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
Logging the Onset of The Bottleneck Years
March 18, 2012
- Chuckles, Frowns, COP18+, Rio+20, UN WWDR, Future
- Heartland, Koch - Cato, Bottom Line, Subsidies, GFIs, Cook
- Fukushima Note, Fukushima News, Nuclear Policy
- Melting Arctic, Methane, Geopolitics
- Food Crisis, Fisheries, Food Prices, GMOs, Food Production
- Hurricanes, GHGs, Temperatures, ENSO
- Uncertainties, Climate Sensitivity, Extinctions, Satellites
- Impacts, Forests, Tornadoes, Wildfires, Corals, Acidification
- Glaciers, Sea Levels, GW Deluge, Floods & Droughts
- Mitigation, Transportation, Sequestration, Geoengineering, Adaptation
- Journals, Other Docs, Misc. Science, Open Science, Rowland, Annan, Mann, Lindzen, Christy, Wegman
- International Politics: UN, IPCC, Carbon Trade, Bank Tax, Optimal Carbon Reduction Strategy
- Hormuz, EU ETS & Airlines, Rare Earths, Malvinas, Solar Spat, Law & Activism, Activism, Polls, H2O Biz
- National Politics: America, BP Disaster, 2012, Gas Prices, Keystone
- Birth Control, GOP War on Women, Obama, USAdmin, Congress
- Britain, Europe, Australia, Carbon Suit, Murray-Darling, India, China, Middle East
- Canada, Post G20, Streamlining, Viterra, Senate, Northern Gateway, Tarsands PR, Scotford CCS
- NDP, ISAv, BC, Tar Sands, Manitoba, Ontario, Maritimes, North, Canadiana
- Ecological Economics, IPAT, Media, Books, Video, Courts
- Energy, Fracking, Coal, Oil & Gas, Pipelines, Peak Oil, Wind, Solar, Nukes
- Nuclear Waste, LENR, Hydrogen, Grid, Efficiency, Cars, Gee Whiz, Energy Storage
- Business, Greenwashing, FAQs, Joe's List, Michael's List, Carbon Lobby, Misc., Useful Links
- Shameless Self Promotion, .sig
- 2012/03/16: uComics: (cartoon - Toles) Cherry Blossoms 2012
- 2012/03/08: MoJo: Insane Sex Laws Inspired by Republicans
Rectal exams for Viagra users, vasectomy bans, and other proposals that mock conservatives' obsession with women's private parts. - 2012/03/11: Guardian(UK): Doonesbury strip on Texas abortion law dropped by some US newspapers
Several papers decline to use cartoon strip, which depicts state-required sonograms as Republican-approved rape - 2012/03/12: uComics: (cartoon - Trudeau) The Sonogram
- 2012/03/13: uComics: (cartoon - Trudeau) Texas Sonogram Bill
- 2012/03/14: uComics: (cartoon - Trudeau) Your compulsory transvaginal exam
- 2012/03/15: uComics: (cartoon - Trudeau) But I don't want a transvaginal sonogram!
- 2012/03/16: uComics: (cartoon - Trudeau) To help you make an informed decision
- 2012/03/17: uComics: (cartoon - Trudeau) A Final Indignity
And for those interested in exploring the nether reaches of Poe's Law:
- 2012/03/16: Wonkette: Confirmed: Ron Paul Is A Hobbit, Will Throw Power Ring Into Fire Mountain
- 2012/03/14: CCP: Carleton University appoints controversial Professor of Dadaist Geology
Looking back at Durban, looking ahead to COP18 and future international climate negotiations:
- 2012/03/16: RStavins: If the Durban Platform Opened a Window, Will India and China Close It?
- 2012/03/13: IndiaTimes: African nations back India on emissions
A tectonic shift in the global climate negotiations got underway with the African group of countries siding with India in demanding that equity and 'common but differentiated responsibilities' be embedded in the talks for a future climate regime. The re-alignments became evident with several key groups of nations submitting their views on how countries should increase their ambition levels for cutting emissions in the coming years. The submissions from Association of Small Island States (AOSIS) and the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) show that they are in closer and open alignment with the European Union while the major developing economies from Africa have transited openly to throw their weight behind the emerging economies and especially back India. The cracks in the over-arching G77+China group of more than 100 developing countries had become evident in the past three years... - 2012/03/12: GRC: In the Wake of the Durban Climate Talks: State and Market Climate Failures Amplified by Civil Society Failure
The steady dribble of Rio+20 Conference news is turning into a torrent:
- 2012/03/16: BBC: Gear change on road to Rio?
One of the biggest questions being asked in the lead-up to the Rio+20 conference this June is also one of the oldest. In a nutshell: does the way humanity governs itself need a series of tweaks or a complete overhaul, in order to meet the broadest ambitions of improving the lot of the planet's poorest, safeguarding nature and making the global economy more sustainable? - 2012/03/15: Guardian(UK): How Rio+20 can herald a constitutional moment
The conference should focus on assessing the governance reforms required to put the planet on a more sustainable path - 2012/03/09: IPSNews: Rio+20 Summit: A Moment That Must Be Seized
The upcoming Rio+20 conference has to be the moment in human history when the nations of the world come together to find ways to ensure the very survival of humanity, many science and environmental experts believe. - 2012/03/14: NewInt: Rio+20 Earth Summit -- time to change the narrative
What we need at the June meeting is action -- not voluntary pledges and empty goals. Phil England of Occupy London looks ahead. - 2012/03/13: BBC: Rio in 100 days: A consuming challenge
- 2012/03/12: Guardian(UK): Nick Clegg will attend Rio Earth summit - David Cameron refused to confirm his attendance
- 2012/03/12: UN: Rio+20: Social media [100-day] countdown to UN sustainable development forum kicks off
The UN came out with a World Water Development Report this week:
- 2012/03/12: UNESCO: Increasing demand and climate change threatening world water resources says new UN World Water Development Report
- 2012/03/15: PlanetArk: Climate, Food Pressures Require Rethink On Water: U.N.
- 2012/03/11: BBerg: Water Use by Farmers Will Rise 19% by 2050, UN Says
Farmers will need 19 percent more water by 2050 to meet increasing demands for food, much of it in regions already suffering from water scarcity, according to a United Nations report. - 2012/03/13: ABC(Au): Global water shortage now 'chronic': UN report
- 2012/03/13: PlanetArk: Climate, Food Pressures Require Rethink On Water: U.N
- 2012/03/13: NatureN: Water under pressure -- A UN analysis sets out global water-management concerns ahead of Earth Summit
- 2012/03/12: UN: Increasing demand and climate change threaten global water supplies - UN report
- 2012/03/12: TreeHugger: Global Water Supplies Threatened by Climate Change, Increased Demand
Like Dylan said, "Seems a lot of people been having this dream."
- 2012/03/17: ClimateSight: An Open Letter to the Future
- 2012/03/15: ArcticNews: Message to the Survivors
Heartland's ignominy rumbles in the near distance:
- 2012/03/16: Grist: Heartland Institute tried to steal documents from Greenpeace
- 2012/03/14: TWTB: Due diligence - Gleick edition
- 2012/03/15: P3: The Double Standard
- 2012/03/14: CCP: Letter from Cindy Baxter, Greenpeace, to Joe Bast of the infamous fakegate Heartland Institute, demanding that he repost the audio tape of an imposter from Heartland trying to get her to release a media list during the Bali conference
- 2012/03/15: HotTopic: How Heartland lied to me and illegally recorded the lies
- 2012/03/14: DeSmogBlog: Heartland Double Standard: Institute Tried to Scam Greenpeace for Internal Documents
The impulse to schadenfreude is natural, but just remember they are simply honing their sword:
- 2012/03/05: JSanchez: Cato and the Kochs: A Presignation Letter
- 2012/03/12: AlterNet: The Cato Institute's Amazing Hypocrisy as It Battles the Kochtopus
- 2012/03/08: BaselineScenario: The Koch Brothers, The Cato Institute, And Why Nations Fail
And on the Bottom Line:
- 2012/03/13: ABC(Au): Asia Pacific's costly climate threat
- 2012/03/13: PlanetArk: Saving Biodiversity: A $300 Billion-A-Year Challenge
Who's getting the subsidies?
- 2012/03/18: PostMedia: Ending fossil fuel subsidy a 'no brainer' -- Former Mulroney-era Conservative says over-consumption promoted
What are the global financial institutions up to?
- 2012/03/16: NakedCapitalism: David Apgar: The Trouble With Jeff Sachs
John Cook and friends continue their point-counterpoint articles:
- 2012/03/18: SkeptiSci: Rachel Maddow Debunks Climategate Myths Using Skeptical Science by dana1981
- 2012/03/18: SkeptiSci: The History of Climate Science - William Charles Wells by Doc Snow
- 2012/03/17: SkeptiSci: Climate Deniers Are Giving Us Skeptics a Bad Name - Fred Singer by John Mason
- 2012/03/16: SkeptiSci: Breaking News...The Earth is Warming... Still. A LOT by Glenn Tamblyn
- 2012/03/15: SkeptiSci: Roy Spencer's Bad Economics by dana1981
- 2012/03/14: SkeptiSci: Declining Arctic sea-ice and record U.S. and European snowfalls: are they linked? by John Mason
- 2012/03/13: SkeptiSci: New research from last week 10/2012 by Ari Jokimäki
- 2012/03/12: SkeptiSci: 'Storm of the Century' to become 'Storm of the Decade' by John Hartz
- 2012/03/13: SkeptiSci: Prediction: New Surface Temperature Record in 2013 by dana1981
A note on theFukushima disaster:
It is evident that the Fukushima disaster is going to persist for some time. TEPCO says 6 to 9 months. The previous Japanese Prime Minister, Naoto Kan, said decades. Now the Japanese government is talking about 30 years. [Whoops, that has now been updated to 40 years.] We'll see. At any rate this situation is not going to be resolved any time soon and deserves its own section.
Meanwhile...
It is very difficult to know for sure what is really going on at Fukushima. Between the company [TEPCO], the Japanese government, the Japanese regulator [NISA], the international monitor [IAEA], as well as independent analysts and commentators, there is a confusing mish-mash of information. One has to evaluate both the content and the source of new information.
How knowledgeable are they [about nuclear power and about Japan]?
Do they have an agenda?
Are they pro-nuclear or anti-nuclear?
Do they want to write a good news story?
Do they want to write a bad news story?
Where do they rate on a scale of sensationalism?
Where do they rate on a scale of play-it-down-ness?
One fundamental question I would like to see answered:
If the reactors are in meltdown, how can they be in cold shutdown?Not much good news coming out of Fukushima:
- 2012/03/12: CJR: Pessimism Reigns a Year After Fukushima -- Media forecast a gloomy future for the nuclear industry
- 2012/03/17: EneNews: Tepco prepared to airdrop ice into Reactor No. 1 Spent Fuel Pool -- 3.5 tons brought to Fukushima
- 2012/03/13: EcoShock: Fukushima Disaster - One Year Later
- 2012/03/18: JEB: The Narrow Road to the Disaster Zone
- 2012/03/15: EurActiv: Japanese envoy blames 'nuclear phobia' for plant closures
Nuclear plants have remained closed in Japan since the Fukushima disaster because of an irrational 'nuclear-phobia' among local communities, the Japanese trade envoy has told a meeting in Brussels. - 2012/03/15: EneNews: Kyodo: Criminal complaint to be filed against top gov't and Tepco officials - Says failures left many exposed to radiation - Assemblyman: "Nonsense that nobody has been held criminally responsible for causing a major nuclear accident"
- 2012/03/14: EneNews: Nuclear Insider: Surprise at how much cesium is moving through environment - Crops with no direct contact to Fukushima fallout still highly contaminated (video)
- 2012/03/14: CCurrents: Fukushima: Government Lies, Tokyo Radioactive, And Three Out-of-Control Reactors
- 2012/03/11: CCurrents: Investigating Fukushima And Learning Lessons
- 2012/03/12: DemNow: Nuclear Engineer Arnie Gundersen: Fukushima Meltdown Could Result in 1 Million Cases of Cancer
- 2012/03/12: DemNow: Contamination Fears Linger for Japanese Children, Workers One Year After Fukushima Meltdown
- 2012/03/11: Science 2.0: Japanese Nuclear Reactor Future: Another High Tech Sarcophagus?
- 2012/03/13: EneNews: Science Writer: Science websites "actively contributed to biased misinformation" on Fukushima -- Reporting leaves impression it's over and under control -- Public will only be "informed" in order to avoid panic
- 2012/03/14: ABC(Au): Ex-PM reveals meltdowns almost crippled Japan
A year on from the meltdowns at the Fukushima nuclear plant, Japan's prime minister at the time has told the ABC that the disaster came close to crippling the nation, with the evacuation of tens of millions from Tokyo a real possibility. In an exclusive interview on ABC's 7.30, Naoto Kan said the loss of the world's biggest metropolis would have been like losing a war, leaving Japan without a political and economic capital. He has also confirmed that he confronted the operator TEPCO and rejected its request for its workers to abandon the crippled plant. One independent investigator credits Mr Kan's intervention with "saving Japan". But documents obtained by the ABC suggest the former prime minister was not told by his own nuclear regulator that it believed meltdowns had happened at Fukushima within days of the tsunami hitting the plant. - 2012/03/13: EneNews: PBS Newshour: Cesium killed pine trees as far as you can see - Are there animals that can live here? No, no (video)
- 2012/03/13: EneNews: *The Economist* Nuclear power: A dream that failed - Promise of global transformation gone - Concern over safety, finances - Previously concluded industry "safe as a chocolate factory"
- 2012/03/12: EnergyBulletin: Contamination fears linger for Japanese children, workers one year after Fukushima meltdown
- 2012/03/12: KSJT: Lots of Ink: One year later -- in Japan, they call it 3/11
- 2012/03/12: Grist: 5 stories about the Fukushima anniversary that you really need to read
- 2012/03/12: SciAm:GB: 1 Year Later, What Does Fukushima Mean for Nuclear Research?
- 2012/03/11: SciAm:PI: Fukushima - U.S. Responds to Lessons Learned
- 2012/03/12: TreeHugger: Fukushima's Fog: Nuclear Power One Year After Crisis
- 2012/03/12: TreeHugger: Japan After Fukushima, One Year Later
- 2012/03/09: Asahi: The Prometheus Trap - 5 days in the Prime Minister's Office
- 2012/03/12: EneNews: Tepco checking debris fallen to bottom of Reactor No. 4 - May move control rods - ROV to be sent into Spent Fuel Pool
- 2012/03/10: al Jazeera: Japan's radiation: Ignorance isn't bliss
Feeling that officials aren't doing enough, everyone, farmer to housewife, is learning about radiation contamination. - 2012/03/16: Reuters: IAEA: "significant" nuclear growth despite Fukushima
- 2012/03/15: Monbiot: If you think nuclear power is hard to finance and deliver, look at the alternative
- 2012/03/11: CCurrents: Fukushima, March 11 2011: Things Will never Be The Same Again
- 2012/03/14: APR: Public attitudes toward nuclear energy from WASH-1250
- 2012/03/14: al Jazeera: Fukushima, Europe's nuclear test
Europeans could be enhancing international security standards for nuclear power rather than opting out. - 2012/03/12: ABC(Au): The Fukushima syndrome -- The "Fukushima disaster" clouds the merits of nuclear power, argues Martin Freer
- 2012/03/12: PlanetArk: U.S. implements New Fukushima Nuclear Safety Policy
- 2012/03/12: PlanetArk: IAEA Says Nuclear Power Safer 1 Year After Fukushima
- 2012/03/09: BBC: Global fallout: Did Fukushima scupper nuclear power?
- 2012/03/11: TP:JR: The Nukes of Hazard: One Year After Fukushima, Nuclear Power Remains Too Costly To Be A Major Climate Solution
The Arctic melt continues to garner attention:
- 2012/03/17: CCP: Marco Tedesco: Extreme Melting on Greenland Ice Sheet, Reports CCNY Team
- 2012/03/16: Eureka: Increase in Arctic shipping poses risk to marine mammals
- 2012/03/15: Eureka: NASA's IceBridge 2012 Arctic campaign takes to the skies
- 2012/03/18: ASI: North pole sees Sun
- 2012/03/14: Guardian(UK): Met Office: Arctic sea-ice loss linked to colder, drier UK winters
- 2012/03/14: ASI: Cryosphere Today sea ice area: maximum reached
- 2012/03/13: CSM: Greenland's ice sheet: Climate change outlook gets a little more dire
- 2012/03/13: ASI: 2012 Novaya Zemlya Animation
- 2012/03/13: KSJT: LiveScience, Bloomberg etc: Whew? Greenland ice a goner, study says -- In 50,000 years more or less.
- 2012/03/12: PlanetArk: Greenland Ice Melt Seen At Lower Temperatures: Study
- 2012/03/12: Grist: Study: Even a small temperature increase will obliterate Greenland ice cap
- 2012/03/11: TreeHugger: Greenland's Ice Sheet May Melt Off Sooner Than Expected
- 2012/03/11: Eureka: Greenland ice sheet may melt completely with 1.6 degrees global warming
- 2012/03/11: ERabett: Even more obvious once you think about it
That Damoclean sword still hangs overhead:
- 2012/03/17: Stoat: Arctic Methane Emergency Group?
As for the geopolitics of Arctic resources:
- 2012/03/16: ChronicleHerald: Arctic patrol ships 'dumb'
The first ships to roll out of Halifax as part of the national shipbuilding program shouldn't even be built, a Liberal senator says. Colin Kenny, a Trudeau appointee to the Senate, says the government should renegotiate the $25-billion contract with Irving Shipbuilding to include large icebreakers instead of the smaller Arctic patrol vessels now planned as the first part of the contract. "Issues are going to be settled in the Arctic through diplomacy and with lawyers," Kenny said in an interview Thursday. "We're not going to go to war up there." - 2012/03/13: Grist: Shell hires dogs to detect oil spills in Arctic
The food crisis is ongoing:
- 2012/03/17: ProMedMail: Schmallenberg virus - Europe (29): Epidemiology
- 2012/03/16: CSM: Chad: a closer look at the food crisis
- 2012/03/16: UN: Disaster stalking children in Africa's drought-prone Sahel region, warns UNICEF
- 2012/03/14: Guardian(UK): Yemen crisis leaves 5 million people in need of emergency food aid, says WFP
- 2012/03/14: UN: Nearly five million Yemenis need food assistance, UN survey finds
- 2012/03/13: ProMedMail: Schmallenberg virus - Europe (27): Denmark, vector, alert
The state of the world's fisheries is a concern:
- 2012/03/16: EurActiv: EU Fisheries Council sails into troubled waters
The EU Fisheries Council meeting on Monday will direct Europe's fishing fleets to confine their trawling off the coast of developing countries exclusively to "surplus resources" of fish, according to draft council conclusions seen by EurActiv. This would give priority access to local fishermen, who depend on the seas for their communities' dietary needs. "Due account should be taken of the coastal states' priorities in favour of its own fishing sector, while the Union should seek an appropriate share of the surplus resources," the document says. But the conclusions stop short of measures that would reduce Europe's fleet capacity, a politically contested safeguard against further depletion of the world's rapidly dwindling fish stocks. - 2012/03/15: SciAm: Illegal Fishing Plunders and Strains West Africa
- 2012/03/12: NatureNB: Sustainable fishing targets could put 15 million out of work
- 2012/03/12: Wiley:AF&FS: (ab$) Rebuilding global fisheries: the World Summit Goal, costs and benefits by Yimin Ye et al.
- 2012/03/12: Sun(UK): Drought to spark shortage of potatoes
Food Prices are still problematic:
- FAO: World Food Situation - Food Price Indices
- 2012/03/13: NPR: Record-High Food Prices Boost Farmers' Bottom Lines
Regarding the genetic modification of food:
- 2012/03/17: CCP: Tom Philpott, MoJo: How NPR Got It Wrong on Monsanto's Superweeds
- 2012/03/14: UCSUSA: Resistant Weeds According to Monsanto -- Less than Half the Story [pest resistance also raises important questions about the harmful influence of the biotech industry over regulators]
- 2012/03/12: TreeHugger: USDA Speeds Approval for New Herbicide-Tolerant Crops Despite Superweed Problem
- 2012/03/11: NPR: Why Monsanto Thought Weeds Would Never Defeat Roundup
And how are we going to feed 9 billion, 10 billion, 15 billion?
- 2012/03/13: CSIRO: Good news for wheat farmers battling salinity
A salt-tolerant variety of durum wheat that outperforms other varieties by 25 per cent on salty soils has been developed by CSIRO scientists using traditional crop breeding techniques. - 2012/03/15: Eureka: Food stamp customers buy more at farmers' markets when point-of-sale system is available
Policy change could potentially increase SNAP sales at farmers' markets, according to new study in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics - 2012/03/14: Grist: Faraway farms: Chronicling urban agriculture around the world
- 2012/03/14: Grist: Home on the range: Can grass-based ranching be scaled up sustainably?
- 2012/03/14: Eureka: UNH researchers find African farmers need better climate change data to improve farming practices
- 2012/03/13: NBF: Breakthrough on salt-tolerant wheat to boost yields by 25% and 20% of agricultural land that is salty
- 2012/03/14: CSM: Fast-track breeding could bring a second Green Revolution
- 2012/03/13: ITracker: Watching the maize
- 2012/03/12: ABC(Au): Key to salt-tolerant wheat found
- 2012/03/12: ABC(Au): Push to make Australia Asia's food bowl
- 2012/03/11: Eureka: World breakthrough on [non-GM] salt-tolerant wheat
A team of Australian scientists has bred salt tolerance into a variety of durum wheat that shows improved grain yield by 25% on salty soils. - 2012/03/18: ABC(Au): Cyclone Lua weakening across Western Australia
- 2012/03/18: ABC(Au): Cyclone hammers small WA community
As residents in Western Australia's Pilbara region assess the damage caused by Tropical Cyclone Lua overnight, Queensland's Gulf communities are being warned to prepare for a cyclone [Mitchell] heading their way. - 2012/03/18: ABC(Au): Cyclone Lua weakens across Western Australian coast
- 2012/03/16: BBerg: Severe Tropical Cyclone Lua to Hit Australia Coast Tomorrow
- 2012/03/17: ABC(Au): Lua could cross WA coast as category four
Residents on Western Australia's north coast have been put on red alert as Tropical Cyclone Lua bears down on the region. The cyclone is expected to cross the coast as a category three or four system about midday today, with the tiny communities of Pardoo and Walall directly in the firing line. Nearby towns, including Port Hedland and Broome, are also bracing for wind gusts of up to 200 kilometres per hour and heavy rain. Heavy rainfall is also expected near the west Kimberley coast and in coastal and inland parts of the east Pilbara. Residents of Port Hedland and Bidyadanga are being warned of dangerous storm tides expected as the cyclone centre approaches. - 2012/03/17: ABC(Au): Severe Tropical Cyclone Lua crosses WA coast
Reports of extensive damage are emerging from Western Australia's Pilbara region, as Severe Tropical Cyclone Lua continues to batter communities. The cyclone crossed the coast north of Port Hedland as a category four system about 3pm AWST on Saturday. - 2012/03/17: BBC: Cyclone Lua nears north-west Australia coast
A tropical cyclone is intensifying as it bears down on Western Australia's north-west coast, forecasters warn. Severe tropical cyclone Lua - upgraded to a category four storm - is threatening communities with torrential rain and winds up to 160km/h (100mph). It is expected to make landfall in the next few hours between Port Hedland and Broome. - 2012/03/17: CBC: [Cat 4] Cyclone Lua batters northwest Australia
- 2012/03/15: Eureka: Now a cyclone, NASA sees Lua closer to a landfall in northern Australia
- 2012/03/14: al Jazeera: Australia gets a double dousing
Warning status is downgraded, but threat of high tides, further flooding and winds approaching 100kph remains. - 2012/03/14: NASA: NASA's TRMM Satellite Sees Tropical Storm Lua's Rainfall (Southern Indian Ocean)
- 2012/03/14: ABC(Au): NT prepares for possible cyclone
- 2012/03/12: ABC(Au): Cyclone watch declared for parts of Top End
While elsewhere in the hurricane wars:
- 2012/03/18: ABC(Au): Gulf of Carpentaria braced for overnight cyclone
Forecasters say a tropical low in the southern Gulf of Carpentaria in Queensland will become a cyclone sometime overnight. Coastal and island communities are being warned to prepare for strong gales, flash flooding and abnormally high tides. It has not formed yet, but the Bureau has already named it Mitchell. - 2012/03/18: al Jazeera: Australia's stormy update
Northern Australia is experiencing flooding. Tropical Cyclone Lua has hit the NW. Another storm is forming to the NE. - 2012/03/17: ABC(Au): Cape York tropical low could turn into cyclone
As for GHGs:
- 2012/03/15: NYT: O.E.C.D. Warns of Ever-Higher Greenhouse Gas Emissions
- 2012/03/16: EurActiv: OECD says emissions set to surge 50% by 2050
Global greenhouse gas emissions could rise 50% by 2050 without more ambitious climate policies, as fossil fuels continue to dominate the energy mix, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) says in a new report. - 2012/03/16: ABC(Au): Fertilisers behind increase in N2O levels
Happy gas finding The increasing amount of nitrous oxide in the atmosphere over the last 65 years is due to nitrogen-based fertilisers, according to a new study. An international team of scientists, led by University of California-Berkeley researcher Dr Sunyoung Park, made the finding after studying air collected at the Cape Grim Station in Tasmania and sampled from the Antarctic ice sheet. Previous studies have shown a 20 per cent increase in the level of N2O since 1750 - from below 270 parts per billion to more than 320 ppb. - 2012/03/16: PlanetArk: Emissions Set To Surge 50 Pct By 2050: OECD
- 2012/03/14: Guardian(UK): China irrigation system responsible for rising emissions, research shows
New study highlights energy and climate costs of watering crops in drought-plagued northern China - 2012/03/14: ABC(Au): Atmospheric CO2 levels hit 800,000-year high: CSIRO
As for the temperature record:
- 2012/03/14: Guardian(UK): Scientists use Thoreau's journal notes to track climate change
Researchers use Walden author's tables of flowering dates in 1840s Massachusetts to show temperature has risen 2.4C - 2012/03/12: CBC: Temperature records shattered across Manitoba
- 2012/03/12: al Jazeera: A taste of spring
This week many cities around the world will be experiencing exceptionally high temperatures - 2012/03/15: CAbyss: Such a Nice La Nina
Dealing with uncertainties:
- 2012/03/13: MTobis: Uncertainty is Not Your Friend
Regarding Climate Sensitivity:
- 2012/03/17: QuarkSoup: What Does Real Data Say About Climate Sensitivity?
- 2012/03/15: JEB: Bayesian estimation of climate sensitivity based on a simple climate model fitted to observations of hemispheric temperatures and global ocean heat content
What's new on the extinction front?
- 2012/03/13: SciAm:ECH: Endangered Australian Cockatoo Loses One Third of Population in Just 1 Year
- 2012/03/11: TreeHugger: Scientists Prove That Multiple Species of Sea Cows Once Roamed World's Waters
Meanwhile in near earth orbit:
- 2012/03/14: BBC: Europe's latest weather eye [Meteosat-10] set for launch
More GW impacts are being seen:
- 2012/03/15: WHOI: Study Links Past Changes in Monsoon to Major Shifts in Indian Civilizations
- 2012/03/15: TP:JR: After the Storm: The Hidden Health Risks of Flooding in a Warming World
- 2012/03/15: TreeHugger: 6 Ways Climate Change is Impacting Animals
- 2012/03/14: UVM: With Climate Change, U.S. Could Face Risk From Chagas Disease
- Wiki: Chagas disease
- 2012/03/17: Eureka: Mesquite trees displacing Southwestern grasslands
Mesquite trees and woody shrubs are better adapted than grasslands to a Southwestern climate predicted to shift toward higher temperatures and greater variability in rainfall, UA ecologists have discovered - 2012/03/15: OECD: Environment: Act now or face costly consequences, warns OECD
- 2012/03/15: Google:AFP: Environmental crunch 'worse than thought': OECD
- 2012/03/15: TCoE: OECD: We're FUBAR
- 2012/03/15: UCSUSA: Report Looks at Health Threats From Flooding in a Warming World
- 2012/03/14: SciNews: Mild winters may shift spread of mosquito-borne illness [eastern equine encephalitis]
Species that transmits brain virus in the Southeast may turn to mammals earlier in warmer years - 2012/03/13: P3: Short ice season on Lake Mendota
- 2012/03/12: Maribo: I wouldn't try skating across the Great Lakes either
- 2012/03/13: CBC: Great Lakes show massive ice loss, study says -- Journal of Climate study attributes shrinking ice cover to global warming
Most of the water in the Great Lakes hasn't frozen over this year -- largely because of a warmer-than-usual winter -- and a new study shows the lakes have been losing ice cover for 40 years. - 2012/03/16: SciNow: Climate Change Sends Beetles Into Overdrive
- 2012/03/17: SciAm:GB: Drilling for Oil in Eden: Initiative to Save Amazon Rainforest in Ecuador is Uncertain
- 2012/03/16: Tyee: Whither the Yellow Cedar?
The sad irony of a tree freezing to death in a warming climate. How to stop it. - 2012/03/14: al Jazeera: Green: Death of the Forests
A visual essay about the impact of deforestation in Indonesia as seen through the eyes of a dying orangutan. - 2012/03/14: SciAm: How a Computer Modeler Predicted the Mountain Pine Beetle Tree-Killing Rampage
Over the past decade, North American forests have been decimated by outbreaks of mountain pine beetles - 2012/03/15: Eureka: Surprising pine beetle breeding habits help explain increasing tree damage, says CU study
Warming temperatures appear to allow pine beetles to now breed twice a year - 2012/03/15: BBC: Peru mining protest turns deadly in Puerto Maldonado
- 2012/03/14: USDA:SRS: Tennessee's Urban Forests Valued in the Billions
- 2012/03/12: USDA:NRS: Forest Service Report Shows Forest Growth in North Outpacing Other Parts of Country - Region benefits from carbon emissions collection, water filtration, forestry jobs
- 2012/03/13: al Jazeera: The Fight for Amazonia -- The Internet Indians
Meet the tribe using the internet to tackle the logging mafias targeting their villages. In the Brazilian Amazon, environmentalists, scientists and politicians are facing one of the most difficult challenges of our time. If the earth's lungs collapse, the planet itself will collapse. This three-part series, The Fight for Amazonia, looks at the efforts being made to save the rainforest - not simply revealing how bleak the prospects are, but documenting the avenues that raise hope. - 2012/03/16: Wunderground: Rare March tornado rips Michigan; record March heat wave sets more records
- 2012/03/15: CSM: Tornado tears through Michigan towns
A tornado ripped through a rural southeastern Michigan community Thursday, damaging or demolishing many homes, downing trees and power lines, sparking fires and flooding neighborhood roads. The slow-moving storm was part of a system packing large hail, heavy rain and high winds. The touchdown was reported in the Dexter and Pinckney areas northwest of Ann Arbor, said Marc Breckenridge, director of Emergency Management for the county. - 2012/03/16: CSM: At least 125 homes hammered by tornadoes in Michigan (+video)
- 2012/03/12: Wunderground: March 2 - 3 tornado outbreak: 10th largest in recorded history?
As for heatwaves and wild fires:
- 2012/03/18: HotTopic: The Bast Effect: summertime in wintertime
- 2012/03/17: CCentral: Heat Wave Sizzles On, Toppling More Than 2,000 Records
- 2012/03/17: TP:JR: In Face Of Blow-Out March Heat Wave, Meteorologist Masters Says 'This Is Not The Atmosphere I Grew Up With'
- 2012/03/17: Wunderground: Summer in March continues for Midwest; Dexter, MI tornado an EF-3
- 2012/03/17: TW: This getting a bit creepy ... seriously. 26 degrees in MARCH???
- 2012/03/16: CCP: March 16, 2012: 1,587 record-breaking high temperatures; 30 low temperatures
- 2012/03/15: PSinclair: March Heatwave Comes in like Lion
- 2012/03/15: P3: Record Temperatures
- 2012/03/15: Wunderground: Unprecedented early-year heat smashes all-time records in Midwest
- 2012/03/14: Wunderground: Remarkable week-long March heat wave hitting U.S.
Corals are a bellwether of the ocean's health:
- 2012/03/15: UNC: Rising ocean temperatures harm protected coral reefs
- 2012/03/12: SciNow: Some Corals May Adapt to Warmer Seas
Acidification is changing the oceans:
- 2012/03/11: ERabett:BSD: Time to call it climate change and acidification
Glaciers are melting:
- 2012/03/16: UCopenhagen: Glacier-fed river systems threatened by climate change
- 2012/03/11: NatureN: Retreating ice leaves glacial species on the rocks -- Creatures that rely on melt water are threatened by climate change
Sea levels are rising:
- 2012/03/15: UNISDR: Migration not a matter of choice but survival, says Kiribati President
- 2012/03/14: ERW: Assessing US vulnerability to sea-level rise
Sea level is projected to rise by up to one metre or more by the end of the century. With that in mind, a US team has recalculated flooding risk for the contiguous US using local high-tide levels rather than elevation above sea level. The approach leads to "sharply increased" risk estimates -- around 3.7 million US citizens live within one metre of high tide, 87% greater than the population living below one metre of elevation. - 2012/03/14: ERW: US Pacific coast most vulnerable to extreme high waters
- 2012/03/14: NSF: New Research Lowers Past Estimates of Sea-Level Rise -- Projections for the future still loom large
- 2012/03/14: Oregonian: Higher seas likely to flood Oregon Coast more frequently during storms
Some 9,000 Oregonians who live in homes that hug the Coast could be at risk for more frequent flooding during extreme storms. In Washington, 18,000 people in homes could be at risk. Blame global warming and resulting higher sea levels, researchers say. - 2012/03/14: CSM: Sea level studies: US coasts even more vulnerable than previously thought
- 2012/03/14: KSJT: New York Times - How many Americans are facing imminent sea level rise -- right at home? Try 3.7 million (or -- about 307 million are not)
- 2012/03/14: ABC(Au): Australia getting hotter, sea levels rising: CSIRO
- 2012/03/14: Grist: Tides of March: If you're not worried about rising sea levels, you should be
- 2012/03/14: Eureka: Millions of Americans at risk of flooding as sea levels rise
- 2012/03/13: NYT: Rising Sea Levels Seen as Threat to Coastal U.S.
These global warming deluges are becoming all too frequent:
- 2012/03/13: CCP: 15 to 20 inches of rain flood southern Louisiana
As for hydrological cycle disruptions [floods & droughts]:
- 2012/03/15: NOAANews: Risk of major flooding in spring is low for the first time in four years
Drought lingers in southern Plains and Southeast, expands in West and upper Midwest - 2012/03/18: al Jazeera: Australia's stormy update
Northern Australia is experiencing flooding. Tropical Cyclone Lua has hit the NW. Another storm is forming to the NE. - 2012/03/18: al Jazeera: Northern Australia braces for more floods
Cyclone Lua weakens in northwest but residents in northeast told to be prepared for gales and possible flash floods. - 2012/03/15: ABC(Au): Flying over the Riverina flood
- 2012/03/14: NASA: End of Winter: How 2012 Snow Stacks Up
- 2012/03/15: ABC(Au): Thousands ordered to evacuate from Hay
The State Emergency Service has ordered the evacuation of the New South Wales Riverina town of Hay by Saturday as floodwater makes its way to the town. - 2012/03/14: EarlyWarning: Latest US Drought Map
- 2012/03/15: ABC(Au): Riverina town on alert as floodwater approaches
- 2012/03/13: al Jazeera: Flooding continues across South America
Chile battles to cope with the excessive rainfall - 2012/03/12: ABC(Au): England's green and pleasant land gripped by drought
- 2012/03/12: ABC(Au): Barmah braces for flood threat
The floodwaters that ravaged so much of New South Wales last week are now threatening residents in the Victorian town of Barmah. - 2012/03/12: BBC: Hosepipe ban to be imposed in drought-hit parts of UK
First, stop subsidizing fossil fuels
Second, put a price on carbon
Third ...(your suggestion here)
And elsewhere on the mitigation front: - 2012/03/17: SciAm:Obs: Effective World Government Will Be Needed to Stave Off Climate Catastrophe
- 2012/03/14: Reuters: World entering a 'third era' in efforts to deal with climate change - expert
After 20 years dominated by inaction on climate change, the world is entering a "third era" when the impacts of climate change are unavoidable, says a London climate expert. Even if countries instantly reduced carbon emissions to zero, the impacts of emissions already in the atmosphere are "inevitable and unavoidable for the next 20 or so years," said Saleemul Huq, a climate expert at the London-based International Institute of Environment and Development and former executive director of the Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies. Speaking at a recent program on climate change in South Asia, Huq, whose work focuses mainly on Least Developed Countries (LDCs), said climate change will have "disproportionate impact" on poorer and less developed countries and called for large industrialized countries to begin taking the problem more seriously. However, the new "third era" of climate change - the period beyond early awareness of the problem and initial efforts to solve it, such as the Kyoto Protocol -- is different from earlier periods in that "today even rich, industrialized nations are affected," Huq said, and now "adaptation is central not only to poor countries, but these rich ones as well." - 2012/03/12: CCurrents: Climate Change: An Emergency But For Denial
- 2012/03/14: GAB: What does it take to get green policies implemented in government?
- 2012/03/12: ICH: New Rules for Global Governance Needed
Consider transportation & GHG production:
- 2012/03/16: PlanetArk: U.N. Aviation Body Hit By Carbon Emission Dispute
The question of what role developing countries should play in reducing carbon emissions threatened to derail discussions at a top-level meeting of the United Nations body that oversees civil aviation, according to one official who attended Wednesday's meeting. The official, who asked not to be identified because he is not authorized to speak to the media, said the idea of "common but differentiated responsibilities" was a point of conflict in four hours of debate at the governing council meeting of the International Civil Aviation Organization. The concept of differentiated responsibilities argues that developed countries should shoulder most of the burden for cutting emissions. - 2012/03/14: NBF: China developing low to medium speed maglev as light rail alternative
- 2012/03/14: NBF: High Speed Rail Problems in China and California
- 2012/03/13: TP:JR: Medellin's Amazing Metro System: Colombia Uses Public Transport To Drive Societal Change
- 2012/03/12: CalcRisk: Report: Public transportation ridership increases 2.3% in 2011
- 2012/03/12: NYT: Use of Public Transit Grew in 2011, Report Indicates
As for carbon sequestration:
- 2012/03/18: Grist: Air play: Could we capture carbon from the atmosphere?
Large scale geo-engineering keeps popping up:
- 2012/03/13: ERW: Lack of detail spoils geoengineering schemes
Scientists still know too little to use geoengineering as a weapon to fight climate change, said Richard Turco. Having organised one of the first ever geoengineering conferences at the American Geophysical Union in 1991, the UCLA researcher is unimpressed by progress made since. - 2012/03/17: BBC: Climate 'tech fixes' urged for Arctic methane
An eminent UK engineer is suggesting building cloud-whitening towers in the Faroe Islands as a "technical fix" for warming across the Arctic. Scientists told UK MPs this week that the possibility of a major methane release triggered by melting Arctic ice constitutes a "planetary emergency". The Arctic could be sea-ice free each September within a few years. Wave energy pioneer Stephen Salter has shown that pumping seawater sprays into the atmosphere could cool the planet. The Edinburgh University academic has previously suggested whitening clouds using specially-built ships. At a meeting in Westminster organised by the Arctic Methane Emergency Group (Ameg), Prof Salter told MPs that the situation in the Arctic was so serious that ships might take too long. - 2012/03/14: Guardian(UK): Bioengineer humans to tackle climate change, say philosophers
- 2012/03/14: MNN: Should we bioengineer superhumans that can better combat climate change?
Philosopher suggests that bioengineering people to be herbivores with small statures and cat-like eyes could help to save the planet. - 2012/03/12: Grist: Instead of hacking the planet, should we hack our babies?
While on the adaptation front:
- 2012/03/13: CAccess: Getting Real About It: Interview with Susanne Moser
Meanwhile in the journals:
- 2012/03/12: NERC:NORA: Analysis of recent circulation and thermal advection change in the northern Antarctic Peninsula by Gareth J. Marshall et al.
- 2012/03/16: NERC:NORA: Stratigraphic correlations between the European Project for Ice Coring in Antarctica (EPICA) Dome C and Vostok ice cores showing the relative variations of snow accumulation over the past 45 kyr by R. Udisti et al.
- 2012/03/16: ACP: Inverse modelling of cloud-aerosol interactions - Part 2: Sensitivity tests on liquid phase clouds using a Markov chain Monte Carlo based simulation approach by D. G. Partridge et al.
- 2012/03/16: ACPD: European summer surface ozone 1990-2100 by J. Langner et al.
- 2012/03/16: ACPD: Eddy covariance measurements of CO2 and energy fluxes in the city of Beijing by H. Z. Liu et al.
- 2012/03/16: ACPD: A model study of the Eastern Mediterranean ozone levels during the hot summer of 2007 by Ã. Hodnebrog et al.
- 2012/03/16: ACPD: The global aerosol-climate model ECHAM-HAM, version 2: sensitivity to improvements in process representations by K. Zhang et al.
- 2012/03/16: ACPD: Cloud condensation nuclei activity of fresh primary and aged biomass burning aerosol by G. J. Engelhart et al.
- 2012/03/14: OSD: Towards high resolution mapping of 3-D mesoscale dynamics from observations: preliminary comparison of retrieval techniques and models within MESCLA project by B. Buongiorno Nardelli et al.
- 2012/03/14: OSD: Arctic surface temperatures from Metop AVHRR compared to in situ ocean and land data by G. Dybkjær et al.
- 2012/03/15: TC: Relative effect of slope and equilibrium line altitude on the retreat of Himalayan glaciers by T. N. Venkatesh et al.
- 2012/03/15: TC: Use of a thermal imager for snow pit temperatures by C. Shea et al.
- 2012/03/15: TCD: Extrapolating glacier mass balance to the mountain range scale: the European Alps 1900-2100 by M. Huss
- 2012/03/15: TCD: Observations of widespread accelerated thinning in the upper reaches of Svalbard glaciers by T. D. James et al.
- 2012/03/15: TCD: Large sensitivity of a Greenland ice sheet model to atmospheric forcing fields by A. Quiquet et al.
- 2012/03/14: TCD: Ikaite crystals in melting sea ice - implications for pCO2 and pH levels in Arctic surface waters by S. Rysgaard et al.
- 2012/03/16: ACP: Vegetation-climate interactions in the warm mid-Cretaceous by J. Zhou et al.
- 2012/03/16: ACP: Quantifying the ocean's role in glacial CO2 reductions by M. O. Chikamoto et al.
- 2012/03/15: ACP: A critical humidity threshold for monsoon transitions by J. Schewe et al.
- 2012/03/15: ACP: Precipitation as the main driver of Neoglacial fluctuations of Gualas glacier, Northern Patagonian Icefield by S. Bertrand et al.
- 2012/03/14: ACP: Volcanic synchronisation of the EPICA-DC and TALDICE ice cores for the last 42 kyr BP by M. Severi et al.
- 2012/03/14: ACP: Persistent influence of ice sheet melting on high northern latitude climate during the early Last Interglacial by A. Govin et al.
- 2012/03/13: ACP: Hydrometeorological extremes derived from taxation records for south-eastern Moravia, Czech Republic, 1751-1900 AD by R. Brázdil et al.
- 2012/03/12: ACPD: Millennial-length forward models and pseudoproxies of stalagmite O18: an example from NW Scotland by A. Baker et al.
- 2012/03/12: ACPD: Reconstruction of high resolution atmospheric fields for Northern Europe using analog-upscaling by F. Schenk & E. Zorita
- 2012/03/12: ACPD: Madagascar corals reveal Pacific multidecadal modulation of rainfall since 1708 by C. A. Grove et al.
- 2012/03/15: APC: Sensitivity to deliberate sea salt seeding of marine clouds -observations and model simulations by K. Alterskjær et al.
- 2012/03/14: APC: Carbonaceous aerosols in China: top-down constraints on primary sources and estimation of secondary contribution by T.-M. Fu et al.
- 2012/03/12: APC: Extension of an assessment model of ship traffic exhaust emissions for particulate matter and carbon monoxide by J.-P. Jalkanen et al.
- 2012/03/15: APCD: Isoprene emissions in Africa inferred from OMI observations of formaldehyde columns by E. A. Marais et al.
- 2012/03/15: APCD: Global distribution and climate forcing of marine organic aerosol - Part 2: Effects on cloud properties and radiative forcing by B. Gantt et al.
- 2012/03/14: APCD: Summertime total OH reactivity measurements from boreal forest during HUMPPA-COPEC 2010 by A. C. Nölscher et al.
- 2012/03/13: APCD: Characterization of wind power resource in the United States by U. B. Gunturu & C. A. Schlosser
- 2012/03/12: APCD: The sudden stratospheric warming of the Arctic winter 2009/2010: comparison to other recent warm winters by J. Kuttippurath & G. Nikulin
- 2012/03/12: APCD: Observing the continental-scale carbon balance: assessment of sampling complementarity and redundancy in a terrestrial assimilation system by means of quantitative network design by T. Kaminski et al.
- 2012/02/24: Wiley:ES&E: (ab$) Bayesian estimation of climate sensitivity based on a simple climate model fitted to observations of hemispheric temperatures and global ocean heat content by Magne Aldrin et al.
- 2012/03/12: arXiv: Self-Charged Graphene Battery Harvests Electricity from Thermal Energy of the Environment by Zihan Xu et al.
- 2012/03/13: PNAS: (abs) A cold oceanographic regime with high exploitation rates in the Northeast Pacific forecasts a collapse of the sardine stock by Juan P. Zwolinski & David A. Demer
- 2012/03/13: PNAS: (ab$) Impact of declining Arctic sea ice on winter snowfall by Jiping Liu et al.
- 2012/03/13: PNAS: (ab$) Surficial redistribution of fallout iodine-131 in a small temperate catchment by Joshua D. Landis et al.
- 2012/03/13: GMD: Influence of parallel computational uncertainty on simulations of the Coupled General Climate Model by Z. Song et al.
- 2012/03/12: GMD: WRF-CMAQ two-way coupled system with aerosol feedback: software development and preliminary results by D. C. Wong et al.
- 2012/03/12: GMDD: Modelling sub-grid wetland in the ORCHIDEE global land surface model: evaluation against river discharges and remotely sensed data by B. Ringeval et al.
- 2012/03/13: OSD: Deep Western Boundary Current transport variability in the South Atlantic: preliminary results from a pilot array at 34.5° S by C. S. Meinen et al.
- 2012/03/12: OSD: Short-term variations of thermohaline structure in the Gulf of Finland by T. Liblik & U. Lips
- 2012/03/12: OSD: Assessment of a physical-biogeochemical coupled model system for operational service in the Baltic Sea by Z. Wan et al.
- 2012/03/13: TC: Kinematic first-order calving law implies potential for abrupt ice-shelf retreat by A. Levermann et al.
- 2012/03/12: TCD: A minimal, statistical model for the surface albedo of Vestfonna ice cap, Svalbard by M. Möller
- 2012/03/12: AGWObserver: New research from last week 10/2012
- 2012/03/12: Wiley:AF&FS: (ab$) Rebuilding global fisheries: the World Summit Goal, costs and benefits by Yimin Ye et al.
- 2012/03/11: Nature: (ab$) Multistability and critical thresholds of the Greenland ice sheet by Alexander Robinson et al.
And other significant documents:
- 2012/03/15: UCSUSA: [link to 2.7 meg pdf] Climate Change and Your Health: The Hidden Health Risks of Flooding in a Warming World
- 2012/03/13: EEA: ;link to 3.8 meg pdf] Towards efficient use of water resources in Europe
- 2012/03/12: AlexandraMorton: [links to several pdfs] APB Files
As for miscellaneous science:
- 2012/03/14: Nature: Two nations divided by a common purpose
Plans to replicate Britain's Science Media Centre in the United States are fraught with danger, warns Colin Macilwain. - 2012/03/16: NotEvenWrong: Templeton Millions
- 2012/03/16: NatureN: Scientists decry Spanish cutbacks -- Strategy risks brain drain, warns open letter
- 2012/03/14: NBF: China and Russia Increasing Science Budgets
- 2012/03/14: NatureN: Putin promises science boost -- But Russian researchers are sceptical of ambitious schemes
- 2012/03/13: NatureN: China's budget backs science -- Yet reforms to funding systems and more support for basic research are needed, say scientists
What developments in the ongoing struggle for Free/Open Science?
- 2012/03/14: NatureNB: UK research funders suggest liberated open-access policy
Sherwood Rowland obit and rememberances:
- 2012/03/14: GreenGrok: Fare Thee Well, Sherry Rowland
- 2012/03/16: CSW: Sherwood Rowland Senate testimony on IPCC, science censorship, and the need for climate action
- 2012/03/14: CSW: Sherry Rowland and the ozone denialists
- 2012/03/13: RealClimate: Sherwood Roland, CFCs, ozone depletion and the public role of scientists
- 2012/03/13: ABC(Au): Prize-winning ozone scientist dies
- 2012/03/12: KlimaZwiebel: F. Sherwood Rowland (June 28, 1927 - March 10, 2012)
- 2012/03/12: ERabett: In Memorium Sherry Rowland
- 2012/03/12: TCoE: A duty to respond
- 2012/03/12: TP:JR: Remembering Nobelist Sherry Rowland, 'Who Sounded Alarm On Thinning Ozone Layer'
- 2012/03/12: NatureNB: Sherwood Rowland, colossus of atmospheric chemistry, dies
- 2012/03/12: ScienceInsider: Sherwood Rowland, Protector of Ozone, Dead at 84
- 2012/03/12: CSM: F. Sherwood Rowland won Nobel Prize for ozone destruction research
- 2012/03/12: BBC: Ozone pioneer Rowland dies at 84
The death has been announced of Sherwood Rowland - the US chemistry professor who first suspected that the Earth's protective ozone layer was being depleted by man-made chemicals. - 2012/03/12: CBC: Ozone warning pioneer dies at 84
F. Sherwood Rowland, the Nobel Prize-winning chemist who sounded the alarm on the thinning of the Earth's ozone layer and crusaded against the use of man-made chemicals that were harming earth's atmospheric blanket, has died. He was 84. - 2012/03/16: JEB: New Jobs
Regarding Mann:
- 2012/03/15: ABC(Au): Climatologist slams intimidation of scientists
Climatologist and director of the Earth System Science Centre in Pennsylvania State University Michael Mann joins Lateline. - 2012/03/12: Stoat: Comfirmation bias
Regarding Christy:
- 2012/03/15: ERabett:BSD: Who are these people that John Christy is refuting?
- 2012/03/16: KSJT: Not much Ink: A climate skeptic -- and real scientist -- does some laborious number crunching on California mountain snow. [Christy - check other]
Regarding Wegman:
- 2012/03/17: ERabett:BSD: George Mason creates copyright risks for outside publishing of work by its academics
- 2012/03/16: DeepClimate: Wiley coverup: The great Wegman and Said "redo" to hide plagiarism and errors
- 2012/03/16: JQuiggin: KBU
- 2012/03/15: DeSmogBlog: See No Evil At George Mason University
While at the UN:
- 2012/03/13: FAO: Consensus reached on guidelines for land tenure and access to fisheries and forests
Negotiating group sends text to Committee on World Food Security for final approval - 2012/03/14: GEP: The World Bank's BioCarbon Fund [BioCF] Makes Recommendations for Clean Development Mechanism [CDM] Afforestation/Reforestation [A/R] Offsets
The Fifth IPCC report is coming up:
- 2012/03/13: NatureN: Forecasters look back in time -- As the next IPCC assessment nears, scientists use palaeoclimatic data to hone their models
And on the carbon trading front:
- 2012/03/16: CCurrents: Carbon Blood Money In Honduras
- 2012/03/15: TP:JR: South Africa To Introduce Rising Price On Carbon Pollution From Major Sources In 2013
- 2012/03/14: REA: Why Does the EU Need a Higher Carbon Price?
- 2012/03/12: TreeHugger: European Company Buys Rights to Amazon Tribe's Ancestral Land
The Robin Hood tax, aka the Tobin tax, aka the Bank tax, aka the Financial Transaction tax keeps coming up:
- 2012/03/13: Guardian(UK): Don't believe bankers' warnings about a Robin Hood tax
A financial transaction tax would be good for growth -- claiming it would herald a nuclear winter is only smoke and mirrors - 2012/03/14: EurActiv: Ministers to mull alternative to Tobin tax
EU finance ministers meeting in Brussels yesterday (13 March) asked the Danish presidency to consider compromise alternatives to the financial transaction tax (FTT) after a number of countries voiced concerns about the proposal. Nine countries -- France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Belgium, Austria, Portugal, Finland and Greece -- signed a letter to Denmark on 7 February calling for progress on the introduction of an FTT before the end of its EU Council presidency. The UK and Sweden oppose an FTT, also referred to as a 'Tobin tax', but some other member states positions' remained unclear until yesterday's meeting. The finance ministers of the Czech Republic, Luxembourg and Malta rejected the FTT proposal in its current form. - 2012/03/14: DerSpiegel: The World from Berlin -- 'The Financial Transaction Tax is Overdue'
European finance ministers have failed to reach an agreement on a proposed financial transaction tax. Now there is talk of watering down the measure to get something on the books. German commentators on Wednesday say that while it may be deferred for now, such a tax is inevitable. - 2012/03/13: EurActiv: Germany seeks to flush out positions on financial [transaction] tax
Germany will today (13 March) seek to clarify the positions of other EU member states on the financial transaction tax (FTT) during the EU finance ministers meeting in Brussels, before assessing chances of moving towards an enhanced co-operation procedure to implement the tax. - 2012/03/11: VoxEU: Pricing climate change by John Hassler
The concern over the negative consequences of global warming has led to a vast array of policy measures aimed at reducing the use of fossil fuels. Yet a comprehensive plan for a shift towards more climate-friendly energy is still lacking. This column argues that a major reason for this is that macroeconomists have not been sufficiently active in the policy discussion. It then lays out four lessons from macroeconomics that should be helpful. - 2012/03/16: EUO: EU orders Belgian-based firm to halt Iran bank transfers
The Belgium-based firm which handles international wire transfers, Swift, has said it will block transactions by all EU-sanctioned Iranian banks at 5pm Brussels time on Saturday (17 March). "Disconnecting banks is an extraordinary and unprecedented step for Swift. It is a direct result of international and multilateral action to intensify financial sanctions against Iran," the company's CEO, Lazaro Campos, said in a statement. EU countries ordered Swift to act earlier on Thursday, following pressure from the US, Iran's main antagonist on the world stage. - 2012/03/18: PeakEnergy: Iran Oil Bourse To Open Next Week?
As the EU-ETS is applied to airlines, we will see who is serious about reducing carbon emissions:
- 2012/03/16: EUO: China suspends more European aircraft orders
- 2012/03/15: EUO: Nobel laureates back EU tax on airline emissions
- 2012/03/14: Guardian(UK): Nobel economists urge Barack Obama to back EU aviation carbon plan
Open letter from 26 leading economists says President should drop US opposition to emissions trading - 2012/03/12: Guardian(UK): Aviation firms call on EU leaders to resolve carbon row
- 2012/03/12: EurActiv: Aviation firms urge EU to reconsider ETS
Seven leading European aviation companies have written to European political leaders warning about the implications of a recently introduced EU carbon tax, the Financial Times reported today (12 March). The signatories, which include Airbus, British Airways and Virgin Atlantic, argue that the pollution levy threatens jobs 2,000 jobs and trade. They are concerned about trade-related retaliation by countries not complying with the Emissions Trading System (ETS), the newspaper reported. - 2012/03/12: EUO: Airline industry protests EU emissions tax
- 2012/03/12: BBC: Aviation plea to leaders over EU price on carbon
Seven European aviation firms have written to governments complaining about the inclusion of airlines in the EU's Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS). The signatories, which include Airbus, British Airways and Virgin Atlantic, argue the move threatens jobs. They are concerned about trade retaliation by countries not complying with the ETS, which puts a cost on carbon emissions beyond set limits. - 2012/03/16: EUO: No trade war with China, EU presidency says
- 2012/03/14: EurActiv: EU, Japan, US open WTO row with China over rare earths
- 2012/03/14: al Jazeera: China faces WTO case on rare earth trade
US, Japan and EU challenge restrictions on exports of critical minerals in first joint case. - 2012/03/13: BBC: The US, Japan and the European Union have filed a case against China at the World Trade Organization, challenging its restrictions on rare earth exports
- 2012/03/13: CBC: China's rare earth quota faces WTO complaint
The United States, the European Union and Japan are filing complaints with the World Trade Organization charging that China is limiting its export of rare earths, raw materials that are vital to the production of technology components. EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht said China's export quotas and export duties give Chinese companies an unfair competitive advantage, hurting producers and consumers around the world. - 2012/03/18: al Jazeera: UNASUR rejects Falklands oil exploration
Grouping of South American nations reject British oil exploration in the disputed Falkland Islands. - 2012/03/16: BBC: Falkland Islands oil dispute: UK hits back at Argentina
The UK has hit back at Argentina's threats of court action over Falkland Islands oil exploration, calling its behaviour "illegal intimidation". Foreign minister Hector Timmerman had threatened legal action against firms drilling off the UK territory, over which Argentina claims sovereignty. But the UK Foreign Office said it was a legitimate commercial venture. Prime Minister David Cameron said Britain would "continue to protect and defend" the islands. - 2012/03/15: TP:JR: The U.S. Decision on Chinese Solar Panel Imports: Why Tariffs Are Only A Partial Solution
The issue of the law and activism is playing out around the world:
- 2012/03/15: BBC: European court says 'kettling' tactics in 2001 lawful
"Kettling" tactics used by the Metropolitan Police to contain crowds in 2001 were lawful, the European Court of Human Rights has ruled. The controversial method was used during anti-globalisation demonstrations in London on 1 May 2001. Police blocked off Oxford Circus and corralled those inside for seven hours. The court said there had been no violation of Article 5 - the right to liberty and security - of the European Convention on Human Rights. - 2012/03/16: TreeHugger: #OWS Calls for Occupy Earth Day, Global Month of Action
- 2012/03/11: Google:AFP: Protesters link arms around the world to decry nuclear power
Polls! We have polls!
- 2012/03/16: TreeHugger: Three Times as Many Americans Want More Fracking Oversight Than Less
- 2012/03/15: SeattlePI: Study: Young people not so 'green' after all
- 2012/03/14: ScienceInsider: Poll: Many U.S. Voters Have Gloomy View of America's Science Future
- 2012/03/14: TP:JR: Poll: 66% Blame Big Oil and MidEast Countries For High Gas Prices, 23% Blame Obama
- 2012/03/13: TP:JR: Poll: Public Backs Obama Over GOP On Gas Prices, 66% Blame Big Oil Or Mideast Tension for Price Spike
- 2012/03/12: BCLSB: B.C.ers Oppose Northern Gateway
Regarding Water Politics and Business. See also:
- 2012/03/16: JFleck: Tree rings tale of Atlanta's mistake
- 2012/03/14: NatGeo: Are We Running Out of Water?
- 2012/03/13: BBC: Europe's water resources 'under pressure'
Continued inefficient use of water could threaten Europe's economy, productivity and ecosystems, a report has warned. The European Environment Agency (EEA) said that the continent's water resources were under pressure and things were getting worse. - 2012/03/13: Grist: Tapped out: Water in California's farm country is dangerously polluted
- 2012/03/13: JFleck: The importance of Albuquerque's water conservation efforts
- 2012/03/13: JFleck: Stuff I wrote elsewhere: "Lake" Arthur
- 2012/03/13: UCSUSA: California Report Shows Massive Farm Pollution Contaminates Rural Drinking Water
- 2012/03/13: TreeHugger: How Carbon Offsets Can Help Provide Clean Water for All
- 2012/03/11: JFleck: Living without water
- 2012/03/11: JFleck: The last concrete?
And on the American political front:
- 2012/03/18: JQuiggin: All culture wars, all the time
- 2012/03/18: PeakEnergy: US and UK To Release oil From Strategic Reserves
- 2012/03/16: Wonkette: Tennessee House Fights 20-Year-Old UN 'Sustainability' Plan, Because 'Forced Abortion'
- 2012/03/15: TP:JR: Ann Coulter: The GOP And Conservative Movement Have 'A Problem With Con Men and Charlatans'
- 2012/03/16: TP:JR: Growing Grassroots Political Support for a Price on Carbon
- 2012/03/14: AlterNet: 5 Things Corporations Are Trying to Hide From You
- 2012/03/14: AutoBG: GM opposes Washington State's proposed electric vehicle fee that has "no merit"
- 2012/03/15: CSM: Electric cars: Hawaii expands rebate fund
- 2012/03/14: EnergyBulletin: America the possible: A manifesto by Gus Speth
- 2012/03/14: OilChange: US Oil Boom "Increases Energy Vulnerability"
- 2012/03/13: AlterNet: How an Anti-Democratic, Corporate-Friendly Pennsylvania Law Has Elevated the Battle Over Fracking to a Civil Rights Fight
- 2012/03/13: NYT:PK: Scale and Energy Booms, Continued
- 2012/03/12: TreeHugger: Meet the Super-Efficient LED Light Bulb the Tea Party Wants You to Hate
- 2012/03/13: CSM: California ready to cut greenhouse gases. Next, doing it.
- 2012/03/12: QuarkSoup: Iowa Bans Great Literature
- 2012/03/12: EnvEcon: A humble suggestion
- 2012/03/08: WaPo: Ken Cuccinelli's climate-change witch hunt
If Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli II (R) needs examples of official waste and abuse as he runs for governor, he could cite the harassment that he conducted against climate scientist Michael E. Mann, a costly episode of government overreach that is finally over. - 2012/03/07: AlterNet: Fracking Democracy: Why Pennsylvania's Act 13 May Be the Nation's Worst Corporate Giveaway
The BP disaster continues to twist US politics:
- 2012/03/14: TP:JR: Restore Act: Fueling a New Future for the Gulf Coast -- Growth built around fossil-fuel extraction is not sustainable
- 2012/03/08: AlterNet: Heroic Activists in Louisiana Fight Back Against Corporate Greed
Do you want a corporate dweeb, or a sociopathic corporate dweeb? Your choice:
- 2012/03/18: S&R: Bashing Obama's America, fringe snatches victory from defeat
- 2012/03/16: TreeHugger: Obama's "All of the Above" Energy Speeches Leave Coal Out of the Equation
- 2012/03/15: Grist: Obama debuts new energy theme: Past vs. future
- 2012/03/17: DbP: Rick Santorum to wage war on America's 'porn pandemic'
- 2012/03/15: CSM: Why is Ron Paul still in the GOP race - and what does he want?
- 2012/03/14: CBC: Gingrich won't quit Republican race
- 2012/03/14: TP:JR: Poll: 66% Blame Big Oil and MidEast Countries For High Gas Prices, 23% Blame Obama
- 2012/03/14: CSM: Did Ron Paul get robbed of Virgin Island victory?
- 2012/03/13: AlterNet: G.O.P. in Chaos: Brokered Convention More Likely After Tuesday Primaries
- 2012/03/14: al Jazeera: Santorum picks up US primary wins in South
Victories in Alabama and Mississippi boost conservative candidate's campaign for Republican US presidential nomination. - 2012/03/12: AlterNet: Why the GOP Campaign for the Presidency Is About Guaranteeing a Radical Conservative Future for America
- 2012/03/12: CCP: Attack of the Billionaires
- 2012/03/11: Guardian(UK): Obama is still in a hole. It may yet be deeper than his Republican rivals'
Gas Prices are becoming a major issue in the election:
- 2012/03/18: PeakEnergy: Michael Klare, Why High Gas Prices Are Here to Stay
- 2012/03/16: OtB: What's Really Driving Up Gas Prices
- 2012/03/12: CER:RRapier: The Professor Who Knew Too Little
- 2012/03/16: QuarkSoup: Gasoline Spending is Not Especially High
- 2012/03/15: PSinclair: Gas Prices: The Men Behind the Curtain
- 2012/03/13: CCurrents: Why High Oil Prices Are Here To Stay
- 2012/03/14: DemNow: Michael Klare: GOP Promises of Lower Gas Costs Belied by Dwindling Supply of World's Oil
- 2012/03/16: CSM: Is $3 a gallon a historical relic? What could bring gas prices back to earth.
- 2012/03/13: AlterNet: High Gas Prices Are Here to Stay: Why 21st Century Oil Will Break the Bank -- and the Planet
- 2012/03/13: EnergyBulletin: A Tough-Oil World: Why High Gas Prices Are Here to Stay by Michael T. Klare
- 2012/03/13: TP:JR: Poll: Public Backs Obama Over GOP On Gas Prices, 66% Blame Big Oil Or Mideast Tension for Price Spike
- 2012/03/13: Grist: The only solution to high gas prices -- with charts!
- 2012/03/13: ABC(Au): Price hikes fuel Obama disapproval rating
The Keystone XL saga rolls along:
- 2012/03/18: BCLSB: New Keystone XL Route Still Likely To Attract Protests
- 2012/03/13: RG&B: Report reveals true cost of Keystone XL: Staggering public costs vs private benefits
- 2012/03/14: TP:JR: Report: Keystone XL Tar Sands Pipeline More Of An Economic Liability Than Benefit
- 2012/03/13: TreeHugger: For Like the Hundredth Time, GOP Tries to Approve Keystone XL
- 2012/03/13: Grist: Bitter spill: Leaky Keystone's economic risks would dwarf benefits [McKibben]
- 2012/03/13: Grist: Meet the worst Senate amendment that ever lived -- It's ba-aack - the Keystone XL pipeline, that is.
The Birth Control issue simmers in barely contained fury. See also also:
- 2012/03/16: CCurrents: Challenging Religious Bigotry In The Birth Control Debate
- 2012/03/16: ACLU: Obama Administration Takes Next Step On Contraception Rule
- 2012/03/15: AlterNet: When Did the Catholic Church Endow Sperm With Inalienable Rights?
- 2012/03/12: ACLU: Use Birth Control? You're Fired!
First, a bill that gives immunity to doctors who lie to couples about the results of their prenatal tests in order to prevent them from getting an abortion. Now, a bill that would give your boss the green light to fire you for using birth control. You think I am kidding? I wish. For a decade now, Arizona insurance companies have been required to provide coverage for contraception just like other prescriptions. But, because they saw an opening to score some political points, some politicians there are suddenly moving to take that coverage away from women and their families. - 2012/03/15: DWR: Tell me again why Pro-Life isn't Pro-Stupid?
- 2012/03/05: Guttmacher: Study purporting to show link between abortion and mental health outcomes decisively debunked
- 2012/03/14: TreeHugger: Ducking Fight Over Womens' Rights, Santorum Swings Again At Environmentalists
- 2012/03/13: AlterNet: How We're All Paying for Rush Limbaugh to Take Viagra (And Why it Costs a Lot More Than Contraception)
- 2012/03/13: Guardian(UK): The irrelevant Rush Limbaugh boycott
Blue chip advertisers are making a show of shunning Limbaugh. He won't care -- his business model doesn't need their brands - 2012/03/08: MoJo: Insane Sex Laws Inspired by Republicans
Rectal exams for Viagra users, vasectomy bans, and other proposals that mock conservatives' obsession with women's private parts. - 2012/03/12: Wonkette: Feminazis' Open Letter To Rush Provokes 70s-Style Conservative Backlash
- 2012/03/12: Grist: Meet Tracie McMillan, 'overeducated' food justice writer
- 2012/03/05: TPR: The Witch-Burners are Alive and Sick in Kansas: Stand Up For Dr. Kristin Neuhaus Against The Kansas Theocracy's Anti-Abortion Jihad
- 2012/03/11: Guardian(UK): Doonesbury strip on Texas abortion law dropped by some US newspapers
Several papers decline to use cartoon strip, which depicts state-required sonograms as Republican-approved rape - 2012/03/11: AlterNet: Slut! Should We Reclaim the Word or Banish It?
- 2012/03/08: AlterNet: 15 Ways the Bible Is Used by Christians and the GOP to Control and Malign Women
The GOP War on Women is picking up where the birth control battle leaves off:
- 2012/03/17: Wonkette: Slate Explains: Democrats to Blame for GOP's War Against Women
- 2012/03/16: BMJ:MEB: How Abortion Law Works in Texas
- 2012/03/15: AlterNet: 5 Right-Wing Violations Against Women That We Must Crush
- 2012/03/15: Wonkette: Pennsylvania Governor: Just 'Close Your Eyes' During That Mandatory Ultrasound
- 2012/03/14: RawStory: GOP led Wisconsin legislature votes to ban private abortion coverage
- 2012/03/14: Wonkette: Arizona So Going To Win This Birth Control Coverage Denial Contest
- 2012/03/13: RReich: The Difference Between Private and Public Morality
Republicans have morality upside down. Santorum, Gingrich, and even Romney are barnstorming across the land condemning gay marriage, abortion, out-of-wedlock births, access to contraception, and the wall separating church and state. But America's problem isn't a breakdown in private morality. It's a breakdown in public morality. What Americans do in their bedrooms is their own business. What corporate executives and Wall Street financiers do in boardrooms and executive suites affects all of us. There is moral rot in America but it's not found in the private behavior of ordinary people. It's located in the public behavior of people who control our economy and are turning our democracy into a financial slush pump. It's found in Wall Street fraud, exorbitant pay of top executives, financial conflicts of interest, insider trading, and the outright bribery of public officials through unlimited campaign "donations." - 2012/03/15: SciAm:PI: White House Energy Strategy - "All of the Above"
- 2012/03/15: WaPo: White House moves into full reelection mode
Obama compares Republicans to 'flat earth society' for stance on green energy - 2012/03/12: TP:JR: Murdoch's Wall Street Journal and Koch-Fueled Cato Agree: "It's Not Obama's Fault That Crude Oil Prices Have Increased"
- 2012/03/12: AutoBG: Obama's EV Everywhere plan sets 2022 goals for U.S.-made electric vehicles
The actions of the Obama administration are being watched closely:
- 2012/03/16: Grist: Get the lead out: Have we already forgotten this lesson?
- 2012/03/17: AutoBG: EPA accepts E15 Misfueling Mitigation Plan, opens door to sales
- 2012/03/16: NatureNB: NRC unites on safety, but rift remains
- 2012/03/15: BWeek: EPA's Proposed Fracking Rules Seen Cutting Gas Drilling
- 2012/03/14: AutoBG: DOE's clean-energy loan guarantees will cost taxpayers 46% less than expected
- 2012/03/12: TreeHugger: USDA Speeds Approval for New Herbicide-Tolerant Crops Despite Superweed Problem
- 2012/03/12: NYT: Solyndra Is Blamed as Clean-Energy Loan Program Stalls
More than $16 billion in loans authorized five years ago by Congress to develop fuel-efficient vehicles has yet to be disbursed, with applicants for the money complaining that the Energy Department is crippling plans for greener cars and trucks at a time of rising gas prices. Some companies contend that the loans, administered by energy officials, have dried up because of a political firestorm that followed the bankruptcy last year of the solar panel company Solyndra, which had received a federal loan from a related program. The bankruptcy fed Republican criticism of the Obama administration's handling of clean energy loans because one of the investors in Solyndra was a major fund-raiser for the president. - 2012/03/16: Grist: Inhofe: Global warming too costly to be real
- 2012/03/16: TP:JR: Inhofe's Stunning Admission To Maddow on Global Warming: "I Thought It Must Be True Until I Found Out What It Cost"
- 2012/03/13: TP:JR: Video: Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-Fl)Wants To Sell Off Our National Parks
- 2012/03/14: DeSmogBlog: Is James Inhofe Shilling For God, or Oil? The Correct Answer is "Both"
- 2012/03/13: TP:JR: Congressional Inaction May Halt $100M Arkansas Wind Manufacturing Plant: 'No PTC, No Wind Turbine Plant'
- 2012/03/12: Wonkette: Okie Sen. James Inhofe: No Climate Change Because Bible Told Him So
- 2012/03/12: TP:JR: Inhofe: It Is 'Arrogance Of People To Think That We ... Would Be Able To Change' What God Is Doing With The Climate
While in the UK:
- 2012/03/15: MLynas: UK environmentalists write to Prime Minister in support of new nuclear
- 2012/03/16: Guardian(UK): Richard Branson letter to David Cameron on renewable energy
- 2012/03/15: MLynas: A letter to David Cameron
- 2012/03/12: BBC: UK nuclear plans 'put energy in French hands'
Government plans for nuclear power risk handing control of the UK's climate and energy policies to France, according to four senior environmentalists. Energy giant EDF and reactor builder Areva, big players in the UK's plans, are largely French government-owned. Jonathan Porritt, Tom Burke, Charles Secrett and Tony Juniper say the firms are landing UK citizens with all the financial risks of nuclear new build. They have told Prime Minister David Cameron he is being badly advised. - 2012/03/15: Guardian(UK): Use nuclear waste to power UK, says top scientist
- 2012/03/15: Guardian(UK): George Osborne's attacks on the environment are costing UK billions
The chancellor's environmental stance at his party conference and autumn statement could have cost us billions -- the opposite of what he intended. It's unlikely the budget will do any different - 2012/03/15: Guardian(UK): Why I am urging David Cameron to act against Friends of the Earth [Monbiot] [UK pol]
- 2012/03/15: Telegraph(UK): Nuclear not offshore wind will power UK in future says Sir David King
- 2012/03/15: BBC: Third nuclear power station at Heysham plans on ice
Plans for a third nuclear power station at Heysham in Lancashire have been put on ice. French company EDF Energy has cancelled an agreement with the National Grid to set up any new connection to the grid from Heysham. The site was one of eight earmarked two years ago for a new generation of nuclear power stations. EDF Energy said all its plans for new stations will be focused on their sites at Sizewell and Hinkley Point. - 2012/03/14: Guardian(UK): UK Arctic policy review due amid surge of interest in far north
- 2012/03/14: Guardian(UK): [Letters] Carbon targets, renewables and atomic risks
- 2012/03/12: Guardian(UK): Nick Clegg will attend Rio Earth summit - David Cameron refused to confirm his attendance
- 2012/03/12: Guardian(UK): Carbon Trust chief: 'We are on the side of the good guys.' Not everyone agrees [UK pol]
- 2012/03/12: BBC: UK nuclear plans 'put energy in French hands'
Government plans for nuclear power risk handing control of the UK's climate and energy policies to France, according to four senior environmentalists. - 2012/03/11: Guardian(UK): [Letters] Nuclear sites, sea-level rise and tsunamis
And in Europe:
- 2012/03/15: DerSpiegel: Green Extremes -- Germany's Failing Environmental Projects
The energy-saving light bulb ends up as hazardous waste, too much insulation promotes mold and household drains are emitting a putrid odor because everyone is saving water. Many of Germany's efforts to protect the environment are a chronic failure, but that's unlikely to change. - 2012/03/16: Reuters: Europe's chief scientist warns against climate delays
The European Union cannot use the economic slowdown as an excuse to delay action on fighting climate change, the bloc's first-ever chief scientific adviser has warned. Molecular biologist Anne Glover took on the newly created role reporting to European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso at the start of this year, having previously served as chief scientific adviser to Scotland's devolved government. Despite the fact that many EU governments are slashing their public budgets in an attempt to reduce debt levels, and industry is warning against the cost of climate policies, Glover said Europe cannot afford to postpone action to cut emissions. - 2012/03/14: REA: Why Does the EU Need a Higher Carbon Price?
- 2012/03/14: PlanetArk: Big Business Helps With Post-2020 EU Carbon Goals
- 2012/03/13: DerSpiegel: Unwelcome Interference -- Polish Nuclear Dreams Threaten Ties with Germany
Determined to develop its nuclear industry to meet its booming energy needs, Poland is tired of lectures from its environmentally conscious neighbor Germany. After all, Poles argue, the Germans have benefitted from nuclear power for decades. The differing energy philosophies threaten to strain ties between the two countries. - 2012/03/12: DerSpiegel: Germany 'Must Not Go It Alone' -- EU Commissioner Attacks Berlin's Energy Plans
In a Spiegel interview, EU Energy Commissioner Günther Oettinger discusses his views on Germany's plan to switch from nuclear to renewable energies, Europe's conflicting attitudes towards atomic power and why European energy policy needs to be better coordinated in order to ensure that countries like Greece can benefit from renewables. - 2012/03/12: DerSpiegel: Energy Revolution Stalls -- Berlin Struggles to Realize Nuclear-Free Ambitions
In the wake of the Fukushima disaster, the German government made a sudden and unexpected decision to phase out nuclear power by 2022. But precious little progress has been made. Key questions remain unanswered while various ministries quibble over their roles and Chancellor Merkel focuses on the pressing euro crisis. - 2012/03/13: BBC: EU brings farms and forests into low-carbon plans
The EU has called on European governments to include data on CO2 emissions from farming and forestry in their efforts to tackle climate change. The draft law on accounting rules is in line with what was agreed at the Durban climate change conference in December. But the EU does not yet plan to include farming and forestry in its CO2 Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS). - 2012/03/13: EurActiv: Hedegaard hails 'first step' towards rural CO2 emissions rules
The EU executive has proposed new harmonised rules to account for greenhouse gas emissions from forests and agriculture within the EU's climate policy. "This is the first step to incorporate these sectors into the EU's [emissions] reduction efforts," Climate Action Commissioner Connie Hedegaard said in a statement. - 2012/03/13: PlanetArk: Germany Harnesses Green Power In Desolate East
- 2012/03/12: EurActiv: UK wants 2030 renewable energy target scrapped
The UK government wants nuclear power to be given parity with renewables in Europe, in a move that would significantly boost atomic energy in Britain but downgrade investment in renewable generation, according to a leaked document seen by the Guardian newspaper. - 2012/03/12: EUO: Poland blocks tougher CO2 limits
- 2012/03/12: PlanetArk: Poland Blocks EU Efforts On Carbon Limits
Coal-reliant Poland on Friday vetoed European Union efforts to move further towards a low carbon economy, pitting itself against the rest of the 27-member bloc. - 2012/03/18: ABC(Au): NSW merges major electricity companies
The New South Wales Government has announced a major shake-up to the state's electricity sector which it says will save $400 million and reduce household bills. The state's three energy providers, Ausgrid, Endeavour Energy and Essential Energy, will become one group. - 2012/03/13: Guardian(UK): Australia passes controversial nuclear waste bill
Radioactive material set to be dumped in remote Aboriginal community, despite ongoing court case into legality of proposal - 2012/03/15: ABC(Au): Scientists say cooler summer doesn't mean end to global warming
- 2012/03/15: JQuiggin: A win all round? [the Opposition and the Greens are to oppose the reduction in company tax]
- 2012/03/14: ABC(Au): Gillard, Abbott in stand-off over tax cuts
The Prime Minister and Opposition Leader took their row over company tax cuts to the business frontline this morning, visiting small business operators to spruik their support for the sector. Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott are at loggerheads over a 1 per cent reduction in company taxes paid for by the Government's contentious minerals resource rent tax (MRRT). The MRRT is within days of becoming law, but the row over the company tax cuts has placed the entire measure in jeopardy. The Greens and the Coalition are both refusing to allow the tax cut to go through the Senate. - 2012/03/13: ABC(Au): Oakdale residents didn't know about CSG drilling until they heard it
Oakdale residents have expressed their anger about being kept in the dark over a coal seam gas test well in the area. Apex and Ormil Energy began test drilling in the Burragorang region near Oakdale last month. - 2012/03/13: ABC(Au): Nuclear dump protesters disrupt Parliament
Anti-nuclear protesters have tried to stop debate in Federal Parliament on legislation for Australia's first national nuclear waste dump. The Government's bill to establish the dump has been passed in the Senate with Opposition support. The Greens and independent senator Nick Xenophon opposed the legislation. - 2012/03/13: ABC(Au): NT step closer to nuclear waste dump
The Senate has passed the Radioactive Waste Management Bill, putting the Northern Territory a step closer to a national nuclear waste dump - 2012/03/12: ABC(Au): Fracking moratorium opposed in Northern Territory
A Canadian company exploring for petroleum in the Northern Territory says a moratorium on fracking would be a step backwards. Environmentalists and Aboriginal groups have recently called for a ban on hydraulic fracturing, where fluids and sand are pumped into rocks to gain access to oil and gas. - 2012/03/14: ABC(Au): The rising tide of climate change
The climate is changing, according to a new report from the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) and the CSIRO. Days and nights are getting hotter, sea levels are rising, rainfall patterns are changing. - 2012/03/14: CNA: Australia to become hotter, drier [say CSIRO & BoM]
Clive Palmer says he is going to sue over carbon pricing:
- 2012/03/15: ABC(Au): Labor plays down Palmer's carbon threat
The Government has dismissed mining magnate Clive Palmer's threat to challenge the carbon pricing scheme in the High Court as an exercise in "self-interest". - 2012/03/15: ABC(Au): Australian carbon tax faces constitution challenge
- 2012/03/15: ABC(Au): Palmer to challenge carbon tax in High Court
Mining magnate Clive Palmer has indicated there will be a High Court challenge against the carbon tax because he has advice the legislation is unconstitutional. The legislation has passed both houses of Parliament and is due to come into effect in the middle of the year. The Coalition has promised to repeal the legislation if it wins the next election. Mr Palmer, who is a financial backer of the Coalition, first threatened to challenge the legislation last year and now says he is going to act on it. - 2012/03/17: ABC(Au): Prompt responses to flood crisis praised in Commission Report
- 2012/03/17: ABC(Au): Survivors reject Queensland flood inquiry
Survivors of the devastating Lockyer Valley flood have rejected the findings of the Queensland floods inquiry, calling for a new investigation into last year's disaster. The report includes more than six million pages of evidence, 345 witnesses and more than 170 recommendations, with some of the most serious findings relating to the operation of Brisbane's Wivenhoe Dam. But residents in the Lockyer Valley, west of Brisbane, say it raises more questions than it answers. - 2012/03/16: ABC(Au): Queensland flood inquiry wash up
The inquiry into last summer's disasters in Queensland has found that Wivenhoe Dam was mismanaged before the devastating floods in Brisbane and Ipswich. The finding by the Commission of Inquiry could open the door to litigation against the dam operator which is owned by the State Government. - 2012/03/16: ABC(Au): Floods report opens way for legal action
The final report from the Queensland Floods Commission found that three engineers had breached the Wivenhoe Dam operations manual. - 2012/03/16: ABC(Au): Flood report paves way for compensation
The Queensland Floods Commission has released findings which could pave the way for legal action by the victims of last year's disaster. Its long-awaited report includes more than six million pages of evidence, 345 witnesses and 170 recommendations ranging from flood mapping to emergency responses and, of course, dam management. - 2012/03/14: ABC(Au): Central Darling damage bill expected to top A$1million
The Central Darling Shire Council says the repair bill from recent flooding in the area will be in excess of one million dollars. The shire was declared a natural disaster area yesterday afternoon, which means it can apply for state government funding. - 2012/03/13: CCurrents: India Gears Up To Occupy Koodankulam On 15th March
And in China:
- 2012/03/15: NBF: China plans to focus less on solar and wind Energy and more on Nuclear and Hydro Power
- 2012/03/12: CCP: Thousands of residents of the southern Chinese island province of Hainan took to the streets of Ledong county in protest at plans to build a coal-fired power plant in their hometown. Government deletes online news
In the Middle East:
- 2012/03/14: TreeHugger: Israeli Government Moves to Destroy Palestinian Solar Panels
In Canada, neocon PM Harper madly pursues petroleum while continuing his do-nothing climate policy:
- 2012/03/18: PostMedia: Ending fossil fuel subsidy a 'no brainer' -- Former Mulroney-era Conservative says over-consumption promoted
Ending fossil fuel subsidies in the next federal budget would be a "no brainer," says a former Conservative MP who played a key role advising former prime minister Brian Mulroney's government on environmental issues. David Macdonald, the first chair of the House of Commons environment committee, established in 1989, noted that many global organizations, including the International Monetary Fund and the International Energy Agency, have urged all governments to get rid of the subsidies to avoid waste and to discourage energy consumption that is causing global warming. - 2012/03/15: LFR: Obama addresses Rex Murphy, Ezra Levant, Stephen Harper
- 2012/03/13: DWR: The Canadian Conservative - The Anti-Science Crusade Continues...
The G20 controversy lingers:
- 2012/03/14: TiaWh: A Conspiracy Theory
- 2012/03/14: TStar: G20 summit: Cop unmasked as protest couple file suit
- 2012/03/14: PaiD: More G20 Police Brutality Justice Pending
The Harper gang plans to streamline environmental protections right out of existence:
- 2012/03/16: TMoS: Harper Won't Let BC Salmon Stand In His Way - plans by the Harper regime to gut environmental protections
- 2012/03/16: TheCanadian: How BC Could Counteract Harper's Gutting of Environmental Protections for Enbridge
- 2012/03/14: TheCanadian: Harper's Underhanded Gutting of Fisheries Act Designed to Help Enbridge and Co.
- 2012/03/14: TheCanadian: Tories Pushing to Gut Environmental Assessment Act
- 2012/03/14: PostMedia: Tories plan to gut fish protection laws: government source
The Harper government is poised to roll back fish powers in federal legislation intended to protect fish habitat, making it easier for projects like Calgary-based Enbridge Inc.'s Northern Gateway pipeline to B.C. to clear federal hurdles, according to a retired fisheries biologist who obtained the information from a government source. Proposed new wording would prohibit activity that would cause an "adverse effect" on "fish of economic, cultural or ecological value," whereas the current law bans activity that results in the "harmful alteration, disruption or destruction of fish habitat," according to the information leaked to Otto Langer. - 2012/03/14: PostMedia: Politicians clash over plans to 'modernize' environmental reviews
Conservative and opposition MPs crossed swords Tuesday over recommendations to "modernize" environmental assessments in Canada that could speed up approvals of projects, while weakening reviews of potential impacts. The controversial recommendations were introduced Tuesday in the House of Commons by a committee that is reviewing the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, originally adopted by the government of former Conservative prime minister Brian Mulroney. - 2012/03/13: CBC: Environmental assessment report slammed as 'fictitious'
A report from the Commons environment committee has government MPs calling for the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act to be "modernized" and the opposition dismissing the committee's work as a fiction. The majority opinion made 20 recommendations on how to bring the legislation up to date in the report released Tuesday. The main focus was on reducing overlap between provincial and federal assessments and speeding up the system. - 2012/03/13: TheCanadian: Veteran Fisheries Scientist Warns Harper Government Watering Down Habitat Protections in Omnibus Bill
- 2012/03/13: TheCanadian: NDP Fisheries Critic Takes Harper Government to Task Over Leaked Changes to Fisheries Act
Now that the Harper gang has killed the CWB, the rest of the agricultural infrastructure is in play:
- 2012/03/16: CBC: Viterra's HQ staying in Sask. 'important,' Wall says
- 2012/03/15: CBC: Viterra shares soar anew as it confirms takeover talks -- Saskatchewan grain handler in takeover talks with multiple parties
- 2012/03/13: CBC: Viterra shares rise on takeover speculation
Shares in Regina-based Viterra continued to climb Tuesday amid speculation more than one bidder may have Canada's biggest grain handler in their takeover sights. - 2012/03/13: G&M: Which side of farm's supply-management fence are you on?
Hundreds of comments, emails and tweets greeted Monday's column, which opined that Stephen Harper might be willing to abandon the supply management system. That system protects dairy and poultry farmers from foreign competition. The column predicted that the Prime Minister would dismantle these protections if that was the only way to secure access to the Trans Pacific Partnership, an ambitious free trade agreement currently being negotiated among Pacific nations. - 2012/03/13: PostMedia: Feds mum about foreign funding of climate skeptics
While it has aggressively slammed environmental groups for using foreign dollars to finance a small portion of their budgets, Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government is being tight-lipped about revelations that climate-change skeptics in Canada are getting money from an American think-tank with corporate funding. Newly released documents have revealed three Canadians were part of a network of academics receiving monthly payments from the Chicago-based Heartland Institute as part of its work to cast doubt on scientific evidence linking human activity to global warming observed in recent decades. Two of the three Canadians mentioned in the internal records have confirmed they were getting paid by the Heartland Institute. - 2012/03/14: The Woodshed: At long last sir, have you left no sense of decency?
- 2012/03/14: CBC: Anti-oilsands measures threaten energy security, Oliver says
There is plenty of oil sands oil for all buyers and it's not dirtier than any other type of oil, Canada's Natural Resources Minister told delegates at the International Energy Forum in Kuwait. Tuesday at the general assembly of the IEF, Joe Oliver described Canada as an important contributor to world energy security. He also defended Alberta bitumen against the European Commission's Fuel Quality Directive, which would assign the resource a higher greenhouse gas value than conventional types of oil. - 2012/03/14: BluntObjects: Con Senator Don Plett Wants to Know If Ecologists Are Funded by Al-Qaeda and Martians
- 2012/03/14: POGGE: In which Senator Duffy answers my question
When Senator Nicole Eaton kicked off an inquiry into the "interference of foreign foundations in Canada's domestic affairs"... - 2012/03/13: HuffPo: Green Charities Clash With Harper Conservatives
The Conservatives have taken their battle with environmentalists to new levels of lunacy, some groups said Tuesday, after a Tory senator suggested they would accept funding from Al Qaeda. - 2012/03/13: CCP: Threat to democracy in Canada: Canadian Government Targeting Opponents of New Oil Sands Pipeline
- 2012/03/13: BCLSB: The Shoe Is On The Other Foot
- 2012/03/12: PostMedia: Pipeline opposition brings case to Ottawa -- Concerns over oilsands route subject of panel discussion
A First Nations chief and representatives from British Columbia's commercial fishing and tourism sectors will outline their concerns about a proposed pipeline linking Alberta's oilsands with the West Coast at a panel discussion in Ottawa on Monday night. Enbridge wants to build a $5.5-billion pipeline to carry an estimated 525,000 barrels of crude oil a day from Alberta to Kitimat, B.C., where it could then be shipped by ocean tankers to ports around the world. But First Nations, environmental groups and communities across northern B.C. have lined up in opposition and now some are trying to spread the message to other parts of the country. - 2012/03/11: TruthOut: Canadian Government Targeting Opponents of New Oil Sands Pipeline
Environmental groups in Canada say they are now operating within a culture of fear aimed at silencing legitimate democratic dissent. - 2012/03/16: BCLSB: The Fruits Of Northern Gateway
- 2012/03/13: TStar: Northern Gateway, Keystone clogged, the tar sands look east
- 2012/03/12: BCLSB: B.C.ers Oppose Northern Gateway
The Tories are actively participating in the tar sands PR campaign:
- 2012/03/12: OilChange: Canada's Top Level Collusion Over the Tar Sands
- 2012/03/12: DawgsBlawg: Oil and state
- 2012/03/12: TStar: Alberta, Ottawa, oil lobby formed secret committee
The federal and Alberta governments struck up a secret, high-level committee in early 2010 to coordinate the promotion of the oilsands with Canada's most powerful industry lobby group, a document obtained through an access to information request reveals. The committee brought together the president of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP) with deputy ministers from Natural Resources, Environment Canada, Alberta Energy and Alberta Environment to synchronize their lobbying offensive in the face of mounting protest and looming international regulations targeting the Alberta crude. - 2012/03/12: CEAR:GC: Shell Quest [Scotford Upgrader] Carbon Capture and Storage Project Public Comments Invited
- 2012/03/14: PostMedia: Shell Canada's carbon capture project gains environmental OK
Shell Canada's flagship $1.35-billion carbon-capture and storage project at its Scotford bitumen upgrader moved a step closer to reality this week with the release of a federal environment assessment. The 24-page report from the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency concludes Shell has planned "appropriate measures to mitigate any significant adverse environmental effects." The agency is now seeking public comments on the report, with a deadline of April 13. It is available online at ceaa-acee.gc.ca. - 2012/03/15: ScottsDiatribe: Looking forward to covering the NDP Leadership Convention
- 2012/03/14: CBC: NDP says feds abandoning fresh water oversight role -- Leaked documents reveal plans to gut habitat-protection provisions, Opposition says
The federal NDP says it has obtained leaked documents showing the Conservatives are poised to strip the Fisheries Act of habitat-protection provisions -- a change that would dramatically reduce Ottawa's power to oversee fresh water. The federal government took no steps Tuesday to deny the claim. - 2012/03/13: G&M: I watched the NDP leadership debate. Someone had to
The ISA virus in BC waters is potentially disastrous:
- 2012/03/17: TheCanadian: The Economics of Salmon Farms, Oil Pipelines and Natural Gas
- 2012/03/12: AlexandraMorton: [links to several pdfs] APB Files
- 2012/03/13: AlexandraMorton: ISA virus in BC Supermarkets and Vedder River
- 2012/03/13: TheCanadian: Alex Morton Claims to Have Found ISAv in Farmed Salmon Sold in BC Supermarkets
In BC, the stage is set. Now what will Clark and Dix do?
- 2012/03/15: CBC: Power plans a major threat to B.C. rivers, says council -- B.C. Outdoor Recreation Council calls for rivers commission
- 2012/03/14: GlobaTV: New attack ads against B.C. NDP leader popping up on radio stations around the province
Another controversy involving advertising and politics is revolving around the Independent Contractors and Businesses Association, NDP leader Adrian Dix and a rather negative radio ad that's running on three B.C. radio stations, especially in Chilliwack where a by-election is looming. - 2012/03/10: TheCanadian: Newly Obtained Documents Reveal Private River Power Projects Killing Fish
- 2012/03/13: Tyee: Paying Too Much for Carbon Offsets? Enviro minister says BC's deciding what to do about excess cash collected from schools, hospitals
Meanwhile in that Mechanical Mordor known as the tar sands:
- 2012/03/14: Tyee: Scientists Doubt Fix to Wetlands Damaged by Oil Sands
Current reclamation efforts fail to replace valuable carbon-storing landscapes, study finds. - 2012/03/16: Tyee: Ethical Oil: The Puppet Rap
- 2012/03/15: RPPE: Dutch Disease and Oil
- 2012/03/14: Grist: Your best new argument against tar-sands mining: George W. Bush supports it
- 2012/03/13: SciAm: Oil Sands' CO2 Emissions Could be Higher Than Thought
A new finding comes amid a debate about the carbon footprint of the oil sands generally. Emissions released from burning them still would be small compared with those from burning coal and natural gas - 2012/03/13: VanObs: Tar sands vs. entire nations
- 2012/03/13: TP:JR: Study Finds Tar Sands Has Higher CO2 Emissions Than Thought, Calls Land Restoration Pledge 'Greenwashing'
- 2012/03/13: NatureNB: Oil sands mining carves up carbon sinks
There has been much debate about the environmental damage being done by oil-sands mining in Alberta, Canada, from the carbon emissions to the water pollution produced by the energy-intensive process. Now an Albertan scientist well known for his concerns about the industry weighs in with another factor: the destruction of peatlands. - 2012/03/13: TreeHugger: Tar Sands Industry Claims About Restoring Ecosystems Just Greenwashing, New Report Says
- 2012/03/12: CCP: If you watch anything this week, watch these two videos about the Canadian tar sands -- To the Last Drop
In Manitoba:
- 2012/03/14: CBC: First Nations flood evacuation costs reach $40M
The cost of housing thousands of Manitoba First Nations members who were forced from their homes during last spring's flood disaster has hit $40 million, according to the federal government. A total of 2,255 people from about half a dozen First Nations have been unable to return home since the floods, which began in late March 2011, damaged their communities and forced them to flee. - 2012/03/17: CBC: Bruce Power nuclear unit to restart after 17 years -- Bruce Power to be the world's largest nuclear facility
Regulators have cleared Unit 2 of the Bruce A nuclear power plant in Ontario to restart after a nearly two-decade-long slumber. Bruce Power said Friday it can complete final safety checks and prepare to synchronize the reactor, which has been out of service since 1995, to Ontario's electrical grid. - 2012/03/15: G&M: Ontario's green dream was just a fantasy
- 2012/03/13: TStar: Ontario scraps plans to expand mining in an old-growth area near Temagami
In the Maritimes:
- 2012/03/15: Telegram: Ministers respond to Lower Churchill environmental review -- Project receives provincial environmental approvals
- 2012/03/15: CBC: Lower Churchill project gets environmental green light -- Ottawa, N.L. conclude that benefits of Muskrat Falls hydro outweigh potential risks
The Lower Churchill hydro project has passed the environmental review process, clearing another hurdle to the Labrador power generation plant becoming a reality. In its response to the review panel's report, Ottawa says the benefits of the project outweigh potential risks. - 2012/03/14: CBC: Wind turbines worth $9M to community, says province -- Energy minister asks Eastern Kings residents to re-think wind project
The provincial government would like to install 15 new wind turbines in East Point. The provincial government would like to install 15 new wind turbines in East Point. (Province of P.E.I.) The P.E.I. government says it would pump $9 million into the economically strapped community of Eastern Kings over the next 15 years if residents reconsider construction of as many as 15 new wind turbines. Energy Minister Wes Sheridan revealed his preferred location Tuesday to the standing committee on Agriculture, Environment, Energy and Forestry -- right next to the 10-turbine wind farm near East Point the province already owns. In 2010, the majority of residents from the municipality of Eastern Kings who came out to a public meeting voted against any more wind development. Now Sheridan is asking residents to reconsider. - 2012/03/17: PostMedia: Amundsen's ship returning to Norway -- Bye bye Maud; Norwegians want to raise vessel with balloons
Norway can bring home the Maud, although some people in Cambridge Bay, Nunavut, may miss the familiar sight of the half-sunken wreck once sailed by polar explorer Roald Amundsen. Canada's cultural property export review board, which met Thursday in Ottawa, has directed the Canadian Border Services Agency to issue an export permit to the Norwegian group that's eager to bring the ship back to Norway, where a "futuristic" museum will be built around it. "The Maud is of outstanding significance to Canada, but . . . its loss would not significantly diminish the national heritage," the board said. The manager of Norway's Maud Returns Home project lauded the decision. - 2012/03/16: ChronicleHerald: Arctic patrol ships 'dumb'
The first ships to roll out of Halifax as part of the national shipbuilding program shouldn't even be built, a Liberal senator says. Colin Kenny, a Trudeau appointee to the Senate, says the government should renegotiate the $25-billion contract with Irving Shipbuilding to include large icebreakers instead of the smaller Arctic patrol vessels now planned as the first part of the contract. "Issues are going to be settled in the Arctic through diplomacy and with lawyers," Kenny said in an interview Thursday. "We're not going to go to war up there." - 2012/03/15: BBC: Norway tries to reclaim explorer Amundsen's ship Maud
A hearing on Thursday will decide the fate of a ship once captained by Roald Amundsen, the Norwegian explorer first to reach the south pole. The Maud is partially sunk in Cambridge Bay in Nanavut, northern Canada. - 2012/03/15: WpgFP: Tory Arctic ship plan should be sunk; replaced with real icebreakers: senator
As for miscellaneous Canadiana:
- 2012/03/15: CBC: Catholic University in Ottawa opposes free condoms
A Catholic university in Ottawa is under fire from its students after it prevented the student association from offering free condoms. The student group at Saint Paul University, which is connected to the University of Ottawa, recently received a letter from the school administration demanding it remove a bowl of condoms from the main office. - 2012/03/17: CSW: Catholic educational institutions teach the peer-reviewed science about climate change
- 2012/03/17: CBC: Canadians donate $10,000 to save Arctic research station -- PEARL forced to stop year-round monitoring of greenhouse gases, pollution
Canadians have donated about $10,000 to help keep a unique High Arctic research station from closing after its federal funding stops, says the Canadian Foundation for Climate and Atmospheric Sciences. The Polar Environment Atmospheric Research Laboratory, or PEARL, is the northern-most civilian research station in Canada. The laboratory takes measurements on greenhouse gases and ozone and verifies the accuracy of satellite data, among other things. It contributes data to several international projects monitoring climate change. - 2012/03/16: CCurrents: Can There Be "Good" Corporations?
When companies are owned by workers and the community -- instead of Wall Street financiers -- everything changes - 2012/03/17: al Jazeera: Foreclosing on the commons
- 2012/03/14: YesMag: Preventing the Fall of Rome
Gar Alperovitz: Why transformative change to the economic system is needed and how it might be accomplished. - 2012/03/02: YesMag: Our Co-Owned Future by Gar Alperovitz
From health care to jobs to community development, why the future will be cooperative. - 2011/10/28: YesMag: Occupy the Banks: Strategies for Transformation
Beyond revolution and reform: Gar Alperovitz on how we can fundamentally transform our financial system. - 2012/03/14: EnvEcon: What's wrong with climate change economics?
- 2012/03/13: CCurrents: Serious About Climate? Throw Out The Free-Market Playbook: Naomi Klein
- 2012/03/14: Grist: Naomi Klein is half right: Distorted markets are the real problem
- 2012/03/12: Grist: Naomi Klein: Serious about climate? Throw out the free-market playbook
- 2012/03/07: AlterNet: Can We Build a Sustainable Society Ourselves?
IPAT [Impact = Population * Affluence * Technology] raised its head once again. See also:
- 2012/03/13: BBC: The Supreme Court in Argentina has ruled that women who have an abortion after being raped will no longer be prosecuted
How do the media measure up?
- 2012/03/13: BobPark: What's New?
1. Smart meters: and ignorant journalists. - 2012/03/14: TP:JR: False Balance Lives At The New York Times
- 2012/03/12: QuarkSoup: Joe Bastardi: Idiot, Liar, or Both?
- 2012/03/12: MongaBay: Climate journalism gone awry
- 2012/03/12: DeSmogBlog: Fox News's Attacks on Climate Science Now Include The Denial of Basic Physics
- 2012/03/12: JQuiggin: What to do about Rupert?
While activists search for effective communication techniques:
- 2012/03/17: S&R: We've been framed: on climate disruption, women's rights, the economy, religion, party politics and damned near everything
Here is something for your library:
- 2012/03/15: TP:JR: The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars: The Book Murdoch's Wall Street Journal Doesn't Want You to Read
And for your film & video enjoyment:
- 2012/03/17: PSinclair: Movie Trailer -- "Chernobyl Diaries"
- 2012/03/16: Tyee: Ethical Oil: The Puppet Rap
- 2012/03/16: DeSmogBlog: Ethical Oil: The Puppet Rap
- 2012/03/16: SWRWN: Tarsands rap with *ethically oily* puppets
- 2012/03/16: 350orBust: Global Warming Debunked
- 2012/03/15: TP:JR: Video: China's Industrial Boom Illustrated In Three Minutes
- 2012/03/14: Grist: Watch Stephen Colbert yell at a plant
- 2012/03/14: CCurrents: Why I Must Speak Out About Climate Change: James Hansen
- 2012/03/13: PSinclair: Michael Mann: The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars
- 2012/03/12: CCP: If you watch anything this week, watch these two videos about the Canadian tar sands -- To the Last Drop
- 2012/03/11: CCP: Bryan Lovell, oil geologist and president of the Geological Society of London, speaks out on the paleo evidence for manmade warming
- 2012/03/11: QuarkSoup: James Hansen's Excellent TED Talk
Meanwhile among the 'Sue the Bastards!' contingent:
- 2012/03/16: PlanetArk: Environmental Groups Sue EPA Over Gulf Dead Zone
Several environmental groups are suing the government to curb pollution of the Mississippi River with fertilizers and other contaminants blamed with creating a "dead zone" the size of Massachusetts in the Gulf of Mexico. In separate federal lawsuits filed Tuesday, the groups asked judges to force the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to set base guidelines for state water quality standards and for wastewater treatment, both aimed at reducing pollution in the Mississippi River Basin. - 2012/03/18: al Jazeera: Brazil to file charges on Chevron executives
A federal judge grants a request from prosecutors, barring 17 executives from leaving Brazil, pending criminal charges. - 2012/03/14: AlterNet: Are We Ready to Kiss Our Big Dams Goodbye?
- 2012/03/15: OilDrum: World Energy Consumption since 1820 in Charts
- 2012/03/14: NBF: Electricity Generation in the OECD for 2011
- 2012/03/13: TP:JR: Clean Energy Investments Hit Record Highs in 2011, U.S. Clean Tech VC Funding Jumps 30%
- 2012/03/13: TCoE: The siren call of natural gas
- 2012/03/12: TP:JR: Ken Caldeira: Natural Gas Is 'A Bridge To A World With High CO2 Levels', Deployment Is To R&D As Elephant To Mouse
- 2012/03/12: RWER: Energy prices: two trends (2 graphs)
- 2012/03/12: al Jazeera: Ethiopia pursues controversial dam project
Government wants to generate alternative energy sources, but critics say endeavour will be an environmental disaster. - 2012/03/11: EnergyBulletin: The narrowing window for a transition to a sustainable industrial society
Hey! Let's contaminate the aquifer for thousands of years! It'll be a fracking gas!
- 2012/03/16: TreeHugger: Three Times as Many Americans Want More Fracking Oversight Than Less
- 2012/03/16: Grist: Fracking can toxify mortgages, too
- 2012/03/14: BBerg: Sierra Club Spurns $30 Million Gift as Fracking Turns Toxic
- 2012/03/15: BWeek: EPA's Proposed Fracking Rules Seen Cutting Gas Drilling
Regulations proposed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on air pollution would reduce drilling for natural gas using hydraulic fracturing by as much as 52 percent, the American Petroleum Institute said. The industry-backed group, in a report today on the process, called fracking, urged the Obama administration to scale-back the rules before they are issued in final form next month. The EPA's proposal is being reviewed at the White House, and President Barack Obama has made production of natural gas from shale a key part of his energy strategy. - 2012/03/12: PlanetArk: Ohio Agency Says Fracking-Related Activity Caused Earthquakes
On the coal front:
- 2012/03/14: PlanetJ: China could cap coal consumption
- 2012/03/12: TP:JR: Coal Power Drops Below 40% of U.S. Electricity, Lowest in 33 Years
On the gas and oil front:
- 2012/03/16: BBerg: Closing oil prices Friday
OIL (US$/bbl)
Nymex Crude Future...107.06
Dated Brent Spot.....126.40
WTI Cushing Spot.....107.06 - 2012/03/17: BBC: Brazil to charge Chevron executives over fresh oil leak
Brazilian prosecutors say they will bring criminal charges against 17 executives from the US oil company Chevron and drilling contractor Transocean after a new leak of crude. The executives have been barred from leaving the country until the investigation concludes. Chevron halted production in Brazil after the new oil leak was found on the seabed off Brazil earlier this week. The seepage is near a well where there was a major oil spill last November. - 2012/03/16: al Jazeera: Chevron halts Brazil drilling after new leak
US oil giant announces temporary stop to production after a "small new seep" found in same area of earlier spill. - 2012/03/16: TreeHugger: World on Course to be Powered 85% by Fossil Fuels in 2050
- 2012/03/16: TP:JR: Natural Born Drillers: Krugman Explains Why Fossil Fuel Boom Doesn't Lower Prices Or Create Many Jobs
- 2012/03/15: TreeHugger: New Chevron Oil Leak Detected Off the Coast of Brazil
- 2012/03/18: OilDrum: Tech Talk - going back to the first look at Saudi Arabian oil production
- 2012/03/15: BBC: Chevron halts production after leak at Brazil oil field
- 2012/03/14: EnergyBulletin: Understanding the new price of oil by Gregor Macdonald
- 2012/03/14: OilDrum: Has the Global Economy Become Less Vulnerable to Oil Price Shocks?
- 2012/03/14: BBerg: IEA Predicts Bumpy Ride for Oil Amid Non-OPEC Supply Cuts
- 2012/03/12: BBC: Sri Lanka's potential oil reserves spark global interest
- 2012/03/13: OilChange: Africa's New Scramble for Gas
- 2012/03/11: OilDrum: Tech Talk - A Recap in Light of Iranian Sanctions and Canadian Production Estimates
And in pipeline news:
- 2012/03/13: EurActiv: Ukraine plans to break Gazprom's monopoly
Ukraine plans to sign a contract with Germany's RWE energy company to import gas through Slovakia using reverse-flow technology. Although relatively small, the project is the first attempt by Ukraine to reduce its dependence on imports from Russia's Gazprom monopoly. - 2012/03/11: RI: The narrowing window for a transition to a sustainable industrial society
- 2012/03/16: AutoBG: Lithium-ion battery costs to fall by a third by 2017 as demand jumps
- 2012/03/15: CER:RRapier: Oil Dependence -- Tom Friedman's False Narrative
- 2012/03/17: NBF: 46 Nuclear Reactors Starting fom 2012 to 2014 [lists]
- 2012/03/15: CCurrents: 1970: The Peak of Everything
- 2012/03/15: EnergyBulletin: The peak oil crisis: surging gasoline
- 2012/03/15: EarlyWarning: Global Fuel Supply Flattening?
The answer my friend...:
- 2012/03/16: TreeHugger: Offshore Wind Farms Could Double As Seaweed Farms
- 2012/03/14: TreeHugger: World Wind Power Climbs to New Record in 2011
- 2012/03/14: USA Today: U.S. solar and wind industries expand
Despite last year's bankruptcies of several solar manufacturers, including government-backed Solyndra, the U.S. solar and wind industries continue to expand in the face of obstacles this year. - 2012/03/14: EPI: Eco-Economy Indicators - Wind Power -- World Wind Power Climbs to New Record in 2011
- 2012/03/13: NatureN: Vultures blind to the dangers of wind farms
Collisions with turbines a result of visual adaptation for foraging - blind spots in their visual field - 2012/03/16: Noahpinion: Is solar a bigger deal than people realize?
- 2012/03/16: SymmetryMag: CERN spin-off: More efficient solar panels
- 2012/03/15: TreeHugger: US Solar Installation Doubled in 2011
- 2012/03/14: TP:JR: Rooftop Revolution: How To Get Solar To 100 Million Americans
- 2012/03/14: Reuters: U.S. solar power growth jumps to new record
The U.S. solar industry installed a record number of panels in 2011, more than double 2010, and is likely to see strong growth again this year, according to a new [SEIA] report. - 2012/03/13: BBerg: Solar Silicon Price Drop Brings Renewable Power Closer
- 2012/03/12: NBF: Ion Accelerator that is ten times as powerful enables 20 micron silicon wafers for solar power modules at 40 cents per watt
- 2012/03/11: Guardian(UK): Solar power firms in Mojave desert feel glare of tribes and environmentalists
The nuclear energy controversy continues:
- 2012/03/17: BNC: How realistic is The Economist's cool view of nuclear power?
- 2012/03/17: PeakEnergy: More Problems at Calif. Nuclear Plant - San Onofre Nuclear Plant Reports More Pressure Test Failures
- 2012/03/17: EneNews: AP: California's San Onofre nuclear plant shuts down indefinitely over safety worries
- 2012/03/16: BBC: Nuclear fissions green movement
What I'm sure some will find an entertaining row and others an annoying one has broken out this week between scions of the green movement over nuclear power. It's largely a UK-focused argument, but many of the points being raised are cogent for the rest of the world too. - 2012/03/16: NBF: China will supply Westinghouse AP1000 components to Projects Worldwide
- 2012/03/10: Economist: The dream that failed
Nuclear power will not go away, but its role may never be more than marginal, says Oliver Morton - 2012/03/15: ITracker: Nuclear reality check
- 2012/03/10: Economist: Over the rainbow -- If there are better ways to split atoms, they will be a long time coming
- 2012/03/14: EurActiv: IAEA 'concerned' about world's ageing nuclear plants
- 2012/03/14: PlanetArk: Older Nuclear Plants Pose Safety Challenge: IAEA
- 2012/03/13: NYT: Nuclear Agency Head [Gregory B. Jaczko] Calls for New Standards
- 2012/03/14: BBerg: EON Profit Declines on Nuclear Plant Closures, Weak Demand
- 2012/03/13: NBF: China to step up uranium imports; plans to buy mines abroad
- 2012/03/13: Reuters: Older nuclear plants pose safety challenge: IAEA
Eighty percent of the world's nuclear power plants are more than 20 years old, raising safety concerns, a draft U.N. report says a year after Japan's Fukushima disaster. - 2012/03/14: BBC: E.On says 'past the worst' after annual loss
Energy company E.On has claimed it is "past the worst", but still made an annual loss in 2011. The German firm had a net loss of 2.2bn euros (£1.8bn), compared to a profit of 5.85bn euros in 2010. - 2012/03/12: Straight: Seattle doctor raises serious concerns about nuclear reactor near Hanford, Washington
A Seattle doctor has claimed that the U.S. regulator of a nuclear power plant 400 kilometres southeast of Vancouver isn't applying important lessons from the Fukushima disaster. - 2012/03/11: Google:AFP: Protesters link arms around the world to decry nuclear power
- 2012/03/: TBAS: An elemental force: Uranium production in Africa, and what it means to be nuclear by Gabrielle Hecht
- 2012/03/11: Guardian(UK): [Letters] Nuclear sites, sea-level rise and tsunamis
Nuclear waste storage requires _very_ long term thinking:
- 2012/03/13: Guardian(UK): Australia passes controversial nuclear waste bill
This looks like the denouement of the Rossi Energy Catalyzer:
- 2012/03/13: CassandrasLegacy: The E-Cat Horror
- 2012/03/17: PeakEnergy: The sinking of the E-Cat
- 2012/03/10: NETimes:B: Florida Bureau: Rossi Has No Factory, No Nuclear Reactions
Like a mirage, the dream of a Hydrogen Economy shimmers on the horizon:
- 2012/03/15: CNN: Hydrogen cars: A zero-emission longshot
- 2012/03/15: TreeHugger: Solar 'Nanotrees' Key To Clean Hydrogen Fuel?
- 2012/03/13: EurActiv: Germany blows warm on hydrogen power
Germany is investigating the potential of converting wind power to hydrogen as an energy source in the wake of the country's decision to move away from nuclear power. - 2012/03/13: EMPA: Hydrogen-powered utility vehicle moves from Basel to St. Gallen -- Hydrogen power in real life: clean and energy efficient
More people are talking about the electrical grid:
- 2012/03/16: TreeHugger: South Korea's Smart Meter Plan Could Eliminate One Nuclear Power Plant
- 2012/03/14: TSRBP: Unions oppose [smart meters] energy conservation device
And then there is the matter of efficiency & conservation:
- 2012/03/12: TreeHugger: Meet the Super-Efficient LED Light Bulb the Tea Party Wants You to Hate
- 2012/03/12: NYT: Seattle Gets the Street View on the Quality of Its [LED Street-] Lights
- 2012/03/12: TP:JR: Efficiency Standards To Save Americans More Than $1 Trillion By 2035
Automakers & lawyers, engineers & activists argue over the future of the car:
- 2012/03/15: GreenGrok: U.S. Fuel Economy: Past, Present and Future
- 2012/03/15: AutoBG: Electric vehicles attacked with same criticisms as hybrids 10 years ago
- 2012/03/14: AutoBG: U.S. vehicle fuel economy hits new record high in February - average fuel economy of a new car sold in February was 23.7 mpg
- 2012/03/12: AutoBG: New EV motor from Mitsubishi Electric increases efficiency, reduces size
- 2012/03/13: AutoBG: Bob Lutz continues his Chevy Volt defense offensive
- 2012/03/12: S&R: Mathematics: FAIL
This week in the Gee Whiz File:
- 2012/03/16: ERW: LED converts heat into light
A light-emitting diode (LED) that emits more light energy than it consumes in electrical energy has been unveiled by researchers in the US. The device -- which has a conventional efficiency of greater than 200% - behaves as a kind of optical heat pump that converts lattice vibrations into infrared photons, cooling its surroundings in the process. - 2012/03/15: NatureNB: Sparks fly over graphene energy device
As for Energy Storage:
- 2012/03/17: NBF: Silicon electrodes for high density batteries
- 2012/03/17: NBF: Promising Graphene Supercapacitor
- 2012/03/15: Eureka: Researchers develop graphene supercapacitor holding promise for portable electronics
- 2012/03/12: NBF: Chinese researchers outline 5 key areas of future research to realize rechargable Li-air batteries
- 2012/03/12: NBF: DOE Sunshot Vision and Halotechnics Solar Thermal Storage
The reaction of business to climate change will be critical:
- 2012/03/16: TP:JR: Big Business on the Sustainability Offensive
Meanwhile in the greenwashing chronicles:
- 2012/03/13: TreeHugger: Tar Sands Industry Claims About Restoring Ecosystems Just Greenwashing, New Report Says
- 2012/03/12: TreeHugger: How Big Is The Gap Between Walmart's Sustainability Rhetoric & The Reality?
Who's fielding theFAQs?
- 2012/03/14: Guardian(UK): Is there enough time to prevent widespread thawing of permafrost?
- 2012/03/14: ABC(Au): Why is the sea rising at different rates around Australia?
What causes sea level rise? Why is the average sea-level rise around Australia higher than the global mean? And why is the sea rising at different rates around Australia? - 2012/03/14: ABC(Au): Why are rising CO2 levels caused by burning fossil fuels?
How fast are carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere rising? How can you tell that rising carbon dioxide levels are caused by burning fossil fuels and not natural causes such as bushfires, volcanoes, rising ocean or soil temperatures? - 2012/03/12: Guardian(UK): The world's temperature has always changed. What's different now?
Joe Romm posts a daily list of top energy and climate stories:
- 2012/03/17: TP:JR: March 17 News...
- 2012/03/15: TP:JR: March 15 News...
- 2012/03/14: TP:JR: March 14 News...
- 2012/03/13: TP:JR: March 13 News...
- 2012/03/12: TP:JR: March 12 News...
Looks like Michael is going to post a daily list too:
- 2012/03/17: P3: Links du Jour
- 2012/03/14: P3: Links du Jour
- 2012/03/13: P3: Links du Jour
- 2012/03/12: P3: Quick Links
Other (weekly) lists:
- 2012/03/16: EnergyBulletin: ODAC Newsletter
- 2012/03/12: BPA: Agriculture News
The carbon lobby are up to the usual:
- 2012/03/16: Grist: Inhofe: Global warming too costly to be real
- 2012/03/17: Stoat: The New Aristotelians
- 2012/03/15: DeSmogBlog: Debunking GWPF Briefing Paper No3 - The Truth About Greenhouse Gases
- 2012/03/17: EnergyBulletin: Sociological explanations for climate change denial
- 2012/03/15: DeSmogBlog: U.S. Chamber Front Group Holds "Whine And Blame" Facebook Party - Nobody Shows Up
- 2012/03/12: QuarkSoup: Joe Bastardi: Idiot, Liar, or Both?
- 2012/03/12: DeSmogBlog: Climate Change Denial Isn't About Science, or Even Skepticism
- 2012/03/08: UConn: Climate Change Skepticism Stems from Recession, UConn Study Finds
As for climate miscellanea:
- 2012/03/16: DerSpiegel: CFC Ban Successful -- Healing Ozone Layer Lowers UV Exposure, Report Finds
A new scientific study has confirmed that the healing of the ozone layer is also reducing people's exposure to harmful UV rays from the sun. It will still take years before the ozone layer recovers entirely, but the string of positive news continues. - 2012/03/16: TCoE: Energy, environment, enlightenment
- 2012/03/15: P3: The End of the Enlightenment
- 2012/03/15: MGS: 25 years ago this summer
- 2012/03/14: JFleck: Atmospheric rivers, in real time
- 2012/03/13: Grist: Hack or be hacked: Al Gore and Sean Parker take on the system
- 2012/03/14: Eureka: Corn [neonicotinoid] insecticide linked to great die-off of beneficial honeybees
- 2012/03/13: Grist: Anheuser-Busch turns beer leftovers into usable products
- 2012/03/13: HotTopic: A challenge to the dream of reason
- 2012/03/12: NakedCapitalism: Occupy the Garden
- 2012/03/11: P3: A Brief Guide to the Scientific Consensus on Climate Change
- 2012/03/12: ABC(Au): New rust disease savages east coast trees
A newly arrived tree disease is spreading rapidly along Australia's east coast, and advocacy groups say it should serve as a wake-up call for the Government to overhaul its procedures for halting invasive species. Myrtle rust originated in South America, where it probably evolved as part of a wider ecosystem and therefore did not pose much of a threat to local species. But it has been on the radar as a potential problem for Australia for some time because it did have a significant impact on eucalyptus plantations there. - Wiki: Chagas disease
- ESGP: Earth System Governance Project
- RG&B: Red Green & Blue
- High-Level Panel on the CDM Policy Dialogue
- EPI: Earth Policy Institute - Press Releases
- FHI: Future of Humanity Institute
- WREC/WREN: World Renewable Energy Congress / Network
- Sustainability in Energy and Buildings, SEB'12 -- Stockholm, Sweden, 3 - 5 September 2012
- GMDD: Geoscientific Model Development - Papers in Open Discussion
- GMD: Geoscientific Model Development
- Risø DTU National Laboratory for Sustainable Energy. Research
- CleanTechnica
- Environmental and Urban Economics
- OnEarth Magazine
- Idiot Tracker
More black humour for ya:
A notable series by Garry Trudeau:
Post Fukushima, nuclear policies are in flux around the world:
Cat 4 Cyclone Lua zapped Western Australia:
While on the ENSO front:
And then there are the world's forests:
On the tornado front:
Regarding Annan:
Regarding Lindzen:
The debate over the optimal strategy [carbon trading, carbon offsets, auction vs. allocation, cap and trade, cap and dividend, tradable energy quotas and/or a carbon tax] to use in dealing with GHGs continues:
On the international political front, tensions continue as the USA and Israel lean on Iran:
In the Rare Earths' tussle:
The fight over South Atlantic sea floor oil fields is building:
In the solar panel trade war between China and the USA:
What are the activists up to?
The Obama chatter is nonstop:
As for what is going on in Congress:
Meanwhile in Australia:
After a 10 year drought and 2 years of flooding, water usage planning is controversial and difficult:
While in the Indian subcontinent:
The senate is investigating them dang furriners and their funding:
The battle over the Northern Gateway pipeline rages on:
The Scotford Upgrader CCS Project is moving toward final approval:
Meanwhile in the NDP leadership race:
Ontario is wrestling with its energy policy:
In the North:
The movement toward a long term ecologically viable economics is glacial:
Developing a new energy infrastructure is a fundamental challenge of the current generation:
Yes we have peak everything:
Meanwhile among the solar aficionados:
And here are a couple of sites you may find interesting and/or useful:
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."It is difficult for people living now, who have become accustomed to the steady exponential growth in the consumption of energy from fossil fuels, to realize how transitory the fossil fuel epoch will eventually prove to be when it is viewed over a longer span of human history. The situation can better be seen in the perspective of some 10,000 years, half before the present and half afterward. On such a scale the complete cycle of the exploitation of the world's fossil fuels will be seen to encompass perhaps 1,300 years, with the principal segment of the cycle (defined as the period during which all but the first 10 percent and the last 10 percent of the fuels are extracted and burned) covering only about 300 years." -M. King Hubbert, Scientific American, September 1971, Page 61
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