Another Week of GW News, December 25, 2011

Logging the Onset of The Bottleneck Years

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Another week of Climate Disruption News

Logging the Onset of The Bottleneck Years

December 25, 2011

• Chuckles, Solstice, COP17, Horn of Africa, Retrospectives
• GFIs, Cook, Post CRU
• Fukushima Note, Fukushima News, Nuclear Policy
• Melting Arctic, Methane, Geopolitics, Antarctica
• Food Crisis, Food Prices, Food Riots, Land Grabs, GMOs, Food Production
• Hurricanes, Temperatures, Paleoclimate, Attribution
• Cosmic Rays, Uncertainties, Climate Sensitivity, Extinctions
• Impacts, Forests, Wacky Weather, Extreme Weather
• Wildfires, Corals, Acidification, Glaciers, Sea Levels, Floods & Droughts
• Mitigation, Transportation, Buildings, Geoengineering
• Journals, Other Docs , Misc. Science, DIY Science, Wegman
• International Politics: Rio+20, UN, Carbon Trade, EU ETS & Airlines
• Solar Spat, Security, Activism, H2O Biz, Groundwater, Religioso, Predictions
• National Politics: America, BP Disaster, 2012, Keystone XL, EPA & Hg, Obama, USAdmin, Congress, Lobbyists
• Britain, Europe, Australia, Murray-Darling, New Zealand, India
• Canada, Post G20, Kyoto, Pipelines, NDP, Chiquita, CWB, ISA, BC, Tar Sands, Ontario, Canadiana
• Ecological Economics, IPAT, Apocalypso, Media, Books, Video, Courts
• Energy, Fracking, Coal, Oil & Gas, Chevron & Brazil, Fossil Fuel Corps, Peak Oil, Biofuel
• Wind, Solar, FITs, Nukes, Nuclear Fusion, LENR, Grid, Efficiency, Cars, Energy Storage
• Joe's List, Carbon Lobby, Miscellaneous Climate, Useful Links
• Shameless Self Promotion, .sig

Ho. Ho. Ho. Have a happy humbug:

• 2011/12/19: uComics: (cartoon - Wiley) Twas 6 days before Christmas...
• 2011/12/20: uComics: (cartoon - Wiley) Now 5 days before Christmas...
• 2011/12/21: uComics: (cartoon - Wiley) Twas 4 nights before Christmas...
• 2011/12/22: uComics: (cartoon - Wiley) With 3 days before Christmas...
• 2011/12/23: uComics: (cartoon - Wiley) Twas 2 days before Christmas...
• 2011/12/24: uComics: (cartoon - Wiley) Twas the night before Christmas
• 2011/12/23: uComics: (cartoon - Danziger) McConnell and Boehner Explain the Keystone Pipeline Deal
• 2011/12/23: JoeMohrToons: (cartoon - Mohr) Big Coal Shaping Public School Education -- Really!
• 2011/12/19: BuckDog: (cartoon - Toles) American Politics In A Nutshell
• 2011/12/19: PhDComics: (cartoon - Cham) The Null Hypothesis

  Hope you had a Swingin' Saturnalia:

• 2011/12/22: USNO: Equinoxes, Solstices, Perihelion, and Aphelion, 2000-2020
• 2011/12/23: BitsOfScience: Photo of the day: Jaguar with cubs, Christmas card from Bolivia
• 2011/12/25: Wonkette: This Holiday, Start Your Own Eggnog Riot With Our Handy Recipe!
• 2011/12/22: CSM: Winter solstice: time to celebrate brighter days ahead
• 2011/12/21: CSM: Earth's northern half plunged into darkness by axial tilt! Will sunlight ever return?
• 2011/12/22: BuckDog: Winter Solstice 2011 From Stonehenge
• 2011/12/22: APOD: Through a Sun Tunnel
• 2011/12/21: ClimateSight: Winter in the Woods
• 2011/12/21: al Jazeera: Arrival of the solstice
  The winter solstice marks the darkest day of the year in the northern hemisphere.

Still some comment on Durban:

• UNFCCC: Durban Climate Change Conference - November 2011
• 2011/12/10: PWCCC: A second commitment period for the Kyoto Protocol: a victory or a deception?
• 2011/12/13: PWCCC: How not to tackle climate change and call it a success: the Durban package
• 2011/12/16: PWCCC: The Durban Package: "Laisser faire, laisser passer"
• 2011/12/20: ClimateSight: Recommended Reading
• 2011/12/19: P3: Sunny Side Up Interpretation of Durban

  The Horn of Africa drought and famine continues to be a major disaster, with amazingly little coverage:

• 2011/12/20: UN: South Sudan: UN begins airlifting relief supplies for refugees fleeing Sudan
• 2011/12/20: Wunderground: Deadliest weather disaster of 2011: the East African drought
• 2011/12/19: BBC: Kenyan policeman killed in Dadaab blast near Somalia
  An explosion near the world's largest refugee camp in Kenya has killed at least one policeman, police say. Two other officers were wounded when a suspected roadside bomb detonated near the Dadaab camp, Reuters news agency reports. The camp houses about 450,000 people who have fled famine and conflict in Somalia.

Lots of retrospectives now:

• 2011/12/22: GigaOM: The top 10 trends for cleantech in 2011
• 2011/12/23: TP:JR: Video: The Oddest and Dirtiest Moments of 2011 in the House Natural Resources Committee
• 2011/12/22: Grist: The good food news of 2011
• 2011/12/22: TreeHugger: 2011 is Almost Over, Time to Look Back
• 2011/12/22: Pew: 11 in '11: A Year in the Life of the Pew Environment Group
• 2011/12/22: Guardian(UK): Environment world review of the year: '2011 rewrote the record books'
  The ecologically tumultuous year saw record greenhouse gas emissions, melting Arctic sea ice, natural disasters and extreme weather -- and the world's second worst nuclear disaster
• 2011/12/22: TP:JR: Top 10 Clean Energy Stories of 2011 (with Charts)
• 2011/12/21: TP:JR: Climate Story of the Year: Warming-Driven Drought and Extreme Weather Emerge as Key Threat to Global Food Security
• 2011/12/21: Grist: Top cities stories of 2011
• 2011/12/21: TreeHugger: 2011: The Year in Animal Extinctions
• 2011/12/19: TreeHugger: Rush Limbaugh Named Climate Change Misinformer of the Year (Video)
• 2011/12/16: AlterNet: The Best, Worst and Most Overlooked Food Stories of 2011

  What are the global financial institutions up to?

• 2011/12/13: AlterNet: The 20 Worst Wall Street Banks Funding Our Filthiest Polluters

  John Cook and friends continue their point-counterpoint articles:

• 2011/12/24: SkeptiSci: Making Arctic Sea Ice Loss Real by Daniel Bailey
• 2011/12/23: SkeptiSci: Updating the Climate Big Picture by dana1981
• 2011/12/25: SkeptiSci: Peter Sinclair on Climate, Sun, and Cosmic Rays by Rob Honeycutt [video]
• 2011/12/21: SkeptiSci: Ocean Acidification Is Fatal To Fish by Rob Painting
• 2011/12/21: SkeptiSci: The Media & Global Climate Science Communication by Brian Purdue
• 2011/12/20: SkeptiSci: Foster and Rahmstorf Measure the Global Warming Signal by dana1981

  Post CRU-Two ... boredom:

• 2011/12/24: IJISH: SwiftHack 2.0: Deep Climate on the mysterious disappearance of files.sinwt.ru
• 2011/12/23: IJISH: SwiftHack 2.0: Berbalang, Bernard J, Hetzner Online AG, CA, swifthack.tk -- in decreasing weirdness
• 2011/12/22: PSinclair: [CRU] Climate Hackers as Cyber Terrorists
• 2011/12/21: CCP: Don Shelby: Probe into climate scientists' stolen emails gets serious
• 2011/12/20: ERabett: Evil Bunny, Evil Thoughts
• 2011/12/20: PSinclair: Guest Post: Bring UEA Email Criminals to Justice
• 2011/12/20: P3: Sympathy for the Devil

  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. Now the Japanese government is talking about 30 years. [Whoops, that has now been updated to 40 years.] We'll see. At any rate this situation is not going to be resolved any time soon and deserves its own section. Meanwhile...
  It is very difficult to know for sure what is really going on at Fukushima. One has to evaluate the content and the source. How knowledgeable are they? Are they pro-nuclear or anti-nuclear? Do they have an agenda? Where do they rate on a scale of sensationalistic tendencies? Where do they rate on a scale of business-as-usual, cover-it-all-up tendencies?

  Not much good news coming out of Fukushima:

• 2011/12/23: EneNews: Gov?t says nuke agency hid Fukushima fallout data -- Panel to "skewer" regulators, science ministry
• 2011/12/23: EneNews: Top Japan Official Hosono admits situation is NOT under control offsite of Fukushima plant
• 2011/12/23: DVoice: Japan and Nuclear Radiation
• 2011/12/22: DerSpiegel: Scattered Across Japan -- Fukushima Refugees Trapped By Uncertainty
  For months, the 21,000 residents of Namie have lived in trailers and shelters across Japan. By abandoning their homes, they unwittingly fled directly into the path of Fukushima's radiation cloud. As worried and angry as they may be, most just want to return home.
• 2011/12/21: al Jazeera: Japan: Nuclear plant clean up to take decades
  Japan says it could take 40 years to clean up the leaking nuclear plant, but is that going to make people feel safe?
• 2011/12/21: BWeek: TEPCO Plans to Dismantle Fukushima Reactors Within 40 Years
• 2011/12/21: EneNews: Chernobyl Consultant: Fukushima decommissioning more complex since more melted fuel -- Level of devastation remains unknown
• 2011/12/21: EneNews: Canada Medical Journal: Experts calling for wider Japan evacuations -- Officials would have to evacuate 1,800 km? using Chernobyl standard
• 2011/12/22: BBC: Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), the firm at the centre of Japan's worst nuclear disaster, has unveiled plans to raise electricity prices for the first time in more than 30 years
• 2011/12/21: CCurrents: Fukushima's Lone Hold Out
• 2011/12/20: APR: Radiation deaths in US due to Fukushima Daiichi: Nope.
• 2011/12/19: CCP: Arne Gundersen says Japanese announcement of cold shutdown at Fukushima is an affront to those who know what cold shutdown actually means
• 2011/12/20: SciAm:Obs: Researchers Trumpet Another Flawed Fukushima Death Study
• 2011/12/19: EneNews: BBC: "Actual situation is much, much worse than we were told" says evacuee -- "From the start the gov?t officials have lied"
• 2011/12/20: EneNews: US Gov?t Video: Fukushima meltdowns a "life changing event" -- "Such a tragic cost"
• 2011/12/20: APR: "Cold Shutdown" controversy at Fukushima Daiichi
• 2011/12/19: EneNews: NRC says Reactor No. 2 "burned continuously for several days" after meltdown -- Hydrogen "ignited" (video)

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

• 2011/12/23: NBF: Japan will be unable to meet 2020 emission targets because of reduced nuclear power
• 2011/12/22: PlanetArk: Japan To Shape Post-Fukushima Energy Options By Spring
• 2011/12/19: DerSpiegel: 'Paving the Way for a New Fukushima' -- Is Berlin Still in the Nuclear Power Business?
  The German government may be getting out of the nuclear power business at home, but it is still active internationally. Berlin is currently reviewing applications for federal export guarantees for four nuclear projects abroad. Environmentalists are furious, saying the phaseout must also apply to the sale of atomic energy technology.

The Arctic melt continues to garner attention:

• 2011/12/22: ERW: Insight: Arctic vegetation shows effects of climate change
• 2011/12/21: NewInt: The Arctic will burn

  That Damoclean sword still hangs overhead:

• 2011/12/24: GEB: Can we capture methane from the Arctic seabed?
• 2011/12/23: ITracker: Making sense of methane
• 2011/12/21: CJR: Methane Mysteries -- Coverage of permafrost melt creates confusion about level of worry
• 2011/12/22: ITracker: Justin Gillis on methyl hydrates
• 2011/12/21: TreeHugger: Melting Permafrost in the Arctic is Some Truly Scary S%*t
• 2011/12/19: TP:JR: Carbon Time Bomb in the Arctic: New York Times Print Edition Gets the Story Right
• 2011/12/19: ITracker: Semiletov v Dmitrenko: The tale of the tape
• 2011/12/19: JEB: Shock as Indescribablyoverhyped overhypes something
• 2011/12/19: NatureN: Permafrost science heats up in the United States -- Programme will examine effect of Arctic warming on frozen soils

  As for the geopolitics of Arctic resources:

• 2011/12/22: NOAANews: NOAA seeks comment on draft environmental impact statement on Arctic oil and gas exploration
• 2011/12/22: TStar: Canada well behind Russia in race to claim Arctic seaways and territory
• 2011/12/22: al Jazeera: Melting Arctic brings new opportunities
  Changing conditions in the far north have sparked excitement and unfounded concerns over potential conflict.
• 2011/12/19: CCP: In Northwest Alaska, worries persist over offshore oil and gas development in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas, and Shell Oil's lack of any kind of spill cleanup plan
• 2011/12/20: TreeHugger: Shell Gets Approval To Drill in Arctic, Spills 14,000 Gallons in Gulf of Mexico
• 2011/12/19: USAToday: First permit OK'd for oil drilling in Alaska reserve
• 2011/12/19: Grist: Feds approve Shell?s plan to spill oil in the Arctic

  While in Antarctica:

• 2011/12/20: Grist: Don?t call the Antarctic ice shelf; it?ll call you
• 2011/12/19: CSM: Fossil find could solve lingering Antarctic dinosaur mystery

  The food crisis is ongoing:

• 2011/12/22: CCurrents: Food Security And The WTO
• 2011/12/22: CCurrents: India's Shameful Paradox Of Plenty
• 2011/12/21: AlterNet: How Can the World's Richest Country Let Children Go Hungry? 6 Tricks Corporate Elites Use to Hoard All the Wealth
• 2011/12/22: EnergyBulletin: Food security and the WTO
• 2011/12/22: UN: UNICEF chief urges action to stop unfolding crisis for children in the Sahel
  The head of the United Nations Children?s Fund (UNICEF) called today on the global community to take action to prevent one million children in the Sahel region of West and Central Africa from becoming severely malnourished.
• 2011/12/21: TP:JR: Climate Story of the Year: Warming-Driven Drought and Extreme Weather Emerge as Key Threat to Global Food Security
• 2011/12/21: AllAfrica:IPS: Zimbabwe: Climate Change - Waiting for the 'Heavens to Weep'
  Duduzile Sibanda takes a break from preparing her long stretch of land for her maize crop in rural Mberengwa, in Zimbabwe's Midlands province. She wipes her brow under the scorching sun and looks upwards. The sparse clouds are a cause of concern as she studies the sky and wonders aloud when the "heavens will weep." A smallholder farmer all her life, the 57-year-old grandmother is worried about the late rainfall this planting season. Even the indigenous knowledge she has used all her life to study the seasons has failed her. Planting season here usually begins in October with the rains, but in early December they are yet to fall. "We are headed for another drought," she muses with palpable frustration.
• 2011/12/21: BNC: Feeding 10 billion in 2050's sauna (Part III)
• 2011/12/19: NatureNB: Conservationists decry science gap in EU fish quotas

  Food Prices are still problematic:

• FAO: World Food Situation - Food Price Indices
• 2011/12/23: BPA: Average Annual Prices for Soybeans, Wheat and Corn from 1990 to 2011

  Regarding the food factor in the ongoing revolutions:

• 2011/12/21: al Jazeera: Egypt: Food for a revolution
  A mass urban migration has taken hold in Egypt as the agricultural sector focuses on luxury exports instead of bread. In 2008, three years before Egyptians rose up against President Hosni Mubarak, the global food crisis provided a hint of what was to come. As world oil prices rose and Western countries planted ever more acres for biofuels instead of people, food prices skyrocketed. Suddenly, cooking oil, tomatoes, lentils, rice and even bread soared out of reach for many families. Riots and protests broke out around the world. In Egypt, fights erupted in the subsidised bread lines and five Egyptians died in the clashes. Three years later, memories of 2008 were still fresh: groundwork for the revolution.

So, are these land grabs Colonialism V2.0?

• 2011/12/13: GoIMonitor: Land grab in Africa, brought to you by India
• 2011/12/20: CCurrents: The Indian Land Grab In Africa
• 2011/12/21: CCurrents: [link to 1.9 meg pdf] Land Rights And The Rush For Land by Ward Anseeuw, Liz Alden Wily, Lorenzo Cotula & Michael Taylor

  Regarding the genetic modification of food:

• 2011/12/22: UCSUSA: Monsanto Corn Unlikely To Help Drought-Stricken Farmers -- Statement by Doug Gurian-Sherman, Senior Scientist, UCS Food & Environment Program
• 2011/12/24: TreeHugger: USDA Approves Monsanto?s Drought Tolerant Corn
• 2011/12/22: DVoice: Frito-Lay Sued for Labeling its GMO-filled Snacks as "All Natural"
• 2011/12/19: Eureka: A major step forward towards drought tolerance in crops
  UC Riverside discovery creates new blueprint for engineering drought tolerant crops

And how are we going to feed 9 billion, 10 billion, 15 billion?

• 2011/12/24: EnergyBulletin: Wes Jackson: A perennial revolution in agriculture
• 2011/12/22: Grist: The good food news of 2011
• 2011/12/22: NYT: A Call to Protect Humble Fish, for Seabirds? Sake
• 2011/12/21: PlanetArk: Prawns Bring New Life To Flooded Bangladesh Fields
• 2011/12/20: Grist: Oh, SNAP! Grow gardens with food stamps
• 2011/12/21: TreeHugger: Backyard Farmers Out of Necessity. 53 Years On They Show No Signs of Stopping. (Video)

  The Philippines are dealing with the aftermath of Tropical Storm Washi, aka Typhoon Sendong:

• 2011/12/23: BBC: Philippines floods: More than 1,000 remain missing
  The Philippines government says 1,079 people are still missing in the wake of the devastating Typhoon Washi. More than 1,000 others are known to have died in the storm, which struck Mindanao island on Saturday. Entire neighbourhoods in Cagayan de Oro and Iligan cities were swept away.
• 2011/12/23: al Jazeera: Number of missing soars in Philippines floods
  Government says 1,079 people are unaccounted for, as true extent of devastation from powerful storm becomes known. [1,080 dead - 1,079 missing]
• 2011/12/22: UN: Philippines: UN and partners appeal for additional $28 million to help storm victims -- Tropical Storm Washi forced thousands of people out from their homes
• 2011/12/22: CBC: Philippine storm does tsunami-like damage -- With more than 1,000 dead, UN official appeals for $28M in aid
• 2011/12/22: al Jazeera: UN: Philippines floods damage 'like tsunami'
  Aid agencies appeal for funds to help storm victims, amid fears of disease outbreaks in overcrowded evacuation centres.
• 2011/12/21: CBC: Philippines flood death toll tops 1,000 -- 'We've lost count of the missing'
• 2011/12/21: al Jazeera: Disease fears in Philippines after floods
  Health official says crowded evacuation centres could be breeding ground for epidemics as typhoon death toll tops 1,000.
• 2011/12/20: BBC: Philippines floods: Mindanao struggles with aftermath
• 2011/12/20: UN: Philippines: UN agencies boost relief effort for storm survivors as death toll rises
• 2011/12/20: NASA: NASA's TRMM Satellite Measured Washi's Deadly Rainfall
• 2011/12/20: CSM: Typhoon Sendong: Did illegal logging cause flash flooding in Philippines?
• 2011/12/20: BBC: Philippines President Benigno Aquino has declared a national calamity after a typhoon killed nearly 1,000 people
• 2011/12/20: CBC: Philippines storm death toll nears 1,000 -- Aid workers appeal for bottled water, blankets, tents and clothes
• 2011/12/20: al Jazeera: Philippines declares 'state of calamity'
  President visits affected areas and authorities ready communal tombs as death toll from floods nears 1,000 people.
• 2011/12/19: Guardian(UK): Philippine authorities bury 700 after floods
• 2011/12/19: CNN: Death toll from tropical storm in Philippines rising [Disaster Council 927, Red Cross 713]
• 2011/12/19: Wunderground: Tropical Storm Washi kills 632 in the Philippines
• 2011/12/19: CSM: Typhoon Sendong recovery efforts begin in Philippines
• 2011/12/19: BBC: Aid agencies in the Philippines are trying to reach more than 120,000 people affected by flash flooding on the island of Mindanao
• 2011/12/18: BBC: A mass burial has been organised in the Philippines for scores of people killed by flash floods on the southern island of Mindanao
• 2011/12/18: BBC: In pictures: Philippine flood devastation

  While elsewhere in the hurricane wars:

• 2011/12/23: ABC(Au): Alert level raised for cyclone-threatened NT
• 2011/12/20: SEasterbrook: Understanding non-linear systems: Hurricane Damage

  As for the temperature record:

• 2011/12/22: Wunderground: A white Christmas will be a U.S. rarity in 2011; November the globe's 12th warmest
• 2011/12/20: moyhu: November GISS is out - down 0.07?C from October

  While in the paleoclimate:

• 2011/12/23: NatureN: Enigmatic fossils are neither animals nor bacteria -- Scanning techniques reveal detailed cell structure of debated relics.
  The unusually complex appearance of a group of 570-million-year-old fossils from Doushantuo, China, has sparked debate among palaeontologists. Researchers haven't been able to decide whether the remains come from animals, bacteria or close relatives of animals that thrived at the dawn of animal evolution. But a team has now used three-dimensional scanning techniques to take a closer look at the fossils -- and has decided that in fact, they are none of these.
• 2011/12/22: CCurrents: Secrets From The Past Point To Rapid Climate Change In The Future
• 2011/12/19: Eureka: In hot water: Ice Age findings forecast problems -- Data from end of the last Ice Age confirm effects of climate change on oceans

  In the attribution debate:

• 2011/12/21: PSinclair: Phillipine Disaster: A Predicted Consequence of Climate Change

  Regarding the cosmic ray hypothesis:

• 2011/12/22: PSinclair: Climate, Sun, and Cosmic Rays

  Dealing with uncertainties:

• 2011/12/18: P3:ClimateChange: Uncertainties in Global Climate Change Estimates by Elizabeth Pat?-Cornell

  Regarding Climate Sensitivity:

• 2011/12/23: TSoD: Measuring Climate Sensitivity - Part Two - Mixed Layer Depths
• 2011/12/21: BitsOfScience: ?No, climate sensitivity is not smaller, it is higher than we thought? -- because organic aerosol feedbacks mask warming
• 2011/12/22: TP:JR: Climate Sensitivity Higher Than We Thought, Researchers Find
• 2011/12/20: Eureka: Climate sensitivity greater than previously believed

  What's new on the extinction front?

• 2011/12/22: SciNow: A Surprising Threshold for Seabird Survival
• 2011/12/22: USGS: New Research Shows How Much Food is Needed by Seabirds
• 2011/12/22: ProMedMail: White nose syndrome, bats - North America (10): hopeful news
• 2011/12/22: Nature: (ab$) Biodiversity: Endangered and in demand by Duncan Graham-Rowe
  With an ingredients list that includes rhino horn and tiger bone, traditional Asian medicine is on a collision course with wildlife preservation.
• 2011/12/22: al Jazeera: Indonesia's orangutans struggle to survive
  Palm oil companies are suspected of killing the endangered animals to preserve their plantations.
• 2011/12/21: TreeHugger: 2011: The Year in Animal Extinctions

  More GW impacts are being seen:

• 2011/12/23: ERW: Eurasian soils froze less deeply in winter from late 1960s to early 1990s
• 2011/12/20: ERW: Insight: Permafrost degradation may benefit alpine grasslands
• 2011/12/23: BBC: Fairy shrimps threatened after dry autumn
  Britain's endangered fairy shrimps are under threat as a dry autumn has affected the ponds they live in, a charity says. Fairy shrimps are tiny translucent crustaceans, which usually hatch near Christmas. But charity Pond Conservation says many of their pools may dry out completely.
• 2011/12/23: NYT: Reindeer Are Fading Into Holiday Myth
  Christmas is tied to the magical north and to the reindeer -- creatures of mythical power that fly through the night across the world, helping to distribute happiness and good will. But reindeer do exist -- we call them caribou in North America -- and these animals and their home in the boreal woodlands and on the barren-ground tundra are in trouble.
• 2011/12/21: NatureN: Global warming wilts malaria -- Transmission of infectious parasites slows with rising temperatures, researchers find
• 2011/12/19: TreeHugger: 40% of Earth's Land To Undergo Major Ecosystem Change Due To Global Warming

  And then there are the world's forests:

• 2011/12/22: BPA: In Scotland, the aim to Increase Forest Cover from 17% to 25% by 2025 is Hurting Sheep Farming and Driving Up Land Prices
• 2011/12/21: McClatchyDC: Drought has killed up to 10 percent of Texas woodland trees
• 2011/12/21: TreeHugger: Map Documents World's Sacred Forests & Help Save Them From Destruction
• 2011/12/21: PlanetArk: Texas Drought Kills As Many As Half A Billion Trees
• 2011/12/20: TreeHugger: Texas Drought May Have Killed 500 Million Trees
• 2011/12/20: Guardian(UK): Climate change killing trees across the Sahel, says study
  One in six trees in the Sahel has died since the 1950s as temperatures rise, threatening livelihoods
• 2011/12/20: OSU: Fuel reduction likely to increase carbon emissions
  Forest thinning to help prevent or reduce severe wildfire will release more carbon to the atmosphere than any amount saved by successful fire prevention, a new study concludes.

Yes we have no wacky weather, except:

• 2011/12/18: GoS: Bizarre Kelvin-Helmholtz Waves Appear Over Alabama
• 2011/12/20: Guardian(UK): Six deaths and travel chaos as snowstorm sweeps the Great Plains

  This week in the New Normal -- extreme weather:

• 2011/12/23: CNN: Floods, heat, migration: How extreme weather will transform cities
  Tropical storm in Philippines comes just after report on climate change predicts floods - Climate change refugees are catalyst to urbanization, stretching city capacity - Climate scientists predict how effects of climate change will impact city - Floods, droughts, and "urban heat islands" among common characteristics
• 2011/12/21: CCP: Here's some information to focus the mind: NOAA data show that the number of storms in Iowa in the last decade is 6 times what is was in the decade of 1980-1989

  As for heatwaves and wild fires:

• 2011/12/19: SciNews: Fewer fires in Africa these days -- How flames spread, not how frequently people start them, controls burning on the continent

  Corals are a bellwether of the ocean's health:

• 2011/12/22: Eureka: Sea cucumbers: Dissolving coral reefs?
• 2011/12/20: Maribo: 60 Minutes on Coral Reefs and the challenge of depicting ocean acidification

  Acidification is changing the oceans:

• 2011/12/22: Scripps: Comprehensive Study Makes Key Findings of Ocean pH Variations
  Some organisms already experiencing ocean acidification levels not predicted to be reached until 2100

Glaciers are melting:

• 2011/12/22: SciAm:Obs: Melting Glaciers Muck Up Earth?s Gravitational Field
• 2011/12/20: FaGP: Mueller Glacier retreat Lake Expansion, New Zealand
• 2011/12/20: Eureka: Glacial tap is open but the water will run dry -- Retreating glaciers threaten water supplies

  Sea levels are rising:

• 2011/12/23: SciAm:GB: A real sea change

  As for hydrological cycle disruptions [floods & droughts]:

• 2011/12/23: al Jazeera: Floods wreak havoc in Tanzania
  At least 23 people die in the worst floods to hit the Tanzanian capital Dar es Salaam in 50 years.
• 2011/12/22: CNN: 23 dead in Tanzania flooding
  More than 4,000 families have been affected - Thee consecutive days of were heaviest in 57 years, newspaper reports - High tide also contributed to flooding, aid official tells U.N. Radio
• 2011/12/22: BBC: Tanzania floods: Heavy rains inundate Dar es Salaam
  At least 13 people have died in floods after unusually heavy rains hit Tanzania's main city of Dar es Salaam.
• 2011/12/20: P3: Twenty trees
• 2011/12/19: ORNL: Data-driven tools cast geographical patterns of rainfall extremes in new light
  Using statistical analysis methods to examine rainfall extremes in India, a team of researchers has made a discovery that resolves an ongoing debate in published findings and offers new insights. The study, initiated by Auroop Ganguly and colleagues at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, reports no evidence for uniformly increasing trends in rainfall extremes averaged over the entire Indian region. It does, however, find a steady and significant increase in the spatial variability of rainfall extremes over the region.
• 2011/12/19: al Jazeera: Rain is still falling across Colombia -- The flooding is getting worse

  Elsewhere on the mitigation front:

• 2011/12/20: Grist: Markets and climate change: A case of cognitive dissonance
• 2011/12/19: BBC: Mexico City closes Bordo Poniente rubbish dump [to reduce greenhouse gas emissions]

  Consider transportation & GHG production:

• 2011/12/21: al Jazeera: Solar-powered boat sails around the world
  Mission is an unprecedented attempt to circumnavigate the globe driven only by the sun's energy.
• 2011/12/19: CBC: 'Sky Whale' airship unveiled in Winnipeg -- Blimp-like airships could carry goods to remote northern communities

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

• 2011/12/21: Grist: There?s never been a better time to build a hobbit house
• 2011/12/21: Grist: Maine bans LEED in state buildings at timber industry?s behest
• 2011/12/20: TP:JR: Retrofits Surpass New Builds in LEED-Certified Green Buildings

  Large scale geo-engineering keeps popping up:

• 2011/12/24: GEB: Can we capture methane from the Arctic seabed?
• 2011/12/19: GEP: Two New German Government Reports
• 2011/11/23: IGBP: Governance experts warn U.N. overhaul required to govern Earth system

  Meanwhile in the journals:

• 2011/12/23: F&CT(via doi): (ab$) Assessment of the health impact of GM plant diets in long-term and multigenerational animal feeding trials: A literature review by Snell Chelsea et al.
• 2011/12/21: CP: Reconstruction of a continuous high-resolution CO2 record over the past 20 million years by R. S. W. van de Wal et al.
• 2011/12/21: CP: Volcanic impact on the Atlantic Ocean over the last millennium by J. Mignot et al.
• 2011/12/20: CPD: A 500 kyr record of global sea level oscillations in the Gulf of Lion, Mediterranean Sea: new insights into MIS 3 sea level variability by J. Frigola et al.
• 2011/12/20: CPD: Precipitation variability in the winter rainfall zone of South Africa during the last 1400 yr linked to the austral westerlies by J. C. Stager et al.
• 2011/12/21: TCD: Stable isotope and gas properties of two ice wedges from Cape Mamontov Klyk, Laptev Sea, Northern Siberia by T. Boereboom et al.
• 2011/12/21: TCD: Glacier ice in rock glaciers: a case study in the Vanoise Massif, Northern French Alps by S. Monnier et al.
• 2011/12/21: TCD: A new glacier inventory for 2009 reveals spatial and temporal variability in glacier response to atmospheric warming in the Northern Antarctic Peninsula, 1988-2009 by B. J. Davies et al.
• 2011/12/21: TCD: Melting of Northern Greenland during the last interglacial by A. Born & K. H. Nisancioglu
• 2011/12/22: ACP: Three-dimensional variations of atmospheric CO2: aircraft measurements and multi-transport model simulations by Y. Niwa et al.
• 2011/12/22: ACP: Validity of satellite measurements used for the monitoring of UV radiation risk on health by F. J?gou et al.
• 2011/12/22: ACP: Earth's energy imbalance and implications by J. Hansen et al.
• 2011/12/21: ACP: Projecting future HFC-23 emissions by B. R. Miller & L. J. M. Kuijpers
• 2011/12/21: ACP: Analyzing coastal precipitation using TRMM observations by R. H. Heiblum et al.
• 2011/12/21: ACP: General overview: European Integrated project on Aerosol Cloud Climate and Air Quality interactions (EUCAARI) - integrating aerosol research from nano to global scales by M. Kulmala et multi alia
• 2011/12/21: ACP: Trends of solar ultraviolet irradiance at Barrow, Alaska, and the effect of measurement uncertainties on trend detection by G. Bernhard
• 2011/12/22: ACPD: Development and uncertainty analysis of a high-resolution NH3 emissions inventory and its implications with precipitation over the Pearl River Delta region, China by J. Y. Zheng et al.
• 2011/12/21: ACPD: Simultaneous satellite observations of IO and BrO over Antarctica by A. Sch?nhardt et al.
• 2011/12/20: ACPD: Observation of atmospheric aerosols at Mt. Hua and Mt. Tai in Central and East China during spring 2009 - Part 2: Impact of dust storm on organic aerosol composition and size distribution by G. H. Wang et al.
• 2011/12/20: ACPD: Global stratospheric hydrogen peroxide distribution from MIPAS-Envisat full resolution spectra compared to KASIMA model results by S. Versick et al.
• 2011/12/19: ACPD: Improvement of aerosol optical depth retrieval from MODIS spectral reflectance over the global ocean using new aerosol models archived from AERONET inversion data and tri-axial ellipsoidal dust database data by J. Lee et al.
• 2011/12/19: ACPD: Impact of cloud processes on aerosol particle properties: results from two ATR-42 flights in an extended stratocumulus cloud layer during the EUCAARI campaign (2008) by S. Crumeyrolle et al.
• 2011/10/20: GRL: (ab$) Using a spatially realistic load model to assess impacts of Alaskan glacier ice loss on sea level by Emma M. Hill et al.
• 2011/12/19: PLoS One: High-Frequency Dynamics of Ocean pH: A Multi-Ecosystem Comparison by Gretchen E. Hofmann et al.
• 2011/12/20: PNAS: (ab$) Global population trajectories of tunas and their relatives by Maria Jos? Juan-Jord? et al.
• 2011/12/20: PNAS: (ab$) Climate-associated phenological advances in bee pollinators and bee-pollinated plants by Ignasi Bartomeus et al.
• 2011/12/20: PNAS: (ab$) Dynamic model of flexible phytoplankton nutrient uptake by Juan A. Bonachela et al.
• 2011/12/20: PNAS: (ab$) Native Americans experienced a strong population bottleneck coincident with European contact by Brendan D. O'Fallon & Lars Fehren-Schmitz
• 2011/12/20: PNAS: (ab$) Rice consumption contributes to arsenic exposure in US women by Diane Gilbert-Diamond et al.
• 2011/12/20: PNAS: (ab$) Functional traits determine trade-offs and niches in a tropical forest community by Frank Sterck et al.
• 2011/12/20: PNAS: (ab$) Economic and energetic analysis of capturing CO2 from ambient air by Kurt Zenz House et al.
• 2011/12/20: PNAS: (ab$) Nonlinear detection of paleoclimate-variability transitions possibly related to human evolution by Jonathan F. Donges et al.
• 2011/12/20: PNAS: (letter$) Geoengineering: The good, the MAD, and the sensible by Hans Joachim Schellnhuber
• 2011/12/20: PNAS: (letter$) Reply to Strub et al.: Chlorine activation by neutrons as an obvious source of 35S at Fukushima by Antra Priyadarshi et al.
• 2011/12/20: PNAS: (letter$) Creation path of 35S from Fukushima not so obvious by Erik Strub et al.
• 2011/12/19: GMD: Improved convergence and stability properties in a three-dimensional higher-order ice sheet model by J. J. F?rst et al.
• 2011/12/19: GMDD: "Gtool5": a Fortran90 library of input/output interfaces for self-descriptive multi-dimensional numerical data by M. Ishiwatari et al.
• 2011/12/20: OSD: Variational assimilation of Lagrangian trajectories in the Mediterranean ocean Forecasting System by J. A. U. Nilsson et al.
• 2011/12/20: TCD: Glacier changes from 1966-2009 in the Gongga Mountains, on the south-eastern margin of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau and their climatic forcing by B. Pan et al.
• 2011/01/14: Science: (ab$) Genomic Signatures Predict Migration and Spawning Failure in Wild Canadian Salmon by Kristina M. Miller et al.
• 2011/12/19: AGWObserver: New research from last week 50/2011

  And other significant documents:

• 2011/12/22: TCoE: Doc alert: India Infrastructure Report
• 2011/12/21: CCurrents: [link to 1.9 meg pdf] Land Rights And The Rush For Land by Ward Anseeuw, Liz Alden Wily, Lorenzo Cotula & Michael Taylor

  As for miscellaneous science:

• 2011/12/24: RealClimate: Recycling
• 2011/12/19: TheScientist: Top Science Scandals of 2011
• 2011/12/22: TreeHugger: What's Settled & Unsettled in Current Climate Change Science?
• 2011/12/21: HoustonChronicle: TCEQ, report's editors reach deal on climate change data
• 2011/12/21: RealClimate: Copernicus and Arrhenius: Physics Then and Physics Today
• 2011/12/19: CCP: HIPPO reveals climate surprises. Swooping pole-to-pole plane flights uncover unexpected trends in pollutant releases and spread
• 2011/12/19: BBC: Thames archive reveals long nitrate rise
  Scientists have assembled a remarkable record of water quality in the Thames that stretches back over 140 years.
• 2011/12/19: GBIF: German research team targets ?at risk? data on biodiversity
  Project example of data hosting infrastructure promoted by GBIF. A new German-based project is setting out to rescue biodiversity data at risk of being lost, because they are not integrated in institutional databases, are kept in outdated digital storage systems, or are not properly documented.

More DIY science:

• 2011/12/19: moyhu: Significant trends in Foster/Rahmstorf

  Regarding Wegman:

• 2011/12/22: Deltoid: Wegman one of The Scientist's top five science scandals

  There is a steady dribble of 2012 Rio Conference news releases:

• 2011/12/19: PWCCC: Proposal of Bolivia to Rio+20

  While at the UN:

• 2011/12/20: UN: UN book highlights benefits of Amazon plants and foods to improve livelihoods
• 2011/11/23: IGBP: Governance experts warn U.N. overhaul required to govern Earth system

  And on the carbon trading front:

• 2011/12/22: EUO: Germany court finds six guilty of carbon tax fraud
• 2011/12/22: PlanetArk: Slovakia Eyes AAU [Assigned Amount Units] Sales To Spain: Point Carbon
• 2011/12/21: PressEurop: Climate change -- EP reassesses emissions market
• 2011/12/21: EurActiv: MEPs agree on carbon price intervention
• 2011/12/21: PlanetArk: EU Lawmakers Back Plan To Withhold EU CO2 Permits
• 2011/12/20: Guardian(UK): EU lawmakers back plan to withhold carbon permits
  Proposal will prop up record low carbon prices by withholding 1.4bn permits from the third phase of the emissions trading scheme
• 2011/12/20: EurActiv: MEPs agree on carbon price intervention
  Members of the environment committee in the European Parliament have approved an amendment to the proposed Energy Efficiency Directive that is to see carbon prices go up.
• 2011/12/19: Guardian(UK): MEPs to take step towards supporting carbon price

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

• 2011/12/22: DerSpiegel: The World From Berlin -- The 'EU Must Remain Tough' on Emissions Trading
  Europe's highest court has backed an EU emissions trading scheme for the aviation industry, angering leaders and airlines abroad. Experts warn the ruling could spark a trade war. Despite the tensions, German commentators on Thursday encouraged EU officials to stand strong on climate protection.
• 2011/12/21: DerSpiegel: Trade Dispute Looms -- EU Court Forces US Airlines to Pay for Emissions
  US airlines have suffered a defeat in the EU's highest court, which upheld a law on Wednesday that will require airlines to pay for carbon emissions on flights to and from Europe. The new rule goes into effect on Jan. 1, 2012. US officials have warned that the move will have repercussions.
• 2011/12/23: BBC: US and its airlines: Too much hot air?
  There are times when businesses are completely justified in the concerns they raise about moves to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. And there are times when they're not.
• 2011/12/22: EurActiv: US voices ?objections? to EU aviation emissions ruling
  The US government denounced yesterday (21 December) a decision by Europe's highest court giving unreserved backing to an EU law to charge airlines for carbon emissions on flights to and from Europe, saying the case was not resolved. The court ruled against a group of US airlines who had challenged a law requiring that all airlines flying to and from European Union airports will have to buy permits under the EU's emissions trading system (ETS) from 1 January. The initial cost is expected to be minimal but would rise to an estimated E9 billion by the end of 2020.
• 2011/12/22: PlanetArk: Top EU Court Upholds Carbon Airline Law
• 2011/12/21: TreeHugger: EU's Highest Court Gives Green Light To Charging International Airlines For Carbon Emissions
• 2011/12/21: EurActiv: Airline emissions row escalates ahead of EU ruling
• 2011/12/21: EUO: China joins legal battle against EU aviation tax
• 2011/12/21: EUO: EU court greenlights carbon emissions tax for planes
• 2011/12/21: Guardian(UK): International airlines will be charged for carbon emissions, EU court rules
• 2011/12/21: BBC: EU plans to levy an emissions tax on airlines are valid, according to the European Court of Justice (ECJ)
• 2011/12/21: CBC: Aviation carbon trade approved by European court -- Carbon trading program is due to go into effect Jan. 1, 2012
  The European Union's highest court has upheld the EU's right to impose its cap-and-trade scheme on international airlines using European airports, rejecting an appeal from U.S. airlines. The European Court of Justice in Luxembourg dismissed the argument Wednesday that the program infringes on national sovereignty or violates international aviation treaties. The decision means that any airline flying in or out of the 27 countries of the EU must pay to offset their emissions.
• 2011/12/20: CBC: Carbon tax likely coming to flights to Europe -- European Court of Justice expected to approve tax on international flights
• 2011/12/20: Guardian(UK): EU set to charge international airlines for carbon emissions
• 2011/12/18: LiveMint: India asks its airlines not to submit carbon tax data to EU
  Under the planned Emission Trading Scheme, airlines using EU airspace will have to pay a fee for carbon emissions that exceed a set limit

An odd twist in the solar trade war between China, the USA and India?

• 2011/12/22: TreeHugger: Solar Power Trade War With China Will Cost US Jobs
• 2011/12/21: PlanetArk: U.S. Solar Companies Urge SolarWorld Drop China Case
  A coalition that says it represents 97 percent of the U.S. solar industry on Tuesday urged solar panel maker SolarWorld to withdraw a petition asking President Barack Obama's administration to slap punitive duties on China for unfair trading practices.
• 2011/12/20: BWeek: India May Join U.S.-China Trade Spat to Prevent Solar ?Disaster?
  India may jump into an escalating U.S.-China trade fight over solar energy as local manufacturers lobby New Delhi for protection against imports from rivals including First Solar Inc. and Suntech Power Holdings Co. India may initiate an anti-dumping probe in a month focused on imports of Chinese solar products, China?s Commerce Ministry said in a statement yesterday. India?s Commerce Secretary Rahul Khullar declined to comment in a phone call. Indian manufacturers are also seeking a 15 percent tariff on imports of thin-film solar panels, the country?s Renewable Energy Ministry Secretary Tarun Kapoor said in an interview. The biggest thin-film panel company is Tempe, Arizona-based First Solar. Indian suppliers such as Tata BP Solar India Ltd., Indosolar Ltd. and Moser Baer India Ltd. have failed to benefit from a rule intended to spawn a domestic manufacturing hub in one of the world?s fastest-growing markets. Instead, low-cost Chinese rivals like Suntech and Trina Solar Ltd. and U.S. firms backed by preferential trade finance including First Solar have reaped most of the equipment orders for 1,100 megawatts of plants to be built by January.

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

• 2011/12/21: CSW: Wilson Center panel: New research on climate change and conflict links

  What are the activists up to?

• 2011/12/20: GreenPeace(USA): Upcoming American Petroleum Institute 'Vote 4 Energy' TV campaign disrupted by undercover activists
• 2011/12/19: CSW: The Occupy movement and the climate movement
• 2011/12/19: Grist: Willie Nelson wants you to occupy Big Food

  Regarding Water Politics and Business:

• 2011/12/21: JFleck: Untangling the QSA
• 2011/12/21: JFleck: Coveting thy neighbor?s water
• 2011/12/20: OpenDem: Water in the Arab Spring
  Water scarcity in the Middle East & North Africa is at the root of the region?s uprisings. In the coming years, it will also be the source of further social unrest across the region.
• 2011/12/17: Statesman: Growth of large private water companies brings higher water rates, little recourse for consumers
• 2011/12/18: JFleck: What?s Aaron Million?s Water For?
• 2011/12/18: JFleck: Colorado River Water Users, odds and ends

  And on the groundwater front:

• 2011/12/22: SciNews: Groundwater dropping globally -- Satellites find supply falling mostly due to agriculture
• 2011/12/19: Eureka: What are the prospects for sustaining high-quality groundwater?

  Among the world's religions:

• 2011/12/20: TP:JR: Faith on the Front Lines of Climate Protection

  Who's making predictions this week?

• 2011/12/19: Grist: The U.S. electricity mix in 20 years: A prediction

  And on the American political front:

• 2011/12/23: TP:JR: Vermont?s "Energy Secession" Movement: 90% Renewables by 2050
• 2011/12/23: AutoBG: Annual fuel budget for U.S. families this year? Over $4,000
• 2011/12/23: ACLU: Court Blocks Implementation of Arizona Law that Withholds Critical Resources for Women?s Health -- State Law Withholds Resources from Organizations that Provide Abortion Referrals or Counseling
• 2011/12/22: ACLU: Nevada Judge Blocks Second Dangerous Personhood Ballot Initiative -- ACLU and Planned Parenthood Demonstrated that Initiative Is Vague and Misleading
  A Nevada state judge today declared invalid the second of two ballot initiatives designed to ban all abortions, including in cases of rape or incest, and other vital women's health services by granting legal protections to fertilized eggs, embryos and fetuses. The initiative, blocked by Judge James Wilson, Jr. of the First Judicial District Court, was found to be so vague and misleading that it could not be permitted to go to the voters under any circumstances.
• 2011/12/21: HoustonChronicle: TCEQ, report's editors reach deal on climate change data
  Texas' environmental agency has reached an agreement with a Rice University oceanographer and his editors to publish a scientific article the agency had earlier rejected because of references to climate change, human impact on the environment and sea-level rise. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and the editors have negotiated an agreement that will allow the publication of an article on sea-level rise in Galveston Bay by John Anderson, Maurice Ewing professor of Oceanography, said Jim Lester, an editor at the Houston Advanced Research Center. The article is the summation of a 10-year, peer-reviewed study published in the Geological Society of America.
• 2011/12/21: CCP: Don Shelby: What it's like being a scientist in the GOP-led legislature (Minnesota state senator Kate Knuth)
• 2011/12/21: Grist: Maine bans LEED in state buildings at timber industry?s behest
• 2011/12/19: CCP: Bill McKibben: What stinks in D.C. Why can't lawmakers see what we all see: corporate contributions corrupt?
• 2011/12/18: TP:JR: The 5 States With the Most Installed Wind and Solar Power Saw the Least Increase in Electricity Prices from 2005-2010
• 2011/12/19: TP:JR: Grover Norquist Spreads Lies About Renewable Energy Standards

  The BP disaster continues to twist US politics:

• 2011/12/21: PlanetArk: Spill Reported At Shell Gulf Of Mexico Drill Site
• 2011/12/19: NOAANews: Air pollution levels from Deepwater Horizon spill similar to large urban area
• 2011/12/18: AlterNet: Why Is the FDA Saying It's OK to Eat Seafood 10,000 Times Over the Safe Limit for Dangerous Carcinogens? [BP GoM]

  The 2012 clown show rolls along:

• 2011/12/24: Guardian(UK): Gingrich and Perry fail to qualify for Virginia primary
  Neither submitted enough signatures from registered voters to stand for the state's Republican primary on 6 March
• 2011/12/24: QuarkSoup: Sometimes They Surprise You
• 2011/12/22: TreeHugger: Rick Perry Fracks Up, Denies Link to Groundwater Pollution
• 2011/12/22: Grist: Rick Perry right about something
• 2011/12/22: SciAm:PI: On the Loveseat: Gingrich,Pelosi and Climate Change
• 2011/12/14: BAR: Obama and the GOP Circus Show
  Having shown his hand over the last three years as an eager -- although often spurned -- partner in Republican austerity politics, and a war-maker who could make George Bush blush, President Obama will seek reelection with bankers? money while pretending to remain "infuriated" with Wall Street. The banksters are in on the scam, since "nothing can match Obama?s crowning glory: the permanent bailout of finance capital." The Republican candidate, whoever it is, will certainly spout an unambiguously pro-business line. But, "a GOP gaggle that savages itself for the privilege of singing the praises of the rich can only bring down the wrath of the people on the bankers? heads." Wall Street knows Obama is their true "shining knight."
• 2011/12/21: TP:JR: Romney Claims Government Support "Kills Solar Energy" -- Another Major Flip Flop
• 2011/12/20: TP:JR: Top 5 Craziest Things GOP Contenders Said on Climate in 2011
• 2011/12/17: RawStory: Gingrich: I?ll ?ignore? any Supreme Court ruling I disagree with

  The Keystone XL saga bounces along:

• 2011/12/22: TreeHugger: Congress Forces Obama to Decide on Keystone XL Tar Sands Pipeline Within 60 Days
• 2011/12/23: Grist: Republicans put a deadline on Keystone XL, surprising nobody
• 2011/12/23: TreeHugger: The Two Biggest Myths About the Keystone XL Tar Sands Pipeline, Debunked
• 2011/12/23: CBC: Keystone work can start, TransCanada says
• 2011/12/22: TP:JR: House GOP Cave on Tax Cut Extension Paves Way for Obama to Deny Keystone XL Permit
• 2011/12/19: Grist: Greens poised to win on Keystone, refuse to act like it
• 2011/12/18: EconBrowser: Costs and benefits of the Keystone XL pipeline
• 2011/12/18: PostMedia: Expedited decision could kill Keystone XL project
  The White House sent new signals Sunday that President Barack Obama may be forced to kill TransCanada Corp.'s Keystone XL oilsands pipeline if his administration is forced to make a decision on the project within 60 days. Gene Sperling, a senior economic adviser to Obama, told CNN that legislation requiring a final ruling on Keystone XL within two months could doom the pipeline because there's not enough time to complete a new environmental review.

The EPA released their Mercury pollution standards this week after a 29 year delay:

• 2011/12/21: EPA: EPA Issues First National Standards for Mercury Pollution from Power Plants/ Historic ?mercury and air toxics standards? meet 20-year old requirement to cut dangerous smokestack emissions
• 2011/12/21: Grist: The mercury rules announced today are a bona fide Big Deal
• 2011/12/21: Eureka: New EPA air quality rules outweigh costs and provide major health and environmental benefits
• 2011/12/20: USGS: Mercury Deposition Greater near Major U.S. Cities
• 2011/12/22: NYT:PK: The Meaning of Mercury [EPA?s decision to regulate mercury from coal plants]
• 2011/12/22: ERabett: A few extra dimensional chess
• 2011/12/22: PlanetArk: EPA Unveils Rules Reducing Mercury From Coal Plants
• 2011/12/22: PlanetArk: U.S. Rolls Out Tough Rules On Coal Plant Pollution
• 2011/12/21: NatureNB: Environmentalists laud ?historic? mercury rule
• 2011/12/21: SciAm:PI: 20 Years in the Making -- National Standards for Mercury Pollution from Power Plants
• 2011/12/21: TreeHugger: EPA Issues First-Ever Limits on Mercury & Toxic Air Pollution
• 2011/12/21: UCSUSA: EPA Regulations, 20 Years in Coming, Will Not Result in Blackouts -- Public Health Benefits Far Outweigh the Costs
• 2011/12/21: TreeHugger: Matter Hatters Of Coal vs The Children: Which Side Will Business Leaders Take?
• 2011/12/21: Grist: Three cheers for new mercury pollution standards

  The Obama chatter is nonstop:

• 2011/12/23: TP:JR: Tim Wirth Slams Obama: "I Don?t Know Who and Where the Climate Leadership in the Administration Is. It Doesn?t Exist."

  The actions of the Obama administration are being watched closely:

• 2011/12/22: NOAANews: NOAA seeks comment on draft environmental impact statement on Arctic oil and gas exploration
• 2011/12/19: Grist: Feds approve Shell?s plan to spill oil in the Arctic
• 2011/12/19: UCSUSA: Majority of Departments, Agencies Struggling on Scientific Integrity
  As Deadline Passes, Only 6 of 19 Have Publicly Released Draft or Final Policies

As for what is going on in Congress:

• 2011/12/23: TP:JR: Video: The Oddest and Dirtiest Moments of 2011 in the House Natural Resources Committee
• 2011/12/24: CCP: NY Times: Republicans deny funding for study of extreme weather events and global warming
• 2011/12/24: NYT: Harsh Political Reality Slows Climate Studies Despite Extreme Year
• 2011/12/20: P3: SOPA and Climate Change
• 2011/12/21: NatureN: Last-minute wins for US science -- Bill tops up health, energy and translational-science spending
• 2011/12/21: AutoBG: Rep. Issa asks CARB for more documents about 54.5 mpg CAFE standards
• 2011/12/20: AlterNet: Democrats Are Still Compromising Away Women's Rights -- What's Wrong with the Pro-Choice Movement's Strategy?
• 2011/12/20: TP:JR: Must-See Video: Congressional Inaction Threatens Middle Class Wind Jobs in America?s Heartland
• 2011/12/20: TreeHugger: Congress Goes Through With Ban On Green Building at Department of Defense
• 2011/12/19: TP:JR: Boehner Nonsensically Calls a Legal Environmental Review on the Keystone Pipeline "Nonsense"
• 2011/12/19: SciAm:PI: Congress strips funding for efficient lighting standards
• 2011/12/19: TreeHugger: Florida Senator [Jim Norman (R)] Again Tries To Make Photographing Farms Illegal
• 2011/12/16: AlterNet: The Fracking Industry Has Bought Off Congress: Here Are the Worst Offenders

  What are the lobbyists pushing?

• 2011/12/21: Yahoo:B: D?oh! Oil industry lobbyists punked by enviro activist (audio)

  While in the UK:

• 2011/12/22: BBC: The Church of England and the National Trust have written to the government saying recent policy changes put community solar power schemes at risk
• 2011/12/22: PlanetArk: UK Solar Plants Boom Ahead Of Subsidies Cut
• 2011/12/22: PlanetArk: UK Plan To Cut Solar Subsidy Ruled Legally Flawed
• 2011/12/21: TreeHugger: Major Victory for Solar: UK FiT Subsidy Cuts Declared Illegal
• 2011/12/21: BBC: Solar tariff cut plan ruled legally flawed
  Government plans to cut subsidies for solar panels on homes have been ruled legally flawed by the High Court.
• 2011/12/21: BBC: Solar subsidy changes could deal 'fatal blow' to industry
  Planned government changes to subsidies on solar power may deal the industry a "fatal blow", two parliamentary committees are warning. The Environmental Audit Committee and Energy and Climate Change Committee say ministers are right to make changes, but are doing so "clumsily".
• 2011/12/20: BBC: Police 'need riot tactic rules', watchdog says
  Police should be given clear rules about when they can use water cannon and plastic bullets against rioters, a watchdog has said. But officers could lawfully have shot arsonists in some cases during the summer rioting in England, the Inspectorate of Constabulary said. Water canon and plastic bullets could have been used in a "number of real scenarios", its report suggested. MPs have said such tactics would have been "indiscriminate and dangerous".

And in Europe:

• 2011/12/22: SwissInfo: Revised CO2 law reflects uneasy compromise
  Parliament has agreed to reduce carbon emissions by 20 per cent by 2020 but has voted against introducing a tax on petrol to help it do so. The compromise reached by both chambers during the current winter session is a response to a people's initiative launched by environmental groups in 2007 which calls for a 30 per cent reduction on 1990 levels of carbon dioxide emissions by 2020.
• 2011/12/22: EurActiv: Industrial regions seek more flexible pollution laws
  Governments representing some of Europe?s best-known industrial regions have joined together to put added muscle behind efforts to reduce pollution and to press the European Commission for more flexible air quality laws.
• 2011/12/21: EurActiv: 'Tough talks' likely after MEPs back binding efficiency goals
  The European Parliament's environment committee has thrown its weight behind binding energy efficiency targets for member states in a vote held yesterday (20 December). However, there it little chance that these will survive in later versions of the draft energy efficiency directive, EurActiv was told. The report amended by the Parliament's environment committee sets out a binding energy savings target of 20% for EU countries as a whole.
• 2011/12/21: EurActiv: MEPs agree on carbon price intervention
• 2011/12/21: PlanetArk: EU Lawmakers Back Plan To Withhold EU CO2 Permits
• 2011/12/20: Guardian(UK): EU lawmakers back plan to withhold carbon permits
  Proposal will prop up record low carbon prices by withholding 1.4bn permits from the third phase of the emissions trading scheme
• 2011/12/20: EurActiv: Danes outline environmental goals for EU presidency
  Denmark?s environment and energy ministers vowed yesterday (19 December) to make sustainability and resource efficiency priorities during the country?s upcoming EU presidency, despite pressure across Europe to prioritise short-term crisis-fighting measures.
• 2011/12/20: EurActiv: MEPs agree on carbon price intervention
  Members of the environment committee in the European Parliament have approved an amendment to the proposed Energy Efficiency Directive that is to see carbon prices go up.
• 2011/12/19: BBC: Vaclav Havel and a climate of 'freedom'
• 2011/12/19: EurActiv: 2050 roadmap to re-boot stalled energy efficiency talks
  Denmark, which takes over the EU's rotating presidency on 1 January, is likely to use the European Commission's Energy Roadmap 2050 as a tool to push through an agreement on the stalled Energy Efficiency Directive.
• 2011/12/19: PlanetArk: EU parliament Set To Call For Carbon Market
  European politicians are expected on Tuesday to vote through an amendment that could pave the way for direct intervention in the EU carbon market, which has sunk to record lows. Businesses and environmentalists have heaped pressure on the European Commission to bolster the EU Emissions Trading Scheme.

Meanwhile in Australia:

• 2011/12/19: NatureN: Australian science minister demoted -- Outgoing Kim Carr hailed as "one of the best"

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

• 2011/12/23: ABC(Au): Fleurieu irrigators win water concessions
  Irrigators on Fleurieu Peninsula have won concessions in a plan to cap water use in the western Mount Lofty Ranges. They are now likely to be able to take more water from catchments on their properties because of a change of heart by an environmental advisory body. The farmlands of the southern Fleurieu have some of the highest rainfall in the region and landholders have paid a premium for it. They believe they have the most to lose from a proposal to share water more evenly between farmers.
• 2011/12/20: ABC(Au): Scientist demands more basin plan details

  And in New Zealand:

• 2011/12/24: HotTopic: Doublethink: doubleplus ungood
• 2011/12/19: HotTopic: Hidden treasure is fools gold

  While in the Indian subcontinent:

• 2011/12/22: CCurrents: India's Shameful Paradox Of Plenty
• 2011/12/19: BBC: India cabinet approves cheap food bill for poor
  The Indian government has approved a bill which will guarantee cheap food for more than half of the country's people. The Food Security Bill aims at providing subsidised foodgrains to 75% of the rural population and about half of the urban households. The bill now needs the approval of the parliament, where it is likely to be introduced on Monday. The scheme is likely to cost $19bn and will be implemented in phases.

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

• 2011/12/23: TMoS: Harper's Diabolical Christmas Gift to Big Oil - Selling Out Canadian Workers
• 2011/12/21: DeSmogBlog: NCC: Not Much Blood on Canada's Hands!
• 2011/12/21: BCLSB: Abortion BACK On The (Hidden) Agenda!

  The G20 controversy lingers:

• 2011/12/23: G&M: G20 compensation unevenly awarded, claimants say
• 2011/12/21: G&M: Jail-bound G20 organizer [Leah Henderson] claims evidence was taken out of context

  Regarding the Canadian withdrawal from Kyoto:

• 2011/12/20: CBC: Kyoto withdrawal causes Quebec firm to lose client -- Expert predicts more foreign companies will end business with Canada
• 2011/12/19: ICTMN: Indigenous Peoples Call Canadian Kyoto Withdrawal Business as Usual

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

• 2011/12/24: G&M: The politics of pipe: Keystone's troubled route

  Regarding the NDP leadership race:

• 2011/12/18: G&M: Mild-mannered NDP leadership race so far avoids tough realities

  Tarsand advocates are desperately seeking a banana peel. Pratfalls to follow:

• 2011/12/21: BLongstaff: Chiquita si, tar sands no
• 2011/12/19: TStar: Oilsands PR battle goes after Chiquita bananas
• 2011/12/20: TreeHugger: Canadian Government Goes Bananas Over Chiquita's Pledge To Avoid Tar Sands Oil
• 2011/12/21: DaveBerta: the hypocrisy of ethical oil?s chiquita banana boycott
• 2011/12/20: SudburySteve: Eat a Banana, Save the Planet!
• 2011/12/19: TreeHugger: Chiquita Bananas Joins Other Major Brands, Pledges to Avoid Oil from Tar Sands
• 2011/12/20: PaiD: Will Your Next Banana Be Chiquita?
• 2011/12/19: ACR: Banana Republic
• 2011/12/20: ScottsDiatribe: Conservatives going ?bananas? over non-use of tarsand oil

  Meanwhile in the CWB saga:

• 2011/12/20: CBC: Regina executive named wheat board's new chairman
  A Regina business executive has been named chairman of the new, five-member Canadian Wheat Board. Bruce Johnson, who replaces ousted chairman Allen Oberg, a farmer, had served as a wheat board director since 2006. Last week, the wheat board's 15-member board was replaced by five directors appointed by the federal government.

The ISA virus in BC waters is potentially disastrous:

• 2011/12/20: G&M: Intensive probe to test nearly 8,000 B.C. salmon for disease [over the next two years]
• 2011/12/20: AlexandraMorton: Commerce vs Wild Salmon
• 2011/01/14: Science: (ab$) Genomic Signatures Predict Migration and Spawning Failure in Wild Canadian Salmon by Kristina M. Miller et al.
• 2011/12/20: Gazetteer: Are We 'Defining' Our Salmon To Death?
• 2011/12/20: CBC: Salmon virus testing ban suggested
  A federal manager suggested that independent Canadian labs not be allowed to test for an infectious salmon virus that was detected in wild B.C. sockeye salmon by a P.E.I. lab, a public inquiry heard Monday.

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

• 2011/12/19: PI: Business Leaders Urge B.C. to "Stay the Course" on Climate Leadership
• 2011/12/22: CBC: Smart meters ignite fierce debate in B.C. -- Thousands of residents vow to fight the new devices
• 2011/12/19: CBC: BC Hydro smart meter installs violating privacy: report -- BC Hydro is safeguarding personal information, privacy watchdog finds
  BC Hydro failed to notify customers who received new smart meters about how their personal information was being collected and used, B.C.'s privacy watchdog said Monday. Elizabeth Denham, B.C.'s Information and Privacy Commissioner, released a report assessing the privacy and security of BC Hydro's smart meter program, stating the Crown corporation is not fully in compliance with the Freedom of Information and Protection and Privacy Act.

Meanwhile in that Mechanical Mordor known as the tar sands:

• 2011/12/23: BCLSB: How's That "Ethical Oil" Thing Working For You?
• 2011/12/21: PostMedia: 'Secret' Environment Canada presentation warns of oilsands' impact on habitat
  Contamination of a major western Canadian river basin from oilsands operations is a "high-profile concern" for downstream communities and wildlife, says a newly-released "secret" presentation prepared last spring by Environment Canada that highlighted numerous warnings about the industry's growing footprint on land, air, water and the climate. The warnings from the department contrast with recent claims made by Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Environment Minister Peter Kent...
• 2011/12/21: CBC: Imperial's Kearl oilsands expansion gets go-ahead -- $8.9B investment will add 110,000 barrels a day to output
• 2011/12/21: Eureka: Researchers develop new method of cleaning toxins from the oilsands -- Ultimate goal: Tailings water treatment plants for all oil sands operations
• 2011/12/20: TP:JR: Canadian Officials Privately Admit "an Absence of Credible Scientific Evidence" That Tar Sands Are Getting Cleaner
• 2011/12/20: Grist: Canadian fakin?: Officials admit lack of evidence for cleaner tar sands
• 2011/12/20: OilChange: Canada can try and sell tar sands to China, but a pig?s still a pig
• 2011/12/19: CTV: Harper warns Americans he will ship oil elsewhere

  Ontario is still wrestling with its energy policy:

• 2011/12/21: CBC: Ontarians given extra 2 years for light bulb switch
• 2011/12/21: CleanBreak: Ontario, as expected, delays bulb ban --- and its reason for doing so doesn?t stand up
• 2011/12/20: CBC: TransCanada buys Ont. solar projects -- $470M deal boosts Canadian Solar stock sharply

  As for miscellaneous Canadiana:

• 2011/12/22: 350orBust: Franke James Does New York

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

• 2011/12/23: TreeHugger: Is Capitalism Possible Without Economic Growth? Pt. II
• 2011/12/23: AlterNet: Goodbye 'Shop Til You Drop' Mentality: Renegade Band of Economists Call for 'Degrowth' Economy
• 2011/12/21: EnergyBulletin: The government that likes to say 'Yes'
• 2011/12/20: P3: Sensible Economics
• 2011/12/21: TreeHugger: What Would a Sane Economic System Actually Look Like?
• 2011/12/21: TreeHugger: Is Capitalism Possible Without Economic Growth?
• 2011/12/19: CCurrents: Real Wealth: Howard T. Odum?s Energy Economics
• 2011/12/19: CCurrents: A Proposal For Wellbeing Of The Entire Earth System -- Proposals developed by the Plurinational State of Bolivia
• 2011/12/: MR: Capitalism and the Accumulation of Catastrophe
• 2011/12/19: Tyee: Idea #1: Link Money with Natural Capital
  As currencies across the globe corrode, it's time to peg wealth to something real.
• 1974//: MNForSustain: Energy, Ecology, & Economics by Howard T. Odum
• 2011/12/18: EnergyBulletin: Real wealth: Howard T. Odum?s energy economics

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

• 2011/12/23: ACLU: Court Blocks Implementation of Arizona Law that Withholds Critical Resources for Women?s Health -- State Law Withholds Resources from Organizations that Provide Abortion Referrals or Counseling
• 2011/12/22: ACLU: Nevada Judge Blocks Second Dangerous Personhood Ballot Initiative -- ACLU and Planned Parenthood Demonstrated that Initiative Is Vague and Misleading
  A Nevada state judge today declared invalid the second of two ballot initiatives designed to ban all abortions, including in cases of rape or incest, and other vital women's health services by granting legal protections to fertilized eggs, embryos and fetuses. The initiative, blocked by Judge James Wilson, Jr. of the First Judicial District Court, was found to be so vague and misleading that it could not be permitted to go to the voters under any circumstances.
• 2011/12/21: BCLSB: Abortion BACK On The (Hidden) Agenda!
• 2011/12/20: AlterNet: Democrats Are Still Compromising Away Women's Rights -- What's Wrong with the Pro-Choice Movement's Strategy?
• 2011/12/19: ACLU: Nevada Judge Rules Dangerous Personhood Ballot Initiative is Misleading
  Court Finds That Initiative Seeks to Ban All Abortions, Common Forms of Birth Control, Treatment for Complicated Pregnancies and Some Infertility Treatments
  A Nevada state judge today rewrote a misleading ballot initiative to make clear it is designed to ban all abortions including in cases of rape or incest and other vital women?s health services by granting legal protections to fertilized eggs, embryos and fetuses. The initiative was originally worded in such vague and misleading terms that it failed to make clear the far-reaching the effects the initiative would have on Nevada law. The initiative was proposed by the Nevada Prolife Coalition.

Apocalypso anyone?

• 2011/12/18: Guardian(UK): The news is terrible. Is the world really doomed?

  How do the media measure up?

• 2011/12/23: Deltoid: Keith Kloor's thinking on climate change
• 2011/12/21: CJR: Methane Mysteries -- Coverage of permafrost melt creates confusion about level of worry
• 2011/12/21: KSJT: Grist: Pretty good joke. Let?s blast climate deniers into space! And then the corrections begin...
• 2011/12/24: QuarkSoup: Warm, Cold, Doesn't Matter -- Brad Johnson is on the Case
• 2011/12/21: Deltoid: The Australian's War on Science 75: Plimer vs Plimer
• 2011/12/18: DVoice: Climate Crisis: The Collapse In Corporate Media Coverage
• 2011/12/19: DeSmogBlog: The Climate-Media Paradox: More Coverage, Stalled Progress
• 2011/12/19: TP:JR: Debunking the Washington Post?s Misguided Assessment of Clean Car Investments
• 2011/12/19: TreeHugger: Rush Limbaugh Named Climate Change Misinformer of the Year (Video)
• 2011/12/18: HotTopic: Jim Hopkins: vapid, vacuous, pretty vacant
• 2011/12/18: ITRacker: Open letter to Andrew Revkin

  While activists search for effective communication techniques:

• 2011/12/19: CCurrents: ?Brutal Logic? And Climate Communications

  Here is something for your library:

• 2011/12/20: TechRev: Finding an End to Energy Gridlock
  [Book Review] _Unlocking Energy Innovation_ by Richard K. Lester & David M. Hart
• 2011/12/22: HotTopic: [Book Review] _What Every Environmentalist Needs to Know about Capitalism_ by Fred Magdoff & John Bellamy Foster

  And for your film & video enjoyment:

• 2011/12/22: Grist: Here?s what being in a tsunami looks like
• 2011/12/24: 350orBust: The Light In The Sky
• 2011/12/21: MediaMatters: Season's Greetings From Fox
• 2011/12/21: SciAm:PI: 300 years of fossil fuels history - in 5 minutes
• 2011/12/21: HotTopic: The Climate Show #23: Durban and the return of the electric car
• 2011/12/19: TreeHugger: "If a Tree Falls" Film Review: When is Radical Action Justified?
• 2011/12/19: PSinclair: Addiction Incorporated -- the Tobacco Funded Roots of Climate Denial

  Meanwhile among the 'Sue the Bastards!' contingent:

• 2011/12/23: ACLU: Court Blocks Implementation of Arizona Law that Withholds Critical Resources for Women?s Health -- State Law Withholds Resources from Organizations that Provide Abortion Referrals or Counseling
• 2011/12/22: ACLU: Nevada Judge Blocks Second Dangerous Personhood Ballot Initiative -- ACLU and Planned Parenthood Demonstrated that Initiative Is Vague and Misleading
  A Nevada state judge today declared invalid the second of two ballot initiatives designed to ban all abortions, including in cases of rape or incest, and other vital women's health services by granting legal protections to fertilized eggs, embryos and fetuses. The initiative, blocked by Judge James Wilson, Jr. of the First Judicial District Court, was found to be so vague and misleading that it could not be permitted to go to the voters under any circumstances.
• 2011/12/22: DVoice: Frito-Lay Sued for Labeling its GMO-filled Snacks as "All Natural"

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

• 2011/12/25: TP:JR: Solar Grid Parity 101: How the Cross-Over Occurs
• 2011/12/23: JFleck: Graphing the energy boom
• 2011/12/22: AutoBG: MIT: fundamental changes needed in energy policy
• 2011/12/20: TP:JR: German Energy Consumption Drops 4.8% in 2011, With Renewables Providing 20% of Electricity
• 2011/12/21: CCurrents: How Much Dam Energy Can We Get?
• 2011/12/19: EnergyBulletin: Demanding less: why we need a new politics of energy (report excerpt)
• 2011/12/18: Grist: Why electricity markets will never be (totally) free

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

• 2011/12/19: Tyee: Fracking Contamination 'Will Get Worse': Alberta Expert -- Tighter regulations to protect groundwater needed, says U of Alberta geochemist
• 2011/12/21: PlanetArk: Fracking Splits Wyoming Town At Center Of Debate
• 2011/12/19: BizInsider: PwC: Shale Gas Will Generate Billions Of Dollars Of Savings And Create Over A Million Jobs
• 2011/12/20: MoJo: Fracking and the Feds
• 2011/12/16: AlterNet: The Fracking Industry Has Bought Off Congress: Here Are the Worst Offenders

  On the coal front:

• 2011/12/23: al Jazeera: Chinese villagers clash with riot police
  Protests have continued for a fourth day in southern China against the construction of a coal-fired power plant.
• 2011/12/21: TP:JR: Interactive Graphic: China?s Explosive Consumption of Coal
• 2011/12/21: TP:JR: Video: 30,000 Chinese ?Occupy? Highway to Protest Polluting Coal Plants

  On the gas and oil front:

• 2011/12/23: BBerg: Closing oil prices Friday
  OIL (US$/bbl)
  Nymex Crude Future...93.53
  Dated Brent Spot.....104.06
  WTI Cushing Spot.....93.53
• 2011/12/22: NYT: Oil Spill Moves Toward Nigerian Coast
  An oil slick roughly 350 square miles in size from a Royal Dutch Shell platform is slowly making its way toward the southern Nigerian coast, threatening wildlife and widespread shore pollution, Nigerian officials said Thursday.
• 2011/12/21: BBerg: Shale Boom Heralds Fifth Year of Gas [Price] Declines
• 2011/12/22: EnergyBulletin: Oil and geopolitics: a turbulent year, and no end in sight
• 2011/12/21: OilDrum: A Monster from the Deep
• 2011/12/21: Dominion: Extreme Extraction -- Oil production plans could reshape Morocco's economy and environment
• 2011/12/21: AntiWar: No War for Oil: US Dependency and the Middle East
• 2011/12/20: EnergyBulletin: Why oil prices are killing the economy
• 2011/12/20: TreeHugger: Russia Spills 5 Million Tons of Oil, Equivalent to 6 BP Disasters, Every Year

  Brazil looks to be socking it to Chevron:

• 2011/12/23: BBC: Brazil fines Chevron $5.4m for oil spill
  Brazil has fined US oil giant Chevron $5.4m (?3.5m) for breach of its environmental licence when it tackled an oil spill in November. Brazil's Ibama environmental agency said Chevron lacked the necessary equipment and was slow to respond. Ibama had already fined Chevron $28m for causing the spill off the coast of Rio de Janeiro. Chevron is also facing an $11bn lawsuit over the spill of about 3,000 barrels of crude oil at the Frade field [370km (230 miles) off the Brazilian coast]. Brazil has already suspended all of the drilling operations of Chevron and its contractors after the incident.
• 2011/12/23: BBerg: Chevron, Conoco Entrapped in Post-BP Crackdown on Oil Slicks
  Brazil?s threatened indictment of Chevron Corp. (CVX) and Transocean Ltd. (RIG) executives after offshore oil leaks shows that regulators from the North Sea to the Indian Ocean are stepping up scrutiny after BP Plc?s 2010 disaster. Brazilian authorities have said they may prosecute employees, shut operations and exact more than $10 billion in fines after the leaks at the Frade field 230 miles (370 kilometers) off the coast of Rio de Janeiro. The spill occurred 19 months after an explosion in the Gulf of Mexico killed 11 workers and triggered the biggest offshore U.S. oil spill.
• 2011/12/22: BBC: Brazil police seek Chevron oil spill charges
  Brazilian police are seeking charges against employees from US oil company Chevron and drilling firm Transocean for their alleged role in an oil spill off the coast of Rio last month. Police said environmental crimes had been committed. Both companies say the accusations are groundless.

In the fossil fuel corps:

• 2011/12/22: Grist: BP spends $20 billion on oil but can?t afford solar

  Yes we have a peak oil sighting:

• 2011/12/20: FCNP: The Peak Oil Crisis: 2012 - Apocalypse Now?
• 2011/12/19: CCurrents: OPEC Says, 'Don't Count On Us' For More Supply
• 2011/12/19: OilDrum: OPEC says, "Don't Count on Us" for More Supply

  Biofuel bickering abounds:

• 2011/12/22: Eureka: DOE researchers achieve important genetic breakthroughs to help develop cheaper biofuels -- Innovations in RNA manipulation could lead to advances in many products
• 2011/12/19: CER:RRapier: Range Fuels Goes Bust, Harms Biofuels Industry in the Process
• 2011/12/19: CleanBreak: Biofuels production is not our wisest use of limited land resources
• 2011/12/19: ABC(Au): Souped up photosynthesis produces H2
  Biofuel boost Scientists have taken photosynthesis to the next level, by creating a tiny solar-powered device that works twice as fast as nature to produce hydrogen biofuel. But the researchers add further research is needed before we can start using it to fuel our cars.
• 2011/12/19: Eureka: Chemicals and biofuel from wood biomass

  The answer my friend...:

• 2011/12/22: Reuters: Losing power: China's wind gear makers face lean returns
  Huge overcapacity and weak demand mean Chinese wind turbine makers, among the world's largest, are set for lower revenue and profits for at least the next two years. China had more than 80 wind turbine makers as of 2010, capable of producing over 40 Gigawatts, yet wind equipment demand is expected to be just 15 GW a year.
• 2011/12/22: TP:JR: Wind Makes Up 80% of Contracts in Brazil?s Latest Power Auction

  Meanwhile among the solar aficionados:

• 2011/12/22: TreeHugger: Inexpensive Solar Cell Paint One Step Closer After "Major Advance" in Research
• 2011/12/21: FuturePundit: Solar Photovoltaic Price Declines Not Sustainable
• 2011/12/23: NBF: Foxconn plans to build new solar panel factories with undreamed-of scale and lower cost and with new levels of robotic manufacturing
• 2011/12/22: ERabett:BDS: Solar power externality and LCOE
• 2011/12/23: TechRev: The Chinese Solar Machine
  Chinese manufacturers have dominated the international market for conventional solar panels by building bigger factories faster. Now they will need to innovate to maintain their lead.
• 2011/12/22: BBC: DIY solar panel maker heads to Africa for charity
• 2011/12/22: Stoat: Solat (sic) panels
• 2011/12/22: P3: Texas 30 MW Solar Facility in Production
• 2011/12/22: BRitholtz: Top 10 Countries for Solar Energy
• 2011/12/22: OilChange: Sun Sets on BP?s Solar Business
• 2011/12/21: NBF: Paint on solar cells
• 2011/12/20: TP:JR: Google?s Solar Flair: $94 Million Investment in PV Projects
• 2011/12/20: TreeHugger: Warren Buffett Buys 49% Stake in Arizona's 290-Megawatt 'Agua Caliente' Solar Project
• 2011/12/19: NBF: China increases solar power target for 2015 to 15 gigawatts and World projections for 2011 and 2015
• 2011/12/19: NBF: Solar Cell with external quantum efficiency of 114 percent
• 2011/12/19: TP:JR: Value of CSP Increases Substantially at High Solar Penetration
• 2011/12/19: PlanetArk: Buffett's MidAmerican Makes Second Foray In Solar
• 2011/12/19: PlanetArk: Soitec Invests $150 Million In California Solar Module Factory
• 2011/12/19: PeakEnergy: Discovery of a 'Dark State' Could Mean a Brighter Future for Solar Energy
• 2011/12/19: PeakEnergy: The 7 Biggest Solar Projects Under Construction Right Now
• 2011/12/18: TP:JR: Discovery Could Sharply Boost Solar Cell Efficiency at Low Cost
• 2011/12/19: PSinclair: Graph of the Day: Despite Anti-Tech Tea Party Troglodytes - Solar Soars

  Feed-In-Tariffs are being variously implemented around the world:

• 2011/12/21: TreeHugger: Major Victory for Solar: UK FiT Subsidy Cuts Declared Illegal

  The nuclear energy controversy continues:

• 2011/12/22: APR: Westinghouse AP1000 certified
• 2011/12/20: CCurrents: The Nuclear Safety Question

  Nuclear fusion projects around the world limp along:

• 2011/12/20: NBF: Inertial Electrostatic Confinement Fusion 2011 Workshop
• 2011/12/20: WNN: ITER financing package secured
  Details have been released of a final funding agreement that will see the European Union (EU) financing its commitments to the ITER fusion project in France for the next two years.

The Rossi Energy Catalyzer keeps coming up:

• 2011/12/18: NBF: Royal Dutch Shell Game Changer Program is looking at Low Energy Nuclear Reactions

  More people are talking about the electrical grid:

• 2011/12/19: PeakEnergy: Move Over, Electricity: Gas and Water Meters Are Getting Smart

  And then there is the matter of efficiency & conservation:

• 2011/12/19: MoJo: I Am Confused About Lightbulbs

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

• 2011/12/22: AutoBG: Next-gen Smart Electric Drive delayed until fall of 2012
• 2011/12/23: CBC: Electric cars sold in winter climate -- Mitsubishi sells its first i-MiEV electric car in Canada to a Winnipeg man
• 2011/12/20: AutoBG: [GM CEO Dan] Akerson: GM wants to build 60,000 Chevy Volts in 2012
• 2011/12/20: AutoBG: Lots of electric vehicle charging stations sitting unused in Tennessee

  As for Energy Storage:

• 2011/12/22: AutoBG: Nissan: batteries in the Leaf are tough, even after earthquake beating
• 2011/12/21: BBC: Sony's bio battery turns waste paper into electricity
• 2011/12/20: AutoBG: World's largest lithium-ion battery plant starts up in Russia

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

• 2011/12/23: TP:JR: December 23 News...
• 2011/12/22: TP:JR: December 22 News...
• 2011/12/21: TP:JR: December 21 News...
• 2011/12/20: TP:JR: December 20 News...
• 2011/12/19: TP:JR: December 19 News...

  Other (weekly) lists:

• 2011/12/19: BPA: Agriculture News

  The carbon lobby are up to the usual:

• 2011/12/24: HotTopic: Doublethink: doubleplus ungood
• 2011/12/23: ERabett: Mosher's Gambit
• 2010/04/12: ListVerse: 10 More Common Faults in Human Thought
• 2011/12/24: SixthEstate: On Lawrence Solomon?s God
• 2011/12/21: Yahoo:B: D?oh! Oil industry lobbyists punked by enviro activist (audio)
• 2011/12/21: ERabett: McIntyre and Mosher at the door, hand over the rent
• 2011/12/21: WtD: "Sceptical" politics: responses to the non-scientific arguments made by the deniers
• 2011/12/21: WottsUWT: Congressman Rohrabacher?s speech on climate issues
• 2011/12/20: GreenPeace(USA): Upcoming American Petroleum Institute 'Vote 4 Energy' TV campaign disrupted by undercover activists
• 2011/12/20: TreeHugger: Leaked Audio Files Reveal Oil Lobby's Effort to Fake Grassroots Support in Bad TV Ads (Video)
• 2011/12/20: TheCanadian: Shades of Green: Agnotology - The Propagation of Doubt [d]
• 2011/12/20: WtD: Pepper spraying the truth and speaking in dead tongues: how the deniers seek to irritate, confuse and blind us
• 2011/12/20: JQuiggin: Old men behaving badly
• 2011/12/19: RealClimate: Climate cynicism at the Santa Fe conference
• 2011/12/17: WiC: Big Oil and Canada thwarted U.S. carbon standards

  Meanwhile in the 'clean coal' saga:

• 2011/12/18: DeSmogBlog: Report: Arsenic From Coal Ash Disposal Sites Leaching Into Groundwater

  As for climate miscellanea:

• 2011/12/24: moyhu: Merry Christmas - and a new gallery
• 2011/12/24: TP:JR: The Ghost of Climate Yet to Come
• 2011/12/20: Guardian(UK): The problem with green rankings
  League tables of companies' environmental performance are undermined by their failure to account for corporate lobbying
• 2011/12/20: ClassM: Is Rajendra Pachauri making things worse?
• 2011/12/20: ITracker: Is the debate about climate science really about values?
• 2011/12/20: TreeHugger: Ask AMEE Search Is The Next Big Thing For Accessing Carbon Footprint Data
• 2011/12/18: QuarkSoup: Sunday Night Stuff

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

• Bits Of Science
• NOAA: ClimateWatch Magazine
• Ask AMEE
• From a Glaciers Perspective
• Wiki: Howard T. Odum
• Wiki: Phytoplankton
• BBickmore: Lord Monckton?s Rap Sheet
• WRI: News
• Climate Story Tellers
• Cohen Commission -- Commission of Inquiry into the Decline of Sockeye Salmon in the Fraser River
• NOAA: Coral Reef Watch Satellite Monitoring
• NASA:JPL: Ocean Surface Topography from Space
• EIA: Annual Energy Review (AER)
• David Holmgren: Permaculture Vision and Innovation

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.

"Only after the last tree has been cut down,
Only after the last river has been poisoned,
Only after the last fish has been caught,
Only then will you find that money cannot be eaten."
-Cree prophecy

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