Another Week of GW News, July 29, 2012

Logging the Onset of The Bottleneck Years

Another Week of Global Warming News

Information Overloadis Pattern Recognition

July 29, 2012

• Chuckles, Rio+20, First Stewards, C&CAI, Anderson, BEST
• Bottom Line, Subsidies, Thermodynamics, Cook
• Fukushima Note, Fukushima News, Nuclear Policy
• Melting Arctic, Polar Bears, Greenland, Methane, Geopolitics, Antarctica
• Food Crisis, Fisheries, Food Prices, GMOs, Food Production
• Hurricanes, GHGs, Temperatures, Paleoclimate, Attribution
• Oceans, Biosphere, Extinctions, Satellites
• Impacts, Forests, Climate Refugees, Disease, Wacky Weather, Extremis, Tornadoes
• Wildfires, Corals, Acidification, Glaciers, Floods & Droughts
• Transportation, Buildings, Sequestration, Geoengineering, Conservation
• Journals, Other Docs, Misc. Science, Models, Mann, Rees, Groat
• International Politics: UN, Carbon Trade, Carbon Tax, Hormuz, South China Sea
• Solar Spats, Wind Spat, Rare Earths, Security, Activism, Polls, H2O Biz
• National Politics: America, BP Disaster, 2012, Keystone, Inglis
• Science Funding, Obama, USAdmin, Congress, Lobbyists
• Britain, Europe, Australia, Gillard, Carbon Law, MDBP, China, Russia, South America
• Canada, Council of the Federation, RCMP, Norway, Northern Gateway, Kinder Morgan
• Nexen, CWB, BC, Tar Sands, Alberta, Sask, Quebec, Maritimes, North, Canadiana
• Ecological Economics, IPAT, Fixes, Media, Books, Video, Podcasts, Courts
• Energy, Transitions, Fracking, Coal, Oil & Gas, The Corps, Pipelines, Peak Oil, Biofuel
• Wind, Solar, Nukes, Nuclear Waste, LENR, Grid, Efficiency, Cars
• Insurance, Joe's List, Carbon Lobby, Miscellaneous Climate, Useful Links
• Shameless Self Promotion, .sig

Live and direct from the black humour department:

• 2012/07/27: VastLeft: (cartoon - VLWC) American Extremists: "Nightmare in November"
• 2012/07/20: UCSUSA: 2012 Cartoon Contest Contestants
• 2012/07/25: DailyKos: (cartoon - TomTom) Boxed In
• 2012/07/28: TP:JR: (cartoon - Luckovich) It's a Little Late for That...
• 2012/07/24: VastLeft: (cartoon - VLWC) American Extremists: "Can't-do attitude"

  And for those who enjoy challenging Poe's Law:

• 2012/07/23: Onion: Iron Dumped In Ocean Might Slow Global Warming

  Looking back at Rio+20:

• 2012/07/24: BBC: Rio revisited: Glass half-full?
  A couple of weeks back I chaired a debate at Chatham House, the London-based think tank, on a question that I'd been asking myself for a while. Rio+20: Green Growth or Greenwash? was the title.
• 2012/07/23: WtD: Hacking the Rio+20 Outcome Document: f*ck vague aspirational goals

  There was a little covered meeting of Indigenous Pacific tribes in Washington DC last weekend:

• 2012/07/23: ABC(Au): Indigenous Pacific tribes meet on climate change
  Representatives of Indigenous Pacific tribes are planning to meet on a regular basis, to share information about how their coastal communities deal with rising sea waters. The inaugural First Stewards symposium has just wrapped up in Washington [DC], after bringing together representatives from Hawaii, Guam, New Zealand, American Samoa and the Northern Marianas.

The Climate and Clean Air Initiative is aiming at CFCs and particulates:

• 2012/07/25: PlanetArk: Cut air pollution, buy time to slow climate change: US
  Cutting soot and other air pollutants could help "buy time" in the fight against climate change, a senior U.S. official said on Tuesday as seven nations joined a Washington-led plan. Air pollution, from sources ranging from wood-fired cooking stoves in Africa to cars in Europe, may be responsible for up to six million deaths a year worldwide and is also contributing to global warming, the U.N. Environment Programme (UNEP) said. Seven countries -- Britain, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy and Jordan -- formally joined the U.S.-led Climate and Clean Air Initiative, bringing the total of members to about 20 since the plan was launched in February.
• 2012/07/25: NBF: Clean Air and Climate Coalition against Soot and other Short Term Air Pollution

  The Anderson et al. paper raised the ozone spectre once more:

• 2012/07/26: Science: (ab$) UV Dosage Levels in Summer: Increased Risk of Ozone Loss from Convectively Injected Water Vapor by James G. Anderson et al.
• 2012/07/26: Eureka: Climate concerns -- Harvard researchers find link between climate change, ozone loss and possible increase in skin cancer incidence
• 2012/07/26: NatureN: Storms may speed ozone loss above the United States -- Injection of water vapour makes ozone layer sensitive to global warming and geoengineering
• 2012/07/26: SciNews: Stronger storms may destroy ozone -- Extra water vapor up high coul trigger destructive chemical reactions
• 2012/07/27: CSM: How summer thunderstorms could be punching new holes in the ozone layer (+video)
• 2012/07/26: CSM: Storm clouds could destroy ozone layer, study suggests

  The latest edition of the BEST confirmation is out, although I haven't seen the paper:

• 2012/07/28: Stoat: Muller is still rubbish
• 2012/07/29: Impolitical: Koch funded climate change study making news in a good way
• 2012/07/28: PSinclair: Cat's Out of the Bag. BEST Team (re)Confirms Human Caused Warming. Duh.
• 2012/07/28: CCP: Richard Muller, New York Times op-ed: Converted Skeptic
• 2012/07/28: NYT: The Conversion of a Climate-Change Skeptic by Richard A. Muller
  Call me a converted skeptic. Three years ago I identified problems in previous climate studies that, in my mind, threw doubt on the very existence of global warming. Last year, following an intensive research effort involving a dozen scientists, I concluded that global warming was real and that the prior estimates of the rate of warming were correct. I'm now going a step further: Humans are almost entirely the cause.
• 2012/07/28: ITracker: It's official: Muller's NYT Op-Ed is out
• 2012/07/28: ERabett: The Incidence of Solipsism Among Physicists [BEST]
• 2012/07/28: QuarkSoup: Stoat, Caldiera: BEST Results Nothing New
• 2012/07/28: ClimateShifts: Koch funded study confirms that global warming is real and due to human activities
• 2012/07/28: TP:JR: Bombshell: Koch-Funded Study [BEST] Finds 'Global Warming Is Real', 'On The High End' And 'Essentially All' Due To Carbon Pollution

  And on the Bottom Line:

• 2012/07/25: UCSUSA:B: The Enormous Costs of the 2012 Drought to American Farmers and Taxpayers
• 2012/07/23: EconView: Paul Krugman: Loading the Climate Dice -- The costs of climate change are already here

  What it comes down to:

• 2012/07/26: 350orBust: Why Are Taxpayers Subsidizing A Business Model That Is Destroying the Planet?
• 2012/07/26: WtD: Quote of the day: "their business model is destroying the planet"

  Delving into the laws of thermodynamics this week:

• 2012/07/23: MGS: There is no greenhouse effect
• 2012/07/23: TSoD: How the "Greenhouse" Effect Works - A Guest Post and Discussion

  John Cook and friends continue their point-counterpoint articles:

• 2012/07/29: SkeptiSci: Unprecedented Greenland Ice Sheet Surface Melt by Neven
• 2012/07/27: SkeptiSci: Mercury - The Hidden Danger of Arctic Warming? by Steve Brown
• 2012/07/26: SkeptiSci: Mann Fights Back Against Denialist Abuse by dana1981
• 2012/07/26: SkeptiSci: Tar Sands Oil - An Environmental Disaster by dana1981
• 2012/07/25: SkeptiSci: Climate Change Cluedo: Anthropogenic CO2 by Tom Curtis
• 2012/07/24: SkeptiSci: New research special - satellite measurement papers 2010-2011 by Ari Jokimäki
• 2012/07/23: SkeptiSci: Trigger for past rapid sea level rise discovered 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 propagated 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 Fukushima:

• 2012/07/26: EneNews: NBC News: "The state of the reactors is still deteriorating ... the incident is still progressing" says Japanese nuclear specialist - All we can do now is pray
• 2012/07/26: EneNews: Ex-Fukushima Daiichi Worker: "There are leaks everywhere" - Tepco portraying situation in best possible light
• 2012/07/27: JapanTimes: Fukushima probes leave questions -- Two blame tsunami for meltdowns but one still points to quake factor
• 2012/07/23: WSJ:JRT: Fukushima Watch: Doctoring Dosimeters -- How Far Did It Go?
• 2012/07/27: FukushimaVoice: What Really Happened in Fukushima : A Report From a Medical Care Provider
• 2012/07/28: EneNews: Head of internal medicine at Japan hospital astonished by Fukushima thyroid exams...
• 2012/07/29: JapanToday: Anti-nuclear 'human chain' to surround Diet building
• 2012/07/24: NHK: Causes of largest radioactive leaks may be found
• 2012/07/24: EneNews: More cooling needed after Fukushima [#1] reactor heats up -Asahi
• 2012/07/25: EneNews: Gov't detects Strontium-90 for first time in 10 prefectures - "Unable to measure" Fukushima and Miyagi
• 2012/07/24: OilPrice: Fukushima - Local Children Unwitting (and Unwilling) Radioactive Guinea Pigs
• 2012/07/23: ABC(Au): Report says TEPCO botched Fukushima response
  The fourth and final report into the nuclear meltdowns at Fukushima has been released. The government-appointed panel has found the operator TEPCO (Tokyo Electric Power Company) botched its response to the disaster. It says its measures to avoid reactor meltdowns were 'full of holes'. But the prime minister of the day, and the nuclear regulators, don't come out of the disaster much better.
• 2012/07/24: PlanetArk: Japan Fukushima probe urges new disaster prevention steps, mindset
• 2012/07/23: EneNews: New Gov't Report: No answer for how radioactive materials leaked from Fukushima reactors - Unknown why Unit 1 exploded - Don't know reason Unit 2 released so much ...More
• 2012/07/23: EneNews: Tepco: Total estimated cesium release into air is triple amount published 2 months ago
• 2012/07/24: EneNews: Tepco: Cesium getting stirred up? Fukushima plant [#1] still emitting 10,000,000 becquerels every hour
• 2012/07/23: Cryptome: Fukushima Daiichi NPS February-May 2012
• 2012/07/23: CNN: New report criticizes TEPCO over Fukushima nuclear crisis
  The latest report comes from a government-formed panel of investigators - It follows a scathing parliamentary report that described a "man-made disaster" - The report Monday criticizes the plant operator's lack of preparedness - Japan faces questions over the future of its nuclear power industry
• 2012/07/23: PlanetArk: Japan Fukushima probe says reactors unready for natural disaster
• 2012/07/23: DD: Japan government panel: Nuclear plant operator TEPCO dragging its feet, understating the true damage at Fukushima
• 2012/07/22: EneNews: AP: Fukushima radiation cover-up "believed to be part of a widespread practice at the plant"
• 2012/07/23: ABC(Au): Final report criticises weak Fukushima response
  A Japanese government report into the Fukushima meltdowns has criticised the nuclear plant operator's response to the disaster as weak. It is the fourth and final report into the Fukushima meltdowns, which last year sent clouds of radiation over a wide area and forced tens of thousands of people from their homes. The report found plant operator TEPCO mishandled its response to the crisis and says its disaster measures were full of holes. It also found TEPCO was ill-prepared to deal with a nuclear accident and its employees were not trained to think flexibly.
• 2012/07/23: al Jazeera: Japan nuclear plants 'still not safe'
  Report from independent panel delivers damning assessment of country's nuclear regulator and Fukushima plant operator. A government-appointed inquiry has delivered a damning assessment of Japanese nuclear regulators and the operator of the Fukushima nuclear power plant, raising further fears that despite new rules, the country's nuclear sector still does not meet safety requirements. The 450-page report by a 10-member panel of independent experts was released on Monday, and comes as anti-nuclear activists continue a vociferous campaign against the restarting of two nuclear reactors in the country.

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

• 2012/07/27: PlanetArk: Nuclear expansion on track despite Fukushima: OECD report
• 2012/07/24: DerSpiegel: Energy Conundrum -- Japan Retreats from a Nuclear-Free Future
  In the wake of the Fukushima nuclear catastrophe, Japan turned its attention to renewable energies. Such technologies, however, will take years to develop. In the mean time, the country is importing increased amounts of fossil fuels -- and flirting with a return to nuclear energy.
• 2012/07/23: WNN: Closure dates for Belgian units
  The Belgian government has announced the complete schedule for the forced closure of the country's nuclear power plants, claiming that the move will "create a favourable investment climate" to replace the 50% of domestic power supply that stands to be lost.
• 2012/07/23: PeakEnergy: Japan to probe 'active faults' under nuclear plants
• 2012/07/22: NHK: Lawmakers in Japan outline denuclearization bill
  Former Japanese prime minister Naoto Kan and other governing party lawmakers have announced an outline of a bill that would end Japan's reliance on nuclear energy by 2025.

The Arctic melt continues to garner a lot of attention:

• 2012/07/26: CBC: Antarctic rift valley speeds ice loss
  Scientists from the U.K. have uncovered a 1.6 kilometre-deep rift valley under the ice in West Antarctica, which they say is warming the ocean at a faster rate than usual and causing rapid ice loss.
• 2012/07/26: ASI: Loss of Arctic sea ice '70% man-made'
• 2012/07/24: NSIDC: Sea ice continues to track at low levels
• 2012/07/26: JEB: Loss of Arctic sea ice '70% man-made'
• 2012/07/25: Guardian(UK): Loss of Arctic sea ice '70% man-made'
• 2012/07/28: ASI: ASI 2012 update 8: it shouldn't, but it does
• 2012/07/24: ArcticNews: Runaway Global Warming
• 2012/07/27: PSinclair: NSIDC: Sea Ice Still Tracking at Low Levels
• 2012/07/27: ASI: Arctic atmosphere June-July 2012
• 2012/07/25: DD: Arctic sea ice continues to track at levels far below average
• 2012/07/24: Eureka: Tropical plankton invade Arctic waters -- Researchers see natural cycle; but questions arise on climate change
• 2012/07/24: CCP: 2012 Arctic Sea Ice Minimum looks to blow waaay past 2007

  As for the charismatic megafauna:

• 2012/07/24: KSJT: NYTimes, Sci News, USAToday, etc: Polar bears go wa-a-a-y back, dallying with brown bears now'n again
• 2012/07/24: SciNews: Polar bears' ancient roots pushed way back -- Genetic blueprints suggest the animals arose millions of years ago
• 2012/07/24: DM:NERS: Revising the polar bear's evolutionary past... again

  Greenland's unusual melt state drew a lot of chatter:

• 2012/07/28: ArcticNews: Greenland is melting at incredible rate
• 2012/07/28: ITRacker: Reported without comment
• 2012/07/27: KSJT: More Arctic ice news but this time it's not Greenland -- study says WE shrunk the ice pack, Shell Oil stuck in Arctic ice, some blowback on the Greenland flash-melt news
• 2012/07/27: IOTD: Flooding in Kangerlussuaq, Greenland
• 2012/07/26: TP:JR: Is Recent Greenland Ice Sheet Melting 'Unprecedented'? Absolutely. Is It 'Worrisome'? You Bet It Is.
• 2012/07/26: Guardian(UK): Greenland's ice sheet is melting fast -- I'm not surprised
• 2012/07/26: HotTopic: Greenland's extraordinary summer: melting records and ice island setting sail
• 2012/07/26: PlanetArk: Greenland melts, open water in Arctic Ocean: scientists
• 2012/07/25: CSM: Massive Greenland iceberg heading toward open ocean (video)
• 2012/07/26: PSinclair: Jason Box on This Summer's Greenland Melt -- A Premonition
• 2012/07/25: CCP: Andrew Freedman: The Story Behind Record Ice Loss in Greenland in July 2012
• 2012/07/25: Guardian(UK): Meltwater from Greenland glacier wipes out key crossing
• 2012/07/27: Guardian(UK): Greenland's ice sheet melt: a sensational picture of a blunt fact
• 2012/07/25: CCP: Jason Box: Updated map of Greenland ice sheet albedo decline -- ~2 standard deviations below the 2000-2012 average
• 2012/07/25: PlanetJ: Is Greenland close to a climate tipping point?
• 2012/07/25: WtD: Greenland melt question: "On a scale of zero to ten, how serious is this melt issue?" Answer: "It's an eleven"
• 2012/07/25: KSJT: Lots of Amazed Ink: Almost overnight, Greenland's ice sheet goes from a mostly frozen surface to completely water-covered
• 2012/07/25: ClimateShifts: Satellites See Unprecedented Greenland Ice Sheet Surface Melt
• 2012/07/24: DM:BA: Greenland seeing unprecedented melting
• 2012/07/25: Wunderground: Greenland experiences melting over 97% of its area in mid-July
• 2012/07/25: CCurrents: Satellites See Unprecedented Greenland Ice Sheet Melt
• 2012/07/25: CSM: Sudden Greenland ice sheet melt baffles scientists (+video)
• 2012/07/24: EarthGauge: Greenland Ice Melt, Measured By NASA Satellites, Reaches Unprecedented Level
• 2012/07/25: BBC: Satellites reveal sudden Greenland ice melt
• 2012/07/25: al Jazeera: Greenland sees unprecedented ice melt
  Surface ice cover thawed over larger area than ever detected in more than 30 years of satellite observation, NASA says.
• 2012/07/25: al Jazeera: Is Greenland turning green?
  The rate of melting of ice and snow in this Arctic wilderness is greater than at any time since the nineteenth century.
• 2012/07/25: IOTD: Satellites Observe Widespread Melting Event on Greenland
• 2012/07/24: NASA: Satellites See Unprecedented Greenland Ice Sheet Surface Melt
• 2012/07/25: PSinclair: Image of the Day: Unprecedented Greenland Melt
• 2012/07/24: Guardian(UK): Greenland ice sheet melted at unprecedented rate during July
• 2012/07/24: CBC: Satellites show melting over much of Greenland
• 2012/07/24: TP:JR: ABC News On Stunning Greenland Ice Melt: 'Scientists Say They've Never Seen Anything Like This Before'
• 2012/07/24: ASI: Unprecedented Greenland Ice Sheet Surface Melt
• 2012/07/24: NASA: Satellites See Unprecedented Greenland Ice Sheet Surface Melt
• 2012/07/24: OSU: GPS can now measure ice melt, change in Greenland over months rather than years
• 2012/07/23: CCP: Jason Box: Greenland ice sheet record surface melting underway

  That Damoclean sword still hangs overhead:

• 2012/07/26: Eureka: Methane measurements at low level flight -- Detection of the greenhouse gas methane in the Arctic

  As for the geopolitics of Arctic resources:

• 2012/07/25: TreeHugger: Shell's Series of Broken Promises Spell Trouble for the Arctic
• 2012/07/27: CBC: Clam scientist funds own study to monitor Arctic pollution -- Researcher says data needed now before Northwest Passage opens to shipping
  One American scientist is taking pollution in the Arctic so seriously she's funding the start of a new project herself. Carol Reinisch is paying out of her own pocket to start a study using mollusks, such as clams, to monitor pollution in the Northwest Passage. The semi-retired scientist and environmentalist said there's a need to get baseline data now on clams along the Northwest Passage before it becomes a regular shipping route. "My point is not to impede that -- but my point is you must have an environmental monitoring program in place," she said.
• 2012/07/25: EurActiv: Greenland's mineral rush 'could lead to independence'
  Courted by multinational companies and foreign heads of state over its rare minerals and potential oil resources, Greenland could win full independence from Denmark and join the European Union as a free state, according to one expert on the Arctic.
• 2012/07/21: G&M: Climate change opens up Arctic fisheries --- but should Canada cut bait?

  While in Antarctica:

• 2012/07/25: BBC: Antarctic: Grand Canyon-sized rift 'speeding ice melt'
  A rift in the Antarctic rock as deep as the Grand Canyon is increasing ice melt from the continent, researchers say.

The food crisis is ongoing:

• 2012/07/28: DD: U.S. drought taking heavy toll on fishing industry -- 'Unheard of' river temperatures causing mass fish kills
• 2012/07/28: DD: Graph of the Day: September 2012 U.S. Corn Futures, March 2011 - July 2012
• 2012/07/27: UN: 1.6 million people will need food assistance in Zimbabwe next year - UN report
• 2012/07/26: PlanetArk: Midwest drought worsens, food inflation to rise
• 2012/07/27: ABC(Au): Droughts force cut to world grain harvest forecast
• 2012/07/26: QuarkSoup: Crop Yields and Drought: Not that Simple
• 2012/07/26: EnergyBulletin: World in serious trouble on food front by Lester Brown
• 2012/07/24: EPI: Plan B Updates -- World in Serious Trouble on Food Front by Lester R. Brown
• 2012/07/26: CCurrents: World In Serious Trouble On Food Front by Lester Brown
• 2012/07/27: AllAfrica:WFP: WFP and Partners Prepare for Food Shortages As Poor Harvest Hits
  A new report on food needs in Zimbabwe says that nearly one in five rural people in the country - an estimated 1.6 million people - are likely to need food assistance during the peak of the coming "hunger season." The number of people in need is 60 percent higher than the one million who needed food assistance during the last lean season.
• 2012/07/29: PeakEnergy: Yemen's multiple proxy wars a recipe for a famine
• 2012/07/26: DailyImpact: From American Drought to "Global Catastrophe"
• 2012/07/25: al Jazeera: Are we heading for a global food crisis?
  As drought takes its toll on US crops, we ask if it is time to reassess the global food market.
• 2012/07/24: Grist: U.S. drought could cause global unrest
• 2012/07/24: TreeHugger: World in Serious Trouble on Food Front by Lester Brown
• 2012/07/25: CBC: Wildflowers could help blueberry crop
  Blueberry growers on P.E.I. are hoping a unique pilot project will help get their fields pollinated by bees. Growers say there aren't enough honey bees to do the job, so some growers are planting wild flowers next to their blueberries to attract and keep wild bees close to blueberry fields.
• 2012/07/24: G&M: Drought imperils eastern Canada crops
• 2012/07/24: Guardian(UK): Why is Yemen's food crisis off the world's humanitarian radar?
• 2012/07/24: Guardian(UK): The world is closer to a food crisis than most people realise by Lester R. Brown
• 2012/07/24: G&M: Climate change's costs hit the plate
• 2012/07/24: NorRe: The Heat's On
• 2012/07/23: Guardian(UK): US drought could trigger repeat of global food crisis, experts warn
  As the mid-west bakes and food prices soar, threats of a ripple effect in the Middle East could lead to more uprisings
• 2012/07/23: al Jazeera: From the republic of hunger to the land of plenty
  With world grain production in jeopardy and rising food prices, countries need to bolster their food security.
• 2012/07/23: TP:JR: Satellite Image Shows How The U.S. Drought Is Stressing Crops
• 2012/07/23: PlanetArk: US crops bake in searing heat, no relief for weeks
• 2012/07/23: TreeHugger: City of Drummondville, Quebec Says "Rip Out This Garden"

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

• 2012/07/24: BBC: Fishermen told to pay £1.2m for black fish landings
  A total of 10 fishing skippers have been ordered to pay almost £1.2m, after admitting their involvement in a so-called black fish operation. The group previously pled guilty to the illegal landing of undeclared catches at two processors, Fresh Catch and Alexander Buchan. At the High Court in Edinburgh, they were were given fines and confiscation orders totalling £1,194,447. The offences were committed between 2002 and 2005.
• 2012/07/23: Guardian(UK): Ripples from Pebble felt far from Alaska
  Even Republicans are against the huge Pebble mine, which could ruin a pristine salmon fishery -- but locals are in two minds

Food Prices are problematic:

• FAO: World Food Situation - Food Price Indices
• 2012/07/28: WSWS: Devastating US drought heralds global food inflation
• 2012/07/26: Grist: Which foods will cost more because of the drought?
• 2012/07/25: BBC: US warns drought will push up food prices in 2013
  Food prices are likely to rise in the US next year due to a drought gripping large parts of the Midwest, the US department for agriculture has warned.
• 2012/07/25: al Jazeera: US says food prices to soar due to drought
  The Department of Agriculture predicts an above-normal food price inflation in 2013 as drought hits half of the US.
• 2012/07/25: NYT: Severe Drought Seen as Driving Cost of Food Up
• 2012/07/25: MoJo: Which Foods Will Cost More Because of the Drought?
• 2012/07/25: Guardian(UK): Drought will bring about higher food prices, US warns
  Department of agriculture says catastrophe in the corn belt will push up prices, with drought now covering two-thirds of America
• 2012/07/28: CCurrents: Devastating US Drought Heralds Global Food Inflation
• 2012/07/25: NatureN: Drought devastates US crops -- Impact on food prices likely to be felt around the world
• 2012/07/25: PeakEnergy: A soaring food price fear
• 2012/07/23: ABC(Au): US drought drives up grain prices

  Regarding the genetic modification of food:

• 2012/07/27: BBC: War of words over Irish GM trial -- Ireland's environmental protection agency has approved the first trial of a genetically modified potato crop.
• 2012/07/24: EurActiv: No risk with GMO food, says EU chief scientific advisor
  Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are no riskier than their conventionally farmed equivalents, the European Commission's Chief Scientific Advisor Anne Glover has told EurActiv in an exclusive interview, calling for countries impeding GMO use to be put to proof.
• 2012/07/24: Grist: GMO sugar beets get the green light

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

• 2012/07/27: ABC(Au): Bangladesh's blue-green food revolution
  A Bangladesh expert hopes his nation can achieve self-sufficiency in food production by 2050, and alleviate poverty, with an ambitious scheme called the Blue-Green Revolution. The idea is simple for a country with 700 rivers, many rice farms, and a taste for fish and rice: cultivate fish in the rice fields.
• 2012/07/26: NBF: Fungus and Microbiomes better than Genetic Modification for increasing crop yields, cold, heat, salt and drought resistance
• 2012/07/23: FAO: Call for countries to comply with moratorium on research using live rinderpest virus
  FAO/OIE move underpins next steps to ensure the lethal livestock disease remains eradicated for good
• 2012/07/27: OregonLive: Food stamps play important role in feeding hungry Oregonians
  [...] It is unconscionable that some in Congress now want to hold hungry Americans hostage by slashing investments that feed one in five Oregonians ... people you likely know ... your family and neighbors.
• 2012/07/24: EnergyBulletin: Farming Without Machines: A Revolutionary Agricultural Technology
• 2012/07/24: OilDrum: Woody Agriculture - On the Road to a New Paradigm by Philip A. Rutter, B L. Rutter-Daywater & S.J. Wiegrefe
• 2012/07/23: al Jazeera: 'Super cereal' feeds Mali's malnourished kids
  "Misola" combines soya, grains and nuts to provide a healthy and affordable mix in a country wracked by hunger. Millet has become the basic ingredient for an enriched flour at the heart of an effort to establish a local, sustainable response to malnutrition in Mali.

Most of the reported action was in the Western Pacific this week.
First some late news on Khanun:

• 2012/07/28: ABC(Au): N Korea floods kill 88, leave thousands homeless
  Flooding across impoverished North Korea this month has killed 88 people, left tens of thousands homeless and devastated swathes of farmland, state media said Saturday. A total of 134 people were injured and almost 63,000 people were left homeless by the floods, which started on July 18, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported, with thousands of houses damaged or destroyed. The biggest loss of human life was in two counties of South Pyongan province, which were hit by torrential rains on Monday and Tuesday, it said. A week of floods "caused by typhoon and downpour ... claimed big human and material losses", Pyongyang's official news agency said.

Typhoon Vicente [sometimes reported as Vincente] zapped Hong Kong and went on to mainland China:

• 2012/07/28: ABC(Au): Chinese boy rescued as flood death toll increases
  A young boy has been rescued from a collapsed house in southern China after storms and heavy rain caused landslides across the region. Days of rainfall in the wake of Typhoon Vincente caused the boy's house in Huaiji County to crumble, burying the boy along with his mother, brother and sister, CCTV reported.
• 2012/07/24: NASA: NASA's Sighting of Hot Towers Indicated Typhoon Vicente's Rapid Intensification
• 2012/07/24: ABC(Au): Scores injured in Hong Kong typhoon [Vicente]
• 2012/07/24: Wunderground: Category 4 Typhoon Vicente hits China
• 2012/07/24: CBC: Tropical storm [Vincente] drenches southern China -- Flooding possible as typhoon weakens to tropical storm
• 2012/07/24: al Jazeera: Hong Kong shakes off Typhoon Vicente
  Stock market and offices due to reopen after gale-force winds and heavy rains lashed former British colony overnight.
• 2012/07/23: al Jazeera: Severe typhoon hits Hong Kong
  Tropical cyclone warning raised to its highest level, grounding flights and disrupting businesses across financial hub. A severe typhoon has hit Hong Kong, disrupting business across the financial hub, with offices and the stock market to remain closed for at least part of the morning after the city raised its highest typhoon warning overnight. Typhoon Vicente battered Hong Kong with gale-force winds and torrential rain, grounding flights and shutting port operations on Tuesday.

A couple of new storms have arisen. Saola looks to be taking a run at Taiwan. Damrey is still at sea:

• 2012/07/29: ABC(Au): Cyclone [Soala] floods 20 villages in Philippines
• 2012/07/29: al Jazeera: Two tropical systems form in the Pacific -- Widespread and life threatening floods loom over Asia
• 2012/07/27: Eureka: NASA sees organizing tropical low pressure area near the Philippines

  Meanwhile on the GHG front:

• 2012/07/26: TP:JR: Why We Need To Pay More Attention To The Role Of Landfills In Global Warming
• 2012/07/27: TMoS: About That Link Between CO2 and Warming
• 2012/07/24: EnergyBulletin: Global Carbon Dioxide Emissions -- Facts and Figures by Robert Rapier
• 2012/07/23: UCopenhagen: Rise in temperatures and CO2 follow each other closely in climate change

  As for the temperature record:

• 2012/07/26: CapClimate: Washington Breaks Monthly Record With 7th 100° Day
• 2012/07/23: Tamino: Temperature Variability part 2
• 2012/07/23: Wunderground: June 2012: Earth's 4th warmest June; heavy rains in Beijing kill 37

  While in the paleoclimate:

• 2012/07/19: NSF: Ancient Alteration of Seawater Chemistry Linked With Past Climate Change
  Dissolution or creation of huge gypsum deposits changed sulfate content of the oceans

In the attribution debate:

• 2012/07/26: TreeHugger: 70%+ of Arctic Sea Ice Melting Caused by Human Activity
• 2012/07/26: TP:JR: Study: Decline In Arctic Sea Ice Up To 95% Man-Made
• 2012/07/28: CCP: Loss of Arctic sea ice '70-95% man-made'
• 2012/07/23: GG&G: Fingerprinting Climate Change

  And the State of the Oceans:

• 2012/07/27: NOAANews: NOAA scientists: Midwest drought brings fourth smallest Gulf of Mexico 'Dead Zone' since 1985
• 2012/07/27: USGS: Underwater Ecosystem Inundated by Sediment Plume -- Dive Teams Continue Underwater Study at Mouth of Elwha River

  And the State of the Biosphere?

• 2012/07/25: BBC: Despite having protected status, the biodiversity in a large number of tropical forests is still continuing to decline, a study has suggested
• 2012/07/24: BBC: Numbers of wild camels in Australia have dropped by a quarter in recent years because of drought and culling, a wildlife survey shows

  What's new on the extinction front?

• 2012/07/25: Guardian(UK): Manta ray being driven to extinction by Chinese medicine demand - in [13] pictures
• 2012/07/24: CCurrents: If Yes To The Terror Of Extinction
• 2012/07/23: TP:JR: Pika Peril: 'Mountain Bunny Of The Rockies' Pushed To The Brink By Climate Change
• 2012/07/23: SciNow: Neandertals Didn't Bite the Volcanic Dust
• 2012/07/24: SciAm:Obs: Did Modern Humans -- Not Environmental Catastrophe -- Extinguish the Neandertals?
• 2012/07/23: TreeHugger: A Glimpse of What We've Lost: 10 Extinct Animals in Photos

  Meanwhile in near earth orbit:

• 2012/07/23: USGS: Longest Continuous View of Earth From Space Hits 40
• 2012/07/25: Grist: These photos of Earth are so gorgeous they belong in a museum
• 2012/07/25: TreeHugger: Dramatic Time-Lapse Videos Show Changes to Earth's Surface Using 40 Years of Satellite Images

  More GW impacts are being seen:

• 2012/07/26: BBC: This summer's cold and wet weather has had a disastrous effect on the breeding season for swifts, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds says
• 2012/07/28: DD: With global warming, peril underlies road to Alaska as permafrost melts
• 2012/07/24: CCP: Phoenix Dust Storm [haboob] was Like 'Special-Effect Scene,' July 22, 2012
• 2012/07/24: EurActiv: Baltic bacteria outbreak blamed on ocean warming
  Manmade climate change is the main driver behind the unexpected emergence of a group of bacteria in Northern Europe which can cause gastroenteritis, new research by a group of international experts shows.
• 2012/07/24: EnvEcon: It's getting hot in here (so hot) ...
• 2012/07/23: NYT: With Warming, Peril Underlies Road to Alaska
• 2012/07/23: ABC(Au): Heatwave alters marine hotspot ecosystem
  Warmer waters A record-breaking Indian Ocean heatwave off the Western Australian caost has shown how global warming might trigger marine ecosystem change. Marine ecologist Dr Timothy Langlois, of the University of Western Australia, and colleagues, report their study online ahead of print publication today in the journal Nature Climate Change.
• 2012/07/23: ABC(Au): Study to shed light on climate change marine impact

  And then there are the world's forests:

• 2012/07/26: UN: Ten Central African countries to take part in UN-backed forest monitoring system
• 2012/07/26: ABC(Au): Final tropical forest refuges under threat
• 2012/07/26: NatureNB: Carnegie advances carbon mapping in Colombia
• 2012/07/25: SciNews: External ills imperil tropical reserves -- Impacts outside parks drive poor health within
• 2012/07/25: Eureka: Tropical arks reach tipping point
• 2012/07/26: USDA:FS: Georgia Forests, 2011 -- Forest area remains the same, while ownership changes
• 2012/07/26: FAO: Ten Central African countries agree to improve forest monitoring
  E6 million project to set up national monitoring systems and strengthen regional cooperation
• 2012/07/28: IOTD: Tiny Beetles Take a Large Bite Out of the Forest
• 2012/07/25: Eureka: Forest carbon monitoring breakthrough in Colombia
  [...]
  The vastly improved method presented here involves a rapid and cost-effective combination of airborne Light Detection and Ranging technology (LiDAR) and a satellite image analysis technology called CLASlite to produce carbon maps. LiDAR, mounted on the fixed-wing Carnegie Airborne Observatory (CAO), provides detailed 3-D images of the forest canopy using laser pulses. CLASlite converts dense tropical forest cover found in basic satellite images into highly detailed maps that reveal deforestation, logging, and other forest degradation.
• 2012/07/24: CCurrents: Occupy The Dam: Brazil's Indigenous Uprising
• 2012/07/23: Eureka: Washington's forests will lose stored carbon as area burned by wildfire increases
  Even small increases in area burned could have significant impacts on carbon storage

Climate refugees are becoming an issue:

• 2012/07/27: BBC: About 90 Somali migrants stranded on a boat in the Mediterranean Sea for more than four days have been rescued, an Italian news agency and relatives say

  Emerging diseases accompany ecological change:

• 2012/07/23: CBC: Lyme disease becoming more prevalent in Alberta -- Experts say it's because of increased precipitation during summer
• 2012/07/22: Reuters: Bacteria outbreak in Northern Europe due to ocean warming, study says
  Manmade climate change is the main driver behind the unexpected emergence of a group of bacteria in northern Europe which can cause gastroenteritis, new research by a group of international experts shows. The paper, published in the journal Nature Climate Change on Sunday, provided some of the first firm evidence that the warming patterns of the Baltic Sea have coincided with the emergence of Vibrio infections in northern Europe. Vibrios is a group of bacteria which usually grow in warm and tropical marine environments.

Yes we have no wacky weather, except...Freak Weather just isn't very Freaky any more:

• 2012/07/27: CNN: N.Y. state official among 3 killed during powerful storms
  An assistant New York state attorney general was killed during severe storms - "Trees were bending sideways," a man in New Jersey says - The National Weather Service reports possible tornado touchdowns in the Northeast
• 2012/07/27: Wunderground: Severe thunderstorms erupt along a swath 1,500 miles long, killing 2
• 2012/07/27: CSM: Intense storms strike Northeast, cleanup begins
• 2012/07/27: BBerg: East Coast Storms Ground Planes, Cut Power to Thousands
• 2012/07/27: BBC: Severe thunderstorms in north-east US leave two dead
• 2012/07/27: Guardian(UK): Two dead and 100,000 without power after storms hit north-east US

  This week in the New Normal -- extreme weather:

• 2012/07/24: AlterNet: Get Used to the American West in Flames: What Living With the 'New Normal' Will Mean
• 2012/07/23: KSJT: North Country Now: Town gets blasted. Downburst, Derecho, Tornado (tronado), Microburst? Read all about it

  On the tornado front:

• 2012/07/24: CBC: Tornado scrubs farmyard east of Regina

  As for heatwaves and wild fires:

• 2012/07/27: Grist: The West in flames: Get used to it
• 2012/07/25: PSinclair: Heat Continues to Fry Midwest
• 2012/07/24: BBC: Spain wildfire: Officials hope to tame Catalan blaze
• 2012/07/24: al Jazeera: Thousands flee deadly wildfires in Spain
  Death toll has risen to four in forest fires raging in Spain's north-eastern Catalonia region.
• 2012/07/23: CBC: 2 die after jumping into sea fleeing Spanish wildfire -- Two other people also killed by weekend fires in northeastern Spain
• 2012/07/22: BBC: Forest fires raging in Spain's north-eastern Catalonia region have left three people dead...
• 2012/07/22: CBC: 3 dead in Spain wildfires -- Transportation severely disrupted in Catalonia

  Corals are a bellwether of the ocean's health:

• 2012/07/25: EarthGauge: A World Without Coral Reefs - NYTimes.com

  Acidification is changing the oceans:

• 2012/07/24: CrossCut: Washington shellfish at risk

  Glaciers are melting:

• 2012/07/27: SciAm:Obs: Deny This: Contested Himalayan Glaciers Really Are Melting, and Doing So at a Rapid Pace --- Kind of Like Climate Change
• 2012/07/27: AFTIC: A Few Things In the Cryosphere

  As for hydrological cycle disruptions [floods & droughts]:

• 2012/07/29: al Jazeera: Floods devastate China's Shaanxi province
  More than 80,000 people forced from their homes after days of rainfall cause heavy flooding in northwestern region.
• 2012/07/28: al Jazeera: Scores killed in North Korea floods
  Flooding through July leaves 88 people dead, tens of thousands homeless and farmland devastated, state media reports.
• 2012/07/27: DD: Report shows U.S. drought rapidly intensifying
• 2012/07/27: PSinclair: Rain: So far, like Water on a Hot Skillet
• 2012/07/26: CBC: 10 things to know about the U.S. drought -- A look at the cause, impact and severity of 2012 drought
• 2012/07/26: DD: Drought and heat wave killing shade trees across Missouri - 'Paper-dry to the core'
• 2012/07/26: CNN: Mayor of Beijing's worst flood-hit district apologizes
  Death toll up to 77, Beijing officials said - Mayor of Fangshan apologizes for flood damage in Beijing district - Locals angered by precise figures on number of animals killed, Global Times reports - Heaviest rain in 60 years overwhelmed Beijing's water system
• 2012/07/26: ABC(Au): Death toll from Beijing rain rises to 77
• 2012/07/26: ClimateShifts: Perth on track for driest July on record
• 2012/07/25: TreeHugger: What's the Science Behind the US Drought?
• 2012/07/26: Wunderground: Major severe thunderstorm outbreak expected; U.S. drought intensifies
• 2012/07/25: P3: Drought's Footprint
• 2012/07/27: Yahoo:AP: Report shows drought in middle of US rapidly intensifying, with little relief in sight
• 2012/07/27: CBC: Turf painting spreads in U.S. as drought ravages lawns
• 2012/07/26: TMoS: What's Up? Flash Floods, That's What.
• 2012/07/26: Guardian(UK): Beijing storm official death toll more than doubles to 77
• 2012/07/26: BBC: Beijing floods: Death toll climbs to 77
• 2012/07/28: PSinclair: Drought Zone Increasing at "unprecedented rate"
• 2012/07/27: UCSUSA:B: Drought Double Whammy: As the World Warms, U.S. Droughts Likely to be Hotter, More Damaging
• 2012/07/27: TreeHugger: Extreme Drought Areas in US Nearly Triple in One Week
• 2012/07/27: TP:JR: Drought Tightens Its Grip on High Plains, Central States
• 2012/07/28: QuarkSoup: Is the US Drought Really That Extraordinary?
• 2012/07/28: BBC: Floods in North Korea 'killed 88 people in July'
• 2012/07/24: ABC(Au): Worst US drought in 80 years
• 2012/07/24: JFleck: deBuys on the climatology of the New West
• 2012/07/24: al Jazeera: Dozens killed in central Nigeria floods
  At least 35 people dead and several others missing in floods triggered by heavy rain in Jos city.
• 2012/07/24: BBC: Nigeria: Deadly flooding in Jos in Plateau state
  At least 39 people have been killed in flooding in central Nigeria's Plateau state after heavy rainfall caused a dam to overflow near the city of Jos. A Red Cross spokesman said that about 200 homes, many of them made from mud, had been submerged or destroyed.
• 2012/07/23: al Jazeera: Drought continues across the US Midwest
  The weather in the US threatens to have an impact on food prices throughout the globe.
• 2012/07/22: BBC: In pictures: Beijing's deadly deluge
• 2012/07/22: CBC: Beijing floods kill 37, swamp cars amid record rain
  Capital's heaviest downpour in 60 years as storm reportedly kills dozens of others elsewhere

On the mitigation front, consider transportation & GHG production:

• 2012/07/26: Berkeley: Future of California high-speed rail looks green
• 2012/07/27: NBF: China High Speed Rail Rail network to be finished by 2015
• 2012/07/27: BBC: Renault profits hit by weak European sales
  [...]
  Renault sold a total of 1.33m vehicles, down 3.3% compared with the first half of 2011.
• 2012/07/26: BBC: Volkswagen's record sales boost profits
  German car giant Volkswagen has sold a record number of vehicles so far this year, helped by its presence in developing markets. Net profits for the first six months of the year were 8.8bn euros ($10.7bn; £6.9bn), up 36% from a year earlier. First half deliveries rose 8.9% to a record 4.6 million vehicles.
• 2012/07/26: ERW: High-speed rail could benefit California
  Another airport runway or a high-speed railway line slicing across the land? It is a debate that has been raging in the UK (a third runway at Heathrow versus a high-speed rail link up Britain's west coast) and is under consideration in many other parts of the world. Governments must make tough decisions about which kind of transport systems to invest in to meet future needs.
• 2012/07/27: NBF: Cost Benefit Analysis Studies of High Speed Rail
• 2012/07/22: CalcRisk: DOT: Vehicle Miles Driven increased 2.3% in May

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

• 2012/07/26: TreeHugger: Berlin Superhome Generates More Energy Than It Consumes
• 2012/07/24: TreeHugger: Hobbit Houses, Geothermal Heating, and More at Økosamfundet Dyssekilde, One of Denmark's Oldest Eco Villages
• 2012/07/22: TP:JR: NREL Helps Cut Building Energy Use In Half
• 2012/07/23: Grist: The great cities vs. suburbs rivalry, and why it matters

  As for carbon sequestration:

• 2012/07/28: GEP: New York Adopts CCS Performance Standard
• 2012/07/28: EnergyBulletin: Vacuuming the atmosphere
• 2012/07/25: TreeHugger: Breakthrough Material [tetra-carboxylate indium complex - Nott-202a] for Carbon Capture Developed
• 2012/07/24: Eureka: Pulling CO2 from air vital, say researchers -- But lower-cost technology a stumbling block so far
• 2012/07/23: Eureka: Study shows economic feasibility for capturing carbon dioxide directly from the air

  Large scale geo-engineering keeps popping up:

• NOAA:CentralLibrary: Climate Engineering Publications Available in Web of Science (1988-2011)
• 2012/07/27: ClimateSight: Feeding the Phytoplankton [OIF]
• 2012/07/27: Freakonomics: The Case For Climate Engineering Research: A Guest Post By SPICE Researcher Matthew Watson
• 2012/07/27: GEP: German Greens Weigh In
• 2012/07/26: GEP: German Government Preserves Options in Response to SPD

  What's new in conservation?

• 2012/07/27: BBC: Two new areas of marine protection along NI coastline
  Two new areas of marine protection off the coastline of Northern Ireland have been announced. The Special Areas of Conservation include the sea and seabed surrounding the Maidens Islands off Larne and those adjacent to the Portrush Skerries and Giant's Causeway.
• 2012/07/29: TreeHugger: Scientists Invoke Noah's Ark in Call to Avert Biodiversity Collapse

  Meanwhile in the journals:

• 2012/07/25: Nature: (ab$) Inland thinning of West Antarctic Ice Sheet steered along subglacial rifts by Robert G. Bingham et al.
• 2012/07/24: ACP: Anthropogenic and forest fire pollution aerosol transported to the Arctic: observations from the POLARCAT-France spring campaign by B. Quennehen et al.
• 2012/07/23: ACP: Aerosol- and greenhouse gas-induced changes in summer rainfall and circulation in the Australasian region: a study using single-forcing climate simulations by L. D. Rotstayn et al.
• 2012/07/23: ACP: North Atlantic Oscillation and tropospheric ozone variability in Europe: model analysis and measurements intercomparison by F. S. R. Pausata et al.
• 2012/07/26: ACPD: The Arctic response to remote and local forcing of black carbon by M. Sand et al.
• 2012/07/25: ACPD: Global CFC-11 (CFCl3) and CFC-12 (CF2Cl2) measurements with the Michelson Interferometer for Passive Atmospheric Sounding (MIPAS): retrieval, climatologies and trends by S. Kellmann et al.
• 2012/07/25: ACPD: Global and regional emissions estimates for HCFC-22 by E. Saikawa et al.
• 2012/07/23: ACPD: Field investigations of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) exchange between plants and the atmosphere by C. Breuninger et al.
• 2012/07/25: T&FOnline:EP&E: (no ab$) Will Geoengineering With Solar Radiation Management Ever Be Used? by Alan Robock
• 2012/07/25: T&FOnline:EP&E: (ab$) Precaution and Solar Radiation Management by Lauren Hartzell-Nichols
• 2012/07/26: ESDD: Climate response to imposed solar radiation reductions in high latitudes by M. C. MacCracken et al.
• 2012/07/23: CP: Tightened constraints on the time-lag between Antarctic temperature and CO2 during the last deglaciation by J. B. Pedro et al.
• 2012/07/27: CPD: Tracking atmospheric and riverine terrigenous supplies variability during the last glacial and the Holocene in central Mediterranean by V. Bout-Roumazeilles et al.
• 2012/07/24: CPD: Climate and vegetation changes around the Atlantic Ocean resulting from changes in the meridional overturning circulation during deglaciation by D. Handiani et al.
• 2012/07/26: Science: (ab$) UV Dosage Levels in Summer: Increased Risk of Ozone Loss from Convectively Injected Water Vapor by James G. Anderson et al.
• 2012/07/23: NERC:NORA: Antarctic topography at the Eocene-Oligocene boundary by Douglas S. Wilson et al.
• 2012/07/23: NERC:NORA: The spatial distribution of caesium-137 over Northern Ireland from fallout from the Chernobyl nuclear accident by B.G. Rawlins et al.
• 2012/07/23: NERC:NORA: The Little Ice Age glacier maximum in Iceland and the North Atlantic Oscillation: evidence from Lambatungnajökull, southeast Iceland. by Tom Bradwell et al.
• 2012/07/24: NERC:NORA: Observations of Fukushima fallout in Great Britain by N.A. Beresford et al.
• 2012/07/24: NERC:NORA: The IAEA handbook on radionuclide transfer to wildlife by B.J. Howard et al.
• 2012/07/24: NERC:NORA: Long-term transfer of global fallout 137Cs to cow's milk in Iceland by S.E. Pálsson et al.
• 2012/07/24: NERC:NORA: Foraging strategies of male Adélie penguins during their first incubation trip in relation to environmental conditions by Manuelle Cottin et al.
• 2012/07/24: NERC:NORA: Towards understanding the dynamics of environmental sensitivity to climate change : introducing the DESC model by A. Barkwith et al.
• 2012/07/27: ACP: Arctic Clouds and Surface Radiation - a critical comparison of satellite retrievals and the ERA-Interim reanalysis by M. Zygmuntowska et al.
• 2012/07/27: ACPD: Extreme C13 depletion of CCl2F2 in firn air samples from NEEM, Greenland by A. Zuiderweg et al.
• 2012/07/27: ACPD: Regional and monthly and clear-sky aerosol direct radiative effect (and forcing) derived from the GlobAEROSOL-AATSR satellite aerosol product by G. E. Thomas et al.
• 2012/07/27: ACPD: The mixing state of carbonaceous aerosol particles in Northern and Southern California measured during CARES and CalNex 2010 by J. F. Cahill et al.
• 2012/07/27: OS: The 2011 marine heat wave in Cockburn Sound, southwest Australia by T. H. Rose et al.
• 2012/07/25: GMDD: Coupling technologies for Earth System Modelling by S. Valcke et al.
• 2012/07/27: TC: Permafrost distribution in the European Alps: calculation and evaluation of an index map and summary statistics by L. Boeckli et al.
• 2012/07/27: TCD: Effect of higher-order stress gradients on the centennial mass evolution of the Greenland ice sheet by J. J. Fürst et al.
• 2012/07/27: TCD: Constraining projections of summer Arctic sea ice by F. Massonnet et al.
• 2012/07/27: TCD: Variability and trends in Laptev Sea ice outflow between 1992-2011 by T. Krumpen et al.
• 2012/07/26: ERL: Sources of multi-decadal variability in Arctic sea ice extent by J J Day et al.
• 2012/04/11: ACS: (ab$) Modification of the Mg/DOBDC MOF with Amines to Enhance CO2 Adsorption from Ultradilute Gases by Sunho Choi et al.
• 2012/06/01: ACS: (ab$) Analysis of Equilibrium-Based TSA Processes for Direct Capture of CO2 from Air by Ambarish R. Kulkarni & David S. Sholl
• 2012/06/15: ACS: (ab$) Dramatic Enhancement of CO2 Uptake by Poly(ethyleneimine) Using Zirconosilicate Supports by Yasutaka Kuwahara et al.
• 2012/07/04: WOL:CSC: (ab$) Role of Amine Structure on Carbon Dioxide Adsorption from Ultradilute Gas Streams such as Ambient Air by Stephanie A. Didas et al.
• 2012/07/24: PNAS: (ab$) Insights into salt tolerance from the genome of Thellungiella salsuginea by Hua-Jun Wu et al.
• 2012/07/24: PNAS: (ab$) Compensatory mechanisms for ameliorating the fundamental trade-off between predator avoidance and foraging by Jennifer S. Thaler et al.
• 2012/07/24: PNAS: (abs) Unobserved time effects confound the identification of climate change impacts by Maximilian Auffhammer & Jeffrey R. Vincent
• 2012/07/24: PNAS: (ab$) Large enantiomeric excesses in primitive meteorites and the diverse effects of water in cosmochemical evolution by Sandra Pizzarello et al.
• 2012/07/24: PNAS: (abs) Bedrock displacements in Greenland manifest ice mass variations, climate cycles and climate change by Michael Bevis et al.
• 2012/07/24: PNAS: (abs) Improving aerosol distributions below clouds by assimilating satellite-retrieved cloud droplet number by Pablo E. Saide et al.
• 2012/07/24: PNAS: (letter$) Reply to Pearson and Pearson: Reflections on historical vs. contemporary information by Karl W. Butzer
• 2012/07/24: PNAS: (letter$) Societal collapse or transformation, and resilience by Leonie J. Pearson & Craig J. Pearson
• 2012/06/03: Nature:NM: (ab$) A partially interpenetrated metal-organic framework for selective hysteretic sorption of carbon dioxide by Sihai Yang et al.
• 2012/07/24: GMDD: Tagged ozone mechanism for MOZART-4, CAM-chem, and other chemical transport models by L. K. Emmons et al.
• 2012/07/23: GMDD: A simulation study of the ensemble-based data assimilation of satellite-borne lidar aerosol observations by T. T. Sekiyama et al.
• 2012/07/23: OSD: Impact of the sea surface temperature forcing on hindcasts of Madden-Julian Oscillation events using the ECMWF model by E. de Boisséson et al.
• 2012/07/24: TC: Statistical adaptation of ALADIN RCM outputs over the French Alps - application to future climate and snow cover by M. Rousselot et al.
• 2012/07/24: TCD: Snow accumulation variability in Adelie Land (East Antarctica) derived from radar and firn core data. A 600 km transect from Dome C by D. Verfaillie et al.
• 2012/07/24: TCD: A simple approach to providing a more consistent Arctic sea ice extent timeseries from the 1950s to present by W. N. Meier et al.
• 2012/07/24: TCD: Greenland Ice Sheet contribution to sea-level rise from a new-generation ice-sheet model by F. Gillet-Chaulet et al.
• 2012/07/23: TCD: A computationally efficient model for the Greenland ice sheet by J. Haqq-Misra et al.
• 2012/07/23: TCD: Analysis of the snow-atmosphere energy balance during wet-snow instabilities and implications for avalanche prediction by C. Mitterer & J. Schweizer
• 2012/07/22: Nature:CC: (ab$) An extreme climatic event alters marine ecosystem structure in a global biodiversity hotspot by Thomas Wernberg et al.
• 2012/07/11: Nature: (ab$) Deglacial rapid sea level rises caused by ice-sheet saddle collapses by Lauren J. Gregoire et al.

  And other significant documents:

• 2012/07/26: Leopoldina: [link to 2 pdfs] Bioenergy - Chances and Limits
• 2012/07/25: ANL:SolarEIS: [links to several pdfs] Final Solar Energy Development Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (Solar PEIS)
• 2012/07/25: UCSUSA: [link to several pdfs] Heat in the Heartland: 60 Years of Warming in the Midwest

  As for miscellaneous science:

• 2012/07/27: CBC: Clam scientist funds own study to monitor Arctic pollution -- Researcher says data needed now before Northwest Passage opens to shipping
  One American scientist is taking pollution in the Arctic so seriously she's funding the start of a new project herself. Carol Reinisch is paying out of her own pocket to start a study using mollusks, such as clams, to monitor pollution in the Northwest Passage. The semi-retired scientist and environmentalist said there's a need to get baseline data now on clams along the Northwest Passage before it becomes a regular shipping route. "My point is not to impede that -- but my point is you must have an environmental monitoring program in place," she said.
• 2012/07/24: HotTopic: Jim Renwick on the state of climate science

  What's new in models?

• 2012/07/24: JCBaez: Carbon Cycle Box Models by Staffan Liljegren

  Regarding Mann:

• 2012/07/27: CCP: Dr. Michael Mann's interviews on this summer's record-breaking temperatures, climate science, disinformation campaings, climate denialism, the hockey stick, the war against climate science and scientists
• 2012/07/26: SkeptiSci: Mann Fights Back Against Denialist Abuse by dana1981
• 2012/07/25: CJR: 'I don't bluff' -- Michael Mann's lawyer says National Review must retract and apologize
• 2012/07/25: PSinclair: Mike Mann Defamation Update: The Unbearable Weirdness of Denial
• 2012/07/23: QuarkSoup: Mann's Letter to the National Review
• 2012/07/22: PSinclair: Mike Mann Calls Out Slime-Vending "conservatives" at National Review
• 2012/07/22: ERabett: Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me

  Regarding Rees:

• 2012/07/27: EarthGauge: Earthgauge Radio July 26, 2012: Bill Rees and our ecological footprint

  Regarding Groat:

• 2012/07/25: ScienceInsider: University of Texas to Review [Charles Groat's] Fracking Study
• 2012/07/24: ScienceInsider: Fracking Report Criticized for Apparent Conflict of Interest

  While at the UN:

• 2012/07/23: UN: UN expert urges Cameroon to step up measures to ensure food security

  And on the carbon trading front:

• 2012/07/26: EurActiv: Brussels rolls out carbon market fix
  The European Commission has announced a twin-track approach to fixing Europe's depressed carbon market with a short-term 'backloading' of carbon allowances, to be followed by proposals for long-term structural change before the end of the year.
• 2012/07/25: Guardian(UK): EU moves to shore up price of carbon emissions
• 2012/07/25: EurActiv: Surprise carbon market 'backload' proposal on the cards
  The European Commission's proposal to fix the beleaguered Emissions Trading System (ETS) today (25 July) will include scenarios for 'backloading' a massive 400 million, 900 million, or 1.2 billion carbon allowances, EurActiv understands.
• 2012/07/24: BBerg: EU CO2 Plunge Reignites Criticism About Market Disclosure
• 2012/07/23: EurActiv: China keen to avoid EU's CO2 market problems
  China is considering price control mechanisms and tightly regulated markets for its emissions trading schemes (ETS) in a bid to avoid the price volatility and scandals that have hit Europe's ETS, as surveys show the country has reached European per-capita emission levels. The schemes will aim to halt the nation's spiralling greenhouse gas emissions, while the international carbon market is reeling from huge over-supply and record low prices.

The idea of a carbon tax is still bouncing around:

• 2012/07/24: TP:JR: Carl Pope: Winning The Carbon Tax Debate

  On the international political front, tensions continue as the empire leans on Iran:

• 2012/07/27: BizStd: [Indian] Govt bans US-sanctioned Iranian ships from entering its water
• 2012/07/25: Albawaba: Iran builds first oil tanker for Venezuela

  South China Sea tension persists:

• 2012/07/24: al Jazeera: China slammed over sea garrison plan
  Vietnam and Philippines say plan to station troops in disputed island in South China Sea "violates international law".
• 2012/07/23: al Jazeera: Philippine president adamant over island
  Benigno Aquino addresses nation, saying he will not back down from dispute with China over Scarborough Shoal area.
• 2012/07/22: AntiWar: China Announces 'Military Garrison' for South China Sea -- Move Aims to Assert Sovereignty Over Disputed Waters
• 2012/07/23: al Jazeera: China to establish South China Sea garrison
  Powerful Central Military Commission approves Sansha garrison, a move which could further boost tensions in the region.

The solar panel trade war is spreading:

• 2012/07/28: EUO: China-EU trade war looms over solar energy industry
• 2012/07/26: EurActiv: China's solar firms call for trade war over European challenge
  China's solar firms warned of a trade war today (26 July) and urged the Chinese government to respond with all means to an anti-dumping complaint filed by European competitors.
• 2012/07/26: BBC: Chinese solar panel firms fear Europe trade war
  Chinese solar panel manufacturers have urged Beijing to respond to a threat of European anti-dumping restrictions. The plea came after European competitors asked the EU to investigate whether China was helping its firms to export cheaper panels unfairly. Four big Chinese solar panel firms asked their government to "immediately seek high-level dialogue with the EU to find a way to improve the situation". In May the US imposed tariffs of about 31% on solar panel imports from China. The US Commerce Department ruled that Chinese firms were flooding the US market with government-subsidised products.
• 2012/07/26: DerSpiegel: Accused of 'Dumping' -- Chinese Firms Warn EU against Solar Trade War
  This week, a group of European solar panel firms asked the European Commission to levy punitive tariffs on their Chinese rivals, who they accuse of selling products at unfairly low prices. Chinese manufacturers are outraged, warning on Thursday that a trade war could be brewing.
• 2012/07/23: PlanetArk: China to probe US, South Korean solar materials imports

  Hmmmm. I wonder if there is a form of renewable energy 'they' won't try to tariff:

• 2012/07/27: BBerg: U.S. Sets Duties on Chinese, Vietnamese Wind Towers

  In the "global competition for natural resources":

• 2012/06/18: BBC: Global resources stock check
• 2012/07/25: EurActiv: China plans tighter controls of rare earth sector
  China will abide by the outcome of an ongoing World Trade Organisation (WTO) investigation into its policies for the rare earths sector, but will continue to tighten regulation of the industry, an industry ministry spokesman said today (25 July).

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

• 2012/07/27: RTCC: How Nigeria's vortex of violence is being driven by climate change and desertification
• 2012/07/24: Grist: Security hawks should be freaked about population growth
• 2012/07/24: PlanetArk: Thirsty South Asia's river rifts threaten "water wars"

  What are the activists up to?

• 2012/07/27: P3: Bill McKibben's call for a carbon divestment movement by Tom Athanasiou
• 2012/07/28: HotTopic: McKibben: naming the enemy
• 2012/07/23: CCurrents: Wendell Berry. Finding Our Souls Before We Lose The World

  Polls! We have polls!

• 2012/07/17: AlterNet: Why Do Gen Xers Care So Little About Climate Change?

  Regarding Water Politics and Business:

• 2012/07/27: PlanetArk: California governor unveils ambitious water plan
• 2012/07/26: SciAm:PI: Will (a lack of) Water Threaten U.S. Energy Production?
• 2012/07/26: JFleck: California water's "grumpy old guy" on BDCP [Bay-Delta Conservation Plan]
• 2012/07/26: JFleck: Stuff I Wrote Elsewhere: the Colorado River's supply-demand problem
• 2012/07/28: al Jazeera: Israel restricts Jordan Valley water access
  Palestinian communities in the Jordan Valley are frequently denied permits to restore old wells or dig new ones.
• 2012/07/28: CBC: China protests stop waste water project -- Qidong government scraps water discharge project
• 2012/07/25: PlanetArk: Maps spark concern over corporate water grab
• 2012/07/24: JFleck: The Delta as wicked problem
• 2012/07/24: JFleck: The Colorado River. And tubeworms

  And on the American political front:

• 2012/07/25: TP:JR: Lorax Lesson Unlearned: The GOP Wildfire Strategy Will Destroy Our Great Western Forests
• 2012/07/26: TP:JR: Domestic Action on Aviation Carbon Pollution
• 2012/07/27: PlanetArk: California governor unveils ambitious water plan
• 2012/07/26: WaPo:B: Study: Many U.S. cities unprepared for future heat waves
• 2012/07/23: Slate: The GOP's War Against Facts
• 2012/07/27: DeSmogBlog: Exposed: Pennsylvania Act 13 Overturned by Supreme Court, Originally an ALEC Model Bill
• 2012/07/27: UCSUSA:B: Watch What You Say (or Don't Say!) about Food
• 2012/07/27: TreeHugger: US Could Install 200,000 GW of Solar Power, New Study Says
• 2012/07/26: CCurrents: In The Land Of Never Was: The Last, Desperate Hours Of -- Climate Chaos Deniers? And Capitalist Rah-Rahs
• 2012/07/28: DeSmogBlog: The Real Train Wreck: ALEC and "Other ALECs" Attack EPA Regulations
• 2012/07/26: ICH: In The Land Of Never Was: The last, desperate hours of Climate Chaos deniers? and capitalist rah-rahs
• 2012/07/27: P3: Libertarian Argument for Emissions Controls
• 2012/07/27: EconView: 'Our Summer of Climate Truth' - Jeff Sachs
• 2012/07/27: PS: Our Summer of Climate Truth by Jeffrey D. Sachs
• 2012/07/25: PlanetArk: Christie signs bill to boost New Jersey's solar industry
• 2012/07/24: Grist: Heat brings U.S. climate debate to new boil
• 2012/07/25: CCurrents: US Politicians Must Regulate Finance To Tackle The Drought And Food-Price Crisis
• 2012/07/25: DeSmogBlog: If Conservatives Were Really "Conservative," They Would Want to Do Something About Global Warming [US pol]
• 2012/07/24: CCP: Dousing the Claims: Extinguishing Republican Myths about Wildfire
• 2012/07/23: WaPo: Environmentalists target 5 Republicans who question humans' impact on climate
  The League of Conservation Voters will launch a $1.5 million campaign Tuesday targeting five House Republicans who question the connection between human activity and climate change, in an effort to test whether the issue can sway voters.
• 2012/07/24: TP:JR: Report: 23 Largest Wind Farms In Illinois Bring $6 Billion In Economic Benefits To The State
• 2012/07/24: GRC: Climate Change and the Next U.S. Revolution
• 2012/07/23: EconView: 'U.S. Ethanol Policies Set to Reach Their Illogical Conclusion'
  Why is the US selling Brazil two million gallons of ethanol at the same time it is importing more ethanol than that from Brazil?
• 2012/07/23: EnergyBulletin: The dawn of the great California energy crash

  The BP disaster continues to twist US politics:

• 2012/07/24: TP:JR: Investigation: BP 'Focused On Financial Risks,' Not Systemic Problems, Before Oil Spill
• 2012/07/23: TP:JR: BP Oil Disaster Prompts 'Perfect Storm' Behind Mass Dolphin Deaths, Study Finds

  On the 2012 campaign trail:

• 2012/07/26: Grist: Obama could make climate progress internationally even if he's hobbled at home
  What are the possibilities and prospects for action on climate change if Barack Obama is reelected?
• 2012/07/27: AutoBG: EDTA: Plug-in vehicles are successful, but auto industry "didn't build that"
• 2012/07/23: CJR: Quest for science debate continues -- 15 top science organizations press Obama, Romney for answers
• 2012/07/24: CSW: "Climate change goes AWOL"
• 2012/07/24: ChicagoSunTimes: Climate change goes AWOL
• 2012/07/18: SST: What is Romney hiding?

  The Keystone XL saga rolls along:

• 2012/07/26: PSinclair: Trailbreaker - The Tar Sands End Run [KXL]
• 2012/07/27: DeSmogBlog: Latest Pro-Keystone XL Website Backed by GOP Special Interest Group
• 2012/07/25: PSinclair: Keystone Pipeline: Is there an End-Run in the Works?
• 2012/07/24: DeSmogBlog: Breaking Up With Keystone XL and Dirty Energy - It's Not Us, It's You [Video]
• 2012/07/24: PlanetArk: Keystone pipeline backer [Rep. Lee Terry (R-NE)] again seeks U.S. Congress approval

  A notable assertion by former Rep. Bob Inglis:

• 2012/07/23: TheHill:e2W: GOP ex-lawmaker: Facts will 'overwhelm' GOP opposition to climate change
  Former Rep. Bob Inglis (R-S.C.), who is trying to build support for a carbon tax, said the facts on global warming will "overwhelm" GOP resistance to climate change action and alter the party's stance. "What we have been doing so far is sort of shrinking in science denial and holding onto shaky ideology that really will be overwhelmed by the facts," the former GOP lawmaker said in an interview broadcast Sunday. "You can hold back the facts only for so long and eventually they overwhelm you," Inglis said on Platts Energy Week TV. "I think that is happening on climate change. The science is pretty clear."

The fiscal knives are out for US Science funding:

• 2012/07/24: NatureNB: US Antarctic research needs funding boost, and efficiency drive
• 2012/07/23: ScienceInsider: Upgrades to U.S. Antarctic Facilities Will Require Research Funding Cuts, NSF Panel Says
• 2012/07/24: NatureN: US fusion in budget vice -- Domestic facilities struggle for survival as funding is directed to international reactor
• 2012/07/24: NatureN: Cuts loom for US science -- As budget bills line up, agencies anticipate post-election panic

  As more impacts become undeniable, these business requirements will become more important:

• 2012/07/27: TMoS: The SEC Weighs in on Climate Change

  The Obama chatter is nonstop:

• 2012/07/26: CSW: White House energy policy talk has 'all of the above' except climate change
• 2012/07/26: QuarkSoup: Obama and Committed Warming

  The actions of the Obama administration are being watched closely:

• 2012/07/26: TP:JR: USDA Sec. Vilsack's Climate Self-Censorship Draws Outrage From American Farmers
• 2012/07/26: PlanetArk: EPA finds remaining water safe in famous fracking town [Dimock, Pennsylvania]
• 2012/07/26: AutoBG: DOE funds 13 biofuel projects with $41 million
• 2012/07/27: TreeHugger: USDA Backs Off Supporting Meatless Mondays After Livestock Producers Cry Foul
• 2012/07/25: USGS: USGS Helps Debut New Technology to Improve Access and Use of Earth Science Data
• 2012/07/25: TP:JR: New Model For Solar Development On Public Lands Will Help To 'Serve The Public Good'
• 2012/07/25: PlanetArk: US creating zones in six states to quickly develop solar energy
• 2012/07/23: Platts: Renewable costs to continue slide, natural gas to rise: US FERC's Norris
• 2012/07/24: Grist: Buzzkill: EPA rejects beekeepers' pesticide petition
• 2012/07/23: CSW: US Agriculture Secretary Vilsack's evasiveness on climate change and drought
• 2012/07/23: PlanetArk: EPA to review mercury rule on new power plants
  The US environmental regulator said on Friday it will review recently finalized limits on mercury emissions on new coal-fired power plants in a process that could ease the rules for companies building five new projects.
• 2012/07/23: Grist: Why should EPA regulators investigate factory farm pollution when they can go get a beer instead?

  As for what is going on in Congress:

• 2012/07/25: TP:JR: Overriding Common Sense: An Attack On Energy Efficiency Standards
• 2012/07/26: PlanetArk: House leaders feel heat for farm aid in drought
• 2012/07/27: PlanetArk: Drought bill may carry mammoth farm bill into law
• 2012/07/27: PlanetArk: Drought diminishes mighty Mississippi, puts heat on Congress
• 2012/07/27: OregonLive: Food stamps play important role in feeding hungry Oregonians
  [...] It is unconscionable that some in Congress now want to hold hungry Americans hostage by slashing investments that feed one in five Oregonians ... people you likely know ... your family and neighbors.
• 2012/07/23: TP:JR: GOP Leadership Silences Critical Thinking On Loan Guarantees While The Texas GOP Opposes All Such Thinking
• 2012/07/23: Grist: The lesser of two evils: Why food advocates are pushing for a farm bill they don't love
• 2012/07/23: WtD: Are you Nevil Chamberlain, or will you be Winston Churchill: Joe Romm's powerful testimony

  What are the lobbyists pushing?

• 2012/07/26: PlanetArk: US biofuel advocates urge Congress to continue Pentagon funding
• 2012/07/24: DeSmogBlog: Congress: Expedite Renewable Energy

  While in the UK:

• 2012/07/26: NatureNB: Research 'needs exemption from freedom of information act' say UK politicians
• 2012/07/27: BBC: 'No new' SSE hydro power stations after subsidy cut
  The main operator of Scottish hydro power stations said it does not expect to build new ones due to a subsidy cut. SSE, which trades north of the border as Scottish Hydro, had planned several new hydro schemes in the Highlands. It also warned changes to Whitehall's support regime for renewable power could significantly harm biomass burning and wind farm development.
• 2012/07/27: Guardian(UK): UK energy flows 2010: sources, losses, exports and consumption of energy
• 2012/07/25: BBC: Renewable energy: Onshore wind subsidy to be cut by 10%
• 2012/07/24: Guardian(UK): [Letters] Cameron cools on climate change
• 2012/07/24: EurActiv: China in talks to build UK nuclear power plants
  China is poised to make a dramatic intervention in Britain's energy future by offering to invest billions of pounds in building a series of new nuclear power stations.

It became abundantly clear this week why the "Greenest Government Ever" turned brown:

• 2012/07/26: Guardian(UK): George Osborne's gas push has shattered the climate change consensus
• 2012/07/25: BBerg: U.K. Boosts Gas While Cutting Support for Wind, Biomass
  The U.K. government granted tax relief for natural gas drilling and cut subsidies for renewable energy, signaling more reductions in the months ahead as it balances demands for cheaper electricity against a goal to lower pollution from fossil fuels. The Department of Energy and Climate Change cut subsidies for onshore wind 10 percent, offered less financial support than expected for biomass and said may cut solar further. Drax Group Plc (DRX), owner of the U.K.'s largest power station and biomass consumer, fell by a record. Gas drillers get a tax credit worth 500 million pounds ($776 million).
• 2012/07/23: Guardian(UK): Big energy users get seven times more Treasury meetings than green sector
  Chancellor George Osborne has not met a single green sector representative since the coalition came into office
• 2012/07/23: BBC: Chancellor letter reveals pressure on climate targets
  The Chancellor has demanded that the Energy Secretary Ed Davey abandon the UK's pathway towards climate targets. In a leaked letter, George Osborne says renewables are too expensive and suggests expanding plans for gas-fired generation.
• 2012/07/23: Guardian(UK): George Osborne letter to Ed Davey on gas and wind power
  A letter from the chancellor to the energy and climate secretary, dated 9 July, suggesting a deal to back future gas power in exchange for not steeply cutting wind power subsidies now
• 2012/07/22: BBC: Treasury messing with UK clean energy policy, say MPs
  MPs have accused the Treasury of making the government's clean energy revolution unworkable and creating the risk of higher household bills.

And in Europe:

• 2012/07/29: TreeHugger: 25 Years After First Solar Restaurant, Germany Breaks 25% Renewable Energy Barrier
• 2012/07/26: EurActiv: Brussels rolls out carbon market fix
• 2012/07/26: PlanetArk: RWE delays 3 billion euro offshore wind project
• 2012/07/27: PlanetArk: Bulgaria plans further cuts in solar incentives
• 2012/07/25: Guardian(UK): EU moves to shore up price of carbon emissions
• 2012/07/25: EurActiv: Double-counting fears hang over EU's energy efficiency law
  Experts warn about double-counting in annual energy savings as EU member states prepare their plans for the implementation of the newly agreed Energy Efficiency Directive.
• 2012/07/25: EUO: Brussels moves to tackle slumped carbon market
• 2012/07/24: BBC: EU should commit to tougher emissions target, say MPs
• 2012/07/23: EurActiv: EU rules out climate funding for Polish ghost coal plants
  A Brussels ruling has frozen billions of euros in free carbon allowances that Poland was claiming for 30 high-emitting but as yet non-existent coal plants, under the little known '10c derogation' from the EU's Emission Trading System.

Meanwhile in Australia:

• 2012/07/28: PlanetJ: New coal export terminal must not proceed
• 2012/07/26: ABC(Au): Wind power more likely than solar to attract investment
• 2012/07/26: PlanetJ: Environmental deregulation agenda continues [Aus pol]
• 2012/07/27: ABC(Au): Wanted : comments on the National Food Plan
• 2012/07/27: ABC(Au): Funding pulled for Latrobe Valley power station
  The Federal Government has withdrawn funding for a proposed brown coal-fired power station in Victoria's Latrobe Valley. In 2007, the Howard government allocated $100 million to power company HRL towards a coal drying and gasification plant. But Federal Resources Minister Martin Ferguson today said the company had failed to meet conditions tied to the funding.
• 2012/07/25: ABC(Au):TDU: Greens bashing threatens progressive wins
• 2012/07/25: ABC(Au): Leeton Council to look at solar power plan
• 2012/07/25: ABC(Au): Sea level concerns alter surf club [building] plans
• 2012/07/25: ABC(Au): PM's green awards dumped, department broke
  Financial constraints are being blamed for the decision to withdraw funding from the Prime Minister's Environmentalist of the Year Awards for 2012. For the past decade the Federal Department of Sustainability and Environment has sponsored the awards. This is the first time in those 10 years that the awards have been withdrawn.
• 2012/07/25: ABC(Au): Ocean power could supply entire cities
• 2012/07/24: WtD: "It's time to stop saying yes": great series reviewing the Australian climate movement
• 2012/07/24: ABC(Au): Stage two of Newcastle's third coal loader opens
• 2012/07/23: ABC(Au): Victoria missing out on renewable energy
• 2012/07/23: ABC(Au): Port Augusta backs solar thermal power
• 2012/07/23: ABC(Au): Victoria warned of more bushfires, less rainfall as climate change takes hold
• 2012/07/22: EnergyBulletin: The draft National Food Plan: putting corporate hunger first
  The Federal Government released on Tuesday the green paper for Australia's first-ever National Food Plan. According to Agriculture Minister Joe Ludwig, this plan "will ensure Australia has a sustainable, globally competitive, resilient food supply that supports access to nutritious and affordable food". Ostensibly, the plan is for the benefit of all Australians, but on closer inspection it is really a plan for large agri-business and retailing corporations.

The thinness of Gillard's majority is a nagging presence:

• 2012/07/28: ABC(Au): LNP to determine Mal Brough's political fate
  Former Howard government minister Mal Brough will find out today if his bid for a political comeback has succeeded. Mr Brough wants Liberal National Party (LNP) pre-selection for the safe seat of Fisher on Queensland's Sunshine Coast, held by the House of Representatives Speaker and former LNP member Peter Slipper. The former high-profile Howard minister would expect to return to a senior frontbench job after the next election if he is pre-selected today, given his experience. Mr Brough lost his seat of Longman in 2007 and has since faced controversy over his contact with James Ashby, who has alleged Mr Slipper sexually harassed him.
• 2012/07/26: ABC(Au): Slipper staffer contacted Brough before suing
  Court documents released overnight reveal that the staffer suing Speaker Peter Slipper for sexual harassment contacted former Howard government minister Mal Brough several times before filing the case.
• 2012/07/25: ABC(Au): Court releases Slipper harassment documents
• 2012/07/24: ABC(Au): Latest poll creates new wave of Labor unrest
• 2012/07/23: ABC(Au): Slipper case on hold as staffer denies conspiracy
  The sexual harassment case against Speaker Peter Slipper has taken another twist, with staffer James Ashby now trying to use the constitution to defend his motives.
• 2012/07/22: ABC(Au): Slipper accuser 'picked media-savvy lawyers'
  The Federal Court has been told a staffer accusing Peter Slipper of sexual harassment deliberately picked a legal team notorious for using the media to apply pressure in cases. Lawyers for the Federal Government and Peter Slipper are arguing their case for staffer James Ashby's sexual harassment claims against his boss to be thrown out of court. They argue the allegations are vexatious and a deliberate attempt to damage Slipper's reputation and career.

The carbon bill is law. Now comes the implementation:

• 2012/07/26: ABC(Au): Ausveg stands by carbon tax claims
• 2012/07/26: ABC(Au): Carbon price complaints to ACCC falling
  The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission says complaints about carbon tax-related price claims are starting to fall. Releasing its second general update since the carbon price came into effect, the ACCC says the number of complaints it is receiving has fallen from an average of 63 per day in the first 10 days to about 45 a day.
• 2012/07/27: ABC(Au): Qantas to buy conservation zone carbon credits
• 2012/07/24: ABC(Au): Carbon tax impact 'less than expected'
  The June consumer price index is forecast to show inflation under control and a leading economic research institute has said the price impact of the carbon tax will be less than expected.
• 2012/07/25: ABC(Au): Refrigeration company admits to false carbon claims
  The consumer watchdog says a South Australian refrigeration company has admitted to making false carbon tax price claims. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has accepted a legally-enforceable undertaking from Equipserve Solutions that it will not make further false statements linking price rises to the carbon tax. Equipserve sent an email to customers which attributed the entire increase of a refrigerant gas price to the carbon tax, when this was not the case. The refrigeration contractor has agreed to not make similar misleading claims in the future and to send out a corrective notice to its customers advising them of the false claims.

The Murray-Darling Basin Plan controversy continues:

• 2012/07/25: ABC(Au): Full water allocations already for NSW Murray irrigators
• 2012/07/25: ABC(Au): Uncertainty about water limiting investment around the Murray
  A real estate consultant based along the Murray River says uncertainty around the future of water security is limiting foreign investment in the region.
• 2012/07/25: ABC(Au): Caica hears Walker Flat drought struggle
• 2012/07/25: ABC(Au): Fears water pricing to scare off irrigators
• 2012/07/25: ABC(Au): Flood prevention scheme extended
  A scheme to raise homes out of the path of floods in south-west Queensland has been extended for another year.
• 2012/07/25: ABC(Au): Doubts irrigators will pay for water
  A north-western Queensland mayor says he doubts many prospective irrigators will be prepared to pay for water from the Flinders and Gilbert River catchments.
• 2012/07/25: ABC(Au): Perth's low rainfall puts stress on supply -- It is mid-winter and WA's dams are less than a third full
• 2012/07/24: ABC(Au): Riverland gets basin plan update
  South Australian Water Minister Paul Caica has visited the Riverland to update the community on the draft Murray-Darling Basin Plan.
• 2012/07/23: ABC(Au): Rain boosts Murray-Darling catchment inflows

  While in China:

• 2012/07/23: BBC: Deadly Beijing floods prompt infrastructure questions
  Chinese media and internet users have raised questions after the heaviest rainfall to hit Beijing in 60 years left 37 people dead.
• 2012/07/23: al Jazeera: China fury after Beijing deluge
  Nearly nine million users of China's popular microblog express outrage at government after floods leave 37 people dead.

And in Russia:

• 2012/07/23: al Jazeera: Russian officials held over deadly floods
  Police detain three officials for negligence during flooding that killed 171 people in the Black Sea region of Krymsk.

And South America:

• 2012/07/26: al Jazeera: Behind Paraguay's coup -- At the heart of the nation's current crisis is an ongoing battle over land
• 2012/07/24: Reuters: Mexico's climate law to face challenge under new president [Enrique Pena Nieto]
  Mexico's new president is unlikely to implement much of the sweeping climate change law signed in June by outgoing President Felipe Calderon amid inevitable resistance from industry and his party's focus on accelerating economic growth and ramping-up oil and gas production, policy experts said.
• 2012/07/24: al Jazeera: What is Washington up to in the Chaco region?
  Cables released by WikiLeaks show a strong US interest in vast area spanning Paraguay, Bolivia and northern Argentina.

In Canada, neocon PM Harper pushes petroleum while ignoring climate change:

• 2012/07/22: DeSmogBlog: Understanding Harper's Evangelical Mission
• 2012/07/26: WpgFP: Alberta-B.C. dust-up forces Harper to rethink ideology
• 2012/07/26: TMoS: Harper Ditches the Snitches
• 2012/07/27: G&M: Canada, of all places, should understand climate change
• 2012/07/23: PostMedia: Emails show minister lobbied on oil benchmark
  Defence Minister Peter MacKay invited a senior Shell Canada lobbyist to discuss a benchmarking system for oil - based on ethics and security considerations - with his staff after she met him at a reception and asked him to support the company's proposal, according to internal emails released through access to information legislation.

The provinces & territories got together this week for their annual family quarrel:

• 2012/07/28: TMoS: Sometimes It's the Hot Button Moments that Smoke Out Scammers
• 2012/07/27: CBC: B.C. premier boycotts national energy strategy
  Christy Clark refuses participation without deal on Northern Gateway pipeline Premiers from across the country have agreed to start work on a national energy strategy, but B.C. Premier Christy Clark said emphatically this morning that her province is not willing to sign on to it until they work out the problems surrounding the Northern Gateway project. Alberta Premier Alison Redford is the strategy's biggest backer. She'll lead the working group developing the comprehensive energy plan, along with Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Kathy Dunderdale and Manitoba Premier Greg Selinger.
• 2012/07/27: CBC: 5 provincial spats over resources -- From human resources to oil and electricity grids, a look at provincial battles
• 2012/07/27: CBC: B.C. premier won't support national energy plan -- Premiers wrap up meeting with press conference
  British Columbia Premier Christy Clark made it clear this morning that her province isn't willing to sign on to the national energy strategy being championed by her Alberta counterpart. Clark made the comment at a meeting of premiers in Halifax. She told reporters she's not interested in discussing a national strategy until Alberta and the federal government are willing to address her conditions for the Northern Gateway pipeline project. "We are not in British Columbia able to sign on to support the national energy strategy," Clark said.
• 2012/07/26: TheCanadian: Cross-Border Deals with Alberta Undermine Clark's Tougher Stance on Enbridge
• 2012/07/25: CBC: B.C. and Alberta take pipeline fight to premiers' conference
• 2012/07/25: PostMedia: Pipeline showdown hijacks premiers' meeting
• 2012/07/25: NatPo: Christy Clark's Northern Gateway demands just another extortion attempt
• 2012/07/25: PostMedia: Alberta should consider compensation for B.C., economists say
• 2012/07/25: PostMedia: Redford says she won't 'blink on royalties' with B.C.
• 2012/07/27: PostMedia: Analysts say newest energy war unlike earlier incarnations
  As Alberta and British Columbia rumble in Canada's newest energy war over the Northern Gateway pipeline proposal, echoes of pitched jurisdictional battles of the past ring out. But observers and former participants in past fights say this scrap is unlike anything seen before: environmental issues are taking centre stage, the playing field is international and Alberta occupies a vastly different role in Confederation.
• 2012/07/24: PostMedia: War of words heats up between B.C.'s Christy Clark, Alberta's Alison Redford
  Plans to raise issue over Northern Gateway revenues at Council of the Federation
  An escalating war of words between two of Canada's Western premiers has pushed into serious doubt the future of Enbridge's proposed $6-billion Northern Gateway pipeline. On Tuesday, Premier Christy Clark said the pipeline will die if Alberta doesn't negotiate with British Columbia over the sharing of economic benefits.
• 2012/07/25: CBC: Premiers meet amid signs of 'public policy despair'
  Survey suggests lack of confidence in governments' ability to balance budgets, fix health care As premiers gather for their annual Council of the Federation meeting in Halifax this week, a new Institute for Research on Public Policy-Nanos Research survey suggests a lack of confidence in provinces' ability to solve some pressing issues.
• 2012/07/25: ChronicleHerald: B.C., Alberta pipeline tiff may have unwelcome echo in Ottawa
• 2012/07/24: G&M: B.C. vows to block pipeline unless Alberta ponies up
• 2012/07/25: CBC: Oilsands play big role in Redford's 'national energy strategy'
  When Alberta's premier speaks about need for a co-ordinated plan, what does she really mean?
• 2012/07/24: CBC: B.C., Alberta premiers clash over Gateway pipeline revenue
  Redford rules out Clark's demand for 'fair share' of royalties
• 2012/07/23: G&M: B.C.'s Northern Gateway demands trigger showdown with Alberta
  British Columbia has triggered a showdown with Alberta over energy royalties, saying it won't support the controversial $6-billion Northern Gateway pipeline project unless it is given a bigger cut of tax revenues. Alberta, however, quickly fired back, saying it won't be cutting its neighbour a cheque.
• 2012/07/24: LiP: Alberta Adds the Royal "We"...Alberta dismisses B.C. demand for more pipeline revenue
• 2012/07/23: iNews: Redford blasts BC's pipeline demands
  Premier Alison Redford has come out swinging in wake of BC's demands to gain approval of the Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline.
• 2012/07/23: PostMedia: Redford rejects B.C. demand for "fair share" of Northern Gateway royalties
• 2012/07/23: CBC: Environmentalists focus on premiers ahead of energy talks
  Alberta's energy strategy proposal key part of Council of the Federation talks, starting Wednesday Environmentalists are giving up hope in the federal government and are now focusing on the provinces to forge a strategy that would embrace renewable energy and tackle climate change.
• 2012/07/23: NatPo: Too much heat, too little light in talk of a 'national energy strategy'
• 2012/07/22: G&M: Canadian energy policy needs everyone at the table
  It is time for Canada to adopt a national energy strategy that takes into account the interests of government, business, environmentalists and first nations. That's the key message of a new Senate report on the energy sector, and one that should be heeded.
• 2012/07/23: ChronicleHerald: A call to action: Energy unity
• 2012/07/22: TStar: Despite Stephen Harper's recalcitrance, a responsible energy strategy is emerging

  Looks like the RCMP are telling the Harper gang what they want to hear:

• 2012/07/29: WpgFP: Radical environmentalism growing, report warns; Sparks Greenpeace dismissal
  There is a "growing radicalized environmentalist faction" in Canada that is opposed to the country's energy sector policies, warns a newly declassified intelligence report. The RCMP criminal intelligence assessment, focusing on Canadian waters, cites potential dangers from environmental activists to offshore oil platforms and hazardous marine shipments, representing perhaps the starkest assessment of such threats by the Canadian security community to date. The report drew a sharp dismissal from Greenpeace -- a prominent environmental group singled out in the document -- which suggested it could simply be an effort by security authorities to tell the Harper government what it wants to hear.

The Dutch Disease or the Norwegian Cure?

• 2012/07/25: Tyee: Oil Wealth: Should Norway Be the Canadian Way?

  The battle over the Northern Gateway pipeline rages on:

• 2012/07/28: PostMedia: Harper could force the Northern Gateway pipeline through, but should he?
• 2012/07/26: PostMedia: The pipeline debate is detached from reality
  If you are looking for evidence that Canada's political leaders are completely detached from everyday reality, consider the current dust-up over the Northern Gateway pipeline. It is all about the spoils: is British Columbia getting its fair share of the resource bonanza promised by the pipeline, should Alberta be forced to compensate its unhappy neighbour for environmental risks, and what about the rest of Canada? How do Ontario and Quebec grab their share of the loot? Or, its about the Constitution: does an enabling province have the right to demand a share of another's energy wealth and, if so, won't this make the country unmanageable? And what is the role of the federal government when provinces spar: impassive observer, or impartial arbiter? Enough. You want to take the premiers, the prime minister, Jason Kenney and the rest, by the shoulders and (if it weren't so crude and derivative) shout: It's the environment, stupid!
• 2012/07/26: TMoS: The Northern Gateway Liability Trap
• 2012/07/24: TheCanadian: Keystone Kops
• 2012/07/27: Tyee: Enbridge Misses Heiltsuk Pipeline Hearings -- First Nation paddles to Shearwater, but Northern Gateway representatives a no-show
• 2012/07/27: TheCanadian: Premier Clark Buys Time on Enbridge
• 2012/07/27: CBC: Feds to inspect Enbridge's Edmonton control room
  National Energy Board to inspect operations after U.S. criticized response to leaking pipeline
• 2012/07/28: CBC: U.S. agency investigating Enbridge oil spill
• 2012/07/25: PostMedia: Political wrangling could bury oil pipeline for good
• 2012/07/24: KCairo: Northern Gateway and Rightwing blindness. . . .
• 2012/07/23: BCLSB: Northern Gateway: B.C. Conservative Leader John Cummins Speaks Out Re Northern Gateway

  Not to forget the Kinder Morgan expansion:

• 2012/07/24: VanObs: Kinder Morgan oil sands pipeline expansion plan said to pose risks beyond leaks and spills

  CNOOC has made a bid for Nexen, to much comment:

• 2012/07/27: CBC: Senator urges U.S. to block China's Nexen deal -- Charles Schumer a frequent critic of China's economic policies
• 2012/07/27: G&M: U.S. senator urges Washington to block China's bid for Nexen
• 2012/07/28: NorRe: The Irony! The Irony! [CNOOC]
• 2012/07/27: TMoS: And We're Fueling China for What Exactly?
• 2012/07/24: JRSW: CNOOC's Nexen Bid Shows How Far Goal Posts Have Moved
• 2012/07/25: Rabble:EW: China's bid to take over Nexen
• 2012/07/25: NorRe: Harper and Mammon
  The Harper government claims it acts on principle. The truth is that the only principle it recognizes is profit. And everything -- and everyone -- is expendable...
• 2012/07/25: PEF: Taking Over Nexen
• 2012/07/24: BBC: China's biggest offshore oil producer CNOOC is poised to snap up Canadian rival Nexen in a $15.1bn (£9.7bn) deal
• 2012/07/23: CBC: China's CNOOC offers $15B for Calgary oil firm Nexen
  Calgary-based oil and gas firm Nexen Inc. has agreed to be acquired by China National Offshore Oil Company in a $15.1 billion US cash deal.

Looks like the CWB is not quite dead yet:

• 2012/07/26: CBC: Ex-CWB directors seek Supreme Court appeal
  Eight former farmer-elected directors of the Canadian Wheat Board are asking the Supreme Court for leave to appeal a lower court ruling on the way the federal government stripped the agency of its marketing monopoly. "We believe that this case raises issues that are important to all Canadians and is worthy of careful consideration by the Supreme Court of Canada", said Allen Oberg, farmer and former Chair of the CWB. Supporters of the board have been arguing the federal government didn't follow a law that required it to let grain farmers vote on the future of the wheat board.

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

• 2012/07/29: MSimon: Christy Clark and the Big Oil Sellout
• 2012/07/28: PostMedia: First Nations outraged by Clark's Enbridge pipeline 'sales pitch'
  First Nations opposed to the proposed Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline project are accusing B.C. Premier Christy Clark of selling out British Columbians and putting a price tag on the future of aboriginal people. The Yinka Dene Alliance, a group of five First Nations in the B.C. Interior, issued a statement Saturday, saying it rejects Clark's "sales pitch."
• 2012/07/28: CBC: B.C. premier saves some fighting words for Ottawa
  Christy Clark says federal government also has to address B.C.'s pipeline concerns
• 2012/07/25: CBC: Pipeline opponents pack Kitsilano meeting
  It was standing room only as more than 300 people packed a community hall on Tuesday night in Premier Christy Clark's Vancouver Point Grey riding to voice their concerns over Kinder Morgan's proposed pipeline expansion. Kinder Morgan has said it wants to twin its existing Trans Mountain Pipeline that carries various oil products from Alberta to the Westridge Marine Terminal in Burnaby, where they are loaded onto tankers in Vancouver Harbour. The proposed $5-billion expansion project would increase the 1,150-kilometre pipeline's capacity from 300,000 barrels per day to 850,000 barrels per day, requiring an increase in the size and number of tankers passing through Vancouver Harbour.
• 2012/07/25: PCat: Oil Pipelines: BC's Christy Clark misfires; what the Liberal Party of Canada should do
• 2012/07/27: PCat: BC's Premier Clark & Oil Pipelines: Globe & Mail gets it half right
• 2012/07/23: Tyee: Coastal First Nation Pans Provincial Pipeline Stance -- Heiltsuk leaders say BC government's announcement today changes nothing
• 2012/07/23: Tyee: On Clark's Yes-for-a-Price Pipeline Conditions -- BC government's five provisos include weak no-brainers and faulty revenue claims
• 2012/07/27: WCEL: Yes to a national energy strategy, no to tankers
• 2012/07/24: Maribo: Pipelines would dramatically increase carbon emissions from BC, depending how you count
• 2012/07/24: DClimenhaga: B.C. Bitumen Busters! Who ya gonna call? Greg Selinger?
• 2012/07/23: TheCanadian: BC Liberal Government Surrenders to Enbridge, Ottawa
• 2012/07/23: CBC: B.C. seeks 'fair share' in new Gateway pipeline deal
  Province lays out 5 criteria for new crude oil pipelines
  [...]
  [BC Environment Minister Terry] Lake also laid out five new requirements all new crude oil pipelines will have to meet before they get provincial approval:
  1. Successful completion of the environmental review process. In the case of Enbridge, that would mean a recommendation by the National Energy Board Joint Review Panel that the project proceed.
  2. World-leading marine oil-spill response, prevention and recovery systems for B.C.'s coastline and ocean to manage and mitigate the risks and costs of heavy oil pipelines and shipments.
  3. World-leading practices for land oil-spill prevention, response and recovery systems to manage and mitigate the risks and costs of heavy oil pipelines.
  4. Legal requirements regarding aboriginal and treaty rights must be addressed, and First Nations provided with the opportunities, information and resources necessary to participate in and benefit from a heavy-oil project.
  5. British Columbia must receive a fair share of the fiscal and economic benefits of a proposed heavy oil project that reflects the level, degree and nature of the risk borne by the province, the environment and taxpayers.
• 2012/07/23: BCLSB: B.C.'s "Requirements" For Approving The Northern Gateway Pipeline--What They Really Mean
• 2012/07/23: DClimenhaga: Premiers' private parley -- a summit so secret if you knew what they'd talked about, they'd have to kill you!
• 2012/07/22: G&M: Gateway pipeline risks exceed rewards, B.C. Premier says
  British Columbia Premier Christy Clark is warning that the environmental risks associated with a plan to sell Canadian oil to Asia through the Northern Gateway pipeline outweigh the economic benefits, leaving her at odds with the federal and Alberta governments.
• 2012/07/22: PostMedia: BC contemplates industry-pay model in pipeline demands
  The BC Liberal government is considering a proposal that would see oil companies fund a portion of the province's spill response teams in exchange for approval to build a massive new pipeline, The Vancouver Sun has learned. Environment Minister Terry Lake and Aboriginal Relations and Reconciliation Minister Mary Polak will today release technical papers outlining what the province is calling the bottom lines that need to be met before it would consider any new heavy-oil pipelines. The two ministers will also release information on what government plans to ask as an intervener in the National Energy Board hearings into the Northern Gateway pipeline proposal.
• 2012/07/22: TheCanadian: Rafe: Clark has BC Behaving Like a Prostitute on Enbridge, Only Dickering Over Price

  Meanwhile in that Mechanical Mordor known as the tar sands:

• 2012/07/26: CBC: China in the oil patch, should we 'fear the dragon'?
• 2012/07/25: CBC: Suncor reviewing oilsands expansion
• 2012/07/25: TMoS: Bitumen's Oh So Dirty Little Secrets
• 2012/07/26: CER:RRapier: The Facts About Canada's Oil Sands and Climate Change
• 2012/07/28: TMoS: Everything You Need to Know About DilBit
• 2012/07/23: WSJ: The Hunt to Unlock Oil Sands
• 2012/07/23: CBC: Talisman sells $1.5B stake in U.K. assets to Sinopec

  Also in Alberta:

• 2012/07/27: BCLSB: How Much They Worry About First Nation's Rights, The Environment, And Stuff In Calgary
• 2012/07/27: CBC: Enbridge gets OK to reverse pipeline flow east -- National Energy Board approves change with safety conditions attached

  While in Saskatchewan:

• 2012/07/26: CBC: Potash profit and revenue disappoint -- Company misses targets, warns of lower guidance
  Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc. is reporting a sharp drop in second-quarter earnings and warning of lower than anticipated profits for 2012. The company reported earnings of $522 million, or 60 cents per share, for the quarter, down from $840 million, or 96 cents per share in the same period last year.

And in la Belle Province:

• 2012/07/26: CBC: Quebec announces new biomethane program -- Project pending approval from the energy board
• 2012/07/23: TreeHugger: City of Drummondville, Quebec Says "Rip Out This Garden"

  In the Maritimes:

• 2012/07/25: CBC: Siemens and NB Power strike smart grid pact -- Siemens will employ 40 people in a new research centre
• 2012/07/23: CBC: Irrigating P.E.I. farmers put on notice
  Some farmers on P.E.I. have been given notice that the province is getting so dry they have to soon stop irrigating their crops. Rainfall on the Island since May 1 is less than half the average, and July has been especially dry, with rainfall running less than a third of the average. About 25 farmers have permits to use streams and rivers to irrigate their fields, but the province has warned some of them that the rivers they use are getting too low to sustain irrigation.

In the North:

• 2012/07/24: CBC: Husky Energy aiming to explore in new NWT prospect
• 2012/07/21: G&M: Climate change opens up Arctic fisheries --- but should Canada cut bait?

  As for miscellaneous Canadiana:

• 2012/07/23: PI:B: Room to improve: Canada's poor energy efficiency score explained

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

• 2012/07/26: EnergyBulletin: Green House launches post growth project
• 2012/07/23: CCurrents: Facing A Set Of Linked Problems
• 2012/07/24: AlterNet: 5 Critical Actions That Really Can Put Us on a Sustainable Path
• 2012/07/23: TCoE: Climate change and capitalism

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

• 2012/07/25: NBF: New Dire Claims about Problems Supporting 10 billion people in 2050 to 2100
• 2012/07/27: SciAm:GB: Can We Feed 9 Billion People by 2050 or Will We Starve?
• 2012/07/24: KSJT: LA Times: Our big problem that science can explain but that politicians hardly touch? It's not climate change.
• 2012/07/22: LA Times: Philippines birth control: Filipinos want it, priests don't
  In the Philippines, access to contraceptives is limited for the most part to those with the means to pay. The Catholic Church has fought a "reproductive health bill" in the legislature that would change that.
• 2012/07/22: LA Times: China's population and economy are a double whammy for the world
  China's 'one-child' policy has slowed population growth and brought prosperity -- but it couldn't avert massive damage to the environment.
• 2012/07/22: LA Times: As the world's population grows, hunger persists on a massive scale
  Nearly 1 billion people are malnourished, and a child dies of hunger every 11 seconds. By 2050, farmers would have to double crop production to meet the demand.
• 2012/07/22: LA Times: Runaway population growth often fuels youth-driven uprisings
  In fast-growing countries, many young men are unable to find employment or pay dowries. Frustrated ambitions can be an explosive force -- and a reason for joining the Taliban.
• 2012/07/22: LA Times: Fertility rates fall, but global population explosion goes on
  Global birthrates are falling. But with many in their fertile years and political and cultural forces against contraception, the population explosion is far from over.

Okay hot shot, how are we gonna fix this mess?

• 2012/07/23: CDreams: Climate Emergency Action Plan
  We can still avoid a devastating climate crisis. But we'll need a World War II-level mobilization. And we'll need to stand up to Dirty Energy.

How do the media measure up?

• 2012/07/26: QuarkSoup: This Message Was Not Approved by Joe Romm
• 2012/07/26: CJR: InsideClimate out front -- Investigation of Kalamazoo oil spill calamity led the pack
• 2012/07/24: CAbyss: When Science Meets Opinion
• 2012/07/24: SMandia: Chronicle of Higher Ed to Its Bloggers: Feel Free to Disparage Climate Science but not Black Studies
• 2012/07/23: UCSUSA:B: CEI Compares Climate Scientist to a Child Molester
• 2012/07/23: CCP: Chronicle of Higher Education permits noted climate change denier Peter Wood to post slanderous and unfounded smears against Dr. Michael Mann...
• 2012/07/23: SMandia: Chronicle of Higher Education Allows Smear-Job on Climate Scientist
• 2012/07/23: P3: Ars Technica on the Wall Street Journal
• 2012/07/23: TreeHugger: Finally, a News Report on Extreme Weather & Climate Change Suitable for Grown-Ups (Video)
• 2012/07/22: QuarkSoup: Getting the Basic Stuff Wrong
• 2012/07/22: TP:JR: Sorry, NY Times, The Filibuster, The Polluter-Funded Campaign, and The Feckless Media Don't Make Us All 'Climate Idiots'. Well, Maybe The Media Do.
• 2012/07/21: P3: That "Deficit Model" Model Again

  Here is something for your library:

• 2012/07/24: SciAm:Obs: Want to Understand Climate Change? Try This Simple Book
  [Book Plug] _Global Weirdness: Severe Storms, Heat Waves, Relentless Drought, Rising Seas and the Weather of the Future_ by Climate Central (Emily Elert & Michael D. Lemonick)

And for your film & video enjoyment:

• 2012/07/27: PSinclair: It's Sinking in -- Climate Change Bringing Weather Extremes
• 2012/07/27: ASI: Tom Wagner of NASA explains
• 2012/07/26: PSinclair: Tom Wagner of NASA ... "the Arctic has shifted in State."
• 2012/07/28: PSinclair: New From Potholer: The Medieval Warming Period
• 2012/07/27: P3: McKibben - Global warming requires a global solution: Bill McKibben on the need to take action
• 2012/07/28: GLaden: Potholer Does The Medieval Warm Period
• 2012/07/28: 350orBust: Saturday At The Movies [We Quit You, Keystone XL (It's Not Us, It's You)]
• 2012/07/24: TP:JR: Hilarious Video: Why The Keystone XL Pipeline Is Like The Annoying Ex-Boyfriend You Can't Get Rid Of
• 2012/07/24: PSinclair: Renewable Energy in Germany 2012
• 2012/07/24: 350orBust: Hope Is A Verb With Its Sleeves Rolled Up

  As for podcasts:

• 2012/07/23: HotTopic: Cranks in court: sciblogs podcast plug

  Meanwhile among the 'Sue the Bastards!' contingent:

• 2012/07/26: PlanetArk: Oil group [American Petroleum Institute] sues over law [requiring cellulosic biofuel]
• 2012/07/27: Reuters: Siberian court awards $3 billion damages against BP
  A Siberian court has awarded more than $3 billion in damages against British oil major BP in a suit brought by minority shareholders in its $60 billion Russian venture TNK-BP, the plaintiffs' lawyer said on Friday.
• 2012/07/27: BBC: BP ordered to pay $3.1bn in damages over Rosneft deal
  A Russian court has ordered BP to pay $3.1bn (£1.97bn) in damages to its Russian joint venture over a failed Arctic oil exploration deal with Rosneft.
• 2012/07/23: TreeHugger: Enbridge Whistleblower Sues Over [Kalamazoo] Pipeline Spill Cover Up, Reaction

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

• 2012/07/23: NYT: Will Drought Cause the Next Blackout?
• 2012/07/26: Eureka: Rivers flowing into the sea offer vast potential as electricity source [via pressure-retarded osmosis (PRO)]
• 2012/07/26: EnergyBulletin: Renewable energy - Facts and figures by Robert Rapier
• 2012/07/27: Guardian(UK): UK energy flows 2010: sources, losses, exports and consumption of energy
• 2012/07/24: Grist: What I left out when I wrote about lowball renewable energy projections
• 2012/06/18: FreshEnergy: Skeptical about renewable energy predictions? You should be.
• 2012/07/23: ABC(Au): Green power device 'not far away'
  An environmentally friendly electricity device installed earlier this year in Carnarvon is nearly ready to be switched on. Perth company Enerji Limited is building the Opcon Powerbox, which converts waste heat to energy and can power about 400 homes.

A couple of notable tidal / wave power stories:

• 2012/07/25: ABC(Au): CSIRO looks to wave power for future energy
  The CSIRO says wave power could provide 10 per cent of Australia's power by 2050 and Western Australian company Carnegie is looking to cash in, with a contract to provide power to the Garden Island naval base.
• 2012/07/25: ABC(Au): Ocean power could supply entire cities
• 2012/07/24: TreeHugger: First Commercial Tidal Power Project in US Launches in Maine
• 2012/07/25: PeakEnergy: Australian ocean energy could power Melbourne by 2050: CSIRO study
• 2012/07/25: PeakEnergy: Maine company leading way as tidal energy comes of age
• 2012/07/25: CSIRO: Ocean renewable energy
  CSIRO modelling predicts that wave energy could play a large part in Australia's future energy mix. Ocean energy extraction is an emerging technology and research is required on the nature of the resource, technology, performance and understanding the wider impacts.
• 2012/07/25: ABC(Au): Ocean power could supply entire cities
  Frightened by your power bill? A report released by the CSIRO today has found ocean power generated by waves, currents and tides could supply a city the size of Melbourne by 2050. In homes across the country, power bills are under scrutiny like never before as prices continue to rise.
• 2012/07/23: PeakEnergy: Sit tight, the tidal wave of clean energy is on the horizon

  What's changing in energy sources?

• 2012/07/26: PSinclair: Wind Competing with Coal in India

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

• 2012/07/26: PlanetArk: EPA finds remaining water safe in famous fracking town [Dimock, Pennsylvania]
• 2012/07/24: SciAm:PI: Industry money and questionable ethics contaminate UT Austin fracking study
• 2012/07/23: BBerg: Frackers Fund University Research That Proves Their Case
• 2012/07/26: TreeHugger: Will Falling Renewable Energy Costs Do In Fracking?
• 2012/07/26: InformedComment: Top Ten Reasons Fracking won't Last Long
• 2012/07/27: DeSmogBlog: Exposed: Pennsylvania Act 13 Overturned by Supreme Court, Originally an ALEC Model Bill
• 2012/07/27: NakedCapitalism: Hiram residents seek local control on fracking
• 2012/07/24: KSJT: AP : Fracking a radiation hazard? Cause of breast cancer? No. But some critics say so.
• 2012/07/23: TreeHugger: Pro-Fracking University Studies Funded by Natural Gas Industry
• 2012/07/23: BBerg: Drought Helps Fracking Foes Build Momentum for Recycling

  On the coal front:

• 2012/07/27: WtD: Image of the day: open cut lignite coal mine, Anglesea Victoria
• 2012/07/23: HCN: Coal-export schemes ignite unusual opposition, from Wyoming to India
• 2012/07/29: OilDrum: China's coal to chemical future
• 2012/07/24: ABC(Au): Chinese defaults worrying Australian coal miners
  The former chief executive of a major coal company says some Australian miners are under huge pressure because they can't sell to China. Some Chinese buyers have reportedly defaulted on Australian coal contracts because it hasn't been selling for the price they want. As a result, the thermal coal price has hit its lowest level in 18 months
• 2012/07/23: ABC(Au): Coal price slump set to continue

  On the gas and oil front:

• 2012/07/27: BBerg: Closing oil prices Friday
  OIL (US$/bbl)
  Nymex Crude Future...90.13
  Dated Brent Spot....107.92
  WTI Cushing Spot.....90.13
• 2012/07/22: RI: Fool me twice, shame on me: The oil industry repackages the fake abundance story (from the late 1990s)
• 2012/07/27: EarlyWarning: June Oil Supply Confirmed Down
• 2012/07/26: ABC(Au): Australian oil disaster 'costing Indonesians billions'
  A study has found that contamination from one of Australia's worst oil spills is still costing Indonesian fishing villages more than $1.5 billion per year. The Montara oil platform was in Australia's exclusive economic zone, but when the well head blew out in August 2009, the slick drifted across the Timor Sea to Indonesia.
• 2012/07/28: ABC(Au): Forgotten tragedy:Timor Sea oil spill
  It's been called the forgotten tragedy; fishing communities in Indonesia's West Timor region say their livelihoods have been contaminated by one of Australia's biggest oil spills, the Montara disaster in the Timor Sea.
• 2012/07/27: OilChange: Oil companies continue to profit at the expense of our future
• 2012/07/23: CER:RRapier: The Contribution of U.S. Oil Consumption to Global Carbon Emissions
• 2012/06/26: ICN: A Dilbit Primer: How It's Different from Conventional Oil
• 2012/07/23: QuarkSoup: The Next Set of Questions for Exxon Mobil's CEO
• 2012/07/22: EnergyBulletin: Fool me twice, shame on me: The oil industry repackages the fake abundance story (from the late 1990s)

  In the gas and oil corps:

• 2012/07/26: CNN: Exxon reports record profit of [$15.9 billion on revenues of $127.4 billion]
• 2012/07/26: BBerg: Shell Profit Falls More Than Expected [to US$5.7 billion] as Oil Prices Drop
• 2012/07/26: BBC: British Gas owner Centrica sees profits rise
  Centrica, the owner of British Gas, has reported a 15% rise in first-half adjusted operating profits to £1.45bn. The results include a 23% rise in operating profits at its residential energy division, British Gas, to £345m.
• 2012/07/26: TP:JR: Top Two Oil Companies Earn $160,000 Per Minute, Paid Low Tax Rate
• 2012/07/27: TP:JR: Chevron's Second Quarter Profits Top $7 Billion
• 2012/07/27: Reuters: Mexico's Pemex posts steep second-quarter loss
• 2012/07/24: TP:JR: What Five Oil Companies Did With Their $375 Million In Daily Profits
• 2012/07/25: TP:JR: ConocoPhillips By The Numbers: $5.2 Billion in 2012 Profits, $21 Million Lobbying Congress In Past 18 Months
• 2012/07/25: CBC: EnCana posts $1.48B loss on weak natural gas prices

  And in pipeline news:

• 2012/07/28: Reuters: Enbridge suffers new oil leak [in Wisconsin], shuts key pipeline
• 2012/07/27: G&M: Enbridge shuts large Canada-US pipeline after spill
  Canada's Enbridge Inc., already under fire from U.S. regulators over a massive oil spill two years ago, said on Friday it had shut a key pipeline indefinitely after an oil leak in Wisconsin. Line 14, a 318,000 barrel per day leg of the major Lakehead System that carries light crude oil from Canada to Chicago-area refineries, was shut after a spill that released an estimated 1,200 barrels of oil, Enbridge Energy Partners said in statement. The cause of the spill was undetermined.
• 2012/07/28: CBC: U.S. agency investigating Enbridge oil spill
  A U.S. government agency is investigating an oil leak of about 1,200 barrels (190,000 litres) that seeped out of an Enbridge pipeline in Wisconsin, which was delivering Canadian crude to Chicago-area refineries. On Saturday, the U.S. Transportation Department's Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration said that it was investigating the cause of the pipeline failure and that an inspector has been sent to the locale. The Alberta-based company is busy cleaning up the leak and has shut down part of that pipeline.

Yes we have a peak oil sighting:

• 2012/07/26: EnergyBulletin: The Peak Oil Crisis: Middle Eastern Chaos
• 2012/07/27: EngNews: Peak oil is no myth
• 2012/07/25: PeakEnergy: Maugeri on peak oil
• 2012/07/24: FTAlphaville: Is peak oil dead?
  [...] We must conclude that the key assumptions about reserve growth and its effect on decline rates in Maugeri's report are muddled, speculative and unverifiable. And sprinkling those assertions with repeated declamations about how peak oil is a non-issue, insisting repeatedly that the only real constraints on his scenario have to do with political decisions and geopolitical risks, suggests that his report is more about grinding a political axe on behalf of the oil industry than offering a serious or transparent analysis. Finally we must note that Maugeri is well known for his hostility to peak oil, as is BP, which funded his report. After taking real-world risks, costs, and restrictions into account, the case for peak oil -- which is about production rates, not production capacity or reserves -- seems far more realistic.

Biofuel bickering abounds:

• 2012/07/26: ScienceInsider: German Researchers Hand Biofuels a Poor Review
• 2012/07/26: UCSUSA:B: From Muppet Labs to Your Gas Tank: The Emerging Cellulosic Biofuel Industry
• 2012/07/26: TreeHugger: Norway Cuts Palm Oil Consumption 64% to Protect Rainforest

  The answer my friend...:

• 2012/07/24: TP:JR: Report: 23 Largest Wind Farms In Illinois Bring $6 Billion In Economic Benefits To The State

  Meanwhile among the solar aficionados:

• 2012/07/26: TP:JR: Clean Energy Access For All: Grameen Installs Over 500 Solar Homes Systems A Day In Rural Bangladesh
• 2012/07/25: EnergyBulletin: My modest solar setup by Tom Murphy
• 2012/07/27: TreeHugger: US Could Install 200,000 GW of Solar Power, New Study Says
• 2012/07/27: EnergyBulletin: Clean Energy Access For All - Grameen's Solar Success
• 2012/07/25: TreeHugger: See-Through Solar Cells Make Energy from Infrared Light
• 2012/07/25: TreeHugger: First Ever National Solar Energy Plan for Public Lands Unveiled by Obama Administration

  The nuclear energy controversy continues:

• 2012/07/24: TBAS: The nuclear approach to climate risk
  [...] "Given nuclear energy's potential to slow global warming, do its benefits outweigh its risks, or do its risks outweigh its benefits for developing countries?"
• 2012/07/26: WNN: Uranium supplies good for the long haul
  World uranium resources are ample to meet requirements for the foreseeable future but timely investment in facilities will be needed to make sure production keeps pace with growing demand, according to a new edition of the flagship Red Book. Officially named Uranium 2011: Resources, production and demand, this is the 24th edition of a periodic assessment published by the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Universally known as the Red Book, it is currently published every two years and draws together official data on uranium exploration, resources and production, and uranium demand related to its use in nuclear reactors. The new edition covers data to the end of 2010.
• 2012/07/26: CCurrents: Nuclear Showdown In Delhi's Neighbourhood
  Plans to build India's biggest indigenous nuclear power plant have failed to impress villagers in Haryana's Fatehabad district, who fear a Fukushima-type disaster. The shoddy way in which the government agencies have handled the issue has not helped matters either
• 2012/07/25: APR: B&W, FirstEnergy sign MOU for study of SMR construction
• 2012/07/24: NBF: Kazakhstan produced 5040 tons of uranium in the second quarter
• 2012/07/24: ScienceInsider: A Renewed U.S. Interest in Japan's Fast Reactor?
• 2012/07/24: APR: Westinghouse AP1000 project in Canada
• 2012/07/24: APR: NEI Videos on Nuclear Construction Costs
• 2012/07/23: NBF: Many people in Brazil, Sudan, India, Iran and China exceed the maximum yearly dose for US Civilians based on Natural Background Radiation
• 2012/07/24: NBF: Canadian Point Lepreau nuclear power station authorized for restart

  Nuclear waste storage requires _very_ long term thinking:

• 2012/07/27: UCSUSA: NRC Report States That Storing Spent Nuclear Fuel In Wet Pools Is 'Adequate' To Protect Public
  Transferring It to Dry Casks Would Be Significantly Safer, Science Group Says

Low energy nuclear keeps coming up:

• 2012/07/24: NBF: Controversial Rossi Now Claims the Energy Catalyzer is Stable over 1000C and a Big Report is coming this September

  More people are talking about the electrical grid:

• 2012/07/25: NYT: Weather Extremes Leave Parts of U.S. Grid Buckling
• 2012/07/25: CBC: Siemens and NB Power strike smart grid pact -- Siemens will employ 40 people in a new research centre

  And then there is the matter of efficiency & conservation:

• 2012/07/23: EurActiv: UK's top energy efficiency ranking thrown into doubt
  A ranking of the UK as the world's most energy-efficient country by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) was "over-generous" and contradicted official EU statistics, Brussels experts have told EurActiv.

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

• 2012/07/25: CBC: $1M electric car to go on the market -- Goes from 0 to 100 km/h in 2.8 seconds
• 2012/07/21: LA Times: Plug-in hybrid sales soar; all-electric cars stay in low gear
  'Pure' electric cars post underwhelming sales. Their limited range and higher prices, plus the lack of a strong public infrastructure for recharging their batteries, hurt their appeal.

Insurance and re-insurance companies are feeling the heat:

• 2012/07/22: OilPrice: Nationwide Mutual Declines to Cover Fracking
• 2012/07/24: DD: Flood risk rampant across Asia factory zones, say insurance companies

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

• 2012/07/27: TP:JR: July 27 News...
• 2012/07/26: TP:JR: July 26 News...
• 2012/07/25: TP:JR: July 25 News...
• 2012/07/24: TP:JR: July 24 News...
• 2012/07/23: TP:JR: July 23 News...

  Other (weekly) lists:

• 2012/07/27: EnergyBulletin: ODAC Newsletter
• 2012/07/24: Stoat: Misc misc
• 2012/07/23: BPA: Agriculture News

  The carbon lobby are up to the usual:

• 2012/07/25: TMoS: How to Fight Climate Change Deniers
• 2012/07/26: CCurrents: In The Land Of Never Was: The Last, Desperate Hours Of -- Climate Chaos Deniers? And Capitalist Rah-Rahs
• 2012/07/26: ICH: In The Land Of Never Was: The last, desperate hours of Climate Chaos deniers? and capitalist rah-rahs
• 2012/07/27: PSinclair: Weekend Wack: More on Insane Climate Denial Legal Fail
• 2012/07/27: TMoS: Climate Skeptics Really Are the Tin Foil Hat Brigade
• 2012/07/27: Guardian(UK): Are climate sceptics more likely to be conspiracy theorists?
• 2012/07/25: OilChange: Dirty Energy Money Seeps into Academia
• 2012/07/25: WtD: Anthony Watts cherry picks quote about record Greenland melt: surprised? Hardly
• 2012/07/24: DeSmogBlog: Climate Science Denier Debunks Greenhouse Theory With Two Fish Cooler Boxes And A Roll Of Cling Film
• 2012/07/24: WottsUWT: Dr. Michael Mann invokes the Streisand effect
• 2012/07/24: BCLSB: Tim Ball's Balls Burned?
• 2012/07/23: GReadfearn: Greenhouse gas theory disproved with two fish boxes and a roll of cling film
• 2012/07/23: HC: Climate *Skeptics* Shift Their Ground
• 2012/07/23: QuarkSoup: The Next Set of Questions for Exxon Mobil's CEO
• 2012/07/23: MGS: There is no greenhouse effect
• 2012/07/23: Stoat: Investigation of methods for hydroclimatic data homogenization?

  As for climate miscellanea:

• 2012/07/25: OilChange: A solemn anniversary, scary new report, and hope around the corner in the fight against big oil
• 2012/07/24: C&C: McKibben's climate math is too narrow and too broad
• 2012/07/27: Grist: Why climate change doesn't spark moral outrage, and how it could
• 2012/07/26: GreenGrok: Environmentalists Take Two on the Chin?
• 2012/07/25: GreenGrok: Climate Change: The Human Factor Factored In
• 2012/07/28: TP:JR: Reddit as a Science Outreach Tool
• 2012/07/28: CCurrents: Learning From The Drought Of '12
• 2012/07/27: ERabett: Rumor has it that climate change is real
• 2012/07/27: TCoE: On the role of climate activism
• 2012/07/25: TP:JR: Climate Change And The Soothing Message Of Luke-Warmism
• 2012/07/24: P3: The Carbon Bubble
• 2012/07/23: ERabett:BSD: Good climate news, bad climate news
• 2012/07/23: ABC(US):B: Who's 'Most to Blame' for Global Warming?
• 2012/07/22: Guardian(UK): [Editorial] Climate science: the gathering storm
  The signals are clear enough, and conditions that seem bad now may be regarded as relatively benign in decades to come

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

• NOAA:Central Library: Climate Engineering Publications Available in Web of Science (1988-2011)
• International Grains Council
• Current U.S. Drought Monitor
• Source Watch
• CBC: Northern Gateway Pipeline
• Denier Roundup
• Jeff Rubins' Smaller World
• Fresh Energy, Leading the Transition to Clean Energy
• Eradicating Ecocide in Canada - Fundamental Justice and Earth Law for the 99%
• CITES: Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora
• The Daily Climate
• Carbon Farming Initiative
• Monckton Watch
• Index Mundi
• The World Future Council
• U.S. Biochar Initiative
• Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy

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.

"Hundred-year floods? We've had three of those this year." -Haverstraw, N.Y. truck driver

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