Another Week of GW News, October 26, 2008

By illconsidered on October 27, 2008.

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

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October 26, 2008

Top Stories:Bailout, Green Solutions, WWF, EU Airlines & GHGs, 40 Major Cities, Francophonie
Melting Arctic, NF3, Speth, Monbiot, Late Comments
Food Crisis, Food vs. Biofuel, Food Production
Hurricanes, GHGs, The Temperature Record, Temperatures, Paleoclimate, Sea Levels, Satellites
Impacts, Forests, Wacky Weather, Floods & Droughts
Mitigation, Transportation, Sequestration, Geoengineering
Journals, Misc. Science, Spencer, Hansen
Kyoto, Kyoto-2, Carbon Trade, Carbon Tax, Optimal Carbon Reduction Strategy
Politics: America, Britain, Europe, Australia, China, Canada
Ecological Economics, IPAT, Apocalypso, Media, Books, Video, Courts
Energy, High Cost Impacts, Solar, Coal, Biofuel, Nukes, Peak Oil, Efficiency, Cars, Business, Greenwashing, Insurance
Carbon Lobby, H2T2aCS, The Usual, Useful Links
Shameless Self Promotion, .sig

Live and direct from the laugh, it's funny, damnit department:

2008/10/25: TI:CF: (cartoon - Roberts) Doors of Perception
2008/10/24: TI:CF: (cartoon - Roberts) A host of golden anachronisms
2008/10/23: TI:CF: (cartoon - Roberts) Life as we know it
2008/10/20: TI:CF: (cartoon - Roberts) Frog in a blender
The credit crunch, the bailout and the energy - climate struggle implications:
2008/10/25: EarthTimes: Asian, European leaders target new climate change goals
2008/10/25: CD: A Greenish Approach to the Financial Crisis -- Or: I Learned Everything I Know About Economics From the Kyoto Accord
2008/10/23: NatureCF: From greed to green?
2008/10/22: Reuters: "New Deal" needed for climate change
2008/10/21: Yahoo: Finance, climate crises two sides of same coin: experts
2008/10/21: Reuters: Crunch may put price tag on environment
The worst financial crisis since the 1930s may be a chance to put price tags on nature in a radical economic rethink to protect everything from coral reefs to rainforests, environmental experts say.
2008/10/20: Independent(UK): Don't kill the planet in the name of saving the economy
2008/10/21: KSJT: Lots of Ink from All Angles: Cheap gas, tight credit, recession fear, and what about living the green life?
2008/10/21: Guardian(UK): Amid the rubble of global finance, a blueprint for Bretton Woods II
A one-off summit limited to market regulation will not cut it. Durable reform must also tackle climate change and world poverty
2008/10/20: EconBrowser: Bailouts for commodity speculators -- If automakers are lining up at the trough, why not Big Agra?
2008/10/20: CanberraTimes: US to host global crisis summit
Various people have seized upon the crash as an opportunity to push green solutions:
2008/10/21: BBC: Low-carbon economy is not a luxury
The low-carbon economy is an integral part of economic recovery, not a luxurious extra, says Elliot Morley, president of GLOBE International. In this week's Green Room, he sets out the reasons why the current financial crisis offers a unique opportunity for us to clean up our act.
2008/10/23: GulfTimes: Age of green economics by Ban Ki-moon
Amid the pressures of the global financial crisis, some ask how we can afford to tackle climate change. The better question is: how can we afford not to? Put aside the familiar arguments -- that the science is clear, that climate change represents an indisputable existential threat to the planet, and that every day we do not act the problem grows worse. Instead, let us make the case purely on bread-and-butter economics. At a time when the global economy is sputtering, we need growth. At a time when unemployment in many nations is rising, we need new jobs. At a time when poverty threatens to overtake hundreds of millions of people, especially in the least developed parts of the world, we need the promise of prosperity. This possibility is at our fingertips. Economists at the UN call for a Green New Deal -- a deliberate echo of the energising vision of US president Franklin Roosevelt during the Great Depression of the 1930's.
2008/10/23: Guardian(UK): Green routes to growth -- Recession is the time to build a low-carbon future with the investment vital for economy and planet
2008/10/24: GristMill: Two crises with one stone -- Solving the financial crisis by averting the climate crisis
2008/10/24: STimes: Solving the financial crisis by averting the climate crisis
2008/10/23: ClimateP: Nicholas Stern: Recession is the time to build a low-carbon future
2008/10/22: Guardian(UK): UN: Rebuild global economy through green investment
The WWF released a report to the effect that climate change is worse than expected:
2008/10/23: DeSmogBlog: Nature Puts IPCC in the Rearview Mirror
2008/10/22: SciCentric: The heat is on - climate change gathers pace faster than scientists expected
2008/10/20: CNN: Climate changing 'faster, stronger, sooner'
World Wildlife Fund report says climate change is happening faster than predicted - Dr Tina Tin: "Arctic sea ice melting much faster than everybody had been expecting" - IPCC Vice Chair: "climate change is already having a greater impact than predicted"
2008/10/20: EUO: Climate change outracing EU targets, WWF warns
2008/10/20: ENN: Klimate change outracing EU targets, WWF warns
2008/10/20: Telegraph(UK): Climate change is 'faster and more extreme' than feared
2008/10/20: OilChange: Climate Change Happening Faster, Stronger, Sooner
The EU decision to regulate airline CO2 will kick off a major fight:
2008/10/24: PhysOrg: New EU CO2 caps anger airlines
2008/10/24: Yahoo: New EU CO2 caps anger airlines
The European Union on Friday imposed tougher pollution limits on airlines from 2012, angering the air industry and the United States, whose carriers will be included. From January 2012, all airlines operating in or out of the European Union will have to limit carbon dioxide emissions to 97 percent of 2005 levels. From 2013, that figure will dip to 95 percent.

In Japan, a leaders of 40 of the world's major cities had a climate change meeting:

2008/10/24: ABC(Au): World's major cities pledge action on climate change
Leaders of 40 of the world's major cities pledged action to fight climate change, taking measures ranging from promoting solar energy to tracking genetically modified food.
2008/10/22: Google:AFP: Tokyo leader [Shintaro Ishihara] berates countries on climate change
The conference of French-speaking nations in QC pledged to cut GHGs 50% by 2050:
2008/10/20: ABC(Au): French-speaking nations pledge help in greenhouse cuts [50% by 2050]
2008/10/19: CBC: Canada to help poorer nations fight climate change
Canada will give $100 million to developing countries to fight climate change, Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced Sunday. Speaking at the closing ceremony of the three-day Francophonie summit in Quebec City, Harper said developed countries such as Canada are in a position to help poorer nations.

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.

-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.

"If we don't get help now, most of us are going to die. Nearly everyone here is starving" -Mashonaland West villager, Zimbabwe

Another Week of GW News, October 26, 2008

Sipping from the internet firehose...

October 26, 2008

Live and direct from the laugh, it's funny, damnit department:

The credit crunch, the bailout and the energy - climate struggle implications:

Various people have seized upon the crash as an opportunity to push green solutions:

The WWF released a report to the effect that climate change is worse than expected:

The EU decision to regulate airline CO2 will kick off a major fight:

In Japan, a leaders of 40 of the world's major cities had a climate change meeting:

The conference of French-speaking nations in QC pledged to cut GHGs 50% by 2050:

The Arctic melt continues to get a lot of attention:

Breathless reports on the hazards of NF3 are neatly skewered by David:

James Gustave Speth makes an observation and asks a pointed question:

George Monbiot calls for long range thinking:

Late coverage of the Forum for the Future report:

The food crisis remains a top story:

The conflict between biofuel and food persists:

And the troubling matter of falling food production is not going away:

It has been mercifully quiet in the hurricane wars:

Cyclones bury carbon at sea:

As for GHGs:

And the temperature record:

While in the paleoclimate:

Sea levels are rising:

Meanwhile in near earth orbit:

More GW impacts are being seen:

And then there are the world's forests:

Yes we have no wacky weather, except:

As for hydrological cycle disruption [floods & droughts]:

Elsewhere on the mitigation front:

Consider transportation & GHG production:

As for carbon sequestration:

Large scale geo-engineering keeps popping up:

Meanwhile in the journals:

Before we get into politics, there was some science done:

Ah, the Spencer saga:

Joe is feeling his oats:

Meanwhile on the Kyoto front:

And on the Kyoto-2 front:

While at the UN:

And on the carbon trading front:

The idea of a carbon tax is still bouncing around:

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:

And on the American political front:

Maryland police put a bunch of activists on a DHS terrorist list to great outcry:

One hears a lot about the campaigns, not much about their climate & energy policies:

The Gore-apalooza is still bopping along:

While in the UK:

And in Europe:

Meanwhile in Australia:

And in China:

In Canada, it's been quiet since the election:

A lawsuit aimed at making the federal government enforce the law has been dismissed:

Wrangling over the BC climate plan continues:

The tar sands are being impacted by the global recession:

The movement toward a long term ecologically viable economics is glacial:

IPAT [Impact = Population * Affluence * Technology] raised its head once again:

Apocalypso anyone?

As for how the media handles the science of climatology:

Here is something for your library:

And for your film & video enjoyment:

Meanwhile among the 'Sue the Bastards!' contingent:

Developing a new energy infrastructure is a fundamental challenge of the current generation:

As for the impacts of high energy costs:

Meanwhile among the solar aficionados:

The arithmetic of coal carbon is striking home:

Biofuel bickering abounds:

The nuclear energy controversy continues:

Yes we have a peak oil sighting:

Then there is the matter of efficiency & conservation:

Automakers & lawyers, engineers & activists argue over the future of the car:

The reaction of business to climate change will be critical:

Meanwhile in the greenwashing chronicles:

Insurance and re-insurance companies are feeling the heat:

The carbon lobby are up to the usual:

Coby updated his How to Talk to a Climate Sceptic series:

Then there was the usual news and commentary:

And here are a couple of sites you may find interesting and/or useful:

Low Key Plug

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