Another Week of Climate Disruption News, August 4, 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

August 4, 2013

• Chuckles, COP19+, Violence, Hallowich, Rebuilding, Potash, Bottom Line, Cook
• Fukushima: Note, News, Policies
• Melting Arctic, Methane, Geopolitics, Antarctica
• Food: Crisis, Fisheries, GMOs, Production, N-Fix
• Hurricanes, Extremes, New Weather GHGs, Temperatures, Feedbacks, Aerosols
• Paleoclimate, Oceans, Biosphere, Extinctions, Bees & CCD, Volcanoes, Satellites
• Impacts, Forests, Climate Refugees, Phenology
• Tornadoes, Wildfires, Corals, Glaciers, Sea Levels, Floods & Droughts
• Mitigation, Transportation, Buildings, Sequestration, Geoengineering, Conservation, Adaptation
• Journals, Misc. Science, Science Orgs, Models, Free Science, Edwards
• International Politics: UN, IPCC, Carbon Trade, Carbon Tax, Hormuz, South China Sea
• Helium, Solar Spat, Law & Activism, Activism, Divestment, H2O Biz, Predictions
• National Politics: Britain, Europe, Australia, Election, MDBP, New Zealand, India, China, Asia, Middle East, South America
• Canada, Lac-Mégantic, East-West, Cold Lake Leak, Salmon, BC, Tar Sands, Alberta, Ontario, Maritimes
• America, BP Disaster, Keystone, Mayflower, Carbon Tax, Birth Control
• Coal Exports, Republican Op-Ed, FERC, Pebble mine, Obama, USAdmin, Congress
• Ecological Economics, Children, IPAT, Apocalypso, Media, Video, Courts, BP Trial
• Energy, Transitions, Clathrates, Fracking, Coal, Oil & Gas, Fossil Fuel Corps, Pipelines
• Oil Transportation, Energy Independence, US Tar Sands, Peak Oil, Biofuel
• Wind, Solar, Nukes, Nuclear Waste, Hydrogen, Efficiency, Cars, Energy Storage
• Business, Insurance, Other Lists, Carbon Lobby, Greenwashing, Inaction, Misc., Useful Links
• Shameless Self Promotion, A Simple Plea, .sig

 

It's always nice to start with a chuckle:

• 2013/08/04: uComics: (cartoon - Wiley) The Invention of Ideology
• 2013/08/03: uComics: (cartoon - Wiley) Nature's Adaptation Process
• 2013/08/03: ParliamAnthill: (cartoon - Sadlemyer) PM says Antstone will spur jobs despite ObamAnt claims
• 2013/08/01: JoeMohrToons: (cartoon - Mohr) Pre Traumatic Stress Disorder
• 2013/07/31: XKCD: (cartoon - Munroe) 10-Day Forecast
• 2013/07/30: CotI: (cartoon - Roberts) Seeing and believing?
• 2013/07/30: uComics: (cartoon - Mastroianni & Hart) The Carbon Sequestration Hut
• 2013/07/28: TFTJO: (cartoon - Horsey) More and more boiling frogs

Just cause it's beautiful:

• 2013/08/02: EPOD: Sunup Over Lethbridge, Alberta
  

  Looking ahead to COP19 and future international climate negotiations:

  • 2013/07/30: RTCC: Is 1.5C warming target still within reach?

  The historical correlation between climate change and violence is being remarked again:

  • 2013/08/01: Science: (ab$) Quantifying the Influence of Climate on Human Conflict by Solomon M. Hsiang et al.
  • 2013/08/03: ABC(Au): Hotter temperatures lead to more violence
  • 2013/08/02: FDL: Rise In Violence Linked To Climate Change
  • 2013/08/02: Guardian(UK): Climate change linked to violent behaviour
  • 2013/08/02: Guardian(UK): Will climate change trigger endless war?
  • 2013/08/02: Guardian(UK): How climate change can make us hot under the collar
  • 2013/08/02: Guardian(UK): Hot and bothered: Climate warming predicted to increase violent conflicts
  • 2013/08/02: RTCC: Climate change could lead to more wars - report
  • 2013/08/02: Xinhuanet: Global warming could increase human conflict worldwide: study
  • 2013/08/02: CBC: Climate change linked to increase in violence, war -- Hotter temperatures could lead to more violence, reasearchers suggest
  • 2013/08/02: KSJT: Will a warmer climate make the world "a very violent place by mid-century"?
  • 2013/08/02: CCurrents: Climate Crisis Increases Risk Of War And Civil Unrest 56 Percent
  • 2013/08/01: TMoS: Great, Just Great. Global Warming Might Make Cops (And Maybe You) Even More Trigger Happy
  • 2013/08/01: BBerg: Our Hotter, Wetter, More Violent Future
    Earth's atmosphere seems to have found a way to get back at the human race. For almost three centuries, we humans have been filling the air with carbon dioxide, methane and other greenhouse gases. Now, it turns out, the climate change these emissions have wrought is turning people against one another.
    So says a review, published today, of 60 studies on how climate change helps spark conflict throughout the world. The researchers found a surprisingly close link between climate change and civil wars, riots, invasions and even personal violence such as murder, assault and rape.
  • 2013/08/01: SimpleC: Climate change can make us more violent
  • 2013/08/01: CSM: Global warming, more wars? Climate could spark more conflict, study says
  • 2013/08/01: BBC: Rise in violence 'linked to climate change'

  A particularly egregious example of big corps throwing their legal weight around:

  • 2013/08/02: TP:JR: 'Frack Gag' Bans Children From Talking About Fracking, Forever
    When drilling company Range Resources offered the Hallowich family a $750,000 settlement to relocate from their fracking-polluted home in Washington County, Pennsylvania, it came with a common restriction. Chris and Stephanie Hallowich would be forbidden from ever speaking about fracking or the Marcellus Shale. But one element of the gag order was all new. The Hallowichs' two young children, ages 7 and 10, would be subject to the same restrictions, banned from speaking about their family's experience for the rest of their lives.
    The Hallowich family's gag order is only the most extreme example of a tactic that critics say effectively silences anyone hurt by fracking. It's a choice between receiving compensation for damage done to one's health and property, or publicizing the abuses that caused the harm. Virtually no one can forgo compensation, so their stories go untold.

  A good question about rebuilding:

  • 2013/07/30: TreeHugger: Why are we rebuilding in flood and fire zones?
  • 2013/07/29: Grist: Flood, rebuild, repeat: Are we ready for a Superstorm Sandy every other year?
  • 2013/07/29: MoJo: Flood, Rebuild, Repeat: Are We Ready for a Superstorm Sandy Every Other Year?
    Why we pretend the next storm won't happen -- and flush billions in disaster relief down the drain.
  • 2013/07/28: TP:JR: New Jersey Nightmare: A Mind-Boggling New Proposal Could Make The Next Superstorm Even More Deadly And Destructive

  I'm sure all farmers will be glad to know their fertilizer costs have been manipulated by Potash cartels:

  • 2013/08/01: ABC(Au): Potash price could plunge 25 per cent
    The international cartel system that's determined the price of potash has effectively come to an end. Russian company Uralkali has shocked the industry by ending a long-term agreement with its Belarus partner.
    Uralkali provides around 20 per cent of global potash production. It claims the move means the Potash price will plunge by 25 per cent, from $400 to $300 a tonne.
  • 2013/08/01: BBerg: Putin Sway Over Lukashenko Bolstered as Potash Bet Backfires
  • 2013/07/31: CSM: Potash cartel: Russia's Uralkali quits major potash venture
    Russia's Uralkali quit one of the world's two big potash cartels on Tuesday, heralding a price war for the key crop nutrient and pummelling the shares of companies that produce it.
    The break-up of the Belarusian Potash Company (BPC), a joint venture with Belarussian partner Belaruskali, leaves North America's Canpotex as the dominant potash export venture.
    It could lead to cancellations of projects by rivals as the industry weighs the effect of lower prices, but may bring better deals for farmers.
  • 2013/07/31: BBerg: Potash Group Surviving Demise of Russian Competitor
    The breakup of a Russian-led potash marketing venture won't end the export partnership managed by North America's three largest producers of the crop nutrient.
    Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc., Mosaic (MOS) Co. and Agrium Inc. (AGU), which together account for about 38 percent of global potash capacity, are poised to continue managing supply to bolster prices.
  • 2013/07/31: BBerg: Potash's $20 Billion Market Transformed by Uralkali
    For the first time in eight years, the $20 billion global market for the crop nutrient potash is set to become freely traded.
    In a surprise announcement yesterday, OAO Uralkali (URKA), the biggest supplier of the commodity, said it decided to end production restrictions that underpinned global prices and suspend a venture with a Belarusian miner that controlled exports from the former Soviet Union.
    Shares of Uralkali and its biggest competitors -- Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc., Mosaic Co. (MOS) and Israel Chemicals Ltd. (ICL) -- tumbled as much as 24 percent as investors anticipated a flood of supply overwhelming demand.
  • 2013/07/30: BBerg: Potash Price War May Signal End of BHP's $15 Billion Project
    The break-up of OAO Uralkali's potash marketing partnership may signal the death knell for plans by BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP), the biggest mining company, to spend as much as $15 billion to start producing the crop nutrient.
    Uralkali, the largest potash producer, yesterday quit a venture that controlled about 43 percent of global exports and signaled prices may fall by as much as a quarter. BHP's Jansen project in Canada contains a 3 billion-metric-ton resource.
    "This could be a game changer" for the project, Heath Jansen, an analyst at Citigroup Inc., wrote yesterday in a note to clients.
  • 2013/07/30: CBC: Potash price hammered as Russians may flood market
    PotashCorp stock down 25% after Russian firm reveals plan to sell to China at lower prices

  And on the Bottom Line:

  • 2013/08/02: Guardian(UK): This gamble on carbon and the climate could trigger a new financial crisis
    There is little evidence that institutional investors have recognised that they are sitting on a carbon-asset timebomb
  • 2013/07/31: TP:JR: Corporate Shareholders Are Getting Nervous About How Climate Change Will Affect Their Investments
  • 2013/07/29: TreeHugger: The high cost of climate inaction, continued
  • 2013/07/29: ABC(Au): Climate economist warns of impact of climate change
    Climate economist, Dr Chris Hope, who is one of the authors of the report in 'Nature' which warns that climate change could wipe 60 trillion dollars off the world economy discusses the research and the implications of climate change.
  • 2013/07/29: ABC(Au): Climate change could cost 60 trillion dollars
    New research published in the journal 'Nature' warns that the release of huge reserves of methane from permafrost could increase the mean global temperature by more than two degress which could wipe 60-trillion dollars off the global economy.

  John Cook and friends continue their point-counterpoint articles:

  • 2013/08/03: SkS: 2013 SkS Weekly News Roundup #31B by John Hartz
  • 2013/08/02: SkS: Where SkS-Material gets used - Coursera's Climate Literacy Course by BaerbelW
  • 2013/08/01: SkS: Toward Improved Discussions of Methane & Climate by Chris Colose
  • 2013/07/31: SkS: East Antarctica Ice-Sheet more vulnerable to melting than we thought: new research by John Mason
  • 2013/07/31: SkS: 2013 SkS Weekly News Roundup #31A by John Hartz
  • 2013/07/30: SkS: The Albedo Effect and Global Warming by gpwayne
  • 2013/07/29: SkS: An accurately informed public is necessary for climate policy by dana1981
  • 2013/07/28: SkS: 2013 SkS Weekly Digest #30 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:

   

  • 2013/08/03: EneNews: Japan's First Astronaut: Gov't lies about Fukushima disaster - Vital info on radiation risks kept from public to "maintain law and order"
  • 2013/08/03: Asahi: Mystery objects with high radiation found on Fukushima coast
  • 2013/08/02: EneNews: Radio: Fukushima disaster "shockingly not stopping -- even the emergency is not over" - Much more radioactive water could wind up in the oceans (audio)
  • 2013/08/02: GlobalPost: Test shows S. Korean fisheries safe from radiation: gov't
  • 2013/08/01: Resilience: Time to take over Daiichi?
  • 2013/08/01: Asahi: TEPCO took no action about radioactive water leak for 2 years
  • 2013/08/01: EneNews: Revealed: The deeper they check underneath Fukushima plant, the higher contamination levels get - Now sampling over 40 feet below surface
  • 2013/08/01: EneNews: Japan TV: Efforts have failed at Fukushima plant - Contamination levels still rising in seawater - Flow into ocean continues (video)
  • 2013/07/31: Asia Times: Fukushima fallout hits farmers
  • 2013/07/31: EneNews: Water in ground could start coming to surface at Fukushima plant - Continuing to rise rapidly - Caused by Tepco's recent changes to site?
  • 2013/07/31: JapanNews: TEPCO's N-plant delays cause for worry
  • 2013/07/31: Asahi: [Editorial] Incompetent TEPCO should never be allowed to handle nuclear energy
  • 2013/07/30: Reuters: Fukushima clean-up turns toxic for Japan's Tepco
    Tokyo Electric Power confronts many unknowns at crippled plant - Japanese public also in the dark over clean-up, say critics - Utility says radiation makes it hard to reach all parts of facility - Says trying to explain clean-up problems to the public - Chair of third party panel blames incompetence, not deliberate policy
  • 2013/07/30: EneNews: Official reveals contamination levels at Fukushima plant are likely higher outside reactor units than inside...
  • 2013/07/30: EneNews: 'Alarm bells' over state of Fukushima plant - Official: Gov't will investigate how radioactive contamination is impacting life in Pacific Ocean...
  • 2013/07/30: EneNews: Japan gov't intervening at Fukushima nuclear plant - Will take over measuring radiation levels - Top official "questioned accuracy of Tepco's data on contamination"
  • 2013/07/30: EneNews: Gov't: Extremely radioactive tunnels at Fukushima must be drained - Contaminated from melted fuel - Nuclear material going through gravel and into ocean? (video)
  • 2013/07/30: PeakEnergy: Fukushima Decontamination and Cleanup Will Cost $50 Billion
  • 2013/07/29: EneNews: Top Japan Nuclear Official: Remove Tepco from being in charge at Fukushima Daiichi...
  • 2013/07/29: NakedCapitalism: Fukushima Problems Escalating, Radioactive Water Going into Pacific

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

  • 2013/07/30: Salon: Germany's clean energy plan backfired -- The nation's move away from nuclear power drove it right back to coal
  • 2013/07/31: DD: Germany's clean energy plan backfires - Move away from nuclear power drove it right back to coal
  • 2013/07/30: CleanTechnica: Facts On Germany's Nuclear, Fossil Fuel, & Renewable Electricity Generation Changes
  • 2013/07/29: BBerg: Merkel's Green Shift Backfires as German Pollution Jumps
    Germany's air pollution is set to worsen for a second year, the first back-to-back increase since at least the 1980s, after Chancellor Angela Merkel's decision to shut nuclear plants led utilities to burn more coal.
    The nation, which is seeking to lead European climate-protection efforts, probably will produce higher greenhouse-gas emissions in 2013 on top of a 1.5 percent gain last year, according to the DIW economic institute, which acts as an adviser to the government.
    Utilities led by RWE AG and EON SE boosted hard coal imports 25 percent in the first quarter to 10 million metric tons, the nation's Coal Importers Association said. With elections due in September, the move is a blow to Merkel, a former environment minister who helped negotiate the 1997 Kyoto accord curbing carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.

  The Arctic melt continues to garner attention:

  • 2013/08/04: Dosbat: July Status: PIOMAS Volume
  • 2013/08/03: RStone: Greenland Melting
  • 2013/08/03: ASI: PIOMAS August 2013
  • 2013/08/03: Dosbat: July Status Part 2: Atmosphere
  • 2013/08/01: Dosbat: July Status: Cryosphere Today Area
  • 2013/08/01: CCP: Maniitsoq, Greenland, at nearly 80 F, its highest temperature ever recorded
  • 2013/08/01: CBC: Arctic sea ice loss could threaten even land animals -- Ice is habitat akin to trees in a forest, B.C. researcher says
  • 2013/08/01: RScribbler: Greenland Ice Sheet Slipping Under Hottest Temperatures Ever Recorded
  • 2013/07/31: RScribbler: Arctic Heat: Wildfire Smoke Blankets Siberia, Alaska Shatters Temperature Records, Arctic Ocean Heat Sets off Large Algae Bloom
  • 2013/07/31: RTCC: Arctic melt fears rise despite 'Santa's lake' picture error
    North Pole is still frozen say researchers, after erroneous pictures of a 'lake' appeared on a number of news outlets
  • 2013/07/31: CAbyss: Greenland Update
  • 2013/07/30: Eureka: Polar ecosystems acutely vulnerable to sunlight-driven tipping points
  • 2013/07/30: ASI: Are scientists conservative about sea ice?
  • 2013/07/29: CCurrents: Let Us Now Sing About The Warmed Earth
  • 2013/07/28: Dosbat: If HYCOM is correct

  That Damoclean sword still hangs overhead:

  • 2013/08/04: ArcticNews: Methane as high as 2303 ppb
  • 2013/08/02: ArcticNews: Where does the methane come from?
  • 2013/08/01: P3: How Two Wrongs Make a Half-Right
  • 2013/08/01: SkS: Toward Improved Discussions of Methane & Climate by Chris Colose
  • 2013/07/31: Guardian(UK): Arctic methane catastrophe scenario is based on new empirical observations
  • 2013/07/30: CCurrents: Night Of The Living Permafrost [CH4]
  • 2013/07/30: Grist: Could greenhouse gases turn Earth into Venus?
  • 2013/07/29: ArcticNews: CO2? Let Me Introduce You To My Little Friend: CH4 [Methane]!
  • 2013/07/29: RScribbler: Heat Dome Wildfires, Methane Pulse Expand, Blanketing Arctic Siberia in Cloud of Dense Smoke
  • 2013/07/29: UW: Planetary 'runaway greenhouse' more easily triggered, research shows
  • 2013/07/29: RScribbler: Nature's Amplifying Methane Monster: Feedbacks, Risks, Costs, and Mitigation

  As for the geopolitics of Arctic resources:

  • 2013/07/30: RTCC: UK government unlikely to rethink "complacent" Arctic policies

  While in Antarctica:

  • 2013/07/31: SkS: East Antarctica Ice-Sheet more vulnerable to melting than we thought: new research by John Mason

  The food crisis is ongoing:

  • 2013/08/03: WSWS: US Congress prepares to cut food stamps for millions
  • 2013/08/02: Guardian(UK): As climate change bites, Tasmania raises a glass to its grape expectations
  • 2013/08/02: BBC: Bat killing [White Nose Syndrome] fungus confirmed in Arkansas
    A fungus that leads to a deadly disease that has killed almost seven million bats in the US is continuing its spread westwards, results have shown.
  • 2013/08/01: GLaden: The Problem With The Global Food Supply: New Research
  • 2013/08/01: AP: GOP prepares bill to cut food stamps by 5 percent

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

  • 2013/08/01: ABC(Au): New clean, green prawn food a 'game changer'
    Researchers say a new food additive is set to revolutionise the way farmed prawns are fed. The CSIRO has spent the past 10 years working on an alternative to using wild harvested fish products.
    Of the 90 million tonnes of fish caught from the world's oceans each year, one third is ground up and fed to farmed fish. Dr Nigel Preston says being able to grow and harvest marine microbes instead is a "game changer" for the aquaculture industry.
  • 2013/08/01: EurActiv: EU agrees to sanction Faroe Islands over herring catch
    EU member states have agreed to support sanctions against the Faroe Islands, including a possible import ban or closing its ports to its boats, to protest the islands' decision to triple the limit on herring fishing.
  • 2013/07/31: EUO: EU adopts fish sanctions against Faroe Islands

  Regarding the genetic modification of food:

  • 2013/08/02: RT: GMO green light? French court overturns ban on Monsanto corn
  • 2013/08/01: RawStory: French court overturns ban on Monsanto's genetically modified corn
    France's highest administrative court rejected on Thursday a government ban on growing Monsanto's MON810 genetically modified maize (corn).
    In its ruling, the Conseil d'Etat said under European Union law such a measure could only be imposed in an emergency or if there was a serious health or environmental risk.
    This marks the second time in two years that the State Council has overturned a government ban on growing MON810. France...
  • 2013/07/31: UDW: Argentina: Millions Against Monsanto
  • 2013/07/31: UDW: Battle Over Seeds Heats Up in Argentina
  • 2013/07/30: Grist: Genetically engineered food: Allergic to regulations?
  • 2013/07/30: KSJT: Something is missing in Amy Harmon's story on genetically engineered oranges
  • 2013/07/30: KSJT: NYTimes - Terrific story on hope for a citrus greening-proofed orange; Michael Pollan tweet gets smack down.
  • 2013/07/29: Grist: Orange you ready for a tall glass of GMOs?
  • 2013/07/29: UCSUSA:B: Genetic Technology's Answer to A Major Insect Pest

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

  • 2013/08/02: CBC: Schmeat served: Advances in stem cell, lab-grown meat
  • 2013/08/01: Eureka: Existing cropland could feed 4 billion more
    New University of Minnesota research shows reallocating croplands away from fuels and animal feed could boost food available for people by 70 percent without clearing more land
  • 2013/07/30: Guardian(UK): Peter Kendall puts all our eggs in one basket
    The president of the NFU is right to recognise the gravity of climate change. But the RSPB disagrees with his solution

  This N-Fix bacteria discovery could be highly significant:

   

• 2013/08/03: CleanTechnica: Breakthrough Technology Enables Crops To Take Nitrogen From The Air - Effective Means To Replace Nitrogen Fertilizers Developed
• 2013/08/01: NBF: Nitrogen fixing bacteria will enable all plants to get nitrogen without fertilizer
• 2013/07/30: PeakEnergy: World changing technology enables crops to take nitrogen from the air
• 2013/07/25: UNottingham: World changing technology enables crops to take nitrogen from the air
  A major new technology has been developed by The University of Nottingham, which enables all of the world's crops to take nitrogen from the air rather than expensive and environmentally damaging fertilisers.
  Nitrogen fixation, the process by which nitrogen is converted to ammonia, is vital for plants to survive and grow. However, only a very small number of plants, most notably legumes (such as peas, beans and lentils) have the ability to fix nitrogen from the atmosphere with the help of nitrogen fixing bacteria. The vast majority of plants have to obtain nitrogen from the soil, and for most crops currently being grown across the world, this also means a reliance on synthetic nitrogen fertiliser.
  Professor Edward Cocking, Director of The University of Nottingham's Centre for Crop Nitrogen Fixation, has developed a unique method of putting nitrogen-fixing bacteria into the cells of plant roots.
• 
  

  In the Western Pacific, Tropical Storm Jebi took a run at Hainan and the mainland beyond:

   

  • 2013/08/02: Xinhuanet: 5,000 stranded at airport as tropical storm Jebi approaches
  • 2013/08/01: Xinhuanet: China issues yellow wave warning for tropical storm Jebi
  • 2013/08/01: NASA: NASA Sees Another Landfall and "Return of the Jebi"

  Flossie, Gil and a string of TDs spun up in the warm waters of the Eastern Pacific:

   

• 2013/08/02: IndiaTimes: Hurricane Gil strengthens slightly in Pacific: Forecast
• 2013/08/02: NASA: NASA Sees Active Tropical Eastern Pacific Ocean
• 2013/07/31: Eureka: Satellite sees Flossie fizzle fast
• 2013/07/31: Eureka: NASA finds powerful storms in quickly intensifying Tropical Storm Gil
• 2013/07/30: Wunderground: Flossie Causes Little Trouble for Hawaii; Dorian's Remnants Falling Apart
• 2013/07/30: Eureka: A NASA infrared baby picture of Tropical Depression 7E
• 2013/07/30: Eureka: NASA sees little rainfall in Tropical Depression Flossie
• 2013/07/30: CNN: Flossie weakens after slamming Hawaii
  Storm a remnant area of low pressure, forecasters say - Some areas could get up to 6 inches of rain - Up to 10,000 customers have been without power - Residents snack while storm passes
• 2013/07/30: Wunderground: Weakening Flossie Closes in on Hawaii; ex-Dorian More Organized
• 2013/07/30: IOTD: Tropical Storm Flossie [on July 28]
• 2013/07/29: Eureka: NASA sees Tropical Storm Flossie near Hawaii
• 2013/07/29: CNN: Weakened, Tropical Storm Flossie nears Hawaii
  Tropical Storm Flossie weakens but still brings a threat of heavy rain to Hawaii - Some areas could get up to 15 inches of rain - Some government offices and schools plan to remain closed Monday, KFVE reports
• 2013/07/28: Wunderground: Tropical Storm Flossie Takes Aim at Hawaii
• 2013/07/28: CSM: Tropical storm Flossie weakens as approaches Hawaii
  

  In the Atlantic, Dorian faded and then attempted a comeback:

• 2013/08/03: Wunderground: Dorian Makes a Short-Lived Comeback as a Tropical Depression
• 2013/08/02: Wunderground: Ex-Dorian Attempting a Comeback off the Florida Coast
• 2013/07/30: Eureka: Satellite shows ex-Tropical Storm Dorian's remnants elongated
• 2013/07/29: Eureka: NASA keeping an eye on Dorian's remnants -- Former tropical storm still a remnant low pressure area
  

  While elsewhere in the hurricane wars:

• 2013/07/31: Wunderground: Massive African Dust Storm Cooling Atlantic Hurricane Odds for Early August
  

  This week in the New Normal -- extreme weather:

  • 2013/08/03: DD: Global warming more rapid than any time in the last 65 million years, 'presents terrestrial ecosystems with an environment that is unprecedented in recent evolutionary history'
  • 2013/08/02: TMoS: "This Is The Future. Get Used To It."
    China has declared a "level 2" weather emergency, a warning normally reserved for typhoons. This time it's for a massive and prolonged heat wave that has settled in over the south and east with cities seeing more than three weeks of continuous 35C plus temperatures.
  • 2013/08/01: TP:JR: Halfway Through 2013, The 5 Worst Extreme Weather Events Show The Damage Is As Bad As Ever
  • 2013/07/30: RTCC: Timeline: extreme weather and climate-related events in 2013

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

  • 2013/07/31: UCSUSA:B: Wacky Weather, a Warmer Arctic, and a Slower Jet Stream -- Is There a Link?
  • 2013/07/30: RScribbler: Global Warming Rolls Climate Dice Yet Again: High Amplitude Jet Stream Wave Brings Late July Melt Surge to Greenland

  As for GHGs:

  • 2013/08/03: Grist: Greenhouse gas emissions explained, in seven balloons
  • 2013/08/01: CCurrents: Dams Contribute To GHG Emissions
  • 2013/07/31: Grist: $100 million worth of natural gas goes up in flames every month in North Dakota
  • 2013/07/31: RTCC: North Dakota gas flares equal to a million extra cars on road
  • 2013/07/30: CERES: New Report: North Dakota Natural Gas Flaring More Than Doubles in Two Years
    Ceres' Analysis Shows North Dakota Oil Industry Burned Off $1 Billion of Natural Gas in 2012; Industry Now Flares $3.6 Million Each Day
  • 2013/07/30: ICN: Efficiency Drove U.S. Emissions Decline, Not Natural Gas, Study Says
    Conventional wisdom says switching to natural gas is why CO2 fell last year, but a recent analysis found a different explanation.
  • 2013/07/29: Reuters: Bakken flaring burns more than $100 million a month
    Oil drillers in North Dakota's Bakken shale fields are allowing nearly a third of the natural gas they drill to burn off into the air, with a value of more than $100 million per month, according to a study to be released on Monday.
  • 2013/07/29: TP:JR: Report: Emissions From North Dakota Flaring Equivalent To One Million Cars Per Year

  And the temperature record:

  • 2013/08/03: QuarkSoup: Lower Troposphere: Warmest 5 Years in the Record
  • 2013/08/01: ABC(Au): Australia's still heating up in 2013
  • 2013/07/31: CChallenge: MET Office: The Recent "Pause" in Warming - 3 papers
  • 2013/07/31: DD: 2013 shaping up to be one of Australia's hottest years on record...
  • 2013/07/30: TheConversation: 2013 shaping up to be one of Australia's hottest years on record
  • 2013/07/30: UKISS: No Support for GW "slowdown"

  Yes we have feedbacks:

  • 2013/07/31: TCoE: The most terrifying climate finding you've seen (so far)

  Aerosols are making their presence felt:

  • 2013/08/01: IOTD: A Persistent Plume over the Red Sea [July 1-27]
  • 2013/07/30: MODIS: Saharan dust over the Atlantic Ocean
  • 2013/07/25: CSIRO: Climate science boost with tropical aerosols profile
    The seasonal influence of aerosols on Australia's tropical climate can now be included in climate models following completion of the first long-term study of fine smoke particles generated by burning of the savanna open woodland and grassland.

  While in the paleoclimate:

  • 2013/08/02: AFTIC: What did temperatures do as the last glacial minimum ended 120K years ago?
  • 2013/08/01: BBC: Ice core data supports ancient space impact idea
    New data from Greenland ice cores suggest North America may have suffered a large cosmic impact about 12,900 years ago.
    A layer of platinum is seen in ice of the same age as a known abrupt climate transition, US scientists report.
  • 2013/07/31: NatureN: Archaeology: The milk revolution
    When a single genetic mutation first let ancient Europeans drink milk, it set the stage for a continental upheaval.
  • 2013/07/29: SciNews: Oxygen boost aided carnivore evolution in Cambrian Explosion
  • 2013/07/29: Eureka: Ice-free Arctic winters could explain amplified warming during Pliocene

  What's the State of the Oceans?:

  • 2013/07/30: Grist: Gulf of Mexico dead zone is big [5,840 square miles], but not record-breaking big
  • 2013/07/29: Eureka: NOAA-supported scientists find large Gulf dead zone, but smaller than predicted
  • 2013/07/29: BBC: Warm weather sees boom in UK jellyfish blooms
  • 2013/07/29: NOAANews: NOAA-supported scientists find large Gulf dead zone, but smaller than predicted

  What's the State of the Biosphere?

  • 2013/07/30: TheConversation: Why cane toads give us small hope for climate change
  • 2013/07/29: CSM: Why the return of the wolf is good news for the bear
  • 2013/07/29: Eureka: Borneo's orangutans are coming down from the trees -- Newly recorded behavior may show adaptation to habitat change

  On the extinction watch:

  • 2013/08/03: DD: Populations of grassland butterflies in Europe decline almost 50 percent over two decades
  • 2013/08/02: DD: Florida declares two butterfly species extinct as pollinator crisis worsens
  • 2013/08/02: SciAm:EC: Once Extinct in the Wild, Galapagos Giant Tortoises Return to Pinzon Island
  • 2013/08/02: BBC: Bat killing [White Nose Syndrome] fungus confirmed in Arkansas
    A fungus that leads to a deadly disease that has killed almost seven million bats in the US is continuing its spread westwards, results have shown.
  • 2013/07/30: Guardian(UK): Nepal's tiger population on the rise
  • 2013/07/29: DD: Graph of the Day: Decline of U.K. wildlife, 1968-2010

  The bees and Colony Collapse Disorder are a constant concern.
  And then, there are the Neonicotinoids:

  • 2013/07/26: Guardian(UK): Government bee scientist behind controversial study joins pesticide firm
    MP raises fears that government agency and pesticides industry are 'too close' as Dr Helen Thompson moves to Syngenta
  • 2013/07/31: TheCanadian: Scientists work to solve mystery of dying bees [Suzuki]

  What's up with volcanoes this week?

  • 2013/08/03: IOTD: Ash and Snow, Veniamonof Volcano [Alaska, on July 9 & 25]

  Meanwhile in near earth orbit:

  • 2013/08/03: CCP: SkyTruth, the environment and the satellite revolution

  More GW impacts are being seen:

  • 2013/08/02: DD: How global warming is spreading toxic dust...
  • 2013/08/01: TMoS: We Emit, These People Get the Tab
  • 2013/08/01: CCentral: Ecosystems Face Unprecedented 'Climate Change Velocity'
  • 2013/07/29: BBC: The Alaskan village set to disappear under water in a decade
    Almost no one in America has heard of the Alaskan village of Kivalina. It clings to a narrow spit of sand on the edge of the Bering Sea, far too small to feature on maps of Alaska, never mind the United States.
    Which is perhaps just as well, because within a decade Kivalina is likely to be under water. Gone, forever. Remembered - if at all - as the birthplace of America's first climate change refugees.
  • 2013/07/29: ERabett: Variability Makes Stuff Tuff
  • 2013/07/28: DD: Global warming, ticks hitting New Hampshire moose population...

  And then there are the world's forests:

  • 2013/08/03: DD: Graph of the Day: Deforestation in the Peruvian Amazon, 2004-2012
  • 2013/08/01: CCurrents: Peru's Culture Ministry Blocks Expansion Of Camisea Gas Project In The Amazon
  • 2013/07/30: DD: Palm oil plantation drives Malaysian rainforest tree to extinction...

  Climate refugees are becoming an issue:

  • 2013/08/02: Guardian(UK): Sahel villagers fleeing climate change must not be ignored
    Those displaced by climate change are not granted refugee status or protection. Their plight should not be overlooked

  Changes in natural cycles are showing up:

  • 2013/08/02: ABC(Au): Climate researchers say an early spring in Sydney is warning sign
  • 2013/07/31: ABC(Au): Tasmanian blueberries fuel growth and jobs
    Weather is the biggest risk for one of northern Tasmania's expanding horticultural businesses.
    This winter the Lebrina blueberry venture, Naturally Blue, is seeing buds burst and fruit form, because there haven't been enough hard frosts.

  On the tornado front:

  • 2013/08/04: ABC(Au): Small tornado rips up roofs, uproots trees in South Australia town of Kingston

  As for heatwaves and wild fires:

  • 2013/08/04: MODIS: Smoke and fires in central Canada [on July 25]
  • 2013/08/03: DD: China endures worst heat wave in at least 140 years, weather emergency declared, dozens killed across 40 cities and counties
  • 2013/08/03: MODIS: Fires across central Russia [on July 25]
  • 2013/08/02: RTCC: New map charts spread of Indonesia's forest fires
    Mapping resource shows the source of forest fires in Indonesia - and largest companies aren't (wholly) to blame
  • 2013/08/02: RScribbler: Worst Heatwave in 140 Years Turns Deadly After Scorching China for More than a Month; Forecast Predicts No Relief
  • 2013/08/02: IOTD: Heat Intensifies Siberian Wildfires [on July 20-27]
  • 2013/08/01: Grist: Alaska's heat wave breaking records, killing salmon
  • 2013/08/01: CCP: China swelters in record heat wave
  • 2013/08/01: MSU: Extreme wildfires likely fueled by climate change
  • 2013/08/01: CSM: China heat wave: It's so hot, manhole covers cook food
  • 2013/07/31: ABC(Au): China: 10 dead in Shanghai amid hottest temperatures in 140 years
  • 2013/07/31: Xinhuanet: Xinhua Insight: Sweltering summer heats up jokes, economy
  • 2013/07/31: IndiaTimes: At least 10 dead as record heatwave hits Shanghai
  • 2013/07/31: BBC: China issues heat alert as 'hottest July' hits Shanghai
    Temperatures in parts of China have hit record highs, prompting an emergency level-two nationwide heat alert for the first time.
    [...]
    According to figures from the Shanghai Meteorological bureau, Shanghai has seen 24 days with temperatures at or above 35C in July.
  • 2013/07/31: IOTD: Mile Marker 28 Fire, Washington [on July 28]
  • 2013/07/31: MODIS: Fires and smoke in Indonesia
  • 2013/07/30: Grist: More wildfires = more warming = more wildfires
  • 2013/07/29: RTCC: Alaska forest fires 'worst for 10,000 years'
  • 2013/07/29: MODIS: Fires in Idaho [on July 20]

  Corals are a bellwether of the ocean's health:

  • 2013/08/01: Guardian(UK): Caribbean has lost 80% of its coral reef cover in recent years
  • 2013/07/31: TreeHugger: Massive expansion of [Catlin Seaview Survey] to study impact of climate change on coral reefs
  • 2013/07/30: UKISS: With coral all things are relative

  Glaciers are melting:

  • 2013/08/04: IOTD: Copper River Delta [on May 28]
  • 2013/07/30: TStar: Climate change's nasty new natural disaster: 'Himalayan tsunamis'
    The growing volume of meltwater is dangerously increasing the risk of sudden glacial lake outburst flood, and the people living below are in grave danger.
  • 2013/07/30: TP:JR: Greenland And Antarctica 'May Be Vulnerable To Rapid Ice Loss Through Catastrophic Disintegration'
  • 2013/07/30: FaGP: Index to 300 Glacier Posts & North Cascade Glacier Climate Project 2013 Field Season
  • 2013/07/29: FaGP: Tracy Gletscher Retreat 1987-2013, Northwest Greenland

  Sea levels are rising:

  • 2013/08/04: ItsNotNova: Willie Soon, "I just don't understand"
  • 2013/08/01: CAbyss: Being Noncommittal About Sea Level Rise
  • 2013/08/01: Tamino: Observe Closely
  • 2013/07/31: Grist: We are consigning hundreds of coastal cities to destruction. Who cares?
  • 2013/07/29: RawStory: More than 1,700 U.S. cities will be partially underwater by 2100: study
  • 2013/07/29: Guardian(UK): Climate study predicts a watery future for New York, Boston and Miami

  As for hydrological cycle disruptions [floods & droughts]:

  • 2013/08/03: CNN: Scores killed by flash floods in Afghanistan
    More than 70 people in a district east of Kabul die, local leader says - Fast-moving waters wipe away villages and destroy homes - Other villagers lost in Nuristan and Khost provinces, government says
  • 2013/08/03: Xinhuanet: Droughts lingers in Guizhou, affecting over 13 mln people [pix]
  • 2013/08/03: ABC(Au): Landslide kills two children in Philippines
    Two children have been killed in a landslide on Saturday as heavy rains battered the southern Philippines, bringing flooding to large areas.
  • 2013/08/01: ERW: Atmospheric rivers set to increase UK winter flooding
  • 2013/07/31: ABC(Au): Floods hit Myanmar forcing 25,000 into relief camps
  • 2013/07/31: Grist: Harsh drought is drying up New Mexico's largest reservoir [Elephant Butte Reservoir]
  • 2013/07/30: TP:JR: New Mexico's Elephant Butte Reservoir Dries Up
  • 2013/07/30: Grist: In this time-lapse video, you can see Texas' reservoirs disappearing
  • 2013/07/28: Xinhuanet: Over 10,000 affected by N China floods

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

  • 2013/08/01: TheConversation: Are farmers the future of carbon management?

  Consider transportation & GHG production:

  • 2013/08/01: CalcRisk: U.S. Light Vehicle Sales decline to 15.6 million annual rate in July, Best July since 2006
  • 2013/07/31: BPA: Propane Use In Agriculture on the Uptick
  • 2013/07/30: PeakEnergy: Could Natural Gas Fuel a Trucking Revolution?

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

  • 2013/08/02: TreeHugger: How the language of green building has changed; now it's just weather-proofing
  • 2013/07/31: TreeHugger: LEED-bashing: Is the Bank of America Building really a "toxic tower"?

  As for carbon sequestration:

  • 2013/07/29: GEP: US and China Announce Further Collaboration on CCS

  Large scale geo-engineering keeps popping up:

  • 2013/08/03: PeakEnergy: The CIA Wants To Control the Climate!!!!
  • 2013/08/02: RTCC: Poisonous [Jatropha] trees planted in desert could mitigate climate change
    Intensive carbon farming could absorb all the CO2 produced by vehicles in Germany over two decades
  • 2013/08/02: KSJT: A Properly Skeptical Look at Intentional Climate Change Schemes
  • 2013/08/01: BBC: Desert 'carbon farming' to curb CO2
    Scientists say that planting large numbers of jatropha trees in desert areas could be an effective way of curbing emissions of CO2.
    Dubbed "carbon farming", researchers say the idea is economically competitive with high-tech carbon capture and storage projects.
  • 2013/08/01: CCurrents: Planting Trees In Arid Regions Could Mitigate Climate Crisis
  • 2013/08/01: Grist:Should we turn deserts into carbon-sucking tree plantations?
  • 2013/08/01: GEP: Ecologic Institute Pushes Restrictive Approach to Geoengineering Governance
  • 2013/07/29: Guardian(UK): Messing with nature? Geoengineering and green thought

  What's new in conservation?

  • 2013/07/31: TheConversation: Few hear the cries of those fighting to save wild Russia
  • 2013/07/29: Guardian(UK): We've been asking the wrong questions about conservation

  While on the adaptation front:

  • 2013/07/31: ABC(Au): Preparing vines for climate change
  • 2013/07/29: Resilience: Living laboratory for coping with drought in Brazil

  Meanwhile in the journals:

  • 2013/07/30: PNAS: (ab$) Patterns of new versus recycled primary production in the terrestrial biosphere by Cory C. Cleveland et al.
  • 2013/07/30: PNAS: (ab$) Determinants of plant establishment success in a multispecies introduction experiment with native and alien species by Anne Kempel et al.
  • 2013/07/30: PNAS: (abs) Community dynamics and ecosystem simplification in a high-CO2 ocean by Kristy J. Kroeker et al.
  • 2013/07/30: PNAS: (abs) Species-fragmented area relationship by Ilkka Hanski et al.
  • 2013/07/30: PNAS: (ab$) Crop manuring and intensive land management by Europe's first farmers by Amy Bogaard et al.
  • 2013/07/30: PNAS: (abs) Joint CO2 and CH4 accountability for global warming by Kirk R. Smith et al.
  • 2013/07/30: PNAS: (ab$) Reducing spread in climate model projections of a September ice-free Arctic by Jiping Liu et al.
  • 2013/07/30: PNAS: (ab$) The case for distributed irrigation as a development priority in sub-Saharan Africa by Jennifer A. Burney et al.
  • 2013/07/30: PNAS: (letter$) Reply to Kline et al.: Cropland data layer provides a valid assessment of recent grassland conversion in the Western Corn Belt by Christopher K. Wright & Michael C. Wimberly
  • 2013/07/30: PNAS: (letter$) Cultivated hay and fallow/idle cropland confound analysis of grassland conversion in the Western Corn Belt by Keith L. Kline et al.
  • 2013/07/30: PNAS: (letter$) Reply to Carnicer et al.: Environmental heterogeneity reduces breeding bird richness in Catalonia by increasing extinction rates by Omri Allouche et al.
  • 2013/07/30: PNAS: (letter$) Improved empirical tests of area-heterogeneity tradeoffs by Jofre Carnicera et al.
  • 2013/07/30: PNAS: (letter$) Reply to Wang et al.: Snow cover and air temperature affect the rate of changes in spring phenology in the Tibetan Plateau by Jinwei Dong et al.
  • 2013/07/30: PNAS: (letter$) Declining snow cover may affect spring phenological trend on the Tibetan Plateau by Tao Wang et al.
  • 2013/07/28: Nature:CC: (ab$) Global soil carbon projections are improved by modelling microbial processes by William R. Wieder et al.
  • 2013/07/28: Nature:CC: (ab$) Long-term CO2 production following permafrost thaw by Bo Elberling et al.
  • 2013/07/28: Nature:GeoSci: (ab$) Ice sheet collapse following a prolonged period of stable sea level during the last interglacial by Michael J. O'Leary et al.
  • 2013/07/28: Nature:GeoSci: (ab$) Subduction zone earthquake as potential trigger of submarine hydrocarbon seepage by David Fischer et al.
  • 2013/07/28: Nature:GeoSci: (ab$) Low simulated radiation limit for runaway greenhouse climates by Colin Goldblatt et al.
  • 2013/07/30: Nature:GeoSci: (ab$) Troubling milestone for CO2 by Nicola Jones
  • 2013/07/25: AMS:JoC: (ab$) If anthropogenic CO2 emissions cease, will atmospheric CO2 concentration continue to increase? by Andrew H. MacDougall et al.
  • 2013/07/31: ESD: Carbon farming in hot, dry coastal areas: an option for climate change mitigation by K. Becker et al.
  • 2013/07/31: ESD: A trend-preserving bias correction - the ISI-MIP approach by S. Hempel et al.
  • 2013/07/30: ESD: Hydrological cycle over South and Southeast Asian river basins as simulated by PCMDI/CMIP3 experiments by S. Hasson et al.
  • 2013/07/30: ESDD: Seasonality of the hydrological cycle in major South and Southeast Asian River Basins as simulated by PCMDI/CMIP3 experiments by S. Hasson et al.
  • 2013/08/01: ACP: Changes in particulate matter physical properties during Saharan advections over Rome (Italy): a four-year study, 2001-2004 by G. P. Gobbi et al.
  • 2013/08/01: ACP: Aerosol and precipitation chemistry in the southwestern United States: spatiotemporal trends and interrelationships by A. Sorooshian et al.
  • 2013/07/30: ACP: Ultrafine sea spray aerosol over the southeastern Pacific: open-ocean contributions to marine boundary layer CCN by R. Blot et al.
  • 2013/07/30: ACP: Combustion efficiency and emission factors for wildfire-season fires in mixed conifer forests of the northern Rocky Mountains, US by S. P. Urbanski
  • 2013/07/29: ACP: Towards better error statistics for atmospheric inversions of methane surface fluxes by A. Berchet et al.
  • 2013/07/29: ACP: Dust vertical profile impact on global radiative forcing estimation using a coupled chemical-transport-radiative-transfer model by L. Zhang et al.
  • 2013/07/31: ACPD: Seasonal variability and long-term evolution of tropospheric composition in the tropics and Southern Hemisphere by K. M. Wai & S. Wu
  • 2013/08/01: ERL: Redefining agricultural yields: from tonnes to people nourished per hectare by Emily S Cassidy et al.
  • 2013/07/30: BG: Origin of the Hawaiian rainforest and its transition states in long-term primary succession by D. Mueller-Dombois & H. J. Boehmer
  • 2013/07/30: BG: Revisiting factors controlling methane emissions from high-Arctic tundra by M. Mastepanov et al.
  • 2013/08/02: BGD: Different seasonality of pelagic and benthic Thaumarchaeota in the North Sea by N. J. Bale et al.
  • 2013/07/31: BGD: Small diversity effects on ocean primary production under environmental change in a diversity-resolving ocean ecosystem model by A. E. F. Prowe et al.
  • 2013/07/30: BGD: Antarctic Ice Sheet fertilises the Southern Ocean by R. Death et al.
  • 2013/08/02: CP: The last interglacial (Eemian) climate simulated by LOVECLIM and CCSM3 by I. Nikolova et al.
  • 2013/08/02: CP: Coupled regional climate-ice-sheet simulation shows limited Greenland ice loss during the Eemian by M. M. Helsen et al.
  • 2013/08/02: CP: Assessing the impact of late Pleistocene megafaunal extinctions on global vegetation and climate by M.-O. Brault et al.
  • 2013/08/01: CP: On the effect of orbital forcing on mid-Pliocene climate, vegetation and ice sheets by M. Willeit et al.
  • 2013/08/01: CP: The Antarctic ice core chronology (AICC2012): an optimized multi-parameter and multi-site dating approach for the last 120 thousand years by D. Veres et al.
  • 2013/08/01: CP: An optimized multi-proxy, multi-site Antarctic ice and gas orbital chronology (AICC2012): 120-800 ka by L. Bazin et al.
  • 2013/08/01: CP: LGM permafrost distribution: how well can the latest PMIP multi-model ensembles perform reconstruction? by K. Saito et al.
  • 2013/07/31: CP: Tropical vegetation response to Heinrich Event 1 as simulated with the UVic ESCM and CCSM3 by D. Handiani et al.
  • 2013/07/30: CP: A regional climate palaeosimulation for Europe in the period 1500-1990 - Part 1: Model validation by J. J. Gómez-Navarro et al.
  • 2013/07/29: CP: Caspian sea-level changes during the last millennium: historical and geological evidence from the south Caspian Sea by A. Naderi Beni et al.
  • 2013/07/29: CP: The Holocene thermal maximum in the Nordic Seas: the impact of Greenland Ice Sheet melt and other forcings in a coupled atmosphere-sea-ice-ocean model by M. Blaschek & H. Renssen
  • 2013/07/31: CPD: Black shale deposition during Toarcian super-greenhouse driven by sea level by M. Hermoso et al.
  • 2013/07/31: CPD: Increased aridity in southwestern Africa during the last-interglacial warmest periods by D. H. Urrego et al.
  • 2013/07/30: CPD: Reconstruction of Atlantic Water variability during the Holocene in the western Barents Sea by D. E. Groot et al.
  • 2013/07/29: CPD: Proof in climatology for circulation effect of stalagmite ?18O in East Asia: analysis on the ratios among water vapor transport passageway intensities in East Asia by S. Nan et al.
  • 2013/08/02: AGWObserver: Papers on global surface temperature since 1998
  • 2013/08/02: ESD: The sensitivity of the modeled energy budget and hydrological cycle to CO2 and solar forcing by N. Schaller et al.
  • 2013/08/02: ACP: European atmosphere in 2050, a regional air quality and climate perspective under CMIP5 scenarios by A. Colette et al.
  • 2013/08/02: ACP: The thermodynamic state of the Arctic atmosphere observed by AIRS: comparisons during the record minimum sea ice extents of 2007 and 2012 by A. Devasthale et al.
  • 2013/08/02: ACP: A decadal satellite analysis of the origins and impacts of smoke in Colorado by M. Val Martin et al.
  • 2013/08/02: ACP: Observations of fluorescent and biological aerosol at a high-altitude site in central France by A. M. Gabey et al.
  • 2013/08/02: ACPD: In-situ physical and chemical characterization of the Eyjafjallajökull aerosol plume in the free troposphere over Italy by S. Sandrini et al.
  • 2013/07/31: TCD: Albedo over snow and ice penitents by J. Abermann et al.
  • 2013/07/29: GMD: WRFv3.2-SPAv2: development and validation of a coupled ecosystem-atmosphere model, scaling from surface fluxes of CO2 and energy to atmospheric profiles by T. L. Smallman et al.
  • 2013/07/30: OS: Comparing historical and modern methods of sea surface temperature measurement - Part 2: Field comparison in the central tropical Pacific by J. B. R. Matthews & J. B. Matthews
  • 2013/07/30: OS: Comparing historical and modern methods of sea surface temperature measurement - Part 1: Review of methods, field comparisons and dataset adjustments by J. B. R. Matthews
  • 2013/07/30: TC: The effects of additional black carbon on the albedo of Arctic sea ice: variation with sea ice type and snow cover by A. A. Marks & M. D. King
  • 2013/08/01: Science: (ab$) Quantifying the Influence of Climate on Human Conflict by Solomon M. Hsiang et al.
  • 2013/07/28: Nature:GeoSci: (ab$) Low simulated radiation limit for runaway greenhouse climates by Colin Goldblatt et al.

  As for miscellaneous science:

  • 2013/08/02: TheConversation: What can history tell us about species coping with climate change?
  • 2013/08/01: TUM: New system for early detection of plant spread in water bodies -- Aerial pictures reveal climate change
  • 2013/07/31: NASA: Seeing Which Way the Wind Blows: New Doppler Radar Takes Flight on This Summer's HS3 Mission
  • 2013/07/29: Stoat: Repeatability of Large Computations
  • 2013/07/29: SciNews: Wetter permafrost clings to carbon better
    In 12-year lab study, moist soil samples released less greenhouse gas as they warmed

  In the science organizations:

  • 2013/08/01: ScienceInsider: Turkish Government Unfairly Prosecuting Eight Academics, Report Concludes
  • 2013/08/01: NatureNB: Academies expose plight of jailed Turkish scientists
  • 2013/08/01: NatureN: Brazil's science investment reaches record high
  • 2013/08/01: ScienceInsider: Australia's Top Scientist [Ian Chubb] Calls for a National Strategic Science Policy

  What's new in models?

  • 2013/07/31: ERW: Insight: how good are climate models?
  • 2013/07/29: MetaSD: Model quality: the missing link

  What developments in the ongoing struggle for Open Science?

  • 2013/08/03: NatureNB: University of California adopts open-access publishing policy
  • 2013/08/02: SciAm:AM: Wassup, Wikipedia? Oh ... wow!
  • 2013/07/30: MathBabe: The Stacks Project gets ever awesomer with new viz
  • 2013/07/30: NotEvenWrong: Latest from the Stacks Project
  • 2013/07/29: JCBaez: The Selected Papers Network (Part 4) by Christopher Lee

  Tamsin Edwards got people talking about advocacy:

  • 2013/07/31: Guardian(UK): Climate scientists must not advocate particular policies [says Tamsin Edwards]
  • 2013/08/01: DMcNeall: Some more thoughts on advocacy in climate science
  • 2013/08/01: V V: Tamsin Edwards, what is advocacy?
  • 2013/08/02: HotWhopper: Policy postscript - where Judith Curry is wrong
  • 2013/08/01: HotWhopper: Okay, I'll bite...should scientists be "neutral"?
  • 2013/07/31: 14ter: Some random thoughts on advocacy
  • 2013/08/01: WottsUWTB: Science and policy
  • 2013/08/01: JEB: Should climate scientists engage in advocacy?
  • 2013/08/01: Stoat: Two opinion pieces. Or three, if you count James. But that's four if you count me. Oh hang on, I'll come in again.
  • 2013/07/31: UCSUSA:B: Scientists Have a Responsibility to Engage

  Meanwhile at the UN:

  • 2013/08/02: UN: Ban names Mauritanian as deputy head of UN environment programme

  The Fifth IPCC report is coming up:

  • 2013/08/03: CCP: What climate scientists talk about now (Financial Times Magazine)
  • 2013/07/30: WtD: Uncertainty is not our friend: leaked IPCC report confirms climate change still dangerous
  • 2013/07/30: SciAm:Obs: More Carbon Emissions = Less Global Warming?

  And on the carbon trading front:

  • 2013/08/02: TheConversation: California calling: Australia isn't alone on carbon action
  • 2013/07/30: RTCC: UN to open carbon market offices in Bogota and Manila

  The idea of a carbon tax is still bouncing around:

  • 2013/07/31: RenewablesInt: Switzerland raises carbon tax by two thirds
    Switzerland was one of the numerous countries that missed its Kyoto target for the end of 2012. But now, the country has decided to implement a steep carbon tax in 2014 to make up for lost ground.

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

  • 2013/08/03: CSM: Why US senators want tougher sanctions on Iran's new president
    As Iran's new president takes over, new U.S. penalties against the country appear a done deal.
    In a letter to President Barack Obama, 76 senators are demanding tougher punishment on Iran's economy until the Islamic republic scales back its nuclear program. It also urges Obama to consider military options while keeping the door open to diplomacy.
    The Senate letter, a copy of which was obtained Saturday by The Associated Press, comes just days after the House overwhelmingly passed new restrictions on Iran's oil sector and its mining and construction industries. Senators are expected to take up the same package in September.
  • 2013/08/03: EUO: As Iran changes, EU and US stand still
    When Iranians on Saturday (3 August) mark the inauguration of Hassan Rohani, a moderate cleric, as their new President, they will be doing so in the context of an international effort to depict the event as irrelevant at best and dangerous at worst.
  • 2013/08/01: Guardian(UK): Iran condemns tougher US oil sanctions bill passed by House
  • 2013/07/31: Asia Times: Ex-envoy sheds light on Iran nuclear claim
  • 2013/07/23: SST: Iran, Iraq and Syria are building a pipeline together. - Escobar

  South [& East] China Sea tension persists:

  • 2013/08/02: Asia Times: Philippines, Vietnam take China hedges
  • 2013/07/31: RT: Irritating China: US increases military assistance to Philippines
  • 2013/07/29: WSWS: Japan seeks pre-emptive military strike capabilities

  In the "global competition for natural resources":

  • 2013/07/29: ABC(Au): Precious helium is 'just being let go'

  This week in the solar squabbles between China and Europe:

  • 2013/07/30: EurActiv: Cooler heads prevail in EU, China trade row over wine and solar panels
    China has agreed to discuss dropping its inquiry into whether Europe is dumping wine, the EU's trade chief said on Monday (29 July), after EU and Chinese officials made a deal to avoid tariffs on solar panels from China.
  • 2013/07/29: Xinhuanet: Commentary: EU-China solar panel deal averts crisis, benefits world
  • 2013/07/29: EUO: EU settles trade dispute with China, warns member states
    The EU has defended a deal with China over solar panel imports amid criticism it has caved into Bejing's demands.
  • 2013/07/28: CleanTechnica: China Solar Antidumping Case Settled
  • 2013/07/28: RealEconomics: A reasonable solution on solar panels

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

  • 2013/08/03: WSWS: Sri Lankan army fires on protesters, killing 17-year-old youth
  • 2013/08/02: Xinhuanet: One dead, 29 wounded in Sri Lanka local protest over polluted water
  • 2013/08/02: CBC: 1 dead, 15 wounded in Sri Lanka protest over clean water -- Local TV footage shows soldiers firing at fleeing demonstrators
    One person has been killed and about 15 wounded when Sri Lanka's military shot at protesters demanding clean drinking water, according to television footage and demonstrators.
    The shooting happened Thursday evening in Weliweriya, 20 kilometres northeast of the capital, Colombo, when more than 4,000 protesters had gathered to demand action after chemical emissions from a factory had polluted drinking water in about 15 local villages, said one protester, who spoke on condition of anonymity, fearing reprisals.

  What are the activists up to?

  • 2013/08/02: TreeHugger: Activists Raise Awareness of Toxic Coal Pollution in Our Waterways
  • 2013/08/01: MoabTimes: Demonstrators block road at site of proposed tar sands mine in Book Cliffs
  • 2013/08/01: Guardian(UK): Frack Off protesters bring a little fire engine trouble to Balcombe oil site
    Fracking firm's work at West Sussex drilling site brought to a halt after activists locked themselves to vehicle parked outside gates
  • 2013/07/30: Resilience: Fossil Fuels' Deadly Summer and the Growing Resistance

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

  • 2013/08/01: ABC(Au): Unitarian Church divests from fossil fuels

  Regarding Water Politics and Business; See also:

  • 2013/08/02: JFleck: Framing clean water and kids - is the glass half dirty or half clean?
  • 2013/08/01: SciAm:Obs: Global Water Shortages Grow Worse but Nations Have Few Answers
  • 2013/08/01: CBC: Facial scrubs polluting Great Lakes with plastic
    Manufacturers respond to research, will phase out plastic microbeads by 2017
  • 2013/08/01: TMoS: Bystanders to Calamity
  • 2013/07/31: JFleck: Fourteen years of Colorado River Basin drought
  • 2013/07/31: Resilience: Never Again Enough: Field Notes from a drying West
  • 2013/07/30: UCSUSA:B: Energy-Water Collisions: A Shared Concern for State Utility Regulators
  • 2013/07/29: Eureka: Global warming endangers South American water supply
  • 2013/07/29: JFleck: The irrigation efficiency dilemma

  Who's making predictions this week?

  • 2013/07/23: Priceonomics: The Quixotic Quest to Make Pundits Suck Less

  While in the UK:

  • 2013/08/02: Guardian(UK): End this love for dirty fuels
    The future belongs to clean energy, but the UK is embracing shale gas and fracking instead of renewables -- appalling policy
  • 2013/08/02: RTCC: Ed Davey dismisses fracking with pledge to expand UK renewables
  • 2013/08/01: RTCC: UK outlines strategy to be 'world leader' in offshore wind
  • 2013/07/31: BBC: British Gas owner Centrica has warned that UK domestic energy bills could go up again this winter, as it reported a rise in half year profits
  • 2013/07/30: Guardian(UK): Peter Kendall puts all our eggs in one basket
    The president of the NFU is right to recognise the gravity of climate change. But the RSPB disagrees with his solution
  • 2013/07/30: EUO: Faroese face 'illegal' EU fishing sanctions
    The EU on 31 July will decide whether to adopt coercive economic measures against the Faroe Islands, over a dispute about the quota allocation of Atlanto-Scandian herring.
  • 2013/07/29: RTCC: Sainsbury's seals position as EU's leading solar operator
    The company claims its panels generate enough power for almost 2,000 houses, which could cover 35 football pitches
    UK retail giant Sainsbury's says it has now installed 100,000 solar panels at over 200 of its stores around the country.
  • 2013/07/30: RTCC: UK government unlikely to rethink "complacent" Arctic policies
    Foreign Office maintains its views on Arctic drilling despite criticism that it is "needlessly risky"
    MPs' accusations of governmental "complacency" over the Arctic have not prompted any rethink of the upcoming policy framework, according to the Foreign Office.
  • 2013/07/30: OilChange: Is Cuadrilla's Gas Worse than Coal?
  • 2013/07/29: DD: National Farmers' Union claims extreme weather poses biggest threat to British farming...
  • 2013/07/28: Guardian(UK): NFU claims extreme weather poses biggest threat to British farming

  And in Europe:

  • 2013/08/02: Xinhuanet: EU officially adopts price undertaking in EU-China solar case
    The European Commission on Friday endorsed the amicable solution to the European Union-China solar panels case announced by Commissioner Karel De Gucht last weekend.
  • 2013/08/02: EUO: Five EU states form Baltic high-speed train venture
  • 2013/08/02: EUO: Franco-German car dispute escalates
  • 2013/08/02: DerSpiegel: Turbine Trouble: Ill Wind Blows for German Offshore Industry
    Only recently, the offshore wind industry was seen as an opportunity to regenerate Germany's coast. But amid changing political attitudes and spiraling costs, several companies are struggling to survive. Is the wind boom over before it even really began?
  • 2013/08/01: EurActiv: Berlin to make big industry pay more for power grid
    Germany will reduce exemptions that big power-using firms have enjoyed from grid fees following EU criticism that they might amount to state aid and anger among consumers that industry was not sharing the cost of a shift to renewable energy.
  • 2013/08/01: EurActiv: Report: European oil exploration threatens Congo world heritage site
    Africa's oldest national park is in danger of environmental destruction because of mushrooming oil concessions that now cover some 85% of its territory, according to a new WWF report by the consultants Dalberg.
    Virunga National Park in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo is a Unesco World Heritage Site and treasure trove of biodiversity, offering a home to critically endangered mountain gorillas, dormant volcanoes and permanent glaciers.
    But an exemption in the Congo's Conservation of Nature law for "scientific activities" in protected areas is being exploited by the UK-based Soco International PLC through a local subsidiary.
    Tony Long, the director of WWF's European policy office, said that this could threaten forest clearance, environmental degradation and a loss of biodiversity.
  • 2013/08/01: EurActiv: EU agrees to sanction Faroe Islands over herring catch
    EU member states have agreed to support sanctions against the Faroe Islands, including a possible import ban or closing its ports to its boats, to protest the islands' decision to triple the limit on herring fishing.
  • 2013/08/01: EurActiv: British Lords blast Commission over water aid to Africa
    A House of Lords committee has sent a scathing letter to the European Commission, accusing it of "culpable waste" in its water and sanitation projects in sub-Saharan Africa.
  • 2013/07/31: EurActiv: French Mercedes [R134a] ban accelerates strife over environmental laws
    French motorists continue to register new models of Mercedes-Benz despite a government ban, but the damage may already be done to sales of the German luxury car.
  • 2013/07/31: EUO: EU adopts fish sanctions against Faroe Islands
  • 2013/07/31: EurActiv: Collapse of solar case against China sparks recriminations
    An acrimonious split has developed between Brussels and EU ProSun, an alliance of solar panel manufacturers, after EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht announced a 'targeted and innovative' settlement to a dispute with China.
  • 2013/07/30: CleanTechnica: Switzerland Cannot Afford Not To Transition To Renewables
  • 2013/07/29: EUO: Brussels set to escalate mackarel wars

  Meanwhile in Australia:

  • 2013/08/02: Guardian(UK): Australia faces increased risk of disease from climate change, reports find
    A number of recent studies have shown a clear connection between a warming planet and increased health risks
  • 2013/08/02: ABC(Au): Leaked Climate Change Authority report calls on Australia to triple 2020 carbon emissions cuts target
    One of the Government's key advisory bodies on climate change says Australia should triple its 2020 target for cutting carbon emissions.
    A leaked report to the Government from the independent Climate Change Authority says Australia should aim to cut emissions by 15 per cent of 2000 levels by 2020.
    That is up from the 5 per cent figure agreed to as a target by both sides of politics.
    The report says the cuts should ramp up to 40 per cent cut by 2030, and 90 per cent by 2050.
  • 2013/08/02: ABC(Au): Mining company convicted of desecrating an Aboriginal sacred site
  • 2013/08/02: BBC: Mining firm desecrated Australia Aboriginal site
  • 2013/08/02: Xinhuanet: Australian researchers find soils losing from wind erosion, dust storms
    Australian soils are losing about 1.6 million tonnes of carbon each year from wind erosion and dust storms, affecting agricultural productivity, its economy and carbon accounts, a new research from the Australian government's body for scientific research, CSIRO, found on Friday.
  • 2013/08/02: ABC(Au): New soil map to guide northern agricultural development
    Scientists are developing a new tool which will help identify land suitable for agricultural production in northern Australia.
    It's called the Soil and Landscape Grid of Australia, a fine-resolution land capability map of the entire continent.
    CSIRO theme leader Mike Grundy says once completed, the tool will help answer questions about how we grow food into the future.
  • 2013/08/01: BBC: Australia moves first asylum-seekers to PNG after policy shift
  • 2013/07/31: ABC(Au): Greens question carbon capture plan
    The Greens have described a State Government plan to capture and store carbon in south-west Western Australia as a "quick fix".
    Under the plan, carbon emissions from local industry would be captured and stored underground at a number of properties between Yarloop and Collie.
    The Government has moved to legislate the geosequestration process and the bill is currently before Parliament.
  • 2013/07/31: ABC(Au): Government criticised for failing to establish fire refuges
    Victoria's Bushfires Royal Commission watchdog has criticised the State Government for failing to establish fire safety refuges.
    The refuges were recommended by the Royal Commission into the Black Saturday bushfires.
    The Commission's Implementation Monitor, former police chief, Neil Comrie, released his annual report today.
  • 2013/07/31: TheConversation: What will Australia's energy future look like?
  • 2013/07/31: TheConversation: How do we get to the next million solar roofs?
  • 2013/07/31: ABC(Au): Tarkine mine approved again
    The Federal Government has given a new green light to a mine in Tasmania's Tarkine that environmentalists had persuaded a court to stop.
    The former federal environment minister Tony Burke originally approved the open cut iron ore mine last year.
    A fortnight ago the Federal Court in Melbourne quashed the approval.
    But the new Federal Environment Minister Mark Butler has once again approved the mine and the company says it's planning to resume work.
  • 2013/07/31: Guardian(UK): Mark Butler approves iron ore mine in Tasmanian devil's stronghold
    Environment minister gives go-ahead for project that court halted amid concerns for tumour-threatened species
  • 2013/07/31: ABC(Au): Australia's largest super computer unveiled in Canberra
  • 2013/07/31: WSWS: Australia: Queensland flood victims still living in freight containers
  • 2013/07/30: Guardian(UK): Environmentalists urge Rudd to scrap 'failed' forestry deal with states
    Green groups looking at legal challenge to Regional Forest Agreements they blame for pushing species towards extinction
  • 2013/07/30: ABC(Au): Tidal power project boosts Albany wave power hopes
    Albany's peak business lobby says it is encouraged by the developments in wave and tidal energy, highlighted by the approval of Western Australia's first tidal power station.
    The 40-megawatt tidal power station near Derby received Government approval last week.
  • 2013/07/30: ABC(Au): Review on CSG shows the public do not trust the NSW government
  • 2013/07/30: PeakEnergy: Solar, wind could replace all fossil fuels in Australia by 2040
  • 2013/07/28: CleanTechnica: Could Solar And Wind Replace Fossil Fuels In Australia By 2040?

  Well, well. Kevin has pulled the pin. Now who will get it?

  • 2013/08/04: ABC(Au): Prime Minister Kevin Rudd calls September 7 federal election
  • 2013/08/04: CBC: Australian PM calls Sept. 7 election
  • 2013/08/04: BBC: Australian PM Kevin Rudd calls election for 7 September
  • 2013/08/04: BBerg: Rudd Calls Australia Election Sept. 7 as Focus on Economy
  • 2013/08/04: JQuiggin: Election on 7 September
  • 2013/08/03: ABC(Au): Economic update, policy changes clear deck for possible September 7 election
  • 2013/08/03: WSWS: Australian government "mini-budget" prepares post-election austerity
  • 2013/08/03: ABC(Au): Kevin Rudd announces new asylum seeker processing and refugee settlement deal with Nauru
  • 2013/08/02: ABC(Au): Economists call budget revision dismal, breathtaking
  • 2013/08/02: WSWS: Australian political parties step up anti-refugee campaign
    The unofficial election campaign underway in Australia remains dominated by a lawless campaign waged by the major establishment parties against refugees.
  • 2013/08/01: ABC(Au): Election 2013 - global nation

  After years of wrangling, the Murray Darling Basin Plan is in place, but the water management fights are far from finished:

  • 2013/08/01: ABC(Au): Government rolls out recycled water scheme
    The State Government has announced recycled waste water will become Perth's next source of drinking water.
    The government plans to roll out its groundwater replenishment scheme, which has been trialled in a water recycling plant for the past three years.
    Under the scheme, household and industrial waste-water that would normally be pumped out to sea, is instead filtered and disinfected before being pumped hundreds of metres underground into aquifers.
    The treated water then mixes with groundwater, undergoing natural filtration for up to three decades before extraction.
  • 2013/08/02: ABC(Au): Irrigator says water release not enough for Murray mouth
  • 2013/08/02: ABC(Au): Concerns about lack of monitoring of Basin Plan
    Scientists, irrigators and environmentalists say there isn't enough monitoring being done of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan and Australia risks breaching international environmental agreements.
  • 2013/08/02: ABC(Au): Mataranka locals want water plan finalised
  • 2013/08/01: ABC(Au): Extra environmental flow promised for River Murray over next seven months
  • 2013/08/01: ABC(Au): Water super body turns off small committee taps
    The Northern Territory Government is scrapping existing water advisory committees and replacing them with one body.
    Primary Industries Minister Willem Westra van Holthe made the announcement today but the details are yet to be unveiled.
  • 2013/08/01: ABC(Au): Indigenous groups oppose winding back protection for Queensland's Wild Rivers
  • 2013/08/01: Xinhuanet: Australia to rejuvenate River Murray system by commonwealth environmental water
  • 2013/07/31: ABC(Au): New water group to replace Daly and Darwin committees
    Two prominent Northern Territory community-based water reference groups will be replaced by one new committee which will oversee and provide advice on various river catchments.
  • 2013/07/31: ABC(Au): Environmentalists worried about mining on Lake Eyre floodplain
    Oil and gas extraction will go ahead near the world's greatest desert river system - the Lake Eyre basin rivers in Queensland's Channel Country.
    The State Government has confirmed that it's winding back the Wild Rivers protection declarations in western Queensland.
    Instead, it plans agricultural and resource development which it insists won't compromise the environment.
  • 2013/07/31: ABC(Au): Wild Rivers Act to be replaced by similar beast
    The Queensland Government says it's getting close to formalising a new framework to manage western Queensland rivers
  • 2013/07/31: ABC(Au): Daly River advisory group canned
    The Northern Territory Government has dismantled a long-running land and water community reference group in the Top End.
    The Daly River Management Advisory Committee (DRMAC) was set up seven years ago under the Labor Government to provide guidance on policy with input from all sectors including those of beef, farming, fishing and Indigenous.
    A water allocation plan was recently finished by the group for the Oolloo aquifer, which stretches from Katherine north to the Douglas-Daly, but it is yet to be signed off.
  • 2013/07/31: ABC(Au): Queensland scraps wild rivers declarations
    The Queensland government is relaxing environmental regulations in the far western channel country to allow for oil and gas production.
  • 2013/07/31: ABC(Au): Googong unveils $90m water recycling system
    Developers of the new township of Googong, near Queanbeyan in New South Wales, have unveiled a $90 million plan to recycle water.
    The new town will recycle about half of its waste water, including sewerage, contributing to an overall water saving of 60 per cent.
  • 2013/07/30: ABC(Au): Loxton West Dam opens
    The Loxton-Waikerie Council says it will evaluate Loxton's water efficiency in about a year after completing the final stage of its water supply plan.
    The South Australian Government and council representatives formally opened the Loxton West Dam yesterday - the plan's final infrastructure project.
    The $9 million plan has allowed the council to maximise its ability to harvest stormwater and irrigate Loxton's green spaces more efficiently.
  • 2013/07/30: ABC(Au): Murray River flows into SA set to double
    River flows should increase to 8,000 megalitres per day this week, more than double South Australia's normal entitlements.
    The Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources says this amount includes a significant portion of unregulated flows due to upstream operations and rainfall events.
    The manager of water resource operations, Jarrod Eaton, says water levels in Lake Victoria are having a significant impact.
  • 2013/07/30: ABC(Au): Irrigators switch watering systems to save power
    Rising power costs have forced some irrigators in southern NSW to revert to less efficient ways of watering crops.
    Darlington Point irrigator Matthew Stott admits drip irrigation, which uses less water but more power to run, is no longer viable.
    Mr Stott, who produces winegrapes, almonds, popcorn and cotton, says growers are torn between saving money and saving water.

  And in New Zealand:

  • 2013/08/01: Xinhuanet: New Zealand must plan to adapt: climate change report

  While in the Indian subcontinent:

  • 2013/08/03: WSWS: Indian government to create Telangana state in southern India
  • 2013/07/31: CCurrents: Our Amma Desecrated by The Women of Idinthakarai
  • 2013/07/31: IndiaTimes: Telangana: How the 29th state will be formed
  • 2013/07/31: IndiaTimes: Shutdown in parts of Andhra Pradesh, Congress defends Telangana decision
  • 2013/07/30: BBC: India coalition approves new state of Telangana
    India's ruling Congress-led coalition has unanimously agreed to the formation of a new state in the Telangana region of southern Andhra Pradesh state, officials say.
    With a population of 40 million, the proposed state comprises 10 of Andhra Pradesh's 23 districts including Hyderabad, India's sixth biggest city.
  • 2013/07/30: BBC: What new Telangana state means for India
    India's ruling Congress party-led government has announced the formation of a new state of Telangana to be carved out of the southern state of Andhra Pradesh. Analyst Louise Tillin explains what this means for India.
    The creation of Telangana reflects the end of a long journey for those who have campaigned for statehood - and the beginning of a fresh set of wrangles over the shaping of the new state.

  And in China:

  • 2013/08/01: RTCC: UN climate chief Christiana Figueres says the low carbon leadership of China's government should be used an example worldwide
  • 2013/07/30: BBerg: China's Spending on Renewable Energy May Total 1.8 Trillion Yuan

  While elsewhere in Asia:

  • 2013/08/02: CBC: Taiwan lawmakers brawl over nuclear plant referendum
    Atomic power contentious in Taiwan but more so since 2011 Fukushima disaster in Japan
    Taiwanese lawmakers exchanged punches and threw water at each other Friday ahead of an expected vote that would authorize a referendum on whether to finish a fourth nuclear power plant on this densely populated island of 23 million people.
    Nuclear power has long been a contentious issue in Taiwan and became more so following the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan in 2011.
  • 2013/08/02: BBC: Taiwan vote on nuclear plant referendum sparks brawl
    A fight has broken out in Taiwan's parliament ahead of a vote on a referendum on a nuclear plant.
  • 2013/08/01: RTCC: No plans for Marshall Islands climate evacuation says minister
    Vice President hopes September meeting in capital Majuro can help drive climate ambition around planet
    Sea levels are rising and the capital city is flooding, but evacuation is not an option being considered for the Marshall Islands, says Tony de Brum.
  • 2013/07/31: ABC(Au): Marshall Islands seeks support for climate change initiative
  • 2013/07/30: ABC(Au):TDU: A call to arms on climate change
    If a small island nation like the Marshall Islands can put climate change at the heart of government policy, so can the biggest player in the Pacific region, writes Tony de Brum.
  • 2013/07/30: Guardian(UK): After surviving nuclear tests, can the Marshall Islands survive the great climate experiment?
  • 2013/07/29: RTCC: Marshall Islands demand "climate leadership" from Australia

  In the Middle East:

  • 2013/08/04: BBC: Iranian President Hassan Rouhani takes oath of office
  • 2013/08/03: RT: Rouhani becomes Iran's president after spiritual leader's endorsement
  • 2013/07/29: RTCC: Saudi Arabia 'committed' to green revolution
    Saudi Arabia plans develop 54GW of renewable energy by 2032 with an investment of US$109 billion

  And South America:

  • 2013/08/01: RTCC: Peru aims to deliver solar to 95% of country by 2016
  • 2013/07/29: CleanTechnica: São Paulo Sets Ambitious Goal Of 70% Renewable Energy By 2020

  In Canada, neocon PM Harper, aka The Blight, pushes petroleum while ignoring the climate and ecology:

  • 2013/08/04: MSimon: The Harper Regime and the Signs of the Apocalypse
  • 2013/08/02: CBC: Harper says Keystone will spur jobs despite Obama claims -- Prime minister also endorses west-east pipeline as vital for energy security
  • 2013/08/02: TheCanadian: Problem-solving psychology
  • 2013/07/29: iPolitics: Crude awakening: what if Obama rejects Keystone?
  • 2013/07/31: MSimon: Stephen Harper's Desperate War with the White House
  • 2013/07/30: WpgFP: Federal government likely to spend less this year on science and tech: StatsCan
    Statistics Canada says the federal government is expected to spend less on science and technology in the coming year.
    The federal agency says spending for the 2013-14 fiscal year is expected to decrease 3.3 per cent from the previous period, to $10.5 billion.
  • 2013/07/29: CBC: Canada's U.S. ambassador [Gary Doer] disputes Obama's Keystone claims

  The Lac-Mégantic tragedy continues:

  • 2013/08/02: CBC: 50 Lac-Mégantic families return home -- Destroyed Musi-Café bar reopens tonight in tent
  • 2013/08/01: CBC: Search for Lac-Mégantic victims ends with 5 still missing -- Crime scene lifted in epicentre of blast
    The search for victims in the epicentre of the explosions in Lac-Mégantic is ending, although work will still continue to identify more victims though elements found at the scene, a spokeswoman for Quebec's coroner's office confirmed.
    "We conclude this work today with sincere and profound conviction that we did everything humanly possible to locate the missing," spokeswoman Geneviève Guilbault said at a news conference Thursday morning in the small town in Quebec's Eastern Townships.
    Over the last 27 days, the remains of 42 people were located. Of those, 38 have been officially identified by the coroner's office.
    In total, 47 people were added to the official list of those deceased or presumed dead.
  • 2013/07/31: G&M: Questions linger on who will pay for Lac-Mégantic cleanup, oil firm says
    The oil that exploded in the Lac-Mégantic disaster will be covered by insurance, but the company that owns the crude said many other questions about who must pay for the catastrophe still need to be worked out.
    World Fuel Services Corp. told analysts on its quarterly financial conference call Wednesday that its insurance covers the 50,000 barrels of oil and the dozens of rail cars that were destroyed when a train operated by Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway derailed in Lac-Mégantic, Que. The accident killed 47 people and ravaged the downtown.
  • 2013/07/31: CBC: 'We could have done more' says Montreal, Maine & Atlantic CEO -- MM&A's insurers slow to pay for Lac-Mégantic cleanup
  • 2013/07/31: Rabble: Deregulation is a failed experiment: After Lac-Mégantic, we need to act
  • 2013/07/30: CBC: Lac-Mégantic still waiting for rail company to pay up -- Town has spent close to $8M on cleanup costs to date
  • 2013/07/29: CDreams: Lac Mégantic: Don't Blame the Engineer
  • 2013/07/29: CBC: Rail safety advocates urge new rules for high-risk cargo
    Derailments of hazardous shipments rare, but Lac-Mégantic shows result can be devastating

  Big developments in the West-East pipeline this week:

  • 2013/08/02: CSM: TransCanada moves forward with oil pipeline, but it's not Keystone XL
  • 2013/08/02: CBC: TransCanada 'sensitive' to west-east pipeline concerns
  • 2013/08/02: CBC: Harper says west-east pipeline will help energy security
  • 2013/08/02: BotB: At $12 billion, it's no small lie.
  • 2013/08/02: Grist: TransCanada plans colossal trans-Canada oil pipeline
  • 2013/08/02: DeSmogBlog: New TransCanada Pipeline Plan Dwarfs Keystone XL
  • 2013/08/02: CBC: All-Canadian conflict over new oil pipeline
  • 2013/08/01: Sierra: Energy East Pipeline Not in the Best Interest of Maritimers
  • 2013/08/01: BBC: TransCanada in pipeline plan from west to east Canada
  • 2013/08/01: TreeHugger: TransCanada to pipe tar sands crude to Eastern Canada. What does this mean for Keystone XL?
  • 2013/08/01: G&M: TransCanada to push ahead with new oil pipeline to Eastern Canada
  • 2013/08/01: CBC: TransCanada's east-west pipeline not a backup plan, expert says
  • 2013/08/01: CBC: TransCanada moves forward with west-east pipeline
  • 2013/08/01: WpgFP: TransCanada going ahead with Energy East line between Alberta and New Brunswick
  • 2013/08/01: BBerg: TransCanada to Proceed With C$12 Billion Pipeline to East Coast
    TransCanada Corp., the country's second-biggest pipeline operator, plans to go ahead with a C$12 billion ($11.7 billion) pipeline with capacity to ship 1.1 million barrels of oil from Western Canada to the East Coast.
    The new pipeline would be in service by the end of 2017 for deliveries to Quebec and 2018 to New Brunswick, the Calgary-based company said today in a statement.
  • 2013/07/30: G&M: Canadian oil could get an unexpected route to Asian markets
    TransCanada Corp.'s proposed Energy East pipeline could give western oil producers back-door access to Asian markets at a reasonable transportation cost if it reaches Saint John.

  That Cold Lake leak still has people wondering:

  • 2013/08/01: MoJo: Alberta Tar Sands Spill Is Slowing but Not Stopping
    The company in charge says it knows what went wrong. But it will have to wait for the leaks to stop on their own.
  • 2013/08/01: CBC: Alberta Primrose oilsands leaks contained, says CNRL -- Nearly 1 million litres of bitumen leaked into bush on Cold Lake Air Weapons Range
    A "mechanical failure" at an old well is behind ongoing bitumen seepage at the Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. oilsands project on the Cold Lake Air Weapons Range in northeastern Alberta, the company says.
    The Calgary-based company said Wednesday the damage has been contained and the cleanup is proceeding well.
  • 2013/08/01: TMoS: That Cold Lake Bitumen Spill - It Just Keeps Rollin' Along
  • 2013/07/31: NPR: Canadian Regulators Investigate Mysterious Tar Sands Spills
  • 2013/07/31: DeSmogBlog: Cold Lake Spill: "There is No Control on this Incident," says Energy Regulator
  • 2013/07/29: Guardian(UK): Alberta oil spills cause concern over Canada's approval of tar sands project
  • 2013/07/29: PI:B: Cold Lake bitumen blowout first test for new energy regulator [AER: Alberta Energy Regulator]
  • 2013/07/29: TP:JR: Tar Sands Oil Has Been Leaking Into Alberta For 10 Weeks And No One Knows How To Stop It
  • 2013/07/29: CBC: Alberta leaks prompt questions over oilsands extraction -- 4 leaks found at Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. site since May
    Bitumen emulsion continues to leak into a section of Boreal forest in northeast Alberta owned by Canada's military, raising concerns about "huff and puff" extraction technology as industry experts attempt to determine the cause of the ongoing spill.
    There have been four leaks at Canadian Natural Resources Ltd's Primrose Lake site on the Cold Lake Air Weapons Range since May 20. The site is near the Saskatchewan border but is restricted to CNRL staff, contractors, and government investigators, meaning the extent of the damage isn't widely known.
    Alberta Energy Regulator spokesman Bob Curran said figuring out the cause of the leaks and how to stop them has presented a challenge.

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

  • 2013/07/30: WCEL: Lack of footnotes costs fish farm activist $75,000

  Now that Christy Clark has a mandate, what will she do?

  • 2013/08/02: Tyee: Three Ways to Protect BC's Water
    Measure, report and charge what it's worth. Will government lead on groundwater regulation, or leave it to industry?
  • 2013/08/01: TMoS: Christy Clark's Giant Methane Fart - Part Deux
  • 2013/07/31: TMoS: The Guardian Praises BC's Carbon Tax Initiative. Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch, or, Christy Clark's Giant Methane Fart
  • 2013/07/31: Tyee: BC NDP Loss: 'We Defeated Ourselves' by Ian Waddell
  • 2013/07/30: Guardian(UK): Can a carbon tax work without hurting the economy? Ask British Columbia
  • 2013/07/29: TheCanadian: Clark & Redford: What their cozy relationship means for BC pipelines

  Meanwhile in that Mechanical Mordor known as the tar sands:

  • 2013/08/03: TMoS: Could "America's Quiet Environmental Revolution" Sound Last Call for Athabasca Bitumen?
  • 2013/08/02: RT: Toxic cloud of tar sands waste travels from Detroit to Canada
  • 2013/07/30: CSM: With no room to grow, Canadian town evicts oil sands companies
    The Canadian town of Fort McMurray, population 76,000, is the heart of Alberta's oil sands largesse--but the town is bursting at its seams with nowhere to expand because the land surrounding it is owned by oil companies.
  • 2013/07/31: Rabble:EM: Tar sands: The difficult poster child for Canada's environmental record
  • 2013/07/28: TRN: Alberta Regulator Approves Tar Sands Expansion Despite "Irreversible" Eco Impact

  Also in Alberta:

  • 2013/08/01: CBC: Twig found in Edmonton tornado wreckage grows into memorial tree
    Richard Heetun grafted 27 varieties of fruit to honour each victim of 1987 tornado
    A twig found in the rubble of the 1987 Edmonton tornado has grown into a fruit tree thanks to the skilled hands of a man who planted it in memory of the 27 people who died.
  • 2013/07/31: CBC: Minister disputes claim part of High River sacrificed to flood
  • 2013/07/30: CBC: Alberta, Toronto floods may cost TD insurance $125M
  • 2013/07/29: CBC: A quick history of Calgary floods -- Worst flood to hit Calgary was in 1879, according to historian Harry Sanders

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

  • 2013/08/02: CBC: Wynne's Liberals stung in Ontario byelections
    Ruling party left with fresh, though not necessarily fatal, wounds
    [...]
    Five Liberal strongholds and two wins to show for it: Toronto's east-end Scarborough-Guildwood and Ottawa South.
  • 2013/08/02: TStar: Ontario gas plant scandal: Watchdog rejects Tory probe
    Integrity commissioner dismisses Conservative complaint that Liberal staff tried to intimidate Ontario legislature speaker, saying it was outside her jurisdiction.
  • 2013/07/31: CoC: Great Lakes saved from nuke waste shipments!
  • 2013/07/31: PeakEnergy: Ontario Phases Out Coal-Fired Power
  • 2013/07/31: G&M: Long-term funding from province confirmed for Experimental Lakes Area
    The province of Ontario says it will pay to keep the Experimental Lakes Area operating in the long term after the federal Conservative government walks away from the world-class freshwater research station at the end of August.
  • 2013/07/30: TStar: Wind farm proposed on Leslie Spit
    A wind farm on the Leslie Spit is being proposed by a little-known company called Sunwincor International. Opposition to the plan is already forming.
  • 2013/07/29: CBC: Nuclear power plant puts radioactive shipping plans on hold
    Plan to move 16 radioactive steam generators was met with strong opposition

  In the Maritimes:

  • 2013/08/02: CBC: Natural gas to start flowing from Deep Panuke -- Offshore project approved in 2007
    After lengthy delays the Deep Panuke field is one step closer to bringing natural gas to market.
    The Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board issued an authorization that lets Encana Corporation to start shipping natural gas from its reservoir to an offshore production centre. Then it can be sent to market.
    The CNSOPB said the facilities are fit.
  • 2013/08/01: CBC: CBC meteorologist's 50-year career a Guinness record -- Peter Coade began forecasting weather in 1962 [maritimes]
  • 2013/07/30: CBC: Fracking proposal divides residents near Gros Morne
    UNESCO recently expressed concern about proximity to World Heritage Site
  • 2013/07/29: CBC: The inside story of an iceberg

  And on the American political front:

  • 2013/08/01: TruthDig: Measuring GOP Extremism: What Carville and Greenberg's Latest Polling Reveals
    It is becoming increasingly plain that the most formidable obstacle to national progress and global security is the Republican Party -- and specifically the extremist factions that currently dominate the GOP.
    Now Democratic pollster Stan Greenberg and political strategist James Carville have announced what they plan to do about that pressing problem: namely, "The Republican Party Project," which will provide extensive survey research devoted to "exposing, monitoring, and confronting" the Republicans while helping Democrats and progressives to regain the political offensive.
    To begin advancing these ambitious goals, Carville and Greenberg released the first in a series of polls on Wednesday that showcased several of their target's most divisive and dysfunctional features -- and revealed some surprising weaknesses that could eventually prove disabling, if not fatal.
  • 2013/08/01: ICN: GOP Lawmakers Hit by Weather Tragedies Stay Mum on Climate Change
    The climate change schism between Congressional Republicans and Democrats is becoming more visible as deadly weather events increase and hit close to home.
  • 2013/08/03: EcoWatch: 77 ALEC Bills Advance Big Oil, Big Ag Agenda in 2013
  • 2013/08/03: CCP: 77 ALEC Bills Advance Big Oil, Big Ag Agenda in 2013
  • 2013/08/02: CSM: Sen. Mitch McConnell fighting for his political life?
  • 2013/08/01: TP:JR: Chris Hayes And Michael Mann: Ken Cuccinelli's War On Science Matters To VA Governor's Race
  • 2013/08/01: TP:JR: You Can Thank The Koch Brothers For The Big, Dirty Cloud Floating Over Detroit
  • 2013/08/01: DeSmogBlog: Industry Influence To Blame For Tavares, Florida Explosion
  • 2013/07/31: TP:JR: How Maryland's New Climate Plan Could Actually Lower Energy Costs
  • 2013/07/30: MtMB: The Republican War on Science and on the Smithsonian
  • 2013/07/29: CPunch: The Consequences of Hubris -- The Logical (and Coming) End to the US Empire
  • 2013/07/22: Reuters: U.S. program to save fragile land shrinks in size to 25-year low
    The U.S. program that pays farmers to idle fragile cropland soon will protect the smallest amount of land in a quarter-century, the government said on Monday, the result of several years of sky-high commodity prices that have encouraged farmers to plant as much as possible.
    The Conservation Reserve will hold roughly 25.3 million acres (10.2 million hectares) on October 1, down in size by one-third from its peak of 36.8 million acres in 2007.
  • 2013/07/30: TP:JR: As Public Opinion Shifts, Candidates Explicitly Run On Doing Something About Climate Change
  • 2013/07/29: WaPo: Ad targets Cuccinelli fight with climate scientist
  • 2013/07/29: Grist: Dems plan to talk about climate action during August, Republican deniers plan to talk nonsense
  • 2013/07/29: CCP: Terry McAuliffe runs campaign ad showing Ken Cuccinelli's witch hunt against Michael Mann
  • 2013/07/29: PSinclair: Breaking Ice: Suddenly, Climate Change is Politically Potent
  • 2013/07/29: DD: Why it finally makes political sense to talk about climate change: New polls show that voters increasingly view climate global-warming deniers as cranks
  • 2013/07/28: News-Record: N.C. backs off proactive stance on climate
    Flood and drought aren't just symptoms of climate change. They also provide an apt metaphor for the state's response to the issue.
    After initiating some of the country's earliest state-sponsored research and response to climate change, the legislature has all but dropped the issue. The state agency that once identified climate change adaptation as a key goal says it's no longer a focus.
  • 2013/07/17: AlterNet: Tsunami of Public Outrage Builds in Colorado as Fracking Invades Cities

  The BP disaster continues to twist US politics. See also:

  • 2013/07/30: Xinhuanet: U.S. scientists collect water near blown well in Gulf

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

  • 2013/08/03: RT: Keystone conflict: US State Dept launches inquiry into pipeline environmental report
  • 2013/08/01: CBC: Fact-checking Obama's changing Keystone job numbers
  • 2013/07/31: Economist: Canada, America and Keystone XL -- It's hard to XL
  • 2013/07/31: CBC: Obama emphasizes Keystone climate implications
  • 2013/07/30: CCP: Keystone XL: Public interest groups call for Sec. Kerry to throw out tainted environmental study, take disciplinary action against consultants who lied about ties to TransCanada
  • 2013/07/29: FAIR: Barack Obama's Keystone Media Criticism
  • 2013/07/29: TheHill:e2W: State Dept.: Keystone XL jobs impact 'negligible'
  • 2013/07/29: Grist: Anti-Keystone activists keep the heat on
  • 2013/07/29: Grist: Obama points out economic downsides of Keystone XL
  • 2013/07/28: Guardian(UK): Barack Obama expresses reservations about Keystone XL pipeline project

  The Mayflower oil spill continues to weigh heavily on the Keystone decision:

  • 2013/07/31: FuelFix: Exxon Mobil puts off discussion of pipe under lake
  • 2013/07/29: ICN: Exxon Axes Housing Aid for Ark. Oil Spill Victims -- Then Reinstates It After Fury
    Some homeowners were told Exxon would end payments for temporary housing on Aug. 31. Then local politicians spoke up and Exxon reversed course.
  • 2013/07/28: ArkansasMatters: Four Months after Mayflower Spill, Much Work Remains

  With the deficit hawks panicking about all things financial, there has been talk of a carbon tax solution:

  • 2013/08/01: Grist: Koch brothers hire lobbyists to fight carbon tax, save poor and old people
  • 2013/08/01: TP:JR: Koch And Halliburton Use Revolving Door To Lobby Against Regulating Carbon Pollution
  • 2013/07/31: TheHill:e2W: Kochs hire ex-Cantor aide to lobby against carbon tax
    Charles and David Koch, to paraphrase the famous Raid bug spray slogan, want to kill carbon tax proposals dead.
    Koch Companies Public Sector, LLC has contracted lobbyists including a former aide to House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) to lobby on a House resolution that declares carbon taxes "detrimental to American families and businesses."

  The GOP War on Women continues. See also:

  • 2013/08/03: ACLU: Federal Judge Blocks Wisconsin Abortion Law -- Law Would Have Closed Half of State's Abortion Clinics
  • 2013/08/02: RT: North Carolina closes last abortion clinic available under harsh anti-abortion law
  • 2013/07/30: DallasObserver:B: Republicans Want Wendy Davis to Foot Possible $2.4 Million Bill for Special Session
  • 2013/07/29: ACLU: North Carolina Governor Signs Restrictive Abortion Bill Into Law
  • 2013/07/29: CSM: Views on abortion in US: regional differences grow wider
    Opinion on abortion in the United States has held mostly steady for the past two decades, but regional differences are widening, according to the Pew Research Center.
    That growing regional divide comes as many of the states in conservative regions add new laws regulating abortion doctors and clinics. In particular, the South Central region - Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Texas - has seen significant growth in opposition to abortion since 1995, Pew found.

  The NorthWest coal export debate remains heated:

  • 2013/07/31: Grist: Bad news, coal industry: Proposed export terminal is in for a tough review
  • 2013/07/31: STimes: [Washington] State to undertake sweeping review of coal-terminal plan
    The state will launch a broad review of the planned Cherry Point project that will include a look at greenhouse-gas emissions from burning the fuel, while the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Whatcom County will conduct more limited reviews.
  • 2013/07/29: Grist: Goldman Sachs says coal-export terminals are a bad investment

  Some older Republicans are trying to talk climate sense to the petroleum driven T-Party fanatics:

  • 2013/08/03: DD: Four former heads of the EPA: A Republican case for climate action
  • 2013/08/03: TMoS: Four Ex-EPA Administrators, All Republican, Call for Urgent Action to Arrest Climate Change
  • 2013/08/02: MStrassler: Change of Climate on the Right
  • 2013/08/02: EnvEcon: "A Republican Case for Climate Action" by William D. Ruckelshaus, Lee M. Thomas, William K. Reilly and Christine Todd Whitman (former administrators of the EPA)
  • 2013/08/02: TP:JR: Making 'A Republican Case for Climate Action', Former EPA Chiefs Say The Scientific Debate Is Over
  • 2013/08/02: Grist: Former Republican EPA chiefs back Obama on climate change
  • 2013/08/01: CCP: NYT OpEd: A Republican Case for Climate Action by William D. Ruckelshaus, Lee M. Thomas, William K. Reilly & Christine Todd Whitman

  JP Morgan had a run-in with the FERC:

  • 2013/08/02: BBerg: Banks Replacing Enron in Energy Incite Congress as Abuses Abound
  • 2013/08/02: CleanTechnica: Big Banks Targeted For Rigging Electricity Markets
  • 2013/08/01: Wonkette: Nice Time (With An Asterisk): JP Morgan To Fork Over Some Actual Cash-ish For Enron-ing California
  • 2013/08/01: BRitholtz: Energy Markets Are Manipulated by Washingtons Blog
  • 2013/07/30: CSM: U.S. accuses JPMorgan: Bank pays $410 million settlement
  • 2013/07/30: ZeroHedge: JPMorgan: $7 Billion In "Fines" In Just The Past Two Years
  • 2013/07/30: BBC: JP Morgan pays $410m to settle US energy case
    JP MorganChase's energy unit has agreed to pay $410m (£268m) to settle charges from the top US energy regulator that it manipulated energy markets.
    The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) agency alleged JPMorgan's trading practices drove up prices for electricity, mainly in California and the Midwest.
    The fine is the second largest penalty in FERC history. The bank did not admit any wrongdoing as part of the settlement.
  • 2013/07/30: FDL: JP Morgan Accused Of Manipulating Energy Markets
  • 2013/07/30: BBerg: JPMorgan Agrees to Pay $410 Million to Settle U.S. [FERC] Energy Probe
  • 2013/07/29: LA Times: U.S. accuses JPMorgan of manipulating California energy market
    The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission says JPMorgan electricity traders manipulated the California energy market, costing ratepayers tens of millions of dollars.

  The Alaskan Pebble mine is still to be decided:

  • 2013/08/01: ADN: Congress pushes EPA on giant Pebble mine
  • 2013/08/02: Wonkette: Screw Your Salmon And Your Virgin Wilderness, Alaska, America Hungers For Molybdenum

  At what point do you stop listening to the pretty lies and realize you've been had?

  • 2013/08/02: CPunch: Obama is Leading the World to Climate Hell
  • 2013/07/28: CPW: Obama Teases on Keystone XL, But Continues to Dodge Climate Peril

  The actions of the Obama administration are being watched closely:

  • 2013/08/02: NatureN: NSF cancels political-science grant cycle -- US funding agency said to be dodging restrictions set by Congress
  • 2013/08/02: ScienceInsider: Former Astronaut [Kathryn Sullivan] Picked to Lead NOAA
  • 2013/08/02: NatureN: Former astronaut picked to lead US oceans agency -- Kathryn Sullivan has been acting chief of NOAA since March
  • 2013/08/02: NOAANews: Statement from Dr. Kathryn Sullivan on the confirmation of Dr. Mark Schaefer as assistant secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere
  • 2013/08/02: CleanTechnica: NREL Report Firms Up Land-Use Requirements Of Solar Power Plants
  • 2013/08/01: NatureN: Astrophysicist tapped to lead NSF -- France Córdova would be second woman to lead US science agency
  • 2013/08/01: Grist: Sally Jewell doesn't want any climate deniers at Interior
  • 2013/08/01: NatureN: Warming climate drives human conflict -- Temperature and rainfall extremes linked to more frequent feuds and wars
  • 2013/08/01: ScienceInsider: Obama's Nominee for NSF Director [France Córdova] Explains Why She Said Yes
  • 2013/08/01: BBerg: Deepwater Wins First Auction for U.S. Offshore Wind Lease
  • 2013/08/01: Grist: Offshore auction signals start of wind bonanza
  • 2013/07/31: ScienceInsider: New Director of the U.S. National Center for Atmospheric Research [James Hurrell] Rose Through the Ranks
  • 2013/07/31: NatureNB: Obama nominates astrophysicist [France Anne Cordova] to lead NSF
  • 2013/07/31: ScienceInsider: Astrophysicist France Córdova Tapped to Lead the National Science Foundation
  • 2013/07/30: RTCC: Gina McCarthy says EPA aims to spark US economic growth
  • 2013/07/30: CSM: EPA head [McCarthy]: Fighting climate change will create more jobs
  • 2013/07/30: CSW: The science behind EPA standards is clear
  • 2013/07/30: Guardian(UK): EPA chief [Gina McCarthy]: preventing climate change the opportunity of a lifetime
  • 2013/07/29: BBerg: Fracking Tied to Pennsylvania Water Woes by EPA Official
  • 2013/07/30: Grist: Leaked EPA document raises questions about fracking pollution
  • 2013/07/29: NOAANews: NOAA's National Weather Service more than doubles computing capacity -- First in a series of upgrades includes improved hurricane model
  • 2013/07/25: FacingSouth: Why is the White House aiding and abetting lawbreaking by coal plants?
  • 2013/07/29: DeSmogBlog: LA Times: EPA Censored Key Pennsylvania Fracking Water Contamination Study
  • 2013/07/28: CSW: Internal EPA report shows division over fracking contamination study
  • 2013/07/28: LA Times: Internal EPA report highlights disputes over fracking and well water
    An EPA staff report suggests methane from hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, contaminated wells near Dimock, Pa., but the agency says the water's safe to drink.

  As for what is going on in Congress:

  • 2013/08/03: WSWS: US Congress prepares to cut food stamps for millions
  • 2013/08/02: ScienceInsider: House Panel Subpoenas EPA for Air Pollution Data
  • 2013/08/02: OilChange: House Votes to Deny the Cost of Carbon Pollution
  • 2013/08/01: AP: GOP prepares bill to cut food stamps by 5 percent
  • 2013/08/01: TP:JR: House GOP Tries To Roadblock Taking The Cost Of Carbon Seriously
  • 2013/07/31: FuelFix: GOP advances bill to block federal fracturing rules
  • 2013/07/31: TheHill:e2W: Sens. Landrieu, Hoeven to float Keystone XL resolution
  • 2013/07/30: CDreams: Congress Fiddles While the Western States Burn
  • 2013/07/30: Wonkette: House GOP Will Explain To NASA All About This Space And Science Stuff
  • 2013/07/30: TP:JR: Top 5 Reasons Why The Shaheen-Portman Efficiency Bill Helps The Economy And The Climate
  • 2013/07/29: Guardian(UK): Climate committee Republicans: 'Ridiculous pseudo-science'
    What do the eight Republicans who sit on the Senate Environment Committee think about climate change?
  • 2013/07/28: DD: 'Ridiculous pseudo-science garbage': Meet the GOP's environment leaders - What do the 8 Republicans who sit on the U.S. Senate Environment Committee think about climate science?

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

  • 2013/08/02: PLNA: Cooperatives Produce 55 Percent of Food Consumed in Ecuador
  • 2013/08/02: ArcticNews: Ecological Statement on the Future of Earth
  • 2013/07/30: Resilience: A Post-Growth Economy in France?
  • 2013/07/30: MetaSD: There's just enough time

  What do we tell the children?

  • 2013/08/01: CCurrents: Gigantic Cost Of Requisite Climate Change Action Threatens Massive Intergenerational Inequity And Intergenerational Injustice [Polya]
  • 2013/08/01: CCurrents: Climate Change And Our Children

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

  • 2013/08/01: DerSpiegel: Birth Rate Boon? Germany Promises Daycare for All
    A new law went into effect in Germany on Thursday guaranteeing every child over 12 months of age a slot at a daycare facility. The government hopes the policy will help reverse one of Europe's lowest birth rates.
  • 2013/07/29: Guardian(UK): [Letters] Population counts

  Apocalypso anyone?

  • 2013/07/30: CSM: When would global warming destroy life on Earth? Study hazards a guess

  How do the corporate media measure up?

  • 2013/08/04: AFTIC: Objectivity
  • 2013/07/29: TP:JR: Reuters Slashes Climate Coverage, Pressures Reporters To Include False Balance

  And for your film & video enjoyment:

  • 2013/08/02: TreeHugger: Video shows every oil pipeline spill in US since 1986
  • 2013/08/02: AFTIC: 130 Years
  • 2013/07/31: PSinclair: Warming Air, Rising Seas
  • 2013/07/31: APOD: 130 Years of Earth Surface Temperatures
  • 2013/07/30: ASI: Greenland Ice Sheet: "Starting to Slip"
  • 2013/07/30: Grist: In this time-lapse video, you can see Texas' reservoirs disappearing

  Meanwhile among the 'Sue the Bastards!' contingent:

  • 2013/08/02: RT: GMO green light? French court overturns ban on Monsanto corn
  • 2013/08/01: RawStory: French court overturns ban on Monsanto's genetically modified corn
  • 2013/07/31: WaPo: Environmentalists sue Export-Import Bank over loan guarantee to domestic coal broker
  • 2013/07/27: FuelFix: Texas loses another battle against EPA
    The U.S. Court of Appeals slapped down Texas' most recent challenge to the Environmental Protection Agency on Friday -- the latest defeat in Attorney General Greg Abbott's lengthy legal crusade against the federal government.
    Abbott had attempted to block the EPA from controlling the state's system for issuing permits to power plants. That process has been under federal oversight since 2010.
    The EPA gave itself the authority to intervene in the permit processes of 13 states, including Texas, in 2010 because the agency said states' policies did not consider greenhouse gas emissions.
    A three-judge panel at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled 2-1 that the petitioners -- which included Texas, Wyoming and a handful of industry groups -- didn't have legal standing to bring the case.
  • 2013/07/28: PNT: Rhetorical hyperbole? Or reckless disregard for truth?

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

  • 2013/08/01: Xinhuanet: BP's contractor to plead guilty in largest oil spill in U.S. history
    A cement contractor of the oil giant BP agreed Wednesday to plead guilty to destroying evidence after BP's 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, local media reported.
    The contractor, Halliburton Energy Services, was arraigned Wednesday in the U.S. city of New Orleans on a misdemeanour charge.
    Although company attorneys pleaded not guilty during the arraignment, Halliburton has agreed to plead guilty to one count of destruction of evidence in a deal with the Justice Department, the report said.
  • 2013/07/30: BBC: BP's compensation fund that it set up to pay claims related to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill is running out of cash

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

  • 2013/08/03: DeSmogBlog: Two Energy Futures: Barriers to Clean Energy Political, Not Technological
  • 2013/08/01: OilDrum: Energy Products: Return on Investment Is Already Too Low
  • 2013/08/02: PeakEnergy: Fracking Could Help Geothermal Become a Power Player?
  • 2013/07/31: Eureka: Sediment trapped behind dams makes them 'hot spots' for greenhouse gas emissions

  What do you have in energy comparisons and transitions?

  • 2013/08/01: CleanTechnica: Growth Of Global Solar & Wind Energy Continues To Outpace Other Technologies
  • 2013/08/01: PSinclair: Utilities Wake Up - Rooftop Solar to Rival Conventional Power
  • 2013/08/02: PeakEnergy: Growth of Global Solar and Wind Energy Continues to Outpace Other Technologies

  If they can be accessed, there are enough methane hydrates to ensure we are well and truly cooked:

  • 2013/08/02: PeakEnergy: Methane Hydrates Could Be Disastrous For The Planet
  • 2013/07/29: TP:JR: 'Fire Ice': Buried Under The Sea Floor, This New Fossil Fuel Source Could Be Disastrous For The Planet
  • 2013/07/29: OilChange: Methane Hydrate Hype Continues

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

  • 2013/08/03: CDreams: Offshore...Fracking: Far More Common Than Previously Known
    AP FOIA request shows oil companies use toxic method off California coast
  • 2013/08/02: Grist: The first rule of fracking is: Don't talk about fracking
  • 2013/08/02: BBC: Balcombe oil drilling starts after fracking protests
    Energy company Cuadrilla has begun drilling for oil at a site in West Sussex after being held up by more than a week of protests.
  • 2013/08/01: P3: Fracking, Pierrehumbert and Muller
  • 2013/07/31: OilChange: Fracking Causes "Significant Damage" to Aquifers
  • 2013/07/30: ColumbusDispatch: State forest proposed as fracking site
  • 2013/07/29: BBerg: Fracking Tied to Pennsylvania Water Woes by EPA Official
  • 2013/07/30: Grist: Leaked EPA document raises questions about fracking pollution
  • 2013/07/29: CCP: Anthony R. Ingraffea, NYT: Gangplank to a warmer future
  • 2013/07/29: RTCC: Texas water contamination linked to fracking sites
  • 2013/07/29: DeSmogBlog: LA Times: EPA Censored Key Pennsylvania Fracking Water Contamination Study
  • 2013/07/17: AlterNet: Tsunami of Public Outrage Builds in Colorado as Fracking Invades Cities

  On the coal front:

  • 2013/07/30: Grist: Despite slowdown, global coal remains a planet-destroying monster

  On the gas and oil front:

  • 2013/08/02: BBerg: Closing oil prices Friday
    OIL (US$/bbl)
    Dated Brent Spot....108.95
    WTI Cushing Spot....106.94
  • 2013/08/02: Economist: The future of oil - Yesterday's fuel
    The world's thirst for oil could be nearing a peak. That is bad news for producers, excellent for everyone else
  • 2013/08/01: WaPo: U.S. oil reserves rise to highest level since 1985
  • 2013/07/29: CER:RRapier: The State of Oil According to BP

  In the gas and oil corps:

  • 2013/08/02: BBC: Exxon Mobil profits at lowest since 2010
    US oil giant Exxon Mobil has reported its lowest quarterly profit in more than three years, as net income fell by 57% compared with the year before.
    Exxon said weaker refining margins and volumes "associated with planned refinery turnaround and maintenance" affected earnings.
    It earned $6.9bn (£4.5bn) in the second quarter, down from $15.9bn in 2012.
  • 2013/08/02: BBerg: Chevron Profit Declines as Crude Prices Fall With Output
    Chevron Corp., the world's second-largest energy company by market value, said net income fell for a second straight quarter as crude oil prices declined and output from the company's wells dropped.
    Second-quarter profit was $5.37 billion, or $2.77 a share, compared with $7.21 billion, or $3.66, a year earlier, San Ramon, California-based Chevron said in a statement today
  • 2013/08/01: NYT: Earnings at Shell and Exxon Fall Sharply in 2nd Quarter
    [...] Shell's second-quarter income, adjusted for one-time items, was $4.6 billion, compared with $5.7 billion in the same period a year earlier.
    [...] Exxon Mobil reported second-quarter earnings of $6.9 billion, down 57 percent from the same period in 2012.
  • 2013/08/01: TP:JR: What Are Exxon, Shell, And ConocoPhillips Doing With Their Billions In Q2 Profits?
  • 2013/08/01: BBC: Royal Dutch Shell profits slip lower
    Royal Dutch Shell has seen its second quarter earnings fall to $4.6bn (£3bn) compared with $5.7bn in the same period a year ago.
  • 2013/07/30: TP:JR: BP Earned $2.7 Billion In Q2 Profits But Still Thinks It's Paying Too Much In Taxes

  And in pipeline news. See also:

  • 2013/08/02: CCP: Religious orders Sisters of Loretto and Abbey of Gethsemani deny access to land for gas pipeline
  • 2013/07/30: DeSmogBlog: Kalamazoo Spill Anniversary Raises Concerns About Line 9 Pipeline Integrity
  • 2013/07/31: FuelFix: EPA: Enbridge nearly tripling [Kalamazoo] oil spill dredging

  Ships and boats and trains -- How to tranport the stuff:

  • 2013/08/02: CBC: U.S. rail rules set to avert Lac-Mégantic tragedy repeat
    Federal regulator's announcement 'made in response' to deadly Quebec derailment
  • 2013/07/30: Grist: Leak-prone oil tankers to remain on American train tracks for now
  • 2013/07/29: CSM: Quebec train crash: Will oil shipments by rail fall?
  • 2013/07/29: CBC: Rail safety advocates urge new rules for high-risk cargo
    Derailments of hazardous shipments rare, but Lac-Mégantic shows result can be devastating
  • 2013/07/28: G&M: 'Trains or pipelines,' Doer warns U.S. over Keystone
    Canada is telling the U.S administration it will see a sharp increase in cross-border crude-oil shipments by rail if President Barack Obama fails to approve the controversial Keystone XL pipeline.
    In a telephone interview from Washington, Canadian Ambassador Gary Doer said oil companies are increasingly turning to trains - and even trucks - as the construction of pipelines has failed to keep up with the boom in North American crude production, and that trend will grow if the President turns down Keystone XL.

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

  • 2013/07/28: ClarionLedger: Bryant, Ala. governor call for joint oil sands assessment
    The governors of Mississippi and Alabama said Saturday their two states will partner to study oil sands resources.
    Oil sands are a sandy mixture found below the surface containing bitumen.
    After extracting the sand, the bitumen can be transformed into crude oil that can be refined.
    Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant and Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley announced the partnership while speaking to the Southern States Energy Board during a meeting in Mobile, Ala.

  A rush of American triumphalism pervades the energy independence PR campaign. Think it will last?

  • 2013/08/01: MoabTimes: Demonstrators block road at site of proposed tar sands mine in Book Cliffs
  • 2013/07/29: OilDrum: Will the Bakken "Red Queen" Have to Run Faster?

  Yes we have a peak oil sighting:

  • 2013/08/01: CassandrasLegacy: Peak shale oil? What peak?
  • 2013/07/31: Grist: Why the Peak Oilers are still right [Heinberg]
  • 2013/07/29: Resilience: Commentary: Is Peak Oil Dead?

  Biofuel bickering abounds:

  • 2013/07/31: NYT: Milestone Claimed in Creating Fuel From Waste - producing commercial quantities of ethanol from wood waste

  The answer my friend...

  • 2013/08/01: CleanTechnica: Deepwater Wind Wins America's First Offshore Wind Competitive Lease Sale
  • 2013/08/01: StarTrib: Minnesota Power investing in more wind power
  • 2013/08/01: CleanTechnica: Xcel Energy To Grow Wind Power By 30%
  • 2013/08/01: BBerg: Deepwater Wins First Auction for U.S. Offshore Wind Lease
    Deepwater Wind LLC won the first auction for offshore wind-energy development in U.S. federal waters, agreeing to pay $3.8 million to lease two blocks off Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
    The closely held company, which is backed by the hedge fund D.E. Shaw & Co., plans to put 200 turbines in the water with total capacity of 1,000 megawatts, according to a statement yesterday. Construction could begin in 2017, and power production in 2018, the Providence, Rhode Island-based company said.
    The U.S. Interior Department said in the next nine months, the government will offer leases for areas off Virginia, Maryland, New Jersey and Massachusetts.
  • 2013/08/01: PeakEnergy: Flying a kite for aerial wind power
  • 2013/08/01: PeakEnergy: World's Biggest Offshore Wind Farm Switched On in Britain

  Meanwhile among the solar aficionados:

  • 2013/08/03: CleanTechnica: Black Metals Beat A New Path To Solar Cell Efficiency
  • 2013/08/02: UniBas: Cobalt Replacements Make Solar Cells More Sustainable
    Researchers at the University of Basel have successfully replaced the rare element iodine in copper-based dye-sensitized solar cells by the more abundant element cobalt, taking a step forward in the development of environmentally friendly energy production. The journal «Chemical Communications» has published the results of these so-called Cu-Co cells.
  • 2013/08/02: TreeHugger: No more free sun: Arizona's biggest power utility wants to tax solar
  • 2013/08/02: CleanTechnica: Solar PV About To Enter "Third Growth Phase": Deutsche Bank
    [...] "...transitioning between 'alternative energy' and a truly cost competitive source of energy that may help both producers and consumers hedge against rising electricity rates and fuel costs."
  • 2013/08/01: CleanTechnica: Distributed Solar Power Generation To Reach $112 Billion In Annual Revenue By 2018 (Report)
  • 2013/08/01: RTCC: Australia to develop solar plant 'four times' size of Sydney
  • 2013/07/31: TreeHugger: World Solar Power Topped 100,000 Megawatts in 2012 by Lester Brown
  • 2013/07/31: TreeHugger: Researchers double efficiency of see-through solar cell
  • 2013/07/31: Eureka: Cleaning solar panels often not worth the cost, engineers at UC San Diego find
  • 2013/07/31: PeakEnergy: Massive [Ivanpah] Solar Thermal Power Plant A Stepping Stone For Future Projects
  • 2013/07/31: PeakEnergy: AGL unveils Australia's biggest solar energy plants
  • 2013/07/30: CleanTechnica: Transparent Solar Film Gets Big Efficiency Boost
  • 2013/07/30: PeakEnergy: ARENA-funded tool to calculate viability of solar thermal power projects

  The nuclear energy controversy continues:

  • 2013/08/03: DD: World's largest nuclear plant operator [EDF] exits U.S. market, turns to renewable energy...
  • 2013/08/03: NBF: Molten Salt Reactor review with benefits like very little waste and 2000 energy return on invested energy
  • 2013/08/02: APR: I take a vacation, and what happens?
  • 2013/08/02: Grist: Big nuke company decides renewables are a better bet in the U.S.
    The world's largest operator of nuclear power plants is dumping its stake in American reactors, turning its focus instead to wind and solar power.
    French utility company EDF announced this week that it will sell its stake in Constellation Energy Nuclear Group (CENG), which operates five nuclear reactors in New York and Maryland.
    EDF cited cheap power produced by fracked natural gas as the big reason why it's abandoning its American nuclear facilities. But the company said it will now focus its American business strategy not on fossil fuels but on renewable energy.
  • 2013/08/02: PeakEnergy: Duke Energy shelves major nuclear project in Florida
  • 2013/08/01: NBF: Energy Return for nuclear energy [contentious]
  • 2013/08/01: TampaBay: Duke Energy to cancel proposed Levy County nuclear plant

  Nuclear waste storage requires _very_ long term thinking:

  • 2013/08/01: BWeek: The Plutonium Gang: CH2M Hill Dismantles the Hanford Nuclear Site
  • 2013/08/01: BNC: Nuclear Waste Part 4: The choice - waste into fuel OR renewable wastelands by Geoff Russell
  • 2013/07/31: BNC: Nuclear Waste Part 3: Case studies by Geoff Russell
  • 2013/07/30: BNC: Nuclear Waste Part 2: The nuts and bolts of waste by Geoff Russell
  • 2013/07/29: BNC: Nuclear Waste Part 1: The elephant (shrew) in the room by Geoff Russell
  • 2013/07/30: EneNews: Radio: Uranium-contaminated plume covers 125 acres at U.S. nuclear site...[Hanford]

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

  • 2013/08/02: CleanTechnica: Radically New Technique To Produce Hydrogen Fuel From Water [& sunlight]
  • 2013/08/01: P3: Solar Thermal and the Hydrogen Battery
  • 2013/08/01: RTCC: New technology is the "Holy Grail" of clean hydrogen energy - sunlight splitting water into oxygen and hydrogen
  • 2013/07/29: Helmholtz: The best of two worlds: Solar hydrogen production breakthrough

  And then there is the matter of efficiency & conservation:

  • 2013/07/31: TP:JR: Bad Calculations Are Standing Between You and More Efficient Appliances, Report Finds

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

  • 2013/08/04: CleanTechnica: All Green For Green Electric Vehicles (+ 530% Increase In EV Sales)
  • 2013/08/01: CleanTechnica: In-Wheel EV Motor From Evans Electric Unveiled In Australia
  • 2013/07/31: CleanTechnica: Economic (Not Environmental) Factors Are Pushing EV Manufacturing
  • 2013/07/30: CleanTechnica: Smooth Sailing For Evatran's Wireless EV Charging Demo
  • 2013/07/30: CleanTechnica: Solar Power + Battery System From Bosch Now On The Market
  • 2013/07/30: AutoBG: Toyota, Nissan, Honda, Mitsubishi will collaborate on charging network in Japan
  • 2013/07/30: CSM: Toyota becomes world's largest automaker
  • 2013/07/29: TP:JR: Electric Vehicle Sales Near 9,000 For June 2013 -- One Of Their Best Months Ever

  As for Energy Storage:

  • 2013/08/03: CleanTechnica: Graphene Supercapacitors -- Next-Generation Energy Storage Now One Step Closer
  • 2013/08/02: NBF: Graphene based supercapacitors with 60 watt hours per liter are 12 times the energy density of commercial supercapacitors
  • 2013/08/02: ABC(Au): Graphene boosts energy storage potential [supercap]
  • 2013/08/02: AutoBG: Troubled LG Chem battery plant finally making Chevy Volt batteries
  • 2013/08/01: RTCC: Graphene breakthrough could unlock renewable energy's potential
    Researchers from Monash University in Australia have developed a compact graphene-based next generation energy storage device capable of lasting as long as a conventional battery.
    Their graphene-based supercapacitors (SC) could be used in renewable energy storage, portable electronics and electric vehicles.
  • 2013/07/31: CleanTechnica: Why Battery Storage Should Be A No Brainer - Take Two
  • 2013/07/30: TreeHugger: UK grid-scale electricity storage project moves forward
  • 2013/07/29: EurActiv: Trial run for biggest battery [6 megawatt] in Europe
    A trial of the largest battery in Europe, which proponents hope will transform the UK electricity grid and boost renewable energy is due to start in Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire.

  The reaction of business to climate change will be critical:

  • 2013/08/02: Guardian(UK): US companies don't want to talk about preventing climate change disasters
  • 2013/08/01: TP:JR: Google's Own Scientists Ask Google To Stop Funding Climate Deniers
  • 2013/08/01: CCP: Open letter from Google fellows: Google's Troubling Alliance with Senator James Inhofe
  • 2013/08/01: CSW: Open letter to the Executive Chairman and CEO of Google Inc. from Google Science Communication Fellows
  • 2013/08/01: KSJT: Google faces enviro wrath for opening door to Senator James "ClimateFraud" Inhofe. Is this good press for him?

  Insurance and re-insurance companies are feeling the heat:

  • 2013/07/30: CBC: Alberta, Toronto floods may cost TD insurance $125M

  Looks like Climate Progress has dropped their daily lists, so here are the other (weekly) lists:

  • 2013/08/03: SkS: 2013 SkS Weekly News Roundup #31B by John Hartz
  • 2013/08/02: CleanTechnica: Solar & Wind News Roundup
  • 2013/08/01: CleanTechnica: Solar, Wind, & Other Cleantech News
  • 2013/07/31: CleanTechnica: Solar, Wind, Etc. News Roundup
  • 2013/07/31: SkS: 2013 SkS Weekly News Roundup #31A by John Hartz
  • 2013/07/30: CleanTechnica: Solar, Electric Car, Energy News Roundup
  • 2013/07/28: BPA: 3 Picks: Iowa Soil, Feed Industry, Vaclav Smil
  • 2013/07/29: CleanTechnica: Climate News [lists]
  • 2013/07/29: CleanTechnica: EV & Bike News
  • 2013/07/29: CleanTechnica: Solar Energy, Wind Energy, & Energy Efficiency News

  The carbon lobby are up to the usual:

  Note: You may notice my denialist coverage flagging. I am finding it
  increasingly difficult to give any attention to these people.

  • 2013/07/31: Tamino: Misunderstanding Period Analysis
  • 2013/08/01: ERabett: Blog Science
  • 2013/08/01: TP:JR: You Can Thank The Koch Brothers For The Big, Dirty Cloud Floating Over Detroit
  • 2013/07/31: CDreams: Confessions of a Climate Change Denier
  • 2013/08/01: HotWhopper: How WUWT tries to hide the incline in the sea level at Marshall Islands
  • 2013/08/02: BBickmore: Heartland Institute Knows Squat About Science
  • 2013/08/02: TFTJO: Three kinds of denial
  • 2013/08/02: Tamino: Michael Mann Understands Science
  • 2013/08/02: NewAnthropocene: Anti-science arguments: How do we respond?
  • 2013/08/01: Stoat: An exception to the stereotype of denier blogs?
  • 2013/08/03: WottsUWTB: Watt about falsifiability?
  • 2013/07/30: Resilience: Confessions of a climate change denier by Yotam Marom
    I suppose it wasn't really until I was standing on the west side of Hoboken, New Jersey, in water and oil up to my thigh, that climate change really made sense. And it wasn't until I was out organizing on New York City's outer beaches after Hurricane Sandy that I understood my sluggishness about climate justice before was nothing short of climate change denial.
  • 2013/08/04: ItsNotNova: Willie Soon, "I just don't understand"
  • 2013/08/04: HotWhopper: More logical fallacies from WUWT. Does climate affect social stability?
  • 2013/07/29: JQuiggin: Ignorant, out of touch, crazy
  • 2013/07/29: Stoat: Happy Birthday to Watts' paper!
  • 2013/07/28: DeSmogBlog: Top Physicist Withdraws Support For Climate Sceptic Professor Sacked By Australian University

  Meanwhile in the 'clean coal' saga:

   

• 2013/08/02: TreeHugger: Activists Raise Awareness of Toxic Coal Pollution in Our Waterways
• 2013/08/01: GreenGrok: An Update on Coal Ash: In Words and on Film
  

  Meanwhile in the greenwashing chronicles:

  • 2013/08/02: DeSmogBlog: United Airlines Wins "Gold" for Environment Work While Fighting Climate Action

  So what's with all the inactivity?

  • 2013/07/31: P3: Yes, we could change. So why don't we?

  As for climate miscellanea:

  • 2013/08/02: GreenGrok: Climate Chatter, Issue 11 [quotes]
  • 2013/08/02: RTCC: Climate change demands 'new Manhattan project' [says David King]
    Former UK chief scientist says warming threat needs radical and global response to develop cheap and clean energy
  • 2013/08/02: Grist: American firm debuts first airplane to run on natural gas
  • 2013/08/01: Guardian(UK): Third way: 'partnership scientists' can tackle environmental challenges
  • 2013/08/01: MGS: How to ask good questions
  • 2013/07/31: NewAnthropocene: Climate discussions flat-line where they should be thriving
  • 2013/07/29: Tyee: How to Talk to a Conservative about Climate Change
  • 2013/08/02: BBC: Alpine glaciers 'protect mountain peaks from erosion'
    Instead of wearing mountains down, evidence from Europe's high Alps shows that glaciers shield summits from erosion, acting as a protective lid.
  • 2013/08/02: Guardian(UK): It's climate scientists, not concern trolls who champion the scientific method
    Warren Pearce has mistaken concern trolling for caring about the scientific method

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

  • Wiki: Anoxic event
  • CSER: Centre for the Study of Existential Risk
  • Forest Peoples Programme
  • Talking Climate - The gateway to research on climate change communication
  • CIFOR: Center for International Forestry Research
  • EnergyMatters(Au)
  • The Stacks Project
  • Columbia: Dr. James E. Hansen [web page]
  • CDP: The Carbon Disclosure Project
  • Wiki: Carbon cycle
  • Carbon Trade Watch
  • DeSmogBlog - Clearing the PR Pollution that Clouds Climate Science

  ---

  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.

  ---

  "They laughed at Einstein. They laughed at the Wright Brothers.
  But they also laughed at Bozo the Clown." -Carl Sagan

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  Last modified August 4, 2013