Another Week of GW News, August 28, 2011

Logging the Onset of The Bottleneck Years

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Another week of Global Warming News

Logging the Onset of The Bottleneck Years

August 28, 2011

• Chuckles, Horn of Africa, Hsiang et al., Keystone XL Action, Kirby et al.
• Monnett, East Coast Nukes, Shell, ConocoPhillips, Subsidies, Cook
• Fukushima Note, Fukushima News, Nuclear Policy, Fukushima Talk
• Melting Arctic, Methane, Geopolitics, Antarctica
• Food Crisis, Food Riots, GMOs, Food Production
• Hurricanes, GHGs, Carbon Cycle, Temperatures, Ozone, Paleoclimate
• Solar, Overshoot, Ocean Currents, State of the Oceans, Extinctions, Satellites
• Impacts, Forests, Climate Refugees, Extreme Weather, Tornadoes
• Wildfires, Corals, Sea Levels, Floods & Droughts
• Transportation, Buildings, Geoengineering
• Journals, Other Docs , Misc. Science, Pielke
• International Politics: UN, Carbon Tax, Bank Tax, Energy Race, Rare Earths
• Law & Activism, Activism, Polls, Water Politics & Business, Predictions
• National Politics: America, BP Disaster, 2012, Keystone XL, Marcellus, Mann, Obama, USAdmin, Congress
• Europe, Australia, Carbon War, New Zealand, India, China, Japan, Russia
• Canada, Emissions Plan, CWB, Pipelines, Demo!, Doer, Cohen Commission
• BC, Tar Sands, Alberta, Sask, Ontario, Maritimes, North
• Ecological Economics, IPAT, Apocalypso, Media, Books, Video, Courts
• Energy, Fracking, Coal, Oil & Gas, Pipelines, Biofuel
• Wind, Solar, FITs, Nukes, Nuclear Waste, Nuclear Fusion, Grid, Cars, Energy Storage
• Greenwashing, Joe's List, Carbon Lobby, Miscellaneous Climate, Useful Links
• Autobahn, Shameless Self Promotion, .sig

It's always nice to start with a larf:

1. 2011/08/22: XKCD: (cartoon - xkcd) Depth Perception
2. 2011/08/22: TP:JR: (gfx - Banksy) Street Science Art

   And for those interested in exploring the nether reaches of Poe's Law:

3. 2011/08/25: Wonkette: Jon Huntsman Risks Deportation After Suggesting Rich Pay Taxes
4. 2011/08/24: Wonkette: Rick Perry Vows to End Jim Crow Oppression of Corporations

   The Horn of Africa drought and famine continues to be a major disaster:

5. 2011/08/26: UN: Flow of Somalis fleeing famine starts to ebb - UN
6. 2011/08/25: FAO: Horn of Africa: Funding for agricultural recovery lagging, FAO warns
   Predictable, sustained support for rural economies and livelihoods needed to avoid future crises
7. 2011/08/25: al Jazeera: African Union pledges drought aid
   African Development Bank, alongside African nations and private donors, raise $356m to tackle worsening crisis.
8. 2011/08/25: UN: World must fund famine-wracked Somalia to prevent generation dying, UN warns
9. 2011/08/25: BBC: East Africa drought: African Union holds donor summit
   The African Union is holding a much-delayed summit in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa to pledge funds for the drought crisis in the Horn of Africa. The AU has already pledged $500m (£300m), but the UN says that at least another $2bn is required to help at least 12 million people in need. It is East Africa's worst drought in 60 years - Somalia has been worst hit with some areas suffering from famine. Tens of thousands are believed to have died since the crisis began.
10. 2011/08/24: UN: On eve of Horn of Africa pledging conference, UN calls for generous donations
11. 2011/07/27: NewInt: How foreign policy blunders helped create the famine in Somalia
12. 2011/08/23: UN: As starving Somalis flood into Ethiopia, UN sends in emergency aid team
13. 2011/08/23: al Jazeera: Famine in the Horn of Africa: Malthus beware
    In the Horn of Africa, population growth is not the main cause of famine.

The Hsiang et al. paper on conflict and climate drew a lot of comment:

14. 2011/08/24: Nature: (ab$) Civil conflicts are associated with the global climate by Solomon M. Hsiang et al.
15. 2011/08/25: FuturePundit: El Nino Weather Cycle Boosts Civil War Risks
16. 2011/08/25: GG&G: More on Weather and Civil Conflict
17. 2011/08/27: TreeHugger: Risk of Civil War Increased Dramatically By El Nino
18. 2011/08/25: Guardian(UK): Are food prices approaching a violent tipping point?
    A provocative new study suggests the timing of the Arab uprisings is linked to global food price spikes, and that prices will soon permanently be above the level which sparks conflicts
19. 2011/08/24: SciNews: El Niños may inflame civil unrest -- Climate pattern correlates with increased risk of conflict
20. 2011/08/25: TMoS: Climate Wars, 60-years Running and Only Just Getting Started
21. 2011/08/25: BBC: Warm, wet - and warring?
    Does a changing climate mean an increase in conflict and civil unrest around the world?
22. 2011/08/24: CBC: Climate cycles blamed for driving civil conflicts
    El Nino, a phenomenon that leads to droughts and hot weather some years, doubles the risk of civil war in 90 tropical countries, a new study suggests. In fact, El Nino may help account for a fifth of conflicts worldwide during the past 50 years, said the study published online Wednesday in the journal Nature.
23. 2011/08/24: Guardian(UK): Climate cycles linked to civil war, analysis shows
24. 2011/08/24: NatureN: Climate cycles drive civil war -- Tropical conflicts double during El Niño years
25. 2011/08/24: SciNow: El Niño Events May Tip Nations to War
26. 2011/08/24: Eureka: Climate cycles are driving wars, says study -- When El Nino warmth hits, tropical conflicts double
27. 2011/08/10: NECSI: The Food Crises and Political Instability in North Africa and the Middle East
28. 2011/08/23: TreeHugger: Researchers Identify Food Price Tipping Point Linked To Rioting

    The Keystone XL civil disobedience actions in Washington DC are getting a lot of attention. See also:

29. 2011/08/26: NYT:CW: Hansen Says Obama Will Be 'Greenwashing' About Climate Change if He Approves Keystone XL Pipeline
30. 2011/08/26: CCP: Dr. James Hansen Says Obama Will Be 'Greenwashing' About Climate Change if He Approves Keystone XL Pipeline
31. 2011/08/25: Grist: Visually arresting: Live from the tar-sands protests [slideshow]
32. 2011/08/26: 350orBust: Pipeline Protestors to Obama: This Is Our Environmental Impact Statement
33. 2011/08/26: HotTopic: The Power of Non-violent Civil Disobedience
34. 2011/08/24: CDreams: Keystone XL Pipeline Obama's 'Biggest Climate Test,' Green Groups Say
35. 2011/08/25: TP:JR: Dozens More Arrested in Tar Sands Pipeline Protests: Gulf Coast Residents Speak Out
36. 2011/08/25: PlanetArk: U.S. Green Groups Write Obama To Oppose [Keystone XL] Pipeline
37. 2011/08/24: TD: Bill McKibben, Jailed Over Big Oil's Attempt to Wreck the Planet
38. 2011/08/25: WiC: Bill McKibben: Jailed over big oil's attempt to wreck the planet
39. 2011/08/24: CCP: Bill McKibben talks about the tar sands and the D.C. Keystone XL White House protests on Countdown with Keith Olbermann. John Chandley writes of the arrests and jail conditions [vid]
40. 2011/08/24: TP:JR: Tar Sands Pipeline Protests Finally Get Noticed by Major Media as 220 Keystone XL Protesters Are Arrested
41. 2011/08/24: TP:JR: Jailhouse Rock: Activists Score Victory Over Police in Tar Sands Pipeline Fight -- The Inside Scoop
42. 2011/08/24: Grist: Here's the video that will convince you to go to the tar-sands protests
43. 2011/08/24: Grist: Taking the suits to the street and protesting Keystone XL
44. 2011/08/24: CSW: Keystone XL tar sands pipeline White House sit-in, Day 3
45. 2011/08/24: TreeHugger: Nation's Largest Environmental Organization Leaders Unite Opposing Keystone XL Pipeline
46. 2011/08/24: TreeHugger: Canadian Activist Arrested at White House Protest Tells Her Story
47. 2011/08/23: CCurrents: To Save Planet Stop Canada-US Keystone XL Pipeline [Polya]
48. 2011/08/24: TSA: Nation's Largest Environmental Organizations Stand Together To Oppose Oil Pipeline
49. 2011/08/24: Rabble: Opposition to Keystone XL pipeline grows
50. 2011/08/22: DVoice: It's Really Step It Up Time on the Tar Sands
51. 2011/08/24: CBC: Margot Kidder arrested at White House oil protest -- Friend and fellow actor Tantoo Cardinal also taken into custody
52. 2011/08/23: DemNow: Over 160 Arrested in Ongoing Civil Disobedience Against Keystone XL Tar Sands Oil Pipeline
53. 2011/08/23: CCP: Mike Tidwell & Cindy Parker: Going to jail for the environment President. Obama can choose between a clean energy future and dirty tar sands oil
54. 2011/08/22: Grist: Daryl Hannah joins tar-sands protest
55. 2011/08/23: Grist: Pants low, spirits high: McKibben on the ongoing tar-sands protest [video]
56. 2011/08/22: Grist: Why I'm marching against the tar-sands pipeline by Joe Uehlein
57. 2011/08/23: Guardian(UK): What tar sands and the Keystone XL pipeline mean for climate change
    Environmentalist Bill McKibben was among 100 people arrested at the weekend for protesting against the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline. But why are climate campaigners so concerned?
58. 2011/08/23: DeSmogBlog: Photo Essay on Canada's Filthy Tar Sands - This Is Why Keystone XL Must Be Stopped
59. 2011/08/23: DD: More tarsands arrests from censored news...
60. 2011/08/22: AlterNet: Arrests Made and Thousands More Expected in DC as Protests Grow to Block Tar Sands Pipeline
61. 2011/08/22: CCP: Video of tar sands Keystone XL pipeline protest and arrests at the White House, August 2011
62. 2011/08/21: Care2: Dozens Arrested in Pipeline Protest
63. 2011/08/21: HuffPo: Interview: James Hansen on the Tar Sands Pipeline Protest, the Obama Administration and Intergenerational Justice
64. 2011/08/22: DeSmogBlog: Over One Hundred Arrested Protesting Keystone XL Tar Sands Pipeline At White House
65. 2011/08/22: PlanetArk: Greens See Red Over Oil Sands Pipeline
66. 2011/08/22: PlanetArk: Police Arrest Dozens Protesting Oil Pipeline At White House
67. 2011/08/22: Grist: The New York Times thinks the tar-sands pipeline sucks. Here's why.
68. 2011/08/22: Grist: 'I'm scared out of my mind' -- but still getting arrested to stop the tar-sands pipeline [video]
69. 2011/08/21: CSW: Keystone XL pipeline decision a clear test of Obama's character and commitment on climate change
70. 2011/08/21: NYT: Tar Sands and the Carbon Numbers
    This page opposes the building of a 1,700-mile pipeline called the Keystone XL, which would carry diluted bitumen -- an acidic crude oil -- from Canada's Alberta tar sands to the Texas Gulf Coast. We have two main concerns: the risk of oil spills along the pipeline, which would traverse highly sensitive terrain, and the fact that the extraction of petroleum from the tar sands creates far more greenhouse emissions than conventional production does. The Canadian government insists that it has found ways to reduce those emissions. But a new report from Canada's environmental ministry shows how great the impact of the tar sands will be in the coming years, even with cleaner production methods.
71. 2011/08/22: TreeHugger: Keystone XL Pipeline "Voluntary" Safety Measures Actually Minimum Required By Law
72. 2011/08/22: TreeHugger: New York Times Editorial Comes Out Against Keystone XL Pipeline
73. 2011/08/22: PostMedia: Canadian woman arrested in Washington pipeline protest -- Activists oppose Keystone project
    Patricia Warwick stood in the back row of protesters, her eyes just peeking out above the giant "No Tar Sands" sign she was holding in front of the White House. But there was no hiding from the inevitable Sunday for the 68-year-old Torontonian. Within 20 minutes of ignoring a police order to leave the White House sidewalk, a black-clad SWAT team officer pointed at Warwick, asked her to step forward, then secured a set of plastic handcuffs on the retiree's wrists. On the second day of a planned two-week White House "sit-in" to protest the Keystone XL pipeline, Warwick became the first Canadian activist to be arrested and put behind bars.
74. 2011/08/22: HotTopic: Arrests and jailings begin
75. 2011/08/21: CBC: Pipeline protest arrests resume near White House

    The Kirby et al. paper kicked off a round of controversy:

76. 2011/08/26: QuarkSoup: Clouds, Conspiracies, and Cosmic Rays
77. 2011/08/25: ERW: Probing the cosmic-ray - climate link
78. 2011/08/25: SciAm: Cloud Formation May Be Linked to Cosmic Rays -- Experiment probes connection between climate change and radiation bombarding the atmosphere
79. 2011/08/25: TWTB: ConCERN Trolling on Cosmic Rays, Clouds, and Climate Change
80. 2011/08/25: SymmetryMag: Cloud-formation study at CERN to influence climate models
81. 2011/08/24: BBC: Cloud simulator tests climate models
    Results from an experiment built to study how clouds form suggests that our knowledge of this subject may need to be revised, Nature journal reports. Tiny particles (aerosols) form the basis of the "seeds" from which clouds grow. These seeds form when sulphuric acid and ammonia molecules cluster together - and cosmic rays may help this happen. But these ingredients create only a tiny fraction of the cloud seeds formed in the atmosphere.
82. 2011/08/24: Guardian(UK): Cloud formation study casts a shadow over certain climate models
83. 2011/08/24: RealClimate: The CERN/CLOUD results are surprisingly interesting...
84. 2011/08/24: NatureN: Cloud formation may be linked to cosmic rays
    Experiment probes connection between climate change and radiation bombarding the atmosphere.

The Charles Monnett story is getting weird:

85. 2011/08/27: STW: Yes, There is a Pattern
    It's beginning to add up. After some period of uncertainty, the picture that emerges is beginning to fit into the neo-McCarthyite pattern of attack on scientists that has become all too common in the United States. It's been nearly two months since a scientist working for the "U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Enforcement and Regulation" (BOEMRE), Dr Charles Monnett, was placed on administrative leave after an ongoing investigation. An investigation of what? Well, no one quite knows, least of all Dr Monnett, who was kept in the dark about the nature and source of the allegations against him.
86. 2011/08/25: AlaskaDispatch: Polar bear biologist's suspension comes to an end
87. 2011/08/27: CCP: Dr. Richard Prentki of BOEMRE Alaska OCS Region requests new COR training due to Dr. Charles Monnett being removed from his normal job
88. 2011/08/27: CCP: Australian scientists write to President Obama in defense of Dr. Charles Monnett
89. 2011/08/27: CCP: 'Polarbeargate' Scientist To Head Back To Work
90. 2011/08/26: NatureNB: Polar bear researcher is back at work, but still under investigation
91. 2011/08/26: PEER: Suspension of Arctic Scientist Suddenly Lifted -- Agency Reversal Comes as It Falls Under Investigation for Scientific Misconduct
    A top federal Arctic scientist is returning to work today after six weeks on administrative leave without any charges being leveled against him, according to Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). Meanwhile, the agency which suspended the scientist is itself under investigation for mishandling the matter.
92. 2011/08/26: ERabett: Boomerang -- The Rat brings word: PEER sums up BOEMRE gate
93. 2011/08/25: ERabett: For This Eli Pays Taxes
94. 2011/08/22: ERabett: Soon to Be Audited
95. 2011/08/21: ERabett: Inspector Clouseau and the Pink Polar Bear

    The earthquake followed by Hurricane Irene on the US East Coast have nuke watchers on edge:

96. 2011/08/28: EneNews: 'Unusual Event' at Maryland nuke plant: Large piece from building hits main transformer, triggers reactor shutdown - Emergency response plan in use (VIDEO)
97. 2011/08/25: GreenGrok: All Shook Up on the East Coast -- What does the quake mean for nukes?
98. 2011/08/27: ANSNC: Hurricane Irene Watch
99. 2011/08/26: ANSNC: Hurricane Irene Watch
100. 2011/08/26: PlanetArk: [US] Nuclear Regulator Wants New Earthquake Reviews
101. 2011/08/25: PlanetArk: U.S. Inspecting Virginia Nuclear Reactor After Quake
102. 2011/08/25: EneNews: "Emergency Declared": Aftershock causes quake-hit Virginia nuke plant to report Unusual Event
103. 2011/08/24: AlterNet: East Coast Earthquake Reveals Major Flaws in Planning for Nuclear Disaster
104. 2011/08/23: RawStory: Quake sensors removed around Virginia nuke plant due to budget cuts
     A nuclear power plant that was shut down after an earthquake struck central Virginia Tuesday had seismographs removed in 1990s due to budget cuts. U.S. nuclear officials said that the North Anna Power Station, which has two nuclear reactors, had lost offsite power and was using diesel generators to maintain cooling operations after an 5.9 earthquake hit the region. The North Anna plant, which was near the epicenter of Tuesday's quake, is reportedly located on a fault line. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission rates the plant as the seventh most likely to receive core damage from a quake. But they say the chances of that are only 1 in 22,727.
105. 2011/08/24: EneNews: Experts concerned about North Anna: "Uncomfortably close" to maximum quake that nuke plant was designed to withstand
106. 2011/08/24: APR: US Nuclear Plant SITREP

     Regarding Shell and the North Sea oil leak:

107. 2011/08/22: PlanetArk: Shell Closes Valve At North Sea Oil Leak
108. 2011/08/22: BBC: Shell defends safety after North Sea oil leak
     Shell has said safety is its "foremost priority" after calls for North Sea activities to be restricted in the wake of the oil leak.

Regarding ConocoPhillips and the Yellow Sea oil leak:

109. 2011/08/25: PlanetArk: ConocoPhillips Says Evaluating China Spill Impact
110. 2011/08/25: Xinhuanet: Chinese maritime authority prepared to sue ConocoPhillips over oil spills

     Who's getting the subsidies?

111. 2011/08/24: AutoBG: IISD calls for countries to phase out all fossil fuel subsidies

     John Cook and friends continue their point-counterpoint articles:

112. 2011/08/28: SkeptiSci: Climate Sensitivity: Feedbacks Anyone? by James Wight
113. 2011/08/27: SkeptiSci: Climate Ethics: What Can Science Tell Us? by grypo
114. 2011/08/26: SkeptiSci: ConCERN Trolling on Cosmic Rays, Clouds, and Climate Change by thingsbreak
115. 2011/08/25: SkeptiSci: Lessons from Past Climate Predictions: IPCC FAR by dana1981
116. 2011/08/25: SkeptiSci: OA not OK part 19: SUMMARY 1/2 by Doug Mackie
117. 2011/08/25: SkeptiSci: OA not OK part 19: SUMMARY 2/2 by Doug Mackie
118. 2011/08/24: SkeptiSci: Republican Presidential Candidates vs. Climate Science by dana1981
119. 2011/08/23: SkeptiSci: Tar Sands Impact on Climate Change by dana1981
120. 2011/08/22: SkeptiSci: GHG emission mitigation solutions - a challenge for the Right? by scaddenp

     A note on the Fukushima disaster:

     It is evident that the Fukushima disaster is going to persist for some time. TEPCO says 6 to 9 months. Now the Japanese Prime Minister, Naoto Kan, says decades. We'll see. At any rate this situation is not going to be resolved any time soon and deserves its own section.

     Not much good news coming out of Fukushima:

121. 2011/08/25: ERW: Fukushima radiation spread as far as Romania
     Radiation from the Fukushima nuclear accident, which took place in Japan earlier this year, spread to most parts of the northern hemisphere, a new study shows. Rainwater and milk samples in Romania, a distance of over 10,000 km from Japan, contained traces of radioactive iodine in the days following the accident.
122. 2011/08/27: EneNews: Cesium-134 nearly doubles in Fukushima Spent Fuel Pool No. 1 over past two months -- Now at 23,000 bq/cm³
123. 2011/08/28: EneNews: 220 Million Bq/liter of Cesium now in No. 2 Spent Fuel Pool - SFP No. 1, 2, & 3 "clearly have significant spent fuel damage" (VIDEO)
124. 2011/08/24: CBC: Japan nuclear operator knew plant not ready
     Japan's nuclear regulator said Wednesday that the operator of a crippled nuclear plant knew it might be hit by a far bigger tsunami than it was designed to withstand. The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said the operator informed it just four days before Japan's massive March 11 earthquake and tsunami that waves exceeding 10 metres could hit the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant. The plant was only designed to withstand a tsunami about half that height.
125. 2011/08/22: CCurrents: Why Fukushima Can Happen Here: What The NRC And Nuclear Industry Dont Want You To Know
126. 2011/08/24: EneNews: Bloomberg: 'Hot Spots' Spreading -- Gov't to check radiation up to 460 km from meltdowns
127. 2011/08/23: APR: TEPCO to modifiy cooling at No. 3 reactor
128. 2011/08/23: Spectrum: Fukushima Robot Operator Writes Tell-All Blog
129. 2011/08/22: FDL: Large Zone Around Fukushima "Uninhabitable"
130. 2011/08/23: CCP: Arne Gundersen: New Data Supports Previous Fairewinds Analysis, as Contamination from Fukushima Spreads in Japan and Worldwide [vid]
131. 2011/08/23: CCP: Fukushima: Researcher too frightened to get closer than 100 km from meltdowns after seeing radiation levels -- "I've been quite shocked by the amount" (video)
132. 2011/08/23: CCP: More terrible news from Fukushima -- radiation levels very high and increasing, radiation coming to the U.S. continuously and is increasing...
133. 2011/08/23: PlanetArk: Insight: Japan Struggles To Rebuild, Leaving Lives In Limbo
134. 2011/08/23: TreeHugger: Residents Near Fukushima Power Plant May Not Be Able To Go Home For Decades
135. 2011/08/23: PeakEnergy: Broad areas around the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant could soon be declared uninhabitable
136. 2011/08/22: ABC(Au): Fukushima zone likely off-limits for 'decades'
137. 2011/08/22: NatureNB: Does Japan's new Fukushima exclusion zone add up?
138. 2011/08/21: NYT: Large Zone Near Japanese Reactors to Be Off Limits
     Broad areas around the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant could soon be declared uninhabitable, perhaps for decades, after a government survey found radioactive contamination that far exceeded safe levels, several major media outlets said Monday. The formal announcement, expected from the government in coming days, would be the first official recognition that the March accident could force the long-term depopulation of communities near the plant, an eventuality that scientists and some officials have been warning about for months. Lawmakers said over the weekend -- and major newspapers reported Monday -- that Prime Minister Naoto Kan was planning to visit Fukushima Prefecture, where the plant is, as early as Saturday to break the news directly to residents. The affected communities are all within 12 miles of the plant, an area that was evacuated immediately after the accident.

Post Fukushima, nuclear policies are in flux around the world:

139. 2011/08/24: OpenDem: Post-Fukushima Japanese energy policy
     Post-Fukushima Japan, realising that nuclear power is too costly and dangerous for a country exposed to natural events such as earthquakes, has opened up a debate. A new energy policy should be sustainable, and rely more on renewable energies.

And of course, the pundits. lobbyists and politicians have a lot to say:

140. 2011/08/26: Stoat: Comparing radiation doses
141. 2011/08/25: CDreams: The End of the Nuclear Era? Not So Fast ...
142. 2011/08/25: Stoat: More stupidity about Fukushima

     The Arctic melt continues to garner a lot of attention:

143. 2011/08/26: ASI: Area graphs: 3 million km2 mark passed
144. 2011/08/27: ASI: Oh, and BTW, the Passages are open
145. 2011/08/26: PostMedia: Ice retreat worries climate-change scientists
146. 2011/08/27: Independent(UK): Rowers reach 'impossible' North Pole, thanks to global warming
147. 2011/08/28: ASI: IJIS SIE: 5 million km2 mark passed
148. 2011/08/27: ASI: SIE 2011 update 18: ten yard line
149. 2011/08/26: BBC: Mark Beaumont completes Arctic pole row
     A rowing expedition has reached the 1996 location of the magnetic North Pole in a bid to highlight the effect of climate change in the region. Dumfries-born adventurer Jock Wishart led the crew on its 500-mile journey across the Arctic. Also taking part in the polar challenge was round-the-world cyclist Mark Beaumont. Packed ice caused the team problems in the final part of the row making the last few miles "a struggle". The group set off on its journey from Resolute Bay in the Canadian Arctic on 29 July.
150. 2011/08/25: PSinclair: Graphs of the Day: Arctic Sea Ice and Volume
151. 2011/08/25: ITracker: Arctic sea ice plunge: still making a run at 2007
152. 2011/08/23: ASI: Flash melting?
153. 2011/08/22: AWI: Research Vessel Polarstern at North Pole

     That Damoclean sword still hangs overhead:

154. 2011/08/25: CCP: Thawing Arctic Permafrost Likely to Release Large Amounts of Carbon
155. 2011/08/22: LBL: Thawing Permafrost Could Release Vast Amounts of Carbon and Accelerate Climate Change by the end of this Century

     As for the geopolitics of Arctic resources:

156. 2011/08/25: BBC: Arctic sea routes open as ice melts
     Two major Arctic shipping routes have opened as summer sea ice melts, European satellites have found. Data recorded by the European Space Agency's (Esa) Envisat shows both Canada's Northwest Passage and Russia's Northern Sea Route open simultaneously. This summer's melt could break the 2007 record for the smallest area of sea ice since the satellite era began in 1979.
157. 2011/08/24: TP:JR: Investigation Finds Shell Has Dreadful Safety Record in North Sea. Now It Wants to Drill in Arctic
158. 2011/08/23: PlanetArk: Denmark Says Preparing North Pole Claim
159. 2011/08/23: TreeHugger: Denmark Preparing to Claim North Pole

     While in Antarctica:

160. 2011/08/22: ERW: Map shows giant fjords beneath East Antarctic Ice Sheet
161. 2011/08/25: ScienceInsider: NSF Leases Russian Icebreaker for Antarctic Resupply
162. 2011/08/18: NASA: NASA Research Leads to First Complete Map of Antarctic Ice Flow

     The food crisis is ongoing:

163. 2011/08/26: CBC: Prices, volumes may offset bad weather, Wheat Board says
     Bad weather reduced how much seed Prairie wheat farmers planted this year, but higher production and strong prices are positives, the Canadian Wheat Board said Friday in its 2011 outlook. The wet spring led farmers to leave more than 2.4 million hectares unplanted, and the 8.2 million hectares that were planted are 687,000 hectares below average. But "the situation is much better than we feared in the spring," said president and CEO Ian White. "Production will be up significantly from last year," when it totalled 28 million tonnes, and prices are strong. Worldwide wheat production is heading for the third highest level ever, but a shortage of corn in the United States has put a floor under all grain prices, he said. The board's preliminary export target is 18 million tonnes, up from 15.8 million in 2010.
164. 2011/08/28: TP:JR: The Newest Red List Species: Commercial Fishermen
165. 2011/08/28: al Jazeera: Journalism and the politics of hunger
     The struggle against starvation, violence and disease is also the struggle to understand and describe the world.
166. 2011/08/22: Yahoo:Reuters: USA becomes Food Stamp Nation but is it sustainable?
167. 2011/08/24: UN: Funding shortage forces UN agency to trim food rations for Congolese refugees
168. 2011/08/24: ProMedMail: Wheat stem rust, Ug99 group - Zimbabwe, Mozambique: new races
169. 2011/08/21: Guardian(UK): Vietnam's rice bowl threatened by rising seas

     Regarding the food factor in the ongoing revolutions. See also:

170. FAO: World Food Situation - Food Price Indices
171. 2011/08/23: GG&G: Food Prices and Riots

     Regarding the genetic modification of food:

172. 2011/08/26: DVoice: Monsanto GM Corn in Peril: Beetle Develops Bt-resistance
173. 2011/08/24: CrossCut: Farmers to Monsanto: Save our seeds
     Eastern Washington farmers are increasingly worried about agricultural invasion from Monsanto's unwanted genetically modified and patent-protected seeds, which can threaten a farm's organic status and land them in court. Now a national coalition of independent farmers is fighting back.
174. 2011/08/22: CCurrents: Monsanto And The Mortal Danger To Traditional Agriculture

     And how are we going to feed 9 billion?

175. 2011/08/22: UNEP: Investing in Ecosystem Services Vital to Improving Food Security, says UN
176. 2011/08/23: FAO: Water is key to food security -- Q&A with FAO Assistant Director-General for Natural Resources, Alexander Mueller
177. 2011/08/25: BPA: Nearly Half of U.S. Nitrogen Fertilizer is Coming from Foreign Suppliers
178. 2011/08/26: BPA: Energy and Transportation Equal 13% of the 2008 Food-at-Home Dollar
179. 2011/08/24: TreeHugger: Four Amazing Green Greenhouses Built 40 Years Ago By Michael Jantzen
180. 2011/08/22: BPA: How Higher Energy Prices Will Affect U.S. Agricultural Production
181. 2011/08/23: BPA: The After-Effects of Agricultural Deregulation in New Zealand
182. 2011/08/17: DTU:Risoe: Summer Drought limits the positive effects of CO2 and heat on plant growth in future climate
183. 2011/08/23: Eureka: Comparing soybean production methods
184. 2011/08/23: TaG: Organic Fertilizers Cost Effective and Better for Crops
185. 2011/08/22: USDA:ARS: Breeding Ozone-Tolerant Crops
186. 2011/08/21: EnergyBulletin: The New Green Revolution: how twenty-first-century science can feed the world

     Nanmadol zapped the Philipines on its way to Taiwan and Talas is headed towards Japan next week:

187. 2011/08/27: CNN: Typhoon [Nanmadol] triggers landslide, killing 2 children in the Philippines
188. 2011/08/28: CNN: Typhoon reaches Taiwan after killing 7 in Philippines
     Nanmadol affects more than 100,000 people in 11 Philippines provinces, authorities say - Two children are killed in a landslide, and five other people die in separate incidents - The storm is projected to pound Taiwan before heading towards mainland China
189. 2011/08/28: al Jazeera: Typhoon Nanmadol moves towards Taiwan
     Storm which killed eight in the Philippines set to hit island, bringing heavy rains and risk of deadly mudslides.

And Irene raised a ruckus along the US East Coast:

190. 2011/08/28: CNN: Flooding begins as Tropical Storm Irene lashes toward New York City
     Irene is a tropical storm with maxium sustained winds of 65 mph - The East River break its banks - Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore and New Jersey suspended transit service - At least 10 have died in three states due to the storm
191. 2011/08/27: Grist: Climate change has made New Yorkers more vulnerable to Irene
192. 2011/08/28: SciAm:PI: Hurricane Irene is a reminder that adapting to climate change is smart policy, regardless of the climate change part
193. 2011/08/27: SciAm:CC: Is It Wrong to Link Hurricane Irene to Global Warming?
194. 2011/08/27: MTobis: A concern
195. 2011/08/28: Reuters: Irene cuts power, oil operations along US East Coast
196. 2011/08/28: Wunderground: Irene sends 4.5 foot storm surge up Chesapeake Bay
197. 2011/08/28: CBC: Hurricane Irene knocks out power to millions
198. 2011/08/28: BBC: Hurricane Irene pummels New York amid fears of flooding
     Ferocious winds from Hurricane Irene have begun to hammer New York, bringing torrential rain and the threat of flooding in the financial district. New York City's public transport system has been closed and the mayor said it was now too late for people to leave. Irene has already hit North Carolina and Virginia, causing damage and the deaths of at least eight people.
199. 2011/08/28: al Jazeera: New York braces for Irene's impact
     City shuts down as hurricane continues to wreak devastation along US east coast, killing at least eight people.
200. 2011/08/27: BBC: Hurricane Irene
201. 2011/08/27: CBC: Canada braces for Irene's arrival -- Weather system expected to land in Quebec, Maritimes Sunday
202. 2011/08/27: Guardian(UK): New Yorkers brace themselves as hurricane Irene hits US coast
203. 2011/08/27: Guardian(UK): Hurricane Irene: New Yorkers panic buying as reality sets in
204. 2011/08/27: Guardian(UK): US east coast prepares for hurricane Irene
205. 2011/08/27: Guardian(UK): Hurricane Irene heads for New York - live updates
206. 2011/08/27: Guardian(UK): Hurricane Irene: live updates
207. 2011/08/26: Wunderground: Irene continues to weaken
208. 2011/08/26: CNN: Hurricane warnings for New York, New England; N. Carolina braces
     Hurricane warning issued for New York, parts of New England - Airlines are canceling more flights - The first rain bands hit the South and North Carolina coasts - "There is a very dangerous storm headed in our direction," Bloomberg says
209. 2011/08/27: Wunderground: Irene hits North Carolina
210. 2011/08/26: CNN: Irene targets heavily populated -- and least prepared -- urban centers
     A hurricane warning is in effect for New York and nearby locales - Mandatory evacuations are ordered in parts of the city and Long Island - One expert says New York is out of practice with hurricanes - Millions of people could be trapped in their homes without power or transportation
211. 2011/08/26: USGS: Stormproofing Water Data from Hurricane Irene -- Hurricane Takes Aim at Critical Communications Facility near Virginia Beac
212. 2011/08/26: USGS: USGS Installs Sensors along Atlantic prior to Hurricane Irene's Arrival
213. 2011/08/26: USGS: Extensive Erosion Likely along North Carolina Beaches during Irene
214. 2011/08/27: Wunderground: Hurricane Irene Weakens on its Approach to North Carolina
215. 2011/08/26: Eureka: Notre Dame researcher studying Hurricane Irene's storm surge
216. 2011/08/26: WMO: Hurricane Irene
217. 2011/08/27: CBC: Hurricane Irene makes landfall -- Batters North Carolina coast
218. 2011/08/27: BBC: Hurricane Irene makes US landfall as millions flee
219. 2011/08/27: al Jazeera: Weakened hurricane lashes US East Coast
     Irene weakens to Category One Storm, the lowest grading, as it makes landfall in North Carolina with winds and rain.
220. 2011/08/26: APOD: Hurricane Irene Forms [video]
221. 2011/08/25: NOAANews: NOAA provides easy access to historical hurricane tracks -- Understanding historical hurricane landfalls important in preparing for current storms
222. 2011/08/26: SciAm:Obs: Interactive Map of Flood Risks and Hurricane Evacuation Zones Wakes Up NYC Residents
223. 2011/08/26: Wunderground: Irene's eyewall collapses; further intensification unlikely
224. 2011/08/26: Wunderground: Category 3 Irene Approaches The Carolina Coastline
225. 2011/08/25: CSM: Storm tracker: some useful tech tips to track hurricane Irene
226. 2011/08/25: APR: Hurricane Irene approaching Eastern U.S.
227. 2011/08/26: BBC: Hurricane Irene: Obama warns of 'historic' storm
228. 2011/08/26: CBC: Obama warns Hurricane Irene areas to 'prepare for the worst' -- North Carolina, New York residents prepare for 'historic' storm downgraded to Category 2
229. 2011/08/26: CBC: Maritimes on watch for Hurricane Irene
230. 2011/08/26: al Jazeera: US East Coast braces for Hurricane Irene
     Authorities from North Carolina to New York declare states of emergency as powerful Irene heads toward the US mainland.
231. 2011/08/25: Wunderground: Irene slightly weaker, but still very dangerous
232. 2011/08/25: TP:JR: Gov. Christie on Hurricane Irene: "From a Flooding Perspective, This Could Be a 100-Year Event."
233. 2011/08/24: BBerg: Irene Aims at U.S. States Suffering Budget Cuts for Emergencies
234. 2011/08/25: BBC: In pictures: Hurricane Irene
235. 2011/08/25: UN: Hurricane Irene killed two in Haiti and flooded farmland, UN reports
236. 2011/08/25: Wunderground: Irene an extremely dangerous storm surge threat to the mid-Atlantic and New England
237. 2011/08/25: Wunderground: Hurricane Irene Prepares to Leave the Bahamas and Head for the US
238. 2011/08/24: Wunderground: Category 3 Hurricane Irene tracks northwest through the Bahamas
239. 2011/08/25: Eureka: NASA satellites Hurricane Irene almost one-third the size of US east coast
240. 2011/08/25: CSM: What would happen if hurricane Irene hit New York City?
241. 2011/08/25: BBC: Hurricane Irene churns towards US
     Authorities on the east coast of the US, from North Carolina to New York City, are preparing for the arrival of Hurricane Irene this weekend.
242. 2011/08/25: CBC: Hurricane Irene fears force thousands in U.S. to flee
243. 2011/08/25: al Jazeera: Hurricane Irene pummels the Bahamas
     The category-three storm has already caused extensive damage to the Dominican Republic and will hit the US by Sunday.
244. 2011/08/24: CNN: 'Huge' Hurricane Irene strikes Bahamas, aims for U.S.
     Storm forces changes in cruise ship itineraries, including the Carnival Sensation - Hurricane Irene maintains strength, could be Category 4 storm on Thursday - Powerful winds lash the low-lying islands of the Bahamas - Some Outer Banks residents were planning "hurricane parties," a CNN iReporter say
245. 2011/08/24: UN: Haiti escapes serious damage from Hurricane Irene, UN reports
246. 2011/08/24: Wunderground: Powerful Category 3 Irene enters the Bahamas
247. 2011/08/24: Wunderground: Hurricane Irene Approaches the Bahamas
248. 2011/08/24: Eureka: Irene becomes a major hurricane on GOES-13 Satellite video
249. 2011/08/23: Eureka: TRMM gets a look at Irene, the first hurricane of the Atlantic season
250. 2011/08/24: CSM: Hurricane Irene strengthens, targets North Carolina, New England
251. 2011/08/24: CSM: Hurricane Irene: Why Aug. 20 is an important date for hurricane watchers
252. 2011/08/24: CBC: Hurricane Irene monster storm threatens U.S.
     Canada's East Coast may also feel Irene's wrath as it makes landfall as early as this weekend Evacuations began on a tiny barrier island off North Carolina as Hurricane Irene strengthened to a major Category 3 storm over the Bahamas on Wednesday with the U.S. East Coast in its sights, in a storm also expected to hit parts of Canada. Irene's maximum sustained winds increased to near 185 km/h with additional strengthening forecast, the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said.
253. 2011/08/24: al Jazeera: US east coast on hurricane alert
     Irene strengthens to category two after pummelling Caribbean islands, with major cities possibly set to feel its impact.
254. 2011/08/23: BBC: Hurricane Irene has weakened to a category 1 storm, but US meteorologists warn it could regain strength and hit the US east coast over the weekend
255. 2011/08/23: CNN: FEMA: Entire East Coast should prepare for Hurricane Irene
     Two North Carolina counties declare state of emergency - Irene is heading to the Turks and Caicos next - The first Atlantic hurricane of 2011 is forecast to become a monster storm - Irene is projected to hit the Carolina coast by the weekend
256. 2011/08/23: CChallenge: Hurricane Irene, Dr. Landsea. . . while the beat goes on. . .
257. 2011/08/23: Wunderground: Irene pounds the Dominican Republic, heads for the Bahamas
258. 2011/08/23: Wunderground: Category 2 Irene Approaches The Bahamas
259. 2011/08/22: Wunderground: Hurricane Irene continues to become better organized, takes aim at Bahamas
260. 2011/08/22: Eureka: NASA sees heavy rain in Hurricane Irene, satellite video watches her growth
261. 2011/08/22: CSM: Hurricane tracking: Apps for keeping an eye on hurricane Irene
262. 2011/08/23: CSM: Hurricane Irene video by NASA astronaut
263. 2011/08/23: CBC: Hurricane Irene threatens U.S. after hitting Caribbean -- Florida could begin feeling some effects from the storm Wednesday
264. 2011/08/23: al Jazeera: Irene continues on its destructive path
     Turks and Caicos Islands as well as the Bahamas prepare for first hurricane of the season.
265. 2011/08/22: BBC: [Cat 2] Hurricane Irene gains strength near Dominican Republic
266. 2011/08/22: CNN: Irene gets stronger, aims for Dominican Republic
     The first Atlantic hurricane of 2011 is now forecast to become a major storm - Irene caused power outages and flooding in Puerto Rico, the governor says - Projections suggest it could reach the Southeast U.S. coast by the weekend - It will threaten the Dominican Republic, Haiti and the Bahamas this week
267. 2011/08/22: UN: In Haiti, UN staff at the ready as hurricane bears down on northern coast
268. 2011/08/22: Wunderground: Hurricane Irene pounds Puerto Rico, heads for Hispaniola
269. 2011/08/22: CSM: Hurricane Irene hammers Puerto Rico, where next?
270. 2011/08/22: BBC: Dominican Republic braced for Hurricane Irene
     Tropical Storm Irene has turned into a hurricane - the first of the Atlantic hurricane season - over Puerto Rico.
271. 2011/08/22: CBC: Irene becomes hurricane over Puerto Rico -- Governor urges people to stay home as island starts cleanup
272. 2011/08/21: BBC: Tropical storm Irene heads towards Dominican Republic

     While elsewhere in the hurricane wars:

273. 2011/08/26: QuarkSoup: Bill McKibben: Please Shut Up
274. 2011/08/26: QuarkSoup: More on McKibben and Hurricane Irene
275. 2011/08/27: EnvEcon: Get out your hurricane calculator
276. 2011/08/27: TP:JR: How Does Global Warming Make Hurricanes Like Irene More Destructive?
277. 2011/08/26: AlterNet: As Hurricane Irene Hits the East Coast, Let's Not Forget the Lessons of the Last Big Storm to Shake America
278. 2011/08/26: DM:80B: How Scientists Are Predicting the Path of Hurricane Irene -- And Why We're Better At It Than Ever Before
279. 2011/08/26: TreeHugger: Climate Change May Not Cause Hurricanes, But It Can Make Them Much Stronger
280. 2011/08/26: InformedComment: Hurricanes and Global Warming

     As for GHGs:

281. 2011/08/26: EurActiv: Europe emits huge unreported F-gas cloud: Report
     European chemical manufacturers are covertly venting huge quantities of the powerful 'super greenhouse gas' HFC-23, according to a study by the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (EMPA). The report, published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, says that Western Europe's emissions of HFC-23s -- an 'F' or fluorinated gas mainly used as a refrigerant -- are between 60-140% higher than officially reported. Italy alone was found to be emitting 10-20 times more HFC-23s than it officially reports. The greenhouse gas has a global warming potential which is 14,800 times higher than CO2. The UK and the Netherlands also emitted around twice as much as they claimed, although the figures for France and Germany were "within the reported values".
282. 2011/08/23: GreenGrok: Confirmed: U.S. Emissions Up in 2010
283. 2011/08/22: Stoat: Lack of methane growth explained?
284. 2011/08/22: TreeHugger: Nations Under-Reporting Emissions of Highly Potent & Long-Lived Greenhouse Gas [HFC-23]
285. 2011/08/15: KIT: Nature: How the N2O Greenhouse Gas Is Decomposed

     And in the carbon cycle:

286. 2011/08/25: UWM: Irrigation's impacts on global carbon uptake

     As for the temperature record:

287. 2011/08/26: MTobis: Meanwhile

     Regarding ozone:

288. 2011/08/24: UNDispatch: More Bad News on Climate Change
289. 2011/08/23: UN: UN agency reports signs of ozone depletion are again appearing over the Antarctic this year

     While in the paleoclimate:

290. 2011/08/26: JEB: Reliability of the past
291. 2011/08/25: JFleck: On the relevance of paleoclimate studies
292. 2011/08/23: BBC: Early forests tamed wild rivers
     The evolution and spread of trees stabilised river banks and changed landscapes around the world forever, geologists say. Before the switch, broad, shallow, braided river channels could spread and migrate endlessly from side to side. Only when tree-like plants with deep roots took hold some 330 million years ago did river banks finally come under control, say researchers. Their assessment is published in the journal Nature Geoscience.
293. 2011/08/21: NatureN: New candidates for oldest fossils -- Remains in 3.4-billion-year-old rocks hint at when cellular life arose, and how it powered itself
294. 2011/08/21: SciNow: World's Oldest Fossils Found in Ancient Australian Beach
295. 2011/08/22: BBC: Fossil microbes give sulphur insight on ancient Earth
     Tiny structures found within 3.4bn-year-old sandstones in Western Australia may represent the oldest direct evidence of life on Earth. Scientists say their analysis of the microfossils clearly shows the organisms were processing sulphur for energy and growth - not oxygen.

Regarding the solar hypothesis:

296. 2011/08/23: RealClimate: How large were the past changes in the sun?

     Intimations of Overshoot:

297. 2011/08/25: ABC(Au): Humans will need 'three planets' by 2050
     The World Wildlife Fund says three planets worth of natural resources will be needed by the middle of this century if current consumption rates continue. The group's Australian CEO, Dermot O'Gorman, told a meeting at Adelaide Town Hall the global population is likely to grow to 9 billion by 2050. He says the world is already seeing the results of the population having doubled in the past 50 years.

As for ocean currents:

298. 2011/08/23: Eureka: Newly discovered Icelandic current could change climate picture
299. 2011/08/22: PlanetArk: New Iceland Current Could Sway N. Atlantic Climate
300. 2011/08/21: Eureka: Newly discovered Icelandic current [North Icelandic Jet (NIJ)] could change North Atlantic climate picture

     And the State of the Oceans:

301. 2011/08/24: TreeHugger: NASA Satellite Photographs Massive Phytoplankton Bloom in Barents Sea

     What's new on the extinction front?

302. 2011/08/24: SciAm:EC: Ecuadorian Hydroelectric Plant Could Cause Extinction of Rare Plant
303. 2011/08/23: ABC(Au): Granite Island penguins could be gone by 2020
     A census has added to worries Granite Island's penguin colony is on the brink of extinction.

Meanwhile in near earth orbit:

304. 2011/08/26: BBC: Nigerian satellites are picture perfect
     Nigeria's latest Earth observation satellites have returned their first pictures. The spacecraft, launched on 17 August, give the African nation a powerful new capability to map its own lands and other parts of the globe. NigeriaSat-2 and NigeriaSat-X will also assist the Disaster Monitoring Constellation.
305. 2011/08/22: Eureka: Earth: A day without glory

     More GW impacts are being seen:

306. 2011/08/26: Maribo: Storm surge calculus
307. 2011/08/21: NatureN: Climate change will hit genetic diversity -- Probable loss of 'cryptic' variation a challenge for conservationists

     And then there are the world's forests:

308. 2011/08/21: al Jazeera: Biofuel production: A threat to livelihoods
     Rapid industrial development around the Amazon forest poses a significant threat to the native population.

Climate refugees are becoming an issue:

309. 2011/08/24: Grist: Dust bowls, water shortages, and toxins drive people from their homes by Lester Brown

     This week in extreme weather:

310. 2011/08/25: STimes: Extreme weather: 'the new normal'
     Federal climate scientists say 2011 has been one of the worst in U.S. history for extreme weather. With punishing blizzards, epic flooding, devastating drought and a heat wave that has broiled a huge swath of the country, the year's weather has been unrelenting and extraordinary.

On the tornado front:

311. 2011/08/26: CBC: Ontario tornado confirmed in Wednesday storm
312. 2011/08/23: CBC: Goderich tornado victim's family raise questions
313. 2011/08/22: TStar: $5M pledged for tornado-ravaged Goderich
314. 2011/08/22: G&M: Deadly tornado hampers historic Ontario town's renewal
315. 2011/08/22: CBC: Goderich, Ont., regroups after deadly tornado -- Premier McGuinty vows to help rebuild 'Canada's Prettiest Town'
316. 2011/08/21: CBC: Goderich hit hard by southwestern Ontario tornado
     A tornado has ripped through the southwestern Ontario town of Goderich, causing severe damage and reportedly killing one person in the community on the shore of Lake Huron. Environment Canada said Sunday night that a damage survey team's assessment of the destruction in Goderich has confirmed that it was a tornado that hit the town. The agency said its survey team reported extensive damage to downtown Goderich including structural damage to buildings, roofs removed, numerous vehicles overturned and trees down. There is one reported fatality, Environment Canada said, and a number of people with unknown injuries.

As for heatwaves and wild fires:

317. 2011/08/26: EUO: EU countries send help to fight Greek fires
318. 2011/08/25: al Jazeera: The heat builds across Europe
     Temperature warnings have been announced across much of Western Europe, as residents flock to the shores for reprieve.
319. 2011/08/22: Eureka: Southern South American wildfires expected to increase, says CU-Boulder study
320. 2011/08/23: CBC: Rainy summer limits B.C. forest fires
     B.C. officials say the province is experiencing its slowest fire season in a decade and as a result, firefighters are being sent to out of province fires, while others are building trails and clearing brush. A rainy July has made this the slowest fire season in B.C. in ten years, and that status is not forecast to change for the remainder of this fire season.

Corals are a bellwether of the ocean's health:

321. 2011/08/26: RSMAS: New Study Shows that Florida's Reefs Cannot Endure a 'Cold Snap' -- Scientists detail unprecedented loss of coral reef species during 2010 cold weather event
322. 2011/08/23: al Jazeera: East Timor's coral reefs threatened
     Industrialisation and economic development have biologists and conservationists worried.

Sea level rise is zigzagging:

323. 2011/08/25: WaPo: Weather cycles cause a drop in global sea level, scientists find
     The global sea level this summer is a quarter of an inch lower than last summer, according to NASA scientists, in sharp contrast to the gradual rise the ocean has experienced in recent years. The change stems from two strong weather cycles over the Pacific Ocean -- El Niño and La Niña -- which shifted precipitation patterns, according to scientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. The two cycles brought heavy rains to Brazil and Amazon, along with drought to the southern United States.
324. 2011/08/23: NASA:JPL: NASA Satellites Detect Pothole on Road to Higher Seas
325. 2011/08/26: DM:BA: Sea level rise has slowed... temporarily
326. 2011/08/24: CCP: NASA Satellites Detect Pothole on Road to Higher Sea Levels

     As for hydrological cycle disruptions [floods & droughts]:

327. 2011/08/24: Grist: Taste of things to come: Texas drought to shut down power plants
328. 2011/08/22: CAbyss: Texas Drought: Percentages
329. 2011/08/21: JFleck: California Flooding in a Warming World

     Consider transportation & GHG production:

330. 2011/08/24: CalcRisk: DOT: Vehicle Miles Driven decreased -1.4% in June compared to June 2010
331. 2011/08/23: CalcRisk: ATA Trucking index decreased 1.3% in July
332. 2011/08/23: Guardian(UK): 1 billion cars and counting - the global traffic jam just got worse
333. 2011/08/23: PlanetArk: Analysis: German Rail To Run On Sun, Wind To Keep Clients Happy
334. 2011/08/22: TP:JR: One Billion Cars Now on World's Roads, Driven by Exploding Demand from China

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

335. 2011/08/23: PeakEnergy: German Village Produces 321% More Energy Than It Needs

     Large scale geo-engineering keeps popping up:

336. 2011/08/27: GEP: New GAO Report Offers Familiar Conclusions
     [...]
     The new GAO Technology Assessment delivers hopeful but familiar findings:
     * Climate engineering is not currently an option for addressing climate change.
     * Most climate experts support a major research effort.
     * The public is open to climate engineering research, but with reservations.
337. 2011/08/25: SciAm:Obs: Can Hurricanes Be Controlled?
338. 2011/08/24: Guardian(UK): The artificial forests of the future -- big picture
339. 2011/08/22: GEP: Australian Carbon Farming Passes
340. 2011/08/23: GEP: Interesting Results from SPICE Stratospheric Aerosol Public Workshops
341. 2011/08/23: Springer:CC: (ab$) The case for climate engineering research: an analysis of the "arm the future" argument by Gregor Betz
342. 2011/08/17: OLW:CC: (ab$) Public perceptions and governance of controversial technologies to tackle climate change: nuclear power, carbon capture and storage, wind, and geoengineering by Marc Poumadère et al.

     Meanwhile in the journals:

343. 2011/08/25: ESDD: Downscaling climate change scenarios for apple pest and disease modeling in Switzerland by M. Hirschi et al.
344. 2011/08/25: CP: Impact of North Atlantic - GIN Sea exchange on deglaciation evolution of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation by J. Cheng et al.
345. 2011/08/22: CP: Are paleoclimate model ensembles consistent with the MARGO data synthesis? by J. C. Hargreaves et al.
346. 2011/08/22: NERC:NORA: Limited potential of crop management for mitigating surface ozone impacts on global food supply by Edmar Teixeira et al.
347. 2011/08/22: NERC:NORA: Stratigraphy of the Anthropocene by Jan Zalasiewicz et al.
348. 2011/08/23: NERC:NORA: Frequency of Sahelian storm initiation enhanced over mesoscale soil-moisture patterns by Christopher M. Taylor et al.
349. 2011/08/25: NERC:NORA: How likely was a green Antarctic Peninsula during warm Pliocene interglacials? : a critical reassessment based on new palynofloras from James Ross Island by Ulrich Salzmann et al.
350. 2011/08/26: ACPD: SOA formation from the atmospheric oxidation of 2-methyl-3-buten-2-ol and its implications for PM2.5 by M. Jaoui et al.
351. 2011/08/26: GMDD: Plant functional type mapping for earth system models by B. Poulter et al.
352. 2011/08/24: GMDD: A global coupled Eulerian-Lagrangian model and 1 Ã 1 km CO2 surface flux dataset for high-resolution atmospheric CO2 transport simulations by A. Ganshin et al.
353. 2011/08/24: TC: An assessment of uncertainties in using volume-area modelling for computing the twenty-first century glacier contribution to sea-level change by A. B. A. Slangen & R. S. W. van de Wal
354. 2011/08/24: OSD: A simple and self-consistent geostrophic-force-balance model of the thermohaline circulation with boundary mixing by J. Callies & J. Marotzke
355. 2011/07/29: ERL: Traces of radioactive 131I in rainwater and milk samples in Romania by Romul Ma(rgineanu et al.
356. 2011/08/25: GRL: (ab$) The frequency response of temperature and precipitation in a climate model by Douglas G. MacMynowski et al.
357. 2011/08/25: ACP: Anthropogenic emissions during Arctas-A: mean transport characteristics and regional case studies by D. L. Harrigan et al.
358. 2011/08/24: ACP: The effect of optically thin cirrus clouds on solar radiation in Camagüey, Cuba by B. Barja & J. C. Antuña
359. 2011/08/23: ACP: The H2O-O2 water vapour complex in the Earth's atmosphere by Y. Kasai et al.
360. 2011/08/22: ACP: A model study of the impact of source gas changes on the stratosphere for 1850-2100 by E. L. Fleming et al.
361. 2011/08/25: ACPD: On the observation of unusual high concentration of small chain-like aggregate ice crystals and large ice water contents near the top of a deep convective cloud during the CIRCLE-2 experiment by J.-F. Gayet et al.
362. 2011/08/25: ACPD: Abiotic and biotic control of methanol exchanges in a temperate mixed forest by Q. Laffineur et al.
363. 2011/08/24: ACPD: Aerosol optical properties determined from sky-radiometer over Loess Plateau of Northwest China by Y. Liu et al.
364. 2011/08/22: ACPD: A continuous spectral aerosol-droplet microphysics model by Z. J. Lebo & J. H. Seinfeld
365. 2011/08/: USDA:ERS: Impacts of Higher Energy Prices on Agriculture and Rural Economies by Ronald Sands et al.
366. 2011/08/23: PNAS: (abs) Flow regime, temperature, and biotic interactions drive differential declines of trout species under climate change by Seth J. Wenger et al.
367. 2011/08/23: PNAS: (ab$) Differential alteration of two aminopeptidases N associated with resistance to Bacillus thuringiensis toxin Cry1Ac in cabbage looper by Kasorn Tiewsiri & Ping Wang
368. 2011/08/23: PNAS: (abs) Spatially heterogeneous wastage of Himalayan glaciers by Koji Fujita & Takayuki Nuimura
369. 2011/08/23: PNAS: (ab$) Transformations, transport, and potential unintended consequences of high sulfur inputs to Napa Valley vineyards by Eve-Lyn S. Hinckley & Pamela A. Matson
370. 2011/07/31: Nature: (ab$) A chronological framework for the British Quaternary based on Bithynia opercula by Kirsty E. H. Penkman et al.
371. 2011/08/24: Nature: (ab$) Role of sulphuric acid, ammonia and galactic cosmic rays in atmospheric aerosol nucleation by Jasper Kirkby et al.
372. 2011/08/23: Springer:CC: (ab$) The case for climate engineering research: an analysis of the "arm the future" argument by Gregor Betz
373. 2011/08/17: OLW:CC: (ab$) Public perceptions and governance of controversial technologies to tackle climate change: nuclear power, carbon capture and storage, wind, and geoengineering by Marc Poumadère et al.
374. 2011/08/22: OS: Numerical simulation and decomposition of kinetic energy in the Central Mediterranean: insight on mesoscale circulation and energy conversion by R. Sorgente et al.
375. 2011/08/23: TC: Investigating changes in basal conditions of Variegated Glacier prior to and during its 1982-1983 surge by M. Jay-Allemand et al.
376. 2011/08/22: TC: Brief Communication: "An inventory of permafrost evidence for the European Alps" by E. Cremonese et al.
377. 2011/08/23: TCD: pSNOWPACK: a forecasting tool for avalanche warning services by S. Bellaire et al.
378. 2011/08/23: TCD: Multi-scale validation of a new soil freezing scheme for a land-surface model with physically-based hydrology by I. Gouttevin et al.
379. 2011/08/22: TCD: Micrometeorological processes driving snow ablation in an Alpine catchment by R. Mott et al.
380. 2011/08/22: AGWObserver: New research from last week 33/2011
381. 2011/08/21: Nature:GeoSci: (ab$) Microfossils of sulphur-metabolizing cells in 3.4-billion-year-old rocks of Western Australia by David Wacey et al.

     And other significant documents:

382. 2010/09/23: GAO: [link to 1.2 meg pdf] Climate Change: A Coordinated Strategy Could Focus Federal Geoengineering Research and Inform Governance Efforts
383. 2011/07/28: GAO: [link to 6.5 meg pdf] Climate Engineering: Technical Status, Future Directions, and Potential Responses
384. 2011/08/23: WMO: [link to 7.3 meg pdf] WMO Antarctic Ozone Bulletins: 2011
385. 2011/08/26: US State Dept: Final Environmental Impact Statement for the Keystone XL Pipeline Project

     As for miscellaneous science:

386. 2011/08/26: MTobis: Uncertainty, Uncertainty, Uncertainty
387. 2011/08/28: TSoD: Statistics and Climate - Part Five - AR(n)
388. 2011/08/27: MTobis: Molly and Steve
389. 2011/08/23: IsaacHeld: 16. Heat uptake and internal variability
390. 2011/08/23: Stoat: Agnotology as a Teaching Tool: Learning Climate Science by Studying Misinformation

     The Pielke fan clubbe alas:

391. 2011/08/24: CAbyss: Roger Pielke Jr.'s Inkblot

     While at the UN:

392. 2011/08/25: WMO: UN-Water elects new office holders as water moves to centre of sustainable development challenge
393. 2011/08/25: UN: UN report outlines investment strategies to reduce water scarcity
394. 2011/08/25: UN: Clean energy revolution will put world on safer, more equitable path -- Ban
395. 2011/08/23: UN: UN chief to visit Denver for engagements on development and renewable energy
396. 2011/08/22: UN: Investing in ecosystem services can boost food security, raise incomes -- UN

     The idea of a carbon tax is still bouncing around:

397. 2011/08/27: ClimateShifts: Jim Hansen's Conservative Climate Plan

     The Robin Hood tax, aka the Tobin tax, aka the Bank tax, aka the Financial Transaction tax keeps coming up:

398. 2011/08/23: CEPR:BtP: Maybe Reuters Should Have Talked to Someone Supporting a Financial Transactions Tax

     The energy race between China and the USA is on, or is it?

399. 2011/08/24: TP:JR: Clean Energy May Be China's "Historic Opportunity" to Surpass America and Become The Next Technology Superpower

     And in the Rare Earths' tussle:

400. 2011/08/26: KSJT: Science News: Are there end-runs around China's grip on rare earths?
401. 2011/08/25: EurActiv: China vows to appeal raw materials WTO case
     China yesterday (24 August) vowed to appeal a recent World Trade Organisation ruling against its raw materials export policy, a case that could threaten Beijing's handling of rare earths.
402. 2011/08/25: PlanetArk: China Vows To Appeal Raw Materials WTO Case
     China vowed on Wednesday to appeal a recent World Trade Organization ruling against its raw materials export policy, a case that could threaten Beijing's handling of rare earths.

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

403. 2011/08/26: CCP: Four arrested at Imperial Oil/ExxonMobil megaload (going to the Alberta tar sands) protest (organized by Wild Idaho Rising Tide) in Moscow
404. 2011/08/22: Guardian(UK): Denmark sentences Greenpeace activists for Copenhagen stunt
     Eleven protesters have been handed two-week suspended sentences for gatecrashing a climate summit banquet in 2009
405. 2011/08/22: SwissInfo: Climate protestors sentenced in Denmark
     A Danish court has given two-week suspended sentences to 11 environmental activists, including two Swiss, over an unusual protest at the 2009 world climate conference. The Greenpeace members gatecrashed a dinner party given by Queen Margrethe of Denmark. Once inside, they held up signs demanding action to stop global warming. Their banners read: "Politicians talk, leaders act."

What are the activists up to?

406. 2011/08/25: EUO: Greenpeace stunt at European business summit

     Polls! We have polls!

407. 2011/08/24: Grist: Public opinion on climate just tipped

     Regarding Water Politics and Business:

408. 2011/08/24: Dominion: Water is All of Us -- Report from the fifth annual Keepers of the Water gathering
409. 2011/08/24: Rabble: The Earth's water crisis, our water crisis
410. 2011/08/22: CDreams: World Water Week: Too Much Water As Dangerous As Too Little
411. 2011/08/22: NatureNB: Agriculture drains global water resources

     Who's making predictions this week?

412. 2011/08/26: PlanetArk: Japan To See Average To Warmer Weather In Sept-Nov

     And on the American political front:

413. 2011/08/26: AlaskaDispatch: [Alaska Governor, Sean] Parnell (R) joins pro-development groups appealing polar bear protection
414. 2011/08/26: PlanetArk: New Jersey Issues One-Year Moratorium On Fracking
415. 2011/08/25: Grist: Forget potatoes: Idaho now grows CAFOs
416. 2011/08/26: Grist: Don't run with green scissors
417. 2011/08/26: TreeHugger: New Jersey Governor Vetoes Fracking Ban - Wants One Year Moratorium Instead
418. 2011/08/25: AlterNet: How Right-Wing Attacks on Reproductive Health Care Force Poor Women Into More Unwanted Pregnancies
419. 2011/08/25: TP:JR: 'Green Scissors' Report Slashes Dirty Spending, But, Oddly, Cuts Some Green, Too. [US pol]
420. 2011/08/24: EnergyBulletin: Chamber of Commerce response to Rick Munroe's Review of Index of U.S. Energy Security Risk and author's reply
421. 2011/08/24: Guardian(UK): The Tea Party moves to ban books
     As the Tea Party looks more and more like the old religious right, censoring what children can read in school is on the agenda
422. 2011/08/23: Grist: People don't care about climate impacts in other countries
423. 2011/08/22: Grist: Chris Christie says 'climate change is real' while vetoing climate action
424. 2011/08/22: Grist: Why isn't the climate left stronger?
425. 2011/08/22: MTobis: Conservative Cowardice?
426. 2011/08/21: KPLU: Enviro groups say Clean Water Act is under attack
427. 2011/08/21: Mercury: Developers withdraw opposition to Bay Area planning document that takes sea level rise into account
428. 2011/08/21: ERabett: Human Events takes anti-Renaissance views seriously

     The BP disaster continues to twist US politics:

429. 2011/08/26: TreeHugger: Dispersants Used on BP Spill Contain Chemicals Associated with Cancer: New Report
430. 2011/08/24: PlanetArk: BP Fund Has Paid Out $5 Billion To Gulf Spill Victims
431. 2011/08/23: DeSmogBlog: Justice Department Launches Investigation Into BP's Oil Gusher Cover Up
432. 2011/08/23: PlanetArk: Louisiana Paper Mill Spill Causes Massive Fish Kill
     A rotten stench hung over a 60-mile stretch of Louisiana's Pearl River as boats trawled through thick layers of hundreds of thousands of dead fish, and sweating workers bent to scoop the carcasses from the water. The fish, including federally protected Gulf sturgeon as well as catfish and flounder, died after a paper mill in Bogalusa, Louisiana, released a high concentration of waste material into the river on August 9.
433. 2011/08/22: TreeHugger: US Plans First Sales of Offshore Oil Leases in Gulf Since BP Spill
434. 2011/08/22: TreeHugger: More Drilling In The Gulf, The Death Of A Thousand Cuts
435. 2011/08/20: WashingtonsBlog: Photos: Oil At BP's Deepwater Horizon Gulf Spill Site

     So, do you want a corporate dweeb, or a sociopathic corporate dweeb? Your choice:

436. 2011/08/25: Wonkette: Mitt Romney Rejects Climate Change In Desperate Attempt To Be Cool
437. 2011/08/26: TreeHugger: The Republican Presidential Candidates' Assault on Science (Video)
438. 2011/08/24: ProPublica: Our Guide to the Best Coverage on Rep. Michele Bachmann and Her Record
439. 2011/08/23: ProPublica: Our Guide to the Best Coverage of Ron Paul and His Record
440. 2011/08/18: ProPublica: Our Handy Guide to the Best Coverage on Gov. Rick Perry and His Record
441. 2011/08/26: AlterNet: 5 Reasons Progressives Should Treat Ron Paul with Extreme Caution -- 'Cuddly' Libertarian Has Some Very Dark Politics
442. 2011/08/27: TreeHugger: Bachmann Blames 'Radical Environmentalists' For Energy Problems
443. 2011/08/28: THW: The Republican and the Environment part 2
444. 2011/08/26: THW: The Republicans on the Environment
445. 2011/08/26: Grist: Texas likely to have multi-year drought; Rick Perry likely to deny its cause
446. 2011/08/26: TreeHugger: Mitt Romney Too Retreats Towards Climate Denial
447. 2011/08/25: AlterNet: Why Rick Perry Would Put the World on a Fast Track to Total Meltdown
448. 2011/08/25: TP:JR: Romney Joins the "Don't Know Much" Crowd on Climate...
449. 2011/08/25: DM:JW: Questioning the Candidates on Dominionism
450. 2011/08/24: MR: Jon Huntsman speaks
451. 2011/08/24: TP:JR: The Dustbowl Duo: Denier Inhofe Backs Denier Perry as Romney Is 'a Little Mushy on Environmental Issues'
452. 2011/08/23: TDB: Mormon Candidates' Pro-Science Stand
     Jon Huntsman Jr. and Mitt Romney are the only GOP presidential contenders who accept climate change and evolution. McKay Coppins on how their shared faith has made them science believers.
453. 2011/08/24: BBickmore: Why Romney and Huntsman Aren't Anti-Science
454. 2011/08/24: TreeHugger: On the Environment, Ron Paul is Even Crazier Than Michele Bachmann and Rick Perry
455. 2011/08/24: SkeptiSci: Republican Presidential Candidates vs. Climate Science by dana1981
456. 2011/08/23: PeakEnergy: Ron Paul and Michele Bachmann: Manufacturing irrelevance?
457. 2011/08/22: Altantic: Why the Press Loves Jon Huntsman but Ignores Ron Paul
     The media is fascinated by protest candidates who critique their own parties, but it marginalizes those who attack the establishment
458. 2011/08/21: TP:JR: Huntsman Slams Perry on Climate and Evolution: We Are "On the Wrong Side of Science and Therefore in a Losing Position."
459. 2011/08/22: TP:JR: Huntsman Mocks Bachmann $2 Gas Promise As Not From 'The Real World'
460. 2011/08/22: UCSUSA: Climate Science References for the Campaign Trail
461. 2011/08/22: TreeHugger: Jon Huntsman: When "the Republican Party Becomes the Anti-Science Party, We Have a Huge Problem" (Video)
462. 2011/08/22: OilDrum: Keeping Michele Bachmann Honest on Gas Prices
463. 2011/08/21: BBickmore: GOP Candidates and Climate Change

     The US State Dept. released its Environmental Impact report on Keystone XL pipeline Friday afternoon:

464. 2011/08/26: US State Dept: Final Environmental Impact Statement for the Keystone XL Pipeline Project
465. 2011/08/26: Maribo: Another Friday afternoon, another buried climate/energy policy decision
466. 2011/08/26: FDL: State Department Environmental Impact Study of Keystone XL Pipeline Released, Skids Greased for Approval
467. 2011/08/26: TP:JR: Ignoring Climate Change, State Department Report Concludes Keystone XL Has 'No Significant Impacts'
468. 2011/08/26: Grist: State Department backs Keystone XL pipeline
469. 2011/08/25: DeSmogBlog: State Department Calls Keystone XL Environmental Impact "Limited," Ignoring Evidence
470. 2011/08/26: TreeHugger: State Department Says Keystone XL Will Have Little Environmental Impact - Campaigners Disagree
471. 2011/08/26: CBC: Keystone pipeline clears major U.S. hurdle
472. 2011/08/26: BBerg: TransCanada's Keystone Pipeline's Environment Risk Limited, U.S. Finds
473. 2011/08/22: CBC: The Keystone decision: America's love-hate with Canada's oil

     Contradictory headlines on the size of Marcellus Shale natural gas reserve had some scratching their heads:

474. 2011/08/25: FuturePundit: USGS Slashes Marcellus Shale Natural Gas Reserve Estimate
475. 2011/08/26: TreeHugger: The Tricky Art of Estimating Shale Gas Reserves
476. 2011/08/26: PhiladelphiaInquirer: The spin on changing Marcellus gas estimates
477. 2011/08/23: USGS: USGS Releases New Assessment of Gas Resources in the Marcellus Shale, Appalachian Basin
478. 2011/08/26: TP:JR: After USGS Analysis, EIA Cuts Estimates of Marcellus Shale Gas Reserves by 80%
479. 2011/08/25: EnergyBulletin: New USGS Marcellus Shale anaylsis drastically cuts DOE estimates
480. 2011/08/25: Grist: U.S. has one-fifth the shale gas once projected
481. 2011/08/23: BBerg: U.S. to Slash Marcellus Shale Gas Estimate 80%

     The harassment of Michael Mann saga rolls on:

482. 2011/08/28: WottsUWT: ATI press release on the Mann UVA emails
483. 2011/08/27: CCP: And Now For Something Completely Different: from Denial Depot -- "Black Knight to be Micheal Mann's next test"
484. 2011/08/26: KSJT: Lots of Ink: Michael Mann didn't do it. NSF says so. Climategate or no climategate. Virginia AG be danged too..
485. 2011/08/25: ScienceInsider: University Turns Over Some of Climate Scientist's Documents
     Months after a request from a Virginia politician and a conservative think tank, the University of Virginia (UVA) has turned over documents related to embattled scientist Michael Mann's research into the history of Earth's climate. But what the petitioners really want to see may still be at large. The release yesterday came at the request of state Delegate Robert G. Marshall and the American Tradition Institute (ATI), a market-oriented environmental policy research group with offices in Washington, D.C., and Denver, Colorado. In January, ATI, Marshall, and two other Virginia residents filed a request under Virginia's Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) for e-mail and other documents connected with Mann's research into paleoclimatology. In May, ATI and Marshall filed a suit accusing the university of dragging its heels. On 24 May, a judge for Virginia's 31st circuit court ordered the university to start turning over documents within 90 days.
486. 2011/08/24: ClimateShifts: The Atlantic: Michael Mann cleared (Again)
487. 2011/08/24: DM:JW: Michael Mann Cleared Again
488. 2011/08/23: SMandia: NSF: Climate Trash Talkers Got No Game!
489. 2011/08/23: TWTB: Exoneration fails to appease conspiracy theorists, cont'd, cont'd, cont'd
490. 2011/08/23: BBickmore: Hockey Stick Conspiracy Expands!!!
491. 2011/08/23: PSinclair: "Climategate" Debunked Again. Climate Deniers: Mike Mann born in Kenya.
492. 2011/08/22: CSW: NSF IG report on Michael Mann investigation: "No research misconduct. Case closed." Don't bother telling Rick Perry
493. 2011/08/22: TPL: Mann Vindicated --- AGAIN!
494. 2011/08/22: Stoat: Mann vindicated, yet again
495. 2011/08/22: DeSmogBlog: National Science Foundation vindicates Michael Mann
496. 2011/08/22: TP:JR: Climate Secret: NSF Quietly Closes Out Inspector General Investigation with Complete Vindication of Michael Mann

     The Obama chatter is nonstop:

497. 2011/08/26: Wonkette: Republican Barack Obama Says Filthy Tar Sands Pipeline Is Great
498. 2011/08/26: NYT:CW: Hansen Says Obama Will Be 'Greenwashing' About Climate Change if He Approves Keystone XL Pipeline
499. 2011/08/25: PlanetArk: U.S. Green Groups Write Obama To Oppose [Keystone XL] Pipeline
500. 2011/08/24: Guardian(UK): Keystone XL: a line in the sand for Obama

     The actions of the Obama administration are being watched closely:

501. 2011/08/25: NatureNB: US energy research agency oversight criticized in audit
502. 2011/08/23: NatureN: Thrift in store for US research -- Science academy panel to call for university fat trimming

     As for what is going on in Congress:

503. 2011/08/26: TP:JR: Carl Hiaasen: GOP Attacks on EPA Ignore the Problem, "Nothing Kills Jobs Like an Environmental Catastrophe"
504. 2011/08/23: TP:JR: Eric Cantor Rails Against the EPA in Defense of His Biggest Oil and Gas Campaign Donors
505. 2011/08/23: TP:JR: GOP's 'Responsible Spending': Pay Oil Companies to Help Cause Disasters, Then Pay Again to Clean Them Up

     And in Europe:

506. 2011/08/23: EurActiv: EU 'may propose Kyoto Protocol extension'
     The EU could propose a lifeline for the beleaguered Kyoto Protocol and secure the future of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) beyond 2012, government negotiators and observers have said. EU officials will discuss whether to back an extension to the climate treaty in the next few weeks, on the condition that it expires in 2018 and is replaced with a deal that caps all major nations' emissions. If all 27 countries agree, the EU could announce the plan at UN climate talks in South Africa in November, as part of an attempt to overcome the four-year impasse over Kyoto's future.
507. 2011/08/23: PlanetArk: EU May Propose Plan To Extend Kyoto...
508. 2011/08/19: SwissInfo: Mud flies over direction of green technology
     Sweeping changes: the government wants Switzerland's cleantech sector to return to its former glory The rebuilding of Switzerland's once-leading cleantech industry has created ructions between opposing groups over the mooted introduction of government regulations. All sides agree that Swiss industry should beef up its production of green technologies. But while the cleantech sector would welcome tougher environmental controls, the wider business community rejects such a course.

Meanwhile in Australia:

509. 2011/08/28: ABC(Au): Carcinogens found in coal seam gas project
     Traces of carcinogenic chemicals have been found in monitoring bores at a coal seam gas operation on Queensland's Darling Downs. Arrow Energy says it has advised regulators that small traces of so-called "B-Tex" chemicals have been detected in shallow bores near the southern inland town of Dalby.
510. 2011/08/26: ABC(Au): Development commission sheds light on solar plans
     The Mid-West Development Commission says the Greenough River Solar Farm is just one of the renewable energy projects being developed in the region. Once operational, the $50 million plant, south of Geraldton, will produce 10 megawatts of power.
511. 2011/08/26: ABC(Au): CSG inquiry prompts plea for aquifer protection
     Gunnedah Shire Council says the protection of aquifers is its number one concern in relation to coal seam gas (CSG) operations. The council has made a submission to the New South Wales Government's inquiry into the environmental, economic and social impacts of the coal seam gas industry. Gunnedah Shire Mayor Adam Marshall says the Government should not bow to industry pressure at the expense of the environment.
512. 2011/08/26: JQuiggin: I may be some little time ...
513. 2011/08/24: ABC(Au): Raging climate debate fails to sway public
     New surveys suggest Australians have largely maintained the same attitudes about climate change in the past year, despite increasing controversy over the science and politics. Professor Iain Walker of CSIRO Ecosystem Sciences in Perth says the findings fly in the face of concerns that debate in the media is unduly swaying people's attitudes.
514. 2011/08/22: GEP: Australian Carbon Farming Passes
515. 2011/08/23: ABC(Au): Mandurah's climate change challenge
     It was a grim warning that placed Mandurah on the leading edge of a change that could radically reshape one of the nation's fastest-growing seaside communities. Climate change not coming to Western Australia - it's already here.
516. 2011/08/23: PlanetArk: Australia Passes CO2 Offset Laws, Carbon Pricing Next
517. 2011/08/22: Reuters: Australia passes CO2 offset laws, carbon pricing next
     Australian Senate passes CO2 farming scheme - Legislation is crucial part of national CO2 pricing plan - Carbon tree plantation firms to be winners

Now that the Australian carbon plan has been released, the wrangling is moving into high gear:

518. 2011/08/23: ABC(Au): Combet accuses Abbott of climate change racism
     Federal Climate Change Minister Greg Combet has accused Opposition Leader Tony Abbott of having a racist climate change policy. Mr Abbott has warned that Australian businesses buying carbon permits under an emissions trading scheme could be conned by unscrupulous international traders.
519. 2011/08/23: ABC(Au): Fraser 'dreaming' about carbon tax effect: CCIQ
     Chamber of Commerce and Industry Queensland (CCIQ) has rejected a State Government report about the effect of the carbon tax, saying Treasurer Andrew Fraser is 'dreaming'.
520. 2011/08/23: ABC(Au): [Treasurer, Andrew] Fraser to release carbon tax report in Parliament
521. 2011/08/23: ABC(Au): Carbon tax blame game has moved beyond reality
     Has the Opposition reached the end of its list of things for which the carbon tax can be blamed?
522. 2011/08/22: ABC(Au):TDU: Unanswered questions on the Convoy of No Confidence
523. 2011/08/23: ABC(Au):TDU: When things turned ugly
524. 2011/08/22: Guardian(UK): Australian truckers protest against carbon tax law
525. 2011/08/22: ABC(Au): No confidence convoy suffers small numbers
526. 2011/08/22: ABC(Au): The convoy comes to Canberra
527. 2011/08/22: ABC(Au): Convoy protesters call for election
528. 2011/08/22: PlanetArk: Anti-Government Truckers Besiege Australian Parliament

     And in New Zealand:

529. 2011/08/27: HotTopic: New Opencast Mine Permitted

     While in the Indian subcontinent:

530. 2011/08/28: CBC: Indian hunger-strike activist ends protest
     An Indian reform activist whose protest galvanized the nation's anger against corruption ended his 12-day hunger strike Sunday after forcing Parliament to throw its weight behind his crusade. Seventy-four-year-old Anna Hazare accepted a glass of coconut water and honey from a five-year-old girl as thousands of supporters cheered him on, waving Indian flags, chanting "long live India" and singing patriotic songs.
531. 2011/08/23: al Jazeera: India PM asks activist to end hunger strike
     Manmohan Singh writes to Anna Hazare, saying he will ask for discussion on his version of anti-graft legislation.
532. 2011/08/22: ScienceInsider: Indian Leader Goes to Bat for Nuclear Energy

     And in China:

533. 2011/08/26: Guardian(UK): WikiLeaks reveals China's failure to measure dangerous pollution [PM 2.5]
     Pollutant levels were not measured and made public because findings would have been 'too sensitive' for the authorities China has not measured data on the most dangerous types of air pollution because it is afraid of the political consequences, according to US diplomatic cables. This assessment, which comes to light as the government prepares to upgrade its air quality monitoring system, was among the central findings of cables from the US consulate in Guangzhou that were relased on Wednesday by WikiLeaks.
534. 2011/08/25: Guardian(UK): WikiLeaks cables reveal fears over China's nuclear safety

     While in Japan:

535. 2011/08/26: BBC: Japan's beleaguered Prime Minister Naoto Kan has announced his resignation, clearing the way for the country's sixth leader in five years
536. 2011/08/26: CBC: Japan's PM Naoto Kan resigns
537. 2011/08/26: al Jazeera: Japan's prime minister announces resignation
     Naoto Kan confirms he is stepping down, paving the way for a race to elect Japan's sixth leader in five years. Naoto Kan, the embattled Japanese prime minister, has announced his resignation, paving the way for the nation's sixth premier in five years to steer a recovery from the March disasters. Kan informed senior party officials of his decision to step down as ruling party leader on Friday, Japanese media reported, before addressing the media in a live televised news conference. "I resign as the (party) president effective today," Kan told party officials. "I will leave the post of prime minister once the new leader is decided."
538. 2011/08/24: PlanetArk: Japan Renewable Energy Push Clears Key Hurdle
     Japan's lower house of parliament passed a bill on Tuesday to promote investment in solar and other renewable energy sources as politicians took a step toward the prime minister's goal of reducing reliance on nuclear power.

And in Russia:

539. 2011/08/26: NatureN: Red tape puts chill on Siberian research -- High-profile carbon project to proceed, but with a proviso

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

540. 2011/08/26: PI:B: Canada needs to truck ahead with strong regulations for heavy-duty vehicles
541. 2011/08/26: PI: Pembina reacts to draft Woodland Caribou Recovery Strategy
542. 2011/08/22: AutoBG: Canada follows U.S. by proposing emissions standards for heavy-duty vehicles

     The Tories released their carbon emission proposal this week:

543. 2011/08/26: PostMedia: Federal government will be flexible on carbon-emission regulations, Capital Power boss says
     Proposed federal carbon-emission regulations to be released this week will likely be initially problematic for Capital Power and for Alberta, said the president and CEO of the Edmonton power producer. But Brian Vaasjo is confident changes will be made after consultation with industry. The long-awaited regulations are expected to be published Saturday in the Canada Gazette Part 1, the official newspaper of the Government of Canada, which allows for a 60-day public consultation period.
544. 2011/08/23: BCLSB: Very Large Loopholes
545. 2011/08/21: Maribo: The reality of Canada's new regulations on carbon emissions from coal-burning power plants

     The CWB saga grinds along:

546. 2011/08/25: CBC: Wheat Board vote deadline arrives
     Wednesday was the deadline for farmers to mail in votes in the Canadian Wheat Board plebiscite on the future of the organization. Ballots sent to more than 68,000 wheat and barley farmers must be postmarked Aug. 24, and will be counted on Sept. 8 and 9, the board said. The federal government has said it plans to eliminate the board's monopoly on sales of Prairie wheat and barley by Aug. 1, 2012, without holding a vote of the farmers. Federal Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz has dismissed the plebiscite.

The battle over the Keystone XL and Northern Gateway pipelines rages on:

547. 2011/08/25: PI:B: Enbridge Gateway shipping agreements a mere handshake, not a binding commitment
548. 2011/08/25: Enviralment: Northern Gateway Pipeline Finds One More Piece
549. 2011/08/24: CBC: Northern Gateway pipeline fully booked
     Calgary-based oil pipeline operator Enbridge said Wednesday it has lined up enough shippers to fill its proposed Northern Gateway pipelines project that would ship oilsands crude to the west coast for transport to Asian markets. Enbridge did not identify which Asian and Canadian companies have committed to use the $5.5-billion facility, but Chinese refining giant Sinopec has said it is on board with the project.

There is an anti-tarsands action planned for Ottawa coming up:

550. 2011/08/25: CBC: Anti-tarsands sit-in urged for Ottawa
551. 2011/08/25: CCP: Protest against the tar sands in Ottawa on September 26th, 2011

     Oh Look at what the ex-green premier is doing!

552. 2011/08/24: G&M: Gary Doer sells oil sands from coast to U.S. coast
     The environmentalists protesting daily outside the White House over a proposed pipeline to carry "dirty" Alberta oil south -- and landing in the slammer for it -- cast doubt on Canada's image as a pristine purveyor of nice. Luckily, Gary Doer has been several steps ahead of them. Since becoming Canada's ambassador to the United States in late 2009, the former Manitoba premier has travelled from the Carolinas to California, and to most points in between, to make the case for the oil sands.

The Cohen Commission hearings caught some buzz this week:

553. 2011/08/26: KSJT: Canada media: The sockeye's woes in BC get a national airing
554. 2011/08/25: CBC: DFO scientist says Privy Council silenced her
     A fisheries scientist says she believes senior officials close to the prime minister prevented her from talking to the media about her research into the 2009 sockeye salmon collapse in B.C. Kristi Miller told a federal inquiry Thursday that she learned about the gag order only through the inquiry and believes officials with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans were OK with her giving interviews about the publication of her article in the journal Science.
555. 2011/08/25: PostMedia: 'It's Miller Time' at inquiry into disappearing salmon
556. 2011/08/24: CBC: Scientist says fish farms may not affect wild salmon
     A fisheries scientist is suggesting fish farms may have nothing to do with the collapse of the Fraser River sockeye run, a conclusion bound to stun environmentalists who had heralded her as a hero for her work. Before Kristi Miller testified Wednesday, environmentalists held a rally outside the hearing to pronounce her "Scientist of the Year," but Miller's testimony didn't go entirely to their script. The Cohen Commission heard that a genetic signature -- a kind of genetic footprint -- may be related to a virus that has been linked to the "poor success" of returning Fraser River sockeye.
557. 2011/08/23: Tyee: The Salmon Doctors
     They do heart surgery on sockeye, splash fish to test stress, and more -- all to unlock vital secrets of survival. Part one of two.
558. 2011/08/24: Tyee: Sockeye Feel the Heat
     Global warming cranks up stress on salmon. Scientists are scrambling to identify what the heat's unleashed. Second in a two-part series.
559. 2011/08/24: CBC: Fish scientist accused of avoiding research
     A fisheries scientist has been accused at a federal inquiry of deliberately avoiding research into the impact of fish farms on wild salmon, even though that should have been part of his job. But Michael Kent, an Oregon State University microbiologist and former employee of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, vigorously defended himself, saying he didn't find much evidence of diseases being transferred to sockeye salmon from fish farms. A young pink salmon infected with sea lice.A young pink salmon infected with sea lice. Courtesy of Alexandra Morton/ScienceThe testy exchange between Kent and Gregory McDade, a lawyer for a coalition of anti-fish farm activists, marked testimony at the Cohen Commission on Tuesday, which this week began some of its most controversial hearings. The inquiry was called into the 2009 collapse of the Fraser River sockeye salmon stocks and has been holding months of hearings, mostly in obscurity. But for the next two weeks, Commissioner Bruce Cohen, the B.C. Supreme Court justice who is leading the inquiry, is hearing testimony about fish diseases and fish farms.
560. 2011/08/24: PostMedia: DFO ignored request to explain why test rejected -- Virus may have weakened wild sockeye populations
     Department of Fisheries and Oceans scientists ignored a request from their colleague Kristi Miller to better explain why they rejected testing of fish-farm salmon for a virus recently identified in sockeye. The revelation was made during testimony on Tuesday at the Cohen commission inquiry into the 2009 collapse of Fraser River sockeye. Both Stewart Johnson, DFO head of aquatic animal health, and Christine MacWilliams, DFO fish health veterinarian, told the inquiry they did not respond to Miller's July 29, 2011 emails. The emails asked them to elaborate "on your reasoning for not initiating any testing of aquaculture fish [specifically Atlantic salmon] for the parvovirus we have recently identified in high prevalence in wild sockeye salmon populations." Miller, head of the Molecular Genetics Laboratory in Nanaimo, is due to testify at the inquiry today about her team's discovery that viral pathogens may be weakening Fraser River sockeye. While that discovery was published in January in Science, one of the world's top research journals, Miller has not been allowed to talk publicly about the matter on orders from the federal government's Privy Council Office.
561. 2011/08/23: G&M: Fisheries and Oceans researcher Kristi Miller still not talking
     Several months after her work first created a buzz at a public inquiry examining the disappearance of millions of Fraser River sockeye, Kristi Miller -- still not talking to the media -- appeared at a Cohen Commission hearing. The molecular genetics researcher for the Department of Fisheries and Oceans was accompanied by an earpiece-wearing security guard as she watched the proceedings Tuesday from the front row. She is scheduled to testify Wednesday.
562. 2011/08/22: CBC: Sea lice linked to wild salmon mortality
     [The new study found that when sea lice populations were high among farmed fish, there was much higher mortality among wild salmon that swam near fish farms compared to those who did not swim near fish farms.] A new study has found that sea lice infections at B.C. fish farms are linked to increased mortality among wild pink and coho salmon, contradicting the conclusion of a previous study of pink salmon that found no link.
563. 2011/08/22: CBC: Salmon inquiry focuses on fish farms and disease
     Possible links between fish farming, disease and the collapse of the 2009 Fraser River sockeye salmon run will be the focus at the Cohen Commission hearings this week in Vancouver.

In BC, the stage is set. Now what will Clark and Dix do?

564. 2011/08/22: Tyee: Down the Drain Goes Public's Right to Know about Fracking
     BC gov't ignores own pledge to consult citizens, grants Talisman's request for big water use.
565. 2011/08/26: Tyee: Recruited to Jobs Quickly Killed, Green Minded Youth Wonder 'What Could Have Been'
     BC gov't cut funding for Youth Climate Leadership Alliance seven months after launch
566. 2011/08/25: TheCanadian: Cobb Fallout: Coleman, Clark Say No New IPPs but Refuse to Kill Policy

     Meanwhile in that Mechanical Mordor known as the tar sands:

567. 2011/08/24: Grist: Here's the video that will convince you to go to the tar-sands protests

     Also in Alberta:

568. 2011/08/26: CBC: Burst oil pipeline allowed to restart
     Alberta's energy regulator has given the final green light for the pipeline that spilled millions of litres of oil in the province's north to resume shipping crude. The Energy Resources Conservation Board said Plains Midstream Canada, which owns the Rainbow pipeline, has completed all reviews and can safely operate with some restrictions. The pipeline ruptured on April 28, spilling 4.5 million litres of oil.
569. 2011/08/23: PostMedia: Climate change demands new forest-seeding regulations, study says
     Provincial governments need to examine regulations that seeds for replanting tomorrow's forests must be gathered from trees within the local environment or they risk losing those forests to climate change, according to a University of Alberta forest researcher. In a paper published in the journal Public Library of Science and Ecological Applications, Laura Gray, a PhD student at the university's department of renewable resources, says assisted migration - taking seeds from regions like Montana, Wyoming and Utah, and planting them in Canada's western forests - could be an effective climate change strategy at little extra cost. Although Gray focuses on Alberta in her study, she said the findings are also applicable to B.C.

And in Saskatchewan:

570. 2011/08/26: CBC: Prices, volumes may offset bad weather, Wheat Board says
571. 2011/08/25: CBC: Nuclear reactor research part of $10M deal
     The Saskatchewan government will be spending $5 million over five years, working with Hitachi Ltd. on nuclear research -- including some design work on a small nuclear reactor. On Thursday, the government and the Japanese company signed two agreements to work together, with much of the research being done at the University of Saskatchewan.

In Ontario, upcoming election issues are appearing:

572. 2011/08/26: PP: Green Energy Proposals Part II: Party Positions
573. 2011/08/26: PP: Green Energy Proposals Part I: An Overview
574. 2011/08/26: MediaCulpa: Wente borrows headline, omits facts, in criticism of McGuinty electric car plan
575. 2011/08/26: BCLSB: Media Culpa On Wente And Electric Cars
576. 2011/08/25: CBC: Ontario residents clean up after storm damage -- Heavy winds leave toppled trees, downed power lines
     Southern Ontario residents woke up to power outages, downed trees and other damage Thursday after severe weather swept over a large swath of the province Wednesday evening, prompting tornado watches and warnings in some areas.
577. 2011/08/25: Impolitical: On green job schemes
578. 2011/08/25: G&M: Message to McGuinty: Most green-job schemes have been miserable failures
     Dalton McGuinty has hit the campaign trail, and he's paving it green. Earlier this month he announced that Ontario will pump $80-million into building charging stations for electric cars. "They are peppy, they are quiet, and the thing that I like best as a father, and ultimately a grandfather, I would hope, is that they're clean," he said. By 2020, he hopes, one out of 20 cars in Ontario will be electrically powered.
579. 2011/08/24: G&M: Ontario, Ottawa investing in research, jobs to fuel green future of cars

     In the Maritimes:

580. 2011/08/25: CBC: Nalcor's Muskrat Falls analysis 'inadequate': panel
     A panel assigned to review the Lower Churchill hydro-electric project calls the company's analysis of the project "inadequate," while also asking for more information from Nalcor. The review panel is recommending a new, independent analysis based on economic, energy and environmental considerations. The new analysis would take into consideration domestic energy demand projections, as well as alternate energy sources, such as using offshore gas as a fuel for the Holyrood thermal generating facility. The panel's summary of their findings states "The Panel has determined that the Project would have several significant adverse environmental effects on the aquatic and terrestrial environments, culture and heritage and, should consumption advisories be required in Lake Melville, on land and resource uses."

In the North:

581. 2011/08/26: CBC: Franklin ships remain unfound
     Archeologists in the Arctic hoping to find Sir John Franklin's long-lost ships neared the end of their latest search Friday with no shipwreck in sight.
582. 2011/08/22: CBC: Caribou populations back from the brink
583. 2011/08/21: G&M: Arctic caribou herds may have stopped decline: biologist

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

584. 2011/08/26: CCurrents: How To Talk About The End Of Growth -- Interview With Richard Heinberg
585. 2011/08/25: Guardian(UK): Sustainability will remain a pipe dream until leaders understand 'security'
     Demand for resources has driven conflict throughout history. Now it's time for a political rethink on land and water
586. 2011/08/24: HotTopic: Milliband's Reading Cheers Monbiot
587. 2011/08/24: OilDrum: Low Carbon and Economic Growth: Are Both Compatible in Developing Economies?
588. 2011/08/23: CCurrents: Ecological And Economic Reality -- The Relationship Between Ecology And Economics
589. 2011/08/21: EnergyBulletin: Who are the real radicals?

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

590. 2011/08/25: AlterNet: How Right-Wing Attacks on Reproductive Health Care Force Poor Women Into More Unwanted Pregnancies

     Apocalypso anyone?

591. 2011/08/25: CDreams: Approaching the Collapse: Don't Panic, Go Organic

     As for how the media handles science:

592. 2011/08/26: CJR: Gamey Green Jobs Coverage -- NYT, others hack off slices of Brookings-Battelle report
593. 2011/08/26: TP:JR: In Fox News 'Fair and Balanced' Debate, Host Megyn Kelly Makes False Claim That EPA Will Shut Down 20% of Coal Plants
594. 2011/08/24: Grist: National Review's Kevin Williamson ties himself in knots on climate science
595. 2011/08/24: Deltoid: Rick Perry, Peter Wood and the blogosphere: Guest post from John Mashey
596. 2011/08/23: TP:JR: Absurd NY Times Story on Green Jobs Ignores "Explosive Growth" Documented in the Sector
597. 2011/08/23: TreeHugger: Fox News Admits the Facts Back Man-Made Global Warming (Video)
598. 2011/08/21: NYT: Tar Sands and the Carbon Numbers
     This page opposes the building of a 1,700-mile pipeline called the Keystone XL, which would carry diluted bitumen -- an acidic crude oil -- from Canada's Alberta tar sands to the Texas Gulf Coast. We have two main concerns: the risk of oil spills along the pipeline, which would traverse highly sensitive terrain, and the fact that the extraction of petroleum from the tar sands creates far more greenhouse emissions than conventional production does. The Canadian government insists that it has found ways to reduce those emissions. But a new report from Canada's environmental ministry shows how great the impact of the tar sands will be in the coming years, even with cleaner production methods.

Here is something for your library:

599. 2011/08/26: CCurrents: [Author Interview] _What Every Environmentalist Needs to Know about Capitalism: A Citizen's Guide to Capitalism and the Environment_ by Fred Magdoff & John Bellamy Foster

     And for your film & video enjoyment:

600. 2011/08/26: TreeHugger: The Republican Presidential Candidates' Assault on Science (Video)
601. 2011/08/26: APOD: Hurricane Irene Forms
602. 2011/08/27: PSinclair: Pat Michaels: I doubt Irene will even "cough up eight bodies"
603. 2011/08/25: AutoBG: Want to see overwhelming hatred for the Chevy Volt? Watch this Neil Cavuto montage
604. 2011/08/25: DM:BA: Putting the eye in Irene
605. 2011/08/24: PSinclair: Fox News Checks "Brain Room", Finds Al Gore's Brain
606. 2011/08/24: Grist: Sandstorms of coal ash blanket Moapa River reservation
607. 2011/08/24: CSW: Keystone XL tar sands pipeline White House sit-in, Day 3
608. 2011/08/22: CCurrents: Why Fukushima Can Happen Here: What The NRC And Nuclear Industry Dont Want You To Know
609. 2011/08/23: NatGeo: Earth Overhaul
610. 2011/08/22: DM:BA: Climate gets a good rap

     Meanwhile among the 'Sue the Bastards!' contingent:

611. 2011/08/25: Xinhuanet: Chinese maritime authority prepared to sue ConocoPhillips over oil spills
612. 2011/08/26: TreeHugger: ConAgra Sued for Misusing "100% Natural" Claim on Genetically Modified Oils
613. 2011/08/25: SusBiz: Wind-vs.-water dispute heads to federal court
     Northwest power companies are expanding the stage for their legal battle with the Bonneville Power Administration -- this time to federal court. Eight companies have filed appeals in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals challenging BPA's controversial Environmental Redispatch Policy, which called for wind farms to shut down their turbines during times of high water flow.
614. 2011/08/25: Grist: ConAgra sued over 'natural' GMO cooking oils
615. 2011/08/24: DeSmogBlog: Giant Xstrata Coal Mine Challenged Over Climate Change Impacts
     A giant mine planned in Queensland, Australia, is facing a court challenge over the impacts that burning its coal will have on rising sea-levels, global temperatures and ocean acidification.
616. 2011/08/23: CasperStarTrib: Environmental groups sue BLM over coal leases in Wyoming

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

617. 2011/08/26: OPB: The status quo vs. a cleaner energy future
618. 2011/08/25: PlanetArk: Texas Grid Cuts Power For Some Industrial Customers
     A protracted heat wave and the start of school forced the Texas grid agency to curtail power for some industrial customers on Wednesday afternoon to boost surplus electricity needed to keep residential air-conditioners running.
619. 2011/08/24: NBF: Inexpensive chips harvest mechanical energy to charge batteries for wireless sensors
620. 2011/08/17: GEPost: Renewables Give Us More Power Than Nuclear
621. 2011/08/23: EnergyBulletin: The roads to our alternative energy future
622. 2011/08/24: PSinclair: What's that about "Intermittent Power"? Without Rain, Texas Coal Plants will have to shut down.
623. 2011/08/24: Grist: Taste of things to come: Texas drought to shut down power plants
624. 2011/08/24: TreeHugger: How Shutting Down Nuclear Power Is Different Than Wind Power Intermittency
625. 2011/08/24: CCurrents: The Roads To Our Alternative Energy Future
626. 2011/08/24: TaG: Brazil: Wind Power Now Cheaper Than Natural Gas
627. 2011/08/23: TP:JR: In Brazil Auction, Wind Power is Cheaper than Natural Gas
628. 2011/08/23: SciAm:PI: David MacKay: Sustainable Energy -- without the hot air
629. 2011/08/19: EnergyBulletin: Shale gas EROI: Preliminary estimate suggests 70 or greater
630. 2011/08/22: Grist: One thing the fall of Tripoli won't get us is cheap gas

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

631. 2011/08/25: FuturePundit: USGS Slashes Marcellus Shale Natural Gas Reserve Estimate
632. 2011/08/24: PRWatch: General Electric's Jim Cramer Heads to Midwest to Cheerlead for Fracking
633. 2011/08/28: ABC(Au): Carcinogens found in coal seam gas project
634. 2011/08/26: ABC(Au): CSG inquiry prompts plea for aquifer protection
635. 2011/08/26: PlanetArk: New Jersey Issues One-Year Moratorium On Fracking
636. 2011/08/26: TreeHugger: New Jersey Governor Vetoes Fracking Ban - Wants One Year Moratorium Instead
637. 2011/08/25: CBC: Encana plans Texas shale gas asset sale
638. 2011/08/24: DeSmogBlog: General Electric's Jim Cramer Heads to Midwest As Fracking Cheerleader
639. 2011/08/24: Asia Times: China joins shale gas hunt
640. 2011/08/23: EnergyBulletin: Documents reveal industry and gov't collude on shale gas

     On the coal front:

641. 2011/08/25: Grist: U.S. coal goes to China
642. 2011/08/23: SciAm:GB: Why Business-as-Usual Coal Consumption Could Mean Dramatic Changes
643. 2011/08/23: CrossCut: Bringing coal to China ignites battles along rail routes
     A billionaire, Montana's Democratic governor, and the Northern Cheyenne all appear to be lining up to find ways to supply China's coal market. Ranchers and environmentalists struggle on.
644. 2011/08/23: HotTopic: Thinking Old-Style Big
645. 2011/08/22: CrossCut: Coal ports for Washington: The fight starts in Montana
     Proposals to send coal to China from Longview or Bellingham depend on a supply dug from rich deposits in Wyoming and Montana. Montana's Democratic governor has become a big booster, but others there are very concerned.

On the gas and oil front:

646. 2011/08/26: BBerg: Closing oil prices Friday
     OIL (US$/bbl)
     Nymex Crude Future...85.37
     Dated Brent Spot....111.90
     WTI Cushing Spot.....85.37
647. 2011/08/25: VoxEU: Oil shocks around the world: Are they really that bad? by Tobias Rasmussen & Agustin Roitman
     Recent developments in oil markets and the global economy have, once again, triggered concerns about the impact of oil price shocks around the world. This column wonders whether the fuss is really necessary. It presents evidence of relatively small negative effects of oil price increases.
648. 2011/08/26: Guardian(UK): The new Libyan oil minister's secret weapon: transparency
     The next minister should publish every contract Gaddafi's regime made with an oil company -- that would shake up the industry
649. 2011/08/26: OilDrum: Countdown to $100 Oil - Deja Vu?
650. 2011/08/25: PlanetArk: Analysis: Rails, Not Pipes, May Tame Twisted Oil Market
651. 2011/08/24: TreeHugger: Brazil Builds $127 Billion "Offshore City" to Harvest Oil in the Deep Sea

     And in pipeline news:

652. 2011/08/28: OilDrum: Tech Talk - the coming problems for the Alaskan Pipeline

     Biofuel bickering abounds:

653. 2011/08/26: PlanetArk: U.S. Ethanol Exports To Surpass Brazil This Year
654. 2011/08/25: PlanetArk: U.S. Ethanol Output Climbs Even As Corn Prices Rise
655. 2011/08/25: USDA:ARS: Making Tomorrow's Bioenergy Yeasts Strong
656. 2011/08/22: AutoBG: Petrobras to invest $2.5 billion to increase production of biodiesel, ethanol

     The answer my friend...:

657. 2011/08/22: PlanetArk: Enel Green Power Wins 3 Wind Farm Projects In Brazil

     Meanwhile among the solar aficionados:

658. 2011/08/26: PlanetArk: Germany's SMA Solar Eyes 3,500 MW Worth Business From India
659. 2011/08/26: SciNews: Solar cells could get quantum boost
     Atoms' fuzzy energy levels could be exploited to enhance photovoltaics and semiconductor lasers, study suggests
660. 2011/08/26: CSM: Solar firm taps social-media expert to spur a 'rooftop revolution'
661. 2011/08/26: SaskBoy: WikiLeaks: Germany's Solar Pullback Underway?
662. 2011/08/25: AutoBG: Mitsui, Toshiba to construct massive 50-MW solar power facility in Japan
663. 2011/08/22: SciAm:SaH: Can You Really Get Solar Panels Installed for Free?
664. 2011/08/22: PlanetArk: Mitsui, Toshiba Plan Japan's Largest Solar Plant: Nikkei
665. 2011/08/21: AutoBG: Report: Solar energy could match coal's price by 2015 in China; globally by 2020

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

666. 2011/08/26: BBerg: Japan Spurs Solar, Wind Energy With Subsidies for Renewables

     The nuclear energy controversy continues:

667. 2011/08/26: BNC: Risk perception -- of fans and fission reactors
668. 2011/08/25: NBF: Kazakhstan uranium production tracking to 19278 tons in 2011
669. 2011/08/25: EneNews: Canada nuke plant shuts down after two malfunctions -- 'Heavy water' leaking for months unannounced to public
670. 2011/08/26: Enviralment: AECL Signs on to Refurbish Argentine Reactors
671. 2011/08/25: Guardian(UK): WikiLeaks cables reveal fears over China's nuclear safety
     Cables highlight US lobbying and say that cheap, out-of-date technology is 'vastly increasing' risk of nuclear accident China has "vastly increased" the risk of a nuclear accident by opting for cheap technology that will be 100 years old by the time dozens of its reactors reach the end of their lifespans, according to diplomatic cables from the US embassy in Beijing. The warning comes weeks after the government in Beijing resumed its ambitious nuclear expansion programme, that was temporarily halted for safety inspections in the wake of the meltdown of three reactors in Fukushima, Japan.
672. 2011/08/22: ScienceInsider: Indian Leader Goes to Bat for Nuclear Energy

     Nuclear waste storage requires long term thinking:

673. 2011/08/26: SciAm:PI: Closing the Gaping Hole in the Nuclear-fuel Cycle

     Nuclear fusion projects around the world limp along:

674. 2011/08/23: Guardian(UK): Fusion power: is it getting any closer?
     For decades, scientists have been predicting that, one day, the same process that powers the sun will give us virtually unlimited cheap, clean electricity. Are they wrong?
675. 2011/08/22: NBF: Progress at General Fusion

     More people are talking about the electrical grid:

676. 2011/08/26: EnergyBulletin: Equal energy for all: Can we democratize the grid?
677. 2011/08/26: Grist: How to get paid to save the electrical grid
678. 2011/08/24: SciAm:PI: Integrating Renewables Into the U.S. Electric Grid -- a Discussion with Dr. Paul Denholm

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

679. 2011/08/26: QuarkSoup: Charging Your Car in (one of) Portland's Hip Neighborhoods
680. 2011/08/25: AutoBG: Want to see overwhelming hatred for the Chevy Volt? Watch this Neil Cavuto montage
681. 2011/08/26: AutoBG: Lightweight automotive material segment to soar to $95 billion in 2017
682. 2011/08/24: Guardian(UK): China's love affair with the car shuns green vehicles
683. 2011/08/23: PlanetArk: Volkswagen On Road To Carbon-Free Car: Report
     Volkswagen will within two weeks unveil one of the first single-seater cars, with the potential for zero emissions, the Financial Times reported on Monday. VW's one-seat concept car will illustrate the carmaker's ambitions to build electric vehicles that generate no carbon dioxide, the FT said, citing the company's head of research, Jurgen Leohold.
684. 2011/08/23: AutoBG: Frankfurt: Daimler gets in on the electric bicycle game with Smart E-Bike
685. 2011/08/22: CSM: Hybrid trucks: Ford, Toyota to collaborate
686. 2011/08/22: EurActiv: Japanese hybrids top German 'green car' list
     Four Toyota and Lexus hybrid petrol-electric vehicles were awarded top slots in the 2011/2012 edition of Verkehrsclub Deutschland's (Traffic Club of Germany; VCD) Environmental Car List, published on 18 August.

As for Energy Storage:

687. 2011/08/25: AutoBG: A123 Systems has 20-plus transportation-related lithium-ion battery contracts
688. 2011/08/23: NBF: Rice University developing solid-state, nanotube-based supercapacitors

     Meanwhile in the greenwashing chronicles:

689. 2011/08/21: AlterNet: 10 Faux Progressive Companies ... With Some Dirty Secrets

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

690. 2011/08/27: TP:JR: Global News...
691. 2011/08/26: TP:JR: August 26 News...
692. 2011/08/25: TP:JR: August 25 News...
693. 2011/08/24: TP:JR: August 24 News...
694. 2011/08/23: TP:JR: Global News...
695. 2011/08/23: TP:JR: August 23 News...
696. 2011/08/22: TP:JR: August 22 News...

     Other (weekly) lists:

697. 2011/08/22: BPA: Agriculture News

     The carbon lobby are up to the usual:

698. 2011/08/27: CCP: Latest quote from disgusting climate denier for hire, Patrick Michaels...
699. 2011/08/25: TP:JR: Koch-Fueled Offshore Wind Study Still Doesn't Fly
700. 2011/08/22: DeSmogBlog: Halliburton CEO Instructs Underling To Sip New Fracking Fluid At Gas Industry Conference
701. 2011/08/23: 350orBust: The Radicals Are The People Who Are Fundamentally Altering The Composition Of The Atmosphere
702. 2011/08/22: JKB: The S. Fred coming to Belgium
703. 2011/08/22: QuarkSoup: Another Lie From Fred Singer
704. 2011/08/24: PRWatch: Gore Condemns Dirty Industry PR Tactics that Sow Doubt on Global Warming

     Meanwhile in the 'clean coal' saga:

705. 2011/08/24: Grist: Sandstorms of coal ash blanket Moapa River reservation

     As for climate miscellanea:

706. 2011/08/27: BBC: Subterranean Amazon river 'is not a river'
707. 2011/08/26: NatureNB: Is underground Amazonian river really just groundwater flow?
708. 2011/08/24: AlterNet: Can Communities Reclaim the Right to Say "No" to Corporations?
709. 2011/08/25: Guardian(UK): How to talk to a climate sceptic [according to Katharine Hayhoe]
710. 2011/08/25: ERabett: The Observant Among the Anonymouses. . .
711. 2011/08/24: QuarkSoup: More Death Threats [CFS]
712. 2011/08/23: ERabett: Some, not Eli to be sure, think that you can spot a Rabett post by the presence of snark...
713. 2011/08/24: HotTopic: SOS Roadshow Still Travelling
714. 2011/08/23: TreeHugger: The Green Economy Is Growing, It's Inevitable
715. 2011/08/22: TreeHugger: MIT Climate CoLab: Crowd-Sourcing Global Warming Solutions
716. 2011/08/22: CSM: Google adds weather layer to maps

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

717. NRL Monterey Marine Meteorology Division
718. Wiki: Fluoroform
719. FSU:RyanMaue: Global Tropical Cyclone Activity
720. ANS Nuclear Cafe
721. Yale Environment 360
722. Common Ground
723. EneNews
724. Wiki: Fujita scale
725. World Water Week in Stockholm
726. California WaterBlog
727. Wiki: World population
728. Wiki: One-child policy
729. Wiki: Food security
730. Wiki: List of famines
731. Wiki: Carrying capacity
732. Wiki: Green Revolution
733. SourceForge: Residual Analysis Open Source Software
734. WHRC: Woods Hole Research Center

     ---

     Low Key Plug

     Autobahn Note:

     In case you have been looking for my home page, it seems Autobahn member pages are permanently toast. I am in the process of arranging another web host. In the meanwhile, there is AFTIC only.

     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>
     

     -het

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

     I notice moyhu has set up a monster index to old AWoGWN on AFTIC.

     ---

     "Mother Nature doesn't do bailouts. One day, Mother Nature shows up and blows out your knee caps." -Denis Hayes

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