Another Week of GW News, October 9, 2011

Logging the Onset of The Bottleneck Years

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Another week in the Ecological Crisis

Sipping from the Internet Firehose...

October 9, 2011

• Chuckles, COP17+, Horn of Africa, Pakistan, EU & Tar Sands, Planet 3.0
• Grumbine, Drought, Maathai, Subsidies, Ecocide, BS Detector, Cook
• Fukushima Note, Fukushima News, Nuclear Policy
• Melting Arctic, Methane, Geopolitics
• Food: Crisis, Prices, Riots, Food vs. Biofuel, Land Grabs, IP Issues, GMOs, Production
• Hurricanes, Monsoon, GHGs, Temperatures, Ozone, Paleoclimate
• ENSO, Solar, State of the Oceans, Extinctions, Satellites
• Impacts, Forests, Phenology, Wildfires, Corals, Floods & Droughts
• Transportation, Buildings, Sequestration, Geoengineering
• Journals, Other Docs , Misc. Science, DIY Science, Broecker, Mann, Wegman
• International Politics: UN, Carbon Trade, Bank Tax, Airlines & EU ETS
• Security, Law & Activism, Activism, Polls, Water Politics & Business
• National Politics: America, BP Disaster, 2012, Keystone XL, Solyndra
• Obama, USAdmin, Congress, Climate Bill, Lobbyists
• Britain, Europe, Australia, Carbon War, Murray-Darling, New Zealand, China
• Canada, Muzzled Scientists, Post G20, Environment Commissioner Report, AECL
• Pipelines, PWU, CWB, Job Cuts, Morton, Manitoba, Ontario, Maritimes
• Ecological Economics, IPAT, Apocalypso, Media, Books, Video, Courts
• Energy, Fracking, Coal, Oil & Gas, Fossil Fuel Corps, Peak Oil, Biofuel, Wind, Solar
• Nukes, Nuclear Waste, Fusion, LENR, Grid, Efficiency, Cars, Energy Storage
• Business, Joe's List, Carbon Lobby, Miscellaneous Climate, Useful Links
• New Web Site, Shameless Self Promotion, .sig

It's always nice to start with a laugh:

• 2011/10/07: Sci-ence: (cartoon - Maki) Be(c+)ause Neutrino
• 2011/10/05: RE: (cartoon - Garnotte?) Le Devoir on How to Fill That Growing Hole in the Ozone Layer
• 2011/10/05: uComics: (cartoon - Auth) Every Day Is Christmas!
• 2011/10/05: uComics: (cartoon - Toles) GOP Flavour Of The Week

  And for those who enjoy challenging Poe's Law:

• 2011/08/30: Onion: If I Go Extinct I Swear I Will Take As Many Humans With Me As I Can by A Karner Blue Butterfly

  Why am I reminded of that line from Men In Black: "No ma'am I don't believe the Agency has a sense of humour.":

• 2011/10/06: Grist: Environmentalist was barred from U.S. because FBI feared he'd glue himself to Palin

  Looking ahead to COP17 and future international climate negotiations:

• 2011/10/06: CSW: A comment on the UN climate treaty negotiations
• 2011/10/05: TCoE: Intensity-based emissions targets: Three-card Monte without the cards
• 2011/10/04: EurActiv: EU plays poker with climate finance deal
  European finance ministers have reiterated a commitment to providing international climate finance, but are keeping their money cards close to the chest in the run up to the United Nation's climate change conference in Durban later this year.
• 2011/10/05: Guardian(UK): Malcolm Turnbull: China and India will become climate leaders
• 2011/10/03: UN: [UNFCCC head, Christiana Figueres] urges States to grasp last chance ahead of major conference
• 2011/10/04: PlanetArk: Analysis: World Divided On New Plan To Combat Global Warming
• 2011/10/03: EUO: EU urges global climate roadmap

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

• 2011/10/05: CNN: Red Cross taking food to militant territory in Somalia
  The Red Cross hopes to reach 1.1 million people eventually - The first round targets 72,000 people in the Gedo region - The aid comes after negotiations with the Islamist Al-Shabaab - Central and southern Somalia has been hard hit by war and drought
• 2011/10/05: UN: Sudan: UN warns of looming food crisis in Blue Nile and Southern Kordofan states
• 2011/10/05: WMTC: the f-word: famine is the real obscenity
• 2011/10/05: BBC: Somali famine: Red Cross aid push in Islamist areas
  The International Red Cross has begun a huge distribution of aid to one million people in famine zones in Somalia controlled by Islamist militants. A continuous operation will transport the food in lorries from the coast deep into areas controlled by al-Shabab. The Red Cross says it is its biggest such operation anywhere in the world. It followed difficult negotiations with al-Shabab, which banned many Western aid agencies from its territory two years ago.

Not much press, but flooding in Pakistan is once again momentous:

• 2011/10/06: UN: Pakistan: UN humanitarian fund allocates money to sustain flood relief
• 2011/10/02: CCurrents: Floods Exacerbate Pakistan's Woes

  The tar sands suffered a major blow this week when the EU executive gave bitumen a reality based GHG measure:

• 2011/10/05: EurActiv: EU faces down tar sands industry
  The EU executive has defied intense pressure from governments and lobbyists to include oil from innovative but highly-polluting tar sands within Europe's Fuel Quality Directive. Between September 2009 and July 2011, Canadian government and oil industry representatives organised more than 110 lobby events in Brussels -- over one per week -- and in February, it was reported that Ottawa had threatened a trade war over the issue. "This could signal the end of an era in which the oil industry enforced their solutions on policy-makers," Darek Urbaniak, a campaigner for Friends of the Earth told EurActiv. Petroleum industry sources declined to comment. The final vote by the European Commission college on the review of the directive on 4 October was almost unanimous, with only weak opposition within the Brussels cabinet, EU sources said. The proposal still needs approval from national governments, but should this happen, tar sands will be ascribed a greenhouse gas default value of 107 grams CO2 equivalent per megajoule (CO2eq/MJ) of fuel, as opposed to the 87.5g CO2eq/MJ average for crude oil, reflecting the greater harm it causes to the environment. Other unconventional sources were also hit hard, with oil shale being included at a value of 131.3 CO2eq/MJ, and coal-to-liquid at 172 CO2eq/MJ.
• 2011/10/05: EUO: EU to put higher pollution price on tar sands
  The European Commission on Tuesday (4 October) proposed that oil derived from tar sands be given a higher greenhouse-gas emission value, a move slammed as "unjustified" and "discriminatory" by Canada, the world's largest producer of this fossil fuel. After more than a year of internal wrangling and amid strong lobbying from the oil industry and the Canadian government, the 27 EU commissioners agreed to qualify tar sands as a quarter more CO2 polluting than crude oil. The draft bill still needs approval of the EU legislature and member states and will require suppliers to reduce transport-fuel carbon emissions.
• 2011/10/05: NatureNB: Canada's tar sands could be banned from Europe
• 2011/10/05: OilChange: Europe Labels the Tar Sands "Dirty"
  Earlier this year I worked with Friends of the Earth on a report that exposed the extent of Canadian lobbying on the Fuel Quality Directive (FQD), a landmark piece of legislation by the EU which hopes to reduce CO2 emissions from transport fuels. We detailed how there had been a huge number of lobbying events -- over 110 -- organised by the Canadians on tar sands and the FQD since September 2009 until now. What the Canadians have been desperate to avoid is a higher default value for their dirty tar sands compared to normal fuels. The report, called "Canada's Dirty Lobby Diary", also exposed the threats by the Canadians in their desperate attempt to get their own way. The report ended by urging the EU not to buckle under the Canadian pressure. Well yesterday the European Commission did just that. It proposed a higher carbon emissions value for oil from tar sands than for other sources of fuel and committed to reducing the emissions from transport fuels by 6% by 2020. Although the decision has to be approved by EU member states, it is being seen as a huge victory for the Climate Change Commissioner Connie Hedegaard and environmental groups.

Several people noted the blogospheric arrival of Planet 3.0:

• Planet 3.0
• 2011/10/07: MTobis: Planet 3.0
• 2011/10/06: ERabett: New Planet on the Block
• 2011/10/06: TCoE: Welcome to the blogosphere, Planet 3.0

  Rob Grumbine is back in the gentle education mode:

• 2011/10/04: MGS: Climate change science history

  South Pacific islands are suffering a La Nina induced drought:

• 2011/10/07: BBC: Australia, New Zealand in airlift to drought-hit Tuvalu
  Australia and New Zealand are to airlift equipment to the Pacific nation of Tuvalu to help it deal with a severe water shortage caused by drought.
• 2011/10/05: al Jazeera: Is the South Pacific drying up?
  A look at how South Pacific island communities are struggling to adapt to changing weather patterns
• 2011/10/06: HotTopic: Water, water everywhere...
• 2011/10/04: Guardian(UK): South Pacific islands face water crisis after six months of low rainfall
• 2011/10/04: BBC: South Pacific water shortage hits Tokelau
  A second South Pacific community is suffering a severe water shortage due to an ongoing drought crisis. Tokelau declared a state of emergency late on Monday, following a similar move in neighbouring Tuvalu, where water is already being rationed. A New Zealand-administered territory of three islands, Tokelau's 1,400 people have less than a week's drinking water left. The lack of rainfall is blamed on the La Nina weather pattern.
• 2011/10/03: BBC: Tuvalu declares emergency over water shortage
  The tiny Pacific island nation of Tuvalu has declared a state of emergency because of a severe shortage of fresh water.
• 2011/10/03: al Jazeera: Tuvalu faces drinking water emergency
  New Zealand spearheads aid effort amid fears Pacific island's water supplies could run dry within days.

Wangari Maathai was laid to rest this week:

• 2011/10/08: BBC: Wangari Maathai, Nobel winner, laid to rest in Kenya
• 2011/10/08: al Jazeera: Kenyans mourn for 'Tree Mother of Africa'
  President and prime minister among thousands paying their last respects to Africa's first female Nobel laureate Maathai.

Who's getting the subsidies?

• 2011/10/06: PeakEnergy: Digging up old fossils
• 2011/10/04: OilChange: Coalition Calls for End to $122 billion in Handouts to Fossil Fuels
• 2011/10/04: TreeHugger: Fossil Fuel Subsidies to Hit $660 Billion by 2020
• 2011/10/04: BBC: IEA calls for cuts to 'wasteful' fossil fuel subsidies
  The International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates governments spent $409bn (£266bn) on fossil fuel subsidies in 2010. This figure is a 36% rise on the previous year. Support for oil products represented almost half of the total. The IEA warns the aid is likely to increase to $660bn (£430bn) by 2020 unless action is taken. The agency claims subsidies are inefficient and encourage wasteful energy use.
• 2011/10/03: DeSmogBlog: Mr. Morriss Gets Acquainted With Irish Confetti [subsidies]
• 2011/10/03: EUO: EU subsidies fuel Spain's ravenous [fishing] fleet

  Still some chatter about that ecocide trial and the international legal framework looming behind it:

• 2011/10/06: EnergyBulletin: The ecocide trial
• 2011/10/05: TreeHugger: Mock Ecocide Trial Returns Guilty Verdict on Oil CEO (Video)

  Reprising an old favourite - the BS detector:

• 2011/10/08: SciAm:DGS: Drawing the line between science and pseudo-science
• How's yer crap detector?

  John Cook and friends continue their point-counterpoint articles:

• 2011/10/09: SkeptiSci: Changes in Arctic Sea Ice: Young and thin instead of old and bulky by John Hartz
• 2011/10/07: SkeptiSci: Clouds Over Peer Review by Jörg Zimmermann
• 2011/10/07: SkeptiSci: True Cost of Coal Power - Muller, Mendelsohn, and Nordhaus by dana1981
• 2011/10/06: SkeptiSci: Graphics for Sea Ice Minimum 2011 by Peter Hogarth
• 2011/10/06: SkeptiSci: Lessons from Past Climate Predictions: Arctic Sea Ice Extent by dana1981
• 2011/10/05: SkeptiSci: Between St. Roch and a cold place by JMurphy
• 2011/10/04: SkeptiSci: Michaels Mischief #3: Warming Island by logicman
• 2011/10/03: SkeptiSci: The Last Interglacial Part Four - Oceanic Influences by Steve Brown

  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.

  No good news out of Fukushma yet:

• 2011/10/08: EneNews: Another Fukushima worker exposed to high level of radiation -- Radioactive material attached to jaw, neck -- Severe internal exposure likely
• 2011/10/06: EneNews: First time since meltdowns: Surge in radioactive cesium levels cause incinerator near Tokyo to shut down
• 2011/10/06: EneNews: Local Official: Radioactive forests a permanent risk, must be cut down -- Every gust of wind showers cesium particles over village
• 2011/10/07: EneNews: Economist: "Enormous spread of radiation" in Iitate -- Levels so high in hills that locals dare not go near -- 150 millisieverts/yr outside official's home
• 2011/10/06: APR: TEPCO: No hydrogen explosion at No. 2 plant [last February]
• 2011/10/04: EneNews: Thyroid problems found in children from Fukushima -- 60% from outside evacuation zone
• 2011/10/05: EneNews: Kyodo: High dosage of cesium found in large city 60 km fom meltdowns -- Similar to Chernobyl evacuation levels -- 307,000 becquerels of cesium per kilogram of soil on Sept. 14
• 2011/10/04: EneNews: Professor in Japan: Gov't blatantly under-reporting radiation data -- "It will become common knowledge that the contamination has come far beyond what is being reported in the media" (VIDEO)
• 2011/10/04: EneNews: Japan Gov't: Plutonium will no longer be measured -- Almost impossible for normal person to detect, as geiger counters are ineffective
• 2011/10/04: EneNews: Kyoto-area Professor: "I can't believe this is going on! This is a nightmare" -- "I'm just afraid this has dealt a near-fatal blow to Japan" -- "Japan has lost its future" (VIDEO)
• 2011/10/04: Novosti: Fukushima soil decontamination zone may be larger than expected
• 2011/10/04: CBC: Japan nuclear cleanup to get [IAEA] international support
  A team of experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency will visit Japan this week to help with the massive cleanup of areas contaminated by a radiation-leaking nuclear power plant, officials said Tuesday. Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura said the 12-member team will help plan and conduct the decontamination during its nine-day visit starting Friday. It will also visit the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, meet with Japanese nuclear officials and compile a report, he said.
• 2011/10/03: ABC(Au): Japan nuclear companies stacked public meetings
• 2011/10/03: EneNews: Recent Japan nuke headlines: Another Fukushima meltdown possible 38 hours after cooling stops -- TEPCO concludes own crisis manual useless -- Gov't lets kids return near meltdowns

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

• 2011/10/06: PlanetArk: Analysis: Europe Power Prices May Spike In Winter
  German and French spot electricity prices are vulnerable to spikes this winter as high seasonal demand combines with short supply after Germany axed a big chunk of its nuclear capacity.

The Arctic melt continues to garner a lot of attention:

• 2011/10/07: CCP: NSIDC: October 2011 Arctic Sea Ice Report: Summer 2011: Arctic sea ice near record lows
• 2011/10/04: NASA: Arctic Sea Ice Continues Decline, Hits 2nd-Lowest Level
• 2011/10/05: PostMedia: Climate change eradicating Arctic's oldest ice
  The Arctic's oldest, thickest sea ice - much of which used to survive the year's warmest months - had all but disappeared by the end of this summer's near-record meltdown, according to new U.S. analyses that vividly show how the circumpolar region is being transformed by warmer temperatures and other features of climate change. In reports issued this week by NASA and the associated National Snow and Ice Data Center, the respective teams of U.S. scientists offered end-of-season overviews of the state of the northern cryosphere that emphasized not only the severe shrinkage of the ice cover for the fifth straight year, but also the widespread replacement of the Arctic's most mature ice masses by much younger, thinner and weaker sheets of ice. The trend - reinforced by this year's loss of about 50 per cent of Canada's rapidly vanishing, millennia-old Arctic ice shelves along the coast of Ellesmere Island - continues to suggest the likelihood of ice-free Arctic summers in the coming decades, the experts say.
• 2011/10/05: ClassM: Ice recap Summer 2011
• 2011/10/05: RealClimate: Speculative polar cartography
• 2011/10/04: ASI: PIOMAS September 2011 (volume record lower still)
• 2011/10/04: ASI: September 2011 sea ice volume, looking back and ahead
• 2011/10/04: Tamino: Arctic Sea Ice 2011, 2012

  That Damoclean sword still hangs overhead:

• 2011/10/04: Google:Knol: Methane linked to Seismic Activity in the Arctic

  As for the geopolitics of Arctic resources:

• 2011/10/07: TP:JR: Drilling in the Arctic: Perspectives From an Alaska Native
• 2011/10/05: Guardian(UK): Melting Arctic ice clears the way for supertanker voyages
• 2011/10/04: FP:B: When it comes to Arctic oil drilling, all geopolitics are local

  The food crisis is ongoing:

• 2011/10/05: FAO: Food Crisis looms in Sudan regions -- FAO calls for urgent action, funds
• 2011/10/07: CBC: Climate change may shrink global seafood supply
• 2011/10/06: UN: Global cereal production forecast to rise, but food insecurity to continue - UN
• 2011/10/05: UN: UNICEF warns of lack of nutrition supplies to meet unprecedented global demand
• 2011/10/04: BPA: The Number of Hog Producers in the U.S. Declined Sixty Percent in the Decade Ending in 2009
  Large operations produced an increasing share of output between 1998 and 2009
• 2011/10/03: HuffPo: Climate Change Could Make Chocolate A Luxury Item, Report Finds
• 2011/10/04: BBC: Spain's fishy practices cast shadow on seas

  Food Prices are still problematic:

• FAO: World Food Situation - Food Price Indices
• 2011/10/06: FAO: World cereal markets expected to stay tight amid rising production -- But prices drop on expected slowdown in economic recovery
• 2011/10/04: BPA: Round Two. Does Speculation Cause High Food Prices?
• 2011/10/09: PeakEnergy: Anatomy Of A Food Price Spike
• 2011/10/07: SustainABlog: Anatomy Of A Food Price Spike

  Regarding the food factor in the ongoing revolutions:

• 2011/10/07: Yahoo:AFP: Nestle chief warns of new food riots
• 2011/10/03: SciAm:GB: Food Fights: Reconsidering Famine and War in the Horn of Africa

  The conflict between biofuel and food persists:

• 2011/10/07: BPA: More U.S. Soybeans go towards Biodiesel, Less for Food
• 2011/10/07: Grist: Wall Street and ethanol cause starvation, say scientists
• 2011/10/05: WiredSci: Biofuels, Speculation Blamed for Global Food Market Weirdness
• 2011/10/07: SciAm:PI: The U.S. Now Uses More Corn For Fuel Than For Feed

  So, are these land grabs Colonialism V2.0?

• 2011/10/03: UN: Guidelines to prevent 'land grabbing' crucial for food security, UN expert warns

  Look out! the IP Rentiers are coming!

• 2011/10/08: Asia Times: China ploughs a new corn furrow
  The world's major seed companies are trying to outrun skepticism and bad economics to dominate the world's seed supply with expensive proprietary products. Billions of dollars and the future of the world's food supply are at stake.
• 2011/10/03: DVoice: Patenting "The Staff of Life" Is Ruinous to Iraq's Agriculture
• 2011/10/02: FoodF: India sues Monsanto for biopiracy

  Regarding the genetic modification of food:

• 2011/10/07: AlterNet: Thanks to the FDA, You Really Have No Idea What's In Your Food
• 2011/10/07: CBC: Herbicide-resistant superweeds overpowering crops
• 2011/09/30: MoJo: Are Genetically Modified Foods Safe To Eat?
  The government admits it doesn't know. So why does it approve virtually all GMOs for supermarket shelves?
• 2011/10/04: TreeHugger: Right2Know Marchers Begin 313-Mile Walk From NYC to Washington DC Demanding GM Food Labeling

  And how are we going to feed 9 billion?

• 2011/10/06: ScienceInsider: New Center to Battle Future Food Crises
  Hoping to kick-start another green revolution, the Indian government on 5 October announced the creation of a research center to develop wheat and maize varieties that thrive in warmer temperatures and on degraded land. Launched in partnership with the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT) in Mexico, the Borlaug Institute for South Asia will employ 300 researchers across three sites in India.
• 2011/10/05: EnergyBulletin: Young farmers: Anybody want to be a serf?
• 2011/10/05: CSM: Five fruits you've never heard of that are helping to end hunger
• 2011/10/02: Eureka: Scientists eye 'windows of opportunity' for adapting food crops to climate change
  Increased aid from biotechnology needed in the next 2 decades to tap the genetic potential of seed banks

In the Western Pacific, Nalgae zapped the Philippines, then Vietnam:

• 2011/10/05: NASA: NASA Eyes Light Rainfall in Dissipating Tropical Depression Nalgae
• 2011/10/03: CNN: Death toll from dual Philippine typhoons now 59
  Nalgae, now a tropical storm, threatens southern China - 55 are dead from Typhoon Nesat, and 4 are killed by Typhoon Nalgae - A disaster agency estimates damages at 8 billion Philippine pesos (almost $183 million) - Some residents in Bulacan province were stranded on rooftops for days
• 2011/10/03: al Jazeera: Philippines steps up typhoon relief efforts
  Aid delivered to thousands still stranded on rooftops by floodwaters, but at least 15 villages still inaccessible.
• 2011/10/02: al Jazeera: Philippines reels in second typhoon's wake
  Hundreds of thousands displaced and many stranded on rooftops after two typhoons in a week batter country's main island.

In the Eastern Pacific, a series of storms generated:

• 2011/10/09: CNN: Hurricane Jova expected to intensify as it inches toward Mexico
• 2011/10/07: CNN: Hurricane forms off western Mexico, with another likely coming
  Southwest of Baja California, Hurricane Irwin continues to gain strength - So, too, does Jova, another storm in this area that's expected to become a hurricane - In the Atlantic, Philippe weakens and is no longer a hurricane
• 2011/10/08: Wunderground: Heavy rains hit Florida coast; Jova and Irwin a threat to Mexico
• 2011/10/07: CBC: Hurricane Irwin forms in Pacific Ocean
• 2011/10/07: Wunderground: Major rains for Southeast U.S., TX, KS, and OK; Jova and Irwin a threat to Mexico
• 2011/10/06: NASA: NASA's Aqua Satellite Sees Birth of Two Tropical Cyclones in Eastern Pacific

  In the Atlantic, Ophelia zinged Newfoundland, but Philippe is fading mid-ocean:

• 2011/10/06: NASA: A 3-D Look at Philippe Provided Clues of Transition into a Hurricane
• 2011/10/03: Wunderground: Weakening Tropical Storm Ophelia hits Newfoundland
• 2011/10/03: CBC: Ophelia wallops southeastern Newfoundland
  Emergency declared in Belleoram after homes evacuated and roads damaged by flooding
• 2011/10/03: CNN: Ophelia weakens as it moves toward Newfoundland
  Ophelia is downgraded to tropical storm - The storm is expected to pass over Newfoundland's Avalon Peninsula early Monday - It is expected to weaken throughout the day Monday
• 2011/10/02: Wunderground: Weakening Ophelia headed towards Newfoundland
• 2011/10/06: Wunderground: Wet and windy subtropical storm possible for Southeast U.S.; Mexico eyes TD-10E
• 2011/10/05: Wunderground: Wet subtropical storm possible for Florida this weekend

  As for the Monsoon:

• 2011/10/09: al Jazeera: Floods devastate Thailand and Cambodia
  Thai PM forced to postpone official visits as death toll hits 250 while in neighbouring Cambodia at least 160 are dead.
• 2011/10/07: CNN: Thailand latest Southeast Asia nation hit hard by floods
  Flooding in Thailand leaves at least 244 dead and 1,215 factories submerged - It affects 28 provinces, including 820,000 households in four provinces - Doctors in the Philippines are treating thousands forced to evacuate due to floods - Laos, Cambodia and other nations also have been impacted
• 2011/10/08: CBC: Bangkok facing flood disaster, Thai PM warns -- Capital readies evacuation plans as waters rise
• 2011/10/07: CNN: Hundreds killed in Thai floods
• 2011/10/07: PlanetArk: Thai Flooding Closes Prison, Factories; GDP To Suffer
• 2011/10/06: al Jazeera: Thailand's ongoing battle with monsoon rains
  A look at the flooding across Thailand
• 2011/10/05: CNN: Hundreds killed in Thai floods
• 2011/10/05: al Jazeera: Hundreds killed in Southeast Asia floods
  Authorities battle floodwaters threatening Bangkok as forecasters warn of more monsoon rains in the region.
• 2011/10/05: BBC: Thailand floods: More than 200 die, temples threatened
  More than 200 people have died in monsoon flooding in Thailand since mid-July, officials say. More heavy rain is forecast, reservoirs are at full capacity and rivers are overflowing. Water has inundated 58 of Thailand's 77 provinces, with 25 still badly hit. Huge tracts of farmland are submerged, threatening this year's rice crop.
• 2011/10/04: al Jazeera: Thailand hit by worst monsoon in 50 years
  More than two million people affected and tens of thousands evacuated in crisis that now threatens Bangkok.
• 2011/10/02: al Jazeera: Hundreds die in Thailand and Cambodia floods
  At least 356 people have died since August after flash floods hit south-east Asian countries.

Regarding GHGs:

• 2011/10/07: Guardian(UK): Europe's greenhouse gas emissions rise [2.4%]
• 2011/10/06: Guardian(UK): China set to exceed carbon emission forecasts, figures show
• 2011/10/04: Grist: U.S. might meet its climate targets -- by accident
• 2011/10/03: NYT: Companies Get New Tools for Calculating Emissions [Scope 3]

  As for the temperature record:

• 2011/10/07: NOAANews: U.S. experiences warmer than average September
  Tropical Storm Lee drenches parts of the U.S. while extreme drought conditions persist in the Southern Plains
• 2011/10/03: al Jazeera: Britain basks in autumn sunshine
  A look at the unseasonably warm weather across the UK
• 2011/10/05: CBC: Winnipeg breaks October heat record
  It has been feeling nothing like fall in Winnipeg, which broke two heat records on Wednesday with temperatures above 30 C. The mercury hit 31 C in the city around 3 p.m. CT, breaking the previous Oct. 5 heat record of 28.3 C that was set in 1943, said CBC Manitoba meteorologist John Sauder. It also makes Wednesday the hottest October day in Winnipeg since weather records began 140 years ago, Sauder said.
• 2011/10/05: QuarkSoup: UAH: 5th Warmest September
• 2011/10/03: RealClimate: Global warming and ocean heat content

  The Arctic ozone hole has sparked some alarm:

• 2011/10/04: CCP: NASA Leads Study of Unprecedented Arctic Ozone Loss
• 2011/10/04: PlanetArk: Record Arctic Ozone Hole Raises Fears Of Worse To Come
• 2011/10/03: SciNews: Arctic ozone loss in 2011 unprecedented -- Report describes 'hole' comparable to early losses above Antarctica
• 2011/10/04: Wunderground: Unprecedented Arctic ozone hole in 2011; a Florida tropical storm next week?
• 2011/10/03: ClassM: Lost in the translation: The ozone-climate connection
• 2011/10/03: CBC: Record Arctic ozone loss caused by extreme cold [in the stratosphere]
• 2011/10/02: ClimateSight: The Pitfalls of General Reporting: A Case Study
• 2011/10/03: ABC(Au): Hole in ozone forms above Arctic
• 2011/10/03: OptusZoo: Hole in the ozone layer: It's happened again
  Scientists have discovered another hold in the ozone layer - this time it's in the Arctic.
• 2011/10/02: BBC: Arctic ozone loss at record level
  Ozone loss over the Arctic this year was so severe that for the first time it could be called an "ozone hole" like the Antarctic one, scientists report.

While in the paleoclimate:

• 2011/10/06: BBC: What lessons from history's climate shifts?
• 2011/10/05: UCincinnati: Long-Lost Lake Offers Clues to Climate Change
• 2011/10/03: UMich: Rising carbon dioxide levels at end of last ice age not tied to Pacific Ocean, as had been suspected
• 2011/10/03: OSU: Nature study: Rising CO2 levels at end of Ice Age not tied to Pacific Ocean

  While on the ENSO front:

• 2011/10/06: NOAA:NCEP: El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) Diagnostic Discussion
  Synopsis: La Niña conditions are expected to gradually strengthen and continue through the Northern Hemisphere winter 2011-12.

Regarding the solar hypothesis:

• 2011/10/08: ITracker: Hello Sunshine, ctd

  And the State of the Oceans:

• 2011/10/06: AlterNet: Our Oceans Are in Dire Shape, But Without Them All Life on Land -- Human, Plant and Animal -- Is Totally Screwed

  What's new on the extinction front?

• 2011/10/04: BBC: Climate swings increase extinction risk
  Scientists have begun to predict the animals that may become extinct in the next century because of climate change.

Meanwhile in near earth orbit:

• 2011/10/07: NatureNB: Long-serving Earth observation sensor conks out
  The Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer-EOS (AMSR-E), a Japanese sensor on board NASA's Aqua satellite, stopped transmitting data on 4 October following problems with antenna rotation. Scientists with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and NASA are currently investigating the problem, but fear that the device might be permanently broken. Originally designed for a lifetime of just three years, AMSR-E has since 2002 continuously provided Earth scientists with valuable observational data on precipitation, oceanic water vapour, sea ice extent, sea surface temperatures, and soil moisture.
• 2011/10/07: MGS: AMSR-E failure and fallout

  More GW impacts are being seen:

• 2011/10/06: USA Today: Study: Climate change to impact where wine grapes can grow
• 2011/10/06: SciNow: Glacial Melting Put Animals on the Run
• 2011/10/05: Grist: Australia is so, so screwed
• 2011/10/04: CSM: Does global warming cause animals to shrink?
• 2011/10/04: TreeHugger: Hairy Crazy Ants Invade Southern US (Video)
• 2011/10/04: PSinclair: I, for one, Welcome our New Crazy, Hairy Overlords
• 2011/10/03: ITracker: Risk of severe climate change impact on the terrestrial biosphere -- Heyder et al. (2011)

  And then there are the world's forests:

• 2011/10/03: FAO: As world goes urban, new focus on role of trees in cities -- More attention needed to maximize benefits of urban forests
• 2011/10/03: ERW: 2010 drought damaged Amazon as much as man-made deforestation
  The drought of 2010 caused about as much damage to the Amazon as man-made deforestation in that year, according to researchers in the US.
• 2011/10/03: Oregonian: Research suggests Pacific Northwest forests might not be as healthy as they look
• 2011/10/04: BBC: Forestry funding assessment system 'ineffective'
  The system of how schemes to protect forest biodiversity and people in poor nations are assessed is ineffective, a study has concluded. Community Forest Management (CFM) schemes have attracted billions of pounds to protect forested areas. The study found that data on schemes' carbon storage was "patchy", while information on CFM programmes' impacts on local communities was even worse.
• 2011/10/02: Maribo: Nutrient limitation missing from an otherwise good NY Times story on forests and climate change

  Changes in natural cycles are showing up:

• 2011/10/06: USA Today: Is climate change affecting fall foliage?
• 2011/10/07: TCoE: It's the phenology, stupid
• 2011/10/07: SciNews: When snowpack shrinks, elk can binge on aspen -- Grazers eat more young saplings, may harm vulnerable trees
• 2011/08/29: BBC: Flowers bloom for a second time this year
  UK plants are flowering for a second time this year because of the unseasonably warm weather. With temperatures soaring, plants such as foxglove and cowslip, which usually flower in the spring, are in full bloom six to eight months early. Cold nights experienced across the UK in August are thought to have led to the early onset of autumn colours. This warmer spell now has plants acting like it is spring.

As for heatwaves and wild fires:

• 2011/10/07: CBC: Fires rage across Manitoba, force evacuations
• 2011/10/08: CBC: Manitoba wildfire threat eases -- Evacuation order for 300 in Marchand lifted
• 2011/10/04: BendBulletin: Logging industry warns of wildfire in U.S. forest land

  Corals are a bellwether of the ocean's health:

• 2011/10/04: Eureka: New study of Glover's Reef challenges whether corals will benefit from Marine Reserves' protection

  As for hydrological cycle disruptions [floods & droughts]:

• 2011/10/06: UN: UN disaster reduction champion calls for integrated flood response in Philippines
• 2011/10/06: BBC: Afghanistan appeals for aid as drought looms
  Afghanistan is appealing for $142m (£92m) to feed 2.6 million people this winter as it faces the worst drought for a decade.
• 2011/10/04: CAbyss: 2020? The current Texas drought could last until 2020...
• 2011/10/02: TP:JR: NASA: It Rained So Hard the Oceans Fell
• 2011/10/02: BBC: Flooding in Algeria has killed at least 10 people and destroyed hundreds of homes...

  Consider transportation & GHG production:

• 2011/10/07: CalcRisk: AAR: Rail Traffic increases [1.1% yoy] in September
• 2011/10/08: EnergyBulletin: "Slow Travel" can provide a more enjoyable and sustainable ride
• 2011/10/06: NBF: Green Airplanes fly 200 miles at over 100 mph and use half of one gallon of fuel per passenger
• 2011/10/05: BBC: Drivers cut petrol use by 15%, AA [UK Automobile Association] research suggests
  Drivers have cut their petrol consumption by more than 15% since the credit crunch and the recession. The AA has calculated that petrol sales in the first six months of 2011 were 1.7bn litres less than in the same period three years ago. The AA says the drop in petrol sales is a direct result of record fuel prices.
• 2011/10/03: CalcRisk: U.S. Light Vehicle Sales at 13.1 million SAAR in September
• 2011/10/03: CalcRisk: Chrysler: U.S. September sales increase 27% year-over-year
  [...]
  GM U.S. vehicle sales total 207,145 in Sept., up 20%
  Ford Sept. U.S. sales rise 9%
• 2011/10/02: AlterNet: Private Roads, Rising Tolls, E-Z Pass and FasTrak -- It's a Waste of Money for an Asphalt Society We Need to Abandon ASAP

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

• 2011/10/08: EnergyBulletin: Architectural myopia: designing for industry, not people
• 2011/10/05: Inhabitat: Extraordinary Off-Grid Hobbit Home in Wales Only Cost £3,000 to Build
• 2011/10/06: SciAm:PI: LEED -- Not just a pretty plaque, and certainly not perfect
• 2011/10/05: PSinclair: Beyond LEED. Living
• 2011/10/05: Grist: If you want a green building, make it out of wood
• 2011/10/08: TreeHugger: Near Net Zero Reached at Frito-Lay Plant
• 2011/10/04: SciAm:PI: Green Building Retrofits -- Decreasing the demand from HVAC systems
• 2011/10/04: TreeHugger: No More Buildups To Greenbuild; It's Here

  As for carbon sequestration:

• 2011/10/06: Guardian(UK): Flagship UK [Longannet] carbon capture project 'close to collapse'
• 2011/10/06: Guardian(UK): Flagship green energy project [Longannet CCS] faces axe
• 2011/10/02: GEP: IEA Promotes Industrial CCS, With Market Mechanisms

  Large scale geo-engineering keeps popping up:

• 2011/10/06: Google:Knol: Thermal Expansion of the Earth's Crust Necessitates Geo-engineering
• 2011/10/08: GEB: Thermal Expansion of the Earth's Crust Necessitates Geo-engineering
• 2011/10/08: BNC: Low intensity geoengineering -- microbubbles and microspheres
• 2011/10/08: HOME: Ethicist quit geoengineering panel and other thoughts from Climate Progress
• 2011/10/06: GEP: BPC Report
• 2011/10/07: ClassM: The Task Force on Climate Remediation Research is wrong, and here's why
• 2011/10/07: SciAm:Obs: Geoengineering Tests Delayed Until Spring
• 2011/10/06: TP:JR: Dysfunctional, Lop-Sided Geoengineering Panel Tries to Launch Greenwashing Euphemism, "Climate Remediation"
• 2011/10/06: Guardian(UK): Big names behind US push for geoengineering
• 2011/10/04: MGunther: It's time for the US to study geoengineering
• 2011/10/04: NatureNB: Panel recommends US geoengineering research program
• 2011/10/04: ScienceInsider: New Report Urges U.S. to Fund Research on Geoengineering
• 2011/10/04: TP:JR: The Geoengineering Treadmill and Unintended Consequences

  Meanwhile in the journals:

• 2011/10/07: ACP: Does the size distribution of mineral dust aerosols depend on the wind speed at emission? by J. F. Kok
• 2011/10/07: ACP: Moisture and dynamical interactions maintaining decoupled Arctic mixed-phase stratocumulus in the presence of a humidity inversion by A. Solomon et al.
• 2011/10/07: ACPD: A new method to determine the mixing state of light absorbing carbonaceous using the measured aerosol optical properties and number size distributions by N. Ma et al.
• 2011/10/06: GMD: A new version of the CNRM Chemistry-Climate Model, CNRM-CCM: description and improvements from the CCMVal-2 simulations by M. Michou et al.
• 2011/10/07: GMDD: ASAMgpu V1.0 - a moist fully compressible atmospheric model using graphics processing units (GPUs) by S. Horn
• 2011/10/06: OS: An eddy resolving tidal-driven model of the South China Sea assimilating along-track SLA data using the EnOI by J. Xie et al.
• 2011/10/05: OSD: A vertical-mode decomposition to investigate low-frequency internal motion across the Atlantic at 26° N by Z. B. Szuts et al.
• 2011/10/07: ACS:JC&ED: (ab$) Adsorption Measurements of Methane on Activated Carbon in the Temperature Range (281 to 343) K and Pressures to 1.2 MPa by Xiaolin Wang et al.
• 2011/10/06: CP: Weakened atmospheric energy transport feedback in cold glacial climates by I. Cvijanovic et al.
• 2011/10/05: CPD: Hydroclimate variability in the low-elevation Atacama Desert over the last 2500 years by E. M. Gayo et al.
• 2011/10/05: CPD: Little ice age advance and retreat of Glaciar Jorge Montt, Chilean Patagonia, recorded in maps, air photographs and dendrochronology by A. Rivera et al.
• 2011/10/04: CPD: Climate variability of the mid- and high-latitudes of the Southern Hemisphere in ensemble simulations from 1500 to 2000 AD by S. B. Wilmes et al.
• 2011/10/04: CPD: A multi-proxy perspective on millennium-long climate variability in the Southern Pyrenees by M. Morellón et al.
• 2011/09/21: arXiv: The Food Crises: A quantitative model of food prices including speculators and ethanol conversion by Marco Lagi et al.
• 2004/01/08: Nature: (ab$) Extinction risk from climate change by Chris D. Thomas et al.
• 2011/09/28: WOL:EL: Analysis of climate paths reveals potential limitations on species range shifts by Regan Early & Dov F. Sax
• 2011/10/06: ACP: Source identification and airborne chemical characterisation of aerosol pollution from long-range transport over Greenland during POLARCAT summer campaign 2008 by J. Schmale et al.
• 2011/10/06: ACP: Cirrus cloud-temperature interactions in the tropical tropopause layer: a case study by J. R. Taylor et al.
• 2011/10/04: ACP: Atmospheric impacts of the 2010 Russian wildfires: integrating modelling and measurements of an extreme air pollution episode in the Moscow region by I. B. Konovalov et al.
• 2011/10/06: ACPD: Bromine and iodine chemistry in a global chemistry-climate model: description and evaluation of very short-lived oceanic sources by C. Ordóñez et al.
• 2011/10/06: ACPD: Identification and quantification of organic aerosol from cooking and other sources in Barcelona using aerosol mass spectrometer data by C. Mohr et al.
• 2011/10/05: ACPD: Impact of the deep convection of isoprene and other reactive trace species on radicals and ozone in the upper troposphere by E. C. Apel et al.
• 2011/10/: InTechOpen: [many articles] Planet Earth 2011 - Global Warming Challenges and Opportunities for Policy and Practice [journals]
• 2011/10/04: PNAS: (ab$) Valuation of plug-in vehicle life-cycle air emissions and oil displacement benefits by Jeremy J. Michalek et al.
• 2011/10/04: PNAS: (abs) Assessing the health risks of natural CO2 seeps in Italy by Jennifer J. Roberts et al.
• 2011/10/04: PNAS: (letter$) Evolution of the ocean's "biological pump" by Andy Ridgwell
• 2011/10/04: PNAS: (letter$) Reply to Grinsted et al.: Estimating land subsidence in North Carolina by Andrew C. Kemp et al.
• 2011/10/04: PNAS: (letter$) Comment on the subsidence adjustment applied to the Kemp et al. proxy of North Carolina relative sea level by Aslak Grinsted et al.
• 2011/10/04: GMD: MIROC-ESM 2010: model description and basic results of CMIP5-20c3m experiments by S. Watanabe et al.
• 2011/10/04: GMDD: Development of the high-order decoupled direct method in three dimensions for particulate matter: enabling advanced sensitivity analysis in air quality models by W. Zhang et al.
• 2011/10/04: GMDD: Pliocene Model Intercomparison Project: implementation strategy and mid-Pliocene Global climatology using GENESIS v3.0 GCM by S. J. Koenig et al.
• 2011/10/04: OS: Spectrophotometric high-precision seawater pH determination for use in underway measuring systems by S. AÃmann et al.
• 2011/10/04: TCD: Relative effect of slope and equilibrium line altitude on the retreat of Himalayan glaciers by T. N. Venkatesh et al.
• 2011/09/02: GRL: (ab$) Contribution of global groundwater depletion since 1900 to sea-level rise by Leonard F. Konikow
• 2011/10/02: Nature: (ab$) Unprecedented Arctic ozone loss in 2011 by Gloria L. Manney et al.
• 2011/10/03: AGWObserver: New research from last week 39/2011

  And other significant documents:

• 2011/10/04: OAG: 2011 October Report of the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development

  As for miscellaneous science:

• 2011/10/07: IsaacHeld: 18. Noise, TOA fluxes and climate sensitivity
• 2011/10/05: SEasterbrook: Preparing Toronto for a Post-Carbon World
• 2011/10/05: NatureNB: European centres launch climate research alliance
• 2011/10/05: NatureNB: European centres launch climate research alliance
• 2011/09/29: CSIRO: A new leaf turns in carbon science
  A new insight into global photosynthesis, the chemical process governing how ocean and land plants absorb and release carbon dioxide, has been revealed in research that will assist scientists to more accurately assess future climate change.
• 2011/10/02: ERabett: From the Ground Up

  More DIY science:

• 2011/10/08: moyhu: September GMST - TempLS down from 0.444 to 0.42

  Regarding Broecker:

• 2011/10/05: QuarkSoup: Wallace Broecker's Amazing 1975 Paper

  Regarding Mann:

• 2011/10/04: ClassM: Take that, climate-deniers!

  Regarding Wegman:

• 2011/10/08: JQuiggin: Wegman plagiarism case: GMU jury out to permanent lunch
• 2011/10/06: Deltoid: Yet more Wegman plagiarism
• 2011/10/04: DeepClimate: Said and Wegman 2009: Suboptimal Scholarship

  While at the UN:

• 2011/10/05: UN: Energy and green issues the focus for Ban's visit to Norway, Denmark and Sweden
• 2011/10/03: UN: Cities on the frontline of global fight against climate change, UN officials warn

  And on the carbon trading front:

• 2011/10/06: PlanetArk: EIB [European Investment Bank] 300 Million CO2 Permit Sale Could Start Mid-November
• 2011/10/06: PlanetArk: Poland Sells Pollution Permits To World Bank
• 2011/10/03: Guardian(UK): EU carbon credits scheme tarnished by alleged murders in Honduras
• 2011/10/03: EurActiv: Carbon credits tarnished by human rights 'disgrace'
  The reported killing of 23 Honduran farmers in a dispute with the owners of UN-accredited palm oil plantations in Honduras is forcing the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) executive board to reconsider its stakeholder consultation processes

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

• 2011/10/05: JQuiggin: Time for a Tobin tax
• 2011/10/05: al Jazeera: Occupy Wall Street: The labour connection
  Major US labour unions plan to back the Occupy Wall Street protesters in pushing for a financial transaction tax.

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

• 2011/10/07: EUO: EU court backs airline emissions cap
  An EU plan to cap airplane emissions from January is legal, the advocate general of the European Court of Justice said on Thursday (6 October) in response to a complaint from US airlines. The industry expressed its 'disappointment' with the legal opinion, which is usually confirmed by the court's verdicts.
• 2011/10/07: TP:JR: EU High Court Upholds Law Limiting Global Warming Pollution from Aviation
• 2011/10/07: PlanetArk: EU's Top Court Lawyer Says Airline Carbon Cap Is Legal
• 2011/10/07: TreeHugger: European Union Court Adviser Backs Plan to Include Airlines In Emissions Trading Scheme
• 2011/10/06: Guardian(UK): Airlines can be charged for carbon pollution, court rules
  The industry will be forced to pay for their carbon emissions on all flights to and from, as well as within, Europe
• 2011/10/06: EurActiv: Airline carbon cap is legal, says EU's top court lawyer
  European rules forcing all airlines to pay for carbon emissions are within the law, an adviser to Europe's highest court said on Thursday (6 October), in the latest stage of a bitter battle between the European Union and the aviation industry. From January next year, all airlines will have to buy permits under the EU's emissions trading scheme (ETS) to help cover the carbon cost of all flights that land or take off in Europe.
• 2011/10/06: BBC: Court adviser says EU airline carbon cap would be legal
  Plans to include any airline landing or taking off on EU territory in an emissions trading scheme are legal, an adviser to Europe's top court has said. European Court of Justice Advocate General Juliane Kokott said this in response to a legal challenge to the scheme by North American airlines. Though the court will not rule until next year, it follows the advocate-general's opinion in most cases. The new emissions scheme is due to be begin in January.
• 2011/10/04: Guardian(UK): US aviation lobbying 'will not change European emission trading laws'
  EU and green campaigners say the airlines will fail in their bid to change the law requiring them to account for greenhouse gas emissions
• 2011/10/04: EurActiv: India, 25 others oppose EU airline carbon charge plan
  European Union plans to charge airlines for carbon emissions are "discriminatory" and violate global laws, a group of 26 countries including the United States and China, according to a joint declaration.

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

• 2011/10/03: SciNow: Got War? Blame the Weather

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

• 2011/10/08: ABC(Au): Opera House protest targets Harvey Norman
  Police have charged five people after environmentalists scaled the Sydney Opera House to protest what they say is the destruction of Australian forests. Two women and a man from the group The Last Stand scaled the roof of the iconic building on Saturday morning. They then unveiled a banner targeting Harvey Norman, telling the retailer to stop selling Australian forest products.

What are the activists up to?

• 2011/10/07: Guardian(UK): The fight against climate change is down to us -- the 99% by Naomi Klein
• 2011/10/08: EnergyBulletin: Since the MSM won't cover it... Washington DC protests
• 2011/10/06: Guardian(UK): Bill McKibben on tar sands, Obama, geoengineering and population growth
• 2011/10/06: TreeHugger: Reverend Billy & the Church of Stop Shopping Occupy Wall Street (Video)
• 2011/10/05: TreeHugger: WWF's 'Horrifying' and 'Frightening' Ads
• 2011/10/09: TreeHugger: Bill McKibben Links Climate Change to Corruption in Stirring Occupy Wall Street Speech (Video)
• 2011/10/03: CCP: It started with 12 students in Wall Street
  ...now demonstrations spread across America as Boston, Chicago, L.A., Denver and Seattle erupt
  Totally lame reporting on what actually occurred on the bridge, but good photos

Polls! We have polls!

• 2011/10/08: KlimaZwiebel: Eurobarometer studies opinions on climate change in 2011
• 2011/10/07: Guardian(UK): Europeans fear climate change more than financial turmoil, poll shows
• 2011/10/05: LA Times:B: 61% of Americans unaware of energy efficiency rebates, incentives
• 2011/10/09: CCP: Poll: European Concern About Climate Change Grows

  Regarding Water Politics and Business:

• 2011/10/06: UN: Proper water management vital to green economy, UN water group says
• 2011/10/06: BBC: Chile court lifts suspension of Patagonia dam project
• 2011/10/04: Guardian(UK): China angry over Burma's decision to suspend work on £2.3bn dam
  Beijing threatens legal action as Burma halts dam because it is 'against the will of the people'
• 2011/10/04: Grist: Water for crops, but farmworkers go thirsty
• 2011/10/03: JFleck: Conservation and the water pricing dilemma
• 2011/10/02: JFleck: Mike Taugher tells us what's really going on with Sacramento Delta diversions
• 2011/10/02: JFleck: Taking a straw out of the Colorado?

  And on the American political front:

• 2011/10/08: Grist: Red states, green jobs
• 2011/10/07: ITRacker: How to get serious about green jobs: 4 keys
• 2011/10/07: Grist: Republican anti-EPA jihad, explained
• 2011/10/06: MoJo: The Right Can't Handle the Truth, Climate Edition
• 2011/10/06: SciAm:aBatC: What does it mean that a nation is 'Unscientific'?
• 2011/10/05: Grist: Attention climate wonks: you can't take the politics out of politics
• 2011/10/05: TP:JR: Why We Need a National Ocean Policy
• 2011/10/05: Grist: Laugh at the crying Indian all you want -- the joke's on us
• 2011/10/04: ScienceInsider: Panel Doubts U.S. Biofuels Goals Will Be Reached
• 2011/10/04: OilChange: Coalition Calls for End to $122 billion in Handouts to Fossil Fuels
• 2011/10/04: NBF: US High Speed Rail Projects May Wind Down with nothing Built
• 2011/09/27: AlterNet: Will Clean Energy Ever Be a Reality in the U.S.? Here's What's Standing in Our Way
• 2011/10/04: TP:JR: Babylon Steps Up the PACE of Green Jobs: "For Energy Savings, Carbon Reduction and Job Creation"
• 2011/10/04: TP:JR: Charting the "Explosive" Growth in Clean Energy Jobs
• 2011/10/04: TP:JR: The Job-Creating "Conservation Economy": What It Means for the Mississippi River Delta
• 2011/10/03: TP:JR: Bob Inglis: Conservative Means Standing With Science on Climate
• 2011/10/04: Grist: How climate change denial lets the fuel industry run politics, in one handy chart
• 2011/10/04: Grist: Wind power: a growing source of green manufacturing jobs the U.S. is trying to botch
• 2011/10/03: ProPublica: Pennsylvania Governor Proposes Fee on Gas Drillers
• 2011/10/03: BBickmore: Republicans Going Against the Tide
• 2011/10/07: Guardian(UK): Al Gore is doing a disservice to science by overplaying the link between climate change and weather
• 2011/10/03: EnvEcon: New legislation (HR 2772) threatens to roll back progress in solving fisheries problems
• 2011/10/02: TP:JR: West Virginia's Anti-Science Gubernatorial Candidates

  The BP disaster continues to twist US politics:

• 2011/10/05: ScienceInsider: Panel Draws Gulf Coast Restoration Road Map
• 2011/10/05: DeSmogBlog: New Federal Report Says Gulf of Mexico Cleanup Needed "Urgently"

  On the 2012 campaign trail:

• 2011/10/08: TP:JR: Rick Perry Is the Country's Top Polluter -- of Toxic Mercury and Mercury-Raising Carbon Dioxide
• 2011/10/06: AlterNet: The 4 Billionaire 'Vultures' Trying to Pick Our Next President
• 2011/10/05: BBC: Sarah Palin says she will not run for president in 2012
• 2011/10/05: Guardian(UK): Sarah Palin will not run for president in 2012
• 2011/10/04: OilChange: A tax break for refiners paid for by school budget cuts: a taste of things to come?
• 2011/10/04: BBC: New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has announced that he is not running for the White House, after weeks of calls for him to enter the race
• 2011/10/03: ProPublica: Our Handy Guide to the Best Coverage on Gov. Rick Perry and His Record

  The Keystone XL Review & Hearings are turning into a Leonard Cohen song: "Everybody knows that the dice are loaded":

• 2011/10/07: NYT: Pipeline Review Is Faced With Question of Conflict
  The State Department assigned an important environmental impact study of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline to a company with financial ties to the pipeline operator, flouting the intent of a federal law meant to ensure an impartial environmental analysis of major projects. The department allowed TransCanada, the company seeking permission to build the 1,700-mile pipeline from the oil sands of northern Alberta to the Gulf Coast in Texas, to solicit and screen bids for the environmental study. At TransCanada's recommendation, the department hired Cardno Entrix, an environmental contractor based in Houston, even though it had previously worked on projects with TransCanada and describes the pipeline company as a "major client" in its marketing materials.
• 2011/10/08: TP:JR: Bombshell: State Department Outsourced Tar Sands Pipeline Environmental Impact Study to 'Major' TransCanada Contractor
• 2011/10/06: DemNow: Naomi Klein: Keystone XL Oil Pipeline Controversy Shows How Wall Street Is Occupying U.S. Gov't
• 2011/10/08: HotTopic: A fighting chance?
• 2011/10/07: CBC: Final U.S. Keystone hearing ends
• 2011/10/07: Guardian(UK): Keystone XL firm moved endangered beetles before pipeline's approval
• 2011/10/08: LFR: US State Department permitted company with ties to TransCanada to conduct environmental impact study on KeystoneXL pipeline
• 2011/10/07: CSW: McKibben: With the Keystone Pipeline, Drawing a Line in the Tar Sands
• 2011/10/07: TreeHugger: Chart Shows Corruption in Govt Review of Keystone XL Pipeline
• 2011/10/07: TreeHugger: Dissent Rocks Final Keystone XL Tar Sands Pipeline Hearing
• 2011/10/07: DeSmogBlog: Keystone XL Lobbyists Web of Corruption Infographic
• 2011/10/07: DeSmogBlog: In Throes of Keystone XL Controversy, Obama Admin OKs Alaska Offshore Drilling
• 2011/10/07: OilChange: State Department Hears Public Comment on Keystone XL
• 2011/10/06: TP:JR: McKibben on Keystone Pipeline: Drawing a Line in the Tar Sands
• 2011/10/06: Grist: Koch Industries stands to profit off Keystone XL
• 2011/10/06: Grist: Pipeline? We don't need no stinkin' pipeline
• 2011/10/06: TreeHugger: TransCanada Influence Exposed: Several Keystone XL Lobbyists Have History With Clinton -- And Obama
• 2011/10/06: TreeHugger: If US Gasoline Use is Declining, is the Keystone XL Pipeline Needed?
• 2011/10/06: DeSmogBlog: Hillary Clinton's Keystone XL Crony Lobbyists Problem
• 2011/10/06: OilChange: The Keystone XL Energy Security Sham
• 2011/10/06: PostMedia: Rejecting pipeline would be huge blunder, U.S. official says
  'History will judge any politician poorly who allows this deal to fall apart,' Sen. Lindsey Graham charges A senior United States senator came out swinging Wednesday in favour of TransCanada's Keystone XL oilsands pipeline, saying that rejection of the project would be "the biggest energy policy blunder in our history."
• 2011/10/05: DeSmogBlog: Koch Brothers Dishonest About Keystone XL, Tar Sands Interest
• 2011/10/05: TP:JR: Koch Subsidiary Told Regulators It Has 'Direct and Substantial Interest' in Keystone XL Tar Sands Pipeline
• 2011/10/09: TreeHugger: New York Times Blows Lid Off State Department's Outsourcing of Keystone XL Environmental Review
• 2011/10/05: DeSmogBlog: Greenpeace Calls On Congress To Investigate Koch's Illegal Practices
• 2011/10/04: PlanetArk: Oil Pipe Lobbyist, State Dept Too Close: Group
• 2011/10/04: Grist: Keystone XL could be a terrorist target -- and more from my post in the N.Y. Times
• 2011/10/03: DeSmogBlog: State Department Emails Reveal Cozy Relationship With TransCanada Lobbyist
• 2011/10/03: NYT: TransCanada Pipeline Foes See U.S. Bias in E-Mails [between State Department & Keystone XL lobbyist]
• 2011/10/03: CCP: The Keystone XL Pipeline: Oil for Export, Not for U.S. Energy Security
• 2011/10/03: CBC: Keystone emails spark fresh controversy
  Emails between a senior diplomat at the U.S. Embassy in Ottawa and the chief lobbyist for Calgary's TransCanada suggest a friendly relationship as the company tries to win approval from the U.S. State Department for its Keystone XL pipeline. "Go Paul!" read one email written a year ago from Marja Verloop, a State Department employee working in Ottawa on energy and environmental matters, to Paul Elliott, the lobbyist who was a key figure in Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's failed presidential bid in 2008.
• 2011/10/03: CCP: Austin Tar Sands Hearing a Farce
• 2011/10/02: TreeHugger: Kyra Sedgwick Urges the President to Reject the Tar Sands Pipeline! What Celeb Will Be Next?

  The Solyndra story still has some life:

• 2011/10/07: PlanetArk: Energy Loans Official Leaves In Wake Of Solyndra
• 2011/10/06: TP:JR: Top 10 Reasons Why Renewable Energy Wins -- On Solyndra, Silver Bullets and Solar Buckshot
• 2011/10/03: NewYorker: A Waste Of Energy?
• 2011/10/03: BBC: White House was warned about Obama's Solyndra visit
  US President Barack Obama was advised his visit to an energy firm that later went bankrupt could come back to haunt him, newly released emails show. A Democratic fundraiser warned that investors did not rate the chances of survival for the firm, Solyndra.

The Obama chatter is nonstop:

• 2011/10/07: TP:JR: Tom Friedman on Climate: The Obama Administration "Fundamentally Failed to Speak Out in Favor of the Science"
• 2011/10/06: QuarkSoup: Obama Still Has the Big Picture in Mind
• 2011/10/06: TP:JR: Obama Slams GOP Claim America Can't Compete: "I'm Not Going to Surrender to Other Countries."

  The actions of the Obama administration are being watched closely:

• 2011/10/03: CJR: CJR Event: Science News and Government Transparency -- Access denied
• 2011/10/07: AlterNet: Thanks to the FDA, You Really Have No Idea What's In Your Food
• 2011/10/08: QuarkSoup: Another Federal Data Source to be Cut
• 2011/10/07: PlanetArk: U.S. EPA Proposes Changes To Air Pollution Rule
• 2011/10/05: UCSUSA: NRC Staff Asks Commission to Address Recommendations Made by Union of Concerned Scientists Months Ago
• 2011/10/03: TP:JR: Chu Strikes Back: America Can't Just Invent Clean Energy Technologies, "We Have to Make Them and Use Them Too"
• 2011/10/03: Grist: Yes, EPA regs will cost jobs: heavily subsidized, value-destroying jobs

  As for what is going on in Congress:

• 2011/10/04: HWire: House extends national flood insurance program
• 2011/10/03: GreenGrok: Progress in Solving Fisheries Problems Threatened
• 2011/10/07: Grist: International family planning saves lives. So why is the GOP cutting it?
• 2011/10/07: Grist: Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-Fla) is against energy subsidies that aren't to oil companies
• 2011/10/04: DeSmogBlog: Senate Hearing on Obama's Fracking Panel Excludes External Testimony, Glosses Over Threats
• 2011/10/04: TreeHugger: GOP Rep: America "Can't Compete With China" on Clean Energy

  Remember the climate bills?

• 2011/10/03: TP:JR: Organized Climate Change Denial "Played a Crucial Role in Blocking Domestic Legislation," Top Scholars Conclude

  What are the lobbyists pushing?

• 2011/10/06: BizInsider: Morgan Stanley: US Energy Security Is At Risk If EPA Doesn't Revise Pollution Rule
• 2011/10/02: DeSmogBlog: Oil Lobbyists Targeting "Super Committee"

  While in the UK:

• 2011/10/06: THE: Vital signs of an unhealthy future for UK science
• 2011/10/06: Guardian(UK): Can the Conservatives weaken the UK's carbon reduction targets?
• 2011/10/06: Guardian(UK): David Cameron's green Tory agenda fades after Osborne's call for 'realism'
  Chancellor's attack on environment laws at conference is a far cry from the Tories' 2006 rebrand as an eco-conscious party
• 2011/10/06: Guardian(UK): [Letters] Shale gas drilling
• 2011/10/05: BizGreen: Tories tear green credentials to shreds
  Cameron and Osborne sound death knell for 'greenest government ever' pledge, with complete sidelining of low-carbon economy
• 2011/10/03: TreeHugger: Britain Will NOT Lead in CO2 Cuts, Vows UK Chancellor [George Osborne]
• 2011/10/06: TreeHugger: Are UK Conservatives Lurching to the Lunatic Fringe Too?
• 2011/10/05: Guardian(UK): Green-o-meter: Is the government keeping its green promises?
  David Cameron's pledge to be the 'greenest government ever' goes on trial with the green-o-meter
• 2011/10/05: Guardian(UK): Cameron adds green insult to Osborne's low-carbon injury
• 2011/10/03: Guardian(UK): Churches take to the streets to press for coalition action on climate change
• 2011/10/03: Guardian(UK): George Osborne vows UK carbon emissions cuts will not lead Europe
  Chancellor hints he could water down UK's ambitious carbon targets
• 2011/10/03: Guardian(UK): George Osborne reveals his true colours on emissions -- and they aren't green
  The chancellor's speech contradicts both the plans of energy ministers and his campaign promises, but few are surprised
• 2011/10/03: Guardian(UK): George Osborne plan to charge workers for tribunals angers unions
  Chancellor unveils plans at Conservative conference as he positions himself as inheritor of Blairite mantle
• 2011/10/02: Guardian(UK): Consortium to bankroll cheap loans for 'green deal' energy efficiency drive

  And in Europe:

• 2011/10/07: EurActiv: Top scientists condemn EU land use values for biofuels
  Over 100 top scientists and economists have written to the European Commission calling for indirect land use change (ILUC) to be accounted for in EU biofuels policy making. The letter, seen by EurActiv, argues that assigning biofuels a zero or "carbon neutral" emissions value -- as the EU has done -- "is clearly not supported by the [best available] science". Because of "flawed" accounting conventions, "the European Union's target for renewable energy in transport may fail to deliver genuine carbon savings in the real world," the scientists argue. "It could end up as merely an exercise on paper that promotes widespread deforestation and higher food prices."
• 2011/10/07: DeSmogBlog: Lobby Planet report shows Brussels spinning with corporate influence
• 2011/10/06: PlanetArk: EBRD [European Bank for Reconstruction & Development] Considers Funding Kazakh Wind Farms
• 2011/10/05: EurActiv: Poland lobbies against EU shale gas regulation
  Poland, long seen as promoting a common European approach to shale gas, has now published a surprising study describing possible EU regulation on the industry as "unfeasible".
• 2011/10/05: EUO: A strategy for exploiting European shale gas resources
• 2011/10/04: TP:JR: German State Minister: We Can Decarbonize With Renewables Because "We Don't Have the ... Koch Brothers"
• 2011/10/04: PlanetArk: Danish Government Aims To Cut Emissions By 40 Percent By 2020
• 2011/10/03: EurActiv: Internal energy market in doubt as 18 states face court
  An exasperated EU energy commissioner gave his starkest warning yet that the EU's internal energy market may not meet its 2014 deadline, speaking at a Brussels conference last week. "I have to be quite open with you," Günther Oettinger told an audience of businessmen and diplomats on 29 September. "I have some doubts as to whether the [2014] goal is achievable by that deadline." Oettinger also announced that the European Commission would begin infringement proceedings against 18 member states which had not adopted the EU's third energy package, six months after the official deadline.

Meanwhile in Australia:

• 2011/10/07: ABC(Au): Abbott challenged over climate change
• 2011/10/06: ABC(Au): State prepares for extreme weather
  Scientists are predicting heavy rain and flooding will increase tenfold in some areas of Tasmania. They have released the latest research to help manage weather emergencies.
• 2011/10/03: ABC(Au): Lake Council set to refuse units, due to sea level rise

  Now that the Australian carbon legislation has been introduced, the battle is joined in earnest:

• 2011/10/07: ABC(Au): Warring committees deliver carbon tax reports
  Two parliamentary committees, each dominated by a different party, have handed down polar opposite reports on the Federal Government's carbon tax.

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

• 2011/10/07: ABC(Au): Knowles says Murray draft still flexible on flows
  The chairman of the Murray-Darling Basin Authority says he is still working on a final volume of water which should be returned to the environment. Craig Knowles has held another meeting with Riverland irrigators at Renmark in South Australia.
• 2011/10/04: ABC(Au): Farmers, miners competing for water

  And in New Zealand:

• 2011/10/07: HotTopic: 120% Pure Subsidy
• 2011/10/09: ABC(Au): Stricken cargo ship off NZ [pic]
• 2011/10/09: BBC: New Zealand oil ship leak 'raises questions'
  New Zealand's Prime Minister John Key says "serious questions" must be answered about why a container ship ran aground on a reef off one of the country's most spectacular coastlines. Oil leaking from the Liberian-flagged Rena has created a 5-km (3-mile) slick. An all-out effort is under way to remove nearly 2,000 tonnes of oil from the vessel, which is stranded 12 nautical miles off the coast. Heavy swells and gale-force winds are forecast for the area from Monday. Officials say 20-30 tonnes of oil have spilled into the Bay of Plenty, one of the country's top tourist destinations, since the MV Rena ran aground on Wednesday.
• 2011/10/04: HotTopic: SOS tour adds Lakes dates; Wratt in Wellington

  While in China:

• 2011/10/08: Asia Times: China ploughs a new corn furrow
  The world's major seed companies are trying to outrun skepticism and bad economics to dominate the world's seed supply with expensive proprietary products. Billions of dollars and the future of the world's food supply are at stake.
• 2011/10/06: Guardian(UK): China set to exceed carbon emission forecasts, figures show
• 2011/10/05: InformedComment: China and Iran, Green Together

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

• 2011/10/05: Rabble: Tar sands action: Open letter to the Prime Minister of Canada from a mother and extremist by Katharine Cukier
• 2011/10/08: ERabett: From the comments and the far north, a letter from Katherine Cukier...
• 2011/10/04: SMay: Who are the Real Extremists?

  Here is an example of the way Harper plays it. Scientists can't talk to the media, but they must talk to oil lobbyists:

• 2011/10/06: PostMedia: Oil lobby got 'help' from muzzled federal expert -- Engineer, lobbyists exchanged emails
  While Environment Canada scientists must request permission before speaking to reporters, newly released emails show that the main oil and gas industry lobby group has direct access to the department's technical expertise. Some of the emails were exchanged between a senior Environment Canada engineer and registered lobbyists from the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, who requested "help" after controversy surrounding an international inventory report on Canadian greenhouse gas emissions in May from the department that excluded data showing a substantial rise in oilsands pollution.
• 2011/10/02: PostMedia: Huge hole opens in Arctic ozone layer
  A massive Arctic ozone hole opened up over the Northern Hemisphere for the first time this year, an international research team reported Sunday. The hole covered two million square kilometres - about twice the size of Ontario - and allowed high levels of harmful ultraviolet radiation to hit large swaths of northern Canada, Europe and Russia this spring, the 29 scientists say. The discovery of the "unprecedented" hole comes as the Canadian government is moving to reduce staff in what Environment Minister Peter Kent calls the "streamlining" of its ozone monitoring network. Environment Canada scientist David Tarasick, whose team played a key role in the report published Sunday in the journal Nature, is not being allowed to discuss the discovery with the media.
• 2011/10/03: LFR: Environment Canada scientist instructed not to talk about huge new hole in Arctic ozone layer
• 2011/10/02: MSimon: The Cons and the Ozone Layer
  There comes a time when you just have to say it eh? Stephen Harper's Cons are not just crass, brutish and incompetent. They're dangerous.

The G20 controversy lingers:

• 2011/10/07: CBC: G8/G20 security firm fined $45,000 -- Contemporary Security Canada operated without a licence
• 2011/10/06: DawgsBlawg: Jail Tony "Gazebo" Clement!
• 2011/10/05: WpgFP: Auditor general declines further probe of G8 rule-breaking by Clement
• 2011/10/06: PostMedia: Auditor general rips into Harper government's summit spending
  The federal auditor general ratcheted up his criticism Wednesday of the Harper government's spending on the G8 and G20 summits, detailing serious concerns about broken rules, potentially misleading expenditure requests and ministers hand-picking projects to receive funding. Speaking to the House of Commons public accounts committee about his spring report, interim auditor general John Wiersema scolded the Conservative government for a "one-of-a-kind" situation unlike anything he has ever seen in his 33 years working in the AG's office.
• 2011/10/05: CBC: G8 paper trail leaves questions, AG says
  There are still questions about the way the Conservative government handled G8 spending and paperwork, a government watchdog says. Interim Auditor General John Wiersema told MPs Wednesday it's up to Parliament to ask those questions about why the government didn't follow its own rules in the way it handled decisions around the spending of $50 million in the Huntsville, Ont., riding of Treasury Board President Tony Clement. The area got the money for improvements ahead of the 2010 G8 summit.
• 2011/10/05: CBC: Another G8 legacy: no paper trail next time
  After emails with Tony Clement became public, Huntsville Mayor Claude Doughty says next time he'll only deal with government ministers over the phone.
• 2011/10/04: WpgFP: Huntsville mayor embarrassed by emails to Clement, vows to use phone in future

  The environment commissioner released an eye opening report. Harper is doing NOTHING!

• 2011/10/04: OAG: 2011 October Report of the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development
• 2011/10/04: PI: Pembina reacts to new report from federal environment commissioner
• 2011/10/04: GlobalTV: Conservatives falling short on climate change targets: report
• 2011/10/05: BLongstaff: Pembina comments on the federal environment commissioner's report
• 2011/10/05: PlanetArk: Canada May Miss Modest New Climate Targets: Watchdog
• 2011/10/04: CBC: Canada's climate change goals falling short
  The federal government doesn't have a good understanding of how the oilsands in Alberta are affecting the environment, and it's not on track to hit greenhouse gas emission targets, according to a new report by Canada's environment commissioner. In a critical report released Tuesday, Scott Vaughan says that decisions about oilsands development projects have been based on "incomplete, poor or non-existent environmental information."

The AECL saga rolls on:

• 2011/10/07: CBC: AECL gets new chief executive, chairman -- Federal government name Robert Walker, Peter Currie to posts
• 2011/10/06: BuckDog: For 53 Years Successive Liberal And Conservative Federal Governments Have Allowed Radioactive Leakage From Chalk River Reactor Into The Ottawa River
• 2011/10/05: PostMedia: Chalk River reactor has been leaking for 50 years, tribunal hears
  The aging NRU research reactor at Chalk River has been leaking low-level radioactive water into the Ottawa River for about 50 years, a federal licensing tribunal has heard. Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. (AECL), owner-operator of the 53-year-old reactor, has been unable to halt tritium-laced water seeping from the reactor's control rod bays and is instead diluting the concentration of tritium with fresh water before it somehow leaks into the nearby Ottawa River, the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) tribunal was told.

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

• 2011/10/07: LFR: Canada cannot just change its name like the tar sands did

  It seems the PWU has been astroturfing. [Mea culpa. I have logged several of their articles in the past.]:

• 2011/10/05: BCLSB: PWU (Power Workers Union) Winds Down Social Networking Campaign
• 2011/10/05: CMKL: Power Workers Union caught astroturfing
• 2011/10/05: PostMedia: Union suspends Internet campaign challenging green energy legislation
  A major Ontario labour union has launched an internal probe after suspending a marketing campaign that planted comments and "created online conversations" to challenge the provincial government's green energy legislation. The campaign was run by employees of a Toronto-based marketing firm who posted comments on social media websites, such as Facebook, as well as on specially crafted blogs, that appeared to suggest a growing grassroots opposition to the promotion of solar and wind energy. The marketing company, M THIRTY, says it strives to be transparent about its social media methods. The marketing tactics, bankrolled by the Ontario Power Workers' Union, included the use of paid bloggers who created websites with green-sounding names such as "Enviralment," "Envirogy," and "Environauts" that were promoting "pragmatic" discussions about energy and conservation policies. But the union said Wednesday that it would stop the campaign, reported on this week by Postmedia News, pending a review of whether it was "conducted inappropriately."
• 2011/10/05: BCLSB: MTHIRTY Pulls Down Another Fake Enviro-Blog [Environauts]
• 2011/10/04: BCLSB: Power Workers Union Rethinking "Social Media" Campaign?
  Both their fake blogs, Enviralment and Envirogy are "undergoing scheduled maintenance"...
• 2011/10/04: BCLSB: Enviralment is a Flog For PWU (Power Workers Union)
• 2011/10/03: PostMedia: Ontario marketing campaign seeded Internet with [astroturf] 'conversations' promoting coal, nuclear
  A bold labour union offensive targeting the environmental policies of the Ontario government is being driven largely by a sophisticated marketing campaign that has planted comments to "create online conversations" promoting coal, nuclear and other power options. The marketing has involved professional bloggers working for M THIRTY, a Toronto-based communications firm, who actively use social media websites such as Facebook or Twitter to simulate or kick-start online conversations with a consistent message promoting the views of their clients.
• 2011/10/04: Section15: Funding Anti-Green Sock Puppets [Ont pol]
• 2011/10/04: POGGE: One man's marketing is another man's astroturf

  The CWB saga rolls on:

• 2011/10/07: G&M: Non-stop train 'barrelling down' on wheat board, Harper declares
• 2011/10/07: CBC: Wheat Board monopoly will end, PM vows

  The departmental job cuts are an issue:

• 2011/10/05: ChronicleHerald: DFO denies cuts will hurt fish stocks
  Fisheries and Oceans Canada says its plan to reduce scientific monitoring will help industry without harming fish stocks. As reported Tuesday, the department is looking to find millions of dollars in savings by scaling back more fisheries to multi-year cycles with quotas typically set every three to five years. Opposition MPs say the department is flirting with disaster by cutting its science budget, but Fisheries and Oceans Canada said only fisheries with stable, long-term populations will be put on multi-year cycles.
• 2011/10/05: TW: Holy ozone, Batman!

  A zinger from a Cohen Commission witness:

• 2011/10/06: AlexandraMorton: Open Letter to Fisheries and Oceans Canada

  In Manitoba, Selinger won a comfortable majority:

• 2011/10/04: CBC: Manitoba NDP wins majority government

  In Ontario, the Liberals were re-elected with a minority:

• 2011/10/06: CBC: Ontario re-elects Liberal government
• 2011/10/07: G&M: How McGuinty's green-energy policy cost him a majority in Ontario
• 2011/10/07: CleanBreak: Liberals re-elected in Ontario: Green Energy Act and feed-in-tariff program live on
• 2011/10/03: PI:B: Fact: Green energy is good for Ontario
• 2011/10/04: QT: The McGuinty Greenwash
• 2011/10/04: CBC: Energy grid capacity frustrates solar providers
  Hydro One has a seven per cent renewable energy limit, European Union's limit is 20 per cent Ottawa-area companies that install solar power systems say Hydro One is being too cautious in its management of the energy grid and questions why some of those who want to produce solar energy are being turned down. The Ontario Liberals brought in the MicroFIT (Feed-in Tariff) program in 2009 to provide an incentive for property owners to install solar panels and feed power onto the electricity grid.
• 2011/10/04: 350orBust: Mike Holmes On Ontario's Green Energy Act: A Brave New Path
• 2011/10/04: CBC: Ontario wind power faces [legal] test over property values

  In the Maritimes:

• 2011/10/05: PlanetArk: Analysis: Small Canadian Province [NS] Flexes Green Energy Muscle

  The movement toward ecologically based economics is glacial:

• 2011/10/06: EnergyBulletin: Sustainable means bunkty to me
• 2011/10/03: EnergyBulletin: The new recession
• 2011/10/04: EnergyBulletin: Enough: a worldview for positive futures
• 2011/10/03: EnergyBulletin: "Drilling Down": Tainter and Patzek tell the energy-complexity story

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

• 2011/10/08: Grist: Where's the contraceptive for overconsumption? [video]
• 2011/10/07: BBC: India: Kerala churches reward big families
  Several Christian parishes in the Indian state of Kerala have begun offering incentives to couples who produce more children...
• 2011/10/07: Grist: International family planning saves lives. So why is the GOP cutting it?
• 2011/10/05: Grist: How environmental and women's groups can work together
• 2011/10/03: Grist: Women's rights are key to slowing population growth

  Apocalypso anyone?

• 2011/10/07: SciAm:GB: Doomsday, Apocalypse, and Rapture, Oh my!

  As for how the media handles science:

• 2011/10/07: CJR: The Scientist Closes -- 25th anniversary issue of the venerable magazine will be the last
• 2011/10/06: CJR: Plant Food: Does Carbon Count? Admirable NYT article on forests misses one important point
• 2011/10/07: ABC(Au):TDU: Bolt factor: the making of an opportunist
• 2011/10/05: PLoS:B: Revkin's False Equivalence on Climate Message Machines
• 2011/10/07: TP:JR: TV Media Hypes Solyndra Story, Ignores Keystone XL Scandal
• 2011/10/07: NatureNB: The Scientist shutters after 25 years
• 2011/10/07: ScienceInsider: R.I.P. The Scientist. Economics Kills Another Magazine
• 2011/10/07: BDL: When I First Became Aware of the Wall Street Journal Editorial Page in 1993, It Was Really Bad...
• 2011/10/07: ERabett:BDS: Media finally listening to what Brian Schmidt has to say about climate change
• 2011/10/05: TreeHugger: A Golden Age For Solar? Why The Media Circus is a Distraction

  Robert Bryce's WSJ editorial came in for major excoriation:

• 2011/10/08: QuarkSoup: WSJ op-ed Undercuts Major Skeptic Talking Point
• 2011/10/08: TP:JR: Robert Bryce Makes Mockery of Science, Is Mocked in Return. Join the Fun via #WSJscience
• 2011/10/07: GreenGrok: Twisted Logic and Global Warming
• 2011/10/07: DM:BA: Followup on the WSJ climate denial OpEd
• 2011/10/06: Planet3: Faster than light skepticism
• 2011/10/06: Grist: WSJ: We can't trust climate science because neutrinos might go faster than light

  Here is something for your library:

• 2011/10/08: SkeptiSci: [Book Review] _The Inquisition of Climate Science_ by James Powell
• 2011/10/08: EnergyBulletin: [Book Review] _What every environmentalist needs to know about capitalism_ by Fred Magdoff & John Bellamy Foster

  And for your film & video enjoyment:

• 2011/10/07: Tyee: 'Waking the Green Tiger' -- Watch China's enviro movement unfold in this new doc, debuting at Vancouver's film fest.
• 2011/10/07: PSinclair: Solar Decathlon 2011
  [...] They weren't beating drums, wearing face paint, or marching, but this was the demonstration that the Koch brothers most fear.
• 2011/10/07: PSinclair: The Weekend Wonk: New York's Water -- an Example of Managing Resources
• 2011/10/06: Grist: David Roberts talks green jobs with EnergyNow! [video]
• 2011/10/06: TreeHugger: Reverend Billy & the Church of Stop Shopping Occupy Wall Street (Video)
• 2011/10/04: Grist: Without GMO labels, we all eat in the dark [video]

  Meanwhile among the 'Sue the Bastards!' contingent:

• 2011/10/05: CBC: Keystone pipeline preps not improper, TransCanada says -- U.S. groups sue to halt work on proposed oil pipeline from Alberta
• 2011/10/05: TreeHugger: Environmental Groups Sue U.S. Government to Stop Keystone XL
• 2011/10/06: ClimateSpectator: Green groups sue U.S. to stop work on Keystone XL oil pipe
  Environmental groups sued the U.S. government on Wednesday to stop the clearing of grasslands, the moving of threatened species and other work going on ahead of U.S. approval of $7 billion Canada to Texas planned oil pipeline. The Center for Biological Diversity, the Western Nebraska Resources Council and Friends of the Earth sued the U.S. State Department and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to stop work they called "illegal construction" on the 1,700 mile pipeline. The suit, the first of many legal and regulatory hurdles that the pipeline could face, was filed in the U.S. District Court in Nebraska
• 2011/10/02: FoodF: India sues Monsanto for biopiracy

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

• 2011/10/07: ERW: Pinpointing geothermal energy's water needs
• 2011/10/07: CSM: Why we need to get smarter about energy
• 2011/10/06: PeakEnergy: From brown coal to solar thermal
• 2011/10/05: EnergyBulletin: The renewable revolution, III - the Jevons paradox
• 2011/10/04: Grist: World's second tallest structure will power 100,000 homes a day with hot air
• 2011/10/03: EnergyBulletin: The renewable revolution - II

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

• 2011/10/06: Guardian(UK): [Letters] Shale gas drilling
• 2011/10/05: DeSmogBlog: A Best Practice a Day Keeps the Feds Away: API Workshop on Fracking "Excellence"
• 2011/10/05: EurActiv: Poland lobbies against EU shale gas regulation
  Poland, long seen as promoting a common European approach to shale gas, has now published a surprising study describing possible EU regulation on the industry as "unfeasible".
• 2011/10/05: EUO: A strategy for exploiting European shale gas resources

  On the coal front:

• 2011/10/04: BPA: Coal Production in the Top Five Producing Nations Grew by 98% from 2000-2010
• 2011/10/04: ClimateSpectator: Coal is not so cheap
  A new economic analysis published in the highly prestigious American Economic Review has made a damming assessment of the costs of pollution from fossil fuel industries, and concludes that coal is doing more harm to the US economy than good --- and that doesn't take into account its climate impact

On the gas and oil front:

• 2011/10/07: BBerg: Closing oil prices Friday
  OIL (US$/bbl)
  Nymex Crude Future...82.98
  Dated Brent Spot....105.87
  WTI Cushing Spot.....82.98
• 2011/10/04: TreeHugger: Chevron Embraces Solar, But Only to Extract More Oil
• 2011/10/04: PeakEnergy: North Sea gas production falls 25%
• 2011/10/03: NBF: Libya Rapidly Restarting Oil Exports
• 2011/10/03: NBF: Iraq on track for 3 million barrels per day by the end of 2011 and targets 4 million barrels per day for 2012
• 2011/10/03: Novosti: Russian oil production increases 1.23% in three quarters, exports drop [2.13%]

  In the fossil fuel corps:

• 2011/10/03: BBC: Shell Singapore declares Force Majeure after fire

  Yes we have a peak oil sighting:

• 2011/10/02: RI: Crisscrossing the Rubicon of peak oil
• 2011/10/07: CSM: Post oil: Solar roads, air-powered cars, human-powered iPhones
• 2011/10/07: CSM: Post oil: Glimpses of life after fossil fuel
• 2011/10/06: EnergyBulletin: The peak oil crisis: turmoil erupts
• 2011/10/03: EnergyBulletin: Three strikes and you are out?
• 2011/10/02: EnergyBulletin: Crisscrossing the Rubicon of peak oil
• 2011/10/02: EnergyBulletin: Tough Oil: Five public health challenges of petroleum scarcity

  Biofuel bickering abounds:

• 2011/10/06: ERW: Map identifies potential areas for boosting biofuel crop yield
  A global map that identifies areas of low-yielding biofuel crops whose productivity could be increased through intensification has been produced by researchers in the US.
• 2011/10/07: Guardian(UK): European biofuels target condemned by leading US scientists
• 2011/10/07: EurActiv: Top scientists condemn EU land use values for biofuels
• 2011/10/07: UCSUSA: Scientists Warn European Commission Over Biofuels Policy
• 2011/10/04: Eureka: Certain biofuel mandates unlikely to be met by 2022; unless new technologies, policies developed
• 2011/10/02: Eureka: Advancing next gen biofuels by turning up the heat on biomass pretreatment processes

  The answer my friend...:

• 2011/10/04: ITracker: Wind -- "slow, costly, often dangerous" -- and awesome
• 2011/10/04: Grist: Germany has so much wind energy, they'll pay you to take it
• 2011/10/04: Grist: Wind power: a growing source of green manufacturing jobs the U.S. is trying to botch

  Meanwhile among the solar aficionados:

• 2011/10/07: PSinclair: Solar Decathlon 2011
  [...] They weren't beating drums, wearing face paint, or marching, but this was the demonstration that the Koch brothers most fear.
• 2011/10/05: CNN: World's largest solar bridge project gets underway
• 2011/10/04: EurActiv: Low-cost imports from China fuel boom in solar panels
  British homeowners are increasingly able to build greener homes by using cheap solar panels from China, but western workers are paying the price with a wave of corporate collapses and layoffs among green energy firms.

The nuclear energy controversy continues:

• 2011/10/08: CBC: Argentine Candu contract worth $100M to parts suppliers
• 2011/10/07: NBF: Small nuclear reactors for power and icebreaking and Canadian Cigar Lake Uranium
• 2011/10/07: NBF: India targets 63000 megawatts of nuclear power by 2032 and Russia Increase nuclear generation in 2011
• 2011/10/07: BBC: 'Minor' radioactive leak at Dounreay nuclear plant
  Radioactive material has leaked at the site of the former Dounreay nuclear power station in Caithness, it has been confirmed. Radioactive liquid effluent is understood to have leaked inside a treatment facility. The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) said the leak was minor and did not get outside the plant.
• 2011/10/05: NatureNB: Nuclear inspectors exposed to radiation
• 2011/10/06: NatureN: India's nuclear future put on hold -- Safety fears derail plan to import reactors
• 2011/10/06: BuckDog: For 53 Years Successive Liberal And Conservative Federal Governments Have Allowed Radioactive Leakage From Chalk River Reactor Into The Ottawa River
• 2011/10/05: PostMedia: Chalk River reactor has been leaking for 50 years, tribunal hears
• 2011/10/05: UN: UN atomic energy official involved in radiation contamination incident in Belgium
• 2011/10/05: NatureNB: Nuclear inspectors exposed to radiation [at the Belgoprocess nuclear waste facility in Dessel, Belgium]
• 2011/10/04: ANS NC: We must cooperate to overcome fear of radiation and nuclear energy
• 2011/10/04: BNC: Nuclear Ammonia -- a sustainable nuclear renaissance's 'Killer App'?
• 2011/10/03: al Jazeera: Can nuclear power be part of the solution?
  The total costs of producing nuclear power need to be re-evaluated in a more pragmatic way.

Nuclear waste storage requires _very_ long term thinking:

• 2011/10/08: OpenDem: Public servants and private chats about dumping nuclear waste in West Cumbria
• 2011/10/02: EneNews: Los Alamos Officials: Massive dump for radioactive waste "will soon be suitable for residential development"

  Nuclear fusion projects around the world limp along:

• 2011/10/07: NBF: General fusion getting inspections from the City of Burnaby
• 2011/10/07: CBC: Burnaby fusion project subject to ongoing scrutiny
• 2011/10/03: CBC: Fusion experiment by [General Fusion Inc.] B.C. firm raises concerns

  The Rossi Energy Catalyzer keeps coming up:

• 2011/10/07: NBF: Nyteknik information on the Rossi Energy Catalyer test of October 6, 2011
• 2011/10/06: NBF: Rossi Energy Catalyzer Test Today
• 2011/10/06: Wired: Cold fusion rears its head as 'E-Cat' research promises to change the world
• 2011/10/04: NBF: New Energy Times has Defense Threat Reduction Agency Report on LENR

  More people are talking about the electrical grid:

• 2011/10/06: PeakEnergy: Smart meters given a fail
• 2011/10/04: CBC: Energy grid capacity frustrates solar providers

  And then there is the matter of efficiency & conservation:

• 2011/10/06: UCSUSA: Energy Efficiency, Renewable Energy Cheaper and Safer than Building New Nuclear Plants in Florida and Georgia, Report Finds

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

• 2011/10/08: TreeHugger: Paris Launches a Vehicle Sharing Program with 3,000 Electric Cars
• 2011/10/05: SlashDot: 175 MPH Student-Built EV Smashes Speed Record
• 2011/10/02: Guardian(UK): Autolib: the new car-sharing scheme that could put Paris streets ahead

  As for Energy Storage:

• 2011/10/07: AutoBG: Solid-state batteries hold tremendous potential and big challenges
• 2011/10/06: PlanetArk: GS Yuasa EV Battery Joint Venture To Hike Output
• 2011/10/05: OilDrum: Energy Storage - Flywheel
• 2011/10/03: OilDrum: Got Storage? How Hard Can it Be?

  The reaction of business to climate change will be critical:

• 2011/10/05: PSinclair: Want Bigger Profits? Cut Carbon

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

• 2011/10/07: TP:JR: October 7 News...
• 2011/10/06: TP:JR: October 6 News...
• 2011/10/05: TP:JR: October 5 News...
• 2011/10/04: TP:JR: October 4 News...
• 2011/10/03: TP:JR: October 3 News...

  Other (weekly) lists:

• 2011/10/06: CER: This Week in Energy: Study Says Biofuels Costly, Impacts Questionable
• 2011/10/03: BPA: Agriculture News

  The carbon lobby are up to the usual:

• 2011/10/07: Tamino: NCEP
• 2011/10/06: WottsUWT: Dr. Martin Hertzberg responds to Dr. Michael Mann
• 2011/10/05: WottsUWT: Hansen rakes it in
• 2011/10/05: NewInt:B: Shell's environmental guilt confirmed
• 2011/10/04: CChallenge: Vail Valley Voices: Dr. Martin Hertzberg disputes evidence for global warming
• 2011/10/03: TP:JR: Bloomberg's Bombshell Report on "The Koch Method": How to Steal, Cheat and Lie Your Way to the Top
• 2011/10/04: Grist: How climate change denial lets the fuel industry run politics, in one handy chart
• 2011/10/04: TreeHugger: Documents Reveal Shell Paid Nigerian Military to Suppress Protests
• 2011/10/04: DeSmogBlog: Koch Brothers "Secret Sins" Exposed In Bloomberg News Investigation
• 2011/10/04: OilChange: "Everything Koch stood for was a lie"
• 2011/10/04: ProPublica: What Are the Latest Revelations About Koch Industries?
• 2011/10/03: TPL: Witch Hunts, Inquisitions and the Denialist Attack on Climate Science
• 2011/10/03: Guardian(UK): 'Fossil fuels are wonderful', claims US documentary
• 2011/10/03: PSinclair: D.R.Tucker: Dawn of the Deniers
  [...]
  The modern conservative movement cannot countenance climate science or environmentalism. Accepting the idea that human activities can harm the planet means accepting certain governmental regulations to protect the planet from such harm. If one's ideology holds that all governmental regulations are by definition repugnant, one cannot accept the science that justifies those regulations.
• 2011/10/02: CChallenge: Martin Hertzberg... a denialist in action
• 2011/10/03: TP:JR: Bjorn to Lose: First, Lomborg's Movie Bombs, Then New Danish Government Says It Will Cut Off His Funding
• 2011/10/03: OilChange: Nigeria: Shell's New Human Rights Abuses
• 2011/10/02: WottsUWT: Thanks to Michael Mann's response, a newspaper censors a letter to the editor ex post facto
• 2011/10/02: Guardian(UK): Shell accused of fuelling violence in Nigeria by paying rival militant gangs
  Oil company rejects watchdog's claims that its local contracts made it complicit in the killing of civilians

As for climate miscellanea:

• 2011/10/08: Tamino: Seasons Change
• 2011/10/06: MTobis: Why They Are Called Numbers
• 2011/10/06: TP:JR: Eight Must-Have Charts Summarize the Evidence for a "Human Fingerprint" on Recent Climate Change
• 2011/10/06: ITracker: We have the tech to cut emissions by 85%. Your move, Roger.
• 2011/10/06: ABC(Au): Science is the only game in town
• 2011/10/05: QuarkSoup: Nobel Laureate Stands Up for Climate Scientists
• 2011/10/05: SciAm:TNC: What is: ScienceSeeker.org
• 2011/10/03: CCurrents: iProve: Climate Change And Post-Truth Politics
• 2011/10/05: HotTopic: The blind leading...
• 2011/10/02: QuarkSoup: Climate Scientists Fighting Back

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

• Methane Blue Ribbon Panel -- A Fast-Action Plan for Immediate Methane Abatement
• PLoS Blogs
• Europa: EuroChar
• NASA: CARVE: Carbon in Arctic Reservoirs Vulnerability Experiment [March 2012]
• Tar Sands Watch
• Planet 3.0
• Climate Spectator
• Million Letter March - The Write Way to Stop Climate Change
• The Dark Mountain Project
• CPF: Climate Physics Forums
• One Billion Hungry
• moyhu
• The Science of Doom -- Putting Climate Science in Perspective
• UW:PSC: Arctic Sea Ice Volume Anomaly
• NRTEE: National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy
• CanGEA: Canadian Geothermal Energy Association

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.

"One can never convince the conspiracy theorists among us, but some of us are actually concerned about the potential for a climate catastrophe --- greenhouse gas emissions are not being cut fast enough or deeply enough to make us feel sanguine about the future.

"In the event of a climate catastrophe, some of the technologies discussed in the BPC report may be able to save lives, reduce human suffering, and diminish environmental damage. It may be that this view is mistaken, but that can only be established through scientific and technical research and not by armchair pontification." -Ken Caldeira

• Global Warming Links
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• H.E. Taylor (homepage)