Another week of GW News, September 26, 2010

Logging the Onset of The Bottleneck Years

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Another week of Climate Instability News

Logging the Onset of The Bottleneck Years

September 26, 2010

• Chuckles, Equinox, COP16+, MDG, FAO, MEF, CGI
• Thompson, Big Picture, Pakistan, Subsidies, Cook, Post CRU
• Melting Arctic, Geopolitics, Antarctica
• Food Crisis, Food Weapon, Land Grabs, GMOs, Food Production
• Hurricanes, Monsoon, GHGs, Temperatures, Feedbacks, Aerosols
• Ozone, Solar, Climate Sensitivity, State of the Oceans
• Impacts, Forests, Extreme Weather, Tornadoes, Wildfires, Corals, Glaciers, Sea Levels, Floods & Droughts
• Mitigation, REDD, Transportation, Buildings, Sequestration, Geoengineering
• Journals, Other Docs , Misc. Science
• Kyoto, UN, Carbon Trade, Carbon Tax, Bank Tax
• International Politics: Misc., Law & Activism, Activism, Polls, Water Politics & Business, Predictions
• National Politics: America, BP Disaster, November, Prop 23, CARB 33%RES, USAdmin, Congress, Climate Bill
• Britain, Europe, Australia, Post Election, New Zealand, China, Asia, Middle East, South America
• Canada, G20, Offshore Drilling, AECL, Water, Nfld. & Igor, Pipelines
• Glaciers, BC, Tar Sands, Alberta, Sask, Ontario, North, Canadiana
• Ecological Economics, IPAT, Apocalypso, Media, Books, Video, Podcasts, Courts
• Energy, Fracking, Wind, Solar, FIT, Coal, Biofuel, Nukes, Peak Oil, Grid, Cars, Gee Whiz, Energy Storage
• Business, Joe's List, Carbon Lobby, Miscellaneous Climate, Useful Links
• Shameless Self Promotion, .sig

Is funny. Yes?

• 2010/09/25: HotTopic: (cartoon - Diplotti) A flea in the ear
• 2010/09/23: DM:DB: The Public Speaks: Best Insulting New Names for High Fructose Corn Syrup
• 2010/09/20: CBC: Alberta Energy regulator mocked by Greenpeace
  Greenpeace has delivered a giant `rubber stamp' to the Calgary office of Alberta's energy regulator to mock its high approval rating of oilsands projects.

[Hope you had a] Happy Equinox:

• 2010/09/24: APOD: Equinox and the Harvest Moon
• 2010/09/23: CSM: Harvest moon on fall equinox won't be seen again until 2029
• 2010/09/23: APOD: Equinox and the Iron Sun
• 2010/09/22: PhysOrg: Super harvest moon to produce rare twilight glow

  Looking ahead to COP16 and future international climate negotiations:

• 2010/09/24: Reuters: China seeks binding climate treaty late 2011: report
  China wants the world to seal a binding climate change treaty by late 2011, a Chinese negotiator said in a newspaper on Friday, blaming U.S. politics for impeding talks and making a deal on global warming impossible this year.
• 2010/09/24: TreeHugger: Top UN Climate Chief: Idea of a "Big Bang" Agreement a "Myth" (Video)
• 2010/09/24: ENS: Climate Heats Up, But Global Warming Treaty Out in the Cold
• 2010/09/24: TP:WR: Christiana Figueres: There Will Be No 'Big Bang' Climate Pact
• 2010/09/23: Reuters: Forest deals push forward as climate talks lag
  With progress towards a U.N. climate deal lagging, financial institutions, donors and tropical forest countries are moving rapidly to set up their own systems to pay forest nations to preserve their trees as a means of curbing carbon emissions.
• 2010/09/23: TreeHugger: Kevin Rudd: 3 Good Things Came Out of Copenhagen (Video)
• 2010/09/22: Guardian(UK): Cancún talks may not reach a deal but there are still reasons for optimism
• 2010/09/21: Grist: Don't expect much from Cancun climate summit, U.S. negotiator says
• 2010/09/21: TerraDaily: India pessimistic about climate summit
  India's environment minister painted a pessimistic picture of the December U.N. climate change summit in Cancun, Mexico. "I think frankly Cancun is headed nowhere because the financial commitments made by the developed countries at Copenhagen have not been fulfilled and are unlikely to be fulfilled in any substantial measure," Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh told the Press Trust of India on the sidelines of the Major Economies Forum meeting in New York Monday.
• 2010/09/20: Monbiot: The Process Is Dead
  It's already clear that the climate talks in December will go nowhere - so what do we do?
• 2010/09/21: WtD: Love in the time of climate disruption: if politicians and the media have failed us, where do we look?
• 2010/09/21: BBerg: Soros Says Climate Talks `Removed From Reality,' Urges Practical Action
  Billionaire investor George Soros said debate about tackling global warming is being overtaken by damage occurring from climate change and practical action is needed. "The gap between what needs to be done and what's actually happening is getting wider," Soros, founder of Soros Fund Management LLC that oversees about $25 billion in assets, said today at a New York panel discussion on climate change.
• 2010/09/20: BBerg: Climate Deal in Cancun May Hinge on Companies Lobbying, UN's Figueres Say
• 2010/09/20: Guardian(UK): Climate change enlightenment was fun while it lasted. But now it's dead
  The collapse of the talks at Copenhagen took away all momentum for change and the lobbyists are back in control. So what next?

The traditional UN opening went down this week with a focus on the Millennium Development Goals:

• 2010/09/25: UN: Timorese leader, at UN, calls on Asia to lead the way on climate change
• 2010/09/24: UN: Saint Lucia sounds warning at UN on need for extra funding to tackle climate change
• 2010/09/22: OpenDem: The world's progress: aims, tools, realities
  A United Nations summit in New York on 20-22 September 2010 is measuring progress in the fulfilment of global commitments to improving human security by 2015 - the Millennium Development Goals. But the focus should be on the instruments of delivery as much as the objectives, says Stephen Browne.
• 2010/09/24: DerSpiegel: The World from Berlin -- 'Development Aid Achieves the Opposite of Its Goals'
  When the United Nations agreed on the Millennium Development Goals a decade ago, it was a triumph of consensus. But with five years to go before a self-imposed deadline, failure on many fronts is a real possibility. German commentators discuss why this is so.
• 2010/09/22: UN: Biodiversity loss is bankrupting the natural economy - Ban
• 2010/09/21: TerraDaily: UN's biodiversity plans hit snag
• 2010/09/22: EarthTimes: UN: Countries have missed target to stop biodiversity loss [UNCBD]
• 2010/09/22: OilChange: Universal energy access stressed at UN
• 2010/09/22: DerSpiegel: The World from Berlin -- Merkel's Backpedaling on Aid Is 'Cynicism, Pure and Simple'
  On Tuesday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel told world leaders gathered at the UN in New York that the Millennium Development Goals would not be met and that recipient nations must be more efficient in their use of the aid they get. In Germany, some commentators found her new stance cynical, while others welcomed it.
• 2010/09/20: DerSpiegel: The Race to Feed the Planet -- Why We Need a New Green Revolution to Stop Hunger
  World leaders are meeting in New York this week to discuss progress on the UN's Millennium Development Goals. The world's nations have failed miserably in addressing one of the main goals, the fight against hunger. Researchers believe that small farmers, not large-scale farms, are the key to feeding the planet.
• 2010/09/22: BBC: UN asks for action on nature loss, citing poverty
  Governments must protect nature better in order to safeguard their countries' wealth, says the UN, as ministers meet for a day of talks on biodiversity. The session at UN headquarters co-incides with the final day of talks on the Millennium Development Goals, and the UN says the two issues are linked.
• 2010/09/20: NBF: Goals on reducing poverty and making safe drinking water available are on track but some other goals while improving are not on target [MDG]
• 2010/09/19: UN: Ban urges high-level panel to meet global sustainability challenge
• 2010/09/20: CBC: Millennium Development Goals summit opens -- UN meeting to review progress in getting rid of extreme poverty, hunger, disease

  The FAO held a food conference in Rome on Friday:

• FAO: Extraordinary Intersessional Meeting of the Intergovernmental Group (IGG) on Grains and the IGG on Rice
  A one-day extraordinary intersessional meeting of the IGG on Grains and the IGG on Rice is being convened on 24 September 2010 at FAO Headquarters, Rome
• 2010/09/24: FAO: Food price volatility a major threat to food security -- But no indication of a global food crisis [Rome]
• 2010/09/24: UN: No impending world food crisis, but dangers still ahead, experts warn at UN
• 2010/09/24: CBC: UN food organization says no crisis
  A special meeting of the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization ended in Rome late Friday night with an agreement that the current volatility in wheat prices is not a global crisis. However, that doesn't mean that rising prices are not a cause for concern.
• 2010/09/24: NatureTGB: Can science help Millennium Development Goals succeed?
• 2010/09/24: Guardian(UK): UN warned of major new food crisis at emergency meeting in Rome
  Environmental disasters and speculative investors are to blame for volatile food commodities markets, says UN's special adviser
• 2010/09/24: TreeHugger: Food Crisis Driven by Speculators and Wild Fires, UN Meeting Hears
• 2010/09/23: BBC: UN holds key meeting on food price concerns
  The UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) is holding an extraordinary meeting in Rome sparked by global fears about high food prices.
• 2010/09/23: CBC: UN probes rising food prices
  [...] The Food and Agriculture Organization is hosting the one-day session Friday at its Rome headquarters.

The Major Emitters Forum met in NYC this week:

• 2010/09/21: UNDispatch: Privatizing Climate Protection?
• 2010/09/21: Reuters: Big economies don't see climate pact this year: U.S.
  World powers are not aiming for a legally binding pact to fight global warming at a U.N. meeting in Mexico this year and are trying to stop backsliding from a 2009 agreement, the United States said on Tuesday.
• 2010/09/20: Grist: World powers meet to tackle climate amid skepticism

  The Clinton Global Initiative went down this week:

• 2010/09/21: TP:WR: Bill Clinton: Save America's Economy With Clean Energy (And Save The Planet)

  The Thompson et al. paper on mid-twentieth century ocean temperatures drew some notice:

• 2010/09/23: Nature: (ab$) An abrupt drop in Northern Hemisphere sea surface temperature around 1970 by David W. J. Thompson et al.
• 2010/09/23: SolveClimate: Global Warming May Have Slowed in the 1970s Due to Suddenly Cooler Oceans
• 2010/09/23: BBC: The surfaces of the oceans went through a short period of rapid temperature change 40 years ago, scientists have found - but the cause is unknown
• 2010/09/23: CCentral: Was Mid-Century Cooling Caused By the Oceans? Don't Ask
• 2010/09/22: Guardian(UK): Pollution not to blame for rapid ocean cooling [4 decades ago], says Phil Jones paper
• 2010/09/22: NatureN: When the North Atlantic caught a chill -- Surface cooling could have pushed down temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere 40 years ago
• 2010/09/22: Eureka: Ocean cooling contributed to mid-20th century global warming hiatus

  A succinct statement of what's going on from Skeptical Science:

• 2010/09/24: SkeptiSci: The Big Picture by dana1981
  The big picture is that we know the planet is warming, humans are causing it, there is a substantial risk to continuing on our current path, but we don't know exactly how large the risk is. However, uncertainty regarding the magnitude of the risk is not an excuse to ignore it. In fact, the larger the uncertainty, the greater the potential for the exceptionally high risk scenario to become reality. We need to continue to decrease the uncertainty, but it's also critical to acknowledge what we know and what questions have been resolved.

The Pakistan monsoon floods are an ongoing tragedy:

• 2010/09/23: FAO: United States donates $16 million to FAO for flood-hit Pakistan farmers -- Northwest region to benefit with seeds and fertilizers for wheat planting season
• 2010/09/24: DemNow: Fatima Bhutto on the Floods in Pakistan, the Government Response and Her Memoir, Songs of Blood and Sword
• 2010/09/25: BBC: UN says Pakistan's Sindh still hit by floods
  A UN agency says severe flooding is continuing in parts of Pakistan's southern Sindh province. The Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says many families are still marooned on small islands with their livestock.
• 2010/09/24: UN: Joint UN strategy aims to ensure survival of millions of flood-affected Pakistanis
• 2010/09/24: ProMedMail: Malaria - Pakistan: post flooding risk, RFI
• 2010/09/23: UN: Averting disease, food insecurity among priorities in flood-hit Pakistan, UN says
• 2010/09/22: TerraDaily: Pakistan floods hit more than 10,000 schools: UN
• 2010/09/21: DemNow: [US special envoy Richard] Holbrooke Says World Cannot Foot Entire Bill for Pakistan Flood Recovery as US Spends Billions on Wars in Iraq, Afghanistan & Pakistan
• 2010/09/21: UN: More people being displaced by floods in Pakistan, UN reports
• 2010/09/19: WIC: Pakistan: between drones and a deluge
• 2010/09/21: SwissInfo: Swiss contribute more to Pakistan flood victims [by SFr1.5 million to SFr8.5 million]
• 2010/09/20: al Jazeera: UN calls for urgent aid to Pakistan -- Ban Ki-moon urges global response to Pakistan flood crisis following plea for $2bn, the biggest ever UN disaster appeal

  Who's getting the subsidies?

• 2010/09/21: Grist: Op-ed: Corn subsidies make unhealthy food choices the rational ones
  A big reason that food products derived from corn are so pervasive in America's diet today is that for decades taxpayers have given corn growers incentives to grow as much as possible through the skewed federal farm subsidy system. The $73.8 billion lavished on corn since 1995 has helped to churn out a host of cheap and unhealthy foods -- from chips to sugary sodas to high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS).

John Cook & friends are continuing the Basic, Intermediate and Advanced Versions of their skeptical arguments:

• 2010/09/26: SkeptiSci: Does breathing contribute to CO2 buildup in the atmosphere? [IV]
• 2010/09/25: PlanetJ: Skeptical Science posts
• 2010/09/22: SkeptiSci: Climate Change: The 40 Year Delay Between Cause and Effect by Alan Marshall
• 2010/09/21: SkeptiSci: Risky Business: Gambling on Climate Sensitivity [BV]
• 2010/09/19: SkeptiSci: A detailed look at Hansen's 1988 projections [AV]

  Post CRU theft, controversy & inquiry:

• 2010/09/23: BBC: Several environmentalists, UK MPs and scientists has called for the resignation of Rajendra Pachauri, chair of the UN's climate science body
• 2010/09/25: SkeptiSci: The Phony War: Lies, Damn Lies and the IPCC

  The Arctic melt continues to garner a lot of attention:

• 2010/09/24: CC&G: Arctic Oscillation: 1 - Trends
• 2010/09/24: ASI: A Farewell to Ar... ctic Sea Ice Blog
• 2010/09/23: DeSmogBlog: Arctic Ice: There's bad news and worse news
• 2010/09/22: ClimateP: NSIDC director: "The volume of ice left in the Arctic likely reached the lowest ever level this month."
• 2010/09/22: Tamino: I got lucky
• 2010/09/22: TCoE: Pondering Arctic ice
• 2010/09/22: BBC: Arctic summit in Moscow hears rival claims
• 2010/09/21: ASI: Sea ice concentration: 2010 vs 2007
• 2010/09/19: ASI: SIE update 31: when all is over and done

  As for the geopolitics of Arctic resources:

• 2010/09/25: Telegraph(UK): The race is on for Greenland's Arctic oilfields
  Greenland, eighty per cent covered in ice, is emerging as a potential oil producer and the race in on to get access to its fields.
• 2010/09/24: DerSpiegel: Spring Cleaning in the Arctic -- Putin's Environmental Action Plan for the Far North
  For decades, Moscow ignored environmental degradation above the Arctic Circle. But this week, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin announced a massive cleanup effort -- and plans to increase the exploitation of resources in the region.
• 2010/09/22: BBC: Inside Norway's underground military HQ
  In November, Norway will officially move its military command base to its former Cold War complex in Bodo inside the Arctic Circle.
• 2010/09/24: ABC(Au): Arctic must remain zone of peace, says Putin
  Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin called for "a zone of peace" in the Arctic as North Pole neighbours scramble to stake their claims to the region's energy-rich seabed.
• 2010/09/23: NatureTGB: Russia to boost Arctic research
• 2010/09/22: SpaceDaily: Iceland calls for end to 'Cold War' tension over Arctic
  Iceland's president called Wednesday for an end to "Cold War" tensions over the Arctic as nations with competing claims to the region met in Moscow. "Countries should not discuss territorial claims against each other, but engage in dialogue," President Olafur Ragnar Grimsson said...
• 2010/09/23: EarthTimes: Putin: No need to 'battle' over Arctic resources
• 2010/09/23: OilChange: Russia Leads Arctic Oil Race
• 2010/09/23: CSM: Russia's Putin says he wants peaceful division of Arctic
• 2010/09/23: HotTopic: All around the world
• 2010/09/22: ASI: A Passage or Two
• 2010/09/22: NatureTGB: Greenland drillers strike oil
• 2010/09/22: EarthTimes: Backgrounder: The Arctic: A treasure trove buried under ice and snow
• 2010/09/22: EarthTimes: Russia has 'natural claim' to Arctic resources, says Kremlin
• 2010/09/22: EarthTimes: Russia hosts Arctic forum in bid to bolster its right to resources
• 2010/09/21: Reuters: Cairn says Greenland well finds evidence of oil
• 2010/09/21: PhysOrg: Russia's Arctic holds 100 Bln tons of oil, gas
  Russia's Arctic territories are estimated to contain up to 100 billion tons of oil and gas and the nation needs to defend its claim to those riches, a Cabinet minister [Natural Resources Minister Yuri Trutnev] said Tuesday.
• 2010/09/21: BBC: Cairn Energy strikes oil off Greenland
  The Edinburgh-based exploration firm Cairn Energy has found oil off the coast of Greenland. The firm, which has faced attempts by Greenpeace activists to stop it deep drilling, has two types of oil in its Alpha well. Chief executive Sir Bill Gammell said it was "extremely encouraging" to find evidence of an "active working petroleum system" in the Arctic Sea.
• 2010/09/20: CBC: Northwest Passage traffic up in 2010
  The number of ships travelling through the Northwest Passage has doubled this year, prompting at least one Arctic sovereignty expert to call for more enforcement in the increasingly ice-free Arctic waterway. The Canada Border Services Agency says 18 ships have cleared customs in Inuvik, N.W.T. -- at the western end of the Northwest Passage -- so far this year, and the navigation season is not even over yet. By comparison, only seven ships cleared customs there in 2009, according to the agency.
• 2010/09/20: KSJT: AP, London Times, RT (Russia): Big 'science' battle coming over undersea arctic ridge
• 2010/09/20: CBC: Russia boosts research to back Arctic claims
  The Kremlin's point man for the Arctic says Russia is boosting its research efforts to support its claims for parts of the Arctic continental shelf. Artur Chilingarov said Monday he will head an expedition next month to launch a drifting research station in the Arctic to gather scientific data to support Russia's claim of Arctic territories, believed to contain up to a quarter of the Earth's undiscovered oil and gas.

While in Antarctica:

• 2010/09/22: RS: On Thin Ice -- The world's two great ice sheets are melting faster than anyone believed possible

  The food crisis is ongoing:

• 2010/09/22: FAO: Haiti's damaged food sector slowly begins to mend -- FAO/WFP assessment mission finds signs of recovery, but food production remains down
• 2010/09/23: FAO: Addressing food security concerns in Asia and Pacific region -- ADB/FAO/IFAD join forces to tackle hunger
• 2010/09/25: ABC(Au): Aerial surveillance finds new locust infestation
  The threat to the country's grain crops has become even more apparent with New South Wales Government aerial surveillance finding a huge infestation of locusts in the state's north-west.
• 2010/09/24: UN: No impending world food crisis, but dangers still ahead, experts warn at UN
• 2010/09/24: AlterNet: 5 Terrible Problems With the Way We Eat (And What You Can Do About Them)
• 2010/09/23: BBC: UN holds key meeting on food price concerns
  The UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) is holding an extraordinary meeting in Rome sparked by global fears about high food prices.
• 2010/09/23: SciDaily: Wheat Researchers Combine Forces to Battle Major Disease
  Wheat streak mosaic virus is the most prevalent disease in the southwestern wheat producing region of the U.S....
• 2010/09/23: Telegraph(UK): Global food risk from China-Russia pincer
  World food supplies are caught in a pincer as China becomes a net importer of corn for the first time in modern history and Russia's drought inflicts even more damage than expected, raising the risk of a global grain shock in 2011.
• 2010/09/22: UN: Haiti's damaged food sector recovering but production still low, UN finds
• 2010/09/22: ProMedMail: Stripe rust, wheat - Ethiopia
• 2010/09/20: UN: 'No time to relax' in the fight against hunger, top UN official warns

  Food as a Weapon...:

• 2010/09/21: CCurrents: Food As A Political Weapon. Providing Some Missing Links
• 2010/09/20: CCurrents: Absolute Power Comes From Absolute Control Over Food

  So, are these land grabs Colonialism V2.0?

• 2010/09/12: Telegraph(UK): The backlash begins against the world landgrab
  The neo-colonial rush for global farmland has gone exponential since the food scare of 2007-2008.

Regarding the genetic modification of food:

• 2010/09/25: PhysOrg: Europe in a pickle over GM crops rules
  As America chews over a bid to market "Frankenfish" salmon, Europe wants to drop scientific objections from decisions about genetically modified crops in a move even its backers admit leaves a strange taste in the mouth.
• 2010/09/24: ScienceInsider: India's Scientific Leadership Endorses GM Eggplant
• 2010/09/24: NatNews: FDA will Ban Food Makers from Telling the Truth about Non-GMO Foods
  In case anyone had any doubts about who the FDA really serves, the latest news should prove once and for all whose side they are on - and it isn't yours or mine. The Washington Post has reported that, in addition to approving genetically modified "Frankenfish" salmon without requiring a GMO label, the FDA will also be banning the inclusion of any references to not containing genetically modified content on food items which are GMO free.
• 2010/09/23: KSJT: AP: A double-byline story puts transgenic salmon in deep historic context
• 2010/09/22: SeattlePI: Genetically altered salmon? It doesn't stop there
• 2010/09/22: PlanetArk: Biotech Salmon Leaves Many Questions
• 2010/09/20: DVoice: Monsanto, Blackwater, and GM Crop Saboteurs
• 2010/09/21: KSJT: AP, lots more: The weird task at the FDA of deciding the safety of GM salmon -- as though "safety" is what creeps people out
• 2010/09/21: PlanetArk: Biotech Salmon Faces Scrutiny At FDA Panel
• 2010/09/20: NewScientist: Transgenic Indian superspuds pack more protein

  And how are we going to feed 9 billion?

• 2010/03/24: Permaculture(Au): Introducing the Permaculture Designers' Manual, Chapter 1: Introduction to Permaculture
• 2010/09/21: WW:NtP: Prospects for a viable food future
• 2010/09/24: UN: Niger: UN cash transfer scheme brings relief to hunger-stricken families
• 2010/09/23: SeedDaily: Uruguay agriculture gets a Singapore sling
• 2010/09/23: Grist: Revelations from the House egg-recall hearing
• 2010/09/23: NatureTGB: Factory farm fracas on Capitol Hill
• 2010/09/22: UN: UN-backed aquaculture conference opens in Thailand
• 2010/09/22: Grist: Philadelphia's urban-farming roots go deep...and are spreading wide
• 2010/09/16: CivilEats: Ezra Klein on Industrial Ag: Asking the Wrong Questions
• 2010/09/20: WaPo: With extreme weather on rise, search is on for hardier crops

  In the Atlantic, Igor, Julia, Lisa and Matthew kept people awake:

• 2010/09/26: CNN: Matthew drenches southern Mexico; Lisa becomes a tropical depression
• 2010/09/24: TerraDaily: Tropical storm Matthew makes landfall in Central America
• 2010/09/25: Wunderground: Matthew drenching Central America and Mexico
• 2010/09/24: Wunderground: Matthew makes landfall in Nicaragua
• 2010/09/25: EarthTimes: Tropical storm Matthew lashes Nicaragua, Honduras
• 2010/09/24: EarthTimes: Central America braces for Tropical Storm Matthew's torrential rain
• 2010/09/24: Eureka: GOES-13 Satellite sees Lisa a tropical storm...for now
• 2010/09/24: Eureka: NASA satellites see Tropical Storm Matthew grow quickly, warnings up in Central America
• 2010/09/24: TerraDaily: Tropical storm [Matthew] threatens rain-soaked Central America
• 2010/09/24: Wunderground: Matthew not strengthening; Igor is Newfoundland's worst hurricane in memory
• 2010/09/24: NASA: GOES-13 Satellite Sees Lisa a Tropical Storm...for Now
• 2010/09/23: PhysOrg: GOES-13 sees tropical depression 15 form in the south-central Caribbean Sea
• 2010/09/23: Wunderground: Tropical Depression Fifteen forms in the Caribbean
• 2010/09/23: Wunderground: Dangerous Caribbean disturbance 95L close to tropical storm strength
• 2010/09/22: al Jazeera: New tropical storm drenches Mexico -- Tropical Storm Georgette brings more rain even as country reels from last week's devastating Hurricane Karl
• 2010/09/21: TerraDaily: Seven dead, 20 missing as landslide buries road in Mexico
• 2010/09/22: Wunderground: Igor delivers punishing blow to Newfoundland; 95L growing more organized
• 2010/09/22: Eureka: Huge post-tropical Hurricane Igor drenched Newfoundland, Canada
• 2010/09/22: Eureka: GOES-13's wide view of Atlantic's Tropical Storm Lisa and low, Pacific's Georgette
• 2010/09/21: BBC: New tropical storm [Georgette] hits flood-drenched Mexico
• 2010/09/21: Wunderground: Igor pounding Newfoundland; dangerous 95L forms; 3rd hottest August for the globe
• 2010/09/20: EarthTimes: Hurricane Karl claimed 16 lives in Mexico
• 2010/09/21: Eureka: Hurricane watches up in Canada as the GOES-13 Satellite sees Hurricane Igor still expanding
• 2010/09/21: Eureka: NASA infrared imagery sees tropical depression 14 becomes 12th tropical storm: Lisa
• 2010/09/21: Eureka: GOES-11 catches quick birth of Tropical Storm Georgette already moving into Baja California
• 2010/09/20: CSM: Hurricane Igor heads north, all the way to Greenland?
• 2010/09/21: TGBeaver: Hurricane Igor 21/1400Z
• 2010/09/21: CBC: Tropical Storms Georgette, Lisa form
• 2010/09/20: Wunderground: Igor spares Bermuda; Fanapi hits China; exceptionally quiet in the Pacific
• 2010/09/19: Wunderground: A weakened Igor bears down on Bermuda; 94L likely to develop
• 2010/09/20: EarthTimes: Hurricane Igor pummels Bermuda
• 2010/09/20: Eureka: NASA's MODIS and AIRS instruments watch Igor changing shape, warming over 3 days
• 2010/09/20: Eureka: NASA satellites and aircraft studied Hurricane Karl before it faded
• 2010/09/20: Eureka: NASA sees Tropical Storm Julia getting 'dusted'
• 2010/09/20: CBC: Hurricane Igor sweeps over Bermuda
• 2010/09/20: CBC: Igor to pound N.S., N.L. with rain
• 2010/09/19: TGBeaver: Hurricane Igor 19/1530Z

  In the Western Pacific, Fanapi zapped China and Malakas blew around out at sea:

• 2010/09/24: PhysOrg: NASA's CloudSat satellite sees a powerful heat engine in Typhoon Malakas
• 2010/09/24: Eureka: NASA's CloudSat satellite sees a powerful heat engine in Typhoon Malakas
• 2010/09/23: Eureka: NASA sees important cloud-top temperatures as Tropical Storm Malakas heads for Iwo To
• 2010/09/23: EarthTimes: Typhoon [Fanapi] death toll rises to 34 in southern China
• 2010/09/23: BBC: Death toll from typhoon [Fanapi] in southern China rises to 54 [and 42 missing]
• 2010/09/23: CBC: China typhoon [Fanapi] death toll rises to 54
• 2010/09/22: al Jazeera: Typhoon Fanapi hits China -- Thirteen people killed and 33 others missing as storm sweeps across the southern part of the country
• 2010/09/22: EarthTimes: Floods leave 18 dead, 44 missing as typhoon [Fanapi] hits China
• 2010/09/21: TerraDaily: Taiwan clear up begins after typhoon [Fanapi] flooding
• 2010/09/19: EarthTimes: Typhoon Fanapi injures 45 in Taiwan before moving to China
• 2010/09/20: Eureka: NASA captures very heavy rain in Typhoon Fanapi and 2 landfalls
• 2010/09/20: CBC: Typhoon Fanapi hits China

  While elsewhere in the hurricane wars:

• 2010/09/23: AllAfrica: IRIN: A Decade of Living in the Aftermath of Flooding
  It was 10 years ago that a cyclone hit remote rural communities in eastern Zimbabwe destroying much of the basic infrastructure, but in the absence of any reconstruction it may as well have been yesterday. In a village in rural Chipinge District on the Mozambican border in Manicaland Province, schoolchildren have become accustomed to being educated in roofless classrooms.
• 2010/09/20: BBerg: Record Warmth Spawns Stronger Hurricanes Across Atlantic Ocean

  And in the Monsoon:

• 2010/09/20: TerraDaily: 65 die as monsoon rains lash northern India
• 2010/09/20: CBC: India landslides, floods kills dozens
  Heavy monsoon rains and landslides swept the hilly areas of northern India over the weekend, killing at least 47 people, officials said Monday. Twenty-four people died Sunday as falling boulders crushed their homes in three villages in Almorah district in Uttrakhand state, said Prashant Kumar Tamta, a state government spokesman. Another 23 people were either swept away by floodwaters or died when homes collapsed in landslides in Pitthoragarh, Champawat and Uttarkashi regions of state Saturday and Sunday...

As for GHGs:

• 2010/09/24: TreeHugger: Dairy Industry Says Its Greenhouse Gas Emissions Lower Than Previously Reported: 2% of US Total
• 2010/09/23: UManchester: UK's shipping emissions six times higher than expected says new report
• 2010/09/23: Guardian(UK): UK shipping emissions 'up to six times higher than calculated'
  Britain has incorrectly calculated its sea freight emissions by only including fuel sold at UK ports, report warns
• 2010/09/19: HeraldScotland: Huge rise in Scottish emissions of [SF6] world's most destructive greenhouse gas

  And the temperature record:

• 2010/09/24: CCurrents: Global Warming Reaches Deep Ocean Depths
• 2010/09/24: CBC: Toronto breaks temperature record
• 2010/09/21: ClimateP: Two more independent studies back the Hockey Stick: Recent global warming is unprecedented in magnitude and speed and cause
• 2010/09/20: SciDaily: 2010 Tied With 1998 as Warmest Global Temperature on Record
• 2010/09/19: CCP: NOAA's NCDC: Global Surface Temperature Anomalies

  Yes we have feedbacks:

• 2010/09/23: RealClimate: Introduction to feedbacks

  Aerosols are making their presence felt:

• 2010/09/20: Eureka: NASA study shows desert dust cuts Colorado River flow
• 2010/09/20: NASA:JPL: NASA Study Shows Desert Dust Cuts Colorado River Flow
• 2010/09/20: TreeHugger: Black Carbon Soot's Climate Warming Effect May Be Canceled by Its Increasing Cloud Production
• 2010/09/20: NSF: Windborne Dust on High Peaks Dampens Colorado River Runoff -- Dust-on-snow: on spring winds, something wicked this way comes
• 2010/09/20: MPG(de): The Amazon rainforest - a cloud factory
  Scientists demonstrate that atmospheric aerosols above the Amazon rainforest are mainly produced by biological sources and are able to draw conclusions about the mechanisms of this ecosystem

As for the ozone layer:

• 2010/09/21: TreeHugger: Ozone Layer Could Recover to Pre-1980 Levels by 2045-2060, Says U.N. [But It Will Take Longer for Holes at the Poles]

  Regarding the solar hypothesis:

• 2010/09/25: WottsUWT: Climate science solar shock and awe
• 2010/09/23: NewScientist: The sun joins the climate club

  Regarding Climate Sensitivity:

• 2010/09/19: ClimateP: A detailed look at climate sensitivity -- Debunking the dangerous anti-science fantasy of the 'lukewarmers'

  And the State of the Oceans:

• 2010/09/21: NOAANews: NOAA Project to Investigate Impacts of Shallow Water Hypoxia in Chesapeake Bay

  More GW impacts are being seen:

• 2010/09/25: BBC: Climate risks greater for long distance migratory birds
  Birds embarking on long distance migrations are more vulnerable to shifts in the climate than ones making shorter journeys, a study suggests. Scientists say the increasingly early arrival of spring at breeding sites in Europe makes it harder for the birds to attract a mate or find food.
• 2010/09/25: BNC: Kakadu -- a climate change impacts hotspot
• 2010/09/23: Yale360: A Troubling Decline in the Caribou Herds of the Arctic
  Across the Far North, populations of caribou -- an indispensable source of food and clothing for indigenous people -- are in steep decline. Scientists point to rising temperatures and a resource-development boom as the prime culprits.
• 2010/09/23: KSJT: Yale e360: From Eurasia to Svalbard and across N. America, caribou and reindeer are harder to find
• 2010/09/20: NYT: United States: Decrease in Bubonic Plague Cases May Be an Effect of Climate Change
• 2010/09/20: KoreaTimes: Climate change triggers epidemics
• 2010/09/20: Eureka: Winter drought stress can delay flowering, prevent fruit loss in orange crops -- Researchers discover technique to improve, extend late-season harvest

  And then there are the world's forests:

• 2010/09/23: Guardian(UK): China's great green wall grows in climate fight -- China is speeding ahead with its massive tree-planting project to combat climate change...
• 2010/09/21: MongaBay: An undamaged Amazon produces its own clouds and rain
• 2010/09/20: EnergyBulletin: Five reasons to plant trees now

  This week in extreme weather:

• 2010/09/25: CBC: Storm kills 5 in Haiti -- Sparks panic in Port-au-Prince camps that are home to more than 1 million
• 2010/09/25: CBC: Vancouver Island pummelled by storm
  A state of emergency has been declared in Port Hardy, B.C., on northern Vancouver Island, after an intense rainstorm Friday night. Heavy rains and winds washed out roads, pulled down hydro lines and ripped trees apart. The devastation prompted Port Hardy Mayor Bev Parnham to declare a local state of emergency. "Upwards of 200 millimetres [of rain] in a short period of time -- and of course it has just overwhelmed our drainage system."
• 2010/09/25: CNN: Sudden storm kills five in Haiti
  The severe storm was not expected - Several people were reported injured or trapped - The storm took down structures that had withstood the killer quake
• 2010/09/24: BBC: Haiti storm 'kills five' and wrecks quake refugee camps
  Five Haitian refugees have been killed as a storm overtook the impoverished country still recovering from the January earthquake, media report.

We have the odd tornado:

• 2010/09/24: ScienceInsider: Ohio Ag Campus Digs Out From Tornado

  As for heatwaves and wild fires:

• 2010/09/23: PhysOrg: Image: The Expedition 24 crew aboard the International Space Station photographed the Twitchell Canyon Fire in central Utah on Sept. 20.
• 2010/09/22: EarthTimes: Costs tallied after wildfire in part of Madagascar national park
• 2010/09/21: CBC: General apologizes for Utah wildfire -- Artillery training exercise sparks destructive blaze

  Corals are dying:

• 2010/09/25: TreeHugger: Bad News for Coral Reefs: Global Warming Causes Bleaching & Death
• 2010/09/23: TerraDaily: Taking The Pulse Of Coral Reefs
• 2010/09/24: TreeHugger: Massive Coral Bleaching Damages 95% of Corals in Philippines
• 2010/09/23: NRDC:SwitchBoard: Global Coral Bleaching Another Sign of Global Warming
• 2010/09/22: NOAANews: NOAA: Coral Bleaching Likely in Caribbean This Year
• 2010/09/22: ClimateShifts: Coral reefs are bleaching worldwide
• 2010/09/21: ClimateShifts: Extreme Heat Bleaches Coral, and Threat Is Seen
• 2010/09/20: NYT: Extreme Heat Bleaches Coral, and Threat Is Seen
• 2010/09/20: Maribo: The second "global" coral bleaching event
• 2010/09/20: TreeHugger: 90% of Coral Reefs Have Died Mysteriously Along Kuwait's Coast
• 2010/09/20: Eureka: Taking the pulse of coral reefs

  Glaciers are melting:

• 2010/09/23: Guardian(UK): Glacial retreat: Ecuador's ticking environmental timebomb
• 2010/09/23: CCP: How thick is this (Himalayan) glacier? by Graham Cogley
• 2010/09/23: PostMedia: Retreat of glaciers could affect cities in B.C. and Western Canada
• 2010/09/23: HotTopic: Tropical ice land: climate change hits Peruvians
• 2010/09/20: Guardian(UK): Before long, it won't just be Peru's mountains that are high and dry -- Peru's high Andes are becoming drier and warmer, prefiguring a change that will in time hit the cities below

  Sea levels are rising:

• 2010/09/24: ABC(Au): Two metre sea levels predicted by coastal geologist
  An American coastal geologist describes rising sea levels is going to be the first major negative impact of global warming. Described as America's most outspoken coastal geologist Professor Orrin Pilkey assumes sea levels will rise by 2 metres by 2100. This is far beyond the predictions of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change who claim levels will rise to half a metre. He says more needs to be done to prepare coastal communities from climate change threats. "If you're going to have development and its close to the beach, make sure the buildings movable." He also recommends a planned retreat.
• 2010/09/24: TDC: A source of sea-level rise to rival glaciers [groundwater pumping]
• 2010/09/20: ENS: Sea Level Rise Linked to 20 Years of Deep Ocean Warming
• 2010/09/21: HotTopic: House by the sea (not a good idea)
• 2010/09/20: NOAANews: Scientists Find 20 Years of Deep Water Warming Leading to Sea Level Rise

  As for hydrological cycle disruptions [floods & droughts]:

• 2010/09/20: USGS: Dust Hastens Colorado River Snowmelt, Cuts Flow -- Restoring Desert Soils Could Lessen Impacts of Climate Change
• 2010/09/25: JFleck: River Beat: End of the Water Year, Taking Stock
• 2010/09/25: EarthTimes: Floods leave more than a million homeless in Nigeria
• 2010/09/24: BBC: Northern Nigeria flooding 'displaces two million'
  About two million people in northern Nigeria have been displaced after authorities opened the floodgates on two dams, an official says.
• 2010/09/24: UN: UNICEF rushing relief supplies to flood-hit Indian states
• 2010/09/24: CNN: Severe floods hit Midwest; areas downriver get ready
  Torrential rains are causing rivers to overflow their banks - Towns across Minnesota and Wisconsin are submerged - Schools and major roads have been forced to close - Major rivers, including the Mississippi, could surge over the weekend
• 2010/09/21: UN: After floods and eruption in Guatemala, thousands need food aid - UN
• 2010/09/21: PlanetArk: Floods In Northern India Sweep Away Homes, Crops
  Unusually heavy monsoon rains over northern India have flooded villages, leaving more than half a million people homeless and submerging crops in a key sugar producing region, officials said on Monday.
• 2010/09/20: JFleck: La Niña and the Colorado
• 2010/09/20: EarthTimes: Two dead, one missing in floods in Slovenia

  Elsewhere on the mitigation front:

• 2010/09/23: EnergyBulletin: South-South technology transfer in Bolivia: A solution for local health, forests, and our global climate

  Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation has somehow seemed chimeric:

• 2010/09/23: Economist: Something stirs -- But to save the forests, the world needs to find somewhere else to grow its food
• 2010/09/23: Reuters: Forest deals push forward as climate talks lag
  With progress towards a U.N. climate deal lagging, financial institutions, donors and tropical forest countries are moving rapidly to set up their own systems to pay forest nations to preserve their trees as a means of curbing carbon emissions.

Consider transportation & GHG production:

• 2010/09/26: PeakEnergy: High Speed Rail In Australia - Possible or Just A Mirage?
• 2010/09/24: CalcRisk: DOT: Vehicle Miles driven increase slightly in July
• 2010/09/24: NRDC:SwitchBoard: IMO Alert: Proposal to Exempt Steamships Needs to be Changed

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

• 2010/09/25: NYT: Can We Build in a Brighter Shade of Green?
• 2010/09/24: ClimateP: Costs and benefits of green buildings
• 2010/09/21: UManchester: How heating our homes could help reduce climate change
  A radical new heating system where homes would be heated by district centres rather than in individual households could dramatically cut the UK's greenhouse gas emissions.
• 2010/09/21: EnergyBulletin: Durisol foundation house

  As for carbon sequestration:

• 2010/09/23: SciAm: Reverse Combustion: Can CO2 Be Turned Back into Fuel? [Video]
• 2010/09/23: TEC: What's Next for Nuclear Power and Carbon Capture Technology?
• 2010/09/21: BizGreen: Financiers prepared to back "competitive" CCS -- Technology must demonstrate it can be competitive without public funds, say investors

  Large scale geo-engineering keeps popping up:

• 2010/09/25: MTobis: Anthony Doerr on Geoengineering
• 2010/09/22: FuturePundit: Climate Engineering Delivers Uneven Costs And Benefits
• 2010/09/23: Slate: Weather as a Weapon -- The troubling history of geoengineering so far
• 2010/09/22: NewScientist: Think or swim: Can we hold back the oceans?
  Not even massive geoengineering projects will stop the seas' relentless rise. Maybe it's time we found somewhere to put all that excess water
• 2010/09/20: CCentral: A Small Step Forward for Geoengineering
• 2010/09/21: TreeHugger: Reflecting Sunlight Away From Earth to Cool the Planet Could Help Some Places, Really Hurt Others
• 2010/09/15: BristolU: Climate change: Can geoengineering satisfy everyone?

  Meanwhile in the journals:

• 2010/09/20: NERC:NORA: Salinity changes in the North West Pacific Ocean during the late Pliocene/early Quaternary from 2.73 Ma to 2.52 Ma by George E.A. Swann
• 2010/09/21: NERC:NORA: Interhemispheric coupling, the West Antarctic Ice Sheet and warm Antarctic interglacials by P. B. Holden et al.
• 2010/09/21: NERC:NORA: An analysis of cloud observations from Vernadsky, Antarctica by Amélie KirchgäÃner
• 2010/09/23: NERC:NORA: Coupling of ice-shelf melting and buttressing is a key process in ice-sheets dynamics by O. Gagliardini et al.
• 2010/09/23: NERC:NORA: Late Quaternary environmental and climate history of Rauer Group, East Antarctica by Sonja Berg et al.
• 2010/09/24: ACPD: Impact of different definitions of clear-sky flux on the determination of longwave cloud radiative forcing: NICAM simulation results by B. J. Sohn et al.
• 2010/09/23: TC: Short term variations of tracer transit speed on alpine glaciers by M. A. Werder et al.
• 2010/08/15: G&PC(via doi): (ab$) The montane circulation on Kilimanjaro, Tanzania and its relevance for the summit ice fields: Comparison of surface mountain climate with equivalent reanalysis parameters by N.C. Pepin et al.
• 2010/09/25: AGWObserver: Papers on rescuing old weather observations
• 2010/09/23: CPD: Initiation of a Marinoan Snowball Earth in a state-of-the-art atmosphere-ocean general circulation model by A. Voigt et al.
• 2010/09/23: CPD: Fingerprints of changes in the terrestrial carbon cycle in response to large reorganizations in ocean circulation by A. Bozbiyik et al.
• 2010/09/20: CPD: Sub-millennial climate variability during MIS 11 revealed by high resolution EPICA Dome C isotopic data - a comparison with the Holocene by K. Pol et al.
• 2010/09/24: AstroBiology: (ab$) The Solar Wind Power Satellite as an alternative to a traditional Dyson Sphere and its implications for remote detection by Brooks L. Harrop & Dirk Schulze-Makuch
• 2010/09/23: Nature: (ab$) An abrupt drop in Northern Hemisphere sea surface temperature around 1970 by David W. J. Thompson et al.
• 2010/09/21: ACP: Temporal variability of mineral dust concentrations over West Africa: analyses of a pluriannual monitoring from the AMMA Sahelian Dust Transect by B. Marticorena et al.
• 2010/09/21: ACP: CO2 and its correlation with CO at a rural site near Beijing: implications for combustion efficiency in China by Y. Wang et al.
• 2010/09/20: ACP: The invigoration of deep convective clouds over the Atlantic: aerosol effect, meteorology or retrieval artifact? by I. Koren et al.
• 2010/09/20: ACP: The spatial distribution of mineral dust and its shortwave radiative forcing over North Africa: modeling sensitivities to dust emissions and aerosol size treatments by C. Zhao et al.
• 2010/09/20: ACP: Quantifying the contributions to stratospheric ozone changes from ozone depleting substances and greenhouse gases by D. A. Plummer et al.
• 2010/09/22: ACPD: Atmospheric emissions from vegetation fires in Portugal (1990-2008): estimates, uncertainty analysis, and sensitivity analysis by I. M. D. Rosa et al.
• 2010/09/22: ACPD: Tropospheric temperature response to stratospheric ozone recovery in the 21st century by Y. Hu et al.
• 2010/09/20: ACPD: Length and time scales of atmospheric moisture recycling by R. J. van der Ent & H. H. G. Savenije
• 2010/09/23: AGWObserver: A day in climate science
• 2010/09/21: PNAS: (ab$) High-resolution forest carbon stocks and emissions in the Amazon by Gregory P. Asner et al.
• 2010/09/21: PNAS: (ab$) Tropical forests were the primary sources of new agricultural land in the 1980s and 1990s by H. K. Gibbs et al.
• 2010/09/21: PNAS: (ab$) Unveiling a phytoplankton hotspot at a narrow boundary between coastal and offshore waters by Francois Ribalet et al.
• 2010/09/21: PNAS: (abs) Long-term reductions in anthropogenic nutrients link to improvements in Chesapeake Bay habitat by Henry A. Ruhl & Nancy B. Rybicki
• 2010/09/21: PNAS: (abs) Climate not to blame for African civil wars by Halvard Buhaug et al.
• 2010/09/21: PNAS: (abs) Photophoretic levitation of engineered aerosols for geoengineering by David W. Keith
• 2010/09/21: PNAS: (letter$) Reply to Wernick et al.: Global scale quantification of forest change by Matthew C. Hansen et al.
• 2010/09/21: PNAS: (letter$) Quantifying forest change by Iddo K. Wernick et al.
• 2010/09/21: PNAS: (letter$) Reply to Reams et al.: Quantifying forest cover change at local and global scales by Matthew C. Hansen et al.
• 2010/09/21: PNAS: (letter$) Remote sensing alone is insufficient for quantifying changes in forest cover by Gregory A. Reams et al.
• 2010/09/20: TC: The relation between sea ice thickness and freeboard in the Arctic by V. Alexandrov et al.
• 2010/09/14: GRL: (ab$) Twentieth century warming in deep waters of the Gulf of St. Lawrence: A unique feature of the last millennium by Benoît Thibodeau et al.
• 2010/09/21: ACS:NanoLetters: (ab$) Highly Flexible and All-Solid-State Paperlike Polymer Supercapacitors by Chuizhou Meng et al.
• 2010/09/20: JC: (ab$) Warming of Global Abyssal and Deep Southern Ocean Waters Between the 1990s and 2000s: Contributions to Global Heat and Sea Level Rise Budgets by Sarah G. Purkey & Gregory C. Johnson

  And other significant documents:

• 2010/09/23: PI: [link to 2.6 meg pdf] Pembina Reacts: Suncor achieves solid surface on Tailings Pond 1
• 2010/09/19: PI: [link to 637k pdf] Canadian Aboriginal Concerns With Oil Sands -- A compilation of key issues, resolutions and legal activities

  As for miscellaneous science:

• 2010/09/25: Guardian(UK): How global warming is aiding -- and frustrating -- archaeologists
• 2010/09/25: ABC(Au): The Australian Antarctic Division will use a giant laser to measure climate change in the atmosphere
• 2010/09/24: PhysOrg: America losing brainpower advantage: report
  The United States' ability to compete globally in science and technology is on a "perilous path," said a new report delivered Sept. 23 on Capitol Hill to a bipartisan group of policymakers, industry leaders, and academics.
• 2010/09/25: HotTopic: Rees: scientists are citizens too
• 2010/09/24: BBC: Call for cap on migrant scientists to be scrapped
  The president of the Royal Society has called for a cap on non-EU migrants, introduced by the coalition government, to be scrapped.
• 2010/09/24: HotTopic: Wake the world by Anthony Giddens & Martin Rees
• 2010/09/22: NatureTGB: Clues to climate change hidden in herbaria
• 2010/09/22: QueensU: Arctic soil study turns up surprising results
• 2010/09/23: SMCI&SS: Philosophy of Bayes and non-Bayes: A dialogue with Deborah Mayo
• 2010/09/22: BBC: Pressed plant collections 'hold climate clues'
• 2010/09/21: PhysOrg: Experts search Egypt's pharaonic past for climate change fix
• 2010/09/21: ScienceInsider: More Coming on Warming From French Academy
• 2010/09/20: ScienceInsider: Veil Lifted on French Academy Debate on Climate
• 2010/09/20: BVerheggen: Judith Curry on anthropogenic versus natural causes of global warming
• 2010/09/20: ABC(Au): Bat poo helps paint climate change picture
  A James Cook University researcher is hoping to find out more about climate patterns in parts of Queensland's far north using bird and bat droppings. Dr Chris Wurster says droppings are one of the few resources available for measuring climate change in the wet tropics and semi-arid regions. He says by collecting insects, birds and bats act as mini-scientists.
• 2010/09/20: Eureka: Citizen scientist

  Meanwhile on the Kyoto front:

• 2010/09/23: PlanetArk: Kremlin Adviser Says Kyoto Can't Stop Climate Change
  [...]
  President Dmitry Medvedev's top climate change adviser, Alexander Bedritsky, said Russia is demanding a new deal as the 40 industrialized nations bound by Kyoto represent only 28 percent of global emissions. "28 percent of the world cannot change anything," Bedritsky told journalists on the sidelines of an Arctic forum in Moscow.

While at the UN:

• 2010/09/21: UN: UN-backed 'clean stove' initiative to save lives and heal environment
• 2010/09/21: TreeHugger: Palm Oil Plantations on Peat Soil No Longer Qualify for Clean Development Mechanism Carbon Credits
• 2010/09/21: EarthTimes: Initiative launched for clean-burning stoves in developing world
• 2010/09/20: BBerg: Shell, UN to Raise $100 Million for Clean Cook Stoves for the World's Poor
• 2010/09/20: BBerg: UN Carbon-Dioxide Premium for 2010 Widens as Board Scrutinizes HFC Credits
• 2010/09/19: MongaBay: Oil palm plantations on peatlands won't get carbon credits under CDM

  And on the carbon trading front:

• 2010/09/22: PlanetArk: Taiwan Moves Toward Carbon Offset Scheme

  The idea of a carbon tax is still bouncing around:

• 2010/09/23: UPI: Australia considers carbon tax

  The proposed Bank Tax refuses to die:

• 2010/09/21: Yahoo:AFP: Europe leaders urge bank tax to battle poverty
  European leaders stepped up demands for a global financial tax on Monday as they faced mounting calls for money to pay for the Millennium Goals battle to cut extreme poverty. President Nicolas Sarkozy of France and Spain's Prime Minister Jose Luis Zapatero said they would press for the new tax at international summits.

The issue of China blocking rare earth minerals is developing in slow motion:

• 2010/09/23: NYT: China Is Blocking Minerals, Executives Say
• 2010/09/23: ScienceInsider: Chinese Threat on Rare Earth Minerals Could Revitalize U.S. Mines
• 2010/09/23: NakedCapitalism: China Blocks Rare Earth Shipments to Japan

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

• 2010/09/26: ABC(Au): Pair arrested over coal port protests
  Police in Newcastle have arrested two environmental activists who had tied themselves to machinery in the city's coal port to protest against the coal industry's impact on climate change.
• 2010/09/24: AlterNet: Watchdog Faults FBI for 'Factually Weak' Basis for Investigating Activists
• 2010/09/20: ACLU: FBI Improperly Spied On Activists, Says Justice Department Inspector General -- Investigation Was Prompted By ACLU FOIA Lawsuit That Turned Up Evidence Of Unlawful Surveillance
• 2010/09/20: ProPublica: Watchdog Faults FBI for 'Factually Weak' Basis for Investigating Activists [the Thomas Merton Center, PETA, Greenpeace, The Catholic Worker and a Quaker peace activist]
• 2010/09/20: TreeHugger: Greenpeace, PETA "Improperly" Put on FBI Terrorist Watch List

  What are the activists up to?

• 2010/09/26: Guardian(UK): Greenpeace forced to end North Sea oil drilling protest -- Chevron accused of using 'legal hammer' after Stena Carron ship halted by protesters
• 2010/09/26: ABC(Au): Protesters shut down Port of Newcastle
  Australian climate change activists paralysed the world's largest coal exporting port for five hours by breaking into the site and chaining themselves to machinery, officials said.
• 2010/09/26: ABC(Au): Protesters force shutdown of coal terminals
  Environmental activists have broken into coal terminals in Newcastle, strapping themselves to industrial loaders to protest against the coal industry's impact on climate change.
• 2010/09/25: Yahoo:Reuters: Climate activists close down world's largest coal port
• 2010/09/26: EarthTimes: Climate protestors shut Australian coal terminal
• 2010/09/22: PlanetArk: Campaigners Board Shetlands Oil Drilling Vessel
• 2010/09/22: BBC: Greenpeace campaigners who attached themselves to a drilling ship off Shetland have said they could stay for a month

  Polls! We have polls!

• 2010/09/23: UNDispatch: American Consumers Aren't Buying Climate Action
• 2010/09/24: Grist: Climate denialism down, but so is caring about climate
• 2010/09/22: SciAm: In Science We Trust: Poll Results on How You Feel about Science
  Our Web survey of readers suggests that the scientifically literate public still trusts its experts -- with some important caveats
• 2010/09/24: LA Times:GS: Proposition 23 poll shows a dead heat among California voters
• 2010/09/22: CSW: New US survey: public wants climate action, and large climate change "issue public" cares deeply

  Regarding Water Politics and Business:

• 2010/09/23: USGS: Elevated Nitrogen and Phosphorus Still Widespread in Much of the Nation's Streams and Groundwater
• 2010/09/24: TerraDaily: Open flood gates displace two million in Nigeria
• 2010/09/24: CBC: Nigeria flooding displaces 2 million -- Dam authorities 'released water indiscriminately'
  Nigerian authorities opened the gates at two swollen dams Friday in the country's rain-soaked north, sending a flood into a neighbouring state that has displaced two million people. The torrent from the Challawa and Tiga dams swept through rural Jigawa state bordering Niger, said Umar Kyari, a spokesman for the state governor. Kyari said the rushing water affected about 5,000 villages in the dry region approaching the Sahara Desert, more than 1,400 kilometres from Lagos in Nigeria's Muslim-dominated north.
• 2010/09/24: CBC: Global groundwater levels dwindling: study -- 'You will have hunger and social unrest,' researcher warns
  A global survey of groundwater levels appears to show underground supplies are dwindling. The research, examining groundwater reserves by measuring rainfall and other water sources against evaporation and removal for agriculture and other uses, finds that the rate of depletion more than doubled between 1960 and 2000, to 283 cubic kilometres annually from 126 cubic kilometres per year. Depletion hotspots include northwest India, northeastern China, northeast Pakistan, California's Central Valley and the midwestern U.S., according to the report.
• 2010/09/24: TCoE: Our inescapable water problems
• 2010/09/24: EarthTimes: Lao dam plan challenges Mekong River Commission, WWF says
• 2010/09/24: Eureka: Earth: Fixing Pakistan's water woes
• 2010/09/22: IPSNews: Rising Energy Demand Hits Water Scarcity 'Choke Point'
  Meeting the growing demand for energy in the U.S., even through sustainable means, could entail greater threats to the environment, new research shows.
• 2010/09/23: AGU: Groundwater depletion rate accelerating worldwide
• 2010/09/22: CBC: Water supply won't dry up: Canadian scientist
  A prominent water expert [former Environment Canada senior executive, John Carey] says Canadians shouldn't worry about wasting so-called "blue gold," because the country is literally flooded with it and won't run out.
• 2010/09/21: TerraDaily: Documentary shows dramatic shrinking of the Aral Sea
• 2010/09/21: Guardian(UK): Have the climate wars begun?
  The whole region of Espinar, in Peru, is outraged about the proposed irrigation scheme that will deprive them of water

What do we have for predictions?

• 2010/09/22: RuVR: This year's winter may be the harshest - Polish climatologists
• 2010/09/15: SOTT: Europe is Expected to Have the Worst Winter in the Last 1000 Years
• 2010/09/23: PlanetArk: Japan To See Average To Milder Winter Weather
• 2010/09/23: TreeHugger: India, Malaysia, Philippines, South Korea All Soon Clobbering the US on Renewable Energy
• 2010/09/21: TerraDaily: Southeast U.S. may face 'Troptober'

  And on the American political front:

• 2010/09/23: NatureN: "Gathering Storm" back on the radar -- An update of a landmark report repeats a stirring call for US investment in science, technology and education
• 2010/09/23: BBerg: GE's Immelt Calls for Long-Term U.S. Energy Policy
• 2010/09/24: CSM: A bold -- and painless -- way to unleash energy innovation and create jobs
• 2010/09/21: DetNews: California wants 1 million electric vehicles on roads by 2020
• 2010/09/23: PlanetArk: U.S. Seen Losing Renewable Energy Race To Asia
• 2010/09/23: ScienceInsider: Bad Forecast for U.S. Competitiveness, Says New Gathering Storm Report
• 2010/09/23: TEC: A Mind-Blowing Proposal: Make California 100-Percent Solar
• 2010/09/22: WtD: OECD slaps down America for lack of action on climate
• 2010/09/21: Google:AP: Massey chief [Blankenship] accuses feds of lying in W.Va. probe
• 2010/09/22: Grist: An open letter to Michael Morris, CEO of American Electric Power
• 2010/09/22: MTobis: Warlord of Mars
• 2010/09/22: DemNow: Chilean Economist Manfred Max-Neef: US Is Becoming an "Underdeveloping Nation"
• 2010/09/21: SolveClimate: Biomass Burning Rules in Massachusetts Could Have National Impact -- Greens applaud proposed rules, industry and unions stand opposed
• 2010/09/20: ClimateP: Friedman: "The totally bogus 'discrediting' of climate science has had serious implications" -- loss of clean energy leadership and jobs to China
• 2010/09/20: Grist: What to expect when you're expecting a GOP takeover
• 2010/09/19: ClimateSight: Party Line

  The BP disaster continues to twist US politics:

• 2010/09/25: NakedCapitalism: WashingtonsBlog: Use of Corexit in 1978 Oil Spill Delayed Recovery by DECADES
• 2010/09/24: NewScientist: More than 4 million barrels of oil entered Gulf
• 2010/09/24: NewScientist: Crunch time ahead for Gulf oyster fisheries
• 2010/09/24: Grist: Landrieu blocks Obama nominee over offshore drilling ban
• 2010/09/23: PhysOrg: Study shows latest government spill estimate right
• 2010/09/23: SciNews: Gulf spill may have been somewhat bigger than feds, BP estimated -- Independent analysis used new technique developed for hydrothermal vents
• 2010/09/21: NOAANews: NOAA Reopens Nearly 8,000 Square Miles in the Gulf of Mexico to Fishing -- 87 percent of federal waters now open
• 2010/09/21: TreeHugger: BP & Feds Ban Journalists Digging Sand or Building Sandcastles on Beach
• 2010/09/20: Grist: The feds' oil-spill number games
• 2010/09/19: WashingtonsBlog: BP and Government Representatives Still Keeping Scientists and Reporters Away from Areas Impacted by Oil

  So how do you figure the 2010 elections will crack up?

• 2010/09/25: AlterNet: Tea Party Senate Candidate Mike Lee Tried to Dump 1,600 Tons of European Nuclear Waste on Utah
• 2010/09/24: AlterNet: Russ Feingold, the Senate's True Maverick in the Political Fight of His Life
• 2010/09/24: IJISH: US Republicans to create diplomatic row over "Climategate"?
• 2010/09/23: NYT:CW: Rep. Issa Would Lead 'Climategate' Probe if House Goes to GOP
  The House's top Republican watchdog is planning to launch an investigation into international climate data if he takes the helm of the chamber's oversight panel next year. Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), the ranking member of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said a probe of the "Climategate" scandal will top his environmental agenda if the Republicans take over the House next year and he gets the chairmanship.
• 2010/09/24: ClimateP: The Whitman Waffle: Former eBay CEO opposes both Prop 23 and AB 32
• 2010/09/24: Grist: Texas guv candidate Bill White talks wind, solar, and urban planning
• 2010/09/24: Grist: Texas Gov. Rick Perry fights climate action but embraces wind power
• 2010/09/23: ClimateP: Koch Industries among hosts of Carly Fiorina fundraiser
• 2010/09/23: TP:WR: GOP 'Pledge To America' Is An Oath To Big Oil
• 2010/09/22: TP:WR: Bill Maher On Anti-Science Republicans: 'Not One Believes Global Warming Is Real'
• 2010/09/21: Grist: Rand Paul doesn't mind mountaintop mining and doesn't want climate action [video]
• 2010/09/20: Grist: Stupid goes viral: Deep in the heart of Climate Zombieland
• 2010/09/21: LA Times: Democrats fighting election battles ask environmentalists, 'Where are you guys?'
  Energy companies and businesses are ramping up spending on candidates and issues, while environmental groups face lagging donations and enthusiasm for campaigns key to climate change action.
• 2010/09/21: TP: Meet Mike Pompeo: The Congressional Candidate Spawned By The 'Kochtopus'
• 2010/09/20: SolveClimate: GOP Targets 'Clean Coal' Champion [Rick] Boucher in Virginia Race -- Toppling the 14-term Democrat would reshape dynamics of climate and energy in the House
• 2010/09/20: SolveClimate: The Murkowski Paradox: Not a Climate Denier but Still a Threat to EPA -- Alaska Senator's long-shot write-in candidacy annoys Republican leadership
• 2010/09/20: Coloradoan: Energy bill polarizes candidates -- Gardner staunchly opposes Markey-backed cap and trade [2010]
• 2010/09/20: TP:WR: The House's Vulnerable Climate Champions
• 2010/09/19: ClimateP: Lindsey Graham drinks the tar sands Kool-Aid: "It is less carbon intensive than oil we find in California," extraction "really blends in with the natural habitat."

  The Prop 23 battle rages:

• 2010/09/25: LA Times: Montana, other Western states could benefit from California's push to use more renewable power
• 2010/09/26: LA Times: Fighting Prop. 23 one phone call at a time
  An activist with the Communities for a Better Environment takes on Big Oil over delaying the state's global warming law.
• 2010/09/24: LA Times:GS: Proposition 23 poll shows a dead heat among California voters
• 2010/09/25: TP: Van Jones Slams Koch Industries' Role In Prop 23, Calls For Progressives To Stand Up To Tea Parties
• 2010/09/22: LA Times:GS: Proposition 23: Environmentalists power up
• 2010/09/23: UCSUSA: Californians Fight Oil Companies' Deceptive, Dirty-Energy Proposition
• 2010/09/20: Yahoo:AP: Brown calls on Whitman to state view on Prop. 23
• 2010/09/21: UCSUSA: No on Proposition 23 -- UCS Urges Californians to Fight Back Against Dirty Energy Campaign
• 2010/09/21: WorldChanging: The Most Important Political Battle of the Year: No on Proposition 23
• 2010/09/20: NYT: The Brothers Koch and AB 32
• 2010/09/19: Reuters: Analysis: California vote tests U.S. climate change agenda
  California's ambitious climate change agenda could evaporate in a November vote which pits renewable energy advocates and allies against oil companies and manufacturers.
• 2010/09/20: ClimateP: Clean power battles dirty energy on Prop 23
• 2010/09/20: Grist: California's Prop 23 just got a whole lot worse [33% RES vulnerable]

  The California Air Resources Board endorsed a 33% RES by 2020 this week:

• 2010/09/23: Grist: California ups the ante on renewable electricity standard
• 2010/09/24: SF Gate: State air board [CARB] OKs 33% renewable energy rule
• 2010/09/24: TreeHugger: California Approves New Renewable Energy Target: 33% by 2010 - Let's Hope It Stands Past November
• 2010/09/23: ENS: California Regulators Approve 33 Percent Renewable Energy Standard
  The California Air Resources Board today unanimously adopted a regulation raising California's Renewable Energy Portfolio Standard to 33 percent by the year 2020. A phased-in approach provides for interim targets that lead to the requirement that by 2020, one-third of the electricity sold in the state must come from clean, green sources of energy.
• 2010/09/23: LA Times: Renewable energy rules likely to advance
  The California Air Resources Board is expected to approve regulations that could break an impasse in a battle to require utilities to obtain a third of their power from solar and other renewable sources by 2020.

The actions of the Obama administration are being watched closely:

• 2010/09/23: Reuters: US on track to finish test on higher ethanol blend
  DOE to complete data for '07 and newer cars this month - Data for 2001 to 2006 cars expected end November - EPA will make decision within 2 weeks after gets data - Trade group says bit-by-bit decisions could harm market
• 2010/09/20: GreenGrok: All's Not Quiet on the U.S. Climate Change Front
• 2010/09/23: NRDC:SwitchBoard: It's time for EPA to revisit 1980s rules for toxic oil and gas waste
• 2010/09/24: NatNews: FDA will Ban Food Makers from Telling the Truth about Non-GMO Foods
  In case anyone had any doubts about who the FDA really serves, the latest news should prove once and for all whose side they are on - and it isn't yours or mine. The Washington Post has reported that, in addition to approving genetically modified "Frankenfish" salmon without requiring a GMO label, the FDA will also be banning the inclusion of any references to not containing genetically modified content on food items which are GMO free.
• 2010/09/23: NYT:GW: Obama Admin Rejects Timeout for Natural Gas Drilling in N.Y., Pa.
  The Obama administration has decided against pressing for a temporary halt to Marcellus Shale drilling in Pennsylvania and New York, a key federal official said.
• 2010/09/23: PhysOrg: U.S. scientist [Steven Koonin, undersecretary for science at the DOE] says, fostering innovation is key to energy's future
• 2010/09/22: NOAANews: Commerce Secretary Locke Announces Awards to Six New Regional Climate Science Collaborations
• 2010/09/23: ATT: Texas Leads Resistance to EPA Climate Action
• 2010/09/22: SBO: NOAA funds OSU, partners in climate consortium
• 2010/09/20: NYT:GW: Controversial Candidates on 'Short List' for EPA Fracking Panel
  U.S. EPA is considering two former Halliburton Co. executives along with one of the most outspoken critics of hydraulic fracturing to provide independent expert advice on its study of the polarizing drilling practice. The EPA Science Advisory Board's "short list (pdf)" of 82 people to serve on a review panel could reignite a debate that dogged a previous fracturing study, in which a Halliburton employee served on a peer review panel that was criticized for being overloaded with people from the petroleum industry. The new study has run into controversy even before it starts, as the gas industry and its critics jockey to influence the planning and "scope" of the study. Gas drillers have complained that EPA is planning to look too broadly, including at parts of the drilling process that do not directly involve fracturing. Hundreds of people, mostly opponents, have shown up to testify at normally docile "scoping" hearings (Greenwire, Sept. 14). The results of the final study won't be released until 2012. The new study was sought last year by congressional Democrats who worry that the high-pressure underground injections of chemical-laced water could be contaminating drinking water.
• 2010/09/21: CSW: Proposed Interior Dept scientific integrity policy fails to address political abuse of science
• 2010/09/20: WaPo: FDA hears concerns over approving genetically modified salmon
• 2010/09/20: ACLU: FBI Improperly Spied On Activists, Says Justice Department Inspector General -- Investigation Was Prompted By ACLU FOIA Lawsuit That Turned Up Evidence Of Unlawful Surveillance
• 2010/09/20: ProPublica: Watchdog Faults FBI for 'Factually Weak' Basis for Investigating Activists [the Thomas Merton Center, PETA, Greenpeace, The Catholic Worker and a Quaker peace activist]
• 2010/09/20: PlanetArk: Agriculture Secretary [Tom Vilsack], Producers Confident On Ethanol Hike [a higher blend of ethanol in gasoline]
• 2010/09/20: Grist: Why is the FDA about to rubber-stamp GE salmon?
• 2010/09/20: NatureTGB: NASA administrator rapped over "conflict-of-interest" - September 20, 2010
  In a report posted online earlier today, NASA's Office of Inspector-General (OIG) criticizes NASA administrator Charles Bolden (right) over conflict-of-interest allegations involving an oil company. The report confirms allegations that Bolden contacted Marathon Oil, a company in which he holds stock "valued at between $500,000 and $1 million," for technical advice about a NASA project called "Offshore Membrane Enclosure for Growing Algae" or OMEGA, a $10 million effort to use algae and wastewater to generate fuel. At issue was whether Marathon had biofuels projects that might have benefited from a slow-down in OMEGA.
• 2010/09/20: CBC: Genetically modified salmon hearings begin -- AquaBounty, FDA and critics of GM salmon at advisory committee

  As for what is going on in Congress:

• 2010/09/24: NYT:GW: Senators See Renewable Energy Bill as Christmas Tree for Pet Projects
• 2010/09/23: Grist: Revelations from the House egg-recall hearing
• 2010/09/23: NatureTGB: Factory farm fracas on Capitol Hill
• 2010/09/21: Grist: The rich people in the Senate defend the interests of rich people
• 2010/09/20: Grist: Three policies supported by the public but feared by politicians

  The future climate bill defines a battleline:

• 2010/09/23: TheHill:e2W: Brownback says handful or more Republicans in play on RES
• 2010/09/24: WaPo: More signs of warming, but legislative climate still cold
  The evidence for climate change grows: The first eight months of 2010 put this year on track to tie 1998 as the hottest year on record, global bleaching is devastating coral reefs and Arctic summer sea ice is reaching new lows. But for all the visible signs of global warming, weakened political support for curbing emissions means the United States is unlikely to impose national limits on greenhouse gases before 2013, at the earliest. Several leading GOP candidates this fall are questioning whether these emissions even cause warming, while some key Democratic Senate candidates are disavowing the cap-and-trade bill the House passed in 2009.
• 2010/09/22: Reuters: [Senator Jeff] Bingaman (D-NM): climate bill outlook grim
  President Barack Obama's dream of passing a big bill to battle global warming is likely dead for the rest of his term, according to a leading Democrat and long time backer of climate legislation.
• 2010/09/22: TEC: Bipartisan Group of Senators Introduce Renewable Electricity Standard
• 2010/09/22: SolveClimate: Renewable Electricity Promotion Act of 2010 Introduced into Senate -- GOP supporter Brownback warns: "People can't get cute with this."
• 2010/09/22: Grist: RES-urrection? Renewable electricity standard gets one last gasp in the Senate
• 2010/09/21: TEC: US Senate May Consider Federal Renewable Energy Standard

  While in the UK:

• 2010/09/24: BBerg: U.K. Solar Executives Criticize `Asinine' Treasury Review of Subsidies [FIT]
• 2010/09/24: BBC: Call for cap on migrant scientists to be scrapped
  The president of the Royal Society has called for a cap on non-EU migrants, introduced by the coalition government, to be scrapped.
• 2010/09/24: Guardian(UK): What happens if the green quangos [QUasi-Autonomous-NGOs] are axed?
• 2010/09/24: NatureTGB: Game over for British science?
• 2010/09/24: ScienceInsider: U.K. Research Leaders Makes Final Stand Against Science Cuts
• 2010/09/21: Guardian(UK): Chris Huhne fights Treasury to save his climate department
• 2010/09/22: PlanetArk: Huhne Sees Nuclear, Renewables In UK Energy Mix
• 2010/09/20: Guardian(UK): Coalition drops further green pledges on timber and renewables
  Government has reneged on pre-election promises to tackle illegally logged timber imports and reward green energy 'pioneers'
• 2010/09/20: TEC: Can British communities claim renewable energy grants and the Feed in Tariff?

  And in Europe:

• 2010/09/23: DerSpiegel: The World from Berlin -- 'Green Party Issues Have Gone Mainstream'
  Germany's Green Party is experiencing an unprecedented rise in public opinion polls. But why? German commentators say that disgust with other parties is on the rise -- and the Greens have profited by moving to the center.
• 2010/09/23: DerSpiegel: The Expensive Dream of Clean Energy -- Will High Costs Kill Merkel's Green Revolution?
  Chancellor Angela Merkel's vision of completing Germany's conversion to renewable energy by 2050 is bold and ambitious. But she has remained silent about the risks and the tremendous costs the green revolution will entail -- for Germany and all of Europe.
• 2010/09/24: PlanetArk: Germany Could See Solar Power Cap: BlackRock
  Rising costs for solar power in Germany could either trigger a further large cut in sector subsidies or a cap on new installations in the world's No.1 solar market, a BlackRock fund manager said. Power transmission grid operators are obligated to pay feed-in tariffs (FIT) to producers of solar power, which are then added to customers' bills, and critics have noted that ballooning demand for photovoltaics leads to higher costs. The German government agreed in January on a large one-off cut of at least 16 percent to the tariffs, which took effect in July, but analysts have repeatedly mentioned that further action was likely to make the subsidy-dependent industry more competitive.
• 2010/09/24: Grist: European countries reject Atlantic oil-drilling ban proposal
• 2010/09/23: EurActiv: Heat is on in Spain's coal state aid case
  The European Commission will decide next week whether to authorise Spain's subsidies for its coal sector, amid warnings that giving the green light would scupper the EU's plans to phase out subsidies to unprofitable coal mines.
• 2010/09/23: EurActiv: Europe's 'green revolution' off to patchy start
  The much-vaunted green economy promises a new stream of jobs at a time of rising unemployment, but are European companies ready to capitalise on this potential? EurActiv's media network looks at which countries are best-placed to benefit from the green revolution and examines the barriers facing smaller firms.
• 2010/09/22: NYT: As Spain Struggles, Energy Plan Proves Difficult to Agree On
• 2010/09/22: NatureTGB: European Commission withholds research on biofuel policy
• 2010/09/22: DerSpiegel: Stuttgart's White Elephant -- Germany Spends Billions on the Wrong Rail Project
  A multibillion railway development project is going ahead in Stuttgart, despite the fact that it offers hardly any benefits for the rail network and the money would be better spent elsewhere. Experts have been warning against the plans for years, but they were ignored.
• 2010/09/22: DerSpiegel: Green Party Leader Renate Künast Interview -- 'Merkel Will Regret This'
  In an interview with Spiegel, Green Party floor leader Renate Künast, 54, discusses her opposition to Chancellor Merkel's plan to extend the lifepans of nuclear power plants and her party's dramatic recent surge in the polls.
• 2010/09/21: EurActiv: Commission sued over biofuels as suspicions mount
• 2010/09/21: EurActiv: CAP reform debate hijacked by new priorities
  While the future budget of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is still unclear, growing rhetoric around the concepts of "public goods" and "green growth" suggest that at least some of the money could be shifted to protecting the environment and boosting rural economies.
• 2010/09/21: EUO: EU sued over lack of transparency
  A group of environmental lawyers are suing the EU over alleged attempts to restrict access to information and a lack of transparency in the bloc's biofuels policy. On Monday (20 September) ClientEarth filed a lawsuit against the European Commission in the EU's General Court in Luxembourg, charging the executive body with having failed to release "documents containing previously undisclosed information on the negative climate impacts of widespread biofuels use."
• 2010/09/20: Reuters: EU exec sued over biofuels as suspicions mount
  Europe's biofuels policy could cause unwanted side-effects equal to as much as 1.5 billion tonnes of greenhouse gases -- roughly the annual emissions of Russia or India, official reports warn. That means biofuels could produce more carbon emissions than gasoline over a 20 year time frame. The impact assessment emerged as climate campaigners sued the European Commission on Monday for withholding a different tranche of data on the negative consequences of fuels from crops such as maize, wheat and palm oil. "Our efforts to understand and influence EU biofuel policy have been repeatedly hampered by attempts to restrict access to documents," activist lawyer Tim Grabiel of ClientEarth said as he launched the court action. "The Commission is running an opaque operation," he said. The Commission's Joint Research Center (JRC) said somewhere between 201 million tonnes and 1.092 billion tonnes of greenhouse gases would be released into the atmosphere due to the complex impact of "indirect land use change" from biofuels.

Meanwhile in Australia:

• 2010/09/23: ABC(Au):TDU: Selecting the Speaker: a political calamity
• 2010/09/21: ABC(Au):TDU: Turnbull doesn't understand boundaries
• 2010/09/24: ABC(Au): More long, hot days on the way
  Tasmania's mild summers will soon be a thing of the past, with climate researchers predicting an increase in the number of hot days and the length of heat waves.
• 2010/09/23: ABC(Au): Vic project boosts Riverland solar hopes
  The Clean Energy Council says a solar power station could be established in the South Australian Riverland.
• 2010/09/22: TheAge: Victorian Greens push to force out coal
  The Victorian Greens want the Environment Protection Authority to use newly beefed-up regulatory powers to force coal-fired power stations to shut without compensation. The proposal drew criticism from the state government and the Australian Industry Group, which said it was economically irresponsible and could undermine investment certainty.
• 2010/09/22: ABC(Au): Qantas boss wants global approach on carbon
  Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce has declined to back BHP Billiton's call for Australia to introduce a carbon price.
• 2010/09/22: ABC(Au): Bushfire response team to assess habitat damage
  A group of ecology experts has assembled in Canberra to form a national response team that will assess damage immediately after a major bushfire. The interstate team will make rapid judgements about the extent of environmental damage after major fires like those in Victoria and Canberra, and offer timely advice to government authorities about remediation. The team includes experts in soil, forestry, wildlife and geographical systems.
• 2010/09/21: Reuters: Australian miner Fortescue backs case for carbon tax
  Iron ore miner Fortescue Metals Group joined BHP Billiton Tuesday in calling for Australia to consider a carbon tax over emission trading, as a senior minister backed a targeted carbon price for electricity.
• 2010/09/21: WtD: [Australian] Liberal senator joins deniers conference: yes, the Opposition are the party of denial
• 2010/09/21: ABC(Au): Low carbon economy seen as inevitable
  A British-based environmental economist visiting Wollongong says it inevitable Australia will have to transition towards a low carbon economy. Senior research fellow at Oxford University, Dr Cameron Hepburn, gave the keynote address at yesterday's New South Wales Minerals Council conference.
• 2010/09/20: ABC(Au): China tipped to deliver Australia's energy needs
  The WWF says Australia has the opportunity to ramp up its role in the booming renewable energy market.
• 2010/09/20: NewsCorp: State carbon plan puts heat on Julia Gillard
  Pressure is growing on the Gillard government to come up with a price on carbon. The extra heat comes with NSW preparing a national launch of its carbon emissions abatement scheme.

After all the chatter, what is Julia going to do?

• 2010/09/25: BWeek: Gillard Says Need for Price on Carbon to Meet Goals
  Australia's Prime Minister Julia Gillard said the nation needs a price on carbon to achieve its goals for emissions cuts, noting that industry needed certainty about the policy. "We're putting together a committee that is open to representatives of all sides of politics who agree that climate is real and that we need to price carbon in order to reach the targets that we've set ourselves in 2020," Gillard said on Channel 10's Meet the Press program today.
• 2010/09/25: SMH: Warning: get ready to pay for carbon
  Australians have paid a ''high price'' for the emissions trading scheme delay and the Gillard government should establish a carbon market as soon as possible, according to blunt advice from the federal Treasury in the normally top-secret ''red book'' prepared for an incoming Labor administration. The ''red book'', which landed on Wayne Swan's desk the morning after the election, also warns the $43 billion national broadband network carries ''significant financial risks'', that the strong economy could fuel inflation and the rapidly rising population projections both parties disavowed during the election campaign were largely unavoidable.
• 2010/09/23: UPI: Australia considers carbon tax
• 2010/09/22: BBerg: Australia May Introduce `Hybrid' Policy on Curbing Carbon, Citigroup Says
• 2010/09/23: ABC(Au): Combet admits carbon tax an option
  Climate Change Minister Greg Combet has given a clear sign the Government is prepared to consider introducing a carbon tax. Before the election Prime Minister Julia Gillard ruled out using a tax to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions. But the Greens advocate a tax as an interim measure and the chief of BHP has also endorsed the idea. Mr Combet says the Government is determined to put a price on carbon and the new parliamentary committee on climate change will consider all options.

And in New Zealand:

• 2010/09/22: HotTopic: The politics of failure/the failure of politics
• 2010/09/20: HotTopic: Ask me why

  While in China:

• 2010/09/24: TreeHugger: Why China's Environmental Laws Have Been Useless in Stopping Pollution
• 2010/09/23: PeakEnergy: Why potash is not at the top of China's national insecurities
• 2010/09/21: Reuters: China requires energy-use review before project approvals
  China will start evaluating energy efficiency levels for any proposed capital expenditure programmes as of November, as the country shuns energy-guzzling projects in favour of greener development.
• 2010/09/20: WIC: Michael Klare: China shakes the world
• 2010/09/20: EnergyBulletin: Twenty-first century energy superpower
• 2010/09/20: SolveClimate: Chinese County Resorts to Blackouts in Pursuit of Energy Efficiency

  And elsewhere in Asia:

• 2010/09/24: OilDrum: Indigenous Energy - Pakistan, India and Bangladesh
• 2010/09/23: TerraDaily: Asia struggles to cope as storms spread destruction

  In the Middle East:

• 2010/09/23: PlanetArk: Vulnerable Arab World Lags On Climate Change Action

  And South America:

• 2010/09/22: Guardian(UK): Ecuador looks to its own people in the battle against climate change
  Ecuador's indigenous peoples are proactive in adapting society to deal with global warming, effectively guiding the government
• 2010/09/21: Reuters: Central America taps volcanoes for electricity
  Potentially huge geothermal resources in Central America - Tax breaks, incentives for private investors - Hydroelectricity less reliable due to climate change
• 2010/09/21: REA: Brazil Plans Hydropower Auctions for 3,700 MW of New Capacity

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

• 2010/09/25: POGGE: "The concept of free speech is non-existent at Environment Canada"
• 2010/09/25: PostMedia: Government environmental scientists work under gag
• 2010/09/22: EmbassyMag: 'Clean energy superpower' an empty buzzword, say insiders
• 2010/09/20: CBC: Federal scientists face tighter media rules
  Canada's scientific community is buzzing over newly tightened rules that further restrict government researchers from speaking with the media about their work.
• 2010/09/19: CSW: Canada's 'creeping authoritarianism' in political pre-screening of scientists' media contact
• 2010/09/20: WpgFP: Federal scientists free to speak, once Ottawa tells them what they can say

  The G20 policing issue grinds on:

• 2010/09/24: Rabble:KK: G8/G20 Communique: Government reveals your $1 billion G8/G20 price tag
• 2010/09/24: CBC: G8/G20 spending an 'orgy of excess': Liberals -- Toews: 'every penny spent' a worthwhile expenditure
• 2010/09/24: G&M: $1-billion G20 tab includes furniture, 'geomatics' and 'fireballs'
• 2010/09/24: CBC:KO'M: Orders of the Day: Behold Your Billion Dollar (and counting) G8/20 Bill!
• 2010/09/24: BSLSB: Tories Move On The Environment: Their G20 summit "Signature Environmental Project"
• 2010/09/23: CBC: RCMP's G20 hotel bill hits $20M
• 2010/09/22: TStar: Probe of 'secret' G20 law should be public: critics
  An independent review of the "secret law" police used to detain hundreds of people during last summer's G20 summit is no substitute for a public inquiry, critics charge. While Nathalie Des Rosiers, general counsel for the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, welcomed the province's appointment of former Ontario chief justice Roy McMurtry to probe the controversial 1939 Public Works Protection Act, she said "it does not change the need for a public inquiry." "We will continue to push the federal government for a full public inquiry," Des Rosiers said in an interview from Ottawa Wednesday.
• 2010/09/22: CBC: G20 law to be reviewed by McMurtry
  Former Ontario chief justice Roy McMurtry has been chosen to review the Public Works Protection Act, the contentious law that governed police powers during the G20 summit. Ontario's Liberal government updated the act -- for the first time ever -- last June, specifically for the G20. It was not widely revealed to the general public.
• 2010/09/21: CBC: Alleged G20 protest leader back in court
  One of the people alleged to have helped organize the vandalism during last June's G20 summit in Toronto is due in court Tuesday after being accused of breaching his bail conditions. Alex Hundert, 30, was arrested Friday night after taking part in a panel discussion at Ryerson University on issues connected to the G20.
• 2010/09/19: JBS: Intimidation, Stifling Dissent and Police State Tactics [G20]

  Questions and debate about offshore and Arctic drilling continue:

• 2010/09/20: CBC: Arctic drilling review moves forward
  Canada's energy regulator is moving ahead with its broad review of Arctic offshore drilling rules by meeting this fall with aboriginal groups, northern communities and governments. The National Energy Board's announcement Monday did not elaborate on when and where those meetings will take place. The board did say on its website that it will release backgrounders on the issue and put out a call for information later this month. Companies like BP, Chevron, Imperial Oil and ConocoPhillips have paid billions of dollars for oil and gas leases in parts of the Beaufort Sea, but must get NEB approval before they can start drilling. The National Energy Board launched the Arctic drilling review in the wake of BP's Deepwater Horizon blowout in the Gulf of Mexico, which began on April 20 and wasn't contained until July 15.

The sale of AECL is drifting ahead, largely under the radar:

• 2010/09/21: CleanBreak: What's the future of AECL under SNC-Lavalin control?

  Harper shows an inclination to privatize:

• 2010/09/20: CoC: Council of Canadians condemns Harper's sponsorship of water privatization conference

  After Newfoundland got zapped by Igor, the recovery effort is underway:

• 2010/09/25: CBC: Mounties marshal Igor relief resources -- Repairs underway on unstable Burin Peninsula bridge
• 2010/09/25: CBC: Military begins Igor deployment -- 2,600 or fewer homes still lack electricity: Newfoundland Power
• 2010/09/25: CBC: Body found on Igor-hit Random Island
• 2010/09/24: CBC: Military set to aid Igor-stricken Newfoundland -- Devastating hurricane called province's worst in generations
• 2010/09/24: CBC: Stranded by Igor, 90-year-old woman seeks rescue
• 2010/09/23: CBC: N.L. island hit by Igor needs army: resident
• 2010/09/23: CBC: Igor leaves thousands stranded in Newfoundland -- Repairs will cost more than $100M, minister says
• 2010/09/22: Wunderground: Igor delivers punishing blow to Newfoundland; 95L growing more organized
• 2010/09/22: Eureka: Huge post-tropical Hurricane Igor drenched Newfoundland, Canada
• 2010/09/22: CBC: Igor cleanup underway in Newfoundland
  Tens of thousands of people across Newfoundland were without power Wednesday as crews tackled the aftermath of Hurricane Igor, a storm that swept a man to sea and turned bridges and highways to crumbled pieces.
• 2010/09/21: BBC: Eastern Canada has suffered heavy rain as Hurricane Igor moves north, with high winds across parts of Newfoundland
• 2010/09/20: CSM: Hurricane Igor heads north, all the way to Greenland?
• 2010/09/21: TGBeaver: Hurricane Igor 21/1400Z
• 2010/09/21: CBC: Igor sweeps man to sea -- Hurricane knocks out roads, bridges, utilities
  Authorities were searching Tuesday for a man swept to sea as Hurricane Igor thundered across much of Newfoundland with crushing winds and rain. The incident happened near Britannia, on Random Island in Trinity Bay, when a roadway crumbled beneath the man's feet, paramedic Chris Hansford told CBC News.
• 2010/09/20: BBC: Newfoundland braced as Hurricane Igor heads north
• 2010/09/21: WpgFP: Hurricane Igor washes out roads, strands residents in Newfoundland
• 2010/09/20: CBC: Igor to pound N.S., N.L. with rain

  The controversy over pipelines is ongoing:

• 2010/09/22: CBC: Enbridge: Chicago spill to cost $60M US
• 2010/09/21: BBerg: TransCanada's Oil-Sands Pipeline Would Create 12,000 Jobs, Girling Says
  TransCanada Corp.'s 2,000-mile pipeline linking Alberta's oil sands with Gulf Coast refiners may add at least 12,000 jobs and provide a stable fuel source for the U.S., Chief Executive Officer Russell Girling said. Efforts to stop the $7 billion Keystone XL project because lawmakers say developing tar sands may release more greenhouse gases than other types of oil production will result in the crude being redirected from the U.S., Girling said.
• 2010/09/20: G&M: First Nations leaders head to Washington, urge officials to reject oilsands [Keystone XL] pipeline

  The retreat of the glaciers is also an issue for Canadians:

• 2010/09/23: PostMedia: Retreat of glaciers could affect cities in B.C. and Western Canada
  New data released by Natural Resources Canada on Wednesday shows that glaciers in Canada's High Arctic and in the mountains of Western Canada have shrunk significantly over the past 50 years, a change experts say could have consequences for municipalities that depend on the run-off for drinking water, irrigation and power generation. "It's pretty clear that glaciers are continuing to retreat," Sarah Boon, a professor of geography at the University of Lethbridge in Alberta, said Wednesday. "And that's going to have a major impact on water resources in the future."
• 2010/09/22: StatsCan: Trends in glacier mass balance for six Canadian glaciers
• 2010/09/22: BCLSB: Canadian Glaciers...

  BC is still wrangling over energy:

• 2010/09/22: Tyee: Landfill Lobby Trashed Waste-to-Energy Plan -- Cache Creek owners argued to province that recycling garbage is more green than burning it, and saves jobs
• 2010/09/22: CBC: Grouse Mountain wind turbine hooked up

  Meanwhile in that Mechanical Mordor known as the tar sands:

• 2010/09/24: Yahoo:Reuters: Third-party panel to study Canada oil sands impact
• 2010/09/22: Tyee: The Fallacy of 'Ethical Oil' -- Better to describe Canada's oil sands crude as 'the devil's tears.'
• 2010/09/22: PI:JK: First Nations leaders bring oil sands concerns to U.S. decision makers
• 2010/09/22: PI:NL: Whose needs come first: Industry's or Albertans'?
• 2010/09/20: PI: First Nations leaders bring concerns over tar sands impacts to U.S. capital
• 2010/09/21: PI: Oil Sands Environmental Coalition files motion requesting panel adjourn Total oil sands hearing -- Flawed environmental assessment is illegal, groups say
• 2010/09/22: PI: Pembina Reacts: Total oil sands panel adjourns hearing
• 2010/09/22: PI: U.S. decisions on tar sands imports will impact First Nations communities, leaders say
• 2010/09/24: PI: Pembina Reacts: NDP report highlights growing evidence of oilsands impacts on Canada's freshwater
• 2010/09/23: PI: [link to 2.6 meg pdf] Pembina Reacts: Suncor achieves solid surface on Tailings Pond 1
• 2010/09/19: PI: [link to 637k pdf] Canadian Aboriginal Concerns With Oil Sands -- A compilation of key issues, resolutions and legal activities
• 2010/09/24: CBC: Alberta to review oilsands water data
• 2010/09/24: CBC: Toughen oilsands environment protection: NDP
• 2010/09/23: PostMedia: Oilsands boss reaches out to green foes -- Wants to work with environmentalists to find 'progressive solution'
  An oilsands company executive said Wednesday he wants to sit at the table with environmentalists to work out a "progressive solution" to issues in the industry. Marcel Coutu, CEO of Canadian Oil Sands and chairman of Syncrude's board, met with broadcaster and environmentalist David Suzuki last Friday in an apparent attempt to further that cause. Suzuki, however, said he rebuffed a request from Coutu, who asked him to broker a truce between energy companies and environmentalists.
• 2010/09/23: CBC: Suncor trumpets tailings-pond reclamation -- Former native chief and wetlands ecologist warn project is only a small step
• 2010/09/22: CBC: U.S. oblivious to oilsands impact: native leaders
  A pair of aboriginal leaders say decision-makers in Washington, D.C., are unaware but receptive to arguments about the environmental impact of oilsands development. Francois Paulette and George Poitras have been meeting with officials from the U.S. State Department, the White House Council on Environmental Quality and the Department of the Interior. They delivered the message that fuel made from Alberta's oilsands is "dirty" and contributing to climate change and pollution that is hurting people, animals, birds and fish.
• 2010/09/21: WpgFP: Environmentalists get hearings into proposed Total oilsands mine halted
  Fort McMurray, Alta. - Environmental groups got their way Tuesday when a public hearing into a proposed oilsands mine in northern Alberta was abruptly adjourned. The joint federal/provincial panel established to review the Joslyn North Mine Project was halted "to deliberate upon a number of important and complex rulings on matters including questions of constitutional law and filings of information," said a news release issued by the Energy Resources Conservation Board. The release said the hearing will reconvene within a week.
• 2010/09/21: Reuters: Oil sands emissions 6 pct above other oil -study -- IHS CERA figure lower than that of environmental groups
• 2010/09/22: ClimateP: Tar sands: Still dirty after all these years
• 2010/09/21: PostMedia: $2B oilsands expansion approved -- Cenovus's three-phase plan to boost project's output 75% by 2017
  Cenovus Energy's Foster Creek underground oilsands project has won approval for an estimated $2-billion expansion that will see 1,000 construction jobs created at the site 120 kilometres north of Bonnyville. The Alberta Energy Resources Conservation Board approval announced Monday covers the next three phases of expansion (F, G and H) for Alberta's oldest and largest steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) project.
• 2010/09/21: NRDC:SwitchBoard: Tar Sands: Why Alberta Has A Credibility Problem
• 2010/09/20: CBC: Alberta Energy regulator mocked by Greenpeace
  Greenpeace has delivered a giant `rubber stamp' to the Calgary office of Alberta's energy regulator to mock its high approval rating of oilsands projects. Greenpeace says the Energy Resources Conservation Board has never turned down a proposal for development in northern Alberta.
• 2010/09/21: OSun: Alberta looks to drum up support for oilsands
• 2010/09/19: ClimateP: Lindsey Graham drinks the tar sands Kool-Aid: "It is less carbon intensive than oil we find in California," extraction "really blends in with the natural habitat."
• 2010/09/19: CCP: Nathan Lemphers: Albertans could be on the hook for oilsands cleanup costs -- Potential $15-billion liability unaccounted for

  It looks like Stelmach is worried about Cameron's potential news impact:

• 2010/09/24: SOE: James Cameron in Fort Chipewyan
• 2010/09/21: CBC: Stelmach swaps planes to meet Cameron
• 2010/09/21: SOE: James Cameron is Coming to Town...

  In Saskatchewan the question is Potash?

• 2010/09/23: PeakEnergy: Why potash is not at the top of China's national insecurities
• 2010/09/22: BBC: The Canadian fertiliser giant, Potash Corporation, has asked a US District Court in Chicago to block a hostile takeover bid from BHP Billiton
• 2010/09/22: CBC: PotashCorp asks court to stop 'misleading' BHP bid
  Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan is taking to the courts to escalate its fight to rebuff a takeover by international miner BHP Billiton Ltd. PotashCorp filed papers in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois on Wednesday that allege BHP used "false and misleading" statements in its $40-billion pursuit of the Saskatoon-based firm. The company alleges BHP is trying to scoop up PotashCorp "on the cheap" by using coercive tactics. The filing notes that BHP's offer is conditional on obtaining 50 per cent of the common shares -- not 66.6 per cent as required under Canadian law.
• 2010/09/21: CBC: PotashCorp not swayed by BHP extension -- Takeover offer extended to Nov. 18, Potash shares slide
• 2010/09/21: CBC: BHP CEO says Jansen project will proceed -- Billiton Kloppers says PotashCorp takeover wouldn't derail BHP's own mine
  The CEO of the company that wants to buy Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan said Monday it will spend "billions of dollars" to advance its Jansen potash project in Saskatchewan whatever the outcome of its bid. BHP Billiton CEO Marius Kloppers was responding to speculation from analysts that his company might not make Jansen a priority if it succeeds in its $38.6-billion US bid for PotashCorp, which already operates five potash mines in Saskatchewan. Kloppers said BHP has already invested $400 million in Jansen and hopes to start producing potash from the mine by 2015.
• 2010/09/20: G&M: Saskatchewan questions benefit of Potash Corp. takeover -- [Saskatchewan Premier Brad] Wall not convinced sale of resources giant is good for the province or the country
• 2010/09/20: BuckDog: Saskatchewan's 'Unfettered Free Market' Premier Now Wants To 'Fetter' The Free Market!!? "Saskatchewan Premier throws cold water on BHP bid for Potash Corp."
• 2010/09/20: BBC: Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper has warned that a bid for for the country's fertiliser giant Potash Corporation may not be approved
• 2010/09/20: CBC: Potash mine evacuated after bomb threat

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

• 2010/09/22: CleanBreak: What's with the electricity system witchhunt?
• 2010/09/22: TEC: What's with the electricity system witchhunt?
• 2010/09/21: CfCCL: Japan v. Canada at the World Trade Organization: Whither Green Jobs?
• 2010/09/22: BCLSB: Japan And Canada Square Off Over Green Jobs

  In the North:

• 2010/09/23: CBC: N.W.T. floats carbon tax idea
• 2010/09/20: CBC: Northwest Passage traffic up in 2010
  The number of ships travelling through the Northwest Passage has doubled this year, prompting at least one Arctic sovereignty expert to call for more enforcement in the increasingly ice-free Arctic waterway. The Canada Border Services Agency says 18 ships have cleared customs in Inuvik, N.W.T. -- at the western end of the Northwest Passage -- so far this year, and the navigation season is not even over yet. By comparison, only seven ships cleared customs there in 2009, according to the agency.

As for miscellaneous Canadiana:

• 2010/09/22: CBC: Water supply won't dry up: Canadian scientist
  A prominent water expert [former Environment Canada senior executive, John Carey] says Canadians shouldn't worry about wasting so-called "blue gold," because the country is literally flooded with it and won't run out.

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

• 2010/09/25: OilDrum: Recycling Our Way to Sustainable Waste Management
• 2010/09/21: EnergyBulletin: The End of the World-as-we-know-it in 10 years? And the rise of the post-carbon era...
• 2010/09/22: EnergyBulletin: Will resource production networks warn us before failing?
• 2010/09/21: OilDrum: Systemic Risk Arising from a Financial System that Requires Growth in a World with Limited Oil Supply

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

• 2010/09/25: Grist: The GINK Videos -- Soap operas spread word on reproductive health and population
• 2010/09/24: TerraDaily: Critics urge pressure as China one-child policy hits 30
• 2010/09/23: TerraDaily: China marks 30 years of one-child policy
• 2010/09/24: Eureka: National study: Abortion does not cause depression or low self-esteem in adolescents

  Apocalypso anyone?

• 2010/09/25: CCP: "The battle to prevent climate change, feeble as it was, is over. Now the race to survive it has begun" Mark Hertsgaard, author of "Hot: Living Through the Next 50 Years on Earth"
• 2010/09/23: Guardian(UK): [Letters] George Monbiot's despairing requiem for the planet

  As for how the media handles the science of climatology:

• 2010/09/25: ClimateSight: Don't Listen to the Newspapers
• 2010/09/24: GreenGrok: Red Herring Alert: Planet Earth Does Not Need a Care Package
• 2010/09/23: POGGE: QOTD [Mark Brayne on BBC climate converage]
• 2010/09/22: KSJT: Big academy report on ocean acidification -- who's covering this news?
• 2010/09/22: ClimateP: Former correspondent and editor explains the drop in quality of BBC's climate coverage
  Shocker: For 2011, BBC has "explicitly parked climate change in the category 'Done That Already, Nothing New to Say'."
• 2010/09/21: NRDC:SwitchBoard: Media Coverage of 'The Worst Summer Ever?'
• 2010/09/20: ClimateP: Journalism professor Jay Rosen on why climate science reporting is so bad

  Regarding the quality of blogosphere discussion:

• 2010/09/26: OilDrum: Clown Fest

  Here is something for your library:

• 2010/09/25: CCP: [Book Plug] _Hot: Living Through the Next Fifty Years on Earth_ by Mark Hertsgaard
• 2010/09/20: ClimateP: [Book Massacre] Climatopolis: How Our Cities Will Thrive in the Hotter Future [Not!] -- Books you don't have to read past the title, Part 2

  And for your film & video enjoyment:

• 2010/09/24: ClimateP: Video: What if oil industry officials spoke the truth?
• 2010/09/22: NRDC:SwitchBoard: Video: Living a Global Warming Nightmare

  As for podcasts:

• 2010/09/22: SkeptiSci: [podcast & transcript] Does Climate Change Really Matter? by Kevin Judd
• 2010/09/21: CBC: Could farming methods threaten civilization?

  Meanwhile among the 'Sue the Bastards!' contingent:

• 2010/09/24: AirSpaceMag: NASA v. The Scientists -- A band of space scientists and engineers take their fight for privacy all the way to the Supreme Court
• 2010/09/25: SlashDot: JPL Scientists Take NASA To the Supreme Court
• 2010/09/21: CfCCL: Japan v. Canada at the World Trade Organization: Whither Green Jobs?
• 2010/09/22: BCLSB: Japan And Canada Square Off Over Green Jobs
• 2010/09/22: CBC: PotashCorp asks court to stop 'misleading' BHP bid
• 2010/09/22: OilChange: Court rules companies can't be sued under Alien Tort [Shell-Niger Delta]
• 2010/09/21: EurActiv: Commission sued over biofuels as suspicions mount
• 2010/09/21: EUO: EU sued over lack of transparency
  A group of environmental lawyers are suing the EU over alleged attempts to restrict access to information and a lack of transparency in the bloc's biofuels policy. On Monday (20 September) ClientEarth filed a lawsuit against the European Commission in the EU's General Court in Luxembourg, charging the executive body with having failed to release "documents containing previously undisclosed information on the negative climate impacts of widespread biofuels use."
• 2010/09/20: Reuters: EU exec sued over biofuels as suspicions mount

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

• 2010/09/24: UN: Iceland issues call at UN for poorer countries to harness potential of geothermal energy
• 2010/09/24: NRDC:SwitchBoard: Another natural gas well explosion in West Virginia, continues to burn after 6 days
• 2010/09/24: TEC: Is Gasoline Too Cheap?
• 2010/09/23: NBF: Paris Basin Shale Oil Could have more recoverable oil than the Bakken oil field
• 2010/09/24: NBF: Turning Waste Heat Into Power
• 2010/09/24: SolveClimate: America's First Oil Sands Project in Utah to Face Legal Challenges
  Developer claims project will produce no toxic waste but water worries persist for project one permit away from breaking ground
• 2010/09/23: BBerg: Low-Emission Shale Gas to Discourage Nuclear, Carbon Capture, Chatham [House study] Says
• 2010/09/24: PhysOrg: New kind of fuel cell delivers energy and fine chemicals with no waste from renewable raw materials
• 2010/09/24: NCSU: Mimicking Nature, Water-Based 'Artificial Leaf' Produces Electricity
• 2010/09/24: OilChange: "Brazil is the future for the oil industry"
• 2010/09/23: Eureka: Researchers discover less expensive low-temperature catalyst for hydrogen purification
• 2010/09/23: PeakEnergy: Generation from geothermal sources in NZ hits historical high
• 2010/09/23: PeakEnergy: Hydrogen's extreme makeover
• 2010/09/22: TEC: Peak Oil Interview: Misconceptions, Replacing Oil, and False Solutions
• 2010/09/20: TEC: Solar subsidies versus new nuclear build costs
• 2010/09/21: AlterNet: Will the US and China Be Locked in a Global Battle Over Oil?
• 2010/09/20: CSW: Martin Hoffert: "No. No. No to decoupling the issues of human energy systems from climate change."
• 2010/09/20: Telegraph(UK): Energy shortage is a global concern
  Could we be facing a supply shortage as the demand for electricity continues to increase? More fuel efficiency is needed both at home and in industry to beat the deficit
• 2010/09/20: TreeHugger: Limnion Geothermal Energy Reactors Offer Idiot-proof Installation, Small Footprint

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

• 2010/09/24: Platts: Pennsylvania's fracking rules need beefing up: review group
  Pennsylvania's hydraulic fracturing regulatory program needs to be beefed up, the State Review of Oil and Natural Gas Environmental Regulations (STRONGER) said Thursday. STRONGER is a non-profit organization that uses industry personnel to review state oil and gas environmental regulations.
• 2010/09/22: Consumerist: Our Water Is Totally Fracked Up
• 2010/09/23: BBC: Shale gas trend to 'raise prices' warns think tank
• 2010/09/23: NYT:GW: Obama Admin Rejects Timeout for Natural Gas Drilling in N.Y., Pa.
  The Obama administration has decided against pressing for a temporary halt to Marcellus Shale drilling in Pennsylvania and New York, a key federal official said.
• 2010/09/20: NYT:GW: Controversial Candidates on 'Short List' for EPA Fracking Panel

  The answer my friend...:

• 2010/09/23: DerSpiegel: World's Biggest Offshore Wind Park Goes Live in UK
• 2010/09/25: DerSpiegel: Wind Not Weapons -- An Ailing Shipyard Finds New Life with Renewable Energies
  The German wind energy sector is expanding, opening up fresh business opportunities -- even for unlikely candidates like warship makers. The Nordseewerke shipyard has rejiggered its business model and decided to go green.
• 2010/09/23: BBC: Largest offshore wind farm opens off Thanet in Kent
• 2010/09/24: PlanetArk: Analysis: Firms Jump On UK Offshore Wind Bandwagon
• 2010/09/23: REA: GWEC: 200 GW of Wind in 2010
• 2010/09/23: SolveClimate: World's Biggest Offshore Windfarm Opens Off UK Coast, but British Firms Miss Out
  Blow to UK green techonology industry as less than 20% of $1.4 billion investment in Thanet windfarm goes to British firms
• 2010/09/23: BBerg: Global Wind Power Capacity May Rival Nuclear Within Four Years, GWEC Says
• 2010/09/23: EarthTimes: Britain opens world's largest offshore wind farm [Thanet] on south coast
• 2010/09/23: REA: UK Wind Sails Past 5 GW as Thanet Comes On Stream
• 2010/09/21: PhysOrg: Major wind energy fair opens in Germany -- the Wind Energy 2010 fair in Husum
  The world's leading wind energy trade fair opened in Germany on Tuesday, organisers said, with close to 1,000 exhibitors from around 70 countries expected to draw some 30,000 visitors.
• 2010/09/21: REA: Vestas Secures First European Order for V112 [3MW] Wind Turbine

  Meanwhile among the solar aficionados:

• 2010/09/21: FuturePundit: 100X Solar Energy Concentrator With Nanotubes
• 2010/09/24: LA Times:GS: California's largest solar photovoltaic plant to start construction
• 2010/09/24: PlanetArk: DuPont Sees $1 Bln Solar Market Sales In 2010
• 2010/09/24: REA: Solar Cell Production Climbs to Another Record in 2009
  Solar photovoltaic (PV) cell manufacturers produced a record 10,700 megawatts of PV cells globally in 2009 -- an impressive 51-percent increase from the year before
• 2010/09/23: REA: 392 More MW of CSP Approved in California
• 2010/09/21: TreeHugger: Solar Cell Production Increases 51 Percent
• 2010/09/21: TEC: Key Players in the 2010 Global Solar Industry
• 2010/09/20: USAToday: Builders install solar systems, homeowners can lease them

  This looks like an irredemiably bad idea to me, but it keeps being recycled. How do the roads look where you live?

• 2010/09/23: Wired: Solar Roads Fix The Grid And Crumbling Pavement

  Feed-In-Tariffs are being variously implemented around the world:

• 2010/09/22: SolveClimate: Solar Energy Surging in Italy, Outpacing U.S. -- New feed-in-tariff law, streamlined approval process fueling growth and optimism

  On the coal front:

• 2010/09/25: HoustonChronicle: Planned coal plant meets resistance -- Environmental fears replace the initial appeal of jobs, tax receipts in Matagorda County
• 2010/09/22: IndiaTimes: Coal aplenty, but power companies prefer foreign assets -- "in countries with conducive regulatory norms"

  Biofuel bickering abounds:

• 2010/09/24: KSJT: Bloomberg on corn-ethanol's last gasps; other outlets more cheerful...
• 2010/09/21: PhysOrg: USDA report shows improving corn-ethanol energy efficiency

  The nuclear energy controversy continues:

• 2010/09/24: NBF: Carnival of Nuclear Energy 20 - Zeroing out coal is achievable and necessary
• 2010/09/23: EarthTimes: Turkey planning second nuclear power plant
• 2010/09/23: TEC: What's Next for Nuclear Power and Carbon Capture Technology?
• 2010/09/22: TEC: MIT nuclear study stirs controversy
• 2010/09/23: PeakEnergy: "Yellow Dirt": Radioactive reservation
• 2010/09/22: BNC: TerraPower's Travelling Wave Reactor -- why not use an IFR?
• 2010/09/21: NatureN: Fuel and waste no bar to US nuclear growth -- [MIT] Report finds that plentiful fuel supplies and temporary storage will buy decades of time to develop a longer-term strategy
• 2010/09/20: NYT:CW: Experts Weigh Extending the Lives of Nuclear Power Plants to 80 Years

  Yes we have peak everything:

• 2010/09/22: MTobis: Potential Liquid Hydrocarbons and Impact
• 2010/09/22: MTobis: Peak Oil? Or not?
• 2010/09/20: OilDrum: Charles Maxwell Forecasts Peak Oil in Seven Years
• 2010/09/13: DailyYonder: Forget Oil, Worry About Phosphorus

  More people are talking about the electrical grid:

• 2010/09/24: GigaOM: Report: Smart Grid Outspends Smart Meters
  Smart meters get all the attention, but smart distribution grid and substation projects are actually taking the lead in smart grid spending across the nation -- and corporate giants are reaping the benefit.
• 2010/09/23: NYT:CW: Who Will Become the Masters of the 'Smart Grid'?
• 2010/09/23: TreeHugger: Smart Grid Services a $4.3 Billion Industry By 2015
• 2010/09/21: GigaOM: Why Texas is the Smart Meter Market to Watch
• 2010/09/21: PlanetArk: Pattern Energy Plans Texas Wind-Power Export Path

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

• 2010/09/26: NakedCapitalism: Tom Friedman Embraces the Electric Car 15 Years Late
• 2010/09/24: TEC: How electric cars will save you money
• 2010/09/22: AutoBG: Magna VP says electric vehicle won't appeal to consumers until gas exceeds $5/gallon
• 2010/09/22: DerSpiegel: E-Chic -- Smart and Mini Unveil Electric Concept Scooters
  The era of the electric car is supposedly just around the corner. But a new trend will be grabbing attention at the Paris Motor Show: the e-scooter. Both Daimler and BMW will be showing concept scooters that are not only design pieces, but also include advanced technology never seen before in two-wheelers.
• 2010/09/20: AutoBG: Ford VP: "Uncertainty about fuel prices has changed the mindset of customers"
• 2010/09/20: AutoBG: Driving Sustainability: Mitsubishi's lithium-ion battery ideas include slashing price of an electric car pack by 75%
• 2010/09/21: AutoBG: Nissan teams up with Sumitomo to explore second-life options for li-ion batteries
• 2010/09/21: AutoBG: Poll: 74 % of U.S. voters support 60 mpg fleetwide average by 2025
• 2010/09/21: TEC: ABB and GM team up to study after-Volt battery uses
• 2010/09/20: CBC: E-cars stalled by battery costs: panel -- New battery technology needed, says e-car firm VP
  High electric battery costs are still the main roadblock to mass marketing electric cars, industry experts say. "The cost of the battery today is almost the same as the cost of the car," said Sarwant Singh, of the international business research and consulting firm Frost and Sullivan.

This week in the Gee Whiz File:

• 2010/09/24: NBF: Solar Wind Power (SWP) [Dyson-Harrop] Satellites could provide 100 billion times current world energy needs
• 2010/09/23: NBF: Convert carbon-dioxide emissions to useful building materials, using genetically altered yeast
• 2010/09/24: AstroBiology: (ab$) The Solar Wind Power Satellite as an alternative to a traditional Dyson Sphere and its implications for remote detection by Brooks L. Harrop & Dirk Schulze-Makuch
• Wiki: Dyson-Harrop satellite
• 2010/09/24: NewScientist: Out-of-this-world proposal for solar wind power

  As for Energy Storage:

• 2010/09/24: PhysOrg: New ultracapacitor recharges in under a millisecond
• 2010/09/21: PhysOrg: Paper-thin supercapacitor has higher capacitance when twisted than any non-twisted supercapacitor

  The reaction of business to climate change will be critical:

• 2010/09/21: PlanetArk: U.S. Companies Lag Global Ones On Carbon Disclosure
• 2010/09/19: BBerg: Siemens, Texas Instruments Find Opportunities in Climate Change
  More companies foresee business opportunities that may offset the market risks of climate change, a survey by institutional investors found. Almost 90 percent of those responding in the survey of 500 of the world's largest public companies identified "significant opportunities" from climate change, up from 80 percent last year, the Carbon Disclosure Project said in a report today.
• 2010/09/19: Reuters: U.S. companies lag global ones on carbon disclosure
  500 firms asked to report climate risks in annual survey - Europe had 20 pct of top performers, N. America 6 pct

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

• 2010/09/24: ClimateP: Energy and Global Warming News for September 24...
• 2010/09/22: ClimateP: Energy and Global Warming News for September 22...
• 2010/09/21: ClimateP: Energy and Global Warming News for September 21...
• 2010/09/20: ClimateP: Energy and Global Warming News for September 20...

  Other (weekly) lists:

• 2010/09/24: NRDC:SwitchBoard: India Climate Change and Energy News - Week of September 14, 2010 to September 20, 2010
• 2010/09/23: Grist: A walk through the week's climate news -- The Climate Post: Castro's secret meeting with scientists proves climate change is a communist plot
• 2010/09/20: TDC: Climate Clippings

  The carbon lobby are up to the usual:

• 2010/09/26: HotTopic: Hide's Aussie holiday: warming up for Carterist science's new consensus
• 2010/09/24: S&R: 21 expert climate scientists refute Monckton's House testimony
• 2010/09/24: WtD: Blogger Anthony Watts twists science, and yet no-one is surprised
• 2010/09/24: BSD: The small, non-zero set where Laughlin is right and Hansen is wrong
• 2010/09/23: Grist: Bjorn Lomborg: same skeptic, different day
• 2010/09/24: Deltoid: Rachel Pinker on Monckton's testimony to Congress
• 2010/09/24: BCLSB: Ernst Georg Beck Passes Away
• 2010/09/24: WtD: Something wicked this way comes: October deniers conference and book launch
• 2010/09/23: Maribo: Response to Monkton's blustering about coral reefs
• 2010/09/23: ClimateP: Koch Industries among hosts of Carly Fiorina fundraiser
• 2010/09/23: NRDC:SwitchBoard: Turning the Tables on Big Oil's Phony "Real People" Ads
• 2010/09/23: Deltoid: Heartland Climate Conference comes to Sydney
• 2010/09/23: WtD: The Age of Unreason: creationism and climate change denial travel hand-in-hand
• 2010/09/22: BVerheggen: When will we stop taking Christopher Monckton seriously?
• 2010/09/22: WottsUWT: Arctic isolated versus "urban" stations show differing trends
• 2010/09/22: PSinclair: Climate Scientists utterly destroy what's left of Monckton's Cred
• 2010/09/22: MTobis: Warlord of Mars
• 2010/09/22: HotTopic: Monckton: the final slapdown
• 2010/09/21: WtD: [Australian] Liberal senator joins deniers conference: yes, the Opposition are the party of denial
• 2010/09/21: WottsUWT: Website News
• 2010/09/21: Guardian(UK): Are the climate change sceptics with no evidence just naturally gullible?
  To dismiss a scientific canon on the basis of evidence that has been debunked evinces an astonishing level of self-belief
• 2010/09/21: Guardian(UK): 'Chemical nonsense': Leading scientists refute Lord Monckton's attack on climate science
• 2010/09/21: BBickmore: Monckton Responds: We're a Bunch of Crazy Felons
• 2010/09/21: SMandia: Monckton Testimony at US Congress: Ignorance or Perjury?
• 2010/09/21: TCoE: Pushing back against Monckton
• 2010/09/21: TWTB: Did Lomborg really change his delayer tune?
• 2010/09/21: Tamino: Do You Care?
• 2010/09/21: CCP: Scientists Matthew Huber, Carl Wunsch, Daniel Schrag, Burton Richter, David Keith & Martin Hoffert react to Nobelist Laughlin's climate thoughts
• 2010/09/21: CCP: Koch-financed Tea Party plans to subvert democracy in Wisconsin using illegal tactic of voter caging, Americans for Prosperity-Wisc. and the Republican Party of Wisc. are accomplices
• 2010/09/21: ClimateP: Climate scientists eviscerate Lord Monckton's attempt to disinform the U.S. Congress
• 2010/09/21: SkeptiSci: Climate scientists respond to Monckton's misinformation
• 2010/09/21: NRDC:SwitchBoard: American Petroleum Institute: Public Health Isn't Worth It...to Us
• 2010/09/21: Deltoid: Monckton's testimony to Congress debunked some more
• 2010/09/21: DeSmogBlog: Reviewers trash Monckton's Congressional testimony
• 2010/09/21: TP: Meet Mike Pompeo: The Congressional Candidate Spawned By The 'Kochtopus'
• 2010/09/20: NYT: The Brothers Koch and AB 32
• 2010/09/20: DeSmogBlog: Climate Scientists React to Bizarre Climate Commentary by Robert Laughlin
• 2010/09/20: MTobis: "Disruption" Disruption
• 2010/09/19: Deltoid: The Wegman plagiarism scandal

  As for climate miscellanea:

• 2010/09/25: MTobis: Thought-Provoking Week
• 2010/09/22: UNDispatch: Dancing in the Dark: The Danger of Letting Business Lead on Climate Protection
• 2010/09/25: SMandia: Little Ice Age vs. Global Warming
• 2010/09/23: HuffPo: Meet Generation Hot
• 2010/09/25: ClimateP: Mark Hertsgaard names Generation Hot: Living through the next fifty years on earth
• 2010/09/24: TreeHugger: Carbon Emissions Reporting Where It Belongs: With Global Financial Accountants
• 2010/09/25: CBC:Q&Q: The Last Tortoise
• 2010/09/24: MTobis: Flood Water Release
• 2010/09/23: SkeptiSci: Billions of Blow Dryers: Some Missing Heat Returns to Haunt Us by doug_bostrom
• 2010/09/22: PhysOrg: Scientists convert carbon-dioxide emissions to useful building materials, using genetically altered yeast
• 2010/09/22: DerSpiegel: New Biotopes in the North Sea -- Wind Turbines Create Artificial Reef
  A slew of non-native marine species have made their home on the Alpha Ventus wind turbines off the German coast in the North Sea. Scientists say the oysters and crabs, among others, have not affected the structures.
• 2010/09/21: ClimateP: Climate disruption caused by global warming driven by human emissions of greenhouse gases
• 2010/09/21: DWWSJ: Is The Summer Heat Wave About To End At Last?
• 2010/09/21: Stoat: Attribution errors
• 2010/09/21: TreeHugger: The Dark Threat of Ecofascism
• 2010/09/20: AGWObserver: Deep ocean heat
• 2010/09/20: MTobis: Me on "Disruption"
• 2010/09/20: MTobis: "Disruption" Disruption
• 2010/09/19: MTobis: Climate Disruption
• 2010/09/20: SMH: Psychology provides insight into why people doubt climate change

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

• Wiki: Supercontinent cycle
• FAO: Extraordinary Intersessional Meeting of the Intergovernmental Group (IGG) on Grains and the IGG on Rice
  A one-day extraordinary intersessional meeting of the IGG on Grains and the IGG on Rice is being convened on 24 September 2010 at FAO Headquarters, Rome
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My first novel Water was published in Canada May, 2007. The American release was in October. An Introductionto the novel is available, along with the Unpublished Forewordand the Launch Talk. An overview of my writing is available here.

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

"We're running the planet like a company in liquidation." -Al Gore

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• H.E. Taylor (homepage)