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
September 25, 2011
- Chuckles, Equinox, COP17+, Horn of Africa, Pakistan
- Missing Heat, Easter Island, Atlasgate, Monnett, Subsidies, Cook
- Fukushima Note, Fukushima News, Nuclear Policy
- Melting Arctic, Beasties, Methane, Geopolitics
- Food Crisis, Land Grabs, IP Issues, GMOs, Food Production
- Hurricanes, GHGs, Temperatures, Aerosols, Clouds, Paleoclimate
- ENSO, Cosmic Rays, Climate Sensitivity, State of the Oceans, Extinctions
- Forests, Climate Refugees, Desertification, Extreme Weather
- Wildfires, Corals, Acidification, Glaciers, Sea Levels, Floods & Droughts
- Transportation, Buildings, Sequestration, Geoengineering
- Journals, Other Docs , Misc. Science, DIY Science, Models, Mann, Wegman, Pielke
- UN, Carbon Trade, Carbon Tax, Bank Tax, Optimal Carbon Reduction Strategy
- International Politics: Misc., Airlines & EU ETS, Security, Activism, Polls, H2O Biz
- National Politics: America, BP Disaster, 2012, IEO, Solyndra, Gore, Obama, USAdmin, Congress
- Britain, Europe, Australia, Carbon War, Murray-Darling, New Zealand, India, China, Japan, Asia, Africa
- Canada, Offshore Drilling, Layoffs, Saudi Suit, Pipelines, Demo, Canada vs Australia
- CWB, Fracking, Geothermal, BC, Tar Sands, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, Maritimes, Canadiana
- Ecological Economics, IPAT, Apocalypso, Media, Books, Video, Courts
- Energy, Fracking, Coal, Oil & Gas, Pipelines, Peak Oil, Biofuel
- Wind, Solar, Nukes, LENR, Grid, Efficiency, Cars, Gee Whiz, Energy Storage
- Business, Greenwashing, FAQs, Joe's List, Carbon Lobby, Miscellaneous Climate, Useful Links
- New Web Site, Shameless Self Promotion, .sig
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- 2011/09/25: uComics: (cartoon - Wiley) A Fresh Perspective
- 2011/09/25: uComics: (cartoon - Trudeau) Honest Man Seeks Platform
- 2011/09/20: QuarkSoup: A Baptist Church With Chutzpah
- 2011/09/23: DVoice: (cartoon - Keough/Gale) Japan's Nuke: Part 4
- 2011/09/22: DVoice: (cartoon - Keough/Gale) Japan's Nuke: Part 3
- 2011/09/21: DVoice: (cartoon - Keough/Gale) Japan's Nuke: Part 2
- 2011/09/20: DVoice: (cartoon - Keough/Gale) Japan's Nuke - Part 1
Hope you had a Happy Equinox!
- USNO: Equinoxes, Solstices, Perihelion, and Aphelion, 2000-2020
- 2011/09/23: APOD: September's Aurora
- 2011/09/23: PSinclair: Equinox
Looking ahead to COP17 and future international climate negotiations:
- 2011/09/21: PlanetArk: U.S. Won't Back Binding Climate Deal With Financial Conditions [Todd Stern]
- 2011/09/21: PlanetArk: Analysis: Extreme Steps Needed To Meet Climate Target
- 2011/09/20: EurActiv: Obama's climate envoy casts doubt on Kyoto Protocol
President Barack Obama's chief climate change negotiator has issued a warning over the future of the Kyoto Protocol, casting doubt on a key plank of international climate talks this December in South Africa. Todd Stern, the US president's envoy for climate change, said the European Union was the only remaining "major player" that would potentially support a continuation of the protocol after its provisions expire in 2012. The lack of support from other countries bodes ill for the forthcoming talks at Durban. - 2011/09/19: Guardian(UK): [US special envoy for climate change Todd Stern] casts doubt on Kyoto protocol
The Horn of Africa drought and famine continues to be a major disaster:
- 2011/09/24: FAO: Building political momentum for famine-free Horn of Africa -- Diouf urges adequate and predictable funding for HoA region
- 2011/09/24: UN: Horn of Africa: UN urges long-term approach to end recurring food shortages
- 2011/09/23: UN: Tragedy of Somalia shames the world, Turkish leader tells UN
- 2011/09/24: BBC: World Bank increases drought aid to Horn of Africa [to US$1.8bn (£1.2bn)]
The monsoon floods in Pakistan are once again a major disaster:
- 2011/09/23: FAO: Farmers in southern Pakistan face worse flooding than last year -- FAO seeks $18.9 million to prevent escalating losses in rural areas
- 2011/09/19: CSM: Pakistan floods, Part II
- 2011/09/20: UN: Pakistan: UN assessment team reports large-scale crop destruction from floods
- 2011/09/19: UN: Pakistan: UN and partners seeking $357 million to assist with flood response
A new theory about the mystery of the missing heat:
- 2011/09/23: TP:JR: Hottest Decade on Record Would Have Been Even Hotter But for Deep Oceans -- Accelerated Warming May Be On Its Way
- 2011/09/20: Grist: Oceans kept the last decade from being even hotter
- 2011/09/19: Eureka: Deep oceans may mask global warming for years at a time -- Computer simulations of global climate lead to new conclusions
- 2011/09/19: CBC: Oceans may pause warming of Earth's surface
- 2011/09/19: PlanetArk: "Missing" Global Heat May Hide In Deep Oceans
- 2011/09/18: Eureka: Deep oceans can mask global warming for decade-long periods
A controversy has arisen over the fate of Easter Island:
- 2011/09/22: MLynas: The myths of Easter Island -- Jared Diamond responds
- 2011/09/19: MLynas: The myth of Easter Island's ecocide
- 2011/09/22: ITracker: Jared Diamond dismantles Lynas: How to politely devastate a "skeptic" loon
- 2011/09/22: ITracker: Mark Lynas gets Jared Diamond wrong
- 2011/09/19: DM:80B: Rats, Not Recklessness, May Have Done Easter Islanders In
Another controversy, liable to get blown up, has arisen over Greenland in the Times atlas:
- 2011/09/21: MLynas: 'Atlasgate' -- a victory for science
- 2011/09/22: Guardian(UK): Times Atlas reviews Greenland map accuracy after climate change row
- 2011/09/21: CBC: Atlas publisher apologizes for Greenland ice error
- 2011/09/21: Guardian(UK): Times Atlas ice error was a lesson in how scientists should mobilise
- 2011/09/19: Guardian(UK): Times Atlas is 'wrong on Greenland climate change'
- 2011/09/20: Guardian(UK): Times Atlas publishers apologise for 'incorrect' Greenland ice statement
- 2011/09/22: ScienceInsider: Atlas Can't Shrug Scientists; Publisher Issues Apology and Promises Corrections
- 2011/09/20: NatureN: Greenland ice-melt map gets the cold shoulder -- Polar researchers mobilize to clear up atlas's icesheet error
- 2011/09/20: BBC: Greenland ice: Are the Times a-changing?
- 2011/09/20: PSinclair: Denialists: Read About it here before you turn on Glenn Beck [Greenland Atlas]
- 2011/09/19: Guardian(UK): Times Atlas is 'wrong on Greenland climate change'
- 2011/09/19: ScienceInsider: Atlas Shrugged? 'Outraged' Glaciologists Say Mappers Misrepresented Greenland Ice Melt
- 2011/09/19: BBC: Leading UK polar scientists say the Times Atlas of the World was wrong to assert that it has had to re-draw its map of Greenland due to climate change
And in the Monnett saga:
- 2011/09/20: ERabett: Why the DOJ Don't Love Eric May
Who's getting the subsidies?
- 2011/09/22: TP:JR: Leaked World Bank Report: Fossil Fuel Subsidies Should Go to International Climate Finance
- 2011/09/21: TreeHugger: World Bank Urges Scrapping Fossil Fuel Subsidies To Help Poor Nations Adapt To Climate Change
- 2011/09/21: STimes: Paper on climate financing targets fuel subsidies
Global financial institutions are recommending raising money to fight climate change by trimming subsidies for fossil fuels, putting a price tag of $25 per ton on carbon emissions and collecting a surcharge on aviation and shipping fuels. - 2011/09/21: DeSmogBlog: Global Financial Leaders Recommend Cutting Fossil Fuel Subsidies
- 2011/09/21: Guardian(UK): World Bank: ditch fossil fuel subsidies to address climate change
John Cook and friends continue their point-counterpoint articles:
- 2011/09/25: SkeptiSci: Pielke Sr. Agrees with SkS on Reducing Carbon Emissions by dana1981
- 2011/09/24: SkeptiSci: Ocean Heat Content And The Importance Of The Deep Ocean by Rob Painting
- 2011/09/23: SkeptiSci: Lessons from Past Climate Predictions: IPCC AR4 (update) by dana1981
- 2011/09/23: SkeptiSci: [Book Review] _Rough Winds: Extreme Weather and Climate Change_ by James Powell
- 2011/09/23: SkeptiSci: Icelandic translation of The Scientific Guide to Global Warming Skepticism
- 2011/09/22: SkeptiSci: Lessons from Past Climate Predictions: IPCC AR4 by dana1981
- 2011/09/21: SkeptiSci: SkS Responses to Pielke Sr. Questions by dana1981
- 2011/09/20: SkeptiSci: Trenberth, Fasullo, and Abraham Respond to Spencer and Braswell by dana1981
- 2011/09/19: SkeptiSci: Chasing Pielke's Goodyear Blimp
A note on theFukushima disaster:
It is evident that the Fukushima disaster is going to persist for some time. TEPCO says 6 to 9 months. The previous Japanese Prime Minister, Naoto Kan, said 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:
- 2011/09/24: EneNews: High levels of radiation in rice from Obama district -- "Set off alarm in the Japanese media"
- 2011/09/24: EneNews: Farmer: Gov't raised contamination standards to limit payment of relocation money
- 2011/09/24: APR: Two brief TEPCO movies inside reactor buildings
- 2011/09/23: UN: Stricken nuclear plant to be fully shut down by end of year, Japan tells UN
- 2011/09/21: DerSpiegel: A Visit to J-Village -- Fukushima Workers Risk Radiation to Feed Families
Since the nuclear disaster at Fukushima, the power plant's operator TEPCO has relied on temporary workers to help bring the reactors under control. Many of the workers, whose radiation levels are measured daily, say they are not doing the work for Japan, but for the money. Spiegel visited J-Village, which is strictly off-limits, and met the unsung heroes of Fukushima. - 2011/09/21: CPunch: What TEPCO and the Media are Hiding
- 2011/09/22: EneNews: Gov't: Clouds brought radioactive iodine southward after meltdowns, not only NW as was reported -- Now trying to determine levels because of cancer risk (map & video)
- 2011/09/22: APR: High resolution photos of Fukushima Daiichi
- 2011/09/22: APR: New TEPCO video on RPV, PCV measurements
- 2011/09/22: UN: Fukushima accident a 'wake-up call' to boost nuclear safety, UN forum told
- 2011/09/21: EneNews: Japan nuke expert: Melted fuel rods estimated to be 12 meters underground Reactors No. 1-3 -- To be 100 feet deep in a year
- 2011/09/21: EneNews: Radiation levels around Fukushima plant now over 400 times higher than announced by TEPCO
- 2011/09/21: APR: New TEPCO video: Fukushima Daiichi, Sept. 20
- 2011/09/21: APR: Nuclear power in Japan, China: Resurgent?
- 2011/09/21: APR: Fukushima Daiichi No. 3 RPI continuity test
- 2011/09/: Sage:TBAS: Fukushima: The myth of safety, the reality of geoscience by Johannis Nöggerath et al.
- 2011/09/20: EneNews: Canadians suspicious over radiation testing of seafood -- Official "puzzled" gov't withholding where samples were taken
- 2011/09/21: EneNews: Mainichi: "It remains unclear where the melted fuel is situated" -- "Temperatures of the pressure vessels alone are far from convincing"
- 2011/09/21: EneNews: Report: Radiation level spiking around Tokyo as typhoon nears Fukushima plant (chart)
- 2011/09/20: APR: New nuclear power projects
- 2011/09/19: DVoice: Japan's Nuclear Disaster: Radiation Still Leaking, Recovery Still Years Away?
- 2011/09/21: BBC: Powerful Typhoon Roke hits Japan
A powerful typhoon has struck disaster-ravaged Japan, bringing heavy rains and floods that have killed four people. Typhoon Roke is on course to hit Fukushima, where engineers are still struggling to bring a nuclear plant under control after the March tsunami. There are concerns that rain could force radioactive water into the sea. - 2011/09/21: BBC: TEPCO considers job cuts as part of restructuring plan
Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), the owner of the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, is considering cutting thousands of jobs. - 2011/09/20: Grist: Fukushima farmers keep calm and carry on [video]
- 2011/09/20: Eureka: Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists publishes Japanese translation of special Fukushima issue
- 2011/09/17: Cryptome: Fukushima Daiichi NPS
- 2011/09/13: Cryptome: Fukushima Daiichi NPS
- 2011/09/20: BWeek: Typhoon Roke Nears Japan on Track for Leaking Nuclear Plant
- 2011/09/20: EneNews: Strong typhoon headed for leaking nuke plant -- Over 1 million Japanese evacuated -- Due at Fukushima in 48 hours
- 2011/09/19: CDreams: Tens of Thousands March Against Nuclear Power in Tokyo
- 2011/09/20: ABC(Au): Tokyo anti-nuclear rally draws thousands
- 2011/09/18: APR: Fukushima Daiichi: Reactor update
- 2011/09/19: CBC: Thousands march against nuclear power in Tokyo
- 2011/09/19: PSinclair: Major German Firm [Siemens] Abandons Nuclear Power
Post Fukushima, nuclear policies are in flux around the world:
- 2011/09/23: NatureNB: International Atomic Energy Agency gets new safety remit
- 2011/09/23: PlanetArk: Analysis: Fukushima To Slow, Not Stop, Nuclear Growth
- 2011/09/23: PlanetArk: IAEA States Back Post-Fukushima Nuclear Safety Plan
- 2011/09/21: Grist: Germany is spending its climate change money on coal plants
[...] The plants ... are being billed as a stopgap maneuver while Germany weans itself from nuclear onto other renewables. - 2011/09/07: TBAS: The coming German energy turnaround
- 2011/09/19: DerSpiegel: Response to Fukushima -- Siemens to Exit Nuclear Energy Business
- 2011/09/19: TreeHugger: Europe's Largest Engineering Company Quits Nuclear, Will Focus on Renewables
- 2011/09/19: TP:JR: Siemens Stunner: Global Energy Giant Quits Nuclear Industry -- "The Chapter is Closed for Us"
- 2011/09/19: PlanetArk: Siemens To Drop Rosatom Deal In Nuclear Exit: CEO
- 2011/09/19: NatureNB: Siemens pulls the plug on nuclear
The Arctic melt continues to garner a lot of attention:
- 2011/09/24: Economist: Climate change in the Arctic -- Beating a retreat
Arctic sea ice is melting far faster than climate models predict. Why? - 2011/09/24: CCP: Increased crevasse extent in Greenland may dampen ice sheet sliding
- 2011/09/24: ASI: SIE 2011 update 21: post mortem
- 2011/09/23: Guardian(UK): The Arctic's near-record sea ice low - big picture
- 2011/09/21: DM:BA: Arctic ice at second-lowest extent since 1979
- 2011/09/21: BBC: Whales take Northwest Passage as Arctic sea-ice melts
Bowhead whales, the giants of the Arctic, are using the Northwest Passage to move across the top of the Americas. Skeletons, DNA samples and harpoon heads have all suggested that bowhead populations living on each side of the continent did meet and mingle. Now, research published in the journal Biology Letters has used satellite tags to provide confirmation. - 2011/09/21: RealClimate: Greenland meltdown
- 2011/09/19: PSinclair: Graph of the Day: September ice melt Bad, But July and August were the Real Story
- 2011/09/19: DeSmogBlog: New Record or Not, the Arctic Sea Ice Alarm Bells Keep Ringing
As for the charismatic megafauna:
- 2011/09/24: CNN: Rare polar creatures in trouble
Paul Nicklen photographs the wildlife of the polar regions - He says receding sea ice poses major challenge to ecosystem - Polar bears, many other creatures rely on ice to sustain life, he says - 2011/09/21: NatureNB: Satellites show whales wandering through the Arctic
- 2011/09/20: SciNow: A Whale Tête-à -Tête in the Northwest Passage [Arctic]
That Damoclean sword still hangs overhead:
- 2011/09/21: ITracker: More methane madness
- 2011/09/19: ITracker: Is there still a clathrate gun pointed at our heads?
As for the geopolitics of Arctic resources:
- 2011/09/21: CCurrents: Arctic Deal Between Oil Giants And Climate Threats
- 2011/09/23: CBC: Russians move to bolster Arctic forces
Gen. Walt Natynczyk meets Russians in Moscow for 3 days but no details released - 2011/09/23: PlanetArk: Russia's Putin Says Arctic Trade Route To Rival Suez
- 2011/09/21: EUO: EU and NATO have no place in Arctic, says Russia
- 2011/09/19: WaPo: EPA grants air permit to Shell for Arctic offshore drilling in Chukchi sea off Alaska coast
- 2011/09/21: CanEast: Arctic sovereignty requires a ship that does not yet exist
- 2011/09/20: Grist: Global warming makes Russia militarize the Arctic
The food crisis is ongoing:
- FAO: World Food Situation - Food Price Indices
- 2011/09/23: NYT: Midwest Farmers Are on Alert Against Pig Thieves
- 2011/09/22: ProMedMail: Goss's wilt, maize - USA: new strain susp.
- 2011/09/21: WalrusMag: The Farms Are Not All Right
The growing gap between what they produce and what they earn is driving many farmers off the land. The crisis in Canadian farming - 2011/09/20: ProMedMail: Undiagnosed leaf spot, maize - Viet Nam: (DN)
- 2011/09/18: NYT: Glimpses of the Next Great Famine
So, are these land grabs Colonialism V2.0?
- 2011/09/23: TCoE: Land grabs
- 2011/09/20: International: Palm Oil Fuelling Scramble for Land in Africa
- 2011/09/22: Guardian(UK): Oxfam warns of spiralling land grab in developing countries
Many of world's poorest 'being left worse off by unprecedented land deals', despite claims by governments and speculators - 2011/09/22: BBC: Oxfam warns about effects of 'land rush'
An increasing number of land deals are displacing farmers and leaving poor communities homeless, campaigning charity Oxfam has warned. It says up to 227m hectares (560m acres) have been sold or leased worldwide since 2001. Half of all deals that have been verified are in Africa, amounting to an area the size of Germany - 35m hectares, Oxfam says. Vulnerable communities in Uganda, and South Sudan have been affected. The report also focuses on Honduras, Guatemala and Indonesia. - 2011/09/22: PlanetArk: Monsanto Wins Lawsuit Against Indiana Soybean Farmer
- 2011/09/19: CCurrents: Resisting The Corporate Theft Of Seeds by Vandana Shiva
- 2011/09/19: CDreams: Resisting the Corporate Theft of Seeds by Vandana Shiva
Regarding the genetic modification of food:
- 2011/09/21: JMC: (infographic - Mohr) Monsanto or Organic? Who to trust with your food
- 2011/09/21: TreeHugger: A Philosopher Farmer Defends Monsanto Tomatoes (Video)
And how are we going to feed 9 billion?
- 2011/09/21: CSM: The rise of urban farming
- 2011/09/21: Wunderground:RR: High-Value Crops: Sustainability and Climate Change (4)
- 2011/09/15: AlterNet: Americans Waste Enough Food to Fill a 90,000-seat Football Stadium Every Day -- What Can We Do About It?
- 2011/09/19: TreeHugger: Using Nitrogen-Fixing Plants to Restore Abused Garden Soil
- 2011/09/16: AlterNet: Michael Pollan: How Change Is Going to Come in the [US] Food System
In the Western Pacific, Roke zapped Japan [& Fukushima] while Nesat heads for the Phillipines and Haitang for Vietnam:
- 2011/09/22: CBC: Typhoon weakens as it moves across Japan -- 16 dead or missing after powerful storm triggers landslides, floods
- 2011/09/21: Eureka: NASA's TRMM Satellite sees Typhoon Roke intensify rapidly before landfall in Japan
- 2011/09/22: al Jazeera: Deadly typhoon passes over Japan tsunami zone
Storm has killed at least six people while many more are still missing, but caused no further damage to nuclear plant. - 2011/09/21: BBC: Deadly Roke typhoon moves across Japan
The powerful typhoon Roke that hit Japan on Wednesday has been moving its way across the country, bringing floods, damage and deaths. At least five people have been killed by the storm, with many others still missing or injured. The storm, which caused winds of 162km/h (100mph), passed near the capital Tokyo and Fukushima, where there is a damaged nuclear power plant. - 2011/09/21: al Jazeera: Typhoon Roke adds to Japan's woes
Typhoon Roke's track across Japan and its likely effects - 2011/09/21: Wunderground: Typhoon Roke batters Japan; Ophelia forms in the Central Atlantic
- 2011/09/21: BBC: Powerful Typhoon Roke hits Japan
A powerful typhoon has struck disaster-ravaged Japan, bringing heavy rains and floods that have killed four people. Typhoon Roke is on course to hit Fukushima, where engineers are still struggling to bring a nuclear plant under control after the March tsunami. There are concerns that rain could force radioactive water into the sea. - 2011/09/21: CBC: Typhoon Roke threatens Japan disaster zone
- 2011/09/21: al Jazeera: Powerful typhoon pummels Japan
Thousands evacuate as Typhoon Roke triggers floods and threatens to hit the damaged Fukushima nuclear plant. - 2011/09/20: CBC: Japan typhoon [Roke] prompts evacuation call for 1.3 million
- 2011/09/20: Wunderground: Typhoon Roke bears down on Japan; 98L continues to grow more organized
- 2011/09/20: Eureka: NASA sees heavy rainfall in Typhoon Roke
- 2011/09/20: ABC(Au): Japan evacuates as typhoon Roke looms
- 2011/09/20: CNN: 1 million urged to flee as typhoon [Roke] bears down on Japan
Roke is forecast to make landfall Wednesday - Heavy rain is forecast for central Japan - Limited evacuations are underway, city officials said - 2011/09/20: BWeek: Typhoon Roke Nears Japan on Track for Leaking Nuclear Plant
- 2011/09/20: EneNews: Strong typhoon headed for leaking nuke plant -- Over 1 million Japanese evacuated -- Due at Fukushima in 48 hours
In the Eastern Pacific, Hilary spun up to Cat 4 so far out at sea:
- 2011/09/23: CBC: Hurricane Hilary moving away from Mexico -- Powerful storm not expected to make landfall
- 2011/09/22: CBC: Hurricane Hilary strengthens near Mexico
In the Atlantic several storms [Philippe, Ophelia] stayed mostly out at sea:
- 2011/09/24: Wunderground: Ophelia remains weak; TD 17 forms; dangerous Nesat headed for the Philippines
- 2011/09/23: Wunderground: Ophelia weakening; Hilary an impressive Cat 4
- 2011/09/22: Wunderground: Ophelia temporarily strengthens
- 2011/09/22: PlanetArk: Tropical Storm Ophelia Churns Toward Caribbean
- 2011/09/21: Eureka: 2 satellites see Tropical Storm Ophelia born in the Atlantic
- 2011/09/24: CNN: Tropical Storm Philippe forms in eastern Atlantic Ocean
Philippe is in the far eastern Atlantic and has sustained 40 mph winds - It is expected to strengthen as it moves west-northwest, the hurricane center reports - Another tropical storm, Ophelia, is closer to the Caribbean and has stronger winds - 2011/09/22: al Jazeera: A look at the hurricane and typhoon season -- An assessment of the cyclone season of 2011
- 2011/09/19: Wunderground: Invest 98L spinning up; outlook for remainder of hurricane season
As for GHGs:
- 2011/09/21: PBL(Nl): [link to 900k pdf] Long-term trend in global CO2 emissions; 2011 report
After a 1 percent decline in 2009, global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions increased by more than 5 percent in 2010, which is unprecedented in the last two decades. The industrialised countries that ratified the Kyoto Protocol, together with the non-ratifying USA emitted approximately 7.5 percent less CO2 in 2010 than in 1990 and collectively remain on target to meet the original Kyoto Protocol objective of a 5.2 percent reduction. However their efforts are increasingly hidden in the global picture as their share of CO2 emissions has dropped from two-thirds to less than half. - 2011/09/23: HotTopic: Not good news
- 2011/09/22: EurActiv: 'Steep increase' in global CO2 emissions since Kyoto: EU
Global CO2 emissions increased by 45% between 1990 and 2010, reaching an all-time high of 33 billion tonnes, according to a new report by the EU's Joint Research Centre (JRC). - 2011/09/21: ClassM: Carbon dioxide emissions hit new record
- 2011/09/21: TCoE: Doc alert: Long term trend in CO2 emissions
- 2011/09/21: Eureka: Steep increase in global CO2 emissions despite reductions by industrialized countries
Global emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) -- the main cause of global warming -- increased by 45 % between 1990 and 2010, and reached an all-time high of 33 billion tonnes in 2010. Increased energy efficiency, nuclear energy and the growing contribution of renewable energy are not compensating for the globally increasing demand for power and transport, which is strongest in developing countries. - 2011/09/20: Wunderground: 98L organizing; September temperatures in the U.S. return to normal
- 2011/09/19: TP:JR: Third Hottest Summer Globally, Second Warmest for U.S. With Stunning Weather Extremes, Texas Drought Worst in Centuries
- 2011/09/19: ABC(Au): Sea surface temperatures
- 2011/09/18: QuarkSoup: The Warming of the Atlantic Ocean
Aerosols are making their presence felt:
- 2011/09/20: ERW: Regulators misread key climate weapon
Confusion about whether different particulate air pollutants can be controlled separately is stopping policymakers exploiting potentially the fastest method of reducing global warming, according to Stanford University's Mark Jacobson. Last year Jacobson published results showing that fossil fuel soot and solid-biofuel soot and gases may be the second leading cause of warming after CO2. - 2011/09/22: QUT: Dust makes light work of vehicle emissions
Clouds are one of the major uncertainties in climate. Much research revolves around them:
- 2011/09/20: BVerheggen: Confusing the net cloud effect with a cloud feedback: Very different beasts
- 2011/09/20: ClassM: Surprise! Clouds have a cooling effect
While in the paleoclimate:
- 2011/09/21: Eureka: Climatic fluctuations drove key events in human evolution
- 2011/09/14: AWI: 50-million-year-old clam shells provide indications of future of El Niño phenomenon
Earth warming will presumably not lead to a permanent El Niño state in the South Pacific Ocean. This is the conclusion drawn by an international team of researchers after it investigated 50-million-year-old clam shells and wood from the Antarctic. The growth rings of these fossils indicate that there was also a climate rhythm over the South Pacific during the last prolonged interglacial phase of the Earth's history resembling the present-day interplay of El Niño and La Niña. - 2011/09/22: ERW: El Niño marches to the same beat as seasonal change
The El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) occurs in the Pacific Ocean every few years and the resulting weather conditions can wreak havoc on people and the environment, particularly in Latin America and South East Asia. Predicting when an ENSO event will occur has confounded scientists because the phenomenon does not appear at regular intervals. But a new study by researchers at institutions in the US could provide an important step in our understanding of this phenomenon, by establishing a direct link between ENSO and the annual global weather cycle. - 2011/09/23: ITracker: La Nina forecast to reemerge. Again?
Regarding the cosmic ray hypothesis:
- 2011/09/23: SkeptiSci: Galactic cosmic rays: Backing the wrong horse by muoncounter
Regarding Climate Sensitivity:
- 2011/09/22: TSoD: Measuring Climate Sensitivity - Part One
- 2011/09/20: CCP: "Issues in Establishing Climate Sensitivity in Recent Studies" by Kevin E. Trenberth, John T. Fasullo & John P. Abraham, in Remote Sensing, 3 (2011)
And the State of the Oceans:
- 2011/09/24: TP:JR: We're Poisoning the Oceans and It Threatens Our Food
- 2011/09/22: NatureN: Nitrogen pollution disrupts Pacific Ocean -- Surging nitrates in Asian waters could dramatically affect marine wildlife
What's new on the extinction front?
- 2011/09/20: TP:JR: Global Warming May Cause Far Higher Extinction of Biodiversity Than Previously Thought
- 2011/09/18: Eureka: Minimizing extinctions in a changing climate: New study
Regarding the world's forests:
- 2011/09/24: BBC: Bolivia Amazon road protesters break police blockade
Indigenous protesters in the Bolivian Amazon have broken through a police blockade to continue a long-distance march on the main city, La Paz. The protesters forced their way through police lines by taking the Foreign Minister, David Choquehuanca, hostage, officials said. Mr Choquehuanca - who had come to negotiate with the protesters - has since been released. The marchers oppose plans to build a road through a rainforest reserve. - 2011/09/21: UDW: Showdown in Peru: Indigenous Communities Kick Out Canadian Mining Company
- 2011/09/21: NatureN: China's new forests aren't as green as they seem
Impressive reports of increased forest cover mask a focus on non-native tree crops that could damage the ecosystem, says Jianchu Xu. - 2011/09/19: Guardian(UK): Brazilian police arrest suspects in Amazon murders of environmentalists
Climate refugees are becoming an issue:
- 2011/09/23: TreeHugger: 20,000 People Allegedly Displaced in Uganda for UK Forestry Company's Carbon-Offset Program
- 2011/09/22: TreeHugger: Bill Clinton: World Must Prepare for Climate Refugees
- 2011/09/22: TreeHugger: 30 Million Asians Were Displaced by Environmental Disasters in 2010
- 2011/09/19: Guardian(UK): More than 30 million climate migrants in Asia in 2010, report finds
- 2011/09/19: CDreams: More Than 30 Million Climate Migrants in Asia in 2010, Report Finds
Numbers of people displaced by environmental and weather-related disasters likely to increase, Asian Development Bank warns More than 30 million people were displaced last year by environmental and weather-related disasters across Asia, experts have warned, and the problem is only likely to grow worse as climate change exacerbates such problems. - 2011/09/19: UNCCD: Actions to reverse increasing loss of productive lands in world's dry regions the focus of UN high-level meeting
More than two billion people are affected by desertification, which leads to poverty, drought, famine, demographic pressures - 2011/09/20: UN: High-level UN meeting focuses on need to reverse desertification
This week in the New Normal -- extreme weather:
- 2011/09/19: GreenGrok: Environment, Reality and the New Normal
- 2011/09/20: HotTopic: Current extreme weather events part of climate change
- 2011/09/18: CCP: Thomas L. Friedman: Is It Weird Enough Yet?
As for heatwaves and wild fires:
- 2011/09/21: PlanetArk: Trees And Power Lines Caused Major Texas Fire
Trees falling on power lines caused a massive, record-breaking wildfire that destroyed nearly 1,600 homes in Central Texas, the Texas Forest Service reported on Tuesday. - 2011/09/21: CBC: Texas wildfire likely caused by power line sparks
Sparks from electric power lines likely started the blaze that became the most destructive wildfire in Texas history, fire officials said Tuesday. The Sept. 4 blaze started near Bastrop about 40 kilometres east of Austin, destroying more than 1,500 homes and killing two people. - 2011/09/21: al Jazeera: Bolivia wildfires expected to break records
Controlled burns rage wildly, fanned by drought and wind - 2011/09/19: JFleck: Fiendfyre and the summer of 2011
- 2011/09/19: KSJT: AP: A wire service team gets a Texas drought and wildlife conservation excloo
Corals are a bellwether of the ocean's health:
- 2011/09/21: NOAANews: NOAA's 'early warning' coral reef observing network expands to the Pacific
Acidification is changing the oceans:
- 2011/09/23: USGS: Earth's Acidity Rising -- Major Causes and Shifting Trends Examined to Guide Future Mitigation Efforts
Glaciers are melting:
- 2011/09/24: Guardian(UK): Climate change may leave Mount Everest ascent ice-free, say climbers
Mission launched to measure change in Himalayas as anecdotal evidence grows of melting ice on mountain's southern approach - 2011/09/24: Guardian(UK): Melting ice is Earth's warning signal -- and we cannot ignore it
From the Himalayas to the Arctic, the signs of danger are visible - 2011/09/23: HotTopic: Sea level rise and the Christchurch rebuild
- 2011/09/19: QuarkSoup: Maybe NOAA Did Exaggerate
As for hydrological cycle disruptions [floods & droughts]:
- 2011/09/24: JFleck: A sign of drought I never thought of: hay theft
- 2011/09/23: CBC: Mudslide and flooding close northern B.C. highways
For the second time in a month heavy rain, a mudslide and flooding have cut off the remote community of Stewart in northwestern B.C. - 2011/09/22: CAbyss: The Drought of Record Was Made to Be Broken
- 2011/09/20: al Jazeera: Rains trigger deadly floods in China
At least 1.2 million people evacuated from homes following floods and landslides in the wake of heavy rains. - 2011/09/20: BBC: China floods: Dozens killed after days of rain
Floods and landslides in China caused by a week of heavy rain have killed at least 57 people and forced more than a million from their homes. Officials said 12.3 million people were affected in Sichuan, Henan and Shaanxi provinces - in the south-west, centre and north of China. The flooding in Sichuan was expected to be the worst since records began in 1847, Chinese media reported. - 2011/09/19: PlanetArk: Persisting Drought In Arkansas Plagues Hay Farmers
Consider transportation & GHG production:
- 2011/09/23: CalcRisk: DOT: Vehicle Miles Driven decreased 2.5% [to 261.8 billion vehicle miles] in July compared to July 2010
- 2011/09/18: AutoBG: NOAA finds air pollution plummets by up to 90% when ships switch to low-sulfur fuel
- 2011/09/15: AlterNet: New York's New Bike-Sharing Plan is a Model for the Country
While in the endless quest for zero energy, sustainable buildings and practical codes:
- 2011/09/23: NYT:CW: Why Saving Energy Use in Buildings Is Easier Said Than Done
As for carbon sequestration:
- 2011/08/28: Yahoo:AP: That CO2 warming the world: Lock it in a rock
- 2011/09/22: GEP: As SPICE Goes Up, CarbFix Goes Down
- 2011/09/23: DerSpiegel: Climate Protection -- German States Block Carbon Capture Law
- 2011/09/22: Guardian(UK): Carbon capture progress has lost momentum, says climate change agency
Meeting of senior ministers in Beijing hears that CCS is being left behind due to financial crisis and weakening political will - 2011/09/22: GEB: Carbon-negative technologies
- 2011/09/23: BNC: The Azimuth Project
- 2011/09/21: Grist: Scientists build machine to suck carbon from the air [D.Keith]
- 2011/09/21: Google:DMcLaren: [link to 1.4 meg pdf] Negative Emissions Technologies
- 2011/09/19: NPR: This Machine Can Suck Carbon Out Of The Air [David Keith]
Meanwhile in the journals:
- 2011/09/23: ACP: Sulfur dioxide and primary carbonaceous aerosol emissions in China and India, 1996-2010 by Z. Lu et al.
- 2011/09/22: OS: Seasonal and inter-annual temperature variability in the bottom waters over the western Black Sea shelf by G. I. Shapiro et al.
- 2011/09/22: TCD: Thermal state of the active layer and permafrost along the Qinghai-Xizang (Tibet) railway from 2006 to 2010 by Q. Wu et al.
- 2011/09/21: TCD: An Antarctic monitoring initiative for fast ice and comparison with the Arctic by P. Heil et al.
- 2011/09/16: GRL: (ab$) An increase in crevasse extent, West Greenland: Hydrologic implications by William Colgan et al.
- 2011/09/21: CP: Sub-decadal- to decadal-scale climate cyclicity during the Holsteinian interglacial (MIS 11) evidenced in annually laminated sediments by A. Koutsodendris et al.
- 2011/09/22: CPD: Climatic changes between 20th century and pre-industrial times over South America in regional model simulations by S. Wagner et al.
- 2011/09/19: CPD: Precipitation as the main driver of Neoglacial fluctuations of Gualas glacier, Northern Patagonian Icefield by S. Bertrand et al.
- 2011/09/21: ACP: A comprehensive numerical study of aerosol-cloud-precipitation interactions in marine stratocumulus by Y.-C. Chen et al.
- 2011/09/20: ACP: Correlation of black carbon aerosol and carbon monoxide in the high-altitude environment of Mt. Huang in Eastern China by X. L. Pan et al.
- 2011/09/20: ACP: Modelling atmospheric OH-reactivity in a boreal forest ecosystem by D. Mogensen et al.
- 2011/09/20: ACP: Overshooting of clean tropospheric air in the tropical lower stratosphere as seen by the CALIPSO lidar by J.-P. Vernier et al.
- 2011/09/19: ACP: Response of the Antarctic stratosphere to warm pool El Niño Events in the GEOS CCM by M. M. Hurwitz et al.
- 2011/09/22: ACPD: The impact of channel effect on Asian dust transport dynamics: a case in southeastern Asia by C.-Y. Lin et al.
- 2011/09/22: ACPD: eleconnection between Australian winter temperature and Indian summer monsoon rainfall by S.-Y. Lee & T.-Y. Koh
- 2011/09/21: ACPD: Analysis of satellite-derived Arctic tropospheric BrO columns in conjunction with aircraft measurements during ARCTAS and ARCPAC by S. Choi et al.
- 2011/09/20: ACPD: Sources and composition of urban aerosol particles by M. Vogt et al.
- 2011/09/20: ACPD: Technical Note: Minerals in dust productive soils - impacts and global distribution by S. Nickovic et al.
- 2011/09/19: ACPD: Air pollution control and decreasing new particle formation lead to strong climate warming by R. Makkonen et al.
- 2011/09/: Sage:TBAS: Fukushima: The myth of safety, the reality of geoscience by Johannis Nöggerath et al.
- 2011/09/20: PNAS: (ab$) A unifying approach for food webs, phylogeny, social networks, and statistics by Grace S. Chiu & Anton H. Westveld
- 2011/09/20: PNAS: (ab$) Radiocarbon-dated archaeological record of early first millennium B.C. mounted pastoralists in the Kunlun Mountains, China by Mayke Wagner et al.
- 2011/09/20: PNAS: (ab$) Self-enforcing strategies to deter free-riding in the climate change mitigation game and other repeated public good games by Jobst Heitzig et al.
- 2011/09/20: PNAS: (abs) Excess mortality in Europe following a future Laki-style Icelandic eruption by Anja Schmidt et al.
- 2011/09/20: PNAS: (letter$) Paths to climate cooperation by Thomas Dietz & Jinhua Zhao
- 2011/09/21: AGWObserver: Papers on Northern Hemisphere winters 2009-2010 and 2010-2011
- 2011/09/20: GMDD: The detailed snowpack scheme Crocus and its implementation in SURFEX v7 by V. Vionnet et al.
- 2011/09/19: GMDD: Vegetation height products between 60° S and 60° N from ICESat GLAS data by S. O. Los et al.
- 2011/09/19: TC: Modeling the thermal dynamics of the active layer at two contrasting permafrost sites on Svalbard and on the Tibetan Plateau by J. Weismüller et al.
- 2011/09/20: MDPI: (abs) Issues in Establishing Climate Sensitivity in Recent Studies by Kevin E. Trenberth et al.
- 2011/09/19: AGWObserver: New research from last week 37/2011
- 2011/09/08: GRL: (ab$) What caused the significant increase in Atlantic Ocean heat content since the mid-20th century? by Sang-Ki Lee et al.
And other significant documents:
- 2011/09/21: SustainableProsperity: [link to 1.2 meg pdf] Carbon Pricing in Australia: Lessons for Canada
Australia and Canada are similar in many respects. They are both large, sparsely populated, resource- and trade-dependent countries; they are both among the highest per capita greenhouse gas emitters in the world, have resource-based economies, and they are both expected to be strongly affected by the physical and financial impacts of climate change. - 2011/09/21: PBL(Nl): [link to 900k pdf] Long-term trend in global CO2 emissions; 2011 report
After a 1 percent decline in 2009, global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions increased by more than 5 percent in 2010, which is unprecedented in the last two decades. The industrialised countries that ratified the Kyoto Protocol, together with the non-ratifying USA emitted approximately 7.5 percent less CO2 in 2010 than in 1990 and collectively remain on target to meet the original Kyoto Protocol objective of a 5.2 percent reduction. However their efforts are increasingly hidden in the global picture as their share of CO2 emissions has dropped from two-thirds to less than half. - 2011/09/21: CSW: [link to 396k pdf] MacCracken v. Happer: The Real Truth about Greenhouse Gases and Climate Change
- 2011/09/21: Google:DMcLaren: [link to 1.4 meg pdf] Negative Emissions Technologies
As for miscellaneous science:
- 2011/09/23: CCP: "Near-term increase in frequency of seasonal temperature extremes prior to the 2 °C global warming target," by Bruce T. Anderson, Climatic Change, 108 (2011); doi: 10.1007/s10584-011-0196-4
- 2011/09/23: CCP: JPL: Aquarius Yields NASA's first global map of ocean salinity
- 2011/09/22: NatureN: Plant biodiversity theory debunked -- Light, not productivity, may control species richness
- 2011/09/22: UCAR: Scientists probe Indian Ocean for clues to worldwide weather patterns
- 2011/09/22: Tamino: Misalignment
- 2011/09/21: ABC(Au):TDU: Peer review is dead, long live blog review
- 2011/09/20: NatureNB: OECD publishes latest research statistics
- 2011/09/20: ABC(Au): Marine researcher wins science award for climate studies
A north Queensland scientist who uses satellites to study marine life has won a prestigious award for his research. Dr Nick Graham from the Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies has been investigating the large-scale impact of climate change on marine life. Dr Graham has won the Life and Science category of the Scopus Young Australian of the Year Award. - 2011/09/18: moyhu: A faulty tapering
What's new in models?
- 2011/09/23: SEasterbrook: Formal Verification for Climate Models?
- 2011/09/19: Eureka: Uncertain climate models impair long-term climate strategies -- New calibration satellite required to make accurate predictions, say scientists
Regarding Mann:
- 2011/09/24: CCP: Michael Mann, Scientific American: Sticking to Climate Science
- 2011/09/19: CCP: Climate Science FOI Report: American Traditions Iinstitute & University of Virginia: An intervention
Regarding Wegman:
- 2011/09/21: Deltoid: Yet another example of Wegman plagiarism
Regarding Pielke:
- 2011/09/24: ITracker: Roger A. Pielke -- has had -- enough -- of lukewarmers
- 2011/09/25: SkeptiSci: Pielke Sr. Agrees with SkS on Reducing Carbon Emissions by dana1981
- 2011/09/21: SkeptiSci: SkS Responses to Pielke Sr. Questions by dana1981
- 2011/09/19: SkeptiSci: Chasing Pielke's Goodyear Blimp
While at the UN:
- 2011/09/21: SE4All: Sustainable Energy for All a Priority for UN Secretary-General's Second Term
- 2011/09/23: UNDispatch: Sustainable Energy for All
- 2011/09/20: UN: Ban urges leaders to show greater commitment to agreement on climate change
- 2011/09/19: UN: UN official urges governments to remain committed to goal of low-carbon economies
- 2011/09/19: UN: New UN report calls on Asia-Pacific nations to transition to green economy
And on the carbon trading front:
- 2011/09/22: EUO: Emerging nations need until 2020 to hook up to EU CO2 scheme
- 2011/09/22: PlanetArk: Czech Cabinet Approves Free CO2 Permits
The idea of a carbon tax is still bouncing around:
- 2011/09/19: EnvEcon: Climate policy: Do economists all favour a carbon tax?
- 2011/09/18: Grist: Carbon taxes that don't work are a bad idea
The Robin Hood tax, aka the Tobin tax, aka the Bank tax, aka the Financial Transaction tax keeps coming up:
- 2011/09/24: al Jazeera: Bill Gates to support 'Robin Hood' tax
The wealthiest man in the US has put his support behind a tax targeting the wealthy which would be given to the poor. - 2011/09/21: MacroBiz: Australia needs a Tobin tax
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:
- 2011/09/24: TreeHugger: Good May Be Practical But Is It Good Enough? James Hansen Pitches Fee-and-Dividend Carbon Pricing
Meanwhile on the international political front:
- 2011/09/20: NYT:RfD: Why Is the U.S. Losing the Green Race?
- 2011/09/20: AutoBG: China to GM: Give us Chevy Volt secrets or it'll cost $19,000 more
- 2011/09/19: OilPrice: Oil and the Falklands - the Saga Continues
As the deadline for applying the EU-ETS to airlines draws near, we will see who is serious about reducing carbon emissions:
- 2011/09/20: PlanetArk: Airlines Warn Of Trade Row Over EU Carbon Plan
The European Union faces a trade clash over its plans to curb emissions from aviation, European airlines said on Monday. The latest flare-up in rhetoric comes four months ahead of the introduction of a scheme strongly opposed by China. - 2011/09/19: TreeHugger: How Climate Change is Causing War: Christian Parenti's "Tropic of Chaos" (Video)
What are the activists up to?
- 2011/09/24: TP:JR: McKibben: Thousands of "Moving Planet" Climate Rallies Underway Worldwide
- 2011/09/24: CCurrents: Moving Planet Day 24 September: Stop GHG Pollution [Polya]
Polls! We have polls!
- 2011/09/23: TP:JR: Mandatory Cuts in Carbon Pollution Favored by Over 70% of Voters and Small Businesses -- and Even 49% of Fox Viewers [polls]
- 2011/09/19: ERabett: Eight percent increase in belief in climate change in the US
Regarding Water Politics and Business:
- 2011/09/22: JFleck: Climate change and California water: a bad situation likely to get worse
- 2011/09/20: PSinclair: Great Lakes Under Threat. Are Lake Erie's Bad Old Days Back?
- 2011/09/19: PlanetArk: [Finnish chemical company, Kemira] Sees World Water Market At $800 Billion By 2035
- 2011/09/19: PlanetArk: Egypt, Ethiopia To Review Impact Of Mega Dam
And on the American political front:
- 2011/09/24: CfC: Cargo cult conservatives
- 2011/09/23: Grist: Talking to the Tea Party about climate?
- 2011/09/22: TP:JR: Classic False Equivalence on Political Abuse of Science
- 2011/09/22: AlterNet: Debunking the Myth that Regulations on Big Business are "Job-Killers"
- 2011/09/22: AutoBG: Small businesses support stringent fuel economy standards
- 2011/09/21: CrossCut: Coal-export plans turn into a running battle
A growing coalition opposes the plans for shipping coal through the Northwest to China's electrical plants, but there is a lot of strength on the supporters' side, too. - 2011/09/22: TreeHugger: Former Clinton Staffer Now Lobbying State [Dept. for the Keystone XL pipeline]
- 2011/09/21: TreeHugger: Seven Democratic National Committee Members Urge President to Reject Keystone XL Pipeline
- 2011/09/20: NYT: How to Weaken the Power of Foreign Oil
- 2011/09/20: TreeHugger: Major Corporations Contradict GOP By Profiting From Carbon Reduction Projects
- 2011/09/20: TP:JR: Bill Clinton Slams U.S. Climate Deniers: "We Look Like a Joke"
- 2011/09/20: TreeHugger: Bill Clinton: Fight Against Climate Change "Must Capture the Imagination of Ordinary People"
- 2011/09/20: TreeHugger: Bill Clinton: GOP Climate Denial Makes U.S. "Look Like a Joke"
- 2011/09/19: TP:JR: Home Weatherization Grows 1,000% Under Stimulus, Creating Jobs, Saving Low-Income Families $400 a Year
- 2011/09/19: Grist: De-discombobulating 'green jobs'
- 2011/09/18: DeSmogBlog: As The World Warms, Environmental Protections Put On The Back Burner
The BP disaster continues to twist US politics:
- 2011/09/22: PlanetArk: Oil Mats After BP Spill Pose Long-Term Ecosystem Threat: Study
- 2011/09/21: WaPo: Top Interior official heads to law firm representing BP on Gulf oil spill
- 2011/09/20: NOSSNews: NOAA researchers release study on emissions from BP/Deepwater Horizon controlled burns
On the 2012 campaign trail:
- 2011/09/22: NYT:Opinionator: Idiocy and Advocacy
- 2011/09/21: HuffPo: How the GOP Became the Anti-Science Party
How did it come to pass that the GOP is in danger of becoming, in the memorable words of Republican presidential candidate Jon Huntsman, "the anti-science party"? Huntsman, the former Utah governor and U.S. ambassador to China, is the lone GOP candidate who hasn't hedged on his embrace of science. "I believe in evolution and trust scientists on global warming. Call me crazy," Huntsman recently tweeted. Ask Republicans and Huntsman may be crazy indeed. A 2010 Gallup Poll found that a majority of Republicans believe that "God created humans in present form within the last 10,000 years." Potential presidents Rick Perry and Michele Bachmann see more evidence for creationism and intelligent design than they do for evolution. On climate change, Perry calls it a "contrived phony mess," Bachmann says it is "a hoax, voodoo, nonsense, hokum," and Rep. Ron Paul, another presidential candidate, declares it "the greatest hoax I think that has been around in many, many years if not hundreds of years." - 2011/09/23: WaMo: The train wreck
- 2011/09/23: AlterNet: 5 Progressive Candidates To Watch As the 2012 Campaign Heats Up
- 2011/09/24: BBC: Herman Cain wins Republican straw poll in Florida
- 2011/09/21: Tamino: God help Texas. Rick Perry won't.
- 2011/09/24: CSM: Three key issues in the 2012 election
- 2011/09/24: CSM: Herman Cain wins Florida GOP straw poll. How big a loss for Rick Perry?
- 2011/09/19: DemNow: Noam Chomsky: 2012 GOP Candidates Views are "Off the International Spectrum of Sane Behavior"
- 2011/09/19: QuarkSoup: "Rick Perry is a Ponzi Scheme" -Headline of the Day
The DOE:EIA released its yearly International Energy Outlook to some contrary comment:
- 2011/09/19: DOE:EIA: IEO:International Energy Outlook 2011
- 2011/09/23: OilDrum: IEO 2011: A Misleadingly Optimistic Energy Forecast by the EIA
- 2011/09/21: TP:JR: The Deniers' Fantasy World: EIA Projects 40% Rise in CO2 Emissions by 2035
- 2011/09/21: EnergyBulletin: IEO 2011: a misleadingly optimistic energy forecast by the EIA
- 2011/09/20: NBF: EIA projects world energy use to increase 53 percent by 2035; China and India account for half of the total growth
The Solyndra faux-scandal rolls on:
- 2011/09/24: TP:JR: Joe Nocera on "The Phony Solyndra Scandal": The "Real Winner is ... the Chinese Solar Industry."
- 2011/09/23: Grist: Republicans pursued clean energy loans, too --- and good for them!
- 2011/09/22: NYT:GW: Rep. Issa, DOE Official Clash Over Obama's Early Role in Solyndra Loan Guarantee
- 2011/09/24: al Jazeera: Obama's Solyndra case 'headache'
Executives of bankrupt solar-panel maker decline to testify at US congressional hearing into federal loans to company. - 2011/09/23: BBC: Solyndra executives plead Fifth Amendment at hearing
Senior executives of bankrupt solar panel maker Solyndra have declined to testify at a US congressional hearing into federal loans to the company. Chief executive officer Brian Harrison and chief financial officer Bill Stover invoked the Fifth Amendment before the House Energy and Commerce Committee. - 2011/09/22: AutoBG: How Aptera plays a role in the Solyndra political battle
- 2011/09/20: MediaMatters: The Wall Street Journal's Solar Orphan
- 2011/09/19: MediaMatters: What The Press Is Getting Wrong About Solyndra
- 2011/09/20: TP:JR: While Railing Against Solyndra, Republican House Members Host $11.8 Billion in Loan Guarantees in their Districts
- 2011/09/20: Grist: What Solyndra didn't teach us about clean energy and job creation
- 2011/09/19: TP:JR: Chart of the Day: How Does Solyndra Loan Compare to Actual 'Military Boondoggles'?
- 2011/09/19: Grist: Solyndra was collateral damage in a trade war with China
Late comment on Gore's Climate Reality Project:
- 2011/09/20: Maribo: 24 Hours of Reality, 365 days a year
- 2011/09/18: BCLSB: NY Times Fluffs "Goreathon" Climate Change Piece
The Obama chatter is nonstop:
- 2011/09/21: TreeHugger: Barack Obama: Dealing With Climate Change is "Not Impossible"
The actions of the Obama administration are being watched closely:
- 2011/09/22: NYT:GW: EPA Will Enforce Bush-Era Ozone Limit, Agency Chief Says
- 2011/09/23: PlanetArk: EPA Goes With Bush-Era Smog Rule It Had Bashed
- 2011/09/22: NOAANews: NOAA announces contract to construct National Water Center -- Alabama facility will improve river and flood forecasting
- 2011/09/20: PBoy: EPA Quashes Cattle Barons' Dreams of "Better Fishing Though Chemistry"
- 2011/09/19: WaPo: EPA grants air permit to Shell for Arctic offshore drilling in Chukchi sea off Alaska coast
- 2011/09/19: TreeHugger: USAID Launches FWD to Bring Attention to Somalia: Famine, War, and Drought
- 2011/09/19: TP:JR: Historian Douglas Brinkley: "We Need a Presidential Prime Time Address on Global Warming"
As for what is going on in Congress:
- 2011/09/23: AutoBG: U.S. House votes to cut $1.5 billion from Federal advanced auto loan program
- 2011/09/22: TP:JR: Before Calling Green Jobs "Propaganda," House Republicans Requested Millions to Create a "Green Collar" Workforce
- 2011/09/22: ScienceInsider: House Science Panel to Investigate NOAA Climate Service
- 2011/09/21: UCSUSA: TRAIN Act Colossal Waste of Money, Attempt to Delay Regulations
- 2011/09/20: Grist: McConnell's principled opposition to loan guarantees for energy companies that aren't in Kentucky
While in the UK:
- 2011/09/22: BBC: Shale gas firm finds 'vast' gas resources in Lancashire
An energy firm which has been test drilling for controversial "shale gas" in Lancashire has said it has found vast gas resources underground. Cuadrilla Resources began testing for gas on the Fylde Coast in March, using a technique known as "fracking". It said it had found 200 trillion cubic feet of gas under the ground, which if recovered could provide 5,600 jobs in the UK, 1,700 of those in Lancashire . - 2011/09/21: BBC: Cameron vow to protect green belt -- Cameron pledge to National Trust over countryside
David Cameron has defended plans to simplify the planning system, saying they aimed to balance environmental and social benefits with economic ones. - 2011/09/20: Guardian(UK): [Letters] Red tape challenge to ministers' thinking
- 2011/09/20: Guardian(UK): Welsh schools to receive climate change education pack
- 2011/09/19: Guardian(UK): [Letters] Red tape challenge to ministers' thinking [UK pol]
And in Europe:
- 2011/09/23: DerSpiegel: Climate Protection -- German States Block Carbon Capture Law
The German government had hoped to push through a new law allowing the testing of underground greenhouse gas storage, in hopes of slowing climate change. But on Friday the country's states blocked the plans by rejecting the proposed bill. Germany could now face action by the European Union. - 2011/09/23: EurActiv: EU states warned over 'messy' bilateral energy deals
Cosy arrangements between individual EU countries and energy suppliers such as Russia will create "a mess for investors and a mess legally," warned a top European Commission official. - 2011/09/23: EurActiv: EU urged to focus on rural energy needs, carbon solutions
Local representatives and energy solution providers have called on the EU to pay attention to rural areas' energy needs and help them move towards less carbon-intensive energy solutions. - 2011/09/23: EurActiv: Rural renewables still obstructed by red tape
Clean energy projects in rural areas are still being held back by administrative burdens, one year after EU member states began implementing their National Renewable Energy Action Plans (NREAPs), EurActiv has learned. However, Brussels believes the situation is improving. - 2011/09/21: EurActiv: Industry warns against end of oil refining in Europe
The European oil industry rang the alarm yesterday (20 September) on the impact of EU energy efficiency legislation on oil refining activities, warning of the end of the sector in Europe. - 2011/09/21: EurActiv: Polish villages eye shale gas to break coal addiction
Polish rural communities largely depend on low-cost but dirty coal for their heating, but under pressure from Brussels to provide cleaner energy, Warsaw is proposing controversial shale gas wells as an alternative. - 2011/09/21: EurActiv: Commission tables plan for a resource-efficient economy
The European Commission unveiled plans yesterday (20 September) to decouple the EU's economic growth from natural resource consumption, suggesting that the bloc's 27 governments sign up to a myriad of short- and long-term environmental targets by the end of 2013. The Commission's Roadmap to a Resource Efficient Europe, adopted on 20 September, suggests introducing resource efficiency indicators and targets across the 27-nation bloc. Except for mandatory efficiency requirements on water-using devices, which are already set to be tabled in 2012, the paper does not talk about legally-binding targets for now. - 2011/09/21: EUO: Sarkozy say EU food aid programme must not be cut
French President Sarkozy Tuesday urged that a 480m euro budgetline bringing food to the EU's poor should not be slashed to 113.5m euros. - 2011/09/20: EurActiv: Mountain regions call for EU focus on local energy
Political and financial support is needed from the EU to help rural areas develop renewable energies at local level such as biomass and small hydro, according to Euromontana, an association representing Europe's mountainous regions. - 2011/09/20: EUO: EU to cut food aid to poor citizens
- 2011/09/20: PlanetArk: Renewables Stir Growth, Create Jobs: EU Adviser
- 2011/09/19: EurActiv: EU in fresh row over biofuels' 'green' claims
A fresh row has erupted in Brussels over the environmental benefits of biofuels, with academics and EU officials at loggerhead over how to account for CO2 savings in the product's life cycle. A group of 19 European scientists have argued that the EU's biofuels policy was based on a "serious accounting error" and should be changed, triggering a row with the European Commission, which defends biofuels for being "carbon neutral". The row began with the leaking of an opinion by the Scientific Committee of the European Environment Agency (EEA) last week. The report eviscerates the official EU stand that biofuels are environmentally beneficial, as an accounting error with "immense" potential consequences. - 2011/09/19: EurActiv: Denied fuel choice, rural areas spew 'unnecessary' CO2
Due to limited fuel choice, households in rural areas have turned to heavily-polluting oil and coal as their main source of energy, highlighting the potential of switching to cleaner energy sources, according to a new study to be published this week. - 2011/09/19: EUO: Billions in EU aid spent on ill-defined green projects, say auditors
More than a third of EU agro-environmental aid is given to farms that have no ecological problems on site or within a 10-km range, a study carried out by the European Court of Auditors (ECA) shows. - 2011/09/21: ABC(Au):TDU: Coalition lead: big but soft
- 2011/09/20: ABC(Au): An application for a 48-turbine wind farm just north of Naracoorte has been lodged by Acciona Energy
- 2011/09/19: ABC(Au): Solar plans for coal-fired power stations
Now that the Australian carbon legislation has been introduced, the battle is joined in earnest:
- 2011/09/22: PlanetArk: Australia Releases Updated Carbon Tax Modeling
The Murray-Darling Basin Plan controversy continues:
- 2011/09/22: ABC(Au): Drainage and floodway boost for SE wetlands
The Water Department says a new drainage and floodway system is already producing remarkable ecological benefits in some wetlands in the south-east of South Australia. - 2011/09/22: HotTopic: Dismissing Greens' plan out of hand not justified
- 2011/09/21: HotTopic: The Minister's chart-junk part 2
While in the Indian subcontinent:
- 2011/09/22: Asia Times: Indian activists take fight against coal to World Bank
As leaders from two of the world's largest financial institutions, the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, met for annual meetings here on Tuesday, a delegation of activists from India called on the World Bank to follow through with its proposal to dramatically cut funding for coal-burning power stations. - 2011/09/20: CCurrents: Koodankulam: Movement's Reponse To Jayalalita's Letter by People's Movement Against Nuclear Energy
- 2011/09/19: CCurrents: Protest Against Koodankulam Nuclear Plant In Pictures
And in China:
- 2011/09/23: PlanetArk: China To Tighten Emissions From Thermal Power Plants
- 2011/09/20: PlanetArk: Analysis: Conoco Spill Heightens Scrutiny Of Offshore China
China is clamping down on offshore oil drillers after a spill by U.S. firm ConocoPhillips in Bohai Bay, requiring tighter controls in a campaign to beef up environmental protection standards ordered by Premier Wen Jiabao. The leak from the Conoco-operated field, while disastrous, emitted less oil in three months than BP's Gulf of Mexico spewed out in a single day, but the response from Beijing has been swift and tough. - 2011/09/23: PlanetArk: Japan Northeast Could Tap 740 MW Of Geothermal Power
And elsewhere in Asia:
- 2011/09/22: TreeHugger: Maldives Mandates At Least 60% Its Electricity Must Be From Solar Power By 2020
- 2011/09/22: Guardian(UK): Maldives crowdsources 2020 carbon neutral plan
Country launches website seeking help from world's top experts on how to achieve carbon neutrality by 2020 - 2011/09/23: TreeHugger: 20,000 People Allegedly Displaced in Uganda for UK Forestry Company's Carbon-Offset Program
- 2011/09/20: International: Palm Oil Fuelling Scramble for Land in Africa
In Canada, neocon PM Harper, continues his do-nothing policy:
- 2011/09/22: CBC: Harper 'confident' Keystone pipeline to proceed -- Oil workers head to Ottawa to talk to MPs about pipeline extension
- 2011/09/20: EneNews: Canadians suspicious over radiation testing of seafood -- Official "puzzled" gov't withholding where samples were taken
- 2011/09/21: CanEast: Arctic sovereignty requires a ship that does not yet exist
- 2011/09/19: PostMedia: No new oil sands emissions rules this year: Peter Kent
Questions and debate about offshore and Arctic drilling continue:
- 2011/09/21: CBC: Drilling mud spills from offshore rig east of St. John's -- Thousands of litres of drilling mud were spilled Tuesday
Thousands of litres of synthetic drilling mud spilled at the White Rose oil development hundreds of kilometres southeast of St. John's on Tuesday, officials say. Husky Energy said the spill of about 5,000 litres of drilling mud from the GSF Grand Banks oil rig occurred during normal drilling operations. The White Rose oil project is about 350 kilometres from the island of Newfoundland. - 2011/09/22: CleanBreak: An open letter from a climate science researcher/student about impact of Environment Canada staff and program cuts
[...]
Over the past several months we have seen major cuts to Environment Canada that are leaving it without any real scientific or research power. We have seen many prominent scientific jobs cut, research funding slashed, and our ability to effectively do environmental assessment and management largely neutralized. Our scientists have been muzzled, and their ability to go to press has become tightly managed by a new "media relations office" put forth by the Harper Government. There is no more money to do research on Adaptations and Impacts as we do, projects on water quality have been halted (including those serving Aboriginal reserves and northern communities), and many of the tools and researchers necessary in order to adequately measure the consequences of the Athabasca Tar Sands are presently in a questionable state of limbo. This rearrangement of staff - preceding the 5-10% first round of budget cuts coming in February as part of Harper's "balancing the books" will effectively leave Environment Canada powerless and effectively useless. - 2011/09/23: Impolitical: Environment Canada cuts expand beyond ozone monitoring
- 2011/09/21: CBC: Environment Canada defends ozone monitoring cuts
- 2011/08/26: PostMedia: Harper says minister reversed decision to slash water quality monitoring
Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Friday his government has reversed an Environment Canada decision to shut down nearly two dozen water quality monitoring stations in the north. - 2011/09/19: MTobis: Major Cuts to Environment Canada
Whoops! Somebody doesn't like being called names:
- 2011/09/21: TreeHugger: Pot Calls Kettle Black: Saudi Government Sues Over Canadian Ethical Oil Ads
- 2011/09/21: OilChange: Saudis Slam "EthicalOil" Tar Sands Advert
- 2011/09/20: G&M: 'Ethical oil' ad sparks war of words between Ottawa, Saudis
A pro-industry group that promotes Canada's "ethical" oil sands has sparked an international row with a television ad attacking Saudi Arabia's record on women's rights. Immigration Minister Jason Kenney on Tuesday slammed the Saudi embassy's apparent effort to kill a 30-second advocacy ad that argues U.S. reliance on Canada's oil-sands production is more "ethical" than buying oil from the undemocratic Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. - 2011/09/20: DeSmogBlog: Saudi Arabia and Ethical Oil Group Go Head to Head Over Ads
- 2011/09/19: Canoe: 'Ethical oil' ad campaign riles Saudis
The battle over the Keystone XL and Northern Gateway pipelines rages on:
- 2011/09/23: G&M: Pipelines key to increasing energy exports, Minister says
Canada needs projects such as Enbridge Inc. ENB-T Northern Gateway pipeline to provide crucial access to growing markets for the country's energy exports, says Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver. In a speech given Friday in Toronto, the Minister said the federal government would respect the regulatory review now being conducted on the Gateway project. But he made it clear that Ottawa supports the construction of oil pipelines to the West Coast, despite opposition from environmental groups and first nations. - 2011/09/23: Reuters: Big-name celebs irk Ottawa in pipeline debate
Canada's energy minister [Joe Oliver] shot back on Friday at Hollywood celebrities protesting a plan to build a $7 billion oil pipeline to Texas from Alberta in the first public indication that the protests are getting under Ottawa's skin. - 2011/09/24: LFR: US protests against Keystone XL pipeline taking their toll on Conservatives
- 2011/09/21: PostMedia: Bureaucrats defend Keystone project's safety -- Briefing notes concede it's tough to counter U.S. critics
Federal bureaucrats are casting doubts on claims that a controversial oilsands pipeline expansion in the United States would be prone to accidents because of the corrosive nature of crude oil derived from Alberta's bitumen deposits, according to government briefing notes. The possibility of pipeline leaks caused by the crude oil from the region, commonly referred to as the oilsands, was raised in February by several American environmental and advocacy groups, led by the Natural Resources Defence Council. - 2011/09/19: DeSmogBlog: EnergyNOW! Tackles Keystone XL, And Talks To Me About Pipelines
- 2011/09/18: NI/P: Guest Post re Enbridge Northern Gateway
There's a big demonstration against the Keystone XL pipeline planned for Ottawa on Monday:
- 2011/09/24: CDreams: Oil Sands Pipeline Protests: Big-name Celebs Irk Canadian Government
- 2011/09/20: CoC: Canadian Celebrities endorse Ottawa Action and say "No to Tar Sands"
- 2011/09/21: TreeHugger: Canadian Celebrities Support Ottawa Action Over Tar Sands [Sept. 26]
- 2011/09/21: Rabble: 'Say no to the tar sands' rally and sit-in in front of Parliament [Next Monday, Sept. 26]
- 2011/09/20: CBC: Oilsands protest to get Canadian actors' support
[Opponents of a proposed oil pipeline from Canada to the U.S. Gulf Coast demonstrate outside the White House in August. More protests are planned for Ottawa the week of Sept. 26.] - 2011/09/21: SustainableProsperity: [link to 1.2 meg pdf] Carbon Pricing in Australia: Lessons for Canada
Australia and Canada are similar in many respects. They are both large, sparsely populated, resource- and trade-dependent countries; they are both among the highest per capita greenhouse gas emitters in the world, have resource-based economies, and they are both expected to be strongly affected by the physical and financial impacts of climate change. - 2011/09/22: PostMedia: Canada moving away from ally [Australia] on climate change action: Report
Canada is drifting away from the climate change policies of one of its closest allies on the international stage because of an approach defined by "uncertainty and lack of commitment," says a new report released Thursday by a research group based at the University of Ottawa. The analysis, by Sustainable Prosperity, a network of business and academic leaders who examine market-based policies to improve the economy while protecting the environment, was based on tracking the evolution of environmental policies in Australia and Canada. Both countries are among the highest polluters in the world when it comes to average annual pollution per citizen because of energy-intensive economies that are dependent on fossil fuels such as oil and coal. But the report, Carbon Pricing in Australia, noted that successive governments in that country have moved from "denial" in the 1990s about the link between climate change and a devastating drought to a "panic" that eventually prompted the latest generation of politicians to make some progress on the issue. - 2011/09/24: G&M: In the West, dismantling the Wheat Board will leave mighty grudges
I'm an exiled city girl. For the past seven years, I've lived in a farm town. I don't farm, curl, vote Conservative or attend church, which makes me a bit of an oddity. I'm no Margaret Mead but, after long hours spent observing the local rituals from the fringes, I "get" sodbusters. It takes more than a Rider Pride truck flag and a Saskatchewan driver's licence to gain admittance to the fold. That's why I'm so puzzled that Stephen Harper, a city boy who's gained acceptance among Western Canadian farmers, would risk alienating this hard-won base. So which Tory MP had the bright idea to dismantle the monopolistic Canadian Wheat Board? - 2011/09/21: CBC: Alberta farm group [Wild Rose Agricultural Producers] says respect CWB vote
The largest voice for Alberta's farmers wants the federal government to respect the results of the Canadian Wheat Board plebiscite on wheat and barley marketing. A majority of farmers who voted in this summer's plebiscite supported the wheat board's single-desk marketing of both grains. - 2011/09/23: DeSmogBlog: "It Can't All Be True": Canadian Government Launches New Fracking Studies
- 2011/09/23: CBC: Natural gas fracking reviews launched
The federal government is launching two reviews of a controversial natural gas drilling practice known as fracking, to address concerns it may be damaging to the environment. Fracking releases natural gas from shale deposits deep underground by blasting large volumes of fresh water, sand, and chemicals into the rocks at high pressure. Federal Environment Minister Peter Kent has asked Environment Canada and a panel of independent scientists with the Council of Canadian Academies to conduct two parallel studies of its environmental impacts. - 2011/09/19: Grist: Canadian geothermal could produce a million times as much electricity as the country needs
- 2011/09/14: CleanTechnica: Forget Tar Sands: Canada's Geothermal Resources >1 Million Times Electricity Consumption
- 2011/09/19: PeakEnergy: Forget Tar Sands: Canada's Geothermal Resources >1 Million Times Electricity Consumption
BC is wrangling over energy:
- 2011/09/22: Tyee: Site C, Yes or No? Gov't Never Directly Asked Locals
An $8 million consultation with the public danced around main issue say critics. - 2011/09/22: TheCanadian: Site C Dam: The Folly of Choosing Energy Over Food Security
Meanwhile in that Mechanical Mordor known as the tar sands:
- 2011/09/22: Tyee: Nikiforuk: Yes, Refine Oil Sands Crude Right Here
Former premier Lougheed is right. Piping raw bitumen to US is a lousy deal for Alberta's people. - 2011/09/22: PI: Keystone XL in context: oilsands and environmental management -- Two decades of ineffective policies have left their mark on the Canadian landscape
- 2011/09/23: Grist: Even the Bush administration wouldn't touch tar-sands oil
- 2011/09/20: Grist: Cool vintage footage of Canada's tar sands
- 2011/09/19: OilChange: Chinese Increase Investment in Tar Sands
In Manitoba, an election looms:
- 2011/09/21: CBC: Manitoba First Nations sue over spring floods
Two Manitoba First Nations are suing the federal government, the province and Manitoba Hydro over massive flooding of their lands. Peguis First Nation and Ebb and Flow First Nation both filed lawsuits last week. - 2011/09/19: JDS: The One Thing You Need to Know About Hugh McFadyen
In Ontario, energy policy is a major issue in the upcoming election:
- 2011/09/20: PI: New analysis compares Ontario election promises on clean energy, climate action and sustainable transportation
- 2011/09/20: PI: Frequently Asked Questions about Green Energy in Ontario
- 2011/09/20: PI: Analysis of Ontario political platforms
- 2011/09/23: BCLSB: More Dirty Business: Who Funds Wind Concerns Ontario, Part II
- 2011/09/20: BCLSB: Dirty Business: Who Funds Wind Concerns Ontario?
- 2011/09/22: CBC: Wind turbine debate sparked in Ontario election
- 2011/09/22: CBC: Ont. wind farm health risks downplayed: documents
- 2011/09/21: CBC: Wind farm health risks claimed in $1.5M suit -- Ontario family sues Suncor, alleging health problems
- 2011/09/19: TRR: Ontario Green vote projected to drop -- but it doesn't have to
While in la Belle Province:
- 2011/09/19: PI:B: Quebec shale gas proponents misrepresent Pembina study
In the Maritimes:
- 2011/09/21: CBC: PetroWorth wins OK for Lake Ainslie well
An oil and gas company has won approval to drill an exploratory oil well in Cape Breton's Lake Ainslie area, despite complaints from opponents who say this will lead to fracking. The Nova Scotia government announced Tuesday it will allow PetroWorth Resources Inc. to drill a vertical well up to 1,500 metres deep. - 2011/09/23: NI/P: Taking on Goliath [Andrew Nikiforuk appreciation]
The movement toward a long term ecologically viable economics is glacial:
- 2011/09/22: TripleCrisis: Low carbon economy: a reality check
- 2011/09/02: LotL: Daniel Tanuro: The Delusion of Green Capitalism
- 2011/09/01: LotL: Foundations of an ecosocialist strategy
- 2011/09/20: EnergyBulletin: New evidence for changing the nature of the global economy
- 2011/09/19: OilDrum: Thoughts on a Sustainable Human Ecosystem
IPAT [Impact = Population * Affluence * Technology] raised its head once again:
- 2011/09/24: Grist: What you don't know about women, climate change, and population [video]
- 2011/09/23: TreeHugger: What If The World Population Doesn't Stabilize At 10bn?
- 2011/09/23: Grist: The numbers behind the numbers: Meet your 7 billion neighbors
- 2011/09/22: Grist: Series Intro -- 7 billion: What to expect when you're expanding
- 2011/09/20: Grist: World population could just keep on expanding, says expert
- 2011/09/19: BNC: Why population policy will not solve climate change - Part 1
Apocalypso anyone?
- 2011/09/20: CCurrents: Collapse: Why Nobody Is Listening
As for how the media handles science:
- 2011/09/22: KSJT: Chris Mooney: Classic false equivalence of the political abuse of science
- 2011/09/21: BCLSB: Sun Smears Suzuki
- 2011/09/19: JQuiggin: The Oz as a (dysfunctional) group blog
The latest round of controversy between Robert Manne and The Australian has followed a pattern that is now familiar. Manne presents the evidence that The Australian routinely distorts the news to fit its political agenda, and equally routinely denies that it has any such agenda. The Oz responds with a stream of opinion pieces, snarky items in Cut and Paste, objectionable cartoons and so on. - 2011/09/20: ITracker: 4 reasons voters don't demand climate change action: How to frame the debate
Here is something for your library:
- 2011/09/24: CBC:Q&Q: [mp3] Mad Like Tesla
- 2011/09/23: TGBeaver: New Tar Sands book [Book Plug] _Challenging Legitimacy at the Precipice of Energy Calamity_ by Debra Davidson & Mike Gismondi
- 2011/09/23: SkeptiSci: [Book Review] _Rough Winds: Extreme Weather and Climate Change_ by James Powell
- 2011/09/21: MTobis: [Book Review] _A Planet for the President_ by Alistair Beaton
- 2011/09/20: BPA: Recommended: A Great Read About the State of Farming in Canada
- 2011/09/18: HotTopic: [Book Review] _Climate Change and Global Energy Security: Technology and Policy Options_ by Marilyn Brown & Benjamin Sovacool
- 2011/09/18: AD: [Book Review] _Power Failure?_ by Richard Starr
And for your film & video enjoyment:
- 2011/09/23: AFTIC: Get a Grip!
- 2011/09/23: TreeHugger: How Can This Island Nation Go 100% Carbon Neutral by 2020? (Video)
- 2011/09/23: PSinclair: The Weekend Wonk: BBC -- Is Nuclear Power Safe?
- 2011/09/23: HotTopic: The Climate Show #19: A Tale of Two Poles
- 2011/09/22: PSinclair: New Feature: Global Warming 101
- 2011/09/21: PSinclair: Wind Power: Reducing Tax Burdens from Maine to Maui
- 2011/09/24: MTobis: The US Government Cannot Help the Climate
- 2011/09/18: BPA: Documentary Film Trailer: Farmageddon
- 2011/09/20: PSinclair: Arnie Gunderson: Lessons from Fukushima
- 2011/09/20: JKB: Merchants of doubt - interview with Naomi Oreskes
- 2011/09/20: TP:JR: Two Videos on Merchants of Doubt, the Handful of Scientists Who Obscured the Truth about Climate Change (and Tobacco)
- 2011/09/19: TreeHugger: Josh Fox Earns An Emmy For 'Gasland'
- 2011/09/19: Tamino: Merchants of Doubt
- 2011/09/19: TreeHugger: We Need a Left-Wing Media Machine to Fight for Climate Action: Mark Hertsgaard (Video)
- 2011/09/18: CCP: Naomi Klein debunks "Ethical Oil" at Tar Sands Action in Washington, DC, September 7, 2011
Meanwhile among the 'Sue the Bastards!' contingent:
- 2011/09/23: AutoBG: Hold the biofuel: OPEI files legal challenge against EPA-approved E15
- 2011/09/20: Guardian(UK): Chevron loses latest stage of Amazon pollution battle
New York appeals judge unfreezes $18bn damages award over contamination of indigenous tribe's land in Ecuador - 2011/09/21: TreeHugger: Pot Calls Kettle Black: Saudi Government Sues Over Canadian Ethical Oil Ads
- 2011/09/21: OilChange: Saudis Slam "EthicalOil" Tar Sands Advert
- 2011/09/20: DemNow: Court Ruling Backs Ecuadorian Effort to Hold Chevron Accountable for Amazon Pollution
- 2011/09/20: G&M: 'Ethical oil' ad sparks war of words between Ottawa, Saudis
A pro-industry group that promotes Canada's "ethical" oil sands has sparked an international row with a television ad attacking Saudi Arabia's record on women's rights. Immigration Minister Jason Kenney on Tuesday slammed the Saudi embassy's apparent effort to kill a 30-second advocacy ad that argues U.S. reliance on Canada's oil-sands production is more "ethical" than buying oil from the undemocratic Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. - 2011/09/20: DeSmogBlog: Saudi Arabia and Ethical Oil Group Go Head to Head Over Ads
- 2011/09/20: BBC: US court rules against Chevron in Ecuador oil case
A US court has overturned a block on Ecuadoreans collecting damages totalling $18.2bn (£11.5bn) from Chevron over Amazon oil pollution. The order reversed a previous judge's ruling that froze enforcement of the fine outside Ecuador. But it is not the end of the legal saga, which is also going through the courts in Ecuador. - 2011/09/20: PlanetArk: New York Fracking Lawsuit Could Set Drilling Precedent
A lawsuit challenging a small town's ban on natural-gas drilling could have implications throughout New York, where state officials are poised to approve a controversial drilling method known as fracking. Anschutz Exploration Corporation filed suit on Friday against Dryden, a rural suburb of Ithaca with about 13,000 residents that last month amended its zoning laws to bar all gas drilling within its unincorporated borders. - 2011/09/24: ERabett:BSD: French nuclear power pricing, and solar power pricing
- 2011/09/22: BBerg: Oil Era's Twilight Drives Depression, Debt Crisis, Rifkin Says
- 2011/09/21: Grist: The military's historic embrace of smart energy
- 2011/09/21: SciAm:EC: Natural Gas Company Fined $500,000 for Damaging Endangered Species Habitat
A subsidiary of Petrohawk Energy Corp. has been fined $350,000 and ordered to pay an additional $150,000 in restitution for damaging the habitat of an endangered species in Arkansas. The latter amount will be paid to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation for use in watershed restoration projects in the area, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office. - 2011/09/19: PSU: 'Inexhaustible' source of hydrogen may be unlocked by salt water
- 2011/09/25: BNC: Coal dependence and the renewables paradox
- 2011/09/21: CNN: Ursula Sladek: The housewife who powered a green revolution
Ursula Sladek created Germany's first co-op-owned renewable power company - Motivated to protect her family after Chernobyl disaster, Sladek took control of local power grid - Her company charges less for electricity as it does not aim to make a profit - Sladek was recently awared prestigious Goldman Environmental prize - 2011/09/20: Tyee: What's Playing Havoc with Economy? Costly Energy
Energy & Equity: Beyond debt, bubbles and regulatory fiascos lies the crude truth. - 2011/09/20: NBF: Thermoelectric materials produced via microwave in minutes instead of days
- 2011/09/20: CCurrents: Global Energy Intensity Rises
Global energy consumption and intensity rise for the second year in a row even as global economy lags - 2011/09/20: OSU: Microwave ovens a key to energy production from wasted heat
- 2011/09/20: PlanetArk: Renewables Stir Growth, Create Jobs: EU Adviser
A major expansion of renewable energy could create millions of jobs worldwide, stir economic growth in heavily indebted countries and help fight climate change at the same time, an American adviser to the German leader Angela Merkel said on Monday. Jeremy Rifkin, a best-selling author and an adviser to the European Union on climate change and energy security, said Germany has been leading the way by creating some 250,000 jobs in renewable energy in just a few years, but could do more. - 2011/09/19: Grist: The small town energy revolution
- 2011/09/19: SciAm:PI: Waste-to-Energy: a mountain of trash, or a pile of energy?
- 2011/09/19: Grist: Canadian geothermal could produce a million times as much electricity as the country needs
- 2011/09/14: CleanTechnica: Forget Tar Sands: Canada's Geothermal Resources >1 Million Times Electricity Consumption
- 2011/09/19: PeakEnergy: Forget Tar Sands: Canada's Geothermal Resources >1 Million Times Electricity Consumption
Hey! Let's contaminate the aquifer for thousands of years! It'll be a fracking gas!
- 2011/09/20: GreenGrok: Natural Gas, Hydrofracking and Safety: The Three Faces of Fracking Water
- 2011/09/23: DeSmogBlog: "It Can't All Be True": Canadian Government Launches New Fracking Studies
- 2011/09/23: Guardian(UK): Charles Hendry's fracking response raises more questions than it answers [Monbiot]
- 2011/09/23: CBC: Natural gas fracking reviews launched
- 2011/09/22: PlanetArk: Sand Mining Emerges As Another Fracking Threat
- 2011/09/21: DeSmogBlog: Natural Gas Gold Rush, Utica Shale Edition Courtesy of John Kasich
- 2011/09/22: BBC: Shale gas firm finds 'vast' gas resources in Lancashire
- 2011/09/20: TreeHugger: Scientists Tell New York Governor Municipal Water Systems Can't Handle Fracking
- 2011/09/19: CCP: DEP inspections show more shale well cement problems
- 2011/09/19: DeSmogBlog: Counterpoint on Shale Gas and the Future of Fracking
On the coal front:
- 2011/09/21: CCurrents: Dear Big Coal: You're Not Above The Law
- 2011/09/22: Asia Times: Indian activists take fight against coal to World Bank
As leaders from two of the world's largest financial institutions, the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, met for annual meetings here on Tuesday, a delegation of activists from India called on the World Bank to follow through with its proposal to dramatically cut funding for coal-burning power stations. - 2011/09/21: AlterNet: Coal Company Massey Energy Thinks They're Above the Law -- Let's Prove Them Wrong
On the gas and oil front:
- 2011/09/13: BBerg: Closing oil prices Friday
OIL (US$/bbl)
Nymex Crude Future...79.85
Dated Brent Spot....106.64
WTI Cushing Spot.....79.58 - 2011/09/22: EconBrowser: Changing behavior of crude oil futures prices
- 2011/09/23: BBerg: Shipowner Mothballs Supertanker Without Having Delivered a Single Cargo
- 2011/09/20: TP:JR: OPEC's $1 Trillion Cash Quiets Poor Thanks to Oil Above $100 for Longest Period Ever
- 2011/09/19: DeSmogBlog: Natural Gas Media and Stakeholder Relations Professionals to Head to Houston
And in pipeline news:
- 2011/09/22: PI:B: Thinking outside the pipeline: Why American decision-makers must consider the true costs of Keystone XL
- 2011/09/22: PI: Keystone XL in context: oilsands and environmental management -- Two decades of ineffective policies have left their mark on the Canadian landscape
- 2011/09/22: CEP: Union calls for reversal of Keystone XL approval
- 2011/09/20: Grist: Could Nebraska stop Keystone XL?
- 2011/09/20: OilChange: Keystone XL: Its Not Jobs Versus Ideology
- 2011/09/19: DeSmogBlog: EnergyNOW! Tackles Keystone XL, And Talks To Me About Pipelines
Yes we have a peak oil sighting:
- 2011/09/22: SciAm:Obs: "The Quest" for Energy Security: The Search for More Oil and Its Alternatives
- 2011/09/20: EconBrowser: More thoughts on peak oil [Yergin]
- 2011/09/21: CCurrents: There Will Be Peak Oil
- 2011/09/22: EnergyBulletin: The peak oil crisis: the German army report
- 2011/09/21: OilDrum: Peak Oil - Now or Later? A Response to Daniel Yergin
- 2011/09/21: PeakEnergy: Peaks and spikes [Yergin]
- 2011/09/20: EnergyBulletin: There will be peak oil
- 2011/09/19: Grist: Wall Street Journal embraces peak oil denialism [Yergin]
- 2011/09/18: EnergyBulletin: Daniel Yergin's letter to the peak oil community, and a rebuttal
Biofuel bickering abounds:
- 2011/09/19: RRapier: Why Might Novazymes Oppose My Biofuel Incentive Proposal?
- 2011/09/22: EurActiv: Out of the woods? Rural Europe (re)turns to forests as main energy source
Wood is already the most widely-used source of renewable energy in Europe, but the European Commission is looking at additional measures to help rural regions seize their potential for power from biomass. According to the European Commission, wood already accounts for approximately 80% of the biomass used for renewable energy. - 2011/09/20: AutoBG: Biofuel breakthrough? Valero to extract corn oil during ethanol production process
- 2011/09/19: Grist: The new biodiesel boom
- 2011/09/19: AutoBG: BP expands ethanol output with acquisition of Brazil's Tropical BioEnergia
The answer my friend...:
- 2011/09/21: NBF: Research towards superconducting direct-drive generator for wind turbines
Meanwhile among the solar aficionados:
- 2011/09/07: ABC(Au): Solar same price as grid electricity
- 2011/09/18: FuturePundit: Sharp Photovoltaic System Price Decline 2010-2011
- 2011/09/23: Grist: Teen's invention boosts solar panel output 40 percent [bimetallic solar tracking]
- 2011/09/23: LBL: Lessons to be Learned from Nature in Photosynthesis -- International Panel of Scientists Point the Way Forward
- 2011/09/23: TreeHugger: Solar Power Costs Dropping Dramatically. 11% in 6 Months
- 2011/09/23: Eureka: Nature offers key lessons on harvesting solar power, says U of T chemistry professor
- 2011/09/23: Eureka: Scientists lay out plans for efficient harvesting of solar energy
Solar power could be harvested more efficiently and transported over long distances using tiny molecular circuits, according to research inspired by new insights into natural photosynthesis. Incorporating the latest research into how plants, algae and some bacteria use quantum mechanics to optimise energy production via photosynthesis, scientists have set out how to design molecular "circuitry" that is 10 times smaller than the thinnest electrical wire in computer processors. Published in Nature Chemistry, the report discusses how tiny molecular energy grids could capture, direct, regulate and amplify raw solar energy. - 2011/09/21: Grist: It's not just the U.S. --- China is also eating Germany's solar lunch
- 2011/09/21: EMPA: How to produce flexible CIGS solar cells with record efficiency
- 2011/09/20: TreeHugger: Solar PV Power Grows 69% Year-Over-Year in US for Second Quarter 2011
- 2011/09/19: TreeHugger: U.S. Solar Industry Now Employs 100,000 People, Grew 6.8% Since August 2010
- 2011/09/19: BBC: China solar panel factory shut after protests
The nuclear energy controversy continues:
- 2011/09/23: NBF: China AP1000 construction progress and Raw Uranium in Libya
- 2011/09/23: EurActiv: Ukraine looks to US for nuclear diversification
Ukraine, a country with a strong energy sector inherited from the Soviet Union and further developed by Russia, is looking to a US investor for a nuclear fuel plant, a recently adopted government strategy reveals. - 2011/09/21: Guardian(UK): Scottish nuclear leak 'will never be completely cleaned up'
The Scottish Environment Protection Agency has abandoned its aim to remove all traces of contamination from the north coast seabed Radioactive contamination that leaked for more than two decades from the Dounreay nuclear plant on the north coast of Scotland will never be completely cleaned up, a Scottish government agency has admitted. The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) has decided to give up on its aim of returning the seabed near the plant to a "pristine condition". To do so, it said, could cause "more harm than good". At a board meeting in Stirling on Tuesday, the Scottish government's environmental watchdog opted to encourage remediation "as far as is practically achievable" but to abandon any hope of removing all the radioactive pollution from the seabed. Tens of thousands of radioactive fuel fragments escaped from the Dounreay plant between 1963 and 1984, polluting local beaches, the coastline and the seabed. Fishing has been banned within a two-kilometre radius of the plant since 1997. The most radioactive of the particles are regarded by experts as potentially lethal if ingested. Similar in size to grains of sand, they contain caesium-137, which has a half-life of 30 years, but they can also incorporate traces of plutonium-239, which has a half-life of over 24,000 years - meaning that is the time period for half of the material to break down. The particles are milled shards from the reprocessing of irradiated uranium and plutonium fuel from two long-defunct reactors. They are thought to have drained into the sea with discharges from cooling ponds. In 2007, Dounreay, which is now being decommissioned, pleaded guilty at Wick sheriff court to a "failure to prevent fragments of irradiated nuclear fuel being discharged into the environment". The plant's operator at the time, the UK Atomic Energy Authority, was fined £140,000. - 2011/09/22: BBC: 'Pristine' seabed effort off Dounreay 'could do harm'
Returning contaminated seabed near a nuclear site to a "pristine condition" could do more harm than good, according an environmental watchdog. - 2011/09/18: USAToday: Weeks after quake, town near nuclear plant remains rattled
- 2011/09/19: TP:JR: Siemens Stunner: Global Energy Giant Quits Nuclear Industry -- "The Chapter is Closed for Us"
- 2011/09/19: PlanetArk: Siemens To Drop Rosatom Deal In Nuclear Exit: CEO
- 2011/09/19: NatureNB: Siemens pulls the plug on nuclear
The Rossi Energy Catalyzer keeps coming up:
- 2011/09/22: NBF: Upcoming Rossi Energy Catalyzer Tests and more product information
More people are talking about the electrical grid:
- 2011/09/19: SciAm: Recent Blackout Highlights Nation's Aging Electricity Grid -- Major power outages have more than doubled in the last decade
- 2011/09/20: EurActiv: Nuclear ban raises need for EU power grid: Commission
EU energy ministers meeting in Poland today (20 September) will debate a paper by the European Commission, which makes the case for strengthening electricity interconnections in the face of Germany's nuclear phase-out. - 2011/09/19: BBC: Scotland is in danger of losing its place at the forefront of research into wave and tidal energy because of high connection charges, it has been warned.
[...] The UK's transmission charging regime is designed to get companies to produce power close to centres of population. - 2011/09/19: SciAm:Obs: What Questions Do You Have about Energy Efficiency?
Automakers & lawyers, engineers & activists argue over the future of the car:
- 2011/09/24: TCoE: The cost of car ownership in the US
- 2011/09/23: CBC: Fully electric car [Nissan Leaf] makes debut in Canada
- 2011/09/22: AutoBG: ConocoPhillips CEO says yes to natural gas-charged electric vehicles
- 2011/09/22: BBC: European electric car charging standards agreed
The European motor industry has agreed on a common system for charging any electric car across Europe. The ACEA, the automobile manufacturers' trade association, wants one type of plug to become standard for all electric cars. "This... paves the way for a harmonised solution around the globe", said ACEA's secretary general, Ivan Hodac. - 2011/09/20: AutoBG: China to GM: Give us Chevy Volt secrets or it'll cost $19,000 more
This week in the Gee Whiz File:
- 2011/09/20: BBC: Harvesting 'limitless' hydrogen from self-powered cells
US researchers say they have demonstrated how cells fuelled by bacteria can be "self-powered" and produce a limitless supply of hydrogen. Until now, they explained, an external source of electricity was required in order to power the process. - 2011/09/20: SciNow: Waste Water + Bacteria = Clean Energy
- 2011/09/20: ABC(Au): Scientists make hydrogen fuel from bacteria and water
- 2011/09/19: Eureka: Saltwater boosts microbial electrolysis cells to cleanly produce hydrogen
As for Energy Storage:
- 2011/09/23: LBL: Better Lithium-Ion Batteries Are On The Way From Berkeley Lab
- 2011/09/21: NBF: Graphene-Based Supercapacitors with energy density of nickel hydride batteries
- 2011/09/19: EnergyBulletin: Got storage? How hard can it be?
The reaction of business to climate change will be critical:
- 2011/09/20: KUOW: Washington Firms Lagging On Climate Transparency
More and more of the world's biggest businesses say they are taking concerted action to fight climate change. The same is true of big business in the United States, even in the absence of federal action on climate change. But in Washington state, not so much. - 2011/09/21: TP:JR: Pension Funds and Big Companies to Invest Over $1.6 Billion in Energy Efficiency Projects
- 2011/09/19: Grist: Did Walmart buy urban agriculture group's silence?
Meanwhile in the greenwashing chronicles:
- 2011/09/23: GreenGrok: A Rose by Any Other Name Would Never Seem Quite So Green
- 2011/09/18: TP:JR: Fox's Greening of the Emmy Awards is More Greenwashing by Climate Destroyer Rupert Murdoch
Who's fielding the FAQs?
- 2011/09/23: Guardian(UK): What are bioenergy and biofuels -- and are they a good idea?
Joe Romm posts a daily list of top energy and climate stories:
- 2011/09/23: TP:JR: September 23 News...
- 2011/09/22: TP:JR: September 22 News...
- 2011/09/21: TP:JR: September 21 News...
- 2011/09/20: TP:JR: September 20 News...
- 2011/09/19: TP:JR: September 19 News...
Other (weekly) lists:
- 2011/09/19: BPA: Agriculture News
The carbon lobby are up to the usual:
- 2011/09/24: Tamino: How to be a Fake Skeptic
- 2011/09/23: AlterNet: Exposed: New Documentary About Gas Drilling Hailed as Indie and Balanced, But Here's Why It's Neither
- 2011/09/19: JKB: John O'Sullivan: Look Ma, no brain!
- 2011/09/21: Tamino: Fruit Loops
- 2011/09/20: WottsUWT: New peer reviewed paper: clouds have large negative cooling effect on Earth's radiation budget [d]
- 2011/09/20: ASI: The pitfalls of prediction
- 2011/09/20: DeSmogBlog: James Powell: Science Denial Is Not Free
- 2011/09/18: CIP: Facts [d]
As for climate miscellanea:
- 2011/09/22: TP:JR: Why Developing Better Renewable Energy Isn't Enough: Five Non-Technology Roadblocks to Faster Growth
- 2011/09/22: BBC: The government of the Maldives has complained after the UK's Daily Telegraph website carried a satirical blog post saying the island nation is to be omitted from the Times Atlas of the World
- 2011/09/22: Maribo: Climate change: An accounting problem
- 2011/09/21: MTobis: Flattery Gets You Somewhere
- 2011/09/21: ClimateSight: News
- 2011/09/21: Atlantic: Fighting Climate Change Is Not About Environmentalism
- 2011/09/13: BBC:AC: The curse of TINA [Think Tanks]
- 2011/09/19: ClassM: Give it time?
- 2011/09/19: SMandia: Climate Science Legal Defense Fund - Spread the Word & Logo
- 2011/09/16: AlterNet: Mark Ruffalo: We Can Go Gracefully Into a Green Future, Or We Can Go Kicking and Screaming, But There Is No Choice
And here are a couple of sites you may find interesting and/or useful:
- G-FEED: Global Food, Environment, and Economic Dynamics
- 2012 International Year of Sustainable Energy for All
- Sustainable Prosperity
- Climate Wizard
- The Azimuth Project
- Arctic Transport
- CGI: Clinton Global Initiative
- GLIMS: Global Land Ice Measurements from Space -- Monitoring the World's Changing Glaciers
- Geophysical Research Letters
- Pacific Salmon Commission
- Cohen Commission -- Commission of Inquiry into the Decline of Sockeye Salmon in the Fraser River
- Mike Hulme
- IEA: International Energy Agency
- SciBlogs - New Zealand science blog
Laugh. I dare ya:
Look out! the IP Rentiers are coming!
While elsewhere in the hurricane wars:
As for the temperature record:
While on the ENSO front:
Desertification looms as a threat:
Sea levels are rising:
Large scale geo-engineering keeps popping up:
More DIY science:
Climate Change is a threat multiplier exacerbating existing conflicts in food, energy, water, race, ideology ... etc.:
Meanwhile in Australia:
And in New Zealand:
In Japan:
While in Africa:
The disastrous Environment Canada layoffs continue to ricochet:
Compare and contrast Canadian and Australian climate policies:
As the Toris shoot themselves in the CWB foot:
The Tories are going to investigate fracking:
What do you mean ... it's a matter of choice?
As for miscellaneous Canadiana:
Oh look. Framing is back:
Wrestling over a new energy infrastructure continues unabated:
And then there is the matter of efficiency & conservation:
Low Key Plug
New Web Site:
I have a new website. Everything that was on Autobahn has been ported over. I have 100 megs to play with here, so the Archives will get deeper.
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."The creature that wins against its environment destroys itself." -Gregory Bateson
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