Logging the Onset of The Bottleneck Years
This weekly posting is brought to you courtesy of H. E. Taylor. Happy reading, I hope you enjoy this week's Global Warming news roundup
Another week of Climate Instability News
Logging the Onset of The Bottleneck Years
December 5, 2010
- Chuckles, COP15, COP16, Kyoto, 4 Degrees+, CableGate, Cable Talk, Pakistan
- Subsidies, GEE, Weather, The Question, Why, Thermodynamics, Cook, Post CRU
- Melting Arctic, Methane, Geopolitics, Antarctica
- Food Crisis, Fisheries, Land Grabs, GMOs, Food Production
- Hurricanes, GHGs, Temperatures, Feedbacks, Aerosols, Clouds, Ozone, Paleoclimate
- ENSO, Solar, Climate Sensitivity, State of the Oceans
- Proxies, Satellites, Impacts, Forests, Tornadoes
- Wildfires, Corals, Acidification, Glaciers, Sea Levels, Floods & Droughts
- Mitigation, REDD, Transportation, Buildings, Sequestration, Geoengineering, Adaptation
- Journals, Other Docs , Misc. Science, DIY Science, Models, Phil Mote, Curry, Wegman
- UN, Carbon Trade, Optimal Carbon Reduction Strategy
- International Politics: Misc., Energy Race, Law & Activism, Activism, H2O Biz, Religioso, Predictions
- National Politics: America, BP Disaster, Ethanol, RGGI, Exemptions, Obama, USAdmin, Congress, Lobbyists
- Britain, Europe, Australia, Murray-Darling, India, Russia, South America
- Canada, Post G20, Offshore Drilling, Foreign Lobbying, US Regulations
- Pipelines, Aboriginal Role, Cancun, BC, Tar Sands, Manitoba, Ontario, Maritimes, Canadiana
- Ecological Economics, IPAT, Apocalypso, Media, Books, Video, Courts
- Energy, Fracking, Wind, Solar, Coal, Biofuel, Nukes, Peak Oil, Grid, Efficiency, Cars, Energy Storage
- Business, Insurance, Greenwashing, Corporate Control, Joe's List, Carbon Lobby, Miscellaneous Climate, Useful Links
- Shameless Self Promotion, .sig
 |  |
- 2010/12/04: TI:CF: (cartoon - Roberts) Modernising Cantankerous Frank
- 2010/12/02: TI:CF: (cartoon - Roberts) Shouting Fire on a Crowded Planet
- 2010/11/30: TI:CF: (cartoon - Roberts) Taking the High Road
- 2010/11/29: TI:CF: (cartoon - Roberts) Keeping it real
- 2010/11/28: TI:CF: (cartoon - Roberts) Lost in Translation
- 2010/12/03: Seppo: (cartoon - Seppo) Japan wants to kill the Kyoto Protocol
- 2010/11/30: SEasterbrook: Headline Spin
- 2010/11/29: AFTIC: (cartoon - Roberts) Medicinal mavericks
And for those who enjoy challenging Poe's Law:
- 2010/12/01: Wonkette: House GOP Ends Climate-Change Committee Because It's Not Real
- 2010/11/29: Wonkette: Scary Environmentalist 'Dragon' Also Trying To Destroy Christianity
I suppose now I need a historical irony section...:
- 2010/12/03: BCLSB: Climate Change Deniers Get Paper Through Peer Review, Confirm AGW In Antarctica!
- 2010/12/01: ClimateP: The deniers were half right: The Met Office Hadley Centre had flawed data --- but it led them to UNDERestimate the rate of recent global warming
Looking back at Copenhagen:
- 2010/12/03: SolveClimate: Wikileaks: How U.S. Manipulated Climate Accord
- 2010/12/03: Guardian(UK): WikiLeaks cables reveal how US manipulated climate accord
Embassy dispatches show America used spying, threats and promises of aid to get support for Copenhagen Accord - 2010/12/03: Guardian(UK): US embassy cables: EU raises 'creative accounting' with US over climate aid
- 2010/12/01: Grist: Leaked cables reveal Saudi minister of petroleum helped craft toothless Copenhagen climate accord
- 2010/11/30: EarthTimes: EU kicks off 'fast-start' climate aid, but half in loans
The first week at Cancún:
- UNFCCC: The United Nations Climate Change Conference in Cancun, 29 November - 10 December 2010
- COP 16, United Nations Climate Change Conference, Cancún, Quintana Roo
- 2010/12/03: NatureN: Cancún week one: A climate of confusion -- Progress on smaller emissions agreements threatened by dispute over Kyoto Protocol
- 2010/12/03: Guardian(UK): Cancún climate change summit: Week one in [17] pictures
- 2010/12/04: NRDC:SwitchBoard: Decision Time Coming Soon at the Global Warming Negotiations in Mexico: Can you accept what is on the table?
- 2010/12/04: LA Times: At climate summit, they're feeling like deserted islands
Members of the Alliance of Small Island States, already suffering the ill effects of global warming, are furious that the large nations that are the big emitters of greenhouse gases aren't doing more to ensure their survival. - 2010/12/03: G&M: Climate talks -- Who will pay for the environmental mess we're in?
- 2010/12/04: TerraDaily: What's on the table at UN climate talks
- 2010/12/05: TerraDaily: Climate: Ghost of Copenhagen stalks Cancun
- 2010/12/03: SolveClimate: REDD Forest Rescue Deal Still Draws Bitter Debate, Weak Agreement Feared
Nations are at loggerheads over fundamental issues, most notably Bolivia and the U.S. and Australia. - 2010/12/03: PI:B: Youthful optimism in Cancun
- 2010/12/03: CCurrents: Climate Talks Promise Little, Deliver Less
- 2010/12/03: Bullet: Climate Inaction Conference
- 2010/12/03: Rabble: From Copenhagen to Cancun, we've got you covered [list of articles]
- 2010/12/04: AlterNet: How Cancun's Attempt to Develop a Tourist Beach Paradise Helped Turn It into Mexico's Suicide Capital
- 2010/12/03: BBC:RB: Hot and cold oil in Cancun climate
- 2010/11/30: PeakSurfer: The Cancún Climate Summit - Opening Day Coverage
- 2010/12/02: ViaCampesina: Statement by the CLOC-VÃa Campesina on the Climate Summit in Cancun
- 2010/12/03: EUO: Rocky first week augurs badly for Cancun outcome
- 2010/12/03: HotTopic: Coates in Cancún: tequila time on hold
- 2010/12/04: HotTopic: We want to survive
- 2010/12/03: SolveClimate: Cancun Protesters Target Canada, U.S. over Oil Sands Pipelines
In contrast to eventful Copenhagen in 2009, the oil sands action was one of the first visible demonstrations held at the Cancun talks - 2010/12/03: PlanetArk: U.N. Climate Talks Struggle To Overhaul Carbon Trade
- 2010/12/03: Grist: India proposes a system to monitor carbon pollution reductions
- 2010/12/03: BBerg: China Turns Tables on U.S. in Stalled Climate Talks
- 2010/12/03: BBC: Global warming talks just hot air?
- 2010/12/03: OilChange: Cancun: A Groundhog Summit
- 2010/12/03: TMoS: COP16 - The Incredible Vanishing Climate Summit
- 2010/12/03: BBC: Poorer nations 'need carbon cuts', urges The Maldives
Poor countries as well as rich should look to cut carbon emissions, says Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed. Continuing to equate the need to develop with the right to emit carbon dioxide is, he says, "quite silly". - 2010/12/02: Guardian(UK): For us in the Pacific, the Cancún climate summit is about survival [by President of the island of Nauru, Marcus Stephen]
- 2010/12/02: Guardian(UK): Cancún climate change summit: One lesson not to learn from Mexico
Felipe Calderon vowed to be Mexico's greenest ever president but his centralised reforestation effort proved disastrous - 2010/12/02: Guardian(UK): Cancún climate change summit: UN urges phase-out of old-style light bulbs
- 2010/12/02: Guardian(UK): Cancún climate change conference: 2010 to rank in top three hottest years
- 2010/12/02: EUO: EU funding offer sparks anger at Cancun
In one of the first major announcements at UN climate talks in Cancun, Mexico, the EU has released details of its contribution to 'fast-start' funding to help poorer nations deal with the adverse effects of climate change over the short-term. But aid agencies and governments from developing countries quickly rounded on the news when it became clear that roughly half the money would be in the form of loans or equity in local companies, rather than grants. Wrangling over the 'fast-start' funding has led to a major breakdown in trust between rich and poor nations over the past year. - 2010/12/01: EmbassyMag: Negotiating in bad faith
- 2010/12/02: Yahoo:Reuters: India hopes climate auditing scheme will get U.S. nod
- 2010/12/01: Grist: Cancun: politics vs. science
- 2010/12/02: DM:80B: Will Anything Be Accomplished at the Cancun Climate Summit?
- 2010/12/01: ClimateP: As climate talks commence, Cancun's beaches are washing away
- 2010/11/30: EnergyBulletin: Cancun, and more consequential C words
- 2010/12/01: Guardian(UK): Cancún climate talks are vital to the UK
- 2010/12/01: Guardian(UK): Cancún climate change summit: UK government gets cosy with corporations
- 2010/12/01: Guardian(UK): Cancún climate change conference: Row over EU climate loans policy
- 2010/12/01: Guardian(UK): Cancún climate change summit: China's journey from Copenhagen
- 2010/12/01: Guardian(UK): Cancún climate change summit: a question of trust
- 2010/12/02: HotTopic: Coates in Cancún: the stakes are high
- 2010/12/01: CM: Carbon Pricing
- 2010/12/01: SolveClimate: Logging Loophole Under Attack at Cancun Climate Talks
The loophole would allow some 450 megatons of climate-changing emissions each year, or 5% of the global total, a new report says - 2010/12/01: CCP: Deborah Phelan: "dailycancun: traffic justice" -- Day 1 of COP16 at Cancún
- 2010/12/01: KSJT: Lots of Ink: In Cancun, as the beaches erode seasonally or otherwise, climate talks march on
- 2010/12/01: NewScientist: Climate talks prepare to nibble at world-saving plans
- 2010/12/02: PlanetArk: Bolivia Assails Rich, Carbon Market At Cancun Talks
- 2010/12/01: PlanetArk: Old Rifts Mar U.N. Climate Talks On "Balanced Deal"
- 2010/12/01: PhysOrg: Mexico sees US emissions target as 'modest'
- 2010/12/01: Reuters: Logging Loophole Under Attack at Cancun Climate Talks [LULUCF]
- 2010/12/01: TreeHugger: COP16 May Fail to Stop Climate Change, But An Abolitionist Shift Would Succeed
- 2010/11/30: NYT:GW: International Negotiators Eye Ozone Treaty as Shortcut to CO2 Deal
- 2010/12/01: TEC: Towards a Greater Role for Developing Countries at COP16
- 2010/12/01: TEC: Beyond Mere Targets: The Developed Country Obstacle
- 2010/11/29: CCurrents: Cancún Opens For GREEN Business But REDD Will Destroy Indigenous Forest Cultures
- 2010/11/30: DeSmogBlog: Cancun Showdown: Results at the UN Climate Talks More Important Than Ever
- 2010/11/30: Guardian(UK): Climate talks: We must not allow Cancún to turn into Can'tCun
- 2010/11/30: Guardian(UK): Cancún climate change summit: Talk is cheap for big business
- 2010/11/30: Guardian(UK): Cancún climate change talks: 'The environment revolution has already begun' [video]
Christiana Figueres, the executive secretary of the UNFCCC, talks at a press conference to open the COP16 Cancún summit in Mexico - 2010/11/30: Guardian(UK): Cancún climate change summit: America plays tough
US adopts all-or-nothing position in Cancún, fuelling speculation of a walk-out if developing countries do not meet its demands - 2010/11/30: Guardian(UK): Cancún climate summit: Let's look beyond carbon
It's unlikely countries will sign up to binding limits on carbon dioxide unless growth can be decoupled from the use of fossil fuels - 2010/12/01: Guardian(UK): Don't consign us to history, plead island states [AOSIS] at Cancún
- 2010/12/01: TEC: The Balancing Act in Cancún: Early Impressions of COP-16
- 2010/12/01: Rabble:EL: Climate justice activities in Mexico City
- 2010/11/30: DerSpiegel: 'At Least the Weather Will Be Better' -- Managing Expectations for a Climate Deal in Cancun
Copenhagen was a disaster, and now the next United Nations climate change conference is beginning in sunny Cancun. Despite generally low expectations and setbacks of his own, German Environment Minister Norbert Röttgen sees sunny prospects and even a bit of progress at the summit in Mexico. - 2010/11/30: TMoS: Will American Hypocrisy Doom COP16, Cancun?
- 2010/11/30: EurActiv: EU warns climate talks risk irrelevance as Cancún opens
- 2010/11/30: DeSmogBlog: COP16 Climate Talks: U.S. Position May See it Leave Cancun Early
- 2010/11/29: CM: Cancun
- 2010/11/30: CM: SBSTA Plenary
- 2010/11/29: SolveClimate: U.S. Call to Preserve Copenhagen Accord Puts Climate Conference on Edge
Many poor countries want to scrap the three-page Copenhagen agreement that the U.S. wants to preserve - 2010/11/30: RCEcon: Spotlight Cancún: Cancún and the New Economics of Climate Change
- 2010/11/30: MongaBay: Consumer goods industry announces goal of zero deforestation in Cancun
- 2010/11/30: Grist: Spotlight Cancún: Climate Realism
- 2010/11/29: SeedDaily: UN food expert urges "Green Marshall Plan" from Cancun
- 2010/11/30: TerraDaily: Non-CO2 Pollutants Are Promising Target In Cancun
- 2010/11/28: TerraDaily: US loses leverage in climate talks
- 2010/11/30: TerraDaily: Bangladesh wants money, not more talks on climate change
- 2010/11/29: Oxfam: Climate change talks must deliver following record year of extreme weather
- 2010/11/30: EarthTimes: Hope for compromise, fear of delay at UN climate summit
- 2010/11/30: EarthTimes: Rhetoric offers glimpse into low hopes at UN climate summit
- 2010/11/30: NRDC:SwitchBoard: Video Blog Day 1: The mood in Mexico for the Global Warming Negotiations
- 2010/11/29: TEC: Cancun can't: Ten reasons why the climate talks will fail
- 2010/11/29: TEC: Cancun Climate Talks: Irrelevant?
- 2010/11/30: OilChange: BP says to Cancun: Invest in the tar sands
- 2010/11/29: NYT: Global Climate Change Talks Begin in Cancún
- 2010/11/29: CAN: Fossil of the day awards - Cancun
- 2010/11/29: Guardian(UK): Don't look to South Africa for climate leadership at Cancún
IPS: Africa's biggest carbon emitter will align itself with other big developing economies at the UN climate talks in attempts to prioritise development over cutting emissions - 2010/11/29: Guardian(UK): Cancún climate talks: In search of the holy grail of climate change policy
- 2010/11/29: UN: UN climate change talks open in Cancún with call for balanced, concrete outcome
- 2010/11/29: CM: [Cancun] Clusterfuck... And that's just the getting here
- 2010/11/30: HotTopic: Can Cancún's COP deliver?
- 2010/11/29: MongaBay: Island nations [AOSIS] say climate treaty should be completed in 2011
- 2010/11/29: EUO: UN method hangs in the balance as climate talks begin
- 2010/11/29: ABC(Au): Cancun climate talks: What's at stake?
- 2010/11/29: ABC(Au): Hopes low as Australia heads to climate talks
- 2010/11/29: Grist: What to expect (or not) from the Cancun climate talks
- 2010/11/28: TerraDaily: Battle lines drawn for Cancun climate conference
- 2010/11/29: EarthTimes: UN climate head urges compromises to save global talks
- 2010/11/29: EarthTimes: Cancun climate summit opens with warnings against delay
- 2010/11/29: EarthTimes: Mexico's Calderon: Climate change already a reality
- 2010/11/29: ENS: Stakes High, Expectations Low as Climate Talks Open in Cancun
- 2010/11/29: Independent(UK): 200 nations, one mission: to repair the mess left by Copenhagen
- 2010/11/28: TEC: Live in Cancun for the UN Climate Talks
- 2010/11/29: CSM: Climate change talks in Cancun: What can be accomplished?
- 2010/11/29: SwissInfo: Emission cuts are "crucial" to success in Cancun
The Swiss delegation has headed to the United Nations climate summit in Cancun intent on pushing ahead a global deal and securing binding emission cuts for all. - 2010/11/29: BBC: UN climate talks low on expectation
This year's UN climate summit has opened in Mexico, with expectations of significant progress generally low. - 2010/11/29: BBC:RB: Four degrees of hurt
- 2010/11/29: CBC: Climate talks seek to bridge rich-poor divisions
- 2010/11/29: Guardian(UK): Climate change talks: escaping Copenhagen's shadow
Will Kyoto get a second phase committment?
- 2010/12/04: TerraDaily: Kyoto protocol needs second commitment phase: China
- 2010/12/04: G&M: Rejecting Kyoto extension threatens climate talks: developing nations
- 2010/12/04: WpgFP: Canada joins Russia, Japan in opposition to extending Kyoto Protocol
- 2010/12/03: Rabble:EL: Update from Cancun: Canada attempts to kill the Kyoto Protocol
- 2010/12/04: Guardian(UK): Cancún climate talks in danger of collapse over Kyoto continuation
- 2010/12/03: NRDC:SwitchBoard: UN rules out extending Kyoto C02 limits this year, hurting carbon market and other China environmental news
- 2010/12/03: AllAfrica:IPS: Japan Under Fire for Abandoning Kyoto Pact
- 2010/12/02: TerraDaily: Kyoto feud casts shadow on climate talks
- 2010/12/02: Guardian(UK): Cancún climate change summit: Japan accused of threatening Kyoto protocol
- 2010/12/02: SolveClimate: Japan's Motion to Kill Kyoto Protocol a 'Slap in the Face,' Advocates Say
Other rich states, most notably Russia and Canada, oppose extending the Kyoto treaty beyond 2012
Advocates for poor nations angrily assailed Japan at the Cancun climate talks on Wednesday for planning to kill off the Kyoto Protocol, a move they say might dent chances of progress in the two-week talks.
"It was really a slap in the face because all of the developing countries are totally united to the fact that the Kyoto Protocol must continue," Lim Li Lin of the Third World Network, a nonprofit based in Malaysia, told SolveClimate News.
Japan announced that it will oppose extension of the Kyoto pact beyond 2012, the strongest articulation of its position ever made. Instead, it will fight for a new global deal to cover all nations based on the Copenhagen Accord, in line with U.S. policy in Cancun. - 2010/12/01: Grist: Cancun climate talks hit bump thanks to Japan and Brazil
- 2010/12/02: BBerg: China, Brazil Say Debate on Extending Kyoto Accord Threatens Climate Talks
- 2010/12/01: Guardian(UK): Cancún climate change summit: Japan refuses to extend Kyoto protocol
- 2010/12/01: BBerg: Japan Says `No' to Extending Kyoto Emissions Treaty, Wants New Agreement
- 2010/12/01: EarthTimes: Japan rejects Kyoto [renewal], 'casts a pall' over global climate talks
The Royal Society published a special "Four degrees and beyond" edition:
- 2010/11/29: RSTA: [links to several articles] Theme Issue 'Four degrees and beyond: the potential for a global temperature increase of four degrees and its implications'
- 2010/11/29: RSTA: Sea-level rise and its possible impacts given a 'beyond 4°C world' in the twenty-first century by Robert J. Nicholls et al.
- 2010/11/29: RSTA: Four degrees and beyond: the potential for a global temperature increase of four degrees and its implications by Mark New et al.
- 2010/11/29: CNN: Current emissions risk 'devastating' temperature rise, scientists warn
Current emissions need to be lowered if dangerous temperature rise are to be avoided - Series of papers published by UK Royal Society journal predict impact on humans and eco-systems - Sea-level rise of two meters and rainforest retreat predicted by the latter part of 21st century - 2010/11/29: ClimateP: Royal Society special issue details 'hellish vision' of 7°F (4°C) world -- which we may face in the 2060s!
- 2010/11/29: NewScientist: Royal Society paints picture of a world 4 °C warmer
- 2010/11/29: Reuters: Worst case study: global temp up 7.2F degrees by 2060s
World temperatures could soar by 4 degrees Celsius (7.2 degrees Fahrenheit) by the 2060s in the worst case of global climate change and require an annual investment of $270 billion just to contain rising sea levels, studies suggested on Sunday. - 2010/11/29: TEC: Business as usual is a formula for 4C of warming by 2060
- 2010/11/29: Guardian(UK): Climate change scientists warn of 4C global temperature rise
The CableGate revelations have some climate implications. The Leaks:
[Note: With all of the attempted censorship going on, you may have to adjust the base of the URL
with one of the alternate WikiLeaks sites.] - 2010/12/03: WikiLeaks: Cable 07PARIS1995, THE PRESIDENT'S JUNE 6 MEETING WITH FRENCH
[...]¶7. (C) Sarkozy is likely to have two priority issues of his own to raise, climate change and Darfur. On the first, Sarkozy signaled during his election victory speech that climate change was his top priority, and he called on the U.S. to "take the lead" in the fight against global warming. Sarkozy has stopped short of calling on the U.S. to join Kyoto, but he publicly advocates the idea of a carbon tax on imports from non-Kyoto signatories as a means of defending Europe's CO2 emissions trading system (ETS). The President should express our interest in enhancing collaboration on climate change with France, with a view to greater cooperation on a positive science and technology agenda.
- 2010/12/01: Guardian(UK): US embassy cables: Ambassador criticises London mayor over congestion charge
[...]
UK-U.S. Climate Change Differences
----------------------------------
13. (SBU) The predominant environmental concern in the UK is climate change. The UK was disappointed the U.S. did not sign the Kyoto Protocol. Local air quality is a concern, but when faced with a trade-off, UK policy will tend to favor reducing carbon output (as evidenced by the fact that around 50% of vehicles in the UK run on diesel and would not meet most U.S. air quality standards). There is strong support for action on climate change legislation across the political spectrum and among the general public in the UK. The UK participates in the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), a cap-and-trade program to help Europe meet its Kyoto Protocol commitments on carbon emissions. The UK is also a key supporter of a European Commission proposal to include aviation in the second phase of ETS, which is working its way through the legislative process. The U.S. and other governments have registered concerns over the legality of this unilateral environmental regulation on aviation emissions, which should be resolved within the International Civil Aviation Organization. Secretary Kelly's office has indicated that she will raise this issue with you.
14. (SBU) Transportation is one of the largest and fastest growing contributors to climate change in the UK, and aviation is seen as unique in that it is not subject to fuel tax and duty (with the sole exception of non-commercial general aviation). In an attempt to be seen to address the growth in aviation emissions and make aviation pay its environmental costs, Her Majesty's Treasury (HMT) recently mooted a proposal to abandon air passenger duty (APD) in favor of a charge on every flight leaving the UK. The proposal aims to include previously excluded categories such as cargo, transfer passengers, smaller aircraft and non-commercial aviation. The proposal still lacks detail, but the intent is to provide incentives to reduce emissions and more closely align the tax with environmental impact. HMT has held several meetings with UK, U.S. and other passenger and cargo carriers. In addition, the Embassy met recently with HMT and DfT officials to seek more information, including HMG's views on the compliance of the proposal with international obligations such as air services agreements and the Chicago Convention. It is clear that UK analysis is not yet well developed, but HMG indicated a willingness to exchange further information and hold discussions with a view to avoiding another conflict over aviation and emissions. - 2010/12/01: WikiLeaks: Cable 09PARIS1473, Scenesetter for your visit to Paris -- November 8
[...]
-----------------------------------------
AN URGENT FOCUS ON CLIMATE CHANGE
-----------------------------------------¶10. (SBU) The French remain divided on how to respond to the Obama Administration's approaches to climate change. Most of the interested public and many in the government believe that interim 2020 reduction targets, and the level of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and concentrations at that time, will determine success or failure in slowing global warming. For them, the EU's target of 20 to 30 percent reductions below 1990 is the sole measure of an acceptable policy. Even sophisticated observers are skeptical that long-term reduction goals legislated in the United States can be counted on as more than aspirations, especially if radical cuts are not imposed up front. We have reiterated that U.S. laws are reliably enforced by the Federal government and by U.S. courts, using the Clean Air Act as our example. Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials agree that legislation moving through Congress and the Administration's proposals would establish a system comparable to the EU's measures. These officials regard Environment Minister Jean-Louis Borloo's public criticisms of Waxman-Markey as "insufficient on the medium term goal" as distracting attention from the need for China and India to reduce their rates of growth in GHG emissions.
- 2010/12/01: WikiLeaks: Cable 10RIYADH178, Scenesetter for Secretary Clinton's Feb 15-16
[...]¶11. (C) CLIMATE CHANGE: Your visit offers an important opportunity to head off a serious clash over climate change. Saudi officials are very concerned that a climate change treaty would significantly reduce their income just as they face significant costs to diversify their economy. We want to get beyond the obstructionism that Saudi negotiators have often shown during the negotiations and persuade senior leaders to work with us in a partnership to meet their strategic concerns, including by cooperating on developing solar and biomass energy. The King is particularly sensitive to avoid Saudi Arabia being singled out as the bad actor, particularly on environmental issues. Your conveying the importance the President places on working as partners with Saudi Arabia on the Copenhagen process will be very important in making this dialogue more constructive. Secretary Chu intends to explore specific areas of collaboration during his February 21-23 visit.
- 2010/11/29: WikiLeaks: cable 10RIYADH118, SAUDI FOREIGN MINISTRY PRESSING CHINA TO STOP
[...]
Climate Change:
- - - - - - - -8.(SBU) A/S Feltman noted the importance that the President places on Climate Change, and the Copenhagen Accord. Given that Minister of Petroleum Al-Naimi was involved in crafting the final agreement, A/S Feltman noted the United States is counting on Saudi Arabia to associate itself with the accord by January 31. Prince Torki said that Saudi Arabia was very pleased the United States was more actively engaged in this issue, and said that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs supports trying to address this issue. He noted that the MFA will have to consult with other involved ministries, such as the Ministry of Petroleum, and promised to respond before January
- 2010/11/29: WikiLeaks: Cable 08BERLIN122, Welcome to Berlin [Dated 2008-01-29 16:04]
[...]
-----------------------------------
CLIMATE CHANGE: Aggressive Measures
-----------------------------------¶13. (C) Chancellor Merkel and the rest of Germany's political leadership remain serious about pursuing aggressive international measures to meet the challenges of global warming. Merkel has made climate change a priority of her Chancellorship and enjoys the overwhelming domestic support on this. Merkel's support for mandatory, targeted global limits on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and an international cap-and-trade regime reflects a deep-seated belief that only drastic, concerted efforts on the part of the international community can slow -- and ultimately reverse -- the human contribution to global warming. If anything, Steinmeier supports tougher standards. While the Germans have been willing to consider alternative solutions, such as new technologies for clean coal and renewables, fundamental differences in our approaches to the issue of climate change remain, and could lead to more public disagreement in the future. For example, while Germany will send a delegation to the January 30 Major Economies Meeting (MEM), the German Government remains skeptical about the value that the Major Economies Process (MEP) adds to the UNFCCC track. The Germans are particularly concerned about the need to avoid duplication of effort in the various other climate change-related forums, including the UNFCCC and the G-8.
- 2010/12/04: EUO: Cablegate: Van Rompuy expects Cancun talks to fail
- 2010/12/03: SolveClimate: Wikileaks: How U.S. Manipulated Climate Accord
- 2010/12/03: Guardian(UK): WikiLeaks cables reveal how US manipulated climate accord
Embassy dispatches show America used spying, threats and promises of aid to get support for Copenhagen Accord - 2010/12/04: PeakEnergy: Wikileaks: State Dept. wants intel on African acceptance of GMOs
- 2010/12/03: Guardian(UK): US goes to Basics over Copenhagen accord tactics
WikiLeaks cables show US admiration for how emerging economies [Basic Group] work together to achieve common short-term goals - 2010/12/03: Guardian(UK): US embassy cables: US climate change negotiators targeted by cyberattack
- 2010/12/03: Guardian(UK): US embassy cables: EU president Van Rompuy angry at climate talks snub
- 2010/12/03: Guardian(UK): US embassy cables: Obama says no to EU-US climate summit in Madrid
- 2010/12/03: Guardian(UK): US embassy cables: Maldives tout $50m climate projects to US
- 2010/12/03: Guardian(UK): US embassy cables: US urges Ethiopia to back Copenhagen climate accord
- 2010/12/03: Guardian(UK): US embassy cables: EU mutes criticism of US climate stance
- 2010/12/03: Guardian(UK): US embassy cables: EU raises 'creative accounting' with US over climate aid
- 2010/12/03: Guardian(UK): US embassy cables: UAE seeks US support over renewable energy agency
- 2010/12/03: Guardian(UK): US embassy cables: UAE presses to host renewable energy headquarters
- 2010/12/03: Guardian(UK): WikiLeaks cables: Cancún climate talks doomed to fail, says EU president
Herman van Rompuy dismisses Copenhagen climate summit as 'incredible disaster' and expects Cancún to be no better - 2010/12/03: Guardian(UK): US embassy cables: Saudi Arabia fears missed trick on Copenhagen climate accord
- 2010/12/03: Guardian(UK): US embassy cables: Netherlands links aid money to support for climate deal
- 2010/12/03: WtD: Cablegate: French disappointment, Americans work hard to shape French approach to climate
- 2010/12/03: BBC: Wikileaks memo reveals Egypt's Nile fears over Sudan
A leaked US embassy cable has revealed Egypt's fears about the possibility of its neighbour Sudan breaking into two. In the cable, written last year, a foreign ministry official urged the US to help postpone a referendum on independence for Southern Sudan. The official said the creation of "a non-viable state" could threaten Egypt's access to the River Nile. - 2010/12/01: WtD: Cablegate continues: Saudis helped create toothless COP15 accord, regulation against their "strategic interests"
- 2010/11/30: TP:WR: Cables Provide Insight Into International Climate And Energy Security
- 2010/12/01: Grist: Leaked cables reveal Saudi minister of petroleum helped craft toothless Copenhagen climate accord
- 2010/11/30: MTobis: Leaks
- 2010/11/29: Grist: Wikileaks: State Dept. wants intel on African acceptance of GMOs
- 2010/11/30: NYT:CW: Leaked Cables Show U.S. Pressured Saudis to Accept Copenhagen Accord
- 2010/11/30: TreeHugger: Wikileaks Cables Show US Pressured Saudi Arabia to Back Copenhagen Accord, and More
- 2010/11/29: WtD: Cablegate and US climate policy: fighting a global price on carbon, fears of a German-US split on climate
The aftermath of the monsoon floods still afflicts Pakistan:
- 2010/12/03: UN: Pakistan's flood-affected people in need of more assistance - UN official
- 2010/12/02: UN: UN humanitarian chief begins second visit to flood-hit Pakistan
Who's getting the subsidies?
- 2010/11/28: RRapier: Addressing Oil Company Subsidies
- 2010/12/01: TreeHugger: Worldwide, Fossil Fuels Get 12 Times the Subsidies as Clean Energy
- 2010/11/28: TEC: Addressing Oil Company Subsidies
I wonder to what interesting uses Google Earth Engine will be put...:
- 2010/12/03: CPositive: Google offers MRV [Monitoring, Reporting & Verification] solution for forests
Google has used the Cancún climate talks to showcase an online platform that could be a vital boost to any global mechanism to halt deforestation. Google Earth Engine will make available 25 years of satellite data to scientists and policymakers for monitoring and research projects. First off, the tool will be applied to work detecting deforestation and mapping land-use changes - 2010/12/02: NatureTGB: Partnering with scientists, Google unveils "Earth Engine"
- 2010/12/03: ScienceInsider: New Google Earth Engine
- 2010/12/02: NatureTGB: Partnering with scientists, Google unveils "Earth Engine"
Severe weather is gripping Europe:
- 2010/12/05: BBC: More severe weather for parts of Scotland
- 2010/12/04: RealClimate: Coldest Winter in 1000 Years Cometh - not
- 2010/12/03: TerraDaily: At least 60 dead in Europe as snow, floods cause havoc
- 2010/12/03: Eureka: Snow from space: University of Leicester releases satellite images of snow-bound UK
- 2010/12/02: CBC: Europe hit by wintry blast, floods
Freezing temperatures and often blinding snowfall killed 12 more people and caused travel chaos across northern Europe on Thursday while some of the worst floods in a century devastated parts of the Balkans. - 2010/12/02: EarthTimes: Death toll reaches 18 in Poland as winter grips Europe
- 2010/12/01: BBC: Heavy snowfall has caused disruption across northern Europe, closing airports and bringing traffic to a standstill
- 2010/11/28: SwissInfo: Forecasters predict cold winter
The coming winter will be one of the coldest in five years, according to the Federal Meteorology and Climatology Office, MeteoSwiss. - 2010/12/03: AlterNet: Catastrophic Blizzards, Heat Waves and Floods: Global Warming or Just Crazy Weather?
This commentary by Lou on the tearful Christiana Figueres at Cancun video could well be called "Why We Fight":
- 2010/12/04: TCoE: Apologies (and much more) are in order
Explicating the laws of thermodynamics...:
- 2010/12/05: TSoD: Does Back Radiation "Heat" the Ocean? -- Part Three
- 2010/12/03: TSoD: Do Trenberth and Kiehl understand the First Law of Thermodynamics? Part Three and a Half -- The Creation of Energy?
John Cook and friends continue their counterpoint articles:
- 2010/12/03: SkeptiSci: The human fingerprint in the seasons
- 2010/12/01: SkeptiSci: Stratospheric Cooling and Tropospheric Warming
- 2010/11/29: SkeptiSci: A basic overview of Antarctic ice
Post CRU theft, controversy & inquiry:
- 2010/12/04: IJISH: Why did SwiftHackers put special effort into yamal/? And, data in 93/ etc. not really missing
- 2010/12/01: ClimateP: The deniers were half right: The Met Office Hadley Centre had flawed data --- but it led them to UNDERestimate the rate of recent global warming
- 2010/11/29: LFF: Racial slur 'climategate' blogger loses Press Complaints Commission cases
- 2010/11/29: ClimateP: Racial slur 'amazongate' disinformer Richard North loses two UK Press Complaints Commission cases
The Arctic melt continues to garner a lot of attention:
- 2010/11/29: PhysOrg: Research highlights the 'human face' of climate change
- 2010/11/29: Stoat: Forecasting [sea ice]
- 2010/11/28: TCoE: Arctic dust storms
That Damoclean sword still hangs overhead:
- 2010/12/03: PSinclair: The Other Methane Bomb: Undersea Hydrates
- 2010/11/30: PSinclair: Katey Walter and the Flaming Lakes
As for the geopolitics of Arctic resources:
- 2010/12/01: CDreams: A Scramble for the Arctic -- With one fifth of the world's oil and gas at stake, countries are struggling to control the once-frozen arctic.
- 2010/12/01: al Jazeera: A scramble for the Arctic
With one fifth of the world's oil and gas at stake, countries are struggling to control the once-frozen arctic. - 2010/11/29: CCurrents: Thankful For Polar Bear Habitat But Shell Must Not Go There
While in Antarctica:
- 2010/12/01: NatureTGB: Research trip to the Antarctic: Arriving in Palmer
- 2010/12/01: CCurrents: The Warming Of Antarctica: A Citadel Of Ice Begins To Melt
- 2010/11/29: NatureN: Sailing into the unknown -- Microbiologist Patricia Yager explains what the research cruise she is leading could reveal about the future of the Antarctic
- 2010/11/29: SkeptiSci: A basic overview of Antarctic ice
The food crisis is ongoing:
- FAO: World Food Situation - Food Price Indices
- 2010/12/03: WFP: Climate Change: A Fact Of Life For The World's Hungry
- 2010/11/30: FAO: Over 3 million people urge governments to act on hunger -- 'The 1billionhungry project' petition is presented to world governments
- 2010/12/03: FAO: Funding gaps for climate change adaptation a threat to food supplies
More financing for climate change adaptation and mitigation in developing world agriculture needed - 2010/12/05: ABC(Au): Locusts swarm across Victorian border
Medium and high density locust swarms have made their way into Victoria. Swarms have been reported at Charlton, Echuca, St Arnaud, Quambatook and Wycheproof, with some stretching up to 25 kilometres wide. The Department of Primary Industries fears it could be the worst locust plague in 75 years. - 2010/12/04: NZHerald: Earth's gravest challenge: Not enough food to go round
- 2010/12/01: CWD: Water, Wheat and Russia
- 2010/11/28: Independent(UK): Rice production withers as Egypt diverts vital water supply
- 2010/12/03: EnergyBulletin: New threat to global food security as phosphate supplies become increasingly scarce
- 2010/12/01: EarthTimes: Australian harvests battered by flooding rains
- 2010/12/01: Guardian(UK): Climate change could push staple food prices up 130% -- study
Report warning comes as many countries fear instability caused by rising food prices and shortages - 2010/12/01: Yahoo:AP: Global experts: Warming could double food prices
- 2010/12/01: SciNews: Food security wanes as world warms -- Global warming may have begun outpacing ability of farmers to adapt
- 2010/11/30: OurFiniteWorld: Population, Food Supplies, and the Big Unasked Question
- 2010/11/30: CCurrents: Crop Failures And Drought Within Our Children's Lifetimes
- 2010/11/26: CAW: Recession Increasing Hunger Among Vulnerable and Marginalized, Inquiry Hears
- 2010/11/29: SciDevNet: Four degree rise 'would scupper African farming'
- 2010/11/29: HuffPo: Food Banks Bracing For End Of Extended Unemployment Benefits
- 2010/11/29: TreeHugger: How Climate Change Threatens the American Farmer
Several reports of fishing industry problems came in this week:
- 2010/12/02: PLoS: The Spatial Expansion and Ecological Footprint of Fisheries (1950 to Present) by Wilf Swartz et al.
- 2010/12/02: FuturePundit: Massive Fishing Expansion With Peak In Catches
- 2010/12/03: ABC(Au): Ocean dead zones could cut tuna numbers
Scientists say a spread of so-called dead zones in the world's oceans could start affecting stocks of southern bluefin tuna. The zones are so low in oxygen that fish and other sea life cannot survive in them. - 2010/12/03: TMoS: Peak Oil? No, "Peak Fish"
- 2010/12/03: CBC: Expansion saps world's fishing grounds: UBC
The world has run out of new fishing grounds due to the rapid expansion of global fisheries in recent years, according to a study led by the University of British Columbia. - 2010/11/30: CBC: Extinctions feared as ocean dead zones grow
Scientists fear the planet is on the brink of another mass extinction as ocean dead zones continue to grow in size and number. More than 400 ocean dead zones -- areas so low in oxygen that sea life cannot survive -- have been reported by oceanographers around the world between 2000 and 2008. That is compared with 300 in the 1990s and 120 in the 1980s. - 2010/11/30: Reuters: Africa mulls biofuels as land grab fears grow
Regarding the genetic modification of food:
- 2010/12/02: CBC: Genetically modified fish review flawed: economist
A review of the environmental impact of genetically-modified salmon by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is too narrow, say researchers at Duke University. AquaBounty Technologies plans to hatch eggs for the salmon at a plant in Bay Fortune, P.E.I., and then ship the eggs to Panama for rearing. The fish are genetically modified to grow at twice the speed of regular salmon. The FDA released a statement earlier this year saying AquaBounty's product is as safe to eat as other Atlantic salmon. If the fish are approved for sale, it would be the first genetically modified food animal to be consumed in the world. - 2010/12/01: TreeHugger: Federal Court Orders Destruction of Monsanto [sugar beet] Crops
- 2010/11/30: ENS: Court Orders Uprooting of Monsanto Biotech Sugar Beets
- 2010/11/30: SciDaily: Transgenic Crops: How Genes Jump from Crop to Crop
- 2010/11/29: Grist: Wikileaks: State Dept. wants intel on African acceptance of GMOs
And how are we going to feed 9 billion?
- 2010/12/03: UNEP: Managing Nutrients Presents Both Challenges and Solutions to Food Security
- 2010/12/03: BBC: UK gives £37m to aid overseas farmers on climate change
- 2010/12/02: TreeHugger: A Picture is Worth: Factory Farms in US Mapped in Their Polluting, Graphic, Gory Detail
- 2010/12/02: Eureka: Africa can feed itself in a generation: Study
- 2010/12/02: Eureka: Broad coalition gathers to open the door for agriculture in international climate change negotiations
Agriculture's greenhouse gas emissions and vulnerability to climate change impacts are far too big to ignore, say scientists - 2010/12/01: UMD: Rewarding Eco-Friendly Farmers Can Help Combat Climate Change -- UMD Study Advises State on Creation of 'Nutrient Trading Market'
- 2010/12/02: BBC: Africa 'can feed itself in a generation'
A new book claims Africa could feed itself within a generation, and become a major agricultural exporter. The book, The New Harvest, by Harvard University professor Calestous Juma, calls on African leaders to make agricultural expansion central to all decision-making. Improvements in infrastructure, mechanisation and GM crops could vastly increase production, he claims. - 2010/11/30: Grist: Saving the world's future food supply is key to climate adaptation, says Cary 'Dr. Doom' Fowler
- 2010/11/29: Eureka: Scientists develop new DNA technique to aid crops and trees at risk from deadly 'honey fungus'
Abele blew around the South Indian ocean, but otherwise it was quiet:
- 2010/12/01: PlanetArk: Busy 2010 Hurricane Season Ends With U.S. Unscathed
- 2010/11/30: PhysOrg: Active Atlantic hurricane season was a 'gentle giant' for U.S.
- 2010/11/29: PhysOrg: NASA compares rainfall of 2010 and 2005's Atlantic hurricane season
- 2010/11/29: NOAANews: Extremely Active Atlantic Hurricane Season was a 'Gentle Giant' for U.S. -- NOAA's Prediction for Active Season Realized; Slow Eastern Pacific Season Sets Record
- 2010/11/29: Wunderground: Hurricane season draws to a close
As for GHGs:
- 2010/12/01: Guardian(UK): 72 months and counting ...
There is a massive gap between rich countries' pledges to reduce emissions and what the science says is needed - 2010/12/01: PhysOrg: Mexico sees US emissions target as 'modest'
- 2010/12/01: Eureka: Record-high greenhouse gas concentrations
- 2010/12/01: CSM: China's carbon footprint
- 2010/11/29: Reuters: U.S. to keep emissions goal [17 percent below 2005 levels by 2020]
As for the temperature record:
- 2010/12/03: WMO: 2010 in the top three warmest years, 2001-2010 warmest 10-year period
- 2010/12/03: ABC(Au): Global weather records show 2010 has been the hottest year the world has experienced since 2005 and is likely to finish as the third hottest since records began
- 2010/12/03: CSM: Global weather: 2010 in running to be warmest year on record
- 2010/12/02: CBC: 2010 set to be Canada's warmest year
- 2010/12/02: UN: 2010 on track to being one of three warmest years on record, UN reports
- 2010/12/02: MongaBay: 'These are the facts': 2010 to be among top three hottest years
- 2010/12/02: TreeHugger: 2010 Will Be One Of Top Three Hottest Years on Record - Final Details Next Month
- 2010/12/02: BBC: 2010 sets new temperature records
- 2010/11/29: CC&G: Oct 2010 Year-To-Date Global Temperature Anomaly 1st in 2 Series, 2nd in 3 Series
- 2010/11/29: MongaBay: Earth could see 4 degrees Celsius warming in less than a lifetime
- 2010/11/29: OilChange: "There is little to no chance of less than 2C rise"
Yes we have feedbacks:
- 2010/12/01: CSM: Could global warming-fueled 'compost bomb' destroy the world?
One of Earth's biggest stores of carbon dioxide sits locked within the decaying vegetation found in peatlands, which range from tropical peat swamps to Arctic permafrost. A fast-warming world could transform those peatlands into a "compost bomb" that would dump huge amounts of carbon into the atmosphere, British researchers have calculated. A global warming rate of about 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit (1 degree Celsius) per decade will be enough to destabilize the compost if the peat is insulated from the atmosphere by dry moss or lichen, according to Sebastian Wieczorek, a mathematician at the University of Exeter in England. Peat soils contain from 400 billion to a trillion metric tons of carbon, "which is about the same as the carbon content in the atmosphere," Wieczorek said. "A release of the soil carbon from peatlands into the atmosphere would therefore have an enormous impact on the climate system." - 2010/11/29: PhysOrg: Soil microbes define dangerous rates of climate change
The rate of global warming could lead to a rapid release of carbon from peatlands that would further accelerate global warming. - 2010/12/02: PhysOrg: Tracking down particulates
Clouds are one of the major uncertainties in climate. Much research revolves around them:
- 2010/12/02: NewScientist: Goodbye grey skies, hello extra warming
Another report the ozone hole is shrinking:
- 2010/12/02: EarthTimes: Hole in Antarctic ozone layer shrinking -- at its smallest for five years says New Zealand's NIWA
- 2010/12/03: SciDaily: Ozone Hole Affects Upper-Atmosphere Temperature and Circulation
While in the paleoclimate:
- 2010/12/04: SciDaily: Global Sea-Level Rise at the End of the Last Ice Age Interrupted by Rapid 'Jumps'
- 2010/12/03: SciDaily: Carbon Monoxide Trapped in Ice Cores Reveals Unexpected Trends Regarding Burning Biomass [in last 650 years]
- 2010/12/01: BBC: Coca leaves first chewed 8,000 years ago, says research
Peruvian foraging societies were already chewing coca leaves 8,000 years ago, archaeological evidence has shown. - 2010/12/01: NOC: Global sea-level rise at the end of the last Ice Age
Southampton researchers have estimated that sea-level rose by an average of about 1 metre per century at the end of the last Ice Age, interrupted by rapid 'jumps' during which it rose by up to 2.5 metres per century. The findings, published in Global and Planetary Change, will help unravel the responses of ocean circulation and climate to large inputs of ice-sheet meltwater to the world ocean. - 2010/11/30: PhysOrg: Humans, climate change responsible for [Australian] megafauna extinctions: study
- 2010/11/29: Eureka: Blast from the past: Jack pine genetics support a coastal glacial refugium -- DNA evidence supports a coastal northeastern Atlantic glacial refugium for a boreal tree species
While on the ENSO front:
- 2010/12/01: Eureka: Effects of El Nino land South Pacific reef fish in hot water
Regarding the solar hypothesis:
- 2010/11/29: PhysOrg: CU-NASA research center to study Sun's effects on Earth's climate
Regarding Climate Sensitivity:
- 2010/12/05: SkeptiSci: A Cloudy Outlook for Low Climate Sensitivity
And the State of the Oceans:
- 2010/12/01: SwissInfo: Oceans face rough future due to climate change
Urgent measures are needed to help ocean ecosystems that are facing a rough time due to climate change and human activity, warns a Swiss marine biologist. Nikolaus Gelpke is one of the main figures behind the first "World Ocean Review", a comprehensive report by the Hamburg-based non-governmental organisation maribus that aims to give new insights into the complexity of our fragile seas. "Our oceans are immense, dark and hostile. We know very little about them and even less about the ocean floors. But what we know is that the seas are not well. They are like patients that are getting sicker and sicker ... and nobody takes them seriously," Gelpke told swissinfo.ch. The 200-page report on the state of the world's oceans is based on joint work by teams of leading marine specialists. - 2010/11/30: ABC(Au): Scientists fear mass extinction as oceans choke
Australian scientists fear the planet is on the brink of another mass extinction as ocean dead zones continue to grow in size and number. - 2010/11/30: JFleck: Rings of the Redwoods
Meanwhile in near earth orbit:
- 2010/12/03: Eureka: Snow from space: University of Leicester releases satellite images of snow-bound UK
- 2010/12/01: BBC: Meteosat project in further hitch
Portugal's financial difficulties are threatening to hold up the development of Europe's next-generation weather satellite system. Member-states of Eumetsat, the agency charged with operating the continent's Meteosats, want to begin preliminary activities in January. But Portugal, which has vast public debts, says it is not ready to commit to the multi-billion-euro project. - 2010/12/04: PostMedia: Climate change could kill million people a year, report warns
By 2030, climate change will indirectly cause nearly a million deaths a year and inflict $157 billion in damage, according to estimates presented at UN talks Friday. The biggest misery will be heaped on more than 50 of the world's poorest countries, but the United States will pay the highest economic bill, it said. - 2010/12/03: PhysOrg: Climate: a million deaths a year by 2030: study
- 2010/12/02: ADN: Alaska acknowledges climate change effects -- Report: Fire patterns, altered stream flows and coastal erosion are noted
- 2010/12/02: SolveClimate: Biodiversity Loss Raises Disease Risk in Humans, Study Finds
- 2010/12/01: PhysOrg: Many coastal wetlands likely to disappear this century
- 2010/12/01: TreeHugger: Future at Risk on a Hotter Planet
- 2010/12/01: EarthTimes: India and Bangladesh: 'Extreme risk' from climate change
- 2010/12/01: Eureka: Loss of species large and small threatens human health -- New management practices essential to buffer disease spread
- 2010/11/30: Oregonian: Oregon faces big challenges from global warming, state reports say
- 2010/11/28: FreeInternetPress: Report: A Billion People Will Lose Their Homes Due To Climate Change
- 2010/11/30: MongaBay: Climate change linked to 21,000 deaths in nine months
- 2010/11/30: TreeHugger: Climate-Related Deaths Doubled in 2010
- 2010/11/30: Eureka: Study: Ecological effects of biodiversity loss underestimated -- Ecologists say prior studies underestimated the specific dietary needs of most species
- 2010/11/29: SolveClimate: Scientists Warn of Dire Impacts of 4°C Global Temperature Rise
- 2010/11/29: Grist: Study says climate change could make a billion homeless
- 2010/11/29: NatureN: Plants flowering later on the Tibetan Plateau -- Shorter growing season linked to warmer winters on 'the roof of the world'
And then there are the world's forests:
- 2010/12/03: Google:AFP: American west's forests face troubling carbon trend...exuding more carbon than they absorb
- 2010/12/03: ScienceInsider: In Cancún, Brazil Touts Progress Stopping Deforestation
[...]
According to satellite data, about 6400 square kilometers was wiped out between August 2009 and July 2010 in Brazil's Amazon. - 2010/12/02: NatureTGB: Amazon deforestation; surprisingly high for a record low - 6,451 square kilometres deforested
- 2010/12/01: Eureka: Rainforest conservation needs a new direction to address climate change
- 2010/12/01: BBC: Amazon deforestation on decrease says Brazil government -- 6,450 sq km cleared between August 2009 and July 2010
- 2010/11/29: EnergyBulletin: The Truth About Trees
- 2010/11/29: PhysOrg: New online atlas shows how climate change will affect distribution patterns of forests
- 2010/11/28: NYT: Indonesia's Billion-Dollar Forest Deal Is at Risk
More odd tornadoes:
- 2010/12/02: PlanetArk: Thirty Injured As Tornadoes, Storms Rip Through South
As for heatwaves and wild fires:
- 2010/12/04: BBC: A deadly forest fire is spreading in northern Israel, despite the efforts of all available Israeli firefighters and a growing number of foreign crews
- 2010/12/03: CBC: Israeli [forest] fire death toll reaches 41
- 2010/12/02: EarthTimes: Cancun Climate Conference hears that extreme heat events are likely to become the norm
- 2010/12/02: BBC: Israeli forest fire near Haifa kills 40 prison guards
- 2010/12/02: CBC: Israel forest fire leaves 40 dead
- 2010/11/30: CBC: Extreme heat will soon be norm: UN agency [WMO]
- 2010/11/29: Eureka: Heat wave deaths highest in early summer
Corals are dying:
- 2010/12/02: ABC(Au): Scientists use new system to monitor Barrier Reef
The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA) is using new monitoring systems to keep coral health in-check this summer. Fifty extra water temperature loggers have been installed across the reef... - 2010/12/01: HotTopic: Warm oceans killing coral
- 2010/11/29: ABC(Au): Coral used to predict climate change effects
University of Queensland (UQ) researchers are planning to test whether the Great Barrier Reef will be able to recover from the effects of climate change - 2010/12/02: UNEP: Acidification May Push Already Over-Stressed Oceans into the Red
Rising C02 Concentrations Could Have Increasing Impacts on Key Fisheries and the Billions Depending Upon Them - 2010/12/02: Reuters: Ocean acidification may threaten food security: U.N.
Acidification of the seas linked to climate change could threaten fisheries production and is already causing the fastest shift in ocean chemistry in 65 million years, a U.N. study showed on Thursday. Production of shellfish, such as mussels, shrimp or lobsters, could be most at risk since they will find it harder to build protective shells, according to the report issued on the sidelines of U.N. climate talks in Mexico. - 2010/12/02: UN: Growing ocean acidification threatens marine life, says UN-backed report
Glaciers are melting:
- 2010/12/03: SciNews: Icequake swarms portend some avalanches -- Forecasting glacier crack-ups may be possible by keeping an ear to the ice
- 2010/12/02: SwissInfo: Glaciologists make research breakthrough
Swiss glaciers will continue to retreat drastically in the next few decades, even if global warming is halted, researchers in Zurich have found. - 2010/12/01: PhysOrg: Asia home to glacier melt, human vulnerabilities
Sea levels are rising:
- 2010/12/01: USGS: Many Coastal Wetlands Likely to Disappear this Century
- 2010/12/03: CCentral: Climate In Context: Coastal Marshlands Can Adapt to (Some) Sea Level Rise
- 2010/11/30: KSJT: Yes yes, Cancun. We'll get to it. In the meantime the sea, the NYTimes reports, is encroaching fast in Va.
- 2010/11/30: BBerg: Rising Seas Portend `End of History' for Islands [AOSIS] as UN Climate Goals Slip
As for hydrological cycle disruptions [floods & droughts]:
- 2010/12/05: CNN: Flooding forces evacuations in Albania
The country's president says more than 2,500 homes have flooded - A witness says the heavy rains started three weeks ago - The government has declared a state of emergency in some areas - Some residents are forced to travel by boat because of the flooding - 2010/12/05: ABC(Au): Flooding has silver lining for Murray region
The heavy flooding in New South Wales is expected to have environmental benefits for South Australia's River Murray regions. - 2010/12/03: TerraDaily: Sirens blare as rising waters flood Venice
- 2010/12/04: TerraDaily: Rains leave rising death toll in Colombia, Venezuela
- 2010/12/04: Economist: Survival in the Sahel -- It's getting harder all the time -- Climatic extremes, from drought to flood, threaten survival
- 2010/12/03: TerraDaily: Mideast prays for rain as balmy weather threatens drought
- 2010/12/02: JFleck: La Niña
- 2010/12/03: Wunderground: Amazon rainforest recovering from its second 100-year drought in 5 years
- 2010/12/03: EarthTimes: Thousands evacuated as floods hit Serbia, Bosnia and Montenegro
- 2010/12/03: BBC: Balkans flooding prompts emergency call
Bosnia, Serbia and Montenegro have declared flood emergencies after heavy rain pushed the River Drina to its highest level in 100 years. - 2010/12/02: BBC: Widespread flooding and mudslides caused by days of torrential rain in Venezuela have killed at least 25 people and destroyed thousands of homes
- 2010/11/30: TerraDaily: Flooding leaves deadly trail of destruction in Venezuela
- 2010/11/30: BBC: Devastating floods kill at least 20 in Venezuela
Days of torrential rain have brought widespread flooding to Venezuela, destroying thousands of homes and killing at least 20 people. A state of emergency has been declared in four states, including the capital, Caracas - 2010/11/30: ENS: Latin America Suffers Intense and Deadly Rains
- 2010/11/29: SwissInfo: Weird weather leaves Amazon thirsty
Elsewhere on the mitigation front:
- 2010/12/03: DM: Reflective Crops Could Cool the Planet
These crops may not be enough to offset temperature increases caused by warming, but they could take the edge off. - 2010/12/03: SolveClimate: REDD Forest Rescue Deal Still Draws Bitter Debate, Weak Agreement Feared
Nations are at loggerheads over fundamental issues, most notably Bolivia and the U.S. and Australia. - 2010/12/03: Reuters: Special Report: Making forests pay in a warming world
- 2010/12/01: SolveClimate: Logging Loophole Under Attack at Cancun Climate Talks
The loophole would allow some 450 megatons of climate-changing emissions each year, or 5% of the global total, a new report says - 2010/12/01: Reuters: Logging Loophole Under Attack at Cancun Climate Talks [LULUCF]
- 2010/11/29: CCurrents: Cancún Opens For GREEN Business But REDD Will Destroy Indigenous Forest Cultures
- 2010/11/28: Guardian(UK): Oil companies and banks will profit from UN forest protection scheme
REDD scheme designed to prevent deforestation but critics call it 'privatisation' of natural resources - 2010/12/03: TreeHugger: If We Build High Speed Rail, Will People Use It?
- 2010/12/01: CalcRisk: U.S. Light Vehicle Sales 12.26 million SAAR in November
- 2010/12/01: CalcRisk: Auto Sales: GM, Ford sales up in November
- 2010/12/01: CBC: Ford Canada's Nov. sales rise 16% -- Chrysler has best November since 2002
Ford Motor Company of Canada's sales increased 16 per cent to 18,382 in November over the same month in 2009, the automaker reported Wednesday - 2010/11/30: Reuters:FS: Does more economic activity mean more driving?
- 2010/11/29: Grist: 'The science of public transit is not too complicated'
While in the endless quest for zero energy, sustainable buildings and practical codes:
- 2010/12/03: PhysOrg: Greener cement offers concrete environmental benefits
From the Roman aqueducts to the Empire State Building, concrete is the most common manmade building material on the planet. It's also one of the largest sources of industrial emissions: the red-hot kilns used to make cement (a primary ingredient of concrete) emit 5 percent of the world's manmade carbon dioxide. - 2010/11/30: Grist: Ten affordable neighborhoods-in-progress will design to LEED-ND standards under grant program
As for carbon sequestration:
- 2010/12/03: ABC(Au): Carbon capture project promises 'near zero emissions'
A reportedly world-first carbon capture project to be trialed at a central Queensland power station next year, is nearing completion. Construction of the Callide oxyfuel project began at the Callide 'A' power station near Biloela in September last year. The $200 million project is breaking new ground in clean coal energy by reportedly being the first in the world to adapt the technology as an add-on fixture to existing coal-fired power stations. - 2010/12/03: Grist: Energy Department: U.S. could store CO2 underground for the next 5,700 years
- 2010/12/02: ABC(Au): Power station carbon capture begins
A pilot project will be launched today to capture carbon emitted from a South Burnett power station. Tarong Energy says the partnership with the CSIRO is the first of its kind in Queensland. - 2010/11/29: SciAm: The Truth About the Risks to Freshwater Aquifers Posed by Underground Carbon Sequestration
Rather than raising alarm, new study results could help pave the way toward better methods for monitoring geologic carbon sequestration areas and detecting CO2 leaks - 2010/12/04: ABC(US): As Climate Talks Drag on, More Ponder Techno-Fixes -- As climate talks drag on, more look to tinkering with atmosphere to curb warming
- 2010/12/01: TEC: Geoengineering research, getting real
- 2010/12/01: CBC: Venus clouds yield climate warning -- Haze over Earth's planetary neighbour sheds light on geo-engineering theory
- 2010/11/30: TMoS: Rolling the Dice - Geo-Engineering the Planet
- 2010/11/30: ESA: Venus holds warning for Earth
- 2010/11/30: PostMedia: Scientists rise to meet global warming crisis -- 'Geo-engineering' options include mirrors in space
While on the adaptation front:
- 2010/12/03: TWTB: Who isn't taking adaptation seriously?
Meanwhile in the journals:
- 2010/11/29: GMD: IMOGEN: an intermediate complexity model to evaluate terrestrial impacts of a changing climate by C. Huntingford et al.
- 2010/11/29: GMD: Physically-based data assimilation by G. Levy et al.
- 2010/12/03: ACP: Estimating European volatile organic compound emissions using satellite observations of formaldehyde from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument by G. Curci et al.
- 2010/12/03: ACP: A critical look at spatial scale choices in satellite-based aerosol indirect effect studies by B. S. Grandey & P. Stier
- 2010/12/01: TC: Climate of the Greenland ice sheet using a high-resolution climate model - Part 2: Near-surface climate and energy balance by J. Ettema et al.
- 2010/12/01: TC: Climate of the Greenland ice sheet using a high-resolution climate model - Part 1: Evaluation by J. Ettema et al.
- 2010/12/03: OSD: Sensitivity analysis of an Ocean Carbon Cycle Model in the North Atlantic: an investigation of parameters affecting the air-sea CO2 flux, primary production and export of detritus by V. Scott et al.
- 2010/12/01: CP: Perturbing phytoplankton: response and isotopic fractionation with changing carbonate chemistry in two coccolithophore species by R. E. M. Rickaby et al.
- 2010/12/01: CPD: Multiscale regression model to infer historical temperatures in a central Mediterranean sub-regional area by N. Diodato et al.
- 2010/12/01: CPD: Deciphering the spatio-temporal complexity of climate change of the last deglaciation: a model analysis by D. M. Roche et al.
- 2010/11/18: GRL: (ab$) Simulations of the response of mesospheric circulation and temperature to the Antarctic ozone hole by Anne K. Smith et al.
- 2010/12/02: Science: (ab$) Large Variations in Southern Hemisphere Biomass Burning During the Last 650 Years by Z. Wang et al.
- 2010/12/02: PLoS: The Spatial Expansion and Ecological Footprint of Fisheries (1950 to Present) by Wilf Swartz et al.
- 2010/12/02: ACP: An overview of the Amazonian Aerosol Characterization Experiment 2008 (AMAZE-08) by S. T. Martin et al.
- 2010/12/01: ACP: Impact of biomass burning on ocean water quality in Southeast Asia through atmospheric deposition: eutrophication modeling by P. Sundarambal et al.
- 2010/12/01: ACP: Impact of biomass burning on ocean water quality in Southeast Asia through atmospheric deposition: field observations by P. Sundarambal et al.
- 2010/11/30: ACP: Global modeling of organic aerosol: the importance of reactive nitrogen (NOx and NO3) by H. O. T. Pye et al.
- 2010/11/29: ACP: Sunphotometry of the 2006-2007 aerosol optical/radiative properties at the Himalayan Nepal Climate Observatory-Pyramid (5079 m a.s.l.) by G. P. Gobbi et al.
- 2010/12/02: ACPD: Saharan and asian dust: similarities and differences determined by CALIPSO, AERONET and a coupled climate-aerosol microphysical model by L. Su & O. B. Toon
- 2010/12/02: ACPD: Understanding effective diameter and its application to terrestrial radiation in ice clouds by D. L. Mitchell et al.
- 2010/12/02: AGWObserver: Papers on global potential of bio-energy
- 2010/12/02: AGWObserver: Papers on ENSO effects in Europe
- 2010/11/30: PNAS: Biodiversity can support a greener revolution in Africa by Sieglinde S. Snapp et al.
- 2010/11/30: PNAS: Toxic diatoms and domoic acid in natural and iron enriched waters of the oceanic Pacific by Mary W. Silver et al.
- 2010/11/30: PNAS: Synchronized Northern Hemisphere climate change and solar magnetic cycles during the Maunder Minimum by Yasuhiko T. Yamaguchi et al.
- 2010/11/29: SERC: Interpretation of CBD COP10 decision on geoengineering by Masahiro Sugiyama & Taishi Sugiyama
- 2010/11/30: TC: Cryogenic and non-cryogenic pool calcites indicating permafrost and non-permafrost periods: a case study from the Herbstlabyrinth-Advent Cave system (Germany) by D. K. Richter et al.
- 2010/11/30: OS: The influence of the Brazil and Malvinas Currents on the Southwestern Atlantic Shelf circulation by R. P. Matano et al.
- 2010/11/30: OSD: Water masses and zonal current in the Western Tropical Atlantic in October 2007 and January 2008 (AMANDES project) by A. C. Silva et al.
- 2010/11/29: AGWObserver: New research from last week 47/2010
- 2010/11/29: RSTA: [links to several articles] Theme Issue 'Four degrees and beyond: the potential for a global temperature increase of four degrees and its implications'
- 2010/11/29: RSTA: Sea-level rise and its possible impacts given a 'beyond 4°C world' in the twenty-first century by Robert J. Nicholls et al.
- 2010/11/29: RSTA: Four degrees and beyond: the potential for a global temperature increase of four degrees and its implications by Mark New et al.
- 2010/11/12: Science: (ab$) Amazonia Through Time: Andean Uplift, Climate Change, Landscape Evolution, and Biodiversity by C. Hoorn et al.
And other significant documents:
- 2010/11/29: PI: [link to 2meg pdf] Foreign Affairs Access to Information on Section 526 [of the 2007 U.S. Energy Independence and Security Act]
- 2010/12/02: PI: [link to 500k pdf] Tackling emissions from industry -- Federal regulation of industrial greenhouse gas emissions in the United States, and the implications for Canada
As for miscellaneous science:
- 2010/12/05: TechRev:arXivBlog: The 70 Online Databases that Define Our Planet
If you want to simulate the Earth, you'll need data on the climate, health, finance, economics, traffic and lots more. Here's where to find it. - 2010/12/03: MTobis: Science, Appropriate and Otherwise
- 2010/12/02: NatureN: Mexican climate reports under fire -- Researchers row over whether regional projections are based on sound science
- 2010/12/02: SciNews: Bacterium grows with arsenic - Microbe uses toxic element instead of phosphorus
- 2010/11/28: Eureka: Amazonian biodiversity much older than originally thought
More DIY science:
- 2010/11/30: Heiko: Citizen science
What's new in models?:
- 2010/12/03: SEasterbrook: Should science models be separate from production models?
- 2010/12/02: Stoat: Validating Climate Models
- 2010/12/02: SEasterbrook: Verifying Forecasting Systems
- 2010/11/30: SEasterbrook: Validating Climate Models
- 2010/11/29: SEasterbrook: The difference between Verification and Validation
Regarding Phil Mote:
- 2010/11/27: Oregonian: Phil Mote, Oregon State University climate scientist, weathers the storm growing around global warming
Regarding Curry:
- 2010/12/04: MTobis: At Kloor's and at Curry's
- 2010/11/30: ERabett: It's a Turnstile
Regarding Wegman:
- 2010/12/03: ERabett: Another fine mess Stanley
- 2010/12/02: DeepClimate: Wegman et al miscellany
While at the UN:
- 2010/12/03: UN: New UN report urges better protection of biodiversity in Latin America and Caribbean
- 2010/12/03: UN: Waste management sector is well-placed to battle climate change, finds UN report
- 2010/12/01: PhysOrg: Climate science chief sees 'huge gaps' in research
And on the carbon trading front:
- 2010/12/03: PlanetArk: U.N. Climate Talks Struggle To Overhaul Carbon Trade
- 2010/12/02: OilChange: Carbon Trading Obsession is "Irresponsible"
- 2010/11/29: PlanetArk: U.N. Panel Issues 20 Million Carbon Offsets
A United Nations panel overseeing trade in carbon offsets under the Kyoto Protocol decided late on Friday to issue 20 million tonnes of offsets, the information company Point Carbon reported. The panel, known as the executive board, oversees a $20 billion trade in offsets which allows rich countries to meet greenhouse gas emission limits by paying for carbon cuts in developing nations. The trade has been dominated by industrial projects which destroy a powerful greenhouse gas called HFC 23, a waste product from the manufacture of refrigerants, mostly in China and India. The panel issued just under 20 million credits to 12 projects that destroy the waste gas HFC 23, despite a U.N. investigation into possible flaws in the way the projects account for their emissions cuts, called their "methodology." The latest instructions to issue credits will boost total offsets, called certified emissions reductions (CERs) supply by 4.4 percent to 477 million and increase the number issued this year by around 20 percent to 110 million, said Point Carbon, a news and information company owned by Thomson Reuters. - 2010/12/02: GreenGrok: Cap and Trade: Dead or Alive?
- 2010/11/29: Grist: Taxing carbon as part of responsible, progressive fiscal policy
Meanwhile on the international political front:
- 2010/12/02: BBC: A British exploration company says it has discovered oil off the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic - the second such find this year
- 2010/11/30: NatureTGB: The rare earth blues
The energy race between China and the USA is on, or is it?
- 2010/11/30: Grist: China widens gap with U.S. in green energy race
- 2010/11/30: ClimateP: Video: Steven Chu on why China's bid for clean energy leadership should be our "Sputnik Moment"
The issue of the law and activism is playing out around the world:
- 2010/11/29: Guardian(UK): Climate change protesters' anger was justifiable, says NASA Scientist [James Hansen]
Activists accused of conspiracy to trespass were arrested before they carried out plan to force E.ON's coal plant at Ratcliffe-on-Soar to shut down - 2010/11/23: BBC: Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station protesters on trial -- Twenty environmental campaigners accused of trying to shut down Ratcliffe-on-Soar coal-fired power station have denied the charges
- 2010/11/24: IndyMedia(UK): Ratcliffe Trial Day 3 - Prosecution case continues
- 2010/11/27: AlterNet: Actor Mark Ruffalo Lands on Terror List for Screening Film Against Fracking
- 2010/11/29: TMoS: Fascism On the March in the U.S.A.
What are the activists up to?
- 2010/12/05: SolveClimate: Bill McKibben Talks about his Life in Writing and Activism
Regarding Water Politics and Business:
- 2010/12/02: AlterNet: Meet the Billionaire Couple Who Took Over California's Water Supply
- 2010/11/28: Independent(UK): Rice production withers as Egypt diverts vital water supply
- 2010/11/29: CDreams: Municipal Budgetary Constraints a Leading Factor in Water System? Leases and Sales?
Food & Water Watch Analysis Reveals Surge in Potential Privatization Deals in 2010 - 2010/12/03: BBC: Wikileaks memo reveals Egypt's Nile fears over Sudan
A leaked US embassy cable has revealed Egypt's fears about the possibility of its neighbour Sudan breaking into two. In the cable, written last year, a foreign ministry official urged the US to help postpone a referendum on independence for Southern Sudan. The official said the creation of "a non-viable state" could threaten Egypt's access to the River Nile. - 2010/11/29: JFleck: It's not as simple as just releasing more water from Lake Powell
- 2010/11/29: AlterNet: Climate Change Could Cause Half the World to Lose Access to Clean Water
Among the world's religions:
- 2010/11/30: TDC: Let there be solar
As the moral implications of climate change become more apparent, faith communities around the world are taking action, both personal and political. - 2010/11/30: BBC: Climate change failure is moral outrage: Faith leaders
Scotland's religious leaders have described the West's failure to help developing nations cope with climate change as a "moral outrage". - 2010/12/04: NBF: Cleantech predictions for 2011
- 2010/11/29: SciNews: World could heat up 4 degrees C in 50 years -- Immediate action needed to hold warming to half that, scientists calculate
- 2010/11/29: SciAm:Reuters: Worst case study: global temp up 7.2F degrees by 2060s
World temperatures could soar by 4 degrees Celsius (7.2 degrees Fahrenheit) by the 2060s in the worst case of global climate change and require an annual investment of $270 billion just to contain rising sea levels, studies suggested on Sunday. - 2010/12/02: C411: Debunking Clean Air Scare Tactics: Part One, Acid Rain
- 2010/12/03: CCurrents: After The Ruin Of The Mid-Terms, Is There Hope From Down Under?
- 2010/11/15: PRWatch: Whopper, Indeed: Republicans More Responsible for Green Outsourcing
- 2010/12/03: ClimateP: What the pro-pollution, anti-science crowd won't tell you about the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments -- Benefits exceeded costs by 30-to-1, with 160,000 lives saved
- 2010/12/03: Grist: Response to the electricity industry's timeline of environmental regulations
- 2010/12/03: DM:BA: Antiscience party
- 2010/11/30: ProPublica: NY Assembly Approves Hydraulic Fracturing Moratorium
- 2010/12/02: BWeek: States Want Cap-and-Trade Added to U.S. Carbon Rules
- 2010/12/01: NYT:GW: GAO Report: U.S. Loses Royalties as Oil and Gas Drillers Vent Methane
- 2010/11/30: UCSUSA: Senate Passage of Food Bill Good For All Who Eat
- 2010/11/30: NYT: Midwest Emerges as Center for Clean Energy
- 2010/12/01: Oregonian: The Northwest's newest export: global warming
A region trying to close its own coal-burning generating plants is now poised to become a supplier of millions of tons of coal each year to China - 2010/11/30: Grist: While climate talks drag on, cities must adapt or die
- 2010/11/30: NRDC:SwitchBoard: NY Assembly Approves Gas Drilling Moratorium: Historic Measure Now Goes to Governor to Sign
- 2010/11/29: TEC: Don't Get Ahead of Yourself: The U.S. Needs a Comprehensive Long Term National Energy Plan
- 2010/11/29: WottsUWT: CARB delays proposed "false statements" discussion
- 2010/11/29: ScienceInsider: White House Science Panel Wants Quadrennial Energy Review
- 2010/11/29: TBP: Lies Across America
The BP disaster continues to twist US politics:
- 2010/12/01: Reuters: How BP's oil spill costs could double
- 2010/12/01: EarthTimes: Deep water corals in the Gulf of Mexico found fouled by oil
- 2010/11/30: NakedCapitalism: WashingtonsBlog: Scientists Confirm that Dispersants Are Increasing Contamination in the Gulf
- 2010/11/29: PhysOrg: The great Gulf oil spill: Stanford experts explain what went wrong
- 2010/11/30: Yahoo:TDB: New Outrage in the Gulf
Could Congress have prevented the BP mess? A report reveals that a law enacted after the Exxon Valdez to avoid future oil spills was deprived of cash by lawmakers. - 2010/11/29: NPR: Deep-Water Dive Reveals Spilled Oil On Gulf Floor
- 2010/11/30: ProPublica: Oil Spill Commission's Missing Document Adds Insight to Gulf Investigation
The ethanol subsidy is still in the air:
- 2010/12/01: RRapier: Cellulosic Ethanol Reality Begins to Set In
- 2010/12/02: TEC: Midwest versus the rest in Senate support for ethanol subsidies
- 2010/12/01: NRDC:SwitchBoard: Support for ending corn ethanol subsidies runs coast to coast
- 2010/11/30: NRDC:SwitchBoard: 17 Senators call for end to corn ethanol tax credit and tariff
- 2010/11/29: NRDC:SwitchBoard: Something we can all agree on: it's time to end corn ethanol subsidies
Regarding RGGI:
- 2010/12/02: NRDC:SwitchBoard: Benefits of Northeast climate initiative are bountiful, even as [a] few states divert funds to close budget gaps
- 2010/11/28: NYT: Facing Deficits, States Tap Into [RGGI] Environmental Fund -- States Diverting Money From Climate Initiative
In New York, government officials found $90 million to pay for schools by dipping into money generated by a multistate greenhouse gas initiative. In New Hampshire, the state took $3.1 million from a similar environmental fund. And in New Jersey, the government diverted its whole share: $65 million. At least three financially troubled states have discovered in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a cap-and-trade system, a convenient pool of money that can be drawn on to help balance state budgets. - 2010/11/30: CCP: Big polluters freed from environmental oversight (NEPA exclusions exemptions) by stimulus. BP, Westar, DuPont, Duke Energy, Didion among companies exempt from environmental law
- 2010/11/28: CPI: Big Polluters Freed from Environmental Oversight by Stimulus
- 2010/11/29: TreeHugger: Stimulus Allows Big Polluters to Bypass Environmental Regulations
In its haste to jump-start "shovel-ready" stimulus projects, the Obama administration allowed many of the biggest polluters in the nation to sidestep key environmental regulations. The federal government made a stunning 179,000 "categorical exclusions" that allowed corporations ... to use stimulus funding to sponsor projects without submitting them to review under the nation's "most basic form of environmental oversight"... - 2010/12/03: NYT:CW: Prospects for Delivering Climate Policy 'in Chunks' Get Tougher
- 2010/12/03: TreeHugger: U.S. Needs to Boost Spending for Energy R&D, Panel Tells Obama
- 2010/12/01: EarthTimes: Obama restores oil-drilling ban on some marine areas
- 2010/11/29: USAToday: Wind seems knocked out of Obama's climate agenda
The actions of the Obama administration are being watched closely:
- 2010/12/04: NRDC:SwitchBoard: The Phony "Train Wreck" - Part II
- 2010/12/02: CNet: Chu touts ARPA-E as questions over funding loom
- 2010/12/01: GreenGrok: Coal Ash: EPA Can't Decide If It's Hazardous
- 2010/12/03: NBF: American Competitiveness - Stephen Chu and Others Sound the Alarm -- our new Sputnik Moment
- 2010/12/01: ClimateP: The EPA and Lisa Jackson versus the polluters who want dirtier air and water for your family
- 2010/11/30: ClimateP: Video: Steven Chu on why China's bid for clean energy leadership should be our "Sputnik Moment"
- 2010/11/30: Grist: Energy chief [DOE head, Steven Chu] pumps up cleantech as the new Sputnik
- 2010/11/30: DeSmogBlog: Secretary Chu: US getting its high tech butt kicked [video]
- 2010/11/30: Yahoo:AFP: US: China rise a 'Sputnik moment' for clean energy
- 2010/11/29: BSD: Someone finally mentions the attack on the EPA will come through budget resolutions
- 2010/11/29: ENS: 'Smart from the Start' Plan Speeds Atlantic Offshore Wind Development
As for what is going on in Congress:
- 2010/12/02: MoJo: Senate Republicans to World: We're Not Paying for Climate
- 2010/12/04: DeSmogBlog: House Global Warming Committee Axed By GOP Climate Zombies
- 2010/12/02: BostonGlobe: GOP moves quickly to kill climate-change panel
- 2010/12/03: NRDC:SwitchBoard: Baucus tax bill has good stuff, but corn ethanol tax credit is poison pill
- 2010/12/03: ScienceInsider: In a Sciencey World, Does Congress Need More Staff or Less?
- 2010/12/02: CSW: Final hearing of the House global warming committee: "a fight that is far from over"
- 2010/12/02: BWeek: Republican Senators Call on Obama to End Climate 'Bailouts'
- 2010/12/02: TerraDaily: No US overseas aid for climate change: Senators
The United States must freeze climate-change aid payments to developing countries to help them implement a global plan agreed in Denmark's capital last year, four US lawmakers said Thursday. Republican Senators John Barrasso, James Inhofe, David Vitter, and George Voinovich told US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that Washington cannot to spend the money at a time of swelling deficits and a bloated national debt. "We remain opposed to the US commitment to full implementation of the Copenhagen Accord, which will transfer billions of US taxpayer dollars to developing nations in the name of climate change," they said in a letter. - 2010/12/02: SolveClimate: Storms Drown Out Markey Committee's Swan Song
- 2010/12/02: ABC(Au): Republicans axe US climate change committee
US president Barack Obama's Republican foes in the House of Representatives say they are disbanding the chamber's committee on battling global warming, calling it a waste of money. - 2010/12/02: PSinclair: House Science Committee to become Anti Science Committee
- 2010/12/01: SolveClimate: Secrecy of Fracking Chemicals Takes Beltway Spotlight -- "It's not as if it looks like the industry is hiding something. They are hiding something."
- 2010/12/01: ClimateP: Dana "dinosaur flatulence" Rohrabacher vies for House Science chair to put global warming on trial
- 2010/11/30: TheHill:e2W: Candidates for House Appropriations gavel target EPA climate rules
- 2010/12/01: CSW: House Republicans disband global warming committee [Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming]
- 2010/12/01: Politico: GOP plans strategy to stymie EPA -- the Congressional Review Act
- 2010/11/29: TheHill:e2W: Senate Dems press for lame duck action on renewable power grants
- 2010/11/30: SolveClimate: Tax Pledge Adds Another Political Hurdle to U.S. Climate Action [congress]
- 2010/11/30: CCP: Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) will hold one last hearing in his Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming
- 2010/11/30: Grist: Historic food-safety bill [Food Safety Modernization Act (S. 510)] passes Senate, awaits House
- 2010/11/30: CSW: Markey to hold what may be final hearing for House committee on global warming
What are the lobbyists pushing?
- 2010/12/01: NRDC:SwitchBoard: How to judge the chemical industry: Deeds, not words
- 2010/11/30: CSW: Americans for Prosperity president Tim Phillips: Next steps in the war on climate science
- 2010/11/29: ClimateP: [Americans For Prosperity president] Tim Phillips on climate policy: "If we win the science argument, it's game, set, and match"
- 2010/11/29: CCP: Lee Fang: Koch brothers-financed AFP -- Tim Phillips, The Man Behind The 'Americans For Prosperity' Corporate Front Group Factory
While in the UK:
- 2010/12/03: BBC: UK gives £37m to aid overseas farmers on climate change
- 2010/12/02: BBC: [UK] Government launches £4.2m urban tree-planting plan
- 2010/11/30: BBC: Renewable energy strategy under fire from MPs
The UK is making "unacceptably slow" progress towards its renewable energy targets, a committee of MPs says. The Committee of Public Accounts also said that there was no clear understanding of the cost and success of some alternative technologies. It said the Department of Energy and Climate Change needed "a greater sense of urgency and purpose". Energy Secretary Chris Huhne said the coalition government was determined to "deliver on the low-carbon economy". - 2010/11/30: BBC: New energy sources vital to tackle climate change
The president of the UK Royal Society, Lord Rees, has said that it is "essential" for governments to prepare for the worst effects of climate change. - 2010/11/29: Guardian(UK): Cameron refuses to attend UN climate change talks
- 2010/11/29: TreeHugger: UK's First Utility-Scale Solar Power Plant Gets Go Ahead
- 2010/11/29: Guardian(UK): [Letters] David Cameron must live up to his green commitments
And in Europe:
- 2010/12/02: EurActiv: Growing resource use could damage EU economy, EEA warns
Rising global demand for natural resources will threaten economic health and social cohesion in Europe, the European Environment Agency (EEA) has warned. - 2010/11/30: EUO: Brussels says first ever citizens' petition does not count
The entry into force of the EU's new citizens' initiative (ECI) - a petition procedure under the Lisbon Treaty allowing European citizens to demand action in a particular area - is likely to be welcomed by a legal battle between Greenpeace and the EU institutions. The environmental NGO has successfully collected the required 1 million signatories in a petition calling on the EU to ban GMOs, but officials from both the European Commission and the European Parliament say the move is premature. - 2010/11/30: BBC: Growing demand for resources 'threatens EU economy'
The growing global demand for natural resources risks undermining Europe's economy, a report has warned. - 2010/11/29: EUO: EU downplays chance of climate alliance with China
Meanwhile in Australia:
- 2010/12/02: ABC(Au): The Australian National University has announced a new department which will bring together climate change and renewable energy research projects
- 2010/12/02: ABC(Au): Gas growth fuels fears for Great Artesian Basin
A federal MP says more people are worried about the rapid growth of the coal seam gas sector in Queensland and its effect on water than the State Government's Wild Rivers laws. - 2010/12/01: ABC(Au): Queensland mining magnate Clive Palmer has backed the development of nuclear power in Australia
- 2010/12/01: ABC(Au): Only carbon price makes options viable: report
A report on Australia's energy options has concluded only a significant carbon price will make alternatives to coal-fired power viable. - 2010/12/01: ABC(Au): Early end for solar credit scheme
The Federal Government says it will start to phase out its solar credit scheme from July next year, a year earlier than planned. - 2010/11/30: ABC(Au): Coalition urged to plan for Hazelwood closure
Environment Victoria is predicting electricity prices will continue to rise under the new Coalition Government. - 2010/11/30: ABC(Au): Combet stands by 5pc emissions target
Climate Change Minister Greg Combet has poured cold water on suggestions Australia should lift its emissions reduction target, saying conditions required by the Federal Government to do so have not been met. - 2010/11/30: ABC(Au): Call for farmers to play carbon mitigation role
Rural lobby group AgForce says if the agricultural industry is included in a carbon price scheme, there needs to be opportunities for farmers to take part in mitigation projects. - 2010/11/30: PlanetArk: Australia Brings Forward Decision On Carbon Price
- 2010/11/29: ABC(Au): Government told to increase carbon cut target
Analysis by the Federal Government's Department of Climate Change shows Australia needs to adopt a new minimum target in its emissions reductions. The current commitment is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 5 per cent by 2020, but departmental advice obtained by the Climate Institute suggests it should be 10 to 15 per cent. - 2010/11/29: ABC(Au): 'Nowhere to hide' from carbon price: Gillard
Prime Minister Julia Gillard says Australia must set a price on carbon next year, declaring 2011 a year of delivery and decision for her Government. At a speech in Sydney to the Council for the Economic Development of Australia this morning, Ms Gillard said the Government must find a way to get legislation for a price on carbon through the Parliament next year. - 2010/11/29: ABC(Au): The General Manager of the Hay Council said his community was neglected throughout the Murray Darling Basin Authority's recent regional consultations
- 2010/11/29: Reuters: Australia brings forward decision on carbon price
PM Gillard says to force 2011 decision on carbon pricing - Carbon price will test strength of minority Labor rule - Upper house to be dominated by sympathetic Greens from July - Climate push against small expectation for global talks - 2010/12/05: ABC(Au): Flooding has silver lining for Murray region
The heavy flooding in New South Wales is expected to have environmental benefits for South Australia's River Murray regions. - 2010/12/01: ABC(Au):TDU: The shambles of Australian water management
- 2010/12/03: ABC(Au): Major flooding along Murrumbidgee River
The Murrumbidgee River is expected to peak in Wagga Wagga at the major flood level of 9.6 metres on Sunday morning. - 2010/12/02: ABC(Au): A member of the New South Wales Legislative Council has called on the state government to withdraw its support for the Murray Darling Basin Plan
- 2010/11/29: ABC(Au): Prices rise as water consumption drops
The Bureau of Statistics has found Australians are using less water but are paying more for the precious resource - 2010/11/30: EarthTimes: Policy un-wise: India lacks coherent Climate change policy
- 2010/11/29: SolveClimate: India's Green New Deal Making Progress, but Low-Carbon Path is Steep
- 2010/11/29: Hindu: It's paradoxical that environmentalists are against nuclear energy: [Indian Minister of Environment & Forests] Jairam Ramesh
And in Russia:
- 2010/12/02: MoscowTimes: For Russia, Global Warming Benefits 'Outweigh' Negatives
And South America:
- 2010/12/02: Guardian(UK): Andean voices: Elias Pacco -- Farmer Elias Pacco of Huayahuasi village, Espinar province, Peru, talks to John Vidal
- 2010/12/02: Guardian(UK): Andean voices: Alberto Acosta -- Former oil minister Alberto Acosta, of Quito, Ecuador, talks to John Vidal
- 2010/12/02: Guardian(UK): Andean voices: Jiovanny Rivadenaira -- Community leader Jiovanny Rivadenaira, of Kichwa Anago, Napo river, Ecuador, talks to John Vidal
In Canada, minority neocon PM Harper, continues his do-nothing policy:
- 2010/12/02: APOV: Harper Government: No Money For Scientific Research ...
- 2010/11/29: ScottsDiatribe: [Tory] Environmental inaction and subterfuge
- 2010/11/29: HillTimes: Grit Senators made procedural error on climate-change bill, but slam feds on lack of climate plan
The Conservative defeat of the bill in the Senate comes after Republicans, who are not interested in cap-in-trade, take over U.S. Congress. - 2010/12/03: CBC: Toronto police chief retracts G20 video comments
Toronto police Chief Bill Blair apologized Friday for suggesting a video showing officers rushing at and arresting a protester during June's G20 summit had been deliberately edited. Blair suggested the video, posted on YouTube, had been tampered with in an interview with CBC Radio's Metro Morning on Monday. Blair said forensic officers had found that it was two separate video segments with five seconds missing in between. John Bridge, who recorded the video, sent a sworn affidavit to the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) saying the video was not edited and that he had just turned off his camera for a few seconds as he backed away from advancing police officers. - 2010/12/03: TStar: Ottawa won't say what it paid Deerhurst Resort to host G8 summit
Canadians may never know how much taxpayers shelled out to American-owned Deerhurst Resort in Huntsville to play host to G8 leaders in June. The Harper government recently released hundreds of pages of details on how it spent $857 million at the G8 and G20 summits. But millions of dollars of expenses were blacked out in the documents and further inquiries reveal the federal Conservatives have no plans to divulge these payments to real estate giants, construction companies and resort owners. - 2010/11/30: CBC: G20 police misconduct probe reopened
Ontario's police oversight agency is reopening an investigation into alleged police misconduct in the case of a man who suffered facial fractures while being arrested at a G20 protest in Toronto. The Special Investigations Unit said in a Tuesday release it will take a fresh look at the case of Adam Nobody, 27, whose nose and cheekbone were broken during a June 26 protest at Queen's Park. - 2010/11/30: G&M: How a man named Nobody became the battered face of G20 protests
- 2010/11/29: TGBeaver: Angry man in uniform says something
- 2010/11/29: CBC: G20 probe slammed by Toronto police chief
Questions and debate about offshore and Arctic drilling continue:
- 2010/11/30: CBC: Arctic offshore drilling review underway
The National Energy Board has kicked off its Arctic offshore drilling review by meeting with territorial and federal leaders in the North. - 2010/11/29: PI:B: The troubling truth about the Canadian government's efforts to derail U.S. climate policy
- 2010/12/01: NRDC:SwitchBoard: Caught in the act: Canada's lobbying for tar sands and against clean energy
- 2010/11/29: PostMedia: Conservatives deny diplomatic push to shield oilsands from U.S. environmental rules
The Harper government dismissed accusations Monday that its environmental policies were focused on protecting the Alberta oilsands, in light of newly-released documents showing some oil-friendly Canadian diplomats attempting to undermine foreign environmental policies. The documents were released as international negotiators from almost 200 countries gather in Cancun, Mexico, for the annual United Nations climate change summit. They also coincide with an acknowledgment from Environment Minister John Baird last weekend that Canada would not follow the lead of the Obama administration in its plans to set new limits on greenhouse gas pollution from new industrial facilities and major expansions to existing ones starting in the year 2011. - 2010/11/29: CCP: Canada asked firms to help kill U.S. green policies. Diplomats sought solution to ensure that 'the oil keeps a-flowing,' according to documents
- 2010/11/29: APOV: And The Mendacity Of Harper And Co. Keeps On Going ...
- 2010/11/29: ClimateP: Canadian diplomats lobby to 'kill' U.S. green policies
- 2010/11/29: PostMedia: Canadian diplomats sought help from U.S. oil companies -- Emails were spurred by U.S. law threatening purchases of oilsands oil
Canadian diplomats in Washington have quietly asked such oil-industry players as Exxon Mobil and BP to help "kill" U.S. global-warming policies in order to ensure that "the oil keeps a-flowing" from Alberta into the U.S. marketplace, Postmedia News has learned. In a series of newly released correspondence from Canada's Washington embassy, the Canadian diplomats describe recommendations from Environment Canada to clean up the oilsands as "simply nutty," proposing instead to "kill any interpretation" of U.S. energy legislation that would apply to the industry. "We hope that we can find a solution to ensure that the oil keeps a-flowing," wrote Jason Tolland, from the Canadian Embassy in an exchange of emails with government trade lawyers on Feb. 8, 2008. The correspondence, released to the Pembina Institute, an environmental research group that obtained it through access-to-information legislation, comes as the international community gathers in Cancun, Mexico, for the annual United Nations summit on global warming. - 2010/11/29: WpgFP: Canada won't follow new U.S. plan to slash industrial greenhouse gases: Baird
- 2010/11/28: TStar: Canada won't follow U.S. plan to cut greenhouse gases: Baird
The Harper government has no plans to follow a U.S. initiative to slash the greenhouse gas emissions of big polluters -- even though Ottawa has pledged to harmonize its climate policies with the Americans. The White House, stung by its failure to legislate a cap-and-trade bill before the recent congressional elections, has a Plan B set to be implemented within weeks. The new U.S. rules -- passed by executive order -- are aimed at curbing emissions from large industrial facilities like refineries and cement factories. They go into effect Jan. 2. Canadian climate experts say this country could contain the pollution growth from its own industries, notably the oilsands, by introducing similar standards north of the border. But newly minted Environment Minister John Baird downplayed the plans from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as "patchwork." - 2010/11/29: 350orBust: In Abrupt About-Face, Harper Government Says It Won't Follow U.S. Lead on Climate Change, As Obama Administration Moves to Curb Emissions
- 2010/11/28: G&M: Canada to match U.S. emissions standards
- 2010/11/28: TMoS: The Harpies Balk at Implementing U.S. Emissions Cuts
If you want to know what a lying dirtbag looks like, take a gander at the mug of Stephen Harper or John Baird. The lie is that they're just waiting for American action to curb carbon emissions so Canada can do the same. They're not and they won't. - 2010/12/02: PI:B: U.S. to regulate big polluters, leaving no excuses for Canada's inaction
- 2010/12/02: PI: New Pembina analysis shows Canada falling behind the U.S. on regulating climate pollution
Pipelines are a handy target:
- 2010/12/02: CBC: B.C. natives protest Enbridge pipeline -- Take to Vancouver streets, buy full-page ad opposing Northern Gateway
Native leaders are vowing to do whatever it takes -- including civil disobedience -- to block a proposed oil pipeline across northern B.C. Representatives of 61 First Nations marched and drummed through downtown Vancouver streets Thursday to Enbridge Inc.'s headquarters to deliver a signed declaration stating their opposition. "Civil disobedience is not out of the question," said Larry Nooski, from the Nadleh Whut'en First Nation near Fraser Lake. The $5.5-billion Northern Gateway Pipeline proposed by Enbridge would run from the Alberta oilsands to B.C.'s North Coast. - 2010/12/02: CBC: First Nations form alliance to block Enbridge [Northern Gateway] pipeline
- 2010/11/30: NYT:GW: Enviros Launch Ad Assault Against Tar Sands [Keystone XL] Pipeline Project
- 2010/11/30: CBC: Oil tanker traffic ban sought by B.C. groups
A coalition of First Nations, commercial fisheries and environmental groups from Canada's Pacific Northwest Coast are demanding a ban on oil tankers in the region, claiming the local economy is in jeopardy because of increased traffic. - 2010/12/03: PlanetArk: Canada's Aboriginals Eye Role In Energy Projects
Canada's top native leader said on Thursday he wants aboriginal groups from across North America to get together next year to examine energy and resource development on their traditional lands. The planning process for major development projects takes years, but aboriginal peoples are usually brought in only at the end of the process, despite legal and cultural land claims, said Shawn Atleo, national chief of the Assembly of First Nations. - 2010/12/04: WpgFP: Canada joins Russia, Japan in opposition to extending Kyoto Protocol
- 2010/12/03: Rabble:EL: Update from Cancun: Canada attempts to kill the Kyoto Protocol
- 2010/12/03: PI: Climate talks in Cancun: there is still time for Canadian leadership
- 2010/12/01: EmbassyMag: Negotiating in bad faith
In order to negotiate, negotiators must bring something to the table, and that is what Canada is not doing entering into the United Nations climate talks in Cancun this week. The Canadian government is arriving to the table basically empty-handed while the climate crisis continues to impact millions of people around the world and here in Canada. - 2010/12/01: DeSmogBlog: COP16: Canada's blackened reputation
- 2010/11/30: DeSmogBlog: Canada Already on Track to be Fossil of the Year in Cancun; Cleans up on Day One of the Talks
- 2010/11/29: CAN: Canada Sweeps 1st Cancun Fossil of the Day Awards for Year of Climate Inaction
With Campbell going and James' unpopularity, BC politics is spindizzy:
- 2010/11/27: PostMedia: KingCoal -- Old-school fuel gains new life in growing markets, especially from steelmakers in China
Coal might seem old school, a last-century fuel, but it is once again king on British Columbia's waterfront, with miners and terminals scrambling to fill resurgent demands in Asia, particularly from new customers in China. - 2010/12/04: CBC: Oil industry condemns Greenpeace satire
- 2010/11/29: PI:B: Passing the baton: A conversation with Pembina's incoming and outgoing oilsands directors
- 2010/12/03: SolveClimate: Cancun Protesters Target Canada, U.S. over Oil Sands Pipelines
In contrast to eventful Copenhagen in 2009, the oil sands action was one of the first visible demonstrations held at the Cancun talks - 2010/12/01: Reuters: Factbox - Asian investments in Canada's oil sands
- 2010/12/01: Reuters: Analysis: Asian buyers throw weight around Canada oil sands
A wave of high-priced acquisitions in the Alberta oil sands by Asian state oil companies and wealth funds is making it increasingly tough for Canadian investors to compete - 2010/12/02: CTV: Alberta minister wants Ottawa to promote oilsands
Alberta's energy minister wants the federal government to promote the province's oilsands in the face of what he calls "slam-the-oilsands" campaigns -- and he's going to Ottawa to push for support. Ron Liepert says Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his government need to embrace the oilsands in order to turn Canada into an energy superpower. - 2010/12/02: PlanetArk: Shell Files For Carbon Capture In Alberta Oil Sands
- 2010/11/30: CBC: Harvesting wealth from oilsands waste -- Canadian technology aims to extract $500 million a year from oilsands effluent
As the debate rages over the threat oilsands waste poses to the environment, a Canadian company is on the verge of showing whether its technology will make oilsands tailings ponds less toxic and even extract valuable products. After six years in development, Edmonton-based Titanium Corp.'s technology has shown in a small-scale experiment that it can meet targets for recovering oil, solvents, water and valuable heavy metals such as zircon from effluent pipes before the waste enters the ponds. - 2010/11/30: CBC: Sierra Club, CAPP both claim victory in ad ruling -- Oil firms will change ad saying oilsands ponds 'like yogurt'
- 2010/11/30: DeSmogBlog: Advertising Standards Council finds tar sands tasty
- 2010/11/29: CBC: Husky approves new oilsands project
In Manitoba:
- 2010/12/02: CBC: Manitoba raises spring flooding fears with PM
Manitoba Premier Greg Selinger has advised Prime Minister Stephen Harper about the potential for a serious spring flood in the province. Selinger spoke with Harper at last weekend's Grey Cup game in Edmonton, informing him of the likelihood of widespread flooding and the likely need for additional resources to protect communities and clean up the damage. The Winnipeg area received 55.6 centimetres of snow in November -- the highest snowfall amount for the city in that month since 1996. That winter was followed by the so-called flood of the century in the spring of 1997. The snow, combined with a rainy spring and summer, has put 2010 into the record book as Winnipeg's fourth wettest ever. - 2010/12/02: TEC: Ontario revives Darlington nuclear projects
- 2010/12/02: REA: How Much Does a Solar Job Cost in Ontario?
- 2010/12/01: CBC: Samsung announces Windsor wind turbine plant
Samsung C&T Corporation and the Ontario government announced plans Wednesday to open a wind turbine factory in Windsor, Ont., and create 300 manufacturing jobs along with 400 indirect construction and service jobs. The $40- to $50-million investment is a "game changer" for Windsor, said Mayor Eddie Francis at the David Suzuki Public School. Windsor has the highest unemployment rate in Canada. - 2010/11/29: CBC: Lower Churchill financing risky: analyst
As for miscellaneous Canadiana:
- 2010/12/02: Tyee: Farmers Harvesting the Sun's Rays
Make conditions right, and renewable energy could become a profitable crop for food growers across Canada. - 2010/12/01: BCLSB: Ezra Vs. The Indians
The movement toward a long term ecologically viable economics is glacial:
- 2010/12/03: CCurrents: Oil And The Economy: Three Possible Scenarios
- 2010/12/01: CrossCut: How do you sell an 'ecological civilization'?
- 2010/12/01: CCurrents: 10 Skills Needed To Thrive In A Post-Collapse World
- 2010/11/30: CCurrents: The Future Of Humankind: A Few Simple Rules
IPAT [Impact = Population * Affluence * Technology] raised its head once again:
- 2010/12/02: Guardian(UK): Report calls for radical redesign of cities to cope with population growth
- 2010/12/01: TreeHugger: Family Planning As Important For Fighting Climate Change As Clean Technology: Worldwatch
- 2010/12/01: CCurrents: Coercive Population Control
- 2010/11/30: OurFiniteWorld: Population, Food Supplies, and the Big Unasked Question
Apocalypso anyone?
- 2010/12/03: CCurrents: We're Toast
As for how the media handles the science:
- 2010/12/04: CCurrents: New Scientist Plants False Story That Pope Approves GM Crops
- 2010/12/03: ClimateP: Top economics textbook -- McConnell, Brue, and Flynn -- gets climate science and policy wrong
- 2010/12/03: JQuiggin: Meltdown continues at the Oz: good faith reporting no defence
- 2010/12/01: Deltoid: Chris Mitchellgate: Mitchell's demands
- 2010/12/02: CCD: One report- two headlines
- 2010/11/30: ClimateP: And so the word "sustainable" dies -- Killed by the NY Times magazine
- 2010/11/30: ClimateP: Slowing global warming: Not a job for the Washington Post
- 2010/11/30: ClimateP: Denying global warming, Fox News bashes "granola-crunching" media and "doom-and-gloom" messaging -- based on yet more misreporting of Berkeley study
- 2010/11/30: Deltoid: The Australian's War on Science 52: defaming scientists
- 2010/11/30: SEasterbrook: Headline Spin
While activists search for effective communication techniques:
- 2010/12/02: CNN: How to get scientists, policymakers to same page on climate change by Gavin Schmidt
Here is something for your library:
- 2010/12/04: RRapier: [Book Review] _The Impending World Energy Mess_ by Robert L. Hirsch, Roger H. Bezdek & Robert M. Wendling
And for your film & video enjoyment:
- 2010/12/04: PSinclair: Christiana Figueres meets the trackers at COP16 in Cancun, Mexico
- 2010/12/04: CCP: UNFCCC Secretary Christiana Figueres meets with Adopt A Negotiator Trackers at COP16
- 2010/12/04: ClimateP: In tears, Christiana Figueres tells youth that Cancun will be "insufficient" but a necessary step
- 2010/11/30: Ecologist: Exclusive film US natural gas drilling boom linked to pollution and social strife
The gas stored in the Marcellus Shale formation is the subject of desperate drilling to secure US domestic energy supplies. But the process involved - hydraulic fracturing - is the focus of a bitter dispute over environmental damage and community rights - 2010/12/02: PSinclair: Rohrabacher and Alley: Bluster vs Brain
- 2010/12/02: SkeptiSci: The Climate Show #3: Cancun and cooling
- 2010/12/02: TEC: Video: The Case Against Natural Gas
- 2010/12/02: PSinclair: More on Methane
- 2010/12/02: HotTopic: The Climate Show #3: Cancún and cooling
- 2010/12/01: PSinclair: Powering the Third World with Water and Sun
- 2010/11/30: PSinclair: Katey Walter and the Flaming Lakes
- 2010/11/29: PSinclair: Finding the right Climate Crock Video just got easier
Meanwhile among the 'Sue the Bastards!' contingent:
- 2010/12/03: DemNow: Greenpeace Sues Chemical Companies for Corporate Espionage
- 2010/12/02: ClimateP: Nigerian government to charge Dick Cheney in massive bribery case over natural gas pipeline
- 2010/12/02: BBC: Dick Cheney faces bribery scandal charges in Nigeria
Nigeria's anti-corruption agency is to charge former US Vice-President Dick Cheney over a bribery scandal that involves a former subsidiary of energy firm Halliburton. - 2010/12/01: TreeHugger: Federal Court Orders Destruction of Monsanto [sugar beet] Crops
- 2010/11/30: ENS: Court Orders Uprooting of Monsanto Biotech Sugar Beets
- 2010/12/01: CCurrents: My Journey Into Kivalina v. ExxonMobil et al.
- 2010/11/29: CCP: Mother Jones: Greenpeace sues Chemical and PR Firms for "Unlawful" Spying
- 2010/11/29: HuffPo: Greenpeace Sues Dow, Sasol, Dezenhall for Corporate Spying, RICO
- 2010/11/29: CCP: Greenpeace sues Dow, Sasol, and Dezenhall for corporate spying and RICO
Wrestling over a new energy infrastructure continues unabated:
- 2010/12/04: PeakEnergy: Declining energy quality could be root cause of current recession
- 2010/12/03: AutoBG: H2 Logic ramps up hydrogen refueling station installs in Norway
- 2010/12/04: BBC: Oil prices reach post-crisis two-year high
The price of oil on both sides of the Atlantic has hit its highest level since the financial crisis. In Europe, Brent crude futures rose to $91.58 per barrel, while in the US, West Texas Intermediate hit $89.35 - the highest levels since October 2008. - 2010/12/04: BNC: Media reactions to the Energy paper -- part 1
- 2010/12/03: OilDrum: U.K. Natural Gas -- An Early December 2010 Status Report
- 2010/12/02: DeSmogBlog: Salt Lake City Oil Spill: Chevron Pipeline Leaks Thousands of Gallons for Second Time in Six Months
- 2010/12/02: EnergyBulletin: Oil and the economy: Why it is important to figure out approximately where we are headed
- 2010/12/02: REA: When Will Unconventional Hydro Compete?
- 2010/12/01: TreeHugger: Were Rising Energy Costs the True Cause of the Recession?
- 2010/12/01: OilDrum: South America Enters the LNG World
- 2010/11/30: CCurrents: How Sustainable Is Renewable Energy?
- 2010/11/30: EnergyBulletin: Straight Answers to Tough Questions About Wood Heat - Part 2
- 2010/11/29: Guardian(UK): Madagascar Oil brings tar sands project to London market
- 2010/11/30: WUSTL: Chemistry for greenhouse gases
Novel metal catalysts may be able to turn greenhouse gases into liquid fuels without producing more carbon waste - 2010/11/29: Eureka: Declining energy quality could be root cause of current recession
- 2010/11/30: REA: Japan, Facing Similar Challenges [as California], Embraces Geothermal
- 2010/11/29: NYT: Breaking Away From Coal [to natural gas]
- 2010/11/29: PhysOrg: SOFC [Solid Oxide Fuel Cell] micro CHP [Combined Heat & Power] plants to be climate-friendly power stations in homes
- 2010/11/28: OilDrum: Middle East OPEC reserves revisited
Hey! Let's contaminate the aquifer for thousands of years! It'll be a fracking gas!
- 2010/11/30: Ecologist: Exclusive film US natural gas drilling boom linked to pollution and social strife
The gas stored in the Marcellus Shale formation is the subject of desperate drilling to secure US domestic energy supplies. But the process involved - hydraulic fracturing - is the focus of a bitter dispute over environmental damage and community rights - 2010/12/03: ClimateP: Disclosure of chemicals in gas fracking advances
- 2010/12/03: NRDC:SwitchBoard: Talking about Natural Gas, Fracking and Trust with Agency Officials and Gas Reps
- 2010/12/02: NRDC:SwitchBoard: Editorial Boards Weigh In: Paterson Should Sign Moratorium Into Law
- 2010/11/30: ProPublica: NY Assembly Approves Hydraulic Fracturing Moratorium
- 2010/12/01: TEC: Radioactivity and Shale Gas: Some Like It Hot?
- 2010/12/02: TEC: Video: The Case Against Natural Gas
- 2010/12/01: SolveClimate: Secrecy of Fracking Chemicals Takes Beltway Spotlight -- "It's not as if it looks like the industry is hiding something. They are hiding something."
- 2010/12/01: TEC: ProPublica asks (more than a year ago) - Is New York's Marcellus shale too hot to handle?
The answer my friend...:
- 2010/12/03: TEC: European Offshore Wind Supergrid Deal Signed
- 2010/12/03: NBF: 10 Megawatt wind turbines 2011-2013 and 15 Megawatt wind turbines by 2020
- 2010/12/01: PostMedia: Climate change takes wind out of energy sails -- SFU researcher finds wind speeds slowed since 1950s
- 2010/12/01: PSinclair: No Adverse Health Effects from Wind Turbines
Meanwhile among the solar aficionados:
- 2010/11/29: FC: Applied Materials and the $1.5 Billion SunFab Flameout
- 2010/12/02: NYT:CW: An Array of Companies Blooms to Ease the Often Difficult Path to Solar
- 2010/12/03: TreeHugger: Global Solar Energy Could Hit 980 GW in Under 10 Years
- 2010/12/02: EarthTimes: Europe turns to Africa for energy from the sun [Desertec +]
- 2010/12/02: REA: Solar Cell Efficiencies Continue To Rise
- 2010/11/30: NewScientist: Sun and sand breed Sahara solar power
- 2010/11/30: TEC: NRG Solar and SunPower Agree to Build 250-Megawatt California Valley Solar Ranch
- 2010/11/29: TEC: Connecticut Solar Power: Small State, Large Dreams and Depleted Funds
- 2010/11/30: REA: Five PV History Lessons; EPIA Takeaways
On the coal front:
- 2010/11/27: PostMedia: KingCoal -- Old-school fuel gains new life in growing markets, especially from steelmakers in China
Coal might seem old school, a last-century fuel, but it is once again king on British Columbia's waterfront, with miners and terminals scrambling to fill resurgent demands in Asia, particularly from new customers in China. - 2010/12/05: PeakEnergy: Biofuels Production Has Unintended Consequences on Water Quality and Quantity in Mississippi
- 2010/12/03: TEC: Will Oil Prices Rescue Ethanol?
- 2010/12/01: Eureka: Can engineered bugs [bacteria] help generate biofuels? Study holds promise
- 2010/11/30: Eureka: Biofuels production has unintended consequences on water quality and quantity in Mississippi
The nuclear energy controversy continues:
- 2010/12/03: EarthTimes: IAEA establishes nuclear fuel bank
- 2010/12/03: NBF: China spending $511 billion to build up to 245 nuclear reactors
- 2010/12/02: TEC: China Bets Big on Nuclear Energy
- 2010/12/02: PeakEnergy: Nuclear power 'failing' price test
- 2010/12/01: NBF: An Even Bigger Century of Nuclear Energy
- 2010/12/01: SMH: Nuclear power 'failing' price test
Nuclear energy will be more expensive than most forms of renewable energy by 2020 according to a paper by the University of NSW energy expert Mark Diesendorf. - 2010/12/01: TEC: Keeping up with China: The Economic Advantage of Molten Salt Nuclear Technology
- 2010/11/30: BNC: The arithmetic adds up to nuclear
- 2010/11/28: NBF: Nuclear is the least-cost, low-carbon, baseload power source
Yes we have peak everything:
- 2010/12/04: OilChange: The IEA acknowledges peak oil: demand not supply
- 2010/12/01: EnergyBulletin: Peak coal is moving closer too
- 2010/11/29: TreeHugger: Coal Prices May Rise Sooner Than Anyone Expects As Global Reserves Revised Downward
More people are talking about the electrical grid:
- 2010/12/03: TEC: European Offshore Wind Supergrid Deal Signed
- 2010/12/03: BBC: European nations agree on offshore North Sea electric grid
Ministers from 10 European countries bordering the North Sea have agreed the construction of a new offshore electricity grid. The grid will link countries across Europe and make it much easier for member states to trade energy. It will also simplify the exploitation of the 140 Gigawatt offshore windfarm currently being planned in the North Sea. - 2010/12/03: EarthTimes: Ten North European nations agree to link offshore wind farms
- 2010/12/02: TreeHugger: Eight Reasons Distributed Power Generation Is Superior To Central Power Station Expansion
- 2010/12/01: NatureN: Energy: Supergrid
Is a vast undersea grid bringing wind-generated electricity from the North Sea to Europe a feasible proposition or an overpriced fantasy? - 2010/11/30: PeakEnergy: Why the Smart Meter Backlash Story Isn't Going Away
- 2010/11/29: TEC: Can the Smart Grid Solve Climate Change?
And then there is the matter of efficiency & conservation:
- 2010/12/01: UNEP: Multi billion dollar benefits of global switch to energy-efficient lighting
- 2010/12/02: TreeHugger: UN Urges Phase Out Of Incandescent Bulbs, Guarantees Their Survival In USA
- 2010/12/01: UN: Energy-efficient lights can save countries billions, massively cut emissions -- UN report
Automakers & lawyers, engineers & activists argue over the future of the car:
- 2010/12/03: NBF: Tata reveals Indica Vista electric car with 150 mile range on one charge with a price around $10,000 and an electric truck
- 2010/12/03: PSinclair: Cracker Barrel Restaurants to Offer Charging Stations for EVs
- 2010/12/03: TreeHugger: Clever Electric Bus Prototype Combines 2 Battery Chemistries for Max Power & Range
- 2010/12/03: CBC: Nissan Leaf electric car rolls out in Japan -- Comes to Canada in late 2011
- 2010/12/02: GCR: GM Confirms, Yes, We're Losing Money on Every Volt We Build
- 2010/12/02: CBC: GM Volt to launch in 7 Canadian cities in 2011 -- B.C., Quebec and Ontario will be first to see GM electric car
- 2010/12/01: BBC: Tata Nano car sales sink by 85%
- 2010/11/30: AutoBG: Chevrolet Volt production officially begins today, GM auctioning first one for charity
- 2010/11/28: TEC: Electric cars are coming!
As for Energy Storage:
- 2010/12/01: AutoBG: Supercapacitor breakthrough beats batteries with graphene
The reaction of business to climate change will be critical:
- 2010/11/30: BBC: Carbon counting is 'good for business'
UK companies that measure their carbon emissions do not find the exercise arduous or expensive - and some say it brings benefits, a report concludes. - 2010/12/02: CBC: Growth of flood claims linked to global warming
Canadian insurance companies are facing unprecedented growth in claims and payouts for water-related home damage, and industry experts lay the blame squarely on climate change. In 2009, insurance payouts nationwide totalled $5.3-billion, with more than half of claims being paid for extreme weather events. - 2010/11/30: NRDC:SwitchBoard: Coal Industry's Orwellian Rebranding of Mountaintop Removal [as "mountaintop development"]
- 2010/12/01: CCurrents: Mother Nature Is Not Fooled By Euphemisms
Joe Romm posts a daily list of top energy and climate stories:
- 2010/12/04: ClimateP: Weekend News Update...
- 2010/12/03: ClimateP: Energy and Global Warming News for December 3...
- 2010/12/02: ClimateP: Energy and Global Warming News for December 2...
- 2010/12/01: ClimateP: Energy and Global Warming News for December 1...
- 2010/11/30: ClimateP: Energy and Global Warming News for November 30...
- 2010/11/29: ClimateP: Energy and Global Warming News for November 29...
Other (weekly) lists:
- 2010/12/03: NRDC:SwitchBoard: Climate, Energy and Environment News from Latin America: 11.24 - 12.3.2010
- 2010/12/02: Grist: A walk through the week's climate news -- The Climate Post: Scientific papers paint most accurate portrait of Earth's future yet
- 2010/12/02: NRDC:SwitchBoard: India Climate Change and Energy News - November 21 to November 27, 2010
- 2010/11/29: DM:BA: A firehose of global warming news, both good and bad
The carbon lobby are up to the usual:
- 2010/12/03: JEB: That's told them!
- 2010/12/03: WtD: Denier Andrew Bolt posts pro-science story, creationist posters demonstrate his blog a hot spot of ignorance
- 2010/12/02: WottsUWT: Overshoot and Undershoot
- 2010/12/02: Grist: Coal is the savior of the human race
- 2010/12/01: JKB: Not Evil Just Wrong still pretending Phelim McAleer was urged to stop filming at the COP15 in Copenhagen
- 2010/12/01: PeakEnergy: Boogeymen Trifecta: Murdoch Allies With Oil Company, Cheney
- 2010/12/01: WtD: Andrew Bolt's memo to Internet: please stop telling me stuff I don't want to hear!
- 2010/11/30: Guardian(UK): Climate change sceptic Bob Carter continues to ply his trade
- 2010/11/30: WottsUWT: The little conference that can can't
- 2010/11/30: OilChange: BP says to Cancun: Invest in the tar sands
Meanwhile in the 'clean coal' saga:
- 2010/11/29: Duke: New Monitoring Methods More Accurately Measure Coal Ash Impacts
As the Environmental Protection Agency weighs whether to define coal ash as hazardous waste, a study by Duke University researchers identifies new monitoring protocols and insights that can help investigators more accurately measure and predict coal ash contaminants' ecological impacts. - 2010/12/04: MTobis: Contrarianism, Honesty, and the Value of Debate
- 2010/12/03: ABC(Au):TDU: The real climate change challenge
- 2010/12/03: TCoE: Where are are, December 3, 2010
- 2010/12/03: TEC: Revisiting the science: Climate Change Exhibit at the London Science Museum
- 2010/12/01: ClimateSight: The Nature of Scientific Consensus
- 2010/12/01: MGS: How to make sanity checks
- 2010/11/29: RortyBomb: How Does Our Fiscal Security's Fiscal Blueprint Work For Climate Hawks?
- 2010/11/30: TreeHugger: Does Government Failure Create Climate Apathy or Determination?
- 2010/11/29: SMandia: Can't See the Forest for the Climate Change
- 2010/11/29: MGS: Verifying forecasts 2
- 2010/11/28: CCP: Jack Hedin, NYT: An Almanac of Extreme Weather
- 2010/11/29: GL: Get the benefit while everyone pays the cost
- 2010/11/28: WottsUWT: IPCC Official: "Climate Policy Is Redistributing The World's Wealth"
- 2010/11/28: ERabett: Ottmar Edenhofer says it again
- 2010/11/28: ClimateP: Met Office finds "evidence for man-made warming has grown even stronger in the last year."
And here are a couple of sites you may find interesting and/or useful:
- World Ocean Review [German]
- Food & Water Watch
- CVM: Climate Vulnerability Monitor
- Agriculture and Rural Development Day
- Our Finite World
- Wiki: Sahara Solar Breeder Project
- AOSIS: Alliance of Small Island States
- CAN Canada
- CAN: COP16/CMP6 - Cancún
- CAN: Climate Action Network International
- GP: Greenpeace spy lawsuit
- Science Blog
- ABC(Au): Environment
- ABC(Au): Climate Change
- Encyclopedia of Earth
- Prof. Dr. Martin Grosjean - Publications
More black humour in a climatic vein:
The CableGate revelations have some climate implications. The comments:
The Question arises again:
So, are these land grabs Colonialism V2.0?
Aerosols are making their presence felt:
What's new in proxies?
More GW impacts are being seen:
Acidification is changing the oceans:
Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation has somehow seemed chimeric:
Consider transportation & GHG production:
Large scale geo-engineering keeps popping up:
The debate over the optimal strategy [carbon trading, carbon offsets, auction vs. allocation, and/or a carbon tax] to use in dealing with GHGs continues:
Who's making predictions this week?
And on the American political front:
Isn't this just the kind of duplicity we have come to expect from Washington:
The Obama chatter is nonstop:
The Murray-Darling Basin Plan controversy continues:
While in the Indian subcontinent:
The G20 controversy lingers:
The Tories are denying they lobbied to kill foreign climate change legislation in spite of the FOI documents:
The Tories are now refusing to follow the American lead in regulating GHGs:
This could have long term ramifications:
What's Canada doing at Cancun?
Meanwhile in that Mechanical Mordor known as the tar sands:
Ontario has it's Green Energy Act, now comes the implementation:
In the Maritimes:
Biofuel bickering abounds:
Insurance and re-insurance companies are feeling the heat:
Meanwhile in the greenwashing chronicles:
As for climate miscellanea:
Low Key Plug
My first novel Water was published in Canada May, 2007. The American release was in October. An Introductionto the novel is available, along with the Unpublished Forewordand the Launch Talk(which includes some quotations), An overview of my writing is available here.
<regards>
P.S. Recent postings can be found in the week archive and the ancient postings can be accessed here, which should open to this.
"We are facing the end of history. We don't want to be the sacrificed countries of the 21st century. We want to survive."
-Antonio Lima, Cape Verde ambassador to the UN, speaking at Cancún for AOSIS
Categories
- Log in to post comments