Another Week of GW News, February 12, 2012

Logging the Onset of The Bottleneck Years

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Another Week in the Ecological Crisis

Information is not Knowledge...Knowledge is notWisdom

February 12, 2012

• Chuckles, Horn of Africa, Europe, Maldives, Jacob, WSJ-16, Opinions
• Bottom Line, Subsidies, Thermodynamics, Cook
• Fukushima Note, Fukushima News
• Melting Arctic, USCG Healy, Methane, Geopolitics, Antarctica
• Food Crisis, Food Prices, GMOs, Food Production
• Hurricanes, GHGs, Temperatures, ENSO, Solar Hypothesis
• Cosmic Rays, State of the Oceans, Proxies, Satellites
• Impacts, Forests, Extreme Weather, Corals, Floods & Droughts
• Mitigation, Transportation, Buildings, Sequestration, Geoengineering, Adaptation
• Journals, Other Docs, Misc. Science, Free Science, Abraham, Mclean
• International Politics: Rio+20, UN, IPCC, Carbon Trade, Bank Tax, Hormuz
• Solar Spat, EU ETS & Airlines, Law & Activism, Activism, Polls, H2O Biz, Education
• National Politics: America, BP Disaster, 2012, Keystone XL, Komen, Birth Control, NRC, USAdmin, Congress
• Britain, Europe, Australia, Carbon Law, Murray-Darling, New Zealand, Asia
• Canada, China, Northern Gateway, EU FQD, NDP, Energy Policy, ISA
• BC, Tar Sands, Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, Canadiana
• Ecological Economics, IPAT, Apocalypso, Fixes, Media, Books, Video, Courts
• Energy, Fracking, Coal, Oil & Gas, Fossil Fuel Corps, Pipelines, Peak Oil
• Wind, Solar, Nukes, Nuclear Fusion, LENR, Grid, Efficiency, Cars, Energy Storage
• Business, Insurance, Joe's List, Carbon Lobby, Miscellaneous Climate, Useful Links
• Shameless Self Promotion, .sig

Here's a wee chuckle for ye:

• 2012/02/10: uComics: (cartoon - Danziger) Catholic Doctrine & Practice
• 2012/02/10: uComics: (cartoon - Toles) Killing Mass Transit
• 2012/02/08: JoeMohrToons: (cartoon - Mohr) GMO-Tainted Blood Poisons Unwitting Vampires
• 2012/02/07: JoeMohrToons: (cartoon - Mohr) Syngenta's Atrazine PR Marchine
• 2012/02/09: uComics: (cartoon - Toles) Rapa Nui
• 2012/02/12: uComics: (cartoon - Danziger) Hard Habit To Break

  G. Trudeau did a week on his myFacts series...tickling more than one fancy:

• 2012/02/07: HotTopic: (cartoon - Trudeau) Doonesbury on denial
• 2012/02/07: QuarkSoup: (cartoon - Trudeau) Doonesbury Strip on Climate Deniers
• 2012/02/06: uComics: (cartoon - Trudeau) myFacts
• 2012/02/07: uComics: (cartoon - Trudeau) Optimized Reality
• 2012/02/08: uComics: (cartoon - Trudeau) Privatizing the Truth
• 2012/02/09: uComics: (cartoon - Trudeau) "We Pride Ourselves on Plausibility"
• 2012/02/10: uComics: (cartoon - Trudeau) A Late Order of Facts
• 2012/02/11: uComics: (cartoon - Trudeau) Another Elaborate Hoax

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

• 2012/02/10: CSM: Rapper 50 Cent joins battle against Somali hunger
• 2012/02/09: UN: Rap artist 50 Cent visits Horn of Africa with UN food relief agency
• 2012/02/08: UN: South Sudan: UN agencies sound alarm on worsening food shortages

  The European cold spell continues:

• 2012/02/11: CBC: Thousands cut off as Europe cold snap continues
• 2012/02/10: al Jazeera: Frozen Danube closed to shipping
  Snow and extreme freeze bring Europe's busiest waterway to a halt, as cold snap claims more lives across the continent.
• 2012/02/09: PlanetArk: Blizzards Push SE Europe Energy Grids To Limits
• 2012/02/09: al Jazeera: Unprecedented cold paralyses life in Europe
  Cold snap hits normal life as 2,860km-long Danube river is wholly or partially frozen.
• 2012/02/07: DerSpiegel: Deadly Cold Snap -- European Deep Freeze Refuses to Relent
  The cold snap which has held Europe in its grip for over a week has yet to relent. Several countries have reported rising numbers of casualties as a result of the deep freeze. Holland, meanwhile, hopes the cold continues long enough to hold the mythical ice-skating race called Elfstedentocht.
• 2012/02/08: al Jazeera: Why is Europe so cold?
  A look at the possible explanations for the big freeze affecting much of the continent
• 2012/02/07: TMoS: Global Weirding, European Style
• 2012/02/07: UN: Europe's deadly cold snap should ease from next week, UN agency says
• 2012/02/07: PlanetArk: Cold Kills 33 More In Europe, Dam Breaks In Bulgaria
• 2012/02/07: Wunderground: Harsh winter weather continues in Europe; rare snowstorm hits Libya
• 2012/02/06: al Jazeera: European winter blast
  The coldest weather of the winter so far has much of Europe in its grip, and the death toll continues to rise
• 2012/02/06: TP:JR: Is Climate Change Bringing the Arctic to Europe?
• 2012/02/06: EurActiv: Villagers scramble for fuel as Europe's big chill bites
  Hungarian villagers were scavenging for coal with their bare hands on Thursday (2 February) as a blast of Siberian air killed scores in Eastern Europe and looked set to keep its icy grip on the continent for days to come.
• 2012/02/06: EUO: Gas cuts: Germany, Italy and Romania still down

  A coup in the Maldives has deposed climate champion Mohamed Nasheed:

• 2012/02/10: al Jazeera: Ex-president threatens Maldives protests
  Mohamed Nasheed, who says he was ousted in a coup, threatens more street protests and demands snap elections.
• 2012/02/09: P3: Maldives President Deposed
• 2012/02/11: MLynas: How the Maldives coup was planned: explosive new video
• 2012/02/09: MLynas: 'They said, "we want to kill you... you will die today" '
• 2012/02/08: MLynas: Nasheed beaten up in Male' -- urgent appeal by Maldivian Democratic Party
• 2012/02/08: MLynas: Statement by British MP David Amess, Chair of All Party Parliamentary Group re: Coup in Maldives
• 2012/02/07: MLynas: MDP clarifies events leading to overthrow of Maldives government
• 2012/02/08: NewInt: Help President Nasheed of the Maldives!
• 2012/02/09: DemNow: Coup in Maldives: Adviser to Ousted Pres. Mohamed Nasheed Speaks Out from Hiding as Arrest Sought
• 2012/02/09: DemNow: Ousted Maldives Pres. Mohamed Nasheed a Leading Voice for Island States Threatened by Global Warming
• 2012/02/11: BBC: Maldives crisis: Commonwealth ministers to meet
  Commonwealth officials are to hold an urgent meeting to discuss a stand-off in the Maldives between President Mohammed Waheed Hassan and his predecessor, who resigned on Tuesday. A Commonwealth ministerial watchdog will convene within 24 hours. It has the power to suspend member states. Ex-president Mohamed Nasheed says he has been forced out in a coup.
• 2012/02/11: al Jazeera: Maldives president agrees to 'coup' probe
  New leader says he would submit to inquiry into allegations that former president was forced to resign at gunpoint.
• 2012/02/10: BBC: Maldives crisis: Defiant ex-leader Nasheed leads rally
  Defiant former Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed has led a street rally in Male, three days after what he says was a coup that forced him to resign. A crowd of several hundred people chanted "Long live Nasheed!" during the march after Friday prayers. There were no reports of violence. New President Mohammed Waheed Hassan Manik denies Mr Nasheed's coup claim.
• 2012/02/10: al Jazeera: UN delegation arrives amid Maldives unrest
  Former president Mohamed Nasheed awaits arrest as top UN envoy appeals to "all actors" to avoid violence.
• 2012/02/09: ABC(Au): Ousted Maldives president expects to be jailed
  The former president of the Maldives says he expects to be jailed after being ousted from his post earlier in the week in what he said was a coup at gunpoint. A criminal court in the capital Male has now issued arrest warrants for ousted president Mohamed Nasheed and his former defence minister, but the charges against them were unclear, a senior official of Nasheed's Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) said.
• 2012/02/09: BBC: Maldives issues arrest warrant for Mohamed Nasheed
  Crowds of supporters have gathered at the house of the former Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed, as a warrant was issued for his arrest.
• 2012/02/09: al Jazeera: Arrest warrant for former Maldives leader
  Former president Mohamed Nasheed says "tomorrow I will be in jail", as international concern grows and unrest spreads.
• 2012/02/08: PlanetJ: Maldivian President Nasheed overthrown
• 2012/02/08: Grist: World's most environmentally outspoken president forced to resign at gunpoint
• 2012/02/08: TreeHugger: Maldives' Climate Champion President Forced To Resign At Gunpoint
• 2012/02/09: ABC(Au): Ex-Maldives leader forced out 'at gunpoint'
  The former president of the Maldives, who stood down on Tuesday in the face of growing protests, now says he was forced out of power at gunpoint. After Mohamed Nasheed's resignation his replacement, former vice-president Mohamed Waseed Hassan Manik was quick to deny a coup had taken place, but Mr Nasheed's latest comments contradict this. "Yes, I was forced to resign at gunpoint," he told reporters after his party meeting a day after his resignation. "There were guns all around me and they told me they wouldn't hesitate to use them if I didn't resign."
• 2012/02/08: BBC: Maldives ex-president Mohamed Nasheed was 'forced out'
  Former Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed has said that he was forced to resign "at gunpoint" by police and army officers in a coup. He said the move was planned with the knowledge of vice president Mohammed Waheed Hassan, the man who has replaced him. Mr Hassan denies the claims.
• 2012/02/08: CBC: Supporters of former Maldives president riot
• 2012/02/08: al Jazeera: Thousands of Maldivians protest 'coup'
  Supporters of former president rally in Male after Mohamed Nasheed says he was forced to step down to avert bloodshed.
• 2012/02/07: al Jazeera: Maldives president quits after 'coup d'etat'
  Security forces threatened "bloodbath" if Mohamed Nasheed remained in power, his party says.
• 2012/02/07: BBC: New Maldives leader Waheed Hassan vows calm transition
  New Maldives President Mohammed Waheed Hassan has vowed to uphold the rule of law following the dramatic resignation of his predecessor Mohamed Nasheed. Mr Hassan said he intended to form a government of national unity, and confirmed presidential elections would go ahead in 2013 as planned. However, Mr Nasheed's Maldives Democratic Party (MDP) has accused the opposition of staging a coup.
• 2012/02/07: BBC: New Maldives leader Waheed Hassan vows calm transition
• 2012/02/07: Guardian(UK): Mohamed Nasheed's overthrow is a blow to the Maldives and democracy
  The deposed president is famous for his efforts to fight climate change, but his lifelong struggle has been for democracy -- and now I fear for his safety
• 2012/02/07: Grist: The world's most environmentally outspoken president steps down [Nasheed]
• 2012/02/07: al Jazeera: Maldives president 'resigns' amid protests
  Presidential office source says Mohamed Nasheed has quit, as police side with protesters and seize state television.

The Jacob et al. paper on glacier melt got wide coverage because it got a sceptical spin:

• 2012/02/08: Nature: (ab$) Recent contributions of glaciers and ice caps to sea level rise by Thomas Jacob et al.
• 2012/02/08: UColorado: CU-Boulder study shows global glaciers, ice caps shedding billions of tons of mass annually
• 2012/02/10: KSJT: Lots of Ink: Ice is melting. Some glaciers, mostly ice caps. Sea level's up. Did some media miss the point?
• 2012/02/10: Guardian(UK): What does new glacier data mean for the climate debate?
• 2012/02/09: Guardian(UK): What does the Himalaya glacier study mean for climate change? Live Q&A
• 2012/02/09: Guardian(UK): Are the world's glaciers threatened by climate change?
• 2012/02/09: ABC(Au): Himalaya melt not so fast after all
• 2012/02/09: PlanetArk: Scientists Melt Mystery Over Icecaps And Sea Levels
  U.S. scientists using satellite data have established a more accurate figure of the amount of annual sea level rise from melting glaciers and ice caps which should aid studies on how quickly coastal areas may flood as global warming gathers pace.
• 2012/02/08: TreeHugger: Last Decade's Ice Melt Would Flood the United States
• 2012/02/08: CSM: Ice caps not shrinking as much as once thought, new data show
  Through most of the last decade, mountain glaciers and ice caps around the globe collectively lost 148 billion tons of ice a year, according to new satellite measurements. Although significant, the rate is some 30 percent lower than previous studies have suggested, according to the scientists performing the analysis. Those losses, which do not include losses from thick ice sheets covering Greenland and Antarctica, contributed about 0.41 millimeters a year to sea-level rise, according to the study.
• 2012/02/08: CCP: NASA's GRACE Mission Takes Stock of Earth's Melting Land Ice
• 2012/02/08: Guardian(UK): The Himalayas and nearby peaks have lost no ice in past 10 years, study shows

  Still some noise about WSJ-16:

• 2012/02/09: CChallenge: No Need to Panic About AGW ~ important LINKS
• 2012/02/06: GESN: The WSJ 16's "usual techniques" of vague, disingenuous climate denial arguments
• 2012/02/05: GESN: Whacking Moles: A SmörgÃ¥sbord of Sanity About "The WSJ 16"
• 2012/02/06: ClassM: If you're reading the Wall Street Journal, you're part of the problem
• 2012/02/06: BBC: Climate consensus cracking open - or not
• 2012/02/05: ERabett: Simon Donner Retorts
• 2012/02/05: CChallenge: Regarding the Wall Street Journal's letter "No Need to Panic About Global Warming"

  Scientists studying the basis of the public relations biz?

• 2012/02/08: CJR: What Drives Public Opinion About Climate Change? Politicians, economy more influential than media coverage, study says
• 2012/02/06: TP:JR: "Exciting" Public Opinion Study Debunks Claim Al Gore Polarized the Climate Debate and Many Other Myths
  Public Opinion Driven Largely by Media Coverage and Cues from Politicians and Other Authorities. Obama's Silence Matters "Very Much."
• 2012/02/06: SpringerSelect: What drives public opinion on climate change?
  New study says political mobilization by elites and advocacy groups is driving factor in influencing concern about climate change
• 2012/02/06: TDC: It's the economy. And politics. And not much else
  Economics and political cues dictate climate change concern for a public that has a remarkably short attention span on the topic, researchers find. Extreme weather, science-based education efforts have 'only a minor effect.'

And on the Bottom Line:

• 2012/02/09: SEasterbrook: Green Revolving Funds
• 2012/02/07: BRitholtz: The Greedy Bastards Antidote to Rigged Energy
• 2012/02/07: TreeHugger: Unearthing the True Cost of Fossil Fuels

  Who's getting the subsidies, tax exemptions, loan guarantees & grants?

• 2012/02/07: OilChange: The big, the bad and the subsidized
• 2012/02/06: TP:JR: How Much Does the Energy Industry Get in Tax Breaks? A New Wiki May Help Us Find Out

  Delving into the laws of thermodynamics this week:

• 2012/02/12: TSoD: Potential Temperature
• 2012/02/08: TSoD: Density, Stability and Motion in Fluids
• 2012/02/07: ERabett: A Contest

  John Cook and friends continue their point-counterpoint articles:

• 2012/02/12: SkeptiSci: A prelude to the Arctic melting season by Neven
• 2012/02/11: SkeptiSci: The Year After McLean - A Review of 2011 Global Temperatures by dana1981
• 2012/02/10: SkeptiSci: NASA Mission Takes Stock of Earth's Melting Land Ice by John Hartz
• 2012/02/10: SkeptiSci: The real doping scandal: Weather on steroids by Tom Smerling
• 2012/02/09: SkeptiSci: [Book Review] _The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars_ by Michael Mann
• 2012/02/09: SkeptiSci: Michaels Misrepresents Nordhaus and Scientific Evidence in General by Alex C
• 2012/02/08: SkeptiSci: Volcanic Influence on the Little Ice Age by dana1981
• 2012/02/07: SkeptiSci: New research from last week 5/2012 by Ari Jokimäki
• 2012/02/07: SkeptiSci: Global Sea Level Rise: Pothole To Speed Bump? by Rob Painting
• 2012/02/06: SkeptiSci: Major Study of Ocean Acidification Helps Scientists Evaluate Effects of Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide on Marine Life by John Hartz

  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 sensationalism?
  Where do they rate on a scale of play-it-down-ness?
  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:

• 2012/02/12: ABC(Au): Thousands rally against nuclear power in Japan
  Thousands of people have demonstrated in Tokyo against nuclear power generation, 11 months after a massive earthquake and tsunami sparked reactor meltdowns at the Fukushima nuclear power plant. Kenzaburo Oe, the 1994 Nobel prize winner for literature, told a central rally at Yoyogi Park, "Radioactive waste from nuclear power plants will be borne by generations to come." "This must not be condoned by human beings. It is against ethics," the 77-year-old novelist said.
• 2012/02/11: EneNews: Famous Japanese artist produces controversial poster illustrating dangers of nuclear power (photo)
• 2012/02/11: EneNews: AP: Thousands march against nuclear power in Japan -- "This must not be condoned by human beings, it is against ethics" -Kenzaburo Oe at Tokyo rally
• 2012/02/11: al Jazeera: Japan considers green future after nuclear disaster
  In the long process of rebuilding after the triple disasters, the country should focus on renewable energy.
• 2012/02/09: PlanetArk: Japan Atomic Watchdog Postpones 1st Stress Test Approval
  [...]
  The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA) set no date for the review to be completed.
• 2012/02/09: CSM: Despite Fukushima disaster, anti-nuclear activists fight uphill battle in Japan
• 2012/02/07: WNN: Stabilisation after Fukushima cooling change
  Cooling of Fukushima Daiichi unit 2 has been upset by a change in injection rates, leading to a rise in temperature that Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) is working to gradually correct.
• 2012/02/08: Guardian(UK): Rising temperatures at Fukushima raise questions over stability of nuclear plant
  The amount of cooling water being injected into No 2 reactor is increased after temperature soars to over 73C
• 2012/02/07: APR: Fukushima Daiichi update
• 2012/02/05: TreeHugger: How Much Did Japan's Fukushima Disaster Harm Wildlife? Scientists Get Ready to Find Out
• 2012/02/06: EneNews: Asahi: TEPCO checking if "chain of nuclear fission has occurred again in melted fuel" at Reactor No. 2 after temperature rises sharply
• 2012/02/06: EneNews: Disbelief: Japan gov't 'discontinued' radiation monitoring program weeks after meltdowns -- Had been operating for over 50 years, a world record

  The Arctic melt continues to garner attention:

• 2012/02/08: CCP: NSIDC, Arctic Sea Ice Report...
• 2012/02/07: QuarkSoup: A Little More Ice Up Top
• 2012/02/06: ASI: Barentsz and Kara
• 2012/02/06: TCoE: Updated PIOMAS icefall chart

  Scheduling the USCG Healy:

• 2012/02/09: ScienceInsider: Icebreaker's Good Deed Creates Scheduling Headaches for Arctic Researchers
  In November, the U.S. Coast Guard icebreaker Healy helped deliver an emergency load of fuel oil to icebound Nome, Alaska. But the unplanned rescue is now wreaking havoc with scientists' plans to use the Healy for Arctic research this year -- forcing some teams to consider other options.

That Damoclean sword still hangs overhead:

• 2012/02/10: HuffPo: Methane in the Twilight Zone (Third Episode)
• 2012/02/10: GEB: January 2012 shows record levels of methane in the Arctic [1870 ppb.]
• 2012/02/07: EnergyBulletin: Methane hydrates: the next communication bomb in the climate change debate by Ugo Bardi

  As for the geopolitics of Arctic resources:

• 2012/02/11: al Jazeera: Greenland: Economics and arctic exploration
  Can the most sparsely inhabited place on earth begin to exploit the untold riches beneath its water and ice?
• 2012/02/08: EmbassyMag: US, Canada see continental bloc on Arctic Council -- Would create a counterpart to the current Scandinavian bloc
• 2012/02/09: PlanetArk: Norway To Expand Arctic Seabed Surveying
• 2012/02/: NorwegianArmedForces: Exercises - Cold Response 2012
  Exercise Cold Response is carried out in the counties of Nordland and Troms from the 12th to the 21st of March. Cold Response is a Norwegian led winter exercise. The main purpose of this year's winter exercise is to rehearse high intensity operations in winter conditions within NATO with a UN mandate.
• 2012/02/09: VoR: NATO tests its forces in Arctic
• 2012/02/09: GRC: NATO's, Pentagon's New Strategic Battleground: The Arctic
• 2012/02/08: CBC: Arctic warfare computer game to be released
• 2012/02/06: OilChange: Arctic "should remain off-limits to drilling"

  While in Antarctica:

• 2012/02/09: KSJT: AP, etc: It's official -- Russians drill into Lake Vostok. No liquid sample taken. But a frozen core awaits
• 2012/02/08: NatureNB: Lake Vostok drilling success confirmed
• 2012/02/08: ScienceInsider: Russians Drill Into Subglacial Antarctic Lake Vostok
• 2012/02/07: NatureNB: 'Too soon' to confirm success of Antarctic lake drilling
• 2012/02/07: NatureN: 'Too soon' to confirm success of Antarctic lake drilling -- Lake Vostok project leader says more analysis needed to verify lake has been reached
• 2012/02/07: Eureka: Earth: Unearthing Antarctica's mysterious mountains
• 2012/02/06: Guardian(UK): Russian scientists drill into Antarctic lake sealed off for 15 million years
• 2012/02/06: KSJT: Ria Novosti, BBC, etc: The race to the bottom -- or, Lake Vostok is not the only game way, way down south. Berserk press gets the story.
• 2012/02/06: NatureNB: Russian newswire reports ancient Antarctic lake drilling success
• 2012/02/06: SciAm:LU: Lake Vostok is (Almost) Breached After 20 Million Years
• 2012/02/06: BBC: Race to drill into Antarctic Lake Vostok

  The food crisis is ongoing:

• 2012/02/08: FAO: High levels of food insecurity in South Sudan -- FAO-WFP report says poor harvests, price hikes, conflict, displacement worsen hunger
• 2012/02/06: AlterNet: The Dark Side of Chocolate: What Our Love Affair With Cocoa Means for the World
• 2012/02/11: al Jazeera: Processed food and coronary capitalism
  The food industry is characterised by market failures that pass external costs on to consumers and to society.
• 2012/02/10: BBC: Overfishing 'costs EU £2.7bn each year'
  Overfishing of EU fisheries is costing £2.7bn (3.2bn euros) a year and 100,000 jobs, a report has said.
• 2012/02/09: ProMedMail: Leaf & stripe rusts, wheat - UK: new strains

  Food Prices are rising again:

• FAO: World Food Situation - Food Price Indices
• 2012/02/09: UN: Global food prices rebound for first time in six months - UN
• 2012/02/09: FAO: FAO Food Price Index rebounds in January -- First increase in six months

  Regarding the genetic modification of food:

• 2012/02/10: TreeHugger: Genetically Modified Crop Cultivation Rising Around The World
• 2012/02/10: ISAAA: Global Status of Commercialized Biotech/GM Crops: 2011 -- Executive Summary
• 2012/02/09: NBF: Biotech crops reach 160 million hectares and can help double food production and keep food affordable for the poor
• 2012/02/08: EurActiv: Report shows strong growth in GM crops
  The United States remained the primary backer of biotech crop technology in 2011, but adoption spread internationally as the total global planted area of genetically modified seeds grew 8% from a year ago, a new report says.
• 2012/02/07: SciAm: Plantings of Biotech Crops Grew Globally in 2011
  The United States remained the primary backer of biotech crop technology in 2011, but adoption spread internationally as the total global planted area of genetically modified seeds grew 8 percent from a year ago, according to a report issued Tuesday.
• 2012/02/08: Guardian(UK): Campaigners clash over industry claims of rise in GM crops
  NGOs accuse industry body of inflating claims that the acreage of biotech crops grew by 8% in 2011
• 2012/01/04: UCSUSA: Eight Ways Monsanto Fails at Sustainable Agriculture
• 2012/02/07: UCSUSA: Union of Concerned Scientists Gives Monsanto an 'F' in Sustainable Agriculture
• 2012/02/06: al Jazeera: The seed emergency: The threat to food and democracy
  Patenting seeds has led to a farming and food crisis - and huge profits for US biotechnology corporations.

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

• 2012/02/09: ISU: 5-10 percent corn yield jump using erosion-slowing cover crops shown in ISU study
• 2012/02/06: BBerg: Farmers Can Grow Food for All, as Long as Ecosystems Hold
• 2012/02/06: Guardian(UK): How £50m in UN food aid for starving went to buy wheat from Glencore
• 2012/02/07: Stoat: Grauniad hangwringing
• 2012/02/07: BBerg: Farmers Plan Biggest Crops Since 1984
  U.S. farmers will plant the most acres in a generation this year, led by the biggest corn crop since World War II, taking advantage of the highest agricultural prices in at least four decades. They will sow corn, soybeans and wheat on 226.9 million acres, the most since 1984, a Bloomberg survey of 36 farmers, bankers and analysts showed. The 2.5 percent gain means an expansion the size of New Jersey, as growers target fields left fallow last year and land freed up from conservation programs. Crop prices, some of which reached the highest averages ever in 2011, bolstered the economies of Midwest growing states, sent net farm income up 28 percent to $100.9 billion and pushed the value of farmland to a record $2,350 an acre, the U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates. Global food costs are down 11 percent from a peak a year ago as grain output rises from China to Canada, United Nations data show.

In the South Indian Ocean, Cyclone Giovanna stalks toward Madagascar:

• 2012/02/12: al Jazeera: Madagascar braces for its next cyclone -- Tropical Cyclone Giovanna has brought transport to a halt in Mauritius
• 2012/02/10: NASA: NASA Sees Giovanna Reach Cyclone Strength, Threaten Madagascar
• 2012/02/09: NASA: NASA Sees Tropical Storm 12S as a Threat to Madagascar

  In the Southern Pacific, Jasmine and Cyril made life rough for island folks:

• 2012/02/08: ABC(Au): Cyclone Jasmine battering Vanuatu's south
• 2012/02/07: NASA: Tropical Storm Cyril [formerly 11P] (Southern Pacific Ocean) -- NASA Satellite Sees Tropical Storm Cyril a Strong, Compact Storm
• 2012/02/07: NASA: Tropical Cyclone Jasmine (South Pacific Ocean) -- NASA Sees Cyclone Jasmine's Power and New Eye
• 2012/02/06: NASA: Tropical Storm 11P (Southern Pacific Ocean) -- NASA's Aqua Satellite Sees Small New Tropical Storm Near Tonga
• 2012/02/07: ABC(Au): [Cat 2] Cyclone Jasmine bears down on Vanuatu
• 2012/02/06: ABC(Au): Cyclone Jasmine moves away from Qld coast
  Calm conditions have returned to far north Queensland, with Tropical Cyclone Jasmine continuing to move east in the Coral Sea towards Vanuatu.

And in the Gulf of Mexico, an out of season oddball numbered storm hassled Florida:

• 2012/02/07: NASA: System 90L (Atlantic Ocean/Gulf of Mexico) -- Former Suspect Subtropical Weather System Now In Atlantic Ocean
• 2012/02/06: Wunderground: Rare February tropical disturbance drenching the Florida Keys

  While elsewhere in the hurricane wars:

• 2012/02/08: UTexas: Upgrading the Hurricane Forecast
  TACC's Ranger supercomputer helps researchers predict storm intensity with greater accuracy

As for GHGs:

• 2012/02/10: Grist: A new way of measuring carbon emissions that doesn't let rich people cheat
• 2012/02/08: TP:JR: High Methane Emissions Measured Over Gas Field "May Offset Climate Benefits of Natural Gas"
• 2012/02/08: CAbyss: Three Simple Facts About Carbon Dioxide
• 2012/02/08: PlanetArk: Cold Weather Drives UK Emissions Up 3.1 Percent In 2010
• 2012/02/07: Guardian(UK): UK emissions rose 3.1% as economy recovered in 2010
• 2012/02/07: Guardian(UK): Leaping UK carbon emissions deliver two red-hot lessons
• 2012/02/07: NatureN: Air sampling reveals high emissions from gas field -- Methane leaks during production may offset climate benefits of natural gas
• 2012/02/03: SciAm: China Greenhouse Gas Emissions Set to Rise Well Past U.S.
  Focus on China's clean energy work comes as Washington prepares for a visit later this month from Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping, who is expected to succeed President Hu Jintao By 2015, China will emit nearly 50 percent more greenhouse gases than the United States, a top Chinese energy researcher said yesterday.

As for the temperature record:

• 2012/02/12: moyhu: January 2012 TempLS down 0.14°C
• 2012/02/08: Wunderground: Fourth warmest January on record for the U.S.
• 2012/02/07: moyhu: A study of GHCN V3 homogeneity adjustments
• 2012/02/07: NOAANews: January 2012 the fourth warmest for the contiguous United States -- Locations across Alaska record cold for the month

  While on the ENSO front:

• 2012/02/09: NOAA:NCEP: El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) Diagnostic Discussion
  Synopsis: La Niña is likely to transition to ENSO-neutral conditions during March-May 2012.
• 2012/02/10: WMO: El Niño/La Niña Update
  Current Situation and Outlook
  La Niña conditions in the tropical Pacific have been at weak to moderate levels since around October 2011. Model forecasts and expert interpretation suggest that the La Niña is near its maximum strength and hence is likely to slowly decline over the coming months. However, beyond May, there is some uncertainty over the expected state of the Pacific Ocean, with no particular preference for El Niño, La Niña or neutral conditions.

Regarding the solar hypothesis:

• 2012/02/05: TP:JR: NASA: Human Activity, Not Solar Activity, Drives Global Warming and Returning to 350 ppm Is Needed to Stop It
• 2012/02/06: Stoat: A testable prediction by a nutter

  Regarding the cosmic ray hypothesis:

• 2012/02/09: ABC(Au): Linking cosmic rays to climate change

  And the State of the Oceans:

• 2012/02/11: ABC(Au): Hundreds of dead dolphins wash ashore
  At least 264 dead bottlenose dolphins have washed ashore over the past three days on Peru's northern coast, officials said, as they seek to discover what killed the marine animals.

What's new in proxies?

• 2012/02/05: Eureka: Tree rings may underestimate climate response to volcanic eruptions
• 2012/02/06: RealClimate: Global Temperatures, Volcanic Eruptions, and Trees that Didn't Bark

  Meanwhile in near earth orbit:

• 2012/02/11: DM:BA: An ear to the ocean
• 2012/02/09: NOAANews: New satellite instrument for improved weather forecasts put into service
  Commissioning of all instrumentation on America's new Suomi NPP satellite nearly complete A powerful instrument designed to give scientists more refined information about Earth's atmosphere and improve weather and climate forecasts is now active and sending its first data back to Earth from America's newest polar-orbiting satellite. The Cross-track Infrared Sounder (CrIS) will produce high resolution, three-dimensional temperature, atmospheric pressure, and moisture profiles that will be used in NOAA's weather prediction computer models to forecast severe weather days in advance. Over longer timescales this information will also help scientists understand climate phenomena such as El Niño and La Niña.
• 2012/02/08: CCP: NASA's GRACE Mission Takes Stock of Earth's Melting Land Ice

  More GW impacts are being seen:

• 2012/02/09: UN: UN-backed marine expedition highlights impact of climate change in oceans
• 2012/02/11: TreeHugger: Oldest Living Thing [Mediterranean SeaGrass] Threatened By Climate Change
• 2012/02/11: SwissInfo: Oceans could run out of oxygen
  Global warming could lead to more of the world's oceans becoming "dead zones" -- where a lack of oxygen leads to marine life dying out.
• 2012/02/10: Wunderground: My worst global warming fear: buckeyes in Ann Arbor
• 2012/02/11: CCP: Wandering albatross gets boost from rising winds
• 2012/02/07: TechSpot: HDD Pricewatch: Three Months Into the Thai Floods
• 2012/02/07: TreeHugger: Mild Buenos Aires Climate of the Fertile Pampas Turning Tropical

  And then there are the world's forests:

• 2012/02/09: NatureN: Humans implicated in Africa's deforestation
  Climate change alone cannot explain abrupt loss of rainforest 3,000 years ago, study suggests.
• 2012/02/09: SciNow: Are Humans to Blame for Africa's Lost Rainforests?
• 2012/02/10: Tamino: Pine beetles and fire hazard in the Black Hills
• 2012/02/06: ABC(Au): Green groups claim evidence of old growth logging
• 2012/02/06: BBC: In pictures: Making charcoal from Liberian rubber trees

  This week in the New Normal -- extreme weather:

• 2012/02/07: TP:JR: Meteorologist [Dr. Jeff] Masters: "The Climate Has Shifted to a New State Capable of Delivering Rare & Unprecedented Weather Events"
• 2012/02/06: GESN: "the climate has shifted to a new state" ...
• 2012/02/06: ABC(Au): Tree rings show extreme weather on the rise

  Corals are a bellwether of the ocean's health:

• 2012/02/08: BBC: Corals inflate to escape being buried alive in sand
  Coral might appear solid and inanimate, but surprising new footage of a mushroom coral inflating itself to escape a sandy burial has brought the organism to life. A scientist from the University of Queensland used timelapse photography to capture the footage.

As for hydrological cycle disruptions [floods & droughts]:

• 2012/02/11: ABC(Au): Queensland flood victims struggling to cope
• 2012/02/12: ABC(Au): Troubled waters
  Twelve months ago, much of Victoria was awash and at the mercy of record floodwaters that caused an estimated $2 billion in damage. Hardest hit was the northern floodplain, bordering the Murray River near Kerang. It took four months for the water to recede in some places.
• 2012/02/09: ABC(Au): Queensland flood clean-up gathers pace [pix]
• 2012/02/06: QuarkSoup: What Is the Texas Drought Telling Us?
• 2012/02/07: Bundanga: No More Normal - Australia's Big Wet and Long Term Dry
• 2012/02/07: ABC(Au): Queenslanders again counting the cost from floods
• 2012/02/07: ABC(Au): St George saved by levee
• 2012/02/07: PlanetArk: Australian Floods Force Thousands From Their Homes
• 2012/02/05: SciAm: Australian Floods Force Thousands from their Homes
  Thousands of Australians were forced from their homes on Monday because of floods that have risen to record levels in some areas and killed one person, and authorities issued warnings for more than a dozen rivers in Queensland and New South Wales states.
• 2012/02/07: ABC(Au): Flooded NSW towns face weeks of isolation
  Thousands of people in northern New South Wales are facing weeks of isolation, as record floodwaters from Queensland cross the border into already swollen waterways.
• 2012/02/06: CNN: Australian authorities urge residents of Queensland town to flee floods
  The Balonne River in the town of St. George reaches record level and is expected to rise further - The authorities urge hundreds of residents still in the town to leave their homes - Thirty houses have already been submerged in St. George - The authorities have been airlifting thousands of residents to safety across Queensland
• 2012/02/06: ABC(Au): Queensland towns brace for record flooding
• 2012/02/06: ABC(Au): St George on 'knife's edge' as flood peak nears
  The fate of St George, in Queensland's southern inland, rests on a makeshift flood levee constructed by desperate locals to stave off rising floodwaters. Thousands of residents were forced to evacuate the town on the back of predictions the Balonne River would reach 15 metres, but authorities now believe it will peak just above 14 metres early today.
• 2012/02/05: BBC: Thousands evacuated from Queensland flooding
  Floods continues to threaten Queensland in eastern Australia, with the town of St George expected to be worst hit.

Elsewhere on the mitigation front:

• 2012/02/09: Grist: Sorry, we still don't know if biochar can save our asses

  Consider transportation & GHG production:

• 2012/02/10: Grist: Glamour trip: Real snobs don't ride the subway
• 2012/02/06: GEA: Huge Plunge In [US] Petroleum and Gasoline Usage
• 2012/02/10: ZeroHedge: Why Is Gasoline Consumption Tanking?
  [...]
  Retail gasoline deliveries, already well below 1980 levels, have absolutely fallen off a cliff.
  [...]
  For example, deliveries jumped from 50.1 million gallons per day (MGD) in November 1983, when the nation was emerging from the deepest postwar recession then on record, to 58 MGD the following November (1984). Deliveries steadily rose to a peak of 67.1 MGD in July 1998, declined marginally in the 2001-2 recession and then surged to 66.8 MGD in August 2003. If we just look at one month--say November--then we see that deliveries remained in a remarkably consistent channel from 1994 to 2008, between 54 MGD and 63 MGD, with the higher numbers occuring in the "peak bubble years" of 1998 and 2003. In 2010, gasoline deliveries declined to the low 40s--literally falling off the charts. In November 1983, deliveries were 51.1 MGD; in November 2010, they were 42.8 MGD, and in November 2011 they were 30.9 MGD.
• 2012/02/09: PEF: Air travel and carbon footprint
• 2012/02/10: GEA: Petroleum 3-Month Rolling Average Turns Sharply Lower; Negative Shipping Rates; Collapse in Global Trade
• 2012/02/09: Grist: Me against the world: The trouble with travel and the climate

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

• 2012/02/10: TP:JR: Green Homes Made Up 17% of U.S. Residential Construction Market in 2011, Expected to Grow 5-Fold by 2016
• 2012/02/10: TreeHugger: Is Sustainable Home Construction Booming? It Depends Who You Calling Sustainable
• 2012/02/07: Grist: Why buildings haven't gotten more efficient in 20 years

  As for carbon sequestration:

• 2012/02/08: EurActiv: Carbon capture to net E1bn of infrastructure funds
  Experimental technology to capture, store and bury carbon emissions in geological formations is in line to receive a payout of as much as E1.37 billion from the EU's energy infrastructure package, EurActiv has learned.
• 2012/02/06: GEP: First Soil Carbon Methodology Approved

  Large scale geo-engineering keeps popping up:

• 2012/02/10: Grist: Tar sands magnate, Bill Gates stump for geoengineering
• 2012/02/09: Guardian(UK): [Letters] At war over geoengineering
• 2012/02/09: TreeHugger: Geoengineering is a Technical Fix for a Political Problem
• 2012/02/06: TreeHugger: Geoengineering Virus Infecting Gates Foundation?
• 2012/02/06: Guardian(UK): Could an artificial volcano cool the planet by dimming the sun?
• 2012/02/06: Guardian(UK): Bill Gates backs climate scientists lobbying for large-scale geoengineering
  Other wealthy individuals have also funded a series of reports into the future use of technologies to geoengineer the climate

While on the adaptation front:

• 2012/02/10: Wunderground:RR: Using Predictions to Plan: Case Study -- La Nina and the Missouri River (2)

  Meanwhile in the journals:

• 2012/02/06: ESDD: On the relationship between metrics to compare greenhouse gases - the case of IGTP, GWP and SGTP by C. Azar & D. J. A. Johansson
• 2012/02/06: ESDD: The influence of vegetation on the ITCZ and South Asian Monsoon in HadCM3 by M. P. McCarthy et al.
• 2012/02/09: CP: Inferences on weather extremes and weather-related disasters: a review of statistical methods by H. Visser & A. C. Petersen
• 2012/02/09: CP: Glacial CO2 cycle as a succession of key physical and biogeochemical processes by V. Brovkin et al.
• 2012/02/06: CPD: Early and mid-Holocene climate in the tropical Pacific: seasonal cycle and interannual variability induced by insolation changes by Y. Luan et al.
• 2012/02/08: RSPB: (ab$) Why are there so few fish in the sea? by Greta Carrete Vega & John J. Wiens
• 2012/02/07: NERC:NORA: Economic value of improved quantification in global sources and sinks of carbon dioxide by A.J. Durant et al.
• 2012/02/10: ACP: Mean winds, temperatures and the 16- and 5-day planetary waves in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere over Bear Lake Observatory (42° N, 111° W) by K. A. Day et al.
• 2012/02/08: GMDD: Land surface Verification Toolkit (LVT) -- a generalized framework for land surface model evaluation by S. V. Kumar et al.
• 2012/02/08: OS: Impact of combining GRACE and GOCE gravity data on ocean circulation estimates by T. Janjic' et al.
• 2012/02/10: OSD: Interannual response of global ocean hindcasts to a satellite-based correction of precipitation fluxes by A. Storto et al.
• 2012/02/09: OSD: Oil spills prediction in the Bonifacio strait area, western Mediterranean by A. Cucco et al.
• 2012/02/10: TCD: Inferring snow pack ripening and melt out from distributed ground surface temperature measurements by M.-O. Schmid et al.
• 2012/02/09: Science: (ab$) Intensifying Weathering and Land Use in Iron Age Central Africa by Germain Bayon et al.
• 2012/02/09: ACP: Observation and modelling of OH and HO2 concentrations in the Pearl River Delta 2006: a missing OH source in a VOC rich atmosphere by K. D. Lu et al.
• 2012/02/09: ACP: Atmospheric greenhouse gases retrieved from SCIAMACHY: comparison to ground-based FTS measurements and model results by O. Schneising et al.
• 2012/02/08: ACP: Air pollution control and decreasing new particle formation lead to strong climate warming by R. Makkonen et al.
• 2012/02/07: ACP: Modeling the climate impact of road transport, maritime shipping and aviation over the period 1860-2100 with an AOGCM by D. J. L. Olivié et al.
• 2012/02/08: ACPD: Enhanced cold-season warming in semi-arid regions by J. Huang et al.
• 2012/02/08: ACPD: Anthropogenic and forest fire pollution aerosol transported to the Arctic: observations from the POLARCAT-France spring campaign by B. Quennehen et al.
• 2012/02/06: ACPD: Determinants and predictability of global wildfire emissions by W. Knorr et al.
• 2012/02/08: Nature: (ab$) Recent contributions of glaciers and ice caps to sea level rise by Thomas Jacob et al.
• 2012/02/08: ACS:NanoLetters: (ab$) Singlet Exciton Fission in Nanostructured Organic Solar Cells by Priya J. Jadhav et al.
• 2012/02/07: PNAS: (ab$) A novel lineage of myoviruses infecting cyanobacteria is widespread in the oceans by Gazalah Sabehi et al.
• 2012/02/07: PNAS: (abs) Highly localized sensitivity to climate forcing drives endemic cholera in a megacity by Robert C. Reiner, Jr. et al.
• 2012/02/07: PNAS: (abs) Predictable and efficient carbon sequestration in the North Pacific Ocean supported by symbiotic nitrogen fixation by David M. Karl et al.
• 2012/02/07: PNAS: (ab$) Uranyl peroxide enhanced nuclear fuel corrosion in seawater by Christopher R. Armstrong et al.
• 2012/02/07: PNAS: (ab$) Comparative metatranscriptomics identifies molecular bases for the physiological responses of phytoplankton to varying iron availability by Adrian Marchetti et al.
• 2012/02/07: PNAS: (letter$) Reply to Wiersma and Nudds: Despite constraints, our approach still best available by Sandra Pompa et al.
• 2012/02/07: PNAS: (letter$) Percentage conservation targets are problematic for marine mammals by Yolanda F. Wiersma & Thomas D. Nudds
• 2012/02/07: TCD: Multi-decadal marine and land-terminating glacier recession in the Ammassalik region, Southeast Greenland by S. H. Mernild et al.
• 2012/03/: RSTB: (ab$) The Polynesian gene pool: an early contribution by Amerindians to Easter Island by Erik Thorsby
• 2012/02/06: AGWObserver: New research from last week 5/2012
• 2012/02/03: Springer:CC: (ab$) Shifting public opinion on climate change: an empirical assessment of factors influencing concern over climate change in the U.S., 2002-2010 by Robert J. Brulle et al.
• 2012/02/05: NatureCC: (ab$) Multi-centennial tree-ring record of ENSO-related activity in New Zealand by Anthony M. Fowler et al.
• 2012/02/05: Nature:GeoSci: (ab$) Underestimation of volcanic cooling in tree-ring-based reconstructions of hemispheric temperatures by Michael E. Mann et al.

  And other significant documents:

• 2012/02/06: PI: [link to 372k pdf] Making Tracks to Torontonians 2012 -- An analysis of today's transit options for Toronto

  As for miscellaneous science:

• 2012/02/10: QD: Peer Review: A Cornerstone of Science
• 2012/02/10: GreenGrok: Has the Earth's Missing Heat Been Found?
• 2012/02/10: SciAm:Obs: Farmers May Have Kicked Off Local Climate Change 3,500 Years Ago
• 2012/02/08: RealClimate: 2011 Updates to model-data comparisons
• 2012/02/07: Tamino: Trend and Uncertainty
• 2012/02/06: JEB: Our bodies are merging
• 2012/02/05: Eureka: Land-cover changes do not impact glacier loss

  What developments in the ongoing struggle for Free/Open Science?

• 2012/02/10: ScienceInsider: Lawmakers Reintroduce Public Access Bill
• 2012/02/09: NatureN: Elsevier boycott gathers pace -- Rebel academics ponder how to break free of commercial publishers

  Regarding Abraham:

• 2012/02/10: P3: John Abraham
• 2012/02/10: PSinclair: John Abraham: Science, Civility and Courage Baffle Monckton's Minions

  Regarding Mclean:

• 2012/02/11: P3: If She Weighs the Same as a Duck, Redux
• 2012/02/11: SkeptiSci: The Year After McLean - A Review of 2011 Global Temperatures by dana1981

  There is a steady dribble of Rio+20 Conference news:

• 2012/02/09: Guardian(UK): Rio+20 shows little sign of living up to original Earth summit [Pearce]
• 2012/02/10: EnergyBulletin: Planning for the Rio+20 Conference: Enter the Commons?
• 2012/02/09: Guardian(UK): Set greener goals at Rio+20: [UK Environment Secretary] Caroline Spelman
• 2012/02/08: EurActiv: EU environment chief vows 'concrete results' at Rio+20
  Environment Commissioner Janez Potocenik said yesterday (7 February) that the EU would push for firm international commitments on sustainable growth at an upcoming UN conference in Rio de Janeiro, saying "a day will not pass by" without the EU pressing for action.
• 2012/02/06: Guardian(UK): Use Rio+20 to overhaul idea of growth, urges EU climate chief, Connie Hedegaard
• 2012/02/06: TreeHugger: Rio+20 Must Rethink 'Economic Growth Is Always Good' Paradigm

  While at the UN:

• 2012/02/09: UN: UN wraps up year of forests by highlighting their social and economic value

  The Fifth IPCC report is coming up:

• 2012/02/12: ERabett: Hammer
• 2012/02/09: ERabett: Law Blogging
• 2012/02/08: JEB: IPCC First-Order-Draft

  And on the carbon trading front:

• 2012/02/08: EUO: German CEO: EU carbon exchange is 'dead'
• 2012/02/06: BBerg: ICE's Peniket Says Will Probably Bid for Interim EU CO2 Platform
  ICE (ICE) Futures Europe, the biggest exchange for greenhouse gas trading, and European Energy Exchange AG in Germany will battle to provide platforms selling carbon allowances to airlines and other emitters.

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

• 2012/02/09: EUO: Financial transactions tax: No surrogates, please
  Since economist James Tobin launched the idea in 1972, we have never been closer to the implementation of a financial transaction tax (FTT). However, we risk getting a tax with its name, but only few of the characteristics which make it a tool for equity and sustainable development. Only the original can help to cure an ailing financial system, not a stripped down surrogate.
• 2012/02/08: EurActiv: Nine countries push for financial transaction tax
  Nine EU countries have asked the Danish presidency to put the financial transaction tax (FTT) on the 27-country bloc's agenda without delay, the French government announced in a statement yesterday (7 February).
• 2012/02/08: EUO: Nine EU countries form splinter group on financial tax
  A group of nine euro-countries led by France and Germany on Tuesday (7 February) asked the Danish EU presidency to fast-track plans for a financial transactions tax - a move indicating they will forge ahead on their own in the absence of an EU-wide consensus.

On the international political front, tensions continue to rise as the USA & Israel threaten Iran:

• 2012/02/08: BBC: India and Iran reach oil pay deal despite sanctions
  India has reached an agreement with Iran on how to continue paying for its crude oil imports, as US-led sanctions against Iran are tightened. India will pay 45% into Indian bank accounts opened by Iran and invest in Iranian infrastructure.
• 2012/02/06: Guardian(UK): Iran oil exports: where do they go?

  While in the solar panel trade war between China and the USA:

• 2012/02/09: TP:JR: What Does the Solar Trade Dispute Mean? Shining a Light on U.S.-China Clean Energy Cooperation

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

• 2012/02/09: PlanetArk: Airlines Seek Swift End To Row Over EU CO2 Scheme
  British Airways, Qantas and other airlines are calling on governments to find a swift resolution to a political dispute over the European Union's carbon scheme, because the deadlock may create competitive distortions. Since the start of 2012, EU law obliges all airlines using EU airports to be included in the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS), the 27-nation bloc's main policy to fight global warming as it caps emissions on over 11,000 power and industrial plants. But the scheme, which now puts the cost of carbon on an airline's balance sheet potentially pumping up fares, has drawn ire from major foreign emitters such China and the United States.
• 2012/02/06: DerSpiegel: Emissions Scheme Dispute -- China Bans Airlines from Paying EU Carbon Tax
  China said on Monday it was forbidding its airlines from joining a European Union carbon emissions scheme to protect the climate. The companies now face fines or may even be barred from landing at EU airports. The dispute comes as the EU is looking to China to help tackle the euro debt crisis.
• 2012/02/07: EurActiv: EU says it won't back down in airline emissions row
  The European Commission stood by its position in an ongoing dispute with China over plans to charge airlines flying to Europe for their carbon emissions, raising the stakes ahead of an EU-China summit in Beijing next week.
• 2012/02/07: EUO: EU refuses to back down on emissions legislation
• 2012/02/07: PlanetArk: Opponents Of EU Airline CO2 Scheme To Meet In Moscow
  A group of 26 countries vehemently opposed to the EU's aviation emissions trading scheme will meet in Moscow on February 21 to discuss a plan of action, EU and Indian sources told Reuters on Monday. The governments, which include Russia, India, China and the U.S., claim an EU law forcing all airlines touching down or taking off within the bloc to pay for their CO2 emissions from last month is discriminatory and illegal, and some are prohibiting their carriers from complying. They argue the scheme violates the Chicago Convention on international aviation as well as some provisions under the World Trade Organisation.
• 2012/02/06: Guardian(UK): China bans its airlines from paying EU carbon tax
  Beijing hardens line against European Union emissions levy that is also opposed by the US and India
• 2012/02/06: EUO: China confronts EU on aviation tax
• 2012/02/05: WaPo: China bars its airlines from paying EU carbon tax, ratcheting up global dispute
• 2012/02/06: PlanetArk: China Bans Airlines From Joining EU Emissions Scheme
• 2012/02/05: BBC: China 'bans' airlines from joining EU carbon tax scheme
  China has "banned" all airlines in the country from joining the European Union's Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) aimed at cutting carbon emissions. The authorities have also barred the airlines from increasing their fares or adding new charges for the scheme. The ban comes just weeks after the China Air Transport Association said its members did not support the ETS. The scheme, implemented from 1 January, levies a charge on flights in EU airspace based on carbon emissions.

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

• 2012/02/12: Guardian(UK): Briton recalls the night Italian police beat up G8 protesters
• 2012/02/11: G&M: Ottawa's new anti-terrorism strategy lists eco-extremists as threats

  What are the activists up to?

• 2012/02/07: Grist: The great carbon bubble: Why the fossil-fuel industry fights so hard [McKibben]

  Polls! We have polls!

• 2012/02/06: EurActiv: Poll reveals wide support for EU grid action
  A survey of European stakeholders has found overwhelming support for giving priority, funds and planning waivers to allow the speedy construction of European grid infrastructure.
• 2012/02/06: 350orBust: Canadians to PM Harper: No Enbridge Pipeline
• 2012/02/06: PostMedia: Canadians oppose fracking, study finds -- Majority support moratorium

  Regarding Water Politics and Business:

• 2012/02/11: JFleck: Bureau of Reclamation and water in the rivers
• 2012/02/06: BBerg: Peak Water: The Rise and Fall of Cheap, Clean H2O

  So what's new on the education front?

• 2012/02/11: CCurrents: Teaching Climate Change To School Children

  And on the American political front:

• 2012/02/10: BBickmore: Wagging the Dog
• 2012/02/10: TheHill:e2W: Evangelical group holds firm on 'pro-life' link to EPA rule
  A green evangelical group won't bow to conservative anti-abortion-rights leaders or Republicans who are pressuring them to stop casting support for new EPA pollution rules as a "pro-life" position. The Environmental Evangelical Network (EEN) is under attack from the religious right over its campaign in favor of EPA's new restrictions on mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants -- rules the EEN calls vital to protecting the health of the unborn. Alexei Laushkin, an EEN spokesman, said in an interview Thursday that the group won't back off the way it frames support for the rules issued late last year.
• 2012/02/10: TP:JR: Congressman [Rep. Cory Gardner (R-Col)] Says Defunding Climate Science is a Priority for GOP
• 2012/02/07: GreenGrok: A Look at Our Energy Outlook
• 2012/02/09: Grist: Florida missed out on $41 million a year by turning down high-speed rail
• 2012/02/07: CSM: Green Big Brother? Why the backlash against environmentalism has grown
• 2012/02/08: AlterNet: I'm on Food Stamps: My Shame and Pride in Signing up for the Most Stigmatized Benefit
• 2012/02/08: AlterNet: 5 Amazing Places in the US in Danger of Being Destroyed by Dirty Energy
• 2012/02/07: PlanetArk: Eyeing Greener Acres, New Farmers Reap Growing U.S. Aid
• 2012/02/06: TP:JR: States Sue to Block Smog-Pollution Rules to Help Polluters Avoid Cleanup Costs
• 2012/02/06: TP:JR: How Much Does the Energy Industry Get in Tax Breaks? A New Wiki May Help Us Find Out

  The BP disaster continues to twist US politics:

• 2012/02/08: PlanetArk: BP Squares Up For Oil Spill Lawsuits
• 2012/02/07: TP:JR: BP Made $3 Million An Hour In 2011, While Spill Victims Continued To Suffer
• 2012/02/06: Grist: The Gulf of Mexico's seven-year oil spill

  The 2012 clown show rolls along:

• 2012/02/11: Guardian(UK): Maine caucuses: Ron Paul seeks new upset against Mitt Romney
• 2012/02/11: BBC: Mitt Romney narrowly wins Maine Republican caucuses [Romney 39%, Paul 36%]
• 2012/02/10: Wonkette: Newt's Campaign Is Broke And Staying That Way
• 2012/02/10: P3: Santor*m
• 2012/02/10: Grist: Glamour trip: Real snobs don't ride the subway
• 2012/02/11: AlterNet: At CPAC, Santorum Surges Despite Idiotic Claims; Romney Poses as 'Severe' Conservative; Gingrich Makes War on GOP
• 2012/02/10: Guardian(UK): Election 2012: the return of 'culture wars'
• 2012/02/10: Grist: Santorum warns of "reign of environmental terror"
• 2012/02/09: Guardian(UK): Can Roseanne Barr help the Green party break out?
  Largely stalled since Ralph Nader's controversial run in 2000, the Greens must find a way through America's two-party system
• 2012/02/09: TP: Santorum: Obama Has Put America On 'The Path' Of Executing Religious People By Decapitation
• 2012/02/09: TP:JR: Romney Mixes up Solyndra and Keystone Pipeline at Campaign Rally
• 2012/02/08: Grist: Rick Santorum is literally the worst
• 2012/02/08: DemNow: As Contraceptives Rule Enters GOP Race, Will Reproductive Rights Affect 2012 Election?
• 2012/02/08: DeSmogBlog: Santorum Calls Global Warming a "Hoax," Suggesting a Full-Fledged Climate Conspiracy Theory
• 2012/02/08: BBC: Santorum hat-trick in Minnesota, Colorado and Missouri
• 2012/02/08: AlterNet: Obama Campaign Copies Gingrich -- Decries Then Embraces Super-PACs
• 2012/02/08: al Jazeera: Santorum shakes up US Republican race
  Former senator revives presidential campaign with victories in Republican contests in Colorado, Minnesota and Missouri.
• 2012/02/07: TP:JR: Santorum's Incoherence: Manmade Global Warming Is a "Hoax" But Using "Science and Discovery" Makes Us Better Stewards
• 2012/02/07: Grist: That's Newt to me: Gingrich claims EPA plans to raise gas prices
• 2012/02/07: Grist: Paranoia strikes deep: GOP exposes 'dangerous' U.N. sustainability plot
• 2012/02/06: DeSmogBlog: Here We Go Again -- Republican Attacks On EPA Kick Off 2012 Agenda

  The Keystone XL saga rolls on:

• 2012/02/09: CBC: TransCanada cleared of Keystone conflict by U.S. audit -- U.S. State Department faulted for some aspects of permit review
• 2012/02/09: CBC: Report on Keystone XL permit due in Congress today
• 2012/02/08: PlanetArk: House Panel Advances Keystone Pipeline Plan
• 2012/02/08: OilChange: Keystone XL benefits from taxpayer subsidies
• 2012/02/07: TP:JR: Do Americans Really Support Shipping Toxic Sludge (Strip-Mined from a Forest) Through a Major Aquifer For Export to China?
• 2012/02/07: Grist: New poll shows Keystone XL, like energy generally, a winnable fight for Dems
• 2012/02/06: PlanetArk: House GOP seeks To Tie Keystone To Highway Bill
• 2012/02/06: CSW: Moving the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline fight into the election year

  Several development sin the unfolding Susan G Komen clusterf*ck:

• 2012/02/10: al Jazeera: Susan G Komen: The tip of the iceberg
  Organisations that influence social, cultural and political issues in the US have been hijacked by the far right.
• 2012/02/10: DM:Crux: Komen for the Cure's Biggest Mistake Is About Science, Not Politics
• 2012/02/10: TreeHugger: The Real Komen Controversy Remains After Planned Parenthood Fiasco
• 2012/02/08: Wonkette: Failed Republican Windbag Karen Handel Self-Aborts From Komen
• 2012/02/08: al Jazeera: Planned Parenthood pulls a 'Buffy' on the Right
  When "pro-life" means anti-birth control, it increases the number of unwanted pregnancies, writes Paul Rosenberg.
• 2012/02/07: S&R: Komen/Planned Parenthood controversy: why haven't we heard from Komen's corporate sponsors?
• 2012/02/07: BBC: Komen's Karen Handel quits after Planned Parenthood row
  A senior executive has resigned from Susan G Komen for the Cure days after the charity dropped its plans to cut funding of Planned Parenthood.
• 2012/02/07: AlterNet: Busting Through the Media Firestorm: 6 Essential Facts About the Komen Controversy
• 2012/02/04: AlterNet: I Will Not Be Pinkwashed: Komen's Race Is For Money, Not Cure

  As if that wasn't enough, birth control under healthcare blew up as an issue at CPAC and elsewhere:

• 2012/02/11: CCurrents: Obama Caves In To Catholic Church, Religious Right On Contraceptives
• 2012/02/11: al Jazeera: Obama shifts course on birth control
  US president forced to amend new rule requiring employers to offer insurance covering contraception amid backlash.
• 2012/02/11: CfC: Just say no
• 2012/02/10: TPMDC: How [Justice Antonin] Scalia Helped Obama Defend The Birth Control Rule
• 2012/02/10: Wonkette: Obama Screws Over America's Women To Appease Religious Fanatic Men
• 2012/02/10: ACLU: Obama Administration Reaffirms Contraception Access for All Women
• 2012/02/09: Rabble: Obama administration battles Catholic Church over contraception access
• 2012/02/10: BBC: Obama compromise amid Catholic contraception anger
  The White House has announced modified plans to require all women to have access to contraception, attempting to stem anger from Catholic leaders.
• 2012/02/10: Guardian(UK): Obama changes contraception rules in face of religious backlash
• 2012/02/10: Grist: Birth control still one of Obama's best environmental policies
• 2012/02/09: CSM: Catholic furor over birth control rule turns Democrats on one another
• 2012/02/09: CSM: The Obama birth-control mandate
• 2012/02/09: BalloonJuice: Fomenting Insurrection
  [...]
  I am so sick and tired of these moralizing religious blowhards. I don't care how important he may be to millions of people and I don't care if he speaks latin, likes incense, and wears a funny hat, that guy is an asshole.
  And this goes for all of you- I am so sick and tired of fighting stupid petty battles because of your damned religion. I am sick of getting bogged down in these stupid arguments. I am sick of you using your religion as a way to divide people. I'm sick of you using your religion to get in the way of other people's lifestyle and healthcare choices. I am sick of you using your religion as an excuse to bomb people. I'm sick of your religion getting in the way of policy making. I'm sick of you using your religion to stifle scientific progress. I really am. Do whatever the hell you want in your home and in your church, but just get out of my face with whatever horseshit you believe, be it anything from judaism to catholicism to mormonism to islam to jehovah's witnesses to the church of the flying spaghetti monster.
  Whatever the voodoo that you do is, keep it your damned self. I am officially sick of your crap.

The NRC commissioned two AP1000 reactors in Georgia this week, to applause and threats of a suit:

• 2012/02/11: BRitholtz:WashingtonsBlog: NRC Approves First New U.S. Nuclear Reactors in 30 Years - Fatal Flaws In Fukushima Design NOT Fixed
• 2012/02/10: TruthOut: Nuclear Regulatory Commission Ignores Fukushima, Green-Lights First New Reactors in 34 Years
• 2012/02/10: NatureN: US commissions first new nuclear reactors in 30 years -- But government incentives go begging as applications for plants dry up
• 2012/02/10: APR: Vogtle COL approval vote indicates perspective on "nuclear renaissance"
• 2012/02/09: SciAm: Nuclear Reactor Approved in U.S. for First Time Since 1978
  But no nuclear renaissance appears to be imminent, despite the go-ahead to build and operate two new reactors in Georgia
• 2012/02/10: NatureNB: The 'nuclear renaissance' arrives. Now what?
• 2012/02/09: SciAm:PI: New Nuclear Reactors Approved
• 2012/02/09: NBF: NRC approves two Westinghouse AP1000 reactors at the Vogtle site in Georgia
• 2012/02/09: EneNews: NRC approves new US reactors - NRC Chairman says no: "I cannot support issuing this license as if Fukushima had never happened" - Had been a supporter of project
• 2012/02/09: APR: The long drought is over; a new energy future for America
• 2012/02/09: APR: Nuclear Halftime in America is Over
• 2012/02/10: ABC(Au): US approves first nuclear plant in decades
  The United States has approved its first new nuclear power reactors in decades, despite objections from the country's top regulator that safety issues raised by last year's Fukushima meltdown were not fully addressed. Commissioners of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) voted 4-1 to approve the construction of two 1,100-megawatt Westinghouse-Toshiba AP1000s at power generator Southern Company's existing nuclear facility in Vogtle, Georgia. The dissenter was NRC chairman Gregory Jaczko, who argued for the need for "binding commitments" that the builders would implement design fixes to fully address risks exposed by the crisis at Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant after last year's earthquake-tsunami disaster.

The actions of the Obama administration are being watched closely:

• 2012/02/10: TP:JR: DOE Loan Guarantee Program Will Cost $2 Billion Less Than Initially Expected
• 2012/02/09: MoJo: Quote of the Day: Ray LaHood Does Not Like the House Transportation Bill
• 2012/02/06: PlanetArk: U.S. To Require Disclosure Of Fracking Fluids On Public Land
• 2012/02/05: SciAm:PI: NREL's Clean Energy Development Map

  As for what is going on in Congress:

• 2012/02/11: Grist: Oil shale drilling another terrible aspect of GOP transportation bill
• 2012/02/10: Grist: Non-starter: Republican transportation bill is dead on arrival
• 2012/02/10: ScienceInsider: Lawmakers Reintroduce Public Access Bill
• 2012/02/10: Grist: Congressman thinks oil pipeline will help caribou get laid
• 2012/02/09: Grist: House transit bill so bad even Republicans don't like it
• 2012/02/09: AutoBG: House panel blocks sale of E15
• 2012/02/07: AlterNet: Knocked Up: Republican Presidential Candidates' Plan for American Women
• 2012/02/08: Wonkette: Senator Mocks Crazies With 'Each Sperm Is Sacred' Amendment
• 2012/02/08: Wonkette: Rep. Louie Gohmert Is Talking About Caribou Sex In Congress
• 2012/02/06: AtlanticWire: Congressman Falls for The Onion's Planned Parenthood 'Abortionplex' Story

  While in the UK:

• 2012/02/10: PlanetArk: UK Wants Sustained Cuts To Solar Panel Tariffs
• 2012/02/08: Guardian(UK): Higher energy bills for majority by 2020 despite government reassurances
• 2012/02/07: Guardian(UK): Labour accuses Tory right of 'contempt' for the environment
  Caroline Flint says George Osborne believes 'environmental policies are a luxury that can only ever be afforded when times are good'
• 2012/02/07: Guardian(UK): Ed Davey's promotion is a great opportunity for a greener future
  A new energy secretary means a new chance for David Cameron to mend fences with the coalition and reaffirm his commitment to making 'the greenest government ever'
• 2012/02/07: Guardian(UK): [Letters] Davey needs to spell out green policy loud and clear
• 2012/02/06: EurActiv: Burying electricity power lines 'cheaper than UK National Grid' claims
  Countryside campaigners fighting hundreds of miles of 50-metre tall electricity pylons said that they have been vindicated by an independent report, which says burying cables is far cheaper than has been claimed by the National Grid.
• 2012/02/05: Guardian(UK): [Letters] Alternatives to Heathrow expansion

  And in Europe:

• 2012/02/10: EurActiv: EU's 10-year power grid plan 'driven by renewables'
  In March, the European Network of Transmission Systems Operators (ENTSO-E) will submit a comprehensive 10-year plan for public consultation which shows that most of the continent's investments in electricity infrastructure will be "driven directly or indirectly by renewable integration concerns," ENTSO-E told EurActiv.
• 2012/02/10: PlanetArk: Insight: Poland's Shale Gas Play Takes On Russian Power
• 2012/02/09: DerSpiegel: Drilling Beneath the Surface -- Poland Hopes Shale Gas Will Free It from Gazprom
  A gold rush is underway in Poland, where international energy companies are scrambling for the right to drill for shale gas. Poland's government sees the extraction as a ticket to independence from Russia's Gazprom, but some residents near the drilling sites are wary of the risks.
• 2012/02/10: BBC: Overfishing 'costs EU £2.7bn each year'
  Overfishing of EU fisheries is costing £2.7bn (3.2bn euros) a year and 100,000 jobs, a report has said.
• 2012/02/09: EurActiv: Danish approach to energy efficiency disappoints activists
  Activists expressed disappointment at the EU Danish presidency's version of the proposed Energy Efficiency Directive, which is likely to become the most important piece of legislation to date on the issue.
• 2012/02/09: EurActiv: Grid blackout threat weighs on renewables take up
  After years of trying to persuade sceptics, the renewable energy industry continues to face an uphill battle in convincing power producers that integrating more renewable energies like wind and solar will not put the electricity grid in jeopardy.
• 2012/02/07: EurActiv: Knives out over plan on electric grid permits
  EU proposals to impose a three-year deadline on local authorities to issue construction permits for new power lines has met with sharp opposition in the 27-country bloc, EurActiv has learned.
• 2012/02/07: EUO: Europe at an energy crossroads
• 2012/02/06: BBC: Italy acts on Russia gas shortage amid Europe freeze

  Meanwhile in Australia:

• 2012/02/12: PlanetJ: Australia's real climate policy
• 2012/02/10: PlanetJ: Energy double standard: Australia subsidizes coal, but not solar
• 2012/02/11: ABC(Au): Gillard tours Queensland flood zone
  The Prime Minister has pledged another $1.9 billion in federal funding for Queensland's flood-devastated southern inland, as she spends the day visiting the towns of St George, Roma and Mitchell.
• 2012/02/11: ABC(Au): $1.8b coal mines win significant project status
  Two proposed coal mines in Queensland have been awarded significant project status by the Queensland coordinator general. Cockatoo Coal wants to build the two mines with a combined cost of $1.8 billion. The company says the mines, near Wandoan and Taroom, could export about 14 million tonnes of thermal coal each year.
• 2012/02/09: ABC(Au): NT nuclear waste dump war of words heats up
• 2012/02/09: BNC: 100% renewable electricity for Australia -- the cost
• 2012/02/08: ABC(Au): CSG mine leaks toxic chemicals into environment
• 2012/02/06: ABC(Au): Floods class action looms in Queensland
• 2012/02/06: ABC(Au): Gillard says election winnable with hard work

  The carbon bill is law. Now comes the implementation:

• 2012/02/09: ABC(Au): Auditor slams Government's carbon ad tender
  The auditor-general has found significant problems with the Federal Government's advertising campaign for its carbon tax scheme, including breaches of the financial management regulations.
• 2012/02/06: ABC(Au): Carbon trade alone won't achieve targeted emissions cuts, says [Grattan Institute] study

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

• 2012/02/11: ABC(Au): Officer denies putting name to flood records
  A flood officer has told the Queensland floods inquiry hearing that while entries in the Flood Event Log from last year's disaster had his initials in them, he did not write them. Louw Van Blerk's role during the January floods last year was to collect and monitor incoming data at the Flood Operations Centre and keep a record of communications in a Flood Event Log.
• 2012/02/09: ABC(Au): Hundreds of MDBP submissions pouring in
• 2012/02/08: ABC(Au): Dam operator drops dirty tricks complaint
  The operator of Wivenhoe Dam has withdrawn explosive allegations that a private investigator was hired to pose as a representative of the floods commission to gather information from two of its staff.
• 2012/02/07: ABC(Au): Evidence suggests dam engineers 'didn't follow manual'
• 2012/02/07: ABC(Au): Qld flood plain management approach 'ad hoc'
  Experts say Queensland is decades behind other states when it comes to flood plain management. Consultant and Macquarie University associate Chas Keys says successive Queensland Governments have focused on building dams and have only built levees around a handful of towns. He says it has been an ad hoc approach.
• 2012/02/07: ABC(Au): Manager testifies about Wivenhoe release strategy
  The operations manager of Wivenhoe Dam north-west of Brisbane has been called to respond to conflicting evidence at Queensland's floods inquiry.
• 2012/02/06: ABC(Au): [Wivenhoe] Dam engineers in deep over report discrepancies
• 2012/02/07: ABC(Au): Two Wivenhoe engineers removed from roles
  The Queensland Government has revealed two senior flood engineers at Seqwater are no longer acting in their roles.

And in New Zealand:

• 2012/02/12: HotTopic: Minister wants all options open

  While elsewhere in Asia:

• 2012/02/08: BBerg: South Korean Lawmakers Vote for Limits on Greenhouse-Gas Emissions
  Lawmakers in South Korea voted to impose greenhouse-gas limits on the nation's largest companies, overruling industry opposition and laying groundwork for the third emissions-trading program in the Asia-Pacific region.

In Canada, neocon PM Harper madly pursues petroleum while continuing his do-nothing climate policy:

• 2012/02/10: Straight: Why Stephen Harper is probably incapable of recognizing the reality of climate change
• 2012/02/10: DeSmogBlog: Little Green Lies: Prime Minister Harper and Canada's Environment
• 2012/02/11: G&M: Ottawa's new anti-terrorism strategy lists eco-extremists as threats
  After vowing to take on radical environmentalists determined to stop the Northern Gateway pipeline, the Harper government has released a new anti-terrorism strategy that targets eco-extremists as threats. With his announcement this week, Public Safety Minister Vic Toews has increased the concern among environmentalists that Ottawa regards them as implacable adversaries to be monitored and battled, rather than well-meaning advocates to be consulted. "This is just one more step in their attempt to marginalize the environmental movement and to quiet its voice," John Bennett, executive director of Sierra Club Canada, said Friday. "It's an indirect suggestion that somehow environmentalism is attached to terrorism and that's just wrong."
• 2012/02/10: PostMedia: Ban foreign funding of 'radicals,' MP urges
  Conservative Brian Jean also hints that aboriginal chiefs get money from U.S. trusts A Conservative MP is calling for federal legislation that would both block foreign funding of the "radical" Canadian environmental movement and lessen the possibility outsiders are directly paying aboriginal chiefs to oppose major projects, such as the Northern Gateway pipeline. Brian Jean's provocative proposal came during an explosive committee hearing Thursday that resulted in a government MP calling a Liberal "asinine" for questioning the credibility of Vancouver researcher Vivian Krause, a leading critic of foreign-funded environmental groups.
• 2012/02/08: TRM: Willful Ignorance
• 2012/02/08: iPolitics: Little green lies: Prime Minister Harper and Canada's environment
  Is Stephen Harper the worst prime minister that Canada has ever had, from an environmental perspective? The evidence is mounting that this is indeed the case, despite some early glimmers of hope. Given the deteriorating global environment, this failure of leadership could not have happened at a worse time. That Canada has become an international laggard in environmental policy and practice is now an incontrovertible fact. In 2009, the Conference Board of Canada ranked Canada 15th out of 17 wealthy industrialized nations on environmental performance. In 2010, researchers at Simon Fraser University ranked Canada 24th out of 25 OECD nations on environmental performance.
• 2012/02/06: 350orBust: Canadians to PM Harper: No Enbridge Pipeline
• 2012/02/06: PostMedia: Canadians oppose fracking, study finds -- Majority support moratorium
  The majority of Canadians oppose hydraulic fracturing - better known as "fracking" - and would support a moratorium on the natural gas extraction method, according to a new poll. The Environics Research poll, commissioned by the Council of Canadians, found that 62 per cent of the Canadians polled supported a moratorium on all fracking for natural gas until all federal environmental reviews are complete.

The Harper gang took their show to China this week:

• 2012/02/10: ScottsDiatribe: Contradiction? What contradiction?
• 2012/02/10: TStar: Harper blasts foreign money in oilands debate while welcoming China
• 2012/02/09: BBC: Canada and China deepen trade ties
  Canada and China have reached government deals in uranium exports and other sectors, as the two countries deepen trade ties.
• 2012/02/08: CBC: 10 Canada-China deals: one big one [foreign investment promotion and protection agreement (FIPA)] and a 'blizzard'
• 2012/02/07: DeSmogBlog: China Looks To Stephen Harper For Lessons In Dirty Energy Exploitation
• 2012/02/08: CBC: Harper signs trade agreements with China -- Foreign investment deal takes relations 'to the next level': Canadian PM
• 2012/02/07: TheCanadian: Harper, Enbridge Jet to China on Heels of Massive Prince Rupert Protest
• 2012/02/07: BBC: Canada PM in China to discuss oil and energy issues
• 2012/02/06: CBC: Harper China delegation includes oil, banking executives -- Second trip to the country since becoming prime minister

  The battle over the Northern Gateway pipeline rages on:

• 2012/02/12: BCLSB: How An Environmentalist Might Support Northern Gateway
• 2012/02/12: PostMedia: Northern Gateway pipeline proposal draws B.C. into a quagmire of conflict
  Environmentalists compete with Ottawa over 'big boom' or 'big doom' scenarios.
• 2012/02/10: Reuters: Canada PM vows to ensure [Northern Gateway] pipeline is built
• 2012/02/09: TRM: Pipelines: Which side are you on, planet or profit?
• 2012/02/10: TRM: Another Northern Gateway Pipeline Update
• 2012/02/09: iPolitics: Blogger's investigation of anti-pipeline funding draws MPs' ire
  The blogger who fuelled the government's attacks against "foreign radicals" triggered a vigorous debate on the topic during a parliamentary committee Thursday. Vivian Krause, the soft-spoken Vancouver blogger who says she's unaffiliated with the energy industry, was attacked by opposition MPs for researching the foreign funding of environmental charities during her testimony at the House of Commons Natural Resources Committee.
• 2012/02/08: PEF: Comparing two carbon bombs: LNG plants vs Enbridge pipeline
• 2012/02/08: BCLSB: Every Man Woman And Child In B.C. Will Receive A Gold Plated Cowboy Hat
• 2012/02/08: G&M: Alberta seeks way to pay for B.C. support of pipeline
• 2012/02/07: EnergyBulletin: Economist calls gateway pipeline an inflationary 'threat'
• 2012/02/07: TP:JR: Must-See Video Reveals What's at Risk With Canada's Northern Gateway Tar Sands Pipeline
• 2012/02/06: Tyee: Too Much Energy Used to Mine, Move Bitumen Says BC Firm
  'Energy Return on Investment' hard to justify says P.G.-based engineering analyst.
• 2012/02/02: TheCanadian: Enbridge, Harper and Consequences for Speaking Out
• 2012/02/06: TheCanadian: In-Depth Coverage Coming on Historic Prince Rupert Enbridge Protest
• 2012/02/06: TRM: Monday Night Movies: Pipeline Edition
• 2012/02/05: Maribo: Why I am opposed to Northern Gateway

  That EU Fuel Quality Directive policy is still in play:

• 2012/02/08: EmbassyMag: Green groups lobby embassies on EU fuel
  Environmentalists are taking the public relations war over the oil sands to embassies, furiously lobbying diplomats to counter the efforts of oil officials and the Harper government who are trying to reverse a European proposal to classify oil sands crude as particularly dirty. By Feb. 3, representatives from the Council of Canadians, Climate Action Network Canada and the Indigenous Environmental Network had met with officials from eight European Union embassies -- Poland, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Netherlands, Austria, Italy and Germany -- and the Norwegian embassy. They also plan to meet with Latvia, Denmark and others over the week of Feb. 6. Their efforts come in advance of a Feb. 23 technical committee meeting of EU member state representatives that could hold a vote on the implementation of the revised Fuel Quality Directive.

The NDP leadership race doesn't get much coverage:

• 2012/02/08: PostMedia: NDP's anti-oilsands campaign could prove toxic at polls
  The party needs to pick up seats in the West, but its environmental policies suggest that it is prepared to write off Alberta, Saskatchewan

The East coast, which imports their oil at world prices, is worried now about a price spike:

• 2012/02/07: CBC: Foreign oil reliance risks 'energy poverty,' MPs told
  Atlantic Canadians are increasingly facing "energy poverty," an expert on energy security told a parliamentary committee Tuesday. Prof. Larry Hughes, who leads Dalhousie University's Energy Research Group, says people in Atlantic Canada are vulnerable to price hikes because their oil is imported.

The ISA virus in BC waters is potentially disastrous:

• 2012/02/10: AlexandraMorton: To the Norwegian Embassy in Ottawa [Open Letter]
• 2012/02/07: AlexandraMorton: Petition to NAAEC Canada violating Fisheries Act with salmon feedlots
• 2012/02/04: AlexandraMorton: Free Speech on Trial

  BC is wrangling over energy:

• 2012/02/07: Tyee: Who Pays Huge Power Bills for [Premier Christy] Clark's Gas Plants?
  Turning natural gas into liquid sucks electricity. Ratepayers, guard your wallets.
• 2012/02/06: Tyee: Glaciers, BC Hydro's Melting 'Batteries'
  Scientists are trying to figure out how rising temps will change the alpine run-off that helps power the province
• 2012/02/06: G&M: Lack of outcry over new energy plan a 'win' for B.C. government

  Meanwhile in that Mechanical Mordor known as the tar sands:

• 2012/02/08: Tyee: Oil Sands Produces Its Own Heat Island Effect -- Dramatic changes to landscape raise temps, UA study finds.
• 2012/02/07: OilChange: Tar Sands Monitoring is "To Boost Reputation"
• 2012/02/07: CBC: Canadian Natural [Resources Ltd.'s] Horizon oilsands plant down
  Canadian Natural Resources Ltd.'s stock fell more than four per cent Tuesday after confirming that its Horizon oilsands mine is down for repairs. Shares in the major oil and gas producer closed at $38.52, a drop of $1.76.
• 2012/02/07: NatureNB: Tar sands monitoring plan gears up
• 2012/02/06: CBC: Sinopec lobbies top court in oilsands death case
  A Chinese state-owned corporation wants the Supreme Court of Canada to overturn a ruling that would force it to stand trial in the deaths of two oilsands workers. Sinopec Shanghai Engineering Company is seeking leave to appeal a Nov. 23 Alberta Court of Appeal judgment that orders the company to stand trial on 53 safety charges. Two temporary workers from China were killed in 2007 near Fort McMurray when a storage tank collapsed at Canadian Natural Resources Ltd.'s Horizon project. In its appeal application, Sinopec Shanghai, which brought the workers to Alberta, argues it has no official presence in Canada.
• 2012/02/06: TP:JR: Canadian Government Poisoning Wolves to Slow Rapid Declines in Caribou Population Near Tar Sands
• 2012/02/06: Grist: Tar-sands development pushes Canada to poison wolves

  Also in Alberta:

• 2012/02/10: G&M: Alberta's flushing its resource miracle down the drain
  The census confirmed what everyone knew: The population is growing faster in Western Canada than elsewhere. The issue for the fastest-growing provinces, Alberta and Saskatchewan, is what to do with the challenges of growth. Their populations are expanding, pure and simple, because of natural resources, notably oil (mostly from the tar sands), natural gas and potash. There are long-term development issues swirling around the nature of their economies. Are they going to be classic rentier economies, extracting resources and shipping them? Or are they going to try to process more of the resources at home? Thus far, the answer has been the former.
• 2012/02/08: PostMedia: Redford downplays energy revenue sharing
  Premier Alison Redford says she wants to bring other provinces onside with major Alberta energy projects - but payouts aren't on the agenda.

While in Manitoba:

• 2012/02/09: CBC: Curiosity, indifference greet flood disaster review
• 2012/02/08: CBC: Manitoba flood review task force appointed -- Separate panel will look at Lake Manitoba, Lake St. Martin floods

  Ontario is wrestling with its energy policy:

• 2012/02/06: PI: [link to 372k pdf] Making Tracks to Torontonians 2012 -- An analysis of today's transit options for Toronto
• 2012/02/06: PostMedia: Ontario's power glut means possible nuclear shutdowns: expert -- Comments raise questions about plan to boost nuclear power
  For at least eight hours Monday, Ontario is once again forecast to produce more electricity than it consumes, and the recurring glut has one top energy executive warning of temporary nuclear power plant shutdowns.

While in la Belle Province:

• 2012/02/06: PostMedia: Charest touts protection plan for northern territory -- Conservation groups applaud move to safeguard 20 per cent of region
  Calling it perhaps the largest environmental conservation project on the planet, Quebec premier Jean Charest unveiled on Sunday how the government plans to safeguard 50 per cent of the province's northern territory - a region the size of France - from industrial development. Chief among the measures was the announcement that 20 per cent of the region will be declared protected areas by 2020, nearly twice the amount of land Quebec first pledged would be granted full protection. Another 30 per cent of the land will be closed to mining and hydroelectric projects, although other development projects deemed to have less impact on the ecology, like ecotourism, for instance, will be permitted. The nature of those development projects have yet to be defined.

As for miscellaneous Canadiana:

• 2012/02/10: PI: Clean energy also needs political focus
• 2012/02/10: DeepClimate: Environment Canada and NRTEE versus the Fraser Institute: An issue of quality
• 2012/02/10: CMKL: Save the ecoEnergy program
• 2012/02/09: CBC: Energy board head defends pipeline reversal review
  The head of the National Energy Board says the agency is legally obligated to review Enbridge's decision to reverse part of its "Line 9" pipeline from Sarnia to Westover, Ont.

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

• 2012/02/10: CCurrents: Resources And Anthropocentrism
• 2012/02/11: al Jazeera: Open-market sustainability for the US
  Humanity is over-consuming ecosystem goods and services, depleting our stock of natural capital.
• 2012/02/10: EnergyBulletin: Strong Sustainability
• 2012/02/10: al Jazeera: Sustainable humanity: Need of the hour
  Sustainable development has the potential to address fundamental challenges for humanity, now and into the future.
• 2012/02/08: P3: On Growth, Wealth, Sustainability and the Rebound Effect
• 2012/02/06: CCurrents: Beyond The Bubble Economy
• 2012/02/06: al Jazeera: Co-operation in a world of scarce resources
  International efforts towards conservation, climate mitigation and population stabilisation are now critical.

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

• 2012/02/10: Grist: Why climate hawks should care about birth-control access
• 2012/02/09: CfC: Great line of the day

  Apocalypso anyone?

• 2012/02/10: CCurrents: The Cycle of Civilization
• 2012/02/06: CCurrents: The Psychology Of Systemic Collapse
• 2012/02/07: SciNow: Did Easter Islanders Mix It Up With South Americans?

  Okay hot shot, how are we gonna fix this?

• 2012/02/11: EnergyBulletin: A New Declaration

  How do the media measure up?

• 2012/02/10: EneNews: "Sophisticated Press Manipulation": Journalist's detailed critique of PBS Frontline's Fukushima program
• 2012/02/11: 350orBust: Mining Industry Caught On Tape Plotting To Corrupt Media
• 2012/02/09: C&BP: Anti-Clean Energy 'Pundit' Unhinged By Basic Question: Are You Bankrolled By Fossil Fuels?
• 2012/02/09: TP:JR: Joe Nocera Joins the Climate Ignorati
• 2012/02/08: TheMonthly: [TVMOB] and the Future of Australian Media
• 2012/02/09: Deltoid: Robert Manne on Monckton's plan for the Australian media
• 2012/02/08: TP:JR: What the LA Times Got Wrong on Solar Energy and Public Lands
• 2012/02/07: TreeHugger: NBC and Brian Williams' Call to Action on Climate Change is Useless

  Here is something for your library:

• 2012/02/11: TRR: [Book Review] _Four Fish: The Future of the Last Wild Food_ by Paul Greenberg
• 2012/02/10: SMandia: [Book Review] _The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars_ by Dr. Michael E. Mann
• 2012/02/09: P3: Free Climate Books
• 2012/02/09: SkeptiSci: [Book Review] _The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars_ by Michael Mann
• 2012/02/08: Grist: [Book Discussion] Useful insights, faulty analysis in new book on rising energy use
• 2012/02/08: al Jazeera: [Book Discussion] A convergence of convergences: Friedman vs Parenti
  Christian Parenti's latest book is in stark contrast with the "convergences" discussed by pundit Thomas Friedman.
• 2012/02/07: HotTopic: [Book Review] Reframing the Problem of Climate Change

  And for your film & video enjoyment:

• 2012/02/08: TreeHugger: Viral Video Calls for Mass Exodus from Fossil Fuels
• 2012/02/09: Guardian(UK): 14 years of US weather animated in 33 minutes
• 2012/02/09: TreeHugger: How to Break the Grip of Fossil Fuels (Video)
• 2012/02/07: CCP: 1st Contender for Scariest Animation: Northern Hemisphere Atmospheric Water Vapor Circulation
• 2012/02/07: PSinclair: This is Very Cool: New Video Series Debuts on Yale Climate Forum
• 2012/02/07: TP:JR: Must-See Video Reveals What's at Risk With Canada's Northern Gateway Tar Sands Pipeline
• 2012/02/07: Grist: Animated guide to building a Keystone XL
• 2012/02/06: PSinclair: Jeff Masters: "...not the atmosphere I know anymore"

  Meanwhile among the 'Sue the Bastards!' contingent:

• 2012/02/10: Grist: Farmers advance in their suit against Monsanto
• 2012/02/06: CBC: Sinopec lobbies top court in oilsands death case

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

• 2012/02/06: CER:RRapier: Confused about Energy and Power?
• 2012/02/10: PI: Clean energy also needs political focus
• 2012/02/10: Guardian(UK): Review: ITV's Cost of Going Green
  ITV's examination of the cost of renewable energy was more balanced than BBC Panorama but it still omitted the key reasons behind household energy rises [our over-dependence on fossil fuels]
• 2012/02/02: BizInsider: 10 Innovative Energy Sources To Help Break Our Fossil Fuel Addiction
• 2012/02/09: EarlyWarning: Experiencing an Energy Audit
• 2011/10/18: UCSD:TMurphy: The Energy Trap
• 2012/02/08: EnergyBulletin: The alternative energy matrix
• 2012/02/09: BNC: 100% renewable electricity for Australia -- the cost
• 2012/02/07: al Jazeera: Securing public health forever with clean energy
  Switching from conventional energy resources to wind, water and sunlight is essential for the future of our planet.
• 2012/02/07: BBerg: Americans Gaining Energy Independence With U.S. as Top Producer
• 2012/02/07: BRitholtz: The Greedy Bastards Antidote to Rigged Energy

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

• 2012/02/05: RI: That falling feeling: Shale gas estimates continue downward
• 2012/02/08: OilDrum: After The Gold Rush: A Perspective on Future U.S. Natural Gas Supply and Price
• 2012/02/08: OilChange: The Hidden Danger of the Gas Boom
• 2012/02/07: EurActiv: US tells Bulgaria shale gas is safe
  US State Secretary Hillary Clinton lobbied for the development of shale gas in Bulgaria during a weekend visit, more than two weeks after the country's Parliament passed a moratorium on an industry where US major Chevron has big stakes.
• 2012/02/07: TreeHugger: Fracking Could Ruin New York's Organic Food Industry
• 2012/02/06: Eureka: More environmental rules needed for shale gas, says Stanford geophysicist [Mark Zoback]
• 2012/02/06: PlanetArk: U.S. To Require Disclosure Of Fracking Fluids On Public Land
• 2012/02/06: OilDrum: Gas Boom Goes Bust
• 2012/02/05: EnergyBulletin: That falling feeling: Shale gas estimates continue downward

  On the coal front:

• 2012/02/10: DeSmogBlog: Salem Harbor Enforced Shutdown: The Beginning of the End for Old Coal in New England

  On the gas and oil front:

• 2012/02/10: BBerg: Closing oil prices Friday
  OIL (US$/bbl)
  Nymex Crude Future....98.67
  Dated Brent Spot.....117.47
  WTI Cushing Spot......98.67
• 2012/02/12: OilDrum: Tech Talk - the oil and natural gas around Sakhalin Island
• 2012/02/10: NatGeo: U.S. Oil Fields Stage "Great Revival," But No Easing Gas Prices
• 2012/02/09: NewInt: Iranian oil embargo has a nasty ripple effect
• 2012/02/06: GEA: Huge Plunge In [US] Petroleum and Gasoline Usage
• 2012/02/09: EnergyBulletin: A new oil boom?
• 2012/02/09: TMoS: Why Big Oil Can't - and Won't - Let Go
• 2012/02/07: TreeHugger: Unearthing the True Cost of Fossil Fuels
• 2012/02/06: EarlyWarning: Oil Prices

  In the fossil fuel corps:

• 2012/02/10: BBC: Total profits boosted by higher oil prices
  French oil firm Total has reported a 7% rise in quarterly profit, driven mainly by higher oil prices. Total's net profit was 2.7bn euros ($3.5bn; £2.3bn) in the three months to the end of December 2011, compared with 2.5bn euros a year earlier.
• 2012/02/08: EUO: Gazprom: A wolf in green clothing
• 2012/02/07: Guardian(UK): Why the energy industry is so invested in climate change denial [McKibben]
  The world most's profitable companies are valued by their carbon reserves -- never mind the resulting ruin to the planet
• 2012/02/07: BBC: BP ups dividend as profits rise
  BP has raised its dividend to shareholders by 14%, the first increase since the 2010 Gulf of Mexico spill, following sharply higher profits. Replacement cost profit, which is profit stripping out the effect of oil and other price movements, for the three months to the end of December 2011 was $7.6bn (£4.8bn). This compares with $4.6bn for the same period in 2010. For all of 2011 BP's profit was $23.9bn compared with a $4.9bn loss in 2010.

And in pipeline news:

• 2012/02/08: EUO: EU and Russia: The pipeline race delusion

  Yes we have peak everything:

• 2012/02/11: CCurrents: The Fate Of New Truths: Peak Oil Appears On "Nature"
• 2012/02/10: EnergyBulletin: The new geography of trade: globalization's decline may stimulate local recovery
• 2012/02/09: EnergyBulletin: The fate of new truths: peak oil appears on "Nature" by Ugo Bardi
• 2012/02/10: HuffPo: My Decade of Being "Peak Oil Aware"
• 2012/02/06: BBerg: Oil, Food, Water: Is Everything Past Its Peak?
• 2012/02/06: EnergyBulletin: Businessweek gets it wrong - Everything you know about peak oil is NOT wrong
• 2012/02/06: GulfNews: Debate rages on when oil will peak

  The answer my friend...:

• 2012/02/10: PlanetArk: New 367 MW Offshore Wind Farm Opens In UK
• 2012/02/08: EUO: Denmark leads EU countries on wind energy
• 2012/02/07: Guardian(UK): How the 'wind farms increase climate change' myth was born
  University of Illinois wind farm researcher responds to how his paper was reported in the media and on the internet
• 2012/02/07: TreeHugger: China Leads World in New Wind Power Installations for 2011

  Meanwhile among the solar aficionados:

• 2012/02/08: NBF: Quantum Dot solar cells could eventually lead to efficiency over 25%
• 2012/02/08: TP:JR: What the LA Times Got Wrong on Solar Energy and Public Lands
• 2012/02/08: PlanetArk: Germany's Centrotherm Signs Saudi Solar Deal
• 2012/02/08: Eureka: Here comes the sun...
  Scientists have developed a new kind of solar cell which could capture significantly more of the energy from the sun than current cells
• 2012/02/07: MIT: New tool for analyzing solar-cell materials -- Website offers a way of optimizing solar cell materials and production

  The nuclear energy controversy continues. See also:

• 2012/02/10: NBF: Lead Cooled fast Small modular reactor design could be a 'Superstar'
• 2012/02/08: VoR: US nuclear industry on the brink of collapse - expert [Gennady Yevstafyev, retired Lieutenant-General of Russia's Foreign Intelligence]
• 2012/02/08: NBF: South Korea is a leader in Nuclear power and Japan considers restarting and Germany temporarily restarts some reactors
• 2012/02/05: EconView: "Prospects for Nuclear Power" - Via the NBER

  Nuclear fusion projects around the world limp along:

• 2012/02/10: NBF: Magnetized Inertial Fusion with energy gains of energy gains between 200 and 1,000 shown in simulations

  The Rossi Energy Catalyzer keeps coming up:

• 2012/02/11: NBF: Australian engineer says wiring errors may be responsible for alleged 'scam'
• 2012/02/10: NBF: Celani, Piantelli Geneva LENR Presentations
• 2012/02/08: NBF: Overview of Theoretical and Experimental Progress in Low Energy Nuclear Reactions (LENR) at CERN
• 2012/02/11: NBF: Billionaire owner of Anne Klein and Nine West provides $5 million for Missouri University Cold Fusion research
• 2012/02/08: NBF: Details about the Ten Times Energy Production from Cold Fusion Demo at MIT

  More people are talking about the electrical grid:

• 2012/02/09: PSinclair: Microgrids: Efficient, Secure, Resilient
• 2012/02/07: CSM: Green Big Brother? Why the backlash against environmentalism has grown
• 2012/02/06: EurActiv: Burying electricity power lines 'cheaper than UK National Grid' claims
  Countryside campaigners fighting hundreds of miles of 50-metre tall electricity pylons said that they have been vindicated by an independent report, which says burying cables is far cheaper than has been claimed by the National Grid.
• 2012/02/06: EurActiv: Poll reveals wide support for EU grid action
  A survey of European stakeholders has found overwhelming support for giving priority, funds and planning waivers to allow the speedy construction of European grid infrastructure.

And then there is the matter of efficiency & conservation:

• 2012/02/09: TP:JR: Texas Grocer Slashes Energy Use With 'Whole Systems' Approach
• 2012/02/10: TreeHugger: GE's New Hybrid Water Heater is Super-Efficient -- and Manufactured in America
• 2012/02/09: TreeHugger: Lighting Startup Unveils Game-Changing LED Bulb

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

• 2012/02/10: AutoBG: New vehicles 14% more fuel efficient than four years ago
• 2012/02/09: AutoBG: U.S. electric-vehicle adoption rate isn't slow, it's typical
• 2012/02/08: PlanetArk: ABB Revs-Up Electric Car Charging Network
• 2012/02/06: CleanBreak: GM to sell "Bullfrog Edition" of Chevy Volt, a $198 upgrade offering 2 years of green-certified electricity
• 2012/02/07: AutoBG: Infographic: A lifetime of fuel costs, gas vs. solar
• 2012/02/06: CSM: Electric cars: 'Plug-ins' look for spark in 2012

  As for Energy Storage:

• 2012/02/09: AutoBG: Mindset E-Motion re-emerges with doubly-dense battery claim
• 2012/02/09: Eureka: New battery could lead to cheaper, more efficient solar energy

  The reaction of business to climate change will be critical:

• 2012/02/07: BBerg: Bank of England Says to Evaluate Fossil-Fuel Investment Risk
• 2012/02/08: Guardian(UK): Google tops Greenpeace IT ranking
• 2012/02/06: Guardian(UK): Carbon bubble: Bank of England's opportunity to tackle market failure
  Bank's willingness to consider fossil fuel exposure as a risk to financial stability will serve as an important test of whether anything has been learned from the sub-prime crisis

Insurance and re-insurance companies are feeling the heat:

• 2012/02/08: DeSmogBlog: The Business of Risk -- Insuring Against Climate Change

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

• 2012/02/10: TP:JR: February 10 News,,,
• 2012/02/09: TP:JR: February 9th News...
• 2012/02/08: TP:JR: February 8 News...
• 2012/02/07: TP:JR: February 7 News...
• 2012/02/06: TP:JR: February 6 News...

  Other (weekly) lists:

• 2012/02/10: EnergyBulletin: ODAC Newsletter
• 2012/02/10: TreeHugger: Energy News Recap...
• 2012/02/06: TreeHugger: Energy News Recap...

  The carbon lobby are up to the usual:

• 2012/02/10: WtD: Rinehart vs the media: "disappointed and surprised" mining magnate had her climate change denial edited
• 2012/02/11: KlimaZwiebel: How to convince creationists, climate sceptics, ...
• 2012/02/09: P3: Inhofe Doubles Down
• 2012/02/10: ABC(Au):TDU: Lord and Lady of the media
• 2012/02/10: S&R: Surrounded by people "educated far beyond their capacity to undertake analytical thought"
• 2012/02/10: HotTopic: The unfettered rage of dismal denial
• 2012/02/09: DeSmogBlog: Accountability Moment: Manhattan Institute's Robert Bryce Squirms And Evades Question on Fossil Fuel Funding
• 2012/02/09: BBickmore: The Monckton Files: Cornered?
• 2012/02/08: Grist: 'Cohort replacement': Climate deniers won't change, but they will die
• 2012/02/08: Guardian(UK): Australia reacts to Lord Monckton's call for a 'Fox News' funded by 'super rich'
• 2012/02/08: KlimaZwiebel: A skeptic lacking skepticism: Fritz Vahrenholt
• 2012/02/08: DerSpiegel: Breaking Global Warming Taboos -- 'I Feel Duped on Climate Change'
  Will reduced solar activity counteract global warming in the coming decades? That is what outgoing German electric utility executive Fritz Vahrenholt claims in a new book. In an interview with SPIEGEL, he argues that the official United Nations forecasts on the severity of climate change are overstated and supported by weak science.
• 2012/02/08: PSinclair: His Weirdship Lord Bonckton: Why Nobody Wants to Be Seen with This Guy
• 2012/02/07: Guardian(UK): Why the energy industry is so invested in climate change denial [McKibben]
  The world most's profitable companies are valued by their carbon reserves -- never mind the resulting ruin to the planet
• 2012/02/07: Eureka: New insights into how to correct false knowledge
• 2012/02/07: WtD: Embracing idiocy: creationism, climate change denial and birthers
• 2012/02/06: QuarkSoup: Someone Please Call Doug Chapman
• 2012/02/06: DeSmogBlog: A Conservative Ignores the Science on Why ... Conservatives Ignore the Science

  I wonder if Amazon will have anything to say about this:

• 2012/02/11: CSW: "The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars" -- and a skirmish with denialists on Amazon
• 2012/02/09: PSinclair: Case Study: Anthony Watts and Info-Fascism in Action
• 2012/02/08: SMandia: Anthony Watts' Minions Attack Mike Mann and Make Mockery of Amazon Review Process
• 2012/02/08: HC: First denialist review of Mann - published without actually reading it

  As for climate miscellanea:

• 2012/02/10: Grist: Young people expect the future to look like Thunderdome
• 2012/02/06: CCurrents: Don't Stay Silent About Our Climate Change Crime
• 2012/02/08: 350orBust: Science: An Operator's Manual For Planet Earth
• 2012/02/05: ClimateSight: Breaching the Mainstream
• 2012/02/05: TheCanadian: Four Myths: Insights into Change

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

• UN-Water
• C&BP: The Checks and Balances Project
• Earthonaut
• Energy Tax Breaks Wiki
• GESN: Get Energy Smart Now
• Geoengineering Politics
• FoodFreedom -- Decentralize, Grow Your Own, Buy Local
• SINTEF
• Peak Oil Blues
• AGU Blogosphere
• Pacific Salmon Commission
• Cohen Commission -- Commission of Inquiry into the Decline of Sockeye Salmon in the Fraser River
• The Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement
• CBD Alliance

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.

"I have to say I've been a meteorologist for 30 years, and when I look at the atmosphere over the last couple of years, it's really not the atmosphere I know anymore. There have been substantial changes. We've seen major perturbations to the rhythms I've grown accustomed to." -Jeff Masters

• Global Warming Links
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