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
Sipping from the Internet Firehose...
November 6, 2011
- Chuckles, COP17+, BASIC, Horn of Africa, Bangkok, G20, BEST, Curry, Cook
- Fukushima Note, Fukushima News, Koolaid, Nuclear Policy
- Melting Arctic, Geopolitics, Antarctica
- Food Crisis, Agro-Corps, Food Prices, GMOs, Food Production
- Hurricanes, GHGs, Carbon Cycle, Feedbacks, Paleoclimate, Historical Climate
- Solar Hypothesis, State of the Oceans, Extinctions, Satellites
- Impacts, Forests, Climate Refugees, Wacky Weather
- Extreme Weather, Wildfires, Corals, Glaciers, Floods & Droughts
- Mitigation, Transportation, Buildings, Sequestration, Geoengineering
- Journals, Other Docs , Misc. Science, Models, McCarthy
- Rio+20, UN, IPCC, Carbon Tax, Bank Tax, Optimal Carbon Reduction Strategy
- International Politics: EU-ETS & Airlines, Rare Earths, Polls, H2O Biz
- National Politics: America, 2012, Keystone XL, Mann, Obama, USAdmin, Congress, Lobbyists
- Britain, Europe, Australia, Carbon Law, Murray-Darling, New Zealand, India, China, Japan
- Canada, Post G20, Job Cuts, Food Banks, AECL, CWB, ISA, BC, Tar Sands, Alberta, Sask
- Ecological Economics, IPAT, Apocalypso, Media, Books, Video, Podcasts
- Energy, Fracking, Coal, Oil & Gas, Fossil Fuel Corps, Peak Oil, Biofuel
- Solar, FITs, Nukes, Nuclear Waste, LENR, Grid, Efficiency, Cars, Energy Storage
- FAQs, Joe's List, Carbon Lobby, Miscellaneous Climate, Useful Links
- New Web Site, Shameless Self Promotion, .sig
- 2011/11/03: JMToons: (cartoon - Mohr) Hank D and the Bee: Toilet Paper and Trees
- 2011/11/03: JMToons: (cartoon - Mohr) Koch Industries Makes Global Warming Go Away
- 2011/11/06: TP:JR: (cartoon - McFadden) Must-See Comic: Happy Climate Change Denial Season!
- 2011/10/31: SMandia: Happy Halloween from The Caped Climate Crusader
Looking ahead to COP17 and future international climate negotiations:
- COP17/CMP7 - Durban
- UNFCCC: The United Nations Climate Change Conference in Durban, South Africa, COP 17 / CMP 7, 28 November - 9 December 2011
- UNFCCC: Durban Climate Change Conference - November 2011
- 2011/11/04: PlanetArk: Russia Sees Need For More Urgency On Climate Deal: EU
- 2011/11/04: PlanetArk: Vulnerable Islands [AOSIS] Urge Climate Deal Before End-2012
- 2011/11/02: CCurrents: Durban - Conference Of The Polluters
- 2011/11/05: BBC: Climate summit set for rows on flying, cash and history
EU plans on aviation, "climate aid" and the West's past CO2 output are set to be divisive at the UN climate summit. India has tabled a paper arguing that the EU's plan to include international flights in its emissions trading scheme violates the UN climate convention. Meanwhile, technical analysis for a group of developing countries says Western nations have a duty to absorb CO2 over the coming decades. It also says the West is not living up to promises on climate finance. The summit opens at the end of the month in Durban, South Africa. - 2011/11/03: Reuters: Vulnerable islands urge climate deal before end-2012
A group of island states most vulnerable to global warming have lashed out against rich nations for wanting to delay a new international climate pact until years after the Kyoto Protocol on curbing carbon emissions expires in 2012. The 42-member Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) said countries such as Japan and Russia were "reckless and irresponsible" for promoting a delay in the adoption of a new international agreement until 2018 or 2020, just weeks before the start of a United Nations climate summit in Durban, South Africa. - 2011/11/03: Guardian(UK): Climate talks: China calls on developing countries to 'step up'
- 2011/10/31: TimesLive(Za): Climate negotiations to be stormy: Zuma
The United Nations climate change negotiations set to take place in Durban at the end of November are going to be difficult, President Jacob Zuma warned on Monday. - 2011/10/28: BizGreen: Durban diplomats jostle for position ahead of crucial summit
China outlines plan for developed nations to formalise emissions goals, as South Africa downplays chances of breakthrough - 2011/10/31: BBC: Durban: A summit of small steps?
You may have missed it in the non-deluge of publicity and the absence of fanfare; but this year's UN climate summit will be getting underway in exactly four weeks' time. The location this year is Durban in South Africa; and appropriately for the Rainbow Nation, delegates from different parts of the planet are approaching the meeting with a plethora of different priorities. - 2011/11/01: Hindu: BASIC countries show united front ahead of Durban meet
India, China, Brazil and South Africa -- the BASIC group of developing countries -- on Tuesday sought to bridge their differences and strike a common position ahead of this month's climate change conference in Durban, calling on the West to ensure the extension of the Kyoto Protocol as well as step up financial and technological assistance to developing countries. The Durban conference, they said in a joint statement, "should achieve a comprehensive, fair and balanced outcome" and "clearly establish the second commitment period under the Kyoto Protocol," which the statement described as "the cornerstone of the climate regime" and "the essential priority" for the summit's success. - 2011/11/02: ChinaDaily: BASIC countries reach Kyoto consensus
- 2011/11/01: China(cn): BASIC countries meet to seek consensus on climate change
Representatives from Brazil, South Africa, India and China (BASIC countries) met in Beijing on Tuesday to seek consensus on climate change issues to pave the way for the Durban climate change conference at the end of the year. BASIC countries will publish a joint statement Tuesday evening. - 2011/11/04: UN: UN agencies boost aid efforts to help Somalis hit by floods, famine and insecurity
- 2011/11/01: Guardian(UK): Al-Qaida targets Somalia drought victims with cash handouts
Bangkok is suffering a major travail:
- 2011/11/06: CBC: Thailand flood death toll exceeds 500 -- Water approaches Bangkok's rail systems
- 2011/11/06: BBC: Thailand flooding death toll 'tops 500'
- 2011/11/05: CNN: Bangkok subways at risk as flooodwaters inch closer
Interior Ministry: Flooding has killed 442 people - It is Thailand's worst flooding in decades - 2011/11/04: BBC: Bangkok continues to battle Thailand floods
- 2011/11/04: CNN: Central Bangkok still dry but water creeping deeper
Interior Ministry says 442 people have died - Thailand's prime minister asks people to come to terms with the water - This is Thailand's worst flooding in decades - 2011/11/04: UN: Cambodia: UN stepping up emergency response to severe floods
- 2011/11/04: CBC: Thailand flooding threatens Bangkok subway
- 2011/11/04: Asia Times: Hell and high water in Thailand
- 2011/11/02: KSJT: LATimes Op Ed: Thailand's choked rivers, choked cities, and the Chayo Praya cardiac arrest
- 2011/10/31: DerSpiegel: Thailand's Heavy Monsoons -- Bangkok Evacuates as Floodwaters Rise
Historically severe floods in the heart of Thailand have crept into Bangkok. A third of the nation stands underwater and the last decade of development has left the capital without natural defenses such as forests and grasslands. The country's new prime minister is struggling to show a brave face. - 2011/11/01: CSM: Thailand flood defenses divide Bangkok
- 2011/11/01: BBC: Bangkok floods: Anger grows in deluged districts
Flood water has continued to pour into outer districts of the Thai capital, Bangkok, forcing residents to evacuate. The government says efforts to protect the centre of the city from the rising water have been largely successful. But tension has been rising in flooded suburbs, with residents demanding barriers be opened to allow water out. - 2011/11/01: CBC: Thailand flooding leaves elephants stranded -- Sugarcane and pineapples brought to elephants by boat
- 2011/10/31: CNN: Threat of disease from historic flooding looms in Thailand
2 million people are affected by the flooding, a U.S. diplomat to Thailand says - Bangkok resident: Water in outlying areas has "sewage, garbage and dead animals" - Relief agency: Places outside Bangkok cut off from supplies endure a humanitarian crisis - Charities working in the country warn about diarrhea, dengue fever and malaria in the coming weeks - 2011/10/31: PlanetArk: Peak Tides Test Thai Capital's Flood Defenses
- 2011/10/31: CBC: Thai PM hopes for quick floodwater drainage
- 2011/10/31: BBC: Thailand floods: Fears ease in Bangkok as barriers hold
The G20 met in Cannes. Climate was barely mentioned:
- 2011/11/04: EUO: Lacklustre G20 closes after being hijacked by eurozone crisis
- 2011/11/04: UN: UN lauds G-20 decision to exempt agency's food purchases from export restrictions
- 2011/11/04: TP:JR: G-20 Leaders Meeting in Cannes Need to Focus on Climate
- 2011/11/03: Guardian(UK): The G20 must tackle climate change
- 2011/10/31: DerSpiegel: Road to the G-20 -- Europe May Act Alone on Financial Transaction Tax
German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble said on Monday that the EU should launch a financial transactions tax on its own if the G-20 summit this week can't agree on such a levy. A draft communiqué obtained by Spiegel shows the G-20 plans far-reaching reforms of the global financial sector. - 2011/10/31: UN: UN expert urges leaders at G-20 summit to put right to food before industry interests
The BEST controversy plays on:
- 2011/11/05: TP:JR: How Can It Be Warming When It's (Almost) Always Cooling?
- 2011/11/03: CBC: Climate change 'skeptic' concludes world is warming -- Global warming study partly funded by owner of Manitoba fertilizer plant
A Berkeley University physics professor and self-described global warming "skeptic" has just completed a major global temperature study, concluding that the world has been warming by 1 C since the mid-1950s. Richard Muller, scientific director of the California-based, Berkeley Earth Surface Temperature Project admits he is now a "global warming convert." - 2011/11/03: Wunderground:RR: "BEST" temperature record study surprises skeptics
- 2011/11/03: CSW: Al Jazeera interview on Muller Berkeley Earth Surface Temperature study
- 2011/10/31: CCP: Skeptic finds he now agrees global warming is real
- 2011/10/31: KSJT: AP: The Berkeley global temp story. And then the really interesting news, deeper
- 2011/10/30: HuffPo: Richard Muller, Global Warming Skeptic, Now Agrees Climate Change Is Real
JCurry managed to insert herself in the middle of the BEST debate:
- 2011/11/05: moyhu: Stopped warming? Paused?
- 2011/11/05: CIP: Judy, Judy, Judy, Judy...Richard?
- 2011/11/05: Tamino: The Real Problem with the Global Warming "Debate"
- 2011/11/04: JEB: Curry on fuzzy logic
- 2011/11/03: BBC: 'Hide the decline' revisited
Over the weekend, either the Mail on Sunday newspaper or its interviewee Judith Curry or possibly both described the recent new analysis of the Earth's temperature record as "hide-the-decline stuff". - 2011/11/01: Tamino: Questions for Judith Curry
- 2011/11/01: JEB: Judith Curry, Detection and Attribution and the IAC [Inter Acadamy Council] report
- 2011/11/01: SkeptiSci: Baked Curry: The BEST Way to Hide the Incline by dana1981
- 2011/10/31: CQ: Curry gets her words out there
- 2011/10/31: CQ: Curry on being teased and misleading graphs
- 2011/10/30: QuarkSoup: More on the BEST infighting
- 2011/10/30: QuarkSoup: Scientists Trying to outBEST One Another
- 2011/10/30: moyhu: GWPF is wrong, warming has not stopped
- 2011/10/30: ERabett: What's Going On Here?
- 2011/10/30: TP:JR: Koch-Funded Study Finds Recent Warming "On the High End" and Speeding Up, as Curry Frags Muller Herself
- 2011/10/30: Stoat: BEST is fun
- 2011/10/30: AFTIC: Another "Hide the Decline" moment?
- 2011/10/30: Tamino: Judith Curry Opens Mouth, Inserts Foot
- 2011/10/30: CQ: Curry on hiding the decline
- 2011/10/30: SSM: It's Climategate II! Except It's Not.
John Cook and friends continue their point-counterpoint articles:
- 2011/11/06: SkeptiSci: Eschenbach and McIntyre's BEST Shot at the Surface Temperature Record by dana1981, Rob Honeycutt, Kevin C, Glenn Tamblyn
- 2011/11/06: SkeptiSci: Eschenbach and McIntyre - Seeing the BEST part of the Satellite Temperature Record? by Glenn Tamblyn
- 2011/11/05: SkeptiSci: Chinese translation of The Scientific Guide to Global Warming Skepticism
- 2011/11/04: SkeptiSci: Going Down the Up Escalator, Part 1 by dana1981
- 2011/11/04: SkeptiSci: Watts, Surface Stations and BEST by logicman
- 2011/11/03: SkeptiSci: Is there a case against human caused global warming in the peer-reviewed literature? Part 1 by Jim Powell
- 2011/11/02: SkeptiSci: Fred Singer Denies Global Warming by Riccardo
- 2011/11/01: SkeptiSci: Baked Curry: The BEST Way to Hide the Incline by dana1981
- 2011/11/01: SkeptiSci: Sorting out Settled Science from Remaining Uncertainties
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. Now the Japanese government is talking about 30 years. 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:
- 2011/11/01: Grist: It will take at least 30 years to safely close Fukushima
- 2011/11/01: CNN: Japan: Damaged reactors at nuclear plant could take 30 years to retire
Expert says "a very large environmental problem" remains beyond the plant - IAEA chief says "cold shutdown" can be achieved by the end of 2011 - Government officials say the removal of nuclear fuel should begin by 2021 - The panel predicts it will take more than 10 years to remove nuclear fuel - 2011/11/02: ERW: Fukushima released 'twice as much' radioactive material as first thought
- 2011/11/04: EneNews: Disposal of quake debris begins in Tokyo -- To be burned in Koto -- Radiation fears among residents -- Will continue for years -- Over 1 Billion pounds
- 2011/11/04: APR: Xenon at Fukushima Daiichi No 2: Case closed?
- 2011/11/03: EneNews: Ch. 4 UK: Now there are concerns that Fukushima is worse than authorities believe -- New fission "shows there are still considerable problems" says top nuke expert
- 2011/11/03: EneNews: Japan Times: It is now a "grave situation" at Fukushima -- "Plutonium fission" mentioned for first time -- "Criticality is very likely to have occurred"
- 2011/11/04: EneNews: CNN: Tepco's claim of 'spontaneous' fission is an "improbable phenomenon" says nuke professor -- Strange that such a "rare" event was detected almost immediately after sampling began?
- 2011/11/03: APR: Xenon detection - Fukushima Daiichi No. 2 - Thursday morning update
- 2011/11/03: APR: Xenon / Fukushima Daiichi No. 2 - Thursday afternoon update
- 2011/11/04: CBC: Japan gives $11.6B to dismantle nuclear reactors
- 2011/11/03: TP:JR: Gone Fission: If Fukushima Nukes Are Seeing Fission Bursts, It Turns "Our Entire Understanding of Nuclear Safety On Its Head"
- 2011/11/03: JapanTimes: Xenon means recent fission in reactor 2 -- Tepco claims level in gas too small to affect shutdown effort
- 2011/11/02: EneNews: Japan Gov't Confirms Detection of Radioactive Xenon in Reactor No. 2
- 2011/11/02: EneNews: NYTimes: For first time Tepco admits "fuel deep inside 3 stricken plants probably CONTINUING to experience bursts of fission" -- Fission at Reactors 1 and 3 also?
- 2011/11/02: EneNews: New fission raises "startling questions" says NYT -- Koide: Harmful radioactive material in danger of leaking after a re-criticality
- 2011/11/02: APR: Xenon detected at Fukushima Daiichi No. 2 again
- 2011/11/02: CNN: Japanese [Genkai #4] plant starts first nuclear reactor since tsunami crisis
The reactor went offline in October after technical problems - It is the first reactor brought back online since the March 11 disaster in Japan - The move is criticized by some who are concerned about nuclear safety - 2011/11/02: OilPrice: New International Report Shreds Japan's Carefully Constructed Fukushima Scenario
[...]
...an independent study has effectively demolished TEPCO and the Japanese government's carefully constructed minimalist scenario. Mainichi news agency reported that France's l'Institut de Radioprotection et de Surete Nucleaire (Institute for Radiological Protection and Nuclear Safety, or IRSN) has issued a recent report stating that the amount of radioactive cesium-137 that entered the Pacific after 11 March was probably nearly 30 times the amount stated by Tokyo Electric Power Co. in May. According to IRSN, the amount of the radioactive isotope cesium-137 that flowed into the ocean from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant between March 21 and mid-July reached an estimated 27.1 quadrillion becquerels. - 2011/11/02: NatureNB: Hint of new fission at Fukushima reactor no cause for alarm
- 2011/11/02: EneNews: "It's certain that fission is occurring" says TEPCO -- Chain reactions may also be underway at Reactors No. 1, 3 -- Trying to determine if reactions continue
- 2011/11/01: EneNews: Tokyo U. Nuke Expert: "Possible that nuclear reaction is STILL taking place inside the reactor" -WSJ
- 2011/11/01: EneNews: Press Conference: Nuclear fission may also be happening in Reactors No. 1 and 3 -- Curium mentioned... more
- 2011/11/01: EneNews: Alert: "Fission restarted" at Fukushima Reactor No. 2 -- Jiji, NHK report detection of Xenon-135 -- TEPCO now injecting boric acid
- 2011/11/02: APR: Xenon detected at Fukushima Daiichi No. 2
- 2011/11/01: APR: Xenon detected at Fukushima Daiichi No. 2
- 2011/11/02: CBC: Japan nuclear plant may have new problem
Radioactive particles associated with nuclear fission have been detected at Japan's tsunami-damaged atomic power plant, officials said Wednesday, suggesting one of its reactors could have a new problem. - 2011/11/02: BBC: Japan nuclear crisis: Xenon detected at Fukushima plant
[...]
But now they have found what could be a problem - radioactive xenon gas detected in a filter in reactor two. Since it has a short half-life, it indicates a possibility of resumed nuclear fission in recent days. - 2011/11/01: Spectrum: 24 Hours at Fukushima -- A blow-by-blow account of the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl
- 2011/11/01: SciAm:PI: The Robots Who Could Have Saved Fukushima Are Coming
- 2011/10/29: ChinaDaily: 30 years to decommission Fukushima nuke plant
- 2011/11/01: PSinclair: Arnie Gunderson: Fukushima Data Confirming Hot Particles
- 2011/10/31: PlanetArk: Fukushima Towns Struggle To Store Radioactive Waste
Japanese officials in towns around the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant reacted guardedly to plans announced on Saturday to build facilities to store radioactive waste from the clean-up around the plant within three years. - 2011/10/30: CBC: Japan nuclear reactors need 30-year fix -- Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant damaged by March tsunami
A Japanese government panel says it will take at least 30 years to safely close the tsunami-hobbled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant... - 2011/11/01: Guardian(UK): Japanese MP drinks Fukushima water under pressure from journalists
- 2011/11/01: BBC: Japan MP Yasuhiro Sonoda drinks Fukushima water
A Japanese official has drunk water collected from the quake-hit Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, after reporters challenged him to prove it was safe. - 2011/11/04: EneNews: MIT Newspaper: U.S. had plans for 30+ new reactors -- Now just one under construction, and its future is uncertain
- 2011/11/04: EneNews: Bloomberg: Mexico abandons plans to build 10 nuke plants -- Fukushima causing nations around world to reconsider energy future
- 2011/11/02: DerSpiegel: Vattenfall vs. Germany -- Nuclear Phase-Out Faces Billion-Euro Lawsuit
Swedish energy company Vattenfall reportedly plans to sue the German government, seeking massive damages related to Germany's phase-out of nuclear power. Vattenfall successfully took on the German government once before. - 2011/11/02: Grist: Germany's nuclear phaseout was the right thing to do
- 2011/11/02: EurActiv: Belgium to shut down nuclear plants by 2025
Belgium's political parties have reached a conditional agreement to shut down the country's two remaining nuclear power stations, owned by GDF Suez unit Electrabel, a government spokeswoman said earlier this week. The plan for a shutdown of the three oldest reactors by 2015 and a complete exit by 2025 is conditional on finding enough energy from alternative sources to prevent any shortages. - 2011/11/02: PlanetArk: Japan Winter Power Enough Despite Nuclear Lack: Government
- 2011/11/02: PlanetArk: EDF Says Its British Nuclear Reactors Pass EU tests
- 2011/11/02: BBC: China has urged the UN's nuclear watchdog to help developing nations to build safer power stations
- 2011/11/01: UN: Vital that lessons are learned from Japanese nuclear accident, says UN [IAEA] official
- 2011/11/01: PlanetArk: Belgium Agrees On Conditional Nuclear Exit Plans
- 2011/11/01: PlanetArk: Vietnam, Japan Nuclear Project Intact Despite Fukushima
- 2011/10/31: EUO: Belgium to abandon nuclear energy
- 2011/10/31: BBC: Belgium plans to phase out nuclear power
Belgium's main political parties have agreed on a plan to shut down the country's two nuclear power stations, but they have not yet set a firm date. A new coalition government is being set up and the nuclear shutdown will be on its agenda, officials say. If alternative energy sources are found to fill the gap then the three oldest reactors will be shut down in 2015. - 2011/11/04: CCP: NSIDC Arctic Sea Ice News and Analysis: November 2, 2011
- 2011/11/04: ASI: Another broken record
- 2011/10/31: CCP: Marco Tedesco: Greenland Glacial Melt Cycle Could Become Self-Amplifying, Making it Difficult to Halt
As for the geopolitics of Arctic resources:
- 2011/10/31: PlanetArk: Denmark Welcomes China In From The Arctic Cold
While in Antarctica:
- 2011/11/05: CCP: NASA's Earth Observatory: crack in Pine Island Glacier, western Antarctica
- 2011/11/04: CSM: Huge chunk of Antarctic ice sheet set to break free
- 2011/11/05: SMH: Rift in Antarctic glacier to create gigantic iceberg
- 2011/11/05: ABC(Au): Antarctic crack could cause city-sized iceberg
- 2011/11/04: ABC(Au): Large crack appears in Antarctic glacier
- 2011/11/04: DM:BA: NASA spies the birth throes of a new iceberg
- 2011/11/04: CSM: Birth of a huge Antarctic iceberg (video)
NASA researchers caught on film an 18-mile-long crack in the Pine Island Glacier in Antarctica. It looks like a huge new iceberg is forming. - 2011/11/04: CBC: Massive iceberg calving off Antarctica
An iceberg 50 per cent bigger than the city of Toronto is expected to break off from an Antarctic ice shelf later this year or early in 2012. Antarctica's Pine Island ice shelf is being split by a giant crack that was 29 kilometres long, 73 metres wide and 58 metres deep in some places as of Oct. 26, NASA reported. Scientists said it is widening by 1.8 metres each day. The iceberg expected to calve off will have an area of about 900 square kilometres... - 2011/11/03: BBC: Major berg forming in Antarctica
Scientists are monitoring the birth of a monster iceberg in West Antarctica. A rift has formed in the shelf of floating ice in front of the Pine Island Glacier (PIG). The surface crack in the PIG runs for almost 30km (20 miles), is 60m (200ft) deep and is growing every day. US space agency (Nasa) researchers expect the eventual berg to cover about 880 sq km - an area the size of Berlin. It should break away towards the end of the year or early in 2012. Pine Island Glacier is one of the largest and fastest-moving tongues of ice on the White Continent and drains something like 10% of all the ice flowing out of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet into the ocean. - 2011/11/03: PSinclair: New Crack in the PIG
- 2011/11/01: NASA: Watching the Birth of an Iceberg
- 2011/11/02: NASA:EO: Birth of an Iceberg [Antarctica]
- 2011/11/03: HotTopic: Cracked PIG spawns big berg
The food crisis is ongoing:
- 2011/11/04: BPA: SNAP Program: $68 Billion in 2010
- 2011/11/04: TCoE: Energy, water, food. Any questions?
- 2011/11/03: WaterEnergyFood: "Understanding the Nexus" -- Background paper for the Bonn2011 Nexus Conference is now available
- 2011/11/03: TCoE: Doc alert: Understanding the Nexus
- 2011/11/03: ProMedMail: Stripe rust, barley - Australia: (NS)
- 2011/11/03: al Jazeera: Asia braced for Thai rice shock
Flood damage and government subsidies in world's biggest rice exporter may combine to raise prices across the continent. - 2011/11/02: ProMedMail: Black pod, cocoa - Cameroon: (CE)
- 2011/10/31: TP:JR: Catastrophic $5.3 Billion Texas Drought Hits Global Cotton, Beef, Peanut Butter and Even Pumpkin Market
- 2011/11/01: CSM: Food stamp participation on the rise
- 2011/11/01: G&M: Stretched food banks a measure of Canada's frail recovery
As for the agro-chem corps:
- 2011/11/03: BPA: Industrial Agriculture's Seed Companies Family Tree Graphic
Food Prices are still problematic:
- FAO: World Food Situation - Food Price Indices
- 2011/11/03: FAO: FAO Food Price Index down in October -- Improved supply, global economic uncertainty cited
- 2011/11/03: BBerg: Wheat, Corn Drop on Signs of Increasing World, U.S. Production
- 2011/11/03: UN: Global food prices drop to 11-month low in October, UN agency reports
- 2011/10/31: BPA: USDA Reports Food at Home Prices Have Risen 6.3% During the Past Year with Eggs, Dairy, Beef and Oils Up Over 10%
Regarding the genetic modification of food:
- 2011/11/04: CDreams: Groups Sue U.S. Over GMO Crops in Wildlife Refuges
Environmental and food safety groups filed suit on Wednesday against the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, demanding it end the cultivation of genetically modified crops on Midwestern wildlife refuges. The groups claim the federal agency broke the law by entering agreements with farmers that allowed planting of biotech crops on refuge land in eight U.S. states without environmental reviews required by U.S. law. Most of the crops at issue are "Roundup Ready" -- biotech crops engineered by Monsanto to tolerate dousings of Monsanto's Roundup herbicide, the plaintiffs said. Roundup Ready crops have been shown to "foster an epidemic of superweeds," and create other problems for the environment, according to the plaintiffs. - 2011/10/31: AlterNet: Why Is the State Department Using Our Money to Pimp for Monsanto?
- 2011/11/01: PlanetArk: BASF Applies For EU Approval For Fortuna GM Potato
- 2011/10/31: al Jazeera: Biopiracy in India: The case of the aubergine
A lawsuit in India alleges that a US biotech firm genetically modified local seeds without permission. - 2011/10/31: FAO: Agricultural cooperatives are key to reducing hunger and poverty
Cooperatives offer opportunities that smallholders could not achieve individually - 2011/11/04: KSJT: The Tyee: Where'd the herring go? It does matter, you know
- 2011/11/04: Tyee: Behold! The Mighty Herring! No, really. For many reasons, it's the biggest fish in BC waters.
- 2011/11/03: BPA: On the Growing Global Grain Supplies and Our Secretary of Agriculture's Plan
- 2011/11/06: BBC: Field margins 'help control weed dispersal'
Grass strips on field edges do not result in more weeds growing among crops, research has shown. - 2011/11/04: EnergyBulletin: Planting our perennial future: Corn trees, oil bushes, potato thickets, & sweater swards
Summary: The current industrial model of US agriculture is economically, energetically, and ecologically doomed. Any hope for a livable future requires that we accelerate the creation of resilient, ecologically-viable 'shadow structure' replacements for industrial US agriculture in the diminishing time available to us. We already possess the tools, knowledge, and organizational structures to begin such projects at the family and community level. Here are some things I'm excited about. - 2011/11/04: Grist: Small fish, big ocean: Saving Pacific forage fish
- 2011/11/03: Grist: Consumers losing faith in Big Food
- 2011/11/02: UIllinois: Study: Crop diversity myths persist in media
- 2011/11/01: BPA: Sustaining 7 Billion: A report on the 2011 Annual Meeting of the Agronomy, Crop Science, and Soil Science Societies
- 2011/11/01: PlanetArk: Traditional Farm Methods Help Climate Adaptation
- 2011/10/31: TP:JR: Vertical Farming at The Plant: How a Former Meat-Packing Facility Became a Successful Farm
Cyclone Keila spun up in the Northern Indian Ocean, but otherwise it was relatively quiet:
- 2011/11/03: al Jazeera: Tropical Cyclone Keila leaves Oman flooded -- Cyclone Keila leaves 6 dead and many areas under water
- 2011/11/03: NASA: Hurricane Season 2011: Tropical Storm Keila (Northern Indian Ocean/Arabian Sea)
While elsewhere in the hurricane wars:
- 2011/11/03: TreeHugger: Tropical Cyclones Intensified By Rising South Asian Air Pollution
- 2011/11/03: KSJT: Guardian, Science News: Maybe India's industry is inadvertantly firing cyclones at Gulf states
- 2011/11/02: Guardian(UK): Pollution makes powerful cyclones more likely, claim scientists
- 2011/11/02: SciNews: Pollution may be strengthening Asian cyclones -- Sooty brown cloud cools water and lowers wind speeds, study finds
- 2011/11/02: Eureka: Link between air pollution and cyclone intensity in Arabian Sea -- Disruption of wind shear enables stronger storms
- 2011/11/02: Eureka: Arabian Sea tropical cyclones are intensified by air pollution, study shows
- 2011/11/01: Wunderground: November Atlantic hurricane outlook
As for GHGs:
- 2011/11/03: CleanBreak: Global CO2 emissions take "monster" jump in 2010 due largely to increases in China, U.S.
- 2011/11/04: WiC: Biggest jump ever seen in global warming gases
- 2011/11/04: DerSpiegel: Climate Change -- Rapid Spike in CO2 Emissions Shocks Researchers
International attempts at climate regulation have failed on a number of levels. With CO2 emissions rising much more than predicted between 2009 and 2010, the goal of capping global warming at a maximum of 2 degrees Celsius now seems elusive. But political interest in changing course has waned. - 2011/11/04: Maribo: Stunning new carbon emissions data
- 2011/11/04: Grist: Whoops: 2010 had the largest-ever jump in greenhouse emissions
- 2011/11/04: al Jazeera: Report: Global carbon dioxide output soaring
US department of energy says greenhouse emissions rose six per cent in 2010, far more than recent worst case scenario. - 2011/11/04: TMoS: So How Are We Doing?
- 2011/11/04: Guardian(UK): Greenhouse gases rise by record amount
Levels of greenhouse gases are higher than the worst case scenario outlined by climate experts just four years ago - 2011/11/04: ConsulClima: Greenhouse gases emission in 2010: Bigger than ever
- 2011/11/03: TreeHugger: Greenhouse Gas Emissions Exceed 'Worst Case' Scenario
- 2011/11/03: TP:JR: Biggest Jump Ever in Global Warming Pollution in 2010, Chinese CO2 Emissions Now Exceed U.S.'s By 50%
- 2011/11/03: CBC: CO2 levels soared in 2010 -- China, U.S., lead emissions increases
The global output of heat-trapping carbon dioxide jumped by the biggest amount on record, the U.S. Department of Energy calculated, a sign of how feeble the world's efforts are at slowing man-made global warming. The new figures for 2010 mean that levels of greenhouse gases are higher than the worst case scenario outlined by climate experts just four years ago. - 2011/11/02: Grist: U.S. carbon emissions down as renewable energy keeps growing
- 2011/11/03: HotTopic: The gullible leading the credulous (with a sting in the tale)
And in the carbon cycle:
- 2011/11/03: ERW: Productivity of land plants may be greater than previously thought
The global uptake of carbon by land plants may be up to 45% more than previously thought. This is the conclusion of an international team of scientists, based on the interannual variability of oxygen isotopes in atmospheric CO2 driven by El Niño. - 2011/11/03: TP:JR: Stunning Peatlands Amplifying Feedback: Drying Wetlands and Intensifying Wildfires Boost Carbon Release Ninefold
- 2011/11/02: Eureka: Peatland carbon storage is stabilized against catastrophic release of carbon
Now here is a feedback I never considered:
- 2011/11/01: Jove: Swimming Jellyfish May Influence Global Climate
While in the paleoclimate:
- 2011/11/03: NatureN: How mammoths lost the extinction lottery -- Fossils, climate records and DNA reveal unpredictability of ice-age die-offs
And in historical times:
- 2011/11/04: Eureka: UA scientists find evidence of Roman period megadrought
A new study at the University of Arizona's Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research has revealed a previously unknown multi-decade drought period in the second century A.D. Almost nine hundred years ago, in the mid-12th century, the southwestern U.S. was in the middle of a multi-decade megadrought. It was the most recent extended period of severe drought known for this region. But it was not the first. The second century A.D. saw an extended dry period of more than 100 years characterized by a multi-decade drought lasting nearly 50 years, says a new study from scientists at the University of Arizona. - 2011/11/04: PSinclair: The Weekend Wonk: NASA -- The Solar Cycle
- 2011/11/04: KSJT: Wired, AP, Nat'l Geo etc: Sun grows its biggest spot in years, sprays particles (this time, not at us)
Regarding Climate Sensitivity:
- 2011/11/04: JEB: Solution to the paradox of climate sensitivity
And the State of the Oceans:
- 2011/11/04: ABC(Au): Climate change affecting oceans faster: study
- 2011/11/03: Eureka: Decline in dead zones: Efforts to heal Chesapeake Bay are working
What's new on the extinction front?
- 2011/11/03: ABC(Au): Ice age animals not wiped out by humans
- 2011/11/02: Eureka: Texas A&M professor helping to unravel causes of Ice Age extinctions
- 2011/11/02: CBC: Humans not to blame for all Ice Age mammals' demise
- 2011/11/02: KSJT: Seattle Times: The REST of the story about that ~14,000 yr old mastodon with the speared rib
- 2011/11/02: NatureN: How mammoths lost the extinction lottery -- Fossils, climate records and DNA reveal unpredictability of ice-age die-offs
- 2011/11/02: SciNow: What Killed Ice Age Beasts?
- 2011/11/02: PSU: Humans and Climate Contributed to Extinctions of Large Ice-Age Mammals, New Study Finds
- 2011/11/02: Eureka: Unraveling the causes of the Ice Age megafauna extinctions
Meanwhile in near earth orbit:
- 2011/10/31: TP:JR: NASA Finally Launches New Climate Satellite, Highlighting Need For Funding New Monitoring Capabilities
More GW impacts are being seen:
- 2011/11/02: USGS: Flash Forward 100 Years: Climate Change Scenarios in California's Bay-Delta
- 2011/11/04: Wunderground: Fourteen U.S. billion-dollar weather disasters in 2011: a new record
- 2011/11/03: SciAm: Climate Change May Transform California's Bay Area
Sea-level rise, warmer temperatures and endangered species are among the impacts expected by 2100 - 2011/11/03: BBC: Toyota extends production cuts due to Thailand floods
- 2011/11/02: Guardian(UK): UN: failure to reduce environmental risks will set back human development
Droughts and rising sea levels could reverse efforts to improve living conditions of world's poorest people, report warns - 2011/11/02: BBC: Hard disk and camera makers hit by Thai floods
- 2011/11/01: AsiaUnbound: The Ramifications of Thailand's Flooding
- 2011/10/31: TreeHugger: Ocean Warming Sends Australia's Seaweed South, And Possibly Into Extinction
- 2011/10/31: CBC: Honda Canada slowdown blamed on Thai flooding
And then there are the world's forests:
- 2011/11/03: OPB: The forests of the future climate
In the future, more forests may look like this bark-beetle infested one in British Columbia. As the climate changes, research shows forests are more vulnerable to insect attacks. Oregon State University has released a new study that says climate change, insect attacks, diseases and fire are causing huge migration of trees across the West. - 2011/11/03: Eureka: Climate change causing massive movement of tree species across the West
- 2011/11/03: Oregonian: Researchers say climate change is changing Pacific Northwest forest structure as well
- 2011/11/02: Guardian(UK): Brazilian anti-dam campaigner sacked -- Megaron Txucarramãe loses job as co-ordinator for indigenous protection service
- 2011/10/31: Princeton: Savannas, forests in a battle of the biomes, Princeton researchers find
- 2011/10/31: Eureka: Forests not keeping pace with climate change
- 2011/10/31: PlanetArk: Risks Remain Despite Indonesian Forest Moratorium: Study
Climate refugees are becoming an issue:
- 2011/11/02: CCP: American climate refugees: A Town in Texas: This is How it Ends [for Robert Lee, TX]
Yes we have no wacky weather, except:
- 2011/11/02: CNN: States scramble to restore power after snowstorm
- 2011/11/02: PlanetArk: Nerves Fray As Power Still Out For 1.6 Million In Northeast
- 2011/10/31: Guardian(UK): US snowstorm leaves Central Park braced for loss of 1,000 trees
- 2011/10/31: Guardian(UK): Freak US snowstorm kills eleven and leaves millions without power
- 2011/10/31: CNN: Nearly 2 million without power as Northeast recovers from storm
Trick-or-treat postponements spread through Northeast - Deaths attributed to storm rise to 10 - Power outages fall to about 1.8 million in five states - Roads could ice up again, and fallen power lines remain a risk, officials say - 2011/10/30: Wunderground: Rare October snowstorm hammers Northeast U.S.
- 2011/10/31: BBC: Early snow storm leaves major power outages in US
- 2011/10/30: CSM: Snow smacks Northeast; power could be out for days
- 2011/10/31: CBC: Wintry storm smacks Atlantic Canada
- 2011/10/30: Guardian(UK): Mass power outages as rare October snowstorm strikes US
- 2011/10/30: BBC: Early snowstorm hits US East Coast killing at least six
- 2011/10/30: CBC: Wintry storm smacks Atlantic Canada
This week in the New Normal -- extreme weather:
- 2011/11/06: RealClimate: On record-breaking extremes
- 2011/11/03: Wunderground: Preliminary IPCC report predicts increased weather extremes
- 2011/11/02: TP:JR: NBC's Must-See TV: "Today No One Can Deny That Extreme Weather is Here to Stay" Thanks to Fossil-Fuel Driven Warming
- 2011/11/01: Guardian(UK): Wild weather worsening due to climate change, IPCC confirms
- 2011/11/01: Google:AP: Future holds more extreme weather
- 2011/11/01: KSJT: AP, AFP : Draft of an IPCC report says duck: here comes even wilder weather, Perps are anthropogenic GH gases, natch.
- 2011/11/01: Grist: Halloween a day late: IPCC digs into the really scary stuff of climate change
- 2011/11/01: SeattlePI: Future holds more extreme weather
For a world already weary of weather catastrophes, the latest warning from top climate scientists paints a grim future: More floods, more heat waves, more droughts and greater costs to deal with them. A draft summary of an international scientific report obtained by The Associated Press says the extremes caused by global warming could eventually grow so severe that some locations become "increasingly marginal as places to live." - 2011/10/30: TP:JR: Last Two Winters' Warm Extremes More Severe Than Their Cold Snaps, Study Finds
As for heatwaves and wild fires:
- 2011/11/01: Eureka: Drying intensifying wildfires, carbon release ninefold, study finds
Corals are a bellwether of the ocean's health:
- 2011/11/02: Eureka: New study reveals coral reefs may support much more biodiversity than previously thought
Glaciers are melting:
- 2011/10/30: CCP: Alaska's 'Age of Glaciers' will end this century
Doug O'Harra, Alaska Dispatch: Much of the world's ice may soon disappear for good, triggering a global climate regime that humans have never experienced as a species [the no-analogue world]. Today's 390 ppm the highest CO2 concentrations seen on Earth in about 15 million years - 2011/11/04: CAbyss: Texas Drought: The Executive Summary
- 2011/11/05: UN: Central America floods crisis only just beginning, warns UN relief official
- 2011/11/06: al Jazeera: Flash flooding devastates Genoa -- A look at the devastation caused by flash flooding in Genoa
- 2011/11/04: BBC: Italy floods: Six killed in port city Genoa
At least six people were killed when the Italian port city of Genoa was hit by flash floods during torrential rainfall. - 2011/11/03: Eureka: Earth: Return of the dust bowl: Geoscientists predict a dry, dusty future for the American West
- 2011/11/01: PlanetArk: Life In Drought: Parched Texas Town Seeks Emergency Fix
Elsewhere on the mitigation front:
- 2011/11/04: NIMBios: Biodiversity Can Promote Survival on a Warming Planet
Consider transportation & GHG production:
- 2011/11/05: CalcRisk: AAR: Rail Traffic increases in October
- 2011/11/02: Grist: Amtrak using beef-based biofuel
- 2011/11/01: CalcRisk: U.S. Light Vehicle Sales at 13.26 million SAAR in October, Highest since Aug 2009
- 2011/11/01: NBF: California high speed rail cost estimates rise to $98.5 billion and new target completion is 2033 instead of 2020
While in the endless quest for zero energy, sustainable buildings and practical codes:
- 2011/11/02: Grist: Old-school flower house leaves LEED in the dust
As for carbon sequestration:
- 2011/11/03: GEP: Global Endorsement of CCS, Including EOR
- 2011/10/30: GEP: CCS Stumbles in the UK
Large scale geo-engineering keeps popping up:
- Methane Hack - Conference, 1 December 2011
- MethaneNet: Methane Hack meeting 1 Dec 2011
- 2011/10/29: MR: Capitalism and Environmental Catastrophe
Meanwhile in the journals:
- 2011/11/04: ACP: Physical and chemical properties of pollution aerosol particles transported from North America to Greenland as measured during the POLARCAT summer campaign by B. Quennehen et al.
- 2011/11/04: ACP: Impacts of 2006 Indonesian fires and dynamics on tropical upper tropospheric carbon monoxide and ozone by L. Zhang et al.
- 2011/11/04: ACPD: Aerosols-cloud microphysics-thermodynamics-turbulence: evaluating supersaturation in a marine stratocumulus cloud by F. Ditas et al.
- 2011/11/04: GMD: The JGrass-NewAge system for forecasting and managing the hydrological budgets at the basin scale: models of flow generation and propagation/routing by G. Formetta et al.
- 2011/11/02: OSD: Influence of Ross Sea Bottom Water changes on the warming and freshening of the Antarctic Bottom Water in the Australian-Antarctic Basin by K. Shimada et al.
- 2011/11/03: TCD: Longitudinal surface structures (flowstripes) on Antarctic glaciers by N. F. Glasser & G. H. Gudmundsson
- 2011/11/02: TCD: Borehole temperatures reveal details of 20th century warming at Bruce Plateau, Antarctic Peninsula by V. Zagorodnov et al.
- 2011/11/04: AGWObserver: Papers on health effects of increased CO2
- 2011/10/29: GRL: (ab$) IPCC climate models do not capture Arctic sea ice drift acceleration: Consequences in terms of projected sea ice thinning and decline by P. Rampal et al.
- 2011/11/03: ACP: A study of uncertainties in the sulfate distribution and its radiative forcing associated with sulfur chemistry in a global aerosol model by D. Goto et al.
- 2011/11/03: ACP: Springtime carbon emission episodes at the Gosan background site revealed by total carbon, stable carbon isotopic composition, and thermal characteristics of carbonaceous particles by J. Jung & K. Kawamura
- 2011/11/02: ACP: The first estimates of global nucleation mode aerosol concentrations based on satellite measurements by M. Kulmala et al.
- 2011/11/02: ACPD: On the ice nucleation spectrum by D. Barahona
- 2011/11/02: Nature: (ab$) Species-specific responses of Late Quaternary megafauna to climate and humans by Eline D. Lorenzen et al.
- 2011/11/01: PNAS: (abs) Genetically distinct coelacanth population off the northern Tanzanian coast by Masato Nikaido et al.
- 2011/11/01: PNAS: (ab$) Homogenization patterns of the world's freshwater fish faunas by Sébastien Villéger et al.
- 2011/11/01: PNAS: (ab$) Increase of extreme events in a warming world by Stefan Rahmstorf & Dim Coumou
- 2011/11/01: PNAS: (ab$) Lattice thermal conductivity of lower mantle minerals and heat flux from Earth's core by Geeth M. Manthilake et al.
- 2011/11/01: PNAS: (ab$) Northeast US precipitation variability and North American climate teleconnections interpreted from late Holocene varved sediments by J. Bradford Hubeny et al.
- 2011/11/01: PNAS: (ab$) Isotopic paleoecology of Clovis mammoths from Arizona by Jessica Z. Metcalfe et al.
- 2011/11/01: Nature:Comm: (ab$) Experimental drying intensifies burning and carbon losses in a northern peatland by M.R. Turetsky et al.
- 2011/10/31: OS: Annual cycles of chlorophyll-a, non-algal suspended particulate matter, and turbidity observed from space and in-situ in coastal waters by F. Gohin
- 2011/10/31: OS: N/P ratio of nutrient uptake in the Baltic Sea by Z. Wan et al.
- 2011/10/31: TCD: Worldwide widespread decadal-scale decrease of glacier speed revealed using repeat optical satellite images by T. Heid & A. Kääb
- 2011/10/31: AGWObserver: New research from last week 43/2011
And other significant documents:
- 2011/11/03: WaterEnergyFood: "Understanding the Nexus" -- Background paper for the Bonn2011 Nexus Conference is now available
- 2011/10/30: RealClimate: The Climate Data Guide
As for miscellaneous science:
- 2011/11/04: RealClimate: Conference conversations [WCRP OSC]
- 2011/11/03: Eureka: The human cause of climate change: Where does the burden of proof lie? Dr. Kevin Trenberth advocates reversing the 'null hypothesis'
- 2011/11/02: BackReaction: Grassroot funding for science: A good idea?
- 2011/11/02: SciAm:GB: What is peer-review for?
- 2011/11/02: TDC: Extreme measures: The push to make climate research relevant
This year's rash of severe weather is changing climate science. As policymakers call for better information, scientists are scrambling to understand the link between increasing emissions and natural disasters. A shift from hypothetical scenarios to short-term forecasts. - 2011/10/31: DVoice: What Is Science? The Need for Science to be the New Belief System
- 2011/10/31: CCP: John Mashey: Curious Coincidences at George Mason University: Ed Wegman, Milton Johns and Ken Cuccinelli
- 2011/10/31: JEB: [jules' pics] Climate Science explained - by GooBalls
- 2011/10/30: CCP: "Time delay of global warming" by Wojciech M. Budzianowski, International Journal of Global Warming, 3(3) 2011) 289-306; doi: 10.1504/IJGW.2011.043424
What's new in models?
- 2011/11/02: ClimateSight: My Dishpan Climate Model
- 2011/10/31: P3: Inside a Computer Model -- Hurricane Katrina
Late comment on McCarthy:
- 2011/10/31: P3: In Memoriam, John McCarthy
It looks like the 2012 Rio Conference may be postponed two weeks:
- 2011/11/04: BBC: Brazil plans eco-summit move over Jubilee clash
The Brazilian government is likely to move the dates of a key UN environment summit, as a clash with the UK Royal Jubilee threatens to keep leaders away. The Rio+20 summit, seen as a chance to put the global economy on a sustainable track, is scheduled for 4-6 June 2012, co-inciding with the Diamond Jubilee. That jeopardises the attendance of leaders from 54 Commonwealth nations. Commonwealth and G20 governments have asked Brazil to solve the problem, and a two-week postponement is now likely. The Brazilian government will confirm the proposed new dates of 20-22 June by the end of November. Rio+20 falls 20 years after the first Earth Summit in the Brazilian city, and 40 years after the very first UN environment summit in Stockholm in 1972. - 2011/11/02: CBC: 20 ways the world has changed since 1st Earth Summit -- UN report details changes over the past 20 years - both good and bad
- 2011/11/01: UN: Tracking 20 years of environmental change, UN report lays out challenges ahead [Rio]
While at the UN:
- 2011/11/01: FAO: Ten proposals to safeguard the ocean -- UN Agencies call on States and the international community for renewed commitment
- 2011/11/03: UN: UN partnership to support greater use of bio-energy crops
- 2011/11/02: UN: Environmental problems putting global progress at risk - UN report
The Fifth IPCC report is coming up:
- LLNL: IPCC/CMIP5 AR5 Timetable
- 2011/11/03: Wunderground: Preliminary IPCC report predicts increased weather extremes
The idea of a carbon tax is still bouncing around:
- 2011/11/02: EnvEcon: Carbon tax
The Robin Hood tax, aka the Tobin tax, aka the Bank tax, aka the Financial Transaction tax keeps coming up:
- 2011/11/03: CDreams: Bill Gates (the .001%) Joins the 99% for Robin Hood Tax
- 2011/11/04: CDreams: Robin Hood Tax Gains Ground at the G-20
- 2011/11/03: Rabble: Occupy movement mobilizes support for Robin Hood tax
- 2011/11/04: NUPGE: Progress on Robin Hood Tax at G20 summit but more needs to be done
- 2011/11/04: EUO: US and EU split on financial transaction tax
- 2011/11/03: SeattlePI:B: Gates proposes "Robin Hood" tax
Bill Gates is telling G-20 leaders, meeting in Cannes, France that a "Robin Hood tax" on the trading of bonds and shares could raise $48 billion to combat global poverty. Gates is scheduled to spend 75 minutes addressing the summit as he delivers a report commissioned by French President Nicolas Sarkosy. - 2011/10/30: CCurrents: Why We Need A Financial Transaction Tax: A Proposal For The G20
- 2011/11/02: BBC: The Archbishop of Canterbury has backed calls for a new tax on financial trading - dubbed a "Robin Hood" tax
- 2011/11/01: PaiD: A Tax on Financial Transactions
- 2011/10/31: EUO: Germany: Eurozone could go it alone on transactions tax
- 2011/10/31: NakedCapitalism: German Finance Minister Schäuble Calls for a Eurozone 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:
- 2011/10/30: EconView: Robert Stavins: The Promise and Problems of Pricing Carbon
As the deadline for applying the EU-ETS to airlines draws near, we will see who is serious about reducing carbon emissions:
- 2011/11/04: EUO: EU sticks by aviation emissions plans
- 2011/10/30: Nation(Ke): US has no respect for European law
- 2011/10/31: Reuters: Airlines ready for next battle against EU carbon law
Twenty-six nations are expected to lodge a formal protest on Wednesday against a European Union law to make airlines pay for carbon emissions -- adding to transatlantic tension on an issue that has triggered a tit-for-tat bill in the U.S. Congress. - 2011/10/31: PlanetArk: Airlines Ready For Next Battle Against EU Carbon Law
Twenty-six nations are expected to lodge a formal protest on Wednesday against a European Union law to make airlines pay for carbon emissions -- adding to transatlantic tension on an issue that has triggered a tit-for-tat bill in the Congress. Under EU legislation, from January 1 all flights to or from Europe will have to buy carbon permits to help offset their emissions under the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (EU-ETS) -- the 27 member bloc's prime tool for trying to curb the amount of carbon in the atmosphere. - 2011/11/02: PlanetArk: Most Non-Chinese Rare Earth Projects Doomed: Consultant
The vast majority of non-Chinese rare earth metal (REM) ventures will fail due to a lack of expertise and high ore processing costs, says Jack Lifton, founder of the industry consultancy Technology Metals Research. Firms were quick to launch new mines and restart mothballed operations as soon as China, which controls about 95 percent of the REM market, started slashing its export quota in 2009. Of the 244 companies hoping to produce the rare earth metals essential to a wide range of high-tech industries, less than 4 percent will prove profitable, the strategic metals consultant told Reuters in an interview on Friday. - 2011/11/02: DerSpiegel: Help for German Industry -- Merkel Joins the Global Hunt for Natural Resources
With rare earths in short supply the world over, Chancellor Angela Merkel has jumped in to help German industry search for more. The hope is to secure supplies well into the future -- and to break the Chinese monopoly. - 2011/11/01: PCWorld: Supply of Critical Rare-earth Elements About to Expand
- 2011/11/01: SlashDot: Rare-Earth Mineral Supply Getting Boost From California, Australia
Polls! We have polls!
- 2011/11/06: Grist: Polling reveals that being anti-clean energy is bad politics
- 2011/11/04: TP:JR: Polling Reveals That Being Anti-Clean Energy is Bad Politics
- 2011/11/01: TP:JR: Poll of the Day: 9 in 10 Americans Want More Solar, 8 in 10 Support Federal Solar Incentives
Regarding Water Politics and Business:
- 2011/11/05: JFleck: The forecast language dilemma
- 2011/11/05: JFleck: The rent on Hetch Hetchy is not high enough
Just when you think the great comedy act that is California water politics has exhausted itself, another white-faced, red-bulb-nosed, big footed character climbs out of the Golden State's Great Clown Car. - 2011/11/04: TP:JR: The U.S. Wastes 7 Billion Gallons of Drinking Water a Day: Can Innovation Help Solve the Problem?
- 2011/11/02: JFleck: Save water, rates go up, episode III
- 2011/11/01: JFleck: The Endangered Species Act as a water management tool - case for the defense
- 2011/10/30: JFleck: A bit of history -- when US Colorado River water users feared Mexico
- 2011/10/31: Eureka: Deep words, shallow words: An initial analysis of water discourse in 40 years of UN declarations
And on the American political front:
- 2011/11/05: EnergyBulletin: CNA [Center for Naval Analyses] military advisory board: cut US oil use 30% to reduce "grave national security risks"
- 2011/11/05: Grist: California pushes back against energy imports
- 2011/11/04: Grist: 'Going Boulder' means voting for local energy self-reliance
- 2011/11/03: EconView: "The Case for Rebuilding our Transportation Infrastructure"
- 2011/11/02: Grist: He-said, she-punched-him-in-the-face: The imbalance of American party politics
- 2011/11/03: TreeHugger: Maryland's Greenhouse Gas Reduction Plan Given Green Light By Reviewers
- 2011/11/02: UMD: Maryland Climate Plan Passes Key Tests in UMD Studies -- Improves Electric Reliability; Negligible Impact on Manufacturers
- 2011/11/02: CSM: Don't make fun of California's carbon reduction efforts
- 2011/11/02: TP:JR: Rove Attacks Obama for Elevating Climate Change as Security Issue, But Bush Admin First Warned It Posed A Serious Threat
- 2011/11/01: AlterNet: Two Big Decisions Loom on the Fate of Drinking Water for 15 Million People Living Near the Marcellus Shale.The fate of fracking in the Northeast may be determined soon. On Nov. 21, the Delaware River Basin Commission, comprising representatives from four states (New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware) and the federal government, will vote on whether to allow the intensive method of natural-gas drilling in the river's watershed. The watershed, which supplies drinking water for more than 15 million people, overlaps the eastern end of the Marcellus Shale, an underground geological formation touted as the "Saudi Arabia of natural gas." The commission's rules, which will apply in the Delaware watershed, will overlap with state regulations. Pennsylvania already allows fracking. New York is in the process of developing regulations about where it might be allowed and under what conditions. The state Department of Environmental Conservation will hold public hearings in November, and says it will decide sometime next year. Many environmental activists believe Gov. Andrew Cuomo is fast-tracking the issue.
- 2011/11/01: EnergyBulletin: Is this group think, or is the U.S. about to be energy-independent?
- 2011/11/01: NatureN: Mississippi to vote on 'personhood' -- Ballot measure would give fertilized eggs human rights
- 2011/10/31: CSM: Another Solyndra already? Some worry even worse is coming.
Have American taxpayers just been saddled with another Solyndra? Beacon Power Corp., a tiny renewable energy company that was a recipient of a $43 million loan guarantee backed by the Department of Energy, declared bankruptcy on Sunday, leaving taxpayers to cover the $39.1 million in loans the company has not yet repaid. - 2011/10/31: DeSmogBlog: Is There a Bias Asymmetry Between Democrats and Republicans?
- 2011/10/31: CSM: Clean energy 'gold rush' in Mojave spurs backlash
- 2011/10/21: AlterNet: If We End Farm Subsidies, Does That Mean Our Food System Will Be Healthy?
- 2011/10/28: FDL: Obama Witch Hunt Against Polar Bear Scientists Takes New Twist -- 2nd Scientist Asked to Take Lie Detector Test
The 2012 clown show rolls along:
- 2011/11/04: QuarkSoup: Michele Bachmann's Source for Advice
- 2011/11/04: DeSmogBlog: Herman Cain at AFP: 'I am the Koch Brothers' Brother From Another Mother'
- 2011/11/04: AlterNet: Cain Claims Koch a 'Brother From Another Mother;' Meets With Kingmaker DeMint
- 2011/11/04: TreeHugger: Republican Presidential Candidate [Jon Huntsman]: We Need to "Break Oil's Monopoly"
- 2011/11/03: TP:JR: Why a Republican President Would Find it Difficult to Pull Out of International Climate Negotiations
- 2011/11/01: Guardian(UK): The Republican presidential candidates are farcically unelectable
- 2011/10/31: AlterNet: The End of the Herman Cain Campaign? (It's Not What You Think)
The Keystone XL battle rages:
- 2011/11/04: CCP: Brad Johnson: Fact Check: Keystone XL Tar Sands Pipeline Isn't A Job Creator
- 2011/11/05: Grist: Fact Check: Keystone XL will not reduce oil imports from Middle East
- 2011/11/04: LFPress: Seinfeld actress takes aim at oilsands pipeline
Claims from a Seinfeld actress that the Keystone XL pipeline isn't Obama-worthy are all about nothing, said an industry spokesman Friday. Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who played Elaine in the massively popular '90s sitcom, appears in a video urging U.S. President Barack Obama to reject the 700,000 barrel-per-day pipeline she says would carry "a dirty kind of oil called tarsands. "On the way, it would put our air, water, climate and millions of our citizens at risk." The video shows images of an oilsands-impacted Alberta landscape, a map of the province and placard-carrying protesters. - 2011/11/04: TreeHugger: 10,000 Tar Sands Protesters Expected to Join Hands, Encircle White House
- 2011/11/04: TP:JR: Groups Ratchet Up Pressure on Keystone XL Pipeline With High-Profile Support and Full-Page Ad in Washington Post
- 2011/11/04: Grist: Keystone XL backers try to get OWS on their side
- 2011/11/03: DeSmogBlog: Oil Industry Co-Opts Occupy Movement to Sell the Keystone XL Pipeline
- 2011/11/02: RealClimate: Keystone XL: Game over?
- 2011/11/02: CBC: Keystone OK could be delayed
- 2011/10/27: TSA: Oglala Vice President Tom Poor Bear Confronts President Obama on Keystone XL
- 2011/11/02: OilChange: Military Wisdom: Pentagon strategy doesn't include Canadian oil
- 2011/11/01: WaPo: Obama to make decision on controversial oil pipeline
- 2011/11/01: TP:JR: Obama Asserts He's The Decider on Keystone XL Pipeline, Cites Risk to Drinking Water, Public Health
- 2011/11/01: DeSmogBlog: Obama - Not Hillary Clinton - Will Decide Keystone XL Pipeline Fate
- 2011/11/01: Guardian(UK): Keystone XL pipeline debate moves to Nebraska as final decision looms
- 2011/11/01: Guardian(UK): Nebraska legislators move to block Keystone XL pipeline route
- 2011/11/01: PlanetArk: Nebraska Tries To Draw Line In Sand Over Keystone Pipeline
- 2011/11/01: PlanetArk: Canada Toughens Tone On Keystone Approval
Canada is toughening its tone on the Keystone XL pipeline, warning the Obama administration that rejection of TransCanada Corp's $7 billion project could prompt Ottawa to concentrate on selling its oil-sands-derived crude to Asian customers instead. - 2011/11/01: BBerg: Nebraska Lawmakers Start Battle to Re-Route Keystone Pipeline
- 2011/11/01: Grist: State Department rejects 94,000 public comments on Keystone XL
- 2011/10/30: DeSmogBlog: Opposition to Keystone XL Pipeline Heating Up
Michael Mann won a victory against the ATI this week:
- 2011/11/04: CCP: Attorney Christopher Horner with [American Tradition Institute featured at Koch-funded conference]
- 2011/11/04: Stoat: Tweaking the wackos
- 2011/11/02: CSW: Favorable Virginia court procedural ruling in Michael Mann v. global warming denialist email raid
- 2011/11/02: Guardian(UK): Climate change scientist Michael Mann fends off sceptic group's raid on emails
- 2011/11/02: PSinclair: Mike Mann Wins one for the Planet [video]
- 2011/11/02: TP:JR: Score Another Victory for Scientists, Michael Mann and the Freedom of Inquiry
- 2011/11/02: ClimateShifts: Climate Scientist Wins A Round for America
- 2011/11/01: NatureNB: Climate scientist wins his day in court
- 2011/11/02: Guardian(UK): Climate change scientist Michael Mann fends off sceptic group's raid on emails
Judge revokes permission of sceptic thinktank American Tradition Institute to look at private University of Virginia emails - 2011/11/02: SMandia: Mike Mann's Thank You Letter to Supporters
- 2011/11/02: ERabett: A little money goes a long way
- 2011/11/02: UCSUSA: Judge Approves Request to Protect Scientists' Private Emails from Disclosure to Special Interest Group -- Group Is Requesting Same Records as Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli
- 2011/11/02: DeSmogBlog: Score Another Victory for Scientists, Michael Mann, and the Freedom of Inquiry
- 2011/11/01: HuffPo: Climate Scientist Wins A Round for America
- 2011/11/01: CCP: Climate Scientist Wins a Round for America
"Climate Scientist [Michael Mann] Wins a Round for America" by Shawn Lawrence Otto, Huffington Post. Virginia judge rules in favor of Michael Mann and against the "American Traditions Institute" known fossil-fuel funded faux think tank - 2011/10/31: ISS: Special Investigation: Who's behind the 'information attacks' on climate scientists?
- 2011/10/31: TP:JR: Special Investigation: Who's Behind the "Information Attacks" on Climate Scientists?
- 2011/10/31: P3: The Big Chill
The Obama chatter is nonstop:
- 2011/11/01: WaPo: Obama to make decision on controversial oil pipeline
- 2011/11/01: TP:JR: Obama Asserts He's The Decider on Keystone XL Pipeline, Cites Risk to Drinking Water, Public Health
- 2011/11/01: DeSmogBlog: Obama - Not Hillary Clinton - Will Decide Keystone XL Pipeline Fate
The actions of the Obama administration are being watched closely:
- 2011/11/04: OilDrum: New Dept. of Energy Priority-Setting Analysis Seriously Flawed
- 2011/10/31: Reuters: US to require details of fracking on federal land
- 2011/11/03: TP:JR: Secretary Chu: America Faces a Choice to "Compete in the Clean Energy Race" or "Wave the White Flag"
- 2011/10/31: AlterNet: Why Is the State Department Using Our Money to Pimp for Monsanto?
- 2011/11/02: PeakEnergy: Obama administration announces desert 'solar energy zones'
- 2011/11/01: PlanetArk: U.S. To Require Details Of Fracking On Federal Land
- 2011/11/01: UCSUSA: Obama Administration Calls For Final Scientific Integrity Policies
- 2011/11/01: CSW: Federal Climate Change Adaptation Task Force 2011 progress report - one step forward
As for what is going on in Congress:
- 2011/11/03: Prism: US Congress: Very Busy Doing Nothing
- 2011/11/04: Grist: Solyndra birtherism: GOP demands Obama's BlackBerry, gives Big Oil CEOs a pass
- 2011/11/03: Grist: The GOP brain explained: Why Cliff Stearns wants to subsidize successful companies
- 2011/11/03: BBC: A US congressional committee has voted to subpoena the White House for an investigation into a loan granted to failed solar-panel maker Solyndra
- 2011/11/03: TP:JR: Will Congress Cut Off Key Clean Energy Incentives?
- 2011/11/02: NatureNB: US science talks with China debated by lawmakers
- 2011/11/02: ACLU: House Hearing on Contraception and Religious Refusals Discounts Women's Health
- 2011/11/01: Grist: Republicans critical of Solyndra sought loan guarantees for coal, nuclear
- 2011/10/31: Grist: Will a 'secret Farm Bill' be passed this week?
I am reminded of that Marianne Moore poem- real toads invade the imaginary gardens:
- 2011/11/03: Grist: Republicans are taking real vote on imaginary dust regulations
What are the lobbyists pushing?
- 2011/11/02: PlanetArk: U.S. Auto Dealers Fight Obama Fuel Rules
While in the UK:
- 2011/11/03: Guardian(UK): Shipping emissions 'should be included in UK carbon targets'
- 2011/11/03: Guardian(UK): Leeds Summat aims to make the connection during 'uncertain times'
More than 1,000 people set to attend Leeds gathering to discuss and galvanise during world crisis - 2011/10/31: Guardian(UK): Why is our consumption falling?
From food to paper and water, Britain has gradually been guzzling less over the past decade. Why? - 2011/11/02: Guardian(UK): [Letters] Government U-turn needed on solar energy tariffs
- 2011/11/01: Grist: Is solar Britain's new sunset industry?
And in Europe:
- 2011/11/03: EurActiv: Backstage battle over energy efficiency directive
Targets proposed in the EU's draft energy efficiency directive are being contested by member states, with Britain and the Netherlands pushing for some provisions to be deleted entirely, EurActiv has learned. - 2011/11/03: EurActiv: Ecology group urges water monitoring on EU imports
Europe's demand for energy, fuels and food are placing a global strain on water and other natural resources that could have particularly devastating consequences for developing nations, warns a report published today (3 November) by a conservation organisation. - 2011/10/24: FT:EF: EU economy: Black hole or green growth
Meanwhile in Australia:
- 2011/11/02: CCurrents: GetUp Time Capsule Letter To My Great Great Grandchildren About Australia And Climate Genocide [Polya]
- 2011/11/03: BBC: Senior figures in Australia's governing Labor Party have angrily denied there is a plot to get rid of Prime Minister Julia Gillard
- 2011/11/02: BNC: CO2 abatement cost with electricity generation options in Australia
- 2011/11/02: ABC(Au): Wind farm opponent claims double standard on buffer zones
- 2011/11/01: ABC(Au): Surf clubs under threat from climate change
The carbon bill has passed the House. Now comes the Senate, the Proclamation and the implementation:
- 2011/11/03: ABC(Au): Senate guillotines carbon tax debate
The Senate has passed a motion to cut short debate on the Federal Government's carbon tax bills so they can be passed next Tuesday. Labor's guillotine motion passed the Upper House with support from the Greens this morning. The Coalition lost its bid to adjourn debate on the tax by one vote. - 2011/11/01: PlanetArk: Australia CO2 Scheme Must Be Scrapped, Opposition Says
The Murray-Darling Basin Plan controversy continues:
- 2011/11/03: ABC(Au): More Riverina-Murray environmental water buybacks feared
- 2011/11/01: ABC(Au): Talks 'positive' as Weatherill puts SA Murray view
- 2011/11/01: ABC(Au): [SA Premier, Jay] Weatherill in Canberra for Murray talks
And in New Zealand:
- 2011/11/02: HotTopic: Nick Smith fails the smelter spin test
While in the Indian subcontinent:
- 2011/11/04: CCurrents: POSCO Project Is Not More Important Than Public Opinion by Asian Human Rights Commission
- 2011/11/01: Guardian(UK): How Homi Bhabha's vision turned India into a nuclear R&D leader
Architect of India's atomic energy programme laid the foundations for a thorium research programme - 2011/11/04: Guardian(UK): China to phase out incandescent lightbulbs
- 2011/11/02: QuarkSoup: Incredible Pollution in China
- 2011/10/31: NatureN: China unveils clean energy lab -- Dalian National Laboratory will focus on reducing carbon emissions from coal
In Japan:
- 2011/11/04: Guardian(UK): The Japanese engineer calling for a life without electricity
- 2011/11/04: CBC: Japan gives $11.6B to dismantle nuclear reactors
Japan's government Friday approved spending $11.6 billion Cdn of public money to help the operator of the tsunami-hit nuclear power plant decontaminate the site and dismantle the reactors. Japan's nuclear minister, Goshi Hosono, says the aid is meant as a preliminary installment to help cash-strapped Tokyo Electric Power Co. cover the massive cost of the work. - 2011/11/04: BBC: Tepco to get $11bn government aid after plan approval
Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) is set to receive 900bn yen ($11.5bn; £7bn) in bailout funds after the government approved its business plan. The funds are a part of the government's bailout plan for Tepco, which is expected to make a loss of 576bn yen this year. - 2011/11/01: JapanTimes: The costly fallout of tatemae and Japan's culture of deceit
[...]
...the awful truth is: "We Japanese don't lie. We just don't tell the truth." - 2011/11/04: NorRe: Science is Useful
- 2011/10/31: G&M: Parks Canada weighs whether to let pipeline run through historic burial site
- 2011/10/30: PostMedia: Humans 'locked in' to warmer world, but can still avoid dangerous climate change: Environment Canada
The G8/G20 controversy lingers:
- 2011/11/02: CBC: Paperwork for G8 spending 'not perfect,' Clement says
- 2011/11/02: TStar: Inside a G20 cell: Video image shows conditions in detention centre
- 2011/11/02: CBC: Analysis: 5 questions Clement must answer on G8 spending
The issue of Job Cuts continues to rankle:
- 2011/11/01: CBC: Scientists caution against ozone monitoring cuts
Three leading Canadian atmospheric scientists are urging MPs and senators to think very carefully before they agree to cuts to ozone monitoring in Canada. Prof. Thomas Duck, an expert in polar atmospheric research at Dalhousie University in Halifax, was one of the scientists who met over breakfast with 30 MPs and senators Tuesday in Ottawa to talk about Canada's role in monitoring the ozone layer and to explain the surprise discovery of a huge hole over the Arctic. - 2011/11/01: G&M: Stretched food banks a measure of Canada's frail recovery
The number of Canadians using food banks has declined slightly, but persistent demand indicates many are struggling in a frail economic recovery. More than 851,000 individuals visited a food bank in March alone, a number that's little changed from last year's record and still 26 per cent above prerecession levels, Food Banks Canada's annual survey, to be released Tuesday, shows. - 2011/11/01: CBC: Food bank use stays high
Food bank use across Canada remained more than 25 per cent above pre-recession levels in March, the group representing food banks said Tuesday. Food Banks Canada said an annual survey of its members showed a slight decrease in the number of food recipients from the same month a year earlier -- two per cent to 851,014 -- but little change over all. The steady numbers show the effects of recession are still being felt across Canada, and the organization says that means economic recovery isn't working for everyone. - 2011/11/03: PostMedia: Feds on the hook for $360 million for sold-off AECL reactor division
The Conservative government will spend at least $285 million this fiscal year on the Atomic Energy of Canada nuclear reactor division it sold last month for just $15 million plus royalties to SNC-Lavalin, the Montreal-based engineering and construction giant. New federal documents released Thursday also reveal the government is on the hook for another $75 million in "workforce transition" costs associated with the sale, which was expected to see more than 800 people lose their jobs. Another $200 million - on top of nearly $250 million previously approved - will be coughed up for Atomic Energy of Canada Limited's research laboratories and the Chalk River facility that are still a part of the financially troubled Crown corporation. All told, the majority Conservative government is seeking parliamentary approval for more than $800 million in funding this year for AECL and the spun-off commercial division. - 2011/11/01: CoC: Council of Canadians and PSAC seek intervener status in Canadian Wheat Board legal challenge
- 2011/11/04: PostMedia: Rancour deepens in wheat board fight
The saga on the future of the Canadian Wheat Board got uglier Thursday with another lawsuit, another ad campaign and accusations the federal government is ramming through legislation before farmers can be heard. The board continued to fight back against the legislation to eliminate its monopoly over prairie wheat and barley sales with a mass advertising campaign. The campaign includes print, radio, TV and online advertising, asking Canadians to send a text message that will generate a letter to MPs opposing the dismantling of the monopoly. - 2011/11/02: CBC: Wheat board debate keeps MPs up late -- Special committee speeds review of C-18 in three marathon evening hearings
A special legislative committee is working late three nights in a row this week on a quick review for bill C-18, the government's legislation to dismantle the "single desk" marketing system that gives the Canadian Wheat Board the exclusive right to sell wheat and barley from western Canada. The special committee was struck only a week ago after the bill passed at second reading in the House of Commons. Alberta Conservative MP Blaine Calkins is the chair and Conservative MPs hold the majority of votes on the committee. - 2011/11/02: G&M: Wheat-board chief fears final harvest if Harper has his way
- 2011/10/31: PostMedia: Canadian Wheat Board director resigns - second member to do so in less than a week
Jeff Nielsen resigned as a director of the Canadian Wheat Board on Monday, the second board resignation in less than a week. Nielsen, who farms near Olds, Alta., represented District 2 in west-central Alberta. Last week, Henry Vos, a farmer near Fairview, Alta., resigned his board position. Both cited the ongoing fight the CWB is waging to maintain the status quo, even as legislation has been tabled by the federal government to end the wheat board's monopoly status, as reason for their resignation. Neilsen and Vos took particular issue with the announcement last week that the CWB would file legal action in an attempt to stymie the Harper government's intention to open up the Canadian wheat market. - 2011/10/30: PSGraham: Video: Winnipeg Save the Canadian Wheat Board Rally
The ISA virus in BC waters is potentially disastrous:
- 2011/11/02: Alexandra Morton: More European ISA virus detected in wild BC salmon
- 2011/11/03: DVoice: More European ISA Virus Detected in Wild BC Salmon
- 2011/11/01: PostMedia: B.C. wild-salmon advocates worried about European virus strain
Wild-salmon advocates fear that tests showing a serious virus in one Fraser River coho and two wild sockeye salmon mean the European strain of infectious salmon anemia (ISA) could be spreading through B.C.'s wild salmon runs. But B.C. Salmon Farmers Association spokeswoman Mary Ellen Walling said the positive laboratory tests at the Atlantic Veterinary College have yet to be confirmed by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. - 2011/10/28: NYT: Virus in Pacific Salmon Raises Worries About Industry
Advocates for wild salmon said Friday that a deadly virus had been detected again in a Pacific salmon in British Columbia, but it was not clear if it would prove lethal to the fish population. The finding, like one involving two juvenile wild sockeye salmon in British Columbia, poses questions for the viability of salmon fisheries in Canada and the United States. Scientists have expressed concern about the emergence of the virus while raising questions about complications, including scientific doubts about the quality of the tests. In its active state, the virus, infectious salmon anemia, has devastated Atlantic salmon populations in fish farms in Chile and elsewhere. Salmon advocates have long worried that the virus could spread to wild populations, but it not clear whether Pacific salmon are equally susceptible. In documents released Friday, an adult coho salmon supplied by salmon advocates to a prominent laboratory showed signs of carrying the disease. That fish was reported to have been found in a tributary of the Fraser River, a critical salmon run for fishermen in Canada and the United States. - 2011/10/29: AlexandraMorton: Pestilence loosed upon BC
- 2011/10/30: TheCanadian: Shades of Green: The Arrival of Infectious Salmon Anemia Virus
BC is wrangling over energy:
- 2011/11/03: CBC: B.C. companies fined over fracking water use
More than dozen energy companies drilling in northern B.C. have been fined for not reporting how much water they use. The energy companies are drawing fresh water from the northern rivers to use in hydro-fracking -- a process that uses pressurized water to blast fractures into shale rock formations deep underground, releasing natural gas trapped in the rocks. This year for the first time, B.C.'s energy companies were required to report how much water they drew from the rivers. But 16 of about 50 companies failed to report their water use to the Oil and Gas Commission, says spokesman Alan Chapman. - 2011/10/31: CBC: Grande Cache Coal agrees to $1B takeover -- Chinese and Japanese buyers paying in cash
Meanwhile in that Mechanical Mordor known as the tar sands:
- 2011/11/05: NM&PC: Some Truth About The Tar Sands [video]
- 2011/11/03: Tyee: China, and Two More Ethical Challenges to Oil Sands -- Last in a list of ways Canada is turning a blessing into a curse
- 2011/11/03: EnergyBulletin: China, and two more ethical challenges to oil sands
- 2011/11/03: CBC: Suncor earnings up slightly
- 2011/10/31: CSM: Is Canada's oil more ethical than Saudi Arabia's?
Also in Alberta:
- 2011/11/01: CBC: Slave Lake wildfire becomes arson investigation -- 4,700-hectare fire in May caused $700M in damages
In Saskatchewan the vote is next week:
- 2011/11/04: G&M: A bumper crop for Brad Wall? Probably, though not surely
Canada's epidemic of provincial and territorial elections this fall has followed a faithful pattern. Yes, governments have been returned to office, but at a price. A few unpopular ministers will be looking for new careers. Some of the local party supporters will join them, having offended some local interest groups. Yet, re-election has been a steady pattern, even for regimes that promised, only a year ago, to be on their way to the history books. - 2011/11/04: P3: Economics is not the Economy
- 2011/11/05: EnergyBulletin: Capitalism and environmental catastrophe
- 2011/11/04: EnergyBulletin: Elinor Ostrom Outlines Best Strategies for Managing the Commons
- 2011/11/04: EnergyBulletin: Planting our perennial future: Corn trees, oil bushes, potato thickets, & sweater swards
Summary: The current industrial model of US agriculture is economically, energetically, and ecologically doomed. Any hope for a livable future requires that we accelerate the creation of resilient, ecologically-viable 'shadow structure' replacements for industrial US agriculture in the diminishing time available to us. We already possess the tools, knowledge, and organizational structures to begin such projects at the family and community level. Here are some things I'm excited about. - 2011/11/03: EnergyBulletin: Bartering helps Greeks survive economic crisis
- 2011/11/03: EnergyBulletin: Permaculture on a budget
- 2011/10/29: MR: Capitalism and Environmental Catastrophe
IPAT [Impact = Population * Affluence * Technology] raised its head once again:
- 2011/11/03: DerSpiegel: The Great Contraction -- Experts Predict Global Population Will Plateau
The 7-billionth human being was born last week as the UN issued dire warnings of an exploding global population. But birth rates are actually in free fall worldwide. Experts predict that the world's population will start shrinking in 2060 and that -- with a bit of imaginative policymaking -- the birth and death rates could actually balance out. - 2011/11/06: ITracker: Overpopulation as "international socialist" conspiracy
- 2011/11/05: AlterNet: Thom Hartmann: As World Population Reaches 7 Billion, What Will Save Us From Ourselves?
- 2011/11/02: ACLU: House Hearing on Contraception and Religious Refusals Discounts Women's Health
- 2011/11/01: CCurrents: 7 Billion Mutinies Now: The Fight For Women
- 2011/10/30: CCurrents: 7 Billion Is Many Too Many: Time To Humanely Limit Population Growth Is Now
- 2011/11/01: Guardian(UK): A rising population is not the problem -- growing inequality is
- 2011/11/01: NatureN: Mississippi to vote on 'personhood' -- Ballot measure would give fertilized eggs human rights
- 2011/10/30: BBC: Are there really seven billion of us?
The United Nations estimates that on Monday 31 October the world's population will reach seven billion. But how accurate is this figure? - 2011/10/31: AlterNet: How A Reproductive Justice Campaign in Mississippi Can Defeat the Anti-Sex Right and Save the Vote
- 2011/10/31: DD: World population tops 7 billion
- 2011/10/31: EnergyBulletin: What's causing the environmental crisis: 7 Billion or 1%?
- 2011/10/31: UN: As world passes 7 billion milestone, UN urges action to meet key challenges
- 2011/10/31: Guardian(UK): Stemming population growth is a cheap way to limit climate change
- 2011/10/31: Grist: How to feed 7 billion of us without ruining the planet
- 2011/10/31: SciAm:Obs: Why Innovation Won't Defuse the Population Bomb
- 2011/10/31: CSM: World population hits 7 billion, but there are easy ways to curb growth
- 2011/10/31: CBC: Crowded planet: Should we care how many billions of us are out there?
- 2011/10/31: al Jazeera: The end of population growth
As the world's population hits seven billion we face a future of slow growth with implications on global labour supply. - 2011/10/31: BBC: India welcomes 'world's seven billionth baby'
- 2011/10/31: CBC: '7 billionth' babies honoured worldwide -- Celebrations kick off in Philippines as population symbolically reaches 7 billion
- 2011/10/29: AlterNet: 7 Billion and Counting: Welcome to a Planet With Population Overload and Resources in Crisis [With Photos From National Geographic]
- 2011/10/30: CBC: Growing population will tap water resources
As the world's population hits seven billon this week, the United Nations is warning that the planet's water resources will come under intense pressure. Most population growth is in the developing world and "dwindling water supplies is the environmental issue most often raised in developing countries," says the UN Population Fund's State of World Population 2011 report. - 2011/10/31: SciAm:HoG: Climate, Overpopulation & Environment -- The Rapa Nui debate
How do the media measure up?
- 2011/11/05: P3: Bad News About Bad News
- 2011/11/05: TP:JR: Should You Cancel Your Subscription to the NY Times, and If Not, What Should a Climate Hawk Do?
- 2011/11/05: TP:JR: "The Murdoch Press Are a Threat to Democracy," Warns Australian Politician
- 2011/11/03: CJR: Like the Odds of a Heart Attack? The limits of medical analogies for the climate-weather connection
- 2011/11/01: Deltoid: Rosegate: Rose hides the incline
- 2011/10/31: TP:JR: Revkin Pulls a Charlie Sheen, Champions a Report that Debunks His Anti-Deployment Climate Strategy
So do you think all this zombie and vampire talk is symptomatic of a latent necrophiliacal society?
- 2011/10/31: Tyee: Don't Let Oil Zombies Eat Your Brain -- They are counting on you believing resistance is futile. Very soon, it will be.
- 2011/10/31: OilChange: The Living Dead: will Big Oil's record profits turn us all to zombies?
Here is something for your library:
- 2011/11/01: OilDrum: Busy Bees and Biofuels [Book Plug] _Meditation and the Art of Beekeeping_ by Mark Magill
And for your film & video enjoyment:
- 2011/11/04: PSinclair: The Weekend Wonk: NASA -- The Solar Cycle
- 2011/10/28: Guardian(UK): Blood of the Amazon by Nicola Peel - preview
The new documentary by campaigner and film-maker Nicola Peel looks at the damage inflicted by oil companies in Ecuador - 2011/11/01: BBickmore: Climate Change: What We Know and How We Know It
- 2011/11/01: PSinclair: Texas Drought's Global Ripples
- 2011/11/01: Grist: Green issues and greenbacks: Occupy Wall Street connects the dots [video]
- 2011/10/31: Grist: Upcoming Lorax movie to insult all that is good, holy
- 2011/10/31: TreeHugger: Why Energy Scarcity Makes Economic "Recovery" Impossible (Video)
As for podcasts:
- 2011/10/31: TP:JR: Podcast: Solving Energy Poverty Without Addressing Climate Change is "The Biggest Threat Multiplier of All"
Developing a new energy infrastructure is a fundamental challenge of the current generation:
- 2011/10/31: CER:RRapier: How Not to Use EROEI
- 2011/11/06: TP:JR: Google Map Reveals Massive Geothermal Potential Nationwide, "Effectively an Unlimited Supply" Says Chu
- 2011/11/04: InformedComment: A Hot Wet Thousand Years and 10 Green Energy Stories to Avert it
- 2011/11/04: HotTopic: The promise of renewables
- 2011/11/03: Grist: Solar cheaper than fossil fuels in a decade, says Steven Chu
- 2011/11/03: Grist: Learning from history: Why natural gas prices will rise
- 2011/11/02: LA Times:B: More green goes to green projects
Venture capitalists are pouring money into clean technology even as investors scale back funding in many other areas. Firms in the green sector raised almost $1.2 billion in the third quarter -- up 73% from $684 million collected in the same period last year, according to a report released Wednesday by Ernst & Young. - 2011/11/03: TreeHugger: Investment in U.S. Cleantech Up 73% This Quarter: $1.1 Billion Went to Clean Energy Projects
- 2011/11/02: SciAm:Obs: Energy Economics: What Will Turn Us On in 2030?
- 2011/11/02: PeakEnergy: Kenya to start work on new geothermal plant
- 2011/11/02: PeakEnergy: Rolls-Royce Orkney Tidal Turbine Operational
- 2011/11/02: EnergyBulletin: Life without electricity
- 2011/11/01: TP:JR: Maximizing Clean Energy Potential While Protecting Our Environment: A Zones Approach to Siting Projects
- 2011/10/31: Grist: Hybrid power plant turns wind directly into automotive fuel
- 2011/10/31: Reuters: Asia faces rocky road in securing energy needs
Governments in emerging Asian economies will struggle to secure their rising energy needs as rapidly swelling demand in leading consumers China and India outpaces growth in supplies, which is likely to keep oil prices over $100 a barrel. - 2011/10/30: EnergyBulletin: The future of energy and the interconnected challenges of the 21st century
Hey! Let's contaminate the aquifer for thousands of years! It'll be a fracking gas!
- 2011/10/31: AlterNet: Fight or Flight: Meet the Residents Taking on Gas Drillers, and Those Packing Their Bags [With Photo Slideshow]
- 2011/11/04: DemNow: Debate on Fracking: Was Syracuse Right to Ban the Controversial Natural Gas Drilling Process?
- 2011/11/03: BWeek: Could Shale Gas Reignite the U.S. Economy?
Unlocking vast reserves of shale gas could solve the energy crisis, the jobs crisis, and the deficit. Now, about fracking's safety ... - 2011/11/06: NBF: Unlocking vast reserves of shale gas could solve the energy crisis, the jobs crisis, and the deficit
- 2011/11/03: DeSmogBlog: Fracking Linked To Earthquakes In The U.S.
- 2011/11/02: Guardian(UK): Fracking protesters storm shale gas exploration site
- 2011/11/03: Independent(UK): Fracking company - we caused 50 tremors in Blackpool -- but we're not going to stop
- 2011/10/31: Reuters: US to require details of fracking on federal land
- 2011/11/03: CBC: B.C. companies fined over fracking water use
- 2011/11/02: NatureNB: Fracking caused British quakes
- 2011/11/02: ScienceInsider: U.K. Quakes Likely Caused by Fracking
- 2011/11/03: TreeHugger: Fracking May Have Caused 50 Earthquakes in Oklahoma
- 2011/11/03: BBC: Fracking tests near Blackpool 'likely cause' of tremors
It is "highly probable" that shale gas test drilling triggered earth tremors in Lancashire, a study has found. - 2011/11/02: TP:JR: Shale Shocked: "Highly Probable" Fracking Caused U.K. Earthquakes, and It's Linked to Oklahoma Temblors
- 2011/11/02: CBC: Fracking likely triggered U.K. quakes, gas firm says
- 2011/11/02: DeSmogBlog: UK Fracking Company Takes Partial Responsibility For Earthquakes
- 2011/11/02: OilChange: The Downsides of "Extreme Energy"
- 2011/11/01: AlterNet: Two Big Decisions Loom on the Fate of Drinking Water for 15 Million People Living Near the Marcellus Shale
The fate of fracking in the Northeast may be determined soon. On Nov. 21, the Delaware River Basin Commission, comprising representatives from four states (New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware) and the federal government, will vote on whether to allow the intensive method of natural-gas drilling in the river's watershed. The watershed, which supplies drinking water for more than 15 million people, overlaps the eastern end of the Marcellus Shale, an underground geological formation touted as the "Saudi Arabia of natural gas." The commission's rules, which will apply in the Delaware watershed, will overlap with state regulations. Pennsylvania already allows fracking. New York is in the process of developing regulations about where it might be allowed and under what conditions. The state Department of Environmental Conservation will hold public hearings in November, and says it will decide sometime next year. Many environmental activists believe Gov. Andrew Cuomo is fast-tracking the issue. - 2011/11/01: EnergyBulletin: Is this group think, or is the U.S. about to be energy-independent?
- 2011/11/01: PlanetArk: U.S. To Require Details Of Fracking On Federal Land
- 2011/10/30: EnergyBulletin: Not so much: Shale gas shows its limitations
On the coal front:
- 2011/11/01: Grist: Another coal ash spill -- this time in Lake Michigan
- 2011/10/31: Guardian(UK): Why the world is burning more coal
On the gas and oil front:
- 2011/11/04: BBerg: Closing oil prices Friday
OIL (US$/bbl)
Nymex Crude Future...94.26
Dated Brent Spot....112.55
WTI Cushing Spot.....94.26 - 2011/11/04: Reuters: IEA draft outlook sees $212 oil in 2035
The jump in oil prices in the past year is adding to concern about the economy, according to a draft of the International Energy Agency's 2011 World Energy Outlook, which also raised its view of long-run prices. - 2011/11/06: OilDrum: Tech Talk - Drilling off the Atlantic Coast
- 2011/11/03: NBF: Petrobas plans for 5 million barrels of oil per day for Brazil in 2020
- 2011/11/03: Guardian(UK): Why are oil prices so high?
Brent crude oil is cruising at the historically high price of around $110 a barrel despite the threat of a double-dip recession. Why? - 2011/11/02: Reuters: Russia oil output hits new high after duty cut - Output hits 10.34 million barrels per day
- 2011/10/31: AutoBG: UK petrol stations closing, "fuel deserts" may result
In the fossil fuel corps:
- 2011/11/03: CBC: Suncor earnings up slightly
Calgary-based Suncor Energy achieved record production from its oilsands operations and boosted performance in the second quarter to post slightly better earnings Thursday. Canada's biggest oil and gas company reported net earnings of $1.28 billion, or 82 cents a share, for the three months ended Sept. 30 up from $1.22 billion, or 78 cents per share, in the same period in 2010. - 2011/10/31: OilChange: Shell "Threatens" the EU with Long-Term Exit
Yes we have peak everything:
- 2011/10/31: Guardian(UK): The six natural resources most drained by our 7 billion people
For how long can we realistically expect to have oil? And which dwindling element is essential to plant growth? - 2011/11/03: MENAFN: UAE- World likely to face severe oil crunch by 2015
- 2011/11/02: EnergyBulletin: Peak oil perspective
- 2011/10/31: EnergyBulletin: Americans deserve the truth about potential oil crisis
- 2011/10/31: Grist: Why small cities are poised for success in an oil-starved future
Biofuel bickering abounds:
- 2011/11/03: DeSmogBlog: Biomass - bad for trees, bad for the planet
- 2011/11/02: LBL: Genome-scale Network of Rice Genes to Speed the Development of Biofuel Crops
Meanwhile among the solar aficionados:
- 2011/11/04: BBerg: Sharp Corp. Says It Developed World's Most Efficient Solar Cell [36.9%]
- 2011/11/03: EUO: Morocco to host EU solar project [Desertec]
- 2011/11/03: NatureN: Nanoparticle solar cells make light work -- Cheap, printable photovoltaics might finally live up to their early promise
- 2011/11/01: NWU:McCormick: Solar Power Could Get Boost from New Light Absorption Design
- 2011/11/02: Eureka: Solar concentrator increases collection with less loss
- 2011/11/01: TP:JR: Group Purchasing Gets Solar to Grid Parity in Los Angeles
Feed-In-Tariffs are being variously implemented around the world:
- 2011/11/02: Guardian(UK): [Letters] Government U-turn needed on solar energy tariffs
The nuclear energy controversy continues:
- 2011/11/03: EnergyBulletin: Nukespeak: the selling of nuclear technology from the Manhattan Project to Fukushima
- 2011/11/02: NBF: India's thorium-fuelled Advanced Heavy Water Reactor (AHWR) design is ready
- 2011/11/01: APR: Reactor restart at Genkai (Japan)
- 2011/11/01: Guardian(UK): India plans 'safer' nuclear plant powered by thorium
- 2011/10/31: AlterNet: Nuclear Disaster in the US: How Bechtel Is Botching the World's Costliest Environmental Cleanup
Nuclear waste storage requires _very_ long term thinking:
- 2011/11/03: Eureka: Plutonium's unusual interactions with clay may minimize leakage of nuclear waste
The Rossi Energy Catalyzer keeps coming up:
- 2011/11/02: EnergyBulletin: The peak oil crisis: cold fusion redux
- 2011/11/01: NBF: After the Energy Catalyzer test with Rossi
- 2011/10/31: NBF: Rossi claims to have sold several more 1 megawatt E-cat plants
This is one sure way we would get an independent test:
- 2011/11/01: E-CatWorld: Open Source the E-Cat?
More people are talking about the electrical grid:
- 2011/11/03: OPB:Ecotrope: A smart NW power grid? The potential vs. reality
- 2011/10/30: CSM: National Grid, others expect power outages for days to come
And then there is the matter of efficiency & conservation:
- 2011/11/04: SciAm:Obs: Why Daylight Saving Time Should Be Abolished
- 2011/11/04: Guardian(UK): China to phase out incandescent lightbulbs
- 2011/11/04: Grist: China bulb ban will eliminate 1 billion incandescents annually
- 2011/11/02: SciAm:PI: Negawatts and Megawatts -- When Less Makes Money
Automakers & lawyers, engineers & activists argue over the future of the car:
- 2011/11/01: GreenBiz: China Pushes Electric Car Market with Hefty Subsidies and More
As for Energy Storage:
- 2011/10/31: CSM: Will wind power stoke demand for batteries?
Who's fielding the FAQs?
- 2011/11/01: Guardian(UK): What is thorium and how does it generate energy?
Joe Romm posts a daily list of top energy and climate stories:
- 2011/11/04: TP:JR: November 4 News...
- 2011/11/03: TP:JR: Global News...
- 2011/11/02: TP:JR: November 2 News...
- 2011/11/01: TP:JR: Global News...
- 2011/10/31: TP:JR: October 31 News...
Other (weekly) lists:
- 2011/11/03: CER: This Week in Energy: Range Fuels To Declare Bankruptcy?
- 2011/10/31: BPA: Agriculture News
The carbon lobby are up to the usual:
- 2011/11/04: QuarkSoup: My Email to Fred Singer
- 2011/11/04: Stoat: Tweaking the wackos
- 2011/11/05: DeSmogBlog: Commonwealth Business Council Picks In-house Denier To Chair Climate Forum
- 2011/11/04: ClassM: FTL neutrinos and climate change deniers (or why I call the latter PSEUDOskeptics)
- 2011/11/02: ERabett: The Asylum is Running the Inmates
- 2011/11/03: HotTopic: The gullible leading the credulous (with a sting in the tale)
- 2011/11/02: TP:JR: The 1% Strike Back: Koch-Funded Americans for Prosperity Run New Solyndra TV Ad, Hilariously Lamenting "Political Favors"
- 2011/10/31: MediaMatters: Ignorant And Proud
- 2011/10/31: Grist: Find out who's behind the 'information attacks' on climate scientists
- 2011/11/01: DeSmogBlog: Weird Anti-Science - Donna Bethell, SEPP, and Sandia National Laboratories
- 2011/11/01: ABC(Au):TDU: A cardinal mistake on climate science
- 2011/10/31: CCP: Who's behind the 'information attacks' on climate scientists?
Right-wing money feeds attacks on climate scientists -- American Traditions Institute backed by Scaife, Koch, ExxonMobil goes after Dr. Michael Mann with frivolous FOIA request, seeks to stiffle academic freedom and research on global warming - 2011/10/31: CCP: Andrew Gelman: Skepticism about skepticism of global warming skepticism skepticism
Meanwhile in the 'clean coal' saga:
- 2011/11/03: TreeHugger: Coal Ash Spill in Lake Michigan Occurs Within Days of New EPA Data on Hazardous Coal Ash Ponds
- 2011/11/01: DeSmogBlog: New Lake Michigan Coal Ash Spill Raises Old Concerns
- 2011/11/01: Grist: Another coal ash spill -- this time in Lake Michigan
As for climate miscellanea:
- 2011/11/04: CChallenge: Misinformation about Climate Science examined by Union of Concerned Scientists
- 2011/11/04: KSJT: AP: Global warming our fault? We're sure to see for sure, soon. CO2 emissions soaring
- 2011/11/03: P3: The Worth of an Ice Sheet
- 2011/11/04: HotTopic: Riddle-me-ree/open thread
- 2011/11/03: TWTB: Matt Ridley needs to take some advice from Matt Ridley
- 2011/11/04: Tamino: Why Not Weighted?
- 2011/11/02: P3: Narrative and Science in the Debate on Climate Change
- 2011/11/02: EnergyBulletin: Narrative and science in the debate on climate change
- 2011/11/01: RealClimate: MJO Conversations
- 2011/11/01: OilChange: Oil and Democracy Don't Mix
- 2011/10/31: QuarkSoup: A New Way to Display Warming Projections
- 2011/11/01: HotTopic: Fools Rule: Inside the Failed Politics of Climate Change
And here are a couple of sites you may find interesting and/or useful:
- NOAA:ESRL: Trends in Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide
- AOSIS: Alliance Of Small Island States
- Methane Hack - Conference, 1 December 2011
- LLNL: IPCC/CMIP5 AR5 Timetable
- Wiki: Energy Catalyzer
- Methane Net
- MethaneNet: Methane Hack meeting 1 Dec 2011
- The Daily Impact - Chronicling the Crash of the Industrial Age
- Wiki: Isotopes of xenon
- Madden-Julian Conversations
- NOAA:NCDC: Billion Dollar U.S. Weather/Climate Disasters
- IPCC: Fifth Assessment Report (AR5)
- USGS: The Water Cycle: Water Storage in the Atmosphere
- PhysicalGeography: The Hydrologic Cycle
- Wiki: Water cycle
- FAO: FAOSTAT provides time-series and cross sectional data relating to food and agriculture for some 200 countries
Laugh. I dare ya:
The BASIC countries had a pre-Durban confab in Beijing this week:
The Horn of Africa drought and famine continues to be a major disaster, with amazingly little coverage:
Drinking the radioactive koolaid?
Post Fukushima, nuclear policies are in flux around the world:
The Arctic melt continues to garner a lot of attention:
And how are we going to feed 9 billion, 10 billion, 15 billion?
Regarding the solar hypothesis:
As for hydrological cycle disruptions [floods & droughts]:
In the Rare Earths' tussle:
And in China:
In Canada, neocon PM Harper, continues his do-nothing policy:
They say the recession is over, but...:
A reminder from the AECL saga:
The would be CWB removal is becoming freighted in several dimensions:
The movement toward a long term ecologically viable economics is glacial:
Apocalypso anyone?
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."What we need to really find for the future is the contraceptive for overconsumption." -Julia Whitty
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