Another Week in the Ecological Crisis, June 22, 2014

By illconsidered on June 23, 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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Confronting a New Age of Consequences

Solstice Edition

June 22, 2014

Chuckles, COP20+, Ocean Summit, PIDF, G77, IOREC, GreenPeace, Energiewende
Bottom Line, Economics, Pricing Nature, Thermodynamics, Cook
Fukushima: Note, News, Policies
Melting Arctic, Sea Ice Forecats, Antarctica
Food: Crisis, Fisheries, Land Grabs, GMOs, Production
Hurricanes, Notable Weather, Forecasts, Extreme Weather, New Weather
GHGs, Aerosols, Volcanoes. Feedbacks, ENSO, Temperatures, Satellites
Paleoclimate, Oceans, Biosphere, Extinctions, Bees & CCD, Anthropocene
Impacts, Forests, Climate Refugees, Desertification, Disease, Smog & Health, Phenology
Tornadoes, Wildfires, Corals, Acidification, Glaciers, Sea Levels, GW Deluge, Floods & Droughts
Mitigation, Transportation, Geoengineering, Conservation
Journals, Other Docs, Misc. Science, Science Orgs, DIY Science, Models, Free Science, Rees
International Politics: UN, Carbon Trade, Carbon Tax, Hormuz, South China Sea, Ukraine
Geopolitics, Treaties, FQD, UK & China, Misc., Security, Law & Activism, Activism
Climate Movement, Divestment, Polls, H2O Biz, Groundwater, Education
National Politics: Britain, Europe, India, China, Asia, Middle East, Africa, South America
Australia, Abbott, CSG, MDBP, Tas Forest Deal, RET, GBR, Muckaty, GMO Verdict
Canada, Lac-Mégantic, Science Policy, NorGate Approval, NorGate Backlash, Pipelines, Salmon
BC, Tar Sands, Alberta, Sask, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, Maritimes, North
America, Keystone, Spills & Leaks, Birth Control, Carbon Rules, Cantor, 2014/2016, USAdmin, Congress
Ecological Economics, IPAT, Apocalypso, Hope, Media, Video, Podcasts, Courts
Energy, Transitions, Fracking, Coal, Oil & Gas, Corps, Transportation, Independence, Peak Oil, Biofuel
Wind, Solar, Nukes, Nuclear Waste, FITs, Grid, Utilities, Efficiency, Cars, Energy Storage
Other Lists, Carbon Lobby, Inaction, Miscellaneous, Useful Links
Shameless Self Promotion, A Simple Plea, .sig

It's always nice to start with a chuckle:

I trust you had a swinging solstice:

USNO: Equinoxes, Solstices, Perihelion, and Aphelion, 2000-2020
2014/06/22: al Jazeera: In Pictures: Summer solstice at Stonehenge -- The 'longest day' celebrations at the ancient monument
2014/06/22: Xinhuanet: People practice yoga in Times Square to mark Summer solstice day
2014/06/22: DClimenhaga: Summer solstice, 2014: seconds before sunset
2014/06/22: ABC(Au): Nude winter solstice swim for Hobart's Dark Mofo festival attracts record crowd of 700
2014/06/21: EPOD: Summer Solstice in the Northern Hemisphere Viewed From Space
2014/06/21: ABC(Au): Antarctic researchers strip off for midwinter icy plunge to mark solstice
2014/06/21: BBC: Stonehenge summer solstice celebrations see thousands gather
An estimated 37,000 people gathered to watch the sun rise on the longest day of the year...
2014/06/20: CBC: Summer solstice: celebrating the longest day of the year -- First day of summer has deep historical and cultural importance
2014/06/20: Grist: Celebrate solar power at a solstice event this weekend
2014/06/20: UCSUSA:B: Summer Solstice Portends New Solar Energy Record in California

Pretty, pretty, pretty:
2014/06/17: EPOD: Iridescent Lenticular Display Over Lethbridge, Alberta

Looking ahead to COP20 and future international climate negotiations:
- 2014/06/21: CSM: Global warming: Can post-Kyoto climate pact work by taking a different tack?
- 2014/06/18: KSJT: What! There were climate talks in Bonn last week? We missed 'em but some reporters did not.
- 2014/06/18: RTCC: Small islands must take the helm on 'loss and damage'
  Small island states were excluded from the UN's 'loss and damage' committee; it's time they are invited to the table Small island states are among the most vulnerable countries to climate change.
- 2014/06/16: TheConversation: The other world game: reporting from international climate talks
- 2014/06/16: RTCC: UN climate envoys inch towards draft agreement
  UN climate talks end positively in Bonn, with negotiators saying they are one step closer to a 2015 agreement The latest round of UN climate negotiations have concluded in Bonn, with signs of headway towards a global agreement scheduled for 2015.
- 2014/06/15: Reuters: U.N. climate talks fracture over future of carbon markets
- 2014/06/15: CBC: UN climate talks fracture over future of carbon markets -- Negotiatons on Clean Development Mechanism reforms halted
  [Two weeks of United Nations talks involving 200 nations made little progress on top of the carbon markets.] The use of carbon markets to curb rising greenhouse gas emissions was dealt a blow on Sunday after two weeks of United Nations talks on designing and reforming the mechanisms ended in deadlock. The negotiations, held as part of UN climate negotiations in Bonn, Germany, made scant progress as envoys representing almost 200 nations tied reforms to progress under the wider discussions and remained entrenched in diverse positions. The stalemate gives investors little sign that there will be a pickup in demand under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), the UN's current main carbon market which has seen activity dry up after funnelling over $400 billion into emission-cutting projects in developing countries over the past decade. It also offers no guidance on how the growing patchwork of national and regional carbon markets worldwide will fit into a future international framework to tackle climate change.
The US State Deopartment sponsored a conference in DC on the oceans this week:
- Ocean Summit 2014
- 2014/06/16: RTCC: John Kerry hosts summit on ocean acidification
  Presidents and princes will gather at US state department to discuss challenges of acidifying oceans US Secretary of State John Kerry will hold a two-day summit on the problems facing the world's oceans, including acidification.
The Pacific Islands Development Forum met this week in Fiji:
- 2014/06/19: PIDF: 2014 Summit - June 18-20
- 2014/06/19: ABC(Au): Indonesia pledges $20m to help Pacific nations fight climate change
  The Indonesian President, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, has committed $US20 million to help Pacific Island states combat climate change, in a bid to boost the "green economy" in the region. The announcement was made during a keynote address by President Yudhoyono during the second Pacific Islands Development Forum (PIDF) in Fiji.
- 2014/06/19: ABC(Au): Fiji accuses global community of abandoning the Pacific on climate change, singles out 'selfish' Australia
  Fiji's interim prime minister Frank Bainimarama has accused the global community of abandoning Pacific island nations to "sink below the waves" instead of tackling climate change. Opening a regional summit, he singled out "selfish" Australia for criticism, saying there is "collective disappointment and dismay" in the Pacific at the failure to address climate change. "The rising sea levels caused by global warming threaten the very existence of some of our neighbours - Kiribati, Tuvalu and the Marshall Islands," he told the Pacific Islands Development Forum (PIDF).
The G77 Summit went down in Bolivia:
- 2014/06/16: Xinhuanet: Highlights of G77+China Summit
- 2014/06/16: PLNA: G-77 Gaves Priority to Fight Against Hunger and Poverty
There was also an IOREC conference in Manila:
- IOREC: International Off-grid Renewable Energy Conference and Exhibition
- 2014/06/16: CleanTechnica: Sharp Off-Grid Renewables Focus At Manila IOREC
I'm sure a lot of people were surprised to learn that Greenpeace might play the market:
- 2014/06/17: RealEconomics: Environmental neoliberalism
- 2014/06/16: TreeHugger: First there was the London Whale, and now there is the Greenpeace Whale, as the charity blows over US$ 5 million
- 2014/06/16: ABC(Au): Greenpeace worker loses millions in failed gamble on international currency markets
How is the German Energy Transition [Energiewende] doing?
- 2014/06/20: TheCanadian: Over half Germany's electricity now comes from solar power
- 2014/06/20: GET: Policy watershed approaching
  By 2017, Germany aims to do away with feed-in tariffs and switch to reverse auctions.
- 2014/06/20: CleanTechnica: The Key To Germany's Solar Potential Is Energy Storage
- 2014/06/19: BBerg: Rising German Coal Use Imperils European Emissions Deal
- 2014/06/17: GET: The German Coal Conundrum
  Is Germany building new coal plants to replace nuclear despite the country's green ambitions? Many observers conclude so. But an in-depth look reveals that the growth of renewables has more than replaced nuclear power over the past decade. Coal is not making a comeback in Germany. However, German policymakers should reduce the country's coal dependency sooner than scheduled.
- 2014/06/16: GEB: Government Response to Minor Interpellation with Interesting Statistics Concerning German Electricity Grid
And on the Bottom Line:
- 2014/06/21: EconView: 'Discounting the Very Distant Future' -- On calculating long-run discount rates
- 2014/06/19: DeSmogBlog: Lord Stern: We've Underestimated Economic Costs of Global Warming
- 2014/06/18: RNE: Graph of the Day: What climate change will cost tourism
- 2014/06/17: Grist: This is how much America spends putting out wildfires
- 2014/06/16: Grist: We're massively underestimating climate costs, experts warn
- 2014/06/16: TP:JR: Right Now We 'Grossly Underestimate' Economic Damage From Climate Change, New Paper Says
- 2014/06/16: SMH: Models 'grossly underestimate' costs of global warming, Nicholas Stern says
- 2014/06/16: Independent(UK): Climate change will 'cost world far more than estimated'
  Lord Stern says current models do not adequately reflect the science and the impact on global economies
- 2014/06/05: RMI: U.S. Climate Action -- The Truth About Its "Costs"
What's new in the tussle between economists and climatologists?
- 2014/06/15: Resilience: We will never run out of oil (which is entirely beside the point) [economics]
- 2014/06/15: RI: We will never run out of oil (which is entirely beside the point)
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?
- 2014/06/19: NewAnthropocene: Economic Wealth is Tied to Ecology
- 2014/06/17: CPunch: The Market-Based Approach -- Commodification of Nature
Delving into the laws of thermodynamics this week:
- 2014/06/21: TSoD: Radiative Atmospheres with no Convection
John Cook and friends continue their point-counterpoint articles:
- 2014/06/21: SkS: 2014 SkS Weekly News Roundup #25B by John Hartz
- 2014/06/21: SkS: An externally-valid approach to consensus messaging
- 2014/06/20: SkS: How will El Niño impact weather patterns? by Dr. Doug Gillham
- 2014/06/19: SkS: 2014 SkS Weekly News Roundup #25A by John Hartz
- 2014/06/18: SkS: Kerry Emanuel and What We Know About Climate by greenman3610
- 2014/06/17: SkS: Transformational Climate Science at Exeter University by Jim Hunt
- 2014/06/16: SkS: 2014 SkS Weekly Digest #24 by John Hartz
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:
- 2014/06/21: EneNews: NHK: Fukushima responsible for "largest-ever" amount of radioactive pollution... "We did something terrible"...
- 2014/06/20: EneNews: Farmers: Fukushima radiation causing mystery disease -- Many animals have developed spots all over their bodies...
- 2014/06/20: EneNews: Nuclear Consultant: Fukushima reactors released about 3 times more radioactivity than Chernobyl -- Japan crisis is unprecedented in size, complexity, and consequences -- Yet disaster is not over and can become much worse...
- 2014/06/20: FukuLeaks: TEPCO's Tents For Tanks Plan At Fukushima Daiichi
- 2014/06/20: CPunch: A Unprecedented Radiation Disaster -- Fukushima's Ongoing Fallout
- 2014/06/19: EneNews: New model shows West Coast covered in Fukushima fallout a week after 3/11...
- 2014/06/19: EneNews: "Hemisphere facing generations of radiologic contamination" from Fukushima -- TV: It's a major humanitarian crisis...
- 2014/06/19: FukuLeaks: Some Spent Fuel From Fukushima Unit 4 To Be Sent To Unit 6
- 2014/06/18: EneNews: Fukushima Guide: "Lots of people suddenly started having nose bleeds, cats and dogs too, it lasted for some time" after 3/11...
- 2014/06/17: EneNews: Nuclear Expert: Hydrogen explosion suspected as cause of WIPP plutonium release -- Meeting: Are more lids going to blow? Seeing how top of drum blew off has me concerned it isn't 'low level'...
- 2014/06/17: EneNews: TV: Trouble reported with inner 'ice wall' at Fukushima; Highly radioactive water underground won't freeze...
- 2014/06/17: FukuLeaks: Japanese Govt.; Evacuating Around Fukushima Daiichi Would Take 5 Days
- 2014/06/17: NYT: Assessing Fukushima Damage Without Eyes on the Inside
  A particle that barely ranks as a footnote in a physics text may be about to lift the cleanup of the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex in Japan over a crucial obstacle. Inside the complex, there are three wrecked reactor cores, twisted masses of hundreds of tons of highly radioactive uranium, plutonium, cesium and strontium. After the meltdown, which followed a tsunami and earthquake in 2011, most of the material in the plant's reactors resolidified, in difficult shapes and in confined spaces, wrapped around and through the structural parts of the reactors and the buildings.
  [...]
  That is where muons come in. In the next few days, Toshiba, the contractor in charge of the initial cleanup work, and the laboratory expect to sign a formal agreement to deploy a new technology that experts believe will yield three-dimensional images of the wrecked reactor cores, and will be able to differentiate the uranium and plutonium from other materials, even when 10 feet of concrete and steel are in the way.
- 2014/06/17: FukuLeaks: New Work At Fukushima Unit 1
- 2014/06/17: RT: Tunnel vision: Plan to put Fukushima on ice hits snag
- 2014/06/17: CPunch: Fukushima's Children are Dying
- 2014/06/16: EneNews: Navy sailor suing over Fukushima exposure dies from rare cancer near heart...
- 2014/06/16: FukuLeaks: High Radiation Found On Seabed South Of Fukushima Daiichi
- 2014/06/16: FukuLeaks: US Taxpayers May End Up Paying For Fukushima Disaster
- 2014/06/16: FukuLeaks: Fukushima Daiichi Unit 4; 1078 Fuel Assemblies Removed
- 2014/06/15: CDreams: Fukushima's Children are Dying
Post Fukushima, nuclear policies are in flux around the world:
The Arctic melt continues to garner attention:
- 2014/06/21: P3: Uh-Oh: Greenland Surface Melting off to a Quick Start
- 2014/06/18: RScribbler: 2012 Record Challenged as 40% of Greenland Ice Sheet Surface Melts on June 17th
- 2014/06/17: CSM: Astounding 'ice sculptures' locked beneath Greenland's ice sheet
- 2014/06/17: PLNA: Perennial Springwater Discovered in Extreme Polar Climate
  Scientists have discovered on Ellesmere Island, Nunavut, in the Canadian high Arctic, the northernmost perennial spring with year-round flow in an area of polar extremes.
- 2014/06/16: RTCC: Surface melting is speeding flow of Greenland glaciers
- 2014/06/16: CBC: Diving for icebergs: A view from the bottom
More September sea ice forecasts:
- ARCUS: Sea Ice Prediction Network
- 2014/06/21: Moyhu: June SIPN Arctic Ice predictions
- 2014/06/20: Dosbat: Sea Ice Prediction June 2014
- 2014/06/17: BBC: Ponds 'predict Arctic sea-ice melt'
  A UK team believes it can now make skilful predictions of how much sea ice will melt during Arctic summers. The scientists say the amount of water ponding on top of the floes as they warm in the spring has been shown to be an excellent indicator. Using their technique, the Reading University researchers reckon the minimum ice extent this September will be about 5.4 million square km. It is about the same as at the end of the melt season last year.
- 2014/06/17: RTCC: Arctic ice to shrink 18% below average in 2014 - around 5.4 million square kilometres this year, predict researchers at Reading University
- 2014/06/16: ARCUS: Sea Ice Prediction has Easy and Difficult Years
While in Antarctica:
- 2014/06/18: ABC(Au): Antarctica under threat from human visitors, Australian environmental scientist says
- 2014/06/17: SciNews: Antarctic icebergs decimating seafloor life
- 2014/06/17: CBC: Icebergs freed by climate change decimate Antarctic sea life -- More icebergs forming and floating freely due to climate change
- 2014/06/16: BBC: 'Weedy thing' thrives as Antarctic shores warm
  Climate change is helping an inconspicuous sea moss animal spread rapidly in Antarctica, say scientists. The warmer temperatures have helped Fenestrulina rugula to thrive at the expense of other species.
The food crisis is ongoing:
- 2014/06/19: FuturePundit: The Problem Of Soil Erosion
- 2014/06/19: Resilience: The Energetic Evolution of the US Food System
- 2014/06/19: ABC(Au): New South Wales on track for above average crop
- 2014/06/17: ABC(Au): El Niño looms over grain markets
- 2014/06/11: HowEricLives: The Energy Cost of Food
The state of the world's fisheries is a concern. See also, and:
- 2014/06/18: TP:JR: California Drought Forces Fish Hatcheries To Evacuate To Avoid 'Catastrophic' Losses
  Fears of potentially deadly water temperatures have forced California officials to evacuate fish from two hatcheries into state waterways, in the hopes of avoiding "catastrophic" fish losses.
- 2014/06/17: ABC(Au): Kiribati and US call for concerted global action to protect oceans
- 2014/06/17: ABC(Au): Pacific fishing nations warn more price rises ahead
- 2014/06/15: CBC: California drought forces salmon to hitch ride to Pacific Ocean
  Migration to the ocean too dangerous for juvenile salmon In drought-stricken California, young Chinook salmon are hitting the road, not the river, to get to the Pacific Ocean. Millions of six-month-old smolts are hitching rides in tanker trucks because California's historic drought has depleted rivers and streams, making the annual migration to the ocean too dangerous for juvenile salmon.
So, are these land grabs Colonialism V2.0?
- 2014/06/17: EurActiv: NGOs blame Berlin for feeding big business land grabs
Regarding the genetic modification of food:
- 2014/06/20: Grist: Pesticide and GMO companies spend big to influence politics in Hawaii
- 2014/06/18: EurActiv: US wants 'science' to settle GMO debate in trade deal with EU
- 2014/06/17: Grist: GMO giants' pesticide use threatens rare Hawaiian species
- 2014/06/17: CDreams: New Yorkers Wage Urgent Battle for GMO Label Law
  Industry groups spending millions to kill a bill likely to create a "domino effect" in the northeast
- 2014/06/17: RT: Genetically modified 'super banana' to be tested on Americans
- 2014/06/16: Grist: GMO companies are dousing Hawaiian island with toxic pesticides
And how are we going to feed 9 billion, 10 billion, 15 billion?
- 2014/06/20: ABC(Au): Sir Conway's guide to feeding the world
- 2014/06/19: Grist: Could small, biodiverse farms help Hawaii grow enough food to feed itself?
- 2014/06/18: RealEconomics: Did the goal of nitrogen-fixing cereal crops just get closer?
- 2014/06/18: PLNA: FAO Fosters Transition to Climate Smart Agriculture
- 2014/06/18: ERW: [Nitrogen-fixing] Trees could boost crop yield in Africa
- 2014/06/17: Xinhuanet: Interview: FAO hails China's success in achieving anti-hunger goal
- 2014/06/16: DerSpiegel: Miracle Crop: India's Quest to End World Hunger [2 parts]
  Over one third of humanity is undernourished. Now a group of scientists are experimenting with specially-bred crops, and hoping to launch a new Green Revolution -- but controversy is brewing.
- 2014/06/16: FAO: Chile, China and Morocco join others in moving closer to eradicating hunger
  FAO recognizes Chile, China and Morocco as the latest in a growing list of countries to reduce hunger, but urges stronger efforts to eradicate undernourishment
After Hagibis and Cristina faded, we have had a relatively quiet week.
In the Western Pacific. Typhoon Hagibis troubled China:
- 2014/06/16: NASA: NASA Catches Short-lived Tropical Cyclone Hagibis Landfalling in China
- 2014/06/16: Xinhuanet: Typhoon Hagibis brings torrential rain to SE China [pix]
- 2014/06/16: Xinhuanet: Typhoon Hagibis makes landfall on Shantou, S China
In the Eastern Pacific, Tropical Storm Cristina went North:
2014/06/16: NASA: A Satellite View: Former Hurricane Cristina Now a Ghost of Its Former Self

While elsewhere in the hurricane wars:
2014/06/20: Wunderground: Atlantic Hurricane Outlook for the Remainder of June
2014/06/16: Wunderground: No Tropical Storm Formation Expected in the Atlantic This Week

This week in notable weather:
- 2014/06/19: StarTrib: [Minnesota] Water woes in Mankato; state park closes; 100K acres of crops lost in Rock Co.
  Rock County loses 40% of crops as rain and hail cause damageHwy. 66 closed south of Mankato; Waseca County roads under water
- 2014/06/18: al Jazeera: Southwest Australia lashed by storms -- Perth pummelled by damaging winds and flooding rains
Got any forecasts?
- 2014/06/20: CBC: Canada's UV, ozone layer forecast for 2014
  [...] What's your risk of getting sunburned this summer compared with previous years? The answer is: A little higher than it has been in the past, but not unusually high ...
- 2014/06/20: CSM: Summer 2014 outlook: Temperatures above normal for much of the US
This week in the New Normal -- extreme weather:
Polar Vortex? Rossby Waves? Blocking Patterns? Arctic Oscillation?
What is the Arctic melt doing to our weather?
- 2014/06/16: ArcticNews: Warming of the Arctic Fueling Extreme Weather
- 2014/06/16: RTCC: Warming Arctic may mean fewer icy blasts for Europe and America
As for GHGs:
- 2014/06/20: TP:JR: Up To A Million Abandoned Wells In Pennsylvania Spew Heat-Trapping Methane
- 2014/06/20: ERabett: Eli's Gift
- 2014/06/20: RNE: Derelict oil, gas wells may be major methane emitters
- 2014/06/17: DOE:JGI: IDing Livestock Gut Microbes Contributing to Greenhouse Gas Emissions
- 2014/06/16: TruthOut: Atmospheric CO2 Crosses "Ominous Threshold"
- 2014/06/16: RTCC: China CO2 emissions growth slows sharply
  BP energy review shows Chinese carbon emissions growth in 2013 was half average levels for the last decade China's carbon dioxide emissions last year grew at their slowest rate for more than a decade, after removing the effect of the financial crisis in 2008, showed energy data published by the energy company BP.
Aerosols are making their presence felt:
- 2014/06/21: MODIS: Dust storms off Namibia and Angola [on June 7]
- 2014/06/17: IOTD: Dust over Oman [on June 15]
What's up with volcanoes this week?
- 2014/06/16: CBC: Mount Etna erupts in Italy
- 2014/06/16: MODIS: Plume from Sangeang Api, Lesser Sunda Islands, Indonesia [on June 5]
Yes we have feedbacks:
- 2014/06/20: ATTPh: Are feedbacks operating?
And on the ENSO front:
- 2014/06/21: CC&G: El Nino - Major Global Force
- 2014/06/21: PSinclair: El Nino Sends Mixed Signals
- 2014/06/20: RScribbler: Extreme Eastern Pacific Sea Surface Temperature Spike Looking A Lot Like El Nino
- 2014/06/20: TruthDig: May Days' Heat Sets Up Record El Niño
- 2014/06/20: JCBaez: El Niño Project (Part 1)
- 2014/06/19: P3: The Current El Nino Picture
- 2014/06/18: ABC(Au): El Nino still on track but coming later
  The weather bureau says an El Nino weather system is now expected to develop in spring, rather than winter as they'd previously forecast. The latest climate modelling shows warming in the tropical Pacific Ocean, which defines El Nino activity, has levelled off in recent weeks. But the weather bureau's manager of climate prediction services, Andrew Watkins, says there's still a 70 per cent likelihood of an El Nino, bringing drier conditions to eastern Australia, this year.
- 2014/06/18: Grist: When El Niño comes to town
- 2014/06/18: TreeHugger: El Niño could bring rain to the Western States - and disease
- 2014/06/17: RTCC: El Niño means 2014 could be hottest year ever
- 2014/06/17: ABC(Au): El Niño looms over grain markets
- 2014/06/16: QuarkSoup: El Niño is Fizzling
As for the temperature record:
- 2014/06/22: SimpleC: Unique and unnatural: modern warming from an historical viewpoint
- 2014/06/20: CC&G: Latest NOAA Daily SST Anomaly
- 2014/06/19: Moyhu: Quality controlling GHCN V3 has a big effect on recent TempLS results
- 2014/06/18: PSinclair: Warmest May in Global Record
- 2014/06/18: Moyhu: Another error in GHCN for May - from China CLIMAT form.
- 2014/06/18: Moyhu: May GISS Temp up by 0.03°C
- 2014/06/17: CCP: May 2014 declared hottest on record by NASA and the Japanese Meteorological Agency
- 2014/06/17: TP:JR: Hottest Spring On Record Globally, Reports Japan Meteorological Agency
- 2014/06/17: Moyhu: Google Maps portal to NOAA station histories
Meanwhile in near earth orbit:
- 2014/06/18: DD: NASA prepares to launch Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 [on July 1st]
While in the paleoclimate:
- 2014/06/17: ABC(Au): Climate forced ancient Peruvians to migrate
What's the State of the Oceans?
- 2014/06/22: ABC(Au): Pearl industry searches for genetic solution to mysterious trend of oyster deaths
  [...] Cygnet Bay Pearls general manager James Brown said it was not known whether the oyster deaths were caused by a disease, a virus or a change in environment.
- 2014/06/19: RScribbler: Worst Ocean Mortality Event Ever Seen: Pathogen + Human-Caused Warming Likely Culprit in Mass Starfish Die-off
- 2014/06/17: EneNews: S. California fishermen 'skunked... haven't seen a squid', usually 10,000+ lbs/day
  'Complete crashes' at oyster hatcheries -- Sardines, mackerel missing in areas -- Pelican sites alarmingly deserted -- Record # of sick sea lions -- Ultra-rare whales appear after decades -- Mammals, birds, fish in odd places
- 2014/06/17: MODIS: Phytoplankton bloom off the coast of Tunisia [on June 5]
- 2014/06/16: EneNews: TV: "The largest disease outbreak that we know of ever in the oceans" now hitting West Coast
  Potential for "global extinction" -- "Affects over 20 species... causing catastrophic mortality" -- Expert: One of history's largest wildlife die-offs... signal in ecosystem that something's not right (video)
- 2014/06/17: ABC(Au): US study finds great white shark population in Pacific Ocean is increasing
What's the State of the Biosphere?
- 2014/06/21: BBC: Barn owl boxes in Suffolk 'stolen and vandalised'
- 2014/06/18: ABC(Au): Rare white whale Migaloo spotted northbound at Eden on the New South Wales south coast
  One of the world's rarest whales has been spotted heading north off the New South Wales south coast, in one of the first sightings of the whale season.
- 2014/06/18: NatureN: Tree hitched a ride to island
  Acacia analysis reveals globetrotting seed trekked 18,000 kilometres from Hawaii to Réunion.
- 2014/06/17: TheConversation: What American wolves can teach us about Australian dingoes
And on the extinction watch:
- 2014/06/20: TruthDig: Farewell to Africa's Elegant Antelope? [hirola]
- 2014/06/20: SciAm:EC: After Near-Extinction, Recovery Declared for Two Island Foxes
- 2014/06/19: CSM: East Africa's elegant antelope [the hirola] on the verge of bowing out
- 2014/06/18: TheConversation: Why is our wildlife in trouble? Because we're ignoring science
- 2014/06/17: DD: Orphaned baby rhino scared to sleep alone at night after mother killed by poachers
- 2014/06/17: 3News: [NZ] Govt,opens,Maui's,dolphin,area,for,oil,drilling
- 2014/06/16: Xinhuanet: Wildlife alliance warns of illicit trade of ape
  Nairobi -- A global wildlife group on Sunday warned of rapid depletion of live chimpanzees, gorillas, bonobos and orangutans due to thriving illegal trade. In a statement issued ahead of the 1st UN Environment Assembly (UNEA) that will be held on June 23-27 in Nairobi, the Great Apes Survival Partnership (GRASP) said a total of 38 great apes have been confiscated thus far in 2014, an average of 1.8 per week, double the previous year's figure of 0.9 per week. "The number of apes being trafficked and confiscated indicates that serious threats remain to wild populations," GRASP coordinator Doug Cress said.
- 2014/06/12: Guardian(UK): WildLeaks attracts major wildlife crime leads in first three months
  WikiLeaks-style website yields 24 tip-offs including elephant poaching, tiger killing, illegal fishery and forest destruction
The bees and Colony Collapse Disorder are a constant concern. And then, there are the Neonicotinoids:
- 2014/06/21: CSM: Can Obama save the honey bees?
  President Obama ordered US agencies to come up with a plan for protecting honey bees. Why just a plan? Why isn't the US banning neonicotinoids, a kind of pesticide that some research shows is killing off US honey bees?
- 2014/06/19: Grist: This is what your dairy aisle would look like if all the bees died off
- 2014/06/16: KQED:B: California Drought Dries Up Honey Supply
- 2014/06/16: CBC: Consider banning insecticides to save honeybees: Merulla
  Research has found neonicotinoids, a widely used insecticide, are contributing to honeybee deaths
- 2014/06/16: Grist: Beekeepers are breeding a race of superbees at the Seattle airport
Oh look! The Anthropocene came up again:
- 2014/06/19: CP&O: Ecopragmatism and the 'Good Anthropocene'
- 2014/06/19: TCoE: Self-delusion and the absurdity of a "Good Anthropocene"
- 2014/06/19: TP:JR: Words Matter When Talking Global Warming: The 'Good Anthropocene' Debate
- 2014/06/17: P3: A Good Anthropocene?
- 2014/06/17: CHamilton: The Delusion of the "Good Anthropocene": Reply to Andrew Revkin
More GW impacts are being seen:
- 2014/06/18: LMU: Leafing out and climate change
  Global warming is generally expected to bring spring forward but, as a new LMU study shows, a concomitant influx of plant species from warmer southern latitudes could counteract this effect.
- 2014/06/18: GLaden: Minnesota's Current Weather Disaster -- Don't worry we'll be fine
- 2014/06/16: ChinaDaily: Too hot to grow
And then there are the world's forests:
- 2014/06/19: DD: Oil drilling has contaminated western Amazon rainforest, study confirms
- 2014/06/18: AllAfrica:SW Radio: Zimbabwe: Govt Sued Over Deforestation
  A Zimbabwean farmer has taken the ZANU PF government to the High Court because of rampant deforestation around prime tobacco growing areas. Never Gasho, a farmer in Karoi, is seeking to compel the government to stop the deforestation of indigenous trees. He has argued in a court application that the alarming rate of deforestation in tobacco farming areas had prompted him to sue the government.
- 2014/06/16: RTCC: Brazil achieves 70% reduction in Amazon deforestation
- 2014/06/: TreePeople: Top 22 Benefits of Trees
Climate refugees are becoming an issue:
- 2014/06/21: WSWS: Impact of war and persecution -- More than 50 million displaced persons worldwide
- 2014/06/21: al Jazeera: Australia offers migrants cash to go home
  Authorities offer payments of up to AU$10,000 for asylum seekers to drop their bids for refugee status.
- 2014/06/21: al Jazeera: Growing up in the world's largest refugee camp
  A Somali refugee who has spent nearly his whole life in Kenya's Dadaab camp tells Al Jazeera what it is like.
- 2014/06/20: UN: 'War's Human Cost': World's population of displaced tops 50 million, UN refugee agency reports
- 2014/06/20: BBC: The number of people forced to flee their homes because of war or persecution exceeded 50 million in 2013, the first time since World War Two, the UN refugee agency says
- 2014/06/20: ABC(Au): Number of forcibly displaced people hits 51 million, highest since WWII: UNHCR
- 2014/06/20: CBC: World Refugee Day: More than 50 million people displaced -- HIghest figure since WWII era, says UNHCR
- 2014/06/20: al Jazeera: UN: Record 50 million people now displaced
  UN refugee agency highlights human cost of war, saying new figures show highest number of displaced people since WWII.
- 2014/06/16: BBC: Italy warns Mediterranean migrant rescues may end
  Italian Interior Minister Angelino Alfano has warned that a naval operation to rescue migrants in the Mediterranean Sea may have to come to an end without EU intervention. Speaking in Sicily, he said Italy would not allow people to die but could not continue to patrol Libya's coast. Shortly after he spoke, a Kuwaiti oil tanker arrived in Sicily carrying another 356 migrants.
Desertification looms as a global threat:
- 2014/06/17: WMO: The World Day to Combat Desertification
- 2014/06/17: RTCC: Fighting desertification will reduce the costs of climate change
  We should 'climate proof' the land to prevent some of the tragedies of a warmer world, says UN desertification chief, Monique Barbut
Emerging diseases accompany ecological change:
- 2014/06/19: CNN: Chikungunya virus spreads to U.S., Cuba
  Chikungunya virus has spread to Cuba, health officials say - A case was also just confirmed in the U.S. state of Georgia - 100,000 chikungunya cases have been documented in the Caribbean this year
- 2014/06/18: SciAm:Obs: Nasty Mosquito-Borne Virus [chikungunya], Now in Puerto Rico, Expanding its Reach
Aerosols affect the climate, but they also affect people's health:
- 2014/06/11: Atlantic: An Interactive Air-Pollution Map - One quarter of the global population is breathing unsafe air. Where is it worst?
- 2014/06/16: SciAm:PI: Map Monday: 50+ Shades of Air Pollution
Changes in natural cycles are showing up:
On the tornado front:
- 2014/06/18: IndiaTimes: Residents of Nebraska town return after deadly tornado
- 2014/06/17: CBC: Tornado watches, warnings for southern Ontario
  Same storm system brought 2 tornadoes to Nebraska on Monday, killing 5-year-old
- 2014/06/17: CNN: Twin tornadoes tear through Nebraska town; 2 dead
- 2014/06/17: Hypergeometric: Sibling Tornados
- 2014/06/17: PSinclair: "We're Not Even Sure of the Physics of It..". Nebraska, You're Not in Kansas Anymore
- 2014/06/17: Wunderground: Rare Twin Tornadoes Kill Two in Nebraska
- 2014/06/17: IndiaTimes: 1 dead, 16 critical after US massive tornadoes: Officials
- 2014/06/17: RT: Rare double tornado rip through Nebraska: 5-yo dead, 19 injured (photos, video)
- 2014/06/17: CBC: In Nebraska, 2 tornadoes kill at least 1, injure 19
- 2014/06/16: CSM: Massive tornadoes leave one dead, 16 hospitalized in Nebraska
- 2014/06/16: BBC: Deadly US tornadoes strike Nebraska
  At least one person is dead and at least 19 are hurt after two massive tornadoes hit the US state of Nebraska. The town of Pilger, about 100 miles (160km) north-west of Omaha, with a population of 350 people, was devastated by the twisters.
As for heatwaves and wild fires:
- 2014/06/22: IOTD: Asian Heatwave Precedes Monsoon [anomalies June 2-9 & June 10-17]
- 2014/06/20: MODIS: Fires in central China [on June 7]
- 2014/06/17: Grist: This is how much America spends putting out wildfires
- 2014/06/16: TP:JR: Wildfire Near California's Sequoia National Forest Forces 500 Evacuations
- 2014/06/16: TP:JR: Indian Heat Wave Claims Hundreds Of Lives
- 2014/06/16: CSM: California wildfires now 50 percent contained: Evacuations lifted
Corals are a bellwether of the ocean's health:
- 2014/06/17: RTCC: Great Barrier Reef may withstand warming seas
  Australia's Great Barrier Reef survived large sea temperature changes at the end of the last glacial period, suggesting that it may be able to survive climate change better than previously thought, a new study has concluded.
- 2014/06/16: ABC(Au): Great Barrier Reef devastated: Before and after images show Cyclone Ita's damage to reef
Acidification is changing the oceans:
- 2014/06/19: DD: Acid seas threaten creatures that supply half the world's oxygen
- 2014/06/17: CDreams: Acid Seas Threaten Creatures That Supply Half the World's Oxygen
- 2014/06/16: PSMag: How to Battle Ocean Acidification
Glaciers are melting:
- 2014/06/19: FaGP: Yejyumaro Glacier Retreat Lake Expansion, Tibet, China
- 2014/06/19: TruthDig: Flow Chart Unclear for Glacial Rivers
  A new study examining river basins in the Asia region suggests that amounts of water supplied to the area by glaciers and rainfall in the Himalayas will increase in the coming decades. At first reading, that looks like good news, as an estimated 1.3 billion people in Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Nepal, China and elsewhere are dependent for their water supplies on rivers fed by glaciers and snowmelt. But the less welcome news is that scientists are unsure what will happen after 2050 if the rate at which glaciers melt continues to increase as a result of climate change.
- 2014/06/16: FaGP: Nobuk Glacier Retreat, Tamor Basin, Nepal
Sea levels are rising:
These extreme rainfall events are becoming all too frequent:
- 2014/06/17: Wunderground:CCB: Record Rainfall in Sioux Falls, South Dakota - 8.43 inches in 24 hours
As for hydrological cycle disruptions [floods & droughts]:
- 2014/06/22: Xinhuanet: Heavy rains persist in South China
- 2014/06/21: IOTD: Barkol Lake, Xinjiang [on Nov.6, 2013]
- 2014/06/21: PLNA: Rivers Overflowed Causing Hardship and Desperation in Paraguayans
- 2014/06/21: PLNA: 6 Killed, 3 Missing in Landslide [after heavy downpours] in West Java - Indonesia
- 2014/06/21: Xinhuanet: Rainstorms, floods plunge China into emergency response
  Rainstorms and floods have continued to ravage the eastern province of Jiangxi and central Hunan Province, forcing authorities to initiate a grade IV emergency response on Saturday.
- 2014/06/21: Xinhuanet: China Focus: Rainstorms, floods kill at least 14, affect 3 million
  Rainstorms and floods since mid-June have left at least 14 people dead, four missing and 3 million others affected in east and south China, according to civil affairs authorities.
- 2014/06/20: CNN: Several dead in Bulgaria flooding
  Floods swept through parts of the city Thursday, and rains continued Friday - More than double the average monthly rainfall fell in a 48-hour period - Slow-moving weather system has spawned tornadoes in Italy, Greece, and Turkey - A day of mourning has been declared for victims; at least 11 people have died
- 2014/06/20: al Jazeera: Deadly floods hit Bulgaria's Varna
  Torrential rains hit Black Sea resort city, triggering floods that kill at least 10 people and force evacuations.
- 2014/06/20: BBC: Bulgaria floods: At least 10 killed in port city of Varna
  At least 10 people have died and several are missing after torrential rain and heavy floods hit eastern Bulgaria, officials say.
- 2014/06/19: CBC: Alberta flooding continues after heavy rainfall overnight
- 2014/06/19: DD: Parched: A New Dust Bowl Forms in the Heartland -- "Exceptional drought" makes for tough times in Oklahoma
- 2014/06/19: CCentral: California's Drought Just Got a Little Worse - 1/3 of the state is now in the worst stage of drought
- 2014/06/18: Xinhuanet: Thousands displaced by flooding in South Philippines
- 2014/06/17: al Jazeera: In Pictures: Rome hit by thunderstorms
  The Italian capital has seen extensive flooding after torrential rain.
- 2014/06/17: CBC: Tornado tears through Angus, Ont., damaging homes
  State of emergency declared after storm causes heavy damage in central Ontario
- 2014/06/16: al Jazeera: World Cup city floods -- Natal, host to several tournament matches, has experienced exceptional rain in the last few days
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:
- 2014/06/19: ABC(Au): The sweet smell of biochar
- 2014/06/19: ERW: Is it worth rerouting flights to cut contrails?
Consider transportation & GHG production:
- 2014/06/19: TP:JR: Even Sprawling Cities Could Soon Become Walkable Regions, Report Finds
- 2014/06/19: BBC: Longer flights 'could curb impact of vapour trails'
- 2014/06/18: RTCC: Satellite data could drive low-carbon shipping sector
Large scale geo-engineering keeps popping up:
- 2014/06/12: T&F:JIES: Ambivalence in calculating the future: the case of re-engineering the world by Anders Hansson
- 2014/06/21: NBF: Treehugger interviewed Russ George about the success of increasing fish
- 2014/06/21: NBF: Russ George blogged about the Fraser River Sockeye Salmon Run getting almost twice the previous historic 1900 record after Iron Fertilization of the Ocean in 2012
- 2014/06/20: NBF: 120 tons of iron sulphate of fertilization into the ocean boosted fish catch by over 100,000 tons - We get a lot of fish and solve the CO2 climate problem
- 2014/06/20: NBF: More information about salmon and iron fertilization
- 2014/06/18: UNESCO: Hutchison medal awarded for Ocean fertilization for geoengineering publication
- 2014/06/17: TheEngineer: Q&A: geoengineering
- 2014/06/12: ZocaloPS: Sorry, Polar Bears: There's No Quick Fix for Those Melting Glaciers
What's new in conservation?
- 2014/06/18: Monash: A call to better protect Antarctica
- 2014/06/17: BBC: Expansion of US marine protected zone could double world reserves
  The US plans to create the world's biggest marine protected area (MPA) in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
- 2014/06/16: SciNews: Kiribati commits to fishery-free reserve
Meanwhile in the journals:
- 2014/06/17: GMD: A simple parameterization of the short-wave aerosol optical properties for surface direct and diffuse irradiances assessment in a numerical weather model by J. A. Ruiz-Arias et al.
- 2014/06/17: HESS: Sensitivity and uncertainty in crop water footprint accounting: a case study for the Yellow River basin by L. Zhuo et al.
- 2014/06/17: HESS: Estimates of the climatological land surface energy and water balance derived from maximum convective power by A. Kleidon et al.
- 2014/06/17: HESSD: What causes cooling water temperature gradients in forested stream reaches? by G. Garner et al.
- 2014/06/16: HESSD: Effect of climate change and variability on extreme rainfall intensity-frequency-duration relationships: a case study of Melbourne by A. G. Yilmaz et al.
- 2014/06/17: OSD: Sea level trend and variability around the Peninsular Malaysia by Q. H. Luu et al.
- 2014/06/16: TCD: Enthalpy benchmark experiments for numerical ice sheet models by T. Kleiner et al.
- 2014/06/17: PNAS: (ab$) Highly efficient integration and expression of piggyBac-derived cassettes in the honeybee (Apis mellifera) by Christina Schulte et al.
- 2014/06/17: PNAS: (abs) Chronic and intensive bottom trawling impairs deep-sea biodiversity and ecosystem functioning by Antonio Pusceddu et al.
- 2014/06/17: PNAS: (ab$) Steeper declines in forest photosynthesis than respiration explain age-driven decreases in forest growth by Jianwu Tang et al.
- 2014/06/17: PNAS: (ab$) The Irish potato famine pathogen Phytophthora infestans originated in central Mexico rather than the Andes by Erica M. Goss et al.
- 2014/06/17: PNAS: (ab$) Antarctic sea ice control on ocean circulation in present and glacial climates by Raffaele Ferrari et al.
- 2014/06/17: PNAS: (abs) Geomechanical behavior of the reservoir and caprock system at the In Salah CO2 storage project by Joshua A. White et al.
- 2014/06/17: PNAS: (abs) Local versus basin-scale limitation of marine nitrogen fixation by Thomas Weber & Curtis Deutsch
- 2014/06/17: PNAS: (letter$) A piggyBac route to transgenic honeybees by Yehuda Ben-Shahar
- 2014/06/17: PNAS: (letter$) Trawling exerts big impacts on small beasts by Les Watling
- 2014/06/17: PNAS: (letter$) Origins of caprine herding by Douglas Baird
- 2014/06/17: PNAS: (letter$) Reply to Ahad et al.: Source apportionment of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in the Athabasca oil sands region is still a work in progress by Abha Parajulee & Frank Wania
- 2014/06/17: PNAS: (letter$) Evaporative emissions from tailings ponds are not likely an important source of airborne PAHs in the Athabasca oil sands region by Jason M. E. Ahad et al.
- 2014/06/17: Nature:Comm: (ab$) Intensification of the meridional temperature gradient in the Great Barrier Reef following the Last Glacial Maximum by Thomas Felis et al.
- 2014/05/29: WoL:WRR: (ab$) Estimating temporal changes in hydraulic head using InSAR data in the San Luis Valley, Colorado by Jessica A. Reeves et al.
- 2014/06/17: ESDD: Path dependence of climate and carbon cycle response over a broad range of cumulative carbon emissions by T. Herrington & K. Zickfeld
- 2014/06/17: ESDD: Climate impacts research: beyond patchwork by V. Huber et al.
- 2014/06/18: ACP: Solar irradiance in the heterogeneous albedo environment of the Arctic coast: measurements and a 3-D model study by A. Kreuter et al.
- 2014/06/16: ACP: The effect of climate change and emission scenarios on ozone concentrations over Belgium: a high-resolution model study for policy support by D. Lauwaet et al.
- 2014/06/17: ACPD: Estimating regional fluxes of CO2 and CH4 using space-borne observations of XCH4 : XCO2 by A. Fraser et al.
- 2014/06/16: ACPD: Top-down estimates of European CH4 and N2O emissions based on four different inverse models by P. Bergamaschi et al.
- 2014/06/10: WoL:GRL: (ab$) Observations of Pronounced Greenland Ice Sheet Firn Warming and Implications for Runoff Production by Chris Polashenski et al.
- 2014/06/12: T&F:JIES: Ambivalence in calculating the future: the case of re-engineering the world by Anders Hansson
- 2014/06/20: BG: Diversity of Arctic pelagic Bacteria with an emphasis on photoheterotrophs: a review by D. Boeuf et al.
- 2014/06/20: BG: Neural network-based estimates of Southern Ocean net community production from in situ O2 / Ar and satellite observation: a methodological study by C.-H. Chang et al.
- 2014/06/17: BG: An inverse modeling approach for tree-ring-based climate reconstructions under changing atmospheric CO2 concentrations by É. Boucher et al.
- 2014/06/17: BG: An ensemble approach to simulate CO2 emissions from natural fires by A. V. Eliseev et al.
- 2014/06/16: BG: The net exchange of methane with high Arctic landscapes during the summer growing season by C. A. Emmerton et al.
- 2014/06/20: BGD: Forest conversion to poplar plantation in a Lombardy floodplain (Italy): effects on soil organic carbon stock by C. Ferré et al.
- 2014/06/20: BGD: Contrasting effects of invasive insects and fire on ecosystem water use efficiency by K. L. Clark et al.
- 2014/06/17: BGD: Typhoons exert significant but differential impact on net carbon ecosystem exchange of subtropical mangrove ecosystems in China by H. Chen et al.
- 2014/06/16: BGD: Biomass yield development of early, medium and late Maize varieties under a future climate in Lower Saxony, Germany by J. F. Degener & M. Kappas
- 2014/06/19: CP: Interpolation methods for Antarctic ice-core timescales: application to Byrd, Siple Dome and Law Dome ice cores by T. J. Fudge et al.
- 2014/06/19: CP: Impact of geomagnetic excursions on atmospheric chemistry and dynamics by I. Suter et al.
- 2014/06/18: CP: Impact of precession on the climate, vegetation and fire activity in southern Africa during MIS4 by M.-N. Woillez et al.
- 2014/06/16: CP: Model-data comparison and data assimilation of mid-Holocene Arctic sea ice concentration by F. Klein et al.
- 2014/06/18: CPD: An abrupt slowdown of Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation during 1915-1935 induced by solar forcing in a coupled GCM by P. Lin et al.
- 2014/05/28: Oxford:BioSci: Ocean Acidification 2.0: Managing our Changing Coastal Ocean Chemistry by Aaron L. Strong et al.
- 2014/06/15: Nature:GeoSci: (ab$) Cryosphere: Bottom-up restructuring of ice by Joseph A. MacGregor
- 2014/06/15: Nature:GeoSci: (ab$) Deformation, warming and softening of Greenland's ice by refreezing meltwater by Robin E. Bell et al.
- 2014/06/15: Nature:CC: (ab$) Skeletal trade-offs in coralline algae in response to ocean acidification by S. J. McCoy & F. Ragazzola
- 2014/06/15: Nature:CC: (ab$) Optimal CO2 mitigation under damage risk valuation by Benjamin Crost & Christian P. Traeger
- 2014/06/15: Nature:CC: (ab$) Arctic amplification decreases temperature variance in northern mid- to high-latitudes by James A. Screen
- 2014/06/18: GMDD: Sensitivity of the Mediterranean sea level to atmospheric pressure and free surface elevation numerical formulation in NEMO by P. Oddo et al.
- 2014/06/18: HESS: Synchronicity of historical dry spells in the Southern Hemisphere by D. C. Verdon-Kidd & A. S. Kiem
- 2014/06/18: HESS: Links between the Big Dry in Australia and hemispheric multi-decadal climate variability - implications for water resource management by D. C. Verdon-Kidd et al.
- 2014/06/19: OS: The land-ice contribution to 21st-century dynamic sea level rise by T. Howard et al.
- 2014/06/19: OS: Sources of 21st century regional sea-level rise along the coast of northwest Europe by T. Howard et al.
- 2014/06/19: OSD: Roles of initial ocean surface and subsurface states on successfully predicting 2006-2007 El Niño by F. Zheng & J. Zhu
- 2014/06/18: TC: Modelling the response of the Lambert Glacier-Amery Ice Shelf system, East Antarctica, to uncertain climate forcing over the 21st and 22nd centuries by Y. Gong et al.
- 2014/06/18: TCD: Detailed ice loss pattern in the northern Antarctic Peninsula: widespread decline driven by ice front retreats by T. A. Scambos et al.
- 2014/04/23: SSRN: Feed-in Tariffs in Turmoil by Lincoln L. Davies & Kirsten Allen
And other significant documents:
- 2014/06/: BP: [links to pdfs] Statistical Review of World Energy 2014
- 2014/06/19: WikiLeaks: [links to several pdfs] Secret Trade in Services Agreement (TISA) - Financial Services Annex
- 2014/06/17: UK Govt: [link to 149k pdf] UK-China joint climate change statement
- 2014/06/09: CCL: [link to 7 meg pdf] New economic study shows carbon tax refunded to households would create jobs
As for miscellaneous science:
- 2014/06/22: V V: Five reasons scientists do not like the consensus on climate change
In the science organizations:
- 2014/06/20: ABC(Au): World science body, International Council for Science, 'worried' about Australia's science research cuts
More DIY science:
- 2014/06/21: Moyhu: Animated Earth Graphics
What's new in models?
- 2014/06/15: ATTPh: Can we trust climate models?
What developments in the ongoing struggle for Open Science?
- 2014/06/19: Guardian(UK): The open source revolution is coming and it will conquer the 1% - ex CIA spy
  The man who trained more than 66 countries in open source methods calls for re-invention of intelligence to re-engineer Earth
- 2014/06/19: EnvEcon: Electronic replacing print journals
- 2014/06/18: NatureN: Scientific publishing: The inside track
  Members of the US National Academy of Sciences have long enjoyed a privileged path to publication in the body's prominent house journal. Meet the scientists who use it most heavily.
- 2014/06/18: SciAm:IC: Does the scientific journal have a future?
Regarding Rees:
Meanwhile at the UN:
- 2014/06/18: WMO: Executive Council Discusses Climate Services, Extreme Weather
- 2014/06/18: UN: Asia-Pacific: UN launches Sustainable Energy for All Decade, regional hub
- 2014/06/17: RTCC: UN development goals must include climate change
  Case for including a climate change target on UN's post-2015 agenda is stronger than ever, but topic still faces exclusion This week the UN working group that is tasked with drafting a proposal for new global sustainable development goals ("SDGs") is meeting in New York.
- 2014/06/17: UN: UN officials call for restoration of ecosystems to reduce climate change disasters
And on the carbon trading front:
The idea of a carbon tax is still bouncing around:
- 2014/06/09: CCL: [link to 7 meg pdf] New economic study shows carbon tax refunded to households would create jobs
- 2014/06/22: CleanTechnica: Study: Carbon Tax Would Create Jobs If Refunded To Households
On the international political front, tensions continue as the empire leans on Iran:
- 2014/06/21: ABC(Au): Iran rejects 'excessive demands' as nuclear talks with Western powers stall in Vienna
- 2014/06/20: BBC: Diplomats in Vienna say they have begun drafting the text of a final comprehensive deal to settle the dispute over Iran's nuclear activities
- 2014/06/20: AntiWar: Iran Nuclear Talks Stall Over 'Excessive Demands' -- Progress Made, But Pact Seems Unlikely Before July 20
  [...] Iran has met the terms of the interim P5+1 deal and more, virtually eliminating its 20 percent uranium stockpile and giving the IAEA unprecedented access to its nuclear sites. Yet Iran says that the latest Western demands are "excessive" and that they cannot possibly be agreed to, while the US is portraying Iran's reluctance as proof they aren't serious about making a deal.
- 2014/06/20: AntiWar: Iran's Atomic Chief Decries IAEA Failure to Close Detonator Probe
- 2014/06/20: BBerg: Iran Sees Lack of Will as Clock Ticks on Nuclear Talks
  Diplomats ended talks over Iran's nuclear work without bridging the most significant gaps separating the Persian Gulf country from world powers. The sides will convene on July 2 in Vienna, European Union spokesman Michael Mann said in a statement. Political directors from China, France, Germany, Russia, the U.K. and U.S. will gather June 26 in Brussels to discuss their positions, he said. "The other side is not ready for real bargaining," Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said yesterday in a broadcast press briefing from Vienna. "The other side has not entered negotiations with serious will." Zarif said there was still the "possibility" of reaching an agreement when the delegations next meet.
- 2014/06/19: BBerg: India Bets on Easing Iran Oil Curbs as Fighting Engulfs Iraq
- 2014/06/18: AntiWar: America Can't Force Iran's Surrender
- 2014/06/18: Reuters: Iran digs in heels on nuclear centrifuges at Vienna talks - envoys
- 2014/06/18: AntiWar: Iran Nuclear Talks Stall on Western Centrifuge Demands -- Khamenei Set 'Red Line' Opposing Cuts
- 2014/06/17: Xinhuanet: Fifth round of Iranian nuclear talks kick off in Vienna
- 2014/06/16: CNN: U.S., Iran to resume nuclear talks in Vienna
- 2014/06/16: Xinhuanet: Iranian negotiators head to Vienna for crucial nuclear talks
- 2014/06/16: Asia Times: Oil history permeates Iran nuclear deal
South [& East] China Sea tension persists, as the empire leans on China:
- 2014/06/22: Xinhuanet: Chinese scholar refutes former U.S. official's criticism of China's Asia-Pacific diplomacy
  A Chinese scholar has refuted former U.S. National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley's allegations at the World Peace Foruma here that China's diplomacy in the Asia-Pacific has escalated regional tensions. Wu Xinbo, executive dean of Institute of International Studies with Fudan University, told the People's Daily Saturday that Hadley's allegations reflected the U.S. concerns about China's rise in the Asia-Pacific and the U.S. intention to complicate the situation in the region.
- 2014/06/21: Xinhuanet: China committed to settling maritime disputes via dialogue: premier
- 2014/06/21: Xinhuanet: Kono Statement review mirrors Tokyo's bald-faced historical denialism
- 2014/06/20: Xinhuanet: News Analysis: Japanese gov't debases landmark Kono Statement with new "findings"
- 2014/06/20: ABC(Au): China sends four oil rigs to South China Sea amid regional tensions over territorial claims
- 2014/06/20: ABC(Au): South Korean navy holds live-fire drill on disputed islands in spite of Japanese protests
- 2014/06/19: PLNA: Vietnamese Leader Calls for Dialogue with China on East Sea
- 2014/06/17: IndiaTimes: To bolster its claims, China plants islands in disputed waters
- 2014/06/17: BBC: Top Chinese diplomat visits Vietnam amid tensions
  China's top diplomat Yang Jiechi is in Vietnam and set to begin talks with officials, in a bid to ease tensions. The two countries have disputing claims in the South China Sea.
Tensions continue as the empire leans on Syria, Ukraine, Russia...:
- 2014/06/21: BBC: Ukraine crisis: US steps up sanctions on separatists
- 2014/06/20: CSM: Ukraine crisis: Why Shell put shale projects on hold
  Royal Dutch Shell has blamed air strikes by the government in Kiev against its own citizens in southern Ukraine as the reason it decided to declare a halt to its shale oil projects in the troubled region. In reality, the truth may be closer to the fact that company is disappointed with the economic viability of what it once thought was a large shale deposit and is looking for a way out.
- 2014/06/20: Grist: NATO chief accuses fracking opponents of being Russian puppets
- 2014/06/20: EUO: Nato chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen has accused Russia of funding NGOs which oppose shale gas
- 2014/06/19: BBC: Ukraine crisis: EU deal to be signed on 27 June
- 2014/06/19: Xinhuanet: Russia rejects use of energy as "geopolitical tool"
- 2014/06/19: WSWS: Bulgaria suspends construction of South Stream pipeline
  [...] The recent suspension of the South Stream project is a direct result of the confrontational stance taken by the US and the European Union (EU) against Russia in the Ukraine conflict. The stoppage was instigated following massive pressure from Brussels and Washington.
- 2014/06/18: EUO: EU gas flows 'normal' despite Ukraine pipeline explosion
- 2014/06/17: EnergyPost: How the EU should deal with the Ukraine gas crisis
- 2014/06/16: AntiWar: Russia Halts Ukraine Gas Shipments, Warns EU of Disruptions -- Ukraine on a Prepayment Plan, And Didn't Prepay for Any Gas
- 2014/06/16: NakedCapitalism: Russia Cuts Off Gas Supplies to the Ukraine
- 2014/06/16: CBC: Russia cuts Ukraine's gas supply over nearly $4.5B debt
- 2014/06/16: ABC(Au): Russia cuts gas to Ukraine over debt dispute, flows to EU under threat
- 2014/06/16: Xinhuanet: Ukraine declares state of emergency in energy sector over gas row with Russia
- 2014/06/16: Xinhuanet: Russia imposes prepayment regime with Ukraine on gas supplies
- 2014/06/16: BBC: Russia halts gas supply to Ukraine
- 2014/06/16: BBerg: European Gas Jumps Most Since March as Ukraine Faces Supply Cut
- 2014/06/15: BBC: Gazprom has reaffirmed its Monday deadline for Ukraine to pay its debts after talks between Moscow and Kiev ended without agreement
- 2014/06/15: VineyardSaker: A scorecard for the US "lukewarm war" on Russia - strategic and tactical levels
Further in the geopolitical realignment:
- 2014/06/21: Xinhuanet: China to implement Silk Road plans with all parties
- 2014/06/20: RT: Russia develops its own chip technology for national payment card
  Russia has developed its own microchip for the national payment card which is hoped will provide better information security. Russia is ready to replace the technology used in foreign payment systems - Visa and MasterCard - with a chip created for Sberbank's Universal Electronic Card (UEC), Kommersant reports.
- 2014/06/20: CPunch: China's Expanding Role in Latin America -- The Dragon in Uncle Sam's Backyard
- 2014/06/19: G&M: Russia's Arctic flybys a 'strategic' message
  Canadian fighter jets were scrambled twice in the past two weeks to track Russian bombers over the Arctic, patrols near North American airspace that government sources say have increased in 2014 compared with the previous two years.
- 2014/06/19: Tass: Ruble-yuan conversion plan as Russia-China plan bridge to Crimea
  Russia's idea for financing the $8.2 billion project has been backed by China to avoid currency risk associated with conversions into US dollars
- 2014/06/19: Xinhuanet: China, Britain vow to enhance cooperation in finance, RMB business
- 2014/06/19: Xinhuanet: BOC authorized as RMB clearing bank in Frankfurt
- 2014/06/18: PLNA: UK Encourages Greater Use of Yuan in Transactions with China
- 2014/06/17: al Jazeera: Russia-China energy deal: Geopolitical tectonic shift
  Can an emerging China-Russia axis challenge US hegemony?
These 'free trade' treaties should be called the corporate control treaties:
- 2014/06/19: WikiLeaks: [links to several pdfs] Secret Trade in Services Agreement (TISA) - Financial Services Annex
- 2014/06/21: Xinhuanet: Obama vows to wrap up TPP trade talks by year's end
- 2014/06/20: TruthDig: WikiLeaks Reveals Trade Deal Pushing Global Financial Deregulation
- 2014/06/20: CPunch: A Culture of Waste -- Free Trade Agreements and Environmental Destruction
  Uruguayan President José Mujica, addressing the Group of 77 and China summit in Bolivia last Sunday, urged attendees to halt the massive "depredation of nature" underway worldwide by battling the West's "culture of waste." Washington's "free-trade agreements" in effect throughout Central and South America are products of this culture, and must count among their achievements the destruction of huge swathes of the region's forests, the poisoning of its waters, and the ruin of scores of its indigenous communities.
- 2014/06/20: DemNow: A Plan Only Banksters Will Love: WikiLeaks Reveals Trade Deal Pushing Global Financial Deregulation
- 2014/06/20: Tyee: How German Opposition Could Sink a Major Canadian Trade Pact
  Furor over mechanism allowing foreign investors to sue states could sap CETA.
- 2014/06/19: CBC: WikiLeaks publishes 'secret draft' of world trade agreement
  Deal among 50 countries would help prevent added regulation of financial services, website says
- 2014/06/19: CPW: WikiLeaks Publishes Secret Global Trade Agreement
- 2014/06/19: RT: Secret trade agreement covering 68 percent of world services published by WikiLeaks
- 2014/06/18: EurActiv: French concerns over geographical indications will hamper TTIP talks
- 2014/06/18: EurActiv: US embassy in Berlin sparks TTIP Twitter tangle
The Fuel Quality Directive debate has been dragged out so long the dilbit is shipping:
Britain and China released a statement towards boosting climate cooperation this week:
- 2014/06/17: Guardian(UK): We can turn the tide of climate change by working with China by DECC Secretary, Ed Davey
  A joint statement brings together the UK's broad science base and experience with China's scale and ability to innovate
- 2014/06/17: RTCC: China and UK to boost climate cooperation
As for miscellaneous international political happenings:
- 2014/06/16: RT: Climate calamity averted: New renewable rivalry between the US and China
- 2014/06/21: ABC(Au): Barack Obama and New Zealand PM John Key discuss 'robust action' against climate change
Climate Change is a threat multiplier exacerbating existing conflicts in food, energy, water, race, resources, religion, ideology ... etc.:
- 2014/06/18: RTCC: Fight terrorism by tackling climate change, says John Kerry
- 2014/06/18: Wunderground: Drought in Syria: a Major Cause of the Civil War?
The issue of the law and activism is playing out around the world:
- 2014/06/20: CCurrents: Criminalising Dissent
- 2014/06/19: BBC: China jails 'New Citizens' Movement' activists
What are the activists up to?
- 2014/06/19: BBC: Leonardo DiCaprio's role as eco warrior
- 2014/06/17: TruthDig: Rain Forest Tribes Seek World Cup Spotlight
- 2014/06/17: OilChange: Viking Protestors Descend on the British Museum
Is the Climate Movement anything more than a fantasy?
- 2014/06/16: TruthDig: Enthusiasm for Big-Picture Environmentalism Wanes as Local Causes Boom
The move to divest from fossil fuel investments is growing slowly:
- 2014/06/16: NakedCapitalism: The Pragmatic Case for Fossil Fuel Divestment to Address Climate Change
- 2013/07/30: NEWGroup: A future without oil, coal, and gas companies is being forged by individual, institutional and religious investors
Polls! We have polls!
- 2014/06/18: TP:JR: Despite Industry Attacks, Americans Still Love The New Proposed EPA Carbon Rules
- 2014/06/18: EurActiv: Poll: Over 85% of east Europeans back robust 2030 climate goals
- 2014/06/18: WSJ:WW: Obama Carbon Rule Backed by Most Americans -- WSJ/NBC Poll
  More than two-thirds of Americans support President Barack Obama's new climate rule and more than half say the U.S. should address global warming even if it means higher electricity bills, according to a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll.
Regarding Water Politics and Business; See also:
- 2014/06/21: JFleck: Lake Mead's problem: It's about the lower basin structural water deficit, not the Bellagio Fountain
- 2014/06/20: JFleck: In the West, what used to be snow, falling as rain
- 2014/06/20: JFleck: The federal role in environment and water
- 2014/06/20: RTCC: US water stress may drive shift to renewable power
  Thermoelectric power including gas, coal and nuclear responsible for 40% of US water use Climate change may drive a shift to more wind and solar power generation, to conserve water, a U.S. Department of Energy report said this week.
- 2014/06/19: JFleck: South of the border, tension about highest and best use of Colorado River water
- 2014/06/19: CSM: How unlikely partners came together on a Maine river
- 2014/06/18: SciAm:GB: Soil Pollution in China Still a State Secret Despite Recent Survey
- 2014/06/18: CDreams: Groups Appeal to UN for 'Humanity' as Detroit Shuts Off Water to Thousands
- 2014/06/16: SwissInfo: European rivers more polluted than thought
  Agricultural pesticides and purification plants are the main sources of pollution in European rivers, which is greater than previously believed, according to a study on water quality by Swiss, German and French scientists.
- 2014/06/16: CleanTechnica: US Water Woes Add Punch To AP Fracking Report
- 2014/06/14: DesertSun: Vanishing water -- An already strained water supply, threatened by climate change
And on the groundwater front:
Regarding science education:
- 2014/06/20: SciAm:TAA: Natural History is Dying, and We Are All the Losers
While in the UK:
- 2014/06/21: BBC: MPs say UK government 'too slow' on marine conservation
  The development of conservation zones to protect the seas around the UK has been too slow, a group of MPs has said. Last year, the government designated 27 marine conservation zones in the UK, while a further 37 zones could be designated by the end of 2015. However, 127 areas are recommended for protection and the Environmental Audit Committee criticised a "lack of government commitment" on the issue.
- 2014/06/20: BBC: MP Michael Fabricant apologises for 'punch journalist' joke
- 2014/06/19: CleanTechnica: East Anglia Gets World's Largset Offshore Wind Farm, Says NUTS 2 Shale Gas
- 2014/06/17: BBC: Winter floods: MPs criticise funding priorities
  The government got its funding priorities wrong on river maintenance before last winter's floods, say MPs. Members of the all-party Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Efra) select committee said keeping waterways clear had been a "Cinderella" activity. Funding levels for maintenance remain "at a bare minimum" and more money must be found for dredging to avoid a repeat of the winter's devastation, MPs said.
- 2014/06/17: BBC: Winter floods: MPs criticise funding priorities
  The government got its funding priorities wrong on river maintenance before last winter's floods, say MPs.
- 2014/06/16: BBC: Recycling services 'too complicated and confusing'
  Household recycling services are too complicated, uneconomic and confusing, a Welsh government adviser has said. Sustainable futures commissioner Peter Davies wants one system of recycling rather than 22 different ones in each local authority.
- 2014/06/15: BBC: Unison urges home energy checks to reduce need for fracking
  The union Unison is proposing an energy review of homes which it says will save money and reduce the need for fracking.
And in Europe:
- 2014/06/19: RTCC: EU efficiency set-back as countries delay smart meter rollout
- 2014/06/19: RTCC: Seven EU countries demand binding energy efficiency target
- 2014/06/18: EurActiv: Poland's other energy story: taking a closer look
- 2014/06/17: EurActiv: Conflicting energy policies to be adopted at Ypres summit
- 2014/06/17: EurActiv: Biofuels debate continues, despite EU agreement
- 2014/06/17: EurActiv: EU's energy efficiency review puts high target on agenda
- 2014/06/16: GET: Shale Gas for Europe?
  Given the continent's reliance on Russia as a source of natural gas, would it not be logical for Europeans to start producing their own shale gas? After all, we have seen what the effects have been in the US with regards to energy prices. In March, researchers at E3G looked into the matter and found that the success of shale gas in the US is overstated and not transferable to Europe.
- 2014/06/16: EnergyPost: Shale gas: what it could really mean for Europe
While in the Indian subcontinent:
- 2014/06/20: CCurrents: Criminalising Dissent
- 2014/06/20: CPunch: The New Prime Minister -- India's Dangerous Lurch to the Extreme Right
- 2014/06/20: CPunch: The Women Farmers of Edamalakudi -- Solidarity and Solar Panels in Kerala
- 2014/06/18: CCurrents: Foreign Hand In The IB Report?
  The Intelligence Bureau (IB) report has a special section on GMOs (genetically modified/engineered organisms). It clearly supports the introduction of GM crops into Indian agriculture.
- 2014/06/18: CCurrents: The IB Report Generously Promotes Foreign Interests by Vandana Shiva
- 2014/06/18: AsianAge: Generously motivated
  Upholding our laws to defend biosafety is in national interest. But this is not the motivation guiding the IB, whose report repeats the false claims of the GMO industry about Bt cotton.
And in China:
- 2014/06/21: Xinhuanet: Water project tests China's population resettlement, industrial development
- 2014/06/18: CSM: Is China on the brink of a solar power breakthrough?
- 2014/06/18: SciAm:GB: Soil Pollution in China Still a State Secret Despite Recent Survey
- 2014/06/17: RTCC: China off course for 2020 carbon emissions target
While elsewhere in Asia:
- 2014/06/21: ABC(Au): The rapid unravelling of Papua New Guinea's political stability
In the Middle East:
- 2014/06/18: al Jazeera: Egypt's blackouts are here to stay
  After exporting gas at low prices to Israel for years, Egypt finds itself in a deepening energy crisis.
- 2014/06/17: Resilience: Iraq blowback: ISIS rise manufactured by insatiable oil addiction
In Africa:
- 2014/06/21: Xinhuanet: Mauritanians vote for presidential election [pix]
- 2014/06/18: al Jazeera: Mauritanians head to polls amid dissent
  President Abdel Aziz poised for victory as opposition groups plan to boycott election, citing concerns about fairness.
And South America:
- 2014/06/20: EENews: Dry, yet storm-battered Cuba tries to feed itself amid climate extremes
- 2014/06/17: UDW: Ecuador's CONAIE Indigenous Movement: A Return to the Bases in a Fight for Water Rights
- 2014/06/16: UDW: Chile Rejects Patagonian Dam Project, Environmentalists Hail Victory
- 2014/06/16: TP:JR: Host City For U.S. World Cup Opener Under Flood Emergency After Water-Logged Weekend
- 2014/06/16: BBC: Colombia vote: Santos re-elected as president
Meanwhile in Australia:
- 2014/06/21: RNE: Massive Australia coal project dumped in face of China energy revolution
  The proposal to develop a 180 million tonne per annum coal export facility at Dudgeon Point in Queensland has been cancelled.
- 2014/06/20: ABC(Au): Traditional owners to 'lose control' of sacred sites under changes to heritage act
  Proposed changes to WA's Aboriginal Heritage Act would reduce the amount of control traditional owners had over sacred sites, an Indigenous representative group has said. The State Government has released draft reforms to the legislation, which is 42 years old and sets out the way in which sacred Aboriginal places and objects should be preserved.
- 2014/06/20: ABC(Au): ALP's 2013 election review blames former prime minister Kevin Rudd, advisers for campaign mistakes
- 2014/06/20: ABC(Au): Clive Palmer files $1.1 million defamation suit against Queensland Deputy Premier Jeff Seeney
- 2014/06/20: WSWS: Australian High Court sanctions indefinite offshore refugee detention
- 2014/06/19: RNE: South Australia could be 1st mainland state to 100% renewables
- 2014/06/19: ABC(Au): Beach Energy not ruling out Otway Basin fracking [SA]
- 2014/06/19: ABC(Au): Power bills to drop 8pc in Tasmania if Senate approves carbon tax abolition
- 2014/06/19: RNE: Shifting to renewable energy can save consumers money
- 2014/06/19: RNE: ARENA-backed fund buys into solar storage developer
- 2014/06/18: TheConversation: Australia's ancient electricity sector urgently needs a new plan
- 2014/06/19: ABC(Au): New program set to help Indigenous rangers track Northern Territory fish stocks
- 2014/06/18: ABC(Au): Lake Mac council motion on sea level rise gets national backing
  A Lake Macquarie Council motion calling on the Federal Government to address predicted sea level rises has been endorsed at a National Local Government gathering in Canberra.
- 2014/06/18: ABC(Au):TDU: Why our ETS beats Obama's climate plan
  The US carbon emissions plan is a poor second to Australia's current scheme. It would be a grave mistake for Labor to follow Obama's lead as a political solution to the policy challenge of climate change, writes Tony Maher.
- 2014/06/18: ABC(Au): Greens double dare Abbott
  By blocking the abolition of the Clean Energy Finance Corporation in the Senate for a second time the Greens have provided the government with a trigger for a double dissolution and challenged Tony Abbott to pull it.
- 2014/06/18: ABC(Au): Government given double dissolution trigger as Clean Energy Finance Corporation abolition bill voted down
- 2014/06/18: RNE: [NSW Environment Minister, Rob Stokes] says renewables a 'no brainer' for society
- 2014/06/18: RNE: CEFC repeal bill rejected - again - by Senate after Greens force vote
- 2014/06/17: NewsCorp: Buru to gas frack without EPA assessment
  The West Australian government has decided to allow Buru Energy to frack for gas in the Kimberley region without an Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) assessment.
- 2014/06/17: ABC(Au): Nuclear waste for proposed radioactive dump facility near Tennant Creek would be 'low level'
- 2014/06/17: RNE: Councils could lead way for big solar in Australia
  Local councils could underpin a significant roll-out of utility-scale solar across Australia - providing a hedge against rising electricity prices for themselves and rate-payers. This is the prediction of Sunshine Coast Council, which is looking to build its own 10MW solar farm to protect against rising electricity prices.
- 2014/06/17: RNE: Graph of the Day: Australia still losing solar race
- 2014/06/17: RNE: Australian coal plants obsolete, uneconomic in low-carbon race
- 2014/06/16: ABC(Au): Community invited to submit proposals for ACT's new solar energy scheme
- 2014/06/16: RNE: NSW cuts solar tariffs, Qld lifts network costs
- 2014/06/16: RNE: ACT kicks off 1MW community solar program
- 2014/06/16: RNE: City of Sydney extends solar roll-out to historic Rocks
- 2014/06/16: RNE: The remarkable energy transition in South Australia
- 2014/06/16: ABC(Au): The Greens play tough but will avoid double trouble
  The Greens are playing tough politics on a number of budget measures before the Senate change-up and could pave the way for a double dissolution - but don't hold your breath on that, writes Paula Matthewson.
Now we get to watch the suppository of wisdom destroy what little Australia has done to fight climate change:
- 2014/06/22: ABC(Au): Scott Morrison to seek to reintroduce Temporary Protection Visas for refugees
- 2014/06/21: ABC(Au): Audit office uncovers serious problems with Environment Department's monitoring of major projects
- 2014/06/21: ABC(Au): Commonwealth auditor finds Dept of Environment has 'limited awareness' of actions taken in major projects
  The Commonwealth auditor has uncovered serious deficiencies in the way the Department of Environment monitors national environmental law. The Australian National Audit Office found the department had limited awareness of many actions being undertaken within major projects. With further job losses slated within the department, environmentalists fear the problems will only get worse.
- 2014/06/21: ABC(Au): Paying asylum seekers to return home 'standard practice' for 10 years, Scott Morrison says
- 2014/06/21: al Jazeera: Australia offers migrants cash to go home
  Authorities offer payments of up to AU$10,000 for asylum seekers to drop their bids for refugee status.
- 2014/06/20: ABC(Au): No priority for climate change at G20: Australia
- 2014/06/20: ABC(Au): Federal Opposition claims drought money is missing
  The Federal Opposition claims there's at least a $40 million black hole in the budget promised to help drought affected farmers.
- 2014/06/20: ABC(Au): World science body, International Council for Science, 'worried' about Australia's science research cuts
- 2014/06/20: ABC(Au): Landcare to raise money through crowdfunding - after the Coalition Government cut almost $500 million from Landcare
- 2014/06/19: CPunch: Tony Abbott in the US -- A Note on Fawning and US-Australian Ties
- 2014/06/19: Tyee: Climate Disdainers Canada and Australia Form 'Axis of Weasels'
  Jokes aside, Harper and Abbott's oily bromance could soon prove catastrophic.
- 2014/06/18: Guardian(UK): Treating Australians as parasitic 'leaners' is a grave mistake
  If the question were put to them, lots of Australians might be upset by the prospect of working two weeks a year to boost the retirement incomes of the wealthy
- 2014/06/18: ABC(Au): Asylum seeker detention on Manus Island is constitutional, High Court rules
- 2014/06/18: ABC(Au): Donor countries given performance benchmarks for Australian foreign aid under changes to be announced by Julie Bishop
- 2014/06/18: RNE: Global solar giants say Australia risks going backwards
- 2014/06/18: RNE: China-UK climate vow means game is up for Abbott
- 2014/06/17: SMH: Tony Abbott's climate change policy makes me cringe [McKibben]
- 2014/06/17: TheConversation: Australia's economy will suffer if we fall behind on climate action
- 2014/06/17: ABC(Au): Fight for Great Artesian Basin funding within LNP ranks
- 2014/06/17: ABC(Au):TDU: Abbott must put climate change on G20 agenda
  Australia risks losing control of a strategic international issue after Tony Abbott said climate change was off the agenda at this year's G20 summit, writes Dermot O'Gorman.
- 2014/06/17: RNE: Australia's power struggle: Old politics vs new energy
- 2014/06/17: ABC(Au): LNP senator Ian Macdonald threatens to cross the floor on fuel excise hike
  Government senator Ian Macdonald is threatening to cross the floor on the federal budget's fuel excise measure. He says he will not make a final decision, however, until he receives official advice on how the measure will affect drivers in the bush.
- 2014/06/17: WSWS: Australia authorities violently suppress refugee hunger strike
  A sit-in and hunger strike by refugees in Australia's Christmas Island detention centre, protesting against their indefinite detention in violation of fundamental democratic rights and international law, was forcibly suppressed by the government's security contractor, Serco, on June 2, leaving at least eight asylum seekers injured. It was the second crackdown by the Australian government on detainees in four months -- following the police and security guard violence that killed Reza Berati, a 23-year-old Iranian Kurd, and seriously injured other refugees on Papua New Guinea's Manus Island in February.
- 2014/06/17: ABC(Au): Christmas Island tragedy: Scott Morrison expects legal action over Commonwealth's handling of asylum seeker boat
- 2014/06/17: ABC(Au): Climate must be on G20 agenda
  Australia risks losing control of a strategic international issue if it doesn't raise climate change at this year's G20.
- 2014/06/16: BizSpectator: The jobs of yesterday: Abbott's roads rear-vision
- 2014/06/16: TheConversation: A responsible international citizen on climate? Doublespeak in the Oval Office
  As Tony Abbott returns to Australia, there are important climate questions about what really did happen in the Oval Office, where he met not only with US president Barack Obama but with Secretary of State John Kerry, vice-president Joe Biden as well as senior economic and political advisors. Such a welcome in the White House suggests an agenda that steps beyond the rituals of leadership diplomacy.
- 2014/06/16: SMH: Environment Minister Greg Hunt ducks questions over solar power plan 'assurances'
  Environment Minister Greg Hunt has deflected questions about whether he gave false assurances to the clean-energy industry over a now-dumped solar power policy.
- 2014/06/16: ABC(Au): Environment Minister Greg Hunt not denying report he was rolled by senior colleagues over $500m solar rebate scheme
  [...] Mr Hunt promised the solar industry the $500 million solar roofs program in December last year. [...] But the scheme, an election promise of the Coalition's, was dumped in the May federal budget.
- 2014/06/15: RNE: Does Tony Abbott believe the moon is made of cheese?
The fight over coal seam gas continues:
- 2014/06/20: ABC(Au): Worries aired at onshore gas community briefings
  About 600 people have attended the Victorian Government's onshore gas community consultations in Gippsland. The Government is running the sessions to canvass the opinions of residents who will be affected by the creation of an onshore gas industry. Large areas of Gippsland are covered by coal seam gas exploration licences and local opposition to the industry is strong.
- 2014/06/16: ABC(Au): Suspension of Metgasco's drilling licence at Bentley on the New South Wales north coast to be reviewed next week
After years of wrangling, the Murray Darling Basin Plan is in place, but the water management fights are far from finished:
- 2014/06/20: ABC(Au): Greens slam water trigger amendments
  Greens Senator Larissa Waters says the Federal Government has washed its hands of its responsibility to the environment. The House of Representatives has passed changes to the Environmental Protection, Conservation and Biodiversity Act (EPBC) to give state governments more say on the 'water trigger' legislation.
- 2014/06/20: TheConversation: Fighting for their country: inside the battle for Cape York [wild rivers]
- 2014/06/20: ABC(Au): New opinion poll shows opposition to Fitzroy River flood levee plan
- 2014/06/19: ABC(Au): Water users worry budget cuts will compromise Murray-Darling Basin plan
- 2014/06/18: ABC(Au): Green group wants new protections after wild rivers declarations ruled invalid
- 2014/06/18: ABC(Au): Revoking wild rivers essential for ag development
  The Queensland rural lobby group, AgForce, says repealing the state's wild rivers legislation is essential to encourage new agricultural development.
- 2014/06/17: ABC(Au): Wild rivers declarations for Stewart Basin, Archer and Lockhart ruled invalid
- 2014/06/17: ABC(Au): Federal court decides Queensland Wild Rivers declarations are invalid
- 2014/06/17: ABC(Au): Noel Pearson says community feels vindicated by Wild Rivers court case
- 2014/06/17: ABC(Au): Wild Rivers declarations invalid
  The Federal Court has ruled that the Wild Rivers declarations made by the former Queensland Labor government are invalid.
- 2014/06/16: ABC(Au): Vic Govt urged to intervene in Bendigo groundwater woes
  The Victorian Opposition has called on the State Government to address Bendigo's groundwater problems. The Bendigo Trust revealed last week that the cost of keeping the water out of Central Deborah Gold Mine's lower levels was putting it under financial strain. Authorities have been working on a long-term strategy to deal with the smelly and dirty water but it is yet to be finalised.
- 2014/06/16: ABC(Au): Funding worry for Great Artesian Basin program
  The funding for one of Australia's major environmental projects is in doubt. The Great Artesian Basin Sustainability Initiative (GABSI) distributes state and federal funds to help landholders repair uncontrolled artesian bores and replace open earth bore drains with piped water systems.
- 2014/06/16: ABC(Au): Irrigation schemes vote for local management
The Federal and now the State Liberals are bent on trashing the hard won Tasmanian forest deal:
- 2014/06/21: ABC(Au): Tasmanian Government calls for developers to pitch projects for national parks
  Developers are being invited to submit ideas for tourism ventures in Tasmania's national parks. The Tasmanian Government is unlocking the parks and the World Heritage Area to low-impact tourism development.
- 2014/06/20: ABC(Au): Peace elusive in environmental battle over Tasmanian forests
- 2014/06/20: ABC(Au): World Heritage Committee to decide on PM Tony Abbott's request to de-list Tasmanian forest
- 2014/06/19: TheConversation: Tasmania's World Heritage debate needs to look beyond the trees
- 2014/06/15: BBC: UNESCO to rule on Tasmania forest and Great Barrier Reef
  An Australian plan to chop down 74,000 hectares of protected Tasmanian forest for timber will be discussed at a UN cultural organisation meeting which begins on Sunday in Qatar.
- 2014/06/15: TheConversation: Australia sends mixed messages on iconic World Heritage areas
The Warburton review of the Renewable Energy Target is designed to kill it:
- 2014/06/22: RNE: NGOs launch "stop the dinosaurs" as polling backs renewables
  The Climate Institute and the Australian Youth Climate Coalition have joined forces to launch a "Stop the Dinosaurs" digital marketing campaign designed to save the renewable energy target (RET).
- 2014/06/20: RNE: WA could be "world leader" in solar and other renewables
- 2014/06/20: RNE: Modelling wars: Moulding data to kill renewables
- 2014/06/19: RNE: RET Road Trip 8: Renewable target creates jobs, investment on Canberra's doorstep
- 2014/06/19: RNE: RET repeal would deliver windfall to generators, paid for by consumers
UNESCO delayed the Great Barrier Reef decision for a year:
- 2014/06/19: BBC: UNESCO delays 'endangered' Great Barrier Reef decision
  UNESCO has delayed a decision on whether Australia's Great Barrier Reef should be declared as endangered. The UN's cultural body reminded Australia that it must submit an updated report on the reef's state of conservation by 1 February 2015.
- 2014/06/19: ABC(Au): UNESCO right to defer reef 'in danger' decision, Queensland Government says
- 2014/06/18: ABC(Au): Reef decision deferred
  The United Nation's World Heritage committee has deferred for twelve months its decision on whether to declare the Great Barrier Reef world heritage site 'in danger'.
- 2014/06/18: ABC(Au): UNESCO World Heritage: Great Barrier Reef status still in limbo after years of wrangling
- 2014/06/18: ABC(Au): GBRMPA confirms axed directors' positions
  The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA) has confirmed it will abolish five of its directors' positions. The positions that will be cut include the director of heritage conservation, the director of policy and governance and the director of coastal ecosystems and water quality.
- 2014/06/18: ABC(Au): UNESCO ruling: Decision on whether Great Barrier Reef as 'in danger' deferred for a year
  The United Nations world heritage body UNESCO has deferred a decision for 12 months on whether to list the Great Barrier Reef as "in danger" for 12 months. The World Heritage Committee has convened in Doha, Qatar to assess the progress Australia has made in improving the health of the Great Barrier Reef.
The first Muckaty nuclear waste dump nomination was withdrawn. Are you ready for Muckaty 2?
- 2014/06/20: ABC(Au): Muckaty manager will support second nuclear waste nomination
  The manager of Muckaty cattle station says he doesn't care where a nuclear waste facility is put on the property, because it will mean more infrastructure.
- 2014/06/20: ABC(Au): Land council plans internal review after failed Muckaty nuclear dump bid
- 2014/06/19: ABC(Au): Plans for Muckaty waste dump dropped
  The Federal Government's plans for Australia's first nuclear waste dump have come to a grinding halt. The Aboriginal Land Council, which first nominated a site near Muckaty Station near Tennant Creek, has today withdrawn the nomination and the area's traditional owners are celebrating the decision.
- 2014/06/19: ABC(Au): Muckaty plan dumped
- 2014/06/19: ABC(Au): Muckaty Station: Northern Land Council withdraws nomination of site of first nuclear waste dump
That GMO trial verdict has received attention:
- 2014/06/19: ABC(Au): Organic group considering changes to GM tolerance
- 2014/06/18: ABC(Au): Call to lift tolerance level for GM material in organic crops
- 2014/06/18: ABC(Au): Organic farmer to appeal Supreme Court decision on GM canola contamination
- 2014/06/18: ABC(Au): Organic farmer appeals Supreme court decision over GM contamination
  A notice of appeal has been filed in the Court of Appeal, Supreme Court of Western Australia, regarding the case involving two Kojonup grain producers. Organic farmer Steve Marsh lost a legal battle for compensation after alleging crops on his farm in WA's Great Southern were contaminated by GM canola grown by his neighbour, Michael Baxter.
In Canada, neocon PM Harper, aka The Blight, pushes petroleum while ignoring the climate and ecology:
- 2014/06/19: Tyee: Climate Disdainers Canada and Australia Form 'Axis of Weasels'
  Jokes aside, Harper and Abbott's oily bromance could soon prove catastrophic.
- 2014/06/19: MSimon: Stephen Harper and the Northern Gateway Monster
  Gosh. Have you noticed how these days the Cons are always running away from something?
- 2014/06/18: Creekside: The BC Northern Gateway Pipeline 21
- 2014/06/18: CBC: Conservatives distance themselves from Northern Gateway approval
- 2014/06/16: DeSmogBlog: Canadian Government Suggests Oilsands Toxins Similar to 'BBQ'ed Steak'
Resonances of the Lac Mégantic tragedy linger:
In the issue of destructive science policies, the great ghod perversity rears its benighted head:
- 2014/06/21: DeSmogBlog: Katie Gibbs: Canada's War on Science is Raising a New Generation of Science Advocates
The Harper gang delivered their expected approval of the Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline this week:
- 2014/06/21: Rabble:SS: Northern Gateway and National Aboriginal Day: Reconciliation postponed
- 2014/06/21: Economist: Canada's Northern Gateway project -- A go or a no?
- 2014/06/21: CBC: Northern Gateway pipeline's doubled-up challenge
  Enbridge pipeline project has 2 pipes, one flowing east, one west, carrying 2 different products [dilbit & diluent]
- 2014/06/19: WCEL: Canada's Enbridge decision: An annotated guide
- 2014/06/19: MSimon: Martha Hall Findlay's Ghastly Paean to the Northern Gateway Pipeline
- 2014/06/19: Tyee: On Gateway, Harper Should've Asked: What Would Norway Do? Again he ignores huge lessons from the world's shrewdest petro-state
- 2014/06/18: Tyee: 'It's Prompted Debate': Enbridge CEO -- Company 'respects' citizens' rights to hold a referendum on approved pipeline
- 2014/06/18: CBC: [Enbridge] plans to work on 'engagement' with communities
- 2014/06/18: PEF: Will Enbridge's pipeline ever get built?
- 2014/06/18: RT: Canada approves pipeline to Asia but faces enraged opponents
- 2014/06/18: RTCC: Canada approves tar sands pipeline
- 2014/06/18: BBerg: Enbridge's Toughest Gateway Pipeline Tests Still to Come
- 2014/06/18: MSimon: The Cowboy King and the Northern Gateway Pipeline
- 2014/06/18: Creekside: The BC Northern Gateway Pipeline 21
- 2014/06/17: Tyee: Will Harper's 'Yes' On Gateway Cost Him A Majority In 2015?
- 2014/06/17: Tyee: Deep Reading on Enbridge Northern Gateway
  What did Harper just approve? Ten years of Tyee coverage on the controversial plan to pipe Alberta bitumen to BC's north coast.
- 2014/06/17: NatGeo: Canada Approves Controversial Northern Gateway Pipeline: What Now?
- 2014/06/17: NNW: Alberta lauds Northern Gateway decision
- 2014/06/17: NNW: Saskatchewan happy with Northern Gateway approval
- 2014/06/17: NNW: Between a rock and pipeline: Feds distance themselves from Gateway
- 2014/06/17: Grist: The Canadian pipeline (almost) everyone hates gets a go-ahead
- 2014/06/17: PI: Pembina reacts to federal decision on Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline
- 2014/06/17: DogwoodInit: Time for Clark to make good on her Enbridge election promise
- 2014/06/17: CDreams: Northern Gateway Approved: Canada's Harper Gives Federal OK to 'Bloodline of Tar Sands'
- 2014/06/17: BBC: Northern Gateway pipeline in Canada approved
  Canada has conditionally approved a pipeline to bring oil from the Alberta oil sands to the country's Pacific coast over heavy criticism
- 2014/06/17: CBC: Enbridge sees more work ahead, despite Northern Gateway OK
  Safety, environmental protection trump economic case, CEO says
- 2014/06/17: CBC: Northern Gateway pipeline approved with 209 conditions
  Justin Trudeau, Tom Mulcair both pledge to reverse decision if they form government in 2015
- 2014/06/17: CBC: Northern Gateway pipeline approval: Alberta reacts
  Some say this is positive step forward for Alberta in its search to diversify markets
- 2014/06/17: LiP: Chretien's Lesson for the Harper at the Gate(way)
- 2014/06/17: TRR: Ottawa approves $5.5 billion Northern Gateway pipeline
- 2014/06/17: BCLSB: Northern Gateway: Welcome To Our Next National Unity Crisis
- 2014/06/17: DeSmogBlog: Northern Gateway Approved, But Far From Built
- 2014/06/17: DeSmogBlog: Freaking Out About the Northern Gateway Decision? Take a Deep Breath
- 2014/06/17: TP:JR: Canadian Government Conditionally Approves 731-Mile Northern Gateway Tar Sands Pipeline
- 2014/06/16: CBC: Northern Gateway decision holds no easy political options for Harper
  On the controversial B.C. pipeline, PM can say yes, no or not yet, but all answers come with a cost
- 2014/06/15: PostMedia: Northern Gateway may be first big pipeline approved, last to be built
  $7.9 billion pipeline faces many hurdles beyond Ottawa's OK
- 2014/06/10: DogwoodInit: After the speech he gave yesterday, approving Northern Gateway would be an act of utter betrayal
- 2014/06/10: DogwoodInit: Harper and Enbridge's massive angry inch problem
Backlash to the Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline announcement:
- 2014/06/21: Tyee: Rafe Mair: Why I'm for Massive Civil Disobedience
  Gateway approved, now 'British Columbians will learn the stuff they're made of.'
- 2014/06/21: CPW: Harper Will Regret Approving the Enbridge Pipeline: Forest Ethics
- 2014/06/21: DeSmogBlog: David Suzuki: Northern Gateway Approval Flies in Face of Democracy and Global Warming
- 2014/06/20: TheCanadian: Gitga'at women erect symbolic blockade of Enbridge tanker route
- 2014/06/20: Tyee: Three Political Paths to Stop Northern Gateway
  Federal approval handed huge power to British Columbians. Our job is to get organized.
- 2014/06/20: TP:JR: Despite Government Approval, Can Canadians Stop The Northern Gateway Pipeline?
- 2014/06/20: CPW: Northern Gateway Pipeline Opponents: This Means 'War'
  First Nations and other British Columbia citizens promise direct actions, protests and legal battles to thwart Northern Gateway project.
- 2014/06/20: DeSmogBlog: Suzuki: Harper Didn't Have the "Courage" to Present and Defend Northern Gateway Approval
- 2014/06/20: CBC: Northern Gateway tanker threat spurs First Nation's yarn 'blockade'
  Women crochet a 'Chain of Hope' to preserve the marine environment/LI>
- 2014/06/18: CDreams: Pipeline Opponents: This Means 'War'
  First Nations and other British Columbia citizens promise direct actions, protests and legal battles to thwart Northern Gateway project
- 2014/06/18: CBC: Northern Gateway: Ottawa's green light for Enbridge has many in B.C. seeing red
- 2014/06/18: TheCanadian: CIBC: First Nations, lawsuits will block Enbridge for years
- 2014/06/18: al Jazeera:USA: Canada's indigenous: 'We are the wall' that the pipeline cannot pass
  Canadian aboriginal groups plan lawsuits and direct actions to prevent the completion of the Northern Gateway pipeline
- 2014/06/18: ICN: Like Keystone in the U.S., Canada's Pipeline to Pacific Is High-Voltage Politics
  Despite the Harper government's approval, the Northern Gateway's future remains uncertain.
- 2014/06/18: OilChange: The Pipeline that Will Never be Built
- 2014/06/18: CPW: First Nations vow to fight Enbridge's Northern Gateway project
- 2014/06/18: CBC: Northern Gateway pipeline's next battle is in the courts
  5 cases pending over National Energy Board's decision and more to come
- 2014/06/17: Tyee: First Nations on Gateway: 'When We Say No, We Mean It'
- 2014/06/17: Tyee: Only Election Votes Can Stop Northern Gateway
- 2014/06/16: DogwoodInit: Unwanted pipeline, unwilling province -- First Nations, 2 in 3 British Columbians deny Northern Gateway permission to proceed
- 2014/06/16: CDreams: Five Strategies to Stop the Northern Gateway Pipeline from Being Built
- 2014/06/16: CBC: Northern Gateway opponents to push for referendum if pipeline OK'd
  Moves in place to kickstart a provincial referendum should Enbridge pipeline be approved
- 2014/06/16: CPW: Five strategies to stop Enbridge's Northern Gateway tar sands pipeline
- 2014/06/16: PostMedia: Northern Gateway opponents prepare for provincial referendum campaign
  Vancouver -- Resigned, perhaps, that federal government approval of the Northern Gateway pipeline is inevitable, opponents of the project are formulating a plan to make sure British Columbia's politicians remain opposed to the project. For months now, members of the Dogwood Initiative have been preparing for a provincial referendum akin to the vote that forced the Liberal government to repeal the harmonized sales tax in British Columbia. Should Ottawa give the pipeline the go-ahead by this Tuesday's deadline and the province issues the necessary permits and authorizations, spokesman Kai Nagata said his group will be ready. "In a perfect world, politicians would do what they say they're going to do and the province of British Columbia's clear rejection of Northern Gateway would stand," Nagata said. "But life doesn't always work that way. So the initiative build is a strategy to basically hold our provincial politicians to their word on this project."
- 2014/06/15: CTV: B.C. chief: We'll do 'whatever it takes' to stop Northern Gateway
- 2014/06/15: CBC: Northern Gateway opponents prepare for provincial referendum -- Pipeline opponents developing strategies to delay, halt project
There are getting to be so manyoil [2] andnatural gas [2]pipelines, one almost needs a scorecard:
1. The TransCanada West-East [aka Energy East] pipeline has passed the first stage
2. There are hearings for the Kinder Morgan expansion coming up
The TransCanada West-East [aka Energy East] pipeline has passed the first stage:
- 2014/06/20: BBerg: Energy East Seen as Higher-Cost Alternative to Keystone
  TransCanada Corp.'s proposed Energy East oil pipeline is only worth building as an alternative to the Keystone XL project because it offers fewer cost advantages and there's not enough demand for both, Wood Mackenzie said. Producers shipping oil-sands crude to Canada's Atlantic Coast on Energy East will likely have to pay an extra $2 or $3 a barrel, and with both pipelines operating, there would be excess capacity in coming years, Michael Wojciechowski, manager of Americas refining and chemicals at the energy research firm, said in a briefing today in Calgary. "It's an either or for Energy East and Keystone XL," Wojciechowski said. "Without Keystone, Energy East is the project with the clearest path to completion."
- 2014/06/19: DeSmogBlog: Energy East, Line 9 Pipelines Will Have "Insignificant" Economic Impact on Quebec, Says Report
- 2014/06/18: CoC: New report says Energy East Pipeline a disaster in waiting
There is wrangling over the NEB trying to restrict the Kinder Morgan expansion hearings:
- 2014/06/06: DogwoodInit: Farce Unfolds at Port Metro Vancouver AGM
What's the state of the West Coast salmon fishery?
- 2014/06/20: NBF: 120 tons of iron sulphate of fertilization into the ocean boosted fish catch by over 100,000 tons - We get a lot of fish and solve the CO2 climate problem
Meanwhile in BC:
- 2014/06/21: NorIns: Who does the Government of BC serve?
- 2014/06/21: TheCanadian: First Nations leaders: BC LNG "up in the air"
- 2014/06/17: WCEL: Weakening BC's environmental laws risks eroding social licence for Government's Cleanest LNG goals
- 2014/06/16: PoliticsReSpun: Hey, BC: Want More Jobs? Dump the LNG and Pipelines!
Meanwhile in that Mechanical Mordor known as the tar sands:
- 2014/06/20: G&M: [Editorial] Tar sands oil should cross the ocean, but from where exactly?
Also in Alberta:
- 2014/06/18: PI: Like the U.S., Alberta needs a strategy to end its coal dependence
- 2014/06/18: CBC: Alberta flooding: Several communities under state of local emergency -- Southern Albertans prepare for flooding amid heavy rainfall warning
- 2014/06/17: CBC: Flood warning prompts Lethbridge County state of emergency -- Water levels are extremely high in Oldman River basin
- 2014/06/17: BLongstaff: Alberta politicos hedge on flood mitigation
- 2014/06/16: CBC: Alberta First Nations sue Ottawa over safety of drinking water
  Tsuu T'ina, Ermineskin, Sucker Creek and Blood First Nations involved in lawsuit
While in Saskatchewan:
- 2014/06/16: SaskBoy: A Plan Designed To Fail Is No Plan At All #skpoli
And in Manitoba:
In Ontario, Wynne has her mandate. Now what will she do...?
- 2014/06/20: CBC: Keystone pipeline an issue in downtown Toronto byelection
- 2014/06/20: CBC: Angus tornado: 'Everyone has pulled together,' Kathleen Wynne says
  But Ontario premier can't commit to relief funding: 'There's a process to go through'
- 2014/06/19: CPunch: The Agony of Canada's Rightwing Pundits [Ont pol]
- 2014/06/16: Tyee: Wynne's Win, and the Agony of Right-Wing Pundits
- 2014/06/15: BCLSB: Anti-Wind Battle Moves To Municipalities
- 2014/06/13: G&M: Green energy sector breathes easier after Ontario Liberal win
While in la Belle Province:
- 2014/06/19: TheCanadian: New Quebec government choosing fossil fuels over green jobs
- 2014/06/16: CBC: FerroAtlantica to build $382M silicon metal plant in Quebec
In the Maritimes:
- 2014/06/20: CBC: ExxonMobil ties N.L. industry's future to results today
  The future of Newfoundland and Labrador's offshore oil industry depends on getting the projects of today done on time and on budget, the president of ExxonMobil Canada [Andrew Barry] says.
- 2014/06/19: CBC: Fracking buffer around Gros Morne needed: UNESCO
In the North:
- 2014/06/20: CBC: Franklin expedition search continues for 6th summer
And on the American political front:
- 2014/06/20: TruthDig: Gov. Scott Walker Suspected in 'Criminal' Election Scheme
- 2014/06/20: Tamino: Frack You
- 2014/06/20: Grist: Pennsylvania ordered its health workers to never discuss fracking
- 2014/06/20: PSinclair: Republicans Seeking to Evolve on Climate Change
- 2014/06/20: Grist: Pesticide and GMO companies spend big to influence politics in Hawaii
- 2014/06/19: BBerg: Philadelphia Council Balks on $1.86 Million Utility Sale
- 2014/06/19: TreeHugger: Utah's majestic landscapes threatened by dirty fuels industry
- 2014/06/19: CleanTechnica: UCLA Practicum Warns AB 2145 Might Render CCAs Ineffective
- 2014/06/18: RTCC: Republicans tell Congress to act on climate
  Republicans serving under Nixon, Reagan, Bush and Bush tell Congress to step up on climate action
- 2014/06/18: TreeHugger: Massachusetts to open area the size of Rhode Island to offshore wind power
- 2014/06/18: Grist: Democrats are getting greener and Republicans are getting dirtier
- 2014/06/18: TP:JR: How Politicians Are Using Taxpayer Money To Fund Their Campaign To Sell Off America's Public Lands
- 2014/06/18: TP:JR: Despite Industry Attacks, Americans Still Love The New Proposed EPA Carbon Rules
- 2014/06/18: WSJ:WW: Obama Carbon Rule Backed by Most Americans -- WSJ/NBC Poll
  More than two-thirds of Americans support President Barack Obama's new climate rule and more than half say the U.S. should address global warming even if it means higher electricity bills, according to a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll.
- 2014/06/17: CleanTechnica: Ohio To Wind Power: Drop Dead
- 2014/06/17: BBerg: For Republicans: First Immigration, Now Climate Change
  [...] Ignoring the issue of climate change is no longer a viable political strategy, and the GOP risks its fortunes in 2016 and beyond by keeping its collective head in the sand.
- 2014/06/17: TheConversation: After Sandy, New York plans to rebuild by blue-green design
- 2014/06/17: TP:JR: Koch-Funded Group Won't Back Kansas Republicans Who Supported Clean Energy
- 2014/06/16: TP:JR: Texas Oil And Gas Regulator Bans Its Staff From Talking To The Media
- 2014/06/16: CleanTechnica: 300 MW Of Solar Approved By City Of Los Angeles
- 2014/06/16: SciAm:BSH: Texas Museum Loses Climate Change Display
- 2014/06/15: NorRe: The Politics Of Resentment
- 2014/06/14: DallasNews: Museums tiptoe around climate change
The Keystone XL wheel grinds slowly. And it grinds woe:
- 2014/06/19: CBC: Keystone could face U.S. rejection, says ex-Canadian ambassador, Raymond Chretien
- 2014/06/19: DeSmogBlog: Silent Coup: How Enbridge is Quietly Cloning the Keystone XL Tar Sands Pipeline
- 2014/06/18: FuelFix: Bill to approve Keystone XL advances in Senate
- 2014/06/17: ICN: Expiration of South Dakota Keystone Permit Another Hurdle for TransCanada
  New permit application might trigger a new comment period and hearing -- opening yet another front in the pipeline fight.
- 2014/06/17: CBC: Iraq conflict: Could it boost the Keystone XL pipeline bid?
Leaks and spills:

Jeez! It's getting hard to keep all the spills and leaks straight. You need a map. Let's see...:
1. In North Caroline, Duke Energy spilled coal ash slurry into the Dan River
2. In Arkansas, Exxon, spilled dilbit into the suburb of Mayflower
3. Noble Energy Inc. befouled the Cache La Poudre in Colorado
In North Carolina, Duke Energy spilled coal ash slurry into the Dan River:
- 2014/06/20: TP:JR: Duke Energy Was Warned About Potential For Dan River Spill Decades Ago, Documents Show
Earlier in Arkansas, Exxon, spilled dilbit into the suburb of Mayflower:
Noble Energy Inc. spilled 7,500 gallons of crude oil into the Cache La Poudre in Colorado:
The GOP War on Women continues. See also:
- 2014/06/19: ACLU: Senate Committee Votes to Extend Abortion Coverage to Peace Corps Volunteers
- 2014/06/16: TRP: Bobby Jindal: Fetus and Jesus Lover and Hypocritical Motherfucker
- 2014/06/15: TruthDig: Florida Requires Doctors to Evaluate Fetus Survival
Meanwhile on the lying is free speech front:
2014/06/16: RawStory: Supreme Court: Anti-abortion group can challenge Ohio ban on false campaign ads
2014/06/18: CPunch: Punishing False Statements -- Mendacity, Elections and the First Amendment [war on women]

There's still a lot of chatter about the new EPA carbon rules:
- 2014/06/20: RTCC: US cap on coal sector emissions "carbon crumbs"-Hansen
  US power sector is already halfway to the EPA's 2030 carbon cap New U.S. regulation of carbon emissions from coal-fired power plants amounted to "crumbs", given the urgency of the climate problem, said veteran climate scientist James Hansen.
- 2014/06/20: ICN: Why EPA Expects Its New Carbon Rule to Shrink Your Electric Bill
  Although the price of electricity very well might rise, even significantly in some places, your monthly bill won't.
- 2014/06/19: EnergyPost: Obama's Clean Power Plan: why it's smarter than you think (and beats EU policy)
- 2014/06/19: TP:JR: Murray Energy Sues EPA Over New Carbon Rule
  Ohio-based Murray Energy, the nation's largest privately owned coal company, has made good on its threat to sue over the EPA's proposed new carbon emission rule. On Wednesday, as the rule was being published in the Federal Register, the lawsuit against the EPA was filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
- 2014/06/19: Grist: Tell the EPA what you think of its climate rules
- 2014/06/19: CleanTechnica: 9 Companies That Will Likely Benefit From New Carbon Rules Proposed By EPA
- 2014/06/18: CourierJournal: [Editorial] So-called science
- 2014/06/18: WSJ:WW: Obama Carbon Rule Backed by Most Americans -- WSJ/NBC Poll
  More than two-thirds of Americans support President Barack Obama's new climate rule and more than half say the U.S. should address global warming even if it means higher electricity bills, according to a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll.
- 2014/06/18: TPM DC: Shutdown Wars Return? GOP Senators Want To Block Obama's Climate Rules
- 2014/06/18: PSinclair: Government Shutdown Over Climate Rules?
- 2014/06/18: PSinclair: House Ponders Roadblocks to Carbon Control
- 2014/06/17: TP:JR: GOP Governors Don't Want To Cut Carbon Pollution Even Though Their States Do
- 2014/06/17: Resilience: Obama's New Emission Rules: Will They Survive Challenges?
- 2014/06/16: HuffPo: The EPA Is Right and US Chamber of Commerce Is Wrong on Climate Change
- 2014/06/16: CSW: On the role of methane in EPA's draft rule on carbon emissions
There is still some chatter about Cantor's downfall:
- 2014/06/20: TruthDig: Americans Are Self-Segregating Based on Politics
- 2014/06/15: AntiWar: The Coming Storm -- The upending of American politics
- 2014/06/15: NYT:PK: The Corporates and the Crazies
Looking ahead to the 2014 & 2016 elections:
- 2014/06/20: CPunch: Killing Kyoto Softly -- Hillary Clinton's Climate Change Alternate Reality
- 2014/06/19: CBC: Mitt Romney's fan club wants him to run again -- will he?
- 2014/06/17: Grist: Hillary Clinton won't discuss Keystone XL
The actions of the Obama administration are being watched closely:
- 2014/06/21: CSM: Can Obama save the honey bees?
  President Obama ordered US agencies to come up with a plan for protecting honey bees. Why just a plan? Why isn't the US banning neonicotinoids, a kind of pesticide that some research shows is killing off US honey bees?
- 2014/06/21: DeSmogBlog: Heather Zichal, Former Obama Energy Aide, Named to Board of Fracked Gas Exports Giant Cheniere
- 2014/06/20: CSM: White House announces strategy to save the honeybees
- 2014/06/20: Grist: Bees and butterflies get a boost from the feds
- 2014/06/20: BBC: US sets up honey bee loss task force
  The White House has set up a taskforce to tackle the decline of honey bees. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the agriculture department will lead the effort, which includes $8m (£4.7m) for new honey bee habitats.
- 2014/06/20: CleanTechnica: ARPA-E Chimes In With $33 Million For Advanced Fuel Cells
- 2014/06/20: TheCanadian: LNG bad for climate: US Dept of Energy report
- 2014/06/20: CPunch: Science for Sale -- How EPA Faked the Entire Science of Sewage Sludge Safety: a Whistleblower's Story
- 2014/06/18: CleanTechnica: $20 Million Sez Solar Powered FCEVs Are On The Way
- 2014/06/18: DeSmogBlog: White House Meeting Logs: Big Rail Lobbying Against "Bomb Train" Regulations It Publicly Touts
- 2014/06/18: ABC(Au): US president Barack Obama vows to protect central Pacific waters, combat illegal fishing
- 2014/06/17: Grist: Obama to create largest marine protected area ever, because bigger is better
- 2014/06/17: TreeHugger: Obama announces plans for huge marine preserve expansion
- 2014/06/17: CSM: Obama seeks to create world's largest marine sanctuary
- 2014/06/17: CPunch: "Bomb Trains" Regulations -- Obama White House Quietly Coddling Big Oil
- 2014/06/16: Grist: Obama calls out climate deniers, asks young people to force climate change issue
- 2014/06/15: CDreams: Obama Bashes Climate Change Deniers
  As Obama delivers new and powerful rhetoric on climate change, a closer look at his own policies asks harder questions
- 2014/06/15: DeSmogBlog: Meeting Logs: Obama White House Quietly Coddling Big Oil on "Bomb Trains" Regulations
As for what is going on in Congress:
- 2014/06/21: CSM: Raising gas tax to pay transportation projects? Good idea, but skip the budget gimmick
- 2014/06/20: SciNews: U.S. House budget bill would nix Steven Chu's brainchild - the Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis (JCAP)
- 2014/06/20: CleanTechnica: $113 Million Cut From Renewable Energy Spending By Republican Bill
- 2014/06/19: CSM: House Republicans elect new leaders: Who are they?
- 2014/06/19: TP:JR: Congressman To EPA: Why Do You Want To Kill People's Jobs And Families?
- 2014/06/19: BBickmore: Republican EPA Chiefs Urge Climate Action
- 2014/06/19: ICN: Republican EPA Chiefs: No Excuse for Congressional Climate Inaction
  Hearing meant to highlight some bipartisanship on EPA's new climate plan did more to expose the deep partisan divide over the issue.
- 2014/06/19: CSM: GOP EPA chiefs: Climate change action needed now
- 2014/06/18: CSM: Bipartisan attempt to raise gasoline tax
- 2014/06/17: SciNews: U.S. Senate panel would give slight boost to energy science budget
The movement toward a long term ecologically viable economics is glacial:
- 2014/06/20: Resilience: Sustainability, Resilience and Adaptability as Guiding Principles
- 2014/06/20: Resilience: How To Convert a Business into a Worker-owned Cooperative
- 2014/06/20: FPIF: What Piketty Forgot
  The crisis of capitalism isn't just about the gap between rich and poor. It's about the gap between what's demanded by our planet and what's demanded by our economy.
IPAT [Impact = Population * Affluence * Technology] raised its head once again:
- 2014/06/20: TruthDig: It's Time for Ireland to Stop Punishing Pregnant Women
Apocalypso anyone?
- 2014/06/21: CCP: Hank Paulson, NYT: The Coming Climate Crash...
Please adjust your rose coloured glasses as necessary:
- 2014/06/19: Grist: Al Gore thinks there's hope for humanity after all
- 2014/06/18: RStone: The Turning Point: New Hope for the Climate by Former US Vice President Al Gore
How do the corporate media measure up?
- 2014/06/21: KSJT: Newsweek Antarctic ice story has flaws, sure, but noted climate skeptic's rant is off the chart
- 2014/06/19: CJR: Narrating climate change
  Incremental journalism isn't driving home the dire state of the climate to the public, so researchers and outlets are trying to reach them through a shift in storytelling
- 2014/06/19: TP:JR: Oil And Gas CEO: '100 Percent, Fracking Is Safe'
- 2014/06/19: JQuiggin: Literally, Catallaxy on a bad day
- 2014/06/18: MediaMatters: Report: California's Record Fire Season Drives Climate Change Into The News
- 2014/06/16: IO9: 10 Scientific Ideas That Scientists Wish You Would Stop Misusing
- 2014/06/15: NYT: Eric Cantor's Defeat Exposed a Beltway Journalism Blind Spot
And for your film & video enjoyment:
- 2014/06/21: P3: To Hell With Gloom [David Brin]
- 2014/06/19: PSinclair: Dark Snow: Dr. Marek Stibal Sampling On the Greenland Sheet
- 2014/06/19: PSinclair: Solar Shingles: Making Solar Safe for Suburbanites
- 2014/06/19: PSinclair: Singing Mom Stings Climate Deniers
- 2014/06/18: CSM: 'Sons of Wichita' is a rollicking, revealing look at the powerful Koch brothers
- 2014/06/17: Resilience: It's the Sugar, Stupid: A Review of the Documentary 'Fed Up'
- 2014/06/17: Hypergeometric: Sibling Tornados
- 2014/06/17: PSinclair: "We're Not Even Sure of the Physics of It..". Nebraska, You're Not in Kansas Anymore
- 2014/06/16: CChallenge: Prof Camille Parmesan - Biodiversity and Climate Change
- 2014/06/16: CBC: Diving for icebergs: A view from the bottom
As for podcasts:
- 2014/06/16: IP: (mp3) Julia Slingo interview
- 2014/06/16: PSinclair: Reposting: From 1956, Climate Change Described in this Vinyl Recording
Meanwhile among the 'Sue the Bastards!' contingent:
- 2014/06/20: BBerg: Exxon, Chevron Sued by Pennsylvania Over Gas Additive [MTBE]
  Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp. were among oil companies accused by Pennsylvania of polluting groundwater with a gasoline additive in lawsuits similar to ones brought by New York City, New Hampshire and Vermont.
- 2014/06/19: TP:JR: Murray Energy Sues EPA Over New Carbon Rule
  Ohio-based Murray Energy, the nation's largest privately owned coal company, has made good on its threat to sue over the EPA's proposed new carbon emission rule. On Wednesday, as the rule was being published in the Federal Register, the lawsuit against the EPA was filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
- 2014/06/19: ICN: Judge Upholds Jury Verdict for Family in Texas Fracking Case
  Judge accepts jury verdict that awarded $2.9 million to family affected by air emissions from gas and oil wells near their Wise County home.
- 2014/06/18: DeSmogBlog: Colorado Citizens Launch Class Action Lawsuit to Protect Lafayette's Fracking Ban
- 2014/06/18: ICN: Fate of $3M Fracking Damage Award for Texas Couple in Judge's Hands
  If Judge Mark Greenberg decides in the Parr family's favor, the case could establish new legal standards for people fighting oil and gas industry.
Wrestling over a new energy infrastructure continues unabated:
- 2014/06/20: RT: Renewable energy initiatives up 10x in last decade [REN21]
- 2014/06/20: ERabett: Ethon RTFR and Is Pleased
- 2014/06/20: RNE: Graph of the Day: Climate disruption and energy sector
- 2014/06/19: ITracker: Chart from the Wikipedia
- 2014/06/19: CleanTechnica: Energy Sector Is Facing Increasing Pressure From Climate Change
- 2014/06/19: CleanTechnica: Economic Value Of Renewables For Environment, Economy & Society
- 2014/06/18: RTCC: Hydropower poses grid challenge for Brazil
  While rainfall has recently doused World Cup football pitches in southern and eastern Brazil, persistent drought elsewhere poses a challenge for the country's hydropower, the US Department of Energy said on Tuesday.
- 2014/06/15: TruthDig: Hot Rocks Are a Core Asset
BP released their Statistical Review of World Energy 2014 this week:
2014/06/: BP: [links to pdfs] Statistical Review of World Energy 2014
2014/06/20: ETI:RRapier: The Top 10 Oil Producers in 2013 [BP SR]
2014/06/17: ETI:RRapier: The Oil Markets as a Thanksgiving Turkey [BP SR]
2014/06/17: BizGreen: The terrifying trends concealed in BP's Statistical Review

What do you have in energy comparisons and transitions?
- 2014/06/22: Grist: Nebraska utility is phasing out some coal units, and it won't cost that much
Hey! Let's contaminate the aquifers for thousands of years! It'll be a fracking gas!
- 2014/06/20: Tamino: Frack You
- 2014/06/20: Grist: Pennsylvania ordered its health workers to never discuss fracking
- 2014/06/18: TruthDig: Fracking Boom Threatens U.S. Water Supplies
- 2014/06/18: RTCC: US fracking boom threatens water supplies
- 2014/06/16: CleanTechnica: US Water Woes Add Punch To AP Fracking Report
On the coal front:
- 2014/06/19: RealEconomics: Coal still smashing consumption records
- 2014/06/19: CSM: In a global 'war on coal,' coal is winning
- 2014/06/18: FuturePundit: Coal Still Fastest Growing Fossil Fuel
- 2014/06/17: DD: Coal company CEO threatens to sue EPA for 'lying' about global warming
- 2014/06/16: Guardian(UK): Coal's share of [global] energy market at highest level since 1970
On the gas and oil front:
- 2014/06/20: BBerg: Closing oil prices Friday
  OIL (US$/bbl)
  Dated Brent Spot....114.81
  WTI Cushing Spot....106.83
- 2014/06/20: TP:JR: Up To A Million Abandoned Wells In Pennsylvania Spew Heat-Trapping Methane
- 2014/06/20: BBC: [Brent] Oil around nine-month high of $115 on Iraq fighting
- 2014/06/19: IndiaTimes: China oil giants prepare Iraq evacuation plans: Report
- 2014/06/19: RT: Iraq exodus? Oil majors withdraw staff as terror threat rises
- 2014/06/19: Grist: Here's what the battle over Iraqi oil means for America
- 2014/06/18: BBerg: Half-Price Kurd Oil Threatens Iraq Breakup With Turkish Help
- 2014/06/18: Resilience: Might the Bakken Boom Get Derailed?
- 2014/06/18: CSM: We will never run out of oil, but that's not the point
- 2014/06/18: CSM: North Dakota oil output hits 1 million barrels per day
- 2014/06/17: BBerg: Brent Crude Rises as Iraq Fighting Spreads in North
- 2014/06/17: TP:JR: Why The Crisis In Iraq Has The Global Oil Industry On Edge
- 2014/06/16: BBerg: Kurds Grab Fourth-Largest Iraq Oilfield Amid ISIL Advance
  Kurdish troops were defending Iraq's fourth-biggest oilfield against Islamist militants after deploying outside their semi-autonomous region in the country's north to seize the deposit claimed by the central government. More than 100,000 Kurdish fighters, known as peshmergas, are guarding a "front line" from Iraq's eastern border with Iran to the northern town of Fishkabur near Turkey, Jabbar Yawar, Peshmerga Ministry secretary-general, said yesterday in an interview in Erbil, the Kurdish region's capital. They now occupy areas around the contested city of Kirkuk where BP Plc has been in talks with Iraq's government to help reverse declining output at the oilfield discovered in 1927.
- 2014/06/16: TP:JR: Texas Oil And Gas Regulator Bans Its Staff From Talking To The Media
- 2014/06/16: OilChange: US "Not Immune" to Oil Price Hike
- 2014/06/15: EconBrowser: Iraq, oil markets, and the U.S. economy
In the gas and oil corps:
Ships and boats and trains -- How to tranport the stuff?
- 2014/06/19: Grist:Oil-train info does not need to be secret, feds say
- 2014/06/17: DeSmogBlog: Tar Sands on the Tracks: Railbit, Dilbit and U.S. Export Terminals
- 2014/06/17: CPunch: "Bomb Trains" Regulations -- Obama White House Quietly Coddling Big Oil
- 2014/06/16: OilChange: Tar sands reaching the US Gulf Coast by rail remains a dribble
- 2014/06/16: ICN: 2 States Beef Up Oil-by-Rail and Pipeline Safety After String of Accidents
  Other states that have surging oil-by-rail traffic and pipelines carrying tar sands are expected to consider similar safety requirements.
A rush of American triumphalism pervades the energy independence PR campaign. Think it will last?
- 2014/06/19: NBF: Another layer of oil under the Bakken in the USA and Canada is proving to be profitable and productive
- 2014/06/16: CPunch: Downgrading the Monterey Shale -- A Big Blow to the Fracking Industry
Yes we have a peak oil sighting:
- 2014/06/18: RNE: IEA says 'peak oil demand' could hit as early as 2020
Biofuel bickering abounds:
- 2014/06/18: ABC(Au): Grape power fuelling factory
The answer my friend...
- 2014/06/22: CleanTechnica: America's First Wind Turbine Generated Electricity In 1888
- 2014/06/20: SciAm:PI: Photo Friday: A Big Week for Offshore Wind in New Jersey
- 2014/06/19: CleanTechnica: Wind Turbines Yield Almost Immediate Net Benefit [
- 2014/06/18: TP:JR: U.K. Approves Plans For What Could Become The World's Largest Offshore Wind Farm
- 2014/06/18: TreeHugger: Massachusetts to open area the size of Rhode Island to offshore wind power
- 2014/06/18: TP:JR: Despite Heat, Low Electricity Prices In Texas Show How Wind Is Good For Consumers
- 2014/06/16: DeSmogBlog: Global Wind Day Celebrates Wind Energy as Major Player Worldwide
- 2014/06/16: Eureka: Wind turbine payback
  US researchers have carried out an environmental lifecycle assessment of 2-megawatt wind turbines mooted for a large wind farm in the US Pacific Northwest. Writing in the International Journal of Sustainable Manufacturing, they conclude that in terms of cumulative energy payback, or the time to produce the amount of energy required of production and installation, a wind turbine with a working life of 20 years will offer a net benefit within five to eight months of being brought online.
- 2014/06/16: RNE: Communities and wind power: What's the deal?
- 2014/06/16: RNE: World wind energy capacity to double by 2020
Meanwhile among the solar aficionados:
- 2014/06/20: EnergyPost: The days of solar power may be closer than you think
- 2014/06/20: CleanTechnica: Solar Cell Efficiency Boosted As Much As 50% With New Optical Element
- 2014/06/19: Rice: One step to solar-cell efficiency
- 2014/06/19: EENews: German solar industry sets major records in June but needs more storage
- 2014/06/18: RNE: SolarCity plans 1GW solar factory as solar costs plunge
- 2014/06/18: TreeHugger: Germany breaks 3 solar power records in 2 weeks
- 2014/06/17: Grist: Now Elon Musk wants to revolutionize solar panel production
- 2014/06/17: CleanTechnica: NRG Community 1 Solar Facility Is Now Complete
- 2014/06/17: TheCanadian: Elon Musk buys solar company to build large-scale panel factories
- 2014/06/17: RNE: Will batteries and PV create unstoppable hybrid force?
The nuclear energy controversy continues:
- 2014/06/20: WNN: Oskarshamn 2 outage timeline extended
  Sweden's Oskarshamn 2 is expected to remain offline well into 2015 as the timetable for modernization work at the plant is extended by operator OKG. Delays to the program have had knock-on effects for a planned power uprate.
- 2014/06/20: SciAm:TCW: Making nuclear energy cheap: The view from the Breakthrough Institute
- 2014/06/19: ABC(Au): Environmentalist argues in favour of nuclear power
  An Australian environmental consultant says the world needs to embrace nuclear power if it's serious about battling climate change. Ben Heard, a former anti-nuclear advocate, says after extensively researching climate change mitigation he believes nuclear power is needed to decarbonise the planet.
- 2014/06/19: BBC: Wylfa nuclear power station closed for five months
  Wylfa nuclear power station on Anglesey has been closed for more than five months, it has emerged. Reactor one was shut down on 6 January for maintenance work and the discovery of further problems has delayed re-starting the station twice.
- 2014/06/19: ABC(Au): Calm down, uranium is a conversation Australia needs to have by Daniel Zavattiero
  Nuclear energy offers so much promise for the world's energy needs. But in Australia we can't seem to have a rational conversation about it.
- 2014/06/18: NBF: Peak Resource and Anti-Nuclear Doomers Really Hate Uranium from Seawater Technology and Molten Salt Nuclear Reactors
- 2014/06/18: BBerg: China Regulators 'Overwhelmed' as Reactors Built at Pace
Nuclear waste storage requires _very_ long term thinking:
- 2014/06/20: FukuLeaks: New WIPP Information, Xrays and Analysis
- 2014/06/19: WNN: Australian waste facility site shelved
- 2014/06/19: BBC: Australia drops planned Aborigine nuclear waste site
  Australia has dropped a plan to place its first nuclear waste dump on Aborigine land, after a long-running legal case ended. Aboriginal landowners had argued that the proposed site, at Muckaty Station in the Northern Territory, was next to an area they considered sacred. Both sides agreed to discontinue the legal case after the government said it would not proceed with the plan.
Feed-In-Tariffs (Net Metering & Time-of-Use Tariffs) are being variously implemented around the world:
- 2014/04/23: SSRN: Feed-in Tariffs in Turmoil by Lincoln L. Davies & Kirsten Allen
- 2014/06/20: GEB: Davies/Allen: Feed-in Tariffs in Turmoil
More people are talking about the electrical grid:
- 2014/06/18: JCBaez: Wind Power and the Smart Grid
- 2014/06/16: VoxEU: The value of transmission in electricity markets: Evidence from a nuclear power plant closure by Lucas W. Davis & Catherine Hausman
  Estimating the economic value of energy transmission is difficult because investments in transmission capacity are endogenous to market conditions. This column presents recent research that takes advantage of a natural experiment to generate a credible counterfactual. The unexpected closure of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station in California increased generation costs by $350 million per year; it also led to increased carbon emissions worth $320 million annually.
How are the utilities adjusting (or not)?
- 2014/06/19: CleanTechnica: Agreement Between Solar Industry & Utilities?
- 2014/06/17: TP:JR: Texas Utility Doubles Large-Scale Solar, Says It Will Be Coal-Free By 2016
- 2014/06/16: ABC(Au): Community energy in focus at Australian-first congress in Canberra
  The growing number of community-led projects that generate their own power through renewable energy is the focus of Australia's first Community Energy Congress, being held in Canberra this week.
- 2014/06/16: RNE: Grid parity still doesn't matter (but grid defection does)
- 2014/06/16: RNE: Solar turns tables on Australia's electricity markets
And then there is the matter of efficiency & conservation:
- 2014/06/18: TreeHugger: Cable TV boxes are now 2nd biggest power users in many homes
Automakers & lawyers, engineers & activists argue over the future of the car:
- 2014/06/17: CleanTechnica: Study: EVs Save Fleet Operators $16,000 A Year
- 2014/06/17: UCSUSA:B: It's Electric! The Science of Cleaner Vehicles
As for Energy Storage:
- 2014/06/19: CleanTechnica: Toyota Researching Solid State Batteries As Next Step For EVs
- 2014/06/18: CleanTechnica: Maxwell's Ultracapacitor Cell Is 300 Times More Vibration Resistant
- 2014/06/18: ABC(Au): Rock salt lithium could make batteries safer
- 2014/06/18: RNE: PCM hot water storage: the next energy efficiency super star?
What do we have in (weekly) lists?
- 2014/06/22: NewAnthropocene: Sunday Reads #8: All things climate, environmental and politics
- 2014/06/21: SkS: 2014 SkS Weekly News Roundup #25B by John Hartz
- 2014/06/20: CleanTechnica: Solar Energy & Energy Efficiency News Carnival [lists]
- 2014/06/20: CleanTechnica: Electric Vehicle Heaven (Insane Electric Vehicle News Roundup)
- 2014/06/19: SkS: 2014 SkS Weekly News Roundup #25A by John Hartz
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.
- 2014/06/17: CSM: Koch brothers launch own super PAC. How powerful is big money?
- 2014/06/19: ATTPh: Recovering from the LIA?
- 2014/06/19: ATTPh: Defending the consensus, again!
- 2014/06/19: DD: Friends of Science - 'With Friends Like These...'
- 2014/06/18: Stoat: Force X from outer space
- 2014/06/19: Hypergeometric: True motives revealed: 'The climate models are bad and don't work; but let's not try to improve them'
- 2014/06/19: CSW: McKitrick tries and fails to move the goalposts on climate action
- 2014/06/16: Grist: The Kochs are cooking up a new dirty-energy political scheme
- 2014/06/15: CES: Rossiter, Delingpole, "Climate McCarthyism", and Conservative Hypocrisy
- 2014/06/13: TDB: Koch Brothers Unveil New Strategy at Big Donor Retreat
  The Koch brothers' financial network is planning on spending almost $300 million in the 2014 election, including a new anti-environment effort.
- 2014/06/21: PSinclair: Calling Out Windbagger's Stealth Campaign to Spike Clean Energy
- 2014/06/21: GLaden: The Amazing Decelerating Acceleration of Velocity Curve Of Global Cooling! #FauxPause
So why is nothing getting done?
- 2014/06/15: BRitholtz: Inaction on climate change
As for climate miscellanea:
- 2014/06/17: UKent: Overshadowed by climate change
  Kent research suggests that recent high levels of media coverage for climate change may have deflected attention and funding from biodiversity loss.
- 2014/06/16: Monbiot: An Ounce of Hope is Worth a Ton of Despair
  We cannot reach people by terrifying them; there has to be a positive agenda.
- 2014/06/17: Resilience: Kamikaze Culture
- 2014/06/19: Guardian(UK): The open source revolution is coming and it will conquer the 1% - ex CIA spy
  The man who trained more than 66 countries in open source methods calls for re-invention of intelligence to re-engineer Earth
- 2014/06/20: Resilience: Finding Hope in an Era of Climate Chaos
And here are a couple of sites you may find interesting and/or useful:
- The Future Economy Group
- PIDF: Pacific Islands Development Forum
- Wiki: Chikungunya
- Wiki: World energy resources
- Wiki: World energy consumption
- Wiki: Madden-Julian oscillation
- Wiki: North Atlantic oscillation
- Wiki: Indian Ocean Dipole
- Wiki: Atlantic multidecadal oscillation
- Wiki: Pacific decadal oscillation
- Wiki: Antarctic oscillation
- Wiki: El Niño-Southern Oscillation
- Wiki: Arctic oscillation
- Wiki: Polar vortex
- New Economy Working Group
- ARCUS: Sea Ice Prediction Network
- Let B.C. Vote
- Ocean Summit 2014
- Dogwood Initiative
- NOAA:ESRL: Daily SST Anomaly
- APR: Fukushima Daiichi Accident Reports
- Chain of Hope -- Say "no" to oil tankers on BC's North Coast!
- CCL: Citizens Climate Lobby
- United States Drought Monitor
- WildLeaks - the first, secure, online whistleblower platform dedicated to Wildlife & Forest Crime
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.

"When people ask me if we'll have a Dust Bowl again, I tell them we're having one now."
-Millard Fowler, age 101. Oklahoman
- Global Warming Links
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- Energy News
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Last modified June 22, 2014

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Another Week in the Ecological Crisis, June 22, 2014

Confronting a New Age of Consequences

Solstice Edition

June 22, 2014

It's always nice to start with a chuckle:

I trust you had a swinging solstice:

Pretty, pretty, pretty:

Looking ahead to COP20 and future international climate negotiations:

The US State Deopartment sponsored a conference in DC on the oceans this week:

The Pacific Islands Development Forum met this week in Fiji:

The G77 Summit went down in Bolivia:

There was also an IOREC conference in Manila:

I'm sure a lot of people were surprised to learn that Greenpeace might play the market:

How is the German Energy Transition [Energiewende] doing?

And on the Bottom Line:

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:

More September sea ice forecasts:

While in Antarctica:

The food crisis is ongoing:

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

So, are these land grabs Colonialism V2.0?

Regarding the genetic modification of food:

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

After Hagibis and Cristina faded, we have had a relatively quiet week. In the Western Pacific. Typhoon Hagibis troubled China:

In the Eastern Pacific, Tropical Storm Cristina went North:

While elsewhere in the hurricane wars:

This week in notable weather:

Got any forecasts?

This week in the New Normal -- extreme weather:

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

As for GHGs:

Aerosols are making their presence felt:

What's up with volcanoes this week?

Yes we have feedbacks:

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 the State of the Biosphere?

And on the extinction watch:

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

Oh look! The Anthropocene came up again:

More GW impacts are being seen:

And then there are the world's forests:

Climate refugees are becoming an issue:

Desertification looms as a global threat:

Emerging diseases accompany ecological change:

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

Changes in natural cycles are showing up:

On the tornado front:

As for heatwaves and wild fires:

Corals are a bellwether of the ocean's health:

Acidification is changing the oceans:

Glaciers are melting:

Sea levels are rising:

These extreme rainfall events are becoming all too frequent:

As for hydrological cycle disruptions [floods & droughts]:

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

Consider transportation & GHG production:

Large scale geo-engineering keeps popping up:

What's new in conservation?

Meanwhile in the journals:

And other significant documents:

As for miscellaneous science:

In the science organizations:

More DIY science:

What's new in models?

What developments in the ongoing struggle for Open Science?

Regarding Rees:

Meanwhile at the UN:

And on the carbon trading front:

The idea of a carbon tax is still bouncing around:

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?

After Hagibis and Cristina faded, we have had a relatively quiet week.
In the Western Pacific. Typhoon Hagibis troubled China:

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

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: