Another Week of GW News, November 18, 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 Planetary Crisis

Information Overload is Pattern Recognition

November 18, 2012

• Chuckles, COP18+, IEA-WEO, Post Sandy, Sheffield, Cook
• Fukushima Note, Fukushima News, Nuclear Policy
• Melting Arctic, Walrus, Methane, Geopolitics, Antarctica
• Food Crisis, Fisheries, GMOs, GMO Labelling, Food Production
• Hurricanes, GHGs, Carbon Cycle, Temperatures, Aerosols, Paleoclimate, Risk
• ENSO, Biosphere, Extinctions, Anthropocene, Satellites
• Impacts, Forests, Wacky Weather, Extreme Weather
• Tornadoes, Wildfires, Glaciers, Sea Levels, Floods & Droughts
• Transportation, Buildings, Sequestration, Geoengineering, Adaptation
• Journals, Other Docs, Misc. Science, Models
• International Politics: Kyoto, Carbon Trade, Carbon Tax, Bank Tax
• Hormuz, South China Sea, EU ETS & Airlines, YPF - Repsol, Security
• Law & Activism, Activism, Polls, H2O Biz, Education, Ethics
• National Politics: America, BP Disaster, Post Election, Keystone, Carbon Tax?
• Birth Control, California ETS, Obama, USAdmin, Congress, Lobbyists, Al Gore
• Britain, Europe, Australia, Carbon Law, Methane, MDBP, India, China, Japan, Middle East
• Canada, Indian Nukes, NorGate, Free Trade, Salmon, Tar Sands, Ontario, Maritimes, Canadiana
• Ecological Economics, IPAT, Apocalypso, Media, Books, Video, Podcasts, Courts
• Energy, Fracking, Coal, Oil & Gas, Pipelines, Peak Oil, Biofuel
• Wind, Solar, Nukes, Hydrogen, Grid, Cars, Energy Storage
• Insurance, Joe's List, Carbon Lobby, Miscellaneous Climate, Useful Links
• Shameless Self Promotion, .sig

 

No matter how dark things may be, there are always bad jokes:

• 2012/11/13: Nation: (cartoon - TomTom) The GOP's Very Own Reality
• 2012/11/17: TP:JR: (cartoon - Judge) Denying Climate Change Is Putting Us in Danger
• 2012/11/13: uComics: (cartoon - Toles) A good Time
  

  Frankly things are not looking good for COP18 . Is Doha where treaties go to die?

• 2012/11/17: GulfTimes: Climate Change panel chief [Dr Rajendra K Pachauri] says 'not invited to COP18'
  The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) will not be attending the upcoming United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP18/CMP8) in Doha, chairman Dr Rajendra K Pachauri has said. "For the first time in the 18 years of COP, the IPCC will not be attending, because we have not been invited," he told Gulf Times in Doha. COP18 is to be held from November 26 to December 7.
• 2012/11/16: TreeHugger: Should the Former OPEC President Really Head a UN Climate Summit?
• 2012/11/16: Guardian(UK): US considers shifting climate negotiations away from UN track
  US reportedly looking to move policy debates from the UN's Doha climate conference and towards Major Economies Forum
• 2012/11/17: CCurrents: Light AfterThe Storm - Local Churches Partner With Occupy Sandy In Grass Roots Relief Efforts
• 2012/11/16: Euractiv: Washington weighs moving climate politics beyond UNFCCC
  The US is considering a funnel of substantive elements of the Doha Climate Summit away from the UN framework and into the Major Economies Forum (MEF), a platform of the world's largest CO2 emitters, EurActiv has learned. Since 1992, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) has provided an umbrella for talks to curb global greenhouse gas emissions, and on 26 November, will host the COP18 Climate Summit in Qatar. But it has been confirmed to EurActiv that Washington is increasingly looking to shift policy action to the MEF [Major Emitters Forum] whose members account for some 85% of global emissions, and which the US views as a more comfortable venue for agreeing climate goals.
• 2012/11/15: IPSNews: "Writing Is on the Wall" at Upcoming Climate Summit
  Two-thirds of the world's proven fossil fuel reserves cannot be used without risking dangerous climate change, the International Energy Agency (IEA) warned this week. Preventing the consumption of those two-thirds will be the primary task of the annual U.N. climate negotiations that resume at the end of this month.
  [...]
  A growing number of businesses are asking governments to eliminate subsidies to fossil fuel industries and to impose a carbon tax or fee, said [Andrew Steer, president of the World Resources Institute], who formerly worked at the World Bank. "They know the writing is on the wall and say these changes need to come sooner rather than later," he said.
• 2012/11/15: Guardian(UK): Doha conference: carbon cuts talks must wait, says key negotiator
  Brazil's Luiz Alberto Figueiredo says a Kyoto protocol extension must take priority at the Doha climate negotiations
• 2012/11/15: SlashDot: Climate Treaty Negotiators Are Taking the Wrong Approach, Say Game Theorists
• 2012/11/13: SciNews: Game theory suggests current climate negotiations won't avert catastrophe
• 2012/11/13: EurActiv: EU fogs post-2012 climate aid pledges
  Europe's finance ministers will not promise any specific new monies for fast-dwindling climate aid to the developing world when they meet in Brussels today (13 November), according to draft conclusions seen by EurActiv.
• 2012/11/12: EurActiv: EU welcomes Australian Kyoto pledge
  EU Climate Commissioner Connie Hedegaard has heartily endorsed a decision by Australia to sign up to a second round of emissions reductions under the Kyoto Protocol, which expires at the end of this year.
• 
  

  The IEA's annual World Energy Outlook report came out this week:

   

• 2012/11/12: IEA: World Energy Outlook 2012
• 2012/11/12: IEA: [Link to 1.8 meg pdf] World Energy Outlook 2012 - Executive Summary
• 2012/11/12: IEA: North America leads shift in global energy balance, IEA says in latest World Energy Outlook
• 2012/11/16: OilDrum: IEA Oil Forecast Unrealistically High; Misses Diminishing Returns
• 2012/11/15: OilChange: It's Official: Canada is the 51st State! [WEO]
• 2012/11/15: Guardian(UK): How cheap energy from shale will reshape America's role in the world
  US self-sufficiency in energy is likely to end American reliance on despotic Gulf regimes but biggest loser of all may be Russia
• 2012/11/14: OilPrice: PR at its Worst: IEA Spins Oil Stats to Make US Top 'Oil' Producer
• 2012/11/13: EconBrowser: 2012 World Energy Outlook from the International Energy Agency
• 2012/11/14: CSM: An America self-sufficient in oil? Don't bet on it.
• 2012/11/13: EurActiv: US can become world's biggest oil producer in a decade, says IEA
  The US can shed its longstanding dependence on Saudi Arabian oil within the next decade, redrawing the world's political systems and potentially leading to runaway global warming.
• 2012/11/13: EUO: Water shortages to affect energy production [IEA-WEO]
• 2012/11/13: TP:JR: IEA Report: Fossil Fuel Boom Is A Climate Disaster In The Making
• 2012/11/13: SciAm:PI: U.S. Poised For Energy Self-Sufficiency
• 2012/11/13: TreeHugger: More Fossil Fuels or a Stable Climate? We Can't Have Both, IEA Report Says
• 2012/11/13: CSM: Energy boom will push US past Saudi Arabia, benefit economy
• 2012/11/12: SST: US oil/gas independence soon.
• 2012/11/12: BBC: The US will overtake Saudi Arabia as the world's biggest oil producer "by around 2020", an International Energy Agency (IEA) report has said
• 2012/11/12: CBC: World's top oil producer projected to be U.S. by 2020 -- IEA expects output from Canada's oilsands will triple by 2035
• 2012/11/12: Guardian(UK): US can become world's biggest oil producer in a decade, says IEA
• 2012/11/12: EarlyWarning: IEA: US To Be World's Largest Oil Producer
• 2012/11/12: ICN: IEA Slams 'Epic Failure' of Global Energy Efficiency Policy
• 2012/11/12: OilChange: IEA report exposes frailty and limits of North American oil boom
• 2012/11/12: OilChange: IEA acknowledges fossil fuel reserves climate crunch
• 2012/11/12: NatureNB: IEA calls for focus on energy efficiency
  

  Post Sandy travails:

• 2012/11/17: NakedCapitalism: Naomi Klein on Bill Moyers: Hurricanes, Capitalism & Democracy
• 2012/11/16: TruthOut: Sandy's Secret Survivors: Old, Disabled and Invisible in the Rockaways
• 2012/11/17: WSWS: Rent strike threat after deaths at storm-ravaged New York housing complex
  Two and a half weeks after Hurricane Sandy struck the East Coast of the United States, thousands of people remained without electricity, heat, or hot water.
• 2012/11/16: CSW: Hurricane Sandy, climate change, and what is to be done - Q&A with Judith Regan on SiriusXM
• 2012/11/16: ICN: Political Support for a Sea Wall in New York Harbor Begins to Form
• 2012/11/15: USGS: North Carolina, Delmarva Coastlines Changed by Hurricane Sandy -- USGS releases new before-and-after photos
• 2012/11/15: al Jazeera: The mandate of hell: How not to change the world
  Superstorm Sandy revealed just how "unprepared" the US infrastructure is for "predicted climate change events".
• 2012/11/15: Guardian(UK): Obama reassures Sandy victims in tour of Staten Island devastation
  President promises administration will stand by east coast residents until clean-up is complete in second tour of region
• 2012/11/15: WSWS: Two weeks after Hurricane Sandy: Hoboken, New Jersey residents seek aid
• 2012/11/15: ArcticNews: Did Sandy trigger major earthquakes off Vancouver?
• 2012/11/14: NakedCapitalism: Harry Shearer: Preventing Another "Sandy": The Lessons New Orleans can Teach New Jersey
• 2012/11/14: CassandrasLegacy: Hurricane Sandy and climate change: from complacency to panic
• 2012/11/14: PSinclair: While Traditional Relief Efforts Bog Down, Occupy Movement Picks up Slack for Sandy Victims [vid]
• 2012/11/13: KSJT: Should New York begin building a wall against the sea?
• 2012/11/15: DemNow: Naomi Klein: Sandy's Devastation Opens Space for Action on Climate Change and Progressive Reform
• 2012/11/04: NYT: Engineers' Warnings in 2009 Detailed Storm Surge Threat to the Region
• 2012/11/12: FDL: Mayor Bloomberg Owes OWS an Apology
• 2012/11/13: BBC: UN: Haiti faces 2013 food shortage after Hurricane Sandy
• 2012/11/13: CBC: Slow Sandy response leaves Long Islanders fuming
  19,000 customers still waiting for Long Island Power Authority to restore electricity
• 2012/11/13: UCSUSA:B: Hurricane Sandy: The Map Is Not the Terrain
• 2012/11/13: Wunderground: Hurricane Sandy's huge size: freak of nature or climate change?
• 2012/11/13: EneNews: Newspaper: FEMA orders residents to stop giving out supplies after Hurricane Sandy - It was great until they stepped in, says local woman
• 2012/11/12: CSM: Clean energy and the deeper meaning of hurricane Sandy
• 2012/11/09: WBUR: 'Doctors Without Borders' Opens First U.S. Clinic In Post-Sandy Queens
• 2012/11/01: ProPublica: NYU Hospital's Backup System Undone by Key Part in Flooded Basement
• 2012/11/12: Guardian(UK): New York officials to request $30bn in federal aid for Sandy recovery
• 2012/11/12: UN: UN and Haitian Government seek close to $40 million for aid in wake of Hurricane Sandy
• 2012/11/12: Wunderground:RR: Climate Case Studies - Hurricane Sandy (1)
• 2012/11/12: TP:JR: Hurricane Sandy, Climate Change, And The Future Of Fish
• 2012/11/12: CSM: Laughing off Sandy with New York comedians
• 2012/11/12: WSWS: Anger erupts over continuing power outages two weeks after Hurricane Sandy
• 2012/11/11: TMoS: New Jersey's Dilemma - rebuild or walk away
  

  The Sheffield et al. paper on drought has kicked off a bit of controversy:

• 2012/11/14: Nature: (ab$) Little change in global drought over the past 60 years by Justin Sheffield et al.
• 2012/11/16: QuarkSoup: Good News on Drought
• 2012/11/15: CSM: How reliable are drought predictions? Study finds flaw in popular tool.
  [...]
  Dr. Sheffield and colleagues traced the problem with PDSI to the way it handles evaporation rates. Typically, the PDSI has used precipitation and temperature as the key drivers governing evaporation. But researchers have long known that other factors affect evaporation rates as well. These include relative humidity, the amount of the sun's energy reaching the surface, and wind speed. When the team calculated the PDSI using the temperature-focused approach for evaporation and used the results to identify drought trends, the results indicated that between 1950 and 2008, dryness increased for 98 percent of the globe's land area. When the team used the more sophisticated approach to calculating evaporation, the picture was more mixed: 52 percent of the land area saw increased drying, while 42 percent saw a decrease. Overall, both approaches show a drying trend, the team reports, but the increase in areas covered by drought using the more complete treatment of evaporation is seven times smaller than the more-simple approach.
• 2012/11/15: ABC(Au): Drought 'overestimated by faulty index'
• 2012/11/15: SciNews: Global drought may have changed less than thought -- Simple models have overestimated drying over past 60 years
• 2012/11/15: JFleck: Some good news today on climate change: less drought than we thought
• 2012/11/14: SciNow: Recent Drought Trends Not So Cut-and-Dried
• 2012/11/14: NewScientist: Link between global warming and drought questioned [Pearce]
• 2012/11/14: GLaden: I didn't realize the New Scientist was a tool of climate science denialism: The question of drought
  

  John Cook and friends continue their point-counterpoint articles:

• 2012/11/18: SkS: 2012 SkS Bi-Weekly News Roundup #2 by John Hartz
• 2012/11/17: SkS: The Apples & Oranges of Arctic/Antarctic Sea Ice Trend Comparisons by greenman3610
• 2012/11/16: SkS: 2012 SkS Bi-Weekly News Roundup #1 by John Hartz
• 2012/11/15: SkS: 24 Hours of Climate Reality - Watch It by dana1981
• 2012/11/15: SkS: What the 2012 US Election Means for Climate Change and Denial by dana1981
• 2012/11/14: SkS: 2012 SkS News Bulletin #4: Hurricane Sandy & Climate Change by John Hartz
• 2012/11/14: SkS: German translation of debunking solutions
• 2012/11/13: SkS: Fasullo and Trenberth Find Evidence in Clouds for High Climate Sensitivity by dana1981
• 2012/11/12: SkS: New research from last week 45/2012 by Ari Jokimäki
• 2012/11/12: SkS: 2012 SkS Weekly Digest #45 by John Hartz
  

  A note on theFukushima disaster:

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

•  

  Not much good news coming out of Fukushima:

   

• 2012/11/16: EneNews: Kyodo: Radioactive trout over 100 times gov't limit caught in Fukushima river
• 2012/11/17: EneNews: Japan Experts: Contamination from Fukushima "is almost irreversible" in coastal sediments
• 2012/11/14: EneNews: Tepco to construct bulbous cover over Fukushima Daiichi Unit 3 (photo)
• 2012/11/14: NatureN: Ocean still suffering from Fukushima fallout -- Continuing leaks and contaminated sediment keep radiation levels high
• 2012/11/14: EneNews: Radioactive tea leaves found over 1,000 km from Fukushima - 80 Bq/kg detected in Western Japan; Gov't limit is 10 Bq/kg
• 2012/11/14: EneNews: Researchers: Continuing radioactive leaks from Fukushima Daiichi - "There must be a source" - 300,000,000,000 becquerels a month thought entering Pacific
• 2012/11/14: Mainichi: Thousands protest against nuclear power in central Tokyo
• 2012/11/13: EneNews: Asahi: Gov't worried about highly radioactive fish - Why are radiation readings still 100s of times over official safe limits?
• 2012/11/12: EneNews: Japan Nuclear Engineer: "Mind-blowing... truly outrageous" - Many massive pools of contaminated water are spread around Fukushima plant
  

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

• 2012/11/16: ICN: So Far So Good for Germany's Nuclear Phase-Out, Despite Dire Predictions
• 2012/11/13: CCurrents: Nuke Power Plants Shut Down In Germany Generate Benefits
  

  The Arctic melt continues to garner attention:

• 2012/11/14: ArcticNews: Arctic Sea Ice set to collapse in 2015
• 2012/11/14: Eureka: New dating of sea-level records reveals rapid response between ice volume and polar temperature
• 2012/11/12: CUNY: Warming Temperatures Will Change Greenland's Face
• 2012/11/13: ASI: PIOMAS November 2012
• 2012/11/11: ASI: Bilateral freezing
  

  As for the charismatic megafauna:

• 2012/11/14: USGS: USGS Study Tracks Pacific Walrus, Observes Effects of Arctic Sea Ice Loss on Behavior
  

  That Damoclean sword still hangs overhead:

• 2012/11/15: ArcticNews: Arctic methane: Why the sea ice matters
• 2012/11/16: ASI: Arctic methane: Why the sea ice matters
  

  As for the geopolitics of Arctic resources:

• 2012/11/14: Vice: So Who's Going to Start the Oil War in the Arctic?
• 2012/11/14: al Jazeera: The Battle for the Arctic
  Fault Lines travels to the Arctic Circle to investigate the impact a resource rush might have on local communities.
• 2012/11/13: EPMag: Report: Melting Arctic Ice Caps Open Door For Big Oil
• 2012/11/10: AlaskaDispatch: Preparation won't mitigate hurdles to Arctic development
• 2012/11/12: ICN: Alaska: Methane Hydrate Resource Spark Debate Over Energy and Climate Change
  

  While in Antarctica:

• 2012/11/13: RealClimate: Weighing change in Antarctica
• 2012/11/11: BAS: Press Release - Why Antarctic sea ice cover has increased under the effects of climate change
• 2012/11/13: GLaden: Increase in Antarctic Sea Ice
• 2012/11/12: Stoat: Wind-driven trends in Antarctic sea-ice drift
• 2012/11/11: Eureka: Why Antarctic sea ice cover has increased under the effects of climate change
• 2012/11/11: BBerg: Antarctica's Sea Ice 'Increasing Slowly,' Scientists Say
• 2012/11/11: Guardian(UK): Poles apart: satellites reveal why Antarctic sea ice grows as Arctic melts
  US military satellite data exposes complexity of climate change and impact of changing wind patterns on polar regions
• 
  

  The food crisis is ongoing:

   

• 2012/11/17: ProMedMail: Schmallenberg virus - Europe (71): Norway, UK, Netherlands
• 2012/11/16: DD: World cereal production in 2012 down 2.7 percent from the 2011 record
• 2012/11/16: ABC(Au): Fears foreign disease will cripple Australia's pineapple industry
• 2012/11/14: CBC: PotashCorp slows production as demand slumps -- Company lays off workers in Saskatchewan, New Brunswick
• 2012/11/12: BPA: November 2012 Update on Global Food Stocks-to-Use Ratios
• 2012/11/13: BBC: UN: Haiti faces 2013 food shortage after Hurricane Sandy
• 2012/11/13: UN: UN warns 1.5 million [Haitians] could remain at risk of food insecurity in 2013
• 2012/11/12: NatureN: South Pacific coconut gene bank under threat -- Bacterial disease outbreak threatens collection of 3,200 coconut palms
  

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

• 2012/11/16: ABC(Au): Burke officially declares marine reserves
• 2012/11/13: Eureka: Pacific fishing zones -- lifeline for overfished tuna?
• 2012/11/12: TP:JR: Hurricane Sandy, Climate Change, And The Future Of Fish
  

  Regarding the genetic modification of food:

• 2012/11/15: UCSUSA:B: Is the Long-Term Safety of Genetically Engineered Food Settled? Not by a Long Shot
  

  Regarding labelling GM food:

• 2012/11/13: TreeHugger: Label It Yourself: GMO Labeling Goes DIY
  

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

• 2012/11/14: USGS: Project to Support Future Global Food Security Enhanced by Major NASA Grant
• 2012/11/14: UN: UN top official calls on countries to help break cycle of hunger in dryland countries
• 2012/11/14: UCSUSA: Organic Dairy Farms Benefit Farmers and Local Economies, Report Finds
• 2012/11/13: 350orBust: Smart, Regional Food Production The Answer To Global Food Crisis [vid]
• 2012/11/12: Grist: These guys want to provide the nation's capital with a steady source of local food
  

  Another relatively quiet week in the hurricane wars.
  There is an unreported storm in the Bay of Bengal and TD 25W crossed the South China Sea to zap Vietnam:

• 2012/11/15: Eureka: NASA catches small area of heavy rain in fading Tropical Depression 25W
• 2012/11/14: Eureka: NASA satellite sees newborn Tropical Depression 25W raining on southern Vietnam
  

  As for GHGs:

• 2012/11/17: FAO: New partnership aims to reduce emissions of methyl bromide for quarantine use
  Ozone-damaging gas still relied on to stop deadly pests - New MOU will promote use of alternatives, best practices
• 2012/11/14: GreenGrok: On U.S. greenhouse gas emissions and cognitive dissonance
• 2012/11/17: LA Times: Australian scientists find excess [CH4] greenhouse gas near fracking
• 2012/11/14: ABC(Au): 'Extremely high' methane levels found near gas wells
  A scientific study is raising serious doubts about the green credentials of the expanding coal seam gas (CSG) industry, suggesting it is far less environmentally clean than it claims.
• 2012/11/14: CCurrents: Global CO2 Emission Rises To Record Level In 2011
• 2012/11/13: RawStory: Energy group [IWR]: Global carbon dioxide emissions hit new record
• 2012/11/13: TreeHugger: Global CO2 Emissions Set New Record High in 2011, German Data Shows
• 2012/11/13: Reuters: World 2011 CO2 emissions up 2.5 percent [to 34 billion metric tons]: German institute
  

  And in the carbon cycle:

• 2012/11/12: MPG: Scientists unravel the mystery of marine methane oxidation
  Researchers uncover how microorganisms on the ocean floor protect the atmosphere against methane
• 
  

  And the temperature record:

   

• 2012/11/16: IOTD: Cooling off in October
• 2012/11/15: Wunderground: October 2012: Earth's 5th warmest October on record
• 2012/11/13: Eureka: CU-NOAA study shows summer climate change, mostly warming
• 2012/11/12: QuarkSoup: Continental US: Cold October in a Warm Year
• 2012/11/12: CapClimate: Heat Records Set in Northern New York, New England
  

  Aerosols are making their presence felt:

• 2012/11/15: MODIS: Dust storms in western China
• 2012/11/14: MODIS: Dust storm over southwest Alaska
• 2012/11/14: IOTD: Dust over Southwestern Alaska
  

  While in the paleoclimate:

• 2012/11/15: Eureka: USA's ancient hurricane belt and the US-Canada equator
  

  How to deal with Risk:

• 2012/11/15: Eureka: How 'black swans' and 'perfect storms' become lame excuses for bad risk management
  

  And on the ENSO front:

• 2012/11/14: Eureka: Tropical Indo-Pacific climate shifts to a more El Niño-like state
  The Walker circulation determines much of the tropical Indo-Pacific climate and has a global impact as seen in the floods and droughts spawned by the El Niño-Southern Oscillation. Meteorological observations over the last 60 years show this atmospheric circulation has slowed: the trade winds have weakened and rainfall has shifted eastward toward the central Pacific.
• 
  

  What's new in Biodiversity?

   

• 2012/11/16: ABC(Au): Two-thirds marine species remain unknown
• 2012/11/15: Eureka: At least one-third of marine species remain undescribed
• 2012/11/12: SIAM: Persistence or extinction: Through a mathematical lens
  

  What's new on the extinction front?

• 2012/11/14: ABC(Au): 'Toxic sea' led to Devonian extinction
  Analysis of a 380-million-year-old crab-like fossil from Western Australia has painted a gruesome picture of the events leading to one of Earth's major mass extinctions. Climate change and a devastating meteorite have both been fingered as causes for the decimation of marine life during the late Devonian period. But research published in a recent issue of the journal Geology suggests the extinction occurred as a result of a toxic ocean, devoid of oxygen.
• 2012/11/14: SciAm:EC: Brazil Plans to Clone Its Endangered Species
• 2012/11/14: CCurrents: The Vulture Makes A Comeback With Human Help
• 2012/11/13: TreeHugger: Mountain Gorilla Population Up 12% in Past Two Years
• 2012/11/12: Guardian(UK): Giant pandas threatened by climate change
  

  Oh look! The Anthropocene came up again:

• 2012/11/14: WtD: Welcome to the anthropocene: the best (or is that worst?) is yet to come
  

  Meanwhile in near earth orbit:

• 2012/11/16: ESA: GOCE's second mission improving gravity map
  

  More GW impacts are being seen:

• 2012/11/13: SciNews: Pandas' home range may move as climate changes
  Warming might force animals' food source, bamboo, to higher elevations
• 2012/11/16: Wunderground: Lessons from 2012: Droughts, not Hurricanes, are the Greater Danger
• 2012/11/16: Eureka: Indirect effects of climate change could alter landscapes -- Changes in water flow and the snowpack expected to alter vegetation and wildlife
• 2012/11/14: Eureka: Climate change increases stress, need for restoration on grazed public lands
• 2012/11/06: NSF: Changing Climate, Not Tourism, Seems to Be Driving Decline in Chinstrap-Penguin Populations
• 2012/11/11: Eureka: Cultural dimensions of climate change are underestimated, overlooked and misunderstood
  

  And then there are the world's forests:

• 2012/11/15: ERW: Commercial agriculture is 'most important driver' of deforestation
• 2012/11/16: BPA: Farming versus Forest in Brazil
  

  Yes we have no wacky weather, except:

• 2012/11/18: ABC(Au): NSW homes damaged by wild storms
  The State Emergency Service (SES) says storms in northern New South Wales have destroyed at least one house and a dozen others have been severely damaged.
• 2012/11/18: ABC(Au): Severe storms sweep through SE Queensland [pix]
  Residents in south-east Queensland are mopping up after more wild weather on Sunday evening capped off a torrid weekend of severe weather.
• 2012/11/17: ABC(Au): Fierce storms lash southern Queensland
  A massive storm system has hammered southern Queensland with destructive winds, large hail, and heavy rainfall.
• 2012/11/17: ABC(Au): Wild weather hits Brisbane
  Hail and strong winds have pummelled Brisbane's CBD as authorities warn of severe weather across south-east Queensland this afternoon.
• 
  

  This week in the New Normal -- extreme weather:

   

• 2012/11/14: SierraClub: Time to leave Fantasy Island; Climate 2.0 is here and queer
• 2012/11/13: TDC: Opinion [by Dr. Amy Luers]: Tread carefully linking extreme weather to climate crisis
  A cultural shift to our approach on emissions and climate mitigation requires a broader long-term view. Tying the issue to extreme events like Hurricane Sandy may not get us where we need to be.
• 
  

  On the tornado front:

   

• 2012/11/17: al Jazeera: Tornado strikes southern Portugal -- At least eight people are injured as violent winds batter the Algarve
• 2012/11/15: EneNews: AP: Massive tornados sweep through Japan - Filmed hovering along coastline - Warnings issued (videos)
  

  As for heatwaves and wild fires:

• 2012/11/16: MODIS: Fires and smoke in northern India
• 2012/11/13: MODIS: Fires in Western Australia
• 2012/11/12: ABC(Au): Grassfire threatens homes near Collinsville [Queensland]
  

  Glaciers are melting:

• 2012/11/14: UIBK: Melting Glaciers Raise Sea Level
  Anthropogenic climate change leads to melting glaciers and rising sea level. Between 1902 and 2009, melting glaciers contributed 11 cm to sea level rise. They were therefore the most important cause of sea level rise. This is the result of a new assessment by scientists of the University of Innsbruck. They numerically modeled the changes of each of the world's 300 000 glaciers. Until 2100, glaciers could lead to an additional 22 cm of sea level rise.
• 2012/11/16: Grist: More bad news about glaciers -- and therefore sea levels
  

  Sea levels are rising:

• 2012/11/16: Grist: Susanne Torriente fights to keep 'America's Venice' from slipping into the sea
• 2012/11/14: Eureka: New dating of sea-level records reveals rapid response between ice volume and polar temperature
  

  As for hydrological cycle disruptions [floods & droughts]:

• 2012/11/16: DD: Drought persists in U.S. High Plains despite recent rain
• 2012/11/15: al Jazeera: Roman rains
  Heavy rains have struck central and northern Italy causing extensive flood damage in Tuscany, Umbria and Venice.
• 2012/11/14: SciNow: Recent Drought Trends Not So Cut-and-Dried
• 2012/11/16: ERW: Satellite data measure surface water in Amazon basin
• 2012/11/16: TreeHugger: The Dust Bowl Revisited: 2012 by Lester Brown
• 2012/11/13: CDreams: Flood Crisis in Nigeria is of Unprecedented Proportions, Aid Groups Warn -- Millions affected as food, housing crisis worsen; Cholera outbreak looms
• 2012/11/13: BBC: Italy floods: Tuscany and Umbria take brunt of rain
  Heavy flooding in Italy has killed four people in Tuscany as rain caused rivers to break their banks, reports say.
• 2012/11/13: CBC: Helicopter rescues person from floodwaters in Italy
  Video shows helicopter rescue, swamped streets and capsized boat During Italy's flooding, a video captures a helicopter rescue where a person is plucked from floodwaters and airlifted to safety in the country's Tuscany region.
• 2012/11/13: Guardian(UK): Italy floods prompt fears for future of farming
• 2012/11/13: TP:JR: Forecast: Drought And More Drought
• 2012/11/12: al Jazeera: Venice submerged in near-record floods
  At peak tide, 80 per cent of the historic city was submerged under a metre-and-a-half of water.
• 2012/11/12: CBC: Venice tides 6th highest in recorded history -- Heavy rains and seas whipped up by strong winds; Tuscany also hit hard
• 2012/11/12: Guardian(UK): Venice has the battle against extreme weather down to a fine art
  What can the flooded Italian city teach us about protecting our cultural treasures from hell and high water?
• 2012/11/11: Eureka: 'Groundwater inundation' doubles previous predictions of flooding with future sea level rise
• 2012/11/11: Guardian(UK): Venice 'high water' floods 70% of city
  

  On the mitigation front, consider transportation & GHG production:

• 2012/11/12: BBC: High-speed rail plan for Glasgow to Edinburgh line
  

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

• 2012/11/14: TreeHugger: Sun-Collecting, Parametric "Skin" Surrounds Student-Designed House
  

  As for carbon sequestration:

• 2012/11/16: IPAC-CO2: Announcing the World's First Standard for Geologic Storage of CO2 [CSA Z741]
• 2012/11/15: CBC: Carbon storage standards set -- Scientists set guidelines for safe carbon capture and storage
• 2012/11/15: BizJo: CSA Group and IPAC-CO2 Research Inc. Announce [CSA Z741] World's First Bi-National Standard for Geologic Storage of Carbon Dioxide
• 2012/11/15: Eureka: Researchers tap into CO2 storage potential of mine waste
• 2012/11/14: TreeHugger: Newlight Turns Greenhouse Gases into High-Performance Biodegradable Plastic
  

  Large scale geo-engineering keeps popping up:

• 2012/11/16: TexasEnt: Climate Engineering May Be the Key to Fighting Global Warming
• 2012/11/14: ClimateEngineering: [press review] Iron fertilization in Canada (6th update, 14.11.)
• 2012/11/14: Grist: Geoengineering: A mad scientist's guide to fixing the planet
• 2012/11/12: Techonomy: Techonomy 2012: Geo-engineering - Who Decides, and Who Benefits?
• 2012/11/15: BrisbaneTimes: Looking for a way out of this mess [Geo eng]
• 2012/11/12: LA Times: The pros and cons of trying to adjust the global thermostat
• 2012/11/09: IO9: 10 Ways Geoengineering Could Save the World
• 2012/11/14: TheConversation: Backing biochar: the Australian Government's role
• 2012/11/14: CCP: Peter Wadhams: "The Arctic Death Spiral': Geoengineering May Be Our Best Chance to Save Sea Ice
  

  While on the adaptation front:

• 2012/11/13: CSM: How will New York keep out a rising sea? Dikes, huge sea wall, oyster beds?
• 2012/11/13: CSM: Surging storms: Can the US adapt in time to avert coastal damage?
• 2012/11/11: TP:JR: Real Adaptation Is As Politically Tough As Mitigation, But Much More Expensive And Less Effective At Reducing Future Misery
  

  Meanwhile in the journals:

• 2012/11/13: PNAS: (ab$) Acid-base chemical reaction model for nucleation rates in the polluted atmospheric boundary layer by Modi Chen et al.
• 2012/11/13: PNAS: (ab$) Late Cretaceous restructuring of terrestrial communities facilitated the end-Cretaceous mass extinction in North America by Jonathan S. Mitchell et al.
• 2012/11/13: PNAS: (abs) Indian Ocean warming modulates Pacific climate change by Jing-Jia Luo et al.
• 2012/11/13: PNAS: (letter$) Reply to Kirchhoff: Cultural values and ecosystem services by Terry C. Daniel et al.
• 2012/11/13: PNAS: (letter$) Pivotal cultural values of nature cannot be integrated into the ecosystem services framework by Thomas Kirchhoff
• 2012/11/06: Geology: (ab$) Biomarkers reveal the role of photic zone euxinia in exceptional fossil preservation: An organic geochemical perspective by Ines Melendez et al.
• 2012/11/14: Nature: (ab$) Little change in global drought over the past 60 years by Justin Sheffield et al.
• 2012/11/14: CP: Coarsely crystalline cryogenic cave carbonate - a new archive to estimate the Last Glacial minimum permafrost depth in Central Europe by K. Zák et al.
• 2012/11/15: CPD: Transient simulations of the carbon and nitrogen dynamics in northern peatlands: from the Last Glacial Maximum to the 21st century by R. Spahni et al.
• 2012/11/15: CPD: Climate and vegetation changes during the Lateglacial and Early-Mid Holocene at Lake Ledro (southern Alps, Italy) by S. Joannin et al.
• 2012/11/15: CPD: Using data assimilation to investigate the causes of Southern Hemisphere high latitude cooling from 10 to 8 ka BP by P. Mathiot et al.
• 2012/11/16: ACP: Sea-spray geoengineering in the HadGEM2-ES earth-system model: radiative impact and climate response by A. Jones & J. M. Haywood
• 2012/11/16: ACP: The changing radiative forcing of fires: global model estimates for past, present and future by D. S. Ward et al.
• 2012/11/16: ACP: Atmospheric removal times of the aerosol-bound radionuclides C137C and I131 measured after the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear accident - a constraint for air quality and climate models by N. I. Kristiansen et al.
• 2012/11/16: ACP: Uncertainty associated with convective wet removal of entrained aerosols in a global climate model by B. Croft et al.
• 2012/11/16: ACP: Effects of atmospheric conditions on ice nucleation activity of Pseudomonas by E. Attard et al.
• 2012/11/16: ACPD: Assessing the mineral dust indirect effects and radiation impacts on a simulated idealized nocturnal squall line by R. B. Seigel et al.
• 2012/11/16: ACPD: Aerosol size-resolved trace metal composition in remote northern tropical Atlantic marine environment: case study Cape Verde Islands by K. W. Fomba et al.
• 2012/11/15: ACPD: Ice water content of arctic, midlatitude, and tropical cirrus - Part 2: Extension of the database and new statistical analysis by A. E. Luebke et al.
• 2012/11/13: ACPD: Southern hemispheric halon trends and global halon emissions, 1978-2011 by M. J. Newland et al.
• 2012/11/13: ACPD: Regional CO2 flux estimates for 2009-2010 based on GOSAT and ground-based CO2 observations by S. Maksyutov et al.
• 2012/11/13: ACPD: Cloud-resolving modeling of aerosol indirect effects in idealized radiative-convective equilibrium with interactive and fixed sea surface temperature by M. F. Khairoutdinov & C.-E. Yang
• 2012/06/26: Springer:CCJ&S: (ab$) The 2°C Target Reconsidered by Brigitte Knopf et al.
• 2012/11/14: Nature: (ab$) Slowdown of the Walker circulation driven by tropical Indo-Pacific warming by Hiroki Tokinaga et al.
• 2012/11/16: OS: The link between the Barents Sea and ENSO events simulated by NEMO model by V. N. Stepanov et al.
• 2012/11/15: OSD: From the chlorophyll a in the surface layer to its vertical profile: a Greenland Sea relationship for satellite applications by A. Cherkasheva et al.
• 2012/11/16: TC: A simple approach to providing a more consistent Arctic sea ice extent time series from the 1950s to present by W. N. Meier et al.
• 2012/11/16: TC: Snow accumulation variability derived from radar and firn core data along a 600 km transect in Adelie Land, East Antarctic plateau by D. Verfaillie et al.
• 2012/11/15: TC: Brief communication "Historical glacier length changes in West Greenland" by P. W. Leclercq et al.
• 2012/11/15: TCD: A new bed elevation dataset for Greenland by J. A. Griggs et al.
• 2012/11/15: TCD: Sea ice thickness, freeboard, and snow depth products from Operation IceBridge airborne data by N. T. Kurtz et al.
• 2012/11/14: TCD: Boreal snow cover variations induced by aerosol emissions in the middle of the 21st century by M. Ménégoz et al.
• 2012/11/14: TCD: Radio-frequency probes of Antarctic ice birefringence at South Pole vs. East Antarctica; evidence for a changing ice fabric by D. Besson et al.
• 2012/11/12: GMD: Implementation of multirate time integration methods for air pollution modelling by M. Schlegel et al.
• 2012/11/13: GMDD: Intercomparison of temperature trends in IPCC CMIP5 simulations with observations, reanalyses and CMIP3 models by J. Xu & A. M. Powell Jr.
• 2012/11/12: OSD: Assymmetric eddy populations in adjacent basins - a high resolution numerical study of the Tyrrhenian and Ligurian Seas by R. M. A. Caldeira et al.
• 2012/11/13: TC: Simulating snow maps for Norway: description and statistical evaluation of the seNorge snow model by T. M. Saloranta
• 2012/11/12: TC: Past and future sea-level change from the surface mass balance of glaciers by B. Marzeion et al.
• 2012/11/11: Nature:CC: (ab$) Response of snow-dependent hydrologic extremes to continued global warming by Noah S. Diffenbaugh et al.
• 2012/11/11: Nature:CC: (ab$) Evidence of the dependence of groundwater resources on extreme rainfall in East Africa by Richard G. Taylor et al.
• 2012/11/11: Nature:CC: (ab$) Assessment of groundwater inundation as a consequence of sea-level rise by Kolja Rotzoll & Charles H. Fletcher
• 2012/11/11: Nature:CC: (ab$) Mitigation of nitrous oxide emissions from soils by Bradyrhizobium japonicum inoculation by Manabu Itakura et al.
• 2012/11/12: AGWObserver: New research from last week 45/2012
• 2012/11/11: Nature:GeoSci: (ab$) Wind-driven trends in Antarctic sea-ice drift by Paul R. Holland & Ron Kwok
  

  And other significant documents:

• 2012/11/14: F&WW: [link 1.7 meg pdf] to U.S. Energy Insecurity: Why Fracking for Oil and Natural Gas Is a False Solution
• 2012/11/12: IEA: [Link to 1.8 meg pdf] World Energy Outlook 2012 - Executive Summary
  

  As for miscellaneous science:

• 2012/11/13: JCBaez: Mathematics of the Environment (Part 7)
• 2012/11/13: NatureN: Berlin aims to create research powerhouse -- German government finds a creative way to fund universities
• 2012/11/13: NatureN: Obama reasserts research focus -- But 'fiscal cliff' threatens science and climate goals
• 2012/11/13: SciAm:GB: The Key to Science (and Life) Is Being Wrong
  

  What's new in models?

• 2012/11/14: NOAANews: Weather data from nation's largest wind farms could improve U.S. models, forecasts -- Private companies share weather data with NOAA
• 2012/11/13: NatureN: Snow survey hopes for avalanche of data
  More accurate snowfall measurements could improve climate models and estimates of water resources.
• 
  

  Meanwhile on the Kyoto front:

   

• 2012/11/15: P3: "Clean Development Mechanism": A Kyoto Success Story
• 2012/11/12: EurActiv: EU welcomes Australian Kyoto pledge
  EU Climate Commissioner Connie Hedegaard has heartily endorsed a decision by Australia to sign up to a second round of emissions reductions under the Kyoto Protocol, which expires at the end of this year.
• 
  

  And on the carbon trading front:

   

• 2012/11/16: BBerg: ICE Cleared 2013 Carbon Trade Worth About 195 Million Euros
  A European Union carbon trade worth about 195 million euros was cleared on the ICE Futures Europe exchange yesterday. The trade of 24.68 million metric tons of December 2013 carbon allowances that may have been brokered or carried out directly between the buyer and the seller was at an undisclosed price, according to data from the exchange. The contract traded at 7.90 euros ($10.06) a ton 49 seconds later, the data show.
• 2012/11/15: ICN: Korea's Carbon-Trading Systems Set for Testing Next Year
• 2012/11/15: UCSUSA:B: Pricing Carbon Pollution: A Historic Day in California
• 2012/11/14: EurActiv: EU reveals carbon-market reform package
  The European Commission will try to shore up its battered carbon market today (14 November) with a structural report signalling a future squeeze on carbon credits to augment a planned 'backloading' or postponing of 900 million allowance auctions until 2019 and 2020.
• 2012/11/14: TP:JR: Four Important Things To Know About California's First Ever Carbon Auction
• 2012/11/13: SF Gate: Big California pollution auction begins
• 2012/11/14: BBerg: Trader Lobby Concerned EU Is Limiting Options on Carbon Market
  The European Commission is limiting options to mend a supply glut in the bloc's carbon market, according to the International Emissions Trading Association.
• 
  

  The idea of a carbon tax is still bouncing around. See also:

   

• 2012/11/18: iPolitics: Why a carbon tax makes sense to conservatives
• 2012/11/14: Brookings: Economics of Carbon Taxes
• 2012/11/11: NYT: To Slow Warming, Tax Carbon by Dieter Helm
  

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

• 2012/11/16: EUO: Van Rompuy: financial tax to form part of EU budget
  The much vaunted EU financial transaction tax (FTT) is set to be hard-wired into the EU budget, with most of its revenue going directly to the EU. A paper prepared by EU Council President Herman Van Rompuy and sent to European capitals ahead of next week's EU budget summit, where leaders aim to agree a mandate on the budget framework for 2014-2020, would deduct FTT revenues from national contributions to the annual EU pot.
• 
  

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

   

• 2012/11/18: OilDrum: Tech Talk - Global oil supply and Iranian Production
  

  South [& East] China Sea tension persists:

• 2012/11/12: BBC: Watching Japan and China square off in East China Sea
• 2012/11/12: al Jazeera: Japanese exports sunk by China islands row
  Regional territory disputes and feeble global demand are pushing world's third-largest economy towards recession.
• 
  

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

   

• 2012/11/14: Reuters: U.S. House OKs bill to shield airlines from EU carbon fees
  The U.S. House of Representatives voted on Tuesday to bar airlines from complying with a European Union law that would force them to pay for their carbon emissions one day after the EU offered to stop the clock on enforcing the measure.
• 2012/11/13: Grist: Obama faces first post-election climate test [banning EU ETS for airlines]/A>
• 2012/11/13: DeSmogBlog: Proposed Aviation Law Will Test President Obama's Climate Change Commitment
• 2012/11/13: EurActiv: Hedegaard stops clock on aviation emissions law
  EU Climate Commissioner Connie Hedegaard has put plans on hold to make international airlines pay for their carbon emissions, so as to give time for the UN airlines body to devise an alternative global scheme that could avoid a damaging trade dispute.
• 2012/11/13: EUO: EU to 'stop the clock' on airline carbon tax
• 2012/11/13: Reuters: EU Commission freezes airline carbon emissions law
  The European Union will freeze for a year its rule that all airlines must pay for their carbon emissions for flights into and out of EU airports, the EU executive said, following threats of international retaliation.
• 2012/11/13: TreeHugger: EU Grounds Airline Emissions Trading Program
• 2012/11/12: BBC: EU suspends extension of plane emissions trading rules
  The European Union has postponed a planned extension of rules that require airlines to pay for their carbon emissions to include flights to and from non-EU destinations. The rules had been unpopular with the US, China and India among others. Climate commissioner Connie Hedegaard said she had proposed "stopping the clock for one year". She said the suspension was due to progress being made in negotiations on a global emissions deal.
• 2012/11/12: Guardian(UK): EU freezes airlines carbon emissions law
  The unexpected climbdown was prompted by a decision to look into ways of encouraging airlines to cut their emissions
• 2012/11/12: EUO: EU stops aviation CO2 scheme for one year
  

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

• 2012/11/12: BBerg: Spain Sees Room for a Deal Between Repsol, Argentina on YPF
  The Spanish government says there is room to negotiate terms for Repsol SA (REP)'s departure from Argentina, Foreign Affairs Minister Jose Manuel Garcia Margallo said speaking before the Spanish Senate. YPF SA stock soared. "There is room for a negotiation," Margallo said today, according to Germany's DPA news agency. "It must be done through a regulated procedure and paying a fair price." The oil explorer based in Madrid is still waiting to file a claim seeking $10.5 billion in compensation at the World Bank's International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes in Washington, said Kristian Rix, a Repsol spokesman in a phone interview from Madrid. ICSID is the principal arbitration court for claims against sovereign countries. Repsol is seeking compensation after the Argentine government expropriated a 51 percent stake of its YPF unit on April 16.
• 
  

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

   

• 2012/11/12: CCurrents: Climate Change Trumps Terrorism As Threat To National Security
  

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

• 2012/11/13: ABC(Au): Environmental activists: charge them with terrorism or protect them from prosecution?
  

  What are the activists up to?

• 2012/11/14: ABC(Au): Anti-coal protesters face Seeney
  Protesters have confronted Deputy Premier Jeff Seeney about coal port developments during a visit to central Queensland.
• 2012/11/17: CCurrents: A New Strategy For Anti-Nuclear Activists - An Open Letter from Thomas Dean Harter
  

  Polls! We have polls!

• 2012/11/15: TP:JR: Poll: Independent Voters Favor Renewable Energy Over Keystone XL Pipeline By 4-1 Margin
• 2012/11/17: SimpleC: Australians overestimate climate change rejection
• 2012/11/16: DD: 88 percent of Americans say the U.S. should try to reduce global warming: Yale survey
• 2012/11/13: TreeHugger: 77% of Americans Think Fighting Climate Change Should be a Priority
• 2012/11/13: PSinclair: Poll: More Americans Than Ever Demand Climate, Energy Action
  

  Regarding Water Politics and Business:

• 2012/11/17: JFleck: So what exactly do we mean by "drought"?
• 2012/11/15: EurActiv: Water blueprint seeks to better police member states
  The European Commission unveiled its water blueprint on Thursday (15 November), calling for strengthened enforcement of the 12-year-old Water Framework Directive amid fresh reports that many national governments are failing to live up to their commitments.
• 2012/11/16: DerSpiegel: Cleaning the Sewer -- A Hi-Tech Revival for Europe's Foulest River
• 2012/11/13: JFleck: How the US-Mexico Colorado shortage/surplus sharing deal works
• 2012/11/12: JFleck: Water transfers: the view from downstream
• 2012/11/11: JFleck: Heineman-Fleck house monthly climate report, now with new improved PRISM data
• 2012/11/11: JFleck: On solving water problems
  

  What's new on the education front?

• 2012/11/17: TMoS: A Free Course in Climate Change
  

  Ethics? You want to talk about ethics?

• 2012/11/18: Guardian(UK): Ethical living: Can I fly with a clear conscience?
  

  And on the American political front:

• 2012/11/16: SciAm:Obs: All-of-the-Above Energy Strategy Trumps Climate Action
• 2012/11/15: GreenGrok: Climate Change: Words and an Action
• 2012/11/14: TP:JR: Analysis: Why Voters Didn't Buy TV Attack Ads From Fossil Fuel Interests
• 2012/11/14: TP:JR: Four Important Things To Know About California's First Ever Carbon Auction
• 2012/11/15: al Jazeera: The mandate of hell: How not to change the world
  Superstorm Sandy revealed just how "unprepared" the US infrastructure is for "predicted climate change events".
• 2012/11/15: TP:JR: Why Hundreds More Dirty, Aging Coal Plants In The U.S. Are 'Ripe For Retirement'
• 2012/11/15: TP:JR: The U.S. Solar Industry: A Real And Growing Job Creator
• 2012/11/15: UCSUSA:B: Pricing Carbon Pollution: A Historic Day in California
• 2012/11/15: TreeHugger: New York Governor Pledges to Lead on Climate Change - But What About on Fracking?
• 2012/11/15: PlanetArk: As U.S. hesitates, California pours billions into green energy
• 2012/11/14: MoJo: 8 Environmental Rules That Were Too Controversial to Enact Pre-Election
• 2012/11/14: SciAm:ABATC: Nate Silver and the Ascendance of Expertise
• 2012/11/16: Grist: The wind industry doesn't seem to know how to win the most important fight of its life
• 2012/11/13: TP:JR: Give The Voters What They Overwhelmingly Support: Policies To Promote Clean Energy
• 2012/11/13: Guardian(UK): US governors cross party lines in support of windfarm subsidies
• 2012/11/13: TP:JR: Voters Approve 81 Percent Of Land Conservation Ballot Initiatives
• 2012/11/12: AJC: Georgia Power challenges solar company's plan
  Georgia Power, the state's largest electricity provider, has escalated a fight with a fledgling company that it calls a "solar monopoly." Georgia Solar Utilities, a startup, wants to build a large solar farm and sell that electricity directly to customers as a utility.
• 2012/11/12: ERabett: Another Framing Debacle
• 2012/11/12: PSinclair: "La La La I Can't Hear You" Comes Home to Haunt GOP, in the Election, and on Climate
• 2012/11/12: TP:JR: Pricing Carbon: Where We've Been, Where We Are And Where We May Be Going
• 2012/11/12: TP:JR: Disclosing Energy Use: A Disruptive Innovation?
  

  The BP disaster continues to twist US politics:

• 2012/11/17: WSWS: BP settles for $4.5 billion in federal criminal charges
• 2012/11/16: ABC(Au): BP Gulf of Mexico spill: $4 billion fine and two indicted
• 2012/11/16: TP:JR: Breaking Down The BP Settlement: Where Will The Money Go?
• 2012/11/16: NatureNB: Historic Gulf oil spill settlement to bolster US research
• 2012/11/16: TreeHugger: WTF?! Did BP Use Wikipedia to Estimate the Size of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill?
• 2012/11/16: ScienceInsider: Research, Ecological Restoration Get Unprecedented Windfall From BP Oil Spill Criminal Settlement
• 2012/11/15: Guardian(UK): BP agrees to pay largest penalty in US history in $4.5bn Gulf oil spill deal
• 2012/11/15: P3: BP Cops a Plea
• 2012/11/15: EnvEcon: BP's settlement
• 2012/11/15: TP:JR: BP To Pay Largest Criminal Fine In U.S. History For Deepwater Horizon Disaster
• 2012/11/15: TreeHugger: BP Will Pay Biggest Criminal Fine in US History For Gulf Oil Spill
• 2012/11/15: BBC: BP gets record US criminal fine over Deepwater disaster
  [The Deepwater Horizon disaster caused one of the worst oil spills in history] BP has received the biggest criminal fine in US history as part of a $4.5bn (£2.8bn) settlement related to the fatal 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster. Two BP workers have been indicted on manslaughter charges and an ex-manager charged with misleading Congress. The Department of Justice (DoJ) said BP must hand over $4bn. The sum includes a $1.26bn fine as well as payments to wildlife and science organisations. As part of the agreement, BP will also plead guilty to 14 criminal charges.
• 2012/11/15: al Jazeera: Settlement reached over BP oil spill
  Firm pleads guilty to criminal charges relating to 2010 Gulf of Mexico disaster and agrees to pay extra $4.5bn penalty. British oil company BP Plc has pleaded guilty to criminal charges relating to its 2010 oil spill and agreed to pay an extra $4.5bn on top of the tens of billions it is already paying out. BP said on Thursday that it would plead guilty to 11 felony counts of misconduct or neglect relating to the death of 11 workers, one misdemeanour count under the Clean Water Act, one misdemeanour count under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, and one felony count of obstruction of congress. The company will also pay $525m to settle securities claims with US regulators. In aggregate BP said it will pay the $4.5bn over six years for the various resolutions.

• A new incident in the Gulf?

• 2012/11/17: EneNews: AP: Witnesses reported 2 explosions on platform in Gulf - Oil-storage tanks may have ignited - Work boots, hard hat found floating (video)
• 2012/11/16: Guardian(UK): Black Elk Energy oil rig fire: two feared dead, two more missing
• 2012/11/16: EneNews: Offshore oil platform burning in Gulf of Mexico -- Coast Guard says "something" has happened (photo)
• 2012/11/16: al Jazeera: Deadly oil platform fire in Gulf of Mexico
  Two people killed when an oil rig burst into flames, and several others remain missing. Two people have been killed and at least two others are missing after an offshore oil and natural gas platform in the Gulf of Mexico burst into flames, officials in the US state of Louisiana say. The structure is owned by Black Elk, an energy firm in Houston, according to media reports on local television in Louisiana. Black Elk did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
• 2012/11/12: EneNews: Coast Guard: Oil seen floating nearby last week's well blowout off Louisiana coast
  

  Post election chatter:

• 2012/11/14: CBC: Tesla electric car dubbed 'loser' by Romney wins Car of the Year
• 2012/11/16: TreeHugger: The Jill Stein Presidential Campaign Was Both a Dismal Failure and a Remarkable Win
  

  The Keystone XL battles grind on:

• 2012/11/17: Guardian(UK): Keystone XL activists to press Obama again to block oil pipeline
• 2012/11/17: TP:JR: Five Reasons Why Obama Should Reject The Keystone XL Pipeline
• 2012/11/17: DeSmogBlog: Former Clinton and Bush Cabinet Members, Now Oil and Gas Lobbyists, Expect Keystone XL Green Light
• 2012/11/15: CBC: Keystone XL back on agenda after Obama election
• 2012/11/14: ICN: In Texas Pipeline Fight, People Step In as Green Groups Step Aside
• 2012/11/12: TreeHugger: Tar Sands Oil is Coming: If Not By Keystone, Then By Train
  

  With the deficit hawks panicking about the fiscal cliff, there has been talk of a carbon tax solution:

• 2012/11/16: MoJo: GOP House Leadership Pledges To Oppose Climate Change Tax
  John Boehner and friends vow to knock down any legislation encouraging reductions of carbon emissions even if it means falling off the fiscal cliff.
• 2012/11/15: StateJournal: Obama spokesman: "We would never propose a carbon tax"
• 2012/11/15: KSJT: Is the carbon tax back?
• 2012/11/15: TP:JR: Exxon: Carbon Tax Would 'Play A Significant Role In Addressing Rising Emissions'
• 2012/11/15: TreeHugger: Exxon Is Actually Entirely Correct: A Carbon Tax is Better Than Cap-and-Trade
• 2012/11/15: BBerg: Carbon Fee From Obama Seen Viable With Backing From Exxon
• 2012/11/14: EconView: Carbon Taxes and the National Debt
• 2012/11/14: Brookings: Economics of Carbon Taxes
• 2012/11/14: EnvEcon: Carbon tax drama: act 3
• 2012/11/13: EnvEcon: Carbon tax drama: act 2
• 2012/11/13: EnvEcon: Carbon tax drama: act 1
• 2012/11/14: Reuters: GOP support needed for carbon tax to fly: Treasury aide
• 2012/11/14: Grist: Why Al Gore should pipe down about a carbon tax
• 2012/11/14: TP:JR: How Would We Implement A Carbon Tax? (Almost) Everything You Need To Know
• 2012/11/14: Grist: There's not gonna be a [US] carbon tax
• 2012/11/13: TheHill:e2W: Treasury official: Administration open to carbon tax if GOP takes lead
• 2012/11/13: AP: Global warming talk heats up, revisits carbon tax
• 2012/11/13: PSinclair: Grover Norquist Update: I Didn't Mean it.
• 2012/11/13: TP:JR: Grover Norquist Abruptly Changes Position On Carbon Tax After Facing Criticism From Koch-Backed Group
• 2012/11/12: NatJo: Grover Norquist Bombshell: Pairing A Carbon Tax With Income-Tax Cut Wouldn't Violate GOP No-Tax-Hike Pledge
  

  The GOP War on Women continues. See also:

• 2012/11/17: CSM: Judge sides with Christian publisher on contraceptive coverage
  

  California's Cap-and-Trade ETS began this week:

• 2012/11/15: UCSUSA:B: Pricing Carbon Pollution: A Historic Day in California
• 2012/11/14: TP:JR: Four Important Things To Know About California's First Ever Carbon Auction
• 2012/11/14: TreeHugger: California's New Cap-and-Trade Emissions Trading Program is Second Largest in World
• 2012/11/14: RTCC: California ramps up climate change action as state-wide carbon trading begins
• 2012/11/13: SF Gate: Big California pollution auction begins
• 2012/11/12: UCSUSA: California Set to Roll Out Historic Cap-and-Trade Program to Address Climate Change
  Nov. 14 auction will require some of the state's heaviest polluters to buy and sell carbon emission permits
• 2012/11/12: CSM: California carbon market at risk amid opposition
  

  The Obama chatter is nonstop:

• 2012/11/17: Grist: Why President Obama should keep his promise to tackle climate change
• 2012/11/16: PI:B: Canada watching Obama's next moves on oilsands imports, climate action
• 2012/11/16: TP:JR: New York Times Slams Obama For 'Lame' Flip-Flop On Economic Benefit Of Climate Action
• 2012/11/16: TP:JR: The Battle For Climate Action In Obama's Second Term
• 2012/11/16: Grist: Three battle plans for fixing climate in Obama's second term
• 2012/11/16: al Jazeera: Obama visits hurricane-hit areas of New York
  US president vows to stick with New Yorkers still struggling 17 days after Super Storm Sandy struck the East Coast.
• 2012/11/15: CSM: Has Obama turned a corner on climate change?
• 2012/11/15: PSinclair: Obama: A Climate Conversation Across the Country
• 2012/11/14: TheHill:e2W: Obama vows climate efforts but stays vague on agenda
• 2012/11/14: TreeHugger: President Obama Mentions Climate Change! But Says the Wrong Things
• 2012/11/14: CSW: Obama says he will elevate national climate change 'conversation'
• 2012/11/14: P3: Obama's Recent Comments on Climate
• 2012/11/14: TP:JR: Obama Talks Climate Change During His First Post-Election Press Conference
• 2012/11/14: TP:JR: Questions For President Obama: How Will You Address 'The Destructive Power Of A Warming Planet'?
• 2012/11/14: Grist: President Obama on climate change: We'll see
• 2012/11/14: NatureNB: Obama's first environmental test: EU aviation dispute
• 2012/11/14: DeSmogBlog: Is Obama Already Waffling on his Climate Change Commitment?
• 2012/11/14: Guardian(UK): Obama vows to take personal charge of climate change in second term
• 2012/11/16: CJR: Climate roller coaster back on track -- With Obama talking global warming, media see ups and downs
• 2012/11/13: CSM: Obama's climate legacy: What will he accomplish in his second term?
• 2012/11/13: Grist: Obama faces first post-election climate test [banning EU ETS for airlines]/A>
• 2012/11/13: DeSmogBlog: Proposed Aviation Law Will Test President Obama's Climate Change Commitment
• 2012/11/12: Guardian(UK): Will Barack Obama seize the moment on climate change?
  

  The actions of the Obama administration are being watched closely:

• 2012/11/16: NOAANews: Secretary of Commerce declares fisheries disaster for New York and New Jersey in the aftermath of Sandy
• 2012/11/14: TP:JR: Down But Not Out: Interior Department Scales Back Its Dirty Energy Plan In The American West
• 2012/11/16: NYT: E.P.A. Upholds Federal Mandate for Ethanol in Gasoline
• 2012/11/17: CJR: Salazar threatens to 'punch out' reporter -- Interior Secretary angered by tough questions at Obama campaign event
• 2012/11/15: SacBee: JPMorgan punished for California power-trade violation
  In a stunning move, a Wall Street investment bank was suspended from trading electricity for profit in California on Wednesday for submitting false information to federal investigators. JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s energy-trading division was suspended from California's wholesale market for six months starting April 1. The suspension was imposed by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. The decision could cost JPMorgan millions of dollars. The suspension includes other wholesale electricity markets around the country.
• 2012/11/16: GreenGrok: Open Letter to EPA: Top three must-do's in Obama's second term
• 2012/11/13: CSW: Aviation and climate change: flying blind
• 2012/11/13: EneNews: Newspaper: FEMA orders residents to stop giving out supplies after Hurricane Sandy - It was great until they stepped in, says local woman
  

  As for what is going on in Congress:

• 2012/11/16: NatureNB: Fiscal cliff overshadows US Antarctic science
• 2012/11/15: Grist: You want a carbon-tax bill? Jim McDermott has a carbon-tax bill
• 2012/11/15: ScienceInsider: Contest to Lead Congressional Science Panel Heats Up
• 2012/11/15: ScienceInsider: Representative Lamar Smith: 'I Will Promote Legislation That Encourages Scientific Discoveries'
• 2012/11/15: ScienceInsider: Representative F. James Sensenbrenner Jr.: 'We've Gotta Reemphasize Peer Review'
• 2012/11/15: ScienceInsider: Representative Dana Rohrabacher: 'I Plan to Be an Activist One Way or Another'
• 2012/11/15: NatureN: Physicist elected to Congress calls for more scientists-statesmen
  Bill Foster, member-elect of the U.S. House of Representatives, wants more scientists in Congress who can bring to bear an analytical mind-set to lawmaking.
• 2012/11/14: SciAm:Obs: Climate Change Denier Likely to Lead Congressional Science Committee
• 2012/11/14: Grist: Lame duck or bad luck? The farm bill hangs in the balance
• 2012/11/14: ScienceInsider: Political Science: Physicist Bill Foster Heads Back to Congress
• 2012/11/13: ScienceInsider: Making the Case for Science: Representative Randy Hultgren Sees Room For Improvement in Federal Role
• 2012/11/14: NatureN: Mixed reviews for US Clean Water Act -- Forty-year-old environmental law has spurred progress in water quality, but problems remain
• 2012/11/14: CSW: Wind back in the sails for wind energy tax credit
• 2012/11/12: SciAm:Obs: Rep. Rush Holt's Advice to His Fellow Scientists on Politics
  

  What are the lobbyists pushing?

• 2012/11/16: TP:JR: Oil Lobby Chief Warns 'You Fundamentally Can't Regulate' Fracking At All
  

  Al Gore did a TV special:

• Climate Reality Project
• 2012/11/16: TreeHugger: Al Gore Answers Reddit's Questions on the Climate, Nuclear Energy, and More
• 2012/11/15: SkS: 24 Hours of Climate Reality - Watch It by dana1981
• 2012/11/15: Tamino: Remember the Alamo
• 2012/11/15: MNN: What if climate-change doubters held a debate and nobody came?
  Al Gore's 24-hour Climate Reality broadcast has attracted millions of online viewers. A competing broadcast by climate doubters had just thousands.
• 2012/11/14: Tamino: Climate Reality [Gore TV show]
• 2012/11/14: Grist: Al Gore calls on Barack Obama to 'act boldly' on climate change
• 2012/11/16: Guardian(UK): Al Gore: nuclear power will play 'limited role' in future energy mix
• 2012/11/14: Guardian(UK): Al Gore's views on climate change, extreme weather and Keystone XL
• 2012/11/13: Guardian(UK): Al Gore calls on Barack Obama to 'act boldly' on climate change
  

  While in the UK:

• 2012/11/16: LoE: A plea from the Executive Director of Greenpeace UK
• 2012/11/16: Guardian(UK): [UK] Decarbonisation target 'could be postponed until next parliament'
• 2012/11/15: Guardian(UK): John Hayes must resign for the sake of all our futures by Caroline Lucas
  Cameron's failure to discipline either Hayes or Heaton-Harris is not just about politics - it's about avoiding climate catastrophe
• 2012/11/15: WtD: Energygate: James Delingpole and The Tory plot against renewable energy in the UK?
• 2012/11/15: TreeHugger: UK's Largest Solar Farm (32MW) Gets Green Light
• 2012/11/15: Independent(UK): George Osborne accused of secret war on PM's green policies as father-in-law is caught on video
  Father-in-law tells undercover reporter how Chancellor plans to undermine Coalition environment policies
• 2012/11/14: BBC: Analysis: Secret recordings suggest growing tensions over [UK] energy policy
  Energy policy is apparently in confusion after a Greenpeace "sting" on senior Conservative politicians. In secret filming, former cabinet minister Peter Lilley seemed to say he thought the Chancellor George Osborne had deliberately manoeuvred climate sceptic ministers into key positions. He said the legally binding Climate Change Act should be made voluntary, or simply ignored. It comes as Energy Minister John Hayes repeated his view that there may be no need for more new applications for on-shore wind farms, once existing targets are met. This contradicts the policy of his boss, the Liberal Democrat Energy Secretary Ed Davey.
• 2012/11/14: Guardian(UK): Polling day shambles for coalition over climate change policy
  Tensions grow as George Osborne's father-in-law claims chancellor is behind campaign to dilute environment pledges The coalition's green policy is in disarray after an undercover film revealed George Osborne's father-in-law claiming that the chancellor is behind a Tory campaign to oppose commitments against climate change. Lord Howell of Guildford, a former minister in Margaret Thatcher's cabinet who stood down as a foreign office minister in September, said the chancellor was "putting pressure" on David Cameron over "absurd" climate change targets.
• 2012/11/14: BBC: Tory MP apologises for appearing to encourage rival in Corby by-election
• 2012/11/13: OilChange: Rigging the Gas Game
  In the UK, one by one the pillars of the establishment are crumbling, as they are exposed as being corrupt, incompetent or on the take.
• 2012/11/13: BBC: [Natural] Gas prices-fixing probe: Minister to address Commons
• 2012/11/12: BBC: Biomass may hinder climate fight
  A report by campaign groups has warned that burning biomass (such as wood) in power stations may hinder attempts to tackle climate change.
• 
  

  And in Europe:

   

• 2012/11/16: EurActiv: Oettinger urges Lithuania to build nuclear power plant
  Lithuania will find it difficult to ensure the security of energy supply without building a new nuclear power plant, Energy Commissioner Günther Oettinger said.
• 2012/11/16: EUO: Van Rompuy: financial tax to form part of EU budget
  The much vaunted EU financial transaction tax (FTT) is set to be hard-wired into the EU budget, with most of its revenue going directly to the EU. A paper prepared by EU Council President Herman Van Rompuy and sent to European capitals ahead of next week's EU budget summit, where leaders aim to agree a mandate on the budget framework for 2014-2020, would deduct FTT revenues from national contributions to the annual EU pot.
• 2012/11/16: DerSpiegel: German Energy Agency Chief -- 'We'll Need Conventional Power Plants until 2050'
  Stephan Kohler, the head of the German Energy Agency, says the country must act smarter and more realistically in its transition to renewable energy. The "feel-good" subsidies for locally produced wind and solar power have had unintended consequences, he says, and the environmental movement is often part of the problem.
• 2012/11/15: EurActiv: Water blueprint seeks to better police member states
  The European Commission unveiled its water blueprint on Thursday (15 November), calling for strengthened enforcement of the 12-year-old Water Framework Directive amid fresh reports that many national governments are failing to live up to their commitments.
• 2012/11/15: EurActiv: Metal, steel industries warn EU efficiency laws could force them out of Europe
  Steelmakers and other metals industries fear that limits the EU is considering imposing on the amount of natural resources they use will push them out of Europe, where environmental regulations are less stringent.
• 2012/11/15: EurActiv: Oettinger talks up Tanap pipeline
  EU Energy Commissioner Günther Oettinger has signalled that Brussels may soon accept the proposed Trans-Anatolian Gas Pipeline (TANAP), despite its earlier support for the Nabucco pipeline.
• 2012/11/15: ICN: In Germany, Everyone Can Be an Energy Producer
• 2012/11/14: Guardian(UK): Dutch government may face legal action over climate change
  The move is intended to put the spotlight on the Netherlands' failure to prioritise cuts in greenhouse gas emissions
• 2012/11/14: ICN: German Law Gave Ordinary Citizens a Stake in Switch to Clean Energy
• 2012/11/14: TreeHugger: The Germans are Fools for Trying to Be Outstanding Examples of Energy Independence
• 2012/11/13: DerSpiegel: Quagmire in the Sahara -- Desertec's Promise of Solar Power for Europe Fades
  As recently as three years ago, many thought that it was only a matter of time before solar thermal plants in North Africa supplied a significant portion of Europe's energy needs. But Desertec has hit a road block. Industrial backers are jumping ship, political will is tepid and a key pilot project has suddenly stalled.
• 2012/11/13: DerSpiegel: 'Political Leadership Is Missing' -- A Desertec Founder Laments a Lack of Support
  Desertec, the ambitious plan to supply Europe with vast amounts of solar power from North Africa, has lost its shine. Friedrich Führ, co-founder of the Desertec Foundation, spoke with Spiegel online about the project's missteps thus far, his disappointment in European politicians and why it is vital that the venture continues.
• 2012/11/13: EurActiv: Debate rages over how to measure resource efficiency
  Industrial and environmental groups are lining up to pressure the European Commission on how best to measure resource efficiency. Businesses have warned that a one-size-fits-all approach will hamper economic growth at a time when Europe strives to emerge from its sovereign debt crisis.
• 2012/11/13: EurActiv: Hedegaard stops clock on aviation emissions law
  EU Climate Commissioner Connie Hedegaard has put plans on hold to make international airlines pay for their carbon emissions, so as to give time for the UN airlines body to devise an alternative global scheme that could avoid a damaging trade dispute.
• 2012/11/13: EurActiv: Russian-Bulgarian energy relations near melting point
  Future energy relations between Bulgaria and Russia could be decided on 15 November, the deadline for Bulgaria to sign a deal to build the South Stream gas pipeline across its territory. European officials say they are closely watching the developments but don't see South Stream as a priority.
• 2012/11/13: EurActiv: EU fogs post-2012 climate aid pledges
  Europe's finance ministers will not promise any specific new monies for fast-dwindling climate aid to the developing world when they meet in Brussels today (13 November), according to draft conclusions seen by EurActiv.
• 2012/11/12: Guardian(UK): Business chiefs call for emissions targets in power sector
• 2012/11/12: EurActiv: Switching energy supplier can still take months, experts say
  Switching energy suppliers and settling disputes still take too long in EU countries, says a review by the Council of European Energy Regulators. The review, released Friday (9 November), said member states had made significant progress in customer rights but that there were "still some gaps in practice".
• 2012/11/12: EurActiv: Without Dalli, GMO foes hope for tougher EU policy
  Environmental groups frustrated by Commissioner John Dalli's outward support of the genetically modified food industry are hoping his successor will take a tougher line. The Commission has frozen requests to authorise more than 20 GM seeds for cultivation that were in the pipeline before Dalli abruptly resigned as health and consumer commissioner on 16 October amid allegations implicating him in a bribery case. Meanwhile, the biotech industry says such delays threaten Europe's food supplies and economic competitiveness. Mute Schimpf, food campaigner for Friends of the Earth Europe whose organisation clashed with Dalli over GMOs, said the former commissioner "had a clear pro-GM agenda". But she's hopeful his replacement will be more responsive to what she called staunch public opposition to GM foods.
• 2012/11/12: EurActiv: Brussels strives to keep resource-efficiency 'on the radar'
  Faced with strong political headwinds against new environmental legislation in the current economic crisis, the European Commission is multiplying initiatives to keep resource-efficiency on the political radar.
• 
  

  Meanwhile in Australia:

   

• 2012/11/17: SimpleC: Australians overestimate climate change rejection
• 2012/11/16: PeakEnergy: Powerless: legal heavyweights used to silence farmer
• 2012/11/16: ABC(Au): Burke officially declares marine reserves
  Fishermen will be offered $100 million in compensation under the Government's plan to extend marine reserves to cover more than 2.3 million square kilometres of ocean environment. Today's declaration of the marine parks officially puts into law new restrictions on what fishing and resources activities are allowed in certain areas. The Government announced five draft marine reserves in June, saying it would consult with affected industries about how they should be implemented. Environment Minister Tony Burke says the world's oceans are under serious threat, and the extension of marine protections will help deal with the growing problem.
• 2012/11/16: ABC(Au): Solar panel subsidies scrapped early
  The Federal Government is phasing out its subsidies for solar panels six months early. Climate Change Minister Greg Combet says the solar credits scheme will stop at the beginning of next year. Mr Combet says there is strong demand for solar power and that scrapping the subsidies will ease pressure on power prices and place the industry on a sustainable footing. He says the overall reduction in power bills is estimated to be up to $100 million next year.
• 2012/11/16: ABC(Au): Electricity sell-off gets tick of approval
  The Chairman of the Energy Users Association says the New South Wales Government sell-off of electricity generators will help reduce power bills in the south east.
• 2012/11/16: ABC(Au): Brickbats and bouquets for marine reserve network
  There have been mixed reactions in WA to the Federal Government's official declaration of marine reserves. The Wilderness Society says the network is a good start but more needs to be done to protect the marine environment but Recfishwest says it is 'dumbfounded' and 'outraged' by the announcement. Nationally the marine reserve network covers more than 2.3 million square kilometres of ocean.
• 2012/11/16: ABC(Au): Group urges talks to privatise Qld electricity assets
  The Australian Industry Group has renewed its push for the privatisation of electricity assets in Queensland.
• 2012/11/15: BNC: Energy White Paper is hazy on future vision for nuclear
• 2012/11/15: PlanetJ: Response to RET Review discussion paper
• 2012/11/15: ABC(Au): What the Bureau of Meteorology says on climate change?
• 2012/11/14: ABC(Au): Fish farmers unhappy with plans to relocate disease testing unit [Aus pol]
• 2012/11/14: ABC(Au): Anti-coal protesters face Seeney
• 2012/11/14: TheConversation: Backing biochar: the Australian Government's role
• 2012/11/12: ABC(Au):TDU: All options should be on the table - including nuclear
  How can you have a discussion about reducing our carbon emissions and acting on climate change without having nuclear energy on the table, asks Matt Hickey.
• 2012/11/13: GReadfearn: Time to overhaul Queensland's opaque lobby system
• 2012/11/13: ABC(Au): Renewable energy agency won't back solar park
  The agency in charge of developing solar technology in Australia says it will not support a proposed project in north-west Victoria. TruEnergy's bid to build a 173-megawatt solar park near Mildura was referred to the Australian Renewable Energy Agency, after the project was overlooked for federal funding from the Solar Flagships program earlier this year. However, the agency announced yesterday that it will not support the proposal because of its similarity to a project at Broken Hill.
• 2012/11/13: ABC(Au): Council urged to fix crumbling seawalls
  Coastal residents say crumbling seawalls protecting the towns of Port Albert and Robertson's Beach must be repaired. Residents say they want the Wellington Shire Council to fix and maintain the cracked stone seawalls regularly.
• 2012/11/13: ABC(Au): Solar thermal project a no-go
  The Clean Energy Council says it is disappointed a billion dollar solar thermal project on Queensland's Western Downs will not go ahead. The Solar Dawn consortium has abandoned plans to build a 250-megawatt plant near Chinchilla.
• 2012/11/13: ABC(Au): Govt seals deal on power revamp
  Tasmania's Energy Minister Bryan Green has revealed he has struck a deal with the Greens on major changes to the state's energy sector. The minority government partners had clashed over how best to deal with Hydro Tasmania's monopoly on energy production in the state. After weeks of negotiations, Mr Green says he expects the Lower House will approve legislation on Thursday to allow for the regulation of the state-owned company.
• 2012/11/13: ABC(Au): Abbott support hits new low in poll
  Opposition Leader Tony Abbott says Labor's "endless personal attacks" are to blame for a slump in his personal satisfaction rating in the latest opinion poll. The Newspoll published in The Australian newspaper shows just 27 per cent of those surveyed are satisfied with the way Mr Abbott is doing his job, compared with 63 per cent who are unhappy with his performance. His satisfaction rating is now at its lowest level since he became Opposition Leader, although the poll shows the Coalition would still win an election held today.
• 2012/11/13: ABC(Au): Greens highlight reef coal project worries
  Greens Senator Larissa Waters says there is a high level of concern among the Capricorn Coast community in central Queensland about plans to "industrialise" the Great Barrier Reef. Ms Waters held a public meeting last night in Yeppoon, north of Rockhampton, about the future of the reef and will meet fishermen and local businesses in Gladstone tonight. She says several coal port projects are proposed in the Fitzroy and Keppel Bay area and the community is strongly opposed to the plans.
• 2012/11/12: ABC(Au): Sun sets on Solar Dawn
  The agency that approves renewable energy projects in Australia has knocked back some of the country's biggest proposed solar projects. The Australian Renewable Energy Agency - ARENA - has decided not to fund the $1 billion Solar Dawn solar-thermal project in Queensland. It's also rejected a 180 megawatt solar photovoltaic project in northern Victoria. Instead, ARENA wants to fund more projects in regional and remote Australia.
• 
  

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

   

• 2012/11/14: ABC(Au): Space agency helps with soil carbon research
  

  A report on methane levels around fracking sites kicked a hornet's nest:

• 2012/11/16: DeSmogBlog: Gas Industry Attacks Scientists After Research Finds Triple The Normal Levels Of Methane At Australian Gas Fields
• 2012/11/16: ABC(Au): Metgasco says CSG research needs review
• 2012/11/14: TheAge: Gas body fired up over reports of methane leaks
  Vast amounts of methane appear to be leaking undetected from Australia's biggest coal seam gas field, according to world-first research undercutting claims by the gas industry. Testing inside the Tara gasfield, near Condamine on Queensland's western downs, found some greenhouse gas levels more than three times higher than nearby districts, according to the study by researchers at Southern Cross University. Methane, carbon dioxide and other gases appear to be leaking through the soil and bubbling up through rivers at an astonishing rate, the researchers said.
• 2012/11/14: ABC(Au): 'Extremely high' methane levels found near gas wells
  A scientific study is raising serious doubts about the green credentials of the expanding coal seam gas (CSG) industry, suggesting it is far less environmentally clean than it claims.
• 2012/11/13: ABC(Au): Research into CSG-methane link to be released soon
  

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

• 2012/11/17: ABC(Au): High hopes for irrigation scheme
  Tasmania's Primary Industries Minister Bryan Green is confident a multi-million dollar irrigation project proposed for the north-west coast will attract funding.
• 2012/11/15: ABC(Au): Goulburn-Murray Water to sack 60 workers
• 2012/11/17: ABC(Au): Coalition signals prospect of agreement on Murray-Darling Plan
• 2012/11/16: DD: Graph of the Day: Total Annual Inflow to Perth Dams, 1911-2012
• 2012/11/14: ABC(Au): Drinking water polluted for years, say Greens
  The Tasmanian Greens claim it has been known for two years that drinking water at a north-east Tasmanian town was contaminated with lead. Last week Ben Lomond Water issued a public notice advising the residents of Pioneer that the town's drinking water supply was contaminated with lead. It could take weeks to fix the problem and a temporary water supply has been set up outside the local town hall.
• 2012/11/14: ABC(Au): 'Uncertainty' over returned Murray water
• 2012/11/13: ABC(Au): Murray flows tipped to drop despite interstate rain
  The Department of Environment and Water says River Murray flows into South Australia will drop to about 14,000 megalitres a day. Flows are currently about 17,500 megalitres a day.
• 2012/11/12: ABC(Au): Federal Government may clarify water trading regulations
• 2012/11/12: ABC(Au): Irrigators want legislation to cap Murray-Darling water buybacks
• 2012/11/13: ABC(Au): NSW Governor calls for water diversions
  

  While in the Indian subcontinent:

• 2012/11/16: CCurrents: Eminent Women Urge the Immediate Release of the 3 Women of Idinthakarai [India pol]
• 2012/11/16: TreeHugger: Half of Indian Concentrating Solar Power Projects Delayed
• 2012/11/15: TP:JR: India's Solar Revolution: Why Small Is Big
  

  And in China:

• 2012/11/16: Asia Times: Beijing Handover - Hu hands China's military baton to Xi
• 2012/11/15: ShanghaiDaily: Party unveils new Central Committee
• 2012/11/15: DerSpiegel: The Charming Hardliner -- Xi Jinping Assumes Reins of Restive China
  China's once-a-decade transition of power is complete. The country's new supreme body, the Politiburo Standing Committee, will now be led by Xi Jinping. The charming 59 year old almost seems like a Western politician, but he is firmly committed to preserving the core dogma of the Communist Party.
• 2012/11/14: OilDrum: China Energy Outlook: An Inside Look at Chinese Energy Thinking
• 2012/11/14: al Jazeera: Communist Party Congress closes in China
  A day before unveiling China's new leadership line-up, outgoing President Hu Jintao officially wraps up the congress.
• 
  

  In Japan:

   

• 2012/11/16: JapanTimes: Noda dissolves Lower House for election [on Dec 16]
• 2012/11/16: ABC(Au): Japan headed for polls after parliament dissolved
  Japan's lower house of parliament has been dissolved, paving way for an election next month that is likely to return the long-dominant Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) to power.
• 2012/11/16: Guardian(UK): Japanese PM calls December election
  

  In the Middle East:

• 2012/11/13: BBC: Jordan protesters take to streets over fuel price rises
  Protests have been held in several Jordanian cities against increases in fuel price, following the lifting of government subsidies.
• 
  

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

   

• 2012/11/16: PaiD: A Harper Message To The Citizens Of Canada
• 2012/11/14: CBC: Ottawa spends millions on ads promoting resource development
• 2012/11/14: CBC: Ottawa denies funding for wildfire prevention program
  FireSmart hoped to develop national standards to protect forested communities The federal government has turned down a request for support from a group that is working to protect communities from wildfires such as the one that ravaged Slave Lake, Alberta. FireSmart Canada asked Ottawa for about $1 million over two years in seed money to help get its national program off the ground.
• 2012/11/17: MSimon: Watch a Con Minister Being Coached to Lie
  

  Late comment on that Indian trip:

• 2012/11/14: EmbassyMag: Indian nuclear deal seen as 'end-run' around non-proliferation treaty
  

  The battle over the Northern Gateway pipeline rages on:

• 2012/11/16: CBC: B.C. [Northern Gateway] oil pipeline hearings extended by 10 weeks
• 2012/11/11: G&M: Enbridge's 'errata' on caribou could prove a costly error
  By itself, the pipeline that Enbridge proposes to build across British Columbia might not pose a great threat to caribou. The problem is, the Enbridge Northern Gateway project cannot be taken in isolation. Its impact has to be assessed cumulatively with the highways, gas and power lines that already exist -- and therein lies an enormous environmental challenge that could bring the project to a halt. Chris Tollefson, a lawyer representing BC Nature and Nature Canada at the federal review hearings, seemed to recognize that last week, when he hammered away at the numbers behind Enbridge's "density threshold," which sets out how much development can take place in caribou habitat before the animals fall into population decline. And in the process of finding out where the numbers came from, Mr. Tollefson revealed just how shaky Enbridge's caribou plan really is.
• 2012/11/15: TheCanadian: Mark Hume Nails Enbridge on Caribou Paper Cheat
• 2012/11/15: TheCanadian: Addicted to Oil: The Politics of Canadian Dilbit Pipelines
• 2012/11/11: PCat: Enbridge, the Storyteller & The Breaking of the Social Contract
  

  Have you noticed the dispute resolution mechanisms built into these treaties are fundamentally anti-democratic?

• 2012/11/16: PaiD: Foreign Investment Rights Versus Canadian Provinces
• 2012/11/15: TStar: Ottawa faces $250-million suit over Quebec environmental stance
  The Canadian government faces a $250-million suit from a U.S. energy producer over Quebec's environmental stance, raising new questions about the wisdom of investor rights treaties Ottawa is planning with China and the European Union. Lone Pine Resources Inc. has declared its intention to use its power under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) to challenge Quebec's crackdown on fracking, a controversial drilling technique for releasing oil and natural gas from underground shale rock formations. Under NAFTA's Chapter 11 dispute resolution provisions, the governments of Canada, the U.S. and Mexico can be sued by private companies that believe their interests as foreign investors have been harmed by discriminatory actions in one of the three countries.
• 
  

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

   

• 2012/11/17: TheCanadian: One Step Forward with Fish Farms, Two Steps Back with Proposed Fossil Fuel Exports
• 2012/11/15: Eureka: Researchers uncover some good news for BC's troubled salmon populations
• 2012/11/12: AlexandraMorton: Standing with the Dzawada'enuxw
  

  Meanwhile in that Mechanical Mordor known as the tar sands:

• 2012/11/16: PI:B: Canada watching Obama's next moves on oilsands imports, climate action
• 2012/11/14: ICN: Carbon output from Canada oil sands higher than thought - [IHS CERA] study
  Oil sands emit 9 percent more greenhouse gases than average oil
• 2012/11/15: CdnTrends: Oilsands Prosperity is a Lie
• 2012/11/15: DeSmogBlog: Toxic Tar Sands: Scientists Document Spread of Pollution, Water Contamination, Effects on Fish
• 2012/11/14: PostMedia: Oilsands the 'economic engine for the country for the next 25 to 30 years': Deloitte
• 2012/11/14: PostMedia: Tarsands pollution trail shows tougher air quality standards needed immediately, Notley charges
  Environment Canada findings a wake-up call for Alberta Environment Canada research that indicates contaminants from Alberta's oilsands projects are travelling further than expected should be a wake-up call for the province to act immediately to impose tougher air quality standards, the NDP's environment critic said Wednesday. Edmonton-Strathcona MLA Rachel Notley called for beefed-up pollution controls after news that federal scientists have uncovered evidence that pollutants are collecting on the bottom of remote lakes up to 100 kilometres away from oilsands projects. Environment Canada researchers were to present those findings at an international toxicology conference in the U.S. on Wednesday.
• 2012/11/13: CBC: Toxic substance found in snow near oilsands -- Environment Canada study finds contaminants dangerous to fish
• 2012/11/13: PostMedia: Federal scientists uncover evidence that oilsands contaminants travel further than expected
  Federal scientists have uncovered evidence that contaminants wafting out Alberta's oilsands operations are collecting on the bottom of remote lakes up to 100 kilometres away. The chemical "legacy" in the lake sediments indicates that oilsands pollution is travelling further than expected and has been for decades.
• 2012/11/14: OilChange: Further Evidence of Tar Sands Toxic Legacy
  

  Now that Dalton has quit, the Liberal leadership is in play and then probably an election:

• 2012/11/13: BCLSB: Let Trillium Build Offshore Turbines
  

  In the Maritimes:

• 2012/11/16: CBC: BP, Shell Canada granted oil exploration rights
  

  As for miscellaneous Canadiana:

• 2012/11/15: CBC: Sandy to boost Canadian fuel prices -- Gasoline due to average from $1.20 to $1.40 per litre this winter
• 2012/11/12: Impolitical: An answer to the carbon tax rhetoric
• 2012/11/15: iPolitics: DFO in talks with Winnipeg non-profit to take over ELA
• 2012/11/18: iPolitics: Why a carbon tax makes sense to conservatives
  

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

• 2012/11/16: PeakEnergy: Randers: What does the world look like in 2052?
• 2012/11/16: CCurrents: After The Flood: Requiem For A friend, Death Knell For A Dying Paradigm
• 2012/11/16: Guardian(PE): Suzuki delivers dire warning, cautious hope over future of humankind
  

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

• 2012/11/14: UNFPA: Additional Investments in Family Planning Would Save Developing Countries More Than $11 Billion a Year
• 2012/11/14: UN: Boosting access to family planning is good for women and the economy - [UNFPA] report
• 2012/11/15: CCurrents: Contraception Could Save World $5.7 bn, Says UNFPA Report
• 2012/11/12: Grist: Peak Elbowroom -- Population growth and the road to total societal meltdown
  

  This tragedy in Ireland is the kind of thing that drives change:

• 2012/11/18: ABC(Au): Mass protest follows Ireland abortion death
  At least 5,000 people have marched to the offices of Ireland's socially conservative prime minister to call for clearer guidelines on abortion following the death of a woman denied a termination.
• 2012/11/17: CSM: Thousands protest in Ireland to liberalize abortion laws
• 2012/11/17: BBC: Savita Halappanavar: Rallies held in Dublin and Galway
  Several thousand people have attended rallies in the Republic of Ireland in memory of Savita Halappanavar, calling for changes to Irish abortion law. The 31-year-old died at a Galway hospital last month. Her family claimed she was repeatedly refused a termination during a miscarriage.
• 2012/11/17: Guardian(UK): 'Change your abortion law to save lives' grieving father tells Irish PM
  The parents of Savita Halappanavar, who died in Galway after she was refused an abortion, tell Taoiseach Enda Kenny: 'this must not happen again'
• 2012/11/16: BBerg: Death of Indian Woman Forces Ireland to Face Abortion Taboo
• 2012/11/15: CDreams: Woman's Death by Denial of Life-Saving Abortion in Ireland Prompts Fury
  Vigils held across Ireland on Wednesday following death of Savita Halappanavar
• 2012/11/14: Denialism: Abortion can be lifesaving
• 2012/11/14: CBC: Miscarrying woman denied an abortion dies in Ireland
• 2012/11/14: PoliticsRespun: 'This is a Catholic Country': Birth, Death and Abortion in Ireland
• 2012/11/14: Guardian(UK): Ireland abortion policy under scrutiny after woman's death
• 2012/11/16: Guardian(UK): Hundreds of Irish women forced to come to Britain for abortions
• 2012/11/14: BBC: Woman dies after abortion request 'refused' at Galway hospital
• 2012/11/14: CBC: Woman dies in Ireland after being denied an abortion
  Three probes launched into death of Savita Halappanavar, PM says The debate over legalizing abortion in Ireland flared Wednesday after the government confirmed a miscarrying woman suffering from blood poisoning was refused a quick termination of her pregnancy and died in an Irish hospital. Prime Minister Enda Kenny said he was awaiting findings from three investigations into the death of Savita Halappanavar, an Indian living in Galway since 2008 who was 17 weeks along in her pregnancy.
• 2012/11/13: Guardian(UK): Scandal in Ireland as woman dies in Galway 'after being denied abortion'
  Health authorities investigating septicaemia death of 31-year-old dentist Savita Halappanavar Health authorities in Ireland are investigating the death of a pregnant woman whose husband says she was denied an abortion following severe complications. Savita Halappanavar, who was 17 weeks pregnant, died of septicaemia a week after presenting with back pain on 21 October at University hospital in Galway, where she was found to be miscarrying. After the 31-year-old dentist was told that she was miscarrying, her husband reportedly said that she had asked for a medical termination a number of times over a three day period, during which she was in severe pain. But he said these requests were denied because a foetal heartbeat was still present and they were told at one point: "This is a Catholic country."
• 
  

  Apocalypso anyone?

   

• 2012/11/15: CCurrents: Extreme Weather: The Maya And Us
• 2012/11/12: Yahoo:TP: 2028: The End of the World As We Know It?
  "There is nothing radical in what we're discussing," journalist and climate change activist Bill McKibben said before a crowd of nearly 1,000 at the University of California Los Angeles last night. "The radicals work for the oil companies."
• 
  

  How do the media measure up?

   

• 2012/11/14: GLaden: I didn't realize the New Scientist was a tool of climate science denialism: The question of drought
• 2012/11/13: WottsUWT: Fare thee well, friend - Pielke Sr. says he's giving up
• 2012/11/13: MediaMatters: Study: TV Media Covered Biden's Smile Nearly Twice As Much As Climate Change
• 2012/11/13: DeSmogBlog: Media Matters Explains Media's Climate Silence In Election Coverage
  

  Here is something for your library:

• 2012/11/13: SciAm:@SA: _Storm Warnings: Climate Change and Extreme Weather_ - SA's Latest E-Book
  

  And for your film & video enjoyment:

• 2012/11/15: CChallenge: YouTube - Peter Hadfield's educational "Climate Change" video series
• 2012/11/15: PSinclair: Germany's Energiewende: Watching the Future Unfold
• 2012/11/15: Grist: Ken Burns: Before Sandy, there was the Dust Bowl
• 2012/11/16: UCSUSA:B: Get "Ice Bitten" on the Big Screen
• 2012/11/16: BPA: Farming versus Forest in Brazil
• 2012/11/17: NBF: Motor Trends Video Review of the Tesla S Car of the Year
• 2012/11/15: DemNow: "Chasing Ice": New Film Captures Melting of the Planet Through the Lens of Photographer James Balog
• 2012/11/11: ERabett: A Post Election Rant
• 2012/11/12: PSinclair: The Yes Men in the Rockaways: The Occupy Sandy Relief Effort
  

  As for podcasts:

• 2012/11/15: EarthgaugeRadio: Feature interview with U.S. Green Party leader Jill Stein
  

  Meanwhile among the 'Sue the Bastards!' contingent:

• 2012/11/14: Guardian(UK): It is time for the judiciary to step in and avert climate catastrophe
• 2012/11/16: CCurrents: The Dutch Government Faces Legal Action For Its Failure To Address Climate Crisis
• 2012/11/14: SacBee: California Chamber of Commerce files suit, could upset first cap-and-trade auction
• 2012/11/13: CSW: Aviation and climate change: flying blind
  

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

• 2012/11/14: Telegraph(UK): Icelandic volcanoes could heat British homes
  Volcanic heat from Iceland could generate electricity to power British homes within a decade, according to experts. The geothermal energy would be piped to Britain through the world's longest seabed power cable but would be no more expensive than the next generation of nuclear energy.
• 2012/11/14: Grist: How you can help clean energy eat Big Oil's lunch
• 2012/11/15: HCN: Costly new geothermal technology could edge out fossil fuels
• 2012/11/14: OilDrum: China Energy Outlook: An Inside Look at Chinese Energy Thinking
• 2012/11/12: ICN: Alaska: Methane Hydrate Resource Spark Debate Over Energy and Climate Change
  

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

• 2012/11/14: ICN: How 'Landfarms' for Disposing Drilling Waste Are Causing Problems in Texas
• 2012/11/14: F&WW: [link 1.7 meg pdf] to U.S. Energy Insecurity: Why Fracking for Oil and Natural Gas Is a False Solution
• 2012/11/15: Guardian(UK): Shale offers freedom and security - but it could be a trap
  Exploiting shale gas and oil entails greenhouse gas emissions that will far outstrip our ability to adapt to the climate change they will cause
• 2012/11/14: SkyTruth:B: SkyTruth Releases Fracking Chemical Database
• FracFocus: Chemical Disclosure Registry
• SkyTruth: Fracking Chemical Database
• 2012/11/15: CDreams: Fracking Database: New Weapon Against 'Sinister Secrecy' of Industry
  SkyTruth reveals new tool for research and analysis of fracking chemicals
• 2012/11/17: LA Times: Australian scientists find excess [CH4] greenhouse gas near fracking
• 2012/11/16: CSM: The real revolution of shale energy
• 2012/11/14: DeSmogBlog: Shale Gas Bubble Bursting: Report Debunks "100 Years" Claim for Domestic Unconventional Oil and Gas
• 2012/11/13: NakedCapitalism: Shale Gas Will be the Next Bubble to Pop
  

  On the coal front:

• 2012/11/17: WVGazette: Patriot's move away from MTR another sign of coal's decline
• 2012/11/15: DeSmogBlog: Patriot Coal To Stop Destructive Mountaintop Removal Mining In Appalachia
• 2012/11/15: TP:JR: Why Hundreds More Dirty, Aging Coal Plants In The U.S. Are 'Ripe For Retirement'
• 2012/11/16: CSM: Report: hundreds of US coal-fired plants 'ripe for retirement'
• 2012/11/13: BWeek: Many Coal-Fired Power Plants 'Ripe for Retirement,' Group Says
• 2012/11/12: NYT: With China and India Ravenous for Energy, Coal's Future Seems Assured
• 2012/11/13: UCSUSA: New National Economic Study Shows Hundreds of Old Coal Generators Are Candidates for Closure
• 2012/11/11: DeSmogBlog: Arch Coal Mine Will Destroy Colorado Wilderness in 'Roadless' Forest
  

  On the gas and oil front:

• 2012/11/16: BBerg: Closing oil prices Friday
  OIL (US$/bbl)
  Dated Brent Spot....108.95
  WTI Cushing Spot.....86.92
• 2012/11/14: EarlyWarning: Oil Supply Continues Flat in 2012
• 2012/11/16: ICN: Report: BP and Chevron Are Riskier Bets for Oil Investors
• 2012/11/13: CSM: Hofmeister: Surging demand and flat production equals high oil prices
  

  And in pipeline news:

• 2012/11/15: EurActiv: Oettinger talks up Tanap pipeline
  EU Energy Commissioner Günther Oettinger has signalled that Brussels may soon accept the proposed Trans-Anatolian Gas Pipeline (TANAP), despite its earlier support for the Nabucco pipeline.
• 2012/11/15: ProPublica: Pipelines Explained: How Safe are America's 2.5 Million Miles of Pipelines?
• 2012/11/15: BBC: Gazprom to build new gas pipeline to Europe
  Russian gas company Gazprom has committed to building an expensive pipeline that would deliver Russian gas to southern Europe. The South Stream pipeline is due to start operating in 2015, eventually bringing up to 63bn cubic meters of gas annually to as far as Greece. It will be funded by Gazprom, Italy's Eni, France's EDF and a unit of Germany's BASF. The pipeline will travel under the Black Sea via the Balkans. Some analysts have estimated the cost of the pipeline at about 16bn euros ($20.4bn; £12.8bn) and Gazprom is expected to fund half of the total capital expenditure. Gazprom signed the final investment agreement with its European partners late on Wednesday and will start construction next month. The financial details of the agreement were not disclosed. The South Stream pipeline was first suggested in 2007. It follows disagreements with the Ukraine and Belarus over gas pricing, which has led to gas being cut off to some parts of Europe.
• 
  

  Yes we have a peak oil sighting:

   

• 2012/11/14: FCNP: The Peak Oil Crisis: Alternative Futures
• 2012/11/14: RTCC: Could 'economic peak oil' rival the banking crisis?
  'Economic peak oil' could cripple the world's economies by 2014 according to a UK-based think tank [NEF], which recommends governments take urgent action to wean their economies off fossil fuels.
• 2012/11/12: CSM: Does the IMF think we have a peak oil problem?
  

  Biofuel bickering abounds:

• 2012/11/13: SF Gate: Algae-based fuel on sale in Bay Area
• 2012/11/13: CSM: One-minute algae: new source of oil?
  

  The answer my friend...:

• 2012/11/18: BCLSB: The Full Nissenbaum
  So the Nissenbaum , Aramini, and Hanning paper, that purported to show a connection between proximity to wind turbines and a decline in sleep quality, has been given a working working over by a number of experts in a short report commissioned by (full disclosure) the Canadian and American Wind Energy Associations. The result is here; the general conclusion:

  Overall, in our opinion the authors extend their conclusions and discussion beyond the statistical findings of their study. We believe that they have not demonstrated a statistical link between wind turbines - distance - sleep quality - sleepiness and health. In fact, their own values suggest that although scores may be statistically different between near and far groups for sleep quality and sleepiness, they are no different than those reported in the general population. The claims of causation by the authors (i.e., wind turbine noise) are not supported...

• 2012/11/16: Grist: The wind industry doesn't seem to know how to win the most important fight of its life
• 2012/11/15: TreeHugger: Google Invests $75M in 50MW Iowa Wind Farm
• 2012/11/14: EurActiv: Wind power growth to slow, pick up after 2020
  The growth of wind power generation is likely to slow over the next few years, hit by cutbacks in the budget subsidies in the United States and Europe that have driven 15 years of construction, says a report published today (14 November).
• 2012/11/15: TreeHugger: Wind Could Supply 1/10th of the World's Power by 2020
  

  Meanwhile among the solar aficionados:

• 2012/11/15: TP:JR: The U.S. Solar Industry: A Real And Growing Job Creator
• 2012/11/15: TreeHugger: UK's Largest Solar Farm (32MW) Gets Green Light
• 2012/11/17: LA Times: Hawaii's solar power flare-up: Too much of a good thing?
  So many private solar panels are returning power to the grid that utilities fear their systems can't handle it all.
• 2012/11/13: DerSpiegel: Quagmire in the Sahara -- Desertec's Promise of Solar Power for Europe Fades
• 2012/11/13: DerSpiegel: 'Political Leadership Is Missing' -- A Desertec Founder Laments a Lack of Support
• 2012/11/13: NatureNB: Bosch quits Desertec
  [...]
  The decision comes just two weeks after Siemens had announced its exit from the consortium. Siemens, based in Munich, Germany, said last month it will pull out from the loss-making solar business altogether
• 2012/11/13: TreeHugger: Kazakhstan Announces 2 GW Solar PV Power Plant
  

  The nuclear energy controversy continues:

• 2012/11/16: EurActiv: Oettinger urges Lithuania to build nuclear power plant
  Lithuania will find it difficult to ensure the security of energy supply without building a new nuclear power plant, Energy Commissioner Günther Oettinger said.
• 2012/11/16: EneNews: Newspaper: "Disturbing risks" have emerged at NJ's Oyster Creek nuke plant after Sandy - Reactor may be decommissioned early
• 2012/11/12: ABC(Au):TDU: All options should be on the table - including nuclear
  How can you have a discussion about reducing our carbon emissions and acting on climate change without having nuclear energy on the table, asks Matt Hickey.
• 2012/11/16: CCurrents: South Korean Villagers Protest Against Nuclear Power Plant
• 2012/11/16: CCurrents: Cracks In South Carolina Nuke Power Plant, US Nuclear Power Safety Questioned
• 2012/11/16: Guardian(UK): Al Gore: nuclear power will play 'limited role' in future energy mix
• 2012/11/12: EneNews: Fire at New York [FitzPatrick] nuclear plant burns for hours - Outside firefighters called in to help - Reactor goes into shutdown
  

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

• 2012/11/15: ERW: Nanocrystals produce hydrogen using sunlight
  

  More people are talking about the electrical grid:

• 2012/11/16: UCSUSA:B: Rethinking Our Grid After Hurricane Sandy
• 2012/11/15: CSM: Lessons from Sandy: how one community in storm's path kept lights on
• 2012/11/15: UCSUSA:B: The Wind Doesn't Blow Underground: Lessons from Hurricane Sandy's Impact on Electricity Supplies
• 2012/11/12: AJC: Georgia Power challenges solar company's plan
• 2012/11/11: NBF: High-power circuit breaker makes it possible to create highly efficient DC power grids
  

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

• 2012/11/16: PSinclair: For Electric Cars -- New Traction
• 2012/11/16: AutoBG: Ford, Chrysler join Toyota in fighting high-MPG rules in Mexico
• 2012/11/14: CBC: Tesla electric car dubbed 'loser' by Romney wins Car of the Year
• 2012/11/13: SciAm:Obs: Tesla Triumphs: Electric Car Bests the Rest
• 2012/11/14: TreeHugger: 30 Models of Plug-In Car Chargers Now Available Online via Home Depot
• 2012/11/13: TreeHugger: Motor Trend Also Names Tesla Model S 'Car of the Year' for 2013
• 2012/11/13: CSM: Tesla Model S wins Motor Trend's Car of the Year. Are electric cars here to stay?
• 2012/11/12: CNN: Tesla Model S - Motor Trend Car of the Year
• 2012/11/12: ICN: Price Is Major Factor for Electric Vehicles, Study Says
  

  As for Energy Storage:

• 2012/11/16: PSinclair: For Car Batteries, an Afterlife
• 2012/11/11: FuturePundit: Efforts To Cut Electric Car Battery Costs
• 2012/11/15: NatGeo: Second Life for Old Electric-Car Batteries: Guardians of the Electric Grid
  

  Insurance and re-insurance companies are feeling the heat:

• 2012/11/13: CCentral: 2012 May Rank As 2nd Most Disastrous Year Since 1980
• 2012/11/12: NYT: Flood Insurance, Already Fragile, Faces New Stress
  

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

• 2012/11/16: TP:JR: November 16 News...
• 2012/11/15: TP:JR: November 15 News...
• 2012/11/14: TP:JR: November 14 News...
• 2012/11/13: TP:JR: November 13 News...
  

  Other (weekly) lists:

• 2012/11/18: SkS: 2012 SkS Bi-Weekly News Roundup #2 by John Hartz
• 2012/11/16: SkS: 2012 SkS Bi-Weekly News Roundup #1 by John Hartz
• 2012/11/13: BPA: What the IEA's World Outlook Means for Agriculture, Plus More Agriculture News This Week
• 2012/11/12: QuarkSoup: Climate Newsbits
  

  The carbon lobby are up to the usual:

• 2012/11/16: PSinclair: Georgia Nutballs: Green Paranoia and Obama's Mind Control
• 2012/11/15: Denialism: Christopher Monckton files a questionable affidavit
• 2012/11/15: WottsUWT: WUWT-TV's answer to Al Gore's 'Dirty Weather Report' is ON THE AIR
• 2012/11/15: DeSmogBlog: Why Climate Deniers Have No Scientific Credibility - In One Pie Chart
• 2012/11/15: MNN: What if climate-change doubters held a debate and nobody came?
• 2012/11/17: DeSmogBlog: Coal Polluter Lobbyist Jeffrey Holmstead Confronted at Energy Event
• 2012/11/18: AFTIC: Catching the pearls
• 2012/11/12: WottsUWT: Solar Activity - Past, Present, Future
  

  Talking to deniers 101:

• 2012/11/15: RealClimate: ClimateDialogue: Exploring different views on climate change
• 2012/11/16: ERabett: Eli Has Seen This Movie Before
• 2012/11/17: ERabett: Climate Dialogue Hits the Big Time -- Dr Inferno of Denial Depot has commented there...
• 2012/11/15: Stoat: climatedialogue.org
• 2012/11/14: ASI: Climate Dialogue, a new depolarizing initiative
• 2012/11/14: P3: Launch of ClimateDialogue.org
  

  As for climate miscellanea:

• 2012/11/14: CChallenge: "Identifying human influences on atmospheric temperature"
• 2012/11/16: TP:JR: The Earth Is Warming And Human Activity Is The Primary Cause: The Climate Science Paradigm Grows Stronger
• 2012/11/14: Dartmouth: Dartmouth Research: The Clocks Are Ticking and the Climate Is Changing
• 2012/11/15: Wunderground: Nor'easter next week primarily a threat to North Carolina
• 2012/11/17: CassandrasLegacy: Science's evil twin
• 2012/11/15: P3: Curry's Blog MIA
• 2012/11/13: QuarkSoup: Moral Logic vs Scientific Accuracy
• 2012/11/12: CBC: Seeing the future: computers getting it mostly right -- Hurricane and presidential election show new power of forecasting
• 2012/11/12: CCP: Wen Stephenson: A Convenient Excuse [this is long but tells it like it is]
• 2012/11/12: Grist: The moral logic of climate communication
• 2012/11/11: TMoS: It's Curious How Badly We Don't Want to Know
  

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

• Climate Dialogue - Exploring different views on climate change
• FracFocus: Chemical Disclosure Registry
• SkyTruth: Fracking Chemical Database
• Climate Reality Project
• Polluter Watch
• Renewable Energy Industry Institute (IWR)
• NOAA:NCDC: U.S. Climate Extremes Index
• Slate: Bad Astronomy [Note COA]
• BirdLife International - conserving the world's birds
• Climate Document Storehouse
• Sierra Club Canada
• ArcticNews
• La Via Campesina - International Peasant Movement
• NASA:GSFC: ICESat

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.

"If kindness and comfort are, as I suspect, the results of an energy surplus, then, as the supply contracts, we could be expected to start fighting once again like cats in a sack." -George Monbiot

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