Another Week in the Ecological Crisis, September 15, 2013

By illconsidered on September 18, 2013.

(Featured image from http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/photo/2013-09/14/c_132720300.htm)

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. I am late because I am traveling. Normality should resume before next Monday's posting...

skip to bottom

Sipping from the Internet Firehose...

September 15, 2013

Chuckles, COP19+, G20, XPrize, CDP, Germany, Potash
Bottom Line, EBRD, Cook
Fukushima: Note, News, Policies
Melting Arctic, Methane, Geopolitics, Antarctica
Food: Crisis, Food vs. Biofuel, Land Grabs, GMOs, GMO Labelling, Production
Hurricanes, Notable Weather, New Weather, GHGs, Temperatures, Paleoclimate
Attribution, ENSO, Cosmic Rays, Oceans, Extinctions, Bees & CCD, Volcanoes, Satellites
Impacts, Forests, Desertification, Disease, Phenology, Tornadoes, Wildfires
Corals, Acidification, Glaciers, GW Deluge, Floods & Droughts
Mitigation, Transportation, Buildings, Sequestration, Geoengineering, Conservation, Adaptation
Journals, Other Docs, Misc. Science, Free Science, Mann, Bartlett
International Politics: UN, IPCC, Carbon Trade, Bank Tax, Hormuz, South China Sea, Petrobras
Treaties, Security, Activism, Movement, H2O Biz, Groundwater, Religioso, Education
National Politics: Britain, Europe, Australia, Abbott-alypse, Results, Labour Leadership, MDBP
New Zealand, China, Japan, Asia, Middle East, Africa, South America
Canada, Post G20, Lac-Mégantic, Pipeline PR, East-West, Northern Gateway, NEB rules, Direction
Stand up for Science!, Bees, BC, Tar Sands, Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario, North, Canadiana
America, BP Disaster, Post Sandy , Keystone , Mayflower, Birth Control, Klein, Obama, USAdmin, Congress
Ecological Economics, IPAT, Apocalypso, Media, Books, Video, Courts
Energy, Transitions, Fracking, Coal, Oil & Gas, Pipelines, Oil Transportation, US Tar Sands, Peak Oil, Biofuel
Wind, Solar, Nukes, Grid, Efficiency, Cars, Energy Storage
Other Lists, Carbon Lobby, Miscellaneous, Useful Links
Shameless Self Promotion, A Simple Plea, .sig

No matter how dark things seem, there are always bad jokes:

Looking ahead to COP19 and future international climate negotiations:

2013/09/13: RTCC: Gambia minister 'frustration' at sluggish UN climate process
Environment Minister Fatou Gaye says developed countries must act quickly to help country fund adaptation measures
Gambia's Environment Minister Fatou Gaye says UN climate talks are "frustrating" and are failing her country.
2013/09/12: RTCC: Analysis: UN climate finance talks lay foundation for Warsaw summit
More than 120 representatives of Governments, international organisations, civil society and the private sector gathered this week for the UN's long-term finance wrap-up meeting in Incheon, South Korea.
2013/09/10: RTCC: South Korea pledges $40 million to Green Climate Fund
2013/09/10: Xinhuanet: Climate change negotiators seek breakthrough at informal New Zealand talks
2013/09/09: RTCC: Poland outlines ambitions for 2013 UN climate summit
Finance, short term pollution reduction measures and implementation all on agenda for COP19 meeting

Whoops my mistake. Apparently there was something climate related done at the St. Petersburg G20. Or is it PR BS?

2013/09/11: GreenGrok: Climate Change: The White House Announces 'Historic Progress'
2013/09/11: DD: Cutting short-lived climate pollutants: A win-win for development and climate [C&CAC]
2013/09/10: UN: G20 agreement to reduce greenhouse gases vital to tackle climate change -- UN agency
The United Nations environment agency today welcomed an agreement signed by world leaders at the recent Group of 20 (G20) Summit to reduce the emission of potent greenhouse gases, adding this is a vital contribution in efforts to combat climate change.
During last week's summit in St. Petersburg, Russia, some 35 nations and the European Union agreed to phase down the use of known as hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), while simultaneously reducing carbon dioxide emissions under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
2013/09/09: RTCC: G20 agrees to tackle 'super greenhouse gases'
Countries agree to work with Montreal Protocol to target consumption and production of warming gases
Leaders at the G20 summit in St Petersberg have agreed to cooperate on cutting the use of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), a family of potent greenhouse gases found in fridges.

There's a new XPrize. This time to better measure ocean acidification:

2013/09/09: XPrize: The Wendy Schmidt Ocean Health XPRIZE
Overview -- The Challenge: Improve Our Understanding of Ocean Acidification
2013/09/09: NatureNB: $2 million X prize seeks new sensors to study ocean acidification
2013/09/09: CSM: X Prize announces $2 million competition to measure ocean acidification
2013/09/09: TP:JR: Building A Better Ocean Acidification Detector Can Now Win You $1 Million

The Carbon Disclosure Project came out with a new report this week:

2013/09/12: TP:JR: These Gigantic Companies Have The World's Worst Carbon Emissions
2013/09/12: CDP: 10% of world's largest companies (Global 500) produce 73% of greenhouse gases
2013/09/12: RTCC: World's 50 largest emitters ignoring climate risks - report
Research reveals 50 companies are responsible for 73% of greenhouse gas emissions from world's top 500 firms
Fifty companies account for nearly three quarters of the carbon emissions of the world's top 500 firms, according to new research.
The report, produced by PwC and CDP, reveals greenhouse gas emissions in the world's top energy, utility and materials firms grew by 1.65% in the past four years.
Businesses implicated in the output of 2.54 million metric tonnes of greenhouse gases in the past four years include BP, Shell, Chevron, Sasol, Arcelor Mittal and RWE.
2013/09/12: Guardian(UK): [CDP] Report shows companies still don't take climate change seriously

What are the big banks up to?

2013/09/10: Guardian(UK): EBRD lags behind rivals on trading dirty coal for clean energy
The European development bank's focus on fossil fuels has had a negative impact on communities. It's time to change direction
Earlier this year, Barack Obama pledged that the US would no longer finance overseas coal plants through the US Export-Import Bank. This created a domino effect: the World Bank announced it would drop virtually all support for coal projects, then the house bank of the EU, the European Investment Bank (EIB), followed-suit.
In a year when three of the most important international financial institutions -- the World Bank, the EIB, and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) -- are reviewing their energy-lending strategies, political pressure to stop financing dirty coal plants is stronger than ever.

John Cook and friends continue their point-counterpoint articles:

A note on theFukushima disaster:

It is evident that the Fukushima disaster is going to persist for some time.
TEPCO says 6 to 9 months. The previous Japanese Prime Minister, Naoto Kan, said decades.
Now the Japanese government is talking about 30 years.
[Whoops, that has now been updated to 40 years.]
And the IAEA is now saying 40 years too.
[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:

2013/09/15: RT: Endless Fukushima catastrophe: 2020 Olympics under contamination threat [Dr Helen Caldicott]
2013/09/14: EneNews: Tepco admits to reporting false radiation levels for nearly 2 years at Fukushima
2013/09/14: EneNews: Tepco Adviser: Fukushima contaminated water 'problem' will go on until all 3 molten fuel cores are somehow removed - Company "simply not capable of handling the extremely difficult issue"
2013/09/14: RT: Japan 'to measure cesium levels' off crippled Fukushima to assess sea damage
2013/09/14: EneNews: ABC News: 'Never-Ending Disaster at Fukushima' - 'Japan is stumbling helplessly from one crisis to the next'
2013/09/13: RT: Endless Fukushima catastrophe: Many generations' health at stake [Dr Helen Caldicott]
2013/09/13: EneNews: Interview: Fukushima melted fuel "could have burned through floor and now in earth underneath reactors"
2013/09/13: CDreams: TEPCO Official: Fukushima is Out of Control
Statement contradicts assurances of Japanese PM, comes as fresh steam is spotted billowing from reactor
2013/09/13: EneNews: Report: Senior official admits Fukushima plant "out of control" - Tepco then claims he "meant to say something different" (video)
2013/09/13: EneNews: AFP: Fukushima nuclear reactor spews steam, Japanese operator clueless about cause - Time: Scientists have not yet explained why it would start appearing
2013/09/13: NHK: Tritium rises in groundwater in Fukushima Daiichi
2013/09/13: ABC(Au): Nuclear expert not worried about Fukushima
Stung by criticism that its handling of the ongoing crisis at Fukushima has been shoddy, the nuclear plant's operator TEPCO has brought in a US expert to advise it.
A veteran of the Three Mile Island nuclear disaster in the US, Lake Barrett has just completed his first tour of the shattered Fukushima complex.
2013/09/13: ABC(Au): US nuclear expert Lake Barrett 'not concerned' by Fukushima radioactive leaks
2013/09/13: BBerg: TEPCO Advisers Urge Separate Entity to Decommission Plant
Decommissioning the wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant would be better handled by a separate entity, leaving its operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. (9501) to focus on its core business of generating electricity, advisers to the company said.
"I would like to see a structure where those involved on the clean-up are focused, and clearly know that their job, and their job only, is safe, reliable clean-up of that site," Dale Klein, the chairman of Tokyo Electric's Nuclear Reform Monitoring Committee, said in an interview in Tokyo today.
The idea of relieving Tokyo Electric, or TEPCO, of responsibility for a decommissioning process that could take as long as 40 years follows the Japanese government's pledge last month to intervene in the clean-up of the plant.
2013/09/12: EneNews: Hawaii TV: Fukushima plume to reach coast of U.S. next year...
2013/09/12: EneNews: Award-winning Filmmaker on Fukushima: "People have low white blood cell counts" ... children and adults experiencing more nosebleeds and rashes" -Japan Times
2013/09/12: EneNews: National Geopraphic: Fears are mounting that Fukushima radiation could lead to dangerous contamination levels in seafood from Pacific...
2013/09/12: TP:JR: What You Need To Know About Fukushima's Radiation And The U.S. Food Supply
2013/09/12: Guardian(UK): French Fukushima cartoon offends Japan
Japan to lodge complaint with French embassy over newspaper cartoon linking nuclear disaster and 2020 Olympics bid
2013/09/12: ABC(Au): Japan voices anger over French cartoons that use Fukushima disaster to mock Olympics decision
2013/09/12: NHK: Tainted water may be leaking near No.2 reactor
2013/09/12: JapanNews: Govt's uphill battle over tainted water
2013/09/12: IndiaTimes: Japan protests French Fukushima cartoons
2013/09/11: Reuters: Tritium levels spike at stricken Fukushima nuclear plant
2013/09/11: Xinhuanet: News Analysis: TEPCO failing to solve Japan's nuke crisis, but gov't keeping away on financial concern
2013/09/10: CDreams: Soaring Radiation in Fukushima Groundwater
'Now seems more likely' that storage tanks are leaking directly into water, says TEPCO
2013/09/10: JapanTimes: Abe's assurance to IOC on nuclear plant called into question
One question that emerged among the public immediately after Tokyo won the right to host the 2020 Olympics was whether Prime Minister Shinzo Abe made an incorrect statement, or told an outright lie, about the contaminated water issue at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant.
2013/09/10: Donga: Abe's allegation about radioactive water stuns even Japan
2013/09/10: GlobalPost: Fukushima far from solved, say Abe's Games critics
Japan's efforts to clean up its nuclear disaster face intense global scrutiny ahead of the Tokyo Olympics
2013/09/10: EneNews: Congressmen request hearing on new developments at Fukushima plant - Key issue is whether radioactive pollution in Pacific Ocean will affect U.S.
2013/09/10: EneNews: Tokyo Professor: Recent tests show "new radioactive materials" flowing nonstop into ocean from Fukushima reactor buildings
2013/09/10: EneNews: AFP: Fears that Fukushima melted reactor cores have "eaten through" concrete of containment vessels - Tepco plan claims fuel to be removed at same time as 2020 Olympics in Tokyo
2013/09/10: DerSpiegel: Japan's Nuclear Migraine: A Never-Ending Disaster at Fukushima
Japan is stumbling helplessly from one crisis to the next as it battles the ongoing disaster at the Fukushima nuclear power plant. US nuclear inspector Dale Klein is demanding the intervention of foreign experts, but a quick solution is unlikely.
2013/09/10: RT: TEPCO detects high levels of groundwater radiation at Fukushima plant
2013/09/09: ChinaPost(Tw): International help, political solutions for irradiated water
2013/09/09: EneNews: Expert: "Ban all fish from Japan" - Cesium-137 absorbed by human body has 30 year half-life
2013/09/09: EneNews: Reports: New site with high levels of radiation at Fukushima - Urgent problem at plant says IAEA...
2013/09/09: TBAS: Fixing Fukushima's water problem
2013/09/09: EneNews: Radio: Problems looming at Fukushima plant; Soil unstable, risk of liquefaction - CBC: If fuel pool comes down, release could be dozens of times larger than Chernobyl (audio)

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

The Arctic melt continues to garner attention:

2013/09/13: RTCC: Met Office: Arctic Sea ice is declining
New satellite data from the Esa's Cryosat suggests Arctic sea ice thickness is declining year on year
Scientists at the UK Met Office say Arctic sea ice remains in long-term decline, despite recent media reports suggesting it has recovered.
2013/09/12: Eureka: A century of human impact on Arctic climate indicated by new models, historic aerosol data
2013/09/12: PSinclair: In Greenland: This Phoenix Will Not Rise Again
2013/09/12: QuarkSoup: Arctic sea ice: The Long View
2013/09/11: Grist: Sorry, skeptics: Arctic ice is still melting quickly this summer
2013/09/11: TP:JR: Arctic Death Spiral: CryoSat Reveals Decline In Arctic Sea Ice Volume Continues
2013/09/11: ASI: Pinpointing the minimum
2013/09/11: CSM: Arctic ice continues to thin, and thin, European satellite reveals
2013/09/11: BBC: ESA's Cryosat mission observes continuing Arctic winter ice decline
The volume of sea ice in the Arctic hit a new low this past winter, according to observations from the European Space Agency's (ESA) Cryosat mission.
2013/09/11: USGS: Unprecedented Rate and Scale of Ocean Acidification Found in the Arctic
2013/09/10: CSM: Arctic sea ice rebounds, but don't jump to 'global cooling' conclusions
2013/09/10: IIASA: Gas flaring and household stoves speed Arctic thaw
Gas flaring by the oil industry and smoke from residential burning contributes more black carbon pollution to Arctic than previously thought -- potentially speeding the melting of Arctic sea ice and contributing to the fast rate of warming in the region.
2013/09/09: TFTJO: The Arctic ice disaster
2013/09/09: Wunderground:RR: Behavioral Science: Arctic Oscillation (2)
2013/09/09: Dosbat: PIOMAS Summer 2013

That Damoclean sword still hangs overhead:

2013/09/12: ArcticNews: Methane reaches 2571 ppb

As for the geopolitics of Arctic resources:

2013/09/14: RT: Russian military resumes permanent Arctic presence
The Russian Navy's long-distance cruise in the Subarctic along the Northern Sea Route has become a flagship mission in the region abandoned by the military after the fall of the USSR. Now the once deactivated infrastructure will resume operation.
On Saturday, Russia's Defense Ministry officially announced return of Russia's military to the Subarctic region. The statement was made to mark the arrival of a task group of 10 warships and support vessels to the western coast of Kotelny Island in the Novosibirsk (New Siberian Islands) Archipelago.
2013/09/12: IndiaTimes: 1st Chinese ship [Yong Sheng] crosses Arctic Ocean
Beijing: A Chinese cargo ship crossed the Arctic Ocean for the first time reaching Rotterdam in the Netherlands on Tuesday.
The voyage is regarded by some shipping experts as an audacious feat and has opened up a new sea route for China. The new route opened up after global warming made it possible to travel over parts of the usually frozen Arctic Ocean.
2013/09/12: GreenPeace: (Ice) breaking news: last week an oil tanker hit an ice floe in the Russian Arctic
2013/09/11: BBerg: Polar Sea Lane Finds Favor as Suez Security Doubts Grow
Polar shipping lanes that are opening up with the retreat of ice in the Arctic Ocean are attracting more traffic as instability in the Middle East raises concerns about the security of the Suez Canal.
A China Ocean Shipping Group Co. vessel docked in Rotterdam on Sept. 10 after sailing from Taicang City, near Shanghai, via the Arctic, two weeks after another Cosco craft came under fire in the canal. Taking a polar route cut the journey by nine days.
China is exploring its options as turmoil in Egypt and Syria combines with pirate attacks off Somalia and in the Malacca Strait, calling into question the security of a Suez route used by 18,000 ships each year. Voyages via Russian or Canadian waters or even across the pole are becoming viable as the seasonal melting of Arctic ice becomes more pronounced.
2013/09/10: TheConversation: The shipping news: the north's new frontier is a complex place
2013/09/09: BarentsObserver: Tanker accident on Northern Sea Route
A tanker loaded with diesel fuel was holed by an ice floe on the Northern Sea Route and suffered ingress of water. There are no reports on any oil leakage and the tanker is now slowly sailing towards Murmansk.
The 138 meter long, 6403 dwt tanker "Nordvik" was struck by ice while sailing in the Matisen Strait to the north of the Taimyr Peninsula on September 4. The vessel, which was loaded with diesel fuel, struck an ice floe and started taking in water. "Nordvik" was built in Bulgaria in 1985.
The vessel is sailing towards Murmansk at 4 knots. There is no information on any oil leaks or other damages to the environment.
2013/09/09: DD: Drilling in wild Arctic seas threatens cultural traditions and marine life

While in Antarctica:

2013/09/12: NASA: Warm Ocean Rapidly Melting Antarctic Ice Shelf from Below
2013/09/12: Eureka: Underlying ocean melts ice shelf, speeds up [PIG] glacier movement
2013/09/12: Eureka: Antarctic research details ice melt below massive [PIG] glacier
2013/09/12: NBC: Warm water under Antarctic glacier [PIG] spurs astonishing rate of melting
2013/09/11: EurActiv: Antarctic Sea reserve cut linked to US-Russia tensions
2013/09/09: iStar: Ambitious science mission sets off for Antarctica
2013/09/09: BBC: UK scientists to probe Pine Island Glacier
UK scientists are about to set out for Antarctica to investigate the mighty Pine Island Glacier.
The PIG drains about 10% of all the ice sliding off the west of the continent, and has seen a marked thinning and a surge in velocity in recent decades.
Its contribution to sea level rise is now greater than any other glacier on the planet.
The British Antarctic Survey-led team hopes its iStar project will provide new insights into the PIG's behaviour.

The food crisis is ongoing:

The conflict between biofuel and food persists:

2013/09/11: RTCC: Biofuels: EU MPs back new 6% cap on food crops
Members of the European Parliament have voted to limit the amount of biofuels that can be derived from food-based crops to 6%.
2013/09/09: EurActiv: EU report: Brussels biofuels policy hikes food prices by up to 50%
If biofuels received no EU policy support, the price of food stuffs such as vegetable oil would be 50% lower in Europe by 2020 than at present -- and 15% lower elsewhere in the world -- according to new research by the EU's Joint Research Centre (JRC).

So, are these land grabs Colonialism V2.0?

2013/09/12: GreenPeace: Cameroonians realise what Herakles Farms really plans for their forests

Regarding the genetic modification of food:

2013/09/13: CDreams: Golden Rice Is Not So Golden
2013/09/13: CDreams: US Report of GE Alfalfa Contamination Was "Inevitable"
2013/09/12: Guardian(UK): Washington state alfalfa crop may be contaminated with genetic modification
Farmer in Washington state reports his alfalfa shipment was rejected after testing positive for genetic modification
2013/09/12: Grist: Hay contaminated with Monsanto GMOs rejected for export
2013/09/12: RT: 'Monsanto Protection Act' quietly extended by Congress
A budget provision protecting genetically-modified seeds from litigation in the face of health risks was extended for three months in an approved US House of Representatives' spending bill on Tuesday evening.
Called "The Monsanto Protection Act" by opponents, the budget rider shields biotech behemoths like Monsanto, Cargill and others from the threat of lawsuits and bars federal courts from intervening to force an end to the sale of a GMO (genetically-modified organism) even if the genetically-engineered product causes damaging health effects.
2013/09/09: BPA: Resource: A Panel of Scientists and Experts Assess the Subject of Genetically Engineered Crops
2013/09/08: Psiram: Prof. Potrykus on Golden Rice
2013/09/09: EurActiv: GM crops: African opposition is a farce, says group led by Kofi Annan

Regarding labelling GM food:

2013/09/13: Grist: Monsanto ponies up and Big Ag pulls ahead in GMO labeling horse race
2013/09/12: CDreams: Prop 37 Redux? BigAg Dumps Millions to Defeat GMO-Labeling in Wash.
Monsanto, DuPont among those working to defeat Washington's I-522
2013/09/12: Xinhuanet: Experts appeal for labelling GM food

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

2013/09/14: ABC(Au): Could insects be the answer to food security?
2013/09/12: WFP: Japan Helps Support Hunger Relief In Zimbabwe
2013/09/12: WFP: UN Emergency Relief Coordinator And World Food Programme Executive Director Call For More Support For Yemen
2013/09/11: ABC(Au): Grain farmer determined to combat non-wetting soils
A Western Australian grain grower says he's changing the way he farms to combat the effects of a changing climate.
2013/09/11: Resilience: The Real Dirt: Regenerating Soil Quality To Sustain Life
2013/09/10: Grist: One weird trick to fix farms forever [cover crops, no till]
2013/09/09: Resilience: The Energy Return on Energy Invested of US Food Production
2013/09/08: Eureka: Purple sweet potatoes among 'new naturals' for food and beverage colors
2013/09/08: Eureka: Science supporting abundant, nourishing food for a growing civilization
2013/09/08: al Jazeera: The real solution to South Africa's food problem
Government's strategy to encourage supermarkets in poor, urban neighbourhoods is inherently limited, says new study.

In the Western Pacific, Tropical Storm Man-yi is heading for Japan:

2013/09/13: NASA: NASA Satellite Sees Two Vortices Circling Newborn Tropical Storm Man-yi's Center
NASA's Terra satellite passed over newborn Tropical Storm Man-yi and captured and image that clearly showed two vortices rotating around a large center of circulation.
Man-yi formed on Sept. 12 in the northwestern Pacific Ocean as the sixteenth tropical depression and by Sept. 13 it strengthened into a tropical storm.

In the Atlantic, Tropical Storm Gabrielle stayed off the coast, brushed Nova Scotia and hit Newfoundland:

2013/09/14: CBC: Gabrielle soaks Maritimes, moves on to N.L. -- Tropical storm downgraded to tropical depression after reaching mainland Canada
2013/09/13: CBC: Tropical storm Gabrielle lashes Eastern Canada with rain
Environment Canada issues series of rainfall warnings today for Atlantic Canada
2013/09/12: CBC: Tropical storm Gabrielle heading north to Atlantic Canada
Atlantic provinces will see wet and windy weather this weekend as Tropical Storm Gabrielle bears down
2013/09/11: NASA: NASA 3-D Image Clearly Shows Wind Shear's Effect on Tropical Storm Gabrielle
2013/09/10: PLNA: Tropical Storm Gabrielle Threatens Bermuda
2013/09/10: GLaden: Tropical Update: Gabrielle Comes Back Humberto Hesitates
2013/09/10: Eureka: NASA sees Tropical Storm Gabrielle resurrected in the Atlantic, Global Hawk to investigate
2013/09/10: CBC: Tropical storm Gabrielle en route to N.S., N.L. -- Heavy rain, wind forecasted to hit Friday and Saturday
2013/09/09: MODIS: Tropical Storm Gabrielle (07L) off Puerto Rico [on Sept 5]

Also in the Atlantic, Humberto became the first hurricane of the year:
2013/09/15: MODIS: Tropical Storm Humberto (09L) off West Africa [on Sept.10]
2013/09/12: Eureka: NASA's Terra satellite spots Hurricane Humberto's cloud-filled eye
2013/09/12: TP:JR: All You Need To Know About Humberto, The Atlantic's Newest Hurricane
2013/09/12: IndiaTimes: Hurricane Humberto forms in the Atlantic: US National Hurricane Center
2013/09/11: PLNA: Hurricane Humberto, Tropical Storm Gabrielle Move in Atlantic
2013/09/11: Wunderground: Humberto Becomes the Atlantic's First Hurricane of 2013
2013/09/11: Eureka: 2 NASA satellites analyze Hurricane Humberto's clouds and rainfall
2013/09/11: Guardian(UK): Humberto becomes first hurricane of the 2013 Atlantic season
2013/09/11: Guardian(UK): Tropical storm Humberto upgraded to category 1 hurricane
2013/09/11: CBC: Hurricane Humberto 1st of Atlantic season
2013/09/11: SciAm:Obs: Hurricane Humberto Ties Atlantic Record [first forming late]
2013/09/11: CSM: Hurricane Center: Humberto far from land, but Gabrielle buzzes Bermuda
2013/09/10: PLNA: Tropical Storm Humberto Strengthens
2013/09/10: Eureka: NASA sees heavy rainfall in strengthening Tropical Storm Humberto
2013/09/09: CSM: Tropical storm Humberto: Will it be the season's first hurricane?
2013/09/09: PLNA: Storm Humberto Moves Westward in the Atlantic
2013/09/09: PLNA: New Tropical Storm Drifts Through the Atlantic
2013/09/09: Wunderground: Tropical Storm Humberto Drenching the Cape Verde Islands
2013/09/09: NASA: NASA Investigates Gabrielle's Remnants and New Tropical Storm Humberto
2013/09/08: GLaden: The race is on: Will Humberto break the record or Gustav break Humberto?

In the Caribbean:
2013/09/14: CNN: Mexico feels impact as Ingrid grows into a hurricane
First signs of Ingrid's outer bands hit in Mexico - Collapsed roads, flooded homes, stranded towns - Evacuations begin ahead of the storm
2013/09/14: CBC: Ingrid becomes hurricane, threatening Mexican coast
2013/09/14: BBerg: Ingrid May Strengthen Into Hurricane Before Hitting South Mexico
2013/09/13: NASA: Satellite Sees System 93L Become Tropical Storm Ingrid, Now Soaking Eastern Mexico

Mexico is getting it from both sides. Manuel in the Pacific and Ingrid in the Caribbean:
2013/09/15: PLNA: Tropical Cyclones to Affect most of Mexico
2013/09/14: CSM: Hurricane Ingrid and tropical storm Manuel target Mexico
2013/09/14: BBC: Mexico hit by severe storms on east and west coasts
2013/09/14: Wunderground: Tropical Storms Ingrid and Manuel: Extreme Rainfall Threats for Mexico
2013/09/13: Eureka: Friday the 13th brings double tropical trouble to Mexico - TS Manuel on the West & TS Ingrid on the East
2013/09/13: BBerg: Tropical Systems Flank Southern Mexico Bringing Flash Floods
Tropical Storm Ingrid drenched southern Mexico from the Gulf Coast as Tropical Storm Manuel formed in the Pacific, threatening even more rain.
The two systems will probably bring at least 15 inches (38 centimeters) of rain throughout southern Mexico, with 25 inches possible in some areas, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami.
While elsewhere in the hurricane wars:
2013/09/15: IOTD: Three Oceans, No Cyclones [on Sept 8]
2013/09/14: CNN: Where have all the hurricanes gone?
Number of 2013 Atlantic storms is above average, but intensity hasn't matched forecasts - Halfway into season, Atlantic has only seen one hurricane -- a weak one named Humberto -
Weather service stands by forecast for 13 "named storms," including 6 hurricanes - Experts were surprised by hurricane-killing dry African air and high Gulf winds
2013/09/11: KSJT: It's a quiet storm season, despite Humberto. What's up?
2013/09/10: Wunderground: Hurricane Season is Half Over; Will it Remain Quiet?
2013/09/09: NOAANews: NOAA, government and academia partners deploy underwater robots to improve hurricane science -- 'Gliders' collect ocean data off East Coast
2013/09/08: Wunderground: A Rare Tropical Cyclone-Free September 8th for Earth

This week in notable weather:
- 2013/09/12: ABC(Au): Spring snow falls in Tasmania as Queensland faces unseasonal heatwave
Rossby Waves? Blocking Patterns? Arctic Oscillation?
What is the Arctic melt doing to our weather?
- 2013/09/14: CCP: Summer 2013 weather extremes tied to extraordinarily unusual polar jet stream
- 2013/09/10: GreenGrok: Starting to Suss Out Connections Between Extreme Weather and Climate Change
As for GHGs:
- 2013/09/13: JCBaez: Carbon Emissions from [US] Coal-Fired Power Plants
- 2013/09/12: Grist: Let's fight the 1 percent -- of power plants
- 2013/09/11: CCurrents: 50 US Power Plants Emit More GHG Than South Korea
- 2013/09/09: ICCT: Upstream climate impacts of R-134a and R-1234yf
How is the temperature record?
- 2013/09/15: Moyhu: August GISS Temp up by 0.09°C
- 2013/09/14: QuarkSoup: New Ocean Heat Data
- 2013/09/14: DD: Warmest August on record at South Pole
- 2013/09/13: QuarkSoup: GISS: 5th-warmest August
- 2013/09/12: ArcticNews: Temperature Rise - How much have temperatures risen over the past 100 years or so?
- 2013/09/11: Moyhu: TempLS global temp up 0.04°C in August
- 2013/09/11: P3: Global Warming's Missing Heat: Look Back In Anger (and considerable disbelief)...
- 2013/09/10: QuarkSoup: UAH Has Set All Kinds of Records
- 2013/09/10: CBC: Heat alert in Toronto as September gets steamy
  Weather on track to make today southern Ontario's hottest day of the year
- 2013/09/09: Moyhu: More on global temperature spectra and trends
- 2013/09/09: TreeHugger: Chart illustrates global warming from 1880 to today. Will this convince deniers?
While in the paleoclimate:
- 2013/09/13: CSM: Evolutionary biologists resolve 'Darwin's dilemma'
- 2013/09/12: SciNow: Evolution's Clock Ticked Faster at the Dawn of Modern Animals
  Five hundred thirty million years ago, the number and diversity of life forms on Earth mushroomed. This so-called Cambrian explosion kept Charles Darwin, the father of evolution, awake at night, as he worried that his theory of natural selection couldn't explain the sudden proliferation of species. Now, researchers have combined evidence from the fossil record with clues in the genes of living species to estimate the speed of that evolutionary explosion. Their finding -- that the rate of change was high, but still plausible -- may put Darwin's fears to rest.
- 2013/09/12: Eureka: Researchers identify ancient ancestor of tulip tree line
  The modern-day tulip tree, state tree of Indiana as well as Kentucky and Tennessee, can trace its lineage back to the time of the dinosaurs, according to newly published research by an Indiana University paleobotanist and a Russian botanist.
In the attribution debate:
- 2013/09/08: CDreams: New NOAA Report Confirms Climate Change Is Intensifying Extreme Heat and Storms
And on the ENSO front:
- 2013/09/12: IOTD: Pacific Waters Remain Stubbornly Stable
- 2013/09/11: CliSci: Global warming could change strength of El Niño
- 2013/09/11: Grist: Is this a La Niña or El Niño year? Try La Nada
- 2013/09/11: Tamino: Seasonal Niño
- 2013/09/08: EarthMag: Trans-Niño years could foster tornado outbreaks
Regarding the cosmic ray hypothesis:
- 2013/09/11: ERW: Physicists claim further evidence of link between cosmic rays and cloud formation
What's the State of the Oceans?:
- 2013/09/14: Princeton: Earth's wobble "fixes" dinner for marine organisms
  The cyclic wobble of the Earth on its axis controls the production of a nutrient essential to the health of the ocean, according to a new study in the journal Nature. The discovery of factors that control this nutrient, known as "fixed" nitrogen, gives researchers insight into how the ocean regulates its own life-support system, which in turn affects the Earth's climate and the size of marine fisheries.
- 2013/09/12: CSM: Massive [1,400 tons] molasses spill kills fish, crabs, eels off Hawaii
- 2013/09/12: GEOMAR: CO2-hungry microbes might short-circuit the marine foodweb
- 2013/09/12: SciNow: Marine Creatures Migrations Determined by Climate After All
  Shifts in the range of more than 70% of marine species in North American waters tracked changes in water temperature, an analysis of fish caught by trawlers between 1968 and 2011 reveals.
- 2013/09/11: SDU(Dk): Unexpected interaction between ocean currents and bacteria
- 2013/09/09: TheConversation: If warming oceans leave algae hungry, we'll go hungry too
- 2013/09/09: UW: Breaking deep-sea waves reveal mechanism for global ocean mixing
- 2013/09/08: Eureka: Climate change will upset vital ocean chemical cycles
And on the extinction watch:
- 2013/09/14: DD: Butchering nature's titans: Without the elephant 'we lose an essential pillar in the ability to wonder'
- 2013/09/13: CSM: Listing white rhinos as endangered could save all rhinos, conservationists say
- 2013/09/11: SciNews: Humpbacks make a comeback in British Columbia -- Whale numbers double at a feeding site in Canada
- 2013/09/11: ABC(Au): Climate behind woolly mammoth's demise
- 2013/09/10: SciAm:EC: U.S. to Destroy 6 Tons of Confiscated Ivory, Sending Message to Poachers
- 2013/09/10: BBC: DNA study suggests hunting did not kill off mammoth
  Researchers have found evidence to suggest that climate change, rather than humans, was the main factor that drove the woolly mammoth to extinction.
- 2013/09/09: CBC: Monarch butterflies threatened by Mexican logging -- Butterflies spend winter in Mexican mountain forests
- 2013/09/09: BBerg: White-Bellied Spider Monkey Losing to $18 Billion of Oil
The bees and Colony Collapse Disorder are a constant concern.
And then, there are the Neonicotinoids:
- 2013/09/11: CBC: Huge honey bee losses across Canada dash hopes of upturn
  Manitoba, New Brunswick and Ontario suffer highest death rates.
  [...]
  Manitoba lost 46 per cent of its honey bee colonies over the past winter, a record rate for the province that makes it the worst hit province in the country, according to a recently released report by the Canadian Association of Professional Apiculturists (CAPA).
  But those devastating losses are just one part of a bleak picture across Canada. Nation-wide, the winter mortality rate rose to about 29 per cent of honey bee colonies, nearly double the deaths in the winter prior.
- 2013/09/10: TreeHugger: Pesticide maker 'sues Europe'. Bee-lovers fight back
- 2013/09/10: Eureka: The real reason to worry about bees [CCD]
- 2013/09/09: BBC: [UK] Government rejects the science behind neonicotinoid ban
  The government says it accepts the EU ban on the use of some pesticides linked to bee deaths, but it rejects the science behind the moratorium.
  In a response to the Environmental Audit Committee, the government indicates it will not ban the use of these chemicals for gardeners.
What's up with volcanoes this week?
- 2013/09/10: MODIS: Plume from Dukono, Halmahera, Indonesia [on Aug 31]
Meanwhile in near earth orbit:
- 2013/09/11: BBC: The European Space Agency (ESA) is preparing for the fiery fall to Earth of its GOCE gravity-mapping satellite
More GW impacts are being seen:
- 2013/09/13: ERW: Water scarcity and biodiversity under threat as temperatures warm
- 2013/09/13: TP:JR: Bear-Human Encounters Are Expected To Rise Thanks To Climate Change
- 2013/09/12: BBC: Five-fold rise seen in UK landslides
  Over the last 14 months there has been a five-fold increase in reported landslides in the UK, scientists say.
  [...]
  The link between heavy rainfall in 2012 and landslides in the same period was reported at the British Science Festival in Newcastle.
- 2013/09/10: Xinhuanet: Climate change affects Argentine Patagonia
- 2013/09/09: P3: Changes in Net Primary Productivity 1982 - 1999
And then there are the world's forests:
- 2013/09/13: RTCC: Peru's cloud forests could be wiped out by 2100
- 2013/09/11: TheConversation: Across the world, trees are dropping dead
- 2013/09/12: ABC(Au): Solomon Island landowners win logging injunction in court
- 2013/09/11: Eureka: An unprecedented threat to Peru's cloud forests -- 21st century warming may spell doom for one of the World's most biodiverse ecosystems
- 2013/09/11: Duke: Climate Change May Speed Up Forests' Life Cycles
- 2013/09/09: ERW: Cutting deforestation could increase poverty
Desertification looms as a threat:
Emerging diseases accompany ecological change:
- 2013/09/10: SciAm: Warming Climate Begins to Taint Europe's Blood
  Tropical diseases have begun appearing in Europe anew, raising concerns about donated blood
- 2013/09/09: TP:JR: New Study: Climate Change To Help Spread West Nile Virus-Carrying Mosquitos
- 2013/09/09: Eureka: Effects of climate change on West Nile virus
Changes in natural cycles are showing up:
- 2013/09/10: Grist: Poor snowshoe hares still think they're camouflaged even when they're really not [phenology]
On the tornado front:
- 2013/09/14: Xinhuanet: Breath-taking photos of "Supercell" storms [6 pix]
- 2013/09/14: Xinhuanet: Two tornado-like water spouts form on Lake Michiga [3 pix]
- 2013/09/05: FSU: Researchers develop model to correct tornado records
As for heatwaves and wild fires:
- 2013/09/14: IOTD: Fire, Dust Sweeps Across Northern Argentina [on Sept. 10,11]
- 2013/09/13: DD: Image of the Day: Satellite view of record heat wave in China, 5-12 August 2013
- 2013/09/12: NASA: Fires in Mozambique and Madagascar
- 2013/09/12: DD: Image of the Day: Smoke from the Rim fire rising over Groveland, California, 28 August 2013
- 2013/09/12: ABC(Au): Queensland fires give preview for summer bushfire season
- 2013/09/12: ABC(Au): Bushfire closes M1 motorway on NSW central coast
- 2013/09/12: MODIS: Fires in central South America [on Aug 31]
- 2013/09/11: TP:JR: Oregon's Massive Wildfires, As Seen Through Google Glass
- 2013/09/11: Guardian(UK): NSW bushfires this week a taste of things to come
  Combustible mix of an unusually warm winter and abundant vegetation suggest heightened bushfire threat this season
- 2013/09/11: al Jazeera: Bushfires blaze in Sydney [pix]
  Over 60 wildfires continue to burn in New South Wales despite the more favourable weather.
- 2013/09/11: IOTD: After a Fire, Before a Flood [on May 28, Aug 16]
- 2013/09/11: DD: Wildfires and climate change - 'We face the increased risk of fires almost everywhere'
- 2013/09/11: NASA: Rim Fire Update
- 2013/09/10: al Jazeera: Wildfires are threatening homes in Australia -- Dozens of blazes broke out in New South Wales on Tuesday
- 2013/09/10: DD: Cost of battling massive Rim fire hits $100 million
- 2013/09/10: NASA: Rim Fire Update
- 2013/09/10: BBC: Bushfires blaze in Australia's New South Wales
  About 40 bushfires are burning in parts of the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW), west of the main city of Sydney, officials say.
  Fire fighters are battling strong winds and temperatures of around 30C (86F), with much of western Sydney under a haze of smoke.
- 2013/09/10: ABC(Au): Live coverage: bushfire emergency threatens homes west of Sydney
- 2013/09/09: Guardian(UK): Growing wildfire in San Francisco area forces more evacuations
  The blaze in Mt Diablo State Park had burned 1,500 acres as of Monday morning, up from about 800 acres the previous day
- 2013/09/09: NASA: Rim Fire Update
- 2013/09/09: CSM: Mt. Diablo [near San Fran] fire spreads over 3,000 acres: 100 homes evacuated
- 2013/09/09: CSM: Mt. Diablo fire in Bay Area spreads to 800 acres
Corals are a bellwether of the ocean's health:
- 2013/09/09: CSM: Why are corals turning ghostly white? Scientists unravel mystery.
- 2013/09/09: ERabett: Alkalinity
Acidification is changing the oceans:
- 2013/09/14: RealEconomics: The other shoe drops
- 2013/09/12: Eureka: Unprecedented rate and scale of ocean acidification found in the Arctic
  Receding ice exposes seawater to carbon dioxide, driving ocean acidification
- 2013/09/11: USGS: Unprecedented Rate and Scale of Ocean Acidification Found in the Arctic
Glaciers are melting:
- 2013/09/11: FaGP: Kintla Glacier Retreat, Glacier National Park, Montana
- 2013/09/08: FaGP: Conrad Icefield Retreat, Selkirk Mountains, British Columbia
These extreme rainfall events are becoming all too frequent:
- 2013/09/14: TMoS: Colorado Whipsawed By "Once in a Hundred Years" Drought and Floods
- 2013/09/13: Grist: Deadly 1,000-year floods strike Colorado
- 2013/09/13: PSinclair: "Biblical" Flooding in Boulder. Nothing to See Here, Move along.
- 2013/09/13: Wunderground: Boulder's 1-in-100 Year Flood Diminishing; Ingrid a Dangerous Flood Threat for Mexico
As for hydrological cycle disruptions [floods & droughts]:
- 2013/09/15: CNN: Colorado floods: Over 500 unaccounted for as 'devastating' rain looms
- 2013/09/15: ABC(Au): Colorado floods: four people dead and 350 unaccounted for as rising water prompts evacuations
- 2013/09/15: IndiaTimes: Flood situation remains grim in Colorado, rescue on
- 2013/09/15: RT: Four confirmed dead, hundreds unaccounted for in Colorado floods
- 2013/09/15: Xinhuanet: More casualties feared in Colorado flooding
- 2013/09/14: CSM: Colorado floods predicted by scientists
- 2013/09/14: CSM: Colorado floodwaters cover area the size of Connecticut
- 2013/09/14: DD: Life goes on in the epicenter of Russia Far East floods...
- 2013/09/14: DD: Rescues accelerate as floodwater inundates Colorado - 4,500-square-mile disaster area 'is an unprecedented event'
- 2013/09/14: BBC: Colorado flooding rescue operation continues
  The US state of Colorado is continuing a large-scale rescue operation after severe flooding left five dead and hundreds unaccounted for.
  Thousands of people have been forced to evacuate from affected communities.
- 2013/09/14: CBC: Northern Ontario towns clean up after damaging flood
- 2013/09/14: CBC: Colorado flood death toll expected to rise
- 2013/09/14: CBC: Colorado floods leave 4 dead, 172 unaccounted for
- 2013/09/14: al Jazeera: Thousands evacuated amid Colorado flooding
  About 2,000 residents rescued as raging waters kill four people across US state hit by worst flood in decades.
- 2013/09/13: CDreams: 'Epic Deluge' Ravages Colorado
- 2013/09/13: CCurrents: Boulder Flooding: Remembering Warnings From [the first comprehensive art exhibition on climate change] "Weather Report"
- 2013/09/13: TP:JR: Trees Are Speeding Up Their Life Cycles To Try To Keep Up With Climate Change
- 2013/09/13: Grist: Photos and videos from dramatic flash floods in Colorado
- 2013/09/13: P3: [gfx] Boulder's Water Year
- 2013/09/13: BBC: Thousands warned to evacuate amid Colorado floods
  Thousands of people have been warned to evacuate the Boulder area of Colorado and a mountain hamlet as flooding swells creeks to dangerous levels.
  Storm rains have killed three people in the state and caused severe damage to property.
- 2013/09/12: IndiaTimes: Seven die in Romania flooding caused by torrential rain
- 2013/09/13: IndiaTimes: Colorado flooding cuts off mountain towns, kills 3
- 2013/09/13: CNN: National Guard begins evacuating town cut off by Colorado flooding
  20 people reported missing by relatives in Boulder County, sheriff's official says - Colorado National Guard begins evacuating Lyons, governor says -
  "I encourage all of you -- stay strong!" Lyons fire chief tells residents - The flooding has killed three people, damaged roads bridges, dams and homes
- 2013/09/13: LeDaro: U.S. Colorado: Floods
- 2013/09/13: TP:JR: 'Biblical' Amounts Of Rainfall Slam Colorado, Causing Death, Destruction, And Massive Flooding
- 2013/09/13: DD: Thousands more to evacuate Boulder, Colorado - Rainfall record smashed - Flooding worsened by burn scars from 2012's giant Waldo Canyon fire
- 2013/09/12: BPA: Boulder's Flood September 2013
- 2013/09/12: Wunderground: Flash Floods Kill 3 in Colorado; Dangerous 93L Developing in Gulf of Mexico
- 2013/09/12: SciAm:Obs: Major Flooding Inundates Drought-Stricken Colorado Cities
- 2013/09/12: DD: Colorado flood: No relief in sight as record rain falls
- 2013/09/12: CNN: Deadly flooding in U.S. state of Colorado
  At least three are dead in Colorado flooding - The death toll from the "devastating" storm could rise, Boulder County's sheriff says -
  A dam break traps three people in Larimer County; rescue helicopters are unable to launch - "It freaked us out," a resident tells CNN affiliate KUSA of rising water in Boulder Creek
- 2013/09/12: GLaden: Epic, Nay, Biblical Flood
- 2013/09/12: CBC: 3 dead, thousands evacuated in Colorado flooding -- Boulder and nearby towns especially vulnerable after late-season downpours
- 2013/09/10: TP:JR: You Can See The Historic Flooding On The Chinese-Russian Border From Space
- 2013/09/10: CAbyss: All-Time Record-Low Reservoir Levels or Drought-Busting Hurricane?
- 2013/09/10: IOTD: Floods Inundate Russia's Far East [on Aug 17, Sept 8]
- 2013/09/09: DD: Image of the Day: Satellite view of Elephant Butte Reservoir in New Mexico, 1994 and 2013
- 2013/09/09: al Jazeera: Texas dries up [pix]
  The distinct lack of rain across parts of the United States have left many places facing a severe drought.
- 2013/09/09: UTexas: Rainfall in South Pacific Was More Variable Before 20th Century
- 2013/09/08: JFleck: Rio Not
First, stop subsidizing fossil fuels
Second, put a price on carbon
Third, begin to reduce the human population
And elsewhere on the mitigation front:
- 2013/09/11: RTCC: UN: global food waste emissions greater than US transport sector
  Around 1.3bn tonnes of food is wasted on an annual basis, warn UNEP and the FAO
- 2013/09/11: ABC(Au): Wasted food is world's third-biggest carbon emitter after China and US: UN
- 2013/09/09: Guardian(UK): The world does need a red line -- on climate change
Consider transportation & GHG production:
- 2013/09/10: Guardian(UK): Virgin America falls below the industry average on fuel performance standards
  Virgin planes produced more greenhouse gas emissions per passenger than other domestic US carriers in 2010, report finds
- 2013/09/10: ICCT: U.S. domestic airline fuel efficiency ranking, 2010
While in the endless quest for zero energy, sustainable buildings and practical codes:
- 2013/09/07: Lenz: First German Government Zero-Energy "House 2019"
- 2013/09/10: BBerg: Solar Panel Is Next Granite Countertop for Homebuilders
  Solar panels are the next granite countertops: an amenity for new homes that's becoming a standard option for buyers in U.S. markets.
  At least six of 10 largest U.S. homebuilders led by KB Home include the photovoltaic devices in new construction, according to supplier SunPower Corp. (SPWR) Two California towns are mandating installations, and demand for the systems that generate electricity at home will jump 56 percent nationwide this year, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association.
- 2013/09/09: Guardian(UK): 10 ways to build a sustainable future
  Urban planners need to think more strategically about how cities are designed to promote development. Our panel of experts offers some insights
As for carbon sequestration:
- 2013/09/14: SimpleC: CO2 for oil swap brings carbon capture viability closer
- 2013/09/13: Eureka: Carbon farming schemes should consider multiple cobenefits -- Encouraging locals' participation is more likely to lead to success
- 2013/09/13: BBC: Carbon capture and storage to be monitored by cosmic rays
Large scale geo-engineering keeps popping up:
- 2013/09/13: StLToday: Scientists studying solar radiation management as a way to cool planet
- 2013/09/13: GEP: Britain's Astronomer Royal Joins Calls for More Research
- 2013/09/13: MCrossman: Let me break it down: Geoengineering
- 2013/09/12: Guardian(UK): 5 ways to hack the planet
  The astronomer royal believes that geoengineering may now be the only way to tackle global warming. What are the options?
- 2013/09/12: Guardian(UK): [Letters] Geoengineering risks and the merits of proven solar technologies
- 2013/09/11: Guardian(UK): Astronomer royal calls for 'Plan B' to prevent runaway climate change
  Lord Rees appeals for research into geoengineering technologies in case efforts to curb carbon emissions fail
- 2013/09/11: CHamilton: What Would Heidegger Say About Geoengineering?
- 2013/09/10: MetaDelusion: Geoengineering is the ultimate business as usual
What's new in conservation?
- 2013/09/11: TreeHugger: Protecting just 17% of Earth's land would save 67% of plant species. Can we do it before it's too late?
- 2013/09/11: EurActiv: Antarctic Sea reserve cut linked to US-Russia tensions
  A proposal by the US and New Zealand to cut a planned Marine Protection Area (MPA) for the Ross Sea by 40% - and remove its permanent status - is being linked to souring US-Russian relations by the Pew Charitable Trust, a leading American think tank.
  The plan to create a 2.3 million square km reserve - the world's largest - in the Ross Sea was initially put forward in July by the European Union, together with Australia and France on behalf of its overseas territories.
  But the proposal was blocked by surprise Russian objections centred on their fishing interests, at a meeting of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) in Bremerhaven, Germany.
  US officials have now responded with a revised and humbler plan, which removes protected status from spawning grounds for toothfish and vulnerable Sea Mounts in the Ross Sea's north.
- 2013/09/09: NatureNB: Scaled-back proposals for Antarctic protection draw fire
While on the adaptation front:
- 2013/09/11: TheConversation: Fire and flood: how home insurance can help us adapt to climate change
- 2013/09/09: TP:JR: New Water Plan Could Turn New Orleans Into The Next Amsterdam
Meanwhile in the journals:
- 2013/09/10: PNAS: (ab$) Induced plant defenses, host-pathogen interactions, and forest insect outbreaks by Bret D. Elderd et al.
- 2013/09/10: PNAS: (abs) Tapping unsustainable groundwater stores for agricultural production in the High Plains Aquifer of Kansas, projections to 2110 by David R. Steward et al.
- 2013/09/10: PNAS: (abs) Contribution of solar radiation to decadal temperature variability over land by Kaicun Wang & Robert E. Dickinson
- 2013/09/10: PNAS: (letter$) Reply to Haeseker: Value of controlled scientific experiments to resolve critical uncertainties regarding Snake River salmon survival by Erin L. Rechisky et al.
- 2013/09/10: PNAS: (letter$) Nonrepresentative fish and ocean migration assumptions confound inferences in Rechisky et al. by Steven Haeseker
- 2013/09/11: RSPB: Holarctic genetic structure and range dynamics in the woolly mammoth by Eleftheria Palkopoulou et al.
- 2013/09/11: ESD: Quantifying drivers of chemical disequilibrium: theory and application to methane in the Earth's atmosphere by E. Simoncini et al.
- 2013/09/12: ESDD: Global soil organic carbon stock projection uncertainties relevant to sensitivity of global mean temperature and precipitation changes by K. Nishina et al.
- 2013/09/12: ESDD: Recent revisions of phosphate rock reserves and resources: reassuring or misleading? An in-depth literature review of global estimates of phosphate rock reserves and resources by J. D. Edixhoven et al.
- 2013/09/10: ACP: Tethered balloon-borne aerosol measurements: seasonal and vertical variations of aerosol constituents over Syowa Station, Antarctica by K. Hara et al.
- 2013/09/10: ACP: Regional inversion of CO2 ecosystem fluxes from atmospheric measurements: reliability of the uncertainty estimates by G. Broquet et al.
- 2013/09/09: ACP: Presenting SAPUSS: Solving Aerosol Problem by Using Synergistic Strategies in Barcelona, Spain by M. Dall'Osto et multi alia
- 2013/09/12: ACPD: Growth of sulphuric acid nanoparticles under wet and dry conditions by L. Skrabalová et al.
- 2013/09/11: ACPD: Aerosols optical and physical characteristics and direct radiative forcing during a "Shamal" dust storm, a case study by T. M. Saeed et al.
- 2013/09/10: ACPD: Assessment of the effect of air pollution controls on trends in shortwave radiation over the United States from 1995 through 2010 from multiple observation networks by C.-M. Gan et al.
- 2013/09/10: ACPD: The sensitivity of global climate to the episodicity of fire aerosol emissions by S. K. Clark et al.
- 2013/09/12: BG: Late Holocene variations in Pacific surface circulation and biogeochemistry inferred from proteinaceous deep-sea corals by T. P. Guilderson et al.
- 2013/09/11: BG: Distribution of ultraphytoplankton in the western part of the North Pacific subtropical gyre during a strong La Niña condition: relationship with the hydrological conditions by M. Girault et al.
- 2013/09/10: BG: Temporal and spatial variations of soil CO2, CH4 and N2O fluxes at three differently managed grasslands by D. Imer et al.
- 2013/09/13: BGD: Phenology as a strategy for carbon optimality: a global model by S. Caldararu et al.
- 2013/09/13: BGD: The coccolithophores Emiliania huxleyi and Coccolithus pelagicus: extant populations from the Norwegian-Iceland Sea and Fram Strait by C. V. Dylmer et al.
- 2013/09/13: BGD: Responses of carbon dioxide flux and plant biomass to drought in a treed peatland in northern Alberta: a climate change perspective by T. M. Munir et al.
- 2013/09/13: CP: Mid-Holocene ocean and vegetation feedbacks over East Asia by Z. Tian & D. Jiang
- 2013/09/12: CP: Glacial fluctuations of the Indian monsoon and their relationship with North Atlantic climate: new data and modelling experiments by C. Marzin et al.
- 2013/09/09: CP: A mid-Holocene climate reconstruction for eastern South America by L. F. Prado et al.
- 2013/09/10: CPD: An inter-laboratory investigation of the Arctic sea ice biomarker proxy IP25 in marine sediments: key outcomes and recommendations by S. T. Belt et al.
- 2013/09/10: CPD: Is blue intensity ready to replace maximum latewood density as a strong temperature proxy? A tree-ring case study on Scots pine from northern Sweden by J. A. Björklund et al.
- 2013/09/10: CPD: Expressions of climate perturbations in western Ugandan crater lake sediment records during the last 1000 yr by K. Mills et al.
- 2013/09/13: Science: (ab$) Marine Taxa Track Local Climate Velocities by Malin L. Pinsky et al.
- 2013/09/13: Cell:CB: (ab$) Rates of Phenotypic and Genomic Evolution during the Cambrian Explosion by Michael S.Y. Lee et al.
- 2013/09/10: GMD: Stable water isotopes in the coupled atmosphere-land surface model ECHAM5-JSBACH by B. Haese et al.
- 2013/09/10: GMD: An efficient method to generate a perturbed parameter ensemble of a fully coupled AOGCM without flux-adjustment by P. J. Irvine et al.
- 2013/09/09: GMD: Downscaling a global climate model to simulate climate change over the US and the implication on regional and urban air quality by M. Trail et al.
- 2013/09/09: GMD: The SOCOL version 3.0 chemistry-climate model: description, evaluation, and implications from an advanced transport algorithm by A. Stenke et al.
- 2013/09/09: GMD: The Chemistry CATT-BRAMS model (CCATT-BRAMS 4.5): a regional atmospheric model system for integrated air quality and weather forecasting and research by K. M. Longo et al.
- 2013/09/09: GMDD: A database and tool for boundary conditions for regional air quality modeling: description and evaluation by B. H. Henderson et al.
- 2013/09/09: GMDD: Effects of vegetation structure on biomass accumulation in a Balanced Optimality Structure Vegetation Model (BOSVM v1.0) by Z. Yin et al.
- 2013/09/09: GMDD: Influence of microphysical schemes on atmospheric water in the Weather Research and Forecasting model by F. Cossu & K. Hocke
- 2013/09/09: OS: Chaotic variability of the meridional overturning circulation on subannual to interannual timescales by J. J.-M. Hirschi et al.
- 2013/09/10: OSD: The effects of climate change on persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in the North Sea by K. O'Driscoll et al.
- 2013/09/10: TC: Tidally induced velocity variations of the Beardmore Glacier, Antarctica, and their representation in satellite measurements of ice velocity by O. J. Marsh et al.
- 2013/09/09: TCD: Distribution and recent variations of supraglacial lakes on dendritic-type glaciers in the Khan Tengri-Tomur Mountains, Central Asia by Q. Liu et al.
- 2013/09/09: TCD: Fracture-induced softening for large-scale ice dynamics by T. Albrecht & A. Levermann
- 2013/09/13: ACPD: Climatology of new particle formation events in the subtropical North Atlantic free troposphere at Izaña GAW observatory by M. I. García et al.
- 2013/09/13: OSD: Observed decline of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation 2004 to 2012 by D. A. Smeed et al.
- 2013/09/12: OSD: Halocline water modification and along slope advection at the Laptev Sea continental margin by D. Bauch et al.
- 2013/09/11: OSD: Observations of phytoplankton spring bloom onset triggered by a density front in NW Mediterranean by A. Olita et al.
- 2013/09/13: TC: Heterogeneity in glacier response in the upper Shyok valley, northeast Karakoram by R. Bhambri et al.
- 2013/09/13: TCD: Sea ice detection with space-based LIDAR by S. Rodier et al.
- 2013/09/13: TCD: Influence of snow depth distribution on surface roughness in alpine terrain: a multi-scale approach by J. Veitinger et al.
- 2013/09/11: TCD: Decadal trends in the Antarctic sea ice extent ultimately controlled by ice-ocean feedback by H. Goosse & V. Zunz
- 2013/09/11: PLoS One: Baseline Monitoring of the Western Arctic Ocean Estimates 20% of Canadian Basin Surface Waters Are Undersaturated with Respect to Aragonite by Lisa L. Robbins et al.
- 2013/08/21: Nature: (ab$) Changes in North Atlantic nitrogen fixation controlled by ocean circulation by Marietta Straub et al.
- 2013/09/05: Nature:GeoSci: (ab$) A weak El Niño/Southern Oscillation with delayed seasonal growth around 4,300 years ago by H. V. McGregor et al.
- 2013/09/08: Nature:CC: (ab$) The impact of temperature on marine phytoplankton resource allocation and metabolism by A. Toseland et al.
And other significant documents:
- 2013/09/10: P3: [link to 3.8 meg pdf] [GreenPeace] History of Climate Denial
- 2013/09/10: PI: [link to 3.4 meg pdf] Renewable is Doable -- Affordable and flexible options for Ontario's long-term energy plan
As for miscellaneous science:
- 2013/09/13: Guardian(UK): Met Office promises new tools to better understand global warming
- 2013/09/13: RealClimate: On mismatches between models and observations
- 2013/09/09: P3: Why Trust Climate Models?
- 2013/09/09: ScienceInsider: Papers Trail: Researchers Track Fate of Duplicate and Retracted Scientific Studies
- 2013/09/09: LoE: From Daisyworld to Crazy World - please do not blame Gaia
What developments in the ongoing struggle for Open Science?
- 2013/09/12: QD: Inspired by the Higgs, a step forward in open access
- 2013/09/10: ScienceInsider: U.K. Parliamentarians Urge Government to Reshape Push for Open-Access Publishing
  British parliamentarians are urging the government of the United Kingdom to alter its plans for transitioning to open-access (OA) publishing of research results. In a report released today, a committee of the House of Commons says the government should encourage greater use of free institutional repositories, rather than OA journals that charge per-paper fees for publishing.
- 2013/09/10: NatureN: UK open-access route too costly, report says -- Preference for publishing-for-fee overlooks role of repositories
Regarding Mann:
- 2013/09/13: CSW: DC judge denies another effort to derail Michael Mann's defamation lawsuit
- 2013/09/12: DD: Climate scientist [Michael Mann] makes Bloomberg's 10 Most Influential Thinkers list for 2013
Regarding Bartlett:
- 2013/09/12: OilDrum: The Exponential Legacy of Al Bartlett
Meanwhile at the UN:
- 2013/09/10: UN: New UN report reflects voices of more than 1 million people on development issues
- 2013/09/09: UN: Sustainable development the 'overriding challenge' of 21st century - UN top official
The Fifth IPCC report is coming up:
- 2013/09/13: UCSUSA:B: How Accurate are Future Projections of Climate Change? A Look at Past IPCC Reports Provides Some Answers
- 2013/09/12: DD: Climate scientists fighting back against the forces of antiscience as IPCC report looms
- 2013/09/12: RStone: Global Warming Is Very Real
  Scientists are fighting deniers with irrefutable proof the planet is headed for catastrophe
- 2013/09/12: QuarkSoup: Bending over Backward to be Scientifically Conservative
- 2013/09/11: CCP: Justin Gillis, NYT: A Climate Alarm, Too Muted for Some
- 2013/09/11: P3: IPCC Reticence
- 2013/09/10: TP:JR: NY Times: Did Denier 'Intimidation Tactics' Move IPCC To 'Lowball' Sea Level Rise And Climate Sensitivity?
And on the carbon trading front:
- 2013/09/12: TP:JR: Will Costa Rica's New Voluntary Carbon Trading System Work?
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:
- 2013/09/13: McClatchyDC: US, Iran edging toward direct talks
- 2013/09/13: AntiWar: Major Reduction Announced in Iran's Uranium Stockpile -- Nearly Half of 20 Percent Stockpile Used
  The "red line" drawn against Iran's civilian nuclear program by Israel was predicated on the assumption of Iran's stockpile growing, and while Israeli officials have groused for awhile about a relative lack of growth, the latest announcement reveals a major decrease in the stockpiles size.
  According to Iranian officials, their stockpile of highly enriched (20 percent) uranium, some 240 kg at its peak, has been cut nearly in half, down to just 140 kg, by a combination of increased use and decreased production.
- 2013/09/12: Guardian(UK): Iran's conservatives silent as Rouhani puts nuclear talks on diplomatic footing
South [& East] China Sea tension persists:
- 2013/09/14: ABC(Au): Japan: Four Chinese ships in disputed waters
- 2013/09/12: Asia Times: New nadir for China-Philippine ties
- 2013/09/11: Xinhuanet: News Analysis: Japan sends conflicting messages to China on anniversary of "nationalizing" disputed islands
- 2013/09/11: BBC: Japan says 'no dispute' exists on islands anniversary
  Japan tightened security around disputed islands and restated its ownership of the chain, a year after its nationalisation of the islands triggered a bitter row with China.
- 2013/09/10: ChinaPost(Tw): Japan could anger China by putting government workers on isles
- 2013/09/09: Asia Times: More US boots on Philippine soil
- 2013/09/09: IndiaTimes: Japan scrambles jets for drone near disputed islands
It looks like the NSA does a little corporate espionage on the side. Brazil is upset:
- 2013/09/13: WSWS: Spying on Brazilian oil company Petrobras exposed
- 2013/09/09: CSM: Petrobras targeted in US spying programs, report says
- 2013/09/10: Xinhuanet: Brazil-U.S. tension escalates on reported U.S. spying on Petrobras
- 2013/09/09: Cryptome: NSA Slides on Brazilian Oil Giant Spying
- 2013/09/09: RT: No economic espionage? NSA docs show US spied on Brazil oil giant Petrobras
- 2013/09/10: Xinhuanet: Brazil-U.S. tension escalates on reported U.S. spying on Petrobras
These 'free trade' treaties feature fundamentally anti-democratic dispute resolution mechanisms:
- 2013/09/13: CBC: Eli Lilly files $500M NAFTA suit against Canada over drug patents
  [...]
  A three-member international tribunal made up of arbitrators chosen by the disputing parties will hear the complaint.
- 2013/09/12: Xinhuanet: Scientists oppose clean energy trade barriers at Beijing forum
Climate Change is a threat multiplier exacerbating existing conflicts in food, energy, water, race, resources, religion, ideology ... etc.:
- 2013/09/13: DeSmogBlog: Never-Released Energy Department Report Predicts Increasing Domestic Conflicts over Water, Energy
- 2013/09/12: ABC(Au):TDU: Why the defence force must plan for climate change
  We expect our military to be ready to deal with all sorts of humanitarian and disaster relief emergencies. That should include the impact of climate change, argues Chris Barrie.
- 2013/09/11: OZidar: Weather and Violence
- 2013/09/11: UKISS: Climate change will 'exacerbate existing problems': Defence
- 2013/09/10: Maribo: Drought was beyond Syria's "capacity as a country"
- 2013/09/10: CCP: Graham Readfearn: Australia's Department of Defence concerned about climate change threat multipliers
- 2013/08/31: NYT: Weather and Violence
- 2013/09/08: TP:JR: Arab Summer: Warming-Fueled Drought Helped Spark Syria's Civil War
What are the activists up to?
- 2013/09/13: CSM: John Dennis Liu inspires people to save Earth's ecosystem
Is the Climate Movement anything more than a fantasy?
- 2013/09/12: CDreams: Is There a Limit to What Climate Movement Can Extract from Climate Science?
Regarding Water Politics and Business; See also:
- 2013/09/14: AbqJournal: Drought drowned? That depends ...
- 2013/09/14: JFleck: Chasing water in the desert: the great Rio Grande "flood" of 2013
- 2013/09/13: UCSUSA:B: Fracking and My Community's Water: What Do We Know or When Will We Know It?
- 2013/09/13: CleanTechnica: Fracking Update: These Are The Texas Towns Running Out Of Water
- 2013/09/13: RTCC: Climate pledges condemn 600 million face water scarcity
  Over 600 million people will face new or aggravated water scarcity if the world hits 3.5C of warming above pre-industrial levels, as it is projected to do under current climate pledges.
- 2013/09/12: Resilience: A Dam, Dying Fish, and a Montana Farmer's Lifelong Quest to Right a Wrong
- 2013/09/11: JFleck: "Bronze buckshot" at the [Metropolitan Water District board]
- 2013/09/11: JFleck: Stuff I wrote elsewhere: water management tools we learned in kindergarten
- 2013/09/10: TP:JR: How Climate Change Threatens A Double Blow To The Caribbean's Drinking Water
- 2013/09/10: PeakEnergy: MIT Develops Advanced Fog Harvesting Material
- 2013/09/09: DD: 40,000 gallons of water stolen from Humboldt County school and town...
- 2013/09/09: UDW: Mexico: The Yaqui Tribe Defend their Right to Water
- 2013/09/09: UDW: Defending Indigenous Lands and Waters in Honduras: The Case of Rio Blanco
- 2013/09/09: ABC(Au): Research looks to boost desert water supplies
  Murdoch University researchers are working on a project in the Tjuntjuntjara community, 700 kilometres east of Kalgoorlie-Boulder, to help secure water supplies for remote desert communities.
  In conjunction with the National Centre of Excellence in Desalination Australia, the project hopes to produce one kilolitre of water [from hyper-saline groundwater] each day in the initial pilot plant.
And on the groundwater front:
- 2013/09/14: DD: Graph of the Day: Decrease in High Plains Aquifer water levels, predevelopment to 2011
- 2013/09/13: TreeHugger: Why Kansas is running out of water
- 2013/09/11: BBC: Kenya aquifers discovered in dry Turkana region
  A huge water source has been discovered in the arid Turkana region of northern Kenya which could supply the country for 70 years, the government says.
- 2013/09/11: TreeHugger: Vast water reserve discovered in drought-stricken Kenya
- 2013/09/11: BPA: Ogallala Aquifer Conservation
- 2013/09/09: DD: Graph of the Day: Annual groundwater withdrawal estimates by water-use class from the Death Valley regional flow system, 1913-1998
Among the world's religions:
Regarding science education:
- 2013/09/14: GLaden: Middle School Teacher: Lesson Plans for Climate Change (free)
- 2013/09/11: Grist: Official Texas review: "Creation science" should be incorporated into every biology textbook
- 2013/09/10: RawStory: Texas textbook review panel: Put more 'creation science based on Biblical principles' in biology books
While in the UK:
- 2013/09/13: GreenAlliance: [link to 404k pdf] Do they meet the Green Standard? Leading green groups judge the parties' environmental leadership
- 2013/09/13: RTCC: UK political parties accused of 'weak leadership' on environment
  Report by seven leading charities claims all three parties have failed to take decisive stance on environmental policy
- 2013/09/13: Guardian(UK): UK's main political parties have 'failed to show leadership on environment'
- 2013/09/12: Guardian(UK): County councils sidelined from nuclear waste dump site decisions
  Energy department policy makes district councils lead authority on locating waste dumps, which Cumbria county council says abandons big society
  The government has been accused of "astonishingly undemocratic" behaviour after it moved to cut out county councils from deciding the site of a national nuclear waste dump.
  The stinging criticism came from the leaders of Cumbria county council, who have been sidelined months after scuppering ministers' plans by voting against a £12bn high-level waste repository near the Sellafield nuclear complex.
- 2013/09/12: Guardian(UK): Green Tories launch fightback against climate sceptics
  Climate change minister [Greg Barker] calls for 'new generation of energy entrepreneurs' to help cut bills and make sector greener
- 2013/09/12: SciAm:PI: "Consistent With Our Carbon Budgets"
  That's how Ed Davey, the United Kingdom's Energy and Climate Minister, is describing the climate impacts of natural gas from shale formations
- 2013/09/11: BBC: Renewable electricity pace 'needs to quicken', Audit Scotland say
  The rate that green power projects are coming online needs to double to meet renewable targets, auditors have said.
  Ministers want Scotland to generate an equivalent of 100% of electricity demand from renewable energy by 2020.
- 2013/09/11: BBC: HS2 to boost UK economy 'by £15bn a year' says report
- 2013/09/10: NatureN: Hackles rise over privatization plan
  UK Natural Environment Research Council proposes to cut four institutes loose, but scientists fear for long-term data.
- 2013/09/10: RTCC: Analysis: UK nuclear plans shrouded in mystery
- 2013/09/09: BBC: Shale carbon footprint 'small', according to new [DECC] report
- 2013/09/09: Stoat: MacKay and Stone: Potential Greenhouse Gas Emissions Associated with Shale Gas Extraction and Use
- 2013/09/09: BBC: [UK] Government rejects the science behind neonicotinoid ban
- 2013/09/09: Guardian(UK): Fracking won't endanger UK's climate targets, says Ed Davey
- 2013/09/09: Guardian(UK): How fracking can work in Britain
- 2013/09/09: RTCC: Fracking will increase CO2 emissions without global climate deal
  The exploitation of shale gas in the UK is likely to increase greenhouse gas emissions without strong global policies to fight climate change, a UK government [DECC] report says.
- 2013/09/08: BBC: HS2 high-speed rail benefits dwindle as costs soar - MPs
- 2013/09/08: Guardian(UK): UK urged to back EU biofuels cap
  Britain must support proposed legislation curbing use of fuel that contributes to world hunger and climate change, argue charities
And in Europe:
- 2013/09/14: EUO: EU commission not giving up on finance tax
  Berlin - The European Commission has said it is not giving up on a planned financial transactions tax for 11 EU countries after a legal opinion said it was in breach of EU law.
- 2013/09/13: EurActiv: EU lawmakers back [indigenous communities'] 'intellectual property rights' over biodiversity
  The European Parliament has agreed to rules that would prevent EU companies, particularly in the pharmaceuticals sector, from exploiting the natural resources of the world's indigenous communities by recognising their 'intellectual property rights' over local biodiversity.
  In the vote yesterday (12 September), MEPs rubber-stamped the next stage of the EU's ratification of the Nagoya protocol, a UN convention on biodiversity signed by leaders in the Japanese city in 2010.
- 2013/09/12: SwissInfo: Swiss join international accord on environment
  Parliament has paved the way for Switzerland to join the Aarhus Convention, an international agreement laying down basic rules to promote the involvement of citizens in environmental matters and to improve the enforcement of environmental law.
- 2013/09/12: EurActiv: Food price fears push EU lawmakers to put a lid on biofuels growth
  The European Parliament has voted to limit the use of fuels made from food crops because of fears that biofuels can push up grain prices or damage the climate, further undermining the once booming industry.
- 2013/09/12: EurActiv: France considers cash creation to finance energy transition
  A French government advisory body has suggested that the European Central Bank create money - via loans to other financial institutions - in order to support the transition to renewable energies, claiming the proposed system would not necessarily fuel inflation.
- 2013/09/11: EurActiv: Carmakers on track to meet CO2 targets without super-credits: NGO
  European carmakers are on track to meet their CO2 emission targets without special support, contrary to what the German government is arguing, according to green campaign group Transport & Environment (T&E).
- 2013/09/11: EUO: MEPs agree cap on crop-based biofuels
  The European Parliament Wednesday (11 September) voted to cap the amount of crop-based biofuels that can be used to reach EU energy targets, but the changes have been criticized for being too limited and not solving the wider problem of market uncertainty.
  Under the narrowly agreed changes, food crop-based biofuels should account for no more than 6 percent of the 10 percent target for renewable energy in transport fuels by 2020.
- 2013/09/11: EUO: EU searches for alternative transport fuels
- 2013/09/11: RTCC: Biofuels: EU MPs back new 6% cap on food crops
- 2013/09/11: BBC: Biofuels: Euro MPs to vote on new cap for food crops
  The European Parliament is expected to back proposals to limit the amount of food crops used to produce biofuel.
  There is widespread concern that food-based biofuels displace food production - unlike biofuels derived from agricultural waste, sewage or seaweed.
  The EU wants 10% of transport fuel to be comprised of biofuel by 2020, as part of the effort to cut reliance on fossil fuels.
  Of that 10%, MEPs say, no more than 5.5% should be derived from food crops.
- 2013/09/11: Lenz: Renewable Progress is Permanent and Irreversible
- 2013/09/11: NatureNB: European Parliament votes to limit crop-based biofuels
- 2013/09/10: BBC: EU financial transaction tax illegal, say lawyers
  Imposing a financial transaction tax (FTT) in 11 European Union member states would be illegal, according to the bloc's lawyers.
- 2013/09/10: EUO: EU institutions at war on 'illegal' finance tax
- 2013/09/09: RT: $750 billion question: Norway voters decide future fate of massive oil fund
- 2013/09/09: BBC: Norway election: Erna Solberg to form new government
  Norwegian centre-right leader Erna Solberg is set to form a new government after Labour Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg admitted election defeat.
Meanwhile in Australia:
- 2013/09/13: PeakEnergy: Green bank funds Portland wind farm in final fling
- 2013/09/13: PeakEnergy: Manufacturing a gas crisis
- 2013/09/13: ABC(Au): New cash-for-containers recycling depot looms
  The Northern Territory's Environment Minister says he is working on changes to the cash-for-containers legislation.
- 2013/09/12: TheConversation: Bushfires can occur year round: we have to be prepared
- 2013/09/11: ABC(Au): CFMEU president Tony Maher slams Labor MP Nick Champion's call to support repealing carbon tax
- 2013/09/10: ABC(Au): Snowy Hydro CEO says privatisation is in the government's hands
- 2013/09/09: ABC(Au): Question on who's got NT's carbon tax millions
  Territorians may not see a cut in Power and Water bills even with the scrapping of the carbon tax, the NT Treasurer has said.
  [...] "Our power bills will stay the same," Treasurer Dave Tollner said this morning.
Now we get to watch the suppository of wisdom destroy what little Australia has done to fight climate change:
- 2013/09/15: NewAnthropocene: Wishful thinking over good governance: how the new government will avoid effort
- 2013/09/15: ABC(Au): Tony Abbott expected to unveil cabinet line-up tomorrow, Sophie Mirabella and Ian Macdonald lose frontbench roles
- 2013/09/14: NewAnthropocene: FactCheck: is protecting global rainforests the best way to rapidly tackle climate change?
- 2013/09/13: TheConversation: New danger for Australian World Heritage wilderness
- 2013/09/13: TheConversation: Expanding coal exports is bad news for Australia and the world
- 2013/09/13: Guardian(UK): Questions for wannabe science minister and climate sceptic Dennis Jensen
- 2013/09/12: JQuiggin: Victori spolia
- 2013/09/12: HotWhopper: A science denying fan of Monckton as Science Minister?
- 2013/09/12: GReadfearn: Questionnaire for wannabe science minister Dennis Jensen - which of these Lord Monckton statements do you actually agree with?
- 2013/09/12: WtD: War on science to begin? Climate sceptic angling for science portfolio in Abbott government
- 2013/09/12: ABC(Au): Latrobe Valley clean energy jobs plan axed
  The Federal Government has scrapped plans to create a multi-million dollar Clean Energy Employment Hub in the Latrobe Valley.
  The Coalition planned to spend $50 million to help create clean energy jobs in the Latrobe Valley, the Hunter and central Queensland regions.
  However, the Government has scrapped the plans, as part of more than $300 million of cuts to its Direct Action carbon reduction plan.
  Instead, the Coalition says it will give $12 million to the National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility on the Gold Coast.
  It will also halve the rebate to consumers for installing solar panels and solar hot water systems.
- 2013/09/11: NewAnthropocene: Australian Politics: a game of fail
- 2013/09/11: ABC(Au): Coalition cuts solar rebate, clean energy research in $300m trim of Direct Action climate policy
- 2013/09/11: ABC(Au): Coalition confirms plans to axe clean energy bank despite pleas to reconsider
- 2013/09/10: CDreams: Australia's New PM on Mission to 'Axe' Global Warming Protections
- 2013/09/10: TheConversation: Even under a conservative government, coal-fired electricity has no future
- 2013/09/10: TheConversation: What next for Australia's climate policy?
- 2013/09/10: ABC(Au): Liberals pledge to log World Heritage forests
  Tasmania's Opposition leader will send Forestry Tasmania into log World Heritage listed areas, if elected at next year's state poll.
  The new Coalition Government plans to reverse the heritage listing of 120,000 hectares of forests.
  The Liberal Party opposes the state's forestry peace deal and the forest reserves legislation which seeks to shrink the industry.
- 2013/09/09: RTCC: Direct Action: should we give Tony Abbott's climate plan a chance?
- 2013/09/10: PeakEnergy: The Suppository Of Wisdom Takes Control
- 2013/09/09: ABC(Au): Industry questions election mandate to tear up forest peace deal
  The Coalition is being urged to let Tasmania's forest peace deal run its course.
- 2013/09/09: ABC(Au): Forest controversy reignites in Tasmania
  It's the dispute that never dies: foresters versus conservationists in Tasmania.
  There was a deal designed to end the decades' long dispute by protecting more than 0.5 million hectares of native forest and compensate the timber industry. But Tony Abbott has promised to unlock the key forests protected in a new world heritage area set up under the agreement.
  The newly-elected Liberal MPs in Tasmania are saying they'll do all they can to get rid of a deal that environmentalists and the timber industry spent years negotiating.
  It may not be easy.
- 2013/09/09: ABC(Au): Abbott government begins process to repeal carbon tax; says pressure on Labor to honour mandate
- 2013/09/08: Guardian(UK): Voting while the planet burns
  In the Barrington Tops, where my farm is, no one can remember spring coming quite so early, or being quite so hot. That our new prime minister will scrap the carbon tax is a sad irony
Post election analysis, commentaries and implications:
- 2013/09/13: NewAnthropocene: Why Australia is doomed: a case study of voting against self-interest
- 2013/09/13: Guardian(UK): Kelly concedes defeat for Labor in bellwether seat of Eden-Monaro
- 2013/09/12: ABC(Au): Palmer United to contest South Australian, Victorian elections
- 2013/09/11: UKISS: Election 2013 Senate [climate change positions]
- 2013/09/11: UKISS: Election 2013 Reps [climate change positions]
- 2013/09/11: UKISS: Irony Lost - bushfires, climate change, a new government and idiot editors
- 2013/09/11: ABC(Au): 1,000 misplaced votes extend Cathy McGowan's lead over Sophie Mirabella in Victorian seat of Indi
- 2013/09/10: Guardian(UK): Tony Abbott's carbon price referendum was a flop
  The results of the Australian election are far from a mandate for abolition -- voters preferred to stay home instead
- 2013/09/10: Guardian(UK): Team Australian Greens is growing
  The Milne-Bandt Greens team will use the Senate's constitutional powers to act as a moderator in the most right-wing Australian government in living memory
- 2013/09/09: Grist: Australians elect climate denier who pledges to dump carbon tax
- 2013/09/09: CDreams: With Help From Rupert Murdoch, Rightwing Leader Takes Reins of Australian Gov't
  New prime minister vows to swiftly impose austerity measures, harsh crackdown on asylum seekers, and erodosion of flimsy protections against global warming
- 2013/09/08: ABC(Au): Julian Assange vows to stand again for fledgling WikiLeaks Party
  WikiLeaks Party founder Julian Assange says he will make another Senate bid in the future after his unsuccessful attempt in this year's ballot.
  Mr Assange stood on the Victorian Senate ticket, where his party attracted 25,667 of the primary vote - representing 1.19 per cent of the overall tally.
- 2013/09/09: CleanTechnica: Australia Elects New Prime Minister, Scraps Old Carbon Tax
- 2013/09/09: ABC(Au): Resources sector welcomes new Government
  Australia's biggest miner says it hopes the new Government will help restore productivity and competitiveness to the sector.
  Throughout the election campaign, mining lobby groups said they wanted a Coalition government committed to repealing the mining tax.
- 2013/09/08: Guardian(UK): Julian Assange: WikiLeaks party will continue
  WikiLeaks founder brushes off election loss, saying he will try again for a Senate position
- 2013/09/09: WSWS: Australian Labor Party thrown out of office
The Labor leadership is up for grabs:
2013/09/14: WSWS: Australian Labor Party members to vote on new leader
2013/09/14: Guardian(UK): Julia Gillard writes on power, purpose and Labor's future
Australia's former prime minister breaks her silence, writing exclusively for Guardian Australia on her legacy, her hopes for a new Labor leader… and the pain of losing power
2013/09/14: ABC(Au): Julia Gillard slams Labor leadership reform as contest between Bill Shorten and Anthony Albanese begins
Former prime minister Julia Gillard has hit out at a new rule about how the Labor Party can remove a leader, describing it as "a clumsy attempt" for bad leaders to hold onto power.
Under reforms introduced by Kevin Rudd, the only way to remove the leader is for 60 per cent of Caucus members to sign a petition requesting a new election.
2013/09/13: Guardian(UK): Labor leadership: Anthony Albanese to stand against Bill Shorten - live
2013/09/13: ABC(Au): Anthony Albanese to run for Labor leadership against Bill Shorten
2013/09/13: BBC: The Australian Labor Party is set for a leadership contest after former deputy prime minister Anthony Albanese threw his hat into the ring
2013/09/13: ABC(Au):TDU: Labor should keep a cool head on climate change
The election was far from a "referendum on the carbon tax". Labor should stand by Australia's commitment to keep global warming below two degrees, writes John Connor.
2013/09/13: Guardian(UK): Julia Gillard: losing power 'hits you like a fist'
Former prime minister reveals grief, pain and regret over losing power, and issues fierce defence of her time in office
2013/09/12: BBC: Powerbroker Bill Shorten has confirmed he will contest the leadership of the Australian Labor Party, following Kevin Rudd's decision to step down after Saturday's election loss
2013/09/11: ABC(Au): Bill Shorten says he will stand for Labor leadership
2013/09/10: ABC(Au):TDU: Leave now and forever hold your peace
Labor cannot make a clean start while its most divisive MP remains. For the good of the party he professes to love, Kevin Rudd must go, writes Kerry-Anne Walsh.
2013/09/09: Guardian(UK): Chris Bowen rules himself out of Labor leadership running
2013/09/09: ABC(Au): Craig Emerson blasts 'destructive' Kevin Rudd for Labor instability, says he must quit parliament
2013/09/08: Guardian(UK): Labor leadership talk heats up as Coalition prepares to govern - live blog

After years of wrangling, the Murray Darling Basin Plan is in place, but the water management fights are far from finished:
- 2013/09/13: ABC(Au): NSW MPs demand answers over NSW Government water deals
  Two New South Wales MPs have demanded full disclosure of the State Government's water infrastructure deals.
  The move follows a protracted dispute which was settled out of court and revelations at the state's corruption watchdog of the Obeid Corporation's investment in the private water company Australian Water Holdings (AWH).
- 2013/09/13: ABC(Au): Criteria set out for irrigators' funding
  Returning water to the Murray-Darling Basin system is the key focus of a $240 million funding package for South Australian irrigators.
- 2013/09/13: ABC(Au): Deadlines looming for flood funding
  Time is running out for farmers and small business in flood-affected parts of Queensland to apply for recovery assistance.
  Applications have to be lodged within the next three months, and there's a fair bit of work involved.
- 2013/09/12: ABC(Au): Rivers under pressure in race for water licences
  The Northern Territory Environment Centre says it is concerned about the speed at which licences to tap underground water reserves are being applied for by irrigators.
- 2013/09/12: ABC(Au): SA firms wins Hawker desal plant contract
  South Australian firm Guidera O'Connor has been awarded the contract to build a desalination plant for the Flinders Ranges' town of Hawker.
  Water Minister Ian Hunter says the water in the area tastes too salty to drink, even though it is safe to do so.
- 2013/09/11: ABC(Au): Gilgandra water alliance proposal gains support
- 2013/09/10: ABC(Au): Fears aired over Paradise Dam water release
And in New Zealand:
- 2013/09/14: WSWS: NZ Labour leadership contest signals a party in crisis
While in China:
- 2013/09/13: GreenGrok: Climate Change: China Puts Kibosh on New Coal Plants
- 2013/09/12: Reuters: China to cut coal use, shut polluters, in bid to clear the air
  China to cut coal use to below 65 pct of energy by 2017 - Higher targets for nuclear power and natural gas - Old polluting mills and factories to be closed - Loopholes could allow other provinces to raise coal output
- 2013/09/12: Xinhuanet: China reveals multi-pronged air pollution battle plan
And in Japan:
- 2013/09/09: Grist: Japan played down nuclear troubles as it fought for Olympic hosting rights
While elsewhere in Asia:
- 2013/09/12: Grist: Harrison Ford crusades against climate change, illegal logging in Indonesia
- 2013/09/11: Guardian(UK): Indonesia threatens to deport Harrison Ford over 'confrontation' with minister
  Actor is accused of harassing state institutions after interviewing forestry minister about illegal logging and climate change
- 2013/09/10: ABC(Au): Harrison Ford shocks Indonesian minister with heated climate interview
- 2013/09/09: ABC(Au): Tuvalu PM calls for urgent attention on climate change issues
- 2013/09/08: IndiaTimes: Nasheed wins 1st round of presidential polls, faces run-off on September 28
In the Middle East:
- 2013/09/10: OilDrum: Of Milk Cows and Saudi Arabia
While in Africa:
- 2013/09/13: Guardian(UK): Niger delta oil spill victims reject 'derisory' Shell compensation offer
And South America:
- 2013/09/10: al Jazeera: Ecuador: Chronicle of a death foretold
  The South American country has opened tract of indigenous land, a biodiversity hotspot, to oil drilling.
- 2013/09/10: UDW: Colombia: ASOQUIMBO Continues Land Liberations and Resistance to the Quimbo Hydroelectric Project
- 2013/09/10: WSWS: Tens of thousands protest privatization of energy industry in Mexico
- 2013/09/06: EcoWatch: Why Ecuador Abandoned Plans to Leave Fossil Fuels in the Ground and Save the Amazon
In Canada, neocon PM Harper, aka The Blight, pushes petroleum while ignoring the climate and ecology:
- 2013/09/10: TheCanadian: With all this Oil and 'Energy Security', where's the Money?
- 2013/09/12: FuelFix: Canada touts carbon pollution cuts as Keystone XL pressure builds
- 2013/09/10: CBC: Climate plan work with U.S. already underway, Oliver says
- 2013/09/09: TheHill:e2W: Canada's Keystone pitch to US: Work with us on climate
- 2013/09/08: G&M: Oliver's Washington visit to focus on Keystone and climate change
- 2013/09/09: CBC: Joe Oliver says environmental proposals not concessions to U.S.
Hey I bet you thought that Toronto G20 stuff was over & done with:
- 2013/09/13: PaiD: The Long Road To Justice
- 2013/09/12: CBC: G20 officer guilty of assaulting protester with weapon
  Victim Adam Nobody 'elated' by verdict, but police union disagrees with judge.
  Toronto police Const. Babak Andalib-Goortani has been found guilty of assault with a weapon in the G20 arrest of protester Adam Nobody three years ago.
  Nobody was singled out for arrest at a demonstration on June 26, 2010, at the Ontario legislature during the economic summit of world leaders. He was tackled as he ran from police and struck repeatedly with a baton.
  "A police officer is not entitled to use unlimited force to effect an arrest," Judge Louise Botham said in her ruling.
- 2013/09/12: TStar: G20 assault trial: Guilty verdict for officer who hit Adam Nobody
The Lac Mégantic tragedy plays on:
- 2013/09/13: CBC: U.S. trains carrying crude oil often mislabelled, analyst says
  Transportation Safety Board says crude oil in Lac-Mégantic disaster was misidentified on train tankers
- 2013/09/11: CNN: Cargo in deadly Quebec derailment misidentified, investigators say
  Investigation finds tankers were carrying more volatile fuel than labeling showed - Development explains why fuel ignited so quickly in July derailment in Lac-Megnatic - Disaster claimed 47 lives as tankers exploded and leveled downtown area
- 2013/09/11: CBC: Lac-Mégantic disaster oil more dangerous than stated
  Transportation Safety Board says crude oil in train tankers was misclassified
  The crude oil carried in tankers that derailed and ignited in Lac-Mégantic, Que., in July was misclassified as a less volatile substance, the Transportation Safety Board of Canada announced this morning.
  At a news conference in Ottawa, the lead investigator on the rail disaster, Donald Ross, said that misclassification, "explains in part why the crude ignited so quickly once the train cars were breached."
  The revelation comes after tests were conducted on oil contained in nine train cars belonging to Montreal, Maine & Atlantic railway that were not involved in the explosion.
- 2013/09/11: CSM: Oil mislabeled? Oil in Quebec train disaster mislabeled as less volatile variety.
- 2013/09/10: MWEN: Bakken crude makeup faces scrutiny in rail car explosion
The Harper gang is starting a major Pipeline PR Campaign:
- 2013/09/13: LeftOver: The Emperor Prorogues, Then comes to BC with his Rogues...
- 2013/09/13: MSimon: Stephen Harper and the Great Pipeline Crusade
- 2013/09/13: TheCanadian: Harper Govt coming to BC to push pipelines on First Nations
- 2013/09/12: CBC: Harper cabinet readies major B.C. pipelines push
  B.C. First Nations leaders to meet with key federal officials Sept. 23 in Vancouver
- 2013/09/10: OilChange: We Don't Need KXL, Say Canadians
The West-East pipeline is suddenly a focus of much dispute:
- 2013/09/12: G&M: N.B. mayor adds to chorus of dissent against Energy East pipeline plan
- 2013/09/10: CBC: Energy East pipeline may create 10,000 jobs, study says
- [...] The report shows 2,300 jobs will be created during the development period and 7,700 during the construction phase. [They don't say how many to run it -het]
- 2013/09/08: CBC: TransCanada tries to woo support for west-east pipeline
The battle over the Northern Gateway pipeline rages on:
- 2013/09/11: TheCanadian: Whales thriving on coast, threatened by oil tankers: study
- 2013/09/09: SudburySteve: Feds Spend Tax Money to Justify Northern Gateway Pipeline Project
Is the NEB changing the rules?
Which way forward now, for Canada?
- 2013/09/12: NorRe: They've Come A Long Way, Baby [Federal NDP]
- 2013/09/12: SudburySteve: Neoliberalism's Green Foil, Part 3: The Green Party, the New Left, and the Greening of the NDP
- 2013/09/11: SudburySteve: Neoliberalism's Green Foil, Part 2: The Emergence of the New Left
- 2013/09/10: SudburySteve: Neoliberalism's Green Foil, Part 1: the Climate Crisis and the Old Left
Canadian scientists are upset by the Harper gang's fundamentally destructive science policies:
- Evidence for Democracy - Stand up for Science!
- 2013/09/14: BLongstaff: Bob McDonald says "stand up for science"
- 2013/09/13: TheCanadian: Suzuki, Morton headline Monday rally for science
- 2013/09/11: E4D: Scientists rally across the country to call on the federal government to 'Stand up for Science'
- 2013/09/12: CBC:B: Researchers stand up for science, plan rallies coast to coast
- 2013/09/09: AlexandraMorton: Stand Up for Science-September 16 Vancouver - Ottawa
There has been an unsettlingly high bee mortality rate lately:
Now that Christy Clark has a mandate, what will she do?
- 2013/09/13: NorRe: Punishing electricity consumers
- 2013/09/13: PI:B: British Columbia needs local government innovation to meet its climate targets
- 2013/09/12: TheCanadian: First Nations occupy mining equipment in Sacred Headwaters
- 2013/09/12: TheCanadian: Massive power bill increases due to Liberals' failed IPP scheme
- 2013/09/12: BBC: British Columbia salmon return one of largest seen in region
  An estimated 26 million pink salmon have crowded British Columbia's waterways, nearly three times more fish than expected, officials have reported.
  Roughly 17 million of the fish, which have a two-year life cycle, returned from the ocean in 2011.
  This month's salmon run is one of the largest ever seen in north-west British Columbia, officials have said.
  Researchers were uncertain what caused the increase but said the pink salmon's survival conditions must have improved.
  Officials had anticipated only nine million fish.
- 2013/09/11: TheCanadian: 'Massive' rate increase coming for BC Hydro customers, leaked documents show
- 2013/09/11: TheCanadian: Dix on way out? NDP awaits leader's announcement
- 2013/09/10: TheCanadian: Rafe: Union bosses fall for Clark's LNG pipe dream
- 2013/09/10: TC: Premier Clark says skipping fall legislature session will allow Liberals to get more work done
  Politicians won't return to work at the B.C. legislature this fall, the Liberal government said Tuesday, in a move the Opposition NDP blasted as "outrageous."
- 2013/09/09: TheCanadian: Union leaders support BC Liberal LNG program
- 2013/09/09: WCEL: Mining the Family Farm
- 2013/09/08: TheCanadian: Why does BC Hydro get their demand forecasts so wrong?
Meanwhile in that Mechanical Mordor known as the tar sands:
- 2013/09/14: CBC: U.S. judge halts Alberta-bound shipment of [megaload] oilsands equipment
  Temporary injunction blocks General Electric Co from using scenic Idaho route
- 2013/09/14: CCP: James Hansen: Tar Sands and Dirty Tricks
- 2013/09/13: QuarkSoup: Neil Young on Keystone XL
- 2013/09/12: Creekside: O Canada! Our home and wasted land!
- 2013/09/12: PSinclair: Don't Let it Bring You Down, It's Only TarSands Burning
- 2013/09/12: RTCC: Jody Williams: tar sands are major threat to indigenous people
- 2013/09/10: WpgFP: Neil Young pans Keystone pipeline, likens oil sands landscape to Hiroshima
- 2013/09/10: CDreams: Neil Young: Tar Sands Fields 'Look Like Hiroshima'
  Singer says tar sands development left Fort McMurray a 'wasteland' that is 'truly a disaster'
- 2013/09/10: CBC: Neil Young calls Fort McMurray oilsands 'a wasteland'
  'Fort McMurray looks like Hiroshima. Fort McMurray is a wasteland'
- 2013/09/10: TheCanadian: Neil Young: 'Fort McMurray is a wasteland'
Also in Alberta:
- 2013/09/13: CBC: Calgary derailment protesters gather after 'CP Fail'
  Removal of product from high-pressure cars has been extremely challenging, city says
  "CP Rail, CP Fail! CP Rail, CP Fail!"
  About 60 people stood outside Calgary's Alyth Yard to protest and chant after what they see as a failure of Canadian Pacific Railways in a train derailment Wednesday night.
- 2013/09/13: TheCanadian: Alberta's pipeline safety faces auditor review after series of spills
- 2013/09/12: PI: Pembina reacts to Auditor General's plan to review pipeline safety
- 2013/09/11: CBC: Calgary train derailment forces evacuation of nearby homes
  8 tankers carrying flammable liquids derailed, no leaks or injuries reported
  Some Calgary homes were evacuated as a precaution after a train carrying petroleum diluent derailed in the city's southeast late this afternoon, the fire department says.
  People living south of Ninth Avenue between 13th and 15th streets were told to leave.
- 2013/09/10: PI: Pembina reacts to the release of the Alberta Wetland Policy
- 2013/09/10: PI:B: Setting the record straight on Pembina's consulting work
In Manitoba:
- 2013/09/11: TheCanadian: Métis fight Manitoba hydro line
- 2013/09/10: CBC: Manitoba researcher killed in Arctic helicopter crash
  University of Manitoba climatologist among three killed in fatal crash in Arctic Ocean
In Ontario, Wynne is struggling to establish herself. Energy still looms large:
- 2013/09/10: PI: Green energy more affordable than nuclear
  Ontario government urged to review nuclear commitments in upcoming energy plan
- 2013/09/10: PI: [link to 3.4 meg pdf] Renewable is Doable -- Affordable and flexible options for Ontario's long-term energy plan
In the North:
- 2013/09/10: CBC: Arctic coast guard helicopter crash kills 3
  Aircraft was operating with Canadian Coast Guard research icebreaker Amundsen
- 2013/09/11: ClimateSight: Explorers [Arctic helicopter crash]
- 2013/09/11: GLaden: Climate Scientists Killed in Chopper Crash While Studying Arctic Ice
As for miscellaneous Canadiana:
- 2013/09/11: CleanBreak: Canada's geothermal power industry turns to the "crowd" in the absence of government funding for research
And on the American political front:
- 2013/09/14: QuarkSoup: Here's a Proxy For You
- 2013/09/13: FuelFix: Arizona regulators drop power deregulation push
- 2013/09/12: Grist: Let's fight the 1 percent -- of power plants
- 2013/09/12: TreeHugger: California energy bill will protect net-metering, boost renewable energy in the state
- 2013/09/12: Wonkette: Usual Sleazy Liars Would Love You To Believe That 'More Than Half Of All SNAP Benefits Are Used to Buy Sugary Drinks'
- 2013/09/12: TP:JR: Kentucky Governor Stands Up To Climate Deniers, Defends Teaching Science In Schools
- 2013/09/12: CleanTechnica: California Passes 600MW Shared Renewables Program
- 2013/09/12: BBerg: Brown Says He'll Sign California Bill Regulating Fracking
  California Governor Jerry Brown said he'll approve regulations for hydraulic fracturing criticized by environmental groups as the state prepares for development of the largest shale-oil reserves in the U.S.
  [...]
  The Natural Resources Defense Council, California League of Conservation Voters, Clean Water Action and Environmental Working Group, which backed earlier versions of the measure, withdrew their support, saying the bill was too watered down.
- 2013/09/11: Grist: We don't need no stinking permits: California frackers get their way
- 2013/09/10: BoykoTx: Why Texas Banned Tesla Motors (Spoiler: Because we don't have campaign finance reform)
- 2013/09/09: Grist: Can these three billionaire superfriends save the climate?
- 2013/09/09: Resilience: Boulder Gains Momentum in Fight for Green Public Utility
- 2013/09/09: Grist: In unlikely alliance, Wisconsin libertarians back solar plan
- 2013/09/09: PeakEnergy: California Sets Terms of Massive Energy Storage Mandate
The BP disaster continues to twist US politics:
- 2013/09/12: NOAANews: NOAA launches website holding millions of chemical analyses from Deepwater Horizon oil spill -- Includes data on underwater hydrocarbon plume, dispersants
- 2013/09/10: Grist: Nearly 48,000 suing BP over toxic pollution from Texas refinery
- 2013/09/09: DeSmogBlog: Louisiana Governor Jindal Not Buying BP Spin on Gulf Coast Impacts
Post-Sandy commentary and news:
- 2013/09/13: CSM: Jersey shore tourism struggles: first superstorm Sandy, now a tornado of fire
- 2013/09/12: CSM: Seaside Heights fire: Raging fire strikes at the heart of Sandy-hit NJ town
- 2013/09/12: BBC: Fire ravages New Jersey boardwalk a year after Sandy
- 2013/09/12: CBC: Seaside Heights boardwalk fire rages at site of Sandy recovery
The Keystone XL wheel grinds slowly. And it grinds woe:
- 2013/09/14: DeSmogBlog: Republican Congressman Says Syrian Conflict A Boon For Keystone XL
- 2013/09/10: OilChange: We Don't Need KXL, Say Canadians
- 2013/09/10: CBC: Keystone pipeline seen as unneeded as more oil moves by rail
- 2013/09/10: TP:JR: No Keystone? No Problem: TransCanada Pushing Another Major Tar Sands Pipeline
- 2013/09/10: TreeHugger: Was southern leg of Keystone XL built illegally?
- 2013/09/09: TreeHugger: The billionaire fighting to stop Keystone XL
- 2013/09/09: OilChange: Adverts Slam KXL as "Bad Deal for America"
- 2013/09/09: PSinclair: New Ad Clobbers Keystone Economics
- 2013/09/08: MSimon: The Ad Campaign that Will Finish off the Keystone Pipeline
The Mayflower oil spill continues to weigh heavily on the Keystone decision:
- 2013/09/09: ICN: Dilbit in Exxon's Pegasus May Have Contributed to Pipeline's Rupture
The GOP War on Women continues. See also:
- 2013/09/12: Wonkette: Florida Congressthing Ileana Ros-Lehtinen Killed Anti-Child-Bride Bill, Because Abortion
That Klein essay got a some people's dander up:
- 2013/09/12: TP:JR: Naomi Klein Redux: Capitalism And Climate -- Can This Marriage Be Saved?
- 2013/09/11: ERabett: Sister Soljah and Naomi Klein
- 2013/09/09: NKlein: All the Response Joe Romm Is Going To Get From Me
- 2013/09/11: ERabett: Unloading
- 2013/09/11: TP:JR: Viewpoint: Naomi Klein's Criticism Of Environmental Groups Missed The Mark
- 2013/09/10: Grist: Naomi Klein says big green groups are more trouble than climate deniers
- 2013/09/09: TP:JR: No, Naomi Klein And Salon, 'Denialism' By Enviros Has Not Been 'More Damaging Than The Right-Wing Denialism'
At what point do you stop listening to the pretty lies and decide/realize you've been had?
- 2013/09/10: PEF: Memo to Obama: Canada's carbon problem IS the tar sands
- 2013/09/10: CleanTechnica: Obama Names Sweden A Model For Energy Policy - Here's Why
- 2013/09/08: CDreams: The Flip Side Of Obama's Keystone XL Delay
  Even as President Obama cast a veneer of caution over the Keystone pipeline's northern half, he quietly expedited dozens of similar projects
The actions of the Obama administration are being watched closely:
- 2013/09/13: CSM: New LNG export approval: an export opening for Marcellus gas
- 2013/09/13: UCSUSA:B: Can I Interest You in a Used Car? DOE/EPA Release New Fuel Economy Tool For Used Cars
- 2013/09/13: USGS: Every Drop Counts: Progress Toward a National Water Census
- 2013/09/12: CSM: DOE gets first formal bid to buy electric car company Fisker Automotive
- 2013/09/12: CSM: Can DOE build a better electric car battery?
- 2013/09/12: NOAANews: NOAA Sanctuaries establishes new business advisory council
- 2013/09/12: Grist: Big biz fights Obama admin's calculations on carbon costs
- 2013/09/12: DeSmogBlog: Washington Throws Chemical Safety Standards Out the Window, Are Fracking Chemicals Next?
- 2013/09/11: CCP: Top Obama aide Heather Zichal worked the Pavillion fracking investigation
- 2013/09/11: DeSmogBlog: First Marcellus Fracked Gas Export Permit Approved by Energy Dept
- 2013/09/11: ICN: Pipeline Safety Chief Says His Regulatory Process Is 'Kind of Dying'
  With 'few tools to work with,' PHMSA's Jeffrey Wiese says he is creating a YouTube channel to persuade industry to voluntarily improve safety.
- 2013/09/11: TP:JR: Despite Hard Push From Industry, New Coal Plants Could See Serious Carbon Restrictions
- 2013/09/11: NatureN: Grey wolves left out in the cold -- US plan to remove federal protection elicits howls of protest
- 2013/09/11: BBerg: Coal Industry Cries Foul Over Obama Emission Rules
  Representatives of coal-intensive utilities and coal-producing regions said that President Barack Obama would effectively outlaw construction of new power plants using the fuel with pending environmental rules
- 2013/09/11: WaPo: EPA to revise climate rule for new power plants; will still require carbon capture
- 2013/09/10: Grist: There's arsenic in your rice, but don't worry about it, says FDA
- 2013/09/10: AutoBG: FTC will look into fuel pump fight between ethanol producers, Big Oil
- 2013/09/09: Grist: Obama signs on to three international climate pacts in three days
- 2013/09/09: Grist:Shell fined $1.1 million for polluting Arctic air during error-plagued drilling efforts
- 2013/09/09: AutoBG: EPA has $45m for all-of-the-above energy efficiency strategy
- 2013/09/09: NOAANews: NOAA launches new online mapping tool for Great Lakes region
As for what is going on in Congress:
- 2013/09/13: EnvEcon: Some politicians only love benefit-cost analysis when the benefits are zero
- 2013/09/13: Grist: Senate stupidity stalls action on bipartisan energy-efficiency bill
- 2013/09/12: ScienceInsider: U.S. Science Laureate Bill Hits Roadblock
- 2013/09/12: Grist: Should North Dakota be exempt from federal fracking rules?
- 2013/09/12: TP:JR: GOP Tries To Sink Uncontroversial Energy Bill With An Obamacare Amendment
- 2013/09/12: RT: 'Monsanto Protection Act' quietly extended by Congress
  A budget provision protecting genetically-modified seeds from litigation in the face of health risks was extended for three months in an approved US House of Representatives' spending bill on Tuesday evening.
  Called "The Monsanto Protection Act" by opponents, the budget rider shields biotech behemoths like Monsanto, Cargill and others from the threat of lawsuits and bars federal courts from intervening to force an end to the sale of a GMO (genetically-modified organism) even if the genetically-engineered product causes damaging health effects.
- 2013/09/11: NatureN: More cuts loom for US science -- Stalemate in Congress puts spending plans on hold
- 2013/09/11: TP:JR: Why The GOP's Probe Into Lisa Jackson's Emails Is A Giant Nothingburger
- 2013/09/11: FuelFix: Senate energy efficiency debate becomes battleground
- 2013/09/11: P3: Double Bind Attack on EPA Secretary Jackson
- 2013/09/10: P3: House Republicans Punish the Messenger Again
- 2013/09/10: TheHill:e2W: Sens. Heitkamp, Hoeven seek North Dakota exemption from Interior 'fracking' rules
- 2013/09/10: EneNews: Congressmen request hearing on new developments at Fukushima plant - Key issue is whether radioactive pollution in Pacific Ocean will affect U.S.
- 2013/09/06: TheHill:RW: House to take aim at fracking regulations
  Lawmakers in the House will focus in coming weeks on a measure to combat new regulations on hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.
The movement toward a long term ecologically viable economics is glacial:
- 2013/09/15: CCurrents: The End Of The Age Of Extraction
- 2013/09/14: CassandrasLegacy: The next ten billion years - II
- 2013/09/13: Resilience: Gus Speth: "What We've Got to Get Us Through is Each Other"
- 2013/09/11: Resilience: Approaching a Steady State Economy, Part 1 - Getting Around
- 2013/09/09: UDW: The Art of Building a New World: Freedom According to the Zapatistas
IPAT [Impact = Population * Affluence * Technology]
raised its head once again:
- 2013/09/13: NYT: Overpopulation Is Not the Problem
- 2013/09/12: ABC(Au): Abortion fears raised over proposed NSW foetus law
  The New South Wales Health Minister and Attorney-General have taken opposing sides over proposed legislation to change the legal definition of an unborn child.
  MPs will be allowed a conscience vote on the private member's bill, which is designed to allow criminal liability for the death of a foetus that is at least 20 weeks old.
  Currently, charges can only be laid over the injury or death of the mother.
Apocalypso anyone?
- 2013/09/12: Independent(UK): Leading scholars establish centre for the study of 'existential risk' in order to prepare for potentially devastating events
- 2013/09/13: SciAm:GB: The Survival of Humanity
How do the corporate media measure up?
- 2013/09/12: CJR: Calling out the climate conspirators
  Slate, Discover, and The Guardian crack down on the David Rose's distorted reporting
- 2013/09/12: TFTJO: A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is still putting on its shoes
- 2013/09/12: PeakEnergy: Global Cooling? The Growing Arctic Sea Ice Delusion
- 2013/09/11: RTCC: IPCC rejects Daily Mail claims it plans climate 'crisis meeting'
- 2013/09/10: TFTJO: The beauty of propaganda
- 2013/09/10: TreeHugger: Scientific American goes totally pro-GMO
- 2013/09/10: SkS: Arctic sea-ice 'growth', a manufactured IPCC 'crisis' and more: David Rose is at it again by John Mason
- 2013/09/09: KSJT: J-School prof takes apart Daily Mail "Global Cooling" report that Arctic sea ice is on the way back
- 2013/09/09: ASI: IPCC crisis meeting
- 2013/09/09: Guardian(UK): Arctic sea ice delusions strike the Mail on Sunday and Telegraph
  Both UK periodicals focus on short-term noise and ignore the rapid long-term Arctic sea ice death spiral
- 2013/09/09: PSinclair: Another Year, Another Sea Ice "Recovery"
- 2013/09/08: BCLSB: Its David Rose
- 2013/09/08: CCP: Daily Mail Lies! No 60% recovery in Arctic sea ice, no expectation of global cooling
- 2013/09/08: HotWhopper: David Rose and his tabloid "reporting" of Arctic sea ice and other nonsense
While activists search for effective communication techniques:
2013/09/13: Guardian(UK): 'Threatening climate change messages are not effective' [Dan Kahan interview]

Here is something for your library:
- 2013/09/12: NYRB: [Book Review] _Stung! On Jellyfish Blooms and the Future of the Ocean_ by Lisa-ann Gershwin, with a foreword by Sylvia Earle
- 2013/09/10: CPW: [Book Review] _Blue Future: Protecting Water for People and the Planet Forever_ by Maude Barlow
- 2013/09/09: Grist: $1,000 question: Did the population bomb ever explode?
  [Author Interview] _The Bet: Paul Ehrlich, Julian Simon, and Our Gamble over Earth's Future_ by Paul Sabin
And for your film & video enjoyment:
- 2013/09/10: TreeHugger: "GMO OMG" documentary explores one of the biggest issues of our generation
- 2013/09/10: ICN: Video on Climate Skeptics Generates Millions of Views and Some Controversy
  The viral video, posted in late August, has brought political satire to the debate on climate change, outing skeptics in Congress and causing a stir.
- 2013/09/08: QuarkSoup: Where the Warming Went
Meanwhile among the 'Sue the Bastards!' contingent:
- 2013/09/13: CSW: DC judge denies another effort to derail Michael Mann's defamation lawsuit
- 2013/09/12: Grist: ExxonMobil company charged with fracking-related crimes
- 2013/09/12: ABC(Au): Solomon Island landowners win logging injunction in court
- 2013/09/11: BBerg: Exxon Charged With Illegally Dumping Waste Water in Pennsylvania
  Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) was charged with illegally dumping more than 50,000 gallons (189,000 liters) of waste water at a shale-gas drilling site in Pennsylvania.
- 2013/09/10: TreeHugger: Pesticide maker 'sues Europe'. Bee-lovers fight back
- 2013/09/09: WCEL: Whither climate change litigation and compensation?
Developing a new energy infrastructure is a fundamental challenge of the current generation:
- 2013/09/13: CSM: New LNG export approval: an export opening for Marcellus gas
- 2013/09/13: OilDrum: Twenty (Important ) Concepts I Wasn't Taught in Business School - Part I
- 2013/09/13: Grist: America warming up to new hydropower
- 2013/09/13: PeakEnergy: Oceanlinx moving forward with wave power project in South Australia
- 2013/09/13: MWEN: While one Ohio utility fights efficiency, another embraces it
- 2013/09/13: CleanTechnica: Geothermal Power Used In [Sooke] British Columbia Residential Development
- 2013/09/12: BBC: Wave power generator bags Dyson award
  A wave power generator that can harvest energy no matter which way the sea is running has won the UK round of James Dyson's engineering award.
  The Renewable Wave Power generator seeks to overcome the limitations of some current wave power technologies.
- 2013/09/12: CleanTechnica: California Passes 600MW Shared Renewables Program
- 2013/09/12: PSinclair: Boulder Colorado and the Quest for Local Control of Energy
- 2013/09/12: CassandrasLegacy: If we have to use fossil fuels to manufacture renewable plants, doesn't it mean that renewables are useless?
- 2013/09/11: PeakEnergy: Perth company seeks $4m for new wave energy technology
- 2013/09/10: Resilience: Our Fossil-Fueled Future
- 2013/09/11: CleanTechnica: Analysis: 50% Reduction In Cost Of Renewable Energy Since 2008
- 2013/09/10: RTCC: Clean energy financing broke US$100 billion barrier in 2012
- 2013/09/10: CleanTechnica: 5 Barriers To And Solutions For Community Renewable Energy
- 2013/09/09: CSM: Our energy future: 'They'll think of something'
- 2013/09/08: Resilience: Our energy future: "They'll think of something"
- 2013/09/09: OilDrum: IEA Sankey Diagrams
- 2013/09/01: MR: The Fossil Fuels War
What do you have in energy comparisons and transitions?
- 2013/09/11: RealEconomics: It's harder than it looks
- 2013/09/09: NBF: Largest Railroad company in the USA [BNSF] is Testing Natural Gas-Powered Locomotives
Hey! Let's contaminate the aquifers for thousands of years! It'll be a fracking gas!
- 2013/09/13: UCSUSA:B: Fracking and My Community's Water: What Do We Know or When Will We Know It?
- 2013/09/13: CleanTechnica: Fracking Update: These Are The Texas Towns Running Out Of Water
- 2013/09/13: UCSUSA:B: Is Fracking Safe? What Science Can and Cannot Tell Us About Risk
- 2013/09/12: Grist: Should North Dakota be exempt from federal fracking rules?
- 2013/09/11: Resilience: Is fracking all we have to worry about?
- 2013/09/11: DeSmogBlog: First Marcellus Fracked Gas Export Permit Approved by Energy Dept
- 2013/09/11: NatureN: Secrets of fracking fluids pave way for cleaner recipe
- 2013/09/10: UCSUSA:B: Survey Says? Forum Attendees Shed Light on the Public's Discussion on Hydraulic Fracturing
- 2013/09/10: PostArctica: Nina Berman - Fracking
- 2013/09/09: DeSmogBlog: University of Tennessee "Frackademia" Program Put to Rest, For Now
On the coal front:
- 2013/09/12: RTCC: US coal demand destroys area size of '10 city blocks' an hour
- 2013/09/10: TheConversation: Even under a conservative government, coal-fired electricity has no future
On the gas and oil front:
- 2013/09/13: BBerg: Closing oil prices Friday
  OIL (US$/bbl)
  Dated Brent Spot....111.70
  WTI Cushing Spot....108.21
- 2013/09/14: CSM: Can anyone break Russia's hold on Europe's gas?
- 2013/09/13: NBF: $1.5 trillion in Gulf of Mexico oil from ultra deep [10,000+ feet] water drilling and more ultra deep oil off the coast of Africa and Latin America
- 2013/09/12: SciAm:PI: North Dakota flared off $1 billion worth of natural gas last year
- 2013/09/11: RTCC: Gas flaring responsible for 42% of black carbon in the Arctic
- 2013/09/10: Resilience: Chevron's oil production, sales decline 5%
- 2013/09/13: WSWS: Spying on Brazilian oil company Petrobras exposed
- 2013/09/08: EconBrowser: Syria and the world oil market
- 2013/09/09: PeakEnergy: The exploding supply of NGLs: can this stuff be called oil?
And in pipeline news:
- 2013/09/13: CSM: Move over Keystone XL. There's a new pipeline in town.
- 2013/09/13: Xinhuanet: Chinese, Tajik presidents agree to accelerate gas pipeline construction
- 2013/09/10: TMoS: Three Years and Counting on the Kalamazoo
- 2013/09/10: TP:JR: No Keystone? No Problem: TransCanada Pushing Another Major Tar Sands Pipeline
Ships and boats and trains -- How to tranport the stuff:
- 2013/09/14: CDreams: Derailments in Calgary, Mislabeled Oil at Lac-Mégantic: Oil-by-Train Dangers Further Exposed
- 2013/09/11: CBC: Calgary train derailment forces evacuation of nearby homes
- 2013/09/10: CBC: Keystone pipeline seen as unneeded as more oil moves by rail
- 2013/09/10: CBC: Oil transportation on Great Lakes to be studied
  Great Lakes Commission orders 1-year study of implications of plans to move oil on, around lakes
Marvelous. Now the USA can have their own Mechanical Mordor:
- 2013/09/12: CDreams: Giant US Tar Sands Project Lurking in the Shadows -- Imminent tar sands development threatens western US
Yes we have peak everything:
- 2013/09/13: PeakEnergy: Peak Coal In China
- 2013/09/11: PeakEnergy: Peak oil is alive and well, and costing the earth
- 2013/09/09: TheConversation: Peak oil is alive and well, and costing the earth
- 2013/09/09: PeakEnergy: Core Labs CEO thinks we may have arrived at peak oil
Biofuel bickering abounds:
- 2013/09/11: Guardian(UK): Global warming, ethanol, and will-o-wisp solutions
  Contrary to common perceptions, corn-based ethanol is a useful technology on the road to reducing carbon emissions
- 2013/09/11: GLaden: Ethanol Falsehood Examined
- 2013/09/11: ETI:RRapier: What Happened to Advanced Biofuels? Let Me Explain
The answer my friend...
- 2013/09/15: NBF: China heading to 150 gigawatts of installed wind capacity at the end of 2015
- 2013/09/12: RTCC: UK hits 1GW of installed offshore wind capacity
  Europe's offshore wind installed capacity at the end of 2012 was just under 5GW with another 4.46GW under construction
- 2013/09/09: TreeHugger: Wind farm to power nuclear arms plant
Meanwhile among the solar aficionados:
- 2013/09/14: UCSUSA:B: Solar Soaring: Q2 Results Show U.S. PV Capacity Approaching 10,000 Megawatts
- 2013/09/13: CleanTechnica: German Adds 313 MW Of Solar Energy In July
- 2013/09/13: CleanTechnica: Japan Solar PV Industry Reaches 10 GW Milestone
- 2013/09/13: SciAm:SaH: Save the Earth, Save Money -- There's No Need to Choose
- 2013/09/13: NRL: NRL Achieves Highest Open-Circuit Voltage for Quantum Dot Solar Cells
- 2013/09/12: FuturePundit: Home Solar Installations Rising Sharply
- 2013/09/12: RealEconomics: Technological leapfrog
- 2013/09/12: TreeHugger: The U.S. installed 832 MW of solar PV in Q2 2013
- 2013/09/12: CBC: Rooftop solar panels pose dangers, Ontario firefighters say
- 2013/09/12: ABC(Au): New solar cell technology [perovskite semiconductors] sparks interest
- 2013/09/12: ICN: Why Are Some Big Utilities Embracing Small-Scale Solar Power?
  One of New York's largest utilities will save $84 million by paying developers to put solar panels on the roofs of buildings. And it's not alone.
- 2013/09/11: PeakEnergy: How solar PV became a global phenomenon
- 2013/09/11: CleanTechnica: Rooftop Solar Accounts For 1.6% Of Australian National Electricity Market
- 2013/09/11: TreeHugger: GoSun stove reinvents solar cooking
- 2013/09/11: CSM: Solar panels: firefighters' clean-energy foe
- 2013/09/10: SciAm:PI: Manufacturing scale, not cheap labor, driving China's solar PV price advantage
- 2013/09/09: CleanTechnica: Chinese Solar Cells Cheaper To Manufacture Because Of Larger-Scale Of Manufacturing Industry, Not Cheaper Labor, Research Finds
- 2013/09/08: BBerg: Chinese Zombies Emerging After Years of Solar Subsidies
The nuclear energy controversy continues:
- 2013/09/15: ABC(Au): Japan to be nuclear-free as last reactor switched off
- 2013/09/15: IndiaTimes: Japan to be nuclear free as last reactor switched off
- 2013/09/15: BBC: Japan halts last nuclear reactor at Ohi
  Japan is shutting down its last functioning nuclear reactor, with no timetable for a restart.
- 2013/09/14: NBF: Nuclear reactor costs in China
- 2013/09/13: NBF: California's nuclear power is being replaced by natural gas
- 2013/09/13: BBC: Nuclear plants 'do not raise child cancer risk'
  Children living near nuclear power plants do not have an increased risk of developing leukaemia, a study says.
  Experts looked at data on 10,000 children diagnosed under five between 1962 and 2007, and where they lived.
  The British Journal of Cancer study is not the first to rule out a link - but previous studies' methods were challenged.
  Cancer Research UK said the results were "heartening" but added monitoring should continue.
- 2013/09/10: TreeHugger: U.S. Nuclear Power in Decline
- 2013/09/09: NBF: Cigar Lake [Saskatchewan] Uranium mine start-up delayed until 2014
More people are talking about the electrical grid:
- 2013/09/11: Lenz: Asahi Article on Asia Super Grid
And then there is the matter of efficiency & conservation:
- 2013/09/13: TreeHugger: Life-cycle study shows current LED bulbs about on par with CFLs, but next-generation twice as good
- 2013/09/13: TCoE: Driving on LEDs
- 2013/09/13: TreeHugger: How greater efficiency leads to greater waste, or how Jevons' Paradox clogs the roads
- 2013/09/12: CleanTechnica: World's Largest LED Streetlight Retrofit Completed In Los Angeles
Automakers & lawyers, engineers & activists argue over the future of the car:
- 2013/09/12: TreeHugger: VW unveils two upcoming production electric cars: The 2015 e-Golf and 2015 e-up!
As for Energy Storage:
- 2013/09/13: CleanTechnica: Study: Battery Energy Storage Benefits Solar, Not Wind
- 2013/09/13: PeakEnergy: Wind Power Makes Hydrogen for German Gas Grid
- 2013/09/12: CleanTechnica: German Energy Storage Plan Could Trigger New Market Boom
- 2013/09/09: Eureka: Stanford scientists calculate the energy required to store wind and solar power on the grid
- 2013/09/09: CleanTechnica: Zinc-air Battery Company Claims Novel Electrolyte Will Do The Trick
What do we have in (weekly) lists?
- 2013/09/14: SkS: 2013 SkS Weekly News Roundup #37B by John Hartz
- 2013/09/10: SkS: 2013 SkS Weekly News Roundup #37A by John Hartz
- 2013/09/10: BPA: 3 Picks: Global Grains, Canadian Farmland Prices, Al Bartlett
- 2013/09/09: GLaden: Climate and energy items of interest
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.
- 2013/09/11: Guardian(UK): Why a watermelon tells you what's wrong with the climate debate
- 2013/09/10: RTCC: Dealing in doubt: how big oil funds climate denial
- 2013/09/11: OilChange: Exposing the Climate Change Denial Machine
- 2013/09/10: DeSmogBlog: Climate Denial Playbook: Marc Morano's History of Bullying Scientists
- 2013/09/11: OParachute: New "evidence" for global cooling?
- 2013/09/12: CSW: New Greenpeace report documents machinations of corporate-funded climate denial machine
- 2013/09/12: Guardian(UK): [GP] Report offers field guide to the climate change denial industry
- 2013/09/10: P3: [link to 3.8 meg pdf] [GreenPeace] History of Climate Denial
- 2013/09/14: ERabett:BSD: Dear Bjorn: if you spend money to reduce a problem and the problem's reduced, that doesn't magically mean the problem reduced itself
- 2013/09/14: CSW: In WSJ, Ridley presents medley of long-debunked climate claims
- 2013/09/13: RealEconomics: Dealing in doubt
- 2013/09/13: MTobis: The Wrongest Denial Ever
- 2013/09/13: P3: The Wrongest Denial In History
- 2013/09/10: WottsUWT: Watt about Akasofu?
- 2013/09/10: GreenPeace: Dealing in Doubt -- The Climate Denial Machine vs. Climate Science
  A brief history of attacks on climate science, climate scientists and the IPCC
- 2013/09/10: DeSmogBlog: Dealing in Doubt: Greenpeace Report Exposes Fossil Fuel Funded Climate Denial Machine
- 2013/09/09: CSW: Heartland Institute and its NIPCC report fail the credibility test
- 2013/09/09: TreeHugger: Chart illustrates global warming from 1880 to today. Will this convince deniers?
As for climate miscellanea:
- 2013/09/14: TheCanadian: Climate Change is the ultimate 'Moral Hazard'
- 2013/09/13: JQuiggin: A new two-step
- 2013/09/12: TheCanadian: Suzuki: Incinerating trash is a waste of resources
- 2013/09/11: WtD: Quote: "The earth is what we all have in common" [Wendell Berry]
- 2013/09/11: Grist: Great, now you have to worry about living too close to an airport [lead in aviation fuel]
- 2013/09/11: Eureka: Study provides insights on protecting world's poor from climate change
- 2013/09/10: GReadfearn: The undiscerning climate bookshelf
- 2013/09/10: PNNL: How the newest diesel engines emit very little greenhouse gas nitrous oxide
- 2013/09/13: TP:JR: To Satiate The World's Demand For Cell Phones, We're Turning New Zealand's Pristine Coast Into A Strip Mine
- 2013/09/14: QuarkSoup: So Much for Accuracy
- 2013/09/10: CleanTechnica: Amount Of Raw Materials Needed To Sustain Economies Of Developed World Is Significantly Underestimated, Research Finds
- 2013/09/09: P3: Reconsidering Ecosystem Management Under Rapid Climate Change
- 2013/09/08: Climatesight: Bits and Pieces
- 2013/09/07: P3: The difference between technical and political difficulty
And here are a couple of sites you may find interesting and/or useful:
- Lenz Blog
- Wiki: Shamal (wind)
- Green Alliance UK - an environmental think tank
- ICCT: The International Council on Clean Transportation
- Wiki: Hexavalent chromium
- CDP: Carbon Disclosure Project
- Evidence for Democracy - Stand up for Science!
- Wiki: Aarhus Convention
- iSTAR - NERC Ice Sheet Stability Programme -- Investigating the stability of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet
- Millennium Ecosystem Assessment
- World Radiation Centre
- NGDC.NOAA: Solar Irradiance Data
- Exxpose Exxon
- Wiki: Anoxic event
- CSER: Centre for the Study of Existential Risk
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>

-hetP.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.

"When you have to classify the very capacity of the Earth
to support life as an 'externality', then it is time
to rethink your theory." -Herman Daly
- Global Warming Links
- Global Warming News Archive
- Energy
- Energy News
- Environmental Issues
- ---
- H.E. Taylor (homepage)
Last modified September 15, 2013

More like this

Very informative, thanks for sharing

Another Week in the Ecological Crisis, September 15, 2013

Sipping from the Internet Firehose...

September 15, 2013

No matter how dark things seem, there are always bad jokes:

Looking ahead to COP19 and future international climate negotiations:

Whoops my mistake. Apparently there was something climate related done at the St. Petersburg G20. Or is it PR BS?

There's a new XPrize. This time to better measure ocean acidification:

The Carbon Disclosure Project came out with a new report this week:

How is Germany's energy transition doing, really?

This week in the Potash saga:

And on the Bottom Line:

What are the big banks up to?

John Cook and friends continue their point-counterpoint articles:

A note on theFukushima disaster:

Not much good news coming out of Fukushima:

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

The Arctic melt continues to garner attention:

That Damoclean sword still hangs overhead:

As for the geopolitics of Arctic resources:

While in Antarctica:

The food crisis is ongoing:

The conflict between biofuel and food persists:

So, are these land grabs Colonialism V2.0?

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, Tropical Storm Man-yi is heading for Japan:

In the Atlantic, Tropical Storm Gabrielle stayed off the coast, brushed Nova Scotia and hit Newfoundland:

Also in the Atlantic, Humberto became the first hurricane of the year:

In the Caribbean:

Mexico is getting it from both sides. Manuel in the Pacific and Ingrid in the Caribbean:

While elsewhere in the hurricane wars:

This week in notable weather:

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

As for GHGs:

How is the temperature record?

While in the paleoclimate:

In the attribution debate:

And on the ENSO front:

Regarding the cosmic ray hypothesis:

What's the State of the Oceans?:

And on the extinction watch:

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

What's up with volcanoes this week?

Meanwhile in near earth orbit:

More GW impacts are being seen:

And then there are the world's forests:

Desertification looms as a threat:

Emerging diseases accompany ecological change:

Changes in natural cycles are showing up:

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]:

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

While on the adaptation front:

Meanwhile in the journals:

And other significant documents:

As for miscellaneous science:

What developments in the ongoing struggle for Open Science?

Regarding Mann:

Regarding Bartlett:

Meanwhile at the UN:

The Fifth IPCC report is coming up:

And on the carbon trading front:

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:

It looks like the NSA does a little corporate espionage on the side. Brazil is upset:

These 'free trade' treaties feature fundamentally anti-democratic dispute resolution mechanisms:

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

What are the activists up to?

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

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

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

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