Another Week of GW News, July 7, 2013

By illconsidered on July 8, 2013.

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

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Logging the Onset of The Bottleneck Years

July 7, 2013

Chuckles, COP19+, WMO, Steinacher, CO2 Fertilization, Desertec, Rabobank, Cook
Fukushima: Note, News, Policies
Melting Arctic, Methane, Geopolitics, Antarctica
Food: Crisis, Fisheries, Food vs. Biofuel, GMOs, GMO Labelling, Production
Hurricanes, Monsoon, Notable Weather, New Weather, GHGs, Temperatures, Aerosols
Paleoclimate, ENSO, Biosphere, Extinctions, Bees & CCD, Volcanoes, Satellites
Impacts, Forests, Climate Refugees, Disease
Wildfires, Corals, Glaciers, Sea Levels, Floods & Droughts
Mitigation, Cities, Transportation, Buildings, Sequestration, Geoengineering, Conservation, Adaptation
Journals, Other Docs, Models, Free Science
International Politics: UN, IPCC, Carbon Trade, Carbon Tax, Bank Tax, South China Sea
Hormuz, Treaties, Security, Law & Activism, Activism, Divestment, H2O Biz, Education
National Politics: Britain, Europe, Australia, Election, MDBP
India, China, Asia, Middle East, Russia, Africa, South America
Canada, Idle No More, Bees, Northern Gateway, East-West, Alberta Flood
Healing Walk, Salmon, BC, Tar Sands, Alberta, Quebec, Maritimes, Canadiana
America, BP Disaster, Trade Secrets, Keystone, Mayflower, Carbon Tax
Birth Control, Coal Exports, Sequestration, Hotshot 19, Obama, USAdmin, Congress
Ecological Economics, IPAT, Fixes, Media, Books, Video, Courts
Energy, Fracking, Oil & Gas, Pipelines, Energy Independence, Peak Oil, Biofuel
Wind, Solar, Nukes, Nuclear Fusion, Hydrogen, Grid, Cars, Energy Storage
Insurance, Joe's List, Carbon Lobby, Misc., Useful Links
Shameless Self Promotion, A Simple Plea, .sig

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

What are the big banks up to?

2013/07/01: RTCC: [Netherlands' largest bank] Rabobank: 'no money for fracking'
Global financial services provider Rabobank Group has said it will not lend money to shale gas companies.

John Cook and friends continue their point-counterpoint articles:

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:

2013/07/04: Asahi: TEPCO reports another rat problem, this time at Fukushima No. 2 plant
2013/07/04: Asahi: Scientists detect highest cesium levels in a year in Fukushima
Fukushima - Radioactive cesium levels found in moss on a rooftop in downtown Fukushima exceeded 1.7 million becquerels, the highest levels detected in a year, researchers said.
2013/07/03: EneNews: Interview: Fukushima Reactor No. 4?s problem is not only its nuclear fuel pool! - Pit filled with highly radioactive materials
2013/07/03: EneNews: Tokyo Professor: Situation of Fukushima Reactor No. 2 is 'beyond imagination'...
2013/07/03: EneNews: Fukushima Daiichi Worker: Situation at plant "most likely to get worse" - "Japan likely to face a critical situation again" if Tepco remains in control
2013/07/03: EneNews: Report: Contaminated water purposely being pumped into basement of Fukushima reactor's turbine building
2013/07/02: EneNews: Experts to try and determine how much plutonium is in Fukushima melted nuclear fuel - Neutron rays to be measured
2013/07/01: WNN: Fukushima waste incinerator takes shape
Construction of an incinerator is underway at the Fukushima Daiichi plant to burn the low-level waste (LLW) being generated from the clean-up and decommissioning of the site.
2013/07/01: EneNews: Fukushima new 'blueprint' for terrorists? Harvard Professor: "All you need to do is cut off power for an extended period"
2013/07/01: EneNews: "Reality in Fukushima": Actual conditions within crippled reactors remain unknown - Japan likely unable to cope if there's another similar accident -Asahi
2013/07/01: EneNews: Groundwater closest to ocean is most radioactive at Fukushima plant - Official: Highly likely it's leaked into Pacific - Levels "soared" in sea over last few months
2013/06/30: JapanTimes: Toxic groundwater found in Fukushima No. 1 well just 6 meters from Pacific
2013/06/29: Asahi: Point of View - Hirohito Ono: We cannot allow return to nuclear power without proper debate

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

The Arctic melt continues to garner attention:

That Damoclean sword still hangs overhead:

2013/07/01: RTCC: NASA experiment [CARVE] uncovers Arctic climate time bomb
The Arctic could prove to be a climate time bomb according to early results from a NASA experiment to monitor the release of greenhouse gases from thawing permafrost.

As for the geopolitics of Arctic resources:

2013/06/28: Reuters: Oil work to go on in Alaska's Arctic waters, without drilling

While in Antarctica:

2013/07/07: RT: Lake Vostok mysteries: Biologists find over 3,500 life forms in isolated Antarctic basin
2013/07/05: CBC: Life forms discovered in buried Antarctic lake
2013/07/05: Eureka: In subglacial lake, surprising life goes on -- Rogers team identifies species in most inhospitable realm
2013/07/04: ABC(Au): Antarctic lake released massive under ice flood
2013/06/23: WoL:GRL: (ab$) Three-dimensional mapping by CryoSat-2 of subglacial lake volume changes by Malcolm McMillan et al.
2013/07/02: BBC: Antarctic flood produces 'ice crater'
Scientists have seen evidence for a colossal flood under Antarctica that drained six billion tonnes of water, quite possibly straight to the ocean.

The food crisis is ongoing:

2013/07/06: CDreams: The Real Threat to Our Future is Peak Water
As population rises, overpumping means some nations have reached peak water, which threatens food supply
2013/07/05: Guardian(UK): Millions of Syrians in need of food aid as war devastates food production
2013/07/05: Resilience: Farmed Fish Production Overtakes Beef
2013/07/05: Eureka: To feed the future, we must mine the wealth of the world's seed banks today
2013/07/05: WFP: Four Million Syrians Are Unable To Produce Or Buy Enough Food
2013/07/05: UN: From the Field: UN food relief agency struggles to cope with Mali's 'lean season'
2013/07/05: CSM: Year after drought, wettest Midwest spring in 40 years delays crop planting
2013/07/04: RT: World starvation as farmers struggle to feed 9.6 billion people by 2050 - study
2013/07/03: CBC: B.C. farmers noticing altered seasons, weather extremes
University-based think tank says government needs to adapt to climate change to avert a food crisis
2013/07/03: Telegraph(UK): Scurvy returns among children with diets 'worse than in the war'
Wartime diseases are returning to Britain because some children are living on junk food diets that are worse for them than rationing was 70 years ago, officials have claimed.
2013/07/01: ABC(Au): Record dry June leaves wheatbelt on knife edge
2013/07/01: SciAm:Exp: The Historical Collapse of Southern California Fisheries and the Rocky Future of Seafood
[...] Though the media tends to focus on the effects of pollution, climate change, or overfishing, outdated systems of management are actually the main cause of the collapse in many cases.
2013/07/01: RTCC: Skinny cows and climate change could cost farmers billions
America's cattle herds will shrink - not in number, but in weight and yield - as the climate warms, according to new research that delivers an ominous warning for farmers.
2013/06/30: DD: Food and climate are our greatest global challenges
2013/06/26: Atlantic: The Crazy Republican War on Food Stamps

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

2013/07/05: ABC(Au): Disappearing molluscs cause concern
Researchers from the Southern Cross University say they were alarmed to discover some molluscs had disappeared from a north coast reef.
Associate professor Steve Smith has been monitoring 35 reefs between Port Macquarie and Tweed Heads since 2005.
2013/07/03: DD: A green venture: Tuna in a tank
2013/07/03: Grist: Climate change threatens Maine's lobsters
2013/07/03: SciAm:Exp: Southern California and Endangered Abalone Populations
2013/06/30: DD: Graph of the Day: Global per capita capture fish production, 2000-2010

The conflict between biofuel and food persists:

2013/07/05: TreeHugger: Full Planet, Empty Plates: Chapter 4. Food or Fuel? by Lester Brown

Regarding the genetic modification of food:

Regarding labelling GM food:

2013/07/03: CDreams: Industry Giants Mobilizing to Kill Growing Anti-GMO Movement
As grassroots GMO labeling movement gains steam, group that spent millions to defeat Prop. 37 prepares for 'pivotal GMO battle'

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

In the Western Pacific, Rumbia zapped China last weekend:

2013/07/02: NASA: NASA Sees Tropical Storm Rumbia Hit China With Heavy Rainfall
2013/07/01: NASA: NASA Sees Heavy Rainfall as Typhoon Rumbia Heads for Landfall in China
2013/06/30: al Jazeera: Filipino flooding
Tropical storm Rumbia sweeps through the Philippines and now heads towards southern China.

In the Eastern Pacific, Dalila dallys at sea, while Erick looks to brush by Baja:

2013/07/06: IndiaTimes: Erick becomes hurricane off Mexican coast
2013/07/06: CBC: Hurricane Erick gathers off coast of Mexico
2013/07/02: NASA: Dalila (Eastern Pacific)
2013/07/01: NASA: Satellite Shows Tropical Storm Dalila Hugging Mexico's Southwestern Coast

In the Atlantic and the Caribbean, a couple of maybes:
2013/07/06: Wunderground: A Gulf of Mexico and an Eastern Atlantic Disturbance Worth Watching
2013/07/05: Wunderground: Gulf of Mexico Tropical Distubance Headed Towards Texas

While elsewhere in the hurricane wars:
2013/07/05: MODIS: Tropical Storm Cosme (03E) off Mexico [on June 26]
2013/07/03: MODIS: Tropical Storm Barry (02L) off Mexico [on June 20]
2013/07/01: USGS: Predicting Hurricane-Induced Coastal Change -- USGS Reports To Help Community Planners, Emergency Managers

And on the Monsoon front:
- 2013/07/07: IOTD: A Closer Look at Flood Damage in India
- 2013/07/06: DD: Image of the Day: Satellite view of Kedarnath after June 2013 flood
- 2013/07/06: DD: Flood fury continues in India, nearly 100,000 people hit
- 2013/07/05: al Jazeera: Rains inundate 300 villages in NE India
  Monsoon downpours have triggered flooding in Assam state, forcing thousands of people from their homes
- 2013/07/04: IndiaTimes: Landslides, floods kill 50, displace 12,000 in Nepal
- 2013/07/02: WSWS: Thousands remain missing in India's Himalayan flood disaster
- 2013/07/01: BBC: India floods: 'Thousands still missing' in Uttarakhand
- 2013/06/29: IndiaToday: NASA satellite images show new stream in Kedarnath after disaster
This week in notable weather:
- 2013/07/06: al Jazeera: A cold and wintry blast down under
  Wet and windy weather along with snow blizzards hit southeastern parts of Australia.
- 2013/07/02: ABC(Au): Wind and rain hammers south-east Qld coast
Rossby Waves? Blocking Patterns? Arctic Oscillation?
What is the Arctic melt doing to our weather?
As for GHGs:
- 2013/07/03: ERW: City dwellers produce more carbon dioxide
How is the temperature record?
- 2013/07/05: ERW: Tree rings and pollen enable 1500-year temperature reconstruction [PAGES]
Aerosols are making their presence felt:
- 2013/07/03: ABC(Au): Behind the hazardous smog: illegal fires in Sumatra
While in the paleoclimate:
And on the ENSO front:
- 2013/07/05: NOAA:NCEP: El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) Diagnostic Discussion
  Synopsis: ENSO-neutral is favored into the Northern Hemisphere fall 2013.
- 2013/07/03: Grist: Climate change could be leading to more El Ninos
- 2013/07/02: ABC(Au): New forecast may predict El Nino earlier
- 2013/07/01: BBerg: El Nino Was Unusually Active in Possible Link to Climate Change
- 2013/07/01: CSM: Tree rings reveal El Niño tied to recent global warming
- 2013/06/30: Eureka: El Nino unusually active in the late 20th century
- 2013/06/30: TMoS: El Nino - Global Warming Link Found
What's new in Biodiversity?
And on the extinction watch:
- 2013/07/06: DD: Sumatran orangutan beaten to death, reports conservation group
- 2013/07/04: TheConversation: Australian endangered species: Spotted Handfish
- 2013/07/04: BBC: Kenya seizes ivory 'going from Uganda to Malaysia'
  Poached ivory "disguised" as sun-dried fish has been seized in the Kenyan port city of Mombasa, officials say.
  The consignment of some 770 pieces, hacked out of elephants, had come from neighbouring Uganda and was destined for Malaysia, they added.
- 2013/07/04: Guardian(UK): South Africa looks to sell some of its $1bn rhino horn stockpile
- 2013/07/02: IUCN:RedList: World's oldest and largest species in decline - IUCN Red List
  The latest update of The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species(TM) shows worrying declines for conifers - the world's oldest and largest organisms - freshwater shrimps, cone snails and the Yangtze Finless Porpoise. The Santa Cruz Pupfish, a lizard known as the Cape Verde Giant Skink and a species of freshwater shrimp have been declared Extinct.
- 2013/07/02: ABC(Au): Red List of Threatened Species reveals 21,000 species are at risk of extinction
- 2013/07/02: SciAm:EC: Last Chance for Sawfish?
- 2013/07/01: IUCN:RedList: Birds indicate a planet in peril, but investing in conservation makes economic sense
  Declines in birds across the globe are providing evidence of a rapid deterioration in the global environment that is affecting all life on earth - including people. However, birds also tell us that saving the planet comes at a relatively small price - an investment that's vital to secure our own future.
- 2013/07/01: BBC: Carbon from nuclear tests could help fight poachers
  The atmospheric carbon left over from nuclear bomb testing could help scientists track poached ivory, new research has found.
  These bomb tests changed the level of carbon in the atmosphere, which can be traced to date elephant tusks.
- 2013/07/01: ABC(Au): Scientists demand New Zealand save "hobbit of the sea" [Maui's dolphin]
The bees and Colony Collapse Disorder are a constant concern:
What's up with volcanoes this week?
Meanwhile in near earth orbit:
- 2013/07/05: IOTD: NASA's Earth Science Satellite Fleet
More GW impacts are being seen:
- 2013/07/03: TMoS: Climate Change 2.0
- 2013/07/02: Eureka: Greenhouse gas likely altering ocean foodchain
  Study shows the atmospheric CO2 has big consequences for the tiny bacteria that are the foundation of most of the life in the sea
- 2013/07/01: Eureka: Climate change: Diseqilibrium will become the norm in the plant communities of the future
  Global climate change will induce large changes to the plant communities on Earth
- 2013/06/30: TP:JR: Scientists Predicted A Decade Ago Arctic Ice Loss Would Worsen Western Droughts. Is That Happening Already?
And then there are the world's forests:
- 2013/07/06: DD: Brazil confirms Amazon deforestation increase
- 2013/07/05: DD: Graph of the Day: Accumulated deforestation for non-Brazil Amazon countries, through 2012
- 2013/07/03: Resilience: From Mexico, Global Lessons for Forest Governance
- 2013/07/03: CSM: How better-trained farmers slow Brazil's deforestation
- 2013/07/02: EurActiv: Côte d'Ivoire cracks down on illegal wood bound for EU
  Côte d'Ivoire is clearing tens of thousands of cocoa farmers from protected forests, threatening exports from the world's top grower and leading to complaints about human rights abuses. The European Union is the major export market for the wood.
- 2013/07/02: DD: Deforestation increases sharply n Amazon rainforest countries outside of Brazil
Climate refugees are becoming an issue:
- 2013/07/05: UN: Over 8,000 migrants, asylum seekers cross Mediterranean so far this year - UN
- 2013/07/05: CCurrents: World Needs A Plan For Expected Waves Of Climate Refugees
Emerging diseases accompany ecological change:
- 2013/07/05: ABC(Au): WHO links rise in Pacific diseases to climate change
- 2013/07/03: Grist: Nothing to sneeze at: Climate change is making your allergies worse
As for heatwaves and wild fires. See also :
Corals are a bellwether of the ocean's health:
- 2013/07/05: ABC(Au): Research flags devastating climate change impacts on Barrier Reef
Glaciers are melting:
- 2013/07/06: FaGP: Mittivakkat, Greenland and Lemon Creek Glacier, Alaska transient snowline paper
- 2013/07/01: FaGP: Juneau Icefield Glacier Terminus Change from Landsat 5 1984 to Landsat 8 2013
Sea levels are rising:
As for hydrological cycle disruptions [floods & droughts]:
First, stop subsidizing fossil fuels
Second, put a price on carbon
Third, begin to reduce the human population
And elsewhere on the mitigation front:
- 2013/07/05: TP:JR: Adaptation Or Mitigation? Lessons From Abolition In The Battle Over Climate Policy
- 2013/07/03: SimpleC: Extra climate targets urge faster CO2 cuts
- 2013/07/01: HillTimes: North America isn't ready for climate change, say experts
  Climate change is already happening, prevention, adaptation needed to control the effects of extreme weather: climate scientists.
Can cities take up the slack when nations shirk their responsibilities?
Consider transportation & GHG production:
- 2013/07/06: WSWS: Major slump in European auto industry
  [...]
  From 2000 to 2007, an average of approximately 14.7 million vehicles were sold in Western European countries each year.
  Dudenhöffer's prognosis of 11.9 million vehicles sold in 2013 would be the lowest figure since the European Union (EU) was formed.
- 2013/07/04: EurActiv: Fuel efficiency seen driving demand for new aircraft in EU, globally
  Airlines struggling to sustain profits in an era of volatile jet fuel prices will increasingly turn to new and more efficient aircraft, according to industry forecasters who expect to supply more than 7,000 new aircraft in Europe over the next 20 years.
- 2013/07/02: CalcRisk: U.S. Light Vehicle Sales increased to 15.9 million annual rate in June, Highest since November 2007
- 2013/07/02: BBC: General Motors, Chrysler, and Ford report strong sales
- 2013/07/01: NBF: New High Speed line cuts time from Ningbo to Nanjing from 5 hours to two hours
While in the endless quest for zero energy, sustainable buildings and practical codes:
As for carbon sequestration:
- 2013/07/03: ABC(Au): Deep soil stores more carbon than thought
Large scale geo-engineering keeps popping up:
What's new in conservation?
- 2013/07/03: Eureka: Great ape genetic diversity catalog frames primate evolution and future conservation
While on the adaptation front:
Meanwhile in the journals:
And other significant documents:
- 2013/07/03: WMO: [link to 7.9 meg pdf] The Global Climate 2001-2010: a decade of climate extremes
What's new in models?
- 2013/07/02: ClimateSight: A Simple Stochastic Climate Model: Deriving the Backbone
What developments in the ongoing struggle for Open Science?
- 2013/07/03: NatureN: Bioengineers look beyond patents -- Synthetic-biology company pushes open-source models
- 2013/07/02: NatureNB: NIH sees surge in open-access manuscripts
Meanwhile at the UN:
- 2013/07/01: UN: Millennium Development Goals are within reach, but stronger efforts needed - UN report
- 2013/07/01: PLNA: Achievements and Difficulties on Path to Millennium Goals
The Fifth IPCC report is coming up:
- 2013/07/06: WottsUWT: Dutch advice to IPCC
And on the carbon trading front:
- 2013/07/04: EurActiv: Parliament takes first step to fix carbon market
  The European Parliament backed a plan on Wednesday (3 July) to support carbon prices by withdrawing part of the emission permits traded on the EU's carbon market. Prices jumped up after the vote but remained low as national parliaments still have to ratify the proposal.
- 2013/07/03: EUO: MEPs agree plan to save carbon trading scheme
- 2013/07/03: Guardian(UK): Emissions trading reforms raise price of pollution permits
- 2013/07/01: Guardian(UK): Carbon pricing, one year on: independent expertise is crucial
  Climate change is too important a topic to leave to politicians. Canberra should listen to the real experts -- the Climate Change Authority
The idea of a carbon tax is still bouncing around:
- 2013/07/04: WCI: Selling carbon taxes in the exurbs
The Robin Hood tax, aka the Tobin tax, aka the Bank tax, aka the Financial Transaction tax, keeps coming up:
On the international political front, tensions continue as the empire leans on Iran:
South [& East] China Sea tension persists:
The Trans-Pacific Partnership looks like a stealth corporate takeover:
- 2013/07/06: CCurrents: The Trans Pacific Partnership: Be Cautious
Climate Change is a threat multiplier exacerbating existing conflicts in food, energy, water, race, resources, religion, ideology ... etc.:
- 2013/07/05: CCurrents: Egypt A Peak Oil Revolution
- 2013/07/04: Guardian(UK): Egypt's new age of unrest is a taste of things to come
  Mass street protests are symptom of unsustainability of IMF model in the face of environmental and energy challenges
- 2013/06/30: Guardian(UK): Climate change poses grave threat to security, says UK envoy
  Rear Admiral Neil Morisetti, special representative to foreign secretary, says governments can't afford to wait for 100% certainty
The issue of the law and activism is playing out around the world:
- 2013/07/03: NYT: U.S. Postal Service Logging All Mail for Law Enforcement
- 2013/07/03: TP:JR: Could The NSA Spy On Environmental Activists?
What are the activists up to?
- 2013/07/02: UDW: A Road Trip to Save El Salvador's Water
- 2013/07/02: Guardian(UK): How to turn young people into climate change activists
The move to divest from fossil fuel investments is growing slowly:
- 2013/07/05: CleanTechnica: United Church of Christ Puts Its Faith In Fossil Fuel Divestment
Regarding Water Politics and Business:
- 2013/07/06: JFleck: Rio Grande as plumbing
- 2013/07/06: JFleck: Is Phoenix's fondness for lawns and pools really a water management strength?
- 2013/07/05: JFleck: The Ogallala -- another example of what people do when the water starts to run out
- 2013/07/02: NOAA: NOAA real-time beach and water quality data now available for Lake St. Clair
- 2013/07/02: NOAANews: NOAA, partners predict significant harmful algal bloom in western Lake Erie this summer
- 2013/07/02: JFleck: Stuff I wrote elsewhere: irrigating the Rio Grande
- 2013/07/02: TreeHugger: New "water chip" promises simple, portable, membrane-free water desalination
- 2013/07/02: TreeHugger: 3 companies commit to removing plastic beads from their body products
- 2013/07/02: AllAfrica:SW Radio: The Big Flush - a Drop in the Bucket
- 2013/07/02: BBC: Dead fish fill Mexico reservoir
  Tens of thousands of dead fish have washed up on the banks of a Mexican reservoir, amid allegations that a local firm contaminated the water.
- 2013/07/01: ColumbusDispatch: Fracking waste keeps rolling into Ohio from other states
  The shale drilling boom that has helped create a huge supply of cheap natural gas continues to bring more and more fracking waste into Ohio.
  In 2012, 14.2 million barrels of fracking fluids and oil and gas waste were injected in Ohio disposal wells, according to data compiled by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. That's a 12 percent increase from 2011.
  That increase was driven by waste removed from Marcellus shale wells in Pennsylvania and West Virginia. State data show that Ohio disposal wells injected 8.16 million barrels of waste from other states, a 19 percent increase from 2011.
- 2013/07/01: al Jazeera: Whitewashing apartheid with Israel's dirty water
  The glaring discrepancy in water allocation from West Bank supplies forces Palestinians to rely on water from tankers.
- 2013/06/30: Independent(UK): The water is running out in Gaza: Humanitarian catastrophe looms as territory's only aquifer fails
- 2013/06/30: EarthMag: The energy-water nexus: Managing water in an energy-constrained world
- 2013/06/30: JFleck: Cutting the Gordian knot of the Upper Colorado River Basin's delivery obligations
- 2013/06/30: JFleck: Stuff I wrote elsewhere: In small-town drought, why the wells go dry
Regarding science education:
- 2013/07/04: TheConversation: Teaching climate change to the young
- 2013/07/02: ICN: Q&A: Eugenie Scott, Guardian of Climate Science in the Nation's Schools
  In a broad interview, Eugenie Scott talks about the hurdles that still loom for climate education advocates and reveals what "really pisses" her off.
While in the UK:
- 2013/07/07: al Jazeera: The UK's fracking dilemma
  A reserve that could help solve the UK's energy worries has been discovered, but is it worth the environmental damage?
- 2013/07/05: Guardian(UK): [UK Education Secretary] Michael Gove abandons plans to drop climate change from curriculum
- 2013/07/04: TFTJO: A meme-infected mind
- 2013/07/02: EurActiv: UK business group tells Brussels: Let us have our nuclear renaissance
  The EU should stop "skewing" Europe's energy market in favour of renewables and allow the UK to build a £14 billion nuclear reactor at Hinkley C, the deputy director-general of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) has told EurActiv.
- 2013/07/01: Guardian(UK): Climate change is a 'big business opportunity for the UK'
And in Europe:
- 2013/07/05: ScienceInsider: Turkish Scientists See New Evidence of Government's Anti-Evolution Bias
- 2013/07/05: NatureN: Anger as Spanish funder claws back science money
  Research institutes' unused cash reserves wiped amid budget crisis.
  Researchers at institutes funded by Spain's National Council for Scientific Research (CSIC) are outraged over a move to take back unspent money from their budgets.
  The council's decision is the latest development in Spain's burgeoning science crisis.
- 2013/07/05: UN: UN chief praises EU proposal to temporarily curb oversupply of emission allowances
- 2013/07/04: BBC: MEPs' move to fix EU carbon market praised
  The UK government and green groups have welcomed a European Parliament move to rescue the EU's carbon trading scheme, but say deeper reforms are needed.
- 2013/07/04: RTCC: Analysis: where is all the money for energy efficiency?
- 2013/07/04: EurActiv: Parliament takes first step to fix carbon market
  The European Parliament backed a plan on Wednesday (3 July) to support carbon prices by withdrawing part of the emission permits traded on the EU's carbon market. Prices jumped up after the vote but remained low as national parliaments still have to ratify the proposal.
- 2013/07/04: EurActiv: New chemicals, drugs added to EU water pollution watch list
  The European Parliament, in agreement with EU member states, has added 12 new substances to the EU priority list of pollutants known to pose a risk to surface water. For the first time, three pharmaceuticals will also be included on a "watch list" of emerging pollutants that could one day be added to the priority list.
- 2013/07/04: EurActiv: 'Revolutionary' push to overhaul energy labels begins
  EU energy labels could be in line for a radical facelift if a proposal by European environmental, business and consumer groups is adopted during a review of the Energy Labelling Directive, slated to begin this winter.
- 2013/07/03: EUO: MEPs agree plan to save carbon trading scheme
- 2013/07/03: NatureNB: Europe's politicians vote to resuscitate carbon market
- 2013/07/03: NatureNB: Management row threatens to blow Sahara solar dream
- 2013/07/03: RTCC: Analysis: France's climate ambition starts to unravel - Minister for Energy and the Environment sacked
- 2013/07/03: RTCC: European Parliament passes carbon market reforms
- 2013/07/03: BBerg: Carbon Market Glut-Fix Plan Wins Backing in European Parliament
- 2013/07/02: EurActiv: Zombie carbon markets to be shocked back to life
  A patched-up plan to shock Europe's zombie carbon markets back to life will pass a plenary vote at the European Parliament on Wednesday (3 July), but this will only "buy time" for more fundamental reform, says the chairman of the Parliament's environment committee.
- 2013/07/02: EUO: MEPs to vote on climate change lifeline
- 2013/07/02: NatureN: European deal cuts red tape -- Horizon 2020 research programme streamlines project reimbursements
- 2013/07/01: Monbiot: Robber Barons [CAP]
  Why do we ignore the most blatant transfer of money from the poor to the rich?
  It's the silence that puzzles me. Last week, the Chancellor stood up in parliament to announce that benefits for the very poor would be cut yet again(1). On the same day, in Luxembourg, our government battled to maintain benefits for the very rich. It won. As a result, some of the richest people in Britain will each continue to receive millions of pounds in income support from taxpayers.
- 2013/07/01: NatureN: EU debates U-turn on biofuels policy -- Key vote could signal withdrawal of support from biodiesel
Meanwhile in Australia:
- 2013/07/06: ABC(Au): Whitehaven tells ASX Maules Creek mine has final approval
- 2013/07/06: ABC(Au): Maules Creek off-sets criticised; Whitehaven MD says mine 'good to go'
  An environmental group says it believes Whitehaven's off-set program for the Maules Creek project will never properly replace what's to be cleared when the open-cut mine begins operations.
  On Thursday, Whitehaven advised shareholders it had received final approval for the mine, that will extract 13-million tonnes of coal annually.
- 2013/07/05: ABC(Au): Sea level rise recommendation rejected
  A sea-level rise recommendation for building heights in Wyong has been rejected by the Tuggerah Lakes Estuary and Flood Plain Management Committee.
- 2013/07/04: ABC(Au): Council sheds light on solar plans
  The Surf Coast council is planning to install solar panels on all its buildings to save power.
  The council has adopted a climate change policy for the next four years.
- 2013/07/04: ABC(Au): Drought leaving cattle 'vulnerable' to wild dog attacks
- 2013/07/04: ABC(Au): Wyong Council Meeting: Sea Level Rises on the Agenda
- 2013/07/04: ABC(Au): Planning changes let the light shine in
  New planning laws that come into affect on Friday will change the shape of houses built in the ACT to ensure solar access.
  Draft Variation 306 to the Territory Plan (DV 306) was passed in May with the support of the ACT Greens.
  Among the changes are new rules intended to prevent a development or extension from casting too much shade on a neighbouring home.
- 2013/07/04: ABC(Au):TDU: A strange sense of normalcy returns to politics
- 2013/07/03: CWars: Maurice Newman is a concern trolling liar
- 2013/07/03: ABC(Au): Local residents will 'continue to be heard' in solar farm project
  ACT Chief Minister Katy Gallagher has defended plans to build Australia's largest solar farm in the ACT.
  Spanish-based company Fotowatio Renewable Ventures (FRV) will build the facility on 50 hectares near Royalla just off the Monaro Highway in Tuggeranong.
  The 20 megawatt facility will be made up of 83,000 photovoltaic panels and produce enough renewable electricity to power 4,400 Canberra homes.
- 2013/07/03: ABC(Au): Henbury carbon farm a waste of money: Scullion
  Northern Territory County Liberal Senator Nigel Scullion says the Federal Government's investment in the purchase of Henbury Station was a complete waste of taxpayers' money.
  The property was purchased by R.M. Williams Agricultural Holdings two years ago, with $9 million of Federal funding, to destock the station for conservation purposes and farm carbon instead.
  Last week, R.M. Williams Agricultural Holdings went into receivership, leaving the carbon project in limbo.
- 2013/07/03: ABC(Au): Fruit growers get grant to find energy savings
  Australian fruit growers have received a Federal Government grant to help identify energy savings in their farms and packing sheds.
- 2013/07/03: ABC(Au): Major statistical error found in dust report
  An independent review of a report into coal train dust in the Hunter region has found a major error with its statistical analysis.
  An air quality expert was commissioned by the Environment Protection Authority to look over the report by the Australian Rail Track Corporation after claims the draft was altered before publication.
  The report found that coal trains do not create any more dust than regular trains.
  University of Queensland air quality expert Doctor Luke Knibbs was commissioned to review the report and found problems.
- 2013/07/02: TheConversation: Australia is underfunding biodiversity conservation
- 2013/07/02: ABC(Au): Power station emissions to be used to create [algal] biofuel
- 2013/07/02: ABC(Au): Kimberley coal deposit sold to China
- 2013/07/02: ABC(Au): Narrabri councillor says flood insurance premiums up by 400%
- 2013/07/01: Guardian(UK): Some climate advocates open to idea of dumping carbon tax
- 2013/06/28: LRB: Gillard's Fall
- 2013/07/01: TheConversation: Is carbon pricing reducing emissions?
- 2013/07/01: Guardian(UK): Carbon pricing, one year on: independent expertise is crucial
  Climate change is too important a topic to leave to politicians. Canberra should listen to the real experts -- the Climate Change Authority
The September election is getting closer...:
- 2013/07/03: Guardian(UK): What would Tony Abbott's foreign policy look like?
- 2013/07/02: JQuiggin: Fact checking Tony Abbott
- 2013/07/02: al Jazeera: New Australian PM packs cabinet with women
  Record number of 11 women find place in Kevin Rudd's cabinet, up from nine in previous government of Julia Gillard.
- 2013/07/01: UKISS: Abbott to fast track coal mines
- 2013/07/01: ABC(Au): Prime Minister Kevin Rudd promotes key allies to ministry as Simon Crean decides to quit politics
After years of wrangling, the Murray Darling Basin Plan is in place, but the water management fights are far from finished:
- 2013/07/05: ABC(Au): Council faces $65m stamp duty bill with water corp takeover
  Queensland Treasurer Tim Nicholls says the Fraser Coast council would not be exempt from a $65 million stamp duty fee to take over its own water corporation.
  The council is the Wide Bay Water Corporation's single shareholder.
- 2013/07/05: ABC(Au): Scientist welcomes huge water buyback
  The Commonwealth has approved what's believed to be the largest land and water buyback in the Murray-Darling Basin.
  It's offered $180 million for 173 gigalitres of water and 84,000 hectares on the Nimmie Caira floodplain in southern NSW.
  Professor Richard Kingsford, director of the Australian Wetlands, Rivers and Landscapes Centre at the University of NSW, says this deal brings some big opportunities for wetlands to be managed sustainably.
- 2013/07/04: ABC(Au): Peppermint Grove worst for water consumption
  The suburb of Peppermint Grove has topped the state for the highest volume of residential water use.
  The figures released today by the Minister for Water, Terry Redman show the affluent suburb used 439 kilolitres of water per household in the past twelve months.
- 2013/07/03: ABC(Au): Bore delivers clean water to dry cattle station
  Kids on a cattle station in far western Queensland can finally see their feet in the bath, thanks to the piping of bore water to the houses.
  S. Kidman and Company's Glengyle station, south of Bedourie, piped the artesian water 50 kilometres after the house waterhole had nearly dried up.
  Manager Steve Cramer says drought conditions have gripped the region.
- 2013/07/02: ABC(Au): Measuring change in the Basin
  Staff from the Murray-Darling Basin Authority are trying to determine how they will measure the impact of the Murray Darling Basin Plan.
- 2013/07/02: ABC(Au): Report to decide fate of western Queensland rivers
- 2013/07/01: ABC(Au): NSW water allocations announced -- The irrigation season has opened across New South Wales
- 2013/07/01: ABC(Au): Victoria's recycled water plan to save money
  The Victorian Government says its new plan for Melbourne's water supply takes a 'smarter' approach to water use that will save residents money.
  The draft document looks at the city's water use over the coming decades and how the needs of a growing Melbourne will be met.
While in the Indian subcontinent:
- 2013/07/04: CNN: India launches ambitious food aid program to feed millions
- 2013/07/03: Asia Times: Indian disaster response falls short
- 2013/07/03: BBC: India launches huge cheap food programme ahead of election
  The Indian government has launched a giant programme to provide subsidised food to two-thirds of the population.
  The food security ordinance will provide 5kg of cheap grain every month to nearly 800 million poor people.
And in China:
- 2013/07/04: Resilience: The Peak Oil Crisis: China at a Turning Point
- 2013/07/03: NatureN: China gears up to tackle tainted water
  Government is set to spend 500 million renminbi to clean up groundwater polluted by industry and agriculture.
- 2013/07/02: Eureka: Balancing food security and environmental quality in China
While elsewhere in Asia:
In the Middle East:
- 2013/07/02: BBerg: Saudi Arabia Starts Survey of Renewable Energy Potential
And in Russia:
- 2013/07/01: RT: Scientists, Communists blast planned Academy of Sciences reform as fraud
  [...]
  The suggested reform, which is being promoted by Education and Science Minister Dmitry Livanov and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, boils down to two elements. Firstly, the government wants to merge three existing major academies (The Russian Academy of Sciences, Russian Academy of Medical Sciences and the Russian Academy of Agricultural Sciences) into one "public-state organization." Three more academies - of Education, of Architecture and Construction and of Arts - would be passed under the control of federal ministries.
  Secondly, the academies would be stripped of their property rights, transferring the property managing functions to a federal agency that would be specially created for this purpose.
  The property in question is very substantial -- RAS alone owns over 50 billion rubles (about US$1.8 billion) in real estate and research hardware -- most of it the legacy of the Soviet-era science complex.
- 2013/07/01: NatureNB: Russian Academy gets temporary reprieve
While in Africa:
And South America:
In Canada, neocon PM Harper, aka The Blight, pushes petroleum while ignoring the climate and ecology:
- 2013/07/05: TheCanadian: EcoEnergy money went to Carbon Capture, Tar Sands - No Clean Tech funding for this year
- 2013/07/05: Impolitical: Place your Keystone bets
- 2013/07/05: WpgFP: Lack of national disaster mitigation plan prompts 'criticism': federal notes
- 2013/07/04: TMoS: It's the Greatest Threat Ever to Confront Canada. Why Can't Our Leaders Rise to the Challenge?
- 2013/07/03: EmbassyMag: Feds running pro-oil sands ad campaign indefinitely
  Plastered on the side of a bus stop shelter in downtown Washington is a photo of men wearing hard hats and working on a pipeline. Stamped on the picture are the words "America and Canada: Standing together for energy independence."
  Paid for by Canadian taxpayers, the ad is part of a big campaign promoting Canada as an environmentally responsible and secure oil exporter. The campaign has placed ads all over Washington transit stops, newspapers, and websites.
  The Harper government launched the campaign and an associated website, gowithcanada.ca, on May 13 in an effort to target "decision makers and opinion leaders in the Washington area," wrote Paul Duchesne, a spokesperson for Natural Resources Canada, in an email.
- 2013/07/02: CBC: Oil and gas industry emission rules still not ready from Ottawa
  For the second time in two years, the federal government has missed its target to publish greenhouse gas emission regulations for Canada's oil and gas sector.
- 2013/07/02: P3: Petro-State Canada
- 2013/07/01: HillTimes: North America isn't ready for climate change, say experts
  Climate change is already happening, prevention, adaptation needed to control the effects of extreme weather: climate scientists.
The IdleNoMore movement is not going away:
- 2013/07/01: CPW: Idle No More Canada Day statement: This is stolen Native land
Doesn't look like Canada is going to move on neonicotinoids:
- 2013/06/19: ThePost: Bees dying by the millions
- 2013/07/02: DD: Canada bees dying by the millions - 'I think it's criminal what is happening'
The battle over the Northern Gateway pipeline rages on:
And on the fabled West-East line:
- 2013/07/05: CBC: New Brunswick won't subsidize west-east pipeline
After the flood, Calgary is all Hell and High Water defiance:
A procession of native elders is leading a Tar Sands Healing Walk:
- 2013/07/06: 350orBust: In Solidarity with the Healing Walk: Women's voices on the oilsands, pipelines, and climate change [tar sands & vid]
- 2013/07/06: DeSmogBlog: Deadly Quebec Oil Train Disaster and Athabasca River Spill On Same Day as Tar Sands Healing Walk
- 2013/07/05: OilChange: Let The Tar Sands Healing Begin
- 2013/07/03: Rabble: Tar Sands Healing Walk is part of process of fundamental transformation
- 2013/07/03: CoC: Tar sands: Stopping the destruction and starting the healing
- 2013/07/02: Rabble:EP: Tar sands leave legacy of cancer and polluted water for aboriginal peoples
- 2013/07/01: Guardian(UK): Bill McKibben and Naomi Klein to join Canada's tar sands 'healing walk'
  Native elders to lead a spiritual gathering to heal land, air, water and all living forms harmed by world's largest industrial project
The ISA/PRV/IHN/Alpha virus in Canadian waters is potentially disastrous:
- 2013/06/30: VanObs: Shooting the messenger: Lab stripped of credentials after finding infectious virus in BC salmon
  After finding ISA virus in British Columbia salmon, Dr. Fred Kibenge's lab at Atlantic Veterinary College gets stripped of OIE certification by Canadian Food Inspection Agency.
- 2013/06/30: Straight: Canadian Food Inspection Agency nails lab that found Infection Salmon Anemia virus
Now that Christy Clark has a mandate, she still has to win her own byelection:
- 2013/07/06: Tyee: New Details on BC Energy Companies that Broke Enviro Regulations
  FOI request reveals names of those issued 14 enforcement orders, 77 tickets in 2012.
- 2013/07/05: CBC: Pacific NorthWest LNG seeks export licence for B.C. project
  Applies for licence to export liquefied natural gas from Port Edward, B.C., terminal
  Pacific NorthWest LNG said on Friday that it has applied for a licence from the National Energy Board to export liquefied natural gas from the $25-billion facility it is hoping to build off the coast of northwestern B.C.
  Pacific NorthWest LNG, which is owned through various subsidiaries by the Malaysian oil and gas company Petronas, plans to build three so-called trains, the cooling units where the liquefication of gas occurs, on Lelu Island in the Port Edward district south of Prince Rupert.
  The site will be used to liquefy and export natural gas produced by Calgary-based Progress Energy Canada, which was bought by Petronas last year in a $6-billion friendly deal.
- 2013/07/04: Tyee: Twenty Tough Debate Questions for Christy Clark -- She takes on seven others vying for Westside-Kelowna
- 2013/07/03: TheCanadian: The $55 Billion Private Power Racket and Real Story Behind Hydro's Debt
  [...]
  The four cheapest districts in North America for electricity have historically been - not coincidentally - the only remaining public power states and provinces: Quebec, Manitoba, Tennessee and BC (though not for long, at this rate). This is no accident. For all the rhetoric of "private sector efficiencies", the record of evidence is clear: private power is a racket, designed by the likes of Enron for one purpose - to suck maximum dollars out of the pockets of unsuspecting citizens.
- 2013/07/02: TheCanadian: Rafe Mair on Mainstream Media a Decade after Leaving CKNW
- 2013/07/02: TheCanadian: Runaway Hydro Debt: Economist Erik Andersen's Open Letter to BC Energy Minister
- 2013/07/01: Tyee: BC Hydro Not Ready for Natural Disaster: Audit -- Given lack of preparedness, expect long, widespread power outages, warned December internal probe
Meanwhile in that Mechanical Mordor known as the tar sands:
Also in Alberta:
While in la Belle Province:
- 2013/07/05: CBC: State of emergency lifted after rain douses Quebec forest fires
- 2013/07/02: CBC: Quebec forest fires trigger smog warning in Montreal -- Air quality 'poor' in Montreal and much of southern Quebec
In the Maritimes:
- 2013/07/03: CBC: Make fire evacuations mandatory, Wabush, N.L., mayor says -- Dozens of residents defied order to leave as forest fire threatened town
- 2013/07/02: CBC: Labrador fires still burning, as rain helps ease fears
  Wabush residents return to daily activities as aerial and ground crews work
- 2013/06/30: N&O-PEI: Hydraulic Fracturing in Atlantic Canada - Elsipogtog First Nations
As for miscellaneous Canadiana:
- 2013/07/02: CBC: Why emergency fire shelters aren't used in Canada
And on the American political front:
The BP disaster continues to twist US politics:
- 2013/07/03: ICN: Sickened by Exxon Oil Spill, Victims Face Confusion of Officials and Doctors
  One infant, coughing and wheezing, was first treated with asthma medication, then with antibiotics for a severe respiratory infection.
- 2013/07/02: BBC: BP oil spill payments to be investigated by ex-FBI chief [Louis Freeh]
- 2013/07/02: Guardian(UK): BP compensation fund for Gulf oil spill victims at risk of running out
If they don't get their exemptions by lobbying, we can expect to see court cases next:
The Keystone XL wheel grinds slowly. And it grinds woe:
The Mayflower oil spill continues to weigh heavily on the Keystone decision:
- 2013/07/01: CCP: ExxonMobil gave false statements about Mayflower, AR, tar sands dilbit oil spil, used ancient pipeline in unsafe manner
With the deficit hawks panicking about things financial, there has been talk of a carbon tax solution:
- 2013/07/05: RTCC: What does a Republican-friendly carbon tax look like?
- 2013/06/30: BRitholtz: On the Carbon Tax
The GOP War on Women continues. See also:
- 2013/07/06: CDreams: The 'Religious Freedom' Ploy to Block Healthcare Coverage of Birth Control
  Rightwing Christians are abusing the right to religious liberty to impose their views on others and restrict access to contraception
- 2013/07/06: Wonkette: Scott Walker Bravely Signs Anti-Abortion Law In Private On Friday Afternoon Of Long Holiday Weekend
  Keeping up with the anti-abortion laws coming out of the state legislatures these days is a little like playing a demented game of Whack-A-Mole: no sooner does one pop up over here for you to club over the head than another one pops up over there, and you try to club that one too, and then another one pops up somewhere else, and now you are swinging your stupid little toy club like Thor on a meth binge and not getting anywhere.
- 2013/07/06: GLaden: Embarrassed by breastfeeding in a country of billboards covered in tits?
- 2013/07/05: AP: Wis. gov signs abortion bill requiring ultrasound
  Gov. Scott Walker quietly signed a contentious Republican bill Friday that would require women seeking abortions to undergo an ultrasound and ban doctors who lack admitting privileges at nearby hospitals from performing the procedures.
- 2013/07/05: Rabble: Why fetus porn doesn't help the anti-choice cause
- 2013/07/05: ACLU: ACLU and Planned Parenthood Challenge Wisconsin Law That Would Close Half of State's Abortion Clinics
- 2013/07/03: CNN: Texas GOP skirts law on anti-abortion bill
  Ilyse Hogue: Texas is trying every trick in the book to get an anti-abortion bill passed - Many oppose bill that would shut 90% of abortion clinics in state, she says -
  Hogue: GOP couldn't pass this bill in regular session, so governor called special session - Hogue: Texas bypassed legally mandated public hearings, tried to change time stamp of vote
- 2013/07/03: BBC: Texas abortion bill advances after limited testimony
  Contentious Texas anti-abortion legislation previously blocked by a marathon delaying speech has advanced amid vigorous demonstrations.
  A state House committee passed the bill after Republicans limited testimony and refused to allow Democrats' amendments.
- 2013/07/03: CDreams: Texas GOP Unleashes Political Quackery on Women's Reproductive Rights
- 2013/07/03: RT: Texas moves to adopt anti-abortion law despite thousands protesting on the streets
- 2013/07/03: Wonkette: Something Needs To Be Done About All These Men In Texas Having Abortions, Because None Of Them Are Happy Now
- 2013/07/03: CCurrents: Expanding The Dead-End Debate Over Abortion
- 2013/07/01: ACLU: ACLU Stands With Texas Women
- 2013/07/01: CSM: Texas abortion fight, Round 2: Why a filibuster won't work again
- 2013/07/01: BBC: Texas abortion battle resumes amid mass protest
- 2013/07/01: Wonkette: Rick Perry Summons Menfolk Back To Finish The Job On Ladies' Health
The NorthWest coal export debate remains heated:
The impacts of budgetary sequestration are beginning to add up:
- 2013/07/04: Guardian(UK): As sequestration cuts bite, Congress is content with recrimination
- 2013/07/02: UCSUSA:B: Preparing for Our Future: The Need for Monitoring and Data Collection
The deaths of the Granite Mountain hotshot crew was a shock. See also :
- 2013/07/06: CSM: Arizona wildfire: Details emerge on tragedy that killed 19 hotshots
- 2013/07/06: ABC(Au): Firefighters make progress against deadly Arizona blaze
- 2013/07/04: CSM: Arizona wildfire prompts Congressional hearing on logging.The right focus?
- 2013/07/04: BBC: Arizona wildfires: Heartbroken locals search for answers
- 2013/07/04: CBC: Arizona firefighters died from burns, breathing problems
- 2013/07/04: CNN: Crews make major progress fighting deadly Arizona blaze, now 80% contained
  Vice President Joe Biden to attend memorial service Tuesday, senior administration official says - The medical examiner's office issues causes and manners of death -
  Workers were putting in 13- or 14-hour shifts to fight the Yarnell Hill fire - The temperature should cool, and winds should calm somewhat this week
- 2013/07/02: al Jazeera: US mourns death of Arizona firefighters
  US President Barack Obama pays tribute to 19 who died battling Arizona wildfire that continues to rage unchecked.
- 2013/07/03: CNN: Moment of silence only interruption in effort to end Arizona fire
  Moment of silence planned as crews bring out Granite Mountain vehicles - Authorities expect good progress on fires Wednesday -
  The fire has burned about 13 square miles west of Prescott, Arizona - Containment is still officially listed at 8%
- 2013/07/03: CBC: Arizona wildfire investigators examine why 19 firefighters died
- 2013/07/02: BBC: Authorities have launched an investigation into the wildfire that killed 19 Arizona firefighters
- 2013/07/02: Wonkette: Wingnuts Just Terribly Offended That Anyone Might Link Wildfire Deaths With Global Warming
- 2013/07/02: CSW: Wildland firefighting at the rough cutting edge of climate change
- 2013/07/02: TreeHugger: Yes, wildfires are connected to climate change. Here's how
- 2013/07/02: BBC: A deadly wildfire raging in Arizona remains uncontained, as the 19 elite firefighters killed by the blaze were identified and mourned
- 2013/07/02: CBC: What we know about the 19 Arizona firefighters -- Friends and family remember and mourn Granite Mountain Hotshots
- 2013/07/02: WSWS: Nineteen firefighters die battling Arizona wildfire
- 2013/07/02: ABC(Au): Arizona fires: Survivor was moving truck as crew killed
- 2013/07/01: AzCentral: Declining resources make wildfire prevention difficult
  The Yarnell Hill Fire's deadly sweep through a central Arizona community exposed a weak spot in the West's preparedness.
- 2013/07/01: CCentral: The Climate Context Behind the Deadly Arizona Wildfire
- 2013/07/01: P3: 19 Firefighters Killed in "Worst Case" Scenario in Arizona Wildfire
- 2013/07/01: CSM: Loss of Arizona firefighters must spur new thinking on wildfires
- 2013/07/01: Tamino: Granite Mountain Hotshots ... RIP
- 2013/07/01: BBC: Arizona mourning 19 firefighters killed in wildfire
- 2013/07/01: Guardian(UK): Arizona wildfire investigation begins as Governor Brewer laments 'darkest day'
- 2013/07/01: CNN: Loss of 19 firefighters in state's deadliest blaze 'unbearable,' [Arizona] governor says
  Various sources release names of four firefighters who died in blaze - The firefighters apparently deployed fire shelters, last-ditch survival blankets -
  The 6,000-acre fire is the deadliest wildland blaze for firefighters in 80 years - 19 members of a "hotshot" team from Prescott died in the wildfire
- 2013/07/01: TP:JR: Record Heat And Drought Fuel Chaotic Wildfire In Arizona, Killing 19 Firefighters
- 2013/07/01: CSM: 19 firefighters killed battling Arizona wildfire, worst toll since 9/11
- 2013/07/01: IndiaTimes: 19 firefighters die battling US fire: Official
- 2013/07/01: Xinhuanet: Wild fire kills 19 firefighters in Arizona
- 2013/07/01: BBC: Arizona wildfire near Yarnell kills 19 firefighters
- 2013/07/01: BBC: Arizona wildfire: Battling the blaze
- 2013/07/01: BBC: In pictures: Arizona wildfire
- 2013/07/01: CBC: Arizona wildfire kills 19 members of elite crew -- Deadliest hit to U.S. wildfire crew in decades
- 2013/07/01: al Jazeera: US firefighters killed battling wildfire
  At least 19 killed by fast-moving blaze in state of Arizona as they tried to bring it under control.
- 2013/07/01: CDreams: Nineteen Elite Firefighters Killed by Arizona [Yarnell Hill] Wildfire
  Fast-moving fire that also claimed more than 200 hundreds homes is still burning in central Arizona
- 2013/06/30: CBC: 19 firefighters killed in Arizona wildfires -- Heat wave, high winds lead to deadliest blaze of its kind in 30 years
Some late comment on Obama's Climate Plan:
- 2013/07/06: WSWS: Obama offers environmental fig leaf in climate policy
  Obama's "Climate Action Plan" released last week had nothing to do with defending the planet against the polluting excesses of capitalism, or address the very real threat of global warming. Rather, it was an appeal for the support of an upper-middle-class environmentalist milieu by an increasingly isolated administration.
  This is the first time in four years that the Obama administration has put forward even a fig leaf addressing climate change.
- 2013/07/05: CSW: On Obama's Climate Action Plan: Q&A with Al Jazeera English
- 2013/07/02: ABC(Au):TDU: Climate change policy at the mercy of popular politics
- 2013/07/02: Guardian(UK): Obama's rhetoric makes climate action a simpler question of right and wrong
- 2013/07/01: TreeHugger: President Obama talks climate plan in weekly address
- 2013/07/01: P3: The right response to Obama's climate push
- 2013/07/01: ERabett:BSD: More environmental "just as" can win the climate fight
- 2013/07/01: CSM: Obama climate plan: the one thing you need to know
- 2013/07/01: UCSUSA:B: The President Touts Natural Gas as an Important Climate Solution: How Far Can it Take Us?
- 2013/06/30: DD: Insurers welcome Obama climate initiative
- 2013/06/30: EconPrin: And Now, The Weather
- 2013/06/30: RTCC: Obama plan could define 2015 UN climate deal
- 2013/06/30: Resilience: The one thing you need to know about the president's plan to address climate change
- 2013/06/28: Slate: The Best and Worst Parts of Obama's Climate Plan
The actions of the Obama administration are being watched closely:
- 2013/07/06: DD: President Obama launches initiative to curb wildlife trafficking...
- 2013/07/05: GEP: EPA Advancing CCS Rule for New Power Plants
- 2013/07/03: TP:JR: Ignoring Public Outcry, Federal Government To Offer Oil And Gas Leases Near Mesa Verde National Park
- 2013/07/01: TheHill:e2W: EPA sends White House revised emissions rule for new power plants
- 2013/07/01: NOAANews: NOAA responds to Americans' call for shorter-term drought forecasts
- 2013/07/02: CSW: OMB Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs needs a shake-up
- 2013/07/01: CSW: How will OMB treat EPA's new power plant carbon pollution rule?
- 2013/07/01: TP:JR: Ron Binz Will Continue FERC's Leadership Toward A Clean Energy Future
- 2013/06/30: Reuters: U.S. is not waging 'war on coal': Energy Secretary Moniz
  The U.S. government is not waging a "war on coal" but rather expects it to still play a significant role, U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz said on Sunday, rejecting criticism of President Barack Obama's climate change plan.
As for what is going on in Congress:
The movement toward a long term ecologically viable economics is glacial:
- 2013/07/06: UN: Cooperatives can build socio-economic resilience during crises - UN officials
IPAT [Impact = Population * Affluence * Technology]
raised its head once again:
- 2013/07/03: IndiaTimes: Bill to legalise abortion in Ireland passes first hurdle
- 2013/07/03: Guardian(UK): We keep moaning about population, but ignore consumption habits
So. How are we going to deal with this mess?
- 2013/07/04: TCoE: The only thing that matters
How do the corporate media measure up?
Here is something for your library:
- 2013/07/06: TheConversation: Scatter, adapt, remember: Annalee Newitz on surviving mass extinctions
  [Book Review] _Scatter, Adapt, and Remember: How humans will survive a mass extinction_ by Annalee Newitz
- 2013/07/06: DD: Scenes from a melting planet: On the climate-change novel
And for your film & video enjoyment:
Meanwhile among the 'Sue the Bastards!' contingent:
Wrestling over a new energy infrastructure continues unabated:
- 2013/07/04: CleanTechnica: Harnessing Ocean Current Energy - Promising New System Developed
- 2013/07/03: TreeHugger: 1776-2012: Main sources of energy in the U.S. since the first Independence Day
Hey! Let's contaminate the aquifer for thousands of years! It'll be a fracking gas!
On the gas and oil front:
- 2013/07/05: BBerg: Closing oil prices Friday
  OIL (US$/bbl)
  Dated Brent Spot....107.72
  WTI Cushing Spot....103.22
- 2013/07/05: CSM: A surprising source of demand for US natural gas
- 2013/07/04: BBC: Oil prices stable after Egypt coup
  Oil prices dipped back slightly on Thursday after Egypt's army ousted President Mohammed Morsi, having risen 3%-5% over the previous two days.
  US light sweet crude fell two cents to below $101 a barrel, and Brent crude dropped 36 cents to $105.40.
- 2013/07/03: BBC: Egypt unrest pushes light crude oil over US$100 a barrel
- 2013/07/02: Rediff: India elbowed out of Kashagan oil deal
- 2013/07/02: R&IR: Dragon dance on Central Asia's energy turf -- Without doubt, China is Central Asia's new energy giant
- 2013/07/02: CSM: Why oil and gas drilling is going deeper and further offshore
- 2013/07/01: ICN: Cheaper Canadian Oil for Refiners in Midwest Not Reflected in Prices at the Pump
  Refiners are keeping windfall profits from flood of tar sands oil for themselves, undermining a key national interest argument in favor of the Keystone XL
And in pipeline news:
- 2013/07/06: Trend(Az): U.S. State Department: A range of international oil companies interested in TAPI gas pipeline project
- 2013/07/04: SwissInfo: TAP gas pipeline causes controversy
- 2013/07/03: Asia Times: Gazprom one winner from Nabucco demise
- 2013/07/02: R&IR: Nabucco: How the pipeline became a pipedream
  Nabucco was the lynchpin of America's grand strategy to isolate Russia, but in the end the hunter became the hunted.
- 2013/07/02: NakedCapitalism: Gaius Publius: A Primer -- What's in a "Tar Sands" Pipeline?
- 2013/07/02: FreeP: Dredging plan for Kalamazoo River cleanup concerns nearby residents, business
- 2013/07/01: Asia Times: Last curtain falls on Nabucco pipeline
A rush of American triumphalism pervades the energy independence PR campaign. Think it will last?
- 2013/07/04: CSM: A declaration of energy independence: What it really means
- 2013/07/02: NBF: Harvard has a new [Maugeri] US Shale Oil Study forecasts US as world number one oil producer with 16 million barrels per day of all liquid oil in 2017
Yes we have peak everything:
- 2013/07/06: FuturePundit: Peak Copper Pushed Further Out
- 2013/07/06: CDreams: The Real Threat to Our Future is Peak Water
  As population rises, overpumping means some nations have reached peak water, which threatens food supply
- 2013/07/06: TMoS: Forget Peak Oil, Peak Water is the Greater Threat to Mankind
Biofuel bickering abounds:
- 2013/07/05: Grist: Biofuel program could invite giant grass invasion
- 2013/07/01: Eureka: Bioengineering fungi for biofuels and chemicals production
The answer my friend...:
Meanwhile among the solar aficionados:
The nuclear energy controversy continues:
Nuclear fusion projects around the world limp along:
- 2013/07/04: ScienceInsider: Europe's [Joint European Torus] JET Set Ponders Future of World's Largest Fusion Reactor
Like a mirage, the dream of a Hydrogen Economy shimmers on the horizon:
More people are talking about the electrical grid:
- 2013/07/02: TP:JR: Can Electric School Buses Help Solve Our Grid Problems?
Automakers & lawyers, engineers & activists argue over the future of the car:
As for Energy Storage:
- 2013/07/03: Grist: Volcanic rock may be used as giant wind-energy battery [underground compressed air]
Insurance and re-insurance companies are feeling the heat:
Joe Romm posts a daily list of top energy and climate stories:
Other (weekly) lists:
2013/07/06: SkS: 2013 SkS Weekly News Roundup #27A by John Hartz
2013/07/06: CleanTechnica: Electric Vehicle News...
2013/07/05: BPA: 3 Picks: California Nuts, Soil Carbon, Ethanol Trade
2013/07/03: CleanTechnica: Solar & Wind News Roundup...
2013/07/03: UCSUSA:B: Science, Politics, and Democracy News You May Have Missed
2013/07/03: BPA: 3 Picks: China's Agriculture, Stressed Rivers, EU Farm Policy
2013/07/01: BPA: 3 Picks: Population Growth, Global Grain Supply, Soil Importance

The carbon lobby are up to the usual:
- 2013/07/01: IRW: Koch: Climate pledge strategy continues to grow
- 2013/07/01: IRW: Koch millions spread influence through nonprofits, colleges
- 2013/07/02: Grist: How the Koch brothers screwed over the climate even more than you know
- 2013/06/25: RStone: Big Oil's Big Lies About Alternative Energy
  As President Obama calls for greater investments in alternatives, the biggest energy companies are doubling down on riskier, more destructive oil sources
- 2013/07/04: HotWhopper: Pat Michaels is full of crap (again)
- 2013/07/05: UKISS: AGW disproved!
- 2013/07/05: WtD: WTD's Law and Prime Godwins; in the climate debate, the probability of conspiracy theories being invoked is 1
- 2013/07/02: TFTJO: The tipping point of climate change denial
- 2013/07/01: P3: More Weaseling (not the good kind, either) from Heartland
- 2013/07/07: IP: My entry for the Matt Ridley Prize
- 2013/07/06: Tamino: When Wiggles Collide ... or not
- 2013/07/01: NewAnthropocene: Conspiracy theories conspiracy
- 2013/07/01: BCLSB: Heatland Institute Vs. Chinese Academy Of Science, Round II
As for climate miscellanea:
And here are a couple of sites you may find interesting and/or useful:
Low Key Plug

My first novel _Water_ was published in May 2007.
An Introduction is available.
My most recent novel _The Bottleneck Years_ is being serialized online atmy siteand on AFTIC at Table of Contents
If you want further information, see A Gentle Introduction.
If you want a copy, see The Deal.
An overview of my writing is available here.

A Simple Plea

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

<regards>

-het

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

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

"The Rio Grande is the only river I ever saw that needed irrigation." -Will Rogers

Another Week of GW News, July 7, 2013

Logging the Onset of The Bottleneck Years

July 7, 2013

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

Looking ahead to COP19 and future international climate negotiations:

The WMO released their Decade of Climate Extremes report this week:

The Steinacher paper underlines the importance of reducing GHGs forthwith:

As expected, CO2 fertilization pops up now and again:

The Desertec project appears to be disintegrating:

What are the big banks up to?

John Cook and friends continue their point-counterpoint articles:

A note on theFukushima disaster:

Not much good news coming out of Fukushima:

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

The Arctic melt continues to garner attention:

That Damoclean sword still hangs overhead:

As for the geopolitics of Arctic resources:

While in Antarctica:

The food crisis is ongoing:

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

The conflict between biofuel and food persists:

Regarding the genetic modification of food:

Regarding labelling GM food:

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

In the Western Pacific, Rumbia zapped China last weekend:

In the Eastern Pacific, Dalila dallys at sea, while Erick looks to brush by Baja:

In the Atlantic and the Caribbean, a couple of maybes:

While elsewhere in the hurricane wars:

And on the Monsoon front:

This week in notable weather:

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

As for GHGs:

How is the temperature record?

Aerosols are making their presence felt:

While in the paleoclimate:

And on the ENSO front:

What's new in Biodiversity?

And on the extinction watch:

The bees and Colony Collapse Disorder are a constant concern:

What's up with volcanoes this week?

Meanwhile in near earth orbit:

More GW impacts are being seen:

And then there are the world's forests:

Climate refugees are becoming an issue:

Emerging diseases accompany ecological change:

As for heatwaves and wild fires. See also :

Corals are a bellwether of the ocean's health:

Glaciers are melting:

Sea levels are rising:

As for hydrological cycle disruptions [floods & droughts]:

First, stop subsidizing fossil fuels Second, put a price on carbon Third, begin to reduce the human population And elsewhere on the mitigation front:

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

Consider transportation & GHG production:

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

As for carbon sequestration:

Large scale geo-engineering keeps popping up:

What's new in conservation?

While on the adaptation front:

Meanwhile in the journals:

And other significant documents:

What's new in models?

What developments in the ongoing struggle for Open Science?

Meanwhile at the UN:

The Fifth IPCC report is coming up:

And on the carbon trading front:

The idea of a carbon tax is still bouncing around:

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

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

South [& East] China Sea tension persists:

The Trans-Pacific Partnership looks like a stealth corporate takeover:

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

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

What are the activists up to?

The move to divest from fossil fuel investments is growing slowly:

Regarding Water Politics and Business:

Regarding science education:

While in the UK:

And in Europe:

Meanwhile in Australia:

The September election is getting closer...:

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

First, stop subsidizing fossil fuels
Second, put a price on carbon
Third, begin to reduce the human population
And elsewhere on the mitigation front:

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