Logging the Onset of The Bottleneck Years
This weekly posting is brought to you courtesy of H. E. Taylor. Happy reading, I hope you enjoy this week's Global Warming news roundup
Another week of Climate Disruption News
Logging the Onset of The Bottleneck Years
July 31, 2011
- Chuckles, COP17+, Horn of Africa, DeChristopher, Monnett, BTI, Black
- Subsidies, Cook, Post CRU
- Fukushima Note, Fukushima News, Nuclear Policy
- Melting Arctic, POPs & Toxics, Geopolitics, Antarctica
- Food Crisis, Corps, Food Banks, Food vs. Biofuel, Land Grabs, GMOs, Food Production
- Hurricanes, GHGs, Feedbacks, Aerosols, Ozone, Paleoclimate, Oceans, Extinctions
- Impacts, Forests, Extreme Weather, Tornadoes
- Wildfires, Corals, Acidification, Glaciers, GW Deluge, Floods & Droughts
- Transportation, Buildings, Sequestration, Geoengineering
- Journals, Other Docs , Misc. Science, Spencer
- UN, Carbon Tax, Optimal Carbon Reduction Strategy
- International Politics: EU-ETS & Airlines, Rare Earths, Security
- Law & Activism, Activism, Polls, Water Politics & Business
- National Politics: America, BP Disaster, 2012, Rogers, EIA & Subsidies
- CAFE, Obama, USAdmin, Congress, Al Gore
- Britain, Europe, Australia, Carbon War, Murray-Darling, India, Asia, Middle East
- Canada, Post G20, Franke James, Kristi Miller, Pipelines, Caribou
- PR Campaign, BC, Tar Sands, Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario, Maritimes
- Ecological Economics, IPAT, Apocalypso, Media, Books, Video, Courts
- Energy, Fracking, Coal, Oil & Gas, Fossil Fuel Corps, Pipelines, Peak Oil, Biofuel
- Wind, Solar, Nukes, Nuclear Waste, LENR, Efficiency, Cars, Gee Whiz, Energy Storage
- Business, FAQs, Joe's List, Carbon Lobby, Miscellaneous Climate, Useful Links
- Shameless Self Promotion, .sig
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- 2011/07/28: JMohr: (cartoon - Mohr) Hank D and the Bee: Party?
- 2011/07/28: JMohr: (cartoon - Mohr) Take the Koch Challenge
- 2011/07/27: CA: (cartoon - TomTom) Fox News and the so-called "scandal"
- 2011/07/27: CCP: (cartoon - Bagley) DeChristopher's Penalty
And for those interested in exploring the nether reaches of Poe's Law:
- 2011/07/28: Onion: Nation's Climatologists Exhibiting Strange Behavior
For some reason, climatologists have been running around in an agitated state, waving their little arms and squawking about "global warming." - 2011/07/28: PlanetArk: Global Climate Talks Can Reach Agreement
A global deal on a pact to succeed the U.N.'s main climate agreement is still within reach but will not be struck this year, with the pace of talks still far too slow, New Zealand's top climate negotiator said on Wednesday. Inevitably, there would be a gap after the Kyoto Protocol's first period expires in 2012, Minister of Climate Change Negotiations Tim Groser said in an interview after delegates from 35 nations attended two days of climate talks in Auckland. - 2011/07/29: TreeHugger: Kenyan Refugee Camp For Victims of Record-Breaking Drought Now As Big As Kansas City
- 2011/07/29: Xinhuanet: China offers 14 mln USD emergency aid to drought-hit Horn of Africa
- 2011/07/25: FAO: Rome emergency meeting rallies to aid Horn of Africa
"Window of opportunity" exists to support affected populations to resume their livelihoods - 2011/07/29: FAO: Aid for East Africa, now and in the future -- Joint FAO-WFP statement
- 2011/07/29: UN: UN calls for more funds to save lives across Horn of Africa
- 2011/07/27: NewInt: How foreign policy blunders helped create the famine in Somalia
- 2011/07/28: DerSpiegel: The World from Berlin -- East Africa's 'Cataclysmic Downward Spiral of Suffering'
The UN has started airlifting food to famine-plagued Somalia, a measure that could save thousands of starving children in the divided country. German commentators, however, argue that it is time to address the causes of such a famine and push for at-risk regions to create self-sufficient agricultural industries. - 2011/07/27: DerSpiegel: Famine in East Africa -- Logistical Nightmare Hinders Aid Efforts in Somalia
Millions are starving and parents are watching their children die. Meanwhile militant groups are terrorizing the region. The situation in the Horn of Africa is becoming increasingly desperate. Aid organizations are facing enormous difficulties in their attempts to help hundreds of thousands of those suffering, but it's a race against time they seem to be losing. - 2011/07/30: al Jazeera: Genocidal politics and the Somali famine
- 2011/07/28: Guardian(UK): The famine in Somalia should not have come as a surprise
Warning systems exist -- but we need to understand why they are failing - 2011/07/28: UN: UN refugee agency seeks additional funding for Horn of Africa emergency
- 2011/07/27: NPR: Foreign Policy: Murder By Starvation
- 2011/07/28: BBC: Somali famine: Fighting in Mogadishu after aid delivery
Heavy fighting has broken out in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, a day after the UN World Food Programme airlifted in its first famine emergency aid. At least four people are reported to have been killed as government forces, backed by African Union troops, attacked Islamist insurgents. The BBC's Mohamed Dhore in Mogadishu says the clashes are in northern areas and unlikely to affect the aid effort. Thousands have arrived into government-controlled suburbs in search of food. - 2011/07/27: Guardian(UK): Somalia: victim of war, famine and a pestilence of policy
- 2011/07/27: al Jazeera: UN begins food aid airlift to Somalia
Plane carrying 10 tonnes of nutritional paste for malnourished children was the first to land in Mogadishu. - 2011/07/27: EUO: EU steps up aid to famine-stricken Somalis
The EU on Wednesday (27 July) said it would double its humanitarian aid to 158 million euros in Somalia referring to the "very dramatic" draught and famine in the country. - 2011/07/27: UN: Ban stresses urgency of funding Horn of Africa relief efforts
- 2011/07/27: CCurrents: World Food Program's Nasty History In Somalia
- 2011/07/26: CSM: Famine in the Horn of Africa: why the world is slow to respond
Despite an estimated 12 million lives hanging in the balance, international food aid has been slow to arrive to strife-stricken Somalia and neighboring countries caught in the grip of what is now being called East Africa's worst drought in 60 years. Causing the holdup: security concerns and an international community caught off guard by the severity of the drought. - 2011/07/21: Justia: Humanitarianism As Terrorism [Somalia]
- 2011/07/27: BBC: Somalia famine: WFP begins aid airlift to Mogadishu
- 2011/07/27: CBC: Life in Dadaab - Somali refugees face grim prospects in Kenyan camp
Author, producer Debi Goodwin talks to CBC about life inside sprawling refugee compound near Kenya-Somalia border - 2011/07/27: al Jazeera: Red tape delays Africa aid airlift
Flights carrying food for drought-stricken Horn of Africa rescheduled owing to administrative complications. - 2011/07/26: EurActiv: [EU Humanitarian Aid Commissioner, Kristalina] Georgieva wants access to famine-stricken Somalia
On a visit to Kenya yesterday (25 July), Humanitarian Aid Commissioner Kristalina Georgieva deplored the limited access of humanitarian workers to famine-stricken Somalia, which is creating a huge refugee problem in Kenya and Ethiopia. - 2011/07/26: UN: Number of famine-displaced Somalis seeking aid in Mogadishu swells to 100,000 -- UN
- 2011/07/26: CBC: Analysis: Horn of Africa famine as much about geopolitics as drought
Humanitarian emergency has multiple causes: from climate change to agricultural policy - 2011/07/26: CBC: Somalia famine victims to get UN food airlift
- 2011/07/26: al Jazeera: Famine continues to ravage East Africa
During the worst drought in 60 years, over 11 million people across the Horn of Africa are at risk of dying. - 2011/07/25: CNN: U.N., donors meet on Somalia famine as aid groups seek more help
In Dolo, people are getting registered but the aid had not yet arrived - The World Bank will provide more than $500 million for famine victims - The United Nations plans to hold an emergency meeting Monday in Rome - The meeting will address the famine and the emergency response in Somalia - 2011/07/25: UN: Aid to Horn of Africa must be linked to boosting long-term food security - Ban
- 2011/07/25: BBC: Somalia famine: UN WFP to airlift food to Mogadishu
- 2011/07/25: CBC: Famine refugees face increased violence, aid groups say
- 2011/07/25: SwissInfo: Somali ambassador urges world action on famine
- 2011/07/25: BBC: Horn of Africa famine: France warns of 'scandal'
The world has "failed to ensure food security", France's agriculture minister has said at the UN food agency crisis talks on East Africa's drought. "If we don't take the necessary measures, famine will be the scandal of this century," AFP news agency quotes Bruno Le Maire as saying in Rome. - 2011/07/25: CBC: UN hosts famine emergency meeting - at the Rome headquarters of the Food and Agriculture Organization
- 2011/07/25: al Jazeera: UN in Rome talks over Horn of Africa drought
UN food agency meets in Italian capital to discuss ways to increase aid into region as drought claims more lives. - 2011/07/24: CBC: 2.2 million Somalis cut off from aid -- UN group says it can't reach refugees in militant controlled-areas
The sentencing of Tim DeChristopher drew a lot of outrage:
- 2011/07/28: Grist: DeChristopher case begs question: What if enviros were allowed to bid on oil leases?
- 2011/07/27: AlterNet: Tim DeChristopher Is Going to Jail, Now It's Our Turn
- 2011/07/29: DVoice: The Sentencing of Tim DeChristopher Highlights the Conflict Between the People and Corporate-Government
When Democratic Institutions No Longer Give Citizens Power, Civil Disobedience Becomes Essential to Challenge Legalized Injustice - 2011/07/27: Grist: DeChristopher sentence: Impressions from Umbra
- 2011/07/27: AlterNet: Environmental Activist Tim DeChristopher Sentenced to Prison, Tells the Court, "This Is What Hope Looks Like"
- 2011/07/27: CCP: Unconscionable injustice: Tim DeChristopher is on his way to prison -- Justice denied
- 2011/07/27: CCP: DeChristopher and Noel, a tale of two crimes
- 2011/07/27: TMoS: A Prisoner of Conscience - Banged Up for 2 Years By a Corrupt State [Tim DeChristopher]
- 2011/07/26: HuffPo: Tim DeChristopher Is Going to Jail, Now It's Our Turn by Bill McKibben
- 2011/07/27: PSinclair: "This is what hope looks like from now on. This is what patriotism looks like. This is what love looks like..."
- 2011/07/27: Grist: 26 DeChristopher supporters arrested
- 2011/07/27: Grist: Tim DeChristopher's statement to the court
- 2011/07/27: CSW: Environmental hero Tim DeChristopher sentenced to 2 years in prison for creative nonviolent disruption of oil lease auction; Justice Department once again on the wrong side of justice
- 2011/07/27: TreeHugger: Tim DeChristopher's Trial Wasn't About Fraud - It Was About Preserving Power
- 2011/07/27: OilChange: "You have authority over my life, but not my principles"
In the end the sentence was predictably severe. Yesterday Tim DeChristopher, who has become an unlikely here for the climate change movement, was sentenced to 2 years in jail and fined $10,000. - 2011/07/27: CCurrents: I Do Not Want Mercy, I Want You To Join Me by Tim DeChristopher
- 2011/07/27: CCurrents: The Courage To Stop Pretending: Tim DeChristopher Sentenced
- 2011/07/26: DeSmogBlog: Tim DeChristopher Sentenced To Two Years In Prison
- 2011/07/26: CDreams: Tim DeChristopher's Courageous Bid to Save Our World
- 2011/07/26: Grist: Will Tim DeChristopher go to prison? [video]
- 2011/07/20: TruthDig: This Hero Didn't Stand a Chance
- 2011/07/24: AbigailCField: DeChristopher, Mozillo, and Power in America
The US Department of the Interior suspending senior scientist Charles Monnett also drew a lot of comment:
- 2011/07/29: ASI: Arctic scientist suspended
- 2011/07/28: CDreams: Arctic Scientist Protests Witch Hunt on Polar Bear Paper
Key Studies Disrupted as Supervising Federal Scientist Suspended from Duties - 2011/07/28: CCP: In Alaska, the Department of the Interior was cooking the books in favor of oil companies, suppressing the scientific data about the ecological impacts of drilling, and more. Suppression of the GAO report
- 2011/07/28: CCP: Trumped-up witch hunt against Alaska scientist, Charles Monnett, exposed!!!
- 2011/07/30: TP:JR: Polar Bears Still Screwed by Global Warming
- 2011/07/29: Grist: Federal biologist who reported polar bear deaths now under (deeply weird) investigation
- 2011/07/29: ScienceInsider: Suspended Polar Bear Researcher Defended by Advocates
- 2011/07/29: CCurrents: Arctic Scientist Who Exposed Climate Threat To Polar Bear Is Suspended
- 2011/07/28: Guardian(UK): Arctic scientist who exposed climate threat to polar bear is suspended
US government conducts 'integrity inquiry' on federal biologist amid lobbying by oil firms for Arctic permits - 2011/07/28: G&M: Arctic scientist who wrote of drowned polar bears faces 'integrity' probe
A U.S. wildlife biologist whose observation in 2004 of presumably drowned polar bears in the Arctic helped to galvanize the global warming movement has been placed on administrative leave and is being investigated for scientific misconduct, possibly over the veracity of that article. Charles Monnett, an Anchorage-based scientist with the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement, or BOEMRE, was told July 18 that he was being put on leave, pending results of an investigation into "integrity issues." But he has not yet been informed by the inspector general's office of specific charges or questions related to the scientific integrity of his work, said Jeff Ruch, executive director of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility. - 2011/07/28: Grist: Balancing climate pragmatism with moral clarity [BTI]
- 2011/07/27: TP:JR: The Road to Ruin: Extremist 'Climate Pragmatism' Report Pushes Right-Wing Myths and a Failed Strategy [BTI]
- 2011/07/27: NatureNB: A call for pragmatic climate policy (Round II) [BTI]
Richard Black asks a germane question:
- 2011/07/29: BBC:RB: Environment: The case against protection
...the biggest question in the environmental book - where is the natural world heading, if nothing much changes? - 2011/07/29: Grist: We can save $78 billion by ending oil and gas subsidies
John Cook and friends continue their point-counterpoint articles:
- 2011/07/30: SkeptiSci: OA not OK part 11: Did we do it? Yes we did! by Doug Mackie
- 2011/07/30: SkeptiSci: The Ridley Riddle Part One: The Red Queen by Andy S
- 2011/07/28: SkeptiSci: Monckton Myth #17: Debate vs. Denniss, Part 2 by dana1981
- 2011/07/29: SkeptiSci: Monckton Myth #17: Debate vs. Denniss, Part 1 by dana1981
- 2011/07/28: SkeptiSci: Ocean Cooling Corrected, Again by Rob Painting
- 2011/07/26: SkeptiSci: Michaels Mischief #1: Continued Warming and Aerosols by dana1981
CRU has released nearly all its remaining temperature data:
- 2011/07/27: CRU: [link to 6.9 meg zip file] Temperature station data
- 2011/07/29: Grist: Dear skeptics: Here is more climate data than you can handle
- 2011/07/30: moyhu: Missing Lat/Lons in CRUTEM3
- 2011/07/28: moyhu: More on CRUTEM3 stations in Google Earth
- 2011/07/28: NatureNB: At long last, CRU releases climate data
- 2011/07/28: TreeHugger: Climate Research Unit Releases All its Data, Depriving Skeptics of a Favorite Talking Point
- 2011/07/27: moyhu: CRUTEM3 stations in Google Earth
- 2011/07/27: BBC: The University of East Anglia Climatic Research Unit, target of "ClimateGate", has released nearly all its remaining data on temperature measurements following a freedom of information bid
- 2011/07/27: MetOffice(UK): Land surface climate station records
- 2011/07/27: RealClimate: CRUTEM3 data release (except Poland)
Evidently Mr. Murdoch has never heard of the Second Watergate Law: "Don't believe anything until it's been officially denied.":
- 2011/07/29: Guardian(UK): The Murdochs had nothing to do with 'Climategate' email hacking by James Murdoch
- 2011/07/25: ERabett: Who burgled the UEA in "Climate-Gate"?
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:
- 2011/07/28: NYT: Japanese, in Shortage, Willingly Ration Watts
- 2011/07/29: Asia Times: Japan slow to close door on nuclear food
- 2011/07/28: GLaden: Japan Nuclear Disaster Update 32: "Biggest Industrial Catastrophe in History"
- 2011/07/30: BBC: Earthquake jolts north-east Japan - no tsunami warning
A 6.4 magnitude earthquake has been felt in north-east Japan, shaking buildings in the capital Tokyo, reports say. The quake's epicentre was off the east coast of Honshu. It struck in the same area as the 11 March earthquake and tsunami but no abnormalities at Japanese nuclear plants were reported, Reuters says. - 2011/07/30: CDreams: Fukushima Teacher Muzzled Over Radiation
- 2011/07/29: APR: Nuclear Energy in Japan: The Scandal Widens
- 2011/07/30: al Jazeera: Floods threaten thousands in northern Japan
One dead and five missing as heavy rains burst rivers and dykes in Niigata and tsunami-hit Fukushima prefectures. - 2011/07/27: APR: Nuclear Energy in Japan
- 2011/06/15: Nippon-Sekai: NHK Special - Japan's Nuclear Crisis, Part 1
- 2011/07/31: CCP: Latest not so great news on Fukushima, July 30, 2011, from enenews.com
- 2011/07/27: PlanetArk: Japan Nuclear Compensation Bill Passes Key Hurdle
- 2011/07/26: PlanetArk: U.N. Atomic Watchdog [IAEA] Head [Yukiya Amano] Lauds Fukushima Cleanup
- 2011/07/25: APR: Nuclear Energy in Japan
- 2011/07/25: UN: UN nuclear agency chief visits Fukushima power plant for first-hand assessment
- 2011/07/25: PlanetArk: Japan Nuclear Scare Triggers Run For Radiation Checks
Japanese private research labs with radiation testing gear have been flooded with orders for checks on food and soil samples after shipments of contaminated beef deepened public anxiety over radiation leaks from the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant. - 2011/07/24: CCP: Everything you wanted to know about Fukushima...
Post Fukushima, nuclear policies are in flux around the world:
- 2011/07/29: BNC: Germany's grand energy experiment
- 2011/07/26: OpenDem: Germany's nuclear endgame: the lessons
The historic decision by Germany's government to end the country's nuclear-energy programme is owed to the enduring vitality of the anti-nuclear movement. Paul Hockenos maps the implications for the rest of the world. - 2011/07/29: ASI: An observer's prediction
- 2011/07/29: CCP: Still falling off a cliff: Arctic Sea Ice Volume Anomaly and Trend from PIOMAS, through June 30, 2011
- 2011/07/27: ASI: August SEARCH Outlook Contribution
- 2011/07/27: DM:CCM: Time to Start Watching Arctic Sea Ice
- 2011/07/26: ERabett: I Got the Ice Right Here
- 2011/07/26: DeSmogBlog: Petermann iceberg visible from Labrador - and from space
- 2011/07/26: MGS: How not to compute trends
- 2011/07/25: CCP: I think we can safely call this one
- 2011/07/25: ASI: 2011 Canadian Archipelago animation
- 2011/07/24: ERabett: Athropolis
- 2011/07/24: ASI: Petermann, where art thou?
Another one of those "surprising only to those who are not paying attention" stories:
- 2011/07/24: NatureCC: (ab$) Revolatilization of persistent organic pollutants in the Arctic induced by climate change by Jianmin Ma et al.
- 2011/07/25: CBC: Toxic chemicals released by melting Arctic ice
- 2011/07/25: PostMedia: Toxins coming in from the cold
Environment Canada sleuths have found that toxins such as PCBs that have been locked in an Arctic deep freeze are being "remobilized" as the climate warms. In a report published Sunday, they say that persistent organic pollutants, known as POPs, which were banned decades ago, are being released in the Arctic as sea ice retreats and temperatures rise. - 2011/07/24: Guardian(UK): Melting Arctic ice releasing banned toxins, warn scientists
As for the geopolitics of Arctic resources:
- 2011/07/29: CCP: An Open Letter to Michael Bromwich, Director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement
- 2011/07/28: TP:JR: Coast Guard Testifies It's Totally Unprepared for an Arctic Oil Spill: "We Have Zero to Operate With at Present."
- 2011/07/28: TreeHugger: [US] Coast Guard Has Zero Capacity To Deal With Arctic Oil Spills, Head Officer Tells Senate
While in Antarctica:
- 2011/07/25: NASA: Researchers Provide Detailed Picture of Ice Loss Following Collapse of Antarctic Ice Shelves
The food crisis is ongoing:
- FAO: World Food Situation - Food Price Indices
- 2011/07/07: FAO: Cereal Supply and Demand Brief
- 2011/07/27: UVM: The First True View of Global Erosion
- 2011/07/27: BPA: How Can Crops Be Adapted to Climate Change?
- 2011/07/27: CCurrents: Growing Water Deficit Threatening Grain Harvests by Lester Brown
As for the agro-chem corps:
- 2011/07/28: CBC: Potash raises earnings outlook -- Fertilizer demand boosts second quarter results
Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan says its second-quarter results benefited from stronger fertilizer demand, and the company is raising its outlook for the rest of the year. The world's biggest producer of the crop nutrient said profits jumped to $840 million from $480 million a year ago helped by rising prices for potash driven by higher demand. - 2011/07/29: TreeHugger: Will Closing Food Banks Help End Hunger?
- 2011/07/28: LFPress: Closing food banks dumb idea
- 2011/07/26: DtPB: Opinion piece blaming food banks misses the point
The conflict between biofuel and food persists:
- 2011/07/29: ERW: Biofuel demand in US driving higher food prices, says [Farm Foundation] report
- 2011/07/28: BPA: Co-Dependency: High Petroleum Prices, Low Dollar Value, High Food Prices
So, are these land grabs Colonialism V2.0?
- 2011/07/29: TimesLive: China rejects claims of Africa land buy-ups
- 2011/07/27: Yahoo:AFP: Germany blames Chinese land buys for Africa drought
- 2011/07/27: EnergyBulletin: "Land Grabs" in agriculture: Fairer deals needed to ensure opportunity for locals
- 2011/07/27: PlanetArk: African Land Grab Threatens Food Security: [WWI] Study
Regarding the genetic modification of food:
- 2011/07/25: TreeHugger: Hungary Destroys All GM Maize Fields - Farmers Claim Ignorance Over Banned Seeds
And how are we going to feed 9 billion?
- 2011/07/29: SciAm:PI: Food: Knowing Where it's Growing
- 2011/07/27: NYT: The Permaculture Movement Grows From Underground
- 2011/07/26: FAO: Opening Note: Online Consultation on the CFS [Committee on World Food Security] Global Strategic Framework
- 2011/07/28: FAO: Influence food security and nutrition governance -- New online consultation on food security and nutrition launched
- 2011/07/28: TreeHugger: Iowa Eclipses Canada in Grain Production, Challenges China in Soybean Production by Lester Brown
- 2011/07/28: TreeHugger: UK Growing Its Own Tea, Olives & Hot Peppers As Climate Warms
- 2011/07/27: MSU: Farmers more likely to be green if they talk to their neighbors, according to MSU research
- 2011/07/27: Guardian(UK): Fungi could protect rice against climate change, researchers say
Inoculating rice seeds with fungi makes the plants tolerant of conditions which may become common as the climate changes - 2011/07/26: Maribo: Organic vs. conventional agriculture
- 2011/07/25: IaState: ISU research: Corn yields with perennial cover crop are equal to traditional farming
- 2011/07/25: NBF: Future food security requires accelerating the rate of wheat yield improvement
- 2011/07/25: Fraunhofer: Saving fuel while plowing
- 2011/07/23: NYT: Bad Food? Tax It, and Subsidize Vegetables
This week we had Don in the Caribbean, with Nock-Ten and Muifa in the Western Pacific:
- 2011/07/29: Wunderground: Don closing in on Texas; 91L a potential threat to the Lesser Antilles
- 2011/07/28: Wunderground: Don battling dry air and wind shear
- 2011/07/28: Eureka: NASA eyes Tropical Storm Nock-Ten's heavy rains for Hainan Island and Vietnam
- 2011/07/28: Eureka: NASA identifies the areas of Tropical Storm Muifa's strength
- 2011/07/29: CSM: Tropical Storm Don moving closer to Texas
- 2011/07/29: Wunderground: Tropical Storm Don close to landfall; 91L tracks west
- 2011/07/29: Eureka: Tropical Storm Don analyzed in 3 NASA satellite images
- 2011/07/29: Eureka: Tropical Storm Muifa appears huge on NASA infrared imagery
- 2011/07/28: PlanetArk: Tropical Storm Don Forms over Gulf of Mexico
- 2011/07/28: Wunderground: Tropical Storm Don unimpressive so far
- 2011/07/27: Wunderground: Tropical Storm Don forms in the Gulf of Mexico
- 2011/07/28: Eureka: GOES-13 satellite movie shows formation of Tropical Storm Don -- Tropical Storm Don may bring drought relief to south Texas
- 2011/07/28: Eureka: Tropical Depression 11W moving past Yap and Guam
- 2011/07/27: Eureka: NASA measures heavy rain in Tropical Storm Nock-Ten over Philippines
- 2011/07/30: Wunderground: Not a trace of Don; What's next?
- 2011/07/27: CNN: Slow-moving Tropical Storm Juaning kills 27 in Philippines
Tropical Storm Juaning made landfall early Wednesday - The storm killed 27, and more than 60 were reported injured or missing - The storm will continue to move through the island nation throughout the week - 2011/07/27: Eureka: NASA sees dramatic temperatures around Tropical Depression 11W [in Western Pacific]
- 2011/07/27: Eureka: NASA sees Tropical Storm Nock-ten knocking the Philippines
- 2011/07/25: Eureka: Tropical Depression 10W bringing rain to the Philippines
- 2011/07/26: CBC: Philippines [Tropical Storm Nock-ten] leaves at least 8 dead
As for GHGs:
- 2011/07/28: Eureka: New study outlines economic and environmental benefits to reducing nitrogen pollution
- 2011/07/28: EurActiv: Report: Recession helped clean Europe's air
Air pollution plunged across Europe in 2009 as reduced energy demand lowered emissions from public power plants in countries such as Bulgaria, Poland, Romania and Spain, new research shows. The drop was steepest for sulphur oxides (SOx), with emissions plummeting by 21% between 2008 and 2009. But emissions of other key pollutants from the electricity generating sector also tailed off, with nitrogen oxides (NOx) and primary particulate matter (PM) emissions both falling by around 10%. - 2011/07/25: Grist: Infographic - Where do greenhouse gases come from?
Yes we have feedbacks:
- 2011/07/27: MBL: Scientists Report Dramatic Carbon Loss From Massive Arctic Wildfire -- Impacts could have profound implications on atmospheric carbon and climate
- 2011/07/29: SciAm: Huge 2007 tundra fire seen as ominous sign for climate
A wildfire that burned over 400 square miles of Alaska tundra in the scorching summer of 2007 poured as much carbon into the atmosphere as the entire Arctic normally absorbs each year, according to a new study in the scientific journal Nature. - 2011/07/28: ABC(Au): Arctic fires may accelerate global warming
- 2011/07/28: BBC: Huge Arctic fire hints at new climate cue
An exceptional wildfire in northern Alaska in 2007 put as much carbon into the air as the entire Arctic tundra absorbs in a year, scientists say. The Anaktuvuk River fire burned across more than 1,000 sq km (400 sq miles), doubling the extent of Alaskan tundra visited by fire since 1950. - 2011/07/27: Eureka: Largest recorded tundra fire yields scientific surprises
In 2007 the largest recorded tundra fire in the circumpolar arctic released approximately as much carbon into the atmosphere as the tundra has stored in the previous 50 years, say scientists in the July 28 issue of the journal Nature. The study of the Anaktuvuk River fire on Alaska's North Slope revealed how rapidly a single tundra fire can offset or reverse a half-century worth of soil-stored carbon. - 2011/07/28: ERW: Aerosols must be considered by climate models
The cooling effect of aerosols in the stratosphere must be accounted for properly by computer models of Earth's climate, say climate scientists in the US who have modelled how tiny particles in the stratosphere contribute to the planet's heat balance. Otherwise, models will overestimate future global warming, assuming that the background concentration of these aerosols remains at least as high as it is at present. - 2011/07/26: NBF: Fixing Black Carbon / Soot pollution will save lives and reduce global warming
Regarding ozone:
- 2011/07/26: ERabett: Isaac Held Catches Up With Eli
- 2011/07/26: IsaacHeld: 15. Fluctuations and responses
While in the paleoclimate:
- 2011/07/27: SciAm:HoG: The Younger Dryas Impact Hypothesis
- 2011/07/27: ITracker: Out of the safe zone
- 2011/07/26: SkeptiSci: Earth's Climate History: Implications for Tomorrow by James Hansen
- 2011/07/25: DM:80B: Did Methane Cause the Mass Extinction That Made Way for the Dinosaurs?
And the State of the Oceans:
- 2011/07/26: Grist: Chesapeake Bay dead zone could be the largest ever
What's new on the extinction front?
- 2011/07/29: CCurrents: Where Have The Birds Gone?
- 2011/07/29: CSM: Disgusting sea creature [hagfish] threatened with extinction
More GW impacts are being seen:
- 2011/07/28: Eureka: Warming climate could give exotic grasses edge over natives -- Invasive grasses are better equipped than natives to deal with increasing temperatures
And then there are the world's forests:
- 2011/07/26: Eureka: Reforestation's cooling influence -- a result of farmer's past choices
- 2011/07/26: TreeHugger: WWF Responds to Global Witness' "Pandering to the Loggers" Report
- 2011/07/25: TreeHugger: Is WWF Selling Out Endangered Forests to Corporations?
- 2011/07/25: BBC:RB: Twin track for forest assurance
This week in extreme weather:
- 2011/07/27: al Jazeera: Extreme weather: the new normal
Climate experts link current droughts, heat waves, and extreme weather events to climate change. - 2011/07/26: Wunderground: The nine billion-dollar weather disasters of 2011 (so far); Invest 90L rises again
On the tornado front:
- 2011/07/30: ProMedMail: Mucormycosis, fatal - USA (02): (MO) tornado-related
As for heatwaves and wild fires:
- 2011/07/28: NASA: NASA Measures [Northern Ontario] Wildfire Pollution Pour Over Niagara Falls
- 2011/07/27: Guardian(UK): Hey Congress! Hot enough for you?
The heat wave hitting the east coast of the US is a reminder for Congress of the future temperatures in store for Washington if it continues to fail to act on climate change - 2011/07/25: NatureN: Climate change ignites wildfire fears for Yellowstone
Increased temperatures could bring large blazes every year from the middle of this century. - 2011/07/25: DeSmogBlog: Forget Tornadoes. Lets Talk--Unendingly--About Heat Waves and Global Warming
- 2011/07/25: Wunderground: A heat wave recap; generally quiet tropics
- 2011/07/25: CBC: Northern Ontario fire crews get weather break
Fire crews battling a number of forest fires burning through northwestern Ontario are finally getting a break in the weather as cooler, wetter conditions reach the region. But officials cautioned Monday there are still major challenges to be met before the nearly 3,600 residents forced from their homes due to the threat of the fires are able to return home. Despite the change in weather over the weekend, there are still more than 100 fires burning in the area... - 2011/07/24: SciNow: Coral Genome Reveals Tiny Helper
Acidification is changing the oceans:
- 2011/07/30: ClimateShifts: Meeting report available on ocean acidification and its impacts
Glaciers are melting:
- 2011/07/27: Grist: Ice crisis: How disappearing glaciers devastate communities [video]
These 100, 200, 500 year deluges are becoming all too frequent:
- 2011/07/28: CNN: Historic rains kill at least 49 in South Korea
Rain falling at a rate of two inches an hour in some areas - Agency says 49 dead after downpours and landslides - Five neighborhoods outside Seoul are under evacuation orders - Officials have been able to restore power to thousands - 2011/07/27: CNN: Historic rains kill at least 36 in South Korea
'Water bombs' drench South Korea - Yonhap reports 36 are dead because of the downpours - Dozens remain missing, the report says - Landslides and flooded streets destroy homes, snarl traffic - 2011/07/27: BBC: South Korea hit by fatal landslides
At least 32 people have been killed in landslides in South Korea, as heavy rain deluged homes and caused chaos across northern areas of the country. - 2011/07/27: CBC: South Korea landslides leave 32 dead
A blast of heavy rain sent landslides barrelling through South Korea's capital and a northern town Wednesday, killing at least 32 people, including 10 college students doing volunteer work. - 2011/07/27: al Jazeera: South Korea hit by deadly mudslides
Rescue workers helping those trapped and searching for missing people in two different parts of the country. At least 17 people have been killed after two separate landslides hit South Korea, officials say.
[...]
South Korea has been buffeted by strong rain this week: about 400mm of rain fell in Seoul in just 17 hours starting on Tuesday afternoon. - 2011/07/29: TreeHugger: Firefighters Rescue 1,000-Year-Old Tree From Drought
- 2011/07/28: TCoE: Dubuque is Latin for monsoon
- 2011/07/30: EnergyBulletin: Surf's up - are you ready for global storming? - the Bathtub Effect
- 2011/07/27: FAO: Pakistan floods - a year later -- Smallholders helped back on their feet - but further support needed
- 2011/07/28: UN: A year after Pakistan's devastating floods, UN continues effort to help rebuild lives
- 2011/07/27: UN: One year on, Pakistan's flood survivors need continued support, UN agency says
- 2011/07/27: Wunderground: Drought continues; Yellowstone fires could become more frequent; 90L set to develop
- 2011/07/25: TreeHugger: Drought Brings Texas Homes Falling Well Levels & Sinking Foundations
Consider transportation & GHG production:
- 2011/07/22: AlterNet: Why Do Conservatives Hate High-Speed Rail? 5 Reasons Right-Wingers Are Sabotaging Public Transportation Projects
- 2011/07/26: CalcRisk: ATA Trucking index increased 2.8% in June
- 2011/07/26: SlashDot: The Electric Airplane Is Coming
While in the endless quest for zero energy, sustainable buildings and practical codes:
- 2011/07/26: TP:JR: Which Emits the Most CO2 in Home Construction: Steel, Concrete or Timber?
As for carbon sequestration:
- 2011/07/26: ITRacker: Hell freezes over
- 2011/07/25: Guardian(UK): Carbon capture and utilisation could make economic sense
Large scale geo-engineering keeps popping up:
- 2011/07/26: GEB: The way back to 280 ppm
- 2011/07/28: GEP: Bill Clinton Champions White Roofs
- 2011/07/25: TheEcologist: Sceptics told they'd be 'foolish' to ignore potential of geoengineering
As global climate talks stall, calls for more trials of ideas to alter the world's climate known as 'geoengineering' are likely to grow - 2011/07/26: TreeHugger: Arguments Against White Roofs in Northern Cities are Specious, Revisited
- 2011/07/25: Grist: Painting roofs white could save a year's worth of emissions
Meanwhile in the journals:
- 2011/07/29: Science: (ab$) Sr-Nd-Pb Isotope Evidence for Ice-Sheet Presence on Southern Greenland During the Last Interglacial by Elizabeth J. Colville et al.
- 2011/07/28: CP: Holocene evolution of summer winds and marine productivity in the tropical Indian Ocean in response to insolation forcing: data-model comparison by F. C. Bassinot et al.
- 2011/07/26: CP: Tropical seaways played a more important role than high latitude seaways in Cenozoic cooling by Z. Zhang et al.
- 2011/07/25: CPD: Climatically-controlled siliceous productivity in the eastern Gulf of Guinea during the last 40,000 yr by X. Crosta et al.
- 2011/07/29: ACPD: Short lived climate forcers from current shipping and petroleum activities in the Arctic by K. Ãdemark et al.
- 2011/07/28: TCD: Basal crevasses in Larsen C Ice Shelf and implications for their global abundance by A. Luckman et al.
- 2011/07/28: Ingenta:LI&T: (ab$) The Regulation of Climate Engineering by Jesse Reynolds
- 2011/07/26: ACP: Aerosol modelling in Europe with a focus on Switzerland during summer and winter episodes by S. Aksoyoglu et al.
- 2011/07/25: ACP: Large Asian dust layers continuously reached North America in April 2010 by I. Uno et al.
- 2011/07/25: ACP: Inverse modeling of cloud-aerosol interactions - Part 1: Detailed response surface analysis by D. G. Partridge et al.
- 2011/07/25: ACP: Impacts of global, regional, and sectoral black carbon emission reductions on surface air quality and human mortality by S. C. Anenberg et al.
- 2011/07/25: ACP: A spectral method for retrieving cloud optical thickness and effective radius from surface-based transmittance measurements by P. J. McBride et al.
- 2011/07/28: ACPD: Projected change in atmospheric nitrogen deposition to the Baltic Sea towards 2020 by C. Geels et al.
- 2011/07/28: ACPD: Complex refractive indices of Saharan dust samples at visible and near UV wavelengths: a laboratory study by R. Wagner et al.
- 2011/07/28: ACPD: Link between local scale BC emissions and large scale atmospheric solar absorption by P. S. Praveen et al.
- 2011/07/27: ACPD: Multi-scale meteorological conceptual model of observed active fire hotspot activity and smoke optical depth in the Maritime Continent by J. S. Reid et al.
- 2011/07/25: ACPD: Direct and semi-direct radiative forcing of smoke aerosols over clouds by E. M. Wilcox
- 2011/07/14: ERL: The paper trail of the C13 of atmospheric CO2 since the industrial revolution period by Dan Yakir
- 2011/07/26: GSAToday: Understanding Earth's eroding surface with 10Be by Eric W. Portenga & Paul R. Bierman
- 2011/07/26: PNAS: (ab$) Social-ecological interactions, management panaceas, and the future of wild fish populations by Brett T. van Poorten et al.
- 2011/07/26: PNAS: (abs) Comparative transcriptome and metabolite analysis of oil palm and date palm mesocarp that differ dramatically in carbon partitioning by Fabienne Bourgis et al.
- 2011/07/26: PNAS: (abs) Clone history shapes Populus drought responses by Sherosha Raj et al.
- 2011/07/26: PNAS: (ab$) Genetic diversity and population structure of the endangered marsupial Sarcophilus harrisii (Tasmanian devil) by Webb Miller et al.
- 2011/07/26: PNAS: (ab$) Soils on exposed Sunda Shelf shaped biogeographic patterns in the equatorial forests of Southeast Asia by J. W. Ferry Slik et al.
- 2011/07/26: PNAS: (ab$) Recent ecological responses to climate change support predictions of high extinction risk by Ilya M. D. Maclean & Robert J. Wilson
- 2011/07/26: PNAS: (abs) Aerosol-cloud-precipitation system as a predator-prey problem by Ilan Koren & Graham Feingold
- 2011/07/26: PNAS: (ab$) Observations of nucleation of new particles in a volcanic plume by Julien Boulon et al.
- 2011/07/26: PNAS: (letter$) Secrets of palm oil biosynthesis revealed by Toni Voelker
- 2011/07/26: GMDD: Validation of modelled forest biomass in Germany using BETHY/DLR by M. Tum et al.
- 2011/07/26: GMDD: A subgrid parameterization scheme for precipitation by S. Turner et al.
- 2011/07/25: TCD: A three-dimensional full Stokes model of the grounding line dynamics: effect of a pinning point beneath the ice shelf by L. Favier et al.
- 2011/07/25: CCP: Oxford Journals: key articles in environmental studies (free)
- 2011/07/25: AGWObserver: New research from last week 29/2011
- 2011/07/24: NatureCC: (ab$) Revolatilization of persistent organic pollutants in the Arctic induced by climate change by Jianmin Ma et al.
And other significant documents:
- 2011/07/27: CRU: [link to 6.9 meg zip file] Temperature station data
As for miscellaneous science:
- 2011/07/29: ABC(Au): Science plumbs depths to unravel climate change
Scientists say new monitoring stations in the seas off Darwin in the Northern Territory will help them better predict changes in climate. The three monitoring stations have been placed in the Timor Passage and Ombai Strait north of Darwin as part of an Australia-wide project to monitor ocean conditions. They are up to three kilometres long and stretch from the ocean floor to 40 metres below the surface. Researcher Bernadette Sloyan from the CSIRO says the stations contain a range of instruments to monitor how warm water from the Pacific Ocean influences Indian Ocean ecosystems. - 2011/07/30: TSoD: Statistics and Climate - Part Three - Autocorrelation
- 2011/07/29: SciAm:TSAI: Science Goes Guerilla in the U.S.
- 2011/07/28: TSoD: Statistics and Climate -- Part Two
- 2011/07/28: MGS: Best Frenemies
- 2011/07/28: ScienceInsider: U.K. Parliament Panel Reviews Peer Review
- 2011/07/28: BBC: Peer-review in science 'can be improved', MPs report
MPs have recommended improvements to the way scientific papers are checked before they are published. The House of Commons Science and Technology Committee report said this "peer-review" process of science journals should be more transparent. Their recommendations include making scientific data publicly available, and formal training for reviewers. Their report also recommends the appointment of an oversight body to ensure integrity in science research. - 2011/07/27: ScienceInsider: Researchers Question NSF's Changes to Merit Review Criteria
- 2011/07/26: MTobis: Computation and Prediction
- 2011/07/26: NatureN: US federal agency loosens peer-review rules
Changes at US Geological Survey will make it easier for government Earth scientists to publish externally - 2011/07/24: Maribo: Is it time to start holding virtual conferences? The case of the International Coral Reef Symposium
Regarding Spencer:
- 2011/07/29: RealClimate: "Misdiagnosis of Surface Temperature Feedback"
- 2011/07/29: TP:JR: Climate Scientists Debunk Latest Bunk by Denier Roy Spencer
- 2011/07/29: DM:BA: No, new data does not "blow a gaping hole in global warming alarmism"
- 2011/07/28: CCentral: Global Warming Debunked! Or...not.
- 2011/07/29: Grist: Climate scientists blow gaping hole in 'NASA data' paper
- 2011/07/27: Stoat: Spencer and the Mystery Journal
- 2011/07/26: BBickmore: Just Put the Model Down, Roy
Meanwhile at the UN:
- 2011/07/29: UN: UNICEF faces a $50 million shortfall in aid to victims of Pakistani floods
- 2011/07/28: Guardian(UK): In defence of the IPCC: critics ignore the real scandal
The idea of a carbon tax is still bouncing around:
- 2011/07/28: Grist: Could a carbon tax help solve our budget woes?
The debate over the optimal strategy [carbon trading, carbon offsets, auction vs. allocation, cap and trade, cap and dividend, tradable energy quotas and/or a carbon tax] to use in dealing with GHGs continues:
- 2011/07/30: MTobis: The Problem with a Carbon Tax
As the deadline for applying the EU-ETS to airlines draws near, we will see who is serious about reducing carbon emissions:
- 2011/07/27: NYT: U.S. and Europe Battle Over Carbon Fees for Airlines
- 2011/07/28: DerSpiegel: Emissions in the EU -- US Vilifies Carbon-Trading Scheme for Airlines
Starting in 2012, airlines with flights to the EU will have to pay for certificates to emit CO2. But the United States has balked at the expensive plan. Their resistance threatens to spark a majar trade dispute. - 2011/07/26: al Jazeera: China dives deeper in resource race
Submersible conducts country's deepest manned dive that points to its fast-growing technical capabilities. - 2011/07/24: SwissInfo: Climate change "endangers global security"
Climate change poses a major threat to future global peace and security, warns Swiss conflict specialist Kurt Spillmann. His comments followed a heated debate in the United Nations Security Council earlier this week on whether the environment was a security matter meriting the attention of the 15-nation body. "Climate change is not an immediate motivation for conflict between states," Spillmann, former head of the Center for Security Studies in Zurich, told swissinfo.ch "But it is creating stress on large parts of Africa, Southeast Asia and in the Americas, and leads to tensions between groups and regions and results in large streams of environmental refugees." "And that in turn creates insecurity between populations. We have little experience of these kind of threats to security." - 2011/07/26: Grist: Green is the new red: environmental activists under attack
What are the activists up to?
- 2011/07/27: CCP: We Won't Be Intimidated.
Next month in St. Louis, Rising Tide North America plans to bring this climate fight to Peabody Energy and Arch Coal's front door - 2011/07/28: SF Gate: Poll: Californians favor more alternative energy
Regarding Water Politics and Business:
- 2011/07/29: al Jazeera: Can water end the Arab-Israeli conflict?
- 2011/07/29: PlanetArk: Palestinians Fear For Ancient West Bank Water Source
- 2011/07/28: AlterNet: Why Governments Are on the Hook to Ensure Clean, Safe Water for Everyone
- 2011/07/27: CCP: Kern County, Calif., water becoming scarcer and rights misused -- Storing Water for a Dry Day Leads to Suits
- 2011/07/30: JFleck: The Ag Irrigation Conservation Paradox
- 2011/07/25: BPA: Important to Keep in Mind: How Much Water is Needed to Produce Future Energy?
- 2011/07/25: JFleck: Sierras and the Colorado Basin: We're All In This Together
- 2011/07/24: JFleck: Rainwater Harvesting in New Mexico
And on the American political front:
- 2011/07/29: PlanetArk: California Offset Frustration Continues
- 2011/07/29: Grist: We can save $78 billion by ending oil and gas subsidies
- 2011/07/28: Grist: CBO: Clean energy standards are an affordable way to cut emissions
- 2011/07/28: NYT: Slow Stirrings Among Conservatives on Adaptation -- Just Don't Mention Climate Change
- 2011/07/28: Grist: Could a carbon tax help solve our budget woes?
- 2011/07/29: Grist: Smart ALEC: How corporations screw you over behind closed doors
- 2011/07/27: TP:JR: CBO: Clean Energy Standards Are an Affordable Way to Cut Carbon Emissions
- 2011/07/28: TP:JR: Coast Guard Testifies It's Totally Unprepared for an Arctic Oil Spill: "We Have Zero to Operate With at Present."
- 2011/07/27: TreeHugger: "Carbon Sink" Sculpture by Student Becomes Controversy Among State Legislators
- 2011/07/26: TP:JR: Oklahoma, Where the Governor Tells Residents To Pray For Rain; Oklahoma, Where the Senator Mocks the Deadly Heat Wave
- 2011/07/26: DeSmogBlog: Chesapeake "Declaration of Energy Independence": NAT GAS Act Embodied
- 2011/07/25: TP:JR: Wyoming Coal Executives and Lawmakers Are Offended by Art Linking Coal, Climate Change and Bark Beetle Infestation
- 2011/07/25: Grist: Industry threatens university over anti-coal sculpture
The BP disaster continues to twist US politics:
- 2011/07/25: NewsWithViews: The Great Gulf Coast Holocaust Part 3
- 2011/07/27: PlanetArk: BP Plans Slow Return To Gulf Drilling
- 2011/07/26: PlanetArk: BP Wins Two Deepwater Blocks In Caribbean
- 2011/07/25: PlanetArk: U.S. Delays Final Report On BP Oil Spill Probe
For a non-American, sometimes it is hard to believe these 'candidates' are for real:
- 2011/07/29: Guardian(UK): Jon Huntsman may be setting himself up as Republican green kamikaze
Republicans running for the White House in 2012 are running as fast they can to discard their reputations as environmentalists. But not Jon Huntsman - 2011/07/29: FAIR: Where Does Press Set Bar for Bachmann?
- 2011/07/26: QuarkSoup: Please Stop Misconstruing Poor Newt
A statement worth noting:
- 2011/07/27: CCP: Lee Fang: Rep. Mike Rogers (R-AL) -- If We Take The Senate And White House In 2012, The EPA Will Be 'Discontinued'
The EIA is having trouble with a partial report on subsidies:
- 2011/07/29: DeSmogBlog: EIA's Politically Dictated "Garbage" Subsidy Report Obtained And Released Publicly
- 2011/07/28: DeSmogBlog: EIA Head Objected to Politically Dictated "Garbage" Subsidy Report, But Delivers it Anyway
- 2011/07/26: TP:JR: EIA Delays Study on Energy Subsidies Due to 'Quality Assurance': A Pushback Against Politically Dictated Research?
The administration revealed its fuel economy standard this week: 54.5 mpg by 2025 with loopholes:
- 2011/07/29: Guardian(UK): Barack Obama unveils 'historic' agreement on fuel economy standards
Deal agreed with automakers requires cars and light trucks to average 54.5mpg by 2025 in bid to wean the country off oil imports - 2011/07/28: TP:JR: Obama Fuel Efficiency Deal Could Provide an 'Out' for Detroit
- 2011/07/29: UCSUSA: UCS Applauds Obama Administration Agreement on Fuel Efficiency & Auto Pollution Standards
- 2011/07/29: Grist: Impact of EPA regs on power industry may be even milder than typically projected
- 2011/07/29: NatureNB: Obama announces new automobile efficiency standards
- 2011/07/29: TreeHugger: White House Unveils New 2025 Fuel Economy Standards
- 2011/07/29: AutoBG: New CAFE rules for 2025: How 54.5 mpg generates a lot of numbers (and opposition from VW)
- 2011/07/29: BBC: Fuel efficiency: US and car makers agree to new standard
Major carmakers have agreed new fuel efficiency standards proposed by the Obama administration in an effort to end the dominance of gas guzzlers. They have agreed that by 2025, cars and light trucks sold in the US will drive on average 54.5 miles per gallon (mpg) of fuel, compared with 27 mpg today. - 2011/07/27: CSM: Detroit goes green? Carmakers must average 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025
- 2011/07/27: TreeHugger: 54.5 MPG by 2025: 6 Major Carmakers Endorse Obama's Fuel Efficiency Plan
The Obama chatter is nonstop:
- 2011/07/28: TP:JR: Debt of a Salesman: Obama, Democrats Poised to Embrace Deal that May Slash Energy, Enviro Spending for Many, Many Years
- 2011/07/26: CSW: Report to President calls for assessment of US ecosystem services and sustainability trends
- 2011/07/25: TP:JR: Grading Obama on the Environment: F
- 2011/07/25: Grist: Everyone thinks Obama is doing a bad job on the environment
- 2011/07/25: TreeHugger: President Obama's Environmental Record: Good on Fuel Efficiency, Not So Good on Climate & Energy
The actions of the Obama administration are being watched closely:
- 2011/07/29: ProPublica: EPA Proposes New Rules on Emissions Released by Fracking
- 2011/07/28: TP:JR: FERC Helps Line Up Clean Energy Projects with New Rule
- 2011/07/27: Grist: Destroying nature so people can look at nature in Yosemite Park
- 2011/07/26: UCSUSA: White House Should Let EPA Do Its Job on Ozone
The Obama administration's foot-dragging on establishing a new, science-based standard for exposure to ground-level ozone pollution -- the main component of smog -- is unacceptable, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS). - 2011/07/28: TreeHugger: Third of Offshore Oil & Gas Inspectors Disqualified For Potential Conflicts of Interest
- 2011/07/27: PlanetArk: EPA Delays Smog Rule For Fourth Time
- 2011/07/27: NOAANews: NOAA administrator [Dr. Jane Lubchenco] wins 2011 Blue Planet Prize
- 2011/07/25: PlanetArk: U.S. State Department To Assess [Keystone XL] Canada Oil Pipe Next Month
As for what is going on in Congress:
- 2011/07/29: TP:JR: Military Leaders Want to Save Money and Lives with Clean Energy, While GOP Leaders Want to Stop Them
- 2011/07/29: TP:JR: Finally, Some Bi-Partisanship on Clean Energy in Congress: PACE Financing Returns
- 2011/07/28: ScienceInsider: House Strikes Proposed Ban on Endangered Species Listings
- 2011/07/30: TP:JR: The Most Anti-Environment House in History: How is Your Representative Voting?
- 2011/07/29: CSW: Annals of the Republican war on EPA regulation of coal, cont'd...
- 2011/07/28: CCP: Pentagon Doesn't Want Dirty Fuels No Matter How Much Congress Loves Them
- 2011/07/28: CCP: Ten Least Wanted Provisions Of The Interior And Environment Appropriations Bill
- 2011/07/28: CCP: Republicans File Wacky Amendments to Interior and Environment Spending Bill
- 2011/07/28: TP:JR: Terrible Summer Sequels: Republicans Re-Hash Tired Political Theater Around Environmental Issues
- 2011/07/28: TP:JR: As GOP-Led House Weakens the Clean Air Act, New TV Ad Shows Who Gets Hurt
- 2011/07/27: Grist: Conservatives try to force military to accept dirty fuels it doesn't want
- 2011/07/28: NatureNB: Regulations, appropriations and coal-fired power plants
- 2011/07/27: NatureNB: House Republicans target international climate funding
- 2011/07/28: NatureN: What does the US debt ceiling debate mean for science? Across-the-board budget cut would hit science agencies hard
- 2011/07/27: NYT: Republicans Seek Big Cuts in Environmental Rules
- 2011/07/27: PlanetArk: House Passes Bill To Speed Up Oil Sands Pipe Review
- 2011/07/27: TreeHugger: Keystone XL Tar Sands Pipeline Incoming? House Passes Bill Mandating Decision Within 4 Months
- 2011/07/25: RawStory: House spending bill slashes environmental protections
- 2011/07/26: CBC: Canadian firm's oilsands pipeline debated in U.S.
Lawmakers in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives voted Tuesday night to approve a bill that would force U.S. President Barack Obama to make a decision on TransCanada's Keystone XL pipeline by Nov. 1. The U.S. State Department is reviewing the $7-billion US pipeline proposal, with a preliminary environmental assessment expected by mid-August. The pipeline would transport Alberta oilsands crude through the American heartland to refineries on the Gulf Coast. The State Department's final decision on the project is expected by the end of the year. - 2011/07/26: TP:JR: Fort Monroe Under Siege From Big Oil, Kochs, Tea Party
- 2011/07/25: CCP: Congresswoman Betty McCollum Calls Republican Environmental Appropriations Legislation (H.R. 2584) "Toxic," Dangerous to Human Health
- 2011/07/25: CCP: GOP congress HR 2584 is a complete wish list for corrupt polluting industries...
- 2011/07/25: UCSUSA: On Heels of Heat Wave, House To Vote on Amendments That Could Worsen Global Warming
Riders to Appropriations Bill Would Prevent EPA From Setting Limits on Climate Change Emissions - 2011/07/26: MTobis: Mr. Gore Finds the Link
While in the UK:
- 2011/07/29: PlanetArk: UK Solar Plants Soar Ahead Of Government Tariff Cuts
- 2011/07/29: BBC: The Woodland Trust is searching for a 500-acre site to plant half-a-million trees in a flagship woodland that will celebrate the Queen's Diamond Jubilee
- 2011/07/28: PlanetArk: UK Government To Plug Solar Tariff Loophole
- 2011/07/28: BBC: UK launches woodland carbon code
The UK Forestry Commission has published guidelines for schemes that plant trees in order to absorb carbon. - 2011/07/26: EurActiv: Carmakers to get carbon credits for 'eco-innovation'
Car manufacturers will receive CO2 emissions credits if their new cars are fitted with approved 'eco-innovations' under legislation adopted by the European Commission yesterday (25 July). The credits, for innovations that reduce carbon emissions, will be usable within the EU's emissions trading scheme (ETS). - 2011/07/26: TreeHugger: Germany Passes More Aggressive Renewables Law, Bucks Rumors
- 2011/07/25: Guardian(UK): Conservative MEPs get transparency - but not climate change
Unlike others, Tories in the European Parliament make public their meetings with lobbyists. So it's a shame this transparency shows heavy lobbying against the climate targets they voted down - 2011/07/24: Grist: Germany passes new renewable energy law for 2012, raises targets and payments
Meanwhile in Australia:
- 2011/07/29: ClimateShifts: Unravelling a few of Australia's climate change myths
- 2011/07/29: ClimateShifts: Climate change inaction risks international credibility: Rudd
- 2011/07/28: ABC(Au):TDU: Unravelling a few of Australia's climate change myths
- 2011/07/30: PeakEnergy: Origin Energy Approves First Stage of $20 Billion Australia Pacific LNG Project
- 2011/07/28: PeakEnergy: Santos bid lights up coal seam gas sector
- 2011/07/27: ABC(Au): Act now or face disasters: climate report
- 2011/07/26: ACC: Illawarra/NSW south coast climate change impacts
- 2011/07/26: ABC(Au): Report warns of climate change devastation
The Australian Climate Commission says the Illawarra region, on the New South Wales south coast, is facing devastating bushfires, floods and loss of biodiversity by the year 2100 if it does not act on climate change. The commission has released its report today into the impact of climate change in the region, titled The Critical Decade: Illawarra and South Coast Impacts. - 2011/07/25: ABC(Au): Gillard argued for bipartisan climate deal [under Rudd]: report
- 2011/07/25: ABC(Au): Solar power shut down in far north SA
Now that the Australian carbon plan has been released, the wrangling is moving into high gear:
- 2011/07/29: ABC(Au): Gillard rejects 'carbon cops' criticism
Prime Minister Julia Gillard has rejected strident Opposition criticism of the so-called carbon cops, the officials who will be appointed to police pollution levels from industry. The draft legislation for the scheme to put a price on carbon was released on Thursday, including the details of the regulation mechanism. - 2011/07/29: ABC(Au): Carbon tax fears not stopping gas project: [Federal Trade Minister, Craig] Emerson
- 2011/07/28: ABC(Au): Government reveals carbon price draft [legislation]
- 2011/07/31: ABC(Au): Carbon tax protesters march in Sydney
- 2011/07/31: ABC(Au): British PM praises Gillard's carbon tax
- 2011/07/27: ABC(Au): Abbott takes carbon campaign to NSW north-west
- 2011/07/27: ABC(Au): Farmers raise food concerns over carbon scheme
The National Farmers Federation (NFF) says the Federal Government's carbon farming scheme has the potential to become so popular with primary producers that it could affect the nation's food security. - 2011/07/26: ABC(Au): Abbott to take carbon tax fight to Rockhampton
- 2011/07/26: ABC(Au): Greens attack Abbott's carbon tax forum
A Mackay spokesman for the Greens says the Federal Opposition Leader is avoiding scrutiny of the Opposition's proposed alternative to the carbon tax. - 2011/07/26: ABC(Au): Union happy with Combet carbon tax briefing
- 2011/07/25: ABC(Au): Voters warming to carbon tax: poll
After a 10 year drought and recent massive flooding, water usage planning is controversial and difficult:
- 2011/07/29: ABC(Au): Call to overhaul Wivenhoe rule book
- 2011/07/29: ABC(Au): Local catchment groups to manage water
A South Australian member of the Murray-Darling Basin Authority has given an insight into what will be contained in the new Basin plan. An earlier one was scrapped due to widespread opposition and a new draft plan is expected to be released next month. - 2011/07/27: ABC(Au): Heed the science, urges SA on Murray's future
While in the Indian subcontinent:
- 2011/07/27: TP:JR: With Cabinet Reshuffle, is India Taking a New Approach to Climate Policy?
- 2011/07/26: al Jazeera: Who pollutes: The rich or the poor? by Vandana Shiva
India's prime minister is allowing India's environment to be destroyed in order to cater to powerful foreign investors. - 2011/07/25: BBC: India announces environment regulator
And elsewhere in Asia:
- 2011/07/27: al Jazeera: Pakistanis worried by new flood warnings
There are fears of another crisis following last year's disaster which displaced millions. - 2011/07/25: PlanetArk: Indonesia Green Power Steams Ahead As Economy Booms
In the Middle East:
- 2011/07/29: al Jazeera: Can water end the Arab-Israeli conflict?
Could solving the water crisis in Israel and Palestine also help resolve the entrenched occupation and conflict?
Around three weeks ago on a late Tuesday morning, Israeli soldiers armed with a truck and a digger entered the Palestinian village of Amniyr and destroyed nine water tanks. One week later, Israeli forces demolished water wells and water pumps in the villages of Al-Nasaryah, Al-Akrabanyah and Beit Hassan in the Jordan Valley. In Bethlehem, a severe water shortage have led to riots in refugee camps and forced hoteliers to pay over the odds for water just to stop tourists from leaving.
Palestinians insist that the Israeli occupation means that they are consistently denied their water rights which is why they have to live on 50 litres of water a day while Israeli settlers enjoy the luxury of 280 litres. Clearly, water is at the heart of the Israel-Palestine conflict, but commentators are now insisting that shared water problems could help motivate joint action and better co-operation between both sides, which could in turn help end the conflict. - 2011/07/29: PlanetArk: Palestinians Fear For Ancient West Bank Water Source
Hewn from rock, the cavernous cisterns which dot the desert beyond Bethlehem have for centuries harvested winter rain to provide shepherds and their flocks with water through summer. Under a baking sun, an elderly Bedouin explains how cisterns he remembers from childhood, many of them restored to full working order in the last few years, are once again helping his goat-herding community to survive. That, he concludes, is why the Israeli authorities who control the West Bank have demolished at least three in the area since November. - 2011/07/28: BBerg: Canada Won't Commit New Funding for Renewable-Energy Program, [Natural Resources Minister, Joe] Oliver Says
- 2011/07/28: PostMedia: Report questions value of federal clean energy initiatives
An internal federal report is raising questions about the value of some recent government spending on clean energy initiatives, including hundreds of millions of dollars in research funding for the fossil fuel industry that has produced few tangible results in terms of a reduction in emissions. The analysis, released to Postmedia News through access to information legislation, said that regulations, standards and other similar policy tools are the most cost-effective options for cracking down on industrial pollution. On the other hand, it said that a wide range of "incentive-based initiatives" was stimulating the economy and creating jobs, but was more expensive and less effective at reducing greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming. - 2011/07/27: Economist:AV: Canada's Arctic -- Don't stop believing
- 2011/07/28: CanEast: Canada's new national Energy policy: export it
- 2011/07/30: PostMedia: Canada overstating effect of greenhouse gas policies
The Conservative government is overestimating the effectiveness of some of its environmental policies aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and is nowhere near being able to meet its 2020 emissions target, according to an analysis published last week. The report, produced by an independent arm's-length agency, broke out eight specific federal policies and their estimates, and found that the government made reliable estimates for only three. The other five were "likely overestimated," according to the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy. - 2011/07/25: Enviralment: The New National Energy Program
The G20 controversy lingers:
- 2011/07/28: PaiD: Revelations Of Further Charter Rights' Violation At G20 Summit
The Tories are outdoing themselves this week. Clamping down on an artist:
- 2011/07/22: Nektarina: In support of democratic expression through art
- 2011/07/25: FrankeJames: Canadian Government Tries to Silence Franke James
- 2011/07/29: DeSmogBlog: Artist Franke James has Harper quaking in fear
- 2011/07/28: TStar: Artist sees red over government 'blacklisting'
- 2011/07/27: Tyee: Feds Tried to Sabotage Climate Change Art Show: Artist [Franke James]
Funding and embassy support dry up for Canadian's European exhibition, but DFAIT denies responsibility. - 2011/07/28: TreeHugger: Canadian Government Denies Interfering With Franke James' Climate Show
- 2011/07/27: 350orBust: Is The Kremlin Now In Charge? Harper Government Silencing Canadian Artists And Scientists
- 2011/07/25: CCP: PM Harper and his lackeys in the Canadian government attempt to silence Franke James for her art about the pollution and environmental destruction wrought by the tar sands
- 2011/07/25: OrwellsBastard: The Harper regime targets @frankejames
- 2011/07/25: TreeHugger: Canadian Government Tries To Silence Artist Franke James
The Tories are outdoing themselves this week, Part 2. Clamping down on a scientist:
- 2011/07/29: CBC: Federal scientist unfairly silenced, union says
The union representing tens of thousands of federal scientists says the Conservative government is unfairly silencing its members. The comments come after Kristi Miller, a researcher for the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, was banned from discussing her work with the media. Miller's research focuses on the decline of salmon stocks. In January, she was the lead author on an article in the journal Science that suggested the drop in numbers of sockeye salmon in B.C.'s Fraser River might be due to a viral infection. Reporters lined up to interview her, but the federal government barred her from speaking to the media. - 2011/07/28: ScienceInsider: Canadian Fish Scientist 'Muzzled' by Government
- 2011/07/28: SeattlePI: Canada silences a salmon expert
- 2011/07/27: TMoS: Diabolical Prime Minister Caught Muzzling Scientists - Again
- 2011/07/27: DawgsBlawg: Harper vs. science, Ch.376
- 2011/07/27: POGGE: Media Fail [Kristi Miller]
- 2011/07/27: SlashDot: Canadian Government Muzzling Scientists
- 2011/07/26: PostMedia: Feds silence scientist over West Coast salmon study
Top bureaucrats in Ottawa have muzzled a leading fisheries scientist whose discovery could help explain why salmon stocks have been crashing off Canada's West Coast, according to documents obtained by Postmedia News. The documents show the Privy Council Office, which supports the Prime Minister's Office, stopped Kristi Miller from talking about one of the most significant discoveries to come out of a federal fisheries lab in years. - 2011/07/26: LFR: Another Canadian muzzled by Harper [Kristi Miller]
The battle over the Keystone XL and Northern Gateway pipelines rages on:
- 2011/07/29: DeSmogBlog: The Many Problems With Tar Sands Pipelines
- 2011/07/28: CBC: Alberta pipeline owner asks to reopen after spill
- 2011/07/29: G&M: Natural resources minister tries to sway U.S. on controversial Keystone pipeline
Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver spent part of this week trying to convince the Americans to approve an extension of a controversial pipeline that would bring crude from the Alberta oilsands to the U.S. Gulf Coast. Mr. Oliver met with in Washington with U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu, congressional representatives, senior officials and prominent business leaders. - 2011/07/26: CBC: Canadian firm's oilsands pipeline debated in U.S.
- 2011/07/27: PostMedia: Pipeline fuels looming political battle of the ages
Federal government, CEOs face off against first nations, environmentalists, Liberals, NDP over Northern Gateway - 2011/07/25: OilChange: Canada's "Pipeline Through Paradise"
A federal judge has given Environment Minister Peter Kent until Sept. 1 to release his promised caribou plan:
- 2011/07/29: CBC: Court orders caribou plan by September
A federal court judge in Edmonton has given Environment Minister Peter Kent until Sept. 1 to release his promised national recovery plan for caribou. Justice Peter Crampton says the federal government must revisit its refusal to issue an emergency order aimed at protecting the endangered caribou in the Alberta oilsands region. Kent will also have to explain his conclusions, Crampton wrote in a decision Friday. The judge said Jim Prentice, the former federal environment minister, never explained why he decided against an emergency order that would protect caribou habitat, although all available science pointed to the need for one. - 2011/07/29: PI: In fight to protect caribou, legal victory for Pembina increases pressure on Government of Canada to take action
- 2011/07/30: ChronicleHerald: Ottawa told to revisit refusal of caribou plan -- Court tells minister to explain decision
Another PR campaign coming out of the tar sands:
- 2011/07/31: HotTopic: The absurd "moral superiority" of tar sands oil
- 2011/07/29: TreeHugger: Canada's Ethical Oil Tar Sands Campaign Really Says 'Stay Addicted To Oil'
- 2011/07/29: PostMedia: Corbella: Ethical oil campaign aims to silence critics -- Website's ads hammer myths about Canada
When rational arguments and facts don't work, sometimes you need to deliver a visual baseball bat to the head. That's what Alykhan Velshi has created - seven grand-slam hits to knock some sense into the craniums of critics of the single greatest wealth and jobs generator in the country - Canada's oil and gas industry. - 2011/07/28: Guardian(UK): Canadian campaign puts the spin on 'ethical oil'
Tar sands website promotes a binary world where Canadian oil is 'ethical' and the rest is produced by 'oppressors' - 2011/07/28: G&M: Ex-Tory message maven tailors his spin to oil sands
Alykhan Velshi, a 27-year-old who established himself in Ottawa as a master of messaging and a crucial cog in the Conservative machine, has a new job -- he's out to polish the image of Canada's oil sands in the minds of freedom-loving people everywhere. - 2011/07/29: CBC: Northern B.C. fracking licence concerns critics
Critics are concerned that the B.C. government is allowing a natural gas company to draw water from a northern BC Hydro reservoir to use in a controversial technique called fracking. The government has approved a long-term water licence for Talisman Energy to draw water from Williston Lake, a BC Hydro reservoir in northern B.C. for the next 20 years. - 2011/07/28: CBC: Privacy commissioner investigates BC Hydro smart meters
- 2011/07/30: DeSmogBlog: Free Water for Fracking: B.C. Government Gives 20-Year Withdrawal Permit to Talisman
- 2011/07/25: PI: Why BC's carbon tax must rise
- 2011/07/27: TA: Those kooky Greens
- 2011/07/26: CCPA: Darkwoods, the murky world of carbon credits and a "carbon neutral" BC government
- 2011/07/25: Tyee: Why BC's Carbon Tax Must Rise -- Thinking about the climate when we debate climate policy
Meanwhile in that Mechanical Mordor known as the tar sands:
- 2011/07/29: NBF: Nsolv has a solvent based approach to the oilsands that uses no water and 85% less energy
- 2011/07/30: PostMedia: Picking up the pace in Alberta's oilsands
It was the first oilsands tour in memory where iconic giant mining trucks didn't hog the spotlight. And where imposing bitumen extraction, processing and upgrading facilities were relegated to footnote status. The unprecedented star of the show organized for journalists this week by a team of oilsands mining companies was tailings - the sand, silt, water, clay, residual oil and other substances left after bitumen is extracted and stored in man-made lakes. The toxic waters are more known as a black eye for the industry than a point of pride.
[...]
Only 1.28 per cent of tailings ponds has been reclaimed after more than 40 years of mining... - 2011/07/27: G&M: Under fire over emissions, Alberta banks on unproven coal gasification
In Manitoba:
- 2011/07/30: CBC: Canal will ease Manitoba flooding, minister says
In Ontario, upcoming election issues are appearing:
- 2011/07/29: CleanBreak: Ontario needs to reconsider offshore wind in the Great Lakes, though it may need a different approach
- 2011/07/25: PlanetArk: Analysis: Ontario Green Energy Plan Feels The Heat
- 2011/07/25: TRR: Long-term thinking needed in the fight for Ontario's Green Energy future
- 2011/07/25: PostMedia: Surplus power costs Ontarians $35M
Paying suppliers to produce less electricity would save money for the system as a whole, report says - 2011/07/30: CBC: Gas supply still tight in Nova Scotia
The movement toward a long term ecologically viable economics is glacial:
- 2011/07/29: EnergyBulletin: The commons as an antidote to relentless growth
- 2011/07/28: PeakEnergy: Geoffrey B. West - Why Cities Keep on Growing, Corporations Always Die, and Life Gets Faster
IPAT [Impact = Population * Affluence * Technology] raised its head once again:
- 2011/07/28: NBF: Education is a key determinant of population growth
- 2011/07/28: AlterNet: How a Male Birth Control Pill Could Have Changed My Life
- 2011/07/27: AlterNet: 10 Things I'd Say to the Anti-Choice Fanatics Trying to End Access to Abortion
- 2011/07/31: DM:GNXP: A world full of children
- 2011/07/26: AlterNet: Imagine Being Harassed by Violent Right-Wing Lunatics Every Time You Go to Work -- Meet the Brave Doctors Who Risk Their Lives to Help Women
- 2011/07/26: KSJT: HealthDay News: Americans' support for abortion rights is growing; 83% favor rights under some or no conditions
Apocalypso anyone?
- 2011/07/27: Nation: How America Could Collapse
- 2011/07/28: EnergyBulletin: The shadows of the bagaudae
- 2002/07/: CabinetMag: Hashima: The Ghost Island
- 2011/07/30: TP:JR: The Future of Coal: The "Dead Island of Hashima"
- 2011/07/28: CCP: "About Hope" by Tom Lewis, The Daily Impact -- Chronicling the Crash of the Industrial Age, February 2011
As for how the media handles science:
- 2011/07/29: MTobis: Headline Disease at e360
- 2011/07/29: Deltoid: The Australian's War on Science 66: Ad hominem
- 2011/07/26: MediaMatters: Conservative Media Downplay Extreme Heat Wave
- 2011/07/27: TP:JR: It's a Record-Setting Heat Wave, but the Conservative Media Deny Even That
- 2011/07/27: ClimateShifts: Australian media take note: the BBC understands balance in climate change coverage
- 2011/07/27: HotTopic: Hard Talk on the wrong track
- 2011/07/24: MTobis: A Disappointment from e360 Egregiously Spun
- 2011/07/24: TP:JR: How Murdoch's Times of London and Fox News Coordinate Their Deceitful Reporting on Climate Change
Here is something for your library:
- 2011/07/25: HotTopic: [Book Review] _Global Climate Change: A Primer_ by Keith Pilkey & Orrin Pilkey
And for your film & video enjoyment:
- 2011/07/28: DeSmogBlog: Frack Attack Music Video Warns of Gas Drilling Dangers in South Africa
- 2011/07/29: SciAm:SwM: Bjork's Biophilia
- 2011/06/15: Nippon-Sekai: NHK Special - Japan's Nuclear Crisis, Part 1
- 2011/07/27: HotTopic: The Climate Show #17: the end of the peer show
- 2011/07/27: TreeHugger: Oil Industry Veterans Fight Peak Oil & Climate Change in Houston (Video)
- 2011/07/15: NewInt: Taking on Tarmageddon - The Movie
- 2011/07/26: PSinclair: John Abraham: Open Discussion Yes. Flat Earth, No.
- 2011/07/26: Grist: Will Tim DeChristopher go to prison? [video]
- 2011/07/26: TreeHugger: Rush Limbaugh Says Heat Index is a Gov't Conspiracy, Letterman Mocks Him (Videos)
- 2011/07/26: TreeHugger: Eco Activist Tribute/Recruiting Video Goes Viral
- 2011/07/25: PSinclair: Renewable Solutions are BACK: "Energy Efficiency - Part 1"
- 2011/07/25: PSinclair: Is THIS the most Important Invention of the Decade? Solar Roadways Move Forward
- 2011/07/24: Grist: How smart growth in cities saves wilderness [video]
Meanwhile among the 'Sue the Bastards!' contingent:
- 2011/07/25: CCurrents: A Future Without Coal: In New Mexico Supreme Court, Again
Developing a new energy infrastructure is a fundamental challenge of the current generation:
- 2011/07/29: DerSpiegel: Renewables in the City -- A Nazi-Era Bunker Joins the Battle against Climate Change
Normally, renewable energy is produced far from city centers. Some, though, would like to see that change. In Hamburg, an ambitious green makeover is underway -- including the transformation of a derelict World War II bunker into a renewable energy plant. - 2011/07/27: CCurrents: Galactic Scale Energy Part 2: Can Economic Growth Last?
- 2011/07/26: TechRev: Cheap Plastic Made from Sugarcane
Dow Chemical is building a plant to make polyethylene from sugarcane at costs that rival petrochemical production. - 2011/07/26: NBF: Siemens Water purification unit generates its own energy
- 2011/07/24: BRitholtz: Renewable Energy [infographic]
Hey! Let's contaminate the aquifer for thousands of years! It'll be a fracking gas!
- 2011/07/29: BFC: All the "easy" oil and gas may be gone, but still ...
- 2011/07/30: DeSmogBlog: Free Water for Fracking: B.C. Government Gives 20-Year Withdrawal Permit to Talisman
- 2011/07/30: DeSmogBlog: Promises and Problems: EnergyNOW! Releases Special Video Report on Fracking in the Marcellus
- 2011/07/29: ProPublica: EPA Proposes New Rules on Emissions Released by Fracking
- 2011/07/28: Grist: After hundreds of earthquakes, Arkansas shuts down fracking disposal wells
- 2011/07/29: CTV: Under pressure: Unpacking Canada's shale gas debate
- 2011/07/25: EnergyBulletin: Impacts of shale gas and shale oil extraction on the environment and on human heath - Report
- 2011/07/25: TP:JR: Can Fracking Turn Land into 'Lifeless Moonscapes'?
- 2011/07/25: PlanetArk: Analysis: Australia Shale Gas Heats Up, But Output Still Far Off
On the coal front:
- 2011/07/27: DeSmogBlog: Mountaintop Removal Mining Directly Linked To 60,000 Cancer Cases In Appalachia
On the gas and oil front:
- 2011/07/29: BBerg: Closing oil prices Friday
OIL (US$/bbl)
Nymex Crude Future...95.70
Dated Brent Spot....116.81
WTI Cushing Spot.....95.70 - 2011/07/31: OilDrum: Tech Talk - Gulf of Mexico production, and hurricanes
- 2011/07/26: PlanetArk: Shale Oil Boom Sends Waste Gas Burn-Off Soaring
- 2011/07/25: BBerg: Oil at $120 Becomes Biggest Energy Bet as Futures Leave Forecasters Behind
In the gas and oil corps:
- 2011/07/29: BBC: Total and Eni blame profit falls on conflict in Libya
Oil companies Total and Eni have both blamed profit falls on the conflict in Libya disrupting their production in the north African country. - 2011/07/31: Guardian(UK): BP 'has gained stranglehold over Iraq' after oilfield deal is rewritten
- 2011/07/28: BBC: Exxon profits up on higher oil prices
US oil giant Exxon Mobil has reported a rise in quarterly profits on the back of higher oil prices. The company said that net profit rose to $10.7bn (£6.6bn) for the three months to June, up 41% from the same period last year. The profit was its largest since the third quarter of 2008. The firm said production had risen by 10%. Higher oil prices have also boosted rivals such as Royal Dutch Shell, which reported a 77% jump in profits. - 2011/07/28: BBC: Shell profits jump 77% on higher oil prices
Oil giant Royal Dutch Shell has reported a 77% jump in second-quarter profit, thanks to higher energy prices. Shell's profit for the three months to June came in at $8bn (£4.9bn) on a current cost of supplies basis, up from $4.5bn in the same period last year. Though oil and gas production was 2% lower than the same quarter in 2010, the company said it had benefited from asset sales in the first half of 2011. Earlier this week, rival BP announced second-quarter profits of $5.3bn. On Thursday, larger US rival Exxon Mobil said that net profit rose 41% to $10.7bn for the three months to June from the same period last year. - 2011/07/28: CBC: 3 oil firms' shares dip despite profit hikes
Shares in three of Canada's largest oil companies are trading lower on Thursday despite improved profits. Suncor Energy, Imperial Oil and Talisman Energy each lost ground. - 2011/07/27: TP:JR: ConocoPhillips Rakes in $3.4 Billion in Profits from High Oil Prices, Buys More Influence to Keep Billion-Dollar Tax Breaks
- 2011/07/27: CBC: Husky Energy Inc. second-quarter profits increased by almost fourfold as the company benfited from higher production
- 2011/07/26: CBC: Cenovus profits more than triple
Oilsands operator Cenovus Energy Inc. reported its second-quarter profits more than tripled Tuesday, thanks to robust oil prices and strength in its refining operations. - 2011/07/26: BBC: BP made profits of $5.3bn (£3.2bn) in the three months to 30 June as higher oil prices offset lower production
And in pipeline news:
- 2011/07/26: GreenGrok: The Keystone XL Pipeline: A Tar Sands Folly?
- 2011/07/28: TreeHugger: Oil Found on 60% of Yellowstone River Shoreline
- 2011/07/27: PlanetArk: House Passes Bill To Speed Up Oil Sands Pipe Review
- 2011/07/27: PlanetArk: Water-Oil Mixture Spills At BP Alaska Facility
- 2011/07/27: TreeHugger: Keystone XL Tar Sands Pipeline Incoming? House Passes Bill Mandating Decision Within 4 Months
- 2011/07/25: PlanetArk: Peru Approves Environmental Study For Perenco Pipeline
- 2011/07/25: BBC: Iran in '$10bn deal to export gas to Europe'
Iran has signed a preliminary $10bn (£6.25bn) deal with Syria and Iraq to export some of its natural gas, local media have reported. The memorandum of understanding signed by oil ministers from the three countries would see a 3,100 mile pipeline built through Iraq, Syria and Lebanon to the Mediterranean. The deal may allow exports of gas to Europe - according to the Iranian Oil Ministry's website, Shana. It would also supply gas to Syria. - 2011/07/28: SeekingAlpha: Analyzing the Global Oil Supply: 2012 Is the Year for Peak Oil
- 2011/07/25: OilDrum: World Oil Supplies as Reported in EIA's most recent International Energy Statistics
- 2011/07/25: al Jazeera: The scourge of 'peak oil'
When demand for oil consistently surpasses supply, experts warn that our lives will look "very differently". - 2011/07/30: Eureka: Computational chemistry shows the way to safer biofuels
- 2011/07/28: DerSpiegel: Oozing Biofuel -- Algae Could Solve World's Fuel Crisis
Genetically modified blue and green algae could be the answer to the world's fuel problems. Bioengineers have already developed algae that produce ethanol, oil and even diesel -- and the only things the organisms need are sunlight, CO2 and seawater. - 2011/07/28: AutoBG: USDA says biodiesel offers [EROI] fossil energy ratio of 5.54 to 1
- 2011/07/26: BBC: Cows 'may offer greener fuel key'
A cow's stomach could hold the key to creating more environmentally friendly versions of petrol and diesel, according to Edinburgh scientists. Researchers are investigating how enzymes found in the stomachs of cattle and other ruminants, animals which "chew cud", could be used industrially. - 2011/07/26: Grist: Crazy ideas for next-gen wind turbines
- 2011/07/25: ABC(Au): Research challenges wind farm illness link
- 2011/07/24: LA Times: Wind turbines growing taller and more powerful
Some of the newest machines come with blades as long as a football field that can generate 50 times more electricity than wind power turbines built decades ago. Designers are also developing ones that float, fly, or sit in the ocean or on rooftops. - 2011/07/29: PlanetArk: GM Invests In Solar Energy Systems Maker [Sunlogics Inc,]
- 2011/07/29: PlanetArk: UK Solar Plants Soar Ahead Of Government Tariff Cuts
British solar power capacity rose by more than 50 percent in the three months to June as developers scrambled to finish projects before lower government support tariffs kick in next month, energy ministry data showed Thursday. Installed capacity for photovoltaic plants rose by 56 percent to 121.6 megawatts (MW) between March and June and grew more than eighteenfold in one year. - 2011/07/29: Grist: New photovoltaic generator runs on heat instead of sunlight
- 2011/07/29: Eureka: Solar cells get a boost from bouncing light
- 2011/07/28: NBF: An Unexpected Clue to Thermopower Efficiency
- 2011/07/28: NBF: More Efficient Sun-free photovoltaics
- 2011/07/28: SlashDot: Solar Energy Is the Fastest Growing Industry In the US
- 2011/07/27: TCoE: Solar co-ops to the rescue
- 2011/07/27: TP:JR: First Solar Shatters Previous Record for Cadmium-Telluride Thin Film Efficiency [17.3%]
- 2011/07/26: EnergyBulletin: The bright future of solar powered factories
- 2011/07/26: PlanetArk: Analysis: Solar Specialists Embrace Tieups To Resist Squeeze Out
Grappling with sliding prices and margins, solar specialists, or stand-alone makers of wafers and cells, risk being squeezed out of the market by their fully integrated Chinese rivals who are investing billions of dollars in technology. The new reality is forcing solar specialists, mostly Taiwanese, which have long had a simple business model that generated steady revenues and modest margins, to form partnerships and diversify at a faster pace to stay in the business. - 2011/07/26: PeakEnergy: Twice the height of the Empire State - EnviroMission plans massive solar tower for Arizona
- 2011/07/25: TP:JR: This Looks Like a Job for Solar PV: Heat Wave Causes Record-Breaking Electricity Demand
- 2011/07/21: GizMag: Twice the height of the Empire State - EnviroMission plans massive solar tower for Arizona
The nuclear energy controversy continues:
- 2011/07/29: NBF: Korean Candu restarts after refurbishment
- 2011/07/27: ProPublica: Whistleblowers Say Nuclear Regulatory Commission Watchdog Is Losing Its Bite
- 2011/07/29: BBC: In pictures: Chernobyl wilderness
- 2011/07/27: TreeHugger: Monbiot is "Part of the Problem": Jonathan Porritt on the Folly of Nuclear Power
- 2011/07/26: Guardian(UK): Why the UK must choose renewables over nuclear: an answer to Monbiot
Monbiot is fixed in a contrarian crusade to undermine the solar industry and his controversialist instincts have blinded him - 2011/07/26: APR: Nuclear Energy in Japan: Genkai pressure vessel embrittlement
- 2011/07/26: BBC: [IAEA head] Yukiya Amano: Japan's Fukushima crisis will not end nuclear age
- 2011/07/26: BBC: South Korea and India sign nuclear deal
South Korea's ambitions to enter the Indian energy market have received a big boost as the two countries signed a civil nuclear deal. The agreement will allow South Korea to export its nuclear energy technology to India. The deal comes at a time when India has been struggling to keep up its energy supply to meet the increased demand in wake of its rapid expansion. South Korea is the ninth country to sign a nuclear deal with India. - 2011/07/25: BNC: Fukushima, IFRs and an MIT debate
- 2011/07/24: Guardian(UK): City presses Centrica to cancel plans for building nuclear power plants
Nuclear waste storage requires _very_ long term thinking:
- 2011/07/29: PlanetArk: Some Worry Tennessee Town May Be World Nuclear Waste Dump
- 2011/07/29: SciAm: Presidential Commission Seeks Volunteers to Store U.S. Nuclear Waste
In deciding what to do with nuclear waste and where to put it, a blue ribbon commission recommends a consent-based approach rather than congressional fiat - 2011/07/29: NatureNB: Nuclear commission eyes new path on waste as legal battle resumes over Yucca Mountain
- 2011/07/29: ScienceInsider: Nuclear Waste Report Calls for Interim Storage, New Approach on Repository
- 2011/07/29: CSM: How to store nuclear waste? Panel slams US and urges new approach.
Saying the US government "has not inspired confidence or trust" in nuclear waste management, a presidential commission recommended Friday the creation of a new federal corporation to spearhead a "consent-based" approach to finding sites to store highly radioactive spent fuel and military waste. The highly anticipated report by President Obama's Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future also calls for new interim storage facilities to hold used nuclear fuel until permanent underground repositories can be developed -- and legislation to grant the new federal entity access to federal nuclear waste funds. - 2011/07/28: PlanetArk: Some Worry Tennessee Town May Be World Nuclear Waste Dump
- 2011/07/25: Grist: Tennessee is getting 1,000 tons of nuclear waste from Germany
Low energy nuclear keeps coming up:
- 2011/07/27: NBF: Piantelli Cold Fusion Work
- 2011/07/27: OilDrum: The E-Cat loses steam
- 2011/07/25: NBF: Australian Star Scientific Claims to be close to Sustainable Muon Catalyzed Fusion
- 2011/07/26: NBF: Japanese muon research and muon catalyzed fusion research
And then there is the matter of efficiency & conservation:
- 2011/07/29: TreeHugger: 4 Tips For Energy-Efficient Temperature Control in a Tiny Home
Automakers & lawyers, engineers & activists argue over the future of the car:
- 2011/07/29: ABC(Au): Germans get on their e-bikes
- 2011/07/28: SciAm:PI: The Electric Car and ... Electricity
- 2011/07/25: FuturePundit: Shifts In Electric Car Prices
- 2011/07/29: AutoBG: UK opens free, solar-powered plug-in vehicle charging network
- 2011/07/29: BBC: BMW unveils electric car division
- 2011/07/26: TreeHugger: UK Electric Car Sales Down 50%, Despite Massive Government Grant
- 2011/07/25: AutoBG: Official: Think Global purchased by Electric Mobility Solutions AS
This week in the Gee Whiz File:
- 2011/07/28: MITNews: Sun-free photovoltaics
Materials engineered to give off precisely tuned wavelengths of light when heated are key to new high-efficiency generating system. [No specific efficiency mentioned -het] - 2011/07/25: NatureN: Transparent battery powers the way to translucent devices -- Researchers fabricate electrodes that are too small to see
- 2011/07/25: SciAm:PI: Molecular-Level Energy Storage
- 2011/07/26: NBF: Doubled rates of hydrogen production is an advance to energy [storage] of surplus wind and solar power
- 2011/07/25: NBF: MIT improves the energy density of lithium air batteries with carbon electrodes that are 90% porous instead of 70%
The reaction of business to climate change will be critical:
- 2011/07/29: TreeHugger: IKEA Buys 12MW Wind Farm, Plans 39,000 Solar Panels
- 2011/07/29: TreeHugger: World Resources Institute and Fortune 500 Companies Launch Sustainable Business Partnership
- 2011/07/27: CBC: CP Railway profits lower with flooding
Who's fielding the FAQs?
- 2011/07/26: Guardian(UK): What is the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM)?
Joe Romm posts a daily list of top energy and climate stories:
- 2011/07/29: TP:JR: July 29 News...
- 2011/07/28: TP:JR: July 28 News...
- 2011/07/27: TP:JR: July 27 News...
- 2011/07/26: TP:JR: July 26 News...
- 2011/07/25: TP:JR: July 25 News...
Other (weekly) lists:
- 2011/07/28: CCentral: This Week in Climate Science: A Triassic Warning, Carbon-Absorbing Forests, and Amazon Dams
- 2011/07/26: CCentral: This Week in Climate Science: Better Biofuels, Climate Extinction, and Global Warming Slowdown
- 2011/07/27: Stoat: Those teabaggers; etc.
- 2011/07/25: BPA: Agriculture News
The carbon lobby are up to the usual:
- 2011/07/29: QuarkSoup: Fred Singer Still Presenting False Information
- 2011/07/29: ITracker: Inside the strange world of the climate dismissives
- 2011/07/29: ClimateShifts: Unravelling a few of Australia's climate change myths
- 2011/07/26: GLaden: Global warming denialism? It ends now.
- 2011/07/30: HotTopic: Rash Brash and the potty peer's PR pratfall
- 2011/07/30: ERabett: Bow to Mark Levin with the human body temperature theory of global warming
- 2011/07/28: ERabett: Lubos' mind turned like the vanes of a wind-powered turbine, chopping his sparrow-like thoughts into bloody pieces
- 2011/07/27: Nature: (Editorial) Heart of the matter -- The Heartland Institute's climate conference reveals the motives of global-warming sceptics
- 2011/07/26: Crikey: The Breivik manifesto and the Monckton connection
- 2011/07/26: ClimateShifts: Monckton and the Breivik manifesto
- 2011/07/25: HuffPo: Climate Deniers Campaign Against the BBC Backfires [BBC Trust]
- 2011/07/27: Guardian(UK): Conservative, white men more likely to be climate change sceptics, study shows
- 2011/07/27: TreeHugger: Most Climate Skeptics In US Are Conservative White Men: Study
- 2011/07/26: DeSmogBlog: Norwegian Terrorist Anders Breivik Reveals Climate Denial Influences
- 2011/07/25: Grist: Norway terrorist is a climate change denier
- 2011/07/26: OilChange: The Norwegian Murderer, Climate Denial and Watermelons
- 2011/07/25: QuarkSoup: Looks Like Watts Is Having Second Thoughts
- 2011/07/24: ITracker: Idiot comment of the day: homegrown edition
Meanwhile in the 'clean coal' saga:
- 2011/07/25: DeSmogBlog: Coal Ash Ponds Contaminating Groundwater In Tennessee
As for climate miscellanea:
- 2011/07/29: Grist: Hung out to dry: Why clothesline bans are wrongheaded
- 2011/07/29: BigThink: "Cool Dudes", Hot Temps; The Climate Change Battle Will Get Us Nowhere
- 2011/07/29: RBH: Global Warming Solved: Fire The Scientist
- 2011/07/24: RStavins: A Golden Opportunity to Please Conservatives and Liberals Alike
- 2011/07/29: EnvEcon: money hugger: Urban Word of the Day
- 2011/07/30: QuarkSoup: Gavin Gives Good Quote
- 2011/07/26: ScienceInsider: Blue Planet Prizes for Science, Activism
- 2011/07/25: PhysOrg: Minority rules: Scientists discover tipping point for the spread of ideas
- 2011/07/26: RealClimate: Reanalyses 'R' Us
- 2011/07/26: POGGE: Hot enough for you?
- 2011/07/25: ERabett: Eli is a Mild Mannered Bunny
- 2011/07/25: TP:JR: Evidence for climate change is now undeniable -- scientists
- 2011/07/22: BobPark: What's New?
1. News of the world: The most powerful man on earth.
2. Contraception: Institute of Medicine calls for free coverage. - Science Seeker - Science Blog Aggregator
- RStavins: An Economic View of the Environment
- WRI: International Cooperation on Climate & Energy
- Forestry(UK): Woodland Carbon Code - The Basics
- MetOffice(UK): Land surface climate station records - frequently asked questions
- WWFBlogs: Climate Aggregator
- NOAA:ESRL: 20th Century Reanalysis
- Reanalysis Intercomparison and Observations
- White Roof Project
- Wiki: Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum
- Climate Hot Map
- Quark Soup
- WHA: Without Hot Air
- Wiki: [png] Climate Change Attribution
- Our Changing Climate -- Bart Verheggen's weblog
- Skeptical Science: Examining Global Warming Skepticism
- Wiki: Jule Gregory Charney [the father of modern dynamical meteorology]
- Food Crisis and the Global Land Grab
Live and direct from the laugh, it's funny, damnit department:
Looking ahead to COP17 and future international climate negotiations:
The Horn of Africa drought and famine continues to be a major disaster:
BTI came out with a roundly critisized report:
Who's getting the subsidies?
The Arctic melt continues to garner a lot of attention:
Dear economists, Fix the leg before you kick away the crutch:
Aerosols are making their presence felt:
Regarding Coral:
As for hydrological cycle disruptions [floods & droughts]:
The rare earths issue continues to lurk:
Climate Change is a threat multiplier exacerbating existing conflicts in food, energy, water, race, ideology etc.:
The issue of the law and activism is playing out around the world. See also:
Polls! We have polls!
Gore is still in the news:
And in Europe:
In Canada, neocon PM Harper, continues his do-nothing policy:
In BC, the stage is set. Now what will Clark and Dix do?
Also in Alberta:
In the Maritimes:
Yes we have a peak oil sighting:
Biofuel bickering abounds:
The answer my friend...:
Meanwhile among the solar aficionados:
As for Energy Storage:
And here are a couple of sites you may find interesting and/or useful:
Low Key Plug
My first novel Water was published in Canada May, 2007. The American release was in October. An Introductionto the novel is available, along with the Unpublished Forewordand the Launch Talk(which includes some quotations), An overview of my writing is available here.
<regards>
P.S. Recent postings can be found in the week archive and the ancient postings can be accessed here, which should open to this.
I notice moyhu has set up a monster index to old AWoGWN on AFTIC."Who ever heard a theologian preface his creed, or a politician conclude his speech with an estimate of the probable error of his opinion?" -Bertrand Russell
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