Another Week of Anthropocene Antics, March 2, 2014

By illconsidered on March 4, 2014.

Featured image is one of 19 illustrated haiku laying out the IPCC Summary for Policy Makers, posted with permission, see them all here.

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

March 2, 2014

Chuckles, COP20+, WG2 Leak, WOS, RS/NAS, Jacobson, Energiewende, Bottom Line, Cook
Fukushima: Note, News, Policies
Melting Arctic, Methane, Geopolitics, Antarctica
Food: Crisis, Fisheries, GMOs, Production
Hurricanes, Notable Weather, Forecasts, Extreme Weather, New Weather
GHGs, Aerosols, Volcanoes, ENSO, Temperatures, Satellites
Paleoclimate, Historical Climate, Oceans, Biosphere, Extinctions, Bees & CCD
Impacts, Forests, Climate Refugees, Smog & Health
Tornadoes, Wildfires, Corals, Acidification, Glaciers, Sea Levels, Floods & Droughts
Mitigation, Transportation, Buildings, Sequestration, Geoengineering, Conservation, Restoration, Adaptation
Journals, Other Docs, Misc. Science, Science Orgs, Free Science, Hansen, Gershwin, Pielke
International Politics: UN, Carbon Trade, Carbon Tax, Optimal Strategy
Hormuz, South China Sea, Solar Spat, Treaties, Misc., Security
Law & Activism, Activism, Divestment, H2O Biz, Education, Justice
National Politics: Britain, Europe, Australia, Abbott, RET, MDBP, Morwell
Manus Island, New Zealand, India, China, Japan, Asia, Africa
Canada, Lac-Mégantic, Elsipogtog, Opposition, East-West, Northern Gateway, Kinder Morgan
Mansbridge, Salmon, BC, Tar Sands, Alberta, Sask, Manitoba, Ontario, Maritimes, North, Canadiana
America, Keystone, Spills & Leaks, Birth Control, Prices, 2016, Obama, USAdmin, Congress, Lobbyists
Ecological Economics, IPAT, Apocalypso, Media, Books, Video, Courts, Mann Suit, BP Trial
Energy, Transitions, Investments, Fracking, Coal, Oil & Gas, Transportation, US Tar Sands, Independence, Biofuel
Wind, Solar, Nukes, Nuclear Waste, Nuclear Fusion, Hydrogen, Grid, Utilities, Efficiency, Cars, Energy Storage
Business, Other Lists, Quotes, Carbon Lobby, Miscellaneous, Useful Links
Shameless Self Promotion, A Simple Plea, .sig

Here's a wee chuckle for ye:

I'm sure there were more than a few who couldn't help smiling at Mr. Tillerson's fracking problem:

2014/02/24: PSinclair: Pizza For Plutocrats
Looking ahead to COP20 and future international climate negotiations:
- 2014/02/28: RTCC: There are no regrets in backing tough climate action by UNFCCC head, Christiana Figueres
- 2014/02/28: DeSmogBlog: New Global Study Finds Canada Lagging Behind China on Climate Change Legislation
- 2014/02/27: BBC: Frolick and Yap to solve climate change?
- 2014/02/27: CNN: Climate change: Is it time for international agreements to recognize national laws?
  World seeing sobering signs of climate change's accelerating impacts, say politicians - But they argue that national legislation to limit emissions is advancing - U.N. action on climate change will only be credible if backed up by national legislation, they say - "The fate of our planet depend on our actions," they write
- 2014/02/27: NatureN: National policies advance as climate summit approaches
- 2014/02/27: Guardian(UK): Report hails international progress on climate change laws
  Study shows 64 out of 66 countries had put in place or were establishing significant climate or energy legislation in 2013
- 2014/02/24: RTCC: Green Climate Fund board hails success despite slow progress
  May meeting in Songdo [South Korea] now takes on huge significance with six major decisions needing agreement before Fund launch The Green Climate Fund board says last week's planning meeting made progress, despite only agreeing two of the eight requirements essential for the fund to become operational. A three day gathering in Bali ended with a decision to split funding equally between mitigation and adaptation efforts, devoting 50% of adaptation monies to climate vulnerable regions.
Another IPCC leak, this time WG2:
- 2014/02/28: CDreams: Draft UN [WG2] Climate Report Reveals Future 'We're Not Prepared For'
- 2014/02/24: CCP: Climate Change 'Very Evident,' So Let's Deal With It, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Says
A World Ocean Summit went down last week:
- World Ocean Summit 2014 -- February 24th - 26th 2014
- World Ocean Council
- 2014/02/28: EurActiv: Top EU maritime official warns against ocean 'gold rush'
  The European commissioner for maritime affairs, Maria Damanaki, has called at the World Ocean Summit for businesses to see the oceans as an economic resource but has warned against a "frenzied gold rush".
- 2014/02/26: NatGeo: Can World Leaders Tame the Wild West of the High Seas?
- 2014/02/25: TP:JR: Kerry: Protecting World's Oceans Isn't Just Environmentalist, It's 'An Economic Imperative'
The Royal Society and the National Academy of Science produced the _Climate Change: Evidence & Causes_ report:
- 2014/02/27: NAS: [2.2 meg pdf] NRC/RS Climate Change FAQ
- 2014/02/27: NAS: [links to several pdfs] A Discussion on Climate Change: Evidence and Causes
- 2014/02/27: RS: Climate Change: Evidence & Causes
- 2014/02/27: Economist:B: Climate science - Inescapable truths
- 2014/02/27: TCoE: Climate Change Evidence and Causes
- 2014/02/27: TP:JR: National Academy Of Sciences Delivers Highly Readable Climate Change Warning
- 2014/02/27: SciAm:Reuters: Global Warming Slowdown Likely to Be Brief
- 2014/02/27: NBC: Scientists More Certain Than Ever on Climate Change, Report Says
- 2014/02/27: ERabett: Climate Change in Our Times [NRC/RS]
- 2014/02/27: ERabett: "Uncertainty," Fung said, "does not challenge my certainty about the fact the planet will warm." [NRC/RS]
- 2014/02/27: RTCC: 'Wait and see' climate policies risk damage and suffering
  National science academies of USA and UK say warming is 'unequivocal' and recommend urgent action Governments that adopt a 'wait and see' attitude to climate change are risking "losses, damage and suffering," a new study by two of the world's leading science academies warns.
- 2014/02/26: Guardian(UK): Global warming slowdown 'does not invalidate climate change'
  National science academies of the US and the UK say longer-term warming trend is still evident
I don't know about you, but I've got a shovelful of salt for this one:
How is the German Energy Transition [Energiewende] doing?
- 2014/02/26: GEB: EFI Report: Government Advisors Recommend to Discontinue EEG
- 2014/02/26: GET: Transition Beyond Goals
  Innovative policies, including higher contributions from industry, home energy efficiency improvements, and consumer awareness of price differences between suppliers, are called for to help Germans lower energy prices during the switch to renewables, argues Paul Hockenos.
- 2014/02/25: GET: The state of Germany's solar sector -- the worst is over
- 2014/02/25: GEB: BDEW: More Than 1.34 Million Renewable Power Plants - EEG Reform on the Right Track, Some Fine Tuning Needed
And on the Bottom Line:
- 2014/02/25: OilChange: Will Scotland's Oil Become A Stranded Asset?
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:
- 2014/02/28: Spectrum: Dismantling Fukushima: The World's Toughest Demolition Project
  Taking apart the shattered power station and its three melted nuclear cores will require advanced robotics
- 2014/03/01: EneNews: PBS: Engineers believe Fukushima's nuclear fuel melted right through the containment vessels, where it's contacting ground water -- Expert: The fuel "melted down into ground" (video)
- 2014/02/28: EneNews: CBC: Radioactive particles arrive 'far earlier than predicted' for N. America -- Mag: 'Plumes stretch 4,800 miles across ocean!'...
- 2014/02/28: EneNews: Hearst Newspaper: Bad news, Fukushima radioactive releases may be "far greater than originally stated" -- Bloomberg: Levels 'significantly' undercounted...
- 2014/02/28: NBF: Evacuation deaths in Japan in 2011 were 2911
- 2014/02/27: CDreams: Documents Say Navy Knew Fukushima Dangerously Contaminated the USS Reagan
- 2014/02/27: CBC: Fukushima radiation hit B.C. earlier than expected
  Radiation levels far too low to pose hazard to health, environment, scientist says Radiation from the Japan's Fukushima nuclear disaster reached Canada's west coast last June, far earlier than expected. Researchers from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada had been looking for the radiation signal in water as far out as 1,500 kilometres west of Vancouver since the disaster in 2011. They finally detected the signal in June 2013, the researchers announced at the American Geophysical Union's Ocean Sciences Meeting in Hawaii this week.
- 2014/02/26: EneNews: TV: Most shocking thing is how US gov't was "very concerned" about Fukushima radiation hitting West Coast and affecting Americans -- Public told that everything fine (video)
- 2014/02/26: FukuLeaks: Working At Fukushima As National Duty?
- 2014/02/26: EneNews: Expert: Gov't officials 'very possibly' know Fukushima is a worldwide disaster and just not revealing it...
- 2014/02/26: VoR: 'TEPCO done poor job at Fukushima nuclear plant' - expert
- 2014/02/25: FukuLeaks: Strontium 90 Readings From Citizen Collected Fukushima Samples
- 2014/02/25: Salon: Fukushima's radiation is approaching the West Coast - here's why there's no need to panic
- 2014/02/25: EneNews: US Official: Large amounts of radioactive particles were released during initial 'puff' event at leaking nuclear site [WIPP] ...
- 2014/02/25: FukuLeaks: Fukushima Daiichi; Abusing Workers & Avoiding Liability
- 2014/02/25: FukuLeaks: Fukushima Is Here! Contamination Found Off Vancouver Coast
- 2014/02/25: FukuLeaks: Fukushima Unit 4; 374 Fuel Assemblies Removed
- 2014/02/25: BBC: North American scientists track incoming Fukushima plume
  The likely scale of the radioactive plume of water from Fukushima due to hit the west coast of North America should be known in the next two months.
- 2014/02/24: EneNews: Kyodo: Alarm sounds at Fukushima plant, Unit 4 cooling system stops (video)
- 2014/02/24: EneNews: Experts: Areas along West Coast "may be... affected in a significant way" by Fukushima plume in coming months -- Impact cannot be accurately predicted, currents to produce complex results...
- 2014/02/24: EneNews: Gov't: 'Very serious problem' at Fukushima; Safety system 'failed' - Expert: 12 Trillion Bq of Strontium-90 leaked, could exceed 1/8 of total release since 3/11...
- 2014/02/24: CNN: Some residents to 'come home' to Fukushima nuclear disaster zone
  350 people from the Miyakoji district of Tamura city will be allowed to head home - 20-kilometer (12-mile) exclusion zone declared around crippled nuclear plant since 2011 - Devastating earthquake and tsunami knocked out the Fukushima nuclear plant - Many residents remain concerned about radiation levels despite decontamination efforts
- 2014/02/24: FukuLeaks: Fukushima Daiichi Exposures Found To Be Worse Than Claimed
- 2014/02/24: WSWS: Japan: New radioactive water leak at Fukushima
- 2014/02/20: RT: Study claims USS Reagan crew exposed to extremely high levels of radiation near Fukushima
- 2014/02/17: JapanFocus: Mobilizing Nuclear Bias: The Fukushima Nuclear Crisis and the Politics of Uncertainty by Kyle Cleveland
- How Radioactive Is Our Ocean?
  The release of radioactive contaminants from Fukushima remains an unprecedented event for the people of Japan and the Pacific Ocean. Help scientists at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution reveal the ongoing spread of radiation across the Pacific and its evolving impacts on the ocean.
Post Fukushima, nuclear policies are in flux around the world:
- 2014/02/26: DemNow: Japan, U.S. Move to Expand Nuclear Power Programs Despite Contamination at Fukushima & New Mexico
- 2014/02/25: Guardian(UK): Japan unveils draft energy policy in wake of Fukushima
  Tokyo says nuclear power remains important source of electricity and reactors should be restarted
The Arctic melt continues to garner attention:
That Damoclean sword still hangs overhead:
- 2014/02/28: ArcticNews: Mantle Methane by by Malcolm P.R. Light
- 2014/02/24: RScribbler: Like a Volcano Awakening at the Top of our Earth: From Baffin Bay to the Laptev Sea, Arctic Methane Monster Releases Troubling Ourbursts
As for the geopolitics of Arctic resources:
- 2014/02/27: Reuters: U.S. Navy eyes greater presence in Arctic from 2025
  The U.S. Navy is mapping out how to expand its presence in the Arctic beginning around 2020, given signs that the region's once permanent ice cover is melting faster than expected, which is likely to trigger more traffic, fishing and resource mining.
- 2014/02/27: RTCC: Are investors the key to protecting the Arctic?
  New Share Action and Greenpeace campaign highlights risks oil and gas companies face in drilling at the North Pole
- 2014/02/25: NatureNB: US Navy's Arctic strategy forecasts ice-free shipping routes
- 2014/02/25: RTCC: Shell's Arctic oil plans face shareholder scrutiny
  Greenpeace and Share Action group lead calls for oil giant's new boss to examine economic case for Chukchi Sea drilling Shareholders in Royal Dutch Shell face warnings today that the company's ambitious plans for Arctic oil and gas exploration are placing its future profits at risk.
- 2014/02/24: CCP: US urges fishing ban in melting Arctic
- 2014/02/23: BBerg: Arctic Oil Still Seen Decades Off as Producers Balk at Costs
  Lundin Petroleum AB (LUPE), the Swedish explorer focused on Norway, said there won't be any new oil output in the ice-filled waters of the Arctic for at least 15 years because of technical and logistical challenges. "I don't think we'll see any oil production in the Arctic any time soon -- probably not this decade and not the next," Chairman Ian Lundin said in a Feb. 20 interview in Stockholm. "The commercial challenges are too big."
- 2014/02/23: G&M: Canada siding with U.S., Denmark on High Arctic fishing moratorium
  Canada is preparing to join the United States and Denmark in pressing for a moratorium on commercial fishing in the international waters of the High Arctic as climate change makes their bounty accessible for the first time in more than 800,000 years. Representatives of the federal Fisheries Department will take part in a meeting in Greenland next week where Russia and Norway will be urged to join the other three Arctic states in support of a proposed Arctic fisheries agreement.
While in Antarctica:
- 2014/03/01: Guardian(UK): Australian Antarctic Expedition: the power of pictures
- 2014/02/28: MODIS: Enderby Land, Antarctica [on Feb.19]
- 2014/02/26: VIMS: Study projects big thaw for Antarctic sea ice
  Researchers say Ross Sea will reverse current trend, be largely ice free in summer by 2100
The food crisis is ongoing:
- 2014/02/28: GreenGrok: Statistically Speaking: A Wasteland of Food
- 2014/02/28: ABC(Au): Millions potentially facing severe hunger in South Sudan
- 2014/02/28: Eureka: Food production in the northeastern US may need to change if climate does
- 2014/02/27: Salon: "Shameful": Up to a third of the world's food is wasted
- 2014/02/27: BWeek: How a Chemical Used in Rubber Found Its Way Into 500 Food Products
- 2014/02/27: UN: Conflict, migration contributing to food insecurity in Near East, says UN official
- 2014/02/27: CBC: California's crippling drought could cost -- and benefit -- Canadians
  Price of winter produce may rise but lack of rain in Golden State could help farmers export
- 2014/02/26: BBerg: Cattle Rise to Record, Hogs Gain on Shrinking Meat Supply
  Cattle futures rose to a record as ranchers struggle to boost the U.S. herd from a 63-year low, and hogs climbed to a 34-month high after a virus that kills piglets spread, spurring concerns that meat supplies will shrink. Beef output in the U.S., the world's top producer, will fall 5.3 percent this year to 24.35 billion pounds (11.04 million metric tons), the lowest since 1994, the Department of Agriculture has forecast. At the start of this year, the cattle herd fell to 87.7 million head, the lowest since 1951, following drought and high feed costs. Porcine epidemic virus has killed more than 4 million pigs, according to an industry group.
- 2014/02/25: Guardian(UK): Worst drought in decades hits Brazil coffee belt as buyers brace for price rise
- 2014/02/25: TreeHugger: Can the World Feed China? by Lester Brown
  [...]
  The world is transitioning from an era of abundance to one dominated by scarcity. China's turn to the outside world for massive quantities of grain is forcing us to recognize that we are in trouble on the food front. Can we reverse the trends that are tightening food supplies, or is the world moving toward a future of rising food prices and political unrest?
- 2014/02/25: CCurrents: AgriCrisis In India: The Perilous Design Of Neo-liberal Agenda
- 2014/02/24: FAO: Complex causes underpin undernourishment and malnutrition in the Near East and North Africa
  FAO highlights need for strategic regional cooperation on food security
- 2014/02/24: MoJo: It Takes How Much Water to Grow an Almond?!
  Why California's drought is a disaster for your favorite fruits, vegetables, and nuts.
- 2014/02/24: TP:JR: California's Water Crisis Is Becoming A Beer Crisis
The state of the world's fisheries is a concern. See also, and:
- 2014/02/28: EneNews: Massive die-off of oysters and scallops in Pacific Northwest: "Millions of shellfish dying" ...
- 2014/02/27: G&M: Mystery surrounds massive die-off of oysters and scallops off B.C. coast
  When Yves Perreault looks out over the pristine waters of Desolation Sound, where his family annually harvests half a million oysters, he fears for the future of the ocean - and the industry that supplies Canada with half its shellfish. Something is killing oysters and scallops in dramatic numbers, causing suppliers to warn of shortages and producers to worry about the future of their businesses. The cause is unknown, but ocean acidification is the main suspect.
- 2014/02/26: ABC(Au): Foreign fleets pushing Pacific tuna fishing industry to the brink of collapse
- 2014/02/25: CBC: Fish farms seek new feed to fend off 'peak salmon' problem
  Demand for salmon drives technological, feeding changes. With increasing demand and flatlining production, technological solutions are needed to meet the growing market for seafood.
  [...]
  A main issue is the growing demand and limited availability of fish oil and fish meal, ingredients needed to manufacture the food pellets fed to farmed salmon. Stewart Hawthorn is a a board member of the B.C. Salmon Farmer's Association, he said the industry is responding by changing what they feed their farmed fish. With rising fish oil prices and smaller hauls of anchovy and sardines, Hawthorn said they are also looking at algae, yeasts and other organisms to produce the Omega-3 fatty acids in the diet of the farmed fish.
- 2014/02/24: UHawaii: Where have all the codfish gone?
- 2014/02/21: UN: Small-scale fish farmers not benefitting from big-scale fish profits, UN reports
  The international fish trade is breaking records, the United Nations today reported, but benefits from the trade are not trickling down to the small-scale fishing communities which make up the majority of the sector's global workforce. "The proportion of fish production being traded internationally is significant, at around 37 per cent in 2013," said Audun Lem, Chief of UN Food and Agricultural Organization's (FAO) Products, Trade and Marketing Branch. "This makes the fisheries sector one of the most globalised and dynamic industries in world food production." Global fishery production from wild capture fisheries and aquaculture is expected to set a new record in 2013 at 160 million tonnes, up from 157 million tonnes the previous year, while exports will reach $136 billion. The figures are part of preliminary data published ahead of the FAO Sub-Committee on Fish Trade meeting in Bergen, Norway...
Regarding the genetic modification of food:
- 2014/03/02: CCurrents: Contamination, Bio - Pollution And Duplicity: GM Sector Criminality
- 2014/02/28: CCP: Monsanto's Roundup Found in 75% of Air and Rain Samples
- 2014/02/28: ABC(Au): GM canola trial wraps up
- 2014/02/26: Grist: GMO, yeah? 5 surprises from an otherwise boring look at genetically modified crops
- 2014/02/25: NatureN: Getting Crops to 'Talk' to Insects
- 2014/02/25: CCurrents: GMO Industry Puppets In High Places
- 2014/02/24: SciAm:FM: Of Course GMOs Are Not Harmful, But Maybe . . .
- 2014/02/23: Eureka: Team converts sugarcane to a cold-tolerant, oil-producing crop
  A multi-institutional team reports that it can increase sugarcane's geographic range, boost its photosynthetic rate by 30 percent and turn it into an oil-producing crop for biodiesel production. These are only the first steps in a bigger initiative that will turn sugarcane and sorghum -- two of the most productive crop plants known -- into even more productive, oil-generating plants.
- 2014/02/17: SainsburyLab: GM spuds beat blight
And how are we going to feed 9 billion, 10 billion, 15 billion?
- 2014/03/01: CCurrents: Solutions To A Looming Crisis: Climate Change Challenges Creating Further Complications For Nepal's Mountain Farmers
- 2014/02/28: FAO: Boosting food security knowledge in Latin America and the Caribbean
  More than 220 universities join FAO to expand learning opportunities and improve policies A new educational partnership will soon be putting knowledge into the hands of thousands of professionals working in food security and nutrition in Latin America and the Caribbean. Individuals and institutions will be able to gain access to a broad suite of online courses to develop their capacity to improve policies and programmes. The initiative will offer a new Master's programme in Food Security, in addition to e-learning courses currently offered by FAO. The programme partnership will target current and potential policymakers through a vast network of over 220 universities in the region.
- 2014/02/28: WFP: European Union And World Food Programme Sign Agreement To Enhance Food And Nutrition In Guinea-Bissau
- 2014/02/28: WFP: Major Donation From Japan Helps Feed Millions Of Hungry People In 26 Countries
  Yokohama - The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) this month welcomed a US$88.3 million contribution from the Government of Japan. The donation will enable WFP to provide urgently-needed food and nutrition assistance to the most vulnerable people in 26 countries in Africa, Asia and the Middle East, in addition to supporting special humanitarian logistics operations in four of those countries.
- 2014/02/26: BBC: Key food crops head to Arctic 'doomsday vault'
- 2014/02/25: ABC(Au): Reducing the greenhouse cost of steak
- 2014/02/25: NBF: Next generation Super eggs made from plant proteins
In the Western Pacific, Tropical Cyclone Kofi spun up to threaten Fiji:
- 2014/03/02: ABC(Au): Cyclone Kofi avoids Tonga, but wind and rains warnings remain in place
- 2014/03/01: ABC(Au): Cyclone warning in place for Tonga
  A tropical cyclone warning is in force for Tonga, as Tropical Cyclone Kofi moves towards the Pacific nation. The Fiji Meteorological Service says the cyclone was 320 kilometres east to south-east of Ono-i-Lau at 3:00am local time.
- 2014/02/28: NASA: Tropical Cyclone 16P Forms Near Fiji
- 2014/02/28: ABC(Au): Fiji bracing for possible cyclone on the weekend
- 2014/02/26: ABC(Au): Fiji braces for heavy rain and possible cyclone over the weekend
And North of the equator in the Western Pacific:
2014/02/28: NASA: NASA Saw Rainfall Rates Increase Before Birth of Tropical Storm Faxai
While elsewhere in the hurricane wars:
2014/02/27: UN: Shelter, livelihoods remain priorities in typhoon-hit Philippines - top UN relief official
2014/02/25: Eureka: Real time forecast of Hurricane Sandy had track and intensity accuracy
2014/02/25: WMO: Typhoon Committee acts on Haiyan
This week in notable weather:
- 2014/03/02: al Jazeera: Storms slam California -- Much-needed rain causes major problems in the western US state
- 2014/02/28: NASA: NASA Satellite Sees Great Freeze Over Great Lakes
- 2014/02/28: Wunderground: Last Day of Winter Brings Record Cold to Midwest; More Heavy Rain in California
- 2014/02/27: CBC: 'Winter Misery Index' confirms 2014's weather has been particularly miserable
- 2014/02/26: Wunderground: New Blast of Cold Air Invades Midwest U.S.
- 2014/02/24: al Jazeera: An Arctic blast for Kazakhstan
  Central Asian country is hit by blizzards and dangerously low temperatures, upsetting traffic in the capital, Astana.
- 2014/02/24: BBerg: Polar Vortex to Bring More Snow on Return to U.S. This Week
Got any forecasts?
- 2014/02/27: CBC: March weather will be colder than usual, forecasters say -- Long, cold winter means slow transition to spring
This week in the New Normal -- extreme weather:
- 2014/02/26: TMoS: Climate Change Comes Roaring into 2014. Brace Yourself.
- 2014/02/25: Guardian(UK): World begins 2014 with unusual number of extreme weather events
  UN's World Meteorological Organisation says recent extremes of heat, cold and rain are almost certainly interlinked
- 2014/02/25: Guardian(UK): January 2014's extreme weather worldwide - interactive map
- 2014/02/24: Grist: Extreme weather means we have traffic-related musical numbers now
Polar Vortex? Rossby Waves? Blocking Patterns? Arctic Oscillation?
What is the Arctic melt doing to our weather?
- 2014/03/01: PSinclair: The Weekend Wonk: Arctic Ice/Jetstream -The Real Climate Debate
- 2014/02/26: RScribbler: Dr Jennifer Francis and the Year-Long Blocking Pattern
As for GHGs:
- 2014/02/28: RScribbler: CO2 Continues Dangerous Rise, Hits 400.2 Parts Per Million in Late February
- 2014/02/27: Eureka: Methane leaks from palm oil wastewater are a climate concern, CU-Boulder study says
Aerosols are making their presence felt:
- 2014/02/27: IOTD: Haze Blows Across Northeastern Asia [on Feb.20,25]
- 2014/02/26: BBC: Smell of forest pine can limit climate change - researchers
  New research suggests a strong link between the powerful smell of pine trees and climate change. Scientists say they've found a mechanism by which these scented vapours turn into aerosols above boreal forests.
- 2014/02/24: MODIS: Dust storm off West Africa [on Feb.13]
What's up with volcanoes this week?
And on the ENSO front:
- 2014/02/27: WMO: Boost for International El Niño Research Centre
As for the temperature record:
- 2014/03/01: Tamino: Hot Days
- 2014/03/01: ATTPh: Paws for thought!
- 2014/02/28: QuarkSoup: Hadley Centre: 7th-warmest January
- 2014/02/26: TP:JR: Nature Stunner: As Climate Change Speeds Up, The Number Of Extremely Hot Days Is Soaring
- 2014/02/26: QuarkSoup: The Pause That Ain't
- 2014/02/26: CCentral: Climate Change Is Increasing Extreme Heat Globally
- 2014/02/26: CBC: No global warming 'hiatus' for extreme heat days
  Average global temperature might not be best gauge of climate change, researchers suggest The number and intensity of extremely hot days has been increasing steadily despite a "pause" in the rise of average surface temperatures over the past 15 years, a new study has found.
- 2014/02/26: CBC: Extreme heat days multiply despite global warming 'hiatus'
  Average global temperature might not be best gauge of climate change, researchers suggest The number of extremely hot days has been increasing steadily globally despite a "pause" in the rise of average surface temperatures over the past 15 years, a new study has found.
- 2014/02/25: PSinclair: January: 4th Warmest Globally Since 1880
- 2014/02/25: QuarkSoup: How Much Warming Since 1950? This Much.
- 2014/02/25: Tamino: By Request
- 2014/02/24: DD: Graph of the Day: Northern Hemisphere temperature anomaly map forecast for 27 February 2014
- 2014/02/24: Wunderground: January 2014: Earth's 4th Warmest January on Record
- 2014/02/23: Tamino: Uncertain T -- What's the present trend in global surface air temperature?
What's new in proxies?
- 2014/02/23: TSoD: Ghosts of Climates Past - Seventeen - Proxies under Water I
Meanwhile in near earth orbit:
- 2014/02/28: IOTD: Global Precipitation Measurement Mission Launches [on Feb.27]
- 2014/02/28: CNN: Successful launch for rain-tracking [Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM)] satellite
  Satellite will beam back the most precise measurements of rain and snow yet - It is launched in Japan - NASA says it will help both short-term forecasts and long-term climate projections
- 2014/02/25: NatureN: Snow-measuring satellite [GPM] readied for launch
  Joint US-Japan mission will improve severe weather forecasts and climate change models. Researchers who study inputs to the Earth's water cycle are eagerly awaiting the launch this week of a satellite that should provide the most detailed global measurements yet of rain and snow. The data collected by the US$933-million Global Precipitation Measurement Core Observatory (GPM) could improve severe weather forecasts, estimates of freshwater supplies and projections of future climate change. The satellite, a joint effort of NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), is set to launch on 27 February from the Tanegashima Space Center in southwestern Japan.
While in the paleoclimate:
- 2014/02/26: Eureka: Decline of Bronze Age 'megacities' linked to climate change
  Climate change may have contributed to the decline of a city-dwelling civilization in Pakistan and India 4,100 years ago, according to new research
- 2014/02/24: ABC(Au): How snails, clams survived the Great Dying
And in historical times:
- 2014/02/26: SciAm:GB: Computer Models Help Unravel Mystery of Puebloans' Disappearance
What's the State of the Oceans?:
- 2014/02/27: G&M: Mystery surrounds massive die-off of oysters and scallops off B.C. coast
- 2014/02/27: SciNow: 3D Maps Reveal a Lead-Laced Ocean
- 2014/02/26: PostMedia: Acidic water blamed for West Coast scallop die-off
  Nanaimo-based Island Scallops has shut down its processing plant and laid off a third of its workforce Ten million scallops that have died in the waters near Qualicum Beach due to rising ocean acidity are the latest victims in a series of marine die-offs that have plagued the West Coast for a decade. Human-caused carbon dioxide emissions in the atmosphere are being absorbed by the ocean and may have pushed local waters through a "tipping point" of acidity beyond which shellfish cannot survive, according to Chris Harley, a marine ecologist at the University of B.C.
- 2014/02/25: NatureN: Digital atlas shows oceans' iron levels -- Three-dimensional map reveals global sources and sinks for trace metals
And the State of the Biosphere?
- 2014/02/27: ABC(Au): New website WildLeaks invites whistleblowers in Asia-Pacific to report wildlife crime
- 2014/02/26: BBC: Hundreds of Olive Ridley turtles found dead in India
  More than 900 Olive Ridley turtles have been found dead along the coast of the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, conservationists say. Wildlife groups said trawlers fishing illegally had not used devices to stop turtles getting entangled in nets.
- 2014/02/26: SciAm:TZ: Reasons for really liking wildebeest
And on the extinction watch:
- 2014/02/24: Grist: This new whistleblowing site wants to be the WikiLeaks of poaching
- 2014/02/24: SciAm:EC: Crisis in Madagascar: 90 Percent of Lemur Species Are Threatened with Extinction
- 2014/02/24: TreeHugger: 42 countries have no laws against killing endangered sea turtles (40,000+ are 'legally' killed each year)
- 2014/02/24: DD: Lemurs could be extinct 'very soon'
  "One cyclone or other natural event could wipe out the entire population. In fact, anybody who decides to go out lemur hunting could tip the species over the edge."
The bees and Colony Collapse Disorder are a constant concern. And then, there are the Neonicotinoids:
- 2014/02/24: Eureka: As hubs for bees and pollinators, flowers may be crucial in disease transmission
More GW impacts are being seen:
- 2014/02/28: CBC: 'Rock snot' found to be native algae species in N.B.
  Didymo was previously thought to be an invasive species in Eastern Canada New research reveals a nasty, mucus-like algae bloom that emerged in Eastern Canada in 2006 may not be an invasive species after all. Instead, it appears to be a native species that was once subdued by cooler temperatures, but is now proliferating because of global warming.
- 2014/02/28: ABC(Au): Climate change blamed for the changing foraging habits of the flesh-footed shearwater
  Researchers have found climate change is forcing some birds to travel further and change their diets. A paper published in the journal Global Change Biology shows the diet of the flesh-footed shearwater has changed dramatically over the past 75 years.
- 2014/02/25: TP:JR: IPCC: Climate Impacts 'Are Very Evident, They're Widespread' And 'We Are Not Prepared'
- 2014/02/24: TheConversation: Killer climate: tens of thousands of flying foxes dead in a day
- 2014/02/24: RawStory: Drought conditions in Colorado create plague of tumbleweeds clogging roads and waterways
- 2014/02/22: RealEconomics: Climate change and the innocents
And then there are the world's forests:
- 2014/02/27: CleanTechnica: Global Forest Watch Data On Canadian & US Forests
- 2014/02/25: BBC: Ancient woodland losses 'not accounted for', say campaigners
  The scale of ancient woodland being lost to development in Britain is being made worse because of a lack of accurate data. The Woodland Trust says that systems are so poor, the government cannot say how much ancient forest has disappeared in the last 10 years.
- 2014/02/24: TheConversation: Catch-22: big trees fight climate change but suffer in the heat
- 2014/02/24: ScienceInsider: The World's Forests at Your Fingertips
Climate refugees are becoming an issue:
Aerosols affect the climate, but they also affect people's health:
- 2014/02/26: ABC(Au): Smog in northern China reaches 'crisis' point
  For the past week, much of north China has been blanketed in a thick layer of hazardous pollution. Children are being kept indoors, many people won't leave their homes without protective masks, and crops are said to be dying for lack of sunlight. The World Health Organization has labelled it a 'crisis'.
- 2014/02/25: ABC(Au): Beijing smog prompts World Health Organisation to declare crisis
- 2014/02/23: al Jazeera: Hazardous pollution levels choke Beijing
  Air quality in the Chinese capital plunges to hazardous levels.
On the tornado front:
As for heatwaves and wild fires:
Corals are a bellwether of the ocean's health:
- 2014/02/27: Eureka: Scientists highlight the importance of nutrients for coral reefs
Acidification is changing the oceans:
Glaciers are melting:
Sea levels are rising:
As for hydrological cycle disruptions [floods & droughts]:
- 2014/03/01: Dosbat: UK Floods In Context
- 2014/03/01: DD: Storm soaks California, but far from a drought-breaker...
- 2014/03/01: TP:JR: Massive Storm Pummels California, But Does Little To Alleviate Its Drought Crisis
- 2014/03/01: CNN: After forest fires and drought, now rains torment Southern California
  Rains are the first since the weather system behind the drought collapsed - Though desperately needed, the rain has not been great news - The deluge has come down at more than an inch an hour at times - Rain and cold will move, hitting the East Coast Monday
- 2014/02/28: NASA: GOES-West Satellite Eyes Soggy Storm Approaching California
- 2014/02/28: ABC(Au): Drought forces Malaysia to expand water rationing around Kuala Lumpur
- 2014/02/28: ABC(Au): 'Stradbroke' station Dajarra becomes 'Stradbroke' Island
- 2014/02/27: Wunderground: Heavy Rains Make Modest Dent in California Drought
- 2014/02/27: BBC: Met Office confirms the wettest winter on record for UK
- 2014/02/26: TMoS: California Dreamin', er Praying for Rain
- 2014/02/26: ABC(Au): Interactive: 100 years of drought [& flood] in Australia
- 2014/02/26: DD: Image of the Day: Folsom Lake at 17 percent of capacity, 16 January 2014
- 2014/02/26: DD: Brazil's epic drought a taste of the future
  "Many of the coffee plantations in these areas will probably have to be abandoned"
- 2014/02/26: DD: Record drought withers California's Cachuma Lake
- 2014/02/26: al Jazeera: Drought hits Southeast Asia
  Malaysia, Singapore and southern Thailand have been hit by an unusual spell of hot dry weather.
- 2014/02/26: Gizmodo: How Bad Is California's Drought? This Bad
- 2014/02/25: Dosbat: UK Summer Rainfall - Some note on the Jetstream
- 2014/02/25: Guardian(UK): Worst drought in decades hits Brazil coffee belt as buyers brace for price rise
- 2014/02/25: PSinclair: In the UK, Years of Erosion in a Month
- 2014/02/25: ABC(Au): Drought leads to water rationing in Malaysia's Selangor state
- 2014/02/24: Resilience: Can Austin survive the current Texas drought? Part 1
- 2014/02/24: WSWS: California enters third year of severe drought
  California has begun a third year of a progressively severe drought, which some experts have warned will be the worst in the state's recorded history. The drought is both a natural and a social disaster, with the impact of declining rainfall and snowfall greatly exacerbated by the lack of any seriously organized response under the profit system. A lack of rational planning and infrastructure investment will make the drought a devastating experience for hundreds of thousands of agriculture workers, farmers, and ranchers -- most of whom were already experiencing extremely difficult conditions.
First, stop subsidizing fossil fuels
Second, put a price on carbon
Third, begin to reduce the human population
And elsewhere on the mitigation front:
- 2014/02/28: PoliticsReSpun: Science + Good Policy = Averting Climate Breakdown: Go!
Consider transportation & GHG production:
While in the endless quest for zero energy, sustainable buildings and practical codes:
- 2014/02/27: TreeHugger: Ohio Senate passes bill banning LEED certification
As for carbon sequestration:
- 2014/02/24: BBC: Peterhead carbon capture project secures design funding
  Multi-million pound funding to help with design costs for a planned carbon capture and storage plant at Peterhead has been unveiled by the UK government. Shell and Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE) are behind the scheme to transform the town's power station. It is one of two preferred bidders in a £1bn competition to encourage the development of carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology.
- 2014/02/24: FuelFix: Shell reaches landmark with world's first industrial carbon capture project
Large scale geo-engineering keeps popping up:
What's new in conservation?
- 2014/02/28: NatureN: Marine reserves planned around commercial interests
- 2014/02/26: BBC: Key food crops head to Arctic 'doomsday vault'
  More than 20,000 crops from more than 100 nations have arrived at a "Doomsday vault" in the Arctic Circle. The latest delivery coincides with the sixth anniversary of the frozen depository in Svalbard, which now houses more than 800,000 samples.
What's new in restoration?
- 2014/02/28: CleanTechnica: New Math: Solar Power + Salt Water = Sahara Forest
While on the adaptation front:
- 2014/02/27: ABC(Au): Planning to adapt to climate change on Eyre Peninsula
- 2014/02/25: Guardian(UK): UK floods: raise roads and redesign houses, engineers say
  Redesigned houses, energy-generating coastal defences and raised roads preferable to dredging or tree-planting
Meanwhile in the journals:
And other significant documents:
As for miscellaneous science:
In the science organizations:
- 2014/02/28: ScienceInsider: Slow Recovery for Embattled Spanish Research Agency
What developments in the ongoing struggle for Open Science?
- 2014/02/24: PLoS:EveryONE: PLOS' New Data Policy: Public Access to Data
Regarding Hansen:
- 2014/02/26: ScienceInsider: Hansen's Climate Science and Advocacy Project Under Way - Program on Climate Science, Awareness and Solutions
Regarding Gershwin:
- 2014/02/25: SciAm:RP: In Conversation with Lisa-Anne Gershwin, Jellyfish Savant
The Pielke fan clubbe, alas:
Meanwhile at the UN:
And on the carbon trading front:
- 2014/02/27: Grist: America's first carbon-trading program [RGGI] can boast some impressive numbers
- 2014/02/26: Reuters: EU plan to cut supply of carbon permits passes into law
  A plan to prop up EU carbon prices was published in the official journal of the European Union on Wednesday, enacting into law the so-called backloading measure that keeps on track the European Commission's aim to allow the withdrawal of a maximum 400 million permits this year. The plan involves cutting the supply of permits to be sold under the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) in an effort to incentivize more investment in low carbon technologies.
- 2014/02/24: RTCC: 'Imagination' required to save UN carbon market says new chair
  Hugh Sealy says Clean Development Mechanism needs to hunt for new markets in order to flourish The UN's carbon market requires "bold" action to get it back on track, the new chair of its governing panel has warned. Hugh Sealy, an environmental scientist from Barbados, said the Clean Development Mechanism is a "fantastic tool" but it needed "imagination" to encourage greater use.
The idea of a carbon tax is still bouncing around:
- 2014/02/26: RTCC: South Africa delays carbon tax amid industry pressure
- 2014/02/25: TP:JR: Citing 'Climate Crisis,' Massachusetts Gov. Candidate Berwick Calls For Carbon Tax
The debate over the optimal carbon reduction strategy resurrected:
- 2014/02/28: Resilience: State Senator's Proposal Moves from Cap & Trade to Fee & Rebate
On the international political front, tensions continue as the empire leans on Iran:
- 2014/03/02: AntiWar: Resolving Nuclear Arms Claims Hinges on Iran’s Demand for Documents
- 2014/03/01: Guardian(UK): Rouhani says Iran will not acquire nuclear weapons 'on principle'
  President says religion forbids pursuit of WMDs - Generals told to let diplomacy do its work
- 2014/02/26: DailyTimes(Pk): Pak-Iran gas pipeline not possible due to US curbs
  Islamabad: Pakistan on Tuesday said that work on a pipeline to import gas from Iran cannot proceed because of sanctions imposed by the United States and the European Union on Tehran.
- 2014/02/26: AntiWar: Pakistan: US Won't Let Us Finish Iran Gas Pipeline
- 2014/02/24: TMoS: Is the U.S. Working to Sabotage Its Nuke Deal with Iran?
South [& East] China Sea tension persists:
- 2014/02/26: NBF: China and Japans conflict over five small islands
- 2014/02/26: BBC: Chinese sue Japan firms over forced World War Two labour
- 2014/02/26: Asia Times: New fault lines in the South China Sea
- 2014/02/24: BBC: Philippines says China 'fired water cannon' on Filipino fishermen
  A Chinese vessel has fired a water cannon at Filipino fishermen near a disputed shoal in the South China Sea, a top Philippine official says.
In the solar squabbles:
These 'free trade' treaties should be called corporate control treaties:
- 2014/02/28: EconView: Paul Krugman: No Big Deal -- It's not clear that the Trans-Pacific Partnership is a good idea
- 2014/02/27: EurActiv: TTIP 'challenged' by environmental critics, EU says
  Plans for a sweeping EU-US free trade deal known as TTIP risk being blown off course by civil society fears about the damage it could wreak on environmental and social protections, according to a leaked EU document seen by EurActiv.
- 2014/02/25: BBC: Trans-Pacific Partnership: No deal at Singapore meeting
  An ambitious 12-nation free trade plan, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), has hit a new roadblock after four days of negotiations in Singapore.
- 2014/02/25: BBerg: Pacific Trade Talks End Without Pact on Market Access Issues
  Ministers negotiating a U.S.-led trade pact to link countries around the Pacific failed to resolve questions on market access during talks in Singapore, centered around Japan's protection of its farmers. "Market access is in some aspects the heart and soul of any trade agreement so until that's done, we don't have an agreement," New Zealand Trade Minister Tim Groser told reporters after four days of talks on the Trans-Pacific Partnership. "We're still working on the meat and potatoes here, which is what trade access is about." Negotiators on the TPP, an agreement that would cover an area with about $28 trillion in annual economic output, have faced differences over issues from agricultural tariffs to intellectual property. Leaders from the U.S. to Malaysia and Japan must also deal with opposition to the pact from lawmakers at home, which will have to be overcome once the initial pact is finalized. The deadline for completion last year was missed and ministers are no longer publicly stating a timeframe for the agreement to be wrapped up...
As for miscellaneous international political happenings:
Climate Change is a threat multiplier exacerbating existing conflicts in food, energy, water, race, resources, religion, ideology ... etc.:
- 2014/02/28: Guardian(UK): Global riot epidemic due to demise of cheap fossil fuels
- 2014/02/24: DD: Climate change looming as threat to U.S. national security
  "There's a long chain of events between climate change to conflict to war, but that doesn't mean it doesn't exist"
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:
- 2014/02/27: Guardian(UK): Millennials use finance to challenge universities' fossil fuel addiction
  Student movements in the US are calling for universities to divest from carbon assets in favour of clean energy
- 2014/02/24: 350orBust: Trinity-St. Paul's United Church Votes to Divest from Fossil Fuel Companies
- 2014/02/24: PaiD: Putting Their Money Where Their Beliefs Lie
Regarding Water Politics and Business; See also:
- 2014/03/02: JFleck: Stuff I wrote elsewhere: decision-making under scientific uncertainty
- 2014/03/01: TMoS: Maude Barlow's Water Plea
- 2014/03/01: JFleck: How much should Rio Rancho charge for this water?
- 2014/02/28: JFleck: The ag water conservation paradox
- 2014/02/28: JFleck: Stuff I wrote elsewhere: "an insatiable greed for water"
- 2014/02/27: EurActiv: Europe 'decoupling' water pollution from economic growth, EEA says
  Over the past decade the levels of nutrient pollution in Europe's waters fell despite economic growth and an increasing population, according to statistics compiled by the European Environmental Agency (EEA).
- 2014/02/26: Eureka: Ambitious new pollution targets needed to protect Lake Erie from massive 'dead zone'
- 2014/02/25: CBC: Lake Erie's algae blooms threaten its survival
  'It was all right 10 to 15 years ago, but not now' Lake Erie, once a success story about how a polluted lake can be brought back to life, is once again struggling to survive. During the summer months, the most southern of the five Great Lakes is smothering under huge blooms of green algae, often thousands of square kilometres in size.
- 2014/02/24: Grist: Florida judge rules it's illegal to unhook from the city's water system
- 2014/02/24: Atlantic: American Aqueduct: The Great California Water Saga
  A $25 billion plan, a small town, and a half-century of wrangling over the most important resource in the biggest state
- 2014/02/24: ABC(Au): Solomon Islands attorney-general calls for calm over water dispute
  The Solomon Islands attorney-general is appealing for peace until a decision is reached over a disputed water source vital for the country's Western Province. The water source that supplies the urban centres of Noro and Munda has been closed several times over the last 30 years, and most recently just a few weeks ago. Landowners from three groups are contesting ownership of the site.
Regarding science education:
- 2014/02/28: FAO: Boosting food security knowledge in Latin America and the Caribbean
- 2014/02/25: Guardian(UK): Teaching children that dinosaurs didn't exist: how public schools fail their brief
Climate Justice? You want to talk about Climate Justice?
- 2014/02/28: Guardian(UK): Global warming action: good or bad for the poor?
While in the UK:
- 2014/02/28: BBC: Storms and floods unearth unexploded wartime bombs
  There has been a dramatic increase in the number of wartime bombs unearthed because of the winter storms and flooding. Bomb disposal teams in the South West have dealt with double the number of unexploded ordnance than in the same period last year. Since mid December, the Royal Navy's Southern Dive Unit has recovered or disposed of 244 items of ordnance. During the same period last year, they dealt with just 108 items.
- 2014/02/27: Resilience: Climate politics: a melting glacier...[UK pol]
- 2014/02/26: Guardian(UK): Climate change one of the most serious threats we face, says David Cameron
- 2014/02/26: RTCC: Cameron tells UK Parliament climate change a "serious threat"
- 2014/02/26: RTCC: Prescott says UK government is "confused" about climate change
- 2014/02/25: BBC: Ancient woodland losses 'not accounted for', say campaigners
- 2014/02/25: BBC: UK floods: Call for Budget funding increase for defences
- 2014/02/25: Guardian(UK): UK floods: raise roads and redesign houses, engineers say
- 2014/02/25: BBC: National Farmers' Union condemns flooding plans
  The National Farmers' Union (NFU) has condemned "ludicrous" plans to flood farms on high ground to prevent homes and businesses in towns from being hit. Engineers have proposed creating ponds and bogs on high ground to prevent rainfall rushing down hills and causing flooding.
- 2014/02/24: BBC: Blue lagoons and higher roads to curb flood threat?
  Would a large lagoon the size of 12,000 football fields have prevented the flooding of the Somerset Levels? According to Roger Falconer, professor of water engineering at Cardiff University, the Bridgewater Bay Lagoon proposal would have helped the waters flow away from the flat lands of the county.
- 2014/02/24: BBC: Peterhead carbon capture project secures design funding
- 2014/02/24: Guardian(UK): Boost for North Sea oil and gas unveiled as UK cabinet meets in Scotland
And in Europe:
- 2014/02/28: EurActiv: Manufacturers resume fight for EU carbon market shake-up
  European manufacturers' lobby IFIEC Europe on Thursday (27 February) launched an attack on the EU's Emissions Trading System (ETS), opposing current reform plans and calling for drastic changes to prevent a flight of investment abroad.
  [...]
  Manufacturers have long lobbied against measures to strengthen the system while countries outside the European Union are not adopting comparable policies to tackle climate change.
- 2014/02/28: EurActiv: Europe abandons hopes of US-style shale gas revolution
  Shale gas has had a "minimal impact" on the US's manufacturing industry, and will have even less significance for Europe, according to a new report by the Institute for Sustainable Development and International Relations (IDDRI). In Europe, industrialists are abandoning hopes of a similar revolution, at least in the short- to medium-term.
- 2014/02/28: EUO: Industry bosses demand EU action on soaring energy prices
  EU leaders must address rising energy prices and climate policies which are crippling the bloc's manufacturing sector, according to a manifesto signed by more than 100 industry bosses.
- 2014/02/28: RTCC: Merkel: UK and Germany have "common ground" on climate strategy
- 2014/02/28: Lenz: Stop All Subsidies for Renewable Energy in Germany!
- 2014/02/27: RTCC: EU energy utilities 'risk demise' by ignoring renewables revolution
  Cash-strapped companies that built too many coal and gas plants are lobbying strongly against tough EU targets Europe's top ten energy utilities which shunned renewables are trying to protect loss-making fossil-fuelled plants by derailing tough binding targets for wind and solar, Greenpeace said in a report today.
- 2014/02/27: EurActiv: EU warned 'do not play with fire' over energy rebates for German industry
  During a recent visit to Brussels, German energy minister Sigmar Gabriel praised EU efforts for re-industrialisation. But he also fiercely defended industrial exemptions from his country's renewable energy surcharge, warning the European Commission not to "play with fire" ahead of the EU elections, EurActiv Germany reports.
- 2014/02/26: Reuters: EU plan to cut supply of carbon permits passes into law
- 2014/02/26: Reuters: Germany must scrap its green energy law, say experts
  A commission of experts appointed by the German parliament has recommended Chancellor Angela Merkel's government to abolish all subsidies for green energy, highlighting mounting opposition to plans to reform instead of scrap the system. Economy and Energy Minister Sigmar Gabriel is finalising much-disputed changes to the Renewable Energy Law (EEG) which includes reductions in subsidies for green energy before he presents it to cabinet in early April. Shifting Europe's biggest economy to energy from the sun and wind and away from nuclear and fossil fuels is a top priority of Merkel's new right-left coalition government. But the project, which offers some 20 billion euros in green subsidies a year and is paid for by electricity users, has been dogged by the competing interests of industry, a booming green sector and the country's 16 federal states.
- 2014/02/26: RTCC: MEPs back tougher EU CO2 emissions standard for cars
  The European Parliament yesterday backed the world's most stringent standards on carbon dioxide emissions for new cars, a move that could shrink the EU's carbon footprint by 442 million tonnes by 2030. The new rules limit emissions to 95 grams of carbon dioxide per kilometre (g/km) as an average across all new cars sold in the 28-nation bloc from 2021, compared with an existing limit of 130 g/km.
- 2014/02/26: EurActiv: EU's re-industrialisation dream 'hostage' of high energy prices
  Business representatives were unimpressed by last week's meeting of EU industry ministers, who backed a "European industrial renaissance" without tackling the issue of high energy prices. Hopes are fading that the European Commission can match "nice words" with action...
- 2014/02/25: UCSUSA:B: Germany Goes for Oil Savings Gold
- 2014/02/25: EurActiv: EU parliament backs tougher car emissions limits
- 2014/02/25: EUO: MEPs approve watered-down CO2 targets
- 2014/02/25: EurActiv: EU eyes softer climate policies to fuel 'industrial renaissance'
  As Europe starts to emerge from its worst recession since the Second World War, policymakers are reconsidering the EU's global leadership on climate change for fear that it might hinder the fledgling recovery.
- 2014/02/24: EurActiv: Greens present 'Green New Deal' at campaign convention
  The European Green Party (EGP) gathered national members to adopt a common programme for the EU elections and motivate national sympathisers to fight negative polling results, in an electoral convention in Brussels on Saturday (22 February). Some two hundred people gathered in Brussels to watch the official launch of the European Green Party's campaign for the EU election campaign in May.
Meanwhile in Australia:
- 2014/02/27: PeakEnergy: The true reason for tripling gas prices
  [...] The true reason for the rise is that the building of natural gas liquefaction plants in Gladstone will soon allow gas producers on Australia's east coast to export their gas and obtain the much higher prices paid on the world market.
- 2014/03/01: SimpleC: Renewable energy beats 'clean coal' on cost in Australia
- 2014/03/01: JQuiggin: Toxic projects
- 2014/02/28: ABC(Au): New scheme allows Canberra households to buy-in to community-owned solar
- 2014/02/28: RNE: Community solar targeted by ACT's latest PV incentive
- 2014/02/28: RNE: Wind energy cut electricity prices by 40% in heatwaves
- 2014/02/28: NatureN: Marine reserves planned around commercial interests
  Australia's seas tend to be set aside only where mining and fishing are not affected, study warns.
- 2014/02/28: ABC(Au): Reef future fires passionate studio debate
  The Queensland Environment Minister Andrew Powell and Greens Senator Larissa Waters go toe to toe in the studio over the reef and the decision to dump dredge spoil in the World Heritage Area.
- 2014/02/28: ABC(Au): Grape and wine group calls for gas moratorium
- 2014/02/28: ABC(Au): Farmers rally as divisions deepen over Santos's Pilliga CSG project near Narrabri
- 2014/02/28: ABC(Au): New front in war on CSG opens in NSW Riverina as farmers rebel over Grainger Energy exploration plans
- 2014/02/28: ABC(Au): [Tasmanian] Nationals push for parliamentary inquiry into farmland fracking
- 2014/02/28: TP:JR: Australia's Renewables Are Driving Down Costs And Keeping Electricity Reliable In Extreme Heat
- 2014/02/27: ABC(Au): Workplaces need 'policy steer' to reduce carbon emissions, expert says
- 2014/02/27: ABC(Au):TDU: Lowering emissions costs less than you might think
  The Climate Change Authority has found a $100 drop in GNI per person by 2020 is enough for Australia to make a credible contribution to tackling global warming, writes Clive Hamilton.
- 2014/02/27: ABC(Au): Renewable energy expansion planned in ACT
- 2014/02/27: ABC(Au): James Ashby wins appeal against Federal Court decision to throw out case against Peter Slipper
- 2014/02/27: RNE: ACT extends renewables FiT to 550MW to drive big solar, wind
- 2014/02/27: TheConversation: Steep emissions cuts needed or we'll blow Australia's carbon budget: climate authority
- 2014/02/27: ABC(Au): Wyoming farmer will speak to Narrabri audience about his CSG experiences
  An audience in Narrabri will tonight hear from a Wyoming farmer who says his water supplies have been contaminated by coal seam gas development.
- 2014/02/27: ABC(Au): Australia must triple carbon emissions reduction target: Climate Change Authority
- 2014/02/27: ABC(Au): Conservation group [NQCC] seeks to overturn reef dump plan
  [...] The North Queensland Conservation Council (NQCC) is trying to overturn the approval to dump three million cubic metres of spoil in the marine park as part of the Abbot Point coal terminal expansion.
  [...] Jeremy Tager from NQCC says they have taken the matter to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal in Brisbane, citing several concerns.
- 2014/02/27: ABC(Au): Climate Authority tells Government to do more on climate change
- 2014/02/27: ABC(Au): Move to limit ideological objections to Qld mining projects
  The Queensland Government is looking to restrict who can object to mining applications, in a bid to crack down on what it calls philosophical opposition to projects. Currently any group or person can object to applications, potentially sending the decision to the Land Court.
- 2014/02/27: TP:JR: Green Group [NQCC] Could Save The Great Barrier Reef From 3 Million Cubic Meters Of Dredging Waste
- 2014/02/27: ABC(Au): Planning to adapt to climate change on EP
  A plan for how Eyre Peninsula can best adapt to climate change has been launched this week after three years of consultation. It's been prepared by representatives from the EP Interim Climate Change Agreement - which includes sectors such as local government, NRM boards, emergency services, fishing and agriculture. Chief executive of EPICCA Cecilia Woolford says it should be a valuable asset for the region.
- 2014/02/26: Guardian(UK): Coalition 'must treble minimum emissions target to stay credible'
  Climate Change Authority says Coalition needs to reduce greenhouse gases to 15% below 2000 levels by 2020
- 2014/02/26: TheConversation: Running on empty: Australia's risky approach to oil supplies
- 2014/02/25: TheConversation: Three more ways to cut carbon emissions and save money, whatever the policy
- 2014/02/25: RNE: Call to cut 'green tape' as Sydney Town Hall trigen plan endorsed
- 2014/02/25: RNE: Raising bar on car emissions could halve fuel costs: report
- 2014/02/24: Guardian(UK): To further tackle climate change, Sydney needs new laws, not money
- 2014/02/24: RNE: Australia's lip service at G20; our fossil fuel subsidies to increase!
- 2014/02/24: RNE: Running on empty: Australia's dependence on imported fossil fuels
- 2014/02/24: ABC(Au): No resolution in dispute between Liberals and Nationals over the NSW seat of Goulburn
Now we get to watch the suppository of wisdom destroy what little Australia has done to fight climate change:
- 2014/03/02: ABC(Au): Green Army to be paid less than minimum wage, Environment Minister Greg Hunt confirms
  The Federal Government has confirmed it will pay thousands of young people as little as $300 a week to work on conservation projects as part of its so-called Green Army. When it is fully rolled out, the Government expects 15,000 people aged between 17 and 24 will work up to 30 hours a week under the program.
- 2014/03/02: ABC(Au): Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority was last year against dumping of dredge spoils, documents show
  The authority protecting the Great Barrier Reef believed last year that a proposal to dump three million cubic metres of dredge spoils in the Marine Park area should be refused, new documents show. In January this year the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA) approved the dumping. Greenpeace's Queensland campaigner Louise Matthiesson says the question must be asked - what changed?
- 2014/02/28: ABC(Au): Nothing direct about Direct Action
  The Abbott government needs to shed its mindless opposition to carbon pricing and embrace a policy that actually has a chance of addressing climate change, unlike Direct Action.
- 2014/02/28: RTCC: Australia climate cuts "insulting sovereignty of other countries"
  Leading UK government climate advisor [Deben] says Canberra's cuts to climate policy are "odd" and "selfish" The Australian government is insulting the sovereignty of other countries with plans to dismantle its climate change policies says an advisor to the UK government.
- 2014/02/28: ABC(Au): Environment Minister delegates offshore petroleum permits
  The power to approve offshore oil and gas projects has been handed today to a government agency by the Environment and Industry Ministers. Minister for Industry Ian Macfarlane and Minister for the Environment Greg Hunt named the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority (NOPSEMA) as the sole assessor for offshore petroleum exploration and extraction in Australian waters. In a statement, Mr Hunt said the move would 'streamline' approvals for oil and gas development.
- 2014/02/28: ABC(Au):TDU: Conflict of interest claims get lost in the noise
  An inopportune stoush with the military sank Labor's opportunity to further pursue Assistant Health Minister Fiona Nash over unexplained conflict of interest allegations, writes Barrie Cassidy.
- 2014/02/27: Guardian(UK): Tony Abbott's scientific and business advisers at odds over climate change
- 2014/02/27: RNE: Abbott's climate policy: 'So unintellectual to as to be unacceptable'
- 2014/02/26: TheConversation: Australia's environment minister could soon be above the law
- 2014/02/25: Guardian(UK): Australia's most effective pseudoscience: climate change denial
  The motivated rejection of science permeates the most powerful office in our country. No other pseudoscientific venture can lay claim to such a gleaming trophy
- 2014/02/25: Guardian(UK): Drought: no amount of assistance can fix a land turned permanently to dust
  Droughts are set to be more frequent, longer and more severe. By not pursuing effective policies to combat climate change, the Australian government is failing farmers
- 2014/02/24: Guardian(UK): Banks and big business warn Direct Action will lift costs and deter projects
- 2014/02/24: Guardian(UK): Australia's renewables adviser scrapes the bottom of the climate denialist barrel
  Dick Warburton cites a long-debunked petition to argue climate scientists are split on the causes of global warming
- 2014/02/24: IndependentAustralia: Lock the gates and take to the streets for climate change justice
- 2014/02/24: WtD: Lock the gates and take to the streets for climate change justice (my first article as a citizen journalist)
- 2014/02/24: ABC(Au): Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority's Tony Mooney and Jon Grayson cleared of conflict of interest
  Two board members of the agency responsible for protecting the Great Barrier Reef have been cleared of having a conflict of interest. Federal Environment Minister Greg Hunt ordered an inquiry after claims that Tony Mooney and Jon Grayson held interests in companies that could benefit from expanding coal and gas production near the reef. Mr Mooney is an executive at a coal company, while Mr Grayson is the state's top public servant and holds shares in a gas firm.
- 2014/02/07: Politicoid: Wingnut of the Week - Australian PM Tony Abbott
The Abbott government has ordered a review of the renewable energy target:
After years of wrangling, the Murray Darling Basin Plan is in place, but the water management fights are far from finished:
- 2014/02/28: ABC(Au): Water infrastructure spending welcomed
  Western communities are already proposing infrastructure projects in the wake of New South Wales signing up to the Murray-Darling Basin plan.
- 2014/02/28: ABC(Au): MDB sign-off; funds for weather radar black spot?
- 2014/02/28: ABC(Au): Dry times [in NSW] see Rocky Creek Dam levels drop below 70 per cent
- 2014/02/27: ABC(Au): Tasmanian template for drought proofing
  As preparations begin for the opening of Tasmania's biggest irrigation scheme, the CEO of Tasmanian Irrigation Chris Oldfield says the template used for the schemes could be transferred to the mainland.
- 2014/02/27: ABC(Au): NSW, Queensland agree on Basin Plan implementation
- 2014/02/27: ABC(Au):NSW signs up to MDB inter-governmental agreement
- 2014/02/27: ABC(Au): NSW signs up to Murray-Darling Basin water deal
- 2014/02/26: ABC(Au): Drought package: $320 million in funding for NSW and Queensland farmers
- 2014/02/26: ABC(Au): Drought package: Farmers cautiously welcome 'hand-up', as pain of dry lingers
- 2014/02/26: ABC(Au): Devil in the drought assistance detail: WAFarmers
- 2014/02/25: ABC(Au): Federal Government begins Condamine Alluvium buyback
- 2014/02/26: ABC(Au): Millions announced for western [NSW] water projects
- 2014/02/26: Guardian(UK): Drought-stricken farmers to receive $320m lifeline from government
  Tony Abbott unveils 'refined' assistance package for NSW and Queensland after his recent tour of the regions
- 2014/02/25: ABC(Au): SA Libs angry about unused irrigation funds
- 2014/02/25: ABC(Au): Cameras keep watch on flooded waterways
  A network of solar-powered cameras has been capturing photos of flooded rivers and streams in remote Queensland, as part of a new early warning system.
- 2014/02/24: ABC(Au): $1m data network for Goldenfields expected to save 100 megalitres of water [by early detection of leaks on large farms]
The coal mine fire at Morwell is becoming iconic:
- 2014/03/01: ABC(Au): Morwell fire: Vulnerable residents advised to leave as government flags inquiry into Hazelwood mine fire
- 2014/02/28: ABC(Au): Morwell mine fire: Vulnerable residents in Morwell South urged to relocate
- 2014/02/28: WSWS: Australian coal mine fire endangers working-class town
  Residents of Morwell, 130 kilometres east of Melbourne in Victoria, have been left to fend for themselves amid a coal mine fire that has burnt since February 9. Despite health authorities warning about the dangers of the toxic smoke and ash shrouding the town, Morwell's 13,000 people have received virtually no assistance from either the state government or the corporate mine owners. The open cut coal mine, less than 500 metres from Morwell, is part of the Hazelwood Power station and mine owned by the French transnational corporation GDF Suez. A bushfire spread to disused sections of the mine earlier this month and is now burning over 2.5 kilometres on three different levels of the mine. Fire Services Commissioner Craig Lapsley said the best-case scenario is that the fire will be extinguished within 10 to 14 days, but "the worst-case scenario is a long-term deep-seated fire in coal that's there for some time."
- 2014/02/28: ABC(Au): Vulnerable residents advised to leave Morwell, Victoria, to escape effects of coal fire
- 2014/02/28: TP:JR: Three Accidental Coal Fires That Have Been Burning For Weeks, Months, And Decades
- 2014/02/28: TheConversation: Young and old told to leave Morwell South amid smoke fears
- 2014/02/27: TheConversation: Victoria's coal fire poses a rare challenge for firefighting
- 2014/02/27: ABC(Au): The Victorian Government may seek money from Hazelwood's operator for the ongoing fire fight at the Morwell coal pit
- 2014/02/26: ABC(Au): Evacuation plan for Morwell
  Victorian authorities say they have an evacuation plan ready for the town of Morwell, east of Melbourne, should pollution from a fire burning at a nearby coal mine gets any worse.
- 2014/02/26: ABC(Au): Morwell mine fire: Residents consider class action amid fears coal may burn for months
- 2014/02/24: ABC(Au): Premier says no need to relocate Morwell residents as authorities warn of another day of fire danger
  Authorities say there is no need yet to evacuate the area in and around Morwell despite the fire at the nearby Hazelwood open cut mine continuing to burn. It is likely the fire will continue to burn for another two weeks.
The Manus Island detention centre is an abomination:
- 2014/03/01: Guardian(UK): Manus Island a 'war zone' on night of unrest, video footage reveals
- 2014/02/27: Guardian(UK): Scott Morrison pledges $48m to NT police to monitor detention centres
- 2014/02/27: Guardian(UK): If G4S is to blame for Manus violence, the government has blood on its hands
  The private security firm's alleged role in the Manus riots will not surprise anyone familiar with the history of serious abuse allegations faced by the company, from South Africa to the UK
- 2014/02/27: al Jazeera: Australia: Deterrence propaganda?
  Australia's campaign of migration deterrence is not an effective method of addressing human trafficking.
- 2014/02/27: WSWS: More evidence about atrocity at Australian-run refugee camp
- 2014/02/27: ABC(Au): PNG police report on Manus Island violence sheds light on why asylum seekers rioted
- 2014/02/27: ABC(Au): Is Australia responsible for asylum seekers detained on Manus Island?
- 2014/02/26: Guardian(UK): The Reza Barati vigils could be a tipping point for Australia - but what next?
  Holding vigils might not be enough to shift politicians' minds, but it's important to place on the record our opposition to crimes committed in our name. We need to keep the pressure on. Hundreds of Australians gathered in Town Hall Square in Sydney for a candle vigil in memory of Ezra Berati, an Iranian asylum seeker brutally killed in Manus Island.
- 2014/02/26: ABC(Au): Manus Island riots: Government review to assess intelligence gathered, service provider's ability to handle protests
- 2014/02/26: ABC(Au): Operation Sovereign Borders hearing: Defence Chief David Hurley surprised by Stephen Conroy's 'political cover-up' remarks
- 2014/02/25: ABC(Au): Stephen Conroy accuses Angus Campbell of political cover-up over Operation Sovereign Borders during fiery Senate Estimates
- 2014/02/24: ABC(Au): Manus Island detention centre security staff allowed armed locals into facility, witnesses say
- 2014/02/24: ABC(Au): Asylum seekers Salima and Mamun Motiur say they opted for abortion in face of conditions in Nauru detention centre
- 2014/02/24: WSWS: Australian government changes its story on refugee camp killing
- 2014/02/24: ABC(Au): Scott Morrison under pressure to resign over handling of Manus Island riot
And in New Zealand:
While in the Indian subcontinent:
- 2014/02/25: CCurrents: AgriCrisis In India: The Perilous Design Of Neo-liberal Agenda
And in China:
- 2014/02/28: RealEconomics: Beijing's smog
- 2014/02/28: CleanTechnica: Analysis Shows China Powered By Renewable Energy While Maintaining Economic Growth & Grid Reliability
- 2014/02/28: RTCC: Beijing polluters to face unlimited fines under new regulations
- 2014/02/27: TP:JR: China's Twitter Is Censoring Posts That Criticize The Smog Problem
- 2014/02/26: al Jazeera: China smog sees face masks sell out
  Beijing pollution remains at unhealthy levels, sparking warnings to stay inside and panic buying of masks and purifiers.
- 2014/02/25: TMoS: If Plants Can't Grow, What Fate Awaits a Hungry People?
  Smog in China has become so severe that it's interfering with photosynthesis.
- 2014/02/25: Guardian(UK): China's toxic air pollution resembles nuclear winter, say scientists
- 2014/02/25: Grist: A guy in China is trying to sue the government over the terrible smog
- 2014/02/25: ABC(Au): Beijing smog prompts World Health Organisation to declare crisis
- 2014/02/25: al Jazeera: Battling China's smog
  Pollution and unfavourable weather combine to bring more poor visibility and air quality to the north of the country.
- 2014/02/24: TheCanadian: Beijing air pollution soars to alarming levels
- 2014/02/24: RTCC: China's air pollution compared to a smoker at 'risk of lung cancer'
While in Japan:
- 2014/02/25: RTCC: Japan continues to fund coal despite increasing US pressure
- 2014/02/24: WaPo: Japan distances itself from right-wing statements
  Japan's foreign minister is trying to distance his government from recent right-wing comments on World War II, calling them "regrettable" and saying they don't represent the government's views. In an interview with The Associated Press, Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida also said that China's military expansion in the region is a concern, but he stopped short of calling it a threat. New officials at public broadcaster NHK drew criticism recently when one denied the Nanjing massacre happened and another downplayed the use of so-called "comfort women" as sex slaves in World War II.
- 2014/02/24: Asia Times: Silver-lining to Japan's energy crisis
And elsewhere in Asia:
- 2014/02/24: RTCC: Nauru President: 'Some islands won't make it'
  Baron Waqa speaks of climate risk threatening to undo history of struggle and achievement in Small Island States The story of the world's island people is one of struggle and fortitude.
- 2014/02/24: TreeHugger: Bhutan to cut fossil fuel imports 70%, embrace electric cars
While in Africa:
In Canada, neocon PM Harper, aka The Blight, pushes petroleum while ignoring the climate and ecology:
Resonances of the Lac Mégantic tragedy linger:
- 2014/02/28: CCPA: Lac-Mégantic: Time for an independent inquiry
The NB fracking protests at Elsipogtog continue:
- 2014/02/23: PGraham: Warrior Up! The Mi'kmaq Struggle Against Fracking at Elsipogtog
What's happening in the Opposition parties?
- 2014/02/27: TheCanadian: Cullen calls out Harper govt over climate change, dead scallops
- 2014/02/24: TMoS: Trudeau Shows His True Colours. And They're Not That Far Off Harper's.
  Justin Trudeau doesn't even try to hide that he's just another greasy Ottawa petrol-head.
- 2014/02/24: TheCanadian: Justin Trudeau backs Kinder Morgan oil pipeline to Vancouver
- 2014/02/24: RTCC: Opposition MPs criticise Harper for ignoring climate in Canada budget
The West-East pipeline is suddenly a focus of much dispute:
- 2014/02/27: Resilience: TransCanada Whistleblower's Safety Complaints Validated by Regulator
- 2014/02/26: TheCanadian: NEB audit exposes gaps in TransCanada's pipeline safety
- 2014/02/26: Tyee: TransCanada Whistleblower's Safety Complaints Validated by Regulator -- Audit confirms company failed to meet federal standards.
- 2014/02/25: CBC: TransCanada safety record worries pipeline opponents
  NEB audit shows it failed to meet standards on identifying hazards, inspection, monitoring
- 2014/02/25: CBC: TransCanada whistleblower's complaints validated by NEB -- Keystone XL pipeline builder failed to meet federal rules, audit confirms
  Canada's energy-industry regulator has confirmed many of the complaints of a former engineer about substandard practices at TransCanada Corp., the giant pipeline company which wants to build the controversial Keystone XL pipeline through the United States.
- 2014/02/24: CBC: TransCanada pipeline safety practices need to improve, finds NEB audit
  Calgary-based company breaking the rules in some areas, says National Energy Board A National Energy Board audit has found room for improvement when it comes to TransCanada's pipeline safety practices.
- 2014/02/24: DeSmogBlog: Enbridge Insists on Limited Scope Review of Line 9 Project, Raising Safety Concerns
- 2014/02/22: CTV: Enbridge record questioned, company vows to do better as Line 9 pipeline decision nears
The battle over the Northern Gateway pipeline rages on:
- 2014/02/26: ICN: Canada Minister Oliver: Northern Gateway Pipeline Decision Expected by Mid-June
And the Kinder Morgan expansion:
- 2014/02/26: DeSmogBlog: U.S. EPA Denied Late Participation in Kinder Morgan Hearings, Exposes Shortcomings of New NEB Process
It seems Peter Mansbridge has been on the CAPP payroll:
What's the state of the West Coast salmon fishery?
- 2014/02/27: TheCanadian: Group calls on Harper govt to implement Salmon Inquiry's recommendations
- 2014/02/25: CBC: B.C. groups seek federal auditor's help on salmon inquiry
  Green groups say Ottawa failed to respond to Cohen Commission recommendations in salmon inquiry Two British Columbia conservation groups are asking the federal auditor general to examine Ottawa's response to a $26-million public inquiry into the collapse of West Coast salmon stocks. The Watershed Watch Salmon Society and SOS Marine Conservation Foundation have filed an environmental petition with the federal auditor. The groups say in the 16 months since the federal Cohen Commission report came out the government has failed to act on its recommendations. Already, 18 recommended deadlines have come and gone without any clear action, they say, and another looms next month. The groups want the auditor general to compel the federal fisheries minister to reply to questions about salmon preservation in writing.
Meanwhile in BC:
Meanwhile in that Mechanical Mordor known as the tar sands:
- 2014/02/28: CPW: The Alberta tar sands' criminal assault on water, Athabasca River
- 2014/02/27: ENS: Alberta MD: Canada 'Lying' About Tar Sands Health Impacts
- 2014/02/27: PoliticsReSpun: How We Keep the Tarsands in the Ground
- 2014/02/27: PaiD: Not Everyone Has Drunk The Kool-Aid: A Doctor Speaks Out On The Health Effects Of Tarsands' Development
- 2014/02/27: TheCanadian: Alberta doctor to US senate: Canada 'lying' about Tar Sands health impacts
- 2014/02/26: VanObs: Alberta doctor tells U.S.: Canada is 'lying' about tar sands' health effects
  American Senators told that oil sands are linked to a huge spike in cancer, despite Canadian government claims
- 2014/02/24: OilChange: Tar Sands Tailing Ponds "Are Leaking"
Also in Alberta:
While in Saskatchewan, the 2013 bumper grain crop is not being shipped:
In Manitoba:
- 2014/03/01: CBC: Frigid temperatures, yes, but no record for Winnipeg
And in Ontario:
- 2014/02/26: CBC: Wind turbine bylaws taken to court by Suncor Energy
  Municipality of Plympton-Wyoming trying to charge $200,000 deposit per wind turbine
- 2014/02/26: CBC: Ontario offers up to $190M to help cities with ice storm costs
In the Maritimes:
In the North:
- 2014/02/25: TheCanadian: Yukon fracking threatens groundwater safety: hydrologist
As for miscellaneous Canadiana:
- 2014/02/27: DeSmogBlog: Top 5 Reasons Why Geothermal Power is Nowhere in Canada
And on the American political front:
- 2014/03/01: CleanTechnica: Nor'easter Raging Over Solar Power In Massachusetts
- 2014/02/28: Resilience: State Senator's Proposal Moves from Cap & Trade to Fee & Rebate
- 2014/02/28: DeSmogBlog: Denton, Texas Citizens Group Fights For Fracking Ban
- 2014/02/28: RTCC: US envoy Stern calls for climate truce in Congress
- 2014/02/28: FuelFix: Battle shaping up over 'Big Oil' lawsuit bill
  Supporters of a south Louisiana flood control board's lawsuit against scores of oil and gas companies over erosion of coastal wetlands announced plans Thursday to fight legislation they say could undermine not only the lawsuit but the political independence of the board. Sen. Robert Adley's bill, filed for this year's legislative session, would give Gov. Bobby Jindal power to reject an independent committee's nominations for membership on the Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority-East. Jindal opposes the lawsuit filed last year against 97 oil, gas and pipeline companies by the SLFPA-E.
- 2014/02/28: TP:JR: Los Angeles City Council Bans Fracking
- 2014/02/28: DD: EPA urged to ban dumping of offshore fracking chemicals into California's ocean
- 2014/02/28: TP:JR: 'Airgun' Drilling In The Atlantic Wouldn't Find Much Oil, But Could Harm Wildlife
- 2014/02/28: DeSmogBlog: Los Angeles Becomes Largest City to Approve Fracking Moratorium
- 2014/02/27: TreeHugger: Ohio Senate passes bill banning LEED certification
- 2014/02/27: Grist: America's first carbon-trading program [RGGI] can boast some impressive numbers
- 2014/02/27: Republic:AP: Wyoming leads in CO2 per person [112 tonnes CO2 per person per year]; top coal mining state is a reluctant enforcer of emissions
- 2014/02/27: TP:JR: Indiana House Votes To End An Innovative Energy Efficiency Program
- 2014/02/27: ICN: Obama Urged Not to Abandon 'Social Cost of Carbon' Tool
- 2014/02/27: TP:JR: U.S. Falling Behind As Other Countries Pass Climate Legislation, New Survey Shows
- 2014/02/27: Tamino: Difference of Opinion
- 2014/02/27: CCP: Jeff Biggers: FrackGate Comes to Illinois? Media Blackout on Fracking Vote in Johnson County
- 2014/02/26: UCSUSA:B: Climate Change in Maryland: The Health of the State's Economy Depends on How We Respond
- 2014/02/26: Grist: L.A. and California lawmakers move to impose fracking moratoriums
- 2014/02/26: TP:JR: Watch Six Colorado Senate Candidates Deny Climate Change Exists In 18 Seconds
- 2014/02/25: Grist: Frack-happy Colorado clamps down on methane pollution
- 2014/02/25: TP:JR: Citing 'Climate Crisis,' Massachusetts Gov. Candidate Berwick Calls For Carbon Tax
- 2014/02/24: GreenGrok: Climate Change Chatter: SCOTUS and 'Tailoring Rule' Edition
- 2014/02/21: Reuters: California's fracking opponents introduce new moratorium bill
The Keystone XL wheel grinds slowly. And it grinds woe:
- 2014/02/27: CSW: Keystone is about more than one pipeline
- 2014/02/27: ICN: [link to 1 meg pdf] Keystone XL Review Didn't Breach Rules, State Dept IG Says - Full Report
- 2014/02/26: DeSmogBlog: Keystone PipeLIES Exposed: New Film from Center for Media and Democracy
- 2014/02/26: DeSmogBlog: Whitewash: State Dept Keystone XL Inspector General Report Clears Botched Handling of Environmental Resources Management Conflicts
- 2014/02/26: TP:JR: State Department Watchdog Finds No Problem With Oil Industry Contractor Writing Keystone XL Report
- 2014/02/26: Grist: Bummer for anti-Keystoners: Report finds no conflict of interest, despite obvious conflicts of interest
- 2014/02/26: FuelFix: Canadian crude now moving through Keystone XL's southern leg
- 2014/02/26: TP:JR: Senators Call For Study On Keystone Health Effects After Doctor Cites Cancer Near Tar Sands
- 2014/02/26: TP:JR: Congressman Requests Investigation Into State Department's Keystone XL Assessment
- 2014/02/25: Salon: Keystone operator TransCanada found "non-compliant" with federal safety rules
- 2014/02/24: TP:JR: After Legal Setback In Nebraska, What's Next For Keystone XL?
- 2014/02/24: ICN: Loopholes Speeding Keystone Route Through Nebraska Backfire on Gov., TransCanada
  Judge rules that Gov. Heineman's attempt to approve the pipeline's reroute two years ago was unconstitutional, leaving the whole process under a cloud.
- 2014/02/24: BBerg: Keystone Review Goes to PSC Faulted Over Campaign Cash
  A Nebraska agency faulted over campaign donations from regulated companies may soon decide the fate of Keystone XL, its first review of an oil pipeline. The Public Service Commission, which sets rules for phone companies and grain storage, gained oversight for oil pipelines about two years ago. Its five elected members were criticized by a watchdog group for accepting campaign donations from companies.
Leaks and spills:
- 2014/02/28: TreeHugger: Oil, coal and gas disasters that are costing us all
- 2014/02/25: Grist: Oil is spilling from trains, pipelines -- and now bargesJeez! It's getting hard to keep all the leaks and spills straight. You need a map. Let's see...:
  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
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:
- 2014/02/27: al Jazeera:USA: W.Va. chemical spill legislation stalls
  As session winds down, state lawmakers can't agree on how to prevent another Freedom Industries - like event
- 2014/02/25: TP:JR: More Than 60 West Virginia Facilities Could Contaminate The Elk River's Water Supply, Report Finds
- 2014/02/21: WVGazette: Freedom Industries to shut down 'sooner rather than later'
Earlier in Arkansas, Exxon, spilled dilbit into the suburb of Mayflower:
- 2014/02/23: ArkansasMatters: First Hearing in Mayflower Oil Spill Lawsuit Set for Monday
In Alaska, the Exxon Valdez is an oldie and a baddie:
- 2014/02/28: CBC: Sea otters back to pre-Exxon Valdez spill levels
- 2014/02/28: TMoS: How Long Does It Take to Get Over Something Like the Exxon Valdez Disaster? If You're a Sea Otter, 25-Years
- 2014/02/28: USGS: 25 Years After the Exxon Valdez, Sea Otter Population at Pre-Spill Levels
- 2014/02/26: AGU: Still-fresh remnants of Exxon Valdez oil protected by boulders
  Twenty-five years after the infamous Exxon Valdez oil spill in Prince William Sound, beaches on the Alaska Peninsula hundreds of kilometers from the incident still harbor small hidden pockets of surprisingly unchanged oil, according to new research being presented here today.
On the Mississippi, an oil barge leaked shutting down 65 miles of river:
The GOP War on Women continues. See also:
- 2014/02/27: RawStory: Bill O'Reilly: A woman can't be leader of the free world because of a 'gender deficiency'
- 2014/02/26: TruthDig: Sorry Arizona, SCOTUS Says You Can't Stop Funding Planned Parenthood Over Abortion
What's the price of inaction?
- 2014/02/28: TMoS: Carbon Emissions Costing Americans $37 Per Tonne
Looking ahead to the 2016 election:
- 2014/02/25: NPR: Chris Christie's Sandy Problem
At what point do you stop listening to the pretty lies and realize you've been had?
- 2014/02/28: ArcticNews: President Obama, why don't you use your powers?
The actions of the Obama administration are being watched closely:
- 2014/02/28: NOAANews: NOAA, FEMA: Be a Force of Nature -- National Severe Weather Preparedness Week March 2-8
- 2014/02/26: NOAANews: Six fisheries in U.S. to receive fishery disaster relief funds
- 2014/02/26: Grist: Feds will help honeybees find food
- 2014/02/26: TP:JR: USDA Invests $3 Million Into Program To Boost Honeybee Numbers
- 2014/02/25: WashEx: Feds unveil plan to save honey bees --- and $15 billion in crops they pollinate
- 2014/02/25: UCSUSA:B: Early Wildfire Season in New Mexico Starts as U.S. Considers New Funding Sources to Fight Extreme Wildfires
- 2014/02/26: RTCC: John Kerry warns of ocean 'dead zones' from pollution and acidification
- 2014/02/26: UCSUSA:B: The Social Cost of Carbon: Counting the Costs of Climate Change and the Benefits of Cutting Carbon Pollution
- 2014/02/25: DeSmogBlog: [US] Past Time to Close Loophole That Exempts Oil by Rail Companies from Spill Response Planning
- 2014/02/25: TP:JR: Federal Government Looks To Fund Wildfire Fighting Without Having To Raid Wildfire Prevention
- 2014/02/25: TP:JR: Kerry: Protecting World's Oceans Isn't Just Environmentalist, It's 'An Economic Imperative'
- 2014/02/25: RTCC: EPA chief says new US carbon standards will be 'tough but flexible'
  Gina McCarthy says Administration is committed to more pollution cuts despite recent Supreme Court challenge New US carbon pollution standards for power plants set to be released in June will be tough but flexible, the official tasked with their deployment said on Tuesday.
- 2014/02/25: DeSmogBlog: Gulf Of Mexico: Open For Dirty Energy Exploitation Again
- 2014/02/24: TheHill:RW: EPA threatens Pa. over pollution rule
  The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is threatening to sanction Pennsylvania unless it complies with a three-year-old air pollution rule.
- 2014/02/24: TP:JR: No, President Obama Is Not Trying To Make Your Wood-Burning Stove Illegal
- 2014/02/23: CleanTechnica: DOE Awarding $3 Million To Support Geothermal Energy Systems With Capability Of Extracting Rare Earth Elements
- 2014/02/22: NYT: Obama to Propose Shift in Wildfire Funding
  [...]
  When unpredictable events like Hurricane Sandy are destructive enough to be declared disasters by the president, the Federal Emergency Management Agency is authorized to exceed its annual budget and draw on a special disaster account. The account is adjusted each year to reflect the 10-year average cost of responding to such events. Mr. Obama's budget proposal would create a similar exception for the Interior and Agriculture Departments, which have agencies that are responsible for wildfire response. In recent years, as wildfires have become more frequent and intense in the Western United States, the cost of fighting the fires has soared.
- 2014/02/21: BOEM: BOEM Publishes Proposed Adjustment to Limit of Liability for Offshore Facilities that Cause Oil Spills
As for what is going on in Congress:
- 2014/02/28: Grist: Five dumb bills just passed by the House would screw the environment
- 2014/02/28: TP:JR: Bipartisan Energy Efficiency Bill Gains More Support -- Could Congress Pass It?
- 2014/02/27: ENS: Alberta MD: Canada 'Lying' About Tar Sands Health Impacts
- 2014/02/27: NPR: FEMA Flood Insurance Law Faces Partial Repeal Over Premiums
  The House is expected to vote as early as next week to partially repeal a 2012 law that overhauled the National Flood Insurance Program, which is tens of billions of dollars in debt. The law was meant to make people living in flood-prone areas foot more of the insurance bill. But lawmakers didn't realize how many homeowners would be affected -- or how hard they'd be hit.
- 2014/02/27: NatJo: Senate Duo Debuts 'New and Improved' Energy-Efficiency Bill
- 2014/02/25: UCSUSA:B: Grimm-Cassidy Bill Seeks to Gut Biggert Waters Flood Insurance Reforms
- 2014/02/24: HillHeat: Rep. Paul Broun (R-Ga.) Thinks Global Warming is a Hoax
What are the lobbyists pushing?
The movement toward a long term ecologically viable economics is glacial:
- 2014/02/26: Resilience: Food Co-ops, Food Hubs, and Food Democracy
- 2014/02/26: CCurrents: Who's Going To Lead The Way To A Sustainable Economy?
IPAT [Impact = Population * Affluence * Technology] raised its head once again:
- 2014/02/27: Jezebel: Spain to Ban Abortion
Apocalypso anyone?
- 2014/02/25: DVoice: The Fateful Collision: Floods, Catastrophe And Climate Denial
  An epic struggle is currently taking place that will determine the fate, and perhaps the survival, of our species. It is a collision between natural limits and rational awareness of the need to respect those limits, on the one hand, and the forces of blind greed, on the other. Over the next few years, fundamental questions about who we are as a species really will be answered: Are we fundamentally sane, rational? Or are we a self-destructive failure that will end in the evolutionary dustbin?
- 2014/02/25: CCurrents: Apocalypses Everywhere : Is There Any Hope In An Era Filled With Gloom And Doom?
How do the corporate media measure up?
- 2014/02/28: DD: Charles Krauthammer is clueless on climate science: A drinking game
- 2014/02/28: TP:JR: Paging Jeff Bezos: George Will Compares Climate Scientists To Nazis
- 2014/02/28: KSJT: Following Tracker post, Sacramento Bee editor promises review of the use of press releases on the paper's website
- 2014/02/28: TheCanadian: Peter Mansbridge tries to come clean on Oilsands talk
- 2014/02/27: CJR: Bridging the print-Web divide -- How OnEarth makes environmental longform work - for the internet
- 2014/02/27: HillHeat: CNBC's Joe Kernen: Climate Science is "Witchcraft"
- 2014/02/27: Guardian(UK): Is the BBC becoming the UK version of Fox News on global warming?
  The BBC has decided to follow the Fox News model of "fair and balanced" reporting on global warming and climate change
- 2014/02/26: CJR: The persuasive power of the press release -- Is printing a press release an automatic ethical lose for the Washington Post?
- 2014/02/24: KSJT: Press releases invade another newsroom--and they look like news.
- 2014/02/24: PSinclair: CNN: Why Are We Even Debating Climate Change?
- 2014/02/13: MediaLens: Bias Towards Power *Is* Corporate Media 'Objectivity': Journalism, Floods And Climate Silence
  The key to what is precisely wrong with corporate journalism is explained in this nutshell by the US commentator Michael Parenti:
  'Bias in favor of the orthodox is frequently mistaken for "objectivity". Departures from this ideological orthodoxy are themselves dismissed as ideological.'
Examples of bias towards the orthodoxy of Western power are legion every day of the week.
While activists search for effective communication techniques:
2014/02/26: ATTPh: Pause for thought?
Here is something for your library:
- 2014/02/28: Grist: In "The Sixth Extinction," Elizabeth Kolbert reports from the frontlines of a dying world
- 2014/02/24: SciAm:TCW: On the varieties of killing: Elizabeth Kolbert's "The Sixth Extinction"
And for your film & video enjoyment:
Meanwhile among the 'Sue the Bastards!' contingent:
- 2014/02/28: Tyee: Alberta Mother Fights Five Neighbouring Fracked Wells -- Diana Daunheimer's lawsuit follows years of policing industry in her own backyard
- 2014/02/28: FuelFix: Battle shaping up over 'Big Oil' lawsuit bill
- 2014/02/28: ABC(Au): GM canola trial wraps up
  The landmark trial of a South West farmer accused of contaminating his neighbour's crops with genetically modified canola has wrapped up in the Supreme Court.
  [...]
  Judge Kenneth Martin is expected to hand down his verdict in the coming months.
- 2014/02/27: DailyCamera: Judge upholds Broomfield election; fracking ban remains in effect
- 2014/02/27: ABC(Au): James Ashby wins appeal against Federal Court decision to throw out case against Peter Slipper
- 2014/02/27: ABC(Au): Pike River mine disaster letter uncovers possible deal to drop charges against boss Peter Whittall
- 2014/02/26: BBC: Chinese sue Japan firms over forced World War Two labour
  A court in China has accepted a case filed by Chinese citizens seeking compensation from Japanese firms over forced labour during World War Two. The 37 plaintiffs include lawyers, academics and individuals who say they were forced into labour. They are seeking compensation and an apology printed in newspapers in both countries, Chinese media say.
- 2014/02/25: Grist: A guy in China is trying to sue the government over the terrible smog
- 2014/02/25: Grist: Big polluters tell [US] Supreme Court they're worried for Chinese restaurateurs
- 2014/02/24: TreeHugger: Organic winemaker faces jail for refusing to apply pesticide
- 2014/02/24: TP:JR: Swing Vote: Supreme Court Hears Sides In EPA Greenhouse Gas Regulations Case
- 2014/02/24: QuarkSoup: Mann v. Ball Still On
- 2014/02/24: Guardian(UK): [US] Supreme court gives qualified support for EPA to set emissions limits
- 2014/02/24: NPR: Industry Challenges EPA's Greenhouse Gas Rules In High Court
  The case focuses on the Clean Air Act permitting required of companies that want to build or modify facilities expected to emit a lot of gases. Critics call the requirement costly and time-consuming.
- 2014/02/23: TexasTrib: Fed Up With Government, Environmentalists Sue Companies
  Starting Monday, a federal judge in Waco will hear arguments from the Sierra Club that Luminant Generation Company, the state's largest electric generator, has been spewing far more pollution into the air from an East Texas coal plant than is allowed by federal and state law. The case is one of at least three high-profile lawsuits that are being heard in federal court this year in which environmental groups in Texas have taken matters into their own hands.
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:
Developing a new energy infrastructure is a fundamental challenge of the current generation:
- 2014/03/01: SciAm:PI: Using waste heat: 15-year old builds human-powered flashlight
- 2014/02/27: DeSmogBlog: Top 5 Reasons Why Geothermal Power is Nowhere in Canada
- 2014/02/27: Yale360: In a Host of Small Sources, Scientists See Energy Windfall
  The emerging field of "energy scavenging" is drawing on a wide array of untapped energy sources -- including radio waves, vibrations created by moving objects, and waste heat from computers or car exhaust systems -- to generate electricity and boost efficiency.
- 2014/02/25: CleanTechnica: California's Geothermal Potential Largely Untapped
- 2014/02/25: CleanTechnica: Running It All On Clean Energy: "A Question Of Social And Political Will" - Mark Jacobson
- 2014/02/25: RNE: Australia-founded wave and tidal energy firms to work together
- 2014/02/23: Resilience: Is ammonia the holy grail for renewable energy storage?
What do you have in energy comparisons and transitions?
What's changing in energy investments?
- 2014/02/28: CleanTechnica: ARPA-E Projects Attract More Than $625 Million In Private Funding
- 2014/02/27: BBerg: Renewables Infra Fund Targets More Solar as Raise Near
Hey! Let's contaminate the aquifers for thousands of years! It'll be a fracking gas!
- 2014/02/28: DD: EPA urged to ban dumping of offshore fracking chemicals into California's ocean
- 2014/02/27: DemNow: Big Oil and Bad Air: Report Exposes Link Between Fracking and Toxic Air Emissions in Texas
- 2014/02/27: DailyCamera: Judge upholds Broomfield election; fracking ban remains in effect
- 2014/02/27: ICN: Gas Drilling Boom Accelerates With Little Study of Public Health Effects
  Despite mounting public concern, there are still no comprehensive scientific studies on the health consequences of unconventional natural gas drilling.
- 2014/02/26: Grist: Marcellus energy development could pave over an area bigger than Delaware
- 2014/02/26: Guardian(UK): Achim Steiner: shale gas rush 'a liability' in efforts slow climate change
- 2014/02/25: TheCanadian: Yukon fracking threatens groundwater safety: hydrologist
- 2014/02/25: Grist: Frack-happy Colorado clamps down on methane pollution
- 2014/02/24: DeSmogBlog: Colorado Becomes First State to Regulate Methane Pollution from Fracking
- 2014/02/24: TP:JR: Colorado Becomes The First State To Regulate Methane Emissions From Fracking
On the coal front:
On the gas and oil front:
- 2014/02/28: BBerg: Closing oil prices Friday
  OIL (US$/bbl)
  Dated Brent Spot....109.07
  WTI Cushing Spot....102.59
- 2014/02/27: FuturePundit: Peak International Oil Company Cap Ex Spending
- 2014/02/27: TP:JR: What's Under Florida's Everglades Could Be The Next Fossil Fuel Boom
- 2014/02/26: PeakEnergy: What Gas shortage? Tapping the bubbling wells of spin and self-interest
- 2014/02/26: ETI:RRapier: Natural Gas Inventories are Headed Toward Zero
- 2014/02/25: OFW: Beginning of the End? Oil Companies Cut Back on Spending
- 2014/02/25: BBC: Oil and gas industry faces 'biggest challenge in 50 years'
  Britain's oil and gas industry has warned it faces its "biggest challenge in 50 years" due to the low levels of exploration. Industry body Oil and Gas UK said only 15 wells were drilled last year. That was despite strong levels of investment, reaching a record last year and sustained this year. Exploration drilling was down from 44 wells six years ago, only sufficient to recover a fraction of the estimated oil and gas remaining offshore.
- 2014/02/24: TMoS: With Numbers Like This, We're So Screwed
- 2014/02/24: DeSmogBlog: Cold Weather Brings Wild Swings in Natural Gas Prices Despite Shale Gas Rush
- 2014/02/23: CBC: U.S. oilfields criticized for 'Wild West'-style safety rules
  2012 saw 10-year high in worker deaths at U.S. oilfields and double the number of deaths in 2011
- 2014/02/23: al Jazeera: Libya oil output dives after key field shut
  Oil output drops to 230,000 barrels a day as the el-Sharara field is forced to close down due to security conditions.
Ships and boats and trains -- How to tranport the stuff?
Marvelous! Now the USA has their own Mechanical Mordor:
- 2014/02/26: TP:JR: Oil Boom Kills More Workers, But Government Takes No Action
A rush of American triumphalism pervades the energy independence PR campaign. Think it will last?
- 2014/02/27: BBerg: Dream of U.S. Oil Independence Slams Against Shale Costs
  The path toward U.S. energy independence, made possible by a boom in shale oil, will be much harder than it seems. Just a few of the roadblocks: Independent producers will spend $1.50 drilling this year for every dollar they get back. Shale output drops faster than production from conventional methods. It will take 2,500 new wells a year just to sustain output of 1 million barrels a day in North Dakota's Bakken shale, according to the Paris-based International Energy Agency. Iraq could do the same with 60.
- 2014/02/24: TP:JR: Some Of The Most Dangerous Crude Oil In The World Is Fueling North Dakota's Energy Boom
Biofuel bickering abounds:
- 2014/02/26: CleanTechnica: Sugarcane Into Diesel -- Cold-Tolerant, Highly Productive, Oil-Producing Crop Developed For US
- 2014/02/26: MSU: MSU advances algae's viability as a biofuel
The answer my friend...
- 2014/02/27: GEB: Alpha Ventus Offshore Wind Farm has Generated More Than 1 TWh Since Start of Operations
- 2014/02/27: TP:JR: The First American Offshore Wind Farm Could Be Up And Running By 2016, Cape Wind Says
- 2014/02/27: UCSUSA:B: How Texas Made Wind Energy a Real Player [by building grid]
- 2014/02/26: RNE: AGL Energy wind farms running at near 50% capacity
- 2014/02/25: TP:JR: Study: Wind Turbines Are Much More Durable Than Previously Thought
- 2014/02/25: ABC(Au): Wind farm report blows away health claims
- 2014/02/25: ICN: California Startup Turns Old Wind Turbines Into Gold
  PowerWorks is part of a niche market that is emerging for selling second-hand turbines to mainly developing countries and island nations.
- 2014/02/25: RNE: Wind gets clean bill of health, but no clear path to development
  Just one hour after the National Health and Medical Research Council had given a clean bill of health to the nation's wind farms, this story came through the Fairfax websites: Around 25,000 face masks are being distributed to residents in Morwell and Traralgon to filter out ash and smoke from the fire at the Hazelwood coal mine. Nothing could better highlight the current absurdity of Australia's energy debate.
- 2014/02/24: ABC(Au): Experts find no direct health effects from wind farms
Meanwhile among the solar aficionados:
The nuclear energy controversy continues:
- 2014/02/27: FukuLeaks: US MOX Fuel Plant May Finally Be Terminated
- 2014/02/27: UCSUSA: NRC Licensing Board Rebuffs Challenge to Shaw Areva MOX Services License to Operate South Carolina MOX Facility Despite Security Risks
- 2014/02/24: TampaBay: St. Lucie nuke plant tube wear problem prompts calls for investigations
  Lawmakers and consumer advocates on Monday called for investigations into whether the St. Lucie nuclear plant in South Florida is safe and whether ratepayer money was used appropriately to boost the reactor's power. The questions came a day after a Tampa Bay Times story detailed how tubes inside the steam generators that help cool the reactor had abnormal amounts of wear.
Nuclear waste storage requires _very_ long term thinking:
- 2014/03/02: EneNews: Emergency plan activated after 'massive' crack found in dam near [Hanford] nuclear site -- Official: 'Serious problem'; Failure risk 'sufficiently high'...
- 2014/03/01: EneNews: CNN: "Horrible medical mystery... alarming rate of birth defects" in Washington ... Cluster surrounds most polluted US nuclear site, yet never mentioned by media or officials (video)
- 2014/02/28: FukuLeaks: WIPP Workers Union To Independently Test Exposed Staff
- 2014/02/28: EneNews: Most likely a 'worst-case scenario' at WIPP -- NPR: 'Huge chunk' of salt believed to have crushed drums of radioactive waste...
- 2014/02/28: EneNews: New tests show plutonium reached millions of times normal levels at WIPP site -- Concern air filters at plant may not have worked -- Gov't accused of lying about radiation leak (video)
- 2014/02/27: FukuLeaks: 13 Workers With Internal Exposure At WIPP
- 2014/02/26: FukuLeaks: WIPP Update: New Radiation Readings
- 2014/02/26: NatureN: Radiation levels fall after nuclear waste leak in New Mexico
  US Department of Energy prepares to re-enter the WIPP repository to determine cause.
- 2014/02/25: ABC(US): [Carlsbad ] NM Nuclear Dump [WIPP] Officials Say Environment Is Safe
  Officials investigating a leak from the federal government's only underground nuclear waste dump tried to reassure skeptical southeastern New Mexico residents Monday night that their health is safe. More than 250 people attended a two-hour meeting to ask questions about back-to-back accidents at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad and the first-known release of radiation from the repository.
  [...]
  An initial analysis of samples from sensors inside and outside the plant indicate a container leaked. But officials say it is unclear what caused the release, and it will likely be weeks before teams can get underground.
- 2014/02/25: CNN: Radiation 'slightly elevated' after leak at [Carlsbad] New Mexico nuclear waste disposal plant
  Department of Energy releases data after a February 14 leak at the plant outside Carlsbad - The incident occurred about four-tenths of a mile below the surface of the ground - DOE: "Concentrations remain well below a level of public or environmental hazard"
- 2014/02/25: Hypergeometric: Dealing with other, more dangerous kinds of waste: Fukushima at home
- 2014/02/25: FukuLeaks: New Information On WIPP From Public Meeting
- 2014/02/24: EneNews: 'New tests show elevated radiation' near U.S. nuclear site -- 'More airborne radiation detected' around WIPP...
- 2014/02/24: FukuLeaks: WIPP New Radiation Readings & More Info.
- 2014/02/24: TBAS: Treasure Island cleanup exposes Navy's mishandling of its nuclear past
Nuclear fusion projects around the world limp along:
- 2014/02/28: ScienceInsider: Updated: New Review Slams Fusion Project's Management
- 2014/02/25: ScienceInsider: New Review Slams [ITER] Fusion Project's Management
- 2014/02/25: NewYorker: A Star in a Bottle
  An audacious plan to create a new energy source could save the planet from catastrophe. But time is running out.
- 2014/02/24: KSJT: New Yorker: ITER reactor's instability. It's not just the plasma.
Like a mirage, the dream of a Hydrogen Economy shimmers on the horizon:
- 2014/02/24: CleanTechnica: Hydrogen Fuel Gets Boost From New, Inexpensive Materials
More people are talking about the electrical grid:
- 2014/02/28: GEB: IEA: Integrating First 5-10% of Renewables Poses No Challenge - Higher Share Requires Transformation of the Energy System
- 2014/02/25: EnvEcon: Getting On the Grid
How are the utilities adjusting (or not)?
And then there is the matter of efficiency & conservation:
- 2014/02/28: UCSUSA:B: A National Call for Oil Savings: Responding to a Recent NYT Op-Ed
Automakers & lawyers, engineers & activists argue over the future of the car:
As for Energy Storage:
- 2014/02/25: CleanTechnica: NREL To Test Cutting Edge Vanadium Flow Battery
- 2014/02/25: PSinclair: Tesla Readies GigaFactory for New Batteries
The reaction of business to climate change will be critical:
What do we have in (weekly) lists?
- 2014/03/01: SkS: 2014 SkS Weekly News Roundup #9B by John Hartz
- 2014/02/27: SkS: 2014 SkS Weekly News Roundup #9A by John Hartz
Anything in pithy quotes this week?
- 2014/02/26: 14terstock: An old quote. Any scientist's thoughts?
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.
As for climate miscellanea:
And here are a couple of sites you may find interesting and/or useful:
- The Online Gadfly
- World Ocean Summit 2014 -- February 24th - 26th 2014
- World Ocean Council
- Sahara Forest Project
- Off The Grid News
- Wild Leaks -- The First Secure Platform for Wildlife Crime Whistleblowers
- How Radioactive Is Our Ocean?
  The release of radioactive contaminants from Fukushima remains an unprecedented event for the people of Japan and the Pacific Ocean. Help scientists at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution reveal the ongoing spread of radiation across the Pacific and its evolving impacts on the ocean.
- OFW: Our Finite World
- Wiki: Fujiwhara effect
- Wiki: Indian Ocean Dipole
- MethaneTracker - Methane concentration levels in 3D
- ODI: Open Data Institute
- Shaping Tomorrow's World
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.

"We can stay with business as usual and be the generation that presides over a global bubble economy that keeps expanding until it bursts, or we can be the generation that stabilizes population, eradicates poverty, and stabilizes climate. Historians will record the choice, but it is ours to make." -Lester Brown: Plan B - Rescuing a Planet
Last modified March 2, 2014

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Information is not Knowledge...Knowledge is not Wisdom

March 2, 2014

Here's a wee chuckle for ye:

I'm sure there were more than a few who couldn't help smiling at Mr. Tillerson's fracking problem:

Looking ahead to COP20 and future international climate negotiations:

Another IPCC leak, this time WG2:

A World Ocean Summit went down last week:

The Royal Society and the National Academy of Science produced the _Climate Change: Evidence & Causes_ report:

I don't know about you, but I've got a shovelful of salt for this one:

How is the German Energy Transition [Energiewende] doing?

And on the Bottom Line:

John Cook and friends continue their point-counterpoint articles:

A note on theFukushima disaster:

Not much good news coming out of Fukushima:

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

The Arctic melt continues to garner attention:

That Damoclean sword still hangs overhead:

As for the geopolitics of Arctic resources:

While in Antarctica:

The food crisis is ongoing:

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

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 Kofi spun up to threaten Fiji:

And North of the equator in the Western Pacific:

While elsewhere in the hurricane wars:

This week in notable weather:

Got any forecasts?

This week in the New Normal -- extreme weather:

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:

What's up with volcanoes this week?

And on the ENSO front:

As for the temperature record:

What's new in proxies?

Meanwhile in near earth orbit:

While in the paleoclimate:

And in historical times:

What's the State of the Oceans?:

And 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:

Aerosols affect the climate, but they also affect people's health:

On the tornado front:

As for heatwaves and wild fires:

Corals are a bellwether of the ocean's health:

Acidification is changing the oceans:

Glaciers are melting:

Sea levels are rising:

As for hydrological cycle disruptions [floods & droughts]:

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

Consider transportation & GHG production:

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

As for carbon sequestration:

Large scale geo-engineering keeps popping up:

What's new in conservation?

What's new in restoration?

While on the adaptation front:

Meanwhile in the journals:

And other significant documents:

As for miscellaneous science:

In the science organizations:

What developments in the ongoing struggle for Open Science?

Regarding Hansen:

Regarding Gershwin:

The Pielke fan clubbe, alas:

Meanwhile at the UN:

And on the carbon trading front:

The idea of a carbon tax is still bouncing around:

The debate over the optimal carbon reduction strategy resurrected:

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

South [& East] China Sea tension persists:

In the solar squabbles:

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

As for miscellaneous international political happenings:

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

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