Another Week of GW News, March 10. 2013

Logging the Onset of The Bottleneck Years

This weekly posting is brought to you courtesy of H. E. Taylor. Happy reading, I hope you enjoy this week's Global Warming news roundup

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Another Week of Climate Instability News

Information Overload is Pattern Recognition

March 10, 2013

• Chuckles, COP19+, CITES, Angry Summer, Marcott, DLST, Maldives
• Bottom Line, Subsidies, Cook, Meteorologists
• Fukushima Note, Fukushima News, Nuclear Policy
• Melting Arctic, Polar Bears, Methane, Geopolitics, Antarctica
• Food Crisis, Fisheries, Food Prices, Food vs. Biofuel, Land Grabs, GMOs, GMO Labelling, Food Production
• Hurricanes, Weather Machine, Notable Weather, Extreme Weather, New Weather
• GHGs, Temperatures, Feedbacks, Aerosols, Paleoclimate, Historical Climate
• ENSO, Solar, Climate Sensitivity, Tipping Points, Extinctions, Bees & CCD, Anthropocene, Volcanoes, Satellites
• Impacts, Forests, Climate Refugees, Phenology
• Wildfires, Corals, Glaciers, Sea Levels, Floods & Droughts
• Mitigation, Transportation, Buildings, Sequestration, Geoengineering, Conservation, Restoration
• Journals, Other Docs, Misc. Science, DIY Science, Models
• International Politics: Carbon Trade, Hormuz, South China Sea, GHGs & Airlines, Misc.
• Security, Law & Activism, Activism, Polls, H2O Biz, Religioso, Education
• National Politics: Britain, Europe, Australia, CSG, Elections, MDBP, India, China, Japan, South America
• Canada, Dilbit PR, Liberals, Northern Gateway, Ferguson, Salmon, BC, Tar Sands, Alberta, Sask, Ontario, North, Canadiana
• America, BP Disaster, Post Sandy, Keystone, Birth Control, Orcutt, Sequester, Cabinet, Obama, USAdmin, Congress, Lobbyists
• Ecological Economics, IPAT, Apocalypso, Fixes, Media, Video, Podcasts, Courts, BP Trial
• Energy, Transitions, Fracking, Coal, Oil & Gas, Corps, Oil & the Economy, Pipelines, Independence
• Peak Oil, Biofuel, Solar, Nukes, Nuclear Waste, Grid, Efficiency, Cars, Energy Storage
• Business, Joe's List, Carbon Lobby, Miscellaneous Climate, Useful Links
• Shameless Self Promotion, A Simple Plea, .sig

 

It's always nice to start with a chuckle:

• 2013/03/08: uComics: (cartoon - Toles) Reasons Why...
• 2013/03/05: uComics: (cartoon - Wiley) No Such Things As A Stupid Question
  

  Looking ahead to COP19 and future international climate negotiations:

• 2013/03/08: P3: Why Climate Sensitivity is Not Policy-Relevant
• 2013/03/07: TP:JR: Developed Nations Must Cut Emissions In Half By 2020, Says New Study
• 2013/03/07: RTCC: UNFCCC review offers opportunity to boost climate ambition
  The negotiating deadline for a new climate change agreement - 2015 - is approaching fast.
• 2013/03/05: RTCC: Splits emerging in UN climate deal agreed in Doha
  Divisions over plans to develop a global climate deal by 2015 appear as wide as ever after two influential groups of developing nations accused rich countries of undermining negotiations.
• 2013/03/04: RTCC: [Like-Minded Developing Countries (LMDC)] lay down UNFCCC Durban Platform terms
  The Like Minded Group of nations held its first meeting since the 2012 Doha climate talks in Geneva last week. It was attended by representatives from Bolivia, China, Cuba, Ecuador, Egypt, India, Mali, Malaysia, Nicaragua, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, and Venezuela.
• 
  

  The CITES conference in Bangkok has been in the news background all week:

   

• 2013/03/06: GRIDA: [link to 40 meg pdf] Elephants in the Dust - The African Elephant Crisis
  The African elephant, the largest remaining land mammal on the planet, is facing the greatest crisis in decades. Reports of mass elephant killings in the media vividly illustrate the situation across many African elephant range States. This Rapid Response Assessment provides an overview of the current state of the African elephant alongside recommendations for action to ensure its protection.
• 2013/03/06: CITES: [link to 30.8 meg pdf] New report warns of uncertain future for African elephants
  Elephant poaching doubled & illegal ivory trade tripled in recent years -- Enhanced law Enforcement, international collaboration and reducing demand required to avert crisis
• 2013/03/09: al Jazeera: Thailand should put an end to ivory trade
  Thailand has not fixed loopholes in its national laws pertaining to elephants and ivory, writes Schaedla.
• 2013/03/08: BBC: Turtle 'victory' at wildlife meeting
  Some of the world's most endangered turtles have been given additional protection at the Cites conservation meeting in Bangkok. Proposals on a large number of Asian freshwater turtles and tortoises and other species popular with pet owners were accepted by the government negotiators meeting in the Thai capital. Some of the amendments were proposed jointly by the United States and China, marking the first time these two countries have co-operated to protect reptiles.
• 2013/03/08: BBC: S Africa fears 2013 rhino slaughter will break records
  South African officials have warned a major conservation meeting that the poaching of rhinos is likely to reach record levels this year.
• 2013/03/07: Guardian(UK): Polar bears: politics trumps precaution every time
  The failure of 178 nations to halt Canada's export of polar bear skins was helped, idiotically, by the fact it is not yet on the very brink of oblivion
• 2013/03/07: Guardian(UK): Australia links 'angry summer' to climate change --- at last
  Government advisers unequivocally link the country's extreme weather and global warming, and say the worst is yet to come
• 2013/03/07: BBC: Polar bear trade ban vote defeated at meeting
• 2013/03/07: CSM: Conservationists reject polar bear trade ban
• 2013/03/07: CBC: Proposal to ban cross-border polar bear trade fails
  A proposal by the United States to ban cross-border trade in polar bears and their parts was defeated Thursday at an international meeting of conservationists, marking a victory for Canada's indigenous Inuit people over their big neighbour to the south. Delegates at the triennial meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, or CITES, rejected Washington's proposal to change the status of the polar bear from a species whose trade is merely regulated, not banned. The proposal fell far short of the two-thirds needed to pass, garnering 38 votes in favour, 42 against and 46 abstentions. A similar proposal was defeated three years ago at the last CITES meeting.
• 2013/03/06: BBC: Polar bear trade ban 'too close to call'
  An attempt to ban the international trade in polar bear parts has provoked a heated battle at the CITES conservation meeting in Bangkok.
• 2013/03/06: UN: Elephants under threat as trade in illegal ivory triples over past decade, UN report says
• 2013/03/06: BBC: Polar bear trade ban 'too close to call'
  An attempt to ban the international trade in polar bear parts has provoked a heated battle at the CITES conservation meeting in Bangkok.
• 2013/03/07: ScienceInsider: Bid to Restrict Polar Bear Trade Fails
• 2013/03/07: SciAm:EC: Great Apes in Crisis: Thousands Poached and Stolen from the Wild Annually [CITES]
• 2013/03/03: Guardian(UK): Thailand's prime minister pledges to outlaw domestic ivory trade
  Yingluck Shinawatra's announcement on opening day of CITES wildlife summit offers hope in war on elephant poaching
• 
  

  The Australian Climate Commission definitively attributes recent extreme weather on climate change:

   

• 2013/03/04: AustralianClimateCommission: [link to 3.4 meg pdf] The Angry Summer
• 2013/03/07: CCurrents: Climate Crisis Causes Australia's Angry Summer And The Worst Is Yet To Come
• 2013/03/05: Grist: Australia officially blames climate change for 'angry summer'
• 2013/03/05: RTCC: Australia summer heatwave linked to climate change
  Record-breaking temperatures linked to climate change are likely to become more frequent in Australia, the country's Climate Commission has warned.[Angry Summer report]
• 2013/03/05: DD: The Angry Summer: Government report blames climate change for weather extremes in Australia
• 2013/03/05: TP:JR: The Angry Summer: Report Blames Climate Change For Australia's Extreme Weather
• 2013/03/04: ABC(Au): Climate Commission: Australian 'climate on steroids'
• 2013/03/04: HotWhopper: Australia's Angry Summer [Climate 'on steroids' video]
• 2013/03/04: PSinclair: Angry Summer Downunder Sparks Disinformation and Spin
• 2013/03/04: TheConversation: Angry summer shaped by a shifting climate
• 2013/03/04: ABC(Au): Extreme summer proves the climate is changing: [ACC] report ['Angry Summer']
• 2013/03/04: ABC(Au): 'Angry Summer' made worse by climate change: Commission
  The latest report from the Federal Government's Climate Commission says the weather extremes experienced around the country this summer were made worse by climate change. The report - The Angry Summer - says the extreme heat, floods and bushfires experienced around country were all aggravated by a shifting climate, and it warns the trend is likely to continue.
• 
  

  The Marcott et al. reconstruction of Holocene temperatures is raising a ruckus:

   

• 2013/03/07: Science: (ab$) A Reconstruction of Regional and Global Temperature for the Past 11,300 Years by Shaun A. Marcott et al.
• 2013/03/10: PSinclair: Old: "The Hockey Stick". New: "The Scythe"
• 2013/03/08: SciAm: Global Average Temperatures Are Close to 11,000-Year Peak
  By the end of this century, Earth is set to get hotter than at any time since the last ice age
• 2013/03/09: CCurrents: Earth Hurtling Towards Temperatures Not Seen In 11,000 Years
• 2013/03/08: EarlyWarning: To Boldly Go Where None Have Been Before...
• 2013/03/08: PSinclair: From Hockey Stick to Ski Jump
• 2013/03/08: TP:JR: Bombshell: Recent Warming Is 'Amazing And Atypical' And Poised To Destroy Stable Climate That Enabled Civilization [Marcott]
• 2013/03/08: ABC(Au): Earth on track to be hottest in human history: study
• 2013/03/08: CNN: Global warming is epic, long-term study says
  If greenhouse gas emissions progress, Earth will become hotter than ever in 90 years - The temperature rise during man-made global warming has not happened before - 1900 - 1909 was one of the coldest decades in 11,300 years - 2000 - 2009 was one of the hottest decades in 11,300 years
• 2013/03/07: CSM: Global temperature rise is fastest in at least 11,000 years, study says
• 2013/03/07: P3: A new, longer, hockey stick
• 2013/03/07: SimpleC: Projected warming set to exceed civilisation's experience
• 2013/03/07: NSF: Earth Is Warmer Today Than During 70 to 80 Percent of the Past 11,300 Years
• 2013/03/07: NYT: Global Temperatures Highest in 4,000 Years
• 2013/03/07: WtD: Stunner: The hockey stick just got scarier, a new temp reconstruction of the last 11k years
• 2013/03/07: QuarkSoup: The Hockey Stick Gets a Much Longer Shaft
• 2013/03/07: Grist: A bigger, badder climate 'hockey stick'
• 2013/03/07: NatureN: Global temperatures are close to 11,000-year peak
  Planet is set to get hotter than at any time since last ice age by end of century.
• 2013/03/07: Eureka: Reconstruction of Earth climate history shows significance of recent temperature rise
  

  The inevitable discussion of an unnecessary annoyance:

• Wiki: Daylight saving time by country
• 2013/03/09: CBC: Daylight Saving Time brings fatigue, maybe heart attacks
  The clocks are about to play a nasty trick on us again with Daylight Saving Time
• 2013/03/08: CSM: Daylight saving time: Can springing ahead save energy or money?
  

  The Maldives saga looks to be a tragedy:

• 2013/03/05: al Jazeera: Police arrest former Maldives president
  Mohamed Nasheed detained for missing a court appearance relating to charges he illegaly arrested a judge while in power.
• 
  

  And on the Bottom Line:

   

• 2013/03/07: ICN: Shareholders File First-Ever 'Carbon Bubble' Resolutions
  Shareholder activists are concerned that fossil fuels could become unburnable because of climate laws -- and they want firms to divulge the financial risks.
• 2013/03/04: TreeHugger: Climate change is happening now and economic costs are enormous
  

  Who's getting the subsidies, tax exemptions, loan guarantees & grants?

• 2013/03/04: NYT: A Stealth Tax Subsidy for Business Faces New Scrutiny
  The last time the nation's tax code was overhauled, in 1986, Congress tried to end a big corporate giveaway. But this valuable perk -- the ability to finance a variety of business projects cheaply with bonds that are exempt from federal taxes -- has not only endured, it has grown, in what amounts to a stealth subsidy for private enterprise.
  [...]
  In all, more than $65 billion of these bonds have been issued by state and local governments on behalf of corporations since 2003, according to an analysis of Bloomberg bond data by The New York Times. During that period, the single biggest beneficiary of such securities was the Chevron Corporation, which issued bonds with a total face value of $2.6 billion...
• 2013/03/04: AutoBG: How Big Oil gets bigger: over $620 Billion spent on subsidies for fossil fuel in 2011
  

  John Cook and friends continue their point-counterpoint articles:

• 2013/03/09: SkS: Greedy Lying Bastards - Now In Theaters by dana1981
• 2013/03/09: SkS: 2013 SkS Weekly News Roundup #10 by John Hartz
• 2013/03/08: SkS: The educational opportunities in addressing misinformation in the classroom
• 2013/03/07: SkS: What doesn't change with climate? by Ari Jokimäki
• 2013/03/06: SkS: Cherrypicking to Deny Continued Ocean and Global Warming by dana1981
• 2013/03/05: SkS: Carbon Dioxide the Dominant Control on Global Temperature and Sea Level Over the Last 40 Million Years by Rob Painting
• 2013/03/04: SkS: China Takes a Leading Role in Solving Climate Change by dana1981
• 2013/03/03: SkS: 'Frozen Dirt' and Methane ... 'We Cannot Go There' by greenman3610
  

  TV Meteorologists typically follow the corporate media line, but not all...

• 2013/03/07: CJR: A laurel to WLTX meteorologist Jim Gandy
  For tackling climate change science in a red state where politics can polarize it
• 
  

  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 propagated 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:

   

• 2013/03/10: EneNews: AP: Over 30 million tons of nuclear waste in Fukushima alone - Smoking mounds of disaster debris, possibly from spontaneous combustion
• 2013/03/09: EneNews: WSJ: Molten fuel could be outside Fukushima reactor - Experts concerned it's not being cooled properly
• 2013/03/09: RT: Thousands gather for Tokyo anti-nuclear protest 2 yrs post-Fukushima (photos)
• 2013/03/09: JapanTimes: Water is both the savior and the bane at Fukushima No. 1
• 2013/03/09: EneNews: Fukushima Workers: Smoke was pouring out of Unit 1 before tsunami hit - "No doubt" quake crippled reactors - Could torpedo Japan's attempts to restart nuclear plants (video)
• 2013/03/08: Asia Times: Reality of Fukushima cleanup hits Japan
• 2013/03/08: DD: Flooding complicates clean-up at Fukushima nuclear plant - 'Every day we have approximately 400 metric tons of groundwater'
• 2013/03/07: Yahoo:Reuters: Flooding complicates clean-up at Japanese nuclear plant
• 2013/03/07: ABC(Au): Fukushima workers 'told to ignore radiation alerts'
  A nuclear worker has told the ABC how he was ordered inside wearing insufficient protective gear to tackle the 2011 Fukushima nuclear plant meltdown. Just a few days before the second anniversary of the crisis, a picture is emerging of what workers endured at the crippled plant.
• 2013/03/07: DeutscheWelle: Greenpeace: Fukushima victims are victims once again
• 2013/03/07: Reuters: Two years after Fukushima, Japan's nuclear lobby bounces back
• 2013/03/06: Guardian(UK): Life as a Fukushima clean-up worker -- radiation, exhaustion, public criticism
  Those at the coal face of dealing with the worst nuclear disaster for 25 years say they are seen as villains by Japan's public
• 2013/03/06: ABC(US): Japan Nuke Plant Progressing in Fuel Removal Plans
  Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant says it is making progress in plans to remove fuel from pool
• 2013/03/06: EneNews: Guardian: 2 years later and "still no closer to gauging state of damaged fuel" at Fukushima - Reuters: "Little useful data on fuel debris"
• 2013/03/06: EneNews: News reports discuss melted Fukushima fuel being underneath containment vessels
• 2013/03/05: TreeHugger: Fukushima radiation reveals migratory habits of Pacific bluefin tuna
• 2013/03/05: Reuters: Japan's "Long War" to shut down Fukushima
• 2013/03/05: CBC: Google begins to document post-tsunami Fukushima [with streetview]
• 2013/03/02: Independent(UK): 'I am one of the Fukushima fifty': One of the men who risked their lives to prevent a catastrophe shares his story
  They displayed a bravery few can comprehend, yet very little is known about the men who stayed behind to save Japan's stricken nuclear plant. In a rare interview, David McNeill meets Atsufumi Yoshizawa, who was at work on 11 March 2011 when disaster struck
• 2013/03/04: EneNews: Tokyo Professor: Radionuclides are being released continuously into ocean from Fukushima plant - Coming from somewhere around reactor housings (chart)
  

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

• 2013/03/05: AutoBG: German automakers building own wind, natural gas plants; to get away from nuclear
• 2013/03/04: NBF: Areva Says Japan will restart 6 reactors before the end of 2013
  

  The Arctic melt continues to garner attention:

• 2013/03/08: DM:ImaGeo: Thin sea ice linked to giant fractures off Alaska and Canada
• 2013/03/04: Grist: Climate change is melting open the North Pole
• 2013/03/04: CSM: Will ships sail through the North Pole by 2050?
• 2013/03/04: Guardian(UK): Ships to sail directly over the north pole by 2050, scientists say
• 2013/03/03: CCP: Angry Bear: Updates on atmospheric methane and volume measurements of Arctic sea ice
• 2013/03/02: ASI: The cracks of dawn
  

  As for the charismatic megafauna:

• 2013/03/07: Guardian(UK): Polar bears: politics trumps precaution every time
  The failure of 178 nations to halt Canada's export of polar bear skins was helped, idiotically, by the fact it is not yet on the very brink of oblivion
• 2013/03/06: CSW: Court of Appeals upholds decision to protect polar bears as a threatened species
  

  That Damoclean sword still hangs overhead:

• 2013/03/06: SustainabilityHub: A Human Caused Methane Avalanche
  

  As for the geopolitics of Arctic resources:

• 2013/03/08: EUO: Greenland warns EU may miss out on its mineral wealth
• 2013/03/07: CSM: China pushes for Arctic foothold, from a thousand miles away
• 2013/03/07: NatureN: Melting Arctic ice will make way for more ships and more species invasions
  A new study shows immense increases in shipping are likely over the North Pole and Arctic Ocean in the coming years, alerting scientists who study invasive species.
• 2013/03/06: SciAm:TCW: Climate change might open up Northwest Passage to shipping by the middle of the century
• 2013/03/06: CBC: North Pole shipping route could open by mid-century -- Northwest Passage expected to be navigable year-round
• 2013/03/05: RTCC: North Pole sea lane open for business by 2050 say experts
• 2013/03/05: CCurrents: Melting Arctic To Increase Geopolitical Tension
• 2013/03/04: PostMedia: U.S. study foresees big spike in Arctic shipping by mid-century
• 2013/03/04: Eureka: Global warming will open unexpected new shipping routes in Arctic, UCLA researchers find
  

  While in Antarctica:

• 2013/03/08: BBC: Antarctic ice volume measured [26.m km^3]
• 2013/03/08: ScienceInsider: Russian Team Reports New Life in Antarctica's Lake Vostok
• 2013/03/07: BBC: Russian scientists have claimed the discovery of a new type of bacterial life in water from a buried Antarctic lake [Vostok]
• 2013/03/07: RT: Russian scientists discover unidentified bacteria in sub-glacial Lake Vostok
• 2013/03/05: Eureka: The making of Antarctica's hidden fjords
  

  The food crisis is ongoing:

• 2013/03/08: CBC: UN predicts wheat production will be near record
• 2013/03/07: CBC: UN FAO predicts wheat production will be near record
  A U.N. food agency says the world is headed to the second largest wheat crop on record because of increased plantings in Europe and a recovery from drought in the U.S. Production is expected to increase to 690 million tons, up 4.3 per cent from 2012, the Rome-based Food and Agriculture Organization reported Thursday.
• 2013/03/07: BPA: Is Anyone Paying Attention? We've Lost 9.7 Million Acres of CRP [Conservation Reserve Program] Land in Five Years.
• 2013/03/06: Guardian(UK): Why food riots are likely to become the new normal
• 2013/03/05: CCurrents: Humanitarian Crisis Looms Across Somalia
• 2013/03/06: BBC: The children going hungry in America
  Child poverty in the US has reached record levels, with almost 17 million children now affected. A growing number are also going hungry on a daily basis.
• 2013/03/06: ABC(Au): Storms downgrade macadamia forecast
  

  The state of the world's fisheries is a concern:

• 2013/03/04: DD: Tuna population collapse fears fail to curb Japan's appetite...
  

  Food Prices are still problematic:

• FAO: World Food Situation - Food Price Indices
• 2013/03/07: UN: UN agency predicts record wheat crop, while global food prices remain stable
• 2013/03/07: FAO: Increased wheat production seen in 2013 -- FAO food price index stable
  

  The conflict between biofuel and food persists:

• 2013/03/05: SciAm: It's Time to Rethink America's Corn System
  Only a tiny fraction of corn grown in the U.S. directly feeds the nation's people, and much of that is from high-fructose corn syrup
• 2013/03/06: GaianEcon: Land for People and for Food
  

  So, are these land grabs Colonialism V2.0?

• 2013/03/08: CCurrents: The Indian Land Grab In Ethiopia
• 2013/03/05: Resilience: Governments must protect land, food systems as trade liberalization accelerates land grabbing
  

  Regarding the genetic modification of food:

• 2013/03/06: ERabett:BSD: The expert exception to consensus reliance
• 2013/03/06: Eureka: Scientists improve transgenic 'Enviropigs' -- Transgenic pigs could reduce livestock's impact on the environment
  

  Regarding labelling GM food:

• 2013/03/02: NoC: Maine Quietly Mounting Massive Support for Historic GMO Labeling Bill
  

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

• 2013/03/09: UN: UN food aid agency to feed 2.5 million people inside Syria by April
• 2013/03/08: ABC(Au): An edible forest garden
• 2013/03/08: UCSUSA:B: We Know How to Fix Farming
• 2013/03/08: Eureka: Farmers who commit totally to sell locally can make a profit
• 2013/03/08: FAO: On International Women's Day, FAO, IFAD, WFP and IDLO highlight link between women, violence and food security
• 2013/03/08: FAO: FAO's support in transforming the agriculture sector in Uganda -- Uganda encouraged to embrace commercial farming
• 2013/03/07: FAO: United Nations launches concerted push for effective drought policies -- Need to focus on building resilience and reducing risks
• 2013/03/06: FAO: Ending hunger and malnutrition in Malawi -- FAO, EU and Government of Malawi discuss way forward
• 2013/03/04: EurActiv: UN report: Women's education key to food security
  Improving education for women could dramatically reduce hunger in developing countries, says a United Nations report released today (4 March) that also calls for erasing gender inequalities in land ownership and financing to help address future food security. Women account for upwards of 30% of the food producers globally yet face major handicaps, including restrictions on land and inheritance rights, plus unequal footing when it comes to finance and technology, says the report released by the UN's special rapporteur on the right to food, Olivier De Schutter.
• 2013/03/04: UN: UN expert calls on countries to empower women to tackle hunger and malnutrition
  

  In the Western Pacific, TC Sandra is threatening the Solomons:

• 2013/03/10: ABC(Au): Tropical Cyclone Sandra strengthens
  Severe Tropical Cyclone Sandra has been upgraded to a Category 4 system. The cyclone is continuing to move east-southeast at about 11 kilometres per hour and is situated over the eastern Coral Sea, approximately 490 kilometres south-southeast of Rennell Island.
• 2013/03/09: ABC(Au): Solomon Islands brace as Cyclone Sandra strengthens
  Warnings have been issued for parts of Solomon Islands after Tropical Cyclone Sandra increased to a category 2 over the eastern Coral Sea.
• 2013/03/08: NASA: NASA Satellite Sees Sandra Strengthening at Sea
• 2013/03/08: ABC(Au): Cyclone Sandra forms off Qld coast
• 2013/03/07: Eureka: NASA's TRMM satellite sees Tropical Cyclone 19P form
• 2013/03/07: ABC(Au): Slow-moving cyclone set to form off Qld
  The weather bureau says a low pressure system in the Coral Sea is likely to become a cyclone in the next 24 hours. It is expected to slowly move east and not immediately pose a direct threat to the Queensland coast. The bureau's Tropical Cyclone Warning Centre said at 4pm (AEST) the system was located about 1,000 kilometres east of Cairns and travelling east northeast at 13kph.

• While elsewhere in the hurricane wars:

• 2013/03/07: ABC(Au): Rusty leaves algal bloom 'the size of Tasmania'
  Scientists from the University of Western Australia say they have been surprised by the impact of Cyclone Rusty on the sea off the Pilbara coast. Special instruments have revealed turbidity levels in the ocean increased to unprecedented levels as a result of the storm. Professor Charitha Pattiaratchi says Rusty left behind a huge algal bloom that can be seen from space.
• 2013/03/07: Eureka: Changes in heart attack timing continue years after hurricane [Katrina]
• 2013/03/07: Eureka: Higher heart attack rates continue 6 years after Katrina
• 2013/03/07: WSWS: Philippine typhoon victims storm government offices
  On the morning of February 26, approximately 3,000 victims of last December's Typhoon Pablo (Bopha) stormed government offices in Davao City, on the southern Philippine island of Mindanao. The crowd overwhelmed a small contingent of security guards at the regional office of the federal Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and carried away a stash of emergency relief goods, including sacks of rice and boxes of instant noodles.
• 2013/03/05: IOTD: Flooding along the De Grey River [TC Rusty]
  

  What's new in the Weather Machine?

• 2013/03/05: DD: Warming climate could mean bigger blizzards, less snow - 'The seasonal cycle is changing, and less of it accumulating'
• 2013/03/04: TP:JR: Snowquestration: How D.C. Fits In With The 'Less Snow, More Blizzards' Pattern
  

  This week in notable weather:

• 2013/03/08: W&C: Hey, Washington DC ... they sent your snow here!
• 2013/03/08: Wunderground: Sprawling Nor'easter still bringing heavy snow, damaging coastal floods
• 2013/03/08: al Jazeera: Spring floods into western Europe
  Stormy weather has lashed southwestern Europe with damaging winds and flooding rains causing widespread disruption.
• 2013/03/07: CSM: Northeastern snowstorm sweeps 'conveyor belt' of snow into New England
• 2013/03/07: NASA: NASA Provides Satellite Views of Nor'easter
• 2013/03/07: Wunderground: Winter storm dumps over 20 inches of snow on Virginia
• 2013/03/06: Wunderground: Heavy snows fall from Chicago to Virginia
• 2013/03/06: BBC: Snowstorm strikes US Midwest on way to east coast
• 2013/03/05: Wunderground: Chicago snowstorm headed toward the Mid-Atlantic
• 2013/03/05: al Jazeera: A March blizzard in bloom -- A winter storm is promising to bring destructive weather to almost half of the US.
• 2013/03/04: Wunderground: Winter storm to spread heavy snow from North Dakota to Virginia
• 2013/03/04: al Jazeera: Japan's newest storm proves deadly -- Hokkaido's record snowfall this winter could mean more problems this spring
  

  This week in the New Normal -- extreme weather:

• 2013/03/04: TMoS: It's Not Extreme Once It Becomes Normal
  

  Rossby Waves? Blocking Patterns? Arctic Oscillation? What is the Arctic melt doing to our weather?

• 2013/03/09: DD: Arctic ice loss amplified Superstorm Sandy violence
• 2013/03/06: SciNow: Winter Weather Linked to Rare Event Above North Pole
• 2013/03/05: TheConversation: Weather extremes: atmospheric waves and climate change [PIK]
  

  As for GHGs:

• 2013/03/09: CCP: Peter Gleick: Inevitable headline in 2014: CO2 at 400 ppm, first time in human history
• 2013/03/09: RealEconomics: Second-greatest annual rise in CO2 emissions
• 2013/03/08: Guardian(UK): Large rise in CO2 emissions sounds climate change alarm
• 2013/03/06: CCurrents: Dramatic Rise In CO2 And Possibility Of More Superstorms Like Sandy
• 2013/03/06: TP:JR: Big One-Year Jump In Atmospheric CO2 Brings Climate Catastrophe Closer
• 2013/03/05: CBC: U.S. scientists report big jump in heat-trapping CO2 - by 2.67 ppm for a total of just under 395 ppm
• 2013/03/05: ERW: Water dimers detected in atmospheric conditions
• 2013/03/05: Concordia: New method for greenhouse gas predictions
• 2013/03/04: EneNews: Officials: "Large release" of methane off Los Angeles coast -- Unusual concentrations detected by haz-mat crews - Gas may be from shift in tectonic plates (video)
  

  And the temperature record:

• 2013/03/08: Moyhu: TempLS global temp down 0.02°C in February
• 2013/03/09: DD: Australia's summer is hottest on record - Average temperature breaks previous summer temperature record, set in summer 1997/1998
• 2013/03/09: al Jazeera: Hot air balloons over southeastern Australia
  A large dome of hot air currently sits over southeastern Australia. It is set to get even hotter over the next few days.
• 
  

  Yes we have feedbacks:

   

• 2013/03/07: TheConversation: Stuck in a loop: understanding feedback to plan for the future
  

  Aerosols are making their presence felt:

• 2013/03/08: AFTIC: Volcanos may be countering greenhouse warming
• 2013/03/07: ERabett: Aerosols in the Woods
  

  While in the paleoclimate:

• 2013/03/07: ABC(Au): Scientists uncover prehistoric Arctic camels
• 2013/03/05: BBC: Woolly rhino site reveals ancient British temperature
  Scientists studying an exceptionally well-preserved woolly rhinoceros have revealed details of what Britain's environment was like 42,000 years ago.
• 2013/03/05: CBC: Next stop on the camel caravan: Canada's High Arctic
• 2013/03/05: Eureka: Remains of extinct giant camel discovered in High Arctic by Canadian Museum of Nature
• 2013/03/05: SciNews: Camel ancestors lived in the Arctic
  Fossils on Ellesmere Island suggest famous desert dweller got its start in the cold
• 2013/03/05: SciNow: Giant Camels Roamed Arctic Realms
• 2013/03/05: CBC: Ancient Arctic camel offers climate change clues
  Mummified bones dug from the tundra confirm animals developed in Canada's High Arctic Camels may be called the ships of the desert, but ancient, mummified bones dug from the tundra are confirming that the animals now synonymous with the arid sands of Arabia actually developed in what is now Canada's High Arctic. And those remains from Ellesmere Island -- the most northerly spot to ever yield camel bones -- are also raising important questions about the future of the warming Arctic.
• 2013/03/05: CSM: Humongous camels once roamed the Arctic, say scientists
• 2013/03/05: BBC: Giant camel fossil found in Arctic
  Camels are well known for their ability to survive the hot and dry conditions of the desert, but a study suggests they once thrived in colder climes. Scientists have unearthed the fossilised remains of a giant species of camel in Canada's High Arctic.
• 
  

  And in historical times:

   

• 2013/03/06: ABC(Au): 19th-century weatherman's trove of records found
  A northern New South Wales family has uncovered a meteorological treasure in the form of decades of meticulous weather records from more than a century ago.
• 
  

  While on the ENSO front:

   

• 2013/03/07: NOAA:NCEP: El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) Diagnostic Discussion
  Synopsis: ENSO-neutral is favored into the Northern Hemisphere summer 2013.
• 
  

  Regarding the solar hypothesis:

   

• 2013/03/06: ERabett: The Blog of the New Sun
• 2013/03/06: IOTD: A Quiet Interlude in Solar Max
  

  Regarding Climate Sensitivity:

• 2013/03/08: P3: Why Climate Sensitivity is Not Policy-Relevant
  

  The cliff, aka tipping points, aka planetary boundaries, put in an appearance:

• 2013/03/04: JCBaez: Tipping Points in Climate Systems
  

  What's new on the extinction front?

• 2013/03/08: ABC(Au): Plan to save pygmy possums from global warming
• 2013/03/07: TheConversation: Australian endangered species: Retro Slider
• 2013/03/07: SciAm:EC: Great Apes in Crisis: Thousands Poached and Stolen from the Wild Annually
• 2013/03/07: CCurrents: 3,000 Great Apes Lost Annually To Illegal Trade And Organised Crime
• 2013/03/06: CCurrents: Uncertain Future For African Elephants
• 2013/03/06: UExeter: Lizards facing mass extinction
  Climate change could lead to dozens of species of lizards becoming extinct within the next 50 years, according to new research. Globally it has been observed that lizards with viviparous reproduction (retention of embryos within the mother's body) are being threatened by changing weather patterns.
• 2013/03/05: CBC: Make grizzly bear hunt ban permanent, expert says
• 2013/03/04: SciNow: African Forest Elephant Population Plummeting
• 2013/03/04: TreeHugger: 3,000 great apes killed or captured every year, reports UN
• 2013/03/05: BBC: African forest elephants decline by 62% in 10 years
  Forest elephant numbers have decreased by 62% across Central Africa over the last 10 years, according to a study. The analysis confirmed fears that African forest elephants (Loxodonta cyclotis) are heading for extinction, possibly within the next decade.
• 
  

  The bees and Colony Collapse Disorder are a constant concern:

   

• 2013/03/06: Grist: Domesticated and wild bees are both in trouble
• 2013/03/04: AMNH: New Research Confirms Plight of Bumble Bees, Persistence of Other Bees in Northeastern United States
  

  Oh look! The Anthropocene came up again:

• 2013/03/05: Grist: Are humans really the planet's top dogs? Geologists will make the final call
  

  What's up with volcanoes this week?

• 2013/03/05: Grist: Volcanoes are keeping the planet from boiling over - for now
• 2013/03/04: SciNow: Earth Not So Hot Thanks to Volcanoes
  

  Meanwhile in near earth orbit:

• 2013/03/05: NatureN: ESA's climate-eye dilemma -- Scientists face difficult choice for Europe's next Earth-observation mission
• 2013/03/04: NOAANews: NOAA assumes full operational responsibilities of environmental satellite [Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (Suomi NPP)]
  

  More GW impacts are being seen:

• 2013/03/07: GreenGrok: Worker Slowdown in Global Warming World
• 2013/03/07: Maplecroft: 2012 least deadly for natural disasters in 10 years, but lack of resilience leaves key economies at 'extreme risk' - Maplecroft's Natural Hazards Risk Atlas 2013
• 2013/03/07: RTCC: Bangladesh, India & China at 'high risk' from natural disasters
  The planet's leading emerging markets lack the resilience to cope with natural disasters, new research from risk analysts Maplecroft reveals.
• 2013/03/08: DD: Climate change and deforestation threaten the ecological stability of Lake Tanganyika
• 2013/03/08: DD: Infographic: How climate change is destroying Earth
• 2013/03/08: Grist: Climate change is making animals shrink
• 2013/03/08: UKISS: Range shifts and species richness changes in the Himilayas due to AGW
  

  And then there are the world's forests:

• 2013/03/06: Resilience: The revival of tradition in France's forests
• 2013/03/04: DD: Graph of the Day: Trends in forest canopy green cover over the eastern United States, 2000-2010
• 2013/03/04: BBC: The first three cases of ash dieback [fungus] in 2013 have been found in Wales, the Forestry Commission has confirmed
  

  Climate refugees are becoming an issue:

• 2013/03/07: DD: Climate change forcing thousands in Bangladesh into slums of Dhaka
  

  Changes in natural cycles are showing up:

• 2013/03/07: al Jazeera: The first signs of spring
  Although winter isn't officially over until 20 March, it seems the weather is already changing
• 2013/03/05: PSinclair: Spring Back, Fall Forward
  

  As for heatwaves and wild fires:

• 2013/03/07: ABC(Au): Bushfire forces end to 15-month tree-sit protest
• 2013/03/10: MODIS: Fires in Myanmar
  

  Corals are a bellwether of the ocean's health:

• 2013/03/05: ABC(Au): Coral flood recovery to take 'decades'
  A reef expert says it could take decades for Hervey Bay's coral, off south-east Queensland, to recover from the most recent floods. University of Queensland researcher Ian Butler estimates up to 80 per cent of coral has died in some regions after the January floods.
• 2013/03/05: TheConversation: Jumps in ocean acidity put coral in more peril
  

  Glaciers are melting:

• 2013/03/09: Tamino: Ice Cover is Not "Stabilizing"
• 2013/03/08: TreeHugger: Where has all the ice gone? by Lester Brown
• 2013/03/08: FaGP: Sheldon Glacier retreat, Adelaide Island, Antarctica
• 2013/03/08: RTCC: Dramatic ice melt predicted in Canadian Arctic
  One fifth of Canada's Arctic Archipelago glaciers could melt by 2100, causing a sea level rise of 3.5cm, according to new research from the EU funded ice2sea programme.
• 2013/03/07: DD: Canada glaciers face 'big losses' - 'The processes that are currently ongoing will continue and be re-enforced, so the mass loss will increase in time'
• 2013/03/07: Eureka: Glaciers will melt faster than ever and loss could be irreversible warn scientists
  Canada's Arctic Archipelago glaciers will melt faster than ever in the next few centuries
• 2013/03/07: Ice2Sea: Glaciers will melt faster than ever and loss could be irreversible - warn scientists
• 2013/03/07: TMoS: Canada's Massive Glacier Melt
• 2013/03/07: BBC: Canadian glaciers face 'big losses'
  The glaciers of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago will undergo a dramatic retreat this century if warming projections hold true.
• 2013/03/04: FaGP: Patterson Glacier Retreat, Southeast Alaska
  

  Sea levels are rising:

• 2013/03/07: Grist: Surf's way, way up: Sea-level rise, explained
  

  As for hydrological cycle disruptions [floods & droughts]:

• 2013/03/07: CCentral: U.S. Drought Intensifies in Texas and Florida
• 2013/03/06: ABC(Au): Drought declared across northern New Zealand
• 2013/03/06: al Jazeera: Drought grips New Zealand -- Key farming areas of the North Island are worst hit
• 2013/03/05: ABC(Au): Floods swamp thousands of homes in Jakarta
  Indonesian authorities say more than 16,000 people have been affected by flooding in the capital Jakarta. The water came up overnight after heavy rains in Jakarta and upstream in Bogor, swamping areas of the capital that had only just recovered from January's major flood. Nearly 6,000 homes have been affected this time, with water up to 2.5 metres deep in some areas.
• 2013/03/04: ABC(Au): Trapped woman 'lucky' to survive floodwaters
  A canegrower who rescued a woman trapped in rising floodwaters in north Queensland says she was very lucky to survive. The woman was driving along Maraju-Yakapari Road, west of Mackay, when her car got washed into a creek about 11:00pm (AEST). Brett Leach says it was only by chance he went down to the creek that late at night.
• 2013/03/04: ABC(Au): Authorities still rescuing people stranded by flooding [in southern Queensland]
• 2013/03/03: RTCC: Why climate change means more rain -- and drought
  Researchers say they have found evidence that in the last 30 years wet seasons have been becoming wetter and dry ones drier, as changes in the seasonal precipitation cycle continue.
• 
  

  First, stop subsidizing fossil fuels
  Second, put a price on carbon
  And elsewhere on the mitigation front:

   

• 2013/03/08: TreeHugger: Protecting the Arctic from Climate Disruption
• 2013/03/08: TreeHugger: Chances for slowing climate change "fading fast"
  

  Consider transportation & GHG production:

• 2013/03/03: CSM: February car sales strong despite payroll tax, sequester
  

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

• 2013/03/04: TreeHugger: Historic modern house renovated to Passivhaus standard
  

  As for carbon sequestration:

• 2013/03/07: CornellSun: Sea Urchins May Save the World
  With global warming becoming an increasingly impactful issue, more and more avenues of resisting climate change are being explored. The latest answer? Sea urchins. Experts at Newcastle University, UK, discovered that sea urchins use nickel particles to convert carbon dioxide from the ocean into the harmless mineral, calcium carbonate. This capture of carbon dioxide, the key greenhouse gas responsible for climate change, could potentially play a key role in efforts against global warming.
• 2013/03/07: SciAm:GB: Post-Combustion CO2 Capture to Mitigate Climate Change: Separation Costs Energy
• 2013/03/07: GEP: European Commission Split on How to Advance CCS
  

  Large scale geo-engineering keeps popping up:

• 2013/03/07: Spectrum: A Clever But Questionable Approach to Geoengineering
• 2013/03/07: WheelerCentre: 'The Ultimate Technofix': Playing God with the Climate by Clive Hamilton
• 2013/03/04: GEP: Two New Studies Underline Need for Research Now
• 2013/03/04: BBC: Geoengineering: Goldilocks effect to cloud seeding
  

  What's new in conservation?

• 2013/03/07: Eureka: 'Climate-smart strategies' proposed for spectacular US-Canadian landscape
  Grizzly bear, wolverine, and bull trout among species ranked as 'highly' vulnerable to climate change and road use
• 
  

  What's new in restoration?

   

• 2013/03/06: GLaden: So, what do you think about de-extinction?
• 2013/03/06: SciAm:EC: De-Extinction: Can Cloning Bring Extinct Species Back to Life?
  

  Meanwhile in the journals:

• 2013/03/05: arXiv: Direct Statistical Simulation of Out-of-Equilibrium Jets by Steven Tobias & Brad Marston
• 2013/03/05: PNAS: (ab$) Long prereproductive selection and divergence by depth in a Caribbean candelabrum coral by Carlos Prada & Michael E. Hellberg
• 2013/03/05: PNAS: (abs) Recent land use change in the Western Corn Belt threatens grasslands and wetlands by Christopher K. Wright & Michael C. Wimberly
• 2013/03/05: PNAS: (ab$) The steady-state mosaic of disturbance and succession across an old-growth Central Amazon forest landscape by Jeffrey Q. Chambers et al.
• 2013/03/05: PNAS: (abs) Proteomic analysis of skeletal organic matrix from the stony coral Stylophora pistillata by Jeana L. Drake et al.
• 2013/03/05: PNAS: (ab$) Worldwide data sets constrain the water vapor uptake coefficient in cloud formation by Tomi Raatikainen et al.
• 2013/03/05: PNAS: (letter$) Inviable immigrants drive diversification in the sea by David W. Pfennig
• 2013/03/05: PNAS: (letter$) Geography of forest disturbance by Gregory P. Asner
• 2013/02/28: PLoS One: Statistical Basis for Predicting Technological Progress by Béla Nagy et al.
• 2013/03/07: Science: (ab$) A Reconstruction of Regional and Global Temperature for the Past 11,300 Years by Shaun A. Marcott et al.
• 2013/03/06: ACP: Re-evaluation of the lifetimes of the major CFCs and CH3CCl3 using atmospheric trends by M. Rigby et al.
• 2013/03/05: ACP: Analysis of present day and future OH and methane lifetime in the ACCMIP simulations by A. Voulgarakis et al.
• 2013/03/05: ACP: Global and regional temperature-change potentials for near-term climate forcers by W. J. Collins et al.
• 2013/03/04: ACP: Anthropogenic carbon dioxide source areas observed from space: assessment of regional enhancements and trends by O. Schneising et al.
• 2013/03/07: ACPD: Atmospheric inversion of SO2 and primary aerosol emissions for the year 2010 by N. Huneeus et al.
• 2013/02/26: SD:EP: (ab$) Analysing the greenhouse gas emission reductions of the mitigation action plans by non-Annex I countries by 2020 by Michel G.J. den Elzen et al.
• 2013/03/01: Science: (ab$) Synchronous Change of Atmospheric CO2 and Antarctic Temperature During the Last Deglacial Warming by F. Parrenin et al.
• 2013/03/07: BG: GCM characteristics explain the majority of uncertainty in projected 21st century terrestrial ecosystem carbon balance by A. Ahlström et al.
• 2013/03/05: BG: High tolerance of microzooplankton to ocean acidification in an Arctic coastal plankton community by N. Aberle et al.
• 2013/03/04: BG: Seasonal patterns in Arctic planktonic metabolism (Fram Strait - Svalbard region) by R. Vaquer-Sunyer et al.
• 2013/03/08: BGD: Enhancement of photosynthetic carbon assimilation efficiency of phytoplankton assemblage in the future coastal ocean by J.-H. Kim et al.
• 2013/03/05: BGD: Carbon density and anthropogenic land use influences on net land-use change emissions by S. J. Smith & A. Rothwell
• 2013/03/05: BGD: Does the Fukushima NPP disaster affect the caesium activity of North Atlantic Ocean fish? by G. Kanisch & M.-O. Aust
• 2013/03/08: CP: Iron fluxes to Talos Dome, Antarctica, over the past 200 kyr by P. Vallelonga et al.
• 2013/03/08: CP: On the origin of multidecadal to centennial Greenland temperature anomalies over the past 800 yr by T. Kobashi et al.
• 2013/03/08: CP: High-latitude environmental change during MIS 9 and 11: biogeochemical evidence from Lake El'gygytgyn, Far East Russia by R. M. D'Anjou et al.
• 2013/03/04: CP: Variability of the ocean heat content during the last millennium - an assessment with the ECHO-g Model by P. Ortega et al.
• 2013/03/04: CP: Modulation of Late Cretaceous and Cenozoic climate by variable drawdown of atmospheric pCO2 from weathering of basaltic provinces on continents drifting through the equatorial humid belt by D. V. Kent & G. Muttoni
• 2013/03/07: CPD: Mid-pliocene Atlantic meridional overturning circulation not unlike modern? by Z.-S. Zhang et al.
• 2013/03/04: CPD: Northward advection of Atlantic water in the eastern Nordic Seas over the last 3000 yr: a coccolith investigation of volume transport and surface water changes by C. V. Dylmer et al.
• 2013/03/04: CPD: On the Milankovitch sensitivity of the Quaternary deep-sea record by W. H. Berger
• 2013/03/07: WoL:GRL: (ab$) Irreversible mass loss of Canadian Arctic Archipelago glaciers by Jan T. M. Lenaerts et al.
• 2012/12/18: WoL:JQS: A Middle Devensian woolly rhinoceros (Coelodonta antiquitatis) from Whitemoor Haye Quarry, Staffordshire (UK): palaeoenvironmental context and significance by Danielle Schreve et al.
• 2013/03/04: GMD: Evaluation of the carbon cycle components in the Norwegian Earth System Model (NorESM) by J. F. Tjiputra et al.
• 2013/03/05: OS: Manifestation of two meddies in altimetry and sea-surface temperature by I. Bashmachnikov et al.
• 2013/03/05: OS: Arctic rapid sea ice loss events in regional coupled climate scenario experiments by R. Döscher & T. Koenigk
• 2013/03/05: OSD: Tidal variability of the motion in the Strait of Otranto by L. Ursella et al.
• 2013/03/04: TC: A century of ice retreat on Kilimanjaro: the mapping reloaded by N. J. Cullen et al.
• 2013/03/05: TCD: An iterative inverse method to estimate basal topography and initialize ice flow models by W. J. J. van Pelt et al.
• 2013/03/05: TCD: Cascading water underneath Wilkes Land, East Antarctic Ice Sheet, observed using altimetry and digital elevation models by T. Flament et al.
• 2013/03/04: TCD: Uncertainties and re-analysis of glacier mass balance measurements by M. Zemp et al.
• 2013/03/04: TCD: Sensitivity of lake ice regimes to climate change in the nordic region by S. Gebre et al.
• 2013/03/08: ACP: Carbon dioxide and climate impulse response functions for the computation of greenhouse gas metrics: a multi-model analysis by F. Joos et al.
• 2013/03/08: ACP: Observation-based assessment of stratospheric fractional\newline release, lifetimes, and ozone depletion potentials of ten important source gases by J. C. Laube et al.
• 2013/03/08: OS: Sea level trend and variability in the Singapore Strait by P. Tkalich et al.
• 2013/03/08: OS: Co-existence of wind seas and swells along the west coast of India during non-monsoon season by R. Rashmi et al.
• 2013/03/07: OS: Towards an integrated forecasting system for fisheries on habitat-bound stocks by A. Christensen et al.
• 2013/03/08: GMDD: Atmospheric dissolved iron deposition to the global oceans: effects of oxalate-promoted Fe dissolution, photochemical redox cycling, and dust mineralogy by M. S. Johnson & N. Meskhidze
• 2013/03/07: TC: Investigating the dynamics of bulk snow density in dry and wet conditions using a one-dimensional model by C. De Michele et al.
• 2013/03/08: TCD: Sea ice dynamics influence halogen deposition to Svalbard by A. Spolaor et al.
• 2013/03/08: TCD: Data assimilation and prognostic whole ice-sheet modelling with the variationally derived, higher-order, open source, and fully parallel ice sheet model VarGlaS by D. J. Brinkerhoff & J. V. Johnson
• 2013/03/07: TCD: Region-wide glacier mass balances over the Pamir-Karakoram-Himalaya during 1999-2011 by J. Gardelle et al.
• 2013/03/06: TCD: The effects of additional black carbon on Arctic sea ice surface albedo: variation with sea ice type and snow cover by A. A. Marks & M. D. King
• 2013/03/06: TCD: A particle based simulation model for glacier dynamics by J. A. Åström et al.
• 2013/03/05: Nature:CC: (ab$) Mid-Pliocene warm-period deposits in the High Arctic yield insight into camel evolution by Natalia Rybczynski et al.
• 2013/03/03: Nature:CC: (ab$) Malaria epidemics and the influence of the tropical South Atlantic on the Indian monsoon by B. A. Cash et al.
• 2013/03/03: Nature:CC: (ab$) The critical role of extreme heat for maize production in the United States by David B. Lobell et al.
• 2013/03/03: Nature:GeoSci: (ab$) Increase in the range between wet and dry season precipitation by Chia Chou et al.
• 2013/03/01: Science: (ab$) Leads and Lags at the End of the Last Ice Age by Edward J. Brook
  

  And other significant documents:

• 2013/03/06: GRIDA: [link to 40 meg pdf] Elephants in the Dust - The African Elephant Crisis
  The African elephant, the largest remaining land mammal on the planet, is facing the greatest crisis in decades. Reports of mass elephant killings in the media vividly illustrate the situation across many African elephant range States. This Rapid Response Assessment provides an overview of the current state of the African elephant alongside recommendations for action to ensure its protection.
• 2013/03/06: CITES: [link to 30.8 meg pdf] New report warns of uncertain future for African elephants
  Elephant poaching doubled & illegal ivory trade tripled in recent years -- Enhanced law Enforcement, international collaboration and reducing demand required to avert crisis
• 2013/03/04: SP: [link to 2 meg pdf] New Report from Sustainable Prosperity indicates that Canadian energy companies are already internalizing a carbon price
• 2013/03/04: AustralianClimateCommission: [link to 3.4 meg pdf] The Angry Summer
  

  As for miscellaneous science:

• 2013/03/05: ScienceInsider: Italian Science Museum Burns
• 2013/03/06: SciAm:TCW: Solomon Snyder on academic publishing: ask for adequate, not exhaustive, documentation
• 2013/03/07: IOTD: Storms Come in Many Forms
• 2013/03/05: BVerheggen: Response to John Christy's blog post regarding 'Klotzbach Revisited' by Jos Hagelaars
• 2013/03/04: CBC: Deep Carbon [Observatory] study finds science-fiction worlds underground
  Scientists study movement of carbon deep below Earth's surface The solutions to climate change may lie in the planet's deepest recesses, as scientists are going deeper underground to study the movement of carbon kilometres below the Earth's surface. The solutions to climate change may lie in the planet's deepest recesses, as scientists are going deeper underground to study the movement of carbon kilometres below the Earth's surface. (Deep Carbon Observatory) Turns out space isn't the only final frontier. Scientists from 40 countries are boldly going deep, deep underground to study the movement of carbon kilometres below the Earth's surface.
• 2013/03/04: RTCC: Antarctic ice cores back CO2 and temperature link
• 2013/02/25: PTB: Accurate water vapour measurements for improved weather and climate models
  A new PTB laser hygrometer for research aircraft has proven suitable as a transfer standard
• 2013/03/03: ERabett: Not all priors are equally defensible
  

  More DIY science:

• 2013/03/08: Guardian(UK): Seafarers, science needs you! Help us collect data on the oceans
  

  What's new in models?

• 2013/03/08: ABC(Au): New climate model to improve seasonal forecasts
  The Bureau of Meteorology is switching to a new forecasting model. It's called the Predictive Ocean Atmosphere Model for Australia, also known as POAMA. NT climate services manager, Joel Lisonbee, says it should mean greater accuracy for seasonal forecasts.
• 
  

  And on the carbon trading front:

   

• 2013/03/10: ABC(Au): Billions up for grabs
  The Tasmanian Government stands to gain billions of dollars in carbon credits from native forests earmarked for protection under the forest peace deal. The Commonwealth has confirmed forests protected through the peace deal can be credited under the Carbon Farming Initiative. Carbon stored in the trees is valued, and the credits traded on international markets to offset emissions.
• 2013/03/08: BBC: EU court rebuffs Poland over CO2 emissions
  Poland has voiced dismay after the European Court of Justice rejected a legal complaint it made about the EU's mechanism for cutting carbon emissions.
• 2013/03/07: RTCC: Poland loses EU carbon market legal challenge
  Poland will not receive extra carbon allowances in the next phase of the EU's Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) after a court ruled the European Commission was within its rights to restrict allocations to members in 2011.
• 2013/03/07: BBerg: Poland Loses EU Court Appeal of Carbon Permit Hand-Out Rules
  Poland lost a European Union court appeal seeking to quash EU rules on how to allocate free carbon- dioxide permits in the world's largest emissions market starting this year. The regulation contested by Poland doesn't infringe Poland's rights to decide about its energy mix, the EU General Court in Luxembourg ruled today. Poland sued the Brussels-based European Commission in July 2011 saying the EU regulator failed to take into account fuel usage patterns in individual member states when devising the carbon-efficiency benchmarks. The standards, which are used to determine the number of free permits for emitters after 2012 are "more restrictive" than required to meet the climate- protecting targets, the Polish Foreign Ministry said last year.
• 2013/03/06: EurActiv: Lawmakers push structural measures to prop up carbon price
  Five weeks after voting down the 'backloading' (or withholding) of allowances to raise carbon prices, the European Parliament's industry committee is proposing two far-more ambitious structural measures. MEPs will vote in plenary next week on a non-binding but surprisingly hard-hitting report on the EU's Energy Roadmap 2050, which calls for the EU to limit the amount of carbon allowances in the EU's Emissions Trading System, and to consider implementing a carbon price floor. "We really have to make a statement and we're doing it again," said Judith Merkies, a committee member. "Even though CO2 prices might be very low, we still have to go towards zero emissions."
• 2013/03/06: TheConversation: Linking to Europe's ETS: how to make it work [EU ETS + Aus CPM = ?]
• 2013/03/06: RTCC: Broken EU carbon market has limited climate impact - report
  The EU must press ahead with ambitious reforms of its carbon market if it is to continue to stimulate emission reductions, according to a new study.
• 
  

  On the international political front, tensions continue as the empire leans on Iran:

   

• 2013/03/07: CSM: US, Israeli threats of force against Iran are illegal and harm chances for a deal
• 2013/03/07: Asia Times: What went right at Almaty?
• 2013/03/07: WSWS: US Vice President reinforces military threat against Iran
• 2013/03/06: Asia Times: Iran to set up oil refinery in Gwadar
  Karachi - Iran plans to set up the largest refinery in Pakistan, a US$4 billion facility at Gwadar in the country's southwestern Balochistan province. Islamabad and Tehran are set to sign a deal for the refinery, which will have a 400,000 barrels per day capacity, on March 11, the day two sides have announced they will begin the Iran-Pakistan (IP) gas pipeline project on their border.
• 2013/03/05: CCurrents: The Sanctions On Iran Are Against International Law: Thierry Meyssan
• 2013/03/05: CSM: Will the US block an Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline?
  Next week Iran and Pakistan will begin work on a $7.5 billion gas pipeline that the US has been fighting tooth and nail to stop in all manner of proxy methods. On 11 March, Pakistani officials braved the "international community" by announcing that "groundbreaking" work on the 780-kilometer pipeline would begin on the Pakistani side of the border, marking the start of construction by an Iranian-Pakistani consortium. Just prior to the announcement, Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari met with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Tehran. The Pakistani portion of the pipeline will cost around $1.5 billion. This is the key here because the 900-kilometer Iranian portion of the pipeline is already nearing completion. more The pipeline will go ahead largely because Pakistan's energy crisis dictates that it must. And even US sanctions won't prevent it, and threats emanating from Washington (largely through the US mainstream media) are only working to increase already volatile anti-American sentiment in Pakistan.
• 2013/02/26: SST: Top Ten Myths About Iran by Dr. Christopher Bolan
  

  South [& East] China Sea tension persists:

• Wiki: Paracel Islands, Xisha Islands in Chinese, Hoàng Sa Islands in Vietnamese
• 2013/03/05: CSM: China-Japan island dispute opens door to misunderstandings
• 2013/03/05: WSWS: Japanese PM prepares for war
  

  Now that the EU-ETS for airlines is in year long limbo, will it ever be resurrected?

• 2013/03/04: EurActiv: New research fuels global 'ETS for airlines' idea
  Airlines will only approach the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO)'s goal of 'carbon neutral growth' from 2020 with a global market-based measure such as an emission trading system (ETS), says a new study by a leading atmospheric scientist. The report, 'Bridging the aviation CO2 emissions gap: why emissions trading is needed' by David Lee of Manchester Metropolitan University explored three different scenarios for cutting emissions: improved technology, accelerated development of biofuels, and the application of carbon pricing models.
• 2013/03/04: Reuters: Carbon pricing needed to control airline CO2 emissions: study
  Aviation pollution can only be stabilized by the middle of the century if a price is set on airline carbon emissions, research said, countering industry hopes that green goals can be met via technology improvements and biofuels.
• 
  

  And in miscellaneous international political jousting:

   

• 2013/03/10: CNN: Falkland Islands hold referendum on disputed status
  Falkland Island residents are voting on whether to remain a British Overseas Territory - Argentina, which knows the islands as Las Malvinas, disputes British sovereignty - The UK government says the islanders have a right to self-determination - Britain and Argentina went to war over the South Atlantic territory in 1982
• 2013/03/10: BBC: The population of the Falkland Islands is going to the polls on Sunday and Monday in a referendum on whether to remain a British overseas territory
  

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

• 2013/03/09: CCP: Climate Change is the Top Threat according to the Commander of US Forces Pacific
• 2013/03/09: DD: How a drought in China may have helped spark the Arab Spring...
• 2013/03/06: Guardian(UK): Why food riots are likely to become the new normal
  The link between intensifying inequality, debt, climate change, fossil fuel dependency and the global food crisis is undeniable
• 2013/03/04: CCurrents: Climate Change As History's Deal-Breaker
  

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

• 2013/03/05: ABC(Au): Anti-logging protesters arrested
  Two anti-logging protesters have been arrested in Tasmania's central highlands. It is the second time in the past month that members of the group Still Wild Still Threatened have targeted the Butlers Gorge area.
• 
  

  What are the activists up to?

   

• 2013/03/09: CCP: Rolling Stone: The Case for Fossil Fuel Divestment [McKibben]
• 2013/03/08: Tyee: Coal Opponents Forging Cross-border Ties
  Plans to ramp up exports from Washington, Oregon and BC are uniting opposition across 49th Parallel.
• 2013/03/07: ABC(Au): Bushfire forces end to 15-month tree-sit protest
  An anti-logging activist who has spent more than a year up a tree in Tasmania's south has been forced down by a bushfire. Miranda Gibson, 31, had been up the tree since December 2011, protesting against native logging in the state. Her supporters say police advised her to come down because an uncontrolled blaze is moving quickly toward the 60-metre platform. Ms Gibson says it was a difficult decision to evacuate, but necessary.
• 2013/03/06: CCP: "Actipedia" Crowdsourcing Platform Goes Public, in collaborate with the Yes Lab and the Center for Artistic Activism
• 2013/03/06: CCP: Dreams of European Investment Bank Quitting Coal Go Up in Smoke - For Now
• 2013/03/06: Grist: The children: Why a generation is putting itself on the line for the climate
• 2013/03/05: Grist: Knock it off, NYT: In defense of James Hansen and other climate hawks [McKibben]
• 2013/03/04: ABC(Au): Pacific warriors campaign against climate change
  

  Polls! We have polls!

• 2013/03/06: CCentral: Concern Over Climate Change Grows, Poll Finds
• 2013/03/08: Grist: Cluefulness on climate change is on the rise, even among Republicans
• 2013/03/09: WtD: The rich and religious reject climate science: majority US accept the climate change; 33% on more than $80k deny the evidence; 11% reject for religious reasons
• 2013/03/04: Guardian(UK): How extreme weather acts as a catalyst for climate concern
  As the impacts of global warming start to hit home, we are seeing weather-related variation in public perceptions
• 
  

  Regarding Water Politics and Business:

   

• 2013/03/08: WMO: United Nations launches concerted push for effective drought policies -- Need to focus on building resilience and reducing risks
• 2013/03/07: JFleck: Farming and mining in California
• 2013/03/07: JFleck: Now that's some high value water
• 2013/03/07: WMO: Special High Level U.N. thematic session on water and disasters
• 2013/03/06: JFleck: How we do drought in the first world
• 2013/03/06: JFleck: "The environment has always gotten the short end of the stick."
• 2013/03/06: JFleck: Everything's bigger in Texas, including the difficulties of doing water conservation
• 2013/03/05: JFleck: More on where the Bellagio fountain gets its water
• 2013/03/05: JFleck: Landmark Arizona-Nevada water deal coming to an end
• 2013/03/03: EarthMag: Releasing a flood of controversy on the Colorado River
  

  Among the world's religions:

• 2013/03/05: CCP: Rev. Michael Dowd: Preaching on Climate Change
  

  Regarding science education:

• 2013/03/07: Grist: Schools across the U.S. will soon start teaching real climate science
• 2013/03/07: PSinclair: Trouble Maker of the Year: Zack Kopplin
• 2013/03/04: ICN: Climate Change Science Poised to Enter Nation's Classrooms
  New standards recommend teaching man-made global warming in all science classes. Some textbook publishers to incorporate curriculum immediately.
• 
  

  While in the UK:

   

• 2013/03/07: BBC: UK in court on air pollution levels
  The government is facing a case in the UK Supreme Court later over its failure to cut air pollution in line with legal limits. The government admits air quality laws will be breached in 15 regions until 2020. Londoners will have to wait until 2025 for pollution to enter legal limits.
• 2013/03/07: Guardian(UK): Climate change poses a far greater threat to Scotland's future oil revenues
• 2013/03/07: BBC: Biofuels: MPs agree subsidies for power stations
• 2013/03/05: NBF: For UK to Meet Legally Binding Greenhouse Gas Targets They will need to Triple Nuclear Power by 2050
• 2013/03/05: BBC: Biofuels: MPs to consider subsidies for power stations
  MPs are due to decide on Wednesday whether to accept controversial plans for new subsidies to burn trees and plants in UK power stations.
• 2013/03/05: RTCC: Palm oil: green fuel or rainforest killer?
  UK Governments plan to use imported palm oil to generate electricity has run into opposition from campaigners, who are urging Ministers to reconsider the idea.
• 2013/03/04: Guardian(UK): UK needs 'plan B' for new nuclear power, say MPs
• 2013/03/04: Guardian(UK): Anti-fracking protesters set up drilling rig in George Osborne's constituency
  Greenpeace's rush hour stunt aimed to highlight fact that licences for gas exploration have been issued in area
• 2013/03/04: Guardian(UK): UKIP's energy and climate policies under the spotlight
  The party's official energy policy is an incoherent mixture of anti-environmentalism and a disregard for scientific evidence
• 2013/03/04: OilChange: 60,000 Say No to EDF's Legal Bullying
• 2013/03/03: BBC: UK must adapt for weather extremes, says Environment Agency
  

  And in Europe:

• 2013/03/08: BBC: EU court rebuffs Poland over CO2 emissions
  Poland has voiced dismay after the European Court of Justice rejected a legal complaint it made about the EU's mechanism for cutting carbon emissions.
• 2013/03/07: DerSpiegel: Encumbered Lumber : Europe Seeks Hard Line on Illegal Logging
  Until recently, European companies could import illegally felled lumber with no fear of prosecution. New EU regulations are meant to take a tougher stance, but individual member states still write most of their own rules. Critics say Germany is falling short.
• 2013/03/05: EurActiv: Landfills continue to rule despite EU recycling target
  Recycling and composting of waste grew in the last decade across Europe, but most countries still dump the bulk of their garbage despite their obligations to recycle half of trash by 2020, new EU statistics show.
• 2013/03/05: EurActiv: Brussels introduces rules to combat illegal logging
  European rules to combat the trade of illegal timber have come into force, but NGOs and think tanks doubt the readiness of EU countries to carry out the legislation.
• 2013/03/05: WtD: Climate sceptic, retiring Czech president, Vaclav Klaus charged with "high treason"
• 2013/03/04: EurActiv: EIB 'haunted' by decision to fund Slovenian coal plant
  An annual European Investment Bank (EIB) conference in Brussels on 28 February was eclipsed by colourful protests against a controversial EIB-funded Slovenian coal plant, described by a senior bank source as "one of those projects that tends to haunt you".
• 
  

  Meanwhile in Australia:

   

• 2013/03/10: ABC(Au): Billions up for grabs
• 2013/03/08: ABC(Au): Parker accused of snubbing climate council
  The New South Wales Government has been accused of dropping the ball on climate change. The Climate Change Council was set up to advise the Government on developing policy responses to extreme weather and climate variability. But one of its members, John Connor from the Climate Institute, says the council has not met with Environment Minister Robyn Parker in more than a year.
• 2013/03/08: TheConversation: We need to think about fire in Tasmania's forests
• 2013/03/08: ABC(Au): Premier rejects lack of back-burning blame
  Tasmania's Premier maintains Cabinet's decision to defer a boost in fuel reduction burns did not contribute to the intensity of January bushfires in Tasmania's south-east. Lara Giddings has rejected suggestions the Government's decision to shelve funding for fuel reduction burns could have played a role in the fires. Ms Giddings has confirmed that two years ago, Cabinet ignored advice from the Government's Fire Management Council to spend an extra $25.7 million, opting instead to spend $400,000 investigating the proposal.
• 2013/03/07: WSWS: Australia: Victorian premier removed as state slides into recession
• 2013/03/06: ABC(Au): Baillieu stands down as Victorian Premier
  Ted Baillieu has quit as premier of Victoria, saying he has stood down for the "best interests of the Government". Former racing minister Denis Napthine was elected the new leader during an emergency party room meeting this evening, and has now been sworn in as Premier.
• 2013/03/06: NewAnthropocene: The Many Inconsistencies of Greg Hunt
• 2013/03/06: ABC(Au): More prescribed burns may have eased blaze 'sooner'
  Farmers in communities near a large bushfire in the Grampians say more prescribed burning may have prevented the blaze from burning for so long. The Grampians bushfire is contained but has burnt through almost 39,000 hectares since it began three weeks ago.
• 2013/03/06: ABC(Au): High Court hears Fortescue's objections to mining tax
  The High Court's been told the Federal Government's Minerals Resource Rent Tax breaches the constitution because it is applied differently in each State. Mining magnate Andrew Forrest, the founder and major shareholder of Western Australian iron ore producer Fortescue Metals, wants the High Court to rule the tax invalid.
• 2013/03/06: ABC(Au): Kilmore East fire warnings 'too little, too late'
  The Victorian Supreme Court has heard some communities burned by the deadliest Black Saturday bushfire were not warned until after the fire hit them.
• 2013/03/06: ABC(Au): Region's weather changing
  A climate change expert says the New South Wales south east is becoming hotter and drier due to global warming. Climate Change Commissioner, Professor Lesley Hughes, will be in Bega next week to conduct a question and answer session on the effects of changing weather patterns.
• 2013/03/05: TheConversation: Where is Australia headed? Some future projections [Australia 2050 project]
• 2013/03/05: ABC(Au): The Tasmanian Government has announced the terms of reference for an inquiry into the January bushfires
• 2013/03/04: TheConversation: Tricky navigation: guiding Australia to a safe, sustainable future
• 2013/03/04: ABC(Au): Independent Snowy Scientific Committee axed
  Water releases for the Snowy River are in question following a proposal by the New South Wales Government to abolish the independent Snowy Scientific Committee
• 2013/03/04: ABC(Au): Wind farms beneficial: Clean Energy Council
  According to recent research conducted by the Clean Energy Council, wind farming has reportedly generated more than $4 billion in investment in Australia since its introduction. Much of this investment has been in rural and regional towns.
• 2013/03/04: AAS: Australia in 2050 -- Towards an environmentally sustainable and socially equitable way of living
  

  The questions over coal seam gas are still kicking around:

• 2013/03/08: ABC(Au): CSG equipment feeling the heat of underground water [in central west Queensland]
• 2013/03/08: ABC(Au): Elevated gas levels at CSG fields 'horrifying'
  A community group on southern Queensland's Western Downs is calling for more independent testing after research suggesting elevated gas levels at local coal seam gas (CSG) wells. A new study by Southern Cross University researchers has found atmospheric radon levels are three times higher around CSG wells sampled near Tara, north-west of Toowoomba.
• 2013/03/08: ABC(Au): CSG exploration moves into Vic
  The battle over coal seam gas mining has reached Victoria. The industry there has just started to explore. Victorian landholders are following farmers in New South Wales and Queensland and starting to protest against any moves to explore and mine coal seam gas. They argue the state hasn't got the regulations or resources to deal with this type of mining, and they're worried about adverse effects it may have on their land.
• 2013/03/07: ABC(Au): Environmentalists urge federal politicians to halt CSG
  Activists across the Hunter have delivered letters to the region's federal MPs urging them to take action above state governments on coal seam gas (CSG) development.
• 2013/03/05: ABC(Au): WA waives carbon emission restrictions on gas project
  Environmentalists fear that a decision which could lead to an increase in emissions may have come about by a West Australian Government misunderstanding of the carbon tax regime. The state's Environment Minister has decided to waive emission restrictions on Chevron's Wheatstone project, as well as the prospective Browse Basin project. Bill Marmion said the conditions were unnecessary because of the carbon tax. Freedom of Information documents obtained by PM show the Minister went against the advice of his own department, and the Environmental Protection Authority.
• 2013/03/04: ABC(Au): BP calls for more informed debate on CSG
  

  It's a long way to the September election:

• 2013/03/10: ABC(Au): 'Gillard factor' blamed for Labor's election loss
  A former senior state Labor minister is standing by her call for the Prime Minister Julia Gillard to resign over the ALP's resounding West Australian election loss. Alannah MacTiernan, who has been involved in West Australian politics for decades, warns the party it can expect worse results at the federal election unless Ms Gillard stands aside.
• 2013/03/10: ABC(Au): [WA] Liberals elected in landslide victory
  WA Premier Colin Barnett claims victory, promising "good government for another four years".
• 2013/03/10: ABC(Au): Abbott denies faith will dictate politics
  Federal Opposition Leader Tony Abbott says he can guarantee that his religious views will not impact on policies about women. The Liberal leader has also backtracked from his previous views on homosexuals and saying the numbers of abortions each year is a "legacy of unutterable shame". He has told Nine Network's 60 minutes program that he did not say what he meant to and distanced himself from controversial comments he had previously made.
• 2013/03/09: BBerg: Western Australia Liberals Re-Elected in Blow to Gillard's Labor
• 2013/03/08: ABC(Au): Windsor wants ETS as soon as possible
  The federal independent MP Tony Windsor says politicians should be considering a move straight from a carbon tax to an emissions trading scheme as soon as possible. The Australian Industry Group pitched the idea this week, but the Government says it's committed to making the switch in 2015. But today Mr Windsor told Sabra Lane that moving directly to an ETS now would defuse the politics and let businesses reduce their emissions at the lowest cost sooner.
• 2013/03/07: ABC(Au): Politicians reject call for early shift to emissions trading
  The Federal Government and Opposition have dismissed a call from the Australian Industry Group to move to an emissions trading scheme (ETS) two years early. The employer organisation wants an immediate shift from the carbon tax to an ETS so that a carbon trading scheme would be in place before the September election.
• 2013/03/06: ABC(Au): Hockey, Abbott 'on same page' on carbon tax compo
  Shadow Treasurer Joe Hockey has rejected suggestions he is at odds with his leader over whether the Coalition would keep any of the carbon tax compensation. Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has suggested that a future Coalition government would keep some of the compensation in place despite plans to scrap the tax.
• 
  

  After years of wrangling the Murray Darling Basin plan is in place, but the water management fights are not over:

   

• 2013/03/08: ABC(Au): MDB research centre under threat
  Australia's only freshwater research centre focussed on the Murray Darling basin will close if it doesn't get ongoing funding from State and Federal Governments. The Murray-Darling Freshwater Research Centre will start retrenching its 50 staff at the end of the month due to a $3 million shortfall.
• 2013/03/08: ABC(Au): Korumburra facing water supply woes
• 2013/03/08: ABC(Au): Farmers bid at first water auction
  About 40 farmers have attended Tasmania's first water auction where 2,000 megalitres of irrigation water went under the hammer. The auction aimed to sell the remaining water in seven new irrigation schemes stretching from Scottsdale to the southern midlands.
• 2013/03/06: ABC(Au): Menindee water releases 'sheer stupidity'
  The Murray-Darling Basin Authority is increasing the amount of water it is releasing from the Menindee Lakes. From tomorrow, 4,000 megalitres of water a day will be released - up from 3,600 megalitres. State Member for Murray-Darling John Williams, who represents the area, has described the decision as "absolute and sheer stupidity". He says the MDBA should find a new way to transfer water to South Australia instead of taking it from the Menindee Lakes.
• 2013/03/06: ABC(Au): GMW to release water into mid-Murray storages
  A northern Victorian water authority will begin pumping water from Lake Boga into mid-Murray storages later this month. Goulburn Murray Water (GMW) says the release will lower the lake's levels by two to three centimetres a day until it reaches the target of 45 per cent full.
• 2013/03/06: ABC(Au): Drought proofing for two western communities
  A drought proofing plan to ensure communities on the Lower Lachlan do not have to cart water in dry times, is almost complete.
• 2013/03/06: ABC(Au): Councils boost flood planning efforts
  Victorian councils are planning for more regular floods because of climate change. The Municipal Association of Victoria (MAV) says a number of councils are struggling to deal with storms and flooding.
• 2013/03/05: ABC(Au): Council counts cost of new flood damage
  The Greater Taree council area has suffered an estimated million dollars worth of flood damage over the past two weekends. Roads and bridges are just starting to emerge from water after the latest flood. Council spokesman Steven Yam said the approaches to around 20 bridges have been washed away.
• 2013/03/05: ABC(Au): Landholders demand a say in Murrumbidgee flows
  A new group's been formed to fight higher environmental flow thresholds proposed for the Murrumbidgee River. The New South Wales Office of Environment and Heritage (OEH) is doing a feasibility study for the Commonwealth on higher flows needed for the Murray Darling Basin Plan.
• 2013/03/04: ABC(Au): Scheme to reduce salt in Louth's water
  The Office of Water says salinity levels at Louth will improve when a salt interception scheme starts operating.
• 
  

  And in the Indian subcontinent:

   

• 2013/03/10: EneNews: Man dies after being electrocuted at [Kudankulam] controversial new nuclear plant
• 2013/03/07: NatureNB: India fails to deliver on promises to boost science budget
• 2013/03/06: CCurrents: [Book Review] _NO - Echoes Koodankulam_ by by Anitha S
• 2013/03/05: CCurrents: Cowboy Capitalism: The Curious Case of Reliance KG Basin Gas Business
  

  While in China:

• 2013/03/08: TreeHugger: Pollution now #1 cause of social unrest in China
• 2013/03/07: EnvEcon: Common Resources on China's Carbon Tax Plan
• 2013/03/06: DerSpiegel: The Coal Monster: Pollution Forces Chinese Leaders to Act
  China's power plants and factories are spewing out toxic emissions and covering the country with smog and grime. For the new leadership, protecting the neglected environment has become a question of preserving its power.
• 2013/03/06: Guardian(UK): China's new leadership faces growing environmental pressures
  Leaders say 'ecological progress' is a priority, but air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions from coal remain a problem
• 2013/03/06: RTCC: China to impose emissions cap on big city polluters
  China is to impose emission caps on six major polluting industries, the government has announced.
• 2013/03/06: Xinhuanet: China to cap pollutant emissions in 6 industries
  The Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) said Tuesday that it will impose pollutant emission caps on six industries and coal-fired furnace projects in 47 major cities. The six industries include the coal-fired power generation, iron and steel, cement, non-ferrous metal, petrochemical and chemical industries. The 47 cities are spread across 19 provinces, mainly in developed city clusters like the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei cluster, Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta. According to the MEP's plan, the emission limits will be adopted in the cities' major urban areas by the end of 2015 and across cities' entire area by the end of 2020.
• 2013/03/04: Grist: China keeps making new green pledges
  

  And in Japan:

• 2013/03/08: JEB: Tohoku: little progress
• 2013/03/04: ABC(Au): Father dies sheltering daughter from blizzard
  

  And South America:

• 2013/03/05: BBC: Venezuela's Hugo Chavez dies aged 58
• 2013/03/05: Guardian(UK): Hugo Chávez, president of Venezuela, dies in Caracas
• 2013/03/09: BBC: Venezuela announces post-Chavez election date
  A presidential election to replace late Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez will be held on 14 April, the country's electoral commission has said.
• 2013/03/10: OilDrum: Tech Talk - Venezuela after Hugo Chavez
• 2013/03/05: Guardian(UK): Hugo Chávez kept his promise to the people of Venezuela
  The late Venezuelan president's Bolívarian revolution has been crucial to a wider Latin American philosophy
• 2013/03/07: CSM: After Hugo Chávez, what's next for Venezuelan oil?
• 2013/03/06: RT: Chavez 'demonization will grow in US' even after death
• 2013/03/06: RT: Latin America on brink of tough post-Chavez geopolitical battle
  Venezuela was the main country opposing US interventionism in Latin America, according to Adrian Salbuchi, international consultant and author. He told RT that the US could now redouble efforts in its struggle for influence in the region.
• 2013/03/05: GPalast: Vaya con Dios, Hugo Chàvez, mi Amigo
• 2013/02/25: FAIR: Hugo Chavez Keeps Showering the Poor
• 2013/03/06: Guardian(UK): South American leaders fly to join Venezuelans mourning Chávez's death
• 2013/03/06: CBC: Venezuelan VP Maduro readies to lead after Chavez's death -- Nicolas Maduro to be interim president, governing socialists' candidate in election
  Even in death, Hugo Chavez's orders are being followed. The man he anointed to succeed him, Vice-President Nicolas Maduro, will continue to run Venezuela as interim president and be the governing socialists' candidate in an election to be called within 30 days.
• 2013/03/06: WSWS: Venezuela's Hugo Chavez dead
• 2013/03/06: CSM: With Hugo Chavez gone, US oil industry eyes Venezuela
  

  In Canada, neocon PM Harper pushes petroleum while ignoring climate change:

• 2013/03/09: TMoS: It's Time Science Deniers Were Driven Out of Office
• 2013/03/07: CBC: Experimental Lakes Area in danger of closing
  The Fisheries Department is having trouble finding an organization to take over the unique outdoor laboratory
• 2013/03/05: PostMedia: Peter Kent defends budget cuts in Environment Department and Parks Canada
  

  The Harper gang has started a PR campaign to convince the yanks dilbit is greener than green:

• 2013/03/09: Tyee: Bitumen's Extraordinary and Popular Delusions
  Behold the latest mystical and ecstatic pronouncements of Keystone XL acolytes.
  It has been an extraordinary couple of weeks for bitumen mania and related delusions as Canadian politicians and oil executives rally around the Keystone XL pipeline the way drunken bankers once talked up the ill-fated South Sea Company in the 18th century.
  Canada's Natural Resource Minister Joe Oliver who hawks bitumen better than a seasoned tulip speculator, even dubbed the tarry junk crude a "greener alternative" in a Chicago speech.
  The very next day Oliver told a Houston crowd they had but one choice: Americans could buy "low-cost oil from a friend and ally with a robust environmental protection regime" or purchase expensive oil from unsavoury people elsewhere.
• 2013/03/07: AD: Selling the lie
• 2013/03/07: PI:B: While Ottawa claims environmental leadership, legal group calls for investigation into oilsands pollution
• 2013/03/06: PostMedia: Canada intensifies U.S. lobbying campaign
  As the decision on the Keystone XL pipeline nears, Canadian governments have launched an intense if not desperate lobbying campaign in the United States designed to persuade influential American politicians and industrial leaders that the pipeline is vital for U.S. security and economic interests and is also an environmentally responsible energy source.
• 2013/03/06: PostMedia: Harper government targets U.S. reporters to promote Keystone XL pipeline
  The Harper government has created an elaborate strategy to promote approval of the Keystone XL pipeline that includes an outreach program targeting American journalists behind the scenes, newly released diplomatic correspondence reveals. The documents reveal a flurry of activity among Canadian diplomats in the United States, dating back to the summer of 2011, as unexpected delays and a national North American protest movement started to emerge regarding Alberta-based TransCanada's pipeline expansion proposal, which is still under review by the Obama administration.
• 2013/03/06: P3: You keep using that word...
• 2013/03/05: G&M: Ottawa pitches the oil sands as 'green'
  Relying on Canadian crude imports is the best choice for the United States -- not just because it's reliable and secure but because of Canada's unmatched environmental record, Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver said Tuesday.
• 2013/03/05: Reuters: Canadian minister [Oliver] lauds pipeline to U.S., eyes other markets
• 2013/03/04: G&M: Oliver taking Keystone battle to U.S.
  Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver is heading to Chicago and Houston this week in an attempt to build momentum in favour of the Keystone pipeline.
• 
  

  The Liberal party leadership vote is scheduled for April 14th:

   

• 2013/03/05: CBC: 294,000 potential voters announced for Liberal leadership vote
• 2013/03/06: HillTimes: Justin's got a juggernaut, but he's not taking anything for granted in federal Liberal leadership campaign, say Trudeau backers
  Liberal Party news that nearly 300,000 voting age Canadians have signed up to cast ballots in the party's April 14 leadership election, with half recruited by leadership candidate Justin Trudeau's army of volunteers, was sobering for the other candidates on Wednesday, even though Mr. Trudeau's supporters on Parliament Hill warned against taking anything for granted.
• 2013/03/04: BCLSB: Martha Hall Findlay Flip Flops On Northern Gateway
• 2013/03/04: ONW: Joyce Murray is the Best Choice for the Liberals and the Rest of Us
• 2013/03/04: Impolitical: Harris & Russell on Murray #lpcldr
• 2013/03/03: iPolitics: The credibility candidate: Joyce Murray in conversation
  

  The battle over the Northern Gateway pipeline rages on:

• 2013/03/05: SciAm: Will Canada's Proposed Tar Sands Oil Pipeline Muck Up Its Pacific Coast?
  Large cracks remain in the science assessing Enbridge's Northern Gateway Pipeline Project
• 
  

  Rawhide has taken that long trail into the sunset:

   

• 2013/03/07: CBC: CBC Radio's Max Ferguson dies
  CBC Radio personality Max Ferguson, best known for his long-running programs Rawhide and The Max Ferguson Show, has died. He was 89.
• 
  

  The ISA/PRV/IHN/Alpha virus in Canadian waters is potentially disastrous:

   

• 2013/03/06: AlexandraMorton: Salmon Confidential
• 2013/03/06: AlexandraMorton: Dear Marine Harvest - Don't
• 2013/03/07: PostMedia: Time to move fish farms onto land? Federal report says it should be explored
  

  In BC, the stage is set for the May 14th election. Now what will Clark and Dix do?

• 2013/03/08: TheCanadian: Tyee Op-ed: Premier's Support for Kitimat Oil Refinery 'Deluded'
• 2013/03/07: Maribo: "Storm the Riding" this Saturday, March 9, to spread the word about climate change
• 2013/03/07: PI: Groups team up for a better future -- Urge would-be provincial leaders to recommit to B.C. climate leadership
• 2013/03/06: CBC: Media mogul close to $25B Kitimat, B.C. refinery deal
  A B.C. media mogul says he is very close to inking a deal to build a massive new crude oil refinery in Kitimat. Speaking to business leaders at the B.C. Chamber of Commerce in Vancouver, newspaper publisher David Black said he plans to sign a memorandum of understand within a month with an American investment firm for the $25 billion project. "This refinery project, I believe, will be seen as the best business project of the century by the time it's done," he said. The plant, to be built north of Kitimat, would refine oil from the Alberta oilsands shipped either by pipeline or rail.
• 2013/03/04: TheCanadian: BC Hydro CEO Says Crown Corp Will Supply LNG Plants with Clean Power
• 2013/03/05: CBC: B.C. Liberals survive budget vote amid 'ethnic vote' scandal -- Premier Christy Clark denies that the controversy will force her out
• 2013/03/03: TheCanadian: Rafe on Christy Clark's Implosion, Spying on Fracking Opponents
• 2013/03/03: TMoS: British Columbia's Tumblin' Crispy Christy Clark
  

  Meanwhile in that Mechanical Mordor known as the tar sands:

• 2013/02/28: EcoJustice: Oilsands pollution and the Athabasca River
• 2013/03/06: CPW: Alberta Tar Sands Facilities Pollute Athabasca River: Ecojustice
• 2013/03/05: TMoS: Fresh Concerns About Harper's Dilbit
• 2013/03/05: OilChange: Derailing the Tar Sands Train Idea
• 2013/03/02: WaPo: Railroads emerge as alternative to Keystone XL pipeline for moving oil sands from Canada
• 2013/03/04: Maribo: The most important figure about the oil sands
  

  Also in Alberta:

• 2013/03/05: DeSmogBlog: Parsing Redford's Little Black Lies, Part 1
• 2013/03/04: SP: Shadow Carbon Pricing in the Canadian Energy Sector
• 2013/03/04: Tyee:B: Oil sands firms think carbon price will become 'widespread': report
• 2013/03/04: SP: [link to 2 meg pdf] New Report from Sustainable Prosperity indicates that Canadian energy companies are already internalizing a carbon price
• 2013/03/04: PEF: Dutch Disease is Dead … Long Live Dutch Disease!!!
• 2013/03/04: TMoS: Let's Just Call Them Petro-Refugees - Canadians forced out of their homes by toxic pollution from tar sands operations
  

  In Saskatchewan, the NDP has a new leader:

• 2013/03/09: CBC: Broten narrowly defeats Meili to become leader of the Saskatchewan NDP
• 2013/03/09: BuckDog: MLA Cam Broten Wins Sask NDP Leadership Race By 44 Votes!
  

  Wynne has won. Now what happens?

• 2013/03/06: BorealCitizen: Boreal greenwashing: Mill-town politics in Northern Ontario
• 2013/03/09: CleanBreak: Offshore wind opportunity grows in the Great Lakes, but not in Ontario
  

  In the North, Harper is following his usual pattern: lots of plans and promises which are later defunded:

• 2013/03/03: PostMedia: Army to scale back Arctic operations because of budget cuts
  Conservative government budget cuts are forcing Canada's army to scale back activities in the Arctic and cease training in other areas such as deserts and mountains, according to documents obtained by the Citizen. The army is bearing the brunt of cuts to the Canadian Forces and will see its budget reduced by 22 per cent over the next several years. The budget will drop from $1.5 billion to just under $1.2 billion by 2015.
• 
  

  As for miscellaneous Canadiana:

   

• 2013/03/06: CBC: Home Depot quietly ends [compact fluorescent] light-bulb-recycling program
• 2013/03/05: CBC: Make grizzly bear hunt ban permanent, expert says
  

  And on the American political front:

• 2013/03/06: Grist: Fort Collins, Colo., passes fracking ban; state and gas industry threaten to sue
• 2013/03/06: Grist: Learning from the cap-and-trade debate
• 2013/03/06: DeSmogBlog: NY Assembly Passes Two Year Fracking Moratorium, Senate Expected to Follow
• 2013/03/06: TMoS: Vermont Voters Say "No" to Athabasca Bitumen
• 2013/03/05: RD&C: [NY State] Assembly moving forward with hydrofracking moratorium
• 2013/03/04: NYT: A Stealth Tax Subsidy for Business Faces New Scrutiny
• 2013/03/08: TCoE: LBJ knew
• 2013/03/08: TreeHugger: 29 Vermont towns vote to oppose tar sands exports
• 2013/03/05: SciAm: It's Time to Rethink America's Corn System
  Only a tiny fraction of corn grown in the U.S. directly feeds the nation's people, and much of that is from high-fructose corn syrup
• 2013/03/05: QuarkSoup: Early Roots of American Anti-Intellectualism
• 2013/03/05: TP:JR: The Business Council On Sustainable Energy's Ideas To Immediately Address Climate Change
• 2013/03/05: DeSmogBlog: Pennsylvania Failing to Sanction Drillers for Fracked Well Failures
• 2013/03/04: TP:JR: The Loophole That's Letting Conservatives Manipulate Renewable Energy Standards
• 2013/03/03: LA Times: Gov. Jerry Brown works to spread California's green doctrine
  California is a leader on the environment, but it needs other states -- and nations -- on board to keep down economic costs.
• 2013/03/03: NakedCapitalism: US Climate Policy: Take Five
  

  The BP disaster continues to twist US politics:

• 2013/03/07: Grist: Senator [Landrieu (D-La)] feels bad for BP, wants it to bid on new Gulf drilling leases
• 2013/03/07: DeSmogBlog: EPA Accused Of Blocking Scientific Advancement of Corexit In BP Cleanup [by refusing to acknowledge its toxicity]
  

  Post-Sandy commentary and news:

• 2013/03/07: Grist: Superstorm Sandy aid dollars go to rebuilding in flood-prone areas
  

  The Keystone XL saga grinds slowly. And it grinds woe:

• 2013/03/08: EcoWatch: PART III: Calling for Reinforcements from Behind Enemy Lines in the Fight Against Keystone XL
• 2013/03/05: EcoWatch: PART II: U.S. Marine Battles TransCanada in Court over Eminent Domain for Keystone XL
• 2013/03/08: Grist:Activism and policy are not the same thing [KXL]
• 2013/03/08: CSM: Keystone XL pipeline will create 35 permanent jobs, State Department says
• 2013/03/07: TheCanadian: US State Dept. Finds Keystone XL Pipeline Would Deliver Few Jobs, Not Needed
• 2013/03/07: CCP: 'State Department' Keystone XL Report Actually Written By TransCanada Contractor
• 2013/03/07: DD: Keystone XL pipeline: US government report drew on analysis by oil consultants
• 2013/03/07: TreeHugger: State Dept.'s Keystone XL report written by TransCanada
• 2013/03/07: TheHill:e2W: Senate Foreign Relations chief Menendez plans Keystone pipeline hearing
• 2013/03/07: BBerg: Keystone Pipeline Decision May Influence Oil-Sands Development
• 2013/03/07: TP:JR: State's 'Environmentally Sound' Keystone Assessment Done By Firms Linked To TransCanada, Exxon Mobil, BP And Kochs
• 2013/03/06: ICN: Critical Part of Keystone Report Done by Firms with Deep Oil Industry Ties
  Two consulting firms provided State Department with key analysis of whether the pipeline would speed development of Canada's oil sands.
• 2013/03/05: HillHeat: State Department: Keystone XL Pipeline 'Would Be Buried Deep Enough To Avoid Surface Impacts of Climate Changes' It Would Help Cause
• 2013/03/05: CPW: 5 things you need to know about the State Department's Keystone XL environmental impact assessment
• 2013/03/05: TheHill:e2W: Environmental activists reeling as Keystone pipeline gains momentum
• 2013/03/05: CER:RRapier: Why Environmentalists are Wrong on Keystone XL
• 2013/03/05: PI:B: Draft U.S. environmental assessment understates significance of Keystone XL for oilsands expansion and climate emissions
• 2013/03/04: HuffPo: Keystone: Exporting Canadian Oil Across America's Backyard
• 2013/03/04: PI: Keystone XL depends on climate policy
• 2013/03/04: FAIR: Keystone's Endorsement by a TV 'Leftist'
• 2013/03/04: TreeHugger: State Department releases Keystone XL environment assessment
• 2013/03/02: WaPo: Railroads emerge as alternative to Keystone XL pipeline for moving oil sands from Canada
  

  The GOP War on Women continues. See also:

• 2013/03/08: BBC: Arkansas approves strictest abortion ban in US
  The Arkansas legislature has passed the strictest anti-abortion law in the US, defying the governor's warning it would draw the state into a court battle. The bill, one of several anti-abortion measures enacted since Republicans won control of the state legislature in November, bans most abortions after the 12th week of pregnancy. The legislature on Wednesday overrode Democratic Governor Mike Beebe's veto.
• 2013/03/06: al Jazeera: Protecting women from violence
  Their opposition to a sensible anti-domestic violence bill shows just how far rightward the GOP has moved.
• 
  

  Mr. Orcutt is making a name for himself:

   

• 2013/03/08: EconoSpeak: Riding a Bike Causes Climate Change
• 2013/03/08: AFTIC: "Cyclists Do Not Emit More Carbon Than Cars, State Legislator Admits"
• 2013/03/05: UKISS: Denier Comment of the Day
• 2013/03/04: Wonkette: In Blatant Bid For House Science Committee, Washington State Rep Calls Bicylists Polluters
• 2013/03/04: SlashDot: State Rep. [Ed Orcutt (R-Wa)] Says Biking Is Not Earth Friendly Because Breathing Produces CO2
  

  Repercussions of the budgetary sequestration begin to emerge:

• 2013/03/05: ScienceInsider: Fermilab Researchers Could Face Furloughs
• 2013/03/03: DeSmogBlog: The Environmental Impact Of The Sequester Cuts
  

  Obama is rounding out his cabinet:

• 2013/03/09: CNN: Source: Assistant attorney general to be nominated for Labor secretary post
  Thomas E. Perez will be nominated as Labor secretary, a Democratic source says - If approved, he'd succeed Hilda L. Solis, an ex-congresswoman who resigned in January - Perez now heads the Justice Department's civil rights division - Before that, he was a Maryland state official and federal government worker
• 2013/03/08: TP:JR: Sally Jewell Emphasizes Balancing Conservation And Energy On Public Lands And Waters At Confirmation Hearing
• 2013/03/07: CoB: Interior Secretary Nominee Greets A Respectful Senate Committee
  Later this month, Interior Department Secretary nominee Sally Jewell is expected to take the helm of a department with major influence over United States' water, food, and energy systems.
• 2013/03/07: ERW: Ernest Moniz nominated as US energy secretary
• 2013/03/07: BBerg: Obama Interior Pick [Sally Jewell] Championed Outdoor Jobs Over Oil
• 2013/03/05: CSM: Will Republicans block EPA chief nominee Gina McCarthy?
• 2013/03/04: EneNews: Obama pick to lead EPA is from 'Office of Air and Radiation' - In charge of troubled 'RadNet' during Fukushima peak
• 2013/03/04: Reuters: McCarthy's Republican history should smooth path to EPA
• 2013/03/04: NBC: EPA nomination sets stage for court struggles on climate change
• 2013/03/04: NatureNB: Obama nominates Moniz for energy, McCarthy for EPA
• 2013/03/04: ScienceInsider: Obama Taps Familiar Face for Energy Secretary
• 2013/03/04: CSM: Do Obama cabinet picks match his greener second-term talk?
• 2013/03/04: CSM: Physicist nominated as Energy secretary. Are there enough scientists in Washington?
• 2013/03/04: Guardian(UK): Can the new EPA chief stop Obama approving the Keystone XL pipeline?
  Gina McCarthy's promotion at the EPA will not allay fears that a recent State Department report means KXL is now a done deal
• 2013/03/04: TP:JR: What You Need To Know About Obama's Energy Secretary Nominee Ernest Moniz
• 2013/03/04: TP:JR: Seven Unlikely Supporters Of Obama's EPA Pick
• 2013/03/04: TheHill:e2W: Obama nominates McCarthy for EPA, Moniz for Energy chief
• 2013/03/04: Grist: Meet Obama's EPA pick: Gina McCarthy
• 2013/03/04: Grist: Meet Obama's energy secretary pick: Ernest Moniz
• 2013/03/04: SciAm:Obs: Meet the New Secretary of Energy Nominee: Ernie Moniz
• 2013/03/04: BBC: Barack Obama names energy, environment and budget heads
  US President Barack Obama has nominated new heads for the energy department and the Environmental Protection Agency, as he reshuffles his second term cabinet. He chose air quality expert Gina McCarthy to lead the environmental protection agency and nuclear physicist Ernest Moniz as secretary of energy. Also on Monday, Mr Obama nominated Sylvia Mathews Burwell as his budget director.
• 
  

  Now that he doesn't need their vote any more, how will Obama treat liberals and their policy issues?

   

• 2013/03/08: HillHeat: Obama Hosts Off-the-Record Energy Meeting at White House
• 2013/03/06: TP:JR: Obama's Choice: Ethical Energy Or 'The Devil's Excrement'
  

  The actions of the Obama administration are being watched closely:

• 2013/03/08: UCSUSA:B: Have We Restored Science to its Rightful Place? -- The Scientific Integrity Memo Turns Four Years Old
• 2013/03/08: UCSUSA: Four Years Later, a Mixed Bag of New Scientific Integrity Policies at Federal Agencies
• 2013/03/06: OilChange: Chevron's Political Donation Was "Illegal", Alleges Complaint
• 2013/03/05: PublicCitizen: Chevron FEC Complaint and Super PAC Report Update
  Money Given to Congressional Leadership Fund Violates Prohibition on Political Giving by Federal Contractors
• 2013/03/05: CCP: Public Citizen Urges FEC to Take Action Against Chevron for $2.5 Million Super PAC Contribution
• 2013/03/07: NOAANews: NOAA report finds commercial and recreational saltwater fishing generated $199 billion in 2011
• 2013/03/07: UCSUSA: UCS's Third Annual Review Finds NRC Still Inconsistent in Maintaining Nuclear Plant Safety
• 2013/03/02: GOSRC: EPA Accused of Violating the Clean Water Act
• 2013/03/08: TreeHugger: US Forest Service returns to sensible fire management for 2013
• 2013/03/08: CBC: U.S. Forest Service may let more fires burn
  After coming in $400 million US over budget following last year's busy fire season, U.S. the Forest Service is altering its approach and may let more fires burn instead of attacking every one. The move, quietly made in a letter late last month by Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell, brings the agency more in line with the National Parks Service and back to what it had done until last year. It also answers critics who said the agency wasted money and endangered firefighters by battling fires in remote areas that posed little or no danger to property or critical habitat.
• 2013/03/04: NOAANews: Prepare for severe weather, urge NOAA and FEMA
• 2013/03/04: AllGov: EPA Pushed Oil Companies to Pay for Non-Existent Biofuel Additive
  

  As for what is going on in Congress:

• 2013/03/06: TP:JR: House Committee Cancels Climate Denier Hearing -- Because Of The Weather
• 2013/03/05: ScienceInsider: U.S. Congressman Asks NASA to Disinvite Chinese Participants From Upcoming Meeting
• 2013/03/07: OilChange: Latest pro-Keystone XL effort comes from oil-fueled Congressmen
• 2013/03/07: VoxEU: The sordid history of Congressional acceptance and rejection of cap-and-trade: Implications for climate policy by Richard Schmalensee & Robert N. Stavins
  Not so long ago, cap-and-trade mechanisms for environmental protection were popular in Congress. Now, such mechanisms are denigrated. What happened? This column tells the sordid tale of how conservatives in Congress who once supported cap and trade now lambast climate change legislation as 'cap-and-tax'. Ironically, conservatives are choosing to demonise their own market-based creation. The successful conservative campaign that disparaged cap-and-trade means it may now be politically impossible to promote it in the US. The good news? Elsewhere, cap and trade is now a proven, viable option for tackling large-scale environmental problems.
• 2013/03/04: ERabett:BSD: Another way to look at it: China and India committed to permanent greehouse gas advantage for the US (and Marco Rubio is lying)
  

  What are the lobbyists pushing?

• 2013/03/04: Grist: U.S. nuclear companies fight new safety measures
  

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

• 2013/03/06: LoE: How can resource depletion be sustainable?
• 2013/03/05: Resilience: Stealing back the commons: Citizen economics beyond capitalism
• 2013/03/04: TheConversation: Tricky navigation: guiding Australia to a safe, sustainable future
• 2013/03/04: LoE: The nonsense of "Sustainable Growth"
  

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

• 2013/03/08: LoE: Domestic abuse on a planetary scale
  

  Apocalypso anyone?

• 2013/03/08: TheCanadian: History's Repeating Patterns: Ronald Wright on 'Progress', Collapse
• 2013/03/06: TMoS: This Is About as Blunt a Warning As We Can Get
  

  Okay...How are we going to deal with this mess?

• 2013/03/07: CCP: Kevin Trenberth: So What Should Be Done About Climate Change and the Vested Interests?
• 2013/03/06: ArcticNews: The Greatest War Ever
  

  How do the media measure up?

• 2013/03/08: KSJT: AP: What happens when your greenhouse gas scoop is ahead of the (published) facts?
• 2013/03/06: KSJT: On heels of Green blog demise, New York Times environmental coverage falters
• 2013/03/05: Grist: NYT, WaPo cut back environment coverage, since we're not worried about that anymore
• 2013/03/05: JFleck: A half-hearted defense of the New York Times decision to kill the green blog
• 2013/03/08: TP:JR: Fox And Friends: Polar Bears Prove Climate Change Is 'Not Really Real'
• 2013/03/09: DD: For New York Times environmental reporting, intentions may be good but the signs are not - 'They've made a horrible decision that ensures the deterioration of The Times's environmental coverage'
• 2013/03/09: CJR: [Juliet] Eilperin leaving the green beat
  Washington Post reporter joins the paper's new "Digital Strike Force"
• 2013/03/05: WtD: Sea sick Andrew Bolt: now just making stuff up about sea surface temperatures
• 2013/03/04: Slate: The Times Kills Its Environmental Blog To Focus on Horse Racing and Awards Shows
• 2013/03/05: KSJT: Washington Post to feature advertiser-created content on its website
• 2013/03/04: TP:JR: In Epic Blunder, NY Times And Washington Post All But Abandon Specialized Climate Science Coverage
• 2013/03/04: P3: New York Times Loses Interest Altogether
• 2013/03/04: KSJT: NY Times cancels Green blog
• 2013/03/03: CCP: USA Today: New series on climate change!
• 2013/02/28: USAToday: Why you should sweat climate change
  

  Looks like Joe Nocera is in over his head:

• 2013/03/06: QuarkSoup: Nocera, Hansen, Pipelines and Activism
• 2013/03/06: DeSmogBlog: People in Glass Houses Should Not Throw "Boneheads"
• 2013/03/05: TP:JR: Climate's Clint Eastwood: Joe Nocera Mis-Cites Me TWICE In Failed Effort To Smear James Hansen
  

  And for your film & video enjoyment:

• 2013/03/06: PSinclair: Making the Connection: Did Ice Loss Amplify Sandy?
• 2013/03/08: PSinclair: Greedy Lying Bastards - Opening This Weekend
• 2013/03/08: RTCC: Review: the Greedy Lying Bastards want your money
• 2013/03/08: DeSmogBlog: Greedy Lying Bastards, New Film Pulls No Punches To Expose Climate Denial Machine
• 2013/03/05: CCP: James Hansen: Why I Must Speak Out About Climate Change
• 2013/03/09: PSinclair: The Weekend Wonk: Alan Savory on Greening Deserts and Reversing Climate Change
• 2013/03/09: Wunderground: Greedy Lying Bastards: a movie review
• 2013/03/09: CSW: "Greedy Lying Bastards" opens in theaters nationwide
• 2013/03/09: SkS: Greedy Lying Bastards - Now In Theaters by dana1981
• 2013/03/04: HotWhopper: Australia's Angry Summer [Climate 'on steroids' video]
• 2013/03/03: EarlyWarning: Global Warming Perspective of 1958
  

  As for podcasts:

• 2013/03/09: CBC:Q&Q: (mp3) Camels in the High Arctic
  

  Meanwhile among the 'Sue the Bastards!' contingent:

• 2013/03/06: CSW: Court of Appeals upholds decision to protect polar bears as a threatened species
• 2013/03/06: Grist: Pink-slime maker's lawsuit against ABC grows slimier
• 2013/03/07: RTCC: Poland loses EU carbon market legal challenge
• 2013/03/07: CSM: British court dismisses Tesla Motors lawsuit against BBC [the network behind Top Gear]
• 2013/03/07: BBC: UK in court on air pollution levels
• 2013/03/07: BBerg: Poland Loses EU Court Appeal of Carbon Permit Hand-Out Rules
  

  It looks like this BP trial over the Gulf oil spill is going to take a long while:

• 2013/03/05: CNN: Make BP pay to restore Gulf by David Yarnold, National Audubon Society president
  David Yarnold: BP is rightly on trial, potentially facing judgment in tens of billions - He says even if BP settles, it will send signal that U.S. enforces clean air, water rules - He says pollution of Gulf spill still present three years later; BP must be accountable - Yarnold: Big judgment will fund Gulf coast restoration and send message
• 2013/03/04: CourthouseNews: Transocean Turns on BP With Scorching Oil-Spill Document
  

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

• 2013/03/07: UGR: A new material has been patented, using doped carbon, allowing fuels to be produced while, at the same time, reducing CO2 emissions
• 2013/03/07: Eureka: Advance in re-engineering photosynthesis to make drugs, compounds or ingredients
  

  What do you have in energy comparisons and transitions?

• 2013/03/07: CBC: Tiny German village a model in country's energy revolution -- Feldheim, population 145, generates all its own heat and light
• 2013/03/06: NBF: Germany Shift to Renewables will cost at least $1.3 trillion and increased CO2 emissions now and for many years with more coal usage
• 2013/03/09: PI:B: When renewables meet the oil and gas industry, opposites attract
• 2013/03/03: NBF: Natural Gas at $2.30 a gallon versus $4 per gallon for gas is Driving Shift to Natural gas Vehicles
  

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

• 2013/03/06: Resilience: A must read account of fracking Colorado
• 2013/03/05: DeSmogBlog: Pennsylvania Failing to Sanction Drillers for Fracked Well Failures
• 2013/03/04: Resilience: Fracked Gas Won't Solve Energy Crunch: [Drill Baby Drill] Report
  

  On the coal front:

• 2013/03/08: RTCC: Burning coal costs the EU E43 billion a year
  Coal fired power plants in Europe should be banned by 2040 as their emissions cause high levels of sickness, health campaigners have warned.
• 2013/03/08: DeSmogBlog: Don Blankenship, Dark Lord of Coal Country, Implicated in Upper Big Branch Mine Explosion Deaths
• 2013/03/04: TreeHugger: Coal use declining in the U.S. (yay!) but going up everywhere else (boo!)
  

  On the gas and oil front:

• 2013/03/08: BBerg: Closing oil prices Friday
  OIL (US$/bbl)
  Dated Brent Spot....110.85
  WTI Cushing Spot.....91.95
• 2013/03/07: EneNews: Train full of crude oil derails in Maine - "We've been aware something like this morning's spill could be coming" (video)
• 2013/03/03: RI: Lower highs: The real trajectory of U.S. oil production
• 2013/03/04: OilDrum: Tech Talk - A Russian Update and the OPEC MOMR [Monthly Oil Market Report]
  

  In the fossil fuel corps:

• 2013/03/06: OilChange: Chevron's Political Donation Was "Illegal", Alleges Complaint
• 2013/03/07: Grist: BP officially quits the solar business
  Remember when BP tried to rebrand itself as 'Beyond Petroleum' and came up with a new logo designed to evoke solar power? Well, looks like the company might have to call in some new branding consultants. NPR's Morning Edition reports:
  "We have thrown in the towel on solar," [BP CEO] Bob Dudley said after delivering a wide-ranging speech Wednesday.
  "Not that solar energy isn't a viable energy source, but we worked at it for 35 years, and we really never made money," he added.
  BP has been winding down its solar operations for a few years. The company now says it is "focusing on those sectors of the energy industry where we can profitably grow our business," which means a shift to wind and biofuels.
• 
  

  Regarding oil and the economy:

   

• 2013/03/09: CSM: Jobs report: the energy connection to growth
• 2013/03/08: RealEconomics: The economics of energy costs
  Two recent items again confirm that nothing predicts the performance of the real economy like the price of fuels.
• 2013/03/05: CSM: Are high oil prices pushing us towards debt limits?
  

  And in pipeline news:

• 2013/03/08: EurActiv: One sure winner emerges in southern gas corridor race
  Nabucco West and the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), the two planned projects competing for Azeribaijani gas, have both signed agreements with the Trans-Anatolia Gas Pipeline (TANAP) between Turkey and Azerbaijan.
• 
  

  A rush of American triumphalism pervades the energy independence PR campaign. Think it will last?

   

• 2013/03/03: CSM: US oil production: Don't believe the hype
• 2013/03/03: Resilience: Lower highs: The real trajectory of U.S. oil production
  

  Yes we have peak everything:

• 2013/03/09: CassandrasLegacy: Peak Coal in Britain
• 2013/03/07: EnvEcon: What ever happened to peak oil?
• 2013/02/26: BUPipeDream: The impending threat of peak oil
  

  Biofuel bickering abounds:

• 2013/03/08: Grist: Everyone to Asia: We don't want your stinkin' unsustainable palm oil
• 2013/03/07: Eureka: Duckweed as a cost-competitive raw material for biofuel production
• 2013/03/08: ERW: Cellulosic biofuels will be pricier than oil
• 2013/03/05: UCSUSA:B: Into Africa: Palm Oil's Next Frontier?
• 2013/02/26: NREL: Biomass Analysis Tool Is Faster, More Precise
  

  Meanwhile among the solar aficionados:

• 2013/03/07: UToronto: U of T Engineering breakthrough promises significantly more efficient solar cells
• 2013/03/06: NBF: Toward multijunction solar cell with efficiency over 50%
• 2013/03/06: NBF: MIT has Solar-to-fuel roadmap for crystalline silicon
• 2013/03/06: RealEconomics: Micro-solar gains traction
• 2013/03/04: MIT MR: MIT researchers develop solar-to-fuel roadmap for crystalline silicon
  New analysis points the way to optimizing efficiency of an integrated system for harvesting sunlight to make storable fuel.
• 2013/03/03: TP:JR: Solar Report Stunner: Unsubsidized 'Grid Parity Has Been Reached In India', Italy -- With More Countries Coming in 2014
  

  The nuclear energy controversy continues:

• 2013/03/09: BBerg: Report Sparks Debate Over Edison's Role in Reactor Woes
  A report on the causes of equipment failure at Edison International (EIX)'s San Onofre nuclear-power plant in California has fueled debate over what the utility knew about flaws in the gear and when it learned about them. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission yesterday released a redacted version of the report produced by Tokyo-based Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. (7011), the supplier of steam generators that failed, forcing a shutdown of the plant a year ago. The environmental group Friends of the Earth and two Democratic lawmakers said it showed Rosemead, California-based Edison knew about design issues and failed to correct them.
• 2013/03/08: APR: SoCal Ed comments - MHI Evaluation of San Onofre Steam Generators
• 2013/03/07: BBerg: Safety Breaches Seen Plaguing U.S. Reactors in Report
• 2013/03/07: UCSUSA: UCS's Third Annual Review Finds NRC Still Inconsistent in Maintaining Nuclear Plant Safety
• 2013/03/04: Grist: U.S. nuclear companies fight new safety measures
• 2013/03/05: JQuiggin: For the record
• 2013/03/03: EneNews: AP: Some Leaders in U.S. Souring on Nuclear Power Costs -- Tea Party, conservatives, Republicans fed up with soaring budgets
  

  Nuclear waste storage requires _very_ long term thinking:

• 2013/03/07: EneNews: Governor: Leaks can't be stopped at U.S. nuclear site - Will take years to begin removing radioactive sludge from leaking Hanford tanks (video)
• 2013/03/07: CBS: Hanford nuclear waste: Proposed storage site prompts new criticism
• 2013/03/05: EneNews: Video: I know this sounds incredible... but there's 40 miles of unlined trenches used for dumping radioactive waste at leaking U.S. nuclear site #Hanford
• 2013/03/03: CBS: A look back at [Hanford] a nuclear facility with fresh leaks
  

  More people are talking about the electrical grid:

• 2013/03/05: DerSpiegel: Big Energy Battle: An Unlikely Effort to Buy Berlin's Grid
  Even as Germany turns to renewables, the power supply in Berlin comes mostly from coal. Two recent university graduates are trying to change that -- by buying the grid. It is an ambitious attempt to fix a system that may not be broken.
• 2013/03/07: TreeHugger: Intelligent plug-and-play energy system charges by sun, wind, hydro, or bicycle
  

  And then there is the matter of efficiency & conservation:

• 2013/03/09: CSM: Would you switch to LED light bulbs if they were half price?
• 2013/03/06: Grist: LEDs will soon light your home
  

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

• 2013/03/06: CBC: Ballard signs deal with Volkswagen for fuel cell project
  

  As for Energy Storage:

• 2013/03/07: Eureka: Biobatteries catch breath
• 2013/03/03: FuturePundit: Forget Lithium Ion Batteries And Wait For Lithium Air Instead?
• 2013/03/05: Purdue: Analytical theory may bring improvements to lithium-ion batteries
  

  Oh look! The "every problem is an opportunity in disguise" crowd has shown up:

• 2013/03/07: BWeek: Investors Seek Ways to Profit From Global Warming
  

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

• 2013/03/08: TP:JR: March 8 News...
• 2013/03/07: TP:JR: March 7 News...
• 2013/03/06: TP:JR: March 6 News...
• 2013/03/05: TP:JR: March 5 News...
• 2013/03/04: TP:JR: March 4 News...
  

  Other (weekly) lists:

• 2013/03/03: BPA: R.I.P. Green Blog. Plus, Global Agricultural News This Week
• 2013/03/09: SkS: 2013 SkS Weekly News Roundup #10 by John Hartz
  

  The carbon lobby are up to the usual:

• 2013/03/06: HotWhopper: More Denier Weirdness
• 2013/03/06: KSJT: The Liberals' war on science? Don't believe it, says Chris Mooney
• 2013/03/07: SciAm:ABAtC: Let's Not Spring Forward [no DLST]
• 2013/03/04: GReadfearn: Greg Hunt's unusually cool US winter that wasn't
• 2013/03/09: HotWhopper: Watts is Whopping Mad (Crazy) after Marcott et al - Must be the Heat!
• 2013/03/07: CCP: NOAA scientists rebuts neocon think tank talking head James Taylor's junk science ideas on climate
• 2013/03/07: MediaMatters: The "New Science" Of Climate Denial
  Conservative Argues For Delaying Action Long After The Science Is In
• 2013/03/07: ERabett: Third Fool From the Left
• 2013/03/08: Tamino: Back to School
• 2013/03/09: CCP: Pfizer will no longer fund Heartland Institute
• 2013/03/08: P3: Especially the Randomization Part
• 2013/03/05: HotWhopper: HotWhoppers, Monckton and His Scaredy Cat Prey
• 2013/03/05: Tamino: Fact-Checking the Cherry-Pickers: Anthony Watts Edition
• 2013/03/10: HotWhopper: Conspiracist ideation - WUWT just can't let it go!
• 2013/03/04: Tamino: Cherry-Picking is Child's Play
• 2013/03/03: CCP: Hysterical Joanne Nova attempts fraudulent smear of Dr. Michael Mann
  

  This week in intimidation:

• 2013/03/06: CCP: Graham Readfearn: Climate Scientists Pursued By Sceptics Through Courts Of Law And Public Opinion
• 2013/03/04: BRitholtz: Blog Comments & the Nasty Effect
  

  As for climate miscellanea:

• 2013/03/07: TreeHugger: So, this climate change thing is real, confirms science
• 2013/03/08: GreenGrok: Climate Change Chatter, Issue 6 [quotes]
• 2013/03/08: AGWObserver: What doesn't change with climate?
• 2013/03/09: Grist: The rare non-sucky infographic on climate change
• 2013/03/06: CJR: Green drones? Unmanned aerial vehicles poised to enhance environmental coverage
• 2013/03/03: DeSmogBlog: Drop Some Climate Reality Into the Web of Denial Myths
  

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

• GOSRC: Gulf Oil Spill Remediation Conference
• Ice2Sea - Estimating the future contribution of continental ice to sea-level rise
• ExposeTheBastards blog
• Secchi Disk
• Still Wild Still Threatened
• Wiki: Water dimer
• Wiki: Daylight saving time by country
• Meteoalarm - severe weather warnings for Europe
• Wiki: Paracel Islands, Xisha Islands in Chinese, Hoàng Sa Islands in Vietnamese
• V_VattsUpWithThat
• Climate Communication - Science & Outreach
• ACWA: Association of California Water Agencies
• NIFC: National Interagency Fire Center
• NOAA:NCEP: Real-time, global, sea surface temperature
• PSC: Arctic Sea Ice Volume Anomaly
• ISIS: Institute of Science in Society

Low Key Plug

My first novel Water was published in Canada May, 2007. The American release was in October. An Introductionto the novel is available, along with the Unpublished Forewordand the Launch Talk(which includes some quotations), An overview of my writing is available here.

A Simple Plea

Webmasters, web coders and content providers have mercy on your low bandwidth brethren. Because I am on dial-up, I am a text surfer -- no images, no javascript and no flash. When you post a graphic, will you please use the alt text field ... and when you embed a youtube/vimeo/flash video, please add some minimal description. Thank you.

<regards>

-het

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

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

"It may seem impossible to imagine that a technologically advanced society could choose, in essence, to destroy itself, but that is what we are now in the process of doing." -Elizabeth Kolbert

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