Logging the Onset of The Bottleneck Years
This weekly posting is brought to you courtesy of H. E. Taylor. Happy reading, I hope you enjoy this week's Global Warming news roundup
Another Week in the Planetary Crisis
Information is not Knowledge...Knowledge is notWisdom
March 11, 2012
- Chuckles, Durban, IWD, Koch-Cato, Heartland, Sustainia, Shrinkology
- Hönisch, Liu, Weaver & Swart, Bottom Line, Subsidies, WB, Ecocide, Cook
- Fukushima Note, Fukushima News, Nuclear Policy
- Melting Arctic, Polar Bear, Methane, Geopolitics, Antarctica
- Food Crisis, Food Prices, Food Riots, GMOs, Food Production
- Hurricanes, GHGs, Temperatures, Paleoclimate, ENSO, Uncertainties, Extinctions
- Impacts, Forests, Extreme Weather, Phenology, Tornadoes
- Wildfires, Corals, Sea Levels, Floods & Droughts
- Mitigation, Transportation, Buildings, Sequestration, Geoengineering, Adaptation
- Journals, Other Docs, Misc. Science, Models, Free Science, Mann, Hansen, Curry, Lindzen
- International Politics: Rio+20, UN, Carbon Tax, Hormuz, EU ETS & Airlines
- Rare Earths, Solar Spat, Polls, H2O Biz, Software, Religioso, Ethics
- National Politics: America, BP Disaster, 2012, Keystone, Birth Control, USAdmin, Congress
- Britain, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, India, China, Asia, South America
- Canada, Post G20, NRC, Tides Canada, Senate, NorGate, Petro-loonie
- Tarsands PR, NDP, ISA, BC, Tar Sands, Alberta, Canadiana
- Ecological Economics, IPAT, Apocalypso, Media, Books, Video, Courts
- Energy, Fracking, Coal, Oil & Gas, Pipelines, Peak Oil, Biofuel
- Wind, Solar, Nukes, Nuclear Fusion, LENR, Grid, Efficiency, Cars, Energy Storage
- Insurance, FAQs, Joe's List, Carbon Lobby, Miscellaneous Climate, Useful Links
- Shameless Self Promotion, .sig
- 2012/03/11: uComics: (cartoon - Auth) A Mind Is A Wonderful Thing...
- 2012/03/07: RMW: (cartoon - TomTom) The parallel primary
- 2012/03/06: JoeMohrToons: (cartoon - Mohr) Book Lorax's Opinion of Movie Lorax
- 2012/03/06: TP:JR: (cartoon - Mad) Hilarious: Mad Asks - Who Said It? Mitt Romney or Mr. Burns?
- 2012/03/06: TheCanadian: (cartoon - Hummel) Harper Rolling Out the Welcome Mat for China
- 2012/03/06: TP:JR: (cartoon - McFadden) The Endangered Moderate Republican
- 2012/03/05: uComics: (cartoon - Rall) Virginia Lawmakers...
- 2012/03/05: uComics: (cartoon - Wiley) News From The Culture War Front
Here's your touch of strange for the week:
- 2012/03/08: ABC(Au): Spider army on the retreat from NSW floodwaters
- 2012/03/07: BBC: Bats in northern Australian town prompt disease warning
A town in northern Australia has been invaded by more than 250,000 bats, prompting warnings of a potentially fatal disease related to rabies. - 2012/03/05: BBC: First chuffs from the Durban climate train
International Women's Day went down this week. See also:
- 2012/03/08: Guardian(UK): International Women's Day highlights hurdles obstructing equality
Domestic violence against women, pay inequality and abortion rights among issues raised - 2012/03/08: al Jazeera: Women in parliaments: Contested geographies
Examining female participation rates in parliaments reveals a new picture of women's rights across the globe. [The US Congress has only 16.8 per cent women - a proportion similar to Turkmenistan [EPA]] The war in the US over women's reproductive rights is appalling. The all-men panel at the congressional hearing that discussed female contraception was patently offensive as much as it was ironic. The pressure on women's health in the US is particularly disturbing because it takes place in broad day light, in a democratic context of a country that claims to be a world leader in individual freedoms. - 2012/03/08: TP:JR: International Women's Day: Climate Solutions Empower Women and Help the Planet
The Koch brothers Cato takeover is catching a lot of comment, on political and economic blogs too:
- 2012/03/08: BaselineScenario: The Koch Brothers, The Cato Institute, And Why Nations Fail
- 2012/03/07: CIP: Kochtopussy
- 2012/03/07: DeSmogBlog: Kochtopus Cato Institute Power Grab: A Historical Perspective
- 2012/03/07: ERabett: Koch vs. Cato in fourteen words
- 2012/03/06: EconView: Has the "Kochtopus" Opened Libertarian Eyes? -Noah Smith
- 2012/03/06: Noahpinion: Libertarians: Only now, at the end, do you understand...
Given my history of critiquing libertarianism, it would hardly be surprising if I felt a flash of gleeful schadenfreude to see the dismay with which so many movement libertarians are reacting to the Koch takeover of the Cato Institute. - 2012/03/05: Wonkette: Hostile Koch Takeover Mania: Bros Seek 'Intellectual Ammo-Shop For Americans For Prosperity'
- 2012/03/05: CCP: Mark Boslough: St. Valentine's Day for Chicago Fake Tank
- 2012/03/06: AlterNet: Why the Koch Brothers' Coup of the Cato Institute Is So Dangerous
Still some Heartland residue and repercussions:
- 2012/03/08: SF Gate: GM gifts to antiwarming group anger car buyers
- 2012/03/09: AutoBG: GM's Akerson says he will review GM Foundation's funding for Heartland Institute
- 2012/03/08: DeepClimate: Tom Harris, Heartland and the 2007 Bali open letter to the U.N.
- 2012/03/08: DeSmogBlog: Heartland has Long History of Blowing Smoke
- 2012/03/07: P3: Curry Asks "Why Heartland"? Here's an Answer.
- 2012/03/06: Grist: GM customers are pissed about company's Heartland connection
- 2012/03/05: CCP: 10,000 GM Owners demand the company stop funding the Heartland Institute immediately
- 2012/03/05: PSinclair: Heartland's Bast - "Joe Camel is Innocent!"
- 2012/03/05: AutoBG: GM's funding of climate-change denying Heartland Institute stirs up trouble
The Arnold has launched a sustainable world project called Sustainia:
- 2012/03/07: Guardian(UK): Arnold Schwarzenegger launches virtual 'sustainable world' project [Sustainia]
- 2012/03/07: BizGreen: Schwarzenegger, UN leaders unveil virtual platform Sustainia
Here is another one of those studies ripe to be twisted:
- 2012/03/09: ABC(Au): Worriers have climate change anxiety: study
A new study has found that many people with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) are worrying about the effects of climate change and global warming. - 2012/03/06: FuturePundit: CO2 Driving Biggest Ocean Chemistry Changes In 300M Years?
- 2012/03/06: DM:80B: In 300 Million Years, Never Has the Ocean Acidified So Fast
- 2012/03/05: EurActiv: Study shows oceans becoming much more acidic
The world's oceans are turning acidic at what could be the fastest pace of any time in the past 300 million years, even more rapidly than during a monster emission of planet-warming carbon 56 million years ago, European and US scientists say in a new study. - 2012/03/05: SkeptiSci: Oceans Acidifying Faster Today Than in Past 300 Million Years by John Hartz
Late comment on the Liu et al. paper:
- 2012/03/06: CCurrents: Linking Weird Weather To Rapid Warming Of The Arctic
- 2012/03/04: CCurrents: (ab$) Declining Arctic Sea Ice Affecting Winter Snowfall by Jiping Liu et al.
Late comment on Weaver and Swart:
- 2012/03/04: ClimateSight: Tar Sands vs. Coal
And on the Bottom Line:
- 2012/03/08: TP:JR: What's Wrong With Climate Change Economics In One Chart
- 2012/03/07: ABC(Au): Appetite for destruction supports corporate profits
The [negative externalities] unaccounted cost of environmental damage wrought by businesses in 11 major industries probably equals 41 per cent of their profits. That's the estimate in a report by global accounting and consulting giant KPMG, which sought to quantify the 'externalities' businesses impose through environmental damage. - 2012/03/09: RTCC: The anatomy of US energy subsidies
What are the global financial institutions up to?
- 2012/03/10: RWER: Jeffrey Sachs' Reform Candidacy for World Bank President Offers Chance to Fix the Bank
- 2012/03/07: al Jazeera: US economist eyes World Bank presidency
Jeffrey Sachs says global lender has made blunders of "huge proportions" as it is not led by development experts. - 2012/03/05: TP:JR: Why Does the World Bank Say it Cares About Climate Change, But Continue to Aggressively Push Coal?
The world inches toward creating a global legal framework for ecological crime:
- 2012/03/06: WCEL: Caribou, Coal Mining and the world's First Twitter Moot Court
- 2012/03/06: WCEL: Lessons from the world's top Environmental Law Conference
John Cook and friends continue their point-counterpoint articles:
- 2012/03/11: SkeptiSci: Changing Climates, Changing Minds: The Great Stink of London by Andy S
- 2012/03/11: SkeptiSci: Changing Climates, Changing Minds: The Personal by Andy S
- 2012/03/10: SkeptiSci: James Hansen's Motivation by dana1981
- 2012/03/10: SkeptiSci: Peter Sinclair interview with Michael Mann by Rob Honeycutt
- 2012/03/09: SkeptiSci: We've been through climate changes before by Sarah
- 2012/03/09: SkeptiSci: Interactive mythbusting in Lane Cove
- 2012/03/08: SkeptiSci: Lindzen's Junk Science by dana1981
- 2012/03/07: SkeptiSci: A Sunburnt Country by Glenn Tamblyn
- 2012/03/07: SkeptiSci: Lindzen's London Illusions by dana1981
- 2012/03/05: SkeptiSci: New research from last week 9/2012 by Ari Jokimäki
- 2012/03/06: SkeptiSci: PMO Pest Control: Scientists by Robert Way, Albatross, Andy S, climatesight
- 2012/03/05: SkeptiSci: Oceans Acidifying Faster Today Than in Past 300 Million Years by John Hartz
- 2012/03/05: SkeptiSci: Roy Spencer's Junk Science by bbickmore
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?The one year anniversary of Fukushima has triggered a lot of retrospective articles:
- 2012/03/11: CNN: Prayers, tears as Japan marks 1 year since massive earthquake
- 2012/03/10: CNN: What Fukushima accident did to the ocean
Fukushima disaster led to largest accidental release of radioactivity into ocean - Ken Buesseler says the levels detected in the ocean water are not of concern to human health - He says there is concern that levels of radioactivity in fish are not decreasing - Buesseler: Levels that will reach U.S. West Coast in 2013-14 are not high enough to harm humans - 2012/03/11: CBC: Japan remembers tsunami nightmare a year later
The people of Japan paused for a moment of silence to mark the one-year anniversary of a powerful earthquake and subsequent tsunami that killed almost 19,000 people and left hundreds of thousands of others homeless. Entire cities and towns were wiped off the land by the twin disasters, and more than 340,000 people who lost homes are still living in temporary housing a year later. Emperor Akihito led a national memorial service in Tokyo, and smaller memorials were held across the country. - 2012/03/11: al Jazeera: The Fukushima syndrome
Misconceptions surrounding the dramatic events in Japan last year call for a more informed dialogue on nuclear energy. - 2012/03/11: al Jazeera: Japan marks twin disaster anniversary
Minute's silence held to remember more than 19,000 lost in twin disasters that unleashed unprecedented nuclear crisis. - 2012/03/10: BBC: Japan to mark quake and tsunami anniversary
Japan is marking the first anniversary of the devastating earthquake and tsunami which struck the north-eastern coast, killing thousands. The magnitude 9.0 quake, the most powerful since records began, also triggered a serious nuclear accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. - 2012/03/09: NatureNB: Fukushima reports redux
- 2012/03/09: NYT: Nuclear Disaster in Japan Was Avoidable, Critics Contend
- 2012/03/10: SwissInfo: Japanese visit reflects Fukushima's human face
Japanese from the region around Fukushima have been visiting Switzerland to share their experiences of the nuclear disaster. - 2012/03/10: EneNews: AP Headline: "Japanese govt kept meltdown risk secret" - NISA spokesman replaced after letting it 'slip out' during press conference
- 2012/03/10: EneNews: WSJ: "An eerie quietness" in Fukushima says top biologist - Bird population dropped twice as much as after Chernobyl - "Disturbing development"
- 2012/03/09: DerSpiegel: Easing Fears -- A Lonely Missionary in the Radiation Zone
After the Fukushima disaster, residents were forced to flee from the village of Katsurao, located just outside the 20-kilometer exclusion zone. Now living in temporary emergency housing, many exist in an overwhelming state of doubt. But one man [Terumi Hangai] hopes to help them return to more normal lives by freeing them of their radiation anxieties. - 2012/03/09: DerSpiegel: Fukushima Fallout -- Cancer Fears and Depression Plague Japanese Refugees
Ever since the nuclear disaster at the Fukushima power plant, many Japanese people have been living with the fear of cancer. Experts find it difficult to estimate how many people will actually fall ill, but they're more concerned about the psychological consequences of the catastrophe. - 2012/03/08: DerSpiegel: 'It Was Like the Reactor Was in a Shaker' -- German Nuclear Inspectors Remember Fukushima
When the nuclear disaster happened at Fukushima last March, two German men were working on site. They spoke with Spiegel about the harrowing experience and the consequences of the catastrophe. - 2012/03/08: GRC: "Planetary Genocide": Fukushima One Year Later : The Poisoning of Planet Earth
- 2012/03/09: NakedCapitalism: Fukushima's Last Resident
Naoto Matsumura is the only person living inside the exclusion zone and he has no electricity or running water. - 2012/03/09: Guardian(UK): Fukushima residents plagued by health fears of nuclear threat in their midst
- 2012/03/09: CBC: Japan nuclear evacuees face uncertainty 1 year later
- 2012/03/06: GreenGrok: The Fukushima Accident's Legacy One Year Later
- 2012/03/09: JapanTimes: Noda's definition of 'safe' questioned
Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda assured the nation in December that the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant crisis had been reined in, but as the true extent of the damage inside the crippled reactors remains unknown a year on and with the complex still appearing vulnerable to another major quake, the government and Tepco's claims that the facility is secure are being questioned. - 2012/03/08: Nature: Isotopic evidence of plutonium release into the environment from the Fukushima DNPP accident by Jian Zheng et al.
- 2012/03/09: EneNews: Just-Published Study: Plutonium being found away from Fukushima is from nuclear fuel fragments blown out after explosions
- 2012/03/09: EneNews: Mainichi: 73% of Japan worried about health due to Fukushima -- Vast majority say gov't 'hiding' info on nuclear crisis
- 2012/03/08: NatureNB: Plutonium spotted far from Fukushima
- 2012/03/07: EneNews: Anonymous Korean official says radiation detections rising because two Fukushima reactors are currently leaking -Yonhap
- 2012/03/08: EneNews: Kyodo: No one knows what's actually happening inside three reactors one year later -- "Still great uncertainty over the situation"
- 2012/03/08: EneNews: Leading Japan newspaper comes out against nuclear power: "The illusion of nuclear power safety has been torn out by the root"
- 2012/03/08: ABC(Au): Japan marks tsunami anniversary
One year on from Japan's devastating tsunami and damage to the Fukushima nuclear plant, how do things look now? - 2012/03/07: BBC: Radiation fears split Fukushima community
A year after the earthquake and tsunami crippled the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear reactor, local residents still want one fundamental question answered - is it safe to live here? - 2012/03/07: NatureN: Japan's post-Fukushima earthquake health woes go beyond radiation effects
Heart disease and depression are likely to claim more lives than radiation after the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear accident, experts say. - 2012/03/07: NatureN: Japan's nuclear crisis: Fukushima's legacy of fear
Japan's worst-ever nuclear accident displaced more than 100,000 people. Many could now safely return home. Yet mistrust of the government prolongs their exile. - 2012/03/06: Reuters: Japan too slow in Fukushima health checks-rights group
A year after the Fukushima nuclear crisis, Japan's government is still too slow in providing health checks and information to residents, leaving them confused and suspicious of authorities, Human Rights Watch said on Tuesday. - 2012/03/07: AJC:AP: Health uncertainties torment Japanese in nuke zone
- 2012/03/06: GRC: One Year after Fukushima: Defining and Classifying a Disaster
- 2012/03/06: BBC: Shareholders in the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) have sued the firm's directors over their role in the Fukushima nuclear plant disaster
- 2012/03/02: KIT: One Year after Fukushima -- Reactor Accident Expert Groups Are Still Active
- 2012/03/04: EneNews: New Asahi doc: NISA team knew of triple meltdowns by March 18 [2011] - Kept secret until Tepco's admission two months later - Says melted fuel only 'largely' submerged in water
- 2012/03/05: EneNews: "There is spent fuel and pellets and whatever all over the place around the plant" -NRC's Top Man in Japan - Trying to clean it up, but dose still going to be incredible
Post Fukushima, nuclear policies are in flux around the world:
- 2012/03/10: CSM: Japan's Hamaoka nuclear plant sees tsunami defense in (very big) wall
[...]
Its operator, Chubu Electric, is determined to reopen the plant as soon as its workers have finished building a six-ft.-thick anti-tsunami wall that will stand 54 feet above sea level and stretch a mile; the manmade hills now being constructed are a first step in the yearlong project. But many local residents are not so sure. - 2012/03/09: EurActiv: Global accord on nuclear safety needed urgently - World Energy Council
A new international accord on the management and safety of nuclear power plants should be a priority for governments, an influential global energy organisation has said - 2012/03/09: SwissInfo: Swiss at odds over roadmap to nuclear-free future
One year after the Fukushima atomic disaster in Japan, Switzerland is facing a long road ahead towards its intended goal of a nuclear-free future. While the technology to replace atomic power, especially for renewable energy, exists to a large extent, its implementation faces financial and political hurdles before it becomes a reality. "There was a before and after Fukushima moment. Swiss energy policy was never the same," Christian Democrat Party president Christophe Darbellay said. Indeed, a full spectrum of politicians questioned by swissinfo.ch believe the country's decision to give up nuclear power was irreversible. - 2012/03/08: DerSpiegel: Undeterred by Fukushima -- Nuclear Lobby Pushes Ahead with New Reactors
One year after the reactor accident in Fukushima, resistance to nuclear energy is growing around the world. But the atomic industry continues to push for the construction of new reactors, primarily in emerging economies. The German government even wants to support that expansion -- despite the fact it has abandoned nuclear power back home. - 2012/03/09: BBerg: Post-Fukushima U.S. Nuclear Reactor Rules Questioned Over Cost, Adequacy
- 2012/03/09: Guardian(UK): How Fukushima is leading towards a nuclear-free Japan
- 2012/03/09: Guardian(UK): Global accord on nuclear safety needed urgently -- World Energy Council
A year on from Fukushima disaster, council says safety in nuclear industry should be a 'collaborative, not competitive issue' - 2012/03/08: NYT: Japan's Nuclear Energy Industry Nears Shutdown, at Least for Now
All but two of Japan's 54 commercial reactors have gone offline since the nuclear disaster a year ago, after the earthquake and tsunami, and it is not clear when they can be restarted. With the last operating reactor scheduled to be idled as soon as next month, Japan -- once one of the world's leaders in atomic energy -- will have at least temporarily shut down an industry that once generated a third of its electricity. With few alternatives, the prime minister, Yoshihiko Noda, has called for restarting the plants as soon as possible, saying he supports a gradual phase-out of nuclear power over several decades. Yet, fearing public opposition, he has said he will not restart the reactors without the approval of local community leaders. - 2012/03/09: EneNews: US Survey: Nuclear industry wrong -- Fukushima having major, lasting impact on Americans
- 2012/03/07: Mainichi: Editorial: Time to say goodbye to nuclear power
The illusion of nuclear power safety has been torn out by the root. The Fukushima nuclear disaster that followed the great waves of March 11 last year made sure of that. - 2012/03/07: BBerg: Japan Nuclear Shutdowns Boost Current Account Deficit to Record $5 Billion
- 2012/03/08: BBC: Japan reports record current account deficit
Japan has reported a record current account deficit because of rising energy imports, as the country's economic recovery remains fragile. - 2012/03/07: EUO: Fukushima one year on - lessons learnt?
- 2012/03/06: SciAm:Obs: 1 Year after Fukushima: Could It Happen in the U.S.?
- 2012/03/06: DerSpiegel: SPIEGEL Interview with German Environment Minister -- 'Germans Are Willing to Pay' for Renewable Energies
In a Spiegel interview, German Environment Minister Norbert Röttgen, 46, discusses the nuclear phase-out, controversial solar power subsidies and why he believes Chancellor Angela Merkel's energy revolution -- which will see the country move to clean energies -- is still on track. - 2012/03/06: EnergyBulletin: Japan's Green Renewal? After the Disasters UN Tour
- 2012/03/06: BBerg: [Germany's second-largest utility] RWE Profit Slumps 34% on Nuclear Phase-Out Costs, Loss at Natural-Gas Unit
The Arctic melt continues to garner attention:
- 2012/03/11: ASI: Hot spring
- 2012/03/06: NSIDC: February ice extent low in the Barents Sea, high in the Bering Sea
- 2012/03/10: SimpleC: Thick ice decline could advance watery Arctic summers
- 2012/03/09: ASI: PIOMAS March 2012
- 2012/03/10: CBC:Q&Q: Frost Flowers Pump Pollution
- 2012/03/09: ArcticNews: Berkeley Lab Quantifies Effect of Soot on Snow and Ice, Supporting Previous Climate Findings
- 2012/03/08: ASI: Arctic pollution
- 2012/03/05: KSJT: Icemelt News, Part III: Shell's ready to start exploratory drilling in Arctic. Step one: hit enviros with preemptive lawsuit
- 2012/03/05: KSJT: Icemelt News, Part II: Arctic Sea Ice - Less volume, more bromine, and maybe a mercury peril
- 2012/03/05: KSJT: It's winter. Good time for a day of icemelt news Part 1: Mountaineer treks Nepal's menacing lakes
As for the charismatic megafauna:
- 2012/03/09: CBC: Resolute loses Chinese polar bear hunt -- Business bows to pressure from international media deriding hunt of 'endangered' bears
- 2012/03/08: Grist: Oh my god, now there's a live polar bear cam??
- Penguin Cam
- Polar Bear Cam - Siku Cam
- 2012/03/05: TreeHugger: Chinese Businessmen Paying $80,000 to Hunt Polar Bears in Canada
That Damoclean sword still hangs overhead:
- 2012/03/07: ArcticNews: Rebuttal: Imminent collapse of Arctic sea ice drives danger of accelerated methane thaw
- 2012/03/08: ArcticNews: Declaration of Emergency -- Position Statement - Arctic Methane Emergency Group (AMEG)
As for the geopolitics of Arctic resources:
- 2012/03/09: TP:JR: Four Steps To Protect The Arctic, Our Final Ocean Frontier
- 2012/03/05: CCurrents: Shell Wants To Sail With A Record That Is Totally Stale
- 2012/03/06: EUO: EU to discuss Arctic status - permanent observer status in the Arctic Council
- 2012/03/04: OilDrum: Tech Talk - Future Russian Fuel Production from the Arctic
While in Antarctica:
- 2012/03/08: NatureNB: Brazilians look to rebuild Antarctic station
- 2012/03/05 SciNow: Plants Gone Wild: Antarctica Edition
- 2012/03/06: ABC(Au): Alien invasion a threat to Antarctic ecosystem
In the pristine frozen continent of Antarctica scientists fear an alien invasion - not from outer space, but carried in people's pockets and bags. Seeds and plants accidentally brought to Antarctica by tourists and scientists may introduce alien plant species which could threaten the survival of native plants in the finely balanced ecosystem. - 2012/03/06: BBC: Alien invaders threaten Antarctic fringes
The fringes of Antarctica are being invaded by alien plants and tiny animals, scientists have found. - 2012/03/09: al Jazeera: Aid agency warns of West Africa food crisis
Oxfam warns that emerging crisis could affect 13 million people in six countries due to "international complacency". - 2012/03/09: FAO: Race on to help farmers and herders in drought-stricken Sahel
FAO calls for an additional $69.8 million to head off food and nutrition crisis - 2012/03/09 ProMedMail: Schmallenberg virus - Europe (25): Netherlands, serosurvey
[...] Antibodies against Schmallenberg virus [SBV] in 70 per cent of the dairy cattle population in the Netherlands - 2012/03/07: AlterNet: How America Is Making the Whole World Fat and Unhealthy
- 2012/03/09: BBC: Oxfam warns of West Africa drought 'catastrophe'
Urgent action is needed to stop drought in West Africa's Sahel region turning into a humanitarian disaster affecting 13 million people, Oxfam says. - 2012/03/08: UN: Wheat production set to be second highest on record this year, says UN agency
- 2012/03/11: ProMedMail: Schmallenberg virus - Europe (26): vector, morphology
- 2012/03/07: AllAfrica: MDC: Zimbabwe: Zanu-PF Officials Loot Farming Inputs
Two Zanu PF ministers and several other senior Zanu PF party officials are under investigations for plundering Grain Marketing Board (GMB) depots and looting inputs for the current agricultural season across the country. The implicated ministers are, Didymus Mutasa, the Minister of State for Presidential Affairs and Agriculture Minister Joseph Made. So serious was the looting by the Zanu PF big wigs, especially of fertiliser that small-scale farmers could not access the inputs which were targeted for them. The looting has seriously sabotaged the country's agricultural production leaving some regions facing serious starvation. Zimbabwe is facing a major food crisis after the Agricultural Technical and Extension Services revealed that only 247 000 hectares of maize was planted countrywide by December 31 last year, down from 379 993 during the previous farming season. - 2012/03/08: al Jazeera: Morocco's harsh winter -- Farmers despair as their crops shrivel away
- 2012/03/07: TP:JR: Brutal Droughts, Worsened By Global Warming, Threaten Food Production Around The World
- 2012/03/06: ProMedMail: Schmallenberg virus - Europe (24): update, RFI
- 2012/03/06: Guardian(UK): Luxury is produced in Egypt, but it is not for local consumption
The legacy of the Mubarak era has left Egyptians short of basic foodstuffs, particularly wheat - 2012/03/05: AntiWar: Child Hunger in Afghanistan Among Worst in the World
- 2012/03/06: BBC: Global march of banana fungus revealed
A banana and plantain fungus which has spread across the world originated in South East Asia, new research has found. Black leaf streak disease (Mycosphaerella fijiensis) affects leaf photosynthesis, and causes premature ripening. It also delays harvests and can affect banana quality, size and numbers. - FAO: World Food Situation - Food Price Indices
- 2012/03/08: FAO: Near-record wheat production expected this year -- But food prices rise for second month
- 2011/09/21: NECSI: The Food Crises: A Quantitative Model of Food Prices Including Speculators and Ethanol Conversion
- 2012/03/: NECSI: Update - The Food Crises: Predictive validation of a quantitative model of food prices including speculators and ethanol conversion
Regarding the food factor in the ongoing revolutions:
- 2012/03/10: al Jazeera: The politics of bread in Egypt
Flaws in the government-sponsored rationing programme are redolent of the country's food security problems. - 2011/08/10: NECSI: The Food Crises and Political Instability in North Africa and the Middle East
Regarding the genetic modification of food:
- 2012/03/09: EurActiv: Danish compromise on GM crops headed for defeat
EU ministers are unlikely to agree draft rules to let countries decide themselves whether to grow or ban genetically modified (GM) crops, despite efforts by Denmark's EU presidency to reach a compromise. - 2012/03/09: EUO: Ban on GM crops still not coming into force
- 2012/03/09: ABC(Au): Concerns on GM food testing continue
- 2012/03/09: ABC(Au): India goes bananas for GM fruit
Australian scientists have genetically modified bananas so the fruit is not only fully of vitamins but also rich with iron. They are now sharing the technology with Indian scientists and farmers to help address widespread anaemia in the country, which can lead to death during childbirth. - 2012/03/07: AlterNet: What You Should Know About [AquaBounty] the Company Pushing Genetically Engineered Salmon on Consumers
- 2012/03/07: PlanetArk: France To Restore GMO Maize Ban Within Days: Ministry
France will reinstate a ban on the cultivation of Monsanto's MON810 maize (corn) in the next few days, in time to prevent the genetically modified grain being sown this year, an official at the farm ministry said on Tuesday. - 2012/03/07: NPR: Farmers Face Tough Choice On Ways To Fight New Strains Of [Super] Weeds
And how are we going to feed 9 billion, 10 billion, 15 billion?
- 2012/03/05: FAO: New tools help countries harness the potential of bioenergy, avoid pitfalls
FAO project helps policymakers maximize benefits for rural communities, prevent food security impacts - 2012/03/09: EnergyBulletin: Knowledge, technology, and the politics of rice
- 2012/03/07: TreeHugger: Farming At A Crossroads: Will Farmers Rely on Agribusiness or Find Alternatives to Fight Superweeds?
- 2012/03/02: AlterNet: Activists Are Reclaiming Vacant Lots For Gardens -- But Will There Be Legal Challenges?
- 2012/03/06: EnergyBulletin: Five great grains with promise for the future
Cyclone Irina zapped Madagascar and lingers in the Mozambique Channel:
- 2012/03/09: NASA: NASA Sees Cyclone Irina Weaker in Mozambique Channel
- 2012/03/07: Eureka: NASA sees Tropical Storm Irina heading back toward African mainland
- 2012/03/07: Wunderground: Tropical Cyclone Irina kills 72 on Madagascar
- 2012/03/06: Eureka: NASA sees Tropical Cyclone Irina still looping at sea
- 2012/03/05: Eureka: NASA satellites see Tropical Storm Irina getting loopy
Two NASA satellites have been measuring rainfall and cloud top temperatures in Tropical Storm as it has been "going loopy" in the Mozambique Channel over the last couple of days. Irina is making a cyclonic loop, something that a tropical cyclone does on occasion whenever there are a couple of weather systems that push it in different directions. - 2012/03/06: al Jazeera: Deadly cyclone lashes southeastern Africa
Madagascar, Mozambique and South Africa feel impact of tropical storm that has killed at least 77 people. - 2012/03/05: al Jazeera: Scores killed as storm passes Madagascar
Tropical storm Irina left at least 65 people dead, most of them residents in southeast of the island. - 2012/03/09: NASA: NASA's TRMM Satellite Sees Hot Towers in Cyclone Koji (Southern Indian Ocean)
While elsewhere in the hurricane wars:
- 2012/03/05: Guardian(UK): Bangladesh villagers still struggling after Cyclone Aila's devastation
- 2012/03/03: Nola: Hurricane Katrina flood ruling upheld by federal appeals court
The U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday upheld a lower court ruling finding the Army Corps of Engineers responsible for flooding portion of the Lower 9th Ward and St. Bernard Parish during Hurricane Katrina because of its failure to maintain the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet. If upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court, the ruling could eventually result in residents, businesses and local governments being reimbursed for damages of as much as $20 billion, according to the lead attorney representing plaintiffs in the case. - 2012/03/07: TCoE: Latest CO2 numbers
- 2012/03/05: PeakEnergy: Climate Danger from Natural Gas
As for the temperature record:
- 2012/03/09: moyhu: February 2012 temperatures down 0.05°C
- 2012/03/09: Wunderground: Fourth warmest winter on record for the U.S.
- 2012/03/11: moyhu: February GISS up 0.05°C - comparison
- 2012/03/10: TP:JR: Fourth Warmest Winter On Record For The U.S.
- 2012/03/04: SFU: Warming of 2 degrees inevitable over Canada
While in the paleoclimate:
- 2012/03/08: Eureka: Oldest organism with skeleton discovered in Australia
Finding fine-tunes understanding of life's evolution on Earth; informs search for extraterrestrial life. A team of paleontologists has discovered the oldest animal with a skeleton. Called Coronacollina acula, the organism is between 560 million and 550 million years old, which places it in the Ediacaran period, before the explosion of life and diversification of organisms took place on Earth in the Cambrian. - 2012/03/05: SciNews: Fossil pushes back land-animal debut -- Five-toed foot among new finds that help fill in evolutionary picture
A foot buried beneath Scottish soil for at least 345 million years pushes back the timeline for the appearance of the first four-legged creatures that spent their lives on dry land. - 2012/03/08: NOAA:NCEP: El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) Diagnostic Discussion
Synopsis: La Niña is expected to transition to ENSO-neutral conditions by the end of April 2012. - 2012/03/05: ERW: Climate adaptation: firming up uncertainty
- 2012/03/09: HotTopic: Uncertainty is not your Friend
- 2012/03/04: TheCanadian: Tipping Points: The Haunting Uncertainties
What's new on the extinction front?
- 2012/03/05 SciNow: Sharing the Blame for the Mammoth's Extinction
More GW impacts are being seen:
- 2012/03/07: TreeHugger: Climate Change May Kill Off 900 Bird Species By 2100
- 2012/03/09: BBC: World seabird numbers still falling, says a new review
Almost half of the world's seabirds have populations that are thought to be in decline, according to a new review. The study, published in Bird Conservation International, found that 28% of species are considered to be in the highest categories of risk. - 2012/03/07: Guardian(UK): Cheetah struggling to reproduce due to climate change, scientists warn
- 2012/03/04: Oregonian: A matter of degree
It may be difficult to fathom, but a degree or two too many in the temperature of Oregon river water can kill baby fish that are protected by the federal Endangered Species Act. - 2012/03/05: Google:UKPA: Climate change threat to ice hockey
- 2012/03/05: Maribo: Climate change, outdoor skating and Canadian tradition
- 2012/03/05: Eureka: In forests, past disturbances obscure warming impacts
- 2012/03/05: PostMedia: Thin ice: outdoor rinks face meltdown
Number of viable ice-flooding days could reach zero by mid-century, Canadian researchers find - 2012/03/05: BBC: Up to 900 tropical bird species could 'go extinct'
Up to 900 species of tropical land birds around the world could become extinct by 2100, researchers say. The finding is modelled on the effects of a 3.5C Earth surface temperature rise, a Biological Conservation Journal paper shows. Species may struggle to adapt to habitat loss and extreme weather events, author Cagan Sekercioglu says. Mountain, coastal, restricted-range, and species unable to get to higher elevations could be the worst affected. - 2012/03/05: CBC: Outdoor skating rinks threatened by climate change
- 2012/03/04: Guardian(UK): Climate change could make Canada's traditional street hockey extinct
And then there are the world's forests:
- 2012/03/08: GEP: South Korea and Indonesia Sign Agreement on Reforestation
- 2012/03/09: Grist: Philippines police to plant 10 million trees in one year
- 2012/03/08: TreeHugger: 6 Famous Trees Killed by Human Folly
- 2012/03/09: al Jazeera: Native Ecuadorans protest Amazon mining
Demonstration is organised by powerful umbrella group that represents natives from around Ecuador. Hundreds of native Ecuadorans have begun a cross-country march to protest policies by President Rafael Correa they say will result in more mining in the Amazon region and threaten the environment and their way of life. Thursday's protests were prompted partly by a recent agreement between Ecuador and China for industrial copper mining in the Amazon's Ecuacorriente Zamora-Chinchipe region. The march, organised by the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE), a powerful umbrella group that represents natives from around the country, began in the Zamora-Chinchipe town of El Pangui, 700km south of Quito, the capital. - 2012/03/08: PlanetArk: Insight: China Gambles On Cambodia's Shrinking Forests
- 2012/03/07: UCSUSA: Global Demand for Vegetable Oils Contributing to Deforestation
- 2012/03/07: Eureka: EU-funded study underlines importance of Congo Basin for global climate and biodiversity
- 2012/03/07: BBC: Peruvians protest against illegal mining crackdown
Several thousand people in Peru's eastern Amazon have taken to the streets to call for the repeal of new sanctions against illegal gold mining. People operating mines illegally or breaking environmental rules now face up to 10 years in prison. Miners in Madre de Dios, one of Peru's main gold-mining regions, say the law will put thousands out of work. But the government says the sanctions will encourage miners to get permits and stop polluting the environment. - 2012/03/05: CNN: Rainforest home to vast treasury of life
Scientists believe at least two-thirds of Earth's land species found in tropical forests - Yasuni National Park in Ecuador estimated to contain 100,000 species of insects - As well timber, forests provide agricultural land, food, water, minerals and energy - 2012/03/01: eMag: The Freak Weather That Won't Be Denied
Will the Upswing in Extreme Weather Events Finally Convince Us to Take Action on Climate Change? - 2012/03/09: TP:JR: ABC News Explains Warm Winter, 'Wild Swings In Weather', Driven by Global Warming, Only Going to Get Worse
- 2012/03/11: al Jazeera: Hawaii begins to clean up
A state of emergency is declared in two states due to record breaking rainfall and severe weather - 2012/03/04: TP:JR: Tornadoes, Extreme Weather And Climate Change, Revisited
Changes in natural cycles are showing up:
- 2012/03/08: HuffPo: Spring Weather: Winter Ending Early For Many Plants And Animals
On the tornado front:
- 2012/03/10: Wunderground: Tornado, hail, and torrential rains hammer Hawaii
- 2012/03/05: BBC: US toddler found in Indiana tornado wreckage dies
- 2012/03/05: Wunderground: The March 2 - 3 tornado outbreak: one EF-4, 39 deaths
- 2012/03/04: Guardian(UK): US midwest hit by tornadoes - in [21] pictures
- 2012/03/04: CBC: Tornado-flung toddler dies in hospital -- Tot was found in field after parents, siblings killed
As for heatwaves and wild fires:
- 2012/03/11: ABC(Au): Perth swelters through record heatwaves
Perth is sweltering through the eighth heatwave of the summer and autumn seasons, the first time such an event has happened since records started being kept in 1897. The Bureau of Meteorology defines a heatwave as three consecutive days at or above 35 degrees Celsius. - 2012/03/10: ABC(Au): Economist backs Greenpeace reef campaign
An economic researcher says Greenpeace is right to be fighting the coal industry over an increase in coal mines and shipping near the Great Barrier Reef. Greenpeace says the marine park is under threat due to a $50 billion expansion of the Queensland coal industry that will see a dramatic increase in the number of coal mines and shipping. It says some projects could have Government approval within weeks. The Minerals Council has described the green group's opposition as economic vandalism. - 2012/03/06: ClimateShifts: Is the Great Barrier Reef listing? The UN asks if we're still heritage-worthy.
- 2012/03/05: BBC: A UN team has arrived in Australia to investigate possible damage to the Great Barrier Reef by the mining industry
Sea levels are rising:
- 2012/03/07: Grist: Entire nation of Kiribati has to move to avoid rising seas
As for hydrological cycle disruptions [floods & droughts]:
- 2012/03/11: ClimateShifts: A long history of predicting increased risk of both floods and droughts
- 2012/03/11: ABC(Au): Residents relieved as Riverina levee holds
- 2012/03/09: P3: Never Rains but it Pours
- 2012/03/10: ABC(Au): Towns on alert despite flood crisis easing
Authorities have warned several towns to remain on alert despite the flood crisis easing across much of New South Wales and Victoria. The State Emergency Service (SES) evacuated the southern New South Wales town of Darlington Point on Saturday because of fears the rising Murrumbidgee River would threaten the town's levee. - 2012/03/09: ABC(Au): NSW flood threat moves downstream
- 2012/03/09: ABC(Au): Towns swamped as Forbes faces flood peak
- 2012/03/08: ABC(Au): Nervous wait for Nathalia residents staying put
Residents of Nathalia in Victoria's north are refusing to leave their homes despite a warning from the State Emergency Service (SES) to do so. Floodwaters in the town are continuing to rise after water began seeping from under the newly built aluminium levee in several areas. - 2012/03/08: ABC(Au): Forbes flood peak expected tonight
Widespread flooding is continuing across much of southern and central-western New South Wales, with more communities ordered to evacuate their homes this afternoon. The worst at the moment is at Forbes in the state's central-west where the Lachlan River has flooded and is expected to peak tonight. The river was last measured at 10.55 metres, but the Bureau of Meteorology predicted it would rise to 10.65 metres. - 2012/03/07: ABC(Au): Riverina on flood alert after record rain
- 2012/03/07: ABC(Au): Two thirds of Moira Shire under water
- 2012/03/07: ABC(Au): Griffith, Forbes latest in flood firing line
Hundreds of people in southern New South Wales are spending the night away from their homes, with fears that low-lying parts of Griffith and towns downstream of Wagga Wagga could be inundated by floodwaters. About 600 people have been evacuated from their homes in Griffith, while residents in Narrandera are also preparing for major flooding in coming days. Wagga Wagga's levee held through the flood's peak yesterday and about 9,000 residents were given the all-clear to return to their homes and businesses this morning. Prime Minister Julia Gillard visited the region this afternoon and was told by the SES that major flooding was forecast downstream of the Murrumbidgee River. - 2012/03/07: al Jazeera: Australia battles spreading floodwaters
Hundreds more evacuated from areas at risk, but relief in Wagga Wagga as flood barriers limit damage to city centre. - 2012/03/07: al Jazeera: Welcome rain hits Argentina -- The wet weather brings relief for the farmers in the drought-hit country
- 2012/03/06: ABC(Au): Australian flood peak revised down amid state of emergency
- 2012/03/06: ABC(Au): Waiting game for Wagga as flood peak revised down
Thousands of residents in the New South Wales inland city of Wagga Wagga are likely to spend another night away from home with floodwaters rising more slowly than expected. The flood peak, expected to hit about 6pm AEDT, has been revised down from 10.9 metres to 10.6 metres. - 2012/03/06: al Jazeera: Thousands flee Australia flooding
More than 8,000 people have fled their homes in Wagga Wagga in New South Wales fearing that the town's levee would fail. - 2012/03/05: ABC(Au): Floods swamp south-eastern Australia
- 2012/03/06: ABC(Au): Two dead, thousands evacuate in Australian floods
- 2012/03/05: PlanetArk: Portugal Prays For Rain As Drought Adds To Crisis
- 2012/03/05: ABC(Au): Levees in doubt as Wagga residents ordered out
- 2012/03/04: al Jazeera: Australia flooding turns deadly
Floodwaters kill 43-year-old man in New South Wales as towns are evacuated due to heavy rainfall. - 2012/03/08: Atlantic: The Climate Plans That Aren't Helping Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions
- 2012/03/08: KlimaZwiebel: System change, not climate change II
Consider transportation & GHG production:
- 2012/03/10: Economist: High-speed trains -- Going nowhere fast
Even California, America's last big hope for high-speed trains, is reconsidering - 2012/03/09: Guardian(UK): Health benefits would outweigh cost of shipping pollution controls, say MPs
- 2012/03/06: EurActiv: IMO on collision course with EU over CO2 emissions
The International Maritime Organization (IMO) seems to be on a policy collision course with the European Union, having failed to make headway on market-based measures to curb carbon dioxide emissions from global shipping. A committee of the 170-member United Nations shipping body was unable to make "tangible progress" after a week of talks that ended late on Friday, delegates say. - 2012/03/05: PlanetArk: U.N. Aviation Body [ICAO] Says Emissions Proposal By Year-End
- 2012/03/05: PlanetArk: IMO Set To Collide With EU Over Vessel CO2 Emissions
While in the endless quest for zero energy, sustainable buildings and practical codes:
- 2012/03/08: TP:JR: Zero Net Energy Buildings 2.0: Achieving Big Bold Energy Efficiency Strategies
- 2012/03/08: TP:JR: Bright Is The New Black: New York Roofs Go Cool
- 2012/03/06: Grist: Gimme bomb shelter: FEMA pushes for disaster-proof green buildings
- 2012/03/07: TreeHugger: Really Fab Greenfab Prefab Certified LEED Platinum
As for carbon sequestration:
- 2012/03/07: Eureka: 15-year study: When it comes to creating wetlands, Mother Nature is in charge
- 2012/03/08: Grist: Iceland plans to turn excess carbon into stone
- 2012/03/05: ORNL: Final FACE [Free-Air Carbon dioxide-Enrichment] harvest reveals increased soil carbon storage under elevated carbon dioxide
Large scale geo-engineering keeps popping up:
- 2012/03/09: GEB: The Case for Emergency Geo-Engineering to save the Arctic from Collapse
- 2012/02/27: UManchester: Time for a rethink on climate change, say top environmental economists
- 2012/03/05: GEP: Environmental Economists Present "Schelling Consensus"
- 2012/03/05: ArcticNews: The Case for Emergency Geo-Engineering to save the Arctic from Collapse
While on the adaptation front:
- 2012/03/08: Eureka: Effects of flooding on Cairo, Ill.
When faced with a choice between a deluge or a controlled deluge in May 2011 that would protect the city of Cairo, Illinois, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers chose the latter by ordering an intentional breach of the Mississippi River levee at Bird's Point, but was it the right decision? - 2011/09/21: G&PC: (ab$) Sea level projections to AD2500 with a new generation of climate change scenarios by S. Jevrejeva et al.
- 2012/03/05: NERC:NORA: Late Quaternary sediments from deep-sea sediment drifts on the Antarctic Peninsula Pacific margin: Climatic control on provenance of minerals by Alessandra Ventui et al.
- 2012/03/06: NERC:NORA: The effect of Forbush decreases on tropospheric parameters over South Pole by M.M. Lam & A.S. Rodger
- 2012/03/06: NERC:NORA: A new species of Diaphana from bathyal depths in the Weddell Sea, Antarctica and first record of Diaphana inflata (Strebel, 1908) in the high Antarctic (Gastropoda: Opisthobranchia) by Katrin Linse & Tom Schiøtte
- 2012/03/06: NERC:NORA: Sea level projections to AD2500 with a new generation of climate change scenarios by S. Jevrejeva et al.
- 2012/03/08: NERC:NORA: Winds and tides in the mid-latitude Southern Hemisphere upper mesosphere recorded with the Falkland Islands SuperDARN radar by Robert Hibbins et al.
- 2012/03/09: ACPD: On the representation of immersion and condensation freezing in cloud models using different nucleation schemes by B. Ervens & G. Feingold
- 2012/03/09: ACPD: A multi-model assessment of the efficacy of sea spray geoengineering by K. J. Pringle et al.
- 2012/03/09: GMD: Set-up and preliminary results of mid-Pliocene climate simulations with CAM3.1 by Q. Yan et al.
- 2012/03/09: TCD: Arctic sea ice variability and trends, 1979-2010 by D. J. Cavalieri & C. L. Parkinson
- 2012/03/09: TCD: Antarctic sea ice variability and trends, 1979-2010 by C. L. Parkinson & D. J. Cavalieri
- 2012/03/05: ESDD: Iterative land proxy based reconstruction of SST for the simulation of terrestrial Holocene climate by K. Haberkorn et al.
- 2012/03/09: CPD: Fire history in western Patagonia from paired tree-ring fire-scar and charcoal records by A. Holz et al.
- 2012/03/09: CPD: Exploring errors in paleoclimate proxy reconstructions using Monte Carlo simulations: paleotemperature from mollusk and coral geochemistry by M. Carré et al.
- 2012/03/07: CPD: Climatically-controlled siliceous productivity in the eastern Gulf of Guinea during the last 40 000 yr by X. Crosta et al.
- 2012/03/05: CPD: Little Ice Age advance and retreat of Glaciar Jorge Montt, Chilean Patagonia by A. Rivera et al.
- 2012/03/05: CPD: Holocene evolution of the Southern Hemisphere westerly winds in transient simulations with global climate models by V. Varma et al.
- 2012/03/09: CPD: The relative roles of CO2 and palaeogeography in determining Late Miocene climate: results from a terrestrial model-data comparison by C. D. Bradshaw et al.
- 2012/03/09: CPD: Changes in the strength and width of the Hadley circulation since 1871 by J. Liu et al.
- 2012/03/06: CPD: Contribution of changes in opal productivity and nutrient distribution in the coastal upwelling systems to late Pliocene/early Pleistocene climate cooling by J. Etourneau et al.
- 2012/02/27: PRL: (ab$) Thermoelectrically Pumped Light-Emitting Diodes Operating above Unity Efficiency by Parthiban Santhanam et al.
- 2012/03/08: ACP: Interannual variation in the fine-mode MODIS aerosol optical depth and its relationship to the changes in sulfur dioxide emissions in China between 2000 and 2010 by S. Itahashi et al.
- 2012/03/08: ACP: Ozone zonal asymmetry and planetary wave characterization during Antarctic spring by I. Ialongo et al.
- 2012/03/07: ACP: Comparisons of observed and modeled OH and HO2 concentrations during the ambient measurement period of the HOxComp field campaign by Y. Kanaya et al.
- 2012/03/05: ACP: Complex refractive indices of Saharan dust samples at visible and near UV wavelengths: a laboratory study by R. Wagner et al.
- 2012/03/05: ACP: Evidence of a possible turning point in solar UV-B over Canada, Europe and Japan by C. S. Zerefos et al.
- 2012/03/05: ACP: Decreasing particle number concentrations in a warming atmosphere and implications by F. Yu et al.
- 2012/03/08: ACPD: Aerosol indirect effects from shipping emissions: sensitivity studies with the global aerosol-climate model ECHAM-HAM by K. Peters et al.
- 2012/03/08: ACPD: Middle atmosphere response to different descriptions of the 11-yr solar cycle in spectral irradiance in a chemistry-climate model by W. H. Swartz et al.
- 2012/03/07: ACPD: Further examination of the thermodynamic modification of the inflow layer of tropical cyclones by vertical wind shear by M. Riemer et al.
- 2012/03/07: ACPD: Statistics of severe tornadoes and severe tornado outbreaks by B. D. Malamud & D. L. Turcotte
- 2012/03/06: ACPD: Record-breaking ozone loss in the Arctic winter 2010/2011: comparison with 1996/1997 by J. Kuttippurath et al.
- 2012/03/05: ACPD: Comparison of methods for evaluation of wood smoke and estimation of UK ambient concentrations by R. M. Harrison et al.
- 2012/03/08: TC: Coupling of climate models and ice sheet models by surface mass balance gradients: application to the Greenland Ice Sheet by M. M. Helsen et al.
- 2012/03/08: TC: Estimating ice phenology on large northern lakes from AMSR-E: algorithm development and application to Great Bear Lake and Great Slave Lake, Canada by K.-K. Kang et al.
- 2012/03/07: TCD: Monte Carlo ice flow modeling projects a new stable configuration for Columbia Glacier, Alaska, by c. 2020 by W. Colgan et al.
- 2012/03/06: PNAS: (ab$) Global bioenergy potential from high-lignin agricultural residue by Venugopal Mendu et al.
- 2012/03/06: PNAS: (ab$) Early millet use in northern China by Xiaoyan Yang et al.
- 2012/03/06: PNAS: (ab$) Drought is a recurring challenge in the Middle East by David Kaniewski et al.
- 2012/03/06: PNAS: (ab$) The resilience and adaptive capacity of social-environmental systems in colonial Mexico by Georgina H. Endfield
- 2012/03/06: PNAS: (ab$) Cyprus as a degraded landscape or resilient environment in the wake of colonial intrusion by Sarah E. Harris
- 2012/03/06: PNAS: (ab$) Plague and landscape resilience in premodern Iceland by Richard Streeter et al.
- 2012/03/06: PNAS: (ab$) ultural adaptation, compounding vulnerabilities and conjunctures in Norse Greenland by Andrew J. Dugmore et al.
- 2012/03/06: PNAS: (ab$) Kax and kol: Collapse and resilience in lowland Maya civilization by Nicholas P. Dunning et al.
- 2012/03/06: PNAS: (ab$) Wetland fields as mirrors of drought and the Maya abandonment by Sheryl Luzzadder-Beach et al.
- 2012/03/06: PNAS: (ab$) Climate change, adaptive cycles, and the persistence of foraging economies during the late Pleistocene/Holocene transition in the Levant by Arlene M. Rosen & Isabel Rivera-Collazo
- 2012/03/06: PNAS: (ab$) Collapse, environment, and society by Karl W. Butzer
- 2012/03/06: PNAS: (ab$) Critical perspectives on historical collapse by Karl W. Butzer & Georgina H. Endfield
- 2012/03/07: Wiley:GBC: (ab$) Soil carbon and nitrogen cycling and storage throughout the soil profile in a sweetgum plantation after 11 years of CO2-enrichment by Colleen M. Iversen et al.
- 2012/03/06: GMD: Verification of SpacePy's radial diffusion radiation belt model by D. T. Welling et al.
- 2012/03/06: OS: Towards an improved description of ocean uncertainties: effect of local anamorphic transformations on spatial correlations by J.-M. Brankart et al.
- 2012/03/06: TCD: Permafrost distribution in the European Alps: calculation and evaluation of an index map and summary statistics by L. Boeckli et al.
- 2012/03/05: AGWObserver: New research from last week 9/2012
- 2012/02/21: BCJ: (ab$) The effects of climate change on tropical birds by Ãagan H. Sekercioglu et al.
And other significant documents:
- 2012/03/07: ASP: [link to 2 meg pdf] America's Energy Choices: 2012 Edition
As for miscellaneous science:
- 2012/03/10: NatureN: The 'most important questions' in science policy shortlisted
Cambridge initiative addresses difficult relationship between science and policy. - 2012/03/09: PLoS One: A Collaboratively-Derived Science-Policy Research Agenda by William J. Sutherland et al.
- 2012/03/07: Eureka: NASA jet stream study will light up the night sky
- 2012/03/07: NatureNB: Study gets to the roots of enhanced CO2 experiment
- 2012/03/05: ScienceInsider: Another Bumper Year for Chinese Science
Another year, another chance for scientists here to pop the champagne corks. In a draft budget released today at the opening session of the annual National People's Congress, China has earmarked 32.45 billion yuan ($5.14 billion) for basic research in 2012 -- up 26% from last year's appropriation Overall, central government spending on science and technology is slated to rise 12.4%, to 228.54 billion yuan ($36.23 billion). Scientists will also benefit from a 24% jump in funding for Project 985 and Project 211, which funnel money to elite universities. - 2012/03/09: RBroberg: Call for PCCM2.1 / CCM2 T21L18 Double Precision Data Sets
- 2012/03/05: RBroberg: PCCM2.1 Performance Implementations
- 2012/03/04: RBroberg: PCCM2.1: The Parallelized Port of CCM2
What developments in the ongoing struggle for Open Science?
- 2012/03/09: QuarkSoup: Statistical Abstract is No More
- 2012/03/08: Independent(UK): Publishers be damned!
A mild-mannered Cambridge University professor is leading huge numbers of top researchers in a damaging boycott of Reed Elsevier. Stephen Foley explains why - 2012/03/07: NatureN: Trouble at the text mine
Computers can rapidly scan through thousands of research papers to make useful connections, but work is being slowed by publishers' unease. - 2012/03/09: ERW: Death threats, intimidation and abuse: climate-change scientist Michael E Mann counts the cost of honesty
- 2012/03/09: TreeHugger: The Saga of Michael Mann & the Hockey Stick (Video)
- 2012/03/07: YaleCMF: Michael Mann, the Hockey Stick -- and the Climate Wars
- 2012/03/08: ClassM: in Michael Mann's words
- 2012/03/05: Guardian(UK): Michael Mann on climate wars: 'the hockey stick did not suddenly appear out of left field'
Regarding Hansen:
- 2012/03/08: TP:JR: James Hansen's Must-See TED Talk: Starting To Reduce CO2 In 10 Years Is Too Late
- 2012/03/08: PSinclair: James Hansen at TED
Regarding Curry:
- 2012/03/06: ITracker: Judith Curry needs living space!
- 2012/03/07: P3: Curry Asks "Why Heartland"? Here's an Answer.
Regarding Lindzen:
- 2012/03/07: ITracker: Richard Lindzen vs the aerosol forcing
- 2012/03/07: moyhu: Lindzen's misrepresentation at House of Commons
- 2012/03/06: P3: Doug Bostrom: Misrepresentation from Lindzen
- 2012/03/06: RealClimate: Misrepresentation from Lindzen
- 2012/03/07: SkeptiSci: Lindzen's London Illusions by dana1981
There is a steady dribble of Rio+20 Conference news:
- 2012/03/07: Rabble: Ecologists, leftists and Rio+20
While at the UN:
- 2012/03/08: FAO: International Women's Day: FAO gender policy aims high
Better opportunities for women and girls means leverage in fight against hunger - 2012/03/06: UN: New UN-backed emissions reduction scheme helps poorer nations use clean energy
The idea of a carbon tax is still bouncing around:
- 2012/03/08: G&M: Oil sands, green groups unlikely allies in push for carbon tax
On the international political front, tensions continue as the USA and Israel lean on Iran:
- 2012/03/07: Slate: War for No Oil -- Stop blaming oil speculators and start listening to them: A war with Iran would devastate the economy
- 2012/03/11: al Jazeera: India seeks way around Iran sanctions
Old-fashioned business practices being employed to expand bilateral trade currently worth $14bn. - 2012/03/05: OilDrum: Tactics and Strategy at the Strait of Hormuz
- 2012/03/05: PeakEnergy: Iran presses ahead with dollar attack?
As the EU-ETS is applied to airlines, we will see who is serious about reducing carbon emissions:
- 2012/03/09: EurActiv: Envoy says China wants to avert trade spat over ETS
A Chinese diplomat said yesterday (8 March) Beijing is keen to avoid a trade conflict with Europe after Airbus accused the country of blocking purchases of its aircraft in retaliation for the EU's Emissions Trading System (ETS). The diplomat spoke hours after Louis Gallois, chief executive of Airbus parent EADS, had complained that the aircraft firm was suffering "retaliatory measures" from China including a refusal to approve orders for long-haul jets. - 2012/03/09: EUO: China denies blocking Airbus purchases
- 2012/03/09: Guardian(UK): Airbus blames EU carbon trading row for falling Chinese orders
Spectre of a trade war looms large as Beijing reportedly blocks purchase of 10 Airbus A380s as a retaliatory measure - 2012/03/09: al Jazeera: EU-China dispute 'delaying Airbus orders'
Aerospace firm chief believes tax on airliner carbon emissions has invited costly Chinese trade retaliation. - 2012/03/08: EUO: China blocks Airbus orders over CO2 tax
- 2012/03/08: BBC: China blocks Airbus deals over EU carbon tax, says EADS
China has blocked purchases of Airbus planes by Chinese firms in reaction to a disputed European carbon tax, the head of Airbus's parent company, EADS, has said. EADS chief executive Louis Gallois says Airbus is being subjected to "retaliation measures" by China. The EU imposed a carbon tax on airlines which took effect on 1 January. - 2012/03/06: PlanetArk: Germany Fully Backs EU Law On Airline Carbon Cost
In the "global competition for natural resources":
- 2012/03/07: Eureka: Shift to green energy sources could mean crunch in supply of scarce metals
While in the solar panel trade war between China and the USA:
- 2012/03/06: TP:JR: U.S. Solar Trade Surplus With China Turns Into Gaping Deficit, Says Coalition of Manufacturers
- 2012/03/07: TreeHugger: US Now Has $1.6 Billion Solar Trade Deficit With China
Polls! We have polls!
- 2012/03/09: TreeHugger: 65% of Americans Blame Obama, Congress for High Gas Prices
- 2012/03/09: EneNews: US Survey: Nuclear industry wrong -- Fukushima having major, lasting impact on Americans
- 2012/03/06: TreeHugger: How Millennials Feel about Cars, Public Transit and Electric Vehicles
- 2012/03/05: SciAm:PI: Survey Says - Americans Support Keystone XL Pipeline
Regarding Water Politics and Business:
- 2012/03/09: EurActiv: Rival forums set different course for water access
Competing international conferences taking place in Marseille next week both seek to improve global freshwater access but hold radically different views on the private sector's role in reaching that goal. Organisers of the two events say they expect thousands of people to gather 12-17 March for discussions that will present ideas on how to improve global access to an increasingly threatened natural resource. But the main difference pitting the two sides over the 6th World Water Forum and its alternative centres is the role of the private sector in providing water in both developed and developing countries. The Alternative World Water Forum -- known by its French acronym FAME, or Forum Alternatif Mondial de l'Eau -- says it offers a "democratic" choice to the other Marseille gathering they say represents an élite that ignores the need for affordable water. Promoting a motto of "water belongs to everyone," the trade unions, corporate watchdog groups sand environmentalists behind FAME accuse the World Water Forum of "hijacking" their agenda with its calls for universal water access and sustainability. - 2012/03/09: BBC: Scots offer to send water to aid drought-hit England
The Scottish government has offered to provide water for drought-hit areas in the south of England. But ministers admit there are huge logistical issues to be overcome before it could happen. - 2012/03/08: EnergyBulletin: ¡Viva la Acequia!
- 2012/03/06: EurActiv: UN goals on safe drinking water reaches target early
- 2012/03/06: UN: World meets goal of boosting access to clean water but lags on better sanitation - UN
- 2012/03/06: Guardian(UK): Millennium development goal on safe drinking water reaches target early
- 2012/03/05 NatureN: A damming assessment of Mekong development -- Dams on tributaries worse for fish than those on the main river
- 2012/03/05: JFleck: That lone Republican vote against HR1837
- 2012/03/05: Eureka: UN scientists warn of increased groundwater demands due to climate change
- 2012/03/06: BBC: UN meets Millennium Development Goal on drinking water
The Millennium Development Goal for access to clean water has been reached, ahead of the target date of 2015. Now 89% of the population of the world have access to improved water supplies, up from 76% in the base year of 1990. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon hailed the achievement of halving the number of people without access to improved drinking water. - 2012/03/05: EurActiv: Plenty of water, but is there enough to drink? [H2O biz]
England's third dry winter in a row has led British authorities to call for conservation measures, while China's government has warned that two-thirds of the country's cities face severe water shortages because of drought and rampant consumption. - 2012/03/04: JFleck: Black phoebe on the Lower Colorado
As for SW tools:
- 2012/03/10: TP:JR: 19 Climate Games That Could Change the Future
- 2012/03/08: TP:JR: Rebuilding 'Sim City' Video Game To Account For Climate Change
- 2012/03/09: Grist: New SimCity has SimClimateChange
Among the world's religions:
- 2012/03/05: RawStory: Pat Robertson: Tornadoes wouldn't happen if enough people prayed
Ethics? You want to talk about ethics?
- 2012/03/07: ERabett: It Ain't Just GMU
And on the American political front:
- 2012/03/09: Wonkette: AZ Senate: Doctors Can Withhold Info That Might Make Ladies Opt For Abortion
- 2012/03/08: Rabble: No lessons learned from Japan's nuclear disaster in U.S. politics
- 2012/03/08: DemNow: Women Fight Back as Virginia, Georgia Curb Reproductive Rights: "When We're Screwed, We Multiply"
- 2012/03/08: Atlantic: The War Continues...Texas's attack on Planned Parenthood and health services for poor women in general...
- 2012/03/08: TreeHugger: Don't Mess With Texas's Clean Energy
- 2012/03/10: DeSmogBlog: Big Oil Rakes In Billions, Still Complains Taxes Are Too High
- 2012/03/06: ITracker: Republicans against free-market wind power
- 2012/03/06: TP:JR: An Attempt to Roll Back Wind in Wisconsin?
- 2012/03/02: AlterNet: How Conservatives Attack the Small-Town, American Values They Pretend to Love
- 2012/03/05: P3: Cuccinelli's Defeat Against U Va and Mann is Not Enough
The BP disaster continues to twist US politics:
- 2012/03/08: HuffPo: BP Oil Spill Claims Process Set Up
- Many claimants can recover 60 pct of money immediately
- BP sees $7.8 billion payout under new payout program
- New program replaces fund overseen by Kenneth Feinberg
- BP still faces large potential fines from US government
- April 2010 Gulf of Mexico disaster killed 11
- 2012/03/10: GRC: Did BP Cause Damage to the Gulf Sea Floor? Ever-Larger "Natural" Oil Seeps from the Giant Macondo Reservoir
- 2012/03/06: al Jazeera: Is the US Gulf oil spill issue truly settled?
British oil giant BP has agreed to compensate thousands of victims but many key issues remain unresolved. - 2012/03/05: DemNow: BP to Pay $7.8B to Settle Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Lawsuit. Is it a Bad Deal for Gulf Residents?
- 2012/03/05: AlterNet: BP to Pay $7.8 Billion to Settle Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Lawsuit -- Is the Company Getting Off Too Easy?
- 2012/03/05: OilChange: BP Settlement "doesn't benefit my clients"
On the 2012 campaign trail:
- 2012/03/10: CSM: Santorum takes Kansas in a rout, Romney strong in Wyoming
- 2012/03/10: CSM: As Republican candidates pummel each other, Obama can only smile
- 2012/03/10: Guardian(UK): Rick Santorum easily wins Kansas
- 2012/03/09: Grist: Top 10 prices we want Newt to lower with his magic wand
- 2012/03/09: NatureNB: US science advisers talk about China, but not to China
- 2012/03/10: CCurrents: Obama: Strategies Of Deception
- 2012/03/07: DemNow: Romney Wins 6 "Super Tuesday" States, But GOP Faces Long Road to Choosing a Nominee
- 2012/03/08: NYT: Ignorance Is Strength
- 2012/03/09: PSinclair: Note to anti-science GOP: If James Delingpole says you look like an "Unelectable freak" ... you are probably an unelectable freak. [vid]
- 2012/03/09: Guardian(UK): Republican presidential win would lose US ground to China -- UN climate chief
Christiana Figueres says voting in climate-sceptic Republican would hand competitive technological edge to China and Europe - 2012/03/09: G&M: Watching a once-great party circle the drain
Nothing would be easier than to laugh at the Republican Party, whose presidential candidates have vied for our amusement. A more dismal group has not been assembled since Sarah Palin dined alone. Those who remain in the race for the Republican nomination, and those who have departed it, made up a group characterized by insularity, intellectual shallowness and meanness of spirit, coupled with an unshakable eagerness to pander to every holy roller, Tea Partier, gun worshipper, global warming denier, government hater, nativist and billionaire financier -- or, as Yeats would say, "the worst are full of passionate intensity." That this crop of candidates was the best that a once-great party could muster says much about the state of presidential politics, Republican-style. It says even more about the state of conservative opinion in America. - 2012/03/08: Grist: Huntsman on climate change, natural gas, and competing with China
- 2012/03/05: PlanetArk: Obama Warns On "False Choice" Between Growth, Environment
- 2012/03/07: Guardian(UK): Obama makes southern truck stop and pushes for $1bn green tax credits
- 2012/03/07: Grist: No end in sight for the GOP's holiday-from-reality primaries
- 2012/03/07: DerSpiegel: Republican Campaign Circus -- Romney's Issue-Dodging Is Bad for the US and Europe
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is fond of called President Barack Obama a "European socialist." But his ongoing mudslinging contest with the other GOP candidates has so far shirked most of the issues vital to America's future. It is time for that to change -- for the good of the US and the world. - 2012/03/07: al Jazeera: Romney wins in Ohio but rivals stay in race
Frontrunner edges Santorum in key swing state, but fails to land knockout punch in battle for presidential nomination. - 2012/03/06: TP:JR: Green Donors Bet Romney Is Faking His New Climate Change Views And Will Flip Flop Back If Elected
- 2012/03/06: al Jazeera: Rick Santorum is not from the working class
Conservatives don't want to admit that the GOP is the party of capital, so they invent a candidate like Santorum. - 2012/03/04: RawStory: Santorum: Contraception 'a grievous moral wrong'
- 2012/02/27: AlterNet: Why Teaching People to Think for Themselves Is Repugnant to Religious Zealots and Rick Santorum
The Keystone XL saga rolls along:
- 2012/03/08: BWeek: Ranchers Tell Keystone: Not Under My Backyard
- 2012/03/08: Grist: Zombie pipeline! Senate narrowly kills Keystone XL -- for now
- 2012/03/08: OilChange: Keystone Stopped (again), but Not For Want of Trying
- 2012/03/08: CBC: Keystone XL fast-track vote fails in U.S.
U.S. Republicans have failed to get their amendment aimed at securing approval for the proposed Keystone XL pipeline through the Democrat-dominated Senate. The amendment would have bypassed the White House's objections to the $7.6-billion US project, which would carry mostly Alberta oilsands crude to refineries along the Texas coast. It needed 60 votes to pass, but received only 56 in favour. - 2012/03/08: AC:JHightower: The Keystone XL Flim Flam
- 2012/03/07: OilChange: New KXL Route "Within Weeks"
- 2012/03/06: CBC: New Keystone plan ready within weeks
[...] TransCanada president of energy and oil pipelines Alex Pourbaix said Tuesday that the company plans to resubmit its permit request to the U.S. State Department. - 2012/03/05: TreeHugger: Mitt Romney: I Would Approve Keystone XL "On Day One"
- 2012/03/06: AutoBG: Advocacy group pitches 100% ethanol over Keystone XL pipeline
The Birth Control Controversy has kind of turned into a beat on Limbaugh fest:
- 2012/03/07: KSJT: Rush Limbaugh vs. Tracie McMillan: McMillan wins with The American Way of Eating
- 2012/03/07: Grist: Limbaugh mocks food justice writer for being an educated single woman
- 2012/03/06: FAIR: Sandra Fluke Controversy: Distraction or Revelation?
- 2012/03/06: AlterNet: Why Do Right-Wing Extremists Have the Power to Force Doctors to Humiliate Women?
- 2012/03/06: S&R: Limbaugh atones for attacking young woman by attacking another young woman
- 2012/03/06: Wonkette: Poor Old Lisa Murkowski Instantly Regrets Her Blunt Amendment Vote
- 2012/03/05: BorowitzReport: 'We Are Terminating Our Relationship with Rush Limbaugh': Satan -- Radio Host Loses Longtime Sponsor
- 2012/03/06: Grist: Women's groups and enviros are ideal allies on contraception
- 2012/03/05: ERabett: Pay Attention to What the Carrion Eaters Say
- 2012/03/04: AlterNet: Why Extreme Right-Wing Views on Contraception Will Backfire if Progressives Fight
The actions of the Obama administration are being watched closely:
- 2012/03/09: TreeHugger: EPA Announces Delay in Report on Wyoming Groundwater Pollution Caused By Fracking
- 2012/03/07: UCSUSA: Strides in Scientific Integrity at FDA Hindered by Special Interests
Staff Survey Shows Political, Corporate Interference Still Prevalent - 2012/03/05: PlanetArk: USDA Offers Farmers More Money To Idle Sensitive Land
As for what is going on in Congress:
- 2012/03/09: QuarkSoup: God's Hoax on the Environment
- 2012/03/08: Grist: Engine failure: GOP's signature highway bill sputters, dies
- 2012/03/08: ScienceInsider: U.S. Senate Backs Billions for Gulf Restoration
- 2012/03/08: TreeHugger: Debunking Republican Junk Economics: Canadian & Bakken Formation Oil Feed Record Fuel Exports
- 2012/03/08: Grist: Dennis Kucinich, eco-darling and vegan, ousted from Congress
- 2012/03/07: DeSmogBlog: Republican Claims About Gas Prices Demonstrate Lack Of Knowledge About "Free Market"
- 2012/03/07: Wonkette: Robert F. Kennedy Jr: 'Speaking Of Prostitutes...'
- 2012/03/07: UCSUSA: Farm Bill Offers Opportunity to Correct the Current Unsustainable Food System
While in the UK:
- 2012/03/09: Guardian(UK): Should the UK now embrace GM food?
- 2012/03/08: BBC: Green bank headquarters to be based in Edinburgh
The headquarters of the UK's Green Investment Bank will be based in Edinburgh after it beat off competition from 31 other bids. The bank is being set up with £3bn of public money to help firms finance early-stage renewable energy schemes. The organisation will be split, with the main transaction team being based in London. - 2012/03/07: Guardian(UK): UK nuclear sites at risk of flooding, report shows
Rising sea levels because of climate change put 12 of 19 sites at risk, unpublished government analysis shows - 2012/03/05: BizGreen: Controversial renewable energy report branded 'shoddy nonsense'
AF Consult launches heavily criticised report on the costs of UK green energy targets, after partner KPMG walked away from findings - 2012/03/05: BBC: Farm subsidy loophole costs millions
A BBC Scotland investigation has revealed how millions of pounds is being paid out in an abuse of the agricultural subsidy system. - 2012/03/09: EurActiv: Energy companies reject binding EU efficiency targets
European energy retailers resisting a mandatory 1.5% annual efficiency target prefer to find their own way to improve productivity -- through higher electricity prices or subsidies from the public sector - EurActiv heard at an industry conference. - 2012/03/08: BBC: Poland resists EU push for deeper CO2 emission cuts
Poland has signalled its opposition to an EU plan for deeper carbon emission cuts, which environment ministers will discuss on Friday. - 2012/03/08: EurActiv: Poland defies Europe over 2050 low-carbon roadmap
Friday's meeting of EU environment ministers is being pushed to the brink of crisis by a Polish rejection of any mention of the EU's Low Carbon Roadmap for 2050, which foresees up to 95% emissions cuts by mid-century. EU diplomats scrambling to put together a compromise are being hampered by a Polish reluctance to accept any mention of carbon-reduction milestones between 2020 and 2050. - 2012/03/08: PlanetArk: EU ministers Want To Spur Low-Carbon Energy: Draft
- 2012/03/08: PlanetArk: Poland Opposes EU Environment Ambition
Poland is poised to wield its veto on Friday at a Brussels meeting seeking accord on how to shift to a low carbon economy by 2050... - 2012/03/07: EurActiv: VW's U-turn on CO2 emissions shows green revamp
Volkswagen has stunned Brussels by reconsidering its fierce opposition to EU automobile emissions targets, and promising to reduce its carbon emissions to 120 grams of CO2 per kilometre by 2015, a full 10 grams below the EU's target. - 2012/03/07: EurActiv: Some nations could see EU water aid run dry
Impoverished people in India, Brazil and other emerging countries could be left in the lurch under EU plans to redirect development assistance to the world's neediest nations, aid and rights activists say. - 2012/03/06: DerSpiegel: SPIEGEL Interview with German Environment Minister -- 'Germans Are Willing to Pay' for Renewable Energies
- 2012/03/05: DerSpiegel: Revenue Shortfall -- Carmakers Demand E-Mobility Help from Merkel
Berlin has spearheaded a huge transition to renewable energy, but it isn't running smoothly. Funding for renewable energy projects was meant to come from carbon dioxide emissions trading. But significant shortfalls have now prompted auto industry leaders to request that Chancellor Merkel maintain support for electric cars. - 2012/03/06: EurActiv: Gas discovery gives Romania prospect of full energy independence
- 2012/03/06: BBerg: [Germany's second-largest utility] RWE Profit Slumps 34% on Nuclear Phase-Out Costs, Loss at Natural-Gas Unit
Meanwhile in Australia:
- 2012/03/08: ABC(Au): Has government lost the ability to assess CSG?
- 2012/03/08: ABC(Au): Chinese, Australian coal groups to merge
A Chinese state-owned coal miner is to merge with an Australian miner in a $2.2 billion deal approved by the Australian Government. Australian Treasurer Wayne Swan approved the merger of Yancoal - the local subsidiary of China's Yanzhou Coal - with Australia's Gloucester Coal. - 2012/03/07: ABC(Au): Cattle farmers beefing up their green credentials
How's this for unlikely bedfellows - a green activist, a cattle farmer and a fast food chain. - 2012/03/07: ABC(Au): Appetite for destruction supports corporate profits
- 2012/03/05: CCurrents: Comprehensive Climate Change Inaction By Pro-coal, Pro-gas Gillard Labor Australian Government [Polya]
- 2012/03/06: PlanetJ: An unsurprising anti-coal campaign plan
- 2012/03/06: ABC(Au): Environmentalists plan legal challenges to coal and gas
- 2012/03/06: ABC(Au): Queensland withholds Wild Rivers report
The Queensland Opposition has called on Premier Anna Bligh to release a report into the Wild Rivers Act before the State election. - 2012/03/06: ABC(Au): Bob Carr endorsed as NSW senator
Former premier Bob Carr has been officially endorsed by the New South Wales Parliament to fill the Senate vacancy left by Mark Arbib. - 2012/03/05: ABC(Au): Swan defends attack on vested interests
Federal Treasurer Wayne Swan discusses his attacks on top earners, and the resulting stoush with mining magnates Clive Palmer, Andrew Forrest and Gina Rinehart. - 2012/03/05: ABC(Au): Swan's inequality warning reflected in statistics
A leading economist and social policy researcher says there is truth in Wayne Swan's warning that income inequality is rising - 2012/03/05: ABC(Au): Swan 'waging war' on middle Australia
The Opposition has rejected Wayne Swan's accusation that it has been bought by powerful vested interests as "insulting". They say the Treasurer is trying to distract attention from the increasing cost of living for ordinary Australians. In his battle with some of the country's richest people, Mr Swan turned his sights on the Opposition Leader Tony Abbott, accusing him of "singing for his supper". Mr Swan told the National Press Club that Mr Abbott's opposition to the mining tax and a carbon price "is about more than his reflex for negativity". "He is of course singing for his supper - we can see that in the donations from the likes of Clive Palmer that have flooded into the Coalition's coffers in recent years," he said. "In choosing to kneel down at the feet of the vested interests, rather than stand up for the interests of Australian workers, Mr Abbott has encouraged them at every turn." - 2012/03/06: HotTopic: Unstoppable waves of innovation in the Waikato?
While in the Indian subcontinent:
- 2012/03/04: CCurrents: Another Anti-POSCO Activist Arrested
And in China:
- 2012/03/09: ScienceInsider: China's Booming Solar and Wind Sector May Be Put On Hold
While elsewhere in Asia:
- 2012/03/07: CRI: Vietnam Announces National Strategy on Climate Change
And South America:
- 2012/03/09: al Jazeera: Native Ecuadorans protest Amazon mining
Demonstration is organised by powerful umbrella group that represents natives from around Ecuador. Hundreds of native Ecuadorans have begun a cross-country march to protest policies by President Rafael Correa they say will result in more mining in the Amazon region and threaten the environment and their way of life. Thursday's protests were prompted partly by a recent agreement between Ecuador and China for industrial copper mining in the Amazon's Ecuacorriente Zamora-Chinchipe region. The march, organised by the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE), a powerful umbrella group that represents natives from around the country, began in the Zamora-Chinchipe town of El Pangui, 700km south of Quito, the capital. - 2012/03/08: BBC: Ecuador indigenous protesters march against mining
Indigenous protesters in Ecuador have begun a two-week march across the country against plans for large-scale mining projects. Several hundred protesters set off from an Amazon province where a Chinese company has been authorised to develop a huge open-cast copper mine. - 2012/03/04: TreeHugger: Nicaragua Forms Battalion of Eco-Soldiers to Combat Climate Change
In Canada, neocon PM Harper, continues his do-nothing policy:
- 2012/03/07: PostMedia: Kent overlooked calls for 'transparency' on climate science research: memos
Environment Minister Peter Kent overlooked calls from his department in 2011 to show more "transparency" and he delayed the release of a scientific paper on Canada's climate change challenges - prepared several months before the May 2 federal election - until late July, newly released internal memorandums reveal. The memos referred to an analysis of Canadian trends in greenhouse gas emissions that projected a sharp rise in emissions from the energy-intensive oilsands industry. - 2012/03/07: POGGE: All the news that's fit to bury
Peter Kent certainly isn't the first minister in the Harper cabinet to bury an inconvenient report for months, only to finally release it when he figures it'll do the least damage. But given his long career as a broadcast journalist... - 2012/03/06: TheCanadian: (cartoon - Hummel) Harper Rolling Out the Welcome Mat for China
- 2012/03/06: SkeptiSci: PMO Pest Control: Scientists by Robert Way, Albatross, Andy S, climatesight
- 2012/03/05: 350orBust: Canada's Decline: Election Fraud & PetroState Politics
The G20 controversy lingers:
- 2012/03/07: PaiD: A Little More G20 Justice
Another serious mis-step by the Tories:
- 2012/03/06: CBC: National Research Council to 'refocus' to serve business
The Tory gang are up to their old tricks. defunding people they don't like:
- 2012/03/04: TStar: Environmental charity's gift nixed by Ottawa after lobbying by Enbridge
The Conservative government cancelled an agreement with a charity that supports environmental causes eight months after energy firm Enbridge Inc. lobbied against the deal, The Canadian Press has learned. Last September the federal Fisheries Department said it would no longer use an $8.3 million grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, a U.S.-based environmental trust, to help fund public-private consultations into the economic use of the waters off British Columbia's north coast. The foundation donated the money through a charity, Tides Canada, which was to distribute the funds with federal oversight to support the department's marine-planning initiative. The consultations are gathering advice from stakeholders on balancing conservation with development in an area that includes waters through which oil tankers would travel to reach a marine terminal for Enbridge's proposed Northern Gateway pipeline. - 2012/03/09: BCLSB: Suzuki Vs. The Canadian Senate
- 2012/03/08: CBC: Environmental group defends funding oilsands critics
A Canadian charitable foundation at the centre of Conservative Party accusations of foreign influence in the nation's economic affairs defended itself before a Senate Committee in Ottawa Thursday. Two executives from Tides Canada appeared before the Senate energy, environment and natural resources committee as part of the committee's ongoing study into the future of Canada's energy sector. - 2012/03/06: CBC: Opposing oilsands never 'a charitable act,' [Conservative] senator [Doug Finley] says
- 2012/03/04: DeSmogBlog: Canadian Environmentalists: Tree Hugging Terrorists or Just Concerned Citizens?
The battle over the Northern Gateway pipeline rages on:
- 2012/03/07: Tyee: Kept in Dark by BC's Oil and Gas Commission -- Can public count on being put first? Consider the mystery of a small spill last summer.
- 2012/03/09: Tyee: My Cage Fight in Fort McMurray -- Alberta invited me to give a talk. Next thing I know, I'm duking it out with the VP of Enbridge Northern Gateway
- 2012/03/08: TheCanadian: Veteran North Coast Fisherman Warns of Serious Navigational Risks to Supertankers
- 2012/03/07: WCEL: Headlines, Pipelines and Time Spent on the Front Lines
- 2012/03/05: Tyee: Spill from Hell: Diluted Bitumen
Poisoned air. Sunken gunk. A clean-up nightmare. What we're learning from the oil sands 'DilBit' dump into the Kalamazoo River - 2012/03/06: Tyee: 'Dutch Disease': McGuinty Was Right the First Time
Evidence Alberta premier cites to support industry expansion based on dubious energy economics - Wiki: Dutch disease
- 2012/02/29: Tyee: Finally, Canada Goes to School on Dutch Disease -- Ontario-Alberta premier spat over oil sands expansion highlights symptoms of growing petro-fever
- 2012/03/08: G&M: Making the oil sands personal
Ontario versus Alberta? East versus West? Last week's oil sands comments by Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty harkened back to the national energy debate in the 1980s, when Calgary mayor Ralph Klein said: "Let the eastern bastards freeze in the dark." Do Canadians in Alberta and Ontario differ dramatically on this issue? We polled 400 people in Edmonton and Toronto. We wanted to know how much one's attitude toward the oil sands is influenced by regional proximity to the oil sands. The answer: Surprisingly little. - 03/09: PostMedia: Oil sands industry's co-operative spirit helps polish public image -- Trying to move away from good-vs.-evil debate
Collaboration is the new buzz-word in Alberta's oil sands where big players seem increasingly eager to work together on issues the industry regularly faces criticism on. At a Calgary press conference last week, top executives from 12 major oil sands companies posed for photos as they signed on to the latest joint endeavour, Canada's Oil Sands Innovation Alliance (COSIA). The group pledged to advance the science on key environmental challenges, specifically tailings ponds, greenhouse-gas emissions, land disturbance and water use. COSIA will extend some of the efforts underway at the Oil Sands Leadership Initiative (OSLI), comprised of six of those same companies, and the Oil Sands Tailings Consortium, both founded in 2010. - 2012/03/05: PI: Time to bring oilsands' defenders [Canada's diplomats abroad] in from the cold
- 2012/03/06: TreeHugger: Canadian Government Attempted "Myth Busting" Tar Sands' Image in Europe
- 2012/03/05: PostMedia: Diplomats 'targeted' influential media to boost oilsands coverage in Europe
A lobbying team of Canadian diplomats promoting the oilsands in Europe engaged in "targeted outreach" to select reporters, government officials, investors and oil companies as part of an "extensive" campaign to cast doubts about proposed European climate-change policies, reveals newly released internal federal documents. The revelations, included in reports and correspondence released through access-to-information legislation, also indicated that federal tax dollars were used to print about $2,000 worth of brochures to help the industry in its battle against the European Parliament's plan to crack down on greenhouse gas pollution from transportation fuels. The brochures, delivered in Germany and the Netherlands, were part of a comprehensive range of activities, including "intelligence gathering," in close co-ordination with oil company executives in Europe from companies such as BP, Shell, Total and Statoil who met "regularly" with the Canadian diplomats, as well as at least one meeting with Prime Minister Stephen Harper. - 2012/03/05: PaiD: Words, Words, Words
The NDP leadership race is getting hotter:
- 2012/03/09: PostMedia: Top NDP hopefuls to Battle for B.C. on Sunday -- Seven candidates will battle for a leadership role
The Battle for B.C. hits a crescendo Sunday when the seven New Democratic Party leadership candidates gather in Vancouver for the final debate for the party's decision this month on who should replace the late Jack Layton. B.C. is in an extraordinary position as a province with 13 per cent of the population but almost a third of the 131,152 party members eligible to vote. - 2012/03/05: CalgaryGrit: The Dippers Vote
The ISA virus in BC [or Atlantic] waters is potentially disastrous:
- 2012/03/09: AlexandraMorton: We meet with Norwegian government members
- 2012/03/06: AlexandraMorton: Letter Norwegian Parliamentary Delegation
- 2012/03/05: TheCanadian: Salmon Activist Don Staniford Has Left the Country...Continues Battle in Norway
- 2012/03/04: ProMedMail: Infectious salmon anemia - Canada: (NS)
- 2012/03/05: WpgFP: B.C. salmon-farming critic removed from Canada but vows to continue battle
Only days after he was removed from Canada for overstaying a visitor's permit, a controversial salmon-farming critic says he has settled in Norway to "slay the dragon in its own lair." Since 2005, British-born activist Don Staniford has been a divisive force in British Columbia's ongoing salmon-farming debate. He has been accused by the industry of going beyond rational dialogue and distorting facts and has twice been sued by B.C. companies for defamation. But supporters see him as a tireless critic and Staniford is promising to take his battle against the industry to Europe, where he'll serve as the global campaign co-ordinator for another environmental group. - 2012/03/10: LFR: The Great Christy Clark Sell Out: The 'Iron Snowbird' embraces Conservative values at Manning conference
- 2012/03/07: Rabble:BP: A toxic pipeline spill and communications chill in B.C.
Meanwhile in that Mechanical Mordor known as the tar sands:
- 2012/03/08: al Jazeera: To the Last Drop
Residents of one Canadian town are engaged in a David and Goliath-style battle over the dirtiest oil project ever known. - 2012/03/06: OPB: Last Megaloads Depart From Lewiston, Idaho This Week
- 2012/03/06: PostMedia: As oilsands activity heats up, Alberta employers brace for soaring costs, worker shortages
Three years after global energy prices tanked, Alberta's oilsands are booming once again. But industry players say they're already bracing for what they fear lies ahead: chronic labour shortages and soaring cost pressures, two factors that caused so much havoc during the last boom. - 2012/03/06: NakedCapitalism: Ever Been to the Badlands?
- 2012/03/05: BSNorrell: Lakota arrests underway halting tarsands pipeline truck
- 2012/03/06: TP:JR: Must-See Video On The True Cost of Tar Sands
Also in Alberta:
- 2012/03/09: PostMedia: Oilsands pipeline should go to Maritimes: Wildrose leader
Wildrose Alliance Leader Danielle Smith, sounding an alarm about the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline to the B.C. coast, argued Thursday that an oilsands pipe-line should instead go to Atlantic Canada. - 2012/03/04: Macleans: Battleground 2015: NDP vs. Conservatives on energy and environment
- 2012/03/08: G&M: Oil sands, green groups unlikely allies in push for carbon tax
Ottawa is facing growing calls for a carbon tax from some surprising quarters as it pursues plans to regulate industrial sources of greenhouse-gas emissions. Oil sands producers and some environmental groups that agree on little else have opposed the Conservative government's regulatory approach and endorsed the idea of carbon pricing. Now, that idea is being pushed in a new paper to be released Thursday by the University of Calgary's School of Public Policy. - 2012/03/04: CBC: Threatened Arctic lab aided by ordinary citizens -- Federal government ended funding for PEARL research lab
The movement toward a long term ecologically viable economics is glacial:
- 2012/03/07: EnergyBulletin: Monopoly presents the problem. Co-opoly presents the solution
- 2012/03/05: CCurrents: Uneconomic Growth Deepens Depression
IPAT [Impact = Population * Affluence * Technology] raised its head once again. See also:
- 2012/03/08: DemNow: Women Fight Back as Virginia, Georgia Curb Reproductive Rights: "When We're Screwed, We Multiply"
- 2012/03/08: Atlantic: The War Continues...Texas's attack on Planned Parenthood and health services for poor women in general...
- 2012/03/06: Grist: Women's groups and enviros are ideal allies on contraception
- 2012/03/04: RawStory: Santorum: Contraception 'a grievous moral wrong'
- 2012/03/03: NYT: When States Abuse Women
Note that PNAS has a (paywalled) series on historical collapse this week:
- 2012/03/06: PNAS: (ab$) Critical perspectives on historical collapse by Karl W. Butzer & Georgina H. Endfield
How do the media measure up?
- 2012/03/07: TP:JR: Debunking The Error-Riddled Wall Street Journal Editorial on Wind Energy
- 2012/03/09: MediaMatters: Fox News Science, Again
- 2012/03/07: KSJT: The Guardian: Big sci-journo conference coming up. So newspaper primes the pump
- 2012/03/07: TP:JR: NPR Ethics Handbook Targets False Balance: Reporters Must Note 'If The Balance of Evidence ...weighs Heavily On One Side'
- 2012/03/06: TP:JR: Media Stunner: Atlantic Editor Megan McArdle Admits She's Outsourced Her Thinking to Cato's Pat Michaels
- 2012/03/05: TP: Rush Attacks 'Obama's Green Energy,' Says Multi-Billion-Dollar Solar And Wind Industries Don't Exist
- 2012/03/05: TP:JR: The Washington Post Doubles Down on False Balance
- 2012/03/05: DeSmogBlog: Don't Blame the Victims: Why Public Outreach By Climate Scientists is More Vital Than Ever
Here is something for your library:
- 2012/03/05: SciAm:HoG: [Book Review] _Environmental Hazards and Disasters: Contexts, Perspectives and Management_ by Bimal K. Paul
And for your film & video enjoyment:
- 2012/03/09: TP:JR: The Lorax Speaks For The Trees -- Get Over It Conservatives
- 2012/03/09: Grist: Crazy-ass Japanese dub music video hates on nuclear power
- 2012/03/11: Grist: Green screen: 20 years of environmental films
- 2012/03/08: HotTopic: From the trenches: Michael Mann on Wegman and the climate wars
- 2012/03/07: TCoE: What drives James Hansen (and should drive you, too)
- 2012/03/05: MediaMatters: Flashback: Fox News On Gas Prices In 2008
- 2012/03/06: TP:JR: Must-See Video On The True Cost of Tar Sands
Meanwhile among the 'Sue the Bastards!' contingent:
- 2012/03/06: OilChange: "Desperate" Shell Goes to Court Over Arctic Drilling
- 2012/03/02: AlterNet: Royal Dutch Shell Launches Pre-emptive Legal Strike Ahead of Arctic Drilling, Decides to Sue Grassroots Organization Alaska Wilderness League
Wrestling over a new energy infrastructure continues unabated:
- 2012/02/29: Nation: America's Fossil Fuel Fever
- 2012/03/07: EnergyBulletin: Pilot lights are evil by Tom Murphy
- 2012/03/07: TheHill:E-E: America's changing energy choices
- 2012/03/05: CCurrents: Amory Lovins Lays Out His Clean Energy Plan
- 2012/03/05: TP:JR: Renewable Electricity Standards Have No Statistically Significant Impact on Rates
- 2012/03/05: EnergyBulletin: Amory Lovins lays out his clean energy plan
Hey! Let's contaminate the aquifer for thousands of years! It'll be a fracking gas!
- 2012/03/09: TreeHugger: EPA Announces Delay in Report on Wyoming Groundwater Pollution Caused By Fracking
- 2012/03/09: USAToday: Ohio: Fracking waste tied to earthquakes
- 2012/03/09: TP:JR: Breaking Quaking News: Ohio Finds Fracking Waste Injection Well Caused 12 Earthquakes
- 2012/03/09: DeSmogBlog: Fracking: Ohio Establishes Tough Regulations After Disposal Wells Cause 12 Earthquakes
- 2012/03/09: Grist: Natural born drillers: Why shale gas won't end our energy woes
- 2012/03/07: F&WW: New Report: Fracking Could Cause a New Global Water Crisis
- 2012/03/06: RS: Rolling Stone Responds to Chesapeake Energy on 'The Fracking Bubble'
- 2012/03/08: NYRB: Why Not Frack? by Bill McKibben
- 2012/03/07: JQuiggin: Timescales and timeframes
- 2012/03/07: TreeHugger: The Big Fracking Bubble: Rolling Stone & Chesapeake Energy in War of Words
- 2012/03/06: DeSmogBlog: Experts Air Serious Concerns Before New York Fracking Decision
On the coal front:
- 2012/03/09: TreeHugger: In 2011 Coal Produced Less Than 40% of US Electricity, For First Time in 30 Years
- 2012/03/05: CER:RRapier: Study: Eliminating Coal-Fired Power is Worth 0.2 Degrees in 100 Years
- 2012/03/09: EnergyBulletin: China Coal Update
- 2012/03/07: TP:JR: Dirty Industry, Dirty Fight: Big Coal Is On The Ropes, But Not Down For The Count
- 2012/03/07: TP:JR: Infographic: How Western Coal Travels To The Nation's Most Polluting, Lethal Power Plants
- 2012/03/05: Reuters: China power output to hit 2-yr low, slow coal production-NDRC report
On the gas and oil front:
- 2012/03/09: BBerg: Closing oil prices Friday
OIL (US$/bbl)
Nymex Crude Future...107.40
Dated Brent Spot.....125.83
WTI Cushing Spot.....107.40 - 2012/03/10: GEA: Another Plunge in 3-Month Rolling Average of Petroleum and Gasoline Usage
- 2012/03/09: TreeHugger: Uganda's Oil Extraction, Another Human Tragedy
- 2012/03/09: OilChange: North Dakota's oil boom from space
- 2012/03/05: GRC: The New Mediterranean Oil and Gas Bonanza -- Part II: Rising energy tensions in the Aegean - Greece, Turkey, Cyprus, Syria
- 2012/03/08: TreeHugger: Debunking Republican Junk Economics: Canadian & Bakken Formation Oil Feed Record Fuel Exports
- 2012/03/08: EnergyBulletin: Saudi oil minister - then and now
- 2012/03/08: CBC: Exxon to spend $150B US [over the next five years to find more oil and natural gas]
- 2012/03/10: DeSmogBlog: Big Oil Rakes In Billions, Still Complains Taxes Are Too High
- 2012/03/07: EnergyBulletin: The peak oil crisis: East Coast refineries redux
- 2012/03/06: TreeHugger: Global Offshore Drilling Bonanza Heralds the Era of Deepwater Spills
- 2012/03/07: OilDrum: Why High Oil Prices Are Now Affecting Europe More Than the US
- 2012/03/06: CalcRisk: Hamilton: The impact of oil prices on the U.S. economy
- 2012/03/06: EurActiv: Gas discovery gives Romania prospect of full energy independence
Romanian president Traian Basescu stated that his country could become energetically-independent and could even start exporting gas to other countries in Europe, in the next few years. An offshore gas-drilling ship in the Romanian territory of the Black Sea found a gas field in the Neptun block of about one hundred billion cubic meters in late February 2012. - 2012/03/05: BizInsider: There Is Little Disagreement That Drilling Off The US Coast Will Have Near Zero Impact On The Price Of Gas
- 2012/03/06: BBC: Nigeria: Chevron gas rig fire stops burning
[Gas-fuelled fire burning in the Atlantic Ocean, 10km off the Nigerian shore Flames were as high as 5m and the fire burned for 46 days] A fire that killed two workers and destroyed a gas exploration rig off Nigeria's south-east coast has gone out after 46 days, Chevron has said. It stopped burning by itself after rock fragments on the seabed sealed off the natural gas leaking from the well. The US oil and gas firm, which owns the rig, says it will continue to install a relief well to permanently plug it. - 2012/03/07: PSinclair: Two Years In - Tar Sands Sludge Still a Toxic Nightmare in Michigan Town
- 2012/03/06: PlanetArk: Enbridge U.S. Oil Line To Be Shut For Four More Days
- 2012/03/05: Tyee: Spill from Hell: Diluted Bitumen
Poisoned air. Sunken gunk. A clean-up nightmare. What we're learning from the oil sands 'DilBit' dump into the Kalamazoo River - 2012/03/04: CBC: Enbridge Canada-U.S. pipeline shuts after fatal crash -- Pipeline explodes after 2 vehicles plow into it
Yes we have a peak oil sighting:
- 2012/03/04: CCurrents: Two Scenarios for Our Post-Petroleum Future
Biofuel bickering abounds:
- 2012/03/06: CER:RRapier: Ethanol Exports and the Future of the Ethanol Industry
- 2012/03/08: Grist: In 2014, corn biofuel is out, wood biofuel is in
- 2012/03/06: PlanetArk: Aqualia Eyes Large-Scale Algae Biofuel Production
The answer my friend...:
- 2012/03/07: NPR: Oklahoma Needs Qualified Wind Power Technicians
- 2012/03/08: TreeHugger: Makani Airborne Wind Turbine Gets $3 Million Energy Department Grant
Meanwhile among the solar aficionados:
- 2012/03/04: MLynas: Can solar PV really power the UK?
- 2012/03/09: TreeHugger: Britain's First Solar Town? The Journey Continues
- 2012/03/09: BBerg: Solar Panel Sales Seen Dropping First Time in Decade Feeding Glut: Energy
Fewer solar panels will be installed this year as the first drop in more than a decade worsens a glut of the unsold devices that's already slashed margins at the top five manufacturers, an analyst survey showed. Homes and businesses will put up 24.8 gigawatts of solar panels worldwide, according to the average of six forecasts compiled by Bloomberg News. That's equal to the power of about 20 nuclear reactors and down 10 percent from the 27.7 gigawatts added last year. Installations have grown 61 percent a year on average since 1999, Bloomberg New Energy Finance estimates. - 2012/03/06: ESRS: Re-mapping Solar Grid Parity (with incentives)
- 2012/03/06: ESRS: Rooftop Revolution: Changing Everything with Cost-Effective Local Solar
- 2012/03/06: Grist: Rooftop revolution: How to get solar onto 100 million U.S. homes
- 2012/03/05: PeakEnergy: Now US says solar PV to be cheaper than fossil fuels by 2020
- 2012/03/05: CSM: Solar power: the fix for Africa's frustration with the grid?
The nuclear energy controversy continues:
- 2012/03/08: CCurrents: Should The Koodankulam Power Nuclear Plant Be Commissioned Or Abandoned?
- 2012/03/07: SwissInfo: Future of nuclear plant on shaky ground
The Mühleberg atomic plant near Bern will lose its operating licence at the end of June 2013 on security grounds, the Federal Administrative Court has ruled. - 2012/03/11: BNC: IFR FaD 11 -- sodium coolant and pool design
- 2012/03/07: Guardian(UK): UK nuclear sites at risk of flooding, report shows
Rising sea levels because of climate change put 12 of 19 sites at risk, unpublished government analysis shows - 2012/03/06: TreeHugger: Fukushima First Responders Issue Warnings About Perils of Indian Point
- 2012/03/07: BBerg: California Nuclear Backlash Mounts After Japan Meltdown: Energy
Two nuclear power plants perched near earthquake faults in California could struggle to get relicensed after a cascade of natural and nuclear disasters across the Pacific Ocean in Japan galvanized opposition groups. Fukushima-inspired concerns have rippled through Orange County, where the cities of Laguna Beach and San Clemente asked regulators to decide whether Edison International (EIX)'s San Onofre atomic plant 60 miles (97 kilometers) southeast of Los Angeles could withstand an earthquake and tsunami before extending its permit to 2042 from 2022. Further north, PG&E Corp. (PCG) asked for a delay in relicensing Diablo Canyon pending seismic studies. - 2012/03/06: DemNow: Anti-Nuclear Groups in Georgia Seek to Block First New Nuclear Plants in U.S. in Decades
- 2012/03/06: APR: Reactor Pressure Vessels: Metallurgy and Fabrication
- 2012/03/05: NatureN: It's not just Fukishima: mass disaster evacuations challenge planners
The Fukushima evacuation zone raises the issue of what would happen during an evacuation in heavily populated US metropolises during a nuclear meltdown. - 2012/03/08: NBF: Interim Report-Status of the Study "An Assessment of the Prospects for Inertial Fusion Energy"
- 2012/03/07: ScienceInsider: It's Too Early to Pick a Winner on Inertial Fusion Energy, Says Study
- 2012/03/07: NBF: National Ignition Facility Laser Fusion Project approaches energy break-even point
- 2012/03/07: NatureN: Laser fusion nears crucial milestone
National Ignition Facility approaches energy break-even point, but uncertainty over next step persists. - 2012/03/06: NBF: Extensions and Modifications of the EMC2 Fusion IEC Fusion Contracts
Low energy nuclear keeps coming up:
- 2012/03/09: NBF: George Miley Upcoming Presentation A Game-Changing Power Source Based on Low Energy Nuclear Reactions (LENRs)
More people are talking about the electrical grid:
- 2012/03/09: DerSpiegel: A Power Grid of Their Own -- German Village Becomes Model for Renewable Energy
The tiny village of Feldheim, some 60 kilometers southwest of Berlin, was catapulted by chance to the forefront of the renewable energy movement. Now visitors from around the world are flocking to this otherwise unremarkable rural community to see if they can replicate its success. - 2012/03/07: CSM: From Model T to Prius: 13 big moments in fuel efficiency history
- 2012/03/04: TP:JR: Deutsche Bank: Big Energy Efficiency Push Could Save Americans $1 Trillion, Cut CO2 10%, Create 3 Million Jobs
- 2012/03/05: PeakEnergy: Reviewing Jevons' Paradox
Automakers & lawyers, engineers & activists argue over the future of the car:
- 2012/03/09: AutoBG: New Chevy Volt commercial: this car will save you a crapload of money
- 2012/03/09: PlanetArk: Green Car Fan Arnie Urges Stronger Push For Low Emissions
- 2012/03/09: AutoBG: Nissan will double Tennessee workers for Leaf, battery-pack ramp-up
- 2012/03/06: AutoBG: Volkswagen will invest more than $55 billion to cut vehicle, factory emissions
- 2012/03/06: CleanBreak: If GM Volt is in such low demand why is it so hard for people to get one?
- 2012/03/05: TreeHugger: Prius Sales Were Up 52% Last Month, Thanks to Higher Gas Prices
As for Energy Storage:
- 2012/03/05: Grist: Batteries could make power grid unnecessary in some countries
Insurance and re-insurance companies are feeling the heat:
- 2012/03/01: Wonkette: Wingnuts May Not Believe in Climate Change, But Insurance Companies Sure Do
- 2012/03/05: HuffPo: Natural Disasters In 2011 Made For Costliest Year Ever
Who's fielding theFAQs?
- 2012/03/05: Guardian(UK): What is permafrost and how does it relate to climate change?
- 2012/03/07: Guardian(UK): How do we know how warm or cold it was in the past?
Joe Romm posts a daily list of top energy and climate stories:
- 2012/03/09: TP:JR: March 9 News...
- 2012/03/08: TP:JR: March 8 News...
- 2012/03/07: TP:JR: March 7 News...
- 2012/03/06: TP:JR: March 6 News...
- 2012/03/05: TP:JR: March 5 News...
Other (weekly) lists:
- 2012/03/10: P3: Quick Links
- 2012/03/09: EnergyBulletin: ODAC Newsletter
- 2012/03/09: P3: Quick Links
- 2012/03/08: P3: Quick Links
- 2012/03/06: P3: Quick Links
- 2012/03/06: TreeHugger: Energy News...
- 2012/03/06: BPA: Agriculture News
- 2012/03/05: P3: Quick Links
The carbon lobby are up to the usual:
- 2012/03/09: ERabett: That's Obvious
- 2012/03/09: DeSmogBlog: Debunking the GWPF Briefing Paper No2 - The Sahel Is Greening
- 2012/03/11: TP:JR: WeatherBELL Chief Forecaster Joe Bastardi Denies Basic Physics: 'CO2 Cannot Cause Global Warming'
- 2012/03/07 ERabett: Blocking and tackling -- In preparation for the Easter Hansen Was Wrong in 1988 offensive...
- 2012/03/07: TWTB: Roy Spencer reveals his motivation for rejecting the climate mainstream- not science issues, but economic concerns
- 2012/03/07: HC: Letting The Think Tanks Do The Thinking
- 2012/03/06: AutoBG: Bob Lutz gets a lesson in climate change, science from Neil deGrasse Tyson
- 2012/03/06: CCurrents: Deny Global Warming, Intimidate A Scientist, And Pocket Some Money
- 2012/03/07: Rabble:DS: Climate change denial isn't about science, or even skepticism
- 2012/03/06: Guardian(UK): Lord Lawson's links to Europe's colossal coal polluter
The Polish branch of a company chaired by the climate sceptic Lord Lawson lists the titanic Belchatow coal-fired power station as a client. But the peer gets prickly when asked to explain - 2012/03/06: PSinclair: Remind You of Anything?
- 2012/03/05: Tamino: How Fake Skeptics Fool Themselves, part 3
- 2011/10/: PhysicsToday: Science controversies past and present by Steven Sherwood
- 2012/03/05: ITRacker: Idiot comment of the day
- 2012/03/04: ERabett:JH: Is the Earth Getting Warmer? A prominent leftist [Alexander Cockburn] says "NO"
As for climate miscellanea:
- 2012/03/09: Wunderground:RR: Form of Argument: Adventures in Rhetoric
- 2012/03/09: Stoat: Misc
- 2012/03/08: ERabett: A New Blog on the Block
- 2012/03/07: TP:JR: What Is A Climate Pragmatist To Do In A World Where The Loudest Voices Urge Denial, Delay Or Inaction?
- 2012/03/07: TreeHugger: Environmentalism Isn't Socialism Or Capitalism. So What Is It?
- 2012/03/05: P3: James' Theory
- 2012/03/05: ERabett: Eli will have some ice with that
- 2012/03/05: TreeHugger: Has Green Failed Because Environmental Donors Have Been Giving to the Wrong Groups?
- 2012/03/03: EconBrowser: Global Land Sea Anomaly, Global Climate Change, etc.
And here are a couple of sites you may find interesting and/or useful:
- WMO Bulletin
- Penguin Cam
- Polar Bear Cam - Siku Cam
- ESRS: Energy Self Reliant States
- NECSI: New England Complex Systems Institute
- puckerclust: shining a spotlight on climate denialism and pseudoscholarship
- C40 cities: an introduction
- Wiki: Dead zone (ecology)
- EREC: European Renewable Energy Council
- Wiki: Brewer-Dobson circulation
- CCA: Council of Canadian Academies
- 350orBust
No matter how dark things seem, there are always bad jokes:
What do you think? Is this delusional or what?
The Hönisch et al. paper is still drawing comment:
Who's getting the subsidies?
The food crisis is ongoing:
Food Prices are still problematic:
In the South Indian Ocean. Koji is staying out at sea:
As for GHGs:
While on the ENSO front:
Dealing with uncertainties:
This week in the New Normal -- extreme weather:
Corals are a bellwether of the ocean's health:
First, stop subsidizing fossil fuels
Second, put a price on carbon
Third ...
And elsewhere on the mitigation front:
Meanwhile in the journals:
What's new in models?
Regarding Mann:
And in Europe:
And in New Zealand:
The Senate is busy investigating anyone who doesn't want to sell tarsands bitumen:
The interprovincial fight over the petro-loonie and tarsands support will not likely end soon:
The Tories' tar sands PR campaign is in full swing:
In BC, the stage is set. Now what will Clark and Dix do?
As for miscellaneous Canadiana:
And in pipeline news:
Nuclear fusion projects around the world limp along:
And then there is the matter of efficiency & conservation:
Low Key Plug
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.
<regards>
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 notice moyhu has set up a monster index to old AWoGWN on AFTIC."Speaking of prostitutes, big oil's top call girl Sen Inhofe wants to kill fuel economy backed by automakers, small biz, enviros, & consumers." -Robert F. Kennedy Jr (@RobertKennedyJr) March 6, 2012
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Addy, President Obama ran on policy of crateing jobs and transparent government. Job one was the most expensive healthcare bill in history that costs everyone money but cripples healthcare. Doctors are retiring so they don't have to deal with it at a time more doctors are needed than ever. The bill itself was a treat. At first, no one was allowed to see it before it was voted on. The Speaker of the House's famous quote, We have to pass it before we can see what's in it, pretty well summed it up. Once it was passed and signed into law, we saw it. No one could understand it, but we saw it. As more of it was understood, it was horrible. That was his first demonstration of transparent government. Then, we bailed out the too-big-to-fail automotive industry and the too-important-to-fail banks and stockbrokers apparently, so the big wigs could get billions in bonuses for their work in building cars no one wanted and running the country into a recession. He has added jobs. The new bureaucracies for healthcare and oversight have added 25% to the government payroll. Private sector jobs created, paid for by company profit instead of tax dollars: zero; unless you want to count the California solar cell company that the President used as an example of the green jobs the government was helping create. Five hundred million in guaranteed government loans got it started. It went bankrupt last month without crateing a single solar cell. The list goes on forever. There are many that disagree with me, but the answer is as close as Google.Sorry about the tirade, but I was hoping for the greatness he projected. I'll take a deep breath and calm down.
Job one was supposed to be changed to one the Reps had proposed. However, when proposed by a Dem (and a black one at that), they refused that one. So it was nerfed even more to make it palatable to the Reps.
They only said yes because, as you say, it's the most expensive and ineffective version of universal healthcare ever produced, and will kill the Dems at election.
Only possible because all politicians, nearly without exception, live in a bubble where the ordinary people don't get heard. Most people wanted a mandate and a public option.
But that didn't get through the bubble.