Another Week of Climate Disruption News - May 11, 2014

By illconsidered on May 14, 2014.

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

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Logging the Onset of The Bottleneck Years

May 11, 2014

Chuckles, COP20+, Abu Dhabi, WGx, NCA, Myers, Mengel & Levermann, Landslide
Energiewende, Bottom Line, Subsidies, Economics, Cook, Meteorologists
Fukushima: Note, News
Melting Arctic, Polar Bears, Methane
Food: Crisis, Fisheries, Prices, Land Grabs, GMOs, GMO Labelling, Production
Hurricanes, Monsoon, Notable Weather, Forecasts, Extreme Weather
GHGs, Carbon Cycle, Milankovitch Cycles, Climate Sensitivity, Ozone, ENSO
Temperatures, Satellites Paleoclimate, Attribution
Oceans, Biosphere, Extinctions, Bees & CCD, Anthropocene
Impacts, Forests, Climate Refugees, Disease, Smog & Health, Phenology
Tornadoes, Wildfires, Corals, Glaciers, Sea Levels, GW Deluge, Floods & Droughts
Mitigation, Cities, Synthetic Biology, Transportation, Geoengineering, Conservation, Restoration, Adaptation
Journals, Other Docs, Misc. Science, Free Science, Hansen
International Politics: UN, Bank Tax, Hormuz, South China Sea, Ukraine, Treaties, Resources
FQD, Law & Activism, Activism, Resistance, Divestment, Polls, H2O Biz, Education
National Politics: Britain, Europe, Australia, Abbott, RET, MDBP, Tas Forest Deal
India, China, Japan, Asia, Russia, Africa, South America
Canada, Lac-Mégantic, Abortion, Farley, CCA, Pipelines, Salmon, BC, Tar Sands, Alberta, Ontario, Maritimes
America, Keystone, Spills & Leaks, Birth Control, 2016, Obama, USAdmin, Congress
Ecological Economics, Recycling, IPAT, Apocalypso, Media, Books, Video, Podcasts, Courts
Energy, Transitions, Energy Investments, Fracking, Coal, Oil & Gas, Oil Transportation, US Tar Sands
Wind, Solar, Nukes, Nuclear Waste, Utilities, Efficiency, Energy Storage
Business, Other Lists, Carbon Lobby, Clean Coal, Inaction, Miscellaneous, Useful Links
Shameless Self Promotion, A Simple Plea, .sig

Laugh. I dare ya:

And for those who enjoy challenging Poe's Law:

2014/05/09: Wonkette: Obama Desecrates Reagan's Adulthood Home With Solar Panels Because He Is A Dumb Hippie

Looking ahead to COP20 and future international climate negotiations:
There was some sort of conference in Abu Dhabi:
- 2014/05/10: CleanTechnica: Abu Dhabi Solar Challenge Launched
- 2014/05/10: CleanTechnica: Revolutionizing The Water Desalination Industry
- 2014/05/07: CleanTechnica: Abu Dhabi Ascent Opening: Time Is Running Out
- 2014/05/05: GET: A Renewables Club to change the world
- 2014/05/06: RTCC: Support builds for global carbon price at Abu Dhabi Ascent
  World Bank and Al Gore call for 'polluter pays' principle to be implemented across global economy Calls for a global price on carbon intensified at a high level meeting in Abu Dhabi this week, with former US vice president Al Gore pinpointing it as his top priority in tackling climate change.
- 2014/05/05: UN: In Abu Dhabi, UN chief warns still 'too many sitting on the fence', urges bold leadership on climate change
- 2014/05/05: TreeHugger: Al Gore crushes it in Abu Dhabi Ascent presentation (videos)
- 2014/05/04: CleanTechnica: Al Gore's Tremendous Presentation At Abu Dhabi Ascent
- 2014/05/04: CBC: UN chief calls for 'greater action' on climate change -- Ban Ki-moon at 2-day strategy meeting [in Abu Dhabi] on climate deal
Still some post WG1/WG2/WG3 commentary:
- 2014/05/10: Economist: Inside the sausage factory -- Scientists versus diplomats at the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
- 2014/05/04: CCP: IPCC SPM report was greatly watered down according to expert reviewer economist Robert Stavins
The US National Climate Assessment came out this week to much fanfare:
- 2014/05/06: GlobalChange: National Climate Assessment - Overview
- 2014/05/06: GlobalChange: [links to several pdfs] National Climate Assessment
- 2014/05/10: CleanTechnica: US National Climate Assessment Is Direct, Stark
- 2014/05/09: BBC: Warm Texas wind blows green for Mars
- 2014/05/08: SkS: 2014 SkS News Bulletin #4: Third U.S. National Climate Assessment by John Hartz
- 2014/05/08: KSJT: Climate change: Is there anything that can awaken Americans to the danger?
- 2014/05/08: TheConversation: Obama hits TV with new weather warning, but will viewers tune in?
- 2014/05/08: DeSmogBlog: Climate Change is Clear and Present Danger That The Fossil Fuel Industry Would Like You To Ignore
- 2014/05/08: ERW: Climate change is clear and present danger, says landmark US report
- 2014/05/07: DeSmogBlog: Climate Change "Has Moved Firmly into the Present," Latest NCA Federal Report States
- 2014/05/07: Eureka: Official statement by ACS: Release of National Climate Assessment demands action
- 2014/05/07: KSJT: AP etc: Nat'l Climate Assessment says we're in deep. So many such stories lately - reliable reporters slog on.
- 2014/05/07: CCP: Take Your Pick! News Roundup for 3rd National Climate Assessment from Climate Nexus
- 2014/05/07: ABC(Au): White House calls for action on climate change after release of new report
- 2014/05/07: JFleck: Stuff I wrote elsewhere: the National Climate Assessment
- 2014/05/07: P3: Big Climate Push in US: The Future is Now
- 2014/05/07: DemNow: Foretelling Devastating Impact, Will White House Climate Report Spark Action on Global Warming?
- 2014/05/07: DeSmogBlog: Climate Change "Has Moved Firmly into the Present," Latest NCA Federal Report States
- 2014/05/06: HillHeat: Green Responses to the National Climate Assessment
- 2014/05/06: Grist: Five ways we're killing ourselves with climate change
- 2014/05/06: SciAm:GB: Climate Report Nails Risk Communication
- 2014/05/06: Slate:BA: The Heat Is On: In the U.S., Climate Change Is Here and Now and the Future
- 2014/05/06: SigFig: The Risks to U.S. Water Resources From Climate Change by Peter H. Gleick
- 2014/05/06: PSinclair: CBS Summary of US Global Change Report
- 2014/05/06: TP:JR: U.S. Climate Report: For Some Native Groups, There's Literally Nowhere To Run
- 2014/05/06: ERabett:BSD: You can feel the National Climate Assessment in your bones
- 2014/05/06: TreeHugger: White House report: Climate change Is here, and it's dire...
- 2014/05/06: ESA: Third US National Climate Assessment reports our ecosystems are already changing
- 2014/05/06: NOAANews: Obama Administration releases Third National Climate Assessment for the United States
  Report confirms that climate change is affecting every region of the United States and key sectors of the U.S. economy
- 2014/05/06: TreeHugger: The one thing everyone needs to know from the National Climate Assessment - It's happening now and we need to pay attention
- 2014/05/06: CSW: U.S. National Climate Assessment: Resources and media
- 2014/05/06: CNN: Climate change is here and action needed now, new White House report says
- 2014/05/06: TP:JR: Authors Of Major U.S. Climate Report: 'The Old Normal Is Broken'
- 2014/05/06: TDC: Climate science drops the crystal ball
  The strength of the new National Climate Assessment is its focus on change already underway - not forecasts of what may happen in the future, authors say.
- 2014/05/06: Grist: The 12 things the Obama administration wants you to know about climate change
- 2014/05/06: ScienceInsider: As U.S. Climate Changes, White House Embraces the Science Like Never Before
- 2014/05/06: NatureNB: Climate change is present danger, US warns
- 2014/05/06: UCSUSA:B: Water, Climate, and You: the 2014 National Climate Assessment
- 2014/05/06: UCSUSA:B: If Climate Science Were Your Doctor, You'd Quit Burning Fossil Fuels Immediately [NCA]
- 2014/05/06: UCSUSA:B: The Human Toll of Sea Level Rise: What the 2014 National Climate Assessment Doesn't Say about It (But We Can)
- 2014/05/06: UCSUSA:B: The Silent Killer: Extreme Heat in the Western U.S. [NCA]
- 2014/05/06: UCSUSA:B: The National Climate Assessment and Opportunities to Cut U.S. Emissions
- 2014/05/06: UCSUSA: National Climate Assessment Highlights Need for Resilience, Risk Reduction, Science Group Says
- 2014/05/06: RTCC: Climate change 'moves into the present', says US [National Climate Assessment]
- 2014/05/06: Wunderground: Climate Change Moves Firmly Into the Present: Blockbuster National Climate Assessment
- 2014/05/06: BBC: Warming 'increasingly disruptive' across US - report
  Climate change is having significant financial, ecological and human health impacts across the US, according to a new report.
- 2014/05/06: CBC: Climate change 'has moved firmly into the present,' U.S. report says
  Extensive report released Tuesday outlines regional impacts of climate change throughout the U.S. Global warming is rapidly turning America into a stormy and dangerous place, with rising seas and disasters costing citizens from flood-stricken Florida to the wildfire-ravaged West, according to a new U.S. federal scientific report. Climate change's assorted harms "are expected to become increasingly disruptive across the nation throughout this century and beyond," the National Climate Assessment concluded Tuesday.
- 2014/05/05: CSW: U.S. National Climate Assessment to be released May 6
- 2014/05/04: Guardian(UK): Climate change is clear and present danger, says landmark US report
  National Climate Assessment, to be launched at White House on Tuesday, says effects of climate change are now being felt
The Myers et al. paper on nutrition under conditions of higher CO2 generated some interest:
- 2014/05/07: Nature: (ab$) Increasing CO2 threatens human nutrition by Samuel S. Myers et al.
- 2014/05/10: CBC:Q&Q: [mp3] CO2 and Crop Nutrients
- 2014/05/08: BBC: CO2 'significantly reduces' nutrients in major food crops
  Rising levels of CO2 around the world will significantly impact the nutrient content of crops according to a new study. Experiments show levels of zinc, iron and protein are likely to be reduced by up to 10% in wheat and rice by 2050.
- 2014/05/08: RTCC: Higher CO2 threatens human nutrition - study
- 2014/05/08: ABC(Au): Rising CO2 could threaten human nutrition
- 2014/05/08: ABC(Au): Rising carbon dioxide levels reduce nutrients in staple crops
- 2014/05/08: ABC(Au): Climate change: Rising carbon dioxide levels will reduce the nutrition levels of staple foods, new research shows
- 2014/05/07: CBC: Rising CO2 levels threaten human nutrition, study says -- Vital crops grown under future conditions have less iron and zinc
The Mengel & Levermann paper on the East Antarctic ice sheets raised an eyebrow or two:
- 2014/05/04: Nature:CC: (ab$) Ice plug prevents irreversible discharge from East Antarctica by M. Mengel & A. Levermann
- 2014/05/06: RTCC: Ocean warming could weaken East Antarctic ice sheets
  Unstable ice sheet could cause ocean to rise by 4 metres in an 'irreversible' cycle of melting, say scientists
- 2014/05/05: Science2.0: Melting East Antarctica Ice Could Mean Thousands Of Years Of Unstoppable Sea Level Rises
- 2014/05/05: TP:JR: East Antarctic Melting Could Raise Sea Levels By 10 To 13 Feet, Study Finds
- 2014/05/05: PSinclair: New Research: East Antarctic at Risk of Unstoppable Melt
- 2014/05/05: ABC(Au): East Antarctica more at risk than thought to long-term thaw
  An ice shelf previously thought to be resilient to climate change is being held in place by a relatively small plug of ice.
- 2014/05/04: CCP: East Antarctic ice basin far less stable than thought, at risk for unstoppable discharge
- 2014/05/04: CCP: "Ice plug prevents irreversible discharge from East Antarctica," by M. Mengel & A. Levermann, Nature Climate Change (2014); doi: 10.1038/nclimate2226
Late comments on that Afghan landslide triggered by a heavy rainfall:
- 2014/05/06: NatureN: Afghan landslide was 'an accident waiting to happen' -- Natural-hazards expert Dave Petley discusses the 2 May disaster in Ab Barak
- 2014/05/05: CNN: Scale of Afghan landslide 'absolutely devastating'
  The death toll from a double landslide may be as high as 2,700, a relief agency says - Authorities have declared the site a mass graveyard - More Afghans died in natural disasters in one week than in the whole of 2013, the U.N. says - Relief agencies are racing to help the survivors, who lack access to clean water
- 2014/05/05: ABC(Au): Afghanistan landslide: US offers support as country holds national day of mourning for hundreds killed [pix]
- 2014/05/05: WSWS: 2,700 feared dead as landslide buries rural Afghan town
How is the German Energy Transition [Energiewende] doing?
And on the Bottom Line:
- 2014/05/08: EurActiv: Warning of $1tn gamble on high-cost oil projects
- 2014/05/08: EcoWatch: Report Finds Investments in Alberta's Tar Sands 'Make Neither Economic Nor Climate Sense'
- 2014/05/08: RTCC: High cost oil reserves pose investment risk
  Exploring for new fossil fuel reserves poses threat of stranded assets, says Carbon Tracker Initiative in new study
- 2014/05/08: DeSmogBlog: New Report Names Alberta Oilsands as Highest Cost, Highest Risk Investment in Oil Sector
- 2014/05/07: BBerg: Oil Industry Risks $1.1 Trillion of Investor Cash: Study
  Oil explorers like Exxon Mobil Corp. and OAO Rosneft risk wasting $1.1 trillion of investors' cash through 2025 on expensive, uneconomic projects from the Arctic and deep seas to tar sands, according to a study. That's the sum the industry may spend on developments that need market prices of at least $95 a barrel to break even, the Carbon Tracker Initiative said. The money risks being wasted as the total amount of oil the world can afford to burn without warming the planet to unsafe levels is available from less costly deposits that are economical at $75 a barrel, according to its report.
- 2014/05/07: TP:JR: The Southeast U.S. Has Had More Billion-Dollar Disasters Than The Rest Of The Country Combined
- 2014/05/07: 350orBust: [gfx] Our Choice Is Clear: Climate Action, or Global Economic Disruption
Who's getting the subsidies, tax exemptions, loan guarantees & grants?
- 2014/05/09: RealEconomics: $2 trillion per year solution
- 2014/05/09: ETI:RRapier: How Fossil Fuels Subsidize Us
- 2014/05/09: RTCC: Pressure growing for OPEC countries to cut energy subsidies
  Fossil fuel subsidies in oil-rich countries should be replaced with extra money for the poor, says report Oil-rich countries can save billions of dollars by replacing domestic energy subsidies with programmes which hand cash to poor households, a US report found.
What's up with economists?
John Cook and friends continue their point-counterpoint articles:
TV Meteorologists typically follow the corporate media line...
- 2014/05/06: NYT: Using Weathercasters to Deliver a Climate Change Message
- 2014/05/07: Grist: Obama talks climate with TV weathercasters
A note on theFukushima disaster:

It is evident that the Fukushima disaster is going to persist for some time. TEPCO says 6 to 9 months. The previous Japanese Prime Minister, Naoto Kan, said decades. Now the Japanese government is talking about 30 years. [Whoops, that has now been updated to 40 years.]
And the IAEA is now saying 40 years too.
[Now some people are talking about a century or more. Sealing it in concrete for 500 years.]
We'll see.
At any rate this situation is not going to be resolved any time soon and deserves its own section.
Meanwhile...
It is very difficult to know for sure what is really going on at Fukushima. Between the company [TEPCO], the Japanese government, the Japanese regulator [NISA], the international monitor [IAEA], as well as independent analysts and commentators, there is a confusing mish-mash of information. One has to evaluate both the content and the source of propagated information.
How knowledgeable are they [about nuclear power and about Japan]?
Do they have an agenda?
Are they pro-nuclear or anti-nuclear?
Do they want to write a good news story?
Do they want to write a bad news story?
Where do they rate on a scale of sensationalism?
Where do they rate on a scale of play-it-down-ness?
One fundamental question I would like to see answered:
If the reactors are in meltdown, how can they be in cold shutdown?

Not much good news coming out of Fukushima:
The Arctic melt continues to garner attention:
As for the charismatic megafauna:
That Damoclean sword still hangs overhead:
The food crisis is ongoing:
- 2014/05/09: ABC(Au): Banana disease hits Palmerston
  The Northern Territory city of Palmerston is in 'banana lock-down' after the fungal disease known as Banana Freckle was discovered in the suburb of Gray.
- 2014/05/07: Grist: Our alarming food future, explained in 7 charts
- 2014/05/07: TP:JR: The Impact Of Climate Change On The Midwest: More Heat, More Droughts, More Floods, Fewer Crops
- 2014/05/07: CCP: 'We Don't Know What Normal Is Anymore': Confronting Extreme Weather on U.S. Farms
- 2014/05/07: EurActiv: EU counters deadly US pig virus with stricter import rules
- 2014/05/07: UCSUSA:B: Farms, Forests, and Climate Change: Few Opportunities, Many Challenges
- 2014/05/07: Tyee: The Real Reasons for the Great Lime Crisis -- And what they tell us about a much bigger squeeze you can expect to feel
- 2014/05/06: UCSUSA:B: Sugar-coating Science: How the Food Industry Misleads Consumers on Sugar
- 2014/05/06: UCSUSA: Food Industry Obscures Added Sugar in Products by Marketing Them as Healthy, New Report Finds
- 2014/05/05: TP:JR: How Climate Change Is Making [corn] America's Favorite Crop More Vulnerable
The state of the world's fisheries is a concern. See also, and:
Food Prices are still problematic:
- FAO: World Food Situation - Food Price Indices
- 2014/05/08: CCurrents: Weather And Political Tension In The Black Sea Region Make Food Market More Volatile, Says FAO
So, are these land grabs Colonialism V2.0?
- 2014/05/07: CPunch: The Corporate Land Grab in Africa
Regarding the genetic modification of food:
Regarding labelling GM food:
- 2014/05/09: NatureNB: Vermont to require labeling of genetically modified foods
- 2014/05/08: CBC: Vermont approves GMO labelling law
  If law takes effect as planned in mid-2016 Vermont would be 1st state to require GMO labelling
And how are we going to feed 9 billion, 10 billion, 15 billion?
- 2014/05/10: WFP: WFP To Expand Assistance In South Sudan As New Analysis Shows Worsening Food Security
- 2014/05/10: FAO: A third of South Sudanese now severely food insecure due to ongoing conflict -- Urgent action required to prevent famine
- 2014/05/10: EPOD: Pawpaws
- 2014/05/10: CleanTechnica: Meet The New Pink Face Of Vertical LED Farming
- 2014/05/09: WFP: Government Of Pakistan Donates 26,000 Metric Tons Of Wheat To WFP
- 2014/05/08: IPSNews: Industrial Agriculture: Too Big to Succeed
  [Book Plug] _Consumed: Food for a Finite Planet_ by Sarah Elton
  An estimated one billion small farmers scratching out a living growing diverse crops and raising animals in developing countries represent the key to maintaining food production in the face of hotter temperatures and drought, especially in the tropical regions, says Sarah Elton, author of the book, "Consumed: Food for a Finite Planet." The Canadian journalist travelled to southern France, China, India and the province of Quebec in her own country to observe how small farmers apply their practical knowledge of agriculture - defined as either organic, agroecological or sustainable.
- 2014/05/07: FAO: Joint action needed to tackle massive global food losses
- 2014/05/06: DeSmogBlog: Community on Forefront of Climate Change Adaptation Offers Lessons about Food Security
- 2014/05/06: KSJT: New Yorker: Soylent to end food? A view from the inside ... way inside
- 2014/05/05: Eureka: Tomato turf wars: Benign bug bests salmonella; tomato eaters win
- 2014/05/05: Eureka: Food security increased by new scientific model in agricultural production
- 2014/05/04: Yale360: Soil as Carbon Storehouse: New Weapon in Climate Fight?
  The degradation of soils from unsustainable agriculture and other development has released billions of tons of carbon into the atmosphere. But new research shows how effective land restoration could play a major role in sequestering CO2 and slowing climate change.
Another relatively quiet week with no named storms
In the Eastern Pacific, a numbered storm spun up and faded crossing the Mexican coast:
- 2014/05/07: NASA: NASA Sees System 90E Moving Toward Southwestern Mexico
And in the Bay of Bengal:
2014/05/07: NASA: NASA Sees System 91B Making Landfall in Southwestern India

While elsewhere in the hurricane wars:
2014/05/08: Wunderground: Super Typhoon Haiyan Storm Surge Survey Finds High Water Marks 46 Feet High
2014/05/08: ABC(Au): Residents hope to return to Palau's Kayangal island after Typhoon Haiyan
2014/05/07: FAO: Six months after disaster, Philippine farmers bring in the harvest

As for the Monsoon:
This week in notable weather:
Got any forecasts?
This week in the New Normal -- extreme weather:
- 2014/05/06: NatureN: Climate change makes extreme weather more likely to hit UK
  Exceptional rains like those of winter 2014 will be more frequent because of greenhouse effect.
- 2014/05/01: Mashable: Tornadoes, Dust Storms and Floods: What the Hell Happened This Week?
As for GHGs:
And in the carbon cycle:
- 2014/05/09: UCSUSA:B: Peat Soils vs. the Forests Above: Which Holds More Carbon?
Regarding Milankovitch Cycles:
- 2014/05/10: JCBaez: The Stochastic Resonance Program (Part 1) by David Tanzer
Regarding Climate Sensitivity:
- 2014/05/09: ATTPh: Krummer & Dessler on Climate Sensitivity
- 2014/05/09: TMasters: On forcing enhancement, efficacy, and Kummer and Dessler (2014)
Regarding ozone:
- 2014/05/05: UCAR: Climate change threatens to worsen U.S. ozone pollution
- 2014/05/05: NSF: Climate change may worsen summertime ozone pollution -- Americans face 70 percent increase in unhealthy ozone levels by 2050
And on the ENSO front:
- 2014/05/09: SciNow: El Niño Is Coming Back
- 2014/05/08: NOAA:NCEP: El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) Diagnostic Discussion
  Synopsis: Chance of El Niño increases during the remainder of the year, exceeding 65% during summer.
- 2014/05/08: RealClimate: El Niño or Bust
- 2014/05/08: PSinclair: New Video: El Nino - What Are the Odds?
- 2014/05/08: TP:JR: El Niño Chances Jump To Near 80%. Add In Global Warming And We Face Record Heat
- 2014/05/08: QuarkSoup: El Niño Projections Are Growing
- 2014/05/08: RScribbler: Dangerous Progress Toward Strong El Nino Continues as Extreme Kelvin Wave Rises in Eastern Pacific
- 2014/05/08: GLaden: El Nino 2014: Historic?
- 2014/05/07: al Jazeera: The return of El Nino
  The risk of drought and flood could increase in the coming months as the counterpart to La Nina begins to develop.
As for the temperature record:
Meanwhile in near earth orbit:
- 2014/05/08: BBC: Sentinel-1a satellite spies ice cap speed-up
While in the paleoclimate:
- 2014/05/10: SciAm:GB: When Did Insects Learn to Smell?
- 2014/05/09: Eureka: Paleontologists discover new fossil organism [Ediacaran 575-540 mya]
  Likely related to our ancestors, 'Plexus ricei' was much like a tapeworm or modern flatworm, say UC Riverside researchers
- 2014/05/08: Eureka: Extinct kitten-sized hunter discovered
  A Case Western Reserve University student and his mentor have discovered an ancient kitten-sized predator that lived in Bolivia about 13 million years ago -- one of the smallest species reported in the extinct order Sparassodonta.
- 2014/05/05: Eureka: Tracking turtles through time, Dartmouth-led study may resolve evolutionary debate
In the attribution debate:
- 2014/05/10: DeSmogBlog: New Study Links California Drought to Climate Change and Burning of Fossil Fuels
What's the State of the Oceans?:
What's the State of the Biosphere?
- 2014/05/07: TheConversation: The state of Australia: our environment
And on the extinction watch:
- 2014/05/10: CBC: U.S.-ranging Selkirk mountain caribou on track to oblivion
  Population of most southerly herd of mountain caribou down to 18 animals
- 2014/05/09: ABC(Au): WA wildlife sanctuaries join forces to save tammar wallaby from extinction
- 2014/05/09: CBC: Endangered porbeagle sharks still at risk, say scientists
  Recent DFO estimates put the population at about a quarter of what it was in 1960s
- 2014/05/07: ABC(Au): Researchers warn captive elephants in Laos could be extinct in 100 years
- 2014/05/07: SciAm:EC: Solar-Powered Transmitters Reveal Secrets of Endangered 'Little Devil' Seabirds
- 2014/05/06: SciNow: How Birds Survived the Dinosaur Apocalypse
- 2014/05/05: SciShot: Female Bats Dictate the Spread of White-Nose Syndrome
The bees and Colony Collapse Disorder are a constant concern. And then, there are the Neonicotinoids:
- 2014/05/07: ABC(Au): Bees can be harnessed to boost food security, Flinders University researchers say
- 2014/05/07: Eureka: Scientists link honeybees' changing roles throughout their lives to brain chemistry
Oh look! The Anthropocene came up again:
- 2014/05/04: ArcticNews: Will the Anthropocene last for only 100 years?
More GW impacts are being seen:
And then there are the world's forests:
- 2014/05/08: DD: Poachers take chunks from California redwoods, putting majestic trees at risk...
- 2014/05/08: ScienceInsider: New Hope for Asia's Embattled Forests
- 2014/05/06: MSU: Emerald ash borers were in U.S. long before first detection
- 2014/05/05: ICN: Brazil and the Battle Against Deforestation: A Short History
  It wasn't that long ago that Brazil saw deforestation as a measure of progress. Now scientists, officials and police try to end the daily destruction.
Climate refugees are becoming an issue:
Emerging diseases accompany ecological change:
- 2014/05/06: Rabble: You might be allergic to global warming [Suzuki]
Aerosols affect the climate, but they also affect people's health:
- 2014/05/08: ABC(Au): Air pollution: 10 countries with the world's dirtiest air
- 2014/05/07: BBC: Air pollution 'too high' in most of world's cities
  The World Health Organization says air pollution in many of the world's cities is breaching its guidelines. Its survey of 1,600 cities in 91 countries revealed that nearly 90% of people in urban centres breathe air that fails to meet levels deemed safe.
- 2014/05/07: Grist: We've cleaned up our air, but now climate change is making it dirty again [via O3]
- 2014/05/07: RTCC: 7 in 10 cities suffer from 'dangerous' air pollution - WHO
- 2014/05/06: UN: 'Enveloped in dirty air', most cities fail to meet UN agency's new pollution guidelines
Changes in natural cycles are showing up:
- 2014/05/08: TP:JR: From Snow To Sweat: Kansas Skips Spring
On the tornado front:
- 2014/05/06: IOTD: Tornado Damage in Mayflower, Arkansas [on May 2]
As for heatwaves and wild fires:
- 2014/05/07: IOTD: Wildfire Scars Valparaiso, Chile [on May 4]
- 2014/05/06: RScribbler: Climatologist: Oklahoma is Burning. USDA Issues Dust Bowl Alert
- 2014/05/06: EPOD: Forest Regrowth After a Fire
- 2014/05/05: WaPo:B: "Oklahoma is burning": Heat ignites temperature records, wildfires in Southern Plains
- 2014/05/05: TP:JR: Photos Show Power Of Deadly Oklahoma Wildfire
- 2014/05/05: JakartaGlobe: Peatland Fires Biggest Contributor to [Indonesia's] Carbon Emissions: Researcher
- 2014/05/05: al Jazeera: Wildfire threat grows in California
  The ongoing drought means the US state faces another season-long battle against woodland fires.
- 2014/05/05: MODIS: Fires in the midwestern United States [on April 11]
Corals are a bellwether of the ocean's health:
- 2014/05/07: NorthEastern: Stuck in the middle with oysters and crabs
- 2014/05/06: CDesk: Watch: These Reefs Are Beautiful -- But Most of the Coral Is Dead
Glaciers are melting:
- 2014/05/09: RScribbler: Constant Arctic Heatwave Sends World's Largest Ice Cap Hurtling Seaward
- 2014/05/08: BBC: Sentinel-1a satellite spies ice cap speed-up
  One of the largest ice caps on Earth has experienced a dramatic speed-up, according to new satellite pictures. Austfonna on Norway's Svalbard archipelago covers just over 8,000 sq km and has been relatively stable for many years. But the latest space imagery reveals a marked acceleration of the ice in its main outlet glacier to the Barents Sea.
- 2014/05/06: TreeHugger: Almost 200,000 Glaciers mapped in global inventory baseline for study of global warming effects
- 2014/05/06: FaGP: Nooksack River Glacier Runoff Importance
- 2014/05/06: Eureka: The first globally complete glacier inventory has been created
- 2014/05/06: Eureka: International team maps nearly 200,000 global glaciers in quest for sea rise answers
Sea levels are rising:
- 2014/05/09: Eureka: Back to the future to determine if sea level rise is accelerating
- 2014/05/06: RTCC: Ocean warming could weaken East Antarctic ice sheets
  Unstable ice sheet could cause ocean to rise by 4 metres in an 'irreversible' cycle of melting, say scientists
- 2014/05/05: TP:JR: East Antarctic Melting Could Raise Sea Levels By 10 To 13 Feet, Study Finds
- 2014/05/05: Science2.0: Melting East Antarctica Ice Could Mean Thousands Of Years Of Unstoppable Sea Level Rises
These extreme rainfall events are becoming all too frequent:
- 2014/05/06: PSinclair: A Month's Worth of Rain
- 2014/05/08: 350orBust: Climate Change Impacts Hit Florida
As for hydrological cycle disruptions [floods & droughts]:
- 2014/05/10: CBC: Kashechewan First Nation re-declares flooding emergency
  About 700 residents in the James Bay-area community requested to evacuate the area
- 2014/05/09: al Jazeera: [pix] Torrential rain hits the Middle East -- A huge storm system rages from Yemen to Ukraine
- 2014/05/09: RScribbler: California Experiencing Driest Year on Record, Epic Drought to Persist or Intensify Through Summer, Godzilla El Nino Waits in the Wings
- 2014/05/09: TP:JR: Are This Week's Brutal Heat And Drought A Sign Of Things To Come For Plains States?
- 2014/05/09: ERW: Water-cycle changes will hit half world's population
  It might be extreme rainfall, it might be floods, or it might be very dry weather, but by 2050 more than half of the world's population will be experiencing significant changes in the water cycle. A new study identifies which parts of the world will feel these changes most.
- 2014/05/08: ABC(Au): Queensland drought: Farmer Alec Walker's photographs capture journey from dry to rain
- 2014/05/08: TP:JR: As Population Surges, Harsh Climate Of Southwest Will Only Get Harsher
- 2014/05/08: TP:JR: Not Just Sea Level Rise: Northeast Faces Flooding From The Skies
- 2014/05/08: al Jazeera: Floods hit central Italy [pix]
  Torrential downpours around the central Mediterranean has left many areas under water
- 2014/05/08: IOTD: Climate Changes in the United States [1991-2012]
- 2014/05/05: Yahoo:AP: California city looks to sea for water in drought
First, stop putting GHGs into the atmosphere,
Second, begin to reduce current levels of GHGs,
Third, save as many species as possible,
Fourth, begin to reduce the human population,
And elsewhere on the mitigation front:
- 2014/05/05: KSJT: Times opinion piece says we should protect ourselves, not the planet
- 2014/05/04: Yale360: Soil as Carbon Storehouse: New Weapon in Climate Fight?
  The degradation of soils from unsustainable agriculture and other development has released billions of tons of carbon into the atmosphere. But new research shows how effective land restoration could play a major role in sequestering CO2 and slowing climate change.
Can cities take up the slack when nations shirk their responsibilities?
- 2014/05/09: TheConversation: Cities are failing to cope with global challenges
A momentous development in Synthetic Biology:
- 2014/05/07: Nature: (ab$) A semi-synthetic organism with an expanded genetic alphabet by Denis A. Malyshev et al.
- 2014/05/09: NBF: Life created with two synthetic bases for 6 DNA letters with Original Four G, T, C, A and now X and Y and this expands amino acids from 20 to 172
- 2014/05/08: BBC: Semi-synthetic bug extends 'life's alphabet'
  Scientists have produced a semi-synthetic version of a bacterium that has an extended genetic code. All Earth's lifeforms use four chemical units, or bases, arranged in pairs within DNA, to drive their biology. The modified E. coli bug produced at The Scripps Research Institute in California incorporates two more bases that were wholly designed in the lab. The team tells Nature magazine that its altered bacterium could be used to make a range of novel drugs and materials. Prof Floyd Romesberg and colleagues have been working towards this study result since the 1990s. They had previously shown how the new bases - known as d5SICS and dNaM, or X and Y for simplicity - could be stably incorporated as a pair into the DNA molecule in vitro, in the "test tube". The latest advance sees them introduce this supplemented DNA into a living organism.
Consider transportation & GHG production:
- 2014/05/09: NBF: China Rolling out Global high speed rail plans and projects - From Pan-asian plan to future Africa projects and proposed China-Russia-Canada-US line
Large scale geo-engineering keeps popping up:
What's new in conservation?
What's new in restoration?
- 2014/05/10: CBC:Q&Q: [mp3] Thinking About De-Extinction
- 2014/05/09: CBC: Species de-extinction plagued by 'looming questions,' expert says
  Reviving extinct species could be possible sooner than previously thought, research suggests
While on the adaptation front:
- 2014/05/09: Grist: 5 exciting new ways New York can deal with storm surges and rising seas
- 2014/05/06: ABC(Au): New Dutch solution to floods
  The Netherlands thinks it has some of the answers to the increased global threat of flooding and sea level rises and they involve giving the rivers more room to run rather than relying on the traditional defence of dykes.
Meanwhile in the journals:
And other significant documents:
- 2014/05/06: GlobalChange: [links to several pdfs] National Climate Assessment
As for miscellaneous science:
What developments in the ongoing struggle for Open Science?
- 2014/05/06: BetaBoston: The Exploitative Economics of Academic Publishing
Regarding Hansen:
- 2014/05/10: SimpleC: How lessons from space put the greenhouse effect on the front page
Meanwhile at the UN:
- 2014/05/06: WMO: South-West Pacific Regional Association Meets
- 2014/05/06: UN: Regional Workshop on Capacity Development to Support National Drought Management Policies in Asia
The Robin Hood tax, aka the Tobin tax, aka the Bank tax, aka the Financial Transaction tax, keeps coming up:
- 2014/05/06: EurActiv: UK, Sweden attack FTT statement by euro nations
- 2014/05/06: EUO: Ministers near deal on 'step-by-step' transactions tax
On the international political front, tensions continue as the empire leans on Iran:
South [& East] China Sea tension persists, as the empire leans on China:
- 2014/05/11: al Jazeera: Sea dispute dominates Southeast Asian summit
  Ten-member bloc's annual meeting in Myanmar comes after China relocated oil rig into territory claimed by Vietnam.
- 2014/05/09: Asia Times: Obama resets the 'pivot' to Asia by M K Bhadrakumar
- 2014/05/08: CNN: China, Vietnam, Philippines collide amid escalating South China Sea tensions
  China has started drilling for oil in a part of the South China Sea also claimed by Vietnam - Vietnam says Chinese ships have made violent attacks on Vietnamese vessels - Chinese fishermen arrested by Philippines authorities in a separate dispute - Situation could escalate into armed conflict, analyst says
- 2014/05/08: BBerg: China Says Vietnam Rammed Ships Near Rig in Disputed Seas
- 2014/05/08: WSWS: Tensions flare between China and Vietnam in South China Sea
- 2014/05/08: Asia Times: China drills its hardpower reserves
- 2014/05/07: BBerg: China Accuses Vietnam of Ramming Ships Near Rig in Disputed Seas
- 2014/05/07: BBC: Vietnam and China ships 'collide in South China Sea'
- 2014/05/07: AntiWar: Vietnam, China Trade Warnings After Naval Collision in Disputed Waters -- Six Vietnamese Naval Police Injured in 'Clashes'
- 2014/05/07: BBC: Vietnam and China ships 'collide in South China Sea'
  Vietnamese naval ships and Chinese vessels have collided in the South China Sea, Vietnamese officials say. The incident happened as the Vietnamese navy was trying to prevent the Chinese from setting up an oil rig in an area claimed by both nations. No shots were fired, reports say. But Vietnamese officials said that water cannons were used on their ships. The incident is the most serious between the countries at sea in years, with dozens of boats now in the area.
- 2014/05/07: WSWS: US military intensifies training for a war with China
- 2014/05/07: al Jazeera: Philippines seizes Chinese boat in dispute
  Release of fishermen sought after capture of boat with haul of endangered turtles in contested area of South China Sea.
Tensions continue as the empire leans on Syria, Ukraine, Russia...:
- 2014/05/09: Asia Times: The Roving Eye - Putin displays Ukraine chess mastery
- 2014/05/09: BBerg: Putin's Export Machine Rolls Right Over Sanctions, Outcry
  Vladimir Putin's incursion into Ukraine and the international condemnation that followed haven't put a dent in Russia's exports of gas and raw materials. The world's largest energy producer shipped 2 percent more gas to Europe in the first three months of 2014 than it did in the same period last year, government data show. Diesel output for export increased, while cargoes of grains, palladium and nickel either climbed or were about the same. Russia's crude oil exports fell 0.2 percent from last year.
- 2014/05/09: CPunch: Don't Gloss it Over -- The Russian Perspective
- 2014/05/09: EurActiv: US advises Ukraine ahead of winter gas subsidy cuts
- 2014/05/08: EurActiv: Ukrainian cities unite to send out energy efficiency SOS
  A bloc of 35 Ukrainian cities has sent an urgent plea for European help in scaling up the efficiency of their buildings, district heating and transport networks in a bid to curb Russian energy dependence.
- 2014/05/09: EurActiv: Balance of power: a renewed case for renewable energy for Europe
  Reinier de Graaf argues that in the midst of the Ukrainian crisis and the energy risks looming over Europe, EU member states should look more seriously into the Roadmap 2050 project initiated in 2009, and aim at cutting Europe's greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by 2050 through renewable energy use.
- 2014/05/08: CBC: Syria opposition gets aid, new sanctions for Assad backers from Washington
  Russia's Tempbank, believed to have sent cash to Syria, sanctioned by U.S.
- 2014/05/08: CCurrents: NATO Uses Ukraine Crisis To Wage War On Russia
- 2014/05/08: CPunch: Down the Path of Austerity -- Ukraine, the EU and the IMF
- 2014/05/08: BBC: Ukraine refuses Russian demand for advance gas payment
  Ukraine will not pay in advance for Russian gas at Gazprom's new, higher price, the Ukrainian Energy Minister Yuriy Prodan has said. Russia made the demand after saying Ukraine had failed to pay the bill for its April natural gas deliveries.
- 2014/05/07: RT: The IMF goes to war in Ukraine
  The IMF has approved a $17 billion loan to Ukraine. The first $3.2 billion tranche has arrived on Wednesday. It's essential to identify the conditions attached to this Mafia-style "loan." Nothing remotely similar to reviving the Ukrainian economy is in play. The scheme is inextricably linked to the IMF's notorious, one-size-fits-all "structural adjustment" policy, known to hundreds of millions from Latin America and Southeast Asia to Southern Europe.
- 2014/05/07: EurActiv: G7 wants to end dependence on Russian gas
- 2014/05/07: RTCC: Ukraine crisis should boost renewables, says G7
  [Two day] G7 energy security meeting [in Rome] focuses on renewables, but also pushes for new fossil fuel supplies and infrastructure Renewable energy will be central to enhancing energy security, said the G7 energy ministers in a meeting to discuss the implications of Russia's actions in Ukraine.
- 2014/05/07: WSWS: Europe's 9/11
  In an interview Sunday in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung, NATO General Secretary Anders Fogh Rasmussen compared the annexation of Crimea by Russia with 9/11 and the "war on terror." This comparison says more than Rasmussen and the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung perhaps intended. For over twelve years, the terror attacks of September 11, 2001 have served the US government as a pretext for illegal wars and a massive buildup of its military forces. In the name of the "war on terror," the US has attacked Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya; abducted, tortured and murdered suspected terrorists; spied on billions of people around the world; and built up the structure of a police state in America.
- 2014/05/07: OFW: Russia and the Ukraine - The Worrisome Connection to World Oil and Gas Problems
- 2014/05/06: DerSpiegel: Cold Turkey: How Germany Could End Russian Gas Dependency
  The crisis in Ukraine has made painfully obvious just how dependent Germany and other European countries are on Russian natural gas. There are serious alternatives for supplying the vital natural resource, but they all come at a price.
- 2014/05/06: EurActiv: Italy looks at Mediterranean for alternatives to Russian gas
- 2014/05/06: EUO: New Russian pipeline is 'no priority' for EU
- 2014/05/06: WSWS: Civil war spreads in eastern Ukraine amid attacks by Kiev government
- 2014/05/06: WSWS: Washington, Ukrainian puppet regime prepare new fascist slaughter in Odessa
- 2014/05/05: EurActiv: Trilateral gas talks with Russia fail
These 'free trade' treaties should be called the corporate control treaties:
- 2014/05/09: Rabble:SH: No CETA deal, 'thorny' issues remain
- 2014/05/09: CBC: Canada-EU trade pact final wording delayed
  Intellectual property, financial services, tariff rates, investment protection listed as irritants
- 2014/05/05: Resilience: The anti-localization agenda in TTIP
- 2014/05/04: Resilience: Could NAFTA force the Keystone XL pipeline on the United States?
In the "global competition for natural resources":
- 2014/05/06: UBardi: The invasion of the resource zombies
Looks like Canada's Harperites are trying to twist the Ukraine conflict to nullify the FQD:
- 2014/05/06: CBC: G7 energy ministers send message to Russia over 'coercion'
  Canada receives 'positive signals' on Europe's plan to rate Alberta oilsands emissions A special meeting of G7 energy ministers has affirmed that energy should not be used to coerce countries politically or threaten their security -- a statement Greg Rickford says is aimed squarely at Russia.
  [...]
  [Natural Resources Minister Greg Rickford] said he had talks with EU representatives about their proposed fuel quality directive, or FDQ, which would calculate the greenhouse gas emissions of various sources of oil.
- 2014/05/06: FinPo: Europe softens stance on Canada's oil sands as relations with Russia sour
The issue of the law and activism is playing out around the world:
- 2014/05/07: DD: Prosecutors file murder charges against turtle egg poachers who allegedly murdered Jairo Mora
What are the activists up to?
- 2014/05/06: CensoredNews: Desmond Tutu to speak on treaties and tarsands at Fort McMurray [on May 31]
- 2014/05/05: 350orBust: Archbishop Desmond Tutu: No Excuse For Climate Ignorance
Native Resistance takes many forms across Turtle Island:
- 2014/05/07: CensoredNews: Lakotas keeping it real in South Dakota, building resistance to protect Mother Earth for future generations
- 2014/05/07: CensoredNews: Joye Braun: Proud to be Lakota in the KXL fight at Bridger
The move to divest from fossil fuel investments is growing slowly:
Polls! We have polls!
- 2014/05/06: PSinclair: 75 Percent in US Want to Know More About Climate
- 2014/05/06: CBC: Confidence in safe transport of oil falls, polls suggest
  Pipelines have most support, but confidence in Ottawa's ability to protect environment slipping
Regarding Water Politics and Business; See also:
- 2014/05/08: UN: Too many people still lack basic drinking water and sanitation - UN report
- 2014/05/08: Resilience: An Innovative Conservation Fund for the Colorado River
- 2014/05/08: JFleck: Rio Grande pulse flow
- 2014/05/08: JFleck: Sandra Postel on new Colorado River initiative
- 2014/05/07: Grist: Don't freak out, but you may be drinking recycled toilet water
- 2014/05/07: BND:AP: Water rationing begins in Venezuela amid drought
- 2014/05/07: SciAm:GB: Emerging Contaminants Taint Drinking Water Supply
- 2014/05/06: PSinclair: As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls. Tapping Toilets.
- 2014/05/05: Yahoo:AP: California city looks to sea for water in drought
  Santa Barbara - This seaside city thought it had the perfect solution the last time California withered in a severe drought more than two decades ago: Tap the ocean to turn salty seawater to fresh water. The $34 million desalination plant was fired up for only three months and mothballed after a miracle soaking of rain. As the state again grapples with historic dryness, the city nicknamed the "American Riviera" has its eye on restarting the idled facility to hedge against current and future droughts.
- 2014/05/04: JFleck: With Colorado River water, growing Brussels sprouts
- 2014/05/04: JFleck: Wilkinson on the environmental shift in western water policy
Regarding science education:
- 2014/05/08: P3: Climate Change Impacts on Wildlife - Free Webinar - on May 29 at 12:00 EST
- 2014/05/08: Yahoo:AP: Wyoming is 1st state to reject science standards
  Wyoming, the nation's top coal-producing state, is the first to reject new K-12 science standards proposed by national education groups mainly because of global warming components.
While in the UK:
- 2014/05/10: BCLSB: UK Climate Change Deniers Forced To Clean Up Act?
- 2014/05/08: S&R: Fracking in the UK? Don't hold your breath.
  Lord MacGregor's silly Telegraph op-ed is little more than a recitation of energy industry talking points.
- 2014/05/08: RTCC: Britain must emulate US shale gas success - House of Lords
- 2014/05/08: BBC: British Gas: No price rise in 2014
- 2014/05/07: RTCC: MPs must fight for the planet to win [UK] 2015 election
- 2014/05/06: BBerg: Europe Must Embrace Fracking, U.K. Energy Minister Says
And in Europe:
- 2014/05/09: RNE: Is Europe paying the price for its solar leadership?
- 2014/05/09: EUO: New Green party shakes up Croatia's political landscape
- 2014/05/08: DerSpiegel: Expanding Influence: EU Parliament Has More Power Than You Think
  European voters generally pay little attention to European Parliament, but over the years, the body has become increasingly powerful. Already, a representative in Brussels wields more influence than one in Berlin. And the gap is growing.
- 2014/05/08: EurActiv: Oxfam: German food project 'ignores subsistence farmers'
  A wide range of NGOs are criticising Germany's development policy, claiming Berlin is increasingly accommodating the interests of big agricultural companies. Meanwhile, a recent Oxfam report describess devastating effects for smallholders. EurActiv Germany reports.
- 2014/05/08: EurActiv: Council rubber stamps private-public partnerships in biomass, air, energy, electronics, medicine
- 2014/05/06: RealEconomics: Danish trailblazing with renewables
- 2014/05/06: EurActiv: EU tables free carbon permit proposal for heavy industries
  Most of Europe's heavy industries should keep receiving free carbon permits to help them compete in global markets, the European Commission said in new proposals tabled on Monday (5 May). The Commission, the EU's executive, proposed that 175 industry sectors out of the 245 in total that it assessed should be entitled to get most of their allowances for free over 2015-2019 to help meet obligations under the EU's Emissions Trading System (ETS).
Meanwhile in Australia:
- 2014/05/11: ABC(Au): Faulty solar panels: Statewide recall over part linked to 40 fires
  The Queensland Government has announced a recall of a faulty solar panel part which has sparked about 40 fires. The Government's Electrical Safety Office has banned the sale or installation of Avanco and PV Power-branded DC isolators. Master Electricians Australia chief executive Malcolm Richards says the recalled isolator may overheat or catch fire.
- 2014/05/09: RNE: CEFC key to unlocking huge renewables market
  The chief of the Clean Energy Finance Corporation has made another pitch for the cause of the $10 billion green bank, describing its role as a "specialist financier" for Australia's renewables industry as critical.
- 2014/05/09: RNE: ARENA defends renewables role, fights for funds and independence
- 2014/05/09: RNE: UBS: Australian households could go off-grid by 2018
- 2014/05/09: ABC(Au): Money problems and coal mine fears behind decision to sell Tarwyn Park in the Bylong Valley
  The owner of the famous Tarwyn Park property in the Bywong Valley has revealed he decided to sell the property to a mining company due to financial concerns. South Korean energy company KEPCO is proposing to build a coal mine in the valley and has bought Tarwyn Park.
- 2014/05/09: ABC(Au): LNG: the energy projects they'd rather you didn't notice
  Liquid Natural Gas rivals coal in terms of both financial investment and greenhouse gas emissions. Yet it manages to go almost unnoticed by Australian environment campaigners.
- 2014/05/09: ABC(Au): Banana disease hits Palmerston
  The Northern Territory city of Palmerston is in 'banana lock-down' after the fungal disease known as Banana Freckle was discovered in the suburb of Gray.
- 2014/05/09: ABC(Au): Gladstone dredging project inquiry finds conditions on port expansion too vague to be enforced
  An independent inquiry into a major dredging project in the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area has found environmental conditions on a central Queensland port expansion were too vague to be enforced. The Federal Government commissioned a scientific inquiry into the Gladstone Port dredging project.
- 2014/05/09: ABC(Au): Iconic conservation farm sold to for Coal mine
  The owners of a Conservation farm in central west New South Wales have been forced to sell the property, along with their family home, to make way for a coal mine.
- 2014/05/09: ABC(Au): Gladstone harbour inquiry 'doesn't pull any punches'
  The independent State MP for Gladstone, Liz Cunningham, says she's 'encouraged' by the findings of an inquiry into the Gladstone Port dredging project.
- 2014/05/09: ABC(Au): Landholders unhappy with Carmichael mine approval
  Landholders near Clermont, in central Queensland, say the development of Adani's Carmichael coal project will be an 'environmental disaster'. The Queensland Government yesterday approved the $16 billion project which is set to become Australia's largest coal mine. The mine is forecast to produce 60 million tonnes of thermal coal per annum over a 90 year operating life.
- 2014/05/09: ABC(Au): Hobart scientists trial gene technology to eradicate carp
- 2014/05/09: ABC(Au): Home insulation royal commission: bureaucrat admits he always thought scheme rollout was risky
- 2014/05/09: ABC(Au): Farmers accuse Queensland Government of favouring generous coal company
- 2014/05/09: ABC(Au):TDU: Hands off our hard-fought abortion rights
  Yet another male politician is trying to wind back the clock on abortion laws. All these pieces of legislation are designed to do is oppress and control women, writes Clementine Ford.
- 2014/05/08: CDreams: Great Barrier Reef Be Damned, Australia's Biggest Coal Mine Project Moves Forward
  In the wake of warnings over the industry's threats to the Great Barrier Reef, the Australian state of Queensland on Thursday gave the OK to one of the world's biggest coal mines. The slated project is the Adani Enterprises-owned Carmichael Mine in the state's Galilee Basin, and it is expected to produce as much as 60 million tonnes of coal a year and also include a rail line and water infrastructure.
- 2014/05/08: ABC(Au): Queensland Government announces $16b coal mine in Galilee Basin, subject to Federal approval
  The Queensland Government has signed off on a $16 billion coal development in the Galilee Basin in the state's central region that could become the largest coal mine in Australia. Adani's Carmichael Coal Mine north-west of Clermont will produce up to 60 million tonnes of coal each year and includes a 189-kilometre rail line. The project now goes to the Federal Government for final approval.
- 2014/05/08: ABC(Au): NSW Government attacked over rumours 800 police will be sent to break up Bentley anti-gas protest
- 2014/05/08: RNE: Rooftop solar industry backs new panel standard for Australia
- 2014/05/08: RNE: Oz solar seen at 23GW by 2030, driven by 'unstoppable' rooftop PV
- 2014/05/08: RNE: From car parts to solar frames - evolution of an Australian manufacturer
- 2014/05/07: TheConversation: The state of Australia: our environment
- 2014/05/07: ABC(Au): Prime agricultural land safeguarded for future [in WA]
- 2014/05/07: RNE: Nature needs us: Ten eco issues you need to know about - now
- 2014/05/07: ABC(Au): Clive Palmer serves Queensland Premier Campbell Newman with defamation writ
- 2014/05/06: UKISS: climate, coal, conservatives and corruption
- 2014/05/06: ABC(Au): Renewable energy may trump growth in Australian coal exports to India
  Hopes of strong growth in exports of Australian coal to the fast-growing economy of India may be dashed as cheaper alternative energy sources become more attractive. A new report by the Institute for Energy, Economics and Financial Analysis predicts the sub-continent won't be able to afford imported coal and it will turn instead to either its own reserves or renewables such as solar and wind.
- 2014/05/06: RNE: Pollie Watch: New addition to small pod of pro-wind Liberals
- 2014/05/06: RNE: No market for Galilee coal, not even in energy poor India
- 2014/05/06: RNE: UK will install 3 times more solar than Australia in 2014
- 2014/05/06: DeSmogBlog: Global Fossil Fuel Companies Running Multiple PR Campaigns Targeting Australians
- 2014/05/05: ABC(Au): Gloucester Dialogue group slammed by anti-CSG activists
  A mid north coast anti-coal seam gas (CSG) group has slammed the creation of a new committee to oversee the industry in Gloucester. The Gloucester Dialogue includes representatives from government agencies, local council, the community and the company AGL. But Groundswell Gloucester Vice President David Hare-Scott said it simply adds another mechanism to several that already exist but don't work. He said the Gloucester Dialogue is unnecessary and lacks substance.
- 2014/05/05: RNE: Demand, emissions and wholesale prices still going down
- 2014/05/05: RNE: Coal: Australia's major problem with power sector emissions
- 2014/05/05: ABC(Au): QCoal's James Mackay developing environmental policy for Newman Government in Queensland
  The head of corporate affairs for a mining company at the centre of an environmental dispute has been in charge of developing policy on the environment for Queensland's ruling Liberal National Party (LNP) since 2012. James Mackay also worked full-time for the LNP during the 2012 election, while he was being paid $10,000 a month by the company, QCoal. QCoal is embroiled in controversy over plans to divert Coral Creek in north Queensland to mine the coal underneath. The company's owner, reclusive billionaire Chris Wallin, is one of the LNP's biggest donors.
- 2014/05/05: ABC(Au): Vic Government could save $ 2.5 billion in heating bills
  Winter is coming. Victorians shivering against the chill could be insulated with considerable savings to the state budget, if only the government will listen.
- 2014/05/05: WSWS: Australia: Plunging coal prices herald new mine closures and job cuts
Now we get to watch the suppository of wisdom destroy what little Australia has done to fight climate change:
- 2014/05/08: ABC(Au):TDU: Abbott unveiled, and we don't like what we see
  Tony Abbott is in trouble now, not because of some misjudged promises he made just before the election, but because he can no longer hide the reality of his vision for Australia, writes Tim Dunlop.
  [...]
  The trouble Tony Abbott is having at the moment - which is reflected in falling approval ratings for himself and his party - has arisen because of a long-term commitment to a particular ideological point of view. In other words, his problem is that it is getting harder for him to hide what he really wants to do to the country.
- 2014/05/10: ABC(Au): PNG immigration minister says he will choose which refugees on Manus Island are resettled
- 2014/05/10: ABC(Au): Budget 2014: People on disability support pension to have ability to work reassessed
- 2014/05/09: ABC(Au): Immigration Minister Scott Morrison announces new Australian Border Force
- 2014/05/09: WSWS: Australian corruption inquiry could ensnare prime minister
- 2014/05/09: RNE: ACT energy minister slams Hockey's "offensive" wind comments
- 2014/05/09: ABC(Au): High Court to hear challenge to Manus Island detention centre
- 2014/05/08: ABC(Au): Budget 2014: Motorists to pay more with Coalition poised to reintroduce indexation of fuel excise
- 2014/05/08: ABC(Au): Budget 2014: Government MP speaks out against 'broken promise' on fuel tax rise
- 2014/05/08: ABC(Au): Company directors losing faith in Abbott Government
  A survey shows company directors have become much less confident in the Abbott Government since it was first elected. Back in the second half of 2013, just after the Abbott Government took office, almost 70 per cent of company directors expected the new administration to have a positive impact on their business decision making. In the latest Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD) survey, this figure has slumped to just 30 per cent.
- 2014/05/07: ABC(Au): Ag Minister [Joyce] outlines deregulation expectations
- 2014/05/07: RNE: Abbott's 'barren' policy could derail most basic climate goals: [Bernie] Fraser
- 2014/05/07: RNE: Direct Action could bypass Senate, but business will bypass Direct Action
- 2014/05/07: CCurrents: A New Wave Of Direct Action Against Coal And Gas In Australia
- 2014/05/07: ABC(Au): Asylum seeker push-back: [Foreign Minister Julie] Bishop says Australia has not broken international law
- 2014/05/07: WSWS: Australia: Storm of corporate protest against deficit levy
- 2014/05/07: ABC(Au): Budget 2014: Teresa Gambaro says proposed debt levy will 'devastate the economy'
  Federal Government MP Teresa Gambaro says the proposed debt levy will "devastate the economy" and is urging the Cabinet to ditch the idea when it meets in Canberra today. The Member for Brisbane says the tax hike being proposed for higher income earners will be a broken promise, and has lashed out at the Prime Minister and his office's way of dealing with the backbench.
- 2014/05/06: ABC(Au): Farmers desperate for help but drought loans not available yet
- 2014/05/06: ABC(Au): Indonesia says Australia allegedly adding passengers to asylum seeker boat a 'serious development'
- 2014/05/06: RNE: Hockey & Co keep China, Germany & Buffet guessing on offensive wind
- 2014/05/06: BBerg: Abbott Sees Popularity Decline as Australian Budget Cuts Loom
  Support for Prime Minister Tony Abbott's coalition dropped to the lowest level in four years as the government prepares to raise the pension age and cut welfare benefits to curb Australia's deficit in next week's budget. The Liberal-National coalition is trailing on 47 percent to Labor's 53 percent on a two-party preferred basis, according to a Newspoll published in The Australian newspaper today. Voter satisfaction with Abbott fell five points from the previous poll to 35 percent, the lowest level since he won office in September.
- 2014/05/05: TheConversation: The Direct Action path to poverty
- 2014/05/05: ABC(Au): PM defends political donation system
  Despite the public scandals over political fundraising, the Prime Minister Tony Abbott today defended the system of political donations, saying the alternative is that taxpayers take a hit.
- 2014/05/05: ABC(Au): Mining industry says diesel rebate is not a subsidy
- 2014/05/05: ABC(Au): QFF warns against research funding cuts
  The Queensland Farmers' Federation, says the Commission of Audit recommendation to cut public funding for research and development is 'ironic', given the current Federal Government push to increase farm productivity. QFF chief executive Dan Galligan, warns any drop in research spending would erode the competitive advantage of Australian agriculture, at a rapid rate.
- 2014/05/05: SkS: Brandis confuses right to be heard with right to be taken seriously by Peter Ellerton
- 2014/05/05: RNE: Clean energy is only "offensive" because it works
- 2014/05/05: RNE: Direct Action vs the World: How Australia's climate policy stacks up
- 2014/05/05: ABC(Au): Budget 2014: Joe Hockey moves to assure miners over diesel fuel rebate
- 2014/05/04: TheConversation: Sorry, Joe Hockey - Canberra is Australia's home of wind farms
- 2014/05/04: CCP: SMH: Australian climate scientists in audit commission's crosshairs
The Abbott government's phony inquiry is set to gut the Renewable Energy Target:
- 2014/05/08: ABC(Au): Solar industry slams Coalition's renewables policy
  The peak body for the Australian solar industry has delivered a broadside at the Coalition government, saying 'ideology' is driving energy policy in Australia.
- 2014/05/08: RNE: RET Road Trip #4 - Wind farms keep council budgets healthy
- 2014/05/08: RNE: Vestas 'perplexed' by renewable energy policy debate in Australia
- 2014/05/07: RNE: Renewable energy target can go all the way to 100% - if we let it
- 2014/05/07: RNE: Australia's conservative politicians railing against renewables
- 2014/05/06: TheConversation: Renewable energy target can go all the way to 100% - if we let it
After years of wrangling, the Murray Darling Basin Plan is in place, but the water management fights are far from finished:
- 2014/05/09: ABC(Au): More flexibility for irrigators to trade water: ACCC
- 2014/05/09: ABC(Au): SMS leak detection saving farmers money
  Farmer's water bills are already big enough without a pipe leak adding to the costs. This is where a new SMS system has come into play that can tell farmers straight away if they have a leak somewhere.
- 2014/05/08: ABC(Au): National water bank to boost water security
- 2014/05/07: ABC(Au): Water bank proposed to combat looming shortages
- 2014/05/07: ABC(Au): Outback councils pipe up over funds for Great Artesian Basin water-saving scheme
  Western Queensland councils have called for the Federal Government to end uncertainty and allocate funding for a water-saving program across the Great Artesian Basin. The Great Artesian Basin Sustainability Initiative provides state and federal funds to help landholders to cap uncontrolled artesian bores and pipe open bore drains and has run over 15 years.
- 2014/05/07: ABC(Au): Fears for the future of the great GABSI
  There are fears the Federal Government's budget will not allow room for one of the most successful environmental programs on offer in western Queensland. The Great Artesian Basin Sustainability Initiative (GABSI) delivers federal and state funding to cap uncontrolled artesian bores and pipe open bore drains. GABSI has worked in Queensland, New South Wales, South Australia and the Northern Territory. However, the program is only funded until the end of June.
- 2014/05/05: ABC(Au): A taste for drinking recycled water
  Why do our elected leaders wait until crisis point before making decisions about water supply for Australians? We should start talking about solutions to the next drought now.
The Federal and now the State Liberals are bent on trashing the hard won Tasmanian forest deal:
- 2014/05/08: ABC(Au): Tasmanian Liberals unveil details of legislation to repeal forest peace deal
- 2014/05/06: ABC(Au): Outside advice not sought over forest heritage delisting, inquiry hears
  Outside experts were not consulted over Commonwealth plans to delist part of Tasmania's World Heritage Area (WHA), a Senate hearing has been told. A Senate committee examining the Federal Government's push to delist 74,000 hectares of forests is taking evidence in Canberra.
And in the Indian subcontinent:
While in China:
- 2014/05/06: PSinclair: Oops. China Choosing [Coal to Gas] Carbon Dead End for Part of Air Pollution Solution
In Japan:
- 2014/05/09: ABC(Au): Japan restarts whaling program in north-west Pacific from base at port of Ayukawa
And elsewhere in Asia:
- 2014/05/05: RTCC: Marshall Islands primed for climate survival fight
In Russia:
While in Africa:
- 2014/05/09: al Jazeera: Another five years of Jacob Zuma
  ANC scores a major electoral victory despite hopes for change on the political scene of South Africa.
- 2014/05/08: BBC: South Africa election: ANC wins ...
  [...] With about 80% of the results in, the ANC has 63% of the vote, followed by the Democratic Alliance (DA) on 22%.
- 2014/05/08: CCurrents: Climate Crisis Hotspots In Africa
- 2014/05/06: TP:JR: With A Little Help, Africa Could Become Renewable Energy Powerhouse
And South America:
- 2014/05/06: TreeHugger: Indigenous Amazonian people threatened by oil drilling
- 2014/05/05: Guardian(UK): Brazil's 'chainsaw queen' takes on environmentalists
  Ambitious politician Kátia Abreu leads agricultural lobby in loosening controls on Amazon deforestation
- 2014/05/05: BBC: Outsider Juan Carlos Varela wins Panama election
  Opposition leader Juan Carlos Varela has won the presidential election in Panama with almost 40% of the votes.
In Canada, neocon PM Harper, aka The Blight, pushes petroleum while ignoring the climate and ecology:
Resonances of the Lac Mégantic tragedy echo yet:
The abortion issue ot some play this week:
- 2014/05/09: Creekside: The March of the Catholic Schoolchildren
- 2014/05/08: CBC: Topless pro-choice protesters [yelling "my body, my rules"] interrupt anti-abortion rally
- 2014/05/08: CBC: 3 things to know about abortion in Canada
  Annual anti-abortion March for Life protest hits Hill as Justin Trudeau says new MPs must be pro-choice
- 2014/05/07: CBC: Anti-abortion candidates need not apply in 2015, Justin Trudeau says
Mowat has passed:
Late commentary on that CCA report:
- 2014/05/05: Resilience: Fracking Growth Outpacing Scientific Knowledge in Canada: Report
There are getting to be so manyoil [2] andnatural gas [2]pipelines, one almost needs a scorecard:
The battle over the Northern Gateway pipeline rages on:
There is wrangling over the NEB trying to restrict the Kinder Morgan expansion hearings:
What's the state of the West Coast salmon fishery?
- 2014/05/06: AlexandraMorton: 60 Minutes Looks at BC Salmon Farming
Meanwhile in BC:
Meanwhile in that Mechanical Mordor known as the tar sands:
Also in Alberta:
In Ontario, Wynne has been forced into an election. Poll date is June 12th:
- 2014/05/10: CBC: Kashechewan First Nation re-declares flooding emergency
  About 700 residents in the James Bay-area community requested to evacuate the area
- 2014/05/09: TStar: Andrea Horwath's right-wing populism: Salutin
  After years of possibly delusional but honourable attempts by the NDP to stay anchored to its social democratic principles, Andrea Horwath marks a change.
- 2014/05/08: CBC: Kathleen Wynne continues to poke at Stephen Harper over pensions
- 2014/05/07: CBC: Ontario Votes: Clement keeps up federal pressure on Wynne
  Treasury Board President Tony Clement is the latest federal Conservative to jump in to the Ontario election campaign -- accusing Liberal Leader Kathleen Wynne of inflaming the pension debate to draw attention away from her party's "disastrous record."
- 2014/05/07: SudburySteve: Andrea Horwarth's Decision to Exclude Greens from Debates is Shameful for ONDP Supporters
- 2014/05/06: WSWS: Ontario voters offered rival big-business austerity agendas
- 2014/05/05: TRR: Kathleen Wynne's environmental ups and downs
- 2014/05/04: NorRe: Things Could Get Very Nasty
- 2014/05/05: ElectionPrediction: Ontario Provincial Election 2014
In the Maritimes:
And on the American political front:
The Keystone XL wheel grinds slowly. And it grinds woe:
- 2014/05/09: 350orBust: The Real TransCanada Keystone XL Pipeline Commercial
- 2014/05/08: CCP: Cowboy Indian Alliance: farmers, ranchers and tribal communities protest Keystone XL pipeline
- 2014/05/08: SciAm:GB: Keystone XL Spotlights History of Environmental Analysis
- 2014/05/08: NatJo: More Than Just Keystone Died in the Senate Wednesday
  The collapse of a bipartisan energy-efficiency bill on the floor has imperiled the Senate's vote on the Keystone XL pipeline, but it's also got members sweating that their chance to move any other energy measures has all but slipped away.
- 2014/05/08: ICN: Keystone XL: Bush's No-Brainer, Obama's Dilemma -- In Infographics
- 2014/05/08: ICN: The Thinking Behind 'Keystone and Beyond': Author's Note
  Author of new ICN book explains why and how he used the past to illuminate Obama's historic Keystone pipeline decision, and what he learned.
- 2014/05/08: ICN: Keystone XL: Bush's No-Brainer, Obama's Dilemma
- 2014/05/06: Guardian(UK): It's game over for the Keystone pipeline by Michael Mann
- 2014/05/06: DeSmogBlog: American Minimum Wage Earners Held Hostage Over Keystone XL
- 2014/05/06: OilChange: As KXL Vote Nears in Senate, Big Oil Begins Ad Blitz
- 2014/05/05: FAIR: Silly Environmentalists, Getting Upset Over a Little Pipeline
- 2014/05/05: DeSmogBlog: For First Time, TransCanada Says Tar Sands Flowing to Gulf in Keystone XL South
- 2014/05/05: DeSmogBlog: Details of TransCanada Pipeline Safety Whistleblower Scandal Emerge Amid Keystone XL Delay
- 2014/05/04: RI: Could NAFTA force the Keystone XL pipeline on the United States?
Leaks and spills:

Jeez! It's getting hard to keep all the spills and leaks straight. You need a map. Let's see...:
In West Virginia, Freedom Industries spilled coal cleaning chemicals into the Elk river:
The BP disaster continues to twist US politics:
- 2014/05/06: TP:JR: Researcher: BP Oil Is Becoming 'Part Of The Geological Record' Of The Sea Floor
Colorado fracking is messy:
- 2014/05/06: Grist: Colorado drillers are spilling 200 gallons of oil and other poisons every day
The GOP War on Women continues. See also:
Looking ahead to the 2014 & 2016 elections:
- 2014/05/05: TP:JR: In Texas, A New Bush [George Prescott Bush] Launches Political Career With Leap Into Oil And Gas Interests
Obama exercised a symbol this week:
The actions of the Obama administration are being watched closely:
- 2014/05/09: BBerg: EPA Takes First Step Toward Regulating Fracking Chemicals
- 2014/05/09: Grist: Obama lays out plan to boost solar energy and energy efficiency
- 2014/05/09: NOAANews: Dr. Richard W. Spinrad named NOAA's chief scientist
- 2014/05/08: ScienceInsider: NOAA Gets First Chief Scientist in More Than a Decade
- 2014/05/08: RTCC: US backs advanced offshore wind with $140m
  US to test 'hurricane-resilient' wind turbines in three projects, supplying extra 67MW of clean energy to grid The United States will back three advanced offshore wind farms, including floating and hurricane resistant foundations, with up to $47 million each, the Department of Energy said on Wednesday.
- 2014/05/08: Grist: EPA's next challenge: Protect communities in nation's industrial dumping grounds
- 2014/05/07: UCSUSA:B: More Progress for Offshore Wind: DOE Awards and Whale Protections
- 2014/05/07: CBC: Oil-hauling trains under emergency U.S. safety order
- 2014/05/05: Grist:Should we be calling it "climate disruption"?
- 2014/05/05: NOAANews: NOAA selects two areas in the North Atlantic for targeted habitat conservation efforts
As for what is going on in Congress:
- 2014/05/09: ScienceInsider: U.S. House Passes Permanent R&D Tax Credit
- 2014/05/09: ScienceInsider: Salmon Over Science: House Spending Panel Goes Fishing at the Expense of NSF and Census
  Although most U.S. researchers probably think it exists, and both Republican and Democratic administrations play along, there is no federal science budget. Instead, there is one pot of money to be divvied up as legislators see fit. A congressional spending panel made that very clear yesterday by choosing salmon over science. The case in point is an amendment passed on a voice vote by the House of Representatives' Appropriations Committee. It would move $5 million from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and $10 million from the Census Bureau's research activities to strengthen a Pacific salmon recovery program run by the Commerce Department's National Marine Fisheries Service.
- 2014/05/08: TP:JR: Bipartisan Energy Efficiency Bill Stalls Again, Along With Keystone Vote
- 2014/05/07: TP:JR: How Some Simple Changes To Building Codes Could Revolutionize The Electric Car Market
- 2014/05/07: ScienceInsider: Conflict Swirls as U.S. House Nears Vote on Permanent R&D Tax Break
- 2014/05/07: ScienceInsider: Embattled NOAA Lab in North Carolina Would Get New Life in U.S. Spending Bill
- 2014/05/07: GreenGrok: The Senate Takes on America's Energy Future: On Pipelines, Posturing and Politics
- 2014/05/06: TP:JR: Colorado Congressman Called A 'Terrorist' For Pushing Community Control Of Fracking
- 2014/05/05: Grist: GOP leader calls anti-fracking congressman a terrorist
- 2014/05/05: CleanTechnica: Republican Senator Slams Fossil & Nuclear Energy Subsidies In Face Of Wind Energy Tax Credit Attacks
The movement toward a long term ecologically viable economics is glacial:
- 2014/05/07: Resilience: Will Co-ops Spark a New Civil Rights Movement?
- 2014/05/05: Resilience: The Benefits and Impacts of Cooperatives
In nature, there is no garbage:
- 2014/05/09: DOE:TiE: Recycling is the primary energy efficiency technology for aluminum and steel manufacturing
IPAT [Impact = Population * Affluence * Technology] raised its head once again:
- 2014/05/09: ABC(Au):TDU: Hands off our hard-fought abortion rights
  Yet another male politician is trying to wind back the clock on abortion laws. All these pieces of legislation are designed to do is oppress and control women, writes Clementine Ford.
- 2014/05/08: BBC: NI women not entitled to free NHS abortions in England says High Court
- 2014/05/08: CBC: 3 things to know about abortion in Canada
  Annual anti-abortion March for Life protest hits Hill as Justin Trudeau says new MPs must be pro-choice
- 2014/05/06: CBC: Maternal death rates rose in Canada, U.S. over 20 years
  In Canada, deaths rose from 6 to 11 per 100,000 births between 1990 and 2013.
Apocalypso anyone?
- 2014/05/10: PaiD: "I've Gone To The Dark Side": A Guest Post From The Mound Of Sound
How do the corporate media measure up?
- 2014/05/10: NYT:PK: Abusing Relativity
- 2014/05/09: CSW: Wall Street Journal's attempts to politicize National Climate Assessment fall flat
- 2014/05/09: FAIR: Can Crossfire Have a Climate Change Debate Without Climate Change Denial?
- 2014/05/09: TDC: End game: What happens when the White House press corps seizes the agenda?
  To get the public to move on climate change, President Obama won't just need to end-run Congress. He'll need to end-run his own press corps, too. A news analysis.
- 2014/05/09: GLaden: Bill Nye vs. CNN
- 2014/05/08: TP:JR: How Cable News Covered The Landmark Climate Change Report
- 2014/05/07: MediaMatters: Front-Page Climate Story Cast To Bottom Sidebar Of Wall Street Journal
- 2014/05/07: TP:JR: Media Figures Out American Climate Beliefs Are Outliers -- But Do They Share The Blame?
- 2014/05/07: Grist: Bill Nye keeps fighting the good fight, debates climate change on CNN
- 2014/05/07: ITracker: Presented without comment: Neil deGrasse Tyson on AGW
- 2014/05/07: GET: The wrong lessons at the New York Times
  On May 1, the entire editorial board at the New York Times published an article revealing an astonishing ignorance of easily accessible facts. The NYT argues that Germany's energy transition proves that the world needs nuclear.
While activists search for effective communication techniques:
2014/05/09: KSJT: On Science Blogs: More on how to change attitudes regarding climate change

Here is something for your library:
And for your film & video enjoyment:
- 2014/05/11: CBC: Fed Up documentary: sugar added to food causing obesity
- 2014/05/10: CE(eu): Video: EGU panel discussion: Geoengineering the climate: the way forward?
- 2014/05/10: Grist: Watch this "Years of Living Dangerously" takedown of Koch-funded Americans for Prosperity
- 2014/05/09: SciAm:Obs: Fight over Solar Power Returns to White House Roof [Video]
- 2014/05/09: 350orBust: The Real TransCanada Keystone XL Pipeline Commercial
- 2014/05/09: CChallenge: Dr. Michael MacCracken's 1982 Climate Change Presentation
- 2014/05/09: PSinclair: Republicans Increasingly Defensive on Climate
- 2014/05/09: PSinclair: Paul Douglas on Sea Level and Resilience
- 2014/05/09: PSinclair: NWS: Outlook for California
- 2014/05/09: TP:JR: This Weekend Watch Schwarzenegger Fight Wildfires, Or GOP Pol Make On-Air Climate Science Conversion [YoLD]
- 2014/05/09: UCSUSA:B: Fed Up about Food? New Film Highlights Concerns around Sugar, Science, and Democracy
  Today, a new documentary entitled Fed Up premieres in 19 cities. Different from other films that detail the problems that plague our food system, Fed Up focuses on a single entity that is responsible for widespread health impacts in the United States: sugar.
- 2014/05/08: Grist: Watch James Brown tout home weatherization in this amazing video
- 2014/05/06: PSinclair: Neil De Grasse Tyson Makes the Connections Fox Fails to Make - on Fox
- 2014/05/05: MediaMatters: Fox vs. FOX: Neil deGrasse Tyson Speaks Out On Climate Change
  On Cosmos, Tyson Makes Climate Connections That Fox News Mocks
- 2014/05/05: PSinclair: How Wolves Change Rivers - A Lesson in BioDiversity
- 2014/05/04: CleanTechnica: Al Gore's Tremendous Presentation At Abu Dhabi Ascent
- 2014/05/05: AFTIC: TED - Gavin Schmidt on climate modeling
As for podcasts:
- 2014/05/10: CBC:Q&Q: [mp3] Thinking About De-Extinction
- 2014/05/10: CBC:Q&Q: [mp3] CO2 and Crop Nutrients
Meanwhile among the 'Sue the Bastards!' contingent:
- 2014/05/09: BBerg: Obama Scores Third Court Victory in Air Pollution Fight
  The Obama administration scored a third legal victory in less than a month in its fight to cut air pollution as regulators prepare rules to reduce emissions from power plants. In a unanimous decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington said the Environmental Protection Agency was within its discretion to tighten standards on fine particulate matter, or soot, from coal power plants, refineries, manufacturers and vehicles. The court struck down a challenge by the National Association of Manufacturers, which said the rule overreached. The administration has now defeated challenges to pollution rules three times since mid-April, as the Supreme Court and the U.S. Court of Appeals tossed aside industry objections and gave the EPA broad leeway to set standards.
- 2014/05/09: TP:JR: EPA Is On A Winning Streak In Court Battles Over Clean Air
- 2014/05/08: BBC: NI women not entitled to free NHS abortions in England says High Court
- 2014/05/07: TP:JR: Victims Of Citgo's Criminal Pollution Not Entitled To Compensation, Judge Rules
Developing a new energy infrastructure is a fundamental challenge of the current generation:
What do you have in energy comparisons and transitions?
- 2014/05/10: IPS:B: Fossil Fuels: The Tide is Turning
- 2014/05/09: RNE: Cost gap between renewables and gas is closing in US
- 2014/05/08: EcoWatch: Warren Buffett to Close One of Nation's Dirtiest Coal Plants in Favor of Solar Energy
- 2014/05/06: RTCC: Rising US gas price supports "significant" return to coal burning
  US gas prices have risen to a level which is driving a "significant" return to burning coal, Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BofAML) Global Research said in a market report published on Tuesday.
What's changing in energy investments?
- 2014/05/05: CCP: FTSE joins Blackrock to help investors avoid fossil fuels
Hey! Let's contaminate the aquifers for thousands of years! It'll be a fracking gas!
On the coal front:
On the gas and oil front:
Ships and boats and trains -- How to tranport the stuff?
- 2014/05/09: CPunch: Shipping Highly Flammable Bakken Crude Oil by Rail -- Hazardous Cargo
- 2014/05/09: WaPo:B: The risks of oil by rail
- 2014/05/09: DeSmogBlog: Playing With Fire: U.S. Regulators Resort to Weak Voluntary Measures For Oil-By-Rail Safety
- 2014/05/07: UCSUSA:B: Half the Oil, Not Crude-by-Rail: Lynchburg Oil-Train Accident is Fifth in Ten Months
- 2014/05/07: NYT: U.S. Issues Safety Alert for Oil Trains
- 2014/05/07: BBerg: U.S. Orders Railroads to Tell States About Crude Trains
- 2014/05/07: CBC: Oil-hauling trains under emergency U.S. safety order
  Railroads must inform states before moving large volumes of crude through The U.S. Transportation Department issued an emergency order Wednesday requiring that railroads inform state emergency management officials before moving large shipments of crude oil through their states, and urged railroads not to use older model tanks cars that are easily ruptured in accidents, even at slow speeds.
- 2014/05/06: CBC: Crude by rail shipments increase 9-fold since 2012
  [...] The NEB said Tuesday that 15,980 barrels a day were exported by rail in the first quarter of 2012. By the last quarter of 2013, that figure had jumped to 146,047 -- a more than nine-fold increase in under two years.
- 2014/05/04: CDreams: How Many More Fiery Rail Explosions Do We Need?
Marvelous! Now the USA has their own Mechanical Mordor:
- 2014/05/07: OilChange: Alabama: The New Tar Sands Frontier
The answer my friend...
Meanwhile among the solar aficionados:
The nuclear energy controversy continues:
Nuclear waste storage requires _very_ long term thinking:
How are the utilities adjusting (or not)?
- 2014/05/09: RNE: Origin lines up another attack on renewable energy target
  Origin Energy, Australia's largest energy utility, has launched a new attack on the renewable energy target, arguing that it is exceeding its mandate and should be wound back - to a point where little or no large-scale wind or solar farms are constructed out to 2020.
- 2014/05/09: RNE: From grid defected to grid connected
- 2014/05/08: RNE: Solar will do to utilities what Twitter did to media
- 2014/05/08: CleanTechnica: Hawaii's Biggest Utility Company Forced To Help Customers Install Solar Panels
- 2014/05/05: RNE: Energy utilities facing Kodak moment, may lose 'right to survive'
- 2014/05/04: CleanTechnica: Duke Energy Attacks Rooftop Solar Energy (videos)
And then there is the matter of efficiency & conservation:
- 2014/05/05: TreeHugger: Goodbye fluorescents! This T8 LED lamp is 30% more efficient, lasts 50,000 hours
As for Energy Storage:
The reaction of business to climate change will be critical:
- 2014/05/09: Grist: Walmart is the last place Obama should be making a clean energy speech
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.
Meanwhile in the 'clean coal' saga:
2014/05/09: EurActiv: UK advertising watchdog launches probe into Peabody 'clean coal' ad

So why is nothing getting done?
- 2014/05/07: CBC: Climate change: 3 reasons businesses aren't seeking solutions
- 2014/05/06: LoE: Why do our politicians not act on IPCC advice?
As for climate miscellanea:
- 2014/05/09: SciAm:PI: Photo Friday: Order Coal Now (1918)
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.

"It is very easy to falsify the theory of global warming by greenhouse gasses. If there would be an unexplained temperature drop of one degree and it would stay there for a decade, the theory is completely dead. If the same thing happens to the ocean heat content, the theory is dead within a year." -Eingestellt von Victor Venema
Last modified May 11, 2014

Another Week of Climate Disruption News - May 11, 2014

Logging the Onset of The Bottleneck Years

May 11, 2014

Laugh. I dare ya:

And for those who enjoy challenging Poe's Law:

Looking ahead to COP20 and future international climate negotiations:

There was some sort of conference in Abu Dhabi:

Still some post WG1/WG2/WG3 commentary:

The US National Climate Assessment came out this week to much fanfare:

The Myers et al. paper on nutrition under conditions of higher CO2 generated some interest:

The Mengel & Levermann paper on the East Antarctic ice sheets raised an eyebrow or two:

Late comments on that Afghan landslide triggered by a heavy rainfall:

How is the German Energy Transition [Energiewende] doing?

And on the Bottom Line:

Who's getting the subsidies, tax exemptions, loan guarantees & grants?

What's up with economists?

John Cook and friends continue their point-counterpoint articles:

TV Meteorologists typically follow the corporate media line...

A note on theFukushima disaster:

Not much good news coming out of Fukushima:

The Arctic melt continues to garner attention:

As for the charismatic megafauna:

That Damoclean sword still hangs overhead:

The food crisis is ongoing:

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

Food Prices are still problematic:

So, are these land grabs Colonialism V2.0?

Regarding the genetic modification of food:

Regarding labelling GM food:

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

Another relatively quiet week with no named storms In the Eastern Pacific, a numbered storm spun up and faded crossing the Mexican coast:

And in the Bay of Bengal:

While elsewhere in the hurricane wars:

As for the Monsoon:

This week in notable weather:

Got any forecasts?

This week in the New Normal -- extreme weather:

As for GHGs:

And in the carbon cycle:

Regarding Milankovitch Cycles:

Regarding Climate Sensitivity:

Regarding ozone:

And on the ENSO front:

As for the temperature record:

Meanwhile in near earth orbit:

While in the paleoclimate:

In the attribution debate:

What's the State of the Oceans?:

What's the State of the Biosphere?

And on the extinction watch:

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

Oh look! The Anthropocene came up again:

More GW impacts are being seen:

And then there are the world's forests:

Climate refugees are becoming an issue:

Emerging diseases accompany ecological change:

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

Changes in natural cycles are showing up:

On the tornado front:

As for heatwaves and wild fires:

Corals are a bellwether of the ocean's health:

Glaciers are melting:

Sea levels are rising:

These extreme rainfall events are becoming all too frequent:

As for hydrological cycle disruptions [floods & droughts]:

First, stop putting GHGs into the atmosphere, Second, begin to reduce current levels of GHGs, Third, save as many species as possible, Fourth, begin to reduce the human population, And elsewhere on the mitigation front:

Can cities take up the slack when nations shirk their responsibilities?

A momentous development in Synthetic Biology:

Consider transportation & GHG production:

Large scale geo-engineering keeps popping up:

What's new in conservation?

What's new in restoration?

While on the adaptation front:

Meanwhile in the journals:

And other significant documents:

As for miscellaneous science:

What developments in the ongoing struggle for Open Science?

Regarding Hansen:

Meanwhile at the UN:

The Robin Hood tax, aka the Tobin tax, aka the Bank tax, aka the Financial Transaction tax, keeps coming up:

Another relatively quiet week with no named storms
In the Eastern Pacific, a numbered storm spun up and faded crossing the Mexican coast:

First, stop putting GHGs into the atmosphere,
Second, begin to reduce current levels of GHGs,
Third, save as many species as possible,
Fourth, begin to reduce the human population,
And elsewhere on the mitigation front: