Another Week of GW News, November 25, 2012

Logging the Onset of The Bottleneck Years

Another Week in the Planetary Crisis

Information is not Knowledge...Knowledge is not Wisdom

November 25, 2012

• Chuckles, COP18+, Pre-Doha Reports: WRI, AII, EEA, UNEP, WB, PwC, IEA
• Bottom Line, PDSI-Sheffield, Pricing Nature, Cook
• Fukushima Note, Fukushima News, Nuclear Policy
• Melting Arctic, Methane, Antarctica
• Food Crisis, Fisheries, Food vs. Biofuel, GMOs, Food Production
• Hurricanes, GHGs, Temperatures, Risk, Extinctions, Biomimicry, Volcanoes, Satellites
• Impacts, Forests, Disease, Notable Weather
• Tornadoes, Wildfires, Corals, Glaciers, Sea Levels, Floods & Droughts
• Mitigation, Transportation, Buildings, Geoengineering, Adaptation
• Journals, Other Docs, Misc. Science, DIY Science
• International Politics: Carbon Trade, Carbon Tax, Optimal Carbon Reduction Strategy
• South China Sea, EU ETS & Airlines, Rare Earths, Security, Law & Activism, Activism, H2O Biz, Education
• National Politics: America, BP Disaster, 2016, Post Election, Keystone
• Carbon Tax, Birth Control, Post-Sandy, Obama, USAdmin, Congress
• Britain, Europe, Australia, Carbon Law, Minority, MDBP, India, China, Japan
• Canada, Bill C-45, FIPPA, Premiers, Liberals, Northern Gateway, West-East
• Trade, Salmon, BC, Tar Sands, Alberta, Ontario, North, Canadiana
• Ecological Economics, IPAT, Apocalypso, Media, Video, Podcasts
• Energy, Transitions, Fracking, Coal, Oil & Gas, Pipelines, Peak Oil, US Tar Sands, Biofuel
• Wind, Solar, Nukes, Grid, Efficiency, Cars, Gee Whiz
• Insurance, Joe's List, Carbon Lobby, Miscellaneous Climate, Useful Links
• Shameless Self Promotion, .sig

Here's a wee chuckle for ye:

• 2012/11/24: TP:JR: (cartoon - Jorb?) The scariest story of them all...
• 2012/11/22: uComics: (cartoon - Trudeau) Reality Fans of All Ages Line the Street
• 2012/11/21: uComics: (cartoon - Trudeau) A Great Day for the Reality-Based Community
• 2012/11/20: uComics: (cartoon - Trudeau) Math and Science Victory Lap
• 2012/11/20: uComics: (cartoon - Toles) The Climate Has Changed
• 2012/11/25: uComics: (cartoon - Stantis) End Times
• 2012/11/25: uComics: (cartoon - Toles) Like It?
• 2012/11/20: CapClimate: (cartoon - Trudeau) Meteorologists March
• 2012/11/21: TreeHugger: Quote of the Day: The Future According to Agenda 21

  Looking ahead to COP18 and future international climate negotiations:

• UN Climate Change Conference - COP 18 - Qatar site
• 2012/11/25: al Jazeera: The Climate Question: Degrees of Change
  As delegates gather in Doha for COP18, we examine communities on the front line of global warming.
• 2012/11/25: BBC: Doha climate talks: Will 'hot air' derail the process?
  The right of some rich countries to keep using "hot air" carbon permits could hamper progress at UN climate talks starting on Monday in Qatar.
• 2012/11/25: al Jazeera: Qatar hosts climate summit amid criticism
  The emirate produces nearly 50 tonnes a year of carbon dioxide, making it one of the world's largest emitters. As Qatar welcomes world leaders to the 18th United Nations climate change conference, its own environmental record has come under criticism as a major contributor to greenhouse gases. The climate talks, which begin on Monday in Doha, have placed a spotlight on the Gulf nation, which produces nearly 50 tonnes a year of carbon dioxide for each of its 1.6 million residents. Environmentalists question whether Qatar has the diplomatic muscle - and, more importantly, the political will to play a positive role in the critical two-week negotiations.
• 2012/11/23: NatureN: What's at stake in Doha climate talks
• 2012/11/23: Fairfax:Reuters: Climate talks factbox: major nations' positions
• 2012/11/23: LoE: Paying the price of UNFCCC failure
• 2012/11/23: VOANews: Kyoto Protocol Winds Down As Delegates Head To Doha
• 2012/11/23: CCurrents: Doha Climate Crisis Talks Will Find Critical Clash Of Interests
• 2012/11/23: Guardian(UK): Doha climate talks: EU weakened over new emissions targets
  European Union bargaining position at Qatar talks undermined by having reached 20% target early and lack of agreed plan
• 2012/11/24: GulfTimes: Doha conference seeks faster response to climate change
  A top UN official has said that the Climate Change Conference (COP18/CMP8) in Doha, beginning on Monday, must deliver its objectives to speed up global action towards a low-emission future where everyone has the chance of a sustainable life.
• 2012/11/24: SkyNews: Nearly 200 nations in climate talks
• 2012/11/21: Reuters: Developing nations push rich on climate targets ahead of talks
  Talks on a new climate change treaty in Qatar next week will not advance unless rich countries promise more ambitious cuts to greenhouse gas emissions, four major developing nations said. The four nations, Brazil, China, India and South Africa -known in climate talks as the BASIC bloc - released a joint ministerial statement late on Tuesday saying responsibility for the outcome of the latest round of U.N. climate talks in Doha lay in the hands of rich countries.
• 2012/11/21: Guardian(UK): Oil nations asked to consider carbon tax on exports
  Proposal could break deadlock at climate talks over raising finances for poorer countries to adapt to global warming
• 2012/11/21: Guardian(UK): Global warming talks progress is 'slow but steady' - UN climate chief
• 2012/11/21: Guardian(UK): Why a global climate treaty remains worth fighting for
• 2012/11/22: Yahoo:Reuters: Resuscitation hopes dim for expiring Kyoto climate treaty
• 2012/11/21: Guardian(UK): Outcome of UN climate talks 'lies in hands of rich nations'
• 2012/11/20: Atlantic: Why the U.S. Alone Can't Stop Climate Change (in 2 Graphs)
• 2012/11/20: Grist: Will the U.S. dump the U.N. climate process?
• 2012/11/19: DerSpiegel: 'Politicians Haven't Listened' -- Merkel Climate Advisor Blasts Global Inaction
  Politicians need to get their act together on climate change, says Chancellor Angela Merkel's leading climate advisor Hans Joachim Schellnhuber just days before the global warming conference in Qatar. The World Bank agrees, releasing a report on Monday highlighting the serious consequences that await should global temperatures continue rising unchecked.
• 2012/11/19: CBC: Climate change a 'real and present danger,' Kent says -- Next UN Climate Change Conference set for Doha, Qatar on Nov. 26
  Federal Environment Minister Peter Kent thinks recent extreme weather events are forcing politicians in both Canada and the U.S. to focus on the issue of climate change, and that includes members of his Conservative government's cabinet.
• 2012/11/20: BBerg: China Rules Out New Climate 'Regime,' Setting Up U.S. Conflict
  China, India, South Africa and Brazil said a climate agreement expected to take effect in 2020 won't be a "new regime," potentially setting up a confrontation with the U.S., which is seeking to eliminate a firewall in negotiations between developed and developing nations. The four countries are reining in expectations for the Durban Platform, according to a statement released following a meeting of the so-called Basic bloc in Beijing. Delegates at United Nations treaty talks in the South African city agreed in December that nations will hammer out a new deal to fight climate change by 2015 and implement it five years later The statement may set up a conflict with the U.S. at two weeks of UN climate talks that start next week in Doha, Qatar. The U.S. has said any climate deals must treat nations equally, a shift from the Kyoto Protocol that has separate terms for developed and developing countries.
• 2012/11/19: CBC: UN climate negotiations are unfair, study finds -- Poor countries can't afford equal participation
  The United Nations climate negotiations are "antiquated" and stifle progress, especially for poor nations, according to new research. The research, published today in Nature Climate Change, argues it's unfair that the number of delegates from some countries have increased while others have decreased, as this give poor nations less power to negotiate and lessens the effectiveness of their participation in general. The study comes ahead of the 18th UN Climate Change Summit, where almost 200 nations will meet in Doha, Qatar, from Nov. 26 to Dec. 7 as they seek to extend the Kyoto Protocol.
• 2012/11/19: Guardian(UK): The latest predictions on climate change should shock us into action
• 2012/11/18: Reuters: Glacial-paced U.N. climate talks need overhaul: researchers
  Nations working on a deal to fight climate change should cap the size of delegations and use majority voting to overhaul negotiating rules that stifle progress and harm the interests of the poorest nations, researchers said on Sunday.
• 2012/11/18: al Jazeera: Q&A: Organiser of Doha COP18
  Qatar has the world's highest per capita greenhouse gas emissions frustrating environmentalists.

WRI released their Global Coal Risk Assessment this week:

• 2012/11/20: WRI: [link to 1.2 meg pdf] Global Coal Risk Assessment: Data Analysis and Market Research
• 2012/11/20: Guardian(UK): More than 1,000 new coal plants planned worldwide, figures show
  World Resources Institute identifies 1,200 coal plants in planning across 59 countries, with about three-quarters in China and India
• 2012/11/21: BBC: Coal resurgence calls undermine clean energy commitments
  Coal, the dirtiest and most polluting of all the major fossil fuels, is making a comeback. Despite stringent carbon emissions targets in Europe designed to slow global warming and massive investment in renewable energy in China, demand for this most ancient source of energy is greater than ever. In fact, coal was the fastest growing form of energy in the world outside renewables last year, with production up 6% on 2010, twice the rate of increase of gas and more than four times that of oil. Consumption data paints a similar picture, while figures for this year are set to tell the same story. There are a number of drivers behind coal's renaissance, many of which may be short lived. Others will push demand ever higher for decades to come.
• 2012/11/20: TP:JR: The Road To Climate Disaster Is Paved With Coal: 1,200 New Coal Plants Planned Around The World
• 2012/11/20: Grist: The world plans to build 1,200 new coal plants, because climate change is happening too slowly, I guess
• 2012/11/20: TreeHugger: 1.4 Million Megawatts of Coal Power Plants Currently Being Developed Globally

  The Alliance of Institutional Investors, who manage $22.5 trillion in assets, released on open letter:

• 2012/11/21: CSW: Global investor network calls for low-carbon policy action dialogue with governments
• 2012/11/20: Guardian(UK): Influential investors call for action on 'serious climate danger'
• 2012/11/20: TP:JR: Nearly 200 Leading Global Companies And Investors Call For 'Clear, Stable, Ambitous' Carbon Price
• 2012/11/20: Reuters: Global investors call for action on serious climate danger
  A coalition of the world's largest investors called on governments on Tuesday to ramp up action on climate change and boost clean-energy investment or risk trillions of dollars in investments and disruption to economies. In an open letter, the alliance of institutional investors, responsible for managing $22.5 trillion in assets, said rapidly growing greenhouse gas emissions and more extreme weather were increasing investment risks globally. The group called for dialogue between investors and governments to overhaul climate and energy policies.
• 2012/11/19: BBerg: Shell, Unilever Lead 100 Companies Calling for CO2 Price
  Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) joined Unilever NV (UNA) and more than 100 companies calling for lawmakers worldwide to put a "clear" price on carbon emissions in order to contain global warming. Companies invest trillions of dollars in energy and infrastructure projects, and, in most cases, don't consider goals to cut greenhouse gases, the companies said today in a statement that's due to be presented to European Commissioner for Climate Action Connie Hedegaard in Brussels. "A clear, stable, ambitious and cost-effective policy framework is essential to underpin the investment needed to deliver substantial greenhouse gas emissions reductions by mid- century," the companies said in the e-mailed statement. "Putting a clear, transparent and unambiguous price on carbon emissions must be a core policy objective."

The European Environment Agency released Climate change, impacts and vulnerability report thsi week:

• 2012/11/21: EEA: [link to 32 meg pdf] Climate change, impacts and vulnerability in Europe 2012
• 2012/11/21: Grist: The 16 scariest maps from the E.U.'s massive new climate change report [EEA]
• 2012/11/21: BBC: Climate change evident across Europe, says report
  The effects of climate change are already evident in Europe and the situation is set to get worse, the European Environment Agency has warned. In a report, the agency says the past decade in Europe has been the warmest on record.

The UNEP released their Emissions Gap Report this week:

• 2012/11/21: UNEP: [link to 7.2 meg pdf] The Emissions Gap Report 2012 -- A UNEP Synthesis Report
• 2012/11/22: OilChange: The Carbon Gap Gets Bigger
• 2012/11/21: UN: Ahead of climate talks, UN report warns greenhouse gas emissions still increasing
• 2012/11/21: UNEP: Greenhouse Gas Emissions Gap Widening as Nations Head to Crucial Climate Talks in Doha
• 2012/11/21: Guardian(UK): Emissions cuts too slow to fight climate change, warns [UNEP] report
• 2012/11/21: Guardian(UK): Slow pace of carbon cuts brings catastrophic climate change closer: UN
• 2012/11/21: UCSUSA: Third Report Warns that Leaders' Lack of Action Is Locking In Worst Consequences of Climate Change
• 2012/11/21: BBC: UN says carbon cuts too slow to curb dangerous warming

  The World Bank released their Climate Change Report this week:

• 2012/11/18: WorldBank: [link to 7.1 meg pdf] Climate Change Report Warns of Dramatically Warmer World This Century
• 2012/11/23: Stoat: Why a 4°C Warmer World Must be Avoided (part 2)
• 2012/11/23: DD: World Bank report warns of dramatically warmer world this century
• 2012/11/20: ABC(Au): World Bank report warns of impact of climate change on Australian agriculture
• 2012/11/21: Stoat: Turn Down Heat: Why a 4°C Warmer World Must be Avoided?
• 2012/11/21: SkS: Newsflash: A 4°C warmer world can, and must be, avoided - World Bank by John Mason
• 2012/11/20: EurActiv: World Bank: Climate change will hit poorest hardest
  All nations will suffer the effects of a warmer world, but the world's poorest countries will suffer most from food shortages, rising sea levels, cyclones and drought, the World Bank's new report on climate change says. Under new World Bank President Jim Yong Kim, a former scientist, the global development lender has launched a more aggressive stance to integrate climate change into development.
• 2012/11/19: TP:JR: Shocking World Bank Climate Report: 'A 4°C [7°F] World Can, And Must, Be Avoided' To Avert 'Devastating' Impacts
• 2012/11/20: OilChange: World Bank starts swimmin', but still might sink
• 2012/11/19: CSM: World Bank: Tackle warming or poverty remains
• 2012/11/19: TMoS: World Bank - Says What Everybody Knows, We're in Trouble
• 2012/11/19: Wunderground:RR: The World Four Degrees Warmer: A New Analysis from the World Bank
• 2012/11/19: ABC(Au): World Bank warns of four-degree temperature rise
• 2012/11/19: ABC(Au): World Bank report forecasts rising temperatures
• 2012/11/19: Guardian(UK): All nations will suffer effects of climate change, warns World Bank
  The devastasting impact of a world warmed by 4C will be felt by all countries, but the poorest nations will be hardest hit
• 2012/11/19: ScienceInsider: World Bank (Again) Warns of Developmental Setbacks From Climate Change
• 2012/11/19: PIK: 4-degrees briefing for the World Bank: The risks of a future without climate policy
• 2012/11/19: BBerg: Globe Risks 'Cataclysmic Changes' From Warming, World Bank Says
• 2012/11/19: UKISS: A good place to start
• 2012/11/19: ABC(Au): World Bank fears 4-degree warmer planet
  The World Bank has warned global temperatures could rise by four degrees Celsius this century without immediate action, with potentially devastating consequences for coastal cities and the poor.

Late comment on PwC report:

• 2012/11/22: WtD: Counting the cost: global accounting firm PriceWaterHouseCoopers warns of a world of six degrees

  Late comment on IEA-WEO report:

• 2012/11/20: CCurrents: IEA Oil Forecast Unrealistically High; Misses Diminishing Returns
• 2012/11/21: RigZone: Musings: If You Believe The IEA, Our Energy Worries Are Over
• 2012/11/16: TPatzek: Delusions of Grandeur [IEA report]
• 2012/11/20: EarthGauge: IEA: Idea that we have reached "Peak Oil" incorrect
• 2012/11/19: PeakEnergy: Deutsche Bank: Don't bet on the IEA's prediction of U.S. oil dominance

  And on the Bottom Line:

• 2012/11/19: PSinclair: Has Climate Change begun to Destroy Property Values?

  There is still a bit of chatter about PDSI and that Sheffield paper:

• 2012/11/25: CChallenge: Has there been "Little change in global drought over the past 60 years"? - info links
• 2012/11/23: SkS: Sheffield vs. Dai on Drought Changes by dana1981
• 2012/11/21: CAbyss: Counting Drought
• 2012/11/21: StrangeWeather: Tree rings and Drought Indices
• 2012/11/20: JFleck: Measuring drought - the right tool for the job
• 2012/11/20: JFleck: Stuff I wrote elsewhere: on drought metrics

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

• 2012/11/20: ABC(Au): Economist says landholders should pay more for ecosystem damage
  An environmental economist says policy makers should set up a payment system for landholders and companies who benefit from the ecosystem. US researcher Robert Costanza is currently working at the Australian National University and says ecosystem services such as clean water and air should be paid for when they're used or damaged. He says the ecosystem is extremely valuable, but that hasn't been translated into government policy.

John Cook and friends continue their point-counterpoint articles:

• 2012/11/25: SkS: 2012 SkS Bi-Weekly News Roundup #4 by John Hartz
• 2012/11/24: SkS: President Obama's Statement on Climate Change by John Hartz
• 2012/11/23: SkS: Sheffield vs. Dai on Drought Changes by dana1981
• 2012/11/22: SkS: 2012 SkS Bi-Weekly News Roundup #3 by John Hartz
• 2012/11/22: SkS: Greenhouse Gas Concentrations Reach New Record by John Hartz
• 2012/11/21: SkS: Newsflash: A 4°C warmer world can, and must be, avoided - World Bank by John Mason
• 2012/11/20: SkS: Wigley and Santer Find the IPCC is too Conservative on AGW by dana1981
• 2012/11/19: SkS: New research from last week 46/2012 by Ari Jokimäki
• 2012/11/19: SkS: 2012 SkS Weekly Digest #46 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:

• 2012/11/23: EneNews: Debris in Fukushima No. 3 pool is inhibiting water flow, says nuke industry website - 'Concrete dust' making it very murky
• 2012/11/23: EneNews: Kaku: US must monitor tuna very carefully for Fukushima radioactivity - Warns other sea life may be contaminated (video)
• 2012/11/22: EneNews: Michio Kaku: 3 meltdowns in Fukushima, but uranium actually totally liquified... 1st time in history - "Reactor actually melted totally" (video)
• 2012/11/21: GLaden: Fukushima Update: Radioactive Fish, Conflicts of Interest, and Filtered Vents
• 2012/11/21: CBC: Toshiba shows new robot for nuclear cleanup -- Machine appears prone to glitches, requires reboot during demonstration
• 2012/11/21: EneNews: Officials "Aghast": High levels of cesium detected far from Fukushima - Radioactivity up sharply in mushrooms 100s of kilometers away - Over 2,000% increase in Tochigi
• 2012/11/20: ABC(Au): Japanese govt, TEPCO deny Fukushima radiation is tainting fish
  Japan's government is disputing a study by an international research group which suggests radiation from the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant is still entering the food chain. Last month the US-based Woods Hole Institution revealed that about 40 per cent of the fish caught off Fukushima is contaminated with radioactive caesium above the government's limit. Japan's Fisheries Agency insists the contamination is sinking deeper into the seabed and is not entering the food chain. The nuclear plant operator TEPCO denies any tainted water is leaking from the facility.
• 2012/11/19: EneNews: Asahi: Another child with 'thyroid problems' - Officials can't say if directly related to Fukushima crisis
• 2012/11/19: EneNews: TV: Radiation monitoring stations useless - Actual levels 5 times higher than what's displayed - Official: But it was you who wanted them! (video)
• 2012/11/20: EneNews: Caldicott in Japan: "Incredibly rare" thyroid abnormalities found in 40% of Fukushima children - Indicates a really high dose of radiation, higher than at Chernobyl (video)
• 2012/11/18: JapanTimes: The muddy issue of cesium in a lake
  Lake Kasumigaura in Ibaraki Prefecture is facing an environmental threat that has essentially turned it into a time bomb ticking away 60 km northeast of Tokyo. Experts warn that Japan's second largest lake with a surface area of 220 sq. km is quietly but steadfastly accumulating radioactive cesium released from the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant. It's no big surprise. The lake's catchment area is huge, covering 2,200 sq. km across 24 municipalities in Ibaraki, Chiba and Tochigi prefectures. It doesn't take a genius to understand that the radiation that fell across some of the Tohoku region, and beyond, in the wake of the March 2011 nuclear disaster found its way into the area's rivers and thus flowed into the lake. In addition to that, Lake Kasumigaura, which is the name given to three contiguous lakes (the largest is Lake Nishiura and the other two are called Kitaura and Sotonasakaura), is a closed lake with no outflow. That means incoming radioactive substances have nowhere else to go.
• 2012/11/18: EneNews: Japan Times: Time bomb in Tokyo metropolitan area - Experts warn of accumulating Fukushima contamination
• 2012/11/19: EneNews: German TV: 42% of Fukushima children now with thyroid disorders - Official blames too much seafood? (video)

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

• 2012/11/23: DerSpiegel: Forgetting Fukushima -- India Pursues Massive Nuclear Expansion
  The 2011 disaster at Japan's Fukushima plant led many countries to turn away from nuclear power. But a growing population and rising economy has prompted India to massively expand its nuclear program -- even in the face of technological worries and fervent opposition.

The Arctic melt continues to garner attention:

• 2012/11/21: CCP: Andrew Freedman, Arthur Smith: Sea Ice missing from Beaufort Sea in November for first time in recorded history
• 2012/11/22: Tamino: Sea Ice Forecasts
• 2012/11/22: Tamino: Check my arithmetic
• 2012/11/21: MIT: Ocean currents play a role in predicting extent of Arctic sea ice
  Discovery of feedback between sea ice and ocean improves Arctic ice extent forecast
• 2012/11/20: ASI: As Sea Ice Declines, Winter Shifts in N. Alaska
• 2012/11/20: ABC(Au): Greenland ice melt accelerating

  That Damoclean sword still hangs overhead:

• 2012/11/19: ERabett: Solution is Sometimes the Solution to Pollution

  While in Antarctica:

• 2012/11/24: IOTD: PIG Calving Front Free of Sea Ice
• 2012/10/18: NOAA:PMEL: Icequakes (Bloop)
• 2012/11/21: NatureN: Hunt for life under Antarctic ice heats up -- UK and US teams to drill into ancient subglacial lakes

  The food crisis is ongoing:

• 2012/11/24: WSWS: The social crisis in the US
• 2012/11/21: EurActiv: Looming shortage of [P] key crop nutrient pushes call for conservation
  Stepped-up farm production to feed a growing world could lead to shortages of a vital crop nutrient, phosphorus, prompting European officials to consider conservation and recycling measures to protect supplies.
• 2012/11/20: ABC(Au): World Bank report warns of impact of climate change on Australian agriculture
• 2012/11/23: BPA: Is Humanity Really Going to Starve to Death in Twenty Years Because We Will Have Run Out of Potash and Phosphorus Fertilizers?
• 2012/11/23: Guardian(UK): The 'nutrition gap' between Britain's rich and poor is vast -- and wicked
• 2012/11/22: CSM: How Croatian agriculture bought the farm
• 2012/11/19: FAO: FAO says rice production outpacing consumption -- Stocks to increase in 2013 with output gains foreseen in East Asia
• 2012/11/20: Guardian(UK): Corn a sign of Brazil's growing clout
  A bumper grain crop in the Cerrado region helped US livestock farmers when drought hit America's corn production
• 2012/11/19: EurActiv: EU's food imports pose 'tricky balance' for hungry Africans
  East Africa was hit by its worst drought in half a century last year, leaving millions of people in Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia hungry and triggering an outpouring of emergency aid from the European Union and other major donors. Yet while relief workers fought to avert a drought-induced famine in Africa, packets of Kenyan green beans and avocados and buckets of decorative flowers from Ethiopia were available in European markets, the result of special EU trade treatment designed to help Sub-Saharan African countries grow out of poverty. The 2011 scenario is repeated on nearly an annul basis in a region prone to climate calamities and famine and reflects an oddity in the fight against poverty and hunger in Sub-Saharan Africa, the world's poorest region and main recipient of EU development aid.

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

• 2012/11/19: TreeHugger: Taking Stock: World Fish Catch Falls to 90 Million Tons in 2012 by Lester Brown
• 2012/11/19: NatureNB: Conservationists claim victory for science over tuna quotas
• 2012/11/19: ABC(Au): Burke confirms two-year super trawler ban
  The Federal Government has decided to impose a two-year ban on super trawlers, undermining plans by the operators of the Abel Tasman to begin commercial fishing. Environment Minister Tony Burke issued an interim 60-day ban in September in the face of a strong community campaign against the ship. That has now been extended for 24 months to allow time for an expert panel to consider the environmental impacts of large-scale trawlers.

The conflict between biofuel and food persists:

• 2012/11/23: BPA: Sixteen Percent of the U.S. Soybean Crop is Used for Biodiesel
• 2012/11/19: AutoBG: EPA denies ethanol waiver requested by governors and farm groups

  Regarding the genetic modification of food:

• 2012/11/20: Reuters: Organic farmers condemn U.S. report, claim it favors GMO
  Organic growers and food safety advocates on Tuesday condemned an advisory report to the Agriculture Department claiming its recommendations would be costly for farmers who want to protect their conventional crops from being contaminated by genetically modified (GMO), also known as genetically engineered (GE), varieties.
• 2012/11/21: CDreams: Organic Farmers Slam GMO-Friendly USDA Report
  Report leaves burden of GMO contamination with 'victim;' 'fails to address the root cause of the problem -- transgenic contamination,' say groups
• 2012/11/20: UCSUSA:B: The Long and Short of Long-Term Safety Testing of GE Foods (part 2)

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

• 2012/11/24: Guardian(UK): Growing food in the desert: is this the solution to the world's food crisis?
  Philipp Saumweber is creating a miracle in the barren Australian outback, growing tonnes of fresh food. So why has he fallen out with the pioneering environmentalist who invented the revolutionary system?
• 2012/11/21: UN: UN, African Union and Instituto Lula join forces to fight against African hunger
• 2012/11/23: EurActiv: Scientists eye nanotechnologies to boost crop yields
  Nanotechnologies that deliver fertilisers to plants offer promising ways of improving farm productivity while reducing the risk of water contamination. But the scientists behind a new Swiss-funded study caution that while the technology is still evolving, potential risks must be considered.
• 2012/11/21: FAO: African Union, FAO and Lula Institute join efforts to fight hunger in Africa -- African food security a key priority
• 2012/11/22: FAO: FAO Director-General and Haitian President urge increased investment in Haiti -- Investment key to long-term resilience
• 2012/11/19: UN: Better weather prompts increase in global rice production - UN food agency

  It has been a bleesedly quiet week in the hurricane wars, with only the unreported Boldwin [Tropical Cyclone 02S] churning in the South Indian Ocean:

  Meanwhile on the GHG front:

• 2012/11/20: GreenGrok: Natural Gas Leaks Documented [in Boston]
• 2012/11/22: ERW: Energy system may be heading for higher emission scenarios
  Scenarios can be useful to help predict the future. But it is hard to check how realistic they are in advance, particularly when they contain both the quantitative aspects of biophysical and socioeconomic systems and more qualitative approaches involving a storyline.
• 2012/11/20: WMO: Greenhouse Gas Concentrations Reach New Record - WMO Bulletin highlights pivotal role of carbon sinks
• 2012/11/20: CSM: Why greenhouse gases hit record high in 2011
• 2012/11/20: WMO: Greenhouse Gas Concentrations Reach New Record
• 2012/11/20: BBC: Greenhouse gases hit record high
  Greenhouse gases in the atmosphere hit a new record high in 2011, the World Meteorological Organization has said. In its annual Greenhouse Gas Bulletin released on Tuesday, the organisation said that carbon dioxide levels reached 391 parts per million in 2011.
• 2012/11/20: Guardian(UK): CO2 hit record high in 2011 - UN report
  WMO figures show levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere broke a new record last year, at 390.9 parts per million
• 2012/11/20: NatureNB: Greenhouses gases at new high [390.9 ppm] as UN climate talks resume
• 2012/11/20: CCentral: CO2 Hits New High; World Could Warm 7°F by 2060

  As for the temperature record:

• 2012/11/24: DD: Study shows summer climate change, mostly warming
• 2012/11/23: Wunderground: A tranquil and record-warm Thanksgiving for much of the U.S.
• 2012/11/22: EurActiv: Last decade was Europe's 'warmest on record': Report
  European temperatures in the last decade were 1.3 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial average -- the warmest since records began -- according to new research by the European Environment Agency (EEA), the EU's climate advisory body.
• 2012/11/21: QuarkSoup: More on Autocorrelation of Temperature Data
• 2012/11/18: CapClimate: 2012 U.S. Heat Records Exceeding Cold Records at Nearly Double Last Year's Pace

  How to deal with Risk:

• 2012/11/13: AllAboutAlpha: Frankenstorm, the Not So Black Swan: Climate as the New Risk Variable

  And on the ENSO front:

• 2012/11/22: WMO: WMO El Niño/La Niña Update
  Current Situation and Outlook
  Neutral conditions (neither El Niño nor La Niña) have continued in the tropical Pacific through recent months. Between July and September 2012, the tropical Pacific sea surface temperature increased to weak El Niño levels, but because the overlying atmosphere failed to respond (i.e., sea level pressure, wind and cloud patterns were near normal), overall conditions remained neutral. Model forecasts and expert opinion suggest that the likelihood of El Niño conditions developing during the remainder of 2012 is now low, and that neutral conditions are likely to persist into the first quarter of 2013. National Meteorological and Hydrological Services and other agencies will continue to monitor Pacific Basin conditions and provide outlooks to assess the most likely state of the climate through the last part of 2012 and into early 2013.

What's new on the extinction front?

• 2012/11/24: SciAm:EC: Was Lonesome George Not Really the Last of his Species?
• 2012/11/21: EurActiv: EU scientists attempt to crack the nut on falling bee populations
  The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has launched a review of scientific studies and risk assessments related to the decline in bee populations worldwide and in Europe. A final report next year will identify information gaps and research needs in the field.
• 2012/11/20: SciAm:EC: Last 22 Gobi Bears Endangered by Climate Change in Mongolia
• 2012/11/19: ScienceInsider: Hope Delayed for Sharks in Atlantic

  What's new in biomimicry?

• 2012/11/23: BBC: Namib Desert beetle inspires self-filling water bottle
  A US start-up has turned to nature to help bring water to arid areas by drawing moisture from the air. NBD Nano aims to mimic the way a beetle survives in an African desert to create a self-filling water bottle capable of storing up to three litres every hour.
• 2012/11/16: LOE: Mimicking a Beetle to Bring Water to the People
  A small start up company, inspired by a desert beetle, is using nano technology to develop a self-filling water bottle. Deckard Sorensen, co-founder of NBD Nano, tells host Steve Curwood how studying the Namib Desert Beetle helped them to develop new technologies for collecting water.

What's up with volcanoes this week?

• 2012/11/21: ABC(Au): Huge ash plume as NZ volcano erupts
  New Zealand's Mount Tongariro volcano has erupted, sending a column of ash high into the atmosphere. The official GNS Science monitoring service issued a potential threat alert after the eruption at the North Island volcano, which became active in August this year after lying dormant for more than a century. Witnesses said the eruption at the Te Maari Craters sent a plume of ash two kilometres high into the sky.
• 2012/11/20: BBC: New Zealand's Mount Tongariro erupts
• 2012/11/19: IOTD: Central Kamchatka Volcanoes, Russian Federation

  Meanwhile in near earth orbit:

• 2012/11/19: BBC: GOCE gravity mapper surfs atmosphere
  Europe's ultra-low-flying gravity-mapping satellite, GOCE, is being manoeuvred even closer to the planet. The arrow-shaped spacecraft has spent most of its mission at an altitude of 255km - that's about 500km below most other Earth-observing missions. Engineers are now bringing it down by 20km to improve its data resolution.

More GW impacts are being seen:

• 2012/11/23: IndiaTimes: No more just a dire warning: Climate change
  Get ready for an era of widespread droughts, super storms, flash floods, excessive rainfall, high food prices, higher levels of migration and higher outlays to survive extreme weather. The events of the past year make it clear that this is no longer a dire warning. Climate scientists predict extreme weather will become more common in the coming years if the world doesn't act decisively to address climate change.
• 2012/11/21: TreeHugger: Climate Change Hitting Europe Hard, Going To Get Worse
• 2012/11/20: Eureka: Maple syrup, moose, and the local impacts of climate change
• 2012/11/19: Eureka: Beargrass, a plant of many roles, is focus of new report -- Report finds that disturbances are shifting within beargrass habitat [impax]
• 2012/11/19: CCentral: As Sea Ice Declines, Winter Shifts in Northern Alaska
• 2012/11/19: CSM: Dust Bowl lesson: We can heal ecological disaster
  Almost three weeks to the day after hurricane Sandy hit the East Coast of the United States, PBS aired the first part of Ken Burns's new two-part documentary "The Dust Bowl."

And then there are the world's forests:

• 2012/11/23: TreeHugger: Become a Scottish Lord or Lady for $49.99
• 2012/11/21: SciNow: Trees Living on the Edge
• 2012/11/21: SciNews: Trees worldwide a sip away from dehydration -- Plumbing systems operate on a razor's edge, leaving forests vulnerable
• 2012/11/24: NYT: Swallowing Rain Forest, Cities Surge in Amazon

  Emerging diseases accompany ecological change:

• 2012/11/23: CBC: Hamilton man dies of West Nile virus
• 2012/11/22: BBC: Avian pox: Great tit disease 'spread to UK by insects'

  This week in notable weather:

• 2012/11/22: MODIS: Cloud streets in Hudson Bay
• 2012/11/20: al Jazeera: Southerly Buster cools southern Australia -- A cool and windy weather feature of southeast Australia
• 2012/11/20: IOTD: Cloud Streets over the Hudson Bay
• 2012/11/22: ABC(Au): Severe storm warning issued for south-east Qld
  Severe thunderstorms in south-east Queensland have seen golf ball-sized hail fall at Laidley, in the Lockyer Valley. The storms are moving north and the weather bureau has issued an updated severe storm warning for damaging winds and large hailstones around Kingaroy and Nanango.

On the tornado front:

• 2012/11/19: ABC(Au): Researchers document world-first fire tornado [F2]
  The world's first confirmed case of a fire tornado has been documented by Canberra researchers, using evidence collected from the devastating 2003 Canberra bushfires.
• 2012/11/19: al Jazeera: Waterspout spotted in New South Wales
  The marine twister was sighted during a weekend of extreme weather in southeastern Australia. It was a weekend of wild weather across New South Wales, Australia. There were more than 24,000 lightning strikes recorded by the Bureau of Meteorology during the weekend. Rainfall totals of up to 160mm in 24 hours were recorded in some areas and gusts of 100kph were reported. So perhaps it should have come as no surprise that a giant waterspout was spotted in Batemans Bay, some 225km south of Sydney. It persisted for some time, travelling slowly northwards before dissipating near Maloneys Beach.

As for heatwaves and wild fires:

• 2012/11/22: ABC(Au): Fire crews battle bushfire [near Weymouth in Tasmania's north-east]
• 2012/11/21: ABC(Au): Bushfire burning out of control at Karijini [National Park in the Pilbara]
• 2012/11/22: ABC(Au): Back up crews sent to north-east fire
  Backup crews have joined firefighters battling a blaze in Tasmania's north-east near Pipers River. The 1,500 hectare fire at Back Creek Road had been burning for a week before breaking containment lines yesterday. While drivers are being urged to take care in thick smoke, no houses in or near Weymouth are threatened. The fire is burning across an artillery range containing mine shafts and unexploded ordnance.
• 2012/11/21: MODIS: Creek Fire, California
• 2012/11/19: Tamino: Death by Heat Wave
• 2012/11/20: ABC(Au): Out-of-control fire threatens homes on Eyre Peninsula

  Corals are a bellwether of the ocean's health:

• 2012/11/24: EneNews: USGS: Rapidly-spreading disease in Hawaii coral - New strain of cyanobacteria blamed - Fish with lesions, turtles having problems - Big concern whether infectious to humans - "Truly an unusual event" (photos)
• 2012/11/20: ProMedMail: Coral reef kill - USA: (HI)

  Glaciers are melting:

• 2012/11/23: FaGP: Douglas Neve Glacier Retreat, New Zealand
• 2012/11/19: Discovery: Greenland Loses 200 Billion Tons Ice Per Year
  Greenland is losing more ice, faster, and it's going to have a big impact on sea levels.

Sea levels are rising:

• 2012/11/24: NYT: Rising Seas, Vanishing Coastlines

  As for hydrological cycle disruptions [floods & droughts]:

• 2012/11/24: BBC: Flood risk after heavy rain and strong winds hit UK
  Flood warnings are in place after more heavy rain began to fall in already saturated parts of the UK, accompanied by strong winds.
• 2012/11/24: CBC: Rain causes widespread flooding in Wales, southwest England -- Wind gusting to 138 km/h reported
• 2012/11/23: TP:JR: AP: Drought Worsens For More Than Half Of Country -- But Only Because It Didn't Rain!
• 2012/11/23: BBC: Man dies as torrential rain and wind cause UK flood havoc
• 2012/11/22: BBC: Heavy rain due to cause more flooding in Midlands and South West
• 2012/11/22: IOTD: Heavy Rains in Northern Italy
• 2012/11/21: ERW: UK rainfall could shift its peak by end of century
  Heavy rainfall in the south-eastern UK is likely to peak later in the year -- in autumn rather than late-summer -- by the end of the century. That's according to researchers from Germany who have analysed 12 regional climate models.
• 2012/11/21: BBC: Heavy rain causes floods in Midlands and South West
  Heavy rain has led to flooding with motorists needing to be rescued from waterlogged roads and some villages "cut off" in the south west of England.
• 2012/11/25: CNN: England flooding kills 1, more rain on way
  Flood alerts posted across England and Wales after days of rain - A falling tree kills a woman in southwestern England - Cameron pledges help for the stricken region
• 2012/11/25: al Jazeera: Another dose of flooding for the UK
• 2012/11/25: ABC(Au): Woman killed by tree as storms batter England
• 2012/11/19: DD: Iowa scientists: Climate change caused the drought
• 2012/11/20: TP:JR: Climate Change Is Already Worsening Droughts In Many Ways: Nature Gets It Wrong -- And Right
• 2012/11/19: Wunderground: Great U.S. Drought of 2012 to Last Into Spring of 2013

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

• 2012/11/20: TDC: Opinion: We can slow near-term climate change
  Methane, soot and air pollution account for roughly half the additional warming influence expected out to 2100 by this century's emissions. Cutting their emissions could limit near-term climate change while providing considerable health and environmental benefits.

Consider transportation & GHG production:

• 2012/11/21: CalcRisk: DOT: Vehicle Miles Driven decreased 1.5% in September

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

• 2012/11/20: Grist: Gita Nanden says green design isn't just for eco snobs

  Large scale geo-engineering keeps popping up:

• RFF: Resources 2020 with Thomas C. Schelling -- "Geoengineering: Time for Some Gentle Experimentation" -- Thursday, December 13, 2012
• 2012/11/22: ABC(Au): One of the world's leading geo-engineering proponents, Harvard Professor David Keith
  Interview with David Keith, Professor of Applied Physics at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, from Calgary: A leading scientist in the field of geo-engineering.
• 2012/11/22: ABC(Au): Science fiction gets real: a special report [GeoEng]
• 2012/11/23: GEP: GEF Advised Not to Fund SRM, Support Possible for CDR
• 2012/11/20: GEP: First Binational CO2 Storage Standard Released [CSA Z741]
• 2012/11/22: CCP: David Spratt: Serious talk about geo-engineering better than pious hand-wringing about 2 degrees [COP18]
• 2012/11/20: CCI: Reviewing the potential impacts of geoengineering on ecosystems and biodiversity
• 2012/11/20: P3: BC Ocean Fertilization Again with Link
• 2012/11/16: UTexas: Climate Engineering May Be the Key to Fighting Global Warming

  While on the adaptation front:

• 2012/11/20: UCSUSA:B: Reducing Hurricane Risk Using Natural Defenses

  Meanwhile in the journals:

• 2012/11/20: PNAS: (ab$) Legacy of human-induced C erosion and burial on soil-atmosphere C exchange by Kristof Van Oost et al.
• 2012/11/20: PNAS: (abs) Population-scale sequencing reveals genetic differentiation due to local adaptation in Atlantic herring by Sangeet Lamichhaney et al.
• 2012/11/20: PNAS: (abs) Host-virus dynamics and subcellular controls of cell fate in a natural coccolithophore population by Assaf Vardi et al.
• 2012/11/20: PNAS: (ab$) Autotrophy as a predominant mode of carbon fixation in anaerobic methane-oxidizing microbial communities by Matthias Y. Kellermann et al.
• 2012/11/20: PNAS: (ab$) Warming-induced reductions in body size are greater in aquatic than terrestrial species by Jack Forster et al.
• 2012/11/20: PNAS: (abs) Ion-beam irradiation, gene identification, and marker-assisted breeding in the development of low-cadmium rice by Satoru Ishikawa et al.
• 2012/11/20: PNAS: (ab$) Ecosystem responses in the southern Caribbean Sea to global climate change by Gordon T. Taylor et al.
• 2012/11/20: PNAS: (ab$) Deep-sea record of impact apparently unrelated to mass extinction in the Late Triassic by Tetsuji Onoue et al.
• 2012/11/20: PNAS: (letter$) Climate change and marine ecosystems by Francisco P. Chavez
• 2012/11/20: PNAS: (letter$) Reply to Lang et al.: Using field analyses to properly address the kinetics of methane genesis in olivine-rich hydrothermal systems by Christopher Oze et al.
• 2012/11/20: PNAS: (letter$) H2/CH4 ratios cannot reliably distinguish abiotic vs. biotic methane in natural hydrothermal systems by Susan Q. Lang et al.
• 2012/11/07: Springer:CD: (ab$) A probabilistic quantification of the anthropogenic component of twentieth century global warming by T. M. L. Wigley & B. D. Santer
• 2012/11/22: ACP: Crop harvest in Denmark and Central Europe contributes to the local load of airborne Alternaria spore concentrations in Copenhagen by C. A. Skjøth et al.
• 2012/11/22: ACP: Initial MST radar observations of upper tropospheric-lower stratospheric duct-like structures over Jicamarca, Peru by Z. Li et al.
• 2012/11/21: ACP: Thunderstorms and upper troposphere chemistry during the early stages of the 2006 North American Monsoon by M. C. Barth et al.
• 2012/11/22: ACPD: An analysis of atmospheric CH4 concentrations from 1984 to 2008 with a single box atmospheric chemistry model by Z. Tan & Q. Zhuang
• 2012/11/21: ACPD: The albedo properties of four clean stratocumulus clouds studied during the VOCALS-REX field campaign by B. Parkes et al.
• 2012/11/20: ACPD: The impact of bark beetle infestation on monoterpene emissions and secondary organic aerosol formation in Western North America by A. R. Berg et al.
• 2012/11/20: ACPD: Pollution transport towards the Arctic during summer 2008 by J. L. Thomas et al.
• 2012/11/22: WOL:CC: (ab$) A review of climate geoengineering appraisals by Rob Bellamy et al.
• 2012/11/22: ESD: Strengthening of the hydrological cycle in future scenarios: atmospheric energy and water balance perspective by A. Alessandri et al.
• 2012/11/21: ESD: Enhanced Atlantic subpolar gyre variability through baroclinic threshold in a coarse resolution model by M. Mengel et al.
• 2012/11/21: ESD: Polynomial cointegration tests of anthropogenic impact on global warming by M. Beenstock et al.
• 2012/11/20: ESD: Urbanization suitability maps: a dynamic spatial decision support system for sustainable land use by M. Cerreta & P. De Toro
• 2012/11/23: ESDD: Quantifying drivers of chemical disequilibrium in the Earth's atmosphere by E. Simoncini et al.
• 2012/11/22: ESDD: Do GCM's predict the climate... or macroweather? by S. Lovejoy et al.
• 2012/11/23: CP: An automated approach for annual layer counting in ice cores by M. Winstrup et al.
• 2012/11/22: CP: Automated ice-core layer-counting with strong univariate signals by J. J. Wheatley et al.
• 2012/11/20: CP: The magnesium isotope record of cave carbonate archives by S. Riechelmann et al.
• 2012/11/20: CP: Duration of Greenland Stadial 22 and ice-gas ?age from counting of annual layers in Greenland NGRIP ice core by P. Vallelonga et al.
• 2012/11/21: CPD: A Late Glacial to Holocene record of environmental change from Lake Dojran (Macedonia, Greece) by A. Francke et al.
• 2012/11/21: CPD: Deglacial and Holocene vegetation and climatic changes at the southernmost tip of the Central Mediterranean from a direct land-sea correlation by S. Desprat et al.
• 2012/11/23: Science: (ab$) As Open Access Explodes, How to Tell the Good From the Bad and the Ugly? by Martin Enserink
• 2012/11/23: ACP: Observational constraints on entrainment and the entrainment interface layer in stratocumulus by J. K. Carman et al.
• 2012/11/23: ACP: Accelerated dissolution of iron oxides in ice by D. Jeong et al.
• 2012/11/23: ACPD: Influence of the sunspot cycle on the Northern Hemisphere wintertime circulation from long upper-air data sets by Y. Brugnara et al.
• 2012/11/23: ACPD: Historical gaseous and primary aerosol emissions in the United States from 1990-2010 by J. Xing et al.
• 2012/11/21: GMD: The chemical transport model Oslo CTM3 by O. A. Søvde et al.
• 2012/11/21: GMD: Mass-flux subgrid-scale parameterization in analogy with multi-component flows: a formulation towards scale independence by J.-I. Yano
• 2012/11/23: GMDD: Evaluation of the US DOE's conceptual model of hydrothermal activity at Yucca Mountain, Nevada by Y. V. Dublyansky
• 2012/11/21: GMDD: The SURFEXv7.2 land and ocean surface platform for coupled or offline simulation of Earth surface variables and fluxes by V. Masson et al.
• 2012/11/23: OS: Marine atmospheric boundary layer over some Southern Ocean fronts during the IPY BGH 2008 cruise by C. Messager et al.
• 2012/11/21: OS: Validation of the NEMO-ERSEM operational ecosystem model for the North West European Continental Shelf by K. P. Edwards et al.
• 2012/11/22: TC: Constraining projections of summer Arctic sea ice by F. Massonnet et al.
• 2012/11/22: OSD: The effect of various vertical discretization schemes and horizontal diffusion parameterisation on the performance of a 3-D ocean model: the Black Sea case study by G. Shapiro et al.
• 2012/11/14: GRL: (ab$) Emerging local warming signals in observational data by Irina Mahlstein et al.
• 2012/11/20: GMDD: A mass conserving and multi-tracer efficient transport scheme in the online integrated Enviro-HIRLAM model by B. Sørensen et al.
• 2012/11/20: TC: Observations of enhanced thinning in the upper reaches of Svalbard glaciers by T. D. James et al.
• 2012/11/20: OSD: A comparison between gradient descent and stochastic approaches for parameter optimization of a coupled ocean-sea ice model by H. Sumata et al.
• 2012/10/26: Nature:CC: Communication of the role of natural variability in future North American climate by Clara Deser et al.
• 2012/11/19: ACS:Nano: Solar Vapor Generation Enabled by Nanoparticles by Oara Neumann et al.
• 2012/11/19: AGWObserver: New research from last week 46/2012

  And other significant documents:

• 2012/11/21: EEA: [link to 32 meg pdf] Climate change, impacts and vulnerability in Europe 2012
• 2012/11/21: UNEP: [link to 7.2 meg pdf] The Emissions Gap Report 2012 -- A UNEP Synthesis Report
• 2012/11/20: WRI: [link to 1.2 meg pdf] Global Coal Risk Assessment: Data Analysis and Market Research
• 2012/11/18: WorldBank: [link to 7.1 meg pdf] Climate Change Report Warns of Dramatically Warmer World This Century

  As for miscellaneous science:

• 2012/11/23: NatureNB: Cuts avoided at UK parliament's science advice unit
• 2012/11/22: JEB: Polynomial cointegration tests of anthropogenic impact on global warming [misc sci]
• 2012/11/21: GLaden: A probabilistic quantification of the anthropogenic component of twentieth century global warming
• 2012/11/20: ScienceInsider: University Shutters Energy Institute in Wake of Fracking Controversy
• 2012/11/24: Stoat: Manley: Climate and the British Scene
• 2012/11/20: JCBaez: Mathematics of the Environment (Part 8) - glacial cycles
• 2012/11/20: RealClimate: Stronger regional differences due to large-scale atmospheric flow.
• 2012/11/20: GReadfearn: Expect Scepticism Over Gas Industry-Funded Research
• 2012/11/19: ABC(Au): MJO arrives but not bringing monsoonal rains
  The Madden Julian Oscillation (MJO) has arrived in Australian longitudes, but has weakened considerably and will not bring monsoonal rains to the north this time around. The MJO is a weather system which travels around the globe and determines the bursts and breaks in monsoonal activity. Manager of NT Climate Services, Joel Lisonbee, says it could bring some extra rain to northern Australia this week, but not much.
• 2012/11/14: NatureN: Be persuasive. Be brave. Be arrested (if necessary)
  A resource crisis exacerbated by global warming is looming, argues financier Jeremy Grantham. More scientists must speak out.
• 2012/11/18: QuarkSoup: Space Debris and Climate Change (Really?)
• 2012/11/18: IsaacHeld: 32. Modeling land warming given oceanic warming
• 2012/11/18: TP:JR: Grantham To Climate Scientists: 'Be Persuasive. Be Brave. Be Arrested (If Necessary)'

  More DIY science:

• 2012/11/23: Moyhu: Climate data postings

  And on the carbon trading front:

• 2012/11/24: ERabett:BSD: The California Cap passes its first test, barely
• 2012/11/21: EurActiv: European companies 'using emissions trading to subsidise overseas rivals'
  Some of the companies that have complained loudest about the EU's environmental measures are using the EU's Emissions Trading System (ETS) to give money to rivals in other countries instead of cutting their own greenhouse gas emissions, it has emerged. A report by Sandbag, a non-governmental organisation that examines carbon trading, found that some of the biggest steel and cement companies in the EU have been buying cheap carbon credits from steel makers in developing and eastern European countries as a way of reducing their need to cut or pay for emissions under the EU's emissions trading scheme. This effectively means they have been subsidising overseas rivals.
• 2012/11/19: SandBag:B: Massive surge in offsetting as European companies rush to use banned credits
• 2012/11/20: EurActiv: Korea warns carbon trading advocates of 'negative lobbying and blackmail'
  Carbon trading schemes are fast sprouting across the planet as a market-based way of addressing rising greenhouse gas emissions. But advocates should be prepared for powerful business backlashes, Chang-beom Kim, the South Korean ambassador to the EU, warned a Brussels round table of business leaders and envoys on 19 November.
• 2012/11/19: EnvEcon: "The Nuts and Bolts of California's First Greenhouse Gas Auction"
• 2012/11/20: EnvEcon: Follow-up to "California's First Greenhouse Gas Auction"
• 2012/11/20: Guardian(UK): European companies 'using emissions trading to subsidise overseas rivals'
  Report reveals steel and cement giants are buying cheap carbon credits abroad in order to avoid cutting their own emissions
• 2012/11/20: NatureNB: California auction tests second largest carbon market
• 2012/11/20: SF Gate: California sells out of first pollution permits
  California sold out of the first pollution permits issued as part of a landmark offensive against greenhouse gases at an inaugural auction that regulators said Monday went smoothly. The effort to curtail carbon emissions involved the sale of 23.1 million permits -- each allowing for the release of one ton of carbon -- for $10.09 apiece, the California Air Resources Board said. The permit sales last week opened the largest carbon marketplace in the nation and the second-biggest in the world after the European Union. The California air board will hold four such auctions a year.
• 2012/11/19: Reuters: German minister backs EU proposal to squeeze carbon market
  Germany's environment minister has come out in support of a European Commission proposal to prevent the collapse of its instrument for cutting carbon emissions by withdrawing some emission permits from the market.

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

• 2012/11/19: Grist: 10 reasons a carbon tax is trickier than you think

  The debate over the optimal strategy [carbon trading, carbon offsets, auction vs. allocation, cap and trade, cap and dividend, tradable energy quotas and/or a carbon tax] to use in dealing with GHGs returns?

• 2012/11/19: BBickmore: Betting on Climate Change

  South [& East] China Sea tension persists:

• 2012/11/24: Guardian(UK): India claims disputed borderlands with China in row over passports
  Embassy's new stamp for Chinese passport-holders comes after China began using map that claimed Taiwan and South China Sea
• 2012/11/22: al Jazeera: Philippines protest China e-passport map
  China includes map of disputed South China Sea in e-passports much to the ire of other claimants.
• 2012/11/21: ABC(Au):TDU: ASEAN adrift as China lobbies to control South China Sea
• 2012/11/21: WSWS: Tensions at ASEAN summit over South China Sea
• 2012/11/20: CBC: Obama tour caught up in Asian territorial debate -- 6 countries contest oil and gas-rich South China Sea and islands
• 2012/11/19: AntiWar: Japan Warns of Damage to 'Peace and Stability' in China Territorial Dispute
  Washington's surge of military presence in the region is contributing to the instability
• 2012/11/19: NatInt: Say No to Tokyo
  Faced with an increasingly bitter territorial confrontation with China, Japan wants a stronger U.S. defense guarantee. So much for the Democratic Party of Japan's promise to make Tokyo a more independent international player. Washington should say no to war with the People's Republic of China over a worthless pile of rocks claimed by Japan.
• 2012/11/20: BBC: Obama at Asean summit as sea row rumbles
• 2012/11/20: ABC(Au): Gillard wants South China Sea code of conduct
  Prime Minister Julia Gillard says Australia wants to see a code of conduct for resolving disputes over the South China Sea. Territorial disputes over the South China Sea have overshadowed the East Asia Summit in Cambodia's capital Phnom Penh, where Ms Gillard is meeting regional leaders.
• 2012/11/20: al Jazeera: South China Sea issue to top Obama visit
  Vietnam and Philippines urge the US President to bring up South China Sea dispute with China during regional summit.
• 2012/11/19: al Jazeera: ASEAN talks on South China Sea row crumble
  10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations fails to present a united front on the dispute.

Quid pro EU-ETS delay?

• 2012/11/23: BBerg: Airbus Wins 60-Plane China Order After EU Retreat on CO2 Charges

  In the global competition for Rare Earths and other natural resources:

• 2012/11/23: ABC(Au): Proposed scandium mine for north Queensland set to take off
  The town of Greenvale in north Queensland is on the verge of reclaiming it's once proud mining tradition, thanks to the discovery of the rare earth mineral, scandium.
• 2012/11/21: CSM: China is the only country with a plan to secure scarce global resources
• 2012/11/19: ABC(Au): Lynas defends Malaysia project amid ongoing protests
  Malaysian activists opposed to a rare earth processing plant set up by Australian miner Lynas, say they will protest outside the company's annual general meeting in Sydney on Tuesday. Members of the Stop Lynas Save Malaysia movement have also met with members of the minority Greens Party. The Greens are concerned not only about the development in Malaysia but also the possibility of radioactive waste from the plant being shipped back to Australia. Lynas has applied to the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA), a regulatory authority, for a permit to send the by-product back.

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

• 2012/11/18: SLTrib: Here comes chaos -- Move on climate change - now
  A new study on global warming for the nation's intelligence services makes grim reading. The bottom line, mirroring those of similar studies for the military, goes something like this: Climate change is accelerating, bringing more frequent climate disruptions, with dire implications for international stability and U.S. national security. The study by the National Research Council concluded that the intelligence agencies are ill-prepared to deal with the myriad consequences of climatic events such as droughts, heat waves and storms that are increasing in number and severity as the atmosphere heats up.

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

• 2012/11/19: ABC(Au): Activists get suspended sentences for wrecking crop
  Two Greenpeace activists have received nine-month suspended sentences for destroying a genetically modified wheat crop with whipper snippers at the CSIRO in Canberra. Jessa Latona, 36, and Heather McCabe, 49, destroyed the crop in July last year. Greenpeace then sought publicity for their actions by contacting the ABC and releasing vision of the protest.

What are the activists up to?

• 2012/11/19: TP:JR: Do The Math: Mr. McKibben Goes To Washington

  Regarding Water Politics and Business:

• 2012/11/23: CCurrents: Water Conservation: Treasuring Every Drop
• 2012/11/23: al Jazeera: One billion raise a stink
  Sanitation is not merely a development wish list, but a fundamental requirement that directly affects people's survival.
• 2012/11/20: HuffPo: An Historic Step Toward Saving the Colorado River and Delta by Peter H. Gleick
• 2012/11/21: Grist: Ripple effect: Conserving water is about more than just letting it mellow
• 2012/11/21: BBC: Colorado River: Mexico and US sign water-sharing deal
  Mexico and the US have agreed new rules on sharing and managing water from the Colorado River, which serves some 30 million people in the two nations. Under the deal, the US will send less water to Mexico during a drought, while Mexico will be able to store water north of the border during wet years.
• 2012/11/20: TMoS: We've Got Law of the Sea. Is It Time for Law of the River?

  Regarding science education:

• 2012/11/21: JCBaez: Mathematics for Sustainability (Part 2)

  And on the American political front:

• 2012/11/24: WSWS: The social crisis in the US
• 2012/11/24: Grist: Electoral math for 'all you climate people'
• 2012/11/24: ERabett: Professional Seemers
• 2012/11/23: EconView: Paul Krugman: Grand Old Planet -- The Republican anti-rational mind-set
• 2012/11/21: TP:JR: Some Electoral Math For 'All You Climate People'
• 2012/11/21: BBerg: Drought No Obstacle to Record Income for U.S. Farms
  U.S. farmers are having their most-profitable year ever because of record- high prices and insurance claims. Even after the worst drought in a half century shriveled crops from Ohio to Nebraska, U.S. farmers are having their most-profitable year ever because of record- high prices and insurance claims.
• 2012/11/25: TP:JR: Ohio's Next Big Decision: A Clean Or Dirty Energy Future?
• 2012/11/25: DeSmogBlog: ACCCE PR Rhetoric On Low-Income Households Does Not Compute
• 2012/11/24: WaPo: Climate skeptic group works to reverse renewable energy mandates
• 2012/11/20: LA Times: California's first carbon-credit auction raises $290 million
  The allowances sell for a few cents above the minimum price of $10 for the right to emit a ton of greenhouse gases. Still, state officials call it a success.
• 2012/11/20: MWEN: Fracking regulations back on the agenda in Illinois
• 2012/11/20: Grist: A chat with Al Gore on carbon taxes, natural gas, and the 'morally wrong' Keystone pipeline
• 2012/11/19: Grist: Climate scientists are Nate Silver, radio edition
• 2012/11/20: TreeHugger: 72% of Harvard Students Vote to Divest School Endowment From Fossil Fuels Companies
• 2012/11/20: DeSmogBlog: So Wrong, So Often: Karl Rove Grasps For Audience Approval at Oil & Gas Summit [often wrong -- but never doubting]
• 2012/11/19: CSM: Gas prices drop 7 cents in two weeks

  The BP disaster continues to twist US politics:

• 2012/11/19: SciNews: Gulf spill harmed small fish, studies indicate -- Effects vary but dire impacts seen with some very low exposures
• 2012/11/19: SciNews: Gulf spill harmed small fry, studies indicate -- Effects vary but dire impacts seen with some very low exposures
• 2012/11/19: WSWS: Deadly oil rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico

  Looking forward to 2014, 2016 election:

• 2012/11/21: TP:JR: GOP 2016: Science Committee Member Marco 'Not A Scientist' Rubio Says Age Of Earth Is 'One Of The Great Mysteries'
• 2012/11/19: RawStory: Rubio: Maybe Earth was created in 7 days because 'I'm not a scientist, man'
• 2012/11/19: NYT:PK: Views Differ on Age of Planet
• 2012/11/20: TWTB: Yes, Marco Rubio IS a creationist
• 2012/11/19: Guardian(UK): Marco Rubio's GQ interview: a naked presidential pitch
  The Florida senator's risible answer on evolution, and his claim to be BFFs with Jim DeMint, show a man with 2016 on his mind

Post election chatter:

• 2012/11/25: TP:JR: Oceans '13: The Post-Election Future Of Ocean Policy

  The Keystone XL saga grinds slowly. And it grinds woe:

• 2012/11/24: CCP: TransCanada's deputies pepper spray 75-year-old woman in Texas who supports the anti-Keystone XL protesters
• 2012/11/23: NYT: Pipeline Protest Draws Pepper Spray From Deputies
• 2012/11/19: ENS: Twelve Arrested in Texas Keystone XL Pipeline Blockade
• 2012/11/20: Grist: Keystone XL fight heats up again in East Texas
• 2012/11/19: TreeHugger: Protests Against Keystone XL Tar Sands Pipeline Continue, From Washington DC to Texas
• 2012/11/19: ICN: Keystone Pipeline Gets Political Help Ahead of Protest
• 2012/11/19: ICN: Protesters Confident That Carbon Math Will Force Obama to Reject Keystone XL Again
• 2012/11/19: OilChange: The Math Means No KXL
• 2012/11/18: CSW: We haven't forgotten about the Keystone XL pipeline
• 2012/11/18: CBC: Keystone XL protesters amassing in Washington

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

• 2012/11/21: DD: Carbon tax percolates through U.S. political system -- Washington state representative introduces Managed Carbon Price Act
• 2012/11/21: PSinclair: Carbon Tax Talk "A real concern" to Deniers
• 2012/11/13: Nature:Editorial: America's carbon compromise
  As looming tax increases and budget cuts threaten to plunge the US economy back into recession, Congress should take a hard look at introducing a carbon tax as an important part of the solution.
• 2012/11/20: GLaden: Nature: Do the carbon tax, America!
• 2012/11/19: Grist: 10 reasons a carbon tax is trickier than you think

  The GOP War on Women continues. See also:

• 2012/11/22: Guardian(UK): Michigan Republicans propose tax credit for unborn foetuses
  Critics say proposal was 'absurd' and described it as a backdoor way of trying to pass 'personhood' legislation

Post Sandy commentary:

• 2012/11/24: TP:JR: The Soldiers Grove Story: Lessons For Post-Sandy Sustainability
• 2012/11/23: NYT: After Storm, Dry Floors Prove Value of Exceeding City Code
• 2012/11/22: Guardian(UK): US politicians urged to seize the moment on climate change after Sandy
• 2012/11/22: Grist: Sandy-battered neighborhood gives thanks for solar [video]
• 2012/11/21: CSM: Giving thanks after superstorm Sandy
• 2012/11/22: CSM: Public banks could help after a disaster such as superstorm Sandy
• 2012/11/21: QuarkSoup: Caption of the Day
• 2012/11/20: TreeHugger: Sandylujah! Hurricane Sandy Says Stop Shopping: Reverend Billy
• 2012/11/20: CJR: Highway to the danger zone -- Following Sandy, HuffPo and NYT dig into the folly of coastal development
• 2012/11/20: NakedCapitalism: Homeless in New Jersey
• 2012/11/20: Grist: This photo says it all about superstorm Sandy
• 2012/11/20: TreeHugger: Storm Surge Barriers May Save Wall Street, But Would Worsen Flooding in Outer Boroughs
• 2012/11/19: CSM: In Superstorm's wake: Erosion and questions on government-funded sand
• 2012/11/19: CSM: Are renewables stormproof? Hurricane Sandy tests solar, wind.
• 2012/11/20: WSWS: In advance of Hurricane Sandy, New York warned on vulnerable infrastructure
• 2012/11/19: TP:JR: Preparing For The Next Sandy
• 2012/11/19: DD: As coasts rebuild and U.S. pays, repeatedly, the critics ask why

  The Obama chatter is nonstop:

• 2012/11/18: TP:JR: Memo To The President; Re: Your Forgotten Promise To Put Solar On The White House
• 2012/11/23: Guardian(UK): Obama under pressure to show Doha he is serious on climate change
  The climate has been back on Obama's lips since his re-election, but the Doha conference will show if he is all talk
• 2012/11/20: TP:JR: Why President Obama Is Wrong To Separate The Economy And Climate
• 2012/11/19: CSM: Obama's impact on oil, gas? Not much.
• 2012/11/19: TP:JR: Mr. President, Acting On Climate Will Advance Economic Growth And Create Jobs

  The actions of the Obama administration are being watched closely:

• 2012/11/23: APR: More on DOE SMR funding; Westinghouse press release
• 2012/11/21: CDreams: DOE Awards Nuclear Grant to Three-Mile Island Firm -- Administration pushing modular nukes...
• 2012/11/20: APR: DOE awards SMR funds to B&W / TVA / Bechtel
• 2012/11/21: CSM: EPA rejects suspension of corn-based ethanol mandate
• 2012/11/19: AutoBG: EPA denies ethanol waiver requested by governors and farm groups
• 2012/11/19: DeSmogBlog: Revealed: NERA Economic Consulting is Third Party Contractor for DOE LNG Export Study
• SourceWatch: National Economic Research Associates

  As for what is going on in Congress:

• 2012/11/21: MWEN: Supporters of military biofuels program gear up for battle
• 2012/11/21: ScienceInsider: Meet Representative Thomas Massie (R-Ky): A Constitutional Conservative With an MIT Pedigree
• 2012/11/18: OilChange: Big Oil's Senators Do What They're Paid To Do

  While in the UK:

• 2012/11/23: NatureNB: UK energy deal boosts renewables - but hesitates on low-carbon electricity
• 2012/11/23: BBC: Review highlights role of citizen science projects
  A review of more than 230 "citizen science" projects says the involvement of volunteers offers "high value to research, policy and practice". It added that such schemes had the potential to help meet the demands of monitoring the UK's environment. The review's authors also produced a guide offering advice on how to get the most out of citizen science projects. The review and guide was commissioned by the UK Environmental Observation Framework (UK-EOF). The authors, from NERC Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH) and the Natural History Museum, London, reviewed 234 projects - ranging from small one-off local surveys to large-scale long-term programmes.
• 2012/11/22: BBC: Government delays setting carbon target until after election
• 2012/11/22: Guardian(UK): Ed Miliband's speech on climate change and decarbonisation target
  The leader of the Labour party says the coalition is not up to the task of being the greenest government ever in a speech at Whitelee windfarm in Scotland
• 2012/11/22: Guardian(UK): Ed Miliband commits Labour to 2030 decarbonisation target
• 2012/11/23: Guardian(UK): Energy bill deal and carbon target delay - as it happened
  Reaction and analysis on the energy bill deal struck between coalition partners that will see levies for low carbon energy rise but a 2030 carbon target delayed
• 2012/11/20: BBC: On-shore wind policy 'must be sensible' - energy secretary
  Ed Davey has said he does not want to see wind turbines "all over the countryside" but they have an important role to play in future energy supply. The Lib Dem energy secretary has clashed with his Conservative deputy John Hayes over the amount of on-shore wind developments required in future.
• 2012/11/20: Guardian(UK): David Cameron's climate pledges 'undermined by rogue Conservatives'
• 2012/11/20: Guardian(UK): David Cameron has gone cold on climate change
• 2012/11/20: Guardian(UK): MP Peter Lilley has received more than $400,000 in oil company share options
  Analysis shows full extent of climate sceptic's financial interests in oil industry and places committee role under further scrutiny
• 2012/11/20: BBC: Ed Davey to set out 'cheapest energy tariff' plan
  The government is to set out how it intends to force energy firms to offer customers the lowest suitable tariff. Energy Secretary Ed Davey will set out plans for fulfilling the PM's pledge last month to bring in legislation.

And in Europe:

• 2012/11/24: WSWS: Germany's Green Party backs the European Union
• 2012/11/23: TreeHugger: Fight Against Climate Change a Casualty of European Economic Crisis
• 2012/11/22: EurActiv: Farmers locked in food production vs. pollution trade-off
  Agriculture remains a major threat to water quality in Europe, according to the latest report by the European Union's environmental agency. But farmers and EU policymakers are also quick to highlight the trade-off between conservation objectives and pressure to increase food production.
• 2012/11/22: BBerg: EU Carbon Plan Overhaul Will Need Qualified Majority Backing
  A potential overhaul of the European Union's emissions-trading system will require qualified-majority backing from national governments, according to an official at the EU's regulatory arm. Any draft measure in the future to introduce changes to the carbon program design would be considered in an ordinary legislative procedure, which doesn't need unanimity, Piotr Plizga, a policy officer at the European Commission's climate department, told a conference in Warsaw today.
• 2012/11/21: EEA: [link to 32 meg pdf] Climate change, impacts and vulnerability in Europe 2012
• 2012/11/21: EurActiv: LNG terminal set to redraw Poland's energy map
  Poland took a decisive step yesterday (20 November) towards building a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal on its Baltic coast, a project that could significantly reduce Central and Eastern Europe's reliance on Russian imports.
• 2012/11/21: REA: Germany's Grid and the Market: 100 Percent Renewable by 2050?
• 2012/11/20: EurActiv: Green farming agenda faces EU budget axe
  Some EU national governments and lawmakers are pushing to weaken proposals intended to create natural defences against pesticides and fertilisers in crop fields. But they should reconsider their opposition to buffer strips and other natural areas, green advocates say. The future of the CAP remains uncertain in part because the budget for 2014-2020 is still undecided.
• 2012/11/20: EurActiv: Europe's biofuels industry slips further behind US
  Europe risks losing out to the United States in the growing market for advanced biofuels without better regulation and clear policy signals, say leading members of the industry.
• 2012/11/20: EurActiv: Desertec chief denies crisis
  Reports of turmoil in a futuristic plan to generate 15% of Europe's energy from Saharan solar power have been stoutly denied by the chief executive of the Desertec initiative, Paul van Son.
• 2012/11/20: Guardian(UK): Desert solar power chief denies crisis
  Desertec boss Paul van Son denies solar plan is in trouble as Siemens and Bosch pull out and Spain turns lukewarm
• 2012/11/20: Guardian(UK): European companies 'using emissions trading to subsidise overseas rivals'
• 2012/11/19: Reuters: German minister backs EU proposal to squeeze carbon market
  Germany's environment minister has come out in support of a European Commission proposal to prevent the collapse of its instrument for cutting carbon emissions by withdrawing some emission permits from the market.
• 2012/11/18: BBC: Solar storm as desert plan to power Europe falters
  An ambitious plan to provide 15% of Europe's power needs from solar plants in North Africa has run into trouble. The Desertec initiative hoped to deliver electricity from a network of renewable energy sources to Europe via cables under the sea. But in recent weeks, two big industrial backers have pulled out. And the Spanish government has baulked at signing an agreement to build solar power plants in Morocco.

Meanwhile in Australia:

• 2012/11/24: ClimateShifts: Energy White Paper plans to burn, burn, burn it all
• 2012/11/23: CCurrents: Pro-Gas Australian Labor Government's Carbon Tax Scandal: $3-7 Billion Gas Under-Payment Annually [Polya]
• 2012/11/23: WSWS: Australian government pushes for energy privatisation
• 2012/11/23: ABC(Au): Palmer continues attack on 'crooked' LNP
  Mining magnate Clive Palmer has launched another extraordinary attack on the Queensland Government after quitting the LNP, likening the Premier to a dictator. Mr Palmer's attack on the Government today ranged from claims of nepotism and cover-ups to a lack of accountability and having no regard for Liberal National Party policies. He resigned from the party last night ahead of today's executive meeting which was going to consider expelling him.
• 2012/11/23: ABC(Au): Independent MLCs undecided on forest peace deal
  Tasmania's Lower House has decided to support the forest peace deal but the saga isn't over yet. The deal would protect more than half a million hectares of native forest in new reserves and reduce the size of the forest industry. But for it to work it will need the support of Tasmania's Upper House. And [...] it's unclear whether the independent politicians will support the peace deal.
• 2012/11/22: ABC(Au): Page MP attacks own minister over CSG comments
  A federal Labor backbencher is backing the coal seam gas scientists recently attacked by her own resources minister. There have been calls for Martin Ferguson's resignation after he described the authors of a report on methane emissions as 'people who are trying to score political points without proper consideration of the best interests of the broader community'. The federal member for Page, Janelle Saffin, says the minister was wrong to criticise the Southern Cross University researchers.
• 2012/11/22: ABC(Au): Report counts CSG studies
  A new report says there are more than 180 studies that have been conducted into Queensland's coal seam gas (CSG) sector. Queensland's Gasfields Commission has published a summary of research projects being carried out by industry, universities and government agencies. It says about 84 studies are looking specifically at how CSG extraction affects underground water supplies.
• 2012/11/22: ABC(Au): Palmer ready for LNP executive showdown
  Tensions within Queensland's Liberal National Party are expected to come to a head tomorrow when the party executive meets to consider expelling outspoken life member Clive Palmer. Mr Palmer is a life member of the LNP but he is in trouble for his repeated criticism of its parliamentary leaders. The LNP suspended Mr Palmer after he accused government ministers of exaggerating the state's debt.
• 2012/11/21: DeSmogBlog: Millions In Gas Industry Cash Poured Into Public Research In Australia
• 2012/11/22: ABC(Au): Ink dry on forestry peace deal
  Tasmania's Premier has declared the signing of a forestry peace deal a difficult day for the state. The Forest Industries Association of Tasmania (FIAT) confirmed today that a deal had been reached to end the state's decades-old forest wars. FIAT's chief executive Terry Edwards says half a million hectares of forest will be protected from logging, with 395,000 hectares to be reserved immediately and the balance in March 2015.
• 2012/11/21: ABC(Au): Royalla solar farm on track: Govt
  The ACT Government says it expects a smooth development process when it comes to building the nation's biggest solar farm. In September the Government approved a Spanish-based company to build the solar farm on sheep paddocks near Royalla, just south of Canberra.
• 2012/11/21: ABC(Au): [The Eden] Wind farm rejected [based on a number of factors]
• 2012/11/20: ABC(Au): Energy Australia says opposition to wind farms could derail renewable energy target
• 2012/11/20: ABC(Au): Power cost shocker as utility prices soar
  The Northern Territory Government has announced utility cost increases that will push up bills for the average family by more than $2,000 a year. From January 1, power bills will rise by 30 per cent, water by 40 per cent, and sewerage by 25 per cent.
• 2012/11/20: ABC(Au): Farmers look to changes to work with climate: CSIRO
  Could growing two crops in the same paddock at the same time be one of the answers to helping farmers adapt to climate change? It's one idea being thrown around as researchers look at ways to help farmers manage climate variability.
• 2012/11/19: ABC(Au): Uni hits back in CSG debate
  The Southern Cross University is defending the release of data which questions the green credentials of coal seam gas.

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

• 2012/11/19: TheAge: Majority oppose carbon tax, but say they are no worse off

  It's still a relatively fraguile minority government:

• 2012/11/25: ABC(Au): Gillard knew nothing about AWU scandal: Wilson
  Julia Gillard's former boyfriend has spoken out to defend her, saying the Prime Minister knew nothing about a union scandal in the 1990s. In this morning's News Limited and Fairfax papers, former Australian Workers Union (AWU) official Bruce Wilson says a "witch hunt" will not be able to find anything that will do the Prime Minister any harm. Ms Gillard has been facing questions for months about her involvement in establishing an AWU fund on behalf of Mr Wilson during her time as a lawyer for Slater and Gordon.
• 2012/11/23: ABC(Au): Gillard gave 'best recollection' of home loan events
  Prime Minister Julia Gillard insists she gave her "best recollection" of events surrounding a home loan involving her former partner when she was interviewed about the matter in 1995.
• 2012/11/22: ABC(Au): Lawyer claims discrepancy in PM's slush fund explanation
  A lawyer who worked with Prime Minister Julia Gillard in the 1990s says there is a two-and-a-half-year discrepancy in her explanation of when she knew about a loan for a house she lived in. The property in question, on Kerr Street in Fitzroy, was allegedly paid for in part by funds taken from a union slush fund Ms Gillard helped set up. Nick Styant-Browne was a partner in the law firm Slater and Gordon and became involved in a bitter dispute within the firm, which then acted for the Australian Workers Union (AWU). At the centre of it were two men - union official Ralph Blewitt and branch secretary Bruce Wilson - who were accused of being behind a fraud in which hundreds of thousands of dollars from developers were paid into a slush fund and then siphoned off. Ms Gillard was a lawyer with Slater and Gordon at the time and was Mr Wilson's girlfriend. She helped set up the fund but has categorically denied any wrongdoing.

After years of wrangling the Murray Darling Basin plan is in place. Now the teal fight begins:

• 2012/11/22: ABC(Au): Murray Darling Basin plan signed into law
• 2012/11/23: ABC(Au): Greens will try to strike down Basin Plan
  The Greens will move to strike down the Murray-Darling Basin Plan once its tabled in Federal Parliament. Technically, the Basin Plan is not legislation, meaning it became law when it was signed off by Water Minister Tony Burke yesterday. Mr Burke will present the Plan to parliament next week, in the last sitting week of the year, when any MP or senator who disapproves can then move a disallowance motion to kill the Plan. South Australian Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young says the Greens will do just that.
• 2012/11/23: ABC(Au): Plenty of reaction to Basin Plan
• 2012/11/23: ABC(Au): Disappointment in Griffith over Basin Plan
• 2012/11/23: ABC(Au): [Northern Victorian] Councils cautiously optimistic about basin plan
• 2012/11/23: ABC(Au): Basin Plan still not perfect : Irrigators Council
  The NSW Irrigators Council wants its members to consider the final version of the Basin Plan, before deciding whether Parliament should accept it.
• 2012/11/23: ABC(Au): [Queensland] Wild Rivers legislation to be revoked
  A new panel has been set up to oversee the scrapping of the Wild Rivers legislation over the Cooper Creek, Diamantina and Georgina Rivers. The news has been welcomed by local government and rural representatives. Wild Rivers legislation was introduced by the previous Labor government over the three catchments in December 2011. Minister for Natural Resources, Andrew Cripps says it won't mean that large scale irrigation or mining is now allowed. "The task that I have given to the new panel is to come up with an alternative framework for the management of these river systems.
• 2012/11/23: ABC(Au): NSW submissions ignored in Murray plan: [Primary Industries Minister, Katrina] Hodgkinson
• 2012/11/22: ABC(Au): Less fire, more water in Basin plan wash-up
• 2012/11/22: ABC(Au): What SA is saying on final Murray plan
• 2012/11/22: ABC(Au): Australia's first Murray-Darling Basin Plan
• 2012/11/22: ABC(Au): Burke unveils final Murray-Darling plan
• 2012/11/22: ABC(Au): Historic national water plan: Burke set to table final Murray Darling plan today
• 2012/11/21: ABC(Au): Call to save native fish in the Murray-Darling
  Recreational fishers across the country say the Federal Government isn't placing enough focus on native Australian fish. This comes after NSW cut funding to the Murray-Darling Basin's 50-year Native Fish Strategy.
• 2012/11/21: ABC(Au): Senate backs Murray-Darling adjustment mechanism
  A bill to allow for an adjustment mechanism in any Murray-Darling Basin Plan has passed the Senate without amendment.
• 2012/11/21: ABC(Au): Major parties reach compromise on Murray legislation
• 2012/11/19: ABC(Au): Hunter Water accused of lead cover up
  New evidence has come to light showing the Hunter Water Corporation knew about serious lead contamination on Hunter region cattle farms more than 15 years ago, but chose to do nothing.
• 2012/11/19: ABC(Au): New Murray water purchasing tender opens

  While in the Indian subcontinent:

• 2012/11/24: CCurrents: All Nuclear Roads May Lead to Kolar
• 2012/11/22: CCurrents: Friends Of The Earth's Resolution On Koodankulam
• 2012/11/22: CCurrents: World Fisheries Day Protest in Koodankulam: Meenavar Makkal Nammal

  And in China:

• 2012/11/22: Guardian(UK): China defends carbon emissions growth
• 2012/11/21: ChinaDaily: China issues report addressing climate change
  China on Wednesday published a report detailing policies and efforts that have been made over the past year in facing up to the challenges of global climate change. The report, titled China's Policies and Actions for Addressing Climate Change (2012), was released before the United Nations Climate Change Conference, which will be held from Nov 26 to Dec 7 in Doha, Qatar. The report outlines actions taken by the Chinese government to mitigate and adapt to climate change. It also documents measures to promote the building of low-carbon communities and advance international negotiation and cooperation.

And Japan:

• 2012/11/20: PI:B: Japan turns away from nuclear power and toward renewables

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

• 2012/11/21: G&M: Biofuel firm linked to fraud probe is in line for $65-million Ottawa grant
• 2012/11/22: PI: Investing federal oil and gas subsidies in clean energy would bring Canada 18,000 more jobs, a healthier economy and a cleaner environment
• 2012/11/21: EmbassyMag: Unusual wording in nuclear deal questioned -- Prime Minister's Office says it's just 'semantics.'
  Canada's nuclear safety commission says it is sticking with unusual wording to describe part of the country's recently concluded nuclear deal with India because it is only being consistent with previous texts, but it can't say why the language was used in the first place.

Regarding Bill C-45:

• 2012/11/21: PI: Environmental groups, First Nations join in opposition to omnibus Bill C-45
  Massive bill before Parliament further undermines Canadian democracy and environment, groups say in open letter

Regarding FIPPA:

• 2012/11/21: iPolitics: Applying the seven-generation rule to China's FIPA
  The Iroquois had a rule: when making a major decision, consider its effects on the next seven generations. It's a good rule, one the Conservatives would do well to adopt. The reluctance of this government to submit the Canada-China FIPA (Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement) to parliamentary analysis and oversight deepens the apprehension many Canadians feel about the way we are pursuing trade and investment with China.

The Premiers held their yearly conference in Halifax:

• 2012/11/22: iPolitics: Premiers arrive in Halifax to talk economy
• 2012/11/22: CBC: Harper snub threatens to overshadow premiers meeting
• 2012/11/22: G&M: Brad Wall follows PM's lead, passes on premiers' meeting
  Stephen Harper's refusal to attend the premiers' summit on the economy is winning support from at least one province, with Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall choosing to attend by telephone.
• 2012/11/22: CBC: Marois raising Enbridge pipeline concerns with Redford -- Premiers gather in Halifax for special meeting on the economy
• 2012/11/23: CBC: Support growing among premiers to ship oil east
• 2012/11/23: CBC: Premiers voice support for 'integrated energy economy' -- Despite PM's absence, leaders call for collaboration on trade, training, infrastructure

  The Liberal party leadership race is on:

• 2012/11/20: HillTimes: Bertschi opposes Trudeau's support for China's CNOOC $15.2-billion Nexen bid...
• 2012/11/20: Macleans: Justin Trudeau's Pacific overture
  As a rule of thumb, any position that gets a politician called "brave," "courageous" and full of "guts" in a single column is going to be awfully attractive to most politicians. Say hello to Justin Trudeau, who wants the CNOOC-Nexen deal approved and, as he heads back to Calgary this week, is eager to say so.

The battle over the Northern Gateway pipeline rages on:

• 2012/11/24: DeSmogBlog: Two Tanker Incidents off BC Coast Confirm Tar Sand Supertanker Concerns

  And on the fabled West-East line:

• 2012/11/23: TheCanadian: Enbridge's Line 9: Shipping Tar Sands Crude East

  I don't know if you have noticed but...these 'free trade' treaties have unfortunate trappings:

• 2012/11/23: CBC: Ottawa sued over Quebec fracking ban -- Company's suit based on NAFTA provisions
  An American company intends to sue the Canadian government for more than $250 million over Quebec's controversial moratorium on hydraulic fracturing or fracking. Lone Pine Resources Inc., which is incorporated in Delaware but headquartered in Calgary, has filed notice that it intends to sue under provisions of the North American Free Trade Agreement.
• 2012/11/21: iPolitics: Parcelling off the democratic commons for corporate profit
  Don't be fooled. The innocuous language used to describe the avalanche of so-called "trade" agreements raining down on Canada under the Harper government -- the TransPacific Partnership (TPP), the Canada-European Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) and the Canada-China Foreign Investment Agreement, not to mention the plethora of single-country trade deals -- aren't about trade at all. Their real purpose is to repeal democracy, to elevate investor/corporate rights over the democratic will of the people. Corporations -- not governments -- become the decision-makers, the de facto rulers.

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

• 2012/11/24: AlexandraMorton: An Excellent Editorial from Eastern Canada
• 2012/11/23: AlexandraMorton: BC Poised to be Designated ISA Virus Positive? - CFIA steps in
• 2012/11/20: AlexandraMorton: The Fish Farm Fight
• 2012/11/18: TheCanadian: The Recommendations of the Cohen Commission Report

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

• 2012/11/23: CBC: Oil spill detection goes high-tech with aerial crew
  The Marine Aerial Reconnaissance Team (MART), a joint project of Environment Canada and Transport Canada, has been using sensors in a high-tech aircraft to spot oil spills along B.C.'s rugged coastline for six years.
  The team covers the coastline about two or three times per week.
  But with tanker traffic along B.C.'s coastline projected to quadruple if the Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline and Kinder-Morgan pipeline expansion are approved, some worry there aren't enough resources in place to respond when spills are flagged.
  "The resources for oil spill cleanup are some really talented people, some very hard-working people who could not possibly hope to protect this entire coast from what it's already facing -- much less a massive increase in volume or number of ships," says Jay Ritchlin with the David Suzuki Foundation.
• 2012/11/22: CBC: Chinese miners legal challenge in B.C. gets go-ahead -- Unions challenging foreign miners' temporary work permits
• 2012/11/20: Tyee: BC Must Get Serious About Its Water Supply -- Four steps to take right away to protect our province's life giving resource

  Meanwhile in that Mechanical Mordor known as the tar sands:

• 2012/11/22: DeSmogBlog: Dr. David Schindler: Tar Sands Science "Shoddy," "Must Change"
• 2012/11/23: G&M: Study eats into oil-sands opponents' corrosion claims
  [...] Diluted bitumen is not more corrosive. In fact, when comparing four types of dilbit, as it's called, with seven other kinds of oil, the dilbit is among the least corrosive.
• 2012/11/21: G&M: Canada's crude export pipelines clogged
  The surge in Canadian oil production must now face a new reality: The biggest mover of crude says the pipes out of the country are full. [...] Enbridge Inc. has now formally declared the pipes full, meaning that date has arrived far sooner than expected.
• 2012/11/21: OilChange: Protesters Block Tar Sands Conference
• 2012/11/20: iPolitics: Oilsands development is pushing nature to the breaking point
• 2012/11/19: TMoS: Now Tell Me Why We Need to Push Bitumen on the World?

  Also in Alberta:

• 2012/11/21: iPolitics: Pipeline surveyors evicted by band members
• 2012/11/21: CBC: Aboriginal activists vow protest over Enbridge pipeline -- Enbridge defends its Flamborough pipeline plan
• 2012/11/20: CBC: Petronas submits new bid for Progress Energy
  The Malaysian state-owned oil company trying to buy Progress Energy Resources Corp. has made a new proposal to Ottawa in hopes of winning approval for the $6-billion deal under the Investment Canada Act.

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

• 2012/11/23: TStar: Wind farm files $475 million NAFTA claim over Ontario offshore moratorium
• 2012/11/21: CBC: 'Mega-quarry' in southern Ontario won't be built
• 2012/11/22: TStar: Dalton McGuinty scores an assist as WTO torpedoes Ontario green strategy
• 2012/11/21: TreeHugger: Giant Ontario Mega Quarry Cancelled
• 2012/11/23: CBC: Hamilton man dies of West Nile virus
• 2012/11/20: CBC: Ontario not ready to allow fracking
  Ontario would need to see scientific proof that hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is safe before it allows energy companies to use the controversial practice to extract natural gas, Premier Dalton McGuinty said Tuesday.
• 2012/11/19: CBC: WTO rules Ontario green energy tariff unfair

  In the North:

• 2012/11/20: CBC: Oil railway through Yukon headed toward public consultation
  Railway promoter [Matt Vickers] shies away from claim that project has already been approved by governments The promoter of a railway from northern Alberta to Alaska through Yukon denies that he is telling people it has been approved by Yukon First Nations and the territorial government. A story in the Financial Post makes the claim. The multi-billion dollar project would see oil from the oil sands shipped by rail to the port at Valdez in Alaska.

As for miscellaneous Canadiana:

• 2012/11/24: PostMedia: Climate change has implications for defence
  Military often the best option for rescue and stability after a disaster
• 2012/11/19: CBC: Canada must step up 'global energy game,' says ex-minister
  Canada's energy future is bigger than one pipeline deal, Jim Prentice tells business forum
• 2012/11/18: Straight: Broadcasters air lies about Thomas Mulcair because the CRTC allows it -- Thomas Mulcair is getting the usual treatment from Conservative attack dogs

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

• 2012/11/22: CSM: Public banks could help after a disaster such as superstorm Sandy
• 2012/11/20: CCurrents: Where Infinite Growth Meets Biophysical Limits
• 2012/11/20: CCurrents: From Endless Growth To A New Form Of Democracy
• 2012/11/20: UKISS: The Exponential Function and Growth

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

• 2012/11/23: CNN: Husband wants answers over wife whose death sparked abortion debate
  Praveen Halappanavar believes notes are missing from his wife's medical records - She died of blood poisoning after being denied an abortion while miscarrying, he says - Ireland, a majority Catholic country, has strict laws on abortion - Health authorities are reviewing the circumstances of Savita Halappanavar's death
• 2012/11/19: CBC: Ireland to examine death of woman denied abortion
  Panel to be led by Sabaratnam Arulkumaran, a Sri Lankan-born expert on maternal care

Apocalypso anyone?

• 2012/11/19: Eureka: Scientists pioneer method to predict environmental collapse
  Scientists at the University of Southampton are pioneering a technique to predict when an ecosystem is likely to collapse, which may also have potential for foretelling crises in agriculture, fisheries or even social systems.

How do the media measure up?

• 2012/11/21: KSJT: AP: Report on Iowa Climate analysis quotes contrarian like he's just another scientist. False Balance Lives!
• 2012/11/20: Guardian(UK): Radio Ga Ga: BBC axes popular science radio show
  BBC East perplexes scientists and the public with decision to cancel a popular and award-winning science radio show
• 2012/11/18: GReadfearn: Clickbait climate denial from The Australian

  And for your film & video enjoyment:

• 2012/11/21: JEB: More betting on global warming...an interesting video here from Mark Boslough...
• 2012/11/21: PSinclair: Why it Matters that Political Leaders Understand Science
• 2012/11/21: TP:JR: Spoils: Film Documents Americans Who Reap An 'Extraordinary Harvest' From Waste
• 2012/11/22: TreeHugger: Tesla CEO Elon Musk Speaks on the Future of Energy and Transportation
• 2012/11/22: TP:JR: Must-See Video: Science Girl Explains How Dirty Energy Causes Dirty Weather
• 2012/11/24: DD: Video: Science Girl talks climate change and dirty energy
• 2012/11/23: CSM: 'Chasing Ice' is a chilling look at melting glaciers: movie review
• 2012/11/20: Grist: 'Chasing Ice' lets you watch the Arctic glaciers disappear before your eyes. Feel better?
• 2012/10/01: CCentral: Watch 131 Years of Global Warming in 26 Seconds
• 2012/11/19: CNN: Chasing down the world's vanishing glaciers
  New documentary captures glacial ice retreating at sixteen different locations around the world - "Chasing Ice," by U.S. photographer James Balog, recorded glacier melt since 2007 - Balog's cameras have captured nearly one million images for the project - Balog hopes film will "shift public perceptions by telling people a story that is real and happening now"
• 2012/11/18: TP:JR: Viral Video: The Symphony of Science On Climate Reality

  As for podcasts:

• 2012/11/24: CBC:Q&Q: (mp3) Using DNA to Save the World
• 2012/11/15: WanderingGaia: Anthropocene radio series on the BBC

  Wrestling over a new energy infrastructure continues unabated:

• 2012/11/21: TP:JR: Innovative Heating And Cooling Projects Prove The Benefits Of Geothermal
• 2012/11/23: LA Times: Energy Department taps vast supply of frozen methane in Alaska
  The agency is studying methane hydrate, which looks like ice but burns like a candle if a match warms its molecules.
• 2012/11/23: CSM: Curacao looks at using ocean water for power [OTEC]
• 2012/11/25: PeakEnergy: Energy storage systems signal arrival of 'baseload' renewables
• 2012/11/20: ICN: Can the U.S. Create Its Own Clean Energy Revolution?
• 2012/11/18: DeSmogBlog: Locking in Dirty Energy Demand: GE Signs Deal with Clean Energy Fuels for Gas-Powered Vehicles

  What do you have in energy comparisons and transitions?

• 2012/11/19: ICN: Germany's Clean Energy Shift Transformed Industrial City of Hamburg
• 2012/11/18: PSinclair: While US Sleeps, Germany Builds the Renewable World

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

• 2012/11/20: ScienceInsider: University Shutters Energy Institute in Wake of Fracking Controversy
• 2012/11/23: DeSmogBlog: Fracking Your Future: Campus Drilling Extends Far Beyond Pennsylvania
• 2012/11/21: DeSmogBlog: Shale Gas Bubble About to Burst: Art Berman, Bill Powers
• 2012/11/21: al Jazeera: Frack fight: A secret war of activists
  Opening any part of the country to fracking will certainly damage the environment, beyond the planet's abity to cope.
• 2012/11/20: DeSmogBlog: LA Times Covers "Sand Land," Ecological Hazards of Frac Sand Mining in Wisconsin
• 2012/11/25: PeakEnergy: BHP's Shale PR boom gathers pace
• 2012/11/19: NYT: SUNY Buffalo Shuts Down Its Institute on Drilling
  The State University of New York at Buffalo announced Monday that it was closing down its newly formed Shale Resources and Society Institute, which was devoted to the study of hydraulic fracturing, citing "a cloud of uncertainty over its work."
• 2012/11/20: Grist: Oil and gas workers fracked by on-the-job injuries
• 2012/11/18: Independent(UK): Fracking: A new dawn for misplaced optimism -- Despite the claims, shale gas isn't all it's fracked up to be
• 2012/11/20: PeakEnergy: Fracking: A new dawn for misplaced optimism
• 2012/11/19: TheCanadian: Timelapse Animations Reveal Staggering Water Withdrawals, Industrial Activity for Fracking
• 2012/11/19: DeSmogBlog: Breaking: SUNY Buffalo Shuts "Frackademia" Center, Shale Resources and Society Institute
• 2012/11/19: PeakEnergy: Gas industry rattled by findings of triple normal levels of methane emissions

  On the coal front:

• 2012/11/20: TP:JR: Worldwide, Local Communities Are Defying King Coal's Global Expansion
• 2012/11/20: WSWS: Murray Energy [US largest privately owned coal mining company] lays off 160 miners in response to Obama's reelection

  On the gas and oil front:

• 2012/11/23: BBerg: Closing oil prices Friday
  OIL (US$/bbl)
  Dated Brent Spot....111.38
  WTI Cushing Spot.....88.28
• 2012/11/21: EurActiv: LNG terminal set to redraw Poland's energy map
  Poland took a decisive step yesterday (20 November) towards building a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal on its Baltic coast, a project that could significantly reduce Central and Eastern Europe's reliance on Russian imports.
• 2012/11/21: OilDrum: Oil Watch - World Total Liquids Production
• 2012/11/23: Guardian(UK): Desire Petroleum optimistic over Falklands oil prospects
  Chance of commercial development in area put at 80% by independent consultancy
• 2012/11/19: TreeHugger: ExxonMobil Oil Spill in Nigeria Stretches for 20 Miles, Worst Since Company Came to Country
• 2012/11/20: BBC: Total sells Nigeria oil stake to China's Sinopec
  Total has announced the sale of its 20% stake in a Nigerian offshore oilfield to the Chinese state-owned Sinopec. The French oil firm said its Chinese counterpart was paying $2.5bn (£1.6bn) for the stake in the OML 138 oil block. The block includes the Usan oilfield, which began producing in February, and is jointly owned with Chevron, Exxon and Canada's Nexen.
• 2012/11/17: Reuters: Nigeria Exxon spill spreads for miles along coast
  An oil spill at an ExxonMobil facility offshore from the Niger Delta has spread at least 20 miles from its source, coating waters used by fishermen in a film of sludge.

And in pipeline news:

• 2012/11/24: BCLSB: And Another Leak For Enbridge!

  Yes we have peak everything:

• 2012/11/20: RG&B: James Howard Kunstler: Peak oil, peak bullshit
• 2012/11/19: OilDrum: Peak, What Peak?

  Marvelous. Now the USA can have their own Mechanical Mordor:

• 2012/11/21: DeSmogBlog: Second US Tar Sands Mine, Owned by Former ExxonMobil and Chevron Exec., Approved in Utah

  Biofuel bickering abounds:

• 2012/11/21: CSM: EPA rejects suspension of corn-based ethanol mandate
• 2012/11/19: UCSUSA:B: Looking for the Signal in the Noise: Accounting for Global Warming Emissions from Biofuels

  The answer my friend...:

• 2012/11/22: BBerg: Southern Hemisphere's Biggest Wind Project Set to Start
  AGL Energy Ltd. (AGK), Australia's largest operator of renewable energy projects, expects its A$1 billion ($1 billion) Macarthur wind farm to be operating fully in February as the country seeks to reduce it reliance on coal.
• 2012/11/22: MLynas: Do offshore wind turbines kill birds?

  Meanwhile among the solar aficionados:

• 2012/11/21: ABC(Au): Royalla solar farm on track: Govt
• 2012/11/20: Guardian(UK): Desert solar power chief denies crisis
  Desertec boss Paul van Son denies solar plan is in trouble as Siemens and Bosch pull out and Spain turns lukewarm
• 2012/11/02: CleanEdison: 5 Common Mistakes Homeowners Make When Buying Solar
• 2012/11/20: SciAm:SaH: Caveat Emptor, Solar Homeowners
• 2012/11/19: TreeHugger: Ambitious [Desertec] Supergrid Project to Bring African Solar Power to Europe Runs Into Trouble
• 2012/11/20: Eureka: New American Chemical Society video series shines a light on transparent solar cells

  The nuclear energy controversy continues:

• 2012/11/23: NBF: Nuclear Power in India, China and Japan
• 2012/11/23: ABC(Au): South Korea urged [by IEA] to restore trust in nuclear power
• 2012/11/23: APR: More on DOE SMR funding; Westinghouse press release
• 2012/11/22: WNN: Laser enrichment for Paducah tails?
  The US Department of Energy (DoE) is in preliminary discussions with Global Laser Enrichment (GLE) about establishing a laser enrichment facility at the site of the Paducah gaseous diffusion plant in Kentucky.
• 2012/11/22: WNN: Russia speeds up nuclear investment
  Russian leaders have affirmed the strategic and economic importance of nuclear technology to the country, announcing that spending will rise and a major development program will be accelerated.
• 2012/11/22: NBF: Laser enrichment for 100,000 tons of Paducah tails
• 2012/11/22: NBF: Russia speeds up nuclear investment to get 50% of power from nuclear by 2050 and 80% by 2100
• 2012/11/21: CDreams: DOE Awards Nuclear Grant to Three-Mile Island Firm -- Administration pushing modular nukes...
• 2012/11/20: APR: DOE awards SMR funds to B&W / TVA / Bechtel
• 2012/11/19: DD: Even low-level radioactivity is damaging, says meta-analysis of published studies

  More people are talking about the electrical grid:

• 2012/11/23: BBerg: Denmark to Decide on U.K. Power Cable Next Year, Grid Says
• 2012/11/19: NYT: Solar Companies Seek Ways to Build an Oasis of Electricity
• 2012/11/19: PSinclair: The US Grid: Vulnerable in the Age of Terror and Superstorms

  And then there is the matter of efficiency & conservation:

• 2012/11/23: TP:JR: Rotten Fruit: Why 'Picking Low-Hanging Fruit' Hurts Efficiency And How To Fix The Problem

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

• 2012/11/20: TreeHugger: 2013 Nissan LEAF: Cheaper, Lighter, 14% More Range, New Motor, Etc
• 2012/11/24: PSinclair: One More Reason to Own a Volt. It Drives Wingnuts Crazy
• 2012/11/19: TP:JR: As Demand For Electric Vehicles Steadily Grows, Tesla Model S Wins 2013 'Motor Trend Car Of The Year'

  This week in the Gee Whiz File:

• 2012/11/19: ACS:Nano: Solar Vapor Generation Enabled by Nanoparticles by Oara Neumann et al.
• 2012/11/19: Rice: Rice unveils super-efficient solar-energy technology
• 2012/11/19: NBF: Rice unveils super-efficient solar-energy technology
• 2012/11/19: CBC: Sunlight can be used to produce steam, scientists say -- Research could lead to new, inexpensive, compact devices for poverty-stricken areas. [Gee Whiz]
  Scientists today are describing a revolutionary new way to use sunlight to produce steam and other vapors without heating an entire container of fluid to the boiling point. The advance, reported in the American Chemical Society (ACS) journal ACS Nano, has potential applications, especially in the poverty-stricken areas of the developing world, that include inexpensive, compact devices for purification of drinking water, sterilization of medical instruments and sanitizing sewage.

Insurance and re-insurance companies are feeling the heat:

• 2012/11/21: ABC(Au): Premiums skyrocket near flood zones
  In New South Wales and Victoria insurance companies are still assessing the damage caused by the March floods. But residents along the Murray River are beginning to question whether their increased insurance premiums are justified. As Eleni Psaltis reports, some insurance premiums have increased by more than 500 per cent when the resident doesn't even live in a flood risk zone.
• 2012/11/19: ABC(Au): Flood maps help secure insurance win
  A retired Albury resident has had his home insurance premium reduced by more than 500 per cent after he demanded up-to-date flood risk information.

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

• 2012/11/21: TP:JR: November 21 News...
• 2012/11/20: TP:JR: November 20 News...
• 2012/11/19: TP:JR: November 19 News...

  Other (weekly) lists:

• 2012/11/25: SkS: 2012 SkS Bi-Weekly News Roundup #4 by John Hartz
• 2012/11/23: EnergyBulletin: ODAC Newsletter
• 2012/11/22: SkS: 2012 SkS Bi-Weekly News Roundup #3 by John Hartz
• 2012/11/20: BPA: Investing in Industrial Agriculture in Africa, Plus More Agriculture News This Week

  The carbon lobby are up to the usual:

• 2012/11/21: WtD: Of sea ice & Andrew Bolt: freedom of speech under attack?
• 2012/11/19: CDL: Alberto Miatello
• 2012/11/20: CDL: Prof. Myron Wyn Evans
• 2012/11/23: CDL: Joseph E. Postma [d]
• 2012/11/23: UKISS: Anthony Watts....lazy, hypocritical and wrong... again
• 2012/11/24: ERabett: Back to the Future Once More
• 2012/11/24: CDL: Dr. Charles Wax
• 2012/11/19: TStar: Fight against climate change blocked by Luddites at Big Oil: McQuaig
• 2012/11/25: CDL: Michael Beanstock
• 2012/11/25: GLaden: Skeptics: How do you know what to "believe"?
• 2012/11/25: UKISS: Bob Tisdale - making comments disappear
• 2012/11/25: DeSmogBlog: ACCCE PR Rhetoric On Low-Income Households Does Not Compute
• 2012/11/24: WaPo: Climate skeptic group works to reverse renewable energy mandates
  The Heartland Institute, a libertarian think tank skeptical of climate change science, has joined with the conservative American Legislative Exchange Council to write model legislation aimed at reversing state renewable energy mandates across the country. The Electricity Freedom Act, adopted by the council's board of directors in October, would repeal state standards requiring utilities to get a portion of their electricity from renewable power, calling it "essentially a tax on consumers of electricity." Twenty-nine states and the District of Columbia have binding renewable standards; in the absence of federal climate legislation, these initiatives have become the subject of intense political battles. The legislative council, or ALEC, is a conservative-leaning group of state legislators from all 50 states that has sought to roll back climate regulation in the past.
• 2012/11/20: Stoat: When will it start cooling? (again)
• 2012/11/20: AFTIC: The Unlearnt Lesson
• 2012/11/19: EclecticLip: Norquist knee-capped by Koch-backed "Shift Disturbers"
• 2012/11/18: WottsUWT: Frontline responds to complaints about Oct 23 "Climate of Doubt": Here, the Rebuttal to Frontline that PBS Ombudsman Won't Put Online [d]

  More on Climate Dialogue:

• 2012/11/23: JEB: [Climate] Dialogue or denialogue?
• 2012/11/18: ERabett: The Ice Melts at Midlight

  As for climate miscellanea:

• 2012/11/20: WtD: Remember the Alamo, or the state of the climate debate (partial re-post)
• 2012/11/25: WtD: Image of day: the Statue of Liberty Underwater?
• 2012/11/19: ERabett: Hot Time, Summer in the City
• 2012/11/19: CChallenge: ChrisColose.wordpress.com... has moved to www.climatephys.org

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

• Sandbag: Real action on climate change
• Tasmania Fire Service
• CDL: the Climate Denier List
• Strange Weather - Gonzo Climate Science and Meteorological Musings . In Frenglish only.
• UN Climate Change Conference - COP 18 - Qatar site
• Climate Analytics - Preventing dangerous climate change
• Life Itself [Tad Patzek blog]
• SourceWatch: National Economic Research Associates
• CC&S: The Center for Climate & Security
• ZEP: Zero Emissions Platform
• OSGATA: Organic Seed Growers & Trade Association
• Wiki: Bioprecipitation
• Oxford Geoengineering Programme
• GCP: Global Carbon Project

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

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

"I have yet to meet a climate scientist who does not believe that global warming is a worse problem than they thought a few years ago. The seriousness of this change is not appreciated by politicians and the public." -Jeremy Grantham

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