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  2. Another Week of Global Warming News, March 23, 2014

Another Week of Global Warming News, March 23, 2014

By illconsidered on March 24, 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 Overload is Pattern Recognition

Equinox Edition

March 23, 2014

co2now gfxskeptisci app gfx

Here's a wee chuckle for ye:

Hope you had a Happy Equinox:

  • USNO: Equinoxes, Solstices, Perihelion, and Aphelion, 2000-2020
  • 2014/03/21: EPOD: Analemma of Cluj-Napoca, Romania
  • 2014/03/20: APOD: Solargraphy Analemmas
  • 2014/03/20: CBC: Hello spring, good riddance winter of our discontent
  • 2014/03/19: APOD: Equinox on a Spinning Earth

    Looking ahead to COP20 and future international climate negotiations:

    We had a World Water Day this week:

    The AAAS released their What We Know report this week:

    More chatter about that October WG2 leak:

    If we start triaging the biosphere now, soon we will be triaging humanity:

    What do we have for warnings this week?

    The Climate Science Legal Defense Fund needs help:

    How is the German Energy Transition [Energiewende] doing?

    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:

    The Arctic melt continues to garner attention:

    That Damoclean sword still hangs overhead:

    As for the geopolitics of Arctic resources:

    While in Antarctica:

    The food crisis is ongoing:

    The state of the world's fisheries is a concern. See also, and:

    Regarding the Svalbard Seed Vault:

    So, are these land grabs Colonialism V2.0?

    • 2014/03/19: RTCC: UN forest protection plans could lead to land grabs - report
      A future forest carbon market needs to protect communities better against land grabs, says new report A UN-led initiative to slow deforestation - including a possible carbon offset market that would pay people not to cut down trees - will fail unless indigenous peoples are given ownership of credits generated from their lands, a new report said today.

    Regarding the genetic modification of food:

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

    In the Western Pacific, Tropical Cyclone Gillian is the storm that refuses to die:

    Also in the Western Pacific, an unnamed Tropical Depression is troubling the Southern Philippines:

  • 2014/03/21: Eureka: NASA's Aqua satellite sees Tropical System 94W affecting Philippines

    Earlier in the South Central Pacific, Tropical Cyclone Mike spun up, went South and died:

  • 2014/03/20: Eureka: Satellite confirms Tropical Cyclone Mike's quick disappearing act
  • 2014/03/19: NASA: Satellite Sees Newborn So. Pacific Tropical Storm Mike

    This week in notable weather:

    Got any forecasts?

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

    As for GHGs:

    Aerosols are making their presence felt:

    Yes we have feedbacks:

    And on the ENSO front:

    As for the temperature record:

    While in the paleoclimate:

    In the attribution debate:

    What's the State of the Oceans?:

    What's the State of the Biosphere?

    And on the extinction watch:

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

    More GW impacts are being seen:

    And then there are the world's forests:

    Climate refugees are becoming an issue:

    Changes in natural cycles are showing up:

    As for heatwaves and wild fires:

    Corals are a bellwether of the ocean's health:

    Glaciers are melting:

    Sea levels are rising:

    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:

    Large scale geo-engineering keeps popping up:

    What's new in restoration?

    Meanwhile in the journals:

    As for miscellaneous science:

    In the science organizations:

    More DIY science:

    Regarding Mann:

    Regarding Hansen:

    Regarding Advocacy:

    An ominous development regarding Stephen Lewandowsky paper on deniers and conspiracy theories:

    The Pielke fan clubbe, alas:

    Meanwhile at the UN:

    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:

    Who is serious about reducing airline carbon emissions?

    These 'free trade' treaties should be called the corporate control treaties:

    The US/EU - Rissia confrontation over Crimea and Ukraine appears to be stabilizing:

    And in miscellaneous international political jousting:

    • 2014/03/21: IPSNews: Egypt Gets Muscular Over Nile Dam
      When Egypt's then-president Mohamed Morsi said in June 2013 that "all options" including military intervention, were on the table if Ethiopia continued to develop dams on the Nile River, many dismissed it as posturing. But experts claim Cairo is deadly serious about defending its historic water allotment, and if Ethiopia proceeds with construction of what is set to become Africa's largest hydroelectric dam, a military strike is not out of the question. Relations between Egypt and Ethiopia have soured since Ethiopia began construction on the 4.2 billion dollar Grand Renaissance Dam in 2011.

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

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

    What are the activists up to?

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

    Polls! We have polls!

    Regarding Water Politics and Business; See also:

    Among the world's religions:

    Regarding science education:

    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 fight over coal seam gas continues:

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

    The Federal and now the State Liberals are bent on trashing the hard won Tasmanian forest deal:

    While in China:

    And in Africa:

    • 2014/03/18: RTCC: Rwanda open for clean energy business says minister
      Small African country has huge solar, geothermal and hydro potential, but needs financial support Rwanda's energy minister [Emma Francoise Isumbingabo] says the recent announcement of an 8.5 megawatt solar photovoltaic project is just the start of the country's investments in clean energy.

    And South America:

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

    Resonances of the Lac Mégantic tragedy linger:

    Pipelines - Natural Gasand Liquids:

      There are getting to be so many pipelines, one almost needs a scorecard:

    1. The TransCanada West-East pipeline has passed the first stage
    2. The battle over the Northern Gateway pipeline rages on
    3. The Kinder Morgan expansion remains controversial
    4. The Enbridge Line 9 reversal is before the NEB
    5. The ancient Enbridge Line 5 runs under the Straits of Mackinac
    6. Enbridge has announced a Line 3 rebuild

    The TransCanada West-East [aka Energy East] pipeline has passed the first stage:

    The battle over the Northern Gateway pipeline rages on:

    The Enbridge Line 9 reversal has been approved. Let the lawsuits begin:

    Western farmers are still yelling about the railroad's grain backlog:

    What's the state of the West Coast salmon fishery?

    Meanwhile in BC:

    Meanwhile in that Mechanical Mordor known as the tar sands:

    Also in Alberta:

    In Manitoba, the capital is nicknamed Winterpeg, but this year is an extreme:

    In Ontario:

    In the Maritimes:

    And on the American political front:

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

    Damn, these leaks and spills just keep piling up!

      You need a map to keep them straight:

    1. In North Caroline, Duke Energy spilled coal ash slurry into the Dan River
    2. In West Virginia, Patriot Coal spilled coal ash slurry into Fields Creek
    3. In West Virginia, Freedom Industries spilled coal cleaning chemicals into the Elk river
    4. In Michigan, Enbridge spilled dilbit into the Kalamazoo River
    5. In Arkansas, Exxon, spilled dilbit into the suburb of Mayflower
    6. In the Gulf of Mexico, BP and company had the Deepwater Horizon oil spill
    7. In West Virginia, Gary Partners spilled black water into a creek
    8. In North Dakota, oil and chemical spills typify boom times
    9. In Alaska, the Exxon Valdez is an oldie and a baddie
    10. On the Mississippi, an oil barge leaked
    11. Alpha Natural Resources is being fined for 6,000 Clean Water Act violations in 7 years
    12. Five years ago, America's largest industrial accident ripped through Kingston, Tennessee
    13. United Bulk has been sued for polluting the Mississippi River
    14. Sunoco Logistics has spilled oil in an Ohio nature preserve
    15. Louisville Gas & Electric has been pouring coal ash wastewater into the Ohio River for years
    16. The Aliceville, Alabama derailment polluted wetlands

    In North Carolina, Duke Energy spilled coal ash slurry into the Dan River:

    In West Virginia, Freedom Industries spilled coal cleaning chemicals into the Elk river:

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

    In Alaska, the Exxon Valdez is an oldie and a baddie:

    Five years ago, America's largest industrial accident ripped through Kingston, Tennessee:

    United Bulk has been sued for polluting the Mississippi River:

    Sunoco Logistics has a big oil spill in an Ohio nature preserve:

    Louisville Gas & Electric has been pouring coal ash wastewater into the Ohio River for years:

    That Aliceville derailment and oil spill still pollutes the Alabama wetland:

    The GOP War on Women continues. See also:

    Nate Silver has restarted his own website:

    The Keeling CO2 Monitoring Project still requires funding:

    The actions of the Obama administration are being watched closely:

    As for what is going on in Congress:

    What are the lobbyists pushing?

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

    In nature, there is no garbage:

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

    Apocalypso anyone?

    How do the corporate media measure up?

    While activists search for effective communication techniques:

  • 2014/03/21: CCD: Interview The psychological challenges of communicating climate change around extreme weather events
  • 2014/03/10: Bogology: Why is communicating climate change science hard?

    And for your film & video enjoyment:

    As for podcasts:

    Meanwhile among the 'Sue the Bastards!' contingent:

    This Equador suit against Chevron/Texaco has been going on for decades:

    The Mann defamation suit saga rolls on:

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

    • 2014/03/21: BBerg: BP Partner Anadarko E-Mails Seen Showing Role in Well
      Anadarko Petroleum Corp. officials urged BP Plc to drill deeper into the Gulf of Mexico well that caused the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history even after BP warned that doing so would be unsafe. A BP executive and a geologist working on the Macondo well rejected Anadarko's urging to deepen the well, according to e-mails sent the week before the April 2010 deep-sea blowout. BP officials said in the e-mails, unsealed earlier this month in lawsuits over the spill, that the well's condition "provided for little to no margin to continue drilling" safely. Justice Department lawyers lost their bid yesterday for U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier in New Orleans to consider Anadarko's e-mails as proof the Texas-based oil explorer was involved in day-to-day monitoring and decisions at the well when he calculates a potentially multibillion-dollar pollution fine against the drilling partners. Anadarko, which owned a 25 percent stake in the Macondo well, off the Louisiana coast, contends it was a passive investor and can't be held liable...

    Wrestling over a new energy infrastructure continues unabated:

    What do you have in energy comparisons and transitions?

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

    On the coal front:

    On the gas and oil front:

    In the gas and oil corps:

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

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

    Yes we have a peak oil sighting:

    Biofuel bickering abounds:

    The answer my friend...

    Meanwhile among the solar aficionados:

    The nuclear energy controversy continues:

    Nuclear waste storage requires _very_ long term thinking:

    Nuclear fusion projects around the world limp along:

    Feed-In-Tariffs (Net Metering & Time-of-Use Tariffs) are being variously implemented around the world:

    More people are talking about the electrical grid:

    How are the utilities adjusting (or not)?

    And then there is the matter of efficiency & conservation:

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

    As for Energy Storage:

    The reaction of business to climate change will be critical:

    What do we have in (weekly) lists?

    Anything in pithy (or piffling) quotes this week?

    The carbon lobby are up to the usual:

    So why is nothing getting done?

    As for climate miscellanea:

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

    Low Key Plug
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