Another Week of GW News, March 4, 2012

Logging the Onset of The Bottleneck Years

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Another Week in the Planetary Crisis

Information Overloadis Pattern Recognition

March 4, 2012

• Chuckles, Judicial Humour, Maldives, Liu et al., Hönisch et al., Weaver & Swart
• Cato Suit, Harris, Heartland, Bottom Line, Subsidies, Global Legal Framework, Cook
• Fukushima Note, Fukushima News, Nuclear Policy
• Melting Arctic, Geopolitics, Antarctica
• Food Crisis, Fisheries, Food Prices, Food vs. Biofuel, Land Grabs, GMOs, Food Production
• Hurricanes, GHGs, Carbon Cycle, Paleoclimate, Historical Climate
• ENSO, Extinctions, Earthquakes, Satellites
• Impacts, Forests, Extreme Weather, Tornadoes
• Wildfires, Corals, Acidification, Glaciers, Sea Levels, Floods & Droughts
• Mitigation, Transportation, Buildings, Sequestration, Geoengineering, Adaptation
• Journals, Other Docs, Misc. Science, DIY Science, Free Science, Mann, Curry
• International Politics: Rio+20, UN, Carbon Trade, Carbon Tax
• Hormuz, Solar Race, North Korea, EU ETS & Airlines, Great Game, Rare Earths
• Security, Law & Activism, Polls, H2O Biz, Groundwater, Education, Predictions
• National Politics: America, BP Disaster, 2012, Keystone, EPA Suit, Cuccinelli
• Birth Control, Obama, USAdmin, Congress, Lobbyists, Stover
• Britain, Europe, Australia, Gillard vs Rudd, Murray-Darling, New Zealand, India, China
• Canada, Hebron, Foreign Aid, Muzzling Scientists, PEARL, Provincial Strife
• Northern Gateway, NDP, COSIA, Russia, BC, Tar Sands, Alberta, Ontario
• Ecological Economics, IPAT, Apocalypso, Media, Books, Video, Podcasts, Courts
• Energy, Fracking, Coal, Oil & Gas, Pipelines, Peak Oil
• Wind, Solar, FITs, Nukes, Nuclear Waste, Nuclear Fusion, LENR, Grid, Cars, Energy Storage
• Greenwashing, FAQs, Joe's List, Carbon Lobby, Miscellaneous Climate, Useful Links
• Shameless Self Promotion, .sig

Live and direct from the laugh, it's funny, damnit department:

• 2012/03/04: uComics: (cartoon - Auth) The Happy Base
• 2012/02/23: EdSteinInk: (cartoon - Stein) $4 Gas
• 2012/03/02: uComics: (cartoon - Toles) Ultrasound
• 2012/03/02: uComics: (cartoon - Danziger) Forget About Holding An Aspirin Between Your Knees
• 2012/02/29: JoeMohrToons: (cartoon - Mohr) Genetically Modified Garden of Eden?
• 2012/02/29: TMW: (cartoon - TomTom) A New Controversy Explodes
• 2012/02/29: TI:CF: (cartoon - Roberts) Them Belly-full
• 2012/02/29: TI:CF: (cartoon - Roberts) Garden Needs
• 2012/02/29: TI:CF: (cartoon - Roberts) Bonus features
• 2012/03/02: Grist: (cartoon - Stein) The trouble with right-wing bitching about gas prices...
• 2012/03/01: uComics: (cartoon - Toles) Snowe
• 2012/02/28: S&R: (2 cartoons - Szep) Rick Santorum: of Ayatollahs and Puritans

  A notable instance of judicial humour occured in the current EPA endangerment regulations trial:

• 2012/02/29: Reuters: Opponents question EPA authority in greenhouse gas case
  The Environmental Protection Agency overstepped its authority by moving to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from power plants and industrial facilities, industry groups and representatives argued in federal court on Wednesday. In the second day of two-day arguments on a case seeking to overturn the agency's proposed greenhouse gas regulations, challengers took on two of the EPA's proposed rules to regulate stationary sources under the Clean Air Act.
  [...]
  Texas Solicitor General Jonathan Mitchell argued that EPA rewrote rather than reinterpreted the rule, a move he called arbitrary not reflective of Congress' intent for the Clean Air Act. Mitchell told the three-judge panel that the court should remand the tailoring rule to send a strong message to the EPA that it has overstepped its boundaries. "We are asking the court to hold the EPA's feet to the fire and force them, if they are going to regulate stationary source greenhouse gas emissions, to do so based on what the statue says," he said. But Chief Judge David Sentelle interrupted Mitchell, and said that the petitioners did not have the standing to challenge the rule because they did not demonstrate the harm it would cause states and industry. "The harm you allege is a regulatory burden. The remedy you seek is a heavier regulatory burden. That doesn't even make good nonsense," said the judge, an appointee of former Republican President Ronald Reagan.

And for those interested in exploring the nether reaches of Poe's Law:

• 2012/03/01: CCP: Lucrative job offer on Craig's List: President, American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity

  The Maldives coupsters are still in place:

• 2012/03/01: BBC: Protests delay opening of Maldives parliament
  Protests have disrupted the opening of the Maldives parliament, with reports of scuffles breaking out between MPs inside the chamber. The demonstrations come as new President Waheed Hassan was to deliver his inaugural presidential address. MPs from former President Mohamed Nasheed's party and protesters vowed to prevent the speech from taking place. Mr Nasheed says he was forced to resign on 7 February by an army "mutiny", a claim denied by Mr Waheed.
• 2012/03/01: al Jazeera: Chaotic scenes at Maldives parliament
  Supporters of former leader prevent president from opening parliament, as police clash with protesters outside building.

The Liu et al. paper on how declining Arctic sea ice affects northern hemisphere weather stirred a buzz:

• 2012/02/28: PNAS: (ab$) Impact of declining Arctic sea ice on winter snowfall by Jiping Liu et al.
• 2012/01/02: TellusA: Impact of sea ice cover changes on the Northern Hemisphere atmospheric winter circulation by R. Jaiser et al.
• 2010/11/05: GRL: (ab$) A link between reduced Barents-Kara sea ice and cold winter extremes over northern continents by Vladimir Petoukhov & Vladimir A. Semenov
• 2009/04/28: GRL: (ab$) Influence of low Arctic sea-ice minima on anomalously cold Eurasian winters by Meiji Honda et al.
• 2012/03/03: SimpleC: Melting sea ice plays critical role in winter whiteouts
• 2012/02/28: TP:JR: Warming Arctic Fuels Cold Surges and Snowy Winters, Yet Another Study Finds
• 2012/02/28: TreeHugger: Arctic Sea Ice Decline Linked To Colder, Snowier Northern Winters
• 2012/02/27: SciNews: Less sea ice brings more snow -- A melting Arctic shifts atmospheric patterns across much of the Northern Hemisphere
• 2012/02/27: SciDaily: Unusual Weather: Arctic Sea Ice Decline May Be Driving Snowy Winters Seen in Recent Years in N. Hemisphere
  A new study led by the Georgia Institute of Technology provides further evidence of a relationship between melting ice in the Arctic regions and widespread cold outbreaks in the Northern Hemisphere. The study's findings could be used to improve seasonal forecasting of snow and temperature anomalies across northern continents.
• 2012/02/27: BBC: Melting Arctic link to cold, snowy UK winters
  The progressive shrinking of Arctic sea ice is bringing colder, snowier winters to the UK and other areas of Europe, North America and China, a study shows. As global temperatures have risen, the area of Arctic Ocean covered by ice in summer and autumn has been falling. Writing in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), a US/China-based team show this affects the jet stream and brings cold, snowy weather. Whether conditions will get colder still as ice melts further is unclear.

The Hönisch et al. paper drew a lot of coverage:

• 2012/03/02: Science: (ab$) The Geological Record of Ocean Acidification by Bärbel Hönisch et al.
• 2012/03/02: KSJT: Lots of Ink: Not in 300 million years have the oceans turned toward acid as fast as now. Not global warming -- but it is our CO2 doing it
• 2012/03/01: Columbia:LDEO: Ocean Acidification Rate May Be Unprecedented, Study Says -- Few Parallels in 300-Million Year Geologic Record
• 2012/03/02: TP:JR: Science: Ocean Acidifying So Fast It Threatens Humanity's Ability to Feed Itself
• 2012/03/02: Eureka: Oceans acidifying faster today than in past 300 million years
• 2012/02/27: TP:JR: USGS Study Finds Humans Are Acidifying 'The Air, Oceans, Freshwaters And Soils'

  Late comment on Weaver and Swart:

• 2012/02/27: PI:B: Weaver and Swart study shows oilsands emissions still a problem
• 2012/02/29: Rabble:DS: Weaver study offers fossil fuels warning

  This could be funny, were it not that the nefarious duo are simply readying their weapon:

• 2012/03/01: Wonkette: Koch Brothers Sue Their Own Crown Jewel Think Tank
• 2012/03/01: TP:JR: Pollutocrat Deniers Charles And David Koch File Suit To Take Over The Cato Institute
• 2012/03/01: ERabett: Pay No Attention to That Man Behind the Curtain -- Charles and David Koch have sued...
• 2012/03/01: DeSmogBlog: Heartland Institute: A Manifestation of the Kochtopus Empire

  There was a bit of a rustle this week when Tom Harris was discovered denial at Carleton:

• 2012/03/02: CBC: Climate change skeptic's university course criticized
• 2012/03/01: SMandia: Tom Harris Teaches Heartland Institute Fake Science to Students
• 2012/03/01: P3: Climate denial at a Canadian university
• 2012/02/29: Grist: Heartland 'expert' taught climate denialism at a Canadian university
• 2012/02/29: OilChange: Climate Denial in Canada's Classrooms
• 2012/02/29: BCLSB: Denialists In The Canadian Classroom
• 2012/02/28: ClimateSight: Denial in the Classroom
  At one of Canada's top comprehensive universities, a former fossil fuel lobbyist was recently discovered teaching pillars of climate change denial to a class of undergraduate students.
• 2012/02/28: Guardian(UK): Heartland associate taught 'biased' climate course at Ottawa university
• 2012/02/28: GLaden: Climate Science Denial at Carleton University: A Detailed Take-Down
• 2012/02/28: CFI-CASS: Climate Change Denial in Carleton University Course Exposed by National Science Team
• 2012/02/28: DeSmogBlog: Fake Heartland "Scientist" Infiltrates Canadian University

  The Heartland Leak story is dying down:

• 2012/02/29: P3: Whose writing style most closely matches the Heartland memo [updated]
• 2012/03/01: ERabett: Not a Slam Dunk
• 2012/03/01: CJR: Heartland, Gleick, and Media Law -- Experts weigh in on leaks and deceptive tactics
• 2012/03/01: HotTopic: The Carter Controversy
• 2012/02/29: HC: Ethical conundrums confound Monty
• 2012/02/29: GLaden: Heartland-1 ... NCSE-0
• 2012/02/27: P3: Comment at Kloor's
• 2012/02/25: CleanBreak: The sad tragedy of Peter Gleick and how a hypocritical Heartland Institute, skilled at the art of communication, has spun good out of a bad
• 2012/02/28: KlimaZwiebel: President of the AGU: clear analysis and assessment
• 2012/02/28: Grist: Terrifying video envisions a world where education is anti-science
• 2012/02/28: JEB: His transgression cannot be condoned, regardless of his motives
• 2012/02/21: Cryptome: Heartland Institute Anti-Climate Change Docs
• 2012/02/27: Guardian(UK): Peter Gleick lied, but was it justified by the wider good?
• 2012/02/27: S&R: The ethos of The Heartland Institute: brazen hypocrisy
• 2012/02/27: SMandia: Medusa Institute
• 2012/02/26: Deltoid: Wegman Heartland update
• 2012/02/26: ERabett: The puke funnel

  And on the Bottom Line:

• 2012/03/02: al Jazeera: A World Bank for a new world
  The World Bank requires a president that understands development and sustainability, not another Wall Street banker. The world is at a crossroads. Either the global community will join together to fight poverty, resource depletion and climate change, or it will face a generation of resource wars, political instability and environmental ruin.

Who's getting the subsidies?

• 2012/03/01: NYT: Obama Seeks to End Subsidies for Oil and Gas Companies

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

• 2012/03/01: EurActiv: EU leaders eye stronger UN role to police the environment
  European leaders on Friday (2 March) could throw their weight behind a plan to convert the relatively powerless UN Environment Programme (UNEP) into a world body with the muscle to oversee treaties and protect the ecology.

John Cook and friends continue their point-counterpoint articles:

• 2012/03/04: SkeptiSci: Warming to Ignite the Carbon Bomb by Stephen Leahy
• 2012/03/03: SkeptiSci: Wall Street Journal 'Skeptics' Misrepresent the IPCC by keithpickering
• 2012/03/02: SkeptiSci: Nordhaus Sets the Record Straight - Climate Mitigation Saves Money by dana1981
• 2012/03/02: SkeptiSci: The Certainty Monster vs. The Uncertainty Ewok by dana1981
• 2012/03/01: SkeptiSci: The Independence of Global Warming on Residence Time of CO2 by Dikran Marsupial
• 2012/02/29: SkeptiSci: Greenhouse Effect Basics: Warm Earth, Cold Atmosphere by Tom Curtis
• 2012/02/28: SkeptiSci: Mythbusting with fewer explosions
• 2012/02/28: SkeptiSci: New research from last week 8/2012 by Ari Jokimäki
• 2012/02/28: SkeptiSci: DenialGate - Highlighting Bob Carter's Selective Science by dana1981
• 2012/02/27: SkeptiSci: Climate change models underestimate future temperature variability; food security at risk by John Hartz

  A note on theFukushima disaster:

  It is evident that the Fukushima disaster is going to persist for some time. TEPCO says 6 to 9 months. The previous Japanese Prime Minister, Naoto Kan, said decades. Now the Japanese government is talking about 30 years. [Whoops, that has now been updated to 40 years.] We'll see. At any rate this situation is not going to be resolved any time soon and deserves its own section.
  Meanwhile...
  It is very difficult to know for sure what is really going on at Fukushima. Between the company [TEPCO], the Japanese government, the Japanese regulator [NISA], the international monitor [IAEA], as well as independent analysts and commentators, there is a confusing mish-mash of information. One has to evaluate both the content and the source of new information.
  How knowledgeable are they [about nuclear power and about Japan]?
  Do they have an agenda?
  Are they pro-nuclear or anti-nuclear?
  Do they want to write a good news story?
  Do they want to write a bad news story?
  Where do they rate on a scale of sensationalism?
  Where do they rate on a scale of play-it-down-ness?
  One fundamental question I would like to see answered:
  If the reactors are in meltdown, how can they be in cold shutdown?

  Not much good news coming out of Fukushima:

• 2012/03/02: EneNews: Paper: Gov't, IAEA to monitor radioactive substances 7,000km from Fukushima in seas off Sri Lanka
• 2012/03/02: EneNews: Study: All of Western US and most of East Coast, Midwest, Canada covered in airborne particles on March 20, Fukushima plume model shows - Based solely on Reactor No. 1 explosion (photo)
• 2012/03/02: EneNews: Professor: Do not examine Fukushima children because it's likely to cause harm -- Abnormalities would be found, leading to unnecessary tests -- Risk of getting cancer to rise 0.001% -WSJ
• 2012/03/01: NewYorker: The Media Did Not Hype Fukushima
• 2012/03/01: EneNews: Study: First time in history xenon-133 detected in Southern Hemisphere -- Cs-137 also measured -- Darwin station, Australia
• 2012/03/02: BNC: The Fukushima Question: How close did Japan really get to a widespread nuclear disaster?
• 2012/02/29: Asahi: Scientists: Far more cesium released than previously believed
• 2012/02/28: EneNews: USGS: Fukushima fallout in US worse than after Chernobyl
• 2012/03/01: EneNews: Newspaper: Fish contaminated with Fukushima radiation detected in Sri Lanka, says chairman of nuclear agency - Load included fish from seas off China
• 2012/03/01: EneNews: *Listen* Top US Nuclear Official: Melted core penetrates concrete at 2 inches per hour - No doubt containment is lost during blackout - Mark I worst of all - Manual tells you everything except how to stop it (audio)
• 2012/02/28: DerSpiegel: The Fukushima Psychiatrist -- 'It's Amazing How Traumatized They Are'
  Since the Fukushima catastrophe almost one year ago, Jun Shigemura has been providing psychological care to workers from the stricken nuclear facility. In an interview with Spiegel Online, he tells of the immense challenges facing TEPCO employees -- and why most of them have elected not to quit their jobs.
• 2012/02/28: Guardian(UK): Fukushima, a year on: 3,000 workers take on the twisted steel and radiation
• 2012/02/28: Grist: New revelations about how Fukushima almost forced the evacuation of Tokyo
• 2012/02/27: NYT: Japan Weighed Evacuating Tokyo in Nuclear Crisis
  In the darkest moments of last year's nuclear accident, Japanese leaders did not know the actual extent of damage at the plant and secretly considered the possibility of evacuating Tokyo, even as they tried to play down the risks in public, an independent investigation into the accident disclosed on Monday. The investigation by the Rebuild Japan Initiative Foundation, a new private policy organization, offers one of the most vivid accounts yet of how Japan teetered on the edge of an even larger nuclear crisis than the one that engulfed the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant.
• 2012/02/28: CBC: Japan hid scale of nuclear disaster, report says
  Fukushima plant meltdown risks after earthquake weren't fully explained The Japanese government withheld information about the full danger of last year's nuclear disaster from its own people and from the United States, putting U.S.-Japan relations at risk in the first days after the accident, according to an independent report released Tuesday. The report, compiled from interviews with more than 300 people, delivers a scathing view of how leaders played down the risks of the meltdowns at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant that followed a massive March 11 earthquake and tsunami. The report by the private Rebuild Japan Initiative Foundation also paints a picture of confusion during the days immediately after the accident.
• 2012/02/28: al Jazeera: Japan leaders 'played down nuclear crisis'
  Investigation reports that government covered-up true scale of Fukushima disaster, and considered Tokyo evacuation.

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

• 2012/03/01: DerSpiegel: Fukushima's Legacy -- What Future Does Nuclear Power Have in Japan?
  Almost a year after the Fukushima disaster, 52 of Japan's 54 nuclear power plants have been shut down. The reactor explosion destroyed the population's trust in nuclear energy. But the atomic lobby -- and the country's industrial needs -- could block a possible phase-out.
• 2012/02/27: AlterNet: Is the Era of Nuclear Power Coming to an End in the US?

  The Arctic melt continues to garner attention:

• 2012/03/02: TreeHugger: Before/After NASA Graphics of Arctic Sea Ice Melt Are Scary/Depressing
• 2012/03/01: CBS: Arctic's old ice vanishing rapidly, NASA study finds
• 2012/03/01: AGU: Sea ice decline driving changes in arctic air pollutants
• 2012/03/01: ASI: A first clue
• 2012/03/01: TP:JR: The Arctic Death Spiral Continues: Thick, Multi-Year Sea Ice Melting Faster, NASA Study Finds
• 2012/02/29: NASA: NASA Finds Thickest Parts of Arctic Ice Cap Melting Faster
• 2012/02/29: PSinclair: Sea Ice Decline -- Winter Weather Wild Card
• 2012/02/27: GaTech: Arctic Sea Ice Decline May be Driving Snowy Winters Seen in Recent Years

  As for the geopolitics of Arctic resources:

• 2012/03/01: LA Times: Greenpeace ordered to stay away from Shell's Arctic drilling rigs
• 2012/03/02: G&M: Canada open to working with Russia on Arctic sovereignty
  Canada says it is open to collaborating with Russia to establish national boundary lines across the High Arctic, opening the door to joint exploration and mapping after years of tough talk from both sides about sovereignty and the ownership of untapped resources.
• 2012/03/01: G&M: Putin urges joint Arctic scientific council with Canada
  Russian leader Vladimir Putin challenged Canada to set up a joint scientific council with his country to investigate issues over Arctic sovereignty and help the United Nations draw new boundaries in the northern regions, where fast-melting ice is opening channels for oil drilling, mining and shipping.
• 2012/03/02: TreeHugger: Shell Builds Drop-In Biofuels Plant In Texas, While Revving Up Arctic Drilling Plans
• 2012/02/29: NYT: To Avoid Last-Minute Suit, Shell Asks U.S. Court to Rule
  In an attempt to avoid a last-minute challenge from environmental groups that could delay its plans to begin drilling for oil this summer off the coast of Alaska, Shell asked a federal court on Wednesday to review its Alaska Arctic oil spill response plan and decide whether it complied with the law's requirements. Shell received tentative approval from the Interior Department two weeks ago for its spill response plan, a crucial step toward clearing the way for the oil company to begin drilling in the Chukchi Sea this year. Several more regulatory barriers remain, but the company hopes it can get past all the hurdles and expected appeals in the next few months, while the narrow window for summer drilling in ice-free waters remains open.
• 2012/02/29: LA Times: Arctic Ocean drilling: Shell launches preemptive legal strike
  Royal Dutch Shell launched an extraordinary preemptive legal strike Wednesday against opponents of offshore oil drilling in the Arctic Ocean, filing suit against more than a dozen environmental organizations likely to challenge its plan for drilling exploratory wells in the Chukchi Sea this summer. In a petition for declaratory relief filed in U.S. District Court in Anchorage, the oil giant seeks to have the court rule that the U.S. government complied with federal law when it approved Shell's oil spill response plan for upcoming exploratory well-drilling in the Arctic. The move is a clear attempt to beat environmental organizations to court and avert potentially costly delays for a project on which Shell has already spent $4 billion without drilling a single well.

While in Antarctica:

• 2012/02/29: Eureka: 3 scientific expeditions seek treasure under the ice in the Frozen Continent
• 2012/02/27: NatureNB: Fire destroys Brazil's Antarctic outpost, killing two

  The food crisis is ongoing:

• 2012/02/27: UHertfordshire: New research links crop disease and climate change
• 2012/03/03: AllAfrica: FinancialGazette: Zimbabwe: Pay Grain Farmers - Made
  Another marketing season begins on April 1, 2012, yet maize farmers remain unpaid for two consecutive seasons despite immensely contributing to national strategic grain reserves. Addressing guests at the Agricultural Marketing Authority stakeholder consultative workshop in Harare, Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development Minister Joseph Made said the payment of farmers was no longer the responsibility of the Grain Marketing Board (GMB) but of the government.
• 2012/03/02: TP:JR: Science: Ocean Acidifying So Fast It Threatens Humanity's Ability to Feed Itself
• 2012/03/02: AllAfrica: SW Radio: Zimbabwe: Aid Groups Under Surveillance as Provinces Demand Illegal 'Fees'
  Humanitarian aid groups in Zimbabwe have dismissed attempts by provincial authorities to impose exorbitant fees on them if they want to keep operating, calling it "illegal" and "corrupt". A statement signed by several groups that included the Crisis Coalition and the Human Rights NGO Forum, also revealed that many groups have been placed under "direct surveillance from both state and non-state handlers" and are not allowed to work without escorts.
• 2012/02/28: HuffPo: Growing Number Of Americans Can't Afford Food, Study Finds
• 2012/03/01: Guardian(UK): Farming and energy: lessons from collapsed civilisations
• 2012/03/01: Guardian(UK): Schmallenberg virus could spread to sheep across the UK
  Scientists blame climate change for spread of newly discovered virus, which causes deformed and stillborn lambs
• 2012/03/01: AllAfrica: Sokwanele: Zimbabwe: Drought Brings Political Problems to Villagers
  Every time a drought or erratic rains hit the country citizens suffer a double blow, the first is hunger and then they become victims of political abuse. We have seen this happening time and again in the rural areas, with politicians taking advantage of the poor and desperate citizens. It has become the norm that ZANU (PF) politicises food aid, usually provided by western donors.

The state of the world's fisheries is a concern:

• 2012/02/29: ABC(Au): Overfishing threatening Philippines fishing industry
• 2012/02/28: EUO: Overfishing could continue under EU fisheries policy

  Food Prices are still problematic:

• FAO: World Food Situation - Food Price Indices
• 2012/03/02: BPA: Do Food Commodity Prices Follow Oil Prices?
• 2012/02/29: SeekingAlpha: Will Price Inflation Of Meat, Corn, Food, And Farmland Continue?

  The conflict between biofuel and food persists:

• 2012/03/01: EnergyBulletin: The impacts of biofuel production in developing countries

  So, are these land grabs Colonialism V2.0?

• 2012/03/01: Guardian(UK): Global mining boom is leading to landgrab, says report
  Huge increase in large-scale mining is being fuelled by the rising price of metals and oil, as search for minerals centres on Africa

Regarding the genetic modification of food:

• 2012/03/02: CCurrents: Heartfelt Letter To The Farmers, Seed Growers And Farm Groups Whose Court Battle Was Dismissed Against Monsanto
• 2012/02/29: TreeHugger: Californians Fight for the "Right to Know" if GMOs are in Their Food
• 2012/02/27: STimes: Bill Gates' support of GM crops is wrong approach for Africa
• 2012/02/28: PlanetArk: Monsanto Prevails In Suit Brought By Organic Growers
• 2012/02/27: IdahoStatesman: Labeling foods: Industry, consumers dispute requiring information on genetic altering
  Ninety percent of the corn, canola, soybeans and sugar beets grown in the United States today have been fiddled with. Genes have been inserted that will help the crops grow better, resist the onslaughts of insects, or not be harmed by slatherings of herbicide intended to kill weeds. These genetically modified organisms, or GMOs, are the way farming can provide for the future of the planet, the industry tells us. Since GMOs are now in much of the food we eat, some people want to see that information on a label.

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

• 2012/02/29: UCSUSA: USDA Documents Success Stories and Resources Available to Local Farmers
• 2012/02/29: EnergyBulletin: China beefs up alternatives to industrial agriculture to improve food security
• 2012/02/28: CCurrents: Occupy Our Food Supply! by Vandana Shiva
• 2012/02/28: CBC: Doomsday vault gets 25,000 new seeds -- Amaranth, fava beans get 'backed up' in Norway's Arctic seed bank
• 2012/02/28: Guardian(UK): 'Rambo root' offers climate change hope to African farmers
  Cassava is ideal crop for sub-Saharan regions, as it thrives in hotter conditions and grows without water, study shows
• 2012/02/28: BBC: Cassava 'offers climate change hope' for Africa
  The cassava plant could help African farmers cope with climate change, a scientific report says. "It's like the Rambo of the food crops," report author Andy Jarvis, of the Colombia-based International Center for Tropical Agriculture, said. He told the BBC: "Whilst other staples can suffer from heat and other problems of climate change, cassava thrives."
• 2012/02/27: EnergyBulletin: How do you find a million more farmers? [in UK]
• 2012/02/27: Grist: Dr. Vandana Shiva: Occupy our food supply!
• 2012/02/26: AlterNet: Big Food Must Go: Why We Need to Radically Change the Way We Eat

  There were a couple of numbered storms in the South Indian Ocean, but mainly Madagascar got zapped by Irina:

• 2012/03/02: NASA: NASA's TRMM Satellite Sees Remnants of Tropical Cyclone 15S's "Difficult Childhood"
• 2012/03/01: Eureka: NASA sees Tropical Storm Irina still hugging Madagascar coast
• 2012/02/29: NASA: NASA Satellites See Tropical Cyclone Irina Headed for Mozambique
• 2012/02/28: NASA: NASA's TRMM Satellite Measures Heavy Rainfall In Madagascar from System 92S

  While elsewhere in the hurricane wars:

• 2012/03/02: NOAANews: U.S. hurricane forecasters embark to Mexico & Caribbean on preparedness mission -- Public invited to tour Air Force Reserve "Hurricane Hunter" aircraft

  As for GHGs:

• 2012/02/29: PlanetArk: U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions Rebound 3.3 Percent
• 2012/02/28: PlanetArk: EU Industry Emissions Rise Slightly In 2011: Analysts
• 2012/02/: EPA: 2012 Draft U.S. Greenhouse Gas Inventory Report
• 2012/02/26: TP:JR: Stunner: One Quarter of Total U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions Come From Fossil Fuels Mined and Drilled on Public Lands

  And in the carbon cycle:

• 2012/02/29: ABC(Au): The carbon cycle: blink and you won't miss it

  While in the paleoclimate:

• 2012/03/01: CSM: Plants to forest: scientists explore an ancient ecosystem

  And in historical times:

• 2012/02/27: BBC: Snow in Baghdad, and other ancient climates
  Climate scientists often bemoan the imperfect data with which they have to work, particularly when it comes to building pictures of climates past.
• 2012/02/26: Eureka: Ancient Arabic writings help scientists piece together past climate -- Iraqi sources from 9th and 10th centuries give new meteorological insights

  While on the ENSO front:

• 2012/02/29: al Jazeera: Sydney's cold, soggy summer
  A cold, dull, damp summer in Sydney, Australia as result of the ongoing La Nina event.
• 2012/02/27: ITracker: La Nina fading faster
• 2012/02/27: Wunderground: La Niña drawing to a close

  What's new on the extinction front?

• 2012/02/28: al Jazeera: Tarsiers under threat in Philippines
  One of world's smallest primates could face extinction due to increased development spurred by tourism in Bohol island.

Regarding the Climate Change and Earthquake hypothesis:

• 2012/03/01: PSinclair: Climate Change and Earthquakes. Is there Really a Link?
• 2012/02/26: Guardian(UK): Climate change will shake the Earth

  Meanwhile in near earth orbit:

• 2012/03/02: CCP: NASA: Next-Gen Weather Satellites (GOES-R series) to Improve Tornado Warnings
• 2012/03/01: ESA: Happy birthday, Envisat

  More GW impacts are being seen:

• 2012/03/03: ProMedMail: Schmallenberg virus - Europe (23): update, international impact
• 2012/03/01: ProMedMail: Schmallenberg virus - Europe (22): update
• 2012/03/01: BBC: Schmallenberg virus: Climate 'raising UK disease risk'
  Climate change is raising the risk of diseases such as Schmallenberg in the UK and northern Europe, say scientists. Schmallenberg virus affects sheep and cattle, and is probably carried by midges. It was identified in Germany last year, and in the UK in January. Until 1990, Europe's midge-borne viral diseases were found only in Spain and Portugal; but two have emerged within the last six years in northern Europe.
• 2012/02/25: ProMedMail: Schmallenberg virus - Europe (21): Update
• 2012/02/27: ABC(Au): Study points to earlier ripening of wine grapes
• 2012/02/27: ABC(Au): Warming puts squeeze on grape harvest
• 2012/02/27: Grist: Climate change is screwing up bird migration
• 2012/02/27: TreeHugger: Climate Change Could Make Everest Unclimbable, Says Sherpa
• 2012/02/27: BBC: Schmallenberg livestock virus hits 74 farms in England
  A disease which has caused birth defects and miscarriages in livestock has been found on 74 farms in England.
• 2012/02/27: al Jazeera: What is happening to Everest?
  The iconic mountain is changing in appearance.

And then there are the world's forests:

• 2012/02/29: QUT: Protecting living fossil trees
  Scientists are working to protect living fossil trees in Fiji from the impact of climate change with cutting-edge DNA sequencing technology. Dr Peter Prentis, from QUT's Science and Engineering Faculty, said the findings would enable researchers to understand how biological diversity is generated.
  [...]
  Dr Prentis will use $150,000 DNA sequencer technology, called an Ion Torrent, to pinpoint genes in three pairs of tree species: Cynometra falcata (critically endangered) and C. insularis; Degeneria vitiense (vulnerable) and D. Roseiflora; and Podocarpus affinis (vulnerable) and P. neriifolius.
• 2012/02/29: al Jazeera: The Fight for Amazonia -- Raids in the Rainforest
  Follow Brazil's youngest national park director as she declares war on drug gangs and the logging mafia.
• 2012/02/29: Grist: Woman arrested for burning down 3,500-year-old tree [the Senator]
• 2012/02/27: LA Times: Global warming feeds bark beetles: Are they unstoppable?

  This week in the New Normal -- extreme weather:

• 2012/03/04: ABC(Au): Severe weather warning issued for SE Queensland
• 2012/03/03: CBC: Ontario suffers power outages after extreme winds
  Strong winds have left tens of thousands of Ontario residents in the dark this morning. Hydro One is reporting more than 200 outages affecting some 75,000 customers across the province.
• 2012/03/03: RWER: Canceled because of severe weather
• 2012/02/26: CSW: U.S. weather extremes in 2011 and their impacts: some numbers

  Meanwhile in tornado alley:

• 2012/03/04: CNN: Grief, resilience after storms rip through states, killing 37
  One of two tornadoes that hit Indiana had winds of about 200 mph - At least 18 die in Kentucky after severe weather pounds the area - Other deaths are reported in Indiana, Ohio, Alabama and Georgia - "We're knocked down, but we're not knocked out," Ohio governor says
• 2012/03/04: CNN: Her family dead, toddler critical after being found alone in Indiana field
  The girl's parents and 2 siblings died in the storm, a hospital official says - She remained in critical condition Saturday evening, he adds - The 20-month-old girl was found alone, without ID, in an Indiana field, authorities say - Authorities are also searching for a 9-year-old boy missing since the tornadoes hit
• 2012/03/03: CSM: The baby in the cornfield: Tales of tiny tornado survivors
• 2012/03/04: ABC(Au): Residents mourn dead after tornadoes kill 38 in US
  Residents of Midwestern states mourned their dead Sunday after a string of killer tornadoes tore through the US heartland, killing at least 38 people, injuring hundreds and virtually wiping out entire communities. Church services were to be held throughout the stricken region as stunned Americans grappled with the magnitude of the destruction brought by Friday's twisters.
• 2012/03/04: al Jazeera: Rescue under way after US storm havoc
  Crews search for survivors after tornado outbreak leaves at least 36 dead and destroys towns in Midwest and South.
• 2012/03/03: BBC: Clear-up after tornadoes wreak havoc across US Midwest
  US authorities in several Midwestern states are searching for survivors and clearing damage after a string of powerful storms and tornadoes left at least 37 people dead. The states of Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Georgia and Alabama were all hit by the intense winds which flattened homes, lifted rooftops and downed powerlines.
• 2012/03/02: BBC: More than 70 tornadoes rip through five US states
• 2012/03/03: BBC: In pictures: US tornadoes
• 2012/03/03: Guardian(UK): Tornadoes kill dozens across US
• 2012/03/03: CNN: 36 dead in waves of storms across Midwest, South
  A tornado watch is still in effect for parts of Georgia and Florida - A 2-year-old girl found in an Indiana field is in critical condition - Georgia officials report a death in Alpharetta - The wave of vicious storms affected millions of people across several states
• 2012/03/03: CNN: Outbreak of deadly tornadoes tear through U.S.
• 2012/03/03: CNN: Toddler found alone in Indiana field after devastating tornadoes
  A 20-month-old girl is found alone, without ID, in an Indiana field, authorities say - She goes to a nearby hospital, then flown to another, a hospital spokesman says - The toddler is in critical condition, the spokesman adds - Authorities are also searching for a 9-year-old boy missing since the tornadoes hit
• 2012/03/02: CNN: Apparent tornadoes strike northeast Alabama
  Residents survey damage in northeast Alabama - A high school and prison were damaged, but no injuries reported - The storm moves into Tennessee
• 2012/03/02: NYT: Deadly Tornadoes Pound the South and the Midwest
• 2012/03/03: ABC(Au): Deadly tornadoes rip across the US
• 2012/03/02: NASA: Another Severe Weather System Seen on Satellite Movie from NASA
• 2012/03/03: Wunderground: Violent tornado rampage in 11 states leaves 31 dead
• 2012/03/03: CSM: Somber searches resume as tornado outbreak leaves heartland reeling
• 2012/03/02: CSM: Katrina in the Midwest: Tornado-struck town begins road to recovery
• 2012/03/03: CBC: Tornado-ravaged U.S. towns search for survivors -- Scores of homes destroyed in Kentucky, Ohio and Indiana
  Authorities say the death toll has risen to 31 as the search resumes for survivors amid heavy tornado damage in Kentucky, Indiana and Ohio. A string of violent storms struck the three states on Friday, flattening entire blocks of homes and cutting off rural communities.
• 2012/03/03: al Jazeera: Dozens killed by tornadoes in central US
  At least 27 dead after storms stretching from the Gulf Coast to the Great Lakes devastate communities in three states.
• 2012/03/03: ABC(Au): At least 14 dead as tornados rip across US
  At least fourteen people were killed and one small town was "gone" as more than 70 tornados tore across the central United States on Friday, flattening homes and smashing schools and businesses. Trucks and trees were tossed aside as deadly funnel clouds descended on five states. The images were surreal: a school bus smashed through a brick home, trucks thrown into lakes, stately brick homes reduced to rubble and wooden ones smashed into kindling, mobile homes flipped like tin cans.
• 2012/03/02: TStar: Tornadoes level towns, kill at least 13 in U.S.
• 2012/03/02: TMoS: Winter Tornadoes Rip the US Twice This Week
• 2012/03/02: BBC: A series of powerful tornadoes have killed at least six people in the US state of Indiana, and caused damage and injury in Tennessee and Kentucky
• 2012/03/02: CBC: Tornadoes kill 8 as southern Indiana ravaged -- One town of 1,900 'completely gone'
• 2012/03/02: Guardian(UK): Indiana bears brunt as US storm system inflicts 'extreme damage'
• 2012/03/01 NASA: NASA Satellite Movie Shows Movement of Tornadic Weather System
• 2012/03/02: Wunderground: High risk of a major tornado outbreak today; 13 dead from Leap Day outbreak
• 2012/03/01: CSM: Tornado's aftermath: Illinois city is stunned ... and roused to action
• 2012/03/01: BBC: Midwest tornado death toll rises to 13
• 2012/03/01: CNN: Massive U.S. storm leaves 12 dead -- Residents survey tornado damage; new storm forming
  A new storm system could pose a threat Friday - Harrisburg, Illinois, is among the hardest hit by earlier storms, with at least six deaths - Three deaths have been reported in Tennessee - The damage in Branson is in the tens of millions of dollars, Missouri's governor says
• 2012/03/01: Wunderground: Eleven deaths in tornado outbreak; new tornado outbreak likely Friday
• 2012/03/01: CSM: Rare, night tornadoes hit Harrisburg, Branson, and other Midwest towns
• 2012/03/01: al Jazeera: Deadly tornadoes rip through the US Midwest
  Deadly tornadoes hit the US. An early start to the 2012 season. At least 3 people killed across 6 states.
• 2012/02/29: al Jazeera:US Midwest storm leaves several dead -- At least nine people have died from a series of tornadoes that hit six states
• 2012/02/29: BBC: US Midwest storm leaves nine dead and dozens injured
• 2012/02/29: CNN: 7 killed as storm system slashes central U.S.
  A total of seven deaths have been reported - Five are killed in Illinois when a tornado strikes - The tornado was "absolutely devastating," mayor says
• 2012/02/29: CSM: Storm, tornados damage Missouri, Illinois, Kansas; kill 9
• 2012/02/29: Wunderground: Tornadoes rip Midwest, killing 13; heavy snow hits Upper Midwest
• 2012/02/29: CSM: Deadly tornadoes hit Branson, Mo., Illinois, and Kansas
• 2012/02/29: CBC: Deadly tornado-like storms hit Midwest
  At least one person was killed and several injured in southwest Missouri late Tuesday as a line of reported tornadoes moved across the Midwest, causing significant damage.

As for heatwaves and wild fires:

• 2012/03/01: ERW: Location is key for European heatwaves
  In 2003 a heatwave in Europe lead to around 70,000 deaths across 12 European countries, while 2010 saw Russia experience extremes of heat. With climate change looking set to boost both mean temperature and temperature variability, hot spells could become more frequent, go on for longer and be more intense. With that in mind, French researchers conducted a cluster analysis to find out more.
• 2012/02/27: USGS: Cradle of Flames: New Book Explains How Wildfires Shape Southern California and other 'Mediterranean' Ecosystems
• 2012/02/29: USFS: Study of Wildfire Trends in Northwestern California Shows No Increase in Severity Over Time
• 2012/02/29: CBC: Early start to Alberta wildfire season -- Season starts on March 1, one month earlier than usual
• 2012/02/27: TreeHugger: Warming Arctic Means More Tundra Fires -- And More Warming

  Corals are a bellwether of the ocean's health:

• 2012/03/01: SciNews: After a breakup, coral embryos live on as clones -- Afloat in the ocean, the newly dividing cell masses shatter easy, die hard
• 2012/02/27: Eureka: Coral reef study traces indirect effects of overfishing
  Loss of predatory fish leads to more sea urchins, less coralline algae, and lower recruitment of juvenile corals on Kenyan reefs

Acidification is changing the oceans:

• 2012/03/02: ABC(Au): Acidic shift may be fastest in 300 million years

  Glaciers are melting:

• 2012/03/01: Eureka: New study links dust to increased glacier melting, ocean productivity -- Researchers analyze dust concentrations and their effects off southern Iceland

  Sea levels are rising:

• 2012/03/03: ABC(Au): Sinking islands of Torres Strait
  For almost a decade, Torres Strait Islanders have been lobbying the Australian Government for funding to build seawalls. There are six low-lying islands that are inundated a few times a year, during king tides. Currently, they have no way of protecting their villages from the tide and it is causing serious damage to homes, roads and the sewerage system.
• 2012/03/03: ABC(Au): Relocation fears as ocean swallows Torres Strait
• 2012/02/28: Eureka: Sea level rise to alter economics of California beaches

  As for hydrological cycle disruptions [floods & droughts]:

• 2012/03/03: ABC(Au): Thousands evacuate from Australia flooding
• 2012/03/02: ABC(Au): North-east Victoria braces for more flooding
• 2012/03/04: ABC(Au): Evacuations continue as towns go under
  Authorities are ordering more residents to evacuate as towns across New South Wales and Victoria are inundated in unprecedented flooding which has claimed the life of one man. More than 3,000 residents across NSW have been told to evacuate as 70 per cent of the state remains flood-affected after days of heavy rain.
• 2012/03/04: ABC(Au): Riverina residents to spend night in emergency accomodation
  Hundreds of residents of Wagga Wagga in the New South Wales Riverina will be spending the night in emergency accommodation. Meanwhile residents in north-east Victoria have been warned some floods will not peak until later in the week, with a major flood warning in place for Broken Creek in the state's north-east. More than 3,000 residents across NSW have been told to evacuate as 70 per cent of the state remains flood-affected after days of heavy rain.
• 2012/03/04: Bundanga: More weird weather with record rain
• 2012/03/01: WMO: Greater Horn of Africa Climate Outlook Forum assesses March-May 2012 rainy season
  The Greater Horn of Africa Climate Outlook Forum has warned of the possibility of below normal rainfall during the main March-May rainy season in Somalia and other areas which were affected by drought in 2010 and 2011.
• 2012/03/03: ABC(Au): Rain unrelenting as floodwaters spread
  There are major flooding concerns across huge parts of New South Wales and Victoria as residents brace for more heavy rain tonight.
• 2012/03/03: ABC(Au): Thousands evacuate as flood threat spreads
  Thousands of people have been told to leave their homes in New South Wales and Victoria as heavy rain and widespread flooding continues to cause chaos across the south east. The State Emergency Service says the flooding in New South Wales is unprecedented in terms of its combined scope and duration. It says the situation could deteriorate this afternoon, with more heavy rain on the way.
• 2012/03/03: ABC(Au): Bathurst cut in two as deluge continues
  Emergency services are concentrating their efforts on the New South Wales central west city of Bathurst heading into the early hours of Saturday morning, as the rain system blanketing much of south-east Australia continued to dump record falls.
• 2012/03/01: ABC(Au): Rains threatens Riverland recovery
• 2012/03/01: ABC(Au): New warnings predict flood emergency to worsen [pix]
• 2012/03/01: ABC(Au): Soaked towns begin to evacuate
  Widespread flooding has forced more evacuations as heavy rain continues across large parts of New South Wales, the ACT and northern Victoria. Around 75 per cent of NSW is flooded or under threat while Canberra has already received nearly its entire average March rainfall. The SES has responded to more than 740 calls for help in NSW as a large, slow-moving trough sets in for the next few days.
• 2012/02/29: ABC(Au): Heavy rain forecast for north-eastern Victoria
• 2012/02/29: ABC(Au): Big wet bears down on NSW
  One of the biggest weather events in New South Wales for decades is starting to make its presence felt, with a massive rain system bearing down on southern and central parts of the state. The region has already seen torrential downpours, evacuation alerts and warnings of flash flooding.
• 2012/02/28: PlanetArk: Drought-Weary Texans Welcome Rains, Wildflowers
• 2012/02/27: ABC(Au): Warning of heavy rain, possible flash flooding
  The [Victoria] State Emergency Service (SES) is warning of more heavy rain across the state today.
• 2012/02/27: ABC(Au): Storm warning and flood watch in outback SA
• 2012/02/27: ABC(Au): [Northern Victoria's] Rivers put on flood watch

  First, stop subsidizing fossil fuels
  Second, put a price on carbon
  Third ...
  And elsewhere on the mitigation front:

• 2012/03/01: TP:JR: Bombshell: You Can't Slow Projected Warming With Gas, You Need 'Rapid and Massive Deployment' of Zero-Carbon Power
• 2012/02/29: Grist: Myhrvold: 50 simple things won't fix the climate -- but a few complex things might
• 2012/02/26: SciNow: Genetically Engineered Bacteria Could Help Fight Climate Change

  Consider transportation & GHG production:

• 2012/03/01: CalcRisk: U.S. Light Vehicle Sales at 15.1 million annual rate in February
• 2012/02/29: EurActiv: Report: Slower steaming could cut ship emissions by 15%
  If ships were obliged to immediately cut their speeds, they could also slash 15% of their carbon emissions and save billions in lower ship fuel bills, according to a new report.

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

• 2012/02/28: CSM: How student-built solar homes can help solve US housing and energy crisis

  As for carbon sequestration:

• 2012/03/01: GEP: [Zero Emissions Platform (ZEP)] to Rescue CCS in Europe?
• 2012/02/29: LBL: Carbon Dioxide Catchers -- Berkeley Researchers Develop Tools for Identifying Effective Carbon Capture Technologie
• 2012/02/27: PlanetArk: UK Government Files Plans To Build Carbon Capture Plants

  Large scale geo-engineering keeps popping up:

• 2012/02/27: UManchester: Time for a rethink on climate change, say top environmental economists
  Governments have done so little to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, they should consider investing into the Rand D of large scale geo-engineering projects and their governance, according to 26 of the world's leading environmental economists.

While on the adaptation front:

• 2012/03/02: GenAdapt: Environmental triage: the choices adaptation will force

  Meanwhile in the journals:

• 2012/02/27: ESD: Downscaling climate change scenarios for apple pest and disease modeling in Switzerland by M. Hirschi et al.
• 2012/02/28: ESDD: Comment on "Climate sensitivity in the Anthropocene" by Previdi et al. (2011) by S. E. Schwartz
• 2012/02/29: CP: Climate variability of the mid- and high-latitudes of the Southern Hemisphere in ensemble simulations from 1500 to 2000 AD by S. B. Wilmes et al.
• 2012/02/29: CP: Early Portuguese meteorological measurements (18th century) by M. J. Alcoforado et al.
• 2012/02/27: CP: Precessional and half-precessional climate forcing of Mid-Devonian monsoon-like dynamics by D. De Vleeschouwer et al.
• 2012/02/27: CPD: A review of the South American Monsoon history as recorded in stable isotopic proxies over the past two millennia by M. Vuille et al.
• 2012/02/28: NERC:NORA: Revisiting the lower stratospheric water vapour trend from the 1950s to 1970s by Howard K. Roscoe K.H. Rosenlof
• 2012/02/29: NERC:NORA: A palynological investigation of eight samples from the Jurassic of the Bedford district by James B. Riding
• 2012/03/01: NERC:NORA: Warming increases the proportion of primary production emitted as methane from freshwater mesocosms by Gabriel Yvon-Durocher et al.
• 2012/03/02: NERC:NORA: Plastics in the Antarctic environment: Are we looking only at the tip of the iceberg? by Juliana A. Ivar do Sul et al.
• 2012/03/02: ACP: Five blind men and the elephant: what can the NASA Aura ozone measurements tell us about stratosphere-troposphere exchange? by Q. Tang & M. J. Prather
• 2012/03/02: ACPD: Insights into hydroxyl measurements and atmospheric oxidation in a California forest by J. Mao et al.
• 2012/03/02: ACPD: Variability of levels and composition of PM10 and PM2.5 in the Barcelona metro system by X. Querol et al.
• 2012/03/02: ACPD: Aerosol radiative forcing during African desert dust events (2005-2010) over South-Eastern Spain by A. Valenzuela et al.
• 2012/03/01: OS: Modeling of wave-induced irradiance variability in the upper ocean mixed layer by M. Hieronymi et al.
• 2012/03/02: Science: (ab$) Is the World Tottering on the Precipice of Peak Gold? by Richard A. Kerr
• 2012/03/02: Science: (ab$) The Geological Record of Ocean Acidification by Bärbel Hönisch et al.
• 2012/03/01: ACP: Xenon-133 and caesium-137 releases into the atmosphere from the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant: determination of the source term, atmospheric dispersion, and deposition by A. Stohl et al.
• 2012/03/01: ACP: The influence of the spatial resolution of topographic input data on the accuracy of 3-D UV actinic flux and irradiance calculations by P. Weihs et al.
• 2012/03/01: ACP: A numerical comparison of different methods for determining the particle formation rate by H. Vuollekoski et al.
• 2012/03/01: ACP: Discernible rhythm in the spatio/temporal distributions of transatlantic dust by Y. Ben-Ami et al.
• 2012/03/01: ACPD: Study of the diurnal variability of atmospheric chemistry with respect to boundary layer dynamics during DOMINO by B. J. H. van Stratum et al.
• 2012/03/01: ACPD: Implications of the O + OH reaction in hydroxyl nightglow modeling by P. J. S. B. Caridade et al.
• 2012/02/27: ACP: Multi-scale meteorological conceptual analysis of observed active fire hotspot activity and smoke optical depth in the Maritime Continent by J. S. Reid et al.
• 2012/02/29: ACPD: Comparison of improved Aura Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer (TES) CO2 with HIPPO and SGP aircraft profile measurements by S. S. Kulawik et al.
• 2012/02/27: ACPD: Trends, interannual and seasonal variations of tropospheric CO, C2H6 and HCN columns measured from ground-based FTIR at Lauder and Arrival Heights by G. Zeng et al.
• 2012/02/27: ACPD: Analysis of the vertical structure and size distribution of dust aerosols over the semi-arid region of the Loess Plateau in China by B. Zhou et al.
• 2012/02/28: PNAS: (ab$) Graptoloid diversity and disparity became decoupled during the Ordovician mass extinction by David W. Bapst et al.
• 2012/02/28: PNAS: (ab$) Ancient climate change, antifreeze, and the evolutionary diversification of Antarctic fishes by Thomas J. Near et al.
• 2012/02/28: PNAS: (ab$) Complex response of the forest nitrogen cycle to climate change by Susana Bernal et al.
• 2012/02/28: PNAS: (ab$) Timing of climate variability and grassland productivity by Joseph M. Craine et al.
• 2012/02/28: PNAS: (ab$) Drivers and hotspots of extinction risk in marine mammals by Ana D. Davidson et al.
• 2012/02/28: PNAS: (ab$) Quantifying the hurricane risk to offshore wind turbines by Stephen Rose et al.
• 2012/02/28: PNAS: (abs) The water footprint of humanity by Arjen Y. Hoekstra & Mesfin M. Mekonnen
• 2012/02/28: PNAS: (abs) Long-term perspective on wildfires in the western USA by Jennifer R. Marlon et al.
• 2012/02/29: Nature: (ab$) Surprisingly complex community discovered in the mid-Devonian fossil forest at Gilboa by William E. Stein et al.
• 2012/02/28: PNAS: (ab$) Impact of declining Arctic sea ice on winter snowfall by Jiping Liu et al.
• 2012/01/02: TellusA: Impact of sea ice cover changes on the Northern Hemisphere atmospheric winter circulation by R. Jaiser et al.
• 2010/11/05: GRL: (ab$) A link between reduced Barents-Kara sea ice and cold winter extremes over northern continents by Vladimir Petoukhov & Vladimir A. Semenov
• 2009/04/28: GRL: (ab$) Influence of low Arctic sea-ice minima on anomalously cold Eurasian winters by Meiji Honda et al.
• 2012/02/27: AGWObserver: New research from last week 8/2012

  And other significant documents:

• 2012/02/22: UCSUSA: [link to 4.1 meg pdf & segments] The NRC and Nuclear Power Plant Safety
• 2012/02/27: TCoE: Doc alert: US greenhouse gas emissions and sinks

  As for miscellaneous science:

• 2012/03/01: GreenGrok: The Clouds Are Falling, the Clouds Are Falling
• 2012/03/03: CCP: "Western Arctic Ocean freshwater storage increased by wind-driven spin-up of the Beaufort Gyre" by Katharine A. Giles et al., Nature Geoscience 5 (2012)
• 2012/03/03: CCP: "Closure of the meridional overturning circulation through Southern Ocean upwelling" by John Marshall & Kevin Speer, Nature Geoscience 5 (2012) doi:10.1038/ngeo1391
• 2012/03/04: ASI: Small research paper database
• 2012/03/02: CWorld: Science-and-engineering workforce has stalled in U.S., report says
• 2012/03/02: BBC: Some Scandinavian trees survived the last Ice Age, challenging a widely held notion that they were killed off by the huge ice sheet that covered the region
• 2012/03/01: SciNow: Trees Survived Ice Age Chill in Scandinavia
• 2012/03/01: IsaacHeld: 25. Relative humidity feedback
• 2012/03/01: RBroberg: IPCC AR4 WG1 TS5.1 Fig TS.26 Six Year Review
• 2012/02/29: MGS: AMS feeds for scientific articles and a sampling
• 2012/02/28: IsaacHeld: 24. Arbitrariness in feedback analyses
• 2012/02/27: CBC: Toronto climate scientist wins top science prize
  Canada's top science and engineering prize, the Herzberg Gold Medal, has been awarded to W. Richard Peltier, a University of Toronto climate scientist.
• 2012/02/27: MBG: Indigenous peoples at forefront of climate change offer lessons on conserving and managing plant biodiversity
  Paper Highlights 40 Years of Research on Plant Use by Indigenous Peoples In Peruvian Amazon and Tibet

More DIY science:

• 2012/02/27: moyhu: Hansen's 1988 predictions - a JS explorer

  What developments in the ongoing struggle for Open Science?

• 2012/03/01: al Jazeera: The disappearing virtual library
  The shutdown of library.nu is creating a virtual showdown between would-be learners and the publishing industry. Last week a website called "library.nu" disappeared. A coalition of international scholarly publishers accused the site of piracy and convinced a judge in Munich to shut it down. Library.nu (formerly Gigapedia) had offered, if the reports are to be believed, between 400,000 and a million digital books for free. And not just any books - not romance novels or the latest best-sellers - but scholarly books: textbooks, secondary treatises, obscure monographs, biographical analyses, technical manuals, collections of cutting-edge research in engineering, mathematics, biology, social science and humanities.
• 2012/02/28: ScienceInsider: Lawmakers Drop Proposal to Block NIH Public Access Policy
• 2012/02/27: CBC: Amid boycott, Elsevier backtracks on research bill
  Journal publisher still opposes current U.S. rules mandating access to taxpayer-funded research
• 2012/02/27: SlashDot: Publisher Pulls Supports; 'Research Works Act' Killed

  Regarding Mann:

• 2012/03/03: Guardian(UK): Death threats, intimidation and abuse: climate change scientist Michael E. Mann counts the cost of honesty
  Research by Michael E. Mann confirmed the reality of global warming. Little did he know that it would also expose him to a vicious hate campaign
• 2012/02/28: CSW: Climate Science Legal Defense Fund: Support Michael Mann
• 2012/02/28: ERabett: Book Tour -- Michael Mann will be answering questions...
• 2012/02/28: DeSmogBlog: A Call to Support Michael Mann
• 2012/02/27: Guardian(UK): Live Q&A: Climate scientist Michael Mann on the 'Hockey Stick' controversy

  Regarding Curry:

• 2012/03/02: SkeptiSci: The Certainty Monster vs. The Uncertainty Ewok by dana1981
• 2012/02/28: ITracker: Judith Curry and the fallacy of the excluded middle
• 2012/02/28: Stoat: The IPCC May Have Outlived its Usefulness?

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

• 2012/02/28: UN: UN urges businesses to join corporate responsibility pact ahead of Rio forum

  While at the UN:

• 2012/02/28: PlanetArk: China's [Maosheng] Duan To Chair U.N. Carbon Executive Board

  And on the carbon trading front:

• 2012/03/02: EurActiv: Prague feels the heat over E1.9bn carbon credit application
  A Czech bid for almost E2 billion of free allowances under the EU's Emissions Trading System (ETS) -- equal to almost half Prague's 2012 budget deficit -- has drawn heavy fire from Brussels and European environmentalists, who say it will do little to combat CO2 emissions.
• 2012/03/02: PlanetArk: Governments Embrace Carbon Voluntary Market: Report
• 2012/02/29: PlanetArk: EU Politicians Back Plan To Withhold EU CO2 Permits
• 2012/02/28: Reuters: EU politicians back plan to withhold EU CO2 permits
  EU industry committee vote paves way for intervention - EU carbon prices fall nearly 5 percent by mid-morning - Polish opposition threatens to scupper set-aside survival

The idea of a carbon tax is still bouncing around:

• 2012/02/29: LA Times: Canada's carbon lesson: Just put a price on it
  Five years ago, the province of British Columbia launched a quest to slash its carbon emissions. Here's what it has learned.

On the international political front, tensions continue as the USA and Israel lean on Iran:

• 2012/02/29: AntiWar: Despite Embargo, Italian Refiner to Keep Importing Oil From Iran -- Company One of Many Struggling to Replace Long-Term Contracts
• 2012/02/29: BBC: Iran 'to accept payment in gold for oil'

  The energy race between China and the USA is on, or is it?

• 2012/02/29: SciAm:Obs: Can the U.S. Jump Back into the Solar Race?

  It is notable that food aid is being openly used as a weapon:

• 2012/02/29: al Jazeera: North Korea agrees to stop nuclear enrichment
  Nuclear-weapons testing and long-range missile launches to be halted among other concessions in return for US food aid.
• 2012/02/29: BBC: US 'ties North Korea food aid to nuclear progress'
  A senior US military official has said that the issue of food aid for North Korea is now linked to political conditions.

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

• 2012/02/28: QuarkSoup: The Latest Sign the World Won't Cut CO2 [EU ETS & ailrines]
• 2012/02/28: ABC(Au): Virgin announces carbon price surcharges
  Virgin Australia has announced a range of surcharges to cover the costs of Australian and European carbon pricing schemes. From July 1, every domestic flight will cost an additional $1.50 to $6 depending on the distance travelled. The airline says the average cost per sector will be $3.

Meanwhile in the Great Game:

• 2012/02/27: EmpireBurlesque: Other People's Blood: New Ground for the Great Oil Game

  In the Rare Earths' tussle:

• 2012/02/26: BBC: Malaysian protest over rare earths refinery plan
  People living near a planned refinery for rare earth elements in Malaysia have held a demonstration to try to halt its construction. The protesters in the eastern city of Kuantan say there is a risk of dangerous radiation from the plant.

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

• 2012/02/29: CC&S: Syria: Climate Change, Drought and Social Unrest
• 2012/03/03: CC&S: Rear Admiral Morisetti on Climate Change and Conflict
• 2012/02/27: TP:JR: Double Jeopardy: Congress' Failure to Act on Energy and Climate is a National Security Tragedy

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

• 2012/02/27: BBC: High Court orders Hinkley Point protesters off site
  Anti-nuclear protesters camping on the site of the proposed Hinkley Point C nuclear power station have been ordered to leave by the High Court. EDF Energy brought the action against the group, which has occupied a farm building on the site since 12 February. Protesters, who have at least 24 hours to leave, are angry EDF has been allowed to carry out preparatory work before planning permission was granted. A further injunction to stop any future protests has been rejected.
• 2012/02/26: TreeHugger: Lucy Lawless Arrested Following Arctic Drilling Protest

  Polls! We have polls!

• 2012/02/28: Brookings: Belief in Global Warming on the Rebound: National Survey of American Public Opinion on Climate Change
• 2012/02/29: LA Times: More Americans now believe in global warming
• 2012/02/29: TreeHugger: Extreme Weather Causing More Americans To Again Believe In Climate Change
• 2012/02/29: KSJT: AP - New poll says climategate phooey? Rising majority of Americans accept truth of global warming
• 2012/02/29: TP:JR: Poll: Americans' Understanding of Climate Change Increasing With More Extreme Weather, Warmer Temperatures
• 2012/02/28: HuffPo: Global Warming: U.S. Belief Reportedly Rises With Mixed Explanations
• 2012/02/29: TreeHugger: 85% of Americans Want Better Environmental Coverage. Let the Media Know

  Regarding Water Politics and Business:

• 2012/03/04: Grist: Can we solve global water scarcity?
• 2012/02/27: ERW: Treading water: map reveals global footprint
  Management of water resources is becoming a key issue as population expands. Not only do the resources available vary around the world but trade in goods that use significant amounts of water to produce shifts large amounts of "virtual water" between nations. With that in mind, researchers have created a high-resolution map of water footprints across the globe that includes water use for producing internationally traded commodities.
• 2012/03/02: P3: Sustainability of Irrigated Agriculture
• 2012/03/03: al Jazeera: Guatemala combats water shortage
  Indigenous Mayan communities in Tojquia use fog-harvesting techniques to wring water out of the air.
• 2012/02/29: TreeHugger: Miracle Tree Seeds and Sand Produce Inexpensive Clean Water
• 2012/02/29: Eureka: Contamination of La Selva geothermal system in Girona, Spain
• 2012/02/28: Eureka: 'Miracle tree' [Moringa oleifera] substance produces clean drinking water inexpensively and sustainably
• 2012/02/28: al Jazeera: How does England cope with drought?
  Two dry winters mean the 'green and pleasant land' is facing water shortages.

And on the groundwater front:

• 2012/02/29: USGS: Phosphorus and Groundwater: Scientists Establish Links Between Agricultural Use and Transport to Streams

  What's new on the education front?

• 2012/03/02: EnergyBulletin: Higher education under attack by Immanuel Wallerstein

  Who's making predictions this week?

• 2012/02/27: DP-DHL: The world in 2050: Deutsche Post DHL releases a study on the future
  * Scenario study "Delivering Tomorrow: Logistics 2050" outlines five visions of the future and their impact on trade and business
  * Results based on the expectations and projections of 42 experts with a wide range of professional backgrounds
  * CEO Frank Appel: "Only those who think about alternatives can devise robust strategies"

And on the American political front:

• 2012/03/03: JQuiggin: Doublethink doubleplusungood
• 2012/03/02: RegisterGuard: Coal train foes sound alarm
  A proposed terminal could mean jobs in Coos Bay and environmental and logistical problems along the tracks
• 2012/03/01: DemNow: Chicago Residents Win Closure of Toxic Coal-Fired Power Plants After Health Ailments Spark Campaign
• 2012/02/28: AlterNet: How the Right Has Turned Everything Into a Culture War -- And Why That's Terrible for Our Democracy
• 2012/03/02: Grist: 'Ag-gag' rules choke off supply of livestock snuff films
• 2012/03/01: TreeHugger: Sitting Colorado Governor [John Hickenlooper (D)] Flacks for Fracking in Ad for Oil & Gas Industry
• 2012/02/28: HuffPo: Growing Number Of Americans Can't Afford Food, Study Finds
• 2012/03/01: TP:JR: More Drilling Won't Lower Gas Prices -- Soaring Domestic Production Has Failed to Ease Pain at the Pump
• 2012/02/29: AlterNet: Moyers: How Fear of Science Can Destroy Us
• 2012/02/28: EnergyBulletin: A Fog of Mendacity
• 2012/02/27: Grist: What 'left' and 'right' really mean on climate change (hint: nothing)
• 2012/02/28: ScienceInsider: Bill Gates on Insanity [in US Energy Policy] and Energy R&D
• 2012/02/27: AlterNet: The Sad Race for Bottom on the Loony Right
• 2012/02/23: AlterNet: Making Sustainability Legal: 9 Zombie Laws That Keep Cities From Going Green
• 2012/02/26: AlterNet: Meet the Governors Behind "State-Rape" Transvaginal Ultrasound Laws (It's Not Just Virginia)

  The BP disaster continues to twist US politics:

• 2012/03/03: al Jazeera: BP settles while Macondo 'seeps'
  As BP pays billions in settlements, scientists are concerned about a persistent oil seep near the Macondo 252 well.
• 2012/03/03: TreeHugger: BP Oil Spill Settlement Reached With Gulf Coast Residents
• 2012/03/03: CSM: With BP oil spill billions at stake, why did Gulf fishermen suddenly settle?
• 2012/03/03: BBC: US government to continue BP Deepwater Horizon case
  The US government says it will continue its case against BP over the Deepwater Horizon oil rig spill despite a deal the company reached on Friday with the largest group of private claimants.
• 2012/03/03: Guardian(UK): BP settles Gulf of Mexico oil spill lawsuit
• 2012/03/03: CBC: BP reaches $7.8B settlement over Gulf spill claims
• 2012/03/03: BBC: BP reaches $7.8bn deal over Deepwater Horizon oil spill
• 2012/03/03: al Jazeera: BP reaches agreement over Gulf oil spill
  Specific terms of $7.8bn settlement between oil firm and committee representing plaintiffs yet to be released.
• 2012/03/03: BBerg: BP Reaches $7.8 Billion Deal With Gulf Spill Victims
  BP Plc said it reached a $7.8 billion settlement with businesses and individuals over the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil rig disaster, removing one of three major litigation fronts facing the company over the biggest offshore spill in U.S. history. BP said yesterday in a statement that the settlement will be paid out of a $20 billion trust set up to compensate spill victims. Lawyers for the plaintiffs said in a separate statement that settlement will resolve most private claims for economic loss, property damage and medical injuries.
• 2012/03/01: TreeHugger: Protecting Louisiana's People and Bayou From BP
• 2012/03/02: BBerg: BP Gulf of Mexico Drilling Rig Disaster, Spill and Litigation: Timeline
• 2012/02/27: TreeHugger: BP Gulf Oil Spill Civil Trial Delayed To March 5
• 2012/02/27: OilChange: BP Trial "Close to Settlement"
• 2012/02/27: SwissInfo: Transocean books $5.7 billion loss for 2011
  Transocean, the world's largest offshore drilling contractor based in Zug, has reported a net loss of $5.725 billion (SFr5.14 billion) for 2011.
• 2012/02/27: Guardian(UK): BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill trial delayed in bid to reach deal
• 2012/02/26: Guardian(UK): BP's US trial over Deepwater Horizon oil spill is postponed for a week
• 2012/02/26: BBC: BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill trial delayed for a week
  The civil trial over the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil rig disaster, which was due to start in New Orleans on Monday, has been delayed for a week, to allow for further talks on a settlement.

On the 2012 campaign trail:

• 2012/03/04: al Jazeera: Romney wins Washington caucus
  His victory is fresh show of strength in the run-up to next week's "Super Tuesday" contests in 10 states.
• 2012/02/28: CER:RRapier: President Obama's Role in Current Gas Prices
• 2012/03/01: NYT: Obama Seeks to End Subsidies for Oil and Gas Companies
• 2012/02/27: BobPark: What's New?
  1. The 13th crusade: "Taking up the cross" in 2012 America.
  2. Amniocentesis: Who figured it would be a campaign issue?
• 2012/03/02: Rabble: Smug religiosity in Republican presidential race
• 2012/02/29: DemNow: Slim Romney Win Signals GOP Challenges in Reaching Michigan's Working Class, Arab-American Voters
• 2012/03/03: EFF: Billionaire's Bogus Legal Tactics Against Bloggers Threaten Free Speech
• 2012/03/01: Grist: Obama calls to end subsidies for oil and gas
• 2012/03/02: GRC: Republican Candidate Santorum Attacks the First Amendment
• 2012/03/01: AlterNet: The Jeb Scenario: Can You Say "President Bush" Again?
• 2012/03/01: TP:JR: On Algae Fuels, Energy Innovation and Obama's Failed Climate Messaging
• 2012/02/29: TheHill:BR: Santorum claims support of Sen. Inhofe, who hasn't endorsed him
• 2012/02/29: ABC(US):B: Obama Campaign, Billionaire Koch Brothers Spar Publicly
• 2012/03/01: al Jazeera: The higher birtherism
  Fantastical claims about Obama ironically have something profound to teach us, writes Paul Rosenberg.
• 2012/02/29: al Jazeera: Romney scores double US primary win
  Republican frontrunner edges out Rick Santorum in Michigan and Arizona in contests for party's presidential nomination.
• 2012/02/28: GLaden: Santorum Says Global Warming Is Politics, Not Science
• 2012/02/28: AlterNet: 9 Santorum Speeches That Make Me Want to Throw Up
• 2012/02/27: AlterNet: Why the GOP Is Trying to Pin High Gas Prices on Obama (and Gullible Americans Are Falling for It)
• 2012/02/27: Grist: Newt's new energy slogan doubles down on the crazy
• 2012/02/26: Yahoo:AP: Santorum says he doesn't believe in separation of church and state
• 2012/02/23: AlterNet: Rick Santorum On Religious Freedom: What He Has Forgotten Since Law School

  The Keystone XL saga rolls along:

• 2012/03/02: TP:JR: Empty Promises: Experts Say Keystone XL Won't Do Anything For Gas Prices
• 2012/03/02: TreeHugger: The Keystone XL Will Raise Gas Prices -- In Other News, Greens Have a Winning Slogan
• 2012/03/01: MoJo: Texas Farmer Takes On TransCanada
  As TransCanada announces plans to proceed with the southern route of the Keystone, one landowner vows to stop them.
• 2012/03/02: BBerg: Keystone Pipeline Brings Pain at Pump, Few Jobs: Jonathan Alter
• 2012/02/28: MSNBC:B: Why the Keystone pipeline would boost pump prices
• 2012/03/01: PostMedia: [Bill] Clinton supports Keystone pipeline
  Former president's backing hints at White House shift towards OK'ing deal
• 2012/02/28: TP:JR: Keystone XL Tar Sands Pipeline: Splitting the Project Means Double the Trouble
• 2012/02/28: PlanetArk: TransCanada Aims To Build Southern Keystone Leg
• 2012/02/28: Grist: All you need to know about TransCanada's new plan for Keystone XL
• 2012/02/27: TreeHugger: TransCanada Begins Construction on Keystone XL, Obama Approves
• 2012/02/27: BBC: The White House says it welcomes a move by TransCanada to build the southern leg of the Keystone XL pipeline
• 2012/02/27: CBC: TransCanada pushes Keystone XL southern leg
• 2012/02/27: TP:JR: Bill McKibben: Beyond Keystone -- We don't get to rest in a fight that we're still not winning

  The Carbon Lobby has sued the EPA over the Endangerment Finding rules:

• 2012/03/01: P3: Caldeira et al. Op-Ed
• 2012/03/02: PlanetArk: Opponents Question EPA Authority In Greenhouse Gas Case
• 2012/03/01: CSW: Scientists' op-ed supporting EPA against legal challenge to Endangerment Finding
• 2012/03/01: PlanetArk: Arguments Preview Fight On EPA Greenhouse Gas Rules
• 2012/02/29: Reuters: Opponents question EPA authority in greenhouse gas case
• 2012/02/29: Grist: Mean right hook: Conservative judge deals blow to polluters in climate trial
• 2012/03/01: ERabett: That Doesn't Even Make Good Nonsense
• 2012/02/29: PlanetArk: E.P.A. Greenhouse Gas Rules Face New Legal Challenges
  U.S. limits on greenhouse gas emissions face a challenge in federal court this week from more than 100 industry groups and several U.S. states, the latest high-profile effort to halt or overturn the Environmental Protection Agency's rules. Three federal judges will hear arguments on Tuesday and Wednesday at the D.C. Court of Appeals from groups seeking to overturn the regulations and also convince the judges that the science used by the EPA is wrong.
• 2012/02/28: BBerg: EPA Greenhouse Gas Rules Under Scrutiny in Two-Day Hearing

  True believers never give up. Prepare for a second strike from coochie, coochie coo:

• 2012/03/02: NatureNB: Virginia high court rejects case against Mann
• 2012/03/02: ScienceInsider: Top Virginia Court Rebuffs Effort to Investigate Climate Scientist Michael Mann
• 2012/03/02: CSW: Virginia Supreme Court tosses out AG Cuccinelli inquisition on Michael Mann
• 2012/03/02: UCSUSA: Virginia Supreme Court Rejects Subpoenas of Climate Scientists' Emails
• 2012/03/02: ERabett: Follow the Money [coochie]
• 2012/03/02: ERabett:BDS: Cuccinelli goes down, but likely escapes the ethics investigation he deserves
• 2012/03/02: PSinclair: Virginia Supremes Throw out Deniers
• 2012/03/02: Guardian(UK): Virginia court rejects sceptic's bid for climate science emails
  Campaign by attorney general, Ken Cuccinelli, to gain access to Michael Mann's material, is dismissed by state supreme court

Outrageous remarks and a crucial vote this week in the birth control saga:

• 2012/03/02: TMW: Shameless - This is the thing about Rush Limbaugh -- he literally cannot be shamed
• 2012/03/03: Guardian(UK): Rush Limbaugh, you elite liberal feminist!
  I don't normally stoop to name-calling but the talk radio 'entertainer's' slur against Sandra Fluke merits this stinging insult
• 2012/03/01: ACLU: Senate Blocks Dangerous Blunt Amendment
• 2012/03/02: DemNow: Senate Narrowly Defeats Anti-Contraception Bill as Reproductive Rights Come Under Sustained Attack
• 2012/03/02: Guardian(UK): Rush Limbaugh condemned by Barack Obama for 'slut' remarks
• 2012/03/01: Guardian(UK): Senate defeats Republican bid to reverse Obama's contraception ruling
  Measure, which would have allowed employers to opt out of birth control coverage on religious grounds, defeated 51-48

The Obama chatter is nonstop:

• 2012/03/02: TreeHugger: Obama to Congress: "Eliminate This Oil Industry Giveaway Right Away"
• 2012/03/02: CCurrents: How "Drill, Baby, Drill" And "Yes We Can" Got Married
• 2012/02/29: TreeHugger: Debunking the Pile of Lies in the 'Obama Volt' Video
• 2012/02/27: TP:JR: 'All of the Above': Obama Names His Failed Presidency

  The actions of the Obama administration are being watched closely:

• 2012/03/02: PlanetArk: Chesapeake Says DoJ Investigating Three Well Sites
  Chesapeake Energy Corp, the second-largest U.S. producer of natural gas, said the U.S. Department of Justice is investigating possible criminal violations under the Clean Water Act (CWA) at three well sites in West Virginia. Chesapeake has responded to a subpoena request for documents related to four sites in the state that are already subject to CWA compliance orders from the Environmental Protection Agency, the company said in its annual regulatory filing on Wednesday.
• 2012/03/03: AutoBG: Energy secretary says more alt-fuel options are better than gas-price drop
• 2012/03/01: NatureN: A tour of the US's clean energy future -- The third annual ARPA-e summit showcases potentially transformative energy technologies
• 2012/02/28: PlanetArk: E.P.A. Proposes Streamlining CO2 Permitting For Heavy Industry
• 2012/02/28: UCSUSA: Science Group's Second Annual Review Finds NRC Inconsistent in Maintaining Nuclear Plant Safety
• 2012/02/27: Grist: DOE-funded battery breakthrough to halve cost, triple range

  As for what is going on in Congress:

• 2012/03/01: TP:JR: Bingaman Clean Energy Standard Is A Welcome Piece of Legislation In Face of GOP Dirty Energy Push
• 2012/03/01: TreeHugger: Clean Energy Standard Would Power U.S. With 84% Low Carbon Energy by 2035
• 2012/03/01: Grist: Bingaman's Clean Energy Standard would be nice, but has no shot in hell
• 2012/03/01: UCSUSA: Bingaman Clean Energy Standard Restarts Dialogue on Need for More Clean Energy
• 2012/02/29: HuffPo: Algae Biofuel Proposal, Now Mocked By Republicans, Used To Have Their Support
• 2012/02/28: TreeHugger: The GOP's Oily Transportation Plan Crumbles in the House
• 2012/02/27: TP:JR: Double Jeopardy: Congress' Failure to Act on Energy and Climate is a National Security Tragedy
• 2012/02/27: DeSmogBlog: James Inhofe Takes the Climate Conspiracy Theory to New Heights -- While His Home State Reels from Record Heat

  What are the lobbyists pushing?

• 2012/03/02: DeSmogBlog: U.S. Chamber Hits The Road To Promote "Oily" Highway Transportation Bill

  A notable sentence:

• 2012/02/29: BBC: West Virginia mine blast boss gets three-year sentence
  A former US mine chief who lied to investigators about one of the worst mining tragedies in decades has been sentenced to three years in prison. Hughie Elbert Stover was in charge of the Upper Big Branch mine, where 29 men died after an explosion in April 2010. Prosecutor Booth Goodwin had sought a 25 year sentence. An investigation into the incident has found that the mine violated 369 safety regulations, 12 of which contributed to the blast.

While in the UK:

• 2012/02/29: Guardian(UK): UK misses out as foreign firms and workers do bulk of windfarm work
• 2012/02/29: BBC: Scotland's renewable energy targets must not be "blown off course" by US tycoon Donald Trump's protests, environmental group WWF Scotland has said
• 2012/02/28: Guardian(UK): [Letters] Blowing hot and cold on windfarms
• 2012/02/27: Guardian(UK): Debate whether windfarms are ugly but not their efficiency, says Lord Turner
• 2012/02/27: Guardian(UK): Windfarms axed as UK loses its taste for turbines
• 2012/02/27: EurActiv: Wind energy companies fear UK government's commitment is cooling
  Billions of pounds' worth of investment in Britain's energy infrastructure is on hold or uncertain because of concerns over the government's commitment to wind energy.

And in Europe:

• 2012/03/02: EUO: Gazprom to challenge EU energy liberalisation law
• 2012/03/02: PlanetArk: Interview: Cheap Carbon Is Least Of EU's Green Angst [says Christian Kjaer, the European Wind Energy Association head]
• 2012/03/01: EurActiv: Europe's energy goals 'endangered' by permit delays
  The EU's 2020 energy targets will be imperilled if a three-year guillotine for transmission line permit appeals is watered down, the head of Europe's electricity network operators warned yesterday (29 February) at the launch of a 10-Year network development plan. In a far-reaching projection, the European Network Transmission Systems Operators for Electricity (ENTSO-E) says that E104 billion will be needed to finance some 51,500km of high voltage power lines in the next eight years. The lion's share of this investment will take place in Britain (E19 billion) and Germany (E30 billion). But the ENTSO-E report also found that one in three planned investments is currently being held up by delays in the permitting process, which have been known to drag on for decades.
• 2012/02/29: PlanetArk: EU Politicians Poised To Back Carbon, Energy Action
• 2012/02/28: EurActiv: MEPs give green light to negotiate energy efficiency bill
  European Parliament political groups put aside their differences on the Energy Efficiency Directive and decided today (28 February) to jump start negotiations with the EU Council before the vote in the plenary session next month.
• 2012/02/28: EurActiv: Shell calls for carbon price action ahead of key EU vote
  A senior Shell executive has called for "decisive action" to recalibrate the Emissions Trading System (ETS), as a key European Parliament committee prepares to vote on a 'set-aside' of EU allowances in a bid to raise the carbon price.
• 2012/02/28: EUO: Overfishing could continue under EU fisheries policy
• 2012/02/27: EurActiv: Parliament split over energy efficiency bill ahead of key vote
  The draft Energy Efficiency Directive is likely to need backing from the European Parliament in a plenary vote at the end of March before the Assembly can speak with one voice in upcoming negotiations with the 27 EU member states.
• 2012/02/26: Eureka: Call for tough new targets on European Union energy reduction

  Meanwhile in Australia:

• 2012/03/04: ABC(Au): Brown to resume meetings with Gillard
  Greens leader Bob Brown has decided to resume regular meetings with Prime Minister Julia Gillard despite calling them off just a couple of months ago.
• 2012/03/01: ABC(Au): Govt considers solar panel farms
  The Tasmanian Government is considering the budget to build solar panel farms to help bring down household power costs.
• 2012/02/29: ABC(Au): Organic specialist says Government is 'short-sighted' in reducing carbon
• 2012/02/29: ABC(Au): Women and families speak out against MDBP
  Women and families are converging on Parliament House to meet with Federal Water Minister Tony Burke and speak out against the management of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan.
• 2012/02/29: ABC(Au): [Ballarat] Council focuses on flood mitigation
• 2012/02/29: ABC(Au): PM denies leaving hot water industry high and dry
• 2012/02/29: ABC(Au): Solar subsidy scheme cut short
  The Federal Government is under attack from the Greens, the Coalition and the solar industry for cancelling a subsidy scheme yesterday. A rebate scheme for solar hot water heaters, scheduled to run until the end of June, was cancelled on Tuesday and anyone who had not paid a deposit by then has missed out. Parliamentary Secretary Mark Dreyfus has defended the sudden announcement as good practice, saying it stops a spike in demand pushing it over budget.
• 2012/02/27: BNC: 100% Renewable Electricity for Australia: Response to Lang

  The Gillard vs Rudd contest came to a head and then Julia set about house cleaning:

• 2012/03/02: ABC(Au): Carr to replace Rudd as foreign minister
  In a major coup for Julia Gillard, former New South Wales premier Bob Carr will take the coveted job of foreign affairs minister despite earlier this week saying he was not pursuing the job.
• 2012/03/02: ABC(Au): Key changes in Gillard's reshuffle
• 2012/03/02: ABC(Au): Manufacturing industry laments Carr's switch
  Kim Carr's demotion from the manufacturing portfolio in Prime Minister Julia Gillard's frontbench reshuffle has caused some concern in the troubled industry. The stunning move from the Prime Minister to catapult former NSW premier Bob Carr into the federal ministry has been widely applauded.
• 2012/03/02: BBC: Australia's Prime Minister Julia Gillard has named former New South Wales premier Bob Carr to replace Kevin Rudd as foreign minister.
• 2012/02/29: JQuiggin: Death wish
• 2012/02/28: CCurrents: US- , Zionist- And Corporate-Perverted Australian Labor Vilifies And Rejects Australia-First Ex-PM Kevin Rudd [Polya]
• 2012/02/27: CCurrents: Media-Ignored US, Corporate And Zionist Subversion Of Australian Democracy In Ex-PM Rudd-PM Gillard Battle [Polya]
• 2012/02/28: JQuiggin: Lasciate ogni speranza
• 2012/02/27: ABC(Au): Mark Arbib resigns from Parliament
  In a shock development in Labor's internal wranglings, right-wing powerbroker Mark Arbib - known as a "king maker" in the party - has resigned from Parliament. Senator Arbib is quitting his positions as Assistant-Treasurer, Small Business and Sports Minister in a "gesture to unite and to heal". Prime Minister Julia Gillard has released a statement thanking him for his contribution to the ALP and the nation.
• 2012/02/27: ABC(Au): Rudd's camp 'misjudged' power of factions
  Kevin Rudd's camp has admitted they may have misjudged the situation after his thumping loss to Julia Gillard in the Labor leadership ballot.
• 2012/02/27: al Jazeera: Australia's PM retains Labor Party leadership
  Prime Minister Julia Gillard convincingly defeats Labor Party rival Kevin Rudd in a leadership challenge.
• 2012/02/27: ABC(Au): Live blog: Labor leadership -- Gillard scores resounding win
• 2012/02/26: BBC: Australia leadership: PM Gillard defeats Kevin Rudd
  Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard has defeated Kevin Rudd in the Labor Party leadership ballot, officials have confirmed. Ms Gillard, who ousted Mr Rudd as PM in June 2010, won by 71 votes to 31. She called the ballot after weeks of speculation that Mr Rudd was going to challenge her for the top job. A cabinet reshuffle is now expected to fill Mr Rudd's position as foreign minister, from which he resigned last week.

The Murray-Darling Basin Plan controversy continues:

• 2012/03/04: ABC(Au): Overflowing Warragamba Dam forces power cuts
  The overflowing Warragamba Dam west of Sydney caused authorities to cut power to 160 homes downstream on Saturday. Meanwhile, a moderate flood warning is in place for the Victoria's Lower Goulburn River, while the rest of the state's north-east has a minor flood warning.
• 2012/03/02: ABC(Au): Warragamba Dam begins to spill
  Sydney's Warragamba Dam has reached 100 per cent capacity after heavy rains put nearly three quarters of the state at risk of flood.
• 2012/02/27: ABC(Au): Central west NSW will receive consultation on MDBP

  And in New Zealand:

• 2012/02/29: al Jazeera: New Zealand shipwreck captain pleads guilty
  Captain and navigating officer admit operating ship in a dangerous manner and trying to pervert course of justice.

While in the Indian subcontinent:

• 2012/02/29: CCurrents: How 'Foreign' Is The Anti-Nuclear Movement In India?
• 2012/02/29: CCurrents: Manmohan Singh Must Stop Nuking Our Democracy
• 2012/02/29: BBC: India charges 'anti-nuclear protest' NGOs
  The Indian government has charged four non-governmental organisations with allegedly diverting foreign funds to back protests against a nuclear plant. The move comes days after PM Manmohan Singh blamed US NGOs for the delay in commissioning the Koodankulam nuclear plant in Tamil Nadu state. Authorities also deported a German national for allegedly assisting the protests. The plant has been stalled by protests from local people over safety concerns.
• 2012/02/27: CCurrents: Growing Impunity In Police Raj To Enable Loot of Resources By People's Union For Democratic Rights
• 2012/02/27: CCurrents: The Visible Foreign Hand
• 2012/02/27: ScienceInsider: Indian Space Scientists Protest the Blacklisting of Colleagues

  And in China:

• 2012/03/02: BBC: China cities 'will not meet new air standards'
  Two-thirds of China's cities will fail to meet new air quality standards, a senior environment official says.

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

• 2012/03/03: Rabble:B: Eco-terrorists and pedophiles -- Welcome to the new Canada!
  According to our Conservative Government, members of other Canadian political parties are pedophiles and environmentalists and terrorists ... welcome to the new Canada. As unbelievable as it sounds, Public Safety Canada listed environmentalists among other "issue-based domestic extremists" that could pose a threat to Canadians.
  [...]
  Former Green Party Communications Director and current Executive Director of the Sierra Club Canada, John Bennett, summed it up this way, "The only real environmental terrorists are in the Federal Cabinet."
• 2012/03/02: PaiD: Nature to Harper Government: Let My People Go
• 2012/03/02: PSGraham: Tar Sands, Tories and Ethical Oil -- an interview with Shelley Glover, MP
• 2012/02/29: CBC: Senate examines foreign funding of charities
• 2012/02/28: HuffPo: Green Charities Using Foreign Cash To Fight Oil Sands Development, Argues Tory Senator [Nicole Eaton] In Launching Inquiry

  Questions and debate about offshore and Arctic drilling continue:

• 2012/02/28: CBC: Hebron megaproject gets qualified endorsement -- Helicopter safety emphasized in report; doubt given to labour projections

  The difference between could and will:

• 2012/03/01: EmbassyMag: Giving farmers the tools to fight famine
  By increasing support to climate adaptation initiatives, Canada can make a dramatic difference in the lives of about a billion people.

The Harper gang is afraid of what scientists might say:

• 2012/03/02: CBC: Nature journal criticizes Canadian 'muzzling'
  Time for Canadian government to set its scientists free, magazine says One of the world's leading scientific journals is accusing the Harper government of limiting its scientists from speaking publicly about their research.
• 2012/02/29: EmbassyMag: Scientist "muzzling" draws foreign attention

  In their ideological quest for small government, the Harper gang is getting rid of all the 'inconvenient' people:

• PEARL: Paleoecological Environmental Assessment and Research Laboratory
• 2012/03/01: CBC: Bob McDonald: Closure of polar lab a blow to Canada's scientific reputation
  Shutting down the Polar Environment Atmospheric Research Lab (PEARL) will make the world's climate models less precise
• 2012/02/29: NatureNB: Canadian Arctic research station to close part-time
• 2012/02/28: CBC: High Arctic research station forced to close -- PEARL played a key role in ozone measurements, international collaborations

  An oil high loonie stresses manufacturing provinces. The perfect excuse for an interprovincial pissing match:

• 2012/03/04: BCLSB: Dear Alison...
• 2012/03/03: TStar: Cohn: Why Ontario won't apologize to Alberta over the tarsands -- sorry, oilsands
• 2012/03/03: BCLSB: But So What?
  Dalton McGuinty is right about the oil sands and its effect on Canadian manufacturers, says Andrew Coyne, but...
• 2012/03/01: BCLSB: Should Ontario Capitulate To The West?
• 2012/03/01: PostMedia: Northern Gateway project may drive wedge between provinces
  Alberta touts economic benefits that Canadians will reap, but British Columbia must deal with cacophony of opposition Should B.C. undertake all the risk and bother of getting the oilsands bounty to market while Alberta scoops the billions in benefits? The question arises as Alberta Premier Alison Redford steps up efforts to promote the oilsands as a national asset, yielding gains for the entire country. That notion sparked a tiff earlier this week between Redford and Ontario's Dalton McGuinty, who complains the strong petro dollar resulting from a booming oilsands industry is hurting his province's manufacturing sec-tor, making the goods produced more expensive and discouraging export markets.
• 2012/02/28: CBC: Brad Wall calls Dalton McGuinty 'divisive' on oilsands
• 2012/02/28: BCLSB: Jesse Kline: Dalton McGuinty Should Let Alberta Steal Ontario Jobs
• 2012/02/28: WpgFP: Alberta's premier rips McGuinty on oilsands

  The battle over the Northern Gateway pipeline rages on:

• 2012/02/28: TheCanadian: Both Prince Rupert and Smithers Councils Vote to Oppose Enbridge
• 2012/03/03: TheCanadian: Harper and Clark Playing Dangerous Games with Enbridge
• 2012/02/29: BCLSB: Make It FOUR -- Smithers has now voted to officially oppose the Enbridge Northern Gateway project...
• 2012/02/27: NorthernView: Prince Rupert City Council votes unanimously to oppose Enbridge Pipeline
• 2012/02/28: BCLSB: Another Big NO!
  The Prince Rupert City Council voted unanimously on Monday night to formally oppose the Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline, making it the third northern BC local government to do so over the past few weeks.
• 2012/02/26: TheCanadian: Northern Gateway: Pipeline to Problems

  The NDP leadership race is entering the home stretch:

• 2012/03/04: CBC: NDP leadership hopefuls to debate in Montreal
  Seven NDP candidates are in Montreal for the second-to-last debate before the federal leadership convention. Brian Topp, Thomas Mulcair, Peggy Nash, Nathan Cullen, Niki Ashton, Paul Dewar and Martin Singh will square off at 2 p.m. ET Sunday.
  [...]
  New Democrats started getting their voting packages last week and are already eligible to mail in their ballots or vote online. The new leader, who will replace the late Jack Layton, will be announced at the NDP leadership convention in Toronto on March 24.
• 2012/03/02: TStar: NDP leadership: Ottawa MP Paul Dewar learned politics from being a teacher
• 2012/02/29: PunditsGuide: Beginning of the End Games: Paths to Win in the NDP Leadership Race

  Several major tar sand corps have formed COSIA, the Canadian Oil Sands Innovation Alliance, to front the environmental battle:

• 2012/03/03: LeftistJab: Environment Canada Lends A High Ranking Bureaucrat To The Oil Companies For One Year
• 2012/03/02: PostMedia: Oilsands partnership must avoid conflict of interest: Environment Canada
  Environment Canada says it's hoping a senior bureaucrat in charge of scientific water monitoring and research can "strengthen" government co-operation with major oil and gas companies through his new "assignment" with an oilsands industry partnership unveiled this week in Alberta. But in a carefully worded statement, the department said Dan Wicklum, the newly appointed chief executive of the Canadian Oil Sands Innovation Alliance would be on leave from his government job, without pay, and would not be able to provide privileged advice to his new employer. Nor would he be allowed to communicate with Environment Canada employees on behalf of the industry companies in the partnership.
• 2012/03/01: CBC: Oilsands firms form environmental alliance [Coasis?]
• 2012/03/01: G&M: Oil sands giants strike information-sharing pact
  A dozen oil sands producers, including some of the world's biggest energy producers, have agreed to a broad new information-sharing agreement that sweeps away numerous intellectual property rights in the name of advancing environmental performance in the Fort McMurray area. The group has formed "Canada's Oil Sands Innovation Alliance," or COSIA, to spread research and technology development in several key areas of environmental performance. Those areas include greenhouse gases, land disturbance, water, air emissions and management of tailings, the toxic effluent produced by oil sands mines.

Considering that most of the Harper gang are still fighting the cold war, it will be instructive to see how this initiative proceeds:

• 2012/03/02: G&M: Canada open to working with Russia on Arctic sovereignty
  Canada says it is open to collaborating with Russia to establish national boundary lines across the High Arctic, opening the door to joint exploration and mapping after years of tough talk from both sides about sovereignty and the ownership of untapped resources.
• 2012/03/01: G&M: Putin urges joint Arctic scientific council with Canada
  Russian leader Vladimir Putin challenged Canada to set up a joint scientific council with his country to investigate issues over Arctic sovereignty and help the United Nations draw new boundaries in the northern regions, where fast-melting ice is opening channels for oil drilling, mining and shipping.

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

• 2012/03/02: TheCanadian: Review of B.C.'s Dysfunctional Carbon Tax Aims for Repairs in 2013 Pre-election Budget
• 2012/02/29: LA Times: Canada's carbon lesson: Just put a price on it
  Five years ago, the province of British Columbia launched a quest to slash its carbon emissions. Here's what it has learned.

Meanwhile in that Mechanical Mordor known as the tar sands:

• 2012/02/28: EnergyBulletin: Canada's mining of oil sands has become an environmental issue
• 2012/02/29: BCLSB: Velshi Out At Toronto Atmospheric Fund
• 2012/02/28: CBC: Reality Check: How much of an environmental bad guy are the Alberta oilsands?
• 2012/02/28: NatureN: Canadian oil sands: defusing the carbon bomb
  Although dirtier than most oil on the market, Alberta's politically charged crude is not off the environmental charts, say researchers.
• 2012/02/26: QuarkSoup: Tar Sands Compared to Mountaintop Removal

  Also in Alberta:

• 2012/03/03: TStar: Wiebo Ludwig dying of cancer: An interview
• 2012/02/29: G&M: Why Americans should love Canadian oil
  As Alberta's Premier makes her rounds in the United States this week to sell the oil sands...

Ontario is wrestling with its energy policy:

• 2012/03/03: CBC: Ontario suffers power outages after extreme winds
• 2012/02/27: iPolitics: Ontario set to scale back green energy feed-in rates

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

• 2012/03/: OrionMag: America the Possible: A Manifesto, Part I - From decline to rebirth by James Gustave Speth
• 2012/03/01: GazetteTimes: End of growth not end of the line
• 2012/02/29: CCurrents: Our Great Hope For The Future by Tom Murphy
• 2012/02/29: 350orBust: Going Local: A Powerful Strategy To Repair Our Fractured World, Our Ecosystems & Ourselves
• 2012/02/26: JapanTimes: Gloom, doom -- and Lester Brown's 'Plan B'
• 2012/02/23: AlterNet: Goodbye Overconsumption: Why the Commons Can Save Us From Drowning in Too Much Stuff

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

• 2012/02/27: Guardian(UK): China softens line on single child policy
  Officials phasing out older, threatening slogans in favour of more upbeat ones to 'make family planning keep pace with the times'

Apocalypso anyone?

• 2012/03/01: Guardian(UK): Farming and energy: lessons from collapsed civilisations
• 2012/02/26: WJBC: Getting ready for doomsday
  A recent National Geographic survey produced the statistic that 41% of Americans think it's more important to prepare for a catastrophic event than save for retirement.

How do the media measure up?

• 2012/03/01: MediaMatters: Politico Manufactures Attack On Steven Chu
• 2012/03/02: TP:JR: Must-Read: Economist William Nordhaus Slams Global Warming Deniers, Explains Cost of Delay is $4 Trillion
• 2012/02/29: P3: Actually...
• 2012/03/01: NewYorker: The Media Did Not Hype Fukushima
• 2012/03/02: OilDrum: Bill O'Reilly is Misinforming Americans About Oil Supplies
• 2012/02/29: TP:JR: The Economist Magazine Offers An Illogical, Factually Incorrect Assault on Regulation
• 2012/02/29: KSJT: WSJ Editorial Page: Once more, with feeling: Global Warming is computerized hokum built upon a falsified model
• 2012/02/28: P3: Progress at NPR
• 2012/02/28: P3: Nordhaus's Rebuttal of the Wall Street Journal 16
• 2012/02/22: NYRB: Why the Global Warming Skeptics Are Wrong [Nordhaus]
• 2012/02/29: TreeHugger: 85% of Americans Want Better Environmental Coverage. Let the Media Know
• 2012/02/28: FAIR: No Fracking Way, CBS Evening News
• 2012/02/28: BBickmore: Market Crash, Climate Crash: Will the Wall Street Journal Warn Us?
• 2012/02/27: P3: The Wall Street Journal Isn't Even Credible on Economics

  Here is something for your library:

• 2012/02/27: USGS: Cradle of Flames: New Book Explains How Wildfires Shape Southern California and other 'Mediterranean' Ecosystems
• 2012/02/29: HotTopic: [Book Review] _Reinventing Fire: Bold Business Solutions for the New Energy Era_ by Amory Lovins

  And for your film & video enjoyment:

• 2012/03/02: PSinclair: Weekend Wonk: An Oil Man's Case for Climate Concern
• 2012/03/04: HotTopic: The Climate Show #24: John Mashey digs into organised denial
• 2012/03/02: PSinclair: Obama: End Oil Industry subsidies - Up or Down
• 2012/02/28: CCP: Arctic Methane Emergency Group creates new website -- here are some videos

  As for podcasts:

• 2012/03/03: CBC:Q&Q: The Oldest Forest -- Herzberg Gold for Climate Researcher, Dr. Richard Peltier
• 2012/02/27: TP:JR: Must-Hear Podcast: John Cook of Skeptical Science on How to Debunk Climate Myths

  Meanwhile among the 'Sue the Bastards!' contingent:

• 2012/02/27: OSGATA: Judge Sides With Monsanto: Ridicules Farmers' Right to Grow Food Without Fear, Contamination and Economic Harm
• 2012/02/29: NYT: To Avoid Last-Minute Suit, Shell Asks U.S. Court to Rule
• 2012/03/01: PlanetArk: Brazil Judge Blocks Chevron, Transocean Injunction
  A federal judge in Brazil declined to grant an injunction suspending the Brazilian operations of oil major Chevron and offshore oil-rig contractor Transocean over a November oil spill northeast of Rio de Janeiro, providing temporary relief to the two companies. The injunction was requested by Brazilian federal prosecutor Eduardo Santos de Oliveira as part of his 20 billion real ($11.8 billion) civil lawsuit against Chevron, the field's majority-owner and operator, and Transocean, its drilling contractor.
• 2012/03/01: PlanetArk: Arbitrators Say They Can Hear Chevron-Ecuador Case
• 2012/02/29: LA Times: Arctic Ocean drilling: Shell launches preemptive legal strike
• 2012/02/29: EnergyBulletin: Fracking bans that can stand
• 2012/02/27: NPR:TheSalt: Judge Dismisses Organic Farmers' Case Against Monsanto
• 2012/02/28: OilChange: Shell Should be Guilty Again [Nigeria]
• 2012/02/27: PlanetArk: 2nd New York State Judge Upholds Fracking Ban In Towns

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

• 2012/02/26: RI: Fossil Fuels vs. Renewables: The Key Argument that Environmentalists are Missing
• 2012/03/02: Eureka: UK scientists develop optimum piezoelectric energy harvesters
• 2012/03/01: TP:JR: Bombshell: You Can't Slow Projected Warming With Gas, You Need 'Rapid and Massive Deployment' of Zero-Carbon Power
• 2012/03/01: PlanetArk: Green Energy Puts Green In Homeowner Wallets
• 2012/02/28: TP:JR: AEI Economist Zycher Makes Head-Exploding Claims About Cost of Renewables
• 2012/02/29: TreeHugger: Slowing Global Warming This Century Requires Low Carbon Energy Not Natural Gas
• 2012/02/28: NBF: Levelized Current and Future Costs of Nuclear, Solar and Fossil Fuels
• 2012/02/28: Grist: Climate safety requires massive clean-energy transition with no natural gas, [Nathan] Myhrvold finds
• 2012/02/28: Eureka: Developing sustainable power
• 2012/02/28: OilDrum: A Dynamic Function for EROI
• 2012/02/27: TreeHugger: Warren Buffett Updates Shareholders on Wind and Solar Power Investments

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

• 2012/02/22: EWG: Federal Scientists Warn NY of Fracking Risks
• 2012/03/01: RS: The Big Fracking Bubble: The Scam Behind the Gas Boom
  It's not only toxic -- it's driven by a right-wing billionaire who profits more from flipping land than drilling for gas.
• 2012/03/01: JQuiggin: CSG and Climate
• 2012/02/26: AlterNet: As Fracking Boom Hits Ohio, Deceptive Industry Practices Squeeze Landowners
• 2012/02/27: PlanetArk: 2nd New York State Judge Upholds Fracking Ban In Towns
• 2012/02/27: Grist: Alaska is about to get fracked up

  On the coal front:

• 2012/02/29: TP:JR: Nine More Dirty, Aging Coal Plants Set to Close, Bringing Total U.S. Retirements to 106 Plants Since 2010
• 2012/02/29: TreeHugger: Midwest Coal Plants to Shut Down Sooner Than Expected: One Step Closer to a Clean Energy Future?
• 2012/02/29: Grist: Chicago goes coal-free

  On the gas and oil front:

• 2012/03/02: BBerg: Closing oil prices Friday
  OIL (US$/bbl)
  Nymex Crude Future...106.70
  Dated Brent Spot.....124.39
  WTI Cushing Spot.....106.70
• 2012/03/03: RWER: Do Environmentalists Have An Interest In Who Controls Oil Resources?
• 2012/03/02: Guardian(UK): Venezuela's OPEC stand is a win for climate change campaigners
  Environmentalists who support developing countries' fight against polluters should also back their struggle for control of oil
• 2012/03/02: EarlyWarning: Yergin Influence Index
• 2012/03/02: TP:JR: Oil Companies Earn Billions While Americans Pay More
• 2012/03/02: MoJo: Q&A: What's Going on With Gasoline Prices? The short answer is: nothing much. When oil goes up, so does gasoline.
• 2012/03/01: TreeHugger: Asia Is World's Largest Petroleum Consumer - US Plays Second Fiddle In The Oilchestra From Now On
• 2012/02/29: SP: A model of oil prices
• 2012/03/02: BBC: Petrol price hits record high
  The average price of unleaded petrol has reached a new high of 137.44p per litre, according to industry analysts Experian Catalist. That just exceeds the average of 137.43p reached in May 2011.
• 2012/03/01: BBerg: Rising Crude Prices Tap Into a Barrel of Nonsense: Caroline Baum
• 2012/02/29: TreeHugger: How Oil Speculation and Energy Policy Impact the Price of Gas
• 2012/02/29: TreeHugger: 5 Things That Actually Determine the Price of Gasoline
• 2012/02/26: EconBrowser: Factors in the recent oil price increases
• 2012/02/27: EconView: Fed Watch: Oil Prices - It's What Everyone is Talking About - Tim Duy
• 2012/02/27: NakedCapitalism: Chris Cook: The Oil End Game
  [...]
  In my analysis, absent a massive, and sustained, shortfall in oil supplies -- which I cannot see occurring, since all involved have every interest in ensuring it does not occur -- the oil price will, as I have already forecast, fall dramatically by the end of this year's second quarter at the latest. It's not a matter of if, but when it will happen.
• 2012/02/27: EnergyBulletin: Why oil prices are so high: Production shortfall, Iran concerns, and low interest rates
• 2012/02/27: EarlyWarning: Why are Gas Prices High?
• 2012/02/27: OilDrum: Tech Talk - Future Natural Gas Production from Western Siberia

  And in pipeline news:

• 2012/02/27: EurActiv: ITGI fights to stay in the race for Azeri gas
  Without the participation of the Turkey-Greece-Italy Interconnector (ITGI), no other competitor can complete the offshore section to Italy, says the chief executive of Greece's publicly owned gas company DEPA. The project is intended to transport gas from Azerbaijan to Europe in 2018.

Yes we have a peak oil sighting:

• 2012/03/01: EnergyBulletin: The Peak Oil Crisis: A Breakthrough?
• 2012/02/29: TMN: The End of the Petroleum Era
  Those who argue that there will never be a final "oil crisis" fail to recognize resource limits.
• 2012/02/21: TMN: Facing the Facts on Fossil Fuel
  We are so accustomed to our dependence on petroleum that discussions of alternative energy futures take its convenience and efficiency for granted.
• 2012/02/28: EnergyBulletin: Rebuttal to the director of the US Geological Survey on peak oil

  The answer my friend...:

• 2012/03/02: NBF: Kitegen reveals some progress with the 3 megawatt kite wind power system
• 2012/02/28: Guardian(UK): Wind myths: Turbines increase carbon emissions
• 2012/02/28: CSM: A case of Big Wind bullying in Mexico?
• 2012/02/26: TreeHugger: Hawaii Breaks Ground on its Biggest Wind Power Project Yet

  Meanwhile among the solar aficionados:

• 2012/03/02: TreeHugger: World's First Integrated Solar Power + Power Storage Panel Launched in India
• 2012/03/01: SBO: PacifiCorp anounces [a 2-megawatt] Lakeview solar [PV] project
• 2012/03/01: PlanetArk: GE Unit Buys [US$100 million] Stake In Arizona Solar Project
• 2012/03/01: Grist: Frank Lloyd Wright goes solar, posthumously
• 2012/02/29: CSM: Clean energy: Another solar firm lays off workers
  A Colorado-based solar module maker said Tuesday that it was suspending work on its first-generation models and laying off about 180 workers as the company focuses on a more efficient product. Abound Solar hopes to rehire the laid-off employees in six to nine months, after it retools...
• 2012/02/27: DerSpiegel: A Capital Error? Germany Created Own Threat with Chinese Solar Aid
  Germany long aimed to be a front runner in the solar energy industry, but waning subsidies and rising competition from China have clouded its outlook. To add insult to injury, the Chinese boom has been generously supported by German financial aid.
• 2012/02/22: TechRev: Making Solar Power Competitive with Coal
  A study identifies early-stage technologies that could be combined to cut the cost of solar panels in half.
• 2012/02/27: NBF: Technology Review hopes for significant new solar technology for 52 cents per watt but China Tier 2 PV Modules already at 80 to 96 cents per watt
• 2012/02/27: TP:JR: Researchers Create the Largest See-Through Solar Module Ever Produced

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

• 2012/03/02: Reuters: German solar incentive cut delayed to April: sources
  Members of parliament in Chancellor Angela Merkel's centre-right coalition have demanded delaying cuts in solar power incentives to April 1 from March 9, according to a position paper by centre-right deputies obtained by Reuters on Friday.
• 2012/02/27: PlanetArk: Germany's Faster Subsidy Cuts To Add To Solar Companies Woes

  The nuclear energy controversy continues:

• 2012/03/01: NBF: Environmental OK for laser enrichment plant
• 2012/03/01: PlanetArk: World's Oldest Nuclear Plant Shuts In Britain
• 2012/02/29: BBC: Oldbury nuclear power station near Bristol has stopped generating electricity after 45 years
• 2012/02/28: P3: GIS Tour de Force on Electric Plant Siting Delivers Bad News
• 2012/02/28: UCSUSA: Science Group's Second Annual Review Finds NRC Inconsistent in Maintaining Nuclear Plant Safety

  Nuclear waste storage requires _very_ long term thinking:

• 2012/03/01: MLynas: UK moves a step closer to nuclear waste solution

  Nuclear fusion projects around the world limp along:

• 2012/03/01: NatureNB: Ray of hope in ITER cable crisis
• 2012/02/27: ScienceInsider: ITER Dodges Trouble With Superconducting Cables

  The Rossi Energy Catalyzer keeps coming up:

• 2012/03/02: NBF: Steven Krivit and the troubling case of Andrea Rossi
• 2012/03/02: NBF: Nextbigfuture Current Position on Cold Fusion
• 2012/03/01: NBF: Defkalion will stay quiet until product is certified and a review of energy projects that have failed to deliver
• 2012/02/29: NBF: Greek government in test of Defkalion's technology

  More people are talking about the electrical grid:

• 2012/03/02: TreeHugger: Solar-Powered Micro Grids Change Lives of Indian Villagers
• 2012/02/29: TP:JR: Clean Energy Doesn't Require A Trade-Off, But A Trade-In Of Our Obsolete Electric Grid

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

• 2012/03/03: TP:JR: Limbaugh, Fox News, Tea Party Get What They Want With False Attacks on Chevy Volt: 1300 GM Lay-Offs
• 2012/03/03: CSM: Chevy Volt sales so slow, GM idles production
• 2012/03/02: CBC: GM suspends Volt production
  General Motors is suspending production of its Chevrolet Volt electric car for five weeks amid disappointing sales.
• 2012/03/02: AutoBG: Ford Focus Electric officially rated at 105 MPGe with a 76-mile range
• 2012/03/01: NBF: Electric bike production could catch up to motorbikes in 2015 with 70 million units
• 2012/03/01: BBC: Japan car sales jump on subsidies for green vehicles

  As for Energy Storage:

• 2012/03/01: TreeHugger: Breakthrough World-Record Energy Density For Rechargeable Lithium-Ion-Battery: GM Is Investor
• 2012/02/29: AutoBG: Eos Energy Storage pitches 'refillable' electric vehicle battery, quick 'charges'
• 2012/02/28: TP:JR: Company Backed By GM And DOE Says Its Lithium Ion Batteries Could Cut Costs In Half, Nearly Triple Energy Density
• 2012/02/28: Grist: Liquid [flow] battery electric vehicle could charge in three minutes
• 2012/02/27: NBF: Battery News Roundup
• 2012/02/26: NYT:Wheels: Envia Claims 'Breakthrough' in Lithium-Ion Battery Cost and Energy Density
• 2012/02/27: Grist: A battery large enough to power the U.S. would be the size of 2,200 Walmart SuperCenters

  Meanwhile in the greenwashing chronicles:

• 2012/02/28: Grist: How EPA helps big corporations greenwash

  Who's fielding theFAQs?

• 2012/03/02: Guardian(UK): Is Antarctica getting warmer and gaining ice?
• 2012/02/28: Guardian(UK): What are the options for financing climate change adaptation? [FAQ]
• 2012/02/27: Guardian(UK): What is climate change adaptation?

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

• 2012/03/02: TP:JR: March 2 News...
• 2012/03/01: TP:JR: March 1 News...
• 2012/02/29: TP:JR: February 29 News...
• 2012/02/28: TP:JR: February 28 News...
• 2012/02/27: TP:JR: February 27 News...

  Other (weekly) lists:

• 2012/03/02: TreeHugger: Energy News...
• 2012/03/03: P3: Quick Links
• 2012/03/02: EnergyBulletin: ODAC Newsletter
• 2012/02/28: BPA: Ag News Items February 2012

  The carbon lobby are up to the usual:

• 2012/03/01: P3: Denialism Losing Steam as Weather Gets Weirder
• 2012/03/04: Tamino: How Fake Skeptics Fool Themselves, Part 2
• 2012/03/02: Tamino: How Fake Skeptics Fool Themselves
• 2012/03/03: HotTopic: Inhofe's "Hoax": foolish and dangerous
• 2012/02/29: DeSmogBlog: How Heartland-style Climate Sceptic Campaigns Play "Hide the Deniers" Using Secretive Fund [Virginia-based Donors Capital Fund and its partner organisation Donors Trust]
• 2012/02/29: BBickmore: Roy Spencer's Junk Science
• 2012/02/29: BCLSB: Velshi Out At Toronto Atmospheric Fund
• 2012/02/28: TreeHugger: The Cruel, Cruel Irony of Senator James Inhofe's "The Greatest Hoax"
• 2012/02/29: DeSmogBlog: New Data: 81 Percent of Climate Deniers Think Scientists Are In It "For Their Own Interests"
• 2012/02/29: moyhu: Miracles of 2LoT
• 2012/02/29: ERabett: John Abraham would not approve
• 2012/02/27: Grist: Infographic: The idea of a climate change hoax makes no $)%*@ sense

  As for climate miscellanea:

• 2012/03/02: Grist: Put your hack into it: Anonymous targets Monsanto
• 2012/02/28: PolicyShop: The Climate Change Movement Needs a Reboot
• 2012/03/02: TCoE: Tell me sweet little lies
• 2012/02/29: CSM: Rethinking Carbon Dioxide (CO2): from a pollutant to a moneymaker
• 2012/02/24: AlterNet: Why the Environmental Movement Is Not Winning
• 2012/02/28: ERabett:BDS: Emissions match Hansen Scenario B; Keystone delay is a victory; EDF Insider podcast; and Machete Order Star Wars
• 2012/02/28: ERabett: It comes in threes
• 2012/02/28: GLaden: Your help is needed: Climate Science Legal Defense Fund
• 2012/02/28: SMandia: Climate Science Legal Defense Fund Needs Your Help

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

• CC&S: The Center for Climate & Security
• Team Rubicon: Disaster Response Veterans Service Organization
• ZEP: Zero Emissions Platform
• OSGATA: Organic Seed Growers & Trade Association
• DiaNuke
• CFI-CASS: Committee for the Advancement of Scientific Skepticism
• RebuildJpn: Investigations into the Fukushima Accident
• Wiki: Bioprecipitation
• Oxford Geoengineering Programme
• RAN: Occupy Our Food Supply
• GCP: Global Carbon Project
• Koch Industries Facts -- 2010's Dirtiest Opponent of Clean Energy
• NOAA ESRL GMD Carbon Cycle - Interactive Atmospheric Data Visualization
• IEA: World Energy Outlook

My first novel Water was published in Canada May, 2007. The American release was in October. An Introductionto the novel is available, along with the Unpublished Forewordand the Launch Talk(which includes some quotations), An overview of my writing is available here.

P.S. Recent postings can be found in the week archive and the ancient postings can be accessed here, which should open to this.

"What's going on in the US is tsunamis of stupidity, arrogance, greed, and sadism. But there really is nothing like mass protest and solidarity to make one determined not to give up. The times are too desperate for despair." -Ellen Cantarow

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