Another Week of Climate Disruption News, January 5, 2014

By illconsidered on January 8, 2014.

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

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Information is not Knowledge...Knowledge is not Wisdom

January 5, 2014

Chuckles, COP20+, COP19, Sherwood, Post-2013, Pre-2014
Bottom Line, Global Legal Framework, Cook
Fukushima: Note, News
Melting Arctic, Methane, Geopolitics, Antarctica
Food: Crisis, Food vs. Biofuel, Land Grabs, GMOs, Production
Hurricanes, Notable Weather, New Weather
GHGs, Aerosols, Volcanoes Ozone, Temperatures
Paleoclimate, Oceans, Biosphere, Extinctions
Impacts, Forests, Climate Refugees
Wildfires, Corals, Acidification, Glaciers, Floods & Droughts
Cities, Designed Endurance, Transportation, Buildings, Geoengineering, Adaptation
Journals, Other Docs, Misc. Science, Science Orgs, Models, Schneider, Advocacy
International Politics: Carbon Trade, Hormuz, South China Sea, Treaties, Misc.
Law & Activism, Activism, Divestment, Polls, H2O Biz, Groundwater, Innovation
National Politics: Britain, Europe, Australia, Abbott, ACS 2013, MDBP, India, China, Africa, South America
Canada, Lac-Mégantic, Northern Gateway, Greens, Salmon, Tar Sands, Alberta, Maritimes, Canadiana
America, Keystone, Mayflower, Birth Control, Electricity Use, Casselton, Keeling , Obama, USAdmin
Ecological Economics, Recycling, IPAT, Apocalypso, Fixes, Media, Books, Video, Courts, BP Trial
Energy, Transitions, Fracking, Coal, Oil & Gas, Pipelines, Oil Transportation, Biofuel
Wind, Solar, Nukes, Nuclear Waste, Nuclear Fusion, LENR, Grid, Utilities, Efficiency, Cars, Energy Storage
Insurance, FAQs, Other Lists, Carbon Lobby, Inaction, Misc., Useful Links
Shameless Self Promotion, A Simple Plea, .sig

Yes, we have no comix. How about a striking image?

2013/12/31: EPOD: Sunset Over Manchester, England [on Nov.30]

Looking ahead to COP20 and future international climate negotiations:

Looking back at COP19:

2013/12/28: TruthOut: Undercover COP

The Sherwood et al. paper on climate sensitivity kicked off a bit of a blogostorm:

Yet more end-of-year retrospectives:

2014/01/02: ERabett:JF: 2013: the year in review
2014/01/02: DD: Rainforest news review for 2013
2014/01/02: DD: Mongabay: Wildlife stories in 2013
2014/01/01: ScienceInsider: The Insider's Guide To 2013
2013/12/31: TheCanadian: Ray Grigg's 2013 review: No platitudes, please
2013/12/31: DeSmogBlog: Looking Back at 2013: Photos of Climate Chaos, Natural Disasters, Heartache and Hope
2013/12/31: RealEconomics: 2013 -- well, that was interesting
2013/12/31: DD: 50 doomiest graphs of 2013
2013/12/31: Wonkette: Wingnuts And The Crazy Things They Said About Science: Let Us Review 2013 And Weep For The Planet
2013/12/31: CassandrasLegacy: 2013: the year the world stood still
2013/12/31: Guardian(UK): 2013 was a good year for climate science, but a mixed bag for climate policy
2013/12/31: Guardian(UK): 2013 in review: extreme weather - in [20] pictures
2013/12/31: Guardian(UK): 10 hopeful things from 2013 that will get you inspired for what's to come
2013/12/31: SkS: 2013 in Review: a Productive Year for Skeptical Science by dana1981
2013/12/31: ICN: In 2013, Climate 'Resiliency' Officially Entered the Lexicon
The 'tidal wave of interest' in building climate-resilient cities is expected to snowball next year as various initiatives pick up speed.
2013/12/31: Grist: On defense: Cities get serious about climate resilience in 2013
2013/12/31: ETI:RRapier: The Top 5 Energy Stories of 2013
2013/12/30: ICN: Outrage Over Climate Inaction Reaches Fever Pitch in 2013
After years of silence, the climate conversation is now happening on many levels -- from the White House to Wall Street and classrooms to the streets.

And the prospects of 2014?

And on the Bottom Line:

2013/12/31: QuarkSoup: The Cost of Chinese Pollution
2013/12/29: Guardian(UK): It won't be long before the victims of climate change make the west pay
The scientific case is strengthening: developed countries are to blame for global warming -- and there will soon be a legal reckoning

The world inches toward creating a global legal framework for ecological crime:

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:

2014/01/04: EneNews: CEO: Fukushima is very bad, we have a crew in Japan right now; Reports coming out that gov't covered it up... food around whole region got irradiated, increased problems for people in Tokyo...
2014/01/04: EneNews: Just In: Official detects radiation spike on California beach, now at 500% normal levels...
2014/01/04: DD: Worker aghast at shoddy work on Fukushima radioactive water storage tanks
2014/01/04: ABC(Au): Fukushima cowboy Masami Yoshizawa fights government orders to kill contaminated cattle
2014/01/03: BRitholtz: Putting Fukushima In Perspective by Washingtons Blog
2014/01/03: FukuLeaks: Research Begins To Plug Containment Downcomers At Fukushima Daiichi
2014/01/03: EneNews: Senior Scientist: Fukushima cores melted through the containment vessels...
2014/01/02: EneNews: Nuclear Expert: Fukushima reactor cores melted right down into the ground - That radioactive material is getting washed out into Pacific Ocean (audio)
2014/01/02: WNN: Tepco set to restructure
2014/01/02: FukuLeaks: Fukushima Daiichi Fuel Storage Locations Updated
2014/01/01: FukuLeaks: Fukushima Govt. & Fukushima Medical University Signed Secrecy Pact With IAEA
Tokyo Shimbun is reporting the results of their investigation into the dealings of the Fukushima prefecture government, the medical university and the IAEA. There has been ongoing suspicion about the openness and honesty of what has been ongoing in Japan. Tokyo Shimbun has confirmed that these government entities did sign a secrecy agreement with the IAEA. The Fukushima Medical University has been the main source of all public data on exposure and had been dictating what medical care many in the region were allowed to receive related to radiation issues.
Both the prefecture and the medical university have been the subject of growing distrust from the public due to their efforts to downplay problems and withhold information from the public. Tokyo Shimbun's work has confirmed this problem to be the case.
2013/12/31: BRitholtz: What is the Impact of Fukushima on Wildlife in American NorthWest? by Washingtons Blog
2013/12/31: FukuLeaks: Fukushima Daiichi Groundwater Well Hits 2 Million Bq Beta Radiation
2013/12/31: FukuLeaks: Fukushima Daiichi ALPS Water Treatment System Hits Big Problem
2013/12/31: FukuLeaks: Unit 3 Fukushima Daiichi Reactor Data
2013/12/30: FukuLeaks: Fukushima News Roundup; December 30, 2013
2013/12/30: HuffPo: Starfish Wasting Disease Outbreak Could Be Due To Radiation
2013/12/30: DSN: Three Reasons Why Fukushima Radiation Has Nothing to Do with Starfish Wasting Syndrome
2013/12/30: EneNews: Former MSNBC host told not to warn people about Fukushima meltdowns: "The official gov't position is that it's safe"...
2013/12/30: Reuters: Special Report: Japan's homeless recruited for murky Fukushima clean-up

The Arctic melt continues to garner attention:

That Damoclean sword still hangs overhead:

As for the geopolitics of Arctic resources:

2014/01/03: CBC: More Northwest Passage travel planned by Danish shipper
Increase in Arctic commercial shipping may come sooner than anyone expects
2014/01/03: NNW: Danish shipper to return to Northwest Passage
2014/01/02: BBerg: Exxon Russia Ambitions Show Oil Trumps Obama-Putin Spats
2014/01/01: FuelFix: Nations jockey for Arctic position, US not in lead

While in Antarctica:

Wiki: Australasian Antarctic Expedition
2014/01/05: al Jazeera: US icebreaker sent to rescue trapped ships
Polar Star leaves Australia to assist Russian and Chinese ships trapped in ice in Antarctica. A US Coast Guard heavy icebreaker has left for Antarctica in an attempt to rescue more than 120 crew members aboard two icebreakers trapped in pack ice near the frozen continent's eastern edge, officials said. The 122-meter (399-foot) cutter, the Polar Star, left Australia on Sunday in the wake of a Jan 3 request from Sydney, Moscow and Hong Kong to assist the Russian and Chinese ships because "there is sufficient concern that the vessels may not be able to free themselves from the ice," the Coast Guard said in a statement.
2014/01/05: ATTPh: The Spirit of Mawson
2014/01/05: Guardian(UK): Antarctic leader defends expedition against critics of its scientific value
2014/01/03: Guardian(UK): Second Antarctic rescue? Aurora Australis on standby to free icebreaker
Crew on the Chinese icebreaker Xue Long are concerned about 'their ability to move through heavy ice in the area'
2014/01/03: Guardian(UK): Research ship trapped in Antarctic ice because of weather, not climate change
Rapid build up of ice that trapped the research vessel Academik Shokalskiy tells us very little about global warming
2014/01/03: Guardian(UK): Antarctic rescue: trapped Chinese icebreaker will try to break free
Xue Long ship to try to clear pack ice Saturday but ice-breaker Aurora Australis could be recalled for second rescue
2014/01/03: BBC: Antarctic rescue: Chinese ship Xue Long 'stuck in ice'
The Chinese ice-breaker that helped rescue passengers stranded on the Akademik Shokalskiy vessel in Antarctica is now stuck itself.
2014/01/03: BBC: The Chinese ice-breaker that helped rescue passengers stranded on the Akademik Shokalskiy vessel in Antarctica may now itself be stuck
2014/01/03: ABC(Au): Chinese icebreaker stuck in Antarctic ice after helping rescue Akademik Shokalskiy
2014/01/03: Guardian(UK): Antarctic rescue: all 52 ship passengers airlifted to safety
2014/01/02: Eureka: Pine Island Glacier sensitive to climatic variability
2014/01/02: ABC(Au): Helicopter rescues passengers onboard stranded Antarctic ship Akademik Shokalskiy
2014/01/01: MODIS: Mosaic of Antarctica [on Dec.16]
2013/12/31: BBC: 'Morale high' on stranded Antarctica ship
2013/12/31: Guardian(UK): Auld Lang Syne in the Antarctic as stranded adventurers await rescue
2013/12/30: BBC: A third attempt to rescue a ship stranded off East Antarctica since Tuesday has failed because of fierce winds and poor visibility

The food crisis is ongoing:

2014/01/03: DerSpiegel: Storming the Food Banks: Charities Struggle with Growing Demand
Food banks and soup kitchens in many German cities are having trouble keeping up with growing demand. Some are now abandoning their free food models in their efforts to continue helping the needy.
2013/12/31: UN: Famine and malnutrition stalk strife-torn Central African Republic, UN agencies warn
2013/12/31: ChinaDaily: Tainted farmland to be restored
Farming of contaminated arable land almost the size of Belgium has been halted and the land will be rehabilitated to ensure food security, a senior official said on Monday. A soil survey by the Ministry of Environmental Protection found that pollution affects about 3.33 million hectares, Wang Shiyuan, vice-minister of land and resources, said. "This finding is similar to the geographical environmental survey by the Ministry of Land and Resources," Wang added. Arable land in China totaled 135.4 million hectares at the end of last year, 15 million hectares more than the bottom line set by the government to ensure food security, Wang said at a news conference, citing the results of the second national land survey released on Monday. However, the amount of stable cultivated land will drop to 120 million hectares, as some farmland will be converted to forests, grasslands and wetlands, while pollution will leave some land unusable, Wang said.
2013/12/31: FAO: FAO warns of potential food security crisis as security situation in the Central African Republic worsens
2013/12/30: Salon: Burning cows: Extreme weather and America's perilous food supply
2013/12/30: TP:JR: China Says 8 Million Acres Of Farmland Now Too Polluted For Food
2013/12/30: Grist: 8 million acres of China's farmland are too polluted to grow food
2013/12/30: CBC: Millions of acres of China farmland too polluted to grow food
Scientists refute government numbers, say one-fifth of arable land contaminated More than eight million acres of China's farmland is too polluted with heavy metals and other chemicals to use for growing food, a Cabinet official said Monday, highlighting a problem that is causing growing public concern. The threat from pollution to China's food supply has been overshadowed by public alarm at smog and water contamination but is gaining attention following scandals over tainted rice and other crops. The government triggered complaints in February when it refused to release results of a nationwide survey of soil pollution, declaring them a state secret.

The conflict between biofuel and food persists:

2014/01/03: UCSUSA:B: Biodiesel Update: Now with More Soy

So, are these land grabs Colonialism V2.0?

Regarding the genetic modification of food:

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

Tropical Cyclone Bejisa [06S] zapped La Reunion island but stayed East of Madagascar:

2014/01/04: MODIS: Tropical Cyclone Bejisa (06S) off Madagascar [on Dec.30]
2014/01/03: al Jazeera: Tropical Cyclone BeJisa batters La Reunion
The sixth storm of the season brings flooding rains and damaging winds to the southern Indian Ocean islands Tropical Cyclone BeJisa, spent the last few days of 2013 tracking across the southern Indian Ocean, heading in the general direction of Madagascar. At one stage the storm packed winds of 200kph with gusts approaching 250kph, making it the equivalent of a Category 3 storm on the Saffir-Simpson Scale.
2014/01/02: BBC: Cyclone Bejisa: French island of Reunion on red alert
The French island of Reunion in the Indian Ocean has been put on red alert in preparation for the arrival of cyclone Bejisa.

Tropical Cyclone Christine zapped Western Australia and faded to a tropical depression over land:

2014/01/02: ABC(Au): The clean-up in WA's Pilbara continues after ex-Tropical Cyclone Christine crossed the coast
2014/01/01: ABC(Au): Clean up continues after Tropical Cyclone Christine crosses Pilbara coast
2014/01/01: ABC(Au): Cyclone Christine: Thousands still without power in WA as crews work to restore damaged lines
2014/01/01: ABC(Au): South Australia's north prepares to batten down for Ex-Tropical Cyclone Christine
2013/12/31: ABC(Au): Residents urged to stay indoors as Tropical Cyclone Christine hits Pilbara
People in northwest Western Australia are dealing with winds of up to 170 kilometres an hour left over from Tropical Cyclone Christine. The storm crossed the coast east of Karratha about midnight and is slowly moving inland.
2013/12/31: ABC(Au): Stations clean up after Cyclone Christine
Pastoralists in Western Australia's Pilbara region are assessing the damage after Tropical Cyclone Christine made landfall last night. The category three storm system crossed the coast just north of Whim Creek before midnight.
2013/12/31: ABC(Au): Cyclone Christine tears through Wickham lifting roofs and felling trees
Authorities are assessing the damage after Tropical Cyclone Christine brought torrential rain and destructive winds to Western Australia's Pilbara, with residents of one town saying it was the worst in memory. Communities between Port Hedland and Karratha were battered by the category three storm that crossed the coast near Whim Creek last night.
2013/12/30: ABC(Au): Cyclone Christine: WA Pilbara residents in bunkers as destructive cyclone hits
West Australian residents are taking shelter as destructive Tropical Cyclone Christine hits the Pilbara coast, battering communities between Port Hedland and Karratha. The category three system is expected to bring massive storm surges of up to five metres, flooding and destructive winds of about 200 kilometres an hour. Tropical Cyclone Warning Centre forecaster Greg Browning says the cyclone made landfall north of Whim Creek overnight.
2013/12/30: ABC(Au): Port Hedland on red alert as Cyclone Christine tracks towards WA's Pilbara

There is still some coverage of Super Typhoon Haiyan and the recovery:
2014/01/04: ABC(Au): Mass burial of Super Typhoon Haiyan dead underway in Philippines
Around one thousand victims of Super Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines are finally being buried this week, eight weeks after they died. The number of people who died and are missing in wake of the typhoon, known locally as Yolanda, has reached almost 8,000 with numbers continuing to rise. Around 1,400 victims are yet to be buried in Tacloban City as authorities acknowledge that a shortage of technical personnel and continuous rains slowed the process of identifying the bodies. Dr Siobhan Reddel from the World Health Organisation has assured they are trying to bury the dead as quickly as possible. "Unfortunately, the weather is against us and we're trying to make sure that we get the burials done," she said.
While elsewhere in the hurricane wars:
2013/12/24: ABC(Au): Which way do cyclones spin?

This week in notable weather
First in Europe and the UK:
- 2014/01/04: BBC: People are being warned to brace themselves for floods on England's coasts and rivers, with further severe weather forecast
- 2014/01/04: CBC: U.K. flood threat continues -- High winds, waves pummel southwestern coast
- 2014/01/04: DD: Record tides and floods as severe storms lash Ireland, with more on the way...
- 2014/01/03: RTCC: UK suffers the stormiest December since 1969
- 2014/01/03: CBC: Storms batter U.K. western coast
  Wales, southwest England, Northern Ireland are worst hit, with parts of France flooded
- 2013/12/30: BBC: Flooding disruption in Scotland after torrential downpours
- 2013/12/28: MainlyMacro: UK Flooding: another austerity Christmas present
Then in North America:
2014/01/05: Guardian(UK): Storms have killed 16 in the US and temperatures are set to reach lows not seen for a generation
2014/01/05: CfC: C-c-c-christ, its c-c-c-cold
2014/01/05: VOCM: Customers Without Power Down to 25,000
Newfoundland Power is going back to the rotating power outages. They began at 6:30 this morning as a measure to distribute electricity to as many customers as possible. The utility made significant progress overnight in restoring the system. The number of customers without power now is down to 25,000. Yesterday evening it stood at 140,000. Newfoundland Power says the rolling blackouts will continue throughout the day, however individual outages should not exceed one hour.
2014/01/04: VOCM: Blackout Blizzard 2014
There has been a setback in the effort to restore power. It will now be Monday or even Tuesday before all customers are back on the grid. As of 8 p.m., 110,000 customers are without power. As of 10:30 p.m., the number of customers without power is down to 87,000.
2014/01/05: IOTD: New Snow for the New Year [on Jan.3]
2014/01/04: BBC: US faces record low temperatures with fresh cold blast
2014/01/04: CBC: Weather woes in Canada: Blizzards, blackouts, deep freezes
Atlantic Canada gets brunt of winter blasts, with deep freezes in Prairies, Ontario and Quebec
2014/01/04: CBC: Maritimers digging out after blizzard rocks region
2014/01/04: al Jazeera: US northeast struggles through deadly storm
Icy blizzard grounds flights and shutters schools, as another wave of frigid air begins moving through the Midwest.
2014/01/04: CNN: Arctic blast to drop temperatures in U.S. to lows not seen in years
Weather blamed for at least 13 deaths, including a man who died of hypothermia - Nearly half of all Americans will get temps of zero or below by Wednesday - Nights in North Dakota could get to 30 below zero - Wind chills will drop to minus 50 in some places; frostbite can strike quickly
2014/01/03: CNN: After the storm ... the cold -- Wintry weather strikes Midwest, Northeast
"This is not the norm," says Green Bay Packer head coach Mike McCarthy - More than 2,200 flights canceled Friday after more than 2,600 cancellations Thursday - Parts of New York and Massachusetts are under blizzard warnings - In addition to the snow and wind, frigid weather is a major concern
2014/01/03: BBC: US north-east snow storm causes travel chaos
A winter storm has caused travel chaos in the north-eastern US, bringing up to two feet (60cm) of snow to some places.
2014/01/03: CBC: U.S. winter storm lull to be followed by Arctic blast -- Historic cold with life-threatening wind chills expected
2014/01/03: CBC: Blizzard weakens in Maritimes, moves on to Newfoundland -- Environment Canada weather warnings continue across Atlantic Canada
2014/01/03: Guardian(UK): Heavy snowfall snarls travel in US north-east as temperatures plummet
2014/01/03: Guardian(UK): Snowstorm blankets parts of US north-east causing travel delays
2014/01/03: ABC(Au): Snowstorm slams north-eastern United States
2014/01/03: CBC: Winter storm blamed for 9 deaths in eastern U.S.
More than 2,300 flights cancelled countrywide amid furious winds, snow and cold
2014/01/03: CBC: Worst of blizzard yet to come for Atlantic Canadians -- Whiteout driving conditions expected throughout Atlantic Canada today
2014/01/03: CBC: Power rationing continues as Newfoundland braces for blizzard
Usage on Thursday night hit new record, Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro says
2014/01/03: al Jazeera: Snow storm in US Midwest wreaks havoc
Up to 12 inches of snow and bitterly cold temperatures forecast for some parts of the region.
2014/01/02: BBC: US north-east braces for first major snow storm of 2014
2014/01/02: CBC: Storm blasts northeastern U.S. with snow, frigid winds -- In Maine, temperatures could plummet to -37 C in the mountains
2014/01/02: CBC: Deep freeze extends from Winnipeg east to Newfoundland
2014/01/02: Guardian(UK): Winter storm set to bring foot of snow and frigid temperatures to US east
2014/01/02: BBerg: U.S. East Coast Facing Blizzard as Snow Grounds Flights
2014/01/02: CNN: Nor'easter forming off the East Coast predicted to bring blizzard conditions
100 million people are in the storm's path, CNN meteorologist says - Much of New England is bracing for a powerful winter storm - Long Island faces blizzard warning; NYC may get 10 inches of snow, subzero wind chills - In addition to strong winds, temperatures will sink below zero in many places
2014/01/01: BBerg: New Year Storm to Dump Foot of Snow From NYC to Boston
2013/12/31: CBC: Ice storm in New Brunswick: 1,900 still without power -- NB Power hopes to have most customers back online by Tuesday night
2013/12/30: CBC: Bitter cold prompts windchill warnings in parts of Canada
2013/12/30: CBC: New Brunswick winter storm hits during ice storm recovery
30 centimetres of snow overnight may hamper ice storm recovery
Rossby Waves? Blocking Patterns? Arctic Oscillation? What is the Arctic melt doing to our weather?
As for GHGs:
- 2014/01/04: ERabett: Methane and Ozone
- 2014/01/03: RTCC: USA likely to blow 2020 emission target without Climate Action Plan
- 2013/12/31: RTCC: Carbon dioxide levels now 61% higher than 1990
  Global carbon dioxide emissions are likely to hit 36 billion tonnes in 2013, according to new research from the University of East Anglia in the UK.
Aerosols are making their presence felt:
- 2014/01/05: MODIS: Dust storm in central Mexico (morning overpass) [on Dec.21]
What's up with volcanoes this week?
- 2014/01/01: BBC: El Salvador orders evacuation from volcano's slopes
  Authorities in El Salvador have resumed evacuating residents living on the slopes of the Chaparrastique volcano. The 2,130m-high (7,000 ft) volcano started erupting on Sunday morning, spewing ash and gases.
- 2013/12/31: ABC(Au): 19,000 flee erupting Mount Sinabung volcano in Indonesia
- 2013/12/31: CBC: Indonesia's Mount Sinabung unleashes fresh eruptions
- 2013/12/31: IOTD: Blast from San Miguel Volcano [on Dec.29]
- 2013/12/29: BBC: Thousands in El Salvador flee erupting Chaparrastique volcano
  Thousands of people in eastern El Salvador are leaving their homes after a volcano erupted on Sunday morning.
Regarding ozone:
- 2014/01/03: ERW: Ozone hole not yet in recovery
How is the temperature record?
- 2014/01/04: PeakEnergy: 2013 Australia's Hottest Year Ever
- 2014/01/02: BBC: Australia saw hottest year on record in 2013
- 2013/12/31: Moyhu: November GISS Temp up by 0.17°C
While in the paleoclimate:
What's the State of the Oceans?:
- 2014/01/05: Maribo: Is climate change choking our oceans?
- 2014/01/02: Guardian(UK): Deep sea creatures 'will not escape climate change'
- 2014/01/02: TP:JR: Climate Change Will Starve The Deep Sea, Study Finds
- 2013/12/31: Eureka: Major reductions in seafloor marine life from climate change by 2100
And the State of the Biosphere?
- 2014/01/02: Eureka: Scientists uncover hidden river of [plastic] rubbish threatening to devastate wildlife
- 2013/12/30: ScienceNews: Top 20 New Species Discovered in 2013
- 2013/12/30: SciNews: Unusual new species names of 2013
- 2013/12/29: TheConversation: Found: world's most mysterious bird [the Night Parrot], but why all the secrecy?
And on the extinction watch:
- 2014/01/04: NewYorker: Why the passenger pigeon became extinct
- 2014/01/03: DD: Elephant deaths rise in Tanzania after shoot-to-kill poachers policy is dropped
- 2014/01/03: DD: Blood in the Sand - Costa Rica's turtle egg poachers are willing to kill anyone who gets in their way
- 2014/01/03: ABC(Au): Urgent steps needed to save critically endangered Kangaroo Island dunnart
  A wildlife specialist says a critically endangered tiny marsupial only found on South Australia's Kangaroo Island could soon become extinct if urgent steps are not taken to protect it. The Kangaroo Island dunnart forages for insects in leaf litter and dense shrubs and grows to the size of a mouse.
- 2014/01/02: DD: Jaguars in Argentine Chaco on verge of extinction
- 2013/12/31: LAW: 10 Animals That Went Extinct in 2013
- 2013/12/30: TreeHugger: Humpback whales could be removed from endangered species list in 2014
- 2013/12/30: BBC: Tanzania sees 'sharp rise' in killing of elephants
  The killing of elephants has increased sharply in Tanzania since the government suspended its anti-poaching operation after a month, Deputy Tourism Minister Lazaro Nyalandu has said. Sixty elephants were "butchered" in November and December, compared with only two in October, Mr Nyalandu added.
More GW impacts are being seen:
- 2014/01/03: SciNews: Mangroves move up Florida's coast -- Satellite images reveal tropical trees' northward expansion
- 2014/01/03: al Jazeera: Global and domestic socioeconomic disparities of climate change
  Climate change disproportionately affects those from lower social classes.
- 2014/01/02: Grist: Mangroves are marching northward
- 2014/01/02: Grist: At least there's one positive thing happening because of climate change
- 2014/01/02: DD: Graph of the Day: Total number of disasters and losses worldwide, 1980-2012
- 2014/01/02: DD: 'Whole world' at risk from simultaneous droughts, famines, epidemics: scientists
- 2013/12/31: Guardian(UK): We ignore the disastrous storms in the Caribbean at our peril
  Storms have taken lives in the Caribbean, and caused chaos in the UK -- climate change is eroding certainties across the globe
- 2013/12/31: RTCC: Warming winters send Florida's mangroves north
  Mangroves are colonising new areas in northern Florida, moving up the coast because the frequency of very frosty days is falling
- 2013/12/30: RTCC: Warming climate could push Amazon region into further poverty
- 2013/12/29: Salon: Climate change by the numbers: The worst is yet to come
And then there are the world's forests:
- 2014/01/04: DD: Oil development in Ecuador's Yasuni rainforest pits uncontacted tribes against one another...
- 2013/12/30: RTCC: Amazon forest loss threatens Brazil, Peru, Bolivia and Ecudaor
  Water, food supplies and energy production are all in jeopardy as the Amazon forest is felled for profit, campaigners say The continued destruction of the Amazon to exploit its resources for mining, agriculture and hydro-power is threatening the future of the South American continent, according to a report by campaigning groups using the latest scientific data.
Climate refugees are becoming an issue:
- 2014/01/03: Guardian(UK): Italian navy rescues more than 1,000 migrants sailing to Europe
- 2014/01/02: BBC: Migrants rescued off Italian and Greek coasts
As for heatwaves and wild fires:
- 2014/01/05: PeakEnergy: Heatwave hits inland Australia
- 2014/01/05: ABC(Au): Smoke haze blankets Perth and large part of Western Australia
  West Australian health authorities are warning people with respiratory conditions to stay indoors as smoke blankets Perth and much of the state's South West. The smoke is from a bushfire that started in the Mount Roe National Park, just north of Denmark, more than 400 kilometres south of Perth on Friday.
- 2014/01/04: ABC(Au): Stradbroke Island fire: Emergency warning issued as blaze threatens Myora homes
- 2014/01/03: Guardian(UK): Bushfire fears as soaring temperatures make North Stradbroke battle tougher
  As Brisbane prepares for 41C day, firefighters fear wind change will fan the Stradbroke fire which has jumped containment lines
- 2014/01/03: CCP: Australia swelters after record hot 2013; farmers slaughter cattle, bushfire warning
- 2014/01/03: ABC(Au): Queensland heatwave: Brisbane set to roast as weekend temperatures soar
- 2014/01/03: DD: Argentina's worst heat wave in 107 years subsides - Buenos Aires residents protest over 'heatwave power cuts'
- 2014/01/03: ABC(Au): Fire weather warning issued for south-west Queensland where three blazes still burn
- 2014/01/03: ABC(Au): Western Queensland is feeling hot, hot, hot
- 2014/01/03: ABC(Au): Stradbroke Island bushfire breaks containment lines, residents told to remain vigilant
- 2014/01/02: TP:JR: Australia Rings In The New Year With Record-Breaking Heat Wave
- 2014/01/02: ABC(Au): Heatwave hits inland Australia: scorching temperatures tipped to break, bringing relief
- 2014/01/01: ABC(Au): South Australia and Queensland.begin new year with scorching heatwave
- 2014/01/01: ABC(Au): North Stradbroke Island campers evacuated as bushfire burns
  Authorities have begun evacuating about 900 campers who are in the path of a large bushfire on North Stradbroke Island, off Brisbane. The blaze was sparked by a lightning strike over the weekend and has been burning for several days.
- 2013/12/31: BBC: Heatwave kills seven in Argentina
- 2013/12/31: ABC(Au): North Stradbroke Island bushfire forces campers to evacuate
- 2013/12/29: DD: Record heat wave takes down Argentina power grid - Mayor declares 'state of emergency' in Buenos Aires
- 2013/12/30: ABC(Au): Heat wave in Queensland
- 2013/12/30: BBC: Buenos Aires power supply disrupted in heatwave
  [...] Some neighbourhoods have been without power for two weeks, with temperatures rising well over 35 degrees Celsius.
- 2013/12/30: ABC(Au): Heatwave declared as Queensland interior swelters through record-breaking temperatures
  A heatwave has officially been declared in parts of inland Queensland, where scorching weather is smashing records and prompting health warnings. The mercury has soared above 40 degrees Celsius in a number of areas over recent days, and the sweltering weather is set to continue.
Corals are a bellwether of the ocean's health:
- 2014/01/03: TP:JR: Are We Witnessing The End Of Coral?
Acidification is changing the oceans:
- 2014/01/02: Eureka: Local factors cause dramatic spikes in coastal ocean acidity
Glaciers are melting:
- 2014/01/02: FaGP: Burroughs Glacier, Alaska Demise Continues
As for hydrological cycle disruptions [floods & droughts]:
- 2014/01/03: Guardian(UK): We desperately need to predict what climate change is doing to UK rainfall
  Recent floods can't be directly attributed to global warming but it's still vital we refine our projections of what the future holds
- 2014/01/03: BBC: Flooding continues to threaten UK
  High tides and strong winds have brought flooding to Wales, Scotland and western England as officials warn of a continuing threat in parts of the UK.
- 2013/12/31: ABC(Au): Top End community caught-out by early rains
  While many Territorians are bracing themselves for sweltering hot conditions this week, others have found themselves isolated by rising river levels.
- 2013/12/31: BBC: Flood warnings as more storms forecast for New Year's Day
  Flood warnings have been issued across England and Wales as forecasters predict more heavy rain and strong winds for the first day of 2014.
- 2013/12/31: ABC(Au): Thousands displaced by flooding in Indonesia
- 2013/12/30: RTCC: Drought will be 20% more frequent by end of century say scientists
And on the mitigation front, can cities take up the slack when nations shirk their responsibilities?
- 2014/01/04: RNE: Cities take up energy transition when nations fear to tread
After Planned Obsolescence comes Designed Endurance?
- 2014/01/01: TreeHugger: We Want You for the Repair Resolution!
Consider transportation & GHG production:
While in the endless quest for zero energy, sustainable buildings and practical codes:
- 2014/01/03: TreeHugger: It's time to dump the tired argument that density and height are green and sustainable
And on the carbon sequestration front:
Large scale geo-engineering keeps popping up:
- 2014/01/02: WoL:GRL: (ab$) Can regional climate engineering save the summer Arctic Sea-Ice? by S. Tilmes et al.
- 2014/01/04: NBF: China will spray bacteria over 133 square kilometer over the next 5 years to reclaim desert and slow the spread of deserts and a tiny part of effort to reclaim 200,000 square km of desert by 2020
- 2014/01/01: FuturePundit: Geopolitics Of Climate Engineering
- 2013/12/31: SBaD: [Book Review] _How to Cool the Planet: Geoengineering and the Audacious Quest to Fix Earth's Climate_ by Jeff Goodell
- 2013/12/31: EIJ: Impact of Last Year's [HSRC] Rouge Ocean Fertilization Experiment Still Unclear
  Abundant fall salmon runs in the Pacific Northwest is helping research group's uphill battle to regain legitimacy
- 2013/12/29: QuarkSoup: Why, Once You Start Geoengineering, You Can't Stop
While on the adaptation front:
- 2014/01/01: BBC: California tests natural disaster early warning system
  An early warning system for earthquakes, tsunamis and floods is being trialled in the US.
- 2013/12/31: NewAnthropocene: Hot 2013; adaptation to climate change is no longer trivial
- 2013/12/29: Guardian(UK): The weather: be prepared
Meanwhile in the journals:
- 2014/01/02: ESDD: Mechanism for potential strengthening of Atlantic overturning prior to collapse by D. Ehlert & A. Levermann
- 2014/01/02: ESDD: Historical and future carbon emissions from croplands by S. J. Smith
- 2014/01/02: ACP: On the interaction between marine boundary layer cellular cloudiness and surface heat fluxes by J. Kazil et al.
- 2014/01/02: ACP: Reductions in aircraft particulate emissions due to the use of Fischer-Tropsch fuels by A. J. Beyersdorf et al.
- 2014/01/02: ACP: Chemical feedback effects on the spatial patterns of the NOx weekend effect: a sensitivity analysis by L. C. Valin et al.
- 2014/01/02: ACPD: Contributions of vehicular carbonaceous aerosols to PM2.5 in a roadside environment in Hong Kong by X. H. Hilda Huang et al.
- 2014/01/02: ACPD: CCN activity of aliphatic amine secondary aerosol by X. Tang et al.
- 2014/01/02: ACPD: Variability of NOx in the polar middle atmosphere from October 2003 to March 2004: vertical transport versus local production by energetic particles by M. Sinnhuber et al.
- 2014/01/02: WoL:GRL: (ab$) Can regional climate engineering save the summer Arctic Sea-Ice? by S. Tilmes et al.
- 2014/01/03: BG: Asymmetry and uncertainties in biogeophysical climate-vegetation feedback over a range of CO2 forcings by M. Willeit et al.
- 2014/01/02: BG: Trace metal distribution in pristine permafrost-affected soils of the Lena River delta and its hinterland, northern Siberia, Russia by I. Antcibor et al.
- 2014/01/02: BGD: Nitrogen inputs and losses in response to chronic CO2 exposure in a sub-tropical oak woodland by B. A. Hungate et al.
- 2014/01/02: BGD: Release of hydrogen peroxide and antioxidant by the coral Stylophora pistillata to its external milieu by R. Armoza-Zvuloni & Y. Shaked
- 2014/01/02: BGD: Carbon losses from pyrolysed and original wood in a forest soil under natural and increased N deposition by B. Maestrini et al.
- 2014/01/02: Science: (ab$) Strong Sensitivity of Pine Island Ice-Shelf Melting to Climatic Variability by Pierre Dutrieux et al.
- 2014/01/02: Science: (ab$) Temporal Constraints on Hydrate-Controlled Methane Seepage off Svalbard by C. Berndt et al.
- 2014/01/04: BG: The iron budget in ocean surface waters in the 20th and 21st centuries: projections by the Community Earth System Model version 1 by K. Misumi et al.
- 2014/01/03: ESD: An interaction network perspective on the relation between patterns of sea surface temperature variability and global mean surface temperature by A. Tantet & H. A. Dijkstra
- 2014/01/03: ACP: Terrestrial carbon sink observed from space: variation of growth rates and seasonal cycle amplitudes in response to interannual surface temperature variability by O. Schneising et al.
- 2014/01/03: ACP: Summertime free-tropospheric ozone pool over the eastern Mediterranean/Middle East by P. Zanis et al.
- 2014/01/03: ACP: Global carbon monoxide products from combined AIRS, TES and MLS measurements on A-train satellites by J. X. Warner et al.
- 2014/01/03: ACP: Aerosol impacts on California winter clouds and precipitation during CalWater 2011: local pollution versus long-range transported dust by J. Fan et al.
- 2014/01/03: OSD: Possible signals of poleward surface ocean heat transport, of Arctic basal ice melt, and of the twentieth century solar maximum in the 1904-2012 Isle of Man daily timeseries by J. B. Matthews & J. B. R. Matthews
- 2014/01/03: OSD: Chemical and physical transformations of mercury in the ocean: a review by N. Batrakova et al.
- 2014/01/03: TC: Boundary conditions of an active West Antarctic subglacial lake: implications for storage of water beneath the ice sheet by M. J. Siegert et al.
- 2014/01/02: TC: Seabed topography beneath Larsen C Ice Shelf from seismic soundings by A. M. Brisbourne et al.
- 2014/01/02: TCD: Soil erosion and organic carbon export by wet snow avalanches by O. Korup & C. Rixen
- 2013/12/20: WoL:CC: Time to stop investing in carbon capture and storage and reduce government subsidies of fossil-fuels by Jennie C. Stephens
- 2013/12/24: WoL:Eos: (ab$) Sudden geoengineering termination could cause a huge warming spike by Colin Schultz
And other significant documents:
- 2014/01/03: BoM: [link to 192k pdf] Annual Climate Statement 2013
As for miscellaneous science:
- 2014/01/02: Moyhu: Just 60 global stations - area weighting shown with GL graphics
- 2014/01/01: Tamino: Smooth 1
- 2014/01/01: Stoat: Starry night
- 2013/12/31: IsaacHeld: 43. Rotating radiative-convective equilibrium
- 2013/12/31: Hypergeometric: Maths and Science 2013: Reaction to Wilson and Frenkel
In the science organizations:
What's new in models?
- 2014/01/03: TSoD: Ghosts of Climates Past - Part Ten - GCM IV
- 2013/12/31: TSoD: Ghosts of Climates Past - Part Nine - GCM III
Regarding Schneider:
- 2014/01/04: SimpleC: When the climate change fight got ugly
Regarding advocacy:
- 2013/12/30: ATTPh: Gavin Schmidt on advocacy
And on the carbon trading front:
- 2014/01/03: Grist: Carbon trading is booming in North America, no thanks to U.S. or Canadian governments
- 2014/01/03: Guardian(UK): Global carbon markets' value dropped 38% in 2013
- 2014/01/02: RTCC: Carbon markets shrank 38% in 2013
- 2014/01/02: G&M: Quebec-California partnership blazes trail for carbon trading
  The province of Quebec formally linked its cap-and-trade system with California's market on Thursday, as the two jurisdictions plow ahead with ambitious plans to put an escalating price on carbon in order to reduce emissions.
- 2013/12/30: RTCC: China launches fifth carbon trading zone - in the north-eastern city of Tianjin
On the international political front, tensions continue as the empire leans on Iran:
- 2014/01/03: LobeLog: 47 Senators Take AIPAC's Word Over U.S. Intel Community
- 2014/01/03: AntiWar: Cantor Seeks New House Resolution to Kill Iran Talks -- Insists Iran's 'Aggression' Must Be Stopped
- 2014/01/02: DerSpiegel: 'Chance of a Century': International Investors Flock to Tehran
  Since the West reached a landmark deal with Iran on its controversial nuclear program late last year, many Iranians are hoping for an end to sanctions. Western companies are also gearing up do big business.
- 2013/12/31: ZeroHedge: Iranian Billionaire [Babak Zanjani] Promoting "PetroGold" With Turkey Arrested
- 2013/12/31: al Jazeera: Iran claims nuclear negotiations progress
  Talks with P5+1 group on implementing interim deal under way in Geneva amid reports of return of ex-Iranian negotiator. Iran's chief negotiator has said talks in Geneva with world powers through the night on implementing a nuclear deal had made "good progress". Negotiations continued throughout the night until early on Tuesday morning in the Swiss city "and the two sides have made good progress on different issues", Abbas Araqchi, Iran's lead negotiator, said in comments carried by official news agency IRNA. They are "going to submit their conclusions to the vice-ministers and political heads because there are still questions to be resolved on the political level," he said, stressing that "the experts had done their work".
- 2013/12/31: NatInt: The Danger of New Iran Sanctions
- 2013/12/31: AntiWar: Details Settled on Iran Nuclear Deal: Implementation in Late January -- EU, US Claim 'Remaining Issues' to Be Settled
- 2013/12/31: AntiWar: The Big Issue of 2014: Iran
- 2013/12/30: BBC: Iranian billionaire Babak Zanjani 'arrested'
  The billionaire Iranian businessman Babak Zanjani has been arrested, state media report. In September, Iran's parliament began investigating his business dealings after he was accused of withholding $1.9bn (£1.2bn) of oil revenue meant to be channelled through his companies. Mr Zanjani, who claims he is worth $13.5bn, has denied the allegation. The US and the EU have both blacklisted him for helping Iran's government and several firms evade an oil embargo.
South [& East] China Sea tension persists:
- 2014/01/02: BBC: China man in balloon bound for disputed islands crashes
  A Chinese man flying a hot air balloon to a group of disputed islands had to be rescued after his balloon crashed, Japan's Coast Guard has said. The man, who said he was a cook, was heading to an East China Sea island chain controlled by Japan, known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China. The man had been handed to a Chinese patrol ship, the coast guard said.
- 2014/01/02: BBC: China v Japan: Who is at fault?
- 2013/12/30: Guardian(UK): Japan: land of the rising foreign relation tensions
  Shinzo Abe's war shrine visit further strained ties with the US, South Korea and China. It will be a rocky 2014 in the Asia Pacific
- 2013/12/29: BBerg: How to Prevent a War Between China and Japan
These 'free trade' treaties are a stealth corporate takeover with anti-democratic dispute resolution mechanisms:
- 2014/01/03: DemNow: NAFTA at 20: Lori Wallach on U.S. Job Losses, Record Income Inequality, Mass Displacement in Mexico
- 2013/12/31: Resilience: Surprises Lurk with Pending Obama Trade Deals
- 2013/12/29: TMoS: Le Monde Warns - The Coup of Global Corporatism Is Nearly Complete
And in miscellaneous international political jousting:
The issue of the law and activism is playing out around the world:
- 2014/01/03: WSWS: Treatment of political activist Trenton Oldfield shows criminalization of protest in UK
- 2014/01/02: ABC(Au): Tasmanian Greenpeace activist Colin Russell returns home, has no regrets about Arctic oil protest
- 2013/12/31: SwissInfo: 'No regrets' as environmental activist arrives home
  The Swiss Greenpeace activist Marco Weber has spoken about the more than three months he spent behind bars in a Russian prison for protesting at a Gazprom-operated Arctic oil platform in September.
What are the activists up to?
- 2014/01/04: PeakEnergy: Bill McKibben's graph of the year: We're extracting more fossil fuels than ever
- 2014/01/03: Guardian(UK): 'Our message to adults and global leaders: stop talking, start planting'
  When he was nine, Felix Finkbeiner set up Plant for the Planet. Now 16, he shares how it's developed to gain 23,000 members, and his message to government leaders
The move to divest from fossil fuel investments is growing slowly:
- 2014/01/03: CCP: Harvard and Brown Universities fail moral leadership on divestment and climate change
Polls! We have polls!
- 2013/12/30: Reuters: One-third of Americans reject evolution, poll shows
Regarding Water Politics and Business; See also:
- 2014/01/04: TP:JR: California Researchers Find Drastically Low Snowpack, Spelling Danger For 2014 Water Supplies
- 2013/12/31: NatureN: Water risk as world warms -- First comprehensive global-impact project shows that water scarcity is a major worry
And on the groundwater front:
- 2013/12/30: AsianScientist: Could There Be Fresh Groundwater In Singapore?
Think you can innovate your way out of this?
- 2014/01/02: Grist: This plastic is made out of carbon sucked from the air
While in the UK:
- 2014/01/03: BBC: Owen Paterson backs ancient woodland 'offsetting'
  Developers could be allowed to destroy ancient woodland if they agreed to plant many more trees elsewhere, the environment secretary has suggested.
- 2014/01/03: BBC: Flooding continues to threaten UK
  High tides and strong winds have brought flooding to Wales, Scotland and western England as officials warn of a continuing threat in parts of the UK.
- 2014/01/03: BBC: UK flooding: Environment Agency to cut hundreds of jobs
  The Environment Agency has confirmed that jobs in flood protection in England will be cut as part of a major restructuring of the organisation.
- 2014/01/02: Guardian(UK): UK opposition to new EU green energy targets could risk 'half a million jobs'
  Britain's demand to keep nuclear option open to reduce emissions will mean potential job losses, leaked report shows
- 2014/01/01: BBC: Environment Secretary Owen Paterson will chair a meeting of the COBRA emergency committee later to discuss the UK's response to floods
- 2013/12/30: BBC: The UK Met Office's chief scientist, Julia Slingo, has become a Dame in the New Year Honours List
- 2013/12/30: Guardian(UK): Number of [UK] households getting help with insulation plummets
  1.61m lofts were fully insulated in 2012, but just 110,000 were treated in the year to October 2013 -- a pro-rata fall of 93%
And in Europe:
- 2014/01/04: CleanTechnica: Europe's Fossil Fuel Exit -- 30% Of Fossil Fuel Power Capacity To Close By 2017, UBS Analysts Project
- 2014/01/04: Lenz: How To Add Another 0.885 GW of Solar Each Year in Germany
- 2014/01/03: Guardian(UK): French eco tax mobilises new generation of Breton red caps
  Disgust at rising tax burden crystallises in thousands-strong protests in north-west, recalling 17th-century bonnets rouges
Meanwhile in Australia:
- 2014/01/05: PeakEnergy: Is time up for Australia's uranium industry?
- 2014/01/03: ABC(Au): Tasmanian bushfires: One year on, life slowly returning to normal for residents hit hardest by blaze
- 2014/01/02: ABC(Au): Usage of lead batteries in Cook Islands solar project harmful: expert
- 2014/01/02: ABC(Au): Woodside gas sale deal to Japan falls through
  Japanese investors have abandoned a deal to buy more than a million tonnes of gas each year from Woodside Petroleum's planned Browse development in Western Australia.
- 2014/01/02: UKISS: The "universe's worst poem"?
- 2014/01/02: RNE: Australia, 'hostage to climate change madness'? To say so is madness indeed
- 2014/01/01: TheConversation: Australia's rising air con use makes us hot and bothered
- 2014/01/01: JQuiggin: Time for Turnbull ...
- 2014/01/01: UKISS: Queensland Resources Council head goes the full...
- 2013/12/31: CleanTechnica: All New Australian Power Plants Will Be Renewable Through 2020
- 2013/12/31: ABC(Au): Tasmanian Government makes 'significant progress' in reducing summer bushfire risk
- 2013/12/30: ClimateShifts: Another record year for Australia
Now we get to watch the suppository of wisdom destroy what little Australia has done to fight climate change:
- 2014/01/04: SMH: Record sparks hot debate on Tony Abbott's climate policy
- 2014/01/03: TMoS: A New Year, a New Government, a New Climate. Brace Yourself, Oz.
- 2014/01/03: Guardian(UK): Australia swelters under a sham climate change policy after hottest year on record
  With 2013 confirmed as Australia's hottest year on record, prime minister Tony Abbott must explain how "direct action" is credible.
- 2014/01/03: CDreams: As Australia Burns, Anger at Prime Minister's Climate Policies Boils
  Critics slam Tony Abbott for 'listening to people who are part of the tinfoil hat brigade'
- 2014/01/03: DD: 2013 was hottest year on record in Australia - PM Tony Abbott urged to rethink climate policy
- 2014/01/02: Guardian(UK): Tony Abbott's obsession with building more roads is dangerously misguided
- 2014/01/01: TMoS: Australia Comes Out Swinging Against IPCC and Climate Change Action
- 2013/12/31: Guardian(UK): Australia, 'hostage to climate change madness'? To say so is madness indeed
  Tony Abbott still thinks climate change is 'crap', he's just using his controversial business adviser Maurice Newman as a ventriloquist to say so
- 2013/12/31: ClimateShifts: Should Maurice Newman resign?
- 2013/12/31: UKISS: Abbott cannot deny this...
- 2013/12/30: Guardian(UK): Tony Abbott's top business adviser accuses IPCC of 'dishonesty and deceit'
  'The scientific delusion, the religion behind the climate crusade, is crumbling,' Maurice Newman says
The Bureau of Meteorology released its 2013 Annual Climate Statement this week:
- 2014/01/03: BoM: [link to 192k pdf] Annual Climate Statement 2013
- 2014/01/03: ABC(Au): 2013 was hottest year on record in Australia, Bureau of Meteorology says [in Annual Climate Statement]
- 2014/01/03: ABC(Au): Hottest year on record
  The Bureau of Meteorology has confirmed 2013 was Australia's hottest year on record. In its Annual Climate Statement, the Bureau says average temperatures were 1.2 degrees celsius above the long-term average of 21.8 last year. The previous record was set in 2005.
- 2014/01/03: ABC(Au): 2013 temperature records tumble
  Australia has just sweltered through its hottest year on record. The Bureau of Meteorology says average temps were over a degree above the long-term average of close to 22 degrees centigrade and all states and territories recorded above average temperatures in 2013.
- 2014/01/03: RTCC: Australia's scorcher: why was 2013 so hot?
  2013 was Australia's hottest year since records began. Graphs from the Bureau of Meteorology show how the temperature's rising After a year of bushfires, heatwaves, cyclones and flooding, there will be few who will be surprising to hear that 2013 was Australia's hottest year since records began in 1910.
- 2014/01/03: RNE: 2013 - Australia's hottest year on record
- 2014/01/02: TheConversation: 2013 was Australia's hottest year, warm for much of the world
- 2014/01/02: Guardian(UK): Australia's hottest year recorded in 2013
  Bureau of Meteorology highlights influence of carbon emissions on warming trend as temperatures rise 1.2C above average
After years of wrangling, the Murray Darling Basin Plan is in place, but the water management fights are far from finished:
- 2014/01/03: ABC(Au): Investigations into chemical levels in Hunter River
- 2014/01/03: ABC(Au): AgForce CEO says more drought support needed
  The New Year has arrived but the wait continues for any sign of the traditional summer wet season in Queensland. More than 62 per cent of the State is now officially drought-declared following the hottest year on record. AgForce CEO Charles Burke says without significant rain soon, many primary producers will need additional Government support to manage.
- 2014/01/02: ABC(Au): Bundaberg council still focused on flood recovery
  Bundaberg Regional Council says it hopes to complete restoration works on flood-damaged infrastructure this year. Last January, the southern Queensland city was hit by its worst-ever floods. More than 2,000 homes and 600 businesses were inundated.
- 2013/12/31: ABC(Au): Water restrictions introduced for Wilcannia and White Cliffs
  Water restrictions will be introduced in Wilcannia and White Cliffs tomorrow as the towns' water supplies diminish. The level one restrictions mean residents can only use hand-held hoses and sprinklers for two hours a day. Central Darling Shire Manager of Engineering and Technical Services Reece Wilson says more challenges are looming as river levels drop and blue-green algae emerges.
- 2013/12/30: ABC(Au): Water for sale under new Territory guidelines
And in the Indian subcontinent:
- 2014/01/05: CleanTechnica: 7 Sustainability Trends In India For 2014
- 2014/01/03: BBC: Indian PM Manmohan Singh to retire after elections
- 2014/01/03: al Jazeera: Indian PM Manmohan Singh to step down after May elections
- 2014/01/01: ABC(Au): India capital's new chief minister [Aam Aadmi] cuts [electricity] costs in half
While in China:
- 2014/01/01: TP:JR: Chinese Researchers Pin Beijing's Smog On Fossil Fuels
- 2013/12/31: QuarkSoup: The Cost of Chinese Pollution
And in Africa:
And South America:
- 2013/12/30: BBC: Buenos Aires residents protest over 'heatwave power cuts'
In Canada, neocon PM Harper, aka The Blight, pushes petroleum while ignoring the climate and ecology:
- 2014/01/04: DD: 'Libricide' in Canada: What's driving chaotic dismantling of Canada's science libraries?
- 2014/01/04: Tyee: Stephen Harper's 13 Fails of 2013 -- From hide-and-seek omni-bills to abandoning veterans, a very unlucky 13 for Canada
- 2014/01/02: Grist: The Canadian government doesn't want you to get the mistaken impression that it takes climate change seriously
- 2014/01/02: MSimon: Stephen Harper and the Great Betrayal
- 2014/01/02: TP:JR: Canadian Official Cuts Line Promising To 'Take Climate Change Seriously' From Speech
- 2014/01/01: Grist: What can "Anybody" tell Obama about the Keystone XL?
- 2013/12/31: NorRe: Knowledge Is Their Enemy
- 2013/12/30: PostMedia: Stephen Harper's government edited message about taking climate change seriously
- 2013/12/30: Tyee: Secret Memo Casts Doubt on Feds' Claims for Science Library Closures
  Goal stated is 'culling' research, not preserving and sharing through digitization
- 2013/12/30: UKISS: When Ideology Attacks
- 2013/12/30: MSimon: Stephen Harper's Great Ice Storm Mistake
- 2013/12/29: DD: Canada government cutting more than $100 million related to protection of water
- 2013/12/29: PostMedia: Need to chase funding distracts scientists from research - Some spend more time writing grant proposals [than] working in the lab
- 2013/12/30: Tyee: Secret Memo Casts Doubt on Feds' Claims for Science Library Closures
  Goal stated is 'culling' research, not preserving and sharing through digitization. A federal document marked "secret" obtained by Postmedia News indicating the closure or destruction of more than half a dozen world famous science libraries has little if anything to do with digitizing books as claimed by the Harper government. In fact, the document, a compendium of cuts to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, mentions only the "culling of materials" as the "main activities" involved as the science libraries are reduced from nine to two. Specifically, it details "culling materials in the closed libraries or shipping them to the two locations and culling materials in the two locations to make room for collections from closed libraries."
Resonances of the Lac Mégantic tragedy linger:
The battle over the Northern Gateway pipeline rages on:
What's new with the Greens?
What's the state of the West Coast salmon fishery?
- 2013/12/30: TheCanadian: Motorized boats stir up problems for BC's salmon rivers
- 2013/12/29: JuneauEmpire: A king without its crown
  Alaska's long-lived monarch -- the king salmon -- has fallen from its throne. The species, which once thrived as a fabled ruler in state waters, was sought-after by fisherman from all over the world.
  [...]
  Today, fish of that caliber are seemingly nonexistent. Alaska has seen unprecedented declines in recent years resulting in declarations of economic disasters in some regions, or simply empty freezers in others. Researchers, management officials, commercial fisherman, subsistence users and sport fisherman are coming to the same conclusion: the fish are fewer and the sizes smaller. That's why scientists like Joe Orsi and Jim Murphy, both fisheries research biologists with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, are digging deeper into decades of research to put forth evidence and findings that may lead to a solution or at least a clue to the cause of the startling downward trend.
- 2013/12/29: EneNews: Newspaper: Unprecedented declines in Alaska king salmon...
Meanwhile in that Mechanical Mordor known as the tar sands:
- 2014/01/03: Grist: Tar-sands mining in Canada is unleashing mercury pollution
- 2013/12/30: CDreams: Neurotoxic "Bull's-Eye" Surrounds Canadian Tar Sands: Scientists
- 2013/12/30: DD: Mercury levels rising around Alberta oilsands in 'bull's-eye' that extends for 19,000 square kilometers
- 2013/12/30: TP:JR: Scientists Find 7,300-Mile Mercury Contamination 'Bullseye' Around Canadian Tar Sands
Also in Alberta:
- 2014/01/03: CBC: Sage grouse protection order challenged by Alberta city, oil company -- Order restricts oil production in areas near the sage grouse's habitat
  A southern Alberta city and an oil and gas company are asking the courts to quash a federal emergency order that protects the sage grouse. The City of Medicine Hat and LGX Oil & Gas Inc. filed an application Friday in Federal Court seeking a judicial review of the order.
- 2014/01/02: NNW: Alberta facing aboriginal legal onslaught over oilsands in 2014
- 2014/01/02: CBC: TransCanada buys Ottawa-area [10 MWatt] solar power plant
- 2014/01/02: TheCanadian: Alberta faces onslaught of oilsands lawsuits
- 2014/01/02: PostMedia: Energy hub Hardisty enjoying boom, even as it awaits decision on controversial Keystone XL pipeline [tarsands]
- 2013/12/30: TCCB2: Privatizing Everything In Sight
In the Maritimes:
- 2014/01/03: CBC: Hibernia platform oil leak curbs production
- 2014/01/01: CBC: Hundreds of NB Power customers spend New Year in the dark
- 2013/12/31: CBC: Ice storm in New Brunswick: 1,200 still without power -- NB Power hopes to have most customers back online by Tuesday night
As for miscellaneous Canadiana:
- 2014/01/01: CBC: Polar bear dips: deep freeze won't dissuade swimmers
  New Year's Day tradition will happen across country in sub-zero temperatures
- 2013/12/29: CBC: Environment Canada to alter how it reports wind chill, extreme cold
And on the American political front:
- 2014/01/04: CDreams: Our Climate Hangover: 5 Reasons to End America's Fossil Fuel Fiesta in 2014
- 2014/01/03: RTCC: USA likely to blow 2020 emission target without Climate Action Plan
- 2014/01/03: Grist: Why Michigan's Republican governor [Snyder] supports clean energy -- or does he?
- 2014/01/03: Grist: Bill Nye wants to wage war on anti-science politics and save the planet from asteroids
- 2014/01/03: AutoBG: This could be the year US says goodbye to ethanol mandate
- 2014/01/02: NakedCapitalism: Should Taxpayers Subsidize Insuring Homeowners Against Climate-Change-Induced Flood Damage?
- 2014/01/02: DailyCamera: Proposed statewide ballot measure would give Colo. communities power to ban fracking
  Amendment to constitution would pose direct challenge to pre-emptive powers of state law
- 2014/01/01: NPR: Federal Flood Insurance Program Drowning In Debt. Who Will Pay?
- 2013/12/31: CleanTechnica: Can Climate Hawks Beat Chris Christie To Let New Jersey Rejoin RGGI?
- 2013/12/31: PSinclair: Devolution: GOP Gets 10 Points Dumb and Dumber
- 2013/12/31: Grist: Mass-transit commuters getting screwed by the taxman in 2014
- 2013/12/30: Guardian(UK): The eight champions of climate change in the US in 2013
- 2013/12/29: TMoS: Yesterday's Heresy Might Finally Be Turning Into Today's Orthodoxy
- 2013/12/29: QuarkSoup: "...we would have declared war on them."
The Keystone XL wheel grinds slowly. And it grinds woe:
- 2014/01/04: CleanTechnica: John Kerry Throws More Cold Water On Keystone XL Pipeline
- 2013/12/30: NatJo: Environmentalists Face Day of Reckoning on Keystone Pipeline
The Mayflower oil spill and its ramifications just keep dragging on:
The GOP War on Women continues. See also:
- 2014/01/03: CDreams: 2013: A Year of War on Reproductive Rights
  New study finds drastic erosion of abortion rights and access, with 22 states implementing 70 restrictions on abortion
- 2014/01/03: WSWS: Supreme Court justice stays contraceptive mandate for some church-run institutions
I notice several pundits attributing this to efficiency, but maybe it has more to do with empty houses and tent cities:
- 2013/12/30: CBC: U.S. home electricity use declines for 3rd straight year
A spectacular oil train crash, explosion and fire has triggered discussion of KXL and Oil Transportation in general:
- 2014/01/02: FuelFix: Train explosions prompt regulator warning on Bakken oil flammability
- 2014/01/01: TP:JR: As Evacuation Ends For Explosive Oil Train Crash, Officials Hint At The Persistent Threat Of Rail Transport
- 2013/12/31: BBerg: North Dakota Train Fire Adds Fuel to Keystone XL Debate
- 2013/12/30: LA Times: Explosive oil train collision triggers evacuation in North Dakota
Keeling is still looking for funding for the key Mauna Loa CO2 measurements:
Looking ahead to the 2014 & 2016 elections:
- 2014/01/03: ERabett:BSD: Welcome to the 2014 elections
At what point do you stop listening to the pretty lies and realize you've been had?
- 2014/01/01: Grist: What can "Anybody" tell Obama about the Keystone XL?
The actions of the Obama administration are being watched closely:
- 2014/01/04: SciAm: U.S. Maps Route [Climate Action Plan] to Reduce Global Warming Pollution
- 2014/01/03: TP:JR: EPA Unveils Long-Awaited Regulations To Make New Wood Heaters Burn 80 Percent Cleaner
- 2014/01/03: DoT:PHMSA: Preliminary Guidance from Operation Classification
  The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) is issuing this safety alert to notify the general public, emergency responders and shippers and carriers that recent derailments and resulting fires indicate that the type of crude oil being transported from the Bakken region may be more flammable than traditional heavy crude oil.
- 2014/01/02: NYT: Kerry Quietly Makes Priority of Climate Pact
- 2013/12/30: TheHill:e2W: DOE stands by 'social cost of carbon'
- 2013/12/30: Eureka: Plan to delist gray wolf endangers other threatened species, researchers find
  Scientists say proposal to end wolf protection across US disregards science, history, threats
The movement toward a long term ecologically viable economics is glacial:
- 2014/01/02: OFW: Why a Finite World is a Problem
- 2014/01/01: AsianAge: Small is really beautiful by Vandana Shiva
In nature, there is no garbage:
- 2014/01/05: PeakEnergy: The Origin Of Faeces
IPAT [Impact = Population * Affluence * Technology] raised its head once again:
- 2014/01/01: BBC: Japan's population falls 'by record 244,000' in 2013
- 2014/01/01: BBC: Irish law clarifying abortion grounds comes into force
  A law has come into force in the strongly Roman Catholic Republic of Ireland setting out for the first time when abortion is permitted. It was passed in July, after the death of a woman refused abortion highlighted the lack of legal clarity.
- 2013/12/31: Guardian(UK): US population growing at [0.7%] slowest rate since 1930s, census data shows
- 2013/12/31: NBF: US, World, and Canada population
- 2013/12/30: AllAfrica:NewZim: Zimbabwe: 14 Year-Old Spared Jail Over Abortion
Apocalypso anyone?
- 2014/01/02: DD: 50 doomiest images of 2013
- 2014/01/01: TruthOut: Humanity in Flux: Would a Species That Recognizes Its Own Worth Be Actively Destroying Itself?
Okay hot shot, how are we gonna fix this?
- 2014/01/02: Resilience: Grass, soil, hope
How do the corporate media measure up?
- 2014/01/04: Guardian(UK): Should Australian newspapers publish climate change denialist opinion pieces?
- 2014/01/03: TDC: Climate coverage soars in 2013, spurred by energy, weather
  Reporting on climate change by world media leapt 30 percent above 2012's effort as more reporters tied energy and environmental issues to a rise in greenhouse gas emissions, according to The Daily Climate's archives. A sharp rebound from post-2009 slump.
- 2014/01/02: KSJT: Climate Daily: Media stopped climate coverage slide in 2013; NYTimes is notable exception
- 2014/01/02: KSJT: NYT columnist David Brooks misunderstands science
- 2013/12/31: CleanTechnica: 8 Most Ridiculous Cleantech Attacks Of 2013
Here is something for your library:
- 2013/12/31: SBaD: [Book Review] _How to Cool the Planet: Geoengineering and the Audacious Quest to Fix Earth's Climate_ by Jeff Goodell
- [Online Book] _Statistics Done Wrong -- The woefully complete guide_ by Alex Reinhart
- 2013/12/30: Resilience: Stabbing the beast
- 2013/12/12: DHolmgren: [link to 2.3 meg pdf] Crash on Demand: Welcome to the Brown Tech Future
And for your film & video enjoyment:
- 2013/12/31: PSinclair: A Warning From Carl Sagan on Scientific Ignorance
- 2013/12/30: RealEconomics: Suzuki on exponential growth
- 2013/12/28: P3: Peter Ward Lecture on CO2 and Extinction Events
Meanwhile among the 'Sue the Bastards!' contingent:
- 2014/01/03: WSWS: Supreme Court justice stays contraceptive mandate for some church-run institutions
- 2014/01/02: Yahoo:Reuters: Pennsylvania appeals state Supreme Court ruling on fracking law
- 2014/01/02: CleanTechnica: Judge Rules Solar Power A Better Deal For Minnesota Than Natural Gas
- 2014/01/02: NNW: Alberta facing aboriginal legal onslaught over oilsands in 2014
- 2014/01/01: TP:JR: Massive Minnesota Solar [Geronimo] Project Gets Major Legal Boost
- 2013/12/30: SusPulse: Mexican Judge Throws out Monsanto Appeal to Confirm GM Maize Ban
- 2013/12/30: CSW: DC Court of Appeals dismisses an appeal by Defendants in Michael Mann defamation lawsuit
- 2013/12/29: ERabett: The Appeals Fairy Declines Jurisdiction
It looks like this BP trial over the Gulf oil spill is going to take a long while:
- 2014/01/03: Guardian(UK): BP wins first Greenland drilling concession despite chequered record
- 2013/12/31: NOLA: BP renews request for 5th Circuit to require businesses to prove losses resulted from oil spill
Developing a new energy infrastructure is a fundamental challenge of the current generation:
- 2014/01/03: Grist: Mark Ruffalo wants you to imagine a 100 percent clean energy future
- 2014/01/03: CleanTechnica: NREL: 23% Of Global Electricity Generation Supplied By Renewable Sources
- 2014/01/03: BBerg: German Power Costs Seen Dropping for Fourth Year: Energy
  Power prices in Germany, Europe's biggest electricity market, probably will weaken for a record fourth consecutive year as utilities add the most coal-fired capacity in more than a decade.
- 2014/01/02: CleanTechnica: Science Smackdown: Key Points On Renewable & EV Revolution From Mark Jacobson
- 2014/01/01: CleanTechnica: Credit Suisse Projects ~85% Of US Energy Demand Growth Coming From Renewables Through 2025
- 2013/12/31: ETI:RRapier: The Top 5 Energy Stories of 2013
- 2013/12/31: CleanTechnica: New Year's Eve Ball In New York (Times Square) To Be Partially Powered By Bikes
  [...]
  Each bike is expected to generate an average of 75 watts per hour.
- 2013/12/29: Resilience: 7 things everyone knows about energy that just ain't so (2013 Edition)
- 2013/12/29: RI: 7 things everyone knows about energy that just ain't so (2013 Edition)
What do you have in energy comparisons and transitions?
- 2014/01/04: PeakEnergy: Bill McKibben's graph of the year: We're extracting more fossil fuels than ever
- 2014/01/03: PSinclair: In the Midwest: Wind Up. Coal Down
- 2014/01/04: CleanTechnica: Europe's Fossil Fuel Exit -- 30% Of Fossil Fuel Power Capacity To Close By 2017, UBS Analysts Project
Hey! Let's contaminate the aquifers for thousands of years! It'll be a fracking gas!
- 2014/01/04: PSinclair: Fracking Wells Abandoned in Boom/Bust Cycle. Who Will Pay to Cap Them?
- 2014/01/01: NewsOK: New disclosure rules target chemicals used in fracking
  Beginning Wednesday, all oil and natural gas producers in Oklahoma must report the chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing.
- 2013/12/31: TheCanadian: Fracking California: State divided over Monterey Shale
- 2013/12/30: DeSmogBlog: Eagle Ford Shale: Breathe at Your Own Risk
- 2013/12/24: NYT: Wyoming May Act to Plug Abandoned Wells as Natural Gas Boom Ends
On the coal front:
- 2013/12/29: QuarkSoup: "...we would have declared war on them."
On the gas and oil front:
- 2014/01/03: BBerg: Closing oil prices Friday
  OIL (US$/bbl)
  Dated Brent Spot....106.89
  WTI Cushing Spot.....93.96
- 2014/01/03: SciAm:PI: Photo Friday: California's Signal Hill Oil Field (1930)
- 2014/01/03: CBC: Oil price plunges 3% to $95 US a barrel
  Higher global supplies expected to offset increased demand from improving economy
- 2014/01/01: ColumbusDispatch: Production in Ohio's Utica shale rising fast
- 2013/12/27: NPR: On-The-Job Deaths Spiking As Oil Drilling Quickly Expands
And in pipeline news:
- 2014/01/02: DeSmogBlog: Warren Buffett Bought Stake in Pipeline Company on Same Day as North Dakota Oil Train Explosion
Ships and boats and trains -- How to tranport the stuff?
- 2014/01/04: Macleans: Jeff Rubin predicts disaster on Canada's railways
  The economist says a lack of pipelines and surplus of oil spells trouble on the rails
- 2014/01/04: WSWS: North Dakota train explosion raises questions about oil transport safety
- 2014/01/04: PeakEnergy: North Dakota oil train crash sparks fireball
- 2014/01/03: BBerg: Bakken Crude Pegged as More Dangerous Imperils Shale Boom
- 2014/01/03: DoT:PHMSA: Preliminary Guidance from Operation Classification
  The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) is issuing this safety alert to notify the general public, emergency responders and shippers and carriers that recent derailments and resulting fires indicate that the type of crude oil being transported from the Bakken region may be more flammable than traditional heavy crude oil.
- 2014/01/03: TP:JR: Acknowledging Influx Of Oil-By-Rail Shipments, Minnesota Braces For Disaster
- 2014/01/03: Grist: North Dakota's oil is more flammable than other crudes, feds warn
- 2014/01/02: CBC: U.S. Bakken oil more flammable than others, regulator says
  Oil being carried in Lac-Mégantic train disaster deemed more explosive than other forms A top transportation safety regulator warned on Thursday that the type of crude oil that exploded rail cars in Lac-Mégantic, Que., last year is more flammable that other forms of oil and needs more careful treatment. The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, a division of the U.S. Department of Transportation, warned Thursday in a safety alert that "recent derailments and resulting fires indicate that the type of crude oil being transported from the Bakken region may be more flammable than traditional heavy crude oil."
- 2014/01/02: Grist: Another oil-hauling train explodes, forcing evacuations in North Dakota
- 2014/01/02: FuelFix: Train explosions prompt regulator warning on Bakken oil flammability
- 2013/12/31: Guardian(UK): Train collision in North Dakota sets oil cars ablaze - video
- 2013/12/31: CBC: North Dakota train explosion raises worries about U.S. fuel transport
- 2013/12/31: PSinclair: Giant Explosion of Oil Train in North Dakota
- 2013/12/31: CBC: North Dakota train derailment explosion prompts evacuation from town
- 2013/12/31: BBerg: Train Carrying Oil in North Dakota Ablaze After Derailing
- 2013/12/30: CDreams: Fireball, Black Smoke Hit Sky as Train Carrying Crude Derails -- 'You can see the plume of smoke for 25 miles.'
- 2013/12/30: BBC: Huge fire after US oil train derails
  Wagons from a mile-long train carrying crude oil have burst into flames as they derailed after a collision in the US state of North Dakota. A plume of thick black smoke could be seen many miles away and explosions were heard.
- 2013/12/30: DeSmogBlog: North Dakota Crude Oil Train Derails, Cars Explode, Residents Warned To Stay Inside
Biofuel bickering abounds:
- 2014/01/04: PeakEnergy: Algae to crude oil: Million-year natural process takes minutes in the lab
- 2014/01/02: TheConversation: Is industrial hemp the ultimate energy crop?
- 2013/12/31: BBerg: Ethanol Plunges Most in Two Weeks as Cheaper Corn Reduces Costs
- 2013/12/31: BBerg: Corn Caps Biggest Drop Since 1960 as Harvest Rises to Record
- 2013/12/30: CleanTechnica: Algae Oil Poised For World Domination, Eventually
The answer my friend...
- 2013/12/30: CleanTechnica: 260 MW Of Wind Turbines Ordered From Vestas For US Wind Farms
- 2013/12/29: RealEconomics: Buffett on wind power
Meanwhile among the solar aficionados:
- 2014/01/04: CleanTechnica: Lancaster Home Solar Mandate -- 1st In US (& World?) -- Leads City Into 2014
- 2014/01/03: TreeHugger: Fort Collins embraces community-owned solar gardens
- 2014/01/03: RTCC: China solar capacity boosted by 1GW plant in Xinjiang
- 2014/01/02: NCSU: Researchers Find Simple, Cheap Way to Increase Solar Cell Efficiency
- 2014/01/02: TP:JR: California Installed More Rooftop Solar In 2013 Than Previous 30 Years Combined
- 2014/01/02: TP:JR: New 1,000 Megawatt Solar Project In China Marks 'Significant Shift' For Global Market
- 2014/01/01: CleanTechnica: Graphene Heats Up Race For Cheap Organic Solar Cells
- 2013/12/31: CleanTechnica: Nonprofits Get Solar Power Boost From CollectiveSun, Crowdinvesting
- 2013/12/30: TreeHugger: Shipping container with rollable PV panels inside could become an instant 100kW solar plant
The nuclear energy controversy continues:
- 2014/01/02: WNN: Korean reactors cleared for restart
- 2014/01/03: NBF: South Korea restart and China Nuclear start and other nuclear News
Nuclear waste storage requires _very_ long term thinking:
- 2014/01/05: PeakEnergy: Is time up for Australia's uranium industry?
- 2014/01/02: EneNews: Wall St. Journal: Plutonium levels 1,000 times normal on seafloor 50 miles from San Francisco
  Expert Appalled: Major nuclear dump offshore is a threat to health - Around 50,000 containers of radioactive waste in globally significant ecosystem
Nuclear fusion projects around the world limp along:
- 2014/01/02: NBF: MagLIF fusion wants to use 30 tesla magnets, 27 megaAmpere Z Pinch and 8 kilojoules laser may get close to fusion ignition in 2015
- 2014/01/01: NBF: 1 GW commercial scale DEMO prototype Tokamak would burn through world supply of Tritium in 2 months
- 2013/12/30: NatureN: Triple-threat method sparks hope for fusion -- The secrets to its success are lasers, magnets and a big pinch
Low energy nuclear keeps popping up:
- 2014/01/04: NBF: Strong Confirmation that Cherokee Investment Partners is Working with Rossi and his Super-Controversial Energy Catalyzer and they are meeting with Chinese officials
- 2014/01/04: NBF: ARPA-E makes available 20 grants of up to $500,000 for Low Energy Nuclear reactions AKA Cold fusion
More people are talking about the electrical grid:
- 2014/01/03: TP:JR: Massachusetts Takes A Major Step Forward In Smart Grid Technology
  At the end of December, the Massachusetts' Department of Public Utilities (DPU) issued an order that requires large energy providers to submit a ten-year grid modernization plan (GMP) by mid-2014.
- 2014/01/02: CleanTechnica: California's Grid Takes Two Big Steps To Add More Renewables And EVs
- 2014/01/02: NCSU: Researchers Find Ways to Minimize Power Grid Disruptions from Wind Power
- 2013/12/29: KSJT: LATimes: Will electric cars save the grid? And make $$ for owners? Many questions left unanswered.
How are the utilities adjusting (or not)?
- 2013/12/30: PSinclair: Utilities Feel the Solar/Efficiency Heat
And then there is the matter of efficiency & conservation:
- 2014/01/03: PSinclair: More Devices, Less Energy. The Future of Tech is Here
- 2014/01/02: TreeHugger: Lighting facts: Did you know that 70% of lightbulbs in the U.S. are still inefficient models?
- 2013/12/31: TheCanadian: Americans conserving big on home electricity
Automakers & lawyers, engineers & activists argue over the future of the car:
- 2014/01/03: CleanTechnica: 13 Electric Vehicles Coming To Market In 2014
- 2013/12/30: CleanTechnica: The #1 Reason Why Electric Cars Can Now Dominate The Car Market
- 2013/12/29: AutoBG: 'Fee per ton mile' latest idea to combat declining gas tax revenues
- 2013/12/30: AutoBG: Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV US launch delayed over battery shortage
As for Energy Storage:
- 2013/12/31: TreeHugger: Discovery could lead to more long-lived, inexpensive rechargeable batteries
- 2013/12/30: PSinclair: The Mind Boggling Promise of Energy Storage
Insurance and re-insurance companies are feeling the heat:
- 2014/01/02: NakedCapitalism: Should Taxpayers Subsidize Insuring Homeowners Against Climate-Change-Induced Flood Damage?
Who's fielding theFAQs?
- 2013/12/24: ABC(Au): Which way do cyclones spin?
What do we have in (weekly) lists?
- 2014/01/04: SkS: 2014 SkS Weekly News Roundup #1 by John Hartz
- 2013/12/30: FukuLeaks: Fukushima News Roundup; December 30, 2013
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.
- 2013/12/31: Wonkette: Wingnuts And The Crazy Things They Said About Science: Let Us Review 2013 And Weep For The Planet
- 2013/12/23: AlterNet: Right-Wing Is Filled with Biblical Illiterates: They'd Be Shocked by Jesus' Teachings if They Ever Picked Up a Bible
- 2014/01/02: PSinclair: The Quiet Failure of Climate Denial in 2013
- 2014/01/03: PSinclair: It's That Time Again. The Willful Ignorance of Right Wing Snow Trolling
- 2014/01/02: TP:JR: Donald Trump's Hair, The End Of Global Warming And Other Things That Aren't Real
- 2014/01/02: PSinclair: "No More Fools", and the Decline of Science Literacy on the Right
- 2014/01/02: Guardian(UK): Five basic Antarctic facts for climate change sceptics
- 2014/01/04: PSinclair: More on Climate Trolls
- 2014/01/03: Stoat: Retirement of a Dr* Salesman
- 2014/01/04: UKISS: Heartland relying on more non-experts with vested interests to spin garbage
- 2014/01/03: Guardian(UK): Who needs facts? We appear to be in the Post-Information Age now
  Evidence? Ha. That's for humanists, scientists and who knows what other dangerous-ists. It's all about how we feel now
- 2014/01/04: Stoat: Another one bites the dust
- 2014/01/04: PaiD: I Think We Saw This Coming
- 2013/12/30: FergusB: What do you know?
So why is nothing getting done?
As for climate miscellanea:
- 2014/01/03: Hypergeometric: A trivariate, coupled dynamical system, and hints for using the carbon cycle to explain glacial-interglacial periods
- 2013/12/31: FergusB: Pick your own prison, or walk away; resolution
- 2013/12/31: JQuiggin: Can there be a sane honest rightwinger?
- 2013/12/30: CCP: Climate change by the numbers: The worst is yet to come
- 2014/01/04: LoE: I have decided to take the red pill
And here are a couple of sites you may find interesting and/or useful:
- Sowing Agricultural Seeds Daily
- Sustainable Pulse
- Wiki: Australasian Antarctic Expedition
- Wiki: Atmospheric tide
- LAW: Living Alongside Wildlife
- Science News
- Wiki: Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Words to watch
- Asian Scientist Magazine - Science, Technology and Medicine News Updates From Asia
- ACQWA: Assessing Climate impacts on the Quantity and quality of WAter
- Australian Research Council - Centre of Excellence for Climate System Science
- GHGNews
- Lenz Blog
- Wiki: Shamal (wind)
- Wiki: Hexavalent chromium
- CDP: Carbon Disclosure Project
Low Key Plug

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

A Simple Plea

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

<regards>

-het

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

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

"A short maxim for the Genuine Skeptic: If in doubt, find out." -Fergus Brown
- Global Warming Links
- Global Warming News Archive
- Energy
- Energy News
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Last modified January 5, 2014

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How can you sleep?

It is a requirement of human physiology to sleep, Max.

Max

I always find the best way is to lie down in a dark, quiet room and close my eyes.

Max, I think what mandy and myself are getting at is: What are you getting at with your comment.

Since we've both answered the statement AS MADE, but those answers cannot be ones unknown to you, your statement needs to be done in a manner that would elicit the information you seek.

My condolences to the people in the US and in Canada for the terrible death cases due to incredibly low temperatures not seen for decades there. I can imagine that these are the first signs of a substantial cooling of the planet during the next decades until 2060 (similarly to the cooling between 1930 and 1975, despite steadily rising CO2 leves during the cooling phase, which nobody can explain and does not make the IPCC climate models look good)

Freddy's proposed "substantial cooling" between 1930 and 1975 amounted to an *increase* of about 0.05 degrees.

Perhaps he meant 1940-1975, in which case the "substantial cooling" amounts to about 0.1 degrees.

One also wonders how the very recent heatwaves in South America (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-25564633) and Australia (http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/deep-freeze-australia-swe…), or the record high temperatures in much of Europe (see e.g. http://www.novinite.com/articles/157042/Warm+Wave+Brings+2+Temperature+…; http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/germany-experiences-record-…), fit into his "first signs".

"due to incredibly low temperatures not seen for decades there"

So it was colder before?

That means it's warmer now than it was.

That means global warming.

wow, as expected with you: logical fallacy and reading comprehension problems

wow, wineologists are not especially known to be experts in meteorology, therefore you are only blethering copy pasted material without genuine own background

"wineologists are not especially known to be experts in meteorology"

Look, kaibot, just because you're clueless about meteorology does not make you a wineologist.

"wow, as expected with you: logical fallacy "

Ah, another fake claim from kaibot!

There was no logical fallacy there, child.

And the only reading comprehension problems are ones you bring with you, dear.

freddy,

Your condolences are appreciated but hardly necessary. Canada is the 2nd coldest country on our planet - we may not be that smart but we can cope with winter. Coping with winter is not what it used to be. The weather is getting weirder but, on average, steadily warmer. I'll give today's forecast temperatures for Canadian cities covering five time zones:

Vancouver: +9 Celsius
Calgary: -2 Celsius
Regina: -1 Celsius
Toronto: +6 Celsius
Montreal: +4 Celsius
Halifax: +5 Celsius
St. John's: -2 Celsius

Not all that bad for what should be the coldest period of the Canadian winter. I can only hope that the folks in Sochi are getting somewhat cooler temperatures for the Winter Olympics.

Another Week of Climate Disruption News, January 5, 2014

Information is not Knowledge...Knowledge is not Wisdom

January 5, 2014

Yes, we have no comix. How about a striking image?

Looking ahead to COP20 and future international climate negotiations:

Looking back at COP19:

The Sherwood et al. paper on climate sensitivity kicked off a bit of a blogostorm:

Yet more end-of-year retrospectives:

And the prospects of 2014?

And on the Bottom Line:

The world inches toward creating a global legal framework for ecological crime:

John Cook and friends continue their point-counterpoint articles:

A note on theFukushima disaster:

Not much good news coming out of Fukushima:

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:

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

Tropical Cyclone Bejisa [06S] zapped La Reunion island but stayed East of Madagascar:

Tropical Cyclone Christine zapped Western Australia and faded to a tropical depression over land:

There is still some coverage of Super Typhoon Haiyan and the recovery:

While elsewhere in the hurricane wars:

This week in notable weather First in Europe and the UK:

Then in North America:

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

As for GHGs:

Aerosols are making their presence felt:

What's up with volcanoes this week?

Regarding ozone:

How is the temperature record?

While in the paleoclimate:

What's the State of the Oceans?:

And the State of the Biosphere?

And on the extinction watch:

More GW impacts are being seen:

And then there are the world's forests:

Climate refugees are becoming an issue:

As for heatwaves and wild fires:

Corals are a bellwether of the ocean's health:

Acidification is changing the oceans:

Glaciers are melting:

As for hydrological cycle disruptions [floods & droughts]:

And on the mitigation front, can cities take up the slack when nations shirk their responsibilities?

After Planned Obsolescence comes Designed Endurance?

Consider transportation & GHG production:

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

And on the carbon sequestration front:

Large scale geo-engineering keeps popping up:

While on the adaptation front:

Meanwhile in the journals:

And other significant documents:

As for miscellaneous science:

In the science organizations:

What's new in models?

Regarding Schneider:

Regarding advocacy:

And on the carbon trading front:

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

South [& East] China Sea tension persists:

These 'free trade' treaties are a stealth corporate takeover with anti-democratic dispute resolution mechanisms:

And in miscellaneous international political jousting:

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

What are the activists up to?

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

Polls! We have polls!

Regarding Water Politics and Business; See also:

And on the groundwater front:

Think you can innovate your way out of this?

While in the UK:

And in Europe:

Meanwhile in Australia:

Now we get to watch the suppository of wisdom destroy what little Australia has done to fight climate change:

The Bureau of Meteorology released its 2013 Annual Climate Statement this week:

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

And in the Indian subcontinent:

This week in notable weather
First in Europe and the UK: