Another Week of GW News, October 21, 2012

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 in the Ecological Crisis

Information Overload is Pattern Recognition

October 21, 2012

• Chuckles, COP18+, CBD-COP11, Mayor, Knight, OIF, Uranium, GCF, Cook
• Fukushima Note, Fukushima News, Nuclear Policy
• Melting Arctic, Polar Bears, Methane, Geopolitics, Antarctica
• Food: Crisis, Fisheries, Prices, Food vs. Biofuel, GMOs, GMO Labelling, Production
• Hurricanes, Temperatures, Feedbacks, Aerosols, Paleoclimate
• ENSO, Climate Sensitivity, Tipping Points, Biosphere, Extinctions
• Impacts, Forests, Climate Refugees, Disease, Wacky Weather, Extreme Weather, Phenology
• Tornadoes, Wildfires, Corals, Acidification, Sea Levels, Floods & Droughts
• Transportation, Geoengineering, Conservation
• Journals, Other Docs, Misc. Science, Models, Open Science, Ovshinsky
• International Politics: UN, Carbon Trade, Carbon Tax, Bank Tax, Hormuz
• South China Sea, EU ETS, Solar Spat, Security, Activism, Polls, H2O Biz, Predictions
• National Politics: America, BP Disaster, 2012, Gas Prices, Keystone, Birth Control, Coal Exports, Obama, USAdmin
• Britain, Europe, Australia, Carbon Law, Murray-Darling, India, China, Middle East
• Canada, NRTEE, C-45, FIPPA, Petronas, CNOOC-Nexen, Northern Gateway
• Salmon, BC, Tar Sands, Alberta, Sask, Ontario, Maritimes, Canadiana
• Ecological Economics, IPAT, Fixes, Media, Books, Video, Podcasts, Courts
• Energy, Fracking, Coal, Oil & Gas, Oil & the Economy, Pipelines, Peak Oil, Biofuel
• Wind, Solar, Nukes, Nuclear Waste, Grid, Efficiency, Cars, Energy Storage
• Business, Insurance, FAQs, Joe's List, Carbon Lobby, Misc., Useful Links
• Shameless Self Promotion, .sig

 

Laugh. I dare ya:

• 2012/10/21: uComics: (cartoon - Trudeau) MyFacts
  

  Looking ahead to COP18 and future international climate negotiations:

• 2012/10/18: KoreaHerald: Environmental ministers to gather in Seoul
  Environmental ministers from more than 40 countries are to gather in Seoul next week for a meeting on climate change. The upcoming meeting is in preparation for the 18th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, more widely called COP18, to be held in Doha, Qatar, at the end of the year.
• 2012/10/18: Google:AFP: Russia hints plans to quit Kyoto Protocol
• 2012/10/18: Google:AFP: World 'not on track' for temperature target: UN
• 2012/10/16: TMoS: The Dalai Lama Calls for Climate Change Action by All World Leaders, Even Ours
• 2012/10/15: Eureka: Climate negotiations relying on 'dangerous' thresholds to avoid catastrophe will not succeed
  

  The UN Convention on Biodiversity had a meeting at Hyderabad this week:

• 2012/10/20: TGRI: Biodiversity Preservation Gains Momentum
  The Convention on Biological Diversity (COP11) that concluded on Friday October 19, at the Indian city of Hyderabad had agreements made on all main topics under negotiation.
• 2012/10/19: CDreams: Biodiversity Conference Ends With 'False Solutions,' says Friends of the Earth
  Crunch time to make decisions but developed countries wrangle over financial commitments
• 2012/10/19: NYT: How to Catch Fish and Save Fisheries
• 2012/10/18: TreeHugger: Genetically Modified Tree Ban Urged at UN Convention on Biodiversity
• 2012/10/17: IUCNRedList: Madagascar's palms near extinction
• 2012/10/16: IUCNRedList: Primates in peril -- conservationists reveal the world's 25 most endangered primates
• 2012/10/16: SciAm:EC: Cost to Prevent All Future Extinctions: $11 per Person?
• 2012/10/15: IndiaTimes: Climate engineering to reverse global warming may impact biodiversity: Experts
  

  The Mayor et al. paper rates a 3 on the 5 step Wnatt [likely to be twisted] scale:

• 2012/10/16: Nature:Comms: (ab$) Regional boreal biodiversity peaks at intermediate human disturbance by S.J. Mayor et al.
• 2012/10/16: CBC: Human intrusion in Alberta forest can help biodiversity, study says
• 2012/10/16: Eureka: Boreal forest bends to development but there is a breaking point
  

  The Knight & Harrison paper ruffled a few feathers:

• 2012/10/14: Nature:CC: The impacts of climate change on terrestrial Earth surface systems by Jasper Knight & Stephan Harrison
• 2012/10/18: Yahoo:ANI: Too late to stop global warming by cutting emissions, say experts
• 2012/10/17: Eureka: Too late to stop global warming by cutting emissions -- Scientists argue for adaption policies
  

  Lots of chatter about Russ George and his OIF project:

• 2012/10/19: ClimateEngineering(EU): [press review] Iron fertilization in Canada
• 2012/10/19: CBC: West Coast ocean fertilization project defended
  Dumping iron dust off B.C. coast violated no laws or treaties, leaders say The leaders of a controversial ocean fertilization project off the west coast of British Columbia say they have not violated any Canadian or international laws. In July, the Haida Salmon Restoration Corporation (HSRC), in conjunction with American businessman Russ George, dumped about 100 tonnes of iron dust into the Pacific Ocean.
• 2012/10/19: Guardian(UK): US businessman defends controversial geoengineering experiment [Lukacs]
• 2012/10/19: Guardian(UK): Profitable climate fixes are too tempting for rogue geoengineers to resist
• 2012/10/20: GEP: Haida Experiment Appears to Violate CBD and LC/LP
• 2012/10/19: GEP: Haida Scandal Appears Uninfluential in Hyderabad
• 2012/10/19: G&M: Experiment to seed Pacific defended
  Russ George, who designed a controversial ocean fertilization experiment now under investigation by Environment Canada, says he is being vilified for daring to go where none have gone before. But he is not backing away from his research project or apologizing for the way the project was conducted, off the coast of British Columbia, saying that he is out to save the world's oceans and demonstrate how to halt global warming.
• 2012/10/19: WpgFP: Feds, Haida at odds over program that saw iron dust deposited in ocean
• 2012/10/19: GEP: Haida Scandal Appears Uninfluential in Hyderabad
• 2012/10/18: GEP: ETC Group Goes After Canadian Government
• 2012/10/18: P3: Against ETC's Credibility on Geoengineering
• 2012/10/18: GEP: ETC Group Goes After Canadian Government
• 2012/10/18: DM:80B: Rogue Geoengineer Illegally Dumped Tons of Iron Into the Pacific in July
• 2012/10/18: ERabett: Rogue geoengineering and scrivener's error
• 2012/10/18: P3: BC Iron Fertilization: Science Experiment, Business Opportunity, or Uncontrolled Geoengineering?
• 2012/10/17: CBC: Iron fertilization project in Pacific known to government -- Environment Canada says it will investigate unauthorized dumping
• 2012/10/17: Guardian(UK): Canadian government 'knew of plans to dump iron into the Pacific' [Lukacs]
• 2012/10/17: GEP: OIF Accusations Fly at CBD COP11
• 2012/10/15: DSN: Here We Go Again With Dumping Iron Into the Ocean
• 2012/10/16: Maribo: Is the iron fertilization project off Haida Gwaii a science experiment, business opportunity, or uncontrolled geoengineering?
• 2012/10/15: CBC: Iron fertilization project stirs West Coast controversy -- Project intended to raise nutrient levels offshore for salmon population
• 2012/10/15: TreeHugger: Ocean Geoengineering Experiment Likely Broke International Law
• Haida Salmon Restoration Corporation
• 2012/10/16: PostMedia: Geoengineering experiment off B.C. coast called 'blatant violation' of UN rules
  A private company has conducted what is being described as the world's biggest geoengineering experiment off Canada's west coast, dumping tonnes of iron into the ocean that may have triggered an artificial plankton bloom up to 10,000 square kilometres in size. The experiment, which critics say is a "blatant violation" of United Nations rules, involves controversial Californian businessman Russ George who teamed up with a First Nations village on Haida Gwaii to establish the Haida Salmon Restoration Corporation to run the project. Environment Canada said Monday it is aware of "the incident," which is reported to have entailed dumping 100 tonnes of iron sulphate into the sea in a scheme to enhance both plankton and salmon and generate lucrative carbon credits.
• 2012/10/15: P3: Geoengineering and Carbon Sequestration
• 2012/10/15: Guardian(UK): World's biggest geoengineering experiment 'violates' UN rules [Likacs]
  Controversial US businessman's iron fertilisation off west coast of Canada contravenes two UN conventions
• 
  

  It looks like Australia is going to ignore the fact India has refused the NPT and the CTBT:

   

• 2012/10/18: CSM: Australia, India to begin uranium talks
  India and Australia agreed Wednesday to begin negotiations on civil nuclear energy cooperation that would eventually allow the export of Australian uranium to the energy-starved South Asian nation. Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard met with her Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh on the last day of a three-day visit. They discussed strategic and economic ties in addition to nuclear energy.
• 2012/10/16: CCurrents: CNDP Appeals To The Australian PM Against Uranium Export to India
• 2012/10/15: ABC(Au): PM paves the way for uranium sales to India
  The Australian Prime Minister's three-day visit to India is expected to pave the way for an agreement to allow India to buy Australian uranium. Julia Gillard is due to have talks with her Indian counterpart and senior ministers.
• 
  

  THere has been some movement on the GCF front:

   

• Green [Global?] Climate Fund
• 2012/10/20: KoreaHerald: S. Korea selected as host of GCF secretariat
• 2012/10/20: SwissInfo: Geneva's ambitions of hosting a new United Nations climate fund have been dashed by a decision to house the environmental centre in South Korea
• 2012/10/20: BBerg: UN's Green Climate Fund Plans Headquarters in South Korea
  The board of the United Nations' Green Climate Fund, set up to channel $100 billion in aid annually to developing nations by 2020, proposed South Korea as the site of its planned headquarters. The selection of Songdo, Incheon City, will be presented for approval at the UN climate summit scheduled to start on Nov. 26 in Doha, Qatar, the board said today in a statement.
• 2012/10/16: EENews: U.S. pushes against Germany in looming decision to locate climate fund [GCF]
  The United States is lobbying against Bonn, Germany, in its bid to become the headquarters for the Green Climate Fund, several delegates involved in the decision said this week. Germany is among six nations jockeying to house the potentially multibillion-dollar fund, and Bonn is considered -- along with Songdo, South Korea, and Geneva, Switzerland -- a top contender. But board members and activists said the Obama administration opposes Bonn because the city also is is home to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change. While some view that as a plus, U.S. leaders worry that the UNFCCC would be too close for comfort, possibly influencing the new fund and likely dissuading Congress from putting money in it.
• 
  

  John Cook and friends continue their point-counterpoint articles:

   

• 2012/10/21: SkS: 2012 SkS Weekly News Round-Up #6 by John Hartz
• 2012/10/21: SkS: The Climate Show #29 by Gareth
• 2012/10/20: SkS: Salby's ratio by Tom Curtis
• 2012/10/19: SkS: What Role Did the Arctic Storm Play in the Record Sea Ice Minimum? by dana1981, Albatross
• 2012/10/18: SkS: A workshop for educators on debunking misinformation
• 2012/10/18: SkS: The Future We All Want by Fabiano
• 2012/10/17: SkS: Misleading Daily Mail Article Pre-Bunked by Nuccitelli et al. (2012) by dana1981
• 2012/10/16: SkS: New research from last week 41/2012 by Ari Jokimäki
• 2012/10/15: SkS: French translation of The Debunking Handbook
  

  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:

   

• 2012/10/18: EneNews: Kyodo: "If we find where the molten nuclear fuel is located, it will give us a clue" says researcher -- Detectors to locate corium already placed near Reactors 1 and 2 in May by Los Alamos Lab
• 2012/10/18: JapanTimes: Cosmic rays eyed to locate nuke fuel melt
  Researchers from Los Alamos National Laboratory have developed a method to use cosmic rays to locate molten nuclear fuel within the crippled reactors at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, the U.S. institute said Wednesday. Monitoring data for a month or two by placing a pair of muon particle detectors in front of and behind the reactor buildings and the containment vessels will provide detailed images of the inside of the damaged reactors, it said.
• 2012/10/17: UPI: Cosmic rays could probe Fukushima reactors
  U.S. researchers say cosmic rays could be used to gather detailed information from inside the damaged cores of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear reactors in Japan. Scientists from the Los Alamos National Laboratory said a process called muon radiography could provide a look inside the reactors that were heavily damaged in March 2011 by a tsunami that followed a huge earthquake. Muon radiography, also called cosmic-ray radiography, uses secondary particles generated when cosmic rays collide with upper regions of Earth's atmosphere to create images of the objects that the particles, called muons, penetrate, a Los Alamos lab release said Wednesday.
• 2012/10/17: EneNews: Man from Fukushima Chokes Up: The children are radioactive -- People that stayed are in denial -- We received hate mail for leaving (video)
• 2012/10/17: EneNews: Los Alamos Lab: We can find Fukushima corium with x-ray type image -- "No core" a possibility? (photos)
• 2012/10/16: EneNews: Highly radioactive water spews from pipe in Fukushima Unit 3 turbine building (photo)
• 2012/10/17: EneNews: Red Cross labels Fukushima disaster "ongoing humanitarian crisis" -- Physician: "Difficult to reveal what potential health effects may occur long term" -- Official: "It has not ended"
• 2012/10/16: EneNews: Japan Reporter at Fukushima Plant: Reactor building's steel frame is "severely crushed" - Getting to see structure in person made a great impact
  

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

• 2012/10/15: SciAm:CC: No Nukes + No Fracking = More Coal? Indian Point Debate Highlights Green Quandary
• 2012/10/15: CSM: Germany's push to end nuclear power comes with a hefty utility bill
  

  The Arctic melt continues to garner attention:

• 2012/10/19: ASI: What role did the Arctic storm play in the record sea ice minimum?
• 2012/10/17: NatGeo: Northernmost Lake Resurrected Due to Warming -- Algae in Greenland lake bouncing back after deep freeze, study finds
• 2012/10/15: EarlyWarning: US Distillate Situation and Arctic Sea Ice
• 2012/10/15: ASI: Record dominoes 12: CT SIA anomaly
• 2012/10/15: Tamino: Arctic Winter
• 2012/10/14: TheCanadian: Shrinking Arctic Sea Ice
  

  As for the charismatic megafauna:

• 2012/10/19: ADN: Judges skeptical as Alaska argues to keep polar bear off 'threatened' list
  A lawyer arguing for the state of Alaska that polar bears are not a threatened species ran into skeptical appeals court judges Friday. Alaska, along with hunting groups and others, is appealing the 2011 decision by a federal judge that the government correctly listed polar bears under the federal Endangered Species Act. It's a case with major implications because polar bears are the first, and so far only, species listed solely on the basis of threats from global warming. Polar bears are not today on the brink. But the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says sea ice melting means two-thirds of the world's polar bears could be gone by 2050.
• 2012/10/16: TheCanadian: Russian Scientist: Polar Bears Will Go Extinct Within Decades
  

  That Damoclean sword still hangs overhead:

• 2012/10/18: ArcticNews: Methane hydrates: a volatile time bomb in the Arctic
  

  As for the geopolitics of Arctic resources:

• 2012/10/19: LA Times: In a warming Arctic, U.S. faces new security and safety concerns
  Formerly ice-clogged Arctic waters are now navigable, opening a rush for oil and mineral resources -- and raising heretofore unknown security concerns in the U.S. Far North.
• 2012/10/18: TheHill:e2W: [H] Clinton: Rules of road needed to prevent Arctic 'catastrophe'
  Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Thursday that international collaboration will be vital as melting sea ice opens up new shipping and oil-and-gas drilling opportunities in the Arctic.
• 2012/10/18: BBerg: Oil's Second-Biggest Deal Nears as Rosneft Makes TNK Bid: Energy
  The sale of TNK-BP (BP/) to Russian state oil company OAO Rosneft (ROSN) is shaping up to be the industry's second-biggest deal ever. Rosneft submitted a bid today to buy BP Plc's 50 percent of TNK-BP for a mix of cash and shares, a person with knowledge of the matter said.
• 2012/10/17: BBerg: Billionaires, BP Plan to Sell Control of Oil Venture to Rosneft
  BP Plc (BP/) and its Russian billionaire partners are in talks to sell control of their TNK-BP venture to OAO Rosneft (ROSN), a deal that may almost double the size of Russia's state-run oil company, people with knowledge of the matter said. The billionaires, represented by the AAR group, are seeking to sell their 50 percent holding to Rosneft for $28 billion, one person said, declining to be identified before a deal is completed.
• 2012/10/14: PSinclair: Photos Show Reality of Arctic Drilling
• 2012/10/14: BBC: North Sea drilling activity rises, Deloitte report suggests
  

  While in Antarctica:

• 2012/10/21: MODIS: Western Ross Sea and Ice Shelf, Antarctica
• 2012/10/19: IOTD: A Growing Rift in Antarctic Ice
• 2012/10/16: TMoS: That Other Pole - the Antarctic Is Also Changing Fast
• 2012/10/16: SMH: Antarctic climate facing 'rapid' changes: chief scientist
  Australia's chief Antarctic scientist says claims by climate experts about environmental changes in the southern continent are not alarmist. The Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) told a Senate estimates hearing today "rapid changes" taking place across the icy land mass would have significant impact on global climate. Changes in ocean flows and shifts in Antarctic ice cap levels were occurring at rates faster than at any other time in history, chief scientist Nick Gales said.
• 
  

  The food crisis is ongoing:

   

• 2012/10/19: DD: If extreme weather becomes the norm, starvation awaits
• 2012/10/19: CCentral: Winter Wheat Crop Now Feeling Impact of U.S. Drought
• 2012/10/18: NoC: Record Number Seeks Food Aid in the U.S.
• 2012/10/17: ProMedMail: Schmallenberg virus - Europe (66): Finland (AX) 1st case, Scotland ex England
• 2012/10/16: TP:JR: UN Warns Of Food Crisis In 2013 If Extreme Weather Persists
• 2012/10/19: CCurrents: Going Batty About Bats In 2011-2012, The Year Of The Bat
• 2012/10/20: al Jazeera: India's malnutrition problem is a systemic issue
• 2012/10/15: STWR: 'We let them starve'
  The former UN food envoy Jean Zeigler explains his claim that we are all accomplices in creating a world where children starve to death -- in a confrontational interview with business journalist Philip Löpfe
• 2012/10/14: CCurrents: Global Food Supply System Could Collapse, 2013 Could Experience A Major Hunger Crisis
• 2012/10/17: CCurrents: 60% Of The Population In Developing Countries Lack Safety Nets
• 2012/10/15: CCurrents: World Food Day And We The People Resolve
• 2012/10/15: CCurrents: Speculators Are Aggravating The Global Food Crisis
• 2012/10/17: CBC: Europe braces for worst wine harvest in 50 years -- Decline of up to 20 per cent expected in France
• 2012/10/17: al Jazeera: Hunger soars in the Philippines
  Number of undernourished Filipinos has grown by two million in two years, even as it drops in neighbouring countries.
• 2012/10/15: BBC: UK food banks used by record number, says Trussell Trust
  [There are currently 270 food banks across the UK but that number is rising rapidly] A record number of people received emergency food from UK food banks in the last six months, a charity says. The Trussell Trust said its food bank network had fed almost 110,000 people since April, compared with a total of 128,697 in the whole of 2011-12. Its food banks provide at least three days' worth of nutritionally-balanced food for local people in crisis.
• 2012/10/15: Guardian(UK): If extreme weather becomes the norm, starvation awaits [Monbiot]
  With forecasts currently based only on averages, food production may splutter out even sooner than we feared
• 2012/10/15: Grist: Super size, super waste: What whopping portions do to the planet
  

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

• 2012/10/19: ABC(Au): More protection urged for cuttlefish
  Greens MP Mark Parnell is urging an immediate listing of the giant Australian cuttlefish as a protected species.
• 2012/10/19: ScienceInsider: NOAA Rule Would Restrict Access to Fisheries Data
• 2012/10/19: NYT: How to Catch Fish and Save Fisheries
• 2012/10/17: ABC(Au): Bluefin tuna farming moves to the deep sea
• 2012/10/16: EurActiv: Current EU fisheries policy is unsustainable, study says
• 2012/10/16: Grist: Miracle fish: Is the search for the perfect farmed seafood really over?
  

  Food Prices are still problematic:

• FAO: World Food Situation - Food Price Indices
• 2012/10/15: BBC: Food price crisis: What crisis?
  Without water, crops cannot grow and the world cannot eat. And this year, there hasn't been enough of it. The US has seen its worst drought in more than 50 years, vast swathes of Russia have been left parched by lack of rain, India has had a dry monsoon, while rainfall in South America early in the year fell well below expectations. As a direct result, harvests of many crops have been decimated, forcing the price of some cereals back up towards levels last seen four years ago, a time when high prices sparked riots in 12 countries across the world and forced the United Nations to call a food price crisis summit. The lack of rain this year has raised fears we are rapidly heading for another price crunch.
• 2012/10/15: DD: The soaring cost of Sunday roast: Extreme weather causing dramatic food price rises in U.K. - 'A disaster for public health'
• 2012/10/14: LA Times: Drought leads restaurants to raise prices, cut portions
  The effects of the Midwest drought on prices for corn, meat and poultry are showing up on restaurant menus. Small eateries are being hit hardest.
• 2012/10/15: Grist: Global food prices to spike, reserves to plummet in 2013
  

  The conflict between biofuel and food persists:

• 2012/10/17: Google:AFP: EU, US should abandon biofuels: UN rapporteur
  The European Union and the United States should stop using biofuels as they are hampering food production, the UN's special rapporteur for the right to food Olivier De Schutter told AFP on Wednesday.
• 2012/10/18: UFZ: Food vs. fuel: Is there surplus land for bioenergy?
• 2012/10/17: BBC: The EU is changing its policy on biofuels to encourage energy production from waste rather than from food crops
• 2012/10/17: EUO: EU to cap biofuel target to protect food
• 2012/10/17: ActionAid: New EU biofuel proposals inadequate: world hunger and greenhouse gas emissions would increase...
  

  Regarding the genetic modification of food:

• 2012/10/19: ScienceInsider: India Eyes 10-Year Ban on GM Field Trials
• 2012/10/15: MoJo: Some GMO Cheerleaders Also Deny Climate Change
  A crew of allegedly science-defending advocates of GMO foods also defy the scientific consensus on global warming.
• 2012/10/19: ABC(Au): Call for fugitive GM canola removal
  The Conservation Council of Western Australia says it is deeply concerned about a significant increase in fugitive genetically modified (GM) canola crops growing around Williams.
• 2012/10/19: NatureNB: Science panel urges halt to GM field trials in India
• 2012/10/17: NatureN: Politics holds back animal engineers -- Funds and approvals lag for transgenic livestock in US
• 2012/10/18: CCurrents: Biodiversity Is Key In The Road Map To Food Security With No Role For GM Crops
• 2012/10/16: TreeHugger: New Report: Americans Eating Their Weight in Genetically Engineered Food
  

  Regarding labelling GM food:

• 2012/10/20: TreeHugger: Prop. 37, California's GMO-Labeling Law, Gaining Momentum
• 2012/10/18: TreeHugger: California Newspaper Editorial Boards Spread False Claims and Faulty Logic on Proposition 37
• 2012/10/16: UCSUSA:B: More Reasons for Labeling of Genetically Engineered Foods
• 2012/10/17: DerSpiegel: Food From Nowhere -- Producers Reject Calls For Stricter Labels
  Shoppers in the EU have a hard time determining exactly where processed food products come from. The industry is just fine with that, since such information might sometimes hurt sales. But attempts by consumer watchdogs to tighten labeling requirements have met with little success.
• 2012/10/15: UCSUSA:B: Labeling of Genetically Engineered Foods -- Let's Count the Reasons (Part 1)
• 2012/10/15: Grist: Ask Umbra: What's in a [GMO] label?
  

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

• 2012/10/19: ConversableEcon: Can Agricultural Productivity Keep Growing?
• 2012/10/18: UN: UN-backed initiative seeks to eradicate hunger in West Africa
• 2012/10/18: ABC(Au): Biochar trial shows promise with apples
  A five-year trial in Tasmania's Huon Valley involving charcoal and apples is showing some positive signs, with bigger than normal apples growing. The biochar trial is mapping the effects the charcoal has on a newly-planted apple tree and is being run in conjunction with the Australian and New Zealand Biochar Network and the Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture.
• 2012/10/18: CSM: Brass City Harvest brings fresh food to an urban 'desert'
• 2012/10/18: FAO: Hunger-Free Initiative for West Africa signed -- Will build strong partnerships for hunger eradication
• 2012/10/17: FAO: Improved food security planning set for Sierra Leone -- FAO to provide technical help under two-year project
• 2012/10/17: EUO: EU has solutions to food crises in its grasp
• 2012/10/17: UN: Global input sought for United Nations anti-hunger meeting
• 2012/10/16: FAO: Agricultural cooperatives critical to fight hunger -- World Food Day observed in 150 countries
• 2012/10/16: FAO: FAO calls for strengthened food security governance -- Ministers meet to discuss food price volatility
• 2012/10/16: CJR: The good news about organics -- And why the media tend to ignore it
• 2012/10/17: AllAfrica:DailyObserver: Gambia: Agricultural Cooperatives and Food Security
• 2012/10/16: CCurrents: Another 1 Billion Can Be Fed By Halving Food Loss
• 2012/10/16: BRitholtz: No Till Farming Practices
• 2012/10/16: P3: Food Security and Sustainability
• 2012/10/16: UN: On World Food Day, UN focuses on agricultural cooperatives to end global hunger
• 2012/10/16: FAO: Agricultural cooperatives - key to feeding the world -- Agricultural cooperatives are the focus of World Food Day 2012
• 2012/10/16: UNEP: [link to 5.2 meg pdf] Avoiding Future Famines - Strengthening the Ecological Basis of Security through Sustainable Food Systems
• 2012/10/15: FAO: MDG hunger target still within reach -- Food security governance plays a vital role
• 2012/10/15: UN: At meeting on food security, UN says goal for reducing world's hungry by half still reachable
• 2012/10/14: Eureka: Research shows legume trees can fertilize and stabilize maize fields, generate higher yields
  

  In the Western Pacific:

• 2012/10/20: MODIS: Tropical Storm Maria (23W) in the Pacific Ocean
• 2012/10/19: Eureka: NASA sees extra-large, now extra-tropical storm Prapiroon fading
• 2012/10/18: Eureka: NASA's TRMM satellite sees very heavy rains in fading Tropical Storm Prapiroon
• 2012/10/18: Eureka: NASA sees strong wind shear adversely affect Tropical Storm Maria
• 2012/10/16: Eureka: NASA satellite indicates Tropical Storm Prapiroon's rains mostly south of center
• 2012/10/16: Eureka: NASA: How do you solve a problem like (Tropical Storm) Maria?
• 2012/10/15: Eureka: NASA satellite reveals some strong rainfall in meandering Typhoon Prapiroon
• 2012/10/15: Eureka: NASA sees mostly moderate rainfall in Tropical Storm Maria
  

  In the Eastern Pacific:

• 2012/10/19: MODIS: Hurricane Paul (16E) off Mexico
• 2012/10/17: Wunderground: Paul pulls its punch before hitting Baja; Rafael brushes Bermuda
• 2012/10/16: Eureka: NASA sees Hurricane Paul 'eye' Mexico's Socorro Island, coastline
• 2012/10/15: CNN: Pacific hurricane [Paul] becomes a Category 3 storm as it nears Mexico
  Storm is in Pacific, churning toward Baja California - Forecasters predict it will near land on Tuesday - The hurricane will weaken as it approaches land, hurricane center says
• 2012/10/16: Wunderground: Hurricane Paul pounding Baja; Hurricane Rafael brushing Bermuda
• 2012/10/15: Eureka: NASA watching Hurricane Paul, warnings up for Baja California
• 2012/10/16: CBC: Hurricane Paul weakens near Mexico coast
  

  In the Atlantic & Caribbean:

• 2012/10/20: Wunderground: Caribbean disturbance 99L a dangerous rainfall threat for Haiti, Jamaica, and Cuba
• 2012/10/18: Eureka: NASA catches last image of Rafael as a hurricane, now merged with front
• 2012/10/18: MODIS: Tropical Storm Rafael (17L) in the Atlantic Ocean
• 2012/10/16: Eureka: Satellite sees large Hurricane Rafael battering Bermuda
• 2012/10/16: CNN: 'Business as usual' as [Cat 2] Hurricane Rafael closes in on Bermuda
  Airlines cancel flights to and from Bermuda - Schools and offices will remain open Tuesday, and ferry service will keep its usual schedule. - Bermuda resident: "We're so used to this, season after season" - Paul, a Category 2 hurricane, weakened as it closed on Baja California
• 2012/10/15: Eureka: NASA eyes Tropical Storm Rafael battering the Leeward Islands
• 2012/10/15: CNN: Tropical Storm Rafael churns toward Bermuda
• 2012/10/15: Wunderground: Rafael expected to brush Bermuda; Hurricane Paul headed towards Baja
• 2012/10/15: CBC: Tropical storm Rafael could soon become Atlantic hurricane
  Storm not expected to make landfall in Newfoundland, U.S. forecasters say

• In the South Indian Ocean:

• 2012/10/16: Eureka: NASA sees rainfall pushed away from Tropical Storm Anais' center
• 2012/10/15: Eureka: NASA sees Tropical Cyclone Anais headed near La Reunion Island
  

  While elsewhere in the hurricane wars:

• 2012/10/16: LA Times: Extreme hurricanes hitting U.S. more frequently, study says
• 2012/10/15: ABC(Au): Cyclone forecast 'not about the numbers'
  The Bureau of Meteorology says it expects about five tropical cyclones to form off the Western Australian coast this season, including one or two that could hit the mainland.
• 2012/10/15: CCentral: New Study Ties Hurricane Strength To Global Warming
  

  And the temperature record:

• 2012/10/20: CapClimate: U.S. Weekly Temperature Below Average First Time in 10 Months
• 2012/10/18: Moyhu: New ISTI dataset - duplicates
• 2012/10/16: Moyhu: New ISTI temperature dataset - station trends map
• 2012/10/15: Moyhu: New ISTI Temperature database - stations in Google Maps with GHCN
• 2012/10/16: TreeHugger: September 2012 Ties For Hottest on Record
• 2012/10/15: CSM: World's hottest September: Global temperatures tie record
• 2012/10/15: TP:JR: Ten Charts That Make Clear The Planet Just Keeps Warming
• 2012/10/15: CBC: Global temperatures matched record for hottest September -- Record year-to-date warmth in south-central Canada, report says
• 2012/10/15: Wunderground: September 2012: Earth's warmest September on record
  

  Yes we have feedbacks:

• 2012/10/16: ArcticNews: Albedo change in the Arctic threatens to cause runaway global warming
  

  Aerosols are making their presence felt:

• 2012/10/16: GreenGrok: Fighting climate change, air pollution with one swat
  

  While in the paleoclimate:

• 2012/10/19: CSM: Extreme global warming caused devastating die-off [250 mya]
• 2012/10/15: ABC(Au): New theories emerge on marsupial extinction
  Palaeontologists think climate may have played a bigger role than they earlier thought in a giant marsupial becoming extinct.
• 
  

  And on the ENSO front:

   

• 2012/10/18: ERW: El Niño more central since 1990
  

  Regarding Climate Sensitivity:

• 2012/10/19: TroyCA: Estimating Sensitivity from 0-2000m OHC and Surface Temperatures
  

  Tipping points aka planetary boundaries popped up again:

• 2012/10/18: SciAm:Obs: What Are the Warning Signs of Tipping Points?
  

  And the State of the Biosphere:

• 2012/10/17: CDreams: Over Half of All Wetlands on Earth 'Destroyed' in Last 100 Years
• 2012/10/18: CCurrents: Approximately 50% Of World's Wetlands Lost During The 20th Century
  

  What's new on the extinction front?

• 2012/10/19: SimpleC: Cause vagueness hinders climate extinction action
• 2012/10/19: PSinclair: The Great Warming Extinction was Even More Deadly Than Believed
• 2012/10/19: CCurrents: Going Batty About Bats In 2011-2012, The Year Of The Bat
• 2012/10/18: NatureN: Poachers gun down iconic ibis -- Set back for researchers as illegal hunters kill rare birds
• 2012/10/18: SciAm:EC: Rhino Poaching: An Extinction Crisis
• 2012/10/17: BBC: Madagascar palm trees at risk of extinction, study finds
• 2012/10/17: Guardian(UK): Scientists have 'limited knowledge' of how climate change causes extinction
• 2012/10/17: IUCNRedList: Madagascar's palms near extinction
• 2012/10/16: IUCNRedList: Primates in peril -- conservationists reveal the world's 25 most endangered primates
• 2012/10/17: CCurrents: Most Of Madagascar's Palms Near Extinction
  As we walk into the UNEP COP 11 conference which is in progress in Hyderabad, we pass lines of beautiful palms decorating the garden up in front. We have 88 palm species in India and according to Jane Smart the Global Director of IUCN, 13 are on the IUCN red list. On the little island of Madagascar which is 1/10th the size of India, there are 192 species of palms of which 83% are threatened and on the IUCN red list. released today by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The update brings the total number of species listed on The IUCN Red List to 65,518, of which 20,219 are threatened with extinction.
• 2012/10/16: CCurrents: World's 25 Most Endangered Primates Revealed At UNEP COP11
• 2012/10/16: CSM: Critically endangered orangutans depend on unprotected forest corridor
• 2012/10/16: BBC: South Africa rhino poaching: More killed than ever
  Poachers have already killed a record number of rhinos in South Africa this year, with 455 slaughtered so far, the government has said.
• 2012/10/16: DD: Halting extinctions would cost $80 billion per year; half of bankers' bonuses
• 2012/10/16: UZurich: The destruction of the rainforest is not the only problem: A change of strategy is needed to save the Sumatran orangutans
• 2012/10/16: ABC(Au): Rhino poachers set record in South Africa
  Poachers have slaughtered 455 rhinos in South Africa so far this year, already surpassing the record annual tally for 2011. South Africa has seen a dizzying spike in the pace of rhino slaughters fuelled by the lucrative Asian black market trade in rhino horn.
• 2012/10/15: CSM: Of 25 primates on brink of extinction, a quarter in Madagascar
• 2012/10/15: CBC: Monkey, gorilla species on brink of extinction
  Twenty-five species of monkeys, langurs, lemurs and gorillas are on the brink of extinction and need global action to protect them from increasing deforestation and illegal trafficking, researchers said Monday. Six of the severely threatened species live in the island nation of Madagascar, off southeast Africa. Five more from mainland Africa, five from South America and nine species in Asia are among those listed as most threatened. The report by the International Union for Conservation of Nature was released at the United Nations' Convention on Biological Diversity being held in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad.
• 
  

  More GW impacts are being seen:

   

• 2012/10/17: MBL: Why Are Our Salt Marshes Falling Apart?
• 2012/10/18: ArcticNews: Is death by lead worse than death by climate? No.
• 2012/10/14: TP:JR: An Illustrated Guide to the Science of Global Warming Impacts: How We Know Inaction Is the Gravest Threat Humanity Faces
  

  And then there are the world's forests:

• 2012/10/17: USDA:FS: Ozone Affects Forest Watersheds -- Scientists find ozone causes forests to use more water, reducing availability in the Southeast
• 2012/10/16: DD: Forests to feel climate change effect, damage could cost billions
• 2012/10/16: NSF: In Blown-Down Forests, a Story of Survival
  To preserve forest health, the best management decision may be to do nothing
• 2012/10/16: AeonMag: The vanishing groves
  A chronicle of climates past and a portent of climates to come - the telling rings of the bristlecone pine
• 2012/10/15: Eureka: University of Tennessee collaborates in study: Dire drought ahead, may lead to massive tree death
  Evidence uncovered by a University of Tennessee, Knoxville, geography professor suggests recent droughts could be the new normal -- this is especially bad news for our nation's forests
• 
  

  Climate refugees are becoming an issue:

   

• 2012/10/18: MatadorNet: How do you move 100,000 people off a disappearing island?
• 2012/10/17: IFRC: World Disasters Report 2012 - Focus on forced migration and displacement
• 2012/10/17: ABC(Au): 72 million displaced by disaster: report
  More than 72 million people were forced to flee their homes last year as result of disaster, conflict and development, according to a new report. The report by the Red Cross and Red Crescent societies says natural disasters cost $350 billion globally, the biggest bill in two decades.
• 
  

  Emerging diseases accompany ecological change:

   

• 2012/10/19: CBC: Why was this a record year for West Nile infections?
• 2012/10/16: Grist: A tropical disease takes hold in a warming Alaska
  

  Yes we have no wacky weather, except:

• 2012/10/18: BBC: UK experiences 'weirdest' weather
  The UK has experienced its "weirdest" weather on record in the past few months, scientists say. The driest spring for over a century gave way to the wettest recorded April to June in a dramatic turnaround never documented before. The scientists said there was no evidence that the weather changes were a result of Man-made climate change. But experts from three bodies warned the UK must plan for periodic swings of drought conditions and flooding. The warning came from the Environment Agency, Met Office and Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (CEH) at a joint briefing in London.
• 2012/10/19: Yahoo:AP: Dust storm shuts down interstate in northern Okla.
• 2012/10/20: IOTD: Dust Storm in the [US] Great Plains
  

  This week in the New Normal -- extreme weather:

• 2012/10/18: CBC: Warmer climate adding to extreme weather woes, expert says -- Glaciers, including those in Canada, hurt by melting snowpack
  A gradual warming of the atmosphere coupled with a melting snowpack and receding glaciers is likely to lead to continued incidents of extreme weather, says a Canadian water-policy expert. Bob Sandford, EPCOR Chair for the Canadian Partnership Initiative of the United Nations Water for Life Decade, took some of the world's leading water and climate scientists, engineers, risk managers, municipal planners and policy experts on a tour of the Columbia Icefields in the Canadian Rockies on Wednesday.
• 2012/10/15: TP:JR: Extreme Weather: A Mixed Bag For Dead Zones
  

  Changes in natural cycles are showing up:

• 2012/10/17: CCentral: Throughout the U.S., the Onset of Autumn Is Falling Back
  

  On the tornado front:

• 2012/10/15: DesMoinesRegister: Drought has kept tornadoes at bay resulting in quiet Iowa season
  

  As for heatwaves and wild fires:

• 2012/10/21: ABC(Au): NSW firefighters control blaze threatening homes
• 2012/10/21: ABC(Au): Fire crews battle blazes across NSW, Qld
  Firefighters in New South Wales and Queensland are gearing up for another exhausting day battling dozens of blazes. About 800 firefighters have been working to control fires across New South Wales, with hot and windy conditions fanning 80 blazes. About 30 of those fires are out of control, including a blaze that has broken a containment line at the township of Balmoral, south-west of Sydney near the Bargo State Forest.
• 2012/10/21: IOTD: Wildfires in Australia
• 2012/10/17: MODIS: Fires across Cape York Peninsula, Australia
• 2012/10/15: ABC(Au): Firefighters work to contain huge Tablelands grassfire
• 2012/10/15: UCSUSA:B: The Other Washington Burns: An Eyewitness Account
  

  Corals are a bellwether of the ocean's health:

• 2012/10/17: Eureka: Coral reefs and food security: Study shows nations at risk
• 2012/10/14: Eureka: Too much of a good thing can be bad for corals
  New study in Nature Climate Change shows that having too many algal symbionts makes corals bleach more severely in response to warming
• 
  

  Acidification is changing the oceans:

   

• 2012/10/18: Grist: Bad acid trip: A beach bum's guide to ocean acidification
• 2012/10/15: TP:JR: Island Wildlife Decline, Linked To Ocean Acidification, 'Could Prove A Bellwether For Oceanic Change Globally'
  

  Sea levels are rising:

• 2012/10/17: DD: Study confirms sea-level rise is accelerating along northeast U.S. coast
• 2012/10/17: DD: Flooding in Miami Beach prompts official warning about rising seas
• 2012/10/16: DailyPress: Sea level rise accelerating, study shows
  Sea level rise in Hampton Roads and other points along the Eastern Seaboard is accelerating at unprecedented rates, according to new research announced Monday.
• 2012/10/14: ABC(US):B: Sea Level Rising Toward Washington and Other Cities
  

  As for hydrological cycle disruptions [floods & droughts]:

• 2012/10/21: ABC(Au): Pilgrims evacuated as floods swamp Lourdes
• 2012/10/20: al Jazeera: Deluge douses the Spanish drought
  Flooding hit the Iberian Peninsula easing the the drought and also helping in the fight against wild-fires.
• 2012/10/18: BBC: Peru landslide kills 11 in jungle village
  At least 11 people have died and another 10 are missing after a landslide in northern Peru. [...] Heavy rain in the area has triggered several landslides in recent weeks.
• 2012/10/16: DD: Nigeria flood disaster 'worst since 1948' - More than 600,000 people displaced, 589 square miles of farmland destroyed - Crocodiles and hippos washed into homes
• 2012/10/19: TP:JR: Portrait Of A Drought: Finding Water Where It Ain't
• 2012/10/20: BBC: Pilgrims evacuated as French floods hit Lourdes shrine
• 2012/10/16: DD: Graph of the Day: Moisture Content and Groundwater Depletion in the U.S., September 2012
• 2012/10/15: JFleck: Another look at increasing aridity under climate change in the West
• 2012/10/16: IOTD: Flooding in Nigeria
• 2012/10/15: TreeHugger: Are Decreasing Trade Winds Behind Hawaii's Drought?
  

  On the mitigation front, consider transportation & GHG production:

• 2012/10/16: Xinhuanet: China launches new high-speed railway
• 2012/10/16: BBC: European car sales 'fall for 12 months in row'
  New car sales in the European Union have fallen for the 12th month in a row in September, according to the region's biggest carmakers. Demand across the 27 European Union countries fell 10.8% from last year.
• 2012/10/14: CSM: US train companies eye shift from diesel to natural gas
  

  Large scale geo-engineering keeps popping up:

• 2012/10/18: RTCC: UN agreement urges caution over geoengineering tests
  Guidelines on the deployment of geoengineering have been agreed at the UN biodiversity summit in Hyderabad following intense negotiations.
• 2012/10/19: ABC(Au): Permanent cloud-seeding gets green light
  A plan to boost snowfall in the New South Wales Snowy Mountains has passed through State Parliament. The Government announced last month that cloud seeding trials had proved successful and that it would seek to make the process permanent. The Member for Monaro, John Barilaro, says the trial resulted in a 14 per-cent increase in snowfall.
• 2012/10/16: Stoat: World's biggest geoengineering experiment 'violates' UN rules?
• 2012/10/15: SSRN: Opening Up the Societal Debate on Climate Engineering: How Newspaper Frames are Changing by Samantha Scholte et al.
  

  What's new in conservation?

• 2012/10/18: UN: Faster progress needed on targets to protect world's key nature sites, says UN environment report
• 2012/10/17: NatureN: Antarctic seas in the balance -- Plans to protect swathes of ocean face tough test
• 2012/10/16: BBC: Panda conservation is not 'greenwash'
  

  Meanwhile in the journals:

• 2012/10/17: ACP: Profiling of fine and coarse particle mass: case studies of Saharan dust and Eyjafjallajökull/Grimsvötn volcanic plumes by A. Ansmann et al.
• 2012/10/15: ACP: Contrasting trends of mass and optical properties of aerosols over the Northern Hemisphere from 1992 to 2011 by K. C. Wang et al.
• 2012/10/15: ACP: The challenge to NOx emission control for heavy-duty diesel vehicles in China by Y. Wu et al.
• 2012/10/18: ACPD: Reducing CO2 from shipping - do non-CO2 effects matter? by M. S. Eide et al.
• 2012/10/17: ACPD: Observation of chemical modification of Asian Dust particles during long-range transport by the combined use of quantitative ED-EPMA and ATR-FT-IR imaging by Young-Chul Song et al.
• 2012/10/17: ACPD: Source attribution and radiative impacts of the Mediterranean summertime ozone maximum: a satellite and model perspective by N. A. D. Richards et al.
• 2012/10/17: BioRisk: Bioenergy from "surplus" land: environmental and socio-economic implications by Jens Dauber et al.
• 2012/10/16: PNAS: (abs) Evidence for the respiration of ancient terrestrial organic C in northern temperate lakes and streams by S. Leigh McCallister & Paul A. del Giorgio
• 2012/10/16: PNAS: (ab$) Economics of nuclear power and climate change mitigation policies by Nico Bauer et al.
• 2012/10/16: PNAS: (abs) Oxygen isotopes in tree rings are a good proxy for Amazon precipitation and El Niño-Southern Oscillation variability by Roel J. W. Brienen et al.
• 2012/10/10: GRL: (ab$) Spring snow cover extent reductions in the 2008-2012 period exceeding climate model projections by C. Derksen & R. Brown
• 2012/10/17: AGWObserver: Papers on Arctic amplification
• 2011/11/21: ACS: (ab$) Carbon Dioxide Capture from the Air Using a Polyamine Based Regenerable Solid Adsorbent by Alain Goeppert et al.
• 2012/10/19: ESD: Volcano impacts on climate and biogeochemistry in a coupled carbon-climate model by D. Rothenberg et al.
• 2012/10/17: CP: A 250 ka oxygen isotope record from diatoms at Lake El'gygytgyn, far east Russian Arctic by B. Chapligin et al.
• 2012/10/16: CP: Comparison of 20th century and pre-industrial climate over South America in regional model simulations by S. Wagner et al.
• 2012/10/16: CP: Marine productivity response to Heinrich events: a model-data comparison by V. Mariotti et al.
• 2012/10/18: CPD: HadISDH: an updated land surface specific humidity product for climate monitoring by K. M. Willett et al.
• 2012/10/17: CPD: A 350 kyr record of climate change from Lake El'gygytgyn, Far East Russian Arctic: refining the pattern of climate modes by means of cluster analysis by U. Frank et al.
• 2012/10/16: CPD: Stable isotopic evidence of El Niño-like atmospheric circulation in the Pliocene Western United States by M. J. Winnick et al.
• 2012/10/17: RSPB: How does climate change cause extinction? by Abigail E. Cahill et al.
• 2012/10/19: JAE(via doi): (ab$) Regional demographic trends from long-term studies of saguaro (Carnegiea gigantea) across the northern Sonoran Desert by E.A. Pierson & R.M. Turner
• 2012/10/15: NERC:NORA: West Nile virus vector Culex modestus established in southern England by Nick Golding et al.
• 2012/10/15: NERC:NORA: The response of marine picoplankton to ocean acidification by Lindsay K. Newbold et al.
• 2012/10/16: NERC:NORA: The relationship between shrink-swell occurrence and climate in south-east England by A.M. Harrison et al.
• 2012/10/19: ACP: The impact of differences in large-scale circulation output from climate models on the regional modeling of ozone and PM by A. M. M. Manders et al.
• 2012/10/19: ACP: Contribution of sulfuric acid and oxidized organic compounds to particle formation and growth by F. Riccobono et al.
• 2012/10/19: ACPD: The spatial scale of ozone depletion events derived from an autonomous surface ozone network in coastal Antarctica by A. E. Jones et al.
• 2012/10/19: ACPD: Improved SAGE II cloud/aerosol categorization and observations of the asian tropopause aerosol layer: 1989-2005 by L. W. Thomason & J.-P. Vernier
• 2012/10/19: GMD: The Nexus Land-Use model version 1.0, an approach articulating biophysical potentials and economic dynamics to model competition for land-use by F. Souty et al.
• 2012/10/17: GMD: Description of a hybrid ice sheet-shelf model, and application to Antarctica by D. Pollard & R. M. DeConto
• 2012/10/17: GMDD: COSTRICE - three model online coupling using OASIS: problems and solutions by H. T. M. Ho et al.
• 2012/10/17: GMDD: Implementation of the Fast-JX Photolysis scheme into the UKCA component of the MetUM chemistry climate model by P. J. Telford et al.
• 2012/10/19: OS: Towards high resolution mapping of 3-D mesoscale dynamics from observations by B. Buongiorno Nardelli et al.
• 2012/10/18: OSD: Field measurements of aerosol production from whitecaps in the open ocean by S. J. Norris et al.
• 2012/10/18: OSD: Sea surface freshening inferred from SMOS and ARGO salinity: impact of rain by J. Boutin et al.
• 2012/10/19: TC: Transition in the fractal geometry of Arctic melt ponds by C. Hohenegger et al.
• 2012/10/18: TCD: Recent changes in spring snowmelt timing in the Yukon River Basin detected by passive microwave satellite data by K. A. Semmens & J. M. Ramage
• 2012/10/16: Nature:Comms: (ab$) Regional boreal biodiversity peaks at intermediate human disturbance by S.J. Mayor et al.
• 2012/10/16: OS: The Mediterranean Ocean Colour Observing System - system development and product validation by G. Volpe et al.
• 2012/10/16: OSD: X-band COSMO-SkyMed wind field retrieval, with application to coastal circulation modeling by A. Montuori et al.
• 2012/10/15: OSD: A discussion on the use of X-band SAR images in marine applications by D. Schiavulli et al.
• 2012/10/16: TC: Vapor flux and recrystallization during dry snow metamorphism under a steady temperature gradient as observed by time-lapse micro-tomography by B. R. Pinzer et al.
• 2012/10/15: TC: Inferring snowpack ripening and melt-out from distributed measurements of near-surface ground temperatures by M.-O. Schmid et al.
• 2012/10/16: TCD: Brief Communication "Expansion of meltwater lakes on the Greenland ice sheet" by I. M. Howat et al.
• 2012/10/16: TCD: Multi decadal glacier area fluctuations in Pan-Arctic by S. H. Mernild & J. K. Malmros
• 2012/10/14: Nature:CC: The impacts of climate change on terrestrial Earth surface systems by Jasper Knight & Stephan Harrison
• 2012/10/14: Nature:CC: Climate change and ethics by Tim Hayward
• 2012/10/14: Nature:CC: The impact of global land-cover change on the terrestrial water cycle by Shannon M. Sterling et al.
• 2012/10/14: Nature:CC: Excess algal symbionts increase the susceptibility of reef corals to bleaching by Ross Cunning & Andrew C. Baker
• 2012/10/15: AGWObserver: New research from last week 41/2012
  

  And other significant documents:

• 2012/10/17: BioFuelWatch(UK): [link to 1.7 meg pdf] Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS): Climate saviour or dangerous hype?
• 2012/10/18: PI: [link to 1.5 meg pdf] Electric Vehicle Charging Stations -- Lessons learned from municipalities in Washington and Oregon
• 2012/10/19: PI: [link to 849k pdf] British Columbians' perspectives on global warming and the carbon tax
• 2012/10/16: UNEP: [link to 5.2 meg pdf] Avoiding Future Famines - Strengthening the Ecological Basis of Security through Sustainable Food Systems
  

  As for miscellaneous science:

• 2012/10/18: TreeHugger: World's Most Powerful Supercomputer Devoted to Climate Change Turns On
• 2012/10/17: NatureN: Global mobility: Science mapped out -- In a special issue, Nature examines the changing global landscape of research
• 2012/10/19: ERabett: Physics Follies Strike Again!
• 2012/10/16: Eureka: 1 by land and 1 by sea -- NASA's Operation Ice Bridge off to a productive start
• 2012/10/16: ComputerWorld: Climate change research [NCAR] gets petascale supercomputer -- 1.5-petaflop IBM Yellowstone system runs 72,288 Intel Xeon cores
• 2012/10/16: NatureNB: ORCID [ORCID: Open Researcher and Contributor ID] launches to give researchers unique identity codes
  

  What's new in models?

• 2012/10/17: ABC(Au): Earth climate models confirmed on Mars
  

  What developments in the ongoing struggle for Free Science?

• 2012/10/20: NotEvenWrong: Why Author Pays Open Access is a Bad Idea
• 2012/10/19: Frontiers: Multi-stage open peer review: scientific evaluation integrating the strengths of traditional peer review with the virtues of transparency and self-regulation by Ulrich Pöschl
• 2012/10/19: JEB: Multi-Stage Open Peer Review
• 2012/10/19: SlashDot: Free Online Education Unwelcome In Minnesota
• 2012/10/19: SlashDot: Randomly Generated Math Article Accepted By 'Open-Access' Journal
• 2012/10/17: JCBaez: Elsevier: Strangling Libraries Worldwide
  [...]
  Elsevier's business model is to get very smart people to work for free, then sell their results back to them at high and ever-rising prices.
• 
  

  Ovshinsky obit:

   

• 2012/10/19: BBC: Stanford Ovshinsky, hybrid car battery inventor, dies
  [Stanford Ovshinsky designed the nickel-metal hydride batteries used in hybrid vehicles] Stanford Ovshinsky, a self-taught American physicist who designed the battery now used in hybrid cars, has died aged 89 from prostate cancer.
• 2012/10/19: TreeHugger: Stanford Ovshinsky, 1922- 2012
  

  While at the UN:

• 2012/10/18: UN: At World Food Prize ceremony, UN Secretary-General calls for new approaches to combat hunger
• 2012/10/18: UN: UN-led biodiversity plan aims to expand economy while protecting endangered species
• 2012/10/17: FAO: $20 million project aims to transfer Brazilian know-how in support of cotton farmers -- South-South cooperation for rural development, stronger agricultural livelihoods
• 2012/10/16: UN: Secretary-General's message on World Food Day
  

  And on the carbon trading front:

• 2012/10/18: BWeek: UN Emission Offsets Plunge to Record as EU Carbon Erases Gains
  United Nations Certified Emission Reduction credits for December declined to a record as greenhouse-gas cutting projects in developing countries boosted their requests for supply near all-time highs. CERs dropped 9.6 percent to close at 1.42 euros ($1.86) a metric ton on the ICE Futures Europe exchange in London, an all- time low.
• 2012/10/17: MoJo: Cutting Carbon Emissions the Cap-and-Trade Way
• 2012/10/15: EurActiv: MEPs push to fast-track carbon market debate
  Frustrated MEPs are planning to fast-track a long-delayed amendment to the Emissions Trading System (ETS) directive, which would confirm the EU's legal ability to withhold carbon allowances from auction, so boosting depressed carbon prices.
• 
  

  The idea of a carbon tax is still bouncing around:

   

• 2012/10/15: EurActiv: Norway to double carbon tax on oil industry
  Norway is to double the carbon tax on its North Sea oil industry and set up a £1bn (E1.23bn) fund to help combat the damaging impacts of climate change in the developing world.
• 
  

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

   

• 2012/10/19: EUO: Financial transaction tax proposal next week, says Barroso
• 2012/10/16: Forbes: A Tax to Kill High Frequency Trading
  

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

• 2012/10/19: EarlyWarning: Iranian Latest
• 2012/10/17: al Jazeera: Iran: The impact and limits of sanctions
  Are tougher sanctions over Iran's nuclear programme an effective way to open diplomatic channels?
• 2012/10/15: BBC: EU imposes new sanctions on Iran
  EU member states have announced a new package of sanctions against Iran over its controversial nuclear programme.
• 2012/10/15: al Jazeera: US exports to Iran soar despite sanctions
  Exports to Iran rose to $199.5m in the first eight months of 2012, from $150.8m during the same period last year.
• 
  

  South [& East] China Sea tension persists:

   

• 2012/10/20: Guardian(UK): US risks drawing Beijing's ire with military cruise in disputed waters
  USS George Washington enters South China Sea as display of naval strength and support of smaller Asian nations claims
• 2012/10/19: CSM: China's naval exercises in East China Sea send warning to regional rivals
• 2012/10/19: al Jazeera: China flexes naval might in East China Sea
  Military drills may fuel tensions with Japan over disputed islands surrounded by rich fishing grounds and possibly oil.
• 2012/10/19: BBC: China is conducting naval exercises in the East China Sea, state media report, amid heightened tensions with Japan over islands both claim
• 2012/10/17: WSWS: Economic fallout of Japan-China island dispute widens
• 2012/10/16: WSWS: US stokes China-Japan dispute over Senkaku/Diaoyu islands
  

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

• 2012/10/17: TheHill:TR: Enviros argue emissions trading is working in Europe
  A European Union requirement that companies trade credits for carbon emissions they emit is already working, an environmental group argued Wednesday. The New York-based Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) said the new rules, which are being applied to airlines for the first time this year, have already reduced emissions and "sparked innovation" in other sectors. "What we found very clearly is that after a three-year trial period and almost five years of full operation, the world's first global warming cap-and-trade program is doing exactly what the EU designed it to do -- cut dangerous emissions, spur the deployment of low-carbon innovation and do so at low cost," EDF Attorney Alexa Hanafi said in statement about a report issued by the organization.
• 
  

  What do we have this week in clean tech squabbles?

   

• 2012/10/18: WaPo: A crackdown on solar panels threatens U.S.-China trade
• 2012/10/17: CSM: Solyndra sues Chinese solar companies
  

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

• 2012/10/15: Grist: What would it mean to treat climate change like a security threat?
  

  What are the activists up to?

• 2012/10/20: 350orBust: Can't Make It To Victoria To Defend Our Coast? Be Part of A "Flash Phone Mob"
• 2012/10/18: Grist: Cue the math: McKibben's roadshow takes aim at Big Oil
• 2012/10/17: TreeHugger: Occupy the Pipeline Shuts Down Spectra Construction in NYC
• 2012/10/15: TreeHugger: Texas Tar Sands Protests Continue: 50 Join a Tree Blockade, Press Gets Boxed Out
  

  Polls! We have polls!

• 2012/10/20: DeSmogBlog: New Report Shows Growing Majority Of Americans Believe In Climate Change, Trust Scientists
• 2012/10/18: TreeHugger: 40% of Americans Think Climate Change is Hurting People Right Now
• 2012/10/18: TP:JR: Poll: Growing Majority Of Americans Understand The Earth Is Warming And Humans Are The Cause
• 2012/10/16: P3: 98% (or 68% at least) of Major US Employers Concerned About Climate Change
• 2012/10/15: USNews: Poll: Half of Republicans Believe in Global Warming
  

  Regarding Water Politics and Business:

• 2012/10/19: BBC: UK faces fine on EU water breach
• 2012/10/19: ERW: Glacier retreat less of a threat to water supplies than previously suggested
• 2012/10/18: CSM: Clean Water Act at 40: Is it failing to meet new pollution challenges?
• 2012/10/18: JFleck: Saguaro, Ponderosa and regional climate
• 2012/10/17: CDreams: Privatization Pushback: Civil Society Slams Water Privatization Conditions for EU Bailouts
  Letter from groups to EU Commission says plan is "economically, socially and democratically flawed"
• 2012/10/17: JFleck: A longstanding tradition in western water - getting someone else to pick up the tab
• 2012/10/17: JFleck: The hidden dangers of water planning
• 2012/10/16: HuffPo: 16 Water Recommendations for the Next President by Peter H. Gleick
• 2012/10/15: JFleck: Coping with drought - a question of marginal costs
• 2012/10/15: Eureka: U-M, other universities launch Great Lakes protection project
  

  Who's making predictions this week?

• 2012/10/19: Wunderground: Forecast for the winter of 2012 - 2013
• 2012/10/19: BBerg: U.S. Winter Seen Harsher Than Last Year, Boosting Demand
  The coming U.S. winter will probably be cooler than a year ago, boosting demand for heating fuels such as natural gas, a panel of forecasters said. While December will be warmer than normal, temperatures will drop through February, increasing natural gas use by 13 percent over the same period from last year, Commodity Weather Group LLC President Matt Rogers said during a panel discussion at Earth Networks Inc.'s seventh annual energy weather seminar in New York yesterday.
• 2012/10/18: NOAANews: Elusive El Niño challenges NOAA's 2012 U.S. Winter Outlook
  

  And on the American political front:

• 2012/10/19: Denialism: Scientific American addresses denialism in politics - says it jeopardizes democracy
• 2012/10/19: TP:JR: An Answer To 'Drill, Baby Drill': Countering The American Petroleum Institute's Plan For Climate Disaster
• 2012/10/19: Grist: The green take on Elizabeth Warren vs. Scott Brown --- and three more hot Senate races
• 2012/10/18: CSM: Clean Water Act at 40: Is it failing to meet new pollution challenges?
• 2012/10/18: NoC: Record Number Seeks Food Aid in the U.S.
• 2012/10/17: MoJo: Cutting Carbon Emissions the Cap-and-Trade Way
• 2012/10/17: TP:JR: Bill Clinton's Message: 'Saving The Planet Is Better Economics Than Burning It Up'
• 2012/10/17: DD: Antiscience beliefs jeopardize U.S. democracy
• 2012/10/17: ICN: 7 Central Washington Wind Farm Proposals on Hold
• 2012/10/17: ICN: Mich. Pipeline Fight: Frustration Builds Over Elected Leaders' Silence
• 2012/10/17: Grist: Can Big Wind wake from its recurring nightmare?
• 2012/10/19: Grist: How to make Illinois into a clean-energy leader
• 2012/10/14: EconoSpeak: California's Doomed-to-Fail Experiment in Carbon Regulation
• 2012/10/16: TP:JR: Clean Energy Has Highest Documented Rate of Return of Any Federal Program -- When Will That Get Reported?
• 2012/10/16: DD: Koch Industries, other CEOs threaten employees with layoffs if President Obama is reelected
• 2012/10/16: TheHill:e2W: Koch Industries defends election letter to employees as 'not unusual'
• 2012/10/16: CSM: Challenging the oil and gas industry's energy independence message
• 2012/10/14: WaPo: Coal ash decision stymied in election year
• 2012/10/15: TP:JR: Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt): To Battle Global Warming, We Must Pick Clean Energy As A 'Winner'
• 2012/10/15: TP:JR: The Failure Of 'Drill, Baby, Drill': Wall Street Journal Reports 'Oil Boom Providing Little Relief For Consumers'
• 2012/10/15: al Jazeera: Ecological crisis and the need to challenge the 20 per cent
  The US, home to less than 5 per cent of the world's population, uses almost a quarter of the world's fossil fuel.
• 2012/10/14: NYT: A Grand Experiment to Rein In Climate Change
• 2012/10/14: EnergyBulletin: Oil and gas industry uses deceptive energy independence message to push U.S. exports
• 2012/10/16: UCSUSA:B: Rep. Lee Terry (R-NE) Fuel Economy Ad: Historic Fiction
  

  The BP disaster continues to twist US politics:

• 2012/10/19: CSM: Mystery in Gulf of Mexico: Why is oil leaking from Deepwater disaster site?
• 2012/10/18: EneNews: Feds: Oil in Gulf leaking from BP's containment dome, not Macondo well - Samples sent for matching analysis - Sea floor inspection for seepage NOT mentioned
• 2012/10/18: FuelFix: Coast Guard: Gulf oil slick comes from device used in 2010 spill
• 2012/10/18: EneNews: Mayor: Cleanup workers hospitalized after BP oil washes ashore in Gulf -- School bus-sized tar mat
• 2012/10/17: Nola: About 565,000 pounds of oiled material from Deepwater Horizon stirred up by Hurricane Isaac
• 2012/10/16: FuelFix: Congress applies pressure to BP over Gulf oil sheen
• 2012/10/16: EneNews: Officials concerned oil may be escaping from locations on sea floor away from BP's Macondo well in Gulf -- CEO pressed for answers
• 2012/10/15: RigZone: Robot Submarine Seeks Oil Sheen Source Near Deepwater Horizon Site
• 2012/10/15: EneNews: US Congressman: We can only hope BP's nightmare well in Gulf has not come back to life - No room for obfuscation, 'Spillcam' must return
  

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

• 2012/10/18: TreeHugger: Opposition Parties' Presidential Debate Blacked Out by US Broadcast Media - Al Jazeera Will Air It
• 2012/10/18: PSinclair: Who is the Obstacle to Climate Discussion?
• 2012/10/18: TP:JR: Silent Summer: Team Obama Defends Gag Order On Climate
• 2012/10/18: CDreams: Clean Coal is a Hoax, Mr. President, So Drop it
• 2012/10/17: RawStory: Green Party candidate: Police handcuffed me to a chair for eight hours
• 2012/10/17: Guardian(UK): Will US wind power splutter out if Mitt Romney cuts its subsidy?
• 2012/10/16: HuffPo: 16 Water Recommendations for the Next President by Peter H. Gleick
• 2012/10/17: TP:JR: Fact Check: Romney Is Wrong About Energy Development On Public Lands
• 2012/10/17: TP:JR: Obama Slams Romney For Letting 'Oil Companies Write The Energy Policies'
• 2012/10/17: TP:JR: Chris Hayes: Climate Silence In The Debate Is 'Like Talking About Smoking And Not Talking About Cancer'
• 2012/10/17: Grist: Coal in the presidential campaign: Sound and fury, signifying little
• 2012/10/17: Grist: Obama and Romney spar over energy in second debate, ignore climate yet again
• 2012/10/17: SciAm:PI: Has energy production increased or decreased on federal lands?
• 2012/10/17: TreeHugger: Obama, Romney Clash Over Who'd Drill More Oil, Burn More Coal
• 2012/10/16: TreeHugger: Green Party Presidential, Vice Presidential Candidates Arrested at Dem-Rep Debate Site
• 2012/10/20: TP:JR: One Mother's Reaction To The Climate Silence: 'I'm Angry As Hell And High Water'
• 2012/10/19: SciAm:Obs: Town Hall: Obama and Romney Talked About Science (A Little)
• 2012/10/16: Guardian(UK):GG: The lame rules for presidential debates: a perfect microcosm of US democracy
  Secret collusion between the two parties, funded by corporations, run by lobbyists: all the ingredients are there
• 2012/10/17: CSM: Debate fact check: Romney stumbles on energy
• 2012/10/17: DemNow: Green Party Candidates Arrested, Shackled to Chairs For 8 Hours After Trying to Enter Hofstra Debate
• 2012/10/16: DemNow: Secret Debate Contract Reveals Obama and Romney Campaigns Exclude Third Parties, Control Questions
• 2012/10/16: DemNow: Glenn Greenwald: Presidential Debates Highlight "Faux Objectivity" of Mainstream Journalists
• 2012/10/16: TP:JR: Someday A Climate Hawk Will Run For President, Energizing Democrats And Independents, But Not This Year
• 2012/10/16: TP:JR: Tom Brokaw: Why Haven't Presidential Debates Discussed Climate Change?
• 2012/10/16: TP:JR: A123 Systems: An Opportunity For Obama To Stand Up For Clean Energy Investments
• 2012/10/16: ICN: Is Obama Really Waging a War on Coal?
  What's driving the decline of the U.S. coal industry? Turns out there's no simple answer -- even though some politicians want one.
• 2012/10/16: SciAm:BSs: Romney Would Give Less Support for New Science and Math Standards
• 2012/10/14: NPR: On The Campaign Trail, Regulations Dominate The Environmental Debate
• 2012/10/10: SST: "The Choice 2012" A PBS biography
• 2012/10/14: Guardian(UK): Give us a mandate for what America needs: a Green New Deal by Jill Stein
  

  Gas Prices are going up, down, up, down:

• 2012/10/19: CSM: Finally, gas prices begin to fall
• 2012/10/17: EnvEcon: My (economist) answer to the gas price question from last night's debate
  

  The Keystone XL saga rolls along:

• 2012/10/18: CBC: TransCanada shuts down Keystone pipeline temporarily -- No leaks detected but system shut down as a precaution
• 2012/10/17: CBC: TransCanada prompts rare opposition from Texas landowners
• 2012/10/17: Guardian(UK): Why I'm standing up to TransCanada's Keystone XL pipeline in east Texas by Daryl Hannah Don't buy the tale that this tar sands oil will make the US energy-independent. It's export for profit, even as spills poison our water
• 2012/10/17: DeSmogBlog: TransCanada Whistleblower Confirms Why His Company Can't Be Trusted On Pipeline Safety
• 2012/10/17: CBC: Regulator probing 'safety culture' at TransCanada Pipelines -- Investigation follows revelations from whistleblower
• 2012/10/17: CSW: Tar Sands Blockade support rally
• 2012/10/16: TreeHugger: Texas Keystone XL Protesters Hit With Restraining Order
• 2012/10/17: OilChange: "We have protected these lands with our hearts, soul and lives"
• 2012/10/15: DemNow: Texas Landowners Join Environmentalists for Historic Blockade of Keystone XL Tar Sands Pipeline
• 2012/10/16: CBC: Whistleblower forced investigation of TransCanada pipeline
  Engineer Evan Vokes repeatedly raised concerns with company behind Keystone XL pipeline A former TransCanada engineer says he reported its substandard practices to the federal energy regulator because he believed the company's management, right up to the chief executive officer, refused to act on his complaints. In an exclusive television interview with CBC News, Evan Vokes said he raised concerns about the competency of some pipeline inspectors and the company's lack of compliance with welding regulations set by the National Energy Board (NEB), the federal energy industry regulator.
• 2012/10/16: YesMag: Keystone XL: Texas Farmer Battles TransCanada's "Tainted Money"
• 2012/10/16: TheCanadian: Tar Sands Pipeline to New England Being Plotted Behind Closed Doors, Envrionmental Groups Allege
• 2012/10/15: UPI: Canada probes TransCanada's safety record
• 2012/10/15: TreeHugger: Texas Tar Sands Protests Continue: 50 Join a Tree Blockade, Press Gets Boxed Out
• 2012/10/15: ICN: Nebraska Pipeline Debate Dies Down Despite Unresolved Problems with Keystone XL Route
  Latest reroute moves pipeline away from land owned by outspoken opponents but does little to avoid shallow water sources.
• 
  

  The GOP War on Women campaign continues. See also:

   

• 2012/10/19: RawStory: Rep. Joe Walsh: No abortion exceptions because pregnant women don't die
• 2012/10/15: NYT:Economix: Contraceptive Economics
• 2012/10/16: Guardian(UK): Conservatives' HPV vaccine dilemma: are they anti-cancer, or just anti-sex?
  

  The NorthWest coal export debate remains heated:

• 2012/10/18: Reuters: U.S. taxpayers poised to subsidize Asian coal demand
  Asian economies, hungry for coal, stand to gain from a U.S. program meant to keep domestic power cheap and abundant. At issue is how much miners pay the government to tap the coal-rich Powder River Basin in eastern Montana and Wyoming. Much of the basin is on federal land. Selling that coal cheap at a time of increasing exports across the Pacific could amount to a U.S. taxpayer subsidy for industrial rivals like China.
• 2012/10/17: DeSmogBlog: Northwest Tribes Speak Out Against Coal Export Terminals
  

  The Obama chatter is nonstop:

• 2012/10/16: CCurrents: Mr. President: Earth Does Not Have Forever
  

  The actions of the Obama administration are being watched closely:

• 2012/10/19: TP:JR: Hillary Clinton On Energy And Foreign Policy: We Need To 'Address The Very Real Threat Of Climate Change'
• 2012/10/19: ScienceInsider: NOAA Rule Would Restrict Access to Fisheries Data
• 2012/10/19: NOAANews: NOAA announces $4.9 million for collaborative research projects to help coastal communities manage effects of climate change
• 2012/10/18: TP:JR: Obama's International Clean Energy Strategy: A Tale of Two Agencies
• 2012/10/19: JaredB: Battery Powered Growth
• 2012/10/16: NatureN: US environment agency fights back over mountaintop mining -- Courts set to decide on agency's power to protect wildlife and habitats
• 2012/10/16: ScienceInsider: U.S. Unveils a Gleaming New Weather and Climate Center
  The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) officially opened its newest outpost today, a gleaming, $76.5 million research and operations center on the outskirts of Washington, D.C. The new Center for Weather and Climate Prediction in College Park, Maryland, will house more than 800 NOAA scientists, forecasters, and data wranglers in a state-of-the-art building designed to foster collaboration.
• 2012/10/15: NOAANews: NOAA centralizes disaster planning, response expertise in Gulf region at new facility
• 2012/10/15: NOAANews: NOAA's world-class weather and climate prediction center opens at University of Maryland in College Park
  

  While in the UK:

• 2012/10/19: BBC: UK faces fine on EU water breach
  The UK faces fines for breaching EU law on water treatment after plants in northern England and in London dumped raw sewage into waterways. That is the outcome of a ruling by the European Court of Justice, which has yet to decide what the penalty will be.
• 2012/10/18: TreeHugger: "Environmental Taliban" Marches on UK Parliament
• 2012/10/18: EurActiv: UK energy firms to be forced to give customers lowest tariff
  Energy firms will be forced to give all of their customers the lowest tariff available under new laws announced by David Cameron.
• 2012/10/18: BBC: David Cameron energy price pledge row deepens
  The government has played down a pledge by Prime Minister David Cameron that energy firms will be forced to give all customers the lowest tariff. Mr Cameron made the surprise announcement on Wednesday at prime minister's questions. But a minister summoned to the Commons to explain what the PM meant said the details had still to be worked out.
• 2012/10/18: Guardian(UK): Coalition's energy policy is even more confused than its 'lowest tariff' pledge
• 2012/10/18: Guardian(UK): Rather than prices, David Cameron should fix the energy mess
  If a Tory prime minister can 'pass a law' on utility bills, then he can make a decision on where our power should come from
• 2012/10/16: BizGreen: Energy efficiency subsidy could cut UK demand 40 per cent
  New Green Alliance and WWF report calls for efficiency feed-in tariff to be part of Energy Bill ahead of crucial ministerial meeting this week
• 2012/10/16: BBC: Greenwire £6bn plan to import Irish wind power
  The UK government is considering plans to import wind power from Ireland to the National Grid via cables under the Irish Sea to north and west Wales.
• 
  

  And in Europe:

   

• 2012/10/19: EUO: Financial transaction tax proposal next week, says Barroso
• 2012/10/18: EurActiv: EU calls time on first-generation biofuels
  The EU yesterday (17 October) launched new rules to account for indirect greenhouse gas emissions from biofuels, sending what EU Climate Commissioner Connie Hedegaard called a clear signal that first-generation biofuels were "not the future in Europe".
• 2012/10/17: BBC: The EU is changing its policy on biofuels to encourage energy production from waste rather than from food crops
• 2012/10/17: EurActiv: Biofuels industry threatens to sue European Commission
  Representatives of Europe's biofuels industry have threatened to sue the European Commission if it proceeds with plans to limit crop-based biofuels because of their indirect effect on greenhouse gas emissions.
• 2012/10/17: EurActiv: EU: No action on 2030 renewables target is 'no real option'
  The EU needs to advance its plans for renewable energy targets for 2030 soon, but only as part of a wider climate package, a member of energy commissioner Gunther Oettinger's cabinet said yesterday (16 October).
• 2012/10/17: EUO: EU to cap biofuel target to protect food
• 2012/10/17: TreeHugger: German Electricity Tax Rises 50% to Support Renewable Energy
• 2012/10/17: DerSpiegel: 'You Get What You Pay For' -- The Hidden Price of Food from China
  In recent years, China has become a major food supplier to Europe. But the low-cost goods are grown in an environment rife with pesticides and antibiotics, disproportionately cited for contamination and subject to an inspection regime full of holes. A recent norovirus outbreak in Germany has only heightened worries.
• 2012/10/17: DerSpiegel: Food From Nowhere -- Producers Reject Calls For Stricter Labels
• 2012/10/15: DerSpiegel: Rising Energy Prices -- Germans Grow Wary of Switch to Renewables
  Germany's switch to renewable energies is driving up electricity bills across the country, with a green technology surcharge set to rise by nearly 50 percent next year. With frustration over the high price tag, it promises to become a key issue in next year's election campaign.
• 2012/10/17: BBC: Energy companies will be forced to offer lowest tariffs, says Cameron
  Energy firms will be legally obliged to offer customers their lowest tariff, Prime Minister David Cameron has said. He said legislation would be brought before Parliament, which would be "welcome" news for households facing rising gas and electricity costs. The announcement to MPs came as senior cabinet ministers prepared to meet to discuss energy policy.
• 2012/10/16: EurActiv: New EU biofuels law could be last straw for farmers
  Energy industry, farmers and campaigners in row over 'indirect' greenhouse gas emissions from biofuels crops as the European Commission is poised to unveil its proposal tomorrow (17 October).
• 2012/10/16: EurActiv: Current EU fisheries policy is unsustainable, study says
  The EU's fishing industry could be heading towards ruin without robust regulatory reform, says a new WWF-commissioned study published today (16 October). The study, carried out by Dutch renewables consultancy Framian BV, said that if the status quo continues, fishing fleets in the EU will land 1.4 million tonnes, or 30%, less fish by 2022 compared to 2009 figures.
• 2012/10/16: EurActiv: German green power tariff to rise 47% in 2013
  Renewable power subsidies levied on German consumers will rise by 47% next year, putting pressure on Chancellor Angela Merkel's ruling coalition to keep energy costs in check ahead of federal elections. Merkel's decision to abandon nuclear power following last year's Fukushima disaster has led to a growing need for alternative energy sources, and that has led to higher charges tagged on to consumers' energy bills.
• 2012/10/16: PSinclair: Germany's Renewable Ownership Society - the Green Middle Class
• 2012/10/15: CSM: Germany's push to end nuclear power comes with a hefty utility bill
• 2012/10/15: EurActiv: Lithuania swings left, abandons nuclear plant project
  The Labour Party of Russian-born millionaire Victor Uspaskich has emerged as the winner of the parliamentary elections in Lithuania. His party is set to form a government with the Social Democrats of Algirdas Butkevicius, who came second in an election in which voters also rejected plans to build a nuclear power plant.
• 2012/10/15: TP:JR: Europe Outlines New 'Blue Economy' Agenda For The Region's Oceans
• 2012/10/15: NatureNB: EU reversal on biofuels policy kicks off fresh battle
  The frequently caustic battle over European biofuels policy has kicked off again this week as the European Union is set to reverse gear and end years of support for the controversial energy source. Environmental groups, development NGOs and the biofuels sector were surprised in September when a leak of a long-delayed European Commission legislative proposal suggested that Brussels now wants to halve targets and shift support to more advanced fuels that it says do not displace food farming.
• 2012/10/14: AutoBG: Germany questioning EV subsidy support. Sound familiar?
  

  Meanwhile in Australia:

• 2012/10/18: ABC(Au): Abbott predicts 'filthiest' election
  Tony Abbott has predicted that the next election will be the "filthiest and most personal in living memory" because Labor has proven how viscious it is with its treatment of Kevin Rudd. In response Prime Minister Gillard said Tony Abbott is incapable of being anything other than negative.
• 2012/10/19: DeSmogBlog: Climate Denialist Aussie Radio Host Must Take Fact-Checking Course, Says Authority
• 2012/10/19: KSJT: Guardian: Australia tries to shove facts into a climate shock jock's cranium. Can you really do that?
• 2012/10/19: ABC(Au): Santos starts commercial shale gas production
  Santos has started commercial gas production from its Moomba-191 shale well in the Cooper Basin in the outback of South Australia.
• 2012/10/19: ABC(Au): Mayor backs Cooranga North wind farm
  Western Downs Council Mayor Ray Brown says he will support a proposed wind farm in the South Burnett.
• 2012/10/18: ABC(Au): Forest harvest rights sold for $670m
  The price has now been revealed for the sale of future harvesting rights for forests in the south-east of South Australia. The Government said the harvest rights were sold for $670 million, achieving a price above the reserve. The buyer is a consortium led by US company The Campbell Group, trading in Australia as OneFortyOne Plantations.
• 2012/10/18: ABC(Au): Alan Jones ordered to do journalism training
• 2012/10/18: ABC(Au): Electricity overhaul could slash bills
  Household power bills could be slashed by up to $250 a year under a Productivity Commission plan to overhaul how the electricity market works. The Commission's draft report found consumers are paying a significant amount of money just so the network can deal with peak demand - something that only happens for a short period of time.
• 2012/10/16: ABC(Au): Call made for moratorium on Cubbie station sale
  There has been a call for a moratorium on the sale of Cubbie station due to unanswered questions.
• 2012/10/17: ABC(Au): Yallourn cuts power generation by a quarter
  The owner of one of Victoria's biggest coal-fired power stations is slashing its generating capacity by a quarter. EnergyAustralia says it is cutting the Yallourn power station's output in the Latrobe Valley because of rising costs and a drop in demand. Until now, the station has generated about a fifth of the state's electricity.
• 2012/10/17: ABC(Au): Whistleblower accuses nuclear agency of cover-up
  Security guards have escorted a whistleblower out of a Senate estimates hearing after he yelled abuse at the head of Australia's nuclear agency.
• 2012/10/15: ABC(Au): Report casts doubt over brown coal exports
  A new report says there is little money to be made from exporting the Latrobe Valley's brown coal. The report was commissioned by Environment Victoria and analyses the economics of exporting coal from the Valley.
• 2012/10/15: ABC(Au): Residents concerned by solar farm development
  Residents of Royalla, just south of Canberra, fear a large scale solar farm planned for the area will be an eye sore. A Spanish-based company Fotowatio Renewable Ventures (FRV) was awarded the contract to build a 50 hectare solar farm in August, and construction is due to begin in 2013. But Royalla residents say they have not been directly consulted.
• 2012/10/15: ABC(Au): PM paves the way for uranium sales to India
  The Australian Prime Minister's three-day visit to India is expected to pave the way for an agreement to allow India to buy Australian uranium. Julia Gillard is due to have talks with her Indian counterpart and senior ministers.
• 
  

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

   

• 2012/10/18: ABC(Au): Emissions drop since introduction of carbon tax
• 2012/10/16: ABC(Au): Exports lift gas price more than carbon tax: report
  A report commissioned by industry groups warns gas prices on the east coast could triple due to the surge of LNG exports to Asia. The report prepared by the National Institute of Economic and Industry Research says such gas price rises for power producers would see cost increases three times bigger than those from the carbon tax.
• 
  

  After years of drought and flooding, water usage planning is controversial and difficult:

   

• 2012/10/17: ABC(Au): National MPs oppose Orange drought proofing project
  The Member for Orange says a disagreement with his National colleagues over the Macquarie pipeline is not the sign of a split in the party.
• 2012/10/18: ABC(Au): Irrigators refuse to pay new water charges
• 2012/10/18: ABC(Au): Flood warning systems ineffective: report
  A review has found this year's flood disaster in Victoria's north-east could have been better managed. The 2012 North East Victoria Flood Review identifies shortcomings in training and effective communication among emergency agencies, including incompatible information systems and different radio frequencies. The towns of Numurkah and Nathalia were among the hardest hit by the record floods.
• 2012/10/18: ABC(Au): Victorian flood report finds failures in official warning systems
  The report by Victoria's emergency services commissioner into this year's floods has found that the absence of any official warning procedures led to late evacuations and the flooding of a hospital. The town of Numurkah was swamped by flash flooding in March this year. The report shows that emergency authorities failed to listen to people on the ground and were too reliant on historical data. But Victoria's emergency services commissioner denies that these failings put lives at risk.
• 2012/10/18: ABC(Au): Menindee water releases to get boost
• 2012/10/17: ABC(Au): Most Commonwealth water holdings in Lachlan and Gwydir catchments
  A Senate Estimates panel has heard details of the Commonwealth's current water holdings in the Murray-Darling Basin.
• 2012/10/15: ABC(Au): Murray flows expected to drop 'steeply'
  Months of high flows on the River Murray are expected to end this fortnight. The Department of Environment and Water says the river flow will recede to about 20,000 megalitres a day by the end of the month. That is a drop of more than 25,000 megalitres a day from the current flow rate.
• 
  

  While in the Indian subcontinent:

   

• 2012/10/20: al Jazeera: India's malnutrition problem is a systemic issue
  Girls in India are more malnourished as "inadequate resources of families are divided preferentially among men". India's growing riches have been the subject of many global discussions. In the past few years, India has responded to international emergencies by reaching out with support in cash and kind. However, India has still not managed to get a grip on the problem of malnutrition its children face, a fact that India's prime minister this year called a "national shame". The facts are daunting - as many as nearly half of India's children below five years are malnourished. Girls are even more malnourished as inadequate resources of families are divided preferentially among men.
• 2012/10/16: CCurrents: Koodankulam Women From Prison: Tell Everyone We Are Still Here!
  

  And in China:

• 2012/10/20: Reuters: Chinese government mulls policies to support solar power industry
  China is working on policies, including subsidies and easier access to the grid, to help its ailing solar power producers expand in the domestic market, the China Daily reported on Saturday, citing industry officials and government sources.
• 
  

  In the Middle East:

   

• 2012/10/19: TreeHugger: Saudi Arabia to Transition to 100% Renewables
• 2012/10/19: Guardian(UK): Saudi Arabia reveals plans to be powered entirely by renewable energy
• 2012/10/15: Reuters: Iraq plans to invest up to $1.6 bln in solar and wind energy
  Iraq invites firms to build wind and solar energy stations - Aims to add 400 MW in three years - Iraq suffers from chronic power shortages
• 
  

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

   

• 2012/10/17: MSimon: The Day the Cons Turned Parliament into a Farce
• 2012/10/16: Macleans: Stephen Harper is made to face the farce
• 2012/10/16: OilChange: Canada and Shell "Strangling Climate Action"
  

  The NRTEE deliveed their final report this week (and demonstrated why the Harperistas defunded them):

• 2012/10/20: BLongstaff: The swan song of the Round Table on the Environment
• 2012/10/18: G&M: Advisory panel axed by Harper makes final pitch for national price on carbon
• A blue-ribbon advisory group that was killed by the Harper government is issuing a final plea for a national price on carbon. The National Roundtable on the Environment and the Economy was created 24 years ago by former prime minister Brian Mulroney as he embraced the concept of sustainable development. But after a series of reports that challenged the current government's policies, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty cut off its funding in last March's budget.
• 2012/10/18: PostMedia: Canadian economy missing out on green revolution, says panel axed by Stephen Harper
  The Canadian economy will miss out on a booming market of green goods and services worth trillions of dollars if governments fail to steer away from foolish energy and climate change policies, says a new report to be released Thursday. The analysis, the sixth and final report in a research series undertaken by the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy, concluded that goods and services promoting reductions in greenhouse gas emissions were part of a sector that's growing faster than the Canadian economy. "Canada needs a low-carbon growth plan," said the report. "This is a basic conclusion of our analysis and of the feedback received from regional stakeholders. The reality is that Canada is unprepared to compete in a carbon-constrained world." The research series, examining economic opportunities resulting from climate change, warned last year that the impacts of global warming would be far worse - up to $43 billion per year - than the cost of putting a price on pollution.
• 2012/10/17: CBC: Roundtable's last report strikes familiar low-carbon chord -- Advisory panel's final document carries advice Conservatives don't like to hear
  The National Roundtable on the Environment and the Economy has used its final report to chart a suggested route for Canada to make the transition to a low carbon economy and to profit from it. The report is the last in a six-part series that looks at the economic risks and opportunities that global climate change presents.
• 
  

  The Harper gang hit Parliament with another Omnibus bill [C-45] which changes much previous legislation:

   

• 2012/10/19: TStar: The omnibus bill becomes business as usual for Conservatives
• 2012/10/20: CanTrends: The Omnibus Ballet - Act II
• 2012/10/19: TheCanadian: Navigable Waters Protection Act Under Attack...Again
• 2012/10/19: CPW: First Nation: Bill C-45 allows tar sands industry to destroy vital waterways and treaty rights
• 2012/10/18: G&M: Environmentalists decry changes to law governing navigable waters
  Proposed changes to a federal law governing navigable waters would end its ability to protect tens of thousands of Canada's waterbodies, environmentalists say. Amendments to the Navigable Waters Protection Act introduced as part of a sweeping budget implementation bill on Thursday limit its application to 97 lakes, 62 rivers and the three oceans that border Canada. That means construction of dams, bridges and other projects would be permitted on most waterways without prior approval under the act, which currently covers any body of water big enough to float a canoe in.
• 2012/10/: GC:Parliament: C-45 -- A second Act to implement certain provisions of the budget tabled in Parliament on March 29, 2012 and other measures
• 2012/10/19: G&M: Critics say bill hampers Fisheries Act
  The Harper government is preparing to allow oil sands and mining companies to cancel regulatory permits that require them to compensate for loss of fish habitat, critics charged Friday. Under the budget omnibus bill tabled this week, companies will be allowed to apply to the fisheries minister who can either amend or cancel old permits -- as well as the conditions that applied to them -- if the minister "is of the opinion that the holder no longer need an authorization."
• 
  

  That secret FIPPA treaty Harper signed is raising suspicions:

   

• 2012/10/19: Tyee: China Trade Deal a '31-Year Ball and Chain' on Canada
  Expert says treaty gives Chinese corporations powers to override Canadians' self-determination.
• 2012/10/17: DeSmogBlog: China Investment Treaty "a Straitjacket" for Canada: Exclusive Interview with Trade Investment Expert Gus Van Harten
• 2012/10/18: DeSmogBlog: China-Canada Investment "Straitjacket:" Interview with Gus Van Harten Part 2
• 2012/10/19: DeSmogBlog: China-Canada Investment "Straitjacket:" Interview with Gus Van Harten Part 3
• 2012/10/16: TheCanadian: Law Professor Warns Harper About Canada-China Trade Deal [Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (FIPPA)]
• 2012/10/15: ChronicleHerald: Chinese spying in Canada? This is just the start
  So is China a military threat, an economic threat and a political one, all wrapped up in one? Or are we just scared about barbarians at the gates?
• 
  

  Just to put another twist on the Nexen deal, the Harper gang has nixed a parallel Petronas bid:

   

• 2012/10/20: CBC: Canada blocks Malaysian energy takeover deal -- Rejection puts B.C. liquefied natural gas plant in limbo
• 2012/10/20: G&M: Ottawa keeps Malaysia's Petronas out of Canada's oil patch
• 2012/10/20: BBerg: Canada Rejects Petronas's Bid for Progress Energy
  Canada blocked Petroliam Nasional Bhd.'s C$5.2 billion ($5.23 billion) takeover of Progress Energy Resources Corp. (PRQ), saying the bid by Malaysia's state-owned oil company wouldn't advance national interests. "I have sent a notice letter to Petronas indicating that I am not satisfied that the proposed investment is likely to be of net benefit to Canada," Industry Minister Christian Paradis said in a statement late yesterday. Paradis said he couldn't comment further.
• 2012/10/20: G&M: How Malaysia's oil-patch bid 'came unglued' after Ottawa pressed to extend talks
  Malaysia's Petronas refused a last-minute request by the federal government for more time to consider the state-owned energy producer's proposed $6-billion acquisition of Canada's Progress Energy Resources, forcing Ottawa to block the deal just minutes before a deadline elapsed midnight Friday. Petronas was frustrated after weeks of already-extended negotiations with the government over concessions needed to meet the "net benefit" test in the Investment Canada rules on foreign takeovers, and so declined when the government asked to keep negotiations going, said three people familiar with the discussions.
• 
  

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

   

• 2012/10/17: G&M: CNOOC's bid for Nexen fuels security concerns
• 2012/10/15: HillTimes: Analysts urge feds to use Nexen extension to clarify foreign acquisition rules
  Policy experts say prospect of more state-led takeovers poses threat to national security.
• 2012/10/15: G&M: Environmentalists fear Ottawa's plan will weaken at-risk species act
  The law created to protect Canada's species at risk has failed to live up to its promise, and environmentalists fear the federal Conservative government's recently announced plans to revise it are aimed at weakening it, not giving it more teeth.
• 
  

  The battle over the Northern Gateway pipeline rages on:

   

• 2012/10/18: ICN: Enbridge Long on Promises, Short on Evidence of Pipeline Safety: B.C. Government
• 2012/10/18: G&M: Enbridge, B.C. pipeline spat gains new traction
  The spat between Enbridge Inc. and British Columbia is escalating...
• 2012/10/18: CBC: Enbridge pledges Northern Gateway will be safest on continent
• 2012/10/16: G&M: Nobel winner joins [Northern Gateway] pipeline opposition
  Nobel Peace Prize laureate Jody Williams and a growing array of entertainers, including Michael Moore, Daryl Hannah and Mark Ruffalo, are adding their voices to a protest against a proposed pipeline across British Columbia.
• 2012/10/20: TheCanadian: The Enbridge Corporate Character
• 2012/10/16: TheCanadian: Oil, Cancer and Bicycles: Enbridge Ride Sparks Emotional Debate
  

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

• 2012/10/19: AlexandraMorton: Fear and Silence
• 2012/10/18: AlexandraMorton: Birthplace of salmon feedlots in Canada
• 2012/10/15: AlexandraMorton: Another town fighting fish farms
• 2012/10/15: AlexandraMorton: No one can understand why!
• 2012/10/14: AlexandraMorton: The story of Port Mouton
• 2012/10/16: TheCanadian: Norwegian Salmon Farming Giant Appeals Loss in Defamation Case Against Activist Don Staniford
  

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

• 2012/10/19: PI: British Columbians willing to pay more carbon tax: poll
• 2012/10/19: PI: [link to 849k pdf] British Columbians' perspectives on global warming and the carbon tax
• 2012/10/18: PI:B: Electric vehicles and charging stations offer a clean drive for British Columbians
• 2012/10/18: NI: Media fails to give an honest account
  

  Meanwhile in that Mechanical Mordor known as the tar sands:

• 2012/10/17: DailyMail(UK): Once this landscape was a pristine wilderness roamed by deer now it's 'the most destructive industrial project on earth'
  Lush green forests once blanketed an area of the Tar Sands at Fort McMurray in Alberta, Canada, larger than England - Area where blackened earth now stands dubbed by environmentalists as most destructive industrial project on earth - Boreal forest - once home to grizzly bears, moose and bison - is vanishing at rate second to Amazon deforestation
• 2012/10/20: BCLSB: Its Usefulness At An End?
• 2012/10/15: PI:B: Federal recovery strategy confirms protecting habitat is key to protecting caribou
• 2012/10/17: CBC: Exxon offers $3.1B for Canadian natural gas firm Celtic Exploration
  

  Also in Alberta:

• 2012/10/16: PostMedia: Oilsands environmental blueprint to be released by [the provincial] government on Wednesday
  Albertans will get a better sense Wednesday of how a "world-class" monitoring system for the province is supposed to work when a long-awaited report is unveiled by the Progressive Conservative government. Environment Minister Diana McQueen will release a report on environmental monitoring along with Howard Tennant, who chaired the working group that prepared the document.
• 2012/10/17: G&M: Alberta's new pollutant-monitoring agency to look beyond oil sands
  The ugly scars left on the northern Alberta landscape by the oil sands have prompted calls from around the world for an independent body to gather data on the ecological damage wrought by the energy industry. But Ottawa has bowed out, with Environment Minister Peter Kent saying he doesn't believe more oversight will make monitoring any better. So now, with the credibility of its primary economic engine at stake, Alberta is going it alone, announcing plans Wednesday for an arms-length agency that will collect and publish scientific measurements on pollutants across the province.
• 2012/10/17: CBC: Independent environmental monitoring body proposed for Alberta
  A government-appointed panel has proposed an arm's-length watchdog agency to monitor the effects of industrial development on Alberta's environment. The proposal would be funded by a combination of industry levies and general taxation revenue. The committee that wrote the report says creating an independent agency is the best way to ensure its credibility.
• 2012/10/17: PostMedia: Alberta to set up 'arm's-length' agency to monitor oilsands' environment impact
  The Alberta government will create a new "arm's-length" agency to track the long-term environmental effects of industrial development in the oilsands - and eventually across the province - but questions remain over how independent it will be and exactly how it will be funded. Environment Minister Diana McQueen made the long-awaited announcement in Edmonton on Wednesday after releasing a 128-page report from a working group formed earlier this year to advise the province on how such an organization should operate. "This will be a system like no other in Canada and, indeed, around the world - and it needs to be," McQueen said. "We will continue to demonstrate to Albertans, Canadians and the world that we can and will develop our natural resources in a responsible and sustainable way."
• 
  

  While in Saskatchewan:

   

• 2012/10/17: CBC: PotashCorp profit to be lower than expected -- Firm to shut Lanigan and Rocanville mines for 8 weeks
  PotashCorp will release its third-quarter financial results Oct. 25. PotashCorp will release its third-quarter financial results Oct. 25. (Troy Fleece/Canadian Press ) Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan is cutting its profit outlook for this year because of delays in reaching contracts with fertilizer customers in China and India.
• 
  

  In Ontario, Dalton surprised almost everyone:

   

• 2012/10/15: CBC: Ontario's McGuinty surprises with resignation, prorogation -- Liberal Party to hold leadership convention
• 2012/10/18: CBC: Ontario power plant cancellation dubbed 'project vapour'
  Ontario's Progressive Conservatives say the Liberal government used the code name Project Vapour to hide the cost of cancelling a generating station in Oakville from the public. The Opposition uncovered the Project Vapour code name in 20,000 documents released last Friday on the cancelled gas plant in Oakville and another in nearby Mississauga, which followed 36,000 pages of documents released last month.
• 2012/10/16: CBC: Group claims WTO will deem Ontario green energy subsidies 'illegal'
• 2012/10/16: CBC: Nuclear waste bid poses risks and rewards for Ontario town
• 2012/10/16: TreeHugger: Ontario's Premier Dalton McGuinty Resigns, Done In By Clean Energy
• 2012/10/15: Macleans: Dalton McGuinty and everything after
• 2012/10/16: TStar: Dalton McGuinty surprises us yet again
• 2012/10/15: G&M: McGuinty's surprise resignation leaves door open to federal politics
  

  In the Maritimes:

• 2012/10/16: CBC: Shale gas report rules out moratorium -- New Brunswick report calls for 'science-based' approach to shale gas decisions
  The New Brunswick government must address the "very serious concerns" over the development of the shale gas industry, but should not impose a moratorium on the industry, according to a new report. The provincial government hired Louis LaPierre, a professor emeritus in biology at the University of Moncton, to solicit the opinions of citizens over 116 proposed regulatory changes to the oil and gas industry. His recommendations are based on feedback from the nine public meetings held across the province earlier this year.
• 2012/10/15: CBC: Potential health risks cited in report on shale gas industry -- New Brunswick's chief medical health officer recommends ongoing monitoring
  New Brunswick's chief medical officer of health says the Alward government needs to take "targeted and strategic actions" to prevent and mitigate any negative health impacts associated with the development of the shale gas industry in the province.
• "There are social and community health risks from this industry," Dr. Eilish Cleary states in her 82-page report, released on Monday.
  

  As for miscellaneous Canadiana:

   

• 2012/10/17: PostMedia: DND warns clock ticking on surveillance satellite
  Canada runs the risk of having no space-based surveillance of its territory if the federal government can't deliver on its ambitious plan to launch a new constellation of satellites in 2014, the Defence Department is warning. The clock is ticking on the replacement of Canada's Radarsat-2 surveillance satellite, originally launched in 2007. Documents obtained by the Citizen show that DND has plans to build a new ground station in the Arctic next year and upgrade two others in preparation for the launch in 2014 and 2015 of a series of three replacement surveillance satellites, called the Radarsat Constellation Mission or RCM. But the Conservative government is still stalling on its commitment to the RCM satellites, which can conduct surveillance day or night and in all weather.
• 
  

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

   

• 2012/10/17: CCurrents: It's Time To Prioritise The Global Sharing Economy
• 2012/10/17: CCurrents: Degrowth Offers Alternative To Global Consumer Culture
  

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

• 2012/10/19: al Jazeera: N Ireland opens abortion clinic amid protests
  Marie Stopes family planning centre will offer the abortion pill to women who are less than nine weeks pregnant.
• 2012/10/18: CBC: Northern Ireland's 1st abortion clinic opens
• 2012/10/18: al Jazeera: Uruguay senate votes to legalise abortion
  Country becomes only second Latin American nation to allow all women the freedom to decide whether to end pregnancies.
• 2012/10/17: BBC: Uruguay has become the second country in Latin America, after communist Cuba, to legalise abortion for all women
  

  How are we going to deal with this mess?

• 2012/10/17: LoE: How to survive a global deceit crisis
  

  How do the media measure up?

• 2012/10/19: TP:JR: Memo To Politico: Get Some Binders Full Of Environmentalists
• 2012/10/18: TreeHugger: California Newspaper Editorial Boards Spread False Claims and Faulty Logic on Proposition 37
• 2012/10/18: TreeHugger: Opposition Parties' Presidential Debate Blacked Out by US Broadcast Media - Al Jazeera Will Air It
• 2012/10/18: NI: Media fails to give an honest account
• 2012/10/20: JQuiggin: Stuck in the 20th century at #Ozfail
• 2012/10/19: CJR: Turner's turnaround -- LA Times columnist learns that evaluating electric vehicles is harder than it seems
• 2012/10/18: CJR: The vilification of electric vehicles -- Media botch full explanation of the latest research
• 2012/10/16: CJR: The good news about organics -- And why the media tend to ignore it
• 2012/10/19: FAIR: Every Green Energy Failure Is News
• 2012/10/19: TP:JR: Debunking David Brooks' Sad Green Fairy Tale
• 2012/10/19: Guardian(UK): Climate change: journalism's never-ending fight for facts
• 2012/10/19: CEPR:BtP: Hot Air from David Brooks on Clean Energy and Global Warming
• 2012/10/20: ERabett: Watts Wrong Doc
• 2012/10/16: LoE: Fail on Sunday -- Is David Rose incompetent or deceitful?
• 2012/10/14: ERabett: Another Reason to Close Schools of Communication
  

  Congratulations, Michael:

• 2012/10/21: JEB: Woody Guthrie award
  

  Here is something for your library:

• 2012/10/15: OilChange: We Should All Scrutinise BP's Oil Road
  [Book Review] _The Oil Road_ by James Marriott & Mika Minio-Paluello
• 
  

  And for your film & video enjoyment:

   

• 2012/10/17: TreeHugger: This 17-Second Video Explains Why the Political Media is Failing Us on Climate Change
• 2012/10/17: EnergyBulletin: Growthbusters the movie (review)
• 2012/10/16: InsideScience: Altering the Sky to Reduce Climate Change
• 2012/10/18: PSinclair: Texas Windmillers
• 2012/10/17: TP:JR: F*ck Science: Why One Man Is Joining Mitt Romney In Climate Denial
• 2012/10/17: Grist: My TEDx talk on climate, pimped out
• 2012/10/16: DeSmogBlog: Delta Boys: Powerful Documentary Chronicles Niger Delta Oil Struggle
• 2012/10/16: ASI: Mike McCracken interview
• 2012/10/16: PSinclair: Young Conservatives Begin to Move on Climate Change
• 2012/10/15: TreeHugger: "Delta Boys" Documentary Goes Inside Nigeria's Anti-Oil Militancy
• 2012/10/14: SciAm:PV: The Believers: Cold Fusion at the Chicago International Film Festival
• 2012/10/15: AFTIC: "Perpetual Ocean" from NASA
  

  As for podcasts:

• 2012/10/20: CBC:Q&Q: Ironing the Ocean - Fish Feces Combat Carbon
  

  Meanwhile among the 'Sue the Bastards!' contingent:

• 2012/10/18: WSWS: Morgan Stanley fine upheld in electricity price-fixing scam
  A Federal District Court judge in Manhattan has upheld a $4.8 million fine against Morgan Stanley for creating a complex derivatives deal between the utility KeySpan Corporation and its nominal competitor, Astoria Generating Company, enabling KeySpan to illegally profit by maintaining some of the highest electricity rates in the country.
• 2012/10/17: Guardian(UK): Chevron dealt new blow in Ecuador pollution case
  Ecuadorean plaintiffs say they have made first step towards collecting $19bn in damages from the US oil company
• 2012/10/16: BBerg: California Asks Court to Reinstate Carbon Fuel Standard
• 2012/10/17: CSM: Solyndra sues Chinese solar companies
  Solyndra, the bane of Obama's clean energy loan scheme, received $535 million in government support before it had to file for bankruptcy back in 2011. It has now come out that Solyndra has filed a lawsuit against three US based, Chinese solar companies, claiming that their illegal pricing strategies were the reason why Solyndra could not meet the contracts that it had announced in 2008. (...) The lawsuit is against Suntech, Trina Solar Ltd, and Yingli Green Energy Holding Co., and is asking for a sum of $1.5 billion in compensation.
• 2012/10/14: Mecury: California greenhouse gas rules face major court test
  Having fended off a challenge to groundbreaking emissions standards for new cars, California now finds itself in a legal tug-of-war to preserve some of its unprecedented regulations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions of fuels. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday will hear arguments in a legal challenge to the 2006 regulations, which a Fresno federal judge last year struck down as unconstitutional. The judge sided with an array of gas, trucking and farming industry interests aligned against the complex effort to curtail the carbon footprint of transportation fuels. Legal experts say the appeal could crucially test how far a state can go with such broad greenhouse gas regulations.
• 2012/10/16: NatureN: US environment agency fights back over mountaintop mining -- Courts set to decide on agency's power to protect wildlife and habitats
• 2012/10/16: BBC: Spain Prestige oil spill disaster case in court
  The trial has begun in northern Spain of the captain of the Prestige oil tanker that sank in 2002, causing the country's worst environmental disaster.
• 
  

  Wrestling over a new energy infrastructure continues unabated:

   

• 2012/10/19: 350orBust: It's Time To Get Real About The Risks Of Dirty Energy
• 2012/10/18: 350orBust: [gfx] Our Current Energy Policy Is Insane
• 2012/10/17: NakedCapitalism: The Myth of Affordable Energy -- Interview with Ed Dolan
• 2012/10/17: CSM: Why natural gas isn't likely to solve our energy woes
• 2012/10/16: Reuters: German winter shows Achilles heel of renewables: Wynn
  The extreme variability of wind and solar power in Germany is laid bare by 2012 data that also illustrates a particular vulnerability when power demand surges on cold winter days - they are often both weak at the same time.
• 2012/10/19: FAIR: Every Green Energy Failure Is News
• 2012/10/20: EnergyBulletin: Why natural gas isn't likely to be the world's energy savior
• 2012/10/15: TP:JR: Community Choice Aggregation: Giving Consumers Access To Clean Energy
• 2012/10/15: SciAm:PI: Energy policy is shaped by what you think about energy
  

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

• 2012/10/21: DeSmogBlog: Fracking in PA Poisoning Communities as Floodgates Open for Drilling on Campuses, Public Parks
• 2012/10/19: ICN: Gas Drilling Payments Cause a Dispute in Pennsylvania
• 2012/10/19: ICN: Hydraulic Fracturing: FracFocus Prepares for Its '2.0' Upgrade
• 2012/10/18: DeSmogBlog: Fracking Your Future: Shale Gas Industry Targets College Campuses, K-12 Schools
• 2012/10/16: DeSmogBlog: New Gas Industry Astroturf: Landowner Advocates of NY Buses Activists to Albany Pro-Fracking Rally
• 2012/10/15: CBC: Potential health risks cited in report on shale gas industry
• 2012/10/15: DeSmogBlog: Keystone XL Contractor and SUNY Buffalo Shale Institute Conduct LA County's Fracking Study
• 2012/10/15: TreeHugger: Frack-Free Colorado Highlights Natural Gas Fracking Facts (Infographic)
• 2012/10/14: DeSmogBlog: Whitewash: SUNY Buffalo Defends Controversial Shale Gas Institute
  

  On the coal front:

• 2012/10/: SierraClub: [slideshow] The Cost of Coal
  

  On the gas and oil front:

• 2012/10/19: BBerg: Closing oil prices Friday
  OIL (US$/bbl)
  Nymex Crude Future...90.05
  Dated Brent Spot....111.17
  WTI Cushing Spot.....90.05
• 2012/10/19: OilDrum: Hofmeister: A Difficult Decade Ahead For Oil Prices and Supplies by Robert Rapier
• 2012/10/17: BBerg: Deepwater Permits in U.S. Gulf Exceed Pre-BP Spill Level
• 2012/10/17: EarlyWarning: US Oil Rig Boom Leveling Off?
• 2012/10/15: CER:RRapier: The Potential for a Heating Oil Crisis
• 2012/10/14: RI: Oil and gas industry uses deceptive energy independence message to push U.S. exports
• 2012/10/15: Reuters: Iraq plans to invest up to $1.6 bln in solar and wind energy
  Iraq invites firms to build wind and solar energy stations - Aims to add 400 MW in three years - Iraq suffers from chronic power shortages
• 2012/10/15: TreeHugger: GE's First All-New Turbine in 20 Years is Optimized for Renewables
• 2012/10/16: CSM: Challenging the oil and gas industry's energy independence message
• 2012/10/15: CSM: Oil prices' new dynamic: too much oil, too little demand?
  

  Regarding oil and the economy:

• 2012/10/15: CassandrasLegacy: Italy implodes
  

  And in pipeline news:

• 2012/10/15: ICN: New Enbridge 6B Pipeline Set To Go into Ground in Michigan
• 2012/10/16: TheCanadian: Tar Sands Pipeline to New England Being Plotted Behind Closed Doors, Envrionmental Groups Allege
  

  Yes we have peak everything:

• 2012/10/16: OilDrum: Jean Maugeri - Part II by Jean Laherrère
• 2012/10/15: SeekingAlpha: Peak Lithium: Death Blow For Electric Cars?
  

  Biofuel bickering abounds:

• 2012/10/17: Google:AFP: EU, US should abandon biofuels: UN rapporteur
  The European Union and the United States should stop using biofuels as they are hampering food production, the UN's special rapporteur for the right to food Olivier De Schutter told AFP on Wednesday.
• 2012/10/15: Guardian(UK): Will algae ever power our cars?
  

  The answer my friend...:

• 2012/10/18: TreeHugger: Portable 50kW Wind Turbine Folds Itself into Shipping Container
• 2012/10/17: Guardian(UK): Will US wind power splutter out if Mitt Romney cuts its subsidy?
  

  Meanwhile among the solar aficionados:

• 2012/10/16: LA Times: Solar power, and tortoises too -- A plan for big plants in the Mojave Desert balances renewable energy and conservation needs
• 2012/10/19: EurActiv: Solar PV industry eyes up to 25% power share in 2030
  There are no technical barriers to the large-scale integration of solar power into the electricity grid in Europe over the long term, says a report by the European Photovoltaic Industry Association. The EPIA report, released Wednesday (17 October), predicted photovoltaics would account for 15% Europe's electricity production by 2030, or 25% "under a paradigm shift scenario".
• 2012/10/18: Eureka: Solar power is contagious
• 2012/10/18: CSM: Will tiny nanowires double the power of solar cells?
• 2012/10/16: Reuters: Overcapacity to edge out 180 solar panel makers by 2015: report
  Overcapacity in the solar industry is likely to result in at least 180 panel makers either going bust or being acquired by 2015, according to a research report released on Tuesday. GTM Research estimates that global solar products supply will exceed demand by 35 gigawatts on average annually over the next three years. The largest number of casualties will occur in high-cost manufacturing markets such as the United States, Europe and Canada, GTM said.
• 2012/10/17: TreeHugger: Build Your Own Solar Charger with Voltaic's DIY Kits
• 2012/10/20: Reuters: Chinese government mulls policies to support solar power industry
• 2012/10/15: TreeHugger: Billionaire Plans to Turn Hawaiian Island Into a Solar-Powered "Eco Lab"
• 2012/10/16: NBF: Nanowire solar cells could theoretically convert 60% of power and have a practical target of 38%
  

  The nuclear energy controversy continues:

• 2012/10/19: UCSUSA: Nuclear Regulatory Commission has Failed to Adequately Address Flood Risks at Nuclear Plants from Dam Failures, Report Finds -- Negligence Could Lead to a U.S. Fukushima, Science Group Says
• 2012/10/19: NBF: [In China] Ningde nuclear reactor is being loaded with fuel
• 2012/10/18: EneNews: "You won't believe this": US nuclear regulator meets to discuss 80-year licenses for old reactors -Expert (video)
• 2012/10/18: NBF: Reviewing the New or Restarted Nuclear Reactors for 2012
• 2012/10/17: ABC(Au): Whistleblower accuses nuclear agency of cover-up
  Security guards have escorted a whistleblower out of a Senate estimates hearing after he yelled abuse at the head of Australia's nuclear agency.
• 2012/10/16: CSM: Uranium woes: no relief for prices amid low demand
  Spot prices for uranium hit a two-year low last week at $45.75 amid a pending decision over Japan's nuclear future, excess uranium inventories and slowing growth in China. Japan is dragging its feet on making a decision on whether it will hold on to any of its nuclear fleet. Elections have to be held within less than a year, and no one is willing to risk a controversial decision before then.
• 2012/10/15: EurActiv: Lithuania swings left, abandons nuclear plant project
• 2012/10/15: SciAm:CC: No Nukes + No Fracking = More Coal? Indian Point Debate Highlights Green Quandary
  

  Nuclear waste storage requires _very_ long term thinking:

• 2012/10/17: APR: INL Press Release - New Video on Waste
• 2012/10/17: CBC: Designing nuclear warning signs to last millennia
  So you have 4 million highly-radioactive used nuclear fuel bundles. They are safely stored 500 metres underground. It's going to take about 1 million years before they are safe to juggle. How do you keep people from accidentally digging them up?
• 2012/10/16: CBC: Nuclear waste bid poses risks and rewards for Ontario town
  

  More people are talking about the electrical grid:

• 2012/10/17: TreeHugger: Smart Grid Saves Chattanooga Utility $1.4 Million During Storm
• 2012/10/15: ERW: Electric vehicles may not be able to aid power grid in summer
  

  And then there is the matter of efficiency & conservation:

• 2012/10/20: NBF: Superconductoring Wire Could Improve by Four Times
• 2012/10/16: NBF: Sumitomo prototype superconductor motor for buses in 2013 and mass production by 2020
• 2012/10/14: CleanBreak: Searching for the perfect LED light bulb, 50 years after its invention
  

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

• 2012/10/18: GizMag: Society of Automotive Engineers announces electric car charging plug standard [SAE J1772]
• 2012/10/19: SlashDot: Standard For Electric Car Charging Announced
• 2012/10/18: AutoBG: Amp [Electric Vehicles] stops conversion SUV plans, shifts focus to electric delivery trucks
• 2012/10/17: UCSUSA:B: A Model Year Ends, A New TV Season Begins, and Hybrid and Electric Vehicle Sales Are Up
• 2012/10/16: TreeHugger: The Lies Carmakers Told About Fuel Economy...
• 2012/10/19: CJR: Turner's turnaround -- LA Times columnist learns that evaluating electric vehicles is harder than it seems
• 2012/10/18: CJR: The vilification of electric vehicles -- Media botch full explanation of the latest research
• 2012/10/16: AutoBG: E-Moss testing "completely climate-neutral" wireless charging bus in Netherlands
• 2012/10/16: AutoBG: Norwegian University study exaggerates downside of electric vehicles
• 2012/10/17: AutoBG: Toyota dealers: no, we're not ready to sell EVs quite yet
• 2012/10/17: CSM: No, the electric car is not a failure
• 2012/10/15: TreeHugger: Honda Milestone: 1 Million Hybrids Sold
• 2012/10/14: AutoBG: Germany questioning EV subsidy support. Sound familiar?
  

  As for Energy Storage:

• 2012/10/18: NBF: Current and Future Batteries
• 2012/10/17: UCSUSA:B: Putting A123 in Context
• 2012/10/16: BBerg: Electric Car Battery Maker A123 Systems Files Bankruptcy
• 2012/10/16: Reuters: Battery maker A123 Systems files for bankruptcy
  

  The reaction of business to climate change will be critical:

• 2012/10/20: DeSmogBlog: Public Pressure Helps Disney End Destructive Environmental Practices
  

  Insurance and re-insurance companies are feeling the heat:

• 2012/10/17: BWeek: North America Has Biggest Rise in Weather Catastrophes
  Climate change contributed to a fivefold increase in weather-related natural disasters in North America over the past three decades, according to Munich Re, the world's biggest reinsurer. "Nowhere in the world is the rising number of natural catastrophes more evident than in North America," Peter Hoeppe, head of Munich Re's Geo Risks Research unit, told reporters in Munich today. There was a four-fold gain in disasters in Asia, while the number doubled in Europe, the reinsurer said.
• 
  

  Who's fielding theFAQs?

   

• 2012/10/18: Guardian(UK): Will climate change lead to more droughts?
  

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

• 2012/10/19: TP:JR: October 19 News...
• 2012/10/18: TP:JR: October 18 News...
• 2012/10/17: TP:JR: October 17 News...
• 2012/10/16: TP:JR: October 16 News...
• 2012/10/15: TP:JR: October 15 News...
  

  Other (weekly) lists:

• 2012/10/19: BPA: Hot 5: GAO Water Report. Harvested Acreage Per Capita. MRUniversity. The Aquaponic Source. Surviving Progress
• 2012/10/19: EnergyBulletin: ODAC Newsletter
• 2012/10/16: BPA: Agriculture News
  

  The carbon lobby are up to the usual:

• 2012/10/19: TP:JR: Koch-Affiliated Group Campaigns To Make Wind Tax Credit 'So Toxic' Republicans Won't Back It
• 2012/10/19: ITracker: Climate deniers losing the argument
• 2012/10/18: CasperStarTrib: Emails: University of Wyoming officials sped up, touted removal of anti-coal sculpture
• 2012/10/18: TP:JR: Emails: Coal Lobby Threatened University Officials Over Art Project, Warning They Can't 'Hide Behind Academic Freedom'
• 2012/10/18: LoE: Fostering denial in the Church of England
• 2012/10/19: JQuiggin: Statistical significance
• 2012/10/19: LoE: Fostering denial in the C of E (Part 2)
• 2012/10/17: Stoat: We have to get rid of the Medieval Warm Period?
• 2012/10/15: P3: About Denial: Coping Mechanisms That Don't Entirely Work
• 2012/10/17: OilChange: Koch'ed up: Petcoke's political pollution
• 2012/10/17: Stoat: Fake "ADDENDUM: Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States"
• 2012/10/17: Wunderground:RR: It's Not Getting Warmer --- Again, Really?
• 2012/10/13: McClatchyDC: The Kochs' quest to save America
• 2012/10/20: ERabett: Watts Wrong Doc
• 2012/10/20: LoE: Fostering Denial - Epilogue
• 2012/10/16: Guardian(UK): Why the Daily Mail was wrong to claim global warming has stopped
  Newspaper's claim that 'world stopped getting warmer almost 16 years ago' is simply wrong, says Met Office
• 2012/10/16: BCLSB: Refuting Lorne Gunter On AGW
• 2012/10/16: OilChange: Canada and Shell "Strangling Climate Action"
• 2012/10/15: ERabett: Pat Michaels Erases the Arctic
• 2012/10/15: TP:JR: Ten Charts That Make Clear The Planet Just Keeps Warming
• 2012/10/16: LoE: Fail on Sunday -- Is David Rose incompetent or deceitful?
• 2012/10/15: P3: Another "Global Warming Has Stopped" Piece
• 2012/10/15: PSinclair: Another Daily Mail Fail: Met Office Politely says, "Bugger Off you bloody, blithering Barmpot!"
• 2012/10/14: RealClimate: A sea level Golden Horseshoe nominee [d]
  

  This week in voter intimidation:

• 2012/10/16: DD: Koch Industries, other CEOs threaten employees with layoffs if President Obama is reelected
• 2012/10/16: TheHill:e2W: Koch Industries defends election letter to employees as 'not unusual'
  A letter Koch Industries sent this month to employees that noted of company-wide "consequences" if GOP candidates lose elections on Nov. 6 was meant to "encourage employees to be informed about and engaged in the political process," a spokesman told The Hill on Monday. Rob Tappan, Koch Industries's director of external communications, told The Hill that the Oct. 1 letter President Dave Robertson sent to the firm's 50,000 employees did not instruct them to vote a certain way.
• 2012/10/15: TP:JR: Koch Industries Warns 45,000 Employees Of 'Consequences' If They Don't Vote For Republicans
• 2012/10/15: ICN: Koch Industries, Other CEOs Warn Employees of Layoffs if Obama Is Re-elected
  

  Meanwhile in the 'clean coal' saga:

• 2012/10/17: TP:JR: Photos: Documenting The True Cost Of Coal
• 2012/10/17: SaskBoy: Clean Coal?
• 2012/10/14: WaPo: Coal ash decision stymied in election year
  

  As for climate miscellanea:

• 2012/10/18: Guardian(UK): Climate change fiction melts away just when it's needed
• 2012/10/17: EnergyBulletin: When science is a conveyor of bad news by Tom Murphy
• 2012/10/15: BBC: Big Tobacco lawyers target food industry
  The lawyers who took on the big US tobacco companies, and won, have now set their sights on the food industry. Newsnight's science editor, Susan Watts, asks one of them why he has chosen this particular fight.
• 2012/10/16: SciNews: Elevated carbon dioxide may impair reasoning
• 2012/10/10: STW: Inferential Statistics and Replications
• 2012/10/16: ERabett: Here Comes the Hammer
  

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

• Wiki: SAE J1772
• Climate Engineering - Kiel Earth Institute
• FracFocus Chemical Disclosure Registry
• Green [Global?] Climate Fund
• NOAA: NCWCP - Center for Weather and Climate Prediction
• ChathamHouse: Climate Change 2012 -- Security, resilience and diplomacy -- 15-16 October 2012
• Haida Salmon Restoration Corporation
• Frack Free Colorado
• NOAA's Gulf of Mexico Disaster Response Center
• Safe Food Foundation & Institute
• The Global Carbon Project
• IATP: Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy
• Gitxsan Against Enbridge
• EC: Emissions Trading System (EU ETS)
• NOAA: ClimateWatch Magazine

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.

"We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us. When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect." -Aldo Leopold

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