Another Week of Climate Instability News, September 8, 2013

By illconsidered on September 10, 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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Chronicling a new Age of Consequences

September 8, 2013

Chuckles, COP19+, Guyana, G20, PIF, A Plan, Hiatus, Maldives, Potash
Bottom Line, A Change?, Big Banks, Cook
Fukushima: Note, News, Related Papers
Melting Arctic, Methane, Geopolitics
Food: Crisis, Fisheries, Prices, Land Grabs, IP Issues, GMOs, GMO Labelling, Production
Hurricanes, Weather Machine, Notable Weather, Extreme Weather
Carbon Cycle, Temperatures, Aerosols, Paleoclimate, Attribution
ENSO, Tipping Points, Oceans, Biosphere, Extinctions, Volcanoes
Impacts, Forests, Climate Refugees, Desertification, Tornadoes
Wildfires, Corals, Acidification, Glaciers, GW Deluge, Floods & Droughts
Transportation, Buildings, Sequestration, Geoengineering, Conservation
Journals, Other Docs, Misc. Science, Hansen
International Politics: IPCC, Bank Tax, Hormuz, South China Sea, Airlines, Treaties
Security, Law & Activism, Activism, Divestment, H2O Biz, Education, Innovation
National Politics: Britain, Europe, Australia, Election results, Election campaign, MDBP
India, China, Asia, Africa, South America
Canada, Lac-Mégantic, KXL Plan , Enbridge, Greens, East-West, Dutch Disease, ELA
BC, Tar Sands, Alberta, Ontario, Quebec, Maritimes, North
America, Post Sandy, Keystone, Mayflower, Carbon Tax, Birth Control, USAdmin, Congress
Ecological Economics, IPAT, Apocalypso, Media, Books, Video, Podcasts, Courts, BP Trial
Energy, Transitions, Fracking, Coal, Oil & Gas, Pipelines, Transportation, Independence
Peak Oil, Biofuel, Wind, Solar, Nukes, Nuclear Fusion, Grid, Cars, Energy Storage
Other Lists, Carbon Lobby, Miscellaneous Climate, Useful Links
Shameless Self Promotion, A Simple Plea, .sig

Here's a wee chuckle for ye:

Just cause it's a spectacular sight:

2013/09/08: APOD: Roll Cloud Over Wisconsin
Looking ahead to COP19 and future international climate negotiations:
A South American Meeting on Forests coming up next week:
You will notice there was no mention of climate issues at the G20:
- G20 Leaders Summit 2013
- 2013/09/06: DerSpiegel: Failure On All Fronts: No Progress from G-20 Leaders
  The G-20 summit ended worse than expected on Friday -- with acrimony, division and name-calling over Syria. The conference, which was originally conceived as an economic forum, also failed to deliver results on global recovery.
- 2013/09/05: RTCC: Russia unlikely to deliver on climate change at G20
  Syria crisis and economic growth likely to dominate St Petersberg summit as climate change drops off agenda
- 2013/09/04: CBC: G20 leaders to talk growth, with Syria in the background
  International split over response to Mideast conflict hard to ignore at St. Petersburg summit
- 2013/09/03: RT: The G20 summit's gonna be tough for Obama...
- 2013/09/01: RT: Russia treats G20 as process, not single event
The Pacific Islands Forum went down this week in the Marshall Islands:
- 2013/09/06: Guardian(UK): Majuro declaration on climate change will determine every child's future
- 2013/09/06: ABC(Au): Marshall Islands gains Pacific Islands Forum support for US nuclear legacy
  The annual Pacific Islands Forum has wrapped up in the Marshall Islands with relations between the host nation and two of its largest aid donors, the US and Taiwan, under some strain.
  [...]
  ...the official forum communique stated its support for the Marshall Islands in its dispute with the United States over more compensation for nuclear contamination.
  [...]
  Meanwhile, at the Taiwan-funded Convention Center where the Post Forum Dialogue was held, the Taiwanese ambassador was turned away when he turned up for discussions that involved China.
  A separate Post Forum Dialogue between the six countries that recognise Taiwan was moved to a totally different venue.
  The Taiwanese were far from happy...
- 2013/09/06: Xinhuanet: Pacific island nations on track to meet renewable energy target: New Zealand FM
- 2013/09/06: TP:JR: Pacific Island Nations Tell The World 'Climate Change Has Arrived'
- 2013/09/05: ABC(Au): Pacific countries adopt Majuro declaration, lead the world on climate change
- 2013/09/05: Guardian(UK): Pacific leaders adopt 'Majuro declaration' on climate change
- 2013/09/05: RTCC: UK commits to supporting Pacific Islands in climate fight
- 2013/09/05: GlobalTimes: Pacific leaders adopt Majuro Declaration for Climate Leadership
- 2013/09/05: RTCC: Pacific leaders adopt 'Majuro Declaration' on climate change
  Leaders of 13 Pacific Island countries acutely vulnerable to rising sea levels have released a statement calling for 'urgent action' to address climate change.
- 2013/09/04: ABC(Au): Climate challenge dominates opening of Pacific Islands Forum in Marshall Islands
- 2013/09/04: RTCC: Marshall Islands President would rather drown than abandon country
  Pacific Island leaders set to sign [Majuro Declaration for Climate Leadership] that they will take initiative at UN climate change talks
- 2013/09/03: TP:JR: Pacific Nations Gather To Figure Out How Island Populations Will Survive Climate Change
- 2013/09/03: ABC(Au): Climate change high on agenda as Pacific Forum leaders meet in Marshall Islands
- 2013/09/03: Xinhuanet: Interview: Cook Islands PM urges global action against climate change
- 2013/09/02: RTCC: EU pledges E150,000 to relieve drought in Marshall Islands
- 2013/09/02: RTCC: Kerry: Pacific Islands need urgent climate support
  US Secretary of State John Kerry has pledged to ensure a 'secure future' for Pacific Island states in the face of growing pressures from climate change.
- 2013/09/02: Xinhuanet: Rising anxiety as climate change dominates 44th Pacific Islands Forum
  Majuro -- A tense opening session of the 44th pacific Islands Forum has been dominated by appeals from pacific leaders for 'real action' against the threat of rising sea levels associated with climate change.
  Speaking at the International Conference Center in Majuro, the capital of Marshall Islands, the Secretary General of the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat, Tuiloma Neroni Slade, responded to a presentation from Nobel Peace Prize Professor Elisabeth Holland by decrying what he intimated as the dollar approach of 'theoretical scientists' to an issue that requires 'concrete action.'
- 2013/09/01: ABC(Au): Pacific summit aims to renew global climate efforts
A bold and laudable plan:
- 2013/09/03: NEP: The Only Way Forward: A Pedal-to-the-Metal Plan for Energy System Transformation - (Pt. 1 of 3)
- 2013/09/04: NEP: The Only Way Forward: A Pedal-to-the-Metal Plan for Energy System Transformation - (Pt. 2 of 3)
- 2013/09/05: NEP: The Only Way Forward: A Pedal-to-the-Metal Plan for Energy System Transformation - (Pt. 3 of 3)
- 2013/09/07: NakedCapitalism: Michael Hoexter: The Only Way Forward: A Pedal-to-the-Metal Plan for Energy System Transformation - (Pt. 1 of 3)
Still some chatter about the hiatus:
- 2013/09/04: Stoat: Kosaka and Xie, take 2
- 2013/09/03: Guardian(UK): The Pacific Ocean fills in another piece of the global warming puzzle
- 2013/09/02: CAbyss: Learning More From the Hiatus
- 2013/09/02: Stoat: Kosaka and Xie
- 2013/09/02: Tamino: el Niño and the Non-Spherical Cow
What do you think? Will those conservative old Muslims let Nasheed take power again?
- 2013/09/08: al Jazeera: Maldives presidential poll heads to runoff
  Ex-President Nasheed will face run-off poll on September 28 after failing to secure more than 50 percent of votes.
  The first democratically elected president of the Maldives, who was ousted from power last year, faces a runoff after falling short of a clear majority in the first round of Indian Ocean archipelago's presidential election.
  The Elections Commission announced on Sunday that former President Mohamed Nasheed had received 45 percent of the vote in Saturday's election contested by four candidates.
  He faces a September 28 runoff against Yaamin Abdul Qayyoom, a brother of Maldives' former autocrat Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, who received 25 percent.
- 2013/09/08: IndiaTimes: Maldives: Ousted leader Nasheed faces presidential runoff
- 2013/09/07: IndiaTimes: Polling begins in Maldives to elect new president
- 2013/09/06: Xinhuanet: News Analysis: Close contest expected as Maldives readies for presidential polls [on Sept 7]
- 2013/09/06: BBC: Maldives set for presidential elections
- 2013/09/06: Guardian(UK): Maldives gears up to choose new president
The potash saga plays on just short of farce:
And on the Bottom Line:
- 2013/09/07: DD: Finnish study on climate change shows procrastination over mitigation measures could prove costly
- 2013/09/03: VTT: Finnish study on climate change: Procrastination over mitigation measures could prove costly
- 2013/09/02: BBC: Study reveals 'true' material cost of development say researchers
  Current methods of measuring the full material cost of imported goods are highly inaccurate say researchers.
  In a new study, they found that three times as many raw materials are used to process and export traded goods than are used in their manufacture.
  Richer countries who believe they have succeeded in developing sustainably are mistaken say the authors.
Perhaps there is a change in the wind?
- 2013/09/06: Resilience: Business vs. Business : The Real Climate Battle Begins
What are the big banks up to?
John Cook and friends continue their point-counterpoint articles:
- 2013/09/07: SkS: 2013 SkS Weekly News Roundup #36B by John Hartz
- 2013/09/06: SkS: Global Warming Includes Oceans Too - and Continues to Rise Fast by greenman3610
- 2013/09/05: SkS: Free Staged Reading of a new Climate Change Play - Extreme Whether in New York September 10th by SonyaLand
- 2013/09/04: SkS: Why I Resigned from the Editorial Board of Climate over its Akasofu Publication by Chris Brierley
- 2013/09/03: SkS: The Pacific Ocean fills in another piece of the global warming puzzle, and puzzles Curry by dana1981
- 2013/09/02: SkS: Study offers clues on 20th century global warming wobbles by dana1981
- 2013/09/01: SkS: 2013 SkS Weekly Digest #35 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.
[Now some people are talking about a century or more. Sealing it in concrete for 500 years.]
We'll see.
At any rate this situation is not going to be resolved any time soon
and deserves its own section.
Meanwhile...
It is very difficult to know for sure what is really going on at Fukushima.
Between the company [TEPCO], the Japanese government, the Japanese regulator [NISA], the international monitor [IAEA], as well as independent analysts and commentators, there is a confusing mish-mash of information.
One has to evaluate both the content and the source of propagated information.
How knowledgeable are they [about nuclear power and about Japan]?
Do they have an agenda?
Are they pro-nuclear or anti-nuclear?
Do they want to write a good news story?
Do they want to write a bad news story?
Where do they rate on a scale of sensationalism?
Where do they rate on a scale of play-it-down-ness?
One fundamental question I would like to see answered:
If the reactors are in meltdown, how can they be in cold shutdown?

Not much good news coming out of Fukushima:
- 2013/09/07: ABC(Au): South Korea extends ban on Japanese fish imports
- 2013/09/07: EneNews: "Growing Sense of Crisis": Tepco very concerned about high levels of contamination in groundwater thought to be clean...
- 2013/09/06: Guardian(UK): South Korea bans fish imports from Japan's Fukushima region
- 2013/09/06: CCurrents: Shinzo Abe - A PM Without Conscience, Wisdom or Compassion...
- 2013/09/06: HuffPo: Sockeye Salmon Sushi: Use a Geiger Counter
- 2013/09/06: EneNews: Lies? Top Japan officials and Tepco all now claim Fukushima contamination is staying inside port and not reaching Pacific - Yet Tokyo scientist already revealed 44% of water in port flows out into ocean every day (videos)
- 2013/09/06: EneNews: Nuclear Engineer: Fuel appears damaged in Fukushima Unit 4 pool and will fall apart if they pull it up...
- 2013/09/06: BBC: South Korea bans fisheries imports from Fukushima area
- 2013/09/06: CBC: Japan's Fukushima region fishery products banned in South Korea
- 2013/09/06: BBerg: S. Korea Bans Imports of Japanese Fish Over Radiation
- 2013/09/06: EneNews: NYTimes: Countries increasingly worried about Fukushima Unit 4 spent fuel...
- 2013/09/06: BNC: Willacy's Fukushima
  [Book Review] _Fukushima: Japan's tsunami and the inside story of the nuclear meltdowns_ by Mark Willacy
- 2013/09/06: CleanTechnica: Radiation Level Spikes At Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Disaster Site
- 2013/09/05: EneNews: CNBC: Fukushima crisis "a global problem, not just a Japan problem" says professor... "Denial & cover-up clearly not working" - TV: "Many now say disaster has spun out of control, and its full extent hidden from public" (videos)
- 2013/09/05: EneNews: First video of groundwater pouring into basement of Fukushima Unit 1 turbine building
- 2013/09/04: EneNews: New York Times: Experts warn molten fuel may be underground beneath Fukushima reactor buildings - Doubt that it can be extricated
- 2013/09/04: Reuters: Record radiation readings near Fukushima contaminated water tanks
- 2013/09/04: Guardian(UK): Fukushima radiation leaks reach deadly new high
  Exposure to emissions would be fatal within hours, say Japanese authorities, as race to build frozen wall begins
- 2013/09/04: BBC: Radiation levels hit new high near Fukushima water tanks
  Radiation levels around tanks storing contaminated water at Japan's crippled Fukushima nuclear plant have risen by a fifth to a new high, officials say.
  Ground readings near one set of tanks stood at 2,200 millisieverts (mSv) on Tuesday, the plant operator and Japan's nuclear authority said.
  Saturday's reading was 1,800 mSv.
- 2013/09/04: WSWS: Fukushima leaks' radioactivity 18 times higher than previously reported
- 2013/09/04: al Jazeera: Japan N-plant radiation levels hit new high
  Recorded radiation levels at Fukushima nuclear facility found strong enough to kill a person within hours of exposure.
- 2013/09/04: Guardian(UK): Japan earmarks £300m+ for Fukushima cleanup
  Tokyo unveils measures to decontaminate toxic water at nuclear power plant as Tepco struggles to prevent leaks into Pacific
- 2013/09/03: NYT: Errors Cast Doubt on Japan's Cleanup of Nuclear Accident Site
- 2013/09/03: CSM: Fukushima: Japan plans to corral radioactive water behind frozen dam
- 2013/09/03: WBUR: Radiation And Risks At Fukushima
  The mess at Fukushima, Japan's deeply-wounded nuclear plant. It's worse than we've been told. We look at the risks for Japan and the world.
- 2013/09/03: RadioAustralia: Japanese government turns on TEPCO after latest Fukushima failures
  The latest revelations about the problems facing the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan is presenting fresh political challenges to the government of Shinzo Abe.
- 2013/09/03: EneNews: NBC Nightly News: Concerns are growing tonight, especially out West, about the continuing radiation threat from Fukushima - Japanese Diplomat: U.S. food supply stands to be contaminated (video)
- 2013/09/03: EneNews: Fukushima Plume Headed to Southern Hemisphere: Enters South Pacific and Indian Ocean after 2 decades - Will contain around 25% of total cesium-137 release
- 2013/09/03: EneNews: Fukushima No. 4 fuel pool "is perhaps the greatest threat humanity has ever faced" -CEO [David Webb, CEO of Origin Investments AB (Sweden)]
- 2013/09/03: EneNews: Nuclear Engineer on Radio: Unfortunately, the truth is there will be a large death toll from Fukushima - Damages to be seen "over the next century" - Disaster at plant is unprecedented in magnitude (audio)
- 2013/09/03: CBC: Crippled Fukushima reactor to get ice wall
- 2013/09/03: ABC(Au): Japan pledges $470m for Fukushima water leaks
- 2013/09/03: ABC(Au): Japanese govt steps in to try to resolve Fukushima nuclear problems
- 2013/09/03: EneNews: TV: Fukushima could be out of control for next 100 years, says nuclear expert...
- 2013/09/03: CBC: Japan to assist repairs at crippled Fukushima reactor -- Recent spike in radiation levels has officials worried
- 2013/09/02: BBerg: Abe to End 'Ad Hoc' Response to Fukushima Nuclear Crisis
  Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said his government will spend whatever funds are necessary to contain the Fukushima nuclear disaster and will end the "ad hoc" response to the escalating crisis.
- 2013/09/02: CDreams: Japan's Plan for Radioactive Waste Water: Into the Ocean
- 2013/09/02: BBC: Fukushima nuclear plant still 'unstable', regulator says
- 2013/09/02: BBC: Japan pledges $470m for Fukushima leak
- 2013/09/02: FDL: Fukushima Radiation Levels '18 Times Higher' Than Thought
- 2013/09/02: CleanTechnica: Fukushima Radioactive Plume To Hit The US By Early 2014
- 2013/09/02: ABC(Au): Radioactive water from the Fukushima nuclear plant to be dumped into Pacific
- 2013/09/02: IndiaTimes: Japan aims to present steps on Fukushima water problem on Tuesday
- 2013/09/02: RT: Japan promises 'prompt' measures amid reports of deadly radiation levels at Fukushima
- 2013/09/02: PLNA: Highly Radioactive Water Drop Fills the Cup in Fukushima
- 2013/09/02: al Jazeera: Japan PM steps in to deal with Fukushima
  Radiation levels continue to cause concern as plant operator's ability to deal with the situation is questioned.
  The Japanese government will take prompt, comprehensive steps to clean up the wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant amid growing concerns about the plant operator's ability to handle it, the country's prime minister has said.
  Shinzo Abe said on Monday that his government will step forward to take all necessary steps to handle the legacy of the March 2011 nuclear disaster.
  He said the government will draw up a fundamental plan to do so "quickly."
- 2013/09/02: RT: No guarantee Japanese government will do a better job than TEPCO at Fukushima
- 2013/09/02: BBerg: Japan's Nuclear Regulator Gives Nod to Dump of Toxic Water
  Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s plan to manage radioactive water at its wrecked Fukushima plant may include a controlled discharge into the ocean once its toxicity is brought within legal limits, Japan's nuclear regulator said.
  Nuclear Regulatory Authority Chairman Shunichi Tanaka said today the ocean dump could be necessary as the country's government prepares to present its plan for handling tainted water at the site that's increasing by 400 tons a day.
  Managing the water used to cool melted fuel at the Fukushima plant's reactors has become a fundamental challenge for the utility known as Tepco, which has recently struggled to contain a series of leaks that included the loss of about 300 tons of contaminated water that it reported two weeks ago.
- 2013/09/01: EneNews: Governor: Who instructed Tepco to lie for months and say Fukushima didn't melt down? "It should have been explained there were reasons why lies had to be told" (video)
- 2013/09/01: EneNews: Nuclear Chemist: Fukushima plant "like a minefield" - Now 1,800 milliseiverts per hour detected in four different spots
What do we have for Fukushima related papers this week?
- 2013/08/26: SD:DSR: (ab$) Multi-decadal projections of surface and interior pathways of the Fukushima Cesium-137 radioactive plume by Vincent Rossi et al.
The Arctic melt continues to garner attention:
- 2013/09/06: ASI: PIOMAS September 2013
- 2013/09/03: ASI: ASI 2013 update 8: the end is nigh
- 2013/09/03: TP:JR: Good News, Bad News On 'Mega-Canyon' Found Under Greenland Ice Sheet
- 2013/09/02: Dosbat: Summer 2013
- 2013/09/02: ArcticNews: North Hole - Sea Surface Temperature Anomalies
- 2013/09/02: TreeHugger: Yeti robot scans polar ice to warn researchers of dangerous crevasses
That Damoclean sword still hangs overhead:
- 2013/09/06: CCP: Rebuttal to Michael Tobis' unsubstantiated attacks on the work of Shakhova
  Why the jury's still out on the risk of Arctic methane catastrophe
- 2013/09/05: P3: Nafeez Ahmed Responds
As for the geopolitics of Arctic resources:
- 2013/09/06: Guardian(UK): Tullow makes first Arctic oil discovery
  UK oil exploration company strikes a reservoir off the far north of Norway, a move which could contain 160m barrels of oil
- 2013/09/05: FuelFix: Shell to pay $1.1 million in fines to settle with EPA over Arctic drilling
- 2013/09/03: al Jazeera: A fishy situation at the top of the world by Michael Byers
  With climate change opening up the Arctic, a pact regulating commercial fishing in the region is urgently needed.
The food crisis is ongoing:
- 2013/09/06: AllAfrica:IRIN: Hunger Looms for Quarter of Rural Zimbabweans
- 2013/09/06: TreeHugger: One degree of warming may cut Kansas wheat production 20 percent
- 2013/09/06: DD: A warmer world will mean more pests and pathogens for crops...
- 2013/09/06: BPA: How Many Farms Grow Just One, Two, or Three Crops?
- 2013/09/05: CDreams: Food Insecurity, Hunger Plague US at Record Levels
  USDA report on hunger come as congressional Republicans push to cut billions from food assistance programs
- 2013/09/04: USAToday: USDA: Many Americans struggling to find enough to eat
- 2013/09/04: McClatchyDC: Millions still struggle with hunger in U.S., USDA finds
- 2013/09/04: FAO: Food security situation in the Sahel remains dire
  11 million people are food insecure - Support for food and livestock production urgently needed - FAO appeal
- 2013/09/04: Guardian(UK): Zimbabwe faces looming food crisis, says UN
- 2013/09/04: UN: UN food agency appeals for increased funding to assist 11 million people in the Sahel
- 2013/09/04: UN: Over 2 million people in Zimbabwe to require food assistance, warns UN agency
- 2013/09/03: WFP: Hunger Looms As Zimbabwe Faces Highest Levels Of Food Insecurity In Years
- 2013/09/03: USDA:ERS: [Report summary] Household Food Security in the United States in 2012
- 2013/09/03: USDA:ERS: [link to 719k pdf] Household Food Security in the United States in 2012
- 2013/09/03: TP:JR: Another Climate Change Headache For Farmers: Tropical Crop Pests Move North As Weather Warms Up
- 2013/09/04: RTCC: Brazil climate scientists predict country could heat 3-6C by 2100
  Country's food industry could be hit unless farming methods are adapted to take account of climate change
- 2013/09/03: AllAfrica:SW Radio: Food Crisis Looms As UN Warns of Widespread Hunger
- 2013/09/03: AllAfrica:UNWFP: Hunger Looms in Rural Zimbabwe
  Harare - Hunger is on the rise in Zimbabwe with a quarter of the rural population expected to need food assistance in early 2014. WFP is working with the government on a response that will gradually scale up starting in October this year.
  Hunger is on the rise in Zimbabwe with an estimated 2.2 million people - one in four of the rural population - expected to need food assistance during the pre-harvest period early next year, according to a new report.
- 2013/09/03: AllAfrica:UN: Over 2 Million People in Zimbabwe to Require Food Assistance, Warns UN Agency
- 2013/09/03: AllAfrica:UNWFP: Hunger Looms As Zimbabwe Faces Highest Levels of Food Insecurity in Years
- 2013/09/03: Guardian(UK): Brazil faces drop in crops
- 2013/09/02: SingHub: Harvest Automation Brings Affordable Robotics to Big Ag
- 2013/09/02: OilChange: Climate Change Causing Spread of Crops Pests
- 2013/09/02: EurActiv: Saharawi fishermen condemn EU-Morocco fishing treaty 'fraud'
  A draft fishing treaty between the EU and Morocco has been condemned as "fraud" by Saharawi fishermen who view it as an enabling mechanism for the theft and depletion of their local fishing stocks.
- 2013/09/02: RTCC: Climate change forcing crop pests to flee towards poles
- 2013/09/01: BBC: Climate change 'driving spread of crop pests'
The state of the world's fisheries is a concern:
- 2013/09/05: ABC(Au): Asia-Pacific nations agree to cut bluefin tuna fishing
  Asia-Pacific fishing nations have agreed to cut catches of young bluefin tuna by 15 per cent, but environmentalists say the accord does not go far enough.
  Nine economies, including the United States, China, South Korea and Taiwan, concluded a four-day meeting of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) this week in Fukuoka, western Japan.
  The participants agreed to reduce catches of bluefin tuna aged three years or younger in 2014 by 15 per cent of the average between 2002 and 2004, a Japanese fisheries agency official said.
- 2013/09/04: NatureN: Deep-sea trawling must be banned
  Industry interests should not be allowed to derail a European Union vote on whether to prohibit a destructive fishing technique, says
- 2013/09/04: ColumbusDispatch: [NWF] Report: U.S. fish won't survive warmer water
Food Prices are still problematic:
- FAO: World Food Situation - Food Price Indices
- 2013/09/06: UN: Food prices fall for fourth consecutive month on cheaper cereals, oils - UN [FAO] agency
- 2013/09/05: FAO: Global food prices continue to drop
  Prices of cereals and oils decrease - FAO expects bumper cereal harvest this year
So, are these land grabs Colonialism V2.0?
Look out! the IP Rentiers are coming!
- 2013/09/05: RT: Monsanto took over regulatory bodies all over the world to lobby GMO
  Monsanto is trying to take full control of the world's seed supply for a greater profit, hiding any report of damage GMO does to the ecosystem and human health, Jeffrey M. Smith, GMO researcher from the Institute for Responsible Technology, told RT.
- 2013/09/04: Resilience: Our seed, our sovereignty - seed law victory in Indonesia
Regarding the genetic modification of food:
- 2013/09/05: NBF: Genetically modified [rice] has 25% higher yield from larger grains
- 2013/09/03: SciAm: Farming a Toxin To Protect Crops, Pollinators and People
  Genetically modified crops that produce the pest-killing toxin Bt increase yields and reduce the use of noxious chemical insecticides. But like any powerful tool, they must be used responsibly
- 2013/09/03: TreeHugger: Taking a close look at insecticide-producing crops
Regarding labelling GM food:
- 2013/09/02: SciAm:GB: Time to stop fighting GMO labeling?
And how are we going to feed 9 billion, 10 billion, 15 billion?
- 2013/09/06: FAO: Disease-resistant wheat varieties debut in Kenya
  New seeds are resistant to wheat stem rust (Ug99) - Multinational programme supported by FAO and IAEA
- 2013/09/06: CBC: Quirks & Quarks examines lab-grown meat
- 2013/09/05: NatureN: Birds protect Costa Rica's coffee crop -- Species including yellow warblers cut damaging borer-beetle infestation by half
- 2013/09/02: PLNA: Delegates from 20 Countries to Forum Against Hunger in Bolivia
In the Western Pacific, Toraji spun up and faded over Japan:
- 2013/09/08: MODIS: Tropical Storm Toraji (15W) approaching Japan [on Sept 3]
- 2013/09/03: NASA: NASA Satellite Sees Tropical Storm Toraji's Concentrated Center Approaching Japan
In the Eastern Pacific, Lorena is troubling the Baja:
2013/09/05: CBC: Tropical storm Lorena forms in Pacific
Lorena is 177 kilometres west of Cabo Corrientes, Mexico, U.S. Hurricane Centre reports
2013/09/05: NASA: NASA Sees "Hot Towers" in Newborn Tropical Depression 12E Hinting at Intensification
2013/09/03: NASA: From Birth to Death in Four Days: Kiko Now a Remnant Low
Lots of TDs popping up across the Atlantic and Caribbean. No hurricanes:
2013/09/07: Wunderground: Tropical Depression Eight Hits Tampico, Mexico
2013/09/06: Wunderground: Gabrielle Dissipates; the Atlantic Quiets Down
2013/09/06: NASA: Satellite Sees Atlantic Tropical Depression Eight Form in Southwestern Gulf of Mexico
2013/09/05: Wunderground: Gabrielle Getting Ripped Apart, Now a Tropical Depression
2013/09/05: NASA: Satellite Data Shows a Very Active Tropical Atlantic, Gabrielle Weakens
2013/09/05: CSM: Tropical storm Gabrielle fizzles: Why has hurricane season been so calm?
2013/09/05: CSM: Tropical storm Gabrielle downgraded to tropical depression during heavy rains in Puerto Rico
2013/09/05: PLNA: Tropical Storm Gabrielle Degradated to [Tropical] Depression
2013/09/05: PLNA: Tropical Storm Gabrielle Paralyzes Puerto Rico
2013/09/05: Wunderground: Tropical Depression Seven Forms Near Puerto Rico
2013/09/04: BBerg: Tropical Storm Gabrielle Drifting Toward Puerto Rico
2013/09/04: Wunderground: 97L Dumping Heavy Rains on Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands
2013/09/03: Wunderground: Lesser Antilles Disturbance 97L Still Disorganized
2013/09/02: Wunderground: Lesser Antilles Disturbance 97L Disorganized
2013/09/02: Wunderground: Lesser Antilles Disturbance 97L a Threat to Develop
2013/08/30: BBerg: No Atlantic Hurricane by August in First Time in 11 Years
While elsewhere in the hurricane wars:
2013/09/05: MODIS: Tropical Storm Kong-rey (14W) off the Philippines [on Aug 28]
2013/09/05: TP:JR: NOAA: Warming-Driven Sea Level Rise To Make Sandy-Type Storm Surges The Norm On East Coast
2013/09/04: SciNews: No more Superstorm Sandys expected for a long time -- Future conditions less likely to steer hurricanes directly into the East Coast
2013/09/03: CSM: How global warming may lessen chance of another superstorm Sandy
2013/09/03: TreeHugger: Climate change makes hurricanes less likely to hit NYC
2013/09/03: Wunderground: Could Climate Change Reduce the Frequency of Tracks Like Hurricane Sandy's?
2013/09/02: MODIS: Tropical Storm Ivo (09E) off Baja California [on Aug 23]
2013/09/02: Guardian(UK): Climate change likely to steer away Sandy-like superstorms, study says
Scientists predict stronger storms but say changing air patterns will prevent them from hitting US east coast
What's new in the Weather Machine?
- 2013/09/03: SEasterbrook: The Climate as a System, part 5: clouds
- 2013/09/02: SEasterbrook: The Climate as a System, part 4: earth system feedbacks
This week in notable weather:
- 2013/09/04: Guardian(UK): Peru snowstorms spark state of emergency in Andes
  Tens of thousands of animals killed and crops ruined as temperatures tumble to lowest levels in decades
- 2013/09/04: al Jazeera: South America's big freeze -- Severe winter weather has caused misery across Peru, Bolivia and Chile
This week in the New Normal -- extreme weather:
- 2013/09/06: HotWhopper: Six Grand Challenges - 12 Extreme Weather Events in 2012
- 2013/09/05: Eureka: Global warming has increased risk of record heat, say Stanford scientists
- 2013/09/04: Resilience: The Flowers of August - whiplash weather
Meanwhile in the carbon cycle:
- 2013/09/06: TheConversation: Seagrass is a huge carbon store, but will government value it?
- 2013/09/05: UIowa: Deep-ocean carbon sinks -- Study involves basic research on dark ocean microorganisms
- 2013/09/05: ABC(Au): Warmer nights mean less carbon uptake
How is the temperature record?
- 2013/09/05: Moyhu: Uncertainty of temperature trends
- 2013/09/03: Guardian(UK): New Zealand has warmest winter on record
  Average temperature over winter in South Pacific nation was highest since record-keeping began in 1909
- 2013/09/03: HotWhopper: The Angry Year: Australia's hottest 12 months on record
Aerosols are making their presence felt:
- 2013/09/03: Xinhuanet: Black carbon likely to blame for mysterious mid-1800's Alps glacier retreat
- 2013/09/02: NatureN: How soot killed the Little Ice Age -- Industrial revolution kicked off Alpine glacier retreat fifty years before warming began
While in the paleoclimate:
- 2013/09/04: Eureka: West Antarctica ice sheet existed 20 million years earlier than previously thought
- 2013/09/04: ABC(Au): Fossil find solves Australian marine mystery
  Holy sea cow An ancient mystery has been solved through the identification of a group of fossils as the ancestors of our modern-day dugong.
  The identification of the 12-million-year-old fossils pushes the record of sirenia or sea cows, the group of marine mammals that includes dugongs, in the region back seven millions years.
- 2013/09/04: RT: Prehistoric Canadian meteor caused 'dawn of civilization' - study
- 2013/09/03: CSM: Did a humongous space rock smash into Canada 12,900 years ago?
- 2013/09/03: RawStory: 350-million-year-old Gondwana supercontinent land creature discovered
  A 350-million-year-old fossilised scorpion discovered in South Africa is the oldest known land animal to have lived on Gondwana, part of Earth's former supercontinent, a university said Monday.
  The new species, named Gondwanascorpio emzantsiensis, provides tantalising clues about the development of life before Earth's continents broke apart to form the globe that is familiar to us today, scientists said.
- 2013/09/02: NatureN: Evidence found for planet-cooling asteroid -- Clue to impact in Quebec fuels debate about cause of one of Earth's big freezes
- 2013/09/02: CBC: Quebec may hold traces of meteor strike that helped cool Earth
  U.S. geochemist thinks meteor that hit 13,000 years ago left crater behind [Younger Dryas - no evidence presented]
In the attribution debate:
- 2013/09/07: CCurrents: Extreme Weather In 2012 Directly Linked To Climate Crisis
- 2013/09/06: CSM: New research pins some extreme weather events on climate change
- 2013/09/06: TheConversation: The blame for rain is mainly done in vain
- 2013/09/06: RTCC: Extreme weather in 2012 directly linked to climate change
- 2013/09/05: Guardian(UK): Study says climate change exacerbated half of recent extreme weather events
  A new study links 2012's extreme heatwaves, Hurricane Sandy and ice melt to climate change, though not rainfall or cold spells
- 2013/09/05: NOAANews: New analyses find evidence of human-caused climate change in half of the 12 extreme weather and climate events analyzed from 2012
- 2013/09/05: SciNow: 'Half' of Extreme Weather Impacted by Climate Change
- 2013/09/04: NOAA:NCDC: Explaining Extreme Events of 2012
- 2013/09/02: TheConversation: Hottest 12-month period confirmed - so what role did humans play?
And on the ENSO front:
Tipping points aka planetary boundaries popped up again:
- 2013/09/05: TheConversation: Existential risks to our planetary life-support systems
- 2013/09/04: ArcticNews: Existential risks to our planetary life-support systems [Glikson]
What's the State of the Oceans?:
- 2013/09/06: ABC(Au): Tasmania's toxic algal bloom spreading and here to stay
- 2013/09/04: TreeHugger: Navy admits training exercises will kill hundreds of whales and dolphins
What's the State of the Biosphere?
- 2013/09/03: Eureka: Scientists discover new bat species in West Africa
- 2013/09/02: DD: Video: Where have all the moose gone? Minnesota moose population down 52 percent since 2010
And on the extinction watch:
- 2013/09/06: BBC: Zimbabwe elephants poisoned by poachers in Hwange
- 2013/09/05: BBC: Water voles have declined by a fifth in the UK since 2011, a survey suggests
- 2013/09/05: TreeHugger: Poachers poison watering holes with cyanide, killing 41 African elephants
- 2013/09/05: SciAm:EC: Rare Tree [Santa Cruz cypress], Dependent on Fire, to Leave Endangered Species List
- 2013/09/03: ProMedMail: Undiagnosed die-off, sea turtle - Guatemala: RFI
- 2013/09/02: SciAm:EC: Fire Salamanders in the Netherlands Wiped Out by Newly Discovered Fungus
What's up with volcanoes this week?
- 2013/09/07: IOTD: Deadly Pyroclastic Flow at Paluweh Volcano [Indonesia, Augusr 3, Sept 4]
- 2013/09/06: ABC(Au): Monster volcano discovered under Pacific Ocean
- 2013/09/06: CSM: Biggest volcano on Earth found: It's been hiding under the ocean [for 145 milion years]
- 2013/09/05: Eureka: Scientists confirm existence of largest single volcano on earth [Tamu Massif]
More GW impacts are being seen:
- 2013/09/05: CCurrents: Why Global Warming Will Be Far Worse, Far Sooner, Than Forecasts Predict
- 2013/09/05: IOTD: City Lost: Epecuen, Argentina
- 2013/09/04: ColumbusDispatch: [NWF] Report: U.S. fish won't survive warmer water
- 2013/09/04: SwissInfo: Climate change to have big impact on Rhône Valley
- 2013/09/03: CDreams: Why Global Warming Will Be Far Worse, Far Sooner, Than Forecasts Predict
- 2013/09/02: TP:JR: Labor Day 2050: Global Warming And The Coming Collapse Of Labor Productivity
- 2013/09/02: Guardian(UK): Climate change makes pests move north from the tropics - study
- 2013/09/02: RTCC: Climate change forcing crop pests to flee towards poles
- 2013/09/01: BBC: Climate change 'driving spread of crop pests'
And then there are the world's forests:
- 2013/09/06: CCP: U.S. Becomes Largest Wood Pellet Exporter,Enviva, Clearcutting Forests and Destroying Wetlands
- 2013/09/05: Eureka: 400-year study finds Northeast forests resilient, changing
- 2013/09/04: DD: Deforestation surges as Ecuador kills Amazon protection plan
- 2013/09/03: DD: Palm oil now biggest cause of deforestation in Indonesia
Climate refugees are becoming an issue:
- 2013/09/07: BBC: Some 700 migrants rescued off Italy over two days
- 2013/09/04: DD: Graph of the Day: Top ten countries with most internal displacement in 2012
- 2013/09/04: TP:JR: BBC Misses The Point On Climate Migrants
- 2013/09/01: BBC: How many climate migrants will there be?
  If politicians are to believed, migration caused by climate change will cause the world huge problems. One of the latest to repeat the warning is UK shadow immigration minister Chris Bryant, who, like many others before him, said 200 million people may be forced to flee their country. But how reliable is this figure?
Desertification looms as a threat:
- 2013/09/05: OSU: Overgrazing turning parts of Mongolian Steppe into desert
On the tornado front:
As for heatwaves and wild fires:
- 2013/09/08: IOTD: Progression of the Rim Fire at Night [August 20 - September 4]
- 2013/09/07: CSM: Yosemite fire: Another two weeks to full containment
- 2013/09/07: MODIS: The Rim Fire, California [on Aug 31]
- 2013/09/06: MODIS: Fires and smoke in Portugal (afternoon overpass) [on Aug 29]
- 2013/09/06: NASA: Rim Fire Update - still burning through Yosemite Forest
- 2013/09/05: CBC: Wildfire near Yosemite blamed on hunter -- Blaze now 80 per cent contained
- 2013/09/04: EPOD: Rim Wildfire in Yosemite [on Aug 28]
- 2013/09/04: IOTD: Progression of California's Rim Fire [Aug 19 - Sept 2]
- 2013/09/03: al Jazeera: Wildfires continue to rage through Portugal
  Emergency services call for regional help to tackle new fires after alleged arson attacks.
- 2013/09/03: USGS: Landsat 8 Satellite Sees Rim Fire from Space
- 2013/09/03: MODIS: The Rim Fire, California (afternoon overpass) [on Aug 29]
- 2013/09/03: DD: Forest fires rage in the Siberia republic of Buryatia
- 2013/09/03: DD: 500 fires rage across Sumatra as companies destroy rainforest and peatlands for agriculture
- 2013/09/03: Grist: 7 more national parks threatened by fire
- 2013/09/03: RTCC: US temperature rises likely to exacerbate Calfornia wildfires - study
- 2013/09/03: IOTD: Smoke from the Rim Fire [on Aug 31]
- 2013/09/02: ABC(Au): Large areas of southern Australia at higher risk of bushfires this summer
- 2013/09/02: al Jazeera: Wildfire becomes California's fourth-largest
  Rim Fire grows to 901sq km, with hundreds of firefighters and prisoners involved in containment operation.
- 2013/09/01: MODIS: The Rim Fire, California (morning overpass) [on Aug 26]
Corals are a bellwether of the ocean's health:
- 2013/09/05: Eureka: Clues in coral bleaching mystery
- 2013/09/02: ERW: Insight: ocean acidification will destroy reef-friendly waters
Acidification is changing the oceans:
- 2013/09/02: ERabett: Revellation
Glaciers are melting:
- 2013/09/06: RTCC: Soot blamed for melting Alps glaciers [in 19th century]
- 2013/09/05: FaGP: Vowell Glacier Rapid Retreat, Bugaboos British Columbia
- 2013/09/04: NatureN: Floods spur mountain study -- Himalayan nations take action in response to changing climate and its deadly effects
- 2013/09/03: CSM: Soot resolves paradox in climate science, scientists say
- 2013/09/03: Grist: We can't blame everything on climate change: Soot melts glaciers too
- 2013/09/03: FaGP: North Cascade Glacier Climate Project Field Season from a Visual Perspective
- 2013/09/03: PSinclsir: Tough Summer for North Cascades Glaciers
- 2013/09/02: FaGP: North Cascade Glacier Climate Project 2013 Field Report
These extreme rainfall events are becoming all too frequent:
- 2013/09/03: TMoS: My Little Town Makes the News
As for hydrological cycle disruptions [floods & droughts]:
- 2013/09/08: IndiaTimes: Water level of rivers in Arunachal fall, 2 districts cut off
- 2013/09/07: IndiaTimes: Flood situation grim in Arunachal Pradesh
- 2013/09/06: DD: Floods in India leave devastation akin to an inland tsunami...
- 2013/09/06: IOTD: Flooding in Pakistan [2012 vs 2013]
- 2013/09/04: PLNA: Floods in Northern China Affect More Than 5,2 Million People
- 2013/09/04: Xinhuanet: Floods affect more than 5 million in border province
  Harbin -- Floods and heavy rain have affected more than 5.2 million people in the Sino-Russian bordering province of Heilongjiang, local authorities said on Wednesday.
  As of Monday, residents from 904 towns and townships have been affected by the floods, and among them, 331,000 people have been relocated, said the provincial flood control and drought relief headquarters.
  The floods have also caused 18,300 houses to collapse and roads to be temporarily cut off on 1,315 occasions, according to the headquarters, adding that total economic losses for the province are estimated at 19.1 billion yuan (3.12 billion U.S. dollars).
  More than 8,000 relief workers are still battling the floods.
- 2013/09/04: ABC(Au): South west dairy floods again - the second time in three weeks
- 2013/09/03: DD: Photo gallery: Record flooding in Khabarovsk, photographed by Alexander Kolbin
- 2013/09/03: DD: Water levels hit record highs in Eastern Russia, additional 36,000 to be evacuated...
- 2013/09/03: NOAA:NCDC: U.S. Drought Monitor Update
- 2013/09/03: CBC: Flooding in Magog, Que., forces 250 people from homes -- Heavy rainfall washes out roads, floods basements
On the mitigation front, consider transportation & GHG production:
- 2013/09/05: NBF: China's High speed rail network is paying off and is a key part of future development
- 2013/09/05: CleanTechnica: Levitating Train Surpasses Speeds Of 310 Miles Per Hour - Breaks World Speed Record
- 2013/09/04: CalcRisk: U.S. Light Vehicle Sales increase to 16.0 million annual rate in August
- 2013/09/04: CBC: Auto dealers report record August sales
  Chrysler, Ford both up 7%; GM reports 5% bump in sales while Honda gets 20% boost
- 2013/09/03: AutoBG: Why a global emissions standard would be a good thing
While in the endless quest for zero energy, sustainable buildings and practical codes:
- 2013/09/03: CleanTechnica: Going Solar: Options For Homeowners Infograph
As for carbon sequestration:
- 2013/09/06: TheConversation: Storing carbon in soil: potential opportunities outweigh limits
- 2013/08/30: GHGNews: CO2 utilization markets helping to incentivize air capture techs
Large scale geo-engineering keeps popping up:
- 2013/09/06: TP:JR: Climate Change's Silver Bullet? Our Interview With [Clive Hamilton] One Of The World's Top Geoengineering Scholars
- 2013/09/05: CE(EU): [press review] Iron fertilization in Canada/Haida Gwaii (7th update...)
- 2013/09/04: ERW: Scenarios for solar geoengineering futures
- 2013/09/04: TAP: Is the CIA on Its Way to Hacking the Sky?
- 2013/09/03: FP: Geoengineering: A Short History
  How hacking the climate came to be seen as our least worst option for averting a global climate catastrophe.
- 2013/09/03: GOC: The Evolution of Climate Engineering Research (Opinion Article)
- 2013/08/28: Nature: (ab$) Field tests of solar climate engineering by Stefan Schäfer et al.
What's new in conservation?
- 2013/09/07: TheConversation: Slimy, scaly and forgotten: we need to fund our invertebrates [conserv]
- 2013/09/06: Xinhuanet: Protecting keys regions could save two-thirds of plant species: study
  More than two thirds of the world's plant species can be saved by protecting keys regions that comprise just 17 percent of land, a study said Thursday.
- 2013/09/05: Eureka: Protecting 17 percent of Earth's land could save two-thirds of plant species
- 2013/09/05: Grist: Will the U.S. and New Zealand cave on plans for the [Antarctic] marine reserve?
Meanwhile in the journals:
- 2013/09/03: PNAS: (ab$) A physical explanation of the temperature dependence of physiological processes mediated by cilia and flagella by Stuart Humphries
- 2013/09/03: PNAS: (abs) A bacterial symbiont is converted from an inedible producer of beneficial molecules into food by a single mutation in the gacA gene by Pierre Stallforth et al.
- 2013/09/03: PNAS: (ab$) Environmental productivity predicts migration, demographic, and linguistic patterns in prehistoric California by Brian F. Codding & Terry L. Jones
- 2013/09/03: PNAS: (abs) Design and characterization of synthetic fungal-bacterial consortia for direct production of isobutanol from cellulosic biomass by Jeremy J. Minty et al.
- 2013/09/03: PNAS: (ab$) Synchronous interhemispheric Holocene climate trends in the tropical Andes by Pratigya J. Polissar et al.
- 2013/09/03: PNAS: (ab$) Dynamic model constraints on oxygen-17 depletion in atmospheric O2 after a snowball Earth by Xiaobin Cao & Huiming Bao
- 2013/09/03: PNAS: (letter$) A cold, hard look at ancient oxygen by Boswell A. Wing
- 2013/09/03: PNAS: (letter$) Reply to Brook et al: No empirical evidence for human overkill of megafauna in Sahul by Stephen Wroe et al.
- 2013/09/03: PNAS: (letter$) Lack of chronological support for stepwise prehuman extinctions of Australian megafauna by Barry W. Brook et al.
- 2013/09/04: AGWObserver: Papers on renewed growth of atmospheric methane
- 2013/08/28: Nature: (ab$) Field tests of solar climate engineering by Stefan Schäfer et al.
- 2013/09/04: Nature: (ab$) Asymmetric effects of daytime and night-time warming on Northern Hemisphere vegetation by Shushi Peng et al.
- 2013/09/02: ESD: Climate response to imposed solar radiation reductions in high latitudes by M. C. MacCracken et al.
- 2013/09/04: ACP: Black carbon in the Arctic: the underestimated role of gas flaring and residential combustion emissions by A. Stohl et al.
- 2013/09/03: ACP: Global CO2 fluxes estimated from GOSAT retrievals of total column CO2 by S. Basu et al.
- 2013/09/02: ACP: Brown carbon: a significant atmospheric absorber of solar radiation? by Y. Feng et al.
- 2013/09/05: ACPD: Satellite-based estimate of aerosol direct radiative effect over the South-East Atlantic by L. Costantino & F.-M. Bréon
- 2013/09/04: ACPD: Middle atmospheric changes caused by the January and March 2012 solar proton events by C. H. Jackman et al.
- 2013/08/21: Nature:BioTech: (ab$) Overexpression of microRNA OsmiR397 improves rice yield by increasing grain size and promoting panicle branching by Yu-Chan Zhang et al.
- 2013/09/01: Nature:GeoSci: (ab$) Air-sea temperature decoupling in western Europe during the last interglacial-glacial transition by María Fernanda Sánchez Goñi et al.
- 2013/09/01: Nature:GeoSci: (ab$) Similar spatial patterns of climate responses to aerosol and greenhouse gas changes by Shang-Ping Xie et al.
- 2013/09/01: Nature:CC: (ab$) Crop pests and pathogens move polewards in a warming world by Daniel P. Bebber et al.
- 2013/09/06: BG: Isotopic constraints on the pre-industrial oceanic nitrogen budget by C. J. Somes et al.
- 2013/09/05: BG: Climate change and ocean acidification impacts on lower trophic levels and the export of organic carbon to the deep ocean by A. Yool et al.
- 2013/09/03: BG: Microhabitat and shrimp abundance within a Norwegian cold-water coral ecosystem by A. Purser et al.
- 2013/09/06: BGD: Technical Note: Disturbance of soil structure can lead to release of methane entrapped in glacier forefield soils by P. A. Nauer et al.
- 2013/09/06: BGD: Dynamics of particulate organic carbon flux in a global ocean model by I. D. Lima et al.
- 2013/09/05: BGD: Mechanism for initiation of the offshore phytoplankton bloom in the Taiwan Strait during winter: a physical-biological coupled modeling study by J. Wang et al.
- 2013/09/05: BGD: Relative roles of local disturbance, current climate and palaeoclimate in determining phylogenetic and functional diversity in Chinese forests by G. Feng et al.
- 2013/09/02: BGD: An improved ocean model of aluminium: the effects of circulation, sediment resuspension and biological incorporation by M. M. P. van Hulten et al.
- 2013/09/04: CP: Cyclone trends constrain monsoon variability during late Oligocene sea level highstands (Kachchh Basin, NW India) by M. Reuter et al.
- 2013/09/03: CP: Mid-Pliocene East Asian monsoon climate simulated in the PlioMIP by R. Zhang et al.
- 2013/09/03: CP: Long-term variations in Iceland-Scotland overflow strength during the Holocene by D. J. R. Thornalley et al.
- 2013/09/02: CP: North-south palaeohydrological contrasts in the central Mediterranean during the Holocene: tentative synthesis and working hypotheses by M. Magny et al.
- 2013/09/02: CP: Holocene vegetation and climate changes in the central Mediterranean inferred from a high-resolution marine pollen record (Adriatic Sea) by N. Combourieu-Nebout et al.
- 2013/09/06: CPD: Ensemble meteorological reconstruction using circulation analogues of 1781-1785 by P. Yiou et al.
- 2013/09/06: CPD: Seasonal changes in glacial polynya activity inferred from Weddell Sea varves by D. Sprenk et al.
- 2013/09/03: CPD: Magnetostratigraphy of sediments from Lake El'gygytgyn ICDP Site 5011-1: paleomagnetic age constraints for the longest paleoclimate record from the continental Arctic by E. M. Haltia & N. R. Nowaczyk
- 2013/09/06: ESDD: The role of the North Atlantic overturning and deep-ocean for multi-decadal global-mean-temperature variability by C. F. Schleussner et al.
- 2013/09/06: ACPD: Vehicle emissions of greenhouse gases and related tracers from a tunnel study: CO : CO2, N2O : CO2, CH4 : CO2, O2 : CO2 ratios, and the stable isotopes 13C and 18O in CO2 and CO by M. E. Popa et al.
- 2013/09/06: ACPD: On clocks and clouds by M. K. Witte et al.
- 2013/09/06: ACPD: Factors that influence surface PM2.5 values inferred from satellite observations: perspective gained for the Baltimore-Washington Area during DISCOVER-AQ by S. Crumeyrolle et al.
- 2013/09/05: ACPD: Global emission projections for the transportation sector using dynamic technology modeling by F. Yan et al.
- 2013/09/06: OS: The Mediterranean Sea system: a review and an introduction to the special issue by T. Tanhua et al.
- 2013/09/05: OS: Impact of the Indonesian Throughflow on Agulhas leakage by D. Le Bars et al.
- 2013/09/04: OSD: Geostrophic currents and kinetic energies in the Black Sea estimated from merged drifter and satellite altimetry data by M. Menna & P. -M. Poulain
- 2013/09/04: TCD: Modelling environmental influences on calving at Helheim Glacier, East Greenland by S. Cook et al.
- 2013/09/04: Nature: (ab$) Climatology: Geoengineering has its limits by Ben Kravitz et al.
- 2013/09/02: TC: Area and volume loss of the glaciers in the Ortles-Cevedale group (Eastern Italian Alps): controls and imbalance of the remaining glaciers by L. Carturan et al.
- 2013/09/02: TC: Brief Communication "The 2013 Erebus Glacier Tongue calving event" by C. L. Stevens et al.
- 2013/08/26: SD:DSR: (ab$) Multi-decadal projections of surface and interior pathways of the Fukushima Cesium-137 radioactive plume by Vincent Rossi et al.
And other significant documents:
- 2013/09/03: USDA:ERS: [link to 719k pdf] Household Food Security in the United States in 2012
- 2013/09/02: WMO: [link to 1.6 meg pdf] ACQWA project assesses climate impacts on quantity and quality of water
As for miscellaneous science:
- 2013/09/06: CCP: Why trust climate models? It's a matter of simple science
- 2013/09/04: NatureN: Earth science: How plate tectonics clicked by Naomi Oreskes
  Fifty years after a paper linked sea-floor magnetic stripes with continental drift, Naomi Oreskes explains its legacy as a lesson in achieving scientific consensus.
- 2013/09/04: SkS: Why I Resigned from the Editorial Board of Climate over its Akasofu Publication by Chris Brierley
- 2013/09/04: VarVar: Proceedings of the Seventh Seminar for Homogenization and Quality Control in Climatological Databases published
- 2013/09/01: Guardian(UK): The 20 big questions in science
  [Book Plug] _The Big Questions in Science: The Quest to Solve the Great Unknowns_ by Mun Keat Looi & Hayley Birch
- 2013/09/02: Stoat: Citation stacking
- 2013/09/02: TMasters: How much more warming would we get if the world stopped emissions right now? Dependence on sensitivity and aerosol forcing
Regarding Hansen:
- 2013/09/07: HotWhopper: James Hansen to head up new Climate Science and Policy Program at Columbia Earth Institute
- 2013/09/05: Columbia:EI: James Hansen to Lead New Program on Climate Science and Policy
The Fifth IPCC report is coming up:
- 2013/09/05: UCSUSA:B: Disappearing Glaciers, Melting Ice Sheets, and Rising Seas to be Highlighted in Forthcoming IPCC Report
- 2013/09/05: BWeek: Ice Melting Faster in Greenland, Antarctica in UN Leak
  Ice in Antarctica and Greenland is disappearing faster and may drive sea levels higher than predicted this century, according to leaked United Nations documents.
  Greenland's ice added six times more to sea levels in the decade through 2011 than in the previous 10 years, according to a draft of the UN's most comprehensive study on climate change. Antarctica had a fivefold increase, and the UN is raising its forecast for how much the two ice sheets will add to Earth's oceans by 2100.
- 2013/09/04: Guardian(UK): Scientists call for overhaul of UN 'blockbuster' climate reports
  As the IPCC prepares for its next major assessment, experts and governments propose more targeted and frequent studies
- 2013/09/03: TP:JR: UN Chief Scientist Urges Action On Climate Change: 'We Have Five Minutes Before Midnight'
- 2013/09/03: RTCC: IPCC chief Pachauri says climate fight "five minutes to midnight"
  Humanity has 'ignored and disregarded' debts to nature says climate science chief in withering attack on governments
The Robin Hood tax, aka the Tobin tax, aka the Bank tax, aka the Financial Transaction tax, keeps coming up:
- 2013/09/03: EUO: Italy first to tax financial trade
On the international political front, tensions continue as the empire leans on Iran:
- 2013/09/07: Xinhuanet: Iran's atomic chief says ready to allay West concerns over nuclear program
- 2013/09/06: BBC: Iran nuclear: Firms' asset freeze annulled by EU court
  The EU's top court has ruled that the EU should unfreeze the assets of seven Iranian banks and other businesses hit by sanctions.
  The European Court of Justice (ECJ) said there was insufficient evidence that the businesses concerned were involved in nuclear proliferation.
- 2013/09/06: EUO: EU court strikes down Iran sanctions
- 2013/09/06: Xinhuanet: Iran's Foreign Ministry tasked with leading nuclear talks
- 2013/09/06: Asia Times: Syria crisis yet to derail Iran nuclear talks
- 2013/09/06: CBC: EU, U.S. may resume Iran nuclear talks -- New centrist president offers hope for agreement, Obama says
- 2013/09/05: BBC: Iran's Rouhani shifts responsibility for nuclear talks
  Iranian President Hassan Rouhani says the foreign ministry will take charge of nuclear negotiations with the West.
  The move will give him more direct control over the talks, which have until now been conducted by the Supreme National Security Council.
  The council is appointed by and answerable to the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei.
- 2013/09/02: BBerg: Rupee's Plunge Prompts Refiner to Embrace Iran: Corporate India
  India is increasing imports of crude oil from Iran as policy makers risk flouting U.S. trade sanctions in their scramble to halt the slump in the rupee.
South [& East] China Sea tension persists:
- 2013/09/06: BBC: China, Japan leaders Xi and Abe meet [for between four and five minutes] at G20
- 2013/09/05: Xinhuanet: China urges Philippines to stop making trouble over territory
  Beijing -- China on Thursday urged the Philippines to stop making trouble over Huangyan Island and take actions to create conditions for talks about a code of conduct (COC) in the South China Sea.
- 2013/09/03: Asia Times: Manila, Beijing, and UNCLOS: a test case?
- 2013/09/02: BBerg: Philippines Rejects Chinese Demands for President Aquino's Visit
  Philippine President Benigno Aquino rejected conditions China set for him to attend an expo in the country, adding to strains over territory in the South China Sea that both claim.
Who is serious about reducing airline carbon emissions?
- 2013/09/05: NYT: Europe Offers U.S. a Deal, Hoping for Global Rules on Airline Emissions
- 2013/09/05: EUO: EU ready to compromise on [airline emissions] carbon tax
- 2013/09/04: Guardian(UK): Barack Obama should practise what he preaches about climate change
  Grand speeches on fighting global warming are meaningless if US keeps blocking EU's efforts to cut carbon emissions
- 2013/09/04: WWF: ICAO failure to tackle aviation emissions 'inexcusable'
- 2013/09/04: BBerg: EU to Limit Aviation Carbon Cuts as ICAO Studies Global Plan
  The European Union agreed to limit the scope of its carbon curbs on airlines as the United Nations aviation panel's council pledged to work on a global plan to cut pollution from the industry beginning in 2020.
  The International Civil Aviation Organization's Council agreed today to have tools in place by 2016 needed to develop a global market-based measure to reduce greenhouse gases, according to Jos Delbeke, director general for climate at the European Commission. The outcome is weaker than what was sought by the 28-nation EU, whose move to include international flights in its carbon market as of last year sparked opposition by countries including the U.S. and Russia.
- 2013/09/02: RTCC: EU faces dilemma as aviation climate deal stays grounded
  Attempts to agree a global aviation emissions trading scheme are close to stalling - but what else can the EU now do?
These 'free trade' treaties look like a stealth corporate takeover:
- 2013/09/06: CDreams: Passage of Trans Pacific Partnership Would Be Win for Corporations, Loss for the 99%
- 2013/09/04: FDL: AFL-CIO Campaigns Against Trans-Pacific Partnership
- 2013/09/03: Rabble:B: Eli Lilly's NAFTA lawsuit should prompt rethink of investor 'rights' deals
Climate Change is a threat multiplier exacerbating existing conflicts in food, energy, water, race, resources, religion, ideology ... etc.:
- 2013/09/06: TFTJO: Climate change and the war in Syria
- 2013/09/05: PSinclair: How Climate Change Primed Syria for War [security]
- 2013/09/04: RealEconomics: When climate change becomes a matter of war and peace
The issue of the law and activism is playing out around the world:
What are the activists up to?
- 2013/09/05: EIJ: Naomi Klein [interview]
- 2013/09/04: CPW: Naomi Klein urges unions to join climate change fight
The move to divest from fossil fuel investments is growing slowly:
- 2013/09/02: CSM: Should you divest from coal and oil?
Regarding Water Politics and Business; See also:
- 2013/09/06: TP:JR: 20,000 Gallons Of Water Stolen From Elementary School In Drought-Plagued California County
- 2013/09/05: Grist: Chile just got really good at creating drinking water from fog
- 2013/09/05: DeSmogBlog: Fracking Away Our Water Supply
- 2013/09/04: RWER: Water. Or: applying the 'Coase-theorem' outside Chicago
- 2013/09/04: TreeHugger: New fog-harvesting mesh could boost water yields fivefold
- 2013/09/04: Grist: The real reason Kansas is running out of water
- 2013/09/04: WMO: Climate Outlook for Southern Africa rainy season
- 2013/09/03: CBC: Why Lake Ontario turned neon blue last week
- 2013/09/03: EurActiv: Europe threatened by greater water risks: OECD report [WWWeek]
  In Europe, the outlook for water-related disasters over the coming decades is bleak due to stress on water systems, increased demand and pollution, says a report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
- 2013/09/02: JFleck: Q: What do fracking and viticulture have in common?
- 2013/09/02: UN: World Water Week: UN deputy chief urges greater international cooperation on sanitation
- 2013/09/02: WMO: [link to 1.6 meg pdf] ACQWA project assesses climate impacts on quantity and quality of water
- 2013/09/02: ProgRev: Nestle's war on public water
Regarding science education:
- 2013/09/06: Resilience: Time to Face Some Tough Academic Choices
- 2013/09/04: MWEN: Pro-coal school curriculum on the rocks in Illinois
- 2013/09/05: Grist: Illinois concedes kids maybe shouldn't be brainwashed by Big Coal [educ]
Things change. Things always change:
While in the UK:
- 2013/09/05: BBC: Green compensation proposals outlined
  The UK government has outlined its proposals on compensating for the loss of biodiversity through development.
  The idea of "biodiversity offsetting" is controversial, with some campaigners dubbing it a "licence to trash".
- 2013/09/05: RTCC: BBC survey highlights UK public support for wind and solar
  70% of public want British energy system to be nationalised as confidence in suppliers collapses
- 2013/09/04: Guardian(UK): Cameron's claim fracking will lower gas prices is baseless, says Lord Stern
- 2013/09/04: OilChange: British PM Talking "Baseless Economics" over Fracking
- 2013/09/04: Guardian(UK): Company at heart of fracking protests applies for new drilling licences
  Cuadrilla plans to reopen its Lancashire operations within weeks, and seeks extension for oil exploration at Balcombe
- 2013/09/03: OilChange: Big Oil Winners in UK Lobby Bill
- 2013/09/03: RTCC: UK lobbying law could stifle climate change debate
  New lobbying laws proposed by the UK government could shut down discussions on climate policy, fracking and nuclear energy ahead of the next election.
- 2013/09/03: Guardian(UK): The green new deal is the antidote that UK desperately needs
And in Europe:
- 2013/09/06: DerSpiegel: Poll Plummet: What Happened to Germany's Green Party?
  Just two years ago, it looked like Germany's Green Party was going to challenge the Social Democrats for the honor of being the country's second largest party. Now, poll numbers suggest only one in 10 voters will support them. What went wrong?
- 2013/09/06: EurActiv: European Green Party kicks off 'open primary' for EU elections
- 2013/09/06: EurActiv: Climate makes a discreet comeback on the Brussels agenda
  Regulating carbon quotas in the same way that central banks regulate currency exchange rates is the latest reform project being considered by the European Commission to support the ailing emissions trading scheme. Industrialists are pushing for a change but not all are convinced.
- 2013/09/04: SwissInfo: Energy change is already underway, says Leuthard
  Energy Minister Doris Leuthard still thinks it is correct to phase out nuclear energy, saying the change in energy policy is a "great chance for Switzerland" if the country positions itself well.
- 2013/09/04: GEP: Germany Passes CCS Law
- 2013/09/04: Grist: Fracking fights spread to Europe
- 2013/09/04: WSWS: German election debate: A media spectacle to prepare a right-wing government
- 2013/09/04: EurActiv: Oettinger advises Germany on fracking, warns of climate overacting
  Germany should not dismiss gas fracking technology that has boosted US industry, nor unilaterally overexpose itself to climate protection efforts, European Energy Commissioner Günther Oettinger said on Tuesday (3 September).
- 2013/09/03: RTCC: EU biofuels policy will push 'thousands' of Africans into poverty
  Precious agricultural land is being targeted by European companies who wish to profit from the EU's biofuels target
Here is a fine example of why it is difficult to tell what is actuually happening with German energy:
2013/09/04: DerSpiegel: Germany's Energy Poverty: How Electricity Became a Luxury Good
Germany's agressive and reckless expansion of wind and solar power has come with a hefty pricetag for consumers, and the costs often fall disproportionately on the poor. Government advisors are calling for a completely new start.
2013/09/03: CleanTechnica: Renewable Reducing Electricity Prices In Germany
Meanwhile in Australia:
- 2013/09/07: PeakEnergy: 2013 - Warmest Year Ever
- 2013/09/06: TheConversation: Storing carbon in soil: potential opportunities outweigh limits
- 2013/09/06: TheConversation: Seagrass is a huge carbon store, but will government value it?
- 2013/09/05: TheConversation: Who should fund Australia's adaptation to climate change?
- 2013/09/05: ABC(Au): [NSW] Greens slam new assessment criteria for mine proposal
  New assessment criteria for a proposed expansion of a Hunter Valley coal mine are being slammed as a declaration of war on local industries.
- 2013/09/05: PeakEnergy: Losing friends with an expanding natural gas export sector
  [...] The export gas multinationals are no friend of Australian manufacturing. There is only one reason that the gas prices are set to at least double over the next few years -- gas export companies will force Australian consumers to compete with the Asian market for gas.
- 2013/09/04: TheConversation: Vital services are highly vulnerable under climate change
- 2013/09/04: TheConversation: Should offsets fund the Coalition's reef plan?
- 2013/09/03: CleanTechnica: South Australia To Reach 50% Renewables Within A Decade
- 2013/09/03: TheConversation: Indigenous participation in the developing north: a national emergency
- 2013/09/03: TheConversation: Australia's consumption of natural resources - a report card
- 2013/09/03: ABC(Au): Prosecutors raise stakes against Whitehaven Coal hoax accused Jonathan Moylan
- 2013/09/02: TheConversation: The power of the fragment: why politicians have turned their backs on climate by Clive Hamilton
Election - The results and reactions:
- 2013/09/03: JQuiggin: An undeserving alternative PM
- 2013/09/08: NewAnthropocene: Australia, 2013: The flat earth society... Good for international relations?
- 2013/09/08: UKISS: A right wing lunatic and guess who's following?
- 2013/09/08: ABC(Au): Queensland Premier Campbell Newman hopes Coalition's election win means no more 'green tape'
- 2013/09/08: ABC(Au): Minor parties to play key role in Senate make-up
- 2013/09/07: ABC(Au): Meet the leadership team that will make up the Tony Abbott Government
- 2013/09/07: ABC(Au): Kevin Rudd concedes defeat and steps down as Labor leader
- 2013/09/07: Guardian(UK): Tony Abbott, the man who promised to 'stop the boats', sails to victory
- 2013/09/07: Guardian(UK): Kevin Rudd concedes election defeat and steps down as Labor leader
- 2013/09/07: Guardian(UK): Election 2013: Tony Abbott wins victory for Coalition - live reaction
- 2013/09/07: CBC: Conservative opposition wins Australian election
- 2013/09/07: ABC(Au): Adam Bandt wins Melbourne with a 'strong mandate for action on climate change'
  The Greens have retained their only seat in the House of Representatives with Adam Bandt holding on to the inner-city seat of Melbourne.
- 2013/09/07: PeakEnergy: Australian Election 2013: Abbott government could be worse than we feared
- 2013/09/07: IndiaTimes: Conservative leader Abbott wins landslide Australia election victory
- 2013/09/07: ABC(Au): Australia Votes - Federal Election 2013 - Live Results
Election - The campaign:
- 2013/09/07: TruthDig: Australian Parties Sidetrack CO2 Threat
- 2013/09/06: LoE: To mark Australia's return to the anti-science wilderness!
- 2013/09/06: BBC: Australia votes
- 2013/09/06: CBC: Australia election starts with opposition tipped to win
- 2013/09/06: Guardian(UK): How the carbon tax became the 'killing fields' of Australian politics
- 2013/09/06: Guardian(UK): Coalition's plans to remove the carbon price will cost more than $6bn
- 2013/09/06: Time: Australian Government Faces Carbon Tax Backlash at Poll
- 2013/09/06: BBC: Australia elections: Rudd and Abbott in final push
- 2013/09/06: WSWS: Australia: Liberal and Labor in virtual agreement on budget plans
- 2013/09/06: TheConversation: Is the Coalition's Green Army good news for Landcare?
- 2013/09/06: Guardian(UK): Labor is broken, the Coalition is hiding. But they are not the same
  Australian voters face an uninspiring choice. We won't try to tell you how to vote, but there is much at risk from an Abbott victory
- 2013/09/06: Guardian(UK): From Cairns to Melbourne, this election is about a pervasive sense of discontent
- 2013/09/05: Monbiot: Abbottalypse Now
  Tony Abbott intends to trash Australia on behalf of the super-rich.
- 2013/09/05: ABC(Au):TDU: How much will climate inaction cost us?
  This election has heard no end of debate about Australia's budget deficit; meanwhile, an environmental disaster looms that will cause us much more financial pain, writes Mike Steketee.
- 2013/09/05: Guardian(UK): Coalition energy document focuses almost entirely on fossil fuels
  Only reference to Australia's $20bn renewable industry is repeat of promise to hold another investigation into the health impacts of wind farms
- 2013/09/05: Guardian(UK): Australia's federal election just couldn't face up to climate change
- 2013/09/05: Guardian(UK): Faith in facts? Climate change, spin and the Australian election
  Fact-checking doesn't seem to make politicians more honest. It's the needs of extractive industries that determine policy
- 2013/09/05: Guardian(UK): Election 2013 live: papers back Abbott as polls point to Coalition win
- 2013/09/05: RTCC: Australia emissions could rise by 9% if Tony Abbott is elected
  Proposed cuts to green policies by opposition could increase emissions by as much as 45% by 2050 says Climate Institute
- 2013/09/05: CNN: Australian election campaign: Gaffes, giggles and groans
  Five-week election campaign filled with colorful quotes, unfortunate gaffs - Potential leader Tony Abbott takes the prize for most prolific contributor -
  Classic quotes also come from the candidate described as having "sex appeal" - Others have quit after making poorly-received comments, others are lying low
- 2013/09/05: ABC(Au): Coalition costings: Joe Hockey, Andrew Robb reveal foreign aid to take $4 billion hit
- 2013/09/05: ABC(Au): Fact Check - Greens Senator Scott Ludlam exaggerates rent increases
- 2013/09/05: Guardian(UK): If Abbott is elected, Australia's natural wonders will gradually be rubbed away
  Tony Abbott's climate policies are about removing the social and environmental protections enjoyed by all Australians to allow the filthy rich to become richer -- and filthier
- 2013/09/05: Guardian(UK): Climate change: Tony Abbott says Direct Action needs no modelling
- 2013/09/05: ABC(Au): Logging in a World Heritage-listed forest emerges as an election issue
- 2013/09/05: al Jazeera: Climate change heats up Australia's election -- Carbon tax legislation is a deeply embroiled issue in the forthcoming election
- 2013/09/04: Guardian(UK): Tony Abbott poised for victory in Australia elections
- 2013/09/04: Guardian(UK): The great election sideshow: Labor v the Coalition on the environment
- 2013/09/04: Guardian(UK): Party divide: how Kevin Rudd and Tony Abbott line up on the issues
- 2013/09/04: WSWS: Record number of groups contest Australian election
- 2013/09/04: ABC(Au): Mining industry hopes for a change of government
- 2013/09/04: TMoS: Let Our Cousins "Down Under" Be the Miners' Canary of Climate Change
- 2013/09/03: SMH: Tony Abbott willing to break emissions pledge over funding hole
  Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has confirmed categorically -- for the first time -- that he would break the Coalition's pledge on greenhouse reduction targets if it cost more money than he had budgeted for.
- 2013/09/03: ABC(Au): Climate change back on the election agenda
- 2013/09/03: ABC(Au): Abbott argues energy prices will fall with removal of Carbon Tax
- 2013/09/03: ABC(Au): Christine Milne warns Greens must retain balance of power in Senate to block repeal of carbon tax
- 2013/09/03: ABC(Au):TDU: Abbott's deeply depressing speech for the globe
- 2013/09/03: Guardian(UK): Rudd accuses Abbott of abandoning Australia's climate commitments
- 2013/09/03: Guardian(UK): Coalition 'risks legal consequences' if it tries to stop clean energy fund
  An incoming Coalition government would risk "serious legal consequences" if it tried to stop the Clean Energy Finance Corporation from funding new projects without convincing parliament to repeal the legislation setting up the $10bn green bank, the Greens leader, Christine Milne, has been told.
- 2013/09/03: TheConversation: Soft targets, no caps, hot world? Abbott clarifies his position on climate policy
- 2013/09/03: WtD: More thread: let's talk climate politics down under
- 2013/09/03: ABC(Au): Greens unveil plan to diversify Canberra economy
- 2013/09/03: ABC(Au): Tony Abbott warns Labor not to 'commit suicide twice' by blocking repeal of carbon tax
  Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has warned the Labor party it would be "committing suicide twice" if it tried to block his efforts to repeal the carbon tax.
  Labor says it will not "cave in" to the Coalition's moves to replace the tax with its "direct action" policy if Mr Abbott wins Saturday's poll, adding currency to the Opposition Leader's threat to hold a double dissolution election next year.
- 2013/09/02: ABC(Au): Tony Abbott tells National Press Club that election will be referendum on carbon tax
- 2013/09/02: Guardian(UK): Coalition's Direct Action funding won't rise if 5% emissions target not met
- 2013/09/02: NewAnthropocene: Voting Against Self-Interest
- 2013/09/01: JQuiggin: Launch delayed
- 2013/09/02: ABC(Au): Early voters turning out in record numbers for federal election
After years of wrangling, the Murray Darling Basin Plan is in place, but the water management fights are far from finished:
- 2013/09/06: ABC(Au): Water pipeline work underway
  A secure water supply for Bright, Porepunkah and Wandiligong residents has moved a step closer.
  Work is underway on the construction of a pipeline between the Ovens River and a soon to be built Bright off-river storage at Freeburgh.
- 2013/09/04: ABC(Au): Artificial flooding of Banrock Station wetlands to boost plant and animal life in South Australian Riverland
While in the Indian subcontinent:
- 2013/09/07: CCurrents: Challenging Nuclear Energy In India And EROEI
- 2013/09/07: IndiaTimes: Valve problem hits Kudankulam nuclear project
And in China:
- 2013/09/07: DD: Giant fish kill along 19-mile stretch of central China river caused by ammonia release from chemical plant
- 2013/09/05: Asia Times: Hong Kong eyes with fear world's largest nuke plant
  As Japanese authorities struggle to contain radiation leaks at the quake-hit Fukushima nuclear power plant, China is powering ahead with its new reactor program, sparking safety fears from environmental groups and local residents who say they lack information.
  The US$8.3 billion Taishan nuclear power plant in the densely populated Pearl River Delta in Guangdong province's Taishan city is currently under construction and slated to begin operation in December, using an imported European Pressurized Reactor with the biggest capacity in the world.
- 2013/09/04: BBC: China chemical spill kills thousands of fish
  Chinese authorities have recovered about 100 tonnes (220,000lb) of poisoned fish from a river in central Hubei province, state media report.
  The fish died after a chemical factory discharged ammonia into the Fuhe river, Xinhua news agency said.
  Environmental officials blamed a nearby local firm for the incident.
- 2013/09/04: ETI:RRapier: Prepare for the Chinese Energy Juggernaut
- 2013/09/04: Grist: Can drastic new anti-pollution rules help clean up Beijing's air?
- 2013/09/03: RTCC: Beijing plans to slash car numbers in bid to cut smog levels
- 2013/09/02: Xinhuanet: Beijing tightens vehicle emission controls against PM 2.5
- 2013/09/02: Xinhuanet: Beijing tightens vehicle emission controls against PM 2.5
And elsewhere in Asia:
- 2013/09/02: BBC: Malaysia cuts subsidies on fuel
While in Africa:
And South America:
- 2013/09/08: IndiaTimes: US plotting 'collapse' of my govt, Venezuelan president says
  Caracas: Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has claimed the White House is plotting the "collapse" of his
- 2013/09/06: Guardian(UK): Embattled Colombian president names 'peace and unity' cabinet
  Juan Manuel Santos struggles to regain credibility amid farmer protests and scepticism over FARC peace talks
- 2013/09/05: CDreams: Are Colombian Protests the 'Opening Salvo in a Full-Frontal Attack' on Free Trade?
  The South American country's recently enacted free-trade deal with the United States is devastating for its farmers.
- 2013/09/05: UDW: Ecuador: The Rights of Nature Threatened in Yasuní National Park
- 2013/09/05: PLNA: Colombian Farmers Still on Strike and Insisting in Dialogue
- 2013/09/04: Guardian(UK): Power cut paralyses Venezuela
- 2013/09/04: Guardian(UK): Why Ecuador's president has failed the country over Yasuní-ITT by Alberto Acosta
  Rafael Correa must back this key initiative instead of blaming the rest of the world for his decision to drill for oil in the Amazon
- 2013/09/03: UDW: Free Trade: Colombia Protests and Rural Development
- 2013/09/03: CSM: Protests against Chevron highlight Argentine energy woes
  [...]
  Opposition to developing the Vaca Muerta in southwest Argentina -- one of the world's largest nonconventional hydrocarbon deposits -- reflects similar clashes across Argentina. Energy and mining projects, often foreign investment-led, are frequently resisted by environmental, social, and political movements here. These battles arise "one after the other" - from protests against nuclear power to hydroelectric dams - because President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner's government has never outlined its long-term strategy for the energy sector...
  [...]
  Argentina is a net importer of energy. To reverse that, the government says it needs to develop the Vaca Muerta...
- 2013/09/03: BBC: Power cut leaves most of Venezuela without electricity
  A power cut has left 70% of Venezuela without electricity, including parts of the capital Caracas.
- 2013/09/02: EurActiv: Europe admired Ecuador's oil drilling ban but didn't want to pay
  The European Union admired Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa's now-abandoned radical conservation effort to keep Yasuní's vast oil reserves untapped but did not want to foot the bill, preferring more traditional forms of aid.
- 2013/09/01: UDW: Brutal Repression of National Strike in Colombia: Santos Declares Militarization of Bogotá
In Canada, neocon PM Harper, aka The Blight, pushes petroleum while ignoring the climate and ecology:
- 2013/09/07: MSimon: Stephen Harper and the Joy of Destruction
- 2013/09/05: PI: Old assumptions meet new reality in pipeline debate
- 2013/09/02: CBC: Ottawa's Arctic port plan mired in delays
  Deep-water port at Nanisivik still awaits environmental clean-up
  [...]
  Environmental remediation of the site is necessary before the Department of National Defence can take possession.
  But a private company which operated a now-defunct zinc mine in the region has yet to complete a clean-up of a fuel tank farm, despite four years of pressure from the military.
- 2013/09/01: TStar: Stephen Harper, the Austin Powers of the Arctic
  Prime minister's northern trips are just photo-ops. For substance, look at Putin's Russia.
- 2013/09/01: WpgFP: Harper's vaunted Arctic naval refuelling station going nowhere fast
- 2013/09/01: PaiD: A Stinging Indictment Of Joe Oliver And The Harper Mentality
- 2013/09/01: BCLSB: Harper Government Enviro Plan: Do Anything But Regulate CO2
The Lac-Mégantic tragedy plays on:
- 2013/09/05: CBC: Lac-Mégantic blast railroad could be sold by year's end
  Trustee Robert Keach said he has already been approached by 'several' potential buyers
- 2013/09/04: CBC: Quebec court grants MM&A railway more time to meet creditors -- Railway in Lac-Mégantic disaster determined to find buyer
The Harper gang came up with a last minute cockamamie save-the-Keystone-XL plan:
- 2013/09/07: CBC: Harper climate plan prompts skepticism from eco groups
  PM letter to Obama talks of working closely to get XL pipeline approval
- 2013/09/07: AD: On bad-faith negotiations
- 2013/09/07: TheCanadian: Harper caught helping Enbridge while wooing Obama on climate
- 2013/09/07: BBerg: Harper Offers Obama Climate Action for Keystone Approval
- 2013/09/06: Grist: Canadian PM to Obama: Let's make a deal on Keystone!
- 2013/09/06: OilChange: Don't buy the last ditch Harper Keystone XL ploy
- 2013/09/06: TP:JR: Canada Formally Offers To Limit Its Greenhouse Gas Emissions If U.S. Approves Keystone XL
- 2013/09/06: CBC: Harper offers Obama climate plan to win Keystone approval
  Sources say PM willing to accept emissions reduction targets proposed by the U.S.
- 2013/09/06: TMoS: Harper Drops His Drawers to Save Keystone
- 2013/09/06: DeSmogBlog: Harper's Climate Concession: Canada Increasingly Desperate to Secure Keystone XL Approval
- 2013/09/06: BCLSB: Harper's New Enviro Plan: Show Me The Money
- 2013/09/06: WCEL: Are Canada's climate laws a negotiating chip in TransCanada's poker game
Meanwhile the Greens revealed some of Harper's Enbridge machinations:
- 2013/09/04: EMay: Green Party reveals over $100 million federal spending supporting Enbridge tanker plans
- 2013/09/04: SaskBoy: Greens Catch Harper in a New $100M+ Lie
- 2013/09/04: WpgFP: Greens say Feds spend $120 million to 'grease' Enbridge Northern Gateway bid; Ottawa says it's improving oil tanker safety
And how are the Greens doing?
The West-East pipeline is suddenly a focus of much dispute:
Remember the Dutch Disaeas?
Ontario and the IISD are endeavouring to salvage the Experimental Lakes Area project:
- 2013/09/02: NatureN: Last-minute reprieve for Canada's research lakes
  Government strikes temporary deal with independent institute to keep freshwater experimental site open.
- 2013/09/02: CBC: Experimental Lakes Area to stay open with funding from Ontario, Manitoba
  Ontario to spend $2M a year on research facility in northwestern Ont. to be run by Winnipeg-based International Institute for Sustainable Development
  Ontario will commit $2 million a year to keep the Experimental Lakes Area open, and Manitoba will contribute another $900,000 over six years through its funding of the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), which will run the site, the two provincial governments announced Monday.
  The future of the internationally renowned research site for the study of water pollution and lake ecosystems has been in question ever since the federal government announced last year that it would be closing it in March 2013 as part of budget cuts to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans.
- 2013/09/02: BLongstaff: At least the provinces (well, two of them) care about climate change
Now that Christy Clark has a mandate, what will she do?
- 2013/09/05: TheCanadian: Wheels coming off [BC] Liberal energy policy as contracts cancelled
- 2013/09/04: TheCanadian: BC Hydro's 5,000-page plan: Public given just 1 week to respond
- 2013/09/04: TheCanadian: Group calls for comment extension to 5,000-page energy plan
Meanwhile in that Mechanical Mordor known as the tar sands:
- 2013/09/07: DeSmogBlog: Uncontrolled CNRL Tar Sands Spill Ongoing, 1.4M Litres Recovered
- 2013/09/04: BBerg: Yanchang Petroleum Agrees to Buy Novus Energy for C$232 Million
  Yanchang Petroleum International Ltd. agreed to buy Novus Energy Inc. for C$232 million ($220 million) cash, in China's biggest purchase of a Canadian oil and gas company since Cnooc Ltd.'s takeover of Nexen Inc.
Also in Alberta:
- 2013/09/07: CPW: Energy policy think tank sues Alberta over right to speak at tar sands hearings
- 2013/09/05: G&M: Alberta First Nation appeals decision on Athabasca's Dover project
  A northern Alberta First Nation has made good on pledge to keep fighting an oil sands project proposed by Athabasca Oil Corp., a move that may delay the $1.3-billion sale of the company's interest to its Chinese partner.
  The Fort McKay First Nation has filed for permission to appeal the green light given to the Dover Commercial Project by the Alberta Energy Regulator last month.
- 2013/09/05: PI: Pembina Institute takes province to court over right to speak at oilsands hearings
  Government documents show precedent of province blocking Pembina's participation in oilsands hearings because of critical analysis of government policies
- 2013/09/03: PI: Weak rules for the oilsands are bad news for Alberta
In Ontario, Wynne is struggling to establish herself. Energy still looms large:
- 2013/09/04: BCLSB: Hot Air on Wind Power
While in la Belle Province:
In the Maritimes:
- 2013/09/05: PeakEnergy: Nova Scotia bets on economic lift from rising tidal technology
In the North:
- 2013/09/07: CBC: Canadian Rangers: the thin red line patrolling our harshest terrain
  Some 5,000, mostly aboriginal reservists keep watch over Canada's Arctic
- 2013/09/06: CBC: Reality TV jet skiers rescued in Northwest Passage
  Canadian Coast Guard helps U.S. adventurers in Dangerous Waters after ice hampers trip
- 2013/09/05: CBC: Franklin search waiting for new high-tech tools
- 2013/09/03: CBC: N.W.T. government calls for more fracking disclosure
  Environment Minister Michael Miltenberger wants to know what chemicals are used
- 2013/09/01: CBC: Nunavut premier wants more power over resource development -- Mining a hot-button issue for Nunavut's Eva Aariak
- 2013/09/01: NewsWire: [Press Release] Minister Aglukkaq Travels to Norway to Attend the Climate and Clean Air Coalition to Reduce Short-Lived Climate Pollutants
And on the American political front:
- 2013/09/07: PSinclair: Wisconsin Libertarians Open New Front in Solar Rooftop Push
- 2013/09/06: CCurrents: Necessary And Unnecessary Wars
- 2013/09/06: MGS: Conservative and religious responses to climate change
- 2013/09/05: TP:JR: Colorado Republicans Are Out Of Step With Their Constituents On Climate Change
- 2013/09/05: CDreams: Food Insecurity, Hunger Plague US at Record Levels
  USDA report on hunger come as congressional Republicans push to cut billions from food assistance programs
- 2013/09/05: TreeHugger: As sea levels and storm surge are predicted to rise, fights over sand dunes tear coastal communities apart
- 2013/09/04: USAToday: USDA: Many Americans struggling to find enough to eat
- 2013/09/04: McClatchyDC: Millions still struggle with hunger in U.S., USDA finds
- 2013/09/03: USDA:ERS: [Report summary] Household Food Security in the United States in 2012
- 2013/09/04: TreeHugger: Career employee to NC environment head: "Take this job and shove it."
- 2013/09/04: TP:JR: The Untold Story Of Western Ranchers And Their Epic Battle Against Coal
- 2013/09/03: TP:JR: Viewpoint: Wildfires Pose A Major Threat To Our Clean Water by Tom Steyer
- 2013/09/03: DeSmogBlog: "Frackademia" By Law: Section 999 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 Exposed
- 2013/09/03: RTCC: Scientists confirm Clean Air Act 'restored ecosystems' in USA
Post-Sandy commentary and news:
- 2013/09/03: DD: $20,000 a year for flood insurance? Hurricane Sandy survivors face tough rebuilding choices
The Keystone XL wheel grinds slowly. And it grinds woe:
- 2013/09/04: TreeHugger: Where Keystone XL ends, cancer rates are 15% higher and mortality rate is 40% higher than average
- 2013/09/03: BBerg: Keystone Delays Seen Giving Time for Climate Concessions
  A decision on whether to approve the Keystone XL oil pipeline may slip into next year, giving opponents time to marshal efforts against it while offering President Barack Obama a chance to wring [GHG reduction] concessions from Canada.
The Mayflower oil spill and its ramifications just keep dragging on:
- 2013/09/04: ICN: Five Months After Oil Spill, Sickened Mayflower Residents Offered Free Health Assessments
  'We've been listening to people and trying to figure out what our role can be,' an Ark. Department of Health rep said. 'This is what we've come up with.'
- 2013/09/03: TreeHugger: Exxon cutting housing aid for Arkansas oil spill victims
- 2013/09/03: ICN: In the Path of Exxon's Pegasus Pipeline across Arkansas: People, Water, Farms (Part 1)
With the deficit hawks panicking about things financial, there has been talk of a carbon tax solution:
The GOP War on Women continues. See also:
- 2013/09/06: Wonkette: CDC Says Teen Pregnancy Rate Is Falling, Blames Obama
- 2013/09/03: BBerg: Abortion Clinics Close at Record Pace After States Tighten Rules
  At least 58 U.S. abortion clinics -- almost 1 in 10 -- have shut or stopped providing the procedure since 2011 as access vanishes faster than ever amid a Republican-led push to legislate the industry out of existence.
  A wave of regulations that makes it too expensive or logistically impossible for facilities to remain in business drove at least a third of the closings. Demographic changes, declining demand, industry consolidation, doctor retirements and crackdowns on unfit providers were also behind the drop. More clinics in Texas and Ohio are preparing to shut as soon as next month.
- 2013/09/03: Wonkette: Nice Time: Here, Planned Parenthood, Old Billionaire Coot Ross Perot Will Give You One Million Dollars
- 2013/08/30: LA Times: Bill to allow abortion by non-physicians goes to Jerry Brown
  A bill to allow first-trimester abortions by nurse practitioners and some others is among dozens sent for the governor's signature.
The actions of the Obama administration are being watched closely:
- 2013/09/07: CSM: Arsenic in rice? Not a big worry, FDA says.
- 2013/09/06: EnvEcon: Pindyck: "If anything, the cost of carbon could be higher"
- 2013/09/06: EnvEcon: "Estimating The Social Cost Of Carbon: Robert Pindyck's Critique"
- 2013/09/06: RTCC: Nordic countries join Obama in shunning dirty energy
  Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden will join the United States in reducing the use of fossil fuels and funding coal plants overseas, except in rare circumstances.
- 2013/09/05: CSM: Obama climate plan wins overseas support in run-up to G20
- 2013/09/05: FuelFix: Shell to pay $1.1 million in fines to settle with EPA over Arctic drilling
- 2013/09/05: CleanTechnica: DOE Pumps $33 Million Into EV Batteries and Other Green Car Tech
- 2013/09/04: NOAANews: NOAA invests $1.3 million with university and federal researchers for hurricane forecasting advances
- 2013/09/04: NOAANews: NOAA awards $967,000 to 11 marine debris removal projects
- 2013/09/04: Asia Times: More glue in the works
- 2013/09/03: Grist: Safety inspectors target oil-hauling trains
- 2013/09/03: UCSUSA:B: EPA Inspector General Pushes Agency on Scientific Integrity
As for what is going on in Congress:
- 2013/09/06: Wonkette: USDA Finds Farm Subsidy Waste, So GOP Will Cut Food Stamps
- 2013/09/05: ScienceInsider: In Battle Over EPA Subpoena, Privacy Remains Sticking Point
- 2013/09/05: UCSUSA:B: The House Science Committee and the EPA Fighting Over Data: Is That the Same as Secret Science?
- 2013/09/05: TP:JR: How The House Budget Threatens International Climate and Clean Energy Investment
- 2013/09/04: DeSmogBlog: With Congress Back to Work, Republican Attacks On EPA Resume
- 2013/09/03: ScienceInsider: Science Panel Says EPA Stiffed Its Request for Air Pollution Data
  The acrimony between the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and a senior Republican lawmaker has gotten worse. Representative Lamar Smith (R-TX), the chairman of the science committee in the U.S. House of Representatives, today said that the agency has failed to comply with a controversial subpoena to give the panel health data related to air pollution regulations.
- 2013/09/03: TP:JR: Is Congress To Blame For Making California's Latest Wildfire Even Worse?
- 2013/09/01: Reuters: Failure to thin brush may have worsened California wildfire
  A cluster of controlled fire and tree-thinning projects approved by forestry officials but never funded [by Congress] might have slowed the progress of the massive Rim Fire in California, a wide range of critics said this weekend.
The movement toward a long term ecologically viable economics is glacial:
- 2013/09/03: Resilience: Permaculture and the myth of scarcity
- 2013/09/03: Resilience: The End of the Age of Extraction
- 2013/09/02: Resilience: A Roadmap to Redesigning Civilization [with Permaculture]
IPAT [Impact = Population * Affluence * Technology]
raised its head once again:
- 2013/09/06: Resilience: The Real Population Problem by Tom Murphy
- 2013/09/05: BBC: [UK Health Secretary, Jeremy] Hunt concerned by lack of prosecutions in gender abortion case
  The CPS's decision not to prosecute two doctors who have been accused of offering to arrange abortions based on gender is "concerning", Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has said.
- 2013/09/02: IndiaTimes: Spanish govt prepares new abortion law - amendments expected to introduce new restrictions on pregnancy
- 2013/09/01: RWER: Malthus redux? 3. A little historical background
Apocalypso anyone?
- 2013/09/07: DD: Web of life unraveling, wildlife biologist says...
How do the corporate media measure up?
- 2013/09/04: TP:JR: BBC Misses The Point On Climate Migrants
- 2013/09/02: TheCanadian: Al Jazeera comes to America
Here is something for your library:
And for your film & video enjoyment:
- 2013/09/07: PSinclair: The Weekend Wonk: Kevin Trenberth on Climate Sensitivity
- 2013/09/06: Grist:Food, fatherhood, and fear: "GMO OMG" transcends outrage docs with honest emotions [vid]
- 2013/09/04: GLaden: Global Warming Slow Down?
- 2013/09/04: TCoE: Climate change and the phantom pause menace
- 2013/09/04: PSinclair: New Video: There is No Pause in Global Warming
As for podcasts:
- 2013/09/07: CBC:Q&Q: #1) Cultured Meat - Flesh or Fantasy #2) Greenland's Grand Canyon
Meanwhile among the 'Sue the Bastards!' contingent:
- 2013/09/07: CPW: Energy policy think tank sues Alberta over right to speak at tar sands hearings
- 2013/09/06: CDreams: US Farmers Continue David Vs. Goliath Battle Against Monsanto
  Group brings challenge to patents on Monsanto's genetically engineered seed to Supreme Court
- 2013/09/05: G&M: Alberta First Nation appeals decision on Athabasca's Dover project
- 2013/09/04: DeSmogBlog: Judge Denies National Review's Motion to Reconsider Ruling in Michael Mann's Defamation Case
- 2013/09/04: ScienceInsider: Taiwanese Court Dismisses Libel Case Against Academic
- 2013/09/04: NatureN: Scientist cleared of libel in Taiwan court
  Industrial conglomerate loses case against researcher who claimed that petrochemical plant raised cancer rates.
- 2013/09/04: Grist: Why are there pesticides and GMOs in our national wildlife refuges?
- 2013/09/03: TP:JR: Climate Scientist Can Sue National Review For Defamation, Judge Rules
It looks like this BP trial over the Gulf oil spill is going to take a long while:
- 2013/09/06: BBerg: BP Spill Claims Administrator Cleared in Ethics Probe
  The administrator of BP Plc's $9.6 billion partial settlement of claims from the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill didn't engage in any misconduct, an independent investigation found.
  Louis Freeh, former director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, said he had "not found evidence" that Patrick Juneau, the claims administrator, "engaged in any conflict of interest, or unethical or improper conduct."
- 2013/09/03: WSWS: BP asks appeals court to throw out oil spill settlement
Developing a new energy infrastructure is a fundamental challenge of the current generation:
- 2013/09/07: PeakEnergy: The Economic and Political Consequences of the Last 10 Years of Renewable Energy Development
- 2013/09/07: PSinclair: Colorado Latest Battle Ground as Utilities Realize Solar Energy's Threat to their Survival
- 2013/09/06: PeakEnergy: US Could Tap Into 1400 Terawatt Hours Of Ocean Power
- 2013/09/06: Grist: Clean energy law reducing electricity costs in Ohio
- 2013/09/05: OilDrum: The Economic and Political Consequences of the Last 10 Years of Renewable Energy Development
- 2013/09/05: Resilience: The Perils of Electricity Capacity Markets
- 2013/09/05: PeakEnergy: Renewables Account for Almost 50% of all New US Energy in 2012
- 2013/09/05: TreeHugger: Waste-to-energy in Denmark: The present and the future [slideshow]
- 2013/09/04: ETI:RRapier: Prepare for the Chinese Energy Juggernaut
- 2013/09/04: CleanBreak: Tracking the transition to a low-carbon economy: $5.2 trillion invested since 2007, according to report
- 2013/09/04: TP:JR: Science Fiction Double Feature: Dan Yergin's Industry-Funded Frack-Fest & Mischa Barton's Zombie Fracking Movie
- 2013/09/04: FuelFix: Geothermal power rising worldwide
- 2013/09/04: ABC(Au): Boat to take wave energy unit to Port MacDonnell
  Construction work has begun on a $7 million wave energy development off the coast of Port MacDonnell.
- 2013/09/03: SciAm:PI: Is the 'problem' with renewables really a lack of R&D?
- 2013/09/02: PeakEnergy: Solar and storage means "game over" for traditional utilities
What do you have in energy comparisons and transitions?
- 2013/09/04: CleanTechnica: 4 More Germany Solar Power & Wind Power Charts
- 2013/09/01: CCurrents: German Sun Beats Swiss Water
Hey! Let's contaminate the aquifers for thousands of years! It'll be a fracking gas!
- 2013/09/06: Grist: Fracking industry says fracking made you $1,200 richer last year
- 2013/09/05: TreeHugger: Kentucky nuns fight fracking
- 2013/09/05: SciAm:PI: Methane leakage from fracking: bridge to nowhere or opportunity?
- 2013/09/05: Grist: Fracking triggered more than 100 earthquakes in Ohio
- 2013/09/05: DeSmogBlog: Fracking Away Our Water Supply
- 2013/09/05: CleanTechnica: More Fracking Headaches As Earthquake Evidence Grows
- 2013/09/04: Grist: Fracking fights spread to Europe
- 2013/09/04: Resilience: Pennsylvania Marcellus shale job creation claims being overstated?
- 2013/09/03: DeSmogBlog: "Frackademia" By Law: Section 999 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 Exposed
On the coal front:
- 2013/09/06: SciAm:PI: Photo Credit: Big coal --> big biomass at the U.K.'s Drax Power Station
- 2013/09/05: TP:JR: Massive Illinois Coal Plant Is Raising Customers' Electricity Bills, On Top Of Polluting
- 2013/09/04: Grist: Coal company accidentally turns a creek into concrete
- 2013/09/03: TMoS: When You Look At It This Way, Digging Dead Things Out of the Ground Only to Kill Live Things Above the Ground is Madness
On the gas and oil front:
- 2013/09/06: BBerg: Closing oil prices Friday
  OIL (US$/bbl)
  Dated Brent Spot....116.12
  WTI Cushing Spot....110.53
- 2013/09/04: CSM: Why oil prices will stay high -- even without a Syria crisis
- 2013/09/03: Resilience: Gas Flaring: The Burning Issue
- 2013/09/01: EconBrowser: Coping with high oil prices
And in pipeline news:
- 2013/09/06: CBC: Enbridge's Kalamazoo cleanup dredges up 3-year-old oil spill
  Residents near massive oil spill differ on how Enbridge has dealt with the mess
- 2013/09/05: BattleCreekEnquirer: Enbridge [Kalamazoo] dredging in full swing in Calhoun County
- 2013/09/04: ICN: In Exxon Pipeline Relocation Push, Zero Risk to Drinking Water Is the Goal
  Only one manually-operated valve exists along the watershed's pipeline. About a million gallons of oil could escape in the time it could take to close it.
- 2013/09/04: ICN: In the Path of Exxon's Pegasus Pipeline Across Arkansas: People, Water, Farms (Part 2)
- 2013/09/03: StarTrib: Enbridge crude oil pipeline across Minnesota faces fresh opposition
- 2013/08/31: G&M: Where oil meets water: The final stop for the Energy East pipeline
Ships and boats and trains -- How to tranport the stuff:
- 2013/09/05: FuelFix: Rail will be a lasting competitor against pipelines, EY says
A rush of American triumphalism pervades the energy independence PR campaign. Think it will last?
- 2013/09/04: NAM: Manufacturers: Shale Production Driving Manufacturing Renaissance
- 2013/09/08: NBF: By 2025 the Shale Oil and Gas revolution could support 3.9 million jobs and add 533 billion in GDP to the US economy
Yes we have peak everything:
- 2013/09/05: Resilience: Peak Oil Crisis: The Middle East in Context
- 2013/09/05: Resilience: New projection of Peak Phosphorus
- 2013/09/01: IoM3: Is the idea of peak oil a false projection or impending reality? A mixed panel deconstructs the hyperbole.
- 2013/09/05: PeakEnergy: Is the idea of peak oil a false projection or impending reality?
- 2013/09/01: Resilience: What Syria tells us about world oil supplies
Biofuel bickering abounds:
- 2013/09/06: CCP: U.S. Becomes Largest Wood Pellet Exporter,Enviva, Clearcutting Forests and Destroying Wetlands
- 2013/09/04: Eureka: Sharing the risks/costs of biomass crops
- 2013/09/03: DD: Palm oil now biggest cause of deforestation in Indonesia
The answer my friend...
- 2013/09/06: PeakEnergy: Quieter Wind Turbines = More Power
- 2013/09/04: PeakEnergy: Graph of the Day: Australia's big week in wind energy
- 2013/09/04: ABC(Au): Windy August produces record generation of wind power [Victoria]
- 2013/09/04: GaianEcon: The Wind is Ours
- 2013/09/03: CleanTechnica: Australia's Big Wind Energy Week -- Graph Of The Day
Meanwhile among the solar aficionados:
- 2013/09/05: MIT: Solar-cell manufacturing costs: innovation could level the field
  Study shows that factors other than wages dominate trends in photovoltaic costs, raising the prospect of competitive manufacturing anywhere.
- 2013/09/05: NBF: China's cost advantage in solar power is mainly from economies of scale with factories four times larger than in the US
- 2013/09/05: Eureka: Cheaper Chinese solar panels are not due to low-cost labor
  Comparison of photovoltaic manufacturing in the US and China shows that scale and supply-chain development gives China the competitive advantage
- 2013/09/05: CleanTechnica: Deutsche Bank Predicting Huge Distributed Solar PV Uptake
- 2013/09/05: TP:JR: A New Program Is Bringing Distributed Solar To 25,000 Ethiopians Currently Without Electricity
- 2013/09/04: CleanTechnica: US Adds 976MW New Solar PV Capacity In 2Q As California Sets Record
- 2013/09/04: CleanTechnica: Ethiopia Has Added 13,200 Off-grid Solar Power Systems Since December 2012
- 2013/09/03: PeakEnergy: Money trail backs the clean energy revolution
- 2013/09/02: PeakEnergy: First Concentrating Solar Power Plant In South Africa Is Now Online
The nuclear energy controversy continues:
- 2013/09/07: APR: [Press Release] SCE Releases SONGS Steam Generator Documents; MHI Info Page
- 2013/09/07: IndiaTimes: Valve problem hits Kudankulam nuclear project
- 2013/09/05: Asia Times: Hong Kong eyes with fear world's largest nuke plant
  As Japanese authorities struggle to contain radiation leaks at the quake-hit Fukushima nuclear power plant, China is powering ahead with its new reactor program, sparking safety fears from environmental groups and local residents who say they lack information.
  The US$8.3 billion Taishan nuclear power plant in the densely populated Pearl River Delta in Guangdong province's Taishan city is currently under construction and slated to begin operation in December, using an imported European Pressurized Reactor with the biggest capacity in the world.
- 2013/09/04: BBerg: Nuclear Trashmen Gain From Record U.S. Reactor Shutdowns
  More than 50 years into the age of nuclear energy, one of the biggest growth opportunities may be junking old reactors.
- 2013/09/02: ICTMN: America's Chernobyl: Radioactive Dust Near Mt. Rushmore & Black Hills
- 2013/09/02: RawStory: Japan shuts down [Unit No. 3 at the Oi plant] nuclear reactor in preparation for inspection
- 2013/09/02: Xinhuanet: Kansai Electric to halt one of Japan's two online reactors
  Osaka -- Japan's Kansai Electric Power Company will start shutdown of one of the country's two operating reactors for a routine inspection on Monday evening, company officials said.
  In Japan, reactor No.3 and No.4 at the Ohi nuclear plant of Kansai Electric Power Company are the only two operating units at present. But the operator of the nuclear plant in the central Japanese prefecture of Fukui will gradually lower the output of the No. 3 reactor for its 16th regular examination on Monday evening as scheduled.
Nuclear fusion projects around the world limp along:
- 2013/09/06: CleanBreak: General Fusion builds credibility on its ambitious path to demonstrate affordable fusion power for the masses
More people are talking about the electrical grid:
- 2013/09/05: PeakEnergy: A HVDC Link For Germany's Offshore Wind Farms
- 2013/09/04: PSinclair: Lumbering Toward a New Grid
- 2013/09/04: RTCC: Does dynamic demand hold the key to an effective electricity grid?
Automakers & lawyers, engineers & activists argue over the future of the car:
- 2013/09/07: CSM: Electric cars vs. plug-in hybrids: What's the difference?
- 2013/09/07: CleanTechnica: 100% Electric Vehicle & Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle Sales Have Record Month!
- 2013/09/03: AutoBG: Swiss engineers working on 80-mpg CNG-diesel-electric hybrid
As for Energy Storage:
What do we have in (weekly) lists?
- 2013/09/06: CleanTechnica: Dave's Top 10 Clean Energy News Stories From July
- 2013/09/06: BPA: 3 Picks: Mob Grazing, Wild Bees, Magical Solution
- 2013/09/05: CleanTechnica: Cleantech Buffet
- 2013/09/04: BPA: 3 Picks: Worthless Ag Cliché, Food Blogging, CEO Farmers
- 2013/09/03: BPA: 3 Picks: Gluten-Free Wheat, Plant Microbiology, Economic Optimism
- 2013/09/02: BPA: 3 Picks: Shipping Rates, School Lunches, Chinese Chicken
- 2013/09/07: SkS: 2013 SkS Weekly News Roundup #36B by John Hartz
- 2013/09/03: SkS: 2013 SkS Weekly News Roundup #36A by John Hartz
- 2013/09/03: CleanTechnica: Cleantech Buffet...
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.
- 2013/09/04: TP:JR: Fossil Fuel-Backed Group Is Behind The Latest Climate Change Denier Campaign
- 2013/09/08: HotWhopper: Do Christopher Monckton and Anthony Watts reject plate tectonics? Really?
- 2013/09/06: TP:JR: Greenwashing Hypocrite Of The Year: CEO Of Anti-Science ExxonMobil Bemoans State Of Science Education
- 2013/09/03: ERabett: Richard Tol Calls Richard Tol's 122 Papers Irrelevant
- 2013/09/03: ItsNotNova: Fingers In Ears
- 2013/09/03: DeSmogBlog: Conspiracies Fuel Climate Change Denial and Belief in Chemtrails
- 2013/09/07: ERabett:BSD: Cultural cognition model versus "powerful groups are lying" model
As for climate miscellanea:
- 2013/09/05: Eureka: New technique to assess the cost of major flood damage to be unveiled at international conference
- 2013/09/05: CleanTechnica: MIT Study: 200,000 Premature Deaths Caused by Emissions
- 2013/09/04: Grist: David Roberts' top 20.5 parting insights
- 2013/09/04: TP:JR: What's Motivating Sport Fishermen To Become Climate Advocates?
- 2013/09/02: TCoE: Climate checkpoints and bidding Dave Roberts goodbye
And here are a couple of sites you may find interesting and/or useful:
- G20 Leaders Summit 2013
- IDMC: Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre
- NRC: Event Notification Reports
- IoM3: Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining
- NOAA: NCDC News
- Earth Island Journal
- Common Resources - R4F Blog
- ACQWA: Assessing Climate impacts on the Quantity and quality of WAter
- Australian Research Council - Centre of Excellence for Climate System Science
- GHGNews
- OpenOil
- PEARL: Paleoecological Environmental Assessment and Research Laboratory
- Stefan Rahmstorf - List of Publications
- EDGAR: Emission Database for Global Atmospheric Research
- SciNews
- Understory: Rainforest Action Network Blog
- USGS:LIMA: Landsat Image Mosaic Of Antarctica
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.

"You never change things by fighting the existing reality.
To change something, build a new model that makes the
existing model obsolete." -Buckminster Fuller
- Global Warming Links
- Global Warming News Archive
- Energy
- Energy News
- Environmental Issues
- ---
- H.E. Taylor (homepage)
Last modified September 8, 2013

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Chronicling a new Age of Consequences

September 8, 2013

Here's a wee chuckle for ye:

Just cause it's a spectacular sight:

Looking ahead to COP19 and future international climate negotiations:

A South American Meeting on Forests coming up next week:

You will notice there was no mention of climate issues at the G20:

The Pacific Islands Forum went down this week in the Marshall Islands:

A bold and laudable plan:

Still some chatter about the hiatus:

What do you think? Will those conservative old Muslims let Nasheed take power again?

The potash saga plays on just short of farce:

And on the Bottom Line:

Perhaps there is a change in the wind?

What are the big banks up to?

John Cook and friends continue their point-counterpoint articles:

A note on theFukushima disaster:

Not much good news coming out of Fukushima:

What do we have for Fukushima related papers this week?

The Arctic melt continues to garner attention:

That Damoclean sword still hangs overhead:

As for the geopolitics of Arctic resources:

The food crisis is ongoing:

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

Food Prices are still problematic:

So, are these land grabs Colonialism V2.0?

Look out! the IP Rentiers are coming!

Regarding the genetic modification of food:

Regarding labelling GM food:

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

In the Western Pacific, Toraji spun up and faded over Japan:

In the Eastern Pacific, Lorena is troubling the Baja:

Lots of TDs popping up across the Atlantic and Caribbean. No hurricanes:

While elsewhere in the hurricane wars:

What's new in the Weather Machine?

This week in notable weather:

This week in the New Normal -- extreme weather:

Meanwhile in the carbon cycle:

How is the temperature record?

Aerosols are making their presence felt:

While in the paleoclimate:

In the attribution debate:

And on the ENSO front:

Tipping points aka planetary boundaries popped up again:

What's the State of the Oceans?:

What's the State of the Biosphere?

And on the extinction watch:

What's up with volcanoes this week?

More GW impacts are being seen:

And then there are the world's forests:

Climate refugees are becoming an issue:

Desertification looms as a threat:

On the tornado front:

As for heatwaves and wild fires:

Corals are a bellwether of the ocean's health:

Acidification is changing the oceans:

Glaciers are melting:

These extreme rainfall events are becoming all too frequent:

As for hydrological cycle disruptions [floods & droughts]:

On the mitigation front, consider transportation & GHG production:

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

As for carbon sequestration:

Large scale geo-engineering keeps popping up:

What's new in conservation?

Meanwhile in the journals:

And other significant documents:

As for miscellaneous science:

Regarding Hansen:

The Fifth IPCC report is coming up:

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

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

South [& East] China Sea tension persists:

Who is serious about reducing airline carbon emissions?

These 'free trade' treaties look like a stealth corporate takeover:

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

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

What are the activists up to?

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

Regarding Water Politics and Business; See also:

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