Another Week of GW News, May 12, 2012

Logging the Onset of The Bottleneck Years

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Another week of in the Ecological Crisis

Information is not Knowledge...Knowledge is not Wisdom

May 13, 2012

• Chuckles, Rio+20, AOSIS, FAO, Occupy, Dino Farts, WAIS, Correction, Conspiracy, Save the Planet
• Club of Rome, Peru, Elgin, GCF, Subsidies, Banks, Natural Capital, Thermodynamics, Cook
• Fukushima Note, Fukushima News, Nuclear Policy
• Melting Arctic, Polar Bears, Methane, Geopolitics
• Food Crisis, Fisheries, Land Grabs, GMOs, Food Production
• Hurricanes, Monsoon, Temperatures, Clouds, ENSO
• Solar, Extinctions, Anthropocene, Volcanoes, Satellites
• Impacts, Forests, Disease, Wacky Weather, Extreme Weather, Tornadoes
• Wildfires, Acidification, Sea Levels, Floods & Droughts
• Transportation, Sequestration, Geoengineering, Conservation, Adaptation
• Journals, Other Docs, Misc. Science, DIY Science, Models, Free Science, Hansen, Gleick, Lovelock, Pielke
• International Politics: UN, Carbon Trade, Bank Tax, Hormuz, South China Sea, YPF-Repsol, FQD, Misc.
• Security, Law & Activism, Activism, Polls, H2O Biz, Groundwater, Religioso, Education, Economics
• National Politics: America, BP Disaster, 2012, Gas Prices, Keystone
• Birth Control, NGSS, Coal Ports, Conn. vs Monsanto, USAdmin, Congress, Lobbyists
• Britain, Europe, Australia, Costello, MDBP, New Zealand, India, Middle East, South America
• Canada, Vaughn Report, Bill C-38, 2,4-D, BOSO, Northern Gateway
• Kinder Morgan, Jacobs, RadarSat, BC, Tar Sands, Alberta, Canadiana
• Ecological Economics, IPAT, Media, Books, Video, Courts
• Energy, Fracking, Coal, Oil & Gas, Oil & the Economy, Pipelines, Peak Oil, Biofuel
• Wind, Solar, Nukes, Nuclear Waste, Nuclear Fusion, Hydrogen, Grid, Efficiency, Cars, Gee Whiz, Energy Storage
• Business, Insurance, FAQs, Joe's List, Carbon Lobby, HI Billboard, Intimidation, Misc., Useful Links
• Shameless Self Promotion, .sig

Live and direct from the black humour department:

• 2012/05/07: SeppoNet: (cartoon - Seppo) Arctic Oil Party by Shell
• 2012/05/09: JoeMohrToons: (cartoon - Mohr) Greenpeace Attempts to get Asthmazon.com, Macrosoot, and iSmog to Quit Coal
• 2012/05/07: SMcMillan: (cartoon - McMillan) One Little Letter
• 2012/05/13: uComics: (cartoon - Wiley) The Power of Knowledge
• 2012/05/09: TheCanadian: (cartoon - Hummel) Stevie and Christy's 'Hands-off' Approach to Enbridge
• 2012/05/07: P3: (cartoon - Munro) The dismal science

  And for those who enjoy challenging Poe's Law:

• 2012/05/09: Onion: Fracking Industry Now Largest Employer Of Recent PR Graduates
• 2012/05/09: TreeHugger: Thanks to Fracking, PR Industry is Booming [with Onion

  Looking ahead to Rio+20 :

• 2012/05/11: Grist: Will old-school green groups sleep through the Earth Summit?
• 2012/05/09: NRDC:SB: The World is Watching: Will G20 Countries Lead this June at the Earth Summit?
• 2012/05/10: EurActiv: MEPs cancel Rio+20 trip to cut costs
  MEPs have cancelled plans to send a delegation to the UN Rio+20 summit on sustainable development, due to take place in June in Brazil. The decision was taken earlier this week by political group coordinators of Parliament's Environment Committee, in light of spiralling hotel costs. "The huge increase in the estimated cost of attending the summit is simply not justifiable, especially at a time when many Europeans are faced with economic hardship," said Environment Committee Chairman Matthias Groote. Countries in Rio will be asked this summer to sign up for 10 new sustainable development goals for the planet and promise to build green economies at the first earth summit in 20 years. Reportedly, they will also be asked to negotiate a new agreement to protect oceans, approve an annual state of the planet report, set up a major world agency for the environment, and appoint a global "ombudsperson", or high commissioner, for future generations.
• 2012/05/09: UN: Ban urges progress in Rio+20 negotiations, names post-2015 High-level Panel co-chairs
• 2012/05/10: TreeHugger: Developed-Developing Nation Split on Climate Obligations Needs Reevaluation
• 2012/05/09: Grist: Where the Rio action is: Behind the Earth Summit bureaucracy
• 2012/05/09: Guardian(UK): Global climate treaty may demand more carbon cuts from 'poor' countries
  China and India may have to make bigger carbon emissions commitments as EU climate chief says Kyoto model is outdated
• 2012/05/07: TP:JR: Youth Involvement Surges In Lead Up To Rio+20 Earth Summit
• 2012/05/08: Grist: Why aren't women's issues on the agenda at Rio+20?
• 2012/05/08: TreeHugger: As Rio+20 Approaches, Pleas For Less Language Squabbling & More Respecting Indigenous Wisdom

  The Alliance Of Small Island States are pledging to cut emissions 45% by 2030:

• AOSIS: Alliance Of Small Island States
• 2012/05/11: ABC(Au): Pacific pledge to switch to renewable energy
  Pacific Island nations have pledged to dump diesel and similar fuels they use to produce energy and replace them with renewable power sources.
  [...]
  Their declaration will be taken to the Rio Plus 20 Earth Summit in Brazil next month.
• 2012/05/10: Guardian(UK): Small island states in clean energy race
  Dominica leads group of 52 small island developing states aiming for a 45% cut in emissions in the next 18 years
• 2012/05/09: UN: Small island nations commit to new steps at UN forum to reduce fossil fuel use

  The key word in this FAO agreement is "voluntary":

• 2012/05/12: BBC: UN adopts historic 'land grab' guidelines
  The United Nations has adopted global guidelines for rich countries buying land in developing nations. The voluntary rules...
• 2012/05/11: UN: New UN-backed guidelines aim to protect rights to land, fisheries and forests
  A United Nations-backed committee today endorsed a set of far-reaching global guidelines to help governments protect the rights of people, especially the poor, to own or access land, forests and fisheries.
  [...]
  The new Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security was adopted by the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) -- the leading global platform for discussions on food security issues -- in Rome earlier on Friday. Among the issues dealt with in the guidelines is the so-called 'land-grabbing' phenomenon, according to a news release issued by FAO. It recommends that safeguards be put in place to protect tenure rights of local people from risks that could arise from large-scale land acquisitions, and also to protect human rights, livelihoods, food security and the environment.
• 2012/05/11: FAO: Countries adopt global guidelines on tenure of land, forests, fisheries
  Historic international agreement on how tenure and access rights to natural resources key to food production should be handled
• 2012/05/11: FAO: Governments agree guidelines to stop land grabs at FAO
  On 11 May 2012 the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) officially endorsed the Voluntary Guidelines on Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security.

The Global Occupy movement released a manifesto this week:

• 2012/05/11: Guardian(UK): The 'GlobalMay manifesto' of the Occupy movement
  The global Occupy movement wants a better world. Such a world is possible, and here's how ...
• 2012/05/11: TreeHugger: Occupy's GlobalMay Manifesto Has Lots of Points Green Movement Should Get Behind

  Everybody had a good larf about the dino farts:

• 2012/05/08: CB: (ab$) Could methane produced by sauropod dinosaurs have helped drive Mesozoic climate warmth? by David M. Wilkinson et al.
• 2012/05/07: Pharyngula: The reports of dinosaurs dying of farts are greatly exaggerated
• 2012/05/09: KSJT: AP, lots more: Ancient global warmings had no SUVs, sure. But some episodes had burping, pooting DINOSAURS!
• 2012/05/08: ABC(Au): Gassy dinos may have warmed Earth
• 2012/05/08: ABC(Au): Dinosaurs contributed to a previous episode of global warming
• 2012/05/08: Grist: Dinosaur farts caused early global warming
• 2012/05/07: SciNow: Dino 'Gas' Warmed the Earth
• 2012/05/08: TreeHugger: Dinosaur Farts Contributed to Global Warming [150 million years ago], Study Suggests
• 2012/05/08: CSM: Scientists: Dinosaur flatulence may have warmed Earth
• 2012/05/07: CSM: Did dinosaur 'emissions' help warm the prehistoric climate? (+video)
• 2012/05/08: al Jazeera: When dinosaurs warmed the Earth
  Flatulence emitted by dinosaurs during their reign could have heated the planet, a new study suggests.
• 2012/05/07: Eureka: Gaseous emissions from dinosaurs may have warmed prehistoric earth
• 2012/05/07: BBC: Giant dinosaurs could have warmed the planet with their flatulence, say researchers

  The prospect of the WAIS collapsing spritzed the news cycle:

• 2012/05/09: Nature: (ab$) Twenty-first-century warming of a large Antarctic ice-shelf cavity by a redirected coastal current by Hartmut H. Hellmer et al.
• 2012/05/09: Nature:GeoSci: (ab$) Cryospheric science: Vulnerable ice in the Weddell Sea by Angelika Humbert
• 2012/05/09: Nature:GeoSci: (ab$) Steep reverse bed slope at the grounding line of the Weddell Sea sector in West Antarctica by Neil Ross et al.
• 2012/05/11: CJR: The ice melt cometh -- But flawless coverage about happenings in Antarctica has been rare
• 2012/05/10: SciAm: Warm Currents Threaten to Expand Antarctic Melting
  Warm ocean waters are carving away the undersides of Antarctica's ice shelves, which will speed their melting
• 2012/05/10: CSM: Antarctic [Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf in the Weddell Sea] at risk, say scientists
• 2012/05/10: CCP: Scientists Discover New Site of Potential Instability in West Antarctic Ice Sheet under the Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf
• 2012/05/10: TP:JR: The Bad News Continues to Flow About Antarctica's Ice
• 2012/05/10: PlanetArk: [Antarctic Filchner-Ronne] Ice Shelf Threatened By Warming
• 2012/05/10: SciNews: Big Antarctic ice sheet appears doomed
  Warming climate predicted to trigger collapse of Filchner-Ronne shelf by 2100 Warm ocean currents may threaten the stability of Antarctica's Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf in the Weddell Sea if global temperatures continue to rise. A massive slab of floating ice that juts from Antarctica's west coast could be in hot water soon. Warm ocean currents threaten to sneak up from below and torpedo the ice in coming decades, researchers report in the May 10 Nature. The degradation of the historically stable Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf would upset ice on land, triggering runaway melting over a vast region of the continent and accelerating global sea level rise.
• 2012/05/09: Eureka: Scientists discover new site of potential instability in West Antarctic Ice Sheet
• 2012/05/09: CSM: Warm water threatens vast Anatarctic ice shelf (+video)
• 2012/05/09: Eureka: Climate scientists discover new weak point of the Antarctic ice sheet
  The Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf fringing the Weddell Sea, Antarctica, may start to melt rapidly in this century and no longer act as a barrier for ice streams draining the Antarctic Ice Sheet.

A significant correction:

• 2012/01/23: AMS:JAOT: (ab$) A bias in the mid-tropospheric channel warm target factor on the NOAA-9 microwave sounding unit by Stephen Po-Chedley & Qiang Fu
• 2012/05/09: QuarkSoup: Figure from Po-Chedley & Fu's Correction to UAH Trend
• 2012/05/09: ERabett:BSD: UAH satellite temps being corrected by others. Knock me over with a feather

  A conspiracy unearthed?

• 2012/05/11: UCSUSA:B: Anti-wind or Anti-science?
• 2012/05/09: AlterNet: Conservative Thinktanks Launch Campaign to Turn Americans Against Wind Energy
• 2012/05/09: TP:JR: Memo: Group Wants To Create Fake Grassroots Wind 'Subversion' Campaign That 'Should Appear As A Groundswell'
• 2012/05/09: Grist: Anti-wind activists want to create fake grassroots campaign against industry
• 2012/05/08: CSW: A coordinated right-wing campaign to turn the US public against renewable energy?
• 2012/05/08: P3: Effort to Subvert Wind Power
• 2012/05/08: Guardian(UK): Conservative thinktanks step up attacks against Obama's clean energy strategy
  Confidential memo seen by Guardian calls for climate change sceptics to turn American public against solar and wind power
• 2012/05/08: DeSmogBlog: The Guardian Exposes Fossil Funded Groups Coordinating Renewable Energy Attacks

  National science academies from 15 countries have authored a "Save the Planet" report for their politicians:

• 2012/05/11: BBC: 'Save the planet', science leaders urge G8 governments
  Leaders of the global science community have issued joint statements to world leaders meeting at the G8 summit later this month in the US. National science academies from 15 countries have called on the leading industrialised economies to pay greater heed to science and technology. The academies include those from the US, China, India and the UK.
• 2012/05/10: Guardian(UK): Top scientists urge governments to solve environmental 'dilemmas'
• 2012/05/10: Eureka: Science academies issue 'G-Science' statements to call world leaders' attention how science and technology can help solve global challenges

  The Club of Rome is out with a new report. You won't like it either:

• 2012/05/10: CDreams: Global Temperatures Could Rise by More than 2°C by Mid-Century: Report
  40 years after original 'Limits to Growth', new [Club of Rome] report says 'short-termism' and 'over-consumption' killing planet
• 2012/05/07: ClubOfRome: [eBook Plug] New Report issues a warning about humanity's ability to survive without a major change in direction
• 2012/05/09: HotTopic: 2052: A Global Forecast for the Next Forty Years
• 2012/05/09: PlanetArk: Club Of Rome Sees 2 Degree Celsius Rise In 40 Years
• 2012/05/09: TreeHugger: Expect 2°C Temperature Rise by Mid-Century, Club of Rome Report Says

  It is difficult to tell what is happening on the west coast of South America, beyond animals dying:

• 2012/05/12: CNN: 2,300 birds found dead along Chilean beaches
  Warm waters off Peru have chased away fish, a national center studying El Nino says - Fish flee south to deeper, cooler waters, leaving 5,000 Peruvian surface-feeding birds dead - Chilean birds have apparently feasted on such fleeing fish, an environment professor says - Many of the dead Chilean birds have injuries consistent with getting trapped in fishing nets
• 2012/05/09: DeepSeaNews: What is Peru's dolphin and pelican die-off telling us?
• 2012/05/09: CSM: What's causing mass pelican and dolphin deaths in Peru?
• 2012/05/09: CBC: Dead pelicans, dolphins litter Peru beaches
• 2012/05/09: DD: WTF is going on with Peru's dolphins and pelicans?
• 2012/05/09: Guardian(UK): Mass pelican deaths in Peru caused by starvation, study finds
  Scientists believe warming waters caused by El Niño led to a shortage in anchovies, the seabirds' main food source
• 2012/05/07: TreeHugger: Mysterious Animal Deaths Prompt Peru to Issue Health Alert
• 2012/05/06: ProMedMail: Pelican die-off - Peru (02): parasites and malnutrition
• 2012/05/07: PlanetArk: Keep Off Beaches, Peru Warns After Pelican Deaths

  Not much coverage, but the North Sea Elgin well is still a spewin':

• 2012/05/07: FuelFix: Total 'on track' to begin Elgin well operation within days

  Reneging on the GCF? Oh what a surprise!

• 2012/05/08: PlanetArk: EU Nations Get Cold Feet Over Climate Change Fund

  Who's getting the subsidies?

• 2012/05/07: AutoBG: Gasoline subsidies total $200 billion a year, making it dirt cheap in some countries

  What are the banks up to?

• 2012/05/09: TreeHugger: Shareholders Call on Bank of America to Stop Funding Mountaintop Removal
• 2012/05/09: Guardian(UK): Holding Bank of America to account
  A wave of shareholder activism is shining light on the shabby role of banks in the subprime crisis and financing dirty coal

So, If we put a price on nature, will it deal with externalities and lead to greater conservation
or will it lead to greater exploitation or what?

• 2012/05/09: Guardian(UK): World Bank calls on countries to take urgent steps to protect 'natural capital'
  Putting a monetary value on natural ecosystems is a key step on the road to 'green' economic growth, report says

Delving into the laws of thermodynamics this week:

• 2012/05/07: Moyhu: Entropy and the greenhouse effect

  John Cook and friends continue their point-counterpoint articles:

• 2012/05/11: SkeptiSci: Two Centuries of Climate Science: part three - Manabe to the present day, 1966-2012 by John Mason
• 2012/05/10: SkeptiSci: Tom Harris' Carleton University Climate Misinformation Class by dana1981
• 2012/05/10: SkeptiSci: Turbines in Texas mix up nighttime heat by MarkR
• 2012/05/09: SkeptiSci: 101 responses to Ian Plimer's climate questions
• 2012/05/09: SkeptiSci: Lindzen's Clouded Vision, Part 2: Risk by dana1981
• 2012/05/08: SkeptiSci: New research from last week 18/2012 by Ari Jokimäki
• 2012/05/08: SkeptiSci: Lindzen's Clouded Vision, Part 1: Science by dana1981
• 2012/05/07: SkeptiSci: West Antarctic Ice Shelves Tearing Apart at the Seams by John Hartz

  A note on theFukushima disaster:

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

  No good news out of Fukushma yet:

• 2012/05/11: EneNews: Former Ambassador: No. 4 reactor a top national security issue for entire world - Could start "the ultimate catastrophe"
• 2012/05/10: Asahi: Doomsday scenarios spread about No. 4 reactor at Fukushima plant
• 2012/05/10: EneNews: Tepco: Reactor No. 3 has "doors that should not be disclosed for the issue of nuclear material protection" (video)
• 2012/05/11: EneNews: Japan Nuclear Expert: Humanity as a whole has literally never experienced something like Fukushima - "We will be fighting this radiation on the order of tens or hundreds of years" (video)
• 2012/05/10: ABC(Au): Japan to nationalise nuclear plant operator
  Japan's government will effectively nationalise TEPCO, the operator of the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant, as part of a $12 billion restructuring plan. TEPCO is facing massive clean-up bills and compensation claims.
• 2012/05/10: EneNews: Researcher: Japan accepting 20 millisieverts of radiation as safe "could lead to a public health disaster"
• 2012/05/10: BBC: Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) shares have surged after the government approved its business plan and said it would take control of the firm
• 2012/05/09: ABC(Au): Japanese Government to take control of Fukushima operator TEPCO
• 2012/05/09: NatureNB: Fukushima owner is nationalized
• 2012/05/06: CCurrents: Thousands March As Japan Shuts Off Nuclear Power
• 2012/05/09: EneNews: Fukushima Daiichi Worker: Nothing can be done except to leak radioactive water!
• 2012/05/09: BBC: The Japanese government will take a controlling stake in Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) in return for a one trillion yen ($12.5bn; £7.8bn) taxpayer bailout
• 2012/05/07: NatureNB: Japan switches off its last nuclear reactor
• 2012/05/07: EneNews: Bellona: Concerns loom ever larger at Fukushima as experts warn of No. 4 fuel pool's unstable condition with increasing worry
• 2012/05/07: EneNews: Japan Nuclear Expert: There are known to be broken fuel rod assemblies in Spent Fuel Pool No. 4 - Large amount of radioactive material has fallen to bottom - "Many years" to get fuel out (video)

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

• 2012/05/07: Guardian(UK): The Fukushima nuclear plant's slow recovery offers lessons to the US
• 2012/05/07: CassandrasLegacy: Good night, Godzilla! Japan turns off nuclear energy
• 2012/05/07: PlanetArk: Nuclear-Free Japan Braces For Severe Power Shortages
• 2012/05/06: WashingtonsBlog: Senator: Fukushima Fuel Pool Is a National Security Issue for AMERICA

  The Arctic melt continues to garner attention:

• 2012/05/12: SkeptiSci: Arctic Winter Analysis by Neven
• 2012/05/11: ArcticNews: Arctic - red alert!
• 2012/05/13: ASI: ASI 2012 update 2: no daily data
• 2012/05/12: TP:JR: Detailed Arctic Sea Ice Analysis With Great Charts
• 2012/05/08: MGS: 2011 Sea Ice Outlook Verification
• 2012/05/07: ASI: PIOMAS May 2012
• 2012/05/07: KSJT: Register: Arctic ice pack hits record high in Bering Sea and Greenpeace is a band of fear-mongering hippies
• 2012/05/06: PostMedia: Warming climate in Arctic portends major changes in south
  University of Alberta scientist Andrew Derocher was in the High Arctic in late April getting a rare, first-hand glimpse of what the future of the Arctic might look like right around the time 3,000 researchers, policy-makers and indigenous leaders were gathered in Montreal at the International Polar Year 2012 conference to try to imagine the same thing.

As for the charismatic megafauna:

• 2012/05/10: SciAm:EC: New Polar Bear Counting Method Creates Confusion

  That Damoclean sword still hangs overhead:

• 2012/05/12: TreeHugger: NASA Discovers Yet Another Terrifying Global Warming Feedback Loop
• 2012/05/11: TP:JR: NASA Study Finds Surprising New Methane Emission Source And Possible Amplifying Feedback: The Arctic Ocean

  As for the geopolitics of Arctic resources:

• 2012/05/07: Wonkette: The Wonkette Geopoliticker: Let's Cold War With The Soviets Over The Arctic Circle!
• 2012/05/06: BBC: Rosneft and Statoil in Arctic exploration deal
  Russian oil giant Rosneft has signed a deal with Norway's Statoil to explore the sea around the Arctic. It is the third deal Rosneft has signed in the past month, after Arctic exploration agreements with Italy's Eni and US giant Exxon Mobil. Norway's state-held firm will get ownership of a third of a new joint venture that will explore one of Rosneft's fields in the Barents Sea.

The food crisis is ongoing:

• FAO: World Food Situation - Food Price Indices
• 2012/05/10: UN: Funding gap threatens efforts to assist millions facing hunger in Africa -- UN official
• 2012/05/10: ProMedMail: Schmallenberg virus - Europe (38): EU, Jersey
• 2012/05/09: IndiaTimes: Climate change could affect wheat production, says government report
• 2012/05/09: AlterNet: Big Agriculture's Big Secrets: 9 Things You Need to Know About the Food You Eat
• 2012/05/09: NakedCapitalism: The Intensifying Debate Over Food Security
• 2012/05/09: ProMedMail: Undiagnosed disease, rice - Ecuador: (EO)
• 2012/05/09: CSM: Food stamp use continues to rise
• 2012/05/09: al Jazeera: Food crisis in the Sahel -- Millions on the brink of starvation as drought and conflict combine
• 2012/05/08: al Jazeera: Not enough is being done to combat malnutrition
  With malnutrition responsible for the deaths of thousands of children, much more high-profile investment is needed.
• 2012/05/08: UN: Time to act is now to avert disaster in Africa's Sahel region, UN officials stress
• 2012/05/08: SciAm:Obs: How to Feed the World While the Earth Cooks
• 2012/05/07: al Jazeera: Africa's future? Botswana's growth with hunger
  Although Botswana is one of Africa's wealthiest and most stable countries, hunger and food insecurity are on the rise.
• 2012/05/02: Reuters: Food competition to leave poor hungrier by 2050-expert [Lester Brown interview]

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

• 2012/05/11: TP:JR: Study Shows 'Clear Indications' That Climate Change Is Impacting European Fish Stocks
• 2012/05/11: NatureN: Seafood labelling under fire -- Study finds that some stocks certified as 'sustainable' are overfished
• 2012/05/09: CAS: One quarter of grouper species being fished to extinction
  An international team of scientists has made a global assessment of threats and extinction risks in the multi-billion dollar grouper industry

So, are these land grabs Colonialism V2.0?

• 2012/05/02: Reuters: Food fears feed global scramble for land

  Regarding the genetic modification of food:

• 2012/05/11: PlanetArk: Super Weeds No Easy Fix For US Agriculture-Experts
• 2012/05/10: AlterNet: Frankenfoods: Why Is the Gates Foundation Helping Monsanto Push Genetically Modified Food?
• 2012/05/08: Grist: 'Bitter Seeds' documentary reveals tragic toll of GMOs in India

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

• 2012/05/11: Guardian(UK): UK's only carbon-neutral chocolate arrives by sailing ship
• 2012/05/11: Grist: Monsanto WISHES it could make corn this cool
• 2012/05/11: Grist: Could insects feed the world? [video]
• 2012/05/12: Guardian(UK): Peru's coffee growers turn carbon traders to save their farms from climate change

  Still no cyclones but numbered storms in the Eastern Pacific and Atlantic suggest the season is beginning:

• 2012/05/13: Wunderground: Azores storm could become Subtropical Storm Alberto

  As for the Monsoon:

• 2012/05/12: al Jazeera: India awaits monsoon rain -- Pre-monsoon rains hint at what is to come across the country

  And the temperature record:

• 2012/05/12: Moyhu: April GISS Temp up 0.1°C
• 2012/05/11: QuarkSoup: Plotting the Monthly Rank of Temperatures
• 2012/05/08: TP:JR: U.S. Experiences Warmest 12-Month Period On Record And Most Extreme January to April
• 2012/05/08: QuarkSoup: UAH LT April Temperature: +0.295 C
• 2012/05/08: NOAA:NCDC: U.S. temperatures for April third warmest on record
  Past 12 months and first third of the year were warmest nation has experienced
• 2012/05/08: Wunderground: U.S. experiences warmest 12-month period on record
• 2012/05/07: PostMedia: Last winter was third-warmest in decades: Environment Canada
  It's official - the winter 2011-12 was one of the warmest on Environment Canada's books shattering records across much of the country. The winter-that-wasn't was most pronounced on the Prairies, which had the driest winter on record, with 56 per cent less snow and rain than normal and temperatures more than 6 C higher than normal, according to Environment Canada. The winter fits with a pronounced warming trend, according to the department's climate trackers, who note that Canada's average winter temperatures have been at or above normal since 1997.

Clouds are one of the major uncertainties in climate. Much research revolves around them:

• 2012/05/09: NatureN: Climate forecasting: A break in the clouds
  Clouds and aerosol particles have bedevilled climate modellers for decades. Now researchers are starting to gain the upper hand.
• 2012/05/09: TP:JR: A Cloudy Day for Climate Skeptics: Mainstream Research Discredits Lindzen Theory of Low low Climate Sensitivity

  While on the ENSO front:

• 2012/05/11: PlanetArk: Asia Faces Threat To Crops If El Nino Unleashed Again
• 2012/05/11: PlanetArk: Why Do El Nino And La Nina trigger Weather Chaos?
• 2012/05/08: DM:BA: La Niña is dead -- and good riddance

  Regarding the solar hypothesis:

• 2012/05/06: Eureka: Climatic effects of a solar minimum
  A grand solar minimum and the climate response recorded for the first time in the same climate archive highlights the need for a more differentiated approach to solar radiation
• 2012/05/06: Nature:GeoSci: (ab$) Regional atmospheric circulation shifts induced by a grand solar minimum by Celia Martin-Puertas et al.

  What's new on the extinction front?

• 2012/05/07: ABC(Au): Ecologist warns of Australian 'extinction crisis'
  A Queensland ecologist is calling for a rethink of Australia's conservation strategy to combat an "extinction crisis".
• 2012/05/07: ABC(Au): Garbage droppings confirm tiger quoll encounter
  A late night encounter has resulted in the first confirmed sighting of a critically-endangered tiger quoll in over a decade. The Otway Ranges in Victoria's south-west are a known habitat of the carnivorous marsupial, but for the past 10 years no-one has been able to confirm if the species was still alive in the wild.

Oh look! The Anthropocene came up again:

• 2012/05/08: SciAm:TNC: What is: Generation Anthropocene?

  What's up with volcanoes this week?

• 2012/05/10: CSM: Mexico volcano ash forces shutdown of airport
• 2012/05/08: EarthMag: Volcanoes sparked - and prolonged - the Little Ice Age

  Meanwhile in near earth orbit:

• 2012/05/10: NASA:JPL: NASA's New Carbon-Counting Instrument Leaves the Nest
  Its construction now complete, the science instrument that is the heart of NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2) spacecraft - NASA's first mission dedicated to studying atmospheric carbon dioxide - has left its nest at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., and has arrived at its integration and test site in Gilbert, Ariz.
• 2012/05/09: ESA: ESA declares end of mission for Envisat
• 2012/05/09: NatureNB: Envisat is lost

  More GW impacts are being seen:

• 2012/05/09: ERW: Biodiversity loss rivals warming
• 2012/05/11: HotTopic: Bangladesh: on the front line
• 2012/05/11: CBC: U.S. storms blow record number of moth into Ontario
  An unseasonably early tornado season in the U.S. Midwest has blown a potentially big problem to southern Ontario farms. The number of black cutworm moths is incredibly high in the region. The insects were forced north by the storms. The moths lay eggs in low-lying weedy patches in and around fields. The eggs hatch, and the larvae eat sprouting field corn crops.
• 2012/05/10: TP:JR: The Idaho Statesman Reports That Manmade Climate Impacts Are 'Accelerating'
• 2012/05/12: BBC: Study links biodiversity and language loss
• 2012/05/09: Guardian(UK): 'We have seen the enemy': Bangladesh's war against climate change [Asia pol]
  Devastating cyclones, floods and ruined crops have made Bangladesh 'the world's most aware society on climate change'
• 2012/05/08: UCSUSA:B: New Data Confirms the Staggering Costs of U.S. Weather/Climate Disasters
• 2012/05/09: Eureka: Biodiversity loss ranks with climate change and pollution in terms of impacts to environment
• 2012/05/07: Eureka: Plants disappear as a result of climate changes
• 2012/05/08: IdahoStatesman: Climate change accelerating, complicating Idaho's spring runoff
• 2012/05/06: TP:JR: Decades Of Data Show Spring Advancing Faster Than Experiments Suggest
• 2012/05/07: Eureka: European mountain plant population shows delayed response to climate change

  And then there are the world's forests:

• 2012/05/09: SciAm:Expeditions: USC Dornsife Scientific Diving: Human Impacts on Mangrove Forests

  Emerging diseases accompany ecological change:

• 2012/05/10: Grist: Climate change could help untreatable viral disease spread in New York City
• 2012/05/07: ProMedMail: Lyme disease - USA (02): (NY) increased incidence
• 2012/05/06: ProMedMail: Schmallenberg virus - Europe (37): Epidemiology

  Yes we have no wacky weather, except:

• 2012/05/13: CBC: China rain storms leave 40 dead in north -- Hail and downpours batter Gansu province
• 2012/05/13: ABC(Au): 40 killed in Chinese hailstorm
• 2012/05/13: BBC: China rainstorms kill dozens in Gansu province
  Some 40 people are now reported to have died in rain and hail storms in north-western China.
• 2012/05/13: al Jazeera: Dozens killed in China hailstorm
  Forty people killed after a hailstorm and torrential rain swept through Gansu province, officials say. Forty people have been killed after a brief but violent hailstorm and torrential rain swept through a mountainous region of northwest China, the local government has said. Eighteen others remain missing in Min county in Gansu province, while 87 have been sent to hospital, the county government said in a statement on its website on Sunday. Officials said 29,300 people had been evacuated after rain and hail battered the county for just one hour late on Thursday afternoon.

This week in the New Normal -- extreme weather:

• 2012/05/11: Wunderground: 2nd billion-dollar weather disaster of 2012: April 3 severe weather in Texas

  On the tornado front:

• 2012/05/07: Wunderground: Rare Japanese tornado kills 1, injures 48

  As for heatwaves and wild fires:

• 2012/05/12: JFleck: Stuff I wrote elsewhere: Las Conchas, 10 months on
• 2012/05/10: NASA: First Forecast Calls for Mild Amazon Fire Season in 2012
• 2012/05/09: ABC(Au): Calm weather hopes as mid-north bushfire burns
  Fire crews are hoping for calm conditions as they try to control a bushfire burning in the mid-north of South Australia. A burn-off jumped containment lines and spread into the Wirrabara forest in the southern Flinders Ranges.
• 2012/05/07: ABC(Au): Burn-offs fuel better bushfire protection
  Mild autumn weather has helped the Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE) to almost double the area of fuel reduction burns across north-east Victoria.

Acidification is changing the oceans:

• 2012/05/07: DD: Ocean acidification a greater threat to marine plankton than previously thought: study

  Sea levels are rising:

• 2012/05/08: ERW: Geophysicists fingerprint sea-level rise

  As for hydrological cycle disruptions [floods & droughts]:

• 2012/05/11: BBC: Parts of England no longer in drought after heavy rain
  Parts of England are no longer in drought following heavy rain in recent weeks, the Environment Agency has said. Drought status has been lifted in 19 areas of south-west England, the Midlands and parts of Yorkshire following persistent rainfall. The Environment Agency weekly drought update shows that last month was the the wettest April on record. But eastern and south-east England remain in drought because groundwater levels remain low.
• 2012/05/11: al Jazeera: Afghanistan floods kill dozens
  Heavy downpours and melting snow have led to severe flooding for many northern regions
• 2012/05/13: ABC(Au): Bridge collapses in China after heavy rain
  A bridge in China's Hunan province has collapsed after days of torrential rain across the country.
• 2012/05/13: BBC: Georgian capital Tbilisi hit by floods - five dead
  At least five people have been killed and dozens hurt after a river burst its banks in the Georgian capital Tbilisi, flooding parts of the city centre. Floodwaters from the Mtkvari river submerged roads and bridges, cutting power supplies and depositing huge quantities of mud. There have also been landslides in surrounding areas, with reports of farm animals being swept away. The authorities declared a state of emergency and sent troops to the city.
• 2012/05/09: ABC(Au): Fiji businesses crippled by floods
• 2012/05/09: TreeHugger: British Drought Turns into Massive Rainfall
• 2012/05/08: ABC(Au): Flood recovery on the Snowy
  "One flood is worth a celebration, but two is just a bastard," is how one dairy farmer described significant flooding on the Snowy River at Marlo in East Gippsland earlier this year. The Snowy flooded twice in a matter of weeks in March, inundating low lying farms on the Marlo Road at Orbost.
• 2012/05/08: al Jazeera: China hit by flooding
  Torrential rain causes further chaos and disruption as the flooding season sets in.
• 2012/05/07: al Jazeera: Dozens still missing in Nepal flash flood
  Search for survivors continues after flash floods hit central Nepal, killing at least 21 people and leaving 47 missing.
• 2012/05/07: GlobalPost: GreenTalk: Glacial lake bursts in Nepal, flood kills at least 13 people
  Climate change and melting glaciers leave mountain dwellers at risk
• 2012/05/07: CBC: Nepal flash flood kills at least 17
  Rescuers searching through mud and debris for flash-flood victims in northwestern Nepal had found 17 bodies by Monday, police said. Another 47 people, including three Ukrainian tourists, were missing and presumed dead.
• 2012/05/06: BBC: Dozens of people are still missing in Nepal after a mountain river burst its banks near Mount Annapurna, in the west of the country, causing flash flooding, police say

  Consider transportation & GHG production:

• 2012/05/12: NBF: China presses ahead with domestic high speed rail and exports of high speed rail equipment
• 2012/05/09: al Jazeera: Fourth-quarter profits drive Toyota recovery
  Japanese car giant reports $2.5bn annual profit as production bounces back after disruption caused by quake and tsunami.
  [...]
  Toyota is expecting to sell 8.7 million vehicles this fiscal year, 1.3 million more vehicles than the nearly 7.4 million vehicles it sold for the year ended March.
• 2012/05/07: ABC(Au): Hope new jet fuel [made from liquefied gas] test will take off

  As for carbon sequestration:

• 2012/05/11: DerSpiegel: 'Norway's Moon Landing' -- Massive Carbon-Capture Facility Spawns Skepticism and Hope
  The world's largest facility for filtering carbon dioxide out of industrial emissions was inaugurated in Norway this week. While some see it as a godsend in efforts to reach environmental targets, others find the technology too dangerous and expensive.
• 2012/05/12: BBC: Whatever happened to carbon capture?
  The process was patented back in the 1930s, and it is reckoned to be one of the most important technologies we have for tackling greenhouse gas emissions.
  [...]
  To meet the internationally agreed target of keeping the temperature rise since pre-industrial times below 2C (3.6F), the IEA calculates there should be about 1,500 full-scale CCS plants in operation by 2035. Currently, there are just eight.
• 2012/05/11: BBC: Norway aims for carbon leadership
• 2012/05/10: Guardian(UK): Q&A: carbon capture and storage
• 2012/05/09: Guardian(UK): Whatever happened to carbon capture in the fight against climate change?
• 2012/05/08: WWI: Growth of Carbon Capture and Storage Stalled in 2011
• 2012/05/09: TreeHugger: Carbon Capture & Storage Projects Stalled Last Year
• 2012/05/08: PlanetArk: Norway Opens Major Facility To Test Carbon Capture
• 2012/05/08: NatureNB: Norway opens carbon-capture test facility

  Large scale geo-engineering keeps popping up:

• 2012/05/12: TheCanadian: Nuke the Moon: The Wacky World of Geo-engineering
• 2012/05/07: DD: More rainmaking launched as drought bites North Thailand after record floods
• 2012/05/07: NewYorker: The Climate Fixers -- Is there a technological solution to global warming?

  What's new in conservation?

• 2012/05/10: BBC: Turtle doves: RSPB launches rescue mission
  Conservationists are embarking on an urgent mission to save one of the UK's most threatened birds - the turtle dove - from extinction.

While on the adaptation front:

• 2012/05/08: ABC(Au):TDU: We can't stop climate change - it's time to adapt

  Meanwhile in the journals:

• 2012/05/10: NERC:NORA: Evidence for phase-locked changes in climate between Scotland and Greenland during GS-1 (Younger Dryas) using micromorphology of glaciolacustrine varves from Glen Roy by A.P. Palmer et al.
• 2012/05/09: NERC:NORA: Reduced variability in range-edge butterfly populations over three decades of climate warming by Tom H. Oliver et al.
• 2012/05/09: NERC:NORA: High sensitivity of future global warming to land carbon cycle processes by Ben B.B. Booth et al.
• 2012/05/09: NERC:NORA: Examining Holocene stability of Antarctic Peninsula ice shelves by D.A. Hodgson et al.
• 2012/05/09: NERC:NORA: Planetary wave trends in the lower thermosphere - evidence for 22-year solar modulation of the quasi 5-day wave by M.J. Jarvis et al.
• 2012/05/12: ACPD: Radiative impacts of cloud heterogeneity and overlap in an atmospheric General Circulation Model by L. Oreopoulos et al.
• 2012/05/11: ACPD: The impact of differences in large-scale circulation output from climate models on the regional modeling of ozone and PM by A. M. M. Manders et al.
• 2012/05/11: ACPD: Tropical convective transport and the Walker circulation by J. S. Hosking et al.
• 2012/05/11: GMD: Simulations over South Asia using the Weather Research and Forecasting model with Chemistry (WRF-Chem): chemistry evaluation and initial results by R. Kumar et al.
• 2012/05/11: GMD: The ACCENT-protocol: a framework for benchmarking and model evaluation by V. Grewe et al.
• 2012/05/09: GMD: A dynamic continental runoff routing model applied to the last Northern Hemisphere deglaciation by H. Goelzer et al.
• 2012/05/11: GMDD: A community diagnostic tool for Chemistry Climate Model Validation by A. Gettelman et al.
• 2012/05/09: GMDD: Pre-industrial and mid-Pliocene simulations with NorESM-L - AGCM simulations by Z. Zhang & Q. Yan
• 2012/05/10: OSD: Large-scale temperature and salinity changes in the upper Canadian basin of the Arctic Ocean at a time of a drastic Arctic Oscillation inversion by P. Bourgain et al.
• 2012/05/09: OSD: Predictions for oil slicks detected from satellite images using MyOcean forecasting data by G. Zodiatis et al.
• 2012/05/07: CP: Bacterial GDGTs in Holocene sediments and catchment soils of a high Alpine lake: application of the MBT/CBT-paleothermometer by H. Niemann et al.
• 2012/05/11: CPD: Bunker Cave stalagmites: an archive for central European Holocene climate variability by J. Fohlmeister et al.
• 2012/05/10: ACP: Lidar and radar measurements of the melting layer: observations of dark and bright band phenomena by P. Di Girolamo et al.
• 2012/05/10: ACP: Urban organic aerosols measured by single particle mass spectrometry in the megacity of London by M. Dall'Osto & R. M. Harrison
• 2012/05/09: ACP: Changes in black carbon deposition to Antarctica from two high-resolution ice core records, 1850-2000 AD by M. M. Bisiaux et al.
• 2012/05/08: ACP: Saharan dust event impacts on cloud formation and radiation over Western Europe by M. Bangert et al.
• 2012/05/07: ACP: Optical-microphysical properties of Saharan dust aerosols and composition relationship using a multi-wavelength Raman lidar, in situ sensors and modelling: a case study analysis by A. Papayannis et al.
• 2012/05/10: ACPD: Adjoint sensitivity of global cloud droplet number to aerosol and dynamical parameters by V. A. Karydis et al.
• 2012/05/10: ACPD: CALIPSO observations of transatlantic dust: vertical stratification and effect of clouds by W. Yang et al.
• 2012/05/09: ACPD: Day and night columnar aerosol properties at Granada (Spain) retrieved from sun-and star-photometry by D. Pérez-RamÃrez et al.
• 2012/05/08: ACPD: Methanol from TES global observations: retrieval algorithm and seasonal and spatial variability by K. E. Cady-Pereira et al.
• 2012/05/07: ACPD: Comparison of CALIPSO aerosol optical depth retrievals to AERONET measurements, and a climatology for the lidar ratio of dust by G. L. Schuster et al.
• 2012/05/09: Nature: (ab$) Twenty-first-century warming of a large Antarctic ice-shelf cavity by a redirected coastal current by Hartmut H. Hellmer et al.
• 2012/05/09: Nature:GeoSci: (ab$) Cryospheric science: Vulnerable ice in the Weddell Sea by Angelika Humbert
• 2012/05/09: Nature:GeoSci: (ab$) Steep reverse bed slope at the grounding line of the Weddell Sea sector in West Antarctica by Neil Ross et al.
• 2012/05/08: PNAS: (ab$) Integrating ecosystem-service tradeoffs into land-use decisions by Joshua H. Goldstein et al.
• 2012/05/08: PNAS: (ab$) Long identical multispecies elements in plant and animal genomes by Jeff Reneker et al.
• 2012/05/08: PNAS: (ab$) Global models of ant diversity suggest regions where new discoveries are most likely are under disproportionate deforestation threat by Benoit Guénard et al.
• 2012/05/08: PNAS: (ab$) Committed carbon emissions, deforestation, and community land conversion from oil palm plantation expansion in West Kalimantan, Indonesia by Kimberly M. Carlson et al.
• 2012/05/08: PNAS: (ab$) A prominent pattern of year-to-year variability in Indian Summer Monsoon Rainfall by Vimal Mishra et al.
• 2012/05/08: PNAS: (ab$) Accumulation of impact markers in desert wetlands and implications for the Younger Dryas impact hypothesis by Jeffrey S. Pigati et al.
• 2012/05/08: PNAS: (ab$) Global climate evolution during the last deglaciation by Peter U. Clark et al.
• 2012/05/08: PNAS: (letter$) Reply to MacCall et al.: Acoustic-trawl survey results provide unique insight to sardine stock decline by David A. Demer & Juan P. Zwolinski
• 2012/05/08: PNAS: (letter$) Weak evidence for sardine collapse by Alec D. MacCall et al.
• 2012/01/23: AMS:JAOT: (ab$) A bias in the mid-tropospheric channel warm target factor on the NOAA-9 microwave sounding unit by Stephen Po-Chedley & Qiang Fu
• 2012/05/02: AMS:JC: (ab$) The influence of local feedbacks and northward heat transport on the equilibrium Arctic climate response to increased greenhouse gas forcing by Jennifer E. Kay et al.
• 2012/05/08: GMDD: A new marine ecosystem model for the University of Victoria Earth system climate model by D. P. Keller et al.
• 2012/05/08: OSD: A 20-yr reanalysis Experiment in the Baltic Sea Using three Dimensional Variational (3DVAR) method by W. Fu et al.
• 2012/05/08: CB: (ab$) Could methane produced by sauropod dinosaurs have helped drive Mesozoic climate warmth? by David M. Wilkinson et al.
• 2012/03/07: ERL: Bright is the new black -- multi-year performance of high-albedo roofs in an urban climate by S R Gaffin et al.
• 2012/04/12: ERL: The long-term effect of increasing the albedo of urban areas by Hashem Akbari et al.
• 2012/05/07: AGWObserver: New research from last week 18/2012
• 2012/05/06: Nature:GeoSci: (ab$) Regional atmospheric circulation shifts induced by a grand solar minimum by Celia Martin-Puertas et al.

  And other significant documents:

• 2012/05/: Alberta: Oil Publications and Maps [Jacobs Report]
• 2012/05/08: EnviroCan: 2012 Spring Report of the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development

  As for miscellaneous science:

• 2012/05/09: NatureN: Beware the creeping cracks of bias
  Evidence is mounting that research is riddled with systematic errors. Left unchecked, this could erode public trust, warns Daniel Sarewitz
• 2012/05/11: SlashDot: Positive Bias Could Erode Public Trust In Science
• 2012/05/10: BBC: Turbulence ahead: Flight heads into storm's heart
  Scientists have flown into the heart of a turbulent weather system in a bid to uncover the causes of heavy rainfall.
• 2012/04/30: UCAR: Scientists across U.S. launch study of thunderstorm impacts on upper atmosphere
• 2012/05/07: Wunderground:RR: When Students Listen: Atlantic Multi-decadal Oscillation
• 2012/05/06: ABC(US):B: 'Hug the Monster' for Realistic Hope in Global Warming (or How to Transform Your Fearful Inner Climate)

  More DIY science:

• 2012/05/12: RBroberg: NCDC DS-9640: CONUS Temperature Anomalies and a couple of ax-grinders
• 2012/05/08: Moyhu: April 2012 temperatures up 0.2°C

  What's new in models?

• 2012/05/07: UW: New research brings satellite measurements and global climate models closer

  What developments in the ongoing struggle for Free Science?

• 2012/05/10: IHE: Textbook Alternative - University of Minnesota compiles database of peer-reviewed, open-source textbooks
• 2012/05/10: SciAm:GB: Moving the Prestige to Open-Access Publishing
• 2012/05/07: RWER: Academic Spring: phase two

  Regarding Hansen:

• 2012/05/11: CCurrents: Game Over For The Climate by James Hansen
• 2012/05/10: CSW: Hansen: It's time for the politics to follow the science on global warming
• 2012/05/10: CCP: James Hansen: Game Over for the Climate
• 2012/05/10: EarlyWarning: Hansen on Climate
• 2012/05/10: PSinclair: Hansen in NYTimes: I'm not Sayin' "I Told you So", but...
• 2012/05/10: TP:JR: Must-Read: NASA's James Hansen Slams Obama's Lack Of Climate Leadership And Our 'Immoral' Inaction
• 2012/05/09: NYT: Game Over for the Climate by James Hansen
• 2012/05/10: ERabett: James Hansen Doubles Down

  Regarding Gleick:

• 2012/05/10: BCLSB: No Charges Filed Against Gleick
• 2012/05/07: QuarkSoup: Does Peter Gleick Get Credit for Heartland's Self-Destruction?

  Regarding Lovelock:

• 2012/05/08: BBC: The scientific maverick James Lovelock says climate catastrophe is not so certain as he previously suggested

  The Pielke fan clubbe, alas:

• 2012/05/09: TP:JR: Roger Pielke Jr. Is Fine With Heartland Institute Listing Him As A 'Heartland Expert'
• 2012/05/09: ERabett: Jumping the Hockey Stick Doesn't Break It

  Meanwhile at the UN:

• 2012/05/10: UN: Asia-Pacific cannot afford to grow without addressing environmental concerns - UN

  And on the carbon trading front:

• 2012/05/11: PlanetArk: California Takes Step Toward Linking CO2 Market To Quebec
• 2012/05/09: PlanetArk: U.N. To Rule On Carbon Offsets From Coal Plants
  The main U.N.-appointed panel that regulates supply of global carbon offsets could this week decide whether to approve rules that would lead to the award of millions of CO2 credits to coal-fired power stations in developing countries, according to meeting agenda notes on the UNFCCC website. The Executive Board (EB) of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) could this week decide whether to re-instate the methodology that developers use to calculate emission reductions made at coal power plants, a move which would enable them to request carbon credits. Last November the board halted the methodology and registration of new offset projects from efficient coal-fired power plants after finding some had exaggerated the emission cuts that would be made.

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

• 2012/03/26: TBIJ: Cruddas' Tobin tax boast speaks volumes about 'premier league' lobbying

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

• 2012/05/10: OilPrice: Why India is Ignoring U.S. Pressure and Continuing to Trade with Iran
• 2012/05/08: BBC: China buying oil from Iran with yuan
  China is buying crude oil from Iran using its currency the yuan, an Iranian diplomat has said. Oil transactions are usually settled in dollars but US sanctions make it difficult for Iran to accept payments in the US currency.
• 2012/05/07: al Jazeera: Clinton urges India to cut Iran oil imports
  US secretary of state says India must find alternate sources, as US continues to pressure Iran over nuclear programme.
• 2012/05/07: BBerg: India Said to Deny Local Branch for Iran Bank on U.S. Pressure
• 2012/05/07: BBerg: India Said to Plan 20% Cut in Iran Oil Imports This Fiscal Year
• 2012/05/07: BBC: Clinton urges India to buy less oil from Iran

  South China Sea tension persists:

• 2012/05/12: BBC: China has denied reports its military forces are preparing for war amid tensions over a disputed territory in the South China Sea
• 2012/05/11: CNN: Demonstrators in Manila protest China's stance over disputed lagoon
• 2012/05/09: Salon: Is this Cold War 2.0? A maritime dispute in the South China Sea threatens to draw in the United States
• 2012/05/11: BBC: Protest in Philippines over South China Sea stand-off
  Several hundred protesters waved flags and placards at the Chinese embassy in Manila, calling for China to withdraw its ships from a South China Sea shoal. The Philippines deployed more than 100 police near the Chinese Consular Office, said local media, amid rising tension over the month-long row. The two countries have been locked in a stand-off in disputed waters at the Scarborough Shoal since 8 April. Both sides accuse each other of intruding into territorial waters.
• 2012/05/11: al Jazeera: Protests in Philippines over China dispute
  Hundreds take to streets in Manila to protest against Beijing's claim to South China Sea islands.
• 2012/05/10: al Jazeera: China says citizens not safe in Philippines
  Beijing warns of dangers to Chinese citizens and issues warning to Manila via state media in South China Sea dispute. China has told its citizens that they are not safe in the Philippines, as a month-long row between the two nations over rival claims in the South China Sea threatened to spill out of control. Chinese travel agencies on Thursday said they had suspended tours to the Philippines, under government orders, while the Chinese embassy in Manila advised its nationals already in the country to stay indoors ahead of planned protests.
• 2012/05/10: al Jazeera: Neighbours keep an eye on China drilling
  First deepwater oil rig gains attention of neighbours watching disputed resource-rich area closely.
• 2012/05/10: CNN: Newspaper: China vows to defend island claim
  China and the Philippines have been involved in a tense standoff since April 10 - Philippines Navy accused Chinese boats of fishing illegally in waters off the Scarborough Shoal - Both countries claim the island, known by China as Huangyan, in the South China Sea - Beijing has warned the standoff could escalate into a military confrontation
• 2012/05/09: AntiWar: Philippines: US Obliged to Protect Our Claims in South China Sea -- Panetta, Clinton Vow to Support 1951 Military Pact
• 2012/05/07: JakartaPost: China's 1st deep-water rig to drill in S China Sea
• 2012/05/06: BBerg: Aquino Open to China Sea Oil Deal Separate From Territory Spat

  Argentina nationalized YPF, removing the Spanish firm Repsol. Much yelling ensued:

• 2012/05/10: BBC: Repsol details cost of YPF nationalisation
  Spanish oil company Repsol has released results showing the costs of the nationalisation of its majority stake in YPF by Argentina. Including YPF, Repsol's first quarter net profit was 792m euros ($1.026bn; £637m), up 3.5% from a year earlier. Excluding YPF, its net profit was only 643m euros, although that was up 12.4% from comparable figures last year. Rising oil prices and growth in its liquefied natural gas business boosted profits.
• 2012/05/08: EUO: EU response over Argentina imminent [to expropriation of Repsol YPF]

  The Canadian tar sand industry is lobbying the EU over the FQD. See also:

• 2012/05/11: PlanetArk: Canada's Oil Sand Battle With Europe

  And in miscellaneous international political jousting:

• 2012/05/10: PlanetArk: Citizen Backlash Keeps Malaysia Rare Earth Plant On Hold
• 2012/05/09: EurActiv: EU's aviation carbon funds could aid developing world
  The EU is considering the deployment of carbon allowance revenues from international airlines to fund climate aid to the poorest countries, under a planned $100 billion-a-year global relief fund. Draft conclusions for an Ecofin finance ministers meeting on 15 May, seen by EurActiv, say that finances "from auctions of aviation allowances in the EU ETS [Emissions Trading System] could help to support climate action in developing countries." Development groups say that the text could help end the EU's bitter dispute with countries such as China and India over climate levies raised on their airlines.

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

• 2012/05/10: TP:JR: The U.S. Military Takes On Global Warming
• 2012/05/11: AFTIC: Michael Klare - The Energy Wars Heat Up
• 2012/05/10: AlterNet: 6 Global Conflicts That Have Flared Up Over Oil and Gas
• 2012/04/12: TBAS: Climate change and the military in China, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States
  National security agencies of four major powers -- the United States, Russia, China, and the United Kingdom -- see their militaries taking on additional roles in domestic disaster relief because of the effects of global climate change.
• 2012/05/07: TP:JR: Defense Secretary Leon Panetta: 'Climate Change Has A Dramatic Impact On National Security'

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

• 2012/05/12: BBC: Chut Wutty's memory spurs anti-logging campaign
  The death of an environmental activist, shot dead by police, has galvanised his campaign against deforestation and illegal logging in a scenic part of Cambodia.

What are the activists up to?

• 2012/05/11: DerSpiegel: Interview with Greenpeace Head Kumi Naidoo -- 'We Are Losing the Planet'
  The environmental movement is losing momentum and governments around the world are ignoring their responsibility for slowing climate change. Greenpeace head Kumi Naidoo, however, remains optimistic. In an interview, he explains his new vision for a sustainable world -- and how the pope can help.
• 2012/05/10: TheHill:e2W: McKibben: Activists should be 'willfully naive' in oil subsidy, climate battle
  [...] "Now we have to actually be kind of willfully naive and demand that our system work the way that it is supposed to work."
• 2012/05/10: Grist: Walmart heirs quietly fund Walmart's environmental allies
• 2012/05/09: TP:JR: Indian Activists Visit Appalachia To Build Global Coalition Against Coal Industry
• 2012/05/09: Tyee: Why We Stopped the Coal Train -- And why risking arrest was the right thing to do. An account from the railway tracks
• 2012/05/07: CCurrents: Fourteen Arrested Blocking BNSF Coal Train In White Rock
• 2012/05/07: TreeHugger: 1,000 Rallies in 100 Countries 'Connect the Dots' on Extreme Weather & Climate Change
• 2012/05/07: STimes: RFK Jr. calls coal 'corrupting' at Portland rally
• 2012/05/06: Wunderground: Photos from Climate Impacts Day
• 2012/05/07: STimes: RFK Jr. speaking to anti-coal rally in Portland

  Polls! We have polls!

• 2012/05/08: Eureka: Support for climate change action drops [from 72% in 2010 to 62% in 2012], Stanford poll finds
• 2012/05/07: Grist: Don't call me an environmentalist

  Regarding Water Politics and Business:

• 2012/05/11: TreeHugger: Looking Backward to Move Forward: Solar Stills Could be the Low-Cost Leader in Water Desalination
• 2012/05/12: JFleck: Las Vegas, look out: A bad year in the Colorado Basin hints at the system's failure mode
• 2012/05/09: P3: Irrigation in the Texas Panhandle
• 2012/05/06: EnergyBulletin: Water commons, water citizenship and water security

  And on the groundwater front:

• 2012/05/08: AGU: Groundwater pumping leads to sea level rise, cancels out effect of dams

  Among the world's religions:

• 2012/05/10: CBC:TC: Green Evangelists
• 2012/05/09: Tyee: BC's Emerging Green Faith Movement
  Churchgoers opposed to tankers, pipelines say activism expresses compassion for God's creation.

Regarding science education:

• 2012/05/07: QuarkSoup: Crazy Parents Opposed to Teaching Climate Science

  Economics, Physics, Climate Science linkages:

• 2012/05/12: SimpleC: Economy-CO2 link reveals GDP weakness
• 2012/05/09: P3: Economics vs Physics
• 2012/05/11: ERabett: On Economics
• 2012/05/10: CSM: Green accounting of economic growth
• 2012/05/08: Stoat: Economics and Climatology?

  And on the American political front:

• 2012/05/12: NYT:PK: JPMorgan and Solyndra
• 2012/05/11: DemNow: Sexual Violence and Natural Resource Pillaging Top Hardships Facing Alaskan Natives
• 2012/05/10: GreenGrok: U.S. Acid Rain Regulations: Did They Work?
• 2012/05/10: Mercury: Solar industry, utilities clash over proposal to change the way "net metering" is calculated
• 2012/05/11: Grist: Obscure-but-awesome energy law getting shivved by natural gas lobby
• 2012/05/: Orion: America the Possible: A Manifesto, Part II - A new politics for a new dream by James Gustave Speth
• 2012/03/: Orion: America the Possible: A Manifesto, Part I - From decline to rebirth by James Gustave Speth
• 2012/05/09: TP:JR: Defeated By Tea-Party, Sen. Lugar Warns: "Republicans Cannot Admit To Any Nuance In Policy On Climate Change"
• 2012/05/10: TP:JR: CBO Report: Boosting Oil Production Won't Protect Americans From Gasoline Price Shocks
• 2012/05/13: al Jazeera: Are moderate Republicans on the way out?
  As the Tea Party takes a significant political scalp in Indiana, we ask if we are witnessing the movement's resurgence.
• 2012/05/09: PlanetArk: Vermont Poised To Be First State To Outlaw Fracking
• 2012/05/09: CSM: Food stamp use continues to rise
• 2012/05/08: AlterNet: Sen. Richard Lugar's Parting Words: Beware of Tea Party Extremists
• 2012/05/08: TP:JR: Report: U.S. Environmental Satellite System 'Is At Risk Of Collapse' And Could Decline 75% By 2020
• 2012/05/06: CHE: The Ph.D. Now Comes With Food Stamps
• 2012/05/07: TP:JR: National Clean Energy Standard Would Lower Power Sector CO2 Emissions 44% By 2035
• 2012/05/07: AlterNet: Surviving America's Decline
• 2012/05/06: WaPo: Endangered-species truce faces big test from little sand dunes lizard
• 2012/05/06: TreeHugger: Number One CO2 Emitter in the Northeast: Brayton Point Power Station

  The BP disaster continues to twist US politics:

• 2012/05/11: DeSmogBlog: Greenpeace Uncovers Shocking Photos Of Gulf Of Mexico Oil Disaster
• 2012/05/11: TreeHugger: Mississippi River's Flow Kept Gulf Spill Oil Off Shore More Than Expected
• 2012/05/07: CSW: White House sat on BP Gulf disaster photos: Where's the 'scientific integrity' policy to cover that?
• 2012/05/07: TreeHugger: Disturbing Gulf Spill Photos of Oiled Sea Turtles Unearthed
• 2012/05/07: Grist: Upsetting photos of oil-slicked turtles from Deepwater Horizon
• 2012/05/07: MoJo: Two Years Later, Grim Photos From the BP Disaster -- The oil-slicked turtles the government didn't want you to see

  On the 2012 campaign trail:

• 2012/05/09: BBC: US President Barack Obama had to fight off stiff competition from a convict in West Virginia's Democratic presidential primary on Tuesday
• 2012/05/09: Wonkette:Nearly Half Of West Virginia Democrats Vote For 'Inmate No. 11593-051? Over Barack Obama
• 2012/05/09: CBC: America's point and screech election campaign
• 2012/05/08: CSM: What Rick Santorum's lukewarm endorsement of Mitt Romney means
  [...]
  To sum up his message: At least Romney is better than Mr. Obama.
  Not exactly a ringing endorsement...
• 2012/05/08: BBC: Failed US Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum has formally endorsed his former rival Mitt Romney
• 2012/05/07: TreeHugger: Mitt Romney Blames Regulation for Fishermen's Woes, Ignores Overfishing Entirely
• 2012/05/06: CSM: Ron Paul wins big in Maine and Nevada
• 2012/05/07: CSM: Why Ron Paul's big wins in Maine and Nevada matter

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

• 2012/05/09: BRitholtz: Gas Prices Are Falling, And You May Not Like The Reason by James Bianco
• 2012/05/09: TP:JR: GOP: "You Think We're Going To Have A Press Conference Now To Congratulate The Administration For Decreasing Gas Prices?"

  The Keystone XL saga rolls along:

• 2012/05/12: CCP: NYTimes: An Old Texas Tale Retold: the Farmer vs. the Oil Company [or, TransCanada's Keystone XL vs. Julia Trigg Crawford]
• 2012/05/07: NYT: An Old Texas Tale Retold: the Farmer vs. the Oil Company

  Birth control and the War on Women percolate in the background. See also:

• 2012/05/11: AlterNet: Why Are American Teens So Ignorant About Sex and Birth Control?
• 2012/05/11: Good: 40 Percent of Young Adults Think Birth Control 'Doesn't Matter'
  In abstinence-only sex education classes across the country, kids are taught that condoms have a 30 percent failure rate, that the pill causes cancer, and that pregnancy can result from touching another person's genitals -- if the curriculum mentions contraception at all. It's no wonder that many young adults don't understand how birth control works
• 2012/05/05: Yahoo:Reuters: Arizona bans funding to Planned Parenthood in abortion fight

  The Next Generation Science Standards draft will doubtless trigger a lot of discussion and diatribe:

• 2012/05/11: ScienceInsider: What Do You Think of the New Science Standards?
  The U.S. science education community is being invited to comment on the first-ever set of science standards for U.S. school children. A draft of the Next Generation Science Standards has been posted by Achieve Inc. along with a coalition of high-tech companies, foundations, and state and local governments that hope to use their collective influence to create a voluntary national science curriculum where none now exists.
• 2012/05/11: SciAm:DGS: Is it worth fighting about what's taught in high school biology class?
• 2012/05/11: SciAm:BS: Evolution and Climate Change Should Be Taught in Schools, Say States

  The issue of NorthWest coal ports continues to vex:

• 2012/05/09: STimes: WA agency asks Corps to study coal terminal plans
  The Washington Ecology Department is asking the Corps of Engineers to develop a cumulative study of plans for coal export terminals in the Northwest.
• 2012/05/07: OPB: Will An Industrial Washington Town Embrace The Coal Export Industry?

  We're used to corporations buying legislatures. Now we have one openly threatening a legislature:

• 2012/05/08: TreeHugger: Connecticut Fears Monsanto - Bill to Label GM Ingredients Dead Due to Lawsuit Worries

  The actions of the Obama administration are being watched closely:

• 2012/05/10: TheHill:e2W: Senior Interior Department energy official to retire
  Robert Abbey, director of the Interior Department's Bureau of Land Management, is leaving the department at the end of May. The bureau oversees energy development, conservation, recreation and other uses of vast tracts of public lands in western states.
• 2012/05/11: CSW: The U.S. Global Change Research Program's National Global Change Research Plan 2012-2021
• 2012/05/09: TheHill:e2W: Senior official in charge of energy investment agency to step down
  Arun Majumdar, a top Energy Department official, will leave the agency next month, Energy Secretary Steven Chu said Wednesday. Majumdar will step down as head of the Energy Department's Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) on June 9. He will leave his position as acting under secretary of Energy effective immediately.
• 2012/05/10: NatureNB: Entomologist takes charge of US agricultural research institute
  The National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), a key component of the US Department of Agriculture's research effort, has a new director, Sonny Ramaswamy
• 2012/05/09: ScienceInsider: Senior DOE Official Resigns
  Arunava Majumdar, the head of the Department of Energy's (DOE's) Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), will leave his post next month, Energy Secretary Steven Chu wrote in an e-mail to agency staff members today. President Barack Obama had proposed elevating Majumdar to an undersecretary at DOE, but the Senate never confirmed the appointment.
• 2012/05/08: ScienceInsider: U.S. White House Threatens Veto Over [low] NOAA, NASA Funding
• 2012/05/07: PlanetArk: U.S. Proposes New Rules For Fracking On Federal Lands

  As for what is going on in Congress:

• 2012/05/10: HuffPo: Bernie Sanders, Keith Ellison Unveil Bill To End Fossil Fuel Subsidies
• 2012/05/10: Grist: James Inhofe's worst idea ever?
• 2012/05/11: ScienceInsider: House Takes Pot Shots at Research and Ocean Policy
• 2012/05/11: TreeHugger: New Bill Unveiled to Kill $113 Billion in Fossil Fuel Subsidies
• 2012/05/10: WaPo:B: House slashes funding increase for NOAA climate website
• 2012/05/10: TP:JR: Shortsighted Republicans Eliminate International Climate Aid Funding. Again.
• 2012/05/12: ERabett:BSD: Dems reforming filibusters, Repubs abandoning no new tax pledges

  What are the lobbyists pushing?

• 2012/05/11: TP:JR: Today, ALEC Brings Lawmakers And Big Oil Together To Undermine Clean Energy
• 2012/05/10: al Jazeera: Who is to blame for the US obesity epidemic?
  As billions are spent treating obesity related diseases, we take a look at the US food industry lobby.
• 2012/05/09: OilChange: Dirty Energy Money pouring into Congress faster than ever before
• 2012/05/08: TruthOut: Special Rights for ALEC: Three States Exempt Stealth Corporate Lobbying Group From Lobbying Rules
• 2012/05/08: Grist: U.S. coal lobbies frantically to save its doomed-ass self
• 2012/05/07: TP:JR: Four Big Oil Companies Are Members Of ALEC Task Forces

  While in the UK:

• 2012/05/11: NatureNB: English libel reform to bring peer-review protection
• 2012/05/09: BBC: Fishing ban in Dalgety Bay over radiation fear
  Emergency legislation has been passed by Scottish ministers to prevent fishing in the Dalgety Bay area.
• 2012/05/08: BBC: £365m wind farm between Neath and Aberdare backed
  The highest-generating onshore wind farm in England and Wales has been given the go-ahead in south Wales. The £365m Pen-y-Cymoedd development between Neath and Aberdare would generate power to 200,000 homes from 76 turbines, say developers. Swedish-based Vattenfall has promised a community benefits package potentially worth £55m over the site's lifetime.
• 2012/05/09: BBC: Wind turbines turned off at Highland schools
  Wind turbines at 16 schools in the Highlands have been turned off amid concerns about the planning and installation of the devices.
• 2012/05/08: BBC: Environment Agency head Lord Smith supports fracking expansion
  The chairman of the Environment Agency, Lord Smith, has given his support to the expansion of the controversial "fracking" method of extracting natural gas from shale rock in the UK.
• 2012/05/06: al Jazeera: Fracking: A dehydrated UK, watered only by capitalism
  When the UK's water infrastructure is already in severe drought, why is fracking even being considered?
• 2012/03/26: TBIJ: Cruddas' Tobin tax boast speaks volumes about 'premier league' lobbying

  And in Europe:

• 2012/05/11: NEurope: Fracking reaches point-of-no-return for EU legislators
  The European Parliament, specifically the Industry Research and Energy Committee, has launched a debate on the industrial and energy aspects of shale gas. It has been recorded that Poland views shale gas as an opportunity for more energy diversity as well as energy security -- especially in terms of reducing dependency on third country gas imports.
• 2012/05/11: TP:JR: Europeans Look To China For Renewable Energy Expansion
• 2012/05/10: EurActiv: Report: Firm EU efficiency standards will slash motor costs
  Ambitious fuel savings targets, such as those proposed by the EU can cut motorists expenses by enormous sums, according to research conducted for Greenpeace by the former chief of the UK's Environment Agency, Malcolm Fergusson.
• 2012/05/10: EUO: Commission condemns EU official's switch to food industry
  The EU commission said it's "regrettable" and "against the spirit of independence" of the EU's food safety agency that its former head of the executive board, Diana Banaty, quit and was hired immediately by a food lobby outfit.
• 2012/05/10: EUO: EU farm subsidies remain cloaked in secrecy
• 2012/05/09: EurActiv: Commission calls for 'third industrial revolution'
  Following the election of French socialist President François Hollande, the European Commission has tacked firmly towards the growth agenda and called for a new industrial revolution for Europe.
• 2012/05/09: EurActiv: Energy efficiency deal 'possible' by July 2012
  The Energy Efficiency Directive is likely to become reality under the Danish EU Presidency, which ends on 1 July, according to a European Commission official who has drafted the bill. The announcement came amid warnings from green campaigners, who say the amended text is too weak.
• 2012/05/07: DerSpiegel: Nein Danke -- German Government to Oppose Fracking
  Berlin is opposed to plans to use the controversial fracking process to extract natural gas in Germany, Spiegel has learned. Government ministers are "very skeptical" about the technology, which environmentalists claim can pollute groundwater.
• 2012/05/08: TreeHugger: Germany & UK Going Opposite Directions on Fracking
• 2012/05/08: PlanetArk: Czechs Eye Moratorium On Shale Gas Exploration
• 2012/05/07: EurActiv: Shell sets out 'progressive' European climate pitch
• 2012/05/06: BBC: Socialist Francois Hollande wins French presidency

  Meanwhile in Australia:

• 2012/05/11: ABC(Au):TDU: Illegal logging: let's get serious
• 2012/05/08: ABC(Au):TDU: We can't stop climate change - it's time to adapt
• 2012/05/11: ABC(Au): Watchdog warns of carbon tax cons
  The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) is warning customers to be wary of businesses claiming excessive price rises due to the carbon tax. The ACCC say it is currently investigating around 100 misleading or deceptive claims made in relation to the tax.
• 2012/05/10: WtD: Polling the planet: in which we explain why scientific data and trends differs from political polling...
• 2012/05/10: PlanetJ: Climate ignored in Australian federal budget
• 2012/05/10: ABC(Au): Fears fracking could prompt earthquakes
  The Hunter Valley Protection Alliance is demanding more research be done into the possibility coal seam gas fracking could lead to a spike in seismic activity across the region. US Geological Survey research has found a link between fracking and a sixfold increase in earthquakes in the central United States over an 11 year period.
• 2012/05/10: ABC(Au): Police arrest anti-logging protesters
  Police have arrested two activists after an early morning protest against the timber company Ta Ann on the Hobart waterfront. Two environmentalists entered the wharf area about 6:30am and boarded a cargo ship which was loading veneer headed for international markets.
• 2012/05/10: ABC(Au): Australian mining company Rio Tinto concerned about carbon tax
• 2012/05/10: ABC(Au): Flood buy-back turns Benjeroop into a "ghost town"
  When the tiny northern Victorian farming community of Benjeroop was devastated by flooding early last year the State Government promised to lead the recovery. But 15 months on, locals say the scheme set up to help them is turning Benjeroop into a ghost town. The Government's farm buy-back offer has prompted dozens of families to leave and there are fears plans to bulldoze houses will damage the community's chances of regenerating.
• 2012/05/09: ABC(Au): Budget: Science spared but concerns remain
• 2012/05/08: ABC(Au): Government bombarded as Slipper stands down
  The Coalition tried to suspend crossbench MP Craig Thomson and return former Speaker Harry Jenkins to the chair as Question Time boiled over in the lead-up to tonight's budget. Coalition frontbencher Christopher Pyne moved to have Mr Jenkins reinstated after Peter Slipper stepped down from the Speakership. Mr Slipper handed over to his Deputy, Labor MP Anna Burke, amid allegations of sexual harassment and travel rorts, made by former aide James Ashby.
• 2012/05/07: ABC(Au): New permits granted for oil and gas exploration
  Seven resources companies have won the right to explore for oil and gas in West Australian waters.
• 2012/05/07: ABC(Au): Rain blamed for 'weed explosion'

  Peter Costello thinks he smells Gillard's blood and wants in:

• 2012/05/11: ABC(Au): Kroger attack rips open old Liberal wounds
  Former Liberal powerbroker Michael Kroger launched a deeply personal attack on former treasurer Peter Costello this morning as tensions within the party boiled over in spectacular fashion.
• 2012/05/09: ABC(Au): Pyne slams door on Costello comeback claims
  Senior Liberals moved to close the door on the chance of a Peter Costello comeback this morning after the party was rocked by claims about the former treasurer's revived political ambitions. Last night's 7.30 reported Mr Costello had demanded a young MP step aside to allow him to return to federal politics. Sources told the program Mr Costello made the move because he had become "bored and frustrated" at the prospect of current Opposition Leader Tony Abbott becoming prime minister - a job Mr Costello coveted during his time as treasurer under then-PM John Howard.
• 2012/05/09: ABC(Au): Alleged Costello comeback sparks infighting
  The ABC has learnt the Federal Coalition is being rocked by claims former treasurer Peter Costello made a bid to return to the political stage late last year. The ABC's 7.30 program has found bitter factional in-fighting was triggered by the purported move by Mr Costello, who demanded a young MP step aside to accommodate him. It is a claim Mr Costello steadfastly denies, but many of his former colleagues believe it, with Victorian MPs privately saying he has become bored and frustrated that Tony Abbott looks headed for the top job. The dispute has laid bare the deep divisions in the Liberal Party's Victorian branch, which threaten the Coalition at a time when it believes government is within its grasp.

After a 10 year drought and 2 years of flooding, water usage planning is controversial and difficult:

• 2012/05/08: ABC(Au): Aquifer storage hopes for Murray water supplies
  Scientists say there is growing interest from industry and governments in proposals for aquifer storages, as a way to ensure Australia's future water security. Four rivers in three states have been identified as having the potential to test the concept of underground storage. Principal investigator with the National Centre for Groundwater Research and Training, Alan Curtis, said the Murray-Darling Basin was losing about 4,000 gigalitres annually to evaporation and another 1,000 GL dried up from dams on private properties.
• 2012/05/07: ABC(Au): Office of Water after more water saving ideas
  The New South Wales Office of Water says it has already received a number of ideas from the state's Murray Darling Basin communities about ways to save water.
• 2012/05/07: ABC(Au): Farmers must try to be sustainable after drought
  Sustainable farming is the goal for those primary producers still in the farming business after two decades of drought.
• 2012/05/07: ABC(Au): Council to map out flood feedback
  Residents on the far north Queensland Tablelands are being urged to contribute their knowledge and experience of natural disasters to a new flood study. The Tablelands Regional Council has hired consults to complete the work in the Biboohra and Bilwon areas.

And in New Zealand:

• 2012/05/08: HotTopic: Energy advice ignores the climate crisis
• 2012/05/08: HotTopic: NZ govt dumps national environmental standard for sea level rise
• 2012/05/07: HotTopic: Zombie ETS infects RMA with climate insanity

  While in the Indian subcontinent:

• 2012/05/09: CCurrents: As The World Awakes, India Sleepwalks Into Nuclear Peril
• 2012/05/08: CCurrents: Koodankulam -- Anti-Nuclear Struggle Continues
• 2012/05/07: CCurrents: Koodankulam Villagers To Return Voter ID Cards by People's Movement Against Nuclear Energy

  In the Middle East:

• 2012/05/11: TP:JR: Saudi Arabia Unveils $100 Billion Plan To Make Solar 'A Driver For Domestic Energy For Years To Come'

  And South America:

• 2012/05/11: PlanetArk: Argentina Slows Climate Action Amid Energy Supply Crisis

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

• 2012/05/12: Far-n-Wide: Don't Accept The Premise
• 2012/05/12: G&M: Canada and climate change: all plan, no action
  Canada, you might be surprised to hear, is a world leader in climate change. Canada leads the world in presenting plans for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and Canada leads the world in the size of the gap between plans and deeds. The Mulroney government had a plan (1990). The Chrétien government had plans (1995, 2000, 2002). The Martin government had a plan (2005). And now the Harper government has a plan, sort of.
• 2012/05/11: NatPo: Ottawa must act on oil sands emissions or critics gain credibility
• 2012/05/11: NI: Hypocrisy revealed
• 2012/05/09: TheCanadian: Hill Times: Sustainable Development Experts Call Harper Govt an International Embarrassment on Environment
• 2012/05/10: HuffPo: Environmental Charities NOT Biggest Recipients Of Foreign Cash
• 2012/05/10: 350orBust: McCarthyism, Canadian Style
• 2012/05/08: EradicatingEcocide: Conservatives strip our environmental protections, silence our environmental watchdogs, and damage our economy
• 2012/05/09: PostMedia: Armed Arctic vessels face delay in latest procurement setback
  The Conservative government's list of troubled multi-billion-dollar military procurement projects continues to grow as a plan to obtain a fleet of armed vessels to patrol Canada's Arctic waters has been hit with a three-year delay. The Defence Department had been expecting to take delivery of Canada's first of between six and eight Arctic Offshore Patrol Ships in 2015. But documents tabled in the House of Commons on Tuesday show the timeline has been pushed back to 2018. In addition, the $3.1-billion project is now expected to cost $40 million more than anticipated. The Defence Department did not respond to questions by press time.
• 2012/05/08: TMoS: Is Harper Giving British Columbia Real Cause to Secede?
• 2012/05/07: Far-n-Wide: We Really Are At "War"
• 2012/05/07: HillTimes: Tories accused of being 'one of most anti-environmental governments in the world'
  Sustainability experts laud early initiatives to expand park land and control toxic substances, but say the most recent budget is an international embarrassment.

The Commissioner on Environment and Sustainable Development delivered his yearly report this week. It wasn't good:

• 2012/05/08: EnviroCan: 2012 Spring Report of the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development
• 2012/05/08: PI: Pembina reacts to the Commissioner on Environment and Sustainable Development's audit of federal climate change policy
• 2012/05/09: P3: Canada has no plan
• 2012/05/09: PlanetArk: Canada Set To Miss Modest Emissions Goals: Watchdog
• 2012/05/08: SciAm: Canada Set to Miss Modest Emissions Goals
  Canada is acting too slowly to combat climate change and has little chance of achieving its modest 2020 target for cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, Parliament's environmental watchdog said on Tuesday.
• 2012/05/09: Far-n-Wide: "Made In Canada"
  Have you heard the stunning news? The Conservatives have done little on the climate change file, they won't meet their own modest targets, nor have they even bothered to do any cost analysis.
• 2012/05/09: NorRe: The Vaughn Report - the government has no plan to cut greenhouse gas emissions
• 2012/05/08: HuffPo: Scott Vaughan, Environment Watchdog, Says There's No Federal Plan To Cut Greenhouse Gas
• 2012/05/09: EradicatingEcocide: The Vaughn Report
• 2012/05/08: EradicatingEcocide: 2012 Spring Report of the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development
• 2012/05/08: CBC: No regulatory framework in place to curb greenhouse gas emissions
  The federal government has promised to cut greenhouse gas emissions significantly by 2020, but it has not put the regulatory framework in place to achieve that goal, environmental groups and economists say, responding to the report of Canada's environment commissioner. So far, only two regulations are in place for the transportation sector, while regulations for the electricity sector aren't expected to take effect until 2015 and no regulations are in place for oil and gas.
• 2012/05/08: CBC: Environment commissioner expected to slam Tories -- Kyoto, climate change targets and contaminated sites subject of report

  The budget implementation act came in for much opprobrium:

• 2012/05/10: Tyee: Bill C-38: the Environmental Destruction Act
  Packing so many attacks on nature into one bill, Harper bets, will confuse citizens. Here's what's at stake.
• 2012/05/12: WMTC: elizabeth may: bill c-38: the environmental destruction act
• 2012/05/09: G&M: Budget bill gives Harper cabinet free hand on environmental assessments
  The Harper government is giving a wide range of new powers to cabinet ministers to decide the scope of environmental assessments, as it proceeds with an omnibus budget bill that overhauls the way Ottawa will review major resource projects. Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver has promoted the legislative changes as providing greater certainty to investors keen to develop Canada's vast resources. But in some major ways, the government will make the system more opaque and subject to ministerial discretion.
• 2012/05/09: iPolitics: Harper government has walked away from its environmental responsibilities
• 2012/05/08: Impolitical: Oliver on the defensive
• 2012/05/07: CBC: Tory minister defends environmental changes in budget bill
  Natural resources minister says he's spoken to Canadians on bill to pass environmental regulations Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver defended the government's use of an omnibus budget bill to pass changes to environmental regulations, arguing he has spoken to Canadians about it and the opposition can put knowledgeable MPs on the committee studying it. The 400-page bill contains major changes to environment policy, as well as budgetary measures and other changes. The finance committee studies budgetary measures. Oliver says a subcommittee will look at the environmental changes in C-38, the budget implementation bill.
• 2012/05/06: CBC: NDP, environmental groups rally against budget bill
  New Democrats say they will no longer stand by and watch as the Conservatives "shut down" debate, vowing to take action as early as Monday. In an interview airing on CBC Radio's The House Saturday, NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair said the party is reaching "a breaking point" with such behaviour from the government, and is contemplating "legal" as well as "parliamentary" options. Conservative MPs voted last week to limit debate on the 400-page budget implementation bill, leaving all MPs with less than a week to debate it.
• 2012/05/07: HillTimes: Feds to repeal Kyoto Act in budget bill, critics slam move
• 2012/05/06: G&M: Ottawa should halt its smear campaign against pipeline detractors

  The agro-chemical industry wants to use 2,4D in Canada:

• 2012/05/11: PostMedia: 'Big Farma' companies seek federal approval of 2,4-D-resistant corn, soybean seeds
  Dow Chemical and Monsanto want federal approval to sell corn and soybeans seeds genetically fortified to withstand concentrated spraying with 2,4-D and other potent herbicides to repel advancing "superweeds" on Canadian farms. The agricultural giants are seeking Health Canada and Canadian Food Inspection Agency safety assessments for the introduction of four varieties of corn and soybeans bio-engineered to tolerate 2,4-D choline and another proven broadleaf weed killer, dicamba. Dow AgroSciences, a subsidiary of Dow Chemical, hopes to have 2,4-D-tolerant "Enlist" field corn on the North American market next year. Rival Monsanto plans a limited launch of dicamba-tolerant soybeans in 2014, while Dow wants to unveil 2,4-D soybeans in 2015. Health Canada would not discuss the companies' specific safety submissions for the proposed novel foods, saying such information is "confidential" while under government review.
• 2012/05/11: PlanetArk: Super Weeds No Easy Fix For US Agriculture-Experts

  A coalition of Canadian groups is planning a Black Out Speak Out protest against the Harper gang's environmental policies:

• BlackOutSpeakOut
• 2012/05/12: DeSmogBlog: Canadian Environmental Groups Black Out to Speak Out Against Government Threats to Nature & Democracy
• 2012/05/07: PI: Environmental groups launch major campaign to defend nature and democracy
  Black Out Speak Out groups will darken websites nationwide in protest against efforts to silence Canadians
• 2012/05/09: PostMedia: Canadian environmental organizations to blackout website to protest Bill C-38
  Canada's leading environmental organizations will black out their websites for one day next month to protest what they consider attacks by the federal government - and they are asking businesses, social justice groups and individuals to join them. The Black Out Speak Out campaign, culminating in website blackouts June 4, is a symbolic act to focus attention on government actions, said Peter Robinson, CEO of the David Suzuki Foundation.
• 2012/05/08: ScottsDiaTribes: If you care about the Canadian Environment...

  The battle over the Northern Gateway pipeline rages on:

• 2012/05/09: TheCanadian: (cartoon - Hummel) Stevie and Christy's 'Hands-off' Approach to Enbridge
• 2012/05/11: 350orBust: Northern Gateway Pipeline: Not A Pretty Picture
• 2012/05/10: PlanetArk: Enbridge Clings to [Northern] Gateway Plan Despite Opposition
• 2012/05/09: TheCanadian: Toronto Star: RCMP Caught Spying on Aboriginal Pipeline Protesters in BC
• 2012/05/09: TheCanadian: NEI Investments' Motion at Enbridge AGM Fails, But Not By Much
• 2011/01/31: MichiganMessenger: Enbridge denies responsibility for oil spill -- Refuses to pay some claims of property damage, business loss, health problems
  Despite public promises to compensate residents for losses associated with the summer oil spill, in Calhoun county court Enbridge is arguing that it is not legally liable for damages from the spill. Last July a pipeline rupture on Enbridge's 6B pipeline spilled an estimated million gallons of Canadian tar sands crude into the Kalamazoo River system. The oil traveled 30 miles down the rain-swollen river, coating the floodplain. Officials declared a state of emergency, recommended evacuation because of unsafe levels of benzene in the air, and closed the Kalamazoo River to all activity by the public. In numerous public statements Enbridge CEO Pat Daniels apologized for the spill and promised to take responsibility for the cleanup and address the needs of the affected people and businesses. But six months after the spill, the river remains closed and some residents have not been able to get compensation through the claims process set up by the company.
• 2012/05/09: TStar: Northern Gateway pipeline faces 'unbreakable' wall
  Prime Minister Stephen Harper may have the legislative muscle to ram his controversial oilsands pipeline through Parliament. But Jackie Thomas and a host of equally stubborn British Columbia Indian chiefs are here to tell him that the proposed Northern Gateway conduit is far from a done deal.
• 2012/05/09: PostMedia: Enbridge faces AGM challenge -- Company asked to assess risk of Northern Gateway opposition
  NEI Investments' Ethical Funds has filed a motion to be voted on at Enbridge's annual general meeting in Toronto Wednesday, asking the company to address the risks associated with first nations' opposition to their proposed pipeline. The $5-billion Enbridge Northern Gateway oil pipe-line project would transport oil from Alberta's oilsands to Kitimat, where it would be loaded on tankers and shipped around the world. The legal, operational and reputational risks cited by Ethical Funds include a possible lengthy court battle, delays from pro-tests or blockades and potential damage to Enbridge's reputation, NEI Investments said in their proxy alert to shareholders.
• 2012/05/09: TStar: RCMP spied on B.C. natives protesting pipeline plan, documents show
• 2012/05/09: TheCanadian: NEI Investments Questions at Enbridge at AGM Over First Nations Opposition to Gateway
• 2012/05/09: TheCanadian: Tough Questions for Enbridge on its Alleged Support from First Nations
• 2012/05/09: CBC: Vancity pressured to drop Enbridge from mutual funds
• 2012/05/09: WpgFP: First Nations set to protest Enbridge shareholder meeting over pipeline
• 2012/05/06: TheCanadian: Civil Disobedience Warranted for Pipelines, Tankers, Fish Farms, Private River Power

  The Kinder Morgan pipeline expansion issue is drawing heat as well:

• 2012/05/: WatershedSentinel: Morgan Kinder Pipeline Safety
• 2012/05/10: TheCanadian: The Cost of an Oil Spill in Burrard Inlet: $40 Billion...For Starters
• 2012/05/06: NewsTrib: Tar sands oil, $5 billion and the Strait of Juan de Fuca
• 2012/05/06: PostMedia: Is Canada prepared for an oil disaster?
  A ring of proposed pipeline and resource development projects surrounding Vancouver Island would dramatically increase the number of tankers and freighters in nearby waterways, and there are growing fears - on both sides of the border - that Canada is not prepared to deal with a major oil spill. Projects in the works include Enbridge's Northern Gateway and Kinder Morgan's Trans Mountain pipelines, the Gateway Pacific Terminal in Washington and the Raven Underground Coal Project in Vancouver Island's Comox Valley. If approved, many more tankers would ply waters near Vancouver Island.

The Alberta govt. twisted the Jacobs report on tarsand emissions to mean what it wanted:

• 2012/05/: Alberta: Oil Publications and Maps [Jacobs Report]
• 2012/05/10: PI:B: Alberta government misinterprets findings of Jacobs report on oilsands emissions
• 2012/05/09: BWeek: Oil-Sands Emissions Low Enough for Europe, Alberta Says
• 2012/05/09: PostMedia: Editorial: Europe also has climate homework
  A [Jacobs] study released Wednesday by Alberta Energy in response to the European Union's efforts to label bitumen as "dirty" oil is sure to pour fuel on the flames of this high-stakes trade fight.
• 2012/05/11: PlanetArk: Canada's Oil Sand Battle With Europe
• 2012/05/10: Reuters: Canada's oil sand battle with Europe
• 2012/05/09: G&M: Alberta fires back at proposed EU fuel rules
  The Alberta government has gone on the offensive against Europe's proposed fuel-quality directive with a new study that shows the oil sands production is only slightly more greenhouse-gas intensive than crudes already used in Europe. Alberta and the federal government have lobbied aggressively against the European low-carbon fuel proposal, saying it would discriminate against Canadian-based crude producers with an unscientific approach to reducing greenhouse gases (GHG).

The Harper gang is letting RadarSat Constellation die on the vine:

• 2012/05/11: NatureNB: Canadian [Radarsat Constellation] satellite system under budget cloud
  Missed deadlines and an underfunded Canada Space Agency (CSA) may scuttle plans to build the next generation of earth observing satellites, according to the Canadian satellite company pegged to build them. In 2010, the CSA selected MacDonald, Detwillier and Associates Ltd. to design the successor to Radarsat-2, the agency's current earth observing satellite. The company came up with a three-satellite system that would provide information for maritime surveillance, disaster management and ecosystem monitoring. But Dan Friedman, the company's president and chief executive officer, says the federal government missed a target deadline for awarding the building contract in January, according to a story in the Globe and Mail and the CSA may not have enough money for the project.
• 2012/05/10: G&M: No funding, no liftoff for Radarsat program, CEO says
  A Vancouver space and satellite technology developer is blastingthe federal government for foot-dragging on plans for new satellites that are supposed to defend Canada's sovereignty in the Arctic. MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates Ltd.'s MDA-T criticism of the Conservative government comes four years after Ottawa surprised investors by blocking the company from selling its space technology division to Minneapolis-based Alliant Techsystems Inc., saying the unit was of strategic interest to Canada.
• 2012/05/09: CBC: Fate of Canadian satellite project unclear
  B.C.-based company behind Radarsat design [MDA] has no contract to build the satellites

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

• 2012/05/10: G&M: Suzuki Foundation registers as lobbyist
  The David Suzuki Foundation has registered in B.C. as a lobbyist intending to meet with Premier Christy Clark, cabinet ministers and government employees to discuss a range of environmental issues. Documents filed with the B.C. Lobbyists Registry also show that the Suzuki Foundation has received funding from a foreign source -- the British High Commission donated $39,999.
• 2012/05/10: WCEL: When the Landman is forced to pay legal costs
• 2012/05/12: CBC: B.C. premier calls Mulcair's oilsands comments 'goofy'
• 2012/05/07: TheCanadian: The Myth of BC Liberal 'Neutrality' on Enbridge

  I'll bet a lot of people in BC are wondering who the hell wrote these contracts:

• 2012/05/12: TheCanadian: BC Hydro Forced to Pay Exhorbitant Prices for IPPs, Passing Over Cheap Power as Reservoirs Overflow
• 2012/05/12: NI: Chapter from Heller's Catch-22?

  Meanwhile in that Mechanical Mordor known as the tar sands:

• 2012/05/11: PostMedia: Who's afraid of China? Industry mum as citizens worry about giant's rising influence in oil sands
  China's growing influence in oil sands development might be the most import-ant issue facing Canada's energy sector that nobody is talking about. Canadian companies have happily accepted billions of dollars in investments from Chinese state-owned enterprises in recent years on the basis that the energy-hungry emerging Asian superpower will soon be their best customer.
• 2012/05/10: PostMedia: Majority of oilsands ownership and profits are foreign, says B.C. analysis
  More than two-thirds of all oilsands production in Canada is owned by foreign entities, sending a majority of the industry's profits out of the country, says a new analysis released Thursday by a British Columbia-based conservation group. The research by Forest Ethics Advocacy was based on an analysis of shareholder information in January 2012 from Bloomberg Professional of more than a dozen companies, including nine with headquarters in Canada, and six with their head offices in other countries. It found 71 per cent of the ownership of oilsands production was foreign, while the foreign-based companies controlled 24.2 per cent of the sector's production.
• 2012/05/10: LeDaro: Oil Sands in Alberta: Who owns them?
• 2012/05/10: TMoS: Tar Sands - The Great Canadian Giveaway
• 2012/05/10: DeSmogBlog: Tar Sands Oil Companies 71 Percent Foreign-Owned - Cue Ezra Levant's Outrage
• 2012/05/10: CBC: Tarsands critics put spotlight on foreign ownership
• 2012/05/12: PostMedia: Researcher questions impartiality of industry-backed oilsands education program
  An industry-funded program that offers high school teachers a six-day trip to Fort McMurray to "experience Alberta's oilsands" is being expanded across the country.

Also in Alberta:

• 2012/05/09: PostMedia: Stelmach wades in on Wildrose defeat, blaming it on climate change stand
  Danielle Smith's position on climate change - not allegations of bigotry in the Wildrose party - killed her chance to end the Progressive Conservative dynasty, says former Tory premier Ed Stelmach. Alberta's 13th premier said he was confident his party would come out victorious in the April 23 election to continue its 41-year reign, but Smith assured the victory for the Tories when she stated she believes the science behind climate change is not conclusive.

As for miscellaneous Canadiana:

• 2012/05/10: PI: The Pembina Institute supports new multimedia series
• 2012/05/10: CBC: Canadian farms getting bigger, but rarer

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

• 2012/05/09: EnergyBulletin: The peak oil crisis: perspective
• 2012/05/08: CCurrents: What Is The Limiting Factor? by Herman Daly
  In yesteryear's empty world capital was the limiting factor in economic growth. But we now live in a full world. Consider: What limits the annual fish catch -- fishing boats (capital) or remaining fish in the sea (natural resources)? Clearly the latter. What limits barrels of crude oil extracted -- drilling rigs and pumps (capital), or remaining accessible deposits of petroleum -- or capacity of the atmosphere to absorb the CO2 from burning petroleum (both natural resources)? What limits production of cut timber -- number of chain saws and lumber mills, or standing forests and their rate of growth? What limits irrigated agriculture -- pumps and sprinklers, or aquifer recharge rates and river flow volumes? That should be enough to at least suggest that we live in a natural resource-constrained world, not a capital-constrained world.
• 2012/05/07: TreeHugger: Natural Resources Now the Limiting Economic Factor, Not Capital
• 2012/05/06: MetropolisMag: The case for interdependence [Vandana Shiva]
• 2012/05/06: SteadyState: What Is the Limiting Factor?

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

• 2012/05/11: AlterNet: Why Are American Teens So Ignorant About Sex and Birth Control?
• 2012/05/11: Good: 40 Percent of Young Adults Think Birth Control 'Doesn't Matter'
  In abstinence-only sex education classes across the country, kids are taught that condoms have a 30 percent failure rate, that the pill causes cancer, and that pregnancy can result from touching another person's genitals -- if the curriculum mentions contraception at all. It's no wonder that many young adults don't understand how birth control works
• 2012/05/09: UCSUSA:B: 5 Things to Know about Population and Heat-trapping Emissions
• 2012/05/01: AlterNet: Christian Conservatives vs. Sex: The Long War Over Reproductive Freedom
• 2012/05/09: Grist: Melinda Gates wants family planning back on the global agenda
• 2012/05/07: CCurrents: The Poor And The Privileged And A Proposal On Resource Use
• 2012/05/05: Yahoo:Reuters: Arizona bans funding to Planned Parenthood in abortion fight
• 2012/04/30: AlterNet: 8 Paranoid Sex Myths Spread by America's Anti-Sex Crusaders (Debunked by Science)
• 2012/05/06: AlterNet: Why Does Federal Money Flow to Conservative Groups That Terrify Kids About Sexuality?
• 2012/05/06: AlterNet: A Ban on Kissing? The Right-Wing Sexual Fears in New Abstinence Bills
• 2012/05/06: TDB:AS: Sex For The Simple-Minded

  How do the media measure up?

• 2012/05/11: FAIR: Oily Propaganda on ABC World News
• 2012/05/10: Grist: Fox News has finally figured out that low gas prices are bad
• 2012/05/10: HotTopic: Stuff stuff up (another bloody ice age)
• 2012/05/09: AlterNet: Limbaugh Affiliate Reports Millions In Lost Revenue
  Last night, Cumulus Media, a radio company that carries Rush Limbaugh's show on 38 of its stations, announced millions in losses directly attributable to Limbaugh's show.
• 2012/05/07: DeSmogBlog: A View From Nowhere? The Case Against Knee-Jerk Centrism When It Comes to Politics and Science

  Regarding the quality of blogospheric discussion:

• 2012/05/13: Stoat: On getting out more

  Here is something for your library:

• 2012/05/07: ClubOfRome: [eBook Plug] New Report issues a warning about humanity's ability to survive without a major change in direction

  And for your film & video enjoyment:

• 2012/05/12: TP:JR: In A New Documentary [Watershed], Robert Redford Tells The Colorado River's Epic Story
• 2012/05/10: PI: The Pembina Institute supports new multimedia series
• 2012/05/11: TreeHugger: Amory Lovins Wants us to 'Reinvent Fire' with 50-Year Energy Plan
• 2012/05/09: PSinclair: Brilliant Ads Tweak "Solar is for Hippies" Meme
• 2012/05/09: 350orBust: Water: A Wake Up Call

  Meanwhile among the 'Sue the Bastards!' contingent:

• 2012/05/11: EnvEcon: Can the courts force climate change legislation?
• 2012/05/09: HuffPo: Tim DeChristopher, Utah Environmental Activist, Appealing 2011 Conviction
• 2012/05/10: MoJo: An Inconvenient Lawsuit: Teenagers Take Global Warming to the Courts
  Industry giants say their case is misguided. But that isn't stopping a group of high school students from using the legal system to make environmental demands.
• 2012/05/07: PlanetArk: Chevron Seeks Bank Records In Ecuador Environmental Suit

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

• 2012/05/10: NBF: Pocket-sized fuel cell charges phones for two weeks
• 2012/03/27: TBAS: I was wrong; natural gas will dominate by Kurt Zenz House
• 2012/05/09: Eureka: Secrets of the first practical artificial leaf
• 2012/05/08: OilPrice: South Africa to use Oceanic Currents for 24/7 Uninterrupted Renewable Energy
• 2012/05/08: TP:JR: Our Massive Marine Energy Potential: Scouring The Tropics For Thermal Energy
• 2012/05/06: BBerg: Record Gas Use by U.S. Utilities Fails to Drive Up Price: Energy

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

• 2012/05/11: PlanetArk: Chesapeake Delay Contributed To Wyoming Well Blowout
  Chesapeake Energy's delayed response to warning signs contributed to a natural gas well blowout in Wyoming in April, which led to a leak and the evacuation of dozens of nearby residents, state regulators said on Thursday. The company's "delay in observation of and response to" drilling mud that had collected during the casing process, was a contributing factor in the eventual loss of control at the well, according to a Wyoming Oil and Gas Conservation Commission report. It said that "improper engagement of wellhead lockdown pins" also helped cause the blowout, which was eventually triggered by a mechanical failure at the surface of the well. No regulatory action was planned, the report said.
• 2012/05/10: ABC(Au): Fears fracking could prompt earthquakes
  The Hunter Valley Protection Alliance is demanding more research be done into the possibility coal seam gas fracking could lead to a spike in seismic activity across the region. US Geological Survey research has found a link between fracking and a sixfold increase in earthquakes in the central United States over an 11 year period.
• 2012/05/09: DeSmogBlog: The Onion Skewers The Boom in Fracking PR Spin
• 2012/05/09: PlanetArk: Vermont Poised To Be First State To Outlaw Fracking
• 2012/05/09: TreeHugger: New Federal Fracking Rules Would Only Apply to 11% of Nation's Natural Gas Supply
• 2012/05/08: DeSmogBlog: Fracking Disclosure Proposals: Way Too Little, Much Too Late
• 2012/05/07: DerSpiegel: Nein Danke -- German Government to Oppose Fracking
  Berlin is opposed to plans to use the controversial fracking process to extract natural gas in Germany, Spiegel has learned. Government ministers are "very skeptical" about the technology, which environmentalists claim can pollute groundwater.
• 2012/05/07: NakedCapitalism: Shale Gas Hype: Subprime 2.0?
• 2012/05/07: PlanetArk: U.S. Proposes New Rules For Fracking On Federal Lands
• 2012/05/06: al Jazeera: Fracking: A dehydrated UK, watered only by capitalism
  When the UK's water infrastructure is already in severe drought, why is fracking even being considered?

On the coal front:

• 2012/05/09: PlanetArk: European Slump Leads Utilities To Burn More Coal

  On the gas and oil front:

• 2012/05/11: BBerg: Closing oil prices Friday
  OIL (US$/bbl)
  Nymex Crude Future...96.13
  Dated Brent Spot.....112.05
  WTI Cushing Spot.....96.13
• 2012/05/04: SCitizen: The Oil Industry's Deceitful Promise of American Energy Independence
• 2012/05/11: NBF: IEA reports global oil supply rose 600,000 bpd in April, 2012 to a record 91 million bpd
• 2012/05/10: TP:JR: CBO Report: Boosting Oil Production Won't Protect Americans From Gasoline Price Shocks
• 2012/05/09: OilDrum: Norwegian Crude Oil Reserves and Production as of 12/31/2011
• 2012/05/09: OilChange: Shell in Nigeria: Its Worse than Bad
• 2012/05/07: DemNow: ExxonMobil's Dirty Secrets, from Indonesia to Nigeria to Washington: Steve Coll on "Private Empire"
• 2012/05/04: DemNow: "Private Empire": Author Steve Coll on the State-Like Powers, Influence of Oil Giant ExxonMobil
• 2012/05/05: TheHill:e2W: Report: US oil boom won't end price shocks, military commitment
  A group of corporate officials and retired military brass is throwing cold water on claims about the benefits of the U.S. oil production boom. A new Energy Security Leadership Council (ESLC) report aims to slay the "myth" of energy independence, concluding that rising domestic production won't shield the United States from price spikes or reduce its military commitments in the Middle East.
• 2012/05/06: EnergyBulletin: The oil industry's deceitful promise of American energy independence

  Regarding oil and the economy:

• 2012/05/11: OilDrum: New IMF Working Paper Models Impact of Oil Limits on the Economy
• 2012/05/08: EnergyBulletin: New IMF working paper models impact of oil limits on the economy

  And in pipeline news:

• 2012/05/10: PlanetArk: Exxon Needs U.S. Approval To Restart North Line Pipeline
  ExxonMobil Corp will need federal approval before it can restart its damaged North Line pipeline in Louisiana, where a leak in late April resulted in a spill of more than 1,800 barrels of crude, the U.S. Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) said on Wednesday. Exxon confirmed it had received PHMSA'S corrective action order for the impacted section of the North Line and that it was in the process of reviewing the document.

Yes we have a peak oil sighting:

• 2012/05/11: CCurrents: The Peak Oil Crisis: Perspective
• 2012/05/06: CCurrents: Seven Myths Used To Debunk Peak Oil, Debunked
• 2012/05/07: Yahoo: Cheap Oil Built 'The American Way' but All the Cheap Oil is Gone

  Biofuel bickering abounds:

• 2012/05/08: BPA: EIA Chart of U.S. Biodiesel Production from 2009 through 2011
• 2012/05/07: CER:RRapier: Current and Projected Costs for Biofuels from Algae and Pyrolysis
• 2012/05/08: BPA: EIA Chart of U.S. Biodiesel Production from 2009 through 2011

  The answer my friend...:

• 2012/05/09: PSinclair: It's Clean, Cheap, and Creates Jobs. And That is Exactly Why WindBaggers Hate it.
• 2012/05/08: Guardian(UK): Largest onshore windfarm [299 MW] in England and Wales gets go-ahead

  Meanwhile among the solar aficionados:

• 2012/05/11: TP:JR: Saudi Arabia Unveils $100 Billion Plan To Make Solar 'A Driver For Domestic Energy For Years To Come'
• 2012/05/09: NYT: Solar Installers Offer Deals, Gaining Converts
• 2012/05/13: TP:JR: Solar Investing Goes Mainstream: The Top Five Creative Ways To Finance Solar Projects
• 2012/05/10: TreeHugger: Saudi Arabia Aims For 41 GW Solar Power By 2032
• 2012/05/09: EurActiv: Europe's solar industry growth 'cannot last forever'
  Europe's solar photovoltaic (PV) industry is "weathering a period of uncertainty" and growth rates are likely to stall, according to the industry's Global Market Outlook for Photovoltaics until 2016, released today (9 May). Solar PV's growth rate was meteoric last year with 21.9 gigawatts (GW) of solar electricity connected across Europe -- up from 13.4 GW in 2010, according to the report by the European Photovoltaic Industry Association (EPIA).
• 2012/05/08: BBerg: Solar Is Europe's Most-Installed Power Source, Lobby [EPVIA] Says
• 2012/05/08: TP:JR: First-Ever Solar Project To Generate Electricity On Public Lands Begins Delivering Power
• 2012/05/08: PlanetArk: Asia To Overtake Europe As Global Solar Power Grows - EPIA [European Photovoltaic Industry Association]

  The nuclear energy controversy continues:

• 2012/05/11: UCSUSA:B: The [Central Florida] Levy Nuclear Project: Boondoggle or Mirage?
• 2012/05/11: BNC: The Power Makers' Challenge -- and the need for Fission Energy (Part 1)
• 2012/05/08: APR: San Onofre - No hard restart date set

  Nuclear waste storage requires _very_ long term thinking:

• 2012/05/11: FDL: The Thing That Couldn't Die: Yucca Battle Continues in Congress and in the Courts

  Nuclear fusion projects around the world limp along:

• 2012/05/10: NBF: IEC Bussard Fusion Project gets two more years of funding

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

• 2012/05/09: BNL: Nanosheet Catalyst Discovered to Sustainably Split Hydrogen from Water
  Low-cost non-noble electrocatalyst [nickel-molybdenum-nitride] efficiently generates hydrogen gas for fuel

More people are talking about the electrical grid:

• 2012/05/11: CleanBreak: The smarter the grid, the less you should notice it
• 2012/05/10: TreeHugger: US Electrical Grid is Largest Interconnected Machine on Earth, And It Needs Upgrades
• 2012/05/08: BBerg: Smart-Meter Defiance Slows $29 Billion U.S. Grid Upgrade

  And then there is the matter of efficiency & conservation:

• 2012/05/08: SciNow: How LEDs Got Their Shine Back
• 2012/05/08: BBC: LED light bulb to last more than 20 years
  Light bulbs that are said to last for more than two decades while consuming very little energy may go on sale later this year. US firm General Electric, Dutch company Philips and Sylvania all showcased their products at the Light Fair industry conference in Las Vegas. Using light-emitting diodes (LEDs) instead of filaments, the bulbs are meant to produce as much light as a 100-watt incandescent alternative. However, LEDs are not usually cheap. In April, Philips introduced its LPrize LED that will cost $60 (£37) - but consumes only 9.7 watts while giving off the same amount of light as a 60-watt incandescent lamp.

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

• 2012/05/11: DerSpiegel: Electric Dreams -- Congested Streets Spark E-Scooter Trend
  As cities become more crowded and traffic more snarled, commuters and engineers are searching for better ways to get around the world's urban hubs. E-scooters, once considered an unpromising technology, are making a comeback as major car manufacturers rediscover their utility and sudden popularity.
• 2012/05/11: TCoE: Fleets and EVs
• 2012/05/10: AutoBG: EDTA president Brian Wynne responds to right-wing attacks, says EV progress is "truly astounding"
• 2012/05/10: USAToday: Bob Lutz defends bashing Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilly
  Former General Motors vice chairman Bob Lutz thinks pushing back against right-wing criticism of the Chevrolet Volt had an effect. Conservatives are starting to see the benefits of electric cars, he says.
• 2012/05/07: TreeHugger: New J1772 Standard Could Charge EV Batteries in 15-20 Minutes

  This week in the Gee Whiz File:

• 2012/05/07: NBF: Power Generation Technology Based On Piezoelectric Nanocomposite Materials Developed By KAIST

  As for Energy Storage:

• 2012/05/11: TreeHugger: Siemens Develops Modular Power Storage for Renewable Energy
• 2012/05/04: CCNY: CUNY Energy Institute Battery System Could Reduce Buildings' Electric Bills
• 2012/05/08: AutoBG: Lithium ion battery 'overcapacity' could arrive by 2015, would push prices way down

  The reaction of business to climate change will be critical:

• 2012/05/10: EurActiv: Microsoft to go carbon neutralThe tech giant commits to making data centres, air travel and offices meet carbon targets by July and to introducing an internal carbon market.
• 2012/05/09: TreeHugger: Microsoft Imposes a Carbon Price on Itself
• 2012/05/08: Guardian(UK): Microsoft to go carbon neutral

  Insurance and re-insurance companies are feeling the heat:

• 2012/05/07: ABC(Au): Suncorp won't offer new policies in flood-prone towns
  Queensland's biggest insurer Suncorp will no longer offer new policies in two regional towns until flood mitigation works are carried out. Roma, in southern inland Queensland, and Emerald in the state's central region, have been devastated by major flooding in recent years. The insurer says it has taken $4 million in premiums from the towns' residents in the past two years but has paid out $150 million in claims. Current policy holders will be able to renew but the cost of premiums is set to rise dramatically.

Who's fielding theFAQs?

• 2012/05/11: Guardian(UK): What is global dimming?
• 2012/05/10: Guardian(UK): Q&A: carbon capture and storage
• 2012/05/07: UCSUSA: "State of Charge" Frequently Asked Questions

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

• 2012/05/11: TP:JR: May 11 News...
• 2012/05/10: TP:JR: May 10 News...
• 2012/05/09: TP:JR: May 9 News...
• 2012/05/08: TP:JR: May 9 (sic) News...
• 2012/05/07: TP:JR: May 7 News...

  Other (weekly) lists:

• 2012/05/10: BPA: Agriculture News
• 2012/05/11: EnergyBulletin: ODAC Newsletter
• 2012/05/06: BPA: Agriculture News

  The carbon lobby are up to the usual:

• 2012/05/11: Tamino: TC and DW
• 2012/05/11: TP:JR: Today, ALEC Brings Lawmakers And Big Oil Together To Undermine Clean Energy
• 2012/05/11: RealClimate: Yamalian yawns
• 2012/05/10: SMandia: Pfizer Censoring Face Book Comments Regarding Heartland Institute
• 2012/05/11: Tamino: BS and DK
• 2012/05/10: ERabett: Grandpa Jumps the Curve
• 2012/05/10: DD: Koch Brothers' activism protects their 50-year stake in Canadian heavy oils
• 2012/05/09: Tamino: In the Classroom
• 2012/05/09: ERabett:BSD: Chance for Anthony Watts to show his worth
• 2012/05/08: TreeHugger: Coal Kicks Ass Like NASCAR and Beer and Dale Earnhardt Jr, Says Coal Lobby
• 2012/05/08: WtD: Operation Heartland: the place for electronic civil disobedience, protest, and activism in the climate debate
• 2012/05/07: ERabett: Eli Can Retire Part XII: The Australian Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency Responds to Ian Plimer's 101 Questions
• 2012/05/07: ERabett: Brad Johnson Pins the Contributions on Heartland

  The Heartland billboard fiasco drags on:

• 2012/05/11: QuarkSoup: The Heartland Institute Tries Apologizing
• 2012/05/11: BCLSB: Heartland/Hudson Senior Fellow Dennis Avery Doubles Down On Billboard Campaign
• 2012/05/10: S&R: Heartland Institute billboard continues a long pattern of hypocrisy
• 2012/05/10: Guardian(UK): Czech president condemns 'aggressive' Heartland Institute adverts
  Václav Klaus condemns thinktank's campaign but says he will still proceed with his keynote speech at the forthcoming conference
• 2012/05/09: LA Times: Unabomber billboard continues to hurt Heartland Institute
• 2012/05/09: ClimateSight: Stalin believed in gravity. Do you?
• 2012/05/09: DeSmogBlog: Corporate Exodus From Heartland Institute Continues As USAA and Insurers Bail
• 2012/05/09: Guardian(UK): Big donors ditch rightwing Heartland Institute over Unabomber billboard
• 2012/05/08: TreeHugger: Anti-Climate Group Compares 62% of Americans to Serial Killers, Loses $1 Million in Sponsors
• 2012/05/08: TP:JR: Heartland-Gate Day 5: Green Coalitions Dump Institute, Forbes Slams Anthony Watts of WattsUpWithThat
• 2012/05/08: QuarkSoup: Heartland Bleeding Badly
• 2012/05/08: TPL: Heartland and Simple Maths
• 2012/05/08: PSinclair: Call the Wah-mbulance. Increasingly Radioactive Heartland Says Critics Unfair
• 2012/05/08: P3: Heartland and the Insurance Industry
• 2012/05/07: Grist: Heartland Institute's BS ad campaign is causing it all kinds of problems
• 2012/05/07: CSW: Thanks to State Farm insurance for dropping the Heartland Institute
• 2012/05/08: OilChange: Sponsors Dump Heartland After Ad Backfires
• 2012/05/08: 350orBust: Anti-Science Heartland Institute Takes Ridiculous To New Heights
• 2012/05/07: P3: State Farm drops Heartland
• 2012/05/08: PSinclair: [State Farm] Insurance Company Flees Heartland Stable. Has Heartland Bought the Farm?
• 2012/05/07: CCP: Heartland faces a mutiny of insurance company donors amid furor over billboard campaign
• 2012/05/07: SMandia: State Farm: Stop Sending My Money To Heartland Institute
• 2012/05/07: HC: Monty turns the Unabomber ads Upside-down
• 2012/05/07: Tamino: Microsoft
• 2012/05/07: WtD: Heartland's Law: even sceptics can't stomach Heartland
• 2012/05/07: TCoE: Heartland shoots own foot, reloads, takes aim again
• 2012/05/07: MGS: Heartland on Ice
• 2012/05/07: TP:JR: Association of Bermuda Insurers and Reinsurers, XL Group Announce Withdrawal from 'Radical' Heartland Institute
• 2012/05/07: BCLSB: Heartland Institute Loses Another Sponsor After PR Fiasco
• 2012/05/06: Guardian(UK): Diageo to end funding of Heartland Institute after climate change outburst
  Firm has 'no plans' to work with thinktank following campaign comparing people concerned about climate to mass murderers
• 2012/05/06: CCP: Scott Mandia tells State Farm Insurance that he will cancel his policy if they don't stop funding Heartland Institute and its climate denial
• 2012/05/06: CCP: Heartland's Unabomber Fiasco Is Par For The Course
• 2012/05/06: GLaden: Heartland and Microsoft: I have a suggestion for you, Microsoft
• 2012/05/06: TP:JR: As Supporters Jump Ship, Heartland Institute Stands By Its Widely Condemned Anti-Science Hate Speech
• 2012/05/06: DeSmogBlog: Diageo: Liquor giant backs away from science-dissembling Heartland Institute

  This week in intimidation:

• 2012/05/11: ABC(Au): Climate scientist abuse emails released
  The Australian National University has released a series of abusive emails sent to its climate change scientists after a Freedom of Information request about the extent of threats.
• 2012/05/10: ABC(Au): FOI emails reveal threats to climate scientists
  The Australian National University has released a series of abusive and threatening emails which were sent to its climate change scientists. The 11 emails to members of the university's Climate Change Institute have been made public after a Freedom of Information request. ANU management initially turned down the FOI request to release them, fearing it would lead to increased harassment.
• 2012/05/09: Moyhu: ANU emails - reactions?
• 2012/05/08: Moyhu: Threats at ANU - emails released

  As for climate miscellanea:

• 2012/05/11: ERabett: A New Blog on the Blogspot
• 2012/05/10: P3: If you put all the water on Earth in one place
• 2012/05/11: P3: Of Goose, Gander, and Godwin
• 2012/05/10: KSJT: New Yorker: The artificial leaf's inventer speaks up. Surprise - he hates electric cars.
• 2012/05/10: CCP: Micha Tomkiewicz: On self-inflicted genocide and climate change and holocaust denial - Proof: Part I
• 2012/05/: TBAS: Exploring the climate "mindscape" by Thomas Homer-Dixon
• 2012/05/09: EnergyBulletin: Report from the McPlanet conference
• 2012/05/10: QuarkSoup: Morning Data Perusal
• 2012/05/07: OilDrum: Energy supplies and climate policy by Dave Rutledge
• 2012/05/10: NatureNB: Encyclopedia of Life passes million-species milestone
• 2012/05/07: P3: My Little World
• 2012/05/08: Grist: Grist's psychotronic climate billboard generator
• 2012/05/07: ERabett: Guilt, Culpability and Responsibility
• 2012/05/07: GEP: Inconclusive Results from Montreal CBD Meeting
• 2012/05/07: SEasterbrook: Rotating the Question
• 2012/05/07: TP:JR: Must-Read: The Powerful Final Words Of Ecotopia Author Ernest Callenbach
• 2012/05/07: TreeHugger: Online Video Channel for Clean Technology Showcases Innovations Around the World

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

• National Transit Strategy - Let's Get Canada Moving - Join the Good, the Bad, & the Ugly Transit Campaign!
• MCCIP: Marine Climate Change Impacts Partnership
• Watershed Sentinel
• UMN: Open Textbook Catalog
• No Tankers - We Say No to Enbridge Oil
• DeepSeaNews
• BPA: Big Picture Agriculture [Note CoA]
• Eradicating Ecocide in Canada - Fundamental Justice and Earth Law for the 99%
• BlackOutSpeakOut
• Climate Dialogue
• Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research
• Carbon Brief
• Wiki: Holocene extinction
• SEI-US: U.S. Center of the Stockholm Environment Institute
• Food & Water Watch

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.

"When civilizations start to die they go insane. Let the ice sheets in the Arctic melt. Let the temperatures rise. Let the air, soil and water be poisoned. Let the forests die. Let the seas be emptied of life. Let one useless war after another be waged. Let the masses be thrust into extreme poverty and left without jobs while the elites, drunk on hedonism, accumulate vast fortunes through exploitation, speculation, fraud and theft. Reality, at the end, gets unplugged." -Chris Hedges

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