June
• 2010/06/30: Publics:Reuters: Bulgaria suspended from U.N. Kyoto carbon trade

  The idea of a carbon tax is still bouncing around:

• 2010/07/01: BWeek: India to Raise $535 Million From Carbon Tax on Coal
• 2010/07/02: EarthTimes: EU commission 'broadly in favour' of fuel carbon tax, [Commission President, Jose Manuel] Barroso says
• 2010/07/01: PeakEnergy: We need a great big tax on carbon

  The proposed G20 Bank Tax is turning into a tussle:

• 2010/06/29: NYT: Bank Fee Is Eliminated in Financial Bill

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

• 2010/07/01: Grist: A Salon debate on cap-and-trade and energy politics: day four
• 2010/06/30: Grist: A Salon debate on cap-and-trade and energy politics: day three

  Meanwhile on the international political front:

• 2010/07/01: MongaBay: US pledges 136 million dollars to the environment in Indonesia
• 2010/07/01: EnergyDaily: Argentina plans South Atlantic oil quest
  Argentina will start drilling for hydrocarbons in an offshore region close to the South Atlantic waters of the British-controlled Falkland Islands, officials said. Plans for the start of a $150 million exploration for oil and gas by a group of companies were announced as Buenos Aires said its sovereignty claim over the Falklands had won support of China.

The issue of the law and activism is playing out around the world:

• 2010/07/04: TreeHugger: Tibetan Environmentalist Jailed for Five Years
• The G20 Police are coming in for a lot of negative comment

  Regarding Water Politics and Business:

• 2010/06/29: AlterNet: World's Water Supply: Here Are the Haves and Have Nots
• 2010/07/02: TreeHugger: Renewable Energy Key to Making Desalination Work for Water-Crunched Countries
• 2010/07/01: PhysOrg: Using the rays of the sun to convert sea- to drinking water
• 2010/07/01: JFleck: Water Conservation in a Wet Place
• 2010/06/30: PlanetArk: China To Move Tens Of Thousands For Huge Water Scheme
  China will move 345,000 people, mostly poor villagers, within about two years to make way for a vast scheme to draw on rivers in the south to supply the increasingly dry north, an official newspaper said on Tuesday. The forced resettlement for the South-to-North Water Transfer Project will be the biggest China has undertaken since building the Three Gorges Dam, the world's biggest hydroelectric scheme, said the People's Daily.

And on the American political front:

• 2010/07/01: NorthJersey: We should have listened to Jimmy Carter
• 2010/07/03: KC: Hearings set, public comments sought on new Kansas coal plant permit
• 2010/07/04: TimesDispatch: Consensus over science, cost of warming elusive
• 2010/07/03: TCoE: Moynihan knew, 41 years ago
• 2010/07/03: STimes: [Daniel Patrick] Moynihan, as Nixon aide, warned of global warming
  Documents released Friday by the Nixon Presidential Library show members of President Richard Nixon's inner circle discussing the possibilities of global warming more than 30 years ago.
• 2010/07/02: Grist: Newt Gingrich isn't pro-market, he's pro-business
• 2010/07/02: BostonHerald: State [Massachusetts] suspends clean-energy [biofuel] program
• 2010/07/02: REA: State RPS' Lead to 250% Market Growth by 2025
• 2010/07/01: SolveClimate: Key Tool in EU Clean Energy Boom [feed-In tariffs] Will Only Work in U.S. in Local Contexts
• 2010/07/01: Yahoo:AP: Fiorina says Calif. climate law is killing jobs
• 2010/07/01: PhysOrg: More oil spills to come, says WUSTL anthropologist
  The Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is not simply a random accident. There will be more of these spills to come, as the days of easy oil are over, says an anthropologist at Washington University in St. Louis.
• 2010/07/01: DM:SRK: Do Politicians Understand the Science?
• 2010/07/01: TreeHugger: New York Power Authority Applies For Long Island Offshore Wind Farm Lease From Feds
• 2010/07/01: OilDrum: The Renewables Gap: The Political Challenge of Affecting a Societal Transition to Renewable Sources of Energy Revisited
• 2010/07/01: AlterNet: Hightower: Republicans Have Big Oil in Their DNA
• 2010/06/30: DeSmogBlog: Top Man in Washington Slams Canada's Tar Sands
• 2010/06/30: SolveClimate: Clean Air Act Proving Effective in CO2 Regulation, Lawyers Tell Their Corporate Clients -- Observers wonder if EPA's measured momentum rightly puts Congress in the back seat
• 2010/06/30: Grist: Gingrich slams Obama on Gulf gusher and sounds off on climate
• 2010/06/30: NRDC:SwitchBoard: New [Keystone XL] Tar Sands Oil Pipeline Will Lock U.S. into Dangerous Consequences
• 2010/06/29: TP:WR: GOP Put Party Over Planet, Claim Pollution Is Energy

  Bureacracies working to cross purposes:

• 2010/07/02: Grist: Obama admin unable to resolve shutdown of PACE clean-energy program
• 2010/07/03: TreeHugger: Obama Administration Tries To Keep Up The PACE
• 2010/07/01: TEC: Fannie and Freddie derail PACE solar financing program
• 2010/06/30: Grist: Fannie and Freddie bring down Boulder clean-energy finance program

  What will the administration do?

• 2010/06/29: KMPH: Wis. company hopes Obama intervenes in India deal
  The chief executive of manufacturer Bucyrus International Inc. said Tuesday that he hopes President Barack Obama will intervene to save a $600 million international power plant deal put in jeopardy by a Congress-funded bank. Bucyrus received cancellation letters from Reliance Power Inc., with which Bucyrus is building the coal-fired plant in India, shortly after the U.S. Export-Import Bank voted late last week to deny the project hundreds of millions of dollars in loan guarantees.
• 2010/07/03: ClimateP: Ex-Im bank should build jobs through clean energy -- Export-Import Bank need not reconsider recent coal decision

  The Cuccinelli attack on Michael Mann is before the court:

• 2010/07/02: CDP: Advocacy group: Errors `riddle' Cuccinelli claim on UVa climate papers
• 2010/06/30: NBC: UVA Volleys in Cuccinelli's Climate Change Suit -- Climate change science could be argued in VA
• 2010/07/01: UCSUSA: Ken Cuccinelli Makes Basic Factual Errors About Mike Mann's Research, Stolen Emails in Response to UVA
• 2010/06/29: CDP: UVa lawyers: Investigation by Cuccinelli 'unlawful'

  Obama & some senators had a climate chat this week, to no apparent avail:

• 2010/06/29: SolveClimate: In Meeting with Obama, Senators Can't Support His Call for a Climate Bill
• 2010/06/29: TheHill:e2W: Dems seek to salvage climate provisions after White House meeting
• 2010/06/29: ClimateP: Obama pushes Senators for energy bill with carbon price ... and so does Olympia Snowe (R-ME)
• 2010/06/30: PlanetArk: No Consensus As Obama, Senators Discuss Energy Bill
• 2010/06/30: Grist: Merkley: 'You can't run up the white flag until you have the fight'
• 2010/06/29: Grist: The latest in Democratic fecklessness
• 2010/06/29: Grist: White House climate-bill meeting ends with a whimper
• 2010/06/29: EarthTimes: No consensus on climate path as Obama pleads with lawmakers
• 2010/06/29: ENS: Obama Pushes for Senate Climate Bill With Price on Carbon; GOP Resists
• 2010/06/29: TP:WR: Obama Meets With Climate Peacocks To Discuss Fate Of The Planet

  The Obama chatter is nonstop:

• 2010/07/03: E2T: Obama Announces Close to $2B in Solar Loan Guarantees
• 2010/07/03: BWeek: Obama Announces Loan Guarantees for Solar Firms Abengoa, Abound
• 2010/06/29: TerraDaily: Obama 'confident' of a climate bill this year: White House
• 2010/06/30: TreeHugger: Obama: Energy Bill Must Price Carbon

  The actions of the Obama administration are being watched closely:

• 2010/07/01: ENS: Deaf to 'Music Saves Mountains,' EPA Approves New Surface Coal Mine
• 2010/06/30: Yahoo:AP: EPA overturns 16-year-old Texas permit program
• 2010/06/28: SolveClimate: Secrecy Shrouds DOE's $8.3Bn Nuke Plant Loan, Watchdogs Say -- Two reactors near Atlanta would be the nation's first in nearly 30 years
• 2010/06/29: Reuters: US EPA finalizes CO2 rule on mines, landfills
• 2010/06/29: NYT: Administration Cannot Drop Bid for Nuclear Waste Dump in Nevada, Panel Finds
  In a setback for the Obama administration, a panel of judges at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission ruled on Tuesday that the Energy Department could not withdraw its application to open a nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. Making good on a campaign pledge by President Obama, the Energy Department had formally sought to drop its plan for Yucca Mountain, a volcanic structure about 100 miles from Las Vegas. But states with major accumulations of waste from nuclear weapons production had petitioned to prevent the department from doing so. In a 47-page decision, the three-member panel of administrative judges said the Energy Department lacked the authority to drop the petition because it would flout a law passed by Congress.
• 2010/06/30: NRDC:SwitchBoard: EPA Inexplicably Greenlights WV Mountaintop Removal Permit
• 2010/06/30: ENS: Coal Mines, Wastewater Systems, Landfills to Report Greenhouse Gas Emissions
• 2010/06/29: AutoBG: U.S. Department of Energy gives out $24 million for algae biofuels research
• 2010/06/29: AutoBG: USDA's Renewable Fuels Standard "roadmap" expects 7.9 billion gallons of non-corn biofuel by 2022

  As for what is going on in Congress:

• 2010/07/02: Grist: We need a declaration of independence from foreign oil by Rep. Ed Markey
• 2010/07/01: NRDC:SwitchBoard: Key Congressional Democrats stand up and oppose more subsidies for old corn ethanol
• 2010/06/30: NYT:CW: Sen. Snowe Is Working Quietly to Find 'Consensus' on Capping Utility Emissions
• 2010/07/01: UCSUSA: Senate Currently Proposing $40 Billion to More Than $140 Billion in Subsidies for Nuclear Industry, New Analysis Finds
• 2010/06/30: TheHill:e2W: Waxman to push carbon limits in conference if Senate falls short
• 2010/06/30: DeSmogBlog: Help save oily US Senators from themselves [funny video]

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

• 2010/07/01: Grist: Could Dems get a strong energy bill if they abandoned cap-and-trade?
• 2010/07/01: Grist: Can we get on the road to major emission reductions by starting with a cap on stationary sources?
• 2010/07/02: NYT:CW: Manufacturers Worry of Pitfalls From Utility-Only Climate Bill
• 2010/07/01: SciAm: Utility-first climate bill warms up in Congress
  Environmentalists and power companies are lobbying U.S. senators to put forward climate and energy legislation that would initially cap greenhouse emissions only from electric utilities, saying it's the last best chance for passing a bill this year. They site fears that a broader bill forcing manufacturers and the transportation sector to pay for emitting carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases while the country struggles to emerge from recession would be too difficult this year.
• 2010/07/01: Grist: Democrats may waste last chance for clean energy win
• 2010/07/01: Grist: The public is ready for clean energy legislation. Is the Senate?
• 2010/07/01: NRDC:SwitchBoard: Can We Get on the Road to the Emission Reductions We Need by Starting with a Cap on Stationary Sources?
• 2010/06/28: NRDC:SwitchBoard: The Lugar Energy Plan: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
• 2010/06/29: ABC(US): Energy Bill: Can Senators Reach Agreement? Former Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham Doesn't See Prospect of Comprehensive Legislation
• 2010/06/29: NRDC:SwitchBoard: How to make a climate and energy bill more practical? Add efficiency!
• 2010/06/28: TEC: Scaled-Back Climate Bill Likely to Strand Energy Innovation
• 2010/06/30: TWM: Creating the right political climate...
  One would like to think the circumstances for a major new energy/climate bill are ripe. Indeed, between the massive environmental catastrophe and the size of the Democratic majorities on the Hill, we'll probably not see an opportunity like this for many, many years. But Congress nevertheless seems reluctant to act...

What are the lobbyists pushing?

• 2010/06/28: Tyee: 'We Got that Deleted': Canada's Oil Sands Lobby Twisting Washington's Arm -- US politicians bend to foreign-backed pressure to soften climate bill.
  As U.S. senators debate some of the most sweeping climate change laws in American history, a powerful lobbying effort led by Canadian officials and huge oil firms may be winning big concessions. Their goal is to keep Alberta's generous "oil sands" reserves flowing south through pipelines. It's a crucial and stable energy supply for the U.S., but one often lambasted for high carbon emissions, strip-mined landscapes and giant ponds of toxic sludge. Any attempt to close the spigot is fought by an informal coalition that includes Albertan diplomats, Big Oil lobbyists and Canadian cabinet ministers.
• 2010/07/02: CBC: Alberta buys $56K ad in U.S. paper
• 2010/06/30: DeSmogBlog: Canadian oil lobby trying to kill US clean energy policy
• 2010/06/30: TreeHugger: Green Groups Hit The Airwaves Hoping To Use Spill To Prompt Climate Acton In the Senate

  Robert Byrd in memoriam:

• 2010/06/29: ClimateP: Remembering Robert Byrd: Long-serving coal state Senator had shifted toward climate science and action
• 2010/06/28: ENS: West Virginia Senator Robert Byrd Dies at 92

  This would be funny, if it weren't so frustrating:

• 2010/06/29: ClimateP: Republicans demagogue against market-oriented climate measures they once supported
• 2010/06/29: Grist: Remember when Republicans liked cap-and-trade?

  The Gore-apalooza is still bopping along:

• 2010/07/01: Guardian(UK): Al Gore sex case reopened by police
• 2010/07/01: BBC: Police in the US are reopening an investigation into allegations that former Vice-President Al Gore made unwanted sexual advances to a woman at a hotel in 2006
• 2010/07/01: ABC(US): Portland Police Reopen Al Gore Sex Abuse Allegations

  While in the UK:

• 2010/07/03: QuarkSoup: Britain Wants to Reduce Air Travel
• 2010/07/02: AutoBG: UK committee says fuel prices must stay high to force drivers into efficient cars
• 2010/07/02: TreeHugger: British PM Shuts Down 3rd Runway At Heathrow For Good
• 2010/07/01: Guardian(UK): UK government blocking green car take-up, say electric vehicle makers
  Vince Cable fails to confirm green car subsidy status as climate advisers say electric vehicles are key to hitting carbon targets
• 2010/07/01: Guardian(UK): Network Rail study to assess impact of climate change
• 2010/06/30: GreenBiz: Will the U.K. Eliminate the Carbon Trust?
• 2010/06/30: OilDrum: New UK Energy Minister and the Continuing Decline in Energy Production
• 2010/06/29: BBC: Advisors urge new UK climate policies
  Major changes in policy are still needed to meet climate targets despite emission cuts brought about by the recession, say government advisors. The Committee on Climate Change (CCC) calls for a "step change" in power generation, insulation and transport. Continuing to rely on "light touch" approaches will not work, it says.
• 2010/06/30: Guardian(UK): UK will miss carbon emissions targets 'unless government takes urgent action'

  And in Europe:

• 2010/07/03: Yahoo:AFP: Spain to cut subsidies to renewable energy producers
• 2010/07/02: EurActiv: Industry talks up gas as solution to EU's energy challenges
  Europe should turn to natural gas in its search for the affordable and reliable energy sources of the future, energy company representatives said at the European Business Summit (EBS) yesterday (1 July).
• 2010/07/02: PlanetArk: Europe Gets First Glimpse Of Solar And Windfarm Plans
  Wind turbine farms are set to expand rapidly across Europe's coastal waters, throwing up challenges and opportunities for industry, according to a Reuters analysis of a leaked draft of EU energy strategies.
• 2010/07/02: EarthTimes: EU commission 'broadly in favour' of fuel carbon tax, [Commission President, Jose Manuel] Barroso says
• 2010/07/01: EurActiv: EU label aims to boost organic farming
  The European Commission hopes that new EU rules, including the new organic logo 'Euro-Leaf', will enhance consumer confidence in organic food and boost the sector across Europe. The new rules enter into force today (1 July), making the 'Euro-Leaf' label mandatory on pre-packaged organic foods that meet organic farming standards.
• 2010/07/01: EurActiv: EU capitals miss deadline for renewable action plans
  The vast majority of EU member states will deliver their national renewable energy action plans (NREAPs) late as only two had landed on the European Commission's desk by midday yesterday (30 June), the day of the deadline.
• 2010/07/01: PlanetArk: German Climate Goals Tied To Nuclear Power: Lobby
  German energy group BDEW on Wednesday called for an extension of the country's nuclear reactor lifespan, stressing the role of the carbon free technology in helping to meet national climate reduction goals.
• 2010/06/30: EurActiv: Czechs under fire over EU climate target
• 2010/06/30: EurActiv: EU move to break GM deadlock could sow discord
  Plans to radically overhaul EU rules on growing genetically modified (GM) crops are welcomed by some as boosting productivity, but others say the move will unleash uncertainty, discord and a deluge of litigation.
• 2010/06/30: EurActiv: EU mandates standard plug for electric cars

  Meanwhile in Australia:

• 2010/07/04: ABC(Au): Federal Resources Minister Martin Ferguson says the removal of Kevin Rudd as prime minister was the catalyst to strike a deal on the mining tax
• 2010/07/02: ABC(Au):TDU: Gillard's ascension and the new political order
• 2010/07/03: PeakEnergy: Zero Carbon Australia
• 2010/07/03: LarvatusProdeo: Is Julia Gillard the new Bob Hawke?
• 2010/07/02: ABC(Au): Gillard seals mining tax deal
• 2010/07/02: ABC(Au): Tax deal draws election battlelines: Abbott
  Opposition Leader Tony Abbott is refusing to back the deal made between the Federal Government and the resources sector over its redesigned resources tax.
• 2010/07/01: BBC: Australia agrees deal to reduce new mining tax
  The Australian government has reached a deal with mining companies over controversial tax plans. Former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd had announced plans for a 40% tax on miners' profits. But a compromise agreement negotiated by his successor, Julia Gillard, has now reduced the rate to 30% for coal and iron ore miners. But petroleum and gas operations will still pay a pre-existing 40% tax rate, the government said. But that will now cover onshore oil and gas projects as well as the offshore operations previously subject to it. Smaller iron ore and coal companies, with annual profits below A$50m (£28m; $42m), will not be required to pay the new tax.
• 2010/07/01: ABC(Au): Dry winter sees rules flouted
  The Water Corporation has issued more than 1,700 warnings to people flouting the winter sprinkler ban.
• 2010/07/01: ABC(Au): Perth leans towards recycled water
• 2010/06/27: ABC(Au): Prime Minister Julia Gillard says she wants Australia to have a carbon tax and is prepared to fight for it
• 2010/06/29: ABC(Au): Greens Leader Bob Brown says he has written to Prime Minister Julia Gillard offering a solution to the impasse on the emissions trading scheme
• 2010/06/30: ABC(Au): Flannery urges Govt to push carbon reduction scheme
• 2010/06/30: SkeptiSci: Perth forum on climate change: all the gory details
• 2010/06/30: PlanetArk: Green Power An Easy Win For Australia: Scientists
• 2010/06/30: PlanetArk: Australian Greens Propose A$23/Ton Carbon Tax
• 2010/06/29: PlanetArk: Australia Greens May Block Mine-Tax Deal
• 2010/06/29: CCurrents: Australia: Mining Giants Dictate Terms To New Prime Minister
• 2010/06/30: PeakEnergy: Moving Out One by One as Australia Pursues Coal
• 2010/06/29: AutoBG: By not offering incentives, Australia could be best indicator of electric vehicles' real popularity

  And in New Zealand:

• 2010/07/02: SMH: Emissions trading scheme sends prices up as Australia looks on
• 2010/07/01: UPI: New Zealand launches emissions trading
• 2010/07/01: Yahoo:AFP: New Zealand launches emissions trading scheme
• 2010/07/01: ABC(Au): Fuel, power bills to rise as NZ gets ETS
• 2010/07/01: Google:AP: NZ carbon price system hikes household costs
• 2010/06/30: HotTopic: Twas the night before... the ETS

  While in the Indian subcontinent:

• 2010/07/01: BWeek: India to Raise $535 Million From Carbon Tax on Coal
• 2010/07/02: NRDC:SwitchBoard: India Cuts Subsidies and Increases Taxes on Fossil Fuels

  And China:

• 2010/06/30: WorldChanging: A Climate-Neutral China

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

• 2010/07/02: TEC: A Focus on Canada: Challenging Times Ahead

  Controversy swirls around the G20 police actions:

• 2010/07/03: BotB: How I Got Arrested and Abused at the G20 in Toronto, Canada
• 2010/07/02: Tyee: Democracy Died (Again) at G20 Toronto
  Window breakers get jailed, peaceful protests get ignored, leaders do what they wish in secret, the rest of us are alienated. As intended.
• 2010/07/03: G&M: McGuinty refuses to apologize over G20 fence law
• 2010/07/03: TStar: The G20 summit's grim lessons for civil liberties
• 2010/07/02: Rabble: One woman held by police 'didn't even know what the G20 was'
• 2010/07/02: Rabble:KK: G8/G20 Communique: Journalists attacked by police at G20 protests
• 2010/07/01: TSun: G20 prisoner #0106 -- The inside story of cell block OL6
  When police officers act like criminals, democracy dies a little. That's what we face in Toronto in the aftermath of the G20 debacle amid reports of police misconduct. Officers making Holocaust jokes, mocking people begging for water and laughing at detained women forced to urinate in public and wipe themselves while handcuffed. These despicable actions should not happen in Toronto. But they did happen to hundreds who were swept up and held in deplorable conditions at the Eastern Avenue detention centre.
• 2010/06/30: CBC: Police accused of displaying fake G20 weapons
  Toronto's top police officer misled the public by displaying fake weapons used in a medieval-themed role-playing game to help justify their actions during G20 protests, their owner said Wednesday. Brian Barrett said everything in the backpack police confiscated from him "was safe enough for toddlers." Barrett's "spell-balls," foam-covered batons and scale-mail vest were among items police Chief Bill Blair showed reporters on Tuesday. "He turns around and states that they are specifically dangerous terrorist items that were solely intended to hurt police," Barrett said. "That's unacceptable to me." Barrett, 25, of Whitby, Ont., was en route to a west-end park for a role-playing fantasy game called Amtgard when police stopped him at Union Station on Saturday.
• 2010/06/27: RawStory: Report: Toronto police rough up journalists, arrest peaceful protesters at G20

  Controversy swirls around the G20 related Canadian policies:

• 2010/06/29: PI:CC: Leaked G20 documents: Canada won't cut extra subsidies for fossil fuels
• 2010/06/30: EmbassyMag: Climate financing threatens aid files: NGOs

  The post-Syncrude verdict dog and pony show:

• 2010/07/02: G&M: Alberta politicians defend oil sands after Syncrude found guilty in duck deaths -- Headline-grabbing trial was over-publicized, Energy Minister says
  Days after a landmark guilty verdict against oil sands giant Syncrude Canada Ltd. over the deaths of 1,600 ducks, a pair of Alberta government cabinet ministers are circling the wagons to defend the province's oil industry. In speeches thousands of kilometres apart, the veteran ministers lashed out this week against the high-profile trial and the international attention it garnered.
• 2010/07/01: PlanetArk: Alberta Energy Minister Ron Liepert Says Duck Deaths "Overpublicized"
• 2010/06/30: Reuters: Alberta minister says duck deaths "overpublicized"
  Alberta Energy Minister Ron Liepert played down a verdict that found Syncrude Canada Ltd, the largest producer in Canada's oil sands, guilty in the deaths of 1,600 ducks that landed on a toxic tailings pond in 2008.
• 2010/06/30: Rabble: It's official: Syncrude is a tar sands criminal

  The pipeline to the coast & the pipelines to the States are being questioned:

• 2010/06/29: PI: [link to 367k pdf] How Do Two Pipelines Stack Up?
  Reviewing the Review Processes for the Mackenzie Gas Project and the Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline One project stands to open Canada's North to unprecedented development, while the other could open B.C.'s coast to crude oil tankers. Both will have monumental impacts on the environment and society for decades to come -- so why then are the review processes for these two projects incredibly different?
• 2010/06/29: OSW: We can't count on environmental assessment process for a fair decision on Enbridge Gateway oil sands pipeline
• 2010/06/29: PI: Review of Enbridge oilsands pipeline doesn't stack up
• 2010/07/02: DM:80B: Should We Allow a Massive Oil Pipeline from Canada to Texas?
• 2010/06/30: Reuters: TransCanada's Keystone line now delivering oil
  TransCanada Corp's ... $5 billion Keystone pipeline began operating on Wednesday, delivering 435,000 barrels per day of Canadian oil sands crude to Illinois refiners. TransCanada, the country's No. 1 pipeline company, said it has completed filling the Keystone line with oil and is making commercial deliveries to U.S. Midwest refineries, two years after construction began. The new line is just the first phase of a $12 billion program to increase market access for oil sands crude in the United States. TransCanada has already begun work on extending Keystone with a branch running from Steele City, Nebraska, to Cushing, Oklahoma, which will boost capacity to 591,000 barrels a day next year. The company is also in the planning stages of its $7 billion Keystone XL line, which will carry 510,000 bpd from Hardisty, Alberta, to the U.S. Gulf Coast refining hub. Construction of the line is expected to be complete in 2013. Enbridge Inc..., Canada's No. 2 pipeline company, is also expanding its system to carry more Canadian crude to U.S. Midwest. Its 450,000 bpd Alberta Clipper pipeline is currently being filled with oil and should be in service by the end of September.
• 2010/07/01: TreeHugger: Alberta Tar Sands Oil Flows South As Keystone Pipeline Opened
• 2010/06/30: NRDC:SwitchBoard: New [Keystone XL] Tar Sands Oil Pipeline Will Lock U.S. into Dangerous Consequences

  BC is still wrangling over energy:

• 2010/07/01: CanWest: British Columbians loaded up on gas in 2009: report
  [...] a new report from Sightline Institute, per capita gasoline consumption in B.C. rose by nearly 10 per cent in 2009 - the largest year-over-year increase in at least 30 years, likely because of economic activity preceding the 2010 Olympics and a drop in gas prices.
• 2010/07/01: Tyee: BC a Fast Growing Gas Hog -- Gasoline use per person in province leapt 10 per cent in one year, says Sightline study

  Meanwhile in that Mechanical Mordor known as the tar sands:

• 2010/06/28: Tyee: 'We Got that Deleted': Canada's Oil Sands Lobby Twisting Washington's Arm
• 2010/06/30: DeSmogBlog: Top Man in Washington Slams Canada's Tar Sands
• 2010/06/30: DeSmogBlog: Canadian oil lobby trying to kill US clean energy policy
• 2010/06/29: PlanetArk: Enbridge To Expand In Tar Sands, Join CO2 Project

  Also in Alberta:

• 2010/07/03: CanWest: Alberta buys ad in Washington Post -- Newspaper rejects premier's letter defending tarsands
  It turns out a letter from Alberta's premier defending Canada's oilsands didn't quite make the cut to appear in the Washington Post. On Friday, a pro-oilsands message from Ed Stelmach was delivered to the high-profile newspaper's readers, but through a $58,000 half-page ad, instead of an opinion piece as originally intended.
• 2010/07/02: CBC: Alberta buys $56K ad in U.S. paper
  The province paid $55,800 to place an ad with a letter from Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach in a Washington newspaper.The province paid $55,800 to place an ad with a letter from Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach in a Washington newspaper. (CBC)A letter from Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach touting the benefits of province's oilsands to the United States was published Friday in a paid half-page advertisement in the Washington Post. In it, Stelmach says Alberta is a stable, responsible and reliable source of energy and defends the province's oilsands environmental record.

In the Maritimes:

• 2010/07/02: CBC: Natural gas tests planned for southern N.B.
• 2010/06/30: CBC: Irving Oil cancels biodiesel project
  Weeks after mothballing a tidal energy research project, Irving Oil Ltd. has withdrawn its application for environmental approval to build a biodiesel refinery in Saint John.

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

• 2010/07/02: DemNow: Maude Barlow: "The World Has Divided into Rich and Poor as at No Time in History"
• 2010/07/01: CDreams: The Ecology of Growth
• 2010/07/02: CCP: Derrick Jensen's interview of David Edwards with photos by Gail of the Wit's End blog
• 2010/06/25: TBP: Addicted to oil -- and to economic growth
• 2010/06/28: AlterNet: How to Solve Our Economic and Environmental Crises

  And in the Transition movement:

• 2010/07/02: EnergyBulletin: Our "end of the economy" moment
• 2010/06/28: EnergyBulletin: Creating a post-peak future you will want to live into

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

• 2010/07/01: OilDrum: Population Growth Must Stop
• 2010/06/30: AlterNet: Right-Wing Groups Use Decline of White Birthrates to Stoke Fear of Homosexuality, Feminism and Abortion

  Apocalypso anyone?

• 2010/07/02: DVoice: A Day in a Dying Empire: An Intimate Fable on Current Events
• 2010/06/29: MTobis: Obama as the New Gorbachev
• 2010/06/27: EnergyBulletin: Laughs for doomers

  As for how the media handles the science of climatology:

• 2010/07/01: TWTB: Fred Pearce is a rubbish journalist
• 2010/07/02: TreeHugger: Why is Climate Change Coverage Still Lacking in the Media?
• 2010/06/29: CJR: Finding the Right Expert
  How reporters should use a controversial new study categorizing scientists' stances on global warming A controversial new study that categorizes climate scientists as either "convinced" or "unconvinced" by the basic tenets of manmade global warming generated furious debate in the blogosphere last week, with some calling it a reaffirmation of scientific consensus and others calling it a "blacklist" of scientists in the latter group.
  [...]
  So how should journalists' use Anderegg's paper and the underlying database (which, it should be mentioned, has been around for over a year and thus predates the Anderegg et al. paper)? The simple answer, in my opinion, is: just like they would use a site like Wikipedia --- as a useful starting point, to be treated warily, for a much more thorough evaluation of researchers credentials. After all, one thing is absolutely certain. Expertise does matter.
• 2010/07/01: CJR: Get Out of Her Hair -- Sadly, NPR profile focuses on Fiorina's coiffure rather than climate gaffe
• 2010/07/02: Stoat: Fred Pearce is rubbish
• 2010/07/02: Deltoid: Fred Pearce informs us that opinions on the shape of the Earth differ
• 2010/07/02: TEC: A Tale of Two Climate Change Stories
• 2010/07/01: Wonkette: Pick the Worst Washington Post Op-Ed Writer!
• 2010/07/01: ClimateP: BBC's Panorama falls into 'balance as baloney' trap in half hour climate show, "What's up with the weather?"
• 2010/06/30: MediaMatters: Media ran with now-retracted attack on IPCC in their assault on global warming science
• 2010/07/01: Grist: TV weathercasters and news directors are distorting climate coverage
• 2010/06/29: ClimateP: Apparently you can write an entire article on how the public doesn't get climate science without mentioning the disinformation campaign or the media's failings

  While activists search for effective communication techniques:

• 2010/07/01: IrishTimes: Scientists 'must talk to sceptical public'
• 2010/06/30: NatureN: Climate science: An erosion of trust?
  Many climate researchers worry that scepticism about global warming is on the rise. Jeff Tollefson investigates the basis for that concern and what scientists are doing about it.

Consider what this media mixmaster will evolve into as you search out quality blogospheric discussion:

• 2010/06/29: RajivSethi: On Blogs and Economic Discourse
• 2010/06/30: SM,CI&SS: You can't put Pandora back in the box
• 2010/05/29: SM,CI&SS: Stupid legal crap
• 2010/07/01: EconView: "Can/Should the Blogosphere Replace the Journal-Sphere?"

  Here is something for your library:

• 2010/07/02: HotTopic: [Book Review] _Agrofuels: Big Profits, Ruined Lives and Ecological Destruction_ by François Houtart
• 2010/06/29: WorldChanging: Geoengineering Books

  And for your film & video enjoyment:

• 2010/07/02: WtD: Must see TV: Have we been conned? Flannery, Garnaut, Hamilton and McKibben

  Meanwhile among the 'Sue the Bastards!' contingent:

• 2010/06/30: NatureTGB: Yucca Mountain nuclear project will not die
• 2010/06/30: TreeHugger: Court Sides With EPA, Upholds Agency's Superfund Authority
• 2010/06/24: PRWatch: Just the Facts on Judge Martin Feldman's Financial Investments

  Among the non-members of Gamblers Anonymous:

• 2010/07/01: JEB: Hot or not?

  Wrestling over a new energy infrastructure continues unabated:

• 2010/07/03: TEC: The Four Hurdles of Renewable Energy
• 2010/07/02: Guardian(UK): BP brushes off calls to keep away from ecologically risky areas
• 2010/07/02: HamiltonSpectator: Wind-turbine power is far healthier than coal or nuclear
• 2010/07/01: SolveClimate: Key Tool in EU Clean Energy Boom [feed-In tariffs] Will Only Work in U.S. in Local Contexts
• 2010/07/01: PhysOrg: More oil spills to come, says WUSTL anthropologist
  The Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is not simply a random accident. There will be more of these spills to come, as the days of easy oil are over, says an anthropologist at Washington University in St. Louis.
• 2010/06/30: NYT:GW: Fuel-Cell Research Is Worth Risk, Says National Academies Report
• 2010/07/01: OilDrum: The Renewables Gap: The Political Challenge of Affecting a Societal Transition to Renewable Sources of Energy Revisited
• 2010/06/30: ScienceInsider: More Research Needed to Expand Use of Natural Gas, Says MIT Report
• 2010/06/28: Gregor: Cantarell Finally Slips Below 500 kbpd
• 2010/06/29: AutoBG: Panasonic introduces CO2-reducing, low-cost alkali metal catalyst for diesels
• 2010/06/28: EnergyBulletin: Interview with Jeff Rubin, part 2
• 2010/06/28: NYT: Team's Work Uses a Virus to Convert Methane to Ethylene

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

• 2010/07/03: ProPublica: A Fracking First in Pennsylvania: Cattle Quarantine
• 2010/07/02: DeSmogBlog: Fracked tap water in Texas is 99% PR spin
• 2010/07/02: PlanetArk: Pennsylvania Quarantines Cattle Over Gas Drilling Fluid
• 2010/07/02: CBC: Natural gas tests planned for southern N.B.
• 2010/06/28: Yale360: Natural Gas as Panacea: Dubious Path to a Green Future
  Many energy experts contend natural gas is the ideal fuel as the world makes the transition to renewable energy. But since much of that gas will come from underground shale, potentially at high environmental cost, it would be far better to skip the natural gas phase and move straight to massive deployment of solar and wind power.
• 2010/06/28: EnergyBulletin: Shale gas -- the hydrofracking wars

  The answer my friend...:

• 2010/07/02: REA: MegaJoule publishes wind index for Portugal
• 2010/07/02: REA: Britain Leads Europe's Offshore Wind Industry
• 2010/07/01: PeakEnergy: Africa's Biggest Windfarm Debuts in Morocco
• 2010/06/30: Reuters: Vestas wins 250 MW Colorado turbine order
• 2010/06/30: BNC: OzEA modelling ... large-scale wind power using a bucket storage model and gas backup

  Meanwhile among the solar aficionados:

• 2010/07/01: SmithsonianMag: A Spanish Breakthrough in Harnessing Solar Power [CST]
• 2010/07/03: BBC: US to provide nearly $2bn for two solar energy projects
• 2010/07/03: CBC: Obama announces $2B for solar power
• 2010/07/02: REA: Sharp To Supply Thin-film Modules for 73-MW Project
• 2010/07/02: BBC: Solar lamp wins award for helping developing countries

  On the coal front:

• 2010/07/01: Forbes: Why Small Coal-Fired Plants are Going Away

  Biofuel bickering abounds:

• 2010/07/01: Economist: The age of ethanol -- A dysfunctional system may become more so
• 2010/07/02: OilDrum: Next Generation Biofuels: Five Challenges and Five Positive Notes
• 2010/07/01: Eureka: New Study Predicts Yield for Biofuel Jatropha
• 2010/06/29: AutoBG: USDA's Renewable Fuels Standard "roadmap" expects 7.9 billion gallons of non-corn biofuel by 2022

  The nuclear energy controversy continues:

• 2010/07/03: NBF: World Uranium Production for 2009 was 50,572 tons
• 2010/07/02: PlanetArk: Russia Floats Barge For Waterborne Nuclear Plant
• 2010/07/02: TEC: Finland approves plan for two more reactors
• 2010/07/01: NatureN: Fusion reactor set to raid Europe's research funds -- 1.4-billion euro gap in ITER project could be plugged with Framework cash.
• 2010/07/01: EarthTimes: Finland gives the green light to new nuclear reactors
• 2010/06/30: NatureTGB: Yucca Mountain nuclear project will not die

  Yes we have a peak oil sighting:

• 2010/06/30: EnergyBulletin: The Peak Oil Crisis: The Real Gulf Crisis
• 2010/06/28: CCurrents: The End Of Oil, And Government
• 2010/06/29: OilDrum: The Fake Fire Brigade - How We Cheat Ourselves about our Energy Future - Thread 2

  More people are talking about the electrical grid:

• 2010/07/01: PhysOrg: Smart meters help to save money
  How can domestic electricity customers be motivated to use energy more efficiently, let alone make more efficient use of renewable sources? One possibility is to install electronic meters to measure the electricity consumed. In the RESIDENS project, scientists are examining how to get the best out of smart meters by simplifying their use.
• 2010/07/01: PeakEnergy: China's State Grid unveils smart grid plan
• 2010/06/30: PeakEnergy: Enter California's Smart Grid Task Force

  And then there is the matter of efficiency & conservation:

• 2010/07/02: TreeHugger: Turning Off Electronics Is an Old Green Trick With a New Big Impact

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

• 2010/07/02: Time: How Automakers Will Meet New EPA Fuel Guidelines
• 2010/07/02: AutoBG: Toyota's hybrid sales eclipse 2.5M mark, now climbing at 2,000 per day
• 2010/07/02: NBF: 12 Final Teams in the Automotive 100 MPG XPrize
• 2010/07/02: AutoBG: Automotive X-Prize: only 15 vehicles from 12 teams left now
• 2010/07/02: AutoBG: China approves measly $442 incentive for fuel-efficient vehicles
• 2010/07/01: PlanetArk: China OKs BYD, 15 Others For Green-Car Subsidies
• 2010/06/29: SolveClimate: Are Electric Vehicles Leaving Mass Transit in the Shadows? What the EV boom could mean for mass transit and sustainable cities in the U.S.
• 2010/06/30: AutoBG: WWU Viking makes it through X-Prize's Knockout Stage with 82 mpge

  As for Energy Storage:

• 2010/06/29: TechRev: A Guide to Recent Battery Advances
  Battery breakthroughs could lower costs and improve performance for electric vehicles and renewable energy storage--but commercializing these new technologies will be challenging.
• 2010/07/02: PhysOrg: Toshiba Accelerates Development of SCiB Rechargeable [lithium-ion] Battery for Electric Vehicles

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

• 2010/07/02: ClimateP: Energy and Global Warming News for July 2...
• 2010/07/01: ClimateP: Energy and Global Warming News for July 1...
• 2010/06/30: ClimateP: Energy and Global Warming News for June 30...
• 2010/06/29: ClimateP: Energy and Global Warming News for June 29...
• 2010/06/28: ClimateP: Energy and Global Warming News for June 28...

  Other (weekly) lists:

• 2010/07/02: HotTopic: Something for the weekend [link list]
• 2010/06/29: CSW: Climate Science Watch Weekly Update

  The carbon lobby are up to the usual:

• 2010/07/03: IJISH: Blacklist Oh Noes!!!!! Climate anti-scientist John O'Sullivan exposes his mass e-mailing list
• 2010/07/03: ClimateP: Fastest disinformer retraction: Watts says Goddard's "Arctic ice increasing by 50000 km2 per year" post is "an example of what not to do when graphing trends"
• 2010/07/03: Deltoid: I'll start calling them skeptics when they start being skeptical
• 2010/07/02: IJISH: (Digression) You are in a maze of little twisty think-tanks, all different
• 2010/07/02: DeepClimate: Morano and Lindzen: Mann exoneration a "whitewash"
• 2010/07/02: SkeptiSci: An account of the Watts event in Perth by Annie Young
• 2010/07/01: Grist: In today's weather forecast, we'll be seeing high-pressure areas of climate skepticism
• 2010/07/01: ClassM: What to do with the climate denial zombies
• 2010/07/01: SkeptiSci: A Scientific Guide to the 'Skeptics Handbook'
• 2010/06/30: NRDC:SwitchBoard: New study sponsored by the Institute for Energy Research (IER): more junk analysis from the well-heeled oil industry
• 2010/07/01: C-a-S: The Good, The Bad & The Ugly
• 2010/07/01: SkeptiSci: CO2 is Good for Plants: Another Red Herring in the Climate Change Debate by Mariana Ashley
• 2010/06/30: WtD: Climate scam exposed by Narrogin Observer. Funniest. Article. Ever.
• 2010/06/27: GreenFyre: Another little list
• 2010/06/28: GreenHerring: Commenting on lists and name-calling
• 2010/06/29: QuarkSoup: On Auditors
• 2010/06/29: DeepClimate: Revisiting TAR Figure 2-21, part 1: Another false claim from Steve McIntyre
• 2010/06/29: Deltoid: Deep Climate on McIntyre's trick
• 2010/06/29: Telegraph(UK): Lawson: 'We need to get off this carbon-cessation hook'

  Meanwhile in the 'clean coal' saga:

  As for climate miscellanea:

• 2010/07/04: BNC: What is risk? A simple explanation
• 2010/07/04: TSoD: The Earth's Energy Budget - Part Four - Albedo
• 2010/07/04: SkeptiSci: Irregular Climate podcast: episode 6
• 2010/07/03: MoD: Irregular Climate episodes 5 and 6
• 2010/07/02: CCP: Montreal Protocol named one of the 5 most effective environmental laws -- Ozone Treaty Lauded for Climate Protection
• 2010/07/02: Climatesight: If We Were Wrong
• 2010/07/02: NewScientist: Ancient African lake fertilises the Amazon
• 2010/07/02: MTobis: Ten camps
• 2010/07/01: TCoE: Graphs page update
• 2010/07/01: AntiMatter: Climate change: a burning question on tv
• 2010/07/01: SolveClimate: Methane Dead Zones in Gulf Waters Confirmed, Gas Levels 100,000 Times Normal
• 2010/06/30: CSW: AAAS initiative, Chris Mooney paper ask: do scientists understand the public?
• 2010/07/01: TreeHugger: The Quest for 'Perfect Climate Information'
• 2010/06/30: ClimateP: What if the public had perfect climate information?
• 2010/06/30: SkeptiSci: What is Global Warming and the Greenhouse Effect? by Kevin Judd
• 2010/06/27: SkeptiSci: What causes the tropospheric hot spot?
• 2010/06/28: MTobis: There are more than two camps
• 2010/06/29: RealClimate: The uncertainty prayer
• 2010/06/29: DeSmogBlog: Lies Concocted By Climate Deniers Likely To Stick Around Despite Corrections
• 2010/06/30: TEC: Debunking the Myths of Global Climate Change
• 2010/06/28: C-a-S: The Tao of Climate Science

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

• Scientific Blogging
• IPCC: Fifth Assessment Report (AR5)
• Climate Shifts
• HillHeat - Science Policy Legislation Action
• It's Getting Hot In Here - Dispatches from the Youth Climate Movement
• ACP: Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics - Recent Final Revised Papers
• ACPD: Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics - Papers in Open Discussion
• TCD: The Cryosphere - Papers in Open Discussion
• HYDE: The History Database of the Global Environment

---

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>

-het

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

---

"The so-called debate on global warming is a war between the biggest enterprise in human history-the worldwide coal-and-oil industry-and the planet's ability to sustain life. And our hearts and minds are battlefields in that war." -David Edwards

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• H.E. Taylor (homepage)