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
July 3, 2011
- Chuckles, G20, State of the Climate, Threats, The Conversation
- Bottom Line, Subsidies, GFI, Psyche, Cook, Post CRU
- Fukushima Note, Fukushima News, Nuclear Policy, Fukushima Talk
- Melting Arctic, Polar Bears, Geopolitics, Antarctica
- Food Crisis, Food Prices, Food vs. Biofuel, Land Grabs, GMOs, Food Production
- Hurricanes, GHGs, Temperatures, Aerosols, Paleoclimate
- Solar, Tipping Points, Volcanoes, Satellites
- Impacts, Forests, Extreme Weather, Wildfires, Corals, Floods & Droughts
- Mitigation, Transportation, Buildings, Sequestration, Geoengineering
- Journals, Other Docs , Misc. Science, DIY Science, Models
- International Politics: UN, Carbon Trade, Carbon Tax, Bank Tax
- Airlines & EU ETS, Security, Law & Activism, Activism, Polls, H2O Biz
- National Politics: America, BP Disaster, 2012, Gore, Obama, USAdmin, Congress
- Britain, Europe, Australia, Carbon War, Murray-Darling
- New Zealand, India, China, Asia, Africa, South America
- Canada, Post G20, AECL, Army 2040, Megaloads, CWB
- BC, Tar Sands, Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario, Maritimes, North
- Children, IPAT, Apocalypso, Media, Books, Video, Courts, Betting
- Energy, Fracking, Coal, Oil & Gas, Pipelines, Peak Oil, Biofuel
- Wind, Solar, FITs, Nukes, Nuclear Waste, LENR, Cars, Gee Whiz, Energy Storage
- Insurance, Greenwashing, Joe's List, Carbon Lobby, Miscellaneous Climate, Useful Links
- Shameless Self Promotion, .sig
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- 2011/07/02: TI:CF: (cartoon - Roberts) Planet of the Apes
- 2011/07/02: TI:CF: (cartoon - Roberts) Hellboy
- 2011/06/27: TP:JR: (cartoon - Toles) Warning Labels for Coal Power Plants
- 2011/06/27: uComics: (cartoon - Toles) Warning Labels For Coal Power Plants
And for those who enjoy challenging Poe's Law:
- 2011/06/29: Onion: In The Know: Coal Lobby Warns Wind Farms May Blow Earth Off Orbit
Looking back at the Paris G20 meet:
- 2011/06/27: NYT: Lots of Talk, Too Little Action
The [US] State of the Climate 2010 report arrived this week:
- 2011/06/28: NOAA: [links to many files, all huge] State of the Climate in 2010
- 2011/06/29: KSJT: AP, etc: This Just In ... World Getting Warmer, Faster. Ice shrinking. Side to side, top to bottom. [State of Climate 2010]
- 2011/06/29: TreeHugger: The State of the Climate in 2010? Yes, We're Still Warming Land & Ocean, Shrinking Glaciers and Melting Ice
- 2011/06/28: NOAANews: El Niño-Southern Oscillation and other climate patterns play a major role in 2010; 2010 one of the two warmest years on record
Regarding the threats against climate scientists:
- 2011/06/30: QuarkSoup: Communicating With the Demented
- 2011/06/29: QuarkSoup: Where are the Condemnations of the Death Threats?
- 2011/06/29: CCP: Dan Vergano, USA Today: Science group [AAAS] decries attacks on climate scientists
- 2011/06/29: SMandia: AAAS Weighs in on Attacks on Climate Scientists
- 2011/06/29: TP:JR: American Association for Advancement of Science Slams Harassment and Attacks Aimed at Climate Scientists
The Conversation is echoing still:
- 2011/07/02: TP:JR: When Scientists Take to the Streets It's Time to Listen Up
- 2011/07/01: TP:JR: Speaking Science to Climate Policy in a World Where "the Melting and Breakdown of Polar Ice Sheets Seems to Be in the Vicinity of a Couple of Degrees Warming" [The Conv]
- 2011/06/27: SkeptiSci: The false, the confused and the mendacious: how the media gets it wrong on climate change
And on the Bottom Line:
- 2011/06/27: Time:Ecocentric: Sticker Shock: What Extreme Weather Costs the U.S.
[...]
a study by the National Center for Atmospheric Research estimates that the bottom-line cost of all the meteorological craziness is a staggering $485 billion per year in the U.S. alone, as much as 3.4% of the country's GDP. - 2011/06/28: TP:JR: Google: Delaying Clean Energy Transition "Only 5 Years Could Leave Trillions on the Table"
Who's getting the subsidies?
- 2011/06/30: TP:JR: Farm Subsidies Go To Farmers Right? Think Again
- 2011/06/30: Grist: Are energy subsidies really in danger?
What are the global financial institutions up to?
- 2011/06/30: Guardian(UK): Why Bangladesh doesn't want climate adaptation loans
By pushing climate loans, the UK and the World Bank are making people in poor countries pay twice for climate change -- even though we played almost no part in causing the problem - 2011/06/29: Guardian(UK): UK must not support World Bank's 'dirty' power subsidies, say MPs
More shrinkology:
- 2011/06/26: AlterNet: Why Do People Believe Stupid Stuff, Even When They're Confronted With the Truth?
John Cook and friends continue their point-counterpoint articles:
- 2011/07/03: SkeptiSci: Glickstein and WUWT's Confusion about Reasoned Skepticism by dana1981
- 2011/07/02: SkeptiSci: Monthly Climate Summary: May 2011 by Michael Searcy
- 2011/07/01: SkeptiSci: Google It - Clean Energy is Good for the Economy by dana1981
- 2011/07/01: SkeptiSci: Roy Spencer on Climate Sensitivity - Again by Chris Colose
- 2011/07/01: SkeptiSci: OA [Ocean Acidification] is not OK by Doug Mackie
- 2011/06/30: SkeptiSci: Throwing Down The Gauntlet by actually thoughtful
- 2011/06/30: SkeptiSci: Ocean acidification: Coming soon by Doug Mackie
- 2011/06/28: SkeptiSci: Lessons from Past Climate Predictions: Don Easterbrook by dana1981
This is the first in what we plan to be a long series of posts evaluating climate predictions by both so-called "warmists" and so-called "skeptics" - 2011/06/28: SkeptiSci: Climate half-truths turn out to be whole lies
- 2011/06/28: SkeptiSci: New Zealand Snow No Show = No Jobs by Rob Painting
- 2011/06/27: SkeptiSci: 2010 - 2011: Earth's most extreme weather since 1816? by Jeff Masters
- 2011/06/27: SkeptiSci: The false, the confused and the mendacious: how the media gets it wrong on climate change [The Conversation]
Post CRU theft, controversy & inquiry:
- 2011/07/01: CBC: 'Climategate' scientists must share data: watchdog
- 2011/07/01: Guardian(UK): Oxford academic wins right to read UEA climate data
Decision by information commissioner hailed as landmark ruling in favour of public access to scientific research - 2011/06/28: NatureNB: UK Information commissioner orders release of climate data
- 2011/06/28: ClimateShifts: When science is undone by fiction -- The myth of Climate-gate has endured because of media failings
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 emphasize this ongoing nature.
Not much good news coming out of Fukushima:
- 2011/07/02: ABC(Au): Radiation found outside Japan's evacuation zone
More than 100 households in a town near the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant have been urged to evacuate because of radioactive hotspots. - 2011/06/27: JapanTimes: Fukushima residents' urine now radioactive
- 2011/07/02: APR: Fukushima Daiichi Update: Saturday
- 2011/07/01: BBC: Shortages force Japan to impose new energy restrictions
Factories, shops and offices in Tokyo have been told to cut down on their energy use because of power shortages. Large businesses in the Tokyo area will have to use 15% less energy than last year because of the closure of the Fukushima nuclear power plant. - 2011/07/01: CBC: Japan imposes energy limits amid power crunch -- Major power users ordered to cut consumption by 15%
- 2011/06/29: APR: Nuclear in Japan: Brief update
- 2011/06/29: PlanetArk: Radioactive Water Leaks From Japan's Damaged Plant
- 2011/06/28: APR: Brief Fukushima Update
- 2011/06/28: Guardian(UK): Fukushima radiation fears: children near nuclear plant to be given monitors
Dosimeters to be given to 34,000 children in city 45 miles from Tepco plant after high radiation readings - 2011/06/28: ABC(Au): Tsunami plan misjudged threat to nuke plant
The ABC has obtained documents confirming the operator of Japan's crippled Fukushima nuclear plant grossly underestimated how devastating a tsunami could be to the facility. After lodging a Freedom of Information request, the ABC has obtained Tokyo Electric Power company's (TEPCO) tsunami and earthquake plan for its Fukushima plant. Submitted in 2001, it is contained on just a single page, which was accepted by Japan's nuclear regulators. - 2011/06/28: PlanetArk: Japan Trips In Key Effort To Cool Nuclear Reactors
- 2011/06/28: Reuters: Radioactive water leaks from Japan's damaged plant
Tons of radioactive water were discovered on Tuesday to have leaked into the ground from Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant, the latest in a series of leaks at the plant damaged in a March earthquake and tsunami, the country's nuclear watchdog said. - 2011/06/28: CBC: 34,000 Japanese children to get radiation meters
- 2011/06/28: BBC: TEPCO faces shareholder wrath following nuclear crisis
Japan's Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) faced the wrath of angry shareholders at its first annual meeting since the 11 March earthquake and tsunami. Shareholders demanded that the company abandon nuclear energy in wake of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear crisis. - 2011/06/27: CNN: Radiation discovered in Fukushima residents
Radioactive iodine levels concern Japanese researchers - Those tested are 4 to 77 years old - All of those tested have been exposed to radiation - 2011/06/27: JEB: More Fukushima
- 2011/06/27: PlanetArk: Japanese Parents Fume Over Fukushima Radiation Impact
- 2011/06/24: HN: Fukushima Nuclear Fuel Leaking Into Groundwater, Tepco Says Barrier Too Expensive, Will Hurt Stock Price
- 2011/06/27: BBC: Operators of Japan's crippled Fukushima nuclear plant have begun pumping decontaminated water in as part of a system to cool damaged reactors
Post Fukushima, nuclear policies are in flux around the world:
- 2011/06/29: RRapier: Worldwide Nuclear Industry Woes Deepen
- 2011/06/30: DerSpiegel: A Revolution for Renewables -- Germany Approves End to the Nuclear Era
It's official: Germany's "Energy Revolution" has begun. The country's parliament on Thursday passed a series of laws that will push forward the phase-out of nuclear plants and promote renewable energies. The world's fourth-largest industrial nation is scheduled to be nuclear-free by 2022, but will its reliance on fossil fuels increase? - 2011/06/30: Guardian(UK): Revealed: British government's plan to play down Fukushima
- 2011/06/30: TreeHugger: German Parliament Accepts 2022 Nuke Shutdown Proposal
- 2011/06/29: DerSpiegel: Bacillus Teutonicus -- Business as Usual for Atomic Energy at the IAEA
Since the nuclear disaster at Fukushima, a majority of people across the world have become skeptical of atomic energy. But politicians and experts who recently gathered for an International Atomic Energy Agency conference in Vienna are pursuing a strategy of business as usual. - 2011/07/03: JEB: Ask them again in August!
- 2011/07/01: NBF: Germany will use more coal, gas and energy imports instead of nuclear power
- 2011/06/29: DVoice: Censorship in Japan: The Fukushima Cover-up
- 2011/06/27: AlterNet: Fukushima: World's Worst Industrial Disaster Reveals How Nation States Are Powerless to Protect Us from Advanced Technology
- 2011/06/28: TruthOut: Fukushima's Cesium Spew - Deadly Catch-22s in Japan Disaster Relief
- 2011/06/25: Asia Times: Costs rise in 'worst industrial disaster'
The Arctic melt continues to garner a lot of attention:
- 2011/07/03: ASI: 2011 East Siberian Sea Animation
- 2011/07/02: ASI: SIE 2011 update 10: the month of mega-melt (?)
- 2011/07/02: CCP: "Recent melt rates of Canadian Arctic ice caps are the highest in four millennia" by David Fisher et al., Global and Planetary Change (2011) in press
- 2011/07/02: ASI: Hudson bye-bye
- 2011/07/01: CCP: Impact of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) on Arctic Surface Air Temperature and Sea-Ice Variability by Salil Mahajan, Rong Zhang & Thomas L. Delworth, J. Climate (2011)
- 2011/06/30: ASI: Temps June 2011
- 2011/06/29: RawStory: Greenland ice melts most in half-century: U.S.
- 2011/06/29: ASI: 2011 New Siberian Islands Animation
- 2011/06/28: Yale360: A World Centered on Sea Ice Is Changing Swiftly at the Poles
For eons, the polar marine food chain has been closely linked to the seasonal formation and retreat of sea ice. Now, as that ice rapidly melts in the Arctic and along the Antarctic Peninsula, this intricate web of life is undergoing major shifts, benefiting some creatures and putting others at risk. - 2011/06/28: CBC: Rapid melting of Arctic sea ice possibly explained -- Colder, saltier meltwater could be forcing warmer water to surface
- 2011/06/26: ASI: Across the North Pole
As for the charismatic megafauna:
- 2011/07/01: TreeHugger: Polar Bears Kept on Threatened Species List, Making Them Even More Threatened
- 2011/06/30: TP:JR: Bye-Polar Disorder: Judge Upholds 'Threatened' [not 'Endangered'] Listing for Polar Bear, Leaving It on Road to Extinction
- 2011/06/30: CBC: Threat to polar bears is real, U.S. judge rules [but don't call them 'endangered']
As for the geopolitics of Arctic resources:
- 2011/07/01: BBC: Russia plans Arctic army brigades
Russia's defence minister has said he plans to create two specialist army brigades to be based in the Arctic. The announcement comes days after Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said Russia would strongly defend its interests in the region. - 2011/06/27: NatureNB: China plans new icebreaker
While in Antarctica:
- 2011/06/30: HotTopic: No Penguin Café when the ice melts
- 2011/06/27: TP:JR: Ocean Currents Speed Melting of Antarctic Ice, as "Seawater Appear[s] to Boil on the Surface Like a Kettle on the Stove"
- 2011/06/28: ClimateShifts: Melting of West Antarctica's biggest glacier acclererates
- 2011/06/26: BBerg: Antarctica's Pine Glacier Melts 50 Percent Faster Than in 1994, Study Says
- 2011/06/27: TCoE: And this little PIGgy went melt, melt, melt
The food crisis is ongoing:
- 2011/06/30: BPA: FAO Report: Climate Change, Water, and Food Security
- 2011/07/01: ZeroHedge: Record 44.7 Million People Celebrate Geithner's Departure And The End Of QE2 Through Foodstamps
- 2011/06/30: USDA: SNAP - Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program
- 2011/06/30: UN: Lack of nutrition having a crippling effect on Kyrgyz children - UN report
- 2011/06/30: UN: Regional drought causing 'alarming' overcrowding at Kenyan refugee camp: UN
- 2011/07/01: ProMedMail: Die-off, fish - USA: (NH)
- 2011/06/30: Eureka: Climate change increases the risk of ozone damage to plants
- 2011/06/29: Eureka: Global warming could alter the US premium wine industry in 30 years, says Stanford study
- 2011/06/24: AlterNet: Do We Eat Better Than We Did 100 Years Ago?
- 2011/06/29: NatureN: Science in Africa: The wheat stalker [Ug99]
- 2011/06/29: BPA: OECD and FAO: Agricultural Production Costs are Rising and Productivity Growth is Slowing
- 2011/06/28: UN: Millions facing severe food crisis amid worsening drought in Horn of Africa -- UN
- 2011/06/28: Guardian(UK): China told to reduce food production or face 'dire' water levels
Food must be imported and water use tightly regulated to protect dwindling supply, a leading groundwater expert has warned - 2011/06/28: TMoS: China Tapped Out - Told to Import Food
- 2011/06/27: AllAfrica: RNW: Zimbabwe: No Rain in South Matabeleland
Driving through the dusty and mountainous villages of Matopo in Zimbabwe's Southern Matabeleland, our car is stopped by a frail and tired looking man. His name is Robert Sibanda. He is dressed in torn and faded jeans. Robert's eyes are almost popping out and his lips are dry - a sign that he hasn't eaten for some days. This is Matabeleland South - a province where starvation has become a curse for the locals. As we stop to greet him, Sibanda asks if we have brought some food from the city. This year was another bad season for local farmers. The rainfall was erratic as usual and there was no harvest at all. - 2011/06/27: CBC: World Food Program cuts aid to Afghanistan -- Funding shortage from donor nations
Food Prices are still problematic:
- FAO: World Food Situation - Food Price Indices
- 2011/06/30: GG&G: Volatile Commodity Prices
- 2011/06/30: BBC: Plunge on corn prices may ease food inflation
The price of corn suffered its biggest fall for 15 years on Thursday, prompting speculation that the high cost of food may start to ease. Corn prices fell 10% after a US Department of Agriculture report that farmers are sowing unexpectedly large amounts of the grain. The price of other crops, including soybeans, also fell on speculation that future stock levels will remain high. - 2011/06/27: PS: Can Food Prices Be Stabilized?
The conflict between biofuel and food persists:
- 2011/07/01: BPA: Ethanol Mandate Means Corn Demand Less Responsive to Price
- 2011/06/30: EnergyBulletin: Blazing Brazilian biofuel beatdown
So, are these land grabs Colonialism V2.0?
- 2011/07/02: Guardian(UK): Biofuels land grab in Kenya's Tana Delta fuels talk of war
Villagers vow to resist as wildlife vanishes and they are driven from their land to make way for water-thirsty crops - 2011/06/30: BizInsider: Meet The Millionaires And Billionaires Suddenly Buying Tons Of Land In Africa
- 2011/06/30: al Jazeera: The new African land grab
Foreign investors, with the World Bank, are acquiring vast tracks of land in Africa - at the expense of local farmers. - 2011/06/07: al Jazeera: The great land grab: India's war on farmers
Regarding the genetic modification of food:
- 2011/07/01: DVoice: GM Crop Saboteurs Go Free in France
- 2011/06/30: PlanetArk: Kenya To Allow GM Maize To Alleviate Shortage
And how are we going to feed 9 billion?
- 2011/06/29: EnergyBulletin: Reducing food waste: Making the most of our abundance
- 2011/06/29: ProMedMail: Rinderpest - worldwide (03): global eradication
- 2011/06/29: KSJT: More Ink: Victory in the rinderpest saga (multiple announcements ... this is probably the last)
- 2011/06/29: TP:JR: WorldWatch: With 370 Million Tons of Food Lost or Wasted Each Year, "We Can't Afford to Overlook Simple, Low-Cost Fixes"
- 2011/06/28: UN: UN declares deadly [rinderpest] cattle plague eradicated after global campaign
- 2011/06/28: AllAfrica: IPS: Zimbabwe: Harvesting Water for Food Security
- 2011/06/28: CBC: Deadly cattle disease [rinderpest] eradicated, UN declares
A cattle disease that has caused hardship and hunger for millennia has been eliminated from the world, the United Nations formally announced Tuesday. The vanquishing of rinderpest, a deadly cattle disease, represents only the second time a plague has been globally eradicated through human efforts. The first to be eliminated was smallpox. The UN's Food and Agriculture Organization led a global program established in 1994 to help farmers recognize the disease and control it through vaccination campaigns, eventually eliminating the scourge. - 2011/06/27: TreeHugger: Can Agroforestry and Perennial Farming Solve Drought?
The first Atlantic hurricane of the year showed up this week:
- 2011/07/02: CBC: Tropical Storm Arlene kills 11 in Mexico
- 2011/07/01: PlanetArk: Arlene Lashes Central Mexico With Heavy Rains
- 2011/06/30: Eureka: Tropical Storm Arlene moves inland over Mexico: A GOES-13 satellite movie view
- 2011/07/01: CBC: Tropical storm Arlene kills 2 in Mexico -- Rain could still trigger life-threatening landslides, officials warn
- 2011/06/30: CNN: Tropical Storm Arlene makes landfall on Mexican coast
- 2011/06/30: PlanetArk: Arlene To Drench Large Parts Of Central Mexico
- 2011/06/30: Wunderground: Tropical Storm Arlene hits Mexico
- 2011/06/29: Wunderground: Tropical Storm Arlene slides toward Mexico coast
- 2011/06/30: CBC: Tropical storm Arlene makes landfall in Mexico
- 2011/06/29: Wunderground: Tropical Storm Arlene--a heavy rainfall threat for Mexico
- 2011/06/29: Eureka: NASA/NOAA GOES-13 satellite movie shows how Tropical Storm Arlene formed
- 2011/06/29: CBC: Tropical storm Arlene to strengthen toward Mexico
First named tropical storm of season may cause mudslides, flash floods - 2011/06/27: Eureka: NASA sees Tropical Depression Meari about to cross North Vietnam
- 2011/06/27: PlanetArk: Bad Weather Kills 6 In Vietnam, 11 Missing In Philippines
As for GHGs:
- 2011/06/30: PlanetArk: Europe Cuts CO2 Emissions From Cars By 3.7 Percent
- 2011/06/30: SciNow: Why Wallabies Don't Pass Methane Gas
- 2011/06/29: CCP: Human activities emit roughly 135 times as much climate-warming carbon dioxide as volcanoes each year
- 2011/06/28: CBC: Canadian household CO2 emissions grow -- Alberta, oil and gas industry spend most to protect environment
As for the temperature record:
- 2011/06/29: MTobis: World Record Hottest Low Temperature
At Khasab Airport in the desert nation of Oman, a remarkable record was set yesterday--the low temperature for the day was a scorching 41.7°C (107°F). - 2011/06/29: moyhu: More proxy temperature reconstruction plots
- 2011/06/29: NOAANews: Average U.S. temperature increases by 0.5 degrees F -- New 1981-2010 'normals' to be released this week
- 2011/06/27: CCP: "The ratio of land to ocean temperature change under global warming" by G. J. Boer, Climate Dynamics, 2011
- 2011/06/27: Wunderground: Hottest day on record in Texas Panhandle; fire threatens Los Alamos
Aerosols are making their presence felt:
- 2011/06/29: TCoE: It's aerosol whiplash time
While in the paleoclimate:
- 2011/06/29: PSinclair: Graph of the Day: Scientific American on Today's Greenhouse vs. History -- the PETM
- 2011/06/27: Eureka: Fossilized pollen reveals climate history of northern Antarctica -- Analysis of direct climate record shows Antarctic tundra persisted until 12 million years ago
Regarding the solar hypothesis:
- 2011/06/30: Stoat: Sun down?
The cliff, aka tipping points, aka planetary boundaries, put in an appearance:
- 2011/07/01: MLynas: Biodiversity: the top-level planetary boundary?
What's up with volcanoes this week?
- 2011/06/29: NASA: GOES Satellites See Ash Still Spewing from Chilean Volcano
Meanwhile in near earth orbit:
- 2011/07/01: Eureka: NASA's Aura Satellite measures pollution from New Mexico, Arizona fires
- 2011/06/27: USGS: Landsat Imagery Tracks Record Flooding in Minot, N.D.
- 2011/06/29: PostMedia: U.S. launch delay won't impact Canadian weather forecasts
An anticipated delay in the launch of a new U.S. weather satellite will have a "severe" impact on five-day weather forecasting in the United States, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. But a spokesperson for Environment Canada said there would be no serious impact on weather forecasting in this country.
[...]
"Because Canada uses data from a number of satellites from various countries, a gap in the U.S. polar orbiting program will have little impact on Environment Canada's current weather monitoring and forecasting capability," [Environment Canada's Henry] Lau said in an email. - 2011/06/27: NASA: Landsat Satellite Images Reveal Extent of Historic North Dakota Flooding
More GW impacts are being seen:
- 2011/07/02: Eureka: Climate change threatens endangered freshwater turtle
- 2011/06/30: PopSci: Spiders Fleeing Pakistan's Floodwater Take to the Trees -- Giant webs give the landscape an eerie feel
- 2011/07/01: CCP: Climate change increases the risk of ground level ozone damage to plants, Swedish research finds
- 2011/07/01: Eureka: Climate change could turn oxygen-free seas from blessing to curse for zooplankton
- 2011/06/30: PSinclair: Fires, Floods, and Our New Gelatinous Overlords. Knock on Effects of Climate Change Ramp up.
- 2011/06/30: TreeHugger: California Vineyards Face Massive Climate Crunch By 2040 - Up To 50% Loss of Premium Growing Land
- 2011/06/29: Eureka: Farm animal disease to increase with climate change
- 2011/06/28: CSW: Preparing for the Impact of a Changing Climate on US Humanitarian and Disaster Response
- 2011/06/27: Guardian(UK): Global warming drives evolution of Columbian ground squirrels
- 2011/06/27: PlanetArk: Arctic-Crossing Algae, Whale Show Threat To Atlantic
- 2011/06/27: CBC: Melting Northwest Passage lets Pacific species cross
And then there are the world's forests:
- 2011/07/01: NatureNB: Deforestation rises in the Amazon
This week in extreme weather:
- 2011/06/29: SciAm: Global Warming and the Science of Extreme Weather
How rising temperatures change weather and produce fiercer, more frequent storms. Second of a three-part series - 2011/07/01: Independent(UK): Extreme weather link 'can no longer be ignored'
Scientists are to end their 20-year reluctance to link climate change with extreme weather -- the heavy storms, floods and droughts which often fill news bulletins -- as part of a radical departure from a previous equivocal position that many now see as increasingly untenable. - 2011/07/01: TreeHugger: From the Horn of Africa, to Texas, to New Mexico Extreme Weather & Climate Taking Its Toll
- 2011/06/28: SciAm: Storm Warnings: Extreme Weather Is a Product of Climate Change
More violent and frequent storms, once merely a prediction of climate models, are now a matter of observation. Part 1 of a three-part series - 2011/06/28: PSinclair: Scientific American: Extreme Weather Caused by Climate Change
- 2011/06/27: Guardian(UK): Climate change hots up in 2010, the year of extreme weather
As for heatwaves and wild fires:
- 2011/07/01: CSM: Wildfire threatening Los Alamos lab is New Mexico's largest ever
- 2011/07/01: Wunderground: Los Conchas Fire New Mexico's largest fire in recorded history
- 2011/06/30: BBC: Los Alamos fire: Crews gaining control of blaze
- 2011/06/30: OSU: Fire bringing communities together across West
As homes and cities expand closer to forests and wildlands across the American West, increasing wildfire threats have created an unlikely new phenomena -- confidence in government. Recent studies show that people in neighborhoods adjacent to public forest lands can and do trust natural resource managers to a surprising degree, in part because the risks they face are so severe. Thousands of acres burn every year, threatening homes, lives and property, and in many groups and areas, the phrase "'m from the government -- trust me"is no longer being used as a joke or punch line. In a survey done in seven states, researchers from Oregon State University and other institutions found that a large majority of people rated agency management of public forest lands as good or excellent. - 2011/06/28: ScienceInsider: Fire Outside Los Alamos Lab Poses 'Low' Risk to Nuclear Waste: Fire Chief
- 2011/06/28: DemNow: As Obama Quietly Pushes for a Nuclear Weapons Renaissance, Wildfire Threatens Los Alamos Nuclear Lab
- 2011/06/29: BBC: Los Alamos fire: More firefighters deploy in New Mexico
Hundreds more firefighters are being deployed to battle a wildfire near a top US nuclear weapons research lab in New Mexico amid concerns the blaze could reach radioactive waste. - 2011/06/29: CBC: Los Alamos wildfire near nuclear lab worries residents
Town of 11,000 sits empty as residents fear possible radioactive smoke plume - 2011/06/28: ABC(Au): Bushfire reaches Los Alamos nuke lab
A raging bushfire has briefly entered the property of the pre-eminent US nuclear facility, Los Alamos National Laboratory, a vast complex that houses research laboratories and a plutonium facility. - 2011/06/27: ScienceInsider: New Mexico Fire Hits Los Alamos Lab
- 2011/06/28: Wunderground: Large fire threatens Los Alamos nuclear lab; 95L headed for Mexico
- 2011/06/28: CSM: New Mexico fires encroach on [Los Alamos] nuclear facility
- 2011/06/28: CBC: Los Alamos, N.M., wildfire swells
A wildfire has swelled to about 240,869 square kilometres in the mountains above a northern New Mexico town that is home to a government nuclear laboratory. - 2011/06/27: BBC: A New Mexico wildfire has breached the boundary of Los Alamos National Laboratory, one of the top nuclear weapons research facilities in the US
- 2011/06/27: CNN: Wildfire threatens Los Alamos National Lab
- 2011/06/27: ScienceInsider: New Mexico Wildfire Threatens [Los Alamos] Nuclear Weapons Lab
Corals are dying:
- 2011/07/03: SkeptiSci: Great Barrier Reef Part 1: Current Conditions and Human Impacts
As for hydrological cycle disruptions [floods & droughts]:
- 2011/07/03: JFleck: Thinking about the big dry
- 2011/07/01: PlanetArk: Missouri River Breaches Levee In Southwest Iowa
- 2011/07/01: AbqJournal: Driest on record in Albuquerque
June's rainfall goose egg in Albuquerque means we've finished the first half of 2011 with just 0.19 inch of precipitation, by far the driest start to a calendar year on record. It'll take a while to get data from around the state, but it seems likely that we'll soon be able to say the same thing about conditions statewide. In addition, four of the first six months were warmer than the long term average, according to National Weather Service data. - 2011/06/29: TP:JR: How Bad is the Texas Drought? "In Austin, They are Praying for a Hurricane"
- 2011/06/29: PlanetArk: More Flooding Woes Along The Missouri, Souris Rivers
- 2011/06/28: PlanetArk: Regulator Confident In Nuclear Plant Flood-Protections
- 2011/06/28: BBC: Horn of Africa sees 'worst drought in 60 years'
- 2011/06/27: SciNews: Floodwaters may trigger fault motion -- Geologists find evidence for natural disaster one-two punch [misc sci]
- 2011/06/26: Omaha: Flood wall fails at Fort Calhoun
- 2011/06/26: CCP: NRC: 2,000 ft. berm surrounding two buildings holding back Missouri River flood waters has collapsed at the Fort Calhoun nuclear plant in Nebraska
- 2011/06/26: CBS: Flood berm collapses at Nebraska [Fort Calhoun] nuclear plant
Elsewhere on the mitigation front:
- 2011/06/29: TreeHugger: Could Denmark-ifying the World Stop Climate Change?
Consider transportation & GHG production:
- 2011/07/01: CalcRisk: U.S. Light Vehicle Sales 11.45 million Annual Rate in June
- 2011/06/30: EurActiv: Global maritime carbon deal dead in the water
EU officials believe that a global deal to cut maritime carbon emissions is currently unachievable and are instead talking up an initiative by the Bahamas to regulate the world's shipping fleets as an alternative. - 2011/06/28: NBF: China High Speed rail will have complete run north south and significant east west segments by end of 2012
- 2011/06/27: CalcRisk: ATA Trucking index decreased 2.3% in May
- 2011/06/27: Guardian(UK): China tests its high-speed rail link from Beijing to Shanghai
While in the endless quest for zero energy, sustainable buildings and practical codes:
- 2011/07/02: TP:JR: Cutting Building Energy Use 20% by 2020: Clinton Global Initiative Launches Major Efficiency Program
- 2011/06/28: TreeHugger: Big Steps In Building: Stop Ignoring Orientation And Sun Control
As for carbon sequestration:
- 2011/07/01: Tyee: Alberta's Carbon Guinea Pigs -- It's crazy to spend a billion pumping CO2 underground. Ask the Dutch, who said no.
- 2011/06/28: ABC(Au): Carbon capture scheme extended
More than 75,000 kilograms of carbon have been captured as part of a pilot program at a South Burnett power station. Tarong Energy and the CSIRO have been using special liquids to trap emissions from boilers at the coal-fired Tarong plant. Project manager Michael Sinclair says the project is so successful it has been extended for another 18 months. - 2011/06/28: MLynas: Geoengineering: why all the fuss?
- 2011/06/28: TCoE: Geo-hacking primer
- 2011/06/30: Grist: We might have to geoengineer the planet to save ourselves from [the smog-free air of] renewable energy
Meanwhile in the journals:
- 2011/06/30: SD:G&PC: (ab$) Recent melt rates of Canadian Arctic ice caps are the highest in four millennia by David Fisher et al.
- 2011/06/29: GMDD: LOSCAR: Long-term Ocean-atmosphere-Sediment CArbon cycle Reservoir Model by R. E. Zeebe
- 2011/07/01: ACP: Microwave Limb Sounder observations of biomass-burning products from the Australian bush fires of February 2009 by H. C. Pumphrey et al.
- 2011/07/01: ACP: Natural and anthropogenic atmospheric mercury in the European Arctic: a fractionation study by A. O. Steen et al.
- 2011/07/01: ACP: Atmospheric acidification of mineral aerosols: a source of bioavailable phosphorus for the oceans by A. Nenes et al.
- 2011/07/01: ACP: A new method to detect long term trends of methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) total columns measured within the NDACC ground-based high resolution solar FTIR network by J. Angelbratt et al.
- 2011/07/01: ACP: Northern Hemisphere atmospheric influence of the solar proton events and ground level enhancement in January 2005 by C. H. Jackman et al.
- 2011/07/01: ACPD: The first estimates of global nucleation mode aerosol concentrations based on satellite measurements by M. Kulmala et al.
- 2011/07/01: ACPD: TransCom model simulations of CH4 and related species: linking transport, surface flux and chemical loss with CH4 variability in the troposphere and lower stratosphere by P. K. Patra et al.
- 2011/07/01: GMD: Pliocene Model Intercomparison Project (PlioMIP): experimental design and boundary conditions (Experiment 2) by A. M. Haywood et al.
- 2011/07/01: GMD: The HadGEM2-ES implementation of CMIP5 centennial simulations by C. D. Jones et al.
- 2011/07/01: TCD: Reformulating the full-Stokes ice sheet model for a more efficient computational solution by J. K. Dukowicz
- 2011/06/30: ESD: A multi-model ensemble method that combines imperfect models through learning by L. A. van den Berge et al.
- 2011/07/01: ESDD: The magnitude-timescale relationship of surface temperature feedbacks in climate models by A. Jarvis
- 2011/06/30: CPD: Towards orbital dating of the EPICA Dome C ice core using (delta)O2/N2 by A. Landais et al.
- 2011/06/30: CPD: High-latitude obliquity forcing drives the Agulhas leakage by T. Caley et al.
- 2011/06/27: CPD: Synchronicity of the East Asian Summer Monsoon variability and Northern Hemisphere climate change since the last deglaciation by T. Shinozaki et al.
- 2011/06/25: GRL: (ab$) The average influence of decadal solar forcing on the atmosphere in the South Pacific region by Harry van Loon & Gerald A. Meehl
- 2011/06/30: ACPD: Controls on the movement and composition of firn air at the West Antarctic Ice Sheet Divide by M. O. Battle et al.
- 2011/06/29: ACP: Application of SCIAMACHY and MOPITT CO total column measurements to evaluate model results over biomass burning regions and Eastern China by C. Liu et al.
- 2011/06/29: ACP: Jet characterization in the upper troposphere/lower stratosphere (UTLS): applications to climatology and transport studies by G. L. Manney et al.
- 2011/06/28: ACP: Improvement and evaluation of simulated global biogenic soil NO emissions in an AC-GCM by J. Steinkamp & M. G. Lawrence
- 2011/06/28: ACP: Role of sea surface temperature responses in simulation of the climatic effect of mineral dust aerosol by X. Yue et al.
- 2011/06/29: ACPD: Effect of isoprene emissions from major forests on ozone formation in the city of Shanghai, China by F. Geng et al.
- 2011/06/29: ACPD: Have primary emission reduction measures reduced ozone across Europe? An analysis of European rural background ozone trends 1996-2005 by R. C. Wilson et al.
- 2011/06/28: ACPD: Primary versus secondary contributions to particle number concentrations in the European boundary layer by C. L. Reddington et al.
- 2011/06/30: CSIRO: (ab$) Reducing fuels in the wildland-urban interface: community perceptions of agency fuels treatments by Eric Toman et al.
- 2011/06/28: PNAS: (ab$) Genetic calibration of species diversity among North America's freshwater fishes by Julien April et al.
- 2011/06/28: PNAS: (ab$) Systematic variation in the temperature dependence of physiological and ecological traits by Anthony I. Dell et al.
- 2011/06/28: PNAS: (ab$) Risk of collective failure provides an escape from the tragedy of the commons by Francisco C. Santos & Jorge M. Pacheco
- 2011/06/28: PNAS: (ab$) Discriminating between climate observations in terms of their ability to improve an ensemble of climate predictions by Yi Huang et al.
- 2011/06/29: GRL: (ab$) Water vapor intrusions into the High Arctic during winter by J. G. Doyle et al.
- 2011/06/27: OSD: Impact of combining GRACE and GOCE gravity data on ocean circulation estimates by T. Janjic et al.
- 2011/06/26: Nature:GeoSci: [Letter$] Built for stability by Paul Valdes
- 2011/06/26: Nature:GeoSci: (ab$) Stronger ocean circulation and increased melting under Pine Island Glacier ice shelf by Stanley S. Jacobs et al.
- 2011/06/27: AGWObserver: New research from last week 25/2011
And other significant documents:
- 2011/06/30: PI: [link to 561k pdf] Measuring the appetite for climate action in British Columbia -- British Columbians' perspectives on climate change and carbon taxes
- 2011/06/27: PI: [link to 9.1 meg pdf] Harvesting clean energy on Ontario farms -- A transatlantic comparison
- 2011/06/29: CCPA: [link to 1.2 meg pdf] Plugging the Gap -- Sustainable Power Options to Complement Wind and Solar
- 2011/06/29: AAAS: [link to 62k pdf] AAAS Board: Attacks on Climate Researchers Inhibit Free Exchange of Scientific Ideas
As for miscellaneous science:
- 2011/07/01: ERabett: Don't tell me they figured this out
- 2010/12/22: GCraven: AGU talk (Dec 15, 2010)
- 2011/06/30: ERabett: In a recent EOS (newletter of the American Geophysical Union), Alan Betts has some advice...
- 2011/07/01: TreeHugger: Aircraft Punching Holes In Clouds Can Increase Precipitation Around Airports
- 2011/06/30: CSM: Why airplanes make it rain or snow
- 2011/06/27: SciNow: Contrails Warm the Globe
- 2011/06/29: IsaacHeld: 13. The strength of the hydrological cycle
- 2011/06/28: CCP: Early arrival of Southern Source Water in the deep North Atlantic prior to Heinrich event 2, Paleoceanography, 26, PA2101, doi: 10.1029/2011PA002114, by Marcus Gutjahr & Jörg Lippold
- 2011/06/27: DM:JLV: New Science From the NCDC Makes It More Difficult To Communicate Climate Change
More DIY science:
- 2011/06/27: moyhu: Northern Hemisphere proxy plots - last millenium
What's new in models?
- 2011/07/03: TSoD: Models, On -- and Off -- the Catwalk - Part Three
- 2011/06/30: Grist: Climate models are creating a false sense of security, or at least insufficient terror
- 2011/06/28: BBC:RB: 'Fatigue' in the climate system
- 2011/06/27: ClimateSight: Working Away
While at the UN:
- 2011/07/01: UN: Convention on environment and human rights crucial for ecological protection - Ban
- 2011/07/01: UN: Ban stresses crucial role of science in addressing current global challenges
- 2011/07/01: PlanetArk: Panama To Host U.N. Climate Talks [in Panama City from October 1 to 7]
- 2011/06/30: EnergyBulletin: Blazing Brazilian biofuel beatdown
- 2011/06/27: UN: Newly-elected leader [José Graziano da Silva] of [FAO] UN agency foresees cooperation on food issues
- 2011/06/26: UN: Brazilian [José Graziano da Silva] to become next chief of UN Food and Agriculture Organization
And on the carbon trading front:
- 2011/06/30: TP:JR: As California delays its carbon pollution trading program for a year, China speeds up its embrace of cap-and-trade
- 2011/06/30: LA Times: California delays its carbon-trading program until 2013
- 2011/06/28: PlanetArk: Carbon Offsets Fall Below 10 Euros, New 2-Year Low
The idea of a carbon tax is still bouncing around:
- 2011/06/30: PI: British Columbians support the carbon tax: poll
- 2011/07/01: CBC: Carbon tax bumps up B.C. fuels prices -- Tax puts province's businesses at a disadvantage, says Business Council
The Tobin tax, aka the Bank tax, aka the Financial Transaction tax keeps coming up:
- 2011/07/01: CDreams: Europe Taking Lead on Speculations Tax
- 2011/06/30: EUO: Brussels seeks financial [transaction] tax [an EU-wide value-added tax] in new EU budget
Future EU spending is set to increase, focusing marginally less on agriculture and more on research, education and transport, according to European Commission proposals for the next seven-year budgetary period (2014-2020). The draft budget also includes controversial proposals for EU 'own resources', including a tax on financial transactions and an EU-wide value-added tax (VAT). - 2011/07/01: TP:JR: Airlines Claim to Support Climate Action While Opposing the Only Effective Policy to Cut Carbon Pollution [ATA & EU ETS]
- 2011/06/27: EUO: EU 'won't back down' in China aviation row
The European Union has said it will continue with plans to charge airlines for pollution credits from the beginning of next year, amid reports that China has frozen a multi-billion euro Airbus order in retaliation. Both China and the US are deeply unhappy with EU intentions to move the aviation sector into its emissions trading scheme (ETS) from 2012, but Brussels insists it will not alter legislation, agreed by MEPs and national governments in 2008. - 2011/06/30: DemNow: Climate Chaos: Christian Parenti's New Book Exposes How Global Warming Could Lead to Global Warfare
- 2011/06/29: al Jazeera: Water wars: 21st century conflicts?
As almost half of humanity will face water scarcity by 2030, strategists from Israel to Central Asia prepare for strife. - 2011/06/29: PostMedia: Oil, water shortages, climate change could provoke wars: report
- 2011/06/28: Grist: Prepare for a world energy war [Klare]
- 2011/06/26: AlterNet: The New 30-Years' War: Who Will Be the Winners and Losers in the Great Global Energy Struggle to Come? by Michael T. Klare
The issue of the law and activism is playing out around the world:
- 2011/06/29: Rabble: Sharing food should not be a crime
Think of "food terrorism" and what do you see? Diabolical plots to taint items on grocery-store shelves? If you are Buddy Dyer, the mayor of Orlando, Fla., you might be thinking of a group feeding the homeless and hungry in one of your city parks. That is what Dyer is widely quoted as calling the activists with the Orlando chapter of Food Not Bombs -- "food terrorists." In the past few weeks, no less than 21 people have been arrested in Orlando, the home of Disney World, for handing out free food in a park. - 2011/06/30: CDreams: Time For Climate Activists to Get Tough
Polls! We have polls!
- 2011/06/29: SciAm: "Green" Positions on Climate Change Can Help All Candidates, Survey Finds
Candidates of either party who take an environmental stance on climate can gain the votes of some citizens while not alienating others, according to a Stanford University survey - 2011/06/29: TP:JR: Poll: Public Understanding of Climate Science Rebounds, Majority See Environment vs. Economy as a 'False Choice'
- 2011/06/27: ABC(Au): Fewer Australians back climate action: poll
- 2011/06/27: PlanetArk: Australians Cool On Tackling Climate Change
Regarding Water Politics and Business:
- 2011/06/30: Grist: In the worst drought in Texas history, 13.5 billion gallons of water used for fracking
- 2011/06/28: Guardian(UK): Water scarcity in Africa and the Middle East: get the data
- 2011/06/28: JFleck: Stuff I Wrote Elsewhere: the California-NM connection
And on the American political front:
- 2011/07/02: TP:JR: Ceres: Stronger Fuel Economy Standards will Save Consumers $150 Billion, Create 700,000 Jobs by 2030
- 2011/07/01: ScienceInsider: U.S. National Parks' Cultural and Natural Resources Threatened
- 2011/06/26: RRapier: Tapping the SPR: The Root of Dysfunctional Energy Policies
- 2011/07/01: ZeroHedge: Record 44.7 Million People Celebrate Geithner's Departure And The End Of QE2 Through Foodstamps
- 2011/06/30: USDA: SNAP - Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program
- 2011/06/30: AlterNet: Why Unions Should Reconsider Support for Tar Sands Oil Pipeline
- 2011/06/30: NOAANews: Western Governors, NOAA agree to work together to improve climate services for the West
- 2011/06/30: AlterNet: Open Letter to New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo: Do Not Lift Fracking Moratorium!
- 2011/06/29: McClatchyDC: Eight myths to chill an old-school Republican's soul
- 2011/06/29: NPR: Officials: W.Va. Mine Operator Kept Two Sets Of Safety Records
- 2011/06/30: Grist: What we could have bought with the $4 trillion we spent on Iraq and Afghanistan
- 2011/06/30: TreeHugger: New Jersey Legislature Votes To Ban Fracking
- 2011/06/30: LA Times: California delays its carbon-trading program until 2013
The cap-and-trade program, which would force industries to cut greenhouse gases by the end of the decade, continues to be challenged in court. Facing continued litigation, California officials will delay enforcement of the state's carbon-trading program until 2013, state Air Resources Board Chairwoman Mary Nichols announced Wednesday. The delay in the cap-and-trade program, slated to take effect in January, is proposed because of the "need for all necessary elements to be in place and fully functional," she said. But in testimony before a state Senate committee,Nichols said the postponement would not affect the stringency of the program or the amount of greenhouse gases that industries will be forced to cut by the end of the decade. - 2011/06/28: TP:JR: The NY Times 'Noticed' That 'Green Jobs Attract Graduates'
- 2011/06/29: Grist: In defense of 'green jobs'
- 2011/06/27: TP:JR: The Hidden Cost of War: U.S. Military Spends $20 Billion a Year on Air Conditioning in Iraq and Afghanistan
- 2011/06/28: TP:JR: Google: Delaying Clean Energy Transition "Only 5 Years Could Leave Trillions on the Table"
- 2011/06/28: Grist: U.S. politicians' campaign of terror against climate scientists
- 2011/06/27: RawStory: Wisconsin cuts Planned Parenthood, denying 12,000 women needed care
- 2011/06/27: TP:JR: The Lou Dobbs Energy Plan: "Drill, Mine, Exploit"
The BP disaster continues to twist US politics:
- 2011/07/02: 350orBust: BP Is Creepy: NRDC Issues Damning Water Quality Report on Gulf Beaches One Year After Oil Disaster
- 2011/06/30: GPalast: Drowning Fish?
- 2011/06/30: NatureNB: Stop-gap funds will support summer research on oil spill
- 2011/06/29: CSW: BP control of Gulf cleanup money interfering with scientific integrity of damage assessment, Senate Environment committee told at hearing
Do you want a corporate dweeb, or a sociopathic corporate dweeb? Your choice:
- 2011/07/02: QuarkSoup: Hilarious
- 2011/07/02: DenverPost: [Michigan Congressman Thaddeus] McCotter officially announces White House run
- 2011/06/29: BBickmore: Michelle Bachmann... (snort)
- 2011/06/29: Grist: Pawlenty: 'Look at me! I don't believe in science either!'
- 2011/06/29: Grist: Bringin' crazy Bach
- 2011/06/28: ScienceInsider: Candidate Pawlenty on Climate Change: 'The Science Is Bad'
- 2011/06/29: DeSmogBlog: Voters Strongly Oppose Michele Bachmann's Proposal to Abolish the EPA
- 2011/06/28: DemNow: "A Perfect Product of the Religious Right": Deconstructing Michele Bachmann's GOP Presidential Bid
- 2011/06/28: MoJo: Ex-Bachmann Chief of Staff: Michele's Not Cut Out for White House
- 2011/06/28: CCP: Tim Pawlenty again denies the fact of global warming, spouts the usual fossil-fuel industry talking points
- 2011/06/28: S&R: Of Wikipedia, revisionism, serial killers, The Duke and Michelle Bachmann: the past is the present, the future is the present, and the present is fucked
- 2011/06/28: CBC: Candidate Bachmann fares so-so on accuracy
- 2011/06/27: AlterNet: Psycho Talk: The 32 Craziest Things GOP Presidential Contender Michele Bachmann Has Said
- 2011/06/27: TP:JR: Tim Pawlenty Haunted By Past Of Trying To Help Protect Kids from Pollution
- 2011/06/27: TreeHugger: Republican Presidential Hopefuls Out Of Step With Their Religions On Climate Change
- 2011/06/27: BBC: US election 2012: Michele Bachmann joins race
- 2011/06/27: LFR: Unforgiving. The true face of Christian fundamentalist benevolence, Michele Bachmann style.
Still some chat about Al Gore and that Rolling Stone article:
- 2011/06/27: DM:JW: Gore and the Media
The Obama chatter is nonstop:
- 2011/07/01: Grist: President Obama is writing the climate legacy of his first term now
- 2011/06/28: DemNow: As Obama Quietly Pushes for a Nuclear Weapons Renaissance, Wildfire Threatens Los Alamos Nuclear Lab
- 2011/06/27: AutoBG: Obama pledges $500 million to accelerate emerging technologies
The actions of the Obama administration are being watched closely:
- 2011/07/01: BPA: Ethanol Mandate Means Corn Demand Less Responsive to Price
- 2011/07/01: NatureNB: Two bats, an owl and a polar bear [USFWS]
- 2011/06/28: TreeHugger: $1.4 Billion in Loan Guarantees for 733MW of Solar Roofs [from DOE]
- 2011/07/01: QuarkSoup: Did NOAA Exaggerate?
- 2011/06/27: DeSmogBlog: EPA Announces Locations for Fracking Case Studies
- 2011/06/27: AutoBG: Report: Obama administration proposes 2025 CAFE of 56.2 mpg
- 2011/06/27: LA Times: Spurring the EPA on greenhouse gases
The Supreme Court decision to reject a climate-change lawsuit against power plants should be a catalyst for the EPA to work on rules to limit greenhouse gases. - 2011/06/30: Grist: Are energy subsidies really in danger?
- 2011/06/27: AutoBG: Why the Senate ethanol vote is less than it seems
While in the UK:
- 2011/06/30: Guardian(UK): Revealed: British government's plan to play down Fukushima
Internal emails seen by Guardian show PR campaign was launched to protect UK nuclear plans after tsunami in Japan - 2011/06/30: Guardian(UK): [UK] Power from green sources surges -- but so does coal consumption
Renewables output up 27% year on year, coal up 7% -- Rising price of natural gas sees usage fall by 20% - 2011/06/30: BBC: Climate policies 'need new tools', advisers say
The UK's greenhouse gas emissions are not falling fast enough to meet government targets, say advisers. Emissions rose by 3% during 2010, says the Committee on Climate Change (CCC). - 2011/06/29: Guardian(UK): David Cameron must speak out on climate change, says top scientist [Sir David King]
- 2011/06/29: Guardian(UK): UK must not support World Bank's 'dirty' power subsidies, say MPs
- 2011/06/29: Guardian(UK): Force energy companies to insulate UK homes, climate advisers say
- 2011/06/29: BBC: Around 1,500 anti-wind farm protesters have arrived ahead of a special Powys council meeting calling for an immediate review of development policy
- 2011/06/28: Guardian(UK): Climate change arguments incite 'weird religiosity', says [UK climate change minister] Greg Barker
And in Europe:
- 2011/06/30: DerSpiegel: A Revolution for Renewables -- Germany Approves End to the Nuclear Era
It's official: Germany's "Energy Revolution" has begun. The country's parliament on Thursday passed a series of laws that will push forward the phase-out of nuclear plants and promote renewable energies. The world's fourth-largest industrial nation is scheduled to be nuclear-free by 2022, but will its reliance on fossil fuels increase? - 2011/07/01: DerSpiegel: The World from Berlin -- 'A Reversal of the Nuclear Phase-Out Is Hard to Imagine'
It's been tried before, but this time Germany means it: In about a decade, the world's fourth-largest industrial nation will have to get by without atomic energy, following parliament's approval of the government's nuclear phase-out plans on Thursday. German commentators agree there is no going back. - 2011/06/30: DerSpiegel: Fuming over the Phase-Out -- Energy Shift Deeply Divides German Companies
Chancellor Angela Merkel's nuclear phase-out is causing deep divisions in the German business community. The only issue where there seems to be any agreement across industry lines is that more government subsidies are going to be needed as the price of electricity rises. - 2011/07/01: EurActiv: Influential MEP calls for shale gas regulation
One of the most influential members of the European Parliament is proposing a new directive that would penalise or even ban the exploitation of shale gas, the controversial new fossil fuel that is tipped as the major energy source of the future. Jo Leinen told the Guardian he wanted a new "energy quality directive" that would mean fuels with adverse environmental impacts -- such as shale gas and oil from tar sands -- were stringently regulated within the EU. - 2011/07/01: EurActiv: Oettinger urges coordination of German nuclear exit
Germany needs to coordinate its planned exit from nuclear power with its European partners, EU Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger said yesterday (30 June). - 2011/06/30: Guardian(UK): Influential MEP calls for shale gas regulation
Jo Leinen is proposing a European directive that would penalise or even ban the exploitation of the controversial fossil fuel - 2011/06/30: EUO: Lewandowski in climbdown over climate comments
EU budget commissioner Janusz Lewandowski has clarified that he does believe in global warming, despite recent statements in which he appeared to question the validity of the phenomenon. The climbdown was posted on Lewandowski's homepage on Monday (27 June), just days after a trio of MEPs called on European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso to sanction his Polish colleague. - 2011/06/27: BBC: France will invest 1bn euros (£0.8bn) in nuclear power despite warnings after the Fukushima disaster in Japan, President Nicolas Sarkozy says
Meanwhile in Australia:
- 2011/07/01: ABC(Au): Climate Commission received well by audience [in Tamworth last night]
- 2011/07/01: ABC(Au): Traffic fines issued to anti-gas protesters
Police have for the first time issued traffic infringements to anti-gas hub protesters camped north of Broome. - 2011/07/01: ABC(Au): Solar summit slammed
A solar industry executive has told a State Government summit in Newcastle it was a waste of time and it had not addressed the key issue. [...]
"What we've been dished up so far is an attack on solar and other renewables and a spirited defence of nuclear energy," [chief executive of the Australian Solar Industry Society, John Grimes] said. - 2011/07/01: ABC(Au): Meet Australia's new Senate powerbrokers
The Australian Greens assume the balance of power in the Senate today, with four new Greens senators who were elected last year starting their terms. - 2011/06/30: ABC(Au): Garnaut addresses Cooma forum
The Federal Government's Climate Change Advisor, Ross Garnaut, has told Monaro farmers in south east New South Wales they can afford a price on carbon. - 2011/06/30: ABC(Au): Protesters say deal signing won't stop them
Anti-gas hub protesters camped on the road to James Price Point say the signing of a land access deal does not change anything. - 2011/06/29: ABC(Au): Solar audit finds panel problems plentiful
An inspection of more than 600 homes with solar panels in Sydney's north-west has found more than four out of five systems were defective. - 2011/06/29: ABC(Au): Government approves $12b Inpex gas project
- 2011/06/29: GEP: Carbon Farming Moves Through Australian Parliament
- 2011/06/27: ABC(Au): Fewer Australians back climate action: poll
New research shows support for taking action on climate change is falling steeply. The Lowy Institute's annual poll asked about 1,000 people for their opinions on a range of topics, including climate change and the war in Afghanistan. - 2011/07/03: ABC(Au): PM rules out carbon tax on petrol
Prime Minister Julia Gillard says the Government has decided the carbon tax will not apply to petrol for individual drivers so that families, tradesmen and small businesses will not be hit with price hikes at the pump. - 2011/07/03: ABC(Au): The Greens have agreed that petrol will be largely excluded from the carbon tax, but say the Federal Government cannot promise the exemption will be permanent
- 2011/07/03: ABC(Au): Opposition Leader Tony Abbott says the Prime Minister cannot be trusted when she says families will be exempt from petrol price increases under the carbon tax.
- 2011/07/02: ABC(Au): Victorian Premier Ted Baillieu has written to Prime Minister Julia Gillard, accusing the Commonwealth of failing to consult with the states on its plans for a carbon tax.
- 2011/07/01: PlanetJ: Overview of My Opinions on the Carbon Tax
- 2011/07/01: ABC(Au): Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has criticised Australian economists for supporting a carbon tax and a market-based emissions trading scheme as planned by the Federal Government
- 2011/07/01: ABC(Au): More than 1,000 people have gathered in central Sydney for a rally against the Federal Government's carbon tax plans
- 2011/07/01: ABC(Au): Business rallies troops for carbon tax fight
- 2011/06/30: PlanetJ: What We Know About the [Aus] Carbon Tax
- 2011/06/30: ABC(Au): Carbon tax period as short as possible: PM
Prime Minister Julia Gillard says she is determined to introduce an emissions trading scheme as soon as possible, amid reports the Multi-Party Climate Change Committee has agreed the transition from a carbon tax to an ETS will take three years. - 2011/06/30: ABC(Au): Deputy Greens leader Christine Milne has confirmed reports of a carbon tax breakthrough, saying the Multi-Party Climate Change Committee is "on track" to have the scheme starting in July next year
- 2011/06/29: ABC(Au): Dubbo meeting opposes carbon tax
- 2011/06/30: ABC(Au): Carbon deal just days away
The Federal Government and the Greens could have a carbon tax deal finalised by early next month. The ABC understands the Government's Multi-Party Climate Change Committee has made significant progress towards signing off on a deal, and a formal agreement is expected to be reached in the next week-and-a-half. - 2011/06/29: ABC(Au): Brown guarantees future of carbon legislation
Greens leader Bob Brown has guaranteed carbon price legislation will not be repealed despite promises from Opposition Leader Tony Abbott that he would "oppose it in opposition and rescind it in government". Senator Brown predicts an agreement on a climate legislation is only about two weeks away - but says it is not going to be a "green outcome". - 2011/06/29: ABC(Au): Climate change deal stuck on three details: Oakeshott
Key independent Rob Oakeshott says a deal on climate change policy could be struck "in five minutes" if compromise can be reached on three sticking points. The multi-party climate change committee, composed of Labor, Greens and independent members, is meeting again today without Prime Minister Julia Gillard, who is in Darwin for a community cabinet meeting. Mr Oakeshott says the sticking points are compensation for polluting industries that rely on exports, compensation for households, and how much of the carbon tax should be funnelled into renewable energy projects. - 2011/06/29: PlanetArk: Australian Greens Say Major Hurdles Remain In Carbon Talks
- 2011/06/27: ABC(Au): The Federal Government has begun selling its carbon tax compensation program, with Treasurer Wayne Swan saying a "battlers' buffer" will protect around 3 million low-income households from price increases.
After a 10 year drought and recent massive flooding, water usage planning is controversial and difficult:
- 2011/07/01: ABC(Au): Basin authority chief defends science of plan
- 2011/07/01: ABC(Au): A group of Australia's top scientists have written to the Murray-Darling Basin Authority to complain there is a lack of scientific input into its soon-to-be released water plan
- 2011/07/01: ABC(Au): Riverland irrigators are back on full water allocations but say their future remains uncertain
- 2011/07/01: ABC(Au): The New South Wales Minister for Primary Industries [Katrina Hodgkinson] says an agreement that would have jeopardised Broken Hill's water supply is 'dead in the water'.
- 2011/06/30: ABC(Au): The New South Wales Government has scrapped an agreement signed last year that allowed the Federal Government to buy water from the Menindee Lakes and return it to the Murray River
And in New Zealand:
- 2011/06/30: HotTopic: Don Brash: climate clueless -- to the core
While in the Indian subcontinent:
- 2011/06/27: CCurrents: Police Resume Drive To Take Over Land For POSCO
- 2011/06/07: al Jazeera: The great land grab: India's war on farmers
And in China:
- 2011/07/01: Guardian(UK): China: The environmental and cultural harm to Inner Mongolia's grasslands
- 2011/06/28: Guardian(UK): China told to reduce food production or face 'dire' water levels
Food must be imported and water use tightly regulated to protect dwindling supply, a leading groundwater expert has warned - 2011/06/30: PlanetArk: Pakistan Woefully Unprepared For New Floods
In Africa:
- 2011/06/28: Guardian(UK): Women excluded from climate change projects in Africa, UN experts warn
And South America:
- 2011/06/29: TreeHugger: Bolivia Signs Food Security Law, Aims to Reduce Dependence on Foreign Companies
In Canada, neocon PM Harper, continues his do-nothing policy:
- 2011/07/02: PostMedia: Canada's complacency on climate change is an embarrassment
Global warming is not going to go away by itself. And if our government has its way, Canada will remain part of the problem, rather than become part of the solution. Canada continues to lead the world in obstructing progress on international climate policy. The latest evidence was presented for the world to observe during the recent climate talks in Bonn, Germany. Organized by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the summit's mission statement clearly spelled out the danger our civilization faces: "Climate change is one of the most fundamental challenges ever to confront humanity. Its impacts are already showing and will intensify over time if left unchecked." Yet the Canadian delegation confirmed our country would not accept binding emission cuts; nor would it agree to emissions targets set under a second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol, during Bonn negotiations. - 2011/06/30: DeSmogBlog: Canada Causes Cancer: Government & Industry Collude to Keep Asbestos Off UN Hazardous Chemical List
- 2011/06/28: CBC: Canadian household CO2 emissions grow -- Alberta, oil and gas industry spend most to protect environment
- 2011/06/28: Grist: Bill McKibben: Blame Canada!
- 2011/06/26: G&M: Ottawa to step in on emissions technology
The Harper government is looking to regulate the technology used to control oil industry emissions, in a move aimed at demonstrating Ottawa is determined to deal with the oil sands' carbon footprint. - 2011/06/27: OrwellsBastard: G20 anniversary: Queen & Spadina, one year later
- 2011/06/27: PaiD: G20 Summit Police Tactics Continue to Outrage Canadians
- 2011/06/26: Creekside: G20 : Caught in the Act
AECL has been sold to SNC Lavalin:
- 2011/07/01: TStar: AECL saga shows Conservatives have no business being in government
Let me see if I've got this straight.
Stephen Harper's Conservative government has agreed to sell the reactor division of its billion-dollar crown corporation, Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd., to the private firm SNC-Lavalin Inc.
But taxpayers aren't guaranteed any money from this sale. In fact, when the back and forth is totalled (Lavalin gives Ottawa $15 million; Ottawa gives Lavalin $75 million), we end up paying $60 million for the privilege of no longer owning that chunk of AECL.
Lavalin gets the lion's share of the nuclear technology company's $1.1 billion worth of assets -- including land, buildings and tools.
The public, on the other hand, is stuck with all of all of AECL's $4.5 billion worth of liabilities.
That means, says Lavalin vice-president Leslie Quinton, that the public is still responsible for decommission existing AECL atomic reactors and disposing of their waste.
Canadian taxpayers are also on the hook for any cost overruns from past and current AECL projects, including an estimated $1 billion that New Brunswick says it is owed for its Point Lepreau nuclear power station.
Oh yes. And Lavalin is expected to lay off at least 40 per cent of AECL's 2,000-person commercial reactor division. Most are scientists and engineers.
In short, we pay Lavalin to take the good stuff and slash high-tech jobs. We're left with the debts -- plus the promise of unspecified royalties in the future.
Which is a pretty good deal for the Montreal-based firm. If I'd known what patsies Harper's Conservatives are, I'd have tried to "buy" AECL. - 2011/07/02: PL: Why Has Our Atomic Energy Been Sold to a War Profiteer?
- 2011/07/01: TStar: Sad end for a Canadian success story
- 2011/06/30: Enviralment: Canada's Nuclear Energy Crown Corporation to be Sold
- 2011/06/30: Impolitical: More on the AECL farce
- 2011/06/30: CBC: AECL sale means up to 900 layoffs
- 2011/06/30: CBC: Weston: AECL pulls plug on costly reactor project
The federal government has quietly shelved development of a new Canadian nuclear reactor that has already cost taxpayers more than $300 million, and now may never leave the drawing board. CBC News has learned the government-owned Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. pulled the plug on the project about six months ago, despite the huge public investment in the technology. This week, the government sold Atomic Energy's reactor division to a Quebec-based engineering firm that says it, too, has no plans to take the project out of mothballs anytime soon, if ever. For years, the federal government has been pumping money into development of the proposed ACR-1000 reactor, a first-of-its-kind hybrid technology touted as the future of the Canadian nuclear industry. - 2011/06/29: CBC: AECL sold for $15M to SNC-Lavalin -- Government could still earn future royalties from intellectual property rights
- 2011/06/29: CBC: Weston: Ottawa basically paying SNC to take AECL
- 2011/06/29: WpgFP: Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. sold to SNC-Lavalin Group for $15 million
- 2011/06/29: G&M: SNC takes charge of Canada's nuclear future
After 60 years of operation and $21-billion invested, Ottawa is unloading Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd.'s Candu business for a mere $15-million and future royalties. It will now up be to Montreal-based SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. SNC-T to determine whether Canada will remain in the nuclear business, or whether the reactor division will be allowed to wither without a serious commitment to product development. - 2011/06/29: Impolitical: $15 million for AECL
- 2011/06/29: CanEast: AECL sale puts Lepreau funding in doubt
- 2011/06/28: G&M: Impending AECL sale puts Ontario, Ottawa on collision course
Ontario is on a collision course with Ottawa over the Harper government's impending deal to sell off Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd., and get out of the business of subsidizing nuclear reactor sales. With a fall election looming, the Ontario government is demanding that Ottawa help underwrite the construction of two new Candu reactors, just as Prime Minister Stephen Harper committed to back the Lower Churchill hydroelectric project in Newfoundland and Labrador. - 2011/06/28: CBC: Weston: Taxpayers' AECL losses won't end with sale
- 2011/06/28: CBC: AECL sale to SNC-Lavalin near
- 2011/06/27: G&M: Ottawa to sell AECL to SNC-Lavalin
The Harper government is set to announce the sale of Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. to Montreal-based engineering firm SNC-Lavalin Group SNC-T, a major gamble that Canada's nuclear program can stand on its own amid growing global resistance to nuclear energy. The sale of AECL's commercial division could come as early as this week, although negotiators are still working out the final details of the deal, sources close to the talks said Monday. - 2011/06/28: TMoS: Even Canada's Military Brass Get It - Finally!
- 2011/06/29: PostMedia: Oil, water shortages, climate change could provoke wars: report
Critical energy and water shortages combined with climate change could provoke wars within the next 15 years, warns a newly-released analysis by the Department of National Defence. "Global reserves of crude oil could become problematic by 2025," wrote Maj. John Sheahan in a draft version of the report, Army 2040: First Look. "This implies that (barring the discovery of significant new reserves, and barring the adequate adoption of substitute fossil fuels or alternative fuel and energy sources) critical energy shortages will develop in the time frame of (and perhaps prior to) 2025." The report noted that alternative fuels and energy may not be enough to respond to rising demand for energy that is forcing oil production to reach its capacity -- a threat commonly referred to as "peak oil." - 2011/06/29: TRR: Army 2040: First Look moves away from humanity vs. The Environment outlook
- 2011/06/29: TMoS: Did Harper Suppress DND's Climate Change Warning?
- 2011/06/29: PostMedia: Oil, water shortages, climate change could provoke wars: Report
This week in the megaload saga:
- 2011/06/28: Oregonian: Oil-sands 'megaloads' clear one barrier in Idaho, while activists fight Keystone XL pipeline
The CWB is planning a [farmer] vote to counter the Tories:
- 2011/06/28: CBC: Wheat Board plans own vote
- 2011/06/27: WpgFP: Fate of CWB years in making -- Farmers could've spoken up sooner
In BC, the stage is set. Now what will Clark and Dix do?
- 2011/06/30: PI: British Columbians support the carbon tax: poll
- 2011/07/01: CBC: Carbon tax bumps up B.C. fuels prices -- Tax puts province's businesses at a disadvantage, says Business Council
B.C. residents face another across-the-board increase in fuel taxes in what's become a Canada Day convention. The province's carbon tax on gasoline, diesel and all oil-based fuels, as well as natural gas and coal, has jumped every July 1 since 2008. Friday's increase adds another 1.11 cents per litre to gasoline prices and another 1.15 cents per cubic metre on natural gas. The gasoline carbon tax now totals 5.56 cents on every litre. It will rise another 1.11 cents to 6.67 cents per litre July 1, 2012 -- the last year of the increases in the current legislation. - 2011/06/30: G&M: It's time for Christy Clark to do her part for the Great Bear Rainforest
Meanwhile in that Mechanical Mordor known as the tar sands:
- 2011/07/01: PostMedia: Oilsands will wipe out woodland caribou, environmentalists say
The province's new plan to preserve woodland caribou falls short of saving the threatened species from extinction, environmental experts say. Over the past decade, woodland caribou populations have been declining, some by as much as 70 per cent. The major culprit, environmental groups say, is industrial development. Petr Komers, an ecology professor at the University of Calgary, said the population could be extinct in a few years if oilsands developments continue to invade the caribou habitat. - 2011/06/28: WMTC: handmade soaps, equal marriage, and stop the tar sands: i discover lush
Note how these reports don't mention liabilities or debits:
- 2011/06/29: PostMedia: Oil sands fuel Canada's rising natural wealth -- Crude reserves have helped triple value of natural assets
- 2011/06/28: CBC: Oilsands wealth grew 23-fold since 1990
The value of Canada's oilsands grew 23-fold to $441 billion from $19 billion between 1990 and 2009, Statistics Canada reports. - 2011/07/02: CDreams: Canada Day In The Petro-State
- 2011/07/01: Tyee: Alberta's Carbon Guinea Pigs -- It's crazy to spend a billion pumping CO2 underground. Ask the Dutch, who said no.
- 2011/06/28: CBC: Flooding engulfs oil-patch producers
- 2011/06/27: CBC: Oil leaks at Pengrowth facility near Swan Hills
In Manitoba, people still have flooding on their minds:
- 2011/07/02: CBC: Military joins Manitoba flood battle
Canadian Forces personnel will join flood-fighting efforts in Souris, Manitoba Premier Greg Selinger announced Saturday. - 2011/07/01: CBC: Manitoba bolsters dikes as Souris flood nears -- Mayor among 190 forced from their homes
- 2011/06/28: CBC: Flood threat closes Souris emergency room
- 2011/06/27: CBC: Manitoba towns brace for raging Souris River
- 2011/06/26: CBC: 4,000 homes flooded as Souris crests at Minot
In Ontario, upcoming election issues are appearing:
- 2011/06/27: PI: Clean energy opportunities for Ontario farmers: new report
- 2011/06/28: TreeHugger: How To Get Elected In Ontario: Promise Cheap Energy, No Matter What The Cost
In the Maritimes:
- 2011/07/01: CBC: Labrador Innu OK land claim and hydro deal
- 2011/06/29: CBC: Doctors giving Ghiz climate change petition
[Prince Edward Island] Premier Robert Ghiz will receive a petition Wednesday signed by almost 200 Island doctors asking the premier to take action on climate change. - 2011/06/27: Tyee: Koreans Eye Mackenzie Valley Gas -- Short on fuels, their LNG tankers are ready to fetch BC gas. Will they spark a latent NWT gas boom, too?
- 2011/06/30: CBC: Arctic search for Franklin's lost ships continues -- Researchers will also explore wreck of HMS Investigator, found in 2010
What do we tell the children?
- 2011/06/28: 350orBust: Wrecking This Place Down: How Do We Protect Our Children In An Age of Environmental Crisis?
IPAT [Impact = Population * Affluence * Technology] raised its head once again:
- 2011/06/30: ACLU: Federal Court Blocks South Dakota Law Restricting Access to Abortion -- ACLU and Planned Parenthood Win Victory in Effort to Block Unconstitutional Policy
- 2011/06/28: RawStory: Ohio House approves anti-abortion bill that challenges Roe v. Wade ruling
- 2011/06/23: AlterNet: Americans Seem To Love Huge Families, But Only If They're White
- 2011/06/27: RawStory: Wisconsin cuts Planned Parenthood, denying 12,000 women needed care
Apocalypso anyone?
- 2011/06/27: CCurrents: Collapse: The Practical Paradigms
As for how the media handles science:
- 2011/06/28: Guardian(UK): 'Science journalists have forgotten how to be journalists'...the plight of science journalism
- 2011/06/29: DeSmogBlog: When Facts Don't Matter: Proving The Problem With Fox News
- 2011/06/28: QuarkSoup: The Rape of James Delingpole
- 2011/06/28: TP:JR: Fox News Compares James Hansen's Prizes for Truth Telling to Big Tobacco Paying a Doctor to Deny the Risks of Smoking
- 2011/06/28: KSJT: In Qatar - World Conference of Science Journalists. 600, maybe 1,000 strong
- 2011/06/26: Deltoid: Counterpoint fails to make correction
- 2011/06/26: TP:JR: Washington Post Loses Touch With Reality in Attack on Clean Energy Based on Oil Industry Talking Points
Regarding the quality of blogosphere discussion:
- 2011/06/26: MTobis: Good Question
Here is something for your library:
- 2011/06/30: PeakEnergy: The Limits to Growth Revisited
- 2011/06/26: EnergyBulletin: New book: "The Limits to Growth Revisited" [by Ugo Bardi]
And for your film & video enjoyment:
- 2011/07/02: PSinclair: Gunderson on CNN. Fort Calhoun Not Nearly as dangerous as Fukushima
- 2011/07/01: PSinclair: Gunderson: Unit 3 Fuel Pool -- Fuel Bundle exposed
- 2011/07/01: PSinclair: The Weekend Wonk: Paul Gilding and the Great Disruption
- 2011/07/01: PSinclair: Willie Soon: Powered by Exxon
- 2011/06/30: TWTB: Videobreak: Sea ice from a different perspective
- 2011/06/30: SkeptiSci: The Climate Show 15: Michael Ashley and the ineducable Carter
- 2011/06/29: PSinclair: Tell Facebook: Unfriend Coal
- 2011/06/29: HotTopic: The Climate Show #15: Michael Ashley and the ineducable Carter
- 2011/06/27: AFTIC: Monkton on the lose again
- 2011/06/27: BNC: Sustainable energy choices for the 21st Century -- the animated video
- 2011/06/27: PSinclair: Wind Costs: Cheaper than Coal. Wind Turbine Noise: You decide.
Meanwhile among the 'Sue the Bastards!' contingent:
- 2011/07/01: DeSmogBlog: Americans For Prosperity Sues New York For Participating In [RGGI] Regional Climate Pact
- 2011/07/01: PlanetArk: Jury Orders Exxon To Pay $495 Million For Leak: Report
- 2011/06/30: ACLU: Federal Court Blocks South Dakota Law Restricting Access to Abortion -- ACLU and Planned Parenthood Win Victory in Effort to Block Unconstitutional Policy
- 2011/06/30: TP:JR: Bye-Polar Disorder: Judge Upholds 'Threatened' [not 'Endangered'] Listing for Polar Bear, Leaving It on Road to Extinction
- 2011/06/30: CBC: Threat to polar bears is real, U.S. judge rules [but don't call them 'endangered']
A U.S. judge on Thursday backed a finding by government scientists that global warming is threatening the survival of the polar bear. U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan ruled that a May 2008 decision by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to place the bear on the endangered species list as threatened because of melting sea ice was rational given the facts and best available science. - 2011/06/27: TP:JR: Court Rules California's Cap & Trade Program Can Advance
- 2011/06/27: PlanetArk: California Gets Carbon Market Court Win
Among the non-members of Gamblers Anonymous:
- 2011/06/26: Stoat: Betting on sea ice: $10,000
Developing a new energy infrastructure is a fundamental challenge of the current generation:
- 2011/07/01: EnergyBulletin: Life cycle greenhouse gas emissions from shale gas compared to coal: An analysis of two conflicting studies by David Hughes
- 2011/06/29: EnergyBulletin: Brace yourselves for the next oil price shock
- 2011/06/29: TP:JR: Can Biomass Help Phase Out Coal? Dominion Plans to Switch Three Coal Plants to Biomass
- 2011/06/29: TreeHugger: Is Sunlight Unfairly Competing With Fossil Fuels?
- 2011/06/27: CCurrents: The Energy Landscape Of 2041 by Michael T. Klare
- 2011/06/28: TP:JR: Nuclear Giant Alstom Dives into Wave Energy: Is the Marine Energy Industry Ready to Hoist Anchor?
- 2011/06/28: Enviralment: Which Is More Radioactive: A Nuclear Plant Or A Coal Plant?
- 2011/06/27: WiC: Michael Klare: the energy landscape of 2041
Hey! Let's contaminate the aquifer for thousands of years! It'll be a fracking gas!
- 2011/06/30: ProPublica: New York Proposes Permanent Ban on Fracking Near Watershed and State Land
- 2011/07/01: PlanetArk: New York Steps Closer To Allowing Hydrofracking
- 2011/07/01: EurActiv: Influential MEP calls for shale gas regulation
- 2011/07/01: Grist:World's first fracking bans come through in France and New Jersey
- 2011/07/01: CSM: Fracking gas drilling technique ban passed by NJ lawmakers
- 2011/06/30: AlterNet: Open Letter to New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo: Do Not Lift Fracking Moratorium!
- 2011/06/30: TreeHugger: New Jersey Legislature Votes To Ban Fracking
- 2011/06/29: DeSmogBlog: New Jersey Senate Passes Fracking Ban
- 2011/06/29: PlanetArk: Gas Driller Fined $180,000 For Marcellus Violations
- 2011/06/27: DeSmogBlog: EPA Announces Locations for Fracking Case Studies
- 2011/06/27: OilChange: Houston "I think we have a big problem"
The PR war over the merits & demerits of natural gas continues:
- 2011/06/27: FuturePundit: NYT And EIA: Shale Gas Bubble?
- 2011/07/01: KSJT: Real Clear Politics: A critic says NYTimes's gas fracking package not up to ethical snuff
- 2011/06/28: NYT: Lawmakers Seek Inquiry of Natural Gas Industry
Federal lawmakers called Tuesday on several agencies, including the federal Securities and Exchange Commission, the Energy Information Administration and the Government Accountability Office, to investigate whether the natural gas industry has provided an accurate picture to investors of the long-term profitability of their wells and the amount of gas these wells can produce. - 2011/06/29: OilChange: Reality Check for the Natural Gas Boom: A Look at the NYT Shale Gas E-Mails
- 2011/06/30: DotE: The Shale Gas Scam Goes Public
- 2011/06/29: Grist: Natural gas, war of words
- 2011/06/27: CleanBreak: It may contaminate your well water and emit more emissions than expected, but is shale gas business also a Ponzi scheme?
- 2011/06/27: ProPublica: SEC Loosening of Rule Let Natural Gas Firms Recalculate Reserves, Potential Profits
- 2011/06/27: Grist: Taking sides in the latest natural gas battle
- 2011/06/28: CSM: Natural gas: Shale firms' balance sheets raise 'red flags'
- 2011/06/26: NYT: Behind Veneer, Doubt on Future of Natural Gas
- 2011/06/27: HotTopic: The gas don't work
- 2011/06/26: TP:JR: Insiders Warn "Shale Plays are Just Giant Ponzi Schemes" in Bombshell-Laden NY Times Piece on Natural Gas, Fracking
On the coal front:
- 2011/07/01: DVoice: What's Another 29 Dead Miners When 35,000 People Are Killed Each Year in Traffic Accidents?
- 2011/06/29: NPR: Officials: W.Va. Mine Operator Kept Two Sets Of Safety Records
Federal mine disaster investigators disclosed a few pieces of new information Tuesday night from their year-long look at the April 2010 deadly Upper Big Branch mine explosion. They said that: Mine owner Massey Energy kept two sets of records that chronicled safety problems. One internal set of production reports detailed those problems and how they delayed coal production. But the other records, which are reviewed by federal mine safety inspectors and required by federal law, failed to mention the same safety hazards. Some of the hazards that were not disclosed are identical to those believed to have contributed to the explosion. - 2011/06/28: Grist: Company wants to turn world's biggest coal field into world's biggest coal plant
- 2011/06/28: TreeHugger: The Good News About Coal is That it's Fading by Lester Brown
- 2011/06/25: Oregonian: PacifiCorp's reliance on coal plants brings utility to expensive juncture
On the gas and oil front:
- 2011/07/02: BBerg: Closing oil prices Friday
OIL (US$/bbl)
Nymex Crude Future...94.94
Dated Brent Spot....111.38
WTI Cushing Spot.....94.94 - 2011/06/26: RRapier: Tapping the SPR: The Root of Dysfunctional Energy Policies
- 2011/06/30: ProPublica: Oil and Gas Drilling Surges Despite Increased Oversight
- 2011/06/29: OilDrum: OPEC spare capacity, rig count and the big picture
- 2011/06/27: CCurrents: Releasing Strategic Petroleum Reserves: Will It Work?
- 2011/06/27: CCurrents: Strategic Petroleum Reserve Release: A Critical Look
- 2011/06/27: EconView: "The Strategic Petroleum Reserve Drawdown"
- 2011/06/27: EconBrowser: The Strategic Petroleum Reserve drawdown
- 2011/06/27: USO: OPEC calls for IEA oil release halt
OPEC has slammed the decision by the International Energy Agency to flood the market with 60 million barrels of oil, saying it should be "stopped immediately". - 2011/06/27: BBC: Oil prices slide gathers pace on Greek worries
- 2011/06/26: EnergyBulletin: Strategic petroleum reserves: The world's last 'swing producer' tries to save the economy
And in pipeline news:
- 2011/07/03: CBC: Montana oil spill fouls Yellowstone River
An ExxonMobil pipeline that runs under the Yellowstone River in Montana ruptured Saturday and leaked hundreds of barrels of oil into the waterway, causing a 40-kilometre plume that fouled the riverbank and forced municipalities and irrigation districts downstream to close intakes. - 2011/06/30: AlterNet: Why Unions Should Reconsider Support for Tar Sands Oil Pipeline
Yes we have a peak oil sighting:
- 2011/06/28: Ecologist: Peak oil is 'getting closer' but the world is not ready
The end of cheap oil has got governments panicking to control prices rather than planning for a post-oil era. - 2011/06/28: EnergyBulletin: Peak oil is not synchronous
Biofuel bickering abounds:
- 2011/07/02: CleanBreak: University of Western researchers quadruple algae growth using low-level magnetic fields. A solution for biofuels?
- 2011/06/30: TreeHugger: KLM Completes First Biofuel-Powered Scheduled Flight, With Factory Farmed Fuel
- 2011/06/30: PeakEnergy: ALgae.tec to build production facility next to Nowra Ethanol Plant
- 2011/06/28: TechRev: Biofuels Take Off -- KLM and Lufthansa say they'll burn bio-based jet fuel on regular routes.
The answer my friend...:
- 2011/07/01: TreeHugger: 'Stealth' Wind Turbines Won't Interfere with Radars
- 2011/06/27: USAToday: Sales of wind turbines for home use are going strong
Meanwhile among the solar aficionados:
- 2011/06/29: BBC: Scientists use inkjet printing to produce solar cells
- 2011/07/01: Grist: New York City's massive solar opportunity
- 2011/07/01: CSM: Solar Sister wants to light up rural Africa
- 2011/06/30: ABC(Au): Australian researchers have developed solar panels which can be painted or printed directly onto a surface
- 2011/06/28: OSU: Inkjet printing could change the face of solar energy industry
- 2011/06/27: IF&P: UK's largest solar power park connects to National Grid
Feed-In-Tariffs are being variously implemented around the world:
- 2011/06/29: Grist: Germany to substantially increase geothermal feed-in tariffs
The nuclear energy controversy continues:
- 2011/07/02: CCP: Nuke query: What if dam breaks?
- 2011/07/01: CCurrents: Lies, Damn Lies, And Safe Nuclear Power
- 2011/07/01: CCurrents: Las Conchas Fire Woke Us Up: Let Us Now Stop The Plutonium Bomb Factory
- 2011/07/01: TStar: Our nuclear-power conundrum
- 2011/06/30: CDreams: Atomic Energy: Unsafe in the Real World
- 2011/07/01: TMoS: Nuke News RoundUp
- 2011/07/01: CCP: [list of nuke articles] Fort Calhoun upstream dam problems? Los Alamos old radioactive waste problems? Fukushima coverup with help of Britain?
- 2011/07/01: BBC: Tanzania 'will mine uranium on Selous Game Reserve'
Tanzania will go ahead with plans to mine uranium in the UN World Heritage site Selous Game Reserve, the natural resources minister has told the BBC. - 2011/06/29: NatureNB: Indian Point nuclear plant finds itself on the hit list, again
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has put Entergy Corporation on notice that he intends to shut down the Indian Point nuclear plant 35 miles north of Manhattan, likely representing yet another knock-on effect of the nuclear crisis at Fukushima in Japan. - 2011/06/30: CBC: Los Alamos wildfire keeps nuclear lab idle
- 2011/06/30: AlterNet: Nukes at Risk as Floods and Fires From Extreme Weather Make Us Vulnerable
- 2011/06/29: APR: Flooding: Ft. Calhoun and Cooper
- 2011/06/29: NBF: Current Status, Technical Feasibility and Economics of Small Nuclear Reactors
- 2011/06/28: CCurrents: New Mexico Is Burning With Potential For Nuclear Contamination
- 2011/06/29: ProPublica: Nuke Plant Inspections Find Flaws in Disaster Readiness
- 2011/06/28: PSinclair: Gunderson: Intake Structure that cools reactor probably most vulnerable at Ft. Calhoun nuke plant
- 2011/06/28: TCoE: Calhoun nuclear plant
- 2011/06/28: PSinclair: Climate-pumped Flood continues to Threaten Nebraska Nuke
- 2011/06/27: PlanetArk: Protesters Demand French Nuclear Plant Closure
- 2011/06/27: PlanetArk: Floodwaters Surround [Fort Calhoun] Nuke Plant After Breach
- 2011/06/26: APR: Generation mPower and TVA [energy]
Nuclear waste storage requires long term thinking:
- 2011/07/01: BBC: Nuclear: A tortuous timescale
While making a radio programme this week about the history of nuclear power in the light of the Fukushima disaster - more on that when it comes to broadcast - I was struck anew by a thought I've often had about the technology.
That thought is that the timescales involved in nuclear energy projects present problems that no country has come close to solving. - 2011/06/29: ScienceInsider: Los Alamos Fire: Why Nuclear Waste Is Probably Safe
The Rossi Energy Catalyzer keeps coming up:
- 2011/06/29: NETimes: Report #2 - Energy Catalyzer: Scientific Communication and Ethics Issues
- 2011/06/29: NBF: Report #2 - Energy Catalyzer: Scientific Communication and Ethics Issues
- 2011/06/28: NBF: Defkalion press conference videos and translated description of the event
Automakers & lawyers, engineers & activists argue over the future of the car:
- 2011/07/01: AutoBG: Nissan: "Comparing miles per gallon is suddenly irrelevant," look at miles per dollar instead
- 2011/06/30: PlanetArk: Analysis: Chinese Electric Taxis Struggle To Win Mass Appeal
- 2011/06/29: AutoBG: CNN says Chevrolet Volt tech is "obsolete" compared to Toyota Prius Plug-in
- 2011/06/30: AutoBG: Use of stop-start technology to triple by 2016?
- 2011/06/29: Grist: GM working on sexy new all-electric car for every country except U.S.
- 2011/06/29: AutoBG: UCS calls out the Auto Alliance for relying on flawed fuel economy data
- 2011/06/28: OilChange: VW's Dark Side
This week in the Gee Whiz File:
- 2011/06/30: NBF: Meeting all of the earth's energy needs with tethered platforms
A tethered platform hovering at an altitude of 20 kilometers would operate in the stratosphere, above most clouds and weather. At that altitude, a platform covered with photovoltaic cells would be able to collect considerably more sunlight than a ground-based solar collector. - 2011/06/28: TechRev: Compressed-Air System Could Aid Wind Power
A startup says its compressed-air technology could do a better job of storing the power generated by wind turbines. - 2011/06/27: Grist: Flow batteries store electricity in giant tanks of goop
Insurance and re-insurance companies are feeling the heat:
- 2011/06/28: Guardian(UK): Why the insurance industry gets climate change
Insurance companies understand risk -- which is why, unlike our myopic political class, they do not have their heads in the sand - 2011/06/27: NZHerald: Insurance industry facing a climate of fear
Floods, hurricanes, droughts - will climate change mean more wild weather ahead? That's a risk the insurance industry is taking very seriously, reports Peter Huck. - 2011/06/28: HotTopic: Risky business: insuring against climate change
Meanwhile in the greenwashing chronicles:
- 2011/07/01: AFTIC: Coolest billboard ever? Not so much...
Joe Romm posts a daily list of top energy and climate stories:
- 2011/07/01: TP:JR: July 1 News...
- 2011/06/30: TP:JR: June 30 News...
- 2011/06/29: TP:JR: June 29 News...
- 2011/06/28: TP:JR: June 28 News...
- 2011/06/27: TP:JR: June 27 News...
Other (weekly) lists:
- 2011/06/28: BPA: Agriculture News
The carbon lobby are up to the usual:
- 2011/07/02: MTobis: Over the Top at Watts Up
- 2011/07/01: ABC(Au):TDU: The plausibility gap in the denial of climate change science
- 2011/07/02: CCP: Peter H. Gleick: Misuse of Food and Climate Data at Forbes by Patrick Michaels
- 2011/07/01: HuffPo: Misuse of Food and Climate Data at Forbes by Peter H. Gleick
- 2011/07/01: TP:JR: At Denier Conference, Heartland Institute President Claims "Fossil Fuel Dependency"is "not a Problem"
- 2011/06/30: TCoE: Tamino whacks another denier data mole
- 2011/06/30: DeSmogBlog: Denial-a-Palooza: Where Are All the Scientists That Deniers Love To Talk About?
- 2011/06/30: TP:JR: As Oklahoma Swelters Under Record Heat and Drought, Inhofe Bails on Heartland Denier Conference: 'I am Under the Weather'
- 2011/06/30: Deltoid: Bob Carter not entitled to his own facts
- 2011/06/30: DeSmogBlog: Denial-a-Palooza 6: Heartland's Sixth International Conference on Climate Change, Courtesy of Koch, Scaife & Exxon
- 2011/06/29: S&R: Most speakers at the 6th International Conference on Climate Change misidentified as scientists
- 2011/06/29: CCP: American climate skeptic Willie Soon received more than $1 million in funding in recent years from large energy companies and an oil industry group
- 2011/06/29: CCP: Graham Readfearn, The Drum: Australia's place in the global web of climate denial
- 2011/06/29: WottsUWT: The End is Near for Faith in AGW
- 2011/06/29: JKB: The funding of poor dr. Willie Soon : over 1.000.000 US $ from the fossil fuel industry
- 2011/06/29: PlanetArk: American Climate Skeptic [Dr. Willie] Soon Funded By Oil, Coal Firms
- 2011/06/29: Grist: Did ExxonMobil break its promise to stop funding climate deniers?
- 2011/06/29: DeSmogBlog: Climate Sceptic Group Reveals Strategy Document to Win Hearts and Minds
- 2011/06/29: OilChange: Sceptic Gets $1 Million from Oil and Coal
- 2011/06/29: HotTopic: The larrikin lord returns
- 2011/06/28: QuarkSoup: Willie Soon received $1m from oil companies
- 2011/06/28: JKB: Dutch MP René Leegte's ignorance-based attack on science
- 2011/06/28: GreenPeace: Case Study: Dr. Willie Soon, a Career Fueled by Big Oil and Coal
- 2011/06/28: Guardian(UK): Climate sceptic Willie Soon received $1m from oil companies, papers show
Documents obtained by Greenpeace show prominent opponent of climate change was funded by ExxonMobil, among others - 2011/06/28: CCP: ExxonMobil breaks 2007 pledge to stop funding climate deniers...
- 2011/06/28: CCP: Willie Soon plotted to undermine IPCC's Fourth Assessment (IPCC AR4) four years before it was even written!
- 2011/06/28: Tamino: Skeptics: Real or Fake?
- 2011/06/28: DeSmogBlog: Denial For Hire: Willie Soon's Career Fueled by Big Oil, Coal and Koch Money
- 2011/06/27: TreeHugger: Iowa Energy Forum: Another Oil Industry Astroturf Group To Watch Out For
- 2011/06/27: DeSmogBlog: "A Little Knowledge": Why The Biggest Problem With Climate "Skeptics" May Be Their Confidence
Meanwhile in the 'clean coal' saga:
- 2011/06/27: CSW: Study showing higher birth defect rates adds another note of urgency to banning mountaintop removal coal mining in Appalachia
- 2011/06/23: EIP: Coal Ash Sites Nationwide May be Violating Federal Ban on Open Dumping by Contaminating Groundwater with Toxic Pollution
- 2011/06/26: DeSmogBlog: Coal Ash Disposal Sites Contaminating Ground Water In 19 States
As for climate miscellanea:
- 2011/07/02: Guardian(UK): Has the green movement lost its way?
Anti-nuclear, anti-capitalist, anti-flying: the green movement may have alienated more people than it has won over, and there are now calls for a new kind of environmentalism - 2011/07/02: CCurrents: Restoring A Ruined Earth: The Heroic Mission of Thomas Berry
- 2011/06/30: ClimateSpectator: Like a grenade in a glasshouse
- 2011/07/01: Guardian(UK): Low carbon products in demand despite challenging economic climate
- 2011/06/29: SciNow: Did Australian Aborigines Change the Weather?
- 2011/06/29: TP:JR: If Brazil Has to Guard Its Rainforest, Why Does Canada/U.S. Get to Burn Its Tar Sands?
- 2011/06/29: ScienceInsider: Biosphere 2 Gets New Owner, Funding
- 2011/06/27: Guardian(UK): Cancel Lord Monckton's university lecture, say academics
In an open letter to the University of Notre Dame, signatories say the climate sceptic stands for 'ignorance and superstition' - 2011/06/27: Grist: Crazy Europeans think people are more important than cars
And here are a couple of sites you may find interesting and/or useful:
- FAOStat: FAOSTAT provides time-series and cross sectional data relating to food and agriculture for some 200 countries
- Greg Craven - A different take on Global Warming
- ClimateBites -- your climate communication toolkit
- Carbon Farming Initiative
The Carbon Farming Initiative is a carbon offsets scheme being established by the Australian Government to provide new economic opportunities for farmers, forest growers and landholders and help the environment by reducing carbon pollution. - NOAA: State of the Climate in 2010
- Sustainable By Design!
- Problems of adaptation to climate change -- International scientific conference -- 7 - 9 November 2011, Moscow
- EIP: Environmental Integrity Project
- Caldeira Lab
- Ecofys
- Heliophage
- GCCSI: Global Carbon Capture and Storage Institute (Global CCS Institute)
- Nature Bats Last
- Enviralment
Laugh. I dare ya:
And of course, the pundits. lobbyists and politicians have a lot to say:
In the Western Pacific, Meari zapped Vietnam:
Large scale geo-engineering keeps popping up:
As the deadline for applying the EU-ETS to airlines draws near, we will see who is serious about reducing carbon emissions:
Climate Change is a threat multiplier exacerbating existing conflicts in food, energy, water, race, ideology etc.:
What are the activists up to?
As for what is going on in Congress:
The Australian carbon war rages on:
While elsewhere in Asia:
The G20 controversy lingers:
The Canadian DoD has generated a significant internal report: Army 2040:
Also in Alberta:
In the North:
As for Energy Storage:
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."I've long joked that the only thing that would wake up the public at this point would be to see the climatologist all quit and move en masse to New Zealand, to homestead high above sea level. Imagine my horror to discover it was not complete fantasy." -Greg Craven
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