Another week of GW News, May 29, 2011

Logging the Onset of The Bottleneck Years

skip to bottom

Another week of Climate Disruption News

Sipping from the Internet Firehose...

May 29, 2011

• Chuckles, Songda & Fukushima, Fukushima News, Nuclear Policy, Fukushima Talk
• The Question, Attribution, G8, Critical Decade, FOI Harassment
• Bottom Line, GFI, Norway, Thermodynamics, Psyche, Cook
• Melting Arctic, Reindeer, Geopolitics, Antarctica
• Food Crisis, Food Prices, Food vs. Biofuel, Land Grabs, GMOs, Food Production
• Hurricanes, GHGs, Paleoclimate, ENSO, Solar, Cosmic Rays
• Tipping Points, State of the Oceans, Extinctions, Anthropocene, Volcanoes, Satellites
• Impacts, Forests, Extreme Weather, Tornadoes, Wildfires
• Acidification, Glaciers, Sea Levels, Floods & Droughts
• Mitigation, Transportation, Buildings, Sequestration, Geoengineering, Adaptation
• Journals, Other Docs , Misc. Science, Santer, Wegman
• Rio 2012, UN, Carbon Tax, Law & Activism, Activism, Polls, H2O Biz
• National Politics: America, BP Disaster, 2012, RGGI, USAdmin, Congress
• Britain, Europe, Australia, Carbon War, Murray-Darling, New Zealand, China, Japan
• Canada, Post G20, GHGs, Wheat Board, Pipelines, Faux Fight
• BC, Tar Sands, Alberta, Manitoba, Quebec, North
• Ecological Economics, IPAT, Apocalypso, Fixes, Media, Books, Video, Podcasts, Courts
• Energy, Fracking, Coal, Oil & Gas, Fossil Fuel Corps, Pipelines, Peak Oil, Biofuel
• Wind, Solar, Nukes, Nuclear Waste, Grid, Efficiency, Cars, Gee Whiz, Energy Storage
• Business, Joe's List, Carbon Lobby, Miscellaneous Climate, Useful Links
• Shameless Self Promotion, .sig

It's always nice to start with a laugh:

1. 2011/05/25: uComics: (cartoon - Toles) Three Little Piggies
2. 2011/05/24: uComics: (cartoon - Auth) Global Warming's A Hoax

   Oh Great. Now I need a "too weird-silly-stupid to be true" category:

3. 2011/05/27: Wonkette: To Stop Climate Change, GOP Suggests Clearing World's Rainforests
4. 2011/05/26: TreeHugger: GOP Congressman Proposes Clear-Cutting Rainforest to Fight Climate Change

   And for those who enjoy challenging Poe's Law:

5. 2011/05/19: Onion: Nation Down To Last Hundred Grown-Ups -- 'Mature Adults Could Be Gone Within 50 Years,' Experts Say

   It looks like Typhoon Songda will miss Fukushima, but typhooons will be an ongoing threat to the site:

6. 2011/05/29: Scoop(NZ): New Alert For Fukushima in Japan Due to Typhoon Songda
7. 2011/05/29: BBerg: Typhoon Songda Weakens, Set to Miss Fukushima, Agency Says
8. 2011/05/28: BBC: Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan 'unready for typhoon'
   Japan's crippled Fukushima nuclear plant is not fully prepared for heavy rain and winds of a typhoon heading towards the country, officials admit. Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco), which runs the plant, said some reactor buildings were uncovered, prompting fears the storm may carry radioactive material into the air and sea. Typhoon Songda is expected to hit Japan as early as Monday.

There is no good news coming out of Fukushima:

9. 2011/05/28: ABC(Au): High radiation levels found in seabed off Japan
   Japan has detected radiation hundreds of times above normal levels on the seabed off the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant. Japan's science ministry announced the highly radioactive materials were found in a 300-kilometre stretch of the seabed off eastern Japan, from Kesennuma in Miyagi Prefecture to Choshi in Chiba Prefecture.
10. 2011/05/27: APR: Fukushima Daiichi Update: Friday
11. 2011/05/27: CBC: Japan nuclear regulators trusted outdated memo
12. 2011/05/27: BBerg: Fukushima Faces 'Massive Problem' From Radioactive Water
13. 2011/05/26: ABC(Au): Greenpeace says data from its radiation monitoring in the ocean off Japan's stricken Fukushima nuclear plant shows massive levels of contamination in seaweed and other marine life
14. 2011/05/26: NatureNB: Fukushima nuclear plant is leaking like a sieve
15. 2011/05/25: APR: Second Wednesday update
16. 2011/05/25: APR: Fukushima Daiichi details... Wed.
17. 2011/05/25: NakedCapitalism: WashingtonsBlog: IAEA Knew Within Weeks of Japanese Earthquake that Reactors Had Melted Down -- Public Not Told for a Month and a Half
18. 2011/05/25: CNN: Holes feared in two Japan nuclear reactors
    The holes may be as big as 7 to 10 centimeters - A hole in the reactor's containment vessel means there is a high probability of leakage - The nuclear plant has suffered cooling problems and radiation leaks since March
19. 2011/05/25: CCurrents: TEPCO Confirms Meltdowns In Three Reactors At Fukushima
20. 2011/05/24: CBC: [IAEA] probe into Japan's [Fukushima Daichi] nuclear plant opens
21. 2011/05/24: CNN: TEPCO: 2 other reactors had meltdown -- Fuel rods may have melted in more Japanese reactors, company says
    Reactor No. 2 fuel rods melt in the first 101 hours
    Reactor No. 3 rods melt in the first 60 hours
    Reactor No. 1 melts in the first 16 hours
22. 2011/05/24: PlanetArk: Leak From Japan Reactor 100 Times More Than Permitted
    A water leak from Japan's tsunami-crippled nuclear power station earlier this month resulted in about 100 times the permitted level of radioactive material flowing into the sea, operator Tokyo Electric Power Co said Saturday. TEPCO said the leak discovered on May 11 at a storage pit outside the No.3 reactor of the Fukushima Daiichi had started in the early hours of the previous day and lasted for 41 hours, releasing 250 cubic meters of contaminated water into the sea. An estimated 20 terabecquerels of radioactive material escaped as a result, a company spokesman told a news conference.
23. 2011/05/24: Mainichi: TEPCO says core meltdowns also occurred at No. 2, 3 reactors
    Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) said May 24 that meltdowns had occurred in the No. 2 and 3 reactors of its crippled Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant -- in addition to a meltdown in the No. 1 reactor that has already been made public.
24. 2011/05/24: Guardian(UK): Japan nuclear plant confirms meltdown of two more reactors
    Fukushima Daiichi operator accused of delaying announcement of meltdowns in reactors 2 and 3 as IAEA inspectors arrive
25. 2011/05/24: PeakEnergy: Japan nuclear plant confirms meltdown of two more reactors
26. 2011/05/23: APR: Fukushima Daiichi update: Monday
27. 2011/05/23: APR: Fukushima Daiichi No. 2 and No. 3
    Well, as expected at some point, we now have a statement by TEPCO (right now only seemingly carried by Kyoto News) that the reactor cores in No. 2 and No. 3 plants at Fukushima Daiichi are partially melted down. The story says that this information is "updating its earlier assessment that just the No. 1 reactor suffered critical fuel melting."
28. 2011/05/24: al Jazeera: TEPCO confirms extra reactor meltdowns
    Operator of Fukushima Daiichi plant says fuel rods at three of the plant's six reactors melted early in the crisis.
29. 2011/05/23: BBC: TEPCO confirms extra partial fuel rod meltdown at plant
    Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) has confirmed that there have been extra partial meltdowns in fuel rods at its damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant. The company said that the fuel rods are in its Number 2 and Number 3 reactors.

Post Fukushima, nuclear policies are in flux around the world:

30. 2011/05/26: DerSpiegel: The World from Berlin -- 'End the Epoch of Atomic Madness' in the EU
    Switzerland announced a plan Wednesday to follow Germany down the path toward a nuclear phase-out. This week, political movements in favor of renewable energy and nuclear safety concerns have led to a number of policy shifts in Europe, including what could be an end to Germany's fuel-rod tax.
31. 2011/05/26: Grist: Even the Swiss hate nuclear now
32. 2011/05/26: EurActiv: Switzerland bins nuclear reactor plans
    The Swiss government has voted to scrap plans to build new nuclear reactors, but said it would not shut existing plants prematurely.
33. 2011/05/26: EurActiv: Oettinger backtracks on nuclear stress tests
    In the absence of an agreement to include terrorism threats in nuclear stress tests, Energy Commissioner Günther Oettinger said he was satisfied with a two-track approach, leaving a decision on this issue for later.
34. 2011/05/26: EUO: EU calls for worldwide nuclear 'stress tests'
35. 2011/05/26: PlanetArk: Swiss Cabinet Agrees To Phase Out Nuclear Power
36. 2011/05/26: NatureNB: Europe's 'stress tests' of nuclear power plants will exclude terrorism
37. 2011/05/25: ScienceInsider: Switzerland to Phase Out Nuclear Energy; E.U. Strikes Deal on 'Stress Tests'
38. 2011/05/25: PressEurop: Nuclear energy -- Stress-test for nothing?
    Are the stress tests of the 143 nuclear reactors in Europe just a public relations massage to soothe the European public following the accident at Japan's Fukushima reactor?
39. 2011/05/25: BBC: Swiss to phase out nuclear power
40. 2011/05/25: EUO: EU reaches uneasy compromise over nuclear 'stress tests'
    The European Union has reached a broad agreement on the criteria for 'stress testing' the region's 143 nuclear power plants, the bloc's principle safety response following the accident at Japan's Fukushima power station. EU energy commissioner Gunther Oettinger announced the compromise deal in Brussels on Wednesday (25 May), after weeks of wrangling between EU member states over whether to include terrorist strikes in the region-wide safety assessment. The government of non-nuclear Austria had insisted on their inclusion, backed up by Germany where Chancellor Angela Merkel has recently performed a sharp about-turn on nuclear energy as the anti-nuclear Greens surged ahead in the polls. France, the UK and the Czech Republic strongly opposed the idea. The European Commission and the European Nuclear Safety Regulators' Group (Ensreg) eventually agreed to include both natural and man-made hazards in the tests, including the effects of an airplane crash into a nuclear power plant. Preventive measures for terrorist attacks will be dealt with separately, however.
41. 2011/05/20: NYT: Regulators Find Design Flaws in New Reactors
    In a setback for the only model of nuclear reactor for which ground has been broken in the United States, government regulators have found additional problems with the design of its shield building, a crucial component, the chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said on Friday.
42. 2011/05/22: Reuters: Swiss energy minister to back nuclear exit -papers
    Government may announce nuclear plans on Wednesday -- After Fukushima, Swiss question nuclear power
    Energy minister Doris Leuthard is set to propose Switzerland gradually exits nuclear power, two Swiss newspapers reported on Sunday, citing sources close to the government. The multi-party Swiss government was expected to make an announcement on nuclear policy on Wednesday and may recommend an exit.

And of course, the pundits. lobbyists and politicians have a lot to say:

43. 2011/05/27: DerSpiegel: Japan's Nuclear Cartel -- Atomic Industry Too Close to Government for Comfort
    After the oil crisis of the 1970s, Japan embraced atomic power with a vengeance. Since then, the ties between the government and the nuclear industry have become so intertwined that public safety is at threat. Inspections are too lax, and anyone who criticizes the status quo can find themselves out of a job.
44. 2011/05/27: S&R: Fukushima be damned, federal court brushes off seismic nuke risks
45. 2011/05/26: CDreams: Is Fukushima Now Ten Chernobyls into the Sea?
46. 2011/05/27: NatureN: Wildlife suffering around Fukushima -- Leaked radiation likely to affect marine ecosystems more than terrestrial ones
47. 2011/05/26: OilDrum: Ten Thousand Holes in Fuku Dai-ichi
48. 2011/05/26: CSM: TEPCO's handling of Japan's nuclear crisis under severe scrutiny
49. 2011/05/24: BBC: Japan crisis to delay Toshiba's nuclear reactor orders
    Japanese conglomerate Toshiba has said plans to win orders for nuclear reactors may have to be pushed back. The company had been targeting 39 orders for nuclear reactors by March 2016, but those plans may be delayed. Governments around the world have been tightening safety regulations in the wake of the March earthquake and tsunami in Japan.

As the devastation of Joplin became evident, The Questionarose once more:

50. 2011/05/28: PeakEnergy: A link between climate change and Joplin tornadoes? Never! [McKibben]
51. 2011/05/26: DemNow: Bill McKibben: From Storms to Droughts, Devastating Extreme Weather Linked to Human-Caused Climate Change
52. 2011/05/26: CJR: Tornadoes and Climate Change -- McKibben is wrong; many reporters are "making connections"
53. 2011/05/26: AlterNet: Killer Tornadoes: How Devastating Extreme Weather Is Linked to Human-Caused Climate Change
54. 2011/05/26: TreeHugger: We Can't Blame Climate Change for Specific Disasters (But We Should Still Worry)
55. 2011/05/26: DeSmogBlog: Is Global Warming Causing More Tornadoes? Not So Fast, Says Harold Brooks
56. 2011/05/25: CSM: Why has 2011's tornado season been so terrible?
57. 2011/05/25: KSJT: Lots More Twister Science ink: Why so many? It's obvious. But maybe no trend
58. 2011/05/24: ClimateP: Joplin disaster spurs media whirlwind on link between climate change, extreme weather, and tornadoes
59. 2011/05/24: CBC: Deadly U.S. tornadoes not linked to climate change, meteorologists say
60. 2011/05/24: Guardian(UK): Are tornadoes more common because of climate change?
    Number of tornadoes recorded appears to have increased significantly, but the real answer is no one really knows
61. 2011/05/24: DeSmogBlog: No Need to Worry: Record Tornadoes, Raging Fires, Mega Floods, & Crop-Killing Droughts Are NOT What Climatologists Predicted
62. 2011/05/23: WaPo: A link between climate change and Joplin tornadoes? Never! [McKibben]

    While elsewhere in attribution:

63. 2011/05/23: ClimateP: Study links 1,000-year Arctic storm to climate change

    The G8 held a summit. Didn't talk about climate, as far as one can tell:

64. 2011/05/27: EurActiv: G8 summit urges stringent nuclear safety rules
65. 2011/05/27: PlanetArk: G8 Leaders Want Tougher Nuclear Safety Rule

    The Australian Climate Commission delivered their Critical Decade report:

66. 2011/05/23: ACC: [link to 8 meg pdf] The Critical Decade
67. ACC: Australian Climate Commission
68. 2011/05/28: SkeptiSci: The Critical Decade - Part 1: The Science by dana1981
69. 2011/05/24: HotTopic: The Climate Show #13: James Hansen and the critical decade
70. 2011/05/23: SMH: The scale of the effect we have on the planet is yet to sink in [ACC]
71. 2011/05/23: ClimateP: Australian Climate Commission says act now or "the global climate may be so irreversibly altered we will struggle to maintain our present way of life."
72. 2011/05/23: HotTopic: The Critical Decade: time is tight
73. 2011/05/23: ABC(Au): Researcher says climate report evidence beyond doubt
    A University of Wollongong researcher says the Climate Commission report is evidence beyond doubt that global warming is occurring and it will have impacts.
74. 2011/05/23: ABC(Au): The Federal Government's Climate Commission has warned the window for limiting future and costly climate change is rapidly closing
75. 2011/05/23: ClimateShifts: Climate Commission science update released
76. 2011/05/23: BBC: Australia Climate Commission says warming risk is real
    The Australian Climate Commission has warned that the world's sea levels could rise by 1m by the end of the century, much more than thought. In its first report, the commission says the evidence that the planet is warming is stronger than ever.

Ongoing developments in FOI harassment:

77. 2011/05/26: CSW: Court orders U.Va. to turn over climate scientist records under seal in denialist FOIA harassment request
78. 2011/05/25: Guardian(UK): Freedom of information laws are used to harass scientists, says Nobel laureate
    Sir Paul Nurse says climate scientists are being targeted by campaigns of requests designed to slow down their research
79. 2011/05/27: Guardian(UK): [Letter] Scientists could use FoI law safeguards

    And on the Bottom Line:

80. 2011/05/24: MTobis: Pricing the Externality

    What are the global financial institutions up to?

81. 2011/05/26: PlanetArk: Bonds Could Aid Shift To Green Economy: OECD
82. 2011/05/25: Guardian(UK): Green bonds could spur on sustainable economy, reports OECD

    Norway has proposed a billion-dollar clean energy fund:

83. 2011/05/26: Grist: Norway plans billion-dollar clean energy fund for world's poor
84. 2011/05/25: PlanetArk: Norway Plans Billion-Dollar Clean Energy Initiative For Poor

    Delving into the laws of thermodynamics this week:

85. 2011/05/28: TSoD: The Mystery of Tau - Miskolczi - Part Six - Minor GHGs

    More shrinkology:

86. 2011/05/19: AlterNet: Living in Denial: Why Even People Who Believe in Climate Change Do Nothing About It

    John Cook and friends continue their point-counterpoint articles:

87. 2011/05/29: SkeptiSci: Of Averages & Anomalies - Part 1A. A Primer on how to measure surface temperature change by Glenn Tamblyn
88. 2011/05/27: SkeptiSci: If It's Not Sex, Drugs, and Rock 'n Roll, what is it? Creativity maybe?
89. 2011/05/28: SkeptiSci: The Critical Decade - Part 1: The Science by dana1981
90. 2011/05/27: SkeptiSci: The Stockholm Memorandum by grypo
91. 2011/05/26: SkeptiSci: Even Princeton Makes Mistakes by Chris Colose
92. 2011/05/25: SkeptiSci: The Climate Show Episode 13: James Hansen and The Critical Decade
93. 2011/05/25: SkeptiSci: Monthly Climate Summary: April 2011 by Michael Searcy
94. 2011/05/24: SkeptiSci: Can we trust climate models? by Verity
95. 2011/05/24: SkeptiSci: Hooks, Roles, and the Climate Change Blame Game by grypo
96. 2011/05/24: SkeptiSci: Carter Confusion #2: Green Jobs by dana1981

    The Arctic melt continues to garner a lot of attention:

97. 2011/05/26: ASI: SIE 2011 update 7: Beaufort Gyre
98. 2011/05/24: OSU: Two Greenland glaciers lose enough ice to fill Lake Erie
99. 2011/05/22: ASI: Barrow Break-up

    As for the megafauna:

100. 2011/05/26: BBC: Tests show Arctic reindeer 'see in UV'

     As for the geopolitics of Arctic resources:

101. 2011/05/26: WpgFP: Russia says Canada's Arctic criticisms show lack of understanding of "reality"
102. 2011/05/24: BBC:RB: Fears in Arctic over rigged energy choices
103. 2011/05/24: CDreams: Danish Commandoes Wade into Greenpeace Arctic Oil Protest
     Armed forces called in to prevent environmentalists interfering with Cairn Energy's exploration of Arctic waters
104. 2011/05/25: CBC: Greenland offshore drilling is safe: Cairn Energy
     Cairn Energy PLC says it can safely explore for oil off Greenland's western coast, but the environmental group Greenpeace maintains that drilling in Arctic waters raises the risk of an oil spill or other environmental disaster.
105. 2011/05/25: PlanetArk: Greenpeace Sends Vessels To Protest [Cairn Energy] Greenland Oil
106. 2011/05/24: CBC: Greenpeace ships approach Greenland oil rig
107. 2011/05/24: Grist: Denmark calls in armed commandos to fend off Greenpeace
108. 2011/05/21: al Jazeera: WikiLeaks: A battle to 'carve up' the Arctic
     Resource wars are possible as global warming melts polar ice - opening new areas to oil exploitation, cables indicate.

While in Antarctica:

109. 2011/05/27: Independent(UK): The Antarctic island that's richer in biodiversity than the Galapagos
     Divers last year came up with so many examples of sea life that they still don't know how many they found
110. 2011/05/25: CCP: Antarctic grounding line mapping from differential satellite radar interferometry by E. Rignot, J. Mouginot & B. Scheuchl, GRL 2011
111. 2011/05/25: Wunderground:RR: Sea Ice South (3): The Logical Song

     The food crisis is ongoing:

112. 2011/05/26: FAO: Concerted international effort urged on African Swine Fever -- African pig disease spreading in Eurasia seen as global threat
113. 2011/05/24: FAO: Iraq and Syria under attack from devastating alien weed -- Silverleaf nightshade takes root in Lebanon and Jordan too
114. 2011/05/28: BBC: Russia to lift grain export ban after harvest increase
     Russia is to lift a ban on exporting grain from 1 July, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has announced. The export ban was put in place in August last year, following an unprecedented drought and the widespread outbreak of wildfires.
115. 2011/05/26: CDreams: Europe Sowing the Seeds of Hunger
116. 2011/05/27: PlanetArk: Analysis: China Drought Ignites Global Grain Supply Concerns
117. 2011/05/27: TreeHugger: UK Cereal Farmers Experiencing Driest Spell on Record
118. 2011/05/25: ProMedMail: Fungal diseases, cereal crops - Ireland: alert
119. 2011/05/25: PlanetArk: Alien Weed Hits Cotton, Wheat In Syria, Iraq: FAO
120. 2011/05/22: CCurrents: "Every 30 Minutes": Crushed By Debt And Neoliberal Reforms, Indian Farmers Commit Suicide At Staggering Rate
121. 2011/05/25: CCurrents: Food Crisis An Outcome Of Failed Agrarian Reforms
122. 2011/05/23: ClimateP: UN food agency stunner: World loses one-third of total global food production

     Food Prices are still problematic:

123. FAO: World Food Situation - Food Price Indices
124. 2011/05/25: BPA: Two Impending Shocks to Current Farmland Prices: Falling Crop Prices or Rising Interest Rates
125. 2011/05/27: PlanetArk: Analysis: Bidding War Heats Up For Low U.S. Corn Supplies
126. 2011/05/25: BBerg: Food-Cost Gains to Quicken as Nestle, Whole Foods Raise Prices
127. 2011/05/23: TCoE: Food price outlook

     The conflict between biofuel and food persists:

128. 2011/05/25: AutoBG: Report: Ethanol plant in UK to temporarily close due to lofty wheat prices

     So, are these land grabs Colonialism V2.0?

129. 2011/05/28: CCP: China's Interest in Farmland Makes Brazil Uneasy

     Regarding the genetic modification of food:

130. 2011/05/22: EnergyBulletin: Contamination: The totalitarian strategy of the GMO crop industry

     And how are we going to feed 9 billion?

131. 2011/05/25: FAO: No more deaths from rinderpest
     [World Organisation for Animal Health] OIE's recognition pathway paved way for global declaration of eradication by FAO member countries in June
132. 2011/05/23: FAO: Good forest governance key for climate change schemes
     FAO, World Bank and Chatham House present ways to assess governance for sustainable forest management, mitigation of climate change
133. 2011/05/27: BBC:RB: Fishing: A story of less for more -- Paying fishermen to fish doesn't pay
134. 2011/05/23: BPA: Farm Inputs Versus Return
135. 2011/05/23: AlterNet: Factory Farms Produce 100 Times More Waste Than All People In the US Combined and It's Killing Our Drinking Water
136. 2011/05/23: Grist: How industrial agriculture makes us vulnerable to climate change, Mississippi floods edition
137. 2011/05/23: Eureka: Cover crop seeder pulls triple duty for small farms
138. 2011/05/23: Eureka: Globalization exposes food supply to unsanitary practices
139. 2011/05/23: Eureka: Fungi reduce need for fertilizer in agriculture

     Typhoon Songda glanced off the Phillipines and headed towards Japan:

140. 2011/05/27: Eureka: NASA sees a 14-mile-wide eye and powerful Super Typhoon Songda
141. 2011/05/26: Eureka: NASA: Songda becomes a super typhoon
142. 2011/05/26: Wunderground: No new tornado deaths yesterday; Super Typhoon Songda hits Category 5
143. 2011/05/25: NASA: NASA's TRMM Satellite Sees a Well-Organized, Major Typhoon Songda
144. 2011/05/24: Eureka: NASA's infrared satellite imagery shows a stronger Typhoon Songda
145. 2011/05/23: Eureka: NASA sees Tropical Storm Songda singing of rain and gusty winds for the Philippines

146. 2011/05/25: ABC(Au): Cyclone [Yasi] takes toll on waterbird habitat
     A north Queensland volunteer wildlife group says it has seen an increase in the number of orphaned waterbirds after the summer of natural disasters.
147. 2011/05/23: Eureka: Break up of New Orleans households after Katrina

     As for GHGs:

148. 2011/05/28: Tamino: Methane Update

     While in the paleoclimate:

149. 2011/05/26: NSF: Significant Role of Oceans in Onset of Ancient Global Cooling -- Evidence that early Antarctic Circumpolar Current development affected global climate
150. 2011/05/25: Eureka: Caltech-led team debunks theory on end of 'Snowball Earth' ice age

     While on the ENSO front:

151. 2011/05/23: WMO: El Niño/La Niña Update
     Current Situation and Outlook -- La Niña conditions continued across most of the tropical Pacific into early May 2011. After peaking in strength around January 2011, the oceanic components of the episode weakened considerably, with a warming of the equatorial Pacific Ocean during March and April, approaching neutral conditions by mid-May. Despite this warming, the atmospheric indicators remained at near record La Niña levels during April, weakening only in early May, suggesting that some La Niña impacts may continue into June. This time of the year is known to be particularly marked by low forecast skill, but neutral conditions are considered the most likely scenario for at least the season ahead. Development of El Niño or re-development of La Niña is not considered likely for the middle part of the year. Further developments during May and June are expected to enable a clearer outlook for the second half of the year.
152. 2011/05/23: WMO: WMO Update: La Niña Episode Coming to an End
     The La Niña episode, which caused disastrously wet conditions in certain regions and drought in others, is coming to an end, according to the latest Update issued by the World Meteorological Organization. Development of El Niño or re-development of La Niña is not considered likely for the middle part of the year, but the outlook at this time is not clear for the second half of 2011.

Regarding the solar hypothesis:

153. 2011/05/26: SciNow: Did Quiet Sun Cause Little Ice Age After All?

     Regarding the cosmic ray hypothesis:

154. 2011/05/27: RealClimate: An incremental step blown up

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

155. 2011/05/25: EnergyBulletin: How defining planetary boundaries can transform our approach to growth

     And the State of the Oceans:

156. 2011/05/28: DeSmogBlog: World Oceans Day: A Wary Celebration

     What's new on the extinction front?

157. 2011/05/21: NatGeo: This week's claim that the species extinction crisis is overblown is a sham
158. 2011/05/23: WiredSci: The Global Extinction Crisis Is Indeed Very Serious

     Oh look! The Anthropocene came up again:

159. 2011/05/26: Economist: The Anthropocene -- A man-made world -- Science is recognising humans as a geological force to be reckoned with
160. 2011/05/22: CCurrents: Earth Has Entered A New Geological Age -- The Stockholm Memorandum

     What's up with volcanoes this week?

161. 2011/05/23: NatureNB: In 2011, GrÃmsvötn is the new Eyjafjallajökull
162. 2011/05/22: Guardian(UK): Icelandic volcano ash could enter UK airspace, forecasters warn
     The Grimsvotn volcano began erupting on Sunday...

Meanwhile in near earth orbit:

163. 2011/05/23: ClimateP: GOP cut crucial weather satellites with fierce hurricane season looming
164. 2011/05/23: Grist: The coming decline of accurate hurricane forecasts

     More GW impacts are being seen:

165. 2011/05/25: Eureka: New study provides global analysis of seagrass extinction risk
166. 2011/05/23: BBC: Seagrasses face extinction threat

     And then there are the world's forests:

167. 2011/05/26: ScienceInsider: Furor Over Proposed Brazilian Forest Law
168. 2011/05/25: Guardian(UK): Brazil loosens restrictions on Amazon land use
169. 2011/05/25: TreeHugger: Two Environmentalists 'Executed' in the Brazilian Amazon
170. 2011/05/24: MBL: Global Warming May Affect the Capacity of Trees to Store Carbon, MBL Study Finds
171. 2011/05/24: al Jazeera: Anti-logging activist murdered in Amazon
     Brazilian police say Jose Ribeiro was likely killed in retaliation for speaking out against illegal forest loggers.
172. 2011/05/25: BBC: Brazil's Chamber of Deputies has voted to ease restrictions on the amount of land farmers must preserve as forest
173. 2011/05/25: BBC:RB: Brazil passes 'retrograde' forest code
     They kept us in suspense for longer than an Oscars jury; but now, deputies in Brazil's lower parliamentary house have passed a batch of reforms easing the decades-old Forest Code.
174. 2011/05/24: BBC: Brazilian Amazon activist and wife ambushed and killed
     A prominent Brazilian conservationist and his wife have been killed in the Amazon region, police have said. They said Joao Claudio Ribeiro da Silva and Maria do Espirito Santo were ambushed in Para state, near the city of Maraba.
175. 2011/05/24: Guardian(UK): Amazon rainforest activist shot dead [forests & USSA pol]
     José Cláudio Ribeiro da Silva fought against illegal loggers and had received death threats but was refused police protection
176. 2011/05/23: UN: UN presents new checklist to manage forest stocks

     This week in extreme weather:

177. 2011/05/27: Eureka: NASA infrared satellite [Atmospheric InfraRed Sounder (AIRS)] sees severe weather in northwest Georgia
178. 2011/05/23: BBC: Trees down and power cuts as 100mph winds hit Scotland

     On the tornado front:

179. 2011/05/25: CDreams: Joplin Before and After
180. 2011/05/28: BBC: Tornado death toll in Joplin, Missouri, rises to 139 [with 105 missing]
181. 2011/05/28: CBC: Joplin, Mo., tornado toll now at 139 [with 156 still missing]
182. 2011/05/27: CCP: Timothy Egan, NYT: Twister's Tale
183. 2011/05/27: BBC: Missouri tornadoes: First funeral held as toll hits 132
     The first funeral of a confirmed victim of last Sunday's devastating tornado in the city of Joplin in the US state of Missouri has been held. It came as the death toll from the tornado - the deadliest in more than 60 years - rose from 125 to 132, local officials said. But they say a new list of 232 missing has dropped to 156 after dozens of people were accounted for.
184. 2011/05/25: BBC: In pictures: US tornado destruction
185. 2011/05/26: CNN: Severe storms to hit from Gulf Coast to Northeast
     Tornado warnings issued for wide swath of Tennessee, including Memphis and Nashville - Search teams are working to try to find a 3-year-old who went missing during the storms - At least 16 people have died in the latest round of storms
186. 2011/05/26: Tamino: Math Fun: the Markov Tornado
187. 2011/05/27: Tamino: Markov 2
188. 2011/05/26: CBC: List of missing in Joplin tornado to be released
189. 2011/05/26: BBC: Missouri to release list of tornado missing
     The US state of Missouri is to release a list of people missing since a devastating tornado struck the city of Joplin on Sunday. As many as 1,500 people remain unaccounted for, but officials hope many of those are will be found alive.
190. 2011/05/26: al Jazeera: More storms pound US Midwest
     Dozens hurt as tornadoes and thunderstorms hit several states while search continues for missing in devastated Joplin.
191. 2011/05/25: Tamino: Year of the Twister
192. 2011/05/25: Wonkette: After Terrible Tornadoes, Eric Cantor Won't Allow Fed Disaster Relief
193. 2011/05/25: ClimateP: Another positive feedback? House GOP pays for climate disaster relief by increasing carbon pollution
     In a stunningly heartless move, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) put strings on emergency relief for the victims of the killer Joplin tornado, saying that other government services would have to be cut to offset aid spending.
194. 2011/05/25: Wunderground: Deadly tornadoes rip OK, KS, and AR; high tornado risk today; Joplin tornado an EF-5
195. 2011/05/24: NASA: NASA's TRMM Satellite Saw Heavy Rainfall in Supercell That Spawned Joplin Tornado
196. 2011/05/25: CSM: Tornado watch: Violent storm moves through Oklahoma
197. 2011/05/25: al Jazeera: No respite for US from deadly tornadoes
     At least 13 dead as 'supercell' storms hit Oklahoma and Kansas, two days after 122 were killed in city of Joplin.
198. 2011/05/23: Slate: The Year of the Tornado
     More people have died in tornadoes in 2011 than in the past seven years combined. Here's an interactive map of fatalities.
199. 2011/05/24: BBC: Oklahoma City struck as tornadoes sweep US Mid-West
     Tornadoes sweeping the US Mid-West have struck near Oklahoma City, hitting vehicles on a section of motorway west of the Oklahoma state capital. Official said at least four people had been killed and many others injured.
200. 2011/05/24: Guardian(UK): Tornado-hit Missouri town calls for improved warning systems
201. 2011/05/24: CNN: Deadly tornado leaves 'twilight zone' in its wake
     "It looks like a war zone," a Joplin resident says - The death toll rises to 118, the governor says - 1 first responder struck by lightning is in ICU, the governor says - President Obama plans to visit Missouri Sunday
202. 2011/05/24: NatureN: Can tornado prediction be improved? Advances in computer modeling still cannot overcome the fundamental complexity of tornado formation
203. 2011/05/24: Wunderground: Joplin tornado toll at 116; dangerous tornado outbreak expected today
204. 2011/05/23: CSM: Joplin, Missouri: Why are there no tornado building codes in Tornado Alley?
     Tornadoes kill an average of 80 people annually in the Midwest and South, and in some years, many more. The tornado that touched down in Joplin, Mo. yesterday has exceeded that annual average on its own, having killed at least 89 people. So far in 2011, the twister death toll has already topped 400. By contrast, no one has died in an earthquake in the United States since 2003. While earthquake-proof building codes are becoming ever more stringent for structures built in the country's earthquake zones, why are there no tornado building codes in Tornado Alley?
205. 2011/05/23: Guardian(UK): Missouri tornado death toll rises -- At least 89 people killed in Joplin after twister damages up to 30% of city
206. 2011/05/23: Guardian(UK): Tornadoes tear through US midwest leaving dozens dead
207. 2011/05/23: Guardian(UK): Tornado damage across US midwest - in [19] pictures
208. 2011/05/23: Guardian(UK): Missouri town ravaged by worst tornado in 50 years
209. 2011/05/23: CNN: 89 dead after tornado in Joplin, Missouri; number expected to rise
     Weather Service predicts moderate risk of a tornado outbreak Tuesday - The tornado that struck the city Sunday night killed at least 89 people, city officials say - Severe weather and widespread damage slow rescue work, authorities say - City infrastructure is damaged, with numerous cell phone and power poles down
210. 2011/05/23: KSJT: More, epic US tornadoes. Quick look for stories chasing a big picture (ie, it's climate change)
211. 2011/05/23: Wunderground: Deadliest U.S. tornado since 1953 rips through Joplin, Missouri, killing 89
212. 2011/05/23: CSM: Missouri tornado killed at least 89 according to officials
213. 2011/05/23: CSM: Joplin, Missouri, tornado: Warnings pale in season of violent twisters
214. 2011/05/23: BBC: Missouri tornado: Thunderstorm hinders Joplin rescue
     A thunderstorm is hindering search and rescue efforts in a US city hit by a devastating tornado on Sunday. The tornado tore through Joplin in the state of Missouri, killing at least 89 people and injuring hundreds. Officials expect the death toll to rise.
215. 2011/05/23: BBC: Missouri tornado filmed by storm chasers
216. 2011/05/23: BBC: In pictures: US tornado in Joplin, Missouri
217. 2011/05/23: CBC: Missouri tornado death toll hits 89
218. 2011/05/23: al Jazeera: Tornado leaves scores dead in US city
     At least 89 people reported dead after powerful twister rips through the town of Joplin in southwestern Missouri.

As for heatwaves and wild fires:

219. 2011/05/28: CBC: Slave Lake cleanup begins -- Rebuild likely to take several months
220. 2011/05/26: CBC: Slave Lake residents can go home Friday
221. 2011/05/25: CBC: Slave Lake evacuees begin return
222. 2011/05/23: PlanetArk: Forest Fires Rage In Russia's Far East, Siberia

     Acidification is changing the oceans:

223. 2011/05/28: Guardian(UK): Ocean acidification is latest manifestation of global warming
224. 2011/05/27: BBC:RB: Acid test for local action
225. 2011/05/26: TreeHugger: Warmer, More Acidic Seas Spell Doom for West Coast Abalone

     Glaciers are melting:

226. 2011/05/27: Eureka: Assessing the influence of Alaska glaciers is slippery work

     Sea levels are rising:

227. 2011/05/27: Eureka: Human impacts of rising oceans will extend well beyond coasts

     As for hydrological cycle disruptions [floods & droughts]:

228. 2011/05/28: CBC: Charest appeals for calm as Que. floodwaters rise -- Premier urges Richelieu Valley residents to leave homes
229. 2011/05/28: CBC: Flood evacuation ordered in northwest B.C.
     An evacuation order has been issued for a rural area just outside the town of Smithers in northwest British Columbia because of flooding along the Bulkley River and its tributaries.
230. 2011/05/27: CBC: Flooding forces out some High River residents
     Heavy rain has caused flooding in Southern Alberta, where some roads are submerged and dozens of riverside homes in one town are under a mandatory evacuation order. Several communities have declared a state of emergency: the town of High River, the townsite of Redwood Meadows, and the Municipal District of Foothills.
231. 2011/05/26: ClimateP: West Texas sees worst drought since Dust Bowl
232. 2011/05/26: CBC: Brandon [flood] evacuees return home on weekend
233. 2011/05/26: CBC: Water rising again in Que. flood zone
234. 2011/05/25: Guardian(UK): China crisis over Yangtze river drought forces drastic dam measures
235. 2011/05/24: ClimateP: Colombia's disastrous floods make clear world isn't prepared for catastrophic climate change
     President Santos: "The tragedy the country is going through has no precedents in our history"
236. 2011/05/24: PeakEnergy: Perth's Big Dry
237. 2011/05/24: CBC: More soldiers called as Quebec's Richelieu River hits new peak
238. 2011/05/23: CBC: Strong winds push Quebec river to new record
     'It's never ending, we're fed up and feeling helpless,' says woman in flood zone. Towns and cities along the Richelieu River are on high alert as strong winds force water from Lake Champlain to spill into the river southeast of Montreal.
239. 2011/05/23: CBC: Rain, melting snow increase B.C. flood threat
240. 2011/05/23: PlanetArk: Sun-Dried French Fields Cloud Farmers' Mood
241. 2011/05/22: Guardian(UK): Americans take a gamble with the Mississippi floods

     Elsewhere on the mitigation front:

242. 2011/05/25: MTobis: Working Backwards
243. 2011/05/22: GEP: Biochar Community Pledges Sustainability

     Consider transportation & GHG production:

244. 2011/05/27: BBC: Japan's car production plunges due to parts shortages
     Japanese car production plunged in April as manufacturers continued to face a shortfall in parts supply. Toyota, the world's biggest carmaker, said its domestic production fell 74.5% compared with the same month last year. Honda's Japanese output plummeted 81%, while Nissan reported a 48.7% decline at its factories in Japan.
245. 2011/05/26: Guardian(UK): Jaguar Land Rover sees record profits of £1bn as sales soar in China and India -- global sales up by 26% to 244,000 vehicles in the year to the end of March
246. 2011/05/25: CalcRisk: DOT: Vehicle Miles Driven decreased 1.4% in March compared to March 2010
247. 2011/05/24: DVoice: Steering away from Car Culture

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

248. 2011/05/26: CSM: Rebuilding after tornadoes: two designs that could save lives in another storm
249. 2011/05/26: BBC: Incentives 'can help home-owners go green'
     Incentives, such as garden makeovers and fruit and veg vouchers, could help home-owners invest in energy efficiency measures, a pilot scheme has shown. But the study found that more had to be done to convince people of the merits of flood protection devices, even if they lived in high flood risk areas. The trial by the University of Salford set out to discover if non-cash incentives could change attitudes.
250. 2011/05/23: CSM: Joplin, Missouri: Why are there no tornado building codes in Tornado Alley?
     Tornadoes kill an average of 80 people annually in the Midwest and South, and in some years, many more. The tornado that touched down in Joplin, Mo. yesterday has exceeded that annual average on its own, having killed at least 89 people. So far in 2011, the twister death toll has already topped 400. By contrast, no one has died in an earthquake in the United States since 2003. While earthquake-proof building codes are becoming ever more stringent for structures built in the country's earthquake zones, why are there no tornado building codes in Tornado Alley?

As for carbon sequestration:

251. 2011/05/24: ERW: Reactions prevent spread of stored carbon dioxide
     The presence of even a simple chemical reaction can delay or prevent the spreading of stored carbon dioxide in underground aquifers, new research from the University of Cambridge, UK, has revealed.

Large scale geo-engineering keeps popping up:

252. 2011/05/27: UChicago:PB: Carl Zimmer and Penny Chisholm - A Billion Viruses in the Sea

     While on the adaptation front:

253. 2011/05/27: NBF: Fudia Sea Wall and Prevention of death and damage

     Meanwhile in the journals:

254. 2011/05/24: NERC:NORA: Deglacial history of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet in the western Amundsen Sea Embayment by James A. Smith et al.
255. 2011/05/24: NERC:NORA: A geological storage option for CO2 in the Bohaiwan Basin, East China by Ceri J. Vincent et al.
256. 2011/05/24: NERC:NORA: Evaluation of carbon dioxide storage potential for the Bohai Basin, North-East China by Ceri Vincent et al.
257. 2011/05/26: NERC:NORA: Turning on the heat: ecological response to simulated warming in the sea by Dan A. Smale et al.
258. 2011/05/27: NERC:NORA: In search of an ice core signal to differentiate between source-driven and sink-driven changes in atmospheric methane by James G. Levine et al.
259. 2011/05/27: NERC:NORA: Expression of the bipolar see-saw in Antarctic climate records during the last deglaciation by B. Stenni et al.
260. 2011/05/27: ACP: Large-scale and synoptic meteorology in the south-east Pacific during the observations campaign VOCALS-REx in austral Spring 2008 by T. Toniazzo et al.
261. 2011/05/27: ACP: Coherence of long-term stratospheric ozone vertical distribution time series used for the study of ozone recovery at a northern mid-latitude station by P. J. Nair et al.
262. 2011/05/27: ACP: Atmospheric new particle formation: real and apparent growth of neutral and charged particles by J. Leppä et al.
263. 2011/05/25: OSD: Sea surface temperature anomalies, seasonal cycle and trend regimes in the eastern Pacific coast by A. Ramos-RodrÃguez et al.
264. 2011/05/27: TC: In-situ multispectral and bathymetric measurements over a supraglacial lake in western Greenland using a remotely controlled watercraft by M. Tedesco & N. Steiner
265. 2011/05/25: TC: Scale-dependent measurement and analysis of ground surface temperature variability in alpine terrain by S. Gubler et al.
266. 2011/05/27: TCD: Comparison of MODIS-derived land surface temperatures with near-surface soil and air temperature measurements in continuous permafrost terrain by S. Hachem et al.
267. 2011/05/24: Lancet: (ab$) Trends in selective abortions of girls in India: analysis of nationally representative birth histories from 1990 to 2005 and census data from 1991 to 2011 by Prabhat Jha et al.
268. 2011/05/23: ESDD: MEP solution for a minimal climate model: success and limitation of a variational problem by S. Pascale et al.
269. 2011/05/23: CP: Winter and summer blocking variability in the North Atlantic region -- evidence from long-term observational and proxy data from southwestern Greenland by N. Rimbu & G. Lohmann
270. 2011/05/27: CPD: he oxygen isotopic composition of phytoliths from tropical rainforest soils (Queensland, Australia): application of a new paleoenvironmental tool by A. Alexandre et al.
271. 2011/05/25: CPD: Present and LGM permafrost from climate simulations: contribution of statistical downscaling by G. Levavasseur et al.
272. 2011/05/24: CPD: Late Pliocene age control and composite depths at ODP Site 982, revisited by N. Khélifi et al.
273. 2011/05/23: CPD: Sensitivity of interglacial Greenland temperature and O18 to orbital and CO2 forcing: climate simulations and ice core data by V. Masson-Delmotte et al.
274. 2011/05/26: ACP: The influence of the stratosphere on the tropospheric zonal wind response to CO2 doubling by Y. B. L. Hinssen et al.
275. 2011/05/25: ACP: First space-based derivation of the global atmospheric methanol emission fluxes by T. Stavrakou et al.
276. 2011/05/24: ACP: Measurement from sun-synchronous orbit of a reaction rate controlling the diurnal NOx cycle in the stratosphere by J. C. Walker & A. Dudhia
277. 2011/05/24: ACP: The relationship between 0.25-2.5 um aerosol and CO2 emissions over a city by M. Vogt et al.
278. 2011/05/23: ACP: Impacts of future climate change and effects of biogenic emissions on surface ozone and particulate matter concentrations in the United States by Y. F. Lam et al.
279. 2011/05/23: ACP: Worldwide trend of atmospheric mercury since 1995 by F. Slemr et al.
280. 2011/05/26: ACPD: Isotope effects in N2O photolysis from first principles by J. A. Schmidt et al.
281. 2011/05/26: ACPD: The summertime Boreal forest field measurement intensive (HUMPPA-COPEC-2010): an overview of meteorological and chemical influences by J. Williams et multi alia
282. 2011/05/26: ACPD: Measurements of aerosol charging states in Helsinki, Finland by S. Gagné et al.
283. 2011/05/25: ACPD: Characteristics of water-vapour inversions observed over the Arctic by Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) and radiosondes by A. Devasthale et al.
284. 2011/05/23: ACPD: Accumulation of aerosols over the Indo-Gangetic plains and southern slopes of the Himalayas: distribution, properties and radiative effects during the 2009 pre-monsoon Season by R. Gautam et al.
285. 2011/03/16: GRL: (ab$) The minimal solar activity in 2008-2009 and its implications for long-term climate modeling by C. J. Schrijver et al.
286. 2011/05/26: GRL: (ab$) Antarctic grounding line mapping from differential satellite radar interferometry by E. Rignot et al.
287. 2011/05/24: PNAS: (abs) Single nucleotide mutation in the barley acetohydroxy acid synthase (AHAS) gene confers resistance to imidazolinone herbicides by Hyejin Lee et al.
288. 2011/05/24: PNAS: (abs) Active transport, substrate specificity, and methylation of Hg(II) in anaerobic bacteria by Jeffra K. Schaefer et al.
289. 2011/05/24: PNAS: (ab$) In situ measurement of coastal ocean movements and survival of juvenile Pacific salmon by David W. Welch et al.
290. 2011/05/24: PNAS: (ab$) Growth in emission transfers via international trade from 1990 to 2008 by Glen P. Peters et al.
291. 2011/05/24: PNAS: (ab$) Synchrotron-aided reconstruction of the conodont feeding apparatus and implications for the mouth of the first vertebrates by Nicolas Goudemand et al.
292. 2011/05/24: PNAS: (ab$) A 2,300-year-long annually resolved record of the South American summer monsoon from the Peruvian Andes by Broxton W. Bird et al.
293. 2011/05/24: PNAS: (ab$) Reactive nanostructured membranes for water purification by Scott R. Lewis et al.
294. 2011/05/24: PNAS: (ab$) Tracking single coccolith dissolution with picogram resolution and implications for CO2 sequestration and ocean acidification by T. Hassenkam et al.
295. 2011/05/24: PNAS: (Letter$) Accounting for carbon dioxide emissions: A matter of time by Ken Caldeira & Steven J. Davis
296. 2011/05/25: AGWObserver: Papers on global warming and Earth's rotation
297. 2011/05/23: TC: Landsat TM and ETM+ derived snowline altitudes in the Cordillera Huayhuash and Cordillera Raura, Peru, 1986-2005 by E. M. McFadden et al.
298. 2011/05/24: OSD: Numerical simulation and decomposition of kinetic energies in the Central Mediterranean Sea: insight on mesoscale circulation and energy conversion by R. Sorgente et al.
299. 2011/05/23: TCD: Derivation and analysis of a high-resolution estimate of global permafrost zonation by S. Gruber
300. 2011/05/23: AGWObserver: New research from last week 20/2011

     And other significant documents:

301. 2011/05/26: TCoE: Doc alert: The Nuclear Fuel Cycle
302. 2011/05/26: TCoE: Doc alert: Drops of Energy
303. 2011/05/24: IPS: [link to 904k pdf] Spent Nuclear Fuel Pools in the US: Reducing the Deadly Risks of Storage
304. 2011/05/23: ACC: [link to 8 meg pdf] The Critical Decade
305. 2011/05/17: SST: [link to 3.8 meg pdf] 1927 Engineer Corps flood control report

     As for miscellaneous science:

306. 2011/05/28: ERabett: TIGR2 TIGR3 Dripping Wet
307. 2011/05/25: Guardian(UK): Al-Qaida threat 'catastrophic' for west [African Monsoon Multidisciplinary Analysis (AMMA)] project
308. 2011/05/24: IsaacHeld: 11. Is continental warming a slave to warming of the ocean surface?

     Regarding Santer:

309. 2011/05/23: CitizensChallenge: Unauthorized notes, transcript~Ben Santer~The General Public:Why Such Resistance?

     More Wegmania:

310. 2011/05/26: JQuiggin: Tell it early, tell it all, tell it yourself
311. 2011/05/26: DeSmogBlog: Nature Scolds GMU over Wegman Inquiry
312. 2011/05/25: ERabett: Cut and Paste Makes Waste
313. 2011/05/26: Nature: Editorial - Copy and paste -- A slow university investigation into serious accusations of misconduct benefits no one
314. 2011/05/25: Deltoid: Wegman's defence makes him look worse
315. 2011/05/24: ERabett: It's not just your plagiarism, it's your reaction to your plagiarism
316. 2011/05/24: CCP: Andrew Gelman: A (not quite) grand unified theory of plagiarism, as applied to the Wegman case
317. 2011/05/23: DeSmogBlog: Mashey Report Reveals Wegman Manipulations
318. 2011/05/23: ERabett: Circle Jerks

     There is a steady dribble of 2012 Rio Conference news releases:

319. 2011/05/26: EurActiv: Lalonde wants WTO-style talks on sustainable development
     As global environmental talks intensify ahead of next year's Earth Summit in Rio, Brice Lalonde, summit coordinator at the UN, called for a binding agreement on sustainable development to be reached via WTO-style negotiating rounds on topics such as energy or agriculture.

While at the UN:

320. 2011/05/24: WMO: World Meteorological Congress reappoints Mr Michel Jarraud as Secretary-General
321. 2011/05/26: PlanetArk: U.N. Climate Panel Sets One-Week Deadline To Fix Errors
322. 2011/05/25: CBC: Canadian meteorologist to lead [WMO] UN agency -- David Grimes begins 4-year term June 6

     The idea of a carbon tax is still bouncing around:

323. 2011/05/26: MTobis: McKitrick's Plan

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

324. 2011/05/24: Guardian(UK): Ratcliffe power station activists launch appeal over undercover evidence
325. 2011/05/24: Grist: Denmark calls in armed commandos to fend off Greenpeace
326. 2011/05/24: BBC: PC to be prosecuted for death of Ian Tomlinson
     A police officer is to be charged with manslaughter over the death of newspaper seller Ian Tomlinson during the 2009 G20 protests. The Director of Public Prosecutions, Keir Starmer, said there was now a "realistic prospect" of convicting Pc Simon Harwood. An inquest earlier this month returned a verdict of unlawful death on the 47-year-old.

What are the activists up to?

327. 2011/05/25: PlanetArk: Greenpeace Sends Vessels To Protest [Cairn Energy] Greenland Oil
328. 2011/05/24: CBC: Greenpeace ships approach Greenland oil rig
329. 2011/05/24: TreeHugger: Greenpeace Activists Scale 450-ft Smokestack on 100 Year-Old Chicago Coal Plant
330. 2011/05/24: OilChange: Chevron Guilty: Clean Up the Amazon!
331. 2011/05/24: BBC: Mid and west Wales power protesters at Senedd
     Around 1,500 people objecting to controversial power and wind energy plans in mid Wales have gathered for a protest in Cardiff Bay. Four campaigners against a network of pylons have ended a six-day walk from Welshpool, Powys, and have been joined at the Senedd by wind farm opponents. Dozens of pylons, some measuring 154ft (47m), and a substation are earmarked to connect with about 10 wind farms.

Polls! We have polls!

332. 2011/05/25: USAToday: Americans say no to electric cars despite gas prices

     Regarding Water Politics and Business:

333. 2011/05/26: JFleck: River Beat: Drop 2 From Space
334. 2011/05/26: JFleck: Three Gorges: Spanning the Environmental Kuznets Curve
335. 2011/05/26: JFleck: River Beat: On the lack of a plan
336. 2011/05/25: NatureN: China admits problems with Three Gorges Dam -- Drought forces State Council to confront downstream water-supply problems
337. 2011/05/25: JFleck: The Water Pricing Dilemma
338. 2011/05/24: TCoE: Stuck in the energy/water nexus
339. 2011/05/22: JFleck: Why Some NM Schlub Cares About the Sacramento Delta
340. 2011/05/23: JFleck: Stuff I Wrote Elsewhere: A Feud Over Lower Rio Grande Water Distribution
341. 2011/05/23: JFleck: Leaving Water in the River

     And on the American political front:

342. 2011/05/27: Grist: 'Ag-gag' bills face tough row to hoe
343. 2011/05/27: Tyee: Why Keystone Pipeline Will Weaken the US -- It's just a 'tar sands road to China'. Nikiforuk lays out a surprising analayis...
344. 2011/05/28: RRapier: Democrats and Energy Policy
345. 2011/05/23: GreenGrok: Climate Change Repartee: Report and Retort [America's Climate Choices]
346. 2011/05/25: SF Gate: State's energy system will need major overhaul
     California can meet its mandate to slash greenhouse gas emissions to 80 percent below 1990 levels within the next 40 years - but only with a virtual revolution in energy production and use, said a report released Tuesday. Fossil fuel use must drop dramatically in California, and reliance on renewable energy sources like solar, wind and geothermal power will have to rise significantly, according to the report by the independent California Council on Science and Technology.
347. 2011/05/25: AlterNet: When Will Republicans Stop Saying Dumb Things About Rape? (Hint: When They Stop Hating Women)
348. 2011/05/25: ClimateP: Bombshell: High and rising price for carbon pollution emerges as credible deficit reduction strategy
349. 2011/05/25: CCP: Elizabeth McGowan: Koch Bros. Accused of Stonewalling Congress on Their Keystone XL Pipeline Interest
350. 2011/05/24: LBL: Aggressive Efficiency and Electrification Needed to Cut California Emissions -- Berkeley Lab joint report offers a variety of scenarios to reduce emissions to 80% below 1990 levels
351. 2011/05/23: DemNow: Massey Energy Guilty: West Virginia Probe Finds Coal Giant Systemically Failed to Comply with Law
352. 2011/05/24: CDreams: Rape As Flat Tire
353. 2011/05/20: TP: GOP Response To Town Hall Backlash: Ban Recording Devices And Censor Citizen Journalists
354. 2011/05/24: DeSmogBlog: Upton's Efforts To Scuttle Climate Change Action Not As Popular As He Thought
355. 2011/05/24: Grist: Climate policy for conservatives
356. 2011/05/24: ScienceInsider: New 'Clean Energy Standard' Plan From Former White House Wonk
357. 2011/05/23: NYT: Most of Calif.'s Carbon Law Unaffected by Court Ruling; Trading Date Could Slip
358. 2011/05/23: DeSmogBlog: Former Bush EPA Official Confirms 2004 EPA Fracking Study Was Misused
359. 2011/05/23: DeSmogBlog: Koch Brothers Exposed: Brave New Films Explains How Billionaires Could Profit From Keystone XL Pipeline
360. 2011/05/22: ClimateP: Prayer as an adaptation strategy: Texas plans to cut budget of agency battling record wildfires
361. 2011/05/22: RawStory: Iowa lawmakers push for ban on undercover filming of animal farms
362. 2011/05/23: al Jazeera: The right's mirror-image view of life
     Anti-abortion campaigners in the US fail to value life lost through war, or those taken by a punitive justice system.
363. 2011/05/22: Guardian(UK): Americans take a gamble with the Mississippi floods

     The BP disaster continues to twist US politics:

364. 2011/05/22: NatureNB: Role of bacteria in Gulf oil spill under the microscope

     On the 2012 election trail:

365. 2011/05/28: Grist: Texas Gov. Rick Perry, climate crank, considering presidential run
366. 2011/05/27: PSinclair: GOP Gov. Chris Christie: "We have an obligation to reduce our Greenhouse Gas emissions." -- Translation: I am running for President in 2016
367. 2011/05/27: ClimateP: Confused Chris Christie embraces climate science, rejects climate action
368. 2011/05/25: ClimateP: After calling the auto rescue "tragic," Mitt Romney now claims he "had the idea first"
369. 2011/05/23: CSM: Tim Pawlenty enters 2012 race: how he might win

     New Jersey has quit the RGGI:

370. 2011/05/27: NatureNB: New Jersey nixes participation in US cap-and-trade system
371. 2011/05/27: TreeHugger: New Jersey Governor Pulls Out of [RGGI] Regional Climate Initiative

     The actions of the Obama administration are being watched closely:

372. 2011/05/27: Grist: Obama administration overseeing explosion in renewables on public land
373. 2011/05/25: UCSUSA: EPA Improves Consumer Labels But Stronger Vehicle Standards Needed
374. 2011/05/25: OilChange: Regulator [CFTC] Acts Against Oil Speculators
375. 2011/05/25: AutoBG: EPA, DOT unveil updated fuel economy window stickers [w/video]
376. 2011/05/23: AutoBG: DOE launches U.S. DRIVE - Driving Research and Innovation for Vehicle efficiency and Energy sustainability
377. 2011/05/22: AlterNet: Sec. Clinton Has A Choice: Protect Americans or Profit The Kochs [Keystone XL]

     As for what is going on in Congress:

378. 2011/05/29: CSW: Fundamental impasse on U.S. climate policy evident in House Foreign Affairs hearing on UN climate talks chaired by denialist Rep. Rohrabacher
379. 2011/05/26: UCSUSA: Rep. Rohrabacher Distorts Facts about Causes of Climate Change
380. 2011/05/26: DVoice: Ideology Versus Decency -- Eric Cantor and the Joplin Tornadoes
381. 2011/05/27: QuarkSoup: A Republican Admits Scientific Reality
382. 2011/05/26: ScienceInsider: Senator's Criticism of Science Foundation Draws Fire
383. 2011/05/26: TreeHugger: GOP Congressman Proposes Clear-Cutting Rainforest to Fight Climate Change
384. 2011/05/27: AutoBG: Legislation requiring minimum volume of coal-derived fuels introduced in U.S. House
385. 2011/05/26: RawStory: House votes to pull funding for abortion-related training
386. 2011/05/26: ClimateP: [Rep. Dana] Rohrbacher (R-Ca) suggests trees cause global warming
387. 2011/05/26: ClimateP: House Committee postpones wind and solar hearing to discuss more ways to grow Big Oil profits
388. 2011/05/26: Oregonian: Sen. Jeff Merkley's effort on electric vehicles gets a jolt of energy
389. 2011/05/25: Wonkette: After Terrible Tornadoes, Eric Cantor Won't Allow Fed Disaster Relief
390. 2011/05/25: CCP: Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.): Time to Take Warming-Driven Extreme Weather Trends Seriously
391. 2011/05/25: ClimateP: Extreme weather and climate science don't move Missouri deniers such as Rep. Todd Akin
392. 2011/05/25: ClimateP: Another positive feedback? House GOP pays for climate disaster relief by increasing carbon pollution
     In a stunningly heartless move, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) put strings on emergency relief for the victims of the killer Joplin tornado, saying that other government services would have to be cut to offset aid spending.
393. 2011/05/25: ClimateP: The House wants to slow military's clean energy march -- National Defense Authorization Act allows dirty fuel use
394. 2011/05/25: Grist: House GOP pays for climate disaster relief by increasing climate pollution
395. 2011/05/24: UCSUSA: Senate Proposal for Clean Energy Bank Needs Significant Improvement to Protect Taxpayers, Science Group Says
396. 2011/05/25: TreeHugger: House Rushes Keystone XL While State Dept. Sued Over Communication With Tar Sands Lobbyist
397. 2011/05/24: ClimateP: Study suggests U.S. is falling behind in the integration of innovative technologies to cut CO2
     [Rep Darrell] Issa (R-Ca): Advancing "so-called clean energy" is "not good" for America
398. 2011/05/24: ClimateP: With speculation running rampant, House GOP proposes 15% cut to [CFTC] oil market watchdog
399. 2011/05/24: ClimateP: Rep. [Frank] Guinta (R-NH) suggests trading one Big Oil giveaway for another, faces backlash from Granite Staters
400. 2011/05/23: ClimateP: Rep. Paul Broun (R-GA): Don't raise the debt ceiling unless we abolish the Department of Energy
401. 2011/05/23: ClimateP: GOP cut crucial weather satellites with fierce hurricane season looming
402. 2011/05/23: Grist: The coming decline of accurate hurricane forecasts

     While in the UK:

403. 2011/05/27: BBC: London electric car-charging scheme launched
     A scheme that will allow electric car users to charge their vehicles across London has been launched. Members of Source London who have paid the £100 annual fee are now able to use any of the points.
404. 2011/05/27: BBC: Carwyn Jones says Wales must grasp 'energy decade'
     Wales has to move to a green economy as fast as possible, says First Minister Carwyn Jones. The next 10 years must be "Wales's energy decade", he told a conference.
405. 2011/05/20: BizGreen: Government to develop Oil Shock Response Plan
     Chris Huhne agrees to work with UK Industry Taskforce on Peak Oil and Energy Security to assess risk of soaring oil prices
406. 2011/05/26: EnergyBulletin: [UK] Government to work with business on plans to tackle peak oil threat
407. 2011/05/24: Guardian(UK): Green-o-meter: Is the government keeping its green promises?
408. 2011/05/23: Guardian(UK): Cameron's 'green growth' policy looks naive today. It will look cynical in 2027 [Monbiot]
     The promised 50% cut to greenhouse gases means little while rich countries continue to outsource pollution to poorer ones
409. 2011/05/24: Guardian(UK): MPs' report rejects moratorium on shale gas exploration
     Green campaigners express dismay as MPs back shale gas prospecting despite evidence of environmental dangers
410. 2011/05/23: BBC: MPs urge backing for UK shale gas
     A Commons committee has urged ministers to support plans for controversial shale gas drilling in the UK. The energy select committee said environmental problems associated with it in the US could be overcome by tight regulation and good industry practice. But the MPs said the UK government would need to be vigilant to ensure the technology did not pollute water or produce excessive greenhouse emissions. Environmentalists said MPs should have called for a moratorium on shale gas.
411. 2011/05/23: BBC: Clegg: UK green bank 'to begin investing in April 2012'
     The UK Green Investment Bank, one of the major policies of the coalition government, will begin operating in April 2012, according to Nick Clegg.

And in Europe:

412. 2011/05/29: TreeHugger: Germans Mount Massive Protest Against Nuclear Power
413. 2011/05/26: EurActiv: Oettinger backtracks on nuclear stress tests
     In the absence of an agreement to include terrorism threats in nuclear stress tests, Energy Commissioner Günther Oettinger said he was satisfied with a two-track approach, leaving a decision on this issue for later.
414. 2011/05/26: PressEurop: Regulate nuclear, not bananas
     The EU harmonises regulations on fruit and vegetables, but not on nuclear energy. After Fukushima, it's madness that member states continue to decide nuclear safety standards alone, laments a German journalist.
415. 2011/05/25: EUO: MEPs side with commission over limits to farm subsidies
416. 2011/05/24: EUO: Gloomy message kicks off EU's green week
     EU environment commissioner Janez Potocnik has opened the bloc's 2011 Green Week, calling on Europeans to alter their behaviour in a collective effort to improve resource efficiency. Potocnik's speech on Tuesday (24 May) kicks off four days of different events in the European capital, with electric cars, renewable energies and the green economy among the different topics to be addressed under this year's overarching theme: "Resource efficiency, Using less, living better."
417. 2011/05/23: PlanetArk: Germany's Merkel Backs Nuclear Exit Within A Decade

     Meanwhile in Australia:

418. 2011/05/28: ABC(Au): BP drilling plans worry environmentalists
     Oil giant BP is winning more critics as it eyes off sensitive waters in the Great Australian Bight for exploratory drilling.
419. 2011/05/24: ABC(Au):TDU: Climate change is real. We cause it. But then, you knew that
420. 2011/05/27: ABC(Au): The Property Council says more incentives are needed for South Australians to build eco-friendly housing
421. 2011/05/26: ABC(Au): Turnbull lashes out at 'press release' email
     Former opposition leader Malcolm Turnbull has accused his own party of ensuring an embarrassing email about him was leaked to the media.
422. 2011/05/27: ABC(Au): Abbott denies leaked memo targets Turnbull
     Tony Abbott has refused to say if he approved an email sent by the Opposition whip that accuses his rival Malcolm Turnbull and four others of showing "great disrespect" to the Coalition for missing a division. Chief Opposition whip Warren Entsch now says Mr Abbott saw the email before it was sent, despite saying yesterday the Opposition Leader had "no involvement in it".
423. 2011/05/26: ABC(Au): Crook urges shift to alternative energy
     The federal WA Nationals' MP Tony Crook says his stance on climate change policies represents the views of his electorate.
424. 2011/05/26: ABC(Au): Queensland Premier Anna Bligh says the Australian Greens call to shut down the coal industry is a radical idea that does not help the climate change debate
425. 2011/05/25: ABC(Au): [Preston Environment Group] says resources forum a missed opportunity
     Representatives from some of south-west Western Australia's largest resources projects will meet in Bunbury today as conservationists renew calls for them to address the environmental issues stemming from their operations.
426. 2011/05/25: ABC(Au): [Coffs Harbour MP Andrew] Fraser changes tune on solar rebate cuts
427. 2011/05/25: ABC(Au): The Queensland Government says a resources company has shown contempt in taking too long to report a leaking gas well on the state's western Darling Downs
428. 2011/05/25: ABC(Au): Queensland Environment Minister Kate Jones says the summer of natural disasters caused more than $20 million to national parks and state forests
429. 2011/05/25: PeakEnergy: Climate inertia shows ugly side of the Australian character
430. 2011/05/25: ABC(Au): The Federal Opposition says its climate change policy would subsidise brown coal power stations to move to gas in order to prevent electricity price hikes for households
431. 2011/05/24: ABC(Au): [NSW Premier Barry] O'Farrell cops heat over solar scheme compo
     The New South Wales Opposition says the Government has delivered a blow to 110,000 households by refusing to back away from plans to change the Solar Bonus Scheme. Almost two weeks ago, the Government announced the tariff paid to customers under the previous government's scheme would be cut from 60 cents per kilowatt hour to 40 cents in an effort to rein in the scheme's costs.
432. 2011/05/24: ABC(Au): Protesters demonstrate against new power plant
     Environmentalists say they will continue to protest against a new coal-fired power plant in the Latrobe Valley.
433. 2011/05/24: ABC(Au): Coalition divisions emerge over climate report
434. 2011/05/24: ABC(Au): A Port Macquarie solar panel installer says the rapid take-up of solar power has attracted so-called industry 'cowboys, to the area.
435. 2011/05/24: PeakEnergy: Australian Energy generators betting on a shale gas future?
436. 2011/05/23: ABC(Au): Gillard pounces on climate report's support
     The Federal Government believes the Climate Commission's first report is the circuit breaker it needs to counter Opposition Leader Tony Abbott's carbon tax campaign.
437. 2011/05/23: ABC(Au): Australia's major business lobby group [CoC] says the Federal Government should avoid a knee-jerk reaction to the findings in a Climate Commission report released this morning
438. 2011/05/23: ABC(Au): Port Macquarie solar industry calls for release of Fair Trading report
439. 2011/05/23: ABC(Au): Climate report affirms need to 'get on with it'
     Labor and the Greens have seized on a report from the government-appointed Climate Commission to ram home the need for urgent action on climate change.

The Australian carbon war rages on:

440. 2011/05/29: ABC(Au): Parties move closer to carbon tax deal
     An intensive weekend of negotiations over a carbon pricing scheme has wrapped up, and while the Federal Government says progress has been made, the Greens are warning there is still a long way to go.
441. 2011/05/29: ABC(Au): 'Easy' for Blanchett to front carbon tax ad
     Nationals Senate Leader Barnaby Joyce has criticised the appearance of actress Cate Blanchett in an advertising campaign urging Australians to "Say Yes" to a tax on carbon.
442. 2011/05/29: ABC(Au): Blanchett fronts carbon tax campaign
     The Federal Government's negotiations for a carbon tax are set to get an on-screen push from a celebrity-backed campaign to boost support for a price on carbon.
443. 2011/05/28: ABC(Au): Climate Change Minister Greg Combet says the multi-party talks on a carbon tax have so far been very constructive
444. 2011/05/28: ABC(Au): Business Council of Australia (BCA) releases its formal submission on a carbon tax
     A weekend of intense negotiations on carbon tax has begun in Canberra as the multi-party committee on climate change continues to thrash out the details of the Government's pricing scheme. Just hours before the talks began the Business Council of Australia (BCA) released its formal submission on a carbon tax - calling for an initial price of $10 per tonne, and 100 per cent free permits for trade-exposed industries like steel, LNG and aluminium. The Federal Government welcomed the submission, despite the council's initial price being much lower than the $20 to $30 figure the Government is expected to adopt.
445. 2011/05/28: ABC(Au):TDU: Carbon solutions as political footballs
446. 2011/05/28: ABC(Au): Carbon tax talks constructive: Combet
     Climate Change Minister Greg Combet says the multi-party talks on a carbon tax have so far been very constructive. The Government is hoping to finalise legislation for a carbon tax, which it wants in place by July next year, during closed-door negotiations in Canberra this weekend.
447. 2011/05/28: ABC(Au): Business wants carbon tax waived for exporters
     One of Australia's most influential business groups has swung its support behind the Government's carbon tax, albeit with some hefty provisos.
448. 2011/05/26: ABC(Au): MP criticises 'no details' carbon farming legislation
     The federal Member for Wannon, Dan Tehan, criticised the Government's carbon farming legislation during a speech in Parliament yesterday.
449. 2011/05/26: ABC(Au): Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has told a gathering of Australia's manufacturers they must fight the carbon tax or their industry will die
450. 2011/05/26: ABC(Au): Labor pounces on OECD emissions report
     As the Federal Opposition continues its campaign against the proposed carbon tax, the Government has seized on the latest report from the OECD as further evidence for putting a price on carbon. The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development has urged Australia to pursue long-term changes to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
451. 2011/05/24: PlanetArk: Climate Change Warnings Add Heat To Australia CO2 Price
452. 2011/05/24: PeakEnergy: When push comes to carbon shove

     After a 10 year drought and recent massive flooding, water usage planning is controversial and difficult:

453. 2011/05/27: ABC(Au): State water sharing pushed back to 2019
     Federal and state water ministers have agreed to push back water-sharing agreements between New South Wales and South Australia, which were due to start in 2014. The decision to delay all state plans to 2019 was made at a meeting of the Murray-Darling Basin Ministerial Council in Adelaide.
454. 2011/05/27: ABC(Au): Water releases into the Murray but not 'Bidgee
     There are questions today about whether there should be water releases from Murrumbidgee storage dams after the start of releases from the Hume Dam.
455. 2011/05/25: ABC(Au): The Murray-Darling Basin Authority (MDBA) says it expects to spend close to $40 million this financial year developing a plan to restore the health of the river system
456. 2011/05/24: ABC(Au): Gold Coast Mayor Ron Clarke says he will tell Queensland Premier Anna Bligh she can enhance her electoral chances by capping bulk water charges in line with the CPI
457. 2011/05/23: ABC(Au): Government pumps money into flood mitigation plan
458. 2011/05/23: ABC(Au): Riverina mayor welcomes Murray Darling Basin Plan withdrawal
     The Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists has walked out on the Murray Darling Basin Plan, describing the process as seriously flawed and a waste of taxpayers' money. The scientists say they cannot support the plan that will cost billions and which they claim will not fix the problems in the river system.

And in New Zealand:

459. 2011/05/26: HotTopic: Hansen's parting shot: show leadership, John Key

     While in China:

460. 2011/05/16: WaPo: China hit by worst energy crisis in years as drought compounds chronic power shortages

     And in Japan:

461. 2011/05/26: PlanetArk: Japan PM To Unveil Push For Renewable Energy: Media
462. 2011/05/24: Grist: Japan to mandate solar panels on all new buildings

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

463. 2011/05/26: TStar: WikiLeaks exposes PM's $3 billion Arctic illusion
464. 2011/05/27: PI:B: Moving Canada toward a new energy vision

     The G20 controversy lingers:

465. 2011/05/27: TStar: Anatomy of a G20 investigation
466. 2011/05/28: POGGE: QOTD: The Worst Outcome of G20 Policing
467. 2011/05/28: PaID: The G20, The Toronto Police and The Art of Critical Thinking
468. 2011/05/28: OrwellsBastard: More allegations of police brutality at the G20: Gabriel Jacobs
469. 2011/05/28: SNeigh: The Worst Outcome of G20 Policing
470. 2011/05/27: CBC: Auditor general's G8/G20 reports coming June 9
     The much-anticipated report from Auditor General Sheila Fraser on spending for the G8 and G20 summits will be tabled in the House of Commons on June 9, two days later than originally scheduled.
471. 2011/05/27: DawgsBlawg: G20 Police Oversight
472. 2011/05/26: OrwellsBastard: Put lying cops on the stand and make them do it for the record
473. 2011/05/26: SWRWN: Third Time the Charm?
474. 2011/05/26: PaID: A Couple of Video Reminders of Abuse and Duplicity By Police During G20 Summit
475. 2011/05/26: SWRWN: Another G20 Rally *sigh*
476. 2011/05/26: CBC: 3rd probe into alleged G20 assault ordered
477. 2011/05/26: TStar: Witness to G20 beating was suspect officer's roommate, SIU says
     One of the police officers who could not name a colleague accused of beating Dorian Barton during last June's G20 summit was the suspect officer's roommate, according to the head of the Special Investigations Unit. Furthermore, two of the other so-called witness officers to Barton's arrest were supervisors, Ian Scott told the Star.
478. 2011/05/26: PaID: And The Two Chief Culprits Remain silent
479. 2011/05/24: OrwellsBastard: On CBC, a further demonstration of Toronto cops' contempt for us
480. 2011/05/24: CBC: Top officer denies culture of silence in G20 case
     The head of the Toronto Police Association says it is "absolutely absurd" to suggest officers conspired to protect colleagues accused of breaking a man's shoulder at a G20 protest. Mike McCormack said in an interview with CBC's Metro Morning on Tuesday that he felt justice had been served in the case of Dorian Barton, who was hurt at a June 26 protest at Queen's Park.

Some are wondering why Canadian GHGs are down, without mentioning the recession:

481. 2011/05/23: NUPGE: Greenhouse gas emissions on the way down - but why?
482. 2011/05/24: BCLSB: Canadian Emissions Down, Dalton McGunty Partially Responsible

     Regarding the Canadian Wheat Board:

483. 2011/05/23: DtPB: Why the Canadian Wheat Board should matter to all of us

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

484. 2011/05/27: PostMedia: No real need for pipeline between oilsands and B.C.'s west coast, senior bureaucrats say
     A multi-billion-dollar pipeline project that would link the oilsands region to the coast of British Columbia offers new export capacity that the Canadian industry does not really need, senior bureaucrats have told the federal government. That conclusion is among a series of revelations about federal activity in recent months surrounding an ongoing environmental evaluation of the $5.5-billion "Northern Gateway" project proposed by the Alberta-based energy company Enbridge, which has argued in favour of its strategic importance. Enbridge wants to build the 1,170 km pipeline through mountains, forests and bodies of water between Fort Saskatchewan, Alta. and a new terminal and docking facility in Kitimat.
485. 2011/05/28: 350orBust: Congressman: Tar Sands [Keystone XL] Pipeline Would Turn U.S. Into Canadian "Sewer"
486. 2011/05/27: Tyee: Why Keystone Pipeline Will Weaken the US -- It's just a 'tar sands road to China'. Nikiforuk lays out a surprising analayis...
487. 2011/05/27: EnergyBulletin: Why Keystone pipeline will weaken the US

     Are you ready for more 'carbon intensity' BS, err PR?

488. 2011/05/24: PostMedia: Upcoming oilsands brawl could forever change Alberta
     With the federal election over and Prime Minister Stephen Harper's majority entrenched, a monumental battle is looming over the oilsands. The provincial PCs have known for at least two years, of course, that the feds would come after Canada's most valuable resource. In a frantic effort to stave off Ottawa intervention, Premier Ed Stelmach's Tories have pumped up regulation, prosecuted companies, and wailed in anguish at the death of birds they would happily shoot in season. But Ed's troops have never sounded all that tough with Ottawa because they didn't want to weaken Harper. Worried as they were about the Conservatives, almost anything the Liberals or New Democrats might do was sure to be worse. Now the gloves are coming off in both corners.
489. 2011/05/23: PostMedia: Harper Conservatives 'hypocrites' on oilsands: Alberta
     As Ottawa prepares to regulate Alberta's oilsands, the Stelmach government says it's "very concerned" about federal intervention and is accusing the Harper Conservatives of being hypocrites when it comes to the lucrative resource. Federal Environment Minister Peter Kent announced last week that Ottawa will introduce later this year environmental regulations for the oilsands sector designed to reduce greenhouse gases spewed from one of the country's largest-emitting industries.

In BC, the stage is set. Now what will Clark do?

490. 2011/05/26: PI:B: Upgrade your home without breaking the bank: new loans from B.C. utilities can help

     Meanwhile in that Mechanical Mordor known as the tar sands:

491. 2011/05/28: CCP: Emma Pullman: Documents Reveal Canada's Secret 'Oil Sands Team' in Europe
492. 2011/05/26: PI: Province's draft plan for Lower Athabasca falls short -- Blueprint protects oilsands developers' interests more than the environment
493. 2011/05/27: DeSmogBlog: Documents Reveal Canada's Secret 'Oil Sands Team' in Europe
494. 2011/05/27: CBC: Imperial's Kearl tarsands project cost rises
495. 2011/05/25: Dominion: Canada on Secret Oil Offensive: Documents -- Foreign ministry's tar sands team rebranding Alberta oil in Europe

     Also in Alberta:

496. 2011/05/26: Tyee: Wikileaks Shines Light on Alberta's $16-Billion Electricity Scandal -- US cables signal project was for export, contrary to official claims
497. 2011/05/25: G&M: Save resource money for the future? Nah, says Alberta
     Dead on arrival. Such is the fate that awaits the report from a blue-ribbon panel on Alberta's future. So radical is the report, from a group who are the antithesis of radicals, that it has no chance of being accepted by the bulk of Albertans. Why? Because the report, in essence, requires short-term pain for long-term gain, a recipe for political defeat almost anywhere.
498. 2011/05/28: CBC: Slave Lake cleanup begins -- Rebuild likely to take several months
499. 2011/05/26: CBC: Slave Lake residents can go home Friday
500. 2011/05/25: CBC: Slave Lake evacuees begin return
501. 2011/05/23: CBC: Alberta fire evacuees begin bus tours
502. 2011/05/22: CBC: Alberta fire evacuees get bus tours Monday

     In Manitoba:

503. 2011/05/24: CBC: The Manitoba government has announced $175 million for compensation and future flood protection measures
504. 2011/05/22: CBC: Manitoba flooding compensation to be announced -- Property owners on Lake Manitoba still battling rising waters

     While in la Belle Province:

505. 2011/05/28: CBC: Charest appeals for calm as Que. floodwaters rise -- Premier urges Richelieu Valley residents to leave homes
506. 2011/05/26: CBC: Water rising again in Que. flood zone
507. 2011/05/24: CBC: More soldiers called as Quebec's Richelieu River hits new peak
508. 2011/05/24: PostMedia: More troops sent to assist Quebec flood victims -- Army deployed to build barriers as flood waters keep rising
509. 2011/05/23: CBC: Strong winds push Quebec river to new record
     'It's never ending, we're fed up and feeling helpless,' says woman in flood zone. Towns and cities along the Richelieu River are on high alert as strong winds force water from Lake Champlain to spill into the river southeast of Montreal.

In the North:

510. 2011/05/24: ChronicleHerald: Arctic history emerges from Northwest Passage
     Researchers locate 19th-century vessel that made historic discovery while tragically failing in main quest

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

511. 2011/05/26: UNEP: 'Decoupling' Rate of Resource Consumption from Economic Growth Rate - Europe Presents Mixed Picture
512. 2011/05/26: UNEP: Dramatically Raising Low Metal Recycling Rates Part of Path To Green Economy:UNEP
     Less than one-third of 60 metals studied have end-of-life recycling rate above 50%; 34 are under 1% Among recommendations: Boost waste management in developing economies,end hoarding of old phones and other electronic products
513. 2011/05/20: AlterNet: Vision: How to Change Our Laws So That Corporations Don't Trump Communities
514. 2011/05/26: SEasterbrook: Skillset needed for living sustainably
515. 2011/05/26: UN: World metal recycling 'discouragingly low,' says new UN report
516. 2011/05/26: Eureka: Dramatically raising low metal recycling rates part of path to green economy: UNEP -- Less than one-third of 60 metals studied have end-of-life recycling rate above 50 percent; 34 are under 1 percent
517. 2011/05/24: AlterNet: Freeing Ourselves From the Corporate-Ruled Global Economy [Korten]
518. 2011/05/25: EnergyBulletin: Imagining Sustainability

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

519. 2011/05/27: NatureNB: Family planning must be top of developing countries' health agenda
520. 2011/05/26: RawStory: House votes to pull funding for abortion-related training
521. 2011/05/25: AlterNet: When Will Republicans Stop Saying Dumb Things About Rape? (Hint: When They Stop Hating Women)
522. 2011/05/24: BPA: The UN's Population Changes Expected through 2100
523. 2011/05/24: CDreams: Rape As Flat Tire
524. 2011/05/24: Guardian(UK): Families in India increasingly aborting girl babies, study shows
525. 2011/05/24: USAToday: Abortion rates decline overall, increasing in poor
526. 2011/05/23: al Jazeera: The right's mirror-image view of life
     Anti-abortion campaigners in the US fail to value life lost through war, or those taken by a punitive justice system.

Apocalypso anyone?

527. 2011/05/26: CSM: Doomsday date was miscalculated, says Harold Camping
528. 2011/05/24: DM:BA: Unraptured, Part II: The Rationalizationing
529. 2011/05/22: MTobis: Thoughts on Avoiding Doom

     Okay hot shot, how are we gonna fix this?

530. 2011/05/23: MTobis: The Great Rationing

     As for how the media handles science:

531. 2011/05/25: Guardian(UK): Current TV chief claims Murdoch's Sky Italia broke commitment
532. 2011/05/25: KSJT: NYTimes, Wall St. Journal: Filthy carbon-spewing industries on the rise. What elephant?
533. 2011/05/25: JQuiggin: Reality-based journalism: some updates
534. 2011/05/24: ClimateP: Wall Street Journal's James Taranto equates science with religion
535. 2011/05/24: JQuiggin: Reality-based journalism in the US
536. 2011/05/23: TreeHugger: Presenting: The New York Times' Best Paragraph of Climate Reportage in Recent Memory
537. 2011/05/24: TreeHugger: Sierra Leone to Start Offshore Drilling: UNEP, WWF Train Environmental Journalists
538. 2011/05/23: G&M: Why the manufactured outrage over gas prices?
     In the business news on television, rising gas prices are all about supply and demand, about Mideast crises, about refinery and pipeline problems, about floods and bad weather, about the small profit margins at the retail level. In the headline news at the top of the hour, rising gas prices are about corporate greed and government collusion. Every time the price rises a few cents, TV crews are sent out to interview consumers filling up at a gas station, where they provide the obligatory sound bites about being outraged and being ripped off. It's all so predictable. But why the disconnect between the news department and the business department?
539. 2011/05/23: PSinclair: Get Popcorn. Mike Mann Throws down with Scientific American.
540. 2011/05/22: CrTimber: Reality-based journalism?
541. 2011/05/22: ClimateP: Scientific American & Lemonick pull a Charlie Sheen -- or a Richard Muller, which is much the same
     Michael Mann requests retraction of defamatory claims; frankly, the whole piece should be replaced with multiple apologies.

Here is something for your library:

542. 2011/05/25: MLynas: Why we should be careful what we do with Gaia
     [Book Review] _Revolutions that made the Earth_ by Tim Lenton & Andrew Watson
543. 2011/05/27: DeSmogBlog: DeSmog Interview with Curt Stager, Author of 'Deep Future' (Part 2)
544. 2011/05/26: DeSmogBlog: DeSmog Interview with Curt Stager, Author of 'Deep Future'
545. 2011/05/23: HotTopic: [Book Review] _Changing Planet, Changing Health: How the Climate Crisis Threatens our Health and What We Can Do about It_ by Paul Epstein & Dan Ferber

     And for your film & video enjoyment:

546. 2011/05/27: WashingtonsBlog: Tornadoes Suck Up Fire and Water
547. 2011/05/27: PSinclair: Gundersen Gives Testimony to the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission
548. 2011/05/26: Grist: NOAA's terrifying tornado time-lapse
549. 2011/05/27: TreeHugger: NOAA's Eye-Opening Time-Lapse Video of April's Deadly Tornadoes
550. 2011/05/26: MTobis: Texas Drought Video
551. 2011/05/26: PaID: A Couple of Video Reminders of Abuse and Duplicity By Police During G20 Summit
552. 2011/05/25: DM:BA: From space: video of five days of tornadoes
553. 2011/05/25: PSinclair: Throwing Elbows and (politely) Busting Chops, John Abraham shows how to defend Science
554. 2011/05/23: PSinclair: Gunderson, May 23: Lessons of Fukushima for Operating Reactors
555. 2011/05/22: TCoE: Peak oil made easy (to understand, that is)
556. 2011/05/22: MTobis: Scary Peak Oil Video

     As for podcasts:

557. 2011/05/28: HotTopic: John Abraham: How to give good radio

     Meanwhile among the 'Sue the Bastards!' contingent:

558. 2011/05/27: S&R: Fukushima be damned, federal court brushes off seismic nuke risks
559. 2011/05/25: Reuters: U.S. sues big oil traders for 2008 manipulation -- Oil trader Arcadia to CFTC: See you in court
560. 2011/05/23: ClimateP: Judge puts cap and trade in California on hold -- Harvard's Stavins: A "misguided objection to a progressive policy"
561. 2011/05/23: NYT: Most of Calif.'s Carbon Law Unaffected by Court Ruling; Trading Date Could Slip
562. 2011/05/23: Grist: Why the environmental justice lawsuit against California's climate law is misguided [Stavins]
563. 2011/05/21: SacBee: S.F. judge puts state's cap and trade plan on hold

     Wrestling over a new energy infrastructure continues unabated:

564. 2011/05/26: CleanBreak: Higher oil prices aren't leading to higher clean energy investments... sadly, it's quite the opposite
565. 2011/05/27: PlanetArk: [Distributed Independent] Micro-Power Presents Slow-Burn Threat to [Centralized] Utilities
566. 2011/05/26: EnergyBulletin: The short history of early pedal powered machines
567. 2011/05/26: EurActiv: Solar power aids German nuclear shutdown
     Germany has imported more lignite coal and nuclear energy from its neighbours since the Fukushima disaster pushed it to begin closing its ageing nuclear reactors. But it is still exporting one source of electricity to France: solar power.
568. 2011/05/26: ABC(Au): A new study has found the future prices of wind, thermal and solar power will only keep falling as more alternative power sources are switched into the energy grid
569. 2011/05/26: Grist: How to get to a fully renewable power system
570. 2011/05/26: Eureka: Estimating landfill gas potential
571. 2011/05/24: TCoE: Stuck in the energy/water nexus
572. 2011/05/24: PlanetArk: Germany Copes Without Bulk Of Nuclear Power
573. 2011/05/24: MIT: Teaching algae to make fuel -- New process could lead to production of hydrogen using bioengineered microorganisms
574. 2011/05/13: DTU: We have the technology for creating sustainable energy systems of the future
     The fifth Risø International Energy Conference is over and the conclusions of the three-day conference are clear: The climate problems are becoming ever more urgent, but the energy systems of the future present even more issues. Technologically, we have good opportunities for creating sustainable energy systems.
575. 2011/05/24: PeakEnergy: Geothermal without the Earthquakes
576. 2011/05/23: ClimateP: Five hot, rockin' geothermal companies
577. 2011/05/23: OilChange: Dash for Shale Gas Undermines Wind
578. 2011/05/23: NBF: Bulk thermoelectrics that are 22% efficient at heat to electricity conversion instead of 10-13%
579. 2011/05/23: NBF: Siemens has world record super efficient turbine with 60.75 efficiency
580. 2011/05/23: SwissInfo: How green energy could inherit problems
     Critics of wind turbines complain they are noisy and ruin the natural lanscape The Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan has renewed interest in green energy -- but every energy source has a downside.

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

581. 2011/05/27: DemNow: Sandra Steingraber on the Health Crisis Surrounding Natural Gas Extraction
582. 2011/05/27: PlanetArk: Big Oil Companies Face Growing Concern On Fracking
583. 2011/05/26: NatureNB: Shareholders inch towards responsibility for fracking risks
584. 2011/05/25: ProPublica: Exxon Ad Makes Gas Drilling Seem Simpler - and Safer - Than It Really Is
585. 2011/05/26: Grist: Pro-fracking ad accidentally reveals dangers of fracking
586. 2011/05/18: Salon: How gas drilling contaminates your food
     We know the controversial fracking process hurts our water supply -- but it's also affecting the things we eat
587. 2011/05/25: DeSmogBlog: French Vote To Ban Fracking: The End Of The Story Or Just The Beginning?
588. 2011/05/25: PeakEnergy: Blow-out at well fuels concerns over coal seam gas
589. 2011/05/24: Guardian(UK): MPs' report rejects moratorium on shale gas exploration
     Green campaigners express dismay as MPs back shale gas prospecting despite evidence of environmental dangers
590. 2011/05/23: DeSmogBlog: Former Bush EPA Official Confirms 2004 EPA Fracking Study Was Misused
591. 2011/05/23: BBC: MPs urge backing for UK shale gas
592. 2011/05/23: SwissInfo: Shale gas could remain out of reach in the ground
     Oil companies have begun prospecting for shale gas in Switzerland, but environmental and safety concerns could put these projects on hold permanently.

On the coal front:

593. 2011/05/23: CleanBreak: Get rid of coal: doctor's orders
594. 2011/05/23: DemNow: Massey Energy Guilty: West Virginia Probe Finds Coal Giant Systemically Failed to Comply with Law

     On the gas and oil front:

595. 2011/05/27: BBerg: Closing oil prices Friday
     OIL (US$/bbl)
     Nymex Crude Future..100.59
     Dated Brent Spot....115.19
     WTI Cushing Spot....100.59
596. 2011/05/26: Gregor: Speculator Ghosts in the Oil Machine
597. 2011/05/26: EconBrowser: Oil price manipulation
598. 2011/05/26: PeakEnergy: World's Second largest gas field found in Turkmenistan
599. 2011/05/25: BizInsider: The Operator Of The World's Largest Oil Tanker Fleet Gives Up On The Global Recovery
     Norway's Frontline, which operates the world's largest oil tanker fleet, announced an 81-percent decline in net income for the first quarter compared to last year.
600. 2011/05/23: OilDrum: The JODI-EIA Divergence
601. 2011/05/23: PeakEnergy: $12bn Prelude floating plant has Shell fired for LNG

     In the gas and oil corps:

602. 2011/05/26: AlterNet: Chevron Feels the Heat: Annual Shareholder Meeting Brings Huge Protests For Oil Giant's Abuses Around the World
603. 2011/05/25: PlanetArk: Chevron To Resubmit [San Francisco Bay] Richmond Refinery Upgrade Plan

     And in pipeline news:

604. 2011/05/28: 350orBust: Congressman: Tar Sands [Keystone XL] Pipeline Would Turn U.S. Into Canadian "Sewer"
605. 2011/05/27: EnergyBulletin: Why Keystone pipeline will weaken the US
606. 2011/05/25: CCP: Elizabeth McGowan: Koch Bros. Accused of Stonewalling Congress on Their Keystone XL Pipeline Interest
607. 2011/05/25: TreeHugger: House Rushes Keystone XL While State Dept. Sued Over Communication With Tar Sands Lobbyist
608. 2011/05/24: Grist: Are the Kochs pushing for [Keystone XL] an international oil pipeline?
609. 2011/05/23: DeSmogBlog: Koch Brothers Exposed: Brave New Films Explains How Billionaires Could Profit From Keystone XL Pipeline

     Yes we have a peak oil sighting:

610. 2011/05/27: EnergyBulletin: Energy: Peak Oil and the Great Recession
611. 2011/05/27: OilDrum: Peak oil and the Fall of the Soviet Union: Lessons on the 20th Anniversary of the Collapse
612. 2011/05/26: EnergyBulletin: [UK] Government to work with business on plans to tackle peak oil threat
613. 2011/05/24: EnergyBulletin: The case for a disorderly energy descent
614. 2011/05/10: TPV: Reflections Before the Collapse of Oil - Jan Lundberg interviewed in Shanghai Oriental Morning Post

     Biofuel bickering abounds:

615. 2011/05/26: RRapier: Air Force Says Biomass-Based Jet Fuel is 10 Times the Cost of JP-8
616. 2011/05/26: ASU: ASU scientists develop secreting bacteria with green auto-recovery to eliminate cost barriers for renewable biofuel production
617. 2011/05/26: Eureka: Study details path to sustainable aviation biofuels industry in Northwest -- Political support needed to jumpstart growth of domestic biofuels industry

     The answer my friend...:

618. 2011/05/27: CSM: Wind power project wavers after subsidy cuts
619. 2011/05/25: EnergyBulletin: Addressing public concerns about wind power
620. 2011/05/25: CBC: Google invests in California wind energy
621. 2011/05/24: NatureN: No wind? No problem -- Hurdles to integrating a variable supply of renewable energy into power grids are lower than most experts think.
622. 2011/05/23: STimes: Wind industry demands NW grid overload solution
     The wind energy industry demanded Monday that the Bonneville Power Administration fix problems that have forced the shut-off of Northwest wind generators while hydroelectric dams fill the grid with power produced from a heavy spring runoff.

Meanwhile among the solar aficionados:

623. 2011/05/26: DerSpiegel: Desertec and Democracy -- Arab Spring Boosts Dream of Desert Power
     Desertec is a multi-billion-dollar energy initiative that hopes to meet Europe's energy needs with solar power from the Sahara. The recent upheavals in North Africa have put the project in question. But many experts argue that the Arab Spring will actually help Desertec's grand vision become reality.
624. 2011/05/27: EurActiv: Big boys enter solar race
     Traditionally a market reserved for niche players, the solar sector is now drawing increasing interest from energy behemoths like General Electric and Total as well as unexpected new investors like Google.
625. 2011/05/26: EurActiv: Special Report: EU on track for solar grid parity by 2017
     Solar photovoltaic (PV) power is set to achieve the environmentalists' holy grail of grid parity -- the same cost price as fossil fuels -- across the European Union by 2017, according to a UN expert.
626. 2011/05/26: Eureka: Flexible films for photovoltaics
627. 2011/05/26: Eureka: Solar inverters: Losses are cut in half
628. 2011/05/25: PeakEnergy: Final Tests For Torresol's [Spanish] CSP Plant With Molten Salt Storage Complete
629. 2011/05/24: PeakEnergy: SolarReserve's 24/7 solar thermal power plant for Nevada
630. 2011/05/23: EurActiv: European solar wobble spurs China deals
     A slowdown in subsidies for solar power across European countries has encouraged companies to look oversees for greener pastures, threatening Europe's lead in this promising high-tech sector.
631. 2011/05/23: TreeHugger: Sanctuary Magazine Gets into Hot Water. Solar, That Is.

     The nuclear energy controversy continues:

632. 2011/05/26: NBF: Russian Kalinin 4 nuclear reactor on track for November, 2011 start, new fuel pond cooling systems and Fukushima follow up
633. 2011/05/23: NBF: World nuclear energy production and uranium demand to 2020
634. 2011/05/23: NBF: Thorenco LLC presents a little 40 MW Liquid Flouride Thorium Reactor

     Nuclear waste storage requires long term thinking:

635. 2011/05/26: BBerg: Fukushima Station Considered as Site for Nuclear Graveyard
636. 2011/05/25: BBC: Kings Cliffe: Radioactive waste disposal approved
     Plans for low-level radioactive waste disposal to be allowed at a landfill site in Northamptonshire have been given the go-ahead by the government.
637. 2011/05/24: NYT: Risk From Spent Nuclear Reactor Fuel Is Greater in U.S. Than in Japan, [IPS] Study Says
638. 2011/05/24: IPS: [link to 904k pdf] Spent Nuclear Fuel Pools in the US: Reducing the Deadly Risks of Storage

     More people are talking about the electrical grid:

639. 2011/05/26: GreenGrok: EnerNOC: Implementing Tomorrow's Smart Grid Today
640. 2011/05/18: MillerMcCune: Plugging High-Speed Rail Into Germany's Power Grid
641. 2011/05/26: ClimateP: EPRI: Smart grid benefits vastly exceed costs, enable sharp cuts in CO2 by 2030
642. 2011/05/26: TreeHugger: Cost-Effectiveness Of US Smart Grid? Trillions To The Plus Over 20 Years
643. 2011/05/25: TechRev: The Challenges of Big Data on the Smart Grid
     Installing "smart meters" and upgrading utility networks will force electricity providers to process far more information than they're accustomed to handling.
644. 2011/05/25: PlanetArk: U.S. Smart Grid To Cost Billions, Save Trillions
645. 2011/05/23: BBC: Could pylons ever be pretty?
     Electricity pylons, little changed since the 1920s, may get a makeover with a new international design competition. Are transmission towers icons or eyesores?

And then there is the matter of efficiency & conservation:

646. 2011/05/29: HotTopic: Low hanging fruit: efficient lighting
647. 2011/05/26: Grist: State by state, appliance standards save money, create jobs, and protect the environment
648. 2011/05/22: SacBee: Home energy audits open door to big savings

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

649. 2011/05/26: AutoBG: Study: Consumer Reports says car buyers will pay for higher fuel economy, won't compromise safety
650. 2011/05/26: AutoBG: EPA rates Tesla Roadster at 111 MPGe
651. 2011/05/23: AutoBG: Study: Energy usage attributable to electric vehicles could rise 1,700% by 2020

     This week in the Gee Whiz File:

652. 2011/05/24: PlanetArk: Electricity From Microbes A Step Closer: Study

     As for Energy Storage:

653. 2011/05/28: PeakEnergy: Temporal Power brings new spin to flywheel energy storage
654. ESA: Discussions of individual storage technologies

     The reaction of business to climate change will be critical:

655. 2011/05/26: TreeHugger: Corporate Climate Schizophrenia Noticed By Major US Investors

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

656. 2011/05/27: ClimateP: May 27 news...
657. 2011/05/26: ClimateP: May 26 news...
658. 2011/05/25: ClimateP: May 25 news...
659. 2011/05/24: ClimateP: May 24 news...
660. 2011/05/23: ClimateP: May 23 news...

     Other (weekly) lists:

661. 2011/05/27: IJISH: Mindless Link Propagation
662. 2011/05/23: BPA: Agriculture News
663. 2011/05/25: InformedComment: Top Ten Green Energy Good News Stories
664. 2011/05/25: SkeptiSci: Monthly Climate Summary: April 2011 by Michael Searcy

     The carbon lobby are up to the usual:

665. 2011/05/27: ERabett: Hero or crank?
666. 2011/05/26: ClassM: So, if she weighs the same as a duck ...
667. 2011/05/25: AlterNet: Truth Decay: Conspiracy Theories and Hoaxes Are Blurring Reality
668. 2011/05/24: QuarkSoup: Fred Singer's Fact-free Lecture in Portland
669. 2011/05/24: WottsUWT: Scientific American's interview with Dr. Richard Muller
670. 2011/05/23: ClimateShifts: Bolt distorts facts about the Great Barrier Reef again: doesn't understand or wilful distortion?
671. 2011/05/23: SkeptiSci: Humlum is at it again by julienx2k2

     Meanwhile in the 'clean coal' saga:

672. 2011/05/27: TreeHugger: Cancer Now #1 Cause of Death in China, Coal Largely to Blame
673. 2011/05/27: Grist: Cancer is now the leading cause of death in China

     As for climate miscellanea:

674. 2011/05/26: CDreams: A Turning-Point We Miss at Our Peril
     We have the choice of burning all the oil left and hacking down all the remaining rainforests - or saving humanity
675. 2011/05/27: BVerheggen: Judith Curry: We should not ignore the risks of global warming
676. 2011/05/24: GreenGrok: The Great Generational 'Green Thing' Debate
677. 2011/05/27: Wunderground: Invest now to improve tornado warnings; an early start to hurricane season?
678. 2011/05/27: HotTopic: From science to ethics to action
679. 2011/05/27: HotTopic: The view from on high
680. 2011/05/25: BVerheggen: Eric Wolff on areas of agreement and on the public debate about climate science
681. 2011/05/24: Grist: Getting green and happy by exporting pollution and misery: not cool
682. 2011/05/23: Grist: Behavioral nudges on electric bills could save three coal plants worth of emissions
683. 2011/05/24: TreeHugger: Google Experimenting With World's First Seawater-Cooled Data Center
684. 2011/05/23: ClassM: Good news and bad

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

685. WOD: World Oceans Day - June 8th
686. ESA: Discussions of individual storage technologies
687. The new charging network - Source London
688. Wiki: CLAW hypothesis [CLAW := Charlson, Lovelock, Andreae & Warren]
689. Fresh Air - The Scent of Pine
690. ACC: Australian Climate Commission
691. Wiki: Hydraulic fracturing [aka fracking]
692. Dirty Oil Sands
693. GBRMPA: Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority
694. TBAS: The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
695. UAF: AMSR-E Sea Ice Extent
696. Ecologist
697. Ecologist: Blogs
698. Wiki: Ramsar Convention

     ---

     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.

     I notice moyhu has set up a monster index to old AWoGWN on AFTIC.

     ---

     "Watching the President serve up the tired narrative that speculators have driven the price of oil should dissuade optimists from thinking the US public is ready to face up to reality." -Gregor Macdonald

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