Another week of GW News, January 9, 2011

Logging the Onset of The Bottleneck Years

skip to bottom

Another week of Climate Disruption News

Sipping from the Internet Firehose...

January 9, 2011

• Chuckles, COP16, COP17+, Perspectives, Harbinger?, Australia, WikiLeaks, Winter
• Bottom Line, Subsidies, Laws, Thermodynamics, GHE, Cook, Post CRU
• Melting Arctic, Polar Bears, Norther Light, Geopolitics, Antarctica
• Food Crisis, Food Price Index, Food Production
• Hurricanes, GHGs, Carbon Cycle, Temperatures, Feedbacks, Aerosols, Paleoclimate
• ENSO, Solar, Ocean Currents, Satellites
• Impacts, Forests, Climate Refugees, Desertification, Extreme Weather
• Corals, Glaciers, Sea Levels, Floods & Droughts
• Mitigation, Transportation, Buildings, Sequestration, Geoengineering
• Journals, Other Docs , Misc. Science, DIY Science, Emanuel, Bradley, Schneider, Pielke, Wegman
• UN, Carbon Trade, Carbon Tax, Optimal Carbon Reduction Strategy
• International Politics: Rare Earths, WTO, Security, Law & Activism, Water Politics & Business, Predictions
• National Politics: America, BP Disaster, EPA, FOI, Obama, USAdmin, Congress, Climate Bill, Lobbyists
• Britain, Europe, Australia, Murray-Darling, India, China, Asia, Africa, South America
• Canada, Post G20, Pipelines, Kent, Ethics, Tar Sands, Alberta, Sask, Quebec, Maritimes, North
• Ecological Economics, IPAT, Apocalypso, Media, Books, Video, Courts
• Energy, Fracking, Wind, Solar, Coal, Biofuel, Nukes, Peak Oil, Grid, Efficiency, Cars, Gee Whiz, Storage
• Insurance, Greenwashing, Joe's List, Carbon Lobby, Miscellaneous Climate, Useful Links
• Shameless Self Promotion, .sig

Laugh. I dare ya:

1. 2011/01/06: SeattlePI: (cartoon - Horsey) On the new GOP House
2. 2011/01/06: uComics: (cartoon - Wiley) Danae knows what she sees
3. 2011/01/02: HotTopic: (cartoon - Cunningham) Albert the knowledge penguin on climate
4. 2011/01/02: MTobis: Kilowattses

   Some people just can't let go of the saturnalia/solstice/eclipse celebrations:

5. 2011/01/05: APOD: Eclipsing the Sun
6. 2011/01/04: DM:BA: INSANELY awesome solar eclipse picture
7. 2011/01/03: DM:BA: At the bottom of Earth's orbit

   Looking back at Cancun:

8. 2011/01/06: Dominion: Excluded, but not Silenced -- Indigenous Peoples at COP16
9. 2011/01/06: CSW: U.S. climate envoy Jonathan Pershing: in implementing the Cancun Agreements, the U.S. will be the focus of global attention

   Looking ahead to COP17 and future international climate negotiations:

10. 2011/01/06: Guardian(UK): Climate change bribery won't work
    Climate finance aid to poor countries is a sideshow to the main event, which is for rich nations to stop screwing the planet up

Still some 2010 retrospectives - 2011 prospectives:

11. 2011/01/04: GreenGrok: 2010: The Year That Was in Energy
12. 2011/01/05: Wunderground: Top U.S. weather event of 2010: Snowmageddon
13. 2010/12/31: DD: 50 Doomiest Graphs of 2010
14. 2011/01/03: DeepClimate: Looking back and looking forward
15. 2011/01/03: BVerheggen: 2010 blog round-up
16. 2011/01/03: Grist: Top five forest stories of 2010
17. 2011/01/03: TDC: 2010 in review: The year climate coverage 'fell off the map.'

    Whether it was media hype, extreme weather or whatever, this story was an unsettling harbinger of 2011:

18. 2011/01/07: MSNBC:CL: Birds in trouble? Yes ... here's why [one in six bird species is threatened with extinction]
19. 2011/01/05: CJR: Bye, Bye Blackbirds -- Bizarre reports of dead birds and fish enliven a slow news week
20. 2011/01/07: CBC: Dead birds litter Quebec farm -- 'Its not a biblical curse. It's not a death ray from an alien spaceship,' expert says
21. 2011/01/07: PhysOrg: Wisconsin lab says it solved blackbird die-off
22. 2011/01/07: TreeHugger: Google Map Reveals Weird Weather Caused Half of Mass Animal Deaths
23. 2011/01/06: HuffPo: Birds Dying In Italy: Thousands Of Turtle Doves Fall Dead From Sky
24. 2011/01/07: AlterNet: 'Aflockalypse': Here's Why We Should Really Be Concerned About the Huge Bird and Fish Die-off
25. 2011/01/06: NatGeo: Why Are Birds Falling From the Sky?
26. 2011/01/06: ProMedMail: Undiagnosed die-off, fish - USA (02): (MD)
27. 2011/01/06: NewScientist:SSS: Mass dying of animals plotted on Google map
28. 2011/01/06: CSM: Why are thousands of dead crabs washing up on English beaches?
29. 2011/01/06: AlterNet: WTF? More Dead Birds Fall from the Sky in Sweden, Chile, Kentucky -- Dead Fish Keep Washing Ashore
30. 2011/01/05: EarthTimes: Mass bird death mystifies Swedish town
31. 2011/01/05: CSM: Mystery bird deaths: Blame it on harsh winter, fireworks, or 'avicide'?
32. 2011/01/04: RawStory: Birds fall from sky again, this time in Louisiana
33. 2011/01/04: EarthTimes: A New Year gift of dead birds and fish?
34. 2011/01/04: CSM: Blackbird mystery deepens: more birds fall from sky in Louisiana
35. 2011/01/03: TodaysTHV: Dead fish cover 20-miles of Arkansas River
36. 2011/01/04: Advocate: Mass Louisiana bird deaths puzzle investigators
37. 2011/01/03: EarthTimes: Arkansas mystery: Thousands of birds and fish found dead
38. 2011/01/02: Reuters: Arkansas officials stumped as birds fall from sky
    State wildlife officials were going door-to-door on Sunday in the town of Beebe, Arkansas, to collect dead birds after thousands of mostly blackbirds mysteriously fell from the sky.
39. 2011/01/02: BBC: More than 1,000 blackbirds fall out of Arkansas sky

    Australian flooding still commands a lot of coverage:

40. 2011/01/09: ABC(Au): Flood victims told to beware of crocodiles
41. 2011/01/08: ABC(Au): Woman dies swimming in flooded creek -- Police have found the body of a young woman reported missing in a flooded creek in south-east Queensland
42. 2011/01/09: ABC(Au): Gympie, in south-east Queensland, has been placed on flood alert as Maryborough braces for a flood peak of just under 8.5 metres today
43. 2011/01/09: ABC(Au): SE corner latest hotspot in Qld flood crisis
    South-east Queensland is bearing the brunt of torrential rains as the state's flood crisis continues. The region, including Brisbane, is now on high alert for flooding with more heavy rain expected Monday.
44. 2011/01/09: EarthTimes: More rain puts more Australian towns on flood alert
45. 2011/01/08: CNN: Australia's prime minister: Flooding expected to rise in St. George
    Gillard says $4 million has been allocated, but hundreds of millions more are needed - Flooding recedes in Rockhampton but could still peak in St. George - Parts of eastern Australia are forecast to get above-average rainfall until March - Queensland official: The repair could take months or years to complete
46. 2011/01/08: EarthTimes: Reprieve for St George, but more Australians go on flood alert
47. 2011/01/08: BBC: Australian PM Gillard warns floods will recede slowly
    Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard has warned the floods which have caused widespread devastation in the northeast will take some time to recede.
48. 2011/01/07: BBC: Queensland floods: Recovery will be 'hell of a job'
    The head of Queensland's flood recovery task force says it will take "a hell of a lot of work" to get devastated communities back on their feet.
49. 2011/01/07: CBC: Australian floods highlight record rainfall -- Infrastructure repairs could take years, Queensland officials say
50. 2011/01/07: ABC(Au): Waiting for flood peak 'like a slow death'
    The Balonne River in the southern Queensland town of St George has become a raging torrent as residents brace for their second record flood in 10 months.
51. 2011/01/07: PlanetArk: More Rain On Way As Australia Sees Third-Wettest Year On Record
52. 2011/01/07: CBC: Australian flood victims head home -- Infrastructure repairs could take years, Queensland officials say
53. 2011/01/07: ABC(Au): Rockhampton prepares for another deluge
    Rockhampton has been drenched for weeks but there is more pain to come, with 200 millimetres of rain expected over the weekend.
54. 2011/01/06: CNN: Crops, coal and steel inundated by Australia's flooding
    Fitzroy River is expected to remain above the "major flood" level for another week - At least 10 people have died in flooding since November 30 - The floodwaters cover an area the size of France and Germany combined
55. 2011/01/06: PlanetArk: Australia Floods Cause "Catastrophic" Damage
56. 2011/01/06: TerraDaily: Australian mayor says flood recovery may take a year
    It could take a year for Rockhampton to recover from disastrous floods, the Australian town's mayor said Thursday, as the waters threatened the neighbouring state of New South Wales. "I think that this could drag on for 12 months," Mayor Brad Carter said, adding that it would take three weeks before Rockhampton's airport reopened, even though the floods appeared to have peaked just below the expected level.
57. 2011/01/05: CSM: Floods can help Australia rise toward adaptation to climate change
58. 2011/01/06: BBC: Australian floods to hit coal production for 'months'
    It will be "some months" until coal mines affected by floods in Queensland are fully operation, the state's mining minister Stephen Robertson has said. Operators of about 40 mines have been affected by the floods.
59. 2011/01/05: BBC: Flood-hit Queensland braced for fresh storms
    More heavy rain is forecast for eastern Australia, threatening flash floods for communities where hundreds of homes are already under water.
60. 2011/01/06: CBC: Storms soak flood-weary Australians
61. 2011/01/05: PlanetArk: Australia Floods Force Evacuations, Recede In Coal Mine Area
62. 2011/01/05: TerraDaily: Australian floods spread to 40 towns, threaten Barrier Reef
63. 2011/01/05: EarthTimes: Australia on edge as floods test Rockhampton's defences
64. 2011/01/05: CBC: Flood waters peaking in Australian city -- Flooding affects 40 communities, recovery costs could top $5B
65. 2011/01/04: BBC: Queensland city Rockhampton hitting flood peak
66. 2011/01/04: CBC: Australian floods raise Canadian coal shares
    Share prices of Canada's biggest coal mining companies rose Tuesday amid concerns about how flooding in Australia will affect shipments of coal, wheat and sugar in the short term. Teck Resources closed up 1.7 per cent, to $62.84 on the Toronto Stock Exchange. Western Coal was up 2.2 per cent, to $12.57, and Grand Cache Coal rose five per cent, to $10.99. Wheat exporter Viterra also traded higher, up 2.3 per cent, to $9.49. Flooding in Australia, over an area bigger than France and Germany combined, has slowed or halted rail and road shipments and closed mines. The flooding has also shut down several coal mines in Queensland, which produces more than a third of the world's coking coal, used in steel making.
67. 2011/01/04: NYT: Floods Take Toll on Australia Economy
68. 2011/01/04: NewScientist: La Niña and monsoonal winds flood northern Australia
69. 2011/01/04: PlanetArk: Australian Floods Submerge Towns
70. 2011/01/04: Telegraph(UK): Australia floods: It's like living in the middle of an ocean
71. 2011/01/03: ENS: Record Australian Floods Force Thousands to Evacuate
72. 2011/01/04: BBC: Australia floods 'to hit global steelmaking'
    The Queensland floods could have a "significant long-term effect" on the global steel industry, the premier of the Australian state has warned. Anna Bligh's comments came as three quarters of the state's coal fields are unable to operate due to being flooded. The situation in Queensland is being closely watched by the global steel industry, because it exports half the coking coal needed to make the metal.
73. 2011/01/04: CBC: Flood-threatened Australian town [St George] evacuated
74. 2011/01/03: SMH: Floods completely cut off Rockhampton
75. 2011/01/03: BBC: Australia airlifts aid as Queensland floods rise
76. 2011/01/04: BBC: Miserable New Year
    I want to wish you all a Happy New Year, but that doesn't quite fit the mood here in flood-stricken Queensland.
77. 2011/01/03: Reuters: Australian floods submerge towns
    Military aircraft ferried supplies to an Australian town slowly sinking beneath swollen rivers on Monday, as record flooding in the country's northeast severed roads and ports, curtailing coal exports and devastating farmland.
78. 2011/01/03: ABC(Au): Melon crops rot in wake of floods
    Farmers in Queensland's Western Darling Downs region are counting the cost of flood damage to their melon crops. On the Boshammers' farm near Chinchilla about 200 tonnes of waterlogged melons will be left in the sun to rot.
79. 2011/01/04: ABC(Au): Emerald 'a mess' with flood debris
    Authorities say it could take months to remove the flood debris and damage in the central Queensland town of Emerald. About 1,000 homes were inundated when the Nogoa River peaked on Saturday. Mayor Peter Maguire says the town is a mess.
80. 2011/01/04: ABC(Au): Sewage, blackouts, flies plague Rockhampton
81. 2011/01/03: BBC: Supplies flown into Queensland's flooded Rockhampton
    Military aircraft are flying supplies into the Australian city of Rockhampton, where rising flood waters have cut off all but one access route.
82. 2011/01/03: Wunderground: Massive flooding in Australia cuts off city of 75,000
83. 2011/01/03: EarthTimes: Rockhampton thrown on the mercy of floodwaters
84. 2011/01/03: EarthTimes: Airlift to waterlogged Rockhampton ahead of flood peak
85. 2011/01/03: CSM: Australia flooding of 'biblical proportions' slashes coal, agriculture exports
86. 2011/01/03: BBC: Flooding in Australia's Queensland 'to last weeks'
87. 2011/01/03: BBC: Roads 'like lagoons' in flood-hit Rockhampton
    Rockhampton is starting to resemble an island, with the swollen Fitzroy River looking more like an inland sea.
88. 2011/01/02: BBC: Floodwaters in the Australian city of Rockhampton are rising faster than expected, Queensland authorities say
89. 2011/01/02: CBC: Australia floodwaters still rising
    Floodwaters are still rising in parts of Queensland, Australia, and water levels are not expected to peak until mid-week, officials said Sunday. Many areas of the city of Rockhampton near the east coast have been swamped and could remain that way for the next couple of weeks.
90. 2011/01/02: ClimateP: High Water: Hottest year ends with unprecedented, "biblical" Australian floods covering an area "the size of France and Germany combined."

    WikiLeaks cables continue to roil the waters:

91. 2011/01/07: CCP: Brian Angliss: Canadian Embassy emails reveal Canadian, US lobbying on tar sands-derived oil
92. 2011/01/05: TreeHugger: More Wikileaks Cables: U.S. Pressured the Vatican, Spain to Support GM Crops -- "The Rest of Europe Will Follow"
93. 2011/01/04: EurActiv: US lobbied EU to back GM crops: WikiLeaks
    Diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks reveal heavy lobbying by Washington in Europe in support of GM crops. For example, the US embassy in Paris advised Washington to draw up a 'retaliation list' against EU countries opposed to GM crops. The initiative, which dates back to 2007, represents a response to moves by France to ban Monsanto's genetically-modified (GM) maize strain at that time.
94. 2011/01/03: Guardian(UK): WikiLeaks: US targets EU over GM crops -- US embassy cable recommends drawing up list of countries for 'retaliation' over opposition to genetic modification
95. 2011/01/03: WiC: WikiLeaks: US government, acting on behalf of Monsanto, targeted EU over GM crops

    Regarding the wintery weather:

96. 2011/01/05: NYT:CW: A 'Bulge' in Atmospheric Pressure Gives Us a Super-Cold Winter Amid Global Warming
97. 2011/01/06: EarthTimes: Latvia declares state of emergency due to winter blizzards
98. 2011/01/08: EarthTimes: Death toll tops 100 as India cold wave endures
99. 2011/01/03: OregonLive: Are recent snows from global warming?
100. 2011/01/05: BBC: Last month was the coldest December documented for the UK since nationwide records began 100 years ago, the Met Office has confirmed
101. 2011/01/05: BBC: Mass evacuations as China's south battles 'big freeze'
     Freezing temperatures in south-western China have forced the evacuation of 58,000 people from their homes, according to the Chinese authorities. Ice and snow have closed roads, leaving thousands of motorists stranded. Officials said the roofs of more than 1,000 homes in five provinces have collapsed because of the bad weather.
102. 2011/01/05: CBC: Southern China's extreme cold forces evacuation
     Freezing temperatures in southern China have forced 58,000 people from their homes and caused about $200 million Cdn in economic losses, the government said Wednesday. The evacuation came after ice and sleet collapsed the roofs of more than 1,200 homes across the southern regions of Jiangxi, Hunan, Chongqing, Sichuan and Guizhou, the Ministry of Civil Affairs reported. Freezing weather has also damaged more than 121,000 hectares of crops, including cabbage and rice.
103. 2011/01/03: EarthTimes: At least 30 die in Indian cold snap
104. 2011/01/03: BBC: India shivers in deadly cold snap
     An intense spell of cold weather has disrupted life across northern India, reportedly claiming two dozen lives.

And on the Bottom Line:

105. 2011/01/07: EarthTimes: The economic environment: Addressing global warming more complex since global financial crisis
106. 2011/01/06: Yale360: Calculating the True Cost Of Global Climate Change
     Researchers disagree about what the economic costs of climate change will be over the coming decades. But the answer to that question is fundamental in deciding how urgent it is to take action to reduce emissions.

Who's getting the subsidies?

107. 2011/01/06: Grist: Should we get rid of all energy subsidies?
108. 2011/01/07: Grist: Is it politically realistic to eliminate energy subsidies?
109. 2011/01/04: TWM: Get the Energy Sector off the Dole
110. 2011/01/01: TWM: Get the Energy Sector off the Dole
     Why ending all government subsidies for fuel production will lead to a cleaner energy future -- and why Obama has a rare chance to make it happen.

Another country has addressed the environment in its basic laws:

111. 2011/01/03: AlterNet: Vision: Kenya Enshrines the Environment in Its Constitution -- This Should Be Our Future
112. 2011/01/05: Guardian(UK): Why we need a law on ecocide
     Until we have a law to prosecute those who destroy the planet, corporations will never be called to account for their crimes

Still explicating the laws of thermodynamics...:

113. 2011/01/06: TSoD: Does Back Radiation "Heat" the Ocean? -- Part Four

     The Greenhouse Effect also comes in for much attention:

114. 2011/01/07: Stoat: R. W. Wood: Note on the Theory of the Greenhouse
115. 2011/01/06: ERabett: Fourier and the greenhouse
116. 2011/01/06: ERabett: Required reading -- Anders K. Ãngström's report on the first systematic observations of back radiation from the atmosphere
117. 2011/01/06: ERabett: The Ãngström Effect
118. 2011/01/04: ERabett: What effect?

     John Cook and friends continue their counterpoint articles:

119. 2011/01/09: SkeptiSci: One-line rebuttals now available as flashcards for study or play by Anna Haynes
120. 2011/01/06: SkeptiSci: Graphs from the Zombie Wars by keithpickering
121. 2011/01/05: SkeptiSci: What's in a Name? [IV]
122. 2011/01/05: SkeptiSci: Understanding the CO2 lag in past climate change by Anne-Marie Blackburn [BV]
123. 2011/01/04: SkeptiSci: Not So Cool Predictions [IV]

     Post CRU theft, controversy & inquiry:

124. 2011/01/07: CCP: Kerry Emanuel: "Climategate": A Different Perspective

     The Arctic melt continues to garner a lot of attention:

125. 2011/01/07: BBerg: Greenland's Melt Will Be Unstoppable by 2040, Berlingske Says
     The melting of Greenland's iceberg's will be irreversible by 2040 at the latest, Berlingske Tidende said, citing a report based on data compiled by Denmark's Meteorological Institute.
126. 2011/01/06: BBC: Gulf of Mexico oil leak may give Arctic climate clues
127. 2011/01/06: TreeHugger: Arctic Sea Ice Sets New Low December Record
128. 2011/01/05: CBC: Iqaluit's weird weather wreaks havoc
129. 2011/01/04: NunatsiaqOnline: South Baffin swelters in winter heat wave -- "It doesn't show any signs of abating"
130. 2011/01/05: ClimateP: NSIDC: Lowest December Arctic sea ice extent in satellite record
131. 2011/01/03: CBC: 'Double whammy' warms Nunavut -- Lack of sea ice adds to 'feedback cycle' bringing rain to Arctic in January
     A lack of sea ice in parts of Canada's eastern Arctic is contributing to unusually mild temperatures in Nunavut, according to scientists. In recent months, the weather in many parts of Nunavut has been 10 to 12 degrees above the -20 and -30 C temperatures that are normal at this time of year. Light rain fell in Iqaluit, the territorial capital, as the daytime temperature hovered around 0 C on Monday. Environment Canada declared 2010 to be the warmest year on record there. In a rare sight for this time of year, Frobisher Bay has not yet frozen over entirely. Likewise, there is a lack of sea ice in parts of Hudson Bay, Davis Strait and other Arctic waterways.
132. 2011/01/04: Maribo: Open waters around Baffin Island this New Year

     As for the charismatic megafauna:

133. 2011/01/05: CBC: Iqaluit polar bear hunting quota unclear
134. 2011/01/03: SoS: Polar Bears Destroying Hidden Cameras
135. 2011/01/03: DM:DB: Curious Polar Bears Best Robot Videographers

     Note this oddness is so far anecdotal:

136. 2011/01/06: KSJT: Montreal Gazette: Arctic winters not as dark as they used to be...
137. 2011/01/06: PostMedia: Global warming blamed for brighter Arctic winter -- Hotter layer of air acting as conduit for light from south

     As for the geopolitics of Arctic resources:

138. 2011/01/06: CBC: Arctic search and rescue treaty in works
     Canada and other northern nations are expected to sign a treaty that would clarify how search and rescue efforts are handled in the Arctic. Eight countries in the Arctic Council, an intergovernmental forum, are working on the legally binding treaty, which will require the nations to co-ordinate with each other in the event of a plane crash, cruise ship sinking, big oil spill or other major disaster.
139. 2011/01/05: NatureTGB: Drilling for oil in the Arctic

     While in Antarctica:

140. 2011/01/07: DM:80B: Russian Drill Ready to Reach Untouched Lake Vostok Beneath Antarctica
141. 2011/01/07: CCP: More on the infamous PIG: Graham Cogley: The future of the Pine Island Glacier
142. 2011/01/07: PhysOrg: Scientists unveil robotic submarine to explore beneath Antarctic ice shelf
143. 2011/01/04: ABC(Au): Nearly 40 Australian and international scientists will leave Hobart today on the Aurora Australis icebreaker for a month-long voyage to deploy underwater cameras, moorings and sensors at the Mertz Glacier in eastern Antarctica

     The food crisis is ongoing:

144. 2011/01/08: CNN: 2 killed, 300 injured in Algerian riots
     The protests erupted earlier in the week amid rising food prices - Similar protests have taken place in neighboring Tunisia - Washington is closely monitoring the situation
145. 2011/01/08: PSinclair: Top Grain exporters hit by Climate disasters. Record Food Prices. Food Riots in Algeria.
146. 2011/01/08: ChinaDaily: A deafening warning
     The record rise in world food prices last month is not only a prelude to a possible "food price shock" in the coming months, but also a blatant warning that the international community cannot afford to ignore. The dire consequences of long-term climate change are more imminent now and divided response to the global financial crisis could make them worse. Early this week, the United Nations' Food and Agricultural Organization announced that its benchmark food price index had jumped to 214.7 points in December, above the previous peak of 213.5, which was set in June 2008 and triggered food riots in some poor countries. With the world economy showing little sign of emerging out of the mess any time soon, the record increase in food prices is certainly shocking.
147. 2011/01/08: BBC: Overnight riots in Algeria leave two dead
     Two people have been killed in riots linked to food price increases and unemployment in Algeria, officials say.
148. 2011/01/07: DerSpiegel: [4 pages] Playing God on a Limited Budget -- The Challenge of Deciding Who to Feed
     The United Nations' World Food Program tries to stop the poorest of the poor from going hungry. But its budget has dwindled during the crisis as donor countries focus on their own economic problems. Aid workers face the unpleasant task of deciding who gets food -- and who doesn't.
149. 2011/01/06: SeedDaily: Crop failure impels Indian farmer suicides
150. 2011/01/05: ABC(Au): Locusts set to hit Victoria again
     The Department of Primary Industries (DPI) says there is likely to be a concentration of locust activity in central Victoria once a second generation of the pest hatches.
151. 2011/01/03: CBC: Wheat prices surge on weather concerns -- Traders worry about effects of Australian flooding
152. 2011/01/03: BorneoPost: Global warming takes its toll on rice production - Association chief
     Sibu: Global warming has caused a deceleration in rice production in many regions in Asia. This is the finding of a recent large scale study. Chairman of Sibu Rice Wholesalers' Association (SRWA) Yeo Keng Teck, in stating this yesterday, said it was feared that the situation would deteriorate, thus aggravating poverty and starvation in Asia.

The FAO Food Price Index is at a record high:

153. FAO: World Food Situation - Food Price Indices
154. 2011/01/06: ClimateP: Extreme weather events help drive food prices to record highs
155. 2011/01/06: ClimateShifts: World food prices at fresh high, says UN
156. 2011/01/06: NatureTGB: Food prices hit record high
157. 2011/01/05: Guardian(UK): World food prices enter 'danger territory' to reach record high
     UN food price index rises for sixth month in a row to highest since records began in 1990
158. 2011/01/05: BBerg: World Food Prices Surge to Record, Passing Levels That Sparked 2008 Riots
159. 2011/01/05: BBC: Global food prices rose to a fresh high in December, according to the UN's Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO)
160. 2011/01/05: CBC: World food prices reach record high

     And how are we going to feed 9 billion?

161. 2011/01/07: SciDaily: Edible Insects Produce Smaller Quantities of Greenhouse Gasses Than Cattle
162. 2011/01/06: PlanetArk: DuPont Says New Corn Seed Yields Better In Droughts
163. 2011/01/04: SciNow: To Fight Global Warming, Eat Bugs

     No cyclones and just one piece of news:

164. 2011/01/07: PostMedia: Magna's 'Canadaville' rolls up carpet
     Hurricane [Katrina] victims to move on -- Temporary refuge for Gulf Coast residents reaches the end of five-year mandate

As for GHGs:

165. 2011/01/07: TCoE: Freshwater methane emissions
166. 2011/01/06: AFTIC: History of atmospheric CO2
167. 2011/01/06: IaState: Freshwater Methane Release Changes Greenhouse Gas Equation
     An international team of scientists has released data indicating that greenhouse gas uptake by continents is less than previously thought because of methane emissions from freshwater areas.

And in the carbon cycle:

168. 2011/01/06: NOAANews: NOAA-led Research Team Takes Measure of the Variability of the Atmosphere's Self-Cleaning Capacity

     As for the temperature record:

169. 2011/01/07: CCP: Australian Sea Surface Temperatures, Annual and Decadal Mean SST Anomalies, departures from 1960-1990
170. 2011/01/06: Tamino: Sharper Focus
171. 2011/01/07: JQuiggin: The significance of agnotology
172. 2011/01/06: TerraDaily: The First Decade Of The 2000s Warmer Than The Preceding Decades [in Finland]
173. 2011/01/06: HotTopic: Warm year passing
174. 2011/01/05: QuarkSoup: UAH Data for 2010
175. 2011/01/03: QuarkSoup: RSS: Warmest Decade, Second Warmest Year
176. 2011/01/02: Tamino: Hottest Year
     It's near certain that in the GISS global temperature data set, 2010 will end up the hottest year on record.

Yes we have feedbacks:

177. 2011/01/05: Guardian(UK): What are climate change feedback loops?

     Aerosols are making their presence felt:

178. 2011/01/06: Economist: A fistful of dust -- The true effect of windblown material is only now coming to be appreciated
179. 2011/01/05: PhysOrg: Earth is getting dustier, model suggests
     If the house seems dustier than it used to be, it may not be a reflection on your housekeeping skills. The amount of dust in the Earth's atmosphere has doubled over the last century, according to a new study; and the dramatic increase is influencing climate and ecology around the world.
180. 2011/01/05: SciNow: Is Global Warming Making Tibet Dustier?

     While in the paleoclimate:

181. 2011/01/07: SciNow: Snowball Earth Was Dotted With Puddles
182. 2011/01/06: NewScientist: Ammonites' strict diet doomed them to extinction
183. 2011/01/06: Eureka: Ammonites dined on plankton -- Synchrotron light sees into extinct marine invertebrates to reveal life history [paleo]
184. 2011/01/05: NewScientist: Oxygen crash led to Cambrian mass extinction
185. 2011/01/05: SciNews: Oceans may have poisoned early animals [500 mya] -- Add sulfur, subtract oxygen, and a deadly brew results
186. 2011/01/05: DM: Bering Sea Floor Yields Clues to Our Warming Future
187. 2011/01/05: NSF: Widespread Ancient Ocean "Dead Zones" Challenged Early Life -- Persistent lack of oxygen in Earth's oceans affected animal evolution

     While on the ENSO front:

188. 2011/01/06: NOAA:NCEP: El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) Diagnostic Discussion
     Synopsis: La Niña is expected to continue well into the Northern Hemisphere spring 2011
189. 2011/01/06: PhysOrg: La Nina blamed for weather upset, but climate link unclear
     Experts pin the floods that have ravaged northeastern Australia on a weather phenomenon known as La Nina but are cautious whether the peril could be amplified by climate change.

Regarding the solar hypothesis:

190. 2011/01/07: PhysOrg: How the sun gets its spots

     As for ocean currents:

191. 2011/01/05: CCP: Moritz Lehmann and others: a drastic change to a "warm water mode" occurred in the western North Atlantic in the early 1970s, changing dominance of the Labrador Current to the Gulf Stream
192. 2011/01/04: TerraDaily: Scientists find 'drastic' weather-related Atlantic shifts
193. 2011/01/04: RawStory: Atlantic currents have seen 'drastic' changes: study
194. 2011/01/04: PhysOrg: Atlantic currents have seen 'drastic' changes: study
     Scientists have found evidence of a "drastic" shift since the 1970s in north Atlantic Ocean currents that usually influence weather in the northern hemisphere, Swiss researchers said on Tuesday.

Meanwhile in near earth orbit:

195. 2011/01/07: NASA:JPL: NASA Image Shows La Niña-Caused Woes Down Under
     The ASTER instrument on NASA's Terra spacecraft captured this image of extensive flooding in Rockhampton, Queensland, Australia

More GW impacts are being seen:

196. 2011/01/06: EarthTimes: The effects of a colder Bering Sea on the feeding habits of pollock
197. 2011/01/02: MST: Our new Minnesota normal: Warmer and wetter -- 2011 brings a shift in assessing weather
198. 2011/01/03: ENS: Natural Disasters Claimed 295,000 Lives Last Year

     And then there are the world's forests:

199. 2011/01/08: EarthTimes: Australia begins review into sustainable forestry
200. 2011/01/07: SciNews: Aspens bust, diseased mice boom -- Decline of Western trees swells population of rodents that carry sin nombre virus
201. 2011/01/05: Reuters: Indonesia divided over forest moratorium, misses Jan start
     Moratorium on forest clearing not yet signed into law - Authorities differ on what ban will cover - Plantation, mining firms face uncertainty on permits
202. 2011/01/03: MongaBay: Converting palm oil companies from forest destroyers into forest protectors

     Climate refugees are becoming an issue:

203. 2011/01/03: BBC: Up to 80 African migrants are feared to have drowned off the south coast of Yemen after their boats capsized...

     Desertification looms as a threat:

204. 2011/01/04: Guardian(UK): China makes gain in battle against desertification but has long fight ahead
     Expert warns it could take 300 years to recover desert land resulting from over-cultivation and water demands
205. 2011/01/04: TreeHugger: China's Desertification Will Take Three Centuries to Reverse
206. 2011/01/04: BBC: China official warns of 300-year desertification fight
     A senior Chinese official has said it will take 300 years to turn back China's advancing deserts at the current rate of progress. Liu Tuo, who leads China's efforts to tackle the problem, said investment was "seriously insufficient." More than one quarter of China is either covered by desert or is land that is suffering desertification.

This week in extreme weather:

207. 2011/01/08: CCP: December 2010 Global Weather Extremes Summary

     Corals are dying:

208. 2011/01/03: USGS: USGS Undertakes Additional Studies of Reef Damage in Gulf of Mexico to Assess Cause
209. 2011/01/07: Wunderground: Globe's coral reefs take second worst beating on record during 2010
210. 2011/01/05: MongaBay: Atlantic ocean warming confirmed by corals
211. 2011/01/04: NOAANews: Thriving 'Middle Light' Reefs Found in Puerto Rico -- Conserving these corals may offer hope for shallower, degraded reefs

     Glaciers are melting:

212. 2011/01/06: SciDaily: Time Running out to Save Climate Record Held in Unique Eastern European Alps Glacier
     A preliminary look at an ice field atop the highest mountain in the eastern European Alps suggests that the glacier may hold records of ancient climate extending back as much as a thousand years. Researchers warn, however, that the record may soon be lost as global warming takes its toll on these high-altitude sites, according to a new study in the Journal of Glaciology.

Sea levels are rising:

213. 2011/01/05: DerSpiegel: A New Ark for Humanity -- Floating Hotel Could Defy Rising Sea Levels

     As for hydrological cycle disruptions [floods & droughts]:

214. 2011/01/09: EarthTimes: German cities on high alert as meltwater swells rivers
215. 2011/01/08: EarthTimes: Death toll in bad weather in Philippine rises to 34
216. 2011/01/07: CNN: South Africa flooding leaves 50 dead, hundreds homeless
217. 2011/01/07: UN: Balkan flood victims will continue to need aid through winter, UN says
218. 2011/01/07: PlanetArk: More Rain On Way As Australia Sees Third-Wettest Year On Record
219. 2011/01/07: EarthTimes: Europe stands by for floods as masses of snow melted amid rising temperatures
220. 2011/01/06: EarthTimes: Five die, nearly 9,000 homeless in South African floods
221. 2011/01/06: EarthTimes: Philippines rushes aid to thousands affected by floods, landslides
222. 2011/01/06: CBC: Brazilian flooding kills 35
     Authorities in Brazil say four people from the same family have died in a mudslide in the interior of Sao Paulo state, and civil defence officials say heavy flooding has killed at least 35 people. The flooding has also forced more than 30,000 out of their homes across the country.
223. 2011/01/05: CBC: Ice jam floods homes near Chatham, Ont.
224. 2011/01/05: UN: Ban voices concern at heavy toll taken on north-east Australia by ongoing floods
225. 2011/01/05: UN: Lifting of aid restrictions [on Somalia] vital ahead of impending drought, UN envoy stresses
226. 2011/01/05: ABC(Au): Australia recorded its third wettest year on record in 2010, with 11 months of above-average rainfall soaking the east of the country because of the La Nina weather system
227. 2011/01/04: CBC: Thames River floods 20 homes near Chatham, Ont.
228. 2011/01/04: EarthTimes: Death toll in floods, landslides in Philippines rises to 18
229. 2011/01/04: CBC: Drought hits Israel, Palestinian territories -- 2010 hottest year on record
230. 2011/01/03: EarthTimes:Landslides, floods kill nine in Philippines
231. 2011/01/03: CBC: Philippines floods, landslides kill 6

     Elsewhere on the mitigation front:

232. 2011/01/07: SciNow: Measures to Save Ozone Stemmed a Lot More Global Warming

     Consider transportation & GHG production:

233. 2011/01/06: UDel: Technologies could reduce shipping pollution in Arctic by 60 percent or more
234. 2011/01/06: Grist: Does it matter if the developed world has hit 'peak travel'?
235. 2011/01/06: ENS: California Ports First to Scrub Ship's Emissions With Seawater
236. 2011/01/01: MillerMcCune: A Road Less Traveled
     Passenger travel, which saw rapid growth in the 20th century, appears to have peaked in much of the developed world, researchers say.
237. 2011/01/04: CalcRisk: U.S. Light Vehicle Sales 12.55 million SAAR in December
238. 2011/01/04: CBC: Ford December sales up 8.6%
     Ford Canada reported an 8.6 per cent increase in sales of cars and light trucks in December over the same month a year earlier, with sales of 20,000 vehicles. It was Ford's best December sales in more than a decade. Car sales rose 17 per cent, to 4,118, and truck sales were up 6.6 per cent, to 15,359.
239. 2011/01/04: CalcRisk: General Motors: December U.S. sales increase 7.5% year-over-year
     [...]
     MarketWatch reports: Ford 2010 sales up 19% vs year ago From CNBC: Chrysler says its sales for December of 2010 were up 16.4 percent from the same time in 2009. The carmaker sold 100,702 vehicles in December vesus 86,523 in the same month of 2009.

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

240. 2011/01/07: TreeHugger: LEED-bashing Reaches New Heights In Fast Company
241. 2011/01/06: Tyee: Five Myths About Green Building -- Green doesn't have to mean expensive, exotic or uncomfortable. First in a series.
242. 2011/01/07: Tyee: Green Homes For Less -- Three affordable homes that could change that way you think about green building. Second in a series.
243. 2011/01/06: Grist: Al Gore urges China & U.S. to build greener cities
244. 2011/01/06: TreeHugger: Myths About Green Building Busted, Just In Time, Too.

     As for carbon sequestration:

245. 2011/01/05: TEC: Carbon Capture: What are Economic and Social Benefits?

     Large scale geo-engineering keeps popping up:

246. 2011/01/06: CM: [links to many mp4s] SRM Interviews
247. 2011/01/03: Time: Scientists Create 52 Artificial Rain Storms in Abu Dhabi Desert

     Meanwhile in the journals:

248. 2011/01/05: NERC:NORA: Energy futures: the challenges of decarbonisation and security of supply by Jim Skea et al.
249. 2011/01/08: GMDD: A pragmatic approach for the downscaling and bias correction of regional climate simulations -- evaluation in hydrological modeling by T. Marke et al.
250. 2011/01/07: ACPD: Analysis on the impact of aerosol optical depth on surface solar radiation in the Shanghai megacity, China by J. Xu et al.
251. 2011/01/06: OS: Absolute Salinity, ''Density Salinity'' and the Reference-Composition Salinity Scale: present and future use in the seawater standard TEOS-10 by D. G. Wright et al.
252. 2011/01/07: TC: Spatial distribution of pingos in northern Asia by G. Grosse & B. M. Jones
253. 2011/01/07: TCD: A model study of the energy and mass balance of Chhota Shigri glacier in the Western Himalaya, India by F. Pithan
254. 2011/01/07: TCD: Velocity structure, front position changes and calving of the tidewater glacier Kronebreen, Svalbard by M. Sund et al.
255. 2011/01/05: TCD: Snow accumulation and compaction derived from GPR data near Ross Island, Antarctica by N. C. Kruetzmann et al.
256. 2011/01/06: CPD: Methane variations on orbital timescales: a transient modeling experiment by T. Y. M. Konijnendijk et al.
257. 2011/01/03: CPD: Impact of CO2 and climate on the Last Glacial Maximum vegetation by M.-N. Woillez et al.
258. 2011/01/07: Science: (ab$) Small Interannual Variability of Global Atmospheric Hydroxyl by S. A. Montzka et al.
259. 2011/01/06: ACPD: Organic condensation -- a vital link connecting aerosol formation to climate forcing by I. Riipinen et al.
260. 2011/01/06: ACPD: Large-scale and synoptic meteorology in the South-East Pacific during the observations campaign VOCALS-REx in Spring 2008 by T. Toniazzo et al.
261. 2011/01/06: ACPD: Detection from space of a reduction in anthropogenic emissions of nitrogen oxides during the Chinese economic downturn by J.-T. Lin & M. B. McElroy
262. 2011/01/04: ACPD: Regional scale effects of the aerosol cloud interaction simulated with an online coupled comprehensive chemistry model by M. Bangert et al.
263. 2011/01/04: PNAS: (ab$) Relative roles of climatic suitability and anthropogenic influence in determining the pattern of spread in a global invader by Núria Roura-Pascual et al.
264. 2011/01/04: PNAS: (ab$) Nitrous oxide emission from denitrification in stream and river networks by Jake J. Beaulieu et al.
265. 2011/01/04: PNAS: (ab$) Global declines in oceanic nitrification rates as a consequence of ocean acidification by J. Michael Beman et al.
266. 2011/01/04: PNAS: (ab$) Nanodiamonds do not provide unique evidence for a Younger Dryas impact by H. Tian et al.
267. 2011/01/05: AGWObserver: Papers on weekly cycle in climate
268. 2011/01/03: PNAS: (ab$) Nutrient regime shift in the western North Atlantic indicated by compound-specific N15 of deep-sea gorgonian corals by Owen A. Sherwood et al.
269. 2011/01/04: CC(via doi): Bright water: hydrosols, water conservation and climate change by Russell Seitz
270. 2011/01/03: TC: Application of a minimal glacier model to Hansbreen, Svalbard by J. Oerlemans et al.
271. 2011/01/03: AGWObserver: New research from last week 52/2010

     And other significant documents:

272. 2011/01/07: AIBS: [link to 454k pdf] Study Finds Energy Limits Global Economic Growth

     As for miscellaneous science:

273. 2011/01/05: WiredSci: Best Scientific Paper Comment-and-Reply Ever
274. 2011/01/07: RealClimate: Reflections on funding panels
275. 2011/01/07: MSU: College students lack scientific literacy, study finds
276. 2011/01/07: SciDaily: What Carbon Cycle? College Students Lack Scientific Literacy, Study Finds
     Most college students in the United States do not grasp the scientific basis of the carbon cycle -- an essential skill in understanding the causes and consequences of climate change, according to research published in the January issue of BioScience.
277. 2011/01/05: QuarkSoup: About Consensus
278. 2011/01/04: ERabett: Dying Departments
279. 2011/01/04: ERabett: Letters to the Editor
280. 2011/01/03: Stoat: Drought under global warming: a review
281. 2011/01/02: MTobis: Being Such a Scientist

     More DIY science:

282. 2011/01/06: CC&G: RClimate: Converting 5 Global Temperature Anomaly Series to A Common Baseline

     Regarding Kerry Emanuel:

283. 2011/01/06: KSJT: LA Times: Climate change, and a conservative, Republican scientist at MIT...
284. 2011/01/05: LA Times: Scientist proves conservatism and belief in climate change aren't incompatible
     MIT professor Kerry Emanuel is among a rare breed of conservative scientists who are sounding the alarm for climate change and criticizing Republicans' 'agenda of denial' and 'anti-science stance.'

Regarding Bethany Bradley:

285. 2011/01/04: Grist: Spotlight: Bethany Bradley, University of Massachusetts, Amherst -- Will climate change hasten the spread of invasive plants?

     Regarding Stephen Schneider:

286. 2011/01/03: CSW: Stephen Schneider and the millennial generation

     The Pielke fan clubbe, alas:

287. 2011/01/04: SciAm: Finding the Fingerprints of Climate Change in Storm Damage
288. 2011/01/04: MTobis: Nice Review of Pielke's New Book

     Regarding Wegman:

289. 2011/01/08: Deltoid: Wegman update
290. 2011/01/06: DeepClimate: Wegman on Deep Climate
291. 2011/01/06: DeSmogBlog: GMU still paralyzed; Wegman, Rapp still paranoid

     Meanwhile at the UN:

292. 2011/01/05: UNEP: Silent momentum on climate change, says UNEP chief -- Editorial by UN Under-Secretary-General and UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner
293. 2011/01/04: EurActiv: UN expert panel for nature to kick off in 2011
     The establishment of a new UN body to advise governments on how to tackle biodiversity loss and protect ecosystem services was given the final go-ahead in December, paving the way for a global debate on new green taxes, biodiversity credits and the building of ecosystem businesses. Discussions on establishing the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) have been ongoing since 2008. The international body was given the green light by world governments in June at a meeting coordinated by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), but a resolution was only passed by the UN General Assembly in December 2010. A resolution on the establishment of the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) was passed by the UN General Assembly on 20 December.
294. 2011/01/04: MTobis: Alphabet Soup Press Release

     And on the carbon trading front:

295. 2011/01/07: PlanetArk: Global Carbon Market Value Edged Up In 2010
     The value of the global market in carbon emissions permits edged up 1 percent in 2010 to 92 billion euros ($120.9 billion), said Point Carbon, a Thomson Reuters company, on Thursday. The value rose due to higher carbon prices, notwithstanding a 12 percent drop in the total traded volume at 7 billion metric tons of carbon emissions allowances and offsets.
296. 2011/01/03: NYT: Chicago Climate Exchange Closes Nation's First Cap-And-Trade System but Keeps Eye to the Future
297. 2011/01/03: PTI: India - Cap-and-trade regime coming for industrial emissions

     The idea of a carbon tax is still bouncing around:

298. 2011/01/06: PhysOrg: Carbon taxes are the answer to the stalled climate negotiations [Nordhaus]
299. 2011/01/06: TreeHugger: Carbon Tax, Not Cap-and-Trade, Best Way to Combat Global Warming: Economist William Nordhaus
300. 2011/01/04: Independent(UK): Tax on carbon: The only way to save our planet?
     He first warned about climate change 30 years ago. Now James Hansen wants us to get serious about a tax on carbon. He tells Phil England why it's our last chance

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:

301. 2011/01/06: CSW: The "Pricing Carbon" conference
302. 2011/01/06: Eureka: Carbon swap bank to beat climate change -- Could swapping carbon emissions rather than trading them reduce climate change?

     In international politics, the rare earth saga doesn't appear to be abating:

303. 2011/01/07: Reuters: China to control rare earth extraction, pollution
     China will step up its controls over the mining of rare earths and release new industry standards to cut pollution, a minister and media said on Friday, after the world's biggest supplier cut export quotas for the minerals.
304. 2011/01/07: Lion: Rare Earths Shortage Becoming Problem For Refiners
305. 2011/01/07: NatureTGB: New year, new rare earth fear
306. 2011/01/06: BWeek: Rare Earths Leave Toxic Trail to Toyota Prius, Vestas Turbine
307. 2011/01/04: AutoBG: Report: China to cut rare earth export quotas by 11% in 2011

     China and the USA are wrangling over green energy subsidies at the WTO, as well:

308. 2011/01/07: RWER: US should exercise green power
309. 2011/01/05: NYT:CW: Hu Jintao Visit to U.S. Pushes Wind-Power Subsidy Issue Into Spotlight
310. 2011/01/05: TEC: Leigh Ewbank - US/China Trade Dispute: The 'New Sputnik'?

     As for GW, energy & water security:

311. 2011/01/03: OpenDem: Changing energy provision -- a peacebuilding opportunity?
     As we are forced to change the way we think about energy, the energy consumer is caught between need and the increasing risks involved in securing traditional energy sources. The links between energy provision and conflict need to be better understood. The consumer, particularly in the northern hemisphere, must become more discerning of how energy is sourced and provided

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

312. 2011/01/06: HotTopic: A hard road
313. 2011/01/05: Guardian(UK): Ratcliffe coal protesters spared jail sentences
     Judge says activists who planned to shut down a coal-fired power station near Nottingham acted with 'highest possible motives'
314. 2011/01/05: SolveClimate: Judge Moved to Spare Convicted Coal Protestors from Jail Time
     Judge says activists acted out of "a genuine concern for others, and in particular for the survival of planet Earth"
315. 2011/01/05: BBC: Ratcliffe power station protesters sentenced
     A group of climate change campaigners who planned to shut down the UK's second largest power station have been given community orders. Twenty people were found guilty of conspiracy to commit aggravated trespass last month, of whom 18 were sentenced at Nottingham Crown Court. The jury heard they planned to close Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station. Police confirmed the pre-emptive operation which led to the arrests cost more than £300,000. About 200 police officers arrested 114 protesters in a pre-emptive raid on a nearby school in April 2009. The protesters had gathered at the Iona School in Sneinton, Nottingham, but police stopped them getting to the coal-fired power station. Judge Jonathan Teare sentenced the group to a mixture of community orders and conditional discharges.

Regarding Water Politics and Business:

316. 2011/01/07: JFleck: River Beat: Good Snow Pack News
317. 2011/01/07: EnergyBulletin: An old commons-based solution to a 21st century crisis
318. 2011/01/06: TreeHugger: NASA Satellites Can Help Farmers Save Massive Amounts of Water
319. 2011/01/05: Eureka: U of Minnesota center releases nation's first long-term framework for statewide water sustainability
320. 2010/12/31: NatGeo: "Mining" Groundwater in India Reaches New Lows
321. 2011/01/03: NRDC:SwitchBoard: A Water Agenda for Governor Brown - Clean Water for California's Future

     Who's making predictions this week?

322. 2011/01/07: SolveClimate: 2011 Forecast: Wind and Natural Gas to Outshine Coal; Policy Vacuum to Continue
     The WRI president [Jonathan Lash] offered a string of predictions during his 8th annual crystal ball session at the National Press Club

And on the American political front:

323. 2011/01/07: MTobis: The Second Texas Century?
324. 2011/01/07: NYT:CW: Climate Shifts Are Changing New Weather 'Normals'
     As the new decade opens up, researchers are gathering data that will redefine weather pattern averages for the nation. The "new normals" will update the averages for temperatures, rainfall and snow. A climate normal bases itself on the weather patterns of a particular region over a 30-year period. Every decade, in accordance with international agreements, the National Climate Data Center releases new temperature and rain and snowfall normals for 10,000 regions across the country. This may sound like an academic or a laboratory exercise, but for some businessmen, utility regulators, wildlife agencies and others, tinkering with the meaning of "normal" can mean big changes. They range from future sales and budgetary issues to difficulties with songbirds and trout. The current normals rely on weather patterns that occurred between 1971 and 2000. The new normals, which will be released later in the year, will drop the 1970s -- a decade marked by cool temperatures -- and add the hottest recorded decade in history, the 2000s.
325. 2011/01/06: RRapier: Ethanol Exports Increase Dependence on Foreign Oil
326. 2011/01/06: NRDC:SwitchBoard: An Honest Look at Clean Air and Global Warming
327. 2011/01/06: ScienceInsider: Energy Officials: Science Law Obama Signed Bolsters Research
328. 2011/01/06: NYT: 2 Environment Rules Halted in New Mexico
     Acting on a campaign promise, New Mexico's new Republican governor, Susana Martinez, has scuttled a state regulation requiring annual 3 percent cuts in greenhouse gas emissions. A second environmental rule intended to control the discharge of waste from dairies in southern New Mexico was also dropped before publication. A different state rule that caps greenhouse gas emissions from stationary sources like power plants remains in effect for the time being.
329. 2011/01/07: AutoBG: California governor Brown reappoints Mary Nichols as CARB chairman
330. 2011/01/06: LA Times: The burning question in Washington state
     Officials are considering whether to allow the U.S. West Coast's first major coal export facility. Environmentalists say it would defeat the purpose of reducing the country's coal-based emissions.
331. 2011/01/03: AlterNet: Vision: 2011 Must Be the Year Where We Get Serious About Wind and Solar Power
332. 2011/01/05: LA Times:GS: New Mexico threatens a U-turn on environmental regulations
     New Mexico, the only state besides California to move forward on comprehensive global warming regulations, is reversing course under a new Republican governor, Susana Martinez. The move threatens to cripple the Western Climate Initiative, a California-driven effort to enact a regional trading program to curb greenhouse gas emissions.
333. 2011/01/04: AlterNet: Vision: Green Jobs Are Not Just for Blue States
334. 2011/01/04: TEC: In 2011 GOP Flees from Greener Past
335. 2011/01/05: TEC: The Challenge Isn't Going Away: Clean Energy, Jobs and National Security
336. 2011/01/05: TEC: The Results of Energy Policy
337. 2011/01/04: ClimateP: CEO calls Kasich's decision to kill Ohio's job-creating high-speed rail project "mind-boggling"
     Pracht: "Where would Ohio be today if it opted out of the interstate highway system?"
338. 2011/01/04: NRDC:SwitchBoard: New DEC head has a long record for protecting NY's environment
339. 2011/01/04: NRDC:SwitchBoard: Cuomo's DEC pick is good news for the environment
340. 2011/01/04: TreeHugger: Massachusetts Will Cut Greenhouse Gas Emissions 25% Below 1990 Levels By 2020
341. 2011/01/04: StateLine: Renewable energy industry shows surprising clout
342. 2011/01/03: SolveClimate: Budget Deficit Could Make Gov. Brown's 2011 Climate To-Do List Daunting
     Democrats in the Legislature have introduced a bill to mandate a Renewable Portfolio Standard of 33 percent by 2020
343. 2011/01/03: PhysOrg: Pennsylvania allows dumping of tainted waters from gas boom
344. 2011/01/03: Grist: New year, new idea for climate: the American Clean Energy party
345. 2011/01/03: REA: New California Governor Jerry Brown Calls for Feed-in Tariffs to Develop Distributed Generation

     The BP disaster continues to twist US politics:

346. 2011/01/06: CWorld: BP oil spill IT systems lacked key alarms says official report -- Deepwater Horizon engineers couldn't track warning signs on industry standard systems
347. 2011/01/08: TreeHugger: BP, Halliburton Likely to Face Criminal Charges Over Spill
348. 2011/01/07: ENS: Presidential Panel Blames Companies for 'Avoidable' Gulf Oil Spill
349. 2011/01/03: RRapier: Supply Side Ramifications of the Gulf Spill
350. 2011/01/07: ProPublica: Déjà-vu? The National Commission Report on BP's Gulf Disaster Echoes Old Findings
351. 2011/01/07: ProPublica: Oil-Spill Panel Co-Chair: Others Implicated, But BP 'Centrally Responsible'
352. 2011/01/07: SolveClimate: Gulf Oil Spill: BP Set to Avoid Gross Negligence Charge -- Commission criticizes BP but concludes Gulf spill was "a system-wide problem"
353. 2011/01/06: TEC: White House Commission Places Oil Spill Blame on 'Cost-Cutting' Decisions Made by BP, Halliburton, and Transocean
354. 2011/01/06: CSM: Gulf oil spill study's surprising find: Bacteria ate methane in three months
355. 2011/01/06: NYT: Failure in the Gulf
     The document released Wednesday by the presidential commission investigating last spring's oil blowout in the Gulf of Mexico is a riveting and chilling indictment of "systemic failures" throughout the oil business and of the federal agencies that allowed themselves to be captured by the people they were supposed to regulate. The commission will offer specific recommendations for reform in its full report next Tuesday. But the chapter it decided to release early is, by itself, a powerful summons to the Obama administration to press rapidly forward with stronger regulations, and to the industry as a whole to behave far more responsibly than it has. Another tragedy like the one in the Gulf of Mexico could well occur, the report suggests, unless there is "significant reform in both industry practices and government policies."
356. 2011/01/06: Guardian(UK): Gulf oil spill: BP set to avoid gross negligence charge
357. 2011/01/06: Guardian(UK): Looking over Deepwater Horizon
     With tougher legislation on drilling stalled in Congress, will regulatory agencies be able to stop another BP-style spill?
358. 2011/01/06: Guardian(UK): Methane from BP oil spill eaten by microbes
359. 2011/01/06: ClimateP: Spill Commission: Hubris, greed, and corruption led to Gulf disaster
360. 2011/01/06: NatureTGB: Gulf methane feast was short-lived
361. 2011/01/06: ScienceInsider: Oil Spill Commission Roundup: 'A Failure of Management'
362. 2011/01/06: SciNews: Methane from BP spill goes missing -- Researchers claim bacteria gobbled it all up -- and fast
363. 2011/01/06: TreeHugger: Oil Spill Panel: Failures that Led to Disaster are 'Likely to Recur'
364. 2011/01/06: EarthTimes: Report blames BP oil spill on 'systemic failures'
365. 2011/01/06: Eureka: UCSB, Texas A&M scientists find methane gas concentrations have returned to near-normal levels
     Calling the results "extremely surprising," researchers from the University of California, Santa Barbara and Texas A&M University report that methane gas concentrations in the Gulf of Mexico have returned to near normal levels only months after a massive release occurred following the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion.
366. 2011/01/06: OilChange: "A Failure of Management"
367. 2011/01/06: CBC: Gulf oil spill could happen again: panel -- BP, Halliburton and Transocean made decisions that increased risk: report
368. 2011/01/05: BBC: US oil spill: Cost-cutting decisions led to BP disaster
369. 2011/01/06: Guardian(UK): BP cost-cutting blamed for 'avoidable' Deepwater Horizon oil spill
370. 2011/01/04: Guardian(UK): BP braces for first official report into Gulf of Mexico disaster
371. 2011/01/04: PlanetArk: Transocean Tries To Stop Another Horizon Probe
372. 2011/01/04: PlanetArk: Leak Shuts Exxon Mobil Platform In Gulf Of Mexico
373. 2011/01/04: NRDC:SwitchBoard: What's In and What's Out in the Oil Damaged Gulf
374. 2011/01/04: TreeHugger: Tarballs Still Washing Up on Gulf Coast
375. 2011/01/04: TreeHugger: Where Did All the Oil from the BP Spill Go?
376. 2011/01/03: RawStory: BP oil disaster's effects will 'go global,' Gulf Coast activist warns

     The EPA versus fossil fueled GOP battle has begun:

377. 2011/01/07: NYT:GW: Newly Empowered Republicans Float Bills to Block EPA's Air Regs
378. 2011/01/07: Guardian(UK): Republicans attempt to stifle action on climate change
     After first day in Congress, Republicans have outlined three bills aimed at limiting power of the Environmental Protection Agency
379. 2011/01/06: GreenGrok: Playing Power Ball? EPA's Climate Rules Under Attack
380. 2011/01/06: NRDC:SwitchBoard: Kentucky pol on EPA enforcement: "Secession is an option"
381. 2011/01/06: NRDC:SwitchBoard: Coincidence? Big-Oil Backed House Members Behind Efforts to Throttle EPA
382. 2011/01/07: OilChange: Oil and Coal-Backed Politicians Attack the EPA
383. 2011/01/07: HuffPo: House Republicans Target EPA With Bills That Would Cripple Obama's Global Warming Agenda
384. 2011/01/05: Thehill:e2W: Boxer: EPA climate delay bill could pass [the Senate], but would be rejected by Obama
385. 2011/01/06: NRDC:SwitchBoard: Abolish EPA's Ability to Limit Pollution?
386. 2011/01/05: NYT:GW: Texas Faces Uphill Legal Battle Against EPA's Greenhouse Gas Regs
387. 2011/01/03: Time: Political Battle Brewing over the EPA's New Emissions Regulations

     The University of Virginia has received a FOI request for Mann material:

388. 2011/01/06: WaPo:VP: U-Va. receives new FOIA for global warming documents
     The University of Virginia has received a request under Virginia's freedom of information laws seeking documents related to the work of former university climate scientist Michael Mann. The American Tradition Institute Environmental Law Center on Thursday asked the university to turn over documents, including e-mails Mann exchanged with other scientists while employed at the university, on behalf of Del. Bob Marshall (R-Prince William) and two other state residents. The group seeks similar documents to those sought by Virginia Attorney Gen. Ken Cuccinelli II (R) using a civil subpoena.

The Obama chatter is nonstop:

389. 2011/01/05: TEC: David Livingston - The Science Behind Obama's Legislative "Chunks"
390. 2011/01/05: NRDC:SwitchBoard: President Obama Signs Diesel Emissions Reduction Act of 2010 (DERA)
391. 2011/01/04: PlanetArk: U.S. To Ease Requirements On Some Deepwater Projects

     The actions of the Obama administration are being watched closely:

392. 2011/01/07: StarTelegram: EPA, Range Resources in fight over well contamination claim
393. 2011/01/07: Yahoo:AP: Feds sue Pa. coal plant operators over pollution
     The federal government on Thursday sued several companies over a coal-burning electricity generating plant, calling it "one of the largest air pollution sources in the nation" and asking the court to keep it from operating unless it meets Clean Air Act standards.
     [...]
     The defendants include EME Homer City Generation LP and previous owners and operators New York State Electric & Gas Corp., or NYSEG, of Rochester, N.Y., and Erie-based Pennsylvania Electric Co., also known as Penelec.
394. 2011/01/06: BVerheggen: Benefit of environmental regulations generally outweighs cost
395. 2011/01/05: Grist: Is Obama's EPA trying to implement 'backdoor cap-and-trade'? Um, no.
396. 2011/01/05: TreeHugger: Obama to Let 13 Oil Companies Drill Offshore With No Environmental Review
397. 2011/01/04: Yahoo:AP: EPA board stops Shell's Arctic clean air permits
398. 2011/01/04: NRDC:SwitchBoard: BOEMRE [Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement] Issues A New Rule For Offshore Drilling
399. 2011/01/04: NRDC:SwitchBoard: Keep Up the Good Work, EPA: Editorial/Op-Ed Roundup
400. 2011/01/03: ClimateP: Holdren finds a pony: Obama science advisor says GOP climate hearings will dezombify some members
401. 2011/01/02: G&M: U.S. to impose new emission rules on power plants, refineries

     As for what is going on in Congress:

402. 2011/01/06: MoJo:BM: RIP, Select Committee on Global Warming
403. 2011/01/07: AutoBG: As new Congress opens, Republicans disband global warming committee
404. 2011/01/07: Pembina:B: Free advice for the new U.S. Congress -- study up on the oilsands
405. 2011/01/06: Mercury: Boxer promises GOP a fight on climate change
406. 2011/01/07: ClimateP: Know your zombies: Sensenbrenner, picked to lead House attack on climate science, says, "I personally believe that the solar flares are more responsible for climatic cycles than anything that human beings do."
407. 2011/01/07: SF Gate: Boxer challenges GOP on environment issues
     Exactly 24 hours after being sworn in for her fourth term, California Sen. Barbara Boxer on Thursday unloaded both barrels on House Republicans' plans to stall climate-change regulations, slipping seamlessly into her role as a pit bull against the GOP.
408. 2011/01/06: UCSUSA: New Science Committee Vice-Chairman Rep. Sensenbrenner Has Track Record of Attacking Climate Science
409. 2011/01/06: Guardian(UK): Republicans kill global warming committee
410. 2011/01/06: ClimateP: Video: Top Ten Things Overheard During the Republicans' First Day in Charge of the House
411. 2011/01/06: ClimateP: Tea Party Pollutocrat David Koch entertains newly elected Republicans on first day of new Congress
412. 2011/01/06: NRDC:SwitchBoard: Legislative Watch
413. 2011/01/06: TreeHugger: The US House Global Warming Committee is Officially Dead
414. 2011/01/05: ClimateP: Flashback: John Boehner says on ABC: "The idea that carbon dioxide is a carcinogen that is harmful to our environment is almost comical."
415. 2011/01/05: NRDC:SwitchBoard: Why Is Fred Upton Lending His Name To The Koch Brothers' War On EPA And Americans' Health?
416. 2011/01/05: DemNow: Incoming GOP House Chairs Plan to Investigate Climate Scientists, Probe Muslim "Radicalization," Repeal Healthcare Reform
417. 2011/01/04: ClimateP: Climate zombies now run House of Representatives
418. 2011/01/04: NewScientist: Battle looms over US science funding
     As Republicans take control of the US House of Representatives, science could take a hit -- despite a new Congressional measure to boost funding.
419. 2011/01/04: NatureN: US science faces big chill -- Spending cuts and political battles loom on the horizon
420. 2011/01/04: MoJo: Fred Upton's Climate Changeup
     The incoming chair of the House energy and commerce committee once called global warming a "serious problem." So why has he cooled to cutting emissions?
421. 2011/01/03: ClimateP: Incoming House Energy chair Fred Upton flip-flops: "I don't think we have to regulate carbon"
422. 2011/01/03: ClimateP: New Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) defends hiring energy lobbyist as chief of staff
423. 2011/01/03: ClimateP: What we're up against: Polluter-funded Tea Party climate zombie astroturfing
     Rebel Without a Clue gets Americans for Prosperity's anti-efficiency, anti-science indoctrination at Cancun

Remember the climate bill?

424. 2011/01/04: Grist: The climate bill in six acts

     What are the lobbyists pushing?

425. 2011/01/04: TheHill:e2W: Oil industry pushing for changes to administration's five-year drilling plan
426. 2011/01/05: MoJo: The Oil Industry's New Year's Resolution
     The American Petroleum Institute, which last year called congressional efforts to curb climate changing emissions, among other things, "a giant tax [1]," a "job killer [2]," and "fundamentally flawed [3]," is now begging for Congress to take action -- to stop the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating those emissions, that is. In a speech laying out the priorities of the oil industry's top trade for the new year on Tuesday, API president Jack Gerard pledged to fight the coming EPA regulations.
427. 2011/01/05: OilChange: Oil Industry Targets New Congress
428. 2011/01/04: PostMedia: Canadian oilsands pipeline 'crucial' to American economy: U.S. oil industry
     America's largest oil industry trade group [API] on Tuesday appealed to the Obama administration for speedy approval of a $7-billion Canadian pipeline to boost imports from Alberta's oilsands, arguing there has been "ample" study of the project's safety and environmental impacts. Citing the potential for a U.S. job boom from expanded oilsands production, American Petroleum Institute president Jack Gerard hailed Calgary-based TransCanada's Keystone XL pipeline as vital to the recovery of the nation's economy.

While in the UK:

429. 2011/01/06: BBC: Spelman urges EU farm subsidies rethink
     Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman has called for a "fundamental" rethink of the EU's Common Agricultural Policy. She told an audience of farmers the policy, costing billions of pounds a year, distorted trade and must change. Mrs Spelman also said subsidies should have less emphasis on food production, and reward farmers who take steps to protect the environment.
430. 2011/01/05: Guardian(UK): How to judge the 'greenest government ever'
431. 2011/01/05: Guardian(UK): How well is the government keeping its green promises?
432. 2011/01/04: EarthTimes: UK renewables hit all-time high
433. 2011/01/03: TEC: UK Government Forestry Sale Meets Opposition

     And in Europe:

434. 2011/01/07: EurActiv: Eurostat: Households footing bill for green taxes
     In most EU countries, the highest share of environmental tax revenue comes from households, with Denmark at the top of the rankings. New statistics on environmental taxes, published yesterday (6 January) by Eurostat, provide a breakdown of energy, transport and pollution/resource taxes in the EU-27 and reveal who exactly is paying these taxes. On average, green taxes collected by EU governments in 2007 totalled 304 billion euros and accounted for almost 2.5% of the bloc's GDP. Green taxes represented 6.2% of total EU taxation and social contributions.
435. 2011/01/07: Grist: Björk protests energy deal with karaoke marathon [VIDEO]
436. 2011/01/06: EurActiv: Commission urges 'concrete progress' on energy efficiency
     The European Commission signalled yesterday (5 January) that it would press member states hard to deliver "concrete steps" towards the EU's goal of a 20% improvement in energy efficiency by 2020.
437. 2011/01/06: EurActiv: Commission under budget 'pressure' as natural disasters spike
     A dramatic increase in the number of natural disasters last year has sparked calls for more funding, cooperation and cost-efficiency from European Commission services. A report by Munich Re, one of the world's largest insurance firms, says that 2010 saw 950 natural disasters - the second highest number since 1980 - and 295,000 people died as a result. The fact that 90% of the disasters were weather-related provided "further indications of advancing climate change," the report warned.
438. 2011/01/04: Reuters: EU will surpass 20 percent green energy goal: report
     The European Union will exceed its target of meeting 20 percent of its energy needs from renewable sources by 2020, a report by the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA) said on Tuesday
439. 2011/01/05: DerSpiegel: Guarding the Pork Barrel -- Germany Opposes Attempts to Reform EU Agricultural Subsidies
     The European Commission wants to reform the Common Agricultural Policy, which eats up almost half of the EU's budget and which primarily benefits large farms in "old" member states. But Germany and France are resisting moves to change the system so it favors smaller, organic farms. The status quo suits them very nicely.
440. 2011/01/04: EarthTimes: Brussels to pose tough questions ahead of EU energy summit
441. 2011/01/04: EarthTimes: EU approves biofuel joint venture between Shell and Brazil's Cosan
442. 2011/01/03: EurActiv: Nearly 8bn euros of EU energy savings fund lies unclaimed
     As the EU struggles to meet its target of reducing energy consumption by 20% by 2020, energy efficiency grants from a reallocated fund worth 8 billion euros are still going unclaimed, according to a top Commission official who spoke to EurActiv in an interview.

Meanwhile in Australia:

443. 2011/01/07: ABC(Au): PM confronted by angry flood-affected locals
     Residents in Western Australia's flood-affected Gascoyne region have accused Prime Minister Julia Gillard of treating them like second-class citizens. Emotions spilled over as Ms Gillard met fruit and vegetable growers while touring the region. Earlier today she announced a relief package including grants of up to $15,000 to help people recover from the flood crisis. But Gascoyne community leaders say the grants are $10,000 less than those offered to victims of Queensland's flood disaster.
444. 2011/01/08: ABC(Au): After facing angry flood victims yesterday, Prime Minister Julia Gillard will tour St George today as homes in the southern Queensland town prepare for inundation
445. 2011/01/07: ABC(Au): The Environment Protection Authority (EPA) has halted its assessment of a new power station project in the Latrobe Valley, until it is given more information about the plant
446. 2011/01/07: ABC(Au): Wheatbelt rain will 'do more harm than good'
     The Western Australian Farmers Federation says this week's rain in the wheatbelt will do more harm than good for some farmers.
447. 2011/01/07: ABC(Au): Ranger uranium scare 'not isolated'
     The Greens say a uranium scare in Kakadu National Park is evidence mining there should not be allowed to expand.
448. 2011/01/05: EarthTimes: Drought and flood bookend life in savage Australia
449. 2011/01/04: ABC(Au): The Federal Government has released draft legislation for its carbon farming initiative

     The recent flooding after 10 years of drought puts the Murray-Darling Basin Plan in an odd light:

450. 2011/01/07: ABC(Au): Warwick secures 4 years worth of water
     The Southern Downs Council says urban supplies in Warwick have been secured for at least four years now that Leslie Dam is full. The dam is at 100 per cent capacity for the first time in 22 years.
451. 2011/01/07: ABC(Au): Downpours too little, too late for dams
     Heavy downpours in the South West have done little to relieve the region's dry dams. Bunbury had almost 18 millimetres of rain this week but the Water Corporation says it is too little, too late after the region experienced its driest year on record.
452. 2011/01/07: ABC(Au): Lake Julius hits 100pc -- One of Mount Isa's main water storages has reached more than 100 per cent capacity
453. 2011/01/07: ABC(Au): Campaspe Mayor backs revision to Basin Plan
     The Campaspe Shire Mayor is backing a call to revise the contentious draft guide to the Murray-Darling Basin Plan following the recent drought-breaking rain.
454. 2011/01/06: ABC(Au): PM wants Murray plan progress despite floods
     Prime Minister Julia Gillard says it is important for work to continue on a plan to cut back water allocations along the Murray-Darling river system despite recent heavy flooding. Farmers want the controversial plan re-worked and say there is no need for the Murray-Darling Basin Authority (MDBA) to stick with its original timeframe given the effects of the Queensland floods. But Ms Gillard says the issue of water reform cannot be delayed.
455. 2011/01/06: ABC(Au): Nationals Senator Barnaby Joyce says dams should be built on the Fitzroy and Balonne Rivers to prevent future floods
456. 2011/01/03: ABC(Au): Suicides linked to basin plan
     Calls for residents in the Murray Darling Basin to protest in Canberra against proposed cuts to water outlined in the draft plan are gaining support. National Senator Barnaby Joyce wants tens of thousands of basin residents to march on Federal Parliament when it resumes on February 8.

While in the Indian subcontinent:

457. 2011/01/06: SeedDaily: Crop failure impels Indian farmer suicides
     As more crops fail in India, the rate of suicides among farmers is climbing. More than 17,368 Indian farmers killed themselves in 2009, the worst figure for farm suicides in six years, data from the National Crime Records Bureau indicate. The suicides increased by 1,172 over the 2008 count of 16,196, bringing the total farm suicides since 1997 to 216,500. "Poverty has assaulted rural India," journalist Palagummi Sainath, an expert on rural poverty in India, told Britain's The Independent newspaper. "Farmers who used to be able to send their children to college now can't send them to school." Nearly all of the bereaved families of those who have committed suicide, he said, had problems with debts and land loss due to failing crops.
458. 2011/01/05: OpenDem: India's quest for nuclear energy
     As India sets about generating more than twelve times its current level of nuclear power by 2035, it seldom encounters countries insisting on the letter of the Nuclear NPT.

And China:

459. 2011/01/07: PlanetArk: China Power Sector To Boom As Oil Sector Goes Slower

     While elsewhere in Asia:

460. 2011/01/07: Reuters: Analysis: Asia's climate steps could delay global CO2 market
     Asia's powerhouse economies are turning cautious on national plans to price emissions and instead pursuing incremental steps that could delay a global carbon offset market.
461. 2011/01/06 Reuters: South Korea pumps up support for renewable energy
     South Korea, the world's No.5 crude importer and No.2 liquefied natural gas (LNG) buyer, will boost financial support for the new and renewable energy industry this year by nearly a quarter, the government said on Thursday.
462. 2011/01/06: BBC: Pakistan government reverses unpopular fuel price rise
     Pakistan's government has rolled back a recent fuel price rise, in an apparent concession to the opposition after losing its majority in parliament. The 9% rise in the price of petrol and kerosene was described as "unbearable" by the Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM) when it quit the government on Sunday. Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani was later told by the opposition to reverse the rise or face a confidence vote. He is struggling to push through tough economic policies demanded by the IMF.

And in Africa:

463. 2011/01/03: Monitor(Ug): Special Report: Bududa brought home nasty environmental lessons
     [...]
     Previously, Uganda never took seriously devastating effects of environmental degradation and climate change until March 2010 when cruel landslides occurred in the mountainous eastern district of Bududa, killing more than 300 people.

And South America:

464. 2011/01/01: MR: Morales Repeals Decree Raising Fuel Prices
465. 2011/01/05: REA: Bolivia Plans Wind Power, Other Renewable Energy Build-out
466. 2011/01/03: TEC: China's State Grid Announces $1 Billion Investment in Brazil

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

467. 2011/01/07: Impolitical: Making environmental history

     The G20 controversy lingers:

468. 2011/01/08: TSun: G20 protesters demand Blair quit
     It's been seven months since the surreal G20 weekend that saw nearly 1,000 citizens arrested, most of them unjustly, but answers and accountability seem to be nowhere in sight. And some Torontonians are now demanding the city's top cop, who was at the helm of the debacle, do the honourable thing and resign.
469. 2011/01/07: CBC: Release G20 police probe files: judge
     A criminal lawyer has won his application to view confidential documents pertaining to an investigation into alleged police brutality during the G20 summit in Toronto. Justice Rob Clark ruled Friday that the Special Investigations Unit, Ontario's civilian-run police watchdog, must allow defence lawyer Mike Leitold to review any and all materials regarding a complaint of police brutality lodged by Adam Nobody, who suffered facial fractures after being apprehended by a group of officers at a protest during the summit on June 26. The documents have been ordered to be released as sealed evidence to the defence lawyer by the end of January.
470. 2011/01/04: CBC: Court may release G20 probe documents
     An Ontario court will decide later this week whether to release details of the SIU investigation into charges of police brutality against Adam Nobody -- who says he was assaulted during the G20 summit -- a decision that could have an impact on another trial. Nobody suffered a broken nose and a shattered cheekbone during his arrest in late June and later filed a brutality complaint against Toronto police. On Tuesday, Toronto lawyer Mike Leitold said he wants to get his hands on the documents prepared by the province's Special Investigations Unit when it was investigating Nobody's complaint -- because two of the officers involved in Nobody's arrest are also alleged to have beaten his client, Abbas Jama, 25. Jama is on trial on weapons offences. He was arrested in June 2009 by two undercover officers --- Todd Story and Luke Watson. Jama alleges he was beaten by Story and Watson during his arrest.

The battle over the Keystone XL and Northern Gateway pipelines rages on:

471. 2011/01/03: Tyee: Harper's [Northern Gateway] Pipeline Nightmare
     The PM backs the Enbridge plan to pipe tar sands crude to the BC coast. But the politics are ugly.
472. 2011/01/04: PostMedia: Canadian oilsands pipeline 'crucial' to American economy: U.S. oil industry

     The Tories have appointed a new environment minister:

473. 2011/01/04: Pembina:B: New year, new priorities for federal environment minister
474. 2011/01/07: Tyee: Peter Kent's Oily New Portfolio
     Canada's new environment minister could have acknowledged the facts. Instead, we get slippery spin.
475. 2011/01/06: G&M: Minister vows not to let emissions rules hamper oil-sands investment
     Citing the tentative economic recovery, new Environment Minister Peter Kent says the Harper government will not impose any greenhouse-gas reductions on the oil patch that discourage investment.
476. 2011/01/06: CBC: Kent promises tough environmental oversight
     Canada's new environment minister Peter Kent defends his government's record and future plans for handling the controversial file. The Conservatives have come under criticism domestically and abroad over a lack of action on key issues such as reducing greenhouse gas emissions and addressing environmental damage in the Alberta oilsands. Speaking Thursday on CBC-TV's Power & Politics with Evan Solomon, Kent said the government is "on target" to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 17 per cent below 2005 levels by the year 2020.
477. 2011/01/06: DeSmogBlog: Canada's New Environment Minister Promises More of the Same: Climate Inaction and Disappointment
478. 2011/01/04: G&M: Harper chooses fresh spokesman for a stale environmental policy
479. 2011/01/05: G&M: A changing climate -- just not in cabinet
480. 2011/01/04: Impolitical: And an anchorman shall be environment minister
481. 2011/01/04: CBC: Kent, Fantino take cabinet posts
     Prime Minister Stephen Harper moved Peter Kent into the high-profile environment portfolio Tuesday as part of a mini cabinet shuffle...

The Tories started a PR campaign calling the tarsands ethical:

482. 2011/01/07: TreeHugger: Canada's New Environment Minister's Job: Shill The Tar Sands as "Ethical Oil"
483. 2010/09/22: Tyee: The Fallacy of 'Ethical Oil' -- Better to describe Canada's oil sands crude as 'the devil's tears.'
484. 2011/01/07: Tyee:TheHook: Stephen Harper calls oil sands 'ethical'
485. 2011/01/07: Pembina:B: "Ethical oil" argument camouflages serious problems in the oilsands
486. 2011/01/07: G&M: Harper's embrace of 'ethical' oil sands reignites 'dirty' arguments
487. 2011/01/07: SSM: Guess What Folks? Our Oil is Ethical.
488. 2011/01/07: G&M: Peter Kent's green agenda: Clean up oil sands' dirty reputation
     The oil sands have a new defender: freshly minted Environment Minister Peter Kent, who calls Canada's tarry resource an "ethical" source of energy that should take priority in the U.S over foreign producers with poor democratic track records.
489. 2011/01/07: G&M: My question about 'ethical' oil
     Well, it certainly didn't take our new environment minister long to stir up a hornet's nest. Straight out of the starting gate, Peter Kent made a rather straight-up statement about oil-sands oil: "It is ethical oil. It is regulated oil. And it's secure oil in a world where many of the free world's oil sources are somewhat less secure."
490. 2011/01/06: iPolitics: Oilsands 'ethical' and unfairly demonized, Peter Kent says
491. 2011/01/06: LFR: Peter Kent drinks the Kool Oil, graduates to full Con wankery

     Meanwhile in that Mechanical Mordor known as the tar sands:

492. 2011/01/05: Pembina:B: Royal Society echoes Pembina's warning over tarsands liability
493. 2011/01/06: CBC: Alberta oilsands explosion injures 4
     An explosion has rocked the Horizon oilsands site near Fort McKay in northern Alberta, injuring four employees. The explosion occurred around 3:30 p.m. MT Thursday. The owner of the site, Canadian Natural Resources Ltd., said at 7 p.m. MT that the fire was contained to the coker area.
494. 2011/01/07: CBC: Alberta oilsands explosion probed
495. 2011/01/07: CBC: N.B. residents clean up after storms
     New Brunswick residents are starting to rebuild after three powerful storms wreaked havoc on the province in December. Since the flooding and storm surges, more than 1,100 people have applied for disaster assistance and the provincial government has handed out 157 advanced payments to help people get back in their homes as quickly as possible. It has been estimated that the storms inflicted $50 million in damage on the province.
496. 2011/01/06: SolveClimate: Big Bank Adopts Groundbreaking Oil Sands Lending Policy, but Will It Have Teeth?
     A leading oil sands lender adopts policy language considered the gold standard for protecting rights of indigenous peoples, but is it just rhetoric? The Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) -- one of the world's biggest financiers of Canadian oil sands -- has expanded its environmental policy to give more say to indigenous peoples when considering underwriting mining projects and pipelines blamed for polluting their lands.
497. 2011/01/05: CCP: Impacting Indigenous Culture -- The Tar Sands of Northern Alberta

     Also in Alberta:

498. 2011/01/04: G&M: Alberta winning battle against beetles thanks to lessons learned in B.C.

     While in Saskatchewan:

499. 2011/01/05: CBC: Potash deal worries Sask. First Nation members
     Some members of a Saskatchewan First Nation say there are more questions than answers about the development of a potash mine on reserve land. The Muskowekwan First Nation announced last fall that it had signed an agreement with Vancouver-based Encanto Potash Corp. to develop the mine on the reserve, about 75 kilometres northeast of Regina. But band member Pamela Blondeau says people haven't been given enough information to know if they should support the deal.
500. 2011/01/04: PostMedia: Oilsands split Saskatchewan: poll -- Opinions on environment differ based on race, education, location
     Despite alarm bells raised recently over toxins spewed from Alberta's oilsands into Saskatchewan, results of a recent survey indicate one-quarter of the province's residents support oilsands development. The results of a survey performed by Sigma Analytics for the Saskatoon StarPhoenix and the Regina Leader-Post show 24.9 per cent of respondents "strongly support" oilsands development in the province.

And in la Belle Province:

501. 2011/01/05: CBC: Leaks found in shale gas wells: Que. report -- 32 were inspected 'and more than half have problems,' says envrionmental expert
     Quebec's Ministry of Natural Resources has found leaks in more than half the shale gas wells it inspected, according to a report compiled for the province's environmental protection agency. Out of 32 wells inspected, 19 showed "natural gas emissions," according to the 35-page report dated Dec. 7.

In the Maritimes:

502. 2011/01/04: CBC: N.B. flood victims helped by UNB group

     In the North:

503. 2011/01/05: ChronicleHerald: Treaty may force Canada to beef up Arctic rescue abilities

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

504. 2011/01/: MR: Capitalism and Degrowth -- An Impossibility Theorem
505. 2011/01/07: Eureka: Study finds energy limits global economic growth -- Researchers use macroecology to establish correlations across countries and over time
506. 2011/01/06: EnergyBulletin: The financial crisis is the environmental crisis
507. 2011/01/05: MTobis: Krugman: Growth Possible in a Finite World
508. 2011/01/03: CCurrents: Living Better In 'The Finite World'
509. 2011/01/04: AlterNet: Do We Have to Live Like Peasants to Be Truly Sustainable?

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

510. 2011/01/05: Guardian(UK): Family planning helps women ... and slows climate change
     With women empowered to plan their pregnancies, the world's population will grow more slowly, as will carbon emissions
511. 2011/01/03: CCurrents: The Real Population Problem
512. 2011/01/03: CCurrents: 2011: The Year We'll Hit 7 Billion

     Apocalypso anyone?

513. 2011/01/06: TPV: Greeting the Fall of the Empire: a Message of Peace by Jan Lundberg
     Please join me in greeting the fall of the U.S. Empire, a healthy way to begin this new year. It is a positive sentiment among some thoughtful Americans. Their ungiddy feeling flows from observation of world developments and the state of the U.S. political system and economy. The timetable is fuzzy, but trends are clear. It's not pretty, but there is a thin silver lining. These days are for many of us the winter of our discontent. Weird and dangerous weather on the rise, persistent fossil-fuel dominance, never-ending wars, unraveling of the social fabric, looming shortages of food and water, and lack of money for basic needs aren't just some unpatriotic ravings of those who want to put America down. Rather, the growing uncertainty of our survival, individually and for our families, has everyone's skull in a vice tightened by unseen or unknown hands. Those hands are actually of our own making: our dominant culture has been building up to a colossal, spectacular, global failure. If the Empire's collapse and cultural failure sound extremely negative, you can cling to your privilege in a world "burning in its greed" (the Moody Blues, Balance), or go back to hoping for a lucrative job. Or you might keep up the magical thinking that says things will work out without major pain. But even a hard realist or pessimist who sees the Empire now starting to fall ought to smile, for as Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young sang in Carry On, "Rejoice, rejoice, we have no choice. But to carry on."
514. 2011/01/05: NakedCapitalism: Is a Tainter-Style Collapse in Our Future?

     As for how the media handles the science of climatology:

515. 2011/01/02: GWWatch: Fox News journos directed to promote AGW denial
516. 2011/01/07: ClimateP: Forbes, Larry Bell, and the Climate of Corruption
517. 2011/01/07: TreeHugger: LEED-bashing Reaches New Heights In Fast Company
518. 2011/01/06: RealClimate: Forbes' rich list of nonsense
519. 2011/01/05: DeSmogBlog: George Will and Cognitive Dissonance [CCM]
520. 2011/01/04: TreeHugger: Media's Climate Coverage Sunk to Lowest Level in 5 Years in 2010 [TDC]
521. 2011/01/03: REA: When the Media Glosses Over Big Oil's Sins
522. 2011/01/03: ClimateP: Silence of the Lambs: Media herd's coverage of climate change "fell off the map" in 2010
523. 2011/01/03: ClimateP: Hypocrite of the year: Anti-science George Will bemoans decline of U.S. science
524. 2011/01/03: TDC: 2010 in review: The year climate coverage 'fell off the map.'

     While activists search for effective communication techniques:

525. 2011/01/05: ClimateP: Why science-based (dire) warnings are an essential part of good climate messaging -- Nature's Matt Kaplan blows the story
526. 2011/01/04: NatureN: Why dire climate warnings boost scepticism -- Undermining belief in a fair world may mean that climate warnings go unheeded

     Here is something for your library:

527. 2011/01/07: DF: [Book Review] _Why We Hate The Oil Companies Straight Talk From An Energy Insider_ by John Hofmeister
528. 2011/01/06: TreeHugger: Fraser's Penguins Offers a 'Blue Marble' View of Climate Change
     [Book Review] _Fraser's Penguins_ by Fen Montaigne
529. 2011/01/05: SlashDot: [Book Review] _Securing the Smart Grid: Next Generation Power Grid Security_ by Tony Flick & Justin Morehouse
530. 2011/01/06: HotTopic: [Book Review] _World on the Edge: How to Prevent Environmental and Economic Collapse_ by Lester Brown

     And for your film & video enjoyment:

531. 2011/01/09: Deltoid: UNSW students break record for fastest solar-powered vehicle
532. 2011/01/06: UNDispatch: 7 Billion People
533. 2011/01/09: PSinclair: Pirate Talking Princess Returns: Geoengineering against Sea Level Rise
534. 2011/01/08: PSinclair: Top Grain exporters hit by Climate disasters. Record Food Prices. Food Riots in Algeria.
535. 2011/01/07: DeSmogBlog: Carbon Tracker: NOAA Graphic Lays Out the Bad News
536. 2011/01/06: PSinclair: Global Warming. Winter Weirding.
537. 2011/01/06: PSinclair: 1989: Isaac Asimov on Climate Change
538. 2011/01/05: TCoE: 7,000,000,000
539. 2011/01/05: PSinclair: 7 Billion
540. 2011/01/05: CSW: "Wouldn't we do better to actually prepare for a catastrophic climate change?"
541. 2011/01/04: PSinclair: Steven Chu: Fuel from Sunshine and Air
542. 2011/01/04: TreeHugger: Believe in Global Warming? You "Kool Aid Drinking Commie" - XtraNormal Takes on Peak Oil (Video)
543. 2011/01/03: ClimateP: NASA's James Hansen explains why we should be concerned about human-made climate change when it's changed so much in the past
544. 2011/01/03: DM:DB: Curious Polar Bears Best Robot Videographers
545. 2011/01/02: PSinclair: Queensland Floods. "An area the size of France and Germany Combined"

     Meanwhile among the 'Sue the Bastards!' contingent:

546. 2011/01/07: MoJo: Kochs Sue Over Climate Prank
547. 2011/01/06: SolveClimate: High Court Ruling Could Sideline Judiciary Branch from Key Role in Climate Change Debate
548. 2011/01/03: NYT:GW: EPA Ordered to Wait on Taking Over Texas' Greenhouse Gas Permitting
549. 2011/01/04: SolveClimate: Courts Wrestle with Texas Revolt Against EPA's New Greenhouse Gas Rules
550. 2011/01/04: PlanetArk: Texas Files Again To Block EPA Carbon Rules In State
551. 2011/01/03: NYT:GW: EPA Ordered to Wait on Taking Over Texas' Greenhouse Gas Permitting
     U.S. EPA's plan to sidestep state officials and oversee climate rules in Texas has been temporarily blocked by a federal court, making the Lone Star State the only place where businesses cannot apply for greenhouse gas permits that the Obama administration now requires. The first federal regulations on carbon dioxide took effect yesterday after more than a year of political wrangling, ordering emissions cuts from cars, light trucks and the largest new industrial plants.
552. 2011/01/03: TEC: Petroleum Groups Ask Court to Overturn EPA Approval of E15

     Wrestling over a new energy infrastructure continues unabated:

553. 2011/01/07: Eureka: Study finds energy limits global economic growth -- Researchers use macroecology to establish correlations across countries and over time
554. 2011/01/05: Grist: U.S. military sees great value in distributed renewable energy
555. 2011/01/05: TEC: Verdant [Power, Inc.] Applies to Build the United States' First Tidal Power Plant
556. 2011/01/05: Reuters: No need for more OPEC oil - Kuwait
     Kuwait's oil minister said on Wednesday he considered oil at $80 to $100 a barrel to be a "fair price" and did not expect OPEC to increase output in the first half of this year.
557. 2011/01/05: CBC: Oil back above $90 US
558. 2011/01/05: EurActiv: EU on track to meet 2020 renewables targets [says EWEA]
559. 2011/01/05: SolveClimate: Cleantech Crystal Ball Sees Rash of IPOs, Energy Efficiency Focus
     State regulations, especially renewable portfolio standards, will continue as the main drivers of cleantech growth in the U.S., experts say
560. 2011/01/05: Eureka: Household sewage: Not waste, but a vast new energy resource
561. 2011/01/05: OilDrum: New High of Liquid Fuel Production
562. 2011/01/04: NBF: IEA World Oil Supply Report from December 2010
563. 2011/01/05: BBC: The current high price of oil will threaten economic recovery in 2011, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA)
564. 2011/01/03: Grist: $5-a-gallon gas can be good for the environment --- if we seize the moment
565. 2011/01/04: ChinaDaily: No clear winner in hydro vs coal power debate
566. 2011/01/03: TEC: How Cheap and Abundant Natural Gas Effects Renewables
567. 2011/01/03: CSM: Green energy first: New York firm seeks tidal power plant in East River
568. 2011/01/03: EurActiv: 'Milestone' pipeline starts delivering Russian crude to China
569. 2011/01/03: TEC: Explaining residential electricity consumption: macroeconomic implications
570. 2011/01/03: REA: An Unusual Comparison [of Solar] with Nuclear
571. 2011/01/03: BBC: Oil price up on 'manufacturing growth'
     The price of oil has risen by more than a dollar a barrel after surveys suggested strong manufacturing growth in both the US and the eurozone. The Institute of Supply Management (ISM) said US manufacturing grew in December at its fastest pace since May. US light crude rose by $1.08 to $95.8 a barrel, while London Brent rose 94 cents to $95.83. Cold weather in Europe and the US has pushed the price of oil higher in the past few weeks.
572. 2011/01/02: EconBrowser: Energy cornucopia?

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

573. 2011/01/05: ProPublica: Pennsylvania's Drilling Wastewater Released to Streams, Some Unaccounted For
574. 2011/01/06: PlanetArk: Lawmakers Protect Natgas [fracking] From New Drilling Regulations
575. 2011/01/06: NRDC:SwitchBoard: Gas Driller Cabot in Trouble Again
576. 2011/01/05: CBC: Leaks found in shale gas wells: Que. report -- 32 were inspected 'and more than half have problems,' says envrionmental expert
577. 2011/01/04: OilChange: Now Fracking Starts In Britain
578. 2011/01/03: PhysOrg: Pennsylvania allows dumping of tainted waters from gas boom
     The natural gas boom gripping parts of the U.S. has a nasty byproduct: wastewater so salty, and so polluted with metals like barium and strontium, that most states require drillers to get rid of the stuff by injecting it down shafts thousands of feet deep. Not in Pennsylvania, one of the states at the center of the gas rush.

The answer my friend...:

579. 2011/01/07: Grist: Here's one way to prevent local wind-farm fights
580. 2011/01/06: TreeHugger: Wind Farm Noise Complaints - Bunk, Not Bunk, A Bit of Both?
581. 2011/01/05: PlanetArk: Vestas Wins Italian And German Turbine Orders
582. 2011/01/03: NYT: Siemens Invests in Expanding Wind Power
583. 2011/01/04: Reuters: Sinovel Wind to raise up to $1.4 billion in Shanghai IPO
     Sinovel, China's top wind turbine producer, plans to raise up to $1.4 billion through an initial public offering in Shanghai, hoping to ride high on the back of strong demand for Chinese renewable energy stocks.

Meanwhile among the solar aficionados:

584. 2011/01/06: PhysOrg: Affordable solar technology
     [...]
     Oxford Photovoltaics (Oxford PV), formed with the help of Isis Innovation, Oxford University's technology transfer company, has combined earlier research on artificial photosynthetic electrochemical solar cells and semiconducting plastics to create manufacturable solid-state dye sensitized solar cells. The device is a form of thin film solar technology, a relatively new development in solar energy generation. Leading thin film technologies are currently hampered by the scarcity of minerals used. Other dye-sensitized solar cells are being held back by the volatile nature of liquid electrolytes. Oxford PV's technology replaces the liquid electrolyte with a solid organic semiconductor, enabling entire solar modules to be screen printed onto glass or other surfaces.
585. 2011/01/04: PVTech: Solar energy to provide 10% of Germany's electricity by 2020
586. 2011/01/05: Grist: Deal signed in big China solar project -- a 2,000-megawatt solar plant in the Ordos region of Inner Mongolia
587. 2011/01/04: Oregonian: Oregon homeowners can now go solar with no upfront costs
     Oregonians put off by the high price of renewable energy can now go solar on the cheap, installing panels for no money down. Contractors in a handful of states are starting to offer solar to the masses with lease deals that eliminate upfront costs. Oregon is joining the trend, thanks to regulations that took effect Jan. 1.
588. 2011/01/04: PhysOrg: New solar cell self-repairs like natural plant systems
589. 2011/01/03: REA: How Thin-Film Solar Will Fare Against Crystalline Silicon's Challenge

     On the coal front:

590. 2011/01/05: ProPublica: As [Don Blankenship] Coal King Retires to $12 Million, Mine Safety Struggle Goes On
591. 2011/01/06: ClimateP: Coal prices soar as warmest sea surface temperatures on record fuel 'biblical' Australian floods
592. 2011/01/04: NBF: Flooding in Australia will cause coal prices to spike at least 20 percent
593. 2011/01/03: DeSmogBlog: Future of Coal Dims Further in 2010, But Dying Industry Still Killing and Polluting

     Biofuel bickering abounds:

594. 2011/01/06: MSU: Biofuel grasslands better for birds than ethanol staple corn, researchers find
595. 2011/01/04: AutoBG: U.S. produces record amount of ethanol, again

     The nuclear energy controversy continues:

596. 2011/01/07: EarthTimes: Turkey in talks with France over nuclear plant
597. 2011/01/06: NBF: China targets 48.5 Gigawatts of nuclear power by 2015 and other nuclear news
598. 2011/01/05: NatureTGB: China's nuclear breakthrough gets lost in translation
599. 2011/01/04: TEC: Small Modular Reactors: Miracle, Mirage, or Between?
600. 2011/01/04: TEC: Is Natural Gas The Answer? Chinese Scientists Have Announced a Better One.
601. 2011/01/03: EarthTimes: China reports breakthrough in [nuclear fuel] reprocessing technology

     Yes we have peak everything:

602. 2011/01/06: Straight: Rising prices rekindle peak oil debate
603. 2011/01/03: CattleNet: Peak Fertilizer?
604. 2011/01/05: Nation: Peak Oil and a Changing Climate
605. 2011/01/01: Gregor: Happy New Year from The North Sea. Or, Secrecy By Complexity [PO]

     More people are talking about the electrical grid:

606. 2011/01/06: REA: Are Superconductors Finally Coming of Age?
607. 2011/01/05: NYT:GW: Calif. County Criminalizes Smart-Meter Installations
608. 2011/01/05: DerSpiegel: Pitfalls of Green Energy Revolution -- Public Resistance Grows to New 'Monster' Power Masts
     Germany's dream of converting to renewable power generation requires the construction of unsightly new overland power lines carried by masts 80 meters tall. Citizens' groups and local authorities are resisting the projects in a campaign that poses risks for Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives.

And then there is the matter of efficiency & conservation:

609. 2011/01/06: TEC: Jevons Paradox and Energy Efficiency
610. 2011/01/03: TEC: Does Improving Efficiency Do Any Good?
611. 2011/01/04: SacBee: California first state to adopt new national efficiency standard for light bulbs
612. 2011/01/03: ACS: Firing Up The $1 Trillion Network -- Growing demand for renewable energy and electricity spurs push for smart electricity grid

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

613. 2011/01/07: PhysOrg: Ford unveils its first all-electric car
614. 2011/01/06: Grist: The "War on Cars": A brief history of a rhetorical device
615. 2011/01/05: BBC: Electric cars not accessible 'in next five years'
     The majority of global car executives do not foresee a reasonably priced electric vehicle being available on the mass market in the next five years, a survey has suggested.
616. 2011/01/05: TreeHugger: Life Cycle Analysis Compares Footprint of Gas and Electric Passenger Cars
617. 2011/01/03: Sightline: "War On Cars": A History
618. 2011/01/02: EnergyBulletin: The electric car fetish

     Gee Whiz. Note the efficiency:

619. 2011/01/03: ACS: Solar Fuel, With High Efficiency
     Renewable Energy: Continuous cerium oxide-based syngas generator suggests possible industrial use
     [...]
     The reactor's solar-to-syngas energy conversion efficiency, experimentally measured with a 2-kW prototype, is 0.7 to 0.8%, which Steinfeld says is significantly higher than those of current photocatalytic methods for CO2 dissociation. A thermodynamic analysis indicates that efficiencies of 16% or more are achievable with the new reactor.

As for Energy Storage:

620. 2011/01/08: TreeHugger: Sanyo to Increase Automotive Li-Ion Battery Production by 150% at Kasai Plant

     Insurance and re-insurance companies are feeling the heat:

621. 2011/01/04: LA Times: Natural disasters caused big losses for insurers in 2010 -- The catastrophes show evidence of climate change, reinsurer Munich Re says
622. 2011/01/04: ClimateP: Munich Re: "The only plausible explanation for the rise in weather-related catastrophes is climate change"
623. 2011/01/03: CBC: Climate blamed in insurance losses -- Insured losses reach $37B US in 2010, 6th highest number in 30 years

     Meanwhile in the greenwashing chronicles:

624. 2011/01/07: MoJo: Fiji Water Sued for Greenwashing
625. 2011/01/02: TreeHugger: A Spoof Video Fires Back at Chevron's Greenwashing

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

626. 2011/01/07: ClimateP: Energy and global warming news for January 7...
627. 2011/01/06: ClimateP: Energy and global warming news for January 6...
628. 2011/01/05: ClimateP: Energy and global warming news for January 5...
629. 2011/01/04: ClimateP: Energy and global warming news for January 4...
630. 2011/01/03: ClimateP: Energy and global warming news for January 3...
631. 2011/01/02: ClimateP: Energy and global warming news for January 2...

     Other (weekly) lists:

632. 2011/01/07: NRDC:SwitchBoard: Climate, Energy and Environment News from Latin America: 1.3 - 1.7.2011
633. 2011/01/06: Grist: A walk through the week's climate news -- The Climate Post: In an energy-scarce world, is energy efficiency finally king?
634. 2011/01/06: NRDC:SwitchBoard: India Climate Change and Energy News - December 13, 2010 to December 31, 2010

     The carbon lobby are up to the usual:

635. 2011/01/08: Deltoid: Tolgate
636. 2011/01/07: QuarkSoup: Steve Goddard's Big Error
637. 2011/01/08: HotTopic: How to believe in impossible things
638. 2011/01/07: GreenFyre: The ten most infuriating climate change Denier scams
639. 2011/01/07: WottsUWT: New paper --- "absence of correlation between temperature changes ... and CO2"
640. 2011/01/07: JKB: On EIKE's 31 prominent scientists predict global cooling
641. 2011/01/07: Deltoid: Don Easterbrook parties like it is 1855
642. 2011/01/07: BCLSB: TolGate
643. 2011/01/06: DeSmogBlog: David Koch: "There's Some Extremists" in the Tea Party, But Others "Normal People Like Us"
644. 2011/01/06: PSinclair: Heroes of Climate Denial
645. 2011/01/07: JQuiggin: The significance of agnotology
646. 2011/01/06: Deltoid: Sunrise on Ringworld
647. 2011/01/05: GreenFyre: Guide for dealing with the "Denier" label
648. 2011/01/06: HotTopic: de Freitas: politics cloud his understanding of climate science
649. 2011/01/04: WottsUWT: Piers Corbyn goes global cooling
650. 2011/01/04: TCoE: Deniers on parade, New Year's Edition
651. 2011/01/04: WottsUWT: Climate Change and the Corruption of Science: Where did it all go wrong?
652. 2011/01/04: ClimateP: Theater audience boos Tea Party pollutocrat David Koch
653. 2011/01/03: WottsUWT: Where Did I Put That Energy?
654. 2011/01/03: GreenFyre: New Climate Change Denial Crock and other flotsam
655. 2011/01/03: DeSmogBlog: Fred Singer: When Promoting Doubt, Make Stuff Up!
656. 2011/01/03: TPL: Luke, I am your father...
657. 2011/01/04: HotTopic: Easterbrook's wrong (again)
658. 2011/01/02: MTobis: Garbled Reasoning at WUWT

     Meanwhile in the 'clean coal' saga:

659. 2011/01/02 PressConnects: Cancer Cluster Linked to Coal?
     The State of Delaware has confirmed a link between a coal-burning plant and an increase in cancer among exposed residents. The Delaware News Journal reports that years after citizen activists first asked the state to investigate the problem, the Delaware Division of Public Health has finally confirmed what the activists suspected: There's a cluster of cancer cases near a coal-burning plant, the state's worst polluter. The coal-burning plant is NRG Energy Inc.'s Indian River complex and is located in Millsboro, Delaware. The study was conducted by examining the cancer cases in a six ZIP code area around the plant. The areas examined were Dagsboro, Frankford, Georgetown, Millsboro, Ocean View and Selbyville.

As for climate miscellanea:

660. 2011/01/09: BNC: Government intervention on fossil fuel pollution
661. 2011/01/08: MTobis: Topics
662. 2011/01/08: BCLSB: Climate Scientists Get Their War Room [CSRRT]
663. 2011/01/07: JEB: [jules' pics] Lion grins after snacking on little stoat
664. 2011/01/07: SkeptiSci: Zvon.org guide to RealClimate.org by Mila
665. 2011/01/06: MTobis: Idiocracy
666. 2011/01/06: RealClimate: Unforced variations: Jan 2011
667. 2011/01/06: TCoE: Baby, it's weird outside
668. 2011/01/06: JEB: Picture of the day
669. 2011/01/04: DeSmogBlog: Remembering Judy Bonds, Heroic Organizer Who Fought Mountaintop Removal With Everything She Had
670. 2011/01/06: Stoat: Pix of the day
671. 2011/01/05: Guardian(UK): The climate movement is in desperate need of renewal
     If a jury that received extensive education on climate change could not vindicate the Ratcliffe activists, then who will?
672. 2011/01/05: BBickmore: New Page: Bickmore's Laws
673. 2011/01/05: MTobis: Getting Uncertainty Backwards
674. 2011/01/04: NYT:CW: Finding the Fingerprints of Climate Change in Storm Damage -- a Very Long Detective Story
675. 2011/01/05: PSinclair: Climate Fun Facts: First Carbon Negative Volcanic Eruption
676. 2011/01/04: ClimateP: So you want to find a peer-reviewed paper in the IPCC's Fourth Assessment Report [Zvon.org]
677. 2011/01/03: ClassM: "If you want to tell people the truth ..."
678. 2011/01/02: ClimateShifts: Believe it or not, climate debate heats up

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

679. ScienceLeaks: people may anonymously post links to peer-reviewed scientific papers that been liberated from behind journal-subscription paywalls
680. Wiki: Virus sin Nombre
681. Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy
682. Wiki: Dunning-Kruger effect
683. BBC: The Climate Connection: What's stopping us?
684. Global CCS Institute
685. WMO: World Meteorological Organization
686. Arctic Report Card
687. Climate Shifts
688. USGS:LIMA: Landsat Image Mosaic of Antarctica
689. CGIAR: Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research
690. GermanWatch - Climate Protection & Adaptation to climate change
691. IISD: IISD Reporting Services
692. IFPRI: International Food Policy Research Institute
693. IPCC Fourth Assessment Report - Working Group III Report "Mitigation of Climate Change"
694. IPCC Fourth Assessment Report - Working Group II Report "Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability"
695. IPCC Fourth Assessment Report - Working Group I Report "The Physical Science Basis"
696. Wiki: North Atlantic oscillation

     ---

     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>
     

     -het

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

     ---

     "Global Warming: First they say it's not happening;
     then they say it's happening, but we aren't doing it;
     then they say it's happening & we're doing it, but we can't do anything about it;
     then they say it's happening & we're doing it, but it will be good for you;
     then they say it's not happening..."

     • Global Warming Links
     • Global Warming News Archive
     • Energy
     • Energy News
     • Environmental Issues
     • ---
     • H.E. Taylor (homepage)