Another Week of Anthropocene Antics, March 9, 2014

By illconsidered on March 10, 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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Logging the Onset of The Bottleneck Years

March 9, 2014

Chuckles, COP20+, Flood Prediction, Warnings, RS/NAS, Energiewende
Bottom Line, Thermodynamics, Cook
Fukushima: Note, News, Policies, Related Papers
Melting Arctic, Geopolitics, Antarctica
Food: Crisis, Prices, GMOs, Production
Hurricanes, Notable Weather, Forecasts, Extreme Weather
Carbon Cycle, Solar, Milankovitch Cycles, Aerosols, Volcanoes
ENSO, Temperatures, Proxies, Paleoclimate, Attribution
Oceans, Ocean Currents, Biosphere, Extinctions
Impacts, Forests, Disease, Tornadoes
Wildfires, Corals, Glaciers, Sea Levels, Floods & Droughts
Mitigation, Transportation, Buildings, Geoengineering, Restoration, Adaptation
Journals, Other Docs, Misc. Science, Models, Pielke
International Politics: UN, Carbon Trade, Carbon Tax, Hormuz, South China Sea
EU ETS & Airlines, Ukraine, Security, Law & Activism, Activism
Divestment, Polls, H2O Biz, Religioso, Education
National Politics: Britain, Europe, Australia, Abbott, SotC, New Zealand
India, China, Japan, Asia, Russia, Africa, South America
Canada, Lac-Mégantic, First Nations, Opposition, Pipelines, Grain Backlog
Salmon, BC, Tar Sands, Alberta, Ontario, Quebec, Maritimes
America, Keystone, Spills & Leaks, Birth Control, USAdmin, Congress, Lobbyists
Ecological Economics, IPAT, Apocalypso, Why We Fight, Media
Books, Video, Courts, Chevron Suit, Mann Suit, BP Trial
Energy, Transitions, Fracking, Coal, Oil & Gas, Fossil Fuel Corps, Pipelines
Oil Transportation, US Tar Sands, Energy Independence, Peak Oil, Biofuel
Wind, Solar, Nukes, Nuclear Waste, FITs, Grid, Utilities, Cars, Energy Storage
Business, Other Lists, Carbon Lobby, Miscellaneous Climate, Useful Links
Shameless Self Promotion, A Simple Plea, .sig

Laugh. I dare ya:

And for those who enjoy challenging Poe's Law:

2014/03/03: Onion: Report: Good Thing World Has Unlimited Quantity Of Oil
Looking ahead to COP20 and future international climate negotiations:
- 2014/03/08: RTCC: Loss and damage: the calm before the storm?
  Countries agreed to address losses and damages linked to climate change at a summit in Warsaw, but now comes the hard part Recent floods in the United Kingdom, snowstorms in north east America and severe drought in California are bringing home the message that loss and damage from weather related events can hit the richest countries as well as poor ones and that such events are likely to become more frequent in future due to human induced climate change.
- 2014/03/08: RTCC: Security Council seat could tempt India into UN climate action
  Government's unwillingness to accept emission cuts is damaging country's image as a global leader, says study India's aspirations for a seat on the UN Security Council could see it change tack and play a more progressive role at international climate negotiations.
- 2014/03/07: RTCC: UN climate talks: the toughest negotiations on planet earth
  Diplomats involved in creating a global emissions reduction treaty explain why it's such a tortuous process
- 2014/03/06: RTCC: Fears grow over Green Climate Fund preparations
- 2014/03/06: RTCC: Least Developed Countries say science must drive UN climate talks
- 2014/03/06: RTCC: China demands rich countries make 40% carbon cuts by 2020
  Aggressive statement demands rich make savage carbon cuts and raise billions in climate aid by end of year China's government says industrialised countries should commit to new 2020 emission reduction targets of 40% on 1990 levels by the end of next month.
- 2014/03/05: RTCC: UN to start drafting 2015 climate change treaty
  UN meeting in Bonn next week will kickstart efforts to design draft of international treaty before conference in Lima
- 2014/03/04: BBerg: UN Climate Deal at Risk Without Set Targets, Bangladesh Says
- 2014/03/04: RTCC: [link to 237k pdf] EU releases proposals for UN 2015 climate deal
- 2014/03/03: Guardian(UK): World Wildlife day should remind us we need a climate deal in Paris
- 2014/03/03: RTCC: EU delay could damage UN climate deal, warn ministers
  Delay in authorising the EU's 2030 climate and energy package could undermine efforts to build an effective global emissions reduction deal at the UN, leading European ministers warned today.
- 2014/03/03: RTCC: UN climate deal could 'revive' offset market says CDM chief
A prediction of future European floods made the insurance companies take note I'm sure:
- 2014/03/03: EUO: Floods may cost EU billions in future
- 2014/03/03: DD: Europe flood losses to soar by 2050...
- 2014/03/03: TP:JR: Europe's Flood Losses Could Quadruple By 2050, Report Finds
- 2014/03/03: RTCC: Europe's flood costs could double by 2050
  Scientists say average annual flood losses could be almost five times greater by mid-century The catastrophic floods that soaked Europe last summer and the United Kingdom this winter are part of the pattern of things to come.
- 2014/03/03: BBC: Europe-wide flood losses to 'increase four fold' by 2050
  According to the most accurate model yet developed, flood damage losses across Europe are expected to increase four fold by 2050. The scientists believe that the continent's annual flood costs may be 23.5bn euros by the middle of the century.
- 2014/03/02: Guardian(UK): Flood damage cost to rise fivefold across Europe, study says
What do we have for warnings this week?
- 2014/03/08: PaiD: The Window Of Opportunity Is Growing Increasingly Short
- 2014/03/07: Guardian(UK): Floods and gales are taste of things to come, says UN climate science chief [Rajendra Pachauri]
  IPCC chair warns that events such as the winter's storms in Britain are increasing in intensity and frequency
Still some chatter about that RS/NAS report:
- 2014/03/05: Stoat: Eric Wolff Speaks
- 2014/03/04: Hypergeometric: Climate Change: Evidence and Causes
How is the German Energy Transition [Energiewende] doing?
And on the Bottom Line:
- 2014/03/06: Guardian(UK): 'Carbon bubble' poses serious threat to UK economy, MPs warn
- 2014/03/06: BBC: 'Carbon bubble' threatens stock markets, say MPs
- 2014/03/05: RTCC: Europe's banks in one trillion dollar risk from 'carbon bubble': report
- 2014/03/05: Guardian(UK): US economy hampered by severe winter weather, Federal Reserve says
- 2014/03/04: Guardian(UK): Long winter costs US states millions as salt runs low and plows work overtime
  Late-season storms across the US could have consequences past winter, as states are forced to draw on emergency funds
Delving into the laws of thermodynamics this week:
- 2014/03/05: ATTPh: Effective emission height
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:
Post Fukushima, nuclear policies are in flux around the world:
- 2014/03/05: NatureN: Japan caught up in energy dilemma
  As the third anniversary of the Fukushima disaster nears, the nation is faltering in its resolution to shun nuclear power.
- 2014/03/03: RealEconomics: Japan's post-Fukushima energy plan
What do we have for Fukushima related papers this week?
- 2014/03/06: ACS:ES&T: (ab$) Isotopic compositions of 236U and Pu isotopes in "Black Substances" collected from roadsides in Fukushima Prefecture: fallout from the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant accident by Aya Sakaguchi et al.
The Arctic melt continues to garner attention:
As for the geopolitics of Arctic resources:
- 2014/03/04: BBC: Businesses debate future of Arctic at summit in London
- 2014/03/03: PSinclair: Newest NOAA Arctic Sea Ice Visualization: Navy Readies for Ice Free Arctic
While in Antarctica:
- 2014/03/03: RScribbler: A Tale of Two Ice Caps: As Arctic Ocean Heads Toward Ice-Free Summers, New Study Shows Human Warming Takes Out 56% of Antarctic Sea Ice by 2050
The food crisis is ongoing:
- 2014/03/08: SimpleC: The climate challenges that my morning toast poses
- 2014/03/07: RScribbler: Climate Change Pushing World to Brink of Food Crisis as FAO Price Index Jumps to 208.1 in February
- 2014/03/07: ABC(Au): Queues for feedlots as drought worsens
  The drought in Queensland and New South Wales has led to increased waiting times for graziers wanting to get cattle into feedlots
- 2014/03/05: TP:JR: Why Chipotle's Warnings About Guacamole And Climate Change Are Not 'Routine'
- 2014/03/04: BBC: Cattle prices tumble amid eastern Australia's drought
  In these drought-hit parts of eastern Australia they pray for rain. The New England region north of Sydney is traditionally some of the nation's best farming country, producing some of its finest beef cattle and wool. But much of the land is barren and has been without significant rainfall for over a year. Crops have failed and livestock has been sold off, while many dams are bone dry.
- 2014/03/04: ABC(Au): Drought takes its toll on the soil
  The national commodities forecaster has released a map showing vast areas of key agricultural production land are suffering the driest soil conditions in 100 years. The Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resources Economics and Sciences (ABARES) annual conference began in Canberra today.
- 2014/03/04: ABC(Au): Decrease in diet diversity threatens food security
- 2014/03/04: UCSUSA:B: The Facts About Peat Soils in Sarawak, Malaysia
- 2014/03/03: BBC: Crop diversity decline 'threatens food security'
  Fewer crop species are feeding the world than 50 years ago - raising concerns about the resilience of the global food system, a study has shown. The authors warned a loss of diversity meant more people were dependent on key crops, leaving them more exposed to harvest failures.
Food Prices are still problematic:
- FAO: World Food Situation - Food Price Indices
- 2014/03/06: DD: Drought sends beef prices soaring, with no relief in sight - U.S. cattle herd the smallest since 1951
- 2014/03/06: UN: Weather, increased demand pushes global food prices to highest level in months
- 2014/03/03: CBC: Vegetable costs to rise due to extreme cold, heating costs
  Ontario Greenhouse Vegetable Growers Association says 'consumer may well see higher prices' Some vegetable prices could be higher at the grocery store this spring. Greenhouse growers in Ontario hope higher prices for their produce will offset their high heating bills this winter.
Regarding the genetic modification of food:
- 2014/03/08: ABC(Au): Qld scientists move to drought-proof rice
  Queensland scientists are hoping native grasses could help drought-proof Australia's rice crop. The research team has identified plant genes that could help rice survive in saltier soil, with less water.
- 2014/03/05: NBF: Genetically modified superrice is resistant to drought, salty soils and lack of fertiliser
- 2014/03/05: Grist: Organic farmers just can't get along with GMO-growing neighbors
- 2014/03/04: CBC: Non-browning Arctic Apple concerns Nova Scotia growers -- Arctic Apple genetically modified to inhibit browning enzyme
- 2014/03/04: EurActiv: Majority of EU countries in favour of GMO compromise
  A majority of EU member countries backed a compromise agreement on GMO authorisation which maintains an EU-wide approval scheme but allows national cultivation bans.
- 2014/03/04: CCP: 150 scientists condemn Elsevier journal's retraction of Séralini study on Monsanto's GM eggplant in Indonesia as caving in to commercial interests
- 2014/03/04: CCurrents: Monsanto Causing Extinction Of The Monarch Butterfly
- 2014/03/03: Grist: You should be worried about the high levels of weed killer in air and water -- here's why
- 2014/03/03: TreeHugger: Safeway and Kroger say "No" to GMO salmon
- 2014/03/02: CDreams: 5 Reasons Monsanto's 'Science' Doesn't Add Up
And how are we going to feed 9 billion, 10 billion, 15 billion?
- 2014/03/07: RNE: Five simple ways to save food
- 2014/03/06: Yale360: Wendell Berry: A Strong Voice For Local Farming and the Land
  For six decades, writer Wendell Berry has spoken out in defense of local agriculture, rural communities, and the importance of caring for the land. In an interview with Yale Environment 360, he talks about his Kentucky farm, his activism, and why he remains hopeful for the future.
- 2014/03/06: UN: UN-backed initiative enables Somalis to harvest food from local farmers
- 2014/03/06: NatureN: Agriculture: Steps to sustainable livestock
- 2014/03/06: CleanTechnica: Is Daylight Savings Energy Efficient? No, Says Expert
- 2014/03/05: Eureka: Look back at US soybeans shows genetic improvement behind increased yields
- 2014/03/05: UN: Pro-family farming policies key in anti-hunger fight, UN officials tell Budapest expo
- 2014/03/03: UN: Boosting green transition will improve food security, UN says on Africa Environment Day
- 2014/02/28: Reuters: U.S. expands healthy food assistance to women, infants and children [Special SNAP]
The Western Pacific is starting to talk. There is an unreported storm over by the Solomons and
Northern Queensland is getting a two for one deal this weekend - Gilliand and a TD:
Earlier in the Western Pacific, Typhoons Faxai and Kofi raisd a ruckus and died:
2014/03/04: NASA: NASA Satellite Sees Faxai Hit Typhoon Strength
2014/03/03: NASA: NASA Sees Strong Thunderstorms Around Tropical Cyclone Kofi [16P]
While elsewhere in the hurricane wars:
2014/03/07: UN: Sustained global support vital as Philippines recovers from Typhoon Haiyan - UN
2014/03/04: MGS: Hurricane Control?
This week in notable weather:
- 2014/03/09: MODIS: Snow in the midwestern United States [on Mar.3]
- 2014/03/07: BBC: Tree storm damage 'worst since 1987'
  This winter's extreme winds caused the biggest loss of trees in more than 20 years, according to the National Trust. Some of their sites have seen the greatest number of trees knocked down since the Great Storm of 1987.
- 2014/03/06: NASA: NASA's TRMM Satellite Images Show California Soaker Moved Eastward
- 2014/03/06: CBC: Great Lakes ice cover tops 90 per cent, may cause cool, dry summer
  Great Lakes under second largest amount of ice cover ever recorded
- 2014/03/04: NASA: Satellite Video Captures the Eastern U.S. Winter Storm Track
- 2014/03/04: Wunderground: Record Cold in a Warming World
- 2014/03/04: al Jazeera: Atlantic storm pounds Spanish coast [pix]
  Spain has been hit by some of the biggest waves in the world in the last few days.
- 2014/03/03: CNN: One more time: Snow, sleet, misery fall on East Coast
  Four people have died in weather-related accidents, police say - Federal offices are closed Monday in Washington, except for Supreme Court - Extremely low temperatures reported in the Plains and Midwest - Schools from Dallas to Philadelphia have been shut down
- 2014/03/03: Wunderground: March Like a Lion: Record Cold in Midwest, Heavy Snow in Mid-Atlantic
- 2014/03/03: al Jazeera: Another winter storm hits US
  Snow and ice cause problems across a huge swathe of the US.
- 2014/03/03: BBerg: Winter Storm Missing New York Set to Bring Worst to Washington
Got any forecasts?
- 2014/03/03: WMO: National Climate Outlook Forum in Mozambique
- 2014/03/03: WMO: Greater Horn of Africa Climate Outlook Forum
This week in the New Normal -- extreme weather:
- 2014/03/04: RScribbler: Sea Ice Loss, Human Warming Places Earth Under Ongoing Fire of Severe Weather Events Through Early 2014, Likelihood of Extremes For Some Regions Increases by 500%
- 2014/03/04: PI:B: A future of more weather and climate extremes
And in the carbon cycle:
- 2014/03/07: ABC(Au): Carbon mapping trial announced for Pilbara cattle station
  Carbon capture and mapping will be the focus of a large-scale project announced for Western Australia's rangelands this year. De Grey cattle station, 80km east of Port Hedland, will be the site for a two-year trial by land care group, Rangelands NRM.
- 2014/03/04: Maribo: Thermostats in the mountain forests of Peru
Regarding the solar hypothesis:
- 2014/03/08: ITracker: Solar activity at a ten-year high
Regarding Milankovitch Cycles:
- 2014/03/03: TSoD: Ghosts of Climates Past - Eighteen - "Probably Nonlinearity" of Unknown Origin
Aerosols are making their presence felt:
- 2014/03/05: IOTD: Cape Verde Under Dust [on Feb.28]
- 2014/03/04: MODIS: Smoke and Haze over the Sea of Japan [on Feb.25]
What's up with volcanoes this week?
- 2014/03/08: MODIS: Plume from Pacaya volcano, Guatemala [on Mar.2]
- 2014/03/02: BBC: Thousands in Guatemala facing evacuation as Pacaya volcano erupts
  A volcano has erupted in Guatemala, prompting the authorities to consider the evacuation of some 3,000 people living in the area. The Pacaya volcano began spewing ash and lava after a powerful explosion on Saturday afternoon.
And on the ENSO front:
- 2014/03/07: BBerg: Aging El Nino Buoys Get Fixed as Weather Forecasts at Risk
  The National Weather Service is set to start repairing 70 towering buoys used to track El Nino and La Nina patterns, whose damage has led scientists to warn the accuracy of forecasts is in danger.
- 2014/03/06: NOAA:NCEP: El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) Diagnostic Discussion
  Synopsis: ENSO-neutral is expected to continue through the Northern Hemisphere spring 2014, with about a 50% chance of El Niño developing during the summer or fall.
- 2014/03/06: RScribbler: NOAA: El Nino is Coming. Extreme Weather, New Global High Temperature Records to Likely Follow
- 2014/03/06: PSinclair: NOAA: El Nino Watch for Later this Year
- 2014/03/06: QuarkSoup: 50% Chance of El Niño Later This Year
- 2014/03/06: Wunderground: NOAA Issues El Niño Watch
As for the temperature record:
What's new in proxies?
- 2014/03/07: RealClimate: The Nenana Ice Classic and climate
While in the paleoclimate:
- 2014/03/05: Smithsonian: The Remnants of Prehistoric Plant Pollen Reveal that Humans Shaped Forests 11,000 Years Ago
- 2014/03/03: TheConversation: Human global domination began with fire, not factories or farms
- 2014/03/03: NatureN: Two-hundred-year drought doomed Indus Valley Civilization
  Monsoon hiatus that began 4,200 years ago parallels dry spell that led civilizations to collapse in other regions.
In the attribution debate:
- 2014/03/06: GLaden: Can we attribute specific weather events to climate change?
What's the State of the Oceans?:
As for Ocean Currents:
How's the State of the Biosphere?
- 2014/03/07: NatureN: Rethinking predators: Legend of the wolf
  Predators are supposed to exert strong control over ecosystems, but nature doesn't always play by the rules.
- 2014/03/06: ABC(Au): Australian company wants to mine wildlife management area in PNG
  An Australian company has applied for a licence to mine one of Papua New Guinea's most important wildlife reserves. Crater Gold Mining Limited has 180 square kilometres of exploration licences in and around Crater Mountain, a globally significant biodiversity hotspot.
- 2014/03/05: TreeHugger: All of Earth's land mammals by total weight in one graph (notice wild vs. livestock)
- 2014/03/05: BBC: New bird family discovered in Asia
  A unique family of birds containing just one species has been discovered by researchers. Scientists investigating families within the Passerida group of perching birds identified 10 separate branches in their tree of life. The analysis also revealed that the spotted wren-babbler sat on its own branch and was not related to either wrens or wren-babblers. Experts recommend the distinctive bird should now be referred to as Elachura.
- 2014/03/05: SciAm:TZ: Hell yes: Komodo dragons!!! (again)
- 2014/03/04: SciNow: Where Sea Turtles Spend Their 'Lost Years'
And on the extinction watch:
- 2014/03/07: DD: South Africa loses nearly 150 rhinos to poachers so far this year
- 2014/03/06: Grist: Death-defying elephant recovers from fourth poaching attempt
- 2014/03/06: TreeHugger: Indonesian religious leaders issue 'fatwa' against killing endangered species
- 2014/03/03: TreeHugger: Sharks and rays in big trouble: 1 in 4 cartilaginous fish is facing extinction in near future
- 2014/03/03: Guardian(UK): Endangered rhinos may be moved to Australia as 'insurance'
  Conservationists in talks with Taronga Zoo in effort to bring animals from South Africa, where poaching is rampant
More GW impacts are being seen:
And then there are the world's forests:
- 2014/03/07: Guardian(UK): UK winter storms 'caused greatest loss of trees in a generation'
- 2014/03/07: UCSUSA:B: A Tipping Point for Palm Oil, Deforestation, and Peat?
- 2014/03/05: UCSUSA: Iconic American Brands Contribute to Deforestation
  UCS Scorecard Grades 30 Companies' Palm Oil Sourcing Commitments
- 2014/03/05: BBC: Live fast, die young strategy spawned Amazon tree boom
  A "live fast, die young" life history strategy could have been a key factor behind today's high tree diversity in the Amazon, scientists have suggested. The researchers hope the findings will shed light on why some groups of trees in the biodiversity hotspot contain hundreds of species. An estimated 16,000 tree species - about 30% of the recorded total worldwide - are found in the Amazon.
- 2014/03/04: DD: Image of the Day: Satellite view of smoke from illegal forest-clearing fires in central Sumatra
Emerging diseases accompany ecological change:
- 2014/03/08: UKISS: Malaria Climbs Mountains as the Climate Warms
- 2014/03/07: Guardian(UK): Climate change could mean more malaria in Africa, study says
- 2014/03/07: BBC: Malaria 'spreading to new altitudes'
- 2014/03/05: Grist: Wanna get West Nile virus? Climate change will help
- 2014/03/07: DD: Global warming spreads malaria to higher altitudes
  "In Ethiopia, based on the distribution of malaria with altitude, a 1C rise in temperature could lead to an additional three million cases in under-15-year-olds per year"
On the tornado front, here's a modest suggestion:
- 2014/03/08: APS: Can We Eliminate the Major Tornado Threats in Tornado Alley? by R. Tao
- 2014/03/08: BBC: Great Walls of America 'could stop tornadoes'
  Building three "Great Walls" across Tornado Alley in the US could eliminate the disasters, a physicist says. The barriers - 300m (980ft) high and up to 100 miles long - would act like hill ranges, softening winds before twisters can form. They would cost $16bn (£9.6bn) to build but save billions of dollars of damage each year, said Prof Rongjia Tao, of Temple University, Philadelphia.
As for heatwaves and wild fires:
- 2014/03/07: NASA: Agricultural Fires Across the Indochina Landscape
- 2014/03/07: ABC(Au): Smog fears rise as forest fires, drought hit Indonesia
- 2014/03/06: MODIS: Fires in Indochina [on Feb.25]
- 2014/03/06: RTCC: Palm oil producers blamed as smog chokes Indonesia
  State of emergency called in Riau region of Indonesia, as data shows 52% of fires originated in palm oil and logging land Fires in Indonesia are destroying large areas of forest on land owned by lumber and palm oil companies, casting further attention on western companies that buy commodities from the affected regions.
- 2014/03/05: ABC(Au): Authorities battle Waroona fire, south of Perth
- 2014/03/05: MODIS: Fires in West Africa [on Feb.25]
Corals are a bellwether of the ocean's health:
- 2014/03/06: Guardian(UK): Great Barrier Reef damage 'irreversible' unless radical action taken
Glaciers are melting:
- 2014/03/06: FaGP: Konig Glacier Retreat, South Georgia Island
- 2014/03/03: DD: Study links global warming to a Peruvian glacier's retreat
Sea levels are rising:
- 2014/03/07: RTCC: Climate science debate "futile" says Marshall Islands minister
  Phillip Muller says increased frequency of 'king tides' is linked to rising sea levels, warns country in fight for 'survival'
- 2014/03/07: RTCC: Marshall Islands foreign minister: 'We are facing a climate disaster'
- 2014/03/06: UCSUSA:B: Many World Heritage Sites are Predicted to Fall Victim to Climate Change
- 2014/03/06: ABC(Au): Future warming imperils World Heritage sites: study
  The Sydney Opera House and other cultural icons may eventually sink beneath the ocean if average global temperatures are allowed to reach 3 degrees higher than today.
- 2014/03/06: TP:JR: Epic King Tides Offer Glimpse Of Climate Change In Marshall Islands
- 2014/03/05: CBC: Climate change may put UNESCO World Heritage Sites underwater
- 2014/03/05: ERW: Sea-level rise threatens world heritage sites
- 2014/03/05: Grist: Louisiana's coastline is disappearing too quickly for mappers to keep up
- 2014/03/05: Grist: Rising sea levels will drown your Western art history course
- 2014/03/05: RTCC: Rising sea levels threaten world's 'cultural heritage'
  One fifth of the world's UNESCO world heritage sites will be below sea level if world warms by 3C, finds new research
- 2014/03/04: Guardian(UK): Sydney Opera House and Statue of Liberty 'will be lost to sea level rise'
- 2014/03/04: ABC(Au): Tidal flooding in Marshall Islands has caused widespread damage
- 2014/03/03: RTCC: Marshall Islands' capital Majuro submerged by 'King tides'
  Evacuations start as sea pours into parts of town, highlighting acute dangers of rising sea levels in Pacific Severe flooding in parts of the Marshall Islands capital Majuro has underlined the country's vulnerability to rising sea levels and extreme weather events.
As for hydrological cycle disruptions [floods & droughts]:
- 2014/03/08: JFleck: dead piñon
- 2014/03/08: IOTD: Flooding in New Zealand [Feb.22 vs. Mar.6]
- 2014/03/07: Grist: America could soon face more days of extreme rainfall
- 2014/03/07: JFleck: Climate change in the West: it's not just about more or less rain
- 2014/03/07: SkS: The Extraordinary UK Winter of 2013-14: a Timeline of Watery Chaos by John Mason
- 2014/03/07: PSinclair: Clarifying California's Drought
- 2014/03/07: TP:JR: Climatologist Who Predicted California Drought 10 Years Ago Says It May Soon Be 'Even More Dire'
- 2014/03/07: ABC(Au): Queensland's largest drought-declared area ever
  It's official - this drought is Queensland's most widespread on record, with almost 80 per cent of the state now drought-declared.
- 2014/03/06: CCP: Peter Gleick: Clarifying the Discussion about California Drought and Climate Change
- 2014/03/05: BBC: Upsetting scenes from Australia's drought
- 2014/03/06: al Jazeera: Floods wreak havoc in South Africa
  At least three people killed and hundreds displaced as torrential rains hit the Johannesburg area.
- 2014/03/05: al Jazeera: Severe weather batters New Zealand
  The streets of Christchurch, New Zealand flood after one of the worst storms since 1975.
- 2014/03/05: BBC: February was Singapore's driest month since 1869, according to Singapore's National Environment Agency
- 2014/03/04: RTCC: Marshall Islands face evacuations as sea swamps capital
First, stop subsidizing fossil fuels
Second, put a price on carbon
Third, begin to reduce the human population
And elsewhere on the mitigation front:
- 2014/03/07: Guardian(UK): Focus on low carbon technology, says former UN climate chief [Yvo de Boer]
  Quarrels over science and policy are undermining the fight against climate change
- 2014/03/05: P3: New Information on Biochar and Related Systems
- 2014/03/04: Grist: How to make natural gas more climate-friendly
Consider transportation & GHG production:
- 2014/03/04: SciAm:PI: Americans are buying more efficient cars -- in one graph
- 2014/02/28: DerSpiegel: Photo Gallery: Next Generation High-Speed Rail
While in the endless quest for zero energy, sustainable buildings and practical codes:
- 2014/03/07: TreeHugger: "LEED Exposed" Exposed: A look at who's behind the new organization attacking LEED and green building
Large scale geo-engineering keeps popping up:
- 2014/03/08: TreeHugger: 'Bubbles' biome in Beijing could let residents breathe clean air
- 2014/03/04: LA Times: Climate engineering ideas no longer considered pie in the sky
  Scientists backed by the government and Bill Gates are studying schemes such as sunlight-blocking particles and giant carbon vacuums to halt climate change.
- 2014/02/26: CultCog: Geoengineering the science communication environment: the cultural plasticity of climate change risks part II
What's new in restoration?
- 2014/03/01: NYT: The Mammoth Cometh
While on the adaptation front:
- 2014/03/07: ABC(Au): Queensland councils to share in $50m for more flood-proofing
- 2014/03/04: RTCC: Netherlands to upgrade flood defences to cope with climate change
  National 'Delta' programme set for radical overhaul due to recent sea level rise predictions A national effort is underway in the Netherlands to upgrade the thousands of miles of dykes and dams responsible for keeping the country dry.
Meanwhile in the journals:
And other significant documents:
- 2014/03/04: RTCC: [link to 237k pdf] EU releases proposals for UN 2015 climate deal
- CSIRO: [link to 4 meg pdf] State of the Climate - 2014
  This State of the Climate is the third in a series of reports produced by CSIRO and the Australian Bureau of Meteorology. It provides a summary of observations of Australia's climate and analysis of the factors that influence it.
As for miscellaneous science:
- 2014/03/07: SoS: Academic Paper Spam
- 2014/03/06: Eureka: Urgent need to study the impacts of biomass burning and haze on marine ecosystems
  Researchers propose coordinated response plan to study these impacts for more effective management of threatened marine ecosystems
- 2014/03/04: CCP: 150 scientists condemn Elsevier journal's retraction of Séralini study on Monsanto's GM eggplant in Indonesia as caving in to commercial interests
- 2014/03/04: V V: Falsifiable and falsification in science
What's new in models?
- 2014/03/05: SEasterbrook: Climate Model Bake-Off
- 2014/03/05: NOAANews: NOAA's Newest Weather Model Provides Clearer, Faster Forecast of Severe Weather
The Pielke fan clubbe, alas:
Meanwhile at the UN:
- 2014/03/05: Guardian(UK): Extreme weather is 'silver lining' for climate action: Christiana Figueres
  UN climate chief says flooding and heatwaves have raised the issue of climate change to the highest political level
- 2014/03/03: UN: On inaugural World Day, UN urges preservation of wild animals and plants
And on the carbon trading front:
The idea of a carbon tax is still bouncing around:
On the international political front, tensions continue as the empire leans on Iran:
South [& East] China Sea tension persists:
Who is serious about reducing airline carbon emissions?
- 2014/03/07: EurActiv: Kallas: Global aviation emissions talks 'a nightmare'
  As the EU institutions found a fragile compromise on the emissions trading scheme for aviation, the EU commissioner in charge of transport said the EU executive was still "committed to the ETS" and put the blame on member states for its failure. After the European Union's institutions reached a preliminary agreement on the highly-sensitive aviation emissions trading scheme (ETS) on Wednesday (5 March), the EU commissioner in charge of transport, Siim Kallas, admitted that the EU had bowed to international pressure. Speaking at an event organised by the European Policy Centre and US plane-maker Boeing on aviation in Europe, Kallas called the talks "a nightmare".
- 2014/03/05: Guardian(UK): EU agrees watered-down deal on aviation carbon emissions
- 2014/03/05: EurActiv: EU agrees draft plan for aviation emissions
  The European Union on Tuesday (4 March) reached a preliminary deal on a law that will exempt long-haul flights from paying for carbon emissions until 2016, EU sources said. The deal is a further weakening of the bloc's stance following immense international pressure and threats of a trade war.
- 2014/03/05: RTCC: EU proposes more time for long-haul airlines to cut CO2
  EU negotiators agree tentative deal that stops the clock longer on emissions trading for intercontinental flights Long-haul flights will remain exempt from the EU's emissions trading scheme until 2016 after a provisional deal was reached yesterday by lawmakers in Brussels, meaning more time for the global aviation industry to decide how to shrink its large carbon footprint.
Various aspects of the US/EU/NATO confrontation of Russia over Crimea and Ukraine are relevant here:
- 2014/03/06: InformedComment: Ukraine Crisis Shows Urgency of Green Energy: Russian Nat'l Gas Blackmail
- 2014/03/04: RTCC: Ukraine crisis highlights EU's fragile energy supply lines
- 2014/03/04: RTCC: Russia-Ukraine tension could be catalyst for EU 2030 targets
  Tension with gas supplier Russia to spur push for domestic energy, but not only renewables would benefit. EU leaders look unlikely to agree on a 2030 carbon reduction target later this month as some countries may ask for more time, but the current military stand-off between Russia and Ukraine could speed up co-operation within the 28-nation bloc on reducing reliance on imported fossil fuels.
- 2014/03/03: Guardian(UK): Ukraine crisis sends wheat and corn prices soaring
- 2014/03/03: Guardian(UK): Ukraine crisis: energy markets and shares in turmoil
- 2014/03/03: Guardian(UK): Is Europe's gas supply threatened by the Ukraine crisis?
  Russia supplies about 30% of Europe's gas -- should we be worried?
Climate Change is a threat multiplier exacerbating existing conflicts in food, energy, water, race, resources, religion, ideology ... etc.:
- 2014/03/06: RTCC: US military says climate change could increase wars, conflict
- 2014/03/05: DeSmogBlog: Pentagon Calls Climate Change Impacts "Threat Multipliers," Could Enable Terrorism
- 2014/03/04: S&R: Climate change in the Department of Defense 2014 Quadrennial Defense Review
  For the fourth time since 2008 the Defense Department finds that climate change will exacerbate tensions and conflict.
The issue of the law and activism is playing out around the world:
- 2014/03/03: Guardian(UK): Iran sentences student activist to seven years in prison for 'peaceful protest'
What are the activists up to?
- 2014/03/06: UCSUSA:B: Palm Oil: To Boycott or not to Boycott?
- 2014/03/04: Resilience: Historic climate action shows millennials ready to fight for their future
- 2014/03/04: Eureka: Raising an army of armchair activists? Study suggests that social-network support for causes might be only a click deep
- 2014/03/04: ABC(Au): Gas land owner says Bentley protesters jeopardise safety
  The owner of land on which Metgasco hopes to drill a test well says nearby protesters are jeopardising public safety. A temporary camp has been set up adjacent to land at Bentley owned by Peter Graham. He says protesters have installed spikes on his access road.
- 2014/03/04: ABC(Au): Kimberley environmentalists fight Buru Energy's shale fracking plan
- 2014/03/03: DemNow: XL Dissent: 398 Youth Arrested at Anti-Keystone XL Pipeline Protest at White House
- 2014/03/03: RTCC: Keystone XL White House protests end with 398 arrests
- 2014/03/03: OilChange: Hundreds of Students Arrested in "XL Dissent" Action
- 2014/03/02: TP:JR: Photos: Hundreds Arrested In Protest Of Keystone XL Pipeline
- 2014/03/02: Guardian(UK): Keystone XL protesters arrested after strapping selves to White House fence
The move to divest from fossil fuel investments is growing slowly:
- 2014/03/05: DeSmogBlog: Harvard President Says Fossil Fuel Divestment Unnecessary, "Hypocritical"
- 2014/03/03: CCP: Prescott College Passes Landmark Fossil Fuel Divestment Resolution
Polls! We have polls!
- 2014/03/06: WaPo: New Post-ABC News poll: Keystone XL project overwhelmingly favored by Americans
Regarding Water Politics and Business:
Among the world's religions:
- 2014/03/07: Hypergeometric: Professor Katharine Hayhoe, Climate Scientist
- 2014/03/06: TreeHugger: Indonesian religious leaders issue 'fatwa' against killing endangered species
Regarding science education:
- 2014/03/04: BBC: Jewish school redacts exam to remove evolution questions
While in the UK:
- 2014/03/09: BBC: Road repairs: Councils to get £140m for weather damage
  An additional £140m is to be made available to councils to repair roads damaged by the bad weather, Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin has said.
- 2014/03/08: BBC: Plaid Cymru MEP Jill Evans: EU 'losing nerve' on climate change
  [...]
  Praising the EU for "leading the way" on the climate change issue, she will say the institution is faltering at a time when "positive and radical action" is needed.
- 2014/03/07: BBC: Restoring bogs 'could cut flooding'
- 2014/03/06: Guardian(UK): 'Carbon bubble' poses serious threat to UK economy, MPs warn
- 2014/03/06: BBC: Government pledges £10.5m for Somerset flood scheme
  Funding of £10.5m has been announced towards the cost of a £100m draft flood prevention scheme for Somerset. The Somerset Levels and Moors Flood Action Plan outlines measures including dredging, a tidal barrage and extra permanent pumping sites. The Department for Transport is backing it with £10m and the Department for Communities and Local Government with £500,000. That is in addition to £10m already announced by David Cameron.
- 2014/03/05: BBC: Efforts to help one of Britain's most flood-prone regions will cost "tens of millions of pounds", according to the Environment Agency
- 2014/03/05: BBC: Dawlish storm residents unable to go home
  A month after storms forced residents in a Devon town to leave their homes, many have been unable to return to their properties.
- 2014/03/04: Guardian(UK): Home computers to help scientists assess climate role in UK's wet winter
  Spare computer time lent to researchers at Oxford University will allow intensive climate modelling of 2013-14 conditions
- 2014/03/04: Guardian(UK): Citizen scientists: Now you can link the UK winter deluge to climate change
- 2014/03/04: BBC: [The storm-damaged] Dawlish rail line to reopen on 4 April, Network Rail says
- 2014/03/03: Monbiot: The Benefits Claimants the Government Loves
  Corrupt, irrational, destructive, counter-productive: this scarcely begins to describe our farming policy.
- 2014/03/03: Guardian(UK): The UK government is playing both sides of the climate conflict
And in Europe:
- 2014/03/06: EurActiv: Official disquiet grows over EU states' efficiency plans
  EU countries see energy savings as a "luxury", neglect building sector roadmaps, and are producing national action plans unlikely to meet a 2020 energy efficiency target, according to government officials and advisers surveyed by EurActiv.
- 2014/03/05: EurActiv: UK energy minister sketches Polish compromise for 2030 climate deal
  The UK energy minister, Ed Davey, says that any agreement with Poland over the EU's proposed 2030 energy and climate change package must focus on "burden-sharing, fairness, and cost-effectiveness".
- 2014/03/05: SwissInfo: Activists break into Swiss nuclear plant
  Over 100 Greenpeace anti-nuclear activists have broken into the Beznau I nuclear plant in canton Aargau in Switzerland - the oldest in the world - calling for it to be closed down immediately due to safety concerns.
- 2014/03/05: GET: The EU 2030 Climate and Energy Framework: What is at Stake for the Global Climate?
- 2014/03/04: EurActiv: Majority of EU countries in favour of GMO compromise
  A majority of EU member countries backed a compromise agreement on GMO authorisation which maintains an EU-wide approval scheme but allows national cultivation bans.
- 2014/03/04: EurActiv: Energy firms call for urgent carbon market action
  Four Fortune 500 companies have written to the UK's energy minister, Ed Davey, calling for the rapid cancellation of two billion carbon allowances as EU energy and environment ministers begin two days of high-stakes policy talks in Brussels. The CEOs of four companies - Alstom UK, Shell UK, Doosan and SSE - all warn that the six-year wait for light reform of the Emissions Trading System (ETS) proposed in the EU's 2030 climate and energy package, neglects an "immediate problem" of carbon credit over-supply. "Two billion allowances are suppressing cost efficient carbon abatement and delaying investments in energy efficiency and lower carbon processes, products and services for the medium and long term," says the letter, which EurActiv has seen.
- 2014/03/04: GET: Closer look at German energy dependence on Russia
- 2014/03/04: Lenz: German Government Just Sued the EU Commission
- 2014/03/04: Guardian(UK): Ministers urge Europe to agree green energy goals
  13 European ministers, including UK's Ed Davey, call for EU to adopt climate package despite opposition from Poland
- 2014/03/03: EurActiv: Divided EU grapples with energy and climate goals
  The EU's energy and environment ministers will today (3 March) begin two days of talks under the shadow of divisions on greenhouse gas cuts, renewable energy targets and efficiency objectives.
- 2014/03/03: Guardian(UK): European support for climate change action 'not dented by financial crash'
- 2014/03/03: TheCanadian: European Commission wades into war over Galway salmon farm
- 2014/03/03: RTCC: Denmark to push for 30% EU renewables target
Meanwhile in Australia:
- 2014/03/09: ABC(Au): SA Liberals announce plan to scrap Save the Murray levy at campaign launch
- 2014/03/09: JQuiggin: Reef saved?
- 2014/03/08: ABC(Au): Labor Party needs new ideas, more than double the members, Federal Opposition leader Bill Shorten says
- 2014/03/08: ABC(Au): Bandt says Gina Rinehart a threat to egalitarianism
  Greens MP Adam Bandt has accused millionaire mining magnate Gina Rinehart of being 'a threat to Australian egalitarianism'. Ms Rinehart has attacked what she calls Australia's entitlement mentality, and has called on the Government to emulate the former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher. Greens MP Adam Bandt says the real problem is billionaires not paying enough tax.
- 2014/03/07: RNE: ACT looks for 23MW of waste-to-energy power plants
- 2014/03/07: ABC(Au): Queensland councils to share in $50m for more flood-proofing
- 2014/03/07: ABC(Au): Fact file: How does the Renewable Energy Target affect your power bill?
- 2014/03/07: ABC(Au): Right to refuse access by mining companies voted down in Senate
  A bill to give farmers and others the right to veto entry onto their properties by mining, oil and gas companies has been voted down in the Senate. Queensland Greens Senator Larissa Waters introduced the 'Landholders Right to refuse (Gas and Coal) Bill 2013', which was defeated 44 to 9.
- 2014/03/06: ABC(Au): ACT unveils plans for new 50 megawatt next-generation solar farm
- 2014/03/06: WSWS: Artists boycott Sydney biennale over Australia's asylum seeker regime
- 2014/03/06: ABC(Au): Manus Island riots: Staff given two-page guide on how to deal with questions from asylum seekers
- 2014/03/06: RNE: Graph of the Day: Is Tasmania's forestry industry really worth it?
- 2014/03/06: RNE: Why electricity demand is falling, and what it means
- 2014/03/06: Guardian(UK): Gina Rinehart wants Australian Thatcherism -- but do we want to become northern England?
- 2014/03/06: RNE: Competitive energy storage solutions arrive in Australia
- 2014/03/06: RNE: Queensland axes 8c/kWh solar feed-in tariff
- 2014/03/06: ABC(Au): Bentley [NSW] protest draws fire as start of gas drilling looms
  Efforts to stop impending work at a Metgasco drilling site at Bentley are being stepped up. Three large drums have now been dug and concreted into the surface of an access road.
- 2014/03/06: ABC(Au): Morwell mine fire fighters concerned about fatigue - 18-hour days
- 2014/03/06: ABC(Au): The Tasmanian Greens want subsidies to Forestry Tasmania slashed
- 2014/03/06: TP:JR: Australian Town -Morwell's Air Pollution As Bad As Beijing's Due To Coal Mine Fire
- 2014/03/06: ABC(Au):TDU: What Left? Railing against a 'left' that no longer exists
  Hardline leftist views have lost their expression in Australia's mainstream politics, leaving conservative keyboard warriors effectively shouting at clouds, writes Jonathan Green.
- 2014/03/05: TheConversation: Why don't we believe Australia's fisheries are sustainable?
- 2014/03/05: ABC(Au): Promise of more irrigation schemes [in Tas]
- 2014/03/05: ABC(Au): Minister says no to fracking ban near public drinking water
  The West Australian Government has ruled out a ban on fracking for shale gas near public drinking water.
- 2014/03/05: ABC(Au): Hazelwood coal mine fire: Firefighters in Morwell on track to put out fire by Monday
- 2014/03/05: ABC(Au): Renewed calls to halt underground coal mine plan
  There are renewed calls for New South Wales Government to halt the approval of a massive coal mine on the Central Coast until the corruption watchdog completes its investigation into former Resources Minister, Chris Hartcher.
- 2014/03/05: ABC(Au): Court orders anti-wind farm group to pay legal costs up front
  A group try to stop a big wind farm proposal for King Island has been ordered to pay $35,000 before it can continue with its legal challenge. No Tas Wind Farms is arguing Hydro Tasmania does not have community support to build the $2 billion project on the Bass Strait island.
- 2014/03/05: RNE: CEFC makes first big investment since election - $40m in biogas
- 2014/03/05: ABC(Au): Qantas on carbon pricing: Alan Joyce says airline hasn't changed its position
  Qantas chief Alan Joyce has rejected suggestions the airline has done an about-face over the impact of the carbon price, after issuing two apparently contradictory statements about the scheme this week.
- 2014/03/04: NewMatilda: Why The Coalition Won't Win On Climate
- 2014/03/04: ABC(Au): ACCC knocks back Macquarie Generation sale to AGL over competition concerns
- 2014/03/04: ABC(Au): Gas land owner says Bentley protesters jeopardise safety
- 2014/03/04: ABC(Au): Kimberley environmentalists fight Buru Energy's shale fracking plan
- 2014/03/04: ABC(Au): Farmers battling drought could get boost through falling dollar, rising overseas prices: ABARES [Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics] report
- 2014/03/04: ABC(Au): Morwell businesses worry fire could close them down
- 2014/03/04: ABC(Au): Labor, Greens want Senate probe of environmental offsets for mining firms
- 2014/03/03: TP:JR: Reef Authority First Opposed Dredge Dumping In Great Barrier Reef, Then Issued A Permit Allowing It
- 2014/03/03: Guardian(UK): [Australian] Labor has a long-term vision. What about the Liberals?
- 2014/03/03: Guardian(UK): Climate change is redefining the Australia of 'sunburnt country' poem
- 2014/03/03: DD: Morwell coalmine fire: doctors warn residents face serious health risks from air pollution
  Thousands affected by the fire, which has been burning for three weeks and may continue months
- 2014/03/03: DD: Australia developer withdraws from coal port expansion that threatens Great Barrier Reef
- 2014/03/02: TheConversation: Let's dump Great Barrier Reef dredging myths: authority chief
- 2014/03/03: ABC(Au): Draft documents reveal intial concerns of Reef Authority about dredge dumping
  Staff at the government authority responsible for protecting Australia's Great Barrier Reef last year recommended that the application to dump millions of cubic meters of dredge spoil in the marine park be refused. But ultimately the Marine Park Authority approved the proposal.
- 2014/03/03: ABC(Au): Mixed messages surround health concerns of Morwell coal mine fire
  As smoke continues to blanket the Victorian town of Morwell, an international study shows that the tiny particles the residents are breathing in may sharply increase their risk of heart attack. Victoria's chief health officer is defending her decision to wait to upgrade the health warning to residents. But a Melbourne respiratory physician says a 2010 High Court ruling could be seized upon by potential Morwell litigants.
- 2014/03/03: RNE: Will Joe Hockey end Age of Entitlement for fossil fuels?
Now we get to watch the suppository of wisdom destroy what little Australia has done to fight climate change:
- 2014/03/08: WSWS: More evidence of Australian government responsibility for refugee camp assault
  Further testimony emerged this week from witnesses of the brutal violence inflicted on refugees detained in an Australian-run camp on Papua New Guinea's Manus Island on the night of February 17-18.
- 2014/03/07: ABC(Au):TDU: Why we don't need a reboot of the forest wars
  The certainty and cooperation that has finally marked the Tasmanian timber industry in recent months is under threat from the axe of the Liberal party, writes Lyndon Schneiders.
- 2014/03/07: ABC(Au): CSIRO casts doubt on key aspect of Government's Direct Action plan
  The CSIRO has cast doubt on a key aspect of the Federal Government's climate change plan, saying storing carbon in soil is only likely to result in a "low level" cut to greenhouse gas emissions.
- 2014/03/07: Guardian(UK): Carbon-taxed companies cut emissions by 7% in past year, investor group says
  Coalition's Direct Action policy criticised as not 'investment grade', meaning funding for low-carbon projects is going abroad
- 2014/03/07: RNE: Garnaut slams Direct Action as "Martian beauty contest"
- 2014/03/07: TheConversation: Abbott's half right: our national parks are good but not perfect
- 2014/03/07: ABC(Au): Carbon Farmers call for urgent climate action
  The CSIRO has played down the role of soil carbon sequestration in reducing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
  [...]
  However, Environment Minister Greg Hunt is backing the emphasis on soil carbon in the Direct Action plan...
- 2014/03/07: Guardian(UK): Manus staff answer sheet revealed: 'Why shouldn't I hate Australians?'
- 2014/03/07: Guardian(UK): Ross Garnaut: climate debate has become a Martian beauty contest
  Former Labor government's climate adviser tears into Coalition's direct action policy and green paper
- 2014/03/06: Guardian(UK): Indonesia and Iran to discuss Australia's treatment of asylum seekers
- 2014/03/06: TheConversation: Cape York's wildlife ignored in the rush to develop the north
- 2014/03/05: Guardian(UK): Tasmania: a death warrant against pristine forests Abbott has never seen
  Although 1% of Tasmanian jobs are in logging forests and 15% in tourism, the Liberals are pushing for a move infused with a destructive materialist ideology which will decimate the region
- 2014/03/05: ABC(Au): Former DPI staffer seeks clarification on Direct Action
- 2014/03/05: Hoopla: Cut the crap, Tony (not the trees)
- 2014/03/05: AIMN: Tony Abbott has that rare ability to be incredibly stupid
- 2014/03/05: UKISS: Tony Abbott has that rare ability to be incredibly stupid
- 2014/03/05: ABC(Au): Prime Minister's comments reignite Tas forest debate
- 2014/03/05: ABC(Au): Tas Timber peace deal signatories welcome PM's support for the industry
- 2014/03/05: ABC(Au): Fiona Nash censured amid fallout over conflict of interest claim, Tony Abbott defends minister
- 2014/03/05: UKISS: When religion and ecology meet...
- 2014/03/05: ABC(Au): Tony Abbott says too much Tasmanian forest 'locked up', forms new council to support timber industry
- 2014/03/04: NYT: Australia Puts Green Credibility to the Test
  Since Australia's conservative government took office almost six months ago, Prime Minister Tony Abbott has declared the country open for business. But in his zeal, critics say, Mr. Abbott has exposed parts of Australia's fragile environment to danger. And he has even created unease among some of his constituents in the business community. So far, the Abbott government has given a green light to the expansion of a coal port in the country's north that critics fear will dump tons of silt on the Great Barrier Reef. Down south, the government is moving to delist stands of rain forest on the island of Tasmania that are under World Heritage protection from logging. Out west, it has approved the culling of sharks, including endangered great whites, citing the need to keep tourism dollars flowing after a spate of fatal attacks. Meanwhile, Mr. Abbott is pushing ahead with a campaign promise to rescind the so-called carbon tax on national greenhouse gas emissions that was put in place by the Labor government that preceded Mr. Abbott's Liberal-National coalition and has been blamed for increasing energy costs. And to streamline his new cabinet, he abolished the ministerial-level portfolio of science, created in the 1930s, parceling out the duties to other departments and causing consternation in Australia's scientific circles.
- 2014/03/04: TheConversation: Northern Australia, the sequel: remaking an old policy classic
- 2014/03/04: RNE: IEA blows away Abbott myths about solar and wind energy
  One of the most depressing discussions I have ever had as editor of RenewEconomy was with a policy advisor for a state Coalition government. He started off by giving me a lecture about how his minister only acted on "evidence based information", and then proceeded to quote some of the more outrageous nonsense published in the Murdoch media and some extremely marginal web-sites. Perhaps, then, this person and all the other advisors who direct (or distort) energy policy at state and federal level with the conservative administrations should sit down and absorb the latest report by the International Energy Agency on the integration of wind and solar energy. It might reduce the ignorance and misinformation that is having a profound impact on renewable policy in Australia.
- 2014/03/04: ABC(Au): Manus Island riot: G4S employee contradicts leaked PNG police report into violence at detention centre
- 2014/03/03: RNE: Origin Energy shelves $5 billion PNG hydro project [RET]
CSIRO and the Bureau of Meteorology released The State of the Climate 2014 report this week:
- CSIRO: [link to 4 meg pdf] State of the Climate - 2014
  This State of the Climate is the third in a series of reports produced by CSIRO and the Australian Bureau of Meteorology. It provides a summary of observations of Australia's climate and analysis of the factors that influence it.
- 2014/03/05: ABC(Au): Scientists estimate CO2 concentrations at highest level in 2 million years
- 2014/03/05: ABC(Au): NSW climate hotter and drier
- 2014/03/05: ABC(Au): Environmentalists warn of climate change impacts
- 2014/03/05: ABC(Au): Mid North Coast climate forecast to be hotter and wetter in the future
- 2014/03/04: ABC(Au):TDU: On climate, these guys know their stuff
  When Australia's two top scientific institutions release a report stating our summer heatwave wasn't caused just by natural variability, we can be confident they've got it right, writes Sara Phillips.
- 2014/03/04: CCP: Australian climate report reveals more hot days
- 2014/03/04: ABC(Au): Climate report reveals rainfall changes
  The latest climate report from the CSIRO and Bureau of Meteorology shows autumn and winter rain in southern Australia has declined sharply in recent decades. The State of the Climate 2014 report found average Australian rainfall has actually increased since 1900, due to above average rainfall during northern wet seasons. But in south-eastern Australia, there's been a 25 per cent reduction in average rainfall in April and May since the 1990s, and in the south-west of Western Australia there's been a 17 per cent decline in winter rain since the 1970s.
- 2014/03/04: ABC(Au): CSIRO report says Australia getting hotter with more to come
- 2014/03/04: ABC(Au): Bleak forecast
  The latest report on Australia's climate future predicts more extreme weather events.
- 2014/03/04: RTCC: Australia in 2013: hotter, drier and more fires
  The average day in Australia is 0.9C hotter today than it was in 1910, according to today's State of the Climate report.
- 2014/03/04: RNE: Graph of the Day: How Australia is losing its cool
- 2014/03/04: RNE: Warming Australia has more heatwaves, greater bushfire risk: [State of the Climate] report
- 2014/03/04: HotWhopper: Australia's getting hotter! Five times increase in "very warm" months
- 2014/03/04: ABC(Au): Australia's climate extremes increasing as carbon dioxide levels continue to rise, report reveals
- 2014/03/03: TheConversation: Australia has warmed by 0.9C since 1910, with more in store
- 2014/03/03: TheConversation: Australia's climate: time to act on rising heatwaves and fires
- 2014/03/03: Guardian(UK): Climate forecast for Australia: hot days, higher fire risk, more severe droughts
  State of the climate report predicts that, by 2030, Australia's temperature will have risen by between 0.6C and 1.5C
And in New Zealand:
- 2014/03/03: WSWS: New Zealand: Sordid deal to avoid prosecution over Pike River mine disaster
While in the Indian subcontinent:
- 2014/03/05: Guardian(UK): Indian elections to begin on 7 April
  World's biggest democracy announces calendar for month-long vote that pits ruling Congress party against resurgent BJP
- 2014/03/05: al Jazeera: India announces election dates
  General elections to be held in nine phases over April and May, with polling to start on April 7.
- 2014/03/04: TreeHugger: Record-shattering 5,000 megawatt & 2,500 megawatt solar projects get green light in Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir [India pol]
And in China:
- 2014/03/09: ABC(Au): Air quality in most of China's major cities fails to meet standards
- 2014/03/05: TreeHugger: China's Premier wants to declare "war on pollution" as smog becomes extra horrible
- 2014/03/05: RTCC: China's choking smog places carbon trading schemes in shade
  China's pilot emissions trading schemes are being put into the shade by direct measures to cut smog, which if enforced properly would be much more effective in slowing growth in C02 as the central government says it is getting tough on coal.
- 2014/03/05: BBerg: Li Says China Will Declare War on Pollution as Smog Spreads
  Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said pollution is a major problem and the government will "'declare war'' on smog by removing high-emission cars from the road and closing coal-fired furnaces. Pollution is "nature's red-light warning against the model of inefficient and blind development," Li said today in his work report at the start of this year's National People's Congress in Beijing. "Fostering a sound ecological environment is vital for people's lives and the future of our nation."
- 2014/03/04: TheConversation: China can't smother growing public demands to clear the air
While in Japan:
- 2014/03/07: BBerg: Japan May Set Higher Offshore Wind Subsidy, Reduce Solar Tariff
And elsewhere in Asia:
- 2014/03/06: Asia Times: Kyrgyz coal wars stymie investment [asia pol]
In Russia:
While in Africa:
- 2014/03/06: BBC: Power cuts are affecting large parts of South Africa after Eskom, the country's state-owned power company, declared an energy emergency
- 2014/03/05: TreeHugger: Ghana to get giant solar parks and solar panel factory
And South America:
- 2014/03/08: al Jazeera: Ex-rebel poised to win El Salvador presidency
  Polls indicate that left-leaning ex-guerrilla Sanchez Ceren is set for victory in runoff vote. A former Marxist rebel who has promised to continue the government's popular social programs is poised to win El Salvador's presidential election runoff on Sunday, giving the ruling party a second consecutive term. Most polls show Salvador Sanchez Ceren, 69, of the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front, or FMLN, with a lead that ranges from 10 to 18 percentage points ahead of San Salvador Mayor Norman Quijano, the candidate of the conservative Nationalist Republican Alliance, known as ARENA, the Associated Press news agency reported.
- 2014/03/04: TruthDig: Isabel Allende, Salvador Allende's Daughter Chosen as First Woman to Lead Chilean Senate
In Canada, neocon PM Harper, aka The Blight, pushes petroleum while ignoring the climate and ecology:
Resonances of the Lac Mégantic tragedy linger:
- 2014/03/06: CBC: Lab tests show oil in Lac-Mégantic crash was as volatile as gasoline
First Nations are carrying the ball:
- 2014/03/04: TMoS: First Nations Man the Front Trench in Our Fight For Canada
- 2014/03/04: Guardian(UK): Aboriginal rights a threat to Canada's resource agenda, documents reveal
  Canadian government closely monitoring how legal rulings and aboriginal protest pose an increasing 'risk' for multi-billion dollar oil and mining plans
What's happening in the Opposition parties?
- 2014/03/02: TheCanadian: Justin Trudeau: Just another "Con" man?
Pipelines - Natural Gasand Liquids:
- 2014/03/07: Grist: Big Oil's new strategy: If you can't build a new pipeline, just overload the old oneThere are getting to be so many pipelines, one almost needs a scorecard:
  1. The TransCanada West-East pipeline has passed the first stage
  2. The battle over the Northern Gateway pipeline rages on
  3. The Kinder Morgan expansion remains controversial
  4. Alberta is usually good for a random spill
  5. The Enbridge Line 9 reversal is before the NEB
  6. The ancient Enbridge Line 5 runs under the Straits of Mackinac
  7. Enbridge has announced a Line 3 rebuild
The TransCanada West-East pipeline has passed the first stage:
- 2014/03/07: DeSmogBlog: Whistleblower Evan Voke's Evidence Against TransCanada Whitewashed By Regulators
- 2014/03/05: CBC: TransCanada west-east pipeline in first stage of approval
The battle over the Northern Gateway pipeline rages on:
Alberta is usually good for a random spill:
The Enbridge Line 9 reversal has been approved. Let the lawsuits begin:
- 2014/03/07: Rabble:JM: Nine reasons to reject the NEB decision and continue opposing Line 9
- 2014/03/07: DeSmogBlog: Enbridge Line 9 Bitumen Pipeline Approved With Weak Conditions
- 2014/03/07: TP:JR: Two More Giant Tar Sands Pipelines Reach Milestones As Keystone XL Decision Looms
  Two massive pipeline projects with a combined value of $19 billion passed key hurdles this week -- a striking reminder that the fight over Keystone XL is just the beginning of what promises to be a long debate over the future of the Canadian tar sands oil reserves. The first giant west-to-east pipeline is from TransCanada, the same company that lays claim to Keystone XL. The company's $12 billion Energy East pipeline would be the largest oil sands pipeline in North America, and on Tuesday filed its project description with Canada's National Energy Board. Energy East would pump 1.1 million barrels of oil per day from Alberta's tar sands to terminals in Montreal, Quebec City, and St. John, as well as for export across the Atlantic. The second pipeline is from Enbridge Inc., which on Thursday got final approval for its Line 9 expansion project to bring tar sands to Montreal. But Line 9 isn't their biggest approval this week. On Monday, the company announced it has received financial backing for its $7 billion Line 3 Replacement project. That project would replace an existing 46-year-old pipeline between Alberta and Wisconsin, and double oil flow from 390,000 barrels of oil per day to 760,000.
- 2014/03/07: TP:JR: While America Waits On Keystone Decision, A Different Tar Sands Pipeline Just Got Approved
- 2014/03/06: CBC: Enbridge Line 9 pipeline reversal approved by energy board
- 2014/03/06: TheCanadian: Energy Board approves Enbridge Line 9 reversal
- 2014/03/06: CBC: Enbridge Line 9 pipeline decision expected Thursday from NEB
- 2014/03/06: NNW: NEB to rule on Enbridge's Line 9 reversal
The ancient Enbridge Line 5 runs under the Straits of Mackinac:
- 2014/03/06: DeSmogBlog: Concerns Mount About 61-Year Old Enbridge Pipeline in the Great Lakes
Enbridge has announced a Line 3 rebuild:
- 2014/03/04: DeSmogBlog: Enbridge Announces $7B Line 3 Rebuild, Largest Project in Company History
- 2014/03/04: CBC: Enbridge wins support for $7B pipeline replacement project
  Shippers agree to surcharges to raise capital to upgrade 1,660-km line from Alberta to Wisconsin
Let's see. The railroads are under new management who fire 1700 people and sideline 400 locomotives, then they wonder why the grain isn't moving...:
What's the state of the West Coast salmon fishery?
- 2014/03/06: TheCanadian: DFO predicts monster Fraser River sockeye return this summer
Meanwhile in BC:
- 2014/03/07: CBC: Indian Oil Corp. buys 10% of B.C. LNG project from Petronas
- 2014/03/07: WCEL: When a U.S. billionaire claims BC fish and lakes
- 2014/03/04: Tyee: Going Green Browned Off Key NDP Voters
  And if BC New Dems continue to reject the resource sector, they will lose. Again. The fundamental problem facing the B.C. New Democratic Party is simple to state and hard to solve: going green has browned off key voters needed to form government.
- 2014/03/04: TheCanadian: Petronas' Canadian shale gas shares attract Chinese and Indian investors
- 2014/03/03: Tyee: Big Ideas? NDP's Got 'Em in Spades
  From restoring corporate taxes to ending Big Oil subsidies, deputy leader says New Dems are ready to deliver.
- 2014/03/03: TheCanadian: BC's LNG exports drain water resources
- 2014/03/03: TheCanadian: BC Budget a work of fiction: Economist
And in that Mechanical Mordor known as the tar sands:
Also in Alberta:
- 2014/03/08: WSWS: Letter on growing social polarization and class conflict in Alberta
- 2014/03/07: CBC: Penn West loses $728M on disposal of natural gas assets
- 2014/03/06: CBC: Calgary's Encana accused of bid-rigging in Michigan
- 2014/03/03: Tyee: The Loophole Big Oil Uses to Pump More Crude
  Companies apply for capacity below a project's potential, then jack it up later, under less scrutiny.
In Ontario:
- 2014/03/04: BCLSB: Tim Hudak's Energy Policy, Such As It Is
While in la Belle Province:
- 2014/03/06: CBC: Quebec election campaign kicks off for April 7 vote
In the Maritimes:
- 2014/03/07: CBC: Goldboro [LNG] natural gas project gets environmental approval
- 2014/03/07: TheCanadian: Nova Scotia LNG plant wins conditional approval
And on the American political front:
The Keystone XL wheel grinds slowly. And it grinds woe:
Leaks and spills:

Jeez! It's getting hard to keep all the spills and leaks 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
11. Alpha Natural Resources is being fined for 6,000 Clean Water Act violations in 7 years
In North Carolina, Duke Energy spilled coal ash slurry into the Dan River:
- 2014/03/06: TP:JR: Duke Energy Must Immediately Stop Polluting Groundwater In North Carolina, Judge Rules
- 2014/03/06: NewsObserver: Judge rules Duke must halt groundwater pollution at coal ash sites
- 2014/03/05: al Jazeera:USA: Duke Energy's dirty water
- 2014/03/05: Salon: Meet the environmental "regulator" who hates science: John Skvarla's coal ash mess
  When a facility dumped many tons of toxic coal ash into N.C.'s Dan River, how the state reacted will astound you
- 2014/03/04: TP:JR: Five More Duke Energy Power Plants Cited For Storing Coal Waste Improperly
- 2014/03/03: LA Times: Duke Energy receives 5 more citations weeks after coal ash spill
In West Virginia, Freedom Industries spilled coal cleaning chemicals into the Elk river:
The BP disaster continues to twist US politics. See also:
In Alaska, the Exxon Valdez is an oldie and a baddie:
- 2014/03/05: SciAm:EC: 25 Years after Exxon Valdez Spill, Sea Otters Recovered in Alaska's Prince William Sound
- 2014/03/01: NatGeo: Oil From the Exxon Valdez Spill Lingers on Alaska Beaches
  Boulder-strewn beaches in the Gulf of Alaska still harbor oil from the Exxon Valdez spill.
Alpha Natural Resources is being fined for 6,000 Clean Water Act violations in 7 years:
- 2014/03/05: TP:JR: Huge Coal Company [Alpha Natural Resources] To Pay Largest-Ever Fine After 6,000 Clean Water Violations In 7 Years
- 2014/03/05: NYT: Coal Firm to Pay Record Penalty and Spend Millions on Water Cleanup in 5 States
  One of the nation's biggest coal companies will pay a record civil penalty and will spend tens of millions of dollars to clean up water flowing from mines in five states, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Justice Department announced on Wednesday. The company, Alpha Natural Resources, and 66 of its subsidiaries including the former Massey Energy, will spend $200 million under a consent decree to reduce pollution from coal mines in Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia. The company will also pay $27.5 million, the largest civil penalty ever for permit violations under the Clean Water Act, in connection with more than 6,000 such violations from 2006 to 2013. Under the agreement, which involved both state and federal agencies, Alpha's new equipment should prevent the discharge of about 36 million pounds of dissolved solids each year, including about nine million pounds of metals and other pollutants. The agreement is the fifth in recent years between the agencies and coal companies, following deals with Massey in 2008, Patriot Coal in 2009, and Arch Coal and Consol Energy in 2011.
The GOP War on Women continues. See also:
- 2014/03/08: al Jazeera: Why are American women dying in childbirth?
  Maternal mortality rates are falling in every industrialised nation - except for the United States.
- 2014/03/07: CDreams: Texas: Bringing the 'Pre-Roe' Days Back for Women
- 2014/03/07: Guardian(UK): Women's groups in uproar as Texas closes two more abortion clinics
- 2014/03/05: Salon: Alabama House passes four anti-choice measures in a single session
The actions of the Obama administration are being watched closely:
- 2014/03/07: ScienceInsider: USDA Wants to Step Up Innovation Research
- 2014/03/07: ScienceInsider: U.S. Senate Confirms New NOAA Chief, Kathryn Sullivan
- 2014/03/07: UCSUSA: UCS's Fourth Annual NRC Review Characterizes the Agency's Performance as Improved but Still Inconsistent
- 2014/03/07: IPSNews: U.S. Plans to Speed Poultry Slaughtering, Cut Inspections
- 2014/03/06: NOAANews: Kathryn Sullivan confirmed as NOAA administrator
- 2014/03/06: UCSUSA:B: What's the Big Idea in President Obama's Budget? Building Resilience to Climate Consequences.
- 2014/03/05: HillHeat: White House Issues Veto Threat Against House Bill to Kill Power-Plant Carbon Rules
- 2014/03/05: NatureN: Obama's budget plan defies spending cap
  With Congress unlikely to approve tax-based boost for science, agency funding hopes are dashed.
- 2014/03/04: ScienceInsider: Major U.S. Science Agencies Face Flat Prospects
- 2014/03/04: TheHill:e2W: Obama stands by energy strategy while pushing climate change fund
  The $1 billion fund would help communities prepare for extreme weather events.
- 2014/03/04: UCSUSA: UCS Welcomes Energy Department Suspension of MOX Program in FY 2015 Budget Request
  The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) commended the Department of Energy (DOE) for planning to put the MOX Fuel Fabrication Facility at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina on "cold standby" while it determines an alternative way to dispose of surplus plutonium from nuclear weapons programs.
- 2014/03/04: NatureN: Dust regulations trigger backlash
  US agency's reassessment of silica exposure rules provokes conflict-of-interest row with senators. [...] The agency ruffled feathers in the Senate when it asked that those submitting evidence should declare their funding sources.
- 2014/03/04: ScienceInsider: How Will U.S. Science Fare In the 2015 Budget?
- 2014/03/04: UCSUSA: President Obama Formally Requests New Climate Resilience Funding From Congress
- 2014/03/04: USGS: President's 2015 Budget Proposes $1.1 Billion for the USGS
  Targeted investments advance research on climate change and earth sciences to support community safety, health, and economic growth
- 2014/03/03: BBerg: Refiners Rebuff EPA Concessions in Rule to Cut Sulfur - EPA Sets New Fuel Standards; Refiners Not Pleased
- 2014/03/03: Grist: Your car will soon be less polluting, thanks to EPA's new gasoline rule
- 2014/03/03: AutoBG: EPA says new Tier 3 emissions levels will clean the air, save lives
- 2014/03/03: TP:JR: A Comprehensive Guide To The EPA's New Pollution-Reducing Gasoline Rules
- 2014/03/03: NYT: E.P.A. Set to Reveal Tough New Sulfur Emissions Rule
- 2014/03/03: UCSUSA:B: Looking to Reduce CO2 Emissions 40% from the Power Plant Sector?
- 2014/03/03: UCSUSA: Rule to Clean up Gasoline and Lower Tailpipe Emissions Finalized
- 2014/02/28: Reuters: U.S. expands healthy food assistance to women, infants and children [Special SNAP]
As for what is going on in Congress:
- 2014/03/07: Grist: House Republicans just passed a good environmental bill, believe it or not
- 2014/03/07: Tamino: U.S. Senate: Up All Night
- 2014/03/06: Grist: Republicans use Putin as an excuse to push fossil-fuel projects
- 2014/03/06: WaPo: House backs bill to block EPA power plant rule
  The Republican-controlled House moved Thursday to block President Barack Obama's plan to limit carbon pollution from new power plants, an election-year strike at the White House aimed at portraying Obama as a job killer. Ten coal-state or Southern Democrats joined with Republicans to approve the bill, 229-183.
- 2014/03/06: TP:JR: House Passes Bill That Would Curb EPA's Power To Limit Carbon Emissions
- 2014/03/05: CBC: Flood insurance overhaul set to be rolled back in U.S.
- 2014/03/05: TP:JR: Paul Ryan Uses Ukraine To Argue For Construction Of Keystone XL Pipeline
- 2014/03/05: NPR: House Approves Measure To Ease Flood Insurance Hikes
- 2014/03/04: HillHeat: Reid: "Senate Republicans are Addicted to Koch"
- 2014/03/03: ScienceInsider: Physicist Seeks Illinois House Seat
What are the lobbyists pushing?
- 2014/02/21: RepublicReport: Chevron's Lobbyist [Stephen Sayle] Now Runs the Congressional Science Committee
The movement toward a long term ecologically viable economics is glacial:
IPAT [Impact = Population * Affluence * Technology] raised its head once again:
- 2014/03/06: UN: UN health agency issues guidance on access to contraceptive information, services
- 2014/03/04: ERW: Crop yields have 'largely kept pace with population expansion'
  As the world's population has grown, considerable efforts have gone into boosting crop yields to try and feed these rising numbers. But what if crop yields had not increased in the last 50 years? How much more land would we have needed to grow crops?
Apocalypso anyone?
- 2014/03/03: TMoS: Climate Change is a Civilization Wrecker
- 2014/02/25: AlterNet: The Closest Humanity Ever Came to Preventing Its Own Extinction from Climate Change
Why we fight:
- 2014/03/03: FergusB: Don't stop (thinking about tomorrow)
How do the corporate media measure up?
- 2014/03/07: FAIR: New Keystone Poll Reveals Media Failure
- 2014/03/05: FAIR: A Protest in the Capital and a Media Blackout
- 2014/03/05: JQuiggin: Bolt: Every word he says is a lie, including "and" and "the"
- 2014/03/04: CJR: To revitalize journalism, give it away
  That's the approach of Mosaic, a new science site that's affixing a Creative Commons license to its longform
- 2014/03/02: TP:JR: Apocalypse Not: The Oscars, The Media And The Myth Of 'Constant Repetition Of Doomsday Messages' On Climate
- 2014/03/02: GLaden: Weblog Awards Drops Science, Science Denialists Still Game System
Here is something for your library:
And for your film & video enjoyment:
Meanwhile among the 'Sue the Bastards!' contingent:
- 2014/03/06: TP:JR: Duke Energy Must Immediately Stop Polluting Groundwater In North Carolina, Judge Rules
- 2014/03/06: NewsObserver: Judge rules Duke must halt groundwater pollution at coal ash sites
- 2014/03/06: CBC: Calgary's Encana accused of bid-rigging in Michigan
  State attorney general files criminal charges against 2 companies over oil and gas leases
- 2014/03/05: ABC(Au): Court orders anti-wind farm group to pay legal costs up front
- 2014/03/04: Lenz: German Government Just Sued the EU Commission
This Equador suit against Chevron/Texaco has been going on for decades:
- 2014/03/05: OilChange: Frackwater: The latest fragrance from Jerry Brown
- 2014/03/05: OilChange: Activists Criticise "Misguided" Chevron Court Ruling
- 2014/03/05: TreeHugger: Chevron wins huge victory over $18 billion Ecuador lawsuit
- 2014/03/05: al Jazeera: US judge rejects $9bn ruling against Chevron
  Plaintiffs will continue with lawsuits against the oil giant in other countries, despite the ruling by US judge.
- 2014/03/04: BBerg: Chevron Wins U.S. Ruling Calling Ecuador Judgment Fraud
  Chevron Corp. won a U.S. judge's ruling that a multibillion-dollar pollution judgment issued in Ecuador was procured by fraud, making it less likely that plaintiffs will collect the $9.5 billion award. U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan in Manhattan said today that the second-largest U.S. oil company provided enough evidence that a 2011 judgment on behalf of rain forest dwellers in the country's Lago Agrio area was secured by bribing a judge and ghostwriting court documents. Kaplan oversaw a seven-week nonjury trial over Chevron's allegations.
- 2014/03/04: TheCanadian: US judge blocks $9 Billion judgement against Chevron over lawyers' illegal conduct
- 2014/03/04: Guardian(UK): NY judge rules for Chevron in Ecuador case
- 2014/03/04: Guardian(UK): Chevron wins US legal battle against Ecuadorian court's $9bn ruling
  District judge denounces 'Robin Hood defense' and 'corrupt means' of lawyers for rainforest's indigenous people
The Mann defamation suit saga rolls on:
- 2014/03/03: CSW: More on Mann v. National Review et al.
- 2014/03/03: BCLSB: Mann Vs. Steyn: Steve McIntyre Weighs In
It looks like this BP trial over the Gulf oil spill is going to take a long while:
- 2014/03/04: TP:JR: Appeals Court Rules BP Must Pay Gulf Oil Spill Claimants
- 2014/03/04: Salon: BP fails to get out of compensating oil spill victims
- 2014/03/04: BBC: US court rejects BP effort to halt oil spill payments
  A US federal court has rejected BP's efforts to halt payments relating to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The Fifth Circuit Court also said an earlier injunction stopping payments to claimants should be lifted. BP had argued that some firms filed fictitious spill claims.
- 2014/03/04: al Jazeera: US court rejects BP pay-out appeal
  New Orleans court upholds ruling authorising businesses to seek compensation for the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
- 2014/02/28: WaPo: In New Orleans courts, the legal gusher BP cannot contain
Wrestling over a new energy infrastructure continues unabated:
- 2014/03/08: DeSmogBlog: Energy Industry Leaders and Government Officials Rub Elbows at CERAWeek 2014
- 2014/03/07: TreeHugger: This roadmap shows how all 50 US states can transition to 100% renewable energy by 2050
- 2014/03/07: Resilience: Energy Crunch: Peaks and tipping points
- 2014/03/07: CCP: Chris Nelder: The Energy Transition Tipping Point Is Here
  The economic foundations supporting fossil fuels investments are collapsing quickly, as the business case for renewables such as solar and wind finds a new center of balance.
- 2014/03/05: CBC: Nova Scotia and U.K. researching tidal energy together
- 2014/03/05: UCSUSA:B: Can Wind and Solar Power Meet Our Energy Needs?
- 2014/03/04: OFW: Reasons for our Energy Predicament - An Overview
- 2014/03/03: GET: Renewables Power a Rural German Village [Feldheim]
- 2014/03/04: TheCanadian: Nova Scotia and UK team up to study tidal power
- 2014/03/04: RNE: Renewables power [Feldheim] a rural German village
- 2014/03/03: RNE: Will IEA and governments be the last to discover solar PV revolution?
What do you have in energy comparisons and transitions?
Hey! Let's contaminate the aquifers for thousands of years! It'll be a fracking gas!
- 2014/03/06: USGS: 2011 Oklahoma Induced Earthquake May Have Triggered Larger Quake
- 2014/03/06: TheCanadian: Rex Tillerson, you are a big, fat NIMBY
- 2014/03/06: FuelFix: FracFocus falls short, report to feds concludes
  Oil companies are shielding too much information from public view in an industry-backed database for disclosing chemicals used in oil and gas wells, engineers, environmentalists and energy experts told the Obama administration on Thursday. The FracFocus registry also contains errors that undermine its role as the leading mechanism for tracking hydraulic fracturing chemicals used in unconventional oil and gas production, said an Energy Department advisory board.
- 2014/03/05: ProPublica: Drilling for Certainty: The Latest in Fracking Health Studies
- 2014/03/05: TP:JR: Wisconsin Locals Fight For Regulation Of Carcinogenic Fracking Ingredient [frac sand aka crystalline silica dust]
- 2014/03/04: PennLive: New study of gas drilling and ground water shows gas is often in water before drilling begins
- 2014/03/04: BBC: Shale gas estimate in North West 'bigger' than previously thought
- 2014/03/03: CleanTechnica: Fracking Ban-memtum Builds On Both Sides Of The Pond
On the coal front:
On the gas and oil front:
- 2014/03/07: BBerg: Closing oil prices Friday
  OIL (US$/bbl)
  Dated Brent Spot....109.00
  WTI Cushing Spot....102.58
- 2014/03/07: CPunch: How the Oil and Gas Industry is Poisoning the Air for Profit -- Fracking the Air We Breathe
- 2014/03/03: BBerg: Refiners Rebuff EPA Concessions in Rule to Cut Sulfur - EPA Sets New Fuel Standards; Refiners Not Pleased
- 2014/03/03: OilChange: New Report Outlines Climate Costs of Relaxing Crude Oil Export Regulations
- 2014/03/03: RNE: Gas price surge sends wrecking ball through energy markets
  The relentless surge of gas prices that are bound to occur as Australia ramps up its new LNG export capacity on the eastern seaboard has barely begun, but already it is having a devastating impact on the country's electricity markets.
In the gas and oil corps:
And in pipeline news:
- 2014/03/04: G&M: Alberta oil spill was preventable, regulator's report finds
- 2014/03/04: Grist: That old, rusty underwater pipeline? Nothing to worry about!
Ships and boats and trains -- How to tranport the stuff?
- 2014/03/07: ICN: Oil Train Explosions: The Importance of Removing Volatile Gases - Infographic
  Oil producers may be failing to properly separate fiery gases like propane from the crude. Graphic explains how separation works and why it matters
- 2014/03/05: ICN: Too Much Propane Could Be a Factor in Exploding Oil Trains
- 2014/03/04: FuelFix: Refiners ask for timeout on new oil-by-rail tests
- 2014/03/04: Grist: You can thank Warren Buffett for many of those exploding oil trains
- 2014/03/04: ICN: In Dakota Oil Patch, Trains Trump Pipelines
Marvelous! Now the USA has their own Mechanical Mordor:
- 2014/03/05: SciAm:PI: Drilling rigs are moving at a furious pace -- a look at The Boom in maps
A rush of American triumphalism pervades the energy independence PR campaign. Think it will last?
- 2014/03/04: DeSmogBlog: The View from Europe: America's Shale Boom Looks More Like a Blip
Yes we have a peak oil sighting:
- 2014/03/02: CassandrasLegacy: Post peak countries: the collapse of Yemen
Biofuel bickering abounds:
- 2014/03/08: CleanTechnica: New Bionic Leaf Could Solve Solar Energy Storage Problem - convert sunlight into an energy-dense fuel
- 2014/03/03: TP:JR: How Europe Could Get 16 Percent Of Its Road Fuel From Garbage By 2030
The answer my friend...
Meanwhile among the solar aficionados:
- 2014/03/07: RNE: Infigen sells two 20MW solar projects in US to Duke
- 2014/03/07: CleanTechnica: SunEdison Expects 90% Growth in 2014, To Complete Over 1150 MW Worth Of Solar PV Projects
- 2014/03/07: BBC: Chaori Solar in landmark Chinese bond default
  Solar panel maker Shanghai Chaori Solar Energy Science & Technology has defaulted on interest payments owed on its bond, say media reports quoting the firm. It is the first Chinese firm ever to default on its onshore corporate bonds. On Tuesday, the firm warned it would be unable to make a 89.8 million yuan ($14.6m; £8.7m) interest payment on a one billion yuan bond issued in 2012.
- 2014/03/06: UCSUSA:B: Solar Energy Soars, Now Generates Enough Power for More than Two Million Homes
- 2014/03/06: RNE: Jinko first to take solar module costs below 50c/watt
- 2014/03/06: ABC(Au): ACT unveils plans for new 50 megawatt next-generation solar farm
- 2014/03/05: GEB: New Solar Capacity Added in January 2014 Picks Up But Remains Fairly Low
- 2014/03/05: Salon: Solar power is really close to becoming mainstream
- 2014/03/05: TreeHugger: Semi-transparent colored photovoltaic cells could make solar panels more beautiful
- 2014/03/05: TP:JR: Solar Power Just Had Its Biggest Quarter Ever
- 2014/03/05: CleanTechnica: Bloomberg Predicts Solar Market Will Grow +20% In 2014
- 2014/03/05: CleanTechnica: Solar Now Mainstream In US, According To SEIA's 2013 Market Review
- 2014/03/05: RNE: ANU and Trina Solar develop 24.4% efficient solar cell
- 2014/03/04: DeSmogBlog: Solar Power Had A Huge Year In 2013
- 2014/03/03: Eureka: Transparent, color solar cells fuse energy, beauty
The nuclear energy controversy continues:
- 2014/03/07: EneNews: NPR: Rapidly unfolding situation at cracked dam has engineers scrambling...
- 2014/03/06: WNN: First MOX for Beloyarsk 4
  The first batch of 56 mixed uranium-plutonium oxide (MOX) fuel assemblies has been shipped to Beloyarsk 4 as Russia's first-of-a-kind BN-800 fast reactor prepares to start up.
- 2014/03/05: SwissInfo: Activists break into Swiss nuclear plant
- 2014/03/05: WNN: US MOX plant left cold by budget
  The USA's partially built Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF), a key component of the country's plutonium disposition program, is to be placed on cold standby after being effectively cut out of the Department of Energy's (DoE's) FY2015 budget request.
Nuclear waste storage requires _very_ long term thinking:
- 2014/03/08: EneNews: [WIPP radiation leak was never supposed to happen -- No one knows yet how or why a waste drum leaked]
- 2014/03/08: JFleck: Stuff I wrote elsewhere: the WIPP accident that was never supposed to happen
- 2014/03/07: FukuLeaks: WIPP Puts Probes Into Mine Today
- 2014/03/07: FukuLeaks: WIPP Incident Creates Local Frustration
- 2014/03/06: EneNews: Subsidence concerns at WIPP nuclear dump -- Over 100 operating oil and gas wells within mile of site, a 'very active' area...
- 2014/03/06: EneNews: "WIPP release story doesn't add up... accident is unbelievable" -- New tests show "high level" release underground...
- 2014/03/06: FukuLeaks: WIPP; Leaking Dampers, Re-entry Planned For Next Week
- 2014/03/05: WSWS: Thirteen workers exposed to radiation at New Mexico nuclear waste site
- 2014/03/05: EneNews: WIPP Expert: Nuclear waste is getting out above ground...
- 2014/03/05: FukuLeaks: WIPP Incident Causes Back Up Of Nuclear Waste
- 2014/03/05: FukuLeaks: WIPP Exhaust Filter 1,365 Bq/m3 of Americium
- 2014/03/04: NatureN: US seeks waste-research revival -- Radioactive leak brings nuclear repositories into the spotlight
- 2014/03/03: EneNews: Reports: Plutonium can escape from unfiltered shafts at WIPP...
- 2014/02/28: STimes: Concerns raised about storage tanks at Hanford nuclear waste complex
  Flaws in some newer storage tanks at Hanford could lead to leaks, according to documents. Questions about the tanks jeopardize efforts to clean up radioactive waste at the site. Those efforts already cost taxpayers about $2 billion a year.
Nuclear fusion projects around the world limp along:
- 2014/03/03: NBF: Russian Focus Fusion device gets to 30 joules from 135 kilojoules input which was 6 times better than the national ignition facility energy return ratio
Feed-In-Tariffs (Net Metering & Time-of-Use Tariffs) are being variously implemented around the world:
More people are talking about the electrical grid:
- 2014/03/04: Fraunhofer: Smart grid for electric vehicle fleet
- 2014/03/03: PSinclair: Will the Grid Become Optional -- And How Soon?
How are the utilities adjusting (or not)?
- 2014/03/08: PSinclair: The Other Death Spiral: Centralized Utilities Now Germany's Walking Dead
- 2014/03/07: RNE: Milne: Regulatory fiat last refuge for incumbent utilities
  Greens Leader Christine Milne has told the incumbent electricity industry what it knows, but it doesn't like to hear - its business model is changing irrevocably, and the only hindrance to that change is the ability of those incumbents to protect themselves with regulatory barriers. In a stunning speech at Smart Grid Australia conference at Parliament House in Canberra on Wednesday, Milne said battery storage is set to become the most disruptive of all technologies to centralised electricity networks.
- 2014/03/06: CleanTechnica: APS Is At It Again
- 2014/03/06: CleanTechnica: New Player Emerges In Battle Of Solar Vs Utilities: Storage
- 2014/03/04: CleanTechnica: Utility Insiders See Major Changes Coming (Charts)
- 2014/03/04: RNE: Origin confirms Darling Downs [baseload gas generator] relegated to role as peaking plant
- 2014/03/03: CleanTechnica: Another Solar Tax Threatens Rooftop Solar Customers
- 2014/03/03: PSinclair: New Tesla Venture Means "Strife" for Utilities
- 2014/03/02: RealEconomics: Musk, Tesla and electrical storage [utils]
Automakers & lawyers, engineers & activists argue over the future of the car:
As for Energy Storage:
The reaction of business to climate change will be critical:
- 2014/03/03: Guardian(UK): Tim Cook tells climate change sceptics to ditch Apple shares
What do we have in (weekly) lists?
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:
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.

"The necessity of taking the industrial world to its next stage of evolution is not a disaster -- it is an amazing opportunity. How to seize the opportunity, how to bring into being a world that is not only sustainable, functional, and equitable but also deeply desirable is a question of leadership and ethics and vision and courage, properties not of computer models but of the human heart and soul." -Meadows et al., Limits to Growth, page 263
Last modified March 9, 2014

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March 9, 2014

Laugh. I dare ya:

And for those who enjoy challenging Poe's Law:

Looking ahead to COP20 and future international climate negotiations:

A prediction of future European floods made the insurance companies take note I'm sure:

What do we have for warnings this week?

Still some chatter about that RS/NAS report:

How is the German Energy Transition [Energiewende] doing?

And on the Bottom Line:

Delving into the laws of thermodynamics this week:

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:

What do we have for Fukushima related papers this week?

The Arctic melt continues to garner attention:

As for the geopolitics of Arctic resources:

While in Antarctica:

The food crisis is ongoing:

Food Prices are still problematic:

Regarding the genetic modification of food:

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

The Western Pacific is starting to talk. There is an unreported storm over by the Solomons and Northern Queensland is getting a two for one deal this weekend - Gilliand and a TD:

Earlier in the Western Pacific, Typhoons Faxai and Kofi raisd a ruckus and died:

While elsewhere in the hurricane wars:

This week in notable weather:

Got any forecasts?

This week in the New Normal -- extreme weather:

And in the carbon cycle:

Regarding the solar hypothesis:

Regarding Milankovitch Cycles:

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?

While in the paleoclimate:

In the attribution debate:

What's the State of the Oceans?:

As for Ocean Currents:

How's the State of the Biosphere?

And on the extinction watch:

More GW impacts are being seen:

And then there are the world's forests:

Emerging diseases accompany ecological change:

On the tornado front, here's a modest suggestion:

As for heatwaves and wild fires:

Corals are a bellwether of the ocean's health:

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:

Large scale geo-engineering keeps popping up:

What's new in restoration?

While on the adaptation front:

Meanwhile in the journals:

And other significant documents:

As for miscellaneous science:

What's new in models?

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:

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

South [& East] China Sea tension persists:

Who is serious about reducing airline carbon emissions?

Various aspects of the US/EU/NATO confrontation of Russia over Crimea and Ukraine are relevant here:

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

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

What are the activists up to?

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

Polls! We have polls!

Regarding Water Politics and Business:

Among the world's religions:

Regarding science education:

While in the UK:

The Western Pacific is starting to talk. There is an unreported storm over by the Solomons and
Northern Queensland is getting a two for one deal this weekend - Gilliand and a TD:

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