Another Week of GW News, April 1, 2012

Logging the Onset of The Bottleneck Years

skip to bottom

Another week of Global Warming News

Information Overloadis Pattern Recognition

April 1, 2012

• Chuckles, Rio+20, SREX, PuP, Coumou & Rahmstorf, Rowlands et al., Som et al., Elgin
• March Weather, Earth Hour, GM & HI, Subsidies, GFIs, Intimidation, Cook, de Boer SEI
• Fukushima Note, Fukushima News, Nuclear Policy
• Melting Arctic, Methane, Geopolitics, Antarctica
• Food Crisis, GMOs, Food Production
• Hurricanes, GHGs, Temperatures, Paleoclimate, Attribution
• ENSO, Extinctions, Anthropocene, Satellites
• Impacts, Forests, Climate Refugees, Desertification
• Wildfires, Corals, Acidification, Sea Levels, Floods & Droughts
• Mitigation, Transportation, Buildings, Sequestration, Geoengineering, Conservation
• Journals, Other Docs, Misc. Science, DIY Science, Open Science, Hayhoe, Mann
• International Politics: Bank Tax, Hormuz, EU ETS & Airlines, Food Weapon
• Resources, Security, Law & Activism, Activism, Polls, Water Politics & Biz
• National Politics: America, BP Disaster, 2012, Gas Prices, Keystone, Schism
• DeChristopher, EPA & Coal, Obama, USAdmin, Congress
• Britain, Europe, Australia, Carbon Law, Palmer & CIA, New Zealand, India, Asia, Africa
• Canada, Budget, Budget - Charities, NRTEE, Muzzling Scientists, First Nations
• Northern Gateway, NDP, ISA, BC, Tar Sands, Alberta, Sask, Maritimes, Canadiana
• Ecological Economics, IPAT, Apocalypso, Media, Video, Courts
• Energy, Fracking, Coal, Oil & Gas, Fossil Fuel Corps, Pipelines, Peak Oil, Biofuel
• Wind, Solar, Nukes, Nuclear Fusion, LENR, Hydrogen, Cars, Energy Storage
• Business, Insurance, FAQs, Joe's List, Michael's List, Carbon Lobby, Misc., Useful Links
• Shameless Self Promotion, .sig

Here's a wee chuckle for ye:

• 2012/03/28: JoeMohrToons: (cartoon - Mohr) How to Lose Friends yet Influence Elections
• 2012/03/12: SM:CodeGreen: (cartoon - McMillan) Approve in Sections
• 2012/03/19: SM:CodeGreen: (cartoon - McMillan) To The Bitter End

  And then there was April Fool's day:

• 2012/04/01: TP:JR: Darrell Issa's Push To Abolish An Antiquated Law
• 2012/04/01: Grist: "We lost": Eco-warriors, green stars throw in towel
• 2012/04/01: RealClimate: 'Wrong sign paradox' finally resolved?
• 2012/03/29: JoeMohrToons: (cartoon - Mohr) Hank D and the Bee: April Fool
• 2012/03/30: GreenGrok: Global Warming Strategy to Win the White House

  Looking ahead to Rio+20:

• 2012/03/29: CCurrents: A No Confidence Motion On Rio+20
• 2012/03/28: NatureNB: Scientists [CCAFS] tell governments to commit to agriculture funding at Rio+20

  The IPCC delivered their Special Report on Extreme Events and Disasters this week:

• 2012/03/28: IPCC: [43.5 meg pdf] Special Report on Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation
• 2012/03/29: Grist: Climate change is already harshing the weather
• 2012/03/29: Google:AFP: Climate change to drive weather disasters: UN experts
• 2012/03/29: CBC: Weather disasters will only get worse, scientists say
• 2012/03/29: EurActiv: Evidence linking climate change to extreme weather mounts
  The world's scientists are now more than 90% sure that human-caused global warming will increase the length, frequency and intensity of extreme weather events such as heat waves, the most authoritative scientific report yet on the subject says.
• 2012/03/29: ABC(Au): IPCC urges governments to plan for disasters
  The peak international body on climate change says all countries are becoming vulnerable to extremes in weather, and governments should make better plans to cope with natural disasters.
• 2012/03/29: PlanetArk: Plan Now For Climate-Related Disasters: U.N. Report
• 2012/03/29: KSJT: Wires, Wash. Post, a few more: New reports back, and muscle-up, idea that global warming also means more weather whipsaw
• 2012/03/28: SciAm: U.N. Climate Report Skips Over Curbing Greenhouse Gas Emissions
  One of the most interesting facets of a new United Nations climate change report is what's not in it: much mention of curbing the greenhouse gas emissions that trap heat in Earth's atmosphere and in turn can spur some natural disasters.
• 2012/03/29: RealClimate: The IPCC SREX: the report is finally out
• 2012/03/28: TreeHugger: New UN Report Warns That Some Climate Effects Are Already 'Baked In'
• 2012/03/28: CSM: Climate change report: time to start preparing for the worst
• 2012/03/28: CSM: Climate change report: Watch out Mumbai and Miami
• 2012/03/28: TP:JR: How Global Warming Sharply Increases The Likelihood Of 'Outlandish' Heat Waves
• 2012/03/28: BBerg: U.S. Heat Waves to Intensify From New York to Los Angeles
• 2012/03/28: Guardian(UK): Climate change panel warns of severe storms, heatwaves and floods
  Prepare for unprecedented onslaught of deadly weather disasters, [IPCC] report says, claiming global warming causing crisis

The Planet under Pressure conference went down in London this week:

• Planet Under Pressure Conference - March 26-29, London, UK
• 2012/03/29: PuP: [681k pdf] State of the Planet Declaration
• 2012/03/30: Eureka: Planet under Pressure conference, London: Final statement -- International scientific community issues first "State of the Planet Declaration"
• 2012/03/28: GEP: Update from Planet Under Pressure
• 2012/03/30: TP:JR: Civilization Is At Risk Absent 'Urgent And Large-Scale Action' Warns Planetary Summit
• 2012/03/29: TCoE: Must read: First State of the Planet Declaration
• 2012/03/29: ABC(Au): Scientists say it's time to act
• 2012/03/28: ICSU: Future Earth: New global platform for sustainability research presented at Planet Under Pressure
• 2012/03/28: NatureN: International alliance will tackle global change
  Ten-year Future Earth initiative plans joined-up studies of social and environmental problems. An international, interdisciplinary research partnership that was announced yesterday at the Planet Under Pressure conference in London could shake up research on global environmental change. The Future Earth initiative aims to bring together the practitioners, funders and users of research to develop programmes to address environmental, societal and economic challenges such as access to water and food, and vulnerability to extreme weather. It will run for 10 years, and hopes to help attract several billion euros in research funding each year.
• 2012/03/27: RawStory: Population adds to planet's pressure cooker, but few options
• 2012/03/26: SciAm: Global Warming Close to Becoming Irreversible
  The world is close to reaching tipping points that will make it irreversibly hotter, making this decade critical in efforts to contain global warming, scientists warned on Monday.
• 2012/03/26: Eureka: State of the planet
  Scientists describe humanity's global impact as 'The Great Acceleration' and offer ominous outlook: An uncertain future on a much hotter world Time is running out to minimize the risk of setting in motion irreversible and long-term climate change and other dramatic changes to Earth's life support system, according to scientists speaking at the Planet Under Pressure conference, which began in London today.
• 2012/03/26: BBC: Welcome to the Anthropocene - what now?
  At the Planet Under Pressure conference in London, Diana Liverman and Will Steffen present something of a contrasting couple. The two professors have been working together on a State of the Planet report, which has involved trawling through numerous reports and scientific papers. At the end of it all, the message of one appears somewhat optimistic, the other fundamentally pessimistic.
• 2012/03/27: PlanetArk: Global Warming Close To Becoming Irreversible-Scientists
• 2012/03/26: Grist: Climate scientists: It's basically too late to stop warming
• 2012/03/26: EconView: "Global Warming Close to Becoming Irreversible"
  The skeptics have decided that evidence isn't really evidence -- it's a grand conspiracy of thousands to fool the public -- so no amount of evidence will matter. Nevertheless, this is worth noting

The Coumou & Rahmstorf paper triggered diverse reactions:

• 2012/03/25: NatureCC: (ab$) A decade of weather extremes by Dim Coumou & Stefan Rahmstorf
• 2012/03/26: CBC: Climate change linked to recent weather extremes -- 3 types of evidence combine to bolster scientific case [Coumou &]
• 2012/03/26: Guardian(UK): Extreme weather events increased over past decade, study says
• 2012/03/26: QuarkSoup: Comment on "A decade of weather extremes" by Coumou and Rahmstorf
• 2012/03/25: QuarkSoup: Weather records due to climate change: A game with loaded dice
• 2012/03/26: TP:JR: Nature: Strong Evidence Manmade 'Unprecedented Heat And Rainfall Extremes Are Here ... Causing Intense Human Suffering'
• 2012/03/26: ABC(Au): Link builds between extremes and warming
• 2012/03/26: RealClimate: Extremely hot by Stefan Rahmstorf & Dim Coumou
• 2012/03/25: Eureka: [Extreme] Weather records due to climate change: A game with loaded dice
• 2012/03/25: Reuters: Link builds between weather extremes and warming
  Extreme weather events over the past decade have increased and were "very likely" caused by manmade global warming, a study in the journal Nature Climate Change said on Sunday. Scientists at Germany's Potsdam Institute for Climate Research used physics, statistical analysis and computer simulations to link extreme rainfall and heat waves to global warming. The link between warming and storms was less clear. "It is very likely that several of the unprecedented extremes of the past decade would not have occurred without anthropogenic global warming," said the study. The past decade was probably the warmest globally for at least a millennium. Last year was the eleventh hottest on record, the World Meteorological Organization said on Friday. Extreme weather events were devastating in their impacts and affected nearly all regions of the globe.

Climate Prediction Net published their first results this week:

• 2012/03/25: Nature:GeoSci: (ab$) Broad range of 2050 warming from an observationally constrained large climate model ensemble by Daniel J. Rowlands et al.
• CPDN: Climateprediction.net
• 2012/03/31: SimpleC: Volunteer computers broaden climate model forecasts
• 2012/03/28: CCP: Nature Geoscience, Temperatures could rise by 3 C by 2050, models suggest
• 2012/03/26: ERabett: Compare and Contrast
• 2012/03/26: ABC(Au): World to warm up to three degrees
• 2012/03/23: CPDN: Publication of first results from Weather At Home experiment
• 2012/03/26: ABC(Au): Impact of climate change may be underestimated
  A new study suggests climate scientists may have underestimated the effect of greenhouse gases, with global temperatures now predicted to rise by between 1.4 and 3 degrees Celsius by 2050.
• 2012/03/25: BBC: Temperatures could rise by 3C by 2050, models suggest
  Global temperatures could rise by 1.4-3.0C (2.5-5.4F) above levels for late last century by 2050, a computer simulation has suggested. Almost 10,000 climate simulations were run on volunteers' home computers. The projections, published in Nature Geoscience, are somewhat higher than those from other models. The researchers aimed to explore a wider range of possible futures, which they say helps "get a handle" on the uncertainties of the climate system. People planning for the impacts of climate change need to consider the possibility of warming of up to 3C by 2050, even on a mid-range emission scenario, the researchers say. The study - run through climateprediction.net with the BBC Climate Change Experiment - ran simulations using a complex atmosphere-ocean climate model.

The Som et al. fossil raindrops story intrigued a lot of people:

• 2012/03/28: Nature: (ab$) Air density 2.7 billion years ago limited to less than twice modern levels by fossil raindrop imprints by Sanjoy M. Som et al.
• 2012/03/30: CBC: Fossil raindrop-prints solve an ancient atmospheric mystery
• 2012/03/29: ABC(Au): Fossil raindrops reveal early atmosphere
• 2012/03/28: UWashington: Fossil raindrop impressions imply greenhouse gases loaded early atmosphere
  In ancient Earth history, the sun burned as much as 30 percent dimmer than it does now. Theoretically that should have encased the planet in ice, but there is geologic evidence for rivers and ocean sediments between 2 billion and 4 billion years ago. Scientists have speculated that temperatures warm enough to maintain liquid water were the result of a much thicker atmosphere, high concentrations of greenhouse gases or a combination of the two. Now University of Washington researchers, using evidence from fossilized raindrop impressions from 2.7 billion years ago to deduce atmospheric pressure at the time, have demonstrated that an abundance of greenhouse gases most likely caused the warm temperatures.

The Elgin Gas Leak in the North Sea is potentially diastrous:

• 2012/03/31: BBC: Gas flare at oil platform 'extinguishes itself'
  The flare on the crippled North Sea oil platform at the centre of a gas leak has extinguished itself, the oil company Total has confirmed.
• 2012/03/31: al Jazeera: North Sea gas flame 'extinguished'
  Total to begin drilling operation to stop leak, while Greenpeace says it will send monitors to assess ecological damage.
• 2012/03/30: al Jazeera: North Sea gas leak raises concerns
  Operator Total says irregular pressure was detected a month before gas leak at the Elgin platform off Scotland's coast.
• 2012/03/29: DerSpiegel: North Sea Gas Leak -- Total Weighs Options As Explosion Fears Mount
  French energy giant Total is frantically trying to respond to a natural gas leak discovered this week on one of its platforms off the eastern coast of Scotland. As it weighs options for plugging the leak, the threat of a major explosion and environmental catastrophe loom.
• 2012/03/31: CCP: Total crisis team reveals source of ongoing gas leak - that has challenged Elgin for weeks - it's from the Hod formation, 4500 meters below the seabed
• 2012/03/30: EurActiv: Commission learns lessons from gas platform flare
  A high-pressure gas leak from a North Sea offshore platform operated by Total shows that the security of oil and gas operations is still a critical issue in Europe, the European Commission said yesterday (29 March).
• 2012/03/30: PlanetArk: Total Sends Fire-Fighting Ships Near North Sea Gas Leak
• 2012/03/30: Reuters: Total mulls options to put out North Sea flare
  France's Total is laying plans including a helicopter water drop, fire-fighting vessels and spraying nitrogen to extinguish a flare on its Elgin North Sea gas platform that is leaking explosive clouds of gas, the UK energy department said.
• 2012/03/30: TreeHugger: Source of Total Gas Rig Leak Found But Stopping It Still Long Off
• 2012/03/31: CCP: NewScientist: How large is the greenhouse gas effect of Total's Elgin-Franklin blowout in the North Sea?
• 2012/03/30: BBC: Unite union wants wider exclusion zone round North Sea Elgin gas leak
  An offshore workers union has again called for the exclusion zone around the crippled Elgin platform in the North Sea to be extended. Unite said the three-mile zone should be increased to five miles. It said this would require a further 200 workers being withdrawn from neighbouring installations.
• 2012/03/30: BBC: Elgin leak poses massive challenge
  An uncontrolled release of fossil fuel out in the ocean. An oil giant's share price tumbling. A frantic search for techniques to shut off the leak. Sound familiar?
• 2012/03/29: CCP: Bellona: Fire fighting ships arrive at Elgin while Total makes some progress on identifying source of gas leak
• 2012/03/29: CCP: Greenpeace concern at Total's Elgin-Franklin wellhead platform uncontrolled gas blowout implications
• 2012/03/28: BBC: Energy: Looking for the free ecological lunch
  A leak from a gas rig in the middle of the North Sea is once again throwing up questions about the relative safety of different forms of energy.
• 2012/03/28: EUO: North Sea gas leak 'from hell' enters third day
• 2012/03/28: TreeHugger: North Sea Gas Platform Leaking - Relief Well Could Take Months To Drill
• 2012/03/27: Reuters: "May be months" to stop North Sea gas cloud - Total
  A cloud of explosive natural gas boiling up from the North Sea out of a leak at Total's evacuated Elgin platform forced another shutdown off the Scottish coast on Tuesday as the French firm warned it could take six months to halt the flow.
• 2012/03/28: OilDrum: Gas Leak at North Sea Elgin Platform
• 2012/03/28: BBC: Flare still burning at North Sea gas leak Elgin platform
  A flame is still burning in the stack above a North Sea platform from which gas has been leaking for three days. Experts expressed concern that escaping gas could connect with the naked flame in the flare stack and explode. Oil company Total said a cloud of escaped gas at sea level was at a much lower height than the flare on the Elgin platform, 150 miles off Aberdeen.
• 2012/03/27: OilChange: "No Idea How to Fix" North Sea Gas Leak
• 2012/03/27: BBerg: Total Fights Leak [for a third day] as North Sea Rigs Evacuated on Blast Risk
• 2012/03/26: CCP: North Sea gas leak: sea 'bubbling' under platform...
• 2012/03/26: BBC: Elgin platform gas leak: Shell evacuates Shearwater
  Shell is removing 85 non-essential workers from a platform and drilling rig close to Total's Elgin PUQ installation, which has been at the centre of a serious gas leak. The oil giant said the move was a "precautionary measure" because of drifting gas. The Elgin platform is in the North Sea about 150 miles (240km) off Aberdeen.

They're still talking about the mild winter and March heatwave:

• 2012/03/31: PostMedia: The winter that wasn't
  After the third-warmest winter in recorded Canadian history, millions of Canadians spent February and March basking in a record-shattering heat wave that baffled meteorologists, toyed with the economy and upset the country's very natural order. "I've been in this business for over 40 years and it takes a lot for me to be surprised and shocked by weather," said David Phillips, senior climatologist with Environment Canada.
• 2012/03/28: NYT: Weather Runs Hot and Cold, So Scientists Look to the Ice
  Some people call what has been happening the last few years "weather weirding," and March is turning out to be a fine example.
• 2012/03/28: UCSUSA:B: Joyful Dread: A Climate-Wary Gardener in a Very Weird Spring

  Did you notice Earth Hour go by?

• 2012/03/31: P3: Earth Hour
• 2012/03/31: ClimateSight: My Earth Hour Story
• 2012/03/31: UN: Spotlighting sustainability, the UN goes dark for Earth Hour 2012
• 2012/03/30: Guardian(UK): Earth Hour will be watched over from space as the lights go out
• 2012/03/30: TreeHugger: It's Lights Out For Earth Hour Saturday Night at 8:30
• 2012/03/31: CBC: Earth Hour sweeps across North America

  Not an unexpected development in the Heartland saga:

• 2012/03/30: QuarkSoup: GM Officially Pulls Its Support From Heartland Institute
• 2012/03/30: TP:JR: General Motors Stops Funding The Heartland Institute
• 2012/03/30: AutoBG: GM will no longer give money to climate-change-denying Heartland Institute
• 2012/03/30: DeSmogBlog: GM Dumps Heartland Institute, Will No Longer Fund Climate-Denying Spinstitute
• 2012/03/30: Guardian(UK): General Motors pulls funding from climate sceptic thinktank Heartland
• 2012/03/30: CSW: General Motors pulls funding from Heartland Institute; Heartland responds
• 2012/03/31: BCLSB: GM Defunds Heartland Institute

  Who's getting the subsidies?

• 2012/03/30: TreeHugger: The Mystery of the Invincible Oil Subsidies (Video)
• 2012/03/27: DeSmogBlog: Beginning of The End for Big Oil's Billion Dollar Subsidies?

  What are the global financial institutions up to?

• 2012/03/30: TreeHugger: Kosovo Citizens Protest World Bank's Plan to Build Coal Plant
• 2012/03/26: NakedCapitalism: World Bank Nominee Kim Under Fire for "Dying for Growth" Book

  Further on intimidation:

• 2012/02/: PhysicsToday: Climate scientists not cowed by relentless climate change deniers
• 2012/03/27: Stoat: Climate scientists not cowed by relentless climate change deniers

  John Cook and friends continue their point-counterpoint articles:

• 2012/04/01: SkeptiSci: Weather records due to climate change: A game with loaded dice by John Hartz
• 2012/03/31: SkeptiSci: Scientist Sets Record Straight on Medieval Warming Research by greenman3610
• 2012/03/30: SkeptiSci: Falling Cloud Height In the Last Decade: Is It Just ENSO? by Rob Painting
• 2012/03/29: SkeptiSci: Monckton Misleads California Lawmakers - Now It's Personal (Part 1) by dana1981
• 2012/03/28: SkeptiSci: What We Knew in 82 by Rob Honeycutt
• 2012/03/28: SkeptiSci: HadCRUT3: Cool or Uncool? by Kevin C
• 2012/03/27: SkeptiSci: New research from last week 12/2012 by Ari Jokimäki
• 2012/03/27: SkeptiSci: The Skeptical Science temperature trend calculator by Kevin C

  Former UNFCCC head, Yvo de Boer, is saying at least 2C in inevitable:

• 2012/03/30: QuarkSoup: IPCC Chair Said We Are Now Sunk
• 2012/03/30: TCoE: 2C of warming is a pipe dream
• 2012/03/27: Yahoo:AFP: 2C warming target 'out of reach' - ex UN climate chief [Yvo de Boer]
• 2012/03/30: TreeHugger: We Won't Be Able To Keep Warming Below 2°C: Former UN Climate Chief [Yvo de Boer]

  Late comment on the Stockholm Environment Institute report:

• 2012/03/26: Guardian(UK): What is the cost of climate change to our oceans? [SEI]

  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:

• 2012/03/30: PSinclair: Fukushima Radiation Reaches Robot-Killing High
• 2012/03/31: EneNews: NYT: "Cores at three of plant's reactors melted down, breaching their containment vessels" - Tepco maintains fuel stopped short of breaching containment vessels
• 2012/03/30: CBC: Japan easing limits inside nuclear evacuation zone -- Three towns near crippled nuclear plant affected by government decision
  Japan is letting up to 16,000 people back into their homes around its leaking nuclear power plant, easing restrictions in the no-go zone for the first time since last year's disasters. They won't be allowed to stay overnight, some must wear protective gear, and it's unclear how many will return at all, but...
• 2012/03/29: NYT: Japan Nuclear Plant May Be Worse Off Than Thought
  The damage to one of three stricken reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi plant could be worse than previously thought, a recent internal investigation has shown, raising new concerns over the plant's stability and complicating the post-disaster cleanup. The government has said that the plant's three badly damaged reactors have been in a relatively stable state, called a cold shutdown, for months, and officials say that continues. But new tests suggest that the plant -- which was ravaged last March when a powerful earthquake and tsunami hit the area -- might not be as stable as the government or the operator of the plant, Tokyo Electric Power Company, or Tepco, had hoped. The key to keeping the reactors stable is keeping their fuel rods cool with water. The company announced this week that an examination of one reactor, No. 2, showed that the water level in an outer containment vessel was far lower than estimated, which could indicate that the already badly damaged uranium fuel might not be completely submerged and, therefore, is in danger of heating up. Cooling water in that vessel, called the drywell, was just two feet deep, rather than the 33-foot level estimated by Tepco officials when the government declared the plant stable in December.
• 2012/03/29: UPI: Water levels low in Fukushima reactor
• 2012/03/28: CDreams: Experts: Radiation at Fukushima Plant Far Worse Than Thought -- Water at surprisingly low levels; damage "worse than expected"
• 2012/03/29: EuroNews: Latest Fukushima probe appalls experts
• 2012/03/29: Independent(UK): Still critical: radiation levels at Fukushima can kill in minutes
  Latest readings from tsunami-stricken nuclear plant overturn claims that reactors have been made safe
• 2012/03/29: BBC: Tepco needs $22bn more for nuclear compensation claims
  The power company behind Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant disaster has asked for another 1.85tn yen ($22.4bn; £14.1bn) in aid. The Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) said it needs another 846bn yen for higher compensation claims. It wants the remaining 1tn yen to keep the company afloat, including covering the cost of shutting down the plant.
• 2012/03/28: al Jazeera: Radiation 'fatally high' at Japan reactor
  Examination of containment chamber at tsunami-hit Fukushima Daiichi plant's number 2 reactor reveals extensive damage.
• 2012/03/27: UN: UN atomic agency releases report of new Japan nuclear safety measures
• 2012/03/26: Atlantic: Japan in Uproar Over Censorship of Emperor's Anti-Nuclear Speech
• 2012/03/28: EneNews: Asahi: High radiation means delays in decommissioning Fukushima Daiichi - 30-year roadmap will likely now have to be revised
• 2012/03/28: EneNews: NHK: Suppression chamber "may have been destroyed" at Reactor No. 2 (video)
• 2012/03/28: EneNews: Kyodo hints Tepco's long-term plan to decommission Fukushima may be in jeopardy
• 2012/03/28: EneNews: *Yomiuri* Experts: Melted fuel may not be covered in water - Far shallower than assumed - Tepco still claiming Fukushima Daiichi in state of 'cold shutdown'
• 2012/03/27: EneNews: AFP Headline: 'Fukushima reactor in crisis again' - Renewed concerns about plant's stability
• 2012/03/26: EneNews: Atlantic: Japan in Uproar Over Censorship of Emperor's Anti-Nuclear Speech - "Seemed to suggest that the nuclear crisis is not over" - Left out of all major evening news programs (video)
• 2012/03/28: BBC: Probe finds high radiation in damaged Fukushima reactor
  The operator of Japan's crippled Fukushima nuclear plant has said damage to one of the reactors is much worse than previously thought. A probe inserted into reactor two at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant revealed lethal doses of radiation and that the level of cooling water inside was far lower than expected. But operator Tepco says the plant remains in a cold shutdown.
• 2012/03/27: WaPo: 1 of Japan's damaged reactors has high radiation, no water, renewing doubts about stability
• 2012/03/27: PlanetArk: Japan's Tepco Shuts Its Last Reactor, Power Risks Loom
• 2012/03/27: PeakEnergy: Japanese firms considering geothermal plants in Fukushima
• 2012/03/26: al Jazeera: Japan's Tepco shuts its last nuclear facility
  One nuclear reactor left operating as country debates future of nuclear energy after tsunami-triggered nuclear crisis.
• 2012/03/26: EneNews: German TV: Armageddon if Spent Fuel Pool No. 4 collapses and melts down -- Could change the world -- Most likely consequence is that reactors 1, 2, 3, 5 and 6 get out of control -- Interview with nuclear engineer (video)
• 2012/03/26: EneNews: NHK: Water level "far lower than previously thought" at Reactor No. 2 -- Just two feet deep -- Anticipated it was 5 times higher -- Decommissioning reactor could be "much more difficult" (photo)
• 2012/03/26: BBC: Japan left with one nuclear reactor after shutdown
  Japan has shut down another nuclear power station, bringing it a step closer to suspending atomic energy, following the Fukushima disaster. Only one of the 54 nuclear reactors remains in operation, and it is due to be switched off in May.

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

• 2012/03/30: USN&WR: Expert: Nuclear Power Is On Its Deathbed
  A new report from a University of Vermont researcher says the cost of the safety measures needed for nuclear energy will eventually make the power source economically unviable
• 2012/03/30: APR: Nuclear Renaissance alive and well
• 2012/03/29: Forbes: Exelon's 'Nuclear Guy': No New Nukes
  Nuclear power is no longer an economically viable source of new energy in the United States, the freshly-retired CEO of Exelon, America's largest producer of nuclear power, said in Chicago Thursday. And it won't become economically viable, he said, for the forseeable future.

The Arctic melt continues to garner attention:

• 2012/03/29: ArcticNews: How thick is the Arctic Sea Ice?
• 2012/03/26: NSIDC: Arctic sea ice maximum marks beginning of melt season
• 2012/03/26: ASI: NSIDC calls maximum extent

  That Damoclean sword still hangs overhead:

• 2012/03/28: ArcticNews: Open Letter to EAC [Environmental Audit Committee] in response to Met Office
• 2012/03/29: ArcticNews: AMEG at Planet under Pressure conference
• 2012/03/27: Grist: Global warming could explode 'compost bombs' all over the planet
• 2012/03/27: ESA: Signs of thawing permafrost revealed from space

  As for the geopolitics of Arctic resources:

• 2012/03/29: TP:JR: The Department Of Interior's Contradictory Policies On Arctic Drilling
• 2012/03/28: AlaskaDispatch: Alaska offshore: Interior approves Shell's Beaufort response plan
• 2012/03/27: CCP: Arctic Council meets in Sweden, climate change expected to be hot topic

  While in Antarctica:

• 2012/03/28: CNN: Antarctic ice shelves 'tearing apart', says study
  New satellite survey of West Antarctica ice shelves has revealed fracturing away from land - Nearly 40 years of satellite data give most comprehensive snapshot of ice shelf evolution - West Antarctic ice shelf melting adds 2mm to sea levels each year
• 2012/03/27: CCP: West Antarctic Ice Shelves Tearing Apart at the Seams; Pine Island and Thwaites Glaciers rapidly thinning, expected to accelerate
• 2012/03/26: UTexas: West Antarctic Ice Shelves Tearing Apart at the Seams

  The food crisis is ongoing:

• FAO: World Food Situation - Food Price Indices
• 2012/03/30: CCurrents: Eradicating Hunger Requires Concrete Action, Not Hollow Promises!
• 2012/03/31: AllAfrica: FinancialGazette: Zimbabwe: Bickering, Grandstanding in a Time of a Bad Harvest
  The ban on non-governmental organisations (NGOs) distributing food aid in drought-prone areas of Zimbabwe could not have come at a worse time. A prolonged dry spell across most parts of the country has whittled prospects for a bumper harvest as acute food shortages loom. Masvingo Provincial Governor and Resident Minister, Titus Maluleke (ZANU-PF) banned 29 NGOs last month for failing to register their operations with his office, sparking outrage in the humanitarian circles amid revelations that the country would experience a drought. Most humanitarian NGOs feared the ban would be extended to other provinces, a move which would effectively cripple their operations.
• 2012/03/31: AllAfrica: FinancialGazette: Zimbabwe: Two-Thirds of Midlands in Need of Food Aid
  More than 200 000 families in the Midlands, about two thirds of the province's entire population, are in desperate need of food aid owing to the erratic rains experienced this farming season. Crops in the majority of the districts in the Midlands area are under severe moisture stress because of the below average rains experienced. The southern districts namely Mberengwa, Shurugwi, Chirumanzu, Zvishavane and Gweru are the hardest hit as crops, which had reached the flowering stage, have become complete write offs.
• 2012/03/30: CBC: Citrus disease [huanlongbing] discovered in California -- Threat to state's $2B citrus market
  A citrus disease that has killed millions of citrus trees and cost growers billions of dollars across Florida and Brazil has been detected in California, despite the industry's best efforts to keep it at bay. After a week of testing the U.S. Department of Agriculture confirmed at noon Friday that citrus greening was detected in a lemon-grapefruit hybrid tree in a residential neighbourhood of Los Angeles County. The disease stands to threaten not only California's nearly $2 billion US citrus industry, but treasured backyard trees scattered throughout the state.
• 2012/03/30: TheCanadian: The Bee's Needs
  When the final tally is done on humanity's many post-Industrial Revolution screw ups, it is likely that the top of the list will be: They let the bees die. Consider this: According to a 2010 UN Environmental Programme report, some 100 crop species provide 90% of food worldwide. Nearly three quarters of these crops depend for their existence on pollination by bees. This process, which has succeeded for millennia, is now under serious threat.
• 2012/03/30: Grist: Maple syrup-pocalypse arrives 20 years early
• 2012/03/31: CCP: Drought spreads to Brazil, crop yields hit; Argentina and Paraguay already hit by reduced soy yields
• 2012/03/29: ABC(Au): Australia to import wheat if climate warms
• 2012/03/29: SciAm:Obs: Food, Not War, Is the Biggest Threat to World Security, Argues Lester Brown
• 2012/03/28: ABC(Au): Wine of the times
  The fortunes of Australia's wine industry are intimately tied to climate and soil conditions. We look at the impact of changing climate and how winegrowers are adapting.
• 2012/03/28: PlanetArk: Analysis: Food Security Focus Fuels New Worries Over Crop Chemicals
• 2012/03/28: Eureka: World scientists define united approach to tackling food insecurity -- [CCAFS] Report offers roadmap for action by global leaders to create a sustainable food system
• 2012/03/27: Wunderground: Hard freeze hits Midwest and Northeast fruit trees
• 2012/03/26: Wunderground: Hard freeze likely to significantly damage Midwest fruit trees

  Regarding the genetic modification of food:

• 2012/03/30: EurActiv: French farmers challenge ban on GM maize
  French maize growers and seed companies have appealed a ban on the cultivation of a strain of genetically modified maize to the country's highest court, saying it was unjustified and economically harmful for farmers.
• 2012/03/30: PlanetArk: French Farmers, Seedmakers Appeal Government GMO Ban
• 2012/03/27: GreenGrok: Chemical Marketplace: The Fine Print on a Common Pesticide, Writ Large
• 2012/03/29: BBC: Anti-insect wheat trials launched
  The first experiments with plants genetically modified to repel aphids are under way in the UK.
• 2012/03/28: CCurrents: Monsanto, A Half-Century Of Health Scandals
• 2012/03/28: CCurrents: GM And The PM by Vandana Shiva

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

• 2012/03/28: CSM: How thoughtful farming could curb climate change, feed the world
• 2012/03/28: NatureN: African agriculture: Dirt poor -- The key to tackling hunger in Africa is enriching its soil. The big debate is about how to do it.
• 2012/03/28: SciAm:Obs: How to Fight Food Insecurity, Even in a Changing Climate
• 2012/03/28: DerSpiegel: 'Freegetarian' Feast -- Berlin Group Declares War on Food Waste
  A series of communal dinners in Berlin is bringing together like-minded food lovers to enjoy meals concocted using local merchants' leftover, unwanted produce. The events are aimed at raising awareness about massive consumer food waste in Germany and the West.
• 2012/03/28: FAO: European professional football sounds the alarm on the Sahel -- Match Day Against Hunger from 30 March - 2 April
• 2012/03/28: BBC: Farming needs 'climate-smart' revolution, says report
  Major changes are needed in agriculture and food consumption around the world if future generations are to be adequately fed, a major report warns. Farming must intensify sustainably, cut waste and reduce greenhouse gas emissions from farms, it says. The Commission on Sustainable Agriculture and Climate Change spent more than a year assessing evidence from scientists and policymakers. Its final report was released at the Planet Under Pressure conference.
• 2012/03/28: CGIAR:CCAFS: [link to 4.5 meg pdf] Achieving Food Security in the Face of Climate Change
• 2012/03/27: EurActiv: Feeding the world: A green headache for policymakers
  With upwards of two billion extra mouths to feed in the coming decades, food security has become a mantra in debates about Europe's farm-support programme and the UN's sustainable development agenda.
• 2012/03/26: UN: UN environment agency calls for urgent action to support Mongolia's reindeer herders
• 2012/03/26: UN: Investing in agriculture most effective way to eradicate poverty in Africa - UN
• 2012/03/26: UN: UN food agency calls for measures to preserve natural teak forests

  In the Western Pacific, Typhoon Pakhar is headed for Vietnam:

• 2012/03/30: Eureka: NASA sees Typhoon Pakhar headed for Vietnam landfall
• 2012/03/29: Eureka: NASA's TRMM satellite sees newborn Tropical Storm Pakhar's heavy rain
• 2012/03/27: Eureka: NASA satellite sees thunderstorms banding around developing system 96W

  As for GHGs:

• 2012/03/30: PlanetArk: British Greenhouse Gas Emissions Down 7 Percent In 2011
• 2012/03/29: Guardian(UK): UK greenhouse gas emissions down 7% in 2011
  Fall mainly due to 2011 being fifth warmest on record, and rise in nuclear power usage after Sizewell reactor came back online
• 2012/03/29: TP:JR: Natural Gas Industry Must Tighten Up Methane Leaks -- And Save $2 Billion Per Year In The Process
• 2012/03/29: TreeHugger: Oil & Gas Industry Could Cut US Methane Emissions One-Third Though Efficiency Improvements
• 2012/03/27: PlanetArk: French Bank Sees EU's CO2 Emissions Flat In 2011
• 2012/03/26: NPL: New Centre for Carbon Measurement
  The National Physical Laboratory (NPL) today launches the Centre for Carbon Measurement, which will ensure the UK leads the world in climate modelling, global carbon markets and green technology. Business and government have welcomed the project, highlighting its potential to reduce emissions and stimulate the economy.
• 2012/03/25: BBC: UK carbon measuring centre 'to improve climate future'
  A new UK facility aimed at improving measurement of carbon emissions and boosting development of clean technology is due to open. The Centre for Carbon Measurement will be based at the National Physical Laboratory in south west London.

As for the temperature record:

• 2012/03/30: QuarkSoup: Predicting the UAH Anomaly
• 2012/03/28: Wunderground: February 2012 the globe's 22nd warmest; record Hawaii hailstone confirmed
• 2012/03/26: PlanetArk: Mankind Kept 2011 Global Temperatures Near Record-WMO
• 2012/03/25: SciNow: Earth Warming Faster Than Expected
• 2012/03/25: Wunderground:RR: Just Temperature

  While in the paleoclimate:

• 2012/03/30: SciNow: Death by Dry Spell
• 2012/03/30: CCP: Solving the mystery of an episode of sea level rise known as Melt Water Pulse 1A (MWP-1A) -- possibly caused by collapse of West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS)
• 2012/03/29: PlanetArk: Scientists Pin Down Historic Sea Level Rise
  The collapse of an ice sheet in Antarctica up to 14,650 years ago might have caused sea levels to rise between 14 and 18 metres (46-60 feet), a study showed on Wednesday, data which could help make more accurate climate change predictions.

In the attribution debate:

• 2012/03/27: QuarkSoup: Selection Bias on Extreme Events
• 2012/03/27: QuarkSoup: More on the Difficulties of Attributing Extreme Events
• 2012/03/25: TP:JR: Must-Read Trenberth: How To Relate Climate Extremes to Climate Change

  While on the ENSO front:

• 2012/03/28: ABC(Au): La Nina departs but promise of rain lingers
• 2012/03/26: EarthMag: La Niña could set the stage for flu pandemics

  What's new on the extinction front?

• 2012/03/29: PlanetArk: Orangutans In Indonesia's Aceh Forest May Die Out In Weeks
  Forest fires and land clearing by palm oil firms could kill off within weeks about 200 orangutans in a forest in western Indonesia, an environmental group said on Wednesday.
• 2012/03/28: TreeHugger: Rare Population of Sumatran Orangutans Could Be Wiped Out in Weeks
• 2012/03/29: al Jazeera: Fires threaten Sumatran orangutans
  Conservationists say hundreds of Indonesian great apes could be killed within weeks if land-clearing fires continue.

Oh look! The Anthropocene came up again:

• 2012/03/26: Grist: Welcome to the Anthropocene

  Meanwhile in near earth orbit:

• 2012/03/07: NASA: NASA Jet Stream Study Will Light up The Night Sky
• 2012/03/29: APOD: Rocket Trails in the Milky Way [Anomalous Transport Rocket EXperiment (ATREX)]
• 2012/03/27: CBC: NASA rockets probe upper jet stream

  More GW impacts are being seen:

• 2012/03/30: Wunderground: Great Lakes ice cover down 71% since 1973
• 2012/03/29: TMoS: Pack Up Your Bags - The Weather's Coming. Word Is Canada is Still Nice This Time of Year
• 2012/03/29: BBC: The RSPB's annual wildlife survey has recorded the lowest number of starlings in UK gardens for 30 years
• 2012/03/26: TCoE: Footprints, always the footprints
• 2012/03/26: CBC: Warm weather making animals sick

  And then there are the world's forests:

• 2012/03/26: FAO: Natural teak forests decline, while planted teak forests increase -- New FAO survey reveals trends in teak forests and markets
• 2012/03/29: NCR-RP: Forest-destroying avalanches on the rise due to clear-cut logging
• 2012/03/28: NatureN: Farm focus for saving trees -- Round-table talks aim to slow climate warming by transforming agriculture
• 2012/03/27: Guardian(UK): Brazilian activists' murders may be linked to land dispute
• 2012/03/26: USDA:PSW: Scientists Find New Way to Measure Economic Impact of Forest Fires
• 2012/03/26: OPB: Study: Protecting Old Growth Can Stave Off Global Warming
• 2012/03/24: NYT: Vast Tracts in Paraguay Forest Being Replaced by Ranches

  Climate refugees are becoming an issue:

• 2012/03/28: Guardian(UK): Migrants left to die after catalogue of failures, says report into boat tragedy
  Council of Europe investigator says deaths of migrants adrift in Mediterranean exposes double standards in valuing human life

Desertification looms as a threat:

• 2012/03/26: UN: UN Drylands Ambassador [Leila Lopes] calls for greater efforts to fight desertification

  As for heatwaves and wild fires:

• 2012/03/30: PlanetArk: Colorado Governor Suspends Controlled Burns After Deadly Wildfire
• 2012/03/29: CNN: Family films frantic escape from Colorado wildfire
  A Colorado family captures their harrowing escape from a wildfire on video - The fire burns some 4,000 acres - The flames kill a husband and wife - The governor suspends "controlled" fires until an investigation is completed
• 2012/03/29: Grist: And you thought that heat wave was bad?
• 2012/03/28: Guardian(UK): US heatwave may have been made more likely by global warming
• 2012/03/28: Guardian(UK): Historic heat in north America in March 2012 - big picture
• 2012/03/28: al Jazeera: Wildfires rage in northwestern Spain
  The ongoing drought coupled with the above average temperatures have sparked wildfires in Spain
• 2012/03/27: QuarkSoup: More About Natural Heat Waves
• 2012/03/25: QuarkSoup: More About Heat Wave Probabilities
• 2012/03/27: CBC: Colorado couple found dead in wildfire -- 900 homes ordered evacuated
• 2012/03/27: CSM: Colorado wildfire: 900 homes evacuated, and one fatality
• 2012/03/27: al Jazeera: Wildfires light up Colorado
  A warmer and dryer winter has heightened the risk of wildfires in the U.S.

Corals are a bellwether of the ocean's health:

• 2012/03/30: ProMedMail: Coral reef kill - worldwide: viruses?
• 2012/03/30: Eureka: Declines in Caribbean coral reefs pre-date damage resulting from climate change
  Novel excavation technique attributes prior damage to land clearing and overfishing

Acidification is changing the oceans:

• 2012/03/25: JuneauEmpire: Southeast fisheries investigate, anticipate ocean acidification

  Sea levels are rising:

• 2012/03/26: ERW: Insight: how will sea-level rise affect economic growth?

  As for hydrological cycle disruptions [floods & droughts]:

• 2012/03/31: ABC(Au): More rain forecast as deadly floods hit Fiji
• 2012/03/30: ABC(Au): Fijians scramble to higher ground amid floods
• 2012/03/30: Grist: George Bush's hometown is running out of water, thanks to climate change
• 2012/04/01: ABC(Au): Thousands seek shelter from Fiji floods
• 2012/03/31: S&R: Vanishing act: drought and unseasonable warmth sends Colorado's snowpack into freefall
• 2012/04/01: al Jazeera: Fiji fears further flooding -- Torrential rain hits the South Sea islands
• 2012/03/30: ABC(Au): Fijians scramble to higher ground amid floods
  Flash flooding has cut highways and forced evacuations in Fiji, with residents sheltering from rising waters on rooftops as authorities scrambled to find rescue boats.
• 2012/03/29: al Jazeera: European drought -- The impact of the ongoing dry weather
• 2012/03/28: ABC(Au): Deadly floods lash central Philippines
• 2012/03/28: BBC: Drought conditions spread in England

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

• 2012/03/30: SciAm:Obs: The Cool City Challenge: Getting a Low-Carbon Lifestyle to Catch On

  Consider transportation & GHG production:

• 2012/03/27: BBC: The mayor of the Estonian capital, Tallinn, has said that the city will offer free public transport across its bus and tram network from 2013

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

• 2012/03/30: TreeHugger: They're Baaack: Average House Size Shoots Up To Highest Ever As McMansions Return
• 2012/04/01: ABC(Au): Experts give red mark to green home ratings
• 2012/03/26: TP:JR: EBay And GOP Lawmaker Score Clean Energy Win In Utah
• 2012/03/26: TreeHugger: A Plague On Both Their Passive Houses: Confusion Reigns In Fight Over The Name And the Standard

  As for carbon sequestration:

• 2012/03/29: ABC(Au): CSIRO backs carbon capture technology

  Large scale geo-engineering keeps popping up:

• 2012/03/28: GEP: Update from Planet Under Pressure
• 2012/03/29: SEasterbrook: A Geoengineering Primer

  What's new in conservation?

• 2012/03/28: Eureka: How to save Europe's most threatened butterflies

  Meanwhile in the journals:

• 2012/03/11: Nature:GeoSci: Links between iron input and opal deposition in the Pleistocene equatorial Pacific Ocean by Richard W. Murray et al.
• 2012/03/30: CP: A multi-proxy perspective on millennium-long climate variability in the Southern Pyrenees by M. Morellón et al.
• 2012/03/30: CP: Inferred gas hydrate and permafrost stability history models linked to climate change in the Beaufort-Mackenzie Basin, Arctic Canada by J. Majorowicz et al.
• 2012/03/30: CP: Precipitation changes in the South American Altiplano since 1300 AD reconstructed by tree-rings by M. S. Morales et al.
• 2012/03/29: CP: A seesaw in Mediterranean precipitation during the Roman Period linked to millennial-scale changes in the North Atlantic by B. J. Dermody et al.
• 2012/03/29: CPD: A model-data comparison of the Holocene global sea surface temperature evolution by G. Lohmann et al.
• 2012/03/27: CPD: Differences between the glacial cycles of Antarctic temperature and greenhouse gases by A. W. Omta
• 2012/03/26: CPD: Correcting mean and extremes in monthly precipitation from 8 regional climate models over Europe by B. Kurnik et al.
• 2012/03/26: NERC:NORA: Upper Oligocene to lowermost Miocene strata of King George Island, South Shetland Islands, Antarctica : stratigraphy, facies analysis, and implications for the glacial history of the Antarctic Peninsula by Alexa L. Troedson et al.
• 2012/03/26: NERC:NORA: Variability of the southern Antarctic Circumpolar Current front north of South Georgia by Sally E. Thorpe et al.
• 2012/03/26: NERC:NORA: Anomalous atmospheric circulation over the Weddell Sea, Antarctica during the austral summer of 2001/02 resulting in extreme sea ice conditions by John Turner et al.
• 2012/03/26: NERC:NORA: Recent temperature trends in the Antarctic by John Turner et al.
• 2012/03/28: NERC:NORA: Ecological responses to recent climate change by Gian-Reto Walther et al.
• 2012/03/28: NERC:NORA: Observations of surge periodicity in East Greenland using molybdenum records from marine sediment cores by John Woodward et al.
• 2012/03/28: NERC:NORA: Timing of glacier response to Younger Dryas climatic cooling in Scotland by Alison MacLeod et al.
• 2012/03/30: ACP: Meteorological modes of variability for fine particulate matter (PM2.5) air quality in the United States: implications for PM2.5 sensitivity to climate change by A. P. K. Tai et al.
• 2012/03/30: ACPD: Boundary layer nucleation as a source of new CCN in savannah environment by L. Laakso et al.
• 2012/03/29: GMD: Development and evaluation of a building energy model integrated in the TEB scheme by B. Bueno et al.
• 2012/03/30: OS: Variational assimilation of Lagrangian trajectories in the Mediterranean ocean Forecasting System by J. A. U. Nilsson et al.
• 2012/03/30: OS: Mesoscale variability of water masses in the Arabian Sea as revealed by ARGO floats by X. Carton et al.
• 2012/03/30: OS: ENSURF: multi-model sea level forecast -- implementation and validation results for the IBIROOS and Western Mediterranean regions by B. Pérez et al.
• 2012/03/29: OS: An empirical model for the statistics of sea surface diurnal warming by M. J. Filipiak et al.
• 2012/03/30: OSD: Chl a trends in European seas estimated using ocean-colour products by G. Coppini et al.
• 2012/03/30: OSD: Towards an integrated forecasting system for pelagic fisheries by A. Christensen et al.
• 2012/03/28: OSD: Observed response of the marine atmospheric boundary layer to the Southern Ocean fronts during the IPY BGH 2008 cruise by C. Messager et al.
• 2012/03/30: TC: Autonomous detection of calving-related seismicity at Kronebreen, Svalbard by A. Köhler et al.
• 2012/03/30: TC: Longitudinal surface structures (flowstripes) on Antarctic glaciers by N. F. Glasser & G. H. Gudmundsson
• 2012/03/30: TC: Thermal remote sensing of ice-debris landforms using ASTER: an example from the Chilean Andes by A. Brenning et al.
• 2012/03/30: TCD: Simulating snow maps for Norway: description and statistical evaluation of the seNorge snow model by T. M. Saloranta
• 2012/03/30: TCD: Simulating the growth of supra-glacial lakes at the western margin of the Greenland ice sheet by A. A. Leeson et al.
• 2012/03/31: AMS:JC: (ab$) Temporal and Spatial Variability of Great Lakes Ice Cover, 1973-2010 by Jia Wang et al.
• 2012/03/28: ACP: The comparison of MODIS-Aqua (C5) and CALIOP (V2 & V3) aerosol optical depth by J. Redemann et al.
• 2012/03/26: ACP: A conceptual framework to quantify the influence of convective boundary layer development on carbon dioxide mixing ratios by D. Pino et al.
• 2012/03/29: ACPD: Global and regional trends of aerosol optical depth over land and ocean using SeaWiFS measurements from 1997 to 2010 by N. C. Hsu et al.
• 2012/03/29: ACPD: Simulation of stratospheric water vapor and trends using three reanalyses by M. R. Schoeber et al.
• 2012/03/29: ACPD: Chemical characterization of particle emissions from controlled burns of biomass fuels using a high resolution time-of-flight aerosol mass spectrometer by L. Qi et al.
• 2012/03/28: ACPD: Seasonal and annual variation of carbon dioxide surface fluxes in Helsinki, Finland, in 2006-2010 by L. Järvi et al.
• 2012/03/28: ACPD: Aerosol optical depth over the Arctic: a comparison of ECHAM-HAM and TM5 with ground-based, satellite and reanalysis data by J. von Hardenberg et al.
• 2012/03/27: ACPD: The effects of mineral dust particles, aerosol regeneration and ice nucleation parameterizations on clouds and precipitation by A. Teller et al.
• 2012/03/27: PNAS: (ab$) Learning predator promotes coexistence of prey species in host-parasitoid systems by Yumiko Ishii & Masakazu Shimada
• 2012/03/27: PNAS: (abs) Continent-wide risk assessment for the establishment of nonindigenous species in Antarctica by Steven L. Chown et al.
• 2012/03/27: PNAS: (abs) Oil sands mining and reclamation cause massive loss of peatland and stored carbon by Rebecca C. Rooney et al.
• 2012/03/27: PNAS: (abs) Permian vegetational Pompeii from Inner Mongolia and its implications for landscape paleoecology and paleobiogeography of Cathaysia by Jun Wang et al.
• 2012/03/27: PNAS: (abs) Insights from past millennia into climatic impacts on human health and survival by Anthony J. McMichael
• 2012/03/27: PNAS: (ab$) Forecasting sudden changes in environmental pollution patterns by MarÃa J. Olascoaga & George Haller
• 2012/03/27: PNAS: (abs) Evidence from central Mexico supporting the Younger Dryas extraterrestrial impact hypothesis by Isabel Israde-Alcántara et al.
• 2012/03/27: PNAS: (letter$) Permian Coal Forest offers a glimpse of late Paleozoic ecology by Arden R. Bashforth & William A. DiMichele
• 2012/03/28: Nature: (ab$) Air density 2.7 billion years ago limited to less than twice modern levels by fossil raindrop imprints by Sanjoy M. Som et al.
• 2012/03/27: GMD: Vegetation height and cover fraction between 60° S and 60° N from ICESat GLAS data by S. O. Los et al.
• 2012/03/27: GMD: CAM-chem: description and evaluation of interactive atmospheric chemistry in the Community Earth System Model by J.-F. Lamarque et al.
• 2012/03/26: GMDD: The regional aerosol-climate model REMO-HAM by J.-P. Pietikäinen et al.
• 2012/03/27: TC: Near-surface climate and surface energy budget of Larsen C ice shelf, Antarctic Peninsula by P. Kuipers Munneke et al.
• 2012/03/27: TC: An algorithm to detect sea ice leads by using AMSR-E passive microwave imagery by J. Röhrs & L. Kaleschke
• 2012/03/27: TCD: Limitations of a coupled regional climate model in the reproduction of the observed Arctic sea-ice retreat by W. Dorn et al.
• 2012/03/26: TCD: Formation and metamorphism of stratified firn at sites located under spatial variations of accumulation rate and wind speed on the East Antarctic ice divide near Dome Fuji by S. Fujita et al.
• 2012/03/08: RSC:E&ES: Solar energy generation in three dimensions by Marco Bernardi et al.
• 2012/03/27: SkeptiSci: New research from last week 12/2012 by Ari Jokimäki
• 2012/03/26: AGWObserver: New research from last week 12/2012
• 2012/03/25: Nature:GeoSci: (ab$) Broad range of 2050 warming from an observationally constrained large climate model ensemble by Daniel J. Rowlands et al.
• 2012/03/25: NatureCC: (ab$) A decade of weather extremes by Dim Coumou & Stefan Rahmstorf

  And other significant documents:

• 2012/03/28: IPCC: [43.5 meg pdf] Special Report on Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation
• 2012/03/29: PuP: [681k pdf] State of the Planet Declaration
• 2012/03/28: CGIAR:CCAFS: [link to 4.5 meg pdf] Achieving Food Security in the Face of Climate Change

  As for miscellaneous science:

• 2012/03/31: JEB: NOC NOC Who's there? Not as many as you thought....
• 2012/03/29: Tamino: To robust, or not to robust? -- that is the question
• 2012/03/28: P3: Dilemmas in science communication by Bart Verheggen
• 2012/03/27: ERW: Oceanography enters the Iron Age
• 2012/03/27: Eureka: Has modern science become dysfunctional?
• 2012/03/27: SlashDot: Dysfunction In Modern Science?

  More DIY science:

• 2012/03/29: moyhu: Interactive climate plotting news

  What developments in the ongoing struggle for Free Science?

• 2012/03/30: DM:GNXP: Nature Precedings closes up shop

  Regarding Hayhoe:

• 2012/03/30: CCP: For Katharine Hayhoe, Climate Change Not a Leap of Faith

  Regarding Mann:

• 2012/03/29: CBC: Climatologist Michael E. Mann on science, politics and censorship
• 2012/03/28: TCoE: Why Michael Mann is a climate hero
• 2012/03/28: GLaden: Michael Mann on Climate Scientists and Smear Campaigns
• 2012/03/28: ClassM: More from Michael Mann
• 2012/03/28: CNN: Climate scientists and smear campaigns by Michael Mann
• 2012/03/28: P3: Mike Mann Article

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

• 2012/03/31: EUO: EU countries explore alternatives to financial tax
• 2012/03/30: EUO: UK report rejects EU financial transaction tax
• 2012/03/28: EUO: Citizens' initiative on transactions tax would increase 'pressure'
• 2012/03/26: EUO: German finance minister Wolfgang Schauble has seemingly given up on the idea of implementing a financial transactions tax at EU-wide level.

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

• 2012/03/30: BBerg: Obama Clears Way for Sanctions on Banks in Iran Oil Trade
• 2012/03/30: al Jazeera: Obama approves new Iran oil sanctions
  US president gives go-ahead for fresh oil sanctions against Iran, judging the move will not hit US consumers or allies.
• 2012/03/30: BBC: Iran crisis: US to apply fresh oil sanctions
  US President Barack Obama has approved the introduction of fresh sanctions on buyers of Iranian oil.
• 2012/03/30: Guardian(UK): Barack Obama's latest sanctions against Iran designed to cut its oil exports
• 2012/03/29: GRC: The Art of Warfare : Iran and The Gas Pipeline Battle"
• 2012/03/29: AntiWar: Sanctions on Iran Driving Up Global Oil Prices
• 2012/03/28: CSM: Senate resolution on Iran may be bipartisan, but it could lead to war
• 2012/03/26: TStar: Shell scrambles to pay $1-billion bill for Iran oil

  Notice the phrasing: "penalize airlines" -- How about "require airlines to be responsible"?

• 2012/03/29: PlanetArk: U.S. Lawmakers Press Obama Administration On EU Emission Law
  A U.S. House committee pressured the Obama administration on Wednesday to accelerate diplomatic action to resolve a global dispute over a European law that would penalize airlines for aircraft emissions.
• 2012/03/28: Guardian(UK): US airlines drop lawsuit over EU carbon emissions charges
  Private legal challenge by group of US airlines against EU charges is pulled in hope their government will take over issue

Further on the food weapon:

• 2012/03/28: al Jazeera: US suspends food aid to North Korea
  Official says Pyongyang has "broken its promise to refrain from missile launches and cannot be trusted".
• 2012/03/25: AntiWar: Obama Threatens to Revoke North Korean Food Aid

  In the "global competition for natural resources":

• 2012/03/28: PlanetArk: Scarce Resources To Slow Low-Carbon Growth: Study
• 2012/03/27: SciAm: Scarce Resources May Slow Low-Carbon Growth
  Dwindling supplies of metals, water and biomass could slow the deployment of clean energy technologies by 2035, a study by research organization the Stockholm Environment Institute and by business initiative 3C showed on Tuesday.

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

• 2012/03/29: SciAm:Obs: Food, Not War, Is the Biggest Threat to World Security, Argues Lester Brown
• 2012/03/26: PlanetArk: U.S. Intelligence Sees Global Water Conflict Risks Rising
• 2012/03/26: SciAm:CC: Are We Doomed to Wage Wars Over Water?

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

• 2012/03/29: CCP: Shell wins injunction against Greenpeace Arctic drilling protestors

  What are the activists up to?

• 2012/03/28: CCP: Wit's End Climate Warrior Gail Zawacki brings her "Koch Kills" banner to New York City!
• 2012/03/28: ABC(Au): The changing face of activism
• 2012/03/28: Grist: The woman who took on Koch Industries to save her farm
• 2012/03/26: TreeHugger: Four Arrested at Occupy Wall Street's 'Disrupt Dirty Power' Protest
• 2012/03/23: TheCanadian: Sandra Steingraber's Dear John Letter to Sierra Club Over Millions in Secret Donations from Fracking Industry

  Polls! We have polls!

• 2012/03/28: QuarkSoup: Poll: Environmentalism Isn't Last, For Once
• 2012/03/26: Helenair: Support for renewable energy broad and deep

  Regarding Water Politics and Business:

• 2012/03/30: BBC: Concerns over India rivers order
  A supreme court order in India asking the government to link more than 30 rivers and divert waters to parched areas has sparked concerns in neighbouring countries. Bangladesh says it would be hardest hit because it is a downstream country to two major rivers that flow from India. New Delhi is yet to respond to the neighbouring countries' reactions.
• 2012/03/29: ScienceInsider: California Water: Is Anyone Listening?
• 2012/03/29: JFleck: A fevered first reading of the National Research Council's Bay-Delta Report
• 2012/03/31: JFleck: National Research Council on the scarcity value of water
• 2012/03/31: JFleck: the sharp edge of a knife between wet and dry
• 2012/03/31: JFleck: Great moments in western water law: drowning gophers
• 2012/03/31: JFleck: Halfway through the water year: fear and the attention economy
• 2012/03/29: PlanetArk: Rampant Water "Pillage" Is Sucking Yemen Dry
• 2012/03/26: AsiaOne: China plans to curb capital's water usage

  And on the American political front:

• 2012/03/30: TP:JR: Energy Transparency Laws Could Create 59,000 Jobs And Cut Energy Costs $18 Billion By 2020
• 2012/03/26: WaPo: Republicans are causing a moral crisis in America
  There is moral crisis afoot! So say the Republican candidates for president, their pals in Congress and in state houses. Abortion, gay marriage, contraception -- contraception, for Pete's sake -- things that so shock the conscience that it's a wonder The Washington Post can even print the words! Here's something I bet you wouldn't think I'd say: They're right. There is a moral crisis in the United States. The only thing is -- they're wrong about what it is and who is causing it. The real crisis of public morality in the United States doesn't lie in the private decisions Americans make in their lives or their bedrooms; it lies at the heart of an ideology -- and a set of policies -- that the right-wing has used to batter and browbeat their fellow Americans.
• 2012/03/30: AlterNet: Why Are People Dying to Bring You Dinner? The Shocking Facts About Our Food System
• 2012/03/30: JQuiggin: Republican conservatism: an infantile disorder?
• 2012/03/29: AlterNet: Owning Pigs a Felony in Michigan? Big Ag-Inspired Law Targets Small Farms
• 2012/03/28: ShawnOtto: A Message from a Republican Meteorologist on Climate Change by Paul Douglas
  My climate epiphany wasn't overnight, and it had nothing to do with Al Gore
• 2012/03/29: TP:JR: A Message From A Republican Meteorologist On Climate Change -- Acknowledging Climate Change Doesn't Make You A Liberal
• 2012/03/28: TreeHugger: In Today's GOP, Nixon Would be a "Flaming Radical" for Green Stances: Noam Chomsky
• 2012/03/29: SlashDot: Virginia Approves First Offshore Wind-Energy Turbine For US Waters
• 2012/03/26: Grist: For Pennsylvania's doctors, a gag order on fracking chemicals
• 2012/03/26: Helenair: Support for renewable energy broad and deep
  Montana voters have spoken, and they are overwhelmingly in favor of renewable energy.
  [...]
  The Montana poll found that three out of four Montana voters support increasing the amount of electricity we get from clean, renewable wind, solar and geothermal resources. Over 75 percent of voters support expanding and extending the state's renewable energy standard from a 15 percent renewable energy target by 2015 to a 25 percent renewable energy target by 2025.
• 2012/03/26: DeSmogBlog: How Do You Build a Scientific Republican?

  The BP disaster continues to twist US politics:

• 2012/03/30: DeSmogBlog: Deadly Bacteria Found In Gulf Coast Tar Balls
• 2012/03/28: al Jazeera: BP oil disaster: People still reeling from impacts
  There should be vigilance along the US coast of the Gulf of Mexico to expose and address the impacts of BP oil disaster.
• 2012/03/27: CNN: Coral damage linked to Deepwater Horizon spill
  Coral beds 7 miles from the well suffered heavy damage, researchers say - "It tells us it's likely this oil hit a lot of other areas of the seafloor," one scientist says - The findings of the late-2010 expedition are being published this week - Nearly 5 million barrels of crude are believed to have poured into the Gulf in the 2010 spill
• 2012/03/27: TreeHugger: BP Oil Spill Definitely Caused Coral Deaths in Gulf of Mexico
• 2012/03/26: SciNews: The farther the better for corals after oil spill -- Deepwater organisms may be slow to recover from Gulf accident
• 2012/03/26: CBC: Gulf deepwater coral shows damage after BP spill -- Use of chemical dispersants may need re-evaluation, researchers say
• 2012/03/26: SciNow: 'Frothy Gunk' From Deepwater Horizon Spill Harming Corals
• 2012/03/26: Eureka: Study by NOAA and partners shows some Gulf dolphins severely ill -- UME, NRDA studies on-going

  So what do you want -- a corporate dweeb, or a sociopathic corporate dweeb? Your choice:

• 2012/03/27: CJR: Little Context for Obama Energy Speech in Ohio -- Local reports present a war of words without much fact checking
• 2012/03/30: ProCon: 2012 Presidential Candidate Positions on 50 Issues - A Side by Side Comparison
• 2012/03/30: Guardian(UK): Mitt Romney heads to Wisconsin in strong position - US campaign live
• 2012/03/30: Guardian(UK): What makes Rick run and keeps Newt in?
• 2012/03/28: RawStory: Santorum tells young man not to use pink bowling ball 'on camera'
• 2012/03/29: GLaden: Rick Santorum on Creationism Laws
• 2012/03/26: Wonkette: Rick Santorum Yells Rude Swear at Terrible Liberal Media (video!)
• 2012/03/26: Wonkette: Rick Santorum Would Love to Be Veep of Worst Republican In Country Mitt Romney (video)
• 2012/03/26: TP:JR: Flashback: In 2007, Romney Wanted Government 'To Invest In New Technology' For Clean Energy And Fuel Efficiency
• 2012/03/26: PlanetArk: Facing Heat Over Gas Price Rise, Obama Vows To Speed Pipeline's Southern Leg

  Gas Prices look to remain a major issue in the election:

• 2012/03/31: EconView: "Why Gas Prices Are Out of Any President's Control"
• 2012/03/28: EconBrowser: A rational reason for high oil prices
• 2012/03/28: TP:JR: Will GOP Attacks on Gas Prices Backfire?
• 2012/03/27: AlterNet: Why the Right's Zombie Lie About Gas Prices Is Wrong But They'll Never Let it Die
• 2012/03/26: TP:JR: Top Strategists On Gas Price Messaging: Americans Want a 'Realistic Long-Term Plan' Not 'Empty Political Promises'

  The Keystone XL saga rolls along:

• 2012/03/25: AlterNet: Obama Picks Sides on Keystone XL: TransCanada Wins. Earth, Everyone Else Loses
• 2012/03/25: CCP: Barack Hussein Obama -- the president who cooked the planet: Lessons from Obama's Keystone Cave-In

  Ya gotta love it when people look at the same paper & draw diametrically opposed conclusions:

• 2012/03/29: QuarkSoup: No, It's Not Republicans' Brains
• 2012/03/29: TP:JR: Conservative Trust Of Science At All Time Low, Study Confirms Chris Mooney Thesis
• 2012/03/29: SciBlog: Study: Conservatives' trust in science has fallen dramatically since mid-1970s
• 2012/03/29: TCoE: Politicization of Science in the Public Sphere: A Study of Public Trust in the United States, 1974 to 2010

  American justice. Tim DeChristopher. Enough said:

• 2012/03/29: Wonkette: Eco-Terrorist Scamp Jailed For Punking Drilling Agency Put In 'The Hole' For Sending E-Mail
• 2012/03/29: Grist: Tim DeChristopher out of solitary
• 2012/03/29: TreeHugger: Tim DeChristopher Moved Out of Isolation Unit, Back Into Minimum Security
• 2012/03/28: PeacefulUprising: Tim DeChristopher Placed in Isolated Confinement
• 2012/03/28: CCP: Tim DeChristopher placed in solitary confinement
• 2012/03/28: Grist: Tim DeChristopher put in 'isolated confinement' [on March 8]
• 2012/03/28: TreeHugger: Tim DeChristopher Moved Into Isolated Confinement Unit
• 2012/03/28: DeSmogBlog: Tim DeChristopher Moved To Isolated Confinement

  The EPA introduced a CO2 limit for new coal plants:

• 2012/03/27: EPA: EPA Proposes First Carbon Pollution Standard for Future Power Plants
  Achievable standard is in line with investments already being made and will inform the building of new plants moving forward
• 2012/03/28: NatureN: EPA proposes carbon regulations for utilities -- Rule would mean no new coal-fired power plants could be built without carbon capture
• 2012/03/28: ScienceInsider: Imposing a Cap With Holes [EPA]
• 2012/03/28: GreenGrok: EPA's New Standard on Carbon Pollution: A Climate Changer?
• 2012/03/28: TreeHugger: EPA Will Target CO2 Emissions of Existing Coal Plants --- When It's Not Election Season
• 2012/03/27: Grist: What's the deal with EPA carbon rules for existing power plants?
• 2012/03/27: Grist: The top five things you need to know about EPA's new carbon rule
• 2012/03/27: NatureNB: EPA proposes carbon regulations for utilities
• 2012/03/27: ERabett: Hansen Wins
• 2012/03/27: CSW: New EPA greenhouse gas rule may effectively end new coal power plants
• 2012/03/27: UCSUSA:B: EPA Limits Carbon Emissions from New Power Plants
• 2012/03/27: UCSUSA: EPA Proposes First-Ever Carbon Standards for New Power Plants
• 2012/03/27: TreeHugger: Here Come the First Greenhouse Gas Limits on Power Plants
• 2012/03/26: STimes: EPA to limit carbon-dioxide emissions from new power plants
• 2012/03/27: BBerg: EPA Introduces First Greenhouse-Gas Limits for Power Plants
  The Environmental Protection Agency proposed the first limits on greenhouse-gas emissions from U.S. power plants, the largest source of carbon dioxide linked to climate change. The rules will permit emissions from new power plants at 1,000 pounds of carbon dioxide per megawatt hour, about the level for a modern natural-gas plant, the EPA said today in an e-mailed statement. The limit would effectively preclude construction of new coal-fired plants, which are struggling to compete with decade-low natural gas prices.

The Obama chatter is nonstop:

• 2012/03/28: TP:JR: The Green Button: White House Makes The Right Call On Energy Data

  The actions of the Obama administration are being watched closely:

• 2012/03/30: BBerg: EPA Agrees to Dismiss Well Contamination Case Against Range
  The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency agreed to end a lawsuit that would've forced Range Resources Corp. (RRC) to fix natural-gas wells the government said were contaminating water in Parker County, Texas.
• 2012/03/29: TP:JR: The Department Of Interior's Contradictory Policies On Arctic Drilling
• 2012/03/30: BWeek: High Methane in Pennsylvania Water Deemed Safe by EPA
• 2012/03/30: WaPo: Obama administration, 5 states reach deal to quicken approval of wind farms in Great Lakes
• 2012/03/29: AutoBG: Coda shelves plans for Ohio battery plant because of DOE inaction
• 2012/03/28: AlaskaDispatch: Alaska offshore: Interior approves Shell's Beaufort response plan
• 2012/03/29: CCP: U.S. Department of the Interior's Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) has announced its approval of the oil spill response plan for Shell's exploratory drilling program in the Beaufort Sea
• 2012/03/26: CAbyss: Less Safe, Thanks to the Dept. of Homeland Security

  As for what is going on in Congress:

• 2012/03/29: WaPo: GOP blocks Obama's effort to end tax breaks for Big Oil
• 2012/03/30: TP:JR: 47 Senators Side With Big Oil And Vote To Kill 37,000 American Wind Jobs
• 2012/03/30: TP:JR: After Failed Solyndra Investigation, GOP Leaders Want An Even More Absurd Investigation Of Clean Energy Grants
• 2012/03/29: Grist: The Solyndra sideshow peters out
• 2012/03/29: TreeHugger: Why Nobody Takes Ending Oil Subsidies Seriously
• 2012/03/30: TreeHugger: The Mystery of the Invincible Oil Subsidies (Video)
• 2012/03/29: OilChange: Senate Fails to Cut Favors to Big Oil, Once Again
• 2012/03/29: CBC: Obama plan to end U.S. oil subsidies rejected
• 2012/03/29: Wonkette: US Senate Votes To Aid and Comfort Oil Companies In Their Time Of Trillion-Dollar-Profit Need
• 2012/03/28: Grist: Boehner bombs: House speaker fails on transportation bill
• 2012/03/26: TDC: Kerry: 'We have lost the notion of responsible capitalism'
  Venting frustration at the lack of progress on environmental issues, U.S. Sen. John Kerry voices the exasperation of a core constituency in President Obama's re-election bid.

While in the UK:

• 2012/03/30: TreeHugger: Scotland Now Gets 1/3 of Its Power from Renewable Sources
• 2012/03/30: NatureN: UK oceanography cuts make global waves -- Layoffs will hit international research and collaboration
• 2012/04/01: BBC: Is the UK's nuclear future in jeopardy?
  The energy minister Charles Hendry admits that the withdrawal of the German energy giants E.ON and RWE from a big nuclear power project in Anglesey is "clearly very disappointing". He points out however that "the UK's new nuclear programme is far more than one consortia" and that "plans from EDF/Centrica and Nugen are on track".
• 2012/03/29: Scotland(gov): Scotland beats 2011 green energy target
  Energy Minister Fergus Ewing has welcomed new figures that demonstrate Scotland will beat the 2011 renewables target. Statistics published today show that the amount of renewable electricity generated in 2011 rose 45 per cent on 2010 to 13,750 Gigawatt hours. Assuming gross consumption in 2011 is similar to 2010, that means around 35 per cent of Scotland's electricity needs came from renewables in 2011, beating the Scottish Government's target of 31 per cent.
• 2012/03/29: BBC: Nature deficit disorder 'damaging Britain's children'
  UK children are losing contact with nature at a "dramatic" rate, and their health and education are suffering, a National Trust report says.
• 2012/03/29: NatureN: UK National Oceanography Centre preps for significant staff cuts -- Centre to shed 35 scientific jobs
• 2012/03/29: BBC: RWE and E.On halt UK nuclear plans at Wylfa and Oldbury
  There has been a setback to the government's plan to attract investment in new nuclear power stations. That is after RWE Npower and E.On announced they will not develop new nuclear power projects in the UK. The two were planning to invest in new plants in Anglesey and Oldbury, near Bristol, under a joint venture called Horizon Nuclear Power. The government says it is disappointed but there remains "considerable interest" in the project. The firms blamed problems raising finance for power projects and costs associated with decommissioning nuclear power plants in Germany.
• 2012/03/28: Guardian(UK): No decision on carbon reporting? Tories fail every environment test
  DEFRA secretary Caroline Spelman's non-announcement on businesses fails to follow obligations of the Climate Change Act
• 2012/03/26: BBC: Renewables industry in Scottish jobs claim
  The body representing the renewables industry has published research which claims it supports more than 11,000 full-time jobs in Scotland.
• 2012/03/27: Guardian(UK): Industry blasts 'unacceptable' delay to carbon reporting
  Government statement says ministers need more time to consider a policy almost universally supported by businesses

And in Europe:

• 2012/03/29: PlanetArk: EU Seeks To Decide Who Gets U.N. [GCF: Green/Global] Climate Fund Seats
• 2012/03/28: EurActiv: UN expert says EU farm policies 'impossible to satisfy'
  European efforts to make farming more environmentally friendly have done little to address its growing ecological footprint abroad, says a UN expert who calls for a shift to more sustainable consumption.
• 2012/03/28: EurActiv: MEPs question heavy greening of the EU budget
  Earmarking too large a chunk of the European Union's cohesion funds for environmental projects in the 2014-2020 budget could be "detrimental", MEPs said.
• 2012/03/27: TreeHugger: Activists Defend Germany's Massive Renewable Energy Growth
• 2012/03/27: EurActiv: EU push for ocean energy set to fall short
• 2012/03/27: TP:JR: A True 'All Of The Above' Energy Policy: Denmark Affirms Commitment To 100% Renewable Energy By 2050
• 2012/03/26: EurActiv: Regions commit to green policies ahead of Rio+20
  European regions are gearing up for the Rio+20 Earth Summit in June by drawing up a list of "key ingredients" in a bid to make sustainable urban development a focal point of the Brazil discussions.
• 2012/03/26: EurActiv: Tajani backs away from 2025 fuel efficiency fight
  A recent moratorium on new legislation in the automobile sector announced by the European Industry Commissioner Antonio Tajani is being quietly shelved, EurActiv has learned. In a declaration of support to an automobile industry bitterly divided over new carbon dioxide standards for 2025, Tajani recently said that he had instructed his directorate "to implement a regulatory moratorium to avoid new costs and limit relocations". However, his spokesman Carlo Corazza told EurActiv that the moratorium would not apply to the EU's proposed 2020 target of 95 grams of CO2 per kilometre, or to any other targets that might be brought forward for 2025. "This legislation is under the competence of Commissioner [Connie] Hedegaard of Climate Action," Corazza told EurActiv.
• 2012/03/26: EurActiv: Efficacy of EU's 'green' CAP reform questioned
  Farmers' organisations worry that the European Commission's plans to make the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) more environmentally friendly could leave producers drowning in paperwork.
• 2012/03/26: EUO: German finance minister Wolfgang Schauble has seemingly given up on the idea of implementing a financial transactions tax at EU-wide level.
• 2012/03/26: Guardian(UK): Denmark aims to get 50% of all electricity from wind power
  The country aims to supply 35% of its total energy from renewables by 2020 and 100% by 2050

Meanwhile in Australia:

• 2012/03/30: ABC(Au): Insurance premiums jump [400%-500%] after floods
• 2012/03/30: ABC(Au): Complaint lodged against 'carbon tax collector' ad
  An advertising campaign showing a carbon tax collector demanding money from a frail pensioner has been referred to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC). Total Environment Centre director Jeff Angel says a complaint has been lodged against the New South Wales company Energy Watch, a group that acts as an energy broker for consumers and business.
• 2012/03/27: ABC(Au):TDU: Queensland election will have federal implications
• 2012/03/27: ABC(Au):TDU: Asset sales, their part in Labor's downfall
• 2012/03/28: ABC(Au): Losing our lead: emissions targets increase ahead
  Australia will have to increase its greenhouse gas reduction target from the current 5 per cent by 2020, to at least 15 per cent within two years under the policies of both the ALP and the Coalition. That's because the conditions for doing that look like being met. Remember- the Government's reduction target is 5 per cent below 2000 levels unilateral and 15 per cent if "major developing economies commit to substantially restrain emissions and advanced economies take on commitments comparable to Australia's".
• 2012/03/28: ABC(Au): Land nod for solar energy project
  The Shire of Morawa [WA] has earmarked land for a proposed solar energy plant.
• 2012/03/28: ABC(Au): Solar project in the dark on funding future
  The operators of a proposed $1 billion solar thermal electricity plant in Queensland say their project will go ahead despite claims by the state's new Premier that he will withdraw funding. Yesterday Campbell Newman said he would dismantle all of Queensland's carbon reduction schemes to save $270 million for the state budget, including $75 million earmarked for the Solar Dawn project near Chinchilla, which is part of the Federal Government's Solar Flagship Program.
• 2012/03/28: ABC(Au): Scientists alarmed as coal pit gets go-ahead
  Climate scientists say a big coal mine set to go ahead on Queensland's Darling Downs will undermine Australia's efforts to reduce carbon emissions. One expert says it could damage 20 square kilometres of the Great Barrier Reef.
• 2012/03/28: ABC(Au): Concerns over wind farm guidelines
  Lake Macquarie Council will write to the state Planning Department outlining its concerns over the Government's Draft Wind Farm Guidelines.
• 2012/03/28: ABC(Au): Solar power firm operating despite staff cuts
• 2012/03/26: ABC(Au): Government stands by carbon station purchase
  The Federal Environment Minister Tony Burke has defended his decision to provide $9 million dollars to help a large agricultural company buy a Central Australian cattle station for carbon sequestration.
• 2012/03/26: ABC(Au): Doubts raised about experimental carbon farming idea
• 2012/03/26: HotTopic: Words matter: a politician tells the truth
• 2012/03/30: PlanetJ: A dreadful week for the climate
  This week's events illustrate Australia's rush to expand the fossil fuel industry is matched only by its rush to cut climate change and renewable energy policies.
• 2012/03/27: CCurrents: "High Polluting Victoria , Australia , Scraps Carbon Pollution Target And Increases Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Pollution" [Polya]
• 2012/03/27: ABC(Au): Victoria defends dumping of emissions target
• 2012/03/27: ABC(Au): Victoria slashes carbon reduction target
  The Victorian Government plans to save $2 billion by cutting Labor's carbon emissions reduction target from 20 per cent to 5 per cent, but the renewable energy sector says it will cost jobs.

The carbon bill is law. Now comes the implementation:

• 2012/03/31: ABC(Au): Anger over carbon-driven electricity rises
  Authorities in Queensland predict the carbon tax will increase average electricity bills by at least 7 per cent. The Queensland Competition Authority has released its annual draft electricity prices; other states and territories are yet to do the same.
• 2012/04/01: ABC(Au): Experts give red mark to green home ratings
  The Federal Government wants all homes for sale or rent to have an energy efficient rating, but experts say the system used to attain that rating is flawed and will result in unhappy homebuyers. The rating system is supposed to reveal the energy performance of a building - to inform people whether they could face big power bills to heat or cool a home.
• 2012/03/30: ABC(Au): Govt rejects savage spray from Future Fund boss
• 2012/03/30: ABC(Au): Departing Future Fund boss savages carbon tax
  The man who has managed the multi-billion dollar Future Fund for six years has delivered a stinging broadside to the Government's carbon pricing scheme, calling it "the worst piece of economic reform" he has ever seen. David Murray ends his term as chairman of the fund's board on Monday.
• 2012/03/30: ABC(Au): Victorian power stations get carbon tax compensation
  Six Victorian coal-fired power generators will get the bulk of $1 billion of Federal Government funding aimed at helping them deal with the introduction of the carbon tax. Hazelwood Power Station in the Latrobe Valley will get the largest payment of around $266 million this year. Yallourn Power Station and Loy Yang A will get almost the same amount. Loy Yang B will be given around $117 million this year. Alcoa Anglesea and Energy Brix will get much smaller payments.
• 2012/03/30: ABC(Au): Carbon tax to push up power prices: competition watchdog
  The Queensland Competition Authority (QCA) says average power bills would have fallen in the state this year, if not for the Federal Government's carbon tax.
• 2012/03/26: ABC(Au): Managers confused, concerned about carbon tax
• 2012/03/26: ABC(Au): Carbon tax costs worry small business

  Looks like Palmer tried to walk back some of his CIA comments:

• 2012/03/27: ABC(Au): Drew Hutton to sue Palmer over CIA claims
  Environmental campaigner Drew Hutton is pursuing legal action against Clive Palmer, saying the mining magnate cannot go around saying whatever he wants about people just because he is a billionaire. Last week Mr Palmer accused the environmental campaigner of having links to the CIA in a plot to shut down Australian mining operations. But in Brisbane yesterday, Mr Palmer suggested his comments were merely a distraction to take some heat off LNP leader Campbell Newman in the run-up to the Queensland state election.
• 2012/03/26: ABC(Au): Palmer hints CIA claims a poll distraction ploy

  And in New Zealand:

• 2012/03/29: ABC(Au): NZ launches fracking inquiry

  While in the Indian subcontinent:

• 2012/03/30: al Jazeera: The politics of science and democracy in India by Dr Vandana Shiva
  Proposed legislation will rob citizens of their right to justice and biosafety and deregulate dangerous industries.
• 2012/03/30: CCurrents: Eradicating Hunger Requires Concrete Action, Not Hollow Promises!
• 2012/03/28: CCurrents: GM And The PM by Vandana Shiva
• 2012/03/28: CCurrents: The Great Indian Nuclear Maya
• 2012/03/28: CCurrents: Koodankulam: PMANE Calls Off Hunger Strike
• 2012/03/27: CCurrents: 'Nuclear India Will Become A Fascist India': A Talk With Anand Patwardhan
• 2012/03/27: CCurrents: Koodankulam: Manmohan Singh's Grand And Faulty Obsession
• 2012/03/27: CCurrents: Koodankulam: Demands At Talks With District Collector Today
• 2012/03/27: CCurrents: Koodankulam: Request From Ground Zero
• 2012/03/26: CCurrents: Indian Left And The Nuclear Hypocrisy
• 2012/03/26: CCurrents: Bogey Of Maoism Raised Against Koodankulam Protesters
• 2012/03/26: CCurrents: Koodankulam Protesters Appeal To IAEA

  And elsewhere in Asia:

• 2012/03/29: DemNow: Ousted Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed on the Coup that Ousted Him & His Climate Activism
• 2012/03/31: al Jazeera: Indonesian parliament delays fuel price rise
  Legislators vote to cut subsidies in August but only if price of crude rises above $120 a barrel, after mass protests.

While in Africa:

• 2012/03/27: Guardian(UK): Africa's 'resource curse' throws shadow over Mozambique's energy bonanza

  In Canada, neocon PM Harper pushes petroleum while doing nothing about climate change:

• 2012/03/30: Maribo: Canada's unrealistic greenhouse gas target
• 2012/03/27: VanObs: 350.org's Bill McKibben remembers schoolmate Stephen Harper
  World-renowned climate hero Bill McKibben attended the same grade school as PM Stephen Harper, he told Vancouverites. Oh, how they've drifted apart.
• 2012/03/25: CCP: Canada's Harper disgracefully cuts funding to PEARL Arctic research station...
• 2012/03/30: PostMedia: Transportation fuel shift stuck in slow lane -- Critics call for leadership from elected officials
  Killing the internal-combustion engine could be as simple as pulling the trigger. Except there is nobody holding the gun.

As expected the Tories first majority budget was a blatantly ideological document:

• 2012/03/30: QT: Harper didn't even try to hide it
  They didn't even hide it. The Conservatives have decided to take on Canada's charitable sector, primarily the Environment groups, accusing them of being too political and un-canadian. This is not the first time either, in the past they have gone after women's organizations, religious groups working in Palestine, and HIV/AIDS groups. In every case they have cut funding, eliminated programs, and attacked the groups integrity. This Time however they have decided to use more muscle. The recently released budget will increase scrutiny of charitable organizations in a blatant attempt to harass the most effective environmental groups. These groups perform several charitable missions, primarily to educate and inform Canadians and governments of the need to protect our environment and the harm industry and development can and or has on our environment.
• 2012/03/28: WCEL: Citizens Groups Nationwide Tell the Federal Government To Save Canada's Environmental Laws
• 2012/03/30: PI:B: Budget 2012: Canada won't spare a penny for clean energy
• 2012/03/31: LeftistJab: "If there was ever a Northern Alberta budget, this is it." Rona Ambrose
• 2012/03/29: PSAC: Austerity budget will shrink economy, cost tens of thousands of jobs and put the environment and health and safety at risk
• 2012/03/29: BtN: A budget that screws the planet for short-term profits
• 2012/03/29: SierraClub: Budget: Canadians have no say in environmental laws
• 2012/03/31: 350orBust: Harper's Budget: Fossil Fuel Subsidies Maintained, Conservation Groups Targeted
• 2012/03/31: LFR: Harper cuts Environment Canada budget because of the internet. Dovetails nicely with Bill C-30.
• 2012/03/30: NatureN: Canadian budget hits basic science -- Innovation wins over basic research and the environment
• 2012/03/30: ScienceInsider: Canada Holds the Line on Research
• 2012/03/29: VanSun:B: The federal budget's declaration of war on environmentalists
• 2012/03/30: BCLSB: The Budget And The Environment: The Deniers Liked It
• 2012/03/29: PEF: A budget that screws the planet for short-term profits

  As part of the budget, the Harper gang is moving to defund anybody who opposes them environmentally:

• 2012/03/31: PostMedia: Eco charities face federal crackdown
  The Conservative government will keep a closer eye on environment-focused charities accused of breaking rules that cap their political activity, cracking down on groups that allegedly engage in politically charged work beyond the legal limit. Thursday's budget arms the Canada Revenue Agency with $8-million over two years to ensure charities devote resources to charitable work and to improve transparency by asking them to disclose the extent to which their political activities are funded by foreign sources.
• 2012/03/29: WCEL: West Coast Environmental Law reacts to budget rollbacks of long-standing legal protections for the environment
• 2012/03/29: WCEL: Defending Canada's Environmental Laws is just common sense
• 2012/03/29: PostMedia: Budget proposals will affect environmental review of projects in B.C.
• 2012/03/29: PostMedia: Budget: Environmental reviews to be limited, simplified
  The federal government is overhauling its environmental review process for natural resource projects, announcing in Thursday's budget it will implement defined timelines, hand over some reviews to the provinces and dedicate fewer resources to examining small projects. In a move sure to rankle some environmental groups, the Harper government said it will soon introduce legislation aimed at having "one project, one review" in a defined time period.
• 2012/03/29: CBC: Budget shortens environmental review process
  Major resource projects like the Northern Gateway oil pipeline in British Columbia will complete environmental reviews faster under new timelines introduced in Thursday's federal budget. "The new timelines will apply" to the Northern Gateway pipeline, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said in a briefing at the Government Conference Centre in Ottawa. Currently, major resource projects can take as long six years to approve. Under the new rules, the whole process will take no more than 24 months.
• 2012/03/26: TheCanadian: Otto Langer Responds to Fisheries Minister's Defence of Plan to Gut Fisheries Act

  One notable group the Harper gang are defunding is the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy:

• 2012/03/30: PostMedia: Conservatives to turn to Internet after pulling plug on environmental panel
  The government suggests it can now get this advice from the Internet and stakeholders The proposed elimination of a key federal business and environmental panel that delivered stern warnings about Canada's climate change policies will leave a ``policy vacuum'' in the country's economic development, according to a former CEO of the group. But the government suggests it can now get this advice from the Internet and stakeholders. The National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy, created under former prime minister Brian Mulroney's government in 1988 in the lead-up to the 1992 Earth Summit, was one of the first forums to bring together business and environmental stakeholders to provide non-partisan research and advice on federal policies. But members of the government, including Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird and Environment Minister Peter Kent, applauded, grinned and chuckled in the House of Commons Friday as NDP MP Dennis Bevington slammed Thursday's federal budget for pulling the plug on the panel that employs about 30 people.

More on muzzling scientists:

• 2012/03/28: LeDaro: Harper to scientists: "Shut your mouth up"
• 2012/03/27: CBC: Are Canada's federal scientists being 'muzzled'?

  The First Nations' Peoples continue to struggle:

• 2012/03/27: TheBullet: Decolonization Against Austerity: Support Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug's Battle Against Mining!

  The battle over the Northern Gateway pipeline rages. It will be interesting to see the courts deal with retroactive rules:

• 2012/03/30: CBC: Speeding up Northern Gateway review risks 'battle' -- Head of Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs Stewart Phillip attacks government decision
  B.C. First Nations are reacting with anger to the government's decision to retroactively shorten the regulatory review for the Northern Gateway pipeline project in British Columbia. "This incredibly stupid move on the part of the Harper government will only serve to expedite the battle in the courtrooms and on the land itself," said Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, president of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs. He described the situation between B.C. aboriginals and the federal and provincial governments as "volatile." This "pipeline is going to traverse the territories of literally dozens and dozens of First Nations. And all of them have said very clearly that they do not support the Northern Gateway project and that they will do everything that they can to stop this project," added Phillip.
• 2012/03/30: BCLSB: War Has Begun
• 2012/03/29: PostMedia: Opposition to oilsands pipeline growing in B.C., poll finds
  A slim majority of British Columbians support a proposed $5.5billion oilsands pipeline to the B.C. coast, but opposition to the megaproject is growing, according to a new poll. The poll also found that an overwhelming majority of B.C. Conservative party supporters, and two-thirds of B.C. Liberal supporters, favour the plan by Calgarybased Enbridge Inc. NDP MP Kennedy Stewart, a former Simon Fraser University political scientist who specialized in polling issues and who commissioned the poll, said the results suggest it will become increasingly difficult for B.C. Liberal Premier Christy Clark to continue to straddle the fence on the issue.

Regarding the NDP leadership:

• 2012/03/26: iPolitics: Mulcair the right man for the job

  The ISA virus in BC waters is potentially disastrous:

• 2012/03/30: AlexandraMorton: ISA in Clayoquot - what is government's response?

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

• 2012/03/30: PostMedia: BCTF: B.C. needs a new government -- Union to ask teachers to mobilize during provincial election
  The B.C. Teachers' Federation will ask its members to mobilize to unseat the government in the May 2013 provincial election, a significant departure from past practice for the officially non-partisan body.
• 2012/03/29: Maribo: Storm the Riding: UBC students getting climate change on the agenda

  Meanwhile in that Mechanical Mordor known as the tar sands:

• 2012/03/26: GreenGrok: The Carbon Footprint of Oil Sands Oil
• 2012/03/30: CBC: Aboriginal oilsands lawsuit cleared by Alberta court
  An Alberta court says a northern aboriginal group's lawsuit claiming damages for 15 years of energy development on traditional lands can proceed. But a Queen's Bench judge also says that even if the Beaver Lake band wins its case, it can't ask the government to revoke more than 19,000 development permits already issued for the area.
• 2012/03/26: CBC: Ship Alberta oil to Atlantic, senator says
  Refineries in Atlantic Canada should get the opportunity to process cheaper oil from Alberta, says P.E.I. Senator Mike Duffy. Duffy was responding to an application from Enbridge to the National Energy Board to reverse the flow in an existing pipeline to bring oil from Alberta to Ontario. A company spokesperson says that if the market conditions are right, Enbridge might apply to get the oil to Montreal.

Also in Alberta:

• 2012/03/31: CalgaryLib: Alberta Votes: It's going to turn ugly.
• 2012/03/28: PostMedia: Wildrose, Tories in virtual tie
  PCs hold strong lead in city, battles tight elsewhere, poll finds A new poll shows a virtual dead heat between Alison Redford's PCs and Danielle Smith's Wildrose, with the governing Tories holding onto a formidable lead in Edmonton but locked in an intense battle inside Calgary and throughout the rest of the province.

While in Saskatchewan:

• 2012/03/29: CBC: Sask. launches review of Viterra takeover

  In the Maritimes:

• 2012/03/26: CBC: Electric car factory targeted for Saint John -- Chinese company wants to build in Port City

  As for miscellaneous Canadiana:

• 2012/03/29: CBC: Wheat board unveils revamped marketing plan
  The [new] Canadian Wheat Board has outlined a plan for a western wheat and barley market that the board no longer monopolizes.
• 2012/03/26: TDD: Canada's Gatekeepers Conspire to Prevent Greens from Taking Their Rightful Place in Canadian Politics

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

• 2012/03/29: PlanetArk: True Economic Measure Includes Natural Assets: Scientists
• 2012/03/28: CCurrents: Sustainable Economy: Keeping Wealth (Wellbeing) In Our Families And Communities

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

• 2012/03/29: Grist: Easy, reversible, 100 percent effective birth control is for men only
• 2012/03/28: NatureN: Hungry mothers give birth to more daughters -- Male to female birth ratios fell during the Chinese Great Leap Forward famine
• 2012/03/28: SciNow: Chinese Famine [1950s & 60s] Led to More Female Births
• 2012/03/28: CCurrents: Growth In World Contraceptive Use Stalling - 215 Million Women's Needs Still Unmet
• 2012/03/27: RawStory: Population adds to planet's pressure cooker, but few options
• 2012/03/15: TexasObserver: 'We Have No Choice': One Woman's Ordeal with Texas' New Sonogram Law
  The painful decision to terminate a pregnancy is now -- thanks to Texas' harsh new law -- just the beginning of the torment.

Apocalypso anyone?

• 2012/03/30: CSW: The Hunger Games, climate change, and the 99%
• 2012/03/06: Atlantic: We're Underestimating the Risk of Human Extinction
• 2012/03/22: TheEcologist: Thich Nhat Hanh: maybe in 100 years there will be no more humans on the planet
  The acclaimed buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh talks to the Ecologist about the loss of biodiversity and why human vulnerability is not something we should despair about

How do the media measure up?

• 2012/03/30: EconoSpeak: Follow the Honey
• 2012/03/29: PSinclair: Dear Daily Mail
• 2012/03/29: KSJT: Should science journalists actually read the scientific paper before reporting? And other questions from UK science journalists.
• 2012/03/29: PSinclair: Fox News: We've Always loved the Volt. After this Break, -- We've always been at war with Eastasia
• 2012/03/28: BBickmore: Daily Mail Wrong Again on Climate
• 2012/03/28: PSinclair: The Daily Mail = Major Fail - Scientist Sets Record Straight on Medieval Warming Research
• 2012/03/28: DM:NERS: More from the peculiarly introspective world of science journalism
• 2012/03/27: TP:JR: Fox News Debunks Right-Wing Lies About Chevy Volt: It's 'An Anti-Terrorist Weapon' And 'The Safest Car On The Road'
• 2012/03/27: PSinclair: "Truth Challenged" - Wall Street 16 - minus 15 - strikes again
• 2012/03/27: TreeHugger: Another IPCC Report on Climate, and Another Denial from Wall Street Journal
• 2012/03/26: TMoS: Washington Post Off Its Perch on Climate Change
• 2012/03/26: WaPo: Rising concern on climate change
• 2012/03/26: Grist: The Washington Post speaks the truth on climate change

  While activists search for effective communication techniques:

• 2012/03/29: AMAWr: How to be Engaging

  And for your film & video enjoyment:

• 2012/03/30: ArtThreat: Of Waves, Bears and Oil -- Friday Film Pick: Tipping Barrels
• 2012/03/29: TreeHugger: "The Island President" Director Jon Shenk Talks With TreeHugger
• 2012/04/01: HotTopic: Cartophilia (something to pore over)
• 2012/03/31: CCP: Gwynne Dyer: Scientists are very scared. The military are getting scared [about climate change] [vid]
• 2012/03/31: CCP: Gwynne Dyer: Climate change the single most important problem the world faces [vid]
• 2012/03/31: QuarkSoup: CO2: What We Knew in 1982 (and earlier)
• 2012/03/31: DeSmogBlog: As The Maldives Slowly Erode Away: A Review Of "The Island President" Documentary
• 2012/03/30: HotTopic: A blast from the past (if we knew now what we knew then)
• 2012/03/29: EarlyWarning: Gorgeous Wind Visualization
• 2012/03/28: KSJT: Pop Sci, Wired, Guardian, more: NASA Goddard's movie of ocean currents goes Van Gogh viral...
• 2012/03/28: DM:80B: Watch This: Earth's Oceans Wriggling With Durable, Beautiful Currents
• 2012/03/27: DemNow: Judi Bari Revisited: New Film Exposes FBI Coverup of 1990 Car Bombing of California Environmentalist
• 2012/03/27: DeSmogBlog: Sierra Club Launches "Mr. Coal" Video Campaign to Mock Dirty Coal PR
• 2012/03/27: TP:JR: Sierra Club's Comical 'Mr. Coal Guy' Ad Campaign
• 2012/03/27: TP:JR: Connecting The Dots On Climate And Extreme Weather: Must-Watch PBS Story On Devastating Texas Drought
• 2012/03/26: PSinclair: Global Warming: What We Knew in '82
• 2012/03/26: Grist: This ocean climate model is downright hypnotic
• 2012/03/26: CSW: Global Warming: What We Knew in '82

  Meanwhile among the 'Sue the Bastards!' contingent:

• 2012/03/30: TreeHugger: Organic Family Farmers Appeal District Court's Dismissal of Monsanto Lawsuit
• 2012/03/29: PlanetArk: U.S. Organic Growers Appeal Lawsuit Against Monsanto
• 2012/03/28: PlanetArk: Brazil Puts Expats On Notice With Chevron Charges
• 2012/03/27: ProMedMail: Antibiotic use in animals - USA: court ruling
• 2012/03/25: CSW: A court victory for the evils of mountaintop removal coal mining: Arch Coal Spruce No. 1 mine permit reinstated
• 2012/03/23: NYT: Court Reverses E.P.A. on Big Mining Project
  In a sharp rebuke, a federal judge on Friday reversed a decision by the Environmental Protection Agency to revoke a critical permit for one of the nation's largest mountaintop removal mining projects. The United States District Court judge, Amy Berman Jackson, said that the E.P.A.'s unilateral decision in January 2011 to rescind the waste disposal permit for the Spruce No. 1 mine in Logan County, W.Va., exceeded the agency's authority and violated federal law. She declared that the permit was now valid, paving the way for a mining project covering 2,278 acres to go forward.
• 2012/03/25: ERabett:BSD: Endangered Species Act also at risk along with Obamacare tomorrow
• 2012/03/26: TreeHugger: Nigerian Villages Take Shell to Court Over Oil Spills in Groundbreaking Case

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

• 2012/03/29: P3: The Old Switcheroo
• 2012/03/30: TreeHugger: Scotland Now Gets 1/3 of Its Power from Renewable Sources
• 2012/03/30: Grist: More on ramping down baseload power and ramping up storage
• 2012/03/29: NBF: No quick fixes on energy generation and temperature [Khosla & Yergin]
• 2012/03/29: TP:JR: Natural Gas Industry Must Tighten Up Methane Leaks -- And Save $2 Billion Per Year In The Process
• 2012/03/28: TP:JR: Fact Sheet: 6 Things You Should Know About The Value Of Renewable Energy
• 2012/03/27: TreeHugger: Activists Defend Germany's Massive Renewable Energy Growth
• 2012/03/28: TreeHugger: The Demand for Cheap Energy is Entitlement Culture Gone Mad
• 2012/03/28: NBF: SPS-ALPHA: The First Practical Solar Power Satellite via Arbitrarily Large PHased Array and Steering Solar Sails with Optical Lift Force
• 2012/03/27: BBC: Saltire Prize medal for inventor of Pelamis wave 'sea snake'
  The inventor of the so-called red sea snake wave energy device has been awarded the Saltire Prize medal. Dr Richard Yemm founded Pelamis Wave Power in Edinburgh in 1998. The company uses giant wave machines to generate electricity by harnessing the power of the sea.
• 2012/03/27: EurActiv: EU push for ocean energy set to fall short
  Europe's wave and tidal power technology is likely to disappoint EU expectations for 2020 and take over a decade to contribute to energy supply in a significant way, even though it is chalking up rapid growth and drawing in big industrial investors.
• 2012/03/27: PlanetArk: EU Push For Ocean Energy Set To Fall Short
• 2012/03/27: PeakEnergy: Japanese firms considering geothermal plants in Fukushima

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

• 2012/03/30: DeSmogBlog: Oil Industry Lobbyist / Mushroom Farmer Claims Family Farms Need Fracking
• 2012/03/30: BWeek: High Methane in Pennsylvania Water Deemed Safe by EPA
• 2012/03/29: ABC(Au): NZ launches fracking inquiry
• 2012/03/29: TreeHugger: Oil & Gas Industry Could Cut US Methane Emissions One-Third Though Efficiency Improvements
• 2012/03/28: TP:JR: Gas Industry Still Has Its Head In The Sand On Fracking
• 2012/03/28: PlanetArk: Groups Seek Fuller Disclosure Of Fracking [chemicals] In Wyoming
• 2012/03/26: Grist: For Pennsylvania's doctors, a gag order on fracking chemicals
• 2012/03/26: EnergyBulletin: A dark fracking future (response to Randy Udall) by Richard Heinberg
• 2012/03/26: EnergyBulletin: What hath fracking wrought by Randy Udall
• 2012/03/25: USAToday: Sierra Club: Natural gas isn't a 'kinder, gentler' energy
• 2012/03/26: BBerg: Shale Boom in Europe Fades as Polish Wells Come Up Empty
• 2012/03/25: NBF: China developing shale gas technology prior to big gas development push
• 2012/03/23: TPR: Fracking: Corruption a Part of Pennsylvania's Heritage
• 2012/03/19: TPR: Fracking's Health And Environmental Impacts Greater Than Claimed
• 2012/03/18: TPR: Fracking: Pennsylvania Gags Physicians
• 2012/03/20: AlterNet: What to Make of EPA Test Results: Is Water in Dimock, PA Really Safe to Drink After Fracking Contamination?

  On the coal front:

• 2012/03/31: TreeHugger: '80s TV Icons Paint Picture of Coal's Dirty Deeds

  On the gas and oil front:

• 2012/03/30: BBerg: Closing oil prices Friday
  OIL (US$/bbl)
  Nymex Crude Future...103.02
  Dated Brent Spot.....123.81
  WTI Cushing Spot.....103.02
• 2012/03/30: TreeHugger: Shell Oil President: "There Is No Immediate Fix For the Price of Oil Today"
• 2012/03/26: CER:RRapier: Setting the Record Straight on U.S. Oil Reserves
• 2012/03/29: FTAlphaville: Saudi Arabia resorts to Jedi mindtricks
• 2012/03/29: EnergyBulletin: The peak oil crisis: Our natural gas glut
• 2012/03/28: EarklyWarning: US Rig Count Trends [1986-2012]
• 2012/03/28: TP:JR: Debunking American Petroleum Institute Claims About Oil Issues
• 2012/03/26: Guardian(UK): Kenya strikes oil for first time
  President Mwai Kibaki says that more wells will be drilled to ascertain the commercial viability of the discovery
• 2012/03/26: al Jazeera: Kenya discovers first 'major' oil deposit
  High-quality oil found in nation's northwest, bringing optimism but also concerns fueled by neighbours' experiences.
• 2012/03/26: EarlyWarning: US Well Footage Stats
• 2012/03/25: OilDrum: Tech Talk - Saudi Arabian Oil Production: Part 2
• 2012/03/26: OilDrum: Global Oil Risks in the Early 21st Century
• 2012/03/26: BBC: Oil has been discovered in Kenya after exploratory drilling by Anglo-Irish firm Tullow Oil, President Mwai Kibaki has said
• 2012/03/25: EnergyBulletin: Why Saudi and American bluffing won't lower oil prices (Hint: It doesn't work when people know you're bluffing)

  In the fossil fuel corps:

• 2012/03/29: BBC: US giant Exxon Mobil has lost its crown as the world's biggest listed producer of oil to PetroChina...

  And in pipeline news:

• 2012/03/27: CBC: Enbridge to expand U.S. pipeline [from Flanagan, Ill. to Cushing, Okla.]
• 2012/03/23: Asia Times: Russia rules Pipelineistan

  Yes we have a peak oil sighting:

• 2012/03/26: EnergyBulletin: UK Oil: Plummeting production vs media inattention
• 2012/03/25: EnergyBulletin: Peak Oil - (House of Representatives - February 17, 2012) by Rep. Roscoe G. Bartlett (R-MD-6)

  Biofuel bickering abounds:

• 2012/03/31: USGS: Mapping Grasslands for Biofuel Potential
• 2012/03/26: LBL: New Synthetic Biology Technique Boosts Microbial Production of Diesel Fuel
  Joint BioEnergy Institute Researchers Develop Dynamic System for Regulating Metabolic Pathways

The answer my friend...:

• 2012/03/28: TreeHugger: Inflatable High Altitude Wind Turbine May Produce Double the Power at Half the Cost
• 2012/03/29: SlashDot: Virginia Approves First Offshore Wind-Energy Turbine For US Waters
• 2012/03/27: PlanetArk: Wind Turbine Growth To Slow As Market Looks East: [Danish consultancy BTM Consult]
• 2012/03/26: UCincinnati: Wind Energy Enhancement: UC Research Establishes Real-World Wind Turbine Performance Metrics and Just-in-Time Predictive Maintenance Software

  Meanwhile among the solar aficionados:

• 2012/03/30: SciAm:PI: Light on Landfills: Solar energy covers turn maxed-out landfills into solar farms
• 2012/03/28: PeakEnergy: MIT stacks solar panels, increases their power output by up to 20 times
• 2012/03/28: ABC(Au): Solar power firm operating despite staff cuts
  The Pambula-based renewable energy retailer, Pyramid Power, on the New South Wales far south coast says it is still operating despite a major reduction in staff. The supplier's parent company, DCFX Solar Systems, had over-capitalised its property interests and is now under voluntary administration The retailer has been sold to the recently-formed Pyramid Group, but staff have been cut from 63 to just six permanent jobs.
• 2012/03/26: Eureka: A new dimension for solar energy
• 2012/03/27: NBF: Innovative 3-D solar designs from MIT can double the solar power generated in a given area
• 2012/03/27: SlashDot: MIT Solar Towers Beat Solar Panels By Up To 20x
• 2012/03/26: EnergyBulletin: The solar envelope: how to heat and cool cities without fossil fuels

  The nuclear energy controversy continues:

• 2012/03/30: EurActiv: Lithuania signs nuclear power plant deal with Hitachi
  Lithuania and the Japanese conglomerate Hitachi concluded today (30 March) a concession agreement for the Visaginas Nuclear Power Plant, paving the way for the next phase of project development of what is seen as one of the most advanced nuclear generation projects in Europe.
• 2012/03/29: EUO: Bulgaria stops nuclear power plant construction
• 2012/03/28: EurActiv: Bulgaria drops nuclear power plant plans
  Bulgaria has abandoned plans to build its second nuclear power plant based on Russian technology, an official announced today (28 March). Dnevnik, the EurActiv partner in Bulgaria, reports.
• 2012/03/28: BNC: Environmentalism in the mud: responding to Jim Green's attack on Barry Brook
• 2012/03/26: NatureNB: Nuclear summit highlights research reactor risk
• 2012/03/25: NBF: Kazatomprom produced 19,450 tons of uranium in 2011

  Nuclear fusion projects around the world limp along:

• 2012/03/26: EnergyBulletin: Nuclear fusion and the "three years law" of scientific research

  Low energy nuclear keeps coming up:

• 2012/03/29: NBF: Brillouin Energy Closing to Commercialization
• 2012/03/27: NBF: New Energy Times claims to prove Rossi Fraud via adjustment of power controls during demonstration

  Like a mirage, the dream of a Hydrogen Economy shimmers on the horizon:

• 2012/03/27: AutoBG: Feds spending up to $2 million on hydrogen-station study

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

• 2012/03/30: AutoBG: Lutz blasts 'right-wing talk show guys' for Volt criticism, predicts record sales in March
• 2012/03/27: TP:JR: Fox News Debunks Right-Wing Lies About Chevy Volt: It's 'An Anti-Terrorist Weapon' And 'The Safest Car On The Road'
• 2012/03/27: TCoE: Volt Stats!
• 2012/03/26: TreeHugger: Please Ford, Bring the Fiesta ECOnetic (71 MPG US) to North-America
• 2012/03/24: NYT: The Electric Car, Unplugged
• 2012/03/26: NBF: Market Forecasts of Electric Bikes, electric cars and Plug in Hybrids

  As for Energy Storage:

• 2012/03/28: CleanBreak: Three years later, ZENN finally negotiates to get disclosure from EEStor... does it matter?

  The reaction of business to climate change will be critical:

• 2012/03/27: Eureka: More than tree hugging: Green companies earn more 'green' new study shows

  Insurance and re-insurance companies are feeling the heat:

• 2012/03/30: ABC(Au): Insurance premiums jump [400%-500%] after floods
• 2012/03/30: PlanetArk: 2011 Disaster Losses Cost Insurers $116 Billion: Swiss Re
• 2012/03/28: BBC: Lloyd's of London sees loss after natural catastrophes

  Who's fielding theFAQs?

• 2012/03/28: Guardian(UK): How well is the UK doing in cutting its emissions?

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

• 2012/03/30: TP:JR: March 30 News...
• 2012/03/29: TP:JR: March 29 News...
• 2012/03/28: TP:JR: March 28th News...
• 2012/03/27: TP:JR: March 27 News...
• 2012/03/26: TP:JR: March 26 News...

  Looks like Michael is going to post an occasional list as well:

• 2012/03/29: P3: Links du Jour 29 Mars 2012
• 2012/03/27: P3: Liniks du Jour: Water Still Wet Edition
• 2012/03/26: P3: LdJ 26 Mars 2012: Miscellaneous outrages.

  Other (weekly) lists:

• 2012/03/30: BPA: Agriculture News
• 2012/03/30: EnergyBulletin: ODAC Newsletter
• 2012/03/30: TreeHugger: Energy News...

  The carbon lobby are up to the usual:

• 2012/03/29: TWTB: Short Answers to Stupid Questions - Watts Up With That Edition
• 2012/03/30: Guardian(UK): Tackling belief is the key to overcoming climate change scepticism
• 2012/04/01: ERabett: Mice, Sinking Ship, Etc.
• 2012/03/31: CCP: Republican meteorologist Paul Douglas says 'keep track of who the deniers are today': Poking a Hornet's Nest
• 2012/03/31: Stoat: More trash from Watts
• 2012/03/31: QuarkSoup: The Conservative Refusal to Offer Solutions
• 2012/03/31: DeSmogBlog: What The IPCC Ignores, According To The GWPF
• 2012/03/29: HC: GWPF paymaster is Big Oil fundraiser
• 2012/03/29: Guardian(UK): Met Office hosts 'conversations' with climate sceptics
• 2012/03/29: al Jazeera: The Koch Brothers
  People & Power asks why the billionaire siblings are spending a fortune in support of a conservative political agenda.
• 2012/03/29: CCD: How to talk to a climate change denier (dissenter)
• 2012/03/29: HotTopic: Prat watch #5: Ignorance is bliss
• 2012/03/27: QuarkSoup: Someone, Please Give Will Happer an Orchard
• 2012/03/28: HotTopic: Hypocrisy rules: Monckton ducks debate
• 2012/03/28: Rabble:DS: Religious right's rejection of science is baffling
• 2012/03/27: PSinclair: Birth of a Climate Crock. Scientist Disavows Daily Mail Story on MWP
• 2012/03/27: Tamino: How fake skeptics fool themselves, part infinity: Sea Ice version
• 2012/03/27: ERabett: Mr. Bluster meets Dispassionate Dan
• 2012/03/27: BBickmore: Will Happer is Truth-Challenged
• 2012/03/27: EnvEcon: Another climate skeptic
• 2012/03/26: MoJo: The Science of Why We Don't Believe Science
  How our brains fool us on climate, creationism, and the vaccine-autism link.
• 2012/03/26: BBickmore: The Monckton Files: Squealing Tires
• 2012/03/26: EnergyBulletin: Deceptionomics
• 2012/03/25: HC: Message for Mr Montford

  [[[(((({{{{ Kabbonggg!!!! }}}))))]]]

• 2012/03/28: DeSmogBlog: The Guardian Reveals Key Funder of Global Warming Policy Foundation Is Michael Hintze
• 2012/03/28: OilChange: Why Outing Climate Sceptic Funders Matters
• 2012/03/27: CCP: Michael Hintze revealed as funder of Lord Lawson's climate think tank, the Global Warming Policy Foundation (GWPF)
• 2012/03/27: Guardian(UK): Michael Hintze revealed as funder of Lord Lawson's climate thinktank
  Michael Hintze financially supporting organisation that regularly casts doubt on the science and cost of tackling climate change Michael Hintze, a leading Conservative party donor who runs the £5bn hedge fund CQS, has emerged as a financial backer of the climate sceptic thinktank founded by former chancellor, Lord Nigel Lawson.

As for climate miscellanea:

• 2012/03/31: ClimateShifts: Overconfident 'experts' may end up ignoring the science of climate change
• 2012/04/01: Guardian(UK): Climate change: the Arctic is too precious to be left unprotected
  There is a dangerous lack of urgency among politicians in their reactions to the vast changes that are sweeping our planet
• 2012/03/27: TMoS: We've Been Warned
• 2012/03/26: TMoS: All the Enviro-News Fit to Print
• 2012/03/26: QuarkSoup: A Review of Where I'm Coming From
• 2012/03/26: TimesUnion:W&C: How do we know Human Activities have caused Global Warming?
• 2012/03/26: OilChange: RIP Exxon Valdez
• 2012/03/25: EnergyBulletin: Carrying capacity dashboard for Australia is launched

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

• Carbon Engineering [CCS start-up]
• Sierra Club Canada
• Save Canada's Environmental Laws
• Watershed Sentinel - Environmental News Magazine from British Columbia, and the world!
• Future Earth - research for global sustainability
• CGIAR: Commission on Sustainable Agriculture and Climate Change
• Volt Stats! Tracking real world usage of Chevy Volts in the wild...
• StephanieMcMillan - Code Green
• The Common Sense Canadian
• Planet Under Pressure Conference - March 26-29, London, UK
• Carrying Capacity (blog)
• Food & Water Watch
• Our Finite World
• Wiki: Sahara Solar Breeder Project
• AOSIS: Alliance of Small Island States
• CAN Canada

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.

"We are like tenant farmers chopping down the fence around our house for fuel when we should be using Nature's inexhaustible sources of energy -- sun, wind and tide. ... I'd put my money on the sun and solar energy. What a source of power! I hope we don't have to wait until oil and coal run out before we tackle that." -Thomas Edison, inventor (1847-1931)

• Global Warming Links
• Global Warming News Archive
• Energy
• Energy News
• Environmental Issues
• ---
• H.E. Taylor (homepage)