Another Week of GW News, August 14, 2011

Logging the Onset of The Bottleneck Years

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Another week of Climate Disruption News

Information Overloadis Pattern Recognition

August 14, 2011

• Autobahn Chuckles, Horn of Africa, Monnett, NEON, Nigeria, North Sea, arXiv, Cook
• Fukushima Note, Fukushima News, Nuclear Policy
• Melting Arctic, Kay et al., Methane, Geopolitics, Antarctica
• Food Crisis, Food Prices, IP Issues, GMOs, Food Production
• Hurricanes, Monsoon, GHGs, Temperatures, Ozone
• Tipping Points, State of the Oceans, Extinctions, Proxies, Satellites
• Impacts, Forests, Climate Refugees, Extreme Weather, Tornadoes
• Wildfires, Corals, Acidification, Glaciers, Floods & Droughts
• Mitigation, REDD, Transportation, Sequestration
• Journals, Other Docs , Misc. Science, DIY Science, Models, Broecker, Spencer, Pielke
• Kyoto, UN, Carbon Trade, Carbon Tax, Carbon Labelling
• International Politics: EU-ETS & Airlines Rare Earths, Law & Activism
• Activism, Polls, Water Politics & Business, Groundwater, Religioso
• National Politics: America, 2012, Gore, Fracking Report, Mann, Truck CAFE, Obama, USAdmin, Congress
• Britain, Europe, Australia, Carbon War, New Zealand, India, Japan, South America
• Canada, Post G20, Debt, CAFE, Pipelines, CWB, ISA, Jobs, Megaloads
• BC, Tar Sands, Alberta, Sask, Ontario, Maritimes, North
• Ecological Economics, Media, Books, Video, Courts
• Energy, Fracking, Coal, Oil & Gas, Pipelines, Peak Oil, Biofuel
• Wind, Solar, Nukes, LENR, Grid, Efficiency, Cars, Energy Storage
• Business, Joe's List, Carbon Lobby, Miscellaneous Climate, Useful Links
• Shameless Self Promotion, .sig

Autobahn Note:

In case you have been looking for my home page, it seems Autobahn member pages are permanently toast. I will be looking around for another web hosting solution. In the meanwhile, there is AFTIC only.

The things that pass for humour nowadays:

• 2011/08/10: JoeMohrtoons: (cartoon - Mohr) Michelle Bachmann's Lights are on but Nobody's Home
• [gfx] How People in Science See Each Other
• 2011/08/14: uComics: (cartoon - Toles) Timely Message

  And for those interested in exploring the nether reaches of Poe's Law:

• 2011/08/13: 350orBust: End of the World Curriculum: Armageddon Vs. Global Warming
• 2011/08/12: Wonkette: Rick Perry Metaphor of the Day: Texans Forced to Consume Own Sewage

  A notable 2004 pic:

• 2011/08/14: APOD: Tornado and Rainbow Over Kansas

  The Horn of Africa drought and famine continues to be a major disaster:

• 2011/08/13: BBC: Somalia famine: PM Ali sets up aid protection force
  Somalia's prime minister has announced the creation of a special force to protect convoys delivering aid to people affected by drought and famine. Abdiweli Mohamed Ali said the force would comprise 300 trained men, helped by AU peacekeepers who are currently providing security in Mogadishu.
• 2011/08/13: CBC: Somalia famine aid expanded -- Rebel group departure allows UN to broaden efforts
• 2011/08/09: WFP: WFP Rushes Food To Millions Of Hungry In The Horn Of Africa
• 2011/08/11: FAO: Focus on concrete action on Horn of Africa -- High-level operational meeting called in Rome
• 2011/08/01: WMO: Ten million people at risk as East Africa faces worst drought in 60 years
• 2011/08/12: CSM: Help starving Somalia now
• 2011/08/11: DVoice: Gaza, Somalia: Humanity Lives On
• 2011/08/12: CBC: Somalia faces cholera epidemic amid famine
  Famine-hit Somalia is facing a cholera epidemic amid poor sanitary conditions, World Health Organization officials say. A majority of randomly collected samples of acute watery diarrhea collected from 4,272 patients in Mogadishu tested positive for cholera, the WHO said.
• 2011/08/14: UN: On 'heartbreaking' visit to Somalia, UN relief chief urges safe passage for aid workers
  The United Nations relief chief visited the capital of Somalia today, stressing that aid workers must have safe passage to those in need so they can save the lives of millions of people at risk from malnutrition or infectious diseases as famine grips the Horn of Africa. On a one-day visit to Mogadishu, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Valerie Amos toured Banadir Hospital -- one of just four locations in the war-wracked city where children suffering from acute malnutrition are being treated. Ms. Amos described the scenes she witnessed in the hospital as heartbreaking. "The children are so weak they can't lift their heads, while their mothers are in despair," she said.
• 2011/08/12: CNN: Somalia famine 'crime against humanity'?
• 2011/08/12: UN: Shelter needs grow as more Somali refugees stream into Kenya, says UN agency
• 2011/08/12: TreeHugger: Refugees From East African Drought & Famine Tell Their Harrowing Stories
• 2011/08/12: CBC: U.S. biggest African famine relief donor -- Saudi Arabia top Muslim country donor
• 2011/08/12: HotTopic: Horn of Africa Drought: is it climate change?
• 2011/08/11: Guardian(UK): Horn of Africa: How can the region be better prepared for recurrent drought?
• 2011/08/11: Guardian(UK): Somali refugee settlement in Kenya swells as row grows over empty camp [Ifo 2]
  Kenyan government refuses to open £10m refugee camp despite growing concern over 400,000 squeezed into Dadaab
• 2011/08/10: CNN: Why Americans should care about famine in Africa
  Former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist and Jill Biden visited refugee camp - Frist says famine in Somalia has resulted in thousands of children's deaths - He says investing in relief and in improving health can pay dividends - He says Americans will respond generously despite hard times in the U.S.
• 2011/08/10: CNN: Saving Ahmed from starvation
  International Rescue Committee hospital is filled with people starving to death - Ahmed Mohammad, 6, is treated for malnutrition at hospital on Somalia-Kenya border - Once fat is all gone, a starving person's body resorts to eating muscle tissue - Patients like Ahmed must be given calories in small amounts because of shrunken stomachs
• 2011/08/10: UN: Somalia's education sector further threatened by famine exodus, UN warns
• 2011/08/10: UN: High food prices exacerbate crisis in drought-affected Horn of Africa - UN
• 2011/08/10: DerSpiegel: German Development Minister on Africa Famine -- 'Anyone Can Toss Around Big Numbers'
  In a Spiegel interview, German Development Minister Dirk Niebel discusses the current famine in Africa, criticism of his country's contribution to fighting the catastrophe and why he believes aid policies must be mutually beneficial to donors and recipients in the age of globalization.
• 2011/08/09: CBC: Somalia famine refugee numbers likely to soar
• 2011/08/09: UN: UN moves on two fronts to combat life-threatening famine in Horn of Africa
• 2011/08/08: al Jazeera: UN makes historic Somali aid drop
  UNHCR airlifts drought supplies into Mogadishu for first time in five years after fighters abandon capital.
• 2011/08/08: Guardian(UK): Is climate change to blame for famine in the Horn of Africa?
• 2011/08/08: Guardian(UK): Somalia famine appeal raises far less than previous disasters
• 2011/08/08: UN: Somalia: UN agency airlifts emergency aid for famine-hit people in Mogadishu
• 2011/08/08: BBC: Somali famine: First UNHCR airlift arrives in Mogadishu
  The UN refugee agency has flown aid to famine victims in Somalia's capital - its first airlift to war-torn Mogadishu for five years.

The Charles Monnett saga is playing out with contradictory narratives:

• 2011/08/13: CCP: Joint Canadian-US study on polar bears was single-sourced because the Canadians were paying half the cost and had already begun
• 2011/08/13: CCP: Arctic scientist's complaint being reviewed
• 2011/08/13: CCP: BOEMRE IG's witch hunting...
• 2011/08/11: CCP: Jeff Childs, former colleague of Charles Monnett, speaks out against the reprisal tactics of BOEMRE, asks why agency managers have not been investigated
• 2011/08/11: CCP: PEER: Polar bear paper remains focus of ig probe of Arctic scientist, Charles Monnett -- IG Refuses to Identify Criminal Charge Rejected by Justice Department -- Witch Hunt Continues
• 2011/08/10: ScienceInsider: Senator Inhofe Has Questions About Polar Bear Researcher Charles Monnett
• 2011/08/10: KSJT: NPR, AP, etc ... Maybe it WAS the polar bear paper that has that fed scientist in hot water. And maybe it IS a witch hunt?
• 2011/08/09: CCP: Interior Department questions Monnett on polar bear article -- again

  Properly funded and run, the National Ecological Observatory Network could be a big deal:

• 2011/08/09: NatureN: US launches eco-network [National Ecological Observatory Network]
  Ambitious project to systematically monitor the environment on a continental scale is finally ready to break ground. Ready or not, the era of big data is coming to ecology. After years of discussion and debate, the United States is moving forward with an environmental moniÂtoring network that promises to help transform a traditionally small-scale, local science into a continental-scale group enterprise. The National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) will consist of 20 'core' observatories representing distinct eco-regions throughout the United States (see map). These will be bolstered by temporary stations that can be relocated wherever data need to be collected. The sites will house equipment and host visiting researchers, while gathering a range of environmental data over at least three decades. The result will be a vast database that scientists can mine to tackle broad questions such as how global warming, pollution and land-use change are affecting ecosystems across the country. "NEON is really about trying to understand the biology of the entire continent rather than the biology of a specific place," says David Schimel, the project's chief science officer, based in Boulder, Colorado.

Further on Shell in Nigeria:

• 2011/08/11: AutoBG: The Gulf oil spill looks small when compared to what Shell's done to Nigeria
• 2011/08/08: OilChange: From the Delta to the Sea [Nigeria Shell]

  Shell has an oil spill in the North Sea:

• 2011/08/13: BBC: Shell says North Sea oil spill is under control
• 2011/08/12: CNN: Leak at North Sea oil platform being managed, Shell says
• 2011/08/12: al Jazeera: Shell battles North Sea oil pipeline leak
  It is not immediately clear how much oil had leaked into the North sea off the Scottish Coast.
• 2011/08/12: BBC: Shell fights spill near North Sea oil platform
  Oil giant Royal Dutch Shell has said it is working to stop a leak at one of its North Sea oil platforms. The leak was found near the Gannet Alpha platform, 180 km (113 miles) from Aberdeen, Scotland. The company would not say how much oil may have been spilt so far, though it said it had "stemmed the leak significantly".

Thoughts on Free Science on arXiv's 20th birthday:

• 2011/08/10: Nature: ArXiv at 20 by Paul Ginsparg
  Paul Ginsparg, founder of the preprint server, reflects on two decades of sharing results rapidly online -- and on the future of scholarly communication.
• 2011/08/13: Ph&Ph: 20th Anniversary of e-print ArXiv
  If you've been in this field since the early 90s, you would be extremely familiar with the e-print ArXiv. This repository has undergone quite an evolution, and has transformed how physics works. It turns 20 this year. Its founder, Paul Ginsparg, wrote a fascinating article in Nature on how this simple website has revolutionized communications between physicists.

  Within a few years it had evolved into a web resource at http://arXiv.org that now contains close to 700,000 full texts, receives 75,000 new texts each year, and serves roughly 1 million full-text downloads to about 400,000 distinct users every week (see graphs). It has broadened, first to cover most active research fields of physics, then to mathematics, nonlinear sciences, computer science, statistics and, more recently, to host parts of biology and finance infiltrated by physicists.

  However, what is interesting here is that, while physicists don't really have that big of an issue with sharing work that has not yet been published, researchers in other fields are not as enthusiastic.
• 2011/08/12: BobPark: What's New?
  3. The Population: Debt ceilings are simply a distraction.
  4. ArXiv: The future of scholarly communication.

John Cook and friends continue their point-counterpoint articles:

• 2011/08/14: SkeptiSci: Blaming nature for the CO2 rise doesn't add up by MarkR
• 2011/08/13: SkeptiSci: OA not OK part 15: No accounting for taste by Doug Mackie
• 2011/08/13: SkeptiSci: Murry Salby - Confused About The Carbon Cycle by Rob Painting
• 2011/08/12: SkeptiSci: Two more reviews of Climate Change Denial
• 2011/08/12: SkeptiSci: The Ridley Riddle Part Three: Like a Northern Rock by Andy S
• 2011/08/11: SkeptiSci: Christy Crock #7: People Need Fossil Fuel Energy (Part 2) by Sarah
• 2011/08/11: SkeptiSci: Christy Crock #7: People Need Fossil Fuel Energy (Part 1) by Sarah
• 2011/08/10: SkeptiSci: The Last Interglacial Part Three - Melting Ice and Rising Seas by Steve Brown & jg
• 2011/08/09: SkeptiSci: Where have all the people gone? by Daniel Bailey

  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. Now the Japanese Prime Minister, Naoto Kan, says decades. We'll see. At any rate this situation is not going to be resolved any time soon and deserves its own section.

  No good news out of Fukushma yet:

• 2011/08/08: NYT: Japan Held Nuclear Data, Leaving Evacuees in Peril
• 2011/08/12: AutoBG: Report: Japanese earthquake sparks energy-related spending spree
• 2011/08/12: CBC: Giant tent to cover Japan nuclear reactor
  The operator of Japan's damaged Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant is building a huge tent to cover one of the worst-hit reactors, officials said Friday. Officials hope the cover will keep radioactive materials that have already leaked from spreading, prevent rainwater seepage and offer a barrier from possible leaks or blasts in the future. The tent is being erected to provide a temporary replacement for the No. 1 reactor's outer housing shell, which was destroyed in an explosion caused by high pressure the day after Japan's deadly earthquake and tsunami on March 11. Construction of the tent and its foundation began this week, Koji Watanabe, a spokesman for the power utility, said Friday. The work couldn't begin until now because the location was too dangerous for workers to operate in.
• 2011/08/12: al Jazeera: Citizen group tracks down Japan's radiation
  Amid contradictory government statistics, a volunteer group has recorded 500,000 radiation points across the country.
• 2011/08/11: Grist: Japan's government allowed evacuations into radiation plume's path
• 2011/08/10: DD: Greenpeace: Excessive radioactive cesium found in Fukushima fish
• 2011/08/09: NatureNB: Who knew about Fukushima's radiation?
• 2011/08/10: PeakEnergy: Rice Futures Halted in Tokyo as Radiation Weighs On First Trades Since '39
• 2011/08/10: Rabble: Lessons from Japan's nuclear legacy
• 2011/08/10: APR: Nuclear Energy in Japan
• 2011/08/09: CBC: Japan ignored own radiation forecasts -- School in path of plume from damaged Fukushima plant became shelter
• 2011/08/09: al Jazeera: Fukushima pay-outs could pull plug on TEPCO
  After $7.4bn quarterly loss and $15bn loss for the year, future is now uncertain for Asia's largest utility.
• 2011/08/08: NBF: Japan's 2012 GDP Could Drop 5.6% If Reactors Remain Shut
• 2011/08/09: BBC: Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO), the owner of the Fukushima nuclear plant damaged in March's earthquake and tsunami, has reported a quarterly loss of 571.8bn yen ($7.4bn; £4.5bn)
• 2011/08/08: PeakEnergy: Nuclear: too hot to handle
• 2011/08/07: WSS: Fukushima Update - Water Decontamination System Pumps Fail

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

• 2011/08/12: PlanetArk: Groups Step Up Call For NRC Delay After Fukushima
• 2011/08/12: Fraunhofer: Better, Faster, Cheaper: Doing Business with the Sun
  The change in energy policy has been decided; Germany needs more green energy.
• 2011/08/11: EurActiv: Nuclear phase-out hits German giant E.ON
  E.ON, the world's largest utility by sales, joined peers in posting weak half-year results as Germany's decision to abandon nuclear power forced it to slash its profit outlook, its dividend and up to 11,000 jobs. The company is widely seen as a casualty of Germany's plans to phase out nuclear energy.
• 2011/08/09: PlanetArk: Japan PM Naoto Kan Brings His Nuclear-Free Vision To Hiroshima
• 2011/08/08: NatureN: Plutonium plans in limbo -- Fukushima's economic fallout shutters Britain's Sellafield mixed-oxide facility

  The Arctic melt continues to garner a lot of attention:

• 2011/08/13: ASI: SIE 2011 update 16: flash melting
• 2011/08/13: ASI: SEARCH 2011 Sea Ice Outlook: August report
• 2011/08/10: USGS: Arctic Cruise Explores Changing Ocean
• 2011/08/12: PSinclair: Arctic Ice: Headed for New Low?
• 2011/08/10: MIT: On thin ice
  The most recent global climate report fails to capture the reality of the changing Arctic seascape, according to MIT researchers.
• 2011/08/11: TP:JR: Arctic Ice Thinning 4 Times Faster Than Predicted by IPCC Models, Semi-Stunning M.I.T. Study Finds
• 2011/08/10: BBC: Arctic 'Row to the Pole' highlights ice cap melting
  Cornish rower Billy Gammon is among those taking part in the expedition Row to the Pole, highlighting the effect of climate change in the Polar Regions. Mounted by Scots adventurer Jock Wishart, the crew hopes to make history by rowing the 500 miles across the Arctic Sea. The journey from Canada is expected to take four to six weeks to complete.
• 2011/08/10: Grist: Daredevils rowing to North Pole to draw attention to climate change
• 2011/08/09: TP:JR: Arctic Death Spiral: Sea Ice Passes De Facto Tipping Point Thanks to Deniers, Media Blow The Story, Again
• 2011/08/08: ASI: Heat
• 2011/08/08: KSJT: Not much ink: Good news for polar bears? They got through a lot worse Arctic warming and icemelt 5000 yrs ago [Funder et al.]
• 2011/08/08: Wunderground: Record Low Arctic Sea Ice for July; Quiet tropics

  It will be 'interesting' to see how this paper goes down:

• 2011/08/12: GRL: (ab$) Inter-annual to multi-decadal Arctic sea ice extent trends in a warming world by Jennifer E. Kay et al.
• 2011/08/11: AGU: [Press Release] Arctic ice melt could pause in coming decades
• 2011/08/11: QuarkSoup: Arctic Ice Melt Might Pause (?)
• 2011/08/12: TreeHugger: Arctic Sea Ice May Expand Or Contract Over Next Decade, Before Disappearing By Mid-Century
• 2011/08/11: UCAR: Arctic ice melt could pause in near future, then resume again
• 2011/08/11: ASI: Arctic ice melt could pause in coming decades
• 2011/08/09: ITracker: Permafrost and climate change: a primer

  That Damoclean sword still hangs overhead:

• 2011/08/12: PlanetArk: Climate Scientists Shine New Light On Methane Mystery
• 2011/08/10: BBC: New theories over methane puzzle
  Scientists say that there has been a mysterious decline in the growth of methane in the atmosphere in the last decades of the 20th century. Researchers writing in the journal Nature have come up with two widely differing theories as to the cause. One suggests the decline was caused by greater commercial use of natural gas, the other that increased use in Asia of artificial fertiliser was responsible. Both studies agree that human activities are the key element. And there are suggestions that methane levels are now on the rise again.

As for the geopolitics of Arctic resources:

• 2011/08/10: LA Times: Oil and the Arctic might not mix
  Shell Oil's conditional permit to drill exploratory wells off Alaska should not have been granted. The hazards of drilling in such waters are in some ways worse than operating thousands of feet underwater.
• 2011/08/08: PostMedia: Canada "too small" to develop Northwest Passage shipping, diplomat says
  Canada will lose out to Russia's Arctic shipping routes because it is too small to finance the infrastructure, France's ambassador for the polar regions said Monday. Melting polar ice will make Canada's Northwest Passage more accessible in the next decades, but Canada does not seem interested in exploiting it for shipping, said Michel Rocard, who recently returned from a tour of the Arctic aboard the Canadian icebreaker Amundsen. "I have the impression that Canada has given up on the competition to attract a large part of the traffic in 25 or 30 years," Rocard said. The former French prime minister said Canada is "too small to finance itself the infrastructure" needed to spur commercial shipping through its Northwest Passage - a shorter route between European and Asian markets than the Suez and Panama canals. In contrast, Rocard said, Russia is an "Arctic force" with several icebreakers, including four new nuclear-powered ones.
• 2011/08/08: TreeHugger: Northeast Passage Will Be Open Through September At Least, Russian Meteorologists Say

  Oh Joy! Now the geopolitics of Antarctica are in play as well:

• 2011/08/12: ABC(Au): Australia urged to stake claim in Antarctica
• 2011/08/08: TheAge: Military urged to defend Antarctic territory
  Australia is being urged to defend its claim to Antarctic territory in future military planning ahead of inevitable global competition for the icy continent's rich energy resources. Antarctica is thought to have the world's third-largest oil reserves, locked away by an international treaty that preserves the territory from exploitation. But a new Lowy Institute report released today warns other nations are eyeing the abundant energy reserves as new technology makes it easier to access the frozen continent.
• 2011/08/08: TreeHugger: Australian Military Urged To Plan For Greater Antarctic Role As Nations Eye Its Natural Resources

  While in Antarctica:

• 2011/08/09: BBC: Japan tsunami battered ice shelf in Antarctic

  The food crisis is ongoing:

• 2011/08/11: GG&G: Can't Beat the Heat
• 2011/08/11: SF Gate: Smaller Crops Forecast by U.S. After Planting Delays, Heat Wave
  Corn, soybean and spring-wheat harvests in the U.S., the world's largest exporter, will be smaller than the government forecast last month after a damaging heat wave that may signal higher costs for food and biofuel. The U.S. Department of Agriculture cut its corn-crop estimate by 4.1 percent, reduced the soybean forecast by 5.2 percent, and said spring-wheat production will be 5.2 percent below what it predicted in July. The harvests for all three crops would be less than expected by analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.
• 2011/08/12: PlanetArk: Crop Outlook Shines As India Monsoon Rains Revive Sharply
• 2011/08/12: AllAfrica: ZimIndependent: Zimbabwe: Food Security 'Pressing Issue'
• 2011/08/12: HotTopic: Horn of Africa Drought: is it climate change?
• 2011/08/11: S&R: Four Fish: A bleak future for the world's last wild food
• 2011/08/07: PolyMic: How Wealthy Nations Drive Food Insecurity
• 2011/08/11: Guardian(UK): Horn of Africa: How can the region be better prepared for recurrent drought?
• 2011/08/10: ProMedMail: Wilt disease, coffee - Tanzania: (KR)
• 2011/08/07: GG&G: Is Food Demand Growth in Asia a Myth?
• 2011/08/08: ProMedMail: Potato spindle tuber viroid, tomato - UK: (England)

  Food Prices are still problematic:

• FAO: World Food Situation - Food Price Indices
• 2011/08/10: MWL: Are You Ready To Be Very, Very Angry? Listen to JPMorgan Explain Profit on Food Stamps...[vid]
• 2011/08/04: G&M: It's time to get tough with the food casino
  Droughts in Russia, monsoons in Pakistan. Weather once again is being blamed for lowering expected global food production. But by focusing on the weather, a more significant factor behind high prices escapes scrutiny: a massive amount of financial speculation in food commodities. This was a key cause of the 2008 food crisis. And it's returned. In short, the agriculture bubble is back for an encore. It needs to be kicked off the stage once and for all.
• 2011/08/11: PEF: Canada's Breadbasket and the Food Casino
• 2011/08/10: UN: High food prices exacerbate crisis in drought-affected Horn of Africa - UN

  Look out! the IP Rentiers are coming!

• 2011/08/07: CCurrents: Who Controls Our Seed And Therefore, Our Food And Farming?

  Regarding the genetic modification of food:

• 2011/08/12: NatureNB: India's biodiversity agency to sue Monsanto
• 2011/08/09: NewScientist:SSS: Weeds acquire genes from engineered crops
• 2011/08/12: TreeHugger: India Takes Monsanto To Court For Biopiracy Over Development Of GM Eggplant
• 2011/08/10: SciDevNet: Drought persuades Kenya to import GM maize
• 2011/08/10: KSJT: SciDev - When people are starving, genetically modified food starts to look better..
• 2011/08/11: SciAm:GB: Genetically engineered crops -- what, how and why
• 2011/08/10: TreeHugger: Monsanto Bringing More GM Sweet Corn To Your Supermarket

  And how are we going to feed 9 billion?

• 2011/08/09: USDA:ARS: What Counts is the Water That Actually Enters Plant Roots
• 2011/08/08: PlanetArk: Crops With Deeper Roots Capture More Carbon, Fight Drought: Study
• 2011/08/08: CBC: Root cellars becoming cool again
  The Ecology Action Centre is making grants available to those interested in starting community root cellars in Nova Scotia. Project co-ordinator Marla MacLeod says root cellars are gaining interest as a no-energy way to store root vegetables.

Muifa threatened China & the Koreas while elsewhere we saw numbered storms mostly at sea:

• 2011/08/13: Wunderground: Tropical Storm Franklin forms
• 2011/08/12: Wunderground: Four invests in the Atlantic; fair weather in Arctic to drive rapid sea ice loss
• 2011/08/12: NASA: TRMM Satellite Sees Four Possibilities for the Next Atlantic Tropical Storm
• 2011/08/11: Wunderground: Two African waves, 92L and 93L, worth watching
• 2011/08/10: Wunderground: Two African waves that may develop
• 2011/08/08: al Jazeera: Tropical storm Muifa lashes China and Koreas
  Strong winds, heavy rain bear down around Yellow Sea, killing four in S Korea and threatening Chinese chemical plant.
• 2011/08/08: Guardian(UK): Chinese chemical plant under threat as Muifa reaches China
• 2011/08/08: CNN: Tropical Storm Muifa dumps rain on China, Koreas
  Tropical storm Muifa makes landfall in North Korea - Four deaths are reported in South Korea, the Yonhap News Agency reports - At least 490,000 people have been evacuated in China, Xinhau reports
• 2011/08/08: Eureka: NASA satellites see Tropical Storm Muifa taking up the Yellow Sea
• 2011/08/08: Eureka: NASA satellites saw Tropical Depression Emily struggle over the weekend
• 2011/08/08: DeSmogBlog: Here Comes the Atlantic Hurricane Season
• 2011/08/08: al Jazeera: Tropical storm threatens China chemical plant
  Workers scramble to prevent toxic leak after storm waves breach barrier protecting the plant in Liaoning province. Workers at a chemical plant in China are scrambling to protect the facility after waves from a powerful tropical storm breached coastal defences, the state news agency Xinhua reports. Tropical Storm Muifa is barrelling towards the northeastern province of Liaoning, where it was expected to make landfall later on Monday after being downgraded from a typhoon. Xinhua said people living near the Fujiahua chemical plant in Dalian, a city in Liaoning, were being evacuated after the dyke protecting it from the sea was breached on Monday morning.
• 2011/08/07: BBC: Typhoon Muifa approaches China's Shandong peninsula

  As for the Monsoon:

• 2011/08/12: ERW: Insight: Indian Ocean plays crucial role in supporting monsoon
  A new study by researchers at the University of New South Wales (UNSW), Australia, using 130 years of data, has shown how conditions in the Indian Ocean have moderated the drought-inducing effect of El Niño events over India in recent decades. With more than a third of the world's population dependent on the monsoon season, the report calls for urgent studies on the effect of climate change on the Indian Ocean and how this could impact the monsoon season in the future.

As for GHGs:

• 2011/08/09: ERW: Greenhouse-gas emissions from soil are larger than anticipated
  Ecosystems are not as efficient at counteracting the effects of climate change as once believed, according to a study published in Nature.

As for the temperature record:

• 2011/08/12: moyhu: GISS July temp up 0.09°C
• 2011/08/11: QuarkSoup: GISS: July was 3rd Warmest
• 2011/08/09: CCP: Hottest Month On Record For Oklahoma
• 2011/08/08: QuarkSoup: NOAA: Heat wave leads to fourth warmest July on record for the U.S.

  Regarding ozone:

• 2011/08/08: ITracker: Ozone recovery will accelerate global warming

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

• 2011/08/05: Columbia:EI: Have We Crossed the 9 Planetary Boundaries?
• 2011/08/09: Grist: Turns out Nature, like Wall Street, is also bankrupt

  And the State of the Oceans:

• 2011/08/09: USGS: No Consistent Declines in Nitrate Levels in Large Rivers in the Mississippi River Basin
  Missouri River, upper Mississippi River and groundwater are rising sources of nitrate to the Gulf of Mexico
• 2011/08/10: Grist: How to kill the Gulf's dead-zone zombie

  What's new on the extinction front?

• 2011/08/08: AlterNet: We've Entered the Age of Mass Extinction: Goodbye Fish and a Whole Lot More

  What's new in proxies?

• 2011/08/12: NatureNB: Using fossil leaf veins to reconstruct past climates

  Meanwhile in near earth orbit:

• 2011/08/08: NASA: NASA's NPP Satellite Completes Comprehensive Testing -- National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS)

  More GW impacts are being seen:

• 2011/08/12: NEFSC: NOAA Scientists Link Shifting Atlantic Mackerel Distribution To Environmental Factors, Changing Climate -- Stock Shifts Northeastward, Distributed Over Larger Area

  And then there are the world's forests:

• 2011/08/14: Guardian(UK): Ecuador: four months to save the world's last great wilderness from 'oil curse'
  When large reserves of oil were discovered under Yasunà national park, Ecuador offered the world a choice: give us money and we will not allow drilling. Now $60m must be found by December
• 2011/08/08: FAO: Increased forest threat from extreme weather -- Improved forest management needed
• 2011/08/13: International: Bolivia: Amazon Road Plan Has Native People on the March Again
• 2011/08/10: OSU: Ecologist: Up-and-coming forests will remain important carbon sinks

  Climate refugees are becoming an issue:

• 2011/08/12: International: Climate Change: "Last Straw" Pushes Millions from Their Homes

  This week in extreme weather:

• 2011/08/09: Wunderground: July 2011: Most extreme July on record for the U.S.

  On the tornado front:

• 2011/08/08: CBC: Heavy tornado damage in Lac Saint-Jean area

  As for heatwaves and wild fires:

• 2011/08/09: Guardian(UK): Russian forests burn for second successive year
• 2011/08/08: Grist: Record heat, no solar means Texas is paying 40 times more for power
• 2011/08/08: NOAANews: Heat wave leads to fourth warmest July on record for the U.S.
• 2011/08/08: PSinclair: Drought/Heat Clobbers Texas Fossil Fuel plants. Wind Keeps on Spinning.

  Corals are a bellwether of the ocean's health:

• 2011/08/13: BBC: Agricultural pesticides are causing significant damage to the Great Barrier Reef, according to a new Australian government report on water quality at the site
• 2011/08/10: SciNow: Coral Reefs: Winners and Losers

  Acidification is changing the oceans:

• 2011/08/10: Tyee: On Ocean Acidification, Are You a Banker or a Gambler? Asking commercial fisherman to weigh the threat of increasingly acidic seas
• 2011/08/12: PlanetArk: Scientists To Track Acidification In Arctic Ocean

  Glaciers are melting:

• 2011/08/10: ScienceInsider: Most Himalayan Glaciers Retreating; 21% Stable or Expanding, Survey Finds
• 2011/08/07: ABC(US): Earth Is Getting Fatter, Blame Melting Glaciers -- Melting Ice Caps Changing Planet's Shape
  Like many of its inhabitants, the Earth is getting thicker around the middle -- that's what a new study says. The increased bulge is due to the melting of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets.

As for hydrological cycle disruptions [floods & droughts]:

• 2011/08/12: KSJT: Houston Chronicle: Texas drought means wholesale slaughter of cattle as pastures turn Saharan
• 2011/08/12: PlanetArk: Drought Deepens In South; Texas Driest In Century
• 2011/08/11: Time: Picturing the American Drought: George Steinmetz [17 pix]
• 2011/08/11: BBC: Scotland's road and rail network hit by flooding
• 2011/08/08: KSJT: AP: Texas drought to leave wildlife in a bad way for a long time
• 2011/08/08: TP:JR: Texas State Climatologist: "It may well be the worst drought on record for agriculture" and "probably ... the most unbearable"
• 2011/08/08: CBC: Worst of Minot flood blamed on Sask. authorities
  Role of Saskatchewan dams examined in N.D. TV investigation

Elsewhere on the mitigation front:

• 2011/08/12: BNC: TCASE 13: Assessment of suitability of technologies for carbon dioxide mitigation

  Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation has somehow seemed chimeric:

• 2011/08/11: GEP: FCPF Launches Carbon Fund
  Last month, the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF), part of the World Bank Group, officially launched its Carbon Fund to support REDD+ projects.

Consider transportation & GHG production:

• 2011/08/12: BBC: China train crash: Design flaws to blame - safety chief
• 2011/08/12: BBC: China manufacturer China CNR recalls 54 bullet trains
  Chinese state-owned train manufacturer, China CNR, will recall 54 bullet trains, as problems continue to plague the industry. The particular models were used on the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed rail line, the firm said in a statement. The announcement comes a day after officials placed a temporary halt on all new high-speed rail projects. The government continues to face public fury over a crash that killed 40 people last month.
• 2011/08/12: al Jazeera: China recalls bullet trains in rail overhaul
  Another blow to country's high-speed rail network, already reeling from suspension of all new projects.
• 2011/08/11: MoJo: California's High Speed Rail Boondoggle Now Even More Boondoggly
• 2011/08/11: BBC: Wenzhou crash: China freezes new rail projects
  Chinese officials have ordered a temporary halt on new high-speed rail projects, as the fallout continues from last month's fatal crash near Wenzhou. The State Council said the safety of new projects would be re-evaluated before approval could be given. Safety checks would also be carried out on existing lines, and speed limits would be put in place.
• 2011/08/09: Guardian(UK): UK shipping industry rejects EU's carbon reduction programme
  EU emissions trading scheme is not suitable for shipping, says trade association
• 2011/08/09: MR: Bus Deregulation in Germany

  As for carbon sequestration:

• 2011/08/07: GEP: Another Important BECCS [Bio-Energy with Carbon Capture and Storage] Report
• 2011/08/09: NBF: Store CO2 Underground and Extract Electricity

  While on the adaptation front:

• 2011/08/08: CSW: "Finding Higher Ground: Adaptation in the Age of Warming"

  Meanwhile in the journals:

• 2011/08/08: NERC:NORA: Structuring effects of climate-related environmental factors on Antarctic microbial mat communities by Elie Verleyen et al.
• 2011/08/08: NERC:NORA: Comparison of zooplankton vertical migration in an ice-free and a seasonally ice-covered Arctic fjord: An insight into the influence of sea ice cover on zooplankton behaviour by Margaret I. Wallace et al.
• 2011/08/08: NERC:NORA: Effects of ionizing radiation on wildlife: what knowledge have we gained between the Chernobyl and Fukushima accidents? by Nicholas A. Beresford et al.
• 2011/08/09: NERC:NORA: Climate and environment of a Pliocene warm world by Ulrich Salzmann et al.
• 2011/08/09: NERC:NORA: The Anthropocene : a new epoch of geological time? by Jan Zalasiewicz et al.
• 2011/08/10: NERC:NORA: Are there pre-Quaternary geological analogues for a future greenhouse warming? by Alan M. Haywood et al.
• 2011/08/10: NERC:NORA: Sea surface temperatures of the mid-Piacenzian Warm Period : a comparison of PRISM3 and HadCM3 by Harry J. Dowsett et al.
• 2011/08/10: NERC:NORA: Sensitivity of Pliocene ice sheets to orbital forcing by Aisling M. Dolan et al.
• 2011/08/10: NERC:NORA: Pliocene climate variability : Northern Annular Mode in models and tree-ring data by D.J. Hill et al.
• 2011/08/12: NERC:NORA: Attribution of autumn/winter 2000 flood risk in England to anthropogenic climate change: a catchment-based study by A.L. Kay et al.
• 2011/08/10: GMDD: Mapping the climate: guidance on appropriate techniques to map climate variables and their uncertainty by N. R. Kaye et al.
• 2011/08/12: TCD: Towards direct coupling of regional climate models and ice sheet models by mass balance gradients: application to the Greenland Ice Sheet by M. M. Helsen et al.
• 2011/08/12: CP: Holocene vegetation and biomass changes on the Tibetan Plateau - a model-pollen data comparison by A. Dallmeyer et al.
• 2011/08/12: CP: Antarctic ice sheet and oceanographic response to eccentricity forcing during the early Miocene by D. Liebrand et al.
• 2011/08/09: CP: Regional climate model experiments to investigate the Asian monsoon in the Late Miocene by H. Tang et al.
• 2009/09/17: GRL: (ab$) Observational constraints on recent increases in the atmospheric CH4 burden by E. J. Dlugokencky et al.
• 2011/08/10: Nature: (ab$) Reduced methane growth rate explained by decreased Northern Hemisphere microbial sources by Fuu Ming Kai et al.
• 2011/08/10: Nature: (ab$) Recent decreases in fossil-fuel emissions of ethane and methane derived from firn air by Murat Aydin et al.
• 2011/08/10: Nature: (ab$) Atmospheric science: Enigma of the recent methane budget by Martin Heimann
• 2011/08/12: GRL: (ab$) Inter-annual to multi-decadal Arctic sea ice extent trends in a warming world by Jennifer E. Kay et al.
• 2011/08/12: Science: (ab$) A Synthetic Nickel Electrocatalyst with a Turnover Frequency Above 100,000 s-1 for H2 Production by Monte L. Helm et al.
• 2011/08/10: ACP: Detection from space of a reduction in anthropogenic emissions of nitrogen oxides during the Chinese economic downturn by J.-T. Lin & M. B. McElroy
• 2011/08/11: ACP: Characteristics, seasonality and sources of carbonaceous and ionic components in the tropical aerosols from Indian region by C. M. Pavuluri et al.
• 2011/08/09: ACP: Impact of Po Valley emissions on the highest glacier of the Eastern European Alps by J. Gabrieli et al.
• 2011/08/08: ACP: European source and sink areas of CO2 retrieved from Lagrangian transport model interpretation of combined O2 and CO2 measurements at the high alpine research station Jungfraujoch by C. Uglietti et al.
• 2011/08/11: ACPD: Stratospheric impact on tropospheric ozone variability and trends: 1990-2009 by P. G. Hess & R. Zbinden
• 2011/08/10: ACPD: Anthropogenic radiative forcing time series from pre-industrial times until 2010 by R. B. Skeie et al.
• 2011/08/08: ACPD: Evolution of trace gases and particles emitted by a chaparral fire in California by S. K. Akagi et al.
• 2011/08/08: ACPD: The influence of eruption season on the global aerosol evolution and radiative impact of tropical volcanic eruptions by M. Toohey et al.
• 2011/08/11: AGWObserver: Papers on ticks and global warming
• 2011/08/09: PNAS: (abs) Biodiversity hotspots house most undiscovered plant species by Lucas N. Joppa et al.
• 2011/08/09: PNAS: (ab$) Comparing the role of absolute sea-level rise and vertical tectonic motions in coastal flooding, Torres Islands (Vanuatu) by Valérie Ballu et al.
• 2011/08/09: PNAS: (abs) Continued warming could transform Greater Yellowstone fire regimes by mid-21st century by Anthony L. Westerling et al.
• 2011/08/09: PNAS: (abs) Transparent lithium-ion batteries by Yuan Yang et al.
• 2011/08/03: Nature: (ab$) Southern Ocean dust-climate coupling over the past four million years by Alfredo MartÃnez-Garcia et al.
• 2011/08/09: TCD: Spatial and temporal variability of snow accumulation in Dronning Maud Land, East Antarctica, including two deep ice coring sites at Dome Fuji and EPICA DML by S. Fujita et al.
• 2011/05/23: JP&P C(via doi): (ab$) Fighting global warming: The potential of photocatalysis against CO2, CH4, N2O, CFCs, tropospheric O3, BC and other major contributors to climate change by Renaud de_Richter & Sylvain Caillol
• 2011/08/08: AGWObserver: New research from last week 31/2011

  And other significant documents:

• 2011/08/11: DOE: [link to 761k pdf] "Improving the Safety & Environmental Performance of Hydraulic Fracturing"

  As for miscellaneous science:

• 2011/08/11: RetractionWatch: Is it time for a Retraction Index?
• 2011/08/12: NatureN: [Q&A] Toni Scarpa: reviewing peer review -- The National Institutes of Health's departing head of scientific review reflects on his tenure
• 2011/08/10: TSoD: Statistics and Climate -- Part Four -- Autocorrelation
• 2011/08/08: MGS: Is climate a random walk?

  More DIY science:

• 2011/08/14: moyhu: GISS spatial map, July 2011
• 2011/08/13: moyhu: Comparisons of TempLS with reader MP's July 2011 plots.
• 2011/08/11: moyhu: Global surface temp for July - no change

  What's new in models?

• 2011/08/11: RealClimate: CMIP5 simulations

  Regarding Broecker:

• 2011/08/12: TP:JR: Wallace Broecker's Remarkable 1975 Global Warming Prediction

  Regarding Spencer:

• 2011/08/11: QuarkSoup: On Roy Spencer's "Pre-determined political goal"
• 2011/08/10: MTobis: On Nonscientific Bias in Climate Research
• 2011/08/04: MediaMatters: Lou Dobbs Breaks His Promise To "Debunk Climate Change"

  The Pielke fan clubbe, alas:

• 2011/08/12: ITracker: Lukewarmers lyin': Pielke Jr asserts 28% of IPCC Working Group I findings "are incorrect"
• 2011/08/12: JEB: How many of Roger's findings about probability manage to be wrong? Answer: he's more inventive than you might expect.
• 2011/08/10: ERabett: RP Jr. says strength of climate denialism in the US "not a limiting factor" in US politics [PFC]

  Meanwhile on the Kyoto front:

• 2011/08/07: CCurrents: Global Warming, CDM And Coal Power Plants

  And at the UN:

• 2011/08/12: UN: Trees 'speak out' in UN writing competition to save forests
• 2011/08/12: UN: UN [Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon] sees sustainable development as top priority in his second term
• 2011/08/11: UN: Ban talks with rock star Bono on mobilizing aid for famine-wracked Horn of Africa
• 2011/08/10: UN: [Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon] exhorts academia to find solutions to global hunger, poverty and intolerance

  On the carbon trading front:

• 2011/08/11: HotTopic: The over-allocated units in the Report on the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme
• 2011/08/08: PlanetArk: Carbon Offsets Near Record Low, Worst Performing Commodity
• 2011/08/08: PlanetArk: ICE [Intercontinental Exchange Inc] To Shutter Chicago Climate Futures Exchange: [WSJ] Report

  The idea of a carbon tax is still bouncing around:

• 2011/08/09: Impolitical: Carbon taxes may be the new debt reducers

  How will Carbon Labelling work?

• 2011/08/13: TreeHugger: Getting GMO Labeling on the Ballot in California

  As the deadline for applying the EU-ETS to airlines draws near, we will see who is serious about reducing carbon emissions:

• 2011/08/12: TreeHugger: Will Europe's Move to Tax Airlines' CO2 Emissions Spark a Global Trade War?

  In the Rare Earths' tussle:

• 2011/08/08: Grist: Forget China; largest rare earth element deposit is under this Nebraska town

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

• 2011/08/12: ABC(Au): Timber company Gunns has reached a settlement over its legal action against a group of forest protesters
• 2011/08/11: Guardian(UK): Mark Kennedy's codename revealed [UCO 133]
• 2011/08/08: TP:JR: On the Sentencing of Tim DeChristopher

  What are the activists up to?

• 2011/08/08: Dominion: "The River Always Wins" -- 1,500 take to the streets in Fredericton to oppose fracking

  Polls! We have polls!

• 2011/08/12: TreeHugger: Nearly 60% of Americans Oppose Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining
• 2011/08/12: ClimateShifts: Poll shows support for media regulation inquiry
• 2011/08/12: PlanetArk: New Yorkers Want Fracking, But See Consequences

  Regarding Water Politics and Business:

• 2011/08/12: JFleck: Why I'm optimistic about Colorado River water (California? not so much)
• 2011/08/13: JFleck: Drought, outdoor landscaping, and the benefit of being a bit wasteful
• 2011/08/11: JFleck: The Colorado River and Sacramento Delta limits
• 2011/08/10: JFleck: Declining Colorado
• 2011/08/10: SciAm:Obs: Get Your Iceberg Water, Here
• 2011/08/09: PlanetArk: Analysis: Water Rights Trade To Help Quench World Thirst
  Markets in water rights are likely to evolve as a rising population leads to shortages and climate change causes drought and famine. But they will be based on regional and ethical trading practices and will differ from the bulk of commodity trade. Detractors argue trading water is unethical or even a breach of human rights, but already water rights are bought and sold in arid areas of the globe from Oman to Australia.
• 2011/08/09: PlanetArk: Israel To Build $423 Million Desalination Plant
• 2011/08/09: WpgFP: The world is running out of water by Gwynne Dyer

  And on the groundwater front:

• 2011/08/12: MTobis: Groundwater in Texas

  Among the world's religions:

• 2011/08/13: TP:JR: For God and a Greener Country

  And on the American political front:

• 2011/08/12: TreeHugger: Army to Invest $7.1bn in Clean Energy Through Private Sector
• 2011/08/12: TreeHugger: Alaska Governor Authorizes $4.5 Billion Dam Project, Which Will Create 39-Mile-Long Reservoir
• 2011/08/13: TreeHugger: Getting GMO Labeling on the Ballot in California
• 2011/08/11: TP:JR: Small Hydro Has Strong Bipartisan Support. So Why Can't We Get Our Act Together?
• 2011/08/11: JFleck: Federal Money and Rural America
• 2011/08/11: BPA: Depopulation of the Great Plains Continues via the 2010 Census
• 2011/08/10: BPA: Meredith Whitney's Statement about Agriculture and Commodities Becoming our Next Decade's Structural Change
• 2011/08/11: CrossCut: Can little old Washington influence the price of coal to China?
• 2011/08/11: MTobis: Tex: Post Factoids
• 2011/08/11: EconView: Stavins: Why Polarized Politics Paralyze Public Policy
• 2011/08/11: PlanetArk: NY [state comptroller] Wants Gas Drillers To Feed Cleanup Fund
• 2011/08/11: ERabett: Might as well disagree with Andrew Dessler too
• 2011/08/11: TreeHugger: Cut Science Funding, Cut America's Vision for the Future: Neil Degrasse Tyson (Video)
• 2011/08/11: DeSmogBlog: New York Comptroller DiNapoli Introduces Frack Fund To Cover Industry Damage
• 2011/08/10: DeSmogBlog: The Attacks on Climate Science Education Are Picking Up Steam
• 2011/08/09: TP:JR: The Value of Sustainability to the Military: "Preventing Wars is as Important as Winning Them, and Far Less Costly"
• 2011/08/08: Grist: Why Washington state's coal fight matters
• 2011/08/09: MSU: To avoid carbon debt, CRP [Conservation Reserve Program] beats fields of corn, soybeans
• 2011/08/08: NYT: Groups Call for Scientists to Engage the Body Politic
• 2011/08/08: Grist: Record heat, no solar means Texas is paying 40 times more for power

  2012 approacheth:

• 2011/08/13: BBC: Michele Bachmann wins Iowa presidential straw poll
• 2011/08/12: TreeHugger: It's Official: The GOP Field Will Have No Environmental Advocate
• 2011/08/12: CBC: Romney defends 'corporations are people' statement
• 2011/08/12: Guardian(UK): GOP presidential debate in Iowa: highlights and lowlights
• 2011/08/12: CNN: Are Republicans at war with reality?
• 2011/08/11: TP:JR: Romney: "Corporations Are People, My Friend" --- Albeit Ones That Don't Require Clean Air or a Livable Climate
• 2011/08/12: TP:JR: Rick Perry Thinks America Desires Another Rigid, Anti-Science, Idealogue Governor From The Great State of Big Oil
• 2011/08/11: Grist: Rick Perry to run for president; climate deniers cheer
• 2011/08/11: DM:CCM: Bachmann Anti-Enlightenment? You're Surprised?
• 2011/08/11: DM:JW: Rick Perry: Curiously Similar to Michele Bachmann on Science
• 2011/08/11: Guardian(UK): Rick Perry announces candidature to spice up Iowa Republican debate
  Romney and Bachmann will vie for spotlight as Palin and Perry have still not formally declared
• 2011/08/09: TP:JR: After Praying for Rain, Texas Governor Rick Perry Prays for the EPA to Stop Environmental Regulations
• 2011/08/10: TP:JR: Before Calling the EPA a "Job-Killer," Michele Bachmann Asked for Money from the Agency to Stimulate "Long-Term Benefits" to the Local Economy
• 2011/08/10: DM:JW: Reason and the Mind of Michele Bachmann
• 2011/08/08: QuarkSoup: Telling It Like It Is
• 2011/08/08: TP:JR: Michele Bachmann Pledges to Have the EPA's "Doors Locked and Lights Turned Off"
• 2011/08/08: Grist: Roseanne's running for president -- where does she stand on climate change?

  Oh Look! The fake morality of "You used a bad word":

• 2011/08/10: KSJT: E&E ClimateWire: Gore finally gets his campaign fired up. Way too late, BS and all.
• 2011/08/09: CCP: Gore: Climate skeptics are peddling 'bulls--t'
• 2011/08/09: ITracker: Reprinted for truth [Gore]
• 2011/08/09: ERabett: Well, it really is bullshit
• 2011/08/09: EnvEcon: Don't make me angry. You wouldn't like me when I'm angry.
• 2011/08/09: TP:JR: Audio: Al Gore Calls 'Bullshit' On Climate Science Deniers Who Push "The Same Crap Over And Over And Over Again"
• 2011/08/09: TreeHugger: Al Gore: Climate Skeptics Are Peddling 'Bulls--t'
• 2011/08/05: RealAspen: Al Gore calls B.S. on global warming naysayers
• 2011/08/08: MTobis: Mr. Gore's Blurt

  The EPA delivered a widely disputed fracking study this week:

• 2011/08/11: DOE: [link to 761k pdf] "Improving the Safety & Environmental Performance of Hydraulic Fracturing"
• 2011/08/11: DOE: Secretary of Energy Advisory Board Subcommittee Releases Shale Gas Recommendations
• 2011/08/12: ProPublica: Report for Obama Questions Effectiveness of Gas Drilling Regulations
• 2011/08/09: ProPublica: N.Y. Enviro Commissioner Expects Little From EPA Fracking Study
• 2011/08/13: AlterNet: Outrage Erupts After Energy Committee Evaluating Dangerous Gas Drilling Practice Is Stacked With 'Experts' on Industry Payroll
• 2011/08/10: NYT: Panel Seeks Stiffer Rules for Drilling of Gas Wells
• 2011/08/11: BBerg: Gas Fracking Poses Serious Environmental Risks, Panel Finds
• 2011/08/12: PlanetArk: Panel Seeks More Disclosure On Natural Gas Drilling
• 2011/08/10: iWatchNews: U.S. advisory group on fracking has abundant ties to energy industry
  As first recommendations emerge from Energy panel, scientists seek ouster of the chairman, John Deutch - a former CIA chief and director of Energy companies
• 2011/08/11: Grist: Six of seven fracking committee members have ties to natural gas industry
• 2011/08/11: Grist: A must-read report on shale gas
• 2011/08/11: NatureNB: 'Fracking' for natural gas can be safer and more transparent, energy report says
• 2011/08/12: TreeHugger: Energy Dept Releases Fracking Recommendations - New Yorkers Split On Supporting Shale Gas
• 2011/08/11: CSM: 'Fracking': Did Energy Department report clear up controversy?
  According to the US panel, 'fracking' to release gas deposits in shale can be done in an environmentally responsible way. The industry hailed the report as refuting shrill critics, but environmentalists decried 'advocacy-based science' by a panel tilted toward the industry.
• 2011/08/11: DeSmogBlog: Scientists Say Obama Fracking Panel is Financially Tied to Gas Industry
• 2011/08/11: CDreams: New Fracking Rules Reflect Industry's Needs, Not Nature's or Consumers'
• 2011/08/11: TP:JR: Department of Energy Panel Calls for More Study on Life-Cycle Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Natural Gas Fracking
• 2011/08/11: ScienceInsider: Federal Committee: Shale Gas Needs More Openness, Better Data
• 2011/08/10: TreeHugger: Scientists, Lawmakers Object To DoE Fracking Panel Members' Industry Ties

  The deniers are still busily trying to neutralize Michael Mann:

• 2011/08/12: CSW: Letter calling on Univ. of Virginia to prevent inappropriate open records disclosure of climate scientists' exempt emails and documents
• 2011/08/12: SMandia: Ask U.VA to Protect Its Scientists from the Political Witch Hunt
• 2011/08/11: CCP: Letter of concern from the American Association of University Professors, American Geophysical Union, Climate Science Watch, and Union of Concerned Scientists to the president of the University of Virginia, Teresa A. Sullivan...
• 2011/08/11: CCP: Groups concerned U.Va. will turn over documents in global warming case

  The Obama administration set efficiency standards for trucks and buses this week:

• 2011/08/10: TP:JR: White House Sets New Efficiency Targets for Large Trucks That Have "Very Aggressive Support" From Industry
• 2011/08/10: Grist: Trucks and buses get efficiency standards for the first time ever
• 2011/08/09: UCSUSA: New Truck Standards Will Lower Emissions, Create Jobs and Reduce Oil Consumption

  The Obama chatter is nonstop:

• 2011/08/11: CDreams: Why Did Obama Choose Oil Money Over Struggling Polar Bears Facing Extinction?

  The actions of the Obama administration are being watched closely:

• 2011/08/14: TP:JR: EPA's Proposed Standards Would Limit Mercury, Arsenic, and Other Air Toxics from Power Plants for First Time
• 2011/08/13: NetworkWorld: US pumps $175M into advanced auto fuel research projects -- Projects should help address new fuel efficiency standards for cars and trucks
• 2011/08/11: NatureNB: Multiple US agencies submit scientific integrity policies
• 2011/08/11: PlanetArk: U.S. Nuclear Regulator Tied Up By Process: Chairman [Jaczko]
  The chairman of the U.S. nuclear regulator said his own commission is hamstrung by an inefficient, "flawed voting system" which distracts from its job of ensuring safety at the country's power plants. Gregory Jaczko chided his colleagues on the five-member Nuclear Regulatory Commission for their approach to recommended changes in the wake of Japan's nuclear disaster -- an approach he said reflects "the current commission's preoccupation with process at the expense of nuclear safety policy." The focus "is a result of a flawed voting system that encourages the commission to sidestep the actual substantive policy issues presented, and this current situation is just one more example," Jaczko said.
• 2011/08/10: AutoBG: DOE awards $7 million to advance hydrogen storage systems
• 2011/08/10: CCP: NOAA scientific integrity plan offers no shield for scientists -- Lack of Whistleblower Protection Leaves Scientists Vulnerable to Official Reprisal
• 2011/08/09: Grist: Getting more voices into the climate game, starting with Steven Chu
• 2011/08/10: AutoBG: DOE to invest $50 million more in solar manufacturing
• 2011/08/09: TP:JR: As Melting Artic Sea Ice Opens Up Oil and Gas Resources, Secretary Salazar Backs Offshore Drilling
• 2011/08/08: CCP: Interior Secretary Ken Salazar tells Alaskans that Obama backs more oil drilling, including offshore Arctic development
• 2011/08/08: NatureNB: US EPA releases scientific integrity policy

  As for what is going on in Congress:

• 2011/08/11: AutoBG: Report: Next Congressional battle: renewing the federal gas tax
• 2011/08/11: Grist: Congress doesn't believe global warming is a security threat
• 2011/08/10: Grist: Super Congress stacked with climate zombies
• 2011/08/09: NatureN: Debt deal sets day of reckoning -- US science agencies avoid immediate pain but could be devastated by automatic cuts in 2013
• 2011/08/08: Grist: GOP attacks the EPA for doing its job
• 2011/08/08: TreeHugger: Sen. Bernie Sanders: Building Tar Sands Pipeline "Will Keep America Addicted to Oil" (Video)
• 2011/08/08: TreeHugger: "Green-Friendly" Republicans In This Congress Are Anything But

  While in the UK:

• 2011/08/11: Guardian(UK): Rural transport cuts put essential services out of reach

  And in Europe:

• 2011/08/11: EurActiv: Nuclear phase-out hits German giant E.ON
  E.ON, the world's largest utility by sales, joined peers in posting weak half-year results as Germany's decision to abandon nuclear power forced it to slash its profit outlook, its dividend and up to 11,000 jobs. The company is widely seen as a casualty of Germany's plans to phase out nuclear energy.

Meanwhile in Australia:

• 2011/08/12: ClimateShifts: Poll shows support for media regulation inquiry
• 2011/08/12: ABC(Au): EPA draws more flak over failed coal mine bid
  The company behind a failed bid to mine coal near Margaret River has again criticised the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA). LD Operations wants to establish a coal mine at Osmington, near Margaret River, but the proposal was opposed by many locals and labelled "environmentally unacceptable" by the EPA.
• 2011/08/11: ABC(Au): Coal & Allied says recent improvements to coal transportation will allow it to expand its production by 18 million tonnes per year by the end of 2015
• 2011/08/11: PeakEnergy: Clean Energy Companies Seek $131 Million of Australian Grants
• 2011/08/09: ABC(Au): [WA] Premier [Colin Barnett] rejects ... royal commission [to investigate the science of climate change]
• 2011/08/08: ABC(Au): Councils unite in coastal planning push
  The East Gippsland Shire Council has joined a national push to create a consistent coastal planning policy. The National Sea Change Taskforce is working with coastal councils to campaign for more support and clarity from state and federal governments.

Now that the Australian carbon plan has been released, the wrangling is moving into high gear:

• 2011/08/11: ABC(Au): Study finds carbon price to stimulate jobs growth
  A study by the ACTU and the Australian Conservation Foundation has found strong action on climate change will lead to job growth on the New South Wales mid-north coast. Both groups are part of the Southern Cross Climate Alliance, which will meet Lyne MP Rob Oakeshott later today to discuss the findings.
• 2011/08/11: ABC(Au): Country councils 'to pay more for carbon'
• 2011/08/10: ABC(Au): Nash carbon farming demand would 'burden' farmers
  The Federal Government says its Carbon Farming Initiative will not endanger public food security as a Nationals' Senator says. The Parliamentary Secretary for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency, Mark Dreyfus, has rejected calls from the Nationals' Fiona Nash for impact statements on public food security to be made before any rural land is sold for carbon trading.
• 2011/08/09: CCurrents: Anti-Environment Australian Government's Carbon Tax Deceit [Polya]
• 2011/08/09: ABC(Au): Residents vent carbon tax anger
  An angry crowd greeted the Member for Lyne at yesterday's community meeting at Laurieton on the New South Wales mid-north coast. Rob Oakeshott is hosting six forums across his electorate.

And in New Zealand:

• 2011/08/11: HotTopic: The over-allocated units in the Report on the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme
• 2011/08/09: HotTopic: Leave fossil fuels undisturbed

  While in the Indian subcontinent:

• 2011/08/08: CCurrents: India 's Low Carbon Strategies; Are They Good Enough?

  And in Japan:

• 2011/08/12: PlanetArk: Japan Parties Reach Agreement On Renewable Energy Bill
  Japan's ruling Democratic Party reached an agreement with the main opposition parties on Thursday to pass a bill designed to promote renewable energy, an opposition lawmaker said, setting the stage for unpopular Prime Minister Naoto Kan to resign once the law is enacted. Kan, Japan's fifth premier in five years, repeated on Thursday he was ready to quit once three conditions he had set were met.
• 2011/08/10: CNN: Japan's prime minister to resign after post-quake bills pass
  The prime minister's popularity plunged after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami - He promises to resign after two reconstruction bills pass the parliament - A cabinet minister announces an independent nuclear safety agency
  Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan said Wednesday he'll resign once new bills related to post-earthquake reconstruction pass parliament, to avoid a political vacuum. He's expected to step down by the end of August.

And South America:

• 2011/08/14: Guardian(UK): Ecuador: four months to save the world's last great wilderness from 'oil curse'
  When large reserves of oil were discovered under Yasunà national park, Ecuador offered the world a choice: give us money and we will not allow drilling. Now $60m must be found by December

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

• 2011/08/09: PI:B: To hit climate target, Ottawa would have to work 10 times harder
• 2011/08/12: PI: Cleaning up its act
  Canada lays out a plan to monitor the oilsands, but will the government act when the alarm sounds?
• 2011/08/12: Maribo: Canada's sham of a federal climate policy
• 2011/08/11: ChronicleHerald: Ottawa: Greenhouse goals far from reach
  A government report suggests that Canada will have to dramatically up its game to achieve its greenhouse gas reduction goals. Environment Canada's own assessment of the country's efforts to reduce emissions behind climate change says current measures go only one-quarter of the way to the Harper government's announced target. Another analysis by the environmental think-tank Pembina Institute says provincial and federal governments are only one-tenth of the way there. It's a big gap either way and Ottawa shows little sign of increasing its efforts to close it, said Andrew Leach, a professor of energy economics at the University of Alberta.
• 2011/08/10: PostMedia: Federal oilsands strategy targeted provincial plans: documents
  The federal government's advocacy strategy to promote the oilsands sector in partnership with oil and gas companies and the province of Alberta was not just about polishing the industry's image and countering foreign climate change policies. Newly released federal documents reveal the outreach also targeted the environmental protection efforts proposed by Canadian provinces.
• 2011/08/09: PostMedia: Canada says oil, gas industry organized PR strategy for oilsands
  Natural Resources Canada says a powerful oil and gas industry lobby group was responsible for organizing a key meeting and some controversial messaging, in partnership with government, to polish the image of Alberta's oilsands industry. In newly released emails and internal records, department officials said the strategy to "turn up the volume" and get "the right attitude" on oilsands advocacy was actually proposed by high-ranking officials from the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers during a March 2010 meeting involving senior federal and Alberta government officials, as well CEOs from oil and gas companies.

Some light emerged this week on the G20 police riot:

• 2011/08/11: TStar: Aggression during G20 rally 'perpetrated by police,' judge rules
• 2011/08/13: CfC: Finally
  I've been waiting for this for more than a year. Finally, a real judge has had the chance to rule on a typical G20 arrest. And, unsurprisingly, the judge has ruled that it was the police who were to blame for the violence
• 2011/08/12: CBC: Toronto G20 policing too aggressive, judge says
  A Toronto judge has blasted police tactics during last year's G20 summit. Lawyers defending some of the people charged with offences in connection with last year's summit say a Toronto judge's ruling this week is going to have "an enormous impact" on their cases.
• 2011/08/12: PaiD: Vindication For Those Abused By G20 Police Forces
• 2011/08/12: TStar: Aggression during G20 rally 'perpetrated by police,' judge rules
  A Toronto judge has ruled that "adrenalized" police officers acted as aggressors at a peaceful political rally that led to dozens of arrests during last year's G20 summit. "The only organized or collective physical aggression at that location that evening was perpetrated by police each time they advanced on demonstrators," Justice Melvyn Green ruled on Thursday. He was referring to a demonstration at Queen St. and Spadina Ave. on Saturday, June 26, 2010. Green stated police criminalized political demonstration, which is "vital" to maintain a "viable democracy."

Here's a suggestion I'm sure Steve will appreciate:

• 2011/08/09: Impolitical: Carbon taxes may be the new debt reducers

  The Tories announced CAFE standards for trucks in lock step with the US. I haven't seen word yet on the light vehicle standard of 54.5 mpg:

• 2011/08/09: G&M: Canada, U.S. announce plans for fuel-efficiency regulations for heavy trucks
  The Harper government says it will begin regulation greenhouse gas emissions from heavy trucks starting in the 2014 model year, as Ottawa moves in concert with the United States to address climate change.

A new wrinkle in the Northern Gateway project:

• 2011/08/13: PostMedia: Oil line option will shift the risks to Alaska
  Latest plan for Northern Gateway project will be more expensive, but it has the significant advantage of support from the first nations Let the Alaskans take the risk appears to be the idea behind a proposal being peddled as an alternative to the highly controversial Northern Gateway Project. G Seven Generations Ltd., a Vancouver-based management consulting firm, recently unveiled a new strategy to transport crude from Fort McMurray, Alta., to the West Coast. Under the Unifying Nations RailCo Initiative, Alberta oil would travel by electric rail, then be shipped to thirsty Asian markets from an existing marine terminal at Valdez, Alaska. This plan has a huge and unmistakable advantage: Aboriginal chiefs like it. And the company is confident environmentalists and the broader B.C. public will like it too. Under the scheme, oilsands product would be unloaded from rail cars at Delta Junction in Alaska, then fed into an existing pipeline that snakes southward to Valdez.

The Wheat Board saga rolls on:

• 2011/08/12: CfC: End of the road
• 2011/08/12: CBC: Cost of ending wheat board monopoly to be studied
  The federal government is preparing to study the financial impact of a decision it has already taken to strip the Canadian Wheat Board of its monopoly on Prairie wheat and barley sales. The revelation has led to more accusations that the government's move, which could alter the prices farmers are paid, has been driven more by dogmatic principle than by evidence.
• 2011/08/11: WpgFP: Farmers voice CWB frustration -- Hundreds pack meeting outside city
  The atmosphere Wednesday evening in the main hall of the Oak Bluff Recreation Centre, just southwest of Winnipeg, was filled with the frustration of people who felt that higher powers are pushing forward, regardless of what they have to say. It was standing room only as hundreds of farmers discussed the future of the Canadian Wheat Board at a meeting organized by the single-desk marketer of wheat and barley. The Harper government intends to end the Canadian Wheat Board's monopoly on western Canadian wheat and barley, effective Aug. 1, 2012.
• 2011/08/11: PostMedia: Auditors sought to crunch closing costs at Wheat Board
  The Harper government is moving ahead with plans to shut down the Canadian Wheat Board, even before the results of a plebiscite on the agency's future are known.
• 2011/08/09: CBC: Farmers debating future of Canadian Wheat Board
  Hundreds of Prairie farmers left their fields Monday and some picked up placards that read "Single desk is the best" and "Our board, our business." They went to a meeting in Regina on the future of the Canadian Wheat Board.

Muckraking the Cohen Commission virus:

• 2011/08/07: TheCanadian: Farmed Salmon Confidential (Part 1): ISA and the Cohen Commission
• 2011/08/11: TheCanadian: Farmed Salmon Confidential (Part 2): The Cover-up

  Regarding the Environment Canada layoffs:

• 2011/08/08: HillTimes: Environment Canada in 'complete and utter turmoil' as feds prepare to slash 776 jobs
  Bill Pynn, president of the Union of Environmental Workers, says department reeling as feds poised to cut department by 11 per cent.

Regarding those megaloads:

• 2011/08/09: CBC: Imperial has new plan to haul huge oilsands rigs
  Imperial Oil has taken a new tack in the problem-plagued transport of massive pieces of oilsands equipment from Idaho to one of its projects in northern Alberta. The petroleum company has decided to break some of the equipment down into smaller pieces and transport them to Edmonton for reassembly over a different route than originally planned.

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

• 2011/08/12: PostMedia: Postponing capital spending could undermine aging power grid
  BC Hydro's plans to defer $800 million in capital spending in the next three years could affect the power grid's reliability and could be a safety concern. Hydro pledged to postpone spending on capital projects Thursday to help cut its planned rate increase in half, an announcement made jointly by B.C. Energy and Mines Minister Rich Coleman and BC Hydro president and CEO Dave Cobb.
• 2011/08/13: TheCanadian: Hydro Report: Death Knell for BC's Public Power?

  Meanwhile in that Mechanical Mordor known as the tar sands:

• 2011/08/08: PI: Why you should care about the oilsands
• 2011/08/11: TheHill:e2W: TransCanada CEO: Oil sands will be developed with or without pipeline
• 2011/08/11: OilChange: Canada's "Dirty Lobby Diary" Exposed
• 2011/08/09: CCurrents: Greenhouse Gas Emissions From Tar Sands May Double By 2020
• 2011/08/08: PostMedia: Oil price drop threatens oilsands megaprojects -- Observers say future plans impacted if low price lasts
• 2011/08/08: TP:JR: Canadian Government: Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Tar Sands May Double by 2020
• 2011/08/07: G&M: Oil sands expected to undo carbon cuts
  The development of Canada's oil sands will single-handedly undo greenhouse gas gains made by weaning the country's electrical supply off coal, a government study predicts. The Environment Canada forecast of Canada's carbon output over the next decade casts in stark terms the challenge facing the country as it pursues major energy development at a time of continued global efforts to bat down emissions.

Also in Alberta:

• 2011/08/11: DeSmogBlog: Permit to Pollute: Dodging New Law, Agency Approves Alberta Coal Plant
• 2011/08/10: PI: Alberta Utilities Commission fails to protect public interest with final coal plant approval
  Approval weakens standards for greenhouse gas pollution in Alberta and could undermine upcoming federal coal regulations
• 2011/08/12: ChronicleHerald: Coal-fired power plant not subject to emission targets
  A controversial coal-fired power plant in Alberta has received final approval without a requirement to lower its greenhouse gas emissions.
• 2011/08/11: CBC: Alberta OK's coal power plant, angering eco groups
  Alberta's electricity regulator has given its final approval for a new coal-fired power plant just north of the Rockies, and an environmental group is crying foul because the decision was rushed so the facility won't face stringent federal limits on its greenhouse gas emissions. Calgary-based Maxim Power got the official go-ahead Thursday from the Alberta Utilities Commission for a $1.7-billion expansion of its H.R. Milner plant near Grande Cache. The company will build a 500-megawatt generating station next to its existing 150-megawatt one, which is to be shut down in 2012.
• 2011/08/11: G&M: A coal-fired plant and the lie of the land
  Stephen Harper can't allow new coal-fired electricity plants to be built, such as the one Maxim Power is proposing in Alberta, and achieve his promise to reduce Canadian greenhouse-gas emissions 17 per cent by 2020.

In Saskatchewan, nuclear waste is being knocked around:

• 2011/08/13: PnP: Propagandizing in SK
• 2011/08/11: PostMedia: Nuclear waste: time to learn
• 2011/08/11: PostMedia: Nuclear storage needs study

  In Ontario, upcoming election issues are appearing:

• 2011/08/09: PI: Pembina reacts to Ontario's support for electric vehicle charging stations
• 2011/08/11: PI: Pembina reacts to Ontario NDP green energy commitments
• 2011/08/12: PostMedia: Europe fights Ontario power subsidies -- Program offers incentives to use domestic goods
  The European Union launched a formal complaint against Ontario at the World Trade Organization Thursday, following Japan in challenging a program that pays out above-market rates to wind and solar developers in return for the purchase of domestic technology and services. The EU announced its complaint in Brussels Thursday, saying the rich contracts are "in clear breach of the WTO rules that prohibit linking subsidies to the use of domestic products." Europe had backed Japan's initial complaint early last fall, but as a third party could not seek compensation or changes in Canadian practices.
• 2011/08/10: G&M: In Ontario, gloomy skies for solar power
  Silfab Ontario has been making solar panels for barely four months in a refurbished factory west of Toronto, but already employees are nervous about the security of their jobs. Plans to hire more people and expand production are on hold as demand for solar parts wavers and stock sits unsold. Several companies who install solar panels have been unable to pay for their orders because they're waiting for assurances the power projects will be connected to Ontario's electricity grid. A backup in the approvals process has brought the fledgling industry almost to a standstill.
• 2011/08/10: LFPress: Green technology costs will drop, McGuinty promises

  In the Maritimes:

• 2011/08/08: Dominion: "The River Always Wins" -- 1,500 take to the streets in Fredericton to oppose fracking
• 2011/08/08: DeSmogBlog: Digging Deeper Into New Brunswick's Fracking Controversy
• 2011/08/08: NBBJ: N.L. biofuel exemption riles renewable fuels advocate
  The federal government's decision to permanently exempt Newfoundland and Labrador from a two per cent renewable content requirement for diesel fuel and home heating oil may be partly based on logistics, but the head of a national association for renewable fuels believes it's thanks to the lobbying efforts of the oil and gas industry. And he says the exemption has implications for future generations.

In the North:

• 2011/08/08: CBC: Calgary oil firm set to begin Yukon exploration
  A small Calgary company backed by a Chinese petroleum firm is ready to begin a major exploration project for the Eagle Plains area along the Dempster Highway, a company official says. At the Vuntut Gwitchin general assembly in Old Crow on the weekend, Northern Cross Energy Limited president Richard Wyman told members his firm is putting $20 million into the exploration program after winning government approval with a $150,000 bid earlier this year.

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

• 2011/08/09: CCurrents: The ELP Plan: Economize, Localize And Produce
• 2011/08/08: CCurrents: A 50,000-Foot View Of The Global Crisis
• 2011/08/09: EnergyBulletin: Is our future our past?
• 2011/08/09: TreeHugger: The Carbon-Constrained Business World is Coming. Shape Up.
• 2011/08/08: EnergyBulletin: What could a post-growth society look like and how should we prepare for it?
• 2011/08/07: EnergyBulletin: Richard Heinberg and the limits to growth

  As for how the media handles science:

• 2011/08/12: SciAm:A-I: From The Writer's Desk: Blogging vs. Journalism -- Lone Wolves, Team Players
• 2011/08/10: CJR: Journalism vs. Activism in Indonesia -- Reporters divided over advocacy on the environment beat
• 2011/08/12: Deltoid: The Australian's War on Science 68: getting your science from a chain email
• 2011/08/11: GreenGrok: Global Warming: Fox News Separates Fact From Fiction
• 2011/08/11: MediaMatters: At Fox News, Planet Earth Is Sponsored By ExxonMobil
• 2011/08/11: Deltoid: Freeping OurSay
• 2011/08/10: KSJT: LATimes science writer Tom Maugh retires, and enviro writer Margot Roosevelt gets laid off (while she's on assignment far away)
• 2011/08/09: MediaMatters: A Fox News Science Lesson
• 2011/08/11: TP:JR: Joe Bastardi Pulls a Charlie Sheen on Fox News, Pushing "Utter Nonsense" on Climate Science
• 2011/08/11: JQuiggin: Murdochracy vs Quiggin: another round
• 2011/08/11: TreeHugger: Fox News Gives Science Lesson on Why Humans Aren't Causing Global Warming
• 2011/08/05: FAIR: Myth Informing Readers on Offshore Drilling
• 2011/08/08: TP:JR: UK Guardian: Over Half the Coverage of Renewable Energy in Mainstream British Press is Negative
• 2011/08/05: Guardian(UK): How UK newspaper coverage is skewed against renewables
  More than half of the coverage of renewable energy solutions in the mainstream British press is negative
• 2011/08/08: Grist: U.K. media down on renewable energy
• 2011/08/07: ERabett: Kloorbait
• 2011/08/07: Deltoid: The Australian's War on Science 67: Chip Le Grand misrepresents a scientific paper

  Here is something for your library:

• 2011/08/14: HotTopic: [Book Review] _The God Species: How the Planet Can Survive the Age of Humans_ by Mark Lynas
• 2011/08/12: SkeptiSci: Two more reviews of Climate Change Denial
• 2011/08/05: MoJo: Why the "Green Revolution" Was Not So Green After All
  [Book Review] _The Hungry World_ by Nick Cullather
• 2011/08/11: ClimateSight: [Book Review] _Climate Change Denial: Heads in the Sand_ by Haydn Washington & John Cook
• 2011/08/07: EnergyBulletin: [Book Review] _Beyond Oil Bust: Investigating Oil Economics, Society and Geopolitics_ by James Leigh and Predrag Vukovic'

  And for your film & video enjoyment:

• 2011/08/11: CI: Video: Fracking sand air emissions caught on tape in Garfield County
• 2011/08/11: CleanTechnica: Astrophysicist Neil Degrasse Tyson on Congress' Lack of Vision, Science, Education
• 2011/08/12: TreeHugger: Japan's Solar Surge Continues (Video)
• 2011/08/11: AFTIC: CCW - "This is Not Cool" is cool
• 2011/08/11: SkeptiSci: Climate Denial Video #5: Settled science and impossible expectations
• 2011/08/08: SkeptiSci: Climate Denial Video #4: The favourite weapon of deniers, cherry picking
• 2011/08/10: Grist: Colbert: 'I say the science isn't in on thermodynamics'
• 2011/08/11: TreeHugger: Cut Science Funding, Cut America's Vision for the Future: Neil Degrasse Tyson (Video)
• 2011/08/10: MWL: Are You Ready To Be Very, Very Angry? Listen to JPMorgan Explain Profit on Food Stamps...
• 2011/08/10: CCP: Steve Colbert and Sponge Bob teaches our kids hidden global warming propaganda
• 2011/08/10: PSinclair: This is Not Cool. Heatwave 2011
• 2011/08/10: SMandia: Long Island: Hurricanes & Global Warming
• 2011/08/10: TP:JR: Stephen Colbert Out-Denies Rush Limbaugh on Global Warming: "I Say the Science isn't in on Thermodynamics"
• 2011/08/10: EnvironmentalGraffiti: GrowthBusters: A Groundbreaking Documentary for 2011
• 2011/08/09: PSinclair: Monckton: Bringin' the Crazy to Kiwi Land
• 2011/08/09: Deltoid: Monckton on TV in New Zealand
• 2011/08/09: PSinclair: Heat Waves Spotlight Nuclear Achilles Heel
• 2011/08/08: S&R: Monckton gets testy with Auckland TV reporter
• 2011/08/08: ERabett: The All Black Comedy Show [TVMOB]
• 2011/08/08: CChallenge: A link between climate change and Joplin tornadoes? Never!

  Meanwhile among the 'Sue the Bastards!' contingent:

• 2011/08/12: NatureNB: India's biodiversity agency to sue Monsanto
• 2011/08/12: TreeHugger: India Takes Monsanto To Court For Biopiracy Over Development Of GM Eggplant
• 2011/08/11: EurActiv: BP sues Russia over 'Bolshoi Petroleum' deal
• 2011/08/09: Mercury: Huge San Benito County solar farm proposal has its day in court
• 2011/08/09: PlanetArk: Dutch Court Suspends Major Gas Storage Project [at Bergermeer]

  Developing a new energy infrastructure is a fundamental challenge of the current generation:

• 2011/08/09: GreenGrok: Tanana - Tiny City in Yukon Takes A Giant Renewable Step
• 2011/08/11: TP:JR: Small Hydro Has Strong Bipartisan Support. So Why Can't We Get Our Act Together?
• 2011/08/11: NBF: IEA monthly Energy Statistics through May, 2011
• 2011/08/11: NBF: Material makes hydrogen gas 10 times faster than natural enzyme, uses inexpensive metals
• 2011/08/11: BBC: Cheap and fast hydrogen for fuel
  An enzyme from a microbe has shown how to make hydrogen more quickly and more cheaply. Storing and transporting energy as hydrogen is seen as vital to future energy systems.
• 2011/08/09: Eureka: Hybrid solar system makes rooftop hydrogen
• 2011/08/09: BNC: A critique of the 2011 IPCC Report on Renewable Energy
• 2011/08/08: SciAm:PI: Energy Sustainability Conference Begins in Washington, DC
  This week, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) is hosting the 5th International Conference on Energy Sustainability in Washington, DC. Over the next three days this conference will bring together researchers, scientists and engineers from around the world for more than 300 presentations related to the topic of energy sustainability.

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

• 2011/08/12: DeSmogBlog: Aussie Landholders Lock Gates to Keep Out Coal Seam Gas Industry
• 2011/08/12: PlanetArk: New Yorkers Want Fracking, But See Consequences
• 2011/08/12: OilChange: Will Europe Heed Warnings over Fracking?
• 2011/08/11: PlanetArk: NY [state comptroller] Wants Gas Drillers To Feed Cleanup Fund
• 2011/08/08: Dominion: "The River Always Wins" -- 1,500 take to the streets in Fredericton to oppose fracking
• 2011/08/09: TreeHugger: US Fracking Industry Reserves Overstated By At Least 100%: Report
• 2011/08/08: DeSmogBlog: Mysterious Fracking Memo Encourages Employees To Deceive Landowners

  On the coal front:

• 2011/08/11: Grist: Coal-fired power plants close down rather than clean up their emissions
• 2011/08/11: Grist: Replacing a crappy old coal plant with green urban development: today D.C., tomorrow ...?
• 2011/08/11: Grist: A $50 million tipping point? by Lester Brown
• 2011/08/09: TreeHugger: Big News: Coal Electricity Drops Big Time [Q1 2011 46% vs Q1 2008 52%]
• 2011/08/08: Grist: Why Washington state's coal fight matters

  On the gas and oil front:

• 2011/08/12: BBerg: Closing oil prices Friday
  OIL (US$/bbl)
  Nymex Crude Future...85.38
  Dated Brent Spot....107.34
  WTI Cushing Spot.....85.38
• 2011/08/13: HoustonChronicle: The other side of the oil story
• 2011/08/13: PeakEnergy: New (Recent) High for Saudi Oil Production
• 2011/08/14: OilDrum: Tech Talk - North Dakota and the Bakken
• 2011/08/13: AutoBG: Report: U.S. oil imports drop sharply; so what does it mean?
• 2011/08/10: CBC: IEA trims oil demand forecast [to 89.5 million barrels per day]

  And in pipeline news:

• 2011/08/12: TP:JR: Puerto Rico's Battle Over the Via Verde Natural Gas Pipeline: The Right Choice for the Island's Energy Future?
• 2011/08/09: BiofuelDaily: Ethanol-loving bacteria accelerate cracking of pipeline steels
• 2011/08/08: PlanetArk: Regulators Investigate "Unsafe" NY Natural Gas Line

  Yes we have a peak oil sighting:

• 2011/08/10: EnergyBulletin: The peak oil crisis: technology

  Biofuel bickering abounds:

• 2011/08/05: BoingBoing: 3 things you need to know about biofuels
• 2011/08/11: IWO: Algae-Based Transportation Fuels Comes At A Cost
• 2011/08/09: AutoBG: Report: Biofuel consumption slows in European Union

  The answer my friend...:

• 2011/08/14: Guardian(UK): Offshore Wind Turbines have Positive Impact on Wildlife, Biodiversity
• 2011/08/14: Grist: Solving wind power's variability with more wind power
• 2011/08/12: TreeHugger: Iowa: Now 20% Wind-Powered
• 2011/08/12: PSinclair: Texas Drought Shows Windpower Vital, Reliable
• 2011/08/09: TreeHugger: Wind Turbines Today Produce 300X the Power as Those Made 15 Years Ago
• 2011/08/08: DerSpiegel: Bubbles to the Rescue -- Saving Germany's Whales from Wind Farm Noise
  As Germany forges ahead with its energy revolution, offshore wind parks are becoming increasingly important. But construction clatter can threaten sea life, in particular whales and porpoises that rely on echolocation. Noise-mitigating "bubble curtains" may offer a solution, a new report says.
• 2011/08/09: Grist: Wind turbines are about to become way more awesome
• 2011/08/09: BizGreen: Vestas announces plan for new Brazilian turbine plants
• 2011/08/08: BBC: Schools of fish have shown engineers how to squeeze much more power from wind farms
• 2011/08/07: NYT: Wind Power Gains as Gear Improves

  Meanwhile among the solar aficionados:

• 2011/08/12: TP:JR: As Journalists Cover Record Spikes in Electricity Demand, Why Are They Ignoring Solar PV?
• 2011/08/12: Fraunhofer: Better, Faster, Cheaper: Doing Business with the Sun
  The change in energy policy has been decided; Germany needs more green energy. From September 5-9 in Hamburg, everything will revolve around our biggest energy supplier: the sun. At the European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference, in Hall B4G, Stand C12, Fraunhofer researchers will present new methods for making solar cells cheaper and more efficient.
• 2011/08/12: OilDrum: One year of Solar Power
• 2011/08/10: AutoBG: SolarCity offers solar-powered chargers for your home
• 2011/08/08: TreeHugger: GE Invests Up to $40 Million in eSolar, Takes Partnership to Next Level
• 2011/08/08: OilDrum: The bright future of solar powered factories

  The nuclear energy controversy continues:

• 2011/08/12: Rabble: Censorship and safety: Health Canada and the nuclear information blackout
• 2011/08/13: APR: The effect of big media: A real conversation
• 2011/08/12: Geek: 8 grams of thorium could replace gasoline in cars
• 2011/08/12: KSJT: Yale e360: Nukes in limbo? Not in China (nor US, really, not India either)
• 2011/08/12: Grist: Overheated river shuts down nuclear power plants
• 2011/08/10: Risoe: Status of nuclear power 2010
  Risø DTU has made its eighth report in the series: 'Nuclear power and Nuclear Safety', which gives a global overview of nuclear energy with a focus on safety and preparedness. This year's report is a bit delayed because of the accident in Fukushima, which is also mentioned in the report that would normally cover only the year 2010.
• 2011/08/08: Guardian(UK): Greens must not prioritise renewables over climate change [Monbiot]
  Abandoning nuclear at a time of escalating emissions is far more dangerous than maintaining it
• 2011/08/08: TreeHugger: Monbiot Says Greens Must Fight Carbon Emissions, Not Nuclear
• 2011/08/08: NBF: China starts 14th nuclear reactor and Canadian Uranium Producers Optimistic

  The Rossi Energy Catalyzer keeps coming up:

• 2011/08/10: NBF: Defkalion claims they have an Energy Catalyzer that will commercialized as planned
• 2011/08/07: NBF: Rossi and Focardi Energy Catalyzer - Defkalion Rossi Divorce

  More people are talking about the electrical grid:

• 2011/08/09: Tyee: A Skeptic's Guide to BC Smart Meters -- From dubious cost-effectiveness to health concerns, here are a few reasons to question them
• 2011/08/09: Grist: Utilities cash in when you go solar
• 2011/08/08: KP: Worried about too much demand elasticity in electric power markets
  Will electric power consumers facing smart-grid enabled real time prices have the potential to accidentally destabilize the power grid and cause a blackout? A paper presented at a recent IEEE conference says it is a possibility. The surprising culprit? Too much price elasticity in the market demand function.
• 2011/08/03: MIT: The too-smart-for-its-own-good grid
  New technologies intended to boost reliance on renewable energy could destabilize the power grid if they're not matched with careful pricing policies.

And then there is the matter of efficiency & conservation:

• 2011/08/12: TreeHugger: Philips AmbientLED 17 Watts LED Lightbulb (Product Review)

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

• 2011/08/12: Grist: The EV-hater's guide to hating electric cars
• 2011/08/12: AutoBG: How the 54.5 mpg CAFE standard will really equal 40 mpg in the real world
• 2011/08/11: Grist: Buy an electric car, get a steep discount on the rooftop solar panels required to charge it
• 2011/08/12: AutoBG: General Motors inks electric vehicle battery contract with A123 Systems
• 2011/08/10: AutoBG: Faced with daunting MPG standards, automakers seek "cure" for vehicle weight
• 2011/08/10: AutoBG: Ford Focus Electric will offer solar home option
• 2011/08/09: UCSUSA: Model E: The UCS Family of Electric Cars -- A Guide to the Present and Future of Electric Drive Technology
• 2011/08/09: AutoBG: Report: U.S. diesel vehicle sales up 38.5% in 2011, VW Jetta TDI leads pack

  As for Energy Storage:

• 2011/08/09: TechRev: Energy Storage for Solar Power
  Startup BrightSource announces a new [molten salt] system that could allow future solar plants to run at night
• 2011/08/08: AutoBG: Report: Toyota looking for gasoline-beating 'Sakichi' battery [en storage]
• 2011/08/09: AutoBG: Study: Researchers at Ford, U of M say enough lithium exists to power electric vehicles til 2100
• 2011/08/08: EnergyBulletin: A nation-sized battery

  The reaction of business to climate change will be critical:

• 2011/08/12: Grist: IKEA to go 100 percent renewable, starting with $6.5 billion in solar panels
• 2011/08/10: TreeHugger: Top Companies Publicly Support Climate Action But Privately Support Climate-Denying ALEC
• 2011/08/08: Grist: Companies claim concern for climate, but sponsor ALEC

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

• 2011/08/13: TP:JR: Global News...
• 2011/08/12: TP:JR: August 12 News...
• 2011/08/11: TP:JR: August 11 News...
• 2011/08/10: TP:JR: August 10 News...
• 2011/08/09: TP:JR: Global News Roundup...
• 2011/08/09: TP:JR: August 9 News...
• 2011/08/07: TP:JR: Global News Roundup...
• 2011/08/08: TP:JR: August 8 News...

  Other (weekly) lists:

• 2011/08/11: CCentral: This Week in Climate Science: Yellowstone Wildfires, Sea Levels and Shorebirds, and Fracking Accounting
• 2011/08/09: BPA: Agriculture News

  The carbon lobby are up to the usual:

• 2011/08/13: BVerheggen: Scott Denning's smashing presentation at Heartland climate conference ICCC6
• 2011/08/13: TP:JR: What's the Best Strategy for Dealing with Deniers?
• 2011/08/12: Tamino: Learning from Bastardi's Mistakes
• 2011/08/14: ERabett: Mirrors, We Need Mirrors
• 2011/08/12: Deltoid: Murry Salby is unhelpful
• 2011/08/12: Tamino: Can Bastardi Learn?
• 2011/08/11: Grist: Right-wing pundits: 'People believe our falsehoods, so we win!'
• 2011/08/10: DeSmogBlog: Communities At Risk from Gas Industry Air Pollution - Interview with NRDC's Amy Mall
• 2011/08/09: DeSmogBlog: In The Dog Days of Summer, CFACT Still Barks The Same Tune
• 2011/08/09: PSinclair: Monckton: Bringin' the Crazy to Kiwi Land
• 2011/08/09: Deltoid: Monckton on TV in New Zealand
• 2011/08/09: WottsUWT: Analysing the complete hadCRUT yields some surprising results
• 2011/08/08: BBickmore: The Monckton Files: Bombshell!!! John Abraham to be Sued!!!
• 2011/08/08: ITracker: Ignoring Salby: An apology
• 2011/08/08: UU-UNO: Christopher Monckton refuted by the scientist John Abraham and others
• 2011/08/08: S&R: Monckton gets testy with Auckland TV reporter
• 2011/08/08: ERabett: The All Black Comedy Show [TVMOB]
• 2011/08/08: SMandia: SkepticalScience.com Helps Students Debunk Climate Myths
• 2011/08/07: MTobis: Cluelessness
• 2011/08/07: ITracker: Inside the strange world of the climate dismissives, Ctd

  Meanwhile in the 'clean coal' saga:

• 2011/08/11: Grist: Air support: Join the fight for stronger air pollution safeguards
• 2011/08/11: TreeHugger: U.S. Had 2,000 Unhealthy Air Alerts in 2011 So Far

  As for climate miscellanea:

• 2011/08/13: TPL: Is the perfect the enemy of the good?
• 2011/08/09: TheEcologist: Why we need to stop trying to 'save the planet' and just realise our place in it
• 2011/08/11: ERabett: Step Up and Be Counted
• 2011/08/11: TMoS: How to Fix Everything - At Least In My Opinion
• 2011/08/11: CSW: On The Yale Forum's question: 'Climate Change' ... and 'Global Warming': The New Dirty Words? And If So ... What Then?
• 2011/08/10: Guardian(UK): Weatherwatch: how to use a cricket as a thermometer
• 2011/08/09: Grist: Heated debate: public opinion on climate and weather
• 2011/08/09: ITracker: Climate change: The Economist gets it
• 2011/08/09: G&M: Debt is the new carbon
• 2011/08/07: JFleck: Stuff I Wrote Elsewhere: Why my state is burning down
• 2011/08/08: OSU: Increase in storm damage brings call for more stringent standards
• 2011/08/07: SacBee: New climate research shifts to local impacts

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

• Wiki: Arctic oscillation
• Lock the Gate Alliance
• USGS: What on Earth is Plate Tectonics?
• The Siberian Traps
• ApocaDocs: Humoring the Horror of Environmental Collapse
• Approaching the Limits
• GeoEngineering Inguiry Group [mostly Japanese]
• WSS: Watershed Sentinel - Environmental News Magazine from British Columbia, and the world!
• Ecology Action Centre
• Cruel Mistress
• DESERTEC Foundation
• Wiki: Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale
• SourceWatch on American Legislative Exchange Council
• Research Blogging
• Beyond Zero Emissions

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.

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 think it's much more interesting to live with not knowing, than to have answers that might be wrong." -Richard Feynman

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