Another Week of GW News, January 8, 2012

Logging the Onset of The Bottleneck Years

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Another week of Climate Instability News

Information Overloadis Pattern Recognition

January 8, 2012

• Chuckles, Durban, Horn of Africa, Australian Climate, Retrospectives, Epsilon
• Bottom Line, Subsidies, GCF, Thermodynamics, Ecocide, Cook, Post CRU
• Fukushima Note, Fukushima News, Nuclear Policy
• Melting Arctic, Methane, Geopolitics, Antarctica
• Food Crisis, unFisherman, Food Prices, GMOs, Food Production
• GHGs, Temperatures, Aerosols, Paleoclimate, Historical Climate
• ENSO, Tipping Points, Abrupt CC, Extinctions, Anthropocene
• Impacts, Forests, Wacky Weather, Extreme Weather
• Wildfires, Corals, Glaciers, Sea Levels, Floods & Droughts
• Mitigation, Transportation, Sequestration, Geoengineering
• Journals, Other Docs , Misc. Science, Models, Schneider, Hansen, Spencer, Curry
• International Politics: UN, Carbon Trade, Bank Tax
• EU ETS & Airlines, Misc., Security, Law & Activism, H2O Biz, Predictions
• National Politics: America, BP Disaster, 2012, Keystone XL, Obama, USAdmin, Congress, Lobbyists
• Britain, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Africa
• Canada, Kyoto, NDP, Pipelines, GMO Salmon, CWB, ISA, BC, Tar Sands, Alberta, Quebec, Canadiana
• Ecological Economics, IPAT, Apocalypso, Media, Books, Video, Courts, Betting
• Energy, Fracking, Coal, Oil & Gas, Fossil Fuel Corps, Pipelines, Peak Oil, Biofuel
• Wind, Solar, Nukes, Nuclear Fusion, LENR, Grid, Cars, Energy Storage
• Business, Insurance, FAQs, Joe's List, Carbon Lobby, Miscellaneous Climate, Useful Links
• Shameless Self Promotion, .sig

Here's a wee chuckle for ye:

• 2012/01/04: CleanBreak: (cartoon - Wuerker) Meltdown... a fitting word to describe 2011
• 2012/01/07: SeppoNet: (cartoon - Seppo) Mining companies invade Finland
• 2012/01/02: uComics: (cartoon - Toles) The Limit
• 2012/01/02: TP:JR: (cartoons - Wuerker, Toles) The Meme of the Year is 'Meltdown'

  From Durban, in the hope springs eternal department:

• 2012/01/01: RStavins: The Platform Opens a Window: An Unambiguous Consequence of the Durban Climate Talks
• 2012/01/02: TP:JR: Stavins on "Vast Potential Importance" of Durban Climate Talks

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

• 2012/01/05: PlanetArk: "Alarming Malnutrition" In Sudan Conflict Zones: U.N.
• 2012/01/04: al Jazeera: 'Alarm over malnutrition' in Sudan states
  UN receives reports of looming crisis from two border states where the army is fighting armed groups.
• 2012/01/04: UN: UN relief chief visits Sudan to discuss food insecurity in two states [Sudanese states of Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile]

  Australia released their 2011 Climate Statement this week:

• 2012/01/04: BOM: Annual Australian Climate Statement 2011
• 2012/01/04: SfB: Annual Australian Climate Statement 2011

  Still a few retrospecives:

• 2012/01/05: ABC(Au):TDU: A good news year for climate campaigners
• 2012/01/06: Eureka: The nuclear, biological and climate threat - 2011 reviewed
• 2012/01/04: Rabble:MBarlow: The biggest story of 2011 for me? Canada's failure on climate change
• 2012/01/02: TreeHugger: 2011: The Year in Extreme Weather (Video)
• 2012/01/02: TreeHugger: These 32 Extreme Weather Disasters Each Did Over $1 Billion in Damage in 2011
• 2012/01/02: BVerheggen: 2011 in review
• 2012/01/02: ITracker: Five things I learned in 2011

  Tamino asked an interesting question...:

• 2012/01/04: ITracker: Place your bets -- Epsilon redux
• 2012/01/04: Tamino: What is epsilon?

  And on the Bottom Line:

• 2012/01/03: Guardian(UK): Climate change -- our real bequest to future generations
  Deficit hawks try to scare us about the debt we're leaving. That's economic nonsense -- unlike the costs of global warming

Who's getting the subsidies?

• 2012/01/06: AutoBG: Why alternative energy has a hard time: fossil fuels get 250 subsidies
• 2012/01/05: Grist: Fossil fuels receive 250 different kinds of subsidies

  About that Green/Global Climate Fund...:

• 2012/01/02: Guardian(UK): Developed world failing on climate funds pledge, says Bangladeshi minister
  Dipu Moni criticises 'dismal' efforts to deliver billions of pounds in aid to help poorer countries cope with environmental change

Delving into the laws of thermodynamics this week:

• 2012/01/05: TSoD: Kramm & Dlugi On Dodging the "Greenhouse" Bullet
• 2012/01/03: TSoD: Kramm & Dlugi On Illuminating the Confusion of the Unclear
• 2012/01/03: ERabett: The indelible dumbness of physicists

  The world inches toward creating a global legal framework for ecological crime:

• 2012/01/04: Guardian(UK): Future generations risk 'enslavement' without a vote now
  The issue of intergenerational justice underpins the need to act on climate change. So would a "super-jury" stop us bequeathing a damaged and dangerous planet to our descendants?
• 2012/01/02: AlterNet: Will Fossil Fuel Companies Face Liability for Climate Change?

  John Cook and friends continue their point-counterpoint articles:

• 2012/01/08: SkeptiSci: Skepticism About Lower Atmosphere Temperature Data by dana1981
• 2012/01/07: SkeptiSci: Global Warming: Trend and Variation by Tom Curtis
• 2012/01/06: SkeptiSci: The 2011 Climate B.S.* of the Year Awards by Peter Gleick
• 2012/01/05: SkeptiSci: A Big Picture Look at Global Warming by dana1981
• 2012/01/03: SkeptiSci: Myth of the Mini Ice Age by Rob Honeycutt
• 2012/01/03: SkeptiSci: Quantifying Extreme Heat Events by michael sweet
• 2012/01/02: SkeptiSci: North American mammal evolution tracks with climate change by John Hartz

  Post CRU-Two ... boredom:

• 2012/01/02: TreeHugger: Who Framed Climate Science?

  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. Between the company [TEPCO], the Japanese government, the Japanese regulator [NISA], the international monitor [IAEA], as well as independent analysts and commentators, there is a confusing mish-mash of information. One has to evaluate both the content and the source of new information.
  How knowledgeable are they [about nuclear power and about Japan]?
  Do they have an agenda?
  Are they pro-nuclear or anti-nuclear?
  Do they want to write a good news story?
  Do they want to write a bad news story?
  Where do they rate on a scale of sensationalistic tendencies?
  Where do they rate on a scale of play-it-down tendencies?
  One fundamental question I would like to see answered:
  If the reactors are in meltdown, how can they be in cold shutdown?

  Not much good news coming out of Fukushima:

• 2012/01/06: ABC(Au):TDU: Can Japan do better than Chernobyl?
• 2012/01/: VanityFair: Heroes of the Hot Zone
  Ever since the tsunami triggered a meltdown at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant last March, Japanese workers -- some 18,000 to date -- have been heading into the radioactive exclusion zone to work on the cleanup. Pico Iyer trails radiation expert Dr. Robert Gale, a veteran of Chernobyl and nearly every major nuclear disaster since, to learn who these anonymous heroes in HAZMAT suits are, what motivates them, and the danger they calmly accept. In addition, photographer James Nachtwey gets rare portraits of some of these brave workers.
• 2012/01/06: EneNews: NHK: Cesium levels triple outside Reactor No. 3
• 2012/01/07: EneNews: German Physician: Fukushima larger than Chernobyl -- Japan people deceived -- Can feel only helpless rage
• 2012/01/07: WpgFP: Japan plans to scrap nuclear plants after 40 [year lifetime] to beef up safety after Fukushima disaster
• 2012/01/05: Reuters: Japan looking at taking control of nuclear power -media
  Japan's government is considering taking control of the nation's nuclear power plants away from private utilities, in a bid to improve accountability of the industry, the Yomiuri newspaper said on Friday.
• 2012/01/: JapanFocus: Science with a Skew: The Nuclear Power Industry After Chernobyl and Fukushima
• 2012/01/05: EneNews: ABC Australia: Physicians call for much wider evacuations in Japan -- Gov't continues to significantly under report radiation levels
• 2012/01/05: EneNews: Report: 3 quakes right underneath Fukushima nuke plant -- JNN live camera down immediately after -- No word from Tepco, gov't
• 2012/01/03: PlanetArk: Japan Says 30-40 Years To Scrap Fukushima Plant
• 2012/01/02: Spectrum: The Biggest Energy Story of 2011
• 2012/01/03: EneNews: Fukushima Whistleblower: Container vessel melting like honeycomb -- "Can you believe it is out of the container vessel"? (photos)
• 2012/01/02: EneNews: New Study: Aerosolized plutonium from Fukushima detected in Europe -- Spent fuel indicated
• 2012/01/01: EneNews: Report: Tepco sends "emergency" mail about Reactor 4 - Water level decreasing at 5 times normal rate in tank near spent fuel pool - Link to New Year's quake unclear
• 2012/01/01: EneNews: Magazine boss back from Fukushima: Major cities are being irradiated - They're not telling people the truth (video)

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

• 2012/01/05: SwissInfo: Walking the talk on renewable energy
  After a year that saw Switzerland officially renounce nuclear energy, the country now has to find alternatives. Politicians are calling for action. Where do we go from here? The question raised after the May 2011 decision of the Swiss government to abandon nuclear energy has yet to be answered. While the disaster at Fukushima focused people's minds on the risks of atomic energy, there remains great uncertainty about the future of energy supply in this country.
• 2012/01/03: NatInt: The End of the Nuclear Renaissance
• 2012/01/04: BBerg: Japanese Don't Want a Nuclear Future: The Ticker
• 2012/01/03: EneNews: Japan Times: Boiling antinuclear sentiment may lead to all of nation's reactors being idled
• 2012/01/03: BBC: France nuclear industry told to boost safety
  France's nuclear watchdog has called on the country's 58 power plants to make safety improvements quickly, almost 10 months after the Fukushima disaster. But it says none of the reactors needs to be shut down, following stress tests carried out in the wake of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami.

The Arctic melt continues to garner a lot of attention:

• 2012/01/05: NSIDC: Positively Arctic: Arctic Oscillation switches phase
• 2012/01/06: CCP: Arctic Sea Ice Volume (from Stu Ostro's marvelous end-of-the-year summary)
• 2012/01/05: CCP: NSIDC, Arctic Sea Ice Report of January 5, 2012: Positively Arctic: Arctic Oscillation switches phase
• 2012/01/04: Eureka: Russian river water unexpected culprit behind Arctic freshening near US, Canada
• 2012/01/04: CCP: NASA-JPL finds Russian river runoff freshening Canadian Arctic in the Beaufort Sea due to Arctic Oscillation, using GRACE and ICESat data

  That Damoclean sword still hangs overhead:

• 2012/01/07: RealClimate: An Arctic methane worst-case scenario
• 2012/01/06: CCP: Comparison of subsea hydrate stability between paleo events at Barrow, Alaska, and the East Siberian Arctic Shelf now
• 2012/01/04: RealClimate: Much ado about methane
• 2012/01/03: CCP: Arctic Methane: local PM (ascending AIRS CH4 at 400 mb on 2011.11, 2010.11 and 2002.11

  As for the geopolitics of Arctic resources:

• 2012/01/03: al Jazeera: The Russian Bear dominates the Arctic
  To continue its dominance on the Arctic, the Russian Bear needs the help of foreign markets, investors and technologies.

While in Antarctica:

• 2012/01/03: CBC: 'Lost world' of new Antarctic species found -- Temperature in hydrothermal vents reach 382 C

  The food crisis is ongoing:

• 2012/01/06: PlanetArk: Analysis: Clock Ticking For Rains To Save Argentine Soy Crop
• 2012/01/05: Grist: Thanks to climate change, maple syrup faces a sticky future [video]
• 2012/01/03: UN: UN food agency launches initiative to fight hunger in Afghan cities

  No more fish, no more fishermen; also no more dolphins, seals, walrus...:

• 2012/01/04: DailyMail(UK): Anyone for dolphin sandwich? The worrying rise of 'bushmeat of the sea' as fishermen also serve up seals and walruses
  They may be man's best underwater friend but more dolphins are being killed for food than ever before. The eating of sea mammals - including seals, sea lions and walruses - is becoming increasingly popular in poor nations across the world. Fishermen struggling to make ends meet, because of a fall in coastal fish catches, are being forced to turn to the more meaty alternatives.

Food Prices are still problematic:

• FAO: World Food Situation - Food Price Indices
• 2012/01/06: al Jazeera: No therapy in retail
  The entry of big corporations into the food chain pushes up retail costs and decreases the share of the farmer.
• 2012/01/05: Grist: Climate change bumps prices at Starbucks
• 2012/01/02: CleanBreak: High and volatile commodity prices for foreseeable future means most resource-productive corporations will be market leaders
• 2012/01/03: CBC: UN food official predicts volatile prices in 2012

  Regarding the genetic modification of food:

• 2012/01/06: ESA: Scientists Refute Greenpeace Claims About GM Corn
• 2012/01/06: Grist: Bourbon of proof: Is Kentucky's heritage spirit compromised by GMO corn?
• 2012/01/05: NatureNB: Monsanto's transgenic drought tolerant maize approved
• 2012/01/05: PostMedia: Altered salmon may be closer to our plates -- Canada considers following U.S. lead
• 2011/12/28: Yahoo:AP: Bugs may be resistant to genetically modified corn

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

• 2012/01/03: FAO: New FAO Chief moves on global eradication of hunger -- Support to poorest countries to be scaled up
• 2012/01/06: UFlorida: UF research on newly formed plants could lead to improved crop fertility
• 2012/01/05: CSM: In Africa, using ants and termites to increase crop yields
• 2012/01/04: Eureka: A quarter of a century of sweet corn observations
• 2011/12/29: AlterNet: We've Lost Nearly All of Our Wild Foods -- What Happened? And What Are We Missing?

  On the GHG front:

• 2012/01/06: ERabett: Eli Thanks Ernst Beck (Shock! Horror!)

  As for the temperature record:

• 2012/01/06: CCP: Brad Johnson: Record Heat Floods America With Temperatures 40 Degrees Above Normal
• 2012/01/06: Wunderground: Remarkably dry and warm winter due to record extreme jet stream configuration
• 2012/01/03: TP:JR: Mother Nature is Just Getting Warmed Up: December Heat Records Exceed Cold By 80%, Annual Ratio Hits 2.8-to-1
• 2012/01/01: SlowC: Rohde et al. 2011ish - Berkeley Earth Temperature Averaging Process
• 2012/01/01: IsaacHeld: 21. Temperature trends: MSU vs. an atmospheric model
• 2012/01/01: SlowC: Foster and Rahmstorf 2011 - The True Global Warming Signal

  Aerosols are making their presence felt:

• 2012/01/06: BBC: Pollution rise 'worsens' South Asia's winter smog
  A rapid rise in air pollution from fossil fuels and biomass burning has worsened winter smog and extended its duration in many parts of South Asia, scientists and officials have said.

While in the paleoclimate:

• 2012/01/08: TreeHugger: Did Mercury Cause "The Mother of All Extinctions" During Permian Period?

  And in historical times:

• 2012/01/03: CSM: Ancient City of Angkor may have been ruined by drought

  While on the ENSO front:

• 2012/01/07: NOAA:NCEP: El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) Diagnostic Discussion
  Synopsis: La Niña is expected to continue into the Northern spring 2012.
• 2012/01/06: PlanetArk: U.S. Forecaster Warns La Nina May Linger To Spring

  The cliff, aka tipping points, aka planetary boundaries, put in an appearance:

• 2012/01/03: ITRacker: Could there be a tipping point for the Arctic after all?

  Abrupt Climate Change put in an appearance:

• 2012/01/03: ERabett: Jerks

  What's new on the extinction front?

• 2012/01/05: Eureka: Earth's massive extinction: The story gets worse
  New finding on mercury-volcanic link could re-write history on past annihilations Scientists have uncovered a lot about the Earth's greatest extinction event that took place 250 million years ago when rapid climate change wiped out nearly all marine species and a majority of those on land. Now, they have discovered a new culprit likely involved in the annihilation: an influx of mercury into the eco-system.
• 2012/01/06: CSM: Climate change models flawed, extinction rate likely higher than predicted
• 2012/01/04: TCoE: Climate change and extinctions

  We have the Anthropocene. How about the Metricene?

• 2012/01/03: TCoE: Metricene, again

  More GW impacts are being seen:

• 2012/01/06: NatureN: Thawing permafrost reduces river runoff -- China's Yangtze River is receiving less water as climate warms
• 2012/01/05: Guardian(UK): Canadian seal cull 'unnecessary due to climate change'
• 2012/01/05: BBC: Climate changing outlook for harp seals
  Warming oceans and melting sea ice may have a major impact on harp seals, the doe-eyed animals that are the prime target for Canada's annual seal hunt. Researchers from Duke University in the US found that sea ice in the seals' breeding grounds has shrunk by about 6% per decade over the last 30 years. In some recent years, they say, entire years' broods of cubs may have died. The species is abundant; the Duke team says its future depends on how it can adjust to new climatic conditions.
• 2012/01/05: PostMedia: Seal pup deaths explode as ice disappears -- Warming to blame, study says
  Shrinking sea ice cover in the North Atlantic over the past three decades due to warming has led to a "dramatic" spike in deaths among seal pups, a new U.S. study says, offering a glimpse into a population issue while numbers are still abundant. The study from Duke University in North Carolina warns climate change and disappearing sea ice off Canada's east coast could prove to be a more dire challenge for the animals going forward, with entire year-classes of seal pups dying as a result of diminished breeding spaces.
• 2012/01/04: CBC: Thinning sea ice killing seal pups, study says -- Cover declining by up to 6% per decade, satellite images show
• 2012/01/02: PSinclair: Donkey Deluge Dogs Drought Devastated Texas

  And then there are the world's forests:

• 2012/01/06: CCP: Pasture occupies 60% of the deforested area in the Amazon region, agriculture just 5%, 35% abandoned
• 2012/01/06: BBC: Africa's rainforests 'more resilient' to climate change
  Tropical forests in Africa may be more resilient to future climate change than the Amazon and other regions, a gathering of scientists has said. An international conference agreed that the region's surviving tree species had endured a number of climatic catastrophes over the past 4,000 years. As a result, they are better suited to cope with future shifts in the climate. The event at the University of Oxford looked at the "fate of Africa's tropical forests in the 21st Century".
• 2012/01/03: Grist: Is your all-you-can-eat shrimp killing the mangroves?

  Yes we have no wacky weather, except:

• 2012/01/07: BBC: Austria hit by heavy snow, major railway line shut
  Heavier than usual snowfall and high winds have caused chaos on roads and railways in many areas of Austria.
• 2012/01/07: ABC(Au): Bushfires eased as storms lash SA
  Emergency services in South Australia have responded to more than 250 calls for help in the past two hours as storms lash the state. The weather bureau is warning of flash flooding and 90kph winds in Adelaide and northern and eastern parts of South Australia.
• 2012/01/08: al Jazeera: A strong winter storm paralyzes Austria
  15,000 tourists were left stranded as transportation came to a halt
• 2012/01/05: BBC: Strong winds cause disruption around UK
  Strong winds have been causing damage and disruption across the country, with overnight gusts of up to 112mph in the Pennines.
• 2012/01/04: BBC: Severe weather leaves thousands without power
  Engineers are working to reconnect power to thousands of homes cut off by violent storms which hit the UK.
• 2012/01/04: al Jazeera: Heavy storms lash the British Isles
  Scotland saw the worst of the gusty weather, reporting winds as high as 164kph and forcing the closure of many bridges.
• 2012/01/03: BBC: Severe weather causes damage around UK -- Two men die as storms hit England
  Storms have caused damage across many parts of the UK, with gusts of up to 100mph in Scotland.

This week in the New Normal -- extreme weather:

• 2012/01/05: al Jazeera: Australia's extreme weather -- Excessive or insufficient, the amount of rain is never just so
• 2012/01/02: TreeHugger: 2011: The Year in Extreme Weather (Video)
• 2012/01/02: TreeHugger: These 32 Extreme Weather Disasters Each Did Over $1 Billion in Damage in 2011

  As for heatwaves and wild fires:

• 2012/01/07: ABC(Au): SA town fears return of fire
  A forecast wind change could blow a bushfire burning in South Australia's southern Flinders Ranges back towards the rural township of Wilmington, the Country Fire Service says. The weather bureau has issued a severe fire weather warning for the area today, with temperatures to reach the mid 30s and strong wind gusts expected.
• 2012/01/06: al Jazeera: Six Chile firefighters die battling wildfire
  Men killed battling one of a series of wildfires as president evokes anti-terrorism laws saying fires intentionally lit.
• 2012/01/05: BBC: Chile forest blaze kills six firefighters in Araucania
• 2012/01/05: CBC: Grass fire damage surveyed in southern Alberta
  Gale-force Chinook winds sped flames across the tinder-box dry prairie farmland
• 2012/01/05: NatureNB: Wildfires threaten Patagonia's biodiversity
• 2012/01/04: CBC: Southern Alberta gale-force winds fuel grass fires
• 2012/01/03: CBC: Australians seek relief from heat wave
• 2012/01/03: BBC: Chilean forces still battling two dozen forest fires
  Hundreds of firefighters in Chile are still tackling some 24 forest fires in southern and central regions. A further 18 fires have been brought under control, officials said. The fires have burned large areas of forest, including some 130 sq km (32,000 acres) in the Torres del Paine National Park.
• 2012/01/02: BBC: Deadly Chile forest fires spread
  Firefighters in Chile are tackling dozens of forest fires which have killed one person and destroyed 230 sq km (57,000 acres) of land in the southern and central regions.
• 2012/01/02: al Jazeera: Three huge wildfires rage in Chile's south
  Hundreds of homes destroyed and millions of dollars lost, as forest fires consume more than 23,000 hectares.
• 2012/01/01: TreeHugger: Massive Wildfire Burns 30,000 Acres of Chilean Patagonia
• 2012/01/03: ABC(Au): Heatwave continues in Victoria, SA
• 2012/01/02: ABC(Au): No relief as south braces for more extreme heat

  Corals are a bellwether of the ocean's health:

• 2012/01/05: Eureka: Another outbreak of coral disease hits the reefs of Kane'ohe Bay, O'ahu

  Glaciers are melting:

• 2012/01/07: CCP: Water flows from the glaciers of Peru's Cordillera Blanca, which has the most glaciers of any tropical mountain range in the world, are in a state of permanent decline 20 years sooner than forecasted

  Sea levels are rising:

• 2012/01/05: CCP: Potential sea-level rise impacts in East Boston
• 2012/01/03: EnergyBulletin: Hansen still argues 5 [meter] 21st [Century] sea level rise possible
• 2012/01/03: Guardian(UK): Belgium fears for its fragile coastline
• 2012/01/03: Grist: 20 inches to disaster: U.S. coasts unprepared for higher seas

  As for hydrological cycle disruptions [floods & droughts]:

• 2012/01/07: P3: Snow Depth Anomaly
• 2012/01/06: EarlyWarning: Current US Drought Map
• 2012/01/06: PlanetArk: Warm Weather Threatens To Extend U.S. Drought
• 2012/01/06: al Jazeera: Deadly floods rupture dam in Brazilian town
  Residents flee Tres Vendas as water rushes through streets, with eight reported dead in neighbouring Minas Gerais state.
• 2012/01/04: BBC: Deadly floods ravage Brazil's Minas Gerais
  Floods and landslides caused by heavy rain in south-eastern Brazil have killed at least six people and forced thousands from their homes.
• 2012/01/04: al Jazeera: Brazil is flooded once more
  Concerns grow that the disaster of 2011 may be repeated

Elsewhere on the mitigation front:

• 2012/01/08: HotTopic: To boldly go... to a low carbon future
• 2012/01/06: Guardian(UK): 3 ideas that are good for both economy and environment
  The theory that cutting carbon emissions costs us growth is bunk, in fact, it's an economic opportunity

Consider transportation & GHG production:

• 2012/01/06: BBC: Volkswagen sells record 5.1 million cars in 2011
• 2012/01/05: PlanetArk: China Tests 500 Kmph Super High-Speed Train
• 2012/01/04: CalcRisk: U.S. Light Vehicle Sales at 13.56 million SAAR in December
• 2012/01/04: CBC: Canadian auto sales gain traction in 2011
  [...]
  Automakers sold 1.59 million vehicles in 2011, up from 1.56 million in 2010, according to data released Wednesday by DesRosiers Automotive Consultants.
• 2012/01/03: NBF: Global Auto Forecasts 77.7 million in 2012 and 96 million in 2016

  As for carbon sequestration:

• 2012/01/05: CSM: Carbon dioxide super-scrubber? Potential good news in global warming fight
  Using cheap, readily available materials, a team of chemists has developed a new compound for drawing carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. The compound holds the potential to drive down the cost of capturing carbon, although it's too early to say by how much, the scientists say. The results "add to the list of possible materials that can absorb CO2 from the air, and it potentially could be quite a good one," says Klaus Lackner, who heads the department of earth and environmental engineering at Columbia University in New York and was not part of the team formulating the material.
• 2012/01/04: Eureka: New materials remove CO2 from smokestacks, tailpipes and even the air

  Large scale geo-engineering keeps popping up:

• 2012/01/06: CCP: Call for Arctic geoengineering as soon as possible -- see comment by John Nissen
• 2011/12/12: PopSci: Chinese Government Plans to Cause Ten Percent More Rain By 2015
• 2012/01/06: TCoE: Scrubbing CO2

  Meanwhile in the journals:

• 2012/01/04: NERC:NORA: Sustained monitoring of the Southern Ocean at Drake Passage: past achievements and future priorities by Michael Meredith et al.
• 2012/01/04: NERC:NORA: Nature and timing of Late Mississippian to Mid-Pennsylvanian glacio-eustatic sea-level changes of the Pennine Basin, UK by Colin N. Waters & Daniel J. Condon
• 2012/01/06: ACPD: CO at 40-80 km above Kiruna observed by the ground-based microwave radiometer KIMRA and simulated by the whole atmosphere community climate model by C. G. Hoffmann et al.
• 2012/01/06: ACPD: On the uses of a new linear scheme for stratospheric methane in global models: water source, transport tracer and radiative forcing by B. M. Monge-Sanz et al.
• 2012/01/04: OS: Using dissolved oxygen concentrations to determine mixed layer depths in the Bellingshausen Sea by K. Castro-Morales & J. Kaiser
• 2012/01/06: TC: Reformulating the full-Stokes ice sheet model for a more efficient computational solution by J. K. Dukowicz
• 2012/01/04: TC: Hydrologic controls on coastal suspended sediment plumes around the Greenland Ice Sheet by V. W. Chu et al.
• 2012/01/04: OSD: Interannual coherent variability of SSTA and SSHA in the Tropical Indian Ocean by J. Q. Feng
• 2012/01/06: TCD: Numerical modeling of permafrost dynamics in Alaska using a high spatial resolution dataset by E. E. Jafarov et al.
• 2012/01/05: ESD: No way out? The double-bind in seeking global prosperity alongside mitigated climate change by T. J. Garrett
• 2012/01/05: CP: Pollen, vegetation change and climate at Lake Barombi Mbo (Cameroon) during the last ca. 33 000 cal yr BP: a numerical approach by J. Lebamba et al.
• 2012/01/04: CP: Tropical climate and vegetation changes during Heinrich Event 1: a model-data comparison by D. Handiani et al.
• 2012/01/03: CP: Ventilation changes in the western North Pacific since the last glacial period by Y. Okazaki et al.
• 2012/01/03: CP: Deglaciation records of 17O-excess in East Antarctica: reliable reconstruction of oceanic normalized relative humidity from coastal sites by R. Winkler et al.
• 2012/01/05: CPD: Interpreting last glacial to Holocene dust changes at Talos Dome (East Antarctica): implications for atmospheric variations from regional to hemispheric scales by S. Albani et al.
• 2012/01/05: CPD: The Aptian evaporites of the South Atlantic: a climatic paradox? by A.-C. Chaboureau et al.
• 2012/01/04: CPD: Winter temperature variations over middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River during the past three centuries by Z.-X. Hao et al.
• 2012/01/04: CPD: The impact of different glacial boundary conditions on atmospheric dynamics and precipitation in the North Atlantic region by D. Hofer et al.
• 2012/01/02: CPD: The initiation of modern soft and hard Snowball Earth climates in CCSM4 by J. Yang & and W. R. Peltier
• 2012/01/05: ACP: A global climatology of upper-tropospheric ice supersaturation occurrence inferred from the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder calibrated by MOZAIC by N. Lamquin et al.
• 2012/01/05: ACP: Constraining the CO2 budget of the corn belt: exploring uncertainties from the assumptions in a mesoscale inverse system by T. Lauvaux et al.
• 2012/01/05: ACP: The impact of channel effect on Asian dust transport dynamics: a case in southeastern Asia by C.-Y. Lin et al.
• 2012/01/03: ACP: Attribution and evolution of ozone from Asian wild fires using satellite and aircraft measurements during the ARCTAS campaign by R. Dupont et al.
• 2012/01/03: ACP: Direct and semi-direct radiative forcing of smoke aerosols over clouds by E. M. Wilcox
• 2012/01/05: ACPD: Potential indirect effects of aerosol on tropical cyclone intensity: convective fluxes and cold-pool activity by G. M. Krall & W. R. Cottom
• 2012/01/03: ACPD: Aerosol direct radiative forcing based on GEOS-Chem-APM and uncertainties by X. Ma et al.
• 2012/01/02: ACPD: One decade of parallel PM10 and PM2.5 measurements in Europe: trends and variability by I. Barmpadimos et al.
• 2012/01/02: ACPD: Growth in NOx emissions from power plants in China: bottom-up estimates and satellite observations by S. W. Wang et al.
• 2012/01/04: Nature: [Letter$] Changing Arctic Ocean freshwater pathways by James Morison et al.
• 2012/01/03: PNAS: (abs) The roles of hydraulic and carbon stress in a widespread climate-induced forest die-off by William R. L. Anderegg et al.
• 2012/01/03: PNAS: (ab$) Explosive eruption of coal and basalt and the end-Permian mass extinction by Darcy E. Ogden & Norman H. Sleep
• 2012/01/03: RSPB: On a collision course: competition and dispersal differences create no-analogue communities and cause extinctions during climate change by Mark C. Urban et al.
• 2012/01/03: GMDD: Simulations over South Asia using the weather research and forecasting model with chemistry (WRF-Chem): chemistry evaluation and initial results by R. Kumar et al.
• 2012/01/03: TCD: Remote sensing of sea ice: advances during the DAMOCLES project by G. Heygster et al.
• 2012/01/03: TCD: Spatial patterns of North Atlantic Oscillation influence on mass balance variability of European Glaciers by B. Marzeion & A. Nesje
• 2012/01/02: AGWObserver: New research from last week 52/2011

  And other significant documents:

• [link to 2.7 meg pdf] The Rough Guide to Community Energy: A free book about running community energy projects
• 2012/01/06: Columbia:JHansen: [1.1 meg pdf] Perceptions of Climate Change: The New Climate Dice
• 2012/01/04: APR: [link to 2.4 meg pdf] British nuclear stress tests: Results are in

  As for miscellaneous science:

• 2012/01/08: Tamino: Trend and Cycle Together
• 2012/01/07: MTobis: Science and Knowledge
• 2012/01/04: NatureNB: British government seeks new universities, and funders for them
• 2012/01/04: ScienceInsider: Singh Promises Windfall for India's Scientists
• 2012/01/04: Eureka: The Encyclopedia of Life expanding at a record pace
• 2012/01/01: SciNews: Botanists et al freed from Latin, paper -- Classifying plants, algae and fungi can now be done in English and online
• 2012/01/01: Eureka: Brave new world -- Pioneering electronic publication of new plant species

  What's new in models?

• 2012/01/06: SciNow: Climate Machine: Steady as She Goes

  Regarding Schneider:

• 2012/01/05: CChallenge: Stephen Schneider ~ an unauthorized transcript of "Science and Distortion"

  Regarding Hansen:

• 2012/01/06: TP:JR: Hansen et al: "Extreme Heat Waves ... in Texas and Oklahoma in 2011 and Moscow in 2010 Were 'Caused' by Global Warming"

  Regarding Spencer:

• 2012/01/03: QuarkSoup: Entertaining Roy Spencer's Fit to His Temperature Data

  Regarding Curry:

• 2012/01/07: ITracker: A Judith Curry Nonsense Sampler
• 2012/01/06: CQ: It's their own fault after all
• 2012/01/05: CQ: Scientists Made People Do It

  Meanwhile at the UN:

• 2012/01/01: FAO: José Graziano da Silva, new FAO Director-General -- Says fight against hunger must be linked to other global challenges
• 2012/01/04: UN: Pakistan: UNICEF hands over 35 new schools in flood-affected Punjab
• 2012/01/03: UN: Head of UN food agency to step down after five years of service
• 2012/01/03: UN: New chief of UN's food and agriculture agency outlines plans as he starts work

  And on the carbon trading front:

• 2012/01/05: CBC: Projet Montréal pitches carbon exchange market
• 2012/01/04: Guardian(UK): Emissions trading is the right approach, despite what Civitas says
  Civitas claims the scheme is ineffective on climate change and lines energy suppliers' pockets. We've [Sandbag] found differently

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

• 2012/01/05: EurActiv: French minister says financial tax expected in 2012
  France's minister for European Affairs says a controversial tax on financial transactions will be enacted this year despite objections from some EU countries that it would stifle economic recovery and drive businesses out of Europe.
• 2012/01/04: EUO: French minister: EU will impose financial tax by end of year

  As the EU-ETS is applied to airlines, we will see who is serious about reducing carbon emissions:

• 2012/01/07: QuarkSoup: The 2nd Battle of the Carbon Tax War
• 2012/01/06: PlanetArk: China Denounces EU Airline Carbon Law, Seeks Talks
• 2012/01/05: EUO: Chinese airlines refuse to pay EU carbon tax
• 2012/01/05: BBC: EU's aviation charge is a drop for China's airlines
  More shots are being fired in the war of words over the EU's new law requiring airlines to pay for their greenhouse gas emissions. The law came into force at the beginning of this month, and carriers flying to or from European airports will have to include their emissions in the EU's Emission Trading Scheme (ETS). Despite the fact that airlines will get 85% of their allowance for free, they don't seem to like the scheme very much - particularly the ones based outside the EU. The end of last year saw the failure of a legal challenge mounted by US airlines, led by Continental. Now, the focus has switched to Chinese carriers. The China Air Transport Association (CATA), which represents four of the country's biggest airlines, says they won't pay. If they don't, they could face fines of up to 100 euros ($128) a tonne for their emissions - or they could be banned from EU airports.
• 2012/01/05: BBC: Top China airlines to ignore EU carbon tax, body says
  China's biggest airlines will not pay a new European Union tax aimed at cutting carbon emissions, their trade body has said. On 1 January, the EU brought airlines under its Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), which levies a charge on flights based on their carbon emissions. Chai Haibo of the China Air Transport Association said that its members would not co-operate with the ETS. However, the EU said it would not back down if the airlines refused to comply.
• 2012/01/04: Guardian(UK): Chinese airlines refuse to pay EU carbon tax
  Airlines ponder legal challenge to carbon emissions scheme, while Chinese government may resort to 'retaliatory measures'
• 2012/01/04: TreeHugger: EU Airline Emissions Trading Starts - Cost of Compliance Next To Nothing, But Airlines Freak Out
• 2012/01/03: EUO: EU carbon tax to drive up cost of airplane tickets
• 2012/01/03: PlanetArk: Lufthansa Warns EU Scheme To Raise Fares [ie Lufthansa will pass EU ETS costs on to passengers]
• 2012/01/02: EurActiv: Lufthansa plans to charge customers for ETS
  Germany's biggest airline will pass on to its customers an expected E130 million in costs for carbon permits it needs this year under a new European Union emissions trading system (ETS). Deutsche Lufthansa AG announced today (2 January) it will add the costs from the ETS to its fuel surcharge, becoming the first carrier to provide details of how it plans to cope with the additional burden.

And in miscellaneous international politics:

• 2012/01/06: HoustonChronicle: Norwegian official: 'Absolutely no doubt' climate change is real
  Norway's minister of foreign affairs stood at a Petroleum Club lectern on Friday and delivered a few blunt words on climate change, about which, he said, "there can be absolutely no doubt." "If you want to see evidence, go to the Arctic," Jonas Gahr Støre said. His resource-rich country borders the polar region, where melting ice has expanded shipping lanes and cut sailing time on certain routes from Asia to Europe by 40 percent during parts of the year. Last year, Støre said, 34 ships used this "northeast passage," up from six in 2010. Environmental impact notwithstanding, governments risk political "revenge," as Støre described it to an attentive World Affairs Council crowd, unless they start addressing this warming. Failure to set ambitious targets for cutting emissions and enact environmental regulations, he said, will erode the public's confidence in its institutions.
• 2012/01/04: Grist: Screw China: American scientists are finding replacements for rare earth

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

• 2012/01/04: CCurrents: Climate Change, Migration And Conflict: Addressing Complex Crisis Scenarios In The 21st Century
• 2012/01/03: TP:JR: Climate Change, Migration and Conflict: Addressing Complex Crisis Scenarios in the 21st Century

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

• 2012/01/08: HotTopic: The climate terroirist - Gladstones' new bag
• 2012/01/04: AlterNet: Why You Can Be Branded a Terrorist for Fighting Animal Abuse

  Regarding Water Politics and Business:

• 2012/01/07: JFleck: 2012: back to draining the Colorado River's reservoirs?
• 2012/01/06: JFleck: Stuff I wrote elsewhere: What seven states can agree to do
• 2012/01/04: JFleck: This is what happens when you have more water than you need
• 2012/01/03: JFleck: Stuff I wrote elsewhere: rainwater harvesting, the bounding scenario
• 2012/01/04: BPA: Former Nebraska Senator Bob Kerrey Sees the need to Re-Evaluate the 1944 Pick-Sloan Flood Control Act
• 2012/01/03: TreeHugger: Ford Targets 30% Reduction in Water Usage per Car by 2015
• 2012/01/02: AutoBG: Ford wants to dry up water use by 30% by 2015

  Who's making predictions this week?

• 2012/01/04: MetOffice(UK): Met Office 2012 annual global temperature forecast
• 2012/01/04: TP:JR: IEA: World on Pace for 11°F Warming...

  And on the American political front:

• 2012/01/05: CDreams: Complete with Threats and Astroturf, Big Oil Preps for Election Year Push
• 2011/12/21: MBruenig: Environmentalism poses a problem for libertarian ideology
• 2012/01/06: Guardian(UK): Why libertarians must deny climate change, in one short take [Monbiot]
  I must applaud Matt Bruenig's summing up of the inherent conflict between libertarianism and environmental issues
• 2012/01/06: IJISH: (Digression) "Real protest, real change" -- Montana Supreme Court vs. ATP vs. Michael Mann
• 2012/01/06: ClassM: Republicans with cooler heads
• 2012/01/05: CNN: Scientists back 'significant broadening' of climate research amid tight budgets
  Adapting to climate change "is becoming a higher priority," the review chairman says - The National Academy of Sciences says budgets will be an issue - "Questions of how will become paramount," an NAS review notes - Review also calls for advising policymakers on how changing environment affects people
• 2012/01/05: AutoBG: Call to end $7,500 plug-in vehicle tax credit spreads to WaPo
• 2012/01/05: Grist: If they win, Republicans plan to permanently cripple EPA
• 2012/01/04: TreeHugger: There Are Over 250 Different Kinds of Fossil Fuel Subsidies We Need to Kill
• 2012/01/04: CSM: Did $98.5 billion high-speed rail project just hit a wall in California?
• 2012/01/04: TP:JR: Knot Now: Another Year Goes By and Our Pursuit of Fool's Gold Leaves Us No Closer to Solving Climate Change
• 2012/01/03: DeSmogBlog: New Proof: Republicans Really Are Anti-Science
• 2012/01/02: TreeHugger: Cement Company to Pay $1.7 Million for Clean Air Act Violations
• 2012/01/03: PlanetArk: Federal Judge Blocks California Emissions Rules
• 2012/01/03: PlanetArk: Court Delays EPA Rule On Coal Plants

  The BP disaster continues to twist US politics:

• 2012/01/03: DeSmogBlog: What We Didn't Learn From The Deepwater Horizon Disaster
• 2012/01/03: CNN: BP still wants Halliburton to pay for whole Gulf oil spill cleanup
  BP, Halliburton have sued each other over the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill - Halliburton claims its contract with BP releases it from legal action - BP claims "maritime law prohibits indemnification for gross negligence" - The lawsuit is expected to go to court in late February
• 2012/01/03: BBC: Oil giant BP has asked its contractor Halliburton to pay for all costs and damages that arose from the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico
• 2012/01/03: CBC: BP presses for Halliburton to share spill costs

  On the 2012 campaign trail:

• 2012/01/07: G&M: Feasible or not, Gingrich would bury Hydro-Québec power lines in U.S.
• 2012/01/06: Grist: Rick Santorum wants women to have lots of babies, whether they like it or not
• 2012/01/06: TreeHugger: Rick Santorum is Beyond Confused About Climate Change (Video)
• 2012/01/06: DeSmogBlog: Santorum Misrepresents Climate Science. Again.
• 2012/01/06: DeSmogBlog: As Santorum Surges, Sound Science Sags
• 2012/01/06: Guardian(UK): Climate scientist disowned by Newt Gingrich speaks out over book spat
  Katharine Hayhoe says the dumping of her chapter from Gingrich's book following rightwing pressure came as a surprise
• 2012/01/06: TP:JR: Boston Globe Endorses Huntsman Over Romney, Singling Out Climate and Energy Issues
• 2012/01/05: TreeHugger: Real, Live Republican Climate Advocates Implore GOP to Face Reality (Video)
• 2012/01/04: Guardian(UK): Rick Santorum and Mitt Romney are both bad news for climate change fight
• 2012/01/04: al Jazeera: Bachmann bows out as Romney wins Iowa
  Tea Party favourite Michele Bachmann drops out of Republican nomination race as Romney scores McCain's endorsement.
• 2012/01/04: Grist: Newt Gingrich, 'amateur paleontologist,' knows science better than you
• 2012/01/04: Grist: Mitt Romney's climate and energy views
• 2012/01/04: DeSmogBlog: Rick Santorum and Science: Bad Combination!
• 2012/01/04: WiC: Santorum vs. Romney: The climate is screwed either way
• 2012/01/04: al Jazeera: Huntsman stakes bid on New Hampshire primary
  The New Hampshire results will be crucial for the GOP hopeful to pull off the presidential nomination.
• 2012/01/03: Grist: Rick Perry advocates solution to climate problem he doesn't believe in
• 2012/01/03: RS: Iowa: The Meaningless Sideshow Begins
• 2012/01/02: AlterNet: How Christian Right-Wing Voters in Iowa Make Abortion a Central Issue in the Caucuses
• 2012/01/02: TP:JR: New Hampshire Scientists Urge GOP Presidential Hopefuls to Recognize "Overwhelming Evidence" of Climate Change

  The Keystone XL imbroglio is thickening:

• 2012/01/05: CCurrents: "Game Over" For Planet If XL Oil Pipeline Is Built
• 2012/01/06: CCP: Mike Klink: Keystone XL pipeline not safe
• 2012/01/04: NPR: Keystone Oil Pipeline Deadline Puts Obama In A Pinch
• 2012/01/03: TP:JR: Pipeline Inspector-Turned Whistleblower Calls Keystone XL a Potential "Disaster"
• 2012/01/02: CBC: February Keystone deadline tied to payroll tax rider

  The Obama chatter is nonstop:

• 2012/01/05: CCurrents: How The Oil Industry Intends To Attack Obama Over The Coming Year
• 2012/01/05: WiC: Big Oil threatens Obama
• 2012/01/04: TreeHugger: Big Oil Threatens Obama with 'Huge Political Consequences' if He Doesn't Approve Keystone XL
• 2012/01/05: OilChange: The API doesn't just threaten Obama, it threatens us all
• 2012/01/04: OilChange: Big Oil Threatens President Obama
• 2012/01/04: TP:JR: How the White House Does Messaging on Issues It Cares About, Unlike, Say, Climate Change

  The actions of the Obama administration are being watched closely:

• 2012/01/06: PlanetArk: EPA May Retest PA. Water Near Fracking
• 2012/01/05: Grist: FDA regulates 0.3 percent of antibiotics in livestock
• 2012/01/06: ScienceInsider: Report Challenges Ambitious Plan for U.S. Climate Research
  A report from the National Research Council (NRC) released today points out that a draft federal plan to coordinate research into how to respond to climate change is unlikely to succeed without added resources and new ways to manage the program.
• 2012/01/05: NatureNB: Monsanto's transgenic drought tolerant maize approved
• 2012/01/04: TP:JR: 'Job-Killing' EPA Regulations for Chesapeake Bay Will Create 35 Times as Many Jobs as Keystone XL Pipeline

  As for what is going on in Congress:

• 2012/01/04: TorqueNews: Why is an oil stock owning Congress member pushing to end EV tax credits?
  Perhaps when we think "oil companies want to kill electric cars" our imagination is running away with us, but when a Congressman who owns/owned millions of dollars in oil company stock, who is also a car dealer, and wants to kill electric cars, what else is our mind to think?
• 2012/01/07: SciAm:CM: The Research Works Act would deny taxpayers access to federally funded research
• 2012/01/03: AutoBG: Republican Congressman [Mike Kelly (R-Pa)] calls for end of $7,500 plug-in vehicle tax credit

  What are the lobbyists pushing?

• 2012/01/06: TP:JR: New Ad Mocks API's Vote 4 Energy Campaign: "I Vote, But I Prefer to Buy Other People's Votes"
• 2012/01/05: TP:JR: Big Oil's "Vote 4 Energy" PR Blitz Funded by American Families
• 2012/01/04: TreeHugger: How the Oil Industry Manufactured the Myth of the 'Energy Voter'
• 2012/01/04: DeSmogBlog: API's New 'Vote 4 Energy' Ad Campaign Is Thinly Veiled Election Year Bullying

  While in the UK:

• 2012/01/05: TreeHugger: UK Minister Sparks Outrage with "Environmental Taliban" Comments
• 2012/01/07: BBC: HS2: High-speed rail link 'being seriously considered'
  Ministers are "considering very seriously" building a controversial new high-speed rail line between London and Birmingham, the BBC understands.
• 2012/01/05: BBC: HS2: Campaign backs high-speed rail link in media
  More than 100 business leaders, MPs and economists have mounted a campaign backing plans to link Birmingham and London with a new high-speed rail line.
• 2012/01/05: Guardian(UK): 'Greenest government ever' must do better -- but so must green groups, too
• 2012/01/05: Guardian(UK): Zac Goldsmith urges green movement to address its 'lack of strategy'
• 2012/01/03: Guardian(UK): Solar subsidy confusion continues as government appeals against ruling

  And in Europe:

• 2012/01/05: SwissInfo: Walking the talk on renewable energy
• 2012/01/06: EurActiv: Greece must return E425 million in farm subsidies
  Some E425 million in Greek government subsidies to farmers were incompatible with EU law and will have to be returned, a European Commission spokesman said yesterday (5 January).
• 2012/01/05: EurActiv: UK minister sees decline in CAP payments to farmers
  Farmers are likely to see the annual payment they receive from the government fall in coming years, UK farming minister Jim Paice said, adding he favoured its eventual abolition as global food prices rise.
• 2012/01/05: Guardian(UK): Spanish government urged to renounce plans to rubbish EU fishing reforms
• 2012/01/03: EurActiv: Fusion project funding dispute threatens Horizon 2020

  Meanwhile in Australia:

• 2012/01/07: ABC(Au): Brown slams surveillance of green activists
  Greens leader Bob Brown has accused Federal Resources Minister Martin Ferguson of turning Australia into a police state, after reports he pushed for increased surveillance of environmental activists.
• 2012/01/08: ABC(Au): Biodiesel plant turns poppies into power
  A new biodiesel plant in Tasmania's northern midlands is producing alternative fuel from poppy seeds. Mike Henry's family has been working on plans for a biodiesel factory for five years, using waste from poppy crops. The work has paid off, and a new factory is up and running on the family's property at Cressy.
• 2012/01/05: ABC(Au): Office scrapped after solar energy scheme blowout
  The [WA] State Government has announced the agency responsible for a blowout in the solar energy scheme is being scrapped. The Premier Colin Barnett says the Office of Energy will be closed to make way for a Public Utilities Office.
• 2012/01/02: ABC(Au): Resident claims CSG leak poisoning forest

  And in New Zealand:

• 2012/01/07: BBC: Stricken cargo ship Rena breaks up off New Zealand
  A cargo ship which ran aground off the coast of New Zealand three months ago has broken in two, spilling containers and other debris into the sea.

While in Africa:

• 2012/01/05: Guardian(UK): Nigerian police fire teargas on fuel subsidy protesters
• 2012/01/03: CCurrents: China, Oil And Ethnic Cleansing In Horn Of Africa
• 2012/01/03: BBC: Nigerians protest at removal of fuel subsidy
  One protester has been killed as thousands of Nigerians have demonstrated against the removal of a fuel subsidy, which has led petrol prices and transport fares to double.
• 2012/01/03: al Jazeera: Nigeria fuel price protests turn violent
  At least one person reported dead as demonstrations erupt over government's removal of popular subsidy program.
• 2012/01/02: BBC: Nigeria fury as fuel prices double after subsidy ends
  Ordinary Nigerians and trade unionists have condemned the government for withdrawing a fuel price subsidy which has led petrol prices to more than double in many areas.
• 2012/01/02: al Jazeera: Nigeria ends fuel subsidies
  Labour movement calls the government move "callous" and pledges to mobilise mass demonstrations in the coming days.

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

• 2012/01/06: BCLSB: Gotcha? Connections Between Ethical Oil And The Tory Gov.?
• 2012/01/06: MSimon: Stephen Harper and the Con Klown Show
• 2012/01/06: G&M: Ottawa backtracks on coal emissions
  The federal government is offering the provinces a way to avoid tough new regulations that would eventually force power companies to shut down the country's fleet of coal-fired power plants. Environment Minister Peter Kent and Prime Minister Stephen Harper have privately indicated they are willing to provide flexibility in how new power-plant emissions rules are implemented, provincial and industry sources said Thursday. Mr. Kent is expected to release the final version of the long-promised regulations in the coming months.
• 2012/01/05: EmbassyMag: Top Conservative staffer's mom gets nuclear regulator gig
  Rumina Velshi, mother of Alykhan Velshi -- a former key adviser to Immigration Minister Jason Kenney -- is the newest Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission member.

Lingering Canada and Kyoto repercusssions:

• 2012/01/04: GreenPeace: Canada: Climate Criminal
• 2012/01/06: DeepClimate: Canada post-Kyoto
• 2012/01/04: CBC: Ex MP wants legal action against Ottawa after Kyoto breach -- Daniel Turp plans legal challenge against Conservative government
  A former Quebec politician is planning legal action against the Conservative government for pulling out of the Kyoto Protocol, calling the move unconstitutional. Daniel Turp, a former Parti Québécois MNA and Bloc MP, said he is going to ask the federal court to block Ottawa's controversial decision, and is calling on Canadians to join his legal campaign.
• 2012/01/04: CBC: Christian group joins MP's call for abortion debate -- Conservative MP urges discussion on when fetus becomes human
• 2012/01/04: Rabble:MBarlow: The biggest story of 2011 for me? Canada's failure on climate change

  The NDP leadership race percolates:

• 2012/01/07: CBC: NDP leadership hopeful would undo wheat board change
  Brian Topp, who is seeking to lead the federal New Democratic Party, says if he became prime minister he would reverse the decision to end the monopoly of the Canadian Wheat Board. Topp noted, however, that it could be a difficult task due to provisions of the North American Free Trade Agreement.
• 2012/01/03: Tyee: Who's Best to Lead the NDP? My look at the leadership candidates begins with Topp, Mulcair and Nash.

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

• 2012/01/08: PostMedia: Western premiers feel pipeline pressure
  With B.C.'s Clark till on the fence, and election looming, Gateway's a political landmine Politically, the Northern Gateway project isn't risk-free for Canada's western provinces. B.C. Premier Christy Clark has re-fused to take a position until the National Energy Board panel has ruled. The board begins hearings this week in northern B.C., with a decision expected in late 2013, well after the scheduled provincial election to take place in the spring of that year. But her centre-right government is sure to get squeezed on both sides during an expected protest campaign against Northern Gateway to be waged by environmentalists and First Nations organizations.
• 2012/01/08: PostMedia: Northern Gateway debate a tale of two provinces
  B.C. and Alberta are both resource-rich provinces with similar pioneering histories and rookie premiers who portray themselves as champions of their business communities and natural allies of Prime Minister Stephen Harper. But a chill descends on the relationship, reflecting the sharply divergent political cultures, when it comes to the controversial $5.5 billion Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline megaproject.
• 2012/01/06: PostMedia: Risk of oil spill overshadows pipeline's rewards: critics
• 2012/01/06: G&M: 'Foreign money' could gum up pipeline approval, Harper warns
• 2012/01/06: CBC: Harper warns pipeline hearings could be 'hijacked' -- Northern Gateway seeks to carry oilsands crude to West Coast
• 2012/01/05: WCEL: Why West Coast is fighting Enbridge (it's not the funding)
• 2012/01/05: CBC: 48% support for northern B.C. pipeline, says poll
• 2012/01/04: G&M: Oil giants back Gateway pipe
  Five oil sands companies have revealed themselves as supporters of the controversial Northern Gateway pipeline, lending their names to a massive infrastructure proposal that has stirred intense opposition in Western Canada. Cenovus Energy Inc., CVE-T MEG Energy Corp., MEG-T Nexen Inc., NXY-T Suncor Energy Marketing Inc., a subsidiary of Suncor Energy Inc., SU-T and Total E&P Canada, the domestic arm of French giant Total SA, have each spent money to help develop the $6.6-billion pipeline, which if built will funnel massive volumes of oil sands crude CL-FT to the West Coast for export to California and Asia.
• 2012/01/05: BCLSB: Alberta Mayor On B.C. Opposition To Northern Gateway Pipeline
• 2012/01/05: LFR: Really Ipsos-Reid, a poll commissioned by Alberta's Enbridge on BCers' opinions on Northern Gateway, published only in Postmedia? Really?
• 2012/01/05: PostMedia: Environmental groups line up star power against project
  Opponents to Enbridge's $5.5-billion proposed pipeline run gamut from well-funded U.S. advocates to small-budget local operations Fresh off its win helping delay the Keystone XL oil pipeline in the United States, the Natural Resources Defense Council is directing its star-studded cast against the $5.5-billion Northern Gateway pipeline. The U.S.-based environmental group, which raised $94 million in 2010, will bring its expertise and 1.3 million members to an already formidable array of largely B.C.-based environmental groups actively campaigning to stop the controversial project. It will also bring a new element - celebrity power. The defence council counts among its directors the actors Robert Redford and Leonardo DiCaprio. Its senior lawyer is Robert Kennedy Jr.
• 2012/01/05: PostMedia: B.C. residents support Northern Gateway pipeline project: poll
  British Columbians by a 48-32 percentage margin support the $5.5-billion Northern Gateway pipeline project linking the Alberta oilsands to the West Coast, according to a new poll.
• 2012/01/05: PostMedia: Proposed pipeline generates flood of support, opposition
  The mother of all public hearings begins Tuesday in Kitimat as a federal panel launches hearings into Enbridge's Northern Gateway Pipeline.
• 2012/01/04: PostMedia: Ethical Oil.org slams environmental groups for taking U.S. money
  But B.C. groups fire back, saying amount they receive is dwarfed by the cash backing the pipeline
• 2012/01/03: CBC: Oilsands firms would lose without Gateway, study says
  A report commissioned by Alberta says oilsands producers could lose up to $72 billion if a pipeline isn't built to ship heavy crude to the British Columbia coast. The report by consultants Wood Mackenzie has been submitted by the province to the federal panel reviewing Enbridge's proposed Northern Gateway project.
• 2012/01/02: PostMedia: Alta. oil producers may lose billions if Northern Gateway pipeline not built
  Oil producers could lose $72 billion over a nine-year-period if a pipeline to carry Alberta bitumen to the West Coast isn't built, a new report for the Alberta government says as community hearings for the proposed Enbridge Northern Gateway project are about to begin this month in British Columbia. In a 44-page report submitted before Christmas to the federal government panel reviewing the pipeline project, consultants for Alberta Energy peg potential losses for oil producers in the project at $8 billion every year between 2017 and 2025. The forecast, drawn up by Houston-based consultant Harold York for the firm Wood Mackenzie, is largely based on the expectation that Alberta oil sells at a higher price on an international market than it does in North America.

Looks like GMO salmon will soon be on the menu:

• 2012/01/05: PostMedia: Altered salmon may be closer to our plates -- Canada considers following U.S. lead
  Canada could have trouble keeping genetically engineered salmon out of the food supply if the U.S. government approves the first genetically engineered animal that people can eat. And according to an internal analysis obtained by Postmedia News, one potential solution is to simply follow the U.S. lead, in order to avoid trade complications. That would mean allowing the GE fish in the Canadian market.

Meanwhile in the CWB saga:

• 2012/01/06: PostMedia: Goodale wants academics to monitor wheat, barley sales
  Liberal MP Ralph Goodale wants someone to monitor the impact of an open market for Prairie grain sales but he doesn't trust the federal government to do it. On Thursday, Goodale proposed hiring the University of Saskatchewan or another independent institution to create a monitoring agency to track and report grain marketing in Western Canada once the Canadian Wheat Board's monopoly on wheat and barley sales is gone. "Rather than people washing their hands and saying 'That was that,' someone needs to follow this right from the start so farmers know where they stand," said Goodale. "The government says everything will be just hunky-dory but I think it is important to test that thesis."
• 2012/01/05: CBC: Wheat group applauds end of monopoly
  Members of the Western Canadian Wheat Growers are celebrating the end of the Canadian Wheat Board's monopoly power.

The ISA virus in BC waters is potentially disastrous:

• 2012/01/06: AlexandraMorton: Time for truth
  I just finished reading the approximately 450 pages of transcript of the last three days of the Cohen Inquiry. I highly recommend them, they can be found at www.cohencommission.ca Go to Calendar and Transcripts and see dates December 15, 16, 19.
  I know most of us can't take the time to absorb all this material, so I have capture excerpts below. I have noted page numbers so you can read the complete dialogue if you are interested.
  The final three days were on the explosive findings of ISA virus in BC wild salmon. The Commission brought us two groups of people; the scientists who are actually running the ISA virus tests and a subset of the people who seem to be in charge of managing the release of fish health information.
  [...]
  To put everything in context I start with an exchange sparked in the final minutes of the Cohen Inquiry by Krista Robertson, lawyer for the Musgamagw Tsawataineuk Tribal Council - the First Nations of the Broughton Archipelago. Dr. Klotins works for the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA). Here is why fish health is a federal secret:
  (December 19, pg. 118)
  ROBERTSON: Safe trade. But is it also part of the mandate of the CFIA to ensure that trade is -- trade interests of Canadian companies or companies operating in Canada such as Norwegian fish farm companies, are not harmed by any kind of finding or allegation of disease?
  
  DR KLOTINS: ...So if, let's say, we do find ISA in B.C. and all of a sudden markets are closed, our role [CFIA] is then to try to renegotiate or negotiate market access to those countries. Now what it will be is a matter of they'll let us know what the requirements are. We'll let them know what we can do and whether we can meet that market access. If we can't meet it, then there will be no trade basically.
  
  So there you have it. ISA virus threatens commerce. I don't know if it was intentional, but the lawyers present over the last 3 days worked as a tag team peeling back the layers to reveal a cavernous hole. Where we thought government was working to protect wild salmon there is no body of government present. No government agency can afford to defend wild salmon by learning the truth and there is almost nobody in government who dares.

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

• 2012/01/07: CBC:Q&Q: The Sacred Headwaters
• 2012/01/01: BCLSB: Why I Cannot Currently Support the B.C. Liberal Party

  Meanwhile in that Mechanical Mordor known as the tar sands:

• 2012/01/07: NI/P: "Ethical Oil" - an argument that make no sense
• 2012/01/03: ALeach: Canadian crude oil production to increase 3300% by 2100
• 2012/01/05: CCP: Canada's Athabasca Oil Sands Corp said it has sold the remaining 40 percent of interest in the MacKay River oil sands project to a subsidiary of PetroChina
• 2012/01/03: G&M: Athabasca deal gives China an oil sands project of its own
• 2012/01/04: G&M: Of Beijing, bitumen and Ottawa's foreign-takeover review
  The acquisition by the state-controlled PetroChina Co. Ltd.'s of 100 per cent of the MacKay River oil-sands project is a vivid reminder that the federal government's review of Investment Canada's foreign-takeover criteria has not yet been issued -- more than a year after the messy episode in which BHP Billiton was not allowed to proceed with its bid for Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc. In fact, Tony Clement, who was then the minister of industry, approved this same PetroChina acquisition two years ago -- because the transaction already included an option to turn a 60-per-cent interest into sole ownership, and it was Athabasca Oil Sands Corp., not PetroChina, that exercised its option -- to sell, that is.
• 2012/01/03: NI/P: These people don't believe in 'ethical oil'
• 2012/01/03: OilChange: New Year: Old Dirty Tricks
• 2012/01/03: CBC: PetroChina buys rest of Athabasca oil project
  Athabasca Oil Sands Corp. has exercised its option to sell its remaining 40 per cent interest in the MacKay River oil sands project to a unit of Chinese oil giant PetroChina for about $680 million. The deal, announced Tuesday, gives PetroChina full ownership of MacKay River project, one of the newest of northern Alberta's oilsands developments.
• 2012/01/03: G&M: PetroChina takes full control of Alberta oil sands project
  China is on the verge of taking complete control over an oil sands asset for the first time. PetroChina International Investment Co. Ltd. PTR-N, China's largest state-owned energy firm, is set to buy 40 per cent of the MacKay River project from Calgary's Athabasca Oil Sands Corp. ATH-T, bringing PetroChina's stake up to 100 per cent. Athabasca announced the sale Tuesday, and the pair formed a formed a joint venture on the MacKay River and Dover projects last year.

Also in Alberta:

• 2012/01/05: SSM: Canada's Energy Future

  While in la Belle Province:

• 2012/01/05: CBC: Projet Montréal pitches carbon exchange market
  Projet Montréal wants the city to be home to North America's largest carbon exchange. Leader Richard Bergeron says Montreal is already setting the example by reducing greenhouse gas emissions. He says the city needs to open an exchange to stay ahead of the curve.

As for miscellaneous Canadiana:

• 2012/01/05: Guardian(UK): Canadian seal cull 'unnecessary due to climate change'
• 2012/01/01: MediaCoop: Censorship and Safety: Health Canada and the Nuclear Information Blackout

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

• 2012/01/06: CCurrents: 12 Reasons You'll Be Hearing More About The Commons In 2012
• 2012/01/07: al Jazeera: Rethinking the growth imperative
  Instead of focusing on increasing economic growth, shouldn't the focus be on long-term sustainability and durability?
• 2012/01/03: AlterNet: America Beyond Capitalism: Is It Possible?
• 2012/01/05: PeakEnergy: Jeremy Rifkin's Third Industrial Revolution
• 2012/01/04: EnergyBulletin: There Is More to It than Oil
• 2012/01/03: WiC: America builds wealth without common wealth
• 2012/01/02: EconView: Rogoff: Rethinking the Growth Imperative

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

• 2012/01/07: BobPark: What's New?
  1. Environmental damage: its proportional to human population.
  2. Fertility rate: its proportional to human ignorance.
• 2012/01/04: CBC: Christian group joins MP's call for abortion debate -- Conservative MP urges discussion on when fetus becomes human
• 2012/01/04: SciAm:DP: Population Science

  Apocalypso anyone?

• 2011/12/31: DD: 50 doomiest images of 2011
• 2012/01/02: P3: A Parable of a Lost Island

  How do the media measure up?

• 2012/01/04: CJR: Climate Coverage Crashes -- Downward spiral in English-language news media continued in 2011
• 2012/01/07: QuarkSoup: Brad Johnson Does It Again
• 2012/01/05: TP:JR: Murdoch Press Coverage of Aussie Carbon Price So Negative in 2011, "It's Fair to Say They've Campaigned Against It"
• 2012/01/04: APR: AAAS Symposium on Nuclear Reporting
• 2012/01/04: WtD: Old men and the sea: News Limited gets advice on sea level change from old blokes... again
• 2012/01/04: KSJT: The Daily Climate: A climate news watchdog says it has far less to watch
• 2012/01/02: MediaMatters: Report: How Fox News Fueled Newt Inc.
• 2012/01/03: TreeHugger: Media Coverage of Climate Change Continued to Plummet in 2011
• 2012/01/03: FAIR: WaPo and Keystone False Balance
• 2012/01/03: Guardian(UK): David Attenborough: Frozen Planet was not alarmist about climate change
• 2012/01/03: CCP: David Attenborough: Frozen Planet was not alarmist about climate change; hits back at claims made by former chancellor Nigel Lawson that natural history series lacked objectivity
• 2012/01/03: TP:JR: Silence of the Lambs 2: Media Herd's Coverage of Climate Change Drops Sharply -- Again
• 2012/01/03: TDC: Climate coverage down again in 2011
• 2012/01/02: Guardian(UK): That sleighbell winter? It's all part of climate change denial [Monbiot]
  The tabloids' forecast of Siberian weather has been forgotten. Unlike their treatment of the Met Office barbecue summer
• 2012/01/02: Deltoid: Better late than never at The Australian

  While activists search for effective communication techniques:

• 2012/01/05: Guardian(UK): The climate change message is not being heard. Here's how to change tack
  Focus on the economic case, drop the activist-speak, talk about solutions rather than doom -- and don't rely on politicians

Here is something for your library:

• 2012/01/04: HotTopic: [Book Review] _Early Warming: Crisis and Response in the Climate-Changed North_ by Nancy Lord
• 2012/01/03: CCurrents: Upcoming Book Reveals The Irish Potato Famine Was A Genocide

  And for your film & video enjoyment:

• 2012/01/07: P3: The Climate BS Awards for 2011
• 2012/01/06: PSinclair: Isaac Asimov: Warning of Greenhouse Effect in 1977
• 2012/01/06: SkeptiSci: The 2011 Climate B.S.* of the Year Awards by Peter Gleick
• 2012/01/04: PSinclair: Trend and Variation
• 2012/01/03: PSinclair: New Crock Video: The Myth of the Mini Ice-Age

  Meanwhile among the 'Sue the Bastards!' contingent:

• 2012/01/05: NewInt: Chevron found guilty in Ecuador... again
• 2012/01/05: WiC: Chevron accused of racism as it fights Ecuador pollution ruling
• 2012/01/04: BBerg: Chevron Bid to Dismiss $18 Billion Award Rejected in Ecuador
• 2012/01/04: OilChange: Appeal Court Upholds Chevron Guilty Verdict
• 2012/01/04: BBC: Ecuador appeals court rules against Chevron in oil case
  An Ecuadorean appeals court has upheld a ruling that Chevron should pay damages totalling $18.2bn (£11.5bn) over Amazon oil pollution. Chevron said the judgement was "illegitimate" and "a fraud". Texaco, which merged with Chevron in 2001, was accused of dumping toxic materials in the Ecuadorean Amazon. The original ruling ordered Chevron to pay $8.6bn in damages, which was more than doubled after the company failed to make a public apology. "We ratify the ruling of February 14 2011 in all its parts, including the sentence for moral reparation," the court in the Amazonian city of Lago Agrio said in its ruling, according to Reuters.
• 2012/01/03: PlanetArk: Federal Judge Blocks California Emissions Rules
  A judge blocked one of California's signature attempts to lower greenhouse gas emissions, a victory for out-of-state ethanol producers and refiners that has California's air quality board vowing to appeal. U.S. District Judge Lawrence O'Neill in Fresno on Thursday issued a preliminary injunction against a regulation adopted by the California Air Resources Board in 2010. The rules are aimed at rewarding biofuel fuel producers that consume less energy in their businesses, including transportation to customers. Out-of-state producers having to ship their fuels over long distances would be at a disadvantage to California refiners. The regulation unconstitutionally discriminates against out-of-state producers, O'Neill found.
• 2012/01/03: PlanetArk: Court Delays EPA Rule On Coal Plants
  A U.S. federal appeals court on Friday issued a last-minute order to delay the January 1 implementation of stricter federal limits on pollution from coal-fired plants, providing a temporary win for utilities worried about the cost of implementation. In a blow to environmental groups, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit granted a request to stay the Environmental Protection Agency's Cross-State Air Pollution Rule, pending further court review. The EPA finalized the rule in July, setting much stricter limits on sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions from power plants in 27 states to protect the health of residents in states downwind from the emissions.
• 2012/01/02: al Jazeera: Exxon awarded $908m over Venezuela dispute
  International arbitration body orders compensation for nationalisation of assets, less than 10 per cent of that sought.
• 2012/01/01: Guardian(UK): Exxon Mobil wins hollow victory in court battle with Hugo Chávez
  Oil company Exxon to receive less than 10% of the $10bn [US$908 million] it was seeking from the Venezuelan government when its assets were nationalised

And among the non-members of Gamblers Anonymous:

• 2012/01/05: Grist: Wildfires too hot? Jump in the senate office pool

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

• 2012/01/06: TreeHugger: Renewable Energy Now Provides More US Power Than Nuclear
• 2012/01/06: TreeHugger: Over Half of Germany's Renewable Energy Owned By Citizens & Farmers, Not Utility Companies
• 2012/01/06: AutoBG: Why alternative energy has a hard time: fossil fuels get 250 subsidies
• 2012/01/08: ITracker: The lonely life of the pan-energist
• 2012/01/08: TP:JR: Iran, Electric Cars, and Our Stuck Narrative: Gas-Powered Vehicles Catch Fire 180,000 Times a Year
• 2012/01/07: TreeHugger: Connecting the Dots Between Oil Prices, Iran & China, the Strait of Hormuz, and U.S. Electric Cars
• 2012/01/06: Guardian(UK): Free book: The Rough Guide to Community Energy
  A new book is being distributed for free to encourage people to launch carbon-cutting and renewable-energy projects in their local communities. The book covers everything from setting up a group to picking a renewable technology, as well as providing advice on finances and governance. It also features many case studies of real-world groups -- two of which are extracted below
• 2012/01/05: EnergyBulletin: Co-operative renewable energy in the UK: a guide to this growing sector (report)
• 2012/01/05: JQuiggin: Solar rises, nuclear falls

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

• 2012/01/05: EnvEcon: A Fracking Mess
• 2012/01/06: PlanetArk: EPA May Retest PA. Water Near Fracking
  Federal regulators are considering retesting water supplies at a small town in Pennsylvania that residents say have been contaminated by natural gas drilling. Just a month after declaring water in Dimock safe, officials from the Environmental Protection Agency are taking another look after new evidence suggested that drinking water could be polluted worse than originally thought.
• 2012/01/05: DM:80B: Ohio Christmas Quakes Likely Caused By Fracking
• 2012/01/03: Grist: Yeah, looks like fracking caused Ohio quakes
• 2012/01/02: CSM: How fracking might have led to an Ohio earthquake

  On the coal front:

• 2012/01/06: Grist: Coal-burning energy company demands more regulation
• 2011/12/29: AlterNet: L.A.'s Dirty Coal Addiction Is Killing Arizona

  On the gas and oil front:

• 2012/01/06: BBerg: Closing oil prices Friday
  OIL (US$/bbl)
  Nymex Crude Future...101.56
  Dated Brent Spot.....113.06
  WTI Cushing Spot.....101.56
• 2012/01/08: OilDrum: Tech Talk - Oil production from the North Caucasus
• 2012/01/04: AntiWar: Oil Nears 8-Month High as EU Nears Ban on Iran Trade -- EU Move Forces Mediterranean Nations to Seek Alternative Supplies
• 2012/01/04: BBerg: Crude Oil Advances as EU Moves Closer to Sanctions on Imports From Iran
• 2012/01/03: PlanetArk: Brazil Cites Chevron Third Time For Oil Spill
  Brazil's oil industry watchdog ANP said on Friday it issued a third citation against Chevron for a November oil spill at the Frade offshore field, signaling that regulators are stepping up oversight of the No. 2 U.S. oil company's offshore operations in Brazil. ANP can fine Chevron up to 50 million reais ($26.8 million) for each citation.
• 2012/01/03: PlanetArk: Accusations Fly As Oil Slick Hits Nigeria Coast

  In the fossil fuel corps:

• 2012/01/06: BBC: Swiss oil refiner Petroplus sees credit lines blocked
  The crisis at European refiner Petroplus deepened on Thursday after lenders extended a freeze on its borrowing. Last week the company reported that a $1bn (£649m) credit line had been cut off by its lenders. Thursday's news extended that to all of its borrowing capacity.
• 2012/01/04: BBC: Chinese oil company Sinopec agrees $2.2bn US shale deal
  Chinese oil firm Sinopec has agreed a $2.2bn (£1.4bn) deal with Devon Energy, giving it access to shale deposits in the US. Sinopec will get a one-third stake in five new shale projects, with the firms expecting to drill 125 wells this year. China has been buying energy sources to feed its fast-growing economy, and wants to improve its ability to extract domestic shale deposits. China has some of the biggest shale deposits in the world.

And in pipeline news:

• 2012/01/03: EurActiv: Russia, Ukraine arm-wrestling over pipelines
  In a sign of mounting Russian pressure on Ukraine to share its pipeline network, Gazprom's chief executive has warned that procrastination in talks would result in a bad deal for Kyiv as construction of a competing pipeline would lead to a price slump.

Yes we have a peak oil sighting:

• 2012/01/05: CCurrents: The Peak Oil Crisis: Closing Out The Year
• 2012/01/05: EnergyBulletin: The peak oil crisis: closing out the year
• 2012/01/05: OilDrum: Oil will decline shortly after 2015, says former oil expert of International Energy Agency
• 2011/12/30: LeMonde:B: Oil will decline shortly after 2015, says [Olivier Rech] former oil expert of International Energy Agency
• 2012/01/01: TMO: There Will Be Oil - Versus - Peak Oil Now

  Biofuel bickering abounds:

• 2012/01/08: ABC(Au): Biodiesel plant turns poppies into power
• 2012/01/06: PlanetArk: RWE To Open UK's Biggest Biomass Plant This Month
• 2012/01/05: SciAm:PI: Waste-to-energy: from pit latrines to biogas
• 2012/01/01: NYT: After Three Decades, Tax Credit for Ethanol Expires

  The answer my friend...:

• 2012/01/06: PlanetArk: Kenya Wind Power Project To Start By April: Official
• 2012/01/03: PSinclair: Wind Power Roars into 2012

  Meanwhile among the solar aficionados:

• 2012/01/08: Grist: Gainesville, Fla., becomes a world leader in solar power
• 2012/01/06: CSM: Henry Red Cloud: a solar warrior for native America
• 2012/01/04: EnergyBulletin: Solar power off the grid: Energy access for world's poor
• 2012/01/01: TP:JR: German Solar Output Increases by 60% in 2011

  The nuclear energy controversy continues:

• 2012/01/08: BNC: The nuclear fission 'Flyer'
• 2012/01/05: BNC: Plentiful Energy -- The book that tells the story of the Integral Fast Reactor
• 2012/01/04: EnergyBulletin: Nuclear options
• 2012/01/03: NBF: Cigar Lake Uranium mine is ontrack and China reactor milestone
• 2012/01/03: JQuiggin: The nuclear option: AP1000 or bust?
• 2012/01/02: NBF: Korea aims to dramatically boost overseas nuclear business
• 2012/01/02: NBF: Toshiba has a device that removes 97% of cesium from radioactive soil

  Nuclear fusion projects around the world limp along:

• 2012/01/03: EurActiv: Fusion project funding dispute threatens Horizon 2020
  An ongoing tussle between the EU institutions over the future funding of a controversial nuclear fusion project -- which will come under the spotlight during the Danish EU presidency -- threatens to hack into the European Commission's E85-billion Horizon 2020 budget proposal

The Rossi Energy Catalyzer keeps coming up:

• 2012/01/03: NBF: Rossi talks about Household energy catalyzer units starting in Fall of 2012 and talks with Home Depot

  More people are talking about the electrical grid:

• 2012/01/06: TreeHugger: Smart Meters Endure Bumpy Road To Growth

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

• 2012/01/07: TP:JR: Why So Many Critics After 17,000 Electric Vehicle Sales in First Year?
• 2012/01/06: AutoBG: 2011 U.S. alt-fuel vehicle sales: a mix of ups and downs
• 2012/01/06: Grist: The only defense of electric cars you really need
• 2012/01/05: SciAm:Obs: GM to Bolster Chevy Volt Batteries Following Electrical Fires
• 2012/01/06: AutoBG: A123 will supply battery packs for Via extended-range plug-in trucks
• 2012/01/04: Grist: Huge strides in fuel efficiency innovation canceled out by bigger cars

  As for Energy Storage:

• 2012/01/07: TCoE: Yet another battery breakthrough
• 2012/01/07: FuturePundit: Zinc Air Battery Design Slashes Costs
• 2012/01/04: NBF: Zinc air batteries and other potentials batteries for grids
• 2012/01/04: NBF: Energy-storage membrane outstrips existing rechargeable batteries and supercapacitors in energy density and cost
• 2012/01/04: TreeHugger: Zinc-Air Battery With 30-Year Life Could Revolutionize Grid Energy Storage, Boost Wind & Solar Adoption
• 2012/01/04: PeakEnergy: Storehouses for Solar Energy Can Step In When the Sun Goes Down

  The reaction of business to climate change will be critical:

• 2012/01/05: Guardian(UK): Ex-UN climate chief [Yvo de Boer] says business should get ready for low-carbon world

  Insurance and re-insurance companies are feeling the heat:

• 2012/01/04: SciNews: Insurance payouts point to climate change
  A three-decade trend shows a steady global increase in weather and climate related disasters.
• 2012/01/04: CCP: Insurers have warned Australians to brace for more catastrophic weather brought on by a rising global temperatures
• 2012/01/04: CBC: 2011 costliest year ever for natural disasters
  A leading reinsurer says devastating earthquakes in Japan and New Zealand made 2011 the insurance industry's costliest yet in natural disaster losses. Munich Re said in an annual report Wednesday that insured losses last year totalled $105 billion -- exceeding the previous record of $101 billion set in 2005, when losses were swollen by claims from Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans.
• 2012/01/04: Wunderground: Damage losses and climate change

  Who's fielding the FAQs?

• 2012/01/04: Guardian(UK): Can we rely on computer models to predict future climate change?

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

• 2012/01/06: TP:JR: January 6 News...
• 2012/01/05: TP:JR: January 5 News...
• 2012/01/04: TP:JR: January 4 News...
• 2012/01/03: TP:JR: January 3 News...

  Other (weekly) lists:

• 2012/01/06: EnergyBulletin: ODAC Newsletter
• 2012/01/05: GreenGrok: News on the Environment Over the Holidays
• 2012/01/02: BPA: Agriculture News
• 2012/01/01: IJISH: 2012's first Mindless Link Propagation blog post

  The carbon lobby are up to the usual:

• 2012/01/07: ITracker: Hot Air denizens: Bigoted, racist, and in denial
• 2012/01/05: CDreams: Complete with Threats and Astroturf, Big Oil Preps for Election Year Push
• 2012/01/07: HC: Climate *skeptics* rewrite Sagan. Can they sink any lower?
• 2012/01/07: Stoat: Top Science Scandals of 2011?
• 2012/01/06: WottsUWT: I've been Lenfesteyed
• 2012/01/04: CCP: Intimidation Campaign by Extreme Right-Wing Continues -- Climate Scientist Targeted Again
• 2012/01/05: WottsUWT: Canadian Senate Testimony -- Skeptic side now being heard in Canadian politics
• 2012/01/04: TPL: Denier Bunko Squad Alert --- "Energy Citizens"
• 2012/01/04: QuarkSoup: Steve Goddard Bullshit Alert
• 2012/01/04: WottsUWT: Be careful today and tonight, billions may die
• 2012/01/02: P3: Gingrich, Hayhoe, Morano
• 2012/01/01: TP:JR: Confabulation at Climate Cynics' Confab
• 2011/12/31: NewsCorp: Cherry-picking contrarian geologists tend to obscure scientific truth

  As for climate miscellanea:

• 2012/01/07: DeSmogBlog: Introducing: Deep Accountability
• 2012/01/04: ERW: Checking global warming's fingerprint
• 2012/01/05: P3: several observations prompted by coolwx.com
• 2012/01/05: TP:JR: Electric Co-op Association Fighting Climate Policy Ironically Laments Financial Impact of "Historic" Extreme Weather
• 2012/01/05: Stoat: On the Limits of Expert Credibility: Theory and an Application to Climate Change?
• 2012/01/05: ITracker: The Anna Karenina scenario
• 2012/01/04: Wunderground:RR: 2012 Climate Events: The start of the term
• 2012/01/02: CCurrents: One Hundred And Thirty-Eight In The Shade
• 2012/01/02: USAToday: Study: Does enduring extreme weather make you vote liberal?
• 2012/01/03: al Jazeera: Why was December so mild?
  How long will the warm weather continue in North America and Europe?
• 2012/01/02: Guardian(UK): Dead herring mystery for Norway as thousands wash up on beach
  Locals left scratching their heads after 20 tonnes of the dead creatures are found on beach in Nordreisa
• 2012/01/02: Grist: Karaoke and the power of 'bottom-up self-organization'
• 2012/01/01: ERabett:JF: More Physics Follies

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

• TierrAmerica
• Moms Clean Air Force
• Do the Math -- Using physics and estimation to assess energy, growth, options - by Tom Murphy
• Rescuing the frog -- Andrew Leach's energy, climate, and oil sands blog
• coolwx.com -- Weather Pages with truly unique content since 1994
• Young Australian Skeptics
• Wiki: Marine isotope stage
• Wiki: Supercontinent cycle
• Wiki: Madden-Julian oscillation
• Wiki: Indian Ocean Dipole
• Wiki: Atlantic multidecadal oscillation
• Wiki: Pacific decadal oscillation
• Wiki: Antarctic oscillation
• Wiki: El Niño-Southern Oscillation
• Wiki: Arctic oscillation
• Wiki: North Atlantic oscillation

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.

"While they develop, we die; and why should we accept this?" -Alliance of Small Island States chair, Karl Hood (at Durban)

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