Another Week of GW News, January 6, 2013

Logging the Onset of The Bottleneck Years

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

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Another Week of Global Warming News

Sipping from the Internet Firehose...

January 6, 2013

• Chuckles, COP19+, Object Lesson, Tasmania, Retrospectives
• Bottom Line, Pricing Nature, Thermodynamics, Cook
• Fukushima Note, Fukushima News, Nuclear Policy
• Melting Arctic, Kulluk, Geopolitics, Antarctica
• Food Crisis, Fisheries, Food Prices, Food vs. Biofuel, GMOs, GMO Labelling, Food Production
• Hurricanes, GHGs, Carbon Cycle, Temperatures, Feedbacks, Paleoclimate, Attribution
• ENSO, Climate Sensitivity, Oceans, Biosphere, Extinctions Earthquakes,
• Impacts, Forests, Notable Weather, Wacky Weather, New Weather
• Wildfires, Corals, Glaciers, Sea Levels, GW Deluge, Floods & Droughts
• Mitigation, Transportation, Buildings, Sequestration, Geoengineering, Conservation, Restoration
• Journals, Other Docs, Misc., Open Science, Woese, Laxon, Santer
• International Politics: Hormuz, South China Sea, Bolivia & Spain
• Solar Spats, Falklands , Law & Activism, Activism, H2O Biz
• National Politics: America, BP Disaster, Post Sandy, Fiscal Cliff, Keystone
• Birth Control, Coal Exports, Jackson, Obama, USAdmin, Congress
• Britain, Europe, Australia, Ghost Gums, Murray-Darling, China, South America
• Canada, Idle No More, Northern Gateway, Treaties, Survey, Tar Sands, Alberta, Ontario, Maritimes
• Ecological Economics, IPAT, Apocalypso, Media, Books, Video, Podcasts, Courts
• Energy, Transitions, Fracking, Coal, Oil & Gas, Independence, Pipelines, Biofuel
• Wind, Solar, Nukes, Nuclear Waste, Efficiency, Cars, Energy Storage
• Insurance, FAQs, Joe's List, Carbon Lobby, Misc., Useful Links
• Shameless Self Promotion, .sig

 

Is funny. Yes?

• 2013/01/03: uComics: (cartoon - Auth) Your Congress ...
• 2013/01/05: TP:JR: (cartoon - Bors) The Twelve Months of Climate Change
  

  And for those who enjoy challenging Poe's Law:

• 2013/01/02: Wonkette: Reports: Congress Expected To Continue Acting Insane
  

  Looking ahead to COP19 and future international climate negotiations:

• 2013/01/03: EurActiv: Delayed action raises costs of climate change, study says
  An agreement by almost 200 nations to curb rising greenhouse gas emissions from 2020 will be far more costly than taking action now to tackle climate change, a new report says.
• 2013/01/02: Grist:Kyoto's first phase expires as greenhouse gas emissions and dirty energy use spike
• 2013/01/02: NatureN: Politics is biggest factor in climate uncertainty
  Delaying action on emissions will increase costs and reduce chances of limiting temperature increase.
• 
  

  An object lesson on how corporations screw the natural world legally, yet irresponsibly:

   

• 2012/12/31: PostMedia: Let insurance market decide on safety of Northern Gateway
  Enbridge is spending a lot of money advertising in newspapers and on TV to persuade us its planned Northern Gateway pipeline will be safe. It is significant that Enbridge Inc. has set up a special company for this project (Northern Gateway Pipelines, Inc. or NGPI). Setting up NGPI breaks the liability ties to the principal multibillion-dollar company. If there were a disaster that costs billions to clean up, Enbridge management could walk away scot-free after declaring NGPI bankrupt. Commercial law limits the liability of the owners of any company (like NGPI) to its issued capital, which by design is a small fraction of Enbridge's capitalization.
• 
  

  A severe [40C+] heatwave in Australia has been accompanied by wildfire outbreaks:

   

• 2013/01/06: SMH: [Tasmanian] Police begin grim search for fire victims
• 2013/01/06: WtD: Exodus: residents forced to shelter "up to their necks in water"; 1000 evacuated by boat from Tasman peninsula; fears for those still missing
• 2013/01/06: ABC(Au): Tasmanian Bushfires Appeal
• 2013/01/06: ABC(Au): Fears for missing residents as fire fighting continues
• 2013/01/06: BBC: Australia bushfires: Tasmania search for 100 'missing'
  Australian police are combing towns in Tasmania looking for 100 unaccounted people following wildfires which have ravaged the south of the island state. Tasmania's police commissioner has said that they fear some may have lost their lives in the fires. Almost 3,000 people have been evacuated from their homes, many stranded in emergency shelters. On Friday, Tasmania experienced its peak temperature since records began with levels hitting 41.8C. The national weather bureau has warned extremely hot conditions are expected across much of the country next week.
• 2013/01/06: BBC: In pictures: Tasmania wildfires
• 2013/01/06: ABC(Au): Thousands stranded as crews continue to battle fires
  Fire crews are still battling out of control blazes as fears grow for around 100 people who police say are missing since the bushfires tore across Tasmania since Friday.
• 2013/01/06: ABC(Au): Stories of survival emerge from Tas inferno
  Stories of survival and courage are emerging from the bushfires which have devastated entire communities across parts of Tasmania. Firefighters are still battling blazes as fears grow for about 100 people unaccounted for in the fires which tore across the state destroying more than 100 homes since Friday.
• 2013/01/06: al Jazeera: Scores still missing after Tasmania wildfires
  Rescue teams search for more than 100 missing people after wildfires swept through Australian island state of Tasmania.
• 2013/01/06: ABC(Au): Fears for missing residents as fire fighting continues [pix]
  Police fear there may have been deaths in the fire-ravaged south-east of Tasmania, with a number of people reported missing. Since Friday, more than 100 homes have been destroyed by a bushfire between Forcett and the Tasman Peninsula, in the state's south-east. Residents of the worst-affected town of Dunalley have told of how they were forced to dive into the canal in the middle of the town to escape the wall of flames coming towards them on Friday. State Acting Police Commissioner Scott Tilyard says there are grave fears for a small number of people reported missing.
• 2013/01/06: ABC(Au): Gusty weather prompts fire bans in NSW
  Firefighters are trying to contain 70 fires burning around New South Wales as conditions worsen today.
• 2013/01/06: ABC(Au): Crews battle to control Vic pine plantation blaze
  Victorian firefighters have worked through the night to control a large blaze at a pine plantation at Kentbruck in the state's far south-west. The fire has burned through more than 2,500 hectares of plantation and national park between Nelson and Portland since Friday.
• 2013/01/05: Guardian(UK): Bushfires in Tasmania - in [10] pictures
  More than 100 homes destroyed and thousands of people displaced on Australian island state of Tasmania due to dozens of wildfires sparked by record high temperatures
• 2013/01/05: DD: New South Wales faces most dangerous bushfire threat in 12 years as state swelters through record-breaking heatwave - 'It is too late to leave'
• 2013/01/05: ABC(Au): Crews battle to control Vic bushfire [pix]
• 2013/01/05: al Jazeera: Tasmania wildfires force thousands to flee
  Blazes on Australian island destroy at least 80 properties, as heatwave continues over much of Tasman Peninsula.
• 2013/01/05: al Jazeera: Heatwave sparks bushfires across Australia
  Bushfires rage across Australia as the country experiences one of its worst heatwaves in the last 50 years.
• 2013/01/05: ABC(Au): Tragic scenes as fires destroy homes across Tas [pix]
  Thousands of residents and tourists are stranded across parts of Tasmania overnight after bushfires destroyed more than 100 properties and cut off communities. The bushfire threat has been downgraded but authorities are warning residents to remain on alert as fires continue to burn.
• 2013/01/05: ABC(Au): More homes destroyed as fires downgraded
  Two major bushfires in Tasmania which had forced hundreds of residents to evacuate have been downgraded but authorities say some homes have been lost. The Forcett fire, east of Hobart, has spread and is still active at Taranna and near the larger communities of Forcett, Eaglehawk Neck and Dodges Ferry. Chief fire officer Mike Brown says the fire has been downgraded from an emergency listing to a watch and act.
• 2013/01/05: ABC(Au): Tasmania hit by devastating bushfire
• 2013/01/05: ABC(Au): Fires burn in NSW, Vic, SA, Qld
• 2013/01/05: ABC(Au): Adelaide scorcher is city's fourth hottest day on record
• 2013/01/04: ABC(Au): Live blog: Fires rage across Tasmania [pix]
• 2013/01/04: CBC: Wildfires rage across southern Australia -- Temperature hit 42 C in Hobart, Tasmania, on Friday
• 2013/01/04: ABC(Au): Fire risk high as southern states swelter
  Extremely hot, dry and windy conditions have put southern states on the most extreme fire alert for several years. Temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius are forecast across a wide area, as a heatwave continues to grip the region.
• 2013/01/04: CCP: Unbelievable record heat in Australia -- 48.2 C or 118.8 F -- Bushfires savage towns as heatwave hits five states
• 2013/01/04: SMH: Sydney to be spared worst of giant heat wave
• 2013/01/04: BBC: Tasmania wildfires force thousands to flee
• 2013/01/04: WtD: "Catastrophic" Tasmanian fires; reports of one dead, 80 homes lost
• 2013/01/04: DD: Hundreds flee in Tasmania as wildfires spread across Australia - Hobart records highest temperature since 1881 - 'This has been an extraordinary day'
• 2013/01/04: CapClimate: All-Time Heat Record in Tasmania
• 2013/01/04: ABC(Au): Queenslanders brace for another scorcher day
• 2013/01/04: ABC(Au): Western NSW set to swelter in heatwave
• 2013/01/04: ABC(Au): Fire crews battle blazes in hot gusty conditions
• 2013/01/03: WtD: 2013 may be warmest on record, Australia swelters under heat wave -- hint CO2 may be a factor
• 2013/01/03: WtD: Red: stunning image of Australia's heat wave
• 2013/01/03: DD: Heatwave across Australia set to break records - 'Most serious bushfire threat in more than a decade'
• 2013/01/03: ABC(Au): Temperatures are expected to hit 47 degrees Celsius in parts of outback Queensland before the weekend
• 2013/01/02: DD: Australia set to swelter as biggest heatwave in decades settles in
• 2013/01/03: DD: Boreal forests dying as Alaska warms
• 2013/01/03: ABC(Au): Tasmanian fire crews battle major blazes
• 2013/01/03: WtD: The new normal (part 29): heat wave covering most of Australia
• 2013/01/03: ABC(Au): Weather warning -- Firefighters on alert as temperatures soar
  Victorian authorities are preparing for the worst fire danger since the Black Saturday bushfires of 2009. More than 8,000 firefighters are on alert. Temperatures are expected to hover around or above 40 degrees Celsius for the next six days.
• 2013/01/02: ABC(Au): South east Australia prepares for a roasting
  Several states are preparing for high temperatures and serious fire danger in coming days as a heatwave crosses the south east of the country. In South Australia, temperatures in the high 40's are expected on Friday with tops of up to 50 degrees possible in the west and north of the state.
• 2013/01/02: ABC(Au): Out of control grassfire jumps Macquarie River
• 2013/01/02: ABC(Au): Southern fire ban from midnight
  Tasmania's Fire Service is warning of severe fire weather as temperatures rise over the coming days.
• 2013/01/01: ABC(Au): Firefighters have contained a bushfire that had been threatening homes in Albury in south-west New South Wales
  

  Still some year end retrospectives:

• 2013/01/04: UCSUSA:B: Another Record-Breaking Year for Climate Change
• 2013/01/04: ClimateShifts: 2012's Surreal Record Warmth in the USA
• 2013/01/01: CCP: George Monbiot: Annus Horribilis -- 2012 was the worst year for the environment in living memory
• 2012/12/31: CER:RRapier: The Top 10 Energy Stories of 2012
• 2013/01/01: ICH: 2012: The Year We Did Our Best To Abandon The Natural World
  Emissions are rising, ice is melting and yet the response of governments is simply to pretend that none of it is happening
• 2013/01/01: TMoS: Monbiot, 2012 - The Year of the Great Polishing
• 2013/01/01: Grist: 10, 9, 8, 7 ... Counting down the most popular Grist stories of 2012
• 2012/12/31: DD: The exceptional U.S. wildfire season of 2012 - The top 5 U.S. wildfires of 2012
• 2012/12/31: DD: Climate Central: Hurricane Sandy tops list of 2012 extreme weather and climate events
• 2012/12/31: Wunderground: The Exceptional U.S. Wildfire Season of 2012
• 2012/12/31: CDreams: Story of the Year: It's Global Warming, Stupid
• 2012/12/31: Guardian(UK): 2012: the year we did our best to abandon the natural world by George Monbiot
  Emissions are rising, ice is melting and yet the response of governments is simply to pretend that none of it is happening
• 2012/12/31: PlanetJ: 2012: The year the world snoozed
• 2012/12/31: CassandrasLegacy: What we learned in 2012
• 2012/12/30: TP:JR: The Year In Solar Power: Prices Crash, Sales Soar, Industry Restructures, Saudis Leap In, CSP Suffers
• 2012/12/31: NPR: A Busy And Head-Scratching 2012 Hurricane Season
• 2012/12/30: ERabett: Sandy
  

  And on the Bottom Line:

• 2013/01/04: 350orBust: New Report Connects Dots Between Political Inaction & Growing Cost Of Climate Change
  

  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?

• 2013/01/02: National(AE): Ecuador finds way for conservation to pay in protecting rainforest
  Deep in the Amazon, hidden by the steamy vegetation and the fertile soil of the rainforest, lies one of the greatest treasures. The Yasuní nature reserve in Ecuador is a stunning display of natural beauty. Located at the intersection of the Andes mountains and the Equator, it has for centuries been insulated from climate change, allowing an unusual amount of species to thrive. As a result, the protected area offers an unrivalled biodiversity. "The last place in the Amazon that is still virgin forest is the Yasuní. There is more variety in flora and fauna in one hectare than in the US, Canada and Mexico together," says Ivonne A-Baki, Ecuadorian secretary of state.
  [...]
  Taking a leaf out of conventional climate change mitigation efforts, in which rich countries buy the right to pollute by paying poorer countries to offset their emissions, Ecuador and the United Nations Development Programme have created a trust fund that pays the country to leave Yasuní's oil reserves untapped, saving the area from destruction. Funds flowing to developing countries under carbon emission trading mechanisms finance reforestation, but cutting down Yasuní's ancient forests to get such funding would defeat the objective, and new thinking had to be deployed.
• 
  

  Delving into the laws of thermodynamics this week:

   

• 2013/01/05: TSoD: Visualizing Atmospheric Radiation - Part Two
• 2013/01/03: TSoD: Visualizing Atmospheric Radiation - Part One
• 2013/01/01: ERabett: There Are Times That Try Bunny's Brains
  

  John Cook and friends continue their point-counterpoint articles:

• 2013/01/06: SkS: Dutch translation of The Debunking Handbook
• 2013/01/06: SkS: Climate Show New Year podcast special: where it's at and where it's going by Gareth
• 2013/01/05: SkS: 2013 SkS Weekly News Roundup #1 by John Hartz
• 2013/01/04: SkS: Lean Manufacturing: Addressing Climate Change Through Reductions In Waste by Rob Honeycutt
• 2013/01/04: SkS: Frequently Asked Questions About Ocean Acidification by Rob Painting
• 2013/01/03: SkS: Putting an End to the Myth that Renewable Energy is too Expensive by dana1981
• 2013/01/02: SkS: The Dirt on Climate by jg
• 2013/01/01: SkS: 2012 in Review - a Major Year for Climate Change by dana1981
• 2012/12/31: SkS: New research from last week 52/2012 by Ari Jokimäki
• 2012/12/30: SkS: 2012 SkS Weekly Digest #52 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:

   

• NADP: Measurement of Radioactive Fallout from the March 2011 Fukushima Nuclear Reactor Incident
• 2013/01/05: DD: Crooked Cleanup: Radioactive waste dumped into rivers during decontamination work in Fukushima
• 2013/01/05: EneNews: Fukushima Film: Stores were looted on 3/11, everything stolen - Media reported everyone standing in line, gov't said only beautiful things (video)
• 2013/01/05: EneNews: NHK: Radiation levels increasing at Fukushima plant - "No solution to tainted water" - Hundreds of tons flowing into reactor buildings every day (video)
• 2013/01/05: JapanTimes: Tepco's Fukushima HQ starts operations -- Futaba mayor: Citizens may be able to go home after 30 years
  Tokyo Electric Power Co. on Friday opened a Fukushima headquarters at J Village in Naraha to better deal with redress and other pressing issues related to the nuclear disaster. The compensation claims Tepco faces are expected to be staggering, as indicated by the mayor of one of the communities uprooted by the radiation calamity who said that if all goes well, people from his town may be able to return to their homes in some 30 years, or the half-life of the radioactive cesium that contaminated their community.
• 2013/01/05: Asahi: Crooked Cleanup: Government mishandled complaints about shoddy cleanup work
• 2013/01/04: Asahi: Crooked Cleanup (1): Radioactive waste dumped into rivers during decontamination work in Fukushima
• 2013/01/04: Asahi: Crooked Cleanup (3): Reporters document extent of shoddy decontamination practices
• 2013/01/04: Asahi: Crooked Cleanup (2): Some decontamination workers sorry for following orders
• 2013/01/04: EneNews: Newspaper: Workers dumping radioactive waste from Fukushima into rivers (photos)
• 2013/01/03: EneNews: [link to 2.7 meg pdf] Analysis of how far corium penetrated underneath Fukushima reactor (images)
• 2012/12/31: EneNews: Almost entire ground-level of Northern Hemisphere covered in radioactive fission product after 3/11 (graphic) ...
• 2012/09/: Springer:P&AG: (ab$) Analysis of Radionuclide Releases from the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant Accident Part II by Pascal Achim et al.
• 2012/12/31: EneNews: Kyodo: US gov't sent "special team to counter nuclear terrorism" to Fukushima after 3/11 - Radiation data known by officials early on
• 2012/12/30: EneNews: Former NRC Chairman [Jaxzko] in Fukushima: No excuse for any of us in nuclear arena to let this happen...
  

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

• 2013/01/04: CDreams: No Return to Nuclear Power: German Environment Minister
  Environment Minister Peter Altmaier vows country will stay on track to phase out nuclear power
• 2012/12/31: EUO: Nuclear power to stay in Germany, says EU commissioner
• 2013/01/01: EneNews: Japan Times: Prime Minister's position on nuclear power "extremely regrettable" - "Deplorable" decision to continue fuel cycle project
• 2012/12/31: EneNews: Prime Minister: Japan will build more nuke plants
• 2012/12/30: NYT: Japan's New Leader Endorses Nuclear Plants
  The newly elected prime minister of Japan, Shinzo Abe, said Sunday that he would seek to build nuclear reactors, reversing within a week in office a campaign pledge to move Japan away from nuclear power.
• 
  

  The Arctic melt continues to garner attention:

   

• 2013/01/03: ASI: All Arctic storms, great and small
• 2013/01/03: EurActiv: Arctic Sea ice loss will cause 'pronounced' future melt, study finds
  A new study has found that Arctic Sea ice melt is creating a warming spiral, with the thinner winter sheets that replace long-term sea ice absorbing more solar heat and energy.
• 2013/01/02: CCP: Albedo flip in Arctic speeding up sea ice melt
• 2012/12/30: CCP: Great Arctic Cyclone of 2012 really was impressive
• 2012/12/30: CCP: Dark Snow Project crowd-source funding for Greenland ice sheet research
  

  There was a lot of chatter about the Shell oil rig Kulluk running aground:

• 2013/01/05: LoE: Greenpeace --- we told you this would happen
• 2013/01/05: DD: New twist in stricken Alaska rig saga: Shell was moving it to avoid tax - Salvors board to make initial assessment
• 2013/01/04: TP:JR: Timeline: Documenting Shell's 2012 Arctic Drilling Debacle
• 2013/01/04: WSWS: Shell Oil Arctic drilling rig runs aground
• 2013/01/03: DeSmogBlog: Shell's Kulluk Rig Grounding Proves Folly of Arctic Oil Drilling, Again
• 2013/01/03: CCP: Finally, the real story and details of the Kulluk -- tax avoidance and multiple tow line breaks
  Shell hoped to save millions in taxes by moving now-grounded drill rig out of Alaska
• 2013/01/03: CBC: Alaska rig grounding refuels Arctic drilling debate
• 2013/01/03: ABC(Au): Runaway oil rig drags tugs through Alaskan storm
• 2013/01/02: CDreams: Thirty Foot Waves, Arctic Storm Batter Shell's Grounded Oil Rig
  'Shell stands to profit from drilling in the Arctic Ocean, yet we all bear the risks.'
• 2013/01/02: EneNews: Alaska Official: Grounded oil rig "presents significant threat to Ocean Bay and surrounding areas"
• 2013/01/02: CCP: Runaway oil rig drags tugs through Alaskan storm
• 2013/01/02: TP:JR: Shell Runs Its Arctic Drilling Rig Aground; Coast Guard Prepares For 'Possible Spill-Response'
• 2013/01/02: Grist:Shell squeezes one last Arctic screwup into 2012
• 2013/01/02: TreeHugger: Shell Oil Rig Runs Aground in Alaska with 139,000 Gallons of Fuel on Board
• 2013/01/02: EneNews: Flyover footage of oil rig grounded on rocks near Alaska coast (video)
• 2013/01/02: CSM: Stranded Alaska oil rig: Example of safe practices or Arctic risks?
• 2013/01/02: BBC: Attempts to rescue a Shell drill rig grounded off the Alaskan coast have been delayed because of high seas and strong winds
• 2013/01/01: NYT: [Shell oil] Rig Runs Aground in Alaska, Reviving Fears About Arctic Drilling
• 2013/01/01: CCP: Salvage crews await weather as Shell's grounded Arctic drill rig Kulluk sways in place
• 2013/01/01: ASI: Shell drill spill?
• 2013/01/01: DD: Shell drilling rig runs aground in heavy Alaska seas
• 2013/01/01: CDreams: Warnings Ignored, Shell's Arctic Drilling Rig Runs Aground Off Alaskan Coast
  Environmentalists: 'Shell's costly drilling experiment in the Arctic Ocean needs to be stopped'; rig loaded with 150,000 gallons of fuel
• 2013/01/01: Guardian(UK): Oil ship runs aground in Alaska
  Drill ship, the Kulluk, carrying about 155,000 gallons of fuel, drifted in stormy weather before being driven on to rocks
• 2013/01/01: CCP: Shell oil rig Kulluk runs aground off on rocks off the southeast side of Sitkalidak Island, an uninhabited island in the Gulf of Alaska
• 2012/12/31: NYT: Runaway Oil Rig Off Alaska Under Control, Shell Says
• 2012/12/31: CDreams: Shell Oil Rig Adrift in Alaskan Arctic -- Crisis raises flags about oil companies' preparedness and dangers of drilling
• 2013/01/01: iPolitics: Arctic energy rush runs into a reality check
• 2012/12/31: ADN: Shell Oil drilling vessel is adrift in Gulf of Alaska
• 2012/12/30: CCP: Aivik loses tow line to Shell's Kulluk rig, rig evacuated, Aivik's engines damaged in high seas contamination of fuel with sea water
• 2012/12/30: CCP: Coast Guard evacuaties Shell's Kulluk drilling rig south of Kodiak. Engines fail on Aiviq
• 2012/12/30: CCP: Coast Guard Helicopter Rescues Crew From Imperiled Shell Arctic Drilling Rig
  

  And in other Arctic geopolitics:

• 2013/01/04: BBC: Iceland awards oil and gas exploration licences
  Iceland has awarded two licences for oil and gas exploration and production in the waters off the north east coast of the Atlantic island. The licences have gone to Faroe Petroleum and Valiant Petroleum, with Norway taking a 25% stake in both through state-owned oil firm Petoro. Experts have predicted the Arctic could be the next major oil-producing region.
• 2013/01/03: ADN: Obama administration, key Congress members standing by plans to drill offshore in the Arctic
• 2013/01/04: iPolitics: Russia set to dominate Arctic shipping unless Canada, US step up
• 2012/12/26: McClatchyDC: Economic wave may course through icy, but melting, Arctic
  Is the melting of the Arctic Ocean ice opening a new shortcut for shipping and an international race for oil and gas?
• 
  

  While in Antarctica:

   

• 2013/01/03: PSinclair: Next Time Someone Tells you "Antarctic Sea Ice is Growing", Show them These
• 2012/12/24: NSF: Study Finds That Portions of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet Are Warming Twice as Fast as Previously Thought -- Findings could have important implications for global sea-level rise
• 2012/12/30: Mining: It's getting warm in Antarctica, but mining still a pipe dream
  

  The food crisis is ongoing:

• 2013/01/06: ProMedMail: Anthrax - Zimbabwe: (MA), human, livestock
• 2013/01/05: CCurrents: One In Every Eight People On Earth Goes To Bed Hungry Each Night
• 2013/01/05: SimpleC: Climate limits room at the global dinner table
• 2013/01/03: EUO: Red Cross to help southern Europe amid euro crisis
• 2013/01/02: Grist:Chilling effect: How warmer winters could ruin fruit
• 2012/12/31: WSWS: Fear of food scarcity hits US capital, outlying suburbs
  

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

• 2013/01/05: BBC: Japan bluefin tuna fetches record $1.7m
  [...]
  The sale came amid continued warnings from environmentalists that tuna stocks are dwindling and overfished.
• 2013/01/05: ABC(Au): Sushi restaurant pays $1.7m for bluefin tuna
• 2013/01/05: TMoS: One Fish. One Point Seven Million Dollars. Adios, Blue Fin.
• 2013/01/01: GlobalPost: Climate change threatens French wine
  

  Food Prices are still problematic:

• FAO: World Food Situation - Food Price Indices
• 2013/01/02: Telegraph(UK): Cost of food 'not going to stop' rising, warns UK chief scientist [John Beddington]
  Food price inflation will only get worse as the rising global population and climate change add to the volatility faced by British consumers, the government's chief scientist warned today.
• 2012/12/31: CSM: Food price outlook: Will Buffalo wings break your budget in 2013?
  

  The conflict between biofuel and food persists:

• 2013/01/02: UCSUSA:B: The Food Versus Fuel Fight Is About Much More than Corn
• 2013/01/01: AutoBG: Ethanol producers thinking of using corn for ... food
• 2013/01/02: CSM: Food vs. fuel debate: It's about much more than corn
  

  Regarding the genetic modification of food:

• 2013/01/05: ERabett:BSD: Precautionary principle possibilities [GMOs]
• 2013/01/05: CCurrents: Blowing In The Wind: The Global Control Of Food, Countries And Populations
• 2013/01/04: QuarkSoup: Mark Lynas: Far Worse Than Tunguskee
• 2013/01/04: ERabett: Pong
• 2013/01/03: CDreams: In 2013, Our Fight Against GMO Food Continues
• 2013/01/03: Slate: Leading Environmental Activist's Blunt Confession: I Was Completely Wrong To Oppose GMOs
• 2013/01/03: ERabett: Caution
• 2013/01/03: MLynas: Lecture to Oxford Farming Conference [GMOs]
• 2013/01/02: France24: Poland bans cultivation of GM maize, potatoes
• 2013/01/02: CDreams: Food Poisoning on a Global Scale by Vandana Shiva
• 2013/01/02: CDreams: Poland Bans Genetically Modified Corn, Potatoes
• 2013/01/02: Stoat: GMOs: Seven Obvious Questions in Search of Straightforward Answers?
• 2012/12/30: CCurrents: Insight Into The Mindset Of The GMO Industry
  

  Regarding labelling GM food:

• 2013/01/04: Grist: GMO labeling initiative gets rolling in Washington state
  

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

• 2013/01/02: CCP: 300-year-old food forest on 2 acres in Viet Nam
• 2013/01/01: SciAm:Obs: How Corn Syrup Might Be Making Us Hungry...and Fat
• 2013/01/02: UCincinnati: Research Unearths Terrace Farming at Ancient Desert City of Petra
• 2012/12/31: NakedCapitalism: Bullock Brothers Homestead -- A 25-Year Permaculture Project
• 2012/12/31: CBC: Canpotex to ship 1 million tonnes of potash to China
  

  In the Western Pacific, after zinging the Solomon Islands Tropical Cyclone Freda [05P] hit New Caledonia and faded:

• 2013/01/03: ABC(Au): One killed as Cyclone Freda hits New Caledonia
• 2013/01/02: Eureka: NASA sees a struggling post-Tropical Storm Freda affecting New Caledonia
• 2013/01/02: ABC(Au): Cyclone Freda moves away from Queensland coast
• 2012/12/31: NASA: NASA Satellites Saw Cyclone Freda's Widening Eye
• 2012/12/31: ABC(Au): Cyclone Freda to weaken on New Caledonia approach
  Tropical Cyclone Freda is expected to start affecting the northern part of New Caledonia from tonight. Freda hit the most southern parts of Solomon Islands over the weekend. It's located about 600 kilometres north west of Noumea and currently tracking southeastwards, says forecaster Terry Atalifo from Fiji's weather office.

• Also in the Western Pacific, Sonamu [01W] formed by the Southern Philippines and took a run at Malaysia:

• 2013/01/04: Eureka: NASA catches Tropical Storm Sonamu in South China Sea
• 2013/01/03: Eureka: NASA sees Tropical Depression [01W] Sonamu form near Philippines
  

  In the South Indian Ocean, Dumile stayed away from land and faded:

• 2013/01/04: Eureka: NASA sees Cyclone Dumile moving over open ocean
• 2013/01/03: Eureka: 2 NASA satellites see Cyclone Dumile over La Reunion and Mauritius
  

  As for GHGs:

• 2013/01/04: CDreams: 'Alarmingly High Methane Emissions' from Natural Gas Extraction
  New findings suggest higher than previously noted levels of potent greenhouse gas leaked
• 2013/01/02: TP:JR: Bridge To Nowhere? NOAA Confirms High Methane Leakage Rate Up To 9% From Gas Fields, Gutting Climate Benefit
• 2013/01/02: NatureN: Methane leaks erode green credentials of natural gas
  Losses of up to 9% show need for broader data on US gas industry's environmental impact.
• 2013/01/01: RBroberg: Happy New Year: EIA US CO2 Emissions
• 2012/12/31: BBC: Ghana bans second-hand fridges
  A ban on the import of second-hand refrigerators is coming into force in Ghana to reduce energy consumption and harm to the environment. Many old fridges contain chemicals called Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) which damage the Earth's ozone layer. Although these are already banned or being phased out, they are thought to be commonly used in Africa.
• 
  

  And in the carbon cycle:

   

• 2013/01/02: ERW: Gypsy moth harms forest carbon sink
  

  As for the temperature record:

• 2013/01/03: DD: 2012's surreal record warmth in the United States - '362 all-time record highs, zero all-time record lows'
• 2013/01/03: CapClimate: Record Warmest Year in Midwest
• 2013/01/04: CapClimate: Record Warmest Year for Entire Northeast
• 2012/12/30: DD: Delaware closes out hottest year on record
  

  Yes we have feedbacks:

• 2012/12/31: SCV: Global warming research eyes 'runaway' ice melt
  

  While in the paleoclimate:

• 2013/01/01: EarthMag: Travels in Geology: Famous fossils and spectacular scenery at British Columbia's Burgess Shale
• 2013/01/02: CCentral: Radiocarbon Dating: Nature's Timepiece Gets a Tune-Up
  

  In the attribution debate:

• 2013/01/04: EurActiv: Scientists link global warming to England's rainiest year on record
  Senior climate scientists are linking global warming to the UK Met Office's announcement yesterday (3 January) that 2012 was England's rainiest year since records began. The weather service's numbers showed that due to slightly more seasonal figures in Wales and Scotland, the UK as a whole experienced its second wettest summer recorded. But four of the UK's Top Five wettest years have now occurred since 2000, a statistic in line with the expectations of climatologists who model the effects of a warming world.
• 
  

  While on the el Niño/la Niña [ENSO] front:

   

• 2013/01/03: CCentral: Global Warming-El Nino Link Stronger but Still Not Proven
  

  Regarding Climate Sensitivity:

• 2013/01/03: RealClimate: On sensitivity: Part I
• 2013/01/04: RealClimate: On Sensitivity Part II: Constraining Cloud Feedback without Cloud Observations
  

  And the State of the Oceans:

• 2013/01/04: ABC(Au): Jellyfish numbers on the rise, expert says
  A marine stinger researcher says there has been a disturbing increase in jellyfish numbers around Australia. Dr Lisa Gershwin has confirmed the deadly irukandji was responsible for several recent attacks off Fraser Island in south-east Queensland.
• 
  

  What's new in Biodiversity?

   

• 2013/01/04: NatureN: Flesh-eating flies map forest biodiversity -- DNA in insects' guts reveals inventory of rare mammals
  

  What's new on the extinction front?

• 2013/01/04: CNN: Shark finning thrives on Hong Kong's rooftops
• 2013/01/04: ABC(Au): Echidna find rewrites natural history books
• 2013/01/03: NatGeo:Laelaps: The Javan Rhino -- And then there was one
• 2013/01/02: SciAm:TZ: Mysteries of the diceratheriine rhinos
• 2012/11/30: DeutscheWelle: Elephant poaching in Africa continues unabated
  The pressure on Africa's elephants is increasing. Asia's markets are demanding ivory and criminal networks are all too willing to provide fresh supplies. The animals are not even safe in national parks.
• 2012/12/27: NOAA: Shipping Lanes to be Adjusted to Protect Endangered Whales Along California Coast
• 2012/12/28: LA Times: Some Arctic seals now officially listed as threatened with extinction
  First came the polar bear. Now, the federal government has added two other marine mammals to the list of creatures threatened with extinction because of vanishing sea ice in a warming Arctic. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has officially listed bearded seal and the ringed seal as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.
• 
  

  We have the Climate Change and Earthquake hypothesis, now the Melting Glaciers and Volcanoes hypothesis?

   

• 2013/01/05: CCurrents: Climate Crisis Could Increase Volcanic Eruptions
  

  More GW impacts are being seen:

• 2013/01/04: Guardian(UK): 2012: the year Britain's weather turned dangerous
  Record rainfall led to widespread flooding, killing nine people, ruining crops and costing the country billions
• 
  

  And then there are the world's forests:

   

• 2012/12/29: al Jazeera:B: 'Carbon pirate' acquires Amazon resources
• 2012/12/31: ADN: Alaska's boreal forests undergoing transition
  

  This week in notable weather:

• 2013/01/03: al Jazeera: Deadly winter weather strikes India
  Dense fog and bitterly cold weather have disrupted life across northern India, killing scores of homeless people.
• 
  

  Let's face it... wacky weather just isn't very wacky any more:

   

• 2013/01/01: NorthJersey: A 'very wacky' year for weather hurts people, economies
  

  Rossby Waves? Blocking Patterns? Arctic Oscillation? What is the Arctic melt doing to our weather?

• 2013/01/02: NewScientist: 2013 Smart Guide: Arctic melt will spark weird weather [Pearce]
  

  As for heatwaves and wild fires:

• 2013/01/04: CCP: Unbelievable record heat in Australia -- 48.2 C or 118.8 F -- Bushfires savage towns as heatwave hits five states
• 2013/01/03: WtD: Red: stunning image of Australia's heat wave
• 2013/01/02: MODIS: Fires in Central Africa
• 2013/01/01: ABC(Au): Bushfire burning in Royal National Park
  Dangerous fire conditions are expected to worsen in Sydney's Royal National Park this afternoon.
• 
  

  Corals are a bellwether of the ocean's health:

   

• 2013/01/04: TreeHugger: Surprise Discovery of Deep-Sea Corals In Great Barrier Reef
• 2013/01/02: DD: China's economic boom savages coral reefs: study -- 'Coral abundance has declined by at least 80 percent over the past 30 years'
  

  Glaciers are melting:

• 2013/01/03: FaGP: Glacier de la Girose Retreat, France
• 2012/12/31: FaGP: Snowcap Creek Glacier Retreat, British Columbia
  

  Sea levels are rising:

• 2013/01/02: Eureka: New study documents the natural relationship between CO2 concentrations and sea level
• 2013/01/02: TampaBay: Climate change reality laps up on Florida shores
• 2012/12/31: TreeHugger: Silicon Valley Faces Effects of Climate Change [SLR]
  

  These extreme rainfall events are becoming all too frequent:

• 2013/01/02: BBC: Extreme rainfall in UK 'increasing'
  The frequency of extreme rainfall in the UK may be increasing, according to analysis by the Met Office. Statistics show that days of particularly heavy rainfall have become more common since 1960. The analysis is still preliminary, but the apparent trend mirrors increases in extreme rain seen in other parts of the world.
• 
  

  As for hydrological cycle disruptions [floods & droughts]:

   

• 2013/01/05: Star(My): Floods due to global warming, says [Malaysian PM Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak]
• 2013/01/05: CCurrents: Too Big To Flood? Megacities Face Future of Major Storm Risk
• 2013/01/05: ABC(Au): Forecasters say dry spell not yet a drought
  The Bureau of Meteorology says the dry spell that has affected much of Australia's south has not been of sufficient duration to be considered a drought. The latest heatwave, which put southern states on the most extreme fire alert for several years, came on top of prolonged dry conditions in south-eastern Australia. The bureau says although rainfall has been scarce, there is healthy water storages in waters and dams and it has not been dry for long enough to be considered a drought.
• 2013/01/04: Reuters: Worst drought in decades hits Brazil's Northeast
  Brazil's Northeast is suffering its worst drought in decades, threatening hydro-power supplies in an area prone to blackouts and potentially slowing economic growth in one of the country's emerging agricultural frontiers.
• 2013/01/04: BBC: Predicting the next big flood
• 2013/01/03: BBC: Met Office: 2012 was UK's second wettest year on record
• 2013/01/04: CDreams: Record Low Water Levels in Lake Huron, Lake Michigan -- December's monthly average level smashes record low set in 1964
• 2013/01/03: Guardian(UK): 2012 second wettest year on record for UK
• 2013/01/03: BBC: In pictures: Rio floods
• 2013/01/01: Independent(UK): Commodities fear as mighty Mississippi runs dry in drought
• 2012/12/28: ChicagoTrib: Lake-water infusion to delay [drought-hit] Mississippi closing
• 2013/01/01: SciAm: California Megaflood: Lessons from A Forgotten Catastrophe
  A 43-day storm that began in December 1861 put central and southern California underwater for up to six months, and it could happen again
• 2013/01/01: SciAm: Megastorms Could Drown Massive Portions of California [Preview]
  Huge flows of vapor in the atmosphere, dubbed "atmospheric rivers," have unleashed massive floods every 200 years, and climate change could bring more of them
• 2012/12/31: Guardian(UK): Wettest year ends with downpours -- Hundreds of Environment Agency flood alerts and warnings in place as New Year's celebrations take place
• 2012/12/31: CDreams: Recent Storms Recall Dust Bowl Days as Drought Persists -- 2012's record drought set to continue into 2013
• 2012/12/30: Reuters: Storms on U.S. Plains stir memories of the "Dust Bowl"
  

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

• 2013/01/02: ArcticNews: Turning forest waste into biochar
• 2012/12/31: ArcticNews: How to avoid mass-scale death, destruction and extinction
• 2013/01/02: Eureka: Toward reducing the greenhouse gas emissions of the Internet and telecommunications
  

  Consider transportation & GHG production:

• 2013/01/04: TreeHugger: The Average Fuel Economy of All Vehicles Sold in the U.S. in 2012 was 23.8 MPG
• 2013/01/04: BBC: US car sales rise 13.4% to hit five-year high
  US car sales rose 13.4% in 2012, making it the best year for the industry since 2007, industry figures have shown. [...] Total sales across the industry came in at 14.5 million.
• 2013/01/03: CalcRisk: U.S. Light Vehicle Sales at 15.3 million annual rate in December
• 2013/01/03: DerSpiegel: Continent in Crisis China Overtakes Sluggish Europe in Car Sales
  While European consumers spent much of 2012 fretting about the economic crisis, China managed to surpass the Continent in automobile sales for the first time. Given China's growing middle class, the trend looks set to continue. China will probably outpace Europe in vehicle production this year, too.
  [...]
  ...an unpublished report by Germany's VDA automobile industry association...indicates that whereas 13.2 million cars were registered in China in 2012, in Europe, the total fell from the previous year's 13.6 million to just 12.5 million.
• 2013/01/03: CBC: Chrysler reports best sales year since 2007
  Chrysler's U.S. sales jumped 21 per cent last year...
  [...]
  For December, Chrysler's sales rose 10 per cent to 152,367 cars and trucks...
• 2013/01/02: Resilience: The considerable benefits of decarbonizing urban transport
  

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

• 2013/01/04: TreeHugger: Green Building Megatrends for 2013 From Jerry Yudelson
• 2013/01/03: TreeHugger: Is Hines La Jolla Project America's Largest Net-Zero Energy Office Building? Yes, And That's A Problem
• 2012/12/28: AJC: Atlanta energy-efficient building challenge spreads fast
  

  As for carbon sequestration:

• 2013/01/02: GEP: New CCS Methodology Covers Direct Air Capture [American Carbon Registry]
• 2013/01/05: NYT: Pulling Carbon Dioxide Out of Thin Air
  Whether streaming from the tailpipes of cars or the smokestacks of so many power plants and factories, carbon dioxide emissions keep growing around the globe. Now a Canadian company has developed a cleansing technology that may one day capture and remove some of this heat-trapping gas directly from the sky. And it is even possible that the gas could then be sold for industrial use. Carbon Engineering, formed in 2009 with $3.5 million from Bill Gates and others, created prototypes for parts of its cleanup system in 2011 and 2012 at its plant in Calgary, Alberta. The company, which recently closed a $3 million second round of financing, plans to build a complete pilot plant by the end of 2014 for capturing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, said David Keith, its president and a Harvard professor who has long been interested in climate issues.
• 
  

  Large scale geo-engineering keeps popping up:

   

• 2013/01/04: GCRI: New Paper: Geoengineering Double Catastrophe
• 2013/01/04: SBaum: Double catastrophe: Intermittent stratospheric geoengineering induced by societal collapse by Seth D. Baum et al.
• 2013/01/02: Sci20: Geo-Engineering For Global Warming Needs International Laws With Teeth
• 2013/01/01: ColoradoCollege: [Associate Philosophy Professor] Marion Hourdequin Looks at Ethics of Solar Radiation Management
• 2012/12/06: IISS: Geoengineering: rules needed for climate-altering science
• 2012/12/19: UIowa: The laws of global warming -- How to regulate geo-engineering efforts to fight climate change?
• 2012/12/19: UnderwaterTimes: Geo-Engineering Against Climate Change: Seeding The Oceans With Iron May Not Address Carbon Emissions
  

  What's new in conservation?

• 2013/01/04: BBC: At risk Chilean trees to get safe havens in Perthshire
  Seed collectors are to travel to Chile to collect specimens from endangered trees as part of an initiative creating safe havens for the plants in Perthshire. The iCONic Project will see samples taken from local conifer populations in an attempt to secure the trees' future. Seedlings and young plants will then be brought back to Perthshire.
• 
  

  What's new in restoration?

   

• 2013/01/05: JFleck: Two-Mile Dam, Santa Fe, NM
• 2012/12/31: CSM: Restoring US native prairies, acre by acre, yard by yard
  

  Meanwhile in the journals:

• 2013/01/02: PNAS: (abs) Joint analysis of stressors and ecosystem services to enhance restoration effectiveness by J. David Allan et al.
• 2013/01/02: PNAS: (ab$) Response of vegetation to drought time-scales across global land biomes by Sergio M. Vicente-Serrano et al.
• 2013/01/02: PNAS: (abs) Identifying human influences on atmospheric temperature by Benjamin D. Santer et al.
• 2013/01/02: PNAS: (letter$) QnAs with Benjamin D. Santer by Sujata Gupta
• 2013/01/03: ACP: Influence of biomass burning and anthropogenic emissions on ozone, carbon monoxide and black carbon at the Mt. Cimone GAW-WMO global station (Italy, 2165 m a.s.l.) by P. Cristofanelli et al.
• 2013/01/02: ACP: Implications of the O + OH reaction in hydroxyl nightglow modeling by P. J. S. B. Caridade et al.
• 2013/01/03: ACPD: Combustion efficiency and emission factors for US wildfires by S. P. Urbanski
• 2013/01/02: ACPD: Impact of land convection on the thermal structure of the lower stratosphere as inferred from COSMIC GPS radio occultations by S. M. Khaykin et al.
• 2013/01/04: CPD: Abrupt shifts of the Sahara-Sahel boundary during Heinrich Stadials by J. A. Collins et al.
• 2013/01/04: CPD: Mid-Holocene ocean and vegetation feedbacks over East Asia by Z. Tian & D. Jiang
• 2013/01/03: CPD: An assessment of climate state reconstructions obtained using particle filtering methods by S. Dubinkina & H. Goosse
• 2013/01/02: CPD: Holocene climate variations in the western Antarctic Peninsula: evidence for sea ice extent predominantly controlled by insolation and ENSO variability changes by J. Etourneau et al.
• 2012/12/20: Nature: (abs) Science publishing: Open access must enable open use by Cameron Neylon
• 2012/12/24: ACS:ES&T: (ab$) Dietary Intake of Radiocesium in Adult Residents in Fukushima Prefecture and Neighboring Regions after the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant Accident: 24 hr-Food Duplicate Survey in December 2011 by Kouji H Harada et al.
• 2013/01/04: NERC:NORA: Identification of 100 fundamental ecological questions by William J. Sutherland et al.
• 2013/01/03: NERC:NORA: Potential for bias in 21st century semiempirical sea level projections by S. Jevrejeva et al.
• 2013/01/04: ACP: Aerosol indirect effect on warm clouds over South-East Atlantic, from co-located MODIS and CALIPSO observations by L. Costantino & F.-M. Bréon
• 2013/01/04: ACP: Different characteristics of new particle formation between urban and deciduous forest sites in Northern Japan during the summers of 2010-2011 by J. Jung et al.
• 2013/01/04: ACP: Source apportionment of particles at Station Nord, North East Greenland during 2008-2010 using COPREM and PMF analysis by Q. T. Nguyen et al.
• 2013/01/04: ACPD: Observations of total RONO2 over the boreal forest: NOx sinks and HNO3 sources by E. C. Browne et al.
• 2013/01/04: ACPD: The thermodynamic state of the Arctic atmosphere observed by AIRS: comparisons during the record minimum sea-ice extents of 2007 and 2012 by A. Devasthale et al.
• 2013/01/04: ACPD: Examination of parameterizations for CCN number concentrations based on in-situ aerosol activation property measurements in the North China Plain by Z. Z. Deng et al.
• 2013/01/04: ACPD: Performance of the line-by-line radiative transfer model (LBLRTM) for temperature, water vapor, and trace gas retrievals: recent updates evaluated with IASI case studies by M. J. Alvarado et al.
• 2013/01/04: GMD: Assimilation of OMI NO2 retrievals into the limited-area chemistry-transport model DEHM (V2009.0) with a 3-D OI algorithm by J. D. Silver et al.
• 2013/01/04: OSD: Springtime contribution of dinitrogen fixation to primary production across the Mediterranean Sea by E. Rahav et al.
• 2013/01/04: TC: Stable isotope and gas properties of two climatically contrasting (Pleistocene and Holocene) ice wedges from Cape Mamontov Klyk, Laptev Sea, northern Siberia by T. Boereboom et al.
• 2013/01/04: TC: Manufactured solutions and the verification of three-dimensional Stokes ice-sheet models by W. Leng et al.
• 2013/01/02: TC: Future projections of the Greenland ice sheet energy balance driving the surface melt by B. Franco et al.
• 2013/01/04: TCD: High-resolution interactive modelling of the mountain glacier-atmosphere interface: an application over the Karakoram by E. Collier et al.
• 2013/01/02: TCD: Sensitivity of alpine glacial change detection and mass balance to sampling and datum inconsistencies by T. Goulden et al.
• 2013/01/02: TCD: New estimates of Arctic and Antarctic sea ice extent during September 1964 from recovered Nimbus I satellite imagery by W. N. Meier et al.
• 2013/01/02: TCD: Spatial and temporal variations of glacier extent across the Southern Patagonian Icefield since the 1970s by A. White & L. Copland
• 2013/01/04: SBaum: Double catastrophe: Intermittent stratospheric geoengineering induced by societal collapse by Seth D. Baum et al.
• 2012/10/19: Science: (ab$) A Complete Terrestrial Radiocarbon Record for 11.2 to 52.8 kyr B.P. by Christopher Bronk Ramsey et al.
• 2012/12/27: PLoS:Biology: Disease Ecology, Biodiversity, and the Latitudinal Gradient in Income by Matthew H. Bonds et al.
• 2012/09/: Springer:P&AG: (ab$) Analysis of Radionuclide Releases from the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant Accident Part II by Pascal Achim et al.
• 2012/12/31: AGWObserver: New research from last week 52/2012
  

  And other significant documents:

• 2013/01/03: EneNews: [link to 2.7 meg pdf] Analysis of how far corium penetrated underneath Fukushima reactor (images)
  

  As for miscellaneous science:

• 2013/01/04: CChallenge: "Polynomial cointegration tests of anthropogenic impact on global warming" examined by Tamino
• 2013/01/04: SciNow: Simple Physics May Limit the Size of Leaves
• 2013/01/03: ScienceInsider: India Unveils Ambitious Science Policy
• 2013/01/04: LMU: The last link in the chain
  For almost 30 years, researchers have sought to identify a particular enzyme that is involved in regulating electron transport during photosynthesis. An LMU team has now found the missing link, which turns out to be an old acquaintance.
• 2012/12/30: CCurrents: Disease, Poverty And Biodiversity Linked Together, Study Finds
• 2013/01/01: SciAm:IC: What's wrong with citation analysis?
• 2012/12/31: IsaacHeld: 34. Summer temperature trends over Asia
• 2012/12/30: RBroberg: GREB Decomposition: Long Wave Radiation
  

  What developments in the ongoing struggle for Free Science?

• 2013/01/02: SciAm:TCW: Computational research in the era of open access: Standards and best practices
• 2012/12/29: MathBabe: Open data is not a panacea
  [...] If there's one thing I learned working in finance, it's not to be naive about how information will be used. You've got to learn to think like an asshole to really see what to worry about. It's a skill which I don't regret having.
• 
  

  Woese obituary:

   

• 2012/12/31: NYT: Carl Woese Dies at 84; Discovered Life's 'Third Domain'
  

  Laxon obituary:

• 2013/01/02: Mallemaroking: Professor Seymour Laxon
  

  Regarding Ben Santer:

• 2013/01/05: Grist:How one small sentence kicked up a storm of climate controversy [interview]
  

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

• 2013/01/04: Guardian(UK): Nuclear deal with Iran is possible if bad habits change
• 2012/12/31: WaPo: Report: Iran test-fires missiles in naval drill near strategic Strait of Hormuz
  

  South [& East] China Sea tension persists:

• 2013/01/04: BBC: Japan sends envoy to soothe ties with South Korea
  A Japanese special envoy has met the South Korean president-elect in Seoul in a move aimed at helping soothe relations between the two countries. New Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe sent envoy Fukushiro Nukaga to deliver a letter to South Korean President-elect Park Geun-hye. The two states have been involved in a prolonged row over disputed islands.
• 2013/01/03: CSM: Taiwan undersea oil plans raise neighbors' eyebrows
  Taiwan, a normally quiet claimant to portions of the disputed South China Sea, plans to explore for undersea oil there, a move likely to test fragile relations with China and upset major Southeast Asian nations. Ringed by China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Indonesia and others, the waters are believed to hold as many as 213 billion barrels of oil but competing claims from the six bordering nations have fueled tensions, prompting US officials to step in last year to urge calm.
• 2012/12/31: AntiWar: Is US Meddling Making a China-Japan War Inevitable?
• 2012/12/31: Asahi: Chinese think tank: conflict inevitable between Japan, China over Senkakus
• 2012/12/31: al Jazeera: Chinese fishing boat 'detained in Japan'
  Japan's coastguard seizes Chinese fishing boat within Japanese waters, reports say, amid row over disputed islands.
• 2012/12/30: BBC: Japan 'detains Chinese fishing boat'
  A Chinese fishing boat has been detained by Japan's coast guard for allegedly fishing inside Japanese waters, Chinese officials say.
• 
  

  I haven't heard any yelling about this yet, but give it time:

   

• 2013/01/01: CCurrents: Bolivia Nationalizes Two Spanish Electricity Distribution Companies
• 2012/12/30: CDreams: Bolivia Nationalizes Electricity Companies in Hopes of Improving Rural Access
  

  What do we have this week in clean tech squabbles?

• 2013/01/01: NPR: Rift With China Clouds Solar Industry's Future
• 2012/12/31: ChinaDaily: Solar energy faces obstacles abroad and at home
  China's solar manufacturing industry has risen from insignificance to dominating the globe in the past decade. But that position is now being put to the test by an anti-subsidy investigation the United States began in October 2011 and an anti-dumping investigation started by the European Union this year.
• 
  

  The Falklands are back in the news:

   

• 2013/01/03: CNN: What lies behind renewed tensions over the Falkland Islands?
• 2013/01/04: al Jazeera: Argentina reasserts claim over Falklands
  President Kirchner releases public letter urging UK to honour UN resolutions by relinquishing control of islands.
• 2013/01/03: BBC: UK prime minister rebuffs Argentina over Falklands
• 2013/01/03: CBC: Argentina demands U.K. cede Falkland Islands control -- 30 years after war, Argentinian leader demands British PM hand over islands
• 2013/01/02: Guardian(UK): Argentina urges Britain to 'end colonialism' and hand back Falklands
  

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

• 2013/01/04: CDreams: Tree-Sitters in Texas Arrested for Blocking 'Death Machine of Industrial Extraction'
  

  What are the activists up to?

• 2013/01/03: DeSmogBlog: After 25 Years, It's Time To Stop Spinning Our Wheels
• 2013/01/03: CDreams: It's Time to Stop Spinning Our Wheels by David Suzuki
• 2013/01/02: DemNow: Will 350.org Fossil Fuel Divestment Campaign Be Key Tactic in 2013 Battle over Climate Change?
• 2013/01/01: CCP: WSJ: Bill McKibben -- Fossil Fuels vs. the Development of Renewable Energy
• 2012/12/30: JFleck: "My Vanishing Hometowns," a climate change storytelling project
• 2012/12/31: ITT: Protest Tactics in a Warming World -- What will it take to push back climate change?
  

  Regarding Water Politics and Business:

• 2013/01/04: 9&10News: Great Lakes Reach Record Low Water Levels
• 2013/01/03: CDreams: In Fight Against Privatized Water, Bottles Banned in Concord, Mass
• 2013/01/02: DD: Environmental threat map highlights Great Lakes restoration challenges -- 'The Great Lakes continue to be degraded by numerous environmental stressors'
• 2013/01/02: CSM: Water for uranium: A Faustian bargain at Wyoming ranch?
• 2013/01/02: Guardian(UK): Floodplains that should remain just that
• 2013/01/01: JFleck: Stuff I wrote elsewhere: climate change on the Colorado River
• 2013/01/01: JFleck: Record dry 2012 at my house
• 2013/01/01: JFleck: Stuff I wrote elsewhere: more on plumbing and nature
• 2013/01/01: BBerg: California Desalination Financing Closes on $1 Billion Project
• 2013/01/02: IndiaTimes: Freshwater may become scarce by 2050: Pachauri
• 2013/01/01: CCurrents: 2013: International Year Of Water Cooperation
• 2012/12/30: JFleck: Imperial farmers are no dummies
• 2012/12/30: JFleck: Plumbing as nature
• 2012/12/30: JFleck: Water and public health
  

  And on the American political front:

• 2013/01/03: NYT: Gas Drilling Is Called Safe in New York
  The state's Health Department found in an analysis it prepared early last year that the much-debated drilling technology known as hydrofracking could be conducted safely in New York, according to a copy obtained by The New York Times from an expert who did not believe it should be kept secret.
• 2013/01/02: TPL: On Behemoths and Bi-Partisanship
• 2013/01/04: Grist: GMO labeling initiative gets rolling in Washington state
• 2013/01/04: NakedCapitalism: The Political Implications of America's Oil & Gas Boom - James Kwak Interview
• 2013/01/03: CAbyss: Preliminary 2012 Climate Stats for Texas
• 2013/01/02: TampaBay: Climate change reality laps up on Florida shores
• 2012/12/30: IdahoStatesman: Idaho Power wants regulators to let more people generate electricity, but at a higher cost and with limits on incentives
• 2012/12/30: StarDem: [Maryland] Gov. O'Malley signs executive order on flooding, sea level rise
• 2012/12/30: NatJo: California's New Cap-and-Trade Law: A Model for the Country?
  Although cap-and-trade programs to curb global warming are a nonstarter in Washington, an ambitious plan in California could renew interest.
• 2012/12/30: WaPo: California's climate-change experiment
  

  The BP disaster continues to twist US politics:

• 2013/01/04: CDreams: Transocean Gets Off Easy With 'Wholly Inadequate' Gulf Settlement
  Those responsible for 'largest environmental disaster in American history' continue to roam free in Gulf of Mexico
• 2013/01/04: TreeHugger: Transocean to Pay $1.4 Billion in Civil and Criminal Penalties for Deepwater Horizon Explosion
• 2013/01/04: TP:JR: Transocean To Pay $1.4 Billion In Civil & Criminal Penalties For Deepwater Horizon Disaster
• 2013/01/04: al Jazeera: Swiss rig owner admits role in Gulf oil spill
  Transocean agrees to pay $1.4bn after its drilling rig exploded and caused a massive oil spill off the Gulf of Mexico.
• 2013/01/03: CBC: Transocean to pay $1.4B for Gulf of Mexico spill -- Shares of rig owner jump 5 per cent on news of settlement
• 2013/01/02: EneNews: Underwater footage of BP Deepwater Horizon disaster site - "Officials are still trying to identify the makeup of white droplets spotted in the water" (videos)
• 2013/01/03: ScienceInsider: Second Oil Spill Settlement Adds to Gulf Coast Science and Restoration Funding
• 2013/01/03: CSM: Transocean fined $1.4 billion in Gulf oil spill. Is justice served?
• 2013/01/03: BBC: Transocean agrees to pay $1.4bn oil spill fine
• 2013/01/03: Guardian(UK): Rig owner [Transocean] pays $1.4bn to settle over Deepwater
  

  Post-Sandy commentary and news:

• 2013/01/04: Gawker: Here Are the Republicans Who Voted 'No' on Hurricane Sandy Relief Funds
• 2013/01/05: WSWS: US Congress approves measly relief package for Hurricane Sandy victims
• 2013/01/05: al Jazeera: US approves billions in Superstorm Sandy aid
  Aid package worth $9.7b aims to help pay thousands of insurance claims, two months after storm devastated East Coast.
• 2013/01/04: CBC: U.S. Congress to vote on Superstorm Sandy aid
• 2013/01/04: Guardian(UK): US Congress approves $9.7bn in hurricane Sandy aid package
  Sixty-seven Republicans vote against insurance-funding bill to bring tumultuous week for the GOP in the House to a close
• 2013/01/04: BBC: Sandy flood aid passes US Congress
• 2013/01/04: CDreams: Political Football Over Disaster Relief: Another Argument for Public Banking [Sandy]
• 2013/01/04: Slate:B: The Club for Growth Wants Republicans to Block Sandy Relief
• 2013/01/04: FDL: Boehner Relents As $9.7 Billion Sandy Relief Bill Passes House
• 2013/01/04: SeattlePI: Sandy victims blast delays in flood insurance aid
  Even as Congress passed the first part of an aid package for victims of Superstorm Sandy, many victims seethed, wondering why it took so long.
• 2013/01/04: CSM: Reasons the House delayed approval of Sandy disaster relief
• 2013/01/04: Wunderground: Superstorm Sandy and the importance of polar orbiting satellites in forecasting
• 2013/01/03: AutoBG: How Fisker Karma cooling fan warranty issues made Sandy damage worse
• 2013/01/02: TheHill: Under pressure, Boehner agrees to hold two votes on Sandy relief funding
• 2013/01/02: PSinclair: GOP Refuses Vote on Sandy Relief Package. New York Republican Blows Gasket. [Sandy & vid]
• 2013/01/02: NYT: [Editorial] Hurricane Sandy Aid
  There is a lot of finger-pointing in Washington about who is responsible for the mess made of the so-called fiscal-cliff negotiations, but there is no doubt about who failed thousands of residents and businesses devastated by Hurricane Sandy and still waiting for help: Speaker John Boehner.
• 2013/01/02: RawStory: Peter King near tears, threatens to quit Republican Party for blocking Sandy relief
• 2013/01/02: ICH: Shame On You Mr. Speaker! The Worst Negotiation Failure of the Day
• 2013/01/02: GLaden: Hurricane Sandy's New Political Math
• 2013/01/02: BBC: 'Superstorm' Sandy aid bill to get House vote
  The US House is to hold a vote on a $60bn (£37bn) aid package for areas hit by "superstorm" Sandy. House Speaker John Boehner agreed to a vote on the full package by 15 January after an outcry from lawmakers. Representative Peter King said a decision not to hold a vote before the current Congress ended was "a knife in the back", but tempered his criticism after a meeting with Mr Boehner. The October storm killed at least 120 people and flooded East Coast areas
• 2013/01/02: Guardian(UK): Christie lambasts House Republicans over Sandy bill: 'Shame on Congress'
• 2013/01/02: Guardian(UK): Fiscal cliff: Chris Christie blasts Republicans on Sandy relief
• 2013/01/02: ICN: House Pulls Plug on Hurricane Sandy Aid Bill
• 2013/01/01: Reuters: U.S. House aims to split Sandy aid bill into two parts
  The U.S. House of Representatives is expected to split a $60.4 billion Superstorm Sandy disaster aid bill into two parts, staging votes on $27 billion to fund immediate recovery needs and $33 billion for long-term and other projects, Republican lawmakers and aides said
• 2013/01/02: CBC: Sandy aid vote delay angers New York lawmakers
  New York area-lawmakers in both parties erupted in anger late Tuesday night after learning the House Republican leadership decided to allow the current term of Congress to end without holding a vote on aid for victims of Superstorm Sandy. Representative Peter King, a New York Republican, said he was told by the office of Majority Leader Eric Cantor of Virginia that Speaker John Boehner had decided to abandon a vote this session.
• 
  

  The fiscal cliff which seemed to have the media mesmerized had a couple of energy/science angles:

   

• 2013/01/03: CDreams: Corporate-Friendly Fiscal Deal Maintains Tens of Billions in Fossil Fuel Industry Giveaways
  Deal manages to raise taxes on millions of working class taxpayers while preserving friendly subsidies to world's wealthiest oil, gas and coal companies
• 2013/01/03: QuarkSoup: Wind Energy Tax Credits Extended
• 2013/01/02: CDreams: Wind Subsidies Find Renewal in Otherwise 'Lousy' Fiscal Deal
• 2013/01/02: AutoBG: US 'fiscal cliff' deal extends biofuel incentives, includes support for e-scooters
• 2013/01/02: UCSUSA:B: Congress Prevents Wind Industry from Falling Off Cliff
• 2013/01/02: DeSmogBlog: Wind Tax Credit Avoids The Fall Over The Fiscal Cliff
• 2013/01/02: TheHill:e2W: Wind credit extension approved in 'fiscal cliff' deal
• 2013/01/02: Grist: Fiscal fiasco bright spot: 2013 will be a huge year for wind
• 2013/01/02: ScienceInsider: Fiscal Cliff Deal Delays Major Budget Cuts, but Includes Reductions That Could Affect Science
• 2013/01/02: NatureN: US fiscal deal leaves science vulnerable -- Congress delays mandatory cuts to agencies
• 2013/01/02: BBerg: Vestas, Gamesa Advance After U.S. Extends Wind-Power Tax Break
• 2013/01/01: GigaOM: Wind energy tax credits survive as Congress passes fiscal cliff deal
• 2013/01/01: TP:JR: What Does The Fiscal Cliff Debacle Say About Our Chances To Avoid The Far More Worrisome Climate Cliff?
  

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

• 2013/01/04: CDreams: Tree-Sitters in Texas Arrested for Blocking 'Death Machine of Industrial Extraction'
• 2013/01/04: ICN: Five Keystone XL Protestors Arrested in Texas
• 2013/01/04: Reuters: Nebraska environment report favors revised Keystone XL pipe plan
  The controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline received a boost on Friday when Nebraska regulators said its proposed new route would avoid many of the ecologically-sensitive areas that led the U.S. government to block it last year.
• 2013/01/03: CDreams: Tar Sands Activists' Lives on the Line: Back in the Trees to Block Keystone XL
  'Protecting the living systems which we're a part of is a moral necessity,' says blockader
• 2012/12/31: OmahaWH: Judge rules that Keystone XL pipeline lawsuit can proceed
  Lincoln - A district judge ruled Monday that the heart of a lawsuit seeking to nullify the state's review of the controversial Keystone XL pipeline can proceed. Lancaster County District Judge Stephanie Stacy left intact all but one allegation raised by three landowners who are affected by the high-pressure, crude-oil pipeline project. The judge rejected a request by the State of Nebraska to dismiss the entire case. The landowners -- Randy Thompson, Susan Luebbe and Susan Dunavan -- are among the leading opponents of the pipeline. They claim that a law passed last spring by the Nebraska Legislature, allowing an expedited environmental review by the state, is unconstitutional.
• 2013/01/01: SacBee: Editorial: Obama should resolve to reject Keystone oil pipeline
  

  The GOP War on Women continues. See also:

• 2013/01/04: CDreams: Blocking VAWA, GOP Keeps Up the War on Women
• 2013/01/03: WSWS: Texas judge approves ban on Planned Parenthood funding
• 2013/01/02: CDreams: House GOP Fails to Act on Violence Against Women -- Failure strips proven protection from vulnerable populations
• 2013/01/02: MSNBC: Congress lets Violence Against Women Act wither away
  [...]
  Why was [Eric] Cantor (R-Va) so steadfast in his desire to block protections for American Indian, undocumented, lesbian, and trans women? All we do know is that while Republicans made compromises to avoid a so-called fiscal cliff, they were unwilling to do so in order to avoid dropping legal protections for women that have stood for nearly 20 years. Shouldn't that require some explanation?
• 2013/01/02: MSNBC:B: House GOP blocks Violence Against Women Act
• 2012/12/31: RawStory: Judge allows Texas to carry out funding ban against Planned Parenthood
• 2012/12/31: RawStory: Federal appeals court cites Citizens United ruling in granting birth control coverage waiver
• 2013/01/01: CDreams: A 'One-Two Punch to Women's Health' as Texas Defunds Planned Parenthood -- 'Some of those women will die'
• 2012/12/31: CDreams: 7th Circuit Blocks Contraception Mandate, Suggests Expansion of "Religious Liberty" for Corporations
• 2012/12/31: Guardian(UK): Texas can cut Planned Parenthood funding, says judge
• 2012/12/28: RawStory: Hobby Lobby plans to face $1.3 million in daily fines for defying contraception mandate
  An attorney representing the Hobby Lobby chain of arts and crafts stores said that the company intends to defy a court order that it comply with the Affordable Care Act (ACA)'s provisions regarding contraceptives, the so-called "morning after pill" and employee health coverage. According to Associated Press, the company says that it is willing to face the up to $1.3 million in fines it will accrue per day by not providing coverage for the medications. The arch conservative Green family, which owns Hobby Lobby and the religious bookstore chain Mardel, maintains that allowing anti-conception medications like the "morning after" and "week after" pills is tantamount to supporting abortion. The family is being represented in court by Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, a Christian legal group dedicated to fighting issues of this kind of the nation's courts.
• 
  

  The NorthWest coal export debate remains heated:

   

• 2013/01/04: TP:JR: Bipartisan Pair Of Senators Calls For Investigation Into U.S. Taxpayer Losses From Coal Exports
  [...] According to another Reuters article in December, companies are valuing coal at lower domestic prices rather than higher international prices so they "can dodge the larger royalty payout when mining federal land."
• 
  

  Still some talk about Jackson's exit:

   

• 2013/01/03: ICN: Exit of EPA Boss a Protest Over Keystone XL
• 2013/01/01: Guardian(UK): Lisa Jackson's legacy at the Environmental Protection Agency
• 2012/12/31: MCall: EPA successor faces fracking fight
  Departing chief draws praise from health groups, criticisim from manufacturers, GOP.
• 2012/12/30: TheHill:e2W: EPA nominee would face uncertain path
  Senate Republicans are in no mood to allow easy confirmation of any replacement for Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lisa Jackson, who announced Thursday that she'll leave the agency's top job early in 2013. Several said they want evidence a new administrator would change the direction of EPA, an agency that critics accuse of imposing overly aggressive rules that burden coal companies, manufacturers and other businesses.
• 
  

  The Obama chatter is nonstop:

   

• 2013/01/04: CSM: Don't listen to the Chicken Littles: Obama made smart investments in green tech
• 2013/01/02: DeSmogBlog: Ending Climate Silence - What Obama Should Say In State of the Union Address
  

  The actions of the Obama administration are being watched closely:

• 2013/01/03: ADN: Obama administration, key Congress members standing by plans to drill offshore in the Arctic
• 2013/01/04: BBerg: EPA Gave States Too Much Leeway on Soot Rules, Court Says
• 2013/01/03: Reuters: Exxon Yellowstone oil spill made worse by delay-report
  An Exxon Mobil pipeline spill into the Yellowstone River in 2011 would have been far less severe if the company had not delayed closing valves, a report issued on Wednesday by federal pipeline regulators said.
• 2013/01/03: CJR: Coming clean on food safety -- The Obama administration's lack of transparency makes a difficult beat that much harder
• 2013/01/04: NPR: FDA Proposes Sweeping New Food Safety Rules
  The Food and Drug Administration on Friday proposed the most sweeping food safety rules in decades, requiring farmers and food companies to be more vigilant in the wake of deadly outbreaks in peanuts, cantaloupe and leafy greens. The long-overdue regulations could cost businesses close to half a billion dollars a year to implement, but are expected to reduce the estimated 3,000 deaths a year from foodborne illness.
• 2013/01/05: NOAANews: National Weather Service announces new Eastern Region director [Jason Tuell, Ph.D.]
• 2012/12/28: ChicagoTrib: Lake-water infusion to delay Mississippi closing
  The drought-hit Mississippi River will stay open to commerce a few days longer than expected following the release of water from a lake in southern Illinois, a group of shippers said Friday. The river, which carries about $7 billion in commodities in December and January, will effectively close near Thebes, Ill., around Jan. 7, according to the latest forecast from the Waterways Council and American Waterways Operators. The groups on Wednesday had pegged the closure at Jan. 3 or 4.
• 2012/12/31: BBerg:BNA: EPA Grants California Clean Air Act Waiver To Implement Clean Car Emissions Rules
• 2012/12/31: CDreams: Coal Mine Expansion in Colorado Roadless Forest Likely to Face Challenge
  Roadless area next to West Elk Wilderness would be decimated by bulldozing & scraping
  Conservation groups are gearing up to protect a forested roadless area and lynx habitat threatened with destruction by recent federal agency approvals of a coal mine expansion 10 miles east of Paonia, Colorado. The coal lease expansion paves the way for corporate giant Arch Coal to bulldoze 6.5 miles of road and 48 natural gas drilling pads through 1,700 acres -- nearly three-square miles -- of wild, roadless forest for the company's West Elk mine. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) approved the coal lease expansion last Thursday, a decision that followed an August 2012 Forest Service decision to "consent" to the destructive expansion on the Gunnison National Forest.
• 
  

  As for what is going on in Congress:

   

• 2013/01/04: Gawker: Here Are the Republicans Who Voted 'No' on Hurricane Sandy Relief Funds
• 2013/01/04: Wonkette:Watch Breathlessly As Your New 113th Congress Does Nothing: A New Wonkette Feature
• 2013/01/04: TP:JR: Congress In Contempt, Part 2: How Can We Fix Our Broken Legislature?
• 2013/01/02: TP:JR: Congress In Contempt, Part 1: The Fiscal Cliff Is Only One Example Of Congressional Failure
• 2013/01/03: TP:JR: In Farewell Speech, House Republican Lists Climate Change As A Top Priority
• 2013/01/03: Grist: Congress extends farm bill, still manages to screw sustainable farmers
• 2013/01/02: UCSUSA: New Year's Day Farm Bill Extension a Giant Step Backward -- Prior Senate Gains for Healthy Food and Farms Lost Out to Big Ag Subsidies
• 2013/01/04: Grist: W.Va. congressmember compares EPA head to Gadhafi
• 2013/01/02: BPA: A Broken Political System Gives Us a Farm Bill by Default for 2013
• 2012/12/31: Grist: The hottest race of 2013: House climate hawk Markey is gunning for Kerry's Senate seat
  

  While in the UK:

• 2013/01/04: EurActiv: UK minister [Owen Paterson] urges EU to speed up GM crop approvals
  Britain's farming and environment minister has called for a speeding up in the European Union's approval process for genetically modified (GM) crops which he said offered definite benefits including less pesticide use.
• 2013/01/03: BBC: Glyn Rhonwy quarry: More objections to Gwynedd hydroelectric power scheme
  Conservationists claim a dam for a planned £100m hydroelectric scheme could spoil a beauty spot on the edge of Snowdonia National Park.
• 2013/01/04: Guardian(UK): MPs warn against compensating heavy industry for low-carbon costs
  Funding to help energy-intensive industries must not reward firms already profiting from carbon trading, committee says
• 2013/01/04: BBerg: U.K. Urged to Curb CO2 Concessions for Biggest Energy Users
• 2012/12/31: Guardian(UK): Farmers urge minister to provide extreme weather insurance
  National Farmers Union estimates rains in 2012 cost the industry £1.3bn from poor harvests and higher food bills for cattle
• 
  

  And in Europe:

   

• 2013/01/02: CDreams: Poland Bans Genetically Modified Corn, Potatoes
  

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

• 2013/01/03: ABC(Au): Red Centre carbon farming blueprint knocked back
  A draft methodology for carbon farming at Henbury Station in central Australia has not been approved by the Federal Government.
• 
  

  Just because some people are jerks:

   

• 2013/01/04: ABC(Au): Ghost gums that inspired great art felled by fire
  Two iconic ghost gums that feature in many of the paintings by famed Indigenous artist Albert Namatjira have been destroyed by fire. The trees, about 20 kilometres from Alice Springs, were featured in numerous works by Namatjira and helped establish his place in the international art world. It is believed the fire that destroyed the trees was deliberately lit several days ago.
• 2013/01/04: BBC: Australia ghost gum trees in Alice Springs 'arson attack'
  Two ghost gum trees made famous by the work of Australian Aboriginal artist Albert Namatjira have been found burnt. Officials in the town of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory say they believe the fire was started deliberately. The trees had been due to be added to a national heritage register.
• 
  

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

   

• 2013/01/04: ABC(Au): Formerly flooded, now on water restrictions
  Recent hot weather has dried up towns west of Queensland's Dividing Range, forcing water restrictions in previously flooded country.
• 2013/01/04: ABC(Au): Multi-million dollar dam safety upgrade
• 2013/01/03: ABC(Au): Funding grant to secure water supply
  The water supply for a town on the New South Wales Monaro will be upgraded.
• 2013/01/02: ABC(Au): Government lifts water restrictions across south-east Qld
  Water restrictions have been lifted across south-east Queensland, with the State Government saying dams across the region are at more than 90 per cent of capacity.
• 2013/01/02: ABC(Au): For the first time in 20 years, the New South Wales Government is considering new dams for the state
• 2013/01/02: ABC(Au): Water shortage fears amid dam upgrade delay
  Irvinebank residents, south-west of Cairns in far north Queensland, are concerned they will be left short of water because of delays in upgrading the town's dam.
• 2013/01/01: ABC(Au): New authority takes over south-east Qld water responsibilities
  [...] Seqwater absorbs LinkWater, the Seqwater grid manager and some functions of the Queensland Water Commission.
• 
  

  While in China:

   

• 2013/01/04: IBTimes: China Share Of Electricity From "Clean Energy" Increases To 20.2%
  

  And South America:

• 2013/01/03: CDreams: Peruvian Indigenous Stand Up Against Camisea Gas Project
  

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

• 2012/12/31: TStar: 2012: A bleak year for environmental policy
• 2012/12/31: BuckDog: 'Heavy Handed' Harper Happy That Canada Is #1 Nation For Business - Too Bad It's Not #1 Nation For Its CITIZENS!!
• 2012/12/31: BuckDog: Harper government bills that enraged First Nations and sparked Idle No More
• 2012/12/31: WpgFP: Environment minister to axe renewable content requirement for home heating oil
• 2012/12/31: CBC: Kyoto climate change treaty sputters to a sorry end [in Canada]
  Kyoto Protocol aimed for 5% cut in carbon emissions --- instead, we got a 58% increase
• 2012/12/30: iPolitics: Harper's gamble with First Nations' rage
  As the old year passes, Stephen Harper faces a dilemma: If he can't attend at Chief Theresa's Spence's teepee, how could he possibly attend her funeral? And yet, if should she should starve herself to death because the PM refuses to meet with her, how could he stay away?
• 
  

  The IdleNoMore movement continues to grow:

   

• 2013/01/06: TMoS: Idle No More Probably Defies Convenient Definition
• 2013/01/06: MSimon: Idle No More and the Real Terrorists
• 2013/01/05: CBC: Idle No More protests target bridges, roads across Canada -- Some crossings shut down by First Nations demonstrators
• 2013/01/05: G&M: Too many first nations people live in a dream palace by Jeffrey Simpson
• 2013/01/04: BBC: Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has agreed to meet a delegation of First Nation leaders, following a 25-day hunger strike by one chief
• 2013/01/04: Tyee: Joint Statement Supporting Chief Spence and 'Idle No More' by 16 Indigenous and human rights organizations
• 2013/01/03: CfC: Harper just doesn't get it
• 2013/01/04: MSimon: Why Idle No More Will Make Harper Eat Crow
• 2013/01/04: CPW: Indigenous and Human Rights Groups Issue Joint Statement Supporting Chief Spence and #IdleNoMore
• 2013/01/04: NorRe: The Meaning Of Silence
• 2013/01/04: TheCanadian: Spence Continues Hunger Strike Until Jan 11 Meeting Between Harper and Chiefs
• 2013/01/04: TheCanadian: Video: The Different Faces of Idle No More - Web Chat
• 2013/01/04: CBC: Spence to join Harper meeting with chiefs Jan. 11
  Attawapiskat chief says she'll continue her hunger strike, now in its 25th day
• 2013/01/04: CBC: 9 questions about Idle No More
• 2013/01/03: MSimon: Idle No More and the Anti-Harper Revolt
• 2013/01/03: CDreams: Idle No More: Hints of a Global Super-Movement
• 2013/01/03: iPolitics: Why Theresa Spence's struggle matters
• 2013/01/03: CBC: Atleo asks PM, GG to commit to 'urgent' AFN treaty meeting
  As Idle No More protests continue, national chief sent urgent invitations to meet with chiefs
• 2013/01/02: al Jazeera: Canada's indigenous movement gains momentum
  Are the country's First Nations groups being denied their rights and being targeted by the government? Canada's Idle No More movement began as a small social media campaign - armed with little more than a hashtag and a cause. But it has grown into a large indigenous movement, with protests and ceremonial gatherings held almost daily in many of the country's major cities.
• 2013/01/02: CDreams: Idle No More Gains Worldwide Support -- 'There has been a global assault on indigenous sovereignty'
• 2013/01/02: TheCanadian: Video: Idle No More - Scenes from a Vancouver Train Station
• 2013/01/03: MetroNews: What is the point of Idle No More?
  While the Idle No More protests gain steam around the world, many Canadians still don't know what it's all about. Dave Sauer, president of the Winnipeg Labour Council, said the issues being raised by the Idle No More protests, specifically the federal government's Bill C-45, affect Canadians of all backgrounds -- and should therefore interest them. "As a trade unionist, we live and die by our ... agreements," said Sauer. "The treaties that we've made with the First Nations of this country... right now it's pretty obvious that those are not being followed through on, one end is not honouring the agreement."
• 2013/01/03: TStar: Idle No more movement could become challenge for Stephen Harper
• 2013/01/02: CBC: First Nation blockade in Sarnia coming down
  A nearly two-week long First Nation blockade of a railway line in Sarnia, Ont., was being dismantled Wednesday night just hours after an Ontario judge ruled that it must come down.
• 2013/01/02: WpgFP: First Nations activists' message spreads to U.S.
• 2013/01/01: CPW: Elizabeth May shares her 2002 hunger strike experience, begs Harper to meet Chief Spence
• 2013/01/01: CBC: Idle No More spreading beyond Canada's borders -- First Nations activists in Washington, D.C., to give interviews to American media
• 2013/01/01: CPW: Spence hunger strike: FN Chiefs contemplate Canada-wide "economic disruptions"
• 2012/12/31: CDreams: Putting It In Drive: What's Next for Idle No More
• 2012/12/31: CDreams: Idle No More Protest Halts Trains, 2,500 Passengers for Hours -- 'First Nations-Canada relations are headed in a dangerous direction'
• 2013/01/01: APTN: First Nations chiefs contemplate "breach of treaty" declarations, indefinite economic disruptions
• 2012/12/31: CBC: Maritime group joins protesting Chief Spence -- 50 east-coast activists are heading to Ottawa
• 2012/12/31: SaskBoy: Do You Wonder Why Roadblocks Required?
• 2012/12/31: NorRe: Out of Touch
• 2012/12/31: WSWS: Canada's native peoples protest chronic poverty and government attacks
  

  The battle over the Northern Gateway pipeline rages on:

• 2013/01/05: TMoS: When Is a Public Hearing Not a Public Hearing?
• 2013/01/05: TMoS: Here's What We're Up Against
• 2013/01/05: CBC: Police patrol Northern Gateway hearings in Victoria -- Observers barred from Vancouver, Victoria hearing rooms
  Uniformed police officers are stationed at the Victoria hotel where oral presentations on the Northern Gateway pipeline started Friday. Plainclothes security officials are also in the meeting room where the chairwoman of the environmental review of the pipeline, Sheila Leggett, says she wants respectful and orderly hearings. Members of the public who want to observe the hearings must gather at a second hotel, located about three kilometres away, to view them remotely...
• 2013/01/03: WCEL: Raising your voice for the Enbridge Joint Review Panel (in Victoria, Vancouver and Kelowna)
• 2013/01/04: PostMedia: [Murray Rankin] MP's indignation at being excluded from pipeline hearing fails the smell test
  Northern Gateway panel is using a video link for the public to watch hearings in Victoria and Vancouver ... Murray Rankin, recently elected Member of Parliament for Victoria, showed up at the Joint Review Panel public hearing in his own riding Friday morning only to be turned away.
• 2013/01/04: CBC: Enbridge plans $400M expansion of Alberta to U.S. pipeline
  No new construction planned, but existing pipe will be able to pump more oil [by increasing pumping horsepower]
• 2013/01/02: PostMedia: Federal minister still believes Enbridge's Northern Gateway pipeline can be built
  Federal Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver says he still believes the contentious Northern Gateway oilsands pipeline can be built, but recognizes the federal government has a substantial sales job ahead of it in 2013.
• 
  

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

   

• 2013/01/04: iPolitics: The age of the billion-dollar global corporate shakedown
  

  Before the Harper gang launched their anti-Carbon Tax campaign aimed at Mulcair they checked public opinion:

• 2013/01/02: TStar: Environment Canada survey asked Canadians about carbon tax, oil exports
  

  Meanwhile in that Mechanical Mordor known as the tar sands:

• 2013/01/04: PostMedia: Energy crunch: Canada's future tied to foreign investment
• 2013/01/02: SciAm: The Opposite of Mining: Tar Sands Steam Extraction Lessens Footprint, but Environmental Costs Remain
  Melting bitumen in place is less unsightly than mining tar sands, but increasing efficiency, lowering costs and--perhaps most importantly -- minimizing greenhouse gas emissions remain challenges
• 2013/01/01: PostMedia: Group wants to move bitumen by rail to Alaska -- Seeking $10-million from Alberta for feasibility study
  Alison Redford's cabinet is expected to decide in January whether the government will spend $10 million to study the idea of building a rail line to ship oilsands products from northern Alberta to a port in Alaska. The money would help pay for a $40-million study that will investigate the feasibility of a proposed 2,400-kilometre rail line to carry landlocked oilsands products from Fort McMurray to Delta Junction, Alaska. From there, Alberta's oil would flow through the Trans-Alaska Pipeline system to the Valdez Marine Terminal, and on to booming Asian markets. The proposal has been in the works for more than two years and is backed by a business consortium called Generating for Seven Generations, or G7G.
• 
  

  Also in Alberta:

   

• 2013/01/02: PostMedia: Oilsands rail proposal illustrates growing demand, industry group says
  Aboriginal and industry groups weighed in Wednesday on emerging plans to build a rail line to carry oilsands products to Alaska, where it can be shipped to Asia. A business consortium called Generating for Seven Generations, or G7G, has asked the province to contribute $10 million toward a $40-million feasibility study for the proposed 2,400 kilometre rail line.
• 2013/01/02: NatPo: Pipeline politics forcing producers to rely on rail, and other more expensive, incident-prone options to transport crude
  

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

• 2013/01/05: BCLSB: Don't Bet On A(n Ontario) Spring Election, Part Duh
• 2013/01/03: LFPress: Liberal party to decide on Dalton McGuinty's successor Jan. 25 to 27 at party convention in Toronto
  

  In the Maritimes:

• 2013/01/04: CBC: Hebron oil project gets OK as costs balloon by billions
  

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

• 2013/01/02: TAE: Quote Of The Year. And The Next. [Meadows]
  

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

• 2013/01/04: Rabble: The benefits of decriminalizing abortion
  On January 28, 2013, Canada will celebrate 25 years of reproductive freedom. Since our Supreme Court struck down Canada's abortion law in 1988, our country's experience is proof that laws against abortion are unnecessary. A full generation of Canadians has lived without a law and we are better off because of it. Canada is the first country in the world to prove that abortion care can be ethically and effectively managed as part of standard healthcare practice, without being controlled by any civil or criminal law. Our success is a role model to the world.
• 2013/01/02: CBC: Japan's population logs record drop -- Number of people falls by 210,000 [to 128 million] ...
  

  Apocalypso anyone?

• 2013/01/05: DD: 50 doomiest images of 2012
• 2013/01/01: DD: 50 doomiest stories of 2012
  

  How do the media measure up?

• 2013/01/04: ClimateShifts: News Limited: Why do they get the facts so wrong?
• 2013/01/02: CCP: BBC's Roger Harrabin proves he is a shill for Shell Oil
• 2013/01/02: TWTB: Same sh|t, different year
• 2013/01/03: CSW: Al Jazeera purchase of Current could improve U.S. TV coverage of climate and global environmental politics
• 2013/01/02: TDC: Climate coverage, dominated by weird weather, falls further in 2012
  In a year of strange weather worldwide, climate change reporting by the world's journalists fell another 2 percent, according to DailyClimate.org's archive of media coverage. But there were some surprises. Widespread drought, super-storm Sandy, and a melting ice cap failed to revive the media's interest in climate change in 2012, with worldwide coverage continuing its three-year slide, according to a media database maintained by the nonprofit journalism site The Daily Climate. The decline in the number of stories published on the topic -- 2.4 percent fewer than 2011 -- was the smallest since the United Nations climate talks collapsed in Copenhagen in 2009.
• 2012/12/31: KSJT: Pacific Standard, with big boost from Salon: Reporter finds getting the true low-down on polar bears is a BEAR
• 2012/12/31: CCP: A. Siegel: Stunning Think Progress Climate Silence
• 2012/12/31: QuarkSoup: Shellacking "The Republican Brain"
  

  Here is something for your library:

• 2013/01/06: DebunkingDenialism: Evidence-Based Debunking
  [Book Review] _The Debunking Handbook_ by John Cook and Stephan Lewandowsky
• 2013/01/02: TreeHugger: It's Not easy being Green: Two designers Explore Sustainability Worldwide
  [Book Plug] _It's Not easy being Green_ by Aart van Bezooyen & Paula Raché
• 2012/12/31: CSM: [Book Review] _The World Until Yesterday_ by Jared Diamond
  

  And for your film & video enjoyment:

• 2013/01/02: WtD: Happy 2013: and some holiday video watching
• 2013/01/02: PSinclair: A Jawdropping Year. 2012 Recap from Paul Douglas
• 2013/01/02: PSinclair: Damon's Fracking Movie Trailer: "Promised Land"
• 2013/01/02: PSinclair: Arctic Increasingly Open for Drilling. What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
• 2013/01/03: TP:JR: Video On 2012's Extreme Weather: 'A Jawdropping Year'
• 2013/01/05: PSinclair: The Weekend Wonk: Richard Alley on Ice Sheet Stability
• 2013/01/04: CSM: Matt Damon and John Krasinski star in 'Promised Land'
• 2013/01/03: TheCanadian: Video: CBC National on Alaska Rig Accident, New Fears About Arctic Drilling
• 2013/01/06: JKB: Richard Alley: "The Biggest Control Knob: Carbon Dioxide in Earth's Climate History"
• 2013/01/01: CDreams: Matt Damon Exposes Fracking in Promised Land
• 2012/12/31: NakedCapitalism: Bullock Brothers Homestead -- A 25-Year Permaculture Project
  

  As for podcasts:

• 2013/01/06: SkS: Climate Show New Year podcast special: where it's at and where it's going by Gareth
  

  Meanwhile among the 'Sue the Bastards!' contingent:

• 2013/01/04: BBerg: Tesla Wins Dismissal of Massachusetts Car Dealers' Suit
  Tesla Motors Inc. (TSLA), the maker of Model S electric cars, won the dismissal of a lawsuit brought by Massachusetts auto dealers seeking to stop it from operating its own showrooms in the state.
• 2013/01/04: BBerg: EPA Gave States Too Much Leeway on Soot Rules, Court Says
  The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency gave states too much flexibility in meeting soot standards, a federal court said in a ruling that could force some states to increase pollution-control efforts. The EPA applied the wrong section of the Clean Air Act, relying on general implementation standards instead of particle- specific requirements, U.S. Circuit Judge Karen Lecraft Henderson said in today's 18-page opinion, which evaluated guidelines issued by the environmental agency in 2007, during the administration of President George W. Bush.
• 2012/12/29: SacBee: Long-awaited NH pollution trial ready to start
  Nearly a decade after it was first brought, a lawsuit accusing two oil giants of widespread groundwater contamination in New Hampshire is expected to present jurors with the most complex and time-consuming trial in state history. The products liability case against ExxonMobil and Citgo will be tried beginning in mid-January in a federal courtroom - on loan to the state - because it would undermine the rights of criminal defendants to a speedy trial if it tied up one of the three courtrooms in Merrimack Superior Court, officials said. The state sued 26 oil companies and subsidiaries in 2003, claiming the gasoline additive MTBE, methyl tertiary butyl ether, caused groundwater contamination in a state where 60 percent of the population relies on private wells for drinking water. New Hampshire is seeking more than $700 million in damages to test and monitor every private well and public drinking water system in the state and to cover cleanup costs where needed, according to court documents. New Hampshire is the only state to have reached the trial stage in a lawsuit over MTBE.
• 
  

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

   

• 2013/01/05: CSM: A guide to public investments in clean energy technology
• 2012/12/31: BBerg: Shale-Gas Revolution Spurs Wave of New U.S. Steel Plants: Energy
• 2012/12/30: Resilience: Five possible energy surprises for 2013
  

  What do you have in energy comparisons and transitions?

• 2013/01/02: TreeHugger: New U.S. Wind Power Capacity Might Beat Natural Gas and Coal in 2012
  

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

• 2013/01/04: NakedCapitalism: The Political Implications of America's Oil & Gas Boom - James Kwak Interview
• 2013/01/04: CDreams: 'Alarmingly High Methane Emissions' from Natural Gas Extraction
  New findings suggest higher than previously noted levels of potent greenhouse gas leaked
• 2013/01/04: DemNow: Is Fracking Safe? Debate on Controversial Natural Gas Drilling Technique as NY Moratorium May Expire
• 2013/01/03: DeSmogBlog: Meet Anthony Ingraffea -- From Industry Insider to Implacable Fracking Opponent
• 2013/01/03: NYT: Gas Drilling Is Called Safe in New York
  The state's Health Department found in an analysis it prepared early last year that the much-debated drilling technology known as hydrofracking could be conducted safely in New York, according to a copy obtained by The New York Times from an expert who did not believe it should be kept secret.
• 2013/01/02: CDreams: Fracking Industry Coming to a Neighborhood Near You? Gardendale, Texas to face 300 backyard wells
• 2013/01/02: NatureN: Methane leaks erode green credentials of natural gas
  Losses of up to 9% show need for broader data on US gas industry's environmental impact.
• 2013/01/01: CCP: Study suggests hydrofracking is killing farm animals, pets
• 2013/01/01: ICH: When Fracking Came to Suburban Texas
  Residents of Gardendale, a suburb near the hub of the west Texas oil industry, face having up to 300 wells in their backyards
• 2012/12/30: CDreams: A Fracking Surprise in Texas [Groat]
• 2012/12/28: Coloradoan: EPA allowing oil companies to inject drilling and fracking waste into aquifers below Northern Colorado
  Water is too deep to be used today, but experts say that might not always be the case
• 
  

  On the coal front:

   

• 2013/01/02: Grist:Coal keeps on selling, lawsuits and bad economics be damned
  

  On the gas and oil front:

• 2013/01/04: BBerg: Closing oil prices Friday
  OIL (US$/bbl)
  Dated Brent Spot....111.31
  WTI Cushing Spot.....93.09
• 2013/01/04: TruthDig: The Natural Gas Bubble
• 2013/01/04: CBC: ExxonMobil and partners OK $14B Hebron oil project -- Newfoundland to produce 1st oil from new offshore field in 2017
• 2013/01/03: CDreams: 'An Accident Waiting to Happen': As Rail Increasingly Transports Crude, Opponents Sound Environmental Alarm
  Rails see 'game-changing opportunity for their business'
• 2013/01/03: CassandrasLegacy: What future for petroleum?
• 2013/01/02: EarlyWarning: OPEC Top Three Oil Producers
• 2013/01/02: TP:JR: Amidst Drilling Boom, Average Price For U.S. Gasoline Hit Record High In 2012
  

  The OilDrum wrapped up their top ten stories of 2012 series:

• 2013/01/03: OilDrum: #1 - Does the U.S. Really Have More Oil than Saudi Arabia?
• 2013/01/02: OilDrum: #2 - After The Gold Rush: A Perspective on Future U.S. Natural Gas Supply and Price
• 2013/01/01: OilDrum: #3 - Is Shale Oil Production from Bakken Headed for a Run with "The Red Queen"?
• 2012/12/30: OilDrum: #4 - Gas Leak at North Sea Elgin Platform
  

  The PR campaign hyping US shale oil blares on:

• 2013/01/03: CDreams: Natural Gas Fables and Energy Independence Myths by Gwynne Dyer
• 2012/12/31: FuelFix: Energy predictions see a big future
• 2012/12/21: Resilience: The Great Oil Swindle: why the new black gold rush leads off a fiscal cliff
• 2012/12/31: C-N: The New Era of Oil Renaissance
  

  And in pipeline news:

• 2013/01/04: CBC: Enbridge plans $400M expansion of Alberta to U.S. pipeline
  No new construction planned, but existing pipe will be able to pump more oil [by increasing pumping horsepower]
• 2013/01/03: Reuters: Exxon Yellowstone oil spill made worse by delay-report
  An Exxon Mobil pipeline spill into the Yellowstone River in 2011 would have been far less severe if the company had not delayed closing valves, a report issued on Wednesday by federal pipeline regulators said.
• 2013/01/03: Grist: It probably shouldn't have taken Exxon 46 minutes to shut off a broken pipeline
  

  Biofuel bickering abounds:

• 2013/01/04: BBerg: Ethanol Output in U.S. Caps First Yearly Decline Since 1996
  Ethanol production in the U.S. fell 3.2 percent to 807,000 barrels a day last week, capping the first decline in 16 years as record corn prices crimped profits. Output averaged 859,000 barrels a day in 2012, or 13.2 billion gallons on an annualized basis, down from 13.8 billion in 2011...
• 2013/01/03: ERW: Can Ghana match Brazilian sugar-cane yields?
• 2013/01/02: SciAm:PI: How North Korea Fuels Its Military Trucks With Trees
  

  The answer my friend...:

• 2013/01/04: CJOnline: [Kansas] State's largest wind farm now operational [470 Mwatts]
• 2012/12/31: TheGazette: Wind energy now 30 percent of MidAmerican's power generation -- MidAmerican added 407 megawatts of wind power in 2012
• 2013/01/01: AlaskaDispatch: Windy winter amps up production from Alaska's new wind turbines
  

  Meanwhile among the solar aficionados:

• 2013/01/03: TreeHugger: Warren Buffett Buys World's Largest Solar Project from SunPower for $2.5 Billion
• 2012/12/29: LA Times: Small-scale solar's big potential goes untapped
  Modest-size projects can produce electricity at a lower cost to consumers and the environment, but financing goes to big plants.
• 2013/01/02: BWeek: German Solar Ventures Outpace Goal as Projects Remain Profitable
• 2012/12/28: Guardian(UK): Solar-powered lamp-post provides ray of light for Mali
  An Italian architect has transformed life in the Mali village of Sanogola by designing a portable, locally manufactured light
• 2012/12/30: TP:JR: The Year In Solar Power: Prices Crash, Sales Soar, Industry Restructures, Saudis Leap In, CSP Suffers
  

  The nuclear energy controversy continues:

• 2013/01/05: ABC(Au): China resumes construction of 'biggest' nuclear plant [at Rongcheng]
• 2013/01/02: EIA: Uprates can increase U.S. nuclear capacity substantially without building new reactors
• 2013/01/03: BNC: Next Nukes - how U.S.-European cooperation can deliver cheaper, safer nuclear energy
• 2013/01/02: PSinclair: Why You've Heard of Solyndra, but not Vogtle [nukes]
  

  Nuclear waste storage requires _very_ long term thinking:

• 2013/01/04: Platts: Court should order US NRC to resume Yucca review: petition
  Petitioners seeking to force US Nuclear Regulatory Commission to resume its review of the Department of Energy's application for a nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, on Friday said Congress' failure to act on the matter means a federal court should immediately order resumption of the work.
• 
  

  And then there is the matter of efficiency & conservation:

   

• 2013/01/02: TheCanadian: Some Energy Efficient Light Bulbs May Put Health at Risk
  

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

• 2013/01/05: CSM: Will Americans buy tiny cars? Nope.
• 2013/01/04: CSM: Chevy Volt sales triple in year of paradoxes for electric cars
• 2013/01/02: TreeHugger: Why Norwegians Love Electric Vehicles More Than the Rest of the World
• 2013/01/03: TP:JR: General Motors Tripled Sales Of Chevy Volt In 2012...
• 2013/01/03: TreeHugger: U.S. Plug-In Vehicle Sales Tripled in 2012, U.K. Electric Car Sales to Double in 2013
• 2013/01/02: AutoBG: Some Chevy dealers ceasing Volt sales due to costly tools
• 2013/01/02: BBerg: Best Vehicle Sales Streak Since 1973 Boosts U.S. Dealers
  [...]
  U.S. light-vehicle sales in December likely climbed to almost 1.37 million, the average of estimates by 10 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. That would push deliveries for the full year to 14.5 million, the best annual total since 2007.
• 
  

  As for Energy Storage:

   

• 2013/01/04: Eureka: Researchers seek longer battery life for electric locomotive
• 2013/01/02: SciAm:PI: Could Transformer-level Batteries Shield the Grid from the Next Super Storm?
  

  Insurance and re-insurance companies are feeling the heat:

• 2013/01/05: WtD: Death, taxes and climate change: the three things now inevitable -- or what does the insurance industry have to say about climate?
• 2013/01/04: ABC(Au): Reinsurer estimates 2012's disasters cost $160b
  Natural catastrophes caused $US160 billion worth of damage in 2012, the world's leading reinsurer, Munich Re, has estimated. About 67 per cent of overall losses and 90 per cent of insured losses were attributable to the United States, with the year's highest insured loss caused by Hurricane Sandy, with an estimated amount of around $25 billion, the reinsurer said. "Last year, natural catastrophes caused $160 billion in overall losses and $65 billion in insured losses worldwide," Munich Re said in a statement.
• 2013/01/04: ColumbusDispatch:Insurers paid $40B for Sandy, drought
  Natural disasters cost insurers $65 billion last year, with the United States accounting for nine-tenths of the bill and superstorm Sandy prompting payouts of $25 billion, a leading insurance company said yesterday. However, Munich Re AG said that the total insured losses worldwide were down from a record $119 billion in 2011, when devastating earthquakes in Japan and New Zealand cost the industry dearly. The company said total economic costs in 2012 from natural disasters worldwide -- including uninsured losses -- amounted to $160 billion, compared with the previous year's $400 billion.
• 
  

  Who's fielding theFAQs?

   

• 2013/01/04: SkS: Frequently Asked Questions About Ocean Acidification by Rob Painting
  

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

• 2013/01/04: TP:JR: January 4 News...
• 2013/01/03: TP:JR: January 3 News...
• 2013/01/02: TP:JR: January 2 News...
  

  Other (weekly) lists:

• 2013/01/03: CCP: Canadian climate change realists
• 2012/12/31: BPA: Morningstar's Agricultural Outlook. Plus, More Agriculture News This Week
  

  The carbon lobby are up to the usual:

• 2013/01/02: UKISS: Nova Lacks Evidence
• 2013/01/02: PSinclair: What Fake Skeptics Do
• 2013/01/04: MetaSD: Climate incentives
• 2013/01/04: HotWhopper: A Whopper of a Dog's Breakfast
• 2013/01/03: ERabett: Sarewitz Butchers Brian's Song
• 2013/01/03: ERabett:BSD: Four out of five dentists say it's the scientific consensus, stupid
• 2013/01/04: CChallenge: Dear M."Skeptic" ~ Climate Change Denial and Human Ingenuity
• 2013/01/05: Stoat: Its all about me
• 2012/12/31: ABC(Au):TDU: Critical corrections in the climate change debate
  Myths can spread quickly and widely and are resistant to eradication. Stephan Lewandowsky rebuts recent comments about climate change.
• 2013/01/06: WottsUWT: Dana Nuccitelli's holiday trick for sobering up quick...
• 2013/01/05: ERabett: Das Kaninchen ist deutschsprachig. Leider ist das Hermelin ungebildet.
• 2013/01/05: ERabett: Eli Found Another Daniel Sarewitz Comment
• 2013/01/05: P3: Owning the Comments
• 2012/12/30: Cryptome: Military Cyber Influence Operations Theory
• 2013/01/01: CDreams: Reality's Revenge: Will 2013 Be the Year Climate Change Deniers Get Hoisted on Their Own Petard?
• 2013/01/01: HotWhopper: Climate science denier (knee) jerks
  

  The root of the problem:

• 2013/01/03: TP:JR: Chevron CEO: Governments -- Not Oil Companies -- Are Responsible For Finding 'A Better Solution' To Climate
• 2012/12/27: WaPo: Chevron CEO: Policies show risk of high energy prices is greater than risk of climate change
  Chevron CEO John Watson notices something important as he visits his company's operations around the globe: Governments everywhere find high energy prices much scarier than the threat of global warming. And that means the world will need a lot more oil and gas in the years to come.
• 2012/12/31: KSJT: AP: Chevron's CEO says the customer is right. If it's oil they'll buy, it's oil we'll sell. Period.
  

  As for climate miscellanea:

• 2013/01/01: CCP: 10 Dumbest Things Fox Said About Climate Change In 2012
• 2013/01/02: Guardian(UK): How Olympic spirit can turn around the prospects of global warming
  It will take the equivalent collective effort and rewarding togetherness of an Olympics every year, but it is believable
• 2013/01/04: KSJT: Dan Kahan: Caught in the climate-change crossfire
• 2013/01/03: Maribo: Climate change in the age of truthiness
• 2013/01/06: Wunderground:RR: The Optimist's Time
• 2013/01/01: CCurrents: Climate Change in 2012: Still No Escaping BAU
  

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

• American Carbon Registry
• EIA: Today in Energy
• NADP: Measurement of Radioactive Fallout from the March 2011 Fukushima Nuclear Reactor Incident
• Tasmania Fire Service
• The iCONic Project
• Mallemaroking
• Tar Sands Blockade
• GCRI: Global Catastrophic Risk Institute
• Carbon Engineering Ltd.
• Wiki: Great Flood of 1862
• Climate Wars
• Underwater Times
• Wiki: MTBE: Methyl tert-butyl ether
• The Common Sense Canadian
• Carrying Capacity (blog)

Low Key Plug

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

<regards>

-het

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

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

"Humankind's greatest crisis coincides with the rise of an ideology that makes it impossible to address. By the late 1980s, when it became clear that man-made climate change endangered the living planet and its people, the world was in the grip of an extreme political doctrine whose tenets forbid the kind of intervention required to arrest it." - George Monbiot

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