Another Week of GW News, October 16, 2011

Logging the Onset of The Bottleneck Years

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Another Week in the Ecological Crisis

Information Overloadis Pattern Recognition

October 16, 2011

• Chuckles, OWS, COP17+, Horn of Africa, Carbon Bill, Drought
• Monsoon, Bottom Line, Subsidies, Ecocide, Cook
• Fukushima Note, Fukushima News, Nuclear Policy
• Melting Arctic, Megafauna, Methane, Geopolitics, Antarctica
• Food Crisis, Food Prices, Food vs. Biofuel, GMOs, Food Production
• Hurricanes, Carbon Cycle, Temperatures, Ozone, Paleoclimate, History
• Solar Hypothesis, Overshoot, Extinctions, Satellites
• Impacts, Forests, Corals, Glaciers, Floods & Droughts
• Mitigation, Transportation, Buildings, Sequestration, Geoengineering, Adaptation
• Journals, Other Docs , Misc. Science, Models
• International Politics: UN, Bank Tax, Optimal Carbon Reduction Strategy
• EU ETS & Airlines, Rare Earths, Security, Activism, Polls, H2O Biz
• National Politics: America, BP Disaster, 2012, Texas, Keystone XL
• Solyndra, Gore, Obama, USAdmin, Congress, Lobbyists
• Britain, Europe, Australia, Carbon War, MDBP, New Zealand, China, Asia, South America
• Canada, Canadian Environmental Network, CWB, BC
• Tar Sands, Alberta, Sask, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, Maritimes, North
• Ecological Economics, IPAT, Media, Video, Courts
• Energy, Fracking, Coal, Oil & Gas, Pipelines, Peak Oil, Biofuel
• Wind, Solar, Nukes, Nuclear Waste, LENR, Grid, Efficiency, Cars, Energy Storage
• Business, Insurance, Joe's List, Carbon Lobby, Miscellaneous Climate, Useful Links
• New Web Site, Shameless Self Promotion, .sig

Live and direct from the laugh, it's funny, damnit department:

• 2011/10/12: JoeMohrToons: (cartoon - Mohr) Wrong and Wrongerer: How both sides of the aisle address climate change
• 2011/10/11: uComics: (cartoon - Danziger) GOP Prayer Circle

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

• 2011/10/12: Onion: U.S. Back On Top As Gas Prices Drop Slightly
  The U.S. populace agreed the price drop signaled the beginning of a new era of American prosperity.
• 2011/10/03: Onion: Civilization To Hold Off On Having Any More Kids For A While -- 'Let's Just See How We're Doing In A Few Years' Humanity Decides

  This is not climate per se, but falling through an active cumulonimbus thunderhead from 47,000 feet is remarkable:

• 2011/10/06: DI: Rider on the Storm

  The Occupy Wall Street movement is getting some environmental attention:

• 2011/10/12: DailyKos: (cartoon - TomTom) So what do these Wall Street protestors want, anyway?
• 2011/10/14: TreeHugger: Memo to #OccupyWallStreet: It's Not Just Neoliberalism That's Destroyed the Environment
• 2011/10/11: NYT: Something's Happening Here by Thomas L. Friedman
  When you see spontaneous social protests erupting from Tunisia to Tel Aviv to Wall Street, it's clear that something is happening globally that needs defining. There are two unified theories out there that intrigue me. One says this is the start of "The Great Disruption." The other says that this is all part of "The Big Shift." You decide.
• 2011/10/12: TP:JR: Is Occupy Wall Street a Sign of "The Great Disruption"? [or "The Big Shift"?]
• 2011/10/14: PSinclair: Ice Road Iconoclast Comes Forward: "Find your spot. Occupy it. Even if it is only your own mind."
• 2011/10/11: AlterNet: Naomi Klein: How We Can Take on Corporate Power and Expand the Environmental Movement
• 2011/10/09: Grist: McKibben asks Occupy Wall Streeters to join Keystone pipeline protest [video]

  Looking ahead to COP17 and future international climate negotiations:

• 2011/10/14: SwissInfo: Leuthard pushes global climate solution
  At this year's meeting of German-speaking environment ministers, Switzerland's Doris Leuthard has urged all nations to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. The two-day meeting in Nebersdorf, eastern Austria, ended on Friday and laid the groundwork for the United Nations Climate Change Conference 2011, being held in Durban from November 28-December 9.
• 2011/10/14: CDreams: The Lost Years of Climate Change: Are We Just Going to Talk Our Way to Oblivion?
• 2011/10/13: TreeHugger: If Kyoto Protocol Dies At COP17 Climate Talks, So Does Our Climate
• 2011/10/12: Guardian(UK): If Kyoto dies in Durban, it will be a death knell for the climate fight
• 2011/10/11: EurActiv: EU sets conditions for signing up to Kyoto II
  Environment ministers of the European Union -- responsible for only 11% of global carbon emissions -- said they would commit to a new phase of the Kyoto climate change pact, on the condition that nations blamed for the rest join up too.
• 2011/10/11: PlanetArk: EU Sets Conditions For Signing Up To Kyoto II
• 2011/10/10: PlanetArk: Climate Change Negotiators See No Major Durban Deal

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

• 2011/10/15: InformedComment: Somalia Drought Victims
• 2011/10/14: BBC: The British public has donated £72m for victims of the devastating drought in East Africa, the most ever for a food crisis, UK aid agencies have said
• 2011/10/14: BBC: 'Al-Qaeda' distributes Somalia aid near Mogadishu
• 2011/10/14: al Jazeera: Somalia's children dying in record numbers
  In Mogadishu alone, fifteen children out of every 10,000 die each day as a result of famine and drought.
• 2011/10/14: BBC: UNHCR reduces Kenya aid operation after MSF abductions
  The aid operation near the Kenya-Somalia border has been scaled back after the abduction of two women aid workers, a UN spokesman told the BBC. All non-life-saving activities have been suspended, but the distribution of water, food and medical services is continuing, said Emmanuel Nyabera.
• 2011/10/13: BBC: Gunmen have kidnapped two Spanish doctors working for the medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) [at the Dadaab refugee camp] near Kenya's border with Somalia

  The Australian parliament passed the carbon bill. See also:

• 2011/10/13: al Jazeera: Australian parliament passes carbon tax
  The controversial tax could force 500 of the biggest polluters to pay for each tonne of carbon dioxide they emit.
• 2011/10/12: Guardian(UK): Australian MPs pass carbon tax
• 2011/10/12: Guardian(UK): Carbon tax bill is good news for Australia
  Once the dust settles, the majority in Australia are likely to find that the bill will benefit them
• 2011/10/11: DeSmogBlog: Australia Gets a Price on Carbon Despite Toxic Anti-Science Campaign

  The South Pacific islands drought continues:

• 2011/10/11: ABC(Au):TDU: Tuvalu in a fight for its life
• 2011/10/14: al Jazeera: Tuvalu's drought woes continue
  Households being forced to limit water usage to just two buckets of fresh water a day.
• 2011/10/13: Guardian(UK): If big countries want to help Tuvalu, they must curb their CO2 emissions
• 2011/10/10: UN: Facing droughts, Pacific islands need urgent risk mitigation steps, UN warns
• 2011/10/10: PlanetArk: Drought-Stricken Pacific Islands Down To Last Few Days Of Water

  The Monsoon is severely afflicting Thailand:

• 2011/10/16: CNN: Aid effort a huge undertaking amid massive flooding in Thailand
  8 million people are affected by the floods, which have killed 283 people - Thais are leading the aid effort, providing their countrymen with food, water and clothing - Temples have become a place of refuge for those whose homes are submerged
• 2011/10/16: CNN: Death toll from 2 months of lashing rain rises to 297 in Thailand
• 2011/10/16: CBC: Flood barriers protect Thai capital
• 2011/10/16: BBC: Thai flooding: Bangkok 'should escape worst of floods'
• 2011/10/16: al Jazeera: Bangkok flood barriers 'holding up'
  Thai military and volunteers continue their efforts to stop Thailand's worst floods in decades from inundating capital.
• 2011/10/14: CNN: Thailand flooding: Fear brings people together
  Thailand's monsoonal flooding is the worst in decades - Fears spread that Bangkok will drown - Torrents of water gush through hard-hit Auytthaya - People help one another on streets where deadly clashes took place last year
• 2011/10/15: TreeHugger: Deadly Floods in Thailand Are A Symptom of a Larger Problem
• 2011/10/15: BBC: Bangkok floods: Thai capital fights to hold back waters
• 2011/10/14: CNN: Bangkok digs in as floods, high tides merge
  Thai floods have so far killed 283 people; two people remain missing - Workers in Bangkok rush to shore up barriers as warnings are posted for northern suburbs - Shops in Ayutthaya are mostly flooded and closed, and people unable to leave their homes
• 2011/10/14: TP:JR: Thailand Suffers Most Expensive Flood in History, Destroying More Than 10% of Rice Farms in World's Top Exporter
• 2011/10/14: PlanetArk: Bangkok Strengthens Defenses As Floods Close In
• 2011/10/14: ScienceInsider: Thai Floods Threaten Public and Private Research
• 2011/10/14: Wunderground: Thailand flood its most expensive in history; Western Caribbean disturbance develops
• 2011/10/14: al Jazeera: Thai PM says Bangkok safe from floods
  Yingluck Shinawatra says capital will withstand waters that have covered a third of the country and killed nearly 300.
• 2011/10/14: BBC: Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has sought to reassure Bangkok residents, as efforts continue to protect the city from the country's worst floods in decades
• 2011/10/13: BBC: Thailand floods disrupt production and supply chains
  Factories and supply chains are facing disruption as some of the worst flooding in decades starts to affect Thailand's economy.
• 2011/10/12: CNN: Fears mount in Bangkok as Thailand flood waters rise
  In Thailand 281 people have been killed and four people missing - An area the size of Spain is affected by the floods in Southeast Asia - Official: Central Bangkok expected to be spared from brunt of floods - Floods are 'worst to hit Thailand since 1949,' destroying 2.5 million acres of farmland
• 2011/10/11: BBC: Thailand races to defend Bangkok from floods
• 2011/10/11: CBC: Thailand flood damage cost rises to billions -- Bangkok residents prepare as floodwaters surge toward capital
• 2011/10/11: CNN: On the streets of Bangkok, uncertain residents prepare for the worst
  Worst floods in decades could hit Bangkok residents in a matter of days - Many restaurants, shops and homes in the city have already been flooded - Some are using Facebook and Twitter to organize supply drives and fundraising events
• 2011/10/11: CNN: Thai capital Bangkok braces for flood disaster
  Flood Relief Operations Command: 269 people have been killed in Thai flooding - Monsoon rains have overwhelmed much of Thailand and neighboring Cambodia in recent weeks - Bangkok officials have beefed up flood prevention measures amid rising water levels - Officials say floodwaters are moving into central Thailand from northern areas
• 2011/10/11: PlanetArk: Thailand Scrambles To Prevent Humanitarian Disaster From Floods
• 2011/10/10: CNN: Thailand flooding leaves hundreds dead, threatens capital
  Nearly 500 people are dead in Thailand and Cambodia - Officials order measures to protect Bangkok - The region has seen weeks of heavy rain

And on the Bottom Line:

• 2011/10/13: TP:JR: Economics Stunner: "Oil and Coal-Fired Power Plants Have Air Pollution Damages Larger Than Their Value Added."

  Who's getting the subsidies?

• 2011/10/12: GG&G: The End of Farm Subsidies?
• 2011/10/14: AutoBG: Fossil fuel subsidies on the rise across the globe
• 2011/10/11: OilChange: It's Time for Reform: Fossil Fuel Subsidies in Rich Nations are Staggering

  The idea of a global legal framework continues to draw attention:

• 2011/10/05: Permaculture(UK): Wild law: Recognising the rights of nature
  Environmental lawyer, Tom Brenan introduces the concept of Wild Law and argues that we need to persuade governments to endorse the Universal Declaration of the Rights of Mother Earth and that permaculture is a natural ally of the movement for Thomas Berry's 'Earth Jurisprudence'.

John Cook and friends continue their point-counterpoint articles:

• 2011/10/15: SkeptiSci: Ocean Heat Poised To Come Back And Haunt Us? by Rob Painting
• 2011/10/16: SkeptiSci: Correction to the True Cost of Coal Power - MMN11 by dana1981
• 2011/10/14: SkeptiSci: Continued Lower Atmosphere Warming by dana1981
• 2011/10/13: SkeptiSci: Every Picture Tells A Story by Daniel Bailey
• 2011/10/12: SkeptiSci: The Earth continues to build up heat
• 2011/10/11: SkeptiSci: Pielke Sr. and SkS Warming Estimates by dana1981 & Albatross
• 2011/10/11: SkeptiSci: Greenland ice loss continues to accelerate

  A note on theFukushima disaster:

  It is evident that the Fukushima disaster is going to persist for some time. TEPCO says 6 to 9 months. The previous Japanese Prime Minister, Naoto Kan, said 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:

• 2011/10/15: EneNews: Tokyo Researchers: Radioactive plankton are "so heavily contaminated" -- Food chain fears -- Continuously carried southward from Fukushima
• 2011/10/15: EneNews: Leaked TEPCO report: 120 billion Becquerels of plutonium, 7.6 trillion Becquerels of neptunium released in first 100 hours -- Media concealed risk to public
• 2011/10/14: EneNews: Gov't: Radioactive strontium detected at 2 more locations in Yokohama, 250km from meltdowns -- Approaching levels of most contaminated area in Fukushima (TEST RESULTS)
• 2011/10/14: APR: Fukushima Daiichi No. 1 enclosed
• 2011/10/14: NYT: Citizens' Testing Finds 20 Hot Spots Around Tokyo
• 2011/10/13: JapanTimes: Fukushima said not Tokyo hot spot source -- Radium-226 not used by nuclear reactors: expert
• 2011/10/14: PlanetArk: Radiation Hotspot In Tokyo Linked To Mystery Bottles
• 2011/10/14: NatureN: Fukushima 'hot spots' raise radiation fears -- But experts see little threat from patches of heightened radioactivity
• 2011/10/14: BBC: Tokyo radiation hotspot 'not linked to Fukushima'
  Elevated levels of radiation found in a residential area of Tokyo are almost certainly not connected to the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant, say officials.
• 2011/10/13: BBerg: Rice Farmers in Japan Set Tougher Radiation Limits for Crops to Spur Sales
• 2011/10/13: CNN: Radiation spikes in Tokyo neighborhood, officials say
  There is no immediate health hazard, experts tell local officials - Local government cordons off an area in the Setagaya ward - Radiation there is higher than around Fukushima - The damaged Fukushima Daiichi plant may not be the source, officials say
• 2011/10/13: PlanetArk: Japan Mayor Wants Reactor Near Tokyo Decommissioned
• 2011/10/13: NewsCorp: Strontium found at city near Tokyo after Fukushima disaster
• 2011/10/12: G&M: For Japanese, Fukushima spells fear
  [...] Like many Japanese, Mr. Takemoto says he can't trust government assurances that the produce from the region around Fukushima Daiichi is safe. So he boycotts rice and vegetables grown in Fukushima prefecture and the surrounding provinces.
• 2011/10/12: EneNews: Dosimeters display 'ERROR' when entering Reactor No. 1 -- Workers can never be interviewed by media -- Must give up right to sue if getting danger bonus (VIDEO)
• 2011/10/12: EneNews: CNN: Concern that radiation leakage from triple meltdowns "may be more widespread than thought" -- Strontium-90 one of the more hazardous types of nuclear waste
• 2011/10/11: Mainichi: Residents near Fukushima mountains face nuclear recontamination every rainfall
• 2011/10/08: Cryptome: Fukushima Daiichi NPS 8 October 2011 Photos
• 2011/10/10: NatureNB: Japan begins thyroid screening for Fukushima children
• 2011/10/10: EneNews: Simply put, "It's Over" -- "Tokyo on the edge" -- Show host appears astonished by latest strontium-90 findings (VIDEO)
• 2011/10/10: EneNews: Gov't radiation hygiene expert resigned position "when it prohibited an initial investigation" into Fukushima disaster
• 2011/10/09: APR: New video: Fukushima Daiichi cooling water injection
• 2011/10/09: BBC: Japan quake: Fukushima children receive thyroid tests
  Japanese health workers have begun checking more than 300,000 children living near the Fukushima nuclear plant for thyroid abnormalities.

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

• 2011/10/12: APR: US Energy Policy and the NRC
• 2011/10/12: PlanetArk: UK Nuclear Inspector Gives Green Light To Atomic Energy
• 2011/10/11: NBF: China's nuclear energy program continues in spite of Fukushima
• 2011/10/11: BBC: Go-ahead for UK nuclear programme
  The Fukushima disaster provides no reason to restrict UK nuclear reactors or stop building new ones, the official nuclear regulator has concluded.
• 2011/10/11: DerSpiegel: Revolution Threatens to Falter -- Is Germany's Green Energy Plan Failing?
  Germany has set higher targets for renewable energy usage than any other industrialized nation. Angela Merkel's government plans to decommission its nuclear plants by 2022 and to obtain 80 percent of all energy from renewables by 2050. So far, though, too many promises from Berlin have gone unfulfilled.
• 2011/10/11: PlanetArk: France Still Sees Nuclear Appetite Post-Fukushima

  The Arctic melt continues to garner a lot of attention:

• 2011/10/12: NatureN: [gfx] Disappearing sea ice
• 2011/10/13: PSinclair: Sea Ice: 2012, A Prediction
• 2011/10/12: NatureN: Scientific challenges in the Arctic: Open water -- As the ice melts, fresh obstacles confront Arctic researchers
• 2011/10/10: PSinclair: This Year's Sea Ice: Lowest? -- or So Close it doesn't Matter...

  As for the charismatic megafauna:

• 2011/10/14: ProMedMail: Undiagnosed die-off, seals - USA: (AK), RFI
• 2011/10/13: TreeHugger: Mysterious Disease Spreading Among Arctic Seals
• 2011/10/13: Eureka: Polar bears ill from accumulated environmental toxins

  That Damoclean sword still hangs overhead:

• 2011/09/28: VoR: Fields of extensive methane outbursts found in Arctic region

  As for the geopolitics of Arctic resources:

• 2011/10/12: NatureN: Marine protection in the Arctic cannot wait
  Global economics, not declining sea ice, is driving ships to the Arctic Ocean. Only international regulation will protect the region, says Lawson Brigham.
• 2011/10/12: NatureN: After the ice -- As the Arctic thaws, can science help to chart a sustainable path for the north?
• 2011/10/12: NatureN: Redrawing the Arctic map: The new north -- Getting to grips with a changing polar landscape
• 2011/10/11: CBC: Russia to develop Northern Sea Route
  Russia is pledging to spend billions on icebreakers and search and rescue bases along the country's Northern Sea Route, to help turn it into a major shipping lane able to support tankers and cargo ships. At the second International Arctic Forum Sept. 21 to 24 in Arkhangelsk, Russia, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin promised 10 new search and rescue bases and a fleet of new icebreakers for the Northern Sea Route, also once known as the Northeast Passage.

While in Antarctica:

• 2011/10/13: Eureka: NASA continues critical [Operation IceBridge] survey of Antarctica's changing ice
• 2011/10/11: Guardian(UK): Antarctica's ancient lake may yield clues over Earth's future
• 2011/10/11: TreeHugger: Ancient Lakes Miles Below Antarctica May Hold Climate Clues, New Life Forms
• 2011/10/10: BBC: Antarctic lake mission targets life and climate signs
  A pioneering British expedition to sample a lake under the Antarctic ice hopes to find unknown forms of life and clues to future climate impacts. The mission will use hot water to melt its way through ice 3km (2 miles) thick to reach Lake Ellsworth, which has been isolated from the outside world for at least 125,000 years - maybe a million. The team hopes to be the first to sample a sub-glacial Antarctic lake. An engineering team leaves the UK later this week along with 70 tonnes of gear.

The food crisis is ongoing:

• 2011/10/10: FAO: [link to 2.8 meg pdf] The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2011
• 2011/10/14: UN: Funding shortfall threatens food for 120,000 Congolese refugees, UN warns
• 2011/10/14: PlanetArk: Analysis: Hog, Poultry Firms To Extend Use Of Feed Wheat
• 2011/10/13: UCSUSA: Coffee and Climate: What's Brewing with Climate Change?
• 2011/10/13: Eureka: Endangered species? Should cheap phosphorus be first on an elemental 'Red List?'
• 2011/10/13: Guardian(UK): Climate change could drive spread of major coffee pest
• 2011/10/13: PlanetArk: Analysis: Good Harvest Profits Not Aplenty For India's Farmers
• 2011/10/12: CBC: Peanut shortage sending peanut butter prices up
• 2011/10/13: P3: Jon Foley et al On Global Food Security
• 2011/10/12: UN: UN food agency warns of serious humanitarian situation in Yemen
• 2011/10/12: PlanetArk: Floods In Pakistan Damage 3.7 Percent Of Total Crop Area: FAO
• 2011/10/12: Grist: Record heat will rob us of peanut butter
• 2011/10/12: Grist: Ocean of trouble: Report warns of offshore fish farming dangers
• 2011/10/11: PlanetArk: No Quick Food Aid Seen For Crisis-Hit North Korea
• 2011/10/10: FAO: World hunger report 2011: High, volatile prices set to continue -- Heads of Rome-based UN food agencies call for forceful action
• 2011/10/10: TCoE: Doc alert: Food insecurity update
• 2011/10/10: TreeHugger: New Arctic Ozone Hole Could Mean Reductions in Europe's Winter Wheat Crop

  Food Prices are still problematic:

• FAO: World Food Situation - Food Price Indices
• 2011/10/10: BBerg: Economists Call for Crop-Trading Limits to Curb Volatility
  Hundreds of economists including scholars from Oxford University and the University of California, Berkeley, are asking the Group of 20 nations to impose limits on speculative positions in food commodities to curb volatility in crop prices.
• 2011/10/12: TP:JR: Record Heat Causes Peanut Butter Prices to Skyrocket: "I Don't Remember A Year" We Had "So Little Moisture"
• 2011/10/11: BPA: FAO: World Food Costs Declined from 1961 to 2002
• 2011/10/11: TP:JR: Global Food Prices Expected to Climb, Get More Volatile
• 2011/10/10: UN: With high food prices set to continue, UN agencies issue call to action
• 2011/10/10: CBC: UN warns of volatile food prices

  The conflict between biofuel and food persists:

• 2011/10/14: TP:JR: More Corn is Used For Ethanol in U.S. Than For Food or Feed -- The Top Five Reasons We Should Stop This Madness
• 2011/10/13: TCoE: Food for fuel, again
• 2011/10/12: AutoBG: More corn now going to ethanol than animal feed
• 2011/10/11: NatureNB: Biofuels helping make nearly one billion people go hungry, finds report
• 2011/10/11: TreeHugger: The U.S. Now Uses More Corn for Fuel Than Feed!

  Regarding the genetic modification of food:

• 2011/10/12: PlanetArk: Biotech Firms Warn EU Over [slow] Pace Of GM Crop Approvals
• 2011/10/12: TreeHugger: What Are GMOs & How Many US Foods Contain Them? (Infographic)

  And how are we going to feed 9 billion?

• 2011/10/13: FAO: FAO project helps Kenyan farmers withstand drought -- Farm investments today can prevent food security crises tomorrow
• 2011/10/12: GG&G: How to Feed the Planet Without Destorying It
• 2011/10/12: WMO: Weather / climate seminars reach 5 700 West African farmers -- Increased Awareness of Risk Management Boosts Self Reliance
  A four-year pilot project involving 15 West African countries has trained 5 700 subsistence farmers - including 1 000 rural women - in how to access and use weather and climate information to maximize yields and minimize risks.
• 2011/10/14: EnergyBulletin: Should cheap phosphorus be first on an elemental 'Red List'?
• 2011/10/14: UN: UN agency ramps up food assistance to flood-affected Pakistanis
• 2011/10/14: UN: Investing in rural women will slash hunger and poverty, Ban says
• 2011/10/15: BBC: Trees 'boost African crop yields and food security'
  Planting trees that improve soil quality can help boost crop yields for African farmers, an assessment shows. Fertiliser tree systems (FTS) also help boost food security and play a role in "climate proofing" the region's arable land, the paper adds.
• 2011/10/14: Eureka: New study finds 400,000 farmers in southern Africa using 'fertilizer trees' to improve food security
• 2011/10/14: CSM: The world can feed itself without ruining the planet, study says
• 2011/10/13: UN: Kenyan farmers receive UN help to withstand drought, prevent food crisis
• 2011/10/13: ABC(Au): New hope for southern bluefin tuna
• 2011/10/13: Grist: We can feed 10 billion of us, study finds -- but it won't be easy
• 2011/10/13: Grist: The brown revolution: increasing agricultural productivity naturally
• 2011/10/12: SciAm:Obs: Feed the World, Save the Planet
• 2011/10/12: McGill: Feeding the world while protecting the planet -- International team of researchers designs global plan for sustainable agriculture
• 2011/10/10: Wired: Seedbank Vaults Hedge Against Apocalypse
• 2011/10/12: CBC: Doubling world's food production target of plan -- Greater yields and reduced environmental impact possible
  A team of researchers from Canada, the U.S., Sweden and Germany has come up with a five-point plan to double the world's food production while reducing the environmental impacts of agriculture. Their findings were published in the journal Nature after they combined information gathered from crop records and satellite images from around the world.
• 2011/10/12: Grist: To till or not to till
• 2011/10/09: BPA: Permaculture in Western Massachusetts at Amherst [video]
• 2011/10/11: EnergyBulletin: A people's takeover
• 2011/10/11: Grist: This is where your plants will come from after the Ecopocalypse [Svalbard]
• 2011/10/11: IaState: ISU plant pathologist updates science community on groundbreaking research

  In the Western Pacific, Banyan plagued the Philippines:

• 2011/10/11: Eureka: NASA sees large Tropical Storm Banyan stretched over southern Philippines

  In the Eastern Pacific, Jova zapped Mexico:

• 2011/10/13: CBC: Hurricane Jova death toll in Mexico raised to 6 -- 15 dead in Guatemala following separate storm [TD 12E]
• 2011/10/13: Wunderground: Jova and TD-12E kill 18 in Mexico, Guatemala
• 2011/10/12: CBC: Hurricane Jova blamed for 3 deaths in Mexico
• 2011/10/12: Wunderground: Category 2 Hurricane Jova hits Mexico
• 2011/10/11: Eureka: NASA gets an icy cold wink from Hurricane Jova's eye
• 2011/10/11: BBC: Hurricane Jova hits Mexico's Pacific coast
  [...] Jova made landfall near Chamela in the state of Jalisco with maximum sustained winds of 160km/h (100mph), the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) said.
• 2011/10/12: al Jazeera: Hurricane Jova strikes Mexico
  Major storm hits the southwest coast of Mexico with damaging winds and flooding rains.
• 2011/10/11: CBC: Mexico resort area readies for Hurricane Jova
• 2011/10/11: Wunderground: Powerful Category 3 Hurricane Jova nears landfall in Mexico
• 2011/10/10: PlanetArk: Hurricane Jova Strengthens Off Mexico's West Coast
• 2011/10/10: Wunderground: Dangerous Jova approaching Mexico; welcome rains hit Texas
• 2011/10/10: CBC: [Cat 3] Hurricane Jova to slam Mexico Pacific coast

  While elsewhere in the hurricane wars:

• 2011/10/15: Wunderground: Western Caribbean disturbance bringing heavy rains
• 2011/10/13: Eureka: Satellites view 3 dying tropical systems [Irwin, Jova & TD12E] in eastern Pacific
• 2011/10/12: BBC: A tropical storm [12-E] pounding central America has triggered floods and landslides leaving at least 18 people dead...
• 2011/10/11: Eureka: Spotty, strong convection seen in NASA imagery helps Irwin regain tropical storm status

  And in the carbon cycle:

• 2011/10/11: Eureka: New form of superhard carbon observed
• 2011/10/10: Eureka: The Baltic Sea contributes carbon dioxide to the atmosphere

  As for the temperature record:

• 2011/10/15: ERabett: Roger Sr. Takes a Bath [ocean heat]
• 2011/10/13: NOAANews: Global temperatures in September were eighth warmest on record -- Annual minimum Arctic sea ice extent second smallest ever recorded
• 2011/10/12: BVerheggen: Ocean Heat Content: Can we monitor the transfer of heat through the top 700 metres?
• 2011/10/12: SkeptiSci: The Earth continues to build up heat

  Regarding ozone:

• 2011/10/09: TP:JR: Masters on "Unprecedented" Arctic Ozone Hole: Inaction Risks "Future Nasty Climate Change Surprises Far More Serious"
• 2011/10/10: TreeHugger: New Arctic Ozone Hole Could Mean Reductions in Europe's Winter Wheat Crop

  While in the paleoclimate:

• 2011/10/14: DM:GNXP: Australia on fire

  And in historical times:

• 2011/10/13: SciNews: Columbus blamed for Little Ice Age -- Depopulation of Americas may have cooled climate
• 2011/10/11: TU Delft: Luminous grains of sand determine year of historic storm flood

  Regarding the solar hypothesis:

• 2011/10/10: PlanetArk: Solar Dimming Can Trigger Freezing Winters: Study
• 2011/10/10: SciNews: Solar changes help create cold northern winters -- Fluctuations in ultraviolet light can set up frigid, snowy conditions
• 2011/10/09: BBC: Ultraviolet light shone on cold winter conundrum
  Recent cold winters that brought chaos to the UK and other places in northern Europe may have their roots in the Sun's varying ultraviolet emissions.

Intimations of Overshoot:

• 2011/10/15: TP:JR: We're Beyond Earth's Carrying Capacity Now. Will Accelerating Climate Change Turn the Population Boom into a Bust?
• 2011/10/10: MLynas: 'The Easter Island ecocide never happened' - response to Jared Diamond [by Carl Lipo & Terry Hunt]

  What's new on the extinction front?

• 2011/10/13: BBC: The shifting face of a 200-million-year-old mystery
  Five times in the last half a billion years, tremendous, global-scale extinctions have wiped out a significant fraction of life on Earth - and each of them presents a grand puzzle. The most recent and the most familiar is the extinction that wiped out the dinosaurs - between the Cretaceous and Tertiary periods, about 65 million years ago. But before that, 205 million years ago, was the "End-Triassic Event"...

Meanwhile in near earth orbit:

• 2011/10/12: BBC: India successfully launches monsoon research satellite
  India has successfully launched a new satellite, the Megha-Tropiques, to study the patterns of the monsoon.

More GW impacts are being seen:

• 2011/10/13: RS: Climate Change and the End of Australia
  Want to know what global warming has in store for us? Just go to Australia, where rivers are drying up, reefs are dying, and fires and floods are ravaging the continent
• 2011/10/13: MoJo: The Real Victims of Climate Change
• 2011/10/12: BRitholtz: Natural Disasters in the United States, 1980 - 2011
• 2011/10/11: TP:JR: Humans Are Altering Fall Foliage, Studies Find
• 2011/10/10: ABC(Au): Climate change threatens alpine snowfall: report

  And then there are the world's forests:

• 2011/10/14: CJR: Astill on Covering Forests -- Grantham Prize winner discusses his series for The Economist
• 2011/10/13: SciNews: Trees have a tipping point -- Amount of forest cover can shift suddenly and unexpectedly
• 2011/10/13: Eureka: U-M ecologist: Future forests may soak up more carbon dioxide than previously believed
• 2011/10/13: PlanetArk: Gibson Guitar CEO Slams U.S. Raids As "Overreach"
• 2011/10/09: JFleck: Stuff I wrote elsewhere: more on our forests burning
• 2011/10/08: Missoulian: Battle rages to save western Montana forests from pine beetles

  Corals are a bellwether of the ocean's health:

• 2011/10/13: NOAANews: NOAA awards nearly $1 million to University of Miami for coral investigation
• 2011/10/10: ClimateShifts: Pesticides and the Great Barrier Reef: Extensive new data and analysis and increased concerns (a note from Jon Brodie)

  Glaciers are melting:

• 2011/10/15: DerSpiegel: Alpine Angst -- Swiss Valley Braces For Massive Glacier Break
  A chunk of ice the size of 12 football fields is in danger of breaking off a Swiss glacier. If that happens, the fallen ice could melt, forming a reservoir that could send a flood rushing into the valley below. But officials in the community insist there is nothing to fear.
• 2011/10/11: TreeHugger: Rivers of Ice: Vanishing Glaciers
• 2011/10/10: Guardian(UK): Glacier lakes: Growing danger zones in the Himalayas
  Fears rise of huge outburst flooding in the Himalayas as glaciers melt due to climate change

As for hydrological cycle disruptions [floods & droughts]:

• 2011/10/12: CNN: Asia's wet and wild summer explained
  The 2011 tropical cyclone season in the west Pacific has been about average - Some storms likely enhanced the southwest monsoon trough, thus leading to high rainfall in some countries - There could be interactions with other large-scale weather and climate variables, such as El Nino or La Nina
• 2011/10/14: UN: Some 100,000 people hit by rains, floods in Mexico and Central America - UN
• 2011/10/13: OSU: Severe drought, other changes can cause permanent ecosystem disruption
• 2011/10/16: al Jazeera: Floods death toll rises in Central America
  Storm-ravaged Guatemala declares "state of calamity", while deaths also reported in Honduras, El Salvador and Nicaragua.
• 2011/10/10: QuarkSoup: Texas Drought Getting Worse
• 2011/10/10: Eureka: Changes in rainfall patterns are projected for next 30 years
• 2011/10/10: SwissInfo: Flooding blocks roads and railways
  Heavy rain and melting snow in several parts of Switzerland have caused flooding that has disrupted both road and rail transport. In some areas, people have been evacuated.
• 2011/10/09: al Jazeera: Rare rainfall in the deserts of North Africa -- A look at recent shower activity in the usually dry Sahara

  Elsewhere on the mitigation front:

• 2011/10/15: P3: On Postponing Corrective Action to a Gradual Deterioration
• 2011/10/15: Tamino: A Stitch in Time
• 2011/10/14: RealClimate: The high cost of inaction
• 2011/10/13: HotTopic: The long history of hot air and inaction
• 2011/10/10: TP:JR: Caldeira: 99% of Effort to Avoid Climate Change Should Be on Emissions Cuts, Liability Risks Make Geoengineering Unlikely

  Consider transportation & GHG production:

• 2011/10/15: CleanBreak: Look up in the sky! It's an airship, it's an airplane... no, it's Solar Ship!
• 2011/10/14: TreeHugger: German Trains To Run on 100% Renewables
• 2011/10/11: Guardian(UK): Are biofuel flights good news for the environment?
  Airlines are starting to test biofuels on commercial routes, but 'sustainable' alternatives to kerosene remain controversial
• 2011/10/11: Grist: Virgin Atlantic plans to halve jet fuel's carbon footprint using industrial gas

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

• 2011/10/14: TP:JR: Green Jobs Make Up 35% of Design and Construction Industry: "People Will Never Go Back to Building Inefficient Buildings"
• 2011/10/13: TreeHugger: The Best of Greenbuild 2011: Innovative Green Building Products of the Future
• 2011/10/12: EurActiv: Building efficiency: The 'two stage' solution
  Renovating Europe's buildings for deep efficiency in two stages would result in 71% energy savings across Europe by 2050 and create 800,000 clean energy jobs - at less than two thirds the price of one-off deep renovations, a new report says. "In the 'two stage' scenario we see the highest level of energy savings, one of the lowest investment costs and the highest CO2 emissions reductions," said Adrian Joyce, the secretary-general of EuroAce, an alliance of energy efficient building companies.
• 2011/10/12: TreeHugger: New Report Claims Wood Has Lowest Carbon Footprint, Sequesters Carbon
• 2011/10/10: Grist: Will new LEED standards allow for clearcut timber?

  As for carbon sequestration:

• 2011/10/15: CBC:Q&Q: (mp3) Seeking CO2 Seeps
• 2011/10/10: UIllinois: Carbon sequestration policy must balance private property, public good

  Large scale geo-engineering keeps popping up:

• 2011/10/15: GEP: Lessons from the SPICE Delay
• 2011/10/12: Guardian(UK): Engineering the climate is last and scariest option, says US scientist
  The lack of international action on cutting emissions highlights need to research geoengineering further, says Jane C S Long
• 2011/10/11: GEP: European Parliament Comes Out Against Geoengineering
• 2011/10/11: HotTopic: Geoengineering down under: Is Stratospheric Sulphate Injection Completely Reversible?
• 2011/10/11: KSJT: NYTimes, etc: Big panel says it's time for close look at climate (fingers crossed) geoengineering

  While on the adaptation front:

• 2011/10/13: SwissInfo: Swiss learn lessons from 2005 floods
  A combination of a cold front followed by a rise in temperatures resulted in severe flooding in Switzerland this week, with work continuing to clear up the aftermath. But measures put in place after the 2005 "flood of the century" -- which brought chaos to central Switzerland and resulted in seven deaths -- have ensured that no one came to any harm this year.

Meanwhile in the journals:

• 2011/10/11: NERC:NORA: Centennial- to millennial-scale ice-ocean interactions in the subpolar Northeast Atlantic 18-41 kyr ago by I.R. Hall et al.
• 2011/10/11: NERC:NORA: Microclimate impacts of passive warming methods in Antarctica: implications for climate change studies by Stef Bokhorst et al.
• 2011/10/11: NERC:NORA: Reduced survival of Antarctic benthos linked to climate-induced iceberg scouring by David K.A. Barnes & Terri Souster
• 2011/10/12: NERC:NORA: Variability of basal melt beneath the Pine Island Glacier ice shelf, West Antarctica by Robert Bindschadler et al.
• 2011/10/12: NERC:NORA: Holocene stability of the Amundsen-Weddell ice divide, West Antarctica by N. Ross et al.
• 2011/10/12: NERC:NORA: Potential seaways across West Antarctica by David G. Vaughan et al.
• 2011/10/14: ACPD: Decreasing particle number concentrations in a warming atmosphere and implications by F. Yu et al.
• 2011/10/14: ACPD: Validation of TES methane with HIPPO aircraft observations: implications for inverse modeling of methane sources by K. J. Wecht et al.
• 2011/10/14: GMDD: Pliocene Ice Sheet Modelling Intercomparison Project (PLISMIP) - experimental design by A. M. Dolan et al.
• 2011/10/14: TC: Retrieval of snow grain size and albedo of western Himalayan snow cover using satellite data by H. S. Negi & A. Kokhanovsky
• 2011/10/14: TC: Recent wind driven high sea ice area export in the Fram Strait contributes to Arctic sea ice decline by L. H. Smedsrud et al.
• 2011/10/12: TC: An improved semi-empirical model for the densification of Antarctic firn by S. R. M. Ligtenberg et al.
• 2011/10/12: TCD: Kinematic first-order calving law implies potential for abrupt ice-shelf retreat by A. Levermann et al.
• 2011/10/12: TCD: Near-surface climate and surface energy budget of Larsen C ice shelf, Antarctic Peninsula by P. Kuipers Munneke et al.
• 2011/10/11: CP: Uncertainties in modelling CH4 emissions from northern wetlands in glacial climates: the role of vegetation parameters by C. Berrittella & J. van Huissteden
• 2011/10/13: CPD: Northern Hemisphere temperature patterns in the last 12 centuries by F. C. Ljungqvist et al.
• 2011/10/12: CPD: Impact of postglacial warming on borehole reconstructions of last millennium temperatures by V. Rath et al.
• 2011/10/12: CPD: Enrichment in C13 of atmospheric CH4 during the Younger Dryas termination by J. R. Melton et al.
• 2011/10/11: CPD: Persistent influence of ice sheet melting on high northern latitude climate during the early Last Interglacial by A. Govin et al.
• 2011/10/10: CPD: Fire history in western Patagonia from paired tree-ring fire-scar and charcoal records by A. Holz et al.
• 2011/09/18: Nature: (ab$) Model-based evidence of deep-ocean heat uptake during surface-temperature hiatus periods by Gerald A. Meehl et al.
• 2011/10/15: IJAS: Agricultural success from Africa: the case of fertilizer tree systems in southern Africa (Malawi, Tanzania, Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe) by Oluyede Clifford Ajayi et al.
• 2011/10/13: ACP: Acetylene C2H 2 retrievals from MIPAS data and regions of enhanced upper tropospheric concentrations in August 2003 by R. J. Parker et al.
• 2011/10/12: ACP: Origins and composition of fine atmospheric carbonaceous aerosol in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, California by D. R. Worton et al.
• 2011/10/12: ACPD: Large scale changes in 20th century black carbon deposition to Antarctica by M. M. Bisiaux et al.
• 2011/10/12: ACPD: Study of OH-initiated degradation of 2-aminoethanol by M. Karl et al.
• 2011/10/12: ACPD: Indirect radiative forcing of aerosols via water vapor above non-precipitating maritime cumulus clouds by M. A. Pfeffer et al.
• 2011/10/12: Nature: (ab$) Solutions for a cultivated planet by Jonathan A. Foley et al.
• 2011/10/16: AGWObserver: Papers on climate impact on world food supply
• 2011/08/10: Nature: (ab$) Sustainable biochar to mitigate global climate change by Dominic Woolf et al.
• 2011/10/11: PNAS: (ab$) Induction of 9-cis-epoxycarotenoid dioxygenase in Arabidopsis thaliana seeds enhances seed dormancy by Cristina MartÃnez-Andújar et al.
• 2011/10/11: PNAS: (ab$) Critical thresholds and tangible targets for ecosystem-based management of coral reef fisheries by Tim R. McClanahan et al.
• 2011/10/11: PNAS: (ab$) Inference of seed bank parameters in two wild tomato species using ecological and genetic data by Aurélien Tellier et al.
• 2011/10/11: PNAS: (ab$) More diverse plant communities have higher functioning over time due to turnover in complementary dominant species by Eric Allan et al.
• 2011/10/11: OS: Development of Black Sea nowcasting and forecasting system by G. K. Korotaev et al.
• 2011/10/11: TCD: A numerical model for meltwater channel evolution in glaciers by A. H. Jarosch & M. T. Gudmundsson
• 2011/10/10: AGWObserver: New research from last week 40/2011

  And other significant documents:

• 2011/10/13: RS: [link to 2.3 meg pdf] Fuel cycle stewardship in a nuclear renaissance
• 2011/10/10: FAO: [link to 2.8 meg pdf] The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2011

  As for miscellaneous science:

• 2011/10/13: ScienceInsider: Russian Scientists Rally to Protest Funding Freeze
• 2011/10/12: Eureka: Bacterial communication could affect Earth's climate
• 2011/10/16: TP:JR: WRI's Review of Climate Science 2009-2010: "As a Whole, the Literature Paints a Bleak Picture"
• 2011/10/12: SciNews: Cloud seeding by trees could alter precipitation, climate -- Certain pollens shed potent ice-nucleating compounds

  What's new in models?

• 2011/10/12: SEasterbrook: CfP: Community software to support the delivery of CMIP5

  While at the UN:

• 2011/10/14: UN: On World Food Day, UN agencies urge concerted effort against global hunger
• 2011/10/13: UN: As disasters increase, risk reduction should a be a concern for all - UN chief
• 2011/10/16: UN: UN relief chief voices concern over flood disaster in South-East Asia
• 2011/10/12: UN: Green industries essential to foster sustainable economic growth - UN agency [UNIDO]
• 2011/10/11: UN: World must welcome 7 billionth citizen with sustainable future, says Ban
• 2011/10/10: UN: Scientific and financial backing essential to fight droughts and famine - UN agency
• 2011/10/10: UN: 'Clean energy revolution' crucial to ensure growth in poorer countries - Ban

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

• 2011/10/14: PEF: Europe, G20 and financial transactions taxes
• 2011/10/16: al Jazeera: The wrong tax for Europe
  The European Commission's plan to tax financial transactions might prove counter-productive in the long run.

The debate over the optimal strategy [carbon trading, carbon offsets, auction vs. allocation, cap and trade, cap and dividend, tradable energy quotas and/or a carbon tax] to use in dealing with GHGs continues:

• 2011/10/12: TreeHugger: Are Carbon Offsets Irrelevant? Maybe They Always Were...

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

• 2011/10/05: CIR: Green war in the skies: U.S. airlines vs. EU emissions law
• 2011/10/10: Grist: U.S. is freaking out over tiny E.U. carbon tax on air travel

  In the Rare Earths' tussle:

• 2011/10/10: GSA: Critical Minerals Ignite Geopolitical Storm
• 2011/10/12: Eureka: Metal shortages alert from leading geologists -- Inexorable demand for consumer goods places strain on supply of metals
• 2011/10/10: ABC(Au): One of the world's largest scandium deposits found in Queensland

  Climate Change is a threat multiplier exacerbating existing conflicts in food, energy, water, race, ideology ... etc.:

• 2011/10/11: GreenGrok: Climate Change in the Rearview Mirror

  What are the activists up to?

• 2011/10/14: PostMedia: Sexy protesters put Gordon Campbell in sticky situation
  Two sexy anti-oil sands protesters put British Columbia's former premier in a sticky situation Wednesday during one of his first official appearances as Canada's High Commissioner to the United Kingdom.
• 2011/10/14: LFR: Amusing 'oil orgy' surprises Gordon Campbell. Disrupts UK energy summit
• 2011/10/10: 350orBust: McKibbon: The Sky Does Not Belong To Exxon

  Polls! We have polls!

• 2011/10/14: TreeHugger: 87% of Americans Want Genetically Modified Foods Labeled (Infographic)
• 2011/10/14: TreeHugger: Most Americans Think The Obama Administration Should Have Defended EPA's Ozone Standards [polls]
• 2011/10/12: AutoBG: 89% of European citizens say climate change is a "serious" problem
• 2011/10/10: TreeHugger: Europeans Fear Climate Change More than Economic Crisis: New Poll

  Regarding Water Politics and Business:

• 2011/10/12: JFleck: "already contested issues"
• 2011/10/06: OneEarth: Don't Drink the Water: Filtration Issues From California to Tuvalu
• 2011/10/10: JFleck: The soil moisture data problem
• 2011/10/09: JFleck: The conservation-revenue dilemma, private sector edition

  And on the American political front:

• 2011/10/12: GG&G: The End of Farm Subsidies?
• 2011/10/15: ERabett:BDS: My weeklong life as a Washington water lobbyist
• 2011/10/15: ITracker: Real green jobs: 4 more key projects
• 2011/10/14: Grist: Wisconsin town wants to outlaw biking and walking
• 2011/10/14: Grist: Rahm Emanuel decides public employees must use public transit
• 2011/10/14: CSW: In support of the Federal Advisory Committee Act Amendments of 2011
• 2011/10/14: OilDrum: How to Fix a Broken Biofuel Incentive System
• 2011/10/11: AlterNet: Why the Whole Idea of the U.S Achieving 'Energy Independence' Is a Sham That Enriches Big Oil and Coal [Joshua Frank]
• 2011/10/11: Grist: How to beat the Tea Party and win on clean energy
• 2011/10/11: Grist: Coal ash regulation would create 28,000 jobs

  The BP disaster continues to twist US politics:

• 2011/10/14: PlanetArk: BP Will Not Be Banned From Offshore Lease Sale
• 2011/10/13: PlanetArk: U.S. Sanctions BP, Contractors For Gulf Oil Spill
• 2011/10/13: PlanetArk: Deepwater Horizon Rig Not Leaking Oil: Probe
• 2011/10/11: EnvEcon: Not to get all environmental sciencey on you and all, but ...

  USPol01:

  On the 2012 campaign trail:
• 2011/10/14: Wonkette: Rick Santorum Warns America About Dangerous Single Mom Voters
• 2011/10/14: TP:JR: Rick Perry Needs to Get a Fracking Clue
• 2011/10/14: Grist: Perry's energy plan is a Big Oil wet dream
• 2011/10/14: Grist: Can Rick Perry create 1.2 million energy jobs?
• 2011/10/14: OilChange: Rick Perry's predictable energy plan
• 2011/10/14: CSM: 'Drill, baby, drill': Rick Perry's answer to '9-9-9' tax plan?
• 2011/10/11: al Jazeera: One Republican candidate's hellfire
  Global warming-denying governor and presidential candidate Rick Perry can't escape a major reckoning at home.
• 2011/10/11: TP:JR: Rick Perry's Dirty Energy Plan: Drill More, Pollute More, Spew a Lot of Hot Air
• 2011/10/09: AlterNet: Values Voter Bigotry Fest Erupts In War of Words Over Romney's Faith

  Texas gave us an idea this week of what we could expect from a Perry presidency:

• 2011/10/14: NatureNB: Scientists confront Perry administration over censorship in Texas
• 2011/10/12: MoJo: Perry Officials Censored Climate Change Report
  The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality doesn't want you to know that climate change is causing sea level rise in Galveston Bay.
• 2011/10/14: Guardian(UK): Rick Perry officials spark revolt after doctoring environment report
• 2011/10/14: CCP: Censurship of crucial scientific information on sea level rise effects on Galveston Bay by Texas agency responsible for dissemination [list]
• 2011/10/14: BBickmore: Texas Administration Censors Climate Science [list]
• 2011/10/11: HoustonChronicle: Rice professor accepts Gulf article's fate
  A Rice University oceanographer said he accepts a decision by the state's environmental agency to kill an article he wrote on sea-level rise in Galveston Bay, ending a standoff over the article's references to rising sea levels and human-caused environmental change. "I'm willing to live with not having it published," John Anderson said Tuesday. "I refuse to have it published with their deletions."
• 2011/10/13: DeSmogBlog: The Old War on Science Returns Under Rick Perry
• 2011/10/13: CSW: Texas state officials give a preview of climate science censorship to expect under a Perry administration
• 2011/10/13: TreeHugger: Rick Perry's Climate Censorship Takes Cues from George W. Bush
• 2011/10/12: TP:JR: Flood-Gate: Perry Officials Try to Hide Sea Level Rise from Texans with "Clear-Cut Unadulterated Censorship"
• 2011/10/12: Grist: Texas tries to censor climate change information
• 2011/10/11: CCP: Rice University oceanographer John Anderson told he could not discuss sea-level rise and climate change in a chapter for the periodically published, TCEQ-funded "State of the Bay" report about the environmental state of Galveston Bay

  The Keystone decision is due by the end of the year:

• 2011/10/14: PlanetArk: Lawmakers Say Pipeline Approval Process Tainted
• 2011/10/14: Grist: House members say Keystone XL approval process is tainted
• 2011/10/12: Nation: Solyndra and Keystone: Not All Environmental Scandals Are Created Equal
• 2011/10/12: CBC: Keystone pipeline decision not tainted, says Clinton
• 2011/10/11: NatJo: Insiders: Obama Will Approve Keystone XL Pipeline This Year
• 2011/10/12: CSW: Keystone XL: Public Hearing and Rally at the Ronald Reagan Building
• 2011/10/11: TP: Obama Jobs Council Endorses Keystone XL Pipeline
• 2011/10/10: Grist: State Department picked less-than-objective company to review Keystone XL impact
• 2011/10/10: CSW: Climate Science Watch comment to the State Department on the Keystone XL pipeline permit
• 2011/10/09: CSW: Woodrow Wilson Center panel: "Is the Keystone XL pipeline in the national interest?"
• 2011/10/10: OilChange: The Conflict of Interest that Should Stop Keystone

  The Solyndra faux-scandale drags on:

• 2011/10/14: Grist: House hearing marks new low in Solyndra witch hunt
• 2011/10/14: CSM: Solyndra: Did Energy Department break the law?
• 2011/10/13: TP:JR: Cleantech Executives Post-Solyndra: We're in a "Multi-Decade Energy Transformation" So the Industry Will Keep Growing
• 2011/10/13: CSM: After Solyndra's ugly fall, can solar industry still shine?
• 2011/10/12: TP:JR: Juan Williams Slams GOP on Solyndra: They're "Condemming the Entire Solar Industry and Making Themselves into Villians"
• 2011/10/11: PlanetArk: Congress Watchdog Probes Solar Loans After Solyndra
• 2011/10/11: Grist: The Washington Post's boneheaded conventional wisdom on Solyndra
• 2011/10/10: Grist: Solyndra and the self-referential Beltway media cycle
• 2011/10/10: PlanetArk: Emails Raise Fresh Questions On Obama [Solyndra] Energy Loan
• 2011/10/10: Grist: Fake scalp, fake scandal: DOE official didn't resign 'over Solyndra'

  Al Gore keeps making news:

• 2011/10/14: TreeHugger: Al Gore Strongly Supports #Occupy Wall Street
• 2011/10/13: TP:JR: Al Gore: "Count Me Among Those Supporting and Cheering on the Occupy Wall Street Movement"
• 2011/10/11: TP:JR: Myles Allen and Guardian Must Retract Phony Quote on Al Gore's Views of Link Between Climate Change and Weather

  The Obama chatter is nonstop:

• 2011/10/11: AlterNet: Obama Has One Last Chance to Redeem Himself -- Will He Sell Out to Big Oil?
• 2011/10/11: Grist: Enviros cross out 'Bush' on lawsuit, write in 'Obama'
• 2011/10/11: Grist: Where did Obama's mojo go? by Bill McKibben

  The actions of the Obama administration are being watched closely:

• 2011/10/13: GreenGrok: Update: Another Environmental Retreat by the Obama Administration?
• 2011/10/12: CJR: An Empty Seat -- Government fails to show for science news, transparency event
• 2011/10/13: Grist: The EPA doesn't regulate farm dust, it regulates air pollution
• 2011/10/13: NatureNB: White House under fire over US-China bilateral activities
• 2011/10/12: TP:JR: Solar Industry: Extending the Treasury Grant Program Could Add 37,000 New Jobs by 2013
• 2011/10/12: PlanetArk: EPA Says To Finalize Air Rule On Mercury In November
• 2011/10/11: NatureNB: EPA in the crosshairs, Republicans and Democrats talk jobs
• 2011/10/12: ScienceInsider: GAO Says White House Broke the Law by Holding Science Meetings With China
• 2011/09/29: SunlightFoundation: Obama Admin PR Flacks Blocking the Public's Right to Know
• 2011/10/11: TP:JR: EPA Whistle-Blower Warns EPA Must Not Buckle to Industry Pressure and Greenwash Fracking Yet Again

  As for what is going on in Congress:

• 2011/10/13: Grist: GOP tries to explain away loan-guarantee hypocrisy, fails
• 2011/10/14: TreeHugger: Bill That Prevents EPA From Coal Ash Oversight, Allows Arsenic in Drinking Water Goes to Vote Today (UPDATED: Bill Passes)
• 2011/10/13: RHRealityCheck: House Passes H.R. 358, the "Let Women Die" Act of 2011
• 2011/10/14: SWRWN: Yo! Penis People!
  [...]
  Today the GOP-led House of Representatives, with the blessings and encouragement of the United States Council of Catholic Bishops and extremist religious groups such as the Family Research Council, passed a bill in a vote of 251 to 172 that would, among other things, allow doctors and hospitals to "exercise their conscience" by letting pregnant women facing emergency medical conditions die.
• 2011/10/13: TP:JR: Darrell Issa Pulls a Vanilla Ice: "It's Not the Same"
• 2011/10/13: AutoBG: Policymakers cite reduced safety as a reason not to adopt 54.5 mpg CAFE standards
• 2011/10/12: TP:JR: Even Republicans Favor EPA Clean Air Rules that Republicans are Trying to Block
• 2011/10/12: Grist: Even Republicans favor the EPA rules that Republicans are trying to block
• 2011/10/12: AutoBG: House kicks off review of Obama's 54.5 mpg CAFE rule this week
• 2011/09/30: UnEarthed: For Some in Congress, It's Easier To Censor Than Hear Americans
  [...]
  My nephew reminds me of what surface mining looks like from a child's eyes. As we were driving through our community, he looks up and says, 'Aunt Sissy, what is wrong with these people? Don't they know we live down here?' I had to be honest with him and say, 'Yes, they know. They just simply don't care.'
• 2011/10/11: TreeHugger: GOP Vows to End Nonexistent Farm Dust Regulations

  What's up with the lobbyists?

• 2011/10/15: CCP: Yahoo! joins Apple, other tech companies, abandons U.S. Chamber
• 2011/10/14: CBD: U.S. Chamber of Commerce Wins 2011 Rubber Dodo Award
• 2011/10/14: TP:JR: Yahoo! Joins Apple in Abandoning U.S. Chamber of Commerce
• 2011/10/12: NYT: As Anti-Climate Group's Activities Rise, So Do Questions About Its Secret Finances
  The conservative nonprofit Americans for Prosperity unleashed a volley of ads aimed at Democrats in last year's midterm elections, but it recently reported to the IRS that it was not active in political campaign activities.

While in the UK:

• 2011/10/14: Guardian(UK): Why is the government drifting so far from its green pledges?
• 2011/10/13: AutoBG: UK energy secretary: proposed 80 mph speed limit should only apply to electric vehicles
• 2011/10/13: BBC: Conservation groups attack [UK] government green pledges
• 2011/10/14: BBC: Energy firms' profit margins soar
• 2011/10/13: BBC: BP unveils North Sea investment programme
  BP has been given the go ahead to proceed with a new £4.5bn oil project west of the Shetland Islands. The BP-operated scheme is an extension of the existing Clair oil field, and will also include investment by fellow oil firms Shell, ConocoPhillips and Chevron.
• 2011/10/12: BBC: BP reveals plan for hypothetical oil spill off Shetland
  BP has drawn up contingency plans to tackle an oil spill off Shetland, twice the size of its Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.
• 2011/10/12: BBC: Cheapest gas and electricity deals 'ignored'
  Energy companies are not always offering the cheapest deals to customers wishing to switch supplier, a consumer group has claimed.
• 2011/10/12: Guardian(UK): Why George Osborne may be right about the environment
  Whisper it, but a sober discussion of how we meet our carbon targets as cheaply as possible should be central to policymaking
• 2011/10/12: PlanetArk: UK Nuclear Inspector Gives Green Light To Atomic Energy
• 2011/10/11: BBC: Go-ahead for UK nuclear programme
  The Fukushima disaster provides no reason to restrict UK nuclear reactors or stop building new ones, the official nuclear regulator has concluded.
• 2011/10/11: BBC: New marine power sites leased out by Crown Estate
  Edinburgh-based Pelamis Wave Power has secured a lease from the Crown Estate to develop a wave farm off the island of Bernera on the Western Isles.
• 2011/10/11: EnergyBulletin: Fracking and coalbed methane: Unconventional gas in the UK
• 2011/10/10: BBC: MPs warn of 'schizophrenia' over climate change targets
  The government's "schizophrenic attitude" to climate change is undermining investor confidence in low-carbon industries, MPs have warned. The UK is committed to cutting emissions in half by 2025 but has said it will review that goal in 2014.
• 2011/10/10: Guardian(UK): Chris Huhne: no change in direction on carbon budgets
  Energy and climate change secretary insists no shift in UK carbon strategy, despite chancellor's pledge to match EU emissions cuts

And in Europe:

• 2011/10/14: EurActiv: EU set to miss targets for battery collection, recycling
  Many EU member states are going to miss targets for collecting a quarter of all waste batteries by 2012 and 45% of them by 2016, EurActiv has learned.
• 2011/10/14: PlanetArk: Romania Approves Much Awaited Green Energy Support
• 2011/10/13: EurActiv: UNEP: EU wastes 99% of its high-tech metals
  Recycling less than 1% of high tech metals, Europe has no moral justification to blame the Chinese for restricting their exports of rare earths, Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker from the United Nations Environment Programme argued in an interview with EurActiv.com.
• 2011/10/13: EurActiv: Steelmakers struggle to expand recycling rates
  European steelmakers warn they have reached the limits of how much recycled metal can feed their mills as competition for scrap is driving exports to emerging Asian economies. EurActiv reports from ArcelorMittal's factory in Ghent, Belgium.
• 2011/10/12: EurActiv: EU ponders recycling rules for electric car batteries
  The looming challenge of how to deal with hundreds of thousands of used lithium batteries produced to power electric car is on the Brussels "to do" list, EU sources say.
• 2011/10/11: GEP: European Parliament Comes Out Against Geoengineering
• 2011/10/11: DerSpiegel: Revolution Threatens to Falter -- Is Germany's Green Energy Plan Failing?
  Germany has set higher targets for renewable energy usage than any other industrialized nation. Angela Merkel's government plans to decommission its nuclear plants by 2022 and to obtain 80 percent of all energy from renewables by 2050. So far, though, too many promises from Berlin have gone unfulfilled.
• 2011/10/11: EurActiv: 'Dirty trade' challenges EU vision of recycling society
  While the EU seeks to curb its import dependency on raw materials through better re-use and recycling, the bloc remains a top exporter of all sorts of waste -- including paper, plastics and metals.
• 2011/10/11: EurActiv: Central Europe plays catch up on steel recycling
  Central Europe's relatively low rates of recycling represent an untapped potential with easy gains, said participants at a Steel Packaging Summit in Koeice. EurActiv Slovakia reports.
• 2011/10/11: EurActiv: EU sets conditions for signing up to Kyoto II
  Environment ministers of the European Union -- responsible for only 11% of global carbon emissions -- said they would commit to a new phase of the Kyoto climate change pact, on the condition that nations blamed for the rest join up too.
• 2011/10/11: PlanetArk: EU Sets Conditions For Signing Up To Kyoto II
• 2011/10/10: EnergyBulletin: How Germany became Europe's green leader: A look at four decades of sustainable policymaking
• 2011/10/10: EurActiv: EU's green economy roadmap meets criticism
  The European Commission's roadmap for a resource-efficient Europe does too little to address environmental concerns, argue green campaigners while businesses have criticised it for ignoring the benefits eco-industries bring to the environment. The European Commission's resource efficiency roadmap, unveiled in September, suggested decoupling economic growth from natural resource use.
• 2011/10/10: Grist: Surprise! Europe's climate policy is working

  The EU's Common Agricultural Policy [CAP] is due for revision. The fun begins:

• 2011/10/14: EurActiv: Europe's farm reform off to rocky start
  The European Commission's long-awaited proposals to overhaul the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) have left most EU politicians and stakeholders disappointed.
• 2011/10/12: BBC: The European Union has announced plans to reform its Common Agricultural Policy - its most expensive scheme, and one of the most controversial
• 2011/10/12: EurActiv: Ciolos,: EU farm spending slowly shifting eastwards
  Farmers in Western countries such as France could see their subsidies cut by up to 7% as more money is being channeled to Central and Eastern European states. EU farm Commissioner Dacian Ciolos, spoke to EurActiv in an exclusive interview ahead of proposals today to reform the EU's Common Agricultural policy for 2014-2020. While the share of the EU budget going to the CAP is expected to stay largely unchanged, the Commission has pledged to give new member states a "fairer" share of the total amount.
• 2011/10/12: EUO: Brussels fires first shot in overhaul of EU farm policy
  The European Commission on Wednesday published keenly awaited proposals to overhaul its farm policy from 2014, capping payments to single farms and obliging the EU's 12 million landowners to become greener. Under the draft legislation, which runs to around 1000 pages, 30 percent of the direct payments will be dependent on the farmer growing at least three crops and putting aside seven percent of farmland for "ecological purposes."

Meanwhile in Australia:

• 2011/10/11: ABC(Au):TDU: Lies, damn lies and politics: taking the r out of Juliar
• 2011/10/14: JQuiggin: Let's hear it for a hung parliament!
• 2011/10/12: ABC(Au): South-east wind farm plan on hold
  Inifigen Energy says it has delayed but not abandoned its planned Woakwine wind farm in the south-east of South Australia.
• 2011/10/11: BNC: Cutting Australia's carbon abatement costs with nuclear power
• 2011/10/10: ABC(Au): NSW Nationals urge wind farms freeze

  The carbon bill has passed the House. Now comes the Senate, the Proclamation and the implementation:

• 2011/10/14: ABC(Au):TDU: Sniff this, business lobby: the odourless whiff of defeat
  It's taken many years. Dozens of government reports. Scores of inquiries, committees and discussion papers. But now, at last, Australia is within sight of a price on carbon.
• 2011/10/14: ScienceInsider: Australia Eyes Hefty Tax on Carbon Emissions
• 2011/10/13: PlanetJ: Top 10 Flaws in Government's "Clean Energy Future"
• 2011/10/13: ABC(Au): MP laments looming carbon tax
• 2011/10/13: ABC(Au): Hope for end to carbon pricing attacks
• 2011/10/13: ABC(Au): Carbon tax lifts power station hopes
• 2011/10/13: ABC(Au): Carbon tax war of words continues
• 2011/10/13: ABC(Au): Miner counts cost of carbon tax
• 2011/10/13: ABC(Au): Carbon tax uncertainty remains
• 2011/10/13: ABC(Au): Federal Govt 'up-front' about carbon price
• 2011/10/13: ABC(Au): Nickel refinery laments lower carbon tax compo
• 2011/10/13: ABC(Au): Carbon tax sparks calls for regional support
• 2011/10/13: al Jazeera: Australian parliament passes carbon tax
  The controversial tax could force 500 of the biggest polluters to pay for each tonne of carbon dioxide they emit.
• 2011/10/12: Guardian(UK): Australian MPs pass carbon tax
• 2011/10/12: Guardian(UK): Carbon tax bill is good news for Australia
  Once the dust settles, the majority in Australia are likely to find that the bill will benefit them
• 2011/10/12: BBickmore: Carbon Price Implemented in Australia
• 2011/10/12: ITracker: Carbon price passes in Australia
• 2011/10/12: ABC(Au): War goes on despite passage of carbon bills
• 2011/10/12: ABC(Au): Windsor defends carbon tax vote support
  Federal independent MP Tony Windsor says he voted for the carbon tax because it was the right thing to do.
• 2011/10/13: ABC(Au): [Climate Change Minister Greg] Combet confident of winning over public on tax
• 2011/10/12: ABC(Au): Damn the torpedoes. PM puts the pedal to the metal
• 2011/10/12: ABC(Au): Gillard, Rudd celebrate as carbon bills pass
• 2011/10/12: PlanetArk: Australia's Carbon Tax Plan Passes Biggest Hurdle
• 2011/10/12: NatureNB: Australian politicians vote for carbon price
• 2011/10/13: JQuiggin: A long time coming ...
• 2011/10/12: TreeHugger: Australian Carbon Tax Passes Lower House of Parliament
• 2011/10/11: DeSmogBlog: Australia Gets a Price on Carbon Despite Toxic Anti-Science Campaign
• 2011/10/11: BBC: Australia's lower house of parliament has narrowly passed a bill for a controversial carbon tax
• 2011/10/11: ABC(Au): Leadership circus a carbon debate sideshow
• 2011/10/11: ABC(Au): Carbon tax set to clear crucial hurdle
  Parliament's Lower House is almost certain to approve the Government's package of bills for the carbon tax when final votes are taken this morning. Debate continued well into Tuesday night as politicians on both sides made their final arguments on the legislation, which cleared the all-important second reading stage yesterday evening.
• 2011/10/11: ABC(Au): MPs knuckle down for carbon debate
• 2011/10/11: ABC(Au): All eyes on carbon tax as Parliament resumes

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

• 2011/10/15: ABC(Au): Call for more funding to protect river health
  The WA Greens say funding to protect the Swan and Canning Rivers needs to be ongoing rather than being allocated to short term projects.
• 2011/10/14: ABC(Au): Basin plan progress slow going
  The Member for Farrer says progress on the Murray-Darling Basin Plan is moving at a glacial pace. Sussan Ley says a year after the basin authority announced a review of the plan, there are no significant advancements.
• 2011/10/13: ABC(Au): Scientist defends Spencer Gulf desal assessment
• 2011/10/13: ABC(Au): MPs tour Riverland ahead of Basin plan
• 2011/10/11: ABC(Au): [SA] Government accused of withholding desal detail
• 2011/10/11: ABC(Au): Basin plan angst remains
  It is a year this week since mass protests in Griffith and Deniliquin over the Murray-Darling Basin guide and the angst is no less, despite official reassurances. The Murray-Darling Basin Authority chairman, Craig Knowles, says the draft basin plan for release next month will take into account water buybacks and infrastructure savings.

And in New Zealand:

• 2011/10/14: HotTopic: Trans-Tasman Emissions Trading Scheme Challenge: Part Two
• 2011/10/11: OilChange: New Zealand's "Worst Maritime Disaster"

  While in China:

• 2011/10/11: TreeHugger: China To Begin Additional Taxes On Fossil Fuel Production, Rare Earths Mining
• 2011/10/10: BBC: China expands resource tax across the country
  China will expand a tax on oil and natural gas sales to the entire country as of 1 November, to try and reduce consumption. The tax will be 5-10% of sales, the State Council said Monday.

And elsewhere in Asia:

• 2011/10/11: OilPrice: Malaysian Environmentalists Lead Opposition to Rare Earth Processing Facility
• 2011/10/11: ABC(Au): Logging giant 'paid for crackdown on villagers' [in PNG]
• 2011/10/11: PlanetArk: Battle Over Huge Coal Deposit Highlights Risks In Indonesia

  And South America:

• 2011/10/10: Guardian(UK): Bolivian road protest threatens to flatten Evo Morales's popularity
  Amazon road protesters descend on La Paz as indigenous peoples turn on their one-time saviour

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

• 2011/10/10: DawgsBlawg: Harper's holey war on science -- Another day, another muzzled scientist.
• 2011/10/14: NatureNB: Panel would change Canada's research landscape
• 2011/10/10: HillTimes: Feds accused of creating a climate change plan 'designed to fail'
• 2011/10/10: LFR: Peter Kent makes lemons out of lemonade
• 2011/10/09: TheCanadian: Shades of Green: Muzzling Science and Scientists

  The Tories are doing all they can to dismantle official and unofficial environmental agencies:

• 2011/10/14: CBC: Environmental network forced to close doors -- Decision tied to loss of federal government funding
  A 34-year-old national environmental network that has served as a link between people and the federal government shut its doors Friday afternoon after Environment Canada cut its funding. The Canadian Environmental Network was told Thursday that its funding from the federal government won't be renewed. "It was a real kick in the pants," said Dan Casselman, the group's senior national caucus co-ordinator. "If they'd given us some warning we might have had time to find money somewhere else."
• 2011/10/14: POGGE: Oops, they did it again
• 2011/10/13: CBC: Fisheries and Oceans to 'shed' services
  Employees of the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans were told Wednesday their employer will soon be significantly smaller, and responsible for fewer things. DFO also warned its workers that some of them will definitely not be working there once the department completes a $56.8-million budget-cutting plan by 2014.

The demise of the CWB looms:

• 2011/10/13: PostMedia: Farmers being "railroaded", Rae says
  The leader of the federal Liberal party says Western farmers have told him they don't want to be "railroaded" by a federal government bent on ending the Canadian Wheat Board's decades-long monopoly on handling their wheat.

BC is wrangling over energy:

• 2011/10/14: CBC: B.C. First Nations to be consulted on fracking
  B.C.'s energy regulator has agreed to consult with First Nations groups before it allows oil and gas companies to use fresh water for natural gas drilling. Hydraulic fracturing -- or fracking -- uses pressurized water and chemicals to blast natural gas out of underground rocks.
• 2011/10/13: PostMedia: Trash-to-energy proposal troubles Fraser Valley voters -- Communities fear an incinerator will further reduce air quality
• 2011/10/12: CBC: Smart meter opponents launch B.C. initiative
• 2011/10/11: BCLocalNews: Will smart meters be a smart move?

  Meanwhile in that Mechanical Mordor known as the tar sands:

• 2011/10/14: Tyee: Oil Sands: Canada's 10 Ethical Challenges -- How we turned a blessing into a curse, and ways to atone.
• 2011/10/14: LFR: Spiegel: The stench of money. Canada's environment succumbs to tar sands
• 2011/10/15: DerSpiegel: The Stench of Money -- Canada's Environment Succumbs to Oil Sands
  Canada is home to the world's third largest oil reserves. But extracting the black gold is difficult, and threatens to destroy both the surrounding environment and the homeland of native tribes. With protests growing against a planned US pipeline, the oil sands controversy threatens to spread south.
• 2011/10/14: BCLSB: Does Alykhan Velshi Work For TAF?
• 2011/10/16: OilDrum: Tech Talk - The future production from Canadian Oil Sand
• 2011/10/16: PostMedia: Shuffling of oilsands secretariat worries critics -- Shift undercuts group's role in Fort McMurray's future, they say
  Premier Alison Redford has pulled Alberta's oilsands planning committee away from the minister holding the province's purse strings, prompting critics to ask whether community development in the Fort McMurray area is a priority for the new government. When Redford reorganized cabinet and ministry duties last week, the Oil Sands Sustainable Development Secretariat was moved from the Treasury Board to Alberta Infrastructure. While people living in Fort McMurray and industry representatives are waiting to see how that move pans out, government critics say it undercuts the secretariat's ability to take an overarching approach to environment, health, housing and other development needs in the Wood Buffalo region.
• 2011/10/12: OilChange: FT: Tar Sands a "PR Nightmare"
• 2011/10/11: PostMedia: Oilsands expansion jeopardized by absence of climate plan, ambassador told
  Opposition to oilsands expansion in "Canada's Texas" and a controversial U.S. pipeline expansion project is growing because of a failure to crack down on pollution that traps heat in the atmosphere and causes climate change, Canada's ambassador to the U.S., Gary Doer, was told by staff in newly released correspondence. "The anti-oilsands campaign is very real and shows no sign of letting up," wrote Marc LePage, a special adviser on climate change and energy issues at the Canadian Embassy in Washington, in an email sent to Doer. "This will not go away and will likely intensify in the absence of movement on climate change legislation."
• 2011/10/11: MediaCoop: (Un)Ethical Oil's Alleged Concern For Women
• 2011/10/10: OilPrice: Canadian Oil Sands - A Good Investment? Not in Europe, Apparently

  Also in Alberta:

• 2011/10/11: CBC: Expert urges caution in Sinopec, Daylight Energy deal -- Approving the Canadian energy resource sale to China has both pros and cons
• 2011/10/09: G&M: Sinopec bids $2.2-billion for Alberta energy company
  Chinese energy giant Sinopec International Petroleum Exploration is testing the waters on a bold new energy strategy in Canada, as it moves to buy out an Alberta oil and gas company for $2.2-billion in cash. Sinopec's bid for Daylight Energy Ltd., whose large portfolio of Alberta and British Columbia land contains potentially significant quantities of natural gas, comes amid a new push by Asian firms to lock up Canadian energy that could soon be loaded onto tankers and shipped across the Pacific.
• 2011/10/09: BBC: Sinopec set to acquire Canadian oil and gas explorer
  China's Sinopec has agreed to buy Canadian oil and gas company Daylight Energy for about 2.2bn Canadian dollars ($2.1bn, £1.4bn). Sinopec is a subsidiary of China Petrochemical Corporation, the country's largest refiner. The deal is subject to approval from the shareholders of Alberta-based Daylight Energy. The transaction would be the latest in a string of energy sector deals between China and Canada.

In Saskatchewan the elction date has been set:

• 2011/10/10: CBC: Saskatchewan election campaign begins - Vote on Nov. 7.

  In Manitoba:

• 2011/10/15: CBC: NDP's Nycole Turmel supports Manitoba's call for flood aid
  Interim NDP Leader Nycole Turmel is urging the federal government to develop a national disaster-prevention program, following a half-hour meeting Saturday with Manitoba Premier Greg Selinger. Turmel was shown maps of areas around Lake Manitoba and Lake St. Martin, where flooding this year has forced more than 1,000 people from their homes. She said the federal government must follow through on a promise to develop a national strategy to prevent floods and other disasters before they happen.

Ontario has its Liberal minority government, but it is still wrestling with energy policy:

• 2011/10/10: CBC: Wind project threatens birds, green group warns

  While in la Belle Province:

• 2011/10/10: CBC: Conservation plan for Quebec's north still rough, premier says
  Quebec Premier Jean Charest says he hasn't hammered out the details of a plan to environmentally protect half the territory in the province's north. Speaking in Barcelona Monday, Charest told reporters his goal of preserving half the area north of the 49th parallel is ambitious and still somewhat rough.

In the Maritimes:

• 2011/10/11: CBC: [Kathy] Dunderdale leads N.L. Tories to majority -- Liberals edge NDP for Opposition status

  In the North:

• 2011/10/14: CBC: CanNor money problems result of political pressure
• 2011/10/11: CBC: Yukon Party wins historic 3rd majority

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

• 2011/10/14: CCurrents: Making Sense Of The Protests Through A Post-Growth Lens
• 2011/10/12: P3: Infinite Growth And The Crisis Cocktail
• 2011/10/13: TreeHugger: Quote of the Day: David Suzuki on the Occupy Wall Street Movement
• 2011/10/12: HotTopic: Climate Change and the End of Exponential Growth
• 2011/10/10: CCurrents: Daly's Steady-State Economics
• 2011/10/11: EnergyBulletin: On the cusp of collapse: Complexity, energy & the globalised economy
• 2011/10/09: EnergyBulletin: Daly's steady-state economics

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

• 2011/10/15: Grist: Remember when Americans used to care about population? [video]
• 2011/10/14: CCurrents: Revisiting Population Growth: The Impact Of Ecological Limits
• 2011/10/13: BrainerdDispatch: Approaching 7 billion people
• 2011/10/14: EnergyBulletin: Revisiting population growth: The impact of ecological limits
• 2011/10/14: Grist: An indigenous take on family planning and population
• 2011/10/12: Grist: 7 billion? It's time to talk
• 2011/10/11: MWatch: Why big-money men ignore world's biggest problem -- We're not dealing with the overpopulation disaster
• 2011/10/10: Guardian(UK): It is not coercive to argue for better family planning worldwide
• 2011/10/10: CDreams: Lies, Lies and More Lies: How Anti-Choicers Are Using "Personhood" to Ban Birth Control

  As for how the media handles science:

• 2011/10/12: CJR: An Empty Seat -- Government fails to show for science news, transparency event
• 2011/10/14: TP:JR: 'Guns & Patriots' Editor Creates Fake Solar Scandal About SunPower, Murdoch's Fox News Misinformers Run With It
• 2011/10/13: MediaMatters: Fox News' War On The EPA
• 2011/10/13: JFleck: A remarkable bit of science policy ignorance
• 2011/10/13: EconView: "Innuendo, Half Truths, Misdirection, and Utter Non-Sequiturs"
  I think it would be fair to say that Jeff Sachs is unhappy with Rupert Murdoch, and for good reason
• 2011/10/13: DeSmogBlog: Mainstream Media Fail to Cover Story on True Costs of Coal
• 2011/10/16: BCLSB: Globe vs. Geller? Climate-change denier and all round corporate shill Lawrence Solomon returns to the Globe
• 2011/10/11: DeSmogBlog: Journalists Ask NYTimes To Set Disclosure of Conflicts Policy For Op-Ed Contributors

  Barry Bickmore has been playing with the Daily Herald editors:

• 2011/10/12: BBickmore: The Daily Herald Reaches South Africa
• 2011/10/11: BBickmore: Will the Daily Herald Print a Retraction?
• 2011/10/10: BBickmore: More Fun With the Daily Herald Editors
• 2011/10/10: BBickmore: The Daily Herald Editors Can Read Minds

  And for your film & video enjoyment:

• 2011/10/10: Tyee: 'Seeking the Current' -- Dammed Quebec and energy alternatives are subjects of film having its English language premiere tonight in Vancouver.
• 2011/10/14: AutoBG: The Electric Vehicle Story: a Nissan Leaf documentary
• 2011/10/15: PSinclair: Weekend Wonk: Amory Lovins on Re-inventing Fire
• 2011/10/14: PSinclair: Global Warming 101: Lecture 3 - Black Body Radiation and Quantum Mechanics [vid]
• 2011/10/14: ArtThreat: "Pipe Dreams" hits screens -- U.S. documentary maker takes on the Keystone XL
• 2011/10/11: PSinclair: Detroit Rising
• 2011/10/10: AlterNet: New Film Exposes Connection Between the Kochs and a Small Community Dying of Cancer
• 2011/10/11: PSinclair: NOAA: Multi Year Ice Disappearing

  Meanwhile among the 'Sue the Bastards!' contingent:

• 2011/10/12: PlanetArk: Greens Sue Obama Administration Over Axed Smog Rule
• 2011/10/11: Grist: Enviros cross out 'Bush' on lawsuit, write in 'Obama'

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

• 2011/10/14: GG&G: On the Fallacy of Speculation-Driven Commodity Price Spikes
• 2011/10/15: NBF: OECD energy statistics for July 2011
• 2011/10/14: BPA: Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas Clearly Explains Why Speculation Didn't Drive Oil Prices in 2008
• 2011/10/14: DallasFed: Did Speculation Drive Oil Prices? Market Fundamentals Suggest Otherwise by Michael D. Plante and Mine K. Yücel
  Oil market speculation became an especially popular topic when the price of crude tripled over 18 months to a record high $145 per barrel in July 2008. Of particular interest to many is whether speculators drove oil prices beyond what fundamentals would have otherwise justified. We explore this issue over two Economic Letters. In this article, we look at evidence from the physical market for oil and conclude that fundamentals, and not speculation, were behind the dramatic rise and fall in oil prices.
• 2011/10/14: Slate: Don't Count Oil Out -- Alternative energies won't replace oil, gas, and coal anytime soon
• 2011/10/14: PeakEnergy: 90 MW Addition to Iceland's Hellisheidi Geothermal Power Plant
• 2011/10/13: NBF: Nissan fuel cell stack with 250% of the energy density versus 2005 version
• 2011/10/12: OilDrum: Medieval Smokestacks: Fossil Fuels in Pre-industrial Times
• 2011/10/12: PeakEnergy: Calpine plans $700 million Geysers geothermal power expansion
• 2011/10/11: TP:JR: Solar and Wind Could Power the West Right Now, All of America in 2026
• 2011/10/11: TreeHugger: Solar & Wind Could Power All of the U.S. by 2026
• 2011/10/10: PSinclair: Capture CO2. Oil out of Air.

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

• 2011/10/14: TP:JR: Rick Perry Needs to Get a Fracking Clue
• 2011/10/14: DeSmogBlog: Dominion Seeks To Export Marcellus Shale Gas While Claiming Its Necessity for U.S. Energy Security
• 2011/10/13: KSJT: ProPublica: Fracking series confronts a void: no good epidemiological evidence
• 2011/10/11: EnergyBulletin: Fracking and coalbed methane: Unconventional gas in the UK

  On the coal front:

• 2011/10/10: TreeHugger: Here's Why Coal's True Cost Is Much Higher Than We Pay

  On the gas and oil front:

• 2011/10/14: BBerg: Closing oil prices Friday
  OIL (US$/bbl)
  Nymex Crude Future...86.80
  Dated Brent Spot....115.50
  WTI Cushing Spot.....86.80
• 2011/10/14: AutoBG: 2011 U.S. demand for gasoline below 2010 level for 29th consecutive week
• 2011/10/10: EarlyWarning: Oil Production of the Top Three International Oil Companies

  And in pipeline news:

• 2011/10/09: OilDrum: Tech Talk - Pipelines, Eastern Canada and Maine
• 2011/10/10: OilChange: The Conflict of Interest that Should Stop Keystone

  Yes we have peak everything:

• 2011/10/13: CCurrents: The Peak Oil Crisis: Contagion
• 2011/10/14: EnergyBulletin: Should cheap phosphorus be first on an elemental 'Red List'?
• 2011/10/12: EnergyBulletin: The peak oil crisis: contagion
• 2011/10/12: Eureka: Metal shortages alert from leading geologists -- Inexorable demand for consumer goods places strain on supply of metals
• 2011/10/10: EnergyBulletin: Commentary: Weak world GDP growth & "peak oil" by Robert L. Hirsch
• 2011/10/10: EnergyBulletin: Chemical low
• 2011/10/09: EnergyBulletin: The energy expert you shouldn't trust [PO]
• 2011/10/09: EnergyBulletin: Destroying dreams the peak oil way

  Biofuel bickering abounds:

• 2011/10/15: AutoBG: U.S. ethanol output dips... again
• 2011/10/12: CBC: Pine genetics producing trait-specific trees -- Breakthrough promises more trees for bioenergy
• 2011/10/12: PeakEnergy: World bioplastics market to grow 32 per cent by 2014
• 2011/10/10: AutoBG: Is rapeseed biodiesel worse for the environment than diesel?

  The answer my friend...:

• 2011/10/11: TreeHugger: 1 Gigawatt New England Offshore Wind Farm Inches Forward - Production Could Begin in 2016

  Meanwhile among the solar aficionados:

• 2011/10/15: TP:JR: GE Announces 400-MW Solar Manufacturing Plant in Colorado
• 2011/10/13: Grist: Solar is getting cheap fast -- Very Serious People should pay attention
• 2011/10/13: TreeHugger: MIT Artificial Solar Leaf Comes to Life! (Video)

  The nuclear energy controversy continues:

• 2011/10/13: NBF: Flibe Energy Liquid Flouride Thorium Reactor Company
• 2011/10/12: ScienceInsider: Nuclear Power Likely to Grow, Royal Society Says, So Nations Should Plan Ahead

  Nuclear waste storage requires _very_ long term thinking:

• 2011/10/13: RS: [link to 2.3 meg pdf] Fuel cycle stewardship in a nuclear renaissance
• 2011/10/14: BBC: Wish list for a nuclear world
  The Royal Society, the UK's national science academy, has produced a blueprint for a safer nuclear age.
• 2011/10/12: APR: Well done article on Spent Fuel Storage
• 2011/10/12: TBAS: The "scientization" of Yucca Mountain

  The Rossi Energy Catalyzer keeps coming up:

• 2011/10/14: IDG: Cheap power: An overnight revolution
• 2011/10/14: NBF: Computerworld considers Rossi Cold Fusion

  More people are talking about the electrical grid:

• 2011/10/14: BBC: Pylon design competition winner revealed
  A T-shaped design has scooped a £5,000 prize in a competition to find the next generation of electricity pylons.
• 2011/10/12: PlanetArk: EU Seeks Powers To Speed Up Energy Pipes, Grids
• 2011/10/11: BCLocalNews: Will smart meters be a smart move?

  And then there is the matter of efficiency & conservation:

• 2011/10/14: Grist: Pulling the plug on L.A.

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

• 2011/10/13: Grist: Charge your EV in 10 minutes flat
• 2011/10/11: AutoBG: Meet the 110-mile electric E-Schwalbe scooter
• 2011/10/11: AutoBG: Edison2 eVLC nabs shocking EPA rating of 245 MPGe
• 2011/10/12: AutoBG: Automakers working on universal electric vehicle port for all charging levels
• 2011/10/10: AutoBG: Across the pond: A look electrified vehicle sales in France

  As for Energy Storage:

• 2011/10/09: TP:JR: GE May Lease Vehicle Batteries for Electric Cars, Used Batteries May Get Second Life Storing Power for Grid
• 2011/10/09: NBF: Aquion energy Battery is three times cheaper and is targeting grid scale energy storage

  The reaction of business to climate change will be critical:

• 2011/10/10: Guardian(UK): Climate change not factored into companies' value, warns UN chief
  Carbon finance experts told firms with high-carbon emissions must be re-evaluated by stock markets

Insurance and re-insurance companies are feeling the heat:

• 2011/10/16: Grist: Why the insurance industry won't save us from climate change

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

• 2011/10/14: TP:JR: October 18 (sic) News...
• 2011/10/13: TP:JR: October 13 News...
• 2011/10/12: TP:JR: October 12 News...
• 2011/10/11: TP:JR: October 11 News...

  Other (weekly) lists:

• 2011/10/12: CER: This Week in Energy: Gasification, China, Brazil, KiOR
• 2011/10/10: BPA: Agriculture News

  The carbon lobby are up to the usual:

• 2011/10/14: BCLSB: Does Alykhan Velshi Work For TAF?
• 2011/10/13: BRitholtz: A Map of Organized Climate Change Denial
• 2011/10/16: TP:JR: Film Alleges Koch Industries' Dumping of Toxic Chemicals is Killing People in Arkansas
• 2011/10/11: QuarkSoup: Deniers: Doing their Algebra Right on the Page
• 2011/10/11: ITracker: A pseudointellectual "beard" for climate folly
• 2011/10/11: ERabett: Andy Lacis Meets the Train Wreck
• 2011/10/11: DeSmogBlog: Koch Brothers Exposed: Cancer Risk In Crossett Arkansas Blamed On Georgia Pacific
• 2011/10/10: AlterNet: New Film Exposes Connection Between the Kochs and a Small Community Dying of Cancer
• 2011/10/10: TP:JR: It's Anti-Flat-Earth Day, and Conservapedia Still Thinks the Theory of Relativity Is a Liberal Plot

  Meanwhile in the 'clean coal' saga:

• 2011/10/14: GreenGrok: Arsenic and Old Coal Ash

  As for climate miscellanea:

• 2011/10/15: TP:JR: What's a Good Term for the Opinion Leaders Who Just Don't Get Global Warming?
• 2011/10/15: MTobis: A better Way -- This blog will be moving soon, to be a sub-blog under Planet3.0
• 2011/10/10: CER:RRapier: Why the Debate Over Global Warming is Academic
• 2011/10/15: Tamino: Opportunity Knocks?
• 2011/10/14: Tamino: Truth or Consequences
• 2011/10/16: EnergyBulletin: I believe it because it is absurd
• 2011/10/13: Grist: Writing on the wall: Fighting climate change in the Navajo Nation
• 2011/10/12: Eureka: Stanford researchers examine impact of 'green politics' on recent national elections
• 2011/10/12: ITracker: Judith Curry understood risk in 2007
• 2011/10/11: P3: The Long Fat Tale of the Long Fat Tail
• 2011/10/12: MTobis: Good News from Texas
• 2011/10/11: ClassM: Impressionable youth and climate propaganda
• 2011/10/11: TreeHugger: NASA Climate Scientist: Skeptics are "Winning the Argument"
• 2011/10/11: DeSmogBlog: Once And For All: The Precautionary Principle is Not Unscientific
• 2011/10/09: TP:JR: Would Things Be Different If the Public had Perfect Information on Climate Science and Solutions?
• 2011/10/10: HotTopic: Another planet (3.0)
• 2011/10/09: Tamino: Survey Says...

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

• WMO: Expert Team on Weather Modification
• FAO: World Food Day, 16 October 2011
• CBD: Center for Biological Diversity
• U. S. Chamberwatch
• Permaculture(UK)
• EarthTechling: Green technology news, features, and product reviews for all Earthlings
• Climate Engineering
• WRI: [links to summaries for 2005-20010] Climate Science: Major New Discoveries
• Food & Water Watch
• The Earthjustice Blog
• Wiki: Malthusian catastrophe
• Fukushima Diary
• Earth Summit 2012

New Web Site:

I have a new website. Everything that was on Autobahn has been ported over. I have 100 megs to play with here, so the Archives will get deeper.

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.

"The only thing we can be sure of about the future is that it will be absolutely fantastic. So if what I say now seems to you to be very reasonable, then I have failed completely. Only if what I tell you appears absolutely unbelievable, have we any chance of visualizing the future as it really will happen." -Arthur C. Clarke

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