Logging the Onset of The Bottleneck Years

This weekly posting is brought to you courtesy of H. E. Taylor. Happy reading, I hope you enjoy this week's Global Warming news roundup

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Another Week of Climate Instability News

Information Overloadis Pattern Recognition

September 23, 2012

• Chuckles, COP18+, Arctic Nukes, Séralini, Arctic Sea Ice
• Bottom Line, Weather Machine, Cook, Shrinkology
• Fukushima Note, Fukushima News, Nuclear Policy
• Melting Arctic, Ring Seals, Methane, Geopolitics, Antarctica
• Food Crisis, Fisheries, Food Prices, Food vs. Biofuel, GMOs, GMO Labelling, Food Production
• Hurricanes, Carbon Cycle, Temperatures, Feedbacks, Ozone, Paleoclimate
• Tipping Points, Oceans, Extinctions, Volcanoes, Earthquakes, Satellites
• Impacts, Forests, Disease, Wacky Weather, Extreme Weather, Phenology
• Wildfires, Corals, Glaciers, Sea Levels, Floods & Droughts
• Mitigation, Transportation, Buildings, Geoengineering, Conservation
• Journals, Other Docs, Misc. Science, Models, Open Science, Muller, Speth
• International Politics: Carbon Trade, Carbon Tax, Hormuz, East China Sea, EU ETS & Airlines
• Helium, Falklands, EU - Gazprom, Security, Law & Activism, Activism, H2O Biz, Education
• National Politics: America, BP Disaster, 2012, Gas Prices, Keystone, Mann
• Ethanol Mandate, Birth Control, Coal Exports, Wind Tax Credit, USAdmin, Congress
• Britain, Europe, Australia, Carbon Law, Murray-Darling, New Zealand, India
• Canada, Carbon Tax Attack, Ozone, CNOOC, Northern Gateway , Kinder Morgan, Abortion
• Salmon, BC, Tar Sands, Alberta, Sask, Ontario, Quebec, Maritimes, North, Canadiana
• Ecological Economics, IPAT, Fixes, Media, Video, Courts
• Energy, Fracking, Coal, Oil & Gas, Oil & the Economy, Pipelines, Peak Oil, Biofuel
• Wind, Solar, Nukes, Nuclear Fusion, Hydrogen, Grid, Efficiency, Cars, Gee Whiz, Energy Storage
• Business, Insurance, FAQs, Joe's List, Carbon Lobby, Lewandowsky, Misc., Useful Links
• Shameless Self Promotion, .sig

Laugh. I dare ya:

• 2012/09/17: uComics: (cartoon - Toles) The Washington Machine
• 2012/03/15: BasicInstructions: (cartoon - Meyer) How to Reveal a Shocking Truth to a Person Who's Not Ready for the Truth
  

  I hope you had a hale and hearty equinox:

   

• USNO: Equinoxes, Solstices, Perihelion, and Aphelion, 2000-2020
• 2012/09/23: APOD: Equinox: The Sun from Solstice to Solstice
• 2012/09/22: al Jazeera: A change of season brings a change of colour
  Across the northern hemisphere leaves begin to change at this time of year, but do you really know why?
• 2012/09/22: APOD: Austrian Analemma
• 2012/09/21: S&R: Happy Equinox
• 2012/09/21: Grist: Farewell, summer from hell
• 2012/09/20: APOD: Sunrise Analemma (with a little extra)
  

  Looking ahead to COP18 and future international climate negotiations:

• 2012/09/21: Yahoo:Reuters: BASIC group calls for adoption of "Kyoto 2" in Doha
  Ministers from Brazil, India, China and South Africa called for an extension of the Kyoto Protocol, the world's only treaty that forces countries to cut greenhouse gas emissions, which expires at the end of the year. The emerging economies, who form the BASIC bloc, met in Brazil's capital Brasilia on Thursday and Friday to discuss their common negotiating position for the upcoming climate talks in Doha, Qatar, in November.
• 2012/09/20: Yahoo:AP: 4 [BASIC] countries discuss climate change in Brazil
  Representatives of Brazil, South Africa, India and China are meeting to define a common position ahead of November's United Nations' climate change conference in Doha. The four countries form the bloc known as BASIC that acts jointly in international climate change meetings.
• 2012/09/20: WaPo: Brazil, South Africa, India and China [BASIC] discuss climate change - in Brasilia
• 2012/09/17: Guardian(UK): What is the state of international climate talks?
• 2012/09/17: TMoS: Washington's Climate Change Wrecking Ball
• 2012/09/17: TMoS: They Can't Do It
  

  Sometimes you just have to wonder...what were they thinking?!?

• 2012/08/28: Bellona: Russia announces enormous finds of radioactive waste and nuclear reactors in Arctic seas
• 2012/09/16: EneNews: Alarm: 14 nuclear reactors dumped in [Arctic] ocean...
  

  The Séralini paper on GMOs kicked off a bit of a storm:

• 2012/09/19: F&CT(via DOI): (ab$) Long term toxicity of a Roundup herbicide and a Roundup-tolerant genetically modified maize by Gilles-Eric Séralini et al.
• 2012/09/22: KSJT: "A rancid, corrupt way to report about science"
• 2012/09/21: ScienceInsider: France and European Commission Order Review of Controversial GM Study in Rats
• 2012/09/21: DM:Crux: Under Controlled: Why the New GMO Panic Is More Sensational Than Sense
• 2012/09/21: EmbargoWatch: Stenographers, anyone? GMO rat study authors engineered embargo to prevent scrutiny
• 2012/09/21: DM:Loom: From Darwinius to GMOs: Journalists Should Not Let Themselves Be Played
• 2012/09/20: CCurrents: Monsanto's Products Cause Tumors, Organ Damage In Rats
• 2012/09/20: BBC: French GM-fed rat study triggers furore
  A furious row has erupted over a French study claiming to have found tumours and other problems in rats fed on genetically modified maize and exposed to a common, associated herbicide.
• 2012/09/20: NakedCapitalism: New Study Finds "Severe Toxic Effects" of Pervasively Used Monsanto Herbicide Roundup and Roundup Ready GM Corn (Updated)
• 2012/09/20: ABC(Au): Anti-GM campaigners sound alarm over new French study
• 2012/09/20: ABC(Au): Experts say GM study poses more questions than gives answers
• 2012/09/20: ABC(Au): Cancer in rats reignites GM food debate
• 2012/09/20: ABC(Au): Study raises health concerns over GM crops [WA]
  The second study this month to link genetically modified crops with serious health problems has prompted calls for the WA government to ensure the State's GM crops are safe. The latest study, Published in the journal of Food and Chemical Toxicology, shows rats fed a GM corn diet over their two year lifespan, suffered mammary tumours and severe liver and kidney damage. The corn, produced by the American multinational Monsanto, had been sprayed with the company's weedkiller, Roundup. The State Government controversially lifted a ban on GM crops in 2010.
• 2012/09/20: EurActiv: French study re-launches GMO controversy
  Rats fed a lifetime diet of Monsanto's genetically modified corn or exposed to its top-selling weedkiller Roundup suffered tumours and multiple organ damage, says a French study published yesterday (19 December).
• 2012/09/20: EUO: Scientist against EU agency double-checking GMO findings
  "It's out of the question that those who authorised NK603 carry out a counter-study of our findings as there'd be a conflict of interest."
• 2012/09/19: HeraldOnline: First Peer Reviewed Lifetime Feeding Trial Finds "Safe" Levels Of GM Maize And Roundup Can Cause Tumors And Multiple Organ Damage
• 2012/09/19: SlashDot: Roundup Tolerant GM Maize Linked To Tumor Development
• 2012/09/19: NewScientist: Study linking GM crops and cancer questioned
  

  Arctic sea ice hit a new record minimum this year. See also:

• 2012/09/22: DD: Arctic sea ice extent settles at record seasonal minimum
• 2012/09/22: ASI: Record Arctic Sea-ice minimum 2012 declared - it's the Silly Season!
• 2012/09/21: AFTIC: New 2012 Record Low Arctic Ice Extent Smashes Previous 2007 Record
• 2012/09/21: PlanetJ: Arctic sea ice minimum: A planetary emergency
• 2012/09/20: CBC: Arctic sea ice melts to record low
• 2012/09/20: Wunderground: Earth's attic is on fire: Arctic sea ice bottoms out at a new record low
• 2012/09/20: CSM: Arctic sea ice in 'uncharted territory,' say researchers
• 2012/09/20: NSIDC: Press Release: Arctic sea ice reaches lowest extent for the year and the satellite record
• 2012/09/20: CCP: Arctic Sea Ice Levels Hit Record Low, Scientists Say We're 'Running Out Of Time'
• 2012/09/20: TreeHugger: Arctic Sea Ice Melt Smashes Previous Record Lows - How Will We Respond?
• 2012/09/20: Moyhu: Arctic Sea Ice Extent minimum reached
• 2012/09/20: al Jazeera: Arctic sea ice shrinks to lowest ever level
  US scientists say climate change is responsible for lowest levels of Arctic sea ice since record keeping began in 1979.
• 2012/09/20: WtD: Rock bottom: Arctic sea ice reaches lowest extent on record
• 2012/09/20: PSinclair: "Uncharted Territory". NSIDC Announces the Shocking 2012 Sea Ice Minimum
• 2012/09/20: ABC(Au): Arctic sea ice melts to lowest recorded level
• 2012/09/19: BBC: Arctic sea ice has reached its minimum extent for the year, setting a record for the lowest summer cover since satellite data collection began
• 2012/09/19: CBC: Arctic ice cover sinks to new low after summer thaw [3.41 million square kilometres]
• 2012/09/19: NSIDC: Arctic sea ice extent settles at record seasonal minimum
  On September 16, Arctic sea ice appeared to have reached its minimum extent for the year of 3.41 million square kilometers (1.32 million square miles). This is the lowest seasonal minimum extent in the satellite record since 1979...
• 2012/09/19: NASA: Arctic Sea Ice Hits Smallest Extent In Satellite Era
• 2012/09/19: CSM: Massive Arctic ice melt far surpasses previous record
• 2012/09/19: ArcticNews: NSIDC calls record 2012 low
• 2012/09/20: CCurrents: Arctic Ice Shrinks To All-Time Low
  

  And on the Bottom Line:

• 2012/09/18: TP:JR: How The Federal Government Greatly Underestimates The True Cost Of Carbon Pollution
• 2012/09/17: DeSmogBlog: U.S. Government Significantly Underestimating Costs Of Climate Change And Dirty Energy
  

  Delving into the weather machine:

• 2012/09/23: TSoD: Atmospheric Circulation - Part Three - Instability
  

  John Cook and friends continue their point-counterpoint articles:

• 2012/09/23: SkS: 2012 SkS Weekly News Round-Up #2
• 2012/09/22: SkS: Arctic sea ice reaches lowest extent for the year and the satellite record by John Hartz
• 2012/09/22: SkS: Record Arctic Sea-ice minimum 2012 declared - it's the Silly Season! by John Mason
• 2012/09/21: SkS: SkS - testimony to the potential of social media and the passion of volunteers
• 2012/09/20: SkS: PBS False Balance Hour - What's Up With That? by dana1981
• 2012/09/19: SkS: 2012 SkS Weekly News Round-Up #1 by John Hartz
• 2012/09/19: SkS: Otto and Donat Weigh in on Human Contributions to Extreme Heat by dana1981
• 2012/09/17: SkS: Himalayan Glaciers Retreating at Accelerated Rate in Some Regions but Not Others by John Hartz
• 2012/09/18: SkS: New research from last week 37/2012 by Ari Jokimäki
  

  More psychology:

• 2012/09/17: PostMedia: Climate change threat more real to those with perceived personal experience: study
  We have dramatically shrinking glaciers. We have compelling science. We have adorable polar bears treading water. But wouldn't you know it, what really makes us fret over climate change is making it all about us. A new study has found that a feeling of "personally experiencing" global warming heightens people's perception of risks related to the environmental phenomenon -- and particularly those risks germane to where they live. Changes to the seasons, unusual weather, water levels, snowfall patterns and shifts related to plants and animals were among the most common signs cited by lay people.
• 2012/09/18: TreeHugger: Why Is Climate Change So Easy to Ignore?
• 2012/09/17: OilChange: Will We Ever Wake Up?
  

  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?

• 
  

  Not much good news coming out of Fukushima:

   

• 2012/08/07: PubMed:BBB: Radiocesium distribution in the tissues of Japanese black beef heifers fed fallout-contaminated roughage due to the fukushima daiichi nuclear power station accident by K. Sasaki et al.
• 2012/08/08: ES&T: (ab$) Radiostrontium in the Western North Pacific: Characteristics, Behavior, and the Fukushima Impact by Pavel P. Povinec et al.
• 2012/09/15: Springer:E&ES: (ab$) Analysis of Radionuclide Releases from the Fukushima Dai-Ichi Nuclear Power Plant Accident Part I by G. Le Petit et al.
• 2012/09/22: Asahi: Atomic engineers feel less confident about nuke safety
• 2012/09/22: EneNews: Just In: 25-foot-long metal beam falls into Reactor No. 3 pool at Fukushima - Not clear if any fuel rods have broken...
• 2012/09/20: EneNews: Video: "Frankly, things like this have never ever happened in Japan before --- Ordinary people shouting down leadership of country"
• 2012/09/19: EneNews: Japan Scientists: Radiation dose has been "significantly increased" around Tokyo metropolitan area after Fukushima
• 2012/09/17: TheHill:e2W: Nuclear engineer accuses regulators of safety cover-up
  An engineer with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) says the agency has withheld documents showing reactor sites downstream of dams are vulnerable to flooding, and an elevated risk to the public's safety. Richard Perkins, an NRC reliability and risk engineer, was the lead author on a July 2011 NRC report detailing flood preparedness. He said the NRC blocked information from the public regarding the potential for upstream dam failures to damage nuclear sites.
• 2012/09/17: EneNews: Part II: Fukushima girls have 3 times more thyroid NODULES over 10 millimeters than boys - Also 56% more medium-sized nodules than boys
• 2012/09/17: EneNews: Fukushima girls have 3 times more thyroid CYSTS over 15 millimeters than boys - Also 79% more medium-sized cysts than boys
• 2012/09/18: EneNews: "Fukushima radioactive plume contaminated entire Northern Hemisphere during a relatively short period of time" - Map: Fukushima air mass hit California after 3/11 and went north to Ore., Wash., Canada (photo)
• 2012/09/14: Cryptome: Fukushima Dai-ichi NPS Unit 4 - September 13, 2012
• 2012/09/15: Cryptome: 600 Photos of Fukushima Dai-ichi NPS March 11-28, 2011
  On 11 September 2012 Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) released 600 photos taken March 11-28, 2011 after the tsunami hit the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Station. These are the TEPCO links to 40 collections within the 600.
• 2012/09/16: EneNews: Japan Professor: Use of nuclear energy is a crime against humanity - We have to think of this equally as the use of nuclear weapons (video)
  

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

• 2012/09/19: CBC: Japan backs off pledge to end nukes by 2040
  Japan's Cabinet on Wednesday stopped short of committing to phase out nuclear power by 2040, backtracking from an advisory panel's recommendations in the face of opposition from pro-nuclear businesses and groups. The decision came the same day Japan launched a new regulatory body [Nuclear Regulation Authority] to replace the agency whose lack of independence from the nuclear industry was blamed for contributing to last year's disaster.
• 2012/09/20: TreeHugger: Japan Backtracks on Nuclear Power Phase Out Deadline
• 2012/09/17: CCurrents: Japan Plans To Abandon Nuclear Power
• 2012/09/19: CSM: Japan plans to abandon nuclear power
• 2012/09/16: NYT: Japan Won't Stop Work on Reactors, Official Says
  Japan will not stop work on several planned reactors, the trade minister was quoted as saying on Saturday, casting further doubt on whether this resource-poor nation will follow through on a contentious plan to phase out nuclear power.
• 
  

  The Arctic melt continues to garner a lot of attention:

   

• 2012/09/22: ASI: ASI 2012 update 11: end or beginning?
• 2012/09/21: SciAm:GB: Arctic Sea Ice: What, Why, and What Next
• 2012/09/21: CCP: Arctic "death spiral" leaves climate scientists shocked and worried
• 2012/09/21: BBC: The 'big melt' at the roof of the world
• 2012/09/21: ArcticNews: Arctic sea ice gone in September 2014
• 2012/09/20: JQuiggin: Climate and catastrophe
• 2012/09/20: CCP: Hansen warns of planetary emergency at Greenpeace meeting -- Maslowski says sea ice will disappear this decade if current trend continues
• 2012/09/20: ASI: Peeking through the clouds 6
• 2012/09/20: DosBat: A Sea Ice Free Arctic by 2020 (and maybe sooner)
• 2012/09/19: Guardian(UK): Arctic ice shrinks 18% in a year, sounding climate change alarm bells
  Scientists and environment groups say the fall is unprecedented and the clearest signal yet of global warming
• 2012/09/17: ArcticNews: UK MET Office keeps downplaying significance of events in the Arctic
• 2012/09/20: CCurrents: How British Government's Climate Forecasting MET Office Gets The Arctic Wrong
• 2012/09/22: MODIS: Iceberg from Petermann Glacier, northern Greenland
• 2012/09/19: KSJT: The Guardian and more: Arctic Sea Ice bottoms out at satellite-record low. And the Amazon's in trouble too.
• 2012/09/18: Stoat: Wadhams on seaice, again
• 2012/09/18: CCurrents: Arctic Sea Ice Will Reach 'Final Collapse' Within Four Years: Expert
• 2012/09/17: NSIDC: Arctic sea ice extent near the minimum
• 2012/09/18: CCP: NSIDC Arctic Sea Ice Report of September 17, 2012: Arctic sea ice extent near the minimum
• 2012/09/18: PSinclair: "The Extent increased Today..We'll know in a day or two.." - Julienne Stroeve on Sea Ice
• 2012/09/18: TP:JR: Video: Watch An Area Of Arctic Sea Ice The Size Of Alaska And Canada Combined Melt Away
• 2012/09/18: Grist: The Arctic could be ice-free by 2016
• 2012/09/18: TreeHugger: Arctic Sea Ice Could Disappear in Summer by 2016
• 2012/09/17: RawStory: Arctic expert predicts final collapse of sea ice within four years
• 2012/09/17: CCP: Sea ice in severe decline around Canadian archipelago
• 2012/09/17: Guardian(UK): Arctic expert predicts final collapse of sea ice within four years
  As sea ice shrinks to record lows, Prof Peter Wadhams warns a 'global disaster' is now unfolding in northern latitudes
• 2012/09/17: CCP: UK MET Office keeps downplaying significance of events in the Arctic
• 2012/09/10: PS: Melting on Top of the World
• 2012/09/17: AFTIC: "Melting on top of the World" by Stefan Rahmstorf
• 2012/09/17: PSinclair: Sea Ice Slowing to Minimum. Not there yet.
• 2012/09/17: ASI: Models are improving, but can they catch up?
• 2012/09/17: TMoS: Just Four More Years [Arctic]
  

  As for the charismatic megafauna:

• 2012/09/17: UW: Shrinking snow depth on Arctic sea ice threatens ringed seal habitat
  

  That Damoclean sword still hangs overhead:

• 2012/09/17: ITracker: The permafrost carbon feedback, ctd
• 2012/09/15: VoR: Methane emissions discovered in Arctic Ocean
  

  As for the geopolitics of Arctic resources:

• 2012/09/21: UCSUSA:B: What the World Needs Now Is Arctic Oil... Like I Need a Hole in My Head
• 2012/09/21: TreeHugger: Arctic Oil Drilling Moratorium Needed to Protect Environment: UK Parliament Committee
• 2012/09/20: TheHill:e2W: Shell gets green light for first stage of drilling in Beaufort Sea
  The Interior Department said Thursday that Royal Dutch Shell can begin limited preparatory measures for drilling in the Beaufort Sea off Alaska's coast, though the company has already indicated it will not drill into oil-bearing zones this year.
• 2012/09/20: al Jazeera: Melting Arctic heats up resource scramble
  Interactive map shows countries positioning to gain access to shipping lanes and oil deposits as ice coverage shrinks.
• 2012/09/20: CBC: How to make Arctic waters safer for ships
  Resource exploration and tourism help fuel demand for increased navigational charting
  [...]
  Hydrographers who were part of the search [for Sir John Franklin's lost vessels this summer] gathered enough depth and multi-beam sidescan sonar data to create a preliminary electronic chart that expands the area for safe navigation in Alexandra Strait, reducing travel time and saving fuel costs for vessels in the area.
• 2012/09/20: al Jazeera: Melting Arctic heats up resource scramble
  Interactive map shows countries positioning to gain access to shipping lanes and oil deposits as ice coverage shrinks.
• 2012/09/20: Guardian(UK): MPs demand moratorium on Arctic oil drilling
• 2012/09/20: CSM: Will a warming planet and melting sea ice spur development in the Arctic?
• 2012/09/20: TP:JR: British Parliament: 'The Race To Carve Up The Arctic Is Accelerating Faster Than Our Capacity To Manage It'
• 2012/09/19: KSJT: An Issue to Watch: Arctic Riches Exposed as Ice Melts
• 2012/09/19: NYT: Race Is On as Ice Melt Reveals Arctic Treasures
• 2012/09/18: TheConversation: Opening the fabled Northwest Passage: triumph or tragedy?
• 2012/09/20: 350orBust: The Emerging Arctic World Order
• 2012/09/20: CBC: British MPs call for halt to Arctic oil and gas drilling -- Oil spill potentially 'catastrophic,' committee says
  International governments should seek a moratorium on offshore drilling in the Arctic amid concern an oil spill in the region could cause catastrophic environmental damage, British MPs say. The Environmental Audit Committee of Britain's House of Commons urged action to halt oil and gas drilling in the Arctic until new safeguards -- including vastly increased financial guarantees and universal standards on disaster response -- are put in place. Legislators on the panel also called for an internationally recognized nature sanctuary to be created to protect at least part of the Arctic from energy exploration.
• 2012/09/19: WtD: The Northwest Passage and Arctic: open for business?
• 2012/09/19: NYT: Race Is On as Ice Melt Reveals Arctic Treasures
• 2012/09/19: BBerg: BP's Putin Meeting Signals Arctic Exploration Deal With Rosneft
• 2012/09/18: NatureNB: Barge damage forces Shell to abandon drilling in Arctic sea
• 2012/09/17: CBC: Shell suspends Alaska offshore oil drilling for 2012
• 2012/09/17: TP:JR: Shell Postpones Arctic Offshore Drilling For The Year Due To Technical Problems And Rough Ice Conditions
• 2012/09/17: ICN: Arctic Sea Ice Vanishes ... and the Oil Rigs Move In
• 2012/09/17: TreeHugger: Shell Stops Arctic Drilling for 2012 - Greenpeace Declares Victory for People Power
• 2012/09/17: BBerg: Shell Suffers Alaska Oil Drilling Setback After Dome Damage
  Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA), Europe's largest oil company, was forced to scrap plans to drill for oil off Alaska this year after a containment dome designed to cap a spill was damaged. The need for repairs won't leave enough time to drill deep enough to find oil this year, The Hague-based Shell said today in a statement.
• 
  

  While in Antarctica:

   

• 2012/09/21: CSM: While Arctic melts, Antarctic ice hits record. Is warming debunked?
• 2012/09/21: KSJT: Polar opposites: Global warming critics cheer Antarctica ice growth
• 2012/09/20: DD: Record-high Antarctic sea ice extent is consistent with global warming
• 2012/09/19: CSM: As Antarctic ice streams speed up, major ice melt triggered inland
• 2012/09/19: UNSW: Warming ocean could start big shift of Antarctic ice
• 2012/09/17: BBC: British explorer Ranulph Fiennes is to lead the first team on foot across Antarctica during the southern winter
  

  The food crisis is ongoing:

• 2012/09/22: AllAfrica:SW Radio: Zimbabwe: Zanu-PF Takes Over Grain Loan Scheme in Masvingo
  A government scheme meant to assist villagers in need of grain has been hijacked by ZANU PF officials in Masvingo, who are selecting only members of their own party as beneficiaries. Reports from Rupike, Tugwane, Mavizhu, Muchibwa, and Maburutse villages in Masvingo province said that villagers are facing starvation while ZANU PF politicians abuse the government scheme.
• 2012/09/21: ERW: Australian peanut farmers reluctant to relocate
  Farmers facing massive transformations to their lives due to climate change will make decisions based on emotions, not just economic rationale, and this needs to be taken into account when designing environmental policy. These are the findings of researchers from Australia and the UK who used the Australian peanut industry as a case study for transformational change.
• 2012/09/20: Guardian(UK): Poverty and hunger in America
  Food stamps work, lifting people out of the worst deprivation. But in Austin, Texas, we see the human cost of growing inequality
• 2012/09/20: AllAfrica:Reuters: Zimbabwe: Nation Urged to Lift Ban on Growing Genetically Modified Food
• 2012/09/20: ERW: Climate likely to cut crop yields in Africa and South Asia
  Crops in Africa and South Asia could see average yield decreases of up to 8% by the 2050s. That's according to UK researchers who have completed the first systematic review of evidence on the impact of climate change in the regions.
• 2012/09/19: Reuters: Drought hits U.S. cattle numbers, forces hog sales
  This summer's historic drought and record feed grain prices prompted cattle feedlots to cut August purchases to the lowest since 2008 and forced hog producers to rush animals to slaughter swelling pork supplies.
• 2012/09/18: BPA: Charts Show that U.S. Export Market Share of Corn and Soybeans has Fallen
• 2012/09/18: Grist: Growing Power scores $5 million to feed our nation's hungriest cities
• 2012/09/17: EnergyBulletin: Full planet, empty plates: The new geopolitics of food scarcity (new book chapter) by Lester Brown
• 2012/09/16: TP:JR: Warmer Temperatures Make New USDA Plant Zone Map Obsolete
  

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

• 2012/09/19: NOAANews: U.S. seafood landings reach 17-year high in 2011 -- Dutch Harbor-Unalaska, Alaska and New Bedford, Mass. remain top fishing ports
• 2012/09/17: TreeHugger: Fisheries Disasters Circle United States
  

  Food Prices are still problematic:

• FAO: World Food Situation - Food Price Indices
• 2012/09/22: Guardian(UK): Olive oil prices to soar after Spanish drought devastates crop
  Loss of 600,000 tonnes of olives will force huge price rise on British shoppers
• 2012/09/22: DD: Climate change severely impacting food prices - 'The U.S. is taking a wrecking ball to the climate convention'
• 2012/09/20: FAO: Uruguay: committed to achieving food price stability
• 2012/09/18: FAO: Hollande, Graziano da Silva: International coordination helping to stabilize food prices
• 2012/09/16: Yahoo:ArabNews: Climate change severely impacting food prices
• 2012/09/16: EurasiaReview: Climate Change Severely Impacting Food Prices - Analysis
  

  The conflict between biofuel and food persists:

• 2012/09/20: EurActiv: OECD agriculture official urges end to biofuel mandates
  Biofuel mandates like those in the European Union and Unites States should be abolished to ease pressure on food prices, a top Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development official said yesterday (19 September). Meanwhile, industrialists condemned the European Commission's proposal to limit biofuels, calling it "a masterpiece of irresponsible policymaking".
• 2012/09/19: BPA: Musical Chairs in the Corn and Ethanol Markets
  

  Regarding the genetic modification of food:

• 2012/09/18: BBC: Superweeds pose GM-resistant challenge for farmers
• Wiki: 2,4-D -- 2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid
• 2012/09/19: BBC: Agent Orange chemical [2,4-D] in GM war on resistant weeds
  A US pharmaceutical company is set to introduce a controversial new genetically modified corn to help farmers fight resistant weeds. Dow Agrosciences says its new GM product will use a chemical that was once a component of the Vietnam war defoliant, Agent Orange. It is needed they say because so called "superweeds" are now affecting up to 15 million acres of American crops. Dow argues the new approach is safe and sustainable.
• 2012/09/19: ABC(Au): New wheat boosts disease fight
  [...] we actually piled together multiple genes for stem rust, leaf rust and stripe rust resistance
• 
  

  Regarding labelling GM food:

   

• 2012/09/20: TreeHugger: UC Davis Reports Make Dubious Claims on Prop 37
• 2012/09/21: CDreams: Who's Deceiving Whom? Push to Label GMO Foods Frightens Big Ag Interests
  

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

• 2012/09/23: al Jazeera: Myths about industrial agriculture by Dr Vandana Shiva
  Organic farming is the "only way to produce food" without harming the planet and people's health.
• 2012/09/21: UN: UN food agency highlights progress in Swaziland agricultural initiative
• 2012/09/20: Grist: Spreading the loaf: A bakers cooperative with a vision for change
• 2012/09/21: FAO: Putting Swaziland's smallholders first -- EU and FAO's efforts to revitalize Swazi agriculture pick up steam
• 2012/09/19: KSJT: Stanford authors of organic food study face petition drive for retraction of their "fatally flawed" study
• 2012/09/19: Guardian(UK): How will climate change affect food production?
• 2012/09/18: CrossCut: Food stamps now go further at farmers' markets
• 2012/09/05: LandDestroyer: Cargill and Others Behind anti-Organic "Stanford Study"
  Anti-organic "study" is not news, rather, coordinated propaganda campaign.
• 
  

  In the Western Pacific, Tropical Storm Jelawat has spun up in the warm waters East of the Philipines:

   

• 2012/09/21: Eureka: NASA satellite sees Tropical Storm Jelawat form in northwestern Pacific
• 2012/09/18: Eureka: NASA's TRMM satellite measures drenching rains from Typhoon Sanba in Japan, South Korea
• 2012/09/19: MODIS: Typhoon Sanba (17W) in the Philippine Sea [on Sept.13, 2012]
• 2012/09/17: Eureka: NASA sees powerful Typhoon Sanba make landfall
• 2012/09/17: Wunderground: Category 1 Typhoon Sanba hits Korea; 92L and 93L not a threat
• 2012/09/17: al Jazeera: Sanba strikes again
  The typhoon, which has already caused flooding in the Philippines and Japan, slams into South Korea

• In the Eastern Pacific, Lane faded and Miriam spun up:

• 2012/09/19: Eureka: Satellite sees post-Tropical Cyclone Lane fizzle in a blanket of low clouds
• 2012/09/18: Eureka: NASA sees Hurricane Lane punched in the eye
• 2012/09/17: Eureka: NASA sees Eastern Pacific storms power up and down
  

  In the Atlantic:

• 2012/09/22: Wunderground: Nadine goes extratropical; the Atlantic is quiet
• 2012/09/21: Eureka: Satellite spots Tropical Storm Nadine and 2 developing lows
• 2012/09/20: Eureka: NASA satellites and Global Hawk see Nadine display more tropical characteristics
• 2012/09/20: Wunderground: Nadine brushing the Azores; 94L could impact Canada on Sunday
• 2012/09/19: NASA: NASA Satellite Sees Fading Rainfall in Tropical Storm Nadine
• 2012/09/19: Wunderground: Tropical Storm Nadine brushing the Azores
• 2012/09/18: Eureka: NASA eyes Tropical Storm Nadine as watches go up for Azores
• 2012/09/17: Eureka: NASA's Hurricane Mission explores Tropical Storm Nadine
• 2012/09/18: MODIS: Hurricane Michael (13L) in the Atlantic Ocean
  

  While elsewhere in the hurricane wars:

• 2012/09/19: ERW: Assessing Hurricane Wilma's hidden damage
  

  As for the carbon cycle:

• 2012/09/17: Eureka: Alpine glaciers contribute to carbon cycling
  

  And the temperature record:

• 2012/09/22: TP:JR: Record Ocean Temperatures Recorded Off New England Coast
• 2012/09/19: QuarkSoup: UAH Temperature Anomaly at mid-month
• 2012/09/18: EarthGauge: Globe Records Fourth Warmest August Ever as Arctic Ice Melts Rapidly
• 2012/09/17: TreeHugger: For the 330th Month in a Row, It's Been Hotter Than the 20th Century Average
• 2012/09/18: Wunderground: August 2012: Earth's 4th warmest August on record
• 2012/09/17: CNN: Death Valley officially hottest place on Earth
• 2012/09/17: NatureNB: Highest recorded temperature record overturned [Death Valley]
  

  Yes we have feedbacks:

• 2012/09/19: TP:JR: Arctic Death Spiral: New Local Shipping And Drilling Pollution May Speed Up Polar Warming And Ice Melting
• 2012/09/18: TreeHugger: Pollution from Drilling & Shipping In the Arctic Will Make It Melt Even Faster
  

  Regarding ozone:

• 2012/09/18: IOTD: Watching the Ozone Hole Before and After the Montreal Protocol
• 2012/09/17: ICN: Antarctic Ozone Hole Smaller Than in 2011, Recovery Still a Ways Off
  

  While in the paleoclimate:

• 2012/09/20: ABC(Au): Ancient asteroid delivered deadly double-punch
  A new study suggests a massive asteroid impact two and a half million years ago would have created a mega-tsunami and plunged the world into a severe ice age. The report, published in the Journal of Quaternary Science, suggests the impact accelerated a change in climatic conditions already occurring between the Pliocene and Pleistocene epochs. Lead author, Professor James Goff from the Australia-Pacific Tsunami Research Centre at the University of New South Wales, says the two-kilometre-wide Eltanin asteroid slammed into the Pacific Ocean about 1500 kilometres west of Chile.
• 2012/09/17: Eureka: Challengers to Clovis-age impact theory missed key protocols, new study finds
  

  The suggestion has been made to use NPP for a Planetary Boundary:

• 2012/09/21: Science: (ab$) A Measurable Planetary Boundary for the Biosphere by Steven W. Running
• Wiki: Primary Production - GPP & NPP
  

  And the State of the Oceans:

• 2012/09/20: MODIS: Phytoplankton blooms off South Australia
• 2012/09/19: CCP: Baltic Sea Dead Zones Show No Improvement
• 2012/09/18: MoJo: Hottest Ever Water Temperatures Off East Coast All the Way Down to the Bottom of the Ocean
  It got crazy warm wildly early for the first six months of 2012 --- in the same place just declared a fishery disaster zone.
• 2012/09/19: Eureka: Carbon dioxide from water pollution, as well as air pollution, may adversely impact oceans
  

  What's new on the extinction front?

• 2012/09/20: Guardian(UK): How to survive mass extinction
• 2012/09/19: ABC(Au): CSIRO study: species extinction inevitable
  A landmark study by the CSIRO suggests Australians will need to get used to the idea that some plant and animal species will become extinct. It says climate change is likely to start transforming some natural landscapes by 2030, and by 2070 many will disappear from the continent.
• 2012/09/18: BBC: Bolivia enacts law to protect Amazon pink dolphins
  Bolivian President Evo Morales has enacted a law aimed at protecting a unique species of dolphins that live in the country's Amazon rivers. The new legislation bans fishing freshwater pink dolphins and declares the species a national treasure.
• 
  

  What's up with volcanoes this week?

   

• 2012/09/17: MODIS: Ash from eruption of San Cristóbal volcano, Nicaragua (afternoon overpass)
  

  Regarding the Climate Change and Earthquake hypothesis:

• 2012/09/21: CCP: Greenland's 'ice quakes' on track to break record set in 2005
  

  Meanwhile in near earth orbit:

• 2012/09/17: EUMetSat: Metop-B successfully launched
• 2012/09/18: Guardian(UK): European weather satellite Metop-B launched into orbit
• 2012/09/17: NOAANews: New European [MetOp-B] satellite key for weather, climate prediction
  Partnership ensures vital data available for US and European weather models
• 2012/09/17: BBC: When 'state of the art' is also years old
• 2012/09/17: BBC: Europe's Metop-B weather satellite set for Soyuz launch
  One of the most important European space launches of the year takes place from Baikonur, Kazakhstan, later. A Soyuz rocket will put the four-tonne Metop-B satellite in orbit to acquire critical data for weather forecasters. The spacecraft will ensure there is continuity of observations following on from Metop-A, which was launched in 2006.
• 
  

  More GW impacts are being seen:

   

• 2012/09/20: Eureka: Nunavut's mysterious ancient life could return by 2100 -- Climate change will rehabilitate the ecosystem of around 2.5 million years ago
• 2012/09/18: ABC(Au): Plants, animals damaged by climate change: CSIRO
  A report by the CSIRO has found Victoria's eucalypt forests and grassy woodlands will be visibly affected by climate change by as early as 2030. The study says there will be widespread damage to ecosystems around the country and calls for more action to save plant and animal species.
• 2012/09/18: WtD: Australia 2070: we won't recognize the environment according to CSIRO
• 2012/09/18: NOAA:NEFSC: Sea Surface Temperatures Reach Record Highs on Northeast Continental Shelf -- Changing cod distribution observed as ecosystem warms bottom to top
• 2012/09/16: TP:JR: Warmer Temperatures Make New USDA Plant Zone Map Obsolete
• 2012/09/16: KSJT: The Summer of Our Discontent
  

  And then there are the world's forests:

• 2012/09/21: Eureka: 'Forest killer' plant study explores rapid environmental change factors
  Mikania micrantha, known as mile-a-minute weed or 'forest killer,' is an exotic, invasive species that spreads quickly, covering crops, smothering trees and rapidly altering the environment
• 2012/09/21: NatureNB: Deforestation rebounds in the Amazon
• 2012/09/20: WtD: The new normal (part 21): "This feels like failure" or the age of mega fires and the rapidly changing nature of US forests
• 2012/09/20: BBC: Caledonian pinewoods threatened by spread of tree disease
  Scientists are working to reduce the spread of a tree disease which could threaten Scotland's native Caledonian pinewoods. Dothistroma Needle Blight is affecting large areas of commercial forestry. It is expected to have the greatest impact in the north and north-east of Scotland, where pine accounts for almost half of the woodland area. The Scottish government has said it is working closely with the industry to monitor the spread of the disease. Scientists believe its spread northwards may be at least partly linked to climate change.
• 
  

  Emerging diseases accompany ecological change:

   

• 2012/09/20: CBC: West Nile virus rise in Ontario seems to be easing -- Minimal level of risk until the weather becomes colder
• 2012/09/22: SciNews: Birds catching malaria in Alaska -- Disease may be transmitted north of Arctic Circle within decades
• 2012/09/19: PLoS One: First Evidence and Predictions of Plasmodium Transmission in Alaskan Bird Populations by Claire Loiseau et al.
• 2012/09/18: NatureN: The hidden threat of West Nile virus -- Researchers probe possible link with kidney disease
  

  Yes we have no wacky weather, except:

• 2012/09/21: al Jazeera: Deadly storms hit South America
  A fierce storm packing winds of up to 140 kph blasted through the heart of South America on Wednesday wreaking havoc. Parts of South America have been hit by severe storms that have caused widespread disruption. Bad weather tore through parts of Bolivia and Paraguay this week leaving at least eight people dead in the process.
• 
  

  This week in the New Normal -- extreme weather:

   

• 2012/09/19: Guardian(UK): Get used to 'extreme' weather, it's the new normal by Connie Hedegaard
  Scientists have been warning us for years that a warmer planet would lead to more extreme weather, and now it's arrived
• 2012/09/17: W&C: Are climatic extremes on the rise?
  

  Changes in natural cycles are showing up:

• 2012/09/18: BBC: UK phenology effort 'needs more citizen recorders'
  Wildlife experts are concerned that a decline in the number of people recording plant behaviour could jeopardise long-running data sets. Data stretches to 1736 when Robert Marsham, the "father of phenology", began recording seasonal events. Phenology observes the key moments in plants' annual cycles, such as when they come into leaf or flower, and offer insight into shifts in seasons.
• 
  

  As for heatwaves and wild fires:

   

• 2012/09/21: MODIS: Fires and smoke in western United States
• 2012/09/21: IOTD: Seeing Through Smoke [Mustang Complex fire]
• 2012/09/20: AFTIC: Running from the Flames
• 2012/09/19: DD: 2012 wildfire season likely to break U.S. record for most acres burned
• 2012/09/19: NatureN: Forest fires: Burn out
  Forests in the American west are under attack from giant fires, climate change and insect outbreaks. Some ecosystems will never be the same.
• 2012/09/19: Reuters: U.S. West should expect bigger wildfires more often - report
  A warming trend has contributed to a sharp rise in the number and size of wildfires on forest lands in the U.S. West, where big burns are likely to become the norm, according to a report released on Tuesday by a climate research group.
• 2012/09/19: IOTD: American West Continues to Burn
• 2012/09/17: SLTrib: New wildfire sparked in Utah's west desert Monday
• 2012/09/17: Oregonian: Wildfire season continues in Pacific Northwest as blazes rage on
• 2012/09/18: ABC(Au): Authorities say outback fire risk rising
• 2012/09/18: ICN: Number of Massive Western Wildfires Is Increasing
• 2012/09/17: TDC: Essay: Running from flames
  A Montana hiker, caught by a forest fire and racing for his life against the flames, serves as a proxy for fates we face.
• 2012/09/16: StarTrib: Wildfires threaten $659M of Wyoming home value
  A significant number of Wyoming homes face damage or destruction from wildfires. More than 2,000 homes in the state face a high or the highest possible risk from wildfires, which endanger $659 million of home value, according to an analysis firm in its inaugural wildfire risk report. Of those, 1,164 homes are considered the highest risk for damage from wildfires, a total property value of $263 million.
• 
  

  Corals are a bellwether of the ocean's health:

   

• 2012/09/19: OSU: The "slippery slope to slime": Overgrown algae causing coral reef declines
• 2012/09/19: Maribo: Limiting global warming to 2 deg C is unlikely to save most coral reefs: a discussion
• 2012/09/18: EarthGauge: Climate Change: Coral Reefs Expected To Suffer Greatly, Study Finds
• 2012/09/18: IPS: Deeper CO2 Cuts Needed to Save Corals
  Limiting climate change to two degrees C won't save most coral reefs, according to new, state-of-the-art research. About 70 percent of corals are projected to suffer from long-term degradation by 2030 with two degrees C of warming, the first comprehensive global survey reported Sunday in the journal Nature Climate Change.
• 2012/09/16: Nature:CC: Limiting global warming to 2°C is unlikely to save most coral reefs by K. Frieler et al.
• 2012/09/18: DD: Chance of saving most coral reefs is dwindling: new study
• 2012/09/17: ABC(Au): Chance to save the coral reefs disappearing fast
  Scientists have previously warned that climate change could kill off the Great Barrier Reef by 2050, but research released today makes that prediction look optimistic.
• 2012/09/16: Eureka: Most coral reefs are at risk unless climate change is drastically limited
  

  Glaciers are melting:

• 2012/09/23: FaGP: Emend River Headwaters Glacier Retreat, Hindu Kush, Takhar Province, Afghanistan
• 2012/09/21: CCP: Jakobshavn Glacier's calving front continues to retreat
• 2012/09/20: FaGP: Mittie Glacier retreat, Ellesmere Island, Canada
• 2012/09/20: CCurrents: Alps' Glaciers Are Retreating Rapidly
• 2012/09/16: FaGP: Malana Glacier Retreat, Himachal Pradesh, India
  

  Sea levels are rising:

• 2012/09/18: CCP: "The Very Real Threat of Sea-level Rise to the United States" by Peter Gleick...
  

  As for hydrological cycle disruptions [floods & droughts]:

• 2012/09/23: al Jazeera: Thunderstorms light up the sky -- Heavy rain threatens to bring renewed flooding to Thailand
• 2012/09/20: IOTD: Signs of the U.S. Drought Are Underground
• 2012/09/17: ERW: Are droughts harming the world's grasslands?
• 2012/09/22: IOTD: Flooding in Pakistan
• 2012/09/19: DD: Summer drought proves deadly for Colorado bears
• 2012/09/18: TP:JR: MIT Study: For Every 1 Degree C Rise In Temperature, Tropical Regions Will See 10 Percent Heavier Rainfall Extremes
• 2012/09/18: TreeHugger: Yes, Himalayan Glaciers Are Melting - But Monsoon Changes, Snowmelt Are More Immediate Concerns
• 2012/09/19: al Jazeera: Hispaniola's ongoing flood threat
  Haiti and the Dominican Republic have become vulnerable to flooding as two major lakes have grown in recent years.
• 2012/09/17: DD: Struggling with drought, Texas town [Jonestown] removes police chief, librarian
• 2012/09/16: DD: Thirty dead in Nigeria flood, 120,000 displaced - 500,000 displaced in Niger since July
• 2012/09/17: MIT: When it rains, it pours -- Study estimates rate of intensification of extreme tropical rainfall with global warming.
  Extreme precipitation in the tropics comes in many forms: thunderstorm complexes, flood-inducing monsoons and wide-sweeping cyclones like the recent Hurricane Isaac. Global warming is expected to intensify extreme precipitation, but the rate at which it does so in the tropics has remained unclear. Now an MIT study has given an estimate based on model simulations and observations: With every 1 degree Celsius rise in temperature, the study finds, tropical regions will see 10 percent heavier rainfall extremes, with possible impacts for flooding in populous regions.
• 
  

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

   

• 2012/09/17: Grist: Yikes: Avoiding dangerous climate change is still possible, but just barely
  

  Consider transportation & GHG production:

• 2012/09/20: EurActiv: IEA: Transport fuel use could be halved by 2030
  Fuel consumption could be halved in 20 years' time if the right policies are put in place, despite an expected doubling in the number of cars in circulation worldwide, according to the International Energy Agency.
• 2012/09/19: CSM: First leg of Calif. high-speed rail approved
  

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

• 2012/09/22: LA Times: Builders aim for super-energy-efficient homes
  ZeroHouse, a KB Home model of efficiency in Lake Forest, showcases efforts to offer buyers homes that produce as much energy as they use.
• 
  

  Large scale geo-engineering keeps popping up:

   

• 2012/09/18: QuarkSoup: A Half Tanker of Iron
• 2010/12/14: SSRN: Geoengineering and Climate Management: From Marginality to Inevitablity by Jay Michaelson
• 2012/09/16: ClimateSight: Modelling Geoengineering, Part II
  

  What's new in conservation?

• 2012/09/17: NatureNB: Giant nature reserve to be built with earth dug up from under London
• 2012/09/17: BBC: Wallasea Island nature reserve project construction begins
  Construction work has begun on Europe's largest man-made nature reserve, located in Essex. Wallasea Island is being transformed from farmland into a 670-hectare (1,500-acre) wetland. The site is using 4.5 million tonnes of earth excavated from the Crossrail project, for which a 21km (13 mile) tunnel is being bored through London. The land will be transformed into marshes, lagoons and mudflats to attract birds and other wildlife. The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) reserve is due to be completed by 2020, and will cost about £50m in total.
• 
  

  Meanwhile in the journals:

   

• 2012/09/18: PNAS: (ab$) History of expansion and anthropogenic collapse in a top marine predator of the Black Sea estimated from genetic data by Michaël C. Fontaine et al.
• 2012/09/18: PNAS: (abs) Linking habitat mosaics and connectivity in a coral reef seascape by Kelton W. McMahon et al.
• 2012/09/18: PNAS: (ab$) Energetics of life on the deep seafloor by Craig R. McClain et al.
• 2012/09/18: PNAS: (abs) Coexistence between wildlife and humans at fine spatial scales by Neil H. Carter et al.
• 2012/09/18: PNAS: (abs) Roll up nanowire battery from silicon chips by Alexandru Vlad et al.
• 2012/09/18: PNAS: (ab$) Sulfur isotopes of organic matter preserved in 3.45-billion-year-old stromatolites reveal microbial metabolism by Tomaso R. R. Bontognali et al.
• 2012/09/18: PNAS: (ab$) Biodiversity tracks temperature over time by Peter J. Mayhew et al.
• 2012/09/18: PNAS: (letter$) The Wolfe cycle comes full circle by Rudolf K. Thauer
• 2012/09/15: Springer:CD: (ab$) Initialisation and predictability of the AMOC over the last 50 years in a climate model by Didier Swingedouw et al.
• 2012/09/17: Springer:CD: (ab$) Identifying uncertainties in Arctic climate change projections by Daniel L. R. Hodson et al.
• 2012/09/20: ACP: Statistics of severe tornadoes and severe tornado outbreaks by B. D. Malamud & D. L. Turcotte
• 2012/09/20: ACP: Ship impacts on the marine atmosphere: insights into the contribution of shipping emissions to the properties of marine aerosol and clouds by M. M. Coggon et al.
• 2012/09/20: ACP: A stratospheric intrusion at the subtropical jet over the Mediterranean Sea: air-borne remote sensing observations and model results by K. Weigel et al.
• 2012/09/20: ACPD: The link between organic aerosol mass loading and degree of oxygenation: an ?-pinene photooxidation study by L. Pfaffenberger et al.
• 2012/09/20: ACPD: Analysis of CCN activity of Arctic aerosol and Canadian biomass burning during summer 2008 by T. L. Lathem et al.
• 2012/09/19: ACPD: Recent variability of the solar spectral irradiance and its impact on climate modelling by I. Ermolli et al.
• 2012/09/19: ACPD: Modelling the global atmospheric transport and deposition of radionuclides from the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear accident by T. Christoudias & J. Lelieveld
• 2012/09/19: ACPD: The relative importance of impacts from climate change vs. emissions change on air pollution levels in the 21st century by G. B. Hedegaard et al.
• 2012/09/17: ACPD: The effects of timing and rate of marine cloud brightening aerosol injection on albedo changes during the diurnal cycle of marine stratocumulus clouds by A. K. L. Jenkins et al.
• 2012/09/03: WOL:JQS: (ab$) The Eltanin asteroid impact: possible South Pacific palaeomegatsunami footprint and potential implications for the Pliocene-Pleistocene transition by James Goff et al.
• 2012/09/19: SSRN: (ab$) Geoengineering a Future for Humankind: Some Technical and Ethical Considerations by Rafael Leal-Arcas & Andrew Filis
• 2012/09/19: ESDD: The exponential eigenmodes of the carbon-climate system by M. R. Raupach
• 2012/09/19: ESDD: A GIS based study on bank erosion by the river Brahmaputra around Kaziranga National Park, Assam, India by J. N. Sarma & S. Acharjee
• 2012/09/20: CP: Investigating late Holocene variations in hydroclimate and the stable isotope composition of precipitation using southern South American peatlands: an hypothesis by T. J. Daley et al.
• 2012/09/20: CP: "OAE 3" - regional Atlantic organic carbon burial during the Coniacian-Santonian by M. Wagreich
• 2012/09/20: CPD: Last interglacial temperature evolution - a model inter-comparison by P. Bakker et al.
• 2012/09/20: CPD: A biomarker record of Lake El'gygytgyn, far east Russian Arctic: investigating sources of organic matter and carbon cycling during marine isotope stages 1-3 by A. R. Holland et al.
• 2012/09/18: CPD: Dynamic diatom response to changing climate 0-1.2 Ma at Lake El'gygytgyn, far east Russian Arctic by J. A. Snyder et al.
• 2012/09/18: CPD: Rock magnetic properties, magnetic susceptibility, and organic geochemistry comparison in core LZ1029-7 Lake El'gygytgyn, Far Eastern Russia by K. J. Murdock et al.
• 2012/09/: Springer:NH: (ab$) Civil nuclear power at risk of tsunamis by Joaquin Rodriguez-Vidal et al.
• 2012/09/21: Science: (ab$) A Measurable Planetary Boundary for the Biosphere by Steven W. Running
• 2012/08/07: PubMed:BBB: Radiocesium distribution in the tissues of Japanese black beef heifers fed fallout-contaminated roughage due to the fukushima daiichi nuclear power station accident by K. Sasaki et al.
• 2012/08/08: ES&T: (ab$) Radiostrontium in the Western North Pacific: Characteristics, Behavior, and the Fukushima Impact by Pavel P. Povinec et al.
• 2012/09/05: PLoS One: Macroalgae Decrease Growth and Alter Microbial Community Structure of the Reef-Building Coral, Porites astreoides by Rebecca Vega Thurber et al.
• 2012/09/19: F&CT(via DOI): (ab$) Long term toxicity of a Roundup herbicide and a Roundup-tolerant genetically modified maize by Gilles-Eric Séralini et al.
• 2012/09/20: NERC:NORA: Temporal variation in responses of species to four decades of climate warming by Louise Mair et al.
• 2012/09/20: NERC:NORA: Nutrients exert a stronger control than climate on recent diatom communities in Esthwaite Water: evidence from monitoring and palaeolimnological records by Xuhui Dong et al.
• 2012/09/21: ACP: Model evaluation of marine primary organic aerosol emission schemes by B. Gantt et al.
• 2012/09/21: ACP: Systematic variations of cloud top temperature and precipitation rate with aerosols over the global tropics by Feng Niu & Zhanqing Li
• 2012/09/21: ACP: Seasonal and annual variation of carbon dioxide surface fluxes in Helsinki, Finland, in 2006-2010 by L. Järvi et al.
• 2012/09/21: ACPD: The effects of recent control policies on trends in emissions of anthropogenic atmospheric pollutants and CO2 in China by Y. Zhao et al.
• 2012/09/21: ACPD: Anthropogenic, biomass burning, and volcanic emissions of black carbon, organic carbon, and SO2 from 1980 to 2010 for hindcast model experiments by T. Diehl et al.
• 2012/09/21: ACPD: The global 3-D distribution of tropospheric aerosols as characterized by CALIOP by D. M. Winker et al.
• 2012/09/21: ACPD: Are black carbon and soot the same? by P. R. Buseck et al.
• 2012/09/21: ACPD: The Atmospheric Chemistry and Canopy Exchange Simulation System (ACCESS): model description and application to a temperate deciduous forest canopy by R. D. Saylor
• 2012/09/21: GMD: Downscaling the climate change for oceans around Australia by M. A. Chamberlain et al.
• 2012/09/19: GMD: Simulating Southern Hemisphere extra-tropical climate variability with an idealised coupled atmosphere-ocean model by H. Kurzke et al.
• 2012/09/20: OSD: Comparing historical and modern methods of Sea Surface Temperature measurement - Part 2: Field comparison in the Central Tropical Pacific by J. B. R. Matthews & J. B. Matthews
• 2012/09/20: OSD: Comparing historical and modern methods of Sea Surface Temperature measurement - Part 1: Review of methods, field comparisons and dataset adjustments by J. B. R. Matthews
• 2012/09/21: TC: Variable glacier response to atmospheric warming, northern Antarctic Peninsula, 1988-2009 by B. J. Davies et al.
• 2012/09/21: TC: Ice velocity changes in the Ross and Ronne sectors observed using satellite radar data from 1997 and 2009 by B. Scheuchl et al.
• 2012/09/21: TCD: Numerical mass conservation issues in shallow ice models of mountain glaciers: the use of flux limiters and a benchmark by A. H. Jarosch et al.
• 2012/09/20: TCD: Surface mass balance model intercomparison for the Greenland ice sheet by C. L. Vernon et al.
• 2012/09/19: TCD: Future Arctic marine access: analysis and evaluation of observations, models, and projections of sea ice by T. S. Rogers et al.
• 2012/09/19: PLoS One: First Evidence and Predictions of Plasmodium Transmission in Alaskan Bird Populations by Claire Loiseau et al.
• 2012/08/23: GRL: (ab$) Spatial and temporal variations in Greenland glacial-earthquake activity, 1993--2010 by Stephen Alexander Veitch & Meredith Nettles
• 2012/09/18: GMD: Carbon-nitrogen feedbacks in the UVic ESCM by R. Wania et al.
• 2012/09/17: GMD: Numerical uncertainty at mesoscale in a Lagrangian model in complex terrain by J. Brioude et al.
• 2012/09/18: OS: Obstacles and benefits of the implementation of a reduced-rank smoother with a high resolution model of the tropical Atlantic Ocean by N. Freychet et al.
• 2012/09/18: OS: Fate of river Tiber discharge investigated through numerical simulation and satellite monitoring by R. Inghilesi et al.
• 2012/09/17: OSD: Fine-scale features on the sea surface in SAR satellite imagery - Part 2: Numerical modeling by S. Matt et al.
• 2012/09/17: OSD: Fine-scale features on the sea surface in SAR satellite imagery - Part 1: Simultaneous in-situ measurements by A. Soloviev et al.
• 2012/09/18: TC: Sensitivity of a Greenland ice sheet model to atmospheric forcing fields by A. Quiquet et al.
• 2012/09/18: TCD: Ice-shelf buttressing and the stability of marine ice sheets by G. H. Gudmundsson
• 2012/09/18: TCD: Grounding line transient response in marine ice sheet models by A. S. Drouet et al.
• 2012/09/18: TCD: Brief communication "The aerophotogrammetric map of Greenland ice masses" by M. Citterio & A. P. Ahlstrøm
• 2012/09/18: TCD: Ice tectonics during the rapid tapping of a supraglacial lake on the Greenland Ice Sheet by S. H. Doyle et al.
• 2012/09/16: Nature:CC: Limiting global warming to 2°C is unlikely to save most coral reefs by K. Frieler et al.
• 2012/09/05: WOL:AM: (ab$) Can Doping Graphite Trigger Room Temperature Superconductivity? Evidence for Granular High-Temperature Superconductivity in Water-Treated Graphite Powder by T. Scheike et al.
• 2012/09/15: Springer:E&ES: (ab$) Analysis of Radionuclide Releases from the Fukushima Dai-Ichi Nuclear Power Plant Accident Part I by G. Le Petit et al.
• 2010/12/14: SSRN: Geoengineering and Climate Management: From Marginality to Inevitablity by Jay Michaelson
• 2012/09/17: AGWObserver: New research from last week 37/2012
• 2012/09/11: Springer:JES&S: The social cost of carbon in U.S. regulatory impact analyses: an introduction and critique by Laurie T. Johnson & Chris Hope
  

  And other significant documents:

• 2012/09/21: UCSUSA: [link to 837k pdf] Science Group Calls on News Corp. to Improve Climate Science Content
  Analysis Shows Fox News, Wall Street Journal' Opinion Pages Heavily Misrepresent Climate Science
• 2012/09/17: CSIRO: [links to several pdfs] The implications of climate change for Australia's biodiversity conservation and protected areas
  

  As for miscellaneous science:

• 2012/09/21: SEasterbrook: What is Climate Informatics?
• 2012/09/20: CCurrents: How British Government's Climate Forecasting MET Office Gets The Arctic Wrong
• 2012/09/18: Grist: Freaked-out climate scientists urge other freaked-out climate scientists to speak up, fight Man
• 2012/09/19: NatureN: Retraction record rocks community -- Anaesthesiology tries to move on after fraud investigations.
  One of the biggest purges of the scientific literature in history is finally getting under way. After more than a decade of suspicion about the work of anaesthesiologist Yoshitaka Fujii, formerly of Toho University in Tokyo, investigations by journals and universities have concluded that he fabricated data on an epic scale. At least half of the roughly 200 papers he authored on responses to drugs after surgery are in line for retraction in the coming months.
• 2012/09/18: VV: Future research in homogenisation of climate data - EMS 2012 in Poland
• 2012/09/16: KSJT: Reporting on Scientific Misconduct
  

  What's new in models?

• 2012/09/22: Wunderground:RR: The Free Market and the Climate Model: Models, Water, and Temperature (8)
• 2012/09/19: Eureka: Climate scientists put predictions to the test
  A study has found that climate-prediction models are good at predicting long-term climate patterns on a global scale but lose their edge when applied to time frames shorter than 3 decades and on sub-continental scales
• 2012/09/18: P3: Climate Model Skill Demonstrated, Progress Not So Much
• 2012/09/17: ASI: Models are improving, but can they catch up?
• 2012/09/16: ClimateSight: Modelling Geoengineering, Part II
  

  What developments in the ongoing struggle for Open Science?

• 2012/09/18: Tyee: New Era of Open Access to Public Funded Research -- While world makes ambitious plans for next decade, Canada lags behind
  

  Regarding Muller:

• 2012/09/19: AFTIC: Deep Climate on Richard Muller
• 2012/09/17: DeepClimate: Richard Muller Radio Rambles, part 1: Kochs "very deep", "very thoughtful" and "properly skeptical"
  

  Regarding Speth:

• 2012/09/17: Grist: Gus Speth: 'Ultimate insider' goes radical
  

  And on the carbon trading front:

• 2012/09/19: TP:JR: In The 'Crazy' World Of Carbon Finance, Coal Now Qualifies For Emission Reduction Credits
  In a decision criticized as "unfortunate" and even "insane" by onlookers, the United Nations has decided that new coal plants are eligible for carbon credits under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). The CDM is a trading platform set up by the UN that allows developed countries to obtain verified emissions reduction credits through renewable energy, energy efficiency, power plant fuel switching, and sustainable transportation projects in developing countries in order to meet Kyoto Protocol targets. Now the UN has added coal to the list of eligible projects.
• 
  

  The idea of a carbon tax is still bouncing around:

   

• 2012/09/19: WaPo: How would a carbon tax work? Let's ask British Columbia.
  

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

• 2012/09/16: CCurrents: Yes; They Have Even Banned Medicine And Foodstuff
• 2012/09/17: NBF: Strait of Hormuz and other Oil Chokepoints
• 2012/09/17: InsuranceJournal: US Renews Waivers of Iran Sanctions for Japan, EU Nations
  

  The memory of WW2 atrocities exacerbated East China Sea tension this week:

• EIA:CAB: South China Sea
• EIA:CAB: East China Sea
• 2012/09/22: WSWS: Amid rising tensions, US defense secretary visits China and Japan
  US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta's trip to Japan and China this week has again highlighted the duplicitous and reckless character of American foreign policy. While appealing publicly to both countries to avoid conflict over the disputed Senkaku/Diaoyu islands, Panetta took further steps to boost the US-Japan military alliance, thus tacitly encouraging the Japanese government to take a more aggressive stance towards China.
• 2012/09/21: CCurrents: The East China Sea Is Turning Tense
• 2012/09/21: BBerg: U.S. Says Disputed Islands Covered by Japan Defense Treaty
  U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell said islands at the heart of a dispute between Japan and China fall under an American defense pact with Japan, while urging the sides to resolve the standoff via diplomacy.
• 2012/09/20: BBC: Japan seeks payment from China over protest damages
• 2012/09/19: CBC: Patrick Brown: In its fight with Japan, China unleashes the mob
• 2012/09/19: BBC: Xi Jinping warns Japan over East China Sea dispute
• 2012/09/18: NewScientist: Oil reserves at heart of Japan-China island dispute
• 2012/09/19: OilChange: Japanese - China Conflict "All About Oil"
• 2012/09/17: CCurrents: The China Japan Dispute Over Diaoyu: Let The Truth Prevail
• 2012/09/19: CSM: Concerns mount as Japan, China island dispute shows no sign of easing
• 2012/09/18: CSM: China moves to quell anti-Japan protests
• 2012/09/19: WSWS: Mounting anti-Japanese protests in China
• 2012/09/18: ScienceInsider: China-Japan Territorial Dispute Threatens Scientific Exchanges, Again
• 2012/09/18: CSM: Japan takes cautious tone in dispute with increasingly assertive China
• 2012/09/18: CSM: China to protesters: 'Please express your patriotism in a rational and orderly fashion'
  The first sign of just how closely the Chinese authorities were monitoring and controlling today's anti-Japanese demonstrations here came on my cellphone. It was an SMS from the Beijing police. Barely had I arrived in the vicinity of the Japanese embassy, the target of a fourth day of protests over a territorial dispute, than the message popped up on my screen. "The Beijing Public Security Bureau reminds you to please express your patriotism in a rational and orderly fashion and to follow police instructions. Thank you for your cooperation," it read.
• 2012/09/17: AntiWar: Japan-China Island Dispute Heats Up as US Meddling Aggravates Tensions
  China sends armada of 1,000 fishing boats to islands Japan just claimed to purchase privately
• 2012/09/18: BBC: China-Japan protests resume amid islands row
  Fresh anti-Japan protests have erupted in China over disputed islands amid raised tension on the anniversary of Japan's invasion of north-east China.
• 2012/09/18: BBC: China protests: Fears rise over Japan-China trade ties
  There are fears over the economic impact of the dispute between China and Japan if the row over islands in the East China Sea is not resolved soon. Several major Japanese companies have suspended operations in China after attacks on shops and car dealerships.
• 2012/09/18: ABC(Au): Anti-Japan protests spread across China
  Chinese protesters have come out in large numbers to mark the anniversary of the start of major World War II hostilities between Japan and China.
• 2012/09/17: al Jazeera: Asia's islands of dispute
  Are territorial disputes between China and Japan a manifestation of a bigger change in the region?
• 2012/09/18: al Jazeera: Japanese firms suspend work amid protests
  Major firms temporarily shut factories and offices in China as protests over disputed islands spread.
• 2012/09/17: CBC: China to rein in anti-Japan protests
• 2012/09/17: CSM: Tensions rise between China and Japan over disputed islands
• 2012/09/17: CSM: US urges calm in China-Japan dispute
• 2012/09/16: PCat: Chinese state newspaper: Japan has been wolfishly pushing its luck on the islands
• 2012/09/17: BBC: Some of Japan's biggest firms have suspended operations at some factories in China as safety concerns grow amid violent anti-Japan protests
• 2012/09/16: CBC: Angry Chinese protesters ransack Japanese businesses -- Protests and boycotts mount amid tensions over disputed islands
• 2012/09/17: al Jazeera: Islands dispute hits China-Japan trade ties
  Major firms temporarily shut factories and offices n response to attacks on Japanese shops and diplomatic posts.
• 2012/09/17: BBerg: China Warns Against Violence as Japan Protests Are Broken Up
  

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

• 2012/09/23: CSM: Senate to EU: US airlines won't pay carbon tax
  The Senate unanimously passed a bill on Saturday that would shield U.S. airlines from paying for their carbon emissions on European flights, pressuring the European Union to back down from applying its emissions law to foreign carriers.
  [...]
  The House of Representatives has passed a similar measure, and could either work out differences with the Senate's version or accept the Senate bill when Congress returns for a post-election session. Clark Stevens, a White House spokesman, said the administration is reviewing the bill. The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. So far, nearly all airlines have complied reluctantly with the EU law, but Chinese and Indian carriers missed an interim deadline to submit information required under it.
• 2012/09/19: RTCC: US Senate looks to pile pressure on EU aviation plans before election break
• 2012/09/17: Reuters: Airline industry urges Obama to block EU carbon scheme
  The U.S. aviation industry urged President Barack Obama on Monday to file a U.N. action to stop the EU from forcing foreign aircraft to pay for their carbon emissions ahead of a U.N. meeting that will try to make progress on a multilateral solution to the ongoing aviation row.
• 
  

  In the global competition for finite natural resources:

   

• 2012/09/21: BBC: Helium shortage prompts scientist's balloon use warning
  

  Finding gas near the Falklands will likely heighten the British-Argentine tension:

• 2012/09/18: BBerg: Falkland Gas Find Heralds World's Most Remote LNG Plant: Energy
  

  Further on the EU - Gazprom natural gas wrangle:

• 2012/09/21: EurActiv: Gazprom may unbundle to escape EU claims
  Russia's Gazprom will split its European assets to meet requirements of EU's "third energy package" and avoid anti-trust claims by the European Commission, Russian news media reported. The Commission said it had no comment on the reports.
• 2012/09/19: WSWS: EU launches anti-monopoly suit against Russia's Gazprom
• 2012/09/17: EurActiv: Commission prepares EU energy market 'action plan'
  The European Commission wants to enforce the EU's single energy market laws "as a matter of priority", according to a draft communication that states the EU Executive's determination to create a barrier-free market-place, which has angered dominant gas supplier Russia. Early this month, the Commission announced it had opened an investigation into suspected anti-competitive market practices by Russia's Gazprom. Speaking on Friday (14 September) in Lithuania, which totally depends on Russia for its gas, Energy Commissioner Günther Oettinger said Russia had to abide by the EU's internal market rules and stop offering widely varying prices.
• 
  

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

   

• 2012/09/21: CCurrents: Overpopulation: Food Crisis And Future Hunger Wars
  

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

• 2012/09/21: Yahoo:AP: Shell sues Greenpeace to stop Arctic protests -- Shell sues Greenpeace in Dutch court to halt demonstrations against Arctic drilling
• 2012/09/17: BBC: G20 death: PC Simon Harwood guilty of gross misconduct
  An officer cleared of the manslaughter of Ian Tomlinson at London's G20 protests has been found guilty of gross misconduct for breaching standards by a police disciplinary panel. But the panel decided it would not consider whether or not PC Simon Harwood's actions caused or contributed to Mr Tomlinson's death in 2009.
• 
  

  What are the activists up to?

   

• 2012/09/19: TP:JR: Protests And Civil Disobedience Against Construction Of The Keystone XL Pipeline Continue
• 2012/09/17: ABC(Au): Walking for solar opportunity
  A solar thermal plant at Port Augusta, to replace the highly polluting Playford coal fired power plants, looks less likely now following the collapse of the 'contracts for closure' negotiations between the Federal Government and Alinta Energy. Despite this, a number of local and national groups are keeping up the pressure as they mount a protest walk from Port Augusta to Adelaide to keep that solar plant on the agenda. About 100 people have set off on the 328 kilometre walk.
• 
  

  Regarding Water Politics and Business:

   

• 2012/09/22: DD: Melting Himalayas may magnify water scarcity
• 2012/09/21: EurActiv: Water blueprint to focus on enforcement, not new laws
  The European Union's water blueprint, due by the end of the year, will focus on enforcement and implementation of laws already on the books rather than new legislation, says a Cypriot official whose government will host talks later in the year on the evolving water roadmap.
• 2012/09/21: IBTimes: U.S. Electricity Generation Wastes Huge Amounts of Scarce Water, Other Hidden Costs Also Imposed
• 2012/09/20: TP:JR: We Must Look At New Options For Reducing Water Pollution From Agriculture
• 2012/09/19: Guardian(UK): Peru's fog catchers net water supplies
  An initiative to collect moisture from the thick sea mist around Lima represents an inventive, cost-effective solution to the ever-expanding Peruvian capital's shortage of water
• 2012/09/18: JFleck: US-Mexico water talks stalling - what I learned from a new water blog
• 2012/09/17: ICN: U.S. Paying a Price for Lack of Water Policy
  Climate change has made managing the nation's waterways more important than ever, but policies remain fragmented.
• 2012/09/17: Grist: Toxic green slime has taken over the lakes of America. Again.
  

  So what's new on the education front?

• 2012/09/17: Guardian(UK): How to teach ... Polar meltdown
  

  And on the American political front:

• 2012/09/20: DD: Florida county plans for rising seas and the flooding that will follow -- Developers, climate-change naysayers promote conspiracy theory
• 2012/09/19: TheHill:e2W: Nader: Capitol Hill needs substantive climate change debate
  Lawmakers, notably Democrats, are "running away from the issue" of climate change, consumer advocate and former Green Party presidential candidate Ralph Nader said Tuesday. Nader, who was speaking at a National Press Club event in Washington, D.C., criticized President Obama for giving lip service to the topic in his Democratic National Convention speech earlier this month.
• 2012/09/20: TP:JR: In The Face Of Climate Change, We Must Invest In Our Nation's Critical Dams And Levees
• 2012/09/20: TP:JR: The GOP's 'War On Coal' Myth, Brought To You By Millions In Coal Cash
• 2012/09/19: TheMudFlats: Happy Socialist Money Grab Day, Alaska!
  It's $878, if you've been wondering. Alaska's Permanent Fund Dividend check has been more, but it's also been less. Established in 1976, after oil was discovered on Alaska's North Slope, the permanent fund dividend gives every Alaskan cash back from oil wealth. Alaska is unique in that the residents, not private land owners or the government, own the oil. Hence, every year investments made pay residents back. Some years are better than others, but every man, woman and child gets a check -- this year on October 4.
• 2012/09/20: Guardian(UK): Poverty and hunger in America
  Food stamps work, lifting people out of the worst deprivation. But in Austin, Texas, we see the human cost of growing inequality
• 2012/09/19: CSM: First leg of Calif. high-speed rail approved
• 2012/09/21: TP:JR: Elizabeth Warren Warns GOP-Controlled Senate Would Make Climate Denier Jim Inhofe Head Of Environment Committee
• 2012/09/22: Grist: Why is rooftop solar cheaper in Germany than in the U.S.?
• 2012/09/21: TreeHugger: Real Live American Politicians [Scott Brown vs. Elizabeth Warren] Debate Climate Change in Public (Video)
• 2012/09/20: NYT: New York State Plans Health Review as It Weighs Gas Drilling
  After four years of study by the state, the Cuomo administration now says its decision on whether to allow high-volume hydraulic fracturing in New York will have to wait until it conducts a review of the potential public health effects of the controversial natural gas drilling process.
• 2012/09/18: TP:JR: The Demonization Of Clean Tech: The Five Biggest Myths
• 2012/09/19: Grist: Michigan's Jennifer Granholm plugs fuel economy, Chevy Volt
• 2012/09/18: UCSUSA:B: Burning Coal, Burning Cash in Michigan
• 2012/09/18: TreeHugger: Agenda 21 and the UN Plot to Take Over America: Bill Proposed In Florida Expands Its Reach To Stop Just About Everything Green
• 2012/09/18: CSM: Renewable standards boosted 'green' energy. Are storage standards next?
• 2012/09/18: DeSmogBlog: Alberta Bitumen Threatens Health of Communities Living Near Refineries in U.S., ForestEthics Reports
• 2012/09/18: Grist: Growing Power scores $5 million to feed our nation's hungriest cities
• 2012/09/18: CrossCut: Food stamps now go further at farmers' markets
• 2012/09/18: al Jazeera: Confessions of a former Republican
  Goulka left a party that, in recent years, has had, "a will to fantasy", and embarked on a hard-won trip into reality.
• 2012/09/17: DD: Struggling with drought, Texas town [Jonestown] removes police chief, librarian
• 2012/09/17: ICN: U.S. Paying a Price for Lack of Water Policy
  Climate change has made managing the nation's waterways more important than ever, but policies remain fragmented.
• 2012/09/17: Grist: Toxic green slime has taken over the lakes of America. Again.
  

  The BP disaster continues to twist US politics:

• 2012/09/21: CSM: Oil companies return to the Gulf of Mexico
• 2012/09/19: BBerg: Gulf Fisheries Rebounding From BP Spill, Government Says
• 2012/09/21: CDreams: Report: BP Deepwater Horizon Disaster Cause of Nearly All Tar Balls on Alabama Coast -- Study underscores ongoing effects of 2010 oil catastrophe
  

  So, do you want the vulture capitalist or the hopey-changey kill-list guy?

• 2012/09/20: CCurrents: U.S. Elections. Where Is The Leadership On The Climate Crisis?
• 2012/09/20: al Jazeera: The mad science of the US presidential election
  The technology used in campaigns has changed over the years - and not for the better, writes Steven Hill.
• 2012/09/21: TP:JR: Despite Little Mention Of Climate Change From Candidates, Faith Groups Pledge To Make It An Election Issue
• 2012/09/20: TreeHugger: Siemens Lays Off 38% of US Workforce - Cites Lack of Wind Power Support Romney Favors
• 2012/09/19: TreeHugger: Mitt Romney: Hitler's Plan for Liquefied Coal is Good for America
• 2012/09/19: ScienceInsider: Iowa Science Teacher Speaks Up for Romney
• 2012/09/19: TP:JR: Siemens Lays Off Wind Workers, Citing Expiring Tax Credit Romney Wants To Kill; Romney Campaign Blames Obama
• 2012/09/19: DD: Graph of the Day: Mitt Romney's America
• 2012/09/19: Grist: New Romney ad features miners forced to attend pro-Romney rally -- without pay
• 2012/09/18: SciAm:Obs: Romney Cites Energy Report That Advocates Carbon Price
• 2012/09/17: TheHill:e2W: Markey: GOP's climate bill revision is like something out of Orwell
• 2012/09/18: TP:JR: Romney Energy Plan: Climate Change You Can Believe In
• 2012/09/18: Grist: Jill Stein wants to #Occupy the White House
• 2012/09/17: Yale360: Obama vs. Romney: A Stark Contrast on the Environment
  As the U.S. presidential campaign enters its final phase, Yale Environment 360 compares the sharply divergent views of President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney on the environment and energy.
• 2012/09/17: ICN: As Climate Crisis Looms, Presidential Campaigns Stay Quiet
  

  Gas Prices are on the rise again:

• 2012/09/20: CSM: Gas prices: Why are they so high?
  

  The Keystone XL saga rolls along:

• 2012/09/21: TP:JR: TransCanada's Long List Of Flip Flops On Keystone XL
• 2012/09/20: CSM: Canada's ambassador bets on Keystone pipeline's future
• 2012/09/19: TP:JR: Protests And Civil Disobedience Against Construction Of The Keystone XL Pipeline Continue
• 2012/09/19: JournalStar: Keystone pipeline's path cuts across Indian Country and history
  

  Michael Mann fended off the latest ATI attack. Prepare for the next:

• 2012/09/18: ScienceInsider: In Climate Court Battle, Mann Wins Again
• 2012/09/18: ERabett:BSD: Coda to Eli's UVa post
• 2012/09/18: P3: U Va Court Victory
• 2012/09/17: TP:JR: Mann Power: Court Rules Deniers Have No Right To The Emails Of UVA Climate Scientists
• 2012/09/18: NatureNB: Judge preserves privacy of climate scientist's emails
• 2012/09/17: CSW: Court rules for Univ. of Virginia and Michael Mann against denialist inquisition - scholarly e-mail and documents are protected communication
• 2012/09/18: ERabett: UVa is Much in the News These Days
• 2012/09/17: UCSUSA:B: Climate Change Scientist Michael Mann (and Scientific Inquiry) Win in Virginia FOIA Case
• 2012/09/17: WtD: Another victory over SLAPP hounds: Mann vs American Tradition Institute
• 2012/09/17: PSinclair: Deniers Lose. Freedom of Thought Wins. The Koch Brothers Have no Right to Read Your Mail.
  [...] A victory for science! ATI loses ATI/UVa FOIA case. Judge issues final order.
• 2012/09/17: DeSmogBlog: Virginia Judge Tosses Frivolous American Tradition Institute Lawsuit
  

  After all the ethanol vs food debate:

• 2012/09/18: AutoBG: Biodiesel advocates feel respect after feds raise mandate by 28%
  

  The GOP War on Women continues:

• 2012/09/19: TRC: New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez Seeks Proof of "Forcible Rape" in Applications for Childcare Assistance
  

  The NorthWest coal export debate remains heated:

• 2012/09/20: OPB: Wash. Tribe Comes Out Against Coal Export Terminal
  The Lummi Nation in northwestern Washington is about to join other native people in the region who oppose plans to export coal through the Pacific Northwest.
• 2012/09/20: DeSmogBlog: Army Corps Fast Tracks Port of Morrow Coal Export Terminal
• 2012/09/18: Stranger: Gloves Off -- A Fight Over Coal Trains Shows Just How Hard Noel Frame Is Willing to Hit
• 2012/09/19: Oregonian: Portland City Council passes resolution against coal trains
• 2012/09/19: VanObs: Arrested, handcuffed, proud
• 2012/09/15: Reuters: Idyllic Oregon thrust into energy export debate
  When federal officials arrived in this scenic but economically struggling port a few weeks ago for hearings on a proposed liquefied natural gas plant, some residents had a sense of déjà vu: it was only six years earlier, in the same auditorium, that they had already discussed the pros and cons of an LNG plant. But there was one big difference this time around: the 2006 plan was designed to bring gas in, while the current project calls for shipping gas out.
• 
  

  Political conservatives and extablished industries are doing their best to kill wind power:

   

• 2012/09/20: NYT: Tax Credit in Doubt, Wind Power Industry Is Withering
• 2012/09/21: ICN: Unusual Coalitions Clash Over Wind Energy Tax Credit
• 2012/09/18: TP:JR: 19 Companies, Including Starbucks And Levi Strauss, Urge Congress To Extend Wind Tax Credit
• 2012/09/18: TreeHugger: Congress is Going to Kill Wind Power, Despite Pleas from Levi's & Starbucks
  

  The actions of the Obama administration are being watched closely:

• 2012/09/22: NatureNB: Arsenic in rice stirs US action
  On the heels of two reports that have reignited worries about arsenic poisoning from rice, US lawmakers are taking steps to restrict the toxic substance.
• 2012/09/22: NOAANews: NOAA ramps up Weather-Ready Nation initiative in nation's capital
• 2012/09/20: TheHill:e2W: Shell gets green light for first stage of drilling in Beaufort Sea
  The Interior Department said Thursday that Royal Dutch Shell can begin limited preparatory measures for drilling in the Beaufort Sea off Alaska's coast, though the company has already indicated it will not drill into oil-bearing zones this year.
• 2012/09/19: NOAANews: NOAA announces $4.5 million in environmental literacy grants to support K-12 science education and stewardship projects
• 2012/09/18: MoJo: What's Behind the EPA's New 4-Gallon Minimum Purchase Mandate?
• 2012/09/18: ScienceInsider: U.S. Science Advisory Panels Need Greater Transparency, Report Says
• 2012/09/19: NOAANews: NOAA announces grants to predict ocean acidification's effects on commercial fisheries
• 2012/09/18: ERabett: One If By Law Two If By Executive Order
• 2012/09/18: TP:JR: How The Federal Government Greatly Underestimates The True Cost Of Carbon Pollution
• 2012/09/17: DeSmogBlog: U.S. Government Significantly Underestimating Costs Of Climate Change And Dirty Energy
• 2012/09/17: TreeHugger: Financial Costs of Climate Change Seriously Underestimated by US Government Calculations
  

  As for what is going on in Congress:

• 2012/09/22: OilChange: Backed By $20 Million From Coal, House Members Approve Polluter Giveaway
• 2012/09/21: TP:JR: Backed By $20 Million From Coal, House Members Approve Polluter Giveaway
• 2012/09/21: Grist: John Kerry on why we need fossil fuels (for now) and climate action (for real!)
• 2012/09/20: UCSUSA:B: Carbon Measurements on the Chopping Block
• 2012/09/19: DeSmogBlog: [US] National Parks At Risk Of Exploitation From Oil And Gas Drilling
• 2012/09/18: CSM: House passes 'No More Solyndras Act'
• 2012/09/17: TP:JR: Climate Scores: See How Your Federal Lawmakers Are Voting On Global Warming
• 2012/09/17: TheHill:e2W: The week ahead: Coal, climate at center of House battle
  The House is slated to vote this week on the latest GOP bill to thwart White House environmental policies that Republicans call economically burdensome. The "stop the war on coal" package provides Republicans a final chance before November's election to use the House floor as a platform to slam President Obama's green agenda.
• 
  

  While in the UK:

   

• 2012/09/21: Guardian(UK): Danny Alexander: Tories must stop trashing green agenda
  Lib Dem Treasury chief secretary attacks Tory colleague George Osborne for endangering green investments and on welfare cuts
• 2012/09/20: Guardian(UK): MPs demand moratorium on Arctic oil drilling
• 2012/09/20: Guardian(UK): Windfarms could provide windfall for local communities
  Government looks into incentives, such as discounted electricity bills or new playgrounds, for areas that install turbines
• 2012/09/20: EurActiv: UK MPs call for more ambitious electric car grant scheme
  Britain needs a more ambitious programme to encourage the uptake of low-carbon vehicles because sales of the cars have disappointed, a committee of British MPs said today (20 September).
• 2012/09/20: CBC: British MPs call for halt to Arctic oil and gas drilling -- Oil spill potentially 'catastrophic,' committee says
  International governments should seek a moratorium on offshore drilling in the Arctic amid concern an oil spill in the region could cause catastrophic environmental damage, British MPs say. The Environmental Audit Committee of Britain's House of Commons urged action to halt oil and gas drilling in the Arctic until new safeguards -- including vastly increased financial guarantees and universal standards on disaster response -- are put in place. Legislators on the panel also called for an internationally recognized nature sanctuary to be created to protect at least part of the Arctic from energy exploration.
• 2012/09/13: LRB: How We Happened to Sell Off Our Electricity
• 2012/09/19: BBC: A committee of MPs has called for a moratorium on drilling for oil and gas in the Arctic until safety is improved
• 2012/09/19: NatureN: UK technology-boost plan disappoints -- Government strategy to support industries of the future has little cash to back the vision
• 2012/09/19: LoE: Is the UK government on a flight from reality?
• 2012/09/18: FarmersGuardian: Scot farms' positive environmental role
  Hill and upland farms in Scotland are not being given the credit they deserve for the substantial role they play in improving the environment through the removal of carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere.
• 2012/09/18: BBC: UK phenology effort 'needs more citizen recorders'
• 2012/09/18: BBC: Environment Agency's Lord Smith backs UK green growth
  The Environment Agency's chairman has used a visit to Europe's largest soft drinks plant to promote the business merits of green growth. Lord Smith said greening business behaviour was one of the "unsung successes" of environmental regulation.
• 2012/09/18: BBC: Push to create a million UK ponds
  Details of a plan for a million healthy ponds in the UK are being announced to combat decades of neglect. The charity Pond Conservation says ponds offer more species diversity than any other habitat per square metre.
• 
  

  And in Europe:

   

• 2012/09/22: CSM: EU limits use of biofuels
  The European Union announced a major change in its biofuel policy earlier this week, making clear that new laws aimed at limiting crop-based biofuels to only 5 percent of transport fuel used in the region will soon be introduced, putting the biofuel industry itself in peril.
• 2012/09/21: BBerg: Coal Era Beckons for Europe as Carbon Giveaway Finishes
• 2012/09/20: EurActiv: Peugeot chief calls for Brussels to legislate on electric cars
  The head of PSA Peugeot Citroën's electric vehicles and mobility projects has called for the European Commission to legislate common tax and regulatory measures for electric cars across the continent.
• 2012/09/20: EUO: MEPs' report casts doubt on EU shale revolution
• 2012/09/20: EurActiv: MEPs divided on whether EU should regulate shale gas
  Lawmakers on the European Parliament's environment committee backed new "robust regulatory regimes" on shale gas and oil mining yesterday (19 September), just after their colleagues in the energy committee insisted on each country's right to decide for itself.
• 2012/09/19: EurActiv: MEPs back tougher oversight rules for oil, mining investments
  A European Parliament panel voted yesterday (18 September) to strengthen financial disclosure rules designed to deter corruption in foreign mining, petroleum and forestry investments, putting the draft EU rules in line with a stringent law adopted this summer in the United States.
• 2012/09/19: EurActiv: Oettinger feels the heat on boiler labelling rules
  The meaningful energy labelling of household heating boilers is being gutted behind the scenes, green campaigners have warned, saying this could undermine the EU's 2020 target to cut energy consumption by 20%.
• 2012/09/18: EurActiv: EU 'considering' 2013 benchmark report on smart meters
  The European Commission is likely to draw a benchmark report on the costs and benefits of smart meters by mid-2013 and urge member states to inform it as soon as possible of their assessments and roll-out plans.
• 2012/09/18: EurActiv: Leaked EU paper maps energy infrastructure black spots
  EU countries are urged to speed up the connections of their gas and electricity grids, according to a draft European Commission report on investment in energy infrastructure, seen by EurActiv.
• 2012/09/18: EUO: MEPs push for transparency rules on gas, oil and logging
• 2012/09/17: EurActiv: Hollande deals setback to nuclear, shale gas industries
  French President François Hollande has vowed to shut down the country's oldest nuclear power station by 2016, and in a wide-ranging speech on the environment, says his government would reject development of shale gas using a controversial extraction method known as 'fracking'.
• 2012/09/17: EurActiv: Study: Biofuels mandate could increase EU CO2 emissions
  European biofuel mandates are unlikely to deliver a significant reduction and could even increase greenhouse gas emissions unless land use factors are considered, says a study by the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT).
• 2012/09/17: EUO: EU to limit controversial biofuels from 2020
  Energy ministers meeting in Cyprus on Monday (17 September) are having a first debate on EU commission plans to cap biofuels made from food crops from 2020 in a bid to limit their impact on soaring food prices. According to a draft paper seen by EUobserver, the commission for the first time would put a five-percent cap on biofuels made from food or feed such as rapeseed and soy.
• 2012/09/16: CDreams: France Says No to Genetically Modified Crops, No to Fracking
  

  Meanwhile in Australia:

• 2012/09/23: ABC(Au): Coalition split emerges over wheat deregulation
• 2012/09/21: ABC(Au): Residents' group snubs wind farm forum
  The Cooranga North concerned citizens group says a community consultation process about a South Burnett wind farm proposal has been a waste of time. AGL held the latest meeting yesterday, to discuss plans to build about 115 turbines in the area. Spokesman Bryan Lyons says the group will no longer participate in the meetings.
• 2012/09/21: ABC(Au): Greens flick the switch on feed-in tariff
  The ACT Greens are flagging a new solar feed-in tariff scheme as part of their election plan for a 40 per cent cut to Canberra's greenhouse gas emissions by 2020. The party shares ACT Labor's target for 90 per cent of the ACT's electricity to come from renewable sources by 2020. It would also legislate for all rental properties to have an energy rating of at least three stars by 2020.
• 2012/09/21: ABC(Au): New Tasmanian bushfire planning code
  Tasmania's Acting Premier has approved the introduction of a single state wide planning code for bushfire prone areas. The new code ensures schools and hospitals are not located in high risk areas and provides for buffer zones between buildings and fire prone vegetation.
• 2012/09/21: ABC(Au): Uranium plans may spark legal stoush
  The Conservation Council of Western Australia says it will consider legal action to prevent Toro Energy's proposed Wiluna uranium mine going ahead. The group says the State Government has not responded adequately to appeals lodged against the project, which is set to become WA's first uranium mine.
• 2012/09/20: ABC(Au): Study gathers environmental change data
  Researchers conducting a national study have arrived in Geraldton to gather information on the effects of environmental change on regional communities. The study has already been carried out in Queensland and Tasmania and aims to analyse how coastal communities and marine industries are impacted by environmental changes. Researchers from Murdoch University, the University of Tasmania and the CSIRO will interview locals next week and begin compiling data on the city. Dr Sarah Metcalf says it is important they speak to a variety of people from Geraldton.
• 2012/09/20: ABC(Au): Wind farm protestors tell Ratch to 'rack off'
  Protestors have made their opposition to a proposed wind farm on the Atherton Tableland very clear at a public meeting in Mareeba.
• 2012/09/20: ABC(Au): Algae biofuel project completes targets
  A pilot project in Karratha, that creates algae for use as biofuel, has reached its final milestone under the Low Emissions Energy Development (LEED) fund.
• 2012/09/20: ABC(Au): Environmentalists renew calls for fracking moratorium
  Northern Territory environmentalist are concerned over a project to frack a horizontal well in central Australia. The NT Government has approved horizontal fracking at Tobermorey Station, about 450 kilometres north-east of Alice Springs. However, the Arid Lands Environment Centre and the Cattlemen's Association say a moratorium on fracking is needed until laws are reviewed.
• 2012/09/20: ABC(Au): Study raises health concerns over GM crops [WA]
• 2012/09/20: ABC(Au): Queensland backs down on rural fire service cuts
  The Queensland Government has backed down on plans to cut Rural Fire Service jobs and close regional offices. The release of budget plans to cut 56 jobs and close regional offices angered volunteer firefighters and rural backbenchers. Justin Choveaux from the Rural Fire Brigades Association says it should not have been made public. "It caused ructions, it caused uncertainty, it caused worry," he said. But the plan has been revised. Emergency Services Minister Jack Dempsey says between 15 and 20 jobs will be cut.
• 2012/09/19: ABC(Au): [ACT] Labor's plan for 90pc clean energy
• 2012/09/18: ABC(Au): [Tony] Burke calls for better protection of seagrass
  The Federal Environment Minister says mining companies should be investing to protect seagrass that's under threat because of dredging activities.
• 2012/09/18: CCurrents: Australian Senator Calls For A Moratorium On Uranium Trade
• 2012/09/19: WtD: Direct action: stop approval of the Newcastle T4 coal terminal
• 2012/09/18: Guardian(UK): Australian 'mega mine' plan threatens global emissions target
  'Unprecedented' increase in the scale of Australian [coal] mining would nullify an internationally agreed goal, Greenpeace warns
• 2012/09/18: WtD: Australia 2070: we won't recognize the environment according to CSIRO
• 2012/09/18: PlanetJ: Why the RET review matters
• 2012/09/18: ABC(Au): "Fracking" will be scrutinised says [Deputy Premier and Nationals' leader, Andrew] Stoner
  A state-wide ban on hydraulic fracturing in NSW has been lifted under the state government's new Strategic Regional Land Use Policy.
• 2012/09/18: ABC(Au): Burke outlines seagrass beds protection plan
  Federal Environment Minister Tony Burke will this morning outline measures to protect seagrass beds from coal port developments along the Queensland coast.
• 2012/09/18: ABC(Au): Authorities say outback fire risk rising
  Fire authorities say several blazes burning in Queensland's Channel Country and the state's north-west could intensify over the coming days, with forecast strong winds and high temperatures. Queensland Fire and Rescue Service spokesman Gavin Fryar says there are higher fuel loads across the inland than in previous years. He says the fire risk will continue to increase as temperatures rise and summer storms begin.
• 2012/09/18: ABC(Au): Greens support Forestry Tasmania bail out money
• 2012/09/18: ABC(Au): Energy discounts set to fall as exit fees axed
  Australia's electricity retailers are warning that the days of heavy discounting on power bills are coming to an end. The retailers are reacting to the New South Wales Government's decision to abolish termination fees for customers wanting to end their contracts with power companies. Queensland has already restricted fees and other states are considering similar moves. The power retailers though say too much regulation is in danger of killing competition.
• 2012/09/17: ABC(Au): Walking for solar opportunity
• 2012/09/17: ABC(Au): Govt 'starving' Forestry Tasmania of cash
  Forestry Tasmania chairman Miles Hampton has resigned over the State Government's restructuring plan for the state-owned company. Mr Hampton said he could no longer support the policies of the Government and accused it of trying to starve Forestry Tasmania of cash. Resources Minister Bryan Green wants to create a statutory authority to take control of production forests from Forestry Tasmania. Mr Hampton said the decision was not in the best interests of the company and would result in its complete emasculation.
• 
  

  The carbon bill is law. The Aus-EU ETS is codified. Now come the practicalities...and the finagling:

   

• 2012/09/23: ABC(Au): Carbon tax falls off political skyline
  The carbon tax is dropping out of parliamentary debate amid claims the Opposition exaggerated its impact.
• 2012/09/19: PerthNow: Govt moves on EU carbon price link
  Action to put in place Australia's pioneering carbon price linkage with the European Union has started. Climate Change and Energy Efficiency Minister Greg Combet said on Wednesday it would be the world's first intercontinental linkage of emissions trading schemes and the start of "a deep and liquid carbon market". He also warned of trade retaliation if Australia didn't act on greenhouse gas emissions. Mr Combet was introducing into parliament a suite of seven bills to establish a link between the Australian and European emissions trading schemes from July 2015 when Australia's fixed carbon price ends. It also removes a carbon floor price so Australia can move to "a fully flexible emissions trading scheme where the Australian carbon price reflects the price in the largest carbon market in the world".
• 
  

  The Murray-Darling Basin Plan controversy continues:

   

• 2012/09/20: ABC(Au): Amendments confirm Basin Authority power to decide diversion limits
  The Murray-Darling Basin Authority's power to adjust sustainable diversion limits, without recourse to Federal Parliament, would be confirmed under Water Act amendments put forward by the government today.
• 2012/09/21: ABC(Au): Irrigators opposed to sustainable diversion limit amendments
  Irrigators continue to criticise amendments to the Water Act which would allow the Murray-Darling Basin Authority to change how much water should go to the environment under the Basin Plan. If the change is passed in Parliament, the Basin Authority could alter the Sustainable Diversion Limit without approval from the water minister.
• 2012/09/20: ABC(Au): Amendments give Basin Authority the power to decide diversion limits
  The Murray-Darling Basin Authority's power to adjust sustainable diversion limits, without recourse to Federal Parliament, would be confirmed under Water Act amendments put forward by the government today.
• 2012/09/19: ABC(Au): River Murray irrigators working to save red gums
• 2012/09/19: ABC(Au): Council gets on with flood-hit roads fix
  The Horsham council says it has repaired nearly 150 kilometres of flood-damaged roads in the region. Last year's floods caused nearly $4 million of damage to roads and the council says about 30 per cent of the municipality's roads still need to be fixed.
• 2012/09/19: ABC(Au): [Queensland Minister for Energy and Water Supply Mark McArdle] hears water and power pain
  In a little more than three weeks, water meters across the State's eight channel irrigation schemes will be checked for the purpose of calculating bills. Unless the State Government agrees to relax its position on pricing policy, irrigators across Queensland will be asked to pay up to 48 per cent more for water over the next five years.
• 2012/09/19: ABC(Au): It has not rained in Alice Springs for 148 days, breaking a long-standing weather record
• 2012/09/18: ABC(Au): Irrigators trying to challenge Murray-Darling Basin plan in High Court
• 2012/09/18: ABC(Au): Irrigators plot High Court water fight
  A group representing South Australian and Victorian irrigators says it will try to have the Murray-Darling Basin plan declared unconstitutional by the High Court. Murray Valley United says the Water Act breaches irrigators' rights under Section 100 of the Constitution. Group president Greg Milner says the Act is ill-conceived and was put together hastily in 2007.
• 2012/09/18: ABC(Au): The Wimmera's main water authority has posted a $6 million loss for the past financial year
• 2012/09/17: ABC(Au): Drier winters could affect farm dam levels
  The CSIRO says less winter rainfall means farmers will have to change the way they irrigate crops. In its South Eastern Australian Climate Initiative report, the CSIRO found water storages aren't filling up during winter as much as they used to.
• 2012/09/17: ABC(Au): Mary River towns get better flood warnings
  The Sunshine Coast Regional Council says new flood maps and rain gauges in the Mary River catchment in south-east Queensland will give downstream towns better warning of water rises.
• 
  

  And in New Zealand:

   

• 2012/09/18: EnergyBulletin: New Zealand grappling with the "Rights of Nature"
  

  While in the Indian subcontinent:

• 2012/09/22: WSWS: India's government survives defection, vows to press forward with "big bang" reforms
• 2012/09/21: CBC: Wal-Mart enters India's retail market amid new rules
• 2012/09/21: WSWS: Millions protest in India against "big bang" pro-market measures
  Tens of millions of workers, small traders and truckers joined a nationwide bandh (general shutdown) across India yesterday called by opposition parties against the Congress-led coalition government's “big bang” economic reform measures, which are designed to boost foreign and domestic investment at the expense of the working class. The widespread participation in the protest is testimony to the popular outrage over the government's announcements. These will increase diesel prices by 14 percent, cut cooking fuel subsidies, open up the retail, aviation and media sectors to overseas companies, and further privatise major government companies.
• 2012/09/21: CCurrents: Stories From Koodankulam: Saheer, Waiting For Mother
• 2012/09/21: CCurrents: Dangers At Koodankulam
• 2012/09/21: CCurrents: Fuelling Of Koodankulam Nuclear Power Plant Has Begun
• 2012/09/20: CCurrents: Koodankulam: Snippets Of Truth Heard Aside
• 2012/09/20: CCurrents: Koodankulam: Protesters To Lay Siege To Thoothukudi Harbor by PMANE: People's Movement Against Nuclear Energy
• 2012/09/19: CCurrents: Koodankulam: Way Out Of The Nuclear Mess
• 2012/09/18: CCurrents: Extreme Unease At Koodankulam
• 2012/09/18: CCurrents: Nuclear Power Business Is Defacing Indian Democracy
• 2012/09/18: CCurrents: Is This A Democratic Country? Asks S.P Udayakumar
• 2012/09/17: CCurrents: Suspend Work At Koodankulam, Talk To Protesters, Urge Concerned Citizens
• 2012/09/17: CCurrents: The Hindu's Bias On Koodankulam: An Open Letter
• 2012/09/17: CCurrents: The March Of Nuclear Folly
• 2012/09/17: CCurrents: Koodankulam: Prof Atul Chokshi's Response To The Hindu
• 2012/09/16: CCurrents: Nuclear Martyrs And Necropolitics
• 2012/09/16: CCurrents: Why Not Bury US Alive?
• 2012/09/16: CCurrents: Koodankulam Protesters Create Symbolic Mass Graves
  

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

• 2012/09/14: CBC:Q&Q:B: Canada and creative climate [CO2] accounting
• 2012/09/20: CBC: Low-ball Arctic oil lease earns Opposition scorn
• 2012/09/19: CBC: Canada eyes Asian markets for B.C. natural gas exports -- Proposed West Coast projects face less opposition than oilsands pipelines projects
• 2012/09/20: TheCanadian: Canada Eyes 9 Billion Cubic ft/day of Natural Gas Exports to Asian Market, Tokyo Conference Hears
• 2012/09/19: G&M: Canada's Joe Oliver pledges to feed Asia's growing natural gas needs
  Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver is offering assurances to Asian customers that Canada will move quickly to build liquefied natural gas plants capacity on the west coast to feed their growing demand. Accompanied by several companies involved in proposed projects in British Columbia, Mr. Oliver spoke at an international LNG conference in Tokyo on Wednesday where he promoted Canada as a secure source of gas and a welcoming place for Asian investment.
• 2012/09/17: AD: The big lie and the bigger truth
• 2012/09/17: TMoS: They Can't Do It
• 2012/09/17: HillTimes: Oliver's arrogance trumps Redford's insight
  A national energy strategy won't answer all the questions. But neither will an approach -- Energy Minister Joe Oliver's approach -- that essentially says 'pipe down and leave it to us.'
• 
  

  Parliament is in session. It's been a carbon tax attack week:

   

• 2012/09/22: NorRe: Creating His Own Reality
• 2012/09/22: MSimon: Stephen Harper and the Dead Parrot
• 2012/09/21: Macleans: A rough guide to the Conservatives' carbon tax farce
• 2012/09/21: BuckDog: Harper lies - Conservatives lie!
• 2012/09/21: PI: Too much rhetoric, not enough facts in the carbon tax debate
• 2012/09/21: G&M: Case of the Conservatives' carbon amnesia
  The Conservative Party's attack machine, with its television ads, canned speeches and pre-written scripts, has always been constructed on exaggeration tinged with mendacity. To this, since Parliament resumed, can now be added flagrant hypocrisy, since the machine and its mouthpieces, Conservative MPs, are attacking with customary vehemence the very policy on which they once campaigned. In 2008, the Conservative platform promised to "develop and implement a North American-wide cap-and-trade system for greenhouse gases and air pollution, with implementation to occur between 2012 and 2015." Now, however, the Conservative attack machine denounces a cap-and-trade system, as conceptually proposed by the NDP, as a "carbon tax," a job killer "that will increase the price on everything."
• 2012/09/21: iPolitics: Too much rhetoric, not enough facts in the carbon tax debate
• 2012/09/20: PostMedia: Not all carbon-pricing schemes are equal
• 2012/09/20: PostMedia: The parrot is not just resting
• 2012/09/20: PostMedia: Stephen Maher: P.M. Harper sows confusion
  Stephen Harper took a bold step forward this week to a new kind of creative, performance-based politics, uncoupling himself from the mundane world of facts and deftly using confusion as a weapon.
• 2012/09/18: TSRoss: The Conservative Carbon Tax
• 2012/09/17: G&M: Conservatives call it a carbon tax. NDP call it cap and trade. Which is it?
• 2012/09/17: NatPo: Andrew Coyne: Tories, NDP and 'the tax on everything'
  [...]
  After all the accusations and the counter-accusations, then, here is what the dispute between the two parties boils down to. The NDP pretends their policy won't raise prices to consumers, but will reduce emissions. The Conservatives pretend their policy will reduce emissions, but won't raise prices to consumers.
• 2012/09/17: CBC: Carbon tax allegations fly between NDP and Conservatives -- Parties issue duelling fact-checks as the House returns
• 2012/09/17: Impolitical: Carbon tax madness
• 2012/09/17: TMoS: Sorry, Mr. Mulcair, But That's a Fail
• 2012/09/16: Global: Tory MPs 'are lying' about NDP stance on carbon tax: Mulcair
• 2012/09/16: NatPo: With MPs returning to Parliament Monday, Conservatives prep aggressive attack on NDP's Mulcair
  

  More duplicity:

• 2012/09/20: NatureNB: Canada moves to allay ozone monitoring fears
  [...]
  In September, Environment Canada dissolved its ozone and radiation research group and reassigned the person in charge of the WOUDC. Environment minister Peter Kent has repeatedly told parliament that the ozone monitoring program would continue in a "scientifically acceptable" way and that the WOUDC would continue to deliver "world-class service." Scientists disagreed. "I think we're not meeting the role we signed up for," says Tom Duck, an atmospheric researcher at Dalhousie University, in Canada.
  [...]
  "I don't know how you do world-class work if the scientists who have been doing it have been assigned to other duties. They have to rebuild this expertise and that will take years," says Mark Weber, an atmospheric scientist at the University of Bremen, in Germany, and a member of the WMO's ozone group.
• 
  

  The CNOOC bid for Nexen has been approved by the shareholders. Now the ball is in Harper's court:

   

• 2012/09/21: BBC: Shareholders of Canada's Nexen have approved the takeover bid by China's state-owned CNOOC to acquire the firm in a $15.1bn (£9.3bn) deal
• 2012/09/21: G&M: Foreign suitors circle oil patch as Ottawa weighs Nexen deal
  A number of foreign companies are flocking to Canada's oil patch in search of acquisitions and investments as Ottawa weighs the $15.1-billion takeover of energy company Nexen Inc. by China's CNOOC Ltd.
• 2012/09/20: CBC: Chinese $15B Nexen oil takeover approved by shareholders
  Nexen Inc. shareholders have overwhelmingly voted in favour of a takeover of the Calgary-based energy company by China National Offshore Oil Company. Some 99 per cent of common shareholders voted in favour of CNOOC's $27.50-per-share cash offer, and 87 per cent of preferred shareholders did so. Because of the premium that CNOOC was offering, shareholder approval was largely a formality. But the $15.1-billion takeover still requires approval by the Canadian government under the Investment Canada Act.
• 2012/09/20: BBerg: Nexen Shareholders Approve CNOOC's $15.1 Billion Takeover
• 2012/09/20: CBC: CSIS warns of foreign takeover risks in annual report
  Report comes as shareholders approve Chinese $15B Nexen oil takeover bid
• 2012/09/18: CBC: MPs criticize China's offer for Nexen -- Critics speak out during federal review
  

  The battle over the Northern Gateway pipeline rages on:

• 2012/09/20: ICN: Enbridge Accused at Northern Gateway Hearing of Blocking Environmental Research
• 2012/09/19: G&M: Fight against Northern Gateway pipeline gains star power
  A leading conservation group has recruited a phalanx of well-known Canadians to join its fight against the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline, in a bid to counter past claims by the Harper government that many pipeline opponents are "radical" activists. World Wildlife Fund Canada has signed up Canadians ranging from former Olympic hockey team captain Scott Niedermayer to author Joseph Boyden and economist Jeff Rubin, all of whom have agreed to publicly oppose the pipeline.
• 2012/09/19: PostMedia: [Alberta] Ministers won't comment on questions raised at Gateway hearings -- Critics say gov't trying to minimize debate
  Alberta's provincial government won't comment on questions raised at the Northern Gateway pipeline hearings, such as whether foreign ownership is acceptable to Albertans or whether Enbridge is vastly underestimating the projected cost of cleaning up spills. A lawyer for a B.C. First Nation suggested at the National Energy Board's regulatory hearing that the economic benefit of the pipeline has been significantly overstated. A Prince George engineer told the hearings that carbon emissions could cost $742 million a year, but the province will not say how or if those new developments impact the government's view of the project.
• 2012/09/19: TMoS: BC Opposition to Pipelines - Solid and Building
• 2012/09/18: EnergyBulletin: Report from a meeting in China about the pipelines for oil export from Canada's oil sands
• 2012/09/18: CBC: Enbridge's Northern Gateway benefits questioned at hearing
• 2012/09/17: PostMedia: Carbon emissions estimates vary wildly at Northern Gateway hearings
  Carbon emissions from the proposed Gateway pipeline could cost $742 million a year by the time the bitumen in the pipeline is refined and burned as gasoline, engineer Chris Peters, told a federal hearing into the proposed 585,000 barrel-a day pipeline to the West Coast. But pipeline proponent Calgary-based Enbridge stressed Monday only a fraction of those emissions - about $4 million worth a year - come from the construction and operation of the pipeline. Peters, who runs an engineering in firm in Prince George, B.C., argued the public should be aware of the 37 megatonnes of greenhouse gas emissions that will result from "wells to-wheel " life cycle of the Alberta bitumen that will end up in Chinese refineries and gas tanks. Using Enbridge's figure of $20 a tonne for the cost of carbon emissions, that would total $724 million a year and should be included in the company's cost- benefit analysis, Peters argued at the joint review panel run by the National Energy Board and the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency.
• 2012/09/17: WCEL: Douglas Channel Islands: Enbridge erases, Lori Waters replaces
  

  And the Kinder Morgan expansion:

• 2012/09/18: KamloopsNews: Kinder Morgan accepts conditions but questions remain
  'We've acknowledged the five conditions and are committed to working with the provincial government to meet them'
• 2012/09/20: BCLSB: Kinder Morgan Hurls Pipeline Revenue Hot Potato Back To Alberta, Federal Government
• 2012/09/18: G&M: Opposition to Trans Mountain pipeline nearing Northern Gateway levels
  Once a little-known factor in plans to carry oil to Canada's West Coast, expansion of the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain pipeline now faces a level of public opposition almost as high as Enbridge Inc.'s controversial Northern Gateway project. A new poll finds that 60.3 per cent of British Columbians surveyed are against Gateway, while 49.9 per cent oppose the twinning of the Trans Mountain system, a half-century-old pipe that already carries substantial volumes of Alberta oil to Burnaby, B.C.
• 
  

  Some of the red meat Conservatives are trying to re-open the abortion debate:

   

• 2012/09/21: G&M: Other Tory MPs wade into human being debate
  Many Conservatives, including Prime Minister Stephen Harper, oppose a Tory MP's motion to have Parliament re-examine the legal definition of when a fetus becomes a human being -- a move critics decry as a backdoor attempt to reopen the issue of abortion. Outside the Commons on Friday, a number of Conservatives said they will not stand in favour of the motion crafted by Kitchener MP Stephen Woodworth when it is put to a vote on Wednesday.
• 2012/09/17: DBM: Stephen Woodworth's "science," and why Canada's far-right isn't really interested in it
• 2012/09/17: Canoe: Harper sides with NDP on 'human life' motion
  

  The ISA/PRV/IHN/Alpha virus in Canadian waters is potentially disastrous:

• 2012/09/20: AlexandraMorton: Dear Sue Farlinger: wishing you the guts to step up
  

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

• 2012/09/22: CBC: John van Dongen resigns from B.C. Conservative Party -- John Cummins survives leadership review vote
• 2012/09/22: G&M: B.C. Conservatives' sole MLA quits, citing difficulties with leader Cummins
  The lone MLA for the B.C Conservatives has quit the party, saying leader John Cummins was difficult to work with and lacked the ability to be a good premier. Hours after 71 per cent of voting party members ruled out a leadership review, John van Dongen walked out of the annual general meeting at the Langley Events Centre and said he wouldn't be going back.
• 2012/09/22: TMoS: Angry White Men Go Crazy, Keep Aged Leader, Lose Sole MLA
• 2012/09/22: PostMedia: B.C. Conservatives face judgment in Langley -- Fate of leader and party will depend on decisions at annual general meeting starting today
  Today is a day of reckoning for the B.C. Conservative party, an upstart organization that in the last year has reshaped B.C.'s political landscape, but now threatens to implode under the weight of its own infighting.
• 2012/09/21: Tyee: There's No Doubt It's Set Us Back': Cummins -- BC Conservative leader says he expects to easily face down revolt this weekend
• 2012/09/21: PostMedia: Single gas pipeline and terminal proposed for North would add 3M tonnes of CO2 to atmosphere: report
  A report released Friday on potential greenhouse gas emissions from northern energy projects shows that one liquefied natural gas pipeline and terminal alone would add over three million tonnes of carbon dioxide a year into the atmosphere. Five LNG terminals are under consideration, three at Kitimat and two at Prince Rupert. The entire province of B.C. emits 62 million tonnes according to provincial government figures.
• 2012/09/20: PI: Local climate action in British Columbia: motivations and policy impacts
• 2012/09/20: PI:B: Carbon tax encourages municipal climate action in British Columbia
• 2012/09/20: PostMedia: Climate scientist Andrew Weaver to run for B.C. Greens in Oak Bay-Gordon Head
  The Green Party of B.C. has landed what it expects to be the first of several high-profile candidates in the upcoming provincial election, and he's a local. Andrew Weaver is most famous as a climate scientist. In 2007, he shared the Nobel Peace Prize alongside Al Gore and fellow members of an Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The University of Victoria professor is considered one of the leading, and most-outspoken, experts on global warming.
• 2012/09/20: G&M: B.C. government should hold a fall session
• 2012/09/20: Impolitical: Weaver to run for B.C. Greens
• 2012/09/20: BCLSB: Andrew Weaver To Run For B.C. Greens
• 2012/09/20: CCP: Climate scientist Andrew Weaver to run for B.C. Greens in Oak Bay-Gordon Head
• 2012/09/19: VanObs: Arrested, handcuffed, proud
• 2012/09/19: Tyee: I Broke the Law to Defeat Climate Change
  'White Rock 13' arrestee Lynne Quarmby on why she chose civil disobedience, and why she thinks you should, too. A preview of Friday's public event.
• 2012/09/14: TheCanadian: Haisla First Nation Sign Deal with BC Government to Fast-Track LNG Plant in Kitimat
• 2012/09/17: TheCanadian: Top 10 Reasons to Save Howe Sound's McNab Creek from a Gravel Mine
• 2012/09/19: G&M: B.C.'s Adrian Dix tells business leaders he would raise their taxes
  Business tax increases are "a reality" if the New Democratic Party wins the next B.C. election, says party leader Adrian Dix. Mr. Dix delivered the message at the least-welcoming forum he could find -- a sold-out crowd of business leaders who paid to listen to the politician who could be the province's next premier.
• 
  

  Meanwhile in that Mechanical Mordor known as the tar sands:

   

• 2012/09/21: TheCanadian: Foreign Companies Circle Alberta Tar Sands and BC's Gas Assets
• 2012/09/20: ICN: Koch Brothers Cashing In 220,000 Acres of Tar Sands Holdings
• 2012/09/19: G&M: Canada must prepare for U.S. oil self-sufficiency
• 2012/09/18: DeSmogBlog: Alberta Bitumen Threatens Health of Communities Living Near Refineries in U.S., ForestEthics Reports
• 2012/09/16: TP:JR: Jaw-Dropping Shell Filings Undercut Tar Sands Industry Rhetoric On Pollution
  

  Also in Alberta:

• 2012/09/17: TheCanadian: Cash-Strapped Translink Cutting Back on Expansion Plans
  

  While in Saskatchewan:

• 2012/09/21: SaskBoy: Wall Resource Royalties
  

  In Ontario:

• 2012/09/19: CBC: Ontario Liberals defying environmental rules
  The Liberal government is defying the will of the legislature and ignoring the public's right to be involved in the development of policies to protect the environment, Ontario's [Environmental Commissioner, Gord Miller] said Wednesday.
• 2012/09/13: Rabble: Peterborough: Tritium in the Twilight Zone
  

  While in la Belle Province:

• 2012/09/22: TreeHugger: Quebec's New Government Looks to Ban Fracking
• 2012/09/22: CBC: PQ blasted for closing nuclear reactor -- 'It's not just "my way or the highway" in Quebec,' [Interim Liberal leader, Jean-Marc] Fournier says
• 2012/09/20: PostMedia: 'A beautiful day' for environmentalists -- Shale gas, Gentilly both get the chop
  Environmental activists were celebrating Thursday as Quebec's new government gave an unambiguous thumbs-down to the shale gas industry in the morning and confirmed its intention to quickly shut down the Gentilly-2 nuclear plant in the afternoon. Add to this recent assurances by the new government that asbestos mining will soon be prohibited in the province, and that three former environmental activists have been named to the cabinet, and it's no surprise that some ecologically minded Quebecers are figuratively, if not literally, popping corks.
• 
  

  In the Maritimes:

   

• 2012/09/18: CBC: Abortion assistance offered to Maritime women
  

  In the North:

• 2012/09/19: CBC: Franklin search ends without finding lost ships
  

  As for miscellaneous Canadiana:

• 2012/09/18: Tyee: New Era of Open Access to Public Funded Research -- While world makes ambitious plans for next decade, Canada lags behind
• 2012/09/19: iPolitics: Carney on commodities: 'wrong conclusions ... could do a lot of damage'
  

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

• 2012/09/16: RWER: What's happening to the Mondragon cooperatives during the present crisis in Spain?
  

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

• 2012/09/21: CCurrents: Overpopulation: Food Crisis And Future Hunger Wars
• 2012/09/17: EnergyBulletin: Full planet, empty plates: The new geopolitics of food scarcity (new book chapter) by Lester Brown
  

  How are we going to deal with this mess?

• 2012/09/22: C&S: "Saving Humanity" or "Where's my Handout"
• 2012/09/21: LoE: Time to raft up - Part 2
• 2012/09/20: LoE: Time to raft up - Part 1
• 2012/09/18: TMoS: I'm Pretty Sure
  I'm pretty sure, not betting sure but close, that I'm still going to make it out of here before this place of mine gets heavily hit by climate change.
• 
  

  How do the media measure up?

   

• 2012/09/22: SciAm:Obs: Fox News Distorts Climate Science; in Other News, the Pope Is Catholic
• 2012/09/21: UCSUSA: Got Science? Not at News Corporation
  Representations of climate science on Fox News Channel and in the Wall Street Journal opinion pages are overwhelmingly misleading
• 2012/09/21: UCSUSA: [link to 837k pdf] Science Group Calls on News Corp. to Improve Climate Science Content
  Analysis Shows Fox News, Wall Street Journal' Opinion Pages Heavily Misrepresent Climate Science
• 2012/09/21: TP:JR: PBS NewsHour Science Reporter Miles O'Brien: Climate Denier Segment A 'Horrible, Horrible Thing'
• 2012/09/19: DeSmogBlog: Petroleum Broadcasting System's "Newshour" and the Merchants of Climate Doubt
• 2012/09/17: PuckerClust: My letter to PBS
• 2012/09/19: TreeHugger: Trump's Anti-Wind Ad Gets Trumped by UK Advertising Standards Authority
• 2012/09/21: EconView: 'Primetime Fox News And WSJ Editorial Climate Coverage Mostly Wrong'
• 2012/09/19: PSinclair: Here's a Twist. TV Station Tweaks, Trashes, Troglodytic Trump Turbine Tweet
• 2012/09/17: DeSmogBlog: PBS NewsHour Falls Into "Balance" Trap, Provides Megaphone For Anthony Watts
• 2012/09/17: TP:JR: False Balance Lives: In Worst Climate Story Of The Year, PBS Channels Fox News
• 2012/09/17: DeSmogBlog: Chronicle of Higher Education: Chronic Soapbox for Smears Against Climate Scientists
  

  And for your film & video enjoyment:

• 2012/09/22: PSinclair: The Weekend Wonk: Jennifer Francis on Arctic Sea Ice
• 2012/09/21: ASI: (not so) Cool vids
• 2012/09/20: PSinclair: The Planetary Emergency
• 2012/09/20: TP:JR: Video: In Creepy Coal World, Billionaires Use The Great Barrier Reef As Their Own Private Ride
• 2012/09/19: CSW: "Greedy Lying Bastards"
• 2012/09/20: 350orBust: The Emerging Arctic World Order
• 2012/09/18: TreeHugger: Tornado + Brush Fire = Fire Devil (Video)
• 2012/09/18: PSinclair: NOAA Releases Sea Ice Visualization for 2012
• 2012/09/18: PSinclair: Kerry Emanuel: Climate Change Pumping Intensity of Hurricanes
• 2012/09/17: PSinclair: At Michigan's Largest Wind Farm, Those Crickets are Driving me Crazy
  

  Meanwhile among the 'Sue the Bastards!' contingent:

• 2012/09/22: TreeHugger: Shell Sues Greenpeace to Stop More Anti-Oil Drilling Protests
• 2012/09/20: EENews: Lawyers go west as climate litigation warms up
• 2012/09/21: Yahoo:AP: Shell sues Greenpeace to stop Arctic protests -- Shell sues Greenpeace in Dutch court to halt demonstrations against Arctic drilling
• 2012/09/21: CBC: Shell sues Greenpeace to stop Arctic protests
• 2012/09/19: NatureNB: Taiwan scientist faces libel trial
  Ben-Jei Tsuang, an environmental engineer at Taiwan's National Chung-Hsing University, will appear in a Taipei courtroom tomorrow for the fourth hearing in a libel lawsuit filed against him by the petro-chemical company Formosa Plastic Group (FPG). FPG's lawyers have asked for $1.33 million in damages. Two of FPG's affiliates sued Tsuang for defamation in April, after the scientist presented evidence of increased cancer risk, related to heavy metals and dioxins released into the air, close to FPG's plants. These results were presented at a scientific conference in December 2010 and in a press conference in November 2011, and are currently submitted for publication. Tsuang's results were part of the expert evidence considered by Taiwan Environmental Protection Agency, in assessing the impact of the Kuokuang project, a petrochemical infrastructure project that was finally cancelled in May 2012. Tsuang is also facing a criminal complaint filed by the same companies. It was rejected by Taipei District Prosecutor's Office in June, but FPG has appealed to the High Court.
• 2012/09/17: Reuters: Brazil oil agency ANP appeals Transocean, Chevron oil spill ban
  Brazil's petroleum regulator ANP appealed an injunction on Monday banning Transocean Ltd (RIG.N) and Chevron Corp (CVX.N) from operating in Brazil on the grounds the ban would harm oil exploration in the country, ANP chief Magda Chambriard said.
• 2012/09/18: TreeHugger: Chevron Fined a Measly $17.3 Million For Oil Spill in Brazil
  

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

• 2012/09/20: TWTB: Natural Gas Doesn't Mean the End of Global Warming
• 2012/09/21: IBTimes: U.S. Electricity Generation Wastes Huge Amounts of Scarce Water, Other Hidden Costs Also Imposed
• 2012/09/19: CBC: Maine pushes tidal power project
  Ocean Renewable Power's generator can provide electricity for roughly 25 to 30 homes
• 
  

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

   

• 2012/09/22: TreeHugger: Quebec's New Government Looks to Ban Fracking
• 2012/09/20: NYT: New York State Plans Health Review as It Weighs Gas Drilling
  After four years of study by the state, the Cuomo administration now says its decision on whether to allow high-volume hydraulic fracturing in New York will have to wait until it conducts a review of the potential public health effects of the controversial natural gas drilling process.
• 2012/09/20: ProPublica: The Trillion-Gallon Loophole: Lax Rules for Drillers that Inject Pollutants Into the Earth
• 2012/09/20: EUO: MEPs' report casts doubt on EU shale revolution
• 2012/09/20: DeSmogBlog: Deepening Doubts About Fracked Shale Gas Wells' Long Term Prospects
• 2012/09/20: TheCanadian: Fracking Wastewater Used in Ohio Full of Radium
• 2012/09/18: Grist: Fracking FAQ: The science and technology behind the natural gas boom
• 2012/09/18: ABC(Au): "Fracking" will be scrutinised says [Deputy Premier and Nationals' leader, Andrew] Stoner
  A state-wide ban on hydraulic fracturing in NSW has been lifted under the state government's new Strategic Regional Land Use Policy.
• 2012/09/18: OilChange: Fracking ... Its Not Actually About Sex
• 2012/09/17: JFleck: Shale gas, groundwater and real estate values
  

  On the coal front:

• 2012/09/21: WSWS: Alpha Natural Resources closing eight [lignite coal] mines, laying off 1,200
• 2012/09/20: OregonLive: Coal-fired power plant in Montana to shutter in 2015
  PPL Montana plans to mothball its 154-megawatt coal-fired power plant in Billings when new federal emission standards take effect in 2015.
• 2012/09/17: OilDrum: Tech Talk - China's Coal Industry
  

  On the gas and oil front:

• 2012/09/21: BBerg: Closing oil prices Friday
  OIL (US$/bbl)
  Nymex Crude Future...92.89
  Dated Brent Spot....112.29
  WTI Cushing Spot.....92.61
• 2012/09/23: OilDrum: Tech Talk - conclusions on the Chinese energy situation
• 2012/09/23: PeakEnergy: The Pricing of Crude Oil
• 2012/09/22: SLTrib: Spiking oil
• 2012/09/21: BBerg: Oil Trims Biggest Drop Since June as Losses Considered Excessive
• 2012/09/20: Grist: Shell building world's biggest ship that will sail on ever-higher seas - a floating liquefied natural gas plant
• 2012/09/16: RI: Tar sands, oil shale, and heavy oil: Why the conventional wisdom about unconventional oil is likely to be wrong
• 2012/09/19: EarlyWarning: Latest Saudi Oil Production
• 2012/09/16: CCurrents: Will Saudi Arabia Become An Oil Importer By 2030?
• 2012/09/19: BBC: Uganda confirms new oil deposits
  Uganda has confirmed the discovery of an additional one billion barrels of oil in the country. In 2010, it had announced it had discovered commercially viable deposits of 2.5 billion barrels.
• 2012/09/17: CSM: Conventional wisdom about unconventional oil is probably wrong
• 2012/09/16: EnergyBulletin: Tar sands, oil shale, and heavy oil: Why the conventional wisdom about unconventional oil is likely to be wrong
  

  Regarding oil and the economy:

• 2012/09/19: EconBrowser: Thresholds in the economic effects of oil prices
• 2012/09/19: EnergyBulletin: The close tie between energy consumption, employment, and recession
  

  And in pipeline news:

• 2012/09/20: TP:JR: Investigation: Pipeline Detection Systems Miss 9 Out Of 10 Spills
• 2012/09/19: DeSmogBlog: Enbridge Expands Ruptured Tar Sands Line to Move Bitumen East Along Trailbreaker Route
• 2012/09/19: al Jazeera: Dozens killed in Mexico pipeline fire
  At least 26 killed and 46 others injured in explosion at state-owned natural gas facility in country's north.
• 
  

  Yes we have a peak oil sighting:

   

• 2012/09/20: EnergyBulletin: The peak oil crisis: A new malaise
• 2012/09/17: EnergyBulletin: South East Asian oil peak in the rear view mirror (part 1)
  

  Biofuel bickering abounds:

• 2012/09/22: CSM: EU limits use of biofuels
• 2012/09/18: MWEN: What biofuel is the best to move nations forward?
  

  The answer my friend...:

• 2012/09/21: TreeHugger: Direct Drive Wind Turbine Design Could Transform Offshore Wind
• 2012/09/19: PSinclair: Here's a Twist. TV Station Tweaks, Trashes, Troglodytic Trump Turbine Tweet
• 2012/09/18: Reuters: Vestas says to cut 650 Danish jobs by end-Sept
  Danish wind turbine manufacturer Vestas expects to shed about 650 jobs in Denmark by the end of September as part of announced plans to reduce its workforce globally by about 3,700 [to about 19,000] by year-end, the company said on Tuesday.
• 
  

  Meanwhile among the solar aficionados:

   

• 2012/09/22: Grist: Why is rooftop solar cheaper in Germany than in the U.S.?
• 2012/09/21: NBF: Various portable solar chargers for under $100 to charge tablets, smartphones and laptops
• 2012/09/19: EnergyBulletin: Blow-by-Blow PV System Efficiency: A Case Study for Storage by Tom Murphy
• 2012/09/21: OilDrum: Blow-by-Blow PV System Efficiency: A Case Study for Storage by Tom Murphy
  

  The nuclear energy controversy continues:

• 2012/09/21: Eureka: 23 nuclear power plants are in tsunami risk areas [worldwide]
• 2012/09/: Springer:NH: (ab$) Civil nuclear power at risk of tsunamis by Joaquin Rodriguez-Vidal et al.
• 2012/09/22: EneNews: Massive blaze burns through former uranium site in US — Idaho Official: There may be 'minor' increase in radioactivity levels - No firefighting going on as more contaminated areas threatened (video)
• 2012/09/22: APR: Three Mile Island Unit 1 shutdown: Details
• 2012/09/21: NBF: Canada Bruce A1 reactor working again but the Gentilly 2 reactor will be shut
• 2012/09/18: TreeHugger: US Nuclear Facilities at Greater Than Expected Risk From Flooding Due to Dam Failure: Whistleblower
• 2012/09/13: Reuters: Second Belgian reactor has indications of cracks
• 2012/09/17: CCurrents: Belgium Shuts Two Nuclear Reactors Amid Safety Concerns
• 2012/09/17: CCurrents: The Worst Week For The World's Nuclear Industry
• 2012/09/18: DM:80B: How To Harvest Uranium from the Ocean
• 2012/09/16: NBF: Path to Affordable uranium from seawater
  

  Nuclear fusion projects around the world limp along:

• 2012/09/18: NBF: Sandia Magnetized Liner Inertial Fusion targets breakeven by end of 2013
• 2012/09/18: SciNow: A Step Forward for Fusion
• 2012/09/17: Eureka: Dry-run experiments verify key aspect of Sandia nuclear fusion concept -- Scientific 'break-even' or better is near-term goal
  

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

• 2012/09/19: AutoBG: Infographic: California hydrogen fuel cell group lays out H2 vehicle roadmap
  

  More people are talking about the electrical grid:

• 2012/09/19: ABC(Au): Smart Cities team up on energy research
• 2012/09/19: ICN: U.S. Southwest Needs Power Lines to Become Solar Hub
• 2012/09/17: BBerg: Blackouts Spur $18 Billion Power Grid Upgrade: Corporate India
  Power Grid Corp. of India Ltd., the nation's largest electricity transmission company, may exceed a 1 trillion rupee ($18 billion) spending plan to upgrade its network and avoid a repeat of the world's biggest blackout.
• 
  

  And then there is the matter of efficiency & conservation:

   

• 2012/09/21: CSM: Fuel efficiency could jump 50 percent by 2040 [says IEA]
  

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

• 2012/09/22: AutoBG: EDTA: Yes, federal tax incentives spur alt-fuel vehicle sales
• 2012/09/21: AutoBG: CBO wonders if $7.5 billion in Federal plug-in vehicle support is worth it
• 2012/09/21: SciAm:Obs: Are Chevy Volts Really Cheaper and Cleaner? A Case Study
• 2012/09/20: AutoBG: Nissan drivers confirm heat taking toll on Leaf batteries
• 2012/09/20: AutoBG: Forbes columnist takes stab at GM's 'scams' with Chevy Volt sales numbers
• 2012/09/19: AutoBG: GM helped push record Chevy Volt sales in August by using dealer incentives
• 2012/09/19: EurActiv: IEA: Government support 'crucial' for electric cars roll-out
  Public subsidies, legislative innovations and consumer education are vital for the development of Europe's fledgling electric cars industry, an energy analyst at the International Energy Agency (IEA) has told EurActiv.
• 2012/09/18: EurActiv: Don't it make our green cars brown?
  Electric cars are an axiom of clean transport planning - they produce no tailpipe emissions, little localised air pollution and, potentially, no greenhouse gas output. But as their critics point out, they are only as green as the electricity that they use.
• 2012/09/18: PSinclair: Chevy Volt Sales Catching Fire
• 2012/09/17: AutoBG: Ford champions reduction in rare earth metals in next-gen hybrids
• 2012/09/17: AutoBG: As owners sell, [Carlos] Ghosn promises cheaper battery for next-gen Nissan Leaf
• 2012/09/17: EurActiv: US electric car industry poised to overtake Europe
  A new US fuel efficiency standard finalised by the Obama administration last month will jolt America's nascent electric car industry to life, but could leave European auto manufacturers racing to catch up, analysts and industry sources say.
• 
  

  Two items in the Gee Whiz File this week. First the possibility of high temperature superconductivity:

   

• 2012/09/18: NBF: Doped graphite may superconduct at up to 230 degrees celsius
• 2012/09/18: NatureN: 'Tantalizing' hints of room-temperature superconductivity -- Doped graphite may superconduct at more than 100 ºC
• 2012/09/05: WOL:AM: (ab$) Can Doping Graphite Trigger Room Temperature Superconductivity? Evidence for Granular High-Temperature Superconductivity in Water-Treated Graphite Powder by T. Scheike et al.
  

  This story got a bit of buzz, but note what the scientist himself says:

• 2012/09/19: NatureN: Out of disorder comes electricty -- Nanostructured thermoelectric material breaks record for turning heat into electricity
  [...]
  Building a better thermoelectric depends on finding materials that conduct electricity, but not heat. According to Mercouri Kanatzidis, a chemist at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, the way to do that may be to introduce disorder into the materials' structure.
  [...]
  [A California Institute of Technology materials scientist, Jeff] Snyder says that the group's approach of introducing disorder is clearly the way to increase efficiency. "What they're describing is what we modern thermoelectricians believe is the perfect thermoelectric," he says. That doesn't mean that the material is ready to be used...
  [...]
  Kanatzidis is more optimistic. "I think the materials that we have today are good enough for applications," he says. "My belief is that in about two to three years we will have something."
• 2012/09/20: ABC(Au): New record for turning heat into power
• 2012/09/19: SciNow: Materials for Converting Waste Heat to Energy Pass Critical Milestone
• 2012/09/19: NatureN: Out of disorder comes electricity -- Nanostructured thermoelectric material breaks record for turning heat into electricity
• 2012/09/20: DM:80B: New Material Will Finally Let Us Convert Waste Heat to Electricity
• 2012/09/19: NBF: Commercializable Thermoelectric material could convert 20% of waste heat into Electricity
  

  As for Energy Storage:

• 2012/09/21: AutoBG: Johnson Controls SC recycling center can process 14m vehicle batteries a year
• 2012/09/18: TreeHugger: Toshiba Unveils Home Battery System for Back-Up Power
  

  The reaction of business to climate change will be critical:

• 2012/09/18: UCSUSA:B: Solar Power Gets Down to Business
  

  Insurance and re-insurance companies are feeling the heat:

• 2012/09/20: BWeek: Insurers Pressed to Take Lead in Tempering Climate Risk
• 2012/09/17: ICN: Crop Insurance Losses Begin to Mount Amid Drought
  

  Who's fielding theFAQs?

• 2012/09/19: Guardian(UK): How will climate change affect food production?
• 2012/09/17: Guardian(UK): What is the state of international climate talks?
  

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

• 2012/09/21: TP:JR: Sept. 21 News...
• 2012/09/20: TP:JR: Sept. 20 News...
• 2012/09/19: TP:JR: Sept. 19 News...
• 2012/09/18: TP:JR: Sept. 18 News...
• 2012/09/17: TP:JR: Sept. 17 News...
  

  Other (weekly) lists:

• 2012/09/23: SkS: 2012 SkS Weekly News Round-Up #2
• 2012/09/21: EnergyBulletin: ODAC Newsletter
• 2012/09/18: BPA: Agriculture News
• 2012/09/19: SkS: 2012 SkS Weekly News Round-Up #1 by John Hartz
  

  The carbon lobby are up to the usual:

• 2012/09/23: C&S: Watts & Co Misuse of Blogs
• 2012/09/23: UKISS: OH NO! Not another big announcement!
• 2012/09/23: PSinclair: Look for more of this. Switching from Denial, to Adaptation, to "The End of Days"
• 2012/09/22: DM:BA: The puzzle of dogma
• 2012/09/22: UKISS: Jo Nova's double standards
• 2012/09/21: AFTIC: Is Steve McIntyre an expert statistician?
• 2012/09/21: PSinclair: Dissecting Anthony Watt's Pathetic Climate Disinformation on PBS
• 2012/09/21: PSinclair: Climate Denier: "HIV does not cause AIDS"
• 2012/09/20: ERabett: Willard Tony and Dr. Who
• 2012/09/20: UKISS: Jo Nova ... just another paranoid denier
• 2012/09/20: DM:BA: Let those global warming dollars flow
• 2012/09/20: GReadfearn: Dig, Burn, Melt, Drill, Burn, Melt. Repeat.
• 2012/09/20: Tamino: Poles Apart
• 2012/09/20: UKISS: Jo Nova...censoring comments too?
• 2012/09/18: LA Times: The curious blindness of climate deniers
• 2012/09/19: UKISS: and they turned their eyes to the South
• 2012/09/17: QuarkSoup: The CharlesH Problem
  

  There's still some life in the Lewandowsky circus:

• 2012/09/22: ITracker: Quantifying Lewandowsky madness
• 2012/09/19: APS: Misinformation: Psychological Science Shows Why It Sticks and How to Fix It [L & ]
• 2012/09/18: EnvEcon: Was Adam Smith a climate denier?
• 2012/09/17: WtD: Dear Marc Morano: we say climate change, you say NASA moon walkers! NASA! Moon walkers! NASA, HOAX!
  

  As for climate miscellanea:

• 2012/09/22: SimpleC: Warming cost estimates cheat our children
• 2012/09/20: CSM: Is CO2 a latent gaseous gold?
  [...] Ironically, it seems that the gas we're all so keen to cut down on could be the next hot commodity in industry, as an increasing number of industrial processes make use of carbon dioxide.
• 2012/09/20: BBerg: Tortoises Manhandled for Solar Splits Environmentalists
• 2012/09/21: OilChange: Boom goes the oil industry, bust goes the climate
• 2012/09/21: EnergyBulletin: Why we cannot save the world
• 2012/09/22: QuarkSoup: Climate Change, the Future, and Japan
• 2012/09/18: Grist: Alison Gannett: Extreme skier turned climate hawk
  

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

• Earth Island Institute
• Wiki: Primary Production - GPP & NPP
• EmbargoWatch - Keeping an eye on how scientific information embargoes affect news coverage
• Stephen Leahy, International Environmental Journalist
• Wiki: 2,4-D -- 2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid
• Maven's Notebook -- Dispatches from the water world and beyond
• EIA:CAB: South China Sea
• EIA:CAB: East China Sea
• MidWest Energy News
• TDC: The Daily Climate
• Cool Planet
• USDA: Plant Hardiness Zone Map - Interactive
• TheFERN: Food and Environment Reporting Network
• Tornado History Project: Maps and Statistics
• Wiki: Ogallala Aquifer
• CLAMER: Climate Change Impacts on Marine Ecosystems: Research
• CAN: Climate Action Network Canada
• DOE: Natural Gas Subcommittee of the Secretary of Energy Advisory Board

Low Key Plug

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

<regards>

-het

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

I notice moyhu has set up a monster index to old AWoGWN on AFTIC.

"Now You See It, Soon You Won't: The Arctic Ice cap, which was supposed to hang around to 2100, or 2050 or at least 2030, is now likely to be gone in four years. By 2015/16. But don't worry, it's just one of those lies the climate change people keep telling, like heat waves and droughts." - Charles Kingsley Michaelson, III

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