Another Week of GW News, October 23, 2011

Logging the Onset of The Bottleneck Years

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Another week in the Ecological Crisis

Information is not Knowledge...Knowledge is not Wisdom

October 23, 2011

• Chuckles, COP17+, Horn of Africa, Monsoon, BEST
• Albedo, Drought, OWS, Monnett, Subsidies, GFI, Cook
• Fukushima Note, Fukushima News, Nuclear Policy
• Melting Arctic, Megafauna, Geopolitics
• Food Crisis, Food Prices, Food vs. Biofuel, IP Issues, GMOs, Food Production
• Hurricanes, GHGs, Carbon Cycle, Temperatures, Ozone
• ENSO, Solar, Extinctions, Satellites
• Impacts, Forests, Climate Refugees, Desertification, Phenology
• Corals, Glaciers, Sea Levels, Floods & Droughts
• Mitigation, Transportation, Buildings, Sequestration, Geoengineering, Adaptation
• Journals, Other Docs , Misc. Science, DIY Science, Models, Schmidt, Wilson
• International Politics: Carbon Trade, Bank Tax, Optimal Carbon Reduction Strategy
• Rare Earths, Energy Race, Security, Law & Activism, Polls, H2O Biz, Predictions
• National Politics: America, BP Disaster, 2012, Calif. Cap & Trade, Keystone XL
• Solyndra, Polar Bears, Obama, USAdmin, Congress, Lobbyists
• Britain, Europe, Australia, Carbon Law, MDBP, New Zealand, Japan, Africa, South America
• Canada, Post G8/G20, Job Cuts, Pipelines, CWB, ISA, BC, Tar Sands, Alberta, Ontario, Quebec
• Ecological Economics, IPAT, Apocalypso, Media, Books, Video, Courts
• Energy, Fracking, Coal, Oil & Gas, Fossil Fuel Corps, Pipelines, Peak Oil, Biofuel
• Wind, Solar, Nukes, Nuclear Waste, LENR, Efficiency, Cars, Energy Storage
• Business, Joe's List, Carbon Lobby, Miscellaneous Climate, Useful Links
• New Web Site, Shameless Self Promotion, .sig

The things that pass for humour nowadays:

• 2011/10/20: JMCartoons: (cartoon - Mohr) Fuel Efficient Cars are not "Earth Friendly"
• 2011/10/20: SeattlePI: (cartoon - Horsey) Michelle Bachmann explains the rise of extreme weather
• 2011/10/18: uComics: (cartoon - Auth) Homo Saps

  Looking ahead to COP17 and future international climate negotiations:

• COP17/CMP7 - Durban
• UNFCCC: The United Nations Climate Change Conference in Durban, South Africa, COP 17 / CMP 7, 28 November - 9 December 2011
• 2011/10/21: NatureNB: Can psychology overcome a climate of resistance?
• 2011/10/22: al Jazeera: Fighting for a climate change treaty
  Treaty to ban chemicals that harmed the ozone layer came about when there was consensus between science and politics.
• 2011/10/21: WSJ: Policy Makers Put Climate Change on Back Burner
• 2011/10/19: PlanetArk: No "Big Bang" Expected From Durban Climate Talks: EU
• 2011/10/19: EmbassyMag: Leave Canada behind on Kyoto, say observers
  South African high commissioner concerned about Canada's position heading into Durban climate talks. As the international community gears up for the next round of climate change talks, some observers are saying countries in favour of a second Kyoto Protocol commitment period should go ahead and sign, even if it means leaving opposing countries like Canada behind.
• 2011/10/18: DerSpiegel: Climate Change Negotiations -- The Death of the Kyoto Process
  There seems little possibility that next month's climate summit in Durban will produce an emissions reduction agreement -- meaning the world will soon lack any binding CO2 targets. Europe may soon find itself alone in the fight against global warming.
• 2011/10/17: Grist: Is a centralized climate solution still possible? And more from my chat with Andy Revkin

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

• 2011/10/21: OpenDem: Al-Shabab: Between the battlefield & the famine
  Despite its military setbacks and pressures from the famine, Al-Shabab remains a formidable and adaptive force and insurgents continue to control most of central and southern Somalia.
• 2011/10/20: UN: Horn of Africa: More resources needed to maintain relief effort -- UN
• 2011/10/19: TP:JR: USGS Expert Explains How Global Warming Likely Contributes to East Africa's Brutal Drought
• 2011/10/19: BBC: East Africa drought 'remains huge crisis' - UK official
  Three months after famine was declared in Somalia, the scale of the crisis in the Horn of Africa remains huge, says a British official. International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell said hundreds of people, mainly children, were dying every day.

The Monsoon is severely afflicting South East Asia:

• 2011/10/22: CBC: Thailand's floods could last 6 weeks -- 700,000 people put out of work
• 2011/10/22: BBC: Thailand floods: Crisis 'to last four to six weeks'
  Thailand's worst flooding in decades is set to last another four to six weeks, the country's prime minister has said. Yingluck Shinawatra warned people in Bangkok to be prepared for flooding there, describing the situation as "extremely serious". Three months of heavy monsoon rain have left swathes of the country flooded and led to the deaths of some 350 people. Northern and central areas were worst hit initially but now the run-off is draining south, threatening Bangkok.
• 2011/10/22: al Jazeera: Thai PM warns floods to continue for 'weeks'
  Yingluck says country will endure at least a month more of flooding, with possible metre-deep water in Bangkok.
• 2011/10/21: CBC: Floodwaters seep into outer Bangkok -- Government opens canals to drain water to sea
• 2011/10/21: CNN: Thailand to open flood gates to save capital
  Flood waters pour through the northern Bangkok suburb of Rangsit - Residents double park cars along elevated highways, adding to the traffic congestion - The government hopes the water will not overflow canals and spill into the streets - The flooding is the worst in Thailand in half a century
• 2011/10/21: BBC: Thailand floods: Bangkok braced as drainage begins
  More districts in the north of the Thai capital have been told to brace for flooding as water begins to drain through the city's canals to the sea.
• 2011/10/20: CNN: Thai flooding threatens capital as residents seek refuge
  Bangkok residents scramble to prepare for flooding - Nearly 9 million people are affected by flooding, authorities say - It is the country's worst flood in half a century - "The situation is very uncertain," an aid worker says
• 2011/10/19: UN: General Assembly President voices deep concern at South-East Asian floods
  [More than a million people have been affected due to heavy flooding in Cambodia]
• 2011/10/20: BBC: Thailand floods: Bangkok 'impossible to protect'
  The Thai government says it will be impossible to protect all of the capital from flooding because of a build-up of water to the north.
• 2011/10/20: al Jazeera: Thai PM warns of Bangkok flooding
  Yingluck Shinawatra says it is impossible to protect all of capital, as anger mounts over government response to floods.
• 2011/10/19: CNN: More than 700 dead as flooding hits southeast Asian countries
  Thailand has been hit the hardest with 315 people killed - Also hard-hit is Cambodia which has reported 247 dead
• 2011/10/19: PlanetArk: Thai Floods To Slash Growth, Crisis Not Over For Bangkok
• 2011/10/19: BBC: Thailand flooding: Bangkok districts put on alert
  Residents of seven districts of Bangkok have been told to move valuables to higher ground and be ready to evacuate, as flooding which has swamped northern Thailand approaches the capital. More than 300 people have been killed in the worst flooding to hit the country in decades.
• 2011/10/19: al Jazeera: Thai floods dent confidence in government
  Mixed messages from authorities leave people confused about threat level as Bangkok braces for flooding.
• 2011/10/17: PSinclair: No End in Sight to Thailand Flooding: "More difficult than the Japanese Tsunami"
• 2011/10/17: BBC: Thai flooding: Key business park Navanakorn evacuated
  One of Thailand's oldest and largest industrial estates has been evacuated after flood waters breached its recently-fortified defences.
• 2011/10/17: CBC: Bangkok governor issues urgent call for sandbags -- 'Every second counts,' governor says
  The Thai capital needs 1.2 million sandbags to construct a six-kilometre wall within 48 hours to keep encroaching floods from swamping into the city, Bangkok's governor said Monday night. "Every second counts," said Sukhumbhand Paribatra, whose call for city residents not to let down their guard posed a contrast to government statements in the morning that the flood threat to Bangkok appeared to be easing.

The double plus un-contrarian Berkeley surface temperature report triggered a blogostorm:

• 2011/10/22: ITracker: Why BEST matters
• 2011/10/22: P3: BEST of Times, Worst of Times
• 2011/10/21: KSJT: Lots of Ink: Yet another study of global warming. A sorta-skeptic led it. Result: World is still getting hotter at fearful rate
• 2011/10/20: TPL: BEST Study Confirms: Elvis, Skeptic UHI Claim Dead
• 2011/10/22: Deltoid: The Berkeley Earth Surface Temperature algorithm
• 2011/10/21: TreeHugger: Earth's Temperature Is Indeed Warming - Independent Analysis Backs NASA, NOAA, Others
• 2011/10/21: DeSmogBlog: Urban Heat Island -- Favorite Skeptic Myth Debunked Again, This Time By Koch-Funded Science
• 2011/10/22: NBF: Researchers considered to be unbiased release study that confirms that the earth has warmed 1 degree celsius since the mid 1950s
• 2011/10/21: CSM: Koch brothers accidentally fund study that proves global warming
• 2011/10/22: BBC: Climate study raises 'heated debate'
  The Berkeley Earth Project's new analysis of the global temperature record, which I covered on Thursday, raises a number of questions concerning the science and the politics of climate change, and the ways in which science should be conducted. The headline conclusion - that the Earth's surface is indeed getting warmer and that the 20th Century did indeed see a pattern of warming, slight cooling and warming again - is hardly a surprise. But in the febrile atmosphere of "the climate debate", its significance lies not only in its conclusions, but in who's done it and what they've found.
• 2011/10/21: NYT:PK: More People Who Can't Handle The Truth [BEST]
• 2011/10/21: CCP: Geoff Mohan, LA Times: Climate skeptic Richard Muller admits he was wrong to doubt global-warming data
• 2011/10/21: AFTIC: Is BEST the Last?
• 2011/10/21: TWTB: Grasping at straws -- Watts, GWPF vs. Reality, Berkeley Earth
• 2011/10/21: CNN: New climate study deals blow to skeptics
  Independent study concludes global land temperatures have risen since 1950s - Study examined 1.6 billion weather reports from nearly 40,000 weather stations - Climate skeptic concern over "urban heat island effect" not borne out by research - Study also finds no evidence of data selection bias claimed by skeptics
• 2011/10/21: EurActiv: New study seeks to shut up climate skeptics
  Global warming is 'real' and temperatures have climbed steadily over the past decades, a long-awaited, independent study has found, refuting skeptics' claims that there isn't enough evidence to assert that the world climate is changing.
• 2011/10/21: TWTB: Initial thoughts on the Berkeley Earth Surface Temperature release
• 2011/10/21: WSJ: The Case Against Global-Warming Skepticism by Richard A. Muller
  There were good reasons for doubt, until now.
• 2011/10/21: PSinclair: Muller in WSJ. Would be Funny if it Weren't so Damn Sad.
• 2011/10/21: CCP: Shawn Lawrence Otto: Another Climate Denial Argument Bites the Dust -- BEST study says urban areas not skewing global temperature measurements
• 2011/10/21: ITracker: BEST reports: News roundup & LOL
• 2011/10/21: WottsUWT: The Berkeley Earth Surface Temperature project puts PR before peer review
• 2011/10/20: TPL: BEST Study Confirms: "Skeptic" UHI Claims Just A Lot of Hot Air
• 2011/10/21: EnvEcon: I'm B.E.S.T. too!
• 2011/10/22: SkeptiSci: The BEST Kind of Skepticism by dana1981
• 2011/10/21: SkeptiSci: Berkeley Earth Surface Temperature Study: "The effect of urban heating on the global trends is nearly negligible" by Andy S
• 2011/10/20: Grist: Koch-funded scientists confirm global warming
• 2011/10/21: DM:BA: New independent climate study confirms global warming is real
• 2011/10/21: BCLSB: Global Warming Confirmed: Urban Heat Islands, Surface Station Quality Have Little Effect On Temperature Readings
• 2011/10/21: DeSmogBlog: BEST busts Urban Heat Island Myth
• 2011/10/20: Forbes: Breaking News: The Earth Still Goes Around the Sun, and It's Still Warming Up [Peter Gleick]
• 2011/10/21: CCP: The Economist: The heat is on -- A new analysis [by BEST] of the temperature record leaves little room for the doubters. The world is warming
• 2011/10/20: TP:JR: Hot Dog Bites Skeptical Man: Koch-Funded Berkeley Temperature Study Does "Confirm the Reality of Global Warming"
• 2011/10/20: NewScientist: Sceptical climate scientists concede Earth has warmed
• 2011/10/20: QuarkSoup: BEST, Muller, and the Issue of Peer Review
• 2011/10/20: QuarkSoup: Not a Good Day to Be Anthony Watts
• 2011/10/20: Stoat: BEST is boring
• 2011/10/20: S&R: Watts wrong with this picture?
• 2011/10/20: ClassM: BEST paper in the urban heat island effect category
• 2011/10/20: PSinclair: Another Critic Forced to Admit - The Science is Sound. It Always was.
• 2011/10/20: BBC: Global warming 'confirmed' by independent study
• 2011/10/20: Guardian(UK): Global warming study finds no grounds for climate sceptics' concerns
• 2011/10/20: Tamino: Berkeley Team Says Global Warming NOT Due to Urban Heating
• 2011/10/20: NatureN: Different method, same result: global warming is real
  Independent [BEST] analysis confirms earlier results but aims for greater transparency. After generating considerable attention with a preview on Capitol Hill last spring, an independent team of scientists has formally released their analysis of the land surface temperature record. Led by Richard Muller, a physicist at the University of California, Berkeley, the Berkeley Earth Surface Temperature study takes a different and more comprehensive approach than earlier assessments, but reaches the same basic conclusion: global warming is happening. Nature examines how the new study differs from its predecessors.

The Jacobson & Hoeve on white roofs and albedo surprised some. Let's see a corroborating study:

• 2011/10/20: JC: (ab$) Effects of Urban Surfaces and White Roofs on Global and Regional Climate by Mark Z. Jacobson & John E. Ten Hoeve
• 2011/10/20: DM:80B: White Roofs May Actually Add to Global Warming
• 2011/10/19: Grist: Heat from cities barely affects global warming
• 2011/10/18: Eureka: Urban 'heat island' effect is a small part of global warming; white roofs don't reduce it

  About that South Pacific Island drought:

• 2011/10/18: TreeHugger: Entire Island Nation [of Tuvalu] Runs Out of Water
• 2011/10/17: Guardian(UK): Tuvalu drought could be dry run for dealing with climate change

  The Occupy Wall Street movement resonates with many environmentalists:

• 2011/10/21: Grist: Is there room for the environment at the Occupation?
• 2011/10/21: TP:JR: Occupy Wall Street Movement Energizes Climate Protesters, But Also Highlights Contradictions
• 2011/10/20: P3: Rebels without a root cause
• 2011/10/20: EnergyBulletin: Becoming Legion: Are the Occupations a brief preoccupation or the sign of a world-altering transformation?
• 2011/10/19: P3: The 99% Movement and Environmentalists
• 2011/10/19: MTobis: Good Attitude
• 2011/10/18: P3: Missing Links: Meltdowns from the Arctic to Wall Street
• 2011/10/14: MoJo: Foodies, Get Thee to Occupy Wall Street -- Because Big Food makes Big Finance look like amateurs [food corps]

  Another stage in the Monnett saga?

• 2011/10/14: NPR: Polar Bear Researcher To Be Re-Interviewed By Feds

  Who's getting the subsidies?

• 2011/10/19: GreenGrok: Take Your Pick from the Energy Subsidies Tree: Apples, Oranges, or Blossoms

  What are the global financial institutions [WB, IMF etc] up to?

• 2011/10/20: PlanetArk: World Bank To Fund Small, Clean-Tech Firms $60 Million

  John Cook and friends continue their point-counterpoint articles:

• 2011/10/23: SkeptiSci: Test your climate knowledge in free online course
• 2011/10/22: SkeptiSci: The BEST Kind of Skepticism by dana1981
• 2011/10/21: SkeptiSci: Berkeley Earth Surface Temperature Study: "The effect of urban heating on the global trends is nearly negligible" by Andy S
• 2011/10/21: SkeptiSci: Arctic Ice Volume is diminishing even more rapidly than Area by Peter Hogarth
• 2011/10/19: SkeptiSci: Sea levels will continue to rise for 500 years by John Hartz
• 2011/10/18: SkeptiSci: How Increasing Carbon Dioxide Heats The Ocean by Rob Painting
• 2011/10/18: SkeptiSci: Comparing Global Temperature Predictions by dana1981
• 2011/10/17: SkeptiSci: El Niño: Unaffected by climate change in the 21st century but its impacts may be more severe

  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:

• 2011/10/20: EneNews: Asahi: Massive amounts of groundwater flowing into Reactors No. 1-4...
• 2011/10/21: EneNews: Major Japan Paper: "We still regret not having been able to predict that radioactive contamination would spread to the extent that it has"
• 2011/10/20: Straight: What are officials hiding about Fukushima?
  The Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan has exposed troubling weaknesses with radiation monitoring here in Canada. After the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in 1986, Soviet officials were vilified for hiding the impacts from the public. But when Japan's Fukushima nuclear accident took place last March, public officials in Japan and Canada alike jumped straight into Chernobyl-style damage-control mode, dismissing any worries about impacts. Now evidence has emerged that the radiation in Canada was worse than Canadian officials ever let on.
• 2011/10/20: EneNews: Nuclear Engineer: Radioactive steam continuously leaking out of Reactor No. 3 -- It's important to recognize how serious damage is at this reactor (video)
• 2011/10/20: EneNews: New pics of Reactor No. 3 show crane has collapsed onto leaking containment vessel (video)
• 2011/10/19: APR: Fukushima Daiichi - Emergency Seawater Injection Practice
• 2011/10/19: APR: Further test on pressure vessels at Fukushima Daiichi inconclusive
• 2011/10/19: PlanetArk: Fukushima Victims: Homeless, Desperate And Angry
• 2011/10/17: CNN: Fukushima reactors may be shut down ahead of schedule
  Tokyo Electric says it could complete reactor shutdown a month early - Radioactive water is being pumped out and decontaminated, it says - Fukushima Daiichi was the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl
• 2011/10/18: PlanetArk: TEPCO: Radiation From Fukushima Plant Declines Further
• 2011/10/17: EneNews: NHK, Tepco finally confirm steam came up from underground at Reactor No. 1 -- Now 4.7 Sieverts per hour, almost 20% more than in June

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

• 2011/10/20: PlanetArk: Japan Still Considering Total Nuclear Power Pullout
• 2011/10/19: EnergyBulletin: Bye bye nukes in Japan by 2012

  The Arctic melt continues to garner a lot of attention:

• 2011/10/22: CCP: Earth Watch: Melting ice, shrinking polar bears and hot potatoes
• 2011/10/23: ASI: Freezing in the Dark
• 2011/10/15: NorwayPost: The Arctic Sea may be free of ice in ten years
• 2011/10/16: CCP: Climate change panel's 2007 predictions on Arctic ice loss too optimistic?

  As for the charismatic megafauna:

• 2011/10/22: CBC: Polar bear encounters on the rise in some Nunavut communities
• 2011/10/17: ProMedMail: Die-off, marine wildlife - USA (03): (AK) seal, walrus
• 2011/10/14: AlaskaDispatch: Diseased Arctic animals should get AFN delegates' attention
  Rural residents and subsistence hunters hoping to vent about the effect of climate change in the Arctic, including the weird ulcers and skin lesions that appear to be killing seals and possibly walruses will get a chance next week during events happening before the start of the Alaska Federation of Natives' annual convention.

As for the geopolitics of Arctic resources:

• 2011/10/21: CCP: Shell granted air permit for Beaufort Sea drilling
• 2011/10/19: Ecologist: Arctic special Why Arctic Ocean oil drilling is a risky choice
  It's not a question of 'if' a major spill will occur in the Arctic, but 'when and where', says conservation biologist and oil industry expert Rick Steiner As we enter the end of the age of oil, it is clear that most of the world's easily accessible oil has already been produced. Oil companies are now moving offshore into the last hydrocarbon frontiers - deepwater and the Arctic Ocean.
• 2011/07/14: BarentsObserver: Oil tankers through North East Passage
  The two Murmansk registered oil tankers Varzuga and Indiga are right now on their way through the partly ice-covered Northern Sea Route on their way to Chukotka in Russia's Far East.
• 2011/10/18: SlashDot: Northeast Passage Becomes Viable Trade Route
• 2011/10/17: NYT: Warming Revives Dream of Sea Route in Russian Arctic

  The food crisis is ongoing:

• 2011/10/: IFPRI: [infographic] Global Hunger Index 2011 by Severity
• 2011/10/21: ERW: Collapse of Soviet Union equivalent to Chernobyl for land-use change
• 2011/10/19: ERW: Starbucks concerned world coffee supply is threatened by climate change
• 2011/10/20: BPA: Ukraine's Corn Yield and Production to Set Records this Year
• 2011/10/21: EUO: EU to cut food aid for the poor
• 2011/10/21: UN: As food crisis grips DPR Korea, UN aid chief urges world to not 'turn our backs'
• 2011/10/19: UN: UN expert calls for two-pronged approach to end food crisis in DPR Korea
• 2011/10/20: TreeHugger: The Two Sides of the Food Crisis: Want & Waste (Infographic)
• 2011/10/19: Stoat: Famine: impacts and adaption
• 2011/10/19: Grist: Good menhaden are hard to find
• 2011/10/14: NYT: The Struggle for Daily Bread
  If the word crisis is vastly overused, to speak of a global food crisis is, if anything, an understatement. The first signs of trouble appeared in 2000, when global grain stocks declined for the first time in several decades, but it was not until the spring of 2007 that the full gravity of what was occurring became clear. During that year, the prices of the principal food staples -- rice, corn, soybeans and wheat -- effectively doubled throughout the world. This was an unprecedented rise, and it reversed more than 50 years of declining prices. Grain prices dropped by 75 percent between 1950 and the end of the 1980s and then remained low into the first years of the new century. The results were immediate and devastating: By the most conservative estimates, the number of hungry or chronically malnourished people rose by at least 100 million, to nearly one billion people -- that is, to almost one-seventh of the world's population. Food riots and other forms of unrest broke out throughout the world.
• 2011/10/12: SciAm: Can We Feed the World and Sustain the Planet?
• 2011/10/12: NPR: Facing Planetary Enemy No. 1: Agriculture
• 2011/10/19: BPA: California's Fall Vegetable Harvest Looks Good
• 2011/10/18: BBC: Med Bluefin tuna catch 'unabated'
  Bluefin tuna boats in the Mediterranean Sea continue to catch many more fish than they report, a study concludes. Commissioned by the Pew Environment Group, it finds that last year 140% more bluefin meat from the Med entered the market than was reported as caught.

Food Prices are still problematic:

• FAO: World Food Situation - Food Price Indices
• 2011/10/11: IFPRI: New Global Hunger Index Report Calls for Action to Curtail High and Volatile Prices and Protect the Poor
• 2011/10/19: BPA: Food at Home Price Index has increased 6.3% and the Dairy Index is up 10.2% in the Past Year
• 2011/10/17: UN: Food price swings threaten to push millions more people into hunger, UN warns

  The conflict between biofuel and food persists:

• 2011/10/21: ERW: US must stop promoting biofuels to tackle world hunger, says thinktank
  America must stop promoting the production of biofuels if there is to be any real progress in addressing spiking global food prices and famine, such as seen in the Horn of Africa, an authoritative thinktank has warned.

Look out! the IP Rentiers are coming!

• 2011/10/19: PlanetArk: DuPont Suit Claims Monsanto Infringed Corn Patent
• 2011/10/12: TheEcologist: How India squared up to Monsanto's 'biopiracy'
  Following allegations of defying India's Biological Diversity Act (BDA), Monsanto faces a lawsuit from the Indian government, reports Rosie Spinks What do Agent Orange, DDT, aspartamine, bovine growth hormone, GMOs and now, biopiracy all share in common? Other than being the stuff of environmentalists' nightmares, each one owes its provenance to a single source: the biotechnology giant Monsanto. The Indian government recently took an unprecedented step in filing suit against the corporation's joint venture in India (known as Mahyco-Monsanto Biotech Limited) for the 'unlawful' attempt to obtain and modify the indigenous crop brinjal. Known elsewhere as aubergine or eggplant, brinjal is cultivated and consumed by many Indians, with roughly 2,500 unique varieties.

Regarding the genetic modification of food:

• 2011/10/21: MLynas: Why I will never be an 'ambassador' for the corporate biotech lobby
• 2011/10/21: EurActiv: Biotech group bids to recruit high-profile GM 'ambassadors'
  Europe's largest and most influential biotech industry group, whose members include Monsanto, Bayer and other GM companies, is recruiting high-profile "ambassadors" to lobby European leaders on GM policy.
• 2011/10/20: Guardian(UK): How Mark Lynas riled the green movement
  Mark Lynas alienated green colleagues by becoming an advocate for nuclear power and GM crops. He explains why

And how are we going to feed 9 billion?

• 2011/10/20: FAO: Peace corps strengthens global partnership with FAO and WFP
• 2011/10/17: FAO: World Food Day focuses on swinging food prices -- Investment in agriculture and women key to food security
• 2011/10/21: BPA: The Riskiest Farms Financially are the Largest Farms, Livestock Farms, and Young Farms
• 2011/10/21: Grist: Pesticides are good for you
• 2011/10/21: Eureka: Pastoralists in drought-stricken Kenya receive insurance payouts for massive livestock losses
  As livestock deaths mount, a small group of herders in Northern Kenya's Marsabit District is first to benefit from program [IBLI: Index Based Livestock Insurance] that tracks forage conditions via satellite
• 2011/10/20: CSM: Cheap drip irrigation could transform small farms
• 2011/10/19: TreeHugger: Hardwood Could Become The New Sugar Cane - If Sustainable Development Becomes 'Super Critical' [food prod]
• 2011/10/17: BPA: My Critique of "Feeding the World While Protecting the Planet" by Jon Foley's Team - University of Minnesota
• 2011/10/17: NSF: From Tropics to Poles: Study Reveals Diversity of Life in Soils
• 2011/10/14: WAFC: New Study Finds 400,000 Farmers in Southern Africa Using 'Fertilizer Trees' to Dramatically Improve Food Security
• 2011/10/: Rodale: [link to 1,3 meg pdf] 30 Years of the Farming Systems Trial
• 2011/09/: TSJ: A New Approach to Feeding the World
• 2011/09/27: PostMedia: Study debunks myths on organic farms
  The results are in from a 30-year side-by-side trial of conventional and organic farming methods at Pennsylvania's Rodale Institute. Contrary to conventional wisdom, organic farming outperformed conventional farming in every measure. There are about 1,500 organic farmers in Saskatchewan, at last count. They eschew the synthetic fertilizers and toxic sprays that are the mainstay of conventional farms. Study after study indicates the conventional thinking on farming - that we have to tolerate toxic chemicals because organic farming can't feed the world - is wrong.
• 2011/10/17: EnergyBulletin: How Mongolian herders are transforming nomadic pastoralism
• 2011/10/17: Guardian(UK): Greener meat: the offal truth

  Things are quieting down East and West:

• 2011/10/22: Wunderground: Little change to 96L; El Salvador flood among its worst in history
• 2011/10/21: Wunderground: Western Caribbean disturbance 96L growing more organized
• 2011/10/17: Wunderground: 95L drenching the Keys, could develop into a tropical depression

  While elsewhere in the hurricane wars:

• 2011/10/18: ERW: Insight: early summer sees more intense typhoons

  As for GHGs:

• 2011/10/21: Guardian(UK): Groundbreaking data tracks carbon emissions back to their source
  A new scientific paper allows us to see which countries extracted the fossil fuels burned to support lifestyles in other countries
• 2011/10/20: TP:JR: A Big Source of Climate Confusion: The Factor of 3.67 Difference Between Carbon vs. Carbon Dioxide
• 2011/10/17: Eureka: Links in the chain: Global carbon emissions and consumption

  And in the carbon cycle:

• 2011/10/17: Eureka: US rivers and streams saturated with carbon

  As for the temperature record:

• 2011/10/21: LU: New study shows no simultaneous warming of northern and southern hemispheres as a result of climate change for 20 000 years
  A common argument against global warming is that the climate has always varied. Temperatures rise sometimes and this is perfectly natural is the usual line. However, Svante Björck, a climate researcher at Lund University in Sweden, has now shown that global warming, i.e. simultaneous warming events in the northern and southern hemispheres, have not occurred in the past 20 000 years, which is as far back as it is possible to analyse with sufficient precision to compare with modern developments. Svante Björck's study thus goes 14 000 years further back in time than previous studies have done. "What is happening today is unique from a historical geological perspective", he says
• 2011/10/19: Wunderground: September the globe's 8th warmest on record; heavy rains hit Florida
• 2011/10/17: moyhu: GISS Sep 11 - down 0.13°C

  Regarding ozone:

• 2011/10/20: NASA: NASA, NOAA Data Show Significant Antarctic Ozone Hole Remains
• 2011/10/20: NOAANews: NOAA, NASA: Significant ozone hole remains over Antarctica

  While on the ENSO front:

• 2011/10/20: NOAANews: U.S. dealt another La Niña winter but [Arctic Oscillation] 'wild card' could trump it -- Devastating drought in Southern Plains likely to continue
• 2011/10/17: SkeptiSci: El Niño: Unaffected by climate change in the 21st century but its impacts may be more severe

  Regarding the solar hypothesis:

• 2011/10/20: GreenGrok: Reading the Latest Solar Tea Leaves (or There Goes the Sun?)

  What's new on the extinction front?

• 2011/10/20: BBC: Old American theory is 'speared'
• 2011/10/20: NatureN: Mastodon fossil throws up questions over 'rapid' extinction
  A bone tool embedded in a mastodon rib suggests humans were hunting big game earlier than thought.
• 2011/10/16: TreeHugger: Amazon River Dolphin Populations in Rapid Decline

  Meanwhile in near earth orbit:

• 2011/10/18: WMO: Symposium discusses leveraging satellite applications to enhance emergency response

  More GW impacts are being seen:

• 2011/10/19: ThaiVisa: Flooding near Bangkok has taken about 25 percent of the world's hard disk manufacturing capacity offline
• 2011/10/20: BBC: Sony postpones product launches due to Thailand floods
• 2011/10/19: PostMedia: Wallets will soon feel effect of climate change
• 2011/10/17: CNN: Climate change is shrinking species, study warns
  New study warns on impact of shrinking plant and animal species - Fossil data, experiments and research conclude that shrinkage happens during warming periods - Cold-blooded animals most affected, but impacts felt by warm-blooded animals too - Plant species also display "negative correlations between growth and temperature"
• 2011/10/17: KSJT: True or False: Species are shrinking as a result of global warming
• 2011/10/17: ABC(Au): Animals, plants shrinking as earth warms: researchers
• 2011/10/17: PlanetArk: Climate Change Spawns The Incredible Shrinking Ant
• 2011/10/16: NatureNB: The shrinking effects of climate change
• 2011/10/17: Eureka: Study shows unexpected effect of climate change on body size for many different species
• 2011/10/17: CBC: Animal shrinking blamed on global warming

  And then there are the world's forests. See also:

• 2011/10/19: OSU: "Albedo effect" in forests can cause added warming, bonus cooling
• 2011/10/18: Grist: Ecologists and loggers join forces to examine rainforest destruction

  Climate refugees are becoming an issue:

• 2011/10/20: Guardian(UK): Climate change could trap hundreds of millions in disaster areas, report claims
• 2011/10/20: NDS(UK): Report changes debate on future migration patterns in the face of environmental change
• 2011/10/19: BBC: Climate change migration warning issued through report
  Governments and aid agencies should help the world's poorest to move away from areas likely to be hit by flooding and drought, a UK report says. The government-commissioned report warns of potential humanitarian disasters because of climate change. It says the cost of acting now would be much less than the cost of the conflicts and huge loss of life that would otherwise ensue.

Desertification looms as a threat:

• 2011/10/18: WMO: WMO: Better climate services would improve drought management
  Scientific progress has laid the basis for more effective policies to combat and manage drought and desertification. The challenge of climate change means it is imperative to translate that science into action, according to the World Meteorological Organization.
• 2011/10/19: UN: UN stresses need for improved methods to measure desertification and poverty
• 2011/10/17: UN: Speakers at UN conference stress reversing desertification to combat poverty

  Changes in natural cycles are showing up:

• 2011/10/19: CBC: 'Citizen scientists' track tardy fall colours -- Some fear climate change may rob autumn leaves of their brilliance
  If you think the leaves are taking their time turning colour this year, scientists think you might be right. There's growing evidence that the timing of fall colours is linked to climate change. And there are signs that the leaves are turning colour later because of warmer temperatures.

Corals are a bellwether of the ocean's health:

• 2011/10/16: Eureka: Deep-reef coral hates the light, prefers the shade

  Glaciers are melting:

• 2011/10/16: UN: In Switzerland, Ban sees impact of decreasing glaciers

  Sea levels are rising:

• 2011/10/20: Grist: Underwater homes: A visual guide to NYC's future floods
• 2011/10/17: Eureka: Sea levels will continue to rise for 500 years

  As for hydrological cycle disruptions [floods & droughts]:

• 2011/10/22: al Jazeera: Storm death toll rises in Central America
  Pleas for humanitarian aid as more than 100 people are killed in flooding and landslides provoked by days of heavy rain.
• 2011/10/19: UN: UN approves emergency grant for El Salvador as floods ravage Central America
• 2011/10/18: Grist: Watch a dust cloud engulf Texas
• 2011/10/18: TreeHugger: 99% of Texas Still Suffers Severe Drought, Despite Recent Record-Breaking Rains
• 2011/10/18: Wunderground: 95L drenches Florida; floods kill 84 in Central America; huge dust storm hits TX
• 2011/10/17: TP:JR: Record Rains Don't Ease Texas Drought, State Braces for Multi-Year Dust Bowl
• 2011/10/17: Guardian(UK): El Salvador torrential rain toll rises -- Mudslides and road chaos have killed 81 people and forced thousands to abandon their homes in Central America
• 2011/10/17: CNN: Dozens killed as heavy rains hammer Central America
  At least 28 people are reported dead in Guatemala - More than 20 people are killed in El Salvador, including 7 children - More rain is forecast from remnants of hurricane
• 2011/10/17: PlanetArk: Death Toll From Rain In Central America Rises To 74
• 2011/10/17: CSM: Heavy rains kill dozens in Central America
• 2011/10/17: BBC: Central America floods and landslides 'leave 80 dead'

  Elsewhere on the mitigation front:

• 2011/10/17: P3: The Second Best Time to Reduce Carbon

  Consider transportation & GHG production:

• 2011/10/22: AutoBG: Solar Ship sails the skies, schlepps supplies
• 2011/10/18: Grist: Huge, polluting container ships that carry all our stuff clean up their act

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

• 2011/10/21: EnergyBulletin: The next step in sustainable building: the Passive House
• 2011/10/20: Grist: What's the greenest building? The problem with ranking systems
• 2011/10/18: TP:JR: World's First Vertical Forest Being Built in Milan Plus "The Cult 'Green Building' of the Moment"
• 2011/10/17: SciAm:Obs: D.C. Power Play: Students Vie to Build Affordable, Energy Self-Sufficient Homes in U.S. Solar Decathlon [Video]
• 2011/10/17: TreeHugger: Quote Of The Day: Allison Arieff On Design

  As for carbon sequestration:

• 2011/10/20: Guardian(UK): Carbon capture in the UK is far from dead, thanks to European funding
  Despite the scrapping of Longannet, the UK still has more projects bidding for funding than the rest of Europe combined
• 2011/10/19: Guardian(UK): Longannet carbon capture project cancelled
• 2011/10/19: NatureNB: Scottish [Longannet] carbon capture demonstration project shelved

  Large scale geo-engineering keeps popping up:

• 2011/10/22: GEP: Does Testing Really Equal Deployment?
• 2011/10/20: DM:80B: White Roofs May Actually Add to Global Warming

  While on the adaptation front:

• 2011/10/17: UN: UN official stresses climate change adaptation measures in Africa

  Meanwhile in the journals:

• 2011/10/21: ACP: Determination of land surface heat fluxes over heterogeneous landscape of the Tibetan Plateau by using the MODIS and in situ data by Y. Ma et al.
• 2011/10/21: ACPD: Signature of the 27-day solar rotation cycle in mesospheric OH and H2O observed by the Aura Microwave Limb Sounder by A. V. Shapiro et al.
• 2011/10/21: ACPD: Hygroscopic growth and droplet activation of soot particles: uncoated, succinic or sulfuric acid coated by S. Henning et al.
• 2011/10/20: GMDD: A dynamic continental runoff routing model applied to the last Northern Hemisphere deglaciation by H. Goelzer et al.
• 2011/10/21: TC: Ice stream or not? Radio-echo sounding of Carlson Inlet, West Antarctica by E. C. King
• 2011/10/21: TC: Spatio-temporal measurements and analysis of snow depth in a rock face by V. Wirz et al.
• 2011/10/20: TC: The fate of lake ice in the North American Arctic by L. C. Brown & C. R. Duguay
• 2011/10/19: TC: Spatial analyses of thermokarst lakes and basins in Yedoma landscapes of the Lena Delta by A. Morgenstern et al.
• 2011/10/21: TCD: Changes in the marine-terminating glaciers of central east Greenland and potential connections to ocean circulation, 2000-2010 by K. M. Walsh et al.
• 2011/10/19: TCD: Ice shelf flexures modeled with a 2-D elastic flow line model by Y. V. Konovalov
• 2011/10/19: TCD: A minimal model for reconstructing interannual mass balance variability of glaciers in the European Alps by B. Marzeion et al.
• 2011/10/21: CP: Upper ocean climate of the Eastern Mediterranean Sea during the Holocene Insolation Maximum - a model study by F. Adloff et al.
• 2011/10/18: CP: The key role of topography in altering North Atlantic atmospheric circulation during the last glacial period by F. S. R. Pausata et al.
• 2011/10/21: CPD: omment on "Clouds and the Faint Young Sun Paradox" by Goldblatt and Zahnle (2011) by R. Rondanelli & R. S. Lindzen
• 2011/10/21: CPD: Multi-century tree-ring based reconstruction of the Neuquén River streamflow, northern Patagonia, Argentina by I. A. Mundo et al.
• 2011/10/20: CPD: Masked millennial-scale climate variations in South West Africa during the last glaciation by I. Hessler et al.
• 2011/10/20: CPD: Role of CO2 and Southern Ocean winds in glacial abrupt climate change by R. Banderas et al.
• 2011/10/19: CPD: Bacterial GDGTs in Holocene sediments and catchment soils of a high-alpine lake: application of the MBT/CBT-paleothermometer by H. Niemann et al.
• 2011/10/19: CPD: Early Portuguese meteorological records (18th century) by M. J. Alcoforado et al.
• 2011/10/20: ACP: Time-resolved measurements of black carbon light absorption enhancement in urban and near-urban locations of southern Ontario, Canada by T. W. Chan et al.
• 2011/10/20: ACP: Effect of isoprene emissions from major forests on ozone formation in the city of Shanghai, China by F. Geng et al.
• 2011/10/18: ACP: Modelling of sea salt concentrations over Europe: key uncertainties and comparison with observations by S. Tsyro et al.
• 2011/10/18: ACP: A comparison of different inverse carbon flux estimation approaches for application on a regional domain by L. F. Tolk et al.
• 2011/10/17: ACP: Contrasting organic aerosol particles from boreal and tropical forests during HUMPPA-COPEC-2010 and AMAZE-08 using coherent vibrational spectroscopy by C. J. Ebben et al.
• 2011/10/20: ACPD: Xenon-133 and caesium-137 releases into the atmosphere from the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant: determination of the source term, atmospheric dispersion, and deposition by A. Stohl et al.
• 2011/10/20: ACPD: Carbonaceous aerosols in China: top-down constraints on primary sources and estimation of secondary contribution by T.-M. Fu et al.
• 2011/10/19: ACPD: Lagrangian coherent structures in tropical cyclone intensification by B. Rutherford et al.
• 2011/10/19: ACPD: Five-year record of atmospheric precipitation chemistry in urban Beijing, China by F. Yang et al.
• 2011/10/18: ACPD: Observed temporal evolution of global mean age of stratospheric air for the 2002 to 2010 period by G. P. Stiller et al.
• 2011/10/17: ACPD: Evaluation of the smoke injection height from wild-land fires using remote sensing data by M. Sofiev et al.
• 2011/10/20: JC: (ab$) Effects of Urban Surfaces and White Roofs on Global and Regional Climate by Mark Z. Jacobson & John E. Ten Hoeve
• 2011/10/18: PNAS: (ab$) The causality analysis of climate change and large-scale human crisis by David D. Zhang et al.
• 2011/10/18: PNAS: (ab$) Whole-genome nucleotide diversity, recombination, and linkage disequilibrium in the model legume Medicago truncatula by Antoine Branca et al.
• 2011/10/19: AGWObserver: Papers on carbon dioxide and water vapor overlap
• 2011/10/17: OS: About uncertainties in practical salinity calculations by M. Le Menn
• 2011/10/18: TCD: Influence of leads widths distribution on turbulent heat transfer between the ocean and the atmosphere by S. Marcq & J. Weiss
• 2011/10/18: TCD: Refreezing on the Greenland ice sheet: a comparison of parameterizations by C. H. Reijmer et al.
• 2011/10/17: AGWObserver: New research from last week 41/2011
• 2011/10/17: G&PC(via SciDirect): (ab$) Sea level projections to AD2500 with a new generation of climate change scenarios by S. Jevrejeva et al.
• 2011/09/29: GRL: (ab$) IPCC climate models do not capture Arctic sea ice drift acceleration: Consequences in terms of projected sea ice thinning and decline by P. Rampal

  And other significant documents:

• 2011/10/20: BIS(UK): [link to several pdfs] Migration and Global Environmental Change Foresight Report
• 2011/10/19: DECC: [link to 5.9 meg pdf] Hills Fuel Poverty Review
• 2011/10/11: AlexandraMorton: [link to 1.8 meg pdf] My Report to Cohen - There is a serious issue with disease
• 2011/10/: Rodale: [link to 1,3 meg pdf] 30 Years of the Farming Systems Trial

  As for miscellaneous science:

• 2011/10/19: P3: Carbon Sensitivity and Externalities
• 2011/10/18: ScienceInsider: U.S. Atmospheric Research Effort Gets New Head
• 2011/10/18: TDC: Evidence builds that scientists underplay climate impacts
  Far from being "alarmist," predictions from climate scientists in many cases are proving to be more conservative than observed climate-induced impacts.
• 2011/10/17: HotTopic: Not a pretty picture: recent science summarised [WRI]

  More DIY science:

• 2011/10/22: moyhu: A combined KMZ file for BEST, GHCN, GSOD and CRUTEM3
• 2011/10/21: moyhu: A KMZ file for the BEST stations

  What's new in models?

• 2011/10/21: SEasterbrook: Special Issue of IEEE Software on Climate Change is out!

  Regarding Schmidt:

• 2011/10/22: Stoat: Congratulations to Gavin
• 2011/10/20: PSinclair: The Way it Ought to Be -- Gavin Schmidt on Communicating Science
• 2011/10/18: RealClimate: A Well Deserved Honor
• 2011/10/18: ClimateSight: A Conversation with Gavin Schmidt
• 2011/10/18: EI: The $25,000 Climate Communications Prize has been awarded to Gavin Schmidt by the American Geophysical Union,

  Regarding Wilson:

• 2011/10/22: Atlantic: E. O. Wilson's Theory of Everything

  And on the carbon trading front:

• 2011/10/21: EUO: EU carbon permits to be covered by financial regulation to stop fraud
• 2011/10/21: PlanetArk: Japan Backs More Studies On Alternative CO2 Offsets
• 2011/10/21: PlanetArk: EU Commission Moves To Combat Carbon Fraud
• 2011/10/19: Grist: Australians to kill camels for carbon credits
• 2011/10/17: PlanetArk: U.N. Carbon Credits Hit New All-Time Low
  The benchmark contract for U.N. carbon credits hit a new record low of 7.13 euros ($9.77) a tonne on Friday, as the euro zone's worsening debt crisis and prospects of slowing economic growth hit the heavily-supplied offset market. A deteriorating global economic outlook has put pressure on emissions permits which depend on robust industrial production to belch out greenhouse gases.

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

• 2011/10/20: AlterNet: Nurses to Obama: Push for a Global Financial Transaction Tax, Now!
• 2011/10/19: CSM: A small tax on Wall Street could be a big help to US economy

  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:

• 2011/10/18: PlanetArk: U.S. Study Suggests Pricing Carbon From Ground To Consumer
• 2011/10/17: BBC: Carbon: What price simplicity? Is there a simpler way to put a price on carbon?

  In the Rare Earths' tussle:

• 2011/10/20: AutoBG: China's leading rare earth firm to halt operations for 1 month
• 2011/10/20: BBC: Chinese company suspends rare earth production
  China's biggest producer of rare earths is suspending production for one month in an attempt to stimulate the market. Baotou Steel Rare-Earth Hi-Tech hopes to boost the slumping prices of the minerals, which are used in TVs, mobile phones and other high-tech devices. Prices for rare earths have fallen amid the uncertainty about the US and European economic outlooks. China has about 30% of global rare earth deposits but accounts for about 97% of production. It is currently merging its rare earth producers to tighten control over the market.

The energy race between China and the USA is on, or is it?

• 2011/10/21: PlanetArk: SolarWorld Ups The Ante In Global Solar Trade War
• 2011/10/19: TP:JR: Solar Trade War? Accusations of China's Illegal Solar Subsidies Stirring Debate in the Solar Industry
• 2011/10/20: ABC(Au): Japanese [Tokai University] car wins World Solar Challenge
• 2011/10/20: BBerg: U.S. Solar Companies Seek Tax on Chinese Imports Claiming Unfair State Aid
• 2011/10/17: PlanetArk: Lawmaker Urges Action Against Solar Panel Imports
• 2011/10/17: PlanetArk: Dark Clouds Threaten Solar Makers' Future

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

• 2011/10/18: PlanetArk: Scarce Resources, Climate Biggest Threats To World Health
• 2011/10/17: BBC: Climate change 'grave threat' to security and health
  Climate change poses "an immediate, growing and grave threat" to health and security around the world, according to an expert conference in London.

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

• 2011/10/20: BBC: Scotland Yard has called in the police watchdog over claims an undercover officer underwent a criminal trial using his operational alias [law & activism]
• 2011/10/19: BBC: Undercover policing report delayed by new allegations
  [Det Con Jim Boyling operated undercover using the alias Jim Sutton] A report into undercover policing, and the conduct of an officer who infiltrated an environmental group, has been delayed after allegations about another Metropolitan Police officer. The allegations suggest Det Con Jim Boyling took part in a trial under an alias and have called into question the safety of a man's conviction.

Polls! We have polls!

• 2011/10/20: TreeHugger: Three Quarters of the US Thinks Nation Not Making Enough Progress on Renewable Energy
• 2011/10/19: Grist: Are Americans more worried about population than climate change?

  Regarding Water Politics and Business:

• 2011/10/21: AllAfrica: SW Radio: Zimbabwe: Fights Break Out As Water Crisis Grips Harare
  Water shortages that have gripped Zimbabwe's capital reached a crisis point this week, with residents in some areas fighting each other to gain access to boreholes.
• 2011/10/20: JFleck: Drilling for water, Vegas style
• 2011/10/19: CSM: The world doesn't need to go thirsty
• 2011/10/19: NatureN: Dam controversy: Remaking the Mekong -- Scientists are hoping to stall plans to erect a string of dams along the Mekong River
• 2011/10/19: NOAANews: NOAA study points to less water loss in future Great Lakes levels
• 2011/10/17: JFleck: There seems to be a lot of water in Lake Mead. Relatively speaking.

  Who's making predictions this week?

• 2011/10/20: Wunderground: NOAA winter forecast: drought in Texas, wet in the Northwest and Ohio Valley

  And on the American political front:

• 2011/10/21: Grist: Pollution is not the secret to job creation
• 2011/10/21: Grist: The facts on Fisker: The media's latest faux scandal
• 2011/10/22: CSM: Forest 'roadless rule': environmental victory or US job-killer?
• 2011/10/21: NYT:PK: Paul Krugman: Party of Pollution
• 2011/10/20: TBAS: When politicians distort science
• 2011/10/17: Slate: Alms for the Rich -- How policies meant to promote alternative energies are actually hurting the middle class
• 2011/10/21: EnvEcon: Job-killing environmental regulations?
• 2011/10/21: TP:JR: Utility Fights Dirty in Colorado's Battle For Clean, Local Energy
• 2011/10/20: TreeHugger: Xcel Energy Threatens to Cut Solar Rebates & Efficiency Programs for Boulder Customers
• 2011/10/21: NOAANews: U.S. residents say Hawaii's coral reef ecosystems worth $33.57 billion per year
• 2011/10/20: TreeHugger: "Scientific Facts Will Prevail" Over GOP Climate Denial: Dr. Rajendra Pachauri (Video)
• 2011/09/29: OnEarth: Ask an Aggie: Climate Change is Real
  Deep in the heart of Texas, the scientific consensus is alive and kicking -- no matter what the local politicians say
• 2011/10/18: Grist: Conservatives want to end support for America's fastest growing industry
• 2011/10/18: CSW: Dr. Jon Krosnick: Public opinion on climate change and its impact on voting
• 2011/10/23: TP:JR: If Obama Looks to Sen. Bennet for Winning Strategy, He Needs to Make a Major Issue of Global Warming and Clean Energy
• 2011/10/17: WaPo: Why America lags on climate change
• 2011/10/18: DeSmogBlog: New Jersey Environmental Group Targets Anti-Environment Legislators With New Ad Campaign
• 2011/10/17: AlterNet: Bishops Are Behind the 'Let Women Die' Act and the Push Against Birth Control--Even As They're Under Fire for Sex Abuse Scandals

  The BP disaster continues to twist US politics:

• 2011/10/21: BBC: BP wins approval to resume drilling in Gulf of Mexico
• 2011/10/17: BBC: BP gets $4bn from Anadarko as part of a Gulf settlement
  BP is to receive $4bn (£2.5bn) cash as part of a settlement with Anadarko Petroleum over last year's Deepwater Horizon oil platform disaster. The money will go into a $20bn trust that BP set up to meet claims against it following the Gulf of Mexico oil spillage and deaths of rig workers. Anadarko owned 25% of the oil well. Both companies have agreed to drop all other claims against each other.

The 2012 clown show rolls along:

• 2011/10/21: AlterNet: Not an Employee? Herman Cain Had Mailing and Email Addresses at Koch's Americans For Prosperity HQ
• 2011/10/20: Grist: Perry and Paul were for energy subsidies before they were against them
• 2011/10/18: ScienceInsider: Ron Paul Would Erase Billions in Research Spending
• 2011/10/23: OilDrum: Tech Talk - Governor Perry, API, and a future Energy Plan
• 2011/10/23: TPM2012: Rick Perry Reaches Out To The Birthers
• 2011/10/18: AlterNet: Officials from Texas Spark Revolt After Perry Appointees Doctor Environmental Report
• 2011/10/18: TP:JR: Herman Cain Makes False Claims About Wind and Solar, Then Says He is "Very Proud" of His Affiliation With the Kochs
• 2011/10/18: DM:BA: What to expect from a Rick Perry administration: active suppression of science
• 2011/10/18: al Jazeera: When Romney helped Perry evade the law
  Lawsuit reveals contradictory stories about an illicit $1m campaign contribution from "Swift Boat" funder.
• 2011/10/16: USAToday: Long ties to Koch brothers key to Cain's campaign
• 2011/10/17: PlanetArk: I Can Create 1.2 Million Energy Jobs: Perry
• 2011/10/17: Grist: Republican candidate Herman Cain has extensive Koch ties
• 2011/10/17: JKB: Perry Officials Censored Climate Change Report
• 2011/10/16: BBickmore: Climate Censorship in Texas, Virginia, and Utah

  California has set up America's first Cap and Trade CO2 market:

• 2011/10/21: NatureNB: Marking a joyous occasion, California finalizes climate regulations
• 2011/10/21: LA Times: California becomes first state to adopt cap-and-trade program
  The California Air Resources Board, in a unanimous vote, adopts landmark regulations of greenhouse gas emissions to curb climate change and meet targets for reducing pollution.
• 2011/10/21: Grist: California adopts nation's first cap-and-trade program
• 2011/10/21: TreeHugger: California Passes First State Cap-and-Trade Program in US
• 2011/10/20: Guardian(UK): Cap-and-trade emissions scheme expected to be approved by California
  California Air Resources Board due to vote on the adoption of first US mandatory cap-and-trade emissions scheme
• 2011/10/20: WaPo: Calif poised to finalize nation's most extensive 'cap-and-trade' plan

  The Keystone XL Battle rages:

• 2011/10/22: TreeHugger: Keystone XL Update: Reid Pens Clinton; Over 200 At NYC Obama for America Office (video)
• 2011/10/20: CCurrents: The Keystone XL Pipeline: Will Humanity's Survival Interests Prevail?
• 2011/10/20: AlterNet: Why Obama May Be About to Give a Giant Handout Out to the Billionaire Koch Brothers
• 2011/10/20: FF: 1 vs. 99: Keystone XL seizes private US land for oil to China
• 2011/10/21: TP:JR: Harry Reid Blasts "Unsustainable and Dirty" Keystone XL Pipeline in Letter to Hillary Clinton
• 2011/10/20: WiC: Obama's gift to the Koch brothers and curse to the planet
• 2011/10/21: TreeHugger: Limited Export Capacity Behind Big Push For Keystone XL Tar Sands Pipeline
• 2011/10/20: PlanetArk: TransCanada Offers Nebraska Concessions For Pipeline
• 2011/10/20: Grist: Keystone pipeline's last defense: cold, hard cash [McKibben]
• 2011/10/20: OilChange: Big Oil Buys Democratic Support for Keystone XL
• 2011/10/20: CBC: XL Pipeline gets support from key Nebraska senator [Michael Flood, speaker of the Nebraska state legislature]
• 2011/10/19: Grist: TransCanada threatens to seize land for Keystone XL pipeline
• 2011/10/19: Grist: [gfx] Crony island: an anatomy of Keystone XL corruption
• 2011/10/18: TreeHugger: Robert Redford to Obama: "Say No" to Keystone XL Tar Sands Pipeline (Video)
• 2011/10/19: TreeHugger: Tar Sands Activists & Former Obama Organizers Demand President Reject Keystone XL Pipeline
• 2011/10/22: DeSmogBlog: Harry Reid to Hillary Clinton: Drop Keystone XL Pipeline Plan
• 2011/10/18: DeSmogBlog: Waxman Renews Request For Congress To Investigate Koch Industries Interest in Keystone XL Pipeline
• 2011/10/18: TreeHugger: Opposition to Keystone XL Tar Sands Pipeline Continues to Grow
• 2011/10/18: OilChange: Senators Express "Serious Concern" Over KXL
• 2011/10/17: TP:JR: Clinton Distances Herself From Pipeline Decision Process: It Was "Delegated to the Deputy" in Early 2009

  The Solyndra faux-scandale seems to be fading:

• 2011/10/21: Grist: Solyndra and Keystone XL: A case study of skewed coverage at Politico
• 2011/10/21: TP:JR: Solyndra Is "the Royal Wedding of Energy Stories" -- and Politico Proves the Point
• 2011/10/17: Grist: MSM on Solyndra: It's not a scandal

  There are two major aspects to this ruling: no obligation & requiring an environmental review. Reports skew as expected:

• 2011/10/18: CSM: Global warming a threat to polar bears? Judge orders review of US rule
• 2011/10/18: Guardian(UK): US government 'has met obligations for polar bear protection'
  Federal judge rules that the government did not contravene the Endangered Species Act by failing to reduce emissions The US government has not broken its obligation to protect the polar bear by failing to cut greenhouse gas emissions, a federal judge ruled on Monday.
  [...]
  ...under the ESA, the government is legally obliged to create a plan to protect the species. Green groups argue that this means the US government has a duty to force industry to cut its emissions. A variety of oil industry and business groups, along with the governor of Alaska, opposed that stance, saying it would be impossible to draw a scientific link between, for instance, a new coal power plant in the US and the ice melting in Alaska. However, the court decided on Monday that the government had met its obligations. US district judge Emmet G. Sullivan concluded that federal officials were within their authority in a rule allowing "incidental" harm to polar bears that might occur in the Arctic as a result of oil and gas activities. "The question at the heart of this litigation -- whether ESA is an effective or appropriate tool to address the threat of climate change -- is not a question that this court can decide based upon its own independent assessment, particularly in the abstract," the judge wrote. But he also found that the US government erred in not undertaking an environmental impact statement before it listed polar bears in 2008. The judge has asked the Interior Department to undertake an environmental review -- it has until 17 November to do so.
• 2011/10/17: Yahoo:AP: Judge blocks polar bear rule
• 2011/10/17: CCP: Judge blocks polar bear rule
  A federal judge has thrown out a key section of an Interior Department rule that declared global warming is threatening the survival of the polar bear. U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan ruled that the Bush administration did not complete a required environmental review when it said the bear's designation as threatened in 2008 could not be used as a backdoor way to control greenhouse gases blamed for global warming. The Obama administration agreed a year later, saying that activities outside of the bear's habitat such as emissions from a power plant could not be controlled using the Endangered Species Act. Sullivan's decision directs the Obama administration to set out a timetable for completing the required environmental review.

The Obama chatter is nonstop:

• 2011/10/18: CDreams: The Ungreening of Obama
• 2011/10/17: TP:JR: Messaging Miracle (VIDEO): Obama Says GOP Plan is "Dirtier Air, Dirtier Water"

  The actions of the Obama administration are being watched closely:

• 2011/10/21: CCP: Shell granted air permit for Beaufort Sea drilling
• 2011/10/21: PlanetArk: U.S. EPA Developing Wastewater Rules For Shale Gas
• 2011/10/21: Grist: EPA chief tells GOP to STFU
• 2011/10/21: NatureNB: EPA to regulate fracking waste water
• 2011/10/21: NOAANews: NOAA releases status report on Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary marine resources
• 2011/10/19: TP:JR: Steven Chu Compares Climate Disinformation Campaign to Tobacco Industry's Efforts
• 2011/10/17: SciAm:CC: Steven Chu Defends Federal Research Against Know-Nothing Critics
• 2011/10/17: NOAANews: New regional climate science collaborations announced in Alaska, California/Nevada, and the Carolinas

  As for what is going on in Congress:

• 2011/10/21: AutoBG: Ethanol industry claims victory as McCain withdraws amendment against blender pump subsidies
• 2011/10/20: TP:JR: Groundbreaking Energy Efficiency Bill Introduced With Bi-Partisan Support, Ignored by Mainstream Media
• 2011/10/19: TP:JR: Health Denier: PA Congressmen Misleading Constituents About Attempts to Weaken the Clean Air Act
• 2011/10/19: TP:JR: Senator Whitehouse's Must-See Climate Speech: "We Ignore the Laws of Nature of God's Earth at Our Very Grave Peril"
• 2011/10/19: PlanetArk: Senate Approves Pipeline Safety Bill
  The U.S. Senate unanimously approved a pipeline safety bill on Monday that would require strength-testing of old pipes and hike fines for safety violations after a series of accidents and explosions. The legislation was sparked by an explosion a year ago in San Bruno, California, on a line owned by Pacific Gas & Electric Co. The explosion destroyed a neighborhood and killed eight people. Investigators blamed the blast on weak regulatory oversight. The National Transportation Safety Board said the "preventable" rupture was caused by defective welds on pipeline laid in 1956.
• 2011/10/19: TreeHugger: Rhode Island Senator [Sheldon Whitehouse (D)] Does The Unthinkable: Takes A Strong Public Stand on Climate (Video)
• 2011/10/18: CCP: [video & transcript] Senator Whitehouse's must-watch Speech on Climate Change and the Senate's "Failure of Duty"
• 2011/10/17: PlanetArk: Lawmaker Urges Action Against Solar Panel Imports
• 2011/10/17: Grist: Is this the most anti-environment House of Representatives ever?

  What are the lobbyists pushing?

• 2011/10/18: AutoBG: Coalition for E85 pushing for extension of biofuel subsidies
• 2011/10/: OpenSecrets: Lobbying -- Ranked Sectors

  While in the UK:

• 2011/10/21: NYT: Expert Says Quakes in England May Be Tied to Gas Extraction
  A British seismologist said Friday that two minor earthquakes in northwestern England "appeared to correlate closely" with the use of hydraulic fracturing, a method of extracting natural gas from wells that has raised concerns about environmental and seismological risks in the United States. The scientist, Brian Baptie, seismic project team leader with the British Geological Survey, said data from the two quakes near Blackpool -- one of magnitude 2.3 on April 1, the other of magnitude 1.5 on May 27 -- suggested the temblors arose from the same source. Cuadrilla Resources, a British energy company, was conducting hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, operations at a well nearby when the quakes occurred.
• 2011/10/23: Guardian(UK): Climate change: now is not the time to renege on green pledges
  The government is moving ever further away from its initial promise to be a friend of the environment
• 2011/10/21: NatureNB: Scathing appraisal for UK research councils' Shared Services Centre
• 2011/10/20: Guardian(UK): Inspector Huhneau: master of le jargon
• 2011/10/20: BBC: UK government launches tree biosecurity plan
  The UK government has said that it will invest £7m to tackle tree diseases, amid fears that millions of trees could be lost unless urgent action is taken. The Tree Health and Plant Biosecurity action plan was launched as scientists confirmed the arrival of a deadly disease in England among urban trees. Phytophtora lateralis was recorded in Devon on a Lawson cypress, a popular species in parks and gardens.
• 2011/10/20: BBC: Wave and tidal power get more support
  Wave and tidal stream power are set to get more funding in proposed changes to the level of support for renewable energy. Subsidies for offshore wind will be reduced but more gradually and later than had previously been planned The Government says the proposals, put out to consultation today, will cost less than leaving the funding as it is. But DECC figures also show the cost will amount to £50 for an average household by 2016. Renewable energy produces around 6.8% of the UK's electricity. A key factor in supporting the growth of the sector is a mechanism known as the Renewables Obligation. Different technologies get different levels of subsidies. The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) is reviewing those levels and has set out its proposals today.
• 2011/10/19: BBC: Longannet carbon capture scheme scrapped
  Plans for the UK's first carbon capture project at the Longannet power station in Fife have been scrapped, the energy secretary has confirmed. Chris Huhne announced the failure to reach a "deal" with power companies to capture carbon dioxide emissions at the plant and pipe them under the sea. Mr Huhne blamed problems with the length of pipeline needed. But he said the government hoped other schemes could work, indicating interest at Peterhead in Aberdeenshire.
• 2011/10/18: Guardian(UK): Thousands of jobs will be lost without carbon capture funding, unions warn
  UK will miss out on 'opportunity for global leadership' unless government steps up investment
• 2011/10/19: BBC: Rising energy bills causing fuel poverty deaths
  Thousands of people die each year from illnesses linked to fuel poverty, according to an independent report.
• 2011/10/17: BBC: Coastal farm ban urged to protect wild fish stocks
  Fish farming could be banned in some coastal areas in a bid to protect wild fish stocks, BBC Scotland has learned. Anglers and landowners have claimed that parasites from farms are at least partly to blame for declines in wild salmon and sea trout. Now the Scottish government may follow the example of Norway and restrict the spread of farms.

And in Europe:

• 2011/10/21: EurActiv: Ministers wary about Commission's farm reform
  First reactions by the 27 EU farm ministers to the European Commission's proposal to reform the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) confirmed that an agreement on the future shape of the policy will be hard to find.
• 2011/10/21: EurActiv: Biotech group bids to recruit high-profile GM 'ambassadors'
  Europe's largest and most influential biotech industry group, whose members include Monsanto, Bayer and other GM companies, is recruiting high-profile "ambassadors" to lobby European leaders on GM policy.
• 2011/10/21: EUO: EU to cut food aid for the poor
  Six member states on Thursday (20 October) blocked the renewal of a 500 million euro EU food aid scheme, cutting it by three quarters from 1 January. Britain, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden "showed pure selfishness, in a European Union where we need solidarity," said EU agriculture commissioner Dacian Ciolos at a press conference after the meeting. "If we show solidarity with the banks, we need to show solidarity with the poorest," Polish farm minister Marek Sawicki noted. The Polish EU presidency will not abandon the dossier, he added, and will raise the issue again on Sunday, when EU leaders meet to discuss troubles in the eurozone. Without the agreement of at least one of the six countries in the "blocking minority", the programme dating back to 1987 will be terminated in two years' time.
• 2011/10/20: TreeHugger: President of Iceland: Our Clean Energy Economy Helped Us Survive the Financial Crisis
• 2011/10/20: EurActiv: EU launches 9 billion euro energy infrastructure plan
  The EU executive has announced its first ever plan to use 9.1 billion euros from the EU's 2014-2020 budget to help upgrade Europe's energy infrastructure, according to strategic climate and energy needs.
• 2011/10/18: PlanetArk: EU 2050 Energy Road Map Sees Big Shift To Renewables
• 2011/10/18: PlanetArk: Analysis: Renewable "Gold Rush" Powers Germany's North Shore

  Meanwhile in Australia:

• 2011/10/20: ABC(Au): Green groups demonising coal seam gas: Origin boss
• 2011/10/20: ABC(Au): Wind farm reforms offer certainty, says industry
  The renewable energy industry says wind farm reforms in South Australia will strike the right balance between supporting clean energy and giving communities a voice in the planning process. The SA Government says $1.8 billion of investment in wind farms can be unlocked by its planning changes. Local government will be reinstated as the key authority for assessing planning applications for wind farms.
• 2011/10/20: ABC(Au): Anger as Palmer mine threatens nature refuge
  A massive coal mining project in central Queensland has set off a debate about the future of one of the nation's land conservation schemes. If approved, the Galilee Basin proposal by Queensland billionaire mining magnate Clive Palmer would be the first mine to be allowed in a nature refuge.
• 2011/10/18: ABC(Au): Court hears coal seam gas water worries
  Legal action to try and stop a coal seam gas project near Gloucester continues in the Land and Environment Court today.
• 2011/10/17: ABC(Au): Residents rally against CSG mining
  More than 2,500 people marched across the Sea Cliff bridge yesterday to protest against coal seam gas (CSG) mining in the Illawarra.
• 2011/10/17: ABC(Au): CSG fight about 'looking towards tomorrow'
  The Mayor of the Scenic Rim says coal and coal seam gas (CSG) mining is not consistent with the region. A rally was held in the area yesterday as part of a nationwide protest against the CSG industry. Much of the region is covered by exploration permits, including areas around Beaudesert, Boonah and Rathdowney. Mayor John Brent says he is taking a long-term view in vowing to fight mining in the region.
• 2011/10/17: ABC(Au): Coal seam gas legal stoush begins
  The Land and Environment Court will today start hearing a challenge to the approval of coal seam gas mining in the Gloucester Valley. In February, the New South Wales Planning and Assessment Commission approved more than 300 gas wells for the valley.
• 2011/10/17: ABC(Au): CSG campaign heats up, groups say
  Coal seam gas (CSG) protesters say a campaign against the industry is growing, as environmentalists, farmers and some political groups join forces to lobby for landholders' rights. Thousands of people joined rallies in Queensland, New South Wales and Western Australia yesterday as part of a national day of action against CSG mining. The Greens say it is damaging food producing areas and Katter's Australian Party wants a 12-month moratorium on the industry.
• 2011/10/16: NBF: Inspections in Australia find 4% of rooftop solar installations were unsafe

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

• 2011/10/18: ABC(Au): Power prices may rise if carbon tax repealed
  The electricity industry is warning power prices will have to go up if the Coalition carries out its threat to dismantle the carbon tax.
• 2011/10/18: ABC(Au): Carbon tax repeal could cost millions
  A constitutional law expert has warned the Federal Opposition's promise to repeal the carbon price could cost taxpayers millions of dollars. Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has pledged to scrap the laws, saying he will "oppose in Opposition and repeal in government".
• 2011/10/17: ABC(Au): Labor won't help Abbott repeal carbon tax
  Climate Change Minister Greg Combet says the Opposition is dreaming if it thinks Labor would help a Coalition government repeal the carbon tax and emissions trading scheme laws. Legislation to bring in a carbon price passed the House of Representatives last week and it will now be considered by the Senate.
• 2011/10/17: ABC(Au): Report reveals carbon savings
  A plan to cut carbon emissions in Gippsland has found homes and businesses could save $100 million a year by doing so. The ClimateWorks report found the Gippsland economy could cut its emissions by 10 per cent by 2020 and save money through lower energy bills.

The Murray-Darling Basin Plan controversy continues:

• 2011/10/20: ABC(Au): Scientist questions basin water returns
• 2011/10/20: ABC(Au): Push for infrastructure to bring basin plan water savings
• 2011/10/18: ABC(Au): Governments reach $1.2b irrigation deal
  The Victorian and Federal Governments have reached a $1.2 billion deal to roll out Australia's largest irrigation infrastructure renewal project.
• 2011/10/18: ABC(Au): Groups demand answers now on Murray plan

  And in New Zealand:

• 2011/10/20: HotTopic: 120% Pure Subsidy: Part 2
• 2011/10/18: HotTopic: Health professionals call for action

  While in Japan:

• 2011/10/21: PlanetArk: Japan Backs More Studies On Alternative CO2 Offsets
  Japan has awarded subsidies to 14 groups of domestic companies in its second and last round of recruitment for feasibility studies of emission-cutting measures abroad, part of its efforts to develop an alternative to the U.N.'s carbon offset market. Twenty-six groups were selected in the first round. Japan plans to distribute 2.5 billion yen ($32 million) in subsidies between the 40 groups to test low carbon technology in 18 developing countries, the trade ministry said on Thursday. Japan wants to encourage countries to use its often costly technology to achieve emission cuts, and hopes that bilateral agreements will give it some carbon offsets to help it to meet a pledge to cut its emissions by 25 percent from 1990 levels by 2020.

While in Africa:

• 2011/10/18: TreeHugger: Algeria Aims For 40% Renewable Energy By 2030 - Invests $20b In Clean Energy

  And South America:

• 2011/10/22: ABC(Au): Bolivia scraps Amazon highway plans
• 2011/10/22: al Jazeera: Bolivia scraps controversial highway plan
  President Morales cancels plans to build highway through a nature reserve after sustained protest from Amazon Indians.
• 2011/10/21: BBC: Bolivia's Evo Morales scraps Amazon road project
• 2011/10/21: Guardian(UK): Bolivian president Evo Morales scraps plans for Amazon highway
  Morales bows to protesters who campaigned against construction of 185-mile road through indigenous park land
• 2011/10/20: Guardian(UK): Indigenous protesters march against jungle highway
  Lowland indigenous people reach La Paz after 63 days marching in protest against Bolivian Amazon road
• 2011/10/20: CSM: After 250-mile protest march, indigenous reach Bolivian capital to face president
• 2011/10/19: BBC: Bolivia: Heroes welcome as road protesters reach La Paz
  A protest by indigenous Amazonians has reached Bolivia's main city La Paz to a triumphant welcome. Thousands of people turned out to support them as they arrived at the seat of government. The two-month march was made by 1,000 men, women and children campaigning against plans to build a road through a rainforest reserve.
• 2011/10/19: BBC: Bolivia's Morales offers talks as marchers reach La Paz

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

• 2011/10/17: CPAWS: CPAWS advises federal government to stay after class for work on caribou recovery strategy
• 2011/10/16: PostMedia: Strategy to protect woodland caribou gets failing grade: environmental group
  One of Canada's leading conservation groups has given the federal government a failing grade on its planned strategy to protect the woodland caribou, insisting above all that a proposed 60 per cent "survival threshold" across much of the animal's range must be increased to 80 per cent to prevent the extirpation of many herds. A report card prepared by the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society - to be issued Monday near the close of a 60-day public consultation period on a federal caribou recovery blueprint announced in August - says the scientific basis for the strategy is strong, but that the government has chosen a habitat-protection target that's "too weak" to truly ensure the antlered creature will overcome its threatened status across Canada's boreal forest.

The G8/G20 controversy lingers:

• 2011/10/22: PostMedia: Up Muskoka without a paddle -- Where's the paper trail on all those G8 projects?

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

• 2011/10/22: PostMedia: Scientist praises ozone checks -- Author had been muzzled on research
  A senior Environment Canada scientist whose job may be eliminated through budget cuts has highlighted the importance of maintaining the country's world-leading atmospheric monitoring network after new research showed a record hole in the planet's ozone layer above the Arctic. David Tarasick was among four Canadian authors of the international study, published Oct. 2 in the British scientific journal Nature, that reported on the hole - twice the size of Ontario - in the ozone layer that protects life on Earth from the sun's harmful radiation. Until now, the Conservative government, facing criticism about its decision to review resources in the monitoring network, has prevented Tarasick from speaking publicly about the research.
• 2011/10/20: CBC: Environment agency says cuts will limit oversight
  The federal watchdog that keeps an eye on natural resources projects to prevent environmental damage says it could soon be understaffed and overworked, limiting its ability to do its job. The president of the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency told members of a Parliamentary committee Thursday the agency could lose 43 per cent of its annual budget at the end of the year, dropping to $17.1 million in 2012-13 from $30 million in 2011-12. Elaine Feldman told MPs the agency may have to lay off one-third of its staff, 80 people out of 242, at a time when the country is facing a huge surge in major projects in mining, oil and gas and forestry.
• 2011/10/17: CBC: Federal cuts 'a sad day' for environmental group -- Environmental network collaborated with 90 groups across N.B.
• 2011/10/17: CBC: Fish advisory council disbanded, MP says
  A New Democratic MP said Monday that the federal government has shut down an advisory body that collected the views of fishermen to help make better science decisions. "This is just a shameful decision," said Ryan Cleary, the MP for St. John's South-Mount Pearl. The Fisheries Resource Conservation Council (FRCC) was shut down on Thursday, he said. Cleary said he was unsure whether the closure is part of a series of cuts at the Department of Fisheries and Oceans that are expected to save the department $56.8 million in the coming year.
• 2011/10/16: TRR: Canadian government to cut funding for environmental network

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

• 2011/10/18: TStar: Tim Harper: PM's big oil 'no-brainer' an emotional issue in U.S.

  The Tories introduced their bill to kill the CWB this week, triggering a round of articles:

• 2011/10/22: CBC: Pro-wheat board farmers rally in Brandon
  Manitoba farmers gathered in Brandon Saturday to show support for the Canadian Wheat Board. The federal government tabled legislation Tuesday to end the board's monopoly on marketing wheat and barley grown in Western Canada. Patrick Desjarlais, one of the organizers of the rally, noted a majority of farmers recently voted to maintain the monopoly in a plebiscite organized by the board. Desjarlais said Prime Minister Stephen Harper, in introducing the changes, is ignoring farmers' wishes.
• 2011/10/21: G&M: Canada's Wheat Board wars: The future of farming cut two ways
• 2011/10/18: G&M: End of wheat-board monopoly bolsters Tory stand against regulation
• 2011/10/18: CBC: Wheat board bill includes 5-year 'transition' plan
• 2005/10/25: RhondaParkinson: The Canadian Wheat Board
• 2011/10/17: CBC: 6 things the wheat board needs to survive -- Legislation coming Tuesday will 'reorganize' the Canadian Wheat Board
• 2011/10/17: CBC: Wheat board head vows to fight federal changes
• 2011/10/16: CBC: 'Oppressive' no more: Harper's 'reorganized' Wheat Board -- Legislation to overhaul the agency hits the Commons this week

  Alexandra Morton vindicated! Lethal ISA virus found in BC sockeye:

• Wiki: Infectious salmon anemia virus
• 2011/10/11: AlexandraMorton: [link to 1.8 meg pdf] My Report to Cohen - There is a serious issue with disease
• 2011/10/19: ProMedMail: Infectious salmon anemia - Canada: (BC) Pacific, 1st rep
• 2011/10/20: Grist: How to fix fish farms
• 2011/10/17: NYT: Salmon-Killing [ISA] Virus Seen for First Time in the Wild on the Pacific Coast
• 2011/10/17: CBC: Deadly European virus found in B.C. salmon
  A highly infectious virus found in wild salmon on B.C.'s central coast could have a devastating impact on the province's wild salmon and herring, according to some experts. Simon Fraser University Prof. Rick Routledge discovered the disease known as infectious salmon anemia, or ISA, in two of 48 sockeye smolts collected. The fish were caught 100 kilometres from the nearest fish farm, and had never been out to sea. The infection was diagnosed by Dr. Fred Kibenge, an employee at the Atlantic Veterinary College in P.E.I., who notified the CFIA.
• 2011/10/18: PostMedia: Wild B.C. salmon test positive for 'lethal' virus -- Fish farms 'only plausible source' of bug, expert says
  Wild sockeye salmon from B.C.'s Rivers Inlet have tested positive for a potentially devastating virus that has never before been found in the North Pacific. Infectious Salmon Anemia (ISA) is a flu-like virus affecting Atlantic salmon that spreads quickly and mutates easily, according to Simon Fraser University fisheries statistician Rick Routledge. The virus detected in sockeye smolts by the Atlantic Veterinary College in P.E.I. - Canada's ISA reference lab - is the European strain of ISA.
• 2011/10/17: AlexandraMorton: Lethal Atlantic salmon virus found in BC sockeye
• 2011/10/17: CBC: Deadly European virus found in B.C. salmon
  Experts say a highly infectious virus found in wild salmon on B.C.'s central coast could have a devastating impact on the province's wild salmon and herring. Simon Fraser University Prof. Rick Routledge discovered the disease known as Infectious Salmon Anemia, or ISA, in two of 48 sockeye smolts collected. The infection was diagnosed by Dr. Fred Kibenge, an employee at the Atlantic Veterinary College in P.E.I., who notified the CFIA. Routledge, who's doing a long-term study on the collapse of Rivers Inlet sockeye, says the exotic disease could have a devastating impact on wild salmon in B.C. Alexandra Morton, a biologist and long-time critic of salmon farms in the Broughton Archipelago, says the European strain of the virus could only have come from the farmed Atlantic salmon in the area.
  

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

• 2011/10/18: Tyee: Gordon Campbell Slammed by Former Backer, Eco-Activist Tzeporah Berman
  Former BC premier's lobbying against clean fuel laws 'shocks' enviro who gave him award
• 2011/10/19: PostMedia: Wallets will soon feel effect of climate change
  Home insurance rates, cost of city water to rise as planet gets hotter, weather worsens: panel Higher costs for city water, rising home-insurance rates as sea levels rise, and programs to encourage people to leave their fossil-fuel-burning cars at home were cited Tuesday as ways that climate change is, or soon will be, hitting home for B.C. residents. That was the message from a panel at the opening session of BC Hydro's 2011 Power Smart Forum speaking on how a changing climate is affecting the business environment. Business, government and residents need to begin adapting so that the province will be more resilient as climate-change effects become more obvious, panelists said.

Meanwhile in that Mechanical Mordor known as the tar sands:

• 2011/10/21: PostMedia: Minister challenged by British students during pro-oilsands tour
  Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver hit a bump in the road Thursday during a prooilsands pitch at the London School of Economics as environmental activists and students interrupted his message and peppered him with questions challenging his ongoing international lobbying campaign. Oliver has been urging European politicians to back away from legislation that restricts imports of fuel from Canadian oilsands producers and other sources of energy with a higher environmental footprint than conventional crude oil.
• 2011/10/20: PostMedia: Canada lobbies against EU's 'dirty' oil label -- Proposal puts high carbon rating on oilsands
  Canada is appealing to the European Union to rethink its proposed fuel quality standards that would penalize the Canadian oilsands and label the resource one of the dirtiest crude sources on Earth. Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver met Wednesday in Paris with energy ministers from around the globe, where he delivered Canada's case for the EU to vote against the proposed Fuel Quality Directive - which would slap a higher rating of carbon emissions on oilsands-derived fuels. Canada believes the fuel directive discriminates against the oilsands because it singles out the resource as having higher carbon emissions without any sound scientific studies examining the greenhouse gases from conventional oil that the EU actually imports. Canada fears the EU action could severely damage the oilsands industry's worldwide reputation.
• 2011/10/18: EnergyBulletin: Oil Sands: Canada's 10 ethical challenges

  Also in Alberta:

• 2011/10/17: Tyee: Tell Us What's Being Done to Our Groundwater, Demand Albertans
• 2011/10/21: PI: Alberta court denies Maxim coal plant challenge -- Contentious expansion project to go-ahead

  Ontario is wrestling with energy issues:

• 2011/10/17: Impolitical: Green energy costs in the news again
• 2011/10/16: G&M: Ontario's solar industry seeks its place in the sun

  While in la Belle Province:

• 2011/10/18: CBC: Quebec flood victims still waiting for help
  About 60 people affected by last spring's flooding in the Richelieu Valley held a meeting Tuesday to discuss their concerns and frustrations about delays in rebuilding. Many of the residents are still out of their homes, living in hotels or trailers as they wait for financial help from the provincial government. The residents talked emotionally about the stress they've faced since the Richelieu River burst its banks last spring in the worst flooding the region has seen in more than a century. The residents are calling on Quebec's civil security service to speed up the process of delivering promised help.

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

• 2011/10/20: EnergyBulletin: Why is it easier to imagine the end of the world, than to imagine the end of capitalism?
• 2011/10/17: EnergyBulletin: Limits to Growth -- Forty more years?

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

• 2011/10/22: BBC: 'Unwanted' Indian girls get new start in name ceremony
  More than 200 Indian girls whose names mean "unwanted" in Hindi have been given a fresh start at a mass renaming ceremony in Maharashtra state. They had been called Nakusha by parents who would have preferred sons. Hundreds of people committed to fighting gender discrimination attended the ceremony in rural Satara district. Statistics show a continuing preference for boys in India. The gender imbalance has widened every decade since independence in 1947. According to the 2011 census, there were 914 girls for every 1,000 boys under the age of six, compared with 927 for every 1,000 boys in the 2001 census. Female foeticide remains common in India, although sex-selective abortion based on ultrasound scans is illegal. Sons are still seen by many as wage-earners for the future.
• 2011/10/20: Grist: What if population grows faster than the experts project?
• 2011/10/20: EnergyBulletin: 7 billion: Understanding the demographic transition
• 2011/10/19: NatureN: Seven billion and counting -- A look behind this month's global population landmark reveals a world in transition
• 2011/10/18: OpenDem: Possible 'peak population': a world without borders?
  Forecasts of apocalyptic population growth could be wrong. Danny Dorling argues that there is a possibility that we are headed for 'peak population' and that those of us advocating for a world without borders have reasons to be optimistic
• 2011/10/17: AlterNet: Bishops Are Behind the 'Let Women Die' Act and the Push Against Birth Control--Even As They're Under Fire for Sex Abuse Scandals

  Apocalypso anyone?

• 2011/10/21: CCurrents: The Mass Extinction Of The Human Species

  In the immortal words of Mr. Garibaldi: Q. Did it happen? A. Not so far as I know, but I might have missed a meeting:

• 2011/10/20: CBC: Friday is new doomsday, Christian radio network says
  When the California Christian group known as Family Radio predicted the beginning of the end of the world as we know it back in the spring (not for the first time), Harold Camping and his followers splashed dire warnings on billboards around the globe.

How do the media measure up?

• 2011/10/21: Grist: Solyndra and Keystone XL: A case study of skewed coverage at Politico
• 2011/10/18: CJR: The Scientist Lives -- LabX Media Group signs intent to purchase
• 2011/10/21: Guardian(UK): David Attenborough: 'I'm an essential evil'
• 2011/10/20: Grist: Politico doesn't quite get it: The real problem with Solyndra media coverage
• 2011/10/20: TP:JR: Daily Caller Employees Embarrassed By EPA Story Debacle
• 2011/10/19: Deltoid: ACMA complaint about the Bolt report
• 2011/10/17: NatureNB: A Canadian rescue for The Scientist?
• 2011/10/18: Deltoid: The Australian's War on Science 71: Mitchell Nadin misrepresents
• 2011/10/17: Guardian(UK): [The Daily Mail's editor] Paul Dacre's climate coverage undermines his case for self-regulation of the press
• 2011/10/12: MediaMatters: Media Ignore Study On Real Price Of Coal-Fired Power
• 2011/10/16: TP:JR: The New York Times Asks "Where Did Global Warming Go?" While Ignoring Its Own Failed Coverage

  While activists search for effective communication techniques:

• 2011/10/19: DM:BA: Scientists are from Mars, the public is from Earth [AGU gfx]
• 2011/10/19: PSinclair: Chart of the Day: Words that Divide Scientists and Citizens
• 2011/10/18: P3: You know sometimes words have two meanings

  Here is something for your library:

• 2011/10/19: BPA: Stewart Brand is Da Man
• 2011/10/20: EnergyBulletin: [Book Review] _The Transition Companion_ by Rob Hopkins
• 2011/10/16: EnergyBulletin: Can Margaret Atwood's environmental message reach a broad public?

  And for your film & video enjoyment:

• 2011/10/22: PSinclair: Global Warming 101: Our First Climate Model
• 2011/10/22: Grist: Who you gonna call? GrowthBusters! [video]
• 2011/10/21: Tyee: 'Eating Dirt' -- After 20 years of tree-planting, Charlotte Gill was ready to sprout a book as complex and crystalline as the forest itself
• 2011/10/21: Tyee: 'Wiebo's War' -- Documentary director David York on sour gas, flawed heroes, godless filmmaking, and more
• 2011/10/20: SciNow: Video: World on Fire
• 2011/10/20: TreeHugger: Revenge of the Electric Car (Movie Review)
• 2011/10/20: TreeHugger: NASA's Visual Tour of Every Fire on Earth Since 2002
• 2011/10/20: Guardian(UK): Film-maker documents US electric car rebirth
• 2011/10/20: HotTopic: The Climate Show #20: the boys are back (on Tuvalu)
• 2011/10/19: Eureka: NASA releases visual tour of Earth's fires
• 2011/10/19: TP:JR: Hilarious Video of Clinton Foundation: Celebrity Division
• 2011/10/18: Grist: Watch a dust cloud engulf Texas

  This TVMOB satire got a lot of attention:

• 2011/10/22: TP:JR: Funniest Denier Punking Ever: Lord Monckton Isn't An Act by Sacha Baron Cohen, Is He?
• 2011/10/20: EW: 'Lord Monckton': Sacha Baron Cohen's latest character?
• 2011/10/21: Guardian(UK): Lord Monckton 'mistaken' for Sacha Baron Cohen by Australian satirist
• 2011/10/20: DeSmogBlog: [TVMOB] Gets Punked By Australian TV Satirists
• 2011/10/19: Deltoid: Hamster Wheel interviews Monckton
• 2011/10/20: HotTopic: Borat is Monckton: The Hamster knows...
• 2011/10/19: PSinclair: Lord Borat? or Sacha Baron Monckton?
• 2011/10/19: SEasterbrook: The Real Christopher Monckton?

  Meanwhile among the 'Sue the Bastards!' contingent:

• 2011/10/18: ABC(Au): Court hears coal seam gas water worries
  Legal action to try and stop a coal seam gas project near Gloucester continues in the Land and Environment Court today.
• 2011/10/17: ABC(Au): Coal seam gas legal stoush begins
  The Land and Environment Court will today start hearing a challenge to the approval of coal seam gas mining in the Gloucester Valley. In February, the New South Wales Planning and Assessment Commission approved more than 300 gas wells for the valley.

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

• 2011/10/21: CCurrents: The Energy Trap
• 2011/10/21: TP:JR: Report: NIMBY-ism Killed More than $577 Billion in Clean Energy Potential
• 2011/10/17: Slate: Alms for the Rich -- How policies meant to promote alternative energies are actually hurting the middle class
• 2011/10/21: BNC: TCASE 15: Comparison of four 'clean energy' projects
• 2011/10/19: EnergyBulletin: The energy trap
• 2011/10/18: Guardian(UK): Top 10 clean technology breakthroughs
• 2011/10/19: TP:JR: RMI Offers a Positive Energy Vision For the Future
• 2011/10/19: Grist: Change hurts: Influencing our energy behavior is messy business
• 2011/10/19: OilDrum: The Role of Energy in Economic Growth
• 2011/10/18: TP:JR: Northeast May See Record Heating Oil Prices: One More Reason to Support Thermal Renewable Energy
• 2011/10/18: Grist: How billions without electricity will benefit from clean energy
• 2011/10/18: SciAm:PI: Declining Energy Quality and Economic Recession
• 2011/10/18: TreeHugger: Gadget and Appliance Energy Use up 600% in 40 Years

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

• 2011/10/20: HuffPo: The Fracking Industry's War On The New York Times -- And The Truth
• 2011/10/17: Tyee: Tell Us What's Being Done to Our Groundwater, Demand Albertans
  Push for transparency after province closed once-public records on aquifer quality.
  A retired chemical engineer is trying to get the Alberta government to divulge key water quality data on the province's critical groundwater resources -- a move that could shed more light on the impact of shale gas operations on Canadian aquifers. Don Davidson, a former oil patch worker, says he got interested in the issue when groundwater experts with the Alberta Geological Survey and Geological Survey of Canada told him they couldn't get access to water chemistry reports on rural water wells.
• 2011/10/21: NYT: Expert Says Quakes in England May Be Tied to Gas Extraction
• 2011/10/21: PlanetArk: U.S. EPA Developing Wastewater Rules For Shale Gas
• 2011/10/21: SciAm:ABATC: The Fracking Song
• 2011/10/21: TreeHugger: Fracking Wastewater Disposal Plan Could Send Contaminants Over Niagara Falls
• 2011/10/19: SciAm: Safety First, Fracking Second -- Drilling for natural gas has gotten ahead of the science needed to prove it safe
• 2011/10/20: EconView: Cheney's Fracking "Halliburton Loophole" -- Another Bush administration gift that keeps on giving
• 2011/10/19: NYT: Rush to Drill for Natural Gas Creates Conflicts With Mortgages
  As natural gas drilling has spread across the country, energy industry representatives have sat down at kitchen tables in states like Texas, Pennsylvania and New York to offer homeowners leases that give companies the right to drill on their land. And over the past 10 years, as natural gas has become increasingly important to the nation's energy future, Americans have signed more than a million of these leases. But bankers and real estate executives, especially in New York, are starting to pay closer attention to the fine print and are raising provocative questions, such as: What happens if they lend money for a piece of land that ends up storing the equivalent of an Olympic-size swimming pool filled with toxic wastewater from drilling? Fearful of just such a possibility, some banks have become reluctant to grant mortgages on properties leased for gas drilling. At least eight local or national banks do not typically issue mortgages on such properties, lenders say.
• 2011/10/20: TP:JR: Fracked Up: You Don't Miss Your Water 'Til Your Well Explodes
• 2011/10/20: ABC(Au): Green groups demonising coal seam gas: Origin boss
  The head of one of Australia's largest energy companies says coal seam gas has been demonised by the environment movement. Origin Energy managing director Grant King says gas, including the increasingly controversial coal seam gas, will play a central and long-term part of any carbon constrained future. He dismissed the idea that it will only be an interim fuel.
• 2011/10/16: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Many officials hold leases with shale drillers
  During a contentious meeting in South Fayette last week, the township's zoning hearing board delayed a decision about a challenge mounted by gas driller Range Resources after calls for several members of the board to recuse themselves from discussions because they have signed gas leases with the Texas-based driller.

On the coal front:

• 2011/10/18: Missoulian: Roundup coal mine seeks to expand exports to Asia, South America
• 2011/10/12: MediaMatters: Media Ignore Study On Real Price Of Coal-Fired Power
• 2011/10/15: ADN: Do a few coal jobs trump salmon streams?

  On the gas and oil front:

• 2011/10/21: BBerg: Closing oil prices Friday
  OIL (US$/bbl)
  Nymex Crude Future...87.40
  Dated Brent Spot....110.78
  WTI Cushing Spot.....87.22
• 2011/10/21: OilDrum: Kidding ourselves about future Middle East/North Africa oil production
• 2011/10/21: BBC: Norwegian oil firm Statoil has said there are twice the oil reserves it previously estimated in its newly discovered North Sea field
• 2011/10/20: BBC: Large gas field discovered off coast of Mozambique

  In the fossil fuel corps:

• 2011/10/18: Grist: Kinder Morgan: Meet the next fossil-fuel giant
• 2011/10/17: OilChange: BP: Reprieved from Death Row

  And in pipeline news:

• 2011/10/18: CER:RRapier: Newsflash: Pipelines Are Everywhere
• 2011/10/17: al Jazeera: The pipeline of 'poison'
  The aftermath of a tar sands oil spill in Michigan has left a community with sickness, anger, and loss of livelihood.

Yes we have peak everything:

• 2011/10/20: EconBrowser: Peak production for U.S. oil-producing regions
• 2011/10/20: TreeHugger: Endangered Species List on the Periodic Table?
• 2011/10/19: G&M: Peak oil is about price, not supply [JRubin]
• 2011/10/18: Guardian(UK): The peak oil brigade is leading us into bad policymaking on energy by Dieter Helm
  One can't assume energy prices are going ever upwards. The real problem is there may be too much fossil fuel, not too little
• 2011/10/17: EnergyBulletin: Review of Lieutenant Colonel Fleming's U.S. Army War College thesis on Peak Oil
• 2011/10/17: OilDrum: Countdown to $100 Oil - No Normal Recession

  Biofuel bickering abounds:

• 2011/10/21: EnergyBulletin: Trouble in the algae lab for Craig Venter and Exxon
• 2011/10/19: PlanetArk: Turning Wood Into Oil, In Two Simple Steps
• 2011/10/17: AutoBG: Biofuels market value to double to $185.3 billion in ten years

  The answer my friend...:

• 2011/10/20: ERW: Insight: wind farm in North Sea has positive impact on fauna overall
• 2011/10/20: DerSpiegel: Winds of Change -- Offshore Turbines More Powerful than First Nuclear Plant
  The term "energy revolution" sounds light and airy enough, but how do human beings manage to wrest electricity from the sea? Germany's largest offshore wind farm, a power plant surrounded by a hostile environment, produces 12 times as much energy as the world's first nuclear power plant.
• 2011/10/20: PlanetArk: China Wind Power Capacity Could Reach 1,000 GW By 2050
• 2011/10/18: TreeHugger: Windstalk Concept Removes Blades from Wind Power!
• 2011/10/16: REVE: Wind power has lowered CO2 emissions by about 23 million tons in Spain

  Meanwhile among the solar aficionados:

• 2011/10/19: ERW: Three electrons for the price of one
• 2011/10/21: TreeHugger: MIT's 'Clean Energy Accelerator' is Making Solar Cheaper, Cleaner, More Efficient (Video)
• 2011/10/21: PlanetArk: SolarWorld Ups The Ante In Global Solar Trade War
• 2011/10/19: TP:JR: Solar Trade War? Accusations of China's Illegal Solar Subsidies Stirring Debate in the Solar Industry
• 2011/10/20: ABC(Au): Japanese [Tokai University] car wins World Solar Challenge
• 2011/10/20: BBerg: U.S. Solar Companies Seek Tax on Chinese Imports Claiming Unfair State Aid
• 2011/10/20: Grist: Solar power's 'nasty little secret' isn't nasty or secret
• 2011/10/19: ABC(Au): Clear skies and hot day power solar cars south
• 2011/10/18: Grist: Conservatives want to end support for America's fastest growing industry
• 2011/10/19: TreeHugger: Solar "Double Cropping" Harvests Food & Energy on the Same Land
• 2011/10/18: PSinclair: Sungevity: Solar for Zero Down
• 2011/10/18: TP:JR: The U.S. Could Get 20% of Power From Solar Sited Beneath Transmission Lines
• 2011/10/18: PlanetArk: Suntech Sees Stronger U.S. Solar Growth
• 2011/10/18: Grist: New GE factory will spit out a solar panel every 10 seconds
• 2011/10/17: Grist: Solar panels under power lines could be a major electricity source
• 2011/10/17: TreeHugger: The Solar Industry is Like a Yo-Yo

  The nuclear energy controversy continues:

• 2011/10/21: PlanetArk: Leak At Pakistani Nuclear Plant, But No Damage
• 2011/10/20: HTimes: Karachi nuclear reactor leaks
• 2011/10/18: PittsburghLive: Nuclear cleanup stopped in Parks Township
  The removal of nuclear waste from a dump in Parks Township was suspended in the wake of a "severe" violation of safety procedures for handling the material, the Army Corps of Engineers said Monday. The corps announced that excavation work at the former Nuclear Materials and Equipment Corp. waste site was stopped after the incident on Sept. 30.
• 2011/10/18: PlanetArk: New Finnish Reactor Town Counts Blessings, Fears
• 2011/10/17: TreeHugger: New York Could Close Indian Point Nuclear Plant Without New Capacity Needed Until 2020

  Nuclear waste storage requires _very_ long term thinking:

• 2011/10/19: NatureNB: If I ruled Yucca Mountain...

  The Rossi Energy Catalyzer keeps coming up:

• 2011/10/22: NBF: Dr. George Miley Replicates Patterson, Names Rossi

  And then there is the matter of efficiency & conservation:

• 2011/10/18: TreeHugger: Universities Commit to Billion Dollar Energy Efficiency Challenge
• 2011/10/17: NakedCapitalism: Energy Efficiency Doesn't Work [Jevons]
• 2011/10/17: Guardian(UK): How to teach -- saving energy

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

• 2011/10/20: Grist: Northeastern states build giant electric vehicle network
• 2011/10/19: AutoBG: Chrysler CEO: Guess we'll build more hybrids after all
• 2011/10/17: AutoBG: Chevy dealer, Republican Congressman: "there is no market" for Chevy Volt
• 2011/10/17: AutoBG: Only 4% of consumers likely to be satisfied with today's electric vehicles [polls & cars]
  Given the results of a survey released this month by Deloitte, it seems shocking that automakers are willing to risk it on the development of electric vehicles. Deloitte's study, titled "Unplugged: Electric vehicle realities versus consumer expectations," suggests that consumers across the globe are unwilling to compromise when it comes to electric vehicles. Turns out, the vast majority of those surveyed weren't willing to accept an electric vehicle's limited range, high sticker price or the inconvenience of waiting for it to recharge.
• 2011/10/18: AutoBG: China gears up to sell lots of electric vehicles, the most in Asia

  As for Energy Storage:

• 2011/10/19: AutoBG: Toyota could have 600-mile, solid state battery ready by 2015-2020
• 2011/10/17: NBF: Superstrong 10-20 centimeter long Carbon Nanotubes for Mechanical Energy Storage that is 8 times better than lithium batteries
• 2011/10/18: NBF: Superconducting Magnetic Energy Storage (SMES) Systems for GRIDS
  [...] Superpower inc is trying to prove that they can get the component performance needed for scaling superconducting magnetic energy storage to scale to the gigawatt level.

The reaction of business to climate change will be critical:

• 2011/10/20: TreeHugger: Meet The 'Climate 185': More Corporations Calling For Government Climate Action
• 2011/10/20: TreeHugger: World's Largest Investors Urge Government Action on Climate
• 2011/10/20: BBC: Companies call for tougher climate action
  Leaders of nearly 200 major companies around the world have called for tougher action on climate change. The 2C Challenge, co-ordinated by the Prince of Wales Corporate Leaders Group, says that climate change puts society's future prosperity at risk. But the window to keep global warming below 2C has "almost closed", it warns.
• 2011/10/19: TP:JR: Investors Worth $20 Trillion Call For Urgent Action on Climate

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

• 2011/10/21: TP:JR: October 21 News...
• 2011/10/20: TP:JR: October 20 News...
• 2011/10/19: TP:JR: October 19 News...
• 2011/10/18: TP:JR: October 18th News...
• 2011/10/17: TP:JR: October 17 News...

  Other (weekly) lists:

• 2011/10/17: BPA: Agriculture News

  The carbon lobby are up to the usual:

• 2011/10/22: CChallenge: What's Up With That Watts Spinning Svante Björck's Climate Study?
• 2011/10/22: QuarkSoup: Bertrand Russell Understood the Anthony Watts of the World
• 2011/10/21: DeSmogBlog: Gas Industry Front Group Called Out By RFK Jr Attempts To Spin Facts Yet Again
• 2011/10/21: S&R: Heartland Institute's latest climate-related media advisory filled with the usual distortions
• 2011/10/21: Guardian(UK): Lord Lawson's Global Warming Policy Foundation is spreading errors
  The former chancellor is an avowed climate sceptic -- and the 'facts' he repeats are demonstrably inaccurate
• 2011/10/19: MoJo: Meet the Tar Sands PR Wizard [Levant]
• 2011/10/19: ITracker: Mathturbation -- Richard Saumarez joins the circle
• 2011/10/19: OilChange: Shell Guilty Again?
• 2011/10/18: ITracker: Frank Lemke mathturbates in public -- Judith Curry watches
• 2011/10/17: HotTopic: Michael Cox talks complete rubbish - a retired conservative politician with a penchant for writing opinion pieces

  Meanwhile in the 'clean coal' saga:

• 2011/10/19: NBF: Pesticides and coal and oil pollutants increase associated with 450% increase in certain birth defects

  As for climate miscellanea:

• 2011/10/22: TP:JR: "What Should a Ski Company that Cares About Sustainability Be Doing?"
• 2011/10/22: DVoice: For Earth's Sake ... Leave It in the Ground
• 2011/10/22: MoD: Planet3.0 Launches!!!
• 2011/10/20: Maribo: Can we make the climate a part of the human world?
• 2011/10/20: TP:JR: Climate Ethicist: Why Should People in the Future Pay to Clean Up Our Mess?
• 2011/10/20: Grist: Climate change didn't 'go,' it was pushed
• 2011/10/20: NatureN: Climate action a 'moral responsibility' -- Chinese climatologist [Qin Dahe] says the world must work together on global warming
• 2011/10/18: TreeHugger: After Helping Cause Climate Change, Big Oil Now Set to Profit from Melting Arctic
• 2011/10/23: ITracker: Another successful prediction for Hansen
• 2011/10/23: ITracker: The illusion of validity
• 2011/10/18: Maribo: Climate change debates and flags of convenience
• 2011/10/17: Grist: The world's first vertical forest is under construction in Milan
• 2011/10/17: ScienceInsider: Updates: Floods in Thailand and The Scientist Finds a New Owner
• 2011/10/17: TreeHugger: Newsweek's 2011 Green Rankings Are Out
• 2011/10/17: DeSmogBlog: Why Did Climate Progress Stall? It's Called Conservative Ideological Activation
• 2011/10/16: ITracker: Curt Stager's Eemian -- cold comfort for a +4C future

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

• IFPRI: 2011 Global Hunger Index
• Environmental Working Group
• The 2°C Challenge Communiqué
• US GeoTraces
• Geology: Northwest Passage
• Climate Revolution - India, climate change, global warming and our response
• NSIDC: Icelights: Your Burning Questions About Ice & Climate
• WAFC: World AgroForestry Centre
• TSJ: Solutions
• Wiki: Infectious salmon anemia virus
• CPAWS: Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society
• MTobis: Only In It For The Gold (Note change of address)

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 deniers, or contrarians, if you will, do not act as scientists, but rather as lawyers. As soon as they see evidence against their client (the fossil fuel industry and those people making money off business-as-usual), they trash that evidence and bring forth whatever tidbits they can find to confuse the judge and jury." -James Hansen

• Global Warming Links
• Global Warming News Archive
• Energy
• Energy News
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