Another Week of GW News, March 17, 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

skip to bottom

Another Week of Climate Instability News

Information is not Knowledge...Knowledge is not Wisdom

March 17, 2013

• Chuckles, COP19+, CITES, JOGMEC, Marcott
• Bottom Line, Subsidies, Cook
• Fukushima Note, Fukushima News, Anniversary, Nuclear Policy
• Melting Arctic, Polar Bears, Methane, Geopolitics, Antarctica
• Food Crisis, Fisheries, Food Prices, GMOs, Food Production
• Hurricanes, Weather Machine, Notable Weather, New Weather
• GHGs, Temperatures, Feedbacks, Aerosols, Ozone, Paleoclimate, Historical Climate, Attribution
• ENSO, Solar, Oceans, Biosphere, Extinctions, Bees & CCD, Volcanoes
• Impacts, Forests, Desertification, Disease, Phenology
• Wildfires, Corals, Acidification, Glaciers, Sea Levels, Floods & Droughts
• Mitigation, Cities, Transportation, Geoengineering, Conservation, Restoration, Adaptation
• Journals, Misc. Science, Mishra, Hargreaves, Snow
• International Politics: Carbon Trade, Bank Tax, Hormuz, Misc.
• Security, Law & Activism, Activism, Polls, H2O Biz, Groundwater, Religioso
• National Politics: Britain, Europe, Australia, CSG, Election, MDBP, New Zealand, India, China, South America
• Canada, Idle No More, Dilbit PR, Muzzling, Liberals, Northern Gateway, Salmon, BC, Tar Sands, Alberta, Sask, Ontario, North
• America, BP Disaster, Post Sandy, Keystone, Carbon Tax, Birth Control
• Sequestration, 2016, Obama, USAdmin, Congress, Lobbyists
• Ecological Economics, IPAT, Apocalypso, Fixes, Media, Books, Video, Courts, BP Trial
• Energy, Transitions, Fracking, Coal, Oil & Gas, Oil & the Economy, Pipelines, Biofuel
• Wind, Solar, Nukes, Nuclear Fusion, FITs, Hydrogen, Grid, Efficiency, Cars, Energy Storage
• Insurance, Joe's List, Carbon Lobby, Miscellaneous Climate, Useful Links
• Shameless Self Promotion, A Simple Plea, .sig

 

Live and direct from the laugh, it's funny, damnit department:

• 2013/03/15: uComics: (cartoon - Toles) In Case Of Emergency...
• 2013/03/16: TP:JR: (cartoon - Hallatt) It Would Have Been Sooner
  

  Here is your touch of strange for the week:

• 2013/03/08: USRA: Huge Ice Spheres Along Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore
  

  Looking ahead to COP19 and future international climate negotiations:

• 2013/03/13: RTCC: Green Climate Fund must clear the path for climate finance
• 2013/03/12: RTCC: NGOs cry foul over access to UN [Green] climate fund talks
• 2013/03/11: TheCanadian: Cautious Optimism: World Leaders Ready to Tackle Climate Change?
  

  The CITES conference in Bangkok wound up this week:

• CITES: Sixteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties -- Bangkok (Thailand), 3-14 March 2013
• 2013/03/15: ScienceInsider: Global Trade Regulation Group Extends Reach
  Threatened species of sharks, manta rays, elephants, and rhinoceroses will get some relief thanks to precedent-setting decisions taken at a meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) that concluded yesterday in Bangkok.
  Rising demand for shark fins, shark meat, and manta ray gills is on an unsustainable trajectory according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Earlier this week, a CITES committee approved what is called an Appendix II listing for five shark species and two species of rays, all of which are considered endangered or vulnerable by IUCN. Appendix II covers species that might face extinction if current trends continue, and CITES allows international trading of these species only if there are controls ensuring their survival in the wild. (An Appendix I listing - intended for species threatened with extinction - outlaws international commercial trading.)
  The committee's decision survived a challenge during the closing plenary session on 14 March. Both IUCN and the World Wildlife Fund called the decision "historic."
• 2013/03/15: WMTC: the world fails to protect polar bears, canada leads the failure
• 2013/03/14: BBC: Landmark shark ban upheld at conservation meeting
  Pro-shark fishing nations have narrowly failed to overturn a landmark protection deal struck at the CITES conservation conference in Bangkok.
• 2013/03/14: BBC: 'Gang of eight' on ivory probation
  The worst offending countries in the ivory trade have been given a strict deadline to reduce their involvement or face sanctions. The decision taken at the final meeting of the Cites conference in Bangkok is meant to compel countries like China and Thailand to tougher action. But some campaigners say Cites is failing to protect elephants and want more urgent action. Data indicates that 17,000 elephants were killed by poachers in 2011.
• 2013/03/14: al Jazeera: Environmental summit ends with historic pact
  Wildlife convention closes in Bangkok with long-awaited deal on sharks, but pressing environmental issues remain.
• 2013/03/14: Eureka: CITES makes historic decision to protect sharks and rays
• 2013/03/14: Eureka: Statement by WCS president and CEO on historic CITES ruling
• 2013/03/14: NatureN: Wildlife trade meeting endorses DNA testing of seized ivory -- Protection for elephants, rhinos, sharks and trees extended in Bangkok
• 2013/03/13: BBC: Conservation meeting decisions hanging in the balance
  Delegates at the Cites conference are expecting a tense final session as some countries seek to overturn decisions taken during the two-week gathering.
• 2013/03/13: BBC: CITES meeting: Ebony beats ivory in conservation stakes
  Delegates to the CITES conservation meeting in Thailand have agreed far-reaching restrictions on the trade in critically endangered hardwood trees. Extra protection was given to several species of rosewood and ebony that have been threatened by illegal logging. Campaigners welcomed the move, saying it stood in marked contrast to the slow pace of progress in tackling the ivory-poaching crisis.
• 2013/03/12: BBC: Wildlife conservation - Gangnam style!
• 2013/03/11: ABC(Au): Five shark species win international trade protection
• 2013/03/10: DD: Graph of the Day: Global shark landing trends, 1950-2010
• 2013/03/11: CSM: Three endangered shark species get protection
• 2013/03/11: BBC: 'Historic' day for shark protection
  Three types of critically endangered but commercially valuable shark have been given added protection at the Cites meeting in Bangkok.
• 2013/03/11: BBC: CITES meeting votes to protect Oceanic whitetip shark
  Delegates at the CITES conservation meeting in Thailand's capital, Bangkok, have voted to extend the protection to a threatened species of shark.
• 
  

  In what could be a major turning point, Japan is testing the mining of methane hydrates:

   

• 2013/03/15: GreenGrok: Methane Hydrates: The Next Natural Gas Boom?
• 2013/03/15: RTCC: Japan's energy breakthrough could mean climate breakdown
• 2013/03/14: Guardian(UK): Japan's 'frozen gas' is worthless if we take climate change seriously
  Like all nations extending the fossil fuel frontier, Japan is adding to the mountain of fossil fuels we cannot responsibly burn
• 2013/03/14: TCoE: Connecting the dots on natural gas
• 2013/03/13: TCoE: Checkpoint
• 2013/03/13: Grist: Flammable ice will help power the planet, then make it even hotter
• 2013/03/13: Stoat: Methane again
• 2013/03/13: OilChange: The Madness of Exploiting Methane Hydrates
• 2013/03/12: IndiaTimes: In a world first, Japan extracts 'fire ice' gas from seabed
• 2013/03/12: BBC: Japan extracts gas from methane hydrate in world first
• 2013/03/12: NYT: An Energy Coup for Japan: 'Flammable Ice'
• 2013/03/12: ABC(Au): 'Fire ice' discovery key to Japan's power future
  Japan says it has successfully extracted methane hydrate, known as "fire ice", from its seabed, possibly unlocking many years worth of gas for the country. In what they are claiming as a world first, a consortium is drilling for the hydrate, a fossil fuel that looks like ice but consists of very densely-packed methane surrounded by water molecules, one kilometre below sea level.
• 2013/03/12: Reuters: Japan achieves first gas extraction from offshore methane hydrate
  A Japanese energy explorer said on Tuesday it extracted gas from offshore methane hydrate deposits for the first time in the world, as part of an attempt to achieve commercial production within six years.
• 2013/03/12: BBC: Japan extracts gas from methane hydrate in world first
  Japan says it has successfully extracted natural gas from frozen methane hydrate off its central coast, in a world first. Methane hydrates, or clathrates, are a type of frozen "cage" of molecules of methane and water. The gas field is about 50km away from Japan's main island, in the Nankai Trough.
• 2013/03/11: BBerg: Japan to Begin Test Production for Frozen Gas Locked in Seabed
  Japan, which has almost no natural energy resources of its own, will begin the world's first offshore drilling operation this week to extract frozen natural gas locked under the seabed. Japan Oil, Gas & Metals National Corp., known as JOGMEC, and the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology will begin test production for methane hydrate as soon as today in the Nankai Trough about 50 kilometers (31 miles) off the coast of the country's main island of Honshu, the trade and industry ministry said in a statement.
• 
  

  That paper by Marcott et al. continues to draw comment:

   

• 2013/03/17: Moyhu: Next stage of Marcott et al study
• 2013/03/16: Moyhu: My limited emulation of a Marcott et al reconstruction
• 2013/03/14: QuarkSoup: Marcott Reax
• 2013/03/13: DM:ImaGeo: Art of the Anthropocene: The Scythe
• 2013/03/12: QuarkSoup: Marcott (Comma) and the Ghouls
• 2013/03/11: Stoat: A Reconstruction of Regional and Global Temperature for the Past 11,300 Years?
• 2013/03/11: DD: Recent global heat spike unlike anything in 11,000 years...
  

  And on the Bottom Line:

• 2013/03/14: DeSmogBlog: Climate Disruption Tax Costs Americans Billions
  Here's a term that bears repeating: climate disruption tax. What is a climate disruption tax? It's the cost to the American taxpayer of dealing with the impacts of climate-related weather events...
• 2013/03/11: Maribo: Carbon emissions blow right past the financial crisis
• 2013/03/11: RTCC: Report: Renewables missing out on $71trn investment pot
  Renewable energy will miss out on increased funding from big investors if existing barriers are not removed, a new [Climate Policy Initiative (CPI)] report has warned.
• 
  

  Who's getting the subsidies, tax exemptions, loan guarantees & grants?

   

• 2013/03/15: Grist: Oil industry ad campaign: 'Give us tax breaks or everybody gets hurt'
• 2013/03/12: AutoBG: Ethanol advocates poke fun at Big Oil with "Century of Subsidies" party
• 2013/03/12: TP:JR: Meet The New Oil Tax Breaks, Same As The Old Oil Tax Breaks
  

  John Cook and friends continue their point-counterpoint articles:

• 2013/03/16: SkS: February 2013 Arctic Sea Ice Death Spiral Update by dana1981
• 2013/03/16: SkS: 2013 SkS Weekly News Roundup #11 by John Hartz
• 2013/03/15: SkS: Death in Jurassic Park: global warming and ocean anoxia by John Mason
• 2013/03/14: SkS: Watts Interview - Denial and Reality Mix like Oil and Water by dana1981
• 2013/03/13: SkS: State Department Downplays the Climate Impact of Keystone XL by dana1981
• 2013/03/12: SkS: 2013 SkS News Bulletin #3: Alberta Tar Sands and Keystone XL Pipeline by John Hartz
• 2013/03/12: SkS: Does Norway lack political commitment to renewables? by gws
• 2013/03/11: SkS: Drost, Karoly, and Braganza Find Human Fingerprints in Global Warming by dana1981
• 2013/03/10: SkS: 2013 SkS Weekly Digest #10 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:

   

• 2013/03/14: BGD: Cesium-134 and 137 activities in the central North Pacific Ocean after the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant accident by J. Kameník et al.
• 2013/03/11: BGD: Distribution of the Fukushima-derived radionuclides in seawater in the Pacific off the coast of Miyagi, Fukushima, and Ibaraki Prefectures, Japan by S. Oikawa et al.
• 2013/03/17: EneNews: CBS: Those Fukushima reactors are still releasing radioactive material into ocean -Expert (video)
• 2013/03/16: DD: Record cesium level detected in fish caught near Fukushima nuclear plant
• 2013/03/16: BBerg: TEPCO Faces Growing Suit by U.S. Troops Over Radiation Exposure
• 2013/03/15: EneNews: Jiji: TEPCO Finds Most Polluted Fish since Fukushima Nuclear Accident - New record of 740,000 Bq/kg
• 2013/03/15: Asahi: Prometheus Trap - 'Shadow units' (6): SDF members exposed to high radiation levels in reactor explosion
• 2013/03/15: EneNews: Japan Experts: Up to 93 billion becquerels a day may still be leaking into Pacific from Fukushima plant (video)
• 2013/03/14: EneNews: U.S. gov't model of Fukushima cesium-137 particles covering Northern Hemisphere (video)
• 2013/03/12: Resilience: Recording resilience: Filmmaker shares Japan recovery experience
• 2013/03/11: Asahi: Fukushima plant decommissioning may last until 2051
• 2013/03/11: MIT: Sizing up Japan, after the disaster
  MIT political scientist examines Japanese stasis after nuclear meltdown at Fukushima
• 2013/03/11: Rasmussen: 36% Think Radiation From Japanese Nuclear Disaster Hurt the U.S.
• 2013/03/11: EneNews: Former Prime Minister [Naoto Kan]: Half the people in Japan were close to being evacuated after start of Fukushima crisis (video)
• 2013/03/11: BBC: Fukushima disaster: Long road to nuclear clean-up
  It would be reassuring to think that the world's worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl is contained, and the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant is in stable shut-down. Unfortunately a look inside the Fukushima plant suggests otherwise.
• 2013/03/11: ABC(Au): Fukushima disaster continues to take lives
  It's two years since an earthquake triggered a tsunami and a nuclear meltdown in Japan killing 16,000 people. But Akira Kawasaki from the nuclear NGO, Peace Boat, says that since then, more than 1,000 people have died or killed themselves as a consequence of the disaster.
• 2013/03/11: ABC(Au): Hundreds of Fukushima survivors launch class action
  Hundreds of survivors of the Fukushima nuclear crisis in Japan have filed a class action lawsuit seeking restitution of the region contaminated by radioactive materials. Lawyers for about 800 plaintiffs say the case has been filed with the Fukushima District Court. The plaintiffs are demanding $520 a month from the government and Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) until the area is restored.
• 2013/03/11: JapanFocus: Truth to Power: Japanese Media, International Media and 3.11 Reportage
• 2013/03/10: al Jazeera: Fukushima forests found to be radioactive
  Forests covering 70 percent of Japanese prefecture found to have traces two years after nuclear disaster.
• 2013/03/10: EneNews: WSJ: Concern there are cracks in Fukushima reactor buildings leaking irradiated water into Pacific
  

  The two year anniversary of the earthquake, tsunami and meltdowns was noted widely:

• 2013/03/13: EneNews: 2 Years Ago Today: New York Times reports U.S. would be harmed only by 'full meltdown' at Fukushima - Months later it's revealed 'full meltdowns' occurred
• 2013/03/12: CCurrents: Fukushima Two Years Later: Lessons For India
• 2013/03/11: DemNow: Fukushima Meltdown's 2nd Anniversary Brings Protests Against Japan's Reliance on Nuclear Power
• 2013/03/11: Enformable: Two years have passed since Japan nuked the rest of the world
• 2013/03/11: DD: Fukushima school in limbo, two years after nuclear disaster - 'The school exists in name alone'
• 2013/03/10: BBerg: Fukushima Toxic Waste Swells as Japan Marks March 11 Disaster
• 2013/03/11: APR: Fukushima Daiichi - Two Year Anniversary
• 2013/03/07: ANS NC: Fukushima Two Years Later
• 2013/03/11: WSWS: Two years after earthquake -- North eastern Japan still a disaster zone
• 2013/03/11: al Jazeera: Japan marks two years since deadly tsunami
  Ceremonies held across the nation, with more than 300,000 people still displaced two years after earthquake and tsunami. Japan is marking the second anniversary of the devastating tsunami and earthquake that claimed 19,000 lives and caused the worst nuclear accident in decades. A national ceremony organised by the government began in Tokyo on Monday to commemorate victims of the disaster. Mourners across the country observed a moment of silence at 2:46pm, the exact time the tsunami struck, for those killed.
• 2013/03/11: al Jazeera: Japan tsunami exacts heavy toll two years on
  Traumatised residents complain of slow reconstruction following twin disasters of tsunami and nuclear meltdown.
• 
  

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

   

• 2013/03/11: CSM: Fukushima two years later: How safe are US nuclear plants?
• 2013/03/11: CSM: After Fukushima: Japan's new model for farms
  

  The Arctic melt continues to garner attention:

• 2013/03/16: SkS: February 2013 Arctic Sea Ice Death Spiral Update by dana1981
• 2013/03/15: PSinclair: Melt Season's First Signs in Arctic
• 2013/03/14: ASI: Crack is bad for you (and sea ice)
• 2013/03/13: CCentral: Large Fractures Spotted in Vulnerable Arctic Sea Ice
• 2013/03/13: ERabett: Rejoice
• 2013/03/12: Tamino: Arctic Sea Ice Loss, part 1
• 2013/03/13: Tamino: Arctic Sea Ice Loss, part 2
• 2013/03/14: Tamino: Arctic Sea Ice Loss, part 3
• 2013/03/13: TheCanadian: Big Cracks in Climate Change Modelling: New Arctic Fissures Dramatically Speed Up Ice Melt Projections
• 2013/03/12: Dosbat: February 2013 Status
• 2013/03/12: Stoat: Girding my loins: sea ice
• 2013/03/12: ASI: PIOMAS March 2013
• 2013/03/10: CCP: Ongoing catastrophic failure of Arctic sea ice, March 10, 2013
  

  As for the charismatic megafauna:

• 2013/03/15: CBC: Climate change could turn polar bears brown, study says
• 2013/03/14: TStar: Polar bears could turn brown as climate changes, geneticist says
  How polar bears got their white coat remains a scientific mystery, but newly published research suggests a way they could turn brown again.
• 
  

  That Damoclean sword still hangs overhead:

   

• 2013/03/16: ArcticNews: Record Methane in Arctic early March 2013
• 2013/03/12: ArcticNews: The worst-case and - unfortunately - looking almost certain to happen scenario
  

  As for the geopolitics of Arctic resources:

• 2013/03/15: Guardian(UK): Shell barred from returning to drill for oil in Arctic without overhaul
  Review finds company had failed to plan for short drilling season and its equipment did not stand up to harsh conditions
• 2013/03/14: CSM: Arctic oil drilling needs better federal regulation
• 2013/03/13: DD: China plans first commercial trip through Arctic shortcut in 2013
• 2013/03/13: CBC: Mining proponents win Greenland election -- Arctic island elects first female prime minister
  Greenland is poised to get its first female prime minister after a centrist party that supports tapping the Arctic island's vast mineral wealth, including uranium, won national elections, a complete vote count showed Wednesday. With all votes counted, Aleqa Hammond's centrist Siumut party won 42.8 per cent and 14 seats, while incumbent Premier Kuupik Kleist's left-leaning Inuit Ataqatigiit mustered 34.4 per cent.
• 2013/03/13: CCurrents: China To Begin Commercial Voyage Through Arctic This Year
• 2013/03/11: EurActiv: Greenland votes with mineral riches in the balance
• 2013/03/11: EUO: Greenlanders go to the polls as interest rises in the Arctic island
  

  While in Antarctica:

• 2013/03/16: Tamino: Antarctic Sea Ice Gain
• 2013/03/13: TreeHugger: Antarctica seen naked for the first time!
• 2013/03/12: NatureN: Researchers put pristine Antarctic peninsula at risk
  Scientists' activities on King George Island could harm the environment they are trying to study
• 2013/03/12: NatureN: Russian scientist defends Lake Vostok life claims -- Discovery of a new bacterial species reaffirmed by researcher leading analysis efforts
• 2013/03/11: NSF: Antarctic and Arctic Insects Use Different Genetic Mechanisms to Cope With Lack of Water
• 2013/03/11: ScienceInsider: Hold On: No Life Found in Vostok After All?
  

  The food crisis is ongoing:

• 2013/03/17: al Jazeera: Philippines banana industry hurt by typhoon
  Farmers say two years needed to recover months after Bopha destroyed vast swathes of banana crops in country's south.
• 2013/03/16: al Jazeera: UK food banks offer lifeline to thousands
  Interest rises in food bank schemes in the United Kingdom as struggling Britons hunger for new economic solutions.
• 2013/03/15: DD: Human-induced climate change played big role in Somalia's 2011 famine, new study finds
• 2013/03/15: AllAfrica:IRIN: Grim Food Security Outlook for Zimbabwe
• 2013/03/15: FAO: World not coping well with change in diets, says FAO Director-General
  Calls for all sectors of society to collaborate on new nutrition strategies
• 2013/03/15: WFP: GiveAsia.org Joins WFP In The Fight Against Hunger
• 2013/03/14: WFP: Syria Crisis Two Years On: Severe Funding Challenges To Feed Millions Of Syrians
• 2013/03/12: WFP: WFP Executive Director Travels To Burkina Faso To Highlight Continuing Needs In Sahel
• 2013/03/12: CSM: Food stamps use rises in December
• 2013/03/12: TreeHugger: Honey laundering exposed as industry giant admits to mislabeling Chinese honey
• 2013/03/11: RT: New record: 15 percent of Americans on food stamps
  

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

• 2013/03/16: DD: U.S. fish populations rebound since 1996 catch limits law
  

  Food Prices are still problematic:

• FAO: World Food Situation - Food Price Indices
• 2013/03/11: Grist: Smart people say food prices are falling - depends what you mean by 'food'
  

  Regarding the genetic modification of food:

• 2013/03/15: Grist: Frankenfoods hitch a ride through Congress -- but you can help stop them
• 2012/12/01: MoJo: DOJ Mysteriously Quits Monsanto Antitrust Investigation
• 2013/03/14: SusBiz: Monsanto Sneaks Into Budget Bill, Faces Farmer in Supreme Court [Monsanto Protection Act]
• 2012/12/03: Grist: Justice Department ditches Monsanto investigation
• 2013/03/15: Grist: Too big to prosecute: How Monsanto slipped the DOJ's grasp
• 2013/03/09: AM: A Defense of Plant and Crop Related Patents
• 2013/03/14: al Jazeera: Argentina's Bad Seeds
  The country's soya industry is booming, but what is the impact on Argentinians and their land?
• 2013/03/15: Salon: How Monsanto outfoxed the Obama administration
  The inside story of how the government let one company squash biotech innovation, and dominate an entire industry
• 2013/03/14: RT: 'Monsanto Protection Act' to be voted on by Congress
• 2013/03/12: KSJT: Demolishing the myth that Monsanto's engineered crops drove 270,000 Indian farmers to suicide [Kloor vs DemNow]
  

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

• 2013/03/13: UN: UN agency to begin testing new tool to measure hunger and food insecurity
• 2013/03/13: FAO: New metric to be launched on hunger and food insecurity
  FAO's Voices of the Hungry pilot project to run in four countries -- Annual survey will provide more detailed information on global hunger A new, faster and more precise way of measuring hunger and food insecurity across the world is soon to be field-tested by FAO in several pilot countries. The new approach relies on gathering information on the extent and severity of hunger from food-insecure people, through a carefully-designed annual survey to be conducted in collaboration with polling specialists Gallup, Inc.
• 2013/03/12: Grist: Corn free: Cutting back on our dominant crop is easier said than done
• 2013/03/12: BPA: Greek Minister Tsaftaris: Sustainable Food Production Should Be a Basic Element of Our Civilization
• 2013/03/11: CCurrents: Women Farmers Can Reduce Hunger
• 2013/03/13: Resilience: When Agriculture Stops Working: Ten Recommendations for Growing Food in the Anthropocene
• 2013/03/12: Resilience: When agriculture stops working: A guide to growing food in the age of climate destabilization and civilization collapse
  

  In the Western Pacific, Cyclone Sandra passed New Caledonia and faded in the South:

• 2013/03/14: ABC(Au): Lord Howe Island prepares for cyclone [Sandra]
  Tropical Cyclone Sandra has been upgraded to a category 2 system as it approaches Lord Howe Island off the coast of New South Wales. Sandra is expected to hit the island from around 8:00pm (AEDT) with winds of up to 150 kilometres per hour.
• 2013/03/13: NASA: NASA Sees Large Decrease in Cyclone Sandra's Rainfall Intensity
• 2013/03/11: al Jazeera: Cyclone Sandra threatens New Caledonia
  The island nation is on alert as weather conditions begin to deteriorate

• Also in the Western Pacific, Cyclone Tim spun up in the Coral Sea and is so far staying offshore:

• 2013/03/17: ABC(Au): Cyclone relief as Tim fizzes
  Weather-weary Queenslanders have escaped the latest cyclone threat with a system off the coast likely to be downgraded this afternoon.
• 2013/03/14: ABC(Au): Cyclone Tim looms off far north Qld
  The weather bureau is now tracking Cyclone Tim in the Coral Sea off north Queensland. The system is about 440 kilometres north-east of Cairns. Tropical Cyclone Tim is expected to continue moving east-south-east across the Coral Sea over the next few days and is likely to slowly strengthen.
• 2013/03/14: ABC(Au): Coral Sea cyclone [Tim] threat still brewing
  The weather bureau says a monsoon low in the Coral Sea off north Queensland will probably develop into a cyclone in the next 24 hours. The low caused heavy rain and strong wind in the Torres Strait and northern Cape York yesterday but is now well off the east coast.
• 2013/03/14: NASA: NASA Sees Cyclone Tim Develop in the Coral Sea
  

  What's new in the Weather Machine?

• 2013/03/11: Columbia:EI: Study Predicts Lag in Summer Rains Over Parts of U.S. and Mexico -- Delay Could Affect Agriculture, Livestock, Desert Ecosystems
• 2013/03/11: Eureka: Monsoon failure key to long droughts in Southwest [USA]
  

  This week in notable weather:

• 2013/03/17: al Jazeera: Worst March snowfall in decades [pix]
  An early spring snowstorm brought parts of Russia and many countries in eastern Europe to a standstill
• 2013/03/16: al Jazeera: Images of this week's weather
  It has been a very stormy week for many places around the world, but some have had a taste of spring
• 2013/03/13: al Jazeera: Snow hits NW Europe
  Bad weather has caused disruption across southern England, France, Luxembourg, Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany.
• 2013/03/11: DerSpiegel: Spring Unsprung: Winter Returns to Germany with a Vengeance
  Just last week, outdoor cafes were jammed as people in northern Europe sought to catch the first rays of warm, spring sunshine. Now, much of the region lies under a fresh blanket of snow with no relief in sight.
• 2013/03/13: ABC(Au): Snow cripples transport across Europe
  Unusually heavy snowstorms have caused severe travel disruptions across northern Europe, with the Eurostar high-speed train between London and the continent suspended and hundreds of flights cancelled.
• 2013/03/12: al Jazeera: Snow hits France and UK
  A late winter snowstorm causes disruption either side of the English Channel.
• 
  

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

   

• 2013/03/15: TP:JR: How Arctic Ice Loss Amplified Superstorm Sandy -- Oceanography Journal
• 2013/03/13: RealClimate: Climate change and consequences on the ground
• 2013/03/11: Wunderground: Are atmospheric flow patterns favorable for summer extreme weather increasing?
  

  As for GHGs:

• 2013/03/11: Eureka: The household carbon emission per capita in Northwestern China is only 2.05 tons CO2 per year
  

  And the temperature record:

• 2013/03/15: Wunderground: February 2013 the globe's 9th warmest February on record
• 2013/03/13: Wunderground: U.S. has its 20th warmest winter, and an unusually quiet start to the year
• 2013/03/11: USAToday: USA's winter was warmer and wetter than average
  

  Yes we have feedbacks:

• 2013/03/12: Grist: Could melting glaciers slow down climate change?
  

  Aerosols are making their presence felt:

• 2013/03/17: MODIS: Dust storm in the Gobi Desert, China
• 2013/03/14: MODIS: Haze over Korea
• 2013/03/15: IOTD: Dust in Eastern China
  

  Regarding ozone:

• 2013/03/11: NASA: NASA Pinpoints Causes of 2011 Arctic Ozone Hole
  A combination of extreme cold temperatures, man-made chemicals and a stagnant atmosphere were behind what became known as the Arctic ozone hole of 2011, a new NASA study finds.
• 
  

  While in the paleoclimate:

   

• 2013/03/14: BBC: Phallus-shaped fossils identified as new species
  Scientists have revealed insights into a peculiar, phallus-shaped creature discovered at a fossil site in Canada. The animal has been identified as Spartobranchus tenuis, a species from the Cambrian period that was previously unknown to science. The odd-looking creature was an ancient relative of acorn worms that exist today, according to researchers.
• 2013/03/14: Eureka: Dinosaur-era climate change study suggests reasons for turtle disappearance -- Ancient soil in Red Deer River valley sheds light on lingering mystery
• 2013/03/13: Eureka: Strange phallus-shaped creature provides crucial missing link -- Discovery pushes fossil record back 200 million years
• 2013/03/13: Eureka: Burgess Shale worm provides crucial missing link -- Discovery pushes fossil record back 200 million years
  

  And in historical times:

• 2013/03/14: SciNow: Solar Blast Suspected in Tree Ring Mystery
  

  In the attribution debate:

• 2013/03/16: CCurrents: Stronger Hurricanes, Somalia Drought Are Climate Crisis Ceations, Say Scientists
  

  And on the ENSO front:

• 2013/03/11: WMO: El Niño/La Niña Update
  Current Situation and Outlook
  Neutral conditions (neither El Niño nor La Niña) continue in the tropical Pacific. Model forecasts and expert opinion suggest that the likelihood of El Niño or La Niña conditions developing during the first half of 2013 is low, and that neutral conditions are likely to be maintained through the boreal spring.
• 
  

  Regarding the solar hypothesis:

   

• 2013/03/01: NASA: Solar Cycle Update: Twin Peaks?
• 2013/01/08: NASA: Solar Variability and Terrestrial Climate
  

  And the State of the Oceans:

• 2013/03/16: EneNews: Reports from California: "Something is going badly wrong offshore" - Stranding centers inundated with [malnourished sea lion pups] animals (video)
• 2013/03/15: Grist:Hundreds of sea lion pups are mysteriously washing ashore in California [oceans]
  

  And the State of the Biosphere:

• 2013/03/12: SciAm:GB: The Not-So-Mysterious Loss of Salt Marshes and Ecosystem Services
  

  What's new on the extinction front?

• 2013/03/15: CBC: Monarch butterfly numbers drop by 'ominous' 59%
• 2013/03/15: P3: Monarch Butterfly Decline Attributed to Climate Changes
• 2013/03/15: NYT: The Winter of the Monarch
• 2013/03/14: Tyee: Latest Species Threatened by Climate Change: Mussels
• 2013/03/14: FAO: Mediterranean and Black Sea sharks risk extinction -- "Serious implications" feared for marine ecosystems and beyond
• 2013/03/14: Grist: Extreme weather and GMO crops devastate monarch butterfly migration
• 2013/03/14: al Jazeera: Monarch butterfly numbers continue to fall
  For the third straight year, the number of butterflies that migrate from the US and Canada to Mexico have declined.
• 2013/03/14: UN: Mediterranean and Black Sea sharks critically endangered, UN agency warns
• 2013/03/14: TheConversation: Australian endangered species: Murray Cod
• 2013/03/12: NatureN: Turtles upend population thresholds -- Endangered bog turtles exempt from common rule for species survival
• 2013/03/13: DD: Monarch butterfly population in Mexico drops to record low - Now only one-fifteenth as many butterflies as there were in 1997
• 2013/03/06: IUCN: New report warns of uncertain future for African elephants
• 2013/03/11: NatureN: Vaccine hope for Tasmanian devil tumour disease -- Researchers discover how transmissible facial cancer hides from the immune system
• 2013/03/11: SciNews: Tasmanian devil disease reveals its secrets -- Deadly cancer turns off genes, evading the immune system
  

  The bees and Colony Collapse Disorder are a constant concern:

• 2013/03/16: DD: Ban on neonicotinoid pesticides falters in European Commission, Beekeepers remain hopeful...
• 2013/03/15: BBC: Bee deaths: EU delays action on pesticides ban
• 2013/03/15: DD: Hoping to save bees, Europe to vote on neonicotinoid pesticide ban
• 2013/03/15: EUO: Ban on bee killing pesticides postponed
  A ban on bee-killing pesticides was postponed on Friday (15 March) when member state experts failed to agree on a binding decision to end their use.
  [...]
  Most member states voted in favour of the ban but the qualified majority threshold needed to make it binding was not met. Five member states abstained, including the UK, Germany and Bulgaria, while nine countries, including Romania, Hungary and Finland, voted against the ban. The Brussels-executive can either refer a revised proposal back to a formal committee for review or send the original text to an appeals committee within two months.
• 2013/03/14: SciAm:PI: It's Time for a Neonicotinoid Time Out
• 2013/03/13: TreeHugger: UK government to side with insecticide lobby, not bees
  

  What's up with volcanoes this week?

• 2013/03/15: MODIS: Ash plume from Popocatepetl volcano, Mexico
• 2013/03/16: IOTD: Activity at Kizimen Volcano [on Kamchatka]
• 2013/03/11: TP:JR: Volcanic Aerosols Tamped Down Recent Surface Warming
  

  More GW impacts are being seen:

• 2013/03/15: CCurrents: Without Urgent Environmental Action Extreme Poor Could Rise To 3 Billion
• 2013/03/14: IOTD: The Greening Arctic
• 2013/03/13: TP:JR: Storms Will Be Stronger In A Warming World
• 2013/03/12: TP:JR: As CO2 Emissions Rise, So Will Pollen Counts And Asthma Attacks
• 2013/03/12: UCSUSA:B: Climate Change Impacts To Our Surf and Turf
• 2013/03/12: CCurrents: As The Globe Warms, Trees Grow In Frozen Tundra
• 2013/03/11: UEA: Environmental change impacts on migratory shorebirds differ for males and females
  

  And then there are the world's forests:

• 2013/03/17: UnderTheBanyan: Kill off the animals and you change the forest --- fast
• 2013/03/12: Grist: Chinese forests now just chopstick factories in waiting
• 2013/03/12: UCSUSA:B: Three Datasets Agree: Amazon Deforestation Has Been Reduced
• 2013/03/13: al Jazeera: Amazon roads: The beauty or the beast?
  Road construction in the Amazon is destroying the local ecology and aiding in the increase of extractive industries.
• 2013/03/16: SciNow: Hunting Leads to Rapid Change in Tropical Trees
• 2013/03/11: Grist: Forests growing in thawed-out Arctic
• 2013/03/10: NatureN: Tropical forests unexpectedly resilient to climate change
  Models predict that forests such as the Amazon will keep carbon locked up until 2100.
• 2013/03/10: al Jazeera: The revival of tradition in France's forests
  The French realise the need for a more inclusive policy which is better for both people and forests.
• 
  

  Desertification looms as a threat:

   

• 2013/03/16: DD: U.N. bodies want to tackle drought to avert food crisis...
• 2013/03/15: RTCC: UNCCD: Vulnerable nations must defend against drought
• 2013/03/11: UN: Cooperation key to drought prevention, UN officials stress at high-level meeting
• 2013/03/11: WMO: Major Drought Policy Conference Opens
  

  Emerging diseases accompany ecological change:

• 2013/03/14: ABC(Au): Wide Bay records mozzie disease spike
  Queensland Health says there has been a spike in mosquito-borne diseases in the Wide Bay region in the state's south, after the recent floods. Dr Margaret Young says even though floodwater is drying out, mosquitos are still breeding. She says cases of Ross River and Barmah Forest virus have been diagnosed in the area.
• 
  

  Changes in natural cycles are showing up:

   

• 2013/03/12: TStar: Warming Atlantic Ocean may be causing changes in lobster growth cycle
• 2013/03/12: DD: Canada losing its seasons - 'We are changing seasonality. The north is becoming like the south, losing its sharp contrasts between the four seasons.'
• 2013/03/12: Grist: Great green north: Climate change curtails Canadian winters
• 2013/03/11: IPS: Canada Losing Its Seasons
• 2013/03/11: CCurrents: Climate Crisis Has Already Altered Arctic Seasons
• 2013/03/10: PSinclair: You Can Fool Climate Deniers, But You Can't Fool Mother Nature. Plants Pack up and Move North
• 2013/03/11: RTCC: Climate change "greening" the Arctic
• 2013/03/10: Eureka: Amplified greenhouse effect shaping North into South
  BU-led international team shows significant reduction in temperature and vegetation seasonality over northern latitudes
• 2013/03/10: NASA: Amplified Greenhouse Effect Shifts North's Growing Seasons
• 2013/03/10: NASA: Amplified Greenhouse Effect Shifts North's Growing Seasons
  Vegetation growth at Earth's northern latitudes increasingly resembles lusher latitudes to the south, according to a NASA-funded study based on a 30-year record of land surface and newly improved satellite data sets.
• 
  

  As for heatwaves and wild fires:

   

• 2013/03/16: CSM: Winds ease, helping crews fight Colorado wildfire
• 2013/03/16: MODIS: Fires in southeastern United States [on March 8th]
• 2013/03/13: DD: Heat wave breaks records across Southeast Australia - Melbourne endures record seven nights above 20C, after nine days in a row above 30C
• 2013/03/12: DD: 'Melbourne on the Murray' as city bakes in record heat - 'It's stunning. That heat is just not going anywhere.'
• 2013/03/12: ABC(Au): Hot weather puts fire fighters on alert
  The Tasmanian Fire Service has extra crews on standby as temperatures around the state climb.
• 2013/03/12: ABC(Au): Scrub fire heads into plantation
  A fire at Wattle Flat, south of Adelaide, has spread to a pine plantation. More than 40 firefighters are battling the blaze, which started in grass and scrub about 12:15pm. At least 25 hectares have been blackened.
• 2013/03/12: ABC(Au): Milestone for bushfire clean up
  Crews have started clearing debris from the 100th property to be cleaned up after bushfire tore through the town of Dunalley in Tasmania's south-east.
• 2013/03/11: WtD: Melbourne's exceptional heatwave and climate change: this ain't the weather your grandparents knew
• 2013/03/11: ABC(Au): Melbourne on track to notch up a record hot spell
  As Victoria swelters, Melbourne is on track to notch up a record hot spell. There have been eight consecutive days above 30 degrees, the longest hot spell since February 1961. The mercury peaked at 37 degrees around 4pm (AEDT). If Tuesday's temperature reaches the forecast 36 degrees, it will become the longest heatwave since records began in 1856.
• 
  

  Corals are a bellwether of the ocean's health:

   

• 2013/03/12: Eureka: Fluorescent light revealed as gauge of coral health
  Mysterious glow of light found to correlate with coral stress prior to bleaching Coral reefs not only provide the world with rich, productive ecosystems and photogenic undersea settings, they also contribute an economic boost valued at hundreds of billions of dollars. But their decline in recent years due to a variety of threats -- from pollution to climate warming -- has lent urgency to the search for new ways to evaluate their health. A new study by Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego scientists has revealed that fluorescence, the dazzling but poorly understood light produced by corals, can be an effective tool for gauging their health.
• 
  

  Acidification is changing the oceans:

   

• 2013/03/15: ABC(Au): Reef study to monitor ocean acidification
  It is hoped research being carried out on a specially modified Rio Tinto bauxite ship will help increase understanding about ocean acidification in the Great Barrier Reef. The ship has begun a study collecting samples and recording data for the CSIRO during trips between Weipa and Gladstone. It is equipped with a floating lab to monitor ocean acidification.
• 
  

  Glaciers are melting:

   

• 2013/03/15: FaGP: Glacier Posts through March 2013
• 2013/03/12: TreeHugger: Canada's glaciers are "headed for an irreversible melt"
• 2013/03/11: SciNews: Canada's ice shrinking rapidly -- Melt from Arctic Archipelago will raise sea levels by 35 millimeters
• 2013/03/10: FaGP: Dexterity Ice Cap, Baffin Island
• 2013/03/10: WHOI: Glaciers Contribute Significant Iron to North Atlantic Ocean
  

  Sea levels are rising:

• 2013/03/12: DD: Rising sea levels threaten historic Jamestown, marine geologist says island's future is grim - 'You can only fight nature for so long, because she will win'
  

  As for hydrological cycle disruptions [floods & droughts]:

• 2013/03/16: al Jazeera: The Bolivian low ramps up the rain
  Severe weather has hit central Bolivia causing extensive flooding and widespread disruption
• 2013/03/15: JFleck: California's resilience to drought
• 2013/03/15: BBC: New Zealand North Island hit by worst drought in 30 years
• 2013/03/15: ABC(Au): Water use restricted in NZ's parched capital
  Stringent water restrictions will come into effect in Wellington at the weekend as northern New Zealand struggles with its worst drought in decades. New Zealand primary industries minister Nathan Guy on Friday declared the entire North Island officially in drought.
• 2013/03/14: Salon: Phoenix may not survive climate change
• 2013/03/14: CCurrents: Phoenix In The Climate Crosshairs
• 2013/03/14: CCurrents: Parts Of USA Experience Increased Heavy Rainfalls
• 2013/03/14: JFleck: River beat: the emptying of Lake Powell
• 2013/03/14: JFleck: Stuff I wrote elsewhere: water problems are hard
• 2013/03/14: CDreams: Phoenix in the Climate Crosshairs -- We Are Long Past Coal Mine Canaries
• 2013/03/14: CBC: P.E.I. homes inundated by floods -- Couple's home destroyed by water
• 2013/03/14: DD: California has driest January and February on record, Sierra snowpack below normal...
• 2013/03/13: DD: Wellington has '20 days of water left' in record drought...
• 2013/03/11: TP:JR: A Dry Spring: Drought Expands In Texas And Florida, Pounding State Economies
• 2013/03/10: IOTD: Record Snowfall in North Texas
  

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

• 2013/03/14: CCurrents: Don't Ignore Individual Action To Fight Climate Crisis, Suggest Scientists
• 2013/03/14: JQuiggin: The good news
• 2013/03/08: Reuters: Climate fixes need cautious consideration: [Gerard] Wynn
• 2013/03/10: al Jazeera: Soap security: African home economics after the biofuel hype
  One litre jatropha oil can reduce more carbon emissions by displacing detergents than it can by displacing diesel fuel.
• 
  

  Can cities take up the slack when nations shirk their responsibilities?

   

• 2013/03/12: BBerg: Bloomberg Announces Mayors' Summit To Fight Climate Change [Feb 2014 in Johannesburg, SA]
  

  Consider transportation & GHG production:

• 2013/03/12: EurActiv: EU's clean transport dream faces familiar speed bumps
  Plans to kick-start Europe's low carbon vehicles industry with a huge infrastructure package ran into retro roadblocks at a meeting of EU transport ministers yesterday (11 March), with member states bemoaning the use of public funds to reach ambitious targets.
• 2013/03/11: CSM: Public transport surges as economy adds jobs
• 2013/03/16: CCurrents: Sustainable Low Carbon Transport In India
  

  Large scale geo-engineering keeps popping up:

• 2013/03/16: ClimateEngineering: [press review] Geoengineering Governance (Parson/Keith)
• 2013/03/16: CCurrents: Geoengineering Could Create Unforeseen New Risks
• 2013/03/12: RTCC: Geoengineering could create more questions than answers
• Climate Geoengineering Governance
• 2013/03/11: JCBaez: Geoengineering Report
• 2013/03/11: ABC(Au): [video/podcast] Playing God With the Planet: The Ethics & Politics of Geoengineering
  

  What's new in conservation?

• 2013/03/14: TheConversation: Recreational fishing in marine parks: you can't be serious!
• 2013/03/12: NatureN: Australia's plans for sea havens 'flawed' -- Questions raised over protection levels for marine regions
  

  What's new in restoration?

• 2013/03/15: TreeHugger: Scientists successfully create living embryo of an extinct species
  

  While on the adaptation front:

• 2013/03/11: TheConversation: Who will speak up for climate change adaptation?
  

  Meanwhile in the journals:

• 2013/03/12: PNAS: (ab$) Green-up dates in the Tibetan Plateau have continuously advanced from 1982 to 2011 by Geli Zhang et al.
• 2013/03/12: PNAS: (abs) Water-controlled wealth of nations by Samir Suweis et al.
• 2013/03/12: PNAS: (letter$) Fifty years to prove Malthus right by Lynn H. Kaack & Gabriel G. Katul
• 2013/03/12: PNAS: (letter$) Fishy numbers for white marlin stocks by Mark Schrope
• 2013/03/12: PNAS: (letter$) Reply to Leifeld et al.: Enhanced top soil carbon stocks under organic farming is not equated with climate change mitigation by Andreas Gattinger et al.
• 2013/03/12: PNAS: (letter$) Organic farming gives no climate change benefit through soil carbon sequestration by Jens Leifeld et al.
• 2013/03/15: Science: (ab$) End the Deadlock on Governance of Geoengineering Research by Edward A. Parson & David W. Keith
• 2013/03/14: ACPD: A comparison of atmospheric composition using the Carbon Bond and Regional Atmospheric Chemistry Mechanisms by G. Sarwar et al.
• 2013/03/13: ACPD: Radiative and dynamical contributions to past and future Arctic stratospheric temperature trends by P. Bohlinger et al.
• 2013/03/11: ACPD: Two hundred fifty years of aerosols and climate: the end of the age of aerosols by S. J. Smith & T. C. Bond
• 2013/02/12: WOL:GRL: (ab$) Terrestrial effects of possible astrophysical sources of an AD 774-775 increase in C14 production by Brian C. Thomas et al.
• 2013/03/13: Nature: (ab$) Tubicolous enteropneusts from the Cambrian period by Jean-Bernard Caron et al.
• 2013/03/13: BG: Storage and stability of organic carbon in soils as related to depth, occlusion within aggregates, and attachment to minerals by M. Schrumpf et al.
• 2013/03/12: BG: Modelling Holocene carbon accumulation and methane emissions of boreal wetlands - an Earth system model approach by R. J. Schuldt et al.
• 2013/03/15: BGD: Global atmospheric carbon budget: results from an ensemble of atmospheric CO2 inversions by P. Peylin et al.
• 2013/03/15: BGD: Chronic exposure of the North Atlantic copepod Calanus finmarchicus (Gunnerus, 1770) to CO2-acidified seawater; effects on survival, growth and development by S. A. Pedersen et al.
• 2013/03/14: BGD: Cesium-134 and 137 activities in the central North Pacific Ocean after the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant accident by J. Kameník et al.
• 2013/03/13: BGD: A fertile peatland forest does not constitute a major greenhouse gas sink by A. Meyer et al.
• 2013/03/11: BGD: Carbon balance of a partially-harvested mixed conifer forest following mountain pine beetle attack and its comparison to a clearcut by A. Mathys et al.
• 2013/03/11: BGD: Distribution of the Fukushima-derived radionuclides in seawater in the Pacific off the coast of Miyagi, Fukushima, and Ibaraki Prefectures, Japan by S. Oikawa et al.
• 2013/03/15: CP: Modeling the climatic implications and indicative senses of the Guliya O18-temperature proxy record to the ocean-atmosphere system during the past 130 ka by D. Xiao et al.
• 2013/03/14: CP: A multi-model assessment of last interglacial temperatures by D. J. Lunt et al.
• 2013/03/14: CP: HadISDH: an updateable land surface specific humidity product for climate monitoring by K. M. Willett et al.
• 2013/03/13: CP: Madagascar corals reveal a multidecadal signature of rainfall and river runoff since 1708 by C. A. Grove et al.
• 2013/03/11: CP: Quantification of the Greenland ice sheet contribution to Last Interglacial sea level rise by E. J. Stone et al.
• 2013/03/11: CP: Last interglacial temperature evolution - a model inter-comparison by P. Bakker et al.
• 2013/03/12: CPD: Caspian Sea level changes during the last millennium: historical and geological evidences from the south Caspian Sea by A. Naderi Beni et al.
• 2013/03/11: CPD: Impact of the Megalake Chad on climate and vegetation during the late Pliocene and the mid-Holocene by C. Contoux et al.
• 2013/03/11: CPD: Climate variability since MIS 5 in SW Balkans inferred from multiproxy analysis of Lake Prespa sediments by K. Panagiotopoulos et al.
• 2012//: E&S: Geo-engineering, Governance, and Social-Ecological Systems: Critical Issues and Joint Research Needs by Victor Galaz
• 2013/03/11: OSD: Transport of AABW through the Kane Gap, tropical NE Atlantic by E. G. Morozov et al.
• 2013/03/12: TC: How does internal variability influence the ability of CMIP5 models to reproduce the recent trend in Southern Ocean sea ice extent? by V. Zunz et al.
• 2013/03/11: TC: Brief communication "The aerophotogrammetric map of Greenland ice masses" by M. Citterio & A. P. Ahlstrøm
• 2013/03/15: NERC:NORA: Carbon sequestration and biogeochemical cycling in a saltmarsh subject to coastal managed realignment by A. Burden et al.
• 2013/03/15: NERC:NORA: Test of a method for monitoring the geostrophic meridional overturning circulation using only boundary measurements by Chris W. Hughes et al.
• 2013/03/15: NERC:NORA: A novel probabilistic risk analysis to determine the vulnerability of ecosystems to extreme climatic events by Marcel van Oijen et al.
• 2013/03/15: ACP: The impact of bark beetle infestations on monoterpene emissions and secondary organic aerosol formation in western North America by A. R. Berg et al.
• 2013/03/15: ACPD: Kinetic fractionation of gases by deep air convection in polar firn by K. Kawamura et al.
• 2013/03/15: OSD: Coupling of eastern and western subpolar North Atlantic: salt transport in the Irminger Current by A. Born et al.
• 2013/03/14: TC: Estimating the Greenland ice sheet surface mass balance contribution to future sea level rise using the regional atmospheric climate model MAR by X. Fettweis et al.
• 2013/03/13: TCD: Influence of supraglacial lakes and ice-sheet geometry on seasonal ice-flow variability by I. Joughin et al.
• 2013/03/10: Nature:GeoSci: (ab$) Simulated resilience of tropical rainforests to CO2-induced climate change by Chris Huntingford et al.
• 2013/03/10: Nature:GeoSci: (ab$) Greenland meltwater as a significant and potentially bioavailable source of iron to the ocean by Maya P. Bhatia et al.
• 2013/03/10: Nature:GeoSci: (ab$) Little net clear-sky radiative forcing from recent regional redistribution of aerosols by D. M. Murphy
• 2013/03/10: Nature:GeoSci: (ab$) Synchronization of the climate system to eccentricity forcing and the 100,000-year problem by José A. Rial et al.
• 2013/03/10: Nature:CC: (ab$) Recent multidecadal strengthening of the Walker circulation across the tropical Pacific by Michelle L. L'Heureux et al.
• 2013/03/10: Nature:CC: (ab$) Mixed responses of tropical Pacific fisheries and aquaculture to climate change by Johann D. Bell et al.
• 2013/03/10: Nature:CC: (ab$) Attribution of historical ozone forcing to anthropogenic emissions by Drew Shindell et al.
• 2013/03/10: Nature:CC: (ab$) Temperature and vegetation seasonality diminishment over northern lands by L. Xu et al.
• 2013/03/08: Science: (ab$) Evidence for a Common Mechanism of SIRT1 Regulation by Allosteric Activators by Basil P. Hubbard et al.
  

  As for miscellaneous science:

• 2013/03/13: ERabett: An Apology From Eli
• 2013/03/12: ERabett: Some Reading
• 2013/03/15: SciAm:PI: New journal explores efficiency - a hidden energy resource
• 2013/03/14: DeSmogBlog: "Frackademia" Strikes Again at USC with "Powering California" Study Release
• 2013/03/16: SimpleC: How cold hearts and ice ages kindled the science of warming
• 2013/03/15: JCBaez: Meta-Rationality
• 2013/03/10: DeepClimate: James Gentle and Karen Kafadar take over at WIREs Computational Statistics
  

  Mishra obit:

• 2013/03/14: ABC(Au): Prominent Indian environmentalist dies
  Noted Indian environmentalist and TIME Magazine's 'Hero of the Planet' in 1999, Professor Veer Bhadra Mishra, passed away at Sir Sundarlal Hospital in Varanasi on Wednesday afternoon. According to family members, 75-year-old Mr Mishra was admitted to the hospital 10 days before, suffering from low blood pressure. He died at around 3.30pm on Wednesday.
• 
  

  Regarding Hargreaves:

   

• 2013/03/16: KlimaZwiebel: Interview with Julia Hargreaves
  

  Snow remembrance:

• 2013/03/17: Guardian(UK): Raise a glass of clean water to John Snow
  Two hundred years after his birth, we owe much to the London doctor who discovered the cause of cholera
• 
  

  And on the carbon trading front:

   

• 2013/03/14: TheConversation: Carbon offsets: saving emissions, but not saving the environment
• 2013/03/12: BBerg: Carbon Drops to Second-Lowest Close After EU Permit Sale Fails
  

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

• 2013/03/15: Stoat: We're right. You're wrong. We're in power. So there.
  

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

• 2013/03/15: WSWS: Pakistan begins construction of Pakistan-Iran gas pipeline
  Amid US threats to impose sanctions on his country, Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari joined Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in a ceremony breaking ground on construction of the Pakistani portion of a planned Iran-Pakistan pipeline on Monday.
• 2013/03/14: Mehr: Iran oil exports seen rising by IEA
• 2013/03/14: RT: US renews Iran sanctions waiver for Japan and 10 EU countries
• 2013/03/13: CCurrents: Anti-Iran Sanctions Are Warfare Without Military Involvement: Soraya Sepahpour-Ulrich
• 2013/03/12: TMoS: Iran Pipeline to Pakistan. Next stop, China?
• 2013/03/11: EmptyWheel: Iran, Pakistan Break Ground on Gas Pipeline, Capping Horrible Week for US in Region
• 2013/03/11: RawStory: U.S. officials warn Pakistan risks sanctions over Iran pipeline
• 2013/03/11: al Jazeera: Pakistan defies US with gas pipeline to Iran
  Construction of pipeline, intended to help Pakistan overcome its increasing energy needs, begins despite US opposition.
• 2013/03/12: RT: US threatens Pakistan with sanctions over Iran gas pipeline
• 2013/03/11: BBC: Pakistan-Iran gas pipeline defies US
  President Asif Ali Zardari of Pakistan and Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad have inaugurated a controversial gas pipeline linking the two neighbours.
• 2013/03/11: BBerg: Iran, Pakistan Begin Border Gas Pipe Amid Sanctions Threat
  The presidents of Pakistan and Iran inaugurated work on the cross-border leg of a gas pipeline that the U.S. has warned may breach a sanctions regime aimed at curbing the Persian Gulf nation's nuclear program. Pakistan's benchmark KSE 100 share index plunged 2.3 percent in Karachi, the biggest drop in almost two months, as the news sparked concerns the U.S. would impose penalties.
• 2013/03/11: BBerg: Iran Allocates $2.7 Billion for Southern Oil Refinery, Mehr Says
  Iran has allocated 2.1 billion euros ($2.7 billion) to build an oil refinery in the southern Hormozgan province that will begin operations this year, state- run Mehr news agency reported, citing an energy official.
• 
  

  And in miscellaneous international political jousting:

   

• 2013/03/14: WSWS: New pope elected as Catholic Church tries to stem crisis
  

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

• 2013/03/12: DD: Chief of U.S. Pacific forces calls climate change biggest worry - 'You could have millions of people displaced, and security will start to crumble pretty quickly'
• 2013/03/11: TP:JR: Head Of U.S. Pacific Forces: Climate Change Is Biggest Threat To Region's Security
• 2013/03/11: Grist: Big military guy more scared of climate change than enemy guns
• 2013/03/11: P3: Climate Change Is the Biggest Threat in the Pacific, Says Top U.S. Admiral
• 2013/03/10: CSW: Commander of U.S. Forces Pacific: Climate change is top threat
  

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

• 2013/03/13: Guardian(UK): Laos campaigner's abduction sends shockwaves through activist community
  NGO community fears Sombath Somphone's disappearance represents start of a crackdown on dissenting voices
  [...]
  He is a highly respected community worker and green campaigner, and worked for more than 30 years on grassroots community activity including consulting for Unicef, where his wife also worked.
• 2013/03/13: CDreams: Climate Movement Claims 'Victory' After Direct Action Suit Dropped by Energy Giant
  'Only a few of us went up that chimney but 64,000 people came down.' In what climate justice activists are calling a "huge" victory, the UK energy giant EDF has dropped its controversial multi-million dollar lawsuit against activists who shut down one of the company's gas-fired power plants in 2012 with a dramatic week-long occupation of the plant's smoke chimney.
• 
  

  What are the activists up to?

   

• 2013/03/12: CCP: Divestment: College of the Atlantic 5th to divest from fossil-fuel stocks
• 2013/03/16: TheConversation: What's the point? The failure of community activism
• 2013/03/11: CCP: The Great March for Climate Action - 1,000 climate patriots to walk across America
• 2013/03/11: CConnections: 26 arrested at Transcanada office occupation outside Boston
  

  Polls! We have polls!

• 2013/03/14: Maribo: Poll: Canadians more interested in preserving the environment than expanding oil drilling
• 2013/03/11: Rasmussen: 36% Think Radiation From Japanese Nuclear Disaster Hurt the U.S.
  

  Regarding Water Politics and Business:

• 2013/03/15: FAO: U.N. lays foundations for more drought resilient societies -- Meeting urges disaster risk reduction instead of crisis management
• 2013/03/15: CBC: Great Lakes experiencing 'new stresses' -- Pharmaceutical waste, fertilizers and climate change all new threats to fresh water
• 2013/03/15: JFleck: The Ag conservation conundrum
• 2013/03/14: ABC(Au): Report warns Asia-Pacific facing water crisis
  A new report has found nearly two thirds of people in the Asia-Pacific region have no clean, piped water at home, despite the region's strong economic growth. The Asian Development Bank report says water security is a major concern for most countries in the region.
• 2013/03/14: ABC(Au): Shanghai water not affected by dead pigs: officials
• 2013/03/13: DD: Rains or not, India is falling short on drinkable water
• 2013/03/12: JFleck: Stuff I wrote elsewhere: "a forlorn-looking river"
• 2013/03/12: Rabble:CoC: The many faces of water privatization in Mexico
• 2013/03/11: WMO: Major Drought Policy Conference Opens
• 2013/03/10: JFleck: A new framing of the Sacramento Delta problem
  

  And on the groundwater front:

• 2013/03/17: TP:JR: NASA's Startling Satellite Data Shows Massive Drop In Mideast Freshwater Reserves During Warming-Driven Drought
• 2013/03/13: IOTD: Freshwater Stores Shrink in Tigris-Euphrates Basin
  

  Among the world's religions:

• 2013/03/15: DD: So I asked the Vatican about global warming...
  

  While in the UK:

• 2013/03/11: OilChange: 1/3 of UK Ministers Linked to Big Oil & Finance
  

  And in Europe:

• 2013/03/14: EurActiv: MEPs vote for 80% cut in buildings' energy waste by 2050
  The European Parliament voted for an 80% cut in energy used by buildings today [14 March], a move that will require a massive ramping up of the EU's renovation targets.
• 2013/03/14: EUO: Parliament divided after MEPs water down CAP reform
• 2013/03/13: BBC: Euro MPs reject radical CAP farm subsidy reforms
  The European Parliament has rejected campaigners' demands to tie the majority of farm subsidies to protection of the environment. It now looks inevitable that farmers will continue to receive most of their 58bn-euro (£50bn) annual subsidies for doing little more than owning land. MEPs agreed that farmers should work for 30% of their payments by operating in a way that benefits wildlife. But they delayed and watered down the changes proposed by the Commission.
• 2013/03/12: DerSpiegel: The Price of Green Energy: Is Germany Killing the Environment to Save It?
  The German government is carrying out a rapid expansion of renewable energies like wind, solar and biogas, yet the process is taking a toll on nature conservation. The issue is causing a rift in the environmental movement, pitting "green energy" supporters against ecologists.
• 2013/03/11: DerSpiegel: Made Poor by the Crisis: Millions of Europeans Require Red Cross Food Aid
  Needy families and individuals in the European Union are becoming increasingly reliant on charity organizations like the Red Cross for basic needs like food, water and shelter. While Germany is relatively unaffected, unemployment and austerity in countries like Spain are making the problem even more severe.
• 2013/03/12: RTCC: EU eyes 40% emission reduction target by 2030
• 2013/03/11: EurActiv: Expert vote tightens energy savings from computers
  Proposed new energy savings legislation for computers across the EU has been strengthened by a show of hands among national experts from each member state in a behind closed doors vote last week (7 March).
• 2013/03/10: BBC: Will MEPs scupper greening of EU agriculture?
  Plans to force farmers to earn their subsidies by protecting the environment may be blocked by MEPs this week. The European Commission wants farmers to repay society for their subsidies - worth about 50bn euros (£43bn; $65bn) annually - by supporting wildlife. But farmers are unhappy and have persuaded the European Parliament's agriculture committee to reject key elements of the reform. Now environmentalists warn that the "greening" of farming is at risk.
• 
  

  Meanwhile in Australia:

   

• 2013/03/16: ABC(Au): Councils want government support on windfarms
  Local councils say state government must fast-track planning laws for windfarms.
• 2013/03/15: ABC(Au): Fire victim never comfortable with stay or go policy
  A woman whose son perished in the Kilmore East bushfire on Black Saturday has told a Melbourne court she moved to Australia to give her children a different life. Carol Ann Matthews is spearheading a 10,000 strong class action against power company SP AusNet over the deadly fire that killed 119 people and destroyed 125,000 hectares of land in 2009.
• 2013/03/12: TheConversation: Do you know how clean your electricity is?
• 2013/03/11: ABC(Au): Rudd should be given ministry: Latham
  Former Labor leader Mark Latham has bought in to the latest round of federal leadership speculation, calling for Kevin Rudd to be given a ministry instead of working on the backbench as the party's "destabiliser-in-chief".
• 
  

  Coal seam gas questions are still kicking around:

   

• 2013/03/15: ABC(Au): Industry shocked, Greens jubilant, about Metgasco decision
  Metgasco's share price fell more than 21 per cent yesterday, closing at 7.3 cents a share, following the company announcing it will suspend its activities in northern NSW.
• 2013/03/15: ABC(Au): Hazzard criticises Burke's CSG law changes
  The [NSW] state Planning Minister, Brad Hazzard, has accused the federal government of playing politics with coal seam gas.
• 2013/03/14: ABC(Au): CSG changes come too late for some
  Lyne MP Rob Oakeshott says planned changes to coal seam gas and coal mining development assessments come too late for Gloucester.
  [...]
  Mr Oakeshott says the planned legislation will not stop the 110 coal seam gas wells that make up Stage One of AGL's Gloucester project.
• 2013/03/14: ABC(Au): Fed Labor MP predicts more coal seam gas projects will succumb to community pressure
• 2013/03/13: TheConversation: Federal government's control of coal seam gas a welcome relief
• 2013/03/13: ABC(Au): CSG company suspends operations in NSW
  A northern NSW coal seam gas company will suspend its exploration and development program in the Clarence Moreton Basin. Casino-based Metgasco says new regulations by the NSW Government have created an environment of substantial uncertainty for the state's energy companies. The new restrictions announced last month include a two-kilometre buffer zone from residential areas and identified critical industry clusters.
• 2013/03/13: ABC(Au): Burke slammed for new coal seam gas oversight measures
  The Federal Water Minister has been widely criticised for his decision to grant the Commonwealth additional powers for approving coal seam gas operations and coal mines. Tony Burke says the Federal Government will now consider the impact on water resources. The mining industry has attacked the announcement, saying it duplicates existing processes managed by the states.
• 2013/03/13: ABC(Au): Call for shale fracking to be part of law changes
  The Conservation Council says the state's water resources will be threatened unless shale fracking is included in proposed Federal Government changes to environmental law. The federal Environment Minister Tony Burke has announced the government will now consider how a coal mine or coal seam gas project will impact on water resources when deciding if it should be approved.
• 2013/03/12: ABC(Au): Scientific panel concerned about Surat Basin CSG expansion
• 2013/03/12: ABC(Au): Mannum pump station work kicks into gear
  The next stage of a $2.9 million project to upgrade the Mannum pump station will begin today. SA Water will begin construction work to rebuild a 400 metre section of the pipeline near Chandler Avenue. Service delivery manager Steve Rose says the new work will minimise the risk of flooding at the station, which has caused tens-of-thousands of dollars in damage over the past five years.
• 2013/03/12: ABC(Au): Federal MPs welcome new CSG laws
• 2013/03/12: ABC(Au): Burke changes federal laws for CSG approvals
  The Commonwealth is extending its powers to approve, or reject, coal mines and coal seam gas projects. The federal Environment Minister, Tony Burke, has announced water will be included as a factor when deciding if a project should go ahead. He says the public expects him to consider the impact of a proposal on water but, until now, he says he has not had the power to consider the resource.
• 2013/03/12: ABC(Au): Qld Government condemns 'desperate' federal CSG changes
  The Queensland Government has lashed out at Federal Environment Minister Tony Burke over changes to the approval process for coal and coal seam gas (CSG) mines. Mr Burke says legislation will be bolstered to ensure that issues involving water quality are taken into consideration. Queensland Deputy Premier Jeff Seeney says the move will delay important projects.
• 2013/03/12: ABC(Au): Federal Govt seeks more control over coal seam gas
• 2013/03/12: ABC(Au): Reaction mixed on move for more federal regulation on CSG
• 2013/03/12: BBerg: Australia Plans Stricter Approvals for Coal-Seam Gas Projects
• 2013/03/12: ABC(Au): Government extends powers over CSG projects
  The Federal Government is extending its powers to approve coal mines and coal seam gas projects. Federal Environment Minister Tony Burke says all future coal seam gas projects which will have a "significant impact on a water resource" will need to be federally approved.
• 
  

  It's a long way to the September election:

   

• 2013/03/15: ABC(Au): Uni students asked to help LNP topple Rudd
• 2013/03/13: ABC(Au): Abbott, Gillard point fingers as abuse flies
  Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has denied he is engendering a culture of abuse in politics and accused the Federal Government of trying to bully its critics into silence.
• 2013/03/13: NewAnthropocene: So, What Do I Think of the ALP's Price on Carbon?
• 2013/03/12: JQuiggin: I may be some little time ...
• 2013/03/12: ABC(Au): Gillard regains preferred PM title: Newspoll
• 2013/03/11: NewAnthropocene: "Carbon Tax" Successful Reframing at its Best
• 2013/03/11: ABC(Au): WA election re-ignites Federal speculation
  Labor's resounding defeat in Western Australia has sparked concerns about the Federal ALP and Prime Minister Julia Gillard's role as leader.
• 2013/03/11: WSWS: Labor Party routed in Western Australian election
  Saturday's election in Western Australia saw the Labor Party suffer another state electoral defeat. Entrenched hostility among ordinary people toward the federal Labor government was a significant factor in the vote. Prime Minister Julia Gillard is now under greater pressure as Labor Party figures warn of a pending "massacre" in the national election due in September.
• 
  

  After years of wrangling the Murray Darling Basin plan is in place, but the water management fights are not over:

   

• 2013/03/16: ABC(Au): Dam gates to open to allow flood damage repairs
  The gates of Paradise Dam at Bundaberg will be opened in the coming days to allow for repairs after January's record flood. SunWater will dramatically lower the level of water in the dam and says about 23,000 megalitres per day will be released over a four to five day period.
• 2013/03/15: ABC(Au): Council defends Agnes Water desal plant
  The Gladstone Regional Council says building a desalination plant at Agnes Water has not been a waste of money, even though the central Queensland region is no longer in drought.
• 2013/03/14: ABC(Au): Senators call for more science and less politics in MDB debate
• 2013/03/14: ABC(Au): NSW town furious at dangerous water supply
  Residents of a small town in southern New South Wales say they have been kept in the dark about pollution in their water supply. Around 140 properties at Delegate, on the NSW border with Victoria, draw their water from the Delegate River. But a report late last year from NSW Health found the water from the Delegate River is too polluted to drink.
• 
  

  And in New Zealand:

   

• 2013/03/15: WSWS: New Zealand government launches asset sales
  

  While in the Indian subcontinent:

• 2013/03/15: CCurrents: Study Reveals Coal Power Emissions Killed Over 100,000 Indians In 2011-2012
• 2013/03/12: TP:JR: Coal's True Cost: 100,000+ Deaths A Year In India/A>
• 2013/03/12: KSJT: Demolishing the myth that Monsanto's engineered crops drove 270,000 Indian farmers to suicide [Kloor vs DemNow]
• 2013/03/11: CCurrents: Protest Against Killing of Anti-POSCO Activists And Forcible Land Grabbing In Odisha
• 2013/03/11: CCurrents: Judicial Enquiry Demanded On Bomb Attack Against POSCO Resisters
• 2013/03/11: CCurrents: I Cannot Tell Shazia Her Son Died In A Blast, Can You?
• 2013/03/10: Guardian(UK): Indian coal power plants 'kill 120,000 people a year', says Greenpeace
  Environmental group's report on pollution in the country warns emissions may cause 20m new asthma cases a year
• 
  

  And in China:

   

• 2013/03/17: ABC(Au): China delegates in pollution protest vote
  Delegates to China's annual session of parliament have issued a protest against the rising level of pollution in the country. After a badly polluted day in Beijing, hundreds of delegates at the National People's Congress took a stand on environmental policy.
• 2013/03/17: al Jazeera: Over 12,000 dead pigs fished out in China
  Worries mount over the water supply as more bodies floated into Shanghai's main river.
• 2013/03/15: al Jazeera: Li Keqiang named as China's prime minister
  Parliament endorses Li Keqiang day after Xi Jingping was named president as part of once-a-decade power handover.
• 2013/03/14: al Jazeera: Xi Jinping named president of China
  National People's Congress confirms Xi Jinping as president, completing communist nation's once-a-decade power handover.
• 2013/03/13: BBerg: Shanghai Finds 6,600 Dead Pigs as Farm Confesses to Dumping
• 2013/03/10: Reuters: In China, public anger over secrecy on environment
  When China's environment ministry told attorney Dong Zhengwei he couldn't have access to two-year old data about soil pollution because it was a "state secret", it added to mounting public outrage over the worsening environment.
• 
  

  And South America:

   

• 2013/03/11: Guardian(UK): Venezuela's opposition leader joins presidential race
  Henrique Capriles, who lost to Hugo Chávez in October, confirms he will face acting president Nicolás Maduro
• 
  

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

   

• 2013/03/04: WCEL: Jessica Clogg explains Bill C-45, First Nations Rights, FIPA
• 2013/03/14: CBC: Canada drops out of top 10 most developed countries list
• 2013/03/13: PostMedia: Elections commissioner Yves Côté recommends charges be laid in Guelph robocalls case
• 2013/03/14: Maribo: Poll: Canadians more interested in preserving the environment than expanding oil drilling
• 2013/03/15: WMTC: the world fails to protect polar bears, canada leads the failure
• 2013/03/15: WSJ:CRT: Canada's Conservative Party Taps Keystone Pipeline...For Cash
• 2013/03/15: PostMedia: Fisheries Department dismantling summer cabins of scientists at water research facility
• 2013/03/10: CBC: Experimental Lakes Area uncertain future met with mixed reaction
  

  The IdleNoMore movement is festering:

• 2013/03/15: Rabble: Scapegoat for a movement? Ron Plain struggles to fight charges for Idle No More action
• 2013/03/14: iPolitics: Think aboriginal rage has cooled? Think again.
• 2013/03/11: RTCC: Canada's First Nations lead battle against Alberta tar sands
  

  The Harper gang's pro-dislbit PR campaign is running into cross winds:

• 2013/03/16: CBC: Mulcair dismisses Tory charge of 'trash talking' Canada -- NDP leader calls Harper on his own history of contentious remarks
• 2013/03/12: TheHill:e2W: Canadian opposition leader: Government playing US 'for fools' on Keystone
  Canada's opposition leader will visit Washington, D.C., this week to counter statements by Canadian officials in a recent lobbying blitz supporting the Keystone XL oil sands pipeline. The trip by Tom Mulcair, of Canada's New Democratic Party, comes amidst a series of United States trips by Canadian officials to meet with Obama administration personnel and lawmakers about the pipeline. According to Canada's National Post, Mulcair's message to the lawmakers and business executives with whom he plans to meet is that the Canadian government is "playing people for fools" by championing the nation's environmental record.
• 2013/03/13: MSimon: Joe Oliver Goes to War Again
• 2013/03/13: CBC: Keystone XL in U.S. interest, ex-environment minister says
  Former Conservative cabinet minister Jim Prentice says the Keystone XL oil pipeline is in the U.S. national interest and that President Barack Obama should let it be built.
• 2013/03/13: Guardian(UK): Keystone XL pipeline not good for Canada, opposition leader suggests
  Thomas Mulcair criticises Canada's Conservative government and says pipeline is exacting heavy environmental cost
• 2013/03/13: TStar: Thomas Mulcair wrestles with the Keystone pipeline in Washington visit: Tim Harper
  Tom Mulcair couldn't sidestep the fate of Keystone XL or Ottawa's environmental record in a Washington trip, but his message was consistent.
• 2013/03/12: PI:B: Fact-checking Canada's record on climate change and the oilsands
• 2013/03/11: G&M: Mulcair to sidestep Keystone during talks with Obama administration
  NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair won't advocate for -- or against -- the Keystone XL pipeline, the most contentious issue in Canada-U.S. relations, when he comes to Washington this week for talks with senior Obama administration officials.
• 
  

  The Harper gang is muzzling scientists, librarians, anyone who can think for themselves:

   

• 2013/03/15: PaiD: The Quasi-Police State In Our Midst
• 2013/03/15: TStar: 'Muzzling' of Canadian government scientists sent before Information Commissioner Suzanne Legault
  One civil servant calls situation "absolutely embarrassing"; 128-page report detailing the communication barriers Canadian government scientists face now in front of Information Commissioner
• 2013/03/12: TStar: Arctic scientists see Canada slipping on world stage
  Researchers say the basic science that would let us understand changes occurring in the Arctic is being neglected by Canada and assumed by other countries.
• 2013/03/16: MSimon: Stephen Harper, the Scientists, and the Spaceman
• 2013/03/13: NatPo: Federal librarians fear being 'muzzled' under new code of conduct that stresses 'duty of loyalty' to the government
  Federal librarians and archivists who set foot in classrooms, attend conferences or speak up at public meetings on their own time are engaging in "high risk" activities, according to the new code of conduct at Library and Archives Canada. Given the dangers, the code says the department's staff must clear such "personal" activities with their managers in advance to ensure there are no conflicts or "other risks to LAC." The code, which stresses federal employees' "duty of loyalty" to the "duly elected government," also spells out how offenders can be reported. "It includes both a muzzle and a snitch line," says James Turk, executive director of the Canadian Association of University Teachers, which represents more than 68,000 teachers, librarians, researchers and academics across the country. He and others say the code is evidence the Harper government is silencing and undermining its professional staff.
• 
  

  A big shakeup in the Liberal party leadership race this week as Garneau quits:

   

• 2013/03/13: CBC: Trudeau leadership win a 'fait accompli,' Garneau says -- Former astronaut says it's time for Liberal Party to move forward
  Marc Garneau is dropping out of the race to lead the federal Liberal Party and will support his MP colleague Justin Trudeau, saying a Trudeau win is certain. On Tuesday, Garneau supported Trudeau's plea to the Liberal Party to extend the registration deadline for voters in the leadership race, and sources have told CBC News that the deadline will be moved to give more time for supporters who are registering by mail, rather than by email.
• 2013/03/14: PaiD: Just Another Pretty Face
• 2013/03/14: CBC: Greg Weston: Marc Garneau's exit exposes Liberal numbers game
• 2013/03/13: Macleans: And so the Justin Trudeau years begin
• 2013/03/13: PunditsGuide: Liberals doing it all wrong
  

  The battle over the Northern Gateway pipeline rages on:

• 2013/03/13: ICN: Keystone Pipeline Will Diminish Energy Security, Prominent Canadian Says
  In an interview, Canadian economist Robyn Allan explains how export pipelines like Keystone XL would do more harm than good for Canada's economy.
• 2013/03/13: CBC: Pacific pipeline crucial for Canada, Baird says in Asia
• 2013/03/13: LeftOver: Pacific Pipeline Crucial For Canada, Baird Says In Asia
  

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

• 2013/03/12: TheCanadian: New Film, Cutting-Edge Research Probe Salmon Virus Mystery
  

  In BC, the stage is set for the May 14th election. Now what will Clark and Dix do?

• 2013/03/15: TheCanadian: Rafe: Christy Clark Must Resign
• 2013/03/13: TheCanadian: Premier's Calculations for Pipelines, Fish Farms, Site C Dam Don't Add Up
• 2013/03/12: CBC: B.C.'s coal industry has expansion plans
  

  Meanwhile in that Mechanical Mordor known as the tar sands:

• 2013/03/15: Tyee: Oil Sands Cleanup Opportunity #4: Restore Subsidies for Innovation -- Scaled back federal support for new tech frustrates top oil patch execs
• 2013/03/14: Tyee: Oil Sands Cleanup Opportunity #3: Harvest Heavy Minerals -- Process cleans tailing ponds, pays for itself. Why does industry balk?
• 2013/03/13: Tyee: Oil Sands Cleanup Opportunity #2: Pay As You Go -- A 'play now, pay later' policy discourages clean investment, say experts.
• 2013/03/12: Tyee: Cleantech Firms Want a Shot at Fixing Oil Sands -- Opportunities for breakthroughs? We found five.
• 2013/03/13: TMoS: High-Carbon Fossil Fuel's Achilles' Heel
• 2013/03/13: TStar: Collapse of oilsands boom will scramble Canadian economy
  Slower growth in world oil demand, increasing energy efficiency, alternative fuels and possible caps on carbon dioxide emissions will negatively affect Alberta's oilsands.
• 
  

  Also in Alberta:

   

• 2013/03/12: DeSmogBlog: How Redford Can Walk the Walk, Part 2
  

  While in Saskatchewan:

• 2013/03/13: CPV: Coming Down the Pipeline
• 2013/03/13: HuffPo: Brad Wall Accuses Thomas Mulcair Of 'Betraying' Keystone, Oilsands
  

  Wynne is struggling to establish herself. Energy still looms large:

• 2013/03/16: BCLSB: Your Daily Nazi: Ontario Anti-Wind Groups Go There
• 2013/03/13: NatPo: Cancelled gas plants will cost Ontario taxpayers $828-million, energy expert says
  

  In the North:

• 2013/03/11: WpgFP: Signing with Harper in Yellowknife marks step toward new powers for NWT
• 2013/03/11: CBC: PM announces final transfer of power deal for N.W.T.
  Harper government adds $50 million to contribution for Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk all-weather road
• 
  

  And on the American political front:

   

• 2013/03/14: DeSmogBlog: Climate Disruption Tax Costs Americans Billions
  Here's a term that bears repeating: climate disruption tax. What is a climate disruption tax? It's the cost to the American taxpayer of dealing with the impacts of climate-related weather events...
• 2013/03/12: CSM: Food stamps use rises in December
• 2013/03/13: TP:JR: Advice For The Woman Who Wrote Salon Worried She Can't Protect Her Children From Global Warming
• 2013/03/12: TheHill:e2W: Conservatives, industry strike back on carbon and oil taxes
  The oil industry, conservative groups and House GOP lawmakers will ramp up opposition to proposals that would strip industry tax breaks and impose taxes on industrial carbon emissions. The conservative House Republican Study Committee and a number of outside groups will continue a trend: publicly slamming carbon tax proposals that already lack political traction.
• 2013/03/14: PSinclair: A Renewable New York State
• 2013/03/14: TP:JR: Can The Empire State Go Green? New Study Says New York State Can Be 100% Renewable By 2050
• 2013/03/14: Grist: Minnesotan towns say 'no' to a fracking sand mine
• 2013/03/14: DeSmogBlog: Florida Legislature Pushing ALEC, CSG Sham Fracking Chemical Disclosure Model Bill
• 2013/03/15: CSW: Chronicle of Philanthropy: "Foundations Must Step Up Giving to Government Watchdogs"
• 2013/03/15: TreeHugger: Mississippi Utility Wants Public to Pay for Its Coal Boondoggle
• 2013/03/15: CSM: Making energy innovation part of climate policy debate
• 2013/03/11: Freep: Report says well water along Kalamazoo River OK since 2010 oil spill
  The Michigan Department of Community Health says it's not dangerous to drink water from wells along the Kalamazoo River that were polluted by a 2010 oil spill. The department said Monday it analyzed samples from 150 wells in Calhoun and Kalamazoo counties after a ruptured pipeline sent more than 800,000 gallons of crude into the river.
• 2013/03/12: DeSmogBlog: 29 Vermont Communities Say No to Tar Sands Shipments, New England Opposition Grows
• 2013/03/11: RT: New record: 15 percent of Americans on food stamps
• 2013/03/17: PSinclair: On Display at CPAC: Racism, Homophobia, Mysogyny, Climate Denial - Who'da thunk it?
• 2013/03/17: TP:JR: California To Other 49 States: Can You Match Our Clean Energy Economy?
• 2013/03/17: TP:JR: The Dangerous Myth That Climate Change Is Reversible
  

  The BP disaster continues to twist US politics:

• 2013/03/15: Eureka: 'Dirty blizzard' in Gulf may account for missing Deepwater Horizon oil
  

  Post-Sandy commentary and news:

• 2013/03/15: TP:JR: How Arctic Ice Loss Amplified Superstorm Sandy -- Oceanography Journal
• 2013/03/13: DD: Hurricane Sandy victims agonize over fate of Jersey Shore homes...
  

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

• 2013/03/17: CCP: Guardian: 'White House Officials ... Gave Strong Indications The President Is Inclined To Approve The Keystone XL Pipeline'
• 2013/03/15: Grist: Protesters target firms angling for a piece of pipeline profits
• 2013/03/15: BBerg: Keystone Pipeline Would Reroute Around Obama Under House Bill
• 2013/03/14: ERabett:BSD: Trans Canada's Humpty Dumpty wrote Obama's environmental review of Keystone. Nothing unusual about it, sadly.
• 2013/03/14: CBC: Pipelines cleaner than rail transport, says TransCanada exec
  TransCanada's Alex Pourbaix says environmentalists should support Keystone XL project for long-term oil transport
• 2013/03/14: OilChange: Pro-Keystone XL Senate bill follows pattern of following the oil money
• 2013/03/14: GreatFallsTrib: Senators pressing pipeline's approval
• 2013/03/14: ICN: Dilbit Sinks in Enbridge Oil Spill, but Floats in Its Lab Study
  Scientists say the 1.3 gallon spill in the lab tank omitted real-world factors that made dilbit sink in Michigan's million-gallon Kalamazoo River spill.
• 2013/03/14: RTCC: Obama on Keystone XL: No jobs, no money, no oil
• 2013/03/14: OilChange: Keystone XL refineries already exporting 60 percent of their gasoline
• 2013/03/13: TP:JR: No, Obama Didn't Tell Republicans He Would Approve The Keystone XL Pipeline
• 2013/03/13: DeSmogBlog: Keystone Pipeline Consultants ERM Criticized in Past for BP Pipeline Approval in Turkey
• 2013/03/13: ICN: Keystone Pipeline Will Diminish Energy Security, Prominent Canadian Says
  In an interview, Canadian economist Robyn Allan explains how export pipelines like Keystone XL would do more harm than good for Canada's economy.
• 2013/03/13: RStone: Keystone XL: State Department Dodges the Big Questions
• 2013/03/12: CCP: "Digging Us a Hole": Student climate activists descend again on TransCanada in Westborough, protesting Keystone XL
• 2013/03/12: ICN: Keystone Report Skirts Climate Analysis Required Under Law, Lawyers Say
  State Department assessment focused on market response to rejection, rather than the climate impact and environmental cost of a pipeline approval.
• 2013/03/12: RTCC: The Keystone XL tar sands pipeline will create just 35 permanent jobs during its operation and less than 4000 positions during construction, according to a recent report by the US State Department, figures backed up by contractors at the project's job fairs
• 2013/03/12: TreeHugger: Obama "cannot in good conscience" approve Keystone XL: NYTimes
• 2013/03/12: DeSmogBlog: State Department Keystone XL Study Done by Oil Industry-Connected Firm with Big Tobacco, Fracking Ties
• 2013/03/11: CSM: Keystone XL pipeline gets legislative push from House
• 2013/03/11: CConnections: 26 arrested at Transcanada office occupation outside Boston
• 2013/03/08: DJ: Keystone: Draft legislation to eliminate presidential permit
• 2013/03/10: LNJ:BBerg: Landowner suits last hurdle to Keystone's southern leg
• 2013/03/11: Grist: N.Y. Times and Thomas Friedman call for killing Keystone
• 2013/03/11: BCLSB: NY Times On Keystone XL: Pipelines Are A Hot Potato That Canada Should Handle
  

  With the deficit hawks panicking about the debt, the sequester, whatever is handy ... there has been talk of a carbon tax solution:

• 2013/03/15: EnvEcon: A carbon tax in a congressional budget proposal?
• 2013/03/15: EnvEcon: Help design the US's new carbon tax!
• 2013/03/13: PSinclair: Carbon Tax Continues to Gain Cred. Deniers Worried.
• 2013/03/13: Grist:Could Waxman's new bill offer fresh hope for a carbon tax?
• 2013/03/13: RTCC: Second US carbon tax plan mooted [by Waxman]
• 2013/03/12: CSM: Carbon tax: A win-win for the economy and the environment
  

  The GOP War on Women continues. See also:

• 2013/03/08: AddictingInfo: Kansas Bill Would Ban Abortion Clinic Employees From 'Bringing Cupcakes' To Their Child's School
  

  The impacts of budgetary sequestration will begin to add up:

• 2013/03/13: ERabett: Circling the Drain
• 2013/03/12: Atlantic: The Sequester Is Going to Devastate U.S. Science Research for Decades
  

  Looking forward to 2014, 2016 elections:

• 2013/03/10: CSM: Jeb Bush: Is the world ready for a third Bush in the White House?
  

  Now that he doesn't need their vote any more, how will Obama treat liberals and their policy issues?

• 2013/03/15: WaPo:B: How the White House thinks about climate change, in 7 charts
• 2013/03/16: TreeHugger: "How the White House thinks about climate change, in 7 charts" - Wonkblog
• 2013/03/15: Guardian(UK): Obama pitches clean-fuel car plan in Chicago but signals retreat on Keystone
  President unveils $200m-a-year plan to fund research into clean fuels but advisers suggest Keystone pipeline will be approved
• 2013/03/15: BBC: US President Barack Obama has called for pumping $2bn (£1.3bn) from gas and oil royalties over a decade into clean energy research
• 2013/03/15: RTCC: Obama to establish $2bn clean energy fund
  President Obama will seek to establish a $2bn clean energy fund using fees from the oil and gas sector generated during the next ten years, according to White House officials. The plan will look to cut US dependence on petrol for vehicles and develop its domestic clean technology sector. According to the New York Times, the Energy Security Trust will be funded from the growth in licence fees from oil and gas firms looking to drill on public land and waters.
• 2013/03/15: CSM: Obama's $2 billion plan to wean US off foreign oil
• 2013/03/15: Grist: Obama to require climate assessments for big projects like highways and pipelines
• 2013/03/15: NatureN: Obama to announce $2 billion plan to get US cars off gasoline -- Hopes bolstered for a cleaner-energy future
• 2013/03/13: CSW: On Obama's nominees for EPA Administrator and Secretary of Energy
• 2013/03/14: TheHill:e2W: Obama to supporters: Give lawmakers political cover for climate action
• 2013/03/15: TreeHugger: Obama wants to create an Energy Security Trust with $2 billion for R&D
• 2013/03/15: TreeHugger: Obama to use Nixon-era law to fight climate change. Will it work?
• 2013/03/15: BBerg: Obama Will Use Nixon-Era Law to Fight Climate Change
• 2013/03/16: ScienceInsider: Obama Touts Energy Research at Argonne National Laboratory
• 2013/03/11: UCSUSA:B: Dear Mr. President: UCS Letter Outlines Concrete Steps Obama Can Take to Address Climate Change
  

  The actions of the Obama administration are being watched closely:

• 2013/03/16: TP:JR: Guardian: 'White House Officials - Gave Strong Indications The President Is Inclined To Approve The Keystone XL Pipeline'
• 2013/03/16: CSW: EPA to delay rule limiting greenhouse gas emissions from new power plants?
• 2013/03/15: Grist: Another climate delay from the Obama admin?
• 2013/03/15: CJR: Open government? Some progress, on paper at least
• 2013/03/15: Grist: Obama admin wants hundreds of [small modular reactors] tiny nuclear reactors built in U.S.
• 2013/03/15: WaPo: EPA likely to delay climate rules for new power plants
• 2013/03/15: RTCC: US interior secretary Ken Salazar has said his department will not allow Shell to "screw up" its Arctic drilling programme again
• 2013/03/15: Salon: How Monsanto outfoxed the Obama administration
  The inside story of how the government let one company squash biotech innovation, and dominate an entire industry
• 2013/03/15: UCSUSA: EPA Projects Highest Ever Fuel Economy in 2012, But It's Just the Beginning
• 2013/03/15: UCSUSA: Limited Media Access to Federal Scientists Persists Under Obama Administration
• 2013/03/14: UCSUSA:B: Freedom to Tweet: Grading Social Media Policies in the Federal Government
• 2013/03/14: UCSUSA:B: Can Journalists and Bloggers Report on Science when Access to Federal Scientists is Still a Challenge?
• 2013/03/13: ProPublica: After a Powerful Lobbyist Intervenes, EPA Reverses Stance on Polluting Texas County's Water
• 2012/12/01: MoJo: DOJ Mysteriously Quits Monsanto Antitrust Investigation
• 2012/12/03: Grist: Justice Department ditches Monsanto investigation
• 2013/03/15: Grist: Too big to prosecute: How Monsanto slipped the DOJ's grasp
• 2013/03/12: ABC(Au): USAID launches Pacific climate change projects
• 2013/03/10: CSM: Moniz confirmation for Energy secretary: four things to watch for
• 2013/03/16: CSM: Ethanol mandate: Did the EPA jump the gun?
  

  As for what is going on in Congress:

• 2013/03/16: Grist:New bills in Congress would crack down on the fracking industry
• 2013/03/16: P3: The Harm-Which-Shall-Not-Be-Named
• 2013/03/16: CCP: Polis, Cartwright Introduce Legislation to Hold Fracking Industry Accountable: BREATHE Act and FRESHER Act Would Protect Our Water and Air
• 2013/03/15: TP:JR: Bills Introduced To Close Two (Of Many) Loopholes In Environmental Laws Benefitting Oil And Gas Companies
• 2013/03/15: TP:JR: Rep. Ryan Needs To Learn Something (Anything!) About Clean Energy
• 2013/03/15: Grist: Frankenfoods hitch a ride through Congress -- but you can help stop them
• 2013/03/14: SusBiz: Monsanto Sneaks Into Budget Bill, Faces Farmer in Supreme Court [Monsanto Protection Act]
• 2013/03/14: RT: 'Monsanto Protection Act' to be voted on by Congress
• 2013/03/14: TreeHugger: Debunking Paul Ryan's energy budget
• 2013/03/14: NPR: Federal Legislation Aims to Close "Fracking Loopholes"
  Pennsylvania Representative Matthew Cartwright (D-17) has introduced legislation to remove oil and gas industry exemptions from the federal Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act.
• 2013/03/13: WaPo: Ryan budget plan calls two solar projects 'ill-fated' -- but they're doing fine
• 2013/03/13: TP:JR: Eight Things Paul Ryan Wishes You Didn't Know About His Energy Budget
• 2013/03/12: TheHill:e2W: Democrats circulate carbon tax bill
• 2013/03/13: Grist: Help Henry Waxman write a new carbon-tax bill
• 2013/03/13: TreeHugger: House Republicans "missing in action" on climate
• 2013/03/13: TreeHugger: Democrats release draft legislation putting price on carbon
• 2013/03/13: DeSmogBlog: Ryan Budget Includes Mandatory Approval Of Keystone XL, Other Dirty Energy Giveaways
• 2013/03/12: TP:JR: Draft Bill Released By Rep. Waxman and Sen. Whitehouse Would Price Carbon And Reduce Emissions
• 2013/03/12: TP:JR: Meet The New Oil Tax Breaks, Same As The Old Oil Tax Breaks
• 2013/03/12: TP:JR: Ryan Budget Uses Myth Feds Are Buying Land To Block Energy To Justify Selling Off 'Millions Of Acres' Of Public Land
  

  What are the lobbyists pushing?

• 2013/03/15: Grist: Oil industry ad campaign: 'Give us tax breaks or everybody gets hurt'
• 2013/03/14: TP:JR: Profiteering Through Puppeteering: API Ads On Protecting Oil Tax Breaks
  

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

• 2013/03/16: Guardian(UK): Capitalism efficient? We can do so much better
  For all its vaunted efficiency, capitalism has foisted wasteful inequality and environmental ruin on us. There is an alternative
• 2013/03/14: MWEN: Visions of a sustainable future: Q&A with Jamais Cascio
  

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

• 2013/03/16: al Jazeera: UN body adopts women's rights declaration
  Religious and liberal nations agree, after two-week debate, on document urging end to violence against women and girls.
• 2013/03/16: al Jazeera: 336 million Chinese abortions in 40 years
  Beijing's one-child policy has been subject of heated debate about its economic consequences as the population ages.
• 2013/03/16: CCurrents: Allowing Women To Travel And Work Could Destroy Society, Claims Muslim Brotherhood
• 2013/03/15: CSM: The UN document on women that has terrified Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood
• 2013/03/15: RT: 'Misleading and deceptive': Egypt's Islamists slam UN women's rights resolution
  Egypt's ruling Muslim Brotherhood has condemned a UN draft declaration on women's rights, claiming the document violates Islamic Law. The party outlined ten reasons why women in Muslim countries should not have the proposed rights. The document, "End Violence Against Women," is planned to be ratified on Friday by the UN Commission on the Status of Women and is now being negotiated as part of the 57th session.
• 2013/03/15: UN: UN commission on women ends with adoption of global plan to end gender-based violence
• 2013/03/14: AANS: The real Muslim Brotherhoood's stance on Women
• 2013/03/10: NBF: Safe Sirtuin activating drugs could be available in five years and effective Sirtuin drugs could help people live to 150 years old
• 2013/03/08: Science: (ab$) Evidence for a Common Mechanism of SIRT1 Regulation by Allosteric Activators by Basil P. Hubbard et al.
  

  Apocalypso anyone?

• 2013/03/13: LoE: Electronic toys of mass distraction
  

  How are we going to deal with this mess?

• 2013/03/15: ITracker: A long quiet spell
  

  How do the media measure up?

• 2013/03/14: AFTIC: Inside the Corporate Media Pressure Machine
• 2013/03/13: TP:JR: Sad But True: WSJ Editorial Saying Obama Administration Doesn't Drill Enough Is Wrong
• 2013/03/13: UCSUSA:B: Deflating the Wall Street Journal's Hot Air on Electric Cars
• 2013/03/11: MediaMatters: CBS Ignores Study Finding Temperatures Are Highest In 4,000 Years
• 2013/03/12: CCP: CBS News Ignores Study Finding Temperatures Are Highest In 4,000 Years
• 2013/03/11: TreeHugger: Elon Musk calls New York Times review "low-grade ethics violation"
  

  Here is something for your library:

• 2013/03/12: CCurrents: [Book Excerpt] _Enough Is Enough: Building a Sustainable Economy in a World of Finite Resources_ by Rob Dietz & Dan O'Neill
• 2013/03/12: Resilience: The surprising conclusion to an important new book
  [Book Review] _The Failure of Laissez Faire Capitalism and the Economic Dissolution of the West (Towards a New Economics for a Full World)_ by Paul Craig Roberts
• 2013/03/11: Resilience: [Book Review] _Slow Democracy_ by Susan Clark & Woden Teachout
  

  And for your film & video enjoyment:

• 2013/03/12: CCP: "Greedy Lying Bastards," the new documentary film...
• 2013/03/12: Resilience: Recording resilience: Filmmaker shares Japan recovery experience
• 2013/03/12: TheCanadian: New Film, Cutting-Edge Research Probe Salmon Virus Mystery
• 2013/03/15: PSinclair: Winter Wrapping Up a Year of Warm Records
• 2013/03/13: CCurrents: The Future Of Our Grandchildren by James Hansen & Subhankar Banerjee
• 2013/03/16: PSinclair: The Weekend Wonk: Anton Vaks on Permafrost Melt
• 2013/03/12: PSinclair: Don't Frack My Mother [Sean Lennon & friends]
• 2013/03/11: LoE: Greedy Lying Bastards (the movie)
• 2013/03/17: P3: Alan Savory, Freeman Dyson and Soil Sequestration
  

  Meanwhile among the 'Sue the Bastards!' contingent:

• 2013/03/16: BBerg: TEPCO Faces Growing Suit by U.S. Troops Over Radiation Exposure
  Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s bill for its Fukushima nuclear disaster may swell as more U.S. military personnel charge the utility lied about radiation levels they faced while assisting in relief efforts after Japan's 2011 earthquake and tsunami disaster. Twenty-six plaintiffs refiled a suit this week, with as many as 100 others in the process of joining the legal action, in demands for more than $2 billion in compensation, the Stars and Stripes newspaper reported, citing attorneys. An initial complaint was filed Dec. 21 by eight sailors.
• 2013/03/15: Grist: This teen is suing the state of Alaska because climate change threatens his home
• 2013/03/14: CSM: Court case: Coal mine gets permit. Can EPA take it back again?
  If a mine has received a federal permit to expand its current operations, can the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) revoke the permit retroactively to protect the nation's water? That was the issue at stake in a Washington, D.C., courtroom hearing held Thursday over Arch Coal's 15-year battle to expand its mining operations in West Virginia. The case involves the EPA's authority under the Clean Water Act and is closely watched by energy companies and other industries worried that EPA could also pull their environmental permits after the fact. Final answers aren't expected anytime soon in a case that could go to the Supreme Court.
• 2013/03/12: RTCC: Climate change in the dock: Rethinking the role of international law
  

  It looks like this BP trial over the Gulf oil spill is going to take a long while:

• 2013/03/16: BBC: BP appeal over 'absurd' Gulf oil spill payouts
  Oil giant BP is taking legal action in the US to limit payouts by a fund set up to compensate those affected by the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
• 2013/03/15: BBerg: BP Seeks to Halt Some Gulf Oil-Spill Settlement Payments
• 2013/03/15: CNN: BP appeals settlement claims for what it calls 'fictitious' losses
  BP has been a target since the massive 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill - Earlier this month, a judge sided against BP in ongoing settlement talks - BP says some payments "will constitute irreparable harm" to the company
• 2013/03/13: CBC: Rig was busy before BP well blowout, worker testifies
  A worker who survived the deadly explosion on the Deepwater Horizon testified Wednesday that a flurry of activity on the drilling rig hindered his ability to monitor BP's well for signs of trouble before the April 2010 blowout. Joseph Keith, the second rig worker to testify in person at a federal trial over the disaster, said he never saw any indications that a blowout was brewing before drilling mud started raining down on the rig floor just before the blast. The blowout triggered an explosion that killed 11 men and led to the nation's worst offshore oil spill.
• 2013/03/13: BBerg: Halliburton Worker Says He Missed Signs of Blowout Risk
• 2013/03/06: NOLA: Cement in BP Macondo well never dried, leading to the blowout, expert witness testifies
• 2013/03/08: Excite:AP: BP warns of rising costs from spill settlement
  BP is warning investors that the price tag will be "significantly higher" than it initially estimated for its multibillion-dollar settlement with businesses and residents who claim the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico cost them money.
• 
  

  Wrestling over a new energy infrastructure continues unabated:

   

• 2013/03/12: GreenGrok: Computers and Appliances: Today's Home-Based Energy Hogs
• 2013/03/12: TP:JR: In Search Of Energy Metaphors: Debunking The Myth Of The Inadequacy Of 'Current Renewables'
• 2013/03/12: Resilience: Bitumen's Extraordinary and Popular Delusions
• 2013/03/13: CDreams: A Necessary Extinction
• 2013/03/14: ClassM: The "bridge" fuel that wasn't
• 2013/03/14: Reuters: California renewable power supply growing, costs falling
• 2013/03/14: Grist: The push for local control over energy makes the NYT
• 2013/03/12: WSWS: Berlin: Mass layoffs at energy firm Vattenfall [2,500 jobs]
• 2013/03/11: RTCC: Report: Renewables missing out on $71trn investment pot
  Renewable energy will miss out on increased funding from big investors if existing barriers are not removed, a new [Climate Policy Initiative (CPI)] report has warned.
• 2013/03/16: RealEconomics: The messy conversion to renewables
  

  What do you have in energy comparisons and transitions?

• 2013/03/12: BBerg: Europe Gas Carnage Shown by EON Closing 3-Year-Old Plant
  Three years ago, Germany's largest utility spent 400 million euros ($523 million) building a natural gas-fired power station. Later this month, the company may close the plant because it's losing so much money. EON SE's Irsching-5 in Bavaria last year operated less than 25 percent of the time as slumping power prices made burning natural gas unprofitable by record margins. As Europe's weak economy holds back electricity demand, cheaper coal, requirements to buy renewable energy and the collapsing cost of carbon permits are undercutting gas-fired plants.
• 2013/03/11: BBerg: Nuclear Industry Withers in U.S. as Wind Pummels Prices
  

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

• 2013/03/14: MnProgressiveProject: Does Fracking Mess Up Our Water Supply?
• 2013/03/13: RTCC: UK shale gas firm forced to close fracking site
• 2013/03/13: MySanAntonio: In Texas, water use for fracking stirs concerns
• 2013/03/15: TimesLeader: Fluid leak prompts cap of gas well
• 2013/03/15: Guardian(UK): Fracking: the monster we greens must embrace [Pearce]
• 2013/03/16: Grist:New bills in Congress would crack down on the fracking industry
• 2013/03/10: PostGazette: Fracking's 'revolving door' draws a warning -- Study says 45 current or former state officials have links to industry
  

  On the coal front:

• 2013/03/15: TreeHugger: Mississippi Utility Wants Public to Pay for Its Coal Boondoggle
• 2013/03/15: CCurrents: Study Reveals Coal Power Emissions Killed Over 100,000 Indians In 2011-2012
• 2013/03/12: TP:JR: Coal's True Cost: 100,000+ Deaths A Year In India/A>
• 2013/03/10: Guardian(UK): Indian coal power plants 'kill 120,000 people a year', says Greenpeace
  Environmental group's report on pollution in the country warns emissions may cause 20m new asthma cases a year
• 
  

  On the gas and oil front:

   

• 2013/03/15: BBerg: Closing oil prices Friday
  OIL (US$/bbl)
  Dated Brent Spot....109.82
  WTI Cushing Spot.....93.45
• 2013/03/13: EarlyWarning: Monthly Liquid Fuel Update
• 2013/03/12: Grist: Bahamas will soon be invaded by oil drills
• 2013/03/10: Resilience: Oil's average price posts new records and they're telling us it's abundant!
  

  Regarding oil and the economy:

• 2013/03/13: Tyee: What Really Killed Soviet Union? Oil Shock? Red Empire just ran out of fuel, say growing number of experts
  

  And in pipeline news:

• 2013/03/15: CBC: Enbridge ordered to dredge more [dilbit] from Kalamazoo River
• 2013/03/14: HuffPo: Enbridge Kalamazoo River Oil Spill: Company Ordered Finish Clean Up, Dredge River
  

  Biofuel bickering abounds:

• 2013/03/13: BPA: Two Rising Biofuels Trends: Corn Oil Biodiesel and Sorghum Ethanol
• 2013/03/13: TP:JR: New-And-Improved Biofuels: Report Predicts Cost-Competitive Cellulosic Ethanol By 2016
• 2013/03/13: CSM: Is the future of biofuels in algae? Exxon Mobil says it's possible
• 2013/03/12: OilChange: The Biofuels Backlash
• 2013/03/10: al Jazeera: Soap security: African home economics after the biofuel hype
  

  The answer my friend...:

• 2013/03/15: TP:JR: The Nocebo Effect: Wind Farm Health Worries Probably Caused By Anti-Wind Scare Campaigns
• 2013/03/15: BCLSB: Wind Turbine Syndrome: Its All In Your Head
• 2013/03/14: PSinclair: Wind Performance Over Time
• 2013/03/14: Grist: Wind power is poised to kick nuclear's ass
• 2013/03/14: TreeHugger: Iowa and South Dakota Approach 25 Percent Electricity from Wind in 2012: Unprecedented Contribution of Wind Power in U.S. Midwest by Lester Brown
• 2013/03/14: DeSmogBlog: Research Finds Wind Farm Health Concerns Probably Caused By Anti-Wind Scare Campaigns
  

  Meanwhile among the solar aficionados:

• 2013/03/17: TP:JR: Australian Sunshine Illuminates The Path Toward Massive Solar PV Growth
• 2013/03/14: SEIA: Solar Market Insight Report 2012 Year-in-Review
  U.S. Solar Market Grows 76% in 2012; Now an Increasingly-Competitive Energy Source for Millions of Americans Today
• 2013/03/14: BNC: 81,000 truckers for solar!
• 2013/03/12: PVTech: First Solar to become Desertec shareholder
• 2013/03/11: TreeHugger: China to become world's biggest market for solar power in 2013
• 2013/03/11: BBerg: Suntech Delays Bond Repayment to May 15 in Restructuring
• 2013/03/11: TreeHugger: Pay as you go solar power systems turn lives on in Guatemala
  

  The nuclear energy controversy continues:

• 2013/03/15: CBC: Canadian nuclear suppliers make sales pitches in U.K. -- First trade mission to a country that has never built a CANDU reactor
• 2013/03/15: Grist: Obama admin wants hundreds of [small modular reactors] tiny nuclear reactors built in U.S.
• 2013/03/15: EneNews: Propaganda over U.S. radioactive tuna exposed - "The stories all have one thing in common..."
• 2013/03/14: TP:JR: The Nukes of Hazard: Two Years After $500 Billion Fukushima Disaster, Nuclear Power Remains Staggeringly Expensive
• 2013/03/14: APR: Westinghouse Statements on V.C. Summer, Vogtle nuclear concrete pours
• 2013/03/13: NBF: China, Russia and India are pushing forward with fast neutron nuclear reactors
• 2013/03/12: EneNews: NIRS: Victory! License denied for U.S. nuclear reactor - First time in history NRC has upheld denial
• 2013/03/11: BBerg: Taiwan Anti-Nuclear Protests May Derail $8.9 Billion Power Plant
• 2013/03/11: WaPo: In U.S., nuclear energy loses momentum amid economic head winds, safety issues
• 2013/03/12: Grist: Is the next Fukushima in your backyard?
• 2013/03/11: CSM: Fukushima two years later: How safe are US nuclear plants?
• 2013/03/11: MetaSD: Thorium Dreams
• 2013/03/10: APR: San Onofre: MHI document release by NRC and what it really means
  

  Nuclear fusion projects around the world limp along:

• 2013/03/12: NBF: LPP Dense Plasma Focus Fusion Peak Output Beams at 380 Gigawatts with 4 kilojoules of power for 1/15th the input power
  

  Feed-In-Tariffs are being variously implemented around the world:

• 2013/03/11: BBerg: Japan's Cut for Solar Power Price Retains Boom Incentive
  

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

• 2013/03/16: AutoBG: Volkswagen chief says fuel-cell vehicles not possible at a "reasonable cost" [H2]
  

  More people are talking about the electrical grid:

• 2013/03/13: PSinclair: Renewables Changing the Math of Energy Grid
• 2013/03/14: Grist: Are municipal utilities more resilient during disasters?
• 2013/03/13: CultureChange: Where next for the renewable energy European Supergrid?
  

  And then there is the matter of efficiency & conservation:

• 2013/03/15: CE Pro: 13 Smart LED Bulbs: The Future of Lighting Control?
  Are smart bulbs and sockets the best approach for lighting control? We have pros and cons plus 13 products implementing WiFi/Internet of Things, 6LoWPAN, ZigBee, Z-Wave, Bluetooth.
• 2013/03/13: RTCC: US energy efficiency league tables revealed
• 2013/03/12: QuarkSoup: Energy Miracles and Energy Efficiency [Jevons]
  

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

• 2013/03/16: TP:JR: EPA Fuel Economy Report: Americans Vehicles Saw 1.4 MPG Jump Last Year
• 2013/03/15: CSM: How much is Norway paying to promote electric cars?
• 2013/03/14: EurActiv: Car manufacturers 'manipulating fuel efficiency tests', report says
  Drivers who find that the fuel efficiency in their new car doesn't match up to the claims made by the manufacturer, now know it is not their driving to blame. A new report reveals that carmakers routinely manipulate official UN-backed miles/gallons tests, with a series of tricks including stripping the car down to weigh as little as possible, overinflating the tyres and testing in the thin air at high-altitude tracks.
• 2013/03/14: Guardian(UK): Car manufacturers manipulating fuel efficiency tests, says report
• 2013/03/11: EurActiv: VW and Daimler spark surprise green cars beauty contest
• 2013/03/11: ABC(Au): Diesel-electric bus trial in Adelaide
  

  As for Energy Storage:

• 2013/03/12: AutoBG: Toyota: solid-state batteries coming in 2020, 3-4 times better than li-ion
  

  Insurance and re-insurance companies are feeling the heat:

• 2013/03/15: TreeHugger: How the insurance industry can help fight climate change. Or not!
• 2013/03/14: TP:JR: On Climate Change, a Do-Nothing Strategy Poses The Greatest Risks
• 2013/03/07: CERES: Is the U.S. Insurance Industry Prepared for Climate Change?
  Analysis of first-ever industry-wide survey finds that only 23 of 184 companies have comprehensive climate change strategies, yet some leaders are emerging.
• 2013/03/11: Grist: Insurance companies on climate change: 'What climate change?'
• 2013/03/07: McClatchyDC: [CERES] Report finds insurers unready for climate change-related disasters
  

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

• 2013/03/15: TP:JR: March 15 News...
• 2013/03/14: TP:JR: March 14 News...
• 2013/03/13: TP:JR: March 13 News...
• 2013/03/12: TP:JR: March 12 News...
• 2013/03/11: TP:JR: March 11 News...
  

  Other (weekly) lists:

• 2013/03/11: BPA: The Importance of Patenting Seeds, and Other Agricultural News this Week
  

  The carbon lobby are up to the usual:

• 2013/03/13: ItsNotNova: Heatwave? Mother Nature mocks Joanne Nova
• 2013/03/13: WtD: Cooling the planet with fake trend lines: deniers making up cooling trends with cherry picked data all the rage
• 2013/03/13: HotWhopper: On Denier Doublethink
• 2013/03/13: JQuiggin: Motes and beams
• 2013/03/14: HotWhopper: Odious Quote of the Day
• 2013/03/14: WtD: Ho-hum more climategate chum: sceptics flogging the Climategate dead-horse (again)
• 2013/03/14: UKISS: The deniers will quote mine this one...
• 2013/03/14: Stoat: Climategate 3.0?
• 2013/03/15: INN: Statistical Significance - The Simple One
• 2013/03/15: AFTIC: Chinese corporate hackers, the Chamber of Commerce, Fakegate
• 2013/03/14: QuarkSoup: Climategate 3.0
• 2013/03/12: HotWhopper: One Big Scary Hot Whopper to Come - More from Marcott et al 2013
• 2013/03/16: HotWhopper: A short note on stolen emails
• 2013/03/12: CJR: Attack of the climate-denial books -- Conservative think tanks fuel publishing boom that spreads misinformation
• 2013/03/11: JQuiggin: GBS pwns IPA
• 2013/03/11: DeSmogBlog: Onslaught of Kochtopus Groups Threaten Kansas Clean Energy
• 2013/03/11: HotWhopper: Fooling the Bottom 8%? Oh, It's Just Another Nutter
• 2013/03/10: QuarkSoup: "Have They No Grandchildren?"
• 2013/03/10: DeSmogBlog: Climate Denial Industry Hits Courts And Hollywood As Threats Fly
• 2013/03/17: UKISS: Tweeter posts bizarre correspondence with Monckton's debate rep, is accused of "arguing exact wordings of Dr Flannery"
  

  This week in intimidation:

• 2013/03/12: QuarkSoup: Marcott (Comma) and the Ghouls
  

  As for climate miscellanea:

• 2013/03/14: Guardian(UK): Environmental threats could push billions into extreme poverty, warns UN
• 2013/03/15: ARBell: How to be optimistic about climate change
• 2013/03/15: P3: A Simple Agent Model of Dunning-Kruger
• 2013/03/12: TheConversation: Nature v technology: climate 'belief' is politics, not science
• 2013/03/11: Grist: Ending the stupid technology innovation vs. deployment fight once and for all
• 2013/03/12: SciAm:PI: A Lewis and Clark Expedition for Energy Innovation
• 2013/03/12: UKISS: Proponent comment of the day March 12, 2013
  

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

• Wiki: Ebony
• UNCCD: UN Convention to Combat Desertification
• 2013/03/15: ERabett:BSD: Are we at the "then they fight you" stage?
• Climate Geoengineering Governance
• USRA:EPOD: Earth Science Picture of the Day
• HMNDP: High-level Meeting on National Drought Policy
• GWP: Global Water Partnership
• Climate Connections
• CPI: Climate Policy Initiative
• CEI: Canadian Energy Issues
• NASA: Science News
• Wiki: Derecho
• Enbridge Northern Gateway Project Joint Review Panel
• GMO Pundit

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.

A Simple Plea

Webmasters, web coders and content providers have mercy on your low bandwidth brethren. Because I am on dial-up, I am a text surfer -- no images, no javascript and no flash. When you post a graphic, will you please use the alt text field ... and when you embed a youtube/vimeo/flash video, please add some minimal description. Thank you.

<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.

"Unless we take action on climate change, future generations will be roasted, toasted, fried and grilled." -Christine Lagarde, IMF Managing Director

• Global Warming Links
• Global Warming News Archive
• Energy
• Energy News
• Environmental Issues
• ---
• H.E. Taylor (homepage)