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 Disruption News
Sipping from the internet firehose...
August 22, 2010
- Chuckles, COP16+, Geneva, Kathmandu, AAS Report, McShane & Wyner, Zhao & Running
- The Question, China, Russia, Pakistan, World Bank, Overshoot, Basic Versions, IAC, Post CRU, Montford
- Melting Arctic, Antarctica
- Food Crisis, GMOs, Pavlovsk Agricultural Station, Food Production
- Hurricanes, Monsoon, GHGs, Carbon Cycle, Temperatures, Paleoclimate
- ENSO, Solar, State of the Oceans, Satellites
- Impacts, Forests, Desertification, Wacky Weather, Wildfires
- Corals, Acidification, Glaciers, Sea Levels, Floods & Droughts
- Mitigation, REDD, Transportation, Buildings, Sequestration, Geoengineering
- Journals, Other Docs , Misc. Science, DIY Science, Guinotte, Green, Curry
- UN, Carbon Trade, Optimal Carbon Reduction Strategy
- International Politics: Law & Activism, Activism, Polls, Water Politics & Business, Software, Religioso
- National Politics: America, BP Disaster, 2010 Election, PACE, Cuccinelli
- Obama, USAdmin, Congress, Climate Bill, Lobbyists, Al Gore
- Britain, Europe, Australia, Australian Election, New Zealand, China, Japan, Middle East, Russia, South America
- Canada, G20 Policing, Offshore Drilling, Arctic Policy, Say vs. Do, Liberals on Tarsands
- Pipelines, Greens, BC, Tar Sands, Sask, Ontario, Maritimes, North, Canadiana
- Ecological Economics, IPAT, Apocalypso, Media, Books, Video, Courts
- Energy, Fracking, Wind, Solar, Feed-In-Tariffs, Coal, Biofuel, Nukes, Peak Oil, Grid, Efficiency, Cars, Energy Storage
- Business, Insurance, Greenwashing, Joe's List, Carbon Lobby, Miscellaneous Climate, Useful Links
- Shameless Self Promotion, .sig
 |  |
- 2010/08/19: MRC: (cartoon - Roberts) Tumbling Dice
- 2010/08/16: MRC: (cartoon - Roberts) Power Trip
- 2010/08/17: ClimateP: Global weirding: Naming climate change disasters after the deniers
And for those who enjoy challenging Poe's Law:
- 2010/08/18: SF Gate: Thank God global warming is a hoax
- 2010/08/18: MTobis: Thank God Global Warming is a Hoax!
Looking ahead to COP16 and future international climate negotiations:
- 2010/08/20: UNDispatch: This Week in Climate Diplomacy: Who is saying what before the Cancun Climate Talks?
- 2010/08/19: Reuters: [Indonesian president's special adviser on climate change, Agus Purnomo interview] Indonesian envoy laments grim U.N. climate talks
- 2010/08/18: TerraDaily: UN official demands drought action at Cancun
The UN's pointman on desertification called Wednesday on participants at the next climate summit in Cancun to take urgent measures to prevent future disasters by staving off land degradation. "Those most vulnerable to climate change live in the driest parts of the globe: look at what is happening in Pakistan where the rain should come as a blessing and ends up being a curse," [said] Luc Gnacadja [Executive Secretary of UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD)] - 2010/08/19: AsianAge: Mexico is hopeful of 'breakthrough'
- 2010/08/18: OLI: Cancun Summit: Pachauri Asks Mexico to Be Realistic
With hopes of a consensus eluding the Cancun climate meet, IPCC chairman R K Pachauri has urged host Mexico to be realistic and work hard in pushing rich nations to put climate funds on the table. - 2010/08/18: TerraDaily: UN climate panel head [Rajendra Pachauri] expects no climate deal at Cancun
- 2010/08/16: PWCCC: The proposals of "Peoples Agreement" in the texts for United Nations negotiations
After a week of negotiations, the main conclusions of the World Peoples Conference on Climate Change and the Right of Mother Earth (Cochabamba, April 2010) have been incorporated in the document of United Nations on Climate Change, that now have been recognized as a negotiation text for the 192 countries which has been congregated in Bonn, Germany, during the first week august of 2010. - 2010/08/18: PlanetArk: Extreme Weather Unlikely To Help Climate Talks
- 2010/08/18: Hindu: Mexico down-to-earth on Cancun climate summit
Pragmatism is a key word for the Mexican hosts of the next major United Nations conference on climate change this December. - 2010/08/17: BizGreen: Mexico attempts to "rescue" stricken climate talks -- Frantic round of diplomacy aims to get developing countries back on board ahead of crucial Cancun summit
- 2010/08/16: SIFY: Mexico seeks India's support for positive outcome at Cancun
- 2010/08/17: HindustanTimes: Mexico seeks India's support for 'ambitious outcome' at Cancun
Apparently there is a finance minister's meeting coming up in Geneva next month:
- 2010/08/19: TerraDaily: Climate meet in Switzerland to discuss long-term finance
Ministers will meet in Switzerland next month to discuss crucial financing to curb the impact of global warming, ahead of the UN climate conference in Cancun, Swiss authorities said on Thursday. About 45 countries are due to attend the informal ministerial conference on September 2 to 3, including Brazil, China, South Africa and the United States, said Franz Perrez, head of international affairs at the Federal Environment Office. - 2010/08/19: GlobalTimes: Himalayan nations discuss climate change in Nepali capital
Four eastern Himalayan countries -- Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, and Nepal -- officially commenced a three-day high-level technical consultative meeting Wednesday in the Nepali capital Kathmandu on the "Sacred Himalayas for Water, Livelihoods, and Bio-cultural Heritage". - 2010/08/17: ScienceInsider: Aussie Academy: Warming Is Real, Dangerous
- 2010/08/16: ABC(Au): Report aims to combat climate 'misinformation'
Some of the nation's top scientists have united in a new climate statement which issues fresh warnings about the dangers of global warming. The statement released by the Australian Academy of Science is a first for the organisation and details the key evidence identified globally by climate scientists. - 2010/08/19: KlimaZwiebel: McShane and Wyner on climate reconstruction methods
- 2010/08/19: DeepClimate: McShane and Wyner 2010
- 2010/08/19: ClimateP: I went to a statistician fight and a hockey stick broke out
Part 2, DeepClimate throws McShane and Wyner into the penalty box: "This is a deeply flawed study" - 2010/08/16: ClimateP: The Curious Case of the Hockey Stick that Didn't Disappear. Part 1: The Police Lineup
- 2010/08/16: Deltoid: A new Hockey Stick: McShane and Wyner 2010
Another one of those 'oh oh' studies... Global plant growth diminishing over the last decade:
- 2010/08/20: Science: (ab$) Drought-Induced Reduction in Global Terrestrial Net Primary Production from 2000 Through 2009 by Maosheng Zhao & Steven W. Running
- 2010/08/22: WtD: Screaming trees: latest research points to serious decline in plant growth during last decade
- 2010/08/20: CSM: As 'plant productivity' dips, a search for answers
- 2010/08/20: KSJT: A climate change tipping point: Plant growth, once boosted by warming and increased CO2, may now be declining
- 2010/08/19: Eureka: Drought drives decade-long decline in plant growth
- 2010/08/19: NASA: Drought Drives Decade-Long Decline in Plant Growth
- 2010/08/19: NASA: Drought Drives Decade-Long Decline in Plant Growth
- 2010/08/19: ClimateP: Science shocker: Drought drives decade-long decline in plant growth -- This could drive an amplifying feedback, undermine biofuels strategy
- 2010/08/19: Guardian(UK): Rising temperatures reducing ability of plants to absorb carbon, study warns
- 2010/08/19: SolveClimate: Plant Growth Declining in Warming World, Despite Predictions
New data has implications for food security on a more crowded, hotter planet - 2010/08/19: NatureN: Earth's green carbon sink on the wane -- Satellite data indicate that carbon storage by plants is decreasing despite climate warming
- 2010/08/19: SciNews: Worldwide slowdown in plant carbon uptake -- Recent droughts stifled growth of terrestrial vegetation
The Question, asked by Michael and many others, continues to disturb:
- 2010/08/21: MCJ: Natural disasters all too frequent in 2010
It's been a banner year for extreme events and natural disasters in New Jersey, the United States and the world. Garden State farmers, for example, are suffering through their hottest growing season in 115 years. The question is, what's up on our planet? - 2010/08/21: GreenFyre: Tumblin' dice
- 2010/08/17: CJR: More on Extreme Weather -- Day Two stories go a step farther in drawing connection to climate change
- 2010/08/20: SEasterbrook: Climate Disruption
- 2010/08/20: MTobis: Fair is Fair
- 2010/08/18: Guardian(UK): Why has extreme weather failed to heat up climate debate?
- 2010/08/19: ABC(Au): UN climate scientists link Russia, Pakistan calamities
UN officials have called on climate scientists to urgently look into changes in atmospheric currents linked to devastating floods in Pakistan and wildfires in Russia. Ghassem Asrar, director of the World Climate Research Programme, said changes, known as blocking episodes, can prevent humidity or hot weather dispersing. - 2010/08/18: Grist: Living in 'the latest Hollywood global disaster movie'
- 2010/08/17: ENS: Extreme Weather Events Signal Global Warming to World's Meteorologists
- 2010/08/16: PBS: What's Behind This Summer's Severe Weather Around the World?
- 2010/08/16: CSM: Russia fires caused by global warming? Maybe not, say scientists.
- 2010/08/16: Guardian(UK): Will this summer of extremes be a wake-up call? by Stefan Rahmstorf
This decade has been marked by a number of weather extremes, which show how vulnerable our societies are -- 2010 could be among warmest years recorded by man - 2010/08/16: KSJT: Telegraph, AP: Yessir, Nossir, I do mean maybe on climate change
- 2010/08/15: ERabett: The loaded gun -- MT has really started something
The floods and landslides have been nonstop in China for two months:
- 2010/08/22: EarthTimes: 127,000 evacuated as floods hit north-eastern China
- 2010/08/22: BBC: China and North Korea have evacuated thousands of people from their homes after heavy rains burst the Yalu river, flooding areas near their border
- 2010/08/21: BBC: China floods cause mass evacuation
More than 50,000 people have been moved from their homes in southern China after heavy rain caused the Yalu river to burst its banks. Some 200 houses have been destroyed in the city of Dandong, and three people are reported missing, state media says. Flooding has also been reported across the border in North Korea, with the city of Sinuiju severely affected. More than 1,500 people have died in China in recent months during one of the country's wettest-ever summers. - 2010/08/20: CBC: Rescue continues for Chinese landslide victims -- Hundreds dead in summer mudslides
- 2010/08/19: NatureTGB: Muddy China facing more landslides
- 2010/08/18: EarthTimes: At least 67 buried in new mudslides in China
- 2010/08/18: CBC: China landslide leaves dozens missing
The wildfires in Russia are dying down:
- 2010/08/20: Reuters: Russian heat wave dents hopes of climate "winners"
Russia's summer heat wave has dimmed prospects that northern countries will "win" from climate change thanks to factors such as longer crop-growing seasons or fewer deaths from winter cold, experts say. - 2010/08/20: OpenDem: Laid low by the heat
The Russian heat wave has been going on for weeks. From her dacha Elena Strelnikova gives a wry account of officials on freebies, water shortages and the catastrophic effects of the lasting heat on fruit, crops, milk yields and life in the Orenburg Region in general. - 2010/08/20: EarthTimes: Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has lifted the state of emergency on three more regions as fires abated
- 2010/08/18: Reuters: Deadly Russian heatwave declared over
- 2010/08/18: ENS: Russian Bats at Risk as Wildfires Destroy Forest Habitats
- 2010/08/19: EarthTimes: Temperatures drop, number of fires declines in Russia
- 2010/08/18: UN: Russia's bat population under threat from recent wildfires, UN warns
- 2010/08/18: PlanetArk: Heat Probably Killed Thousands In Moscow
- 2010/08/17: TerraDaily: Russia halves fires area as weather chills
- 2010/08/18: OpenDem: Putin in a ring of fire
Russian government attempts to deal with the heat wave and the resulting widespread forest fires have been much criticised. But Putin's popularity rating remains high and his government seems to be more interested in keeping it that way than addressing people's problems, explains Dmitry Travin - 2010/08/18: CBC: Russian wildfires slowing -- Smog lingers over Moscow
- 2010/08/17: PlanetArk: Russia's Medvedev Asks Tycoons For Wildfire Help
- 2010/08/17: EarthTimes: Russia fires abate, poison smog back in Moscow
- 2010/08/16: CCP: Moscow, Through a Cloud of Smoke by Vera Pavlova
- 2010/08/16: PlanetArk: Few Chernobyl Radiation Risks From Russia Fires
- 2010/08/16: EarthTimes: Severe storms hit Russia as fires abate
- 2010/08/16: BBC: Russia lashed by storm after heatwave
Russia's record-breaking heatwave looks set to come to a dramatic end, with a severe storm now heading for Moscow after battering St Petersburg. - 2010/08/16: CBC: Russian cold front pushes back wildfires
Pakistan's monsoon floods are epic, A major disaster:
- 2010/08/22: CNN: Economic outlook dire for Pakistan flood victims
Former U.S. ambassador [Wendy Chamberlin]: Recovery will cost "billions and billions of dollars" - 500,000 tons of stored wheat are reportedly ruined - Much of Pakistan's economy comes from agriculture - 2010/08/21: CSW: Sec. of State Clinton attributes Pakistan flooding, other extreme events in part to climate change
- 2010/08/22: EarthTimes: Efforts to save towns in southern Pakistan from rising floods
- 2010/08/22: BBC: South Pakistan villagers flee threatened areas
- 2010/08/21: CBC: Pakistan flooding submerges new areas
- 2010/08/21: CNN: Floodwaters threaten [Shahdadkot] city of half-million in Pakistan
- 2010/08/21: WFP: Pakistan: WFP Steps Up Airlifts To Reach Stranded Flood Victims
- 2010/08/21: WFP: At Least 40 Helicopters Needed To Reach Communities Stranded By Pakistan Floods
- 2010/08/20: UNDispatch: Pakistan's Foreign Minister Calls out Climate Change Skeptics
- 2010/08/21: EarthTimes: More evacuations as floods spread in southern Pakistan
- 2010/08/20: NASA:JPL: NASA Images Show Anatomy of Pakistan Flood Disaster
- 2010/08/21: CCurrents: Millions Of Pakistani Flood Victims Face Continuing Crisis
- 2010/08/19: CCurrents: As Pakistan Drowns, Washington Focuses On Security Threats
- 2010/08/20: WiC: Pakistan flooding exposes our perverse priorities
- 2010/08/20: DerSpiegel: The Problem with Pakistan -- Why Europe Has Been Slow to Help Flood Victims
- 2010/08/19: DerSpiegel: Flood Disaster Relief -- EU Plans Donor Conference for Pakistan
After initial hesitation, the amount of international relief and private donations to Pakistan is finally increasing. And the European Union is planning to hold a donor conference in October in order to raise funds for the reconstruction of large swaths of flood-ravaged Pakistan. - 2010/08/20: BBC: Pakistan accepts $5m flood aid from India
- 2010/08/20: UN: Pakistan: UN agencies redoubling efforts amid still unfolding flood crisis
- 2010/08/20: NatureN: Pakistan faces long-term damage to irrigation system -- Second wave of flooding overloads canals
- 2010/08/19: JFleck: Moving Water, Pakistan Edition
- 2010/08/20: Wunderground: 95L organizing off coast of Africa; Pakistan's Indus River flood crest nears coast
- 2010/08/19: EarthTimes: Germany gives Pakistan a total of 50 million dollars
- 2010/08/19: EarthTimes: Ban: Pakistan's flood disasters a 'slow-motion tsunami'
- 2010/08/20: BBC: UN says Pakistan urgently needs more aid helicopters
More helicopters are urgently needed to deliver aid to the millions of Pakistanis still cut off by devastating floods, says the UN's food agency. - 2010/08/20: CBC: Pakistan accepts $5M from India in flood aid -- Rare acceptance of help from India signals extent of need
- 2010/08/20: AlterNet: How the Pakistan Floods Could Change the War in Afghanistan
- 2010/08/19: RReich: Why The Unfolding Disaster in Pakistan Should Concern You
- 2010/08/19: UN: General Assembly hears calls for global solidarity to help flood-hit Pakistan
- 2010/08/18: NYT:CW: Pakistan -- a Sad New Benchmark in Climate-Related Disasters
- 2010/08/19: EarthTimes: 8 million Pakistan flood victims in urgent need, says UN
- 2010/08/19: PressEurop: The problem with Pakistan
Three weeks after the Pakistan floods claimed their first victims, Europe is finally reacting. Is this a case of complacency or prejudice, or is there a deeper malaise? - 2010/08/17: DemNow: UN Humanitarian Chief John Holmes: The Magnitude of the Pakistan Floods Is Unprecedented
- 2010/08/18: NYT: U.S. Strategy in Pakistan Is Upended by Floods
- 2010/08/19: WaPo: Floods in Pakistan affect millions; U.N.-led relief effort lacks financial support
- 2010/08/19: EarthTimes: At UN, governments to push for Pakistan flood aid
- 2010/08/19: BBC: The US has pledged its full support for flood-hit Pakistan, ahead of an emergency session of the UN intended to boost the international response
- 2010/08/18: BBC: Mingora struggles to overcome flood devastation
Destroyed buildings and washed-away bridges are a common scene these days in the town of Mingora and its surroundings in Swat valley. - 2010/08/18: BBC: In pictures: Pakistanis wait for aid
- 2010/08/19: CBC: Pakistan flood leaves 4 million homeless: UN
- 2010/08/18: Guardian(UK): Pakistan floods: Saudi Arabia pledges $100m
- 2010/08/18: EUO: Pakistani women tell flood stories to EU official
- 2010/08/18: UN: Donor response to Pakistani flood emergency more encouraging, UN reports
- 2010/08/18: TerraDaily: Outside View: Pakistani SOS
- 2010/08/18: Wunderground: The Atlantic is quiet; Pakistan monsoon rains continue; last day of Russian heat wave
- 2010/08/18: EarthTimes: UN chief to discuss Pakistan floods with General Assembly
- 2010/08/18: CCurrents: Devastating Flooding In Ladakh
- 2010/08/17: CCurrents: Pakistan Floods Affect 20 Million People As Disaster Worsens
- 2010/08/17: CCurrents: Pakistan Flood: From Natural Disaster To Social Catastrophe
- 2010/08/17: CCurrents: The Magnitude Of the Pakistan Floods Is Unprecedented
[...]
Just to give you a sense of how bad the rain was that caused this flooding initially, on the 28th of July, there was 318 millimeters of rain just on one day. To put that into context, the record, all-time record, for rain in Peshawar, which is where this number is from, for one month, the month of July, was 217 millimeters. So it rained more in one day than it had ever rained in an entire month for the monsoon season. - 2010/08/18: CSM: Pakistan floods: residents brace for a second wave of problems
- 2010/08/18: DerSpiegel: Earthquakes, Extremists and Floods -- The Tragedy of Pakistan's Swat Valley
The Swat Valley used to be high on the must-see list for Western travelers in Pakistan. Recent years, however, have not been kind to the region. Now, just months after having shed the brutal rule of the Taliban, the valley has been devastated anew. - 2010/08/18: BBC: Pakistan floods: EU pledges 30m euro aid boost
- 2010/08/18: CBC: Pakistan flood waters to remain for weeks
- 2010/08/17: CNN: Pakistan Flood: Photos
- 2010/08/17: UN: UN scales up aid delivery to flood-hit Pakistan despite huge logistical challenges
- 2010/08/17: TCoE: The compounding crisis in Pakistan
- 2010/08/17: NatureTGB: Pakistan braced for more flooding as disease spreads
- 2010/08/16: TerraDaily: Misery for the 'doomed orphans' of Pakistan floods
- 2010/08/17: TheBullet: Pakistan: From Natural Disaster to Social Catastrophe
- 2010/08/17: BBC: Pakistan flood aid not getting through - UN
- 2010/08/17: BBC: SMOS satellite tracks Pakistan floods
- 2010/08/17: CBC: Latest flooding in [Gansu] China kills 36
- 2010/08/17: CBC: Pakistan struggles to deliver flood aid -- Ruined crops threaten food supply
- 2010/08/16: Guardian(UK): Pakistan floods: 3.5 million children at risk from deadly diseases, says UN
- 2010/08/16: UN: UN warns on waterborne disease risk among flood-affected Pakistanis
- 2010/08/16: EarthTimes: Floods chasing us, fleeing Pakistani survivors say
- 2010/08/16: EarthTimes: More flood warnings for Pakistan, southern city [Jacobabad] threatened
- 2010/08/16: LA Times: U.N. chief says Pakistan flooding is epic, urges aid for victims
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon calls the devastation the worst he has ever seen. The country's prime minister says as many as 20 million are homeless. - 2010/08/16: Dawn: Floodwater enters grid station, 20 districts affected
- 2010/08/16: Dawn: Up to 3.5 million children at risk of deadly diseases
- 2010/08/16: CBC: Pakistanis protest slow flood relief -- Survivors treated 'like dogs,' protester says
- 2010/08/15: Guardian(UK): New wave of floodwater threatens Pakistan
Ummmm. Let's see. Which way is up?
- 2010/08/17: NYT:CW: Industrial Nations Divide on Future World Bank Anti-Carbon Policy
From Norway to New Delhi, leaders are struggling to define the World Bank's role in eradicating energy poverty while keeping a lid on carbon emissions. The global financial institution currently is revamping its blueprint for funding energy projects, a document it hopes to present to its board of directors by mid-2011. But in doing so, the bank finds itself confronting head-on some of the formidable policy questions that it previously had been able to resolve on a project-by-project basis. Those are: how to bring energy to the 1.5 billion people in the world who live in darkness and another 2.5 billion without access to modern energy fuels without underwriting a mammoth increase in the global level of greenhouse gases -- and what precisely should the bank's policy be when it comes to the construction of major coal-fired power plants in developing countries? - GFN: Earth Overshoot Day
- 2010/08/16: TreeHugger: Next Saturday We All Start Going Into Ecological Debt - Earth Overshoot Day 2010 is August 21st
- 2010/08/16: WorldChanging: Earth's Overdraft Notice
John Cook & friends are writing 'basic versions' of his skeptic counterpoints:
- 2010/08/16: SkeptiSci: Plain English climate science - now live at Skeptical Science
- 2010/08/21: SkeptiSci: The main culprit in mid-century cooling
- 2010/08/20: SkeptiSci: Dust-Up On Mars: Should Martians Be Sceptical of Global Warming?
- 2010/08/20: SkeptiSci: What caused early 20th Century warming?
- 2010/08/20: SkeptiSci: The Oregon Petition: How Many Scientists Does It Take To Change A Consensus?
- 2010/08/20: SkeptiSci: How climate skeptics misunderstand past climate change
- 2010/08/19: SkeptiSci: 1934: the 47th hottest year on record
- 2010/08/19: SkeptiSci: The Strange Case of Albert Gore, Inconvenient Truths and a Man in a Powdered Wig
- 2010/08/19: SkeptiSci: What were climate scientists predicting in the 1970s?
- 2010/08/19: SkeptiSci: Can't We At Least Agree That There Is No Consensus?
- 2010/08/18: SkeptiSci: Is Arctic Sea Ice 'Just Fine'?
- 2010/08/18: SkeptiSci: Is the sun causing global warming?
- 2010/08/18: SkeptiSci: Is global warming still happening?
- 2010/08/18: SkeptiSci: Long Term Certainty by Stephan Lewandowsky
- 2010/08/16: SkeptiSci: Did global warming stop in 1998? (basic version)
There is one major climategate inquiry report yet to come:
- 2010/08/20: PhysOrg: UN to get [IAC] report on climate panel August 30
Post CRU theft, controversy & inquiry:
- 2010/08/21: IJISH: UEA says "Appears that hackers hacked 5 Oct", but access times in FOI2009.zip start at 16 Sep 2009?
- 2010/08/17: DerSpiegel: German Climatologist on Criticism of IPCC -- 'We Received a Kick in the Pants'
German physicist Hans Joachim Schellnhuber is one of Angela Merkel's advisers on climate change. In an interview with SPIEGEL, he discusses extreme weather events, global warming's winners and losers, and the effects of the crisis of confidence in climate research. - 2010/08/22: CCP: Climate Denial Machine lackey Andrew Montford set to lead fake inquiry into the 3 official inquiries that exonerated U.K. scientists of allegations of fraud and misconduct
- 2010/08/19: Guardian(UK): Climate sceptics mislead the public over hacked emails inquiry
Andrew Montford who is conducting an investigation into the UEA inquiry has a history of omitting evidence to suit his arguments - 2010/08/22: Tamino: On Ice with a Twist
- 2010/08/21: CCP: Humboldt Glacier grounding line
- 2010/08/21: CCP: Jason Box: Petermann not the only major 'loser' in Greenland (see also: Zachariae, Humboldt, and 79N)
- 2010/08/21: ERabett: Developing -- The east and west coasts of Greenland are ice free...
- 2010/08/21: PostMedia: The ice is missing in Sachs Harbour
- 2010/08/16: GreenGrok: Ice Mine in Greenland
- 2010/08/20: AWI(De): Is the ice in the Arctic Ocean getting thinner and thinner? Research aircraft Polar 5 measures thickness of sea ice north of Greenland
- 2010/08/20: CBC: Arctic ice thinning measured by researchers
[...]
Sea ice physicists at the Alfred Wegener Institute in Germany are currently measuring the thickness of the ice north and east of Greenland. They are employing the EM-Bird, an electromagnetic device that measures thickness when it is towed by helicopters or planes over the ice. - 2010/08/19: ASI: Race to Fram Strait
- 2010/08/19: DM:BA: Sea ice, coming and going
- 2010/08/19: BBC: Polar bear threat to Solway geese
An Arctic expedition has confirmed fears that polar bears are preying on the eggs of barnacle geese who migrate to the Solway Firth each winter. During a recent trip, the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust (WWT) found evidence of bears eating thousands of eggs. The bears have turned to the eggs after being stranded on land in the summer months as a result of diminishing ice. - 2010/08/19: CBC: Climate change brings wasps to Baffin Island
Researchers collecting bugs in the Canadian Arctic this summer have confirmed wasps are breeding on Baffin Island, which they say is further evidence of climate change. - 2010/08/18: CCP: Jason Box: Of Greenland's 30 widest glaciers, the northern-most ones are losing the most ice (Petermann, Helheim, etc.)
Researchers race to catch up with melting, shifting Polar realities - 2010/08/17: ASI: Sea ice extent update 25: the time is now
- 2010/08/16: QuarkSoup: Another Result of Decreasing Arctic Ice
- 2010/08/16: ASI: Is the Northern Sea Route opening up?
While in Antarctica:
- 2010/08/17: DM:80B: Antarctic Sea Ice Grows Despite Global Warming - But It Won't Last
- 2010/08/16: PhysOrg: Resolving the paradox of the Antarctic sea ice
While Arctic sea ice has been diminishing in recent decades, the Antarctic sea ice extent has been increasing slightly. Researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology provide an explanation for the seeming paradox of increasing Antarctic sea ice in a warming climate. The paper appears in the Early Edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science the week of August 16, 2010. - 2010/08/18: WFP: Niger Food Drive Reaches Village On The Edge Of Survival
- 2010/08/20: FAO: Millions of livestock dead or in danger in Pakistan -- Urgent need for animal feed to prevent further economic destruction
- 2010/08/20: BBC: A food crisis in Niger is being made worse by hoarders who sell grain at prices beyond the reach of most people, Save the Children says
- 2010/08/20: CBC: Floods cut harvest 15.5%: StatsCan -- Unseeded acreage up 93.9% from 2009
- 2010/08/20: EurActiv: Looming food crisis to hit Afghanistan and Africa first [Maplecroft]
- 2010/08/19: Guardian(UK): Afghanistan and African nations at greatest risk from world food shortages
- 2010/08/19: ABC(Au): Hot weather could fuel massive locust plague
The State Government says Queensland is facing its worst locust plague in 30 years, as hot winter weather in the state's west today expected to prompt huge swarms to move. - 2010/08/19: Maplecroft: African nations dominate Maplecroft's new Food Security Risk Index
China and Russia will face challenges -- Commodity price hikes due to climate events will hit the neediest countries - 2010/08/18: SeedDaily: Russian food prices jump amid heatwave: official
- 2010/08/19: TreeHugger: Afghanistan & Sub-Saharan Africa Have World's Greatest Food Security Risk: New Report
- 2010/08/19: WtD: Help for climate disaster victims: Pakistan and Niger
- 2010/08/18: MTobis: Niger
- 2010/08/18: CCurrents: Dwindling Fossil Fuels And Our Food System
- 2010/08/17: OilDrum: The Ascent of Middle East Food and Energy Demand
- 2010/08/16: UN: Niger: UN fund allocates more resources to hunger-stricken population
Regarding genetic modification of food plants:
- 2010/08/17: CCurrents: GMO Crop Sabotage On The Rise: French Citizens Destroy Trial Vineyard
- 2010/08/18: CBC: Genetically modified corn planted in protest
An Italian farmer is pushing the government to allow genetically modified crops in the country by planting genetically modified corn in two fields. Giorgio Fidenato says the crops require fewer chemicals, produce more corn and are more profitable. - 2010/08/16: NatureTGB: US judge revokes approval of genetically modified beets
- 2010/08/16: ENS: Federal Court Uproots Approval of Biotech Sugar Beets
- 2010/08/16: PlanetArk: U.S. Judge Bans Planting Of Genetically Engineered Beets
The saga of the Pavlovsk Agricultural Station grinds on:
- 2010/08/20: PhysOrg: Celebrated Russian seed bank [Pavlovsk Agricultural Station] fights for its land
The world's first seed bank survived World War II thanks to 12 Russian scientists who chose to starve to death rather than eat the grain they were saving for future generations. - 2010/08/20: WorldChanging: Pavlovsk Experimental Station: Field Seed Bank Under Threat - Help Save It!
And how are we going to feed 9 billion?
- 2010/08/22: TStar: The politics of potash
Fertilizer may not be glamorous, but with a growing world population and a burgeoning Chinese middle class, it is a hot commodity. Canada is the world's number one fertilizer producer. Most of it comes from Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan. The homegrown multinational -- Canada's sixth largest company -- is suddenly attracting global attention. It is likely to be snapped up by a foreign giant. This week the bidding war began. BHP Billiton of Australia made a $38.6 billion (U.S.) unsolicited offer for the Saskatoon-based firm. Market watchers expect the Chinese, Brazilians, British and Russians to jump into the fray. - 2010/08/20: CCurrents: Food And Farming: The Hub Of Planetary Transformation
- 2010/08/20: ABC(Au): Erosion threatens local topsoil
A Northern Victorian environmental body is trying to address increasing topsoil erosion by encouraging farmers to increase carbon content. - 2010/08/19: PhysOrg: Is engineered 'Frankenfish' coming to the nation's table?
With a global population pressing against food supplies and vast areas of the ocean swept clean of fish, tiny AquaBounty Technologies Inc. of Waltham, Mass., says it can help feed the world. - 2010/08/19: Grist: Three pillars of a food revolution
- 2010/08/17: ABC(Au): Queensland Professor Roger Stone to lead UN study
A southern Queensland climatologist has been appointed to head a United Nations (UN) study into how climate change is affecting agriculture. Professor Roger Stone, from the University of Southern Queensland in Toowoomba on the state's Darling Downs, will run the UN study for the next four years. - 2010/08/16: RoyalSoc:PTB: [21 articles] Theme issue 'Food security: feeding the world in 2050'
- 2010/08/16: CBC: Technology needed to feed world in 2050: scientists
Demand for meat, milk and other animal products has been growing quickly with increasing urbanization and higher average incomes worldwide. Meanwhile, water and land for agriculture is growing increasingly scarce.Demand for meat, milk and other animal products has been growing quickly with increasing urbanization and higher average incomes worldwide. Meanwhile, water and land for agriculture is growing increasingly scarce. (CBC)Artificial meat, nanotechnology and genetic tools are among the "tools of science" that may be needed in the coming decades to help supply food to the world's population, scientists say. "The tools of science will be critical for bringing about food security and well-being for a global population of more than nine billion people in 2050 in the face of enormous technological, climatic and social challenges," predicted a paper published Monday by the Royal Society. The author, Philip Thornton of the International Livestock Research Institute in Nairobi, Kenya, looked into recent trends in livestock production and the future prospects of the industry as part of a series of 21 papers on the future of the global food and farming system. The reports by scientists around the world were published in the latest issue of Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. - 2010/08/21: Wunderground: 95L growing more organized; Pakistan's Indus River flood peaking downstream
- 2010/08/19: Eureka: NASA's Aqua Satellite sees TD5's remnants stretched out in US south
- 2010/08/19: Wunderground: The Atlantic is quiet; Russian heat wave ends; huge 926 mb South Indian Ocean storm
- 2010/08/18: Eureka: NASA satellites see TD5's remnants still soaking Louisiana and Mississippi
- 2010/08/17: Wunderground: An active Atlantic hurricane period coming
- 2010/08/17: Eureka: NASA satellites see Tropical Depression 5's remnants giving the Gulf a wet encore
- 2010/08/16: Eureka: NASA satellites investigate: Tropical Depression 5 may rise again
While elsewhere in the hurricane wars:
- 2010/08/18: ScienceInsider: Sea Murkiness Affects Hurricanes? When 'Basic Research' Pays Unexpected Dividends
- 2010/08/16: NewScientist: Deep blue oceans spawn fewer tropical storms
As for the Monsoon:
- 2010/08/21: EarthTimes: Monsoon floods displace 50,000 in north-east India
As for GHGs:
- 2010/08/21: TEC: Atmospheric CO2 [Infographic]
- 2010/08/19: PhysOrg: Listening to Earth breathe through 500 towers
Today, hundreds of science groups in multiple countries have planted more than 500 micrometeorological towers across five continents to monitor these exchanges every 30 minutes. [FluxNet] - 2010/08/18: TCoE: US emissions predicted to rise...
- 2010/08/17: NYT:GW: Coal Plants Emitting Less SO2, NOx This Year, EPA Says
- 2010/08/16: PlanetArk: World 2009 CO2 Emissions Off 1.3 Percent: Institute
And in the carbon cycle:
- 2010/08/18: SciDaily: Human Activity Eclipses Brazos River's Native Carbon Cycle
A new study by geochemists at Rice University finds that damming and other human activity has completely obscured the natural carbon dioxide cycle in Texas' longest river, the Brazos. - 2010/08/16: ChicagoTrib: Sink or source? Figuring Great Lakes' role in climate change
As for the temperature record:
- 2010/08/20: QuarkSoup: GISS Presents Some Revisions
- 2010/08/19: CC&G: Enhanced UAH Channel 5 Temperature Anomaly Trend Chart
- 2010/08/19: MongaBay: NASA image captures one of the warmest Julys on record
- 2010/08/17: SciDaily: Warmest Year-to-Date Global Temperature on Record
- 2010/08/16: Mtobis: UAH Temps Remain Extraordinary
- 2010/08/16: SolveClimate: Most Ever Heat: Record Temperatures on 19 Percent of Earth's Surface -- 17 countries with new national temperature records
- 2010/08/16: Wunderground: ex-TD 5 regenerating; globe has 2nd or 5th warmest July on record
- 2010/08/15: TCoE: July 2010 in 60 seconds
While in the paleoclimate:
- 2010/08/19: PhysOrg: Geologists revisit the Great Oxygenation Event [635 mya]
While on the ENSO front:
- 2010/08/15: QuarkSoup: How Rare Was the 1998 El Nino?
Regarding the solar hypothesis:
- 2010/08/15: QuarkSoup: Total Solar Irradiance
- World Radiation Centre
- NGDC.NOAA: Solar Irradiance Data
And the State of the Oceans:
- 2010/08/20: BBC: Study measures Atlantic plastic accumulation
A study has measured the amount of plastic debris found in a region of the Atlantic Ocean over a 22-year period. - 2010/08/21: BBC: Computer blow to Europe's GOCE gravity satellite [Gravity field and steady-state Ocean Circulation Explorer]
A flagship European Earth observation satellite has been struck by a second computer glitch and cannot send its science data down to the ground. The Goce spacecraft is on a mission to make the most precise maps yet of how gravity varies across the globe. In February, a processor fault forced operators to switch the satellite over to its back-up computer system. This too has now developed a problem and engineers are toiling to make the spacecraft fully functional again. - 2010/08/16: Eureka: Measuring salt shine to improve climate understanding
More GW impacts are being seen:
- 2010/08/21: ClimateP: Species extinctions happening before our eyes
- 2010/08/19: HotTopic: When warming burns...
- 2010/08/19: BNC: Climate change basics III -- environmental impacts and tipping points
- 2010/08/18: NatureTGB: Human hunters off the hook? Climate change caused wooly mammoths' extinction, say scientists
- 2010/08/18: TreeHugger: Stranded Polar Bears Threaten Migratory Birds
- 2010/08/18: USFP: Beginning with the bees
- 2010/08/17: PlanetArk: Mexican [monarch] Butterflies Threatened By Severe Storms
- 2010/08/17: TerraDaily: Increased Destruction Of Bird Populations Are Predicted With Rise In Global Temperatures
- 2010/08/17: TreeHugger: Permafrost Melting Releases Mercury Into Swedish Lake
- 2010/08/17: SkeptiSci: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly Effects of Climate Change
- 2010/08/16: SMandia: Climate Change Impact on Freshwater Wetlands, Lakes & Rivers
- 2010/08/16: SciDaily: Climate Change Affects Geographical Range of Plants, Study Finds
- 2010/08/16: SciDaily: Too Hot to Handle: Impacts of Climate Change on Mussels
And then there are the world's forests:
- 2010/08/19: People's Daily: Beijing plans $3B on alternative energy, trees
Beijing has worked out a plan to invest up to 20 billion yuan (US$3 billion) in the next decade on forestation and develop alternative energies. Wu Jian, a senior engineer with the State Forestry Administration, said at a news conference that the trees will fight climate change by absorbing carbon and will produce material for bio-diesel and ethanol fuels by 2020. The plan aims to have 23 percent of the country covered with forests in 10 years, up 3 percent increase from the current level. - 2010/08/19: PostMedia: Pine beetles' march across B.C. is a catastrophe in slow motion
Unemployment among forestry workers and amount of denuded timber harvest land will rise dramatically over next 20 years, a report says
It's funny. You can read that pine beetles have denuded and killed an area of B.C. forest land equivalent to the area of California and New York combined, but it doesn't sink in.
It seems impossible. Sheer hyperbole.
But drive the circular route through Hope, Princeton, Merritt, Cache Creek, Lillooet, Pemberton, Whistler as I did this past weekend, and you can see it.
Kilometre after kilometre of trees stripped of needles and tinder-dry.
It's heartbreaking and frightening.
We're in the middle of a slow-motion disaster that, unlike the Gulf oil spill, Hurricane Katrina or the floods in Pakistan, is unfolding in years, not minutes and hours, weeks and months. - 2010/08/18: TreeHugger: Illegal Logging by Pakistan's Timber Mafia Increased Flooding Devastation
- 2010/08/18: Eureka: New satellite data reveals true decline of world's mangrove forests
New satellite imagery has given scientists the most comprehensive and exact data on the distribution and decline of mangrove forests from across the world. The research, carried out by scientists from the U.S Geological Survey and NASA, is published in Global Ecology and Biogeography, and reveals forest distribution is 12.3% smaller than earlier estimates.
Mangrove forests are among the most productive and biologically important ecosystems of the world, including trees, palms and shrubs which grow at tropical and subtropical tidal zones across the equator. Now scientists can use the world's most definitive map of the Earth's mangrove forest to reveal that approximately 53,190 square miles (137, 760 km2) of mangroves exist, substantially less than previous estimates. - UNDDD: UN Decade for Deserts and the Fight Against Desertification
- 2010/08/17: Xinhuanet: UN official calls for global efforts to fight desertification
- 2010/08/16: IPSNews: U.N. Decade Hopes to Push Back Encroaching Deserts
Desertification has long been recognised as a major environmental, economic and social problem for countries the world over. But despite major efforts, which started with the United Nations Conference on Desertification (UNOCD) in 1977, the process of land degradation is intensifying. - 2010/08/17: Reuters: UN urges action against advancing deserts
- 2010/08/16: TerraDaily: UN fights to save the planet from ever-expanding deserts
- 2010/08/16: UN: UN launches decade-long drive to combat desertification
Yes we have no wacky weather, except:
- 2010/08/19: WaPo: Storms flood parts of Washington [DC] region, stranding motorists
- 2010/08/17: NewScientist: Fatal cloudburst devastates Himalayan desert town
As for heatwaves and wild fires:
- 2010/08/20: CBC: Public warned as B.C. smoke rolls into Sask.
The Saskatchewan Health Ministry is warning the public about smoke from British Columbia forest fires. People in western and central areas of the province woke up Friday morning to haze in the sky and the smell of smoke. And southern regions got hazier as the day wore on. In the afternoon, the health ministry put out an alert advising people with asthma and other respiratory and heart conditions to consider staying indoors with the windows closed. - 2010/08/19: CBC: Intense B.C. wildfires 'snowing' ash
- 2010/08/20: CBC: B.C. smoke rolls into Sask.
- 2010/08/20: CBC: B.C. wildfires ease but smoke continues
- 2010/08/19: BBC: Bolivia declares emergency over forest fires
Wildfires are raging out of control, destroying houses and land in their path A state of emergency has been declared in Bolivia as forest fires spread across the country. Almost 25,000 fires have destroyed about 1.5m hectares (3.7m acres) of land and more than 60 houses. - 2010/08/19: CBC: B.C. smoke triggers Alta. health warning
- 2010/08/16: PressEurop: Forest fires -- Portugal counts the cost
- 2010/08/19: CBC: Fires force B.C. forestry workers out of woods
- 2010/08/17: EarthTimes: Fires destroy 1.5 million hectares of forest land in Bolivia
- 2010/08/18: CBC: B.C. wildfire evacuation orders expanded
[...]
About 279 forest fires are burning across British Columbia, and about 71 per cent of the province is rated at high or extreme risk for forest fires. - 2010/08/17: EarthTimes: Half-a-dozen major wildfires still rage in Portugal
- 2010/08/17: EarthTimes: Japan summer heat wave blamed for 132 deaths
- 2010/08/16: NewsTrib: Heat wave sets record high
The late summer heat wave spreading across Alaska has pushed the temperature into the 90s in Fairbanks for only the fifth time since 1904 - 2010/08/17: G&M: B.C. wildfires, heat wave prompt air advisory in Vancouver
Record high temperatures and smoke from hundreds of wildfires are creating safety and health issues - 2010/08/17: M&C: Japan summer heat wave blamed for 132 deaths
- 2010/08/17: CBC: Wildfire sparks B.C. fishing lodge evacuations
[...]
The B.C. Forest Service says 277 wildfires are currently burning in B.C. as hot, dry conditions continue across much of the province. - 2010/08/16: EarthTimes: Eighteen major wildfires rage in Portugal
- 2010/08/16: EarthTimes: Wildfires ravage nature parks in Portugal
- 2010/08/16: CBC: B.C. wildfires rage amid heat wave
Corals are dying:
- 2010/08/20: TerraDaily: Massive Coral Mortality Following Bleaching In Indonesia
- 2010/08/19: TerraDaily: Great Barrier Reef had predecessor
- 2010/08/18: Yahoo:AP: Indonesia's coral reefs dying at alarming rate
- 2010/08/18: CCP: Massive coral die-off seen in 93 °F waters. Area off Indonesia is 7 °F warmer than usual
- 2010/08/18: ABC(Au): Scientists make coral health breakthrough for Barrier Reef [melanin]
- 2010/08/18: PhysOrg: US researchers create frozen coral 'bank' to protect species
- 2010/08/17: CoralCOE: How corals fight back
- 2010/08/16: ENS: Corals Bleached and Dying in Overheated South Asian Waters
- 2010/08/16: Eureka: Massive coral mortality following bleaching in Indonesia
Wildlife Conservation Society and partners document large-scale coral bleaching and death in wake of sea surface temperature rise - 2010/08/17: CSM: Soaring temperatures spark mass coral death in Indonesia
- 2010/08/17: SciDaily: Massive Coral Mortality Following Bleaching in Indonesia
- 2010/08/17: PhysOrg: Massive coral mortality following bleaching in Indonesia
The Wildlife Conservation Society today released initial field observations that indicate that a dramatic rise in the surface temperature in Indonesian waters has resulted in a large-scale bleaching event that has devastated coral populations. - 2010/08/20: NOC: Limiting ocean acidification under global change
Emissions of carbon dioxide are causing ocean acidification as well as global warming. Scientists have previously used computer simulations to quantify how curbing of carbon dioxide emissions would mitigate climate impacts. New computer simulations have now examined the likely effects of mitigation scenarios on ocean acidification trends. They show that both the peak year of emissions and post-peak reduction rates influence how much ocean acidity increases by 2100. Changes in ocean pH over subsequent centuries will depend on how much the rate of carbon dioxide emissions can be reduced in the longer term. - 2010/08/18: EnergyBulletin: The "other" carbon problem -- ocean acidification
Glaciers are melting:
- 2010/08/15: SolveClimate: In Pictures: Glaciers Melt Away in Everest Region of Nepal
Boulders, sand and melt pools have replaced some Himalayan glaciers, while others are virtually extinct, eyewitness observes - 2010/08/16: CSM: Global warming: World's highest island glacier vanishing
- 2010/08/15: ASI: Glaciers are losers
Sea levels are rising:
- 2010/08/21: ABC(Au): Change to Tas beach blamed on climate change
A new report shows a southern Tasmanian beach is already feeling the effects of climate change. Since the 1970s, Roches Beach east of Hobart has receded up to 13 metres in parts. - 2010/08/19: Discovery: Damaged Ecosystems Amplify Killer Floods -- Climate change isn't the only reason the record rains in Pakistan have been so devastating
- 2010/08/18: MTobis: When it Rains it Pours
- 2010/08/18: EarthTimes: Slovak flood death toll rises to two
- 2010/08/18: EarthTimes: Rains spark more flooding in southern Spain
- 2010/08/18: CBC: Indian school collapse [in heavy rains] kills at least 18
- 2010/08/17: EarthTimes: Flooding kills three in southern Spain
- 2010/08/15: EarthTimes: Slovakia, Czech Republic hit by flood waters
Elsewhere on the mitigation front:
- 2010/08/16: MongaBay: Could biochar save the world?
Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation has somehow seemed chimeric:
- 2010/08/20: CPositive: First funds in Indonesia-Norway forest deal
- 2010/08/17: PlanetArk: REDD Project Design Method Gets Boost From Auditors
As for transportation & GHG production:
- 2010/08/18: CNN: Is the U.S. turning a corner on high-speed rail?
- 2010/08/18: SlashDot: Is a US High-Speed Railway Economically Feasible?
While in the endless quest for zero energy, sustainable buildings and practical codes:
- 2010/08/20: Asahi: Sweating buildings turn down the heat
New technologies that allow buildings to "sweat" in very hot conditions may help relieve the sizzling summer heat in Japan's cities. - 2010/08/16: TreeHugger: LEED Buildings: Is the 'Green' All In Your Head?
As for carbon sequestration:
- 2010/08/21: TimesUnion: Shale sites studied for emission storage
- 2010/08/21: TreeHugger: What's The Latest With FutureGen, The CCS Project In The Corn?
- 2010/08/20: DerSpiegel: Not Under My Backyard -- One German Town's Fight against CO2 Capture Technology
The next Chernobyl? A death blow to tourism? Poisoned drinking water? The residents of Beeskow, Germany worry that a planned CO2 storage facility under their town could end in disaster and are fighting the project. Europe, though, hopes the technology will drastically reduce emissions. - 2010/08/19: PlanetArk: China Awaits Proof To Back Carbon Capture: Officials
- 2010/08/17: ENS: Future Unclear for FutureGen 2.0 Carbon Capture and Storage Network
- 2010/08/16: GreenBiz: Report Questions Forests' Effectiveness in Storing Carbon
- 2010/08/16: PeakEnergy: Farming profits in the rich soils of carbon sequestration
Large scale geo-engineering keeps popping up:
- 2010/08/18: ERabett: The Ethical Hypocrites
- 2010/08/17: PhysOrg: Clouds + Mineral Dust = Rain
A team of atmospheric scientists, including Dr. Xiaohong Liu of Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), found a critical link between the size of dust particles in clouds and their likelihood to produce rain. - 2010/08/19: GRL: (ab$) Geographic muting of changes in the Arctic sea ice cover by Ian Eisenman
- 2010/08/16: NERC:NORA: Europe adapts to climate change: Comparing National Adaptation Strategies by G. Robbert Biesbroek et al.
- 2010/08/17: NERC:NORA: Climate of the last million years: new insights from EPICA and other records by C. Barbante et al.
- 2010/08/17: NERC:NORA: The Antarctic palaeo record and its role in improving predictions of future Antarctic Ice Sheet change by Michael Bentley
- 2010/08/19: NERC:NORA: History of sea ice in the Arctic by Leonid Polyak et al.
- 2010/08/19: NERC:NORA: Atmospheric decadal variability from high-resolution Dome C ice core records of aerosol constituents beyond the Last Interglacial by Matthias Bigler et al.
- 2010/08/19: NERC:NORA: Temperature and precipitation history of the Arctic by G.H. Miller et al.
- 2010/08/19: NERC:NORA: Deformation and failure of the ice bridge on the Wilkins Ice Shelf, Antarctica by A. Humbert et al.
- 2010/08/19: NERC:NORA: Changes in environment over the last 800,000 years from chemical analysis of the EPICA Dome C ice core by E.W. Wolff et al.
- 2010/08/20: NERC:NORA: An abrupt change of Antarctic moisture origin at the end of Termination II by V. Masson-Delmotte et al.
- 2010/08/20: NERC:NORA: Monitoring the Antarctic Circumpolar Current in the Drake Passage: Oceanography in Drake Passage: Wherefrom, whereto and what in between? by Miguel Angel Morales Maqueda et al.
- 2010/08/20: NERC:NORA: EPICA Dome C record of glacial and interglacial intensities by V. Masson-Delmotte et al.
- 2010/08/20: ACP: What can be learned about carbon cycle climate feedbacks from the CO2 airborne fraction? by M. Gloor et al.
- 2010/08/20: ACPD: Estimating European volatile organic compound emissions using satellite observations of formaldehyde from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument by G. Curci et al.
- 2010/08/18: TC: Manufactured analytical solutions for isothermal full-Stokes ice sheet models by A. Sargent & J. L. Fastook
- 2010/08/20: TCD: Influence of the Tungurahua eruption on the ice core records of Chimborazo, Ecuador by P. Ginot et al.
- 2010/08/18: TCD: The Potsdam Parallel Ice Sheet Model (PISM-PIK) - Part 2: Dynamic equilibrium simulation of the Antarctic ice sheet by M. A. Martin et al.
- 2010/08/18: TCD: The Potsdam Parallel Ice Sheet Model (PISM-PIK) - Part 1: Model description by R. Winkelmann et al.
- 2010/08/21: NASA:GISS(to appear in JGR): [pdf] The attribution of the present-day total greenhouse effect by Gavin Schmidt et al.
- 2010/08/17: CPD: Climate signatures of grape harvest dates by M. Krieger et al.
- 2008/01/02: Ecology: (ab$) Global potential net primary production predicted from vegetation class, precipitation, and temperature by Stephen Del Grosso et al.
- 2010/08/20: AGWObserver: Papers on primary production and climate change
- 2010/08/07: GRL: (ab$) Influence of mitigation policy on ocean acidification by D. Bernie et al.
- 2003/06/06: Science: (ab$) Climate-Driven Increases in Global Terrestrial Net Primary Production from 1982 to 1999 by Ramakrishna R. Nemani et al.
- 2010/08/20: Science: (ab$) Drought-Induced Reduction in Global Terrestrial Net Primary Production from 2000 Through 2009 by Maosheng Zhao & Steven W. Running
- 2010/08/19: ACP: Evaluation of simulated aerosol properties with the aerosol-climate model ECHAM5-HAM using observations from the IMPACT field campaign by G.-J. Roelofs et al.
- 2010/08/18: ACP: Black carbon semi-direct effects on cloud cover: review and synthesis by D. Koch et al.
- 2010/08/18: ACP: Cloud albedo increase from carbonaceous aerosol by W. R. Leaitch et al.
- 2010/08/17: ACP: CO2 column-averaged volume mixing ratio derived over Tsukuba from measurements by commercial airlines by M. Araki et al.
- 2010/08/16: ACP: Chemical and aerosol characterisation of the troposphere over West Africa during the monsoon period as part of AMMA by C. E. Reeves et multi al.
- 2010/08/16: ACP: Low sensitivity of cloud condensation nuclei to changes in the sea-air flux of dimethyl-sulphide by M. T. Woodhouse et al.
- 2010/08/16: ACP: Transport of North African dust from the Bodélé depression to the Amazon Basin: a case study by Y. Ben-Ami et al.
- 2010/08/19: ACPD: Impact of the East Asian summer monsoon on long-term variations in the acidity of summer precipitation in Central China by B. Z. Ge et al.
- 2010/08/19: ACPD: Global analysis of cloud field coverage and radiative properties, using morphological methods and MODIS observations by R. Z. Bar-Or et al.
- 2010/08/17: ACPD: Investigations of the impact of natural dust aerosol on cold cloud formation by K. A. Koehler et al.
- 2010/08/16: ACPD: Smoke injection heights from agricultural burning in Eastern Europe as seen by CALIPSO by V. Amiridis et al.
- 2010/08/19: NatureNanoTech: [Letter$] Ultrahigh-power micrometre-sized supercapacitors based on onion-like carbon by David Pech et al.
- 2010/08/17: PNAS: Agricultural management explains historic changes in regional soil carbon stocks by Bas van Wesemael et al.
- 2010/08/17: PNAS: Seasonal and interannual variability of climate and vegetation indices across the Amazon by Paulo M. Brando et al.
- 2010/08/17: PNAS: Targeted metagenomics and ecology of globally important uncultured eukaryotic phytoplankton by Marie L. Cuvelier et al.
- 2010/08/17: PNAS: Rice yields in tropical/subtropical Asia exhibit large but opposing sensitivities to minimum and maximum temperatures by Jarrod R. Welch et al.
- 2010/08/17: PNAS: Predictable waves of sequential forest degradation and biodiversity loss spreading from an African city by Antje Ahrends et al.
- 2010/07/21: PLoS One: Recent Widespread Tree Growth Decline Despite Increasing Atmospheric CO2 by Lucas C. R. Silva et al.
- 2010/08/18: QSR(via doi): (ab$) Last glacial vegetation of northern Eurasia by Judy R.M. Allen et al.
- 2010/08/16: TC: Multi-channel ground-penetrating radar to explore spatial variations in thaw depth and moisture content in the active layer of a permafrost site by U. Wollschläger et al.
- 2010/08/17: OSD: A statistical model for sea surface diurnal warming driven by numerical weather prediction fluxes and winds by M. J. Filipiak et al.
- 2010/08/17: OSD: The influence of temperature and salinity variability on the upper ocean density and mixed layer by R. W. Helber et al.
- 2010/08/17: AGWObserver: Papers on oil companies and climate change
- 2010/08/16: RoyalSoc:PTB: [21 articles] Theme issue 'Food security: feeding the world in 2050'
And other significant documents:
- 2010/08/19: PI: [link to 928k pdf] Bridging the Gulf -- Changing the way Ontarians commute will cut oil demand, protect the environment and save money
As for miscellaneous science:
- 2010/08/20: Science: ($hort) Free Journals Grow Amid Ongoing Debate
- 2010/08/20: NatureTGB: A new kind of chlorophyll - and it only took 67 years to find
- 2010/08/19: SciNews: Chlorophyll gets an 'f' -- New variety of photosynthetic pigment is the first discovered in 60 years
- 2010/08/19: TreeHugger: Xmas is Early for Climate Scientists, New CESM Modeling Software is Out!
- 2010/08/18: UCAR: New computer model advances climate change research
Scientists can now study climate change in far more detail with powerful new computer software released by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). The Community Earth System Model (CESM) will be one of the primary climate models used for the next assessment by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The CESM is the latest in a series of NCAR-based global models developed over the last 30 years. The models are jointly supported by the Department of Energy (DOE) and the National Science Foundation, which is NCAR's sponsor. Scientists and engineers at NCAR, DOE laboratories, and several universities developed the CESM. - 2010/08/17: PhysOrg: Tropically Speaking, NASA Investigates Precipitation Shapes, Sizes for Severity
- 2010/08/17: NatureN: Jet reveals atmosphere's secrets -- Marathon flights test models with first pole-to-pole snapshot of trace gases [HIAPER Pole-to-Pole Observations (HIPPO) project]
More DIY science:
- 2010/08/19: CC&G: Do It Yourself Climate Trend Analysis
John Guinotte profile:
- 2010/08/19: Grist: Spotlight: John Guinotte, Marine Conservation Biology Institute -- Coral doctor sounds the alarm about acidic seas
Martin Green wins Eureka prize:
- 2010/08/17: ABC(Au): Solar scientist wins prestigious Eureka prize
A man regarded as a world leader in solar technology has received this year's leadership prize at the Eureka Awards, the most prestigious awards in Australian science. Professor Martin Green works at the University of New South Wales, and has been involved in solar cell development over the past 30 years. - 2010/08/20: Stoat: Curry jumps the shark
- 2010/08/19: ERabett: Judy's Tribe
- 2010/08/18: APSmith: Currying confusion
- 2010/08/17: TPL: Curry curries no favour
While at the UN:
- 2010/08/20: Reuters: China renewables to power ahead without CDM: report
- 2010/08/18: BBerg: UN Emissions Board Will Question All Hydrofluorocarbon Projects, IETA Says
- 2010/08/19: PakTrib: Weather shifts behind disasters need 'urgent' probe: UN
Climate scientists must urgently look into changes in atmospheric currents linked to devastating floods in Pakistan and wildfires in Russia, UN climate and weather bodies said on Wednesday. - 2010/08/17: Reuters: Three China HFC projects face U.N. CO2 offset probe
A UN panel will review carbon offset issuances requests by three Chinese greenhouse gas destroying projects, a UN spokeswoman said on Tuesday, a sign the most lucrative projects under the Kyoto Protocol may face more scrutiny. - 2010/08/21: Google:AP: UN board could rein in $2.7 billion carbon market
An obscure U.N. board that oversees a $2.7 billion market intended to cut heat-trapping gases has agreed to take steps that could lead to it eventually reining in what European and U.S. environmentalists are calling a huge scam.
[...]
The chemical makers are paid as much as $100,000 or more for every ton they destroy of a potent greenhouse gas, HFC-23. The price for destroying it is based on its being 11,700 times more powerful as a climate-warming gas than carbon dioxide. But that gas is a byproduct of an ozone-friendly refrigerant, HCFC-22, which those chemical makers also are paid to produce under the U.N.'s ozone treaty. Environmentalists say there is so much money in getting rid of HFC-23 that the chemical makers are overproducing HCFC-22 to have more of the byproduct to destroy. "The evidence is overwhelming that manufacturers are creating excess HFC-23 simply to destroy it and earn carbon credits," said Mark Roberts of the Environmental Investigation Agency, a research and advocacy group. - 2010/08/20: PlanetArk: Russia To Set 10 Euro Carbon Floor Price: Sberbank
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:
- 2010/08/18: Grist: Electricity markets are weird: why a carbon price isn't enough
- 2010/08/16: CPositive: Australia mulls foreign-linked carbon offset scheme
The issue of the law and activism is playing out around the world:
- 2010/08/18: EarthTimes: Greenpeace activists in court over Hong Kong climate change protest
What are the activists up to?
- 2010/08/20: Guardian(UK): Climate change activist glues herself to desk in protest at RBS
- 2010/08/19: ENS: Camp for Climate Action Confronts Royal Bank of Scotland
- 2010/08/19: Guardian(UK): Activists set up Climate Camp at Royal Bank of Scotland headquarter
- 2010/08/19: BBC: Climate protest camp targets RBS headquarters
Polls! We have polls!
- 2010/08/17: TEC: After BP Oil Spill, Concern About Environment, Oil Surges in US, Europe; Not so Much in UK
Regarding Water Politics and Business:
- 2010/08/21: CCurrents: India Scraps Controversial Dam On River Bhagirithi In The Himalayas
- 2010/08/19: JFleck: Save it for next year?
- 2010/08/17: TreeHugger: We Waste How Much Water On Coal?!
- 2010/08/16: NatureN: Science panel gives hope in river-pollution dispute -- Environmental monitoring set to resolve [Argentina - Uruguay] arguments over paper mill
- 2010/08/15: JFleck: The Largest Tributary in the Middle Rio Grande?
- 2010/08/16: Asahi: Chinese dam projects raise alarm in Asia
Rivers in Asia that cross national borders are becoming a new source of confrontation among nations. Water shortages will likely become even more severe due to economic development and global warming. That would make the water issue a major factor for Asia's national security. - 2010/08/16: EarthTimes: Milking fog: the science of collecting drinking water
- 2010/08/16: ENS: South Korea's Four Rivers Dam Construction Rolls Over Opposition
As for SW tools:
- 2010/08/17: PostMedia: Vote for best of B.C.'s Apps 4 Climate Action
The B.C. Government is inviting all British Columbians to cast a vote for their favourite software app programmed using public government data around the topic of climate change. John Yap, Minister of State for Climate Action, announced the opening of the online voting period last week: "We've had some really exciting entries into our Apps 4 Climate Action contest and now we're hoping British Columbians will help us pick their favourite," Yap said in a press release. The "Apps for Climate Action Contest" was put out as a challenge to Canadian software developers to use their skills to raise awareness of climate change. - 2010/08/20: Guardian(UK): Church of Scotland makes stand against coal power station
And on the American political front:
- 2010/08/22: OilDrum: Can we solve two problems at once - unemployment and preparing for power down?
- 2010/08/20: MillerMcCune: Clearing the Air on States' Rights
There's been some heavy breathing from several states on the U.S. administration's plans to regulate greenhouse gases, and their bluster may butt up against White House bluffing. - 2010/08/16: CleanBreak: The long and expensive search for clean energy miracles need not delay action today
- 2010/08/20: BBerg: Clean Energy Investors Flash Cash for Ads in California Climate Law Battle
- 2010/08/20: Grist: Utilities can meet EPA standards without threatening reliability
- 2010/08/19: NRDC:SwitchBoard: Big Oil vs. Government - Battle Brewing Over Cleaning Up Oil Refineries in Los Angeles
- 2010/08/20: ERabett: The Dumb America Contest Winners
- 2010/08/19: NYT:CW: A New EPRI Computer Model Makes the Case for Regional Climate Solutions
- 2010/08/18: MoJo: Can Renewables Catch a Break?
- 2010/08/20: REA: The Myth of Cheap Fossil Fuels -- A Roadblock for Renewable Energy
- 2010/08/18: CSW: Latest NRC report charts path for federal government in supporting national climate preparedness
- 2010/08/19: TP:WR: VIDEO: Why Oil Billionaire David Koch Is Secretly Funding Astroturf To Repeal CA Clean Energy Law AB 32
- 2010/08/18: TP:WR: Don Blankenship: The Science Of Climate Change Is 'Humorous,' Mountaintop Removal 'Small Afterdamage'
- 2010/08/17: WVGazette:CT: New coal SEC disclosures: Massey hit with $4 million in federal safety fines in 2nd quarter of 2010
- 2010/08/18: TEC: Deutsche Bank's Parker: Senate Clean Energy Policy Failure Driving Investor Exodus
- 2010/08/18: REA: New Law Requires Illinois Utilities To Buy More Solar Power
- 2010/08/17: Grist: Texas oil vs. California clean tech: the battle over Proposition 23
- 2010/08/16: Grist: A climate policy for people and the environment [US pol]
- 2010/08/16: NYT:CW: Feeling Abandoned by Congress, State Regulators Push for U.S. Carbon Cap
- 2010/08/17: TWM: 'The consequences of our inaction'...[on energy policy]
- 2010/08/16: PhysOrg: California landmark global-warming law under fire
The BP disaster still has American politics in a vise:
- 2010/08/22: CCP: NOAA's Bill Lehr says three-quarters of the oil that gushed from the Deepwater Horizon rig is still in the Gulf environment while scientists identify 22-mile plume in ocean depths
- 2010/08/20: NOAANews: Scientists Map Origin of Large, Underwater Hydrocarbon Plume in Gulf -- Plume detected 22 miles long and more than 3,000 feet below surface
- 2010/08/20: CCurrents: Mississippi Shrimpers Refuse To Trawl, Fearing Oil, Dispersants
- 2010/08/18: ProPublica: Scientists Dispute Government Stance on the Lingering Effects of Gulf Oil
- 2010/08/19: CJR: Gulf Coast Guessing Game -- Fresh wave of articles highlight uncertainty about lingering oil
- 2010/08/20: CCP: 3600 ft deep, 20 mile oil plume from the Deepwater Horizon spill persisting in the Gulf
- 2010/08/20: KSJT: Much ink: That underwater hydrocarbon plume is still there
- 2010/08/20: GreenGrok: The Oil We Saw Up Close in the Gulf
- 2010/08/19: SciNews: Most BP oil still pollutes the Gulf, scientists conclude -- Breakdown is proving slower than expected
- 2010/08/20: ABC(Au): BP accused of withholding oil spill documents [by Transocean]
- 2010/08/20: NRDC:SwitchBoard: Dispersant controversy, oil plumes persist in the Gulf
- 2010/08/19: NRDC:SwitchBoard: Gulf Coast Disaster -- Day 122
- 2010/08/20: ScienceInsider: New Light on Spilled Oil, But Only a Bit
- 2010/08/19: WashingtonsBlog: Top Expert: Geology is "Fractured", Relief Wells May Fail ... BP is Using a "Cloak of Silence", Refusing to Share Even Basic Data with the Government
- 2010/08/19: BBC: BP oil spill: Undersea oil remains in Gulf of Mexico
- 2010/08/19: CBC: BP oil plume a long-lasting threat: study
- 2010/08/19: CNN: Researchers say they saw 22-mile hydrocarbon plume in Gulf
Researchers say hydrocarbon plume in Gulf of Mexico was at least 22 miles long - Marine geochemist: Estimates of remaining Gulf oil should include this plume - Thad Allen stands by government estimate of 26 percent of oil still in water - Two recent studies arrived at more grave findings about the remaining oil - 2010/08/19: Grist: Giant underwater plume in Gulf challenges optimism
- 2010/08/19: Grist: Scientists keep raising estimates of how much oil is still in the Gulf
- 2010/08/19: NRDC:SwitchBoard: Back when 50 Million Gallons Was A Disaster
- 2010/08/19: NatureTGB: NIH investigates health impacts of Gulf oil spill
- 2010/08/19: NatureN: Extent of lingering Gulf oil plume revealed -- Extensive chemical analysis confirms that undegraded oil remains at ocean depths
- 2010/08/19: DM:80B: Scientists Find 22-Mile-Long Oily Plume Drifting in the Gulf of Mexico
- 2010/08/19: Eureka: Deep plumes of oil could cause dead zones in the Gulf
- 2010/08/19: OilChange: "Probably the most notorious branding crisis in memory" [BP]
- 2010/08/16: DJID: Uncovering The Lies That Are Sinking The Oil
- 2010/08/17: AlterNet: We Have Yet to Come Face to Face with the Biggest Cost of the BP Spill
- 2010/08/18: ABC(Au): Nearly 80pc of Gulf spill oil still in water: experts
Nearly 80 per cent of the oil spilled from a BP well in the Gulf of Mexico is still in the gulf, US scientists have estimated, challenging a more optimistic assessment by the US government earlier in the month. - 2010/08/17: CCurrents: Uncovering The Lies That Are Sinking the Oil
- 2010/08/17: CSM: What happened to Gulf oil spill? Rosy portrait was hasty, study says.
- 2010/08/17: NRDC:SwitchBoard: People in the Gulf Want Reliable Answers, Not PR
- 2010/08/17: NatureTGB: Deepwater Horizon: 'residual' vs 'remaining'
More scientists have come forward to criticize a US government report on the fate of the oil leaked into the Gulf of Mexico during the recent Deepwater Horizon debacle. - 2010/08/17: TreeHugger: Nearly 80% of Oil From Gulf Spill Remains in Water, Threatens Ecosystem: Independent Analysis
- 2010/08/17: OilChange: Upto 80% of BP oil still in the Gulf, say scientists
So how do you figure the 2010 elections will crack up?
- 2010/08/20: TWM: Johnson's sunspot gaffe, on video...
Ron Johnson (R), taking on Sen. Russ Feingold (D) in Wisconsin this year, has proven to be one of 2010's nuttiest candidates. - 2010/08/19: TheHill: Feingold hits GOP Senate foe over 'bizarre' climate change explanation
Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) is taking aim at GOP opponent Ron Johnson's claim that climate change more likely stems from sunspots rather than human activity. "I'm not going to take a course in Ron Johnson science any time soon," Feingold said in an interview Wednesday with WisPolitics.com, calling it one of several "bizarre ideas" that Johnson has. - 2010/08/20: SolveClimate: In Election Season, One Politician Who Is Not Afraid of the Clean Energy Economy -- Ed Markey carries the torch most other politicians seeking reelection still cannot
- 2010/08/20: AFTIC: Q&A Fun with candidate for congress
- 2010/08/20: TP: Every GOP NH Senate Candidate Is A Global Warming Denier
- 2010/08/18: TP:WR: Rep. Steve King Unloads On Climate Change Scientists: 'Frauds' Practicing 'Modern Version Of The Rain Dance'
- 2010/08/18: ClimateP: GOP WI Sen. candidate Ron Johnson: "I absolutely do not believe in the science of man-caused climate change," claims "sunspot activity or just something in the geologic eons of time" is warming the planet
- 2010/08/18: MTobis: Truth Continues to Lose Ground
- 2010/08/18: Herald(Au): Coal-belt residents say climate change won't affect them
- 2010/08/17: JSOnline: Sunspots are behind climate change, [Republican U.S. Senate candidate Ron] Johnson says
- 2010/08/17: TP: GOP WI Sen. candidate Ron Johnson claims 'sunspot activity' is the cause of extreme weather trends
- 2010/08/15: Kentucky: Rand Paul: Keep EPA out of Ky. affairs -- Candidate considers himself a friend of coal
There has been some talk, not movement on the PACE front:
- 2010/08/18: Grist: Senate bill would make energy-efficient mortgages mainstream
- 2010/08/18: Grist: Mother Earth not invited to housing summit
Cuccinelli's attack on Michael Mann is in court:
- 2010/08/21: WaPo: Judge to rule in 10 days on Cuccinelli climate case against University of Virginia
- 2010/08/21: CSW: Judge hears Virginia AG Cuccinelli's climate science 'fraud' case, will rule within 10 days
- 2010/08/20: CDP: Judge hears UVa climate dispute
The fate of the University of Virginia's petition to block Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli's document demands relating to research of a former UVa climate change scientist will be decided in the next 10 days. - 2010/08/19: DeSmogBlog: UVA Students, Faculty and Alumni To Protest Ken Cuccinelli Witch Hunt Against Climate Scientist On Friday
- 2010/08/18: CCP: Groups file brief supporting U.Va. in case against Cuccinelli
- 2010/08/18: UCSUSA: Court Should Reject VA Attorney General's Subpoena for UVA Climate Scientist's Documents
The Obama chatter is nonstop:
- 2010/08/20: TEC: Mixed signals from the White House on clean energy investment
- 2010/08/19: NRDC:SwitchBoard: NRDC Urges Obama to Protect Public Health and Defend EPA
- 2010/08/19: TEC: Unfulfilled Promises on Clean Energy Technology?
The actions (and inactions) of the Obama administration are being watched closely:
- 2010/08/18: CNN: Is the U.S. turning a corner on high-speed rail?
Washington awards $8 billion among 31 states to develop high-speed rail service
Opponents: High-speed rail is expensive, won't save energy
Supporters: Trains would cut pollution, stimulate economy - 2010/08/19: SolveClimate: Low-Carbon Fuel Rules in US Spurs Oil Sands PR Blitz
EPA quietly says Canadian fuel source is 82% dirtier, and industry is on the defensive - 2010/08/18: NYT:GW: EPA Push on Emission Regs Sparks State Permitting Scrambles, Fury
U.S. EPA is planning to take over permitting programs for states that can't or won't comply with the Obama administration's climate rules by next year, and that isn't sitting well with some state regulators. Officials in Texas and Arizona are staunchly opposing EPA's plans to force states into compliance with controversial climate regulations, while others fear the agency is rushing forward without giving states enough guidance as they prepare to begin regulating greenhouse gases for the first time. - 2010/08/19: LA Times: [PACE] Loan program for green home upgrades stalls
Funds dry up, and many projects are left in limbo, after regulators and lenders raise alarms over terms of the Property Assessed Clean Energy program. - 2010/08/19: CPositive: US EPA moves on carbon emissions
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is moving forward with regulations to control greenhouse-gas emissions (GHGs) sector by sector in the absence of specific climate legislation to do so coming out of Congress. - 2010/08/17: ENS: Future Unclear for FutureGen 2.0 Carbon Capture and Storage Network
- 2010/08/16: Reuters: US EPA seeks to regulate carbon from trucks, buses
- 2010/08/17: Grist: Feds say deepwater wells can no longer dodge environmental reviews
- 2010/08/16: Grist: No deepwater drilling without environmental studies, says Obama admin
- 2010/08/15: TheHill:e2W: Energy Department watchdog [IG] notes woes with managing stimulus dollars
As for what is going on in Congress:
- 2010/08/20: TEC: Does New Republican Bill Signal Bipartisan Support for Clean Energy Investment?
- 2010/08/19: TP:WR: Waxman And Stupak Demand BP Detail Scope Of Greenwashing Campaign
- 2010/08/18: MoJo: Waxman Wants to Know: How Much Has BP Spent on Ads
The future climate bill defines a battleline:
- 2010/08/18: SolveClimate: Are Moderate Republicans & Obama's Leadership Keys to Federal Climate Law? Lost opportunity in 2010, with next Congress still an unknown quantity
- 2010/08/16: ClimateP: The dangerous reality of climate change justifies global warming law -- in California and nationwide
What are the lobbyists pushing?
- 2010/08/17: NYT:GW: Oil Group, Climate Bill Supporters Clash in Summer Campaigns
- 2010/08/18: CCP: US Chamber of Commerce Dismayed at Breakaway Clean Energy Group
More than two dozen local chambers of commerce in the US will join forces to advocate for market-based mechanisms to price carbon, much to the dismay of the national US Chamber of Commerce - 2010/08/17: TheHill:e2W: Green groups escalate online campaign to link senators and oil cash
- 2010/08/17: Grist: Big Coal to Congress: Save us from EPA!
- 2010/08/14: TheHill:e2W: U.S. Chamber lawsuit attacks basis for EPA emissions limits
The Gore-apalooza is still bopping along:
- 2010/08/18: CCP: Gore calls for major protests on climate change inaction, castigates do-nothing Senate
- 2010/08/17: TheHill:e2W: Gore calls for major protests on government's climate change inaction
While in the UK:
- 2010/08/19: BBC: Thousands oppose plans for new Hunterston coal plant
More than 14,000 people have objected to plans for a new coal-fired power station at Hunterston in Ayrshire, it has been claimed. Ayrshire Power wants to build a plant with experimental carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology at the site. - 2010/08/19: AutoBG: Report: UK will keep funding electric car charging stations with Plugged-In Places
- 2010/08/17: Guardian(UK): England's green and pleasant land may have to change to feed our thirst for fuel
As we look for alternatives to oil, our familiar pattern of meadows and pastures could become interspersed with biofuel plantations - 2010/08/17: Guardian(UK): Communities take action to save plants
Communities are swapping local vegetable and plant varieties to save foods from extinction and fight the effects of climate change - 2010/08/16: Reuters: UK needs clean coal for new energy policy - government
- 2010/08/15: Guardian(UK): Coal-fired power stations win reprieve
Government's decision to put pollution standards 'on hold' raises possibility of dirtiest coal plants going ahead - 2010/08/16: OilChange: The UK Coalition Ain't Green, Its Dirty Brown
And in Europe:
- 2010/08/20: TreeHugger: Renewable Energy Production Increased 8.3% Last Year in Europe, Coal Consumption Dropped 16.3%
- 2010/08/19: DerSpiegel: Return of the 'Climate Chancellor' -- Merkel Tries to Regain Upper Hand in Energy Debate
Before the financial crisis, Angela Merkel liked to present herself as the "climate chancellor," pushing for CO2 cuts and posing with glaciers. Now, with nuclear energy dominating the energy debate in Germany, Merkel has sought to turn back the clock. - 2010/08/19: Yahoo:AFP: Finland aims to build first ever green highway
- 2010/08/19: EUO: EU pledges 90,000 euros for Russia fire aid
- 2010/08/18: NYT: Merkel Takes an 'Energy Trip'
Chancellor Angela Merkel, facing intense pressure from nuclear power companies to extend the life of their plants, began a cross-country tour Wednesday before deciding on a long-term energy policy with far-reaching implications for Germany, which has Europe's largest economy. Just back from her summer vacation, Mrs. Merkel is visiting wind, coal, solar and nuclear energy facilities in the next few days as part of her "energy trip." It is a strategy aimed at persuading the public that she is not beholden to the nuclear lobby, nor for that matter any other energy lobby, according to Steffen Seibert, the government spokesman. On Wednesday, Mrs. Merkel visited a wind park in the northeastern state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. - 2010/08/17: PressEurop: Power lobby nukes Merkel
Meanwhile in Australia:
- 2010/08/20: ABC(Au):TDU: Our great strategic error [Aus pol]
- 2010/08/20: WtD: Australia's scientists stand up to deniers: enough is enough!
- 2010/08/20: ABC(Au): The Pilbara town of Marble Bar has become home to the world's first solar, diesel power station
- 2010/08/20: ABC(Au): Coastal planners should expect 40cm sea level rise
Coastal development in New South Wales is set to become much more restricted, under new planning guidelines released today. The NSW Coastal Planning Guidelines have been developed in response to concern about the effects of global warming, with the State Government anticipating a 40 centimetre rise in sea levels by 2050, and a 90cm rise by 2100. - 2010/08/19: ABC(Au): Tasmania to warm 3 degrees [C?] in 90 years
- 2010/08/20: ABC(Au): Silverton wind farm would do well: expert
An industry export says the proposed Silverton wind farm has a promising future because of government legislation relating to renewable energies. Stuart Whiting represents Wind Prospect, a company that has been operating wind farms for the past 10 years. - 2010/08/19: ABC(Au): Landholders show interest in carbon offset
More than 100 landowners have gathered in Murray Bridge today to learn more about carbon offset schemes at a forum initiated by the Murraylands and Riverland Regional Development Australia Network. - 2010/08/19: ABC(Au): Toowoomba trials low emission concrete
Council workers will build a footpath in Toowoomba on Queensland's Darling Downs this morning using a new environmentally-friendly form of concrete. Local firm Wagners has developed the material using waste from coal-fired power stations and iron production and says the footpath is the first commercial trial of the product. - 2010/08/16: SF Gate: Australia's 'Depressing' Clean Energy Policies Deter Investors
- 2010/08/17: ABC(Au): Environmental groups have urged the WA Government to heavily scrutinise underground coal gasification technology
- 2010/08/17: ABC(Au): Local interest in carbon farming
- 2010/08/17: ABC(Au): Queensland Professor Roger Stone to lead UN study
A southern Queensland climatologist has been appointed to head a United Nations (UN) study into how climate change is affecting agriculture. Professor Roger Stone, from the University of Southern Queensland in Toowoomba on the state's Darling Downs, will run the UN study for the next four years. - 2010/08/16: ABC(Au): Expert says Labor undervalued carbon-trading potential
A Southern Cross University geoscience expert [Professor Leigh Sullivan] says the Federal Government may have underestimated the worth of its new carbon-trading scheme. - 2010/08/16: ABC(Au): The CSIRO will today hold a forum in Kalgoorlie aimed at assessing the impacts of climate change on mining communities
The Australian election was inconclusive. Will it be a coalition government, a minority government or another election?
- 2010/08/22: BronteCapital: A guide to the Australian election for non-Australians
- 2010/08/22: CNN: Australian leaders vie for independents' support
- 2010/08/21: BBerg: Australia Greens Win First [lower house seat] in General Election as Vote Surges 50%
- 2010/08/21: Guardian(UK): Australia faces hung parliament as Julia Gillard's Labor party suffers losses
Labor lead shrinks thanks to strong opposition campaign, climate change concerns -- and anger at treachery over Kevin Rudd - 2010/08/21: WtD: Australia votes: the rise of the Greens, climate change the wild card that will destroy governments that don't act
- 2010/08/21: PlanetJ: My View of the Election Campaign
- 2010/08/21: BBC: Australia appears to be heading for a hung parliament, with neither of the two main rivals likely to win the 76 seats needed for an outright majority
- 2010/08/20: PlanetJ: My First Election
- 2010/08/20: ABC(Au): Damian Hale, the Labor Member for the Darwin-based seat of Solomon has contradicted Prime Minister Julia Gillard on the issue of a carbon tax
- 2010/08/19: Wonkette: Crocodile-On-Chicken Savagery To Determine Australia's Next Ruler
- 2010/08/19: BBC: Australia election rivals neck and neck
- 2010/08/19: Independent(UK): On the frontline of climate change
It's the burning issue Australia's leaders dare not confront, even on the eve of a general election
Irrigated by one of the world's mightiest river systems, the Murray-Darling Basin yields nearly half of Australia's fresh produce. But the basin is ailing, and scientists fear that as climate change grips the driest inhabited continent, its main foodbowl could become a global warming ground zero.
The signs are already ominous: in the Riverland, one of the nation's major horticulture areas, dying vines and parched lemon trees attest to critical water shortages. Farmers have had their water allocations slashed during the recent crippling drought; 200 sold up, and many of those who hung on are struggling. - 2010/08/18: Guardian(UK): Australian election: breakthrough forecast for Greens
Major parties' failure to address public climate change concern may hand Greens up to 14% of vote and balance of power in senate - 2010/08/18: Reuters: Reuter poll trend: Australia's Gillard holds slim election lead
Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard goes into the final days of a tight election campaign with a slender 3-point lead in polls, pointing to a narrow win for the ruling Labor Party in a vote set to be determined by key marginal seats. - 2010/08/18: SolveClimate: Control of Senate Could Shift to Greens
Failure of major parties in Australia to address climate change may hand Greens up to 14% vote in weekend elections - 2010/08/18: PhysOrg: The Twit-election: It's the conversation, stupid
- 2010/08/17: ClimateShifts: How health is a climate change issue
- 2010/08/17: TheAge: Abbott's climate doubts
Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has reiterated his scepticism about climate science, suggesting the world has stopped warming despite a new report by Australia's leading scientists showing statistical evidence that temperatures have been rising for decades. - 2010/08/17: JQuiggin: Delusion and delay -- Tony Abbott demonstrates yet again why he is utterly unqualified to be Prime Minister...
- 2010/08/17: PeakEnergy: Abbott's willful refusal to buy into global warming
- 2010/08/16: ABC(Au): Gillard speech left out economic plan: Abbott
- 2010/08/16: JQuiggin: The home straight
And in New Zealand:
- 2010/08/18: ODT(NZ): ETS changes help owners of forests
The Government has changed the emissions trading scheme rules, which will benefit owners of 1.5 million ha of exotic forest planted before 1990 - the cut-off date at which the Kyoto Protocol acknowledges the carbon-absorbing role of trees. - 2010/08/16: ABC(Au): Sceptics to challenge climate science in court
Climate change sceptics in New Zealand are taking the government's climate agency to court over the validity of its evidence on global warming. The New Zealand Climate Science Coalition has accused the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research of tampering with official weather records to make the case for global warming. - 2010/08/22: PhysOrg: China closes factories as green deadline looms
- 2010/08/22: EarthTimes: China fights to rein in its globe-topping energy use
- 2010/08/20: Reuters: China renewables to power ahead without CDM: report
- 2010/08/18: CPositive: China to proceed slowly on cap and trade
- 2010/08/16: Yahoo:AFP: China province cuts power to 500 factories
Authorities in eastern China have cut off electricity to more than 500 factories for a month after they failed to meet emission reduction targets, state media reported Monday. The news came after China warned more than 2,000 companies in high-polluting and energy-intensive industries to shut down outdated equipment or risk having bank loans frozen, approvals for new projects dry up, and their power turned off. - 2010/08/20: PlanetArk: Japan To Subsidize Energy-Efficient Plants: Report
Japan's government plans to subsidize domestic plants producing clean-energy and energy-efficient goods under steps to support the slowing economy, the Nikkei newspaper said, as the murky outlook keeps firms from boosting spending at home. - 2010/08/20: TreeHugger: Turkish Energy Minister [Taner Yildiz] to Environmentalists: If You Hate Our Policy So Much, Stop Using Energy
And in Russia:
- 2010/08/20: BBC: Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has sacked the head of the forestry agency for failing to deal adequately with the recent wildfires
And South America:
- 2010/08/20: GlobalTimes: Brazil's Green Party candidate proposes creating carbon indicator
- 2010/08/18: PlanetArk: Argentine Glacier Protection Bill Could Shut Mines
In Canada, minority neocon PM Harper, continues his do-nothing policy:
- 2010/08/19: Guardian(PEI): Former Canadian astronaut says Canada's environmental record is 'embarrassing the world'
Canada's environmental record under Prime Minister Stephen Harper is "embarrassing," says Marc Garneau. Garneau is the former president of the Canadian Space Agency and the first Canadian in space. He got involved in politics because of his concerns about the environment and the damage he says he saw with his own eyes while orbiting the planet. "We're embarrassing the world," Garneau said in an interview with The Guardian while in Charlottetown on Wednesday. "Many countries look to Canada to show some leadership. With the Conservative government, all they've said is we'll do what the Americans do. That's a copout. "Canada should be taking initiatives because it's our responsibility as a modern country to do it ... and because it makes good economic sense." - 2010/08/19: LFR: Canadian astronaut next to be vilified by Harper's Conservatives?
The G20 policing issue is still hanging around:
- 2010/08/17: Rabble:KK: G8/G20 Communique: Today drop the G20 charges! Resist the criminalization of dissent!
- 2010/08/16: NotR: Surprise! G20 "security" law is nothing of the sort!
- 2010/08/13: Dominion: G20 Over, but Legal Woes Drag On -- Three hundred to appear in court, G20 organizers face police threats as arrests continue
Questions and debate about offshore and Arctic drilling continue:
- 2010/08/20: CBC: Beaufort Sea drilling studies get $22M
The federal government will spend nearly $22 million for research in the Beaufort Sea that could help in the debate over offshore oil and gas drilling there - 2010/08/18: CBC: Don't ban offshore drilling: Senate
A report by a federal Senate committee looking into offshore oil drilling in Canada says the facts do not justify the banning of current offshore drilling in Canada. "We are satisfied that the oversights are such that there is not any imminent danger," said Senator David Angus, chair of the committee. - 2010/08/20: G&M: Canada's troubled Arctic waters -- Ottawa is pledging to resolve boundary disputes, but cash and physical presence are limited
- 2010/08/21: WpgFP: Tories change tack on Arctic -- Paper stresses negotiation, not confrontation
- 2010/08/21: TStar: Charting new Arctic waters -- the government appears to have rebooted its circumpolar rhetoric
- 2010/08/20: G&M: Arctic policy priority No. 1: settle border disputes
In a highly anticipated report, Ottawa outlines goal to establish rules in a region that is a hotbed of jurisdictional disputes
In a historic shift, Canada will make finding solutions to Arctic boundary disputes this country's top foreign-policy priority in the Far North, according to a Foreign Affairs paper that will be released on Friday. The Conservative government now wants swift and permanent solutions to border issues that this and previous governments had preferred to leave unresolved. - 2010/08/20: CBC: Arctic border progress 'top priority': Cannon
But it always pays to watch what politicians do, not what they say:
- 2010/08/20: BCLSB: Modelling An Arctic War
Interesting timing.
On the same day that the Tories make negotiating Arctic boundary disputes its top foreign-policy priority in the Far North, the government also put out a "notice of proposal" on Merx for a Synthetic Environment For Arctic. - 2010/08/19: Tyee: 'Constant Denial': Liberal Report on Tar Sands Is Scathing -- Grits' dissenting report on two-year parliamentary study calls for sweeping reforms
- 2010/08/19: ChronicleHerald: Liberals urge action on oilsands impact -- Grits: Government falling down on environmental responsibilities
- 2010/08/18: CBC: Tarsands impact on water needs study: Liberals
Federal Liberals say the Harper government is in denial about the negative impact of tarsands development on Alberta's freshwater supplies. They're calling on the government to fulfil its constitutional and legal obligations to protect fisheries and the health of aboriginal communities who live downstream from the massive energy projects in northern Alberta. - 2010/08/17: Yahoo:Reuters: Costs mount for Enbridge on spill, 2007 blast
[...]
Enbridge Energy Partners, the Houston-based operator of the U.S. part of the company's massive pipeline system, said total charges for the July 26 pipeline rupture near Marshall, Michigan, could be $300 million to $400 million, excluding any fines or penalties. - 2010/08/18: CBC: Enbridge fined $2.4M US -- Penalty imposed for 2007 Minnesota case where 2 died
Enbridge, whose pipeline is responsible for a massive oil spill last month in a Michigan river, has been fined $2.4 million US over a 2007 case in Minnesota. The U.S. Department of Transportation announced the penalty Tuesday against the Calgary-based company for pipeline safety violations. - 2010/08/16: ProPublica: After Michigan Spill, Familiar Concerns Are Raised About Pipeline Regulators
The Green Party convention is generating some noise:
- 2010/08/21: G&M: Leadership remains a vexed question at Green Party conference
Elizabeth May downplays division, despite two motions slated for weekend debate in Toronto - 2010/08/22: TStar: Green Party downplays internal divisions
- 2010/08/21: BowiesBlog: The end of the Green Party of Canada
- 2010/08/19: WpgFP: Some Greens say future of May leadership not a black-and-white issue
- 2010/08/17: PostMedia: Green party eyes potential voters -- Convention aims to stimulate interest, focus on platform
BC is dealing with impacts in the forests -- Pine beetles and fires:
- 2010/08/19: PostMedia: Pine beetles' march across B.C. is a catastrophe in slow motion
Meanwhile in that Mechanical Mordor known as the tar sands:
- 2010/08/18: PI: Pembina Reacts: Report reveals oilsands having negative impact on Canada's freshwater
- 2010/08/18: CBC: Sask. oilsands development on hold
A Calgary-based company working on an oilsands venture in northwest Saskatchewan has put its work on hold. Oilsands Quest Inc. says its development costs are very high and it needs new funding. - 2010/08/18: CBC: Anti-oilsands campaign expands to Britain
- 2010/08/17: SolveClimate: Carcinogen Levels in Oil Sands Waste Water Increasing, Canada Admits
Levels of arsenic, cadmium, lead and nickel in giant 'tailings' lakes have increased as much as 30 percent in four years, new government data reveals - 2010/08/16: Grist: Why it matters that spilled Michigan oil came from tar sands
Saskatchewan got socked with big rain:
- 2010/08/20: CBC: Storms, flooding add $161M to Sask. budget
Ontario has it's Green Energy Act, now comes the implementation:
- 2010/08/19: PI: Report recommends five steps to cut Ontario's oil use, protect the environment and save money
- 2010/08/16: PlanetArk: Ontario Sets New Lower Rate For Some Solar power
In the Maritimes:
- 2010/08/19: CBC: Delayed N.B. reactor gets no new funds: PM
- 2010/08/17: CBC: Pace on P.E.I. nitrate pollution 'glacial'
In the North:
- 2010/08/21: PostMedia: The ice is missing in Sachs Harbour
They cut short Canada Day celebrations here this year. It was simply too hot to play outdoors. That might not be unusual in the humidity soaking some Canadian cities this summer, but tiny Sachs Harbour clings to a shoreline more than 500 kilometres north of the Arctic Circle. Until 10 years ago, the ocean was clogged with ice thick enough to walk across in late June. Strange things are happening 'neath the midnight sun these days. - 2010/08/22: TStar: The politics of potash
- 2010/08/20: CBC: Floods cut harvest 15.5%: StatsCan -- Unseeded acreage up 93.9% from 2009
Statistics Canada put some numbers Friday on the extent of the damage caused by spring flooding on the Prairies. Wheat production in Western Canada is expected to fall by 15.5 per cent this year compared with 2009, it said. The federal agency said the heavy flooding during the planting season is expected to set back total wheat production on the Prairies to 20.5 million metric tonnes. - 2010/08/16: CBC: NCC wants Canada Day to go green
The movement toward a long term ecologically viable economics is glacial:
- 2010/08/18: OilDrum: Dick Smith's Wilberforce Award - Endless Growth is Not Sustainable
- 2010/08/15: CCurrents: Saving The Earth For Our Grandchildren
- 2010/08/18: CSM: Warming and a limited future? No!
- 2010/08/17: EnergyBulletin: The dilemma of poverty in the South: equity or transformation
- 2010/08/17: Ph&Ph: Why Econophysics Will Never Work
- 2010/08/16: EnergyBulletin: Rethinking scale and growth for a more sustainable world
- 2010/08/16: Guardian(UK): We can cut emissions while conserving our landscapes and ecosystems
IPAT [Impact = Population * Affluence * Technology] raised its head once again:
- 2010/08/22: DM:GnXp: "India's" population bomb isn't rocket science
- 2010/08/21: Grist: The GINK videos -- Is the U.S. the most overpopulated country on the planet?
- 2010/08/18: EnergyBulletin: Population: The multiplier of everything else
Apocalypso anyone?
- 2010/08/18: CCurrents: Time To Terminate Western Civilization Before It Terminates Us
As for how the media handles the science of climatology:
- 2010/08/17: TreeHugger: George Monbiot Girds For Bruising Battle Against The Madness of Vertical Farms
- 2010/08/16: MTobis: Energy Collective Jumps the Shark
Regarding KK:
- 2010/08/19: APSmith: Kloor's five strikes
- 2010/08/19: Deltoid: Arthur Smith on Kloor's pattern of deception
Here is something for your library:
- 2010/08/20: EnergyBulletin: [Book Review] _Transport Revolutions: Moving People and Freight without Oil_ by Richard Gilbert & Anthony Perl
- 2010/08/20: ClimateP: A Conversation with Eric Pooley about The Climate War
- 2010/08/20: HotTopic: [Book Review] _Challenged by Carbon: The Oil Industry and Climate Change_ by Bryan Lovell
- 2010/08/19: DVoice: Capitalism and Pollution: A Way Out? [Book Review] _Ecology and Socialism_ by Chris Williams
- 2010/08/18: CCP: [Book Plug] _The Weather of the Future_ By Heidi Cullen
And for your film & video enjoyment:
- 2010/08/22: PSinclair: Debunking the "Sea Ice is Recovering" Crock
- 2010/08/20: TreeHugger: Vanishing of the Bees: Film Documents Ongoing Honeybee Decline (Video)
- 2010/08/16: PSinclair: The "CO2 is Plant Food" Crock
- 2010/08/15: QuarkSoup: Jay Inslee Greets Christopher Monckton [video]
Meanwhile among the 'Sue the Bastards!' contingent:
- 2010/08/20: ENS: California's Wild Steelhead Win, Irrigators Lose Court Battle
- 2010/08/16: DemNow: Journalist Exposes How Private Investigation Firm Hired by Chevron Tried to Recruit Her as a Spy to Undermine $27B Suit in Ecuadorian Amazon
- 2010/08/16: Yahoo:AP: Appeals court postpones hearing on drilling ban
- 2010/08/16: NYT:GW: U.S. Chamber Sues EPA Over Greenhouse Gas 'Endangerment' Decision
- 2010/08/16: NatureTGB: US judge revokes approval of genetically modified beets
- 2010/08/16: ABC(Au): Sceptics to challenge climate science in court
Climate change sceptics in New Zealand are taking the government's climate agency to court over the validity of its evidence on global warming. The New Zealand Climate Science Coalition has accused the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research of tampering with official weather records to make the case for global warming. - 2010/08/14: TheHill:e2W: U.S. Chamber lawsuit attacks basis for EPA emissions limits
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce on Friday filed a lawsuit that challenges EPA's recent rejection of its petition for reconsideration of the agency's 2009 "endangerment finding" that greenhouse gases threaten humans. The finding is the underpinning for upcoming EPA rules limiting emissions from power plants, factories and other sources that are opposed by a number of business groups. - 2010/08/22: BNC: Accuracy of ABARE Energy Projections
- 2010/08/20: TreeHugger: Renewable Energy Production Increased 8.3% Last Year in Europe, Coal Consumption Dropped 16.3%
- 2010/08/20: TEC: Science Mag Special Section: Bleak future without nukes and CCS
- 2010/08/20: REA: The Myth of Cheap Fossil Fuels -- A Roadblock for Renewable Energy
- 2010/08/19: NBF: China Leverages the Learning Curve Cost Savings for Energy and the US Attempts at Energy Research Leapfrogging
- 2010/08/19: OilDrum: Nine Challenges of Alternative Energy
- 2010/08/19: TEC: Scaling the Energy Transition
- 2010/08/18: NYT: Beyond Fossil Fuels - Finding New Ways to Fill the Tank
Most research on renewable energy has focused on replacing the electricity that now comes from burning coal and natural gas. But the spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the reliance on Middle East imports and the threat of global warming are reminders that oil is also a pressing worry. A lot of problems could be solved with a renewable replacement for oil-based gasoline and diesel in the fuel tank -- either a new liquid fuel or a much better battery. Yet, success in this field is so hard to reliably predict that research has been limited, and even venture capitalists tread lightly. Now the federal government is plunging in, in what the energy secretary, Steven Chu, calls the hunt for miracles. - 2010/08/18: NBF: New Energy Generation in the United States in 2010
- 2010/08/17: REA: First Geothermal Plant in UK Gets Green Light
- 2010/08/18: ABC(Au): Australian scientists have mapped out the best places across the nation's southern coast for generating wave energy, all the way from Geraldton in Western Australia to King Island in Tasmania
- 2010/08/18: NewScientist: Stop wasting food, save the world's energy
- 2010/08/18: OilDrum: OPEC's Spare Crude Oil Capacity - Will it Disappear by the End of 2011?
- 2010/08/18: PeakEnergy: Rwanda harnesses volcanic gases from depths of Lake Kivu
- 2010/08/18: PeakEnergy: Scientists map out Australian wave energy hotspots
- 2010/08/18: Telegraph(UK): US oil speculators fined for $100-a-barrel "vanity trade"
The US commodities regulator has imposed a $12m (£7.7m) fine on oil traders responsible for speculatively pushing the price of oil above the $100-a-barrel mark for the first time in January 2008. The Commodities and Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) fined a former division of ConAgra Foods for its involvement in the so-called "vanity trade" which was responsible for purposefully pushing up the price on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX). The levy is intended to send a clear message that the regulator is intent on finding and fining those individuals and companies which were responsible for pushing oil to $147-a-barrel by July 2008. - 2010/08/17: PhysOrg: Engineers find new way of utilizing solar farms at night [by linking to wind farms]
- 2010/08/17: TEC: China's Leverage on Renewable Energy Increases
- 2010/08/17: REA: CanGEA Calls for More Geothermal
- 2010/08/16: NBF: North Dakota Oil Has a New Production Record of 315282 Barrels of Oil Per Day in June
Hey! Let's contaminate the aquifer for thousands of years! It'll be a fracking gas!
- 2010/08/05: FT:ES: Industry should heed NY moves against shale boom technology
- 2010/08/16: OilPrice: Is European Shale Gas the Real Deal?
- 2010/07/: OilAndGasEurasia: Shell Seeks To Ease Ukrainian Shale Gas Legislation To Promote Production
- 2010/08/16: UPittsburgh: Pitt Database of Oil and Gas Leases Gauges Marcellus Shale Activity in Allegheny County Since 2003, Shows Leases Up 322 Percent in 2009
The answer my friend...:
- 2010/08/21: BCLSB: Wind 2.0 [windstalks]
- 2010/08/20: TEC: New Jersey to Take Lead in Offshore Wind Energy?
- 2010/08/18: Reuters: Vestas posts surprise loss and cuts outlook
World No.1 wind turbine maker Vestas posted a surprise second-quarter loss and unexpectedly cut its 2010 earnings outlook as customers delayed orders in the wake of the credit crisis. - 2010/08/19: SolveClimate: Huge Second Quarter Losses for #1 Wind Turbine Maker, Shares Plummet
Poor results at Vestas damage wind energy sector already jittery over inability of US to introduce green policies - 2010/08/19: BBC: Wind turbine maker Vestas sees profits fall
Shares in Vestas, the world's largest wind turbine maker, have fallen 23% after it reported a second-quarter loss and cut its sales forecast. - 2010/08/16: NYT: Wind Turbines Are Coming to New York, and Not Just Offshore
Meanwhile among the solar aficionados:
- 2010/08/20: REA: Bosch Solar Expands Cell Production
- 2010/08/17: Eureka: Major hurdle cleared for organic solar cells
- 2010/08/16: TCoE: Assessing the Clarian plug-and-play solar panels
- 2010/08/16: PlanetArk: Ontario Sets New Lower Rate For Some Solar power
Feed-In-Tariffs are being variously implemented around the world:
- 2010/08/16: Reuters: China firms offer $0.108/kWh feed-in rate in solar tender-source
On the coal front:
- 2010/08/19: Google:AFP: Malaysia activists win fight to halt coal power plant [on Borneo]
- 2010/08/19: NRDC:SwitchBoard: 3 Reasons Why We Don't Have to Choose Between our Health and a Reliable Power Grid: Facilitating a Transition Away From Dirty Coal
- 2010/08/17: WVGazette:CT: New coal SEC disclosures: Massey hit with $4 million in federal safety fines in 2nd quarter of 2010
- 2010/08/17: TreeHugger: We Waste How Much Water On Coal?!
- 2010/08/16: STimes: Old-style coal plants expanding
Utilities across the country are building dozens of old-style coal plants that will cement the industry's standing as the largest industrial source of climate-changing gases for years to come. - 2010/08/21: RRapier: What's Really Holding Cellulosic Biofuels Back
- 2010/08/17: CBC: New biomass technology to heat UBC campus
The nuclear energy controversy continues:
- 2010/08/16: Guardian(UK): The reality of nuclear energy is inconsistent with dreams of a renaissance
Nuclear energy is not on the rise -- the hard facts point to a continuing, slow phase-out around the world - 2010/08/16: NBF: OECD Nuclear and Electricity Generation for January to May 2010 and China's Nuclear City
Yes we have peak everything:
- 2010/08/22: Guardian(UK): Peak oil alarm revealed by secret official talks
Behind government dismissals of 'alarmist' fears there is growing concern over critical future energy supplies - 2010/08/19: TreeHugger: There's A Lot Less Coal Out There Than We Think - But That's Not Civilization's End
- 2010/08/18: Grist: What if there's much less coal than we think?
- 2010/08/16: EnergyBulletin: IEA: 'Cheap oil is over' as demand approaches new record
More people are talking about the electrical grid:
- 2010/08/18: PeakEnergy: The Race For Smart Grids
- 2010/08/16: PeakEnergy: New Zealand Lagging In Smart Grid revolution
And then there is the matter of efficiency & conservation:
- 2010/08/18: Grist: Defending lifestyle changes: who's delusional on saving energy?
- 2010/08/17: NewScientist: Green machine: Fighting the efficiency fallacies
Automakers & lawyers, engineers & activists argue over the future of the car:
- 2010/08/20: AutoBG: Study: UK demand for electric vehicles to surpass hybrids by 2020, hit 21% market share
- 2010/08/20: AutoBG: Focus Group: Just 8.1% of NY Smart Fortwo owners would buy again. San Francisco? 19.8%
- 2010/08/17: AutoBG: Study: Megacities will drive huge demand for electric cars by 2020
- 2010/08/17: AutoBG: Some numbers regarding electric cars, both good and better
As for Energy Storage:
- 2010/08/16: FuturePundit: 85% Car Battery Cost Reduction?
- 2010/08/19: AutoBG: DuPont introduces Energain li-ion battery separator; claims it boosts power 30%
- 2010/08/17: NBF: Micro-supercapacitors with capacitances that are thousands of times higher than regular capacitors
- 2010/08/17: PhysOrg: International research team develops ultrahigh-power energy storage devices [ultra cap]
The reaction of business to climate change will be critical:
- 2010/08/17: BBerg: Three-Fourths of U.K. Companies Haven't Yet Measured Carbon Footprints
Insurance and re-insurance companies are feeling the heat:
- 2010/08/19: BWeek: Caribbean Storm Damage Costs May Rise With Global Warming
Meanwhile in the greenwashing chronicles:
- 2010/08/20: TP: BP Pulls Ads On ThinkProgress After Wonk Room Reports On Its Greenwashing Campaign
- 2010/08/18: MoJo: Waxman Wants to Know: How Much Has BP Spent on Ads
Joe Romm posts a daily list of top energy and climate stories:
- 2010/08/20: ClimateP: Energy and Global Warming News for August 20...
- 2010/08/19: ClimateP: Energy and Global Warming News for August 19...
- 2010/08/18: ClimateP: Energy and Global Warming News for August 18...
- 2010/08/17: ClimateP: Energy and Global Warming News for August 17...
- 2010/08/16: ClimateP: Energy and Global Warming News for August 16...
Other (weekly) lists:
- 2010/08/20: HotTopic: Friday's dust
- 2010/08/19: Grist: A walk through the week's climate news --The Climate Post: Climate skepticism, floods, and apple pie
- 2010/08/19: NRDC:SwitchBoard: India Climate Change and Energy News - Week of August 10, 2010 to August 16, 2010
- 2010/08/16: CSW: Climate Science Watch Weekly Update
The carbon lobby are up to the usual:
- 2010/08/19: VOA: Shell Says it's Cleaning up Major Oil Spill in Nigeria's Bonny Island
- 2010/08/21: BBickmore: The Monckton Files: The Church of Monckton
- 2010/08/20: TPL: Station Drop Outs and Other Skeptic Tales
- 2010/08/20: Reuters: Russian heat wave dents hopes of climate "winners"
Russia's summer heat wave has dimmed prospects that northern countries will "win" from climate change thanks to factors such as longer crop-growing seasons or fewer deaths from winter cold, experts say. - 2010/08/20: WtD: Australia's scientists stand up to deniers: enough is enough!
- 2010/08/19: TPL: The Hockey Schtick
- 2010/08/19: NRDC:SwitchBoard: Big Oil vs. Government - Battle Brewing Over Cleaning Up Oil Refineries in Los Angeles
- 2010/08/20: WtD: Climate change as a WMD? The ultimate conspiracy...
- 2010/08/19: WtD: Planet pulls April Fools joke on Andrew Bolt
- 2010/08/19: TP:WR: VIDEO: Why Oil Billionaire David Koch Is Secretly Funding Astroturf To Repeal CA Clean Energy Law AB 32
- 2010/08/18: TP:WR: Don Blankenship: The Science Of Climate Change Is 'Humorous,' Mountaintop Removal 'Small Afterdamage'
- 2010/08/17: BBickmore: The Monckton Files: A Bold Monckton Prediction!!!
- 2010/08/18: BBickmore: The Monckton Files: Just Biding His Time...
- 2010/08/18: HotTopic: NIWA v cranks 3: The economics of truthiness
- 2010/08/18: PSinclair: "CO2 is Plant Food" -- New Paper Further Refutes Sixth Grade Science
- 2010/08/18: WtD: Pyrrhic victory: the death spiral of the denial movement
- 2010/08/17: AGWObserver: Papers on oil companies and climate change
- 2010/08/16: BBickmore: The Monckton Files: Goodbye, Pink Portcullis?
- 2010/08/16: DeSmogBlog: Climate Skeptic Pat Michaels Admits On CNN Forty Percent of His Funding Comes From Oil Industry
- 2010/08/16: TP: Cato's Pat Michaels admits 40 percent of funding comes from big oil
- 2010/08/15: TP:WR: Oil-Funded Pat Michaels Admits Solving Global Warming Is A Problem Of 'Political Acceptability'
- 2010/08/15: Deltoid: Steve McIntyre, quote mining executive
- 2010/08/16: HotTopic: NIWA v Cranks: Update one
- 2010/08/15: TPL: The Eternal Return
As for climate miscellanea:
- 2010/08/22: TSoD: Heat Transfer Basics and Non-Radiative Atmospheres
- 2010/08/21: ERabett: First Cut
- 2010/08/17: QuarkSoup: Allocating the Greenhouse Effect
- 2010/08/20: CCurrents: Criminal Neglect Of Future Generations
- 2010/08/20: RealClimate: Doing it yourselves
- 2010/08/19: MTobis: The Red and Blue Show, Episode 2
- 2010/08/20: ERabett: God, Eli is old
- 2010/08/19: SEasterbrook: Scientific bricolage and what to do about it
- 2010/08/19: MTobis: Wild Image and Tame Text from NASA
- 2010/08/18: TCoE: Communicating about climate change ethics
- 2010/08/18: BSD: Give Michael Tobis his Jim Hansen moment
- 2010/08/17: ClimateP: [John] Cook: "When someone mentions to you that CO2 lags temperature, remind them they're actually invoking evidence for a positive feedback that further increases global warming by an extra 15 to 78%"
- 2010/08/16: APSmith: My commentary on a question about Venus
- 2010/08/16: TSoD: Convection, Venus, Thought Experiments and Tall Rooms Full of Gas -- A Discussion
- 2010/08/16: Grist: If killer weather is in our future, can we get better at predicting it?
- 2010/08/16: ERabett: A Flat New Puzzler
- 2010/08/16: OilDrum: The Failure of Networked Systems: The Repercussions of Systematic Risk Revisited
- 2010/08/15: MTobis: Seeking Precedent for Asian Jet Stream Anomaly
- 2010/08/15: MTobis: Confusing words
And here are a couple of sites you may find interesting and/or useful:
- WFP: Pakistan Crisis
- Climate Himalaya Initiative [News]
- Climate Himalaya Initiative [Blog]
- BBickmore: The Church of Monckton
- Surface Temperatures Blog
- Surface Temperatures -- Surface temperature datasets for the 21st Century
- Wiki: Chlorophyll
- Wiki: Ocean acidification
- SFSU: Jet Stream Analyses and Forecasts at 300 mb
- PWCCC: World People's Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth -- Building the People's World Movement for Mother Earth
- OilPrice: Oil, Gas, gold and metals prices,news, analysis & commodity charts
- USFP: U.S. Food Policy
- UNDDD: UN Decade for Deserts and the Fight Against Desertification
- Canadian Geothermal Energy Association
- GFN: Global Footprint Network
- GFN: Earth Overshoot Day
- Global Food and Farming Futures
- World Radiation Centre
- NGDC.NOAA: Solar Irradiance Data
More black humour in a climatic vein:
The Himalayan nations had a tech chat in Kathmandu regarding water and ...:
The Australian Academy of Science issued a report on climate change this week:
The McShane & Wyner preprint is drawing a lot of negative comment:
The planet Earth is in annual overshoot as of August 21st. For the rest of the year we are 'drawing down' our remaining resources:
One can see how this will turn out:
The Arctic melt continues to garner a lot of attention:
The food crisis is ongoing:
It has been a quiet week in the hurricane wars:
Meanwhile in near earth orbit:
Desertification looms as a threat:
Acidification is changing the oceans:
As for hydrological cycle disruptions [floods & droughts]:
Meanwhile in the journals:
Regarding Judith Curry:
And on the carbon trading front:
Among the world's religions:
I have yet to see the details on this, but it looks like a major turnaround:
While in China:
And in Japan:
In the Middle East:
The Tories say they have a new Arctic policy:
Somewhat to my surprise, the Liberals released their report on the tar sands after that disasterous committe imploded:
The issue of pipelines isn't going away:
As for miscellaneous Canadiana:
Wrestling over a new energy infrastructure continues unabated:
Biofuel bickering abounds:
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.
"It's a sad, corrupt state of affairs this country finds itself in. I wish I had some hopeful words to offer. But at this point, American government appears to be broken. And our children and grandchildren will suffer for it." -Dave Roberts, on the failure of the climate bill
Categories
- Log in to post comments
More like this
(Note: due to blockages in the intertubes, this week's installment is late. Apologies to all whose week ground to a halt while anxiously waiting...)
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…
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
skip to bottom Another week of Climate Instability News Logging the Onset of The Bottleneck YearsAugust 15, 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
skip to bottom Another week of Climate Instability News Information is not Knowledge...Knowledge is notWisdomJanuary…
Sipping from the internet firehose...
This weekly posting is brought to you courtesy of H. E. Taylor. Happy reading, I hope you enjoy this week's Global Warming news roundup
skip to bottom Another week of Climate Disruption News Information overload is pattern recognition August 23, 2009 Chuckle…