Another Week of GW News, January 29, 2012

Logging the Onset of The Bottleneck Years

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Another Week in the Ecological Crisis

Sipping from the Internet Firehose...

January 29, 2012

• Chuckles, HotW, Poe, Strange, WEF, WSF, Fisheries, CSLDF, Intimidation
• Open Science, USDA, CCRA, Subsidies, Value, Cook, Post CRU
• Fukushima Note, Fukushima News
• Melting Arctic, Polar Bears, Freshwater, Methane, Geopolitics
• Food Crisis, GMOs, Food Production
• Hurricanes, GHGs, Carbon Cycle, Temperatures
• Aerosols, Paleoclimate, Solar, Extinctions, Proxies
• Impacts, Forests, Desertification, Wacky Weather, Extreme Weather, Tornadoes
• Wildfires, Acidification, Sea Levels, Floods & Droughts
• Transportation, Geoengineering, Restoration, Adaptation
• Journals, Other Docs, Misc. Science, Models, Hansen, Loeb, Oreskes, Knappenberger
• International Politics: Rio+20, UN, IPCC, Carbon Trade, Bank Tax, EU ETS & Airlines
• Rare Earths, Energy Race, Security, Law & Activism, Polls, H2O Biz, Education, Predictions
• National Politics: America, BP Disaster, 2012, Keystone, ZEV, NCSE, SOTU, Obama, USAdmin, Congress, Lobbyists
• Britain, Europe, Australia, Protests, Murray-Darling, China, Asia, South America
• Canada, Post G8, Offshore Drilling, Sustainable, Jobs, Northern Gateway, NEB
• Frank, NDP, BC, Tar Sands, Alberta, Sask, Manitoba, Ontario, Maritimes, North, Canadiana
• Ecological Economics, IPAT, Media, Books, Video, Courts
• Energy, Fracking, Coal, Oil & Gas, Fossil Fuel Corps, Pipelines, Peak Oil, Biofuel
• Wind, Solar, Nukes, Nuclear Waste, LENR, Grid, Efficiency, Cars
• Joe's List, Carbon Lobby, GWPF, Clean Coal, Miscellaneous Climate, Useful Links
• Shameless Self Promotion, .sig

We are definitely back in the black humour zone:

• 2011/06/23: WendMag: (cartoon - Mohr) The Green Republican!
• 2012/01/25: JoeMorToons: (cartoon - Mohr) Finally, the Pro-life/Anti-earth Oxymoron Explained
• 2012/01/27: uComics: (cartoon - Toles) Official Start
• 2012/01/26: S&R: (cartoon - Szep) For sale: King Newt I (two from Szep)
• 2012/01/24: uComics: (cartoon - Danziger) ...and in closing
• 2012/01/23: XKCD: (cartoon - Munroe) Sustainable

  The Headline of the Week!

• 2012/01/27: Grist: "Winter Jam Canceled Due to Lack of Winter"
• 2012/01/27: NYT:CR: Winter Jam Canceled Due to Lack of Winter

  And for those who enjoy challenging Poe's Law:

• 2012/01/26: Onion: Scientists: 'Look, One-Third Of The Human Race Has To Die For Civilization To Be Sustainable, So How Do We Want To Do This?'
• 2012/01/26: Wonkette: Newt Gingrich Pledges Moon Base to Aid Interplanetary Tourism Sector

  And a touch of strange:

• 2012/01/26: Guardian(UK): Do the weather forecasters used by the Daily Mail actually exist?
• 2012/01/26: ClassM: The weatherfolk who never were

  The WEF met in Davos this week. If climate was mentioned, I didn't hear about it:

• 2012/01/27: UN: Private investment critical to achieve universal energy access, Ban tells Davos Forum
• 2012/01/24: OpenDem: What happened to the greening of capitalism?
  Martin Wolf has presented a provocative diagnosis of the current flaws found in capitalism. Unfortunately, he has nothing to say about the biggest issue of all -- how to transform capitalism so that it does not continue to destroy the planet.
• 2012/01/23: OpenDem: Dear Mr Wolf... Reflections for the Magic Mountain
  Can Davos 2012 offer real alternatives or will it serve up a smiling, gritted-teeth espousal that 'business as usual' can and should be sustained?

And the WSF met in Brazil, to miniscule coverage:

• Wiki: World Social Forum
• 2012/01/25: Bernama: Brazil's President Rousseff To Address World Social Forum Tomorrow

  The state of the world's fisheries popped up in several places this week:

• 2012/01/25: WWF: Fishing: Reform must protect all the world's oceans -- says WWF
  New rules are urgently needed to ensure all UK and other EU-flagged fishing boats operating in waters outside of Europe, are operating in a sustainable way and to the same standards as they would back home, said WWF-UK
• 2012/01/27: BBC: Fishing's global footprint
• 2012/01/24: NYT: In Mackerel's Plunder, Hints of Epic Fish Collapse
• 2012/01/26: al Jazeera: Pirate Fishing
  People & Power takes to the seas off Sierra Leone to investigate the multi-million dollar illegal fishing trade.
• 2012/01/25: al Jazeera: Filipino fishermen killed in 'tuna turf war'
  Gunmen in speedboats shoot dead 15 people aboard fishing vessels in apparent dispute over access to lucrative waters.

The Climate Science Legal Defense Fund got some serious backing this week:

• 2012/01/27: SMandia: Climate Science Legal Defense Fund on Face Book and Twitter
• 2012/01/26: CSW: PEER adopts the Climate Science Legal Defense Fund
• 2012/01/27: JKB: Climate Science Legal Defense Fund
• 2012/01/25: PSinclair: Cavalry Arrives -- Climate Science Legal Defense Fund established
• 2012/01/25: SMandia: Climate Scientists Under Attack: Fear Not. Reinforcements Have Arrived
• 2012/01/25: BCLSB: Climate Scientists Send In The Lawyers
  Climate Science Legal Defense Fund Gets New Backing -- PEER Sponsors Effort to Counter Fossil-Fueled Attacks on Climate Scientists

Still some coverage of the intimidation of climate scientists:

• 2012/01/28: SkeptiSci: Katharine Hayhoe, Intent to Intimidate by Rob Honeycutt
• 2012/01/24: PSinclair: Katherine Hayhoe, The Interview: "..Much of This is Intended to Intimidate."

  A confluence of developments on the Free/Open Science front:

• 2012/01/26: BarentsObserver: Free access to research documents on the High North
  The University Library of Tromsø is launching a new service that service gives everybody free access to research documents within the thematic scope of the High North.
• 2012/01/27: CCP: The Motherlode! Free access to thousands of High North (i.e., the Arctic) research documents made available by Norway's University of Tromsø
• 2012/01/27: ERabett: Occupy Elsevier
• 2012/01/21: Gowers: Elsevier -- my part in its downfall
• High North Research Documents
• The Cost of Knowledge -- Researchers taking a stand against Elsevier
• 2012/01/27: SlashDot: Scientists Organize Elsevier Boycott
• 2012/01/24: P3: Opening Science or Closing It
• 2012/01/24: SciAm:GB: The Open Science Paradox
• 2012/01/22: RBroberg: Stanford offers free online public courses

  The updated USDA gardening map was released this week:

• 2012/01/27: KSJT: AP, etc: USDA gardening map adjusted. PR lady says global warming!? No nothing like that ha ha. But it is..
• 2012/01/25: Yahoo:AP: New map for what to plant reflects global warming
• 2012/01/25: TCoE: It's warming; ask the plants

  The UK government released their Climate Change Risk Assessment report this week:

• 2012/01/26: DEFRA: UK Climate Change Risk Assessment (CCRA)
• 2012/01/26: Guardian(UK): Flooding rated as worst climate change threat facing UK
  DEFRA report lists 700 impacts, including flood risk for 3.6 million people, water shortages, soil erosion and wildlife disruption
• 2012/01/26: Guardian(UK): Climate change set to hit UK hard and the poorest hardest [CCRA]
• 2012/01/26: NatureN: Flooding is the United Kingdom's biggest climate threat -- Government report prioritizes consequences of climate change
• 2012/01/26: BBC: First report on UK climate impact
  Climate change this century poses both risks and opportunities, according to the first comprehensive government assessment of its type. The report warns that flooding, heatwaves and water shortages could become more likely. But benefits could include new shipping lanes through the Arctic, fewer cold-related deaths in winter and higher crop yields. The findings come in the Climate Change Risk Assessment.

Who's getting the subsidies?

• 2012/01/25: OilChange: End "the Century of Subsidy"? Maybe next year...
• 2012/01/23: TreeHugger: Ending Fossil Fuel Subsidies Would Get Us Halfway to Preventing Dangerous Climate Change

  The appraisal of ecosystem services is again in the air:

• 2012/01/27: ERW: Conserving biodiversity hotspots 'could bring world's poor $500 bn a year'
• 2012/01/20: Guardian(UK): Conserving biodiversity hotspots 'could bring world's poor $500bn a year'
  Study puts economic value on the indirect ecosystem services provided by the world's poorest people
• 2012/01/27: BBC: Scottish communities could 'appraise' nature's services
  Communities could be encouraged to make their own assessments of the direct benefits they get from nature. A toolkit has been developed as a guide to understanding the landscape and what are called ecosystem services and how they are affected by climate change. "Services" include natural processes that provide food and fuel, purify air, enrich soils and prevent floods.

John Cook and friends continue their point-counterpoint articles:

• 2012/01/29: SkeptiSci: Bilal Bomani, Cutting Edge Biofuels from NASA by Rob Honeycutt
• 2012/01/28: SkeptiSci: Katharine Hayhoe, Intent to Intimidate by Rob Honeycutt
• 2012/01/29: SkeptiSci: David Archibald Exaggerates the Solar Influence on Future Climate Change by dana1981
• 2012/01/27: SkeptiSci: Public talk: Global Warming - The Full Picture by John Cook
• 2012/01/26: SkeptiSci: NASA scientists expect more rapid global warming in the very near future (part 1) by Rob Painting
• 2012/01/25: SkeptiSci: Patrick Michaels Continues to Distort Hansen 1988, Part 2 by dana1981
• 2012/01/24: SkeptiSci: New research from last week 3/2012 by Ari Jokimäki
• 2012/01/24: SkeptiSci: Patrick Michaels Continues to Distort Hansen 1988, Part 1 by dana1981
• 2012/01/23: SkeptiSci: Debunking Handbook: update and feedback
• 2012/01/23: SkeptiSci: National (US) Strategy Proposed to Respond to Climate Change's Impacts on Fish, Wildlife, Plants
• 2012/01/23: SkeptiSci: The National Center for Science Education defends climate science in high schools

  Post CRU-Two ... boredom:

• 2012/01/26: IJISH: A glimpse at QinetiQ's attempt to extract CRU e-mails, and issues faced

  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. [Whoops, that has now been updated to 40 years.] We'll see. At any rate this situation is not going to be resolved any time soon and deserves its own section.
  Meanwhile...
  It is very difficult to know for sure what is really going on at Fukushima. Between the company [TEPCO], the Japanese government, the Japanese regulator [NISA], the international monitor [IAEA], as well as independent analysts and commentators, there is a confusing mish-mash of information. One has to evaluate both the content and the source of new information.
  How knowledgeable are they [about nuclear power and about Japan]?
  Do they have an agenda?
  Are they pro-nuclear or anti-nuclear?
  Do they want to write a good news story?
  Do they want to write a bad news story?
  Where do they rate on a scale of sensationalism?
  Where do they rate on a scale of play-it-down-ness?
  One fundamental question I would like to see answered:
  If the reactors are in meltdown, how can they be in cold shutdown?

  Not much good news coming out of Fukushima:

• 2012/01/27: BBerg: Japan's Post-Fukushima Reactor Checks Are 'Insufficient,' Advisers Say
  Japan's safety review of nuclear reactors after the Fukushima disaster is based on faulty criteria and many people involved have conflicts of interest, two government advisers on the checks said. "The whole process being undertaken is exactly the same as that used previous to the Fukushima Dai-Ichi accident, even though the accident showed all these guidelines and categories to be insufficient," Hiromitsu Ino, Professor Emeritus at the University of Tokyo, said at a briefing in Tokyo today.
• 2012/01/26: FAIR: The Japanese Nuclear Establishment vs. the Two-Thirds 'Minority'
• 2012/01/27: EneNews: "Ridiculous": A growing picture of chaos -- Japan gov't claims more committees kept no records on Fukushima crisis
• 2012/01/28: SlashDot: Sea Water Could Cause Uranium Pollution From Nuclear Fuel Rods
• 2012/01/27: ScienceInsider: Japanese Experts Question Safety of -- and Need for -- Nuclear Power
• 2012/01/26: UCDavis: How sea water could corrode nuclear fuel
• 2012/01/27: CSM: Experts cast doubt on Japan nuclear power plant stress tests
• 2012/01/26: Reuters: Japanese town's dependence on nuclear plant hushes criticism
• 2012/01/27: Google:AP: Japan's 'Nuclear Alley' conflicted over reactors
• 2012/01/26: EneNews: AP Gets Secret Japan Report: "We cannot rule out further developments that may lead to an unpredictable situation at Fukushima Dai-ichi" -- Gov't still won't release document
• 2012/01/26: EnergyBulletin: After the nuclear disaster, Japan considers a green future
• 2012/01/25: Google:AFP: US ex-diplomat pulls no punches on Japan
• 2012/01/25: PlanetArk: Japan Task Force Kept No Records Of Nuclear Crisis Response
• 2012/01/25: EneNews: Kyodo: Japan gov't seeking data for treating people exposed to Fukushima radiation
• 2012/01/25: EneNews: Pro-Nuke Climate Advisor to Japan Gov't: "I've come to understand there are ethical considerations with destroying the lives of local residents"
• 2012/01/25: EneNews: Gamma rays seen in Fukushima footage -- Appearing as out-of-focus streaks and flashes (video)
• 2012/01/24: JEB: The "Gaijin Gulag" at Narita
• 2012/01/23: EneNews: Op-Ed rips PBS Fukushima doc: Miles O'Brien's cavalier treatment of potential increase in cancer -- "An absurdly low outlier" -- "Inexcusable muddying of the facts"
• 2012/01/21: NYT: Japanese Struggle to Protect Their Food Supply
  In the fall, as this valley's rice paddies ripened into a carpet of gold, inspectors came to check for radioactive contamination. Onami sits just 35 miles northwest of the wrecked Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, which spewed radioactive cesium over much of this rural region last March. However, the government inspectors declared Onami's rice safe for consumption after testing just two of its 154 rice farms. Then, a few days later, a skeptical farmer in Onami, who wanted to be sure his rice was safe for a visiting grandson, had his crop tested, only to find it contained levels of cesium that exceeded the government's safety limit. In the weeks that followed, more than a dozen other farmers also found unsafe levels of cesium. An ensuing panic forced the Japanese government to intervene, with promises to test more than 25,000 rice farms in eastern Fukushima Prefecture, where the plant is located.
• 2012/01/22: JapanTimes: Protesting nuclear power
  Thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of Yokohama the weekend of Jan. 14-15 to show their support for a nuclear power-free world.
• 2012/01/22: BoingBoing: Foreign journalist claims corruption, brutality, death threats from Japanese airport officials
• 2012/01/23: EneNews: Mainichi: Gov't withheld estimates showing energy surplus in Japan -- Led to officials approving reactor restarts -- No renewables included in public estimate
• 2012/01/23: GRC: Fukushima Cover Up Unravels: "The Government Can No Longer Pull the Wool Over the Public's Eyes"

  The Arctic melt continues to garner attention:

• 2012/01/28: CCP: Arctic Sea Ice in deplorable state -- enormous leads forming -- and this is in the dead of winter!
• 2012/01/23: USGS: Airborne Geophysical Survey Offers New Insight Into Permafrost in Alaska
• 2012/01/23: ERW: Insight: rise in Arctic shrubs likely to increase vulnerability of permafrost
  Over the last few decades, the number of Arctic shrubs has increased, apparently driven by a warming climate. Continued strong warming is projected and it is possible that the Arctic is on the cusp of a major vegetation transition from grassy tundra to shrubland.
• 2012/01/27: SkeptiSci: New temperature record for the Arctic in 2011 by Neven
• 2012/01/23: TP:JR: Arctic Temperatures Continue Rapid Rise as 2011 Breaks Record Set in 2010
• 2012/01/23: ITracker: A new way to assess permafrost

  As for the charismatic megafauna:

• 2012/01/25: CBC: U.S. group wants trade ban on Canada for polar bear hunt -- Centre for Biological Diversity says Arviat quota increase violates a 1973 convention
  A U.S. conservation group is calling for trade sanctions against Canada because of an increased polar bear hunt quota in the Western Hudson Bay region. In October, Nunavut's environment minister increased the quota in the Arviat, Nunavut, area from eight to 21. The Centre for Biological Diversity claims this increase violates the 1973 Convention on Polar Bears, which was signed by Canada and several other countries. The group filed a formal request with the U.S. Department of the Interior Tuesday. It is calling for a ban on Canadian wildlife products.

A freshwater dome in the Beaufort?

• 2012/01/25: CCP: Immense 'dome' of fresh water bulging atop Arctic Ocean off Alaska
• 2012/01/23: EurActiv: Huge pool of Arctic water could cool Europe: study
  A huge pool of fresh water in the Arctic Ocean is expanding and could lower Europe's temperature by causing a mild ocean current to slow down, British scientists say.
• 2012/01/23: PlanetArk: Huge Pool Of Arctic Water Could Cool Europe: Study
• 2012/01/23: BBC: Arctic Ocean freshwater bulge detected
  UK scientists have detected a huge dome of freshwater that is developing in the western Arctic Ocean. The bulge is some 8,000 cubic km in size and has risen by about 15cm since 2002. The team thinks it may be the result of strong winds whipping up a great clockwise current in the northern polar region called the Beaufort Gyre.

That Damoclean sword still hangs overhead:

• 2012/01/28: CCP: Sam Carana: The potential for methane releases in the Arctic to cause runaway global warming
• 2012/01/27: CCP: Gary Houser's rebuttal: RealClimate's David Archer wrong to dismiss concern about potential methane runaway in Arctic: Why this threat is real and the imperative to exercise the Precautionary Principle when the stakes are this high

  As for the geopolitics of Arctic resources:

• 2012/01/27: KSJT: Reuters: The Russian captain of the tanker that rescued Nome talks!
• 2012/01/25: Guardian(UK): Norway could shut China out of Arctic Council after diplomatic snubs
  Chinese relations with Norway have been frosty since Oslo-based Nobel committee announced that dissident Liu Xiaobo would be peace laureate
• 2012/01/23: CBC: Cairn Energy sells stake in Arctic exploration license -- Norway's Statoil to become partner
• 2012/01/23: BBC: Cairn Energy sells off Greenland stake to Statoil
  Oil explorer Cairn Energy has sold off a 30% stake in one of its Greenland exploration licences to Norwegian group Statoil. It is part of Cairn's plan to bring in a partner in to share the costs of exploration in the Arctic. The Edinburgh group has so far failed to make a commercial discovery of oil or gas in its Greenland campaign.

The food crisis is ongoing:

• FAO: World Food Situation - Food Price Indices
• 2012/01/28: AllAfrica: Reuters: Farmers Turn Back to Tradition As Rainfall Changes
  Whether rotating her crops, sowing seed from previous harvests or gathering rainwater, Susan Gama is pulling out all the stops in an attempt to keep her livelihood going. Subsistence farmers like Gama in this southern African nation are reverting to traditional farming knowledge and local experimentation to cope with the challenges of poor and unpredictable rainfall, which experts believe is linked to climate change. That is producing mixed results - and considerable frustration for government agricultural experts, who believe traditional knowledge alone will not be sufficient to protect farmers against changing rainfall conditions.
• 2012/01/28: BBC: Niger: Charity warns of pending food crisis
  The opportunity to avert a major food crisis in the West African state of Niger is closing fast, Save the Children has warned. The charity said six million people, half of them children, were at risk after a poor harvest led to food shortages and rising prices. It has launched an appeal to raise £30m, warning the crisis could be as serious as the disaster in East Africa.
• 2012/01/27: AllAfrica: ZimIndependent: Zimbabwe: Crop Hectarage Diminishes
  Preliminary assessments by the Zimbabwe Farmers Union (ZFU) show that the area planted for major crops diminished this agricultural season owing to a poor start to the season and inadequate inputs.
  [...]
  According to Agricultural Extension Services (Agritex), Zimbabwe planted 247 000 hectares of maize from November to January, down from 379 993 hectares in the same period last year because of late rains. Farmers planted 130 944 hectares of sorghum and other small grains, compared with 136 131 hectares, Agritex said. Cotton planting also decreased from last season. A total of 45 000 hectares were planted compared to 107 727 hectares last season. "The early planted cotton is at ball formation but was mostly affected by poor germination and lack of seed for replanting. Some of the crop in the Zambezi Valley has just been planted and is at germination stage. The crop condition is ranging from fair to good," said ZFU. Farmers planted soybeans on 5,079 hectares compared to 13 674 hectares, and tobacco on 39 393 hectares compared to 43 545 hectares to last season.
• 2012/01/25: ProMedMail: White nose syndrome, bats - North America (03): Canada (NB)
• 2012/01/26: CassandraLegacy: Why Cassandra's task is hopeless
• 2012/01/26: al Jazeera: Will India's poor remain hungry?
  A proposed Food Security Act would help - but not solve - the nation's food insecurity.
• 2012/01/22: NewInt: Banking on hunger: shame on you, Barclays!
• 2012/01/24: ProMedMail: Bluetongue - Europe: Greece (SA) livestock, OIE
• 2012/01/24: ProMedMail: Bluetongue - Russia: ex Germany, livestock, susp., RFI
• 2012/01/24: Eureka: Marine mammals on the menu in many parts of world -- New study finds 87 marine mammal species consumed by people in 114 countries

  Regarding the genetic modification of food:

• 2012/01/27: TreeHugger: Is There Any Hope For A Non-Genetically Modified Future in America, Or Africa?
• 2012/01/28: TreeHugger: 'Just Label It' Campaign Asks the FDA for GMO Labeling
• 2012/01/26: STimes: Some Wash. wheat farmers back labels for GM foods
• 2012/01/26: TP:JR: Bill Gates Warns Climate Change Threatens Food Security, Finds It 'Ironic' People Oppose His 'Solution': Genetic Modification
• 2012/01/25: TheEcologist: UK needs scientific research into agroecology not GM
• 2012/01/25: EurActiv: Disgruntled GMO firms start pulling out of EU market
  Monsanto has announced it will scrap plans to sell an insect-resistant maize in France, the second move in a week by biotech company to retreat from the genetically modified foods market in Europe.
• 2012/01/25: PlanetArk: Monsanto Says Won't Sell GMO Maize In France In 2012
• 2012/01/25: NBF: Environmental Benefits of lab-grown meat and genetically engineered fish

  And how are we going to feed 9 billion, 10 billion, 15 billion?

• 2012/01/27: NtP: Achieving Food Security in the Face of Climate Change
• 2012/01/25: BasqueResearch: Barley adapts to climate change
• 2012/01/25: NBF: Seawater Greenhouses
• 2012/01/25: BBC: Salt-tolerant rice 'could aid Japan's tsunami farmers'
  UK scientists have claimed a breakthrough in research on rice that could help farmers devastated by last year's tsunami in Japan.
• 2012/01/24: Eureka: Improving crops from the roots up
• 2012/01/: MR: The Paradox of Cuban Agriculture

  In the Western Indian Ocean, Cat 4 Cyclone Funso zinged Mozambique and headed out to sea:

• 2012/01/27: Eureka: NASA sees a weakening Cyclone Funso's 'closed eye'
• 2012/01/25: NASA: Major Tropical Cyclone Funso Analyzed by Two NASA Satellites [Cat 4]
• 2012/01/24: Wunderground: Category 4 Funso kills 12 in Mozambique; deadly Alabama tornado rated an EF-3
• 2012/01/23: al Jazeera: Double weather whammy hits Mozambique
  Tropical Cyclone Funso brings damaging winds and torrential rain to Mozambique It was less than one week ago that Tropical Depression Dando brought flooding across parts of Mozambique, causing disruption to the capital, Maputo. Now, another storm system threatens even worse weather for the country.

And in the Eastern Indian Ocean, Cat 2 Iggy threatened Western Australia, but looks to stay at sea:

• 2012/01/28: ABC(Au): Iggy getting stronger off WA coast
  The Bureau of Meteorology predicts Tropical Cyclone Iggy off the West Australian coast will intensify to a category-four system by tomorrow night. Iggy is currently a category-two cyclone about 535 kilometres west of Karratha, moving in a south-south-east direction toward the Pilbara Coast.
• 2012/01/29: ABC(Au): Cyclone Iggy heading for WA [Cat 2]
• 2012/01/29: ABC(Au): Iggy not expected to cross WA coast
  The weather bureau says Tropical Cyclone Iggy may not make landfall but could bring cyclonic conditions to coastal communities. The category-two cyclone is growing stronger and is 350 kilometres west-north-west of Exmouth and 580 kilometres north-north-west of Carnarvon. The system is moving in a southerly direction at about five kilometres an hour.
• 2012/01/27: NASA: NASA Eyes Cyclone Iggy's Threat to Western Australia
• 2012/01/26: ABC(Au): Tropical Cyclone Iggy - January 2012
  A cyclone watch has been issued for category one Iggy, which formed on the Indian Ocean Thursday morning and is moving southeast towards the west Pilbara Coast. A flood watch is in place as well. The Weather Bureau is saying coastal communities between Whim Creek and Coral Bay can expect strong winds on Saturday afternoon, with heavy rainfall in the region likely on Friday.
• 2012/01/25: NASA: NASA Sees Development of Tropical Storm 09S in Southern Indian Ocean

  As for GHGs:

• 2012/01/25: PlanetArk: U.S. CO2 Emissions To Stay Below 2005 Levels As Coal Use Shrinks
• 2012/01/24: CCurrents: Country By Country Analysis Of Fossil Fuel Burning-Based Carbon Debt And Carbon Credit [Polya]

  And in the carbon cycle:

• 2012/01/26: OSU: Scientist: Temperate freshwater wetlands are 'forgotten' carbon sinks
• 2012/01/23: SciNews: Amazon may become greenhouse gas emitter -- Rain forest could go from sink to source

  As for the temperature record:

• 2012/01/26: QuarkSoup: Hadley's December Temperature
• 2012/01/27: QuarkSoup: New Ocean Heat Data (And Yes, the Trend is Up)
• 2012/01/27: Wunderground: 2011: Earth's 11th warmest year; where is the climate headed?
• 2012/01/23: PSinclair: Graphs of the Day: Global Temps 2011

  Aerosols are making their presence felt:

• 2012/01/23: QuarkSoup: Cool Pic of a Dust Cloud Over the Atlantic

  While in the paleoclimate:

• 2012/01/27: Eureka: What really happened prior to 'Snowball Earth'?
  University of Miami study offers new geochemical clues to understand conditions just prior to major climatic event

Regarding the solar hypothesis:

• 2012/01/24: Guardian(UK): Sun's changes unlikely to slow global warming, scientists say
• 2012/01/23: MetOffice: Decline in solar output unlikely to offset global warming
  New research has found that solar output is likely to reduce over the next 90 years but that will not substantially delay expected increases in global temperatures caused by greenhouse gases.

What's new on the extinction front?

• 2012/01/24: TreeHugger: Sumatran Elephants Could Be Extinct Within 30 Years

  What's new in proxies?

• 2012/01/23: ERW: Insight: tree-ring maximum density offers promise as Alaskan climate record
  The "divergence problem" in dendroclimatology has called into question the ability of tree-ring data at high latitudes to provide long-term indications of climate change. At the border between tundra and boreal forest in Alaska, researchers from the US and Switzerland have found that tree-ring maximum density is a more reliable and stable proxy for summer temperature fluctuations than ring width.

More GW impacts are being seen:

• 2012/01/24: GreenGrok: A Climate-Pandemic Connection?
• 2012/01/27: Eureka: 80 percent of 'irreplaceable' habitats in Andes unprotected
  Hundreds of rare, endemic species in the Central Andes remain unprotected and are increasingly under threat from development and climate change, according to a Duke University-led international study.
• 2012/01/25: Grist: Climate change danger: Arsenic in the water supply
• 2012/01/24: ASI: New temperature record for the Arctic in 2011
• 2012/01/24: TP:JR: Climate Change Could Cost California's Ranching and Timber Industries Over $200 Million a Year
• 2012/01/24: Eureka: Climatic warming-induced change in timings of 24 seasonal divisions in China since 1960

  And then there are the world's forests:

• 2012/01/27: BBC: Organisers of a project to create a series of new woods to commemorate the Queen's Diamond Jubilee hope to plant one million trees during February
• 2012/01/26: Guardian(UK): World's giant trees are dying off rapidly, studies show
• 2012/01/26: Guardian(UK): The world's biggest and most vulnerable trees - in [14] pictures
• 2012/01/24: TreeHugger: 'Peak Timber' Is The New Normal State of Human Resource Usage
• 2012/01/24: BBC: 'Peak timber' concerns in tropics
  Current tropical timber practices are not sustainable and nations should consider the "implications of 'peak timber'", a study has suggested. A team of researchers says the standard cutting cycle of 30-40 years is too short to allow trees to grow to a volume required by commercial loggers. As a result, they add, the pressure to harvest primary forests will continue, leading to ongoing deforestation.
• 2012/01/21: BBC: Race to save Ecuador's 'lungs of the world' park
  The Yasuni National Park, known as "the lungs of the world" and one of the most bio-diverse places on earth, is under threat from oil drilling. The race is on to find the funds required to develop new sustainable energy programmes that would leave the oil - and the forest - untouched.

Desertification looms as a threat:

• 2012/01/25: NBF: Green Wall of China and plans for the Great Green Wall of the Sahara

  Yes we have no wacky weather, except:

• 2012/01/23: CBC: U.S. storms kill 2, injure 100 -- State of emergency declared in Alabama
• 2012/01/23: CNN: Severe weather rakes Southeast; 2 dead in Alabama
  National Weather Service confirms tornadoes in Arkansas, Alabama - 12,300 customers remain without power statewide, Alabama Power says - Mississippi and Arkansas each report one injury - Alabama EMA director: Damage not as bad as that seen last year
• 2012/01/23: CSM: Storms pound South, Midwest; Two dead in Ala.

  This week in the New Normal -- extreme weather:

• 2012/01/26: Wunderground: 14 billion-dollar weather disasters for the U.S. in 2011

  On the tornado front:

• 2012/01/26: CAbyss: Dispatch from AMS: The Second Siren [Joplin tornado]
• 2012/01/23: Wunderground: Rare January tornado outbreak kills two, injures 100 in Alabama

  As for heatwaves and wild fires:

• 2012/01/28: ABC(Au): Crews battle Victorian blaze
• 2012/01/27: ABC(Au): Cyclone, bushfires threaten WA
  A tropical cyclone and major bushfires are posing a twin threat to travellers in Western Australia's central west. Authorities are concerned holidaymakers from Perth and elsewhere may find themselves stranded. The Fire and Emergency Services Authority had urged tourists to leave the Gascoyne region because flooding, linked to the approaching Cyclone Iggy, could cut off the highway to Perth. But now bushfires have forced the closure of the highway, south of Carnarvon.
• 2012/01/26: ABC(Au): Heat peaks power use
  Western Power says a peak in power use has come earlier this year than usual, due to sustained hot weather.
• 2012/01/24: ABC(Au): Northern fire flares again
  Tasmania's fire service is warning residents in the north to remain on alert after high winds fanned a bushfire near Evandale.

Acidification is changing the oceans:

• 2011/08/17: OnEarth: The Great Oyster Crash -- Ocean acidification hits the Pacific shellfish industry
• 2012/01/27: P3: Mailing Ourselves a Package
• 2012/01/23: BBC: An acid test for policy - the critical issue of ocean acidification

  Sea levels are rising:

• 2012/01/27: Reuters: Singapore raises sea defenses against tide of climate

  As for hydrological cycle disruptions [floods & droughts]:

• 2012/01/29: ABC(Au): More rain to soak soggy Queensland
• 2012/01/29: ABC(Au): Thousands isolated by NSW floods
• 2012/01/29: ABC(Au): NSW flooding threat moves inland
• 2012/01/29: ABC(Au): South West fire contained but not under control
• 2012/01/29: ABC(Au): Severe storms lash central Queensland
• 2012/01/27: EarlyWarning: Historical Note on Drought in Climate Models
• 2012/01/27: ABC(Au): Motorists rescued from NSW floodwaters
• 2012/01/27: ABC(Au): Roma on alert as floodwaters rise
  Authorities have issued an emergency alert at Roma in central Queensland where floodwaters are rising rapidly. Bureau of Meteorology spokesman Tony Auden says a monsoonal low has moved into Queensland from the Northern Territory, bringing heavy rain and storms.
• 2012/01/26: EarlyWarning: Another Terrifying Drought Paper
• 2012/01/26: Eureka: Extreme droughts could increase by 15 percent in Spain by the middle of the century
• 2012/01/27: ABC(Au): Flash flooding fears for northern NSW
• 2012/01/26: al Jazeera: Colombia deals with more intense flooding
  La Nina continues to bring severe downpours to the South American country
• 2012/01/26: ABC(Au): Drenched NSW bracing for more rain
• 2012/01/25: Wunderground: Heavy rains drench Texas
• 2012/01/26: ABC(Au): Residents flee rising NSW rivers
• 2012/01/25: ABC(Au): No respite forecast for sodden Queensland
  Authorities say more heavy rain is on the way in Queensland as residents mop up after this week's drenching. Parts of the south-east have been hit with rainfall of more than 400 millimetres over the past couple of days.
• 2012/01/25: ABC(Au): Deadly floodwaters are falling in Fiji
• 2012/01/25: al Jazeera: Flooding in Fiji claims two lives
  Rising water in the western section of the country forces thousands to evacuate
• 2012/01/25: ABC(Au): Women missing in Queensland floods
  There has been another night of heavy rain across south-east Queensland, with roads closed, homes evacuated, and the warning of more to come. Hundreds of millimetres of rain has been dumped across the Gold and Sunshine coasts and Brisbane, bringing flash flooding, landslips and hundreds of road closures.
• 2012/01/25: ABC(Au): NSW residents cut off with more rain on the way
• 2012/01/25: ABC(Au): Situation deteriorating in flooded south-east Queensland
  Emergency Management Queensland (EMQ) says torrential rain that has caused chaos around the state's south-east on Tuesday is only going to get heavier overnight. Hundreds of millimetres of rain has been dumped across the Gold and Sunshine coasts and Brisbane, bringing flash flooding, landslips and hundreds of road closures.
• 2012/01/24: ABC(Au): NSW north coast braces as floodwaters rise
  Residents are bracing for major flooding on the New South Wales mid-north coast, with some communities already isolated by rising waters. The State Emergency Service (SES) says the main concern is the Bellinger Valley, where the town of Bellingen has been cut in two by the swollen Bellinger River, with both halves of the town now isolated.

On the mitigation front, consider transportation & GHG production:

• 2012/01/25: EurActiv: For e-bikes, no easy ride in tough times
  Europe's motorcycle industry is having a tough ride in the current economic times despite being touted as one of the solutions to road congestion and pollution.
• 2012/01/24: CalcRisk: ATA Trucking Index increased sharply in December
• 2012/01/24: NatureNB: Expanding the Panama Canal may shrink shipping industry emissions
• 2012/01/23: NBF: Ultracapacitors for Innovative Rail Transit Braking Energy Recuperation System can save up to 30% on electricity
• 2012/01/23: NBF: Further Analysis and plans for ET3 Vacuum high speed trains
• 2012/01/23: CalcRisk: DOT: Vehicle Miles Driven declined 0.9% in November

  Large scale geo-engineering keeps popping up:

• 2012/01/25: UMelbourne: White roofs to make for cooler Melbourne buildings
• 2012/01/28: GEB: Crop yields in a geoengineered climate
• 2012/01/22: Eureka: Geoengineering and global food supply
• 2012/01/24: FuturePundit: High CO2 Sunshade Geoengineering Would Increase Crops
• 2012/01/27: GEP: Comment on Crop Yields Paper
• 2012/01/24: BoS: SRM geoengineering more likely to increase global food production

  What's new in restoration?

• 2012/01/25: ABC(Au): Great Barrier Reef put on ice in Outback

  While on the adaptation front:

• 2012/01/26: SciAm:Obs: New Orleans Protection Plan Will Rely on Wetlands to Hold Back Hurricanes
• 2012/01/24: Grist: Giant companies get real about climate adaptation

  Meanwhile in the journals:

• 2012/01/26: GMD: CELLS v1.0: updated and parallelized version of an electrical scheme to simulate multiple electrified clouds and flashes over large domains by C. Barthe et al.
• 2012/01/25: GMD: LOSCAR: Long-term Ocean-atmosphere-Sediment CArbon cycle Reservoir Model v2.0.4 by R. E. Zeebe
• 2012/01/27: ACPD: Estimating aerosol emissions by assimilating observed aerosol optical depth in a global aerosol model by N. Huneeus et al.
• 2012/01/27: ACPD: A permanent aerosol layer at the tropical tropopause layer driven by the intertropical convergence zone by Q. Bourgeois et al.
• 2012/01/27: ACPD: Mixing of Asian mineral dust with anthropogenic pollutants and its impact on regional atmospheric environmental and oceanic biogeochemical cycles over East Asia: a model case study of a super-duststorm in March 2010 by J. Li et al.
• 2012/01/27: OS: A simple and self-consistent geostrophic-force-balance model of the thermohaline circulation with boundary mixing by J. Callies & J. Marotzke
• 2012/01/26: TC: A statistical approach to modelling permafrost distribution in the European Alps or similar mountain ranges by L. Boeckli et al.
• 2012/01/27: TCD: Modelling borehole temperatures in Southern Norway -- insights into permafrost dynamics during the 20th and 21st century by T. Hipp et al.
• 2011/06/25: JoE(via DOI): Oil supply limits and the continuing financial crisis by Gail E. Tverberg
• 2012/01/25: ESDD: Can a reduction of solar irradiance counteract CO2-induced climate change? - Results from four Earth system models by H. Schmidt et al.
• 2012/01/26: ACP: The composition and variability of atmospheric aerosol over Southeast Asia during 2008 by W. Trivitayanurak et al.
• 2012/01/25: ACP: Attributing and quantifying carbon monoxide sources affecting the Eastern Mediterranean: a combined satellite, modelling, and synoptic analysis study by R. Drori et al.
• 2012/01/24: ACP: Polar-night O3, NO2 and NO3 distributions during sudden stratospheric warmings in 2003-2008 as seen by GOMOS/Envisat by V. F. Sofieva et al.
• 2012/01/23: ACP: The scale problem in quantifying aerosol indirect effects by A. McComiskey & G. Feingold
• 2012/01/26: ACPD: Fractionation of sulfur isotopes during heterogeneous oxidation of SO2 on sea salt aerosol: a new tool to investigate non-sea salt sulfate production in the marine boundary layer by E. Harris et al.
• 2012/01/25: ACPD: Modelling atmospheric structure, cloud and their response to CCN in the Central Arctic: ASCOS case studies by C. E. Birch et al.
• 2012/01/25: ACPD: Transport and outflow to the North Atlantic in the lower marine troposphere during ICARTT 2004 by S. R. Davis et al.
• 2012/01/25: ACPD: Aerosol observations and growth rates in the tropical tropopause layer by D. A. Waddicor et al.
• 2011/04/21: AMS:JHM: (ab$) Projections of Future Drought in the Continental United States and Mexico by Michael Wehner et al.
• 2012/01/24: PNAS: (ab$) Decoupling of deforestation and soy production in the southern Amazon during the late 2000s by Marcia N. Macedo et al.
• 2012/01/24: PNAS: (abs) High-yield maize with large net energy yield and small global warming intensity by Patricio Grassini & Kenneth G. Cassman
• 2012/01/24: PNAS: (ab$) Structuring economic incentives to reduce emissions from deforestation within Indonesia by Jonah Busch et al.
• 2012/01/24: PNAS: (ab$) Paleoenvironmental history of the West Baray, Angkor (Cambodia) by Mary Beth Day et al.
• 2012/01/24: PNAS: (letter$) Lynn Margulis, 1938-2011 by Andrew H. Knoll
• 2012/01/21: GRL: (ab$) Orbital control on carbon cycle and oceanography in the mid-Cretaceous greenhouse by Martino Giorgioni et al.
• 2012/01/06: GRL: (ab$) What influence will future solar activity changes over the 21st century have on projected global near surface temperature changes? by Gareth S. Jones et al.
• 2012/01/24: OS: The impacts of physical processes on oxygen variations in the North Sea-Baltic Sea transition zone by L. Jonasson et al.
• 2012/01/24: OSD: First evaluation of MyOcean altimetric data in the Arctic Ocean by Y. Cheng et al.
• 2012/01/23: OSD: Transports and budgets in a 1/4° global ocean reanalysis 1989-2010 by K. Haines et al.
• 2012/01/24: TC: Basal crevasses in Larsen C Ice Shelf and implications for their global abundance by A. Luckman et al.
• 2012/01/24: TCD: Improved modelling of Siberian river flow through the use of an alternative frozen soil hydrology scheme in a land surface model by D. L. Finney et al.
• 2012/01/24: TCD: Results of the Marine Ice Sheet Model Intercomparison Project, MISMIP by F. Pattyn et al.
• 2012/01/22: Nature:CC: (ab$) Crop yields in a geoengineered climate by J. Pongratz et al.
• 2012/01/20: GRL: (ab$) Airborne electromagnetic imaging of discontinuous permafrost by Burke J. Minsley et al.
• 2012/01/23: AGWObserver: New research from last week 3/2012
• 2012/01/22: Nature:GeoSci: (ab$) Western Arctic Ocean freshwater storage increased by wind-driven spin-up of the Beaufort Gyre by Katharine A. Giles et al.

  And other significant documents:

• 2012/01/27: JHansen: (72k pdf) Cowards in Our Democracies: Part 1
• 2012/01/25: PI: [link to 226k pdf] CLEAN Cities -- A municipal financing option for supporting local renewable energy
• 2012/01/27: UCSD: [556k pdf] Oil Prices, Exhaustible Resources, and Economic Growth by James D. Hamilton
• 2012/01/27: CBD: [links to several pdfs] Documents for second peer review - the impacts of climate-related geo-engineering on biological diversity
• 2012/01/23: Cryptome: (80 meg rar) IP Climate Change Zero Order Drafts Mirror
• 2012/01/23: TCoE: Doc alert: Annual Energy Outlook 2012 Early Release

  As for miscellaneous science:

• 2012/01/28: S&R: Climate Science for Everyone: How scientists measure the carbon dioxide in 800,000 year old air
• 2012/01/28: CCP: NASA's JPL: Study Solves Case of Earth's 'Missing Energy'
• 2012/01/25: Maribo: Rolling with the punches
• 2012/01/23: NSF: Scientists Aboard Iberian Coast Ocean Drilling Expedition Report Early Findings
• 2012/01/24: EnergyBulletin: Centennial of Alfred Wegener's continental drift theory: the start of Earth systems science [misc sci]
• 2012/01/24: NatureN: Research in Asia heats up -- US indicators reveal challenges and opportunities as science momentum shifts to China
• 2012/01/23: ScienceInsider: Online Social Network Seeks to Overhaul Peer Review in Scientific Publishing
• 2012/01/23: NOAANews: NOAA researcher [Isaac Held] earns international honor for discoveries on the role of atmospheric water vapor in climate change
• 2012/01/22: RealClimate: "Vision Prize", an online poll of scientists about climate risk
• 2012/01/22: Tamino: Step 3

  What's new in models?

• 2012/01/27: CSM: What if we could predict tornadoes a month out? Scientists make strides

  Regarding Hansen:

• 2012/01/28: CCP: James Hansen: Cowards in Our Democracy -- Part 1
• 2012/01/28: TP:JR: Climatologist James Hansen on "Cowards in Our Democracies"
• 2012/01/28: CCP: Excerpt from James Hansen's witness statement in support of an effort to reveal the name of the seed funder of the Global Warming Policy Foundation (GWPF) in the U.K....
• 2012/01/24: TDC: The scientist: Jim Hansen risks handcuffs to make his research clear
  NASA's chief climate scientist built his career studying Earth's atmosphere and modeling humans' potential impacts on climate. Then he realized that laboratory work was only part of the equation.

Regarding Loeb et al.:

• 2012/01/23: ABC(Au): Study plugs gap in global warming puzzle
• 2012/01/22: QuarkSoup: New Paper Says No Missing Climate Energy
• 2012/01/22: QuarkSoup: Trenberth Response to Today's Loeb et al Paper on Missing Energy

  Regarding Oreskes:

• 2012/01/22: P3: Naomi Oreskes on the Burden of Proof and Climate
• 2012/01/22: LA Times: The verdict is in on climate change by Naomi Oreskes
  When it comes to climate change, open-mindedness is the wrong approach.
• 2012/01/22: BBickmore: Naomi Oreskes: The Verdict is in on Climate Change

  Regarding Knappenberger:

• 2012/01/25: Tamino: Chip's Cherries
• 2012/01/23: Tamino: Best Case Scenario

  There is a slow rise in Rio+20 anticipation:

• 2012/01/26: EurActiv: EU sees thirsty China as a partner at Rio
  China's growing water problems make it a likely ally for European efforts to press global action on sustainable development at a UN conference later this year, Denmark's environment minister said yesterday (25 January).
• 2012/01/25: PlanetArk: U.N. Sustainable Development Summit Shifts From Climate Change
  Representatives from around the world gather in Rio in June to try to hammer out goals for sustainable development at a U.N. conference designed to avoid being tripped up by the intractable issue of climate change. But there is concern in the lead-up to the conference, known as Rio+20 or the Earth Summit, that it risks ending up as all talk and little action. In an attempt to avoid too much confrontation, the conference will focus not on climate change but on sustainable development - making sure economies can grow now without endangering resources and the environment for future generations.

While at the UN:

• 2012/01/24: FAO: Cooperatives central to hunger fight -- 2012 International Year of Cooperatives
• 2012/01/25: FAO: Green investments in the marine sector can bring tide of economic and social benefits
  Sustainable fishing, shipping and tourism among sectors that could create jobs and growth
• 2012/01/28: UN: Countries adopt UN-backed declaration to enhance protection of marine environment
• 2012/01/26: UN: UN launches online database to help businesses adapt to climate change

  The Fifth IPCC report is coming up:

• 2012/01/26: QuarkSoup: Another IPCC Demand for Secrecy « Climate Audit
• 2012/01/23: QuarkSoup: IPCC Writes to Request Removal of the ZODS

  And on the carbon trading front:

• 2012/01/27: PlanetArk: World Bank Sees Carbon Finance Role For Years
  The World Bank's carbon finance initiatives will likely be needed for at least five years, as the United Nations struggles to create a self-sufficient, international carbon market, the manager of the bank's carbon finance unit told Reuters.
• 2012/01/27: PlanetArk: EU Carbon Too Cheap, No Mention Of Intervention: Draft
• 2012/01/26: Guardian(UK): 'Carbon floor price' plans dealt a blow by MPs
  Plans to prop up the price of carbon for businesses would push up the cost of energy and disadvantage British companies, say select comittee

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

• 2012/01/26: EUO: Cameron calls financial transaction tax 'madness'
• 2012/01/23: Prism: Robin Hood Tax: Will it Save the Day?

  As the EU-ETS is applied to airlines, we will see who is serious about reducing carbon emissions:

• 2012/01/26: EUO: India targets EU airlines in tit-for-tat move on CO2 emissions
• 2012/01/24: EurActiv: [The new EU ambassador in New Delhi, Joao Cravinho] pushes airline carbon law waivers
• 2012/01/24: PlanetArk: EU Airline Carbon Law Waivers Worth Eyeing: Envoy
  Countries opposing a European Union law that charges airlines for carbon emissions should consider seeking waivers by adopting equivalent emission reduction measures, the EU's new envoy to India said on Monday. From January 1, all airlines using EU airports have come under the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme, which has stirred up strong opposition in the United States, China and India.

Remember the Rare Earths' tussle?

• 2012/01/27: AutoBG: Toyota works on electric-drive powertrains that don't need rare earth metals
• 2012/01/24: PlanetArk: Toyota Finds Way To Avoid Using Rare Earth: Report

  In the energy race or is it a fight between China and the USA:

• 2012/01/23: TechRev: Analysis: Chinese Solar Companies Sell Below Cost
  The conclusion could kick off a trade war between the U.S. and China, and harm solar innovation. It looks likely that a U.S. government investigation into the pricing of solar panels by companies in China will find that they are selling below cost, perhaps aided by government support. A source involved in the investigation, which is part of a trade dispute initiated by a complaint from seven U.S. solar panel makers, says that analysis of available data suggests that the costs of making the solar panels are higher than the prices companies in China are selling them for. They're able to survive, he says, because they have better balance sheets than their competitors, and can afford to sell at a loss, at least temporarily.
• 2012/01/24: Grist: Chinese firms selling solar panels for less than cost
• 2012/01/23: PlanetArk: China Says U.S. Wind Tower Probe To Hurt Cooperation

  Climate Change is a threat multiplier exacerbating existing conflicts in food, energy, water, race, ideology ... etc.:

• 2012/01/24: ERW: Climate change not linked to violent conflict
  There is no consensus about whether climate change leads to violent conflict. That's according to researchers in Switzerland who have carried out a literature review.

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

• 2012/01/22: CCurrents: Radical Environmentalists

  Polls! We have polls!

• 2012/01/27: PostMedia: Canadians oppose abortion based on sex of fetus: poll
• 2012/01/26: BCLSB: Northern Gateway Rising: A Slightly More Interesting Bullshit Poll
• 2012/01/24: TCoE: Americans have no sense of urgency about global warming
• 2012/01/23: TreeHugger: Survey: Are Solar Panels On A Subdivision A Good Thing, Or Are They Lipstick on a Pig?

  Regarding Water Politics and Business:

• 2012/01/28: JFleck: How much water is there in the Colorado, and who needs what?
• 2012/01/28: JFleck: Water: we're good at building stuff
• 2012/01/27: PlanetArk: River Pollution Triggers Water Panic Buying In China
  Residents of a town in southern China have been rushing to buy bottled water after excessive levels of carcinogenic cadmium were found in a river source of drinking water, state media said on Thursday in the latest health scare to hit the country.
• 2012/01/25: Rabble: GE and water privatization
• 01/23: TP:JR: The Alarming Outlook for Urban Water Scarcity

  Regarding science education. Seealso:

• 2012/01/26: DeSmogBlog: ALEC Model Bill Behind Push To Require Climate Denial Instruction In Schools

  Who's making predictions this week?

• 2012/01/24: ClassM: US energy emissions flat for next 25 years

  And on the American political front:

• 2012/01/28: TP:JR: We Need to Revive PACE to Boost Jobs and Clean Energy. Here's How.
• 2012/01/27: Eureka: Republicans and democrats less divided than commonly thought
• 2012/01/27: al Jazeera: Reproductive rights and the Republican primary
  The extreme wing of the Republican Party wants to pass a law that would deprive women of their personhood.
• 2012/01/27: Grist: Latest clean energy faux scandal engulfs GOP spokesman Mitch Daniels
• 2012/01/26: Grist: Clean energy is a wedge issue that favors Democrats
• 2012/01/27: TreeHugger: Memo to Democrats: Get Behind Clean Energy. ASAP -- Everybody loves clean energy except Congressional Republicans
• 2012/01/27: TreeHugger: How Oil Money is Corrupting Our Children's Education
  As mysteriously similar anti-science education bills crop up in statehouses across the country, a money trail begins to emerge that leads back to the same old culprits -- the oil, gas and fossil fuel industries and their cozy ties with politicians.
• 2012/01/27: DeSmogBlog: The Uneasy Relationship Between Explaining Science to Conservatives...and Explaining Conservatives Scientifically
• 2012/01/26: OilChange: Clean energy is a wedge issue that favors Democrats
• 2012/01/26: NYT: Energy Tax Breaks Proposed, Despite Waning Support for Subsidies
• 2012/01/27: NBF: Why there has been no rush for over 15 billion barrels of recoverable oil in Monterey California
• 2012/01/27: NBF: California high speed rail audit about $215 billion
• 2012/01/26: AlterNet: Why Climate Change Will Make You Love Government
• 2012/01/26: BurlingtonFP: Vermont Legislature considers banning hydrofracking
• 2012/01/26: TreeHugger: California Sets New Standards For Energy Efficient Battery Chargers
• 2012/01/26: WiC: Christian Parenti: Big storms require big government -- Why climate change will make you love Big Government
• 2012/01/24: AlterNet: 3 Ways Conservative Christianity's Obsessions Promote Abortions
• 2012/01/19: AlterNet: 3 Ways Laws Are Stacked to Favor Fracking Companies -- And How We Can Change That
• 2012/01/23: TreeHugger: What Economic and Political Conditions Are Needed To Spur Major Federal Climate Action?
• 2012/01/24: TreeHugger: California Law to Keep Injured Livestock Out of Food Supply Overturned by Supreme Court
• 2012/01/23: DeSmogBlog: EPA Comments On New York's Environmental Impact Assessment: Hey...You Missed A Few Things
• 2012/01/24: DeSmogBlog: Forecast the Facts Challenges American Meteorological Society to Hold Weathercasters Accountable for Climate Denial
• 2012/01/22: DeSmogBlog: American Petroleum Institute's Jack Gerard Fact Checked By Activists During Speech

  The BP disaster continues to twist US politics:

• 2012/01/27: WaPo: BP emails reveal company veiling spill rate estimates from well even as rig sank
  On the day the Deepwater Horizon sank, BP officials warned in an internal memo that if the well was not protected by the blow-out preventer at the drill site, crude oil could burst into the Gulf of Mexico at a rate of 3.4 million gallons a day, an amount a million gallons higher than what the government later believed spilled daily from the site. The email conversation, which BP agreed to release Friday as part of federal court proceedings, suggests BP managers recognized the potential of the disaster in its early hours, and company officials sought to make sure that the model-developed information wasn't shared with outsiders. The emails also suggest BP was having heated discussions with Coast Guard officials over the potential of the oil spill. The memo was released as part of the court proceedings to determine the division of responsibility for the nation's worst offshore oil disaster, which began when the BP-leased Deepwater Horizon exploded April 20, 2010, killing 11 men about 50 miles southeast of the Louisiana coast. The first phase of the trial is set to start Feb. 27. BP officials declined to comment on the emails late Friday.
• 2012/01/27: Guardian(UK): BP loses attempt to share Deepwater Horizon oil spill costs
• 2012/01/27: BBerg: BP Can't Collect Part of Gulf Spill Costs From Transocean
  BP Plc (BP) can't collect from Transocean Ltd. (RIGN) part of the $40 billion in cleanup costs and economic losses caused by the 2010 oil well blowout and Gulf of Mexico spill, a judge ruled. Transocean shares rose on the news. BP must indemnify Transocean for pollution-related economic damage claims under its drilling contract, U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier in New Orleans ruled yesterday. London-based BP (BP/) sued Transocean in April to recover a share of its damages and costs from the spill. Any awards for punitive damages against Transocean or civil penalties under the U.S. Clean Water Act won't have to be covered by BP, the judge wrote in his 30-page decision. He didn't say whether Transocean will be liable for punitive damages or Clean Water Act penalties. Transocean has already accepted responsibility for equipment losses and paying personal injury and death claims, citing contract provisions.
• 2012/01/26: BBC: BP must cover some but not all of oil rig owner Transocean's liabilities for the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, a US judge has ruled
• 2012/01/26: CBC: Obama eyes more drilling in Gulf of Mexico -- Move follows tabling of Keystone XL review
• 2012/01/26: TreeHugger: Obama to Open 38 Million Acres in Gulf of Mexico to Offshore Drilling
• 2012/01/25: Grist: Ex-employee says BP fired him for trying to clean up oil
• 2012/01/24: CSW: PEER alleges scientific misconduct at NOAA in lowballing of BP spill rate, traces political pressure to White House
• 2012/01/24: Grist: Political leaders lowballed Gulf oil spill estimates

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

• 2012/01/27: CJR: The Presidential Energy Narrative -- Campaign coverage takes on a green hue
• 2012/01/26: DVoice: The Hope and Change Dog and Pony Show
• 2012/01/27: DerSpiegel: Lunar Landings and Lies -- Republican Debate Veers Toward the Absurd
  The US Republican candidates' debate in Florida quickly devolved into a horror show of absurdities on Thursday night as candidates argued about immigration and moon colonies. Mitt Romney was branded the winner, but the real losers were the viewers, the truth and politics in general.
• 2012/01/27: PlanetArk: Obama's Green Tint Signals Shift To Campaign Mode
• 2012/01/27: LA Times: Pushing energy plan, Obama calls U.S. 'Saudi Arabia of natural gas'
• 2012/01/26: AlterNet: The 10 Most Brazen Lies Offered By the Remaining GOP Presidential Hopefuls
• 2012/01/25: BizGreen: Obama sets out 'all-of-the-above' clean energy policy
• 2012/01/23: DemNow: Raj Patel: In Attacks on Obama, Food Stamps, Newt Gingrich is "Racially Coding Poverty"
• 2012/01/23: DVoice: What Planet Do These GOP Clowns Live On?
• 2012/01/24: TP:JR: In GOP Debate, Santorum Dodges Floridian's Concern About Offshore Drilling
• 2012/01/24: NatureN: Candidates play to the right on science
  Rivals for the Republican nomination laud research but take a hard line on embryonic stem cells and climate.
• 2012/01/24: DeSmogBlog: Newt Gingrich on Science: The "Say Anything" Candidate
• 2012/01/24: RBH: Republican Contest: Battle Of The Scumbags
• 2012/01/23: FDL: The "Food Stamp Speaker" is Actually Newt Gingrich
• 2012/01/22: AlterNet: Campaign to Recall Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker Will Be Wild Card In 2012 Presidential Race

  The Keystone XL saga rolls on:

• 2012/01/24: CJR: Keystone XL Jobs Bewilder Media -- Reporters still fumbling numbers in wake of pipeline's rejection
• 2012/01/27: DeSmogBlog: Greenpeace Calls On SEC To Investigate TransCanada's Inflated Jobs Claims
• 2012/01/27: Grist: State Dept. official overstates Keystone jobs by a factor of 10
• 2012/01/26: DeSmogBlog: Media Matters Analysis Shows Keystone XL Proponents Dominated Media
• 2012/01/26: TreeHugger: On Keystone XL, MSM Displays Major Bias Towards Oil Industry: New Study
• 2012/01/25: FAIR: USA Today: Keystone Job Cops
• 2012/01/22: CCurrents: Keystone XL -- The Ivory Towers Crushing The Last Remnants Of Climate Justice
• 2012/01/23: DemNow: Robert Redford Praises Rejection of Keystone Pipeline: We Can't Afford to Be at the Mercy of Big Oil
• 2012/01/24: EnergyBulletin: What the Keystone rejection really reveals
• 2012/01/24: PlanetArk: Keystone Activists To Protest Oil, Congress Ties
• 2012/01/24: Grist: Twisted pipeline: GOP conspires with TransCanada to keep Keystone alive
• 2012/01/24: TreeHugger: GOP and Canadian Oil Execs Plot to Revive Keystone XL Pipeline
• 2012/01/23: PlanetArk: Boehner: Republicans May Link [K XL] Pipeline To Tax Bill
• 2012/01/23: Grist: GOP isn't giving up easy on Keystone XL
• 2012/01/22: RawStory: Boehner 'may' hold payroll tax cut hostage over Keystone pipeline
• 2012/01/23: BWeek: Keystone XL Pipeline Seen Moving Ahead on Alternative Route

  California has strengthened their ZEV Program. [How long until they end up in court?]:

• 2012/01/27: UCSUSA: California Adopts Robust Plan for Cleaner Cars -- Biggest Change to ZEV Program in 20-Year History
• 2012/01/27 AutoBG: California breaks rank again, demands over 15% of cars sold be non-polluting by 2025
• 2012/01/26: AutoBG: CARB's new ZEV mandate revision could add 1.4m more advanced green cars, while creating a big loophole
• 2012/01/25: Mercury: California air board to vote on landmark electric-car rules
  In a move that could reshape the American automobile industry, California regulators Thursday are expected to approve sweeping new rules requiring that 15 percent of new cars sold in California by 2025 run on electricity, hydrogen or other systems producing little or no smog.
• 2012/01/24: SF Gate: California's clean-car agenda

  The National Center for Science Education is adding climate change to their mandate:

• 2012/01/26: P3: Science education group decides it's time to tackle climate change
• 2012/01/24: MGS: National Center for Science Education now also defending science on climate change
• 2012/01/23: SkeptiSci: The National Center for Science Education defends climate science in high schools

  Obama delivered the State of the Union speech this week:

• 2012/01/27: GreenGrok: The State of the Union's Climate Education
• 2012/01/25: GreenGrok: On the State of the Union, Blueberries, Cranberries, and Grapes
• 2012/01/26: TP:JR: White House Releases More Details of Obama Energy Plan After State of the Union
• 2012/01/26: PSinclair: The SOTU and Climate
• 2012/01/24: TheHill:e2W: Obama steers clear of climate change talk in speech
• 2012/01/25: Grist: Obama doesn't back down on clean energy
• 2012/01/24: Grist: In SOTU, Obama trying yet again to blunt polluter attacks with policy concessions
• 2012/01/25: NatureNB: Obama boosts science in State of the Union address
• 2012/01/25: SciAm:Obs: How Obama Plans to "Double Down" on Clean Energy
• 2012/01/25: Grist: What did Obama say about energy last night?
• 2012/01/25: Grist: Obama makes strong call for clean energy --- oh, and drilling and fracking too
• 2012/01/24: TP:JR: State of the Union Drinking Game: Climate Change (aka Sobriety) Edition
• 2012/01/25: EnergyBulletin: Obama falsely claimed U.S. oil production at an all-time high

  The Obama chatter is nonstop:

• 2012/01/27: TreeHugger: Fact-Checking Obama: Is There Really '100 Years' Worth of Natural Gas in the US?
• 2012/01/23: CER:RRapier: Are President Obama's Policies Causing U.S. Oil Production to Rise?
• 2012/01/27: HotTopic: Stuck in the muddle with Obama
• 2012/01/25: ScienceInsider: White House Gives Up on NOAA Science Chief Nomination
• 2012/01/24: TreeHugger: Obama: Open 75% More US Land for Gas & Oil Drilling, "Double Down" on Clean Energy
• 2012/01/25: BBerg: Obama Backs Fracking to Add 600,000 Jobs, Vows Safe Drilling

  The actions of the Obama administration are being watched closely:

• 2012/01/28: TreeHugger: 'Just Label It' Campaign Asks the FDA for GMO Labeling
• 2012/01/27: CSW: US Climate Change Envoy [Pershing] calls Durban climate summit a success
• 2012/01/26: TreeHugger: Steven Chu Announces 2013 Solar Decathlon and Its New Location, California!
• 2012/01/23: SGM: DOE report projects greater coal production drop
• 2012/01/23: WVGazette: DOE slashes [natural] gas estimate for Marcellus Shale
• 2012/01/25: TBAS: Energy.gov: Where information goes to die
• 2012/01/25: TP:JR: U.S. Government Downgrades Projections for Coal. Again.
• 2012/01/23: DOE:EIA: Early Release of the Annual Energy Outlook
• 2012/01/23: TP:JR: What Obama's Proposal to Move NOAA Means for Our Oceans

  As for what is going on in Congress:

• 2012/01/25: TP:JR: Darrell Issa's Pants Are On Fire: Congressman Tries to Make Clean Energy Tax Credits a "Scandal"
• 2012/01/25: AutoBG: GM CEO stands up for Chevy Volt in D.C. hearing; Issa tells NHTSA: "I don't believe you"
• 2012/01/25: Grist: Republicans cockblock NOAA appointment because of an oil-drilling snit
• 2012/01/25: Grist: Why does agriculture keep getting a climate pass?
• 2012/01/24: TheHill:e2W: Bingaman preps 'clean' power plan after SOTU shout-out
• 2012/01/25: TreeHugger: Bernie Sanders Pledges Legislation Ending 'Absurdity' of Federal Fossil Fuel Subsidies

  What are the lobbyists pushing?

• 2012/01/26: OilChange: One Dollar In, Fifty-Nine Out
• 2012/01/26: BWeek: TransCanada Lobbying Tops $1.3 Million as It Pushes Keystone
• 2012/01/25: TreeHugger: TransCanada Spent $410,000 Lobbying for Keystone XL During Last Quarter of 2011

  While in the UK:

• 2012/01/27: Guardian(UK): Why David Cameron should attend the Rio+20 Earth summit
• 2012/01/27: Guardian(UK): David Cameron's eco-friendly image risks 'retoxification', warns WWF chief
• 2012/01/26: EurActiv: EU energy policy drives changes in UK -- with mixed results
• 2012/01/24: Guardian(UK): Companies paid £1,800 to meet ministers at networking events
• 2012/01/25: TreeHugger: UK Extends Tax Credit for Electric Vehicle to 2015
• 2012/01/25: TreeHugger: [UK] Government Cuts to Solar Subsidies Are Confirmed Illegal
• 2012/01/25: BBC: Government loses second case on solar tariff cut
  The government has failed in an appeal against a decision which blocked its attempts to reduce solar subsidies. The Court of Appeal case involved the government's move to halve the payments made to households with solar panels, which it says are unsustainable. However, the government has said it will seek leave to take the case to the UK's Supreme Court.
• 2012/01/23: AutoBG: UK extends electric vehicle tax credit to 2015, adds utility vehicles

  And in Europe:

• 2012/01/25: SwissInfo: Swiss take long, hard look at green policies
  A lack of significant progress in global climate talks in recent years is forcing Switzerland to rethink its approach to environmental problems. Swiss green policy is now intrinsically intertwined with international and European Union policy. But this poses a problem since multilateral attempts at coordinated global action are falling short, according to a report by the Federal Environment Office. It is "virtually impossible today" to formulate an independent environmental policy, it states. As such, "Switzerland, at the heart of Europe, needs to consider this new international context in deciding which direction to take its international environmental policy", the report warns.
• 2012/01/26: DerSpiegel: Inflated Incentive -- Environment Minister Retreats on Solar Subsidies
  German Environment Minister Norbert Röttgen has said he wants to cut subsidies on installing solar panels sooner than planned as the number of people taking advantage of the incentives continues to soar. As do costs to electricity customers.
• 2012/01/25: PlanetArk: French Biofuel Aid Helps Farmers, Costs Public: Study
  French state support for crop-based biofuels has brought benefits for farming but also hidden costs for motorists who have ended up having to consume more fuel and pay higher prices, the government's auditor said on Tuesday.
• 2012/01/24: EurActiv: Campaigners mount bid to outlaw nuclear subsidies
  Lawyers acting on behalf of British anti-nuclear campaigners have submitted a complaint about atomic subsidies to the European Commission which, if upheld, could prevent the building of new nuclear reactors in the EU.
• 2012/01/24: EurActiv: Biodiversity in danger without swift action, MEPs say
  With Europe facing a "silent crisis" of biodiversity loss, MEPs are considering ways to strengthen protections for habitats and species but are divided over how to compel EU national governments to live up to their commitments.
• 2012/01/23: EurActiv: Higher EU CO2 cut 'fundamental' to developing world
  An increase in the EU's carbon emissions reduction target to 30% on 1990 levels within eight years is 'very fundamental' to the developing world's interests, said the European chair of the G77 group of developing nations.

Meanwhile in Australia:

• 2012/01/27: ABC(Au): Storm damage flagged as climate change alarm
  Darwin Lord Mayor Graeme Sawyer says the recent wild weather has reminded council of the urgent need to protect the city's foreshores against climate change.
• 2012/01/20: ABC(Au): Climate council claims Govt snub
  Tasmania's climate action council claims it has been ignored by the Government and its bureaucrats. The expert panel was set up three years ago to provide policy advice to government departments on tackling climate change. But the outgoing chairwoman, Kate Crowley, says it has been largely ignored by department heads.
• 2012/01/25: ABC(Au): Solar guru receives Australia Day honour
  Shining bright Australia needs to look to Germany if it is to realise the potential of solar cell technology, says an expert who is being honoured today. Professor Martin Green of the University of New South Wales has been made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for his work on photovoltaics.
• 2012/01/25: ABC(Au): Abbott backs coal seam gas over coal mining
• 2012/01/25: ABC(Au): Naming of election date renews pressure on flood commission
  In extraordinary circumstances Queenslanders today learned their State election will be held on the 24th of March. It came after the State's Flood Inquiry announced it would re-open hearings into the management of Brisbane's Wivenhoe Dam last summer that saw the worst flooding of the city in a generation. The Premier Anna Bligh today announced that it was in the public interest to hold an election after the Inquiry's final report is released, even though it means moving the previously fixed date for local elections. For nearly two uninterrupted decades Labor has held power in Queensland and polls suggest Anna Bligh will struggle to retain Government against her Liberal National Party Opposition, led by Campbell Newman.

The headlines said "Gillard rescued from mob", but it was Abbott who teed them off:

• 2012/01/27: ABC(Au): Gillard aide quits after revealing Abbott's location
  One of the Prime Minister's media advisers has resigned after admitting they told someone about Tony Abbott's presence near the Tent Embassy in Canberra on Thursday. The furious protest that caught up Julia Gillard and the Opposition Leader was sparked when an activist at the Tent Embassy told protesters Mr Abbott was at a function only a few hundred metres away.
• 2012/01/26: Wonkette: Indigenous Australian Heroes Nearly Capture Australian Prime Minster
• 2012/01/26: ABC(Au): Riot police rescue Gillard, Abbott from protesters
• 2012/01/26: BBC: Julia Gillard 'rescued' amid Australia Day protests
  Australian PM Julia Gillard and leader of the opposition Tony Abbott had to be rescued after becoming trapped by an angry protest, local media reports. About 50 police escorted the pair from Canberra's Lobby restaurant after it was surrounded by some 200 supporters of the city's Aboriginal Tent Embassy.

After a 10 year drought and recent massive flooding, water usage planning is controversial and difficult:

• 2012/01/24: ABC(Au): Flood inquiry to re-examine Wivenhoe operation
  Queensland's Floods Commission of Inquiry will hold extra hearings next week to re-examine the operation of Wivenhoe Dam during last January's deluge. Questions have been raised about the operation of the dam in the lead-up to Brisbane and Ipswich being flooded.
• 2012/01/23: ABC(Au): SA says Murray-Darling plan doesn't hold water
  South Australia looks set to reject the Murray-Darling Basin Plan before it is even finalised, with Premier Jay Weatherill saying river flows allocated to the state in the draft plan are woefully inadequate.

While in China:

• 2012/01/23: Guardian(UK): China's environmental year in review - in [19] pictures

  And elsewhere in Asia:

• 2012/01/23: Guardian(UK): Bangladesh: life after cyclone Aila - in [11] pictures
• 2012/01/23: Guardian(UK): The ill wind that blew Bainpara [in Bangladesh] towards a more climate resilient future

  And in South America:

• 2012/01/25: NatureN: Innovation is 'imperative,' says [Brazil's newly appointed minister of science, Marco Antonio Raupp] -- But new appointee must reverse last year's budget cuts

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

• 2012/01/25: PI: Groups ask Federal Court to force Environment Minister's hand on caribou
  Environment Minister Peter Kent's failure to reconsider emergency protection for woodland caribou in northeastern Alberta has prompted environmental groups to ask for the Federal Court's help. Six months ago, the Court ruled that Minister Kent's "out of the blue" decision not to recommend emergency protection for woodland caribou ignored scientific evidence and must be set aside. The Minister was instructed to reconsider the government's position, but has yet to show any signs of activity on the file.
• 2012/01/29: PostMedia: Oil and gas are 'gorilla in room' on feds' climate policies, Environment Canada says
  The oil and gas industry's greenhouse gas emissions are the "gorilla in the room" for Canada's environmental policies, a senior Environment Canada official has told his superiors in newly-released correspondence. The observations were made by Mike Beale, an associate assistant deputy minister, in an email sent to Deputy Minister Paul Boothe and other senior officials regarding a conference being organized jointly last year by the Pembina Institute, an Alberta-based environmental group, and a major oil and gas company. After being called by an official from Royal Dutch Shell regarding the April 2011 conference in Banff, Alta., that was to focus on "less controversial" aspects of the climate-change debate, such as energy efficiency and transportation demand management, Beale felt compelled to state what was missing. "I had to point out - nicely - that the initiative seems to sidestep the gorilla in the room of emission reductions from O&G (oil and gas), but that otherwise, it seems like a great idea," wrote Beale in the Jan. 20, 2011 email, released to Postmedia News through access to information legislation.
• 2012/01/27: PostMedia: Kent sees no conflict in roles protecting jobs and environment
  Federal Environment Minister Peter Kent isn't apologizing for putting economic considerations on equal footing with environmental concerns. Speaking Thursday to the Calgary Chamber of Commerce, Kent addressed the federal Conservative government's plans for streamlining and speeding up the regulatory process for large industrial developments.
• 2012/01/26: PostMedia: Pipeline itself not the only problem we should worry about
• 2012/01/26: DeepClimate: Mark Jaccard calls out Stephen Harper on oil sands
• 2012/01/22: G&M: Writers want Ottawa to let scientists 'speak for themselves'
  Last year, Kathryn O'Hara, then president of the Canadian Science Writers' Association, wrote an extraordinary letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the leaders of the other national parties. In that document -- remarkable because it was written in a leading democracy not a paranoid dictatorship -- she pleaded with government to unshackle its scientists by allowing them to speak freely with the media.

The G8/G20 controversy lingers:

• 2012/01/23: Impolitical: Clement's G8 hangover continues
• 2012/01/23: CBC: NDP targets Clement with fresh G8 accusations

  Questions and debate about offshore and Arctic drilling continue:

• 2012/01/26: CBC: Statoil planning more exploration off Grand Banks

  This flagrant misuse of the term sustainable must be noted:

• 2012/01/25: PostMedia: 4 Canadian oil firms ranked among most sustainable
  Despite talk of Canada's "dirty oil," in a report ranking the world's 100 most sustainable big companies, four of the six Canadian entries have some kind of connection to the oilsands. In the eighth annual edition of this report from Toronto-based Corporate Knights Magazine, a publication promoting "clean capitalism"...

In their ideological quest for small government, the Harper gang is getting rid of all the 'inconvenient' people:

• 2012/01/25: PostMedia: 100 jobs cut at Natural Resources Canada -- Service to public won't be affected, spokesman says
  Natural Resources Canada is restructuring two of its branches and eliminating about 100 jobs. The department began notifying employees last week about the decision, which will cut about 35 jobs in the public affairs and portfolio management sector and another 65 positions in the corporate management and services sector.
• 2012/01/24: PostMedia: Restructuring at Natural Resources Canada to eliminate 100 jobs
• 2012/01/24: CMKL: And now we fire the people who encourage us to make homes energy efficient

  Regarding Canadian energy policy:

• 2012/01/25: CBC: Canada imports oil while battling over pipeline exports
  Proposals to build new pipelines to carry oilsands crude to the United States, or through British Columbia for export to Asia, have sparked political battles between environmentalists and politicians on both sides of the border. But the debates have also focused attention on how Canada uses the oil that it has. Canada exports about two-thirds of its oil to the United States... while half of the oil used in Canada is imported from other countries. Western Canada is self-sufficient, supplying its own oil before exporting the rest. But Eastern Canada relies on imported oil -- despite the fact that some provinces are oil producers.
• 2012/01/22: TMoS: Can Someone Explain This to Me?
  At the heart of much of the opposition to the Athabasca Tar Sands is that it exports dangerous contaminants that put entire ecosystems at risk. We export a semi-refined product bearing significant quantities of abrasives, corrosives, heavy metals and other toxins. We export this product to places where it is refined into synthetic crude. In other words, we export dangerous contaminants to distant places where they are removed. Obama tossed out the Keystone XL pipeline proposal because of serious environmental risks it posed to Nebraska. If the stuff is too dangerous for wide open Nebraska how could it possibly be safe to pump it across BC's mountainous and seismically active north? What I don't understand and what nobody seems willing to discuss is why doesn't Harper want that product refined on site in Alberta? Why don't we remove the contaminants right there and simply export a clean synthetic crude product?
• 2012/01/28: PostMedia: Why we don't just refine the bitumen in Canada
• 2012/01/25: WpgFP: Canada exports jobs along with its oil

  The battle over the Northern Gateway pipeline rages on:

• 2012/01/28: LeftistJab: Harper Government Begins Funding Drive For Environmental Groups
• 2012/01/28: TRM: PMO Hates Gays & Greens, Judges & Nurses, AKA "Foreign Radicals"
• 2012/01/28: 350orBust: PMO Issues Alert: "Foreign Radicals Threaten Further Delays"
• 2012/01/27: CBC: PMO InfoAlerteBot After Dark: "Foreign radicals threaten further delays"
• 2012/01/28: PostMedia: Experts doubt First Nations could stop pipeline -- 'Informed consent' needed: National chief
  The world received two blunt messages this week on Enbridge Inc.'s proposed $5.5-billion Northern Gateway pipeline from Alberta to B.C.'s northern coast. Prime Minister Stephen Harper told the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, that the government will "make it a national priority to ensure we have the capacity to export our energy products beyond the United States, and specifically to Asia." But that pitch for the pipeline megaproject, which would open up the largely landlocked oilsands resource to non-U.S. buyers, was countered by a report quoting Assembly of First Nations National Chief Shawn Atleo. Atleo said the federal government and Calgary-based Enbridge required the "consent" of B.C. First Nations, who are mostly opposed to the project. So do aboriginals have the legal ability to stop a major energy megaproject that the Harper government touts as the key to creation of numerous jobs and billions of dollars in new wealth? They probably don't, legal experts said this week, though uncertainty remains about how courts might deal with a legal challenge.
• 2012/01/27: CBC: Energy projects benefit all Canadians, Oliver argues
• 2012/01/27: CBC: 'Radical' group support rises since Oliver's attack -- Donations, public support up for environmental groups targeted by Harper government as adversaries
  Tough talk from Ottawa about radical environmentalists and foreign-funded adversaries seems to be actually strengthening support for those groups under attack. Environmental groups involved in the debate over Enbridge Inc.'s Northern Gateway oilsands pipeline to the west coast report that donations have soared in recent weeks -- especially after Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver said U.S.-funded environmentalists and jet-setting celebrities are trying to hijack the regulatory hearings.
• 2012/01/27: WpgFP: 'Radical' federal remarks boost fundraising, support for enviro groups
  Tough talk from Ottawa about radical environmentalists and foreign-funded adversaries seems to be actually strengthening support for those groups under attack. Environmental groups involved in the debate over Enbridge Inc.'s Northern Gateway oilsands pipeline to the west coast report that donations have soared in recent weeks -- especially after Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver said U.S.-funded environmentalists and jet-setting celebrities are trying to hijack the regulatory hearings.
• 2012/01/26: BCLSB: Northern Gateway Rising: A Slightly More Interesting Bullshit Poll
• 2012/01/25: NI/P: Links regarding oily pipeline politics
• 2012/01/26: BCLSB: Rafe Mair On The Northern Gateway Pipeline
• 2012/01/26: 350orBust: Dear Mr. Oliver: I Am Not a Member of a "Radical" Group
• 2012/01/25: TheCanadian: Rafe Tells Harper and "Raving Maniac" Joe Oliver He's Ready for the Bulldozers
• 2012/01/25: TreeHugger: ForestEthics Declared "Enemy of the People of Canada" for Criticism of Oil Sands Projects
• 2012/01/25: DeSmogBlog: Built to Fail: National Energy Board Muzzles Environmental Scientists In Enbridge Northern Gateway Hearing
• 2012/01/24: CBC: Gateway pipeline hearings land in Edmonton -- Hearing in Alberta for 6 days before returning to B.C.
• 2012/01/24: PlanetArk: Ottawa Sees Itself As Protector Of Oil Sands Benefits
  Canada's government has a responsibility to make sure people can take advantage of the economic benefits Alberta's massive oil deposits can generate, the country's energy minister said on Monday as he once again decried "radicals" bent on stopping Enbridge Inc's Northern Gateway oil pipeline.
• 2012/01/24: BCLSB: Corbella Story Collapses Utterly
• 2012/01/23: TMoS: Did Keystone Kill Off the Northern Gateway Pipeline?
• 2012/01/23: PostMedia: Compromise all but gone in debate over pipelines -- Thirty per cent of Canadians advocate full-scale oilsands development
• 2012/01/06: AFrank: Independent Poll Shows Plurality of British Columbians Oppose Enbridge Gateway Pipeline: 46% Against, 41% In Favour
• 2012/01/22: TRM: On Ending Colonialism OR One Reason Why the Northern Gateway Pipeline Must Never Proceed
• 2012/01/24: DawgsBlawg: Enemies of the state
• 2012/01/24: NI/P: Proud to be "Enemy of the Government of Canada"

  The Tories admit they have the NEB in their pocket:

• 2012/01/26: G&M: Federal documents spark outcry by oil sands critics
  Critics are attacking Ottawa's energy strategy after internal documents shed new light on the extent of federal efforts to advocate for the oil sands industry. The documents, obtained through an access to information request and released by Greenpeace Canada, are a draft diplomatic strategy outlining ways to shape European perceptions of Canada's oil sands. They show that the government's messages are intended to shift attitudes in media and among top decision makers regarding the oil sands industry, which faces a possible effective import ban in Europe as the continent pursues a low-carbon fuel strategy. In the document, environmental organizations and aboriginal groups are shown as "adversaries." Industry associations, energy companies and the National Energy Board -- which is supposed to serve as an independent body evaluating new projects -- are listed as "allies."

Who is Andrew Frank?

• Andrew Frank
• 2012/01/25: Rabble: Whistleblower claims Prime Minister's Office tried to silence Enbridge pipeline critic
• 2012/01/25: CTindal: Who is Andrew Frank?
• 2012/01/25: CBC: PMO accused of threatening environmental group -- Allegations denied by government spokesman
  A man dismissed from his job recently by an environmental organization is claiming that the charitable group that funds it was threatened by the Prime Minister's Office. In an affidavit, Andrew Frank claims that in early January his then-boss told him and others that the PMO had told Tides Canada CEO Ross McMillan that it considered ForestEthics to be an "enemy of the state." A spokesman for the Prime Minister's Office denied Frank's claims.
• 2012/01/24: TStar: PMO branded environmental group an 'enemy' of Canada, affidavit says
  The Prime Minister's Office allegedly labelled an environmental group an "enemy" of Canada for opposing a proposed west coast oil pipeline and threatened retribution if its funding was not cut off, according to the affidavit of a former employee. The group, ForestEthics, operates in both Canada and the U.S. with money from Tides Canada, a charitable group that funds initiatives to tackle poverty, climate change and social problems. ForestEthics is also a registered intervener at hearings on Enbridge's planned Northern Gateway pipeline that would pump Alberta oil to freighters on the British Columbia coast destined for China.
• 2012/01/24: G&M: Environmentalist's departure sheds light on tension felt by green groups
  A prominent environmentalist has been fired from an organization that has staunchly protested the Northern Gateway pipeline after he accused the Prime Minister's Office of resorting to intimidation tactics against the project's critics. The dismissal of Andrew Frank, spokesman for anti-oil-sands group ForestEthics, comes amid an increasingly tense atmosphere among environmental groups -- especially those registered as charities, whose public advocacy is supposed to be limited -- that have come under fire by the federal government for harbouring "radicals" intent on "hijacking" the review process for Gateway.
• 2012/01/24: AFrank: Whistleblower Claims Prime Minister's Office Tried to Silence Enbridge Gateway Pipeline Critic
• 2012/01/24: MWire: Whistleblower Claims Prime Minister's Office Tried to Silence Enbridge Gateway Pipeline Critic
  Affidavit claims Prime Minister's Office labelled environmental group an "Enemy of the Government of Canada" and an, "Enemy of the People of Canada".

Meanwhile in the NDP leadership race:

• 2012/01/25: PG: Battlelines Visible Under the Surface of NDP Leadership Race

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

• 2012/01/25: TheCanadian: Kinder Morgan's Latest Oil Spill in Abbotsford Raises Concerns About the Company's Planned Pipeline Expansion
• 2012/01/23: TheCanadian: Should BC Have a Referendum on Enbridge?
• 2012/01/23: AlexandraMorton: Don Staniford is being sued
• 2012/01/23: Tyee: Tube the Pipelines, All Three -- Keystone is no victory if dangerous bitumen instead pumps through Kitimat or Vancouver.

  Meanwhile in that Mechanical Mordor known as the tar sands:

• 2012/01/24: TMoS: The Integrity of Science
• 2012/01/23: BCLSB: How's That Ethical Oil Thing Working For You? Part II!
• 2012/01/24: PostMedia: Science museum pressured by corporate sponsor over oilsands exhibit
  The Canada Science and Technology Museum faced pressure from a corporate sponsor to change its portrayal of the oilsands in a new energy exhibit, the museum's former vice-president confirms. Randall Brooks said both Imperial Oil and the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers felt the exhibit was too critical of the oilsands. Brooks was still vice-president at the time but retired last year.

Also in Alberta:

• 2012/01/25: Tyee: We'll Frack Alberta's Next Election, Vow Landowners -- Drilling accident fuels rebellion demanding halt to hydraulic fracturing
• 2012/01/27: CBC: Drilling forecast cut on labour shortage
  An oil and gas industry group is scaling back its drilling activity forecast for 2012, in part because there aren't enough workers who have the know-how necessary to drill big, complicated wells.

In Saskatchewan:

• 2012/01/25: SaskBoy: Letter to SaskPower President Regarding Solar Power

  And in Manitoba:

• 2012/01/22: CBC: Manitoba flood evacuees waiting for temporary homes -- 16 units promised for St. Laurent but only 6 have been installed

  Ontario is still wrestling with its energy policy:

• 2012/01/26: CleanBreak: Hamilton consortium puts pressure on Ontario government to lift moratorium on offshore wind in the Great Lakes
• 2012/01/27: CBC: Condo owner must pay for meter or unplug electric car

  In the Maritimes:

• 2012/01/27: CBC: N.S. companies compete to build wind farms

  In the North:

• 2012/01/28: PostMedia: Amundsen put on ice for a year
  Arctic research vessel's engines must be replaced; scientific community 'in shock' over delays The icebreaker at the heart of Canada's premier Arctic science program has been pulled from service, leaving researchers scrambling to find other ships to take them to the North.
• 2012/01/23: CBC: Military convoy begins trek to the Arctic -- Edmonton soldiers to test themselves and gear against arctic climate

  As for miscellaneous Canadiana:

• 2012/01/27: CleanBreak: U.S. venture capital firm SAIL Venture Partners goes on hunt for Canadian cleantech, plans to establish Canadian-focused fund
• 2012/01/25: PI:B: CLEAN power for cities combines economics with environment
• 2012/01/22: PostMedia: B.C. prof. studies Canadian 'off-gridders'
  Life's not so scary off the grid. It's not just the domain of hippies or hermits, or even self-important hipsters. Rather, those with "mindfulness" about their own community and their role within it - plus a working knowledge of a watt, volt and amp - have the chops to unplug from electricity or heat or even the Internet. So claims a Victoria researcher travelling the country studying Canadians who have chosen to go off the grid.

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

• 2012/01/28: CCurrents: Waking In The Half World
• 2012/01/26: CCurrents: Green Economy And Growth: Fiddling While Rome Burns?
• 2012/01/27: DVoice: Human Beings with Feet of Clay and Self-Proclaimed Masters of the Universe
• 2012/01/25: EnergyBulletin: Green economy and growth: Fiddling while Rome burns?
• 2012/01/23: CCurrents: On Prospects Of Eco-Socialism In Russia And The World

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

• 2012/01/27: al Jazeera: Reproductive rights and the Republican primary
  The extreme wing of the Republican Party wants to pass a law that would deprive women of their personhood.
• 2012/01/27: PostMedia: Canadians oppose abortion based on sex of fetus: poll
• 2012/01/24: AlterNet: 3 Ways Conservative Christianity's Obsessions Promote Abortions

  How do the media measure up?

• 2012/01/28: CCP: Wall Street Journal's infamous op-ed authors -- the 16 scientists -- are they really?
• 2012/01/27: P3: Other responses to the outrageous WSJ Op-Ed
• 2012/01/27: P3: The Wall Street Journal, Again
• 2012/01/27: WaMo: "Cui Bono" Indeed!
  In a world full of doubt and contention, there are a few things, other than the proverbial items of death and taxes, you can count on to be completely reliable. And one of those is the ideological mendacity of the editorial page of the Wall Street Journal. Today the Journal offers up a sort of climate-change deniers' greatest-hits edition: a compilation of every data point and rhetorical tactic available to urge that this phenomenon does not exist and cannot in any event be addressed.
• 2012/01/27: Forbes: Remarkable Editorial Bias on Climate Science at the Wall Street Journal
• 2012/01/27: NI/P: Ignore this if you don't believe in science
• 2012/01/27: S&R: An open letter to Burt Rutan, regarding his WSJ commentary on human-caused climate disruption
• 2012/01/26: DeSmogBlog: Media Matters Analysis Shows Keystone XL Proponents Dominated Media
• 2012/01/26: Guardian(UK): The BBC's problem with science
• 2012/01/26: MediaMatters: Study: The Press And The Pipeline
• 2012/01/24: WtD: Windbags: where [do] Terry McCrann and Andrew Bolt get their science? Hint, not actual scientists...[media]
• 2012/01/24: SciAm:AI: From the Writer's Desk: The dangers of press releases
  [...]
  ...apparently researchers don't often get to vet press releases before they are published.
• 2012/01/22: TP:JR: Wired Pulls a Charlie Sheen on Clean Energy: Experts Easily Debunk Absurd Hit-Job on Solar and Wind Power

  Here is something for your library:

• 2012/01/26: TreeHugger: [Book Review] _The Case For A Carbon Tax_ by Shi-Ling Hsu
• 2012/01/24: HotTopic: [Book Review] _What Will Work: Fighting Climate Change with Renewable Energy, Not Nuclear Power_ by Kristin Shrader-Frechette

  And for your film & video enjoyment:

• 2012/01/27: TP:JR: NASA Video Illustrates 130 Years of Global Warming, Hansen Expects New Global Temperature Record Within 3 Years
• 2012/01/27: TreeHugger: Watch Revenge of the Electric Car for Free on Hulu!
• 2012/01/27: 350orBust: Greedy Lying Bastards
• 2012/01/25: Grist: How enhanced geothermal power works, courtesy Taiwanese animators
• 2012/01/25: CCentral: Watch 131 Years of Global Warming in 26 Seconds
• 2012/01/24: DemNow: "The Atomic States of America": Exploring a Nation's Struggle with Nuclear Power
• 2012/01/24: Grist: Earth Liberation Front documentary gets Oscar nomination
• 2012/01/23: AlterNet: While Republicans Play Politics Over Food Stamps, New Film [Finding North] Focuses on Hunger in America
• 2012/01/23: QuarkSoup: Greedy Lying Bastards
• 2012/01/23: TP:JR: Video: How Bainbridge Island Cut Peak Power Consumption 10 MW

  Meanwhile among the 'Sue the Bastards!' contingent:

• 2012/01/25: PI: Groups ask Federal Court to force Environment Minister's hand on caribou
• 2012/01/27: PlanetArk: Chevron Loses Injunction In $18 billion Equador Case
• 2012/01/19: USAToday: Coalition to sue EPA over ash pond rules delay
  A coalition of 11 environmental and public health groups from seven states has announced plans to sue the government over the delay in finalizing rules to make coal ash ponds safer. The coalition is at odds with the Environmental Protection Agency over the EPA's failure to implement the rules created after a pond collapse in 2008 in Harriman, Tenn., sent a billion gallons of toxic sludge into the Emory River.

Wrestling over a new energy infrastructure continues unabated:

• 2012/01/29: PeakEnergy: Plans for sea energy device Searaser
• 2012/01/27: Grist: Renewables nearly competitive with fossil fuels, even without subsidies
• 2012/01/25: EnergyBulletin: The motion of the ocean - updated
• 2012/01/25: CCurrents: Is The Ocean An Alternative?
• 2012/01/24: Grist: Use of wood for home heating explodes as oil prices climb
• 2012/01/24: OilDrum: The Changing Status of Renewable Fuels
• 2012/01/24: PeakEnergy: The top Australian cleantech predictions for 2012
• 2012/01/24: PeakEnergy: Warren Buffett's Long Quest to Build A Geothermal Power Plant
• 2012/01/23: EnergyBulletin: Fossil fuels vs. renewables: the key argument that environmentalists are missing
• 2012/01/22: TP:JR: Thermoelectric Materials Advance Could Drop the Cost of Waste-Heat Harvesting

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

• 2012/01/27: SciAm:PI: Guest Post: Shale Gas -- The Low Carbon Option?
• 2012/01/25: Tyee: We'll Frack Alberta's Next Election, Vow Landowners -- Drilling accident fuels rebellion demanding halt to hydraulic fracturing
• 2012/01/27: al Jazeera: Shale-shocked: Fracking gets its own Occupy movement
  Strong opposition to "fracking" in New York State has resulted in a "little revolution".
• 2012/01/27: al Jazeera: Fracked-off: Gas extraction 'causes quakes'
  Earthquakes in Ohio and the UK are linked to hydraulic fracturing for unconventional gas, worrying residents.
• 2012/01/25: NBF: More Details on Super fracking
• 2012/01/24: IPSNews: Shale Gas a Bridge to More Global Warming
  Hundreds of thousands of shale gas wells are being "fracked" in the United States and Canada, allowing large amounts of methane, a highly potent greenhouse gas, to escape into the atmosphere, new studies have shown.
• 2012/01/25: SciAm:PI: Guest Post: Water Contamination -- Fracking is not the problem
• 2012/01/25: OPB: Geothermal Fractures Vs. Hydraulic Fracking: What's The Difference?
• 2012/01/24: CCurrents: Shale Shocked: Fracking Gets Its Own Occupy Movement
• 2012/01/19: AlterNet: 3 Ways Laws Are Stacked to Favor Fracking Companies -- And How We Can Change That
• 2012/01/24: EnergyBulletin: Fracking: Anatomy of a free market failure
• 2012/01/24: KSJT: NYPost, Bus. Week, Time Mag etc: The schism over fracked natural gas and the greenhouse
• 2012/01/24: TP:JR: Natural Gas Is A Bridge To Nowhere -- Absent a Serious Price for Global Warming Pollution
• 2012/01/23: DeSmogBlog: Demise of Keystone XL Means More Bakken Shale Gas Flaring
• 2012/01/23: Grist: Government energy geeks: Fracking might not get us as far as we thought
• 2012/01/23: WiC: Ellen Cantarow: An environmental Occupy fracks corporate America
• 2012/01/22: AlterNet: Fracking's "Little Revolution": How a People-Powered Movement Fights Big Business for Clean Water

  On the coal front:

• 2012/01/26: Oregonian: Port of St. Helens approves coal export agreements with two companies

  On the gas and oil front:

• 2012/01/27: BBerg: Closing oil prices Friday
  OIL (US$/bbl)
  Nymex Crude Future....99.56
  Dated Brent Spot.....110.72
  WTI Cushing Spot......99.56
• 2012/01/29: OilDrum: Tech Talk - Oil production from Western Siberia
• 2012/01/27: Reuters: Oil industry sees China winning, West losing from Iran sanctions
  As the European Union prepares to ban Iranian oil and the United States turns the screw on payments, oil executives and policymakers say China and Russia stand to gain the most and Western oil firms and consumers may emerge the biggest losers.
• 2012/01/24: DeSmogBlog: Another Industry Talking Point Laid To Rest: Oil Production Soars But Gas Prices Remain High
• 2012/01/23: NBF: The United States has 7 to 9 trillion barrels of oil in place and possibly over 1 trillion barrels could be recoverable

  In the fossil fuel corps:

• 2012/01/27: TP:JR: Chevron Pockets $26.9 Billion in Profits in 2011, Spends 16% -- $4.35 billion -- To Buy Back Stock
• 2012/01/27: PlanetArk: Chevron To Face Charges Over Brazil Spill
• 2012/01/27: PlanetArk: Chevron Loses Injunction In $18 billion Equador Case
• 2012/01/25: TP:JR: ConocoPhillips Announces $3.4 Billion in Q4 Profits -- Bringing 2011 Profits to $12.4 Billion
• 2012/01/24: TreeHugger: Despite Denial, Even Oil Companies Are Planning for Inevitable Climate Change
• 2012/01/25: BBC: Conoco Phillips agrees $160m payout for China oil spill
  Conoco Phillips and China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) have agreed to pay $1bn yuan ($158m; £101m) for the oil spill at their Penglai offshore field in China.
• 2012/01/24: BBC: Petroplus to file for insolvency
  Swiss oil refiner Petroplus has said it will file for insolvency after failing to reach an agreement with creditors to extend deadlines for loan repayments.

And in pipeline news:

• 2012/01/26: EurActiv: Gazprom chief questions EU pipeline rules
  EU rules designed to boost third-party participation in Russian pipelines shipping gas to Europe could trigger legal steps by Russia, the head of Gazprom said in an interview with a German newspaper published today (26 January).
• 2012/01/25: BBC: South Sudan in Kenyan oil pipeline deal
  South Sudan has agreed a deal with Kenya to build an oil pipeline, potentially reducing its dependence on its northern neighbour Sudan. It will link its oil fields to Kenya's Lamu port and should be ready in a year, a South Sudan minister said.

Yes we have a peak oil sighting:

• 2012/01/27: ABC(Au): Global oil tipping point already passed
• 2012/01/26: BWeek: Everything You Know About Peak Oil Is Wrong
• 2012/01/26: Eureka: Commentary in Nature: Can economy bear what oil prices have in store?
• 2012/01/26: EnergyBulletin: Commentary in Nature: Can economy bear what oil prices have in store?
• 2012/01/25: EnergyBulletin: The peak oil crisis: On closing our refineries
• 2012/01/24: TreeHugger: 'Peak Timber' Is The New Normal State of Human Resource Usage
• 2012/01/23: CCurrents: The Long Climb Up Hubbert's Peak
• 2012/01/22: CCurrents: Transport Energy Futures: Long-Term Oil Supply Trends And Projections (Australian Peak Oil Report)
• 2012/01/22: CCurrents: Australian Report Predicts Peak Oil Around 2017
• 2012/01/24: EnergyBulletin: The new geography of trade: Globalization's decline may stimulate local recovery
• 2012/01/24: PeakEnergy: Pascal's Wager, Climate Change And Peak Oil
• 2012/01/24: PeakEnergy: Australian Government tries to hide its own peak oil report
• 2012/01/23: GRC: Peak Oil Around 2017 -- Australian Government Report on Long-Term Oil Supply Trends and Projections

  Biofuel bickering abounds:

• 2012/01/27: NBF: 1000 times less energy to produce the microbubbles which can be used in Algae Biofuel Production
• 2012/01/27: EurActiv: Biodiesels pollute more than crude oil, leaked data show
  Greenhouse gas emissions from biofuels such as palm oil, soybean and rapeseed are higher than those for fossil fuels when the effects of Indirect Land Use Change (ILUC) are counted, according to leaked EU data seen by EurActiv.
• 2012/01/27: KSJT: Inter Press Service: Biodiesel far worse on climate than the regular kind?
• 2012/01/27: Grist: 1,000-pound butter sculpture will power farm for three days
• 2012/01/27: NatureNB: Europe prepares to admit that biodiesel is worse than fossil fuels
• 2012/01/25: BBC: Edinburgh start-up to make whisky biofuel
  A new company has been formed to commercialise a process for producing biofuel made from whisky by-products.

The answer my friend...:

• 2012/01/26: CSM: Wind power: Clean energy, dirty business?
• 2012/01/26: CSM: The 'wind rush': Green energy blows trouble into Mexico
• 2012/01/23: Grist: Wind turbines don't harm health, says study

  Meanwhile among the solar aficionados:

• 2012/01/21: FuturePundit: Polysilicon Price Drop Looks Sustainable
• 2012/01/29: PeakEnergy: In the Developing World, Solar Is Cheaper than Fossil Fuels
• 2012/01/25: BBerg: Solar Cheaper Than Diesel Making India's Mittal Believer: Energy
• 2012/01/23: TreeHugger: KB Home's Solar-As-Standard Spreads to Florida. Will It Make Solar Mainstream?
• 2012/01/23: TreeHugger: India Increases Solar Capacity 20-Fold, Yet Still Misses Its Targets!

  The nuclear energy controversy continues:

• 2012/01/26: AlterNet: Nukespeak: The Selling of Nuclear Technology from the Manhattan Project to Fukushima
• 2012/01/26: NBF: Department of Energy will fund up to Two Small Modular Nuclear Reactors for 2022
• 2012/01/26: NBF: First for accelerator-driven nuclear reactor
• 2012/01/26: GRC: Science with a Skew: The Nuclear Power Industry After Chernobyl and Fukushima
• 2012/01/24: DVoice: The CEO Who Chained Himself to a Bridge
• 2012/01/23: WNN: Small is beautiful for federal funds
  The US Department of Energy (DoE) is to help push forward the manufacture of small modular nuclear reactors through new cost-sharing arrangements with private industry to support design and licensing activities.

Nuclear waste storage requires _very_ long term thinking:

• 2012/01/27: PlanetArk: U.S. Needs Long-Term Site For Nuclear Waste: Panel
• 2012/01/26: NPR: How To Find A New Nuclear Waste Site? Woo A Town
• 2012/01/26: UCSUSA: Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future Slated to Release Final Report on Commercial Nuclear Waste this Afternoon
• 2012/01/27: WNN: Immediate action needed on US waste policy
  After nearly two years of work, the Blue Ribbon Commission has issued its final recommendations for "creating a safe, long-term solution" for dealing with the USA's used nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste. Efforts to develop a waste repository and a central storage facility should start immediately, it says.
• 2012/01/27: EneNews: New York Times Headline: "Is Spent Nuclear Fuel Really Waste?"
• 2012/01/25: PlanetArk: UK Nuclear Watchdog Toughens Stance On Waste Reuse
  Britain's nuclear watchdog has hardened its stance against a proposal by U.S.-Japan joint venture GE Hitachi to dispose of UK radioactive waste in a plutonium-burning reactor but has not ended talks. The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA), which advises the government on how best to manage the UK's growing plutonium stockpile, is considering a number of options including the fast-reactor design proposed by GE Hitachi in November.

The Rossi Energy Catalyzer keeps coming up:

• 2012/01/24: NBF: Defkalion appear to invite truly independent third party tests of their multi stage LENR reaction device

  More people are talking about the electrical grid:

• 2012/01/26: TP:JR: Electricity Priced by the Hour Boosts Distributed Solar Value by a Third or More
• 2012/01/23: AutoBG: EV maker Coda Holdings launches energy-storage division

  And then there is the matter of efficiency & conservation:

• 2012/01/29: TP:JR: Picking up the $500 Billion Bill on The Ground: Driving the Next Industrial Revolution Through Efficiency

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

• 2012/01/25: TP:JR: Safety Regulators Close Chevy Volt Investigation: Time to Get Moving Beyond Oil
• 2012/01/25: TreeHugger: Nissan Proves the Leaf Can Handle the Cold
• 2012/01/24: AutoBG: Some Chevy dealers rejecting Volt allocations from GM
• 2012/01/23: AutoBG: NHTSA: Volt investigation proves plug-in vehicles do not "pose a greater risk of fire than gasoline-powered vehicles"

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

• 2012/01/27: TP:JR: January 27 News...
• 2012/01/26: TP:JR: January 26 News...
• 2012/01/25: TP:JR: January 25 News...
• 2012/01/24: TP:JR: January 24 News...
• 2012/01/23: TP:JR: January 23 News...

  Other (weekly) lists:

• 2012/01/27: TreeHugger: Climate News Recap...
• 2012/01/27: EnergyBulletin: ODAC Newsletter
• 2012/01/24: TreeHugger: Climate News Recap...
• 2012/01/23: TreeHugger: Energy News Recap...

  The carbon lobby are up to the usual:

• 2012/01/28: ERabett: Scam-o-Rama
• 2012/01/27: ITracker: Liberal Science Denial
• 2012/01/27: WtD: Dollars for denial: who has funded the threefold increase in IPA revenue since 2000?
• 2012/01/29: HotTopic: The catechism of climate crank cliché
• 2012/01/25: Sage: Believing the Impossible and Conspiracy Theories
• 2012/01/27: Tamino: Fake Predictions for Fake Skeptics
• 2012/01/26: Oregonian: Presentation by global warming skeptics draws big crowd in Portland
• 2012/01/25: DM:BA: Five shots against global warming denialism
• 2012/01/25: PSinclair: Tobacco and the Anti Science Movement - more video
• 2012/01/24: DeSmogBlog: Study Tracks Australian Climate Denial Echo Chamber Back to Think Tank
• 2012/01/24: HotTopic: Puppets on a string: US think tank funds NZ sceptics
• 2012/01/23: Guardian(UK): Bjorn Lomborg's climate sceptic thinktank to close
• 2012/01/24: OilChange: Blowing the whistle on Dirty Energy Money
• 2012/01/24: OilChange: Protest Against "Big Oil Corruption"
• 2012/01/24: BCLSB: Denier Defunded
• 2012/01/23: ERabett: The Danish gravy train stops
• 2012/01/22: Stoat: I feel dirty
• 2012/01/22: TPL: Climate Denialism for Dummies

  A campaign to reveal the anonymous funders of GWPF took off this week:

• 2012/01/27: DeSmogBlog: What Does GWPF Really Stand For?
• 2012/01/27: DeSmogBlog: Will The Global Warming Policy Foundation's Seed Funder Be Revealed?
• 2012/01/26: Guardian(UK): [Letters] Transparency needed on donors to climate sceptic lobby
• 2012/01/23: OilChange: Time to Come Clean, ... Lawson
• 2012/01/23: Guardian(UK): Climate scientists back call for sceptic thinktank to reveal backers
  Leading experts lend support to Freedom of Information request concerning climate sceptic foundation chaired by Lord Lawson

Meanwhile in the 'clean coal' saga:

• 2012/01/27: TP:JR: Coal Does More Harm Than Good in Kentucky: $62 Million for Asthma Costs, $10 Billion for Lost Lives
• 2012/01/26: TreeHugger: North Carolina Finds Excess Toxic Metals In Water Near Coal Plants
• 2012/01/27: TreeHugger: Coal Ash Activists Acquitted in Filipino Court

  As for climate miscellanea:

• 2012/01/26: P3: New Resources of Note
• 2012/01/26: CCurrents: Why Climate Change Will Make You Love Big Government
• 2012/01/27: CCP: Andrew Glikson: As emissions rise, we may be heading for an ice-free planet
• 2012/01/25: CCurrents: Need Of The Hour: Green Investments In The Marine Sector
• 2012/01/24: Stoat: Plan 8 from outer space
• 2012/01/22: QuarkSoup: The Future's Name for Our Great Carbon Event?
• 2012/01/22: TP:JR: An Illustrated Guide to Climate Change in 2011 [Gleick]
• 2012/01/22: ERabett: Wetting the stratosphere, boiling the oceans
• 2012/01/22: ClimateShifts: 2011 Climate Change in Pictures and Data: Just the Facts

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

• Talking Climate - The gateway to research on climate change communication
• Arctic News
• High North Research Documents
• Nourishing the Planet (blog)
• WWI: State of the World 2011: Innovations that Nourish the Planet
• The Cost of Knowledge -- Researchers taking a stand against Elsevier
• Enbridge Northern Gateway Project Joint Review Panel
• Wiki: World Social Forum
• Wiki: List of countries by greenhouse gas emissions per capita
• Wiki: Carbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphere
• Wiki: Climate debt
• Andrew Frank
• SeaGen Tidal Turbines

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.

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

"The facts are simple. Our political leaders are lying to us if they aid and abet the expansion of tarsands while promising to take action to prevent the imminent climate catastrophe. If you love this planet and your children, and are humble and objective in considering the findings of science, you have no choice but to battle hard to stop Gateway and other tarsands pipelines. It is time to face up to this challenge with honesty and courage." -Mark Jaccard

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