Another Week of GW News, August 21, 2011

Logging the Onset of The Bottleneck Years

skip to bottom

Another week of Global Warming News

Information is not Knowledge...Knowledge is notWisdom

August 21, 2011

• Autobahn Chuckles, COP17+, Horn of Africa, Keystone XL Protest
• Monnett, Chen et al., Shell Leak, Conoco Leak, Cook
• Fukushima Note, Fukushima News, Nuclear Policy
• Melting Arctic, Walrus, Methane, Geopolitics, Antarctica
• Food Crisis, Agro-Corps, Food Prices, Food Riot, Food vs Fuel, GMOs, Food Production
• Hurricanes, Monsoon, GHGs, Carbon Cycle, Temperatures
• Paleoclimate, Solar, Extinctions, Satellites
• Impacts, Forests, Climate Refugees, Wacky Weather, Extreme Weather
• Tornadoes, Wildfires, Corals, Floods & Droughts
• Mitigation, Transportation, Buildings
• Journals, Other Docs , Misc. Science, DIY Science, Models, Pielke
• Kyoto, UN, Carbon Trade, Carbon Tax, Bank Tax
• International Politics: Rare Earths, Activism, Polls, H2O Biz, Software, Predictions
• National Politics: America, BP Disaster, 2012, Mann, USAdmin, Congress
• Britain, Europe, Australia, Carbon War, New Zealand, India, China, Asia, Middle East, South America
• Canada, Post G20, Grassy Narrows, Pipelines, Salmon, Caribou, CWB
• Cohen Commission, Megaloads, Suncor & Syria, BC, Tar Sands, Alberta, Ontario
• Ecological Economics, IPAT, Apocalypso, Media, Books, Video, Podcasts, Courts
• Energy, Fracking, Coal, Oil & Gas, Fossil Fuel Corps, Pipelines
• Peak Oil, Biofuel, Wind, Solar, Nukes, Grid, 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.

Here's a chuckle for ya:

• 2011/08/21: uComics: (cartoon - Auth) Palnts, animals seeking higher, cooler climes...
• 2011/08/20: ERabett: (cartoon - Toles) The Wisdom of Ms. Rabett
• 2011/08/14: CleanBreak: (cartoon - Horsey) A climate-change editorial cartoon that tells it like it is...
• 2011/08/17: UCSUSA: (12 cartoons - various) 2011 Cartoon Contest Contestants
• 2011/08/15: uComics: (cartoon - Toles) The Fundamentalists Have Upgraded...
• 2011/08/15: uComics: (cartoon - Rall) Barack Skywalker

  Looking ahead to COP17 and future international climate negotiations:

• 2011/08/15: CCP: Ten million Facebook users against climate change: Initiative CLIMATE VOTE PROJECT is gearing up for the United Nations Conference on Climate Change in South Africa!

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

• 2011/08/18: FAO: Meeting on Horn of Africa calls for tackling root causes of famine
  Food assistance to save lives today, support for agriculture and pastoralism to prevent repeat crises tomorrow
• 2011/08/19: MTobis: The Horn
• 2011/08/19: ABC(Au):TDU: East Africa food crisis was preventable
• 2011/08/20: ABC(Au): Millions desperate -- Somalia crisis deepens despite aid
• 2011/08/19: Guardian(UK): Turkish PM visits famine-hit Somalia and calls on west to do more
• 2011/08/19: BBC: Somali famine: Turkish PM Erdogan visits Mogadishu
  Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his wife have arrived in Somalia's capital to highlight the need for greater famine relief.
• 2011/08/19: al Jazeera: Turkish PM arrives in famine-hit Somalia
  Recep Tayyip Erdogan to visit relief camps and hospitals in an effort to draw world's attention to country's plight.
• 2011/08/18: UN: UN meeting in Rome discusses ways to tackle Horn of Africa food crisis
• 2011/08/18: BBC: Somalia famine: UK insists aid is 'getting through'
• 2011/08/17: al Jazeera: Fighting and cholera plague Somali hospitals
  Hospitals in Mogadishu struggle to keep patients safe amid gunbattles, funding gaps and cholera outbreak.
• 2011/08/17: UN: Aid efforts in the Horn of Africa need to be scaled up further, says UN relief chief
• 2011/08/18: al Jazeera: UN calls for 'scaled-up' Somalia aid effort
  UN humanitarian chief says death toll from Horn of Africa drought and spreading famine will rise without urgent action.
• 2011/08/17: PlanetArk: World Bank Calls Horn Of Africa Famine Manmade
• 2011/08/16: CCurrents: The Somali Famine: Hunger And Power -- "The Horn of Hunger"
• 2011/08/17: DemNow: Human Rights Watch: Abuses by All Sides Fueling Crisis in Somalia
• 2011/08/17: BBC: Somalia famine: UK International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell visits Mogadishu
  Mr Mitchell warned of a race against time to tackle the "devastating famine" in the country and said without action 400,000 children could starve to death.
• 2011/08/17: al Jazeera: Profiteering from hunger?
  The UN is investigating the possible theft of food supplies meant for Somalia's famine victims.
• 2011/08/16: CBC: Somalia food aid won't slow amid fraud probe -- UN says theft worries common in world operations
• 2011/08/16: CNN: Kenyans unite to raise funds for citizens battling drought
  Hundreds of thousands donate to a citizen effort to help starving countrymen - Donations include a police officer who gives his entire monthly salary - The effort, dubbed Kenyans for Kenya, has raised about $7.6 million so far - A majority of the funds come in the first two weeks
• 2011/08/16: UN: UN warns of rising death rates among Somali children as disease takes a toll
• 2011/08/16: al Jazeera: Architectures of violence: Famine and profits -- The widespread scarcity of food is mistakenly viewed as a crime without a culprit
• 2011/08/16: al Jazeera: UN probing theft of Somalia food aid
  World Food Programme says "vast majority" of food aid is reaching starving amid reports of deliveries stolen and sold.
• 2011/08/15: CBC: Somalia food aid stolen, sold in markets
• 2011/08/15: Guardian(UK): UN investigates theft and sale of Somalia famine food aid
  WFP says thousands of sacks stolen and sold in markets but suspending aid programme would cause more deaths
• 2011/08/14: CDreams: Famine Devastates Somalia in the Shadow of US Domination
• 2011/08/15: UN: At world's biggest refugee camp, UN relief chief calls for more aid for Somalis
• 2011/08/14: SwissInfo: "The extent of the suffering is huge"
  The Dadaab camp in Kenya is the last hope for more and more refugees fleeing famine in Somalia. UNICEF worker Alexandra Rosetti spent four days in the refugee town, the largest of its kind in the world. She said while she had witnessed despair, she also saw hopefulness. Rosetti recorded her experiences on a blog which appeared on the UNICEF Switzerland website.
• 2011/08/14: Guardian(UK): Somali refugees abandon babies at Dadaab camp

  The two week long series of protests against the Keystone XL (and the tar sands) began yesterday:

• 2011/08/20: Grist: 70 arrested on first day of tar-sands-pipeline protest
• 2011/08/20: TheHill: Sixty-five arrested outside White House in oil pipeline protest
• 2011/08/21: PostMedia: They came, they sat, they got arrested
  Canadians join in at sit-in to protest environmental risk of oilsands pipeline They came to the White House planning to get arrested, and very quickly got their wish. Dozens of environmental activists opposed to the Keystone XL oilsands pipeline were led away in plastic handcuffs after staging a sit-in Saturday aimed at persuading President Barack Obama to deny a permit allowing construction of the 2,700-kilometre project. The protest marked the opening of a two-week campaign of civil disobedience that organizers hope will scuttle Calgary-based TransCanada Corp.'s $7-billion pipeline, which would carry up to 900,000 barrels of crude from northern Alberta to refineries along the U.S. Gulf Coast.
• 2011/08/19: Grist: Tar-sands pipeline 'safety conditions' are smoke and mirrors
• 2011/08/19: CSW: Letter from scientists calling on Obama to block the Keystone XL tar sands oil pipeline
• 2011/08/19: Tyee: Alberta oilsands at the centre of White House protests over next two weeks
• 2011/08/20: CCurrents: Massive Protest At White House Against Alberta Tar Sands Pipeline
• 2011/08/20: Rabble:KK: Activist Communique: Tar Sands Action and solidarity actions -- International Stop the Tar Sands Day
• 2011/08/19: Rabble: Thousands launch mass protest in Washington, D.C. against tar sands pipeline
• 2011/08/19: DemNow: A Debate: Should the U.S. Approve TransCanada's Massive Keystone XL Tar Sands Oil Pipeline?
• 2011/08/19: AlterNet: 3 Reasons Why the Tar Sands Pipeline Has to Be Stopped
• 2011/08/19: CDreams: Tar Sands Chance for Revitalized Climate Movement at 11th Hour?
• 2011/08/19: TP:JR: McKibben on Tar Sands Action: "The Largest Collective Act of Civil Disobedience in the History of the Climate Movement"
• 2011/08/18: CSW: In support of protest at the White House to call for veto of Keystone XL tar sands oil pipeline
• 2011/08/19: TreeHugger: Keystone XL Tar Sands Pipeline Jobs Benefits Exaggerated
• 2011/08/19: HotTopic: Scientist prepared to risk arrest
• 2011/08/18: LFR: Tar-sands pipeline gets support from fake Twitter accounts "to give the illusion of public support."
• 2011/08/18: CDreams: Climate Scientist Sees No Choice but to Risk Arrest at Keystone XL Protests
  Jason Box, known for his study of glaciers, says oil sands mining is a moral issue that he feels compelled to address. The two-week sit-in begins Saturday
• 2011/08/17: CCP: Jason Box: Obama, "change" doesn't have to mean "runaway climate change"

  The Monnett affair grinds on:

• 2011/08/21: ERabett: Polar Bear Follies Part II
• 2011/08/20: CCP: Interior Watchdog Sees Potential Conflict in Suspended Biologist's Role Vetting Polar Bear Study
• 2011/08/17: NPR: New Allegations Leveled Against Polar Bear Scientist
• 2011/08/17: ERabett: NPR has a copy of a letter sent by the Department of Interior IG to Charles Monnett...
• 2011/08/17: MTobis: Blue Monnett
• 2011/08/15: MediaMatters: "The (Polar) Bear Facts," Checked

  The Chen et al. paper on global warming migration drew a lot of coverage:

• 2011/08/19: Science: (ab$) Rapid Range Shifts of Species Associated with High Levels of Climate Warming by I-Ching Chen et al.
• 2011/08/20: BBC: Species flee warming faster than previously thought
• 2011/08/19: KSJT: Wires, more: Not only is wildlife on a warming migration, the pace surprises scientists
• 2011/08/19: CSM: Climate change: Species climbing higher and migrating north, study says
• 2011/08/19: CBC: Global warming pushes species north
• 2011/08/18: NatureNB: Plants and animals seek cover from climate change
• 2011/08/18: SciNow: In Warming World, Critters Run to the Hills
• 2011/08/19: TreeHugger: Animals Responding 3x Faster To Climate Change Than Expected
• 2011/08/18: STimes: Critters flee global warming faster
  Animals across the world are fleeing global warming by heading north much faster than they were less than a decade ago, a new study says.
• 2011/08/18: UYork: Further, faster, higher: wildlife responds increasingly rapidly to climate change
• 2011/08/18: Guardian(UK): Climate change driving species out of habitats much faster than expected
• 2011/08/18: CDreams: Critters Moving Away from Global Warming Faster

  That North Sea oil leak unsettles more than a few:

• 2011/08/19: Guardian(UK): Shell stops North Sea leak after 10 days
  Scottish government launches investigation into safety procedures after worst oil spill in UK waters for a decade
• 2011/08/19: CSM: Environmentalists demand more answers from Shell after Scotland oil spill
• 2011/08/19: BBC: Shell claims progress on North Sea oil leak
• 2011/08/18: PlanetArk: Shell Says Lots Of Oil Still In Leaking Pipeline
• 2011/08/17: Guardian(UK): Oil spill exposes Shell's ticking timebomb
  The Gannet Alpha spill in the North Sea is a stark reminder of the dangers of ageing rigs and oil company PR
• 2011/08/17: PlanetArk: Shell North Sea Pipeline Leak Reduced To A Trickle
• 2011/08/17: DerSpiegel: North Sea Oil Leak -- Shell Under Fire Over Silent Tactics
  Oil has been flowing into the North Sea from a leak at a platform off the coast of Scotland for a week, but Shell has failed to be open with the public. Details of the leak are scarce, and information on the amount of oil which has escaped so far remains uncertain.
• 2011/08/16: PlanetArk: Shell Mum On Flow From Oil Pipeline Leak
• 2011/08/16: BBC: Shell detects second Gannet Alpha North Sea leak point
  A second leak point has been found in the flow line beneath the Gannet Alpha oil platform, 113 miles (180km) off Aberdeen. Shell has been dealing with the release of an estimated 216 tonnes - 1,300 barrels - from a leak near the platform discovered last week.
• 2011/08/15: CNN: Oil from North Sea leak not expected on land, UK, Shell say
• 2011/08/14: TreeHugger: Shell Oil Leak in North Sea Raises Memories of BP Gulf Oil Spill
• 2011/08/15: BBC: Shell North Sea oil spill 'more than 200 tonnes'
• 2011/08/15: CBC: Oil rig leaking off Scottish coast
  The British government estimates several hundred tonnes of oil may have leaked into the North Sea from a Royal Dutch Shell rig. The energy and climate change department has offered the estimate for the leak at the Gannet Alpha platform off the Scottish coast. The leak began last week.

And ConocoPhillips is struggling to contain another leak on China's North East coast:

• 2011/08/18: PlanetArk: China Pushes ConocoPhillips To Contain Oil Spill By End Of August
  China's marine authorities expressed growing frustration at the failure of a unit of ConocoPhillips to contain a two-month oil spill that has spread across the northeast coast and again urged it to halt the leak by the end of August. Officials of the State Oceanic Administration (SOA) met ConocoPhillips officials again on Tuesday and urged the company to seal off oil leaks in northern China's Bohai Bay and clean up polluted areas before an August 31 deadline, the agency said on its website (www.soa.gov.cn).

John Cook and friends continue their point-counterpoint articles:

• 2011/08/21: SkeptiSci: Scott Denning: Reaching Across the Abyss by grypo
• 2011/08/20: SkeptiSci: OA not OK part 18: Been this way before by Doug Mackie
• 2011/08/20: SkeptiSci: Settled Science - Humans are Raising CO2 Levels by dana1981 & MarkR
• 2011/08/19: SkeptiSci: OA not OK part 17: Pumping currents by Doug Mackie
• 2011/08/19: SkeptiSci: Climate Skeptic Fool's Gold by dana1981
• 2011/08/18: SkeptiSci: A new SkS resource: climate skeptics and their myths
• 2011/08/18: SkeptiSci: Soil Carbon in the Australian Political Debate (Part 2 of 2) by alan_marshall
• 2011/08/17: SkeptiSci: Joseph E. Postma and the Greenhouse Effect Part 2 by Chris Colose
• 2011/08/17: SkeptiSci: Joseph E. Postma and the Greenhouse Effect Part 1 by Chris Colose
• 2011/08/16: SkeptiSci: One Confusedi Bastardi by dana1981
• 2011/08/15: SkeptiSci: Soil Carbon in the Australian Political Debate (Part 1 of 2) by alan_marshall

  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.

  Not much good news coming out of Fukushima:

• 2011/08/19: DerSpiegel: Studying the Fukushima Aftermath -- 'People Are Suffering from Radiophobia'
  Japanese scientist Shunichi Yamashita is a leading expert on the effects of nuclear radiation. In a Spiegel interview, he discusses his work in communicating the potential dangers of exposure to residents living near the Fukushima nuclear plant. The professor says many suffer from severe radiation anxiety.
• 2011/08/17: ENS: Fukushima Daiichi Radioactivity Down to 20% of July Levels
• 2011/08/17: Reuters: Japan utility may face delay in Fukushima cleanup plan
  The operator of Japan's tsunami-hit Fukushima nuclear power plant said Wednesday that it would stick to its timetable of trying to achieve "cold shutdown" of damaged reactors by January, though technical problems could delay the plan.
• 2011/08/17: CDreams: The Explosive Truth Behind Fukushima's Meltdown
• 2011/08/18: al Jazeera: Fukushima radiation alarms doctors
  Japanese doctors warn of public health problems caused by Fukushima radiation.
• 2011/08/18: PlanetArk: Japan's Hokkaido Elec Gets Approval For Restarted [912-megawatt Tomari No.3] Reactor
• 2011/08/17: APR: Nuclear Energy in Japan
• 2011/08/15: NatureN: Chemicals track Fukushima meltdown -- Radioactive sulphur signal adds to evidence of catastrophe
  Scientists in California are reporting raised levels of radioactive chemicals in the atmosphere in the weeks following the disaster at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. The measurements are the latest evidence that the reactors melted down catastrophically
• 2011/08/15: SciNow: Fukushima Reactor Damage Picked Up in California Winds
• 2011/08/16: DM:80B: Eyes on the Radioactive Wind, Scientists in California Study the Fukushima Meltdown
• 2011/08/14: BBerg: Mushrooms Join Growing List of Radioactive Threats to Japan's Food Chain
• 2011/08/15: CBC: Japan expands nuclear regulatory agency
  Japan's cabinet has approved a plan to expand the main nuclear regulatory agency and move it to the environment ministry from the trade ministry where it has been criticized as being too cozy with the industry it regulates. Chief cabinet secretary Yukio Edano said Monday the new agency will also oversee nuclear security, radiation monitoring and crisis management.

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

• 2011/08/20: JapanTimes: Nuclear policy scaled back
  The new five-year science and technology program approved Friday by the Cabinet excludes references to an earlier draft that promoted next-generation nuclear technologies, reflecting the government's backpedaling on atomic power policy amid the Fukushima nuclear crisis.
• 2011/08/16: DerSpiegel: E.on CEO on Job Cuts -- 'It Pains Me Too'
  Johannes Teyssen, 51, is the CEO of E.on, Germany's largest utility company. In a Spiegel interview, he explains why he thinks the energy giant should shed 11,000 jobs across the world and what the impending nuclear phase-out means for the future.
• 2011/08/16: PlanetArk: U.N. Atom Body [IAEA] Wants Wider Nuclear Safety Checks
• 2011/08/15: PlanetArk: Japan Eyes Global Nuclear Compensation Treaty: Report
  Japan is considering joining a U.S.-led global nuclear compensation treaty in a bid to fend off excessive overseas damage claims related to nuclear accidents, the Nikkei newspaper reported on Sunday, without citing sources. The U.S., Morocco, Romania and Argentina have agreed to the Convention on Supplementary Compensation for Nuclear Damage, but the treaty needs at least five countries in order to go into effect.

The Arctic melt continues to garner a lot of attention:

• 2011/08/21: PostMedia: Researchers hope to solve Arctic riddle -- Franklin's lost ships
  Beginning Sunday, near the oddly named Royal Geographical Society Islands in western Nunavut, a Parks Canada-led team of researchers will begin trying - yet again - to unravel the ultimate Arctic mystery: the whereabouts of the lost ships of the ill-fated Franklin Expedition.
• 2011/08/20: ASI: SIE 2011 update 17: unfulfilled potential
• 2011/08/18: ITracker: Greenland 2011: melt records fall again
• 2011/08/17: USheffield: Research finds Greenland glacier melting faster than expected
• 2011/08/15: KSJT: AP, etc: A visit to scientists atop Greenland watching it melt -- and other tales of polar ice
• 2011/08/14: ADN: Human activities linked to warming and loss of sea ice -- Half: Natural cycles are part of mix, scientists find; greenhouse gas has effect.
• 2011/08/14: TP:JR: Thinning Arctic Sea Ice Poised to Undergo Record Decline in Mid-August, Volume Minimum Likely
• 2011/08/14: ASI: CAPIE hits record low

  As for the charismatic megafauna:

• 2011/08/16: USGS: Pacific Walruses Studied as Sea Ice Melts
• 2011/08/19: KSJT: AP, Reuters, etc: Alaskan walruses getting satellite tags as ice shrinks, they head for land
• 2011/08/18: PlanetArk: Melting Arctic Sea Ice Drives Walruses Onto Land

  That Damoclean sword still hangs overhead:

• 2011/08/19: TCoE: Permafrost update
• 2011/08/15: CBC: Melting Arctic permafrost will boost carbon emissions

  As for the geopolitics of Arctic resources:

• 2011/08/19: ScienceInsider: Geologists Ship Out, Hoping to Claim Piece of Arctic for Canada
• 2011/08/19: NPR: In The Arctic Race, The U.S. Lags Behind
• 2011/08/18: CCP: Frances G. Beinecke: Don't allow oil drilling off Alaska's coast in the Arctic
• 2011/08/17: PlanetArk: Greenland Posts Cairn Oil Spill Plan To Combat Fears
• 2011/08/15: CCurrents: BPing The Arctic, Again -- Fast Tracking Shell's Dangerous Drilling
• 2011/08/17: CSM: Drilling for oil in Arctic Ocean is fraught with danger
• 2011/08/16: CCP: BPing the Arctic, Again -- Fast-Tracking Shell's Dangerous Drilling
• 2011/08/16: PlanetArk: Greenland Says To Publish Oil Spill Plan
• 2011/08/15: CDreams: BPing the Arctic, Again -- Fast Tracking Shell's Dangerous Drilling
• 2011/08/15: TP:JR: After North Sea Oil Spill, Shell Prepares to Drill in Arctic Where There is 'No Infrastructure' for Clean-Up
• 2011/08/05: EBR:E&D: Shell receives conditional approval for US Arctic exploration plan
• 2011/08/15: BizInsider: Russia's About To Annex 380,000 Square Miles Of The Arctic Sea
• 2011/08/14: CSM: Russia's Arctic 'sea grab'
  Russia is expected within months to claim to the United Nations its right to annex about 380,000 square miles of the Arctic.

While in Antarctica:

• 2011/08/19: BBC: Map tracks Antarctica on the move
  A team of scientists has created the most complete map of ice motion over the entire continent of Antarctica. Built from images acquired by radar satellites, the visualisation details all the great glaciers and the smaller ice streams that feed them.
• 2011/08/15: QD: A postcard from the South Pole

  The food crisis is ongoing:

• 2011/08/17: PlanetArk: Parched Farm Fields Mean Trouble For Wheat Planting
• 2011/08/15: CCurrents: Seeds Of Despair
• 2011/08/16: TP:JR: With No End in Sight for Texas Drought, ABC News Explains: "Every Farmer in the World Will Be Affected by Climate Change"
• 2011/08/15: Grist: Lake Michigan has become unfishable
• 2011/08/12: Gawker: There Are 5 Fast Food Places for Every Grocery Store in America

  On the food corp. front:

• 2011/08/12: AlterNet: Monsanto's 5 Most Dubious Contributions to the Planet
  There's a whole lot more than just GMO seeds. Let's take a quick look at some of the biotech giant's most dubious contributions to society over the past century.

Food Prices are still problematic:

• FAO: World Food Situation - Food Price Indices
• 2011/08/16: WB: Food Price Watch (Full Report)
• 2011/08/16: BPA: August 2011 World Bank Report Shows Food Price Index Up 33% Over a Year Ago

  Regarding the food factor in revolution:

• 2011/08/15: TR:arXivBlog: The Cause Of Riots And The Price of Food
  If we don't reverse the current trend in food prices, we've got until August 2013 before social unrest sweeps the planet, say complexity theorists
• 2011/08/11: arXiv: The Food Crises and Political Instability in North Africa and the Middle East by Marco Lagi et al.
• 2011/08/16: RWER: They told us so

  The conflict between biofuel and food persists:

• 2011/08/21: TreeHugger: Where Did "More" Corn Ethanol Really Come From?
• 2011/08/18: ERW: GM corn being developed for fuel instead of food
• 2011/08/20: ED: Feeding Our Cars
• 2011/08/19: PlanetArk: Biomass Key For Low-Carbon Energy, Spurs Food Prices
• 2011/08/15: Guardian(UK): GM corn being developed for fuel instead of food
  Campaigners say plants being grown in US may worsen global food crisis, while farmers express cross-contamination fears

Regarding the genetic modification of food:

• 2011/08/20: Grist: Why GMOs won't save the world (despite what you read in The New York Times)

  And how are we going to feed 9 billion?

• 2011/08/17: TreeHugger: Infographic: How Much Backyard Is Needed To Feed A Family of Four?
• 2011/08/17: TreeHugger: Insect Snacks Get Safety Tests in European Union
• 2011/08/14: SciAm:GB: Myths: Busted -- Clearing Up the Misunderstandings about Organic Farming

  Among a scattering of numbered storms, Harvey and Irene are threatening the Caribbean while Greg and Fernanda spin about the Eastern Pacific:

• 2011/08/21: CNN: Hurricane warning issued for Dominican Republic
  A hurricane watch is issued for Puerto Rico - National Hurricane Center: Irene could become a hurricane by Monday - It is expected to headed toward Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic - Tropical Depression Harvey dumps heavy rain over parts of Guatemala and eastern Mexico
• 2011/08/21: Wunderground: Irene roars into life; may become the season's first hurricane
• 2011/08/21: CBC: Irene nears hurricane status in Caribbean -- Storm on path toward Dominican, Haiti
• 2011/08/20: Wunderground: Harvey drenching Belize; 97L a threat to the Caribbean and U.S.
• 2011/08/19: NASA: NASA Satellites See Heavy Rains for Central America from Tropical Depression 8
• 2011/08/19: CBC: Tropical storm Harvey forms off Central America
• 2011/08/19: Wunderground: TD 8 forms; 97L a potential threat to the Caribbean and U.S.
• 2011/08/18: Eureka: NASA satellite data confirms Greg a hurricane, Fernanda a tropical storm
• 2011/08/18: Wunderground: Caribbean disturbance 93L to drench Honduras; 97L disturbance worth watching
• 2011/08/17: Eureka: GOES-11 satellite sees Tropical Storms Fernanda and 'little brother' Greg chasing each other
• 2011/08/15: CNN: Tropical Storm Gert steering near Bermuda
  Gert has begun its to turn away from land - The storm is about 105 miles from Bermuda, says the National Hurricane Center - Maximum sustained winds have increased to 60 mph with stronger gusts - Gert is expected to skirt Bermuda on Monday afternoon
• 2011/08/15: Wunderground: Gert brushing Bermuda; a new all-time 1-day rainfall record for NYC
• 2011/08/14: Wunderground: Tropical Depression Seven forms
• 2011/08/15: CBC: Tropical Storm Gert approaches Bermuda
• 2011/08/14: CBC: Tropical Storm Gert forms in Atlantic

  While elsewhere in the hurricane wars:

• 2011/08/15: CSM: Fine art of hurricane tracking: Push is on for the 7-day forecast

  As for the Monsoon:

• 2011/08/14: al Jazeera: The monsoon brings flooding to Pakistan
  How much rain can the country stand?
• 2011/08/15: UN: UN humanitarian agencies on standby as monsoon floods strike Pakistan

  Regarding GHGs:

• 2011/08/19: PlanetArk: U.S. Carbon Emissions Jumped Nearly 4 Percent In 2010
• 2011/08/19: TreeHugger: U.S. Emissions Up 4 Percent in 2010
• 2011/08/18: EMPA: Sketchy emission reports revealed by Empa measurements at Jungfraujoch -- Fudging in greenhouse gas stats?
  Fluorinated hydrocarbons are potent greenhouse gases, emission of which must be reduced under the Kyoto Protocol. If you rely on the official reports of the participating countries, the output of trifluoromethane (HFC-23) in Western Europe is indeed significantly decreasing. However, pollutant measurements carried out by Empa now reveal that several countries under-report their emissions. For instance, Italy emits 10 to 20 times more HFC-23 than it officially reports.
• 2011/08/17: Eureka: Greenhouse gases: The measurement challenge
• 2011/08/15: Eureka: Ethane levels yield information about changes in greenhouse gas emissions
  Research at Greenland and Antarctic shows decline in methane and ethane levels

And in the carbon cycle:

• 2011/08/19: ERW: Climate projections don't accurately reflect soil carbon release
  Models may be predicting releases of atmospheric carbon dioxide that are either too high or too low, depending on the region, because they don't adequately reflect variable temperatures that can affect the amount of carbon released from soil. That's according to a study published in Biogeosciences.
• 2011/08/16: TreeHugger: Warming World May Release Stored Carbon From Tropical Forest Soils

  As for the temperature record:

• 2011/08/15: NOAANews: Global temperatures were seventh warmest on record for July
• 2011/08/16: TreeHugger: July 2011 Was Seventh Warmest Globally Since Records Began
• 2011/08/16: Wunderground: Globe's 7th wamest July; remarkable heat in Asia; little change to 93L
• 2011/08/15: ASI: DMI SST maps back up
• 2011/08/15: ITracker: Hot July: GISS anomaly is 0.60C, third hottest on record

  While in the paleoclimate:

• 2011/08/17: BBC: 'Early wood' samples reshape plant history
  A study of fossilised plant samples has shown that woody plants probably first appeared about 10 million years earlier than previously thought. The 400-million-year-old samples revealed rings of cells characteristic of wood, a team of scientists observed.
• 2011/08/16: MIT: Breathing new life into Earth - Great Oxidation Event -- New research shows evidence of early oxygen on our planet

  Regarding the solar hypothesis:

• 2011/08/19: CSM: Solar storms: Two breakthroughs could lead to better warnings
• 2011/08/18: BBC: Sun storms 'could be more disruptive within decades' [Lockwood]

  What's new on the extinction front?

• 2011/08/17: SciAm:HoG: On the Extinction of Species
• 2011/08/17: al Jazeera: WWF: Mekong dolphins close to extinction
  Conservation group estimates remaining dolphin population at just 85 as it calls for special protection zones.

Meanwhile in near earth orbit:

• 2011/08/18: BBC: Nigeria launches two satellites
  Nigeria has successfully launched two Earth observation satellites which could be used to monitor weather in a region seasonally ravaged by disasters. The NigeriaSat-2 and NigeriaSat-X spacecraft were lofted into orbit aboard a Russian Dnepr rocket from a launch pad in the town of Yasny, southern Russia. Nigeria collaborated with UK engineers on the project, and the satellites are being monitored from control stations in Guildford, UK, and Abuja in Nigeria.

More GW impacts are being seen:

• 2011/08/19: Eureka: The grass is always greener -- Recent study of grasslands shows that species variety more important to ecosystem services than previously thought
• 2011/08/18: Grist: The great oyster crash
• 2011/08/16: Eureka: Genomewide mapping reveals developmental and environmental impacts
  Complex traits that help plants adapt to environmental challenges are likely influenced by variations in thousands of genes that are affected by both the plant's growth and the external environment, reports a team of researchers at the University of California, Davis. The findings were revealed by a genomewide association mapping of the defense metabolism in Arabidopsis thaliana, a common research plant. The researchers, led by UC Davis plant scientist Daniel Kliebenstein, report the study results today, Aug. 16, in the online journal PLoS Genetics.
• 2011/08/15: SciNow: Iconic Fishes [Trout] Face New Threat
• 2011/08/16: UWM: Climate change could drive native fish out of Wisconsin waters
• 2011/08/15: Guardian(UK): Is avian malaria a disaster for British birds?

  And then there are the world's forests:

• 2011/08/20: DM:NERS: The Amazon rainforest from the air
• 2011/08/19: NatureNB: Brazil's yearly deforestation up 15% - but it could have been worse
• 2011/08/17: NatureN: Brazil revisits forest code -- Changes to legislation could undermine authorities' power to halt deforestation
• 2011/08/16: al Jazeera: Bolivian tribes in long march against road

  Climate refugees are becoming an issue:

• 2011/08/15: Grist: Raging storms, rising seas swell ranks of climate refugees by Lester Brown

  Yes we have no wacky weather, except:

• 2011/08/19: Gawker: This Is the Giant Dust Storm That Just Engulfed Phoenix
• 2011/08/16: TreeHugger: Northern New Zealand Cities See First Snow in 50 Years

  This week in extreme weather:

• 2011/08/20: CNN: 2011: Year of billion-dollar disasters
  The U.S. has seen nine weather events that caused $1 billion this year, 2011 - None of those has been a hurricane, and the brunt of that season is still to come - Development along coasts raises costs, insurance expert says - Better buildings, early warning and preparation can save lives, reduce damage
• 2011/08/19: TreeHugger: Extreme Weather Has Already Cost $35 Billion This Year in US
• 2011/08/18: PlanetArk: U.S. Sees Growing Losses From Extreme Weather

  On the tornado front:

• 2011/08/17: CBC: Schools reopen after Joplin tornado -- Twister destroyed Missouri town 3 months ago

  As for heatwaves and wild fires:

• 2011/08/17: TreeHugger: No End In Sight For Texas Drought, Says National Weather Service
• 2011/08/17: Wunderground: Texas heat wave smashes more records; 93L more organized
• 2011/08/16: PlanetArk: Fire Threatens Dismal Swamp Atlantic White Cedar Ecosystem

  Corals are a bellwether of the ocean's health:

• 2011/08/20: ProMedMail: White pox coral disease - USA: (FL)
• 2011/08/17: SciNow: Human Excrement to Blame for Coral Decline
• 2011/08/16: Uni-Muenchen: How soft corals defy their environment -- Protein favors calcite formation in aragonite sea

  As for hydrological cycle disruptions [floods & droughts]:

• 2011/08/19: CAbyss: Texas Drought: Where Is It "Worst"?
• 2011/08/19: UN: UN agency providing emergency food aid to Bangladeshi flood victims
• 2011/08/19: PlanetArk: Rain Helps Some Drought-Hit Areas [from Kansas to Mississippi], But Not Enough
• 2011/08/16: PlanetArk: More Rain, Flooding For Already Drenched East Coast
• 2011/08/15: al Jazeera: Record amounts of rain swamp New York -- Motorists stranded as flooding hits the city

  Elsewhere on the mitigation front:

• 2011/08/18: HotTopic: Biochar remains promising

  Consider transportation & GHG production:

• 2011/08/18: PeakEnergy: The smart future of public transport?

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

• 2011/08/19: TreeHugger: German Village Produces 321% More Energy Than It Uses
• 2011/08/18: CBC: Dartmouth home boasts highest EnerGuide rating
• 2011/08/17: TreeHugger: Ecohome Design Awards Test Meaning of Term "Sustainable"
• 2011/08/10: Cryptome: Energy Design Standards for New Federal Housing

  Meanwhile in the journals:

• 2011/08/15: NERC:NORA: Mean sea level and sea level extremes, MCCIP Annual Report Card 2010-11 by K. Horsburgh et al.
• 2011/08/19: NERC:NORA: Trends in biodiversity in Europe and the impact of land use change by A.D. Watt et al.
• 2011/08/19: NERC:NORA: Rapid range shifts of species associated with high levels of climate warming by I-Ching Chen et al.
• 2011/08/19: ACP: Horizontal variability of aerosol optical depth observed during the ARCTAS airborne experiment by Y. Shinozuka & J. Redemann
• 2011/08/19: ACP: Denitrification and polar stratospheric cloud formation during the Arctic winter 2009/2010 by F. Khosrawi et al.
• 2011/08/19: ACP: Minor effect of physical size sorting on iron solubility of transported mineral dust by Z. B. Shi et al.
• 2011/08/19: ACP: New particle formation infrequently observed in Himalayan foothills -- why? by K. Neitola et al.
• 2011/08/19: ACPD: Fossil versus contemporary sources of fine elemental and organic carbonaceous particulate matter during the DAURE campaign in Northeast Spain by M. C. Minguillón et al.
• 2011/08/19: ACPD: Discernible rhythm in the spatio/temporal distributions of transatlantic dust by Y. Ben-Ami et al.
• 2011/08/19: GMDD: Simulating the mid-Pliocene climate with the MIROC general circulation model: experimental design and initial results by W.-L. Chan et al.
• 2011/08/19: GMDD: Addressing the impact of environmental uncertainty in plankton model calibration with a dedicated software system: the Marine Model Optimization Testbed (MarMOT) by J. C. P. Hemmings & P. G. Challenor
• 2011/08/18: OSD: Mapping turbidity currents using seismic oceanography by E. A. Vsemirnova & R. W. Hobbs
• 2011/08/19: TC: Vertical profile of the specific surface area and density of the snow at Dome C and on a transect to Dumont D'Urville, Antarctica - albedo calculations and comparison to remote sensing products by J.-C. Gallet et al.
• 2011/08/17: TC: Variability of snow depth at the plot scale: implications for mean depth estimation and sampling strategies by J. I. López-Moreno et al.
• 2011/08/19: Science: (ab$) Rapid Range Shifts of Species Associated with High Levels of Climate Warming by I-Ching Chen et al.
• 2011/08/18: PLoS One: A Meta-Analysis of Global Urban Land Expansion by Karen C. Seto et al.
• 2011/08/16: CP: Cold tongue/Warm pool and ENSO dynamics in the Pliocene by A. S. von der Heydt et al.
• 2011/08/18: CPD: Ventilation changes in the western North Pacific since the last glacial period by Y. Okazaki et al.
• 2011/08/18: ACP: Dehydration of the stratosphere by M. R. Schoeberl & A. E. Dessler
• 2011/08/18: ACP: The fate of Saharan dust across the Atlantic and implications for a Central American dust barrier by E. Nowottnick et al.
• 2011/08/17: ACP: The variability of tropical ice cloud properties as a function of the large-scale context from ground-based radar-lidar observations over Darwin, Australia by A. Protat et al.
• 2011/08/15: ACP: Effect of the summer monsoon on aerosols at two measurement stations in Northern India - Part 2: Physical and optical properties by A.-P. Hyvärinen et al.
• 2011/08/15: ACP: Effect of the summer monsoon on aerosols at two measurement stations in Northern India - Part 1: PM and BC concentrations by A.-P. Hyvärinen et al.
• 2011/08/15: ACP: Recent progress in understanding physical and chemical properties of African and Asian mineral dust by P. Formenti et al.
• 2011/08/18: ACPD: The Wildland Fire Emission Inventory: emission estimates and an evaluation of uncertainty by S. P. Urbanski et al.
• 2011/08/18: ACPD: Impacts of aerosols on weather and regional climate over the Pearl River Delta megacity area in China by Y. Wang et al.
• 2011/08/17: ACPD: Statistical analysis of a LES shallow cumulus cloud ensemble using a cloud tracking algorithm by J. T. Dawe & P. H. Austin
• 2011/08/16: ACPD: Black carbon fractal morphology and short-wave radiative impact: a modelling study by M. Kahnert & A. Devasthale
• 2011/08/16: ACPD: Projecting future HFC-23 emissions by B. R. Miller & L. J. M. Kuijpers
• 2011/08/16: ACPD: The comparison of MODIS-Aqua (C5) and CALIOP (V2 & V3) aerosol optical depth by J. Redemann et al.
• 2011/08/15: ACPD: Ship-borne FTIR measurements of CO and O3 in the Western Pacific from 43° N to 35° S: an evaluation of the sources by T. Ridder et al.
• 2011/08/15: ACPD: Observed and model simulated 20th century Arctic temperature variability: Canadian Earth System Model CanESM2 by P. Chylek et al.
• 2011/08/18: Nature:SciRep: (ab$) Modelling predicts that heat stress, not drought, will increase vulnerability of wheat in Europe by Mikhail A. Semenov & Peter R. Shewry
• 2011/08/16: PNAS: (abs) Carbon debt of Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) grasslands converted to bioenergy production by Ilya Gelfand et al.
• 2011/08/16: PNAS: (ab$) Morphological and functional stasis in mycorrhizal root nodules as exhibited by a Triassic conifer by Andrew B. Schwendemann et al.
• 2011/08/16: PNAS: (abs) Estimating the timing of early eukaryotic diversification with multigene molecular clocks by Laura Wegener Parfrey et al.
• 2011/08/16: PNAS: (ab$) Role of egg predation by haddock in the decline of an Atlantic herring population by David E. Richardson et al.
• 2011/08/16: PNAS: (ab$) Global distribution and conservation of marine mammals by Sandra Pompa et al.
• 2011/08/16: PNAS: (ab$) Assessing the vulnerability of traditional maize seed systems in Mexico to climate change by Mauricio R. Bellon et al.
• 2011/08/16: PNAS: (ab$) Direct and indirect effects of biological factors on extinction risk in fossil bivalves by Paul G. Harnik
• 2011/08/16: PNAS: (ab$) Ice-shelf collapse from subsurface warming as a trigger for Heinrich events by Shaun A. Marcott et al.
• 2011/08/16: PNAS: (ab$) Microaerobic steroid biosynthesis and the molecular fossil record of Archean life by Jacob R. Waldbauer et al.
• 2011/08/16: PNAS: (abs) Marine microgels as a source of cloud condensation nuclei in the high Arctic by Mónica V. Orellana et al.
• 2011/08/16: PNAS: (abs) Satellite methods underestimate indirect climate forcing by aerosols by Joyce E. Penner et al.
• 2011/08/11: arXiv: The Food Crises and Political Instability in North Africa and the Middle East by Marco Lagi et al.
• 2011/08/12: Science: (ab$) A Simple Type of Wood in Two Early Devonian Plants by Philippe Gerrienne et al.
• 2011/08/16: GMDD: Simulating Southern Hemisphere extra-tropical climate variability with an idealized coupled atmosphere-ocean model by H. Kurzke et al.
• 2011/07/: PAQ: (ab$) Sulfate Aerosol Geoengineering: The Question of Justice by Toby Svoboda et al.
• 2011/07/25: ERL: Early onset of significant local warming in low latitude countries by I Mahlstein et al.
• 2011/08/15: AGWObserver: New research from last week 32/2011

  And other significant documents:

• 2011/08/16: WB: Food Price Watch (Full Report)

  As for miscellaneous science:

• 2011/08/18: KSJT: Nature: Founder of that mystery box of bright light, the arXiv preprint monster, looks ahead and back
• 2011/08/17: SEasterbrook: Guest Seminar on Dynamics of Global Change

  More DIY science:

• 2011/08/16: moyhu: A Javascript worldview for surface temp.

  What's new in models?

• 2011/08/19: ITracker: Skeptical Science on modelling
• 2011/08/16: ClimateSight: MPI Problem?

  The Pielke fan clubbe alas:

• 2011/08/20: TP:JR: Washington Post Labels Global Warming a 'Wedge Issue' -- But Doesn't Seem to Know What That Term Means [US pol]
• 2011/08/18: Stoat: Roger down the Curry hole?
• 2011/08/18: JEB: Probabilistic Forecasting - A Primer

  And senior:

• 2011/08/15: WottsUWT: Pielke Sr. on the quality of global surface stations

  Meanwhile on the Kyoto front:

• 2011/08/19: PlanetArk: Croatia Withdraws Kyoto CO2 Target Protest: Point Carbon

  And at the UN:

• 2011/08/19: UN: UN agency providing emergency food aid to Bangladeshi flood victims

  While on the carbon trading front:

• 2011/08/17: HotTopic: Charting unexplained territory in the NZ ETS Report
• 2011/08/16: PlanetArk: Six Stand Trial In Carbon Fraud Case In Germany

  The idea of a carbon tax is still bouncing around:

• 2011/08/15: EnvEcon: A job-killing carbon tax?

  The Robin Hood tax, aka the Tobin tax, aka the Bank tax, aka the Financial Transaction tax keeps coming up:

• 2011/08/19: EurActiv: FTT should be used to create jobs, says top trade unionist
  A financial transaction tax is needed to repair the damage of the financial crisis, which has cost millions in jobs, and the money should be used to invest in low-carbon growth and employment, said Bernadette Ségol, the newly-appointed secretary-general of the European Trade Union Confederation, in an interview with EurActiv.
• 2011/08/18: EurActiv: Banks, markets oppose financial transaction tax
  Banks operating in the European Union have dismissed Franco-German proposals for a tax on financial transactions, saying it would not stabilise markets and could serve to distort them.
• 2011/08/17: Reuters:GDB: Merkel and Sarkozy are right about a Tobin tax
• 2011/08/16: BBerg: U.S. Stocks Fall as Germany, France Propose Transaction Tax
• 2011/08/16: BizInsider: Nicolas Sarkozy Just Announced Plans For A New Tax On Financial Transactions
• 2011/08/17: al Jazeera: Banks snub proposed eurozone tax
  European banks say Franco-German proposal to tax financial transations won't stabilise the markets.

On the international political front, the tussle for rare earth minerals continues:

• 2011/08/19: al Jazeera: China rules the rare earth
  The global race to grab a share of rare earth metals in Central Asia has begun.
• 2011/08/15: PlanetArk: Analysis: Japanese Rare Earth Consumers Set Up Shop In China

  What are the activists up to? See also :

• 2011/08/19: Tyee: Climate Justice Movement Keys off Civil Rights Crusade -- Strategy: take more risks, create new heroes, defy the law. And, tomorrow, converge on

  Polls! We have polls!

• 2011/08/21: ASI: Poll Results 2
• 2011/08/18: DeSmogBlog: Mountaintop Removal Mining Poll Shows Bipartisan Opposition in Appalachia
• 2011/08/17: TStar: Fewer Canadians worried about environment
• 2011/08/16: Grist: Mountaintop-removal mining is unpopular even in coal country, poll finds

  Regarding Water Politics and Business:

• 2011/08/20: JFleck: Stuff I wrote elsewhere: water policy and the endangered species act
• 2011/08/17: Stanford:RWI: Bonus Water on the Colorado River

  As for SW tools:

• 2011/08/19: Grist: Cool new game is like SimCity for the whole environment

  Who's making predictions this week?

• 2011/08/20: Tamino: Temperature Prediction: the next few months

  And on the American political front:

• 2011/08/19: CSM: US judges rule for teacher who called creationism 'superstitious nonsense'
  A public high school teacher in California may not be sued for making hostile remarks about religion in his classroom, a federal appeals court ruled on Friday. The decision stems from a lawsuit filed by a student charging that the teacher's hostile remarks about creationism and religious faith violated a First Amendment mandate that the government remain neutral in matters of religion. A three-judge panel of the Ninth US Circuit Court of Appeals ruled unanimously that the lawsuit against an advanced placement history teacher at Capistrano Valley High School in Mission Viejo must be thrown out of court because the teacher was entitled to immunity.
• 2011/08/18: Grist: Ethanol is now a matter of national security
• 2011/08/18: ACLU: ACLU and Arizona Coalition Against Domestic Violence Challenge Law that Withholds Critical Resources for Women's Health
  Extreme Law Withholds Resources from Organizations that Provide Abortion Referrals or Counseling
• 2011/08/17: EnergyBulletin: Review of Index of U.S. Energy Security Risk (U.S. Chamber of Commerce, 2011)
• 2011/08/16: TP:JR: Energy Security, the Home Front: In New Biofuels Initiative, Navy Teams With Departments of Energy and Agriculture [admin]
• 2011/08/17: TP:JR: Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett has "Gutted" Renewable Energy Programs in Favor of Natural Gas
• 2011/08/17: DM:CCM: New Data: Tea Party is Authoritarian, Not Libertarian
• 2011/08/17: TreeHugger: Maine Legislates 30% Reduction in Oil Use by 2030
• 2011/08/17: CNN: For the military clean energy saves lives
• 2011/08/16: TP:JR: Anti-Efficiency Scare Tactic: CEI Claims Fuel Economy Standards 'Kill People', Compares Them to Impact of MidEast War
• 2011/08/15: NYT: The Clear Case for the Gas Tax
  Unless Congress extends it, the 18.4 cents-a-gallon federal gas tax will expire on Sept. 30. Allowing that to happen would be tremendously destructive. It would bankrupt the already stressed Highway Trust Fund, with devastating effects on the country's highways, bridges, mass transit systems and the economy as a whole. Reports suggest that some House Republicans may push to let the tax lapse or use the threat of expiration as leverage in the budget wars. This is a dangerous idea. If anything, the tax should rise to maintain a system that constantly needs upkeep -- the backlog of bridges needing repair is estimated at $72 billion -- creates jobs and encourages drivers to buy more fuel-efficient cars.
• 2011/08/15: TP:JR: Politifact: It is not "fair to say the science [behind climate change] is in dispute."
• 2011/08/12: RawStory: Texas raids fund for poor to keep taxes low

  The BP disaster continues to twist US politics:

• 2011/08/18: WashingtonsBlog: BP's Gulf Oil Well May Be Leaking Again: "The Oil May Be Coming From Cracks And Fissures In The Seafloor Caused By The Work BP Did During Its Failed Attempts To Cap The Runaway Macondo Well --- And That Type Of Leakage Can't Be Stopped, Ever"
• 2011/08/18: AutoBG: Report: New worries emerge that BP is leaking oil into the Gulf again
• 2011/08/18: CBS: BP probes Gulf sheen, denies being source
• 2011/08/18: CDreams: BP Investigates New Oil Sheen in Gulf of Mexico
• 2011/08/18: TreeHugger: New BP Spill Feared in the Gulf of Mexico
• 2011/08/15: CCP: Cherri Foytlin: "Why I Was Willing to be Arrested on the Gulf Coast"...

  2012 approacheth:

• 2011/08/16: Salon:GG: The misery of the protracted presidential campaign season
• 2011/08/14: DU: Welcome to Election Hell
  Welcome to Election Hell. Take off your coat. Make yourself comfortable. And abandon all hope. Forget all the elections you have seen before. The rules are different now.
• 2011/08/20: ERabett: (cartoon - Toles) The Wisdom of Ms. Rabett
• 2011/08/20: DM:JW: Huntsman Takes His Pro-Science Message On the Air
• 2011/08/19: TWTB: Credit Where Credit Is Due: John Huntsman Edition
• 2011/08/18: GreenGrok: On Global Warming, Texas Governor Perry and Glass Houses
• 2011/08/18: TP:JR: Perry's Climate Lies Win 4 Pinocchios as Huntsman Aide Says GOP Can't Win "If We Become the Anti-Science Party."
• 2011/08/19: TP:JR: Global Warming is a Litmus Test For US Republicans
• 2011/08/18: Grist: Finally, PolitiFact calls out GOP candidate on climate
• 2011/08/19: SciAm:Obs: GOP Candidate Jon Huntsman Makes Waves with Tweet on Evolution and Climate Change
• 2011/08/18: DM:JW: Huntsman's Campaign Calls Out Perry on Science Denial
• 2011/08/19: TreeHugger: Bipartisan Fact Checkers Take GOP Climate Hoax Statements to Task
• 2011/08/18: Guardian(UK): Rick Perry accuses scientists of 'manipulating' climate data
• 2011/08/18: Grist: Bachmann promises $2 gas, unicorns
• 2011/08/17: DM:CCM: Rick Perry's Texas-Sized Climate Denial
• 2011/08/18: DM:CCM: Washington Post Dings Rick Perry's Climate Denial
• 2011/08/16: RS: Rick Perry vs. Ben Bernanke: Round One
• 2011/08/17: TP:JR: Denier Rick Perry Takes $11 Million from Big Oil, Then Claims Climate Scientists 'Manipulated Data' For Money
• 2011/08/17: Guardian(UK): Michele Bachmann wishes Elvis happy birthday on anniversary of his death
• 2011/08/17: Grist: Rick Perry on climate change and Texas agriculture: 'We'll be fine'
• 2011/08/17: TreeHugger: Rick Perry: Global Warming is a Hoax Concoted by Data-Manipulating Scientists
• 2011/08/16: CCP: Texas Climate Scientist Katharine Hayhoe Responds To Rick Perry
• 2011/08/16: TP:JR: Bush Lite: Rick Perry Threatens Fed Chief, Questions Obama's Patriotism, Calls for Deadly "Moratorium On All Regulations"
• 2011/08/15: Grist: Rick Perry thinks Texas climate scientists are in a 'secular carbon cult'
• 2011/08/16: ERabett: Republican climate cladistics
• 2011/08/16: TreeHugger: Rick Perry Calls for a Moratorium on "All Regulations"
• 2011/08/15: TP:MY: The Ten Weirdest Ideas In Rick Perry's 'Fed Up'
• 2011/08/14: InformedComment: Rick Perry and the Hucksterism of the Rich
  Rick Perry's announcement of his presidential ambitions marks the triumph of fantasy over reality in American politics. Among our more pressing problems are global climate change caused by human production of greenhouse gases; religious fanaticism and interference in governance; and the structural deficit faced by the US government It used to be that political divisions were about the different methods proposed to deal with social problems by persons with different political philosophies. Nowadays, politics is about which fantasy-land the politicians and their admirers reside in.
• 2011/08/14: Guardian(UK): Tim Pawlenty quits race for Republican presidential nomination

  Regarding the persecution of Dr. Michael Mann:

• 2011/08/21: CChallenge: Open letter to President Sullivan of the University of Virginia, regarding the Political Witch Hunt of Dr. Michael Mann
• 2011/08/15: CChallenge: Reporting from the War On Science frontlines: Ask U.VA to Protect Its Scientists from the Political Witch Hunt

  The actions of the Obama administration are being watched closely:

• 2011/08/19: ScienceInsider: EPA Science Advisory Board Urges Action on Nitrogen Pollution
• 2011/08/19: AutoBG: DOE awards UC Riverside $1.2 million for eco-driving research project
• 2011/08/18: Grist: Obama administration moves against Alaska oil drilling
  [...]
  On Monday, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) took the first step in granting increased federal protection to a relatively small, oil-rich region within ANWR known as the "1002 area" by nominating it for wilderness designation in a lengthy report [PDF] on conservation plans for ANWR. Only Congress can declare wilderness areas, and the "preliminary recommendation" made in the report is only the beginning of a long (and possibly dead-end) road to approval. But it is the first time such a recommendation has been made since the area was set aside for study in a 1980 federal law (from which the area takes its name). Environmental activists and the FWS agree that it marks a major turning point in an ongoing struggle in Alaska between conservationists and oil and gas developers.
• 2011/08/18: Grist: Infographic: What it would take to meet Obama's 2035 clean energy goals?
• 2011/08/17: PlanetArk: The Obama administration on Tuesday announced a $510 million initiative to boost the production of next-generation biofuels
• 2011/08/17: NOAANews: NOAA's National Weather Service taking action to build a 'Weather-ready' nation -- 2011 ties record for billion-dollar disasters
• 2011/08/16: NatureN: Agencies unveil plans to safeguard science -- White House is reviewing 19 'scientific integrity' policies submitted by US agencies
• 2011/08/10: Cryptome: Energy Design Standards for New Federal Housing
• 2011/08/15: CCP: NASA refuses to adopt Scientific Integrity Policy -- Defiance May Signal White House Signature Initiative Is Foundering
• 2011/08/14: AutoBG: DOE awards $175 million for development of advanced vehicle technologies
• 2011/08/15: AutoBG: USDA, DOE award $12.2 million to 10 bioenergy crop projects
• 2011/08/05: EBR:E&D: Shell receives conditional approval for US Arctic exploration plan

  As for what is going on in Congress:

• 2011/08/19: EconView: Republican Attacks on the EPA
  The reasons behind the recent Republican attacks on the EPA are coming into focus
• 2011/08/18: OilChange: Fred Upton: Big Oil's Superman in SuperCongress

  While in the UK:

• 2011/08/19: AutoBG: Study: If Black Cabs were electric, then London's pollution would drop by 20%
• 2011/08/18: Guardian(UK): Raise VAT on energy to improve efficiency, ministers told [by OECD]
• 2011/08/15: ScienceInsider: U.K. Slashes Science and Engineering Ph.D.s

  And in Europe:

• 2011/08/18: PressEurop: 'Clean' energy, scourge of our countryside
  Crisis-hit Italian farmers are turning to the intensive cultivation of maize for biogas production, which is more profitable than growing it for food. But they're laying themselves open to the mercies of speculators -- and they're threatening biodiversity too, declares the founder of the Slow Food movement.

Meanwhile in Australia:

• 2011/08/17: ABC(Au):TDU: Not a lot of love out on the lawn
• 2011/08/20: CCurrents: Orwellian Australian Labor Government Climate Change Lies [Polya]
• 2011/08/18: ABC(Au): Government pushes ahead with power station cuts
  The Federal Government hopes to have contracts locked in by the end of June next year to cut 2,000 megawatts of power from the dirtiest generators. The Government foreshadowed the plan to close some of the most emissions-intensive power stations when it announced the details of its carbon scheme in July. It has now confirmed it is targeting either the Hazelwood, Yallourn or Energy Brix power stations in Victoria or the Playford power station in South Australia. It hopes to have struck a deal with them by the end of June 2012, but says it is likely they would not actually close for another six years.
• 2011/08/18: PeakEnergy: Greens dig a hole for Tony Abbott on farmers' rights
• 2011/08/18: PeakEnergy: Australian Parliamentary Library - The development of Australia's coal seam gas resources
• 2011/08/17: ABC(Au): Bunbury forum focuses on climate change
  About 300 people gathered in Bunbury last night for a public forum on climate change. The Climate Commission released a report yesterday which warned that Western Australia faces a bleak future if nothing is done to combat climate change. The report found rainfall across the south-west of the state has dropped by about 15 per cent over the past 40 years, seriously reducing run-off into the state's dams. It also revealed sea levels on the west coast are rising at twice the global average and the temperature of the water is increasing.
• 2011/08/16: ABC(Au): Climate change hitting WA's South West hardest
• 2011/08/16: ABC(Au): Eden pellet plant faces court stoush
  A group of anti-logging activists on the New South Wales far south coast is taking its campaign against a wood pellet plant to the courts.
• 2011/08/16: PlanetArk: Australian Farmers Want Land Protected From Miners
  Australian farmers demanded greater protection against coal seam gas miners eyeing their land for exploration as a political fight surrounding the $70 billion gas industry on Monday threatened to splinter the surging conservative opposition. After months of tensions between farmers and miners over rapid expansion of the potentially lucrative industry across prime agricultural land, the influential Greens party called for new laws to give farmers stronger rights to keep coal seam exploration rigs off their land.
• 2011/08/15: ABC(Au): Liberal MP ridicules party's royal commission idea
  A West Australian federal Liberal MP has ridiculed his party's call for a royal commission into the science of climate change. At yesterday's WA Liberal Party state conference, delegates voted overwhelmingly in favour of a royal commission. Dr Mal Washer has described the move as stupid and senseless.
• 2011/08/15: ABC(Au): Power consumption makes historic drop

  The Australian carbon war rages on:

• 2011/08/19: ABC(Au): Premier reiterates opposition to carbon tax
  Victorian Premier Ted Baillieu says he expects the carbon tax to dominate discussions at today's Council of Australian Governments (COAG) meeting.
• 2011/08/16: Guardian(UK): Anti-carbon tax rally hits Australian parliament
• 2011/08/16: ABC(Au): Abbott cheered on at anti-carbon tax rally
• 2011/08/16: BBC: Australia carbon tax protest targets Julia Gillard
• 2011/08/15: JQuiggin: My evidence on the carbon price

  And in New Zealand:

• 2011/08/17: HotTopic: Charting unexplained territory in the NZ ETS Report

  While in the Indian subcontinent:

• 2011/08/17: al Jazeera: Rallies grow across India for jailed activist [Anna Hazare]
  Protestors come out in force to support jailed anti-corruption campaigner who has cornered the government.
• 2011/08/17: BBC: Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has told parliament that the hunger strike by anti-corruption activist Anna Hazare is "totally misconceived"
• 2011/08/16: BBC: India anti-corruption activist Anna Hazare detained
• 2011/08/16: al Jazeera: Indian activist detained ahead of mass fast
  Police arrest Anna Hazare and detains 1400 of his supporters ahead of a mass fast to protest corruption.

And in China:

• 2011/08/18: PlanetArk: China Pushes ConocoPhillips To Contain Oil Spill By End Of August
  China's marine authorities expressed growing frustration at the failure of a unit of ConocoPhillips to contain a two-month oil spill that has spread across the northeast coast and again urged it to halt the leak by the end of August. Officials of the State Oceanic Administration (SOA) met ConocoPhillips officials again on Tuesday and urged the company to seal off oil leaks in northern China's Bohai Bay and clean up polluted areas before an August 31 deadline, the agency said on its website (www.soa.gov.cn).

And elsewhere in Asia:

• 2011/08/18: PlanetArk: How Indonesia Hurt Its Climate Change Project
  In July 2010, U.S. investor Todd Lemons and Russian energy giant Gazprom believed they were just weeks from winning final approval for a landmark forest preservation project in Indonesia. A year later, the project is close to collapse, a casualty of labyrinthine Indonesian bureaucracy, opaque laws and a secretive palm oil company.

In the Middle East:

• 2011/08/18: TEC: Saudi Arabia's Nuclear Energy Ambitions

  And South America:

• 2011/08/16: al Jazeera: Bolivian tribes in long march against road
  President Evo Morales says the protest was part of a coordinated effort to undermine him politically.
Bolivian indigenous activists have started a long march from the Amazon plains to the capital in protest against a government plan to build a 300 km highway through the forest.

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

• 2011/08/19: PI: Pembina reacts to new federal regulations for coal-fired electricity
• 2011/08/19: CBC: Ottawa set to reveal new coal-plant regulations -- Consultations set to begin on tougher greenhouse gas limits - for new plants only
• 2011/08/19: CBC: Feds step up for Lower Churchill megaproject
  The federal government said Friday it will help defray the costs of the controversial Lower Churchill hydroelectric project in Labrador through a loan guarantee. "It will grow our economy and our status as an energy superpower," Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver said during an announcement in St. John's. Plans to tap hydroelectric power on the Churchill River "represent an unprecedented opportunity for Newfoundland and Labrador -- indeed the entire Atlantic region -- to produce clean energy," Oliver said. The loan guarantee will mean that Newfoundland and Labrador and its partners will be able to finance the $6.2-billion project at a lower cost. Officials saidthe memorandum of agreement now needs to be turned into a formal agreement. The memorandum of agreement follows through on a campaign pledge that Prime Minister Stephen Harper made in March. Newfoundland and Labrador aims to generate 824 megawatts of power at Muskrat Falls on Labrador's Churchill River and export it to Newfoundland while moving as much as 40 per cent to Nova Scotia and other markets.
• 2011/08/17: CBC: Federal AG to audit 2 Atlantic petroleum boards -- Federal government requested performance audits in July
  The federal government has requested an audit of the two boards that regulate the offshore oil and gas industries in Newfoundland and Labrador and Nova Scotia. On July 29, the federal government asked the federal auditor general to conduct performance audits of the Canada-Newfoundland Offshore Petroleum Board and the Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board. The auditor general is expected to report his findings to the House of Commons.
• 2011/08/17: DeSmogBlog: Canada Right On Target, To Miss 2020 Emissions Targets
• 2011/08/16: CBC: Gulf [of St. Lawrence] oil review requested by Ottawa -- Environment Minister wants updated strategic assessment
  The federal Minister of Environment is asking for a more extensive environment review before Corridor Resources is allowed to explore for oil in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board has said Corridor's plans to drill an exploratory well to search for oil and gas in the offshore area between Quebec and Newfoundland, known as the Old Harry reserve, are unlikely to cause significant adverse environmental effects. Both provinces lay claim to the the basin, which some experts estimate could have as much as two billion barrels of recoverable oil. In a letter released Monday, Peter Kent said he would like to see an updated strategic environmental assessment done before Corridor is allowed to drill an exploratory well.

The G8/G20 controversy lingers, now with a whiff of scandal:

• 2011/08/19: PostMedia: Mayors at meeting on G8 spending donated to Clement campaign
  At least two mayors who donated money to Conservative minister Tony Clement sat in on closed-door meetings with the MP to discuss handing out $50 million for building projects in the riding. And they did so soon before the 2008 election, which Clement went on to win.
• 2011/08/19: CBC: Clement discussed G8 funds during 2008 election
  Meetings with municipal leaders to identify legacy projects carried on during campaign
• 2011/08/18: WpgFP: G8 legacy fund used to buy Clement's re-election, NDP charges
• 2011/08/18: HillTimes: Clement's constituency office a 'mail box' for G8 funding applications, says aide
  Two local mayors who took part in closed-door planning for the projects donated to Mr. Clement's 2008 election campaign and his riding association. '[Clement] won by 20-some votes in a riding that easily could have switched back to the Liberals,' NDP MP Charlie Angus says. 'The feather in his cap was the G8.'
• 2011/08/17: MediaCoop: Accused G20 "Maiden of Mayhem" wins bail challenge
• 2011/08/16: HillTimes: Members of project selection committee Clement chaired received 83 per cent of $50-million G8 fund
• 2011/08/15: TStar: Auditor General will not reopen G8 spending case
• 2011/08/15: G&M: Tony Clement kept auditor in dark on G8 spending, municipal files suggest
  Tony Clement urged mayors in his riding to send G8 Legacy Fund requests directly to his constituency office, and also involved public servants in meetings to decide how to spend the $50-million, new documents show. The information in the documents contradicts the findings of Auditor General Sheila Fraser, who concluded in a report released in June that federal public servants weren't involved in the process.
• 2011/08/15: BuckDog: How Top Conservative Cabinet Minister Tony Clement Created A $50 Million Slush Fund And Spent It In His Riding Under Guise Of G8 Conference
• 2011/08/15: CBC: NDP targets Clement over G8 legacy funding
  The NDP is held a news conference Monday to refresh the party's allegations that the Conservative government mismanaged the controversial G8 legacy infrastructure fund. The party's ethics critic, Charlie Angus, says the party received documents that contain new revelations related to Treasury Board President Tony Clement's involvement with the fund and a "possible coverup."
• 2011/08/15: TStar: Clement steered G8 funding in riding, documents show
  Tony Clement personally presided over the $50 million G8 legacy payouts, funneling requests for taxpayer-funded projects in his riding directly through his political office in Huntsville, new documents show. NDP MP Charlie Angus says the use of Clement's local office was done deliberately to skirt scrutiny and keep watchdogs like the auditor general in the dark.

This ruling is liable to have major ramifications across the country:

• 2011/08/17: CBC: First Nation wins legal battle over clear-cutting -- Grassy Narrows leaders happy with Ontario Superior Court decision
  Leaders of the Grassy Narrows First Nation in northwestern Ontario are declaring a major legal victory in their decade-long fight over clear-cutting in their traditional territory. Ontario's Superior Court ruled Wednesday that the province cannot authorize timber and logging if the operations infringe on federal treaty promises protecting aboriginal rights to traditional hunting and trapping.

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

• 2011/08/16: Tyee: Overheard: Asia's View of Alberta, Tar Sands and Pipelines
  If this insider is right, Gateway is purely a ploy and Canadians are rubes.
  [...]
  The insights begin when I wander over to the consultant, sipping my Java and trying my best to appear nonchalant. I ask: "Why shouldn't the Canadians ship bitumen to Asia? Isn't it a good idea to develop alternative markets?"
  "Not in this case," he replies. "The Gulf of Mexico coast is the only place in the world with any significant capacity for handling bitumen. That's because it has refineries equipped to handle heavy oil from Venezuela. If the Asians buy any bitumen from Canada, they'll insist on a very steep discount, because they'll have to ship it to the Gulf of Mexico, too."
• 2011/08/16: CoC: TransCanada admits Keystone Pipeline could be used for bulk water removals
• 2011/08/16: TheCanadian: Rumours of Pipeline's Demise Grow as Speculation Surrounds Enbridge

  The CFIA is testing B.C. salmon for Fukushima radiation:

• 2011/08/20: PostMedia: CFIA to test B.C. salmon for radiation -- 'A wise precaution'
• 2011/08/19: CBC: West Coast fish to be tested for Fukushima radiation
  The Canadian Food Inspection Agency plans to start testing fish off the coast of British Columbia for the presence of radiation stemming from the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan earlier this year.

And the Yukon is testing caribou [for Fukushima radiation]:

• 2011/08/19: CBC: Yukon to test for radiation in caribou herd
  Researchers plan to test for radiation in Yukon's local food supply some six months after a Japanese nuclear disaster. The Northern Contaminants Program will test caribou for radiation as part of its ongoing effort to monitor the Porcupine Caribou Herd. The move comes after a nuclear power plant in Japan was severely damaged in March following an earthquake and tsunami, which spewed radiation into the air and water for weeks after the accident.

The CWB saga plays on:

• 2011/08/: NFU: Save the CWB
  The federal government has announced that it plans to end the Canadian Wheat Board's single desk authority effective August 1, 2012, by amending the legislation to remove the requirement for a farmer vote before making any changes to the CWB's single desk, and then eliminating the single desk regardless of farmers' wishes.

The Cohen Commission is about to get more publicity:

• 2011/08/20: Tyee: Salmon inquiry to wade into contentious issues of fish farms and disease
  After months of hearings in relative obscurity, the public inquiry into the decline of sockeye along British Columbia's fabled Fraser River is finally bound to grab some headlines. Starting Monday, the inquiry will begin hearings into some of its mandate's most sensitive topics: the salmon-farming industry and the science of fish-borne diseases.
• 2011/08/20: PostMedia: Muzzled B.C. biologist may lose lab funding
  A fisheries biologist has not only been muzzled by the federal government, but her lab could be in trouble as well, Postmedia News has learned. Kristi Miller, a geneticist who was silenced by the federal government's Privy Council Office in January, will finally be permitted to speak this week at the inquiry looking into the decline of B.C.'s famed Fraser River salmon. She is due to testify at the Cohen Commission on Wednesday about her team's ominous discovery that viral pathogens may be weakening the fish. Federal documents indicate she might also have plenty to say about the health of her lab at the Pacific Biological Station in Nanaimo on Vancouver Island.

Regarding megaloads:

• 2011/08/18: OPB: Third Oil Company [Calgary-based Harvest Operations Corp.] Considers Megaloads Despite Delays

  With all the killings and sanctions, doing business in Syria is becoming trickier for Suncor:

• 2011/08/19: CBC: Suncor not sending money to Syria

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

• 2011/08/16: Tyee: What the BC Hydro Report Hides -- Premier's team deftly obscures the real fix, and what drove up costs: BC Lib decisions.
• 2011/08/15: Tyee: How to Create Green Jobs in BC's Forests -- Sure, China's a hot market for our raw logs. But the world wants wood products we could make

  Meanwhile in that Mechanical Mordor known as the tar sands:

• 2011/08/20: HotTopic: Why Tar Sands Must Stay in the Ground
• 2011/08/20: CCurrents: Prevent A Tar Sands Disaster
• 2011/08/19: CBC: Cancer rates downstream from oilsands to be probed
  A long-awaited Alberta Health study into the health of people living downstream from the oilsands, where cancer rates are higher than normal, appears to be finally going ahead. Concerns were first raised in 2006 about elevated cancer rates in Fort Chipewyan, about 220 kilometres north of Fort McMurray. A provincial government study released in 2009 confirmed the trend and recommended more analysis into possible causes. "For various reasons, and none of them really sort of satisfactory, nothing has happened -- this is over 2½ years later," said John O'Connor, the family doctor who drew widespread attention five years ago for alleging Fort Chipewyan had a high rate of a rare bile-duct cancer. "But in the interim, we've had a lot of scientific studies that have revealed the lack of monitoring and the lack of due diligence on the part of governments, both federal and provincial, in looking after the environment," O'Connor said Thursday.
• 2011/08/18: CBC: Statoil will admit to oilsands infractions
  An Edmonton court has been told that Norwegian energy giant Statoil will admit to at least some environmental infractions in relation to its oilsands operations in northern Alberta. "There will be a guilty plea," Crown prosecutor Susan McRory told a judge Wednesday. "We're looking at creative sentencing options," she said. "That's a labour-intensive process." The company was charged in February under provincial laws with 16 counts of improperly diverting water for use at its in-situ site near Conklin, Alta. The company also faces three counts of providing false or misleading statements about the alleged activity in 2008 and 2009.
• 2011/08/16: WCEL: Meeting the tar sands face-to-face
• 2011/08/15: PostMedia: Don't rush the ethics of the oilsands
• 2011/08/14: Guardian(UK): Canada's PR work for tar sands: dirty, crude and oily

  Also in Alberta:

• 2011/08/19: Tyee: Documents Reveal Industry and Gov't Collude on Shale Gas -- Alberta New Dems release secret agreements about handling public opinion
• 2011/08/19: PostMedia: Alberta fears 'misinformation' by greens on fracking: report -- NDP calling for safety investigation
  Leaked Alberta cabinet documents suggest the province is worried environmental groups will undermine public support for shale gas development by spreading "misinformation" about health and environmental effects of chemical fracking. The records show the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers has offered to work with the government to "enhance" public relations efforts. CAPP, a powerful industry lobby group, is the only non-governmental organization that will be consulted during inter-governmental talks.
• 2011/08/16: CBC: Alberta pipeline granted conditional approval to reopen
  Alberta's Energy Resources Conservation Board has given Plains Midstream Canada conditional approval to reopen a pipeline that leaked 4.5 million litres of crude oil into the northern Alberta forest just three months ago. The company says the problem that caused the spill from the Rainbow pipeline on April 28 has been fixed but the cleanup is continuing. Plains also says it intends to restore the damaged area about 100 kilometres northeast of Peace River.
• 2011/08/15: CBC: Prentice failed to sell cap-and-trade scheme to Alberta [in 2009]

  In Ontario, upcoming election issues are appearing:

• 2011/08/20: G&M: Ontario government gives stranded solar projects a lifeline
  The Ontario government is fixing a glitch in its fledgling bid to become a green-energy powerhouse, offering a lifeline to people worried about losing their solar-panel investments because they can't get a connection to the power grid. After months of talks with Ontario Power Authority and Hydro One, Energy Minister Brad Duguid on Friday directed the government's power agency to offer a resolution to about 1,500 micro-solar projects that were conditionally approved in locations where the electric system's capacity is constrained. Owners of these projects, which in some cases cost $100,000, will now be able to move them to a spot where it's possible to feed green power into the grid and generate revenue. They will be responsible for covering any extra fees. The relocation option comes less than three weeks before the start of the Ontario election campaign, expected to be a close battle between the governing Liberals and Conservatives.
• 2011/08/17: Impolitical: Pennsylvania a lesson for Ontario on renewable energy
• 2011/08/17: Enviralment: Electric Vehicles Take Ontario by Storm
• 2011/08/16: PostMedia: Wind turbines too noisy: Top official -- Environment Ministry memo recommends reduction
  Ontario regulations permit wind turbines to produce too much noise, says an internal memo written by a provincial Ministry of the Environment official who recommended a sharp reduction in allowable levels. The April 2010 memo, written by Cameron Hall, a senior environmental officer in the ministry's Guelph district office, was obtained through Freedom of Information and released Monday by Wind Concerns Ontario, a coalition of 58 grassroots antiwind groups in Ontario. The memo concludes that the current noise limit of 40 decibels should be reduced to 30 to 32 decibels.

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

• 2011/08/15: TheEcologist: What looting has to do with trashing the planet
• 2011/08/17: OilDrum: Oil Limits, Recession, and Bumping Against the Growth Ceiling
• 2011/08/15: EnergyBulletin: Commons manifesto
• 2011/08/15: Guardian(UK): Sustainability should be the true measure of US creditworthiness
  Had Standard & Poor's factored in overconsumption of natural resources, the US would have faced a downgrade years ago

And in the Transition movement:

• 2011/08/12: EnergyBulletin: Transition Fujino -- Prospects for a better future

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

• 2011/08/18: ACLU: ACLU and Arizona Coalition Against Domestic Violence Challenge Law that Withholds Critical Resources for Women's Health
  Extreme Law Withholds Resources from Organizations that Provide Abortion Referrals or Counseling
• 2011/08/16: ACLU: ACLU Challenges Kansas Ban on Insurance Coverage for Abortions -- Law Takes Away Existing Coverage for Women

  Apocalypso anyone?

• 2011/08/20: CCurrents: Three Paths To Near-Term Human Extinction
• 2011/08/19: EnergyBulletin: Five bummer problems that make societies collapse
• 2011/08/18: EnergyBulletin: The world consequences of U.S. decline

  As for how the media handles science:

• 2011/08/17: ScienceP: As SpongeBob Makes Waves, a Missed Opportunity for Education
• 2011/08/18: TP:JR: Joe Bastardi is 'Completely Wrong' and 'Does Not Understand the Very Basics of the Science', Climatologists Explain
• 2011/08/18: CChallenge: Joe Bastardi ~ Meteorological Malpractice examined
• 2011/08/15: DM:BA: Big Picture Science: climate change denial on Fox News
• 2011/08/: FAIR: The Fires This Time -- In coverage of extreme weather, media downplay climate change
• 2011/08/15: TP:JR: Politifact: It is not "fair to say the science [behind climate change] is in dispute."
• 2011/08/15: TreeHugger: Mainstream Media Mostly Miss Climate Connection in Their Extreme Weather Reporting

  While activists search for effective communication techniques:

• 2011/08/18: Grist: The first rule of talking about extreme weather

  Here is something for your library:

• 2011/06/17: SevenStories: R.A.G.E. reviews Deep Green Resistance: the book

  And for your film & video enjoyment:

• 2011/08/20: BPA: Eastern Words of Wisdom About Today's Global Problems
• 2011/08/19: TreeHugger: Why Are Republican Leaders Turning Against the Environment? (Video)
• 2011/08/19: HotTopic: The Climate Show #18: The Big Chill & The Big Fracking Issue
• 2011/08/17: TreeHugger: GOP Spinmaster Teaches Stephen Colbert How to Sugarcoat Oil Drilling & Global Warming (Video)
• 2011/08/15: SciAm:Obs: Review: New Documentary [The Big Uneasy] Explains Engineering Failures That Drowned New Orleans during Katrina

  As for podcasts:

• 2011/08/18: TreeHugger: Bill McKibben Versus The Terrifying Tar Sands (Podcast)

  Meanwhile among the 'Sue the Bastards!' contingent:

• 2011/08/18: CBC: Statoil will admit to oilsands infractions
• 2011/08/16: SlashDot: Floating Nuclear Power Plant Seized By Court
• 2011/08/16: ABC(Au): Eden pellet plant faces court stoush
  A group of anti-logging activists on the New South Wales far south coast is taking its campaign against a wood pellet plant to the courts.
• 2011/08/16: PlanetArk: Six Stand Trial In Carbon Fraud Case In Germany
• 2011/08/15: DeSmogBlog: Delaware River Basin Commission and Army Corps Sued Over Fracking Regulations

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

• 2011/08/20: AutoBG: Report: Electricity consumption up 12.2 % in China in 2011
• 2011/08/20: AI: The world by its resources
• 2011/08/19: CleanBreak: HSBC: Embrace renewables and efficiency before "commodity crunch really begins to bite"
• 2011/08/18: Grist: Infographic: What it would take to meet Obama's 2035 clean energy goals?
• 2011/08/18: AutoBG: Opinion: Why no country should promote a specific type of alternative fuel
• 2011/08/17: BNC: TCASE 14: Assessment of electricity generation costs
• 2011/08/15: EnergyBulletin: Renewable energy zealots must understand 'Net Energy'
• 2011/08/16: PeakEnergy: Time to refine energy security
• 2011/08/15: EnergyBulletin: Personal energy cubes
• 2011/08/15: ABC(Au): Power consumption makes historic drop
  One of Australia's largest electricity distributors says it is experiencing a "historic" cut in households' demand for power. Ausgrid, which provides power to much of New South Wales, has announced demand for its electricity by regular households has fallen 2 per cent each year for the past four years. It is the first time the company has seen a fall in demand since the 1950s.
• 2011/08/15: PeakEnergy: Scotland Plugs Tidal Power into Electricity Grid
• 2011/08/15: PeakEnergy: [Australian] Power consumption makes historic drop

  This is a significant price point:

• 2011/08/17: Grist: Solar could be as cheap as coal by end of decade
• 2011/08/17: TreeHugger: Solar Could be as Cheap as Coal by 2015, Chinese Report Says

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

• 2011/08/19: Tyee: Documents Reveal Industry and Gov't Collude on Shale Gas -- Alberta New Dems release secret agreements about handling public opinion
• 2011/08/19: CCurrents: Natural Gas And Fracking Threaten World [Polya]
• 2011/08/17: GreenGrok: Start Spreading the News: Shale Gas 90-Day Report Released
• 2011/08/17: AlterNet: 7 Ways Oil and Gas Companies Are Trying to Buy Positive Public Sentiment for Fracking
• 2011/08/18: DeSmogBlog: Shale Gas Outrage Rally And Freedom From Fracking Conference In Philadelphia
• 2011/08/16: DeSmogBlog: Fracking's 'Ominous' Cost To New York's Roads
• 2011/08/16: PlanetArk: Australian Farmers Want Land Protected From [coal seam gas] Miners

  On the coal front:

• 2011/08/21: PeakEnergy: From pit to port: India's $10bn coal export plan
• 2011/08/19: Guardian(UK): The myth of mountaintop removal mining
  Big Coal says it's a tough choice: we can have prosperity and jobs or a pristine environment, but not both. That's a Big Lie
• 2011/08/17: BBerg: Chinese Coal Imports Climb 36% on Power Demand, Sxcoal Says
• 2011/08/14: TP:JR: We are at a Moral Crossroads with Coal Exports

  On the gas and oil front:

• 2011/08/19: BBerg: Closing oil prices Friday
  OIL (US$/bbl)
  Nymex Crude Future...82.26
  Dated Brent Spot....109.53
  WTI Cushing Spot.....82.26
• 2011/08/21: OilDrum: Tech Talk - The oil and gas of Southern Alaska
• 2011/08/19: NBF: IEA reports World Oil (all liquids) Supply rose in July to 88.7 millino barrels per day
• 2011/08/19: Eureka: Is oil pricing itself out of the market?
• 2011/08/18: LBL: Lessons Learned from the Two Worst Oils Spills in U.S. History
• 2011/08/18: Asia Times: Bills paid, Iran's oil ships again to India
• 2011/08/16: AutoBG: Global oil consumption hits all-time high of 87.4 million barrels a day
• 2011/08/15: PeakEnergy: Indonesia's oil output declines
• 2011/08/14: NBF: Graphs and plans for North Dakota Bakken Oil from State Minerals Department

  In the gas and oil corps:

• 2011/08/16: BBC: Petrobras second quarter profits jump by a third
  Brazilian state-owned oil company Petrobras has reported a 32% jump in its second-quarter net income compared with a year ago. It made 10.9bn reals ($6.9bn; £4.3bn), but the increase was down to a 2.9bn-real gain from investments.

And in pipeline news:

• 2011/08/17: TP:JR: After 12 Oil Spills in One Year, TransCanada Says Proposed Keystone XL Pipeline Will Be Safest in U.S.
• 2011/08/17: PlanetArk: Valero To Back Double E Oil Pipeline [from Cushing, Oklahoma, to Houston]
• 2011/08/16: CBC: Alberta pipeline granted conditional approval to reopen
• 2011/08/16: Grist: Hundreds of miles of new pipelines to carry Pennsylvania gas
• 2011/08/15: MIT: Forecasting pipe fractures -- MIT simulation accurately reconstructs pipe fractures formed in the 2010 Deepwater Horizon accident

  Yes we have peak everything:

• 2011/08/19: OilDrum: The US Energy Information Administration's Faulty Peak Oil Analysis
• 2011/08/15: OilDrum: Jevons' coal question: Why the UK Coal Peak wasn't as bad as expected

  Biofuel bickering abounds:

• 2011/08/15: RRapier: Cellulosic Ethanol Targets: Mandating the Nonexistent
• 2011/08/18: RRapier: How to Fix the Broken Cellulosic Ethanol Incentive System
• 2011/08/18: Grist: Ethanol is now a matter of national security
• 2011/08/18: EnergyBulletin: Gas from the Past: Biogas 101

  The answer my friend...:

• 2011/08/19: TreeHugger: Nuclear Weapons Testing Concerns Halt 1 Gigawatt of Wind Power in UK
• 2011/08/18: Envirogy: Alberta Building Canada's Largest Wind Farm - 162 megwatt Wild Rose 2
• 2011/08/18: Grist: 'Skypump' let's you fill 'er up ... with wind
• 2011/08/17: TreeHugger: First U.S. Offshore Wind Farm Will be in Texas
• 2011/08/17: BBC: Wind turbine maker Vestas back in profit
  Shares in Vestas, the world's largest wind turbine maker, have jumped 23% after the company reported a strong order book and a return to profit. Net profit for the second quarter was 55m euros ($80m; £48m), compared with a loss of 143m euros a year earlier. Revenue rose by 36% to 1.4bn euros. The company suffered heavy losses in the first quarter. Vestas said it expected to deliver 50% more energy capacity this year compared with 2010.
• 2011/08/16: HotTopic: Another wind farm approved

  Meanwhile among the solar aficionados:

• 2011/08/19: CleanBreak: SolarShare begins offering community bonds to support several solar PV projects throughout Ontario
• 2011/08/19: Grist: Solar PV makes most sense at modest size
• 2011/08/19: PeakEnergy: World's biggest solar power plant [Blythe] shifts technology
• 2011/08/18: SM: Solar Millennium and Solar Trust of America Opt for Photovoltaic Technology at Blythe Project
• 2011/08/18: TP:JR: The World's Largest Planned Solar Plant Switching 500 MW from Concentrated Solar Thermal to Photovoltaics
• 2011/08/18: PeakEnergy: Solar thermal shoots for the sky
• 2011/08/15: Yale360: A Solar Panel on Every Roof? In U.S., Still a Distant Dream
  Daunted by high up-front costs, U.S. homeowners continue to shy away from residential solar power systems, even as utility-scale solar projects are taking off. But with do-it-yourself kits and other innovative installation approaches now on the market, residential solar is having modest growth.
• 2011/08/16: PlanetArk: Solar Company Evergreen Files For Bankruptcy
  U.S. solar company Evergreen Solar Inc filed for bankruptcy on Monday, its once cutting-edge technology falling victim to competition from cheaper Chinese rivals and solar subsidy cuts in Europe.
• 2011/08/16: NatureN: Virtual hunt for solar technology yields initial results
  Theoretical screening method produces first sample molecule as researchers analyse 3.5 million candidates for solar cells.
• 2011/08/15: TechRev: GE Invests in [eSolar] Solar Thermal Company
  The company thinks adding solar-thermal technology to its natural-gas plants will make them run more cheaply and efficiently
• 2011/08/15: PlanetArk: China To Double Solar Capacity By Year End: Report
• 2011/08/15: PlanetArk: Solar Power For Trains Dawns In Rainy Belgium
• 2011/08/15: Grist: Record-breaking electric car gets 1000 miles to the charge
• 2011/08/15: Grist: It's time to shed more light on solar's potential
• 2011/08/15: TreeHugger: Sungevity & Citigroup Partner to Help Back $50 Million+ of Residential Solar Power Projects
• 2011/08/15: CBC: Spray-on solar panels developed at U of A

  The nuclear energy controversy continues:

• 2011/08/21: BNC: Nuclear risk insurance
• 2011/08/19: NBF: Bellefonte 1 reactor will be completed
• 2011/08/18: TEC: Saudi Arabia's Nuclear Energy Ambitions
• 2011/08/19: BBC: Half-built US nuclear plant to be completed in Alabama
  A plan to complete work on a US nuclear reactor at a half-built plant in Alabama has been approved, more than 20 years after construction was halted. The Tennessee Valley Authority approved the $4.9bn (£3bn) plan to restart construction, which stopped in 1988 amid declining power demand estimates. The Bellefonte Nuclear Plant is expected to be operational by 2020.

More people are talking about the electrical grid:

• 2011/08/19: SciAm:PI: An Electric Power Industry Evolution -- from Provider to Partner

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

• 2011/08/20: AutoBG: Report: Japan pushing for 24.1% increase in fuel economy by 2020
• 2011/08/18: BBC: Supercar maker Ferrari says no to making electric cars
• 2011/08/19: AutoBG: Study: If Black Cabs were electric, then London's pollution would drop by 20%
• 2011/08/19: AutoBG: Report: World vehicle population tops 1 billion
• 2011/08/15: AutoBG: Report: German electric vehicle goes 1,014 miles on a charge
• 2011/08/14: AutoBG: Report: 50.6% of households in Japan now own a small, frugal kei car

  As for Energy Storage:

• 2011/08/17: REA: Energy Storage Industry Grows To Integrate Wind, Solar
  Energy storage has long been touted as the silver bullet needed for widespread renewable energy adoption but costs have remained high. Today, several projects hold promise.

The reaction of business to climate change will be critical:

• 2011/08/16: Grist: Wal-Mart to go 100 percent renewable ... in Canada

  Insurance and re-insurance companies are feeling the heat:

• 2011/08/20: CNN: 2011: Year of billion-dollar disasters
  The U.S. has seen nine weather events that caused $1 billion this year, 2011 - None of those has been a hurricane, and the brunt of that season is still to come - Development along coasts raises costs, insurance expert says - Better buildings, early warning and preparation can save lives, reduce damage
• 2011/08/18: TP:JR: U.S. Has Already Tied Yearly Record for Billion-Dollar Weather Disasters -- "So Long, '500-Year Flood'"

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

• 2011/08/20: TP:JR: Global News...
• 2011/08/19: TP:JR: August 19 News...
• 2011/08/18: TP:JR: August 18 News...
• 2011/08/17: TP:JR: Energy and Global Warming News
• 2011/08/17: TP:JR: Global News...
• 2011/08/16: TP:JR: August 16 News...
• 2011/08/15: TP:JR: August 15 News...
• 2011/08/15: TP:JR: Global News...

  Other (weekly) lists:

• 2011/08/15: BPA: Agriculture News

  The carbon lobby are up to the usual:

• 2011/08/17: JQuiggin: Crowdsourcing the links between climate and tobacco hackery
• 2011/08/17: 350orBust: "People Who Believe In Climate Change Should Have Their Heads Examined"
• 2011/08/16: ClimateShifts: 'Galileo Movement' makes scientific hero roll in his grave
• 2011/08/15: WottsUWT: Bastardi: Science and reality point away, not toward, CO2 as climate driver

  As for climate miscellanea:

• 2011/08/20: CChallenge: WitsEndnj.blogspot - Air Pollution, Ozone, CO2 & Dying Trees
• 2011/08/19: CChallenge: Union of Concerned Scientist's compilation of the Scientific Consensus
• 2011/08/17: Tyee: Excuse Me, but Catastrophe Looms
  When you know a natural disaster is coming, is it rude, or good manners, to tell people to get ready?
• 2011/08/18: SciAm:GB: Why Is Earth Warming? by Kevin Trenberth
• 2011/08/17: BVerheggen: Climate Change: Wealth redistribution or making the poor even poorer?
• 2011/08/17: DeSmogBlog: Make Money Having Fun, A Company That Makes Money Contaminating Water Supplies
• 2011/08/16: BVerheggen: Woody Guthrie award for a thinking blogger
• 2011/08/16: TP:JR: S&P Downgrades Planet Earth and Humanity, Citing Unbalanced Carbon Budget, Reckless Political Debates and Role of "Deniers"
• 2011/08/16: DeSmogBlog: S&P Downgrades Planet Earth, Citing Unbalanced Carbon Budget, Reckless Political Debates and Role of "Deniers"
• 2011/08/15: TP:JR: If We Ignore Warnings the Ocean is Trying to Send, We Risk Losing More Than Just Our Vacation Spots

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

• Tar Sands Action
• Deep Green Resistance
• Ecological Sociology - Theorizing the relationship between the natural and the social
• Climate Abyss -- Weather and climate issues with John Nielsen-Gammon
• Wiki: Great Oxygenation Event
• Ocean Health Index
• DoTheMath: Useful Energy Relations
• CCL: Citizens Climate Lobby - Creating the political will for a sustainable climate
• Wiki: Arctic policy of Russia
• Wiki: Photosynthesis
• USGS:WoodsHole: Gas Hydrate Studies
• Wiki: Atmospheric methane
• 2010 State of the Birds Report
• WNN: World Nuclear News
• Global Crop Diversity Trust
• Svalbard Global Seed Vault
• IAC: The InterAcademy Council

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.

"How many failing states before we have a failing global civilization?" -Lester Brown

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