Logging the Onset of The Bottleneck Years
This weekly posting is brought to you courtesy of H. E. Taylor. Happy reading, I hope you enjoy this week's Global Warming news roundup
Another week of Climate Disruption News
Logging the Onset of The Bottleneck Years
June 19, 2011
- Chuckles, Bonn, The Conversation, Forest Europe, Solar Cycle, SRREN, Threats
- Bottom Line, Subsidies, C40, Psyche, Cook, Equinox
- Fukushima Note, Fukushima News, Nuclear Policy, Fukushima Talk
- Melting Arctic, Geopolitics, Antarctica
- Food Crisis, Agro-Corps, Food Prices, Food vs. Biofuel, Food Production
- Hurricanes, GHGs, Temperatures, Feedbacks, Aerosols, Paleoclimate
- Uncertainties, Extinctions, Volcanoes, Satellites
- Impacts, Forests, Climate Refugees, Desertification, Extreme Weather, Tornadoes
- Wildfires, Corals, Acidification, Sea Levels, Floods & Droughts
- Mitigation, Transportation, Sequestration, Geoengineering, Adaptation
- Journals, Other Docs , Misc. Science, DIY Science, Models, Lindzen
- UN, Carbon Trade, Carbon Labelling
- International Politics: Rare Earths, Law & Activism, Activism, Polls, H2O Biz
- National Politics: America, 2012, Ethanol, Obama, USAdmin, Congress, Lobbyists
- Britain, Europe, Australia, Carbon War, Murray-Darling, India, Japan, South America
- Canada, Post G20, Feds & Fracking, MVP, AECL, CWB
- Cohen Commission, BC, Tar Sands, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec
- Ecological Economics, IPAT, Apocalypso, Media, Books, Video, Courts
- Energy, Gas Fight, Fracking, Coal, Oil & Gas, Pipelines, Peak Oil, Biofuel
- Wind, Solar, FITs, Nukes, Nuclear Waste, LENR, Grid, Cars, Gee Whiz
- Joe's List, Carbon Lobby, Miscellaneous Climate, Useful Links
- Shameless Self Promotion, .sig
- 2011/06/17: uComics: (cartoon - Toles) Ethanol Subsidies
- 2011/06/17: uComics: (cartoon - Danziger) Grover Norquist versus the Koch Brothers
- 2011/06/15: uComics: (cartoon - Toles) Climate Change Evidence
- 2011/06/14: TP:JR: Climate Cartoons from Lukovich and Toles
Well, it looks like the Bonn conference was a bust:
- UN Climate Change Conference June 2011
- 2011/06/18: TCoE: Me first? No, you first -- I insist.
- 2011/06/17: Guardian(UK): Bonn climate summit diary -- Agricultural accounting, Saudi subterfuge and feeling your age
- 2011/06/17: Guardian(UK): Bonn climate talks end with no agreement on key areas
- 2011/06/17: Reuters: U.N. climate talks make scant progress to save Kyoto
Bonn - Negotiators made scant progress toward salvaging the United Nations' Kyoto Protocol for fighting climate change beyond 2012 at two weeks of talks ending on Friday, delegates said. - 2011/06/17: PlanetArk: Call For Votes To Spur Climate Talks Faces Hurdles
A proposal by Mexico and Papua New Guinea to kick-start U.N. climate talks by shifting to voting on major decisions from an ill-defined need for consensus may face insurmountable hurdles, experts say. "We want to break this process where the slowest is allowed to hold everyone else up," Kevin Conrad, of Papua New Guinea, told Reuters of the proposal on the sidelines of U.N. negotiations in Bonn from June 6-17. He acknowledged the call to allow a 75 percent majority vote "as a last resort" scared many delegates at the 180-nation talks which are deadlocked over issues such as the fate of the Kyoto Protocol for curbing emissions. "There is a fear factor. Most countries are afraid that the vote is going to be used against them," he said. - 2011/06/17: STimes: Mexicans try to break climate talk deadlock
After years of incremental progress in U.N. climate talks, a proposal is on the table to change the rule of consensus and allow the 193 nations to adopt decisions by a massive majority vote. - 2011/06/16: Guardian(UK): UN climate talks will collapse without EU leadership, thinktank warns
South Centre urges Europe to lead major economies in committing to a second phase of the Kyoto protocol - 2011/06/16: PressEurop: A WTO [for climate] to take over from Kyoto
- 2011/06/13: ABC(Au):TDU: Grim tidings from Bonn
A group of Australian scientists is producing a series of Climate Change articles at The Conversation:
- The Conversation
- 2011/06/15: ClassM: The stick sets the beat
- 2011/06/15: SkeptiSci: Speaking science to climate policy [The Conversation]
- 2011/06/15: Deltoid: The Conversation on climate change
- 2011/06/14: ERabett: Our Aussie friends
- 2011/06/17: SkeptiSci: Who's your expert? The difference between peer review and rhetoric
- 2011/06/14: BVerheggen: Climate change is real, we are causing it, and it is happening right now
- 2011/06/14: HotTopic: Song of the Australian scientists
- 2011/06/14: TP:JR: Australian Scientific Community: "Climate Change is Real, We Are Causing It," Media has Botched the Coverage [The conv]
- 2011/06/13: TheConversation: Climate change is real: an open letter from the scientific community
- 2011/06/13: MTobis: Injecting Sanity
- 2011/06/14: SkeptiSci: Climate change is real: an open letter from the scientific community
The Forest Europe conference went down this week:
- Forest Europe - Ministerial Conference on the Protection of Forests in Europe - Oslo. June 14-16
- 2011/06/15: EUO: Big variations in tree coverage between EU states
- 2011/06/15: BBC: Ministers have agreed to back plans to introduce a legally binding agreement to protect Europe's forests.
- 2011/06/14: BBC: Europe's forests 'vital for climate goal'
Europe's forests can play a key role in helping mitigate the impact of climate change, a report described as the most comprehensive of its kind concludes. - 2011/06/14: BBC: Forest Europe summit 'to shape' policy
Forestry ministers from across Europe are attending a summit to shape future policy on how woodlands are managed. Delegates from 46 nations are expected to decide whether they will go ahead and establish a legally binding agreement on forest management. Ministers at the three-day gathering in Oslo are also set to adopt resolutions that will help shape European forest policy for the next decade. It is estimated that forests cover more than half of Europe's land area. - 2011/06/18: NBF: Bad Astronomer on Reduced Sun Spots and Climate
- 2011/06/17: DM:BA: Are we headed for a new ice age?
- 2011/06/16: BBC:RB: Solar predictions bring heat and light
- 2011/06/16: TCoE: The sun is dying! DYYYYYYYING!!!
- 2011/06/16: DeSmogBlog: Ice Age Cancelled: Deniers Destined for Disappointment
- 2011/06/16: PSinclair: Graph of the Day: What if the Sun Goes into another Maunder Minimum?
- 2011/06/15: ITracker: The big-minimum solar discussion in one graph
- 2011/06/16: PlanetArk: Scientists See Sunspot "Hibernation" But No Ice Age
- 2011/06/16: SkeptiSci: How would a Solar Grand Minimum affect global warming?
- 2011/06/15: CCP: Sunspot Drop Won't Cause Global Cooling
- 2011/06/15: CCP: Georg Feulner & Stefan Rahmstorf, On the effect of a new grand minimum of solar activity on the future climate on Earth, GRL 37 (2010)
- 2011/06/15: CCP: Goodnight sun: Sunspots may disappear for years
- 2011/06/15: QuarkSoup: We Will Not Be Entering Another Little Ice Age
- 2011/06/15: TP:JR: Sadly, If Sun Goes Into 'Hibernation' It Won't Stop Catastrophic Global Warming, But It Might Put the Deniers in Hibernation
- 2011/06/15: CBC: Sunspots may go on hiatus starting 2020
- 2011/06/15: KSJT: Lots of Ink: Solar spots pooping out? Could provide slight relief from global warming? Maybe an ICE AGE!!!!!! ...or not
- 2011/06/15: SciNews: Next solar cycle could be a no-show -- Sun may be entering a long period of reduced activity, several studies suggest
- 2011/06/14: SciNow: End of the Sunspot Cycle?
- 2011/06/14: Eureka: New insights on how solar minimums affect Earth
- 2011/06/14: CSM: A sun with no sun spots? What that could mean for Earth and its climate
Sun spots appear to be teetering on the verge of vanishing from the surface of the sun -- perhaps for several decades. That's one possibility raised by three independent studies unveiled Tuesday at a solar-physics meeting in Las Cruces, N.M. If the trends the studies highlight hold, the researchers say, a sun humbled by changes in its own internal workings could produce fewer solar storms during a prolonged quiet period -- good news for satellite operators, astronauts, and Earthbound utility companies that must keep solar storms from triggering blackouts. A long quiescent period also could provide an unexpected, natural laboratory for investigating often-discussed but poorly explored links between sunspot activity and global climate. - 2011/06/19: BVerheggen: IPCC SRREN: Conflict of interest or just a bad press release?
- 2011/06/17: MLynas: Questions the IPCC must now urgently answer
- 2011/06/17: TPL: Of Dogs and Fleas
- 2011/06/16: QuarkSoup: The Latest IPCC Kerfuffle
- 2011/06/16: TP:JR: IPCC Criticized for Making an Accurate Statement: Renewables Could Meet Over 75% of Global Energy Needs in 2050
- 2011/06/15: MLynas: New IPCC error: renewables report conclusion was dictated by Greenpeace
- 2011/06/15: TPL: Off With Their 'eads!
More on the threats against Australian climate scientists:
- 2011/06/17: Deltoid: More on the threats on and abuse of Australian climate scientists
- 2011/06/09: CHE: After Death Threats to Climate Researchers, Australian Universities Take Tough Protection Measures
And on the Bottom Line:
- 2011/06/12: PostMedia: World must face climate change: expert -- Reacting to disasters will cost us more than preventing them
The world needs to get serious about fighting climate change if it wants to stop an increasing number of natural disasters seen in recent years, because just changing the type of light bulbs we use and recycling our newspapers is not nearly enough to save the environment, cautions a world-renowned author and environmentalist. "The basic point is that, it's the old adage, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure," said Lester Brown in an interview last week from the Earth Policy Institute in Washington, D.C. "We know the best way to manage disasters is to prevent them in the first place." - 2011/06/11: SPR: U.S. government energy subsidies by type of electricity produced
Another C40 mention:
- 2011/06/13: Grist: Cities can lead on climate-change solutions -- here's how
More shrinkology:
- 2011/06/15: CDreams: Is Cognitive Dissonance Fueling Conservative Denial of Climate Change?
- 2011/06/14: NYT: Reason Seen More as Weapon Than Path to Truth
John Cook and friends continue their point-counterpoint articles:
- 2011/06/18: SkeptiSci: Linking Extreme Weather and Global Warming by Anne-Marie Blackburn
- 2011/06/17: SkeptiSci: Who's your expert? The difference between peer review and rhetoric
- 2011/06/17: SkeptiSci: CO2 Currently Rising Faster Than The PETM Extinction Event by Rob Painting
- 2011/06/16: SkeptiSci: Our effect on the earth is real: how we're geo-engineering the planet
- 2011/06/15: SkeptiSci: The Planetary Greenhouse Engine Revisited by Chris Colose
- 2011/06/14: SkeptiSci: The greenhouse effect is real: here's why
- 2011/06/14: SkeptiSci: Climate change is real: an open letter from the scientific community
- 2011/06/14: SkeptiSci: Phil Jones - Warming Since 1995 is now Statistically Significant by dana1981
- 2011/06/13: SkeptiSci: Forecast: Permanently Hotter Summers in 20-60 years by Donna Hesterman
Late Comment on the Equinox Summit:
- 2011/06/14: BNC: Equinox Energy 2030 communiqué
A note on the Fukushima disaster:
It is evident that the Fukushima disaster is going to persist for some time. TEPCO says 6 to 9 months. We'll see. Meanwhile, I am moving the topic down slightly and setting up its own section to track further developments.
Not much good news coming out of Fukushima:
- 2011/06/18: WaPo: Japan finds hot spots in areas that seemed safe
- 2011/06/18: al Jazeera: UN nuclear report shows Japan safety flaws
IAEA report suggests several shortcomings both before and after a tidal wave crippled the Fukushima plant. - 2011/06/18: Guardian(UK): Fukushima halts water decontamination
- 2011/06/18: ABC(Au): TEPCO suspends clean-up at Fukushima plant
The operator of Japan's stricken Fukushima nuclear power plant says it has suspended an operation to clean-up radioactive water only five hours after it had begun. - 2011/06/18: al Jazeera: Radiation spike halts Fukushima clean-up
Operator of Japan's stricken nuclear power unable to remove pools of radioactive water at risk of spilling into the sea. - 2011/06/17: Guardian(UK): Fukushima radioactive water clean-up begins
- 2011/06/17: PlanetArk: Japan Plans To Move Pregnant Women From Far-Flung Radiation
- 2011/06/16: NatureNB: Fukushima still wet 'n' wild
- 2011/06/14: APR: Fukushima Daiichi update: Tuesday
- 2011/06/14: BBC: Fukushima City to give children radiation dosimeters
- 2011/06/15: PlanetArk: Radiation "Hotspots" Hinder Japans Response To Nuclear Crisis
- 2011/06/14: Guardian(UK): Japan cabinet approves Fukushima nuclear compensation
Cabinet agrees estimated $100bn-plus payout package after reactor meltdown but political manoeuvring could delay payments - 2011/06/13: BBC: Japan's cabinet has approved a plan to set up a fund to help Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco) compensate victims of its tsunami-crippled nuclear plant
- 2011/06/13: ABC(Au): Toxic strontium found in Fukushima groundwater
Post Fukushima, nuclear policies are in flux around the world:
- 2011/06/16: MLynas: Germany, Italy, Greens, nukes and climate change
- 2011/06/15: Guardian(UK): What Italy's nuclear referendum means for climate change
- 2011/06/15: PlanetArk: Three-Quarters Of Japanese Favor Nuclear Power Phase-Out
- 2011/06/13: DVoice: Thousands Participate in 6/11 "No-Nuke People Action!"
- 2011/06/13: DerSpiegel: Germany's Nuclear Phaseout -- Irate Power Companies to Sue Berlin For Damages
Germany's power companies are preparing to take legal action against the government's decision to shut down their nuclear power plants. They say the new closure plan is too rigid and will prove more costly to them than the previous nuclear phaseout agreed by a center-left government in 2000. - 2011/06/14: DerSpiegel: Nuclear Referendum -- Italians Vote No to Berlusconi
The Italians have cast their ballots -- and for the second time in just a few weeks, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was left holding the short stick. The country voted against nuclear energy and against the privatization of waterworks. But it has also become clear that the country has tired of its leader. - 2011/06/14: EUO: Italians reject nuclear energy in further blow to Berlusconi
- 2011/06/14: NatureNB: Italy says no to nuclear
- 2011/06/13: ScienceInsider: Italy Says No to Reintroduction of Nuclear Energy
- 2011/06/13: NatureN: Researchers call for nuclear data release -- Trove of data from Fukushima and beyond could improve nuclear monitoring and benefit research
And of course, the pundits. lobbyists and politicians have a lot to say:
- 2011/06/17: CNN: Crisis brewing as Japan's tea farmers face radiation ban
Crippled nuclear plant led to ban earlier this month on green tea from parts of four prefectures - Authorities detected levels of radioactive cesium in tea leaves above the legal limit - Discovery of radiation in fields further south in Shizuoka threatens this tea region - Tea exporters say government's regulations make no sense for tea's common usage - 2011/06/17: CNN: New cleanup measure halted at crippled Japanese nuclear plant
The company had just implements the new cleanup system Friday night - The new system is seen as a key part of TEPCO's plan to handle the nuclear crisis - It is supposed to absorb cesium from the water - 2011/06/18: CCP: Fukushima: It's much worse than you think. Scientific experts believe Japan's nuclear disaster to be far worse than governments are revealing to the public
- 2011/06/16: CCurrents: Fukushima: 'Biggest Industrial Catastrophe In History'
- 2011/06/18: BBC: Japan nuclear: Radiation halts water clean-up
Operators of Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant have suspended an operation to clean contaminated water hours after it began due to a rapid rise in radiation. Some 110,000 tonnes of water have built up during efforts to cool reactors hit by the 11 March earthquake and tsunami. The contaminated water, enough to fill 40 Olympic-sized swimming pools, has been at risk of spilling into the sea. - 2011/06/18: ABC(Au): TEPCO suspends clean-up at Fukushima plant
- 2011/06/16: CDreams: The Big Fukushima Lie Flies High
The global nuclear industry and its allies in government are making a desperate effort to cover up the consequences of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster. - 2011/06/16: al Jazeera: Fukushima: It's much worse than you think
Scientific experts believe Japan's nuclear disaster to be far worse than governments are revealing to the public. - 2011/06/13: CCurrents: Japanese Nuclear Crisis Worse Than Previously Conceded
The Arctic melt continues to garner a lot of attention:
- 2011/06/18: CCP: Arctic melts faster than IPCC's forecasts
- 2011/06/17: ERabett: Dive
- 2011/06/17: ASI: PIOMAS Version 2
- 2011/06/17: ASI: SIE 2011 update 8: 10 million mark
- 2011/06/17: ASI: Nares Bridge is falling down
- 2011/06/16: CCP: Brett Anderson: Not a Pretty Picture in the Arctic
- 2011/06/16: CCP: Climate variability in West Greenland during the past 1500 years: Evidence from a high-resolution marine palynological record from Disko Bay, by Sofia Ribeiro et al., Boreas
- 2011/06/14: CCP: Professor Tedesco Tracks Life and Death of Greenland Supra-Glacial Lake
- 2011/06/12: CCP: "The Arctic's rapidly shrinking sea ice cover: a research synthesis," by Julienne C. Stroeve et al., Climatic Change (June 8, 2011)
As for the geopolitics of Arctic resources:
- 2011/06/17: CBC: Greenpeace head [Kumi Naidoo] arrested on Arctic oil rig
- 2011/06/17: CCP: Greenpeace Head Kumi Naidoo Risks Arrest in Arctic Oil Rig Protest
- 2011/06/14: PlanetArk: Arctic Oil Drilling "Entirely Legitimate": UK
While in Antarctica:
- 2011/06/16: CCP: The ozone hole located over the South Pole has affected the entire circulation of the Southern Hemisphere all the way to the equator
- 2011/06/16: CCP: Drivers of past and future Southern Ocean change: Stratospheric ozone versus greenhouse gas impacts by M. Sigmond, M. C. Reader, J. C. Frye & N. P. Gillett, GRL, 38
The food crisis is ongoing:
- 2011/06/14: FAO: Drought in Horn of Africa threatens millions -- Herders and farmers in need of urgent support
- 2011/06/17: ABC(Au): A mouse plague spanning four states is threatening large sections of farming crops, with a national shortage of bait prolonging the problem
- 2011/06/16: Google:AFP: US House votes to bar N.Korea food aid
- 2011/06/17: EconView: Urban Farms and Energy Use
- 2011/06/15: BPA: Top Reasons for Rising Energy Use in the Food Industry
- 2011/06/14: G&M: Prairie flooding causes farming disaster
- 2011/06/14: AgriMoney: Wet leaves Canada wheat hopes below even 2010's
- 2011/06/13: BPA: A Round-Up of the NYT's Recent Food Security Articles by Justin Gillis
- 2011/06/14: BPA: Corn Acres have replaced Barley, Oats and Sorghum Feed Grains
- 2011/06/14: EconView: Proposed Cuts to the WIC Nutrition Program Bassed Upon False Information
- 2011/06/14: CBC: Wet weather affects Prairie wheat seeding
The Canadian Wheat Board says this year could be even worse than 2010, sucking an additional $1.5 billion to $2.5 billion out of the Prairie economy. On Tuesday, the board said between 2.4 and 3.2 million hectares of farmland is still unseeded across the Prairies this year because of wet weather. - 2011/06/14: PlanetArk: Wetness To Push Manitoba Unplanted Acres To Record
- 2011/06/14: TMoS: Kansas Throws In the Towel, Harvests Whatever Wheat It Can
- 2011/06/10: Reuters: Years of work loom to save world wheat from [Ug99] fungus
- 2011/06/13: KSJT: Wires, etc: Crop breeders race to stem blight that threatens world wheat crop
On the food corp. front:
- 2011/06/15: EurActiv: Sarkozy likens commodity speculators to mafia
French President Nicolas Sarkozy yesterday (14 June) called for tighter controls on the speculators he blames for spiralling food and energy prices, spelling out reforms that would put more trading under the thumb of regulators. - 2011/06/13: EnergyBulletin: New UNCTAD study charts impact of financial investors on commodity prices
Food Prices are still problematic:
- FAO: World Food Situation - Food Price Indices
- 2011/06/18: CDreams: Food Price Explosion 'Will Devastate the World's Poor'
After a 40% rise in global prices over the past year, droughts and floods threaten to seriously damage this year's harvest - 2011/06/17: CBC: Food prices will continue to rise, groups warn
Food prices will continue to rise in the coming decade increasing the risk of malnutrition and hunger among the world's poor, two international organizations warn. In a joint report, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization and the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development warned that the risk that volatile prices, which have already hurt farmers across the globe, remains high. - 2011/06/17: UN: Agricultural commodity prices not likely to fall for some time, says UN report
- 2011/06/15: CNN: Report: World changes eating habits as food prices soar
54 percent of people are not eating the same kind of food as they did two years ago - 39 percent of those who changed their diet blamed the rising price of food - The U.N. Food Price Index hit an all-time high in February 2011 - 2011/06/13: EnergyBulletin: Planning for higher food and energy prices, and their wider impacts
The conflict between biofuel and food persists:
- 2011/06/16: SciAm: A Quick Fix to the Food Crisis -- Curbing biofuels should halt price rises
- 2011/06/16: Grist: SciAm op-ed: Kill biofuels to solve the food crisis
- 2011/06/14: AgriMoney: Tight corn stocks to fuel scrutiny of ethanol use
And how are we going to feed 9 billion?
- 2011/06/13: FAO: Putting nature back into agriculture -- Save and Grow farming model launched by FAO
- 2011/06/18: TP:JR: Re-Imagining Agriculture: How to Raise Yields while Reducing CO2 Emissions
- 2011/06/17: UN: UN food aid reaches half a million conflict-affected Libyans
- 2011/06/16: Guardian(UK): A food security strategy we can't afford not to fund
Supporting small farmers really works, especially for women. But to continue work, we need G20 partners to step up to the plate - 2011/06/14: EnergyBulletin: FAO Save and grow (report)
- 2011/06/14: PlanetArk: Farmers Must Boost Sustainable Crops To Feed World: FAO
- 2011/06/14: Grist: A fight over the future of farming: U.N. ag group vs. Big Ag
- 2011/06/14: BBC:RB: Aquaculture looks to green dawn
- 2011/06/13: UN: Funding for Horn of Africa drought falls short of needs, UN says
There were several numbered storms around the world, but no major cyclones:
- 2011/06/17: Eureka: NASA satellite sees Tropical Depression 06W near the Philippines
- 2011/06/17: Eureka: System 92E looking more like a developing east Pacific tropical storm
- 2011/06/13: Eureka: NASA sees Arabian Sea tropical depression 1A fading
- 2011/06/13: Eureka: Stunning NASA imagery and movie released of a now gone Hurricane Adrian
As for GHGs:
- 2011/06/16: TCoE: CO2 and ice update
As for the temperature record:
- 2011/06/16: NOAANews: Global temperatures were 10th warmest on record for May
- 2011/06/15: MTobis: Florida, Texas
- 2011/06/16: Wunderground: Globe has 10th warmest May on record; critical fire conditions for Arizona
- 2011/06/14: TP:JR: NOAA: The New Normal is Hot
- 2011/06/14: SkeptiSci: Phil Jones - Warming Since 1995 is now Statistically Significant by dana1981
- 2011/06/13: SkeptiSci: Forecast: Permanently Hotter Summers in 20-60 years by Donna Hesterman
Yes we have feedbacks:
- 2011/06/18: CCP: The Fire and Climate Change Feedback Loop [nitrous oxide]: interview with Bruce Hungate
Aerosols are making their presence felt:
- 2011/06/15: PlanetArk: Soot, Smog Curbs Quick Way To Combat Warming: U.N. Study
- 2011/06/14: Grist: Eliminating soot would save 2.5 million lives a year, slow climate change
- 2011/06/14: Guardian(UK): UN -- curbing black carbon would bring dramatic, quick benefits to all
While in the paleoclimate:
- 2011/06/15: Eureka: Dating an ancient episode of severe global warming [PETM]
Dealing with uncertainties:
- 2011/06/13: IsaacHeld: 12. Using model ensembles to reduce uncertainty
- 2011/06/13: CCP: Bill Sweet: The Black Swan and the Bell Curve
What's new on the extinction front?
- 2011/06/18: TreeHugger: 19,000 Species Now in Danger of Extinction [RedList]
- 2011/06/17: Guardian(UK): Drought and poachers take Botswana's natural wonder to brink of catastrophe
Aerial survey reveals some wildlife populations have shrunk by 90% in 15 years - 2011/06/15: NASA: NASA Satellite Gallery Shows Chilean Volcano Plume Moving Around the World
- 2011/06/13: SciNow: Volcano CO2 Emissions No Match for Human Activity
- 2011/06/14: QuarkSoup: Humans Versus the Volcanoes
- 2011/06/14: PlanetArk: Volcano Erupts In Eritrea After Earthquakes: VAAC
- 2011/06/13: Wunderground: Volcanic eruptions in Chile and Africa disrupt aviation; Arizona fire nears record
Meanwhile in near earth orbit:
- 2011/06/17: NPR: Blind Eye In The Sky: Weather Satellites Lose Funding
- 2011/06/17: USGS: Landsat Images Help Emergency Managers Fight Largest Fire in Arizona History
- 2011/06/16: USGS: Landsat 5 Satellite Sees Mississippi River Floodwaters Lingering
- 2011/06/14: CCP: Weather satellite need defended by climate experts
More GW impacts are being seen:
- 2011/06/14: USGS: Major Flooding on the Mississippi River Likely to Cause Large Gulf of Mexico Dead Zone
- 2011/06/16: UCLA: Ocean's harmful low-oxygen zones growing, are sensitive to small changes in climate
- 2011/06/16: Eureka: Where have all the flowers gone? High-mountain wildflower season reduced, affecting pollinators like bees, hummingbirds
- 2011/06/16: SF Gate: How state's farmers weathered drought
California's most recent drought cost consumers more than $1.5 billion in lost hydropower and led to the cancellation of two commercial salmon fishing seasons, but its impacts on agriculture were more mixed than previously thought, according to a water policy report released today. - 2011/06/16: OPB: Prairie Experiment Gives Window Onto NW Future
Oregon researchers have set up a kind of time machine to test how a warmer climate might affect the region's grasslands and prairies. - 2011/06/16: MTobis: The Fan is not Entirely Clean Anymore
- 2011/06/15: Guardian(UK): Climate change will cost poor countries billions of dollars, studies say
- 2011/06/15: ABC(Au): The wild weather has worsened coastal erosion problems on the mid north coast
- 2011/06/14: Guardian(UK): Australia's beloved koalas under threat
- 2011/06/14: NOAANews: Major flooding on the Mississippi River likely to cause large Gulf of Mexico dead zone
And then there are the world's forests:
- 2011/06/16: Grist: Dying to save the rainforest
- 2011/06/16: UBC: Old, large, living trees must be left standing to protect nesting animals: UBC study
- 2011/06/15: Guardian(UK): Death in the Amazon: a war being fought for us all
- 2011/06/15: NatureN: Misconceptions about forest-dwellers overturned -- Study rejects claims that poor residents cause most deforestation
- 2011/06/15: TreeHugger: Amazon Anti-Logging Activist Murdered, Fifth Time this Happens in the Past Month...
- 2011/06/14: BBC: Brazil: Another Amazon anti-logging activist killed
Another land campaigner in Brazil's Amazon region has been shot dead, bringing the number of activists killed over the past month to at least five. The body of Obede Loyla Sousa was found in dense forest surrounding his home in the northern state of Para. The 31-year-old had argued with illegal loggers in the area, according to a church group. - 2011/06/14: TreeHugger: Globalized Beef, Palm Oil & Timber Corporations Now Main Cause of Tropical Deforestation
- 2011/06/13: UCSUSA: Biggest Threat to Tropical Forest Now Comes From Global Demand For Food Products
- 2011/06/13: BBC: Tree-frog biodiversity warning for Amazon
Climate refugees are becoming an issue:
- 2011/06/18: TreeHugger: Will Climate Again Drive US Internal Migrations?
Desertification looms as a threat:
- 2011/06/17: Guardian(UK): Desertification in Inner Mongolia, China - in [14] pictures
This week in extreme weather:
- 2011/06/16: CSM: What's causing all this recent crazy weather?
- 2011/06/16: CDreams: Extreme Weather Events Unprecedented, Scientists Say
- 2011/06/15: Grist: You might have a climate crisis if ...
- 2011/06/13: Guardian(UK): Warning: extreme weather ahead
Tornados, wildfires, droughts and floods were once seen as freak conditions. But the environmental disasters now striking the world are shocking signs of 'global weirding' - 2011/06/13: SciNow: A Tornado's Path of Destruction
- 2011/06/12: ProMedMail: Mucormycosis, fatal - USA: (MO) tornado-related
As for heatwaves and wild fires:
- 2011/06/17: KSJT: AP: More wildfires? Yes. Better get used to it
- 2011/06/16: Eureka: Landsat 5 satellite helps emergency managers fight largest fire in Arizona history
- 2011/06/16: TD: Chip Ward, Fire's Manifest Destiny
- 2011/06/16: AlterNet: How the West Was Lost: The American West in Flames
- 2011/06/16: EnergyBulletin: How the west was lost
- 2011/06/16: ABC(Au): Victorian bushfire smoke circled Earth for months
Smoke from the 2009 Victoria bushfires travelled high into the stratosphere and circled the Earth for more than three months, a new study has found. - 2011/06/15: CBC: Northern Alta. fire surges to size of P.E.I.
The biggest wildfire Alberta firefighters have ever faced continues to rage out of control in the province's northeast. The Richardson backcountry fire, located about 60 kilometres north of Fort McMurray, started on May 15 -- the same day as the Slave Lake wildfire that destroyed hundreds of homes and businesses. The Richardson fire is now similar in size to Prince Edward Island, having scorched 570,000 hectares of muskeg and bush. - 2011/06/15: CBC: Arizona wildfire grows to near-record
- 2011/06/14: CNN: Arizona wildfire is now the state's largest ever
The Wallow Fire surpasses the 2002 fire that was the state's biggest - Officials say the Arizona blaze is 18% contained - A wildfire is also burning in Carlsbad Caverns National Park - 2011/06/13: TP:JR: USGS: Global Warming Drives Rockies Snowpack Loss Unrivaled in 800 Years, Threatens Western Water Supply
- 2011/06/13: CNN: Worst fires in Arizona history rage on -- Battle to contain Arizona wildfire continues, but some can return home
Fire crews report more good news in fight against Wallow Fire - But the fire has now burned 706 square miles - Residents are returning to Springerville, Eagar - Officials say the blaze is 10% contained - 2011/06/13: CBC: 500 flee fire in northern Sask.
A forest fire has forced 500 people from their homes in northern Saskatchewan. The fire was just a few kilometres from the communities of Hall Lake and Sikachu Lake, southwest of La Ronge, Sunday afternoon when officials made the call to move the residents. - 2011/06/12: CBC: Arizona wildfire spreads to New Mexico
Corals are dying:
- 2011/06/14: DM:NERS: Satellite pictures reveal "landscape of fear" in Great Barrier Reef
Acidification is changing the oceans:
- 2011/06/16: Tyee: Coming to a Shore Near You: Acidified Water -- From Baja to BC, it's shown up near the ocean's surface sooner than we thought
- 2011/06/14: Tyee: Why Ocean Acidification Matters to You -- Carbon pollution harm to our oceans is especially dramatic in the BC region
Sea levels are rising:
- 2011/06/15: HotTopic: Rebuilding on a rising tide
- 2011/06/15: NASA: What Will Climate Change and Sea Level Rise Mean for Barrier Islands?
As for hydrological cycle disruptions [floods & droughts]:
- 2011/06/18: al Jazeera: China ravaged by severe floods
More than 170 people dead or missing after two weeks of torrential rain, with Zhejiang province the hardest hit. - 2011/06/17: ABC(Au): Thousands still isolated by NSW floodwaters
More than 10,000 people remain isolated by floodwaters across the mid-north coast of New South Wales. Several days of wild weather earlier this week brought flooding and storm damage across a huge area between Grafton and the Upper Hunter. Most rivers peaked on Wednesday night but an estimated 14,000 people are still cut off. - 2011/06/16: al Jazeera: Heavy flooding swamps eastern Australia -- Thousands of homes affected in New South Wales following days of rain
- 2011/06/17: CNN: Torrential rains hit south China, killing 25
At least 25 people are reported missing - Hundreds of thousands have been evacuated - Loss cost estimated at more than previous two floods combined - 2011/06/17: PlanetArk: Torrential Rains Batter Parts Of China, Floods Spread
- 2011/06/17: TreeHugger: China Evacuates 500,000 During Massive Flooding That Ends 50-Year Drought
- 2011/06/17: Wunderground: Missouri River flood hits unprecedented flow rates
- 2011/06/16: Eureka: Landsat 5 satellite sees Mississippi River floodwaters lingering
- 2011/06/17: BBC: Fatal floods hit China forcing over 500,000 to flee
Days of torrential rain have forced the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of people in central and southern China. The government has described flooding in some areas as the worst since 1955 and has mobilised troops to evacuate some 555,000 people. More than 100 people are known to have died so far this month. - 2011/06/12: BBC: In pictures: China flooding
- 2011/06/17: CBC: Chinese Yangtze River at highest level in 55 years
A flooded river in eastern China is at its highest level in more than 50 years, the government said Friday as thousands of train passengers were stranded after landslides buried parts of a railway line in the southwest. Flooding in China over the past two weeks has left more than 170 people dead or missing and forced thousands of people to leave homes in regions along the Yangtze River. - 2011/06/15: PlanetArk: Heavy Rains Move To U.S. Midwest, More Flooding
- 2011/06/14: TreeHugger: Small World: France & Texas Face Similar, Severe Drought Impacts
- 2011/06/14: TP:JR: U.S. Had Most Extreme Spring on Record for Precipitation
- 2011/06/14: NatureN: Studies spy on a river's rage -- Investigation into this year's Mississippi floods could shape coastal restoration plans
- 2011/06/13: JFleck: 1,100/3,660
- 2011/06/14: Wunderground: U.S. had most extreme spring on record for precipitation
- 2011/06/14: OilChange: Well, something's going on...
- 2011/06/13: CCP: Warming to Blame for Water Crisis in U.S. West. Heat -- not lack of precipitation -- shrinking crucial snowpack, study says
- 2011/06/12: UN: Ban moved by flood devastation in Colombia, voices UN readiness to help
- 2011/06/13: Grist: Rockies snowpack level in severest decline in a millennium
Elsewhere on the mitigation front:
- 2011/06/14: PeakEnergy: Queensland concrete goes green
Consider transportation & GHG production:
- 2011/06/17: Atmoz: The real solution for Austin
- 2011/06/14: WNYC: Full Steam Ahead For China's Rail Links Abroad? [The first stop outside China in the border town of Boten in northern Laos]
- 2011/06/14: MTobis: My market preferences
- 2011/06/13: AutoBG: A light bulb's worth of energy to take father & son on cross country tour
- 2011/06/12: NBF: High Speed rail and airlines compete for Beijng to Shanghai travellers
As for carbon sequestration:
- 2011/06/15: BBC: Energy giants' plan for new Scots onshore CO2 pipeline
Plans to create an onshore pipeline carrying up to two million tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) have been proposed by three of the UK's energy giants. - 2011/06/14: ABC(Au): MP [Murray Cowper] demands carbon capture answers
The Member for Murray-Wellington says he is concerned there are too many unanswered questions surrounding a proposed carbon capture and storage facility in Collie in south-west Western Australia. - 2011/06/13: ABC(Au): The Member for Collie-Preston, Mick Murray, says a proposed carbon capture and storage hub in the south-west Western Australian town of Collie will create a number of new jobs in the area
Large scale geo-engineering keeps popping up:
- 2011/06/16: GEP: The Guardian Against Geoengineering?
- 2011/06/16: BizGreen: There is geo-engineering, and then there is geo-engineering
- 2011/06/17: TreeHugger: Why Geoengineering Should Not Be Dismissed Entirely
- 2011/06/16: SkeptiSci: Our effect on the earth is real: how we're geo-engineering the planet
- 2011/06/15: Guardian(UK): Geo-engineering does not deserve serious climate policy consideration [ETC Grup]
- 2011/06/14: HOME: Open letter to IPCC on geoengineering
- 2011/06/15: Guardian(UK): IPCC asks scientists to assess geo-engineering climate solutions
Leaked documents ahead of key Lima meeting suggest UN body is looking to slow emissions with technological fixes rather than talks - 2011/06/15: GEP: HOME Sends Warning to IPCC
- 2011/06/13: Guardian(UK): [Letters] Geoengineering research guidelines
While on the adaptation front:
- 2011/06/13: CBC: Cities try to adapt to heat waves
- 2011/06/12: EnergyBulletin: Can humans really adapt to climate change?
Meanwhile in the journals:
- 2011/06/13: Holocene: (ab$) Neotropical human-landscape interactions, fire, and atmospheric CO2 during European conquest by R. J. Nevle et al.
- 2011/06/16: ESD: Role of volcanic forcing on future global carbon cycle by J. F. Tjiputra & O. H. Otterå
- 2011/06/17: ESDD: Jet stream wind power as a renewable energy resource: little power, big impacts by L. M. Miller et al.
- 2011/06/17: CP: Methane variations on orbital timescales: a transient modeling experiment by T. Y. M. Konijnendijk et al.
- 2011/06/16: CP: The early Eocene equable climate problem revisited by M. Huber & R. Caballero
- 2011/06/17: CPD: The Middle Miocene climate as modelled in an atmosphere-ocean-biosphere model by M. Krapp & J. H. Jungclaus
- 2011/06/14: CPD: Impact of oceanic processes on the carbon cycle during the last termination by N. Bouttes et al.
- 2011/06/15: ACP: Number size distributions and seasonality of submicron particles in Europe 2008-2009 by A. Asmi et al.
- 2011/06/15: ACP: The fluorescence properties of aerosol larger than 0.8 ?m in urban and tropical rainforest locations by A. M. Gabey et al.
- 2011/06/15: ACP: Tropopause height at 78° N 16° E: average seasonal variation 2007-2010 by C. M. Hall et al.
- 2011/06/15: ACP: Seasonal variations and vertical features of aerosol particles in the Antarctic troposphere by K. Hara et al.
- 2011/06/14: ACP: Ultraviolet actinic flux in clear and cloudy atmospheres: model calculations and aircraft-based measurements by G. G. Palancar et al.
- 2011/06/16: ACPD: Future impact of non-land based traffic emissions on atmospheric ozone and OH - an optimistic scenario and a possible mitigation strategy by Ã. Hodnebrog et al.
- 2011/06/14: ACPD: Uncertainty of the stratospheric/tropospheric temperature trends in 1979-2008: Multiple Satellite MSU, radiosonde, and reanalysis datasets by J. Xu & A. M. Powell Jr.
- 2011/06/14: PNAS: (abs) Apoptosis and the selective survival of host animals following thermal bleaching in zooxanthellate corals by Dan Tchernov et al.
- 2011/06/14: PNAS: (ab$) Tropical amphibian populations experience higher disease risk in natural habitats by C. Guilherme Becker & Kelly R. Zamudio
- 2011/06/14: PNAS: (abs) Clay mineral continental amplifier for marine carbon sequestration in a greenhouse ocean by Martin J. Kennedy & Thomas Wagner
- 2011/06/14: PNAS: (ab$) Enhanced chemistry-climate feedbacks in past greenhouse worlds by David J. Beerling et al.
- 2011/06/14: PNAS: (ab$) Benchmark map of forest carbon stocks in tropical regions across three continents by Sassan S. Saatchi et al.
- 2011/06/14: PNAS: (ab$) Abrupt Holocene climate change as an important factor for human migration in West Greenland by William J. D'Andrea et al.
- 2011/06/14: PNAS: (letter$) Terrestrial influences on carbon burial at sea by Richard G. Keil
- 2011/06/14: PNAS: (letter$) Algal ice-binding proteins change the structure of sea ice by James A. Raymond
- 2011/06/14: GMD: GEOCLIM reloaded (v 1.0): a new coupled earth system model for past climate change by S. Arndt et al.
- 2011/06/14: GMDD: Carbon monoxide as a tracer for tropical troposphere to stratosphere transport in the Chemical Lagrangian Model of the Stratosphere (CLaMS) by R. Pommrich et al.
- 2011/06/14: TC: The surface energy balance of a polygonal tundra site in northern Siberia - Part 2: Winter by M. Langer et al.
- 2011/06/14: OSD: Spectrophotometric high-precision seawater pH determination for use in underway measuring systems by S. AÃmann et al.
- 2011/06/14: OSD: Calculating the water and heat balances of the Eastern Mediterranean basin using ocean modelling and available meteorological, hydrological, and ocean data by M. Shaltout & A. Omstedt
- 2011/06/14: Nature: Landscape of fear visible from space by Elizabeth M. P. Madin et al.
- 2011/06/13: AGWObserver: New research from last week 23/2011
And other significant documents:
- 2011/06/17: FAO: [link to 1.1 meg pdf] Higher agriculture commodity prices here to stay -- OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook 2011-2020 published
- FAO: [Online Book] Save and grow -- A policymaker's guide to the sustainable intensification of smallholder crop production
- 2011/06/15: BioFuelWatch: [link to 1 meg pdf] A critical review of biochar science and policy
As for miscellaneous science:
- 2011/06/18: MTobis: Is Peer Review Double Blind?
- 2011/06/17: ERabett: Kultutkampf
- 2011/06/14: CCP: "Sea ice contribution to the air-sea CO2 exchange in the Arctic and Southern Oceans," by Søren Rysgaard et al., Tellus B,
- 2011/06/14: JEB: Another comment and reply
More DIY science:
- 2011/06/17: moyhu: Cheerful colors for time series
What's new in models?
- 2011/06/16: ClimateSight: Climate Models on Ubuntu
- 2011/06/15: Wunderground:RR: The Scientific Organization: Organizing U.S. Climate Modeling (2)
Regarding Lindzen:
- 2011/06/15: Stoat: Lindzen goes emeritus
- 2011/06/14: ERabett: As Easy as Rocket Science
Meanwhile at the UN:
- 2011/06/18: ERabett:BDS: IPCC's should make projections based on a maximum human lifetime: 110 years
- 2011/06/14: WMO: New UNEP-WMO Assessment Complements Urgent Action Needed to Cut CO2 Emissions Under UN Climate Treaty
Complementary Action to Curb 'Soot' and 'Smog' Pollution Could Help Limit Global Temperature Rise to 2 Degrees or Less Multiple Benefits Include Improved Air Quality and Human Health, Higher Crop Yields, Reduced Rate of Climate Change in the Near-Term and a Chance to Slow Serious Melting of the Arctic - 2011/06/14: PlanetArk: World Off Course On Climate; Renewables Vital
The world is off course in fighting climate change and governments need to boost green energies to build new momentum, the head of the U.N. panel of climate scientists said on Monday. Rajendra Pachauri said governments would face ever higher costs to slow global warming after new data showed greenhouse gas emissions rose to new highs in 2010. - 2011/06/18: EUO: EU steps up security of emissions trading system
- 2011/06/15: TreeHugger: Voluntary Carbon Market Grew To Record High Volume in 2010
- 2011/06/15: PlanetArk: EU Energy Firms Fear "Tremendous Decline" In CO2 Price
How will Carbon Labelling work?
- 2011/06/14: CleanBreak: Is it time for carbon labelling of products in Canada? Can it be done effectively?
Meanwhile on the international political front:
- 2011/06/18: Guardian(UK): Cost of metals used in hi-tech devices soars as China limits supplies
Europium oxide, used in energy-saving lightbulbs, plasma TVs and smart phones, has leaped from $1,260 a kg to $3,400 - 2011/06/17: CBC: Greenpeace head [Kumi Naidoo] arrested on Arctic oil rig
- 2011/06/17: BBC: Greenpeace head Naidoo held in Cairn oil rig protest
The global head of Greenpeace has been arrested after scaling an Arctic rig operated by oil firm Cairn Energy. International executive director Kumi Naidoo was arrested along with another campaigner after boarding the Leiv Eiriksson rig off Greenland. - 2011/06/18: DeSmogBlog: Stories From The March On Blair Mountain - Part 2 The Rally
- 2011/06/16: CDreams: Who Is Tim DeChristopher? From Coal Belt, Through Mountain Trails, On Route To Obama's Prison Cell
[...]
On March 3, 2011 he was convicted of 'fraud' and now he awaits sentencing to take place come Thursday on June 23rd--up to ten years in federal prison plus a $750,000 fine to be handed to him by the Barack Obama administration. - 2011/06/17: CCP: Greenpeace Head Kumi Naidoo Risks Arrest in Arctic Oil Rig Protest
- 2011/06/15: Guardian(UK): Forty years of Friends of the Earth - in [25] pictures
- 2011/06/15: CSW: Mountaintop removal rally outside EPA headquarters excoriates 'King Coal' Congress members
- 2011/06/13: Guardian(UK): Environmental activism needs its own revolution to regain its teeth
- 2011/06/13: CSW: From the top of Blair Mountain: "It's time to annihilate mountaintop removal"
Polls! We have polls!
- 2011/06/16: TP:JR: Poll: Americans Trust EPA, Not Congress, to Clean Our Air
- 2011/06/15: DeSmogBlog: Report: Broad Bipartisan Support For Action On Climate Change
- 2011/06/14: TP:JR: Poll: Independents -- and Even Republicans -- are Still Concerned About Global Warming and Overwhelmingly Support Clean Energy Development
- 2011/06/15: PlanetArk: Three-Quarters Of Japanese Favor Nuclear Power Phase-Out
- 2011/06/14: TreeHugger: 71% of Americans Now Say Tackling Climate Change Should be a Priority
Regarding Water Politics and Business:
- 2011/06/15: JFleck: The Delta -- A Sense of Urgency
- 2011/06/13: JFleck: Water's Sometimes for Fightin' Over
- 2011/06/13: TreeHugger: In Record Drought, Texas Frackers Firefighters And Farmers Compete For Water
And on the American political front:
- 2011/06/18: DM:JW: The Conservative "Class War" against Expertise
- 2011/06/17: TP:JR: North Carolina Republicans Push Back Against Decades of Environmental Progress
- 2011/06/17: TP:JR: Did the "No. 1 Global Warming Denier in Minnesota," State Senator Michael Jungbauer, Inflate His Résumé?
- 2011/06/17: Grist: Military spends more to air condition tents than NASA's entire budget
- 2011/06/17: DeSmogBlog: Pentagon Releases New Clean Energy Strategy
- 2011/06/15: CCP: Background claims by Minnesota state Senate's global-warming skeptic, Michael Jungbauer, fail to check out
- 2011/06/15: CCP: Anti Scott Brown WhichSideAreYouOn.org ad banned in Boston
Clean Air Act Ads Banned by MBTA for being "too Controversial"; Banned Ads Highlighted Link between Brown's Vote to Gut the Clean Air Act and $1.9 Million Poured into his Campaign by the Fossil Fuel Industry - 2011/06/15: TP:JR: MBTA Bans Ad on Scott Brown's Vote to Gut Clean Air Act
- 2011/06/15: Grist: EPA bashers aren't protecting 'jobs,' they're protecting polluters
- 2011/06/15: PlanetArk: California Turns To Clean-Car Plans
- 2011/06/14: EconView: Proposed Cuts to the WIC Nutrition Program Bassed Upon False Information
- 2011/06/14: Guardian(UK): Gregory Jaczko 'unilaterally' stopped work on US nuclear dump
Republicans demand resignation of nuclear agency head after he is found to have acted improperly in shutting down project - 2011/06/13: TP:JR: Poll: Lack of an Energy Policy is Hurting U.S. Competitiveness, Say 2/3 of Utility Execs
- 2011/06/12: AlterNet: 10 States Where Abortion Is Virtually Illegal for Some Women
- 2011/06/12: AlterNet: Why the Right-Wing's Denial of Science May Screw All of Us
On the 2012 election trail:
- 2011/06/16: AlterNet: 10 Of The Craziest Things Michele Bachmann Has Ever Said
- 2011/06/16: TP:JR: Al Gore: "Good for Mitt Romney, though we've long passed the point where weak lip-service is enough on the Climate Crisis"
- 2011/06/14: TP:JR: Michele Bachmann: Let's repeal clean air and clean water for our children
- 2011/06/14: CCP: Mitt Romney calls Federal Disaster Relief for Joplin, Missouri, and Alabama tornado victims "immoral"
- 2011/06/13: AutoBG: Your cheat sheet for tonight's Republican Presidential debate ethanol scuffle
- 2011/06/13: CBC: Michele Bachmann enters U.S. presidential race
- 2011/06/13: TP:JR: Pawlenty Stands Against Clean Air and For Asthma Attacks: "I Will Require Sunsetting of all Federal Regulations"
- 2011/06/12: RawStory: Santorum: All abortion doctors should be 'criminally charged'
A cynical exercise. Neither the Tea Party House nor the White House will agreee to kill this subsidy:
- 2011/06/17: AutoBG: Report: Senate approves amendment to end ethanol subsidies
- 2011/06/17: SeattlePI: Senate votes to repeal ethanol tax credits
- 2011/06/16: TP:JR: In a "Mostly Symbolic" Move, Senate Vote to Kill Some Ethanol Subsidies
- 2011/06/16: NatureNB: Reversing course, US Senate votes to kill corn ethanol subsidies
- 2011/06/15: EnvEcon: On the end of ethanol subsidies...Which aren't ending...
- 2011/06/14: NatureNB: Senate rejects bid to kill corn ethanol subsidy
- 2011/06/14: AutoBG: Senate shoots down proposal to end ethanol subsidies
- 2011/06/14: CSM: Ethanol vote: First step toward extinction for federal tax subsidies?
The Obama chatter is nonstop:
- 2011/06/17: Guardian(UK): Which way will Barack Obama turn on solar power?
- 2011/06/14: Grist: Memo to the White House: Closing coal plants is a good thing
- 2011/06/14: TreeHugger: With One Week To Go, Will the White House Keep Its Promise to Install Solar Panels?
- 2011/06/14: CCP: In the Fixer-Upper with Barack Obama [McKibben]
The actions of the Obama administration are being watched closely:
- 2011/06/17: TreeHugger: DOE Awards $2 Billion Loans to Double Concentrating Solar Capacity in the US
- 2011/06/15: ProPublica: Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chief Blasts Agency's Approach to Fire Safety
- 2011/06/16: UCSUSA: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Sets High Bar with New Scientific Integrity Policy, Science Group Says
- 2011/06/16: NOAANews: NOAA seeks public comments on scientific integrity policy
- 2011/06/15: DeSmogBlog: President Obama's Fracking Panel Unmoved By Pennsylvanians' Water Concerns
- 2011/06/15: NetworkWorld: Energy Dept. spends $2B to double US concentrated solar power capacity -- US DOE offers paves way for 500 megawatts of solar power
- 2011/06/14: Wonkette: FEMA: Razed Houses In Alabama Have 'Insufficient Damage' To Receive Funds
- 2011/06/14: PlanetArk: EPA Delays Rollout Of CO2 Rule On Power Plants
- 2011/06/13: DeSmogBlog: Interior Dept Okays Thousands Of New Unconventional Gas Wells In Utah
- 2011/06/13: Grist: Defending EPA: Sen. Ben Cardin, Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins, and me at Netroots Nation
As for what is going on in Congress:
- 2011/06/17: NPR: Blind Eye In The Sky: Weather Satellites Lose Funding
- 2011/06/17: MR: Not From the Onion -- The headline says it all: House keeps farm subsidies, cuts food aid
- 2011/06/16: CDreams: Congress Panel Approves Bill to Fast-Track Keystone XL Pipeline?
Legislation would force Obama to make a decision on proposed pipeline that would transport Alberta tar sands oil to the Gulf coast - 2011/06/17: CCP: House GOP cutting American competitiveness, subsidizing yesterday's dirty energy industries
- 2011/06/17: TP:JR: Paul Ryan And His Family To Benefit From The $45 Billion In Subsidies For Big Oil In His Budget
- 2011/06/16: ScienceInsider: House Panel Tells Energy Department to Cull Underperforming Research Grants
- 2011/06/16: Google:AFP: US House votes to bar N.Korea food aid
- 2011/06/15: HuffPo: Republicans Slash Food Aid For Low-Income Women And Children, But Dodge Farm Subsidy Cuts
- 2011/06/14: Grist: Utilities and Joe Barton: 'Ignore the science: Pollution isn't bad for you!'
What are the lobbyists pushing?
- 2011/06/13: DeSmogBlog: Tom Ridge Claimed "I'm Not a Lobbyist" on Colbert Report, But The Facts Prove Otherwise
While in the UK:
- 2011/06/17: BBC: Windfarm protesters welcome Welsh Government limit
Opponents of windfarms have welcomed the Welsh Government's announcement to restrict developments in mid Wales. First Minister Carwyn Jones said planning guidelines on the number of windfarms should in future be regarded as an upper limit. The Welsh Government wants the UK government to devolve powers over large-scale energy generation projects. - 2011/06/17: CCP: George Monbiot: Peak Stupidity
Why was the Labour government telling two different stories about peak oil? - 2011/06/16: Guardian(UK): [Letters] Climate curriculum
- 2011/06/15: Guardian(UK): UK ministers ignored 'peak oil' warnings, report shows
Report reveals threat of civil unrest from energy shortages, which has been played down as 'alarmist' by ministers - 2011/06/14: Guardian(UK): Nearly half UK's biggest companies failing to act on carbon emissions law
Carbon Trust finds forty of the FTSE 100 do not have emissions targets, despite years of legislation and campaigning - 2011/06/14: Guardian(UK): [Update] Green-o-meter: Is the government keeping its green promises?
- 2011/06/13: Guardian(UK): Should climate change be dropped from the national curriculum?
- 2011/06/13: Guardian(UK): Climate change education can still be part of a slimmed-down curriculum
- 2011/06/13: OilChange: UK Gov Dismisses Fracking Inquiry Call
- 2011/06/12: Guardian(UK): Climate change should be excluded from curriculum, says adviser Tim Oates
And in Europe:
- 2011/06/17: AGWObserver: The climate commitment of new Finnish government
- 2011/06/17: Guardian(UK): EU climate chiefs in row over future of emissions trading
Ambitious new energy efficiency directive could destroy pioneering greenhouse gas trading system - 2011/06/17: EurActiv: EU countries put brakes on transport emissions goal
A proposed objective to cut the EU's transport emissions by 60% by 2050 was considered "too ambitious" by a majority of the bloc's transport ministers, who stressed that the goal should remain aspirational. - 2011/06/17: EurActiv: EU funds used for Hungarian anti-abortion campaign
EU money is co-financing an anti-abortion campaign in Hungary, leading to calls from European authorities to return the funds. - 2011/06/17: EurActiv: The European Commission renews push for 2030 renewables target
- 2011/06/17: EUO: EU energy efficiency directive is 'set up to fail', say critics
Brussels is aware of the need for binding energy efficiency targets but has failed to propose them in its imminent energy savings directive, making it "set up to fail", say critics. - 2011/06/16: EurActiv: Brussels in disarray over energy directive
Peter Vis, the chief of staff of EU Climate Commissioner Connie Hedegaard, has broken with protocol to warn that the European Commission's draft Energy Efficiency Directive could "undermine" the bloc's carbon market. - 2011/06/16: EUO: EU backs budget support and 2030 target for renewables
The European Commission has said the EU must establish a binding 2030 target for renewable energy, pledging to include stimulus measures for the industry in its multi-annual budget proposals (post 2013) to be published later this month. - 2011/06/16: PlanetArk: EU Climate Chief [Hedegaard] Confronts Riddle Of Deeper CO2 Cut
- 2011/06/16: PlanetArk: Seventy-Two Firms Call For Deeper EU Emissions Cuts
- 2011/06/15: PlanetArk: EU Energy Firms Fear "Tremendous Decline" In CO2 Price
The Europe Union's carbon market could be flooded with excess pollution permits over the next decade, deflating prices and undermining investment in green energy, five EU energy companies warned on Tuesday. The utilities, including Britain's Scottish and Southern Energy and Denmark's Dong, said falling carbon prices could: "severely hamper business incentives to invest in low-carbon technologies." The EU's upcoming "energy efficiency directive," due in late June, will propose cutting energy consumption in buildings, vehicles and more controversially, industry. - 2011/06/13: al Jazeera: Italian PM humiliated in crucial referendums
Voters back motions against nuclear power, water privatisation and trial immunity for government ministers. - 2011/06/12: BBC: Italy votes in nuclear power referendum
Meanwhile in Australia:
- 2011/06/18: ABC(Au): The Federal Government has announced three quarters of a billion dollars in funding for two major solar power stations that will go ahead in regional New South Wales and Queensland
- 2011/06/17: PeakEnergy: Time to reform the NEM [National Electricity Market]?
- 2011/06/16: ABC(Au): Councils unite to fight climate change
Several local councils have joined with the Goulburn Broken Catchment Management Authority to fight climate change. The Goulburn Broken Greenhouse Alliance will be officially launched today in Nagambie. Seven local councils are part of the alliance, including the Greater Shepparton Council, Moira, Benalla, Strathbogie, Mitchell, Murrindindi and the Mansfield Shire Council. The chairman of the group, Howard Myers, says the aim of the alliance is to help the regional community adapt to the challenges of climate change. - 2011/06/15: Guardian(UK): Why Australia is vulnerable to both climate change and climate sceptics
The 'lucky country' may feel the impacts of global warming particularly harshly, but the world's biggest coal exporter remains a haven for sceptics. Now scientists are fighting back - 2011/06/16: ABC(Au): Climate change adviser Professor Ross Garnaut has dismissed suggestions his advice to the Federal Government could jeopardise investment in new Latrobe Valley power stations
- 2011/06/14: ABC(Au): MP [Murray Cowper] demands carbon capture answers
The Member for Murray-Wellington says he is concerned there are too many unanswered questions surrounding a proposed carbon capture and storage facility in Collie in south-west Western Australia. - 2011/06/14: ABC(Au): The State Opposition says the Victorian Government needs to do more to help coastal councils prepare for future sea level rises
- 2011/06/14: ABC(Au): Muckaty nuclear dump bill likely to pass Senate
Laws to set up a nuclear waste storage facility in the Northern Territory are likely to be approved by the Senate this week, despite calls from senators for the debate to be put on hold. The Government wants to build a national radioactive waste facility at Muckaty Station in the NT. - 2011/06/14: ABC(Au): Traditional owners and environmentalists at loggerheads
The Kimberley Land Council says environmental groups participating in a blockade at James Price Point have betrayed traditional owners who voted to approve the gas hub. Protesters have so far succeeded in stopping Woodside from starting land clearing work at the gas site, north of Broome. - 2011/06/13: ABC(Au): The Member for Collie-Preston, Mick Murray, says a proposed carbon capture and storage hub in the south-west Western Australian town of Collie will create a number of new jobs in the area
- 2011/06/13: ABC(Au): Gas hub protest continues
Anti gas hub protesters are continuing to stop Woodside equipment and staff from accessing James Price Point, north of Broome, a week after the protest began.
[...]
Local woman Mitch Torres says a large group of Indigenous residents has joined the protest. "We came and we stood across the road, a group of Broome citizens; women children, grandmothers and young women, to help the protesters and it certainly had an effect," she said. - 2011/06/17: ABC(Au): Key independent Tony Windsor has renewed his attack on the Government's planned $12 million carbon price advertising campaign, describing it as "presumptuous"
- 2011/06/17: ABC(Au): Carbon tax rift emerges between Labor, Greens
A meeting today between the Government and the Greens on climate change has broken up quickly amid reports of serious disagreement between the two parties. It is understood the Greens are unhappy with the Government's preferred deal on industry compensation, including substantial assistance to coal miners. Other sticking points include compensation to coal-fired electricity generators and the emissions target when the carbon tax moves to an emissions trading scheme. An informed source has told ABC News Online "the temperature of the negotiations has been pretty high lately". The source said the Government appeared unwilling to budge from its position. - 2011/06/17: PlanetArk: Australia Power Industry Fears "Even Worse" Carbon Plan
- 2011/06/17: PlanetArk: Australia Government Angers Independents With Carbon Tax Ads
- 2011/06/16: ABC(Au): Carbon tax ad pledge puts independents offside
Independent MPs Rob Oakeshott and Tony Windsor have criticised a surprise announcement from the Federal Government on a carbon price advertising campaign. Climate Change Minister Greg Combet says the Government has committed $12 million to the campaign. The Multi-Party Committee on Climate Change, which includes the two rural independents, has not yet agreed on any carbon scheme. - 2011/06/15: ABC(Au): Murdoch's mother backs carbon price
- 2011/06/14: ABC(Au): Coal industry warns of fewer jobs under tax
- 2011/06/14: JQuiggin: Families slugged by NewsCorp Innumeracy #NewsCorpFail
- 2011/06/13: ABC(Au): Fears aired over carbon tax impact
- 2011/06/13: PeakEnergy: Australian Power prices set to jump 30pc
After a 10 year drought and recent massive flooding, water usage planning is controversial and difficult:
- 2011/06/16: ABC(Au): Cultural water flows for Indigenous residents are being considered for inclusion in the Murray Darling Basin Plan
- 2011/06/14: ABC(Au): The South Australian Government has reached an out of court settlement with Victoria over water trading between the two states
- 2011/06/14: ABC(Au): Water carted into drought stricken Salmon Gums
A farming town in Western Australia's south-east has become the second area this year to be officially declared out of water by the State Government. The town of Salmon Gums, north of Esperance, has been declared farmland water-deficient. The Great Southern Shire of Kent was declared water-deficient earlier this year. - 2011/06/13: ABC(Au): State Water: release not for flood mitigation, but will help
While in the Indian subcontinent:
- 2011/06/17: CCurrents: Intensive Farming Responsible For Farmers' Suicides : Devinder Sharma
- 2011/06/15: CCurrents: The Imperialist Suicide Epidemic In India
- 2011/06/15: CCurrents: Lying Down For Justice: The POSCO Satyagraha In Pictures
- 2011/06/15: TreeHugger: Holy Man Dies After Four-Month Fast Against Polluters is Ignored
- 2011/06/13: CCurrents: When Has The Environment Ministry Believed In Dialogue, Discussion or Democracy?
- 2011/06/13: CCurrents: Our Children Have Opened The Nation's Eyes
- 2011/06/13: CCurrents: Lying Down For Justice Children Show The Way
And in Japan:
- 2011/06/14: PeakEnergy: Japan plans solar panels for all new buildings
And South America:
- 2011/06/14: BBC: Venezuela orders energy saving after recent blackouts
In Canada, neocon PM Harper, continues his do-nothing policy:
- 2011/06/16: PostMedia: Environment minister [Kent] falls victim to confusion over oilsands data in department report on GHGs to UN
- 2011/06/15: HillTimes: House Government Operations Committee wants to question Clement on $50-million spent on G8 in his riding last summer
- 2011/06/15: CBC: NDP resurrects climate change bill
- 2011/06/13: PostMedia: Troubled weather service gets $27M boost
The federal government says that a two-year, $27-million investment announced in its budget will address dire warnings about unreliable infrastructure plaguing its weather service and forecasts. The funding boost comes as a new report suggests that essential federal weather forecasting services are in jeopardy because of rising costs, budget cuts and outdated infrastructure. - 2011/06/13: DeSmogBlog: Canada Hiding Its Carbon Emissions Growth Amidst Rapid Tar Sands Boom
- 2011/06/12: WpgFP: Business advisers 'in the dark' on Canada-U.S. climate talks: report
The G20 controversy lingers:
- 2011/06/16: TStar: Feds reject nearly half of G20 compensation claims
- 2011/06/13: iPolitics: Harper chooses a fox to guard hen house [G8]
- 2011/06/13: TStar: G8 spending spree leaves Clement under a cloud, Layton insists
The threat to the corporate bottom line is the threat he means:
- 2011/06/17: PostMedia: Feds keep eye out for toxic threats
The federal government is paying attention to shale gas exploration in Canada and is prepared to intervene against any toxic threats, Environment Minister Peter Kent said Thursday. Responding to questions from NDP environment critic Megan Leslie, Kent noted that regulations for the sector were mainly a provincial and territorial responsibility, but acknowledged that there could be an emerging federal role. - 2011/06/17: CBC: Mackenzie pipeline decision coming soon: official
A decision on whether to build the Mackenzie Valley gas pipeline could come later this year, at least one proponent said at a trade show in Inuvik, N.W.T., this week. Delegates to the Inuvik Petroleum Show heard from the Aboriginal Pipeline Group and other companies behind the $16.2-billion Arctic natural gas project, which won approval from the National Energy Board in December. - 2011/06/15: PostMedia: Feds to slash funding for Atomic Energy Canada
The federal government is poised to slash payments to Canada's beleaguered nuclear Crown corporation by up to 85 per cent this year. Payments to Atomic Energy Canada Ltd. for 2011-12 are currently pegged at $102.1 million, according to government financial documents. That's a substantial drop from the $696.5 million Ottawa funnelled into its coffers last year. - 2011/06/14: Impolitical: Canada Wheat Board fight begins
- 2011/06/14: Far-n-Wide: Separating The Wheat From The Chaff
- 2011/06/13: CBC: Manitoba starts ad campaign to save CWB
The Manitoba government is fighting the federal government's plans to dismantle the Canadian Wheat Board. The province is launching a TV, radio and print campaign that states the federal government will destroy the wheat board and hurt farmers across Western Canada. - Cohen Commission -- Commission of Inquiry into the Decline of Sockeye Salmon in the Fraser River
- 2011/06/15: CBC: Household chemicals could harm sockeye: inquiry
In BC, the stage is set. Now what will Clark and Dix do?
- 2011/06/13: TheCanadian: Hansen, Palmer on Hydro: Ignoring the $50 Billion Elephant in the Room
- 2011/06/07: PostMedia: Clean Energy Act is what needs renewing
Government's cost-be-damned policies play significant role in forcing BC Hydro costs and rates higher - 2011/06/18: PostMedia: Foreign environmentalists want review of Alberta oilsands plan
A collection of environmental groups from the United States and Europe are calling on the Alberta government to form an independent panel of experts to assess concerns with a new provincial land-use plan for the oilsands region. The 16 groups, including the National Wildlife Federation and the Rainforest Action Network, purchased a half-page ad in Friday's Edmonton Journal in which they published a letter spelling out misgivings with the Lower Athabasca Regional Plan. The letter said an independent panel is needed to "conduct an assessment of the LARP and recommend improvements to ensure the air quality, water quality and quantity, biodiversity and ecosystem health are not compromised." The groups said the plan fails to: halt water withdrawals during times of low flow on the Athabasca River, set limits on water pollution, secure caribou habitat, and protect aboriginal land use and treaty rights. They ask the province to halt further oilsands development until the proposed panel completes its work. - 2011/06/17: Rabble: International Stop the Tar Sands Day: A guide to the disaster
In Manitoba, people have flooding on their minds:
- 2011/06/12: CBC: Floods linked to climate change: officials
After four soggy years of flooded pastures and ruined crops, the Manitoba government is looking at how to help frustrated farmers cope with climate change in the province's Interlake region. The province has quietly issued a request for proposals for a study on how to deal with "excess moisture on agricultural lands" in the area sandwiched between Lake Manitoba and Lake Winnipeg, north of the provincial capital.
[..]
Tony Szumigalski, a policy analyst with Manitoba Agriculture, said climate change appears to be causing greater extremes on the Prairies, from drought in Alberta to chronic flooding in Manitoba. - 2011/06/13: CBC: Manitoba flood fight takes emotional toll
In Ontario, upcoming election issues are appearing:
- 2011/06/16: G&M: McGuinty Liberals' energy rebate confuses the issue
"A perverse incentive," Ontario Environmental Commissioner Gord Miller said this week of the 10-per-cent rebate that Dalton McGuinty's Liberals have given homeowners on their energy bills. And well it might be, from a conservation standpoint, since the "clean energy benefit" gives the most relief to consumers who use the most energy. But there is something slightly perverse, too, about criticizing the Liberals for failing to make Ontarians pay the real price of energy. For better or worse, they've come much closer than the other provincial parties to doing just that -- challenging the sanctity of relatively cheap and limitless power. - 2011/06/18: CBC: Thousands help with final flood cleanup blitz in Quebec
- 2011/06/18: CBC: Shale gas protesters end month-long march in Montreal
A group of anti-shale-gas activists arrived in Montreal on Saturday after more than 30 days walking from Rimouski. They joined more than 2,000 people in a march through the city to ask Quebec's premier to impose a moratorium on shale gas development. The group left May 16 and has walked 600 kilometres. Organizer Philippe Duhamel said the group has a message for Premier Jean Charest. - 2011/06/18: MTobis: Does Tom Friedman Read This Blog? Climate change 'will end economic growth'
- 2011/06/15: EnergyBulletin: Want not waste
- 2011/06/13: EnergyBulletin: In the world, at the limits to growth
IPAT [Impact = Population * Affluence * Technology] raised its head once again:
- 2011/06/15: CCurrents: Speaking Out About The Last Of The Last Taboos: Human Population Dynamics And Overpopulation
- 2011/06/17: Guardian(UK): Sex selection and the rise of Generation XY
A new book explores western involvement in what has become a scourge of the developing world: sex selection of babies - 2011/06/15: Macleans: A world of 10 billion
Mass extinctions, water shortages, dwindling oil reserves, grinding poverty. Can the Earth sustain every one of us? - 2011/06/15: AlterNet: Pro-Choice Activists: How to Fight the Newest Wave of Racist Billboards Targeting Latinas
- 2011/06/14: Eureka: How serious is son preference in China?
- 2011/06/12: RawStory: Santorum: All abortion doctors should be 'criminally charged'
- 2011/06/12: AlterNet: 10 States Where Abortion Is Virtually Illegal for Some Women
Apocalypso [Aquacalypso] anyone?
- 2011/06/15: EnergyBulletin: Learning from the Aquacalypse
As for how the media handles science:
- 2011/06/18: EconView: Money Talks on Right-Wing Radio
- 2011/06/18: TP:JR: "Crappy Headline" Ruins New York Times Story on Link Between Climate Change and Extreme Weather
- 2011/06/18: Grist: NY Times lets dirty energy soil its op-ed page
- 2011/06/17: APR: How the Misinformation Superhighway affects Nuclear Energy
- 2011/06/16: TP:JR: Fox News Labels Green Buildings Bad for Your Health -- In Fact, the Reverse is True
- 2011/06/16: TBAS: Rising water, falling journalism
- 2011/06/16: DeSmogBlog: Manhattan Institute Op-ed Exemplifies Why NY Times Should Require Disclosure of Financial Conflicts
- 2011/06/16: Guardian(UK): The Daily Mail owners buy climate change, so why doesn't the paper?
- 2011/06/16: Deltoid: Guess which newspaper this refers to
- 2011/06/15: DeSmogBlog: NBC/GE, Dylan Ratigan Show, and the Methane Gas-Media Industrial Complex
- 2011/06/15: BCLSB: Rupert Murdoch Should Listen To His Momma
- 2011/06/14: Grist: Science connects climate change and wildfires. Why won't the media?
- 2011/06/14: JQuiggin: Families slugged by NewsCorp Innumeracy #NewsCorpFail
Here is something for your library:
- FAO: [Online Book] Save and grow -- A policymaker's guide to the sustainable intensification of smallholder crop production
And for your film & video enjoyment:
- 2011/06/19: SkeptiSci: The Climate Show 14: volcanoes, black carbon and Christy crocks
- 2011/06/18: MTobis: Sustained Growth is Impossible
- 2011/06/17: PSinclair: The Weekend Wonk: Feed-In Tariffs - a Primer in 10 Minutes
- 2011/06/16: HotTopic: The Climate Show #14: volcanoes, black carbon and crocks from Christy
- 2011/06/15: TreeHugger: Week-Long Protest Keeps Legacy of the Battle of Blair Mountain Alive (Video)
- 2011/06/15: OilChange: Shell's Pipeline At War With the People [The Pipe]
- 2011/06/15: PSinclair: Open Source Ecology: Global Village Construction Set
Meanwhile among the 'Sue the Bastards!' contingent:
- 2011/06/14: WCEL: Atmospheric Trust Litigation
Do the governments of the world have a legal duty to protect the atmosphere?
On May 4th, a group of children and young adults filed lawsuits against all 50 U.S. states and the Federal government for their failure to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Their strategy is to have the atmosphere recognized as a public trust held by the state. If they can succeed, they will empower the courts to compel governments to reduce their jurisdictions' carbon footprints. - 2011/06/17: TreeHugger: Geothermal Power is Heating up Worldwide
- 2011/06/16: Grist: What the U.S. power industry thinks about the future of the U.S. power industry
- 2011/06/16: LA Times:GS: California drought drove up energy costs
- 2011/06/14: Grist: Humanity's energy dilemma in three easy charts
- 2011/06/15: Grist: Land use is not a barrier for distributed renewable energy
- 2011/06/15: PeakEnergy: Chevron Bets on $30 Billion Volcanoes in Indonesian Rainforest [geothermal]
- 2011/06/14: TreeHugger: West Virginia a Major Geothermal Hotspot, Scientists Reveal
- 2011/06/09: Rutgers: The Energy Debate: Coal vs. Nuclear
Rutgers researcher finds factors other than global warming and potential for plant accidents figure into Americans' preferences - 2011/06/17: PlanetArk: Analysis: Gas Is Killing Green Energy In Price War
- 2011/06/14: PRWatch: MSNBC's (GE's) Dylan Ratigan Show "Firewater?" Series: Natural Gas Industry-Media Complex Exposed
- 2011/06/15: DeSmogBlog: NBC/GE, Dylan Ratigan Show, and the Methane Gas-Media Industrial Complex
- 2011/06/16: PeakEnergy: Incoming: A Glut of "Natural Gas is Green" Nonsense
- 2011/06/16: EnergyBulletin: Shale gas: Not a 'game changer' after all
- 2011/06/15: CleanBreak: Natural gas: climate friend or enemy? Depends on how much heat you're willing to tolerate
- 2011/06/14: DeSmogBlog: Koch Money Fuels AFP Misinformation Campaign On Gas Prices
- 2011/06/13: Grist: Is natural gas becoming a cover for the same old dirty fossil fuels industry?
Hey! Let's contaminate the aquifer for thousands of years! It'll be a fracking gas!
- 2011/06/18: EnvEcon: Fracking picture of the day
- 2011/06/18: CBC: Shale gas protesters end month-long march in Montreal
- 2011/06/15: Scitizen: Shale Gas: Not a 'Game Changer' After All
- 2011/06/16: DeSmogBlog: The Case for a Ban on Gas Fracking: Food and Water Watch Report
- 2011/06/15: DeSmogBlog: President Obama's Fracking Panel Unmoved By Pennsylvanians' Water Concerns
- 2011/06/15: PeakEnergy: Worst Drought in More Than a Century Strikes Texas Shale Gas Boom
- 2011/06/13: OilChange: UK Gov Dismisses Fracking Inquiry Call
On the coal front:
- 2011/06/14: Gregor: China Coal and The Great Doubling
- 2011/06/13: DVoice: Mountaintop Removal: Environmental and Human Destruction for Profit
- 2011/06/13: CSW: From the top of Blair Mountain: "It's time to annihilate mountaintop removal"
On the gas and oil front:
- 2011/06/18: Guardian(UK): Head of IEA pleads with Russia: join us to help solve energy price crisis
Director of oil consumers' organisation makes bold invitation to major producer in bid to settle dispute over responsibility for high fuel prices Energy consumer organisation the International Energy Agency (IEA) has invited Russia and the Opec oil producers to join it, in a desperate bid to broker a peace between buyers and sellers over soaring crude prices. The olive branch was extended today by the IEA's executive director, Nobuo Tanaka, to Russia's deputy prime minister, Igor Sechin, but has already run into powerful opposition from the country's state-owned gas group, Gazprom. - 2011/06/17: BBerg: Closing oil prices Friday
OIL (US$/bbl)
Nymex Crude Future...93.01
Dated Brent Spot....113.49
WTI Cushing Spot.....93.01 - 2011/06/17: CBC: Oil prices fall nearly 3%
- 2011/06/17: Grist: U.S. [gasoline] is artificially cheap: What we don't pay for at the pump
- 2011/06/17: PeakEnergy: May Global Oil Supply and the Libyan Mini Shock
- 2011/06/16: NBF: IEA Monthly World Oil Market Report - May supply up 270,000 barrels per day
- 2011/06/16: CBC: IEA increases oil demand estimate
- 2011/06/16: OilDrum: The EIA - JODI divergence Part 2
- 2011/06/14: OilDrum: The OPEC Monthly Oil Market report for June
- 2011/06/13: EnergyBulletin: Saudi Arabia to produce 10mbd in July?
- 2011/06/13: RigZone: Global Deficit Between Oil Consumption and Production Remains the Norm
- 2011/06/12: EconBrowser: Chinese oil demand
And in pipeline news:
- 2011/06/16: CDreams: Congress Panel Approves Bill to Fast-Track Keystone XL Pipeline?
Yes we have a peak oil sighting:
- 2011/06/18: Courant: Raise Gas Tax To Prepare For 'Peak Oil'
- 2011/06/15: Guardian(UK): UK ministers ignored 'peak oil' warnings, report shows
Report reveals threat of civil unrest from energy shortages, which has been played down as 'alarmist' by ministers - 2011/06/14: EnergyBulletin: The oil production story: Pre- and post-peak nations
- 2011/06/13: EnergyBulletin: Review of Bundeswehr Report on peak oil: Section 2.2. Tipping Point (Nov. 2010)
- 2011/06/13: PeakEnergy: Head of Saudi Electric Company Says "Oil Runs Out in 2030 if Current Consumption Maintained"
- 2011/06/09: Gregor: 2010 Oil Story: Drawing Down the Inventories [PO]
Biofuel bickering abounds:
- 2011/06/17: BobPark: Ethanol: An inefficient use of solar energy
- 2011/06/17: PlanetArk: High Costs Seen Hampering Use Of Algae As Biofuel
- 2011/06/14: EMPA: How sustainable are "biofuels"? New biofuel sustainability assessment tool and GHG calculator released
- 2011/06/15: CSM: Human waste could be biofuel
The answer my friend...:
- 2011/06/14: HotTopic: The wind in the trees
- 2011/06/13: EarlyWarning: Wind and Solar Global Stats
Here is a situation crying out for practical energy storage:
- 2011/06/14: PlanetArk: UK Wind Farms May Shut When Demand Low: National Grid
Meanwhile among the solar aficionados:
- 2011/06/17: CSM: US boosts 'game-changer' solar technology in bid for global market share
- 2011/06/17: Grist: 1 million Bangladeshis use solar as sole source of electricity
- 2011/06/17: TreeHugger: Solar Power Module Prices To Drop To $1 Per Watt In 2012
- 2011/06/17: PeakEnergy: Abengoa to Develop Mexico's First Solar-Thermal Power Plant
- 2011/06/17: PeakEnergy: Abengoa develops first solar thermal power plant in Chile
- 2011/06/17: PeakEnergy: Water reduction options for solar thermal technology
- 2011/06/16: PlanetArk: Total $1.3 Billion SunPower Bid Successful
- 2011/06/16: PlanetArk: German Solar New Installations Slump: Sources
The number of new solar panel installations in Germany fell dramatically from March to May, making further cuts in feed-in tariffs from July unlikely, government and industry sources said on Wednesday. - 2011/06/16: PlanetArk: Google To Finance Residential Solar Projects
- 2011/06/15: TP:JR: Solar Service Companies Make Solar Affordable and Accessible
- 2011/06/14: TreeHugger: Google Invests $280M in Residential Solar Power!
- 2011/06/15: CSM: Home solar gets $280 million boost from Google
- 2011/06/14: PeakEnergy: Japan plans solar panels for all new buildings
- 2011/06/13: PeakEnergy: Concentrating on Solar PV
Feed-In-Tariffs are being variously implemented around the world:
- 2011/06/17: PSinclair: The Weekend Wonk: Feed-In Tariffs - a Primer in 10 Minutes
The nuclear energy controversy continues:
- 2011/06/19: NakedCapitalism: WashingtonsBlog: Global Nuclear Update [actually only 10 sites]
- 2011/06/15: ProPublica: Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chief Blasts Agency's Approach to Fire Safety
In a forceful critique of his agency's approach toward fire safety, the chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission declared that the policy of not enforcing most fire code violations at dozens of nuclear plants is "unacceptable" and has tied the hands of NRC inspectors. The written comments by NRC Chairman Gregory B. Jaczko, released last week, were made as the commission voted in late May to continue a policy of citing only the most serious fire violations at 44 of the nation's 101 reactors that are in the process of updating fire plans, and to address old hazards. - 2011/06/17: DVoice: Midwest Floods: Both Nebraska Nuke Stations Threatened
- 2011/06/17: Tri-CityHerald: Energy Northwest's nuclear power plant may restart in August
Energy Northwest's nuclear power plant may not resume operating until early August, as work continues to replace its condenser. The work was scheduled to be done by about June 25. However, after a difficult start, the project is going better, according to Energy Northwest. - 2011/06/15: BizInsider: Airspace Over Flooded Nebraska Nuclear Power Plant Still Closed
- 2011/06/15: NBF: EIU predicts continued growth in nuclear power
Nuclear waste storage requires long term thinking:
- 2011/06/14: Guardian(UK): Gregory Jaczko 'unilaterally' stopped work on US nuclear dump
- 2011/06/13: STimes: Bosses imperil cleanup at Hanford, agency says
Managers of a $12.2 billion project to stabilize radioactive waste at the Hanford nuclear reservation actively prevent workers from raising serious safety concerns -- and threaten punishment when they do, a scathing government investigation has found. - 2011/06/16: NETimes: Preliminary Report of Interviews with E-Cat Trio Rossi, Focardi and Levi
- 2011/06/17: NBF: Alan Fletcher write up of how to Prove that the Rossi/Focardi eCAT LENR is Real
- 2011/06/17: NBF: Steven B. Krivit of New Energy Times has a Preliminary Report on the Rossi Energy Catalyzer
- 2011/06/14: NBF: Brian Ahern getting 8 Watts in a Low Energy Nuclear Process
More people are talking about the electrical grid:
- 2011/06/15: TP:JR: Top 5 Coolest Ways Companies are Integrating Renewable Energy into the Grid
- 2011/06/13: Grist: Obama administration to put $250 million toward smart grid
Automakers & lawyers, engineers & activists argue over the future of the car:
- 2011/06/17: TP:JR: Auto Industry Advocates Cook the Books on Vehicle Standards
- 2011/06/16: PeakEnergy: Electric Buses Get a Jump Start
- 2011/06/15: ITracker: Tighter vehicle emissions standards can slow warming, improve food production, and save hundreds of thousands of lives per year
- 2011/06/13: TCoE: This just in: EVs work!
This week in the Gee Whiz File:
- 2011/06/13: PeakEnergy: Japanese Corporation Plans to Turn the Moon Into a Massive Solar Power Plant
The reaction of business to climate change will be critical:
- 2011/06/14: Guardian(UK): Nearly half UK's biggest companies failing to act on carbon emissions law
Carbon Trust finds forty of the FTSE 100 do not have emissions targets, despite years of legislation and campaigning - 2011/06/17: TP:JR: June 17 news...
- 2011/06/16: TP:JR: June 16 news...
- 2011/06/15: TP:JR: June 15 news...
- 2011/06/14: TP:JR: June 14 news...
- 2011/06/13: TP:JR: June 13 News...
Other (weekly) lists:
- 2011/06/13: BPA: Agriculture News
- 2011/06/13: InformedComment: Top Ten Green Energy Good News Stories
The carbon lobby are up to the usual:
- 2011/06/18: ERabett: Cage Match
- 2011/06/17: Grist: Climate denier says solving global warming could cause Black Plague
- 2011/06/15: MTobis: Two Empty Kerfuffles
- 2011/06/14: TCoE: Electricity utility deniers reach new lows
- 2011/06/14: Tamino: Chaos
- 2011/06/13: TreeHugger: Rush Limbaugh: Still the Nation's #1 Climate Naysayer
- 2011/06/13: DeSmogBlog: Rush Limbaugh Seizes--and Freezes?--on "ClimateGate"
- 2011/06/12: AlterNet: Why the Right-Wing's Denial of Science May Screw All of Us
- 2011/06/12: TP:JR: Climate science deniers team up with Islamophobes, creationists: American Freedom Alliance event features Monckton, Lindzen (?) and the late Michael Crichton (?!)
As for climate miscellanea:
- 2011/06/18: BNC: Greenpeace's plan for India
- 2011/06/14: USGS: Human Activities Produce More Carbon Dioxide Emissions Than Do Volcanoes
- 2011/06/16: PlanetArk: Special Report: Scientists Race To Avoid Climate Change Harvest
- 2011/06/16: Eureka: Founded on science, world cooperation in Antarctica a model for meeting climate, other challenges
- 2011/06/15: QuarkSoup: Our Terrifying Far-Future in a Carbon-rich World
- 2011/06/13: MoJo: Climate Change You Can See
- 2011/06/14: TP:JR: Green Jobs Are Real: German and American Solar Industry Both Employ More People Than U.S. Steel Production
- 2011/06/14: TMoS: Florida - Global Warming's Punching Bag
- 2011/06/14: TMoS: "Global Warming" Is Out, "Global Weirding" Is In
- 2011/06/13: SMandia: Time for Accountability
And here are a couple of sites you may find interesting and/or useful:
- UNCCD: United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification
- Erik Klemetti - Eruptions
- 4th Symposium on the Impacts of an Ice-Diminishing Arctic on Naval and Maritime Operations -- June 20 - 22, 2011 -- Navy Memorial, Washington, D.C.
- Cal-Adapt -- Exploring California's Climate Change Research
- UN Climate Change Conference June 2011
- FAO: [Online Book] Save and grow -- A policymaker's guide to the sustainable intensification of smallholder crop production
- NOAA:NCDC: CEI - U.S. Climate Extremes Index
- Forest Europe - Ministerial Conference on the Protection of Forests in Europe - Oslo. June 14-16
- Forest Europe
- The Conversation
- NASA: IceSat
- Global Forest Watch Canada
- Wiki: Famine scales
- UNEP: Climate Change Page
- Purdue: The Famine Foods Database
- IEA: International Energy Agency
- DelayedOscillator
Here's a wee chuckle for ye:
Several astronomers have predicted a quiescent sun in the future, leading to much speculation in the denyosphere:
Another blogostorm, over the IPCC/SRREN this time:
Who's getting the subsidies?
What's up with volcanoes this week?
On the tornado front:
And on the carbon trading front:
The issue of the law and activism is playing out around the world:
What are the activists up to?
The Australian carbon war rages on:
Regarding the Mackenzie Valley gas pipeline:
Harper & co. want to get rid of the AECL. The question is can they find a buyer or will they let it go like Nortel:
There may be some argument about the fate of the CWB, until Harper & co. change the law:
Another report from the Cohen Commission:
Meanwhile in that Mechanical Mordor known as the tar sands:
While in la Belle Province:
The movement toward a long term ecologically viable economics is glacial:
Developing a new energy infrastructure is a fundamental challenge of the current generation:
The merits and demerits of natural gas are being hoty debated amidst the self serving machinations of the industry:
The Rossi Energy Catalyzer keeps coming up:
Joe Romm posts a daily list of top energy and climate stories:
Low Key Plug
My first novel Water was published in Canada May, 2007. The American release was in October. An Introductionto the novel is available, along with the Unpublished Forewordand the Launch Talk(which includes some quotations), An overview of my writing is available here.
<regards>
P.S. Recent postings can be found in the week archive and the ancient postings can be accessed here, which should open to this.
I notice moyhu has set up a monster index to old AWoGWN on AFTIC."The era of procrastination, of half-measures, of soothing and baffling expedients, of delays, is coming to a close. In its place we are entering a period of consequences." -Winston Churchill, 1936
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