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 roundupskip to bottom
Information Overloadis Pattern Recognition
May 5, 2013
- Chuckles, May Day, COP19+, MDGs, Unburnable, PAGES2k, Bottom Line, Cook
- Fukushima: Note, News
- Food: Crisis, Fisheries, Prices, Greece, Food vs. Biofuel, GMOs, Production
- Melting Arctic, Hurricanes, Notable Weather, Extreme Weather, GHGs, Temperatures
- Feedbacks, Aerosols, Paleoclimate, Solar, Extinctions, Bees & CCD, Satellites
- Impacts, Forests, Disease, Wildfires, Corals, Glaciers, Sea Levels, Floods & Droughts
- Mitigation, Synthetic Biology, Transportation, Buildings, Geoengineering, Conservation, Adaptation
- Journals, Other Docs, Misc. Science, Models, Free Science, Hansen
- International Politics: Carbon Trade, Hormuz, South China Sea, EU ETS & Airlines, Rare Earths
- Misc., Security, Law & Activism, Activism, Divestment, Polls, H2O Biz, Religioso, Education
- National Politics: Britain, Europe, Australia, CSG, Election, MDBP, India, China, Asia, South America
- Canada, Parliament, Omnibus, Muzzling, Northern Gateway, Salmon
- BC, Tar Sands, Alberta, Sask, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, North
- America, BP Disaster, Post Sandy, Keystone, Mayflower, Birth Control
- Coal Exports, Sequestration, Smith, 2016, Obama, USAdmin, Congress, Lobbyists
- Ecological Economics, IPAT, Apocalypso, Media, Books, Video, Podcasts, Courts
- Energy, Transitions, Clathrates, Fracking, Coal, Oil & Gas, The Corps, Pipelines, Independence, Peak Oil, Biofuel
- Wind, Solar, Nukes, Nuclear Waste, Nuclear Fusion, LENR, Grid, Efficiency, Cars, Gee Whiz, Energy Storage
- Business, FAQs, Joe's List, Carbon Lobby, Greenwashing, Miscellaneous Climate, Useful Links
- Shameless Self Promotion, A Simple Plea, .sig
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- 2013/04/28: Creekside: (cartoon - Alison) DILBIT does Neanderthal
- 2013/04/28: SeppoNet: (cartoon - Seppo) Forest Biodiversity Programme Metso cartoon
And for those interested in exploring the nether reaches of Poe's Law:
- 2013/05/03: Wonkette: Silver Linings - Bright Side! Climate Change Death Spiral Will Bring Cheaper Gas, Jobs!
- 2013/04/30: Onion: New Study Finds Nothing That Will Actually Convince You To Change Your Lifestyle So Just Forget It
Hope you had a hip-hop-happy May Day!:
- 2009/04/20: MidnightNotes: The Incomplete, True, Authentic and Wonderful History of MAY DAY - The Green
- 2009/04/20: MidnightNotes: The Incomplete, True, Authentic and Wonderful History of MAY DAY - The Red: Haymarket Centennial
- 2009/04/20: MidnightNotes: The Incomplete, True, Authentic and Wonderful History of MAY DAY - An Ending
- 2013/05/01: TreeHugger: Happy May Day, which used to be green instead of red
Looking ahead to COP19 and future international climate negotiations, the Bonn conference went down this week:
- 2013/04/29: UNFCCC: Bonn Climate Change Conference - (29 April - 3 May, 2013)
- 2013/05/03: Reuters: Nations seek flexible climate approach, but no breakthrough in Bonn
Nations attempt to strike U.N. deal to curb emissions - China at odds with U.S. despite promises to cooperate - Delegates seek deal that can adapt as warming shifts - 2013/05/03: UN: Countries focus on 'concrete solutions' to build new UN-backed global climate accord
- 2013/05/03: DeutscheWelle: Climate negotiators inch closer to global pact
- 2013/05/04: IrishTimes: Successful week of talks in Bonn looks towards finalising 'dynamic' climate deal in 2015
- 2013/05/03: UCSUSA: World Leaders Lack Political Will to Make Progress at Climate Negotiations in Bonn -- Statement By Alden Meyer, Union of Concerned Scientists
- 2013/05/03: RTCC: Climate vulnerable states [AoSIS & LDCs] call for greater ambition at UN talks
- 2013/05/03: RTCC: EU leads new push to ban HFC greenhouse gases
Damaging greenhouse gases known as hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) could be steadily phased out from 2014 if EU plans are agreed at the UN climate talks in Warsaw in November. - 2013/05/03: RTCC: EU calms Kyoto Protocol ratification storm
The European Union has moved to assure nations taking part at the UN climate negotiations that the second period of the Kyoto Protocol (CP2) will be ratified by member states in 2013. - 2013/05/02: BBerg: UN Envoys Consider 2050 Carbon Target in [Bonn] Climate Deal Talks
- 2013/05/02: Reuters: Low-key U.S. plan for each nation to set climate goals wins ground
A U.S.-led plan to let all countries set their own goals for fighting climate change is gaining grudging support at U.N. talks, even though the current level of pledges is far too low to limit rising temperatures substantially. The approach, being discussed this week at 160-nation talks in Bonn, Germany, would mean abandoning the blueprint of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which set central goals for industrialized countries to cut emissions by 2012 and then let each work out national implementation. - 2013/05/02: RTCC: Pablo Solon: everyone must accept binding climate commitments
The United Nations climate negotiations in Bonn are more of the same and we are running out of time. - 2013/05/02: RTCC: [UNFCCC head, Christiana] Figueres: 2015 climate deal must kickstart green growth
- 2013/05/01: 350orBust: Politicians Fiddling While Planet Burns: Scientists Warn 400 PPM Milestone Ahead
- 2013/05/01: RTCC: Saudi Arabia isolated as UN climate talks make progress
Saudi Arabia signalled its determination to block an ambitious global climate treaty yesterday, warning countries tough mitigation targets would be "highly political" and leave a "bad taste". - 2013/04/30: Reuters: U.S. pragmatic approach leads climate talks: Wynn
- 2013/04/30: RTCC: Rich countries blamed for setting climate talks 'back a decade'
The UN climate talks have lost a decade of progress because of the failings of rich nations, according to a group of developing countries. Speaking at the resumption of the UNFCCC process in Bonn on Monday, Naderev Sano, a representative of the Like Minded Developing Countries (LMDC) warned the entire process was at stake. - 2013/04/29: BizGreen: Bonn climate talks kick off with stark warning over dangerous [400ppm] carbon threshold
- 2013/04/29: Guardian(UK): UN climate talks kick off in Bonn
- 2013/04/29: RTCC: UN climate process primed for final tilt at global emissions deal
Talks to develop the framework of a global climate change deal set to be agreed in 2015 start today at the World Conference Centre in Bonn. - 2013/04/29: RTCC: Small island states issue climate compensation warning
Pacific Island states at risk from rising sea levels have indicated they will push for compensation unless global emissions are brought under control. - 2013/05/02: EurActiv: World on track to meet 'just five' UN development targets
Governments are on track to meet just five of the 21 targets set out in the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals by the 2015 deadline, the lead author of the World Bank's 2013 Global Monitoring Report told EurActiv. - 2013/05/03: TreeHugger: Jargon watch: "Unburnable carbon" is important buzz word in energy debate
- 2013/05/03: P3: The Carbon Bubble: All we have to do is decide to not commit civilizational suicide -- and the markets crash!
- 2013/04/28: Guardian(UK): Carbon bubble makes Australia's coal industry ripe 'for financial implosion'
Much of the nation's coal reserves will be worthless if world's governments fulfil pledge to cap emissions, warns report - 2013/04/28: FuturePundit: Earth Cooling Trend Reversed Around 1900 AD?
And on the Bottom Line:
- 2013/05/03: TP:JR: New Study: The Economic Benefits of EPA Regulations Massively Outweigh The Costs
John Cook and friends continue their point-counterpoint articles:
- 2013/05/05: SkS: Climate change will raise the sea level in the Gulf of Finland by John Hartz
- 2013/05/04: SkS: 2013 SkS Weekly News Roundup #18A by John Hartz
- 2013/05/04: SkS: 2013 SkS Weekly News Roundup #18B by John Hartz
- 2013/05/04: SkS: Greenland: A Ring of Mountains by greenman3610
- 2013/05/03: SkS: WMO Annual Climate Statement Confirms 2012 as Among Top Ten Warmest Years by John Hartz
- 2013/05/02: SkS: Participate in a survey measuring consensus in climate research
- 2013/05/01: SkS: Roy Spencer's Catholic Online Climate Myths by dana1981
- 2013/04/30: SkS: Leave It in the Ground, Climate Activists Demand by John Hartz
- 2013/04/30: SkS: Forks in the Road: Last Exit to Two Degrees by Sarah
- 2013/04/29: SkS: New Research Shows Humans Causing More Strong Hurricanes by dana1981
- 2013/04/28: SkS: 2013 SkS Weekly News Roundup #17B 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.]
And the IAEA is now saying 40 years too.
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:
- 2013/05/04: EneNews: Extremely radioactive rubble found on top of Fukushima Reactor No. 3 (photo)
- 2013/05/03: ABC(Au): Fukushima nuclear plant struggles to contain contaminated water
More than two years after the meltdowns at Fukushima, the plant's operator is dealing with a new crisis - millions of litres of contaminated water inside the complex. TEPCO has confirmed to AM that groundwater is flooding into the plant's reactor buildings at the astonishing rate of 285 litres a minute. Once inside, the water quickly becomes highly contaminated and has to be stored in tanks which cover 17 hectares of the plant's grounds. But with those tanks close to capacity now, TEPCO has started to clear an adjoining forest to make more space to store the contaminated run-off. - 2013/05/02: EneNews: NHK: Unexplained water leak at Fukushima reactor immediately after 3/11 quake - Crucial cooling system disabled?
- 2013/05/02: EneNews: NBC News: Fears that Fukushima plant could "break apart" during cleanup process
- 2013/05/02: PSinclair: Fukushima Still Hot, Fragile: May Need Longer than 40 Years to Clean Up
- 2013/05/01: Time: Leaks, Rats and Radioactivity: Fukushima's Nuclear Cleanup Is Faltering
- 2013/04/30: FSRN: Workers at Fukushima nuclear plant struggle to contain rush of contaminated water
- 2013/04/30: MoA: Water Problems At Fukushima Daiichi Foreseen
- 2013/04/30: Asahi: Katsuno Onozawa: Government's lethargic response stresses Fukushima mothers
- 2013/04/29: NYT: Flow of Tainted Water Is Latest Crisis at Japan Nuclear Plant
- 2013/04/29: EneNews: NPR: There's been a melt-through, there's cracks... Fukushima reactors not likely to stop leaking into ocean anytime soon - Levels in fish still as high as 2 years ago (audio)
- 2013/04/29: NYT: Flow of Tainted Water Is Latest Crisis at Japan Nuclear Plant
- 2013/04/28: Cryptome: Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station Early Photos [March 11, 2011 to April 11, 2011]
- 2013/04/28: EneNews: Video: Situation in Fukushima is beyond imagination - Many young and old people dead from heart attacks - Young woman died of leukemia
The food crisis is ongoing:
- 2013/05/03: UN: DR Congo: UN food relief agency warns of 'Triangle of Death'
- 2013/05/02: FAOSomalia: Study suggests 258,000 Somalis died due to severe food insecurity and famine
- 2013/05/02: UN: Somalia famine killed nearly 260,000, half of them children - reports UN
- 2013/05/02: al Jazeera: UN says Somalia famine killed nearly 260,000
World body admits it should have done more to prevent 2010-2012 tragedy, finding half of those who died were children. - 2013/05/02: IndiaTimes: Somalia famine killed 258,000, half of them young children: Report
- 2013/05/02: CNN: Somalia famine killed 260,000 people, report says
Some 260,000 people died between October 2010 and April 2012, a new study says - Half of the famine victims were children aged under 5, the report says - A drought in 2010 did not trigger timely action, U.N. humanitarian coordinator for Somalia says - "The suffering played out like a drama without witnesses," says Philippe Lazzarini - 2013/05/02: BBC: Somalia famine 'killed 260,000 people'
Nearly 260,000 people died during the famine that hit Somalia from 2010 to 2012, a study shows. Half of them were children under the age of five, says the report by the UN food agency and the US-funded Famine Early Warning Systems Network. The number of deaths was higher than the estimated 220,000 people who died during the 1992 famine. The crisis was caused by a severe drought, worsened by conflict between rival groups fighting for power. - 2013/05/02: Guardian(UK): In Somalia, western donors made famine more, not less likely
Despite early warnings, the Somalia famine was allowed to happen. Why? Because of politics, al-Shabaab and donor fears - 2013/05/02: Guardian(UK): Somalia famine in 2010-12 'worst in past 25 years'
Nearly 260,000 people died in parts of Somalia between October 2010 and April 2012, including 133,000 children - 2013/04/29: Guardian(UK): Mali braced for food shortages as conflict leaves a mark
- 2013/04/28: TMoS: The Every-Country-For-Itself Face of the Global Food Insecurity Crisis
The state of the world's fisheries is a concern:
- 2013/05/: Europa: [6.4 meg pdf] The Role of China in World Fisheries
- 2013/05/05: Grist:In Sri Lanka, a tsunami-torn family still depends on the sea
- 2013/05/04: DD: China vastly under-reports global fish catch...
- 2013/05/03: FAO: Culprit behind massive shrimp die-offs in Asia unmasked
Bacterium responsible for Early Mortality Syndrome of Shrimp - Crucial first step in finding effective ways to combat the disease In a major breakthrough, researchers at the University of Arizona have identified the causative agent behind a mysterious disease that has been decimating shrimp farms in Asia. The disease, known as Shrimp Early Mortality Syndrome (EMS) or Acute Hepatopancreatic Necrosis Syndrome (AHPNS), has over the past two years caused large-scale die-offs of cultivated shrimp in several countries in Asia, where 1 million people depend on shrimp aquaculture for their livelihoods. In 2011, the Asian region produced 3 million tonnes of shrimp, with a production value of $13.3 billion. - 2013/04/30: QZ: China is plundering the planet's seas --- and it's doing it 12.5 times more than it's telling anybody
- 2013/04/26: ADN: EPA says Pebble could wipe out salmon streams, wetlands
The Environmental Protection Agency says the proposed Pebble mine in Alaska could wipe out nearly 100 miles of streams and 4,800 acres of wetlands in one of the last places remaining in the world to support huge runs of wild salmon. - FAO: World Food Situation - Food Price Indices
- 2013/04/30: EUO: EU food, alcohol and tobacco prices climbing fast [2.9% in April]
- 2013/04/30: NakedCapitalism: New Paper Links Food Price Inflation to the Power of "Agro-Trader Nexus" (ie, Monsantos + Cargills)
- 2013/04/22: YorkU: [387k pdf] "Food Price Inflation as Redistribution: Towards a New Analysis of Corporate Power in the World Food System" by Joseph Baines
The spectre of fascism lurks behind these food economy struggles:
- 2013/05/02: al Jazeera: Police shut down Greek-only soup kitchen
Attempt by ultra-nationalist Golden Dawn party to hand out food to only Greeks in central Athens blocked amid scuffles. - 2013/05/01: Guardian(UK): Golden Dawn food rally raises tensions in Athens
Far right party to distribute treats to 'Greeks only' - Officials fear damage to country's image abroad - 2013/04/30: BPA: ActionAid: Food Used to Fuel Cars in G8 Nations Would Feed 441 Million
Regarding the genetic modification of food:
- 2013/05/04: al Jazeera: We don't need GM bananas for iron deficiency by Vandana Shiva
Iron deficiency was not created by nature and we can get rid of it by becoming co-creators and co-producers with nature. - 2013/05/01: NatureN: GM crops: Promise and reality
- 2013/05/01: NatureN: Transgenic salmon nears approval -- Slow US regulatory process highlights hurdles of getting engineered food animals to dinner tables
- 2013/05/01: NatureN: Case studies: A hard look at GM crops
Superweeds? Suicides? Stealthy genes? The true, the false and the still unknown about transgenic crops. - 2013/05/01: NatureN: Transgenics: A new breed
- 2013/05/01: NatureN: Plant biotechnology: Tarnished promise
- 2013/05/01: NatureN: GM crops: A story in numbers
- 2013/04/30: NOAA:NERO: NOAA Fisheries announces catch limits for 2013-2014 Northeast groundfish stocks; remains committed to mitigating effects on New England fishermen
- 2013/04/29: MLynas: Time to call out the anti-GMO conspiracy theory
And how are we going to feed 9 billion, 10 billion, 15 billion?
- 2013/05/05: al Jazeera: Bring on the bugs
It's sheer madness to use pesticides to kill insects that are possibly more nutritious than the crops they prey on. - 2013/05/03: CCurrents: Ready For Rationing? Why We Should Put The Brakes On Consumption If We Want To Survive
- 2013/05/02: NatureN: Amazon plant discovery could yield green cash crop -- Researchers suspect a new species is rich in omega-3 fatty acids
- 2013/05/02: UCSUSA:B: Toxic Algae and No-Till -- The Environmental Darling of Industrial Agriculture and Genetic Engineering Looks Less Attractive
- 2013/04/30: ABC(Au): Dry seeding in NSW
Farmers in central west NSW have started dry seeding crops, despite receiving no decent rain for months. - 2013/04/28: TheMudReport: Why Saving Seed and Growing Organic Food is a Powerful Weapon Against Corporate Tyranny
For 12,000 years, since the advent of agriculture itself, saving seed and exchanging seed with other growers for biodiversity purposes was the way folks maintained their farms and gardens.. Now this traditional practice has become illegal for the many plant varieties that are patented or otherwise owned by a corporation. The fact that these fictitious beings can and do now legally own and control our access to the stuff and staff of life proves that the laws, the governments who create them, the police and courts who enforce them are owned and operated by and for the corporations, not us. - 2013/04/26: MoJo: Why Your Supermarket Only Sells 5 Kinds of Apples -- And one man's quest to bring hundreds more back
- 2013/04/24: TheEcologist: Connecting the Dots: the Big Permaculture Picture
Jeremy Wickremer explains why he believes permaculture offers multiple answers to societal and environmental problems in a beautifully simple and effective way. - 2013/04/29: Resilience: Can Rebulding Local Food Systems Help Promote Renewable Energy?
- 2013/04/29: Eureka: Fertilizers provide mixed benefits to soil in 50-year Kansas study
- 2013/04/29: Eureka: US a surprisingly large reservoir of crop plant diversity
The Arctic melt continues to garner attention:
- 2013/05/04: Dosbat: April 2013 Status
- 2013/05/03: ASI: PIOMAS May 2013
- 2013/05/03: ABC(Au): Arctic ice melt one of many extremes in 2012: UN [WMO]
- 2013/05/03: ASI: Ch-ch-ch-changes
- 2013/05/02: CCP: NSIDC: Earliest satellite maps of Antarctic and Arctic sea ice
- 2013/05/02: IOTD: Bring Your Camera [Operation IceBridge]
- 2013/05/01: CSM: With Arctic sea ice vulnerable, summer melt season begins briskly
- 2013/04/30: DeSmogBlog: Animation of Arctic Sea Ice Minimum Volume 1979-2012
- 2013/04/29: ArcticNews: Arctic sea ice in steep descend more than four days earlier than in 2012
- 2013/04/28: ASI: 2012/2013 Winter Analysis
Cyclone Zane spun up in the Western Pacific but faded after crossing York Peninsula:
- 2013/05/02: NASA: NASA Measures Rainfall as Cyclone Zane Approaches Queensland, Australia
- 2013/05/01: Eureka: NASA sees Cyclone Zane bearing down on Queensland, Australia
- 2013/05/01: al Jazeera: Queensland braces for late season storm
Tropical Cyclone Zane is threatening to cause flooding in Australia's Cape York Peninsula. - 2013/04/30: Eureka: NASA infrared data revealed the birth of Tropical Storm Zane
- 2013/04/30: ABC(Au): Tropical Cyclone Zane upgraded to category two
Tropical Cyclone Zane has been upgraded to a category two cyclone as it approaches far north Queensland. The system is expected to make landfall between Orford Ness and Lockhart River late Wednesday and local communities are getting prepared. It is currently about 530 kilometres east-north-east of Cooktown and tracking west at 15 kilometres per hour. - 2013/04/29: ABC(Au): Cyclone watch issued for far north Qld
This week in notable weather:
- 2013/05/05: APOD: A Supercell Thunderstorm Cloud Over Montana
- 2013/05/03: Grist: Weird wintry weather and the climate-change link
- 2013/05/03: IOTD: May Day Snow
- 2013/05/02: RealEconomics: It's freaking MAY!
- 2013/05/02: DD: Historic snows hit Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Iowa - Snowfall unprecedented in the historical record for the month of May
- 2013/05/02: Wunderground: Historic May snows hit Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Iowa
- 2013/05/01: Wunderground: Rare May snowstorm bringing heavy snows from Colorado to Wisconsin
- 2013/04/30: al Jazeera: The rain in Spain turns to snow on the Plain
Unseasonably cold weather has hit the Iberian Peninsula with heavy rain and even snow. - 2013/04/29: al Jazeera: Awesome Aussie weather
While spring has been slow to arrive in the northern hemisphere, autumn has struggled to break through in the south - 2013/05/03: Wunderground: Fires, Floods, and Heavy Snow: an Extreme May Weather Situation
- 2013/05/03: al Jazeera: Severe weather slams the USA
The country endures the extremes of weather from record breaking snowfall to raging wildfires. - 2013/05/04: LoE: The mother of all hockey sticks [ghgs]
- 2013/05/03: DD: The last time CO2 was this high, humans didn't exist
'There is the possibility that we've already breached the threshold of truly dangerous human influence on our climate and planet' - 2013/05/02: ArcticNews: No Planet B -- The global CO2cide 400 ppm milestone
- 2013/05/02: RTCC: Who is to blame for soaring levels of carbon dioxide?
- 2013/04/30: Grist: CO2 in atmosphere poised to blow past 400 ppm mark
- 2013/04/30: CCurrents: Carbon Dioxide Emissions Reach Highest Point In Three Million Years
- 2013/04/30: QuarkSoup: Will CO2 Reach 400 ppm? (Probably Not.)
- 2013/04/30: GLaden: Putting the 400 ppm CO2 thing in perspective
- 2013/04/30: KSJT: Sydney Morning Herald, Guardian, etc: 400 ppm and rising - latest CO2 milestone.Significant, symbolic, or just a tick on the plot?
- 2013/04/30: PSinclair: Counting Down to 400 ppm
- 2013/04/30: ICN: All Eyes on Keeling Curve: Scientists Anxious as CO2 Levels to Cross 400 PPM
- 2013/04/30: NatureN: Global carbon dioxide levels near worrisome milestone
Concentrations of greenhouse gas will soon surpass 400 parts per million at sentinel spot. - 2013/04/29: Guardian(UK): Global carbon dioxide levels set to pass 400ppm milestone
- 2013/04/29: TreeHugger: CO2 levels in atmosphere reaching 400ppm for first time in 3 million years
As for the temperature record:
- 2013/05/04: DD: Graph of the Day: Temperature records broken across Australia, January 2013
- 2013/05/03: DD: World Meteorological Organization confirms 2012 was ninth warmest year on record...
- 2013/05/02: Grist: Atlantic coastal waters are the hottest since measurements began
- 2013/05/02: RTCC: World continued to warm in 2012 - WMO
Last year was among the ten warmest years since records began more than 160 years ago, according to the World Meteorological Organisation. - 2013/05/02: CBC: DFO scientist amazed by 'extreme' ocean temperatures -- Too early to tell if it's global warming
A federal scientist based in Nova Scotia says ocean temperatures off the East Coast of Canada were about two to four degrees above normal in 2012, setting record highs. "On average, it's probably three to five times the normal variability. So it's quite extreme," said Dave Hebert, a Canadian scientist at the Bedford Institute of Oceanography in Halifax. His American counterparts at the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration in the U.S. reported sea surface temperatures on the northeastern shelf in 2012 averaged 14 C, the highest temperature recorded in 150 years. - 2013/05/02: CCurrents: US East Coast Sea Surface Temperatures In 2012 Highest In 150 Years
- 2013/05/02: WMO: [link to 3.7 meg pdf] WMO Annual Climate Statement Confirms 2012 as Among Top Ten Warmest Years
- 2013/04/28: TP:JR: NOAA: In 2012, Waters Off Northeast U.S. Coast Were Warmest In 150 Years
Yes we have feedbacks:
- 2013/04/29: CSM: Plant gases help curb global warming, finds study
- 2013/04/29: ABC(Au): Plant gas 'sunshade' slows warming
Natural aerosols Plants help to slow climate change by emitting gases as temperatures rise that lead to the formation of a sunshade of clouds over the planet, say an international team of scientists. - 2013/05/03: MODIS: Dust storm in the Sahara Desert
While in the paleoclimate:
- 2013/04/30: BBC: Toba super-volcano catastrophe idea 'dismissed'
The idea that humans nearly became extinct 75,000 ago because of a super-volcano eruption is not supported by new data from Africa, scientists say. In the past, it has been proposed that the so-called Toba event plunged the world into a volcanic winter, killing animal and plant life and squeezing our species to a few thousand individuals. An Oxford University-led team examined ancient sediments in Lake Malawi for traces of this climate catastrophe. It could find none. - 2013/04/30: ABC(Au): Dinosaur ancestors out of ancient Africa
- 2013/04/30: Eureka: Canada's distinctive tuya [subglacial] volcanoes reveal glacial, palaeo-climate secrets [1.8 mya]
Regarding the solar hypothesis:
- 2013/04/29: KlimaZwiebel: Claim of solar influence is on thin ice: are 11-year cycle solar minima associated with severe winters in Europe?
What's new on the extinction front?
- 2013/05/03: SciAm:EC: After 13-Year Quest, Clouded Leopards Confirmed Extinct in Taiwan
- 2013/05/02: TheConversation: Extinction: just how bad is it and why should we care?
- 2013/05/01: BBerg: Rhino's Dying Breath Signals General's Return to War
- 2013/05/01: TreeHugger: Poachers have now killed all the rhinos in Mozambique
- 2013/05/01: DD: Climate change compounds rising threats to koala...
- 2013/05/01: SciAm:EC: Just 35 Devils Hole Pupfish Remain -- Does Extinction Loom?
- 2013/05/01: Eureka: New scientific studies reveal Midwestern frogs decline, mammal populations altered by invasive plant
- 2013/04/30: Grist: Every single one of these butterflies might be gone, but that doesn't mean they're extinct
- 2013/04/30: Guardian(UK): Climate change compounds rising threats to koala
- 2013/04/29: SciNow: Life After Extinction
- 2013/04/29: MetaSD: Plight of the pika
- 2013/04/28: DD: Yachtsmen, rats, global warming threaten Chile's humboldt penguins...
- 2013/04/28: DD: Rhinos now extinct in Mozambique's Limpopo National Park - Poachers include park rangers
The bees and Colony Collapse Disorder are a constant concern:
- 2013/05/04: ERabett: Bee Cause
- 2013/05/03: CBC: Canada wrestles with bee-killing [neonicotinoid] crop pesticides
Government recommends mitigation measures, not ban - 2013/05/02: Guardian(UK): US rejects EU claim of [neonicotinoid] insecticide as sole reason for bee colony collapse
- 2013/04/30: Yale360: A Threat to Global Agriculture
The danger that the decline of bees and other pollinators represents to the world's food supply was highlighted this week when the European Commission decided to ban a class of pesticides suspected of playing a role in so-called "colony collapse disorder." - 2013/04/30: CCurrents: Declining Bee Populations Pose A Threat to Global Agriculture
- 2013/04/30: CCP: EU restricts neonicotinoid pesticide use to help save bees
- 2013/04/30: TheConversation:The buzz on bee pesticides: Australia should consider a ban
- 2013/04/30: TheConversation: Neonicotinoid ban eases the stress on bees
- 2013/04/30: ABC(Au): European bee ban may not translate to Australia
The Australian honey bee industry is reserving its judgment on a pesticide ban which sparked jubilation in Europe overnight. - 2013/04/29: DD: Europe bans neonicotinoid pesticides blamed for destroying bee populations - 'This is a victory for the precautionary principle, which is supposed to underlie environmental regulation'
- 2013/04/29: Grist: Beleaguered bees catch a break as E.U. bans dangerous pesticides
- 2013/04/29: ScienceInsider: European Commission Goes Ahead With Controversial Pesticide Ban
- 2013/04/29: BBC: Bee deaths: EU to ban neonicotinoid pesticides
A vote in the EU has paved the way for the European Commission to restrict the use of pesticides linked to bee deaths in scientific studies. There is great concern across Europe about the collapse of bee populations. - 2013/05/02: NOAANews: First GOES-R instrument ready to be installed onto spacecraft
- 2013/05/02: Eureka: Satellite instrument package to assess space weather ready for delivery by CU-Boulder
More GW impacts are being seen:
- 2013/05/01: Grist: Climate change hurts women. Wall Street Journal sneers
- 2013/04/30: P3: We note our place with bookmarkers that measure what we've lost
- 2013/04/29: TP:JR: Six Months After Sandy, Report Links Rise in Disaster Relief Spending to Climate Change
- 2013/04/28: DD: Burned rainforest vulnerable to grass invasion
- 2013/04/28: DD: Why elk are robbing birds of nesting habitat as Arizona climate changes rapidly
- 2013/05/05: TheConversation: Without wetlands, what will protect the Great Barrier Reef?
And then there are the world's forests:
- 2013/05/03: BBC: Nicaragua cloud forest 'under siege' by illegal loggers
A famed rainforest in Nicaragua is under growing threat from illegal loggers, say indigenous leaders. The Bosawas Biosphere Reserve is Central America's largest tropical forest with clouds constantly drifting over the hilly terrain. But the Mayangna and Miskito people who live there say 30,000 hectares a year are being deforested by "colonists". - 2013/05/02: UCSUSA:B: Extending the Success Against Illegal Logging to Palm Oil and Other Drivers of Deforestation
- 2013/04/30: Eureka: In the Northeast, forests with entirely native flora are not the norm -- New study is first to reveal abundance of nonnative plants across 24 states
Emerging diseases accompany ecological change:
- 2013/05/04: Guardian(UK): Climate changes could bring malaria to the UK -- Health experts warn of growing threat from 'exotic' diseases
- 2013/05/01: ProMedMail: Snake fungal disease - USA
As for heatwaves and wild fires:
- 2013/05/05: MODIS: Fires in southern Australia
- 2013/05/05: al Jazeera: Cool weather calms California wildfires
Damp air off the Pacific reduces fire intensity as firefighters report "excellent" progress in battling huge blaze. - 2013/05/04: BBC: In pictures: California wildfires
- 2013/05/04: CSM: California wildfire 30 percent contained as temperatures drop
- 2013/05/04: BBC: A wildfire raging on the coast of Southern California has nearly tripled in size inside 24 hours, engulfing an area of 43 sq miles (111 sq km)
- 2013/05/04: CBC: California wildfire triples in size -- Higher humidity today should help firefighters
- 2013/05/04: al Jazeera: California wildfire nearly triples in size
Fires in US coastal region spread as high temperatures fuel flames, but change in weather likely to aid fight. - 2013/05/04: IOTD: Springs Fire, California
- 2013/05/04: MODIS: Springs Fire near Los Angles, California
- 2013/05/04: ABC(Au): Fierce fire threatens homes along California coast
- 2013/05/03: BBC: California firefighters tackling six major wildfires
More than 3,000 firefighters are battling six major wildfires in California, the state fire agency says. - 2013/05/03: al Jazeera: US wildfires threaten thousands of homes
Blaze damages about 4,000 hectares of brush land, marking an abrupt start to California's fire season. - 2013/05/03: UCSUSA:B: Wildfire Season Has Arrived in the West
- 2013/05/03: NASA: Fires in Eastern Russia
- 2013/05/03: NASA: Agricultural Fires Dot Mexico
- 2013/05/03: NASA: Fires Rage Near Malibu
- 2013/05/03: CBC: Southern California wildfires grow as 'explosive' spread feared
A Southern California wildfire carving a path to the sea grew to more than 39 square kilometres, and crews prepared today for another bad day of gusting winds and searing weather. "We're going to be at Mother Nature's mercy," Ventura County fire spokesman Tom Kruschke said. - 2013/05/03: CNN: Nearly uncontrollable California wildfire grows, threatens 4,000 homes
Fire crosses Pacific Coast Highway but causes scant damage to naval base - The fire damages 15 homes, 15 outbuildings and five commercial properties - No one is injured, but authorities caution public on smoke and ash - Fire threatens 4,000 homes, 300 commercial buildings and 50 outbuildings - 2013/05/03: TP:JR: 'Mother Nature Turned Off The Spigot': California Wildfires Fueled By 'Remarkable' Dry Weather Conditions
- 2013/05/03: CSM: Wildfire on California coast: On Day 2, more Santa Ana winds
- 2013/05/03: RT: Toxic pesticides burn up in California wildfire
- 2013/05/03: RT: California wildfire damages homes, forces evacuations
- 2013/05/02: CBC: California wildfire forces evacuation of homes, university -- Santa Ana winds send smoke and embers drifting over homes
- 2013/05/02: BBC: One of several wildfires raging in California has forced the closure of a section of the state's scenic coastal highway
- 2013/05/02: NASA: Fires in Southern Australia
- 2013/05/02: NASA: Fires in West Africa
- 2013/05/02: NASA: Summit Fire in Southern California
- 2013/05/02: CNN: California wildfire consumes 6,500 acres in five hours, closing coastal highway
In five hours, Ventura County wildfire grows from 10 acres to 6,500 acres - Pacific Coast Highway is closed for nine miles north of Malibu - An evacuation is ordered for Cal State University Channel Islands campus - Progress made against Riverside County blaze; firefighter calls conditions extremely dry - 2013/05/01: IOTD: Burning Fields in Eastern Russia
- 2013/05/01: CSM: Wind fuels raging wildfire in California
- 2013/05/01: NASA: Fire on Cape Cod
- 2013/04/30: NASA: Fires in Western Australia
- 2013/04/30: NASA: Fires in Eastern Russia
- 2013/04/30: MODIS: Fires in West Africa [on April 20th]
- 2013/04/29: Resilience: Fires Burn More Fiercely As Northern Forests Warm
Corals are a bellwether of the ocean's health:
- 2013/05/05: WtD: Saving the Great Barrier Reef: is it in our own self interest?
- 2013/05/04: ABC(Au): UNESCO issues fresh warning over reef's health
UNESCO has warned that unless action is taken to improve water quality, the Great Barrier Reef could be placed on the World Heritage list of sites in danger. In a report released overnight, the United Nations body has also criticised the federal and Queensland governments' efforts to preserve the tourist drawcard. The assessment of the reef by UNESCO and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) says decisive action must be taken to avoid an endangered listing in June. - 2013/05/04: DD: UN plans to list Great Barrier Reef as endangered...
- 2013/05/04: al Jazeera: Chinese boat 'damaged' Philippine coral reef
Glaciers are melting:
- 2013/05/05: FaGP: Sulztalferner Retreat, Stubaier Alps, Austria
- 2013/05/01: FaGP: Hidden Creek Glacier Thinning, North Cascades, Washington
Sea levels are rising:
- 2013/05/05: SkS: Climate change will raise the sea level in the Gulf of Finland by John Hartz
- 2013/04/29: TP:JR: NBC Evening News: 'All Along America's Coast, People Are Discovering Beach Living May Not Be Sustainable'
- 2013/04/29: UCSUSA:B: Talking About Sea Level Rise: Leading Scientists Meet in Galveston, Texas
As for hydrological cycle disruptions [floods & droughts]:
- 2013/05/05: al Jazeera: Dijon downpours cause chaos
Days of heavy rain over central areas of eastern France have resulted in widespread flooding - 2013/05/03: TP:JR: NASA Projects Carbon Pollution Impact: 'Some Regions Outside The Tropics May Have No Rainfall At All'
- 2013/05/03: CBC: Spring floods cause trouble in 4 provinces -- States of emergency declared, evacuations begun in some regions
Heavy spring floods are engulfing communities in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Ontario and Quebec, washing out roads and highways, threatening homes and prompting evacuations. Heavy snowfall and a late-blooming spring season have been major factors, leading to torrential runoffs from melting snow and ice-jammed rivers overspilling their banks. - 2013/05/03: SwissInfo: Torrential rains wreak havoc
- 2013/05/03: NASA: NASA Study Projects Warming-Driven Changes in Global Rainfall
- 2013/05/03: MSoderstrom: Drought in California, Dry Days Here: What's the Future of Water Resoures?
- 2013/05/02: ABC(Au): NSW on the brink of drought, warn farmers
Farmers in western New South Wales say they are running out of water as the state teeters on the edge of drought. Some landholders in the far north of the state say they have not had enough rain for more than a year, and this has caused dams and storage to dry up. They say they have to cart water and hand-feed livestock due to dwindling rainfall, and many are having to fork out thousands of dollars to pay for fodder, while others are selling their livestock. - 2013/05/02: al Jazeera: Floods in Saudi Arabia kill 16 people -- Torrential downpours have engulfed parts of the desert kingdom
- 2013/05/02: P3: Western US Enters Summer in Severe Drought
- 2013/05/02: ABC(Au): Drought tightens its grip across Australia
In case you hadn't noticed, it's dry out there. Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Western Australia - even the centre of the continent is suffering a lack of rainfall. In recent months that's been termed severe and though for some areas rain has fallen, for many others a new drought is threatening. - 2013/05/02: ABC(Au): Drought predicted as April hits heat records
- 2013/05/01: BBC: Flash floods in Saudi Arabia leave 13 dead, 4 missing
- 2013/04/30: UCSUSA:B: Impacts After the Flood: As Midwest Waters Recede, Health Threats Remain
- 2013/04/30: Xinhuanet: Heavy rain kills 6 in South China
Floods and landslides triggered by heavy rain have claimed six lives while affecting more than 420,000 people in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, the local government said Monday. The rain, which started Monday morning, has hit multiple counties, according to a statement from the regional department of civil affairs. The statement said landslides and building collapses triggered by the rain had killed six people and injured another 14 as of 7 p.m. Monday. - 2013/04/29: JFleck: A river with no water
- 2013/04/29: DD: Graph of the Day: All-time daily rainfall records on Australia east coast, January 2013
First, stop subsidizing fossil fuels
Second, put a price on carbon
And elsewhere on the mitigation front: - 2013/05/04: ABC(Au): A new way of storing carbon on farms investigated
Tasmanian researchers are trying to find out how farmers can use bio char to get the best results. Bio char is made from organic material like wood chips or green waste. It is recognised as a way to store carbon for hundreds of years and increase crop yield and help soil hold more water. Horticultural scientist Mark Boersma says researchers also know bio char works better in some soils than others. - 2013/05/01: BPA: Video Explaining Synthetic Biology
Consider transportation & GHG production:
- 2013/05/02: BBC: US carmakers drive monthly sales to six-year highs
- 2013/05/01: CalcRisk: U.S. Light Vehicle Sales decreased to 14.9 million annual rate in April
- 2013/05/01: RTCC: EU cars getting greener but transport emissions still rising
- 2013/04/29: TheConversation: It's not in the knitting? Urban rail's growing significance
- 2013/04/29: TreeHugger: Driving is so 1995, chart shows
While in the endless quest for zero energy, sustainable buildings and practical codes:
- 2013/05/03: TreeHugger: STUDIO-E shows there's more to green building than just saving energy
- 2013/04/29: AutoBG: Honda gets "Zero Net Energy" Smart Home in CA, goes for wind power in Brazil
Large scale geo-engineering keeps popping up:
- 2013/05/02: SciDevNet: Concerns grow over effects of solar geoengineering
- 2013/05/02: ChinaDialogue: Is it better to let the Greenland ice sheet collapse or use geoengineering?
- 2013/05/02: Springer:CC: (ab$) Studying geoengineering with natural and anthropogenic analogs by Alan Robock et al.
- 2013/04/30: ChinaDialogue: China could move first to geoengineer the climate
- 2013/04/30: GOC: The Solar Radiation Management Governance Initiative: Advancing the International Governance of Geoengineering Research (Opinion Article)
- 2013/04/30: NOAA:NODC: [NOAA Science Seminar] Ocean Fertilization, Marine Geoengineering and the London Convention/London Protocol
- 2013/04/28: ESSA: Geoengineering a new climate: a story of moral hazard
What's new in conservation?
- 2013/05/03: BBC: In pictures: Conservation award winners announced
- 2013/05/03: BBC: Saluting 'local heroes of conservation'
- 2013/04/29: USGS: Sea Turtles Benefiting From Protected Areas -- Study Offers First Look at Green Sea Turtle Habitat Use in the Dry Tortugas
While on the adaptation front:
- 2013/05/03: ABC(Au): Adapting to climate change
In recent years we have faced floods, cyclones, fires and droughts, the question is how can the farm sector better adapt to changes in climate. This week the Primary Industries Adaptation Research Network is meeting in Townsville to discuss this question and the links between research, government policy and farming practices. - 2013/05/01: Eureka: Progress in introducing cleaner cook stoves for billions of people worldwide
- 2013/04/30: SciNow: Global Warming at Your Doorstep [lawns vs fields]
- 2013/04/29: Grist: The limits of climate adaptation are social, not physical or economic
Meanwhile in the journals:
- 2013/04/30: PNAS: (ab$) Ocean acidification alters the otoliths of a pantropical fish species with implications for sensory function by Sean Bignami et al.
- 2013/04/30: PNAS: (abs) Camouflage mismatch in seasonal coat color due to decreased snow duration by L. Scott Mills et al.
- 2013/04/30: PNAS: (ab$) An experimental displacement and over 50 years of tag-recoveries show that monarch butterflies are not true navigators by Henrik Mouritsen et al.
- 2013/04/30: PNAS: (abs) Europe's other debt crisis caused by the long legacy of future extinctions by Stefan Dullinger et al.
- 2013/04/30: PNAS: (letter$) Seeking sailors to help measure phytoplankton populations by Rebecca Horne
- 2013/04/30: PNAS: (letter$) Reply to Boslough: Prior studies validating research are ignored by Malcolm A. LeCompte et al.
- 2013/04/30: PNAS: (letter$) Faulty protocols yield contaminated samples, unconfirmed results by Mark Boslough
- 2013/05/02: Springer:CC: (ab$) Studying geoengineering with natural and anthropogenic analogs by Alan Robock et al.
- 2013/05/02: ACP: Aerosol composition, sources and processes during wintertime in Beijing, China by Y. L. Sun et al.
- 2013/05/02: ACP: Variability in the speed of the Brewer-Dobson circulation as observed by Aura/MLS by T. Flury et al.
- 2013/05/02: ACP: ACE-FTS observations of pyrogenic trace species in boreal biomass burning plumes during BORTAS by K. A. Tereszchuk et al.
- 2013/05/02: ACP: A pervasive and persistent Asian dust event over North America during spring 2010: lidar and sunphotometer observations by P. Cottle et al.
- 2013/05/02: ACPD: Modeling and evaluation of the global sea-salt aerosol distribution: sensitivity to emission schemes and resolution effects at coastal/orographic sites by M. Spada et al.
- 2013/04/29: ACPD: Stratospheric SO2 and sulphate aerosol, model simulations and satellite observations by C. Brühl et al.
- 2013/05/03: BG: Assessing the role of dust deposition on phytoplankton ecophysiology and succession in a low-nutrient low-chlorophyll ecosystem: a mesocosm experiment in the Mediterranean Sea by V. Giovagnetti et al.
- 2013/05/02: BG: Water supply patterns over Germany under climate change conditions by M. H. Tölle et al.
- 2013/05/02: BG: The Unified North American Soil Map and its implication on the soil organic carbon stock in North America by S. Liu et al.
- 2013/05/02: BG: Annual carbon balance of a peatland 10 yr following restoration by M. Strack & Y. C. A. Zuback
- 2013/05/02: BG: The real limits to marine life: a further critique of the Respiration Index by B. A. Seibel & J. J. Childress
- 2013/05/03: BGD: Summer and winter living coccolithophores in the Yellow Sea and the East China Sea by X. Y. Gu et al.
- 2013/05/03: BGD: Dynamics of seawater carbonate chemistry, production, and calcification of a coral reef flat, Central Great Barrier Reef by R. Albright et al.
- 2013/05/02: BGD: Respiration of Mediterranean cold-water corals is not affected by ocean acidification as projected for the end of the century by C. Maier et al.
- 2013/05/03: CP: Excursions to C4 vegetation recorded in the Upper Pleistocene loess of Surduk (Northern Serbia): an organic isotope geochemistry study by C. Hatté et al.
- 2013/05/02: CP: Glacial-interglacial dynamics of Antarctic firn columns: comparison between simulations and ice core air-N15 measurements by E. Capron et al.
- 2013/05/02: CPD: Major dust events in Europe during marine isotope stage 5 (130-74 ka): a climatic interpretation of the "markers" by D.-D. Rousseau et al.
- 2013/04/29: BG: Seasonal and spatial comparisons of phytoplankton growth and mortality rates due to microzooplankton grazing in the northern South China Sea by B. Chen et al.
- 2013/04/30: BGD: Comparing soil biogeochemical processes in novel and natural boreal forest ecosystems by S. A. Quideau et al.
- 2013/04/29: BGD: Effects of ocean acidification on the larval growth of olive flounder (Paralichthys olivaceus) by K.-S. Kim et al.
- 2013/04/29: CPD: Re-evaluation of the age model for North Atlantic Ocean Site 982 - arguments for a return to the original chronology by K. T. Lawrence et al.
- 2013/04/24: arXiv: Are elite journals declining? by Vincent Lariviere et al.
- 2013/05/01: Sage:PRQ: End-Times Theology, the Shadow of the Future, and Public Resistance to Addressing Global Climate Change by David C. Barker & David H. Bearce
- 2013/04/24: ACS:ES&T: Geo-Engineering in Lakes -- A Call for Consensus by Bryan M. Spears et al.
- 2013/04/30: GMD: ECOCLIMAP-II/Europe: a twofold database of ecosystems and surface parameters at 1 km resolution based on satellite information for use in land surface, meteorological and climate models by S. Faroux et al.
- 2013/04/30: GMDD: A method to represent ozone response to large changes in precursor emissions using high-order sensitivity analysis in photochemical models by G. Yarwood et al.
- 2013/04/29: OSD: Enhancing the accuracy of automatic eddy detection and the capability of recognizing the multi-core structures from maps of sea level anomaly by J. Yi et al.
- 2013/04/29: TC: Intercomparison of retrieval algorithms for the specific surface area of snow from near-infrared satellite data in mountainous terrain, and comparison with the output of a semi-distributed snowpack model by A. Mary et al.
- 2013/04/29: TCD: Meteorological drivers of ablation processes on a cold glacier in the semiarid Andes of Chile by S. MacDonell et al.
- 2013/04/29: TCD: LiDAR snow cover studies on glacier surface: significance of snow- and ice dynamical processes by K. Helfricht et al.
- 2013/04/29: TCD: Tidally-induced velocity variations of the Beardmore Glacier, Antarctica, and their representation in satellite measurements of ice velocity by O. J. Marsh et al.
- 2013/04/11: PLoS One: Catastrophic Collapse Can Occur without Early Warning: Examples of Silent Catastrophes in Structured Ecological Models by Maarten C. Boerlijst et al.
- 2013/04/23: SSSAJ: Comparison of Soil Carbon Dioxide Efflux between Residential Lawns and Corn Fields by David R. Bowne & Erin R. Johnson
- 2013/04/25: ERL: Claim of solar influence is on thin ice: are 11-year cycle solar minima associated with severe winters in Europe? by G J van Oldenborgh et al.
- 2013/04/28: Nature:CC: (ab$) Springtime atmospheric energy transport and the control of Arctic summer sea-ice extent by Marie-Luise Kapsch et al.
- 2013/04/28: Nature:GeoSci: (ab$) Warming-induced increase in aerosol number concentration likely to moderate climate change by Pauli Paasonen et al.
- 2013/04/18: MDPI: Glyphosate's Suppression of Cytochrome P450 Enzymes and Amino Acid Biosynthesis by the Gut Microbiome: Pathways to Modern Diseases by Anthony Samsel & Stephanie Seneff
- 2013/04/16: SD:EI: A comparative evaluation of the regulation of GM crops or products containing dsRNA and suggested improvements to risk assessments by Jack A. Heinemann et al.
- 2013/05/02: Springer:CC: (ab$) Studying geoengineering with natural and anthropogenic analogs by Alan Robock et al.
And other significant documents:
- 2013/05/04: VoxEU: Four changes to trade rules to facilitate climate change action by Aaditya Mattoo & Arvind Subramanian
Global climate cooperation has collapsed but the need for action has not disappeared. This column argues that only radical technological progress can reconcile climate-change goals with development. It argues that four changes in WTO trade rules could facilitate climate-change action and technological advances without unduly damaging trade. - 2013/05/02: TMoS: [link to 6.2 meg pdf] What's the Chance of a Northern Gateway Supertanker Disaster? Try 93-99%
- 2013/05/: Europa: [6.4 meg pdf] The Role of China in World Fisheries
- 2013/04/29: PI: [link to 273k pdf] Solving the Puzzle Progress Update 2013
- 2013/05/02: WMO: [link to 3.7 meg pdf] WMO Annual Climate Statement Confirms 2012 as Among Top Ten Warmest Years
- 2013/04/22: YorkU: [387k pdf] "Food Price Inflation as Redistribution: Towards a New Analysis of Corporate Power in the World Food System" by Joseph Baines
As for miscellaneous science:
- 2013/05/04: CSM: How much water in that snowpack? Scientists seek a better gauge.
- 2013/05/02: Guardian(UK): How climate scientists are being framed
- 2013/05/02: RBroberg: Matthews and Solomon: Irreversible Does Not Mean Unavoidable
- 2013/05/01: RBroberg: Ólafsdóttir: Evolution of NAO and AMO strength and cyclicity derived from a 3-ka varve-thickness record from Iceland
- 2013/05/01: MGS: Assessing forecasts
- 2013/05/02: SciAm:TB: Spring (And Scientific Fraud) Is Busting Out All Over
- 2013/04/30: MetaSD: Early warnings of catastrophe
- 2013/04/30: RBroberg: Geirsdóttira: Abrupt Holocene climate transitions in the northern North Atlantic region recorded by synchronized lacustrine records in Iceland
- 2013/04/29: RBroberg: Kang: Uncertainty in climate change projections of the Hadley circulation: the role of internal variability
- 2013/04/26: EENews: Researchers unmask climate secrets of sea spray and clouds
What's new in models?
- 2013/05/01: UManchester: Storm study reveals a sting in the tail
Meteorologists have gained a better understanding of how storms like the one that battered Britain in 1987 develop, making them easier to predict. - 2013/05/02: SciAm:IC: Elite journals: to hell in a handbasket?
Regarding Hansen:
- 2013/04/30: RealEconomics: James Hansen retires from NASA
- 2013/04/29: Guardian(UK): What's climate scientist James Hansen's legacy?
- 2013/04/29: PSinclair: James Hansen: "Keystone Will Probably Not Be Approved."
Meanwhile on the carbon trading front:
- 2013/05/03: Grist: Cap-and-trade puttering along quite nicely in the Northeast U.S.
- 2013/05/03: RTCC: EU carbon market on brink of "worst case scenario" - report
- 2013/05/03: RTCC: IRENA: carbon markets cannot support renewables alone
- 2013/05/02: Sandbag:B: Surge in offsets threatens to overwhelm EU's troubled carbon market
- 2013/05/01: TheConversation: Learning from Europe's carbon price crash: we need a carbon bank
- 2013/04/30: RTCC: EU uncertainty likely to affect global carbon markets
The head of the world's only global emissions trading scheme (ETS) says EU climate ambition is central to ensuring carbon markets are a success. - 2013/04/29: TP:JR: Carbon Market Crossroads: New Ideas for Harnessing Global Markets to Confront Climate Change
On the international political front, tensions continue as the empire leans on Iran:
- 2013/05/03: ScienceInsider: Scientific Journals Adapt to New U.S. Trade Sanctions on Iran
- 2013/05/02: NatureNB: US frees Iranian scientist accused of illegal trade
Sayed Mojtaba Atarodi, a professor of electrical engineering at Teheran's Sharif University of Technology who was held in prison in the United States since 7 December 2011, was released and returned to Iran on 27 April, according to the Iranian government-funded PressTV. - 2013/05/02: al Jazeera: The Iranian nuclear issue and the future of international order
The continuing deadlock with Iran over its nuclear programme is due to a unipolar vision of world order - 2013/04/30: Asia Times: Washington's nuclear hypocrisy
That the United States has been dogged in its efforts to punish Iran and North Korea for alleged atomic ambitions would appear to back President Barack Obama's 2009 commitment to a world free of nuclear weapons. Look beyond these two cases, say to India and Israel, and the non-proliferation edifice begins to crumble. - 2013/05/05: al Jazeera: China ships head into 'disputed waters'
Three government vessels sail into Senkaku islands, which China calls Diaoyu in move that may spark a diplomatic clash. - 2013/05/01: Xinhuanet: Japan, not China, taking "unilateral or coercive actions" on Diaoyu Islands dispute: Chinese envoy
- 2013/04/29: al Jazeera: Russia and Japan to discuss disputed [Kuril] islands
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is the first Japanese leader in 10 years to make an official visit to Russia. - 2013/05/01: BBC: IATA: Air travel rises by 5.9% worldwide
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) says air passenger travel grew by 5.9% in March compared with a year earlier, boosted by emerging markets. IATA's director general, Tony Tyler, said regions such as Latin America, the Middle East and China had shown a "robust expansion". However, developed markets were seeing "relatively little growth". IATA represents 240 airlines accounting for more than 80% of global traffic. - 2013/04/30: GAO: As 'stop the clock' passes into law, EU piles on the pressure for a meaningful ICAO agreement on MBMs
In the global competition for Rare Earths and other natural resources:
- 2013/05/03: NatureN: US bill would keep helium store afloat
- 2013/05/02: NBF: Wyoming could have up to 18 million tons of lithium or a 720 year supply of lithium
- 2013/04/30: AutoBG: Wyoming lithium deposits much bigger than originally expected
And in miscellaneous international political posturing and jousting:
- 2013/05/04: al Jazeera: Chinese boat 'damaged' Philippine coral reef
National park says boat caused "heart-breaking" damage to centuries-old reef after plowing into it last month. - 2013/05/03: ABC(Au): East Timor challenges gas treaty with Australia
East Timor is seeking to tear up a treaty with Australia on oil and gas revenues in the Timor Sea, arguing Australia spied on it during negotiations in 2004. The Australian Government says neither East Timor's claims about the treaty nor its allegations of espionage are new and the treaty remains in force. Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus says East Timor is seeking to have the treaty declared invalid. - 2013/05/03: BBC: Japan to sign Turkey nuclear deal
- 2013/05/03: ABC(Au): East Timor challenges gas treaty with Australia
- 2013/05/02: RTCC: Masdar offers welcome boost to UK Green Investment Bank
The UAE state funded energy group Masdar has signed a deal with the UK's Green Investment Bank (GIB) that will see the two invest together in low carbon projects. - 2013/04/30: al Jazeera: Saudi minister: US to remain energy dependent
Oil minister calls talk of US energy independence "naive", saying country will need Middle East oil long into future. - 2013/04/29: TheConversation: China and the US step up on climate
Climate Change is a threat multiplier exacerbating existing conflicts in food, energy, water, race, resources, religion, ideology ... etc.:
- 2013/05/02: Guardian(UK): White House warned on imminent Arctic ice death spiral
National security officials worried by rapid loss of Arctic summer sea ice overlook threat of permanent global food shortages - 2013/04/29: CCurrents: Countering Hyprocrisy: From Bt-Cotton To Koodankulam, It's Not Luddism, It's Evidence-Based Legitimate Protest!
- 2013/04/30: CDreams: Oregon Legislation Aims to Criminalize Environmental Civil Disobedience
What are the activists up to?
- 2013/05/03: 350orBust: Mother Puts Body On Line to Prevent "Toxic Trespass" From Fracking
- 2013/04/29: OilChange: Climate Activist on Day 29 of Hunger Strike
- 2013/04/26: CDreams: 'We Speak for the Bees': Marchers Urge EU-Wide Ban of Killer Pesticides -- 'This is not abstract theorizing. Bees are dying out. Now.'
The move to divest from fossil fuel investments is growing slowly:
- 2013/05/03: TreeHugger: It's time for Big Green to go fossil fuel free, says Naomi Klein
- 2013/05/03: Guardian(UK): The giants of the green world that profit from the planet's destruction
A new movement has erupted demanding divestment from fossil fuel polluters -- and Big Green is in their sights - 2013/05/03: TMoS: Naomi Klein Attacks Big Enviro
Polls! We have polls!
- 2013/05/01: LibCon: Polls show [UK] public ignore press attacks on wind-farms
- 2013/05/01: TheHill:e2W: Poll: Majority see climate change affecting US weather
- 2013/05/01: TP:JR: Growing Majority Say U.S. Weather Is Getting Worse, Nearly 6 In 10 Say Global Warming Is Affecting Our Weather
- 2013/04/29: CSM: Better fuel economy matters to more US consumers, survey finds
Regarding Water Politics and Business:
- 2013/05/05: CBC: Low water levels in Great Lakes cause concern
Some lakes have lowest water levels in decades due to warm weather, low precipitation - 2013/05/03: JFleck: Tilting carefully at the reuse windmill
- 2013/05/03: JFleck: Stuff I wrote elsewhere: San Juan-Chama supply at risk from climate change
- 2013/05/03: Grist: Fracking threatens to escalate the West's water wars
- 2013/05/02: NYT: Spread of Hydrofracking Could Strain Water Resources in West, Study Finds
- 2013/05/01: JFleck: In America, we pump water out of the ground to put it in our rivers
- 2013/05/01: CoC: Nestlé Waters vs Wellington County. Ontario
- 2013/05/01: JFleck: "Just and stable titles to water"
- 2013/05/01: ZNet: Chileans Rise Up Against Privatization of Nation's Water Supply
- 2013/05/01: SwissInfo: Water supply assured despite shrinking glaciers
- 2013/04/29: CBC: Huge toxic algae bloom expected for Lake Erie
Blue-green algae feeding off phosphorus from farm fertilizer that runs into lake - 2013/05/03: TMoS: Why Bother With Climate Change? The World is Ending Soon Anyway
- 2013/05/01: RawStory: Belief in biblical end-times stifling climate change action in U.S.: study
Regarding science education:
- 2013/05/02: SlashDot: Florida Teen Expelled and Arrested For Science Experiment
- 2013/05/01: SciAm:TCW: How to repel kids from science: By shackling curiosity in cuffs
- 2013/04/30: GLaden: The National Center for Science Education and Climate Change
While in the UK:
- 2013/05/04: CCP: George Monbiot: U.K.'s Chief Scientist Sir Mark Walport has no idea what the precautionary principle is [nor does Cameron]
- 2013/05/02: Guardian(UK): Energy secretary urges Michael Gove to reinstate climate change on curriculum
- 2013/05/02: EurActiv: Older and disabled people 'put off' by UK energy saving scheme
Older and disabled people are put off by the UK government's flagship energy efficiency programmes because of their complexity and fear of taking on debt, unpublished government research shows. - 2013/05/02: EurActiv: Britain violates EU pollution law, court rules
British judges ruled yesterday (1 May) that the British government has breached EU air quality rules and asked the European Court of Justice for guidance on what action needs to be taken, delaying immediate improvements to air pollution. Britain's highest appellate court, the Supreme Court, said the government was in breach of an EU directive which put limits on nitrogen dioxide (NO2), a colourless, odourless gas produced by burning fuels which can damage people's breathing. - 2013/05/01: OilDrum: The Politics of Oil In Scotland
- 2013/04/29: Guardian(UK): PR smokescreen cannot hide the holes in climate teaching proposals
- 2013/04/29: Guardian(UK): [Letters] Biggest economic howler of them all
- 2013/04/28: Guardian(UK): A nudge and a nag won't end our throwaway culture
Of course food waste is a scandal. But instead of tackling wider structural issues, Tories mess with the content of our fridges - 2013/05/03: EurActiv: Businesses tell Barroso to reshape EU energy policy
The powerful employers' group BusinessEurope has called on European Commission President José Manuel Barroso to radically shift the EU's energy policy away from climate change mitigation towards cost-competitiveness and security of supply. - 2013/05/02: RTCC: EU facing E1 trillion energy investment black hole - report
- 2013/05/01: BBC: Trillion euro shortfall facing EU energy sector says Lords Committee
Investment totalling a trillion Euros is required before the end of this decade if the European Union is to stave off an energy crisis. That is the conclusion of an eight-month inquiry by the House of Lords into the EU power sector. The Lords report says that a muddled Brussels energy policy is putting off big investors. In addition, it says there needs to be greater support for Europe's emissions trading system (ETS). - 2013/04/30: EurActiv: Twitter row after Oettinger dubs UK nuclear plans 'Soviet'
A prominent clean energy campaigner has been banned from the European Energy Forum after tweeting remarks made by the EU's energy commissioner describing the UK's plan to hand out long-term contracts to nuclear companies as "Soviet". Energy Commissioner Günther Oettinger's putdown of the €16.5-billion British plan will likely be met with furrowed brows in London, where the 35-40-year contracts have proved controversial to some because of their length, nature and the scale of the subsidy involved. - 2013/04/29: RTCC: EU carbon market reform unlikely - report
There will be no short term reform of the EU carbon market due to opposition within the EU Parliament, according to analysts from Thomson Reuters Point Carbon. - 2013/04/29: Guardian(UK): Adapt faster to changing climate, Europe warned
- 2013/04/29: EurActiv: Green NGOs hail 'historic' victory in pesticides vote
A majority of EU countries have supported a European Commission proposal to temporarily ban three pesticides suspected of harming bees in a vote on Monday (29 April). The three neonicotinoids pesticides -- imidacloprid, clothianidin and thiamethoxam -- are used to coat seeds before germination, and are added to soil or sprayed on plants. They are produced mainly by Germany's Bayer and Switzerland's Syngenta. In scientific reports published earlier this year, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) said the three neonicotinoids posed "high acute risks" to honeybees in certain crop uses. The EFSA reports triggered a proposal by the Commission on banning the three substances. On Monday, officials from the EU's 27 national governments failed to reach a consensus on whether or not to impose a two-year ban on the neonicotinoids, with 15 voting in favour of the proposal. Tonio Borg, Health and Consumer Commissioner, said that although a majority of the member states now supports the Commission's proposal, the necessary qualified majority was not reached. As a consequence, the Commission said it will issue only a temporary ban. - 2013/04/29: EurActiv: Insecticide firms in secret bid to stop ban that could save bees
Europe is on the brink of a landmark ban on the world's most widely used insecticides, which have increasingly been linked to serious declines in bee numbers. Despite intense secret lobbying by British ministers and chemical companies against the ban, revealed in documents obtained by the British newspaper, the Observer, a vote in Brussels today (29 April) is expected to lead to the suspension of the nerve agents. - 2013/04/29: EUO: EU to ban bee-killing pesticides
- 2013/04/29: NatureNB: Europe to ban [neonicotinoid] pesticides in effort to protect bees
Meanwhile in Australia:
- 2013/05/05: WtD: Saving the Great Barrier Reef: is it in our own self interest?
- 2013/05/03: ABC(Au): Flanagan lashes Greens over forestry deal
Author and well-known environmentalist Richard Flanagan has lashed out at the Tasmanian Greens' decision to support the forestry peace deal. This week four of the five state Greens MPs voted with Labor to ensure the passage of the bill to enact the deal. - 2013/05/03: ABC(Au): Lobby group claims poll support for solar thermal power
- 2013/05/02: ABC(Au): Outback hot-rocks test site powers up
- 2013/05/02: ABC(Au): Oil shale plant given go-ahead despite residents' health concerns
The untapped reserves of oil shale in Australia could be worth billions of dollars and in Queensland one company has been given the all clear to go commercial. But the push has been met with major concerns from the community that lived near the first failed plant, and people there are still complaining of ill-health. - 2013/05/02: TheConversation: Zero emissions power is possible, and we know what it will cost
- 2013/05/01: MacroBiz: Australian farm bubble?
- 2013/05/01: TheConversation: Learning from Europe's carbon price crash: we need a carbon bank
- 2013/05/01: ABC(Au): Tasmanian Parliament backs forest peace deal
- 2013/04/30: JQuiggin: Some electricity links
- 2013/04/30: JQuiggin: MRRT
- 2013/04/30: RTCC: Australian businesses ignoring climate change
A study by the Australian Government has found Australian businesses are largely ignoring climate change, despite the country being one of the most at risk to climate impacts. - 2013/04/29: TP:JR: Australia's Coal Reserves Alone Could Take Up 75 Percent Of What We Can Still Risk Burning
- 2013/04/29: ABC(Au): Alliance says coal terminal risks ignored
A community group opposed to coal developments on the mouth of the Fitzroy River in central Queensland says the Federal Government appears to have ignored advice from the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA). - 2013/04/29: ABC(Au): Coal seam gas battle returns to Queensland
- 2013/04/29: ABC(Au): Woman arrested at anti-CSG rally
A woman has been arrested at an anti-coal seam gas (CSG) rally on Queensland's Western Darling Downs. The Lock the Gate group is trying to stop QGC from building a pipeline across Columboola Creek near Miles, north-west of Toowoomba. - 2013/04/30: NewAnthropocene: Abbott's free ride comes to an end
- 2013/04/29: ABC(Au):TDU: Abbott's free ride comes to an end
The mere fact that Tony Abbott isn't Julia Gillard has propelled him thus far, but as the prospect of him becoming prime minister increases, so too does the scrutiny, writes Mungo MacCallum. - 2013/04/28: WtD: Let's end the pseudo debate: ask your politician if they accept the scientific consensus on climate change
After years of wrangling, the Murray Darling Basin plan is in place, but the water management fights are not over:
- 2013/05/03: ABC(Au): Farmers unimpressed with new drought policy
- 2013/05/01: ABC(Au): Fish kill prompts call for waterways review
- 2013/05/01: ABC(Au): Hydro gives up on troubled dam
Hydro Tasmania has decommissioned one of its dams for the first time in its 100 year history. The government-owned business says it was a mistake to ever flood the unique Lagoon of Islands in the Central Highlands. - 2013/04/29: ABC(Au): Drought support for 13 council areas in Queensland
Thirteen Queensland Local Government Areas have been declared drought-stricken. Agriculture Minister John McVeigh says that is a third of the state. - 2013/05/03: CCurrents: A Clear And Present Danger At Koodankulam: Shoddy Parts, Shabby Leaders, And Shaky Indian Lives!
While in China:
- 2013/05/02: Guardian(UK): Is China really a climate change leader?
A new report portrays China as a leader in tackling climate change but its emissions are still rising dramatically - 2013/04/30: CSM: China: World's largest polluter also leads clean-energy push
- 2013/04/29: ABC(Au): China taking the lead on climate change: study
China is fast becoming a global leader on climate change, according to a report by Australia's Climate Commission. - 2013/04/29: BisSpectator:AAP: China on track to meet climate change targets
China continues to increase its renewable energy use as the Asian nation works towards lowering growth in carbon emissions, a new report says. The federal government's Climate Commission released a report today showing the world's two largest economies, China and the United States, are on the path to meet their international commitments on climate change. Chief commissioner Tim Flannery says China is set to become a global leader on climate change. - 2013/05/04: WSWS: Violence in the Philippines as [May 13] election approaches
- 2013/05/04: WSWS: [May 5] Election marks seismic shift in Malaysian politics
- 2013/05/04: WSWS: Pakistan staggers toward [May 11] elections amid civil war and impending economic collapse
- 2013/05/03: al Jazeera: The wild ride of Anwar Ibrahim
Malaysia's opposition leader sprints through the final stages of a campaign that has brought him to the brink of power. - 2013/04/29: WSWS: Malaysian parties signal pro-market measures after election
The campaign for Malaysia's May 5 election is now in its final week. In what is likely to be the closest result in the country's history, the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) and the opposition Peoples Alliance (PR) are pledging to lift the living standards of voters, while signalling to big business their willingness to impose austerity. - 2013/04/30: Guardian(UK): Evo Morales to seek second re-election in Boliva after court ruling
Constitutional court's decision to let president run again sparks opposition protest - 2013/05/03: TStar: Stephen Harper has reshaped Canada in two years: Tim Harper
Two years of Conservative majority government have brought profound changes to Canada, and some may be hard to undo. Not everyone is celebrating Thursday's birthday - 2013/05/03: TStar: Stephen Harper's legacy in government may be nastiness: Hébert
It's unusual for a governing party to devote so much energy on making unrelenting nastiness one of its defining features. - 2013/05/03: PostMedia: PR strategy proposed to compensate for federal cuts in climate-change spending
- 2013/05/01: PaiD: Much Deserved Mockery - Part 3
- 2013/05/01: KCairo: The Smoke and Mirrors of Environmental Destruction. . .
- 2013/04/30: DClimenhaga: Former Tory strategist Allan Gregg rips Harper Cons' 'systematic attack' on facts and reason
- 2013/04/29: HillTimes: Canada's Keystone XL pitch goes into overdrive
What's going on in Parliament this week?
- 2013/05/02: WpgFP: Trudeau Liberals jump to seven-point lead over Tories, poll suggests
- 2013/05/02: CBC: Marc Garneau 'ticked off' about Canadarm event snub
- 2013/05/01: CPW: NDP resolutions on "Building a clean and sustainable Canada"
- 2013/04/30: Rabble: Elizabeth May: Why I voted against the NDP climate motion
- 2013/04/29: AFA: Not Impressed with NDP Climate Motion Ploy
Further details of those omnibus bills keep coming up:
- 2013/04/29: PostMedia: Some pipelines exempted from federal reviews -- Pulp mills also left to provincial environmental process
Building a diamond mine, expanding an oil-sands mine, offshore exploration or an interprovincial bridge could soon require a federal environmental review under proposed additions and subtractions to the Harper government's new environmental rules. But provincially regulated pipelines, facilities used to process heavy oil from the oilsands, pulp and paper mills as well as some chemical plants are among those being deleted from a list of projects requiring federal environmental investigations before approval. The proposed changes would be part of amended regulations under the new environmental laws adopted last year that have already cancelled environmental investigations for about 3,000 projects. - 2013/05/02: CBC: DFO gets F in free expression from journalism group
Annual report gives improved grade to Access to Information program The Department of Fisheries and Oceans has been given an F in an annual Canadian press freedom report card. Although the federal government as a whole received a C-, DFO was singled out "for its zeal in muzzling scientists and keeping critical research findings from Canadians," said a news release from Canadian Journalists for Free Expression Thursday. - 2013/04/30: HuffPo: Science Cuts And Muzzling In Canada: How Conservatives Reshaped A Discipline
The battle over the Northern Gateway pipeline rages on:
- 2013/05/04: Tyee: The Pipeline Plan that Rattled BC, Explained
Enbridge's Northern Gateway proposal struck a deep nerve, and its story continues this election. - 2013/05/02: TMoS: [link to 6.2 meg pdf] What's the Chance of a Northern Gateway Supertanker Disaster? Try 93-99%
- 2013/05/02: PostMedia: Enbridge underestimating oil spill risk for Northern Gateway project: SFU study
The report, released today, looked at three components of the $6.5-billion megaproject: the pipeline through B.C., the marine terminal in Kitimat and tankers The number of tanker and pipeline spills from the Northern Gateway project will be much higher than Enbridge has estimated if it goes ahead, say Simon Fraser University researchers in a new study. The report, released Thursday, looked at three components of the $6.5-billion megaproject: the pipeline through B.C., the marine terminal in Kitimat and tankers. Using an oil spill risk assessment model employed by the U.S. government, researchers concluded that the chance of a marine tanker spill is between 93 and 99 per cent over the operating life of the project, or 30 to 50 years. - 2013/05/02: G&M: Study shows a higher risk of Northern Gateway pipeline spills than Enbridge estimated
British Columbia will be hit by more oil spills than Enbridge has predicted if the Northern Gateway pipeline is built, says a new risk assessment by Simon Fraser University. "The overall conclusion of this report is that [the project] has a very high likelihood of a spill ... and that the risk of spills has been understated by Enbridge," says the study, which is to be released Thursday. - 2013/04/30: P3: Tar Sand Pipeline Politics in British Columbia
The ISA/PRV/IHN/Alpha virus in Canadian waters is potentially disastrous:
- 2013/05/03: Tyee: BC's Fish Farm Falling out, Explained -- The debate, focus of international attention, is front and centre this election
- 2013/04/27: AlexandraMorton: NDP salmon feedlot policy -- Impractical - in-fact Impossible
- 2013/04/25: TheCanadian: Salmon Confidential Playing in Kamloops Tuesday Night
- 2013/05/02: AlexandraMorton: Dear Candidates, don't hide behind me; Stand up for wild salmon - the people will love you!
In BC, the May 14th election is fast approaching. Campaign shenanigans abound:
- 2013/05/03: Tyee: Mair to Dix: Nice Guys Finish Last -- Don't let Clark get away with her brazenly false 'Debt Free BC' claim
- 2013/05/03: Tyee: Making Sense of Week's Wild Poll Shifts -- One put the NDP 22 points ahead, another only four. What's going on?
- 2013/05/03: CBC: B.C. Liberals narrow gap by half in latest poll -- Liberals now trail NDP by 7 points, says Angus Reid Public Opinion
- 2013/05/02: WCEL: Election 2013 - On protecting BC's Salmon
- 2013/05/01: Tyee: BC's Fight Against Climate Change, Explained
In 2007, Gordon Campbell decided the province would lead the world and slash emissions. What happened? - 2013/04/30: CBC: Shaky Dix, confident Clark, but no knockout punch in B.C. leaders' debate
- 2013/04/29: TheCanadian: Bait and Switch: Red Chris Mine, 'Green' Funding and the Northwest Transmission Line
- 2013/04/29: TheCanadian: Clark, Dix Trade Jabs in Televised Leaders' Debate - NDP's Fracking Position Scrutinized
- 2013/04/29: Tyee: Poll: NDP's Adrian Dix won leaders debate, Ipsos Reid finds
- 2013/04/29: CBC: B.C. party leaders face off in televised election debate
- 2013/04/29: iPolitics: Green party could be poised for provincial breakthrough in B.C.
- 2013/04/29: Tyee: New Poll Gives Dix 'Insurmountable' 22-Point Lead -- Heading into debate, Kinder Morgan controversy likely bolsters NDP says pollster
- 2013/04/26: TheCanadian: Gary Mason on Adrian Dix's Opposition to Kinder Morgan
- 2013/04/24: TheCanadian: Kinder Morgan Oil Port Could Switch to Deltaport, Satisfy NDP's Concerns
Meanwhile in that Mechanical Mordor known as the tar sands:
- 2013/04/30: FinPo: U.S. tight oil boom takes shine off [Alberta] tar sands
- 2013/04/29: PI: Progress update shows little change, two years after road map to responsible oilsands development released
- 2013/04/30: PI: No shortage of solutions for environmental issues in oilsands development
- 2013/04/30: OilChange: Canada's "Hollow Promises" on Tar Sands
- 2013/04/29: PI: [link to 273k pdf] Solving the Puzzle Progress Update 2013
- 2013/04/29: OGJ: Imperial starts up Kearl oil sands mine
Also in Alberta:
- 2013/05/02: CBC: Petro-Canada stations running dry across Prairies -- Some stations out of gas as repairs underway at Edmonton refinery
- 2013/05/03: CPW: First Nation demands resignation of Alberta Energy Regulator chair, ex-Big Oil exec Gerry Protti
The Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation (ACFN) is demanding the resignation of Gerry Protti, the newly-appointed chair of Alberta Energy Regulator, a new agency charged with monitoring environmental issues. The ACFN is concerned that, under Protti's leadership, the agency will prioritize advancing the interests of the oil, gas and coal industries, while compromising environmental protection and First Nations issues. "How can Gerry Protti be diligent to First Nations concerns and uphold treaty rights when he clearly has no previous experience engaging First Nations and still has such strong industry ties?" said the ACFN in a press release. - 2013/04/29: TreeHugger: No Keystone pipeline? No problem, Alberta will just go north to the Arctic Ocean
While in Saskatchewan:
- 2013/05/04: CBC: Flooding spreads in Saskatchewan -- Emergencies declared in three more communities
- 2013/05/02: CBC: Radisson, Sask. uses social media to fight flooding -- Volunteers respond to call for help on town Facebook page
- 2013/04/30: CBC: Borden, Sask. struggles to keep floodwaters at bay
- 2013/04/29: CBC: Radisson, Maidstone, Borden [Sask.] declare emergencies over flooding
In Manitoba, flooding is possible. There is a lot of snow and it depends on how fast it melts, as well as what happens upstream:
- 2013/05/03: CBC: Highway 75 may not have to close as flood risk eases
- 2013/05/02: CBC: Flooded campground received no compensation, says owner -- Has Koria's KOA campground near St. Francois Xavier was destroyed by 2011 flood
- 2013/05/02: CBC: Assiniboine River flood threat moves south and east -- Flood warning in effect between Virden and Brandon
- 2013/05/02: CBC: Portage Diversion breaches, floods surrounding land -- Manitoba government says ice jams a major threat right now
- 2013/05/01: CBC: Red River crests in Fargo well below original forecast -- City uses only fraction of sandbags as water crests at just over 33 feet
- 2013/05/01: CBC: Flood warning issued for part of Assiniboine River
- 2013/05/03: ManitobaGovt: Flood Bulletin #6
- 2013/05/02: ManitobaGovt: Flood Bulletin #5
- 2013/05/01: ManitobaGovt: Flood Bulletin #4
- 2013/04/30: ManitobaGovt: Flood Bulletin #3
- 2013/04/29: ManitobaGovt: Flood Bulletin #2
- 2013/04/30: CBC: Portage Diversion pushing flood waters north -- Province defending court injunction it obtained to end farmers' protest
- 2013/04/29: CBC: Red River Floodway opens, while city recruits sandbaggers
- 2013/04/29: CBC: Farmers end protest at Portage Diversion
- 2013/04/29: CBC: Girl clings to tree after Manitoba flood sweeps her away
Pickup truck stalls on submerged road, forcing out father and daughter - 2013/04/29: Wunderground: Red River Rising: a Top-Ten Fargo Flood in 4 of the Past 5 Years
In Ontario, Wynne is struggling to establish herself. Energy still looms large:
- 2013/05/04: CBC: Horwath's NDP 50-50 Ontario budget gamble
- 2013/05/02: PI: Pembina reacts to release of 2013 Ontario budget
- 2013/05/01: CoC: Nestlé Waters vs Wellington County. Ontario
- 2013/04/30: CBC: Attawapiskat, Kashechewan declare state of emergency due to flooding
Sewer backup forces evacuation of hospital in Attawapiskat, 200 people to be flown out of Kashechewan - 2013/04/29: TreeHugger: Back from the dead: Groundbreaking Canadian freshwater research center finds savior [Ontario Premier, Kathleen Wynne]
While in la Belle Province:
- 2013/04/28: PostMedia: Quebec to launch pipeline consultations
Unsatisfied with a pending federal review, Quebec will soon launch its own consultations on a plan to reverse the flow in a pipeline between Ontario and Montreal, Environment Minister Yves-François Blanchet said Sunday. - 2013/04/29: PostMedia: Yukon Conservative MP accused of peddling 'bogus' information on polar bears
A Conservative MP has been peddling what researchers describe as "bogus" information on polar bears and citing U.S. climate skeptics as experts on the iconic creatures. In a letter that shocked scientists, Yukon MP Ryan Leef said: "The global polar bear population has quadrupled over the last 40 years." The letter, which Leef wrote to a constituent in February, said many "pessimistic studies" about the bears have been judged "unscientific and inconsequential to decision makers" by U.S. researchers. The researchers he refers to are well-known climate skeptics. Ian Stirling, a world authority on the bears at the University of Alberta, said he was shocked by Leef's letter. "I am absolutely appalled that a Canadian MP would circulate this kind of stuff to a constituent asking in good faith about the conservation of polar bears in Canada," said Stirling. Steven Amstrup, chief scientist at Polar Bears International, a conservation group, was also taken aback. He said Leef's claim that the population has quadrupled was "completely bogus." - 2013/05/04: DD: Extreme weather is making Americans climate-change believers, study finds...
- 2013/05/03: Resilience: As Oil and Gas Drilling Competes for Water, One New Mexico County Says No
- 2013/05/03: Grist: Study: When Republicans understand climate science, they support climate action
- 2013/05/03: Grist: Big Coal loses out in Indiana, despite employing two state lawmakers
- 2013/05/03: SciAm:GB: Making (Political) Moves
- 2013/05/02: SciAm:PI: Even Counting Votes too Scientific for North Carolina
- 2013/05/02: NewsObserver: Fracking giant Halliburton nixes North Carolina's chemical disclosure rule
- 2013/05/02: Grist: Climate hawk Markey wins primary, moves one step closer to Senate
- 2013/05/02: DD: Belief in biblical end-times stifling climate change action in U.S. ...
- 2013/05/02: TP:JR: Chris Christie Uses Salty Language To Make The Climate Resiliency Argument
- 2013/05/02: TP:JR: 'Banana Republic' In North Carolina: GOP Committee Chair 'Approves' Bill To Gut Clean Energy Without Counting Votes
- 2013/05/01: Grist: New Mexico county is first in the nation to ban all drilling and fracking
- 2013/04/30: CDreams: Oregon Legislation Aims to Criminalize Environmental Civil Disobedience
ACLU charges that bills that target actions against logging companies "effectively criminalize civil disobedience for one particular group." - 2013/04/30: RTCC: US consumers respond to energy independence not efficiency
Energy independence rather than the benefits of cutting carbon emissions, could be the key to persuading some US shoppers to invest in energy efficiency, according to a new study. - 2013/04/30: Grist: Bills to ban fracking in California move forward
- 2013/04/29: RawStory: Tennessee Republican attacks 'disgusting' Humane Society over 'tape and rape'
Tennessee state Rep. Andy Holt (R-Dresden) described the Humane Society as radicals and accused them of promoting rape-like tactics against farmers, according to emails released Friday. Kayci McLeod of the Human Society had written to Holt earlier this month to ask him to oppose legislation that would criminalize activists who exposed animal abuse on factory farms and in slaughterhouses. Holt, who sponsored the bill in the Tennessee House, was apparently not too pleased to have received the correspondence. - 2013/04/29: BWeek: California Fracking Moratorium Clears Key Committee in Assembly
- 2013/05/03: DeSmogBlog: Koch Brothers, ALEC Attack Maine Renewable Energy Standards
- 2013/05/01: OnEarth: Who's In Charge Here? At U.S. Oil Spills, It's Whoever Made the Mess
- 2013/04/30: Guardian(UK): Grand Canyon uranium mining set to go ahead despite ban from Obama
- 2013/04/30: Guardian(UK): Conservative US shoppers turned off by eco-friendly lightbulbs, study finds
- 2013/04/30: PSinclair: The Anti-Science Science Committee
- 2013/04/30: TP:JR: EIA: Extending Current Energy Policies Would Keep U.S. Carbon Pollution Emissions Flat Through 2040
- 2013/04/30: SciAm:PI: Extending current energy policies would reduce U.S. energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions
- 2013/04/30: TP:JR: Climate Change Is An Existential Threat To Humanity, Just Don't Mention Protecting 'The Environment'
- 2013/04/29: Grist: Louisiana Senate kills a bill that tried to rein in dispersants
- 2013/04/30: Grist: Why do conservatives like to waste energy?
- 2013/04/30: TreeHugger: Conservatives prefer wasting energy over protecting the environment, study finds
- 2013/04/29: FC: Why Polluters Should Pay You To Fix Climate Change
A carbon dividend--cash paid out to every American family from money taken as a pollution tax on companies--could be the idea that finally adds the right economic incentive for people to adopt climate-friendly lifestyles. - 2013/04/29: UCSUSA:B: Labor and Environment: "Joined at the Hip"
- 2013/04/28: EarthMag: Why is the U.S. so insecure about its energy security? Measures of energy independence show it is increasing, not decreasing
The BP disaster continues to twist US politics:
- 2013/04/30: TreeHugger: Crude oil is made 52x more toxic when combined with dispersant (video)
Post-Sandy commentary and news:
- 2013/05/02: TheHill:RW: EPA drops $569 million in response to Hurricane Sandy sewage spill
- 2013/04/30: P3: Sea Level Rise, Storm Surge, and Sewage Spills
- 2013/04/30: Guardian(UK): Hurricane Sandy dumped 11bn gallons of raw sewage in eastern US waterways
- 2013/04/30: CSM: Hurricane Sandy released billions of gallons of sewage
- 2013/04/29: TreeHugger: Photographer documents tree damage following Superstorm Sandy
- 2013/04/28: Grist: Restoring a community garden in the Sandy-torn Rockaways
The Keystone XL saga grinds slowly. And it grinds woe:
- 2013/05/03: BBerg: Keystone Foes Seek Climate Measures in Case They Lose
- 2013/05/03: DeSmogBlog: Obama's Former Communications Director's Firm Does PR For Keystone XL Pipeline, Tar Sands Rail Transport
- 2013/05/02: DeSmogBlog: Keystone Kops: TransCanada Spent $280,000 Lobbying For Keystone XL Tar Sands Pipeline In First Quarter
- 2013/05/01: TheHill:e2W: House Keystone pipeline advocate cheers ad linked to Facebook founder
- 2013/05/01: OilChange: Facebook Bans Ad Criticising Mark Zuckerberg's Pro-KXL Stance
- 2013/05/01: Grist: Anti-Keystone ads banned by Facebook
- 2013/04/30: WaPo: Facebook rejects ad criticizing actions of Zuckerberg political group
- 2013/04/30: KJRH: 2 arrested at work site for Keystone XL pipeline
- 2013/04/29: CPW: EPA Trashes State Department's Positive Evaluation Of Keystone XL
- 2013/04/29: HillTimes: Canada's Keystone XL pitch goes into overdrive
Officials have been averaging a trip to Washington every two weeks in 2013, but some insiders warn that they could be wearing out their welcome. - 2013/05/04: DD: ExxonMobil oil spill in Arkansas shatters American dream of families still displaced from new homes...
- 2013/05/02: RT: Fresh ExxonMobil pipeline spill hits Missouri [in Ripley County]
- 2013/05/02: ICN: Arkansas Oil Spill Shatters American Dream of Families Still Displaced From New Homes
- 2013/05/02: Grist: ExxonMobil's tar-sands pipeline leaks again
- 2013/05/02: TP:JR: Exxon Spills Tar Sands Oil Again In Missouri, Can't Find 126,000 Gallons Spilled In Arkansas
- 2013/05/01: EneNews: Report: Residents near Arkansas oil spill with chemical burns, gastrointestinal problems, extreme fatigue - 30 toxic chemicals at high levels - 88,000 ppb of hydrocarbons in air
- 2013/05/01: TreeHugger: Study finds 30 toxic chemicals at Exxon oil spill site in Arkansas
- 2013/05/01: DeSmogBlog: While Exxon Spins on Mayflower Tar Sands Spill Cleanup, Oil Threatens Fishing Lake and Arkansas River
- 2013/04/30: P3: Exxon Controls Access to EPA at Spill Site
- 2013/04/30: ICN: Sen. Mark Pryor Pryor Tours Pegasus Pipeline Site in Arkansas
Senator Mark Pryor made a visit to Arkansas Monday and toured the site of the Pegasus Pipeline oil spill in Mayflower. It was the Senator's first visit to the site since the Exxon-owned pipe ruptured a month ago, spilling a type of crude oil into a nearby neighborhood.
THV 11 was not allowed to go along on the tour... - 2013/04/30: RT: Study finds 'soup of toxic chemicals' in the air near Arkansas ExxonMobil spill site
- 2013/04/29: ColumbusDispatch: Pipeline slurry spills threaten wetlands
- 2013/04/29: DeSmogBlog: Study Reveals 30 Toxic Chemicals at High Levels at Exxon Arkansas Tar Sands Pipeline Spill Site
- 2013/04/29: ICN: One Month After Exxon's Arkansas Oil Spill, Still No Answers to Basic Questions
When was the leak first detected, by whom, and how long had it been going on? Answers are crucial to the national debate over Keystone and pipeline safety. - 2013/04/29: ICN: For Sale Signs Line Neighborhood On [Mayflower] Oil Spill One-Month Anniversary
The GOP War on Women continues. See also:
- 2013/05/03: RawStory: Minnesota judge dismisses lawsuit seeking to eliminate public funding for abortion care
- 2013/05/01: DWR: 5 Abortion Myths Exposed - Debunking Forced Birth Stupidity
- 2013/05/01: ACLU: Indiana Governor [Mike Pence (R)] Signs Law That Targets Women's Health Center
As usual Obama tries to have it both ways on controversial issues:
- 2013/05/04: WSWS: Obama administration appeals ruling on emergency contraceptives
- 2013/05/01: FDL: Obama Still Fighting Court Order On Plan B Pill
- 2013/05/01: NatureNB: FDA lowers age for over-the-counter access to morning after pill
- 2013/05/01: UCSUSA:B: Duped Again on Emergency Contraception
- 2013/05/01: BBC: US justice department fights 'morning-after' pill case
The US justice department has filed an appeal against a judge's ruling that requires the "morning-after" pill to be available to all ages. The government says the judge exceeded his authority, and has asked for a suspension while the case is decided. The New York judge said the decision to limit Plan B without a prescription to those 17 and older was "capricious". The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the drug on Tuesday over the counter for those aged 15 and above. - 2013/04/28: STimes: In the Northwest, rising coal exports to Asia stir huge fight
- 2013/04/28: DeSmogBlog: Coal Exports: An Update On Pacific Northwest Coal Fights
The impacts of budgetary sequestration will begin to add up:
- 2013/05/01: ICN: Sequester Hits Nation's Climate Change Research Capability
Eight regional centers dedicated to expanding climate research at the local level lose millions in budget cuts. - 2013/04/29: UPI: Obama: Sequester could ground scientific research for several years
Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Tx) seeks to control science research via defunding:
- 2013/05/01: Grist: Climate-denying GOP rep wants to take science-funding decisions away from scientists
- 2013/05/02: ScienceInsider: Holdren Attacks House Bill, Defends NSF's Grant Selection Process
- 2013/05/02: UCSUSA:B: A Dangerous Approach: Lawmaker [Rep Lamar Smith (R-Tx)] Proposes Changes to How the National Science Foundation Funds Science
- 2013/04/29: S&R: Lamar Smith wants politics to overrule scientific merit at the National Science Foundation
- 2013/04/29: ScienceInsider: U.S. Lawmaker Proposes New Criteria for Choosing NSF Grants
The new chair of the House of Representatives science committee has drafted a bill that, in effect, would replace peer review at the National Science Foundation (NSF) with a set of funding criteria chosen by Congress. For good measure, it would also set in motion a process to determine whether the same criteria should be adopted by every other federal science agency. The legislation, being worked up by Representative Lamar Smith (R-TX), represents the latest -- and bluntest -- attack on NSF by congressional Republicans seeking to halt what they believe is frivolous and wasteful research being funded in the social sciences. - 2013/04/29: SciAm:TCW: The head of the House Committee on Science [Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Tex)] does not understand how science works
Looking forward to 2014, 2016 election:
- 2013/05/01: CNN: America is ready for Madam President
Now that he doesn't need their vote any more, how will Obama treat liberals and their policy issues?
- 2013/05/03: TMoS: The White House Ponders an Ice-Free Arctic Ocean
- 2013/05/01: PSinclair: Obama on Science and National Security
- 2013/04/29: ScienceInsider: Obama Promises to Protect Peer Review in Salute to NAS
- 2013/04/29: NatureNB: Obama calls for peer-review autonomy
The actions of the Obama administration are being watched closely:
- 2013/05/02: TCoE: The curious case of the White House and the Arctic death spiral
- 2013/05/02: HoustonChronicle: Why is the EPA so bad at estimating hybrid fuel economy?
- 2013/05/01: Grist: Frackers leaking less methane than previously believed, EPA says
- 2013/04/30: USGS: Updated Bakken and New Three Forks Oil and Gas Assessment
- 2013/04/30: TheHill:e2W: Fracking rules coming 'in weeks,' says Interior chief Jewell
Draft federal rules on hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, will be released in a matter of "weeks, not months," Interior Secretary Sally Jewell said Tuesday. The draft rules have undergone "sufficient change," Jewell said during a media call. They'll go through a public comment period once revealed. - 2013/04/29: CSM: Sally Jewell: How 'green' is the new Interior secretary?
As for what is going on in Congress:
- 2013/04/30: CDreams: House GOP Plans Even Deeper Food Stamp Cuts
- 2013/04/30: Slate: The Republican War on Social Science -- They're winning it
- 2013/04/30: MSNBC:B: The war on science takes a turn
- 2013/04/29: GreenGrok: House Hears About Climate
- 2013/04/26: FuelFix: GOP House members target Obama administration's fracking oversight
- 2013/04/23: BBerg: Graham Puts Hold on Energy Nominee Over Nuclear Facility Cuts
Senator Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican, is blocking a vote on the nomination of Ernest Moniz to be energy secretary over proposed funding cuts to a nuclear processing facility in his home state. The U.S. Energy Department's budget requested $503 million in fiscal year 2014, down from $667 million in 2012, for a program that includes a plant being built in South Carolina to convert weapons-grade plutonium into fuel for nuclear power plants. - 2013/05/03: TreeHugger: Mark Zuckerberg's PAC Aimed at Division, Not Coalition-Building
The movement toward a long term ecologically viable economics is glacial:
- 2013/05/03: ERabett:BSD: Seven generations is a shared perspective with emergency planning
- 2013/05/01: NewInt: Argument: Is it time to ditch the pursuit of economic growth?
- 2013/04/30: Resilience: Environmental Ignorance Is Economic Bliss
- 2013/04/30: CassandrasLegacy: Gypsies at the peak
IPAT [Impact = Population * Affluence * Technology] raised its head once again:
- 2013/05/02: IndiaTimes: Ireland proposes limited access to abortion amid heated debate after Savita's death
- 2013/05/01: Salon: Ireland introduces proposal to clarify the legality of emergency abortions
The law would maintain current restrictions, but provide "clarity" on when emergency abortions are permissible - 2013/05/02: Salon: Peace Corps volunteer's hellish abortion story
When Christine Carcano was raped in Peru, she felt the Peace Corps had her back. Until she needed an abortion - 2013/05/01: Guardian(UK): Irish abortion bill accused of being misogynistic and offensive
Provision concerning pregnant women with suicidal thoughts condemned as taoiseach insists bill does not change law - 2013/04/30: CCurrents: Overpopulation: Maybe It's Time To Offend A Few Folks
- 2013/04/30: Guardian(UK): Limited abortion rights introduced in historic Irish legislation
New bill has to pass both houses of parliament and does not cover cases concerning rape, incest or fatal foetal abnormalities - 2013/05/01: VtDigger: Biologist Paul Ehrlich gives dire prediction for global civilization
- 2013/05/02: Yahoo:SS: This is the end: Team of experts say humanity faces extinction
How do the media measure up?
- 2013/05/03: RawStory: Fox News guest: Obama 'encouraging' statutory rape by supporting birth control
- 2013/05/02: RawStory: Fox News guest: Scientific 'enlightenment and reason' led to the Holocaust
- 2013/05/02: FAIR: NYT's Beat Sweetener on New Interior Secretary [Sally Jewell]
- 2013/04/29: NYT: New Interior Chief [Sally Jewell] Savors a Steep Learning Curve
- 2013/05/02: TP:JR: NY Times Criticizes Itself For Touting Myth That It Is Too Late To Avoid Climate Catastrophe, Part 2
- 2013/05/01: TP:JR: NY Times Criticizes Itself For Touting Myth That It Is Too Late To Avoid Climate Catastrophe
- 2013/04/30: TP:JR: It's Global Warming, Stupid: Bloomberg Editors Endorse Unleashing Tar Sands With Keystone XL Pipeline
- 2013/04/30: NYMag: George Will, Anti-Climate-Science Loon, Strikes Again
- 2013/04/28: TP:JR: Joe Nocera Still Loves Keystone XL, Is Still Confused About The Basic Economics Of Oil Markets
- 2013/04/28: P3: 92 vs 12
- 2013/04/23: Atlantic: Is It Journalism, or Just a Repackaged Press Release? Here's a Tool to Help You Find Out
Today the Sunlight Foundation unveils Churnalism, which will compare any text online to a corpus of corporate, government, and other promotional content. - 2013/05/03: WaPo: [Book Review] _Overheated: The Human Cost of Climate Change_ by Andrew Guzman
- 2013/05/02: ITC: If you eat food, you should read Salt Sugar Fat.
[Book Plug] _Salt Sugar Fat_ by Michael Moss - 2013/05/04: TP:JR: Quick Video Wrap Up Of The Week's Global Warming News
- 2013/05/02: TP:JR: A Fierce Green Fire: Movie On History Of Environmental Activism Has Theatrical Premiere In DC Friday
- 2013/05/02: TreeHugger: Coal or natural gas? It's a false choice, explains Gasland's Josh Fox [vid]
- 2013/04/30: Resilience: Gasland II: From Broken Promises to Renewable Solutions
- 2013/04/30: AFTIC: Ice animations
- 2013/04/30: PSinclair: The Anti-Science Science Committee
- 2013/04/29: PSinclair: James Hansen: "Keystone Will Probably Not Be Approved."
- 2013/04/29: TP:JR: Video: Nightline Does The Climate Math With Bill McKibben
- 2013/04/28: PSinclair: The Weekend Wonk: Beetle Mania in British Columbia
As for podcasts:
- 2013/04/29: Guardian(UK): Science Weekly podcast: The Burning Question -- can we quit fossil fuels?
Meanwhile among the 'Sue the Bastards!' contingent:
- 2013/05/02: BWeek: Court affirms utilities' cost recovery program
The Florida Supreme Court on Thursday unanimously upheld a state law that allows utilities to charge customers for future nuclear reactors -- even if they never get built. - 2013/05/02: BBerg: Anti-Fracking Laws in New York Towns Upheld on Appeal
Anti-fracking laws passed in two New York towns were upheld by an appeals court, which rejected arguments by a dairy farm and a Norwegian energy company that the bans are superceded by state law. An appellate panel of the New York State Supreme Court in Albany today ruled that drilling bans in the towns of Dryden and Middlefield don't conflict with state regulations for the oil and natural-gas industry. The state law seeks to protect the right of the general public, not just the owners of oil and gas properties, "a goal which is realized when individual municipalities can determine whether drilling activities are appropriate for their respective communities," the court said. - 2013/05/03: Grist: Court says N.Y. town can outlaw fracking
- 2013/05/02: CDreams: Fracking Ban Stands in New York Town; Victory for Local Communities
In case pitting community rights against the oil and gas industry, industry loses yet again - 2013/05/03: RTCC: IRENA: carbon markets cannot support renewables alone
Carbon markets are not the only policy to encourage the development of clean energy and should not be solely relied on. That's the warning from Dolf Gielen of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), who says a variety of policy instruments must be used to support wind, solar and hydro projects around the world. - 2013/05/02: CSM: What determines energy abundance? Flow.
- 2013/05/02: BNC: 100 Per Cent Renewables Study Needs a Makeover
- 2013/05/02: TheConversation: Zero emissions power is possible, and we know what it will cost
- 2013/05/02: ABC(Au): Outback hot-rocks test site powers up
A power station driven by hot-rocks technology has begun producing electricity in the far north-east of South Australia. The one-megawatt Habanero pilot plant near outback Innamincka is operated by Geodynamics. CEO Geoff Ward said the plant was first in Australia to produce power using an enhanced geothermal system (EGS). - 2013/05/02: NBF: Electricity, lighting, clean cooking and heating, smartphones, electrified transportation for the bottom 1 to 3 billion is possible in 10-20 years
- 2013/05/01: TreeHugger: Oslo runs out of garbage, imports it from rest of the world
- 2013/05/01: TreeHugger: Investments in clean energy could reach $630 billion by 2030 (but probably more)
- 2013/04/30: JQuiggin: Some electricity links
- 2013/04/29: TP:JR: Global Renewable Energy Is Growing, But Is It Fast Enough?
- 2013/04/29: al Jazeera: Fuelling geopolitics: The oil saga
As the global competition for energy heats up, we examine how new players are rewriting the rules of the great oil game. - 2013/04/28: al Jazeera: Stove solutions: Improving health, safety and the environment
New fuel-efficient cookstoves use less firewood and emit less amount of carbon-monoxide and disease-causing particles. - 2013/04/28: Resilience: The only true metric of energy abundance: The rate of flow
What do you have in energy comparisons and transitions?
- 2013/05/03: UCSUSA:B: Nuclear vs. Solar: Corporate Profits and Public Risk
- 2013/05/01: TreeHugger: Extremely important graph: Cost of solar headed for parity with coal and gas (and will later beat them)
If they can be accessed, there are enough methane hydrates to ensure we are well and truly cooked:
- 2013/05/03: Grist: We won't run out of oil - renewables will take its place
Hey! Let's contaminate the aquifer for thousands of years! It'll be a fracking gas!
- 2013/05/03: Grist: Fracking threatens to escalate the West's water wars
- 2013/05/03: Grist: Court says N.Y. town can outlaw fracking
- 2013/05/02: NewsObserver: Fracking giant Halliburton nixes North Carolina's chemical disclosure rule
- 2013/05/02: CCurrents: The Downwinders : Fracking Ourselves To Death In Pennsylvania
- 2013/05/02: BBerg: Anti-Fracking Laws in New York Towns Upheld on Appeal
- 2013/05/01: Grist: Fracking boom in North Dakota is here to stay
- 2013/05/01: Grist: New Mexico county is first in the nation to ban all drilling and fracking
- 2013/05/01: Grist: Frackers leaking less methane than previously believed, EPA says
- 2013/04/30: USGS: Updated Bakken and New Three Forks Oil and Gas Assessment
- 2013/04/30: Grist: Bills to ban fracking in California move forward
- 2013/04/30: DeSmogBlog: Sand Land: Fracking Industry Mining Iowa's Iconic Sand Bluffs in New Form of Mountaintop Removal
- 2013/04/30: TheHill:e2W: Fracking rules coming 'in weeks,' says Interior chief Jewell
- 2013/04/29: BWeek: California Fracking Moratorium Clears Key Committee in Assembly
- 2013/04/29: DeSmogBlog: Faster Drilling, Diminishing Returns in Shale Plays Nationwide?
- 2013/04/29: OilDrum: Is the Typical NDIC Bakken Tight Oil Well a Sales Pitch?
- 2013/04/29: LoE: Nick Reeves says we're all 'Fracking Mad'
On the coal front:
- 2013/05/02: WSWS: New Zealand: Pike River Coal found guilty of causing mine disaster
- 2013/05/01: BBC: UK Coal denies looking for liquidation after mine fire
UK Coal Operations has said its business remains viable, despite claims that a fire at its Daw Mill colliery has left it with cash-flow problems. The company was forced to close the Warwickshire mine after a fire broke out at the end of February. The Financial Times said the firm was seeking involuntary liquidation. - 2013/04/29: TP:JR: Australia's Coal Reserves Alone Could Take Up 75 Percent Of What We Can Still Risk Burning
On the gas and oil front:
- 2013/05/03: BBerg: Closing oil prices Friday
OIL (US$/bbl)
Dated Brent Spot....104.19
WTI Cushing Spot.....95.61 - 2013/05/01: Guardian(UK): Oil price falls as US and China manufacturing data disappoints
- 2013/05/01: BBerg: Crude Falls as U.S. Supplies Climb to 82-Year High
- 2013/04/30: NatJo: The U.S. Has Much, Much More Gas and Oil Than We Thought
- 2013/04/30: CSM: US oil and gas workers see pay fall. Sign of trouble for energy?
- 2013/04/30: BBC: Anglo-Dutch company Shell has beaten France's Total to a multi-billion-pound deal to develop a gas field with the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC)
- 2013/04/30: EarlyWarning: Oil Supply and Demand to 2025
- 2013/04/29: P3: On the Fossil Fuel Front
In the fossil fuel corps:
- 2013/05/04: CSM: Oil companies near multi-year highs. Still undervalued.
- 2013/05/03: P3: The Carbon Bubble: All we have to do is decide to not commit civilizational suicide -- and the markets crash!
- 2013/05/02: TP:JR: Shell Oil Earns $8 Billion Profit After Failed Attempt To Drill In Arctic Ocean
- 2013/04/30: TP:JR: BP Posts $4.2 Billion In Q1 Profits As Its Chemical Dispersants Continue To Harm The Gulf
- 2013/04/30: Guardian(UK): BP makes record profit as its safety record comes under spotlight again
- 2013/04/30: BBC: BP's profits edge lower but beat forecasts
Oil giant BP saw profits edge lower in the first three months of the year. Underlying replacement cost profit, which strips out the effect of oil price movements, was $4.2bn (£2.6bn) - down from $4.7bn for the same period a year ago. - 2013/05/02: BBerg: Enbridge Expansion Could Turn Into Keystone-Like Fight
A new front may soon open in the battle over pipelines that transport Canadian oil to the U.S. And this one involves a line that would carry even more oil derived from Alberta's tar sands than TransCanada Corp's proposed Keystone XL, a project that has inflamed environmentalists who say it would exacerbate climate change. Enbridge Inc.'s request for a permit to boost the volume of oil on an existing pipeline from Alberta to Wisconsin has so far escaped controversy. That may change as the State Department begins to review the plan, which would almost double the line's capacity to 880,000 barrels a day -- more than the proposed capacity of Keystone. - 2013/05/01: EENews: Prosperous play's new oil estimates could influence pipeline plans
- 2013/04/30: EurActiv: Azerbaijan to choose between Nabucco, TAP on commercial terms
Azerbaijan's choice between two pipeline projects to carry its gas to Europe must focus on obtaining the strongest commercial terms, Industry and Energy Minister Natik Aliyev said on Tuesday (30 April). The Nabucco West and Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) projects offer different routes to Europe from the Shah Deniz II field in the Caspian Sea. - 2013/05/02: CBC: U.S. doubles oil estimate for Bakken field
- 2013/04/30: Reuters: US doubles oil reserve estimates at Bakken, Three Forks shale
- 2013/04/30: al Jazeera: Saudi minister: US to remain energy dependent
- 2013/04/28: EarthMag: Why is the U.S. so insecure about its energy security? Measures of energy independence show it is increasing, not decreasing
Yes we have a peak oil sighting:
- 2013/05/01: BBerg: Alaska North Slope Oil Output Fell 5.8% in April, State Reports
- 2013/05/04: al Jazeera: Approaching 'peak oil'?
We look at how much longer oil has to run, and ask if new alternative energy finds have delayed the inevitable. - 2013/05/03: Guardian(UK): The biomass industry should come clean about its environmental impact
- 2013/05/02: RTCC: Why biofuels are not a sensible solution to climate change
- 2013/04/: ChathamHouse: The Trouble with Biofuels: Costs and Consequences of Expanding Biofuel Use in the United Kingdom
The answer my friend...:
- 2013/05/01: BBerg: GE Wins Order for Three Wind Turbines With Storage Technology
General Electric Co. (GE), the biggest U.S. supplier of wind turbines, will supply three systems that include battery storage to Invenergy LLC for a Texas wind farm. - 2013/05/02: TreeHugger: How to make a small backyard wind power generator
- 2013/04/30: PSinclair: Wind Blows Past "Technical Maximum" Predictions from 1995
- 2013/04/29: TreeHugger: Clever MIT floating wind turbines can store power for when the wind doesn't blow
Meanwhile among the solar aficionados:
- 2013/05/03: Guardian(UK): Solar-powered plane embarks on day-and-night journey across US
- 2013/05/03: Resilience: Solar Dreams, Spanish Realities
- 2013/05/03: Grist: Watch a solar plane fly across America
- 2013/05/03: BBC: Solar Impulse plane starts bid to cross US
A plane powered only by the Sun has set off from San Francisco on the first leg of a bid to cross the US with no fuel. - 2013/05/02: TheConversation:Rooftop solar reduces the risk of price hikes ... for everyone
- 2013/05/02: al Jazeera: Solar-powered plane set to fly across US
- 2013/05/01: AzCentral: New Arlington Valley solar site packs power - Plant will be among world's 10 largest
- 2013/05/01: TreeHugger: SoloPower plant closing, mere months after opening
- 2013/04/30: TP:JR: The Rough Patch For Solar Manufacturers Should End Within Three Years
- 2013/04/29: TP:JR: Two-For-One: A New Solar Dish Delivers Low-Cost Electricity Along With Fresh Water
- 2013/04/29: TreeHugger: Build a solar cooker for just $5
- 2013/04/18: MonetaryRealism: Solar is about to Change our World
The nuclear energy controversy continues:
- 2013/05/04: al Jazeera: Japan signs nuclear plant deal with Turkey
Contract worth $22bn to build nuclear plant in Turkey is Japan's first since 2011 Fukushima disaster. - 2013/05/03: BBC: Japan to sign Turkey nuclear deal
The Turkish government is expected to sign a deal later with a Japanese-French consortium to build a new nuclear power station. The contract is estimated to be worth $22bn (£14bn). It is expected to be signed by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe during a visit to Turkey. - 2013/05/03: BBC: Heysham nuclear reactor shut down 'as precaution'
A nuclear reactor has been shut down after smoke was seen coming from a plant in Lancashire. - 2013/05/01: GreenGrok: Nuclear Power Taking Its Hits
- 2013/05/01: EneNews: Shooting nuclear waste into the sun? 'Space disposal' considered by Obama commission
- 2013/04/30: EneNews: CNN to air nuclear power propaganda: "Irrational fears" - "Systematically debunks the myths and misinformation"
- 2013/04/29: NRC: Event Notification Report - LaSalle Unit 1, Illinois
Nuclear waste storage requires _very_ long term thinking:
- 2013/05/03: EneNews: Former Governor [Gary Locke]: Leaking U.S. nuclear site an "underground Chernobyl waiting to happen" (video)
- 2013/05/02: King5TV: Bonus money trumps safety at Hanford, experts say
- 2013/04/29: EneNews: TV: Most hazardous material on planet leaking at U.S. nuclear site - Would contaminate our food chain for hundreds of years to come if it reaches Columbia River (video)
Nuclear fusion projects around the world limp along:
- 2013/05/03: BBerg: Fusion Scientists See Progress as Obama Shows No Ardor
- 2013/05/03: ScienceInsider: Senators Request Investigation of [ITER] International Fusion Experiment
- 2013/05/03: ScienceInsider: Troubled U.S. Laser Project [NIF] Gets New Leadership
Low energy nuclear keeps coming up:
- 2013/05/03: NBF: Update on Rossi and Defkalion in the World of Cold Fusion
More people are talking about the electrical grid:
- 2013/05/02: TechRev: With Florida Project, the Smart Grid Has Arrived
Smart grid technology has been implemented in many places, but Florida's new deployment is the first full-scale system. - 2013/04/30: Grist: Electric vehicles could stabilize grid, make money as batteries
- 2013/04/29: EurActiv: Electric vehicles sell power to the US grid
A technology developed with the University of Delaware has sold power from electric vehicles to the power grid for the first time, the power company NRG Energy Inc said on Friday (26 April). In a joint statement, the university and NRG said that they began work on the so-called eV2g program in September 2011 to provide a two-way interface between electric vehicles and the power grid, enabling vehicle-owners to sell electricity back to the grid while they are charging their cars. - 2013/05/03: EurActiv: US banks own up to energy efficiency failings
Banking officials at a conference in New York City have reportedly admitted that despite their statements about the importance of energy savings, they are reluctant to lend money in practice. - 2013/05/03: Grist: Will natural-gas cars start to catch on?
- 2013/05/02: HoustonChronicle: Why is the EPA so bad at estimating hybrid fuel economy?
- 2013/05/02: CSM: Suddenly, it's a three-car race for electric-powered dominance
- 2013/05/01: BBerg: Electric-Car Maker Coda Files for Bankruptcy to Seek Sale
- 2013/05/01: AutoBG: Coda officially files for bankruptcy, shifts focus to energy storage
- 2013/05/01: CSM: Six ways to boost electric vehicles
- 2013/04/30: AutoBG: Wheego's low-key route to success includes new electric SUV
This week in the Gee Whiz File:
- 2013/04/29: NBF: Pentacene with over 100% quantum solar-to-electric conversion efficiency
As for Energy Storage:
- 2013/05/02: NBF: Grid power backup via Solar power and flywheels at affordable prices
- 2013/04/30: ETI:RRapier: The Key to Running the World on Solar and Wind Power
The reaction of business to climate change will be critical:
- 2013/05/02: CSM: Verizon to invest $100 million in clean energy
- 2013/05/02: AutoBG: GM signs Ceres declaration, says 'responding to climate change is good business'
- 2013/05/02: PSinclair: What's Good for Climate is Good for General Motors (and other things)
- 2013/05/01: Guardian(UK): General Motors urges Obama and Congress to unite on climate change
- 2013/04/30: PSinclair: Walmart: We are Going Renewable. Utilities Adapt or Die
- 2013/04/30: RTCC: Australian businesses ignoring climate change
- 2013/04/29: TheConversation: Mining companies are underprepared for climate change
Who's fielding theFAQs?
- 2013/04/30: TheConversation: Explainer: geothermal energy
Joe Romm posts a daily list of top energy and climate stories:
- 2013/05/03: TP:JR: May 3 News...
- 2013/05/02: TP:JR: May 2 News...
- 2013/05/01: TP:JR: May 1 News...
- 2013/04/30: TP:JR: April 30 News...
- 2013/04/29: TP:JR: April 29 News...
Other (weekly) lists:
- 2013/05/04: SkS: 2013 SkS Weekly News Roundup #18A by John Hartz
- 2013/05/04: SkS: 2013 SkS Weekly News Roundup #18B by John Hartz
- 2013/04/29: BPA: The Future Potential for U.S. Population Growth and Other Assorted Ag News for the Week
The carbon lobby are up to the usual:
- 2013/05/01: ItsNotNova: Six Random Waves
- 2013/05/02: HotWhopper: How Far and Fast Can a Denier Fall?
- 2013/05/01: QuarkSoup: Who Funds Willie Soon?
- 2013/05/01: Guardian(UK): Scientist Roy Spencer is wrong: fossil fuels are expensive
Fossil fuel prices are artificially depressed by the trillions of dollars of subsidies they receive every year. - 2013/05/03: DeSmogBlog: Koch Brothers, ALEC Attack Maine Renewable Energy Standards
- 2013/05/03: HotWhopper: Denier Weirdness: Money to Burn...
- 2013/05/02: Guardian(UK): How climate scientists are being framed
To turn the public off climate change, right-wing media is blaming scientists for hurting kids and being puppets of totalitarianism - 2013/05/04: CWars: Monckton lies about peer review again
- 2013/05/04: HotWhopper: Different Views of the Same Thing
- 2013/05/04: HotWhopper: WMO Report Gives An Insight into the Brain of a Denier
- 2013/04/30: HotWhopper: Free Speech - HotCopper Style
- 2013/04/29: UKISS: Anthony Watts' hypocrisy is off the chart
- 2013/04/29: PSinclair: Climate, Congress and the TeaParty Lysenkos
- 2013/04/28: DeSmogBlog: UFOs, Sea Level Rise And The Magnetism Of Climate Science Denial
- 2013/04/29: HotWhopper: An Utter Nutter: Anthony Watts has "Gone Lysenko" in a Bout of Recursive Fury
- 2013/05/05: VV: The age of Climategate is almost over
Meanwhile in the greenwashing chronicles:
- 2013/05/03: TreeHugger: Greenwash Watch: Is this good design or egregious greenwrapping?
- 2013/05/01: CSM: Light bulbs and the pitfalls of 'green' marketing
As for climate miscellanea:
- 2013/05/02: Grist: What would 'wartime mobilization' to fight climate change look like?
- 2013/05/01: CSW: 2013 Ridenhour Prizes
- 2013/05/02: NakedCapitalism: The Climate Crisis in Three Easy Charts
- 2013/04/29: P3: Quote of the Week: It's arrogant to despair
- 2013/05/03: GreenGrok: Climate Chatter ... in the House [quotes]
- 2013/04/30: Maribo: Engaging the public without disengaging from science
- 2013/04/29: Yale:Env: Shifting the Burden of Recycling -- Yale Journal Explores the State of Extended Producer Responsibility
- 2013/04/28: ERabett:BSD: The better question is what should the global average temperature revert to after stabilizing
- 2013/04/28: P3: The Five Points on Climate
- 2013/05/05: TP:JR: A Climate Flowchart To De-Confuse The Confused -- And To Defuse The Confusers
- 2013/05/04: ERabett: When Eli Was a Little Bunny
And here are a couple of sites you may find interesting and/or useful:
- Sandbag Blog
- Wiki: 2012-13 Australian region cyclone season
- Wiki: Dobson unit
- Wiki: Ozone-oxygen cycle - Chapman cycle
- Wiki: Brewer-Dobson circulation
- Forest Biodiversity Programme METSO 2008-2016
- Sunlight: Churnalism
- Existential Risks: Threats to Humanity's Survival
- NOAA:NCDC: U.S. Climate Extremes Index
- BZE: Beyond Zero Emissions
- ICN: InsideClimate News
- SourceWatch: American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity
- Dosbat
Here's a wee chuckle for ye:
Oh yes ... those MDGs:
That Unburnable Carbon concept seems to have legs:
Late comment on PAGES2k:
Food Prices are still problematic:
The conflict between biofuel and food persists:
This week in the New Normal -- extreme weather:
Meanwhile on the GHG front:
Aerosols are making their presence felt:
Meanwhile in near earth orbit:
Synthetic Biology is moving into industrial production of food, fuel and precursor chemicals:
What developments in the ongoing struggle for Open Science?
South [& East] China Sea tension persists:
Now that the EU-ETS for airlines is in year long limbo, will it ever be resurrected?
The issue of the law and activism is playing out around the world:
Among the world's religions:
And in Europe:
The fight over coal seam gas continues:
It's a long way to the September election:
And in the Indian subcontinent:
And elsewhere in Asia:
And South America:
In Canada, neocon PM Harper, aka The Blight, pushes petroleum while ignoring climate and ecology:
The Harper gang is big into muzzling scientists, civil servants, librarians, diplomats...:
In the North:
And on the American political front:
The Mayflower oil spill continues to weigh heavily on the Keystone decision:
The NorthWest coal export debate remains heated:
What are the lobbyists pushing?
Apocalypso anyone?
Here is something for your library:
And for your film & video enjoyment:
Wrestling over a new energy infrastructure continues unabated:
And in pipeline news:
A rush of American triumphalism pervades the energy independence PR campaign. Think it will last?
Biofuel bickering abounds:
And then there is the matter of efficiency & conservation:
Automakers & lawyers, engineers & activists argue over the future of the car:
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>
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."Things that normally happen in geologic time are happening during the span of a human lifetime. It's like watching the Statue of Liberty melt." -Daniel Fagre, referring to Glacier National Park
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Hi Coby
You might wish to point out an error to HET (or he may not care)
Cyclone Zane spun up in the Western Pacific but faded after crossing York Peninsula
York(e) Peninsula is in South Australia. The place in North Queensland is Cape York.
Thanks, mandas, have fixed.
Re #1 mandas
Whoops.
My fault. I did wonder about it, but the one map I checked
didn't show a name.
-het