Sipping from the internet firehose...
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
- Top Stories:Nargis, Melting Arctic, Antarctica, Late Comments
- Food Crisis, Food vs. Biofuel, Food Production
- Hurricanes, GHGs, Carbon Cycle, Temperatures, Feedbacks, Paleoclimate, Sea Levels, THC, Satellites
- Impacts, Forests, Tropical Rainforests, Floods & Droughts
- Mitigation, Transportation, Buildings, Sequestration
- Journals, Misc. Science, Schwartz, Pielke, Connolley
- Kyoto-2, Carbon Trade, Optimal Carbon Reduction Strategy
- Politics:International, Index, Bottom-Up Policy, America, Britain, Europe, Australia, China, Japan, Canada
- Ecological Economics, IPAT, Apocalypso, Media, Books, Video, Courts
- Energy, Solar, Coal, Biofuel, Nukes, Peak Oil, Efficiency, Cars, Business, Greenwashing, Insurance
- Carbon Lobby, Heartland, Polar Bear Spin, Gore Gambits, The Usual, Useful Links
- Shameless Self Promotion, .sig
- 2008/05/08: Guardian(UK): Sceptics changing light bulbs...The best of the eco-gags
The Cyclone Nargis story has morphed from a disaster to a death watch:
- 2008/05/11: Guardian(UK): Burma exports rice as cyclone victims starve
- 2008/05/07: DVB: Government sells food to disaster victims
- 2008/05/10: BBwoB: Collection of interviews/ experiences of Cyclone survivors - Translated from Burmese
- 2008/05/10: TSun: The Myanmar death watch - Inaction worsens cyclone tragedy
- 2008/05/09: DerSpiegel: Burma's Man-made Disaster? How Nargis Devastated an Already Vulnerable Land
- 2008/05/10: DailyIndia: Myanmar exports rice despite food needs
Rice exports were flowing through Myanmar's main port even as its military regime was restricting outside aid to cyclone victims, a report said Saturday - 2008/05/10: Times(UK): Burma: 'I stopped counting bodies on journey down river of death'
- 2008/05/10: Guardian(UK): Cyclone Nargis: Is this climate change?
- 2008/05/10: Guardian(UK): 'There's at least 50,000 dead round here. But many of the bodies have disappeared'
Journey through south of the country reveals a desperate population growing ever more angry towards the junta - 2008/05/09: TruthOut: Are Myanmar's Storm Victims Suffering Needlessly?
- 2008/05/09: NewScientist: Cyclone survivors may have to grow their own food
- 2008/05/09: NewScientist: Burma cyclone was forecast four days in advance
- 2008/05/09: MTobis: Good news of a sort --- "the demand for rice will not go up because the country suddenly lacking food is too poor to buy at today's prices."
- 2008/05/09: TreeHugger: A Picture is Worth... Myanmar Before and After Cyclone Nargis
- 2008/05/07: SpaceMart: NASA Satellite Captures Image Of Cyclone Nargis Flooding In Myanmar
- 2008/05/08: Wunderground: Cyclone Nargis death toll may top 100,000
- 2008/05/08: STimes: Cyclone damaged Myanmar "rice bowl"
- 2008/05/08: Xinhuanet: 22,997 killed in violent cyclone in Myanmar
- 2008/05/09: Xinhuanet: U.S. considering food drops over cyclone-hit Myanmar - Â "If we were given permission..."
- 2008/05/08: AFP: Grim fight for survival after Myanmar cyclone
- 2008/05/08: SMH: Million Burmese fight for life
- 2008/05/08: Guardian(UK): Burma death toll could reach 100,000
- 2008/05/07: ABC(US): US envoy says toll from Myanmar cyclone might reach 100,000
- 2008/05/07: CNN: U.S. envoy: Myanmar deaths may top 100,000
Condoleezza Rice speaking with other nations in hopes of boosting aid - Diplomat says 12-foot storm surges caused most of the damage - U.N. official said nearly 2,000 square miles still underwater - Aid groups and countries frustrated by their lack of access to Myanmar - 2008/05/06: UN: Hundreds of thousands may need assistance in cyclone-hit Myanmar - UN
- 2008/05/07: NatureTGB: Myanmar disaster
- 2008/05/07: KSJT: AFP, BBC, etc: Clearing of mangroves may have opened door to deadly cyclone surge in Burma
- 2008/05/07: DotEarth: Myanmar's Delta: Water World
- 2008/05/06: DotEarth: Myanmar's Cyclone Catastrophe
- 2008/05/07: Intersection:CCM: Did Nargis Kill 100,000?
- 2008/05/07: Intersection:CCM: My MSNBC Interview About Cyclone Nargis
- 2008/05/07: Intersection:CCM: Deforestation And The Death Toll
- 2008/05/07: Wunderground: Cyclone Nargis death toll in the tens of thousands
- 2008/05/07: ESA: Cyclone Nargis and Myanmar floods seen from space
- 2008/05/06: FPB: Tuesday Map: Burma's cyclone aftermath
- 2008/05/07: ABC(Au): Burma death toll 'likely to hit 80,000'
- 2008/05/07: FDL: U.S. diplomat: Cyclone toll could be 100,000
- 2008/05/07: AP: UN officials: Myanmar cyclone a 'major, major disaster'
- 2008/05/07: Guardian(UK): Whole towns wiped out as Burma death toll soars
- 2008/05/06: BBC: Mangrove loss 'left Burma exposed'
Destruction of mangrove forests in Burma left coastal areas exposed to the devastating force of the weekend's cyclone, a top politician suggests. ASEAN secretary-general Surin Pitsuwan said coastal developments had resulted in mangroves, which act as a natural defence against storms, being lost - 2008/05/06: BBC: Burma's cyclone death toll soars [243, 351, 4,000, 10,000, 14,000, 22,400, 50,000, ???]
- 2008/05/06: AFP: Myanmar says cyclone death toll tops 22,000
- 2008/05/06: CTV: Aid starting to trickle into Burma: agencies -- cyclone has killed at least 22,400 people
- 2008/05/06: Times(UK): Aid workers fear Burma cyclone deaths will top 50,000
- 2008/05/06: SMH: Cyclone [Nargis] death toll hits 4000
- 2008/05/06: Guardian(UK): Burma seeks emergency aid as cyclone kills at least 10,000 - At least 1 million homeless in worst disaster to hit east Asia since tsunami
- 2008/05/06: Guardian(UK): Cyclone Nargis hits Burma (8 pictures)
- 2008/05/05: UN: UN stands ready to assist after deadly cyclone batters Myanmar
- 2008/05/05: Intersection:SRK: Cyclone Nargis Death Toll [Could Reach] Exceeds 10,000
- 2008/05/05: Wunderground: Thousands dead in Myanmar tropical cyclone
- 2008/05/05: Wunderground: Hundreds dead from Burma's worst tropical cyclone on record
- 2008/05/05: ENN: Cyclone [Nargis] kills nearly 4,000 in Myanmar
- 2008/05/05: Reuters: Myanmar believes 13,000 dead, missing from cyclone
- 2008/05/05: ChinaDaily: At least 15,000 killed in Myanmar cyclone
- 2008/05/05: BBC: Burmese storm toll 'tops 10,000'
- 2008/05/05: CBC: As many as 2 million Burmese affected by cyclone: relief group - Death toll could pass 10,000, foreign minister says
- 2008/05/05: AFP: Myanmar says more than 10,000 killed in cyclone
- 2008/05/05: G&M: Myanmar believes 13,000 dead, missing from cyclone [Nargis]
- 2008/05/05: Yahoo: Cyclone plunges Myanmar into primitive existence
- 2008/05/05: Yahoo: Myanmar believes 13,000 dead, missing from cyclone
- 2008/05/05: SMH: Disaster declared after cyclone hits Burma
- 2008/05/05: Guardian(UK): Cyclone [Nargis] leaves at least 350 dead in Burma
A South American volcano may have a climate impact:
- 2008/05/08: ESA: Chilean volcano captured blasting ash
- 2008/05/07: AP: Chile volcano blasts ash 20 miles high, forcing evacuations
The Arctic melt continues to get a lot of attention:
- 2008/05/04: FergusB: Greenland Ice Sheet changes; new Fettweis paper
- 2008/05/10: CBC: Record-setting iceberg season predicted off Newfoundland
- 2008/05/09: ESA: Scientists endure Arctic for last campaign prior to CryoSat-2 launch
- 2008/05/07: DotEarth: Forecast: More Shrinking North Pole Ice
- 2008/05/06: CBC: Nunavut centres prepare for busy season of Arctic research
And in the Antarctic:
- 2008/05/08: TerraDaily: Climate models overheat Antarctica
- 2008/05/08: ENN: Climate models overheat Antarctica, new study finds
- 2008/05/07: NewScientist: Melting glaciers release toxic chemical cocktail
- 2008/05/07: PhysOrg: Global climate models both agree and disagree with actual Antarctic data
- 2008/05/07: JFleck: Global Warming! DDT! Penguins!
- 2008/05/07: UCAR: Climate Models Overheat Antarctica, New Study Finds
- 2008/05/07: OSU: Global climate models both agree and disagree with actual Antarctic data
Late comment on Keenleyside:
- 2008/05/05: Maribo: More global cooling lunacy
- 2008/05/05: KSJT: Telegraph, NYTimes, BBC, not much else aside from blogs: Last week's report that global warming may ease up for a decade or so
- 2008/05/05: SciDaily: Will Global Warming Take A Short Break? Improved Climate Predictions Suggest A Reduced Warming Trend During The Next 10 Years
Late coverage of Stern:
- 2008/05/08: NEN: Must stop spew - Stern
The food crisis remains a top story:
- 2008/05/11: TStar: All eyes on price of rice - [Philippine] Government gambles on its ability to supply 675,000 more tonnes of nation's staff of life
- 2008/05/09: AJC: Global food crisis: Nations, farmers need our help by Ban Ki-Moon
- 2008/05/10: APOV: The Morality of the Stomach - Food Riots are Coming to the U.S.
- 2008/05/09: CSM: [Nicaraguan President Daniel] Ortega leads anti-U.S. critique at Latin American food summit
- 2008/05/09: BBC: Burma cyclone raises rice prices
Rice prices have risen for a sixth consecutive day as global supplies continue to be stretched by cyclone damage to crops in Burma. With worldwide demand also at a record high, the cost of rice rose as much as 5.1% to $23.45 per 100lb in electronic trading on the Chicago Board of Trade - 2008/05/09: NYT: High Prices for Staple Foods Dip, but Volatile Markets Persist
- 2008/05/09: SMH: More fears for world food supply
Cyclone Nargis has raised a new question as Asia scrambles to find affordable food: will crop damage force Burma to join the clamour for rice imports? Rising prices suggest the answer is yes. The price of rice jumped this week, a sign that traders see a further squeeze on a tight global market. Damage to the Irrawaddy delta, Burma's low-lying rice-growing region, means the country is likely to move from being a modest exporter to a big importer, traders say. - 2008/05/07: Asia Times: Food-crisis anger turns on UN bodies
- 2008/05/08: ICGA: Rubin: Security and Global Food Crisis
- 2008/05/08: NakedCapitalism: Desperate Measures: India Closes Soyabean Oil, Potatoes Exchanges to Fight Inflation
- 2008/05/06: UN: Head of [FAO] UN agricultural agency [Jacques Diouf] in Haiti to discuss food security
- 2008/05/06: UN: Global food crisis could have been avoided - UN development experts
- 2008/05/05: CCurrents: How To Make Mud Cookies
- 2008/05/05: CCurrents: Insurrection Of The Famished -- Causes And Possible Remedies Of The World Hunger Crisis
- 2008/05/05: CCurrents: U.N. Bodies Under Fire For Food Crisis
- 2008/05/06: Google:AFP: Latin Americans to hold food crisis summit
- 2008/05/07: Reuters: WTO says cannot solve food price crisis
- 2008/05/07: FDL: Food riots, anti-U.S. protests erupt in Somalia
- 2008/05/05: People's Daily: Who will benefit from the soaring grain price?
- 2008/05/07: BBC: Cyclone fuels rice price increase
Rice prices have risen for the fourth consecutive day, as tight supplies are aggravated by the disaster in Burma's key rice-growing region. The cost of rice, the staple food for almost half the world's population, increased by 2.4% to $21.6 per 100lb on the Chicago Board of Trade. Cyclone Nargis, which has killed tens of thousands of people, struck areas where 65% of Burma's rice is grown - 2008/05/05: EUO: Food aid alone will not solve global food crisis, economist [Jeffrey Sachs] tells EU
- 2008/05/05: UN: Task Force on global food crisis to move at 'full speed' - Ban Ki-moon
- 2008/05/04: CDreams: Independent(UK): Multinationals Make Billions In Profit Out of Growing Global Food Crisis
- 2008/05/05: BBC: Philippines rice purchase fails - The attempt by the Philippines government to buy rice to increase its stocks has failed when a tender attracted just one bid
- 2008/05/05: BBC: Two die in Somali currency riot [food riot?]
- 2008/05/05: CBC: Food price riots spread to Somalia, 2 killed
- 2008/05/05: CBC: 1 billion Asians need help in food crisis: development chief
- 2008/05/05: AFP: Food riots turn deadly in Somali capital
The conflict between biofuel and food persists:
- 2008/05/09: EnergyDaily: Biofuels backlash in US as food costs hit home
- 2008/05/09: BBerg: Ethanol Fantasy Fuels a Food-Price Nightmare
- 2008/05/07: Reuters: U.S. urged [By WB] to consider effect of ethanol on the poor
- 2008/05/07: KSJT: Seattle Post-Intelligencer: The local lowdown on biofuels and food
- 2008/05/07: CSM: Media survey: Politicians rethink food-based ethanol - Drawbacks appear in a process once touted as an answer to global warming
- 2008/05/05: PhysOrg: US, EU asked to reconsider biofuel goals as food prices rise [by Jeffrey Sachs]
- 2008/05/05: Xinhuanet: Brazil to continue biofuel production amid food crisis
- 2008/05/02: SeattlePI: Bio-debatable: Food vs. fuel - Amid a global food crisis, some wonder: Is the production of biofuels robbing from dinner plates?
- 2008/05/05: CSM: Brazil defends ethanol in food-versus-fuel fight
And the troubling matter of falling food production is not going away:
- 2007/11/: FAO: Food Outlook - Global Market Analysis
- 2008/05/10: CanWest: Food fears
As oil and climate change drives up food prices around the world, Vancouverites will not be immune from the escalating squeeze on pocketbooks - 2008/05/08: UB: Broken food system - Policy-makers, media blamed for global food crisis
- 2008/05/09: UNDispatch: All Hail the Potato
- 2008/05/08: FuturePundit: Wilds Of World To Get Converted To Farm Land?
- 2008/05/10: TreeHugger: Transition Town Plants Up Nut Trees for Food Security
- 2008/05/09: LancasterFarming: No Relief in Sight for High Fertilizer Prices
- 2008/05/10: PeakEnergy: Getting A Cheaper Nitrogen Fix
- 2008/05/08: BBC: Food waste on 'staggering' scale - People are needlessly throwing away 3.6m tonnes of food each year in England and Wales, research suggests.
- 2008/05/07: Wired:Sci: How to Make Fertilizer Appear Out of Thin Air, Part I
- 2008/05/09: KSJT: AP, more: Exhausted soils, fertilizer costs crimp food production around the world
- 2008/05/08: TerraDaily: China aims to keep grain output above 500 mln tonnes in 2008: report
- 2008/05/08: NakedCapitalism: WSJ Survey: Economists Say Energy, Food Price Rises Driven By Fundamentals
- 2008/05/08: Reuters: Yemen: Changing weather patterns pose challenges for agriculture
- 2008/05/08: PeakEnergy: A protein possibility for the post peak period: the meat beast
[...] The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the UN publishes a World Food Outlook in May and November each year. The November 2007 edition shows that about a third of the grain produced (750Mt) is used as animal feed - compared to around 350 Mt that was used for biofuels... - 2008/05/08: PeakEnergy: I See More Camel Toes [Indian agriculture]
- 2008/05/07: GristMill: Corny weather - FT: Midwest rains threaten U.S. corn crop
- 2008/05/07: TStar: Agriculture's new 'golden age'
The amount the price of various agricultural crops has risen since Jan. 1, 2006:- Wheat, +287 per cent.
- Corn, +149 per cent.
- Coffee, +139 per cent.
- Soybeans, +129 per cent.
- Rice, +60 per cent.
- 2008/05/03: StCStandard: Are we losing our food sovereignty?; Where do we grow from here?
Rammasun is churning the Western Pacific, unreported, but otherwise it is quiet:
- 2008/05/11: QuarkSoup: Cyclones Happen
- 2008/05/06: PhysOrg: Climate link with killer cyclones spurs fierce scientific debate
Meanwhile GHGs are still going up:
- 2008/05/08: TreeHugger: Carbon Dioxide Emissions are Rapidly Accelerating, According to the Earth Policy Institute
- 2008/04/09: EPI: Carbon Dioxide Emissions Accelerating Rapidly
In the carbon cycle:
- 2008/05/06: ISU: Ponds found to take up carbon like world's oceans
- 2008/05/08: SciDaily: Ponds Found To Take Up Carbon Like World's Oceans
- 2008/05/07: SciDaily: Ocean Carbon Cycle Research Gets Boost From Satellite Data
As for the temperature record:
- 2008/05/09: ClimateP: Hadley Center to deniers: We are STILL warming
- 2008/05/10: ClimateP: Hadley Center to deniers: We are STILL warming
- 2008/05/09: Atmoz: Antarctic Temperature Trends
- 2008/05/07: Atmoz: Using Surface Heat Content to Assess Global Warming
- 2008/05/07: Tamino: Phase
- 2008/05/04: Tamino: Highs and Lows
Yes we have feedbacks:
- 2008/05/06: BCLSB: Beware Them Methane Hydrates
- 2008/05/05: TruthOut: Freezing to Show Warming Trend
Though dismissed in Russia, scientist's climate research in remote Siberia is heating up discussions in the West. Chersky, Russia - Sergei Zimov waded through knee-deep snow to reach a frozen lake where so much methane belches out of the melting permafrost that it spews from the ice like small geysers. In the frigid twilight, the Russian scientist struck a match to make a jet of the greenhouse gas visible. The sudden plume of fire threw him backward. Zimov stood up, brushed the snow off his parka and beamed. "Sometimes a big explosion happens, because the gas comes out like a bomb," Zimov said. "There are a million lakes like this in northern Siberia." In a country where many scientists scoff at the existence of global warming, Zimov has been waging a lonely campaign to warn the world about Russia's melting permafrost and its nexus with climate change. His laboratory is the vast expanse of tundra and larch forest along the East Siberian Sea, an icy corner of the world that Zimov has scrutinized almost entirely on his own for 28 years - 2008/05/10: NewScientist: Why didn't Earth freeze under faint young Sun?
- 2008/05/10: PhysOrg: Sahara made slow transition from green to desert: study
The Sahara became the world's biggest hot desert some 2,700 years ago after a very slow fade from green, according to a new study which clashes with the theory that desertification came abruptly - 2008/05/09: KSJT: Reuters, NPR, NYTimes, etc: Sahara's desertification was slow, new data say
Sea levels are rising:
- 2008/05/05: CDreams: Independent(UK): Sinking Without Trace: Australia's Climate Change Victims - the islands of the Torres Strait
The THC is back:
- 2008/05/09: NewScientist: Sea changes could warn of Day After Tomorrow scenario
Meanwhile in near earth orbit:
- 2008/05/05: ESA: ESA contributes to ocean carbon cycle research
More GW impacts are being seen:
- 2008/05/10: ClimateP: Warming's new hybrid -- the Grolar bear or Pizzly
- 2008/05/11: ABC(Au): Pesticide DDT shows up in Antarctic penguins
- 2008/05/11: SciDaily: 'Early Birds' Adapt To Climate Change
- 2008/05/10: CBC:Q&Q: (mp3/ogg) The Ferocious Summer - Meredith Hooper interview
- 2008/05/09: PhysOrg: 'Early birds' adapt to climate change
- 2008/05/09: OilChange: Antarctica: Climate Change Exposes "Toxic Soup"
- 2008/05/08: BBC: Great tits cope well with warming
- 2008/05/08: NewScientist: Great tits enjoying the warmer weather -- so far
- 2008/05/08: Eureka: Newest GREET [Greenhouse gases, Regulated Emissions and Energy use in Transportation] model updates environmental impacts
- 2008/05/08: OilChange: Koalas at Risk from Climate Change
- 2008/05/06: Straight: David Suzuki: How the mountain pine beetle devastated B.C.'s forests
- 2008/05/08: SMH: Koalas' future: hot, hungry
Koalas are under threat from climate change because rising temperatures and carbon dioxide levels will affect the availability of their food, an Australian scientist has warned. Ian Hume, of the University of Sydney, said his team had found, in laboratory experiments, that increases in carbon dioxide levels could reduce the amount of available nutrients and increase the amount of toxins in eucalyptus leaves. - 2008/05/05: CNN: Tropics face warming threat, scientists say
Animals in tropics used to smaller range of temperatures, scientists say - Slight change in temperature range may prove fatal, according to analysis - Hurricanes, cyclones may increase in number, severity from warming, studies say - 2008/05/07: NatureN: Brittlestars can survive acid oceans - But the biological cost of maintaining their skeletons may be too high
- 2008/05/06: KSJT: Wires, New Scientist, Independent, etc: It's not just polar bears. Global warming's biggest eco-threat may be near equator
- 2008/05/06: KSJT: Observer: Warming world means more shark attacks ; Orange County Register: oh, come on
- 2008/05/07: PhysOrg: Koalas at risk from climate change
- 2008/05/05: Eureka: Global warming will negatively impact tropical species
- 2008/05/07: ENN: Women face tougher impact from climate change
- 2008/05/06: ENN: Climate change could hit tropical wildlife hardest
- 2008/05/07: ENN: Arctic ice melt could see rise of "Grolar bear" [grizzly polar bear hybrid]
- 2008/05/07: CBC: Pollution hurts food supply of Australia's koala bear, researchers say
Koalas are threatened by the rising level of carbon dioxide pollution in the atmosphere because it saps nutrients from the eucalyptus leaves they feed on, a researcher said Wednesday. Ian Hume, emeritus professor of biology at Sydney University, said he and his researchers also found that the amount of toxicity in the leaves of eucalyptus saplings rose when the level of carbon dioxide within a greenhouse was increased - 2008/05/07: AFP: Australia's koalas threatened by global warming: study
- 2008/05/05: CBC: Tropical species at great risk from climate change: study
- 2008/05/06: BBC: Tropics insects 'face extinction'
Many tropical insects face extinction by the end of this century unless they adapt to the rising global temperatures predicted, US scientists have said - 2008/05/05: PhysOrg: Trouble in paradise: Warming a greater danger to tropical species
- 2008/05/05: TreeHugger: Photo Exhibit Shows Impact of Climate Change in Peruvian Lives
And then there are the world's forests:
- 2008/05/08: NatureCF: Dry outlook for the Amazon rain forest
- 2008/05/07: Eureka: Amazon under threat from cleaner air
The Amazon rainforest, so crucial to the Earth's climate system, is coming under threat from cleaner air say prominent UK and Brazilian climate scientists in the leading scientific journal Nature. The new study identifies a link between reducing sulphur dioxide emissions from burning coal and increasing sea surface temperatures in the tropical north Atlantic, resulting in a heightened risk of drought in the Amazon rainforest - 2008/05/05: TruthOut: Rainforest Seeds Revive Lost Paradise
The US Midwest got zapped by a string of tornadoes:
- 2008/05/11: BBC: Tornadoes and severe storms have swept across the central part of the United States, causing destruction and killing at least 18 people
- 2008/05/11: CBC: At least 18 dead as tornadoes sweep across central U.S.
- 2008/05/11: CTV: Tornadoes kill 19 in central United States
- 2008/05/10: CNN: Severe weather kills 10 in Missouri, Oklahoma
Person killed near Carthage, Missouri, when a tree fell on a mobile home - Five people killed when a tornado touched down in Oklahoma, reports NWS - A tornado touched down about 6 p.m. near the Missouri-Kansas border - Numerous injuries were also reported, and U.S. 60 closed because of debris - 2008/05/10: PeakEnergy: Experts warn of never-ending [Australian] drought
- 2008/05/06: Eureka: Expert predicts 'Monsoon Britain'
Prepare for more floods - in ways we are not used to - that's the message from experts at Durham University who have studied rainfall and river flow patterns over 250 years. Last summer was the second wettest on record and experts say we must prepare for worse to come. - 2008/05/09: FSF: Feedlot cows burp more methane than pasture cows
- 2008/05/09: QuarkSoup: Burying Trees to Stop Global Warming
- 2008/05/08: BBC: Meat in a low-carbon world - Feel-good food just got tricky
- 2008/05/08: ABC(Au): Petrify, liquefy: new ways to bury greenhouse gas
- 2008/05/08: ENN: Petrify, liquefy: new ways to bury greenhouse gas
- 2008/05/06: PhysOrg: 'Crispy noodle' chemistry could reduce carbon emissions
- 2008/05/07: TreeHugger: "Crispy Noodles" Membrane Could Help Store Hydrogen and Reduce Carbon Emissions
- 2008/05/05: ABC(Au): Tough grasses may be key to new carbon sink
Consider transportation & GHG production:
- 2008/05/10: DotEarth: Avocado Refrigerators Out, Mass Transit In
- 2008/05/10: TreeHugger: Public Transit Looking More Attractive in the Face of Record Gas Prices
- 2008/05/10: DailyIndia: [US] Mass transit ridership surges
- 2008/05/09: TruthOut: Truckers Slow It Down to Save on Diesel
- 2008/05/09: Guardian(UK): [Letters] It's no use droning on about airships
- 2008/05/08: CSW: Unreleased aviation report projects more than doubling of CO2 emissions from 2000-2025
- 2008/05/07: WorldChanging: Collaboration Calls for New U.N. Agency to Oversee Transport Emissions
- 2008/05/06: OilChange: Airline Emissions "Far Higher than Previous Estimates"
- 2008/05/06: Guardian(UK): If there is a God, he's not green. Otherwise airships would take off
While in the endless quest for sustainable building codes:
- 2008/05/06: Eureka: Creativity essential for climate targets -- existing -- housing
As for carbon sequestration:
- 2008/05/09: AfterGutenberg: Working in the Carbon Capture and Storage
- 2008/05/09: SciDaily: Carbon Dioxide Capture And Storage: Grasping At Straws In The Climate Debate?
Great hopes are being placed on undeveloped technology. Capturing and storing carbon dioxide is predicted to be one of the most important measures to counter the threats to our climate. But the technology still hasn't been tested in full scale, and the complications and risks it entails may have been grossly underestimated. - 2008/05/07: EnergyDaily: U.S. plans two large-scale CO2 projects
The U.S. Department of Energy says it has awarded more than $126.6 million for its fifth and sixth large-scale carbon sequestration projects. The awards went to the West Coast Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership, or WESTCARB, and the Midwest Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership, MRCSP. The Energy Department said the projects in California and Ohio will demonstrate the ability of geologic formations to safely, permanently and economically store more than 1 million tons of carbon dioxide. - 2008/05/08: DeSmogBlog: New Report: Carbon Capture and Sequestration a Pipe Dream
- 2008/05/02: GreenPeace: [link to 1 meg pdf] False Hope: Why carbon capture and storage won't save the climate
- 2008/05/05: GreenPeace: New Greenpeace report exposes CCS as a dangerous distraction
- 2008/05/08: AutoBG: Greenpeace: Carbon capture is not going to save our climate
- 2008/05/07: GreenTech: DOE goes cave hunting to pump carbon underground
- 2008/05/07: SlashDot: DOE Pumps $126.6 Million into Carbon Sequestration
- 2008/05/06: TruthOut: Carbon Emissions: Catch Them if You Can
- 2008/05/06: ABC(Au): Carbon storage researchers play down criticism
- 2008/05/06: PhysOrg: Finding the real potential of no-till farming for sequestering carbon
- 2008/05/07: GristMill: CCS gets slammed - [David] Hawkins to industry: 'deal with it'
- 2008/05/07: SciDaily: Finding The Real Potential Of No-till Farming For Sequestering Carbon
- 2008/05/05: CTB: The Status of Carbon Sequestration
- 2008/05/06: SMH: Burying coal fumes a 'smokescreen'
Carbon capture and storage technology, which is central to the Federal Government's climate change strategy, is a mirage that is damaging efforts to develop renewable energy, a global report [False Hope] funded by Greenpeace has found. The report was criticised yesterday by the resources industry and the mining union, which are relying on the technology to cut down emissions from coal-burning power stations. The debate surrounding carbon capture and storage is intensifying as the resources industry attempts to bargain for concessions while the Federal Government ponders the design of an emissions trading scheme. - 2008/05/05: PhysOrg: Global warming: French scientists tweak carbon-storing powder [MIL-101]
Meanwhile in the journals:
- 2008/05/09: ACP: Local anthropogenic impact on particulate elemental carbon concentrations at Summit, Greenland by G. S. W. Hagler et al.
- 2008/05/09: ACPD: Direct SW aerosol radiative forcing over Portugal by D. Santos et al.
- 2008/05/08: ACPD: Operational climate monitoring from space: the EUMETSAT satellite application facility on climate monitoring (CM-SAF) by J. Schulz et al.
- 2008/05/08: CPD: A major reorganization of Asian climate regime by the early Miocene by Z. T. Guo et al.
- 2008/05/07: TCD: The new Landsat-derived glacier inventory for Jotunheimen, Norway, and deduced glacier changes since the 1930s by L. M. Andreassen et al.
- 2008/05/05: TCD: The equilibrium flow and mass balance of the Taku Glacier, Alaska 1950 - 2006 by M. S. Pelto et al.
- 2008/05/07: ACPD: Validation of ACE-FTS v2.2 methane profiles from the upper troposphere to the lower mesosphere by M. De Mazi?re et al.
- 2008/05/05: ACP: Dependence of cloud properties derived from spectrally resolved visible satellite observations on surface temperature by T. Wagner et al.
- 2008/05/07: ACPD: Assimilation of stratospheric and mesospheric temperatures from MLS and SABER into a global NWP model by K. W. Hoppel et al.
- 2008/05/06: ACPD: A multi-model assessment of pollution transport to the Arctic by D. T. Shindell et al.
- 2008/05/06: ACPD: Global temperature estimates in the troposphere and stratosphere: a validation study of COSMIC/FORMOSAT-3 measurements by P. Kishore et al.
- 2008/05/05: ACPD: Three years of greenhouse gas column-averaged dry air mole fractions retrieved from satellite - Part 2: Methane by O. Schneising et al.
- 2008/05/06: PNAS: On the protection of "protected areas" by Lucas N. Joppa et al.
- 2008/05/06: PNAS: Impacts of climate warming on terrestrial ectotherms across latitude by Curtis A. Deutsch et al.
- 2008/05/06: PNAS: Younger Dryas "black mats" and the Rancholabrean termination in North America by C. Vance Haynes, Jr
Before we get into politics, there was some science done:
- 2008/05/06: FuturePundit: Cloudy Coastlines Caused By Kelp?
- 2008/05/09: ABC(Au): Tiny krill could help unlock global climate change secrets
- 2008/05/08: MTobis: Why Is Climate So Stable?
- 2008/05/08: Atmoz: Can lower sulphate emissions in America affect rainfall in Amazonia?
- 2008/05/08: PhysOrg: NCAR installs 76-teraflop supercomputer for critical research on climate change, severe weather
- 2008/05/08: PhysOrg: Solar Variability: Striking a Balance with Climate Change
- 2008/05/08: PhysOrg: New gas sensors for monitoring carbon dioxide sinks
- 2008/05/08: UCAR: NCAR Installs 76-Teraflop Supercomputer for Critical Research on Climate Change, Severe Weather
- 2008/05/07: UFZ: New gas sensors for monitoring carbon dioxide sinks
- 2008/05/08: DailyIndia: Stressed seaweed might make cloudy skies
British-led scientists say they've discovered the presence of large amounts of seaweed along coastal areas can influence the Earth's climate. The international study led by Frithjof Kupper of the Scottish Association for Marine Science found brown seaweeds, when under stress, release large quantities of inorganic iodine into the coastal atmosphere, where it can contribute to cloud formation. - 2008/05/08: DailyIndia: Scientists propose super-supercomputer
Three U.S. government scientists are proposing to improve climate change predictions by creating a kind of super-supercomputer. Michael Wehner and Lenny Oliker of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and John Shalf of the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center said one of the greatest challenges to understanding how human activity is changing global climate is not being able to develop accurate cloud simulations. - 2008/05/07: NewScientist: How cleaning up America dried up the Amazon
- 2008/05/07: SciDaily: Unmanned Aircraft To Study Southern California Smog And Its Consequences
Comments on Schwartz (and a refresher):
- 2007/09/07: RealClimate: Friday roundup [links to Schwartz articles]
- 2008/05/09: JEB: Comments about comments
The zombie lives!!! It's the Pielke Fan Clubbe:
- 2008/05/10: ERabett: Dear Jon - Jon has been driving Roger Jr. nuts...
- 2008/05/07: ERabett: This has been another simple answer to a simple question
- 2008/05/07: ERabett: It's all so hummy...
- 2008/05/07: MTobis: More Big Picture Futurism
- 2008/05/05: ERabett: The Manchurian Senior Fellow?
Lionizing Connolley:
- 2008/05/05: JFleck: My Connolley Number: 1
Meanwhile on the Kyoto-2 front:
- 2008/05/09: TreeHugger: Russia Joins Global League of Climate Obstructionists, Putting Future U.N. Treaty in Doubt
When in Rome: Joining its fellow top polluters -- China, India and the U.S. -- Russia has signaled it would rebuff the imposition of tougher emission standards, casting doubt on the prospects for a future U.N.-mediated climate treaty, reports Reuters' Alister Doyle. Government officials said last week that the country wouldn't accept binding caps under a new deal to succeed the Kyoto Protocol, set to expire by the end of 2012. - 2008/05/05: ABC(Au): World can reach climate change deal in 2009: UN
As for carbon trading:
- 2008/05/08: PewClimate: [links to html & pdf] The European Union's Emissions Trading System in Perspective
- 2008/05/08: PewClimate: EU Emissions Trading System Delivers Valuable Lessons
- 2008/05/09: Oikos: Lessons from Europe's emissions trading scheme [EU ETS]
- 2008/05/09: ENN: Voluntary Carbon market is fast becoming big business
- 2008/05/07: NEN: Emissions trading down on the farm
- 2008/05/07: WSJ:EnvCap: Carbon Markets: Booming but Vulnerable, World Bank Says
- 2008/05/07: BBC: Carbon market's value hits $64bn
The market that enables companies to buy and sell the right to pollute doubled in value in 2007, according to a World Bank report. The value of the carbon market hit $64bn in 2007, from $32bn in 2006 - 2008/05/04: NEN: Emissions Trading: The Good, the Bad and the Chinese
The debate over the optimal strategy [carbon trading, carbon offsets, auction vs. allocation, and/or a carbon tax] to use in dealing with GHGs continues:
- 2008/05/08: TWM: The 100% Auction...Cap'n Trade would work like this...
Meanwhile on the international political front:
- 2008/05/09: AFP: Brazil warns Europe against biofuel import barriers
One of those green indices:
- 2008/05/07: PhysOrg: First-of-its-kind 14-country study ranks consumers according to environmental behavior
- 2008/05/08: ABC(Au): Green index puts India, Brazil on top, US trails
- 2008/05/07: CBC: Canadian consumers rank second-last in green survey - Huge homes, widespread car culture push Canada to back of the pack
- 2008/05/07: TruthOut: US Consumers Rank Last in World Survey of Green Habits
- 2008/05/07: SciDaily: Ranking Consumers By Environmental Behavior: India, Brazil Top Index; United States Ranks Last
- 2008/05/07: FDL: U.S. consumers rank last in world survey of green habits
This has become a common pattern: national governments refuse to act, so states, provinces and/or municipalities take their responsibilities:
- 2008/05/05: BostonGlobe: State by state, communities take lead in warming fight
- 2008/05/05: ClimateP: [US] Communities Basing Decisions on Climate Impact
- 2008/05/04: WaPo: Fighting Global Warming Block by Block - Across U.S., Communities Rethink How They Operate and Grow
And on the American political front:
- 2008/05/09: GristMill: Big Stone II sinking fast - Administrative law judges give controversial coal plant thumbs down -- final decision up to PUC
- 2008/05/09: CSW: Use law on environmental impact statements to assess global warming implications of federal actions
- 2008/05/09: ClimateP: Nuclear Pork -- Enough is Enough
- 2008/05/09: HillHeat: Overview of EPA Investigations
- 2008/05/09: WarmingLaw: Cities Deliver an Energy Smackdown! and More State Climate News
- 2008/05/08: CSW: Whistleblower Week in Washington DC panel May 12 on Scientific Freedom and the Public Good
- 2008/05/08: TruthOut: Arizona's Solar Aspirations in Peril -- due to possible loss of an energy tax credit
- 2008/05/08: Reuters: US Senate Democrats unveil new energy tax plan - Consumer-First Energy Act
- 2008/05/08: TP:WonkRoom: Tell Washington: "Buy Food From Local Farmers" Here As Well As Abroad
- 2008/05/07: McClatchyDC: Senate topples wind insurance bid
- 2008/05/07: ClimateP: A National Environmental Policy?
- 2008/05/07: ClimateP: Francophile Newt wants to build a few hundred nukes too -- and shut down every coal plant!
- 2008/05/07: GristMill: Counter-pander - Senate Democrats unveil a new energy bill based on the same false premises
- 2008/05/07: WarmingLaw: Gingrich, McCain and the Push for Climate-Unfriendly Judges
- 2008/05/07: JQuiggin: The Republican War on Science, yet again
- 2008/05/06: TP:WonkRoom: Big Oil's Corporate Welfare: Doing The Numbers
The latest on the EPA grindstone:
- 2008/05/08: TruthOut: Dems Rip EPA for Axing Official Who Urged Cleanup by Dow
- 2008/05/08: GristMill: Missing Johnson - EPW subcommittee seeks answers on politicization in EPA, gets few
- 2008/05/06: WSJ:EnvCap: Free Speech: EPA Lets Staffers Dis Climate Bill
- 2008/05/07: TPMM: Dem Senators Berate EPA Official [Assistant Administrator for the Office of Research and Development, George Gray]
- 2008/05/07: TP:WonkRoom: EPA's Johnson Claims "Ongoing Back Issues" Prevent Him From Testifying Before Congress
- 2008/05/07: TP:WonkRoom: Jason Burnett -- The John Yoo Of The EPA -- Steps Down
- 2008/05/07: ThinkP: EPA's Johnson claims "ongoing back issues" prevent him from testifying before Congress
- 2008/05/05: NewScientist: Censorship exposed at US environment agency
While in the climate bill chronicles:
- 2008/05/09: TreeHugger: Is the Lieberman-Warner Climate Bill on its Last Legs?
- 2008/05/09: TP:WonkRoom: Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb) Describes Disastrous Global Warming Bill As "Realistic"
- 2008/05/08: ClimateP: Lieberman-Warner moved from critical condition to the morgue
- 2008/05/05: GristMill: Details matter: One final detail - Lieberman-Warner criticism, Part 5
Joe continued his 450 ppm series:
- 2008/05/08: ClimateP: Is 450 ppm possible? Part 5: Old coal's out, can't wait for new nukes, so what do we do NOW?
- 2008/05/05: ClimateP: Is 450 ppm politically possible? Part 4: The most urgent climate policy (and it isn?t a CO2 price)
Arnold & the auto industry sparred:
- 2008/05/09: WarmingLaw: Auto Industry to Arnold: Let's Make Nice, At Least Outside the Courtroom
- 2008/05/08: BWeek: Schwarzenegger challenges automakers to meet Calif. rules
- 2008/05/09: CBC: 'Whining' auto industry won't slow fuel economy goals: Schwarzenegger
In the Kansas coal war:
- 2008/05/08: WarmingLaw: They're Finally Done in Kansas...well, almost done
- 2008/05/05: C&E: The KS legislature - like the Energizer Bunny, it's still going. Will anything happen on the coal plants today?
- 2008/05/05: WarmingLaw: Sebelius Wins Again...But Big Coal Blackmails a "Hail Mary"
The US F&WS decision on polar bears is due this coming week:
- 2008/05/10: DotEarth: Tensions Rise as Polar Bear Decision Looms
One hears a lot about the campaign(s), not much about climate:
- 2008/05/08: ClimateP: Waiting to be impressed by the candidates --- and the media
- 2008/05/07: EnergyBulletin: Ignoring the elephant in the room
- 2008/05/08: ThinkP: Hagee Reneges On Retraction Of His Katrina Comments: "God Always Punishes Unconfessed Sin"
- 2008/05/06: ClimateP: Obama knows nukes, Planet Gore knows nothing
- 2008/05/06: Guardian(UK): McCain urges Bush to waive ethanol rules
- 2008/05/04: ClimateP: McCain calls for 700+ new nuclear plants (and seven Yucca mountains) costing $4 trillion
- 2008/05/05: HuffPo: McCain Calls for 700+ New Nuclear Plants (and 7 Yucca Mountains) Costing $4 Trillion
The Gore-apalooza is still bopping along:
- 2008/05/06: MTobis: Gore is the Middle
While in the UK:
- 2008/05/10: BBC: Cash cuts see green grants halved
The number of government grants made to people who want to fit solar panels or other green energy systems to their homes has halved, the BBC has learned. It comes after the low carbon buildings programme cut the maximum grant on offer from £7,500 to £2,500. The Renewable Energy Association, which says the programme is failing, has accused ministers of complacency. - 2008/05/09: BBC: Centrica warns on wind farm costs
Centrica, one of the UK's biggest energy generators, has warned that the prospect of making money from wind farms is looking "marginal". The company says that the rising cost of off-shore wind farms could end up ruining the government's renewable energy targets. The comments come a week after Shell withdrew from a project that was set to become the world's largest wind farm. The government wants 33 gigawatts of offshore wind capacity built by 2020. - 2008/05/09: Guardian(UK): Labour failing to hit green targets, thinktank [Policy Exchange] claims
- 2008/05/07: GristMill: Brit's Eye View: Blond ambition - What will London's new mayor, Boris Johnson, do for the environment?
- 2008/05/06: Guardian(UK): [Letters] Challenges to climate claims - It won't wash for Nigel Lawson to impugn the integrity of scientists...
And in Europe:
- 2008/05/06: EUO: Brussels turns to gods for help with climate change
- 2008/05/07: EUO: EU parliament wades into carbon capture battlefield
The EU could subsidise coal and other fossil-fuel-burning energy companies to support the rapid development of a controversial technology that involves the storage of carbon deep underground or under the sea bed, according to proposals currently under consideration. - 2008/05/07: PhysOrg: EU still far from agreeing biofuel standards: diplomats
Meanwhile in Australia:
- 2008/05/11: ABC(Au): Lobby group [ACT Conservation Council] questions climate change Budget allocation
- 2008/05/11: PeakEnergy: $250m wind power plan [120MW] for Queensland
- 2008/05/11: SMH: Climate concerns drive initiatives [in budget coming Tuesday]
- 2008/05/10: SMH: Wong's dose of shock therapy
The Climate Change Minister faces fierce lobbying from fossil fuel companies as she draws up detailed plans to reduce carbon emissions... - 2008/05/09: SMH: Carbon-neutral NSW by 2020
All NSW Government operations, including state-run schools, hospitals and police stations, will be made carbon neutral in less than 12 years, the Premier, Morris Iemma, said yesterday. The move will lead to major changes in hundreds of state-run agencies, as they struggle to make drastic cuts to energy use by 2020, a decade after the Federal Government's national emissions-trading scheme comes into play - 2008/05/08: SMH: Carbon capture crucial to coal future: summit
Australia has no choice but to rely heavily on carbon capture and storage to cut its greenhouse gas emissions in time to make a difference on climate change, delegates to the NSW Government's "clean coal" summit were told. The warning came as new research by the CSIRO indicated the world was warming more quickly than predicted. The architect of Australia's climate change review, Ross Garnaut, has thrown his weight behind carbon capture technology as a way of lowering the nation's greenhouse emissions in the medium term. "Coal is set to play a big role in future Australian prosperity, so long as we can deal effectively with an inconvenient truth," Professor Garnaut told the coal summit. - 2008/05/07: ABC(Au): Councils get climate change funding
- 2008/05/07: ABC(Au): RBA [Reserve Bank Aus] board member highlights climate change 'policy vacuum'
- 2008/05/06: ABC(Au): Conservation group want Budget changes to fuel subsidy
The Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) wants mining and transport companies excluded from getting fuel subsidies in next week's Federal Budget. The ACF estimates mining companies like BHP Billiton are benefiting by up to $138 million a year in subsidised fuel through the fuel tax credits scheme - 2008/05/05: ABC(Au): Greenpeace to give Treasurer carbon capture [anti-CCS] petition
While in China:
- 2008/05/06: Asia Times: China faces trade war climate challenge
- 2008/05/06: TerraDaily: China has sufficient grain reserves: state economic planner
And in Japan:
- 2008/05/03: JapanFocus: Is Japan a Leader in Combating Global Warming? The Wind-Power Problem
In Canada, minority neocon PM Harper, continues his do-nothing policy:
- 2008/05/09: CanWest:OTH: Environment Canada Arrest - 1 Year Later
- 2008/05/07: CTV: Auditor General names new environment commissioner [Scott Vaughan]
- 2008/05/09: CBC: SaskPower nuclear reactor report stirs up northern debate
- 2008/05/05: CBC: Alberta to spend $55 million fighting pine beetle
Harper's Kyoto non-compliance gambit is being probed:
- 2008/05/07: CTV: Canada under investigation by Kyoto committee
- 2008/05/08: Yahoo: Problems plague Canada's emissions trading plans
- 2008/05/09: CanWest: Canada could make Kyoto strides with carbon capture
- 2008/05/07: CBC: UN to probe Canada over lack of greenhouse-gas reporting
- 2008/05/08: G&M: Canada could be barred from Kyoto carbon trades
The Liberals are still talking carbon tax:
- 2008/05/10: Maribo: Will Canada vote for a carbon tax?
- 2008/05/09: G&M: Liberal carbon-tax plan splits NDP, Greens
- 2008/05/08: BCLSB: Dion: I Will Not Repeal The Metric System
- 2008/05/08: BorgesB: Liberal Carbon Tax: Good, bad, or ugly?
- 2008/05/08: AccDel: On wedge issues [Libs & ctax]
- 2008/05/08: G&M: Dion touts carbon tax, billions in tax cuts - Proposal making some Liberals nervous as gas prices soar
- 2008/05/07: TStar: Dion must decide soon on carbon tax
- 2008/05/07: ScottsDiatribe: Defining the issue before the other folks define it for you [Dion CTax]
The Tories confirmed they were killing the MDA sale this week:
- 2008/05/09: CBC: Govt. confirms decision to block sale of MDA space division
- 2008/05/09: CanWest: Ottawa awards MDA $109-million deal after blocking space deal
The federal government on Friday announced a $109-million deal with MacDonald Dettwiler Associates Ltd. of Richmond, B.C., hours after confirming it was blocking the billion-dollar sale of part of MacDonald Dettwiler to an American firm - 2008/05/08: CBC: Alliant still awaiting word from government on MDA sale
[...] Four weeks ago, Industry Minister Jim Prentice rejected the proposed $1.3 billion sale of Richmond, B.C.-based MDA's space and information systems divisions to Alliant Techsystems Inc., arguing the deal had no "net benefit" for Canada. Alliant had 30 days to persuade the government otherwise, but that review period ends today, the same day the Minnesota-based company issued its year-end earnings. - 2008/05/07: MoJo: Scenes From the Tar Wars
As Canada scrambles to dig up some of the world's dirtiest oil, a bush doctor tracks mysterious diseases, poisoned rivers, and shattered lives - 2008/05/07: OilChange: Oil Sands Project in the Dock
- 2008/05/04: CanWest: Oilsands suck dollars from cleaner oil and gas
- 2008/05/05: Daveberta: [T]ime for some straight talk on alberta's tar sands
The movement toward a long term ecologically viable economics is glacial:
- 2008/05/09: EconView: Peak Prosperity?
- 2008/05/08: JQuiggin: Looking back at the Club of Rome
- 2008/05/07: C411: How Do We Plan for Climate Change?
- 2008/05/07: EnergyBulletin: Preparing for which future?
- 2008/05/05: MTobis: Herman Daly
- 2008/05/05: OilDrum: Herman Daly: Towards A Steady-State Economy
- 2008/05/: OrionMag: The Gospel of Consumption And the better future we left behind
- 2008/05/06: News(Au): Global warming today's Great Depression
Global warming could have the same economic effect as the Great Depression if handled poorly, the Government's top climate change adviser says. Professor Ross Garnaut has written an article saying that poor design or slowness in implementing climate change-easing policies could spell the end of what he calls the Platinum Age - 2008/05/05: Guardian(UK): Return of the population timebomb
- 2008/05/09: P&P: Return of the population timebomb
It has become taboo over recent years, but population, not consumption, really is the key to managing our use of the world's resources... - 2008/05/05: CChange: Confronting the inevitable: Population reduction, voluntary and otherwise
Apocalypso anyone?
- 2008/05/09: CBaker: 12 Stepping our way to armageddon
As for how the media handles the science of climatology:
- 2008/05/06: GristMill: Taking a pillow to a knife fight - Traditional print media and complex issues
- 2008/05/05: GristMill: Word puzzles - Washington Post reporter not allowed to say what he knows about climate legislation costs [media]
[...] To point out the obvious: Engler is a lobbyist for dirty industries. The NAM study of climate costs was an absurd hack job that was disavowed, in a footnote in the report itself, by the agency that was hired to do it. What Keohane and Goldmark did is take scenarios from five respected groups of economists and average their results. The result they produced is not from "environmentalists." It is from the most respected economists in the field. So what you have is not a "predictable" squabble between "industrialists and environmentalists." What you have is the professional economics community on one side and the dirty energy lobby on the other (which really is predictable). Another way of saying this is: climate legislation isn't going to cost all that much, and the dirty energy lobby is full of shit That's the reality. But how many WaPo readers are going to squint between the lines to suss this conclusion out? - 2007/05/21: MediaChannel: Searching For The New "Propaganda Model"
...one mainstream corporate journalist there... explained the "model's focus on the filters" that much news has to pass through: Stripped down for purposes of, as Chomsky would say, typical media "concision," they are:
ownership interests, advertiser concerns, the nature of journalists' sources, flak (or negative feedback) and ideology. - 2008/05/09: NatureCF: RealClimate roll up to the climate casino
- 2008/05/09: DotEarth: Betting on Warming or Cooling (Updated)
- 2008/05/09: JEB: Jumping on the [Keenlyside] betting bandwagon/A>
- 2008/05/09: Stoat: Sea ice minimum kerfuffle
- 2008/05/08: DotEarth: Betting on Warming or Cooling
- 2008/05/08: Stoat: Betting on clima[t]e change, again?
- 2008/05/08: RealClimate: Global Cooling-Wanna Bet?
Developing a new energy infrastructure is a fundamental challenge of the current generation:
- 2008/05/10: PeakEnergy: World Public: Oil Needs to Be Replaced as Energy Source
- 2008/05/09: AutoBG: British scientists develop CO2 to natural gas process
- 2008/05/08: EnvFin: Huge jump in US wind installations
More than 1,400MW of new wind energy capacity, costing $3 billion, was installed in the US in the first quarter of 2008 -- up from just 124MW in the same period of 2007, according to the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA)- 2008/05/08: SCIndependent: 'Peak oil' is here. Now what?
- 2008/05/08: Economist: Russia's oil industry - Trouble in the pipeline
- 2008/05/09: GristMill: Break up with your utility company ... or get dumped -- Millions of Americans may not be able to afford heat or power this year
- 2008/05/08: GristMill: Portrait of an oil-addicted former superpower - How rising oil prices are obliterating America's superpower status
- 2008/05/09: NEN: Expert in wind energy's fine print
- 2008/05/09: AFP: Oil hits record highs above 126 dollars
- 2008/05/09: TheBigPicture: Oil Bubble?
- 2008/05/09: TheBigPicture: What's Next for Crude Oil?
- 2008/05/08: TreeHugger: $100 Wind Turbine Brings Light to Villages Without Power
- 2008/05/08: DeSmogBlog: Solutions: Switch to faucet fuel from fossil fuel to stop global warming [H2 flack]
- 2008/05/08: NEN: Boston utility to sell New England wind
- 2008/05/08: WSJ:EnvCap: Under Water: Insiders Question Offshore Wind Power
- 2008/05/08: AFP: Oil price holds near record highs
- 2008/05/06: ClimateP: Peak-a-boo: Goldman says oil "likely" to hit $150-$200 by 2010. That means $5+ gasoline
- 2008/05/07: EnergyDaily: Babcock And Brown Begins Construction Of South Dakota Wind Farm
- 2008/05/07: PeakEnergy: Next Target For Oil: $200
- 2008/05/06: WSJ:EnvCap: Passing Gas: Higher Prices Panic Pols Everywhere
- 2008/05/07: WSJ:EnvCap: Pain at the Plug: Fuel Costs Push Up Electricity Rates, Too
- 2008/05/06: SlashDot: First Town In US To Become 100% Wind Powered
- 2008/05/06: AFP: Oil prices hit record high 122.49 dollars
- 2008/05/06: Yahoo: Oil prices rise to record near $123 a barrel on prediction of $200 oil, supply concerns
- 2008/05/06: NakedCapitalism: Goldman Forecasts Oil to Reach $150-$200 a Barrel
- 2008/05/04: GristMill: Follow the money - Carbon costs and energy prices, NC edition
- 2008/05/05: BasqueResearch: New catalyst enables the manufacture of cheaper and more efficient methanol fuel cells
- 2008/05/05: FinPo: Quebec plans US$2-billion wind park project
Repower Systems AG, a German wind- turbine builder, will supply turbines for a US$2-billion, 954-megawatt wind power project planned in Quebec, Canada, one of the largest contracts in the industry. The project, which consists of five wind farms, is due to go into service between December 2011 and December 2015, Repower said in a statement on OTS newswire Monday- 2008/05/05: PeakEnergy: A Big Idea for Offshore Wind - Concrete
- 2008/05/05: NEN: 9 green giants, 1 new energy world
- 2008/05/05: AutoBG: New $100 million X-Prizes created to spur development of clean energy
- 2008/05/05: AutoBG: Mexican crude oil supplies to U.S. to be cut back by 184,000 bpd
- 2008/05/04: PostGazette: The era of cheap energy is over
- 2008/05/05: CDreams: WIP: It's the Profits Stupid! The Rise and Rise of Exxon's Take From America
Meanwhile among the solar afficionados:
- 2008/05/11: PeakEnergy: Solar Lanterns In Malawi
- 2008/05/05: FuturePundit: Sunrgi To Solve Photovoltaics Cost Problem?
- 2008/05/10: PeakEnergy: Municipal Solar Power Plants
- 2008/05/07: TreeHugger: Sunrgi Xtreme Concentrated Photovoltaics: Solar Power Competitive With Fossil Fuels?
- 2008/05/07: NEN: Solar 2008: Day 3 - Gridlock?
- 2008/05/06: NEN: Solar2008: Day 2 - A Green New Deal
- 2008/05/06: NEN: Thin film champ First Solar still shining
- 2008/05/07: People's Daily: Singapore launches new [Solar Capability] scheme to encourage using solar technologies
- 2008/05/01: TechRev: A Price Drop for Solar Panels - The silicon shortage that has kept solar electricity expensive is ending
- 2008/05/05: PeakEnergy: The End Of The Silicon Shortage
- 2008/05/05: PeakEnergy: Sunrgi: Solar Power As Cheap As Coal?
- 2008/05/05: NEN: American solar energy society Solar2008: day 1 - the only thing
The arithmetic of coal carbon is striking home:
- 2008/05/09: Hindu: Coal reserves at power stations have hit a record low - Chinese demand eating into imports
- 2008/05/09: WSJ:EnvCap: Clean Coal: Black Gold or Fool's Gold?
- 2008/05/06: GristMill: [Dessler] In their humble overestimation ...IPCC likely too optimistic about recoverable coal
- 2008/05/04: GristMill: Minnesota to Bill Gates: No new coal! Legislators protest Gates family's stake in Big Stone II
Biofuel bickering abounds:
- 2008/05/10: TreeHugger: Biofuel Comparison Chart: The "Good," the Bad and the (Really) Ugly
- 2008/05/10: PeakEnergy: Celluslosic Ethanol And The Hungry Fungus
- 2008/05/10: PeakEnergy: Mission Impossible: Economic Biodiesel Production
- 2008/05/09: AutoBG: Affordable homebrew kit to produce your own ethanol at home
- 2008/05/08: PhysOrg: Sugarcane biofuel becomes Brazil's second energy source
- 2008/05/08: C411: Algae: A Promising Source of Fuel?
- 2008/05/08: AutoBG: Stillborn: French gas stations chain [Systeme U] stops selling E85
- 2008/05/08: CBC: Sherbrooke says no to plant biofuels on ethical grounds
- 2008/05/07: Slate: Corn Dogs -- Fuel prices are at record highs, so why are ethanol producers struggling?
- 2008/05/07: PhysOrg: Palm oil wiping out key orangutan habitat: activists
- 2008/05/04: Eureka: Lean and mean biomass-degrading fungus reveals capabilities for improved biofuel production
- 2008/05/04: Eureka: Turning fungus into fuel - Organism with a taste for olive drab shows promise for greener energy
The nuclear energy controversy continues:
- 2008/05/06: GristMill: That nuclear renaissance: any day now - Industry bottlenecks will delay any reactors for years, maybe longer
- 2008/05/05: ClimateP: Should we take Italian nuclear waste?
- 2008/05/05: ABC(Au): [OPAL] Nuclear reactor design 'flawed from start'
Yes we have a peak oil sighting:
- 2008/05/08: OilChange: Still Doubting?
- 2008/05/05: WaTi: The coming crisis
And then there is the matter of efficiency & conservation:
- 2008/05/09: NEN: Study of utilities, efficiencies
- 2008/05/05: NewScientist: Delaying data could cut net's carbon footprint
Automakers & lawyers, engineers & activists argue over the future of the car:
- 2008/05/10: PhysOrg: Nissan to make lithium-ion batteries with NEC: report
- 2008/05/10: TreeHugger: Plug-In Hybrids Have Higher Life-Cycle Greenhouse Gas Emissions Than Traditional Hybrids When Coal Dominates The Grid
- 2008/05/09: TreeHugger: Five Thousand Euro Electric Car Catches VW's Attention
- 2008/05/08: SwissInfo: Eco-car revolution "possible within three years"
A hydrogen-powered fleet could replace half of the world's gas-guzzling cars in the next three years, according to Swiss entrepreneur Nicolas Hayek.- 2008/05/08: Yahoo: Toyota projects first full-year profit drop in 7 years - a 27 percent plunge in its full-year profit
- 2008/05/08: PhysOrg: 80-mph electric car to go on sale this summer in the US [Green Vehicles' battery-powered TRIAC]
- 2008/05/06: QuarkSoup: The End of the SUV
- 2008/05/05: TreeHugger: The $350 Electric Commuter Bike
The reaction of business to climate change will be critical:
- 2008/05/08: EnvFin: US clean-tech VC investment bucks downward trend
US clean-tech venture capital (VC) investments were up 18% to $571.6 million in the first quarter of 2008, bucking a gloomier trend for overall VC investment, according to an Ernst & Young report.- 2008/05/08: AutoBG: Ford is the first carmaker to join the Climate Registry
Meanwhile in the greenwashing chronicles:
- 2008/05/07: SMH: Green spin leaves shoppers baffled
The carbon lobby are up to the usual:
- 2008/05/10: MTobis: How Truth Loses Ground
- 2008/05/10: Deltoid: Tim Blair lost in the stratosphere
- 2008/05/10: PRWatch: Where There's PR Smoke, There's Grassfire.org, Dude
- 2008/05/07: PRWatch: Heartland Takes their Skepticism North of the Border
- 2008/05/09: ClimateP: The deniers are winning, especially with the GOP
- 2008/05/09: MTobis: Opposite of "skeptic"?
- 2008/05/09: DeSmogBlog: Think the Climate Denial Industry is Dead? Think again
- 2008/05/08: Deltoid: How many climate sceptics does it take to change a light bulb?
- 2008/05/07: TP:WonkRoom: The Conservative's Dictionary Of Scientific Language
- 2008/05/06: ClimateP: "Straight talk" from the oil industry?
- 2008/05/05: ACR: The Free market Zealots from New Zealand
- 2008/05/05: MTobis: High but Surmountable Cost, Except for Pride
- 2008/05/05: Deltoid: No, global warming didn't stop in 2002
The Heartland 500 debacle rolls on:
- 2008/05/09: OilChange: "What you have done is totally unethical!!"
- 2008/05/08: DeSmogBlog: Heartland Turns Down-Under Scientists Upside Down
- 2008/05/08: DeSmogBlog: Drip, Drip, Drip: Heartland's Credibility Leaks Steadily Away
- 2008/05/08: WSJ:EnvCap: Naming Names: Heartland "Outs" Climate Doubters; They Beg to Differ
- 2008/05/07: Deltoid: The Australian's War on Science XIII
- 2008/05/07: DeSmogBlog: Five NZ Scientists Issue Release Dismissing Heartland Institute
- 2008/05/05: Deltoid: I must be psychic [Heartland]
- 2008/05/05: DeSmogBlog: Heartland Institute Tricked Video Subjects in "Unstoppable Solar Cycles"
- 2008/05/04: ACR: Follow the bouncing Ball
- 2008/05/05: ACR: They're Blinding Us With 'Science-y'
- 2008/05/05: CanWest: Climate Change Skeptics Blitz Canadian Schools
U.S. think-tank [Heartland] sends information packages about the 'real story' to 11,000 schoolsThe state of the polar bear is being spun:
- 2008/05/08: PhysOrg: Federal polar bear research critically flawed, says new study
- 2008/05/08: Informs: Federal Polar Bear Research Critically Flawed, Argue Forecasting Experts [Armstrong]
With more of the same being prepared:
- 2008/05/09: DeSmogBlog: Paying For The Science They Want: Alaska State Legislators Go Denier-Shopping
- 2008/05/08: BSD: Alaska legislature funding of climate skeptics only is a potential First Amendment violation
- 2008/05/06: TruthOut: [Alaska's] Legislature Wants Polar Bear Study
- 2008/05/05: CDreams: ADN: Wanted: A Few Flat-Earth Scientists To Support Alaskan Oil Drilling
Al Gore is a favourite target:
- 2008/05/10: GristMill: Drudge Report, Fox News falsely smear Gore - Right wing doctors audio clips to distort Al Gore's comments about cyclone Nargis
- 2008/05/10: ThinkP: Right-wing echo chamber promotes doctored and deceptive audio clip of Al Gore
- 2008/05/09: TP:WonkRoom: Right Wing Doctors Audio Clips To Distort Al Gore's Comments About Cyclone Nargis
- 2008/05/07: QuarkSoup: The Cyclone - I have been waiting for this...
- 2008/05/07: DeSmogBlog: Biofuel and Blather: Apologists Try to Pin Ill-advised Farm Subsidy on Al Gore
Then there was the usual news and commentary:
- 2008/05/07: RPTT: UAVs will study Californian smog
- 2008/05/09: QuarkSoup: My Carbon Footprint
- 2008/05/09: DeSmogBlog: Cyclones and Climate Change - The Deadly Legacy of Oil
- 2008/05/09: DeSmogBlog: University research linked to global warming
- 2008/05/07: DStrahan: Greenland oil estimates over-reported
- 2008/05/07: NewScientist: Climate scientists call for their own 'Manhattan Project'
- 2008/05/07: GristMill: 'Orangutans' scale wall, save forest - Unilever supports rainforest destruction moratorium
- 2008/05/06: GristMill: Carbon trading blasted by indigenous groups - Spoilsports don't appreciate all the World Bank has done for them
- 2008/05/07: QuarkSoup: Discover Magazine [carbon footprint]
- 2008/05/07: Eureka: High fuel prices could slash US emissions
- 2008/05/05: GristMill: A trip to the Land of Strained Analogies - More blather about sacrifice from pundits who don't really care about climate change
And here are a couple of sites you may find interesting and/or useful:
- USDA:NASS: National Agricultural Statistics Service
- BBwoB: Burmese Bloggers w/o Borders
- FAO: GIEWS - Global Information and Early Warning System
- The Climate Registry
- USGS:LIMA: Landsat Image Mosaic Of Antarctica
- N3xus6
- GPC: Greenhouse Policy Coalition (New Zealand)
- Evangelical Climate Initiative
- Millennium Ecosystem Assessment
- World Radiation Centre
- NGDC.NOAA: Solar Irradiance Data
- Exxpose Exxon
- SciAmP: SciAm Perspectives
Not a cartoon, but worth a chuckle:
While in the paleoclimate:
And speaking of floods & droughts:
Elsewhere on the mitigation front:
The tricky & difficult question of the tar sands looms:
IPAT [Impact = Population * Affluence * Technology] raised its head once again:
The Keenleyside et al. paper has triggered a fresh round of betting:
Low Key Plug
My first novel Water was published in Canada May, 2007. The American release was in October. An Introductionto the novel is available, along with the Unpublished Forewordand the Launch Talk. An overview of my writing is available here.
<regards>
P.S. Recent postings can be found in the week archive and the ancient postings can be accessed here, which should open to this.
"Alas, the frequency of storms cannot be reduced by killing butterflies."
-Robert L. Park, commenting on Edward N. Lorenz's lecture _Does the Flap of a Butterfly's Wings in Brazil Set Off a Tornado in Texas?_
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Dear Coby,
I really enjoy your blog, that I've read a few times, I've tought that a blog might correspond with your interests...
This blog is called Scientific Discovery and collects any important news regarding the global science world such as biology, health, medecine, technology, engineering,physics, astronomy, environment ect.
Here is the adress: http://blog.elabspace.com/science/
Regards,
Pauline