Logging the Onset of The Bottleneck Years
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
Another week of Climate Instability News
Information Overloadis Pattern Recognition
May 8, 2011
- Chuckles, Fukushima News, Nuclear Policy, Fukushima Talk, Flooding, Timoney & Lee
- Attributions, Nisbet, Lenton, Bottom Line, UNGCF, Cook, Post CRU, Chambergate
- Melting Arctic, Frauenfelder, Methane, Geopolitics
- Food Crisis, Lobell, Food Prices, Land Grabs, GMOs, Food Production
- Hurricanes, GHGs, Aerosols, Paleoclimate, ENSO, State of the Oceans, Extinctions, Proxies
- Impacts, Forests, Phenology, Tornadoes, Wildfires, Corals, Sea Levels, Floods & Droughts
- Mitigation, Transportation, Buildings, Sequestration, Geoengineering, Adaptation
- Journals, Other Docs , Misc. Science, Models, Santer, Pielke
- Kyoto, UN, Carbon Trade, Law & Activism, Activism, Polls, Religioso, Predictions
- National Politics: America, BP Disaster, 2012, Budget, Subsidies, FOIA
- USAdmin, Congress, Climate Bill, Lobbyists
- Britain, Europe, Australia, Carbon War, Murray-Darling, New Zealand, India, South America
- Canada, Post G20, Offshore Drilling, Pipeline Leak, Richelieu Floods, Prairie Floods
- Cohen Commission, BC, Tar Sands, Alberta, Ontario
- Ecological Economics, Transition, IPAT, Fixes, Media, Books, Video, Podcasts, Courts
- Energy, Fracking, Coal, Oil & Gas, Fossil Fuel Corps, Peak Oil, Biofuel
- Wind, Solar, FITs, Nukes, Grid, Cars, Gee Whiz, Energy Storage
- Business, FAQs, Joe's List, Carbon Lobby, Miscellaneous Climate, Useful Links
- Shameless Self Promotion, .sig
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- 2011/05/06: TreeHugger: (cartoon - Heller) Arguments Against Nuclear, Oil, Coal... And Wind
- 2011/05/05: Grist: Republican energy coalition has the most ironic name ever [HEAT]
And for those who enjoy challenging Poe's Law:
- 2011/05/04: Onion: Congress Gets In 12 Solid Hours Of Gridlocking Before Calling It A Day -- Legislators Proudly Call Gridlocking Session A 'Team Effort'
Not much good news coming out of Fukushima:
- 2011/05/06: UN: Situation at damaged Japanese nuclear plant remains 'very serious' - UN [IAEA] official
- 2011/05/06: APR: TEPCO press photos
- 2011/05/05: APR: Fukushima Daiichi updates...
- 2011/05/04: TEPCO: (Press Release) Report Instruction regarding Improvement of the working environment inside the reactor building of Unit 1, Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station
- 2011/05/04: APR: TEPCO responds to NISA on reactor building, and more
- 2011/05/05: al Jazeera: Workers enter Japan reactor building
Operator of Fukushima Daiichi plant says staff to install pipes that will filter out radioactive material in the air. Workers have entered the Unit 1 reactor building of Japan's damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant for the first time since a hydrogen explosion hit the facility a day after the devastating March earthquake and tsunami. Twelve staff members stepped in to install duct pipes to six ventillation machines that will filter out the radioactive material in the air, Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), the plant operator, said on Thursday. - 2011/05/04: APR: Fukushima Daiichi update: Wednesday morning
- 2011/04/29: Cryptome: Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant Photos 13
Post Fukushima, nuclear policies are in flux around the world:
- 2011/05/06: APR: Chubu Electric / Hamaoka details....
- 2011/05/07: ProPublica: Safety Reviewers Raise Questions About Construction of New Nuclear Fuel Plant [Mixed Oxide1 (MOX) Fuel Fabrication Facility on the DOE's Savannah River Site (SRS) near Aiken, South Carolina]
- 2011/05/04: DerSpiegel: Resistance from Regulators -- Nuclear Stress Tests May Be Watered Down
In the wake of Fukushima, EU officials pledged to create stress tests for nuclear power plants that would evaluate the threat posed by natural disasters, terrorism, cyberwar and human error. Now a major German newspaper is reporting that regulators are unwilling to accept stricter scrutiny and the plans are likely to get watered down. - 2011/05/06: APR: Japanese government / Chubu Electric Hamaoka shutdown
- 2011/05/06: BBC: Japan PM orders halt at Hamaoka nuclear plant
Japan's prime minister has told a power company to halt operations at another nuclear plant due to fears an earthquake could trigger a new crisis. Naoto Kan said three reactors at Hamaoka plant should be suspended until new safety measures were put in place. Experts said the chances of a powerful quake hitting the area were high. - 2011/05/06: CBC: Japan orders 3 reactors shut
Japan's government has told the Chubu Electric Power Co. to halt three nuclear reactors over safety concerns. Hamaoka, JapanThe reactors, located at Hamaoka on the south coast of central Japan, could be affected by earthquakes. Prime Minister Naoto Kan told a news conference Friday that experts have forecast a 90 per cent probability of a major quake striking the region within 30 years. - 2011/05/04: EUO: EU divided over inclusion of plane crashes in nuclear tests
EU member states are divided over the need to include airplane crashes as a criterion in European nuclear stress tests, currently being drawn up in response to Japan's accident. - 2011/05/04: PlanetArk: EU Prepares "Strong Draft" On Nuclear Stress Tests
- 2011/05/03: PlanetArk: Nuclear Waste Storage A Top Issue For NRC: Chairman
And of course, the pundits. lobbyists and politicians have a lot to say:
- 2011/05/06: ScienceInsider: U.S. Nuclear Watchdog Says Fukushima Safety Guidance Was Meant 'for U.S. Citizens'
- 2011/05/05: NatureNB: Why workers must risk entering Fukushima
- 2011/05/05: PeakEnergy: Back to school in Fukushima
- 2011/05/05: BBC: Fukushima workers enter nuclear reactor building
- 2011/05/05: CBC: Workers enter Japan nuclear reactor building
- 2011/05/03: NatureNB: Fukushima reactors did not restart after initial shutdown, study suggests
- 2011/05/03: KSJT: NYTimes (twice), F1000 The Scientist: Three takes on Fukushima Daiichi rad peril. So different -- or are they?
- 2011/04/30: Cryptome: Nuclear Protest Photos 2
Major river systems all across North America are flooding. See also the Richelieu and the Assiniboine:
- 2011/05/06: USGS: How does the Mississippi River Change When the Levee Breaks?
What will happen if other levees are breached downstream? Will contaminants inundate farmland? Will changes in the river's velocity impact shipping? - 2011/05/04: BPA: Flooding Photos and NOAA Flood Map
- 2011/05/06: BBC: In pictures: Mississippi flooding
- 2011/05/06: BBC: Fears grow as flooding worsens in multiple US states
Fears are growing among US residents living along the Mississippi River as rising flood waters threaten communities in states from Illinois to Louisiana. - 2011/05/06: CBC: Mississippi River flood forces evacuations
- 2011/05/06: Wunderground: Record floods on Mississippi River, Lake Champlain; 3rd EF-5 tornado verified
- 2011/05/05: BBC: Mississippi River levee to be breached for third time
- 2011/05/04: CNN: Massive floods extend across Midwest, South
The Mississippi River spilled out onto huge swaths of the South and Midwest - Record crests threaten residents in the Mississippi and Ohio river valleys - Intentional breach floods hundreds of square miles of farmland in Missouri - Cairo, Illinois, remained under a mandatory evacuation despite the intentional breach - 2011/05/03: ClimateP: Triage: Record floods cause Army Corps to blow up levee, inundate 130,000 acres of farmland to save small town
- 2011/05/03: BBC: US breaches Mississippi River levee to ease flood risk
As many as 200 sq miles of farmland were under water on Tuesday after the US blew a hole in a Mississippi River levee to relieve a flood threat. The Army Corps of Engineers breached the levee in an effort to save the town of Cairo, Illinois, sacrificing farmland across the river in Missouri. - 2011/05/03: PlanetArk: TVA Prepares Two Coal-Fired Plants For Flooding
- 2011/05/03: Wunderground: Army Corps blows up levee to help fight unprecedented Mississippi River flood
- 2011/05/02: CSM: Record-breaking floods force engineers to blow up Mississippi River levee
The head of the Mississippi River Commission has given the go-ahead to blow a hole in a 56-mile long levee along the Mississippi River tonight, in an attempt to keep record floodwaters from swamping river towns near the junction of the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers. The announcement late Monday afternoon caps days of preparation -- and legal wrangling -- over the move. The breaches, scheduled to be blasted Monday between 9 p.m. and midnight CDT, would mark only the second time in nearly 82 years that the levee, part of the Birds Point-New Madrid floodway, has been activated.
[...]
Blowing this section of levee "does not end this historic flood," he said, but engineers say they expect the effort to reduce flood levels by up to four feet at Cairo, Ill., the community in the most immediate danger. - 2011/05/02: PlanetArk: Waters Still Rising Around Evacuated Illinois Town
The Timoney & Lee paper confirmed the tarsands are poisoning the Athabasca River:
- 2011/04/26: ACS:ES&T: (ab$) Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons Increase in Athabasca River Delta Sediment: Temporal Trends and Environmental Correlates by Kevin P. Timoney & Peter Lee
- 2011/05/05: Tyee: Study says Athabasca pollution near oilsands is increasing
- 2011/05/06: ChronicleHerald: Hydrocarbon levels on rise in major oilsands-area river
Who's arguing about attributions this week?
- 2011/05/05: MTobis: Black Birds
- 2011/05/03: ClimateP: Tornadoes, extreme weather, and climate change
- 2011/05/02: Grist: Climate change could lead to more tornadoes, say NASA scientists
- 2011/05/01: AlterNet: Top Scientists Explain How Deadly Tornadoes in the South May Be Influenced by Climate Change
- 2011/05/01: QuarkSoup: Tornadoes and Global Warming
Nisbettia redux:
- 2011/05/06: ClimateP: After Citizens United, conservative undisclosed donors outspent liberal ones in 2010 election by $100 million
- 2011/05/06: ClimateP: What kind of media analysis could possibly conclude the Washington Post covered climate well in 2009?
- 2011/05/05: Grist: Nisbet is wrong: the forces of climate progress are not as strong as their foes
- 2011/05/03: MillerMcCune: Placing the Blame for Death of Cap-and-Trade
You never have to wonder what William thinks:
- 2011/05/04: NatureN: 2 °C or not 2 °C? That is the climate question [by Tim Lenton]
Targets to limit the global temperature rise won't prevent climate disruption. Tim Lenton says that policy-makers should focus on regional impacts. - 2011/05/05: Stoat: Tim Lenton is silly
And on the Bottom Line:
- 2011/05/06: CDreams: The High Cost of Climate Change Denial
- 2011/05/04: PlanetArk: Halting Species Loss Has Economic Benefits, Says EU
- 2011/05/03: Grist: Building the economic case for climate action
Developments on the UN GCF front are glacial:
- 2011/05/04: Guardian(UK): Has Mexico's climate aid really slowed carbon emissions?
IPS: Amidst the creation of a new 'Green Climate Fund' for developing countries, questions are being raised on the climate finance Mexico has already received - 2011/04/30: Reuters: After delays, little progress for UN climate fund
Negotiators at a United Nations-sponsored summit on climate change reported little progress on Friday as they try to create a worldwide fund that will help poor nations adapt to new weather realities. A modest climate change agreement signed last year envisions a "Green Climate Fund" that would parcel out $100 billion a year by 2020. - 2011/05/08: SkeptiSci: Lindzen Illusion #5: Internal Variability by dana1981
- 2011/05/06: SkeptiSci: Q and A with Dr Haydn Washington, co-author of Climate Change Denial
- 2011/05/06: SkeptiSci: Brisbane book launch of 'Climate Change Denial' by John Cook
- 2011/05/05: SkeptiSci: Lindzen Illusion #4: Climate Sensitivity by dana1981
- 2011/05/04: SkeptiSci: Why 450 ppm is not a safe target by Agnostic
- 2011/05/03: SkeptiSci: Lindzen Illusion #3 & Christy Crock #5: Opposing Climate Solutions by dana1981
Post CRU theft, controversy & inquiry:
- 2011/05/06: BBC: Climate e-mail reviews 'leave science sound'
Successive reviews into the University of East Anglia (UEA) climate e-mail hack cast no doubt on the basic picture of global warming, the government says. - 2011/05/03: GreenFyre: ChamberGate, some points to ponder
The Arctic melt continues to garner a lot of attention:
- 2011/05/05: GEP: Alarming New Study from the Arctic Council [AMAP]
- 2011/05/04: LundU: Effects of climate change in the Arctic more extensive than expected
- 2011/05/05: KSJT: Lots of Ink: New high-level report says Arctic's melt increasing fast -- sea level up a meter or two by 2100.
- 2011/05/01: MeltFactor: Greenland ice sheet positive degree days: 1840-2010
- 2011/05/05: ERabett: Hide the Incline
- 2011/05/04: ASI: NSIDC Arctic sea ice news April 2011
- 2011/05/01: ASI: SIE 2011 update 5: goodbye, April
The Frauenfelder et al. paper came in for a round of criticism:
- 2011/05/05: ERabett: Check Your Wallet
- 2011/05/05: ClimateP: Frauenfeld, Knappenberger, and Michaels 2011: Greenland ice melt and planned obsolescence
- 2011/05/01: SkeptiSci: Frauenfeld, Knappenberger, and Michaels 2011: Obsolescence by Design? by Daniel Bailey
That Damoclean sword still hangs overhead:
- 2011/05/04: TreeHugger: Wakening the Kraken: Methane & Warming Oceans
- 2011/05/03: GRL: (ab$) In situ Raman-based measurements of high dissolved methane concentrations in hydrate-rich ocean sediments by Xin Zhang et al.
- 2011/05/02: NatureN: Sea-floor probe taps methane reservoir -- Greenhouse gas found in high abundance but risk of mass release uncertain
As for the geopolitics of Arctic resources:
- 2011/05/06: BBC: BP moves closer to Arctic exploration in Russia
- 2011/05/04: AutoBG: Shell trying to convince Obama to let it drill for oil in Alaskan waters
- 2011/05/04: USGS: USGS Economic Analysis Updated for the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska (NPRA)
- 2011/05/01: NYT: Shell Tries to Calm Fears on Drilling in Alaska
- 2011/05/02: CBC: Shell bids to drill in the Beaufort
Shell Oil will apply to drill up to five wells off Alaska's shore next year under an exploration plan to be submitted to federal authorities. - 2011/05/06: Reuters: Libyan food supplies could run out in weeks: WFP
- 2011/05/07: MTobis: Tying it Together
- 2011/05/06: MTobis: Why is this?
- 2011/05/06: ABC(Au): 'Unprecedented' mouse plague threatens crops
- 2011/05/06: Grist: Hot stuff: chile peppers, climate change, and the future of food
- 2011/05/03: Grist: Water shortages threaten food future in the Middle East by Lester Brown
- 2011/05/05: GG&G: Why the slowdown in agricultural productivity growth?
- 2011/05/05: GG&G: Goldman Sachs DID NOT Cause the Food Crisis
- 2011/05/05: ProMedMail: Cucumber mosaic virus & mildew, muskmelon - India: (PB)
- 2011/05/04: GG&G: Extreme Heat and Corn Yields--a 2010 Update
- 2011/05/03: EnergyBulletin: Water shortages threaten food future in the Arab Middle East
- 2011/05/03: BPA: What Does Jeremy Grantham Have to Say About the Agriculture Sector?
- 2011/05/04: BPA: So Who's Right and Who's Wrong? Henderson or Grantham?
- 2011/05/03: CCurrents: Vidarbha's Dying Fields And Farmer's Suicides
- 2011/05/03: WSJ:RTE: About 1 in 7 in U.S. Receive Food Stamps
- 2010/10/11: GG&G: Another big revision in USDA's crop forecast
- 2011/05/03: GG&G: Declining crop yields
- 2011/05/04: EconView: Declining Crop Yields -- Why is food production slowing down?
- 2011/04/26: EPI: The New Geopolitics of Food
- 2011/05/02: PlanetArk: Soggy Fields Put U.S. Farmers On A Tight Deadline
Incessant rains have turned Indiana farmer Larry Winger's grain fields into ponds, making it impossible for him to seed his corn crop. "Historically, we would like the work to be done by the first of May, and research shows the optimal planting time is the last week of April," said Winger, who plants half of his 2,500 acres with corn, and the other half with soybeans. "Prospects are OK until May 10, but after May 10, we start losing bushels," he added. Similar scenes of waterlogged fields stretch from Minnesota to Indiana to Nebraska, the heart of the U.S. Corn Belt. Unusually wet conditions are keeping farmers out of their fields during the crucial spring planting season. - 2011/05/05: Science: (ab$) Climate Trends and Global Crop Production Since 1980 by David B. Lobell et al.
- 2011/05/06: KSJT: Lots of Ink: Ag study find US has (almost) no global warming. Rest of globe where crops are down -- yep.
- 2011/05/05: SciNow: Climate Change Already Hurting Agriculture
- 2011/05/05: SciNews: Warming dents corn and wheat yields -- Rising temperatures have decreased global production, an analysis concludes
- 2011/05/05: EarthTimes: Food harvests dragged lower by global warming
- 2011/05/05: NatureN: Climate change curbs crops -- Warming has already lowered yields of wheat and corn
- 2011/05/06: TreeHugger: Climate Change Already Slashing Crop Yields Globally - But Not In North America
- 2011/05/06: BBC: Climate shifts 'hit global wheat yields'
Shifts in the climate over the past three decades have been linked to a 5.5% decline in global wheat production, a study has suggested. - 2011/05/06: PostMedia: Climate change hardly visible in North America -- Canada, U.S. buck trend, scientists say [Lobell]
- 2011/05/05: CBC: Climate change may benefit Canada's farmers
Research suggests Canadian farmers seem to be dodging the worst impacts of climate change and may even benefit from it as crop prices increases. Stanford University researcher David Lobell concludes in a paper published online in Science Express that climate change has already begun to slow harvest growth rates almost everywhere in the world -- except in the United States and Canada. - FAO: World Food Situation - Food Price Indices
- 2011/05/05: Guardian(UK): Food prices driven up by global warming, study shows
- 2011/05/06: TCoE: The cost of food
- 2011/05/06: BBC: Food giant Kraft Foods, the owner of Cadbury, has warned that it will increase the prices of its products again this year because of higher raw material costs
- 2011/05/05: FAO: Global food prices hold steady [FAO Food Price Index at 232] -- But cereals markets remain tight
- 2011/05/05: UN: Little change seen in global food prices in April, UN agency [FAO] reports
So, are these land grabs Colonialism V2.0?
- 2011/05/06: CSM: Food inflation, land grabs spur Latin America to restrict foreign ownership
Regarding the genetic modification of food:
- 2011/05/03: EurActiv: EU farm chief: GM food meets no quality, diversity criteria
EU Agriculture Commissioner Dacian Ciolos, says he strongly favours traditional agriculture that produces quality food, diverse diets and natural biodiversity, requirements which genetically-modified crops cannot satisfy. - 2011/05/03: FAO: Central Asia should strengthen trade ties says Diouf -- FAO Director-General also calls for regional weather alert system to warn farmers
- 2011/05/05: ASA: Study Probes Sources of Mississippi River Phosphorus
Model points to intensive agriculture, sewage effluent as main sources, not manure, over-fertilization - 2011/05/05: LBL: It Takes a Community of Soil Microbes to Protect Plants From Disease
- 2011/05/05: NCSU: Study Shows Corn Gene Provides Resistance to Multiple Diseases
- 2011/05/06: TreeHugger: Diversity is Key to Sustainable Farming, So Why's It So Damn Hard?
- 2011/05/05: NBF: Researchers propose 'whole-system redesign' of U.S. agriculture
- 2011/05/05: EnergyBulletin: Can the world feed 10 Billion people?
- 2011/05/05: Eureka: Seed mixtures and insurance pest management: Future norm in the Corn Belt?
- 2011/05/03: TreeHugger: Monsanto's Roundup Herbicide Comes Under Fire: EPA Reviews for Safety and Boulder Discontinues Use
- 2011/05/03: BBC: Rice crops 'have single origin'
Scientists have shed new light on the origins of rice, one of the most important staple foods today. A study of the rice genome suggests that the crop was domesticated only once, rather than at multiple times in different places. Tens of thousands of varieties of rice are known, but these are represented by two distinct sub-species. The work published in PNAS journal proposes that rice was first cultivated in China some 9,000 years ago. - 2011/05/05: MTobis: Is there a trend in Atlantic Hurricanes?
As for GHGs:
- 2011/05/04: MTobis: A Difference That Makes a Difference
- 2011/05/03: Guardian(UK): New data on imports and exports turns map of carbon emission on its head
- 2011/05/02: PlanetArk: China Carbon Emissions Could Peak By 2025-2030: U.S. [LBNL] Study
- 2011/05/01: Guardian(UK): Carbon accounting system is mad as a hatter
By not having to account for emissions caused by imported goods, rich nations are living in Alice's wonderland - 2011/05/03: ERabett: Black Carbon
And in the paleoclimate:
- 2011/05/03: BBC: Giant ants spread in warm climes
A giant ant growing over 5cm (2in) long crossed the Arctic during hot periods in the Earth's history, scientists say, using land bridges between continents. The ant, named Titanomyrma lubei, lived about 50 million years ago and is one of the largest ant species ever found. - 2011/05/05: NOAA:NCEP: El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) Diagnostic Discussion
Synopsis: ENSO-neutral conditions are expected to develop during May-June 2011 and continue through the Northern Hemisphere summer 2011. - 2011/05/03: NatureN: Overfishing hits all creatures great and small -- Size doesn't matter when species collapse, study finds
- 2011/05/02: CBC: Smaller fish just as prone to overfishing [as large fish]
- 2011/05/02: GreenGrok: Update: Ocean Productivity Holding Steady? [Boyce et al.]
What's new on the extinction front?
- 2011/05/04: PressEurop: Biodiversity -- Brussels wants to save the animals
"A quarter of European animal species are threatened with extinction," reports Spanish daily El Periódico. - 2011/05/06: Eureka: Tree rings tell a 1,100-year history of El Niño
More GW impacts are being seen:
- 2011/05/07: Tamino: Hell and High Water
- 2011/05/06: Dominion: (infographic) Degrees of Disaster
- 2011/05/04: NatureN: Wayward whale not a fluke -- Warming Arctic cited as likely cause of freak migration
- 2011/05/03: JHSPH: Climate Change Analysis Predicts Increased Fatalities from Heat Waves
- 2011/05/02: GreenFyre: Tornadoes and Earthquakes and Storms, oh my!
- 2011/05/02: NJP: Tornadoes and Earthquakes and Storms, Oh my!
- 2011/05/02: KSJT: Charlotte Observer: On climate change & worries with an example to match
And then there are the world's forests:
- 2011/05/04: BBC:RB: Money in trees: The poor end of forest protection
- 2011/05/04: EUO: EU-Indonesia deal aims to stamp out illegal timber imports
- 2011/05/04: BBC: EU and Indonesia sign deal on illegal timber
Indonesia and the European Union have finalised an agreement aimed at ending the trade in illegally-sourced wood. The agreement will mean that EU companies will only be able to import timber that is certified as complying with Indonesian environmental laws.
[...]
The deal - signed in Jakarta - is known as a Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA). - 2011/05/04: BBC: St Abb's Head guillemot eggs are earliest recorded
Experts at a Borders nature reserve have reported the earliest guillemot eggs ever recorded at the site. - 2011/05/03: TreeHugger: Birds Fly Farther North as Winter Temperatures Rise
On the tornado front:
- 2011/05/05: Wunderground: April's tornado outbreaks the two largest in history
- 2011/05/04: PlanetArk: Tornado Tears Through Auckland Killing One
- 2011/05/03: BBC: Tornado rips through New Zealand city of Auckland
- 2011/05/03: CBC: New Zealand tornado kills 1 person
A tornado ripped across part of [Auckland] New Zealand's largest city on Tuesday, upturning cars and sending debris slicing through the air, witnesses and news reports said. At least one person was killed and about 20 injured, a hospital official said. - 2011/05/02: WpgFP: New Zealand's largest city hit by tornado; 1 person killed, shopping mall damaged
- 2011/05/02: BBC: US tornado outbreak was 'biggest ever'
The outbreak of tornadoes that ravaged the southern US last week was the largest in US recorded history, the National Weather Service has said. The three-day period from 25-28 April saw 362 tornadoes strike, including some 312 in a single 24-hour period. The previous record was 148 in two days in April 1974. The tornadoes and the storm system that spawned them killed at least 350 people in Alabama and six other states. It was the deadliest outbreak since 1936. - 2011/05/02: Wunderground: Two EF-5 tornadoes confirmed from last week's outbreak; record Ohio River flood
- 2011/04/30: BBC: Storm leaves Alabama poultry industry in ruins
On its destructive path across the southern US this week, the storm that left at least 340 dead also devastated Alabama's important poultry industry... - 2011/05/07: BBC: Expected heavy rain set to bring UK wildfire relief
It is hoped overnight thunderstorms will aid firefighters to control fires still raging in parts of the UK. Blazes continue to burn in Berkshire and Lancashire, while fires caused by the recent hot spell have destroyed acres of land in Northern Ireland and parts of the Highlands. - 2011/05/06: EarthTimes: Trees killed by Pine Beetles create more dangerous fires
- 2011/05/04: BBC: Heatwave sees warmest UK April for more than 100 years
- 2011/05/03: BBC: Wild fires 'a threat' to ecology and soil quality
Wild fires which have been burning across parts of Scotland will have an impact on ecology and soil quality, according to scientists. - 2011/05/06: ClimateShifts: Massive mortality of corals about to occur on West Australian reefs
Sea levels are rising:
- 2011/05/06: CBC: B.C. warned ocean will rise by 1 metre by 2100
A new report from the B.C. government is warning builders and developers to plan for a one metre rise in the sea level within the next 90 years. - 2011/05/04: ClimateP: Arctic Assessment bombshell: "Global sea level is projected to rise by 0.9-1.6 meter by 2100"
- 2011/05/03: CCurrents: Arctic Warming May Raise Global Sea Levels Five Feet
- 2011/05/03: SciAm: Seas Could Rise Up to 1.6 meters by 2100
Quickening climate change in the Arctic including a thaw of Greenland's ice could raise world sea levels by up to 1.6 meters by 2100, an international report showed on Tuesday. - 2011/05/03: CBC: Arctic ice melt hikes sea level forecast
Arctic ice is melting faster than expected and could raise the average global sea level by as much as 1.6 metres this century, an authoritative new report suggests. - 2011/05/03: Reuters: Seas could rise up to 1.6 meters by 2100: study
Quickening climate change in the Arctic including a thaw of Greenland's ice could raise world sea levels by up to 1.6 meters by 2100, an international report showed on Tuesday. - 2011/05/03: TreeHugger: Five Feet of Sea Level Rise Possible by 2100 - Another Study Ups Projections For End of Century
As for hydrological cycle disruptions [floods & droughts]. See also:
- 2011/05/07: MTobis: 30 Day Precip Anomaly: Mississippi & Ohio Rivers
Elsewhere on the mitigation front:
- 2011/05/05: ClassM: The target
- 2011/05/02: Grist: Dr. Grist's four-part prescription for managing climate change
As for transportation & GHG production:
- 2011/05/05: Grist: Watch Amtrak's coverage shrink over time
- 2011/05/05: AlterNet: Vision: Start Slow on the Path to Making America Bullet Train-Friendly
- 2011/05/04: NBF: China High Speed rail impact on China Aviation and China versus US Transportation Spending
- 2011/05/03: CalcRisk: U.S. Light Vehicle Sales 13.2 million SAAR in April
- 2011/05/03: CalcRisk: General Motors: April U.S. April sales increase 26.4% year-over-year
- 2011/05/03: CBC: Gas prices drive fuel-efficient car sales -- Ford leads Canada sales
- 2011/05/02: BBC: Record fall in domestic Japanese car sales
Japan's domestic sales of cars, trucks and buses fell by a record amount in April, hit by the aftermath of the country's earthquake and tsunami. With production halted and supply chains broken, sales last month were 51% lower than a year earlier, said the Japan Automobile Dealers Association.
[...]
The Japan Automobile Dealers Association (Jada) said domestic sales in April totalled 108,824. - 2011/05/06: PeakEnergy: A Passive Solar Housing Complex In Paris
As for carbon sequestration:
- 2011/05/05: NatureN: Political doubt hinders carbon sequestration projects -- But countries could still meet deployment goals for this decade.
Given the current political climate, it did not come as much of a surprise when the chief executive of one of the largest utility companies in the United States addressed the tenth annual Conference on Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, this week with a talk questioning the viability of carbon-storage ventures in the next few years. Michael Morris, chief executive of American Electric Power (AEP), headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, said that the energy industry needs a signal from politicians in Washington DC. - 2011/04/21: Climate-L: CBD [Convention on Biological Diversity] Liaison Group to Address Geo-Engineering
While on the adaptation front:
- 2011/05/04: SF Gate: Climate change: Report offers strategies to adapt
Meanwhile in the journals:
- 2011/04/26: ACS:ES&T: (ab$) Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons Increase in Athabasca River Delta Sediment: Temporal Trends and Environmental Correlates by Kevin P. Timoney & Peter Lee
- 2011/05/04: NERC:NORA: Highly contrasting effects of different climate forcing agents on terrestrial ecosystem services by C. Huntingford et al.
- 2011/05/05: NERC:NORA: Ice-stream response to ocean tides and the form of the basal sliding law by G.H. Gudmundsson
- 2011/05/05: NERC:NORA: An improved bathymetry compilation for the Bellingshausen Sea, Antarctica, to inform ice-sheet and ocean models by Alastair G.C. Graham et al.
- 2011/05/05: NERC:NORA: A consistent data set of Antarctic ice sheet topography, cavity geometry, and global bathymetry by R. Timmermann et al.
- 2011/05/06: ACP: Manipulating marine stratocumulus cloud amount and albedo: a process-modelling study of aerosol-cloud-precipitation interactions in response to injection of cloud condensation nuclei by H. Wang et al.
- 2011/05/06: ACP: Observation of atmospheric aerosols at Mt. Hua and Mt. Tai in central and east China during spring 2009 - Part 1: EC, OC and inorganic ions by G. Wang et al.
- 2011/05/06: ACP: Carbon balance of South Asia constrained by passenger aircraft CO2 measurements by P. K. Patra et al.
- 2011/05/06: ACPD: Modeling ozone plumes observed downwind of New York City over the North Atlantic Ocean during the ICARTT field campaign by S.-H. Lee et al.
- 2011/05/06: ACPD: Possible effect of extreme solar energetic particle event of 20 January 2005 on polar stratospheric aerosols: direct observational evidence by I. A. Mironova et al.
- 2011/05/06: ACPD: Solar response in tropical stratospheric ozone: a 3-D chemical transport model study using ERA reanalyses by S. Dhomse et al.
- 2011/05/06: ACPD: Examination of aerosol distributions and radiative effects over the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea region during ICARB using satellite data and a general circulation model by R. Cherian et al.
- 2011/05/06: ACPD: Springtime carbon episodes at Gosan background site revealed by total carbon, stable carbon isotopic composition, and thermal characteristics of carbonaceous particles by J. Jung & K. Kawamura
- 2011/05/06: ACPD: The Brewer-Dobson circulation and total ozone from seasonal to decadal time scales by M. Weber et al.
- 2011/05/05: GMDD: iGen: the automated generation of a parameterisation of entrainment in marine stratocumulus by D. F. Tang & S. Dobbie
- 2011/05/06: GMD: The atmospheric chemistry box model CAABA/MECCA-3.0 by R. Sander et al.
- 2011/05/06: OS: On the freshening of the northwestern Weddell Sea continental shelf by H. H. Hellmer et al.
- 2011/05/06: OS: Flow and mixing near a glacier tongue: a pilot study by C. L. Stevens et al.
- 2011/05/04: OSD: How well can we derive Global Ocean Indicators from Argo data? by K. von Schuckmann & P.-Y. Le Traon
- 2011/05/05: TC: Melting trends over the Greenland ice sheet (1958-2009) from spaceborne microwave data and regional climate models by X. Fettweis et al.
- 2011/05/05: TCD: Warming of waters in an East Greenland fjord prior to glacier retreat: mechanisms and connection to large-scale atmospheric conditions by P. Christoffersen et al.
- 2011/05/05: TCD: Recent wind driven high sea ice export in the Fram Strait contributes to Arctic sea ice decline by L. H. Smedsrud et al.
- 2011/05/04: CP: Abrupt rise in atmospheric CO2 at the onset of the Bølling/Allerød: in-situ ice core data versus true atmospheric signals by P. Köhler et al.
- 2011/05/05: CPD: Upper ocean climate of the Eastern Mediterranean Sea during the Holocene Insolation Maximum -- a model study by F. Adloff et al.
- 2011/05/02: CPD: Precessional and half-precessional climate forcing of Mid-Devonian monsoon-like dynamics by D. De Vleeschouwer et al.
- 2011/05/05: Science: (ab$) Climate Trends and Global Crop Production Since 1980 by David B. Lobell et al.
- 2011/05/05: ACP: Aura MLS observations of the westward-propagating s=1, 16-day planetary wave in the stratosphere, mesosphere and lower thermosphere by K. A. Day et al.
- 2011/05/04: ACP: Emission inventory of anthropogenic air pollutants and VOC species in the Yangtze River Delta region, China by C. Huang et al.
- 2011/05/04: ACP: Emission factors for open and domestic biomass burning for use in atmospheric models by S. K. Akagi et al.
- 2011/05/03: ACP: Investigating potential biases in observed and modeled metrics of aerosol-cloud-precipitation interactions by H. T. Duong et al.
- 2011/05/05: ACPD: Emission sources contributing to tropospheric ozone over equatorial Africa during the summer monsoon by I. Bouarar et al.
- 2011/05/04: ACPD: Source apportionment of carbonaceous aerosol in southern Sweden by J. Genberg et al.
- 2011/05/04: ACPD: Moisture and dynamical interactions maintaining decoupled Arctic mixed-phase stratocumulus in the presence of a humidity inversion by A. Solomon et al.
- 2011/05/03: ACPD: Biomass burning contribution to black carbon in the western United States mountain ranges by Y. Mao et al.
- 2011/05/05: SpringerSelect: Is nuclear power fair for future generations?
Study presents philosophical discussions on the technological realities of nuclear power production - 2011/05/03: PNAS: (abs) Variability in krill biomass links harvesting and climate warming to penguin population changes in Antarctica by Wayne Z. Trivelpiece et al.
- 2011/05/03: PNAS: (abs) Impact of daily temperature fluctuations on dengue virus transmission by Aedes aegypti by Louis Lambrechts et al.
- 2011/05/03: PNAS: (ab$) Role of mass-kill hunting strategies in the extirpation of Persian gazelle (Gazella subgutturosa) in the northern Levant by Guy Bar-Oz et al.
- 2011/05/03: PNAS: (ab$) Multivariate analysis of maize disease resistances suggests a pleiotropic genetic basis and implicates a GST gene by Randall J. Wisser et al.
- 2011/05/03: PNAS: (abs) Managing ecological thresholds in coupled environmental-human systems by Richard D. Horan et al.
- 2011/05/03: GMD: A multi-resolution assessment of the Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) model v4.7 wet deposition estimates for 2002-2006 by K. W. Appel et al.
- 2011/05/03: OSD: Joint use of satellite and in-situ data for coastal monitoring by F. Gohin
- 2011/05/03: GRL: (ab$) In situ Raman-based measurements of high dissolved methane concentrations in hydrate-rich ocean sediments by Xin Zhang et al.
- 2011/05/02: AGWObserver: New research from last week 17/2011
And other significant documents:
- 2011/05/06: DeSmogBlog: [link to pdf] Fracking the Future - How Unconventional Gas Threatens our Water, Health and Climate
- 2011/05/05: TCoE: Doc alert: 2011 EIA Energy Conference
- 2011/04/30: TI: [links to several pdfs] Global Corruption Report: Climate Change
- 2011/04/27: DOE:EIA: [link to 3.8 meg pdf] Annual Energy Outlook 2011
- 2011/05/02: TCoE: Doc alert: Annual Energy Outlook
As for miscellaneous science:
- 2011/05/04: NatureN: A how-to for peer review -- A guide surveys the range of practices in Europe - and offers suggestions for improvement
What's new in models?:
- 2011/05/02: SEasterbrook: Workshop on Advancing Climate Modeling (2)
Regarding Santer:
- 2011/05/05: CitizensChallenge: PhD. Ben Santer and the climate debate - "The General Public: Why Such Resistance?"
- 2011/05/04: CSW: Climate scientist Ben Santer elected to U.S. National Academy of Sciences membership
The Pielke fan clubbe, alas:
- 2011/05/07: ClimateP: Yes, the false accusation that Gore was exaggerating came from none other than Roger Pielke, Jr.
Meanwhile on the Kyoto front:
- 2011/05/05: UN: Clean development projects under UN climate change pact top 3,000
While at the UN:
- 2011/04/30: TI: Global Corruption Report: Climate Change
- 2011/05/03: EurActiv: Climate crime threatens billions in aid
Billions of euros could be plundered unless climate change mechanisms are strengthened and made more transparent, according to Transparency International (TI). - 2011/05/02: UN: Annual UN meeting seeks to promote more sustainable use of Earth's resources
Warning of the consequences of unsustainable consumption and production on the world's ecosystems, a senior United Nations official today urged Member States to agree on a plan to promote a more efficient and safer use of the Earth's resources [at the opening of the 19th session of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development]. - 2011/05/02: PlanetArk: Corruption Must Be Cut To Protect Climate: [Transparency International] Report
And on the carbon trading front:
- 2011/05/06: EUO: EU proposals aim to increase security of CO2 trading
The European Commission has sent EU member states new proposals to increase the security of the bloc's emissions trading system (ETS), after cyber-thieves ran off with an estimated three million carbon permits earlier this year, valued at roughly â¬50 million. The theft forced national trading registries, where pollution permits are bought and sold, to grind to a halt, with the commission now hoping that measures announced on Thursday (5 May) will prevent future attacks. - 2011/05/02: PlanetArk: Analysis: California Faces Risk In Carbon Gold Rush
California is putting its reputation as a pioneering environmental heavyweight on the line as it prepares to launch a carbon market in eight months' time. State regulators are battling the clock, the courts and their own empty pockets as they prepare to oversee the start of the multi-billion dollar carbon market on January 1, 2012. - 2011/05/05: BBC: Medical body investigates G20 pathologist Freddy Patel
An investigation has been launched into the pathologist who concluded newspaper seller Ian Tomlinson died of natural causes, the BBC has learned. The General Medical Council is investigating Dr Freddy Patel's work on the case which resulted in an "unlawful killing" verdict earlier this week. Dr Patel found Mr Tomlinson died of a heart attack due to coronary artery disease after the 2009 G20 protest. At the inquest six experts said that he was wrong and blamed internal bleeding. The jury concluded on Tuesday that the bleeding had been caused by a blow to the abdomen when Mr Tomlinson was pushed to the ground by PC Simon Harwood. - 2011/05/03: BBC: Ian Tomlinson G20 inquest jury considers verdict
The jury at the inquest into the death of Ian Tomlinson has retired to consider its verdict. Jurors must decide whether Pc Simon Harwood acted illegally and directly caused the death of Mr Tomlinson at the G20 protests in London on 1 April 2009. As well as unlawful killing, the other verdicts available to the jury are misadventure, natural causes and open. Mr Tomlinson, 47, collapsed and died after he was hit by a baton and pushed to the ground by the officer. - 2011/05/04: BBC: Prosecutor reviews Ian Tomlinson inquest evidence
Evidence that emerged during the inquest into the death of the newspaper seller Ian Tomlinson is to be reviewed by the Director of Public Prosecutions. Keir Starmer will decide if the policeman who pushed the 47-year-old to the ground at London's G20 protests should be charged with manslaughter. Pc Simon Harwood is facing a police misconduct hearing which will be held in public, it has been anounced. He has said he "did not foresee" that his actions would cause the fall. The BBC's Danny Shaw said Pc Harwood's tribunal would not be the first to be held in public, but it is believed to be the first in London. On Tuesday, the inquest jury concluded Mr Tomlinson had been unlawfully killed. - 2011/05/04: BBC: Ian Tomlinson unlawfully killed by Pc at G20 protests
Ian Tomlinson was unlawfully killed by a Metropolitan Police officer at the G20 protests, an inquest jury has said. The 47-year-old collapsed and died after he was hit by a baton and pushed to the ground by Pc Simon Harwood at the protests in London on 1 April 2009. - 2011/05/07: ClimateP: iMatter March for Climate Action on May 7-14
- 2011/05/05: DeSmogBlog: iMatter Marches Worldwide This Week: Time For The Younger Generation To Lead
- 2011/05/05: Guardian(UK): Why one 16-year-old is sueing the US government over climate change
Polls! We have polls!
- 2011/05/02: IpsosMORI: [UK] Public Attitudes to Science 2011
- 2011/05/05: TreeHugger: Voters Want Clean Energy, Not Drilling, Poll Finds
Among the world's religions:
- 2011/05/07: BCLSB: The Pope Weighs In: Climate Change, The Himalayas, And Everything
Who's making predictions this week?
- 2011/05/05: PostMedia: Warm, dry summer predicted for Canada -- More haze, humidity could be in the cards
- 2011/05/03: CBC: Environment Canada expects warmer summer
And on the American political front:
- 2011/05/03: Reuters:FS: The depressing [US] politics of climate change
- 2011/05/05: Grist: Watch Amtrak's coverage shrink over time
- 2011/05/05: CSW: On defending the National Climate Assessment
- 2011/05/05: DeSmogBlog: Defend this [National Climate Assessment] Report!
- 2011/05/05: TreeHugger: New Jersey Governor [Christie (R)] Wants to Put Environment Funds Toward Road Development
- 2011/05/05: ProPublica: PA Oil and Gas Inspectors Free to Issue Violations Without Approval from Top, Enviro Chief Says
- 2011/05/03: TreeHugger: GOP Post-Birther Strategy: ' Where's Our Cheap Gas'
- 2011/05/03: ClimateP: NBER: Air pollution lowers labor productivity
- 2011/05/02: ClimateP: While taking federal cash for wildfires, Rick Perry complains: "Why are you taking care of Alabama?"
- 2011/05/02: MTobis: On Waiting for Catastrophe
- 2011/05/02: OPB: Big Carmaker [GM] Opposes Road Tax On Electric Cars
- 2011/05/02: PeakEnergy: America's transport infrastructure: Life in the slow lane
- 2011/05/01: SacBee: Permit process clouds solar energy projects
- 2011/05/01: AlterNet: The Heartless Way Conservatives Treat Young Women Who Choose to Have Babies
The BP disaster continues to twist US politics:
- 2011/05/02: AlterNet: Health Crisis Rocks the Gulf in Aftermath of the Spill, But Feds and BP Turn a Blind Eye
So, do you want a corporate dweeb, or a sociopathic corporate dweeb? Your choice:
- 2011/05/06: Grist: Republican debate: Present Pawlenty vs. Past Pawlenty on cap-and-trade
- 2011/05/03: ClimateP: Romney on oil subsidies: "I haven't looked at it," but Big Oil's taxes should be cut
- 2011/05/02: ClimateP: Pawlenty defends Big Oil: Cutting oil subsidies is 'ludicrous'
- 2011/05/02: NakedCapitalism: Does CIA Assassination of Bin Laden Make Obama a Shoe-In for 2012?
The Budget cuts have some alarming ramifications:
- 2011/05/06: TreeHugger: EIA Budget Cuts Mean Our Energy Mess Just Got Messier
- 2011/05/06: OilDrum: Putting on Blinders - the EIA Budget cuts
- 2011/05/04: ScienceInsider: Fuel Costs, Budget Woes Cut U.S. [scientific] Ocean Drilling
- 2011/05/02: EnergyBulletin: There goes the data: major cuts at EIA Washington
Immediate reductions in EIA's energy data and analysis programs necessitated by FY 2011 funding cut - 2011/05/02: Grist: The U.S. budget slashes information-gathering on energy
- 2011/05/02: PeakEnergy: EIA Slashing Energy Data
Subsidies are a perennial sore point:
- 2011/05/05: ClimateP: Big Oil has their Cake and eats your tax dollars, too
- 2011/05/05: ClimateP: After voting to keep them, Rep. Joe Walsh (R-Ill.) tells town hall we 'absolutely' should get rid of oil subsidies
- 2011/05/04: ClimateP: Sarah Palin defends oil subsidies: "We're only talking about $4 billion" a year
- 2011/05/04: Grist: Bad seeds: A plan to phase out the $5 billion in 'direct payment' agricultural subsidies
- 2011/05/04: EnergyBulletin: Top 5 myths about subsidies to oil companies
- 2011/05/04: Grist: GOP rep couldn't have voted for oil subsidies, because they don't exist, la la la
- 2011/05/03: TreeHugger: Four Ridiculous Subsidies for Big Oil That Should Get the Boot
More on the UVa dealing with FOIA as a weapon:
- 2011/05/03: CSW: University of Virginia will seek to protect academic freedom in dealing with denialist FOIA inquisition
The actions of the Obama administration are being watched closely:
- 2011/05/06: CBC: Gas prices under scrutiny by U.S. officials
- 2011/05/06: NatureNB: White House sets deadline for scientific integrity policies
- 2011/05/06: TreeHugger: Energy Secretary Appoints Fracking Study Panel
- 2011/05/06: PlanetArk: Obama Forms Panel To Improve Fracking Safety
- 2011/05/05: ScienceInsider: Holdren's Response to Ban on China Science Partnerships Draws GOP Ire
- 2011/05/04: NOAANews: Kathryn D. Sullivan appointed as assistant secretary of commerce for environmental observation and prediction for NOAA
- 2011/05/03: NatureN: US farm-science head [Roger Beachy] quits
Departure of director from National Institute of Food and Agriculture casts uncertainty over future of flagship funding programme. - 2011/05/06: Grist: Richard Burr introduces bill to abolish the EPA
- 2011/05/06: TreeHugger: John McCain Joins GOP Push to Abolish the EPA
- 2011/05/06: TreeHugger: Shill, Baby, Shill: Big Oil Still Getting Big Tax Breaks
- 2011/05/07: DeSmogBlog: West Virginia Congressman [Rep. David McKinley (R-WVa)] Wants EPA To Stop Monitoring Toxic Waste
- 2011/05/06: HuffPo: Sponsors Of Oil-Drilling Expansion Bill Received $8.8 Million In Industry Contributions
- 2011/05/06: ClimateP: Senate Republicans introduce bill to abolish the EPA
- 2011/05/06: ClimateP: Yes, the House GOP actually named their pro-warming energy task force 'HEAT'
- 2011/05/06: PlanetArk: US House Votes To Reopen Oil Drilling Off Virgina Coast
- 2011/05/06: UCSUSA: Senator Brown Unfairly Attacking League of Women Voters
- 2011/05/06: OilChange: The "Spill Amnesia Bill"
- 2011/05/04: ACLU: House Passes Dangerous Bill That Would Deny Insurance Coverage For Abortion Services -- Legislation Has Serious Implications For Women's Health
- 2011/05/04: ClimateP: Rep. Rob Bishop (R-UT) denies existence of billions in special oil subsidies
- 2011/05/04: PlanetArk: Senate To Act On Energy Legislation This Month
The Senate may vote on bills this month to promote clean energy and small nuclear reactors, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said on Tuesday. - 2011/05/03: AlterNet: GOP Sneak Attack: Republicans Try to Redefine Rape ... Again
- 2011/05/02: Grist: The House wants to drastically expand offshore drilling
- 2011/05/02: ClimateP: Rosario Dawson hits GOP budget plan, says "immigrants pay more taxes than Exxon!"
A couple of climate related bills:
- 2011/05/: GovTrack: S. 757: A bill to provide incentives to encourage the development and implementation of technology to capture carbon dioxide from dilute sources on a significant scale using direct air capture technologies.
- 2011/05/: GovTrack: S. 699: Department of Energy Carbon Capture and Sequestration Program Amendments Act of 2011
What are the lobbyists pushing?
- 2011/05/04: AutoBG: Shell trying to convince Obama to let it drill for oil in Alaskan waters
While in the UK:
- 2011/05/06: BBC: PM's pledge of greenest government 'vanishingly remote'
The government's chance of being the "greenest ever" - as the prime minister has claimed - is "vanishingly remote", a former adviser has said. Jonathon Porritt, former head of the Sustainable Development Commission, carried out the review which was funded by Friends of the Earth. He examined 75 policies, finding little or no progress in 55. - 2011/05/04: Ecologist: Wind industry and DECC urged to come clean on output of wind farms
With a new analysis showing UK wind farms operating at just 20 per cent of their capacity in 2010, the potential of wind power has been called into question. Eifion Rees examines the arguments from both sides - 2011/05/04: EarthTimes: Wind Farms paid to stop producing energy
And in Europe:
- 2011/05/07: AutoBG: European Commision director says remaining oil dependent would be "fatal mistake"
- 2011/05/07: NBF: Financially troubled Spain still spending $10.5 billion subsidizing renewable energy and cogeneration
- 2011/05/06: EUO: EU proposals aim to increase security of CO2 trading
- 2011/05/06: PlanetArk: Italy Approves Decree Capping Solar Incentives
- 2011/05/05: PlanetArk: Italian Ministers Reach Deal On Solar Incentives [no details yet]
- 2011/05/05: EurActiv: European biofuel dispute splits the industry
A divisive debate over the green credentials of biofuels has stalled investment and threatens the future of some producers, but could also create lucrative opportunities, according to European companies. After a two-year investigation, the European Commission has decided that the complex issue of 'indirect land use change' (ILUC) -- or displaced deforestation -- can lessen carbon savings from biofuels. In July it may announce moves to curb the least sustainable - possibly by raising an EU-wide sustainability benchmark. - 2011/05/05: PlanetArk: Germany Cuts Red Tape For Offshore Windpark Firms
- 2011/05/05: NatureNB: Future of EU science group uncertain
- 2011/05/04: EurActiv: EU seeks to steer CAP money to biodiversity protection
The EU's 2020 biodiversity strategy, presented yesterday (3 May) by the European Commission, seeks to boost the bloc's tiny green budget by steering more Common Agricultural Policy payments towards rewarding farmers and foresters for protecting the environment. - 2011/05/04: EurActiv: Act now on peak oil or curtail mobility, says Commission
The European Commission's director-general for transport and mobility policy has warned at a conference on peak oil that it would be a "fatal mistake" for the EU to postpone measures to reduce oil dependency. "If action is delayed, in the not-too-distant future we may be forced to drastically reduce all our mobility and import technological solutions from other part of the world," Marjeta Jager told a Green Party conference in the European Parliament. - 2011/05/03: EurActiv: EU farm chief: GM food meets no quality, diversity criteria
EU Agriculture Commissioner Dacian Ciolos, says he strongly favours traditional agriculture that produces quality food, diverse diets and natural biodiversity, requirements which genetically-modified crops cannot satisfy. - 2011/05/03: EUO: EU has second try at biodiversity strategy
The European Commission has outlined a fresh blueprint to halt biodiversity loss in the EU over the next ten years, after a similar plan for the previous decade failed. Experts warn that continued ecosystem degradation and biodiversity loss will entail huge costs for society in the future, as decimated forests no longer provide clean air and water, for example. - 2011/05/03: NatureTGB: Europe unveils biodiversity plan
- 2011/05/02: Guardian(UK): Connie Hedegaard seeks renewable energy targets for 2030
EU climate chief opens discussion about extending the targets and expresses concern at gas industry's lobbying - 2011/05/06: ABC(Au): An environmental group says the Federal Government's plans to further reduce solar panel subsidies will put more people off switching
- 2011/05/06: ABC(Au): Councils urged to reduce emissions by recycling more
The [New South Wales] state government has been urged to offer financial assistance to local councils recycle green waste, but regional areas are likely to be last to receive help. - 2011/05/05: ABC(Au): Energy targets achievable: Corbell
The ACT Government wants the Canberra community to source 15 per cent of its energy from renewable sources by next year. Renewable energy targets had to be decided on by today under ACT climate change legislation passed last year. The Government says it is aiming for the ACT to source a quarter of its energy from renewable sources by 2020. - 2011/05/05: ABC(Au): Sun to set early on solar subsidies
The Government will cut $1,000 from the solar panel subsidy because it says the scheme contributed to higher electricity prices. Climate Change Minister Greg Combet says some states pay households to feed their surplus power back into the grid, creating price pressures. - 2011/05/02: ABC(Au): UNE talks rural climate change solutions
A Rural Climate Change Solutions Symposium gets underway this week at the University of New England in Armidale, in northern New South Wales. - 2011/05/06: ABC(Au): Mining company Xstrata says it is confident a proposed coal mine in the Surat Basin will have minimal impact on Australia's greenhouse gas emissions
- 2011/05/05: BNC: Decarbonise SA -- regional action for greenhouse gas mitigation
- 2011/05/04: ABC(Au): Release of carbon tax details slated for July
- 2011/05/02: ABC(Au): Carbon bank proposed to manage tax revenue
Australia has a Reserve Bank for managing monetary policy, so why not an independent bank for managing a carbon price? The idea of a carbon bank is being floated by the Clean Energy Council (CEC), the peak body for Australia's clean energy industries. The council is putting out a discussion paper which suggests a carbon bank could manage the money raised by a carbon tax or an emissions trading scheme (ETS). - 2011/05/07: ABC(Au): Wallis Lake Flood Study on public display
A study assessing the impact of potential flooding around Wallis Lake is on public display for comment. - 2011/05/06: ABC(Au): Stoush brewing over mid-west water reserves
Western Australia's National Party may rely on mining profits for its royalties for region's fund, but one of its parliamentarians says agriculture should be favoured ahead of mining in any dispute over water rights. - 2011/05/05: ABC(Au): Battle lines drawn over Coca Cola's water use
And in New Zealand:
- 2011/05/04: HotTopic: No turning back by Fed Farmers heroes
- 2011/05/03: HotTopic: Gathering nuts in May: The Business Roundtable and the Toxic Avenger
- 2011/05/02: HotTopic: Brash in pocket
While in the Indian subcontinent:
- 2011/05/04: CCurrents: What The POSCO Order Means
- 2011/05/03: CCurrents: POSCO Loot Of Our Mineral Wealth And Environment Is Far Worse Than The 2G Scam
- 2011/05/02: CCurrents: The POSCO Project Given The Go Ahead
- 2011/05/02: CCurrents: Revoke Clearance To Jaitapur Nuclear Power Project
And South America:
- 2011/05/03: CCurrents: "We Cannot Command Nature Except By Obeying Her" by Pablo Solón
Speech of Ambassador Pablo Solón, permanent representative of the Plurinational State of Bolivia to the United Nations, on the occasion of the General Assembly interactive dialogue on harmony with nature, April 20, 2011 - 2011/05/02: EnergyBulletin: Bolivia: Nature cannot be submitted to the laboratory or the market by Pablo Solon, Bolivia's permanent representative to the United Nations
In Canada, my fellow citizens in their benighted wisdom have given the fundamentalist neocon a majority government. Now we march boldly back into the 19th century:
- 2011/05/02: ElectionsCanada: 2011 General Election - Preliminary Results
- 2011/05/03: Tyee: Harper, Let Loose -- Ten Tyee contributors share their ideas of what the election signifies.
- 2011/05/03: PI: Pembina reacts to the 2011 federal election outcome
- 2011/05/04: CCurrents: Canada Turns Hard Right
- 2011/05/07: LeDaro: Harper Majority and the Alberta Tar Sands
- 2011/05/05: KCairo: The Future is Coming and Conservatives are losing the Struggle. . . .
- 2011/05/04: DeSmogBlog: Facing Four More Years of Harper Inaction, Canadians Must Rally Their Own Climate Leadership
- 2011/05/04: ClimateSight: Change
- 2011/05/03: Time:Ecocentric: Canada Turns Away From Climate Policy
- 2011/05/03: DM:CCM: Why the Harper Majority is a Step Back for Science -- Let Us Count the Ways
- 2011/05/04: Tyee: Now What for Canada's Left?
Progressives must invest more thought, energy and, yes, money in their vision for this nation. There is no point dwelling on the obvious other than to simply reiterate it. The election of a Conservative majority government will usher in wrenching change in Canada and we will have to witness the worst that Stephen Harper has to offer. - 2011/05/03: Tyee: Elizabeth May's Historic Night -- Canada's first Green MP celebrates with supporters in an airplane hanger full of hope
- 2011/05/03: DemNow: The Right and Left Claim Success in Canada: The Conservatives Win Majority in Canadian Election as Left-Leaning NDP Makes Historic Gains
- 2011/05/04: G&M: Green energy sector not cheering Tory majority
The renewable energy sector is likely one of the few spheres of Canada's business community that is unsettled about a Conservative majority government in Ottawa. After years of providing lukewarm support for green power while running a minority government, Prime Minister Stephen Harper is unlikely to suddenly change his stripes, particularly when he has full control of the House of Commons, industry executives said Tuesday. - 2011/05/03: Guardian(UK): Canada's cold new dawn
Conservative prime minister Stephen Harper is our version of George W Bush, minus the warmth and intellect - 2011/05/03: Guardian(UK): Canada's Green party looks to bright future following Elizabeth May victory
- 2011/05/03: Guardian(UK): Canada elects Elizabeth May, its first Green MP
- 2011/05/03: CBC: Ignatieff quits as Liberal leader
- 2011/05/03: ClassM: Canada returns to discontinuous tyranny
- 2011/05/03: Grist: Canada elects first Green Party MP; everything else sucks
- 2011/05/02: MTobis: An Iconic Shape in Orange
- 2011/05/03: TreeHugger: Canadian Election Results Are In: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly
- 2011/05/03: WMTC: harper majority: first mourn, then organize
- 2011/05/03: CBC: Majority rules -- just about everything
Canadians wondering what Stephen Harper will do with a majority government are about to get their answer -- namely, just about anything he wants. The Conservatives will now have the ability to pass whatever legislation they want -- their comfortable majority win gives them complete control over the Commons, and they already dominate the Senate. Parliamentary committees trying to pry into government spending, secrecy and ethical lapses likely won't get very far -- the Conservatives now have majority control of those, too. - 2011/05/03: al Jazeera: Ruling Conservatives in landslide Canada win
Prime minister Stephen Harper to form majority government as ruling party wins 40 per cent of the vote in federal polls. - 2011/05/02: G&M: Elizabeth May wins seat as rest of B.C.'s vote makes little impact nationally
- 2011/05/02: G&M: Duceppe resigns as Bloc leader after losing riding
- 2011/05/02: Grist: Canada's elections are today. Here's why you're rooting against Stephen Harper
The G20 controversy lingers:
- 2011/05/04: CBC: Auditor to make G8 report public in June
Auditor General Sheila Fraser's much-anticipated report into the G8/G20 summits will be tabled in the House of Commons on June 7. - 2011/05/03: MediaCoop: The Jaggi Singh trial from inside the courtroom
Questions and debate about offshore and Arctic drilling continue:
- 2011/05/04: PeakEnergy: ExxonMobil to develop Hebron oil field off Canada
There was a major pipeline leak in Alberta this week:
- 2011/05/05: BBC: Oil spill in Canada's Alberta 'biggest in 35 years'
- 2011/05/04: CBC: Alta. oil spill behind illnesses, First Nation says
Energy board [ERCB] denies largest spill in 35 years is making band sick - 2011/05/03: CBC: Alta. oil pipeline leaked 28,000 barrels -- Emergency crews working to clean up massive leak northeast of Peace River
Lake Champlain & The Richelieu River are flooding in Quebec:
- 2011/05/07: CBC: More soldiers join Quebec flood relief mission
- 2011/05/06: CBC: Richelieu flood victims promised federal help -- Quebec hands out $770K in disaster assistance cheques
- 2011/05/05: CBC: Military aids weary Que. flood victims -- Premier Jean Charest to tour area
- 2011/05/04: CBC: Quebec wants army to help with flooding -- 400 people have already been told to leave homes in Richelieu Valley
- 2011/05/03: CBC: 2,000 homes flooded in southern Quebec
Emergency officials in Quebec are closely watching water levels in the Champlain Lake and Richelieu River. - 2011/05/07: CBC: Brandon and southwest Manitoba on flood alert -- Brandon tells residents to be ready to leave if needed
- 2011/05/04: CBC: Floods threaten 4 First Nations near Lake Manitoba
- 2011/05/02: CBC: Residents leave St-Lazare flood area
- 2011/05/06: CBC: River gauge flaw prompts Manitoba to raise dikes
Manitoba emergency officials are scrambling to raise the levels of several dikes in the province after learning that an unreliable water gauge on the Qu'Appelle River in Saskatchewan was reading low. Water from the Qu'Appelle River flows to the Assiniboine River, a major waterway in western Manitoba. Officials said Friday that the faulty gauge was underestimating water flow. They said they now expect the Assiniboine River to rise about 30 centimetres in the coming days. That has several communities scrambling to raise the height of dikes. - 2011/05/05: CBC: Assiniboine still rising west of Winnipeg
- 2011/05/04: CBC: Winnipeg awaits river's crest -- Water levels will remain high for weeks
- 2011/05/03: CBC: Bulging rivers to crest in Winnipeg
The Red River is set to crest in Winnipeg over the next few days and will top-out in the city at about the same time as the Assiniboine River also crests in the Manitoba capital. Water levels were up to 19.28 feet James in Winnipeg Tuesday and were expected to crest somewhere between 19.5 and 20 feet James on Wednesday. - 2011/05/03: WpgFP: Near-record peak in Brandon -- But city not at risk from Assiniboine, officials say
The Assiniboine River at Brandon is at its second-highest level in recorded history -- surpassed only by the peak in 1923. - 2011/05/01: CBC: Prairie snowstorm stresses flood protection -- Weather linked to 5 deaths closes highways
The Cohen Commission continues its deliberations:
- Cohen Commission -- Commission of Inquiry into the Decline of Sockeye Salmon in the Fraser River
- 2011/05/04: G&M: The mystery of the disappearing salmon
In BC, the Liberals chose Clark, the NDP chose Dix, now what?
- 2011/05/07: NBF: Report doubles BC shale-gas estimate
Meanwhile in that Mechanical Mordor known as the tar sands:
- 2011/05/06: CBC: Oilsands project's fire repair costs rise
Calgary-based Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. said Friday it had increased its estimate for the cost of repairs to its fire-damaged Horizon oilsands upgrader in Northern Alberta. The firm said costs are now expected to come in at between $350 million and $450 million. That was above the $300 million to $400 million range Canadian Natural forecast during its fourth-quarter conference call. - 2011/05/03: CBC: Suncor profit rises on higher output -- tarsands output of 322,100 barrels of oil per day in Q12011
Also in Alberta:
- 2011/05/03: PI: Pembina Reacts: Government of Alberta report on industrial greenhouse gas pollution
- 2011/05/05: CBC: Alberta premier criticizes oil spill cleanup
- 2011/05/03: CBC: Alberta energy sector embraces Tory majority
Ontario has it's Green Energy Act, now comes the implementation:
- 2011/05/06: CleanBreak: Ontario north to become hub for green jet fuel production
- 2011/05/03: CleanBreak: Ontario making strong progress on smart grid development
The movement toward a long term ecologically viable economics is glacial:
- 2011/05/03: EnergyBulletin: Not production, not consumption, but transformation
- 2011/05/02: ClimateP: Jeremy Grantham must-read, "Time to Wake Up: Days of Abundant Resources and Falling Prices Are Over Forever"
- 2011/05/02: TreeHugger: How Can We Protect Environment When All We're Told is Growth, Growth, Growth?
And in the Transition movement:
- 2011/05/06: EnergyBulletin: Joy Division
IPAT [Impact = Population * Affluence * Technology] raised its head once again:
- 2011/05/06: ABC(Au): Scientists thrash out ideas at population summit
Some of Australia's leading scientists are gathering in Canberra today to discuss if Australia has the resources to cope with a doubling of its population in the next 39 years. - 2011/05/06: TreeHugger: Ending Population Growth: Why Family Planning Is Key To A Sustainable Future
- 2011/05/04: ScienceInsider: 10 Billion Plus: Why World Population Projections Were Too Low
- 2011/05/05: PeakEnergy: World population growth racing ahead, UN reports
- 2011/05/04: NBF: UN projects world population of 6.2 to 15.8 billion in 2100 with 10.1 billion midrange
- 2011/05/04: ACLU: House Passes Dangerous Bill That Would Deny Insurance Coverage For Abortion Services -- Legislation Has Serious Implications For Women's Health
- 2011/05/04: UN: As populations rise, UN official stresses need for safe family planning options
The 2010 Revision of World Population Prospects, released yesterday by the UN, indicate that the global population will surge past 9 billion before 2050 and eventually pass 10 billion before the end of the century. The projections also reveal that the total population should reach the 7-billion mark on 31 October this year. - 2011/05/04: TCoE: Countdown to 7,000,000,000
- 2011/05/03: Grist: World population projected to hit 7 billion on Oct. 31
- 2011/05/03: TruthDig: Global Population Expected to Continue Exploding
- 2011/05/03: AlterNet: GOP Sneak Attack: Republicans Try to Redefine Rape ... Again
- 2011/05/03: UN: Global population to pass 10 billion by 2100, UN projections indicate
- 2011/05/01: AlterNet: The Heartless Way Conservatives Treat Young Women Who Choose to Have Babies
Okay hot shot, how are we gonna fix this?
- 2011/05/06: Grist: Military thinkers: for a bright American future, look to sustainability and liberalism
As for how the media handles science:
- 2011/05/06: CJR: Science Blogs "Win a Place at the Table" -- Zimmer and Yong on the evolution of online science coverage
- 2011/05/06: Grist: I've seen the future and I can't afford it: Marketplace's botched 'feed the world' story
- 2011/05/03: CJR: Red Alert on the Green Beat -- Violence and threats severely restrain environmental coverage in much of the world
- 2011/05/02: CJR: Coverage of New Chernobyl Analysis Fails Risk Reporting Basics -- Includes absolute risk, but not relative
- 2011/05/04: KSJT: Columbia Journalism Review: Environment out there can be a dangerous place for reporters
- 2011/05/04: ClimateP: New York Times blows the Dust Bowl story
- 2011/05/04: JFleck: Dust Bowl Rhetoric Watch
- 2011/05/03: GreenFyre: The media, you get what they paid for
- 2011/05/02: TreeHugger: Ridiculous Comparison of Cars Versus Runners' Emissions Feeds the Climate Trolls
While activists search for effective communication techniques:
- 2011/05/02: GreenFyre: Method without Science, tactics without strategy
Here is something for your library:
- 2011/05/08: TreeHugger: Book Fest Exposes Climate Change Deniers and a World Without Fish
- 2011/05/04: CCurrents: [Book Excerpt] _Deep Green Resistance: Strategy to Save the Planet_ by Derrick Jensen, Lierre Keith & Aric McBay
- 2011/05/04: AlterNet: Plastic May Be Horrible For the Environment, But Could We Survive Without It?
[Book Note] _Plastic: A Toxic Love Story_ by Susan Freinkel - 2011/05/06: MLynas: [Book Review] _The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity: in National and International Policy Making_ edited by Patrick ten Brink
- 2011/05/04: ClimateP: [Book Review] _2084: An Oral History of the Great Warming_ by James Lawrence Powell
- 2011/05/04: RealClimate: Handbook in Denialism
[Book Review] _Climate Change Denial: Heads in the Sand_ by Haydn Washington & John Cook - 2011/05/03: NYT:Economix: The Future of Water [Author Interview] _The Big Thirst_ by Charles Fishman
- 2011/05/03: HotTopic: [Book Review] _Climate Capitalism: Capitalism in the Age of Climate Change_ by L. Hunter Lovins & Boyd Cohen
And for your film & video enjoyment:
- 2011/05/07: ClimateShifts: BBC Four: meet the climate skeptics
- 2011/05/07: Grist: Do you know how many people are in the world today?
- 2011/05/06: ClimateP: Video: Extreme weather in the United States
- 2011/05/06: PSinclair: Climate Change Hurting Agriculture NOW
- 2011/05/05: ClimateP: Paul Gilding on The Great Disruption
- 2011/05/06: SkeptiSci: The Climate Show Episode 12: twisters, ozone and Google in the sun
- 2011/05/06: InformedComment: Koch Brothers Exposed
- 2011/05/05: HotTopic: The Climate Show #12: twisters, Olaf on ozone, and Google in the sun
- 2011/05/03: PSinclair: Climate Triage in the Midwest
As for podcasts:
- 2011/05/06: AAAS: (mp3) Science Podcast
Meanwhile among the 'Sue the Bastards!' contingent:
- 2011/05/06: AutoBG: National Wildlife Federation sues EPA for failing to protect grasslands from destructive biofuel production
- 2011/05/07: BBC: Shell loses Nigeria Bonny Terminal land dispute
The oil giant Shell has lost its appeal against a ruling that it is not the rightful owner of land where it runs Nigeria's biggest oil export terminal. Three years ago, a lower court said the oil firm should pay rent to the local community for Bonny Terminal, but Shell says it bought the land outright. Shell says it will appeal to the Supreme Court against the judgement. Few residents of the Niger Delta, home to Nigeria's oil industry, have benefited from the area's oil wealth. - 2011/05/06: BBC:RB: Generation game warms legal climate
- 2011/05/06: TreeHugger: Teens Sue States to Protect Climate, Declare Atmosphere a Public Trust
- 2011/05/05: STimes: Climate activists target states with lawsuits
A group of attorneys representing children and young adults began to file legal actions Wednesday in every state and the District of Columbia in an effort to force government intervention on climate change. The courtroom ploy was backed by activists looking for a legal soft spot to advance a cause that has stumbled in the face of stiff congressional opposition and a skeptical U.S. Supreme Court. The goal is to have the atmosphere declared for the first time as a "public trust" deserving special protection. That's a concept previously used to clean up polluted rivers and coastlines, although legal experts said they were uncertain it could be applied successfully to climate change. - 2011/05/04: ClimateP: Maryland to sue Chesapeake Energy for PA fracking blowout
Developing a new energy infrastructure is a fundamental challenge of the current generation:
- 2011/05/08: EnergyBulletin: Critical comments on "The Energy Report" by WWF and Ecofys
- 2011/05/06: PlanetArk: Renewable Energies To Leap, Costs Fall: U.N.
- 2011/05/06: PlanetArk: Analysis: Green Energy Can Wean Off Subsidies, Gradually
- 2011/05/06: AutoBG: Toyota to power, heat Torrance, CA facility with 1MW Ballard fuel cell generator
- 2011/05/05: SBO: BPA rolls back renewable energy incentives
The Bonneville Power Administration will roll back the discounts it was offering to customer-owned and co-op utilities to promote the development of renewable energy. The move may require some 50 utilities to dismantle programs currently used to promote development of wind, solar and other types of renewable energy. - 2011/05/06: NBF: Joule Unlimited Secures First of Multiple Sites to Host Solar Fuel Production
- 2011/05/05: PlanetArk: Renewable Energies To Leap, Costs Fall: U.N.
Renewable energies such as wind or solar power are set to surge by 2050, and expected advances in technology will bring significant cost cuts, a draft United Nations report showed on Wednesday. - 2011/05/05: PlanetArk: Renewable Firms Struggle With Austerity, Cheap [Natural] Gas
- 2011/05/04: SciNow: Turning Waste Heat Into Electricity
- 2011/05/05: TreeHugger: Solar & Energy Efficiency are "Cute" But Not the Answer, Bill Gates Says. Nuclear Power Is.
- 2011/05/05: Tyee: You and Your Slaves
Yes, you're the slave master of many energy-driven gadgets that replace human labour. But our slave society won't last. - 2011/05/04: NBF: Waste heat engine that can use any fuel receives patent and will launch commercially later in 2011
- 2011/05/04: EconBrowser: Will high oil prices bring a new recession?
- 2011/05/04: EnergyBulletin: Energy prices and US recessions
- 2011/05/04: MTobis: A Difference That Makes a Difference
- 2011/05/04: PeakEnergy: Australia expects to have first delivery of commercial geothermal power in 2012
- 2011/05/02: Stanford: Hydrogen Fuel Tech Gets Boost from Low-Cost, Efficient Catalyst
- 2011/05/02: PeakEnergy: Protean [Energy] power - affordable wave power?
Hey! Let's contaminate the aquifer for thousands of years! It'll be a fracking gas!
- 2011/05/07: NBF: Report doubles BC shale-gas estimate
- 2011/05/06: AlterNet: An Inside Look at What Happens When Gas Drillers Are Exempt from Environmental Law
- 2011/05/06: PlanetArk: Obama Forms Panel To Improve Fracking Safety
- 2011/05/06: TreeHugger: Energy Secretary Appoints Fracking Study Panel
- 2011/05/06: DeSmogBlog: Fracking the Future: How Unconventional Gas Threatens Our Water, Health and Climate - Report
- 2011/05/06: PeakEnergy: More Fracking Problems: Surface Blowouts at Gas Wells Likely to Increase
- 2011/05/05: ProPublica: PA Oil and Gas Inspectors Free to Issue Violations Without Approval from Top, Enviro Chief Says
- 2011/05/04: ClimateP: Maryland to sue Chesapeake Energy for PA fracking blowout
On the coal front:
- 2011/05/07: TreeHugger: State Line Power Station, A Dirty and Dangerous Relic, Will Soon Shut Down [coal]
- 2011/05/01: OPB: Natural Gas Most Likely To Replace Coal At [Centralia] Big Power Plant
On the gas and oil front:
- 2011/05/05: RRapier: How Much is Oil Worth?
- 05/06: BBerg: Closing oil prices Friday
OIL (US$/bbl)
Nymex Crude Future...97.18
Dated Brent Spot....109.85
WTI Cushing Spot.....97.18 - 2011/05/06: UCSUSA: The Truth about Rising Gasoline Prices
- 2011/05/06: CSM: Oil price drop: Sinks below $96 a barrel
- 2011/05/05: AlterNet: Jacked Up Gas Prices Are Creating a Windfall for Big Oil -- Time to End Their $4 Billion in Subsidies From Taxpayers
- 2011/05/04: OilDrum: Getting Even with ExxonMobil
- 2011/05/03: AutoBG: IEA: Governments need to rethink reliance on oil
- 2011/05/04: CSM: Gas prices reach new record in six states
- 2011/05/03: OilChange: As Gas Prices Remain High, US Becomes Net Exporter of Fuel
- 2011/05/02: BRitholtz: Chart of the Day: National Gasoline Prices [2005-2011]
- 2011/05/02: PeakEnergy: Russia halts petrol exports
In the gas and oil corps:
- 2011/05/03: CBC: Suncor profit rises on higher output -- tarsands output of 322,100 barrels of oil per day in Q12011
- 2011/05/03: TreeHugger: Huge Oil Company Profits Roll In: Up 42% From Last Year
- 2011/05/02: PeakEnergy: Exxon announces record profit
Yes we have peak everything:
- 2011/05/07: AutoBG: European Commision director says remaining oil dependent would be "fatal mistake"
- 2011/05/07: EnergyBulletin: Brussels vs. Barbastro: two peak oil conferences
- 2011/05/02: FuturePundit: Jeremy Grantham: Peak Everything?
- 2011/05/05: NatGeo: The World has Passed Peak Oil, says Top Economist
- 2011/05/05: iStockAnalyst: Alaska's Peak Oil Realities
- 2011/05/04: EnergyBulletin: The peak oil crisis: peak oil elasticity
- 2011/05/04: EurActiv: Act now on peak oil or curtail mobility, says Commission
- 2011/05/02: EnergyBulletin: The context of Hubbert's Peak in world oil forecast
- 2011/05/02: OilDrum: Peak Oil - April 2011 Update
Biofuel bickering abounds:
- 2011/05/06: AutoBG: Dupont looking to corner U.S.' cellulosic ethanol industry with acquisition of Dansico
- 2011/05/04: BPA: Graph Showing Ethanol production with Corn Price
- 2011/05/02: AutoBG: IEA: Biofuels could account for 27% of global transportation fuel by 2050
The answer my friend...:
- 2011/05/08: PeakEnergy: Australian Wind Power - Caught between a flood and a rising sun
- 2011/05/05: EarthTimes: Evolving more efficient wind farms
- 2011/05/05: Oregonian: Northwest wind power to double but inconsistency creates grid nightmare
- 2011/05/05: PlanetArk: Germany Cuts Red Tape For Offshore Windpark Firms
- 2011/05/04: PeakEnergy: Petersen's Wind Power Paradigm Paralysis
- 2011/05/03: PlanetArk: Germany Launches 1st Baltic Sea Offshore Wind Park
- 2011/05/03: EarthTimes: US wind power strategy won't be stymied by warming climate
- 2011/05/03: PeakEnergy: Solar Frontier Opens Largest Thin-film Plant in the World [in Japan]
Meanwhile among the solar aficionados:
- 2011/05/06: Eureka: 'Swiss cheese' design enables thin film silicon solar cells with potential for higher efficiencies
- 2011/05/06: Reuters: China doubles solar power target to 10 GW by 2015 -paper
- 2011/05/06: NBF: China doubles solar power target to 10 GW by 2015 and 50 GW by 2020
- 2011/05/04: NBF: Micron-gap ThermalPhotoVoltaics update
- 2011/05/03: PeakEnergy: [Arizona] Mesquite Solar Plant Build Out Begins Soon
- 2011/05/02: PeakEnergy: Nanosolar 2.0: New Attitude and New Deals for Up to 1 GW of Solar Panels
Feed-In-Tariffs are being variously implemented around the world:
- 2011/05/06: PlanetArk: Italy Approves Decree Capping Solar Incentives
- 2011/05/05: PlanetArk: Italian Ministers Reach Deal On Solar Incentives [no details yet]
The nuclear energy controversy continues:
- 2011/05/03: FuturePundit: Biggest Nuke Utility CEO Says New Nukes Too Costly
- 2011/05/07: NBF: Cameco expects a net gain of 91 nuclear reactors by 2020, ten fewer becuase of Fukushima
- 2011/05/05: NBF: General Fusion raises more money and Jeff Bezos of Amazon.com is one of the investors
- 2011/05/05: PlanetArk: New U.S. Nuclear Reactors Close To Construction-S&P
[...]
Construction of new reactors in the United States has stalled since the Three Mile Island accident in 1979. But two new projects, from Southern Co's Georgia Power unit and SCANA Corp's South Carolina Electric & Gas Co unit, are on track to receive the combined construction permit and operating licenses (COL) from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), possibly before the end of 2011. - 2011/05/05: SpringerSelect: Is nuclear power fair for future generations?
Study presents philosophical discussions on the technological realities of nuclear power production - 2011/04/28: AlterNet: Time to Shut Down California's Nuclear Plants
More people are talking about the electrical grid:
- 2011/05/05: TreeHugger: Wind Farms Paid Not To Produce - A Lesson In Energy Transmission & Storage
- 2011/05/02: Grist: An underwater grid for offshore wind, funded by Google
Automakers & lawyers, engineers & activists argue over the future of the car:
- 2011/05/06: AutoBG: Mitsubishi Heavy to jointly develop, test electric transit bus in Canada
MHI signs aggrement to jointly develop electric transit busMitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI), along with the government of Manitoba, Red River College, Canada Manitoba Hydro, New Flyer Industries and Canada ULC have joined up to develop and test an electric transit bus that will feature "advanced battery and charging technologies." MHI will handle developing the prototype bus' lithium-ion battery packs. - 2011/05/06: PlanetArk: All-Electric Garbage Trucks To Sweep French Streets
- 2011/05/05: AutoBG: World Bank says "new global electric vehicle value chain" worth $250 billion by 2020
- 2011/05/02: AutoBG: Pike says 138 million electric motorcycles, scooters on roads worldwide by 2017
This week in the Gee Whiz File:
- 2011/05/06: 22Passi: Stremmenos: "cold fusion will solve many problems of humanity"
- 2011/05/07: NBF: Greek Scientist Stremmenos discusses the Rossi and Focardi Energy Catalyzer in an interview
- 2011/05/02: NBF: Ny Teknik tested the energy catalyzer
- 2011/05/02: NBF: Rossi and Focardi Energy Catalyzer
As for Energy Storage:
- 2011/05/04: NBF: Nanotune claims its ultracapacitors will deliver what EEstor could not
- 2011/05/03: PSinclair: This is a Battery
- 2011/05/02: NBF: Bill Joy still hopes that EEStor will get Commercialized
The reaction of business to climate change will be critical:
- 2011/05/04: TreeHugger: Warren Buffett Rejects Emissions Goals for Berkshire Hathaway
- 2011/05/03: ClimateP: AP: Warren Buffett "says he doesn't believe greenhouse gases represent a material risk for Berkshire's insurance operations"
Who's fielding the FAQs?
- 2011/05/06: Guardian(UK): The ultimate climate change FAQ: browse by topic
Joe Romm posts a daily list of top energy and climate stories:
- 2011/05/06: ClimateP: May 6 News...
- 2011/05/05: ClimateP: May 5 News...
- 2011/05/04: ClimateP: May 4 news...
- 2011/05/03: ClimateP: May 3 news...
- 2011/05/02: ClimateP: May 2 news...
Other (weekly) lists:
- 2011/05/05: CCentral: This Week in Climate Science: Extreme Cold, Megafauna Extinction, and "Climate Change" or "Global Warming?"
- 2011/05/06: BPA: Tilapia, Cellulose Food Filler, Early Humans Ate Grass, Abundant Rice Production, Rapidly Expanding Human Population and More News
- 2011/05/01: BPA: Agriculture News
The carbon lobby are up to the usual:
- 2011/05/08: HotTopic: [Bob] Carter and [E.G.] Beck: partners in misconduct
- 2011/05/06: ClimateShifts: Australia prepares to swallow Monckton yet again
- 2011/05/05: GreenFyre: High Praise for Greenfyre's from Judith Curry
- 2011/05/04: WottsUWT: Are Gulf Of Mexico Sea Surface Temperature Anomalies Near To Record Levels?
- 2011/05/03: HotTopic: Educating Richard (or not)
- 2011/05/01: Deltoid: Monckton uses a sock puppet
- 2011/05/01: SMandia: Climate Science Rapid Response Team Asks Monckton for Help
As for climate miscellanea:
- 2011/05/06: HotTopic: Supporting Jim: Saunders, Oram and Salinger on tour
- 2011/05/05: Guardian(UK): The green problem: how do we fight without losing what we're fighting for? [Monbiot]
- 2011/05/05: ClimateSight: What Can One Person Do?
- 2011/05/05: ClimateP: Defending the atmosphere, part 2 [Becker]
- 2011/05/04: ClimateP: Defending the atmosphere, part 1 [Becker]
- 2011/05/04: BVerheggen: Sense of urgency is needed to get political action on climate change
- 2011/05/02: Grist: Students successfully rally to juxtapose Exxon arch-nemesis [Heinberg] with Exxon CEO [Tillerson] as commencement speaker
- 2011/05/01: MTobis: Lost in the Ozone Again
- 2011/05/01: QuarkSoup: 50 Feet of Snow
- 2011/05/01: EnergyBulletin: The ghost of ASPO-9: climate change
And here are a couple of sites you may find interesting and/or useful:
- GFW: Global Forest Watch Canada
- Kids vs Global Warming
- Professor Emeritus Al Bartlett - Physics at University of Colorado at Boulder - articles on exponential growth, peak oil and population growth, sustainability, renewable resources and the environment
- Methane Net
- Future Agricultures
- UNFPA: United Nations Population Fund
- GG&G: Greed, Green & Grains
- Wiki: Raman spectroscopy
- AMAP: Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme
- Wiki: 2007-2008 world food price crisis
- Wiki: Food security
- Wiki: Stem rust
- Environment cartoons and comments by Seppo Leinonen
- Climate Indymedia!
- Wiki: History of climate change science
Ho hum. Funny. Yes?
John Cook and friends continue their point-counterpoint articles:
That innocuous CoC data dump has been labelled ChamberGate:
The food crisis is ongoing:
The paper by Lobell et al. got a lot of coverage:
Food Prices are up slightly:
And how are we going to feed 9 billion?
A Tropical Depression in the Western Pacific is threatening the Phillipines. Otherwise it has been quiet:
Aerosols are making their presence felt:
While on the ENSO front:
And the State of the Oceans:
What's new in proxies?
Changes in natural cycles are showing up:
As for heatwaves and wild fires:
Corals are dying:
While in the endless quest for zero energy, sustainable buildings and practical codes:
Large scale geo-engineering keeps popping up:
The issue of the law and activism is playing out around the world:
Note: The BBC pulled one of their infamous URL reuse tricks. Here are the later and the earlier versions of the same URL [uk-13276336]:
What are the activists up to?
As for what is going on in Congress:
Meanwhile in Australia:
The Australian carbon war rages on:
After a 10 year drought and recent massive flooding, water usage planning is controversial and difficult:
Across the Prairies, flooding is the order of the day. The question is: How long will it last?
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(which includes some quotations), An overview of my writing is available here.
<regards>
P.S. Recent postings can be found in the week archive and the ancient postings can be accessed here, which should open to this.
I notice moyhu has set up a monster index to old AWoGWN on AFTIC."Modern agriculture is the use of land to convert petroleum into food." -Professor Albert Bartlett
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