Another week of GW News, March 20, 2011

Logging the Onset of The Bottleneck Years

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Another week of Global Warming News

Information is not Knowledge...Knowledge is notWisdom

March 20, 2011

• Chuckles, Equinox, Fukushima Reactions, Fukushima Talk, Inspiration, WikiLeaks
• Bottom Line, Thermodynamics, Attribution, Google, Sock Puppetry, Cook
• Melting Arctic, Methane, Geopolitics
• Food Crisis, Food Prices, Land Grabs, GMOs, Food Production
• Hurricanes, GHGs, Carbon Cycle, Temperatures, Aerosols, Ozone, Paleoclimate, Historical Climate
• ENSO, Climate Sensitivity, State of the Oceans, Anthropocene, Satellites
• Impacts, Forests, Wildfires, Acidification, Sea Levels, Floods & Droughts
• Mitigation, REDD, Transportation, Buildings, Sequestration, Geoengineering
• Journals, Other Docs , Misc. Science, DIY Science, Nature Blast, Curry
• International Politics: Misc., Carbon Trade, Law & Activism, Activism, Polls, H2O Biz, Religioso
• National Politics: America, BP Disaster, 2012, Obama, USAdmin, Congress, Lobbyists
• Britain, Europe, Australia, Carbon Pricing, India, China
• Canada, Post G20, Brison, Nukes, MVP, BC, Tar Sands, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, Maritimes, North
• Ecological Economics, IPAT, Apocalypso, Media, Books, Video, Courts
• Energy, Fracking, Wind, Solar, FITs, Coal, Biofuel, Nukes, Peak Oil, Cars, Energy Storage
• Greenwashing, FAQs, Joe's List, Carbon Lobby, Miscellaneous Climate, Useful Links
• Shameless Self Promotion, .sig

Here's a chuckle for ya:

• 2011/03/18: uComics: (cartoon - Toles) Regulations & Republicans
• 2011/03/15: uComics: (cartoon - Auth) Energy Choices
• 2011/03/14: uComics: (cartoon - Toles) Next Anti-Climate Line
• 2011/03/14: ClimateP: (cartoon - Judge) What Does Libya Give Us?

  And for those who enjoy challenging Poe's Law:

• 2011/03/17: Onion: Nuclear Energy Advocates Insist U.S. Reactors Completely Safe Unless Something Bad Happens
• 2011/03/16: BCLSB: Standing Up To Enbridge [Myhaircares]
• 2011/03/16: Straight: Yes Men-inspired group claims responsibility for Enbridge-spoofing MyHairCares hoax
• 2011/03/16: BCLSB: It Was The Yes Men

  Well, it's been a wild and crazy week. With the Fukushima nuclear disasterand the ongoingArab democratic revolutiongrabbing most headlines, who noticed the supermoonorvernal equinox?

• 2011/03/20: APOD: Parthenon Moon
• 2011/03/19: Guardian(UK): Japan prays for success of Fukushima 50 in fight to save nuclear plant
  A fearless band of scientists and workers trying to stop a meltdown have inspired the entire country
• 2011/03/20: al Jazeera: International forces bombard targets in Libya
  Coalition forces launch Libya assault, which Gaddafi calls "colonial, crusader" aggression.

A number of countries have announced changes or reviews of nuclear policy due to Fukushima:

• 2011/03/18: CBC: Canadian nuclear watchdog requests review
  The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission is asking for a review of all Canadian nuclear plants in light of the disaster in Japan.
• 2011/03/18: ScienceInsider: India's Nuclear Chief: Reactor Review But No Shutdown
• 2011/03/17: EarthTimes: Obama orders US nuclear review amid ongoing Japanese crisis
• 2011/03/17: BBC: Japan crisis: UK nuclear review to report in two months
• 2011/03/17: NatureTGB: China suspends nuclear plant construction
• 2011/03/17: TreeHugger: No, Nein, Bù - Nuclear Moratorium Spreads Through Europe To China
• 2011/03/17: EarthTimes:Israeli [PM Netanyahu] scraps plans for nuclear power plant
• 2011/03/17: BBC: Hugo Chavez calls off Venezuela's nuclear energy plans
• 2011/03/16: CRI: China Freezes Nuclear Plant Approvals
• 2011/03/16: EarthTimes: Spain to check security at nuclear plants
• 2011/03/16: EarthTimes: Swedish review of nuclear waste storage begins
• 2011/03/16: EarthTimes:EU summit to discuss nuclear safety next week [March 24-25]
• 2011/03/14: ABC(Au): [PM Julia] Gillard rules out nuclear power in Australia
• 2011/03/14: EarthTimes: Switzerland suspends nuclear licensing process
• 2011/03/14: EarthTimes: Finland to review contingency plans at nuclear sites

  The pundits. lobbyists and politicians have been nuke yakking non-stop:

• 2011/03/20: Grist: Instead of putting the brakes on nuclear plants, should we be building safer ones?
• 2011/03/20: PeakEnergy: Experts protecting nuclear interests
  The ABC has a post on the bizarrely (but not atypically, as it usually reads like a nuclear PR outlet) biased commentary coming out of Barry Brook's "Brave New Climate" on the Fukushima nuclear disaster
• 2011/03/20: TStar: Will political fallout from Japanà $(Bs (Bnukes hit Ontario?
• 2011/03/19: ClimateP: What is the future of nuclear power in this country?
• 2011/03/14: FuturePundit: New Designs Would Avoid Japan Reactor Failures?
• 2011/03/18: TreeHugger: Nuclear Plant Near San Andreas Fault Ran for Over a Year With Emergency Systems Disabled
• 2011/03/19: CleanBreak: The nuclear conundrum: the safer we try to make nuke power, the more expensive it becomes
• 2011/03/17: RRapier: How Much Are You Willing to Pay to be Nuke-Free?
• 2011/03/18: PI:B: Canadian nuclear plans under scrutiny as Japan's crisis unfolds
• 2011/03/19: CCurrents: Nuclear Nightmare
• 2011/03/18: CCurrents: A Nuclear Warning From Japan We Cannot Ignore
• 2011/03/17: CCurrents: From Hiroshima To Fukushima: Rethinking Atomic Energy
• 2011/03/17: CCurrents: Nuclear Power: Real Risks, Real Costs
• 2011/03/17: CCurrents: Japan's Unprecedented Nuclear Disaster Refuels Longstanding Controversy In Europe
• 2011/03/18: DemNow: "Why Are We Playing Russian Roulette With the American People?": Longtime Nuclear Critic Ralph Nader Advocates Phasing Out Nuclear Power Industry
• 2011/03/17: DemNow: Prominent Japanese Environmentalist Keibo Oiwa Urges Global Movement to End Nuclear Power and Confront the "Crazy System Based on Greed, Anger and Ignorance"
• 2011/03/16: TBAS: The lessons of Fukushima
• 2011/03/19: NakedCapitalism: Is Nuclear Power Worth the Risk?
• 2011/03/16: Guardian(UK): Japan nuclear crisis should not carry weight in atomic energy debate [Monbiot]
• 2011/03/15: GreenGrok: Nuclear Crisis in Japan -- A game-changer or the price of doing business?
• 2011/03/18: ABC(Au): Nuclear community snubbed reactor safety message: expert
  A US nuclear expert says the creator of the Light Water Reactor (LWR), a design which is being used in the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan, foresaw the problems with its design and advocated for a safer, more efficient alternative.
• 2011/03/18: DerSpiegel: The World from Berlin -- With Moratorium, Merkel 'Driving into a Dead End at Full Speed'
• 2011/03/17: DerSpiegel: Questions About the Nuclear Shutdown -- Merkel Under Pressure Following Moratorium
• 2011/03/16: DerSpiegel: European Press Review -- 'The World Champion of Hysteria Around Nuclear Power'
  The Fukushima disaster is driving European countries to test the safety of their nuclear plants and, in the case of Germany, to shut them down. Are our leaders acting with prudence or are they merely reaching for the panic button? The European press has harsh words for Berlin and for the continent's seeming nuclear paranoia.
• 2011/03/18: Grist: Renewables or nuclear: maybe we do have to choose
• 2011/03/17: Grist: Cost, not Japan crisis, should scrub nuclear power
• 2011/03/18: TreeHugger: Safety Grabs the Headlines But Cost Tops List of Reasons To Oppose New Nuclear Power
• 2011/03/18: TimesUnion: A nuclear panacea no more
  Nuclear power was beginning to look like a panacea -- a way to lessen our dependence on oil, make our energy supply more self-sufficient and significantly mitigate global warming, all at the same time. Now it looks more like a bargain with the devil.
• 2011/03/17: al Jazeera: 'Stop the nuclear renaissance'
  Japan's nuclear crisis sparked by earthquake is only latest in long line of nuclear accidents across world. Japan's nuclear crisis is a nightmare, but it is not an anomaly.
• 2011/03/17: AlterNet: No Nukes Is Good Nukes: The Intrinsic Problems With Nuclear Power
• 2011/03/18: BBerg: Japan Disaster Caps Decades of Faked Reports, Accidents
  [...]
  Nuclear engineers and academics who have worked in Japanà $(Bs (Batomic power industry spoke in interviews of a history of accidents, faked reports and inaction by a succession of Liberal Democratic Party governments that ran Japan for nearly all of the postwar period. Katsuhiko Ishibashi, a seismology professor at Kobe University, has said Japanà $(Bs (Bhistory of nuclear accidents stems from an overconfidence in plant engineering. In 2006, he resigned from a government panel on reactor safety, saying the review process was rigged and "unscientific."
• 2011/03/15: TruthDig: No Nukes Is Good Nukes
• 2011/03/16: NYT: From Hiroshima to Fukushima by Jonathan Schell
• 2011/03/17: JQuiggin: No nuclear renaissance
• 2011/03/16: FAIR: The End of the Nuclear 'Renaissance'?
• 2011/03/16: BSD: Nuke power: still too safe, still too expensive, and no one's changed their mind
• 2011/03/16: EurActiv: Oettinger pushes for stress tests of Europe's nuclear plants
  Energy Commissioner Günther Oettinger called at a hastily-convened meeting of ministers yesterday (15 March) for the introduction of safety "stress tests" at nuclear power plants in Europe. He commended the safety standards currently in place in EU countries, but at the same time told German media that Europe must consider a "foreseeable future" without nuclear energy.
• 2011/03/16: ClassM: What Fukushima doesn't change
• 2011/03/16: EarthTimes: Sarkozy 'remains convinced' France was right to choose nuclear
• 2011/03/16: PeakEnergy: Nuclear myths in meltdown, in Japan and here
• 2011/03/14: MoJo: Will Japan Disaster Halt a US Nuclear Renaissance?
  Boosters aren't backing off yet, but a change in public opinion could threaten the industry's rebirth.
• 2011/03/15: DerSpiegel: Germany Cripples Itself With Nuclear Angst
• 2011/03/15: DerSpiegel: Merkel Pushes the Emergency Button -- Moratorium Seen as Ploy to Placate Voters
  Chancellor Angela Merkel has announced the temporary shutdown of seven of Germany's 17 nuclear plants pending a three-month safety check in response to the Fukushima accident. Opposition parties say is it's a calculated move to allay public fear and avert defeat in three regional elections this month.
• 2011/03/14: DerSpiegel: Japan's Chernobyl -- Fukushima Marks the End of the Nuclear Era
• 2011/03/15: DerSpiegel: The World from Berlin -- 'The Political Fallout from Fukushima Has Already Reached Germany'
  Chancellor Merkel reacted quickly to Fukushima by imposing a moratorium on a planned extension of nuclear plant operating lives in Germany. Her critics claim that she is merely trying to prevent a massive defeat in a crunch state election later this month. German commentators agree on one thing: Merkel's nuclear policy can never be the same again.
• 2011/03/16: DerSpiegel: Fear's Price Tag -- The High Price of Merkel's Nuclear About-Face
  Chancellor Angela Merkel's decision to temporarily shut down seven nuclear reactors could cost the industry more than a half-billion euros and result in Germany not meeting its CO2 emission reduction goals. The rest of the world is taking a wait-and-see approach.
• 2011/03/16: DerSpiegel: The World from Berlin -- 'Merkel's Nuclear Realignment Is an Embarrassment'
  Chancellor Angela Merkel's hurried shutdown of seven nuclear reactors in Germany came as a surprise. And it has not been well received. German commentators say that the decision has seriously damaged her credibility.
• 2011/03/16: DerSpiegel: Clean Energy with a Price Tag -- Germany's Dream of Offshore Wind Farms Gets Expensive
  Construction of offshore wind farms off Germany's northern coast in the North and Baltic Seas has faced significant delays, even as the country's utility companies tackle one project after another abroad. Things have fallen so far behind that government officials are happy to see anything happen at all.
• 2011/03/15: DerSpiegel: European Press Review -- As Japan Reels from Disaster, EU Debates Nuclear Future
  The nuclear disaster unfolding in Japan is sending a collective gasp across the European Union. Are our own power stations safe? Should we relinquish this form of energy? Presseurop reviews the landscape of European editorial pages in the wake of Fukushima.
• 2011/03/14: DerSpiegel: It's Time to Pull the Plug
  The nuclear catastrophe in Japan has sparked an international debate on nuclear energy -- one that is especially fierce in Germany. After Fukushima, it can no longer be viewed as an energy source for the future. German Chancellor Angela Merkel is bound to alter her pro-nuclear stance.
• 2011/03/15: BBC: Energy Secretary Chris Huhne has warned people not to "rush to judgement" about the safety of nuclear power as a result of the crisis in Japan
• 2011/03/15: EnergyBulletin: The great energy rethink: Lessons from Japan and the neighborhood
• 2011/03/15: Guardian(UK): 'Nuclear renaissance'? No thank you, Mr President
• 2011/03/15: EurActiv: Japan nuclear disaster sparks heated EU debate
• 2011/03/15: EurActiv: Alarm bells ring over Europe's nuclear expansion
• 2011/03/16: NBF: China suspends all new nuclear plants, orders safety review
• 2011/03/14: DerSpiegel: Germany to Reconsider Nuclear Policy -- Merkel Sets Three-Month 'Moratorium' on Extension of Lifespans
  German Chancellor Angela Merkel, facing a resurgence in public fears about nuclear power following the Fukushima disaster and tough regional elections, said on Monday she would review her decision to extend the lifetimes of nuclear reactors. Two old plants may be shut down as a result, at least temporarily.
• 2011/03/15: EarthTimes: Merkel mothballs seven reactors pending safety checks
• 2011/03/15: EarthTimes: Germany to mothball seven of 17 nuclear plants, begin tests
• 2011/03/15: EUO: EU to 'stress test' the bloc's nuclear energy plants
• 2011/03/15: PlanetArk: Nuclear Sector Takes Beating But U.S. Offers Support
• 2011/03/17: PlanetArk: China Freezes Nuclear Approvals After Japan Crisis
• 2011/03/15: PlanetArk: French Greens Call For End To Nuclear Energy
• 2011/03/15: BNC: Think climate when judging nuclear power
• 2011/03/15: Grist: Con: Nuclear power is expensive, risky, and some of its proponents are kind of annoying
• 2011/03/15: Grist: Pro: Japanà $(Bs (Bterrible disaster is no reason to stop building nuclear power
• 2011/03/15: NatureN: Quake sparks nuclear crisis -- Explosions at a tsunami-hit plant will knock public confidence and the industry worldwide
• 2011/03/15: Stoat: Pop, pop, pop
• 2011/03/14: ScienceInsider: Roundup: Global Reaction to Nuclear Crisis in Japan
• 2011/03/15: EarthTimes: EU to run nuclear plant 'stress tests' after Japan incident
• 2011/03/15: EarthTimes: EU to discuss Austrian call for 'stress tests' on nuclear plants
• 2011/03/15: OilDrum: Safety of nuclear power and death of the nuclear renaissance
• 2011/03/14: Guardian(UK): Germany suspends power station extension plans as nuclear jitters spread
• 2011/03/14: CNN: Germany reconsiders extending nuke plants' lifespan after Japan crisis
  German Chancellor Merkel ordered a review of nuclear plant safety - Japan crisis showed things "all but impossible scientifically can in fact happen," Merkel says - Merkel previously supported extending lifespan of Germany's nuclear power plants
• 2011/03/14: EUO: Germany delays nuclear plans as Japanese meltdown fears rise
• 2011/03/15: BBC: Germany has temporarily shut down seven of its nuclear power plants while it reconsiders its nuclear strategy.
• 2011/03/14: Salon:WR: Crisis casts doubt on nuke industry P.R. campaign
  Years of well-funded public-relations efforts have asserted that nuclear power is completely safe
• 2011/03/14: CBC: Meltdown fears cast cloud on nuclear energy
• 2011/03/14: ClassM: The Fukushima legacy
• 2011/03/14: ClimateP: With new nuclear power on pause, hereà $(Bs (Ba practical, affordable (and safe) clean electricity plan
• 2011/03/14: PlanetArk: Japan Nuclear Woes Cast Shadow Over U.S. Energy Policy
• 2011/03/14: Grist: So much for all that new nuclear energy we were going to build
• 2011/03/14: JQuiggin: The end of the nuclear renaissance
• 2011/03/14: EarthTimes: White House remains confident in nuclear power
• 2011/03/14: EarthTimes: Nuclear power remains key to China's carbon targets
• 2011/03/14: EarthTimes: India to review safety of nuclear plants
• 2011/03/14: EarthTimes:'Unthinkable' has happened in Japan, says EU Energy Commissioner [Guenther Oettinger]
• 2011/03/14: EarthTimes: Merkel delays extending German nuclear reactors' lifespans
• 2011/03/13: OilDrum: How Black Is the Japanese Nuclear Swan?
• 2011/03/13: NYT: U.S. Nuclear Plants Have Same Risks, and Backups, as Japan Counterparts
• 2011/03/14: BBC: Germany has responded to the Japanese nuclear crisis by suspending for three months a plan to extend the lives of its ageing nuclear power stations
• 2011/03/13: NYT: U.S. Nuclear Industry Faces New Uncertainty
  The fragile bipartisan consensus that nuclear power offers a big piece of the answer to Americaà $(Bs (Benergy and global warming challenges may have evaporated as quickly as confidence in Japanà $(Bs (Bcrippled nuclear reactors. Until this weekend, President Obama, mainstream environmental groups and large numbers of Republicans and Democrats in Congress agreed that nuclear power offered a steady energy source and part of the solution to climate change, even as they disagreed on virtually every other aspect of energy policy. Mr. Obama is seeking tens of billions of dollars in government insurance for new nuclear construction, and the nuclear industry in the United States, all but paralyzed for decades after the Three Mile Island accident in 1979, was poised for a comeback. Now, that is all in question as the world watches the unfolding crisis in Japanà $(Bs (Bnuclear reactors and the widespread terror it has spawned.
• 2011/03/13: YHotL: Nuclear meltdown is not an alternative to global warming
• 2011/03/13: EnergyBulletin: How black is the Japanese nuclear swan?
• 2011/03/17: EarthTimes: China reviews nuclear projects amid public panic
• 2011/03/17: BBC: Japan crisis: Germany to speed up nuclear energy exit
• 2011/03/17: BBC: China suspends nuclear building plans
• 2011/03/16: PlanetArk: Germany To Shut Down Pre-1980 Nuclear Plants
• 2011/03/16: EarthTimes: China suspends approval of nuclear projects

  Inspiration:

• 2011/03/17: MTobis: Inspiration
  [...]
  It amazes me how such inspirational and heroic talk comes effortlessly from the people slurping up the last drops of the milkshake, while the people who actually are thinking about a sustainable future have been driven to being whiny and defensive and tiresome. The future is not yet written. Let's write it.
• 2011/03/15: JQuiggin: Cardinal folly
  [...]
  Instead of a tiresome recitation of Ayersà $(B q (Bualifications on the topic and Pellà $(Bs (Black of same, Ià $(Bll (B look on the bright side. Each person who comes out with this kind of nonsense (Don Aitkin, David Bellamy, Clive James, Nick Minchin, the entire rightwing commentariat) is one less to whom we need to pay attention on any subject. Whatever their former claims to eminence (!), the combination of ignorance, bad judgement, hubris and plain dishonesty required to endorse nonsense like Plimerà $(Bs (Bis enough to discredit them across the board.

WikiLeaks keeps popping up:

• 2011/03/14: Guardian(UK): US embassy cables: MP criticises Japanese nuclear strategy
• 2011/03/16: FOKNC: Wikileaks: Japan Was Warned About Fukushima

  And on the Bottom Line:

• 2011/03/18: MB: More on Climate Change in America
• 2011/03/18: MB: Not Getting It on Climate Change
• 2011/03/18: SkeptiSci: The True Cost of Coal Power by dana1981
• 2011/03/15: ClimateP: Nicholas Stern interview, Part 2: We need a new industrial revolution, "but a pretty minor investment" considering the "massive risk reduction"
• 2011/03/14: Grist: Nicholas Stern: We need a new industrial revolution

  Delving into the laws of thermodynamics this week:

• 2011/03/17: TSoD: Clouds and Water Vapor - Part Four

  Regarding attribution:

• 2011/03/14: ClimateP: NOAA: Monster crop-destroying Russian heat wave to be once-in-a-decade event by 2060s (or sooner)
  NCAR's Trenberth challenges the attribution analysis, "Many statements are not justified and are actually irresponsible."

I'm not sure why this old news suddenly got recirculated, but it popped up all over the place last week:

• 2011/03/19: TreeHugger: Google Recruits Scientists to Use New Media to Tackle Climate Skeptics
• 2011/03/18: SolveCN: Google Takes on Climate Change Skeptics with New Technology Effort
• 2011/03/18: CCP: Google Takes on Climate Change Skeptics with New Technology Effort

  That story about online persona management software also was recycled:

• 2011/03/18: DM:DB: U.S. Government Writes Software to Enable Squads of Propaganda Comment Trolls
  It sounds like the deranged words of a conspiracy theorist: The U.S. military is (not so) secretly creating software thatà $(Bll (B generate phony online personae in order to subtly influence social media conversations and spread propaganda. But what may sound like wacky theory is actually wacky reality, or at least will soon be, depending on whether ità $(Bs (Balready in the works. Dubbed the "online persona management service," this technology would enable a single soldier to assume upwards of 10 different identities.
• 2011/03/17: WiC: US spy operation that manipulates social media
• 2011/03/18: POGGE: Sock puppets r us
• 2011/03/17: Telegraph(UK): US military creates fake online personas
  The US military awarded a contract for software to create 500 fake personas on social networks in order to secretly influence online debate in its favour, it has been reported.
• 2011/03/18: SlashDot: US Military Commissions Sock Puppet Program

  John Cook and friends continue their point-counterpoint articles:

• 2011/03/19: SkeptiSci: How Suffolk County Community College students contributed to the Guide to Skepticism
• 2011/03/17: SkeptiSci: Those who contribute the least greenhouse gases will be most impacted by climate change
• 2011/03/17: SkeptiSci: One of the best climate change ads I've seen
• 2011/03/16: SkeptiSci: Indonesian translation of The Scientific Guide to Global Warming Skepticism
• 2011/03/14: SkeptiSci: University of Western Australia [UWA] Climatecasts now on iTunes by Stephan Lewandowsky
• 2011/03/14: SkeptiSci: Irregular Climate Episode 18 (featuring Dana Nuccitelli)

  The Arctic melt continues to garner a lot of attention:

• 2011/03/17: WU:PSC: Arctic Sea Ice Volume Anomaly
• 2011/03/17: QuarkSoup: New Data on Arctic Sea Ice Volume
• 2011/03/15: ASI: Animation Bering Sea
• 2011/03/14: CNN: Climate scientists battle brutal Arctic
  Arctic Circle is ground zero for climate change science - Science team is look at how effects of melting Arctic could be felt globally - They are living in tents on the ice flow rather than using vehicles to sleep in - Dangers include negative 40 temperatures melting ice and polar bears

That Damoclean sword still hangs overhead:

• 2011/03/15: Eureka: Northern peatlands a misunderstood player in climate change

  As for the geopolitics of Arctic resources:

• 2011/03/16: DerSpiegel: Final Frontier -- Berlin Enters the Scramble for the Arctic
  As the Arctic ice melts, Germany wants to make sure its scientists gain unfettered access to the region. They have been hindered by the Russians, and other Arctic nations have been hesitant to cooperate. But Berlin also has its eyes on the bigger North Pole booty: natural resources and sea routes.
• 2011/03/15: EnergyBulletin: "The oil of the Arctic is not worth the risks"

  The food crisis is ongoing:

• 2011/03/17: AllAfrica: SW Radio: Zimbabwe: Zanu PF Minister Bars UN Groups From Food Assessments
• 2011/03/16: AllAfrica: IRIN: Zimbabwe: UN Agencies Barred From Food Assessment for 'Political Reasons'
• 2011/03/17: VoxEU: Climate change and agriculture: Implications for the worldà $(Bs (Bpoor by Thomas Hertel & Stephanie Rosch
  Those who rely on agriculture for their livelihoods are among the most vulnerable to climate change -- they also happen to be among the worldà $(Bs (Bpoorest. This column argues that policymakers have a duty to help them adapt. It adds that the near-term poverty effects of climate-mitigation policies could even be more significant than climate change itself.
• 2011/03/16: SkeptiSci: Maize harvest to shrink under Global Warming by Rob Painting
• 2011/03/15: BPA: Climate Change and Agriculture: Predicting Food Yield Changes by Degree of Temperature Increase
• 2011/03/15: CCP: David B. Lobell et al., Nature Climate Change (March 15, 2011), Nonlinear heat effects on African maize as evidenced by historical yield trials
• 2011/03/15: CCP: M. Auffhammer, Nature Climate Change (March 15, 2011), Agriculture: Weather dilemma for African maize
• 2011/03/15: CCP: Climate Change and Agriculture: Predicting Food Yield Changes by Degree of Temperature Increase
• 2011/03/14: Grist: Another week, another attempt to shield factory farms from public scrutiny
• 2011/03/13: Eureka: Untapped crop data from Africa predicts corn peril if temperatures rise

  Food Prices are still rising:

• FAO: World Food Situation - Food Price Indices
• 2011/03/18: CBC: Brace for 8% higher food prices: TD
• 2011/03/16: LA Times: Cheap food may be a thing of the past in U.S.
  Americans spend only about 10% of their annual incomes on food, compared with as much as 70% in other countries, but with prices climbing, some economists wonder whether the nation's abundance of affordable food is history.
• 2011/03/16: Yahoo:AP: Wholesale prices up 1.6 pct. on steep rise in food -- Wholesale prices rise 1.6 pct. due to biggest jump in food costs in more than 36 years
• 2011/03/16: CSM: Food costs soaring in US after harsh winter. Will higher prices last?
• 2011/03/14: EnergyBulletin: Why world food prices may keep climbing by Lester Brown

  So, are these land grabs Colonialism V2.0?

• 2011/03/17: Guardian(UK): The new scramble for Africa

  Regarding the genetic modification of food:

• 2011/03/15: EurActiv: Ministers discuss banning GM crop cultivation
• 2011/03/15: PlanetArk: Britain Adds Voice To Criticism Of EU GM Crop Plans
  Britain became the latest European Union country on Thursday to raise serious doubts over proposals to let EU governments decide individually whether to grow or ban genetically modified (GM) crops.

And how are we going to feed 9 billion?

• 2011/03/16: WFP: George Stroumboulopoulos: WFP's First Canadian Ambassador Against Hunger
• 2011/03/15: WFP: WFP Mobilizes Food For Hungry In North Africa
• 2011/03/15: FAO: FAO Director-General urges increase in agricultural investments -- Emiratesà $(B d (Bate palm development program a good example
• 2011/03/18: NatureN: Funding to help save plant diversity secured -- Scientists warn of the dangers of diminishing crop genetic reserves
  An international treaty aimed at protecting and improving access to the world's plant genetic resources has obtained more than US$10 million from donors to fund its second round of research grants for helping to conserve global food security. The funding was confirmed at a meeting of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture this week in Bali, Indonesia. The treaty is best known for its role in paving the way for construction of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault in Norway.
• 2011/03/17: Eureka: Solar greenhouses: China's winning solution to global energy crisis -- 20 years of research produces definitive study on benefits of Chinese single-slope greenhouses
• 2011/03/17: AlterNet: Feedlot Meat Has Spurred a Soy Boom That Has a Devastating Environmental and Human Cost
• 2011/03/17: Eureka: New software calculates heating costs in greenhouse operations -- Program designers say Virtual Grower can 'take the guesswork out of energy analysis'
• 2011/03/15: UN: UN official urges greater investment in agriculture to boost food security
• 2011/03/14: UN: UN humanitarian food agency begins work on regional logistics base in Djibouti
• 2011/03/14: UN: UN-backed treaty meeting seeks to boost conservation of worldà $(Bs (Bplant varieties

  Just one oddball storm in the South Atlantic, but some peripheral news:

• 2011/03/16: NOAANews: Two Tropical Cyclone Names [Igor & Tomas] Retired from List of Atlantic Storms
• 2011/03/17: NASA: Hurricane Season 2011: Sub-Tropical Storm Arani (South Atlantic Ocean)
• 2011/03/15: Eureka: NASA's Aqua Satellite spots rare Southern Atlantic sub-tropical storm

  As for GHGs:

• 2011/03/17: PlanetArk: Analysis: Unrest Stalls Middle East Struggle To Cut CO2
• 2011/03/16: ClimateP: Analysis: "The content of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is accelerating super-exponentially."
• 2011/03/16: Eureka: CO2 emissions from biomass combustion
• 2011/03/15: Grist: Grading cities on their carbon emissions
• 2011/03/14: CDialogue: Counting Carbon
• 2011/03/13: Tamino: Eyjafjallajökull

  And in the carbon cycle:

• 2011/03/14: ABC(Au): Indian Ocean could help combat climate change

  As for the temperature record:

• 2011/03/15: NOAANews: February Ranked 17th Warmest on Record
• 2011/03/14: CC&G: UAH Temperature Anomalies Following Predictable Pattern
• 2011/03/15: SkeptiSci: Maximum and minimum monthly records in global temperature databases by Shoyemore

  Aerosols are making their presence felt:

• 2011/03/15: Eureka: Earth: Still in a haze: Black carbon

  The ozone layer is still under threat:

• 2011/03/16: SciNews: Record ozone thinning looms in Arctic -- Depletion could expose midlatitudes to higher-than-normal UV
• 2011/03/16: Eureka: Alternatives eyed for methyl bromide
• 2011/03/15: NatureTGB: Spectre of an Arctic ozone hole looms
• 2011/03/14: AWI: Arctic on the verge of record ozone loss - Arctic-wide measurements verify rapid depletion in recent days

  While in the paleoclimate:

• 2011/03/16: SciNews: Cave formations record Black Sea deluges -- Stalagmites in Turkish grotto document 670,000 years of flooding
• 2011/03/16: Eureka: Ancient 'hyperthermals' a guide to anticipated climate changes
  Scripps researchers document the history of sudden global warming events, impacts on marine life Bursts of intense global warming that have lasted tens of thousands of years have taken place more frequently throughout history than previously believe, according to evidence gathered by a team led by Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego researchers.

And in historical times:

• 2011/03/14: Eureka: Old-growth tree stumps tell the story of fire in the upper Midwest...a 226-year history of fire in southern Illinois...

  While on the ENSO front:

• 2011/03/14: CC&G: Comparison of UAH Anomalies During 1998 & 2010 El Nino - La Nina Oscillations

  Regarding Climate Sensitivity:

• 2011/03/19: IsaacHeld: 5. Time dependent climate sensitivity?

  And the State of the Oceans:

• 2011/03/19: HotTopic: [Sylvia] Earle: everything in the oceans at risk

  Oh look! The Anthropocene came up again:

• 2011/03/16: WtD: Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going? Life during the emerging anthropocene

  Meanwhile in near earth orbit:

• 2011/03/14: NASA: TRMM Satellite Reveals Flooding Rains from Massive East Coast Storm

  More GW impacts are being seen:

• 2011/03/15: CBC: Seal pups suffer poor ice conditions again
  Poor ice conditions will take a heavy toll on seal pups in the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence again this year, with thousands likely to die.

And then there are the world's forests:

• 2011/03/18: FAO: Forests are key for high quality water supply -- Better forest management needed to maximize water-related benefits from forests
• 2011/03/18: UN: World must better protect forests in face of looming water scarcity, UN forum warns
• 2011/03/16: G&M: Canadaà $(Bs (Bboreal forests need global protection, U.S. study says
  An American research centre [Pew Environment Group] says Canadaà $(Bs (Bboreal forests, which contain a quarter of the worldà $(Bs (Bwetlands, are the most important global carbon sink and their preservation should be an international priority.
• 2011/03/14: GEP: Cloning Giant Trees
• 2011/03/13: Yahoo:AP: Group seeks forest restoration to cleanse planet
  Redwoods and sequoias towering majestically over California's northern coast. Oaks up to 1,000 years old nestled in a secluded corner of Ireland. The legendary cedars of Lebanon. They are among the most iconic trees on Earth, remnants of once-vast populations decimated by logging, development, pollution and disease. A nonprofit organization called Archangel Ancient Tree Archive is rushing to collect their genetic material and replant clones in an audacious plan to restore the world's ancient forests and put them to work cleansing the environment and absorbing carbon dioxide, the greenhouse gas largely responsible for global warming.

As for heatwaves and wild fires:

• 2011/03/17: Guardian(UK): Deadly heatwaves will be more frequent in coming decades, say scientists
  'Mega-heatwaves' like the one estimated to have killed tens of thousands in western Europe in 2003 will become up to 10 times more likely over the next 40 years, a study suggests

Acidification is changing the oceans:

• 2011/03/17: SkeptiSci: Examining the impacts of ocean acidification
• 2011/03/11: UCARMag: Acidification and more -- Newly recognized threats to marine life emerge as Earth warms

  Sea levels are rising:

• 2011/03/18: SkeptiSci: Sea level rise: coming to a place near you by Daniel Bailey
• 2011/03/16: CBC: Storm surges the new normal, residents hear
• 2011/03/16: SkeptiSci: And so castles made of sand fall in the sea, eventually by jlweiss

  As for hydrological cycle disruptions [floods & droughts]:

• 2011/03/17: NWS: National Hydrologic Assessment
  Conditions are favorable for spring flooding over large sections of the United States, from the Northern Plains through the Midwest and eastward to New England.
• 2011/03/17: NOAANews: Spring Flooding Underway, Expected to Worsen through April
• 2011/03/14: NOAANews: FEMA, NOAA and Partners Encourage U.S. Residents to Prepare for Springtime Flooding

  Elsewhere on the mitigation front:

• 2011/03/17: ASA: Can Biochar Help Suppress Greenhouse Gases? New Zealand study shows biochar to decrease nitrous oxide emissions
• 2011/03/17: York(UK): Intervention offers 'best chance' to save species endangered by climate change
  A University of York scientist is proposing a radical programme of 'assisted colonisation' to save species endangered by climate change.
• 2011/03/15: Eureka: Natural sequence farming -- Turning back the climatic clock in Australia
  Improving land management and farming practices in Australia could have an effect on global climate change, according to a study published in the International Journal of Water.

Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation has somehow seemed chimeric:

• 2011/03/16: NatureN: Cash alone will not slow forest carbon emissions
  To succeed, the REDD initiative needs a dose of 'GREEN' [Growing Restoration, Employment and Energy, Now] to restore degraded forests and help boost economic development, argues Andy White.

Consider transportation & GHG production:

• 2011/03/19: NBF: Kawasaki has 450 Kilowatt superconducting motor and development project for 3 megawatt superconducting motors
• 2011/03/18: Grist: Japanà $(Bs (B200 mph trains sail through earthquake with flying colors
• 2011/03/17: AutoBG: Study: $5/gallon gas could overload public transit system in U.S.
• 2011/03/17: EnergyBulletin: George Will: Driving a wedge
• 2011/03/16: TreeHugger: Rejecting High Speed Rail Hurts the US Middle Class

  While in the endless quest for zero energy, sustainable buildings and practical codes:

• 2011/03/18: ClimateP: Carbon Zero: A short tour of your cityà $(Bs (Bfuture
• 2011/03/17: KitsapSun: Cutting Bainbridge energy use, one home at a time
• 2011/03/15: TreeHugger: In New York, New LEED-Certified Hotel Opens...

  And on the carbon sequestration front:

• 2011/03/18: GEP: [link to 236k pdf] Soil Carbon Credit Standard Proposed
• 2011/03/14: Guardian(UK): Moray Firth rocks 'could store 15 years of carbon emissions'

  Large scale geo-engineering keeps popping up:

• 2011/03/15: GEP: Under Any Scenario, Mitigation Not Enough

  Meanwhile in the journals:

• 2011/03/17: Science: (ab$) The Hot Summer of 2010: Redrawing the Temperature Record Map of Europe by David Barriopedro et al.
• 2011/03/16: NERC:NORA: Update on CO2 emissions by P. Friedlingstein et al.
• 2011/03/17: NERC:NORA: Environmental change over the last millennium recorded in two contrasting crater lakes in western Uganda, eastern Africa (Lakes Kasenda and Wandakara) by David B. Ryves et al.
• 2011/03/16: TC: Northern Hemisphere spring snow cover variability and change over 1922-2010 including an assessment of uncertainty by R. D. Brown & D. A. Robinson
• 2011/03/14: CP: Early ship-based upper-air data and comparison with the Twentieth Century Reanalysis by S. Brönnimann et al.
• 2011/03/18: AGWObserver: Papers on atmospheric carbon monoxide
• 2010/06/18: ASH: (ab$) Structure, Function, Application, and Ecological Benefit of a Single-slope, Energy-efficient Solar Greenhouse in China by Li-Hong Gao et al.
• 2011/03/17: Nature: (ab$) Eocene global warming events driven by ventilation of oceanic dissolved organic carbon by Philip F. Sexton et al.
• 2011/03/17: ACP: Understanding the transport of Patagonian dust and its influence on marine biological activity in the South Atlantic Ocean by M. S. Johnson et al.
• 2011/03/16: ACP: Carbon dioxide atmospheric vertical profiles retrieved from space observation using ACE-FTS solar occultation instrument by P. Y. Foucher et al.
• 2011/03/16: ACP: Characteristics, sources, and transport of aerosols measured in spring 2008 during the aerosol, radiation, and cloud processes affecting Arctic Climate (ARCPAC) Project by C. A. Brock et al.
• 2011/03/14: ACP: Quantifying the uncertainties of a bottom-up emission inventory of anthropogenic atmospheric pollutants in China by Y. Zhao et al.
• 2011/03/17: ACPD: Modelling atmospheric OH-reactivity in a boreal forest ecosystem by D. Mogensen et al.
• 2011/03/16: ACPD: Large methane releases lead to strong aerosol forcing and reduced cloudiness by T. Kurtén et al.
• 2011/03/16: ACPD: Number size distributions and seasonality of submicron particles in Europe 2008-2009 by A. Asmi et al.
• 2011/03/14: ACPD: Transport of desert dust mixed with North African industrial pollutants in the subtropical Saharan Air Layer by S. RodrÃÂguez et al.
• 2011/03/14: ACPD: Carbonaceous species in PM2.5 at a pair of rural-urban sites in Beijing, 2005-2008 by F. Yang et al.
• 2011/03/14: ACPD: Variability of levels of PM, black carbon and particle number concentration in selected European cities by C. Reche et al.
• 2011/02/17: WOL:GE&B: Geographic disparities and moral hazards in the predicted impacts of climate change on human populations by J. Samson et al.
• 2011/03/15: PNAS: (ab$) Niche of harmful alga Aureococcus anophagefferens revealed through ecogenomics by Christopher J. Gobler et al.
• 2011/03/15: PNAS: (ab$) Spatial effects on species persistence and implications for biodiversity by Enrico Bertuzzo et al.
• 2011/03/15: PNAS: (ab$) Climate change risks for African agriculture by Christoph Müller et al.
• 2011/03/15: PNAS: (ab$) Direct climate effects of perennial bioenergy crops in the United States by Matei Georgescu et al.
• 2011/03/15: PNAS: (Letter$) Cryptic planktonic diatom challenges phytoplankton ecologists by Theodore J. Smayda
• 2011/03/15: PNAS: (Letter$) Reply to Egan et al.: Stewardship for herbicide-resistance crop technology by Terry Wright et al.
• 2011/02/17: Springer:CC: (ab$) Implications of Recent Sea Level Rise Science for Low-elevation Areas in Coastal Cities of the Conterminous U.S.A. by J.L. Weiss et al.
• 2011/03/15: OSD: Comparison between three implementations of automatic identification algorithms for the quantification and characterization of mesoscale eddies in the South Atlantic Ocean by J. M. A. C. Souza et al.
• 2011/03/14: TCD: Ideal climatic variables for the present-day geometry of the Gregoriev Glacier, Inner Tien Shan, Kyrgyzstan, derived from GPS data and energy-mass balance measurements by K. Fujita et al.
• 2011/03/14: AGWObserver: New research from last week 10/2011

  And other significant documents:

• 2011/03/18: GEP: [link to 236k pdf] Soil Carbon Credit Standard Proposed
• 2011/03/15: PI: [link to 383k pdf] Recommendations for Manitobaà $(Bs (Bproposed cap-and-trade system
• 2011/03/15: PI: [link to 1.6 meg pdf] Reducing Pollution, Creating Jobs -- The effects of climate policies on employment

  As for miscellaneous science:

• 2011/03/17: ERabett: IPCC Model Off by a Factor of Two
• 2011/03/15: ABC(Au): Scientists from the Department of Fisheries and the CSIRO will undertake a three-year study off Western Australia''s coast to examine the impact of climate change on the marine environment
• 2011/03/14: Eureka: 'Fly tree of life' mapped, adds big branch of evolutionary knowledge

  More DIY science:

• 2011/03/18: moyhu: Area weighting and a 60 stations global temperature

  We had the curious spectacle this week of Nature mag lambasting House Republicans:

• 2011/03/18: BBickmore: Nature Slams U.S. House of Reps
• 2011/03/16: SMandia: Journal Nature: US Congress has entered the intellectual wilderness
• 2011/03/16: CCP: Nature editorial: Into ignorance -- Vote to overturn an aspect of climate science marks a worrying trend in US Congress

  Regarding Curry:

• 2011/03/17: NeverendingAudit: Voices and Ears

  Meanwhile on the international political front:

• 2011/03/18: BBC: US and Chile sign nuclear deal amid Japan fears
• 2011/03/17: EurActiv: EU says joint action needed on China rare earth curbs

  And on the carbon trading front:

• 2011/03/16: PlanetArk: EU To Auction 120 Million CO2 Permits In 2012
• 2011/03/15: EUO: Nuclear debate sees rise in EU carbon prices

  The issue of the law and activism is playing out around the world:

• 2011/03/18: EUO: Belgian court sentences activists for EU protest
  A Belgian court on Thursday (17 March) handed down a one-month suspended jail sentence and fines of 1,100 euros to each of ten Greenpeace activists for having duped security and staged a protest during an EU summit in 2009. The protest was staged as a "warning to EU leaders" a few days ahead of a major climate change summit in Copenhagen. The activists managed to join an official motorcade and use the VIP entrance before being seized by security forces.
• 2011/03/17: TreeHugger: What Is An Eco-Terrorist? Interview with Marshall Curry, Director of Sundance Winner "If a Tree Falls"
• 2011/03/17: EarthTimes:Green activists who fooled EU security given suspended sentences
  Brussels - Ten activists from the environmental pressure group Greenpeace who fooled security guards by breaking into a European Union summit were handed down one-month suspended sentences and fined 1,100 euros (1,500 dollars) each by a Belgian court on Thursday. Using fake security badges, the activists managed to sneak an official-looking van between several motorcades bringing EU leaders to a summit in Brussels in December 2009. Upon arrival, one of them read out a message and two others unfolded banners bearing the slogan "EU: Save Copenhagen" - a reference to the then ongoing United Nations summit on climate change - before being led off by security. The three activists - along with seven others who helped organize the stunt - were found guilty of falsifying the accreditation documents needed to enter the summit. They were given the sentence that the prosecution had asked for.
• 2011/03/15: TreeHugger: Should the Internet be Protected from Astroturfing and How?

  What are the activists up to?

• 2011/03/14: ABC(Au): Newcastle Harbour blocked by environmentalists [to protest the expansion of coal exports]

  Polls! We have polls!

• 2011/03/15: ClimateP: Gallup poll: Public understanding of global warming gains, while most Republicans remain misinformed
• 2011/03/11: Gallup: Increased Number Think Global Warming Is "Exaggerated" -- Most believe global warming is happening, but urgency has stalled

  Regarding Water Politics and Business:

• 2011/03/15: JFleck: Water in the Desert
• 2011/03/14: UN: UN gathering to promote water cooperation in Central Asia kicks off [in Tajikistan]
• 2011/03/13: JFleck: "The largest artificial watershed in the world"
• 2011/03/14: Eureka: Water for an integrative climate paradigm

  Among the world's religions:

• 2011/03/16: TreeHugger: All of Existence Should Be Revered: Hinduism & The Environment [first in an ongoing series]

  And on the American political front:

• 2011/03/17: CCurrents: Climate Change Denial And Our Future - How The US Votes
• 2011/03/09: AlterNet: Anti-Immigrant Groups Trying to Lure Support from Environmentalists
• 2011/03/16: AlterNet: PA Government Official [Teddy Borawski] Compares Oscar-nominated Film 'Gasland' to Nazi Propaganda
• 2011/03/19: TreeHugger: New Jersey Bill Proposes To Ban Fracking - Would Be First State To Do So
• 2011/03/16: TBAS: The lessons of Fukushima
  [...]
  We have examples from the not-so-distant American past of the government learning important lessons from big mistakes. After the Great Crash, the government reformed the banking system. After the near disaster of the Cuban Missile Crisis, US and Soviet presidents began signing arms control agreements. After the discovery of the Love Canal environmental contamination, Congress passed Superfund legislation.
  But we now have a government captured by special interests, paralyzed by partisanship, and confused by astroturfing political groups and phony scientific experts for sale to the highest bidder. Our democracy and our regulatory agencies are husks of what they once were. It is unclear that such a system is capable of learning any lessons or indeed of doing anything much beyond generating speeches and passing the responsibility for failure back and forth like a Ping-Pong ball between our two yapping political parties. While we are distracted by the theater of Congress and the White House, our fate lies in other hands.
• 2011/03/18: APSmith: The Death of Shame
• 2011/03/16: GreenGrok: Start the Green Revolution Without U.S.
• 2011/03/18: BuckDog: Are Right Wingers REQUIRED To Be 'Science Ignorant' Or Is This Just An 'Ann Coulter' Thing?
• 2011/03/17: ClimateP: What The Frack: Ohio Gov. John Kasich wants to open up state parks for oil and gas drilling
• 2011/03/17: ClimateP: After accepting $5 million from Big Oil in 2010, Haley Barbour accuses Obama of cheering on higher gas prices
• 2011/03/17: DeSmogBlog: Industry Already Protesting EPA's First-Ever Limits on Mercury Pollution
• 2011/03/15: Sightline: RGGI Delivers
• 2011/03/16: DeSmogBlog: Japan's Nuclear Crisis Highlights U.S. Energy Policy Problems
• 2011/03/16: MoJo: Pissing Off Liberals
• 2011/03/15: Grist: Nicholas Stern: Congressional budget analysis of climate threat is à $(Alu (Bdicrousà $(B (BA>
• 2011/03/16: EarthTimes: US will take 'harder' look at new nuclear plants after Japan crisis
• 2011/03/16: Olympian: Unlikely coalition unites over TransAlta -- SB 5769: Under plan, both coal boilers would shut down by 2025
• 2011/03/15: AlterNet: Woman Arrested for Thinking About Abortion? How Insane 'Personhood' Laws Are a Direct Assault on Pregnant Women
• 2011/03/15: SF Gate: Now is no time to turn back air regulations
  Some congressional Republicans seem to think that rising gas prices will provide them an opportunity to block California's landmark controls on greenhouse emissions and prevent similarly strict national standards. Such thinking is recklessly shortsighted.
• 2011/03/14: Tyee: In America's Capital, a Fierce Fight over Oil Sands
  Today begins The Tyee's major series reported from Washington on the intense, high stakes political struggle fueled by Alberta crude.
• 2011/03/14: Grist: Another week, another attempt to shield factory farms from public scrutiny

  The BP disaster continues to twist US politics:

• 2011/03/17: TreeHugger: Dead Baby Dolphins in Gulf of Mexico Were Stillborn
• 2011/03/14: NOAANews: Scientists Use Airborne Chemistry Measurements for the First Time to Assess Flow Rate, Fate of Spilled Gases and Oil During Gulf Oil Spill

  The 2012 election approacheth:

• 2011/03/15: TreeHugger: Will US Presidential Candidates Walk Back Support For Corn-Based Ethanol?

  The Obama chatter is nonstop:

• 2011/03/17: ClimateP: Barack à $(Ano (B narrativeà $(B O (Bbama still giving lessons in how not to communicate
• 2011/03/15: TruthDig: No Nukes Is Good Nukes
  When it comes to the safety of nuclear power plants, I am biased. And Ià $(Bll (B bet that if President Barack Obama had been with me on that trip to Chernobyl 24 years ago he wouldnà $(Bt (Bbe as sanguine about the future of nuclear power as he was Tuesday in an interview with a Pittsburgh television station: "Obviously, all energy sources have their downside. I mean, we saw that with the Gulf spill last summer."
  Sorry, Mr. President, but there is a dimension of fear properly associated with the word nuclear that is not matched by any oil spill.
• 2011/03/15: Guardian(UK): 'Nuclear renaissance'? No thank you, Mr President
• 2011/03/15: NatureN: US physics feels the squeeze -- Obama's pro-science 2012 budget hides some bitter pills for physical scientists
• 2011/03/14: NYT:GW: White House Gets an Earful on Power Plant Rules
  [...]
  White House Chief of Staff Bill Daley attended one meeting last week with the CEOs of Constellation Energy, NextEra Energy Inc. and Exelon Corp., three utilities that are pushing EPA to press forward with the limits on mercury, acid gases and other types of air pollution.

The actions of the Obama administration are being watched closely:

• 2011/03/18: PlanetArk: U.S. Approves First Floating Deepwater Storage In Gulf
  The U.S. Interior Department said on Thursday it gave final approval for Petrobras to use the first ever deepwater floating production storage facility in the Gulf of Mexico. The facility will be used when the company begins oil and natural gas production at its Chinook-Cascade project in the near future, the department said. Petrobras is based in Brazil.
• 2011/03/18: PlanetArk: EPA Extends Deadline For Reporting CO2 Emissions
• 2011/03/17: SF Gate: SFGate: EPA proposes limits on coal-fired plants' emissions
• 2011/03/17: ClimateP: New EPA standards are good for Americansà $(B h (Bealth
• 2011/03/17: PlanetArk: EPA Proposes Air Rules That May Hit Coal-Fired Power
• 2011/03/16: NYT: E.P.A. Proposes New Emission Standards for Power Plants
• 2011/03/16: CBC: EPA proposes power-plant emission standards -- Canada has long called for regulation of pollutants that drift across U.S. border
• 2011/03/16: EPA: EPA Proposes First National Standard for Mercury Pollution from Power Plants / Mercury and air toxics standards represent one of strongest health protections from air pollution since passage of Clean Air Act
• 2011/03/16: ClimateP: EPA proposes life-saving, innovation-driving Mercury and Air Toxics Standards
• 2011/03/16: Grist: A little background on the EPAÃ $(Bs (Bnew mercury and air toxics rule
• 2011/03/16: NOAANews: NOAA Administrator [Lubchenco] Unveils Arctic Plan During Aspen Speech
• 2011/03/14: AutoBG: Over protests, E15 coming to U.S. pumps this summer
• 2011/03/13: WaPo: EPA chief Lisa Jackson perpetually on Capitol Hill hot seat

  As for what is going on in Congress:

• 2011/03/19: Care2: Republican-Controlled Committee Legislates That Climate Change Does Not Exist
• 2011/03/19: ClimateP: GOP admits speculation is helping boost oil prices, moves to gut speculation watchdog [CFTC] anyway
• 2011/03/18: Grist: Why does Congress have Clean Air Act phobia?
• 2011/03/18: NatureTGB: Budget limbo continues for US science
• 2011/03/18: TAP: On Energy, GOP Doesn't Know What the Problem Is
  The logical flaw at the heart of Republicans' proposals to solve the energy crisis
• 2011/03/17: Guardian(UK): An amazing Republican vote
• 2011/03/17: ClimateP: Rep. Peter DeFazio says "people will die" from GOP cuts to NOAA, disaster response programs
  House GOP still says accurate weather forecasting and hurricane tracking are luxuries America canà $(Bt (Bafford
• 2011/03/16: Grist: Sen. Jay Rockefeller: Climate science is à $(Aun (Bequivocally trueà $(B (BA>
• 2011/03/16: ACLU: House Holds Hearing On Bill That Would Further Limit Insurance Coverage For Abortion Care -- Ways And Means Committee Considers Anti-Abortion Tax Penalties
• 2011/03/16: QuarkSoup: Republicans and the Value of Pi
• 2011/03/15: BSD: Checking for next steps in House Republicans science denial
• 2011/03/15: TPM-DC: Every Single GOPer On House Energy Cmte Won't Say Climate Change Is Real
• 2011/03/16: PlanetArk: Senate Republicans Push Bill Halting EPA CO2 Rule
• 2011/03/16: Grist: If Senate Dems à $(Aco (Bmpromiseà $(B w (Bith Rockefeller bill, EPA rules are screwed
• 2011/03/16: CSW: Partisan climate science denialism reigns as U.S. House committee votes to repeal EPA Endangerment Finding and prohibit regulation of greenhouse gases
• 2011/03/15: Grist: House committee votes to deny climate change
• 2011/03/15: ClimateP: Anti-science House Republicans reject amendment that says climate change is occurring
• 2011/03/15: ClimateP: Pro-pollution conservatives torture logic to blame Obamaà $(Bs (Bpolicies for higher gasoline prices
• 2011/03/15: Grist: Fred Uptonà $(Bs (BEPA-blocking bill will put more of your money in oil industry pockets
• 2011/03/14: Grist: Politifact finds Republican claim to be false; Republicans donà $(Bt (Bgive a sh*t
• 2011/03/14: CSW: Upcoming House committee vote on bill to kill EPA regulation of greenhouse gases

  What are the lobbyists pushing?

• 2011/03/17: Tyee: The Battle to Block Low Carbon Fuel Standards
  How the oil sands lobby and a 'supportive' Canadian government defeated US lawmakers trying to make fuels greener.
• 2011/03/13: AlterNet: Koch Brothers and US Chamber: Polluting Our Earth and Our Democracies
• 2011/03/15: Grist: Koch-funded group mounts cut-and-paste attack on regional climate initiatives
• 2011/03/14: ClimateP: Heritage Foundation asserts our air would have magically cleaned itself without the Clean Air Act

  While in the UK:

• 2011/03/18: BBC: UK solar panel subsidies slashed
  The UK government has proposed cuts of up to 70% to the feed in tariff for large scale solar energy production. The proposal would be implemented on the 1 August, reducing payments to farmers or owners of large commercial buildings. The industry has reacted with anger to the proposal.
• 2011/03/15: PlanetArk: Britain Adds Voice To Criticism Of EU GM Crop Plans
  Britain became the latest European Union country on Thursday to raise serious doubts over proposals to let EU governments decide individually whether to grow or ban genetically modified (GM) crops.
• 2011/03/13: Guardian(UK): Chris Huhne gets European support to toughen EU climate targets
  Six other governments agree to join push for target of 30% cuts in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020

And in Europe:

• 2011/03/17: DerSpiegel: Germany's Eco-Trap -- Is Environmentalism Really Working?
  Germany is among the world leaders when it comes to taking steps to save the environment. But many of the measures are not delivering the promised results. Biofuels have led to the clear-cutting of rainforests, plastics are being burned rather than recycled and new generation lightbulbs have led to a resurgence of mercury production.
• 2011/03/18: EurActiv: Reformers left isolated in EU farm policy debate
  European Union governments calling for far-reaching reform of the bloc's farm policy from 2014 were left isolated yesterday (17 March), after 20 EU countries signed a joint declaration opposing radical change. The declaration by EU farm ministers was the last chance for governments to spell out their priorities for reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) before the bloc's executive makes legislative proposals in October. Despite containing few detailed proposals and no figures on the future CAP budget - currently worth about 55 billion euros a year - seven EU governments in the meeting said they were unable to endorse the compromise text. They were the UK, Sweden, Denmark, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.
• 2011/03/18: EUO: EU states oppose plans to end farm 'subsidy millionaires'
  A majority of EU governments have agreed to a gradual redistribution of farm payments from older to newer member states, but few support the idea of limiting payments to the bloc's wealthiest farmers. Strong divisions were evident at a meeting of EU farm ministers in Brussels on Thursday (17 March), with final conclusions drafted by the Hungarian EU presidency gaining majority rather than unanimous support.
• 2011/03/17: EurActiv: Brussels nuclear debate goes into meltdown
  The European commissioner in charge of climate action, Connie Hedegaard, has signalled that EU decisions on commissioning new energy capacity are "very much likely to be influenced" by the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan.
• 2011/03/17: EarthTimes: Analysis: Energy debate renewed as Germans eye non-nuclear world
• 2011/03/17: EarthTimes: No politics in nuclear decision, says Germany's Merkel
• 2011/03/16: EurActiv: Partisan battle turns green city grey
  Copenhagen's ambitious plans to become Europe's first zero-carbon city by 2025 have been thrown into doubt by a party political row -- and windmills look set to become the first victims.
• 2011/03/14: EurActiv: Britain, Germany to lead push for deeper CO2 cuts
• 2011/03/15: EurActiv: Wind sector keeps up pressure on EU over targets
  The president of the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA), Arthuros Zervos, has called for the EU to adopt a binding renewable energy target of 30% for 2030.
• 2011/03/15: PlanetArk: Seven EU Ministers Push For Deeper CO2 Cuts [beyond the current 20 percent target by the end of this decade]

  Meanwhile in Australia:

• 2011/03/17: ABC(Au):TDU: Climate change is real, humans cause it, and we must act by Julia Gillard
• 2011/03/20: EarthTimes: Australia re-commits to exporting uranium
• 2011/03/19: SkeptiSci: Zero Carbon Australia: We can do it by James Wight
• 2011/03/15: CCurrents: Detailed Document Exposing Pro-gas Australia Climate Change Inaction
• 2011/03/14: HotTopic: Garnaut: no reticence on risk

  The carbon pricing free-for-all rages on:

• 2011/03/20: ABC(Au): Gillard signals carbon tax rebate
  Prime Minister Julia Gillard has singled out tax cuts for low and middle income earners as a possibility under her carbon price plan. The Government's climate change adviser, Ross Garnaut, has proposed about half of the revenue raised from a carbon tax go to households through income tax cuts and the welfare system. Ms Gillard has told Sky News that tax cuts are a "live option" for assisting households.
• 2011/03/18: ABC(Au): The Federal Opposition has moved to defend Tony Abbott's apparent inconsistency over climate change in the face of criticism by the Government's climate change adviser, Ross Garnaut
• 2011/03/18: ABC(Au): The Federal Government is preparing to dust off its contentious $30 million climate change fund as part of a planned advertising blitz targeted around climate change
• 2011/03/18: WtD: Nuttiness to ensure: "big" anti-carbon tax rallies planned for next week. IÃ $(Bm (Bexcited! Are you?
• 2011/03/17: Maribo: Julie Bishop and Australian Opposition parties need to do better research about climate policy
• 2011/03/17: ABC(Au): Sanguine Bob takes Julia's slap in his stride
  For a bloke who had just been called an extremist by the Prime Minister, Bob Brown cut a very relaxed figure when he fronted the media in Canberra this morning. "The Greens are only extreme in the sense of being extremely popular, and growing," he said.
• 2011/03/17: ABC(Au): Federal Government climate change adviser Ross Garnaut says the carbon tax should be set at between $20 and $30 a tonne when it is introduced next year
• 2011/03/17: ABC(Au): Gillard turns on Greens in carbon tax debate
  Prime Minister Julia Gillard has taken a swipe at the Greens who she says forced her about-turn on a carbon tax, labelling them one of the "extremes" in Australian politics. Delivering the annual Don Dunstan lecture in Adelaide last night, Ms Gillard compared her political allies to the Coalition and criticised their lack of vision for major reform. Ms Gillard was in the mood for confessing, admitting she had broken an election promise not to introduce a price on carbon. "Yes, I did promise that there would be no carbon tax," she said. But Ms Gillard says it is now or never. "If Australia does not adopt a carbon price in 2011, we probably never will. This is the year of decision."
• 2011/03/16: Guardian(UK): Australian PM Julia Gillard sees approval dwindle on carbon tax U-turn
• 2011/03/16: ABC(Au): Negotiation forced hand on carbon tax, PM says
  [...]
  It is understood the carbon tax is a compromise between the Government and the Greens to get some action on climate change while they negotiate the carbon emissions targets that will be introduced later with the ETS. "In order for legislation to pass the government needs to negotiate with others," Ms Gillard said. "I am working with others in order to get a price on carbon. That does mean the views of others need to be taken into account.
• 2011/03/16: ABC(Au): Opposition leader [Tony Abbott] tours steelworks with carbon message
• 2011/03/16: ABC(Au): Gillard builds case for carbon tax
  Prime Minister Julia Gillard has warned Australia will face increased cyclone intensity and coastal flooding if the world does not tackle climate change. Ms Gillard used a major speech in Adelaide tonight to build the Government's case to put a price on carbon. She says the consequences of global warming are real and the Government has to act.
• 2011/03/15: ABC(Au): Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has branded Prime Minister Julia Gillard's explanation of why she broke her pre-election pledge not to introduce a carbon tax as "deceitful"
• 2011/03/14: ABC(Au): Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has reopened his campaign against a possible Government campaign to advertise the carbon tax, describing it as a "travesty"

  While in the Indian subcontinent:

• 2011/03/17: CCurrents: Whither Farmers Movement?
  A 24-year-old vegetable seller's self immolation in Tunisia sparked off a revolution throughout the Arab world. More than 250,000 farmers have committed suicide in India during the last 15 years, not a whimper being raised!

And in China:

• 2011/03/17: AutoBG: Beijing to impose stricter Level 5 emissions standards in 2012
• 2011/03/16: EUO: EU climate chief hails Chinese five-year plan
  Europe's top climate official has welcomed a series of environmental measures in China's latest five-year plan, a document that also charts rapid nuclear energy expansion in the earthquake-prone country. A greater emphasis on energy efficiency and clean energies, together with plans to gradually implement a carbon-market mechanism, were among the positive elements singled out by EU climate commissioner Connie Hedegaard on Tuesday (15 March).

In Canada, minority neocon PM Harper, continues his do-nothing policy:

• 2011/03/15: PI:B: More jobs could be created with strong climate policies than without: report
• 2011/03/15: PI: New report finds strong climate policies create jobs while reducing emissions
  Upcoming federal budget should increase support for renewable energy and efficiency programs, research suggests
• 2011/03/17: EmbassyMag: Brits fund a report that shows weakness in Canadaà $(Bs (B'Economic Action Plan'
  Pembina Institute-produced report finds government could have created tens of thousands of jobs by focusing on green economy.
• 2011/03/14: PostMedia: Canada falls behind in green-job creation -- Some provinces spending more than federal government: report
  Canada is falling behind many countries in creating green jobs because its economic stimulus plan lacks an environmental component, federal bureaucrats have told the Harper government. The advice is part of a series of newly released federal briefing notes that compliment a new report, Reducing Pollution, Creating Jobs, to be published Tuesday by the Pembina Institute, an Alberta-based environmental research group.

The G20 controversy lingers:

• 2011/03/19: DtPB: Harper government offers peanuts to businesses who suffered due to the G20
• 2011/03/19: TStar: Business owners insulted by G20 compensation offers
• 2011/03/15: CBC: G20 protesters launch lawsuits

  Here's a rarity. A Federal Liberal willing to talk carbon tax:

• 2011/03/15: PostMedia: Rising federal Liberal Scott Brison praises B.C. carbon tax
  Federal Opposition finance critic Scott Brison complimented outgoing Premier Gordon Campbell on Monday for his "courageous" policy to introduce a carbon tax. Commenting on the B.C. political scene on the day a new premier was sworn into office, the Nova Scotia Liberal MP praised Campbell for his vision while repeatedly laying into Prime Minister Stephen Harper for his alleged disrespect of Parliament.

Nukes are to be reviewed in Canada, too:

• 2011/03/18: CBC: Canadian nuclear watchdog requests review
  The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission is asking for a review of all Canadian nuclear plants in light of the disaster in Japan.

More comment on the proposed Mackenzie Valley pipeline:

• 2011/03/18: CBC: Pipe dreams: The Mackenzie Valley and the national railway

  With the Liberals choosing Clark and the NDP yet to decide, how long until the election?

• 2011/03/17: Tyee: The Gwyn Morgan File: Rise of a Shale Gas Baron
  Christy Clark picked the EnCana empire builder to guide her into power, and that says volumes about who's shaping BC's future.
• 03/18: Tyee: The Gwyn Morgan File: EnCana's Grip on BC
  How Christy Clark's advisor steered his Alberta petro giant to become the most powerful corporation in this province.
• 2011/03/18: CBC: EnCana acquires 30% stake in Kitimat LNG terminal
  EnCana Corp. is acquiring a 30 per cent interest in a liquefied natural gas export terminal planned for northern B.C. as part of a strategy to boost access to Asian markets.
• 2011/03/15: DeSmogBlog: Shale Gas Industry Targeting B.C. Public Water Supplies For Fracking Boom
• 2011/03/15: Tyee: Our Water Secretly Sucked Away by Shale Gas Industry
  Beyond public scrutiny, vast amounts of BC's water are being dealt to 'fracking' operations.

Meanwhile in that Mechanical Mordor known as the tar sands:

• 2011/03/17: PI: Pembina reacts to new Alberta oilsands mine reclamation security policy
• 2011/03/15: Tyee: War Over Oil Sands: Report From Washington D.C. [Series]
• 2011/03/16: Tyee: Canada Teams with Oil Lobby to Fight US Clean Energy Clause
  In tandem with Ottawa and Alberta, top oil sands lobbyist Tom Corcoran keeps chipping away at Section 526. Third in a series.
• 2011/03/15: Tyee: Breakfast With the Oil Sands' Top Salesman
  Meet Tom Corcoran, the ultra-Republican hired to stop clean energy bills that threaten the flow of Alberta crude.
• 2011/03/17: CBC: Alta., Sask., to share oilsands information
  Saskatchewan and Alberta are close to coming to an agreement on how they'll share information about the impact of oilsands emissions on the environment. Saskatchewan Environment Minister Dustin Duncan says an acid deposition framework between Saskatchewan and Alberta will be brought forward this spring. He says it will ensure the provinces are collecting data using the same science, so it's apples to apples comparisons. But critics says an air monitoring agreement doesn't go far enough to address concerns about potential damage.
• 2011/03/16: PostMedia: Governments, Big Oil unite for PR fight -- Battle begins to improve industry's environmental image
  Senior federal and Alberta government officials are working hand-in-hand with a task force of oil and gas CEOs to "turn up the volume" on communications tactics to fight criticism about the industry's environmental record, federal documents reveal. The briefing notes from Natural Resources Canada, obtained by Postmedia News, highlight the role of the committee that sought input from a former senior adviser to Prime Minister Stephen Harper for a strategy designed at "upping their game" against criticism from other countries, as well as from Canadians in Ontario and Quebec. One of the meetings -held on March 16, 2010, following an annual gathering in Alberta of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP) -included Bruce Carson, who had left Harper's office one year earlier, as well as senior Alberta government officials and industry stakeholders.
• 2011/03/14: DeSmogBlog: Major Investigative Series Into US-Canada Tar Sands Politics Launched Today at The Tyee
• 2011/03/14: Tyee: In America's Capital, a Fierce Fight over Oil Sands
  Today begins The Tyee's major series reported from Washington on the intense, high stakes political struggle fueled by Alberta crude.

In Manitoba, people have floods on their minds:

• 2011/03/16: CBC: Manitoba ramps up flood fight
  Residents of Manitoba's Red River Valley are about to get an answer to a $1-billion question: Can you flood-proof a floodplain, or at least all the people and buildings on it? The flat, low-lying valley experiences some flooding almost every year, but this spring is shaping up to be among the worst. Heavy snowfall and saturated soil have experts predicting deep water in the coming weeks. That forecast has prompted around-the-clock sandbagging, ice-breaking and other measures up and down the valley.
• 2011/03/15: PI: [link to 383k pdf] Recommendations for Manitobaà $(Bs (Bproposed cap-and-trade system
• 2011/03/17: NWS: National Hydrologic Assessment
  Conditions are favorable for spring flooding over large sections of the United States, from the Northern Plains through the Midwest and eastward to New England.

Ontario has it's Green Energy Act, now comes the implementation:

• 2011/03/20: TStar: Will political fallout from Japanà $(Bs (Bnukes hit Ontario?
• 2011/03/09: TechRev: Ontario Struggles with Solar Boom -- Feed-in tariffs make the Canadian province a bright spot for photovoltaics

  While in la Belle Province:

• 2011/03/17: PostMedia: Quebec will no longer authorize fracking for oil, gas
  Nathalie Normandeau, Quebec's natural resources minister, announced Wednesday that the Quebec government would no longer authorize any hydraulic fracturing operations in the province. Normandeau said the ban will apply to fracking both for gas and oil, but that fracking could be done for scientific purposes. A panel of independent experts, which the government has yet to name, will determine whether an individual fracking operation will add to scientific knowledge about the impact of the controversial technique used to extract natural gas from shale rock formations.
• 2011/03/17: THaG: No Fracking way! Quebec Says no to Fracking

  In the Maritimes:

• 2011/03/16: CBC: Storm surges the new normal, residents hear
  Coastal communities along P.E.I.'s North Shore need to prepare themselves for the impacts from climate change, a watershed management group was told Tuesday night. About two dozen residents gathered at the North Rustico Lions Club to hear a panel of experts discuss how climate change will hit North Shore communities. Flooding from storm surges, a combination of high tides and water driven on shore by strong winds, was a major focus of the meeting.
• 2011/03/14: CBC: Stormier winters expected on P.E.I.: report
  Climate change will likely bring more snowstorms to P.E.I. over the next few decades, says a new report by the insurance industry. The Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction report says while winters will be milder over the next 40 years, snow levels will probably climb 10 to 20 per cent. The number of intense winter storms is expected to go up by 15 per cent.

In the North:

• 2011/03/18: CBC: Uranium mining rejected at Iqaluit public forum -- Concerned Inuit cite nuclear threat in Japan, environmental risks
  Many Nunavummiut who attended a uranium forum Thursday night said they do not want uranium mining in Nunavut, while some even attacked the territory's Inuit group for supporting uranium development. More than 120 people in Iqaluit came out to the public forum, which was organized by the Nunavut government as it works on developing its own policy on uranium mining in the territory. After hearing from officials representing government, the mining industry and the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, most of those who spoke made it clear that they want nothing to do with uranium mining.
• 2011/03/14: CBC: Yellowknife votes on geothermal heating plan
  Yellowknife's bid to harness geothermal heat from a former gold mine is in the hands of residents in a citywide referendum Monday. Voters are being asked if they will let the City of Yellowknife borrow up to $49 million for the Con Mine project, in which a district energy system would be set up to distribute heat from the old underground mine to offices, apartments, schools and other buildings downtown.

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

• 2011/03/17: Grist: Forget the gloom -- new ways of living and organizing our economy are flourishing
• 2011/03/16: EnergyBulletin: Earth's limits: Why growth won't return - metals and other minerals

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

• 2011/03/16: ACLU: House Holds Hearing On Bill That Would Further Limit Insurance Coverage For Abortion Care -- Ways And Means Committee Considers Anti-Abortion Tax Penalties
• 2011/03/15: AlterNet: Woman Arrested for Thinking About Abortion? How Insane 'Personhood' Laws Are a Direct Assault on Pregnant Women
• 2011/03/14: CBC: Decades until sex ratio falls in China, India: study

  Apocalypso anyone?

• 2011/03/13: CCurrents: Chaos, Collapse, And Survival

  As for how the media handles science:

• 2011/03/20: PeakEnergy: Experts protecting nuclear interests
  The ABC has a post on the bizarrely (but not atypically, as it usually reads like a nuclear PR outlet) biased commentary coming out of Barry Brook's "Brave New Climate" on the Fukushima nuclear disaster
• 2011/03/17: CJR: NYT Whitewashes its Japan Error
• 2011/03/18: SMandia: Washington Times: Tsk, Tsk, Tsk
• 2011/03/18: ABC(Au): Atomised information fuels a media meltdown
• 2011/03/15: Deltoid: Don't believe anything you read in the Daily Mail

  The blogstorm over science journalism continues:

• 2011/03/15: PZMyers: What does it take to be a science journalist?
• 2011/03/19: BadScience: Why donà $(Bt (Bjournalists link to primary sources?
• 2011/03/19: ERabett: Eli appears to have torched off a pretty good discussion as to the nature and responsibility of journalism...
• 2011/03/18: MTobis: More Griping on Science Journalism
• 2011/03/18: ERabett: John Fleck...inquires
• 2011/03/14: BVerheggen: Yes, we can (communicate)!
• 2011/03/14: RealClimate: Blogging climate scientists

  This looks like prima facie evidence of an ongoing PR campaign:

• 2011/03/16: FAIR: The End of the Nuclear 'Renaissance'?

  Here is something for your library:

• PostCarbon: [Sections] _The End of Growth_ by Richard Heinberg
• 2011/03/14: CSM: [Book Review] _Hot: Living Through the Next Fifty Years on Earth_ by Mark Hertsgaard

  And for your film & video enjoyment:

• 2011/03/20: SkeptiSci: The Climate Show Episode 9: Nuclear power and hot spots
• 2011/03/19: Grist: The GINK Videos -- They have sex - and they need Planned Parenthood
• 2011/03/18: HotTopic: The Climate Show #9: Barry Brook, hot spots and melting ice
• 2011/03/17: ERabett: Wiley Coyote Sends Greetings
• 2011/03/17: AFTIC: Here's a different approach
• 2011/03/17: HotTopic: Cambridge on ice
• 2011/03/16: PSinclair: The Souls of Climate Deniers: GOP Mocked Nuclear Safety Concerns

  Meanwhile among the 'Sue the Bastards!' contingent:

• 2011/03/17: DeSmogBlog: Documents Reveal Chevronà $(Bs (BChanging Tune In Ecuador Rainforest Destruction Case

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

• 2011/03/20: TStar: Can we scale back our appetite for energy?
• 2011/03/18: ProPublica: Charting the Human Cost of Different Types of Energy
• 2011/03/17: Eureka: Wind and solar can reliably supply 25 percent of Oahu's electricity need, new study shows
• 2011/03/17: PlanetArk: German Green Industries Say Can Fill Nuclear Gaps
• 2011/03/17: PlanetArk: Gas Price Drives Greening Of Small Firms
• 2011/03/17: BBC: A major tidal energy project is to be built in the Sound of Islay off the west coast of Scotland
• 2011/03/01: TechRev: Praying for an Energy Miracle
• 2011/03/16: PeakEnergy: First geothermal power plant was authorized in Ireland
• 2011/03/16: PeakEnergy: Coretrack: Deeper, faster, cheaper geothermal drilling?
• 2011/03/14: EnergyBulletin: As nuclear falters, here is a practical, affordable (and safe) clean electricity plan
• 2011/03/15: Guardian(UK): Japan nuclear crisis prompts surging investor confidence in renewables
• 2011/03/15: OilChange: "The chain is as strong as the weakest link"...the vulnerability of our centralised energy infrastructure...
• 2011/03/10: EnviroMaine: As Oil Prices Soar, Report Finds Solar Hot Water Would Save Mainers $, Oil

  Hey! Let's contaminate the aquifer for thousands of years! It'll be a fracking gas!

• 2011/03/16: AlterNet: PA Government Official [Teddy Borawski] Compares Oscar-nominated Film 'Gasland' to Nazi Propaganda
• 2011/03/19: TreeHugger: New Jersey Bill Proposes To Ban Fracking - Would Be First State To Do So
• 2011/03/17: Grist: Drinking problem -- Get freaked about hydrofracking: now!
• 2011/03/17: PostMedia: Quebec will no longer authorize fracking for oil, gas
• 2011/03/17: THaG: No Fracking way! Quebec Says no to Fracking
• 2011/03/17: ClimateP: What The Frack: Ohio Gov. John Kasich wants to open up state parks for oil and gas drilling
• 2011/03/15: DeSmogBlog: Shale Gas Industry Targeting B.C. Public Water Supplies For Fracking Boom
• 2011/03/14: TCoE: Pro-pollution thug on the loose
• 2011/03/14: PlanetArk: France Extends Shale Oil, Gas Exploration Ban To June
• 2011/03/13: DeSmogBlog: Fracking Banned In New Jersey

  The answer my friend...:

• 2011/03/19: PSinclair: While Japanà $(Bs (BNukes sputter, Wind Turbines keep spinning
• 2011/03/18: Grist: Japanà $(Bs (Bwind farms save its ass while nuclear plants flounder
• 2011/03/18: TreeHugger: Japan's Wind Turbines Survive 1,000 Year Earthquake Unscathed
• 2011/03/18: TreeHugger: How Community-Owned Wind Power is Tackling Climate Change (Video)
• 2011/03/16: EurActiv: Wind market forecast predicts fair breeze ahead
  A new five-year industry forecast has predicted a pick up in the wind energy market, with more than 40 GW of new capacity being added in 2011.
• 2011/03/16: TCoE: Let the wind blow (again)
• 2011/03/15: Grist: Wind power surges forward around the globe by Lester Brown

  Meanwhile among the solar aficionados:

• 2011/03/16: NPR: Midsize Solar Installations Grow At Light Speed

  Feed-In-Tariffs are being variously implemented around the world:

• 2011/03/18: BBC: UK solar panel subsidies [FIT] slashed

  On the coal front:

• 2011/03/19: NBF: Over one ton of coal is burned for every person every year and several ounces of particulates pass through your lungs each year because of it
• 2011/03/16: Olympian: Unlikely coalition unites over TransAlta -- SB 5769: Under plan, both coal boilers would shut down by 2025

  Biofuel bickering abounds:

• 2011/03/14: Grist: How two 15-year-old Girl Scouts (and Grist readers) changed Kelloggà $(Bs< (B/A>
• 2011/03/14: AutoBG: Over protests, E15 coming to U.S. pumps this summer

  The nuclear energy controversy continues:

• 2011/03/18: PlanetArk: New York Nuclear Plant's Future Shaky As Fears Grow
  New worries about a New York nuclear plant's vulnerability to earthquakes could hand the state's governor an opportunity to try to close the plant, but New York City's huge power needs could stall any such moves. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, who has long been a critic of the Indian Point plant owned by Entergy Corp, called for a review of its safety this week after new data showed it was the most vulnerable nuclear plant in the country to damage from an earthquake.
• 2011/03/17: WSJ: Uranium Tumbles On Japan Crisis
  [...]
  ...after an 80% run-up over the past eight months, uranium prices have tumbled. They reached a three-year high of $73 a pound in February, but dropped $13 earlier this week and fell to $49.25 on Wednesday, according to Ux Consulting Co.
• 2011/03/16: FDL: Nuclear Powerà $(Bs (BExistence Dependent on Multiple Forms of Corporate Welfare
• 2011/03/16: OilChange: Over 20% of Nuke Reactors on Fault Lines
• 2011/03/15: NBF: World Nuclear Electricity in 2010
• 2011/03/15: ClimateSight: Nuclear Power in Context
• 2011/03/15: ScienceInsider: ITER Fusion Project Fills Top Management Slot

  Yes we have a peak oil sighting:

• 2011/03/17: CCurrents: The Peak Oil Crisis: Protests, Tsunamis And Deficits

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

• 2011/03/19: AutoBG: Mercedes-Benz: U.S. fuel too dirty for next-gen efficient engines
• 2011/03/18: AutoBG: Ford says 6-speed PowerShift auto trans slashes fuel consumption by 10%
• 2011/03/18: AutoBG: Australian new vehicle fleet has the lowest CO2 emissions ever
• 2011/03/16: AutoBG: PSA: EPA now offering [fuel economy window stickers for used cars]
• 2011/03/16: AutoBG: Report: Feds pondering banning electric vehicle alert noise shutoff
• 2011/03/16: PeakEnergy: Common standards for electric cars key to mass appeal
• 2011/03/15: AutoBG: Revenge of the Electric Car will premiere on Earth Day (April 22) in NYC
• 2011/03/15: AutoBG: Liberty Electric Cars looking to rescue Modec

  As for Energy Storage:

• 2011/03/17: Eureka: Upgrading the vanadium redox battery -- New electrolyte mix increases energy storage by 70 percent
• 2011/03/14: Fraunhofer: Better batteries for electric cars

  Meanwhile in the greenwashing chronicles:

• 2011/03/18: CBC: Peeling back misleading green labels -- Why government needs to police those 'green' claims

  Who's fielding the FAQs?

• 2011/03/18: Guardian(UK): What are the main types of carbon capture and storage technology?
• 2011/03/14: Guardian(UK): Will rising seas put cities such as New York and London under water?

  Joe Romm posts a daily list of top energy and climate stories:

• 2011/03/18: ClimateP: March 18 News...
• 2011/03/17: ClimateP: March 17 News...
• 2011/03/16: ClimateP: March 16 News...
• 2011/03/15: ClimateP: March 15 news...
• 2011/03/14: ClimateP: March 14 News...

  Other (weekly) lists:

• 2011/03/17: Grist: A walk through the week's climate news -- The Climate Post: The aftermath in Japan

  The carbon lobby are up to the usual:

• 2011/03/20: Deltoid: Andrew Bolt says that radiation leaks are good for you!
• 2011/03/19: CCP: Bill Keller Doubles Down (and repeats his nonsense, lies and distortions: emeritusitis?)
• 2011/03/19: PSinclair: Ann Coulter: Radiation is Good for You
• 2011/03/19: ITracker: People having a bad day: Muammar Gaddafi and Anthony Watts
• 2011/03/20: HotTopic: Ken Ring: heà $(Bs (Bwrong about everything
• 2011/03/18: ClimateP: Deniers finally concede that "the rate of atmospheric CO2 growth has been increasing." -- But in a callous, error-riddled post, WattsUpWithThat cheers on the preventable calamity
• 2011/03/18: BuckDog: Are Right Wingers REQUIRED To Be 'Science Ignorant' Or Is This Just An 'Ann Coulter' Thing?
• 2011/03/17: EnergyBulletin: George Will: Driving a wedge
• 2011/03/17: WtD: Andrew Bolt canà $(Bt (Bunderstand the difference between an atomic bomb and reactor meltdown. And really, the atomic bombings werenà $(Bt (Bthat bad...
• 2011/03/17: TreeHugger: BP Hopes its Contract with Libya's State Oil Company is "Still Valid"
• 2011/03/13: Independent: Good Bye, Kyoto by S. Fred Singer
• 2011/03/16: WtD: Question: how can Andrew Bolt miss the irony of trusting nuclear "experts" while claiming climate change is a conspiracy?
• 2011/03/15: Deltoid: Andrew Bolt on whether you should trusts scientists or political activists
• 2011/03/14: ABC(Au):TDU: The junk science behind Minchin's climate change denial
• 2011/03/14: TCoE: Pro-pollution thug on the loose
• 2011/03/14: ClimateP: Heritage Foundation asserts our air would have magically cleaned itself without the Clean Air Act
• 2011/03/14: Deltoid: Cardinal Pell embarrasses himself

  Meanwhile in the 'clean coal' saga:

• 2011/03/16: AutoBG: Study: Slashing air pollution could add two years to your life

  As for climate miscellanea:

• 2011/03/18: CSW: Climate Science Watch Update
• 2011/03/14: RRapier: The Mirage of Fail Safe Engineering
• 2011/03/14: GreenGrok: The Name Game: 'Climate Change' or 'Global Warming'
• 2011/03/18: CSM: Japan's nuclear crisis pales in comparison to destruction from global climate change
• 2011/03/16: ScienceInsider: Quake Question #6: Is Climate Change Responsible?
• 2011/03/16: TreeHugger: Seed Bombs are a Business Now
• 2011/03/15: Deltoid: On the DDOS attack on Scienceblogs
• 2011/03/15: BBickmore: My Game Plan
• 2011/03/13: SkeptiSci: Skeptical Science nominated for Climate Change Communicator of the Year
• 2011/03/16: EurActiv: Developing countries fear being duped by green economy
  As global rhetoric on the need to move towards green economy gains ground, developing countries fear that the new discourse could be used to justify unilateral trade protection measures, merely strengthening inequalities between rich and poor nations and hindering their development.

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

• Wiki: International Nuclear Event Scale
• City Carbon Index
• Wiki: Sverdrup
• Wiki: Sievert
• NOAA: Real-time, global, sea surface temperature (RTG_SST) analysis
• NOAA: Gulf Stream Finder Project
• New Scientist
• Nature Science Update
• Science Daily
• Eureka Alert
• CDIAC CO2 Info Analysis Centre
• Real Climate
• Wikipedia: Global warming
• WGMS: World Glacier Monitoring Service
• BAS: The British Antarctic Survey

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(which includes some quotations), An overview of my writing is available here.

P.S. Recent postings can be found in the week archive and the ancient postings can be accessed here, which should open to this.

"None of our wealth or reason is enough to save us it seems when nature - either unbalanced or coolly in its cosmic stride - picks a time and place to run riot." -Jonathan Green

• Global Warming Links
• Global Warming News Archive
• Energy
• Energy News
• Environmental Issues
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• H.E. Taylor (homepage)