Another Week in the Ecological Crisis, June 15, 2014

By illconsidered on June 16, 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

June 15, 2014

Chuckles, COP20+, Globe, Mischief, EPA Carbon Rule, Wenju Cai, Warnings, Energiewende
Bottom Line, Subsidies, Economics, Pricing Nature, Thermodynamics, Cook
Fukushima: Note, News, Policies
Melting Arctic, Polar Bears, Forecasts, Methane, Geopolitics, Antarctica
Food: Crisis, Fisheries, Prices, Food vs. Biofuel, GMOs, GMO Labelling, Production
Hurricanes, Monsoon, Notable Weather, Forecasts, Carbon Cycle, Aerosols, Volcanoes
Climate Sensitivity, ENSO, Temperatures, Satellites, Paleoclimate
Oceans, Biosphere, Extinctions, Bees & CCD, Insects
Impacts, Forests, Climate Refugees, Disease
Wildfires, Corals, Acidification, Glaciers, Sea Levels, Floods & Droughts
Mitigation, Transportation, Sequestration, Geoengineering, Conservation, Restoration, Adaptation
Journals, Free Science, Schmidt, Pielke
International Politics: Kyoto, UN, Carbon Trade, Carbon Tax, Optimal Strategy
Hormuz, South China Sea, Ukraine, Geopolitics, Treaties, Solar Spats, Monsanto
Security, Law & Activism, Activism, Divestment, Polls, H2O Biz
National Politics: Britain, Europe, India, China, Japan, Asia, South America
Australia, Abbott, Murray-Darling, Tas Forest Deal, RET, Privatisation
Canada, Lac-Mégantic, Trudeau, Energy Policy, Theory, ELA, Plan B, Pipelines, Salmon
BC, Tar Sands, Alberta, Ontario, Maritimes, Canadiana
America, Keystone, Mayflower, Birth Control, Miller, Cantor, 2014-2016, USAdmin, Congress
Ecological Economics, IPAT, Apocalypso, Media, Books, Video, Podcasts, Courts, BP Trial
Energy, Transitions, Energy Investments, Fracking, Coal, Oil & Gas, Oil Transportation
Wind, Solar, Nukes, Waste, Fusion, Hydrogen, Grid, Utilities, Efficiency, Cars, Energy Storage
Other Lists, Quotes, Carbon Lobby, Inaction, Miscellaneous, Useful Links
Shameless Self Promotion, A Simple Plea, .sig

The things people consider funny nowadays:

This week in snark:

2014/06/11: Wonkette: Florida Congressman Thinks Dinosaurs ... Climate Change ... We Honestly Don't Even Know
2014/06/11: Wonkette: House Majority Leader Eric Cantor Lost His Primary And We Are Dead From Laughter

Looking ahead to COP20 and future international climate negotiations:
- 2014/06/14: Reuters: U.N. climate talks edge towards 2015 emissions deal
- 2014/06/13: RTCC: Lack of finance holding up UN talks, say world's poorest
  Talks in Bonn have delivered no progress on delivering climate finance, says LDC negotiator Countries have ploughed on with the task of creating a new UN climate treaty over the past two weeks in Bonn, but a lack of money is still hampering progress, say the world's poorest countries.
- 2014/06/13: BBC: Will a new climate fund unlock a global deal?
  As UN climate talks continue in Bonn, money is emerging as a critical element in getting the world to agree on a new deal by the end of next year.
- 2014/06/12: RTCC: Russia-Ukraine crisis seeps into UN climate talks
- 2014/06/11: RTCC: Time for farming to be taken seriously at UN climate talks?
  Agriculture is linked to 20% of greenhouse gas emissions, but it's not receiving attention from governments
- 2014/06/10: RTCC: Expectations for UN's Green Climate Fund vary by billions
- 2014/06/09: RTCC: Venezuela urges civil society to boost "boring" UN talks
  Caracas government to focus on social impacts of climate change ahead of UN Lima conference Venezuela plans to canvass civil society for their views on climate change during a four-day meeting in July -- an attempt to rejuvenate "boring" UN talks, according to the country's chief climate negotiator [Claudia Salerno]
- 2014/06/09: RTCC: Peru UN climate talks chair admits time running out for deal
- 2014/06/04: CAT: Below 2°C or 1.5°C depends on rapid action from both Annex I and non-Annex I countries
More on that Globe meet in Mexico City:
Harper and Abbott got together this week to demonstrate the mischief misguided/misguiding politicians can get into:
- 2014/06/14: MSimon: The Sad Bromance of Stephen Harper and Tony Dumb Dumb
- 2014/06/13: ABC(Au): Pacific presidents speak out against Australia's stand on climate change
  Pacific leaders have criticised Australia's moves to form a conservative international climate change alliance, saying it will only isolate Australia further in the Pacific.
- 2014/06/12: RTCC: New Zealand rejects offer to join Australia's anti-climate alliance
  Efforts by Canada and Australia to build consensus against further climate laws appear to be crumbling
- 2014/06/11: CCurrents: Frank Denial From A Leading Global Statesman
- 2014/06/11: RTCC: UK minister dismisses Australia and Canada climate 'alliance'
  London wants leaders in Canberra and Ottawa to play 'responsible proactive' role in curbing global greenhouse gas emissions UK climate and energy minister Greg Barker has laughed off suggestions the country could enter into an alliance against climate regulation with Australia and Canada.
- 2014/06/11: JQuiggin: The "job-killing" carbon tax
- 2014/06/10: TheConversation: No surprises: Canada and Australia are behind on climate
- 2014/06/10: ABC(Au): Abbott and Harper condemn carbon tax
- 2014/06/10: DeSmogBlog: Stephen Harper: Canada and Australia Not Avoiding Climate Action
- 2014/06/10: RT: Australia, Canada seek center-right alliance to thwart climate change initiatives
- 2014/06/10: ABC(Au): Tony Abbott finds friend in Canadian PM Stephen Harper over anti-carbon tax stance
- 2014/06/09: CBC: Tony Abbott, Stephen Harper take hard line against carbon tax
There are still some comments on the EPA's climate rule:
- 2014/06/15: BBerg: Obama Greenhouse-Gas Cut Plan Is Rhetoric, Australia's Robb Says
- 2014/06/13: Grist: Will EPA's power plant regulations be stopped in the courts?
- 2014/06/12: Wunderground:RR: Coal, Electricity, Fracking, Carbon Dioxide and the EPA
- 2014/06/11: EnergyPost: Perspectives on Obama's clean power plan: "it beats doing nothing"
- 2014/06/11: EnvEcon: It sounds like the economists were working hard on EPA's climate rule
- 2014/06/10: ICN: EPA Too Fixated on the 'Global' in Global Warming, Says U.S. Chamber
  In calculating the costs and benefits of its new climate rule, the EPA figured in measures 'to reflect the global nature of the problem,' the agency said.
- 2014/06/10: CCentral: Clean Power Plan Follows Uneven CO2 Emissions Trend
- 2014/06/10: RTCC: Obama appeals to health benefits of acting on climate
- 2014/06/09: GreenGrok: Obama's New Carbon Rules: What Price Regulation?
- 2014/06/09: Grist: Four reasons to love Obama's power plant rules, and three reasons not to
- 2014/06/09: PSinclair: Emission Cuts No Curb to Economic Growth
- 2014/06/08: Widener:B: Four Tragic Omissions From US Media's Coverge Of Obama's Climate Proposals
A couple of papers by Wenju Cai et al. indicate that El Niño and the Indian Ocean Dipole are changing frequencies:
- 2014/01/19: Nature: (ab$) Increasing frequency of extreme El Niño events due to greenhouse warming by Wenju Cai et al.
- 2014/06/11: Nature: (ab$) Increased frequency of extreme Indian Ocean Dipole events due to greenhouse warming by Wenju Cai et al.
- 2014/06/12: TheConversation: Drought in store as El Niño's western cousin to grow stronger
- 2014/06/12: ABC(Au): Climate change set to triple drought, bushfires and floods in Australia
  An atmospheric phenomenon in the Indian Ocean could increase under climate change tripling droughts and bushfires across the globe. Climate change is likely to almost triple the frequency of bushfires, floods and drought in Australia from one event every 17 years to one every 6 years, according to a paper published today in Nature.
- 2014/06/11: SciNews: Extreme weather to occur more often around Indian Ocean rim
What do we have for warnings this week?
- 2014/06/12: Vice:MBrd: Oil and Coal Must Be Phased Out Entirely by 2050 to Stop Catastrophic Warming
How is the German Energy Transition [Energiewende] doing?
- 2014/06/13: GET: Germany struts its renewable stuff
  The Energiewende is Germany's poster child. No wonder, a guidebook which details nearly 200 renewable energy sites is selling well. Komila Nabiyeva reports from Berlin.
- 2014/06/13: EurActiv: ECJ decision pivotal in debate over Germany's green subsidies
- 2014/06/12: GEB: FAZ: Uniform Renewables Surcharge of 40% for Self-consumed Power of New Renewable Power Plants?
- 2014/06/12: GET: Germany's Renewable Energy Law Is About to Look More American
  The next phase of Germany's energy transition takes competitive markets into account. This way, the German Energiewende could look more American, argues Betham Paulos.
- 2014/06/11: BNC: Germany's 'Energiewende' as a model for Australian climate policy? by Graham Palmer
- 2014/06/10: RNE: German grid braces for partial solar eclipse in 2015
- 2014/06/09: Lenz: Gabriel Wants to Exempt Coal Mines from Surcharge Rebates
- 2014/06/07: Boell: The German Coal Conundrum: The status of coal power in Germany's energy transition
And on the Bottom Line:
- 2014/06/09: EnergyPost: The Trillion-Dollar Question: Is Big Oil over-investing in high-cost projects?
Who's getting the subsidies, tax exemptions, loan guarantees & grants?
What's new in the tussle between economists and climatologists?
- 2014/06/10: WUWTWatts: Richard Tol's big mistake, or malicious behavior?
So, if we put a price on nature, will it deal with externalities and lead to greater conservation
or will it lead to greater exploitation or what?
- 2014/06/09: TP:JR: The $142 Trillion Resource No One's Paying Attention To [ecosystem services]
Delving into the laws of thermodynamics this week:
- 2014/06/15: TSoD: On Uses of A 4 x 2: Arrhenius, The Last 15 years of Temperature History and Other Parodies
John Cook and friends continue their point-counterpoint articles:
A note on theFukushima disaster:

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

Not much good news coming out of Fukushima:
- 2014/06/15: EneNews: Japan Paper: "Horses became weak and died, one by one, from an unknown cause" at farm in Fukushima -- Farmer: "There is something seriously wrong going on..."
- 2014/06/15: FukuLeaks: Fukushima & Nuclear News Roundup
- 2014/06/13: WNN: Next stage for robotic decontamination
  Two robots are cleaning up contamination inside Fukushima Daiichi 2. A new one is wiping down the walls while another continues to scrub the floor.
- 2014/06/13: EneNews: Official's 3/11 Notebook: Concern half of Japan to be "covered in nuclear waste!...
- 2014/06/13: EneNews: Japan Official: Reactor vessel suspected to have "broken off" at Fukushima Unit 2 after explosion, a "catastrophic development"...
- 2014/06/12: Asahi: Insider's notes as Fukushima crisis unfolded describe disinterested TEPCO officials
- 2014/06/12: EneNews: Japanese Nuclear Expert: Melted reactor cores not in one piece at Fukushima, as gov't claims -- I think nuclear fuel scattered everywhere, stuck to walls -- Chernobyl-like sarcophagus may be needed...
- 2014/06/10: EneNews: Japan Nuclear Prof.: It's feared pool of Fukushima nuclear fuel to "collapse in" at any time...
- 2014/06/10: EneNews: Japan Journalist: Melted nuclear fuel going through Fukushima containment vessels, they don't even know where the 3 reactor cores went...
- 2014/06/10: EneNews: "Fukushima, the world's permanent headache" -- Gundersen: It will be bleeding into Pacific for next 100 years...
- 2014/06/10: EneNews: Japan TV 'News Flash': Officials fear melted reactor fuel is now exposed at Fukushima -- Tepco: We don't know at this point if fuel is uncovered...
- 2014/06/10: FukuLeaks: New Strontium 90 Removal System To Be Installed At Fukushima Daiichi
- 2014/06/10: FukuLeaks: Fukushima Daiichi Unit 4; 1034 Fuel Assemblies Removed
- 2014/06/09: BBerg: TEPCO Hires U.S. Company to Filter Water Stored at Fukushima
  Tokyo Electric Power Co. will deploy a second system to strip a dangerous isotope from water stored at its wrecked Fukushima nuclear facility, as it struggles to overcome problems with its existing water processor. The utility known as TEPCO has signed a contract with Kurion Inc. to remove strontium from about 400,000 metric tons of radioactive water stored at Fukushima using truck-mounted filters, the Irvine, California-based company said in a statement today. Kurion's equipment will be used alongside the site's ALPS processors, which have been prone to stoppages. The Toshiba Corp. system is designed to remove strontium, linked to bone cancer, and 61 other isotopes from water contaminated by contact with highly radioactive reactor fuel.
- 2014/06/08: EneNews: AP reporter after going to Fukushima: "There are really people getting sick... the fear keeps building" ...
Post Fukushima, nuclear policies are in flux around the world:
The Arctic melt continues to garner attention:
As for the charismatic megafauna:
- 2014/06/09: DD: Fewer polar bear cubs are being born in the Arctic islands, survey finds
We have some forecasts of Arctic September sea ice extent. Note for future reference:
That Damoclean sword still hangs overhead:
- 2014/06/10: ArcticNews: Arctic Atmospheric Methane Global Warming Veil
As for the geopolitics of Arctic resources:
- 2014/06/11: CBC: Cold War-style spy games return to melting Arctic
  Arctic is believed to hold 13 per cent of the world's undiscovered oil
- 2014/06/11: PSinclair: Melting Arctic Warms up Cold War
- 2014/06/10: CBC: [Newfoundland and Labrador] government, Statoil to spend $3.9 million on Arctic
While in Antarctica:
The food crisis is ongoing:
- 2014/06/15: al Jazeera: UN: S Sudan children face starvation
  Over 50,000 children could die this year of diseases and malnutrition, UN officials say while seeking $1bn in support.
- 2014/06/14: PSinclair: "We Don't Know what Normal is Anymore."
- 2014/06/13: RTCC: Asda warns climate change will hit 95% of fresh food supplies
  UK supermarket launches climate adaptation plan to address growing concerns over supply chain Global warming is likely to make sourcing large supplies of fresh fruit and vegetables harder and more expensive, says leading supermarket chain Asda.
- 2014/06/13: Grist:Climate changes threatens America's 'king corn'
- 2014/06/12: ABC(Au): Chance of avocado glut, as bumper crop forecast
- 2014/06/11: RTCC: Vermont's maple syrup threatened by climate change
  First US state-level climate assessment says maple syrup production will decline as weather warms
- 2014/06/11: MoJo: Will California's Drought Bring About $7 Broccoli? The end of cheap fruits and veggies draws nigh. Here's why.
- 2014/06/11: ERW: Crops might be hotter than weather stations show
- 2014/06/10: CleanTechnica: Sainsbury's Partners With Google To Fry The Issue Of Food Waste
- 2014/06/10: PLoS:Biologue: How Will We Feed the World?
- 2014/06/08: CChallenge: As CO2 levels rise, some crop nutrients will fall
The state of the world's fisheries is a concern. See also, and:
- 2014/06/12: ABC(Au): Pacific states move to increase tuna fishing fees
  Pacific island nations have announced plans to dramatically increase the fees they charge tuna fishing boats for the right to enter their waters, saying it will boost revenue and help conservation efforts. Around half the world's skipjack tuna, the most commonly canned variety, is caught in waters belonging to an eight-nation group known as the Parties to the Nauru Agreement (PNA), which opened its annual meeting in Majuro today.
- 2014/06/11: UN: Aiming to cut down on 'flag hopping,' UN body endorses fishing guidelines
- 2014/06/11: ABC(Au): Securing the seafood industry for the future
  Experts at the World Aquaculture Conference in Adelaide have unveiled a draft code for growing seafood sustainably. The conference is being held in Australia for the first time this century. The new code would provide labelling, sourcing, and certification benchmarks for the seafood industry globally.
- 2014/06/09: NBF: Fish Farming is how the world will get most of its meat in the future and it can be environmentally produced
- 2014/06/09: FAO: Norway and FAO to launch state-of-the-art research vessel
  Boat with seven laboratories will continue work collecting data on marine ecosystems, climate change and pollution to help developing countries improve fisheries management
- 2014/06/09: UN: UN, Norway to launch state-of-the-art research vessel to support endangered fisheries
- 2014/06/09: SciAm:GB: Global Fish Survey Expands Horizons Underwater
- 2014/06/09: ABC(Au): Aquaculture industry facing challenges from climate change
  The CSIRO has told a world aquaculture conference in Adelaide the industry already is facing challenges from climate change.
Food Prices are still problematic:
- FAO: World Food Situation - Food Price Indices
- 2014/06/09: StLouisFed: Why Have Food Price Fluctuations in the U.S. and China Become More Correlated?
The conflict between biofuel and food persists:
- 2014/06/14: RT: EU to set limit on food-based biofuels
- 2014/06/13: Reuters: EU agrees plan to cap use of food-based biofuels - a 7% limit on food-based biofuels in transport fuel
Regarding the genetic modification of food:
- 2014/06/13: EurActiv: France wins greater control over GMOs, but comes under fire from Greens
- 2014/06/13: Grist: What happens when GMO antagonists get together for a friendly chat
- 2014/06/12: RT: GM floodgate to open? EU ministers back deal to let nations decide fate of crops
- 2014/06/12: SciNews: European nations back new rules for snubbing GM crops
  Angering both sides of a fractious debate, the European Union's member states agreed today on a plan allowing individual countries to refuse to plant E.U.-sanctioned genetically modified (GM) crops. Many European consumers and national governments have voiced strong concerns about GM foods, with sharp divisions across the bloc hampering regulatory decisions.
- 2014/06/11: Cornell: Famine fear won't sway minds on GM crops
- 2014/06/11: ABC(Au): Doubt cast over safety of GM research centre in WA
- 2014/06/11: TreeHugger: 'Organic' and 'GMOs' matter - but not as much as you think
- 2014/06/10: RT: US pressures El Salvador to buy Monsanto's GMO seeds
  As one of the preconditions to authorizing close to $300 million in aid, the United States is pressuring El Salvador to purchase genetically modified seeds from Monsanto instead of non-GM seeds from local farmers. According to Sustainable Pulse, a website covering developments related to genetically modified organisms and sustainable agriculture, the US will reportedly withhold $277 million in aid through the Millennium Challenge Compact if El Salvador refuses to purchase GM seeds from the biotech company Monsanto.
- 2014/06/09: CDreams: Overwhelming Majority of Americans Say: 'Just Label It!'
  New Consumers Report poll finds that 92 percent of respondents want the government to require labeling of genetically engineered foods.
- 2014/06/09: SciAm:FM: Genetically Modified Cheese... Is Nothing Safe? At the Boundaries of the GMO Controversy
Regarding labelling GM food:
And how are we going to feed 9 billion, 10 billion, 15 billion?
- 2014/06/12: WFP: UN World Food Programme Responds To Urgent Needs Of Displaced People In Iraq
- 2014/06/12: Resilience: Seeking the Whole Story: New metrics needed to evaluate agricultural practices
- 2014/06/11: Cornell: Findings may advance iron-rich, cadmium-free crops
- 2014/06/11: Grist: Why this meat lover isn't giving up on the test-tube burger
- 2014/06/10: WFP: WFP Provides Emergency Food For Flood Survivors In Baghlan Province, Afghanistan
- 2014/06/09: Resilience: Permaculture Business
- 2014/06/09: CSM: Women-run food banks provide cereal grains to poor farmers
  A unique food bank in Niger supported by supported by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) is reducing the impact of the food crisis on local communities and allowing local farmers to focus on cultivating their own fields. The banks -- run exclusively by women -- provide poor farmers with access to cereal grains when there are seasonal (the period of hunger preceding harvest from mid-July to mid-September) or unexpected food shortages. More than 50,000 women are involved in the management of the banks, and during the rainy season, the women organize weekly distributions of cereals.
- 2014/06/09: CSSA: Grain Legume Crops Sustainable, Nutritious
  A new study examined the mineral micronutrient content of four types of grain legumes. Grain legumes are often overlooked as valuable sources of micronutrients, such as zinc and potassium.
- 2014/06/03: IATP: Measuring Success: Local Food Systems and the Need for New Indicators
In the Eastern Pacific, Cat 4 Hurricane Cristina [03E] is staying safely offshore:
In the Arabian Sea, Tropical Cyclone Nanauk [02A] was heading for Oman, but curved north and faded:
2014/06/13: NASA: NASA Sees Tropical Storm Nanauk's Soaking Swan Song
2014/06/12: Eureka: NASA takes Tropical Cyclone Nanuak's temperature
2014/06/11: Eureka: A NASA view of Tropical Cyclone Nanauk in the Arabian Sea
2014/06/11: Wunderground: Tropical Cyclone Nanauk a threat to Oman; Hurricane Cristina Forms in Eastern Pacific
2014/06/10: NASA: NASA-NOAA's Suomi NPP Satellite Spots Arabian Sea Tropical Cyclone [02A]

In the Western Pacific, Typhoon Hagibis spun up just south of Taiwan:
2014/06/15: Xinhuanet: Fujian relocates 28,000 in tropical storm alert
South China's Fujian Province has relocated about 28,000 offshore staff to get them out of the path of the approaching tropical storm Hagibis, said provincial authorities on Sunday. The provincial weather bureau sounded the first typhoon alarm on Saturday morning. Hagibis is likely to make landfall in the coastal areas between Fujian and neighboring Guangdong Province before midnight on Sunday, said the provincial flood control office.
While elsewhere in the hurricane wars:
2014/06/14: MODIS: Tropical Storm Boris (02E) over Central America [on June 3]
2014/06/14: RT: Powerful hurricane tears roofs off, trees out in Russia's Far East (videos)
2014/06/13: Wunderground: Bogus GFS Model Forecasts of Atlantic Tropical Cyclone Genesis
2014/06/09: NASA: Satellite Sees System 90L Dissipating over Mexico

As for the Monsoon:
This week in notable weather:
- 2014/06/12: IOTD: Swimming with Ice Cubes [May 23 vs. June 8]
- 2014/06/10: IndiaTimes: Raging storm in western Germany disrupts transport, kills one
Got any forecasts?
- 2014/06/09: MetOffice: The Met Office's outlook for the UK summer 2014
And in the carbon cycle:
- 2014/06/10: Vice:MBrd: Deep Sea Fishing Threatens to Wipe Out a $150 Billion Carbon Sink
Aerosols are making their presence felt:
- 2014/06/13: ERW: A little aerosol goes a long way
- 2014/06/11: MODIS: Dust storm in Taklimakan Desert, Western China [on June 3]
What's up with volcanoes this week?
- 2014/06/13: MODIS: Ash plume from Ubinas Volcano, Peru [on June 3]
- 2014/06/09: MODIS: Activity at Pavlof, Alaska [on June 1]
Regarding Climate Sensitivity:
- 2014/06/13: TMasters: Estimating ECS bias from local feedbacks and observed warming patterns-example with GFDL-CM3
And on the ENSO front:
- 2014/06/15: al Jazeera: El Nino is 'already here'
  Australian climatologist claims the weather is already in the grip of the phenomenon.
- 2014/06/14: ABC(Au): El Nino weather pattern already partly formed, climatologist warns drier conditions on the way
  Australia may have already entered into the early stages of an El Nino weather pattern, increasing the possibility of drought and lower-than-average rainfall, an expert says.
- 2014/06/12: ABC(Au): El Nino in 2014 - what are the odds?
As for the temperature record:
- 2014/06/14: QuarkSoup: When Have 17-year Trends Been Significant?
- 2014/06/13: Guardian(UK): Apparent pause in global warming blamed on 'lousy' data
  European Space Agency scientist says annual sea level rises since 1993 indicate that warming has continued unabated
- 2014/06/11: Moyhu: TempLS global temp down 0.14°C in May
- 2014/06/10: QuarkSoup: UAH Lower Troposphere: Warmest 10-year Period on Record
- 2014/06/10: GLaden: Are we warm yet?
- 2014/06/10: Wunderground:CCB: Early Summer Heat Broils Northern Hemisphere
- 2014/06/08: QuarkSoup: More on the Significance of Temperature Trends
- 2014/06/09: Moyhu: NOAA GHCN station portal
Meanwhile in near earth orbit:
- 2014/06/13: Xinhuanet: China put FY-3C into operation to improve earth observation
  On June 10, the meteorological satellite Fengyun-3C has been put into operation officially which replaced FY-3A to observe in a morning orbit with FY-2B in an afternoon orbit. The operation of FY-3C will realize all-weather, multispectral, quantitative and 3D observation of global atmosphere and Geophysical factors to insure stable operation of polar-orbit meteorological satellites, provide better observation data for monitoring disasters, environment and addressing climate change, and further improve the monitoring capabilities.
- 2014/06/09: NOAANews: NOAA retires NOAA-16 polar satellite -- Spacecraft exceeds expected lifespan by 10 years
While in the paleoclimate:
- 2014/06/11: ROM: Burgess Shale Discovery: Fishing in the Cambrian
  A major fossil discovery sheds new light on the origin and development of the earliest vertebrates.
- 2014/06/11: CBC: Ancient Rockies fish fossils reveal origin of jaws
  Metaspriggina's gill bars gave rise to our jaws and ear bones
- 2014/06/11: CSM: Ancient, tiny fish [Metaspriggina] might be ancestor of almost all vertebrates (including you)
What's the State of the Oceans?
What's new in Biodiversity?
- 2014/06/15: CBC: U.S. man catches giant 400-kg sturgeon on B.C. river
- 2014/06/13: CNN: Namibia's 'fairy circles': Nature's greatest mystery?
  Strange barren dots -- rimmed with tall grasses -- sprinkle a 1,100-mile stretch of Namibia's desert - These are known as fairy circles, and their cause remains a mystery - Last year, a theory that termites caused the circles made international headlines - A German scientist thinks competition for resources is the cause
- 2014/06/10: BBC: New grey wolf populations found in Canada
  Two distinct populations of grey wolves have been found living side-by-side in British Columbia, Canada
- 2014/06/10: CBC: Wolves on B.C.'s islands, mainland genetically different
  Heiltsuk people had long known coast and timber wolves as distinct
And on the extinction watch:
- 2014/06/15: CNN: Poachers kill beloved Kenyan elephant Satao known for giant tusks
  Satao had tusks so large, they touched the ground - Beloved elephant was a hit among tourists at the national park - Conservation groups: Surge in illicit ivory trade results in killing of 30,000 African elephants a year
- 2014/06/14: SciAm:LR: Diseases in the wild: the frog apocalypse
- 2014/06/13: al Jazeera: Africa elephants face 'threat of extinction'
  Wildlife regulator warns of "industrial-scale" poaching, but hails crackdown on smuggling of ivory.
- 2014/06/13: PLNA: More than 20,000 African Elephants Were Poached in 2013
- 2014/06/13: UN: New UN-backed report finds 'alarmingly high' levels of elephant poaching across Africa
- 2014/06/13: BBC: Africa elephants 'face survival threat' from poaching
  The survival of Africa's elephants is under threat, with estimates suggesting more than 20,000 were killed in 2013, a report says. The office of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites) said poaching levels were far above the elephant birth rate.
- 2014/06/12: SciAm:EC: Should We Stop Selling Nautilus Shells?
- 2014/06/12: TP:JR: Penguins Experience Reversal Of Fortunes After Weathering Past Climate Changes
- 2014/06/11: Vox: The world is on the brink of a mass extinction. Here's how to avoid that.
- 2014/06/11: TheConversation: To save Australia's mammals we need a change of heart
- 2014/06/11: ABC(Au): New Zealand rejects calls to further protect Maui's dolphin
- 2014/06/11: SciAm:EC: Island Sanctuary Could Save Sex-Crazed Northern Quoll
- 2014/06/09: UDW: Mexico's Biodiversity Under Siege
- 2014/06/09: DD: Disappearing puffins, stray whales, invading sailfish: The North Atlantic is in a bad way, and here's why
The bees and Colony Collapse Disorder are a constant concern. And then, there are the Neonicotinoids:
How are the Insect Orders doing?
- 2014/06/13: SciAm:CE: Wasps Are Our Friends: Part II
- 2014/06/08: SciAm:CE: Wasps Are Our Friends: Part I
- 2014/06/11: BBC: Malaysia swarmed by giant moths
  Swarms of giant moths have descended on Malaysia, invading homes and even disrupting a national football match. Thousands of the furry insects, with a wing span of up to 16cm (6in), interrupted a semi-finals match at the Darul Makmur Stadium last week.
More GW impacts are being seen:
- 2014/06/14: BBC: Study: Deforestation leaves fish undersized and underfed
  Deforestation is reducing the amount of leaf litter falling into rivers and lakes, resulting in less food being available to fish, a study suggests.
- 2014/06/12: TreeHugger: US energy maps show energy infrastructure sitting in extreme weather's line of target
- 2014/06/10: ABC(Au): Climate change may see more crocs head south: expert
And then there are the world's forests:
Climate refugees are becoming an issue:
Emerging diseases accompany ecological change:
- 2014/06/13: Reuters: Baby boom for ticks, Lyme disease carriers, seen in New England
- 2014/06/09: YaleEnv: Global Warming's Human Health Impacts Poorly Understood by Americans
As for heatwaves and wild fires:
- 2014/06/10: IOTD: Two Bulls Fire, Oregon [on June 7,8]
- 2014/06/10: al Jazeera: In Pictures: European heatwave -- Mercury rises across the continent as sunshine prevails
Corals are a bellwether of the ocean's health:
- 2014/06/15: Independent(UK): Plans for five 'megaports' along Queensland coast threatens Great Barrier Reef
  The controversial scheme is horrifying environmentalists and tour operators
- 2014/06/12: TreeHugger: Looking for the holy grail: Heat-resistant corals that could survive in warming oceans
  [...] Since the beginning of the industrial age, 30% to 60% of the coral reefs on the planet have disappeared because of human activity and warming oceans.
- 2014/06/09: CSM: Miami channel dredge to lay waste to coral, say researchers
- 2014/06/06: MiamiHerald: Scientists race to save coral doomed by Government Cut dredging
Acidification is changing the oceans:
- 2014/06/12: Eureka: Acidification and warming threaten Mediterranean Sea iconic species
- 2014/06/11: MPBN: Maine Confronts Shellfish Threats As Oceans Turn More Acid
Glaciers are melting:
Sea levels are rising:
- 2014/06/12: Grist: Climate change could flood your streets with doo-doo and toxic waste [SLR]
- 2014/06/10: RTCC: Kiribati president: It is "too late" to save my islands
  President Tong says islands will be "annihilated" regardless of action from US and China It is already too late to save many small island states from being swamped by rising seas, according to the president of Kiribati.
- 2014/06/08: CNN:B: President of Kiribati Anote Tong on climate change: "It's too late for us" on CNN's Fareed Zakaria GPS
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:
- 2014/06/11: TheCanadian: Four choices for shaping the climate future we want
- 2014/06/09: Grist: Three reasons you shouldn't lose hope on climate change
Consider transportation & GHG production:
- 2014/06/12: UCSUSA:B: #ActOnTrucks: Putting Heavy-duty Vehicles on an Oil Diet
- 2014/06/12: TreeHugger: After decades of stagnation, fuel economy finally climbing in the U.S.
- 2014/06/12: BBC: Network Rail reports £1bn profit
  Network Rail has reported a pre-tax profit of £1.035bn for the year to 31 March compared with restated profits of £747m a year earlier. The infrastructure group said the rail network was enjoying a "renaissance", with train passenger numbers at an all-time high.
As for carbon sequestration:
Large scale geo-engineering keeps popping up:
What's new in conservation?
- 2014/06/12: TreeHugger: Success! UK oil company to pull out of Virunga National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage site
- 2014/06/12: UN: UN applauds decision by oil firm to halt exploration in DR Congo national park
- 2014/06/12: BBC: Virunga Park oil hunt in DR Congo halted
  The hunt for oil is to be halted in Africa's oldest national park in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, a UK-based oil firm has said. Virunga National Park is a Unesco World Heritage site and home to more than 200 endangered mountain gorillas. Soco International made the concession after the WWF filed a complaint that the company was violating good business practice guidelines.
- 2014/06/12: TP:JR: Is Africa's Oldest Park [Virunga National Park] Finally Safe From Oil Drillers?
- 2014/06/11: OilChange: Major Victory As Oil Company Pulls Out of Africa's Oldest Park
- 2014/06/09: CCurrents: Saving Threatened Species
What's new in restoration?
- 2014/06/12: ABC(Au): Work underway to restore threatened species
While on the adaptation front:
- 2014/06/12: RTCC: Hawaii passes climate change adaptation law
- 2014/06/10: EENews: Big U' plan to protect Manhattan from storm surges begins with a sea wall
Meanwhile in the journals:
What developments in the ongoing struggle for Open Science?
- 2014/06/12: OpenSource: Respected journal makes transition to open science
Regarding Schmidt:
The Pielke fan clubbe, alas:
- 2014/06/09: MM&M: Dogmatic Indifference
- 2014/06/10: NYT:PK: Incentives and Technology
Meanwhile on the Kyoto front:
Meanwhile at the UN:
- 2014/06/14: UN: In Bolivia, Ban to urge G77 to work together on anti-poverty, climate change
- 2014/06/13: WFP: Humanitarian Response Facility In Balochistan To Enhance Disaster Preparedness
- 2014/06/12: FAO: FAO and WHO urge strong political commitment to tackle malnutrition at upcoming high-level international conference [Nov, 19-21, 2014 in Rome]
- 2014/06/12: Xinhuanet: Ohrid-Prespa region named UNESCO's transboundary biosphere reserve
  Ohrid and Prespa region in the southeastern Balkan area was named the cross-border biosphere reserve by UNESCO's international Coordinating Council of the Man and the Biosphere (MAB) Program at a meeting held in Sweden, Macedonia Information Agency reported on Wednesday. The Ohrid Prespa region known for limestone cliffs with caves and mountain massifs are the ecologically precious area on the European green belt in the Balkans. This new title for the Ohrid Prespa region will attract world's attention and is expected to bring new commercial opportunity as well as more environmental protection.
- 2014/06/12: WMO: Climate Services for Action in Malawi
- 2014/06/11: WMO: Spain hosts WMO Sand and Dust Storm Operational Centre
- 2014/06/11: EnergyPost: Video: High hopes for UN Environment Assembly's first meeting, states UNEP Executive Director
- 2014/06/09: UN: Ban urges recommitment to landmark [UNCLOS] treaty governing use of world's oceans
- 2014/06/08: Hypergeometric: World Oceans Day
And on the carbon trading front:
The idea of a carbon tax is still bouncing around:
- 2014/06/13: SkS: In charts: how a revenue neutral carbon tax cuts emissions, creates jobs, grows the economy by dana1981
- 2014/06/11: ABC(Au): A small price to pay for climate justice
  A small levy should be imposed on fossil fuel giants to pay for the loss and damage caused to people the world over from the burning of their product.
- 2014/06/10: TheConversation: Tax carbon consumers to see real action on climate change
- 2014/06/09: Guardian(UK): Fighting climate change with taxpayer dollars isn't a fight against freedom - it's a fight against the end of the planet
The debate over the optimal carbon reduction strategy resurrected:
- 2014/06/13: TP:JR: Cap-And-Trade Could Be Cheaper Than Power Plant And Car Regulations, Study Finds
- 2014/06/13: CSM: Carbon pricing won't solve climate change. Innovation will.
On the international political front, tensions continue as the empire leans on Iran:
- 2014/06/15: Xinhuanet: Comprehensive nuclear accord "possible": Iranian president
  Despite "differences of views" over Iran's nuclear issue, it is "possible" for a comprehensive deal between Iran and the P5+1 group, namely Britain, China, France, Russia, the United States plus Germany, before July 20, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Saturday, the first anniversary of his presidential victory.
- 2014/06/14: AntiWar: Zarif Reveals Iran's Proposal for Ensuring Against 'Breakout'
  Tehran - Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif has revealed for the first time that Iran has made a detailed proposal to the P5+1 group of states aimed at ensuring that no stockpile of low-enriched uranium would be available for "breakout" through enrichment to weapons grade levels.
- 2014/06/12: CBC: Iran to reduce plutonium production in exchange for easing sanctions
  Reactor in central Iran redesigned to make less waste plutonium than what is required for nuclear weapon
- 2014/06/12: Xinhuanet: Iran in constructive talks with powers in bid to narrow gaps
  The talks between the representatives of Iran and Russia over Iran's nuclear program were fruitful, Pess TV reported on Thursday quoting a senior Iranian nuclear negotiator.
- 2014/06/11: Asia Times: Decision time for US on Iran
- 2014/06/11: Xinhuanet: U.S., Iran nuclear talks continue in Geneva
- 2014/06/10: CSM: Why US-Iranian meet is a worrying sign for nuclear talks
  Top US and Iranian diplomats are wrapping up a bilateral meeting abruptly convened amid worries that disagreements at the negotiating table threaten a final nuclear deal next month. Steady momentum toward a deal dropped off last month after Iran and six world powers accused each other of imposing unrealistic demands on each other. The unplanned meeting yesterday and today indicates the magnitude of the hurdles that remain, as diplomats seek a compromise to get negotiations back on track.
- 2014/06/10: Reuters: Iran questions nuclear deal deadline as talks 'hit wall'
- 2014/06/10: IndiaTimes: US warns of 'tough choices' in Iran nuclear talks
- 2014/06/09: Xinhuanet: U.S., Iran hold nuclear talks in Geneva
- 2014/06/09: Nation: How US Policy on Iran Came to Be Based on Fabricated Documents
- 2014/06/09: AntiWar: Iran Meets US for Bilateral Talks, Proposes Extension of Negotiations -- Pushes Six Month Extension of July 20 Deadline
- 2014/06/09: al Jazeera: Iran could extend nuclear talks with West
  Iranian official says nuclear talks could be extended for six months if deal isn't reached by July deadline.
- 2014/06/09: BBerg: U.S. Leads Push to Get Iran Nuclear Talks Back on Track
- 2014/06/08: AntiWar: Iran: Direct US Talks Essential for Nuclear Deal -- Meetings Key to Bridging Gaps on Final Pact
South [& East] China Sea tensions persist, as the empire leans on China:
- 2014/06/15: Xinhuanet: Defense Ministry again summons Japanese officials
- 2014/06/15: Xinhuanet: Interview: Abe's "active pacifism" can not bring real peace to the region: Japanese former PM
  Japan's former Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama criticized Japan's current military stance, saying the "active pacifism"created by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is a blinkered concept and, therefore, can not bring real peace to the Asian-Pacific region.
- 2014/06/15: IndiaTimes: China building school on island in South China Sea
- 2014/06/14: WSWS: Australia, Japan forge closer military ties
- 2014/06/14: WSWS: Australian PM intensifies commitment to US war preparations
- 2014/06/14: Xinhuanet: Truth about South China Sea dispute: expert
- 2014/06/13: WSWS: Washington drives escalating tensions in South China Sea
  The United States is pushing both the Philippines and Vietnam to confront China in the South China Sea as part of the "pivot to Asia" aimed at undermining Beijing and strengthening US control over the region.
- 2014/06/13: CSM: Jets in East China Sea: Japan and China blame each other for encounter
- 2014/06/13: Xinhuanet: Spotlight: Japan's accusation against China only excuse for military build-up
- 2014/06/13: Xinhuanet: China defends UNESCO "comfort women" listing
- 2014/06/12: Xinhuanet: China applies for UNESCO listing of Nanjing documents
  China is applying to UNESCO to list 11 sets of documents relating to the 1937 Nanjing Massacre on the Memory of the World Register. The documents are first-hand materials that recorded the massacre, and are of historical importance, said Zhu Chengshan, curator of the memorial hall of the victims, on Wednesday.
- 2014/06/12: Xinhuanet: China blames Japan for warplane encounter over East China Sea
- 2014/06/11: WSWS: Australian Senate committee discusses threat of US-China war
  A chilling exchange occurred during an Australian Senate estimates committee hearing last week about the likelihood of Australia being on the front line of a war between the US and China or between Japan and China. The little-reported discussion took place on June 2, two days after US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel delivered a menacing and provocative speech in Singapore accusing China of "destabilising, unilateral actions asserting its claims in the South China Sea." Speaking at the Shangri-La Dialogue, the annual Asian defence forum, Hagel issued what amounted to a threat of war, declaring that the US "will not look the other way when fundamental principles of the international order are being challenged." Hagel cast off Washington's pretence of neutrality in the maritime territorial disputes involving China in the South and East China Seas. He charged Beijing with "intimidation and coercion" in the South China Sea, directed against the Philippines and Vietnam. In reality, as part of its military and strategic "pivot" to Asia, the Obama administration has encouraged Southeast Asian countries, particularly the Philippines and Vietnam, to aggressively press their claims against China. As a result, low-level regional disputes have been transformed into dangerous international flashpoints.
- 2014/06/11: al Jazeera: Japan slams China over near-miss jet flyby
  Tokyo lodges diplomatic protest with Beijing after Chinese jets fly 30 metres from Japanese planes over East China Sea.
- 2014/06/11: Asia Times: Web of containment tightens on China
- 2014/06/11: BBC: UN 'will mediate in China-Vietnam row'
  The United Nations says it is willing to mediate in the territorial row between China and Vietnam. UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric called for both sides to resolve the dispute peacefully and legally. In the past week, Vietnam and China have both sent dossiers outlining their claims in the South China Sea to UN chief Ban Ki-moon.
- 2014/06/11: BBerg: Vietnam Says China Sends Six Warships to Rig in Disputed Waters
  Vietnam said China again shifted an oil rig it has placed in disputed waters, with six warships guarding the structure as the two communist countries continue their South China Sea stand-off. The rig was moved for a third time and remains off Vietnam's coast in an area claimed by both countries, the official Vietnam News reported, citing information from the Vietnam Fisheries Surveillance Department. There are now six Chinese warships, 38 coast guard vessels, 13 cargo ships and 19 tugboats protecting it, the paper said.
- 2014/06/10: Xinhuanet: China sends note to UN chief to clarify Xisha [Islands in the South China Sea] situation
- 2014/06/09: al Jazeera: Vietnam vessels 'ram China ships 1,400 times'
  Chinese official says Vietnamese vessels have rammed ships close to an oil platform in disputed part of South China Sea.
- 2014/06/09: BBC: China ships 'rammed 1,400 times by Vietnamese vessels'
  Chinese officials have accused vessels from Vietnam of launching more than 1,400 ramming raids on its ships near a drilling rig in the South China Sea. The foreign ministry said in a statement the actions were illegal and called on Hanoi to stop "provocations".
- 2014/06/08: Xinhuanet: HYSY 981 Drilling Rig: Vietnam's Provocation and China's Position
Tensions continue as the empire leans on Syria, Ukraine, Russia...:
- 2014/06/14: Xinhuanet: Ukraine offers compromise in gas dispute with Russia - pay a "compromise temporary price" of US$326/1000m^3
- 2014/06/13: BBerg: Ukraine Prepares for Gas Cut as EU Price Offer Rejected
- 2014/06/12: AntiWar: Ukraine Claims Three Russian Tanks Moving in Separatist East -- Video Shows Aging T-72 Tanks Rolling Through Donetsk Oblast
- 2014/06/12: AntiWar: Gazprom: Ukraine Gas Supplies Will Halt Monday Without Payment -- CEO Urges Ukraine to Pay Its Bills
- 2014/06/11: BBC: Putin: Russia offered gas deal to help Ukraine economy
  Russia's President Vladimir Putin has said a gas price discount deal offered to Ukraine was designed to help its economy. After another round of negotiations, Ukraine rejected the price deal, saying it "won't fall into Russian gas trap".
- 2014/06/11: RT: Ukraine's demand for gas price below $385 leads to deadlock - Putin
- 2014/06/11: PLNA: Russia Demands Gas Payments to Ukrainia, No Agreement Yet.
- 2014/06/10: RT: Russia extends gas debt payment deadline for Ukraine
  Gazprom will not be introducing a gas pre-payment method for Kiev on Wednesday after Ukraine missed the June 10 deadline to repay its debt. The deadline has been extended to June 16, Gazprom CEO Aleksey Miller said.
- 2014/06/10: AlterNet: Obama's Cold War Rhetoric Is Outdated -- And Masks Ukraine's Real Crises
- 2014/06/11: AntiWar: Ukraine-Russia Gas Talks End With Stalemate on Pricing Dispute -- Russia Offers $100 Discount, But Ukraine Wants More
- 2014/06/11: Asia Times: Serbia warns of South Stream halt
  Serbia says it may have to suspend construction of the South Stream gas pipeline through its territory, after Bulgaria said it was halting work on its segment of the pipeline.
- 2014/06/11: EurActiv: Ukraine energy minister: Russia blocks gas price talks to promote South Stream
  Following trilateral talks on gas pricing involving Russia and Ukraine and hosted today (11 June) by the European Commission, Yuri Prodan, the Ukrainian energy minister, told EurActiv that Russia obstructed progress on purpose, as it wanted to convince its EU partners about the advantages of the Gazprom-favoured South Stream pipeline, which is intended to bypass Ukraine. Prodan made this comment as he walked out of the Commission headquarters, where he had been negotiating for several hours with his Russian counterpart Alexander Novak, and Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller. The talks were hosted by Energy Commissioner Günther Oettinger.
- 2014/06/11: EUO: Technicality delays EU decision on Ukraine pact
- 2014/06/10: RT: 'US doesn't care about its allies if there is a chance to hurt Russia'
  The US is trying to halt the South Stream project aimed at supplying Europe with gas as it hopes this would have an adverse economic effect on Russia, former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury Paul Craig Roberts told RT.
- 2014/06/10: CPunch: Obama's Attempt at Intimidating Russia
- 2014/06/10: BBC: Ukraine-Russia gas row: No deal as talks to continue
- 2014/06/10: Xinhuanet: Russian FM slams West on Ukraine crisis
- 2014/06/10: IndiaTimes:Russia, Ukraine gas talks end without deal: EU
- 2014/06/09: RT: South Stream gas project irreversible - Bulgaria's Energy Minister
  South Stream gas pipeline is irreversible, Bulgaria's Energy Minister Dragomir Stoynev said Monday, stressing that Bulgarian authorities have not given up plans to proceed with the project. The minister's comment comes after Sunday's announcement that the country's premier Plamen Oresharski ordered a halt to the Russian Gazprom-led project which faces pressure from the EU.
- 2014/06/10: RT: Russia, Ukraine, EU gas talks fail to reach deal
- 2014/06/09: PLNA: U.S. Pressures Russia on [South Stream] Gas Pipeline Project
- 2014/06/09: NYT: For Western Oil Companies, Expanding in Russia Is a Dance Around Sanctions
- 2014/06/10: BBC: EU-Moscow row over South Stream gas pipeline
  Russia has accused the European Union of imposing "creeping" economic sanctions following Bulgaria's decision to halt construction of a gas pipeline.
- 2014/06/10: al Jazeera: Ukraine-Russia gas-pricing dispute persists
  Negotiations in Brussels set to resume after talks failure raises risk of gas-supply disruption to EU member states.
- 2014/06/09: EUO: Bulgaria freezes work on South Stream pipeline
- 2014/06/08: WaPo: Bulgaria halts work on South Stream gas pipeline
  Sofia, Bulgaria - Bulgaria's prime minister has ordered on Sunday a halt to construction work on the Gazprom-led South Stream pipeline project planned to bypass Ukraine as a transit country and consolidating Russia's energy grip in Europe. Plamen Oresharski said after meeting U.S. Sens. John McCain, Christopher Murphy and Ron Johnson that he has ordered all work on the disputed project to continue only after consultations with Brussels. Last week, the European Commission opened an infringement procedure against the Balkan country and asked construction work to be stopped, arguing that Bulgaria hadn't respected EU internal market rules covering the award of public contracts. The standoff over Ukraine has forced the 28-nation EU into a sudden rethink of its energy policies to make it less reliant on Russia and its state-owned gas company Gazprom.
- 2014/06/08: BBC: Bulgaria halts work on gas pipeline after US talks
Further in the geopolitical shift:
These 'free trade' treaties should be called the corporate control treaties:
- 2014/06/13: CPunch: The Amazon's Tiananmen -- Peru's "Bagua Massacre" Haunts the TPP
- 2014/06/11: EurActiv: TTIP contradicts post-2015 development goals, experts say
  The planned US-EU trade deal, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), has come up against intense criticism from both sides of the Atlantic. Now development officials have joined the choir, and are warning that the agreement will undermine the UN's post-2015 development agenda. EurActiv Germany reports. As if the quickly approaching deadline for the UN's post-2015 development goals were not enough, experts have warned that the planned Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) between the EU and the US threatens to contradict global development targets.
The solar panel squabbles are spreading:
- 2014/06/10: RealEconomics: Solar panel trade disputes
Monsanto must have the US government by the short hairs to wield such influence:
Climate Change is a threat multiplier exacerbating existing conflicts in food, energy, water, race, resources, religion, ideology ... etc.:
- 2014/06/13: Hypergeometric: "A present threat to national security"
- 2014/06/11: RTCC: Climate change could lead to China-India water conflict
  Decline in water flow from Tibetan Plateau likely to exacerbate tensions in region over coming decades
- 2014/06/10: RNE: Graph of the Day: Climate change as global security threat
The issue of the law and activism is playing out around the world:
- 2014/06/12: BRitholtz: Why Occupy Movement Was Treated As Terrorism by Washingtons Blog
- 2014/06/11: ABC(Au): Police investigate allegations of spies infiltrating anti-coal protesters at Maules Creek camp
What are the activists up to?
- 2014/06/15: ABC(Au): Protesters rally for World Heritage protection of Tasmanian forests
- 2014/06/14: Guardian(UK): Ibiza unites against oil prospectors
The move to divest from fossil fuel investments is growing slowly:
- 2014/06/13: CCP: Stephen Mulkey: How A Small College Launched Divestment from Fossil Fuels
- 2014/06/12: Resilience: How A Small College Launched Divestment from Fossil Fuels
- 2014/06/12: ERabett:BSD: Climate divestment applies the smack-down theory of political change
- 2014/06/11: OilChange: International NGOs Call on Governments to #EndCoalFinance
- 2014/06/10: Time: Union Becomes the World's First Seminary to Divest from Fossil Fuels
  New York's Union Theological Seminary--home to famed theologians Paul Tillich, Reinhold Niebuhr, and Dietrich Bonhoeffer, as well as a $108.4 million endowment--will be the first seminary in the world to divest from fossil fuels.
Polls! We have polls!
- 2014/06/15: PoliticsReSpun: Most BCers Want to Get Off Fossil Fuels. Not Joking
- 2014/06/11: TP:JR: New Poll Shows Voters Are Ready To Pay To Blunt Climate Change
- 2014/06/11: PSinclair: Bloomberg: Americans 2-1 Will Pay More for Electricity to Combat Climate Change. Not that They have to, but Nice to Know
- 2014/06/10: PSinclair: Polling Data Swinging Against Climate Denial
- 2014/06/10: BBerg: Americans by 2-to-1 Would Pay More to Curb Climate Change
- 2014/06/09: CDreams: Overwhelming Majority of Americans Say: 'Just Label It!'
  New Consumers Report poll finds that 92 percent of respondents want the government to require labeling of genetically engineered foods.
Regarding Water Politics and Business; See also:
- 2014/06/14: JFleck: California: a young state's first drought, "an abundant crop of irrigation schemes"
- 2014/06/14: JFleck: Paying for resilience
- 2014/06/13: SciNews: New device pulls water from thin air
  A welcome mat composed of billions of tiny carbon tubes could one day suck water out of thin air, even in the driest places on Earth. The advance, which takes a cue from the wings of the Namib Desert beetle, could help bring much-needed water to arid regions.
- 2014/06/12: JFleck: Is the "iron triangle" in western water management still a relevant concept?
- 2014/06/12: TP:JR: Brown Is The New Green At U.S. Open: Water Is 'Biggest Obstacle' Facing Golf, Says USGA
- 2014/06/11: KQED:B: Drought Outlook: 'Disastrous Consequences' If 2015 Is Dry
  The assertion in a new report on California's long-term water woes likely comes as no surprise to most Californians "A dry 2015 would have disastrous consequences for agencies and sectors up and down the state."
- 2014/06/11: TP:JR: How California Could Close Its Water Gap With Room To Spare
- 2014/06/10: ACWA: ACWA Report Puts Drought Impacts, Vulnerabilities in Vivid Focus
- 2014/06/10: Grist: Here's how California could fix its drought-time water woes
- 2014/06/10: Grist: Illinois becomes first state to ban lake-fouling microbeads
- 2014/06/10: HuffPo: Solving California's Water Problems
- 2014/06/10: JFleck: What it will take to fix Lake Mead - the Arizona suggestion
- 2014/06/10: JFleck: Stuff I wrote elsewhere: Albuquerque water managers think we've conserved enough
- 2014/06/09: JFleck: Arizona water managers warn Lake Mead could be sorta unusable in five to eight years
- 2014/06/09: CPunch: Draining California -- The Politics of the World's Most Hydrologically Altered Landmass
- 2014/06/09: WSWS: The Value of Water Coalition: Corporate greed masquerading as activism
- 2014/06/08: JFleck: How we use water in the desert
- 2014/06/08: JFleck: The L.A. River - when "wasted" water isn't wasted
While in the UK:
- 2014/06/12: BBC: Extreme flooding events influence UK climate views
  Flooding, more than heat-related weather events, influence UK residents' perception of the risks associated with climate change, a survey has shown. Researchers found that British people perceived heatwaves had become less common in their lifetimes, while flooding had become more common.
- 2014/06/11: WNN: Energy market 'does not value low carbon'
  The UK's energy market "does not work", according to the head of the country's transmission system operator. Market intervention is therefore needed to ensure that low-carbon energy generation and security of supply are properly valued, he said.
- 2014/06/11: RTCC: UK outlines new international climate finance strategy
  Climate minister Greg Barker says flagship UK green fund will be allowed to invest in developing countries The UK government has announced plans to allow its national Green Investment Bank to back projects in developing countries, using money from the UK's £3.87bn International Climate Fund.
- 2014/06/11: RT: 'Arrogant & reckless': London mayor buys England's first water cannons
- 2014/06/09: BBC: New Green Deal is very generous, says energy secretary
  The second round of the government's Green Deal energy saving programme for homeowners opens on Monday. The Green Deal Home Improvement Fund offers cashbacks and incentives on such things as double-glazing, insulation and boilers.
And in Europe:
- 2014/06/14: RT: EU to set limit on food-based biofuels
- 2014/06/13: GEB: Bavaria Proposes German 45 Day National Gas Reserve
- 2014/06/13: Reuters: EU agrees plan to cap use of food-based biofuels - a 7% limit on food-based biofuels in transport fuel
- 2014/06/13: EurActiv: Berlin pushes Brussels to expedite emissions trading reforms
- 2014/06/13: EurActiv: Oettinger lashes out at 'anti-European' Ecodesign campaigns
- 2014/06/13: EurActiv: An EU Energy Union demands responsibilities as well as rights
  Cooperation to improve Europe's energy security must not come at the expense of the resilient, competitive and low carbon energy system we need for the future, writes Nick Mabey.
- 2014/06/13: EurActiv: Fracking is a public health disaster. The US and Europe should say 'No!'
- 2014/06/12: RT: GM floodgate to open? EU ministers back deal to let nations decide fate of crops
- 2014/06/12: RTCC: Free emissions permits may stifle EU industry - studies
  Polluting industries are earning windfall profits which may ultimately undermine them says UK report The European Union's emissions trading scheme may be over-compensating heavy industry, allowing windfall profits which may stifle competitiveness in the long-run.
- 2014/06/11: TP:JR: Finland Sets New, Ambitious Goal For Cutting Greenhouse Gas Emissions - 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050
- 2014/06/11: EurActiv: Prague to block Albania's candidate status over utility dispute
- 2014/06/11: EUO: Greens/EFA group elects new leadership
- 2014/06/10: RTCC: Denmark set to approve new climate change law
  Denmark to pass climate change bill into law, putting its 2020 ambition at twice the EU Denmark is set to pass its climate change bill into law on Wednesday, binding it to reducing its emissions 40% by 2020.
- 2014/06/10: BBC: EU wildlife grants could be used to grow crops
  Grants designed to protect the countryside may be controversially switched to pay England's farmers to grow beans and peas. The EU's new rules on subsidies oblige farmers to ensure that some of their land supports wild plants and animals. But during negotiations, farmers watered down the policy so planting crops that improve soil may be counted as helping wildlife. Wildlife campaigners have expressed outrage at the potential move.
- 2014/06/09: RT: Europe sticking its head in the sand over environmental issues
- 2014/06/09: TreeHugger: Finland to cut CO2 emissions 80% by 2050, legally binding
While in the Indian subcontinent:
- 2014/06/14: Grist: India blames environmental activists for its economic problems
- 2014/06/13: CleanTechnica: Indian State Of Karnataka Plans To Add 2,000 MW Of Solar Power By 2022
- 2014/06/13: CleanTechnica: India To Expand National Solar Mission
  Armed with a new sense of urgency to fix the problems of power supply, rising power costs, and increasing dependence on imported coal, the Narendra Modi-led Indian government is planning to enhance the country's ambitious National Solar Mission. Currently, the mission entails installation of 20,000 MW of grid-connected and 2,000 MW of distributed solar power capacity by 2022.
- 2014/06/12: Reuters: India spy agency says Greenpeace endangers economic security
  India's domestic spy service has accused Greenpeace and other lobby groups of hurting economic progress by campaigning against power projects, mining and genetically modified food, the most serious charge yet against foreign-funded organizations. The leak of the Intelligence Bureau's report comes as Prime Minister Narendra Modi's new administration seeks way to restore economic growth that has fallen to below 5 percent, choking off investment and jobs for millions of youth entering the workforce.
- 2014/06/12: Reuters: Anger rises as India swelters under record heatwave
- 2014/06/09: BBerg: India Dumping Duties Risk Choking Modi's Solar Revolution
- 2014/06/09: RTCC: India PM Modi targets "saffron" revolution for solar energy
- 2014/06/09: CBC: Burst dam in India kills at least 4 students, 24 feared dead
  'We saw a wall of water hit those who were on the banks,' said one witness Rescuers in rafts and boats were searching a Himalayan river Monday for dozens of Indian students swept away when a dam released a rush of water without warning, and police said four bodies had been found. The 25 students from the southern city of Hyderabad had been taking photographs Sunday evening on the banks of the Beas River when they were hit by the rush of water from the Larji hydropower station near the mountain resort town of Manali in Himachal Pradesh. They had been part of a larger field trip of some 48 students spending 10 days near Manali. Some students at the river managed to scramble to safety.
And in China:
- 2014/06/11: Eureka: China today: Culprit, victim or last best hope for a global ecological civilisation?
- 2014/06/10: Asia Times: Myths breed around China's energy quest
- 2014/06/10: BBerg: China's Clean-Fuel Focus Tests U.S. Coal-Export Lifeline
- 2014/06/09: Xinhuanet: China plays tough in energy-saving campaign
- 2014/06/09: RTCC: Chinese 'carbon cap' unlikely to reduce emissions
  Rumoured peak in Chinese emissions would still be insufficient to put China on 2C pathway Chinese carbon emissions will continue to rise at current levels even if the carbon cap suggested by a Chinese official last week is implemented. A rumoured peak of 11 gigatonnes of CO2 by 2030 would keep China on roughly the same course paved by its current policies, according to new analysis released on Saturday by Climate Action Tracker.
While in Japan:
- 2014/06/14: RT: Japan kills 30 minke whales in 'research' campaign following intl court ban
- 2014/06/10: ABC(Au): Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe to work towards commercial whaling hunt despite ICJ ruling
And elsewhere in Asia:
- 2014/06/10: UN: Unlock regional savings to finance sustainable development, UN urges Asia-Pacific States
And South America:
- 2014/06/15: BBC: Colombia chooses between Santos and Zuluaga in runoff
  Colombians are preparing to vote in a runoff election between the incumbent president and a conservative rival.
- 2014/06/14: WSWS: Colombian left backs Santos in election's second round
- 2014/06/12: CPunch: The Chue Bus -- Support the Latin American Climate Caravan Action-Tour!
- 2014/06/11: ICN: Prosecutor Takes on Beef Industry to Put Brakes on Deforestation in the Amazon
- 2014/06/10: BBC: Chile rejects huge hydro-electric project in Patagonia
- 2014/06/10: CBC: Chile rejects $8B HidroAysen dam in Patagonia -- Hydroelectric project scrapped on environmental grounds
Meanwhile in Australia:
- 2014/06/15: ABC(Au): Giant carbon dioxide absorber transported across Northern Territory in state's largest road haul
- 2014/06/15: Independent(UK): Plans for five 'megaports' along Queensland coast threatens Great Barrier Reef
  The controversial scheme is horrifying environmentalists and tour operators
- 2014/06/13: ABC(Au):TDU: The elephant in the room on US-Australia relations [China]
- 2014/06/13: RNE: Coal not bedrock of Hunter Valley economy, jobs
- 2014/06/13: ABC(Au): Labor will support Green Army in the Senate
- 2014/06/13: ABC(Au): Majority of Hunter residents opposed to coal industry expansion: survey
- 2014/06/13: ABC(Au): Qld Govt to have final say on Mount Emerald wind farm
- 2014/06/12: RNE: [The conservative Queensland state government] says CO2 cuts should wait until society is richer
- 2014/06/12: RNE: Labor regains climate mojo as Abbott slams door on world
- 2014/06/12: RNE: CEFC funds switch to 70% cheaper street lights for Vic city
- 2014/06/12: RNE: Another surprise demand drop may undermine renewables
  Australia's electricity demand has fallen sharply again, with the market operator conceding that power consumption will fall 3.1 per cent below even its most recent downgraded forecasts - made just in November.
- 2014/06/12: RNE: Australia's solar market state by state - still growing
- 2014/06/12: ABC(Au): Hunger striker Peter Spencer to call two ex PMs as witnesses
- 2014/06/12: ABC(Au): Light rail report on costs rejected by ACT Government
- 2014/06/12: ABC(Au): Wind farm opponents welcome intervention
  Queensland Deputy Premier Jeff Seeney will determine the fate of a controversial wind farm proposed on the far north's Atherton Tableland. Mr Seeney has informed the Mareeba Council he's decided to 'call in' the development application to establish 75 wind turbines at Mt Emerald, about 100 kilometres west of Cairns.
- 2014/06/11: BNC: Germany's 'Energiewende' as a model for Australian climate policy? by Graham Palmer
- 2014/06/11: ABC(Au): Carbon tax repeal bill: PUP to support legislation, Clive Palmer willing to "compromise" over refund
  The Palmer United Party has backed down on demands that the carbon tax repeal legislation be applied retrospectively, in a move that boosts the chances of the bill passing the Senate. The party's leader, Clive Palmer, still thinks companies should be entitled to a full carbon tax refund, but says he is prepared to "compromise".
- 2014/06/11: ABC(Au): Nats didn't sell out Landcare: Coulton
  The 30 per cent cut to Landcare in the Federal Budget, totalling nearly half a billion dollars, is not a sign of lack of support in the National Party, says NSW MP Mark Coulton.
- 2014/06/11: ABC(Au): Doubt cast over safety of GM research centre in WA
- 2014/06/11: ABC(Au): Black Saturday bushfires: Victoria's largest class action over Kilmore East fire enters final week
- 2014/06/11: RNE: South Australia leaps towards 40% wind and solar
- 2014/06/11: RNE: NSW green car discount plan could penalise EV drivers
- 2014/06/09: ABC(Au): Muckaty Station: Federal Court hears Indigenous clan's cultural stories at proposed nuclear waste dump site
  A traditional land owner has yelled and sworn during a Federal Court hearing examining plans to build a nuclear waste dump in Central Australia. Bunny Nabarula, a Milwayi woman, stood up and cursed before the court as she vented frustration over the kind of legacy a facility for storage of low and intermediate-grade nuclear waste at Muckaty Station, near Tennant Creek, would be for future generations. She told a special sitting of the court, on country, that she was passionate about keeping her land pristine and a $12 million compensation package was "dirty money".
- 2014/06/08: TheConversation: Not so cheap: Australia needs to acknowledge the real cost of coal
Now we get to watch the suppository of wisdom destroy what little Australia has done to fight climate change. See also:
- 2014/06/15: BBerg: Obama Greenhouse-Gas Cut Plan Is Rhetoric, Australia's Robb Says
  President Barack Obama's bid to cut power-plant emissions in the U.S. is all talk and no action, Australia's chief trade deals negotiator said. "Despite the rhetoric you get over here and all the targets for 30 percent reductions and all this, it's just rhetoric," Trade Minister Andrew Robb said in a Sky News interview from Houston, Texas, where he was visiting alongside Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott. "There's no action associated with it."
- 2014/06/14: ABC(Au): Manus Island inquiry: Staff, contractors lift lid on 'death trap' conditions inside immigration detention centre
- 2014/06/14: WSWS: Australia, Japan forge closer military ties
- 2014/06/14: WSWS: Australian PM intensifies commitment to US war preparations
- 2014/06/14: ABC(Au): Coal to fuel human progress for decades, Tony Abbott tells Texan business leaders
- 2014/06/13: WSWS: Australia: Thousands protest against budget
- 2014/06/13: ABC(Au): Fuel excise a 'carbon tax on steroids', Anthony Albanese says following Tony Abbott's US meeting
  Labor says Prime Minister Tony Abbott has conceded the fuel excise is a "carbon tax on steroids" following remarks about the scheme the PM made in the US. Mr Abbott told US president Barack Obama during wide-ranging private discussions in Washington the fuel excise, which the Government announced would increase in the budget, was acting like a carbon price signal.
- 2014/06/13: RNE: Carbon laws are working, like them or not
- 2014/06/13: RNE: Clean energy trends that Australia chooses to ignore
  Earlier this week, the satirical website The Shovel had this amusing headline: Abbott commits to cutting Australia's reputation by 30 per cent by 2015. It could well be Abbott's most ambitious climate goal yet, and he's probably already achieved it.
- 2014/06/13: ABC(Au): Landcare cuts hit NSW agriculture
  NSW agriculture services face a cut of between 20 and 30 per cent because of federal Landcare cuts.
- 2014/06/13: ABC(Au): Environmentalists circling Meridian 1
  Environment Tasmania says the Federal Government has yet to improve the transparency of fisheries management following the supertrawler debate.
- 2014/06/13: ABC(Au): Doubts over benefits from carbon farming credits
  The Federal Government claims farmers will be the big winners out of its Direct Action Policy, as they stand to directly benefit from the Emissions Reduction Fund. It's set aside $2.55 billion for the Fund, which farmers are encouraged to apply to for carbon farming projects like tree planting, innovative cropping, and capturing methane from effluent ponds. But experts say the lower price for carbon, after the Carbon Tax is abolished, simply won't be worth farmers' efforts.
- 2014/06/13: ABC(Au): Tony Abbott and Barack Obama agree to new defence force posture, note different climate change approaches
- 2014/06/12: ABC(Au):TDU: Abbott wrangles with his own climate paradox
  Tony Abbott's language so far on his overseas tour betrays a complete lack of connection between what climate change is and what it might do, writes Jonathan Green.
- 2014/06/12: ABC(Au): Manus Island inquiry: Former Attorney-General's Department secretary Robert Cornall defends report
- 2014/06/12: ABC(Au): Cornall defends process for Manus Island review
- 2014/06/12: RTCC: Australian prime minister Tony Abbott will not attend a landmark UN climate summit, which the UN Secretary General will host this September
- 2014/06/12: TheConversation: 'Clobbered': does Abbott care about Australia's international standing on climate action?
- 2014/06/12: ABC(Au): As Obama seeks to build, Abbott seeks to destroy
  Australia has the infrastructure in place to lead us to the kind of cleaner future envisaged by Barack Obama. So why is Tony Abbott keen to dismantle it?
- 2014/06/12: DeSmogBlog: Australian MP George Christensen Heading To Las Vegas For Heartland Institute Climate Denial Conference
- 2014/06/12: ABC(Au): Tony Abbott backs direct action climate policy ahead of meeting with Barack Obama
- 2014/06/12: ABC(Au): Onshore gas fears for farmers
  Anger, concern and confusion were just some of the prominent emotions as eastern Victorian landholders and community members turned out in big numbers for a series of onshore natural gas consultation sessions. The highly charged debate around the development of an onshore gas industry has been the subject of significant community angst in the state's Gippsland region.
- 2014/06/11: RNE: The crazy push for new coal generation in Queensland
  The Abbott government and leading business figures in northern Queensland have thrown their support behind a proposal to spend $1.8 billion on a new coal-fired generator in the region. Which might sound like a good idea, as long as you close your eyes and ears.
- 2014/06/11: ABC(Au): Treasurer Joe Hockey tries to 'set straight' perception budget is unfair, Labor accuses Government of aiding big business
- 2014/06/11: RNE: The carbon budget is already exhausted
  Joe Hockey tried to manufacture a fiscal budget emergency when there wasn't one, whilst the real budget emergency - the climate carbon budget emergency - remains hidden from view. The brutal reality we now face is that, practically speaking, there is no longer a "carbon budget" for burning fossil fuels while still achieving a two-degree Celsius (2°C) future; and the 2°C cap is now known to be dangerously too high. This challenges the international community's climate policy-making paradigm.
- 2014/06/11: ABC(Au): Tony Abbott's climate change stance criticised by senior US Democrat Henry Waxman just days before meeting with Barack Obama
- 2014/06/11: ABC(Au): Former Manus Island detention centre guard Steve Kilburn warns of danger for any refugees resettled there
- 2014/06/10: ABC(Au):TDU: Free market hypocrisy on climate change action
  Climate change policies are a test of the Prime Minister's free market credentials - a test that he has failed dismally in the past 48 hours, writes Greg Barns.
- 2014/06/10: ABC(Au): PM accused of playing spoiler role on climate change and snubbing US president
- 2014/06/10: ABC(Au): Manus Is inquiry hears conflicting accounts from Immigration Department, G4S of lead-up to riot
- 2014/06/10: ABC(Au): Landcare cuts felt deeply in NSW
- 2014/06/10: ABC(Au): CSIRO job cuts to hit marine research
  The CSIRO will cut more than 30 jobs from its Marine and Atmospheric Research (CMAR) division over the coming weeks. In a letter to the CSIRO staff association, management states that it will cut 31 full-time equivalent positions, the vast majority of them research scientists.
- 2014/06/10: ABC(Au): CSIRO in Hobart loses another 18 scientists
  Another 18 scientists have lost their jobs at the CSIRO in Hobart, this time due to cuts in the federal budget.
- 2014/06/10: ABC(Au): Manus Island inquiry hears of 'flashpoint' meeting before deadly riot
- 2014/06/09: ABC(Au):TDU: Australia left behind on climate action
  In the past week both the US and China have revealed ambitious schemes to tackle climate change, putting Australia on the outer when it comes to taking action. This could make for awkward conversation when Tony Abbott meets Barack Obama this week, writes Frank Jotzo.
- 2014/06/09: Guardian(UK): Unfortunately, Tony Abbott can't cancel meetings with the climate
  The world of high finance is beginning to apprehend the scale of the climate problem and act accordingly. No wonder Tony Abbott doesn't want to meet the heads of the IMF and World Bank
- 2014/06/09: ABC(Au): Failed asylum seekers to be forced to take concrete steps to return home under tightened appeal process rules
After years of wrangling, the Murray Darling Basin Plan is in place, but the water management fights are far from finished:
- 2014/06/13: ABC(Au): Carnarvon flood levees revealed
  Three and a half years after Carnarvon was devastated by record floods, a series of new levees will be unveiled in the town today.
- 2014/06/13: ABC(Au): Concerns new Carnarvon flood levee benefits won't flow to all
- 2014/06/13: ABC(Au): 90,000 mega litre dam to be built in NSW
- 2014/06/12: ABC(Au): Governments to spend $60m on the Coorong
  A $60 million project will see an extra 26 gigalitres of water, re-directed into the Coorong, in South Australia, every year. The 'South East Flows Restoration Project' aims to reduce salinity levels and therefore improve conditions for native wildlife and wetlands in the region.
- 2014/06/12: ABC(Au): Fishing organisation fears Daly River dam would mean decline in fish populations
- 2014/06/12: ABC(Au): Irrigation scheme activity peaks in Tasmania
- 2014/06/10: ABC(Au): Chile irrigators investigate Murray-Darling Basin plan
The Federal and now the State Liberals are bent on trashing the hard won Tasmanian forest deal:
- 2014/06/15: ABC(Au): Tasmanian forests on agenda as World Heritage Committee meeting gets underway in Qatar
- 2014/06/15: ABC(Au): Protesters rally for World Heritage protection of Tasmanian forests
- 2014/06/13: ABC(Au): Australia risks international disgrace at World Heritage meeting
  The World Heritage Committee meets next week to determine the protection status of Tasmanian forests and the Great Barrier Reef. Our international reputation is at stake.
- 2014/06/13: ABC(Au): Tasmanian timber industry group backs native forest protection
  A leading Tasmanian timber industry group is lobbying against the Federal Government's bid to remove some native forests from the World Heritage Area.
- 2014/06/12: al Jazeera: Saving Tasmania's forests
  The Australian government will attempt to delist part of Tasmania's forests from UNESCO's World Heritage List.
- 2014/06/12: ABC(Au): Timber processor Ta Ann supports World Heritage extension in Tasmania
- 2014/06/11: ABC(Au): Forest contractors paid to leave the industry under the Tasmanian Forests Agreement seek to return
- 2014/06/08: ABC(Au): Federal Government rejects claims it misled world heritage commission on Tasmanian forests
The Warburton review of the Renewable Energy Target is designed to kill it:
- 2014/06/11: ABC(Au): Renewable Energy Target review sparks fears for wind farm
- 2014/06/11: RNE: Bulls-eye: What George told Dick about wind turbines
- 2014/06/11: RNE: Scrapping RET would snuff out community wind projects
- 2014/06/10: RNE: Hazelwood owner insists solar costs will not fall
  The owner of Australia's Hazelwood brown coal generator, one of the country's biggest emitters, has claimed that the cost of solar PV is unlikely to fall in future years. In an extraordinary submission to the RET Review panel on its modelling assumptions, GDF Suez suggests that solar PV is unlikely to reduce costs because many panel manufacturers continue to lose money.
- 2014/06/10: ABC(Au): Renewable energy industry cautiously optimistic for the future
  After months of doom and gloom, a cautious optimism is emerging that Australia's large scale renewable energy target will not be scrapped.
NSW is privatising their electricity distribution network:
- 2014/06/11: ABC(Au): North Coast MPs give reluctant support to NSW power privatisation plans
- 2014/06/10: ABC(Au): Labor vows to oppose NSW power sell-off
- 2014/06/10: ABC(Au): Victorian Union warns against electricity privatisation
  A union official from Victoria is warning against the sale of the New South Wales electricity distribution network. The Victorian President of the CFMEU's Energy Division Luke van der Muelen says promises of cheaper power, better services and better competition all turned out to be false when the Victorian network was privatised in the late 90's.
- 2014/06/10: ABC(Au): Privatisation plan a $20 billion game changer for NSW
- 2014/06/10: RNE: Sale of NSW energy networks: Is this a lemon?
- 2014/06/10: ABC(Au): NSW Nationals agree to plan for partial sell-off of electricity infrastructure
  The New South Wales Nationals have signed off on a deal to back the Baird Government's plan to partially sell off the state's electricity infrastructure. The Nationals have agreed to a partial privatisation provided the company Essential Energy is kept out the mix.
- 2014/06/09: ABC(Au): New South Wales Nationals MP John Barilaro calls for referendum over electricity privatisation
In Canada, neocon PM Harper, aka The Blight, pushes petroleum while ignoring the climate and ecology. See also:
- 2014/06/14: MikeDeSouza: National Energy Board spends $21 million on Calgary move
- 2014/06/09: PaiD: Canaries In The Coal Mine, Dinosaurs On The Hill
Resonances of the Lac Mégantic tragedy linger:
What's happening in the Opposition parties?
About that irresponsible energy (non-)policy:
- 2014/06/14: Tyee: Abandoned Oil Wells Spouting Significant Levels of Methane, Study Finds
  Princeton researcher measures leaks that risk groundwater, and increasingly the climate.
- 2014/06/11: TheCanadian: Canada's 500,000 leaky gas wells threaten groundwater, health, climate
- 2014/06/08: PostMedia: Leaking natural gas wells spew methane, report warns
  BC gas commission says it is dealing effectively with leaks Up to 10 per cent of B.C. natural gas wells are leaking and some have become "super-emitters" of methane, which is an environmental and health concern, says a new report. Wells can leak from their drill holes as gas can travel along gaps and cracks in the cement that is used to plug the hole between the steel pipe and the underground rock surfaces, says the 69-page report authored by three University of Waterloo scientists.
And what should be:
- 2014/06/13: CBC:B: Canada needs to take a long-term approach to oil and its alternatives
Some life in the ELA yet:
- 2014/06/09: CBC: Experimental Lakes Area biologists ramp up research
The oil industry has a Plan B:
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:
- 2014/06/12: CDreams: First Nations Vow: There Will Be No Tar Sands Pipeline
  "We have drawn a line in the earth they cannot, and will not, cross," said Chief Martin Louie of the Nadleh Whut'en First Nation.
- 2014/06/12: CBC: Greenlight Northern Gateway 40 politicians, industry leaders urge
  Open letter in national newspapers says $6.5B project is 'right for our time'
- 2014/06/11: CBC: Northern Gateway opponents target MPs in last-ditch campaign
  Campaign asks pipeline opponents to email opposition to 21 Tory MPs
- 2014/06/10: OilChange: Northern Gateway Decision Within Days
- 2014/06/10: CBC: The political stakes in the Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline decision
- 2014/06/09: TheCanadian: Enbridge battle far from over, even if Harper approves pipeline
- 2014/06/09: BCLSB: Northern Gateway To Be Delayed?
- 2014/06/08: CBC: Northern Gateway pipeline: 10 days left for decision
  Deadline looms for federal government's decision on $7-billion pipeline project Some time in the next 10 days, the federal government is supposed to announce its final decision on the Northern Gateway pipeline -- the multibillion-dollar political minefield dividing the West.
There is wrangling over the NEB trying to restrict the Kinder Morgan expansion hearings:
- 2014/06/14: DeSmogBlog: Why Are Pipeline Spills Good For the Economy? [Suzuki]
TransCanada is proposing the Merrick Mainline Pipeline Project to feed a Kitimat LNG plant:
What's the state of the West Coast salmon fishery?
- 2014/06/13: AlexandraMorton: Going to Court to Stop Spread of Disease -- Is Canada's Aquaculture Licence Safe for Wild Salmon?
- 2014/06/13: AlexandraMorton: Marine Harvest's lawyers speak
- 2014/06/11 Tyee: Alexandra Morton Challenges Federal Fish Farm Licences in Court
  Biologist takes issue with transfer of virus-infected fish into wild salmon waters.
- 2014/06/11: TheCanadian: Bloomberg: Farmed salmon a risky bet for environment, investment
- 2014/06/09: SFU: Coho salmon: pinks' and chums' eating cousin
Meanwhile in BC:
- 2014/06/15: PoliticsReSpun: Most BCers Want to Get Off Fossil Fuels. Not Joking
- 2014/06/13: WCEL: Challenging U.S. coal to China from Texada Island, BC
- 2014/06/13: TheCanadian: LNG: Cold Gas, Hot Air - June 27 event in Sqamish
- 2014/06/11: Tyee: Who's Behind BC's New $10-Billion Refinery Bid?
  Pacific Future Energy's team includes former federal Liberal strategists, Clark supporters.
- 2014/06/11: NI: $80M annual power subsidy, one LNG proposal
- 2014/06/11: TheCanadian: Haida stand with Fort Nelson First Nation on LNG, fracking concerns
- 2014/06/10: FinPo: Vancouver [Pacific Future Energy Corp.] pitches $10B oil sands refinery on the B.C. coast it says would be 'world's greenest'
- 2014/06/10: BBerg: Canada Refinery Race Lures Mexico Telecom Entrepreneur
  Canada's Pacific Coast, where locals are opposing exports of oil-sands crude, has attracted another refinery proposal long before the supplies can reach the shore by pipeline.
- 2014/06/10: CBC: B.C. firm has $10B plan to refine oilsands for Asia
  Pacific Future pitches 'world's greenest' First Nations-friendly refinery proposal A Vancouver company is pitching a $10-billion oilsands refinery on British Columbia's north coast that aims to connect Alberta's vast energy resources with Asian markets, while avoiding some of the pitfalls others have encountered. Pacific Future Energy Corp. says the refinery would be the "world's greenest" and built in full partnership with B.C. First Nations, many of whom are vehemently opposed to proposals to ship crude to the West Coast for export.
- 2014/06/10: DeSmogBlog: B.C. Business Community Slams 'Astronomical' Cost of Building Site C Dam
Meanwhile in that Mechanical Mordor known as the tar sands:
- 2014/06/13: TP:JR: Tar Sands Development Is Killing Birds, New Study Finds
- 2014/06/09: CBC: CAPP oil forecast cut to 6.4 million barrels a day by 2030
Also in Alberta:
In Ontario, Liberal leader, Kathleen Wynne, was re-elected:
- 2014/06/14: NorRe: Let's Hope They Draw The Right Lessons
- 2014/06/14: WSWS: Ontario: Liberals regain majority with union support
- 2014/06/13: CBC: Ontario election 2014: Once again, Kathleen Wynne settles the debate
- 2014/06/13: BCLSB: Things We Learned During Ontario Election 2014: Conservative Ideologues Should Be Convulsed With Doubt And Self-Loathing
- 2014/06/13: CBC: Ontario election 2014: Liberals return to power with majority
  Tim Hudak resigns as PC leader following decline in vote share and seats
- 2014/06/12: CBC: Ontario election 2014: Liberals re-elected in Ontario
  Kathleen Wynne's party ahead in 57 ridings as Tory vote share plummets
- 2014/06/11: CBC: Ontario election: Vote push, claims of dirty tricks mark final campaign day
- 2014/06/09: CBC: Ontario election 2014: Parties target key ridings in final campaign push
In the Maritimes:
As for miscellaneous Canadiana:
- 2014/06/09: TheCanadian: Farley Mowat's last words
And on the American political front:
- 2014/06/13: TP:JR: Ohio Becomes The First State To Freeze Its Renewable Energy Standard
- 2014/06/12: CSM: Is the nation's 'greenest' utility green enough? Boulder says no.
  Boulder, Colo., wants to municipalize arguably the nation's "greenest" utility, Xcel Energy, saying that it is not nearly clean enough - too much of its power still comes from fossil fuels. Now their three-year-old battle is going to the courts.
- 2014/06/13: Grist: Yes, frackers can forcibly drill your land, even if you don't want them to
- 2014/06/12: RTCC: Hawaii passes climate change adaptation law
  New law creates climate council and seeks to protect islands from threat of rising sea levels Hawaii has passed a law to protect the state against the impacts of rising oceans and dying coral reefs.
- 2014/06/12: WUWTWatts: The real political division is between rationalists and fantasists
- 2014/06/12: EcoWatch: Sierra Club Ad Campaign Targets Legislators Who Let Wind Production Tax Credit [PTC] Blow Away
- 2014/06/11: TP:JR: Coal Miners Forced To Attend Romney Rally Doomed To Appear In GOP Campaign Ads Forever
- 2014/06/10: Salon: A Texas-sized climate crisis: Water wars break out across state
- 2014/06/10: TCoE: Science is science, but indifference trumps all
- 2014/06/10: Grist: Red states pump out more carbon pollution than blue ones
- 2014/06/10: Grist: Will Obama's power-plant rules lead to an international climate agreement?
- 2014/06/10: Grist: Why we're watching this climate scientist turned socialist politician
- 2014/06/10: NOAANews: NOAA announces updated process for nominating new national marine sanctuaries -- Public can now suggest locations for consideration
- 2014/06/09: NatJo: As [Louisiana] Wrangles, Its Coast Is Swept Out to Sea
  A lawsuit against the oil industry has launched a flurry of bickering, but no cash to fix the coastline.
- 2014/06/09: TP:JR: Gov. Bobby Jindal Quashes Lawsuit Against 97 Oil And Gas Companies For Years Of Destroying Wetlands
- 2014/06/09: WVGazette: [Editorial] The conservative backpedal
  Historically, American conservatives opposed many social advances -- then abandoned their resistance when the reforms proved unstoppable, and popular. Soon, we predict, retreat will be seen in a different field: right-wing opposition to evidence of climate change. As scientific proof of global warming grows ever more solid -- and abnormal weather grows ever more violent -- we expect conservatives to go through another shut-up-and-back-off withdrawal.
- 2014/06/08: RT: Louisiana Gov. signs bill killing lawsuits against oil and gas companies
  Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal has flouted the advice of his own attorney general and scores of legal scholars by signing a bill which blocks a levee board's lawsuit against oil and gas companies, who are accused of destroying the state's coast.
- 2014/06/08: CDreams: Governor Walker's Train Gaffe Costing Wisconsin Big Time
- 2014/06/08: PSinclair: GOP Groping for Safety on Climate Issue
The Keystone XL wheel grinds slowly. And it grinds woe:
- 2014/06/12: BBerg: Canada Tries Turning Up Heat on Obama as Keystone Stalled
About that Mayflower, Arkansas dilbit spill from the Exxon Pegasus line:
- 2014/06/11: TP:JR: Judge Rules Exxon Must Face Negligence Lawsuit Over 210,000-Gallon [Mayflower] Oil Spill
- 2014/06/11: ICN: Exxon to Challenge [Mayflower] Arkansas Oil Spill Fine at Hearing, but Public Not Allowed to Listen
The GOP War on Women continues. See also:
- 2014/06/12: ACLU: Gov. Jindal Signs Texas-Style Abortion Restriction Into Law -- Unnecessary Requirement Could Close Women's Health Centers Across the State
Unwitting self parody in Congress...
The Cantor upset:
- 2014/06/12: NYT: The Fix Isn't In -- Eric Cantor and the Death of a Movement
- 2014/06/12: RealEconomics: Update on Cantor's defeat
- 2014/06/12: WSWS: US House Republican leader defeated in primary election
- 2014/06/11: DemNow: Eric Cantor Suffers Historic GOP Primary Loss in Anti-Immigrant, Anti-Corporate Backlash
- 2014/06/11: RealEconomics: Eric Cantor's Very Bad Night
- 2014/06/11: NYT:PK: Fall of an Apparatchik
- 2014/06/11: Grist: Why Cantor's defeat is terrible for the climate - and the country
- 2014/06/11: BBC: Eric Cantor loses Virginia Republican Party primary
- 2014/06/11: CBC: Tea Party politician [David Brat] upsets Eric Cantor, U.S. House majority leader, in Virginia vote
  Shocking upset set to change Washington In an upset for the ages, U.S. majority leader Eric Cantor of Virginia, the second-most powerful man in the House, was dethroned Tuesday by a little-known, Tea Party-backed Republican primary challenger carried to victory on a wave of public anger over calls for looser immigration laws.
- 2014/06/11: EnvEcon: Special Economist Quote of the Day
- 2014/06/11: CBC: Eric Cantor's stunning political upset: 5 things to know
- 2014/06/11: CBC: House Majority Leader Eric Cantor to resign from leadership
- 2014/06/11: BBC: Republicans reeling after Eric Cantor primary loss - will step down 31 July
Looking ahead to the 2014 & 2016 elections:
- 2014/06/13: IndiaTimes: Hillary for president? Three reasons for and against
- 2014/06/13: RTCC: Hilary Clinton hints at climate change fears in new book
  Potential 2016 Presidential candidate says environment cannot be relegated behind economic concerns Promoting economic growth over the environment is a "false choice" that stores up problems for future generations, warns Hilary Clinton in her new book, Hard Choices.
- 2014/06/11: TruthDig: Hillary's Pre-Campaign Campaign
The actions of the Obama administration are being watched closely:
As for what is going on in Congress:
- 2014/06/13: BBerg: Republicans to Try to Block Funds for EPA Emissions Rules
  Republicans will try to block the Environmental Protection Agency's proposed greenhouse-gas rule by denying the funding to implement it, according to a senior member of a U.S. House appropriations panel. The funding ban "will be in Interior," Idaho Republican Mike Simpson said, referring to the spending bill being drafted for the Department of Interior and EPA. Simpson, head of the House's Energy-Water Appropriations subcommittee, formerly chairman of the Interior and Environment appropriations panel.
- 2014/06/11: SciNews: Partisan battling derails vote on disputed bill to reshape U.S. energy science programs
- 2014/06/11: SciNews: A college president speaks up for the FIRST Act
- 2014/06/11: TP:JR: House Republican Budget Would Cut $113 Million From Renewable Energy
- 2014/06/10: SciNews: U.S. lawmakers propose scaling back Pentagon science cuts -- slightly
- 2014/06/10: SciNews: DOE Science Funding Would Remain Flat Under U.S. House Spending Bill
- 2014/06/09: SciNews: Cost of U.S. Share of ITER Still Uncertain, Federal Auditors Stress
The movement toward a long term ecologically viable economics is glacial:
IPAT [Impact = Population * Affluence * Technology] raised its head once again:
- 2014/06/13: EurActiv: Poland debates abortion
Apocalypso anyone?
- 2014/06/11: Salon: The National Review's insane math: "Be not afraid" of global warming disaster
How do the corporate media measure up?
- 2014/06/12: CJR: The EPA goes on background, and journalists revolt
  For some reporters, having the call 'on background' rather than 'on the record' meant that the material was essentially unusable
- 2014/06/12: KSJT: Stunned by press rules for powerplant regs briefing, Society of Enviro Journalists tells EPA to cut it out
- 2014/06/08: Widener:B: Four Tragic Omissions From US Media's Coverge Of Obama's Climate Proposals
  [...]
  1. a 35 year US delay on climate action has made the problem extraordinarily challenging to solve
  2. US greenhouse gas (ghg) emissions are more than any country responsible for rise in atmospheric concentrations to present dangerous levels
  3. US ghg emissions not only threaten the US with climate disruption but endanger many of the poorest people around the world
  4. the Obama administration's pledge to reduce ghg emissions is far short of the US fair share of safe global emissions.
- 2014/06/11: Grist: It's time for all the press, black and white, to connect the dots on climate change
While activists search for effective communication techniques:
2014/06/12: UKISS: global warming, climate change or something else? [eff comm]

Here is something for your library:
- 2014/06/09: DeSmogBlog: "Fracking Pennsylvania": New Book Recounts History of the Northeast's Shale Rush
- 2014/06/08: DeSmogBlog: My New Favorite Book: The Cartoon Introduction to Climate Change
And for your film & video enjoyment:
As for podcasts:
Meanwhile among the 'Sue the Bastards!' contingent:
It looks like these BP trials over the Gulf oil spill are going to take a long while:
Developing a new energy infrastructure is a fundamental challenge of the current generation:
What do you have in energy comparisons and transitions?
- 2014/06/09: RealEconomics: China asks how much will it cost to make solar cheaper than coal?
What's changing in energy investments?
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:
- 2014/06/13: BBerg: Closing oil prices Friday
  OIL (US$/bbl)
  Dated Brent Spot....113.41
  WTI Cushing Spot....106.82
- 2014/06/15: ABC(Au): Giant carbon dioxide absorber transported across Northern Territory in state's largest road haul
- 2014/06/13: CBC: Oil at 9-month high as Iraq's insurgency spreads
  U.S. oil in $107 a barrel range, while International Energy Agency warns world it needs Iraq's oil
- 2014/06/12: BBerg: Oil Rallies as Extremist Advance in Iraq Threatens Crude
- 2014/06/12: CSM: Oil prices rise as Iraq crisis threatens OPEC oil balance
- 2014/06/12: BBC: Premier Oil granted approval for Catcher development in North Sea
- 2014/06/12: ICN: U.S. Natural Gas Exports No Better for Climate Than China's Coal, Experts Say
  "Ignoring the potential increase in methane pollution from future LNG exports won't make climate change go away -- it will only make its impacts more deadly."
- 2014/06/12: CBC: Oil prices spike on new Iraq worries
- 2014/06/12: NakedCapitalism: Mosul Falls to Insurgents, Threatening Iraqi Oil Sector
- 2014/06/11: BBerg: OPEC Keeps Output Level Below Second-Half Demand Forecast
- 2014/06/11: CSM: Iraq crisis: What the Mosul siege means for OPEC
- 2014/06/10: CSM: OPEC meeting: How the oil landscape has changed
- 2014/06/10: RTCC: Global natural gas demand and output growth falter - IEA
  Global energy analysts say natural gas faces growing competition with coal and renewables Natural gas demand growth fell last year and rising U.S. production "abruptly slowed", the International Energy Agency said on Tuesday, showing a pause compared with previous breakneck growth.
- 2014/06/09: EnergyPost: The Trillion-Dollar Question: Is Big Oil over-investing in high-cost projects?
Ships and boats and trains -- How to tranport the stuff?
- 2014/06/14: TP:JR: Company Offers Cash To Ease D.C. Residents' Fear Of Possible Oil Trains Through Neighborhood
- 2014/06/12: BBerg: California Warns of Oil-by-Rail While Keeping Data Secret
  California's government agencies aren't ready to handle the safety risks accompanying a boom in oil shipments by train, the state said in a report this week. The warning comes even as the most populous U.S. state declines to disclose oil-by-rail data handed over by Burlington Northern Santa Fe on June 9. The railroad company deemed the summary of its oil shipments "sensitive security information" containing confidential trade secrets. It's only available to public safety agencies until the Governor's Office of Emergency Services determines whether it's confidential.
- 2014/06/11: Grist: When cranky crude rides the rails, who should know?
- 2014/06/10: TP:JR: Rail Companies Want To Keep Oil Train Route Information A Secret In Oregon And Washington
- 2014/06/09: OilChange: Crude by Rail Industry "Ignored" Safety Issues, Court Will Hear
The answer my friend...
Meanwhile among the solar aficionados:
- 2014/06/13: RealEconomics: Nanotechnology comes to solar cells
- 2014/06/13: CleanTechnica: How On-Grid Rooftop Solar PV Was Born
- 2014/06/13: RNE: Solar's time to rise and shine
- 2014/06/13: RNE: Bluescope unveils "world first" solar roof with heat and power
  A small terrace house in the inner Sydney suburb of Glebe is hosting what is believed to be the world's first building integrated solar system that generates electricity as well as heat.
- 2014/06/13: CleanTechnica: Climate Catastrophe If Solar Deployment Doesn't Increase 12 Times Over By 2030, According To IRENA
- 2014/06/13: PSinclair: Solar Juggernaut Keeps Rolling in US
- 2014/06/12: NBF: Longer lasting quantum dot nanoparticles for spray on solar cells and other products
- 2014/06/12: RNE: Australia's solar market state by state - still growing
- 2014/06/11: TruthDig: New Discovery Promises a Future of Cheap, Ubiquitous Solar Power
- 2014/06/11: CleanTechnica: Solar Energy's Potential To Power Island Tourism Explored At IRENA Conference
- 2014/06/11: CleanTechnica: Perovskites: The Future of PV?
- 2014/06/11: CleanTechnica: AUS Concentrating Solar Power Breakthrough Could Hit USA Shores
- 2014/06/11: PSinclair: Supercritical: Breakthrough for Solar With Storage
- 2014/06/11: RTCC: Alternative solar source offsets high costs by storing energy
  Using molten salt to store electricity offsets the high cost of solar thermal power, says report The ability of solar thermal power to store electricity confers huge grid management benefits which help offset its high up-front cost, a US government report calculated this week.
- 2014/06/10: TreeHugger: Solar boom! From 5 GW in 2005 to almost 200 GW by the end of this year, and this party is just starting!
- 2014/06/10: CleanTechnica: Suntech's VDE Accreditation Demonstrates Importance Of Chinese Solar
- 2014/06/10: RNE: It's not where solar panels came from that matters, it's where they are going that counts
- 2014/06/10: RNE: Rooftop solar now 2% of Australia's total generation
- 2014/06/09: NREL: NREL Finds Up to 6-cent per Kilowatt-Hour Extra Value with Concentrated Solar Power
  The greater the penetration of renewables in California, the greater the value of CSP with thermal storage capacity
- 2014/06/09: PSinclair: Solar with Storage Approaches Critical Mass in Germany
- 2014/06/08: al Jazeera: Qatar sheds light on its solar-power future
  Gas-rich Gulf state opens its 'state-of-the-art' solar panel facility.
- 2014/06/05: SciAlert: World first: Australian solar plant has generated "supercritical" steam that rivals fossil fuels'
The nuclear energy controversy continues:
- 2014/06/13: ITracker: "New" Indian nuclear plant illustrates what's right and wrong about nuclear power
- 2014/06/11: WNN: China produces first AP1000 vessel
Nuclear waste storage requires _very_ long term thinking:
- 2014/06/13: EneNews: Officials: Leakage seen on "many" nuclear waste drums in WIPP underground...
- 2014/06/13: ABC(Au): Muckaty Traditional Owners maintain rage about plans to build nuclear waste dump
- 2014/06/13: SciAm:PI: Photo Friday: Transporting Nuclear Waste
- 2014/06/11: BBC: 25 years on at America's most contaminated nuclear waste site
  Hanford, Washington, has long been the most contaminated nuclear waste site in the US. But critics say poor management has put the site in further danger.
- 2014/06/09: EneNews: Concern over "full plutonium flash" at WIPP nuclear site triggering disaster that spreads to multiple waste drums - Plutonium-239 is main radioactive isotope in container that exploded...
- 2014/06/09: ABC(Au): Muckaty Station: Federal Court hears Indigenous clan's cultural stories at proposed nuclear waste dump site
- 2014/06/08: SwissInfo: Health office to inspect old watchmaking sites
  Switzerland's Federal Office of Public Health has announced that it will be examining former watchmaking workshops in the Jura region for radioactivity over the next year.
Nuclear fusion has been 'Just 20 years away' for the past 50 years:
- 2014/06/09: SciNews: Cost of U.S. Share of ITER Still Uncertain, Federal Auditors Stress
- 2014/06/08: BostonGlobe: MIT at center of political power play
  The school's prized fusion reactor was dead; its federal funding axed. Then its political allies went to work.
Like a mirage, the dream of a Hydrogen Economy shimmers on the horizon:
- 2014/06/10: Reuters: Hyundai's hydrogen fuel-cell car makes U.S. debut
More people are talking about the electrical grid:
- 2014/06/13: RNE: What is Google plotting for the smart grid?
- 2014/06/10: BBC: National Grid offers companies cash to cut power use
  National Grid is offering to pay companies to cut their electricity use in winter to prevent blackouts. The firm, which runs Britain's supply network, is seeking customers who can cut consumption or switch to backup services during peak demand.
How are the utilities adjusting (or not)?
And then there is the matter of efficiency & conservation:
Automakers & lawyers, engineers & activists argue over the future of the car:
- 2014/06/13: UCSUSA:B: "Your Mileage May Vary"...and for Some of Ford's Most Efficient Vehicles, It Does
- 2014/06/12: CBC: Tesla puts electric car patents into public domain
- 2014/06/09: CleanTechnica: Proposed EPA Changes Add $7 To Cost Of Cars
- 2014/06/09: ICN: World's Most Fuel-Efficient Car Makes Its Debut
  Volkswagen's limited production diesel-electric hybrid gets 260 mpg and emits one-tenth the greenhouse gas that the average U.S. car does. The world's most fuel-efficient car has just arrived on dealer lots in Germany and Austria, but don't expect it to be sold in America anytime soon.
- 2014/06/08: CleanTechnica: Toyota Prius Plug-in Sales +297%, Ford Fusion Energi Sales +223% (US EV Sales Update)
As for Energy Storage:
What do we have in (weekly) lists?
Anything in pithy (or piffling) quotes this week?
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.
So why is nothing getting done?
- 2014/06/08: NYT: Interests, Ideology And Climate
  There are three things we know about man-made global warming. First, the consequences will be terrible if we don't take quick action to limit carbon emissions. Second, in pure economic terms the required action shouldn't be hard to take: emission controls, done right, would probably slow economic growth, but not by much. Third, the politics of action are nonetheless very difficult. But why is it so hard to act? Is it the power of vested interests? I've been looking into that issue and have come to the somewhat surprising conclusion that it's not mainly about the vested interests. They do, of course, exist and play an important role; funding from fossil-fuel interests has played a crucial role in sustaining the illusion that climate science is less settled than it is. But the monetary stakes aren't nearly as big as you might think. What makes rational action on climate so hard is something else -- a toxic mix of ideology and anti-intellectualism.
- 2014/06/08: EconView: Paul Krugman: Interests, Ideology And Climate
As for climate miscellanea:
- 2014/06/12: BillMoyers: Six Things Michael Mann Wants You to Know About the Science of Global Warming
- 2014/06/10: RTCC: Air conditioning units are cooking cities - report
  Heat from air conditioning systems now raises some urban temperatures by more than 1C, say Arizona scientists
- 2014/06/10: CBC: IMF head says world must come to grips with climate change costs
  Christine Lagarde says don't wait for new targets, start carbon tax or other measures now
- 2014/06/11: Resilience: How did we get here anyway? A look back at the history of corporations
- 2014/06/14: SimpleC: Heavier people mean weightier vehicle emissions
- 2014/06/13: TP:JR: Remembering Jane Dale Owen, Environmentalist, Exxon Shareholder, Climate Progress Supporter
- 2014/06/14: P3: Wherefore art thou Climate Change?
- 2014/06/09: ATTPh: You're doing it wrong!
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's the feedbacks, stupid." -Gwynne Dyer
Last modified June 15, 2014

Another Week in the Ecological Crisis, June 15, 2014

Logging the Onset of The Bottleneck Years

June 15, 2014

The things people consider funny nowadays:

This week in snark:

Looking ahead to COP20 and future international climate negotiations:

More on that Globe meet in Mexico City:

Harper and Abbott got together this week to demonstrate the mischief misguided/misguiding politicians can get into:

There are still some comments on the EPA's climate rule:

A couple of papers by Wenju Cai et al. indicate that El Niño and the Indian Ocean Dipole are changing frequencies:

What do we have for warnings this week?

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 new in the tussle between economists and climatologists?

So, if we put a price on nature, will it deal with externalities and lead to greater conservation or will it lead to greater exploitation or what?

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:

The Arctic melt continues to garner attention:

As for the charismatic megafauna:

We have some forecasts of Arctic September sea ice extent. Note for future reference:

That Damoclean sword still hangs overhead:

As for the geopolitics of Arctic resources:

While in Antarctica:

The food crisis is ongoing:

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

Food Prices are still problematic:

The conflict between biofuel and food persists:

Regarding the genetic modification of food:

Regarding labelling GM food:

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

In the Eastern Pacific, Cat 4 Hurricane Cristina [03E] is staying safely offshore:

In the Arabian Sea, Tropical Cyclone Nanauk [02A] was heading for Oman, but curved north and faded:

In the Western Pacific, Typhoon Hagibis spun up just south of Taiwan:

While elsewhere in the hurricane wars:

As for the Monsoon:

This week in notable weather:

Got any forecasts?

And in the carbon cycle:

Aerosols are making their presence felt:

What's up with volcanoes this week?

Regarding Climate Sensitivity:

And on the ENSO front:

As for the temperature record:

Meanwhile in near earth orbit:

While in the paleoclimate:

What's the State of the Oceans?

What's new in Biodiversity?

And on the extinction watch:

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

How are the Insect Orders doing?

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:

As for heatwaves and wild fires:

Corals are a bellwether of the ocean's health:

Acidification is changing the oceans:

Glaciers are melting:

Sea levels are rising:

As for hydrological cycle disruptions [floods & droughts]:

First, stop 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:

Consider transportation & GHG production:

As for carbon sequestration:

Large scale geo-engineering keeps popping up:

What's new in conservation?

What's new in restoration?

While on the adaptation front:

Meanwhile in the journals:

What developments in the ongoing struggle for Open Science?

Regarding Schmidt:

The Pielke fan clubbe, alas:

Meanwhile on the Kyoto front:

Meanwhile at the UN:

And on the carbon trading front:

The idea of a carbon tax is still bouncing around:

The debate over the optimal carbon reduction strategy resurrected:

So, if we put a price on nature, will it deal with externalities and lead to greater conservation
or will it lead to greater exploitation or what?

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: