Another Week of Anthropocene Antics, April 28, 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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Sipping from the Internet Firehose...

April 28, 2013

• Chuckles, COP19+, PAGES2k, Ocean Heat, Earth Day, Unburnable
• Subsidies, Pricing Nature, Thermodynamics, Cook, Shrinkology
• Fukushima: Note, News
• Melting Arctic, Geopolitics, Antarctica
• Food Crisis, Fisheries, GMOs, GMO Labelling, Food Production
• Monsoon, Notable Weather, New Weather, GHGs, Temperatures, Aerosols
• Paleoclimate, Milankovitch, Biosphere, Extinctions, Bees & CCD, Volcanoes, Satellites
• Impacts, Forests, Climate Refugees, Disease, Tornadoes
• Wildfires, Corals, Glaciers, Sea Levels, Floods & Droughts
• Mitigation, Synthetic Biology, Transportation, Buildings, Sequestration, Geoengineering, Conservation, Adaptation
• Journals, Misc. Science, Hansen
• International Politics: Carbon Trade, Bank Tax, South China Sea, Rare Earths, Solar Spat, Misc.
• Security, Law & Activism, Activism, Divestment, Polls, H2O Biz, Groundwater, Religioso
• National Politics: Britain, Europe, Australia, CSG, Election, MDBP, India, China, Asia, South America
• Canada, Parliament, Oliver, Hansen, ELA, East-West, Salmon, BC, Tar Sands, Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario
• America, BP Disaster, Post Sandy, Keystone, Mayflower, Carbon Tax
• Coal Exports, Sequestration, Perry, Obama, USAdmin, Congress, Lobbyists
• Ecological Economics, IPAT, Apocalypso, Fixes, Media, Books, Video, Podcasts, Courts
• Energy, Transitions, Clathrates, Fracking, Coal, Oil & Gas, Fossil Fuel Corps, Pipelines, Biofuel
• Wind, Solar, Nukes, Nuclear Fusion, Grid, Efficiency, Cars, Energy Storage
• Business, Insurance, FAQs, Joe's List, Carbon Lobby, Miscellaneous Climate, Useful Links
• Shameless Self Promotion, A Simple Plea, .sig

 

Live and direct from the black humour department:

• 2013/04/28: uComics: (cartoon - Toles) Fossil Fuels
• 2013/04/25: uComics: (cartoon - Auth) Sequestration Blues
• 2013/04/23: uComics: (cartoon - Toles) A Separation of Powers Issue
• 2013/04/22: RWO: (cartoon - Price) Happy Hour April 22nd
• 2013/04/22: BuckDog: (cartoon - ?) Oh .... Happy Earth Day!
• 2013/04/22: uComics: (cartoon - Danziger) Hypocrite of the Year Award
• 2013/04/21: JKB: (cartoon - ?) zonder titel
  

  And for those who enjoy challenging Poe's Law:

• 2013/04/22: Onion: Nation Starting To Realize New Era Of American Innovation Never Gonna Happen
  

  Looking ahead to COP19 and future international climate negotiations:

• 2013/04/26: RTCC: China, EU, USA & India outline global climate deal positions
• 2013/04/26: RTCC: Obama's climate credentials face test at UN talks in Bonn
  Negotiators heading to the latest round of UN climate talks in Bonn next week appear quietly confident the US could be ready to re-engage with the multilateral process.
• 2013/04/25: RTCC: UN [Green] Climate Fund risks becoming 'a closed bank', warns NGO
• 2013/04/24: RTCC: Work on 2015 climate deal set to start in Bonn
  UN talks to construct a legally binding climate change deal are set to start on April 29, amid warnings from scientists that greenhouse gas emissions are rising too far, too fast.
• 2013/04/24: RTCC: Saudi Arabia blocks climate change from UN poverty goals
  

  The PAGES2k report -- Another study to join Marcott, Mann et al.:

• PAGES-IGBP: PAGES 2k network FAQ
• PAGES - Past Global Changes
• 2013/04/25: CCurrents: Global Cooling Trend Ended In The 19th Century, Finds Study
• 2013/04/25: GreenGrok: Climate Change: More Than a 1,000-Year Window on Regional Temperatures [Mann, Marcott & PAGES]
• 2013/04/23: TP:JR: The Hockey Stick Lives: New Study Confirms Unprecedented Recent Warming Reverses 2,000 Years Of Cooling [PAGES 2k]
• 2013/04/23: HotWhopper: PAGES-2K arrives and barely a whimper from the deniosphere
• 2013/04/23: CSM: Earth's cooling came to sudden halt in 1900, study shows
• 2013/04/22: ABC(Au): Late 20th century hottest in over 1000 years
• 2013/04/22: SkS: Major PAGES 2k Network Paper Confirms the Hockey Stick by dana1981
• 2013/04/21: Eureka: Earth's current warmth not seen in the last 1,400 years or more, says study
• 2013/04/21: SwissInfo: End of 20th century broke global cooling trend
• 2013/04/21: NSF: Analysis of 2,000 Years of Climate Records Finds Global Cooling Trend Ended in the 19th Century
• 2013/04/21: CBrief: Scientists reconstruct 2,000-year temperature history continent by continent [PAGES2k]
• 2013/04/21: Moyhu: Active viewer for the Pages2K proxies
• 2013/04/21: RealClimate: The PAGES-2k synthesis
• 2013/04/26: Moyhu: Emulating Marcott et al
  

  The missing heat is in the deep ocean?

• 2012/12/31: WoL:QJ: (ab$) Evaluation of the ECMWF ocean reanalysis system ORAS4 by Magdalena Alonso Balmaseda et al.
• 2013/03/21: WoL:GRL: (ab$) Distinctive climate signals in reanalysis of global ocean heat content by Magdalena A. Balmaseda et al.
• 2013/04/26: RealClimate: The answer is blowing in the wind: The warming went into the deep end
• 2013/04/26: CCP: RealClimate: The answer is blowing in the wind: The warming went into the deep end [of the oceans]
  

  Lots of Earth Day chatter:

• 2013/04/24: TreeHugger: Earth Day needs a new name
• 2013/04/23: CJR: Earth Day ennui -- Google doodle dominates coverage of the environmental holiday
• 2013/04/22: UN: On Mother Earth Day, UN Member States urged to promote harmony with nature
• 2013/04/22: DemNow: Earth Day Exclusive: Tim DeChristopher Speaks Out After 21 Months in Prison for Disrupting Oil Bid
• 2013/04/22: NSF: Earth Day: Big Ecosystem Changes Viewed Through the Lens of Tiny Carnivorous Plants -- Researchers use pitcher plants to identify signs of trouble dead ahead
• 2013/04/22: SciAm:HoG: Mother Earth [Day]
• 2013/04/22: SciAm:Obs: Earth Day Begs the Question about the Future of Energy
• 2013/04/22: CSM: Earth Day, 1970: How President Nixon spied on Earth Day
• 2013/04/22: SciAm:RS: Happy Earth Day!
• 2013/04/22: UCSUSA:B: Zombies, Glee, and Coal on Earth Day: New Mashup Report on Coal's Water Dependence
• 2013/04/22: UCSUSA:B: A Trivial (and Fun) Way to Celebrate Earth Day
• 2013/04/22: TreeHugger: Ask the experts on Earth Day: What ever happened to.....[various issues]
• 2013/04/22: Wunderground: Mother Nature's face is not aging slowly or gracefully
• 2013/04/22: CSM: On Earth Day 2013, a planetary report card on global warming
• 2013/04/21: TP:JR: Let's Rename Earth Day
  

  There is still some talk about that _Unburnable Carbon 2013_ report:

• 2013/04/24: DeSmogBlog: The Carbon Bubble: Are We Exploring for Fossil Fuels We Won't Need?
  

  ---

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

   

• 2013/04/27: VoxEU: Now more than ever: Reforming energy subsidies throughout the world by Benedict Clements et al.
  Energy-subsidy reform is notoriously difficult. This column argues that the environmental and social payoff from a concerted worldwide effort to replace these subsidies with better targeted measures would be substantial. Subsidy reform is an especially attractive option for countries under pressure to bring public debt to more prudent levels. The success of reform in several countries shows that the challenge is not insurmountable.
• 
  

  So, If we put a price on nature, will it deal with externalities and lead to greater conservation
  or will it lead to greater exploitation or what?

   

• 2013/04/23: TP:JR: Global Ponzi Scheme: We're Taking $7.3 Trillion A Year In Natural Capital From Our Children Without Paying For It
  

  Delving into the laws of thermodynamics this week:

• 2013/04/22: ERabett: Eli Grabs Another Envelope
  

  John Cook and friends continue their point-counterpoint articles:

• 2013/04/27: SkS: 2013 SkS Weekly News Roundup #17A by John Hartz
• 2013/04/26: SkS: 2013 SkS News Bulletin #9: Alberta Tar Sands and Keystone XL Pipeline by John Hartz
• 2013/04/25: SkS: Be part of a landmark citizen science paper on consensus
• 2013/04/24: SkS: Announcement: New Guardian Blog by Dana Nuccitelli and John Abraham
• 2013/04/23: SkS: Malaria: biting into the climate change debate by Sarah Finlay-Jones
• 2013/04/22: SkS: Major PAGES 2k Network Paper Confirms the Hockey Stick by dana1981
• 2013/04/21: SkS: 2013 SkS Weekly Digest #16 by John Hartz
  

  It's all in your mind. Nothing to do with the world. Adjust your attitude:

• 2013/04/26: Guardian(UK): Optimism is appealing, but pessimism, alarm and anxiety have their uses
  

  ---

  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.]
  And the IAEA is now saying 40 years too.
  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:

   

• 2013/04/27: EneNews: Highest fallout levels in Tokyo since soon after Fukushima crisis began
• 2013/04/27: EneNews: 'Great wall of Fukushima' to be built underground? - Structure around reactors proposed
• 2013/04/27: Tyee: Fukushima's Radiation: BC Health Risk, or Fish Tale?
• 2013/04/27: DD: Fukushima groundwater contaminated with leaking radioactive water - Japan reconstruction minister to visit Chernobyl site
• 2013/04/26: EneNews: Article: Fukushima Daiichi plant "did amazingly well" - "Performed beyond its best expectations"
• 2013/04/25: EneNews: "Gross containment failure" of Fukushima reactors - Now we are seeing plutonium far from plant
• 2013/04/24: EneNews: Gov't: Vegetables from inside Fukushima 'no-go zone' now ok to ship to stores - Farms preparing crops
• 2013/04/24: JapanTimes: Fukushima nuclear plant cleanup may take more than 40 years: IAEA
• 2013/04/23: EneNews: CNN shows diagram of nuclear material leaking from Fukushima reactor - "Tepco always says it's alright... it always turns out they're not telling the truth" (video)
• 2013/04/23: EneNews: TV: Leaking nuclear material at Hanford was white, "now yellow or light green" - Amount has increased 'measurably' - Expert: This waste actually gets worse as time goes on (video)
• 2013/04/23: DD: Radioactive mud in Fukushima school pools tops 100,000 becquerels
• 2013/04/23: RT: Fukushima decommissioning to last for up to 40 years - IAEA
• 2013/04/22: EneNews: Nuclear material in pools at Fukushima schools exceed 100,000 Bq/kg - Level nearly doubled since last year
• 2013/04/22: EneNews: Dead rodents halt Fukushima cooling system for 3rd time in recent weeks - "Three times is a trend, friends" (photo)
• 2013/04/22: BBC: IAEA calls for improvements at Japan's Fukushima plant
  The UN nuclear watchdog has called on the operators of Japan's Fukushima plant to improve "essential systems" amid continued leaks and power cuts. Hours earlier, the plant operator switched off a reactor cooling system after discovering rats near critical equipment. The tsunami-crippled plant has suffered three power failures in five weeks.
• 2013/04/21: Asahi: TEPCO rejects ministry's demand to pay 10.5 billion yen for decontamination work
  

  ---

  The Arctic melt continues to garner attention:

   

• 2013/04/26: ASI: Ice cube volume video
• 2013/04/26: Wunderground: Dark Snow Project: Crowd-Source Funded Science for Greenland
• 2013/04/24: ArcticNews: Arctic Sea Ice Animation -- Arctic Sea Ice Minimum Volume
• 2013/04/24: BBC: Earliest satellite maps of Antarctic and Arctic sea-ice
• 2013/04/23: PSinclair: Arctic Ice Mass Loss Visualized
• 2013/04/22: ERW: Insight: Greenland ice loss speeds ahead
  

  As for the geopolitics of Arctic resources:

• 2013/04/22: OilChange: Norway Examines New Arctic Drilling
  

  While in Antarctica:

• 2013/04/28: MODIS: Iceberg C28A in the Southern Ocean [on April 20th]
• 2013/04/21: al Jazeera: Antarctica: The planet's imagination
  Understanding the changing narrative of what Antarctica means to the planet is crucial to our survival.

• ---

  The food crisis is ongoing:

   

• 2013/04/26: ProMedMail: Schmallenberg virus - Europe (20): Norway, bovine, first clinical case
• 2013/04/26: TreeHugger: USDA whistleblowers claim poultry plant chemicals a serious health hazard
• 2013/04/25: CNSNews: Record Number of Households on Food Stamps-- 1 out of Every 5
• 2013/04/24: BPA: New Barclays Report Somewhat Bearish on Agriculture Commodities
• 2013/04/19: Reuters: Grain handlers wary of toxin lingering in '12 U.S. corn harvest
  Problems with the toxic residue of a mold that attacked the 2012 drought-hit U.S. corn crop may worsen this summer and autumn as Midwest farmers blend off tainted supplies held in storage, grain experts say. The substance, aflatoxin, is a chronic problem in dry, hot southern states like Texas where stressed crops are vulnerable to the mold. But in 2012, the worst U.S. drought in more than half a century extended the aflatoxin threat moved northward into the heart of the Midwest, resulting in the biggest outbreak since the 1980s.
• 2013/04/18: CCR: Profits from Poverty: How Food Stamps Benefit Corporations
  

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

• 2013/04/25: TMoS: Now They're Coming for the Krill
• 2013/04/25: Asia Times: Krill trawlers resist curbs in Antarctica
• 2013/04/24: ABC(Au): Fishing industry pleads for tougher controls on underwater seismic testing
• 2013/04/24: ABC(Au): Hopes swell as northern ghost net numbers fall
  An environmental alliance group says there has been a noticeable fall in the number of abandoned fishing nets found in coastal waters off the Northern Territory.
• 2013/04/22: ProMedMail: Undiagnosed die-off, oyster - Australia (02): (New South Wales)
  

  Regarding the genetic modification of food:

• 2013/04/27: KSJT: Discover blogger Keith Kloor stumbles into nest of questionable studies and reporting on GMOs and multiple ailments
• 2013/04/27: BPA: It's Time for the Religious to Do Some Due Diligence. Reuters and Roundup
• 2013/04/26: SciAm:PI: Would You Eat AquAdvantage Salmon If Approved? [Or more relevantly would you know? -het]
• 2013/04/25: Eureka: Europe needs genetically engineered crops, scientists say
• 2013/04/25: HuffPo: Roundup, An Herbicide, Could Be Linked To Parkinson's, Cancer And Other Health Issues, Study Shows
• 2013/04/22: Salon: Monsanto controls your diet
  The chemical company's influence extends across all three branches of government -- and affects our daily lives Forty percent of the crops grown in the United States contain their genes. They produce the world's top selling herbicide. Several of their factories are now toxic Superfund sites. They spend millions lobbying the government each year. It's time we take a closer look at who's controlling our food, poisoning our land, and influencing all three branches of government.
• 2013/04/21: TruthOut: How Monsanto Went From Selling Aspirin to Controlling Our Food Supply
  

  Regarding labelling GM food:

• 2013/04/25: Grist: New bill in Congress would require GMO labeling
  

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

• 2013/04/26: Grist: A gag too far: How ag-gag laws can backfire
• 2013/04/25: Grist: Nitrogen fertilizer is bad stuff -- and not just because it could blow up your town
• 2013/04/25: ABC(Au): Australian research helping Ethiopian agriculture adjust to changing climate
• 2013/04/23: MBL: Deep, Permeable Soils Buffer Impacts of Agricultural Fertilization on Streams and Rivers in Southern Amazon, MBL Study Finds
• 2013/04/25: Grist:Two views on ag-gags: The investigator and the farm advocate
• 2013/04/24: Grist: Troubled slaughter: Big Ag fights to keep out prying eyes
• 2013/04/22: Brown: For development in Brazil, two crops are better than one
• 2013/04/22: Resilience: An Instruction Manual for Fixing the Food System
  

  ---

  On the Monsoon front:

   

• 2013/04/27: al Jazeera: A 'normal' monsoon
  The Indian Meteorological Department have released their forecast for 2013, but what does this actually mean?
• 2013/04/23: UCSD: The Asian Monsoon is Getting Predictable
  Researchers find strong correlation between summer monsoon and the climate pattern that preceded it
• 
  

  This week in notable weather:

   

• 2013/04/27: ABC(Au): Wild winds cause havoc across Tasmania
  Blustery conditions across Tasmania kept emergency crews busy on Saturday, with wild winds whipping up bushfires and downing powerlines. Thousands of residents in the state's Midlands and on the east coast were left without power after gusts of about 160 kilometres per hour raged across land.
• 2013/04/23: RealEconomics: More global weirding
• 2013/04/23: P3: Weird Month in Duluth
• 2013/04/23: CBC: Saskatchewan has coldest spring in a century
  

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

• 2013/04/25: Wunderground: Unusually cold spring in Europe and the Southeast U.S. due to the Arctic Oscillation
• 2013/04/22: ASI: Sudden Stratospheric Warming: Causes & Effects
  

  As for GHGs:

• 2013/04/27: W&C: 400 ppm
• 2013/04/26: Guardian(UK): Industrialised nations' greenhouse gas emissions dipped in 2011, data shows
• 2013/04/26: NatureNB: Political thaw raises hopes for [HFC] refrigerant regulations
• 2013/04/25: RTCC: UNEP warns of emissions link to mobile phone demand
• 2013/04/24: TP:JR: Keeling Curve Website Wants You To Know When CO2 Levels Hit 400 Parts Per Million
• 2013/04/24: RTCC: CO2 level nears 400ppm climate milestone
• 2013/04/24: BBC: UK CO2 emissions rising, government advisers warn
• 2013/04/24: RTCC: China has agreed to end the production of industrial hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) by 2030
• 2013/04/22: Grist: World's energy nearly as dirty today as it was 20 years ago
  

  And the temperature record:

• 2013/04/26: CSM: Waters off Northeast US coast unusually warm, says NOAA
• 2013/04/25: NEFSC: Sea Surface Temperatures Reach Highest Level in 150 Years on Northeast Continental Shelf
• 2013/04/24: GLaden: The Truth About Global Warming's Famous Slowdown
• 2013/04/24: DD: 2013 has eighth warmest start on record, despite cooler-than-average winter in much of Northern Hemisphere
• 2013/04/24: Wunderground: March 2013 the globe's 10th warmest March; a billion-dollar U.S. weather disaster
• 2013/04/23: Moyhu: March GISS Temp up by 0.10°C
• 2013/04/21: ERabett:JF: How much will the Earth's temperature rise?
  

  Aerosols are making their presence felt:

• 2013/04/23: MODIS: Dust storms in the Four Corners, Southwest United States (morning overpass) [on April 16th]
  

  Regarding ozone:

• 2013/04/23: UN: UN to support China in ending production of ozone-depleting substances by 2030
• 2013/04/19: NSF: Sunlit Snow Triggers [bromine release, causing] Atmospheric Cleaning, Ozone Depletion in the Arctic
  

  ---

  While in the paleoclimate:

   

• 2013/04/26: Eureka: New excavations indicate use of fertilizers 5,000 years ago
• 2013/04/24: Eureka: Rethinking early atmospheric oxygen
  

  Regarding Milankovitch:

• 2013/04/27: SimpleC: The climate scientist whose world spun on through war
  

  What's new in Biodiversity?

• 2013/04/26: NatureN: Why the Tropics are an evolutionary hotbed
  Ant family tree shows tropical New World hosts fast speciation while also keeping older lineages alive.
• 2013/04/24: Eureka: Tinkerbella nana -- a new representative from the world of fairyflies [BioDiv]
• 2013/04/22: Eureka: New research constructs ant family tree -- Confirms date of evolutionary origin, underscores importance of Neotropics
  

  And what's new on the extinction front?

• 2013/04/26: RTCC: Rapid transition of climate zones could speed extinction
• 2013/04/26: DD: Elephant meat sold openly amid 'extensive' slaughter in Central African Republic
• 2013/04/25: TheConversation:Australian endangered species: Mountain Pygmy-possum
• 2013/04/25: SciAm:EC: Hunter Allowed to Import Rhino Trophy into U.S. for First Time in 33 Years
• 2013/04/24: SciAm:EC: Satellite Reveals Possible Habitats for Rare Apes in China and Vietnam
• 2013/04/24: DD: 7 charged with smuggling bladders of endangered fish to China
• 2013/04/22: SciAm:EC: When Did the Barbary Lion Really Go Extinct?
  

  The bees and Colony Collapse Disorder are a constant concern:

• 2013/04/24: NatureN: Europe debates risk to bees -- Proposed pesticide ban gathers scientific support as some experts call for more field studies
• 2013/04/22: CCP: Syngenta Pesticides Kill Bees [neonicotinoid pesticides]
• 2013/04/22: CEH: Cocktail of multiple pressures combine to threaten the world's pollinating insects
  

  What's up with volcanoes this week?

• 2013/04/26: MODIS: Vog [volcanic smog] from Ambrym Volcano, Vanuatu
  

  Meanwhile in near earth orbit:

• 2013/04/24: BBC: Earliest satellite maps of Antarctic and Arctic sea-ice
  The earliest satellite maps of Arctic and Antarctic sea-ice have been assembled by scientists. They were made using data from Nasa's Nimbus-1 spacecraft, which was launched in 1964 to test new technologies for imaging weather systems from orbit. The satellite's old pictures have now been re-analysed to determine the extent of the marine ice at the poles in the September of that year. Regular mapping from space did not begin until 1978.
• 2013/04/23: IOTD: LDCM Looks for Water Amidst the Heat [Southern California on March 24th]
• 2013/04/22: NASA: New NASA Satellite Takes the Salton Sea's Temperature
• 2013/04/22: NASA: NASA's HyspIRI: Seeing the Forest and the Trees and More!
  

  ---

  More GW impacts are being seen:

   

• 2013/04/27: EPOD: Ice-Out on Lake Sebago
• 2013/04/26: DerSpiegel: Land O' Lakes: Melting Glaciers Transform Alpine Landscape
  Climate change is dramatically altering the Swiss Alps, where hundreds of bodies of water are being created by melting glaciers. Though the lakes can attract tourists and even generate electricity, local residents also fear catastrophic tidal waves.
• 2013/04/26: USGS: Snake Fungal Disease
• 2013/04/25: SciNews: So far, the great tit has coped with climate change
• 2013/04/22: NSF: Earth Day: Big Ecosystem Changes Viewed Through the Lens of Tiny Carnivorous Plants -- Researchers use pitcher plants to identify signs of trouble dead ahead
• 2013/04/23: DD: Graph of the Day: Mortality and temperature during the 2009 Melbourne heatwave
• 2013/04/22: NatureN: Climate zones will shift faster as world warms -- Accelerating ecosystem change may raise extinction risk
  

  And then there are the world's forests:

• 2013/04/27: Mercola: GE Trees May Be Even More Damaging to the Environment than GE Foods
• 2013/04/25: IOTD: Penetrating Tree Cover to See the Forest Floor
• 2013/04/22: TreeHugger: Non-profit wants to clone the world's oldest trees to reforest the planet
• 2013/04/22: Eureka: Ecology, economy and management of an agro-industrial Amazon frontier -- Agriculture intensification could spare large tracts of tropical forest
  

  Climate refugees are becoming an issue:

• 2013/04/26: UN: Over 30,000 refugees and migrants have arrived in Yemen so far this year - UN agency
  

  Emerging diseases accompany ecological change:

• 2013/04/26: ABC(Au): Marine virus believed new to SA waters
  Pathologists say the marine virus which recently killed dolphins off the South Australian coast had not previously been reported in SA. Dr Lucy Woolford, of Adelaide University, said dolphin morbillivirus (DMV) and systemic fungal infection caused recent deaths. More than two dozen dolphins washed up dead on beaches.
• 
  

  On the tornado front:

   

• 2013/04/24: ABC(Au): 'Twister-like' storm hits Qld's Central Highlands
  Residents in two central Queensland towns are assessing the damage caused by a severe thunderstorm last night.
• 
  

  As for heatwaves and wild fires:

   

• 2013/04/24: MODIS: Fires and snow in eastern Russia
• 2013/04/23: AGU: Wildfires can burn hot without ruining soil, new study finds
• 2013/04/22: MODIS: Fires in southern Mexico
  

  Corals are a bellwether of the ocean's health:

• 2013/04/23: Eureka: Insights into deadly coral bleaching could help preserve reefs
• 2013/04/23: ProMedMail: Coral reef kill - USA: (Hawaii)
• 2013/04/22: SciNews: Why corals do calisthenics -- Pulsating motion appears to flush water for better photosynthesis
• 2013/04/22: ABC(Au): Potential uranium port sparks fears for Barrier Reef
  The United Nations' world heritage advisory body has expressed serious concerns with the Queensland Government's potential plans to export uranium across the Great Barrier Reef. Queensland Mines Minister Andrew Cripps says once the uranium industry becomes commercially viable, a case would have to be made to have a licensed port off the east coast, and he has not ruled out Townsville.
• 
  

  Glaciers are melting:

   

• 2013/04/27: FaGP: Viltragenkees Glacier Retreat, Austria
• 2013/04/22: NepalTimes: Back to black -- This just in: dust and soot in the air are making the Himalaya melt faster
  

  Sea levels are rising:

• 2013/04/24: UCSUSA:B: Coastal Communities on the Front Lines of Sea Level Rise and Flooding: Convening a Conversation
  

  As for hydrological cycle disruptions [floods & droughts]:

• 2013/04/26: WSWS: Record flooding ravages midwestern US
• 2013/04/26: al Jazeera: Heavy rains lash Afghanistan -- 20 people are known to have died after floodwaters rage
• 2013/04/26: IOTD: Drought in New Zealand
• 2013/04/25: CCentral: Drought to Floods For Some; Dryness Holds On To West
  As the Midwest has lurched from severe drought conditions in late 2012 to record flooding during the past two weeks, the focus of the drought has shifted west, with drought conditions continuing to intensify in the West and Southwest, where many states are facing long-term rainfall deficits from up to three years of unusually dry conditions.
• 2013/04/24: P3: The Good News
• 2013/04/24: SF Gate: NM grapples with tough choices as drought persists
• 2013/04/24: DD: Record floods hit U.S. Midwest...
• 2013/04/23: Wunderground: Damaging major flooding in Illinois as Mississippi River crests
• 2013/04/24: al Jazeera: Flooding hits US Midwest
  Heavy rain has swollen many rivers and the battle is on to hold back the floodwater.
• 2013/04/24: NASA:NH: Flooding in Michigan
• 2013/04/24: IOTD: Flood Waters along the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers
• 2013/04/23: CNN: Extreme flooding hits U.S. Midwest -- An inch of rain threatens to bring more big problems to the heartland
  One inch of rain is forecast for Tuesday, but the ground won't soak it up - It will delay a reduction in water levels in areas hit hard by flooding - Fargo, North Dakota, is preparing for flooding - The rain and flooding have caused four deaths, local authorities and news media say
• 2013/04/23: al Jazeera: Welcome rain for drought-hit New Zealand
  Torrential rain has put an end to New Zealand's most extensive severe drought in over 30 years
• 2013/04/22: Eureka: Less rainfall expected for the Hawaiian Islands
  Almost imperceptibly, rainfall over the Hawaiian Islands has been declining since 1978, and this trend is likely to continue with global warming through the end of this century, according to a team of scientists at the University of Hawaii at Manoa (UHM) and the University of Colorado at Boulder.
• 2013/04/22: CBC: Flooding in cottage country appears to have peaked -- Water levels remain higher than ususal
• 2013/04/22: Grist: Flood-drought-flood: Is this the new normal?
• 2013/04/22: CBC: Ontario cottage country floods hit peak -- Huntsville road repair will cost millions of dollars, says Mayor Claude Doughty
• 2013/04/22: al Jazeera: Severe storms cause Mississippi mayhem
  Torrential rains led to widespread flooding across parts of the American the Midwest and there is more rain to come
• 2013/04/20: USAToday: Midwestern river cities brace for floodwaters
  

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

• 2013/04/27: TheConversation: Beyond light bulbs: individual responsibility and climate action
• 2013/04/21: Wunderground:RR: The Complete List: What Can I Do?
• 2013/04/21: TMoS: On Climate Change, Money - Or Its Absence - Talks
  

  Synthetic Biologyis moving into industrial production --- of food, fuel and precursor chemicals:

• 2013/04/27: CBC: Bacteria engineered to pump out diesel from sugar -- Genes from 2 different organisms brought together in E. coli
• 2013/04/23: BBC: E. coli bacteria 'can produce diesel biofuel'
  A strain of bacteria has been created that can produce fuel, scientists say.
• 
  

  Consider transportation & GHG production:

   

• 2013/04/24: UCSUSA:B: Charting a Course to Transform California's Freight System
  

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

• 2013/04/27: al Jazeera: Making green housing affordable
  Green affordable housing technology helps keep rents affordable by reducing energy and water usage.
• 2013/04/23: AutoBG: Ford, KB Home partner on green-living concepts with ZeroHouse 2.0
• 2013/04/21: ERabett:BSD: A bad rep for solar tax credit and LEED
  

  As for carbon (& methane) sequestration:

• 2013/04/24: LBL: Speeding the Search for Better Methane Capture
  

  Large scale geo-engineering keeps popping up:

• 2013/04/26: WBUR: Climate Change Series: The Geoengineering Debate
• 2013/04/26: TheMacWeekly: Geoengineering: Is it time to branch out?
• 2013/04/23: GOC: Philosophy of Technology and Geoengineering (Working Paper) by geoengineeringourclimate
• 2013/04/22: NPR: This Scientist [Caldeira] Aims High To Save The World's Coral Reefs
• 2013/04/22: CSM: A way to curb global warming: Suck carbon emissions right out of the air?
• 2013/04/18: NPR: Can Acid Neutralizers Help Coral Reefs Bounce Back?
  

  What's new in conservation?

• 2013/04/22: USGS: Undeveloped Sagebrush Habitat Important for Maintaining Sage-grouse
  

  While on the adaptation front:

• 2013/04/26: BBC: Hybrid grass 'could reduce flooding impact'
  A hybrid farmland grass, developed by a team of UK researchers, could help reduce flooding, a study has shown. A team of plant and soil scientists said tests showed the new cultivar reduced run-off by 51%, compared with a variety widely used to feed livestock. They added that rapid growth and well developed root systems meant that more moisture was retained within the soil rather than running into river systems.
• 2013/04/25: Guardian(UK): New grass could help tackle flooding, say scientists
  Natural hybrid grass cuts water run-off by 50%, can feed livestock and resist extreme weather
• 2013/04/23: ERW: Permeable pavements could cool cities and help prevent flooding
• 2013/04/22: CSM: Along the Mississippi, river views trump flood protection
  

  Meanwhile in the journals:

• 2013/04/23: PNAS: (abs) Climate change, wine, and conservation by Lee Hannah et al.
• 2013/04/23: PNAS: (abs) Environmental and community controls on plant canopy chemistry in a Mediterranean-type ecosystem by Kyla M. Dahlin et al.
• 2013/04/23: PNAS: (abs) Plant diversity effects on soil food webs are stronger than those of elevated CO2 and N deposition in a long-term grassland experiment by Nico Eisenhauer et al.
• 2013/04/23: PNAS: (abs) Influence of multiple dam passage on survival of juvenile Chinook salmon in the Columbia River estuary and coastal ocean by Erin L. Rechisky et al.
• 2013/04/23: PNAS: (abs) Epoxide as a precursor to secondary organic aerosol formation from isoprene photooxidation in the presence of nitrogen oxides by Ying-Hsuan Lin et al.
• 2013/04/23: PNAS: (abs) Abrupt drainage cycles of the Fennoscandian Ice Sheet by Guillaume Soulet et al.
• 2013/04/23: PNAS: (letter$) Ocean and dam influences on salmon survival by Ray Hilborn
• 2013/04/23: PNAS: (letter$) Reply to Stone et al.: Human-made role in local temperature extremes by James Hansen et al.
• 2013/04/23: PNAS: (letter$) Inferring the anthropogenic contribution to local temperature extremes by Dáithí A. Stone et al.
• 2013/04/23: ACS: (ab$) Source and Transport of Human Enteric Viruses in Deep Municipal Water Supply Wells by Kenneth R. Bradbury et al.
• 2013/04/23: TC: Ikaite crystal distribution in winter sea ice and implications for CO2 system dynamics by S. Rysgaard et al.
• 2013/04/23: TC: New estimates of Arctic and Antarctic sea ice extent during September 1964 from recovered Nimbus I satellite imagery by W. N. Meier et al.
• 2013/04/23: TCD: Southwest-facing slopes control the formation of debris-covered glaciers in the Bhutan Himalaya by H. Nagai et al.
• 2013/04/23: TCD: Desert dust deposition on Mt. Elbrus, Caucasus Mountains, Russia in 2009-2012 as recorded in snow and shallow ice core: high-resolution "provenancing", transport patterns, physical properties and soluble ionic composition by S. Kutuzov et al.
• 2013/04/25: ACP: The 2007-2011 evolution of tropical methane in the mid-troposphere as seen from space by MetOp-A/IASI by C. Crevoisier et al.
• 2013/04/24: ACP: Stratospheric loss and atmospheric lifetimes of CFC-11 and CFC-12 derived from satellite observations by K. Minschwaner et al.
• 2013/04/25: ACPD: Trend analysis of tropospheric NO2 column density over East Asia during 2000-2010: multi-satellite observations and model simulations with the updated REAS emission inventory by S. Itahashi et al.
• 2013/04/25: ACPD: Emission ratio and isotopic signatures of molecular hydrogen emissions from tropical biomass burning by F. A. Haumann et al.
• 2013/04/24: ACPD: Investigation of CO, C2H6 and aerosols in a boreal fire plume over eastern Canada during BORTAS 2011 using ground- and satellite-based observations, and model simulations by D. Griffin et al.
• 2013/04/24: ACPD: Impact of transport model errors on the global and regional methane emissions estimated by inverse modelling by R. Locatelli et al.
• 2013/04/24: ACPD: Simulated radiative forcing from contrails and contrail cirrus by C.-C. Chen & A. Gettelman
• 2013/04/24: ACPD: Observation and a numerical study of gravity waves during tropical cyclone Ivan~(2008) by F. Chane Ming et al.
• 2013/04/22: ACPD: Analysis of upper-tropospheric humidity in tropical descent regions using observed and modelled radiances by V. O. John et al.
• 2013/04/26: BG: UV/PAR radiation and DOM properties in surface coastal waters of the Canadian shelf of the Beaufort Sea during summer 2009 by J. Para et al.
• 2013/04/25: BG: Spatial variability of particle-attached and free-living bacterial diversity in surface waters from the Mackenzie River to the Beaufort Sea (Canadian Arctic) by E. Ortega-Retuerta et al.
• 2013/04/23: BG: Analysis of a 39-year continuous atmospheric CO2 record from Baring Head, New Zealand by B. B. Stephens et al.
• 2013/04/22: BG: Nitrous oxide emissions from European agriculture - an analysis of variability and drivers of emissions from field experiments by R. M. Rees et al.
• 2013/04/22: BG: Major consequences of an intense dense shelf water cascading event on deep-sea benthic trophic conditions and meiofaunal biodiversity by A. Pusceddu et al.
• 2013/04/24: BGD: Simulating boreal forest carbon dynamics after stand-replacing fire disturbance: insights from a global process-based vegetation model by C. Yue et al.
• 2013/04/24: BGD: Effects of anomalous high temperatures on carbon dioxide, methane, dissolved organic carbon and trace element concentrations in thaw lakes in Western Siberia in 2012 by O. S. Pokrovsky et al.
• 2013/04/26: Science: (ab$) Population Growth in a Wild Bird Is Buffered Against Phenological Mismatch by Thomas E. Reed et al.
• 2012/12/31: WoL:QJ: (ab$) Evaluation of the ECMWF ocean reanalysis system ORAS4 by Magdalena Alonso Balmaseda et al.
• 2013/03/21: WoL:GRL: (ab$) Distinctive climate signals in reanalysis of global ocean heat content by Magdalena A. Balmaseda et al.
• 2013/04/26: ACP: Cold trap dehydration in the Tropical Tropopause Layer characterised by SOWER chilled-mirror hygrometer network data in the Tropical Pacific by F. Hasebe et al.
• 2013/04/26: ACP: Diurnal tracking of anthropogenic CO2 emissions in the Los Angeles basin megacity during spring 2010 by S. Newman et al.
• 2013/04/26: ACP: Towards constraints on fossil fuel emissions from total column carbon dioxide by G. Keppel-Aleks et al.
• 2013/04/26: ACPD: Stable carbon isotope ratios of toluene in the boundary layer and the lower free troposphere by J. Wintel et al.
• 2013/04/26: ACPD: The impact of emissions and climate change on ozone in the United States under Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs) by Y. Gao et al.
• 2013/04/26: ACPD: Stratospheric ozone trends and variability as seen by SCIAMACHY during the last decade by C. Gebhardt et al.
• 2013/04/26: GMD: Simulating the mid-Pliocene Warm Period with the CCSM4 model by N. A. Rosenbloom et al.
• 2013/04/25: GMD: How should sparse marine in situ measurements be compared to a continuous model: an example by L. de Mora et al.
• 2013/04/24: GMD: Simulations of the mid-Pliocene Warm Period using two versions of the NASA/GISS ModelE2-R Coupled Model by M. A. Chandler et al.
• 2013/04/25: TC: Transient thermal modeling of permafrost conditions in Southern Norway by S. Westermann et al.
• 2013/04/25: TCD:Brief communication "The 2013 Erebus Glacier tongue calving event" by C. L. Stevens et al.
• 2013/04/24: TCD: Influence of high-order mechanics on simulation of glacier response to climate change: insights from Haig Glacier, Canadian Rocky Mountains by S. Adhikari & S. J. Marshall
• 2013/04/25: Nature:SR: (abs) A novel grass hybrid to reduce flood generation in temperate regions by Christopher (Kit) J. A. Macleod et al.
• 2013/04/03: Nature: (ab$) Terrestrial water fluxes dominated by transpiration by Scott Jasechko et al.
• 2013/03/11: WoL:JGR: (ab$) On the relation between large-scale circulation pattern and heavy rain events over the Hawaiian Islands: recent trends and future changes by Oliver Elison Timm et al.
• 2013/04/: ESAJ:FE&E: (ab$) Threats to an ecosystem service: pressures on pollinators by Adam J Vanbergen & the Insect Pollinators Initiative
• 2013/04/21: Nature:GeoSci: (ab$) Robust direct effect of carbon dioxide on tropical circulation and regional precipitation by Sandrine Bony et al.
• 2013/04/21: Nature:GeoSci: (ab$) Relative sea-level rise around East Antarctica during Oligocene glaciation by Paolo Stocchi et al.
• 2013/04/21: Nature:CC: (ab$) Semi-empirical versus process-based sea-level projections for the twenty-first century by Mirko Orlic' & Zoran Pasaric'
• 2013/04/21: Nature:CC: (ab$) Pace of shifts in climate regions increases with global temperature by Irina Mahlstein et al.
• 2013/04/19: Science: (ab$) Pervasive Externalities at the Population, Consumption, and Environment Nexus by Partha S. Dasgupta & Paul R. Ehrlich
• 2013/04/21: Nature:GeoSci: (ab$) Continental-scale temperature variability during the past two millennia by Moinuddin Ahmed et multi alia
  

  As for miscellaneous science:

• 2013/04/28: VV: The value of peer review for science and the press
• 2013/04/26: ABC(Au): Rainforest tower to provide carbon storage data
  James Cook University researchers say data from a new rainforest research tower in far north Queensland will have important implications for calculating Australia's carbon budget. It has started construction on a galvanised steel tower in a 25-hectare rainforest research plot at Robson Creek on the Atherton Tablelands, west of Cairns.
• 2013/04/25: ERW: Drizzle forms bulk of precipitation in south-east Pacific
• 2013/04/25: RBroberg: Polade: Natural climate variability and teleconnections to precipitation over the Pacific-North American region in CMIP3 and CMIP5 models
• 2013/04/25: Eureka: Researchers pinpoint how trees play role in smog production [isoprene + NOx]
• 2013/04/25: al Jazeera: The neoliberal assault on academia
  The neoliberal sacking of the universities runs much deeper than tuition hikes and budget cuts, notes Barkawi.
• 2013/04/24: Nature: [Editorial] Announcement: Reducing our irreproducibility
• 2013/04/24: RBroberg: Annan and Hargreaves: A new global reconstruction of temperature changes at the Last Glacial Maximum
• 2013/04/23: NatureN: Experiment aims to steep rainforest in carbon dioxide
  Sensor-studded plots in the Amazon forest will measure the fertilizing effect of the gas.
• 2013/04/23: RBroberg: Stocker: Multiple greenhouse-gas feedbacks from the land biosphere under future climate change scenarios
• 2013/04/23: PSinclair: Guy Callendar Called it 75 Years Ago
• 2013/04/23: BBC: Genetic study finds Ice Age salmon refuge
  An area of coastal waters around North-West France has been identified as a site for a previously unknown ice-free refuge for salmon during the Ice Age.
• 2013/04/22: RetractionWatch: Retraction Watch threatened with legal action...again
• 2013/04/22: ScienceInsider: Costa Rica's INBio Facing Government Bailout
• 2013/04/22: Eureka: Online biodiversity databases audited: 'Improvement needed'
• 2013/04/22: ERabett: On Mathematics and Science
• 2013/04/22: Guardian(UK): How the burning of fossil fuels was linked to a warming world in 1938
• 2013/04/22: CLBook: Global temperatures: 75 years after Callendar
• 2013/04/22: RBroberg: Lunt: A multi-model assessment of last interglacial temperatures
• 2013/04/22: TheConversation: Evidence adds up: three studies of human impact on climate
• 2013/04/21: Dosbat: GISS LOTI [Land/Ocean Temperature Index] and NCEP/NCAR Reanalysis
  

  Regarding Hansen. See also:

• 2013/04/26: CCP: A Man For All Seasons: James Hansen Wins The Ridenhour Courage Prize
• 2013/04/26: QuarkSoup: Jame Hansen's Talk in Portland
• 2013/04/24: TP:JR: A Man For All Seasons: James Hansen Wins The Ridenhour Courage Prize
  

  Meanwhile on the carbon trading front:

• 2013/04/22: Guardian(UK): This faith in the markets is misplaced: only governments can save our living planet [Monbiot]
  The European emissions trading system died last week. Why? Because of the lobbying power of big business
• 2013/04/26: Grist: Everybody chill out a little, carbon trading will be fine
• 2013/04/26: EurActiv: Barroso urged to take a stand on EU carbon market fix
  The chair of the European parliament's environment committee has called on EU Commission president José Manuel Barroso to make a public statement of support for the EU's bloodied plan to reform the carbon market, in a hard-hitting interview with EurActiv.
• 2013/04/25: BBerg: No End to Power Rout as Carbon Market Vote Fails: Energy Markets
• 2013/04/24: BBerg: Record Carbon Plunge Means Pain for Europe's Utilities: Energy
• 2013/04/23: ERabett:BSD: I now get why Europeans are disgusted with the European Parliament
• 2013/04/23: EnvEcon: Negative space
• 2013/04/23: EurActiv: Backloading amendment to return for 'second round'
  An EU plan to "backload" or withhold 900 million carbon allowances to see-saw their falling price, rejected by the European Parliament in a plenary session last week, could return for a 'second-round' vote in June.
• 2013/04/23: RTCC: Future of EU emissions trading scheme hangs in balance
  

  Finally, the UK (& now Italy) has shown its colours. Protect the poor little financiers from the dread Tobin tax:

• 2013/04/25: EUO: Bundesbank chief warns over Tobin tax
• 2013/04/23: EurActiv: Europe's Tobin tax plan challenged by Italy, UK
  The proposal to introduce a tax on financial transactions (FTT) -- or Tobin tax -- across a number of EU countries by January 2014 is under pressure as Italy wants fundamental changes to the plan and the UK has launched a legal challenge in the European Court of Justice. A statement on Saturday (20 April) from Italy's permanent representative in Brussels, Ferdinando Nelli Feroci, said: "Transactions in state bonds should be excluded from the taxed instruments in the proposed Tobin tax." He described this as a red-line, non-negotiable issue for Italy. The European Commission formally proposed a tax on financial trading in 11 countries on 14 February, saying the levy could raise up to E35 billion each year and make banks more accountable following the 2008 banking crisis.
• 2013/04/22: EUO: EU governments get cold feet on transactions tax
  Prospects of an EU tax on financial transactions have been put into question by confusion on how it would work and a legal challenge by the UK. A six-page-long memo drafted by civil servants in the EU Council last week - seen by EUobserver - indicates cooling enthusiasm among the 11 EU countries which supported the introduction of a financial transactions tax (FTT).
• 
  

  South [& East] China Sea tension persists:

   

• 2013/04/26: Xinhuanet: China reiterates to resolve territorial disputes via bilateral negotiations
  China will adhere to the means of bilateral negotiations to resolve territorial and maritime delimitation disputes, a Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said on Friday.
• 2013/04/26: Asia Times: Japan stirs Campbell's US 'pivot' soup [s china sea]
• 2013/04/25: al Jazeera: ASEAN summit dominated by South China Sea
  The 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations attempts to deepen economic links and defuse tensions with China.
• 2013/04/24: Asia Times: Ambiguity afloat in South China Sea
• 2013/04/24: IndiaTimes: China calls Japan-US island drill 'provocative'
  China said on Wednesday that "provocative actions" would not sway it from defending its territory, after Japan confirmed it would conduct military drills with the United States amid tension between Beijing and Tokyo over disputed islands. Japan said on Tuesday that the joint drill, scheduled for June off California, involved the recapture of an isolated island but was not aimed at scenarios involving a specific country, Japan's Kyodo news agency reported. China's foreign ministry spokeswoman, Hua Chunying, said "foreign pressure" could not sway China from protecting its territorial sovereignty in the East China Sea.
• 2013/04/23: CNN: Chinese and Japanese ships cluster around disputed islands
  The "potential for escalation has increased," a recent analysis says - The number of Chinese ships near the islands is the largest yet, Japan says - A group of Japanese nationalists had sailed to the disputed islands - Nearly 170 Japanese lawmakers visit a controversial war memorial
• 2013/04/23: BBC: Japan PM Abe warns China of force over islands landing
  Japan would respond with force if any attempt is made to land on disputed islands, PM Shinzo Abe has warned. His comments came as eight Chinese government ships sailed near East China Sea islands that both nations claim.
• 2013/04/23: ABC(Au): Japan's PM warns China against island landings
  Japan's prime minister, Shinzo Abe, is threatening to expel by force any Chinese landing on a group of islands claimed by both nations. The Japanese coastguard says it has spotted eight Chinese ships sailing near the island chain in the East China Sea while conducting routine surveillance.
• 2013/04/23: al Jazeera: Japan summons China envoy over disputed isles
  Japanese prime minister threatens force if China attempts to land on island chain in East China Sea.
• 
  

  In the global competition for Rare Earths and other natural resources:

   

• 2013/04/26: ScienceInsider: U.S. House Passes Bill That Would Head Off Massive Helium Shortage
• 2013/04/25: TreeHugger: Massive deposit of lithium found in Wyoming could meet all U.S. demand
• 2013/04/24: UN: Asia's soaring consumption of raw materials unsustainable, UN warns
• 2013/04/22: RealEconomics: Resource availability in a finite world
• 2013/04/22: ABC(Au): Territory to steal back rare earths project
  

  Oh Great! Now the solar squabble is between India and the USA:

• 2013/04/23: Guardian(UK): India's grand solar plans threatened by ugly US trade spat
  In a tit-for-tat trade battle between the US and India over solar power, what is certain is that the environment will be the loser
• 
  

  And in miscellaneous international political jousting:

   

• 2013/04/26: CSM: Hope for US-China collaboration on climate change, clean energy
  

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

• 2013/04/26: Asia Times: World enters a resource-shock era by Michael T Klare
• 2013/04/23: CCurrents: Entering A Resource-Shock World: How Resource Scarcity And Climate Change Could Produce A Global Explosion by Michael T. Klare
• 2013/04/22: NakedCapitalism: Michael T. Klare: Entering a Resource-Shock World: How Resource Scarcity and Climate Change Could Produce a Global Explosion
• 2013/04/22: Resilience: Entering a Resource-Shock World by Michael Klare
  

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

• 2013/04/24: TheConversation: When the time comes to disobey: civil disobedience and coal
• 2013/04/22: TreeHugger: Climate activist, Tim DeChristopher released from prison
• 2013/04/21: KUTV: Activist Tim DeChristopher Released From Prison
  

  What are the activists up to?

• 2013/04/27: CCP: Ted Glick, GRIST: Brian Eister's 27th day on hunger strike in front of the American Petroleum Institute
• 2013/04/27: DD: In Montana, ranchers line up against coal - 'They call us radical environmentalists because we want the laws enforced'
• 2013/04/26: CCP: Climate hero Brian Eister on day 26 of hunger strike at American Petroleum Institute in Washington, DC
• 2013/04/24: ABC(Au): Activists board coal ship off north Qld
  A coal ship boarded by Greenpeace activists off the north Queensland coast is still on course to South Korea.
• 2013/04/24: ABC(Au): Greenpeace aim to spark widespread campaign of civil disobedience
  Six Greenpeace activists are on a one-way trip to Korea, after boarding a coal-carrying vessel this morning as it made its way along the Great Barrier Reef off the north coast of Queensland.
• 2013/04/24: RTCC: Greenpeace activists board Australian coal export vessel
• 2013/04/24: 350orBust: Warning: Use Of This Fuel Product Contributes To Climate Change & Species Extinction
• 2013/04/23: al Jazeera: Tim DeChristopher speaks out for environmental justice
  Climate activist who was convicted of interfering with a public auction that disrupted the sale of oil rights in Utah.
• 2013/04/23: OilChange: BP and Shell Targeted in Arts Protests
• 2013/04/22: TP:JR: Climate Hawk Tim DeChristopher, Imprisoned Since July 2011, Released Sunday
• 2013/04/22: DemNow: Earth Day Exclusive: Tim DeChristopher Speaks Out After 21 Months in Prison for Disrupting Oil Bid
• 2013/04/21: Grist: A tale of two Earth Day heroes: Tim DeChristopher and Sandra Steingraber
  

  The move to divest from fossil fuel investments is growing slowly:

• 2013/04/26: Grist: San Francisco and 10 other cities move toward dumping stocks in fossil-fuel companies
• 2013/04/25: Guardian(UK): San Francisco and Seattle lead US cities pulling funds from fossil fuel firms
• 2013/04/23: CCP: San Francisco Board of Supervisors Unanimously Pass Resolution Urging Fossil Fuel Divestment
  

  Polls! We have polls!

• 2013/04/24: DD: The 10 things Americans care about more than the environment [polls]
• 2013/04/22: WaPo:B: How Americans see global warming -- in 8 charts
• 2013/04/22: CBC: Energy security trumps environmental concerns, poll indicates
• 2013/04/22: WSJ:CRT: Poll Suggests Energy Independence Trumps Environmental Concerns [in US & Canada]
  

  Regarding Water Politics and Business:

• 2013/04/27: DD: Graph of the Day: Biological condition in rivers and streams across nine U.S. ecoregions
• 2013/04/26: AllAfrica:SW Radio: Zimbabwe: Hunger Looms Large As Zim's Grain Reserves Continue to Fall
• 2013/04/25: TRN: Putting Water Back in Public Hands
  Paris and other cities have remunicipalised water that had been privatized saving users money and introducing more democracy and transparency
• 2013/04/25: AllAfrica:IPS: Zimbabwe: No Money to Fix Rural Taps
  For the last 13 years, Trynos Mbweku, the headman of Mwenezi district in southeastern Zimbabwe, has had to use a cart to fetch water from the only remaining borehole in his area, which lies some 10 kilometres from his home. For villagers in this district, which is about 160 km southwest of Masvingo, the capital of Masvingo Province, the water crisis seems to have no end in sight.
• 2013/04/24: DerSpiegel: 'Tipping Point': Dredging the Elbe Poses Severe Ecological Risk
  A Dutch study could put a stop to an already controversial project to deepen the Elbe River, Spiegel has learned. It warns that if dredging continues, damage to the river's ecosystem would likely be irreparable.
• 2013/04/23: ACS:CEN: Viruses From Sewage Contaminate Deep Well Water
  Water Pollution: Human pathogens rapidly invade underground aquifers previously thought to be protected
• 2013/04/23: SlashDot: Viruses From Sewage Contaminate Deep Well Water
• 2013/04/22: FDL: Nestle CEO [Peter Brabeck] Believes All Water On The Planet Should Be In Private Hands
  

  And on the groundwater front:

• 2013/04/25: PRI: Some worry Australia's Great Artesian Basin, Outback water supply, being drawn too fast
  

  Among the world's religions:

• 2013/04/22: Grist: Most Protestant pastors don't think climate change is real
  

  While in the UK:

• 2013/04/25: BBC: UK shale gas bonanza 'not assured'
• 2013/04/25: ScienceInsider: Science Campaigners Celebrate New Libel Law for England and Wales
• 2013/04/25: NatureN: England's libel laws reformed in a victory for science campaigners
  Concerns remain over 'chilling effect' of potential legal costs on defendants.
• 2013/04/24: Guardian(UK): Shale gas could be lower carbon than imported fuel, say climate advisers
• 2013/04/24: CSM: Trump ad slamming wind farms is banned
• 2013/04/24: BBC: UK CO2 emissions rising, government advisers warn
  A new report has laid bare the UK's pretensions to have cut greenhouse gas emissions over recent years. Ministers have claimed global leadership in reducing CO2 emissions and urged other nations to follow suit. But the official Climate Change Committee (CCC) said that the UK's total contribution towards heating the climate has actually increased. This is because the UK is importing goods that produce CO2 in other countries.
• 2013/04/22: TreeHugger: Nature reserves in UK may be fair game for developers, if they "offset" the damage on less valuable real estate
• 2013/04/22: BBC: UK to sell stake in Urenco nuclear fuel firm
  The UK government is preparing to sell its one-third stake in Urenco, the world's second-largest provider of nuclear fuel. The uranium enrichment company is estimated to be worth about 10bn euros ($13bn; £8.6bn). Business and Energy Minister Michael Fallon said the "time is right" for the sale, adding it made "good commercial sense".
• 2013/04/21: Guardian(UK): Am I paying a lot for 'green' energy?
  

  And in Europe:

• 2013/04/28: al Jazeera: Iceland centre-right wins back power
  Coalition talks begin as voters reject austerity in favour of parties that ruled over 2008 financial collapse.
• 2013/04/26: BBC: Iceland election: Ruling bloc facing defeat
• 2013/04/26: BBC: Q&A: Iceland parliamentary elections
• 2013/04/26: RTCC: Comment: EU climate policy at a crossroads
  All is not well with the EU's flagship climate policy instrument.
  Last week the European Parliament (EP) rejected a proposal from the European Commission to temporarily bandage up the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS).
  A cosmetic proposal known as "backloading" would have done nothing more than temporarily delayed the release of auctioned allowances into the market.
  So what's gone wrong?
• 2013/04/26: EurActiv: Data shortfall clouds EU buildings efficiency assessment
  Financial support for energy saving measures in buildings across the EU varies widely, but a full picture is clouded by a lack of accurate data compiled by member states, according to two new reports.
• 2013/04/26: EurActiv: EU ponders biopiracy law to protect indigeneous people
  The European Parliament is debating a draft biopiracy law requiring industry to compensate indigenous people if it makes commercial use of local knowledge such as plant-based medicines. Under the law - based on the international convention on access to biodiversity, the Nagoya protocol - the pharmaceuticals industry would need the written consent of local or indigenous people before exploring their region's genetic resources or making use of their traditional know-how. Relevant authorities would have the power to sanction companies which failed to comply, protecting local interests from the predatory attitude of big European companies.
• 2013/04/26: EurActiv: Barroso urged to take a stand on EU carbon market fix
  The chair of the European parliament's environment committee has called on EU Commission president José Manuel Barroso to make a public statement of support for the EU's bloodied plan to reform the carbon market, in a hard-hitting interview with EurActiv.
• 2013/04/25: Guardian(UK): Ireland set to miss EU carbon target
• 2013/04/25: EurActiv: MEPs back fuel-efficiency plan for cars, including 'super-credits'
  The European Parliament's environment committee yesterday (24 April) voted through a firm carbon emissions target for Europe's passenger cars to reach by 2020, and a ballpark figure for 2025.
• 2013/04/25: EurActiv: Financial crisis 'increasing incentives' for building retrofits
  The long recession is increasing the attractiveness of energy saving investments in buildings, according to a new survey of construction and real estate players by the Buildings Performance Institute Europe (BPIE).
• 2013/04/24: WaPo: Promise of shale gas throws 'unexpected wrench' into Germany's green energy plans
• 2013/04/24: RTCC: The EU Environment Committee has approved a draft law to tighten the emission regulations on light vehicles
• 2013/04/22: RTCC: Can EU climate leadership survive next round of UN talks?
• 2013/04/22: CSM: Copenhagen makes an ambitious push to be carbon neutral by 2025
  

  Meanwhile in Australia:

• 2013/04/26: ABC(Au): Abortion drug recommended to join PBS
• 2013/04/26: ABC(Au): Decision on abortion drug listing due today
• 2013/04/26: ABC(Au): Memorials for 2011 floods unveiled in Fernvale
  A flood recovery officer says the development of two memorials to the 2011 floods has brought back strong memories for residents in the Somerset region in southern Queensland.
• 2013/04/26: ABC(Au): Blazeaid Tasmanian campaign winds up
  After months of helping farmers recover from the January bushfires, the volunteer group Blazeaid will wind up its Sorell operation in Southern Tasmania this weekend.
• 2013/04/26: ABC(Au): More bushfire relief funds on way
  A new round of money will soon be released from the fund for Tasmanian bushfire victims.
• 2013/04/24: TheConversation: When the time comes to disobey: civil disobedience and coal
• 2013/04/24: ABC(Au): NSW Bushfire plan flawed
  A Wagga Wagga RFS fire fighter says the new 10 year plan to minimise the threat of bushfires will not protect people living in fire prone areas.
• 2013/04/24: ABC(Au): Wireless network redesign could cut carbon pollution
  Australian researchers are helping to design new mobile phone networks that could be up to 1,000 times more energy efficient than current networks.
• 2013/04/23: ABC(Au): Biochar needs Federal Investment says Panel of Experts
• 2013/04/23: ABC(Au): Otways show carbon soil storage potential
• 2013/04/22: ABC(Au): Land managers preview new fire mapping website - North Australian Fire Information
• 2013/04/22: ABC(Au): Territory to steal back rare earths project
  The Northern Territory Government has welcomed a mining company's announcement that it's considering processing rare earths near Alice Springs, rather than in South Australia. Arafura Resources had planned to do the initial ore washing, crushing and concentrating at the Nolan's site, and then rail it to a chemical processing plant at Whyalla. Now it wants to construct the plant near the mine at Nolan's Bore, about 135km north of Alice Springs, using 1000 workers.
• 2013/04/22: ABC(Au): Potential uranium port sparks fears for Barrier Reef
  

  The fight over coal seam gas continues:

• 2013/04/25: ABC(Au): Company celebrates flowing CSG well
  Coal seam gas exploration company Comet Ridge has announced its Mahalo field pilot, north of Rolleston, was brought online last week.
• 2013/04/25: ABC(Au): Could shale gas pose a greater threat to water than CSG?
  The Federal Government's proposed legislation to protect water resources from coal seam gas mining has been criticised for not including other types of unconventional gas mining. Water Minister Tony Burke introduced the bill this month which would give the Commonwealth the power to assess coal seam gas and large coal projects if they are likely to have significant impacts on water resources. Mr Burke says the power to approve other types of unconventional gas mining will remain with the states. But hydrologist Dr Gavin Mudd says the decision not to include shale gas and tight gas in the proposed bill doesn't make sense.
• 2013/04/24: ABC(Au):TDU: Gas industry has itself to thank for higher prices
  Coal seam gas protesters shouldn't be blamed for rising gas prices in Australia - for that, the gas industry can thank only itself, writes Matt Grudnoff.
• 2013/04/22: ABC(Au): Locals fracking concerned over NLC's 'push'
  Indigenous residents in the Mataranka and the Roper region are accusing the Northern Land Council of encouraging the approval of oil and gas exploration on their land.
• 
  

  It's a long way to the September election:

   

• 2013/04/26: WSWS: Socialist Equality Party to contest Australian federal election -- A socialist program to fight the drive to war
• 2013/04/26: ABC(Au): I want to be PM, says Palmer
  Billionaire mining tycoon Clive Palmer has announced he will stand for a Queensland federal seat in September's election, declaring he wants to be elected prime minister. The flamboyant businessman - who is also behind a plan to build a replica of the Titanic cruise ship - floated his latest idea at a Brisbane news conference today.
• 2013/04/25: WtD: How Tony Abbott killed the Australian climate sceptic movement and schooled them in realpolitik
• 2013/04/23: RT: Poll predicts WikiLeaks Party grabbing seats in Australian Senate
• 2013/04/23: ABC(Au): Katter's Australian Party releases MDB policy
• 2013/04/22: TheConversation: Your MP doesn't 'believe' in climate change? Ask the tough questions
  

  After years of wrangling, the Murray Darling Basin plan is in place. Now the real fight begins:

• 2013/04/26: ABC(Au): Australia a world leader on water management
• 2013/04/25: ABC(Au): Macalister farmers get water boost
  Southern Rural Water has increased its low security shares to farmers in the Macalister Irrigation district by another 5 per cent. With only weeks until the end of the irrigation season, farmers now have access to 20 per cent of their low security water shares. Terry Clapham from Southern Rural Water says it may give some irrigators the chance to water their pastures while they are still growing. He says it has been an unusual irrigation season.
• 2013/04/23: ABC(Au): Basin authority adopts 'more conservative' water management
  The Murray-Darling Basin Authority (MDBA) has started to implement more conservative water practices across the basin system. Water analyst Tom Rooney says the authority is now following water operation practices that are more consistent with dry conditions.
• 2013/04/23: ABC(Au): Bureau predicts wetter than average three months [for much of Queensland]
• 2013/04/22: ABC(Au): Murray to get environmental water boost
  An extra 150 gigalitres of environmental water will flow through the River Murray over the next three months. The water is being released by the Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder to benefit the Coorong and the lower lakes, as well as the River Murray channel.
• 2013/04/21: al Jazeera: Much needed water soaks South Australia -- Sometimes a little rain is a lot
  

  While in the Indian subcontinent:

• 2013/04/25: CCurrents: Mr. Prime Minister, Here Is Yet Another Scam Right Under Your Nose. And It Has Far More Dangerous Implications [India pol]
• 2013/04/25: CCurrents: Set Up Enquiry Into Koodankulam Scam by Admiral (retd) L. Ramdas
• 2013/04/24: CCurrents: Resolve Koodankulam Issues
  Dr. A Gopalakrishnan, former Chairman of India's Atomic Energy Regulatory Board, has raised some urgent issues in his article in the New Indian Express that the government must address before commissioning Koodankulam
• 2013/04/24: CCurrents: Koodankulam Nuclear Plant Has Salient Lessons For India And Russia
  

  And in China:

• 2013/04/27: DD: Scientist says pollution from China is killing a Japanese island's endangered trees - 'This is proof that when such a big country industrializes, its effect will spread everywhere'
• 2013/04/23: CBC: Patrick Brown: China's gathering environmental storm
  Earthquakes, polluted air, cancer clusters may threaten the ruling regime's 'mandate of heaven'
• 
  

  While elsewhere in Asia:

   

• 2013/04/23: al Jazeera: Pakistan farmers grapple with climate change
  Government attempts a new insurance scheme to protect farmers from floods and other worsening weather problems.
• 2013/04/23: RTCC: Bangladesh pushes adaptation strategy as climate fears grow
  Climate adaptation planning is likely to become a priority for Bangladesh's leaders as the hopes of keeping global temperatures within safe limits decrease.
• 
  

  And South America:

   

• 2013/04/21: Guardian(UK): Horacio Cartes wins Paraguay election
  Rightwinger from Colorado party tied to big agricultural interests sweeps to popular victory despite stain of corruption scandals
• 
  

  In Canada, neocon PM Harper, aka The Blight, pushes petroleum while ignoring climate and ecology:

   

• 2013/04/17: DailyKos: My government doesn't believe in climate change
• 2013/04/27: TMoS: First He Gagged the Public Service and the Armed Forces. Now It's the RCMP, the Royal Conservative Mounted Police
• 2013/04/25: BBerg: Canada Spat With Diplomats May Hinder Keystone Lobbying
• 2013/04/25: PI:B: One more time, with feeling: why we're not halfway there yet
• 2013/04/24: Tyee: Minister at Sea: Peter MacKay's Latest Folly -- Pricey, plodding Arctic/Offshore Patrol Ships ill-fitted to their planned missions
• 2013/04/24: MSimon: The Deplorable Day of the Con Monkeys
• 2013/04/24: TheCanadian: Harper Govt Holds Back Key Wild Salmon Reports
  [...]
  The reports, confidential draft copies of which have been obtained by The Globe and Mail, show that seven of the 24 conservation units in the watershed have been designated as "red zones" with another four rated red/amber. That classification means the salmon populations in those areas are considered at risk of extinction.
• 2013/04/23: iPolitics: The great pipeline debate: It's not about [Canadians]
• 2013/04/22: CBC: Earth Day update: 6 recent changes to federal environmental programs
• 2013/04/21: BuckDog: The True 'Nature' Of The Harper Conservative Government ...
• 2013/04/21: PaiD: Harper's Thuggish Contempt For The Environment
• 2013/04/21: CPW: Idle No More to spearhead Mother Earth Day commemoration in Ottawa
  

  With Trudeau in the Liberal leadership, the tone in Parliament seems to be changing. Harper is afraid:

• 2013/04/26: TStar: Trudeau, Harper and Mulcair and two weeks that have changed Canadian politics: Tim Harper
• 2013/04/21: iPolitics: Maybe Trudeau isn't the one in over his head
  

  Joe Oliver is making a name for himself in Washington. The question is ... as what?

• 2013/04/25: TMoS: Give Me a Boilin' Hot Cup of Joe [Oliver]
• 2013/04/25: RTCC: Canada's oil chief Joe Oliver slates climate expert James Hansen
• 2013/04/25: TP:JR: Dangers On A Train: Top Canadian Official [Oliver] Disputes State Department's Keystone Claims
• 2013/04/25: Maribo: Who is right about the oil sands: James Hansen, Joe Oliver or none of the above?
• 2013/04/24: TheHill:e2W: Canadian official [Oliver] in D.C. to push Keystone oil sands pipeline
• 2013/04/24: Guardian(UK): Canadian oil minister Joe Oliver condemns climatologist James Hansen
• 2013/04/24: PaiD: Oh, Joe Oliver, Have You No Shame?
• 2013/04/24: CBC: Joe Oliver slams scientist's oilsands claims as 'nonsense' -- 'Crying wolf' does not advance debate, federal natural resources minister says
  A leading climate change activist and former NASA scientist is "crying wolf" with his "exaggerated" comments about the effects of oilsands development on the environment, Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver charged Wednesday. Oliver, in Washington, D.C., to shore up support for the Keystone XL pipeline, took aim at scientist James Hansen, who has been a vocal opponent of developing the oilsands.
• 2013/04/24: iPolitics: Oliver launches another D.C. charm offensive on Keystone
• 2013/04/22: DEaves: How not to sell the Oil Sands
  

  After Oliver slagged Hansen, Hansen returned fire:

• 2013/04/27: CBC: Top U.S. climate expert calls Conservatives 'Neanderthal'
  Former NASA scientist James Hansen fires back at Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver
• 2013/04/27: PaiD: Leading Climate Scientist Responds To Joe Oliver And His 'Neanderthal Government'
• 2013/04/27: TMoS: Harper Cons Are "Neanderthals" - James Hansen
  

  Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne has moved to save Experimental Lakes Area research site for at least a year:

• 2013/04/24: Ont:Premier: Ontario Supporting the Experimental Lakes Area
• 2013/04/25: ScienceInsider: Ontario Throws Lifeline to Long-Running Canadian Research Project
• 2013/04/25: CBC: Feds must 'step up' to help experimental lakes program
  Proponents of research program say summer activities need to be given the green light Ontario's pledge to help save the Experimental Lakes Area in northwestern Ontario is welcome news to scientists. But the founder of the Coalition to Save the ELA, Diane Orihel, says it's only the first step as the province enters talks with the federal government, Manitoba, and the International Institute for Sustainable Development in Winnipeg to figure out a long-range plan. And Ottawa has yet to step up, Orihel noted.
• 2013/04/24: NatureNB: Glimmer of hope for freshwater research site
• 2013/04/24: CBC: Experimental lakes research site to remain open -- Ontario to provide support for world-famous project
  Work will continue at a world-renowned freshwater research facility in northern Ontario following an agreement involving the province, Manitoba and the federal government. Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne revealed Wednesday the province will provide funding to the Experimental Lakes Area (ELA) near Kenora, calling the decades-old facility "an important gem" and an "important scientific endeavour." "I don't believe either provincially, regionally or nationally or internationally we can afford to let it go," said Wynne.
• 
  

  The battle over the fabled West-East line:

   

• 2013/04/22: FinPo: Enbridge's Line 9 pipeline fuels climate of suspicion in Quebec
• 2013/04/21: PostMedia: Enbridge donations flow to municipalities along pipeline 9B
• 2013/04/21: TheCanadian: Video: Enbridge Buying Support From Landowners Along Proposed Line 9 Expansion Route?
  

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

• 2013/04/27: EWinton: The fish farm conspiracy
  BC salmon are diseased from farms but the Canadian Govt covers it up
• 2013/04/25: TheCanadian: How Cohen Recommendations, Termination Clause and BCNDP Can End Risk to Wild Salmon Economy
• 2013/04/14: G&M: Ottawa withholding reports on B.C. wild salmon
  Key scientific documents needed before the department of Fisheries and Oceans can implement its plan to save British Columbia's wild salmon have been held up in Ottawa for a year. The documents, concerning sockeye conservation units on the Fraser River, were withheld from the Cohen Commission even though they were substantially ready for release at the time the federal inquiry was under way.
• 
  

  In BC, the writ has been dropped for the May 14th election. The campaign shenanigans commence:

   

• ElectionPrediction: British Columbia Provincial Election 2013
• CBC: British Columbia Votes 2013 - In The War Room
• 2013/04/27: NI: BC's uncomfortable political reality
• 2013/04/26: BMackin: Pipelines of information, the real issue of election 2013
• 2013/04/26: BO: Angus Reid BC Poll: 45% NDP, 31% BC Liberal
• 2013/04/26: TheCanadian: Dix Fails to Call Clark on 'Debt Free BC' Whopper
• 2013/04/26: WCEL: [BC] Election 2013: Party platforms from 10,000 feet
• 2013/04/26: Rabble: B.C. election: Christy Clark's position on pipelines is as clear as tar
• 2013/04/25: TheCanadian: Rafe Mair Delivers 'Tub Thumper' of a Speech on Energy and Politics in Kamloops
• 2013/04/24: TheCanadian: Mair and Gillis Talk Pipelines, Private Power and LNG in Kamloops
• 2013/04/24: TheCanadian: Skeena [Provincial] Conservative Candidate Opposes Enbridge, Against Party Platform
• 2013/04/24: CBC: NDP platform includes budget deficits, BC Rail inquiry
  New Democrat government would consider selling BC Place, Vancouver convention centre
• 2013/04/23: TStar: B.C. Premier Christy Clark scores with attack ads but could lose seat in election: Walkom
  The governing Liberals aren't finished in B.C. but their leader Christy Clark may be.
• 2013/04/23: NI: Boardroom theatre
• 2013/04/23: Tyee: Foreign Giants Line up to Develop Chunks of BC's Coast -- Libs' LNG plans invite installations by petro firms with combined $2 trillion in revenues
• 2013/04/23: TheCanadian: NDP Felt Pressure from Environmental Community to Oppose Kinder Morgan Oil Port
• 2013/04/22: TheCanadian: BC Liberal Legacy: A Huge Debt Burden
• 2013/04/22: TheCanadian: BC NDP Comes Out Against Kinder Morgan Pipeline Expansion to Vancouver
• 2013/04/22: BCLSB: Adrian Dix On Trans Mountain (Kinder Morgan) Pipeline
  

  Meanwhile in that Mechanical Mordor known as the tar sands:

• Alberta Environment and Sustainable Resource Development Tar Sands Information Portal
• Tar Sands Environmental Monitoring Information Portal
• 2013/04/27: DD: Tar sands country: Remote region at the heart of the Keystone controversy
• 2013/04/26: SkS: 2013 SkS News Bulletin #9: Alberta Tar Sands and Keystone XL Pipeline by John Hartz
• 2013/04/26: EarlyWarning: The Source for Keystone: Tar Sands Production
• 2013/04/24: OilChange: EPA: tar sands "significantly more intensive than other crudes"
• 2013/04/22: CBC: Tarsands monitoring portal launched by Ottawa, Alberta
• 2013/04/22: CBC: Readers react to Earth Day release of tarsands data
• 2013/04/21: CBC: Oilsands environmental data to be released for Earth Day -- Tories will open long-awaited public information portal
  

  Also in Alberta:

• 2013/04/26: CBC: 2nd largest pipeline spill in Alberta history leads to charges
  Plains Midstream faces 3 charges in massive pipeline leak near Little Buffalo in 2011 The company that owns a pipeline that leaked 28,000 barrels of crude oil near the a First Nations community in northwest Alberta -- the largest spill in the province in 35 years -- is now facing environmental charges. Plains Midstream Canada ULC is facing three counts under the province's Environmental Protection and Enhancement Act
• 2013/04/25: PostMedia: Bitumen bubble doubts stem from lack of trust in government, opposition says
  Most Albertans don't believe the bitumen bubble is the primary cause of the province's fiscal problems because they don't trust Premier Alison Redford, academics and opposition leaders said Thursday. Albertans also believe her government has dismissed the cyclical nature of resource revenue and should have better predicted the changes in world oil markets.
• 2013/04/25: FinPo: Alberta exploring at least two oil pipeline projects to North
  Hemmed in by unco-operative jurisdictions to the south, west and east, Alberta is looking upward, exploring at least two new northern projects that would help the province get its oil to tidewater, making it available for export to overseas markets. The Alberta government says it is in "serious talks" with the Northwest Territories to build an oil pipeline connecting the oil sands to the northern hamlet of Tuktoyaktuk, near the Beaufort Sea.
• 2013/04/25: FinPo: Alberta seeks to win over oil sands critics with new technologies
• 2013/04/23: CBC: Pipeline to Arctic port mulled by Alberta government
  Calgary firm hired to do feasibility study of pumping oilsands bitumen to Tuktoyaktuk The Alberta government is looking at yet another pipeline option to get its oil to market should the Keystone XL or Northern Gateway pipeline proposals not come to fruition. Calgary consulting firm Canatec Associates International Ltd. has been hired by the province to study the feasibility of moving crude from the oilsands north to a port in the Northwest Territories.
• 
  

  In Manitoba, flooding is possible. There is a lot of snow and it depends on how fast it melts, as well as what happens upstream:

   

• 2013/04/27: ManitobaGovt: Flood Bulletin #1
• 2013/04/26: CBC: Manitoba downgrades flood forecast for Red River -- Significant flooding still expected on Assiniboine and Souris rivers
• 2013/04/26: ManitobaGovt: Warm weekend temperatures will begin spring run-off in Southern Manitoba
  U.S. National Weather Service Substantially Lowers American Flood Forecast for Red River at Border
• 2013/04/24: CBC: Fargo lowers expected flood crest
• 2013/04/23: CBC: Sandbag convoy set for Fargo flood fight
  

  Wynne is struggling to establish herself. Energy still looms large. See also:

• 2013/04/26: PI:B: Who has seen the spin? How wind power opponents are mischaracterizing the decision in the Fairview Wind Farm case
• 2013/04/26: BCLSB: Wind Energy And Property Values In Ontario, Part Whatever...
• 2013/04/22: NatPo: 'They have not been honest': Ontario PCs to call for non-confidence vote before Wynne can present budget
  

  And on the American political front:

• 2013/04/23: TreeHugger: America now has more solar energy workers than coal miners
• 2013/04/21: EarthMag: Denying sea-level rise: How 100 centimeters divided the state of North Carolina
• 2013/04/22: Salon: Monsanto controls your diet
  The chemical company's influence extends across all three branches of government -- and affects our daily lives Forty percent of the crops grown in the United States contain their genes. They produce the world's top selling herbicide. Several of their factories are now toxic Superfund sites. They spend millions lobbying the government each year. It's time we take a closer look at who's controlling our food, poisoning our land, and influencing all three branches of government.
• 2013/04/24: TP:JR: North Carolina ALEC-Modeled Bill To Repeal Clean Energy Standard Fails In Committee
• 2013/04/24: SF Gate: NM grapples with tough choices as drought persists
• 2013/04/24: N-JO:AP: [Florida] House OKs bill to disclose 'fracking' chemicals
• 2013/04/25: Grist:Two views on ag-gags: The investigator and the farm advocate
• 2013/04/24: Grist: Troubled slaughter: Big Ag fights to keep out prying eyes
• 2013/04/25: AutoBG: New CA bill would tax EV as a "comparable conventional fuel vehicle"
• 2013/04/25: TP:JR: New Report Details How National Parks Are Threatened By Oil And Gas Drilling
• 2013/04/26: Grist: A gag too far: How ag-gag laws can backfire
• 2013/04/27: CCP: R L Miller, DailyKos: Brian Schweitzer: bold progressive or just another fossil-fueled politician?
• 2013/04/27: TP:JR: Colorado Senate Votes To Strengthen State's Successful Clean Energy Standard
• 2013/04/27: DD: Sea level rise panel won't require 'future flood' disclosure for Delaware home sellers
• 2013/04/27: DeSmogBlog: Fracking Our National Parks: America's Best Idea Threatened By Oil and Gas Addiction
• 2013/04/25: CNSNews: Record Number of Households on Food Stamps-- 1 out of Every 5
• 2013/04/26: Guardian(UK): Scientific brain drain - what happens when the pipes are clogged?
  A nation's brain drain is inversely proportional to its investment in science. Is the tide turning, now that the US is failing to provide adequate support for scientific research?
• 2013/04/23: ICN: U.S. States Turn Against Renewable Energy as Gas Plunges
  More than half the U.S. states with laws requiring utilities to buy renewable energy are considering ways to pare back those mandates after a plunge in natural gas prices brought on by technology that boosted supply. Sixteen of the 29 states with renewable portfolio standards are considering legislation that would reduce the need for wind and solar power, according to researchers backed by the U.S. Energy Department. North Carolina lawmakers may be among the first to move, followed by Colorado and Connecticut.
• 2013/04/22: NewsDay: Gas industry presses Cuomo on fracking
• 2013/04/21: TMoS: American Taxpayers Paying the Price of Climate Change
• 2013/04/19: TomWilber: Anti-frackers score victory on upstate NY home front... Town of Sanford board forced to repeal fracking gag law
• 2013/04/18: CCR: Profits from Poverty: How Food Stamps Benefit Corporations
  

  The BP disaster continues to twist US politics:

• 2013/04/27: CNN: Empty nets in Louisiana three years after the spill
  Saturday marked three years since the Gulf oil disaster erupted - Since then, Louisiana's statewide oyster catch has dropped by more than 25% - Other seafood catch numbers have rebounded and studies show the catch is safe - But in certain areas, there's still a pronounced downturn in blue crab, shrimp, oysters
• 2013/04/27: DD: Empty nets in Louisiana three years after the spill - 'Looks like somebody poured motor oil all over the marsh there'
• 2013/04/26: PSinclair: "Inside Story" on BP's use of Corexit to "clean up" Gulf oil blowout disaster
• 2013/04/25: EneNews: HuffPost: Countless Gulf residents with symptoms as if from sci-fi horror film -- Bleeding from ears, anus, breasts
• 2013/04/23: CSM: BP delays $10 billion Gulf of Mexico project due to rising costs
• 2013/04/23: BRitholtz: BP Oil Spill Evidence of Massive Cover Up by Washingtons Blog
• 2013/04/23: TP:JR: The Spilling Fields: How BP Made The Gulf Oil Disaster More Toxic While Covering It Up
• 2013/04/22: Grist: The worst part about BP's oil-spill cover-up: It worked
• 2013/04/22: TDB: What BP Doesn't Want You to Know About the 2010 Gulf Spill
• 2013/04/21: al Jazeera: US witness claims BP gas explosion cover-up
  Massive oil spill in Gulf of Mexico in 2010 caused one of world's worst environmental catastrophes.
• 2013/04/20: Atlantic: Three Years After the BP Spill, Tar Balls and Oil Sheen Blight Gulf Coast
  

  Post-Sandy commentary and news:

• 2013/04/27: DD: Six months after Sandy, thousands homeless in New York and New Jersey
• 2012/10/30: BaseCase: Politicizing Sandy
  

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

• 2013/04/27: CSM: Oil by train runs out of track
• 2013/04/26: CPW: Public comments prove Keystone XL tar sands pipeline is all risk, no reward
• 2013/04/25: TreeHugger: If Keystone XL is rejected, will rail shipments fill the gap?
• 2013/04/26: EarlyWarning: The Source for Keystone: Tar Sands Production
• 2013/04/26: CBC: Delays push expected Keystone XL start date to late 2015 -- Estimated $5.3B cost to increase, says TransCanada
• 2013/04/25: ICN: State Department Will Make Keystone Public Comments Public After All
  Under pressure, the department reverses itself and says it will provide online public access to comments on its controversial environmental review.
• 2013/04/24: GreenGrok: Greenhouse Gas Emissions: EPA Cries Foul on Keystone, Gov. Forecasts Fall Short
• 2013/04/23: P3: What's Wrong with Keystone? A Million Answers
• 2013/04/24: ICN: TransCanada Lashes Out at EPA Over Keystone, Asserts Canadian 'Sovereignty'
• 2013/04/23: TheHill:e2W: GOP criticizes EPA comments on Keystone XL path
• 2013/04/23: G&M: TransCanada fires back at U.S. environment regulator
  TransCanada Corp. has played the sovereignty card in the escalating debate over the Keystone XL pipeline, arguing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is interfering on Canadian turf with its recommendation that Washington work on ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the oil sands.
• 2013/04/22: FuelFix: Activists threaten massive protests against Keystone
• 2013/04/24: Grist: TransCanada and GOP steamed over EPA's Keystone comments
• 2013/04/23: SciAm:Obs: EPA on Keystone XL: Significant Climate Impacts from Tar Sands Pipeline
• 2013/04/23: TreeHugger: The latest on Keystone XL...
• 2013/04/23: DeSmogBlog: EPA Again Slams State Department's Keystone XL Assessment as "Insufficient"
• 2013/04/23: CBC: EPA repeats Keystone XL objections
  State Department's environmental analysis 'insufficient' despite 4 years of study
• 2013/04/23: DD: EPA releases harsh review of U.S. State Department's Keystone XL environmental report
• 2013/04/23: ICN: EPA Deems Keystone Review 'Insufficient' as Green Groups Hint at Lawsuit
  Enviromentalists and the EPA take apart State Dept's Keystone review, and momentum shifts yet again toward pipeline opponents in the long-running battle.
• 2013/04/23: CSW: EPA on State Dept's Keystone XL draft impact statement: "Environmental Objections - Insufficient Information"
• 2013/04/22: Grist: EPA bashes State Department's 'insufficient' Keystone report
• 2013/04/22: OilChange: 1 million+ comments to stop the KeystoneXL pipeline
• 2013/04/22: WpgFP: EPA once again criticizes State Department's review of Keystone XL pipeline
• 2013/04/22: TP:JR: EPA Slams State's Draft Impact Statement For Keystone XL
• 2013/04/22: CSW: Comments to the State Dept on the Keystone XL pipeline Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement
• 2013/04/22: ICN: Public Comment Period Ending on Controversial Keystone Report
• 2013/04/22: WMTC: earth day 2013: one million comments against the keystone xl pipeline
  

  The Mayflower oil spill continues to weigh heavily on the Keystone decision:

• 2013/04/26: TreeHugger: Update on Mayflower Oil Spill: Chemist finds benzene, AG investigates, residents organize
• 2013/04/25: ICN: Arkansas Oil Spill Damage Assessment: If Not the Feds, Then Who?
• 2013/04/24: RT: ExxonMobil claims in dispute as spill reaches Arkansas lake
  An independent water test conducted by a company specializing in oil spill cleanups has found that the March 29 tar sands oil spill caused by ExxonMobil's ruptured Pegasus pipeline in Mayflower, Arkansas is now contaminating nearby Lake Conway. The new findings, provided to the media by Opflex Solutions, shows that the bitumen heavy crude oil (or tar sands) has now contaminated the lake, a revelation which directly contradicts ExxonMobil's most recent cleanup update, which categorically denied that any oil had reached the body of water.
• 2013/04/24: TreeHugger: BP's lies about Gulf oil spill should worry Arkansas victims of Exxon spill
• 2013/04/24: ICN: Arkansas AG on Why He's Taking Exxon Spill Probe Into His Own Hands
• 2013/04/23: TheCabin:KATV: Outside group's tests reveal tar sands in Lake Conway
• 2013/04/23: TreeHugger: Tests find oil has reached Lake Conway, Exxon denies
• 2013/04/22: ICN: Ark. Oil Spill Probe Falls to Understaffed Agency [PHSMA] With Close Industry Ties
• 2013/04/22: UPI: Exxon apologizes for Arkansas oil spill
  

  With the deficit hawks panicking about the economy, there has been talk of a carbon tax solution:

• 2013/04/26: CSM: Would a carbon tax boost clean energy?
  

  The NorthWest coal export debate remains heated:

• 2013/04/23: DD: Cities and tribes in Washington State: No coal port, no coal trains here
  

  The impacts of the sequestration are starting to come home:

• 2013/04/25: uComics: (cartoon - Auth) Sequestration Blues
• 2013/04/25: Guardian(UK): US senators indicate deal to spare aviation sector from sequester cuts
• 2013/04/25: KSJT: AP: In case you missed it : $equestration runs deep as feds get set to shut down flood gauges
  

  Looks like Rick Perry is refusing to learn the lifesaving value of sensible regulation:

• 2013/04/27: CNN: Texas governor demands apology over newspaper's plant blast cartoon
  "I won't stand for someone mocking the tragic deaths," Perry says - Cartoonist says he stands by his work - The cartoon was published the same day as the memorial for victims
• 2013/04/27: DD: Rick Perry 'explosion' cartoon published to make a point
• 2013/04/24: SacBee: (cartoon - Ohman) Business in Texas
  

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

• 2013/04/27: CSM: With Planned Parenthood speech, Obama jumps into abortion debate
• 2013/04/26: RTCC: Obama's climate credentials face test at UN talks in Bonn
  

  The actions of the Obama administration are being watched closely:

• 2013/04/26: CSM: Obama administration to add 10,000 hybrids for 'green' government fleet
• 2013/04/25: EurActiv: US plan for EU-style food aid policy seen as boost for farmers, nutrition
  The Obama administration is proposing a major overhaul of food aid that would for the first time put America's overseas policy in line with European practices of providing cash and other alternatives to bulk shipments.
• 2013/04/25: GCC: Obama Administration announces 21M-acre oil and gas lease sale offshore Texas
• 2013/04/24: OilChange: EPA: tar sands "significantly more intensive than other crudes"
• 2013/04/23: SciAm:Obs: EPA on Keystone XL: Significant Climate Impacts from Tar Sands Pipeline
• 2013/04/25: NOAANews: NOAA's National Weather Service completes Doppler radar upgrades -- Advanced technology proves valuable during severe weather
• 2013/04/25: SciAm:EC: Hunter Allowed to Import Rhino Trophy into U.S. for First Time in 33 Years
• 2013/04/24: MoJo: USDA Ruffles Feathers With New Poultry Inspection Policy
  Faster kill lines will save Big Chicken a bundle. But are they safe for workers...or eaters?
• 2013/04/23: RTCC: John Kerry seizes on Earth Day's climate message
• 2013/04/22: TP:JR: Kerry Says 'The Science Is Screaming At All Of Us And Demands Action'. Will He Forsake The Climate For 35 Jobs?
• 2013/04/22: USGS: App-lifying USGS Earth Science Data Challenge Winners Announced
  Species range and distribution, taxonomic classification, and conservation status applications top the list of submitted Apps
• 2013/04/22: RTCC: EPA faces ocean acidification legal challenge
  The USA's Clean Water Act could be used to combat the growing threat posed by ocean acidification, the San Francisco based Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) claims in a new petition.
• 
  

  As for what is going on in Congress:

   

• 2013/04/27: P3: With Friends Like These
• 2013/04/26: GreenGrok: Preview: On My House Testimony on Climate Policy Issues
• 2013/04/26: ScienceInsider: U.S. House Passes Bill That Would Head Off Massive Helium Shortage
• 2013/04/26: TP:JR: If Oil Companies Can Have Master Limited Partnerships, Why Can't Clean Energy Companies?
• 2013/04/26: RT: New bill would require genetically modified food labeling in US
• 2013/04/25: ScienceInsider: U.S. Senators Seek Comments on Plan to Store Nuclear Waste
• 2013/04/25: Grist: New bill in Congress would require GMO labeling
• 2013/04/25: TheHill:e2W: House GOP moves to shield oil companies from disclosure rule
  A House GOP bill to implement a U.S.-Mexico offshore energy accord exempts oil companies operating under the pact from controversial federal rules that force energy producers to disclose their payments to foreign governments. The provision could become a sticking point in enacting the Transboundary Hydrocarbon Agreement, a 2012 accord to enable cooperation in development of oil-and-gas along a maritime boundary in the Gulf of Mexico.
• 2013/04/24: TP:JR: Ohio Manufacturers Fight To Keep The Energy Efficiency Standards The GOP Is Trying To Weaken
• 2013/04/25: TP:JR: In Fisker Hearing, Rep. Issa Admits Loan Request For Failed 'Sperm-Shaped' Electric Car
• 2013/04/25: UCSUSA:B: Master Limited Partnerships: Lowering Financing Costs for Renewable Energy Projects
• 2013/04/24: OilChange: [House] Natural Resources Committee votes for Big Oil
• 2013/04/24: SCVNews: Boxer Bill Calls for Labeling of Genetically Altered Food
  U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., and Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., introduced the Genetically Engineered Food Right-to-Know Act on Wednesday - bipartisan legislation that would require the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to clearly label genetically engineered (GE) foods so that consumers can make informed choices about what they eat.
• 2013/04/22: UCSUSA:B: The EPA and Science Advice: A Story of a Time When Congress Listened
• 2013/04/22: CSM: House aims to expand oil drilling in Gulf of Mexico
  

  What are the lobbyists pushing?

• 2013/04/26: Grist: Mark Zuckerberg's political group funds ads promoting Keystone and ANWR drilling
• 2013/04/25: Grist: Obama's group Organizing for Action finally takes up climate change ... sort of
• 2013/04/25: ERabett: Barack Got Video
• 2013/04/25: Guardian(UK): Obama campaign launches plan to shame climate sceptics in Congress
  Campaign group Organizing for Action says it is time to call out US politicians who deny the science behind climate change
• 2013/04/25: DeSmogBlog: President Obama Slams Climate Deniers on Twitter
  

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

• 2013/04/26: TheCanadian: Anthropology's Capitalism
• 2013/04/26: Grist: Locally owned businesses can help communities thrive -- and survive climate change
• 2013/04/25: Resilience: Universal Basic Income: A brief overview of a support for intelligent economies, quality of life and a caring society
• 2013/02/25: AeonMag: Omens
  When we peer into the fog of the deep future what do we see --- human extinction or a future among the stars?
• 2013/04/25: CassandrasLegacy: Survival tips from the Gypsies
• 2013/04/24: Resilience: From Housing to Health Care, 7 Co-ops That Are Changing Our Economy
• 2013/04/22: al Jazeera: A wealth of planets: Avoiding bankruptcy and foreclosure
  A new book explains global warming is just one of ten fundamental threats we're ignoring - but could solve.
• 2013/04/22: LoE: Arithmetic, Population and Energy
  

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

• 2013/04/26: ABC(Au): Abortion drug recommended to join PBS
  The abortion drug, commonly known as RU486, is a crucial step closer to being listed on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, a move that would make it hundreds of dollars cheaper. The Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee has announced it will recommend the listing of the drugs Mifepristone and Misoprostol, which provide what is known as a medical termination of a pregnancy
• 2013/04/26: ABC(Au): Decision on abortion drug listing due today
  The Greens are urging the Federal Government to act quickly to list the abortion pill RU 486 on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. The Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee is due to announce today if it will recommend the listing to Health Minister Tanya Plibersek.
• 2013/04/24: LoE: The population consumption environment nexus
• 2013/04/23: Resilience: Maybe It's Time to Offend a Few Folks
  

  Apocalypso anyone?

• 2012/07/05: CI: The 50 Machines You Will Need to Rebuild Civilization (should it come to that)
• 2013/04/24: TheConversation: We are destroying the joint
• 2013/04/24: BBC: How are humans going to become extinct?
  What are the greatest global threats to humanity? Are we on the verge of our own unexpected extinction?
• 
  

  How are we going to deal with this mess?

   

• 2013/04/27: P3: Politicizing Climate
• 2013/04/27: P3: The Red Shoes: Still Waiting for the Climate Fix by Bjorn Staerk
• 2013/04/26: HotWhopper: Unreasonably "Reasonable" - Uncertainty is No Monster - Live with It or Die by It
  

  How do the media measure up?

• 2013/04/27: DeSmogBlog: Fox Snooze: Global Warming Name Game Debunked By Media Matters (Again)
• 2013/04/26: CJR: Who's covering local climates?
• 2013/04/26: TP:JR: Todd Gitlin Slams Media's Miscoverage Of Climate: It's Dumb Journalism, Stupid
• 2013/04/24: Guardian(UK): Why is Reuters puzzled by global warming's acceleration?
• 2013/04/24: AIMN: Murdoch Censorship Gives the Lie to 'Freedom of Speech' Claims
• 2013/04/24: FDL: Koch Brothers Eye Tribune Purchase To Spread Conservative Message
• 2013/04/24: DD: What would the Koch brothers do to the Los Angeles Times?
• 2013/04/24: KSJT: Solutions Journalism Network wants to change journalism, offers up to $5,000 in expenses for climate change stories
• 2013/04/23: Wonkette: Koch Brothers Buying the Liberal Media Now
• 2013/04/22: FAIR: Don't Quote Me by Name, But My Friends the Koch Brothers Respect the Hell Out of Press Freedom
• 2013/04/23: WtD: Dear Miranda Devine: the tabloid press is killing children by discouraging vaccination, not climate scientists
• 2013/04/22: Grist: Koch brothers want to buy L.A. Times, Chicago Tribune, six other papers
• 2013/04/21: CSW: On the InsideClimate News Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting
• 2013/04/21: TP:JR: Second-Degree Murdoch: Pollutocrat Kochs Target U.S. Media For Takeover
  

  Here is something for your library:

• 2013/04/26: Guardian(UK): Science Museum publishes climate change novel
• ScienceMuseum(UK): [link to ebook] _Shackleton's Man Goes South_ by Tony White
• 2013/04/26: CSM: Climate change inspires a new literary genre: cli-fi
• 2013/04/23: CSM: [Book Review] Aldo Leopold: A Sand County Almanac & Other Writings on Conservation and Ecology
  

  And for your film & video enjoyment:

• 2013/04/26: Grist: In Gasland sequel, fracking saga's pressure ratchets up
• 2013/04/25: Grist: A master class on the state of clean-energy investment [video]
• 2013/04/26: PSinclair: Can We Have Solar Energy and Utilities, Too?
• 2013/04/23: PSinclair: A Dangerous Man: Tim DeChristopher Now Loose
• 2013/04/22: TP:JR: Death Spiral Video: Arctic Sea Ice Minimum Volume 1979-2012
• 2013/04/22: BVerheggen: Documentairy "Thin Ice" now available on the web
• 2013/04/22: DeSmogBlog: Josh Fox's Gasland Part II Faces Aggressive Oil and Gas Public Relations Campaign
  

  As for podcasts:

• 2013/04/27: CBC:Q&Q: (mp3) #4) Better Bacterial Biofuels
  

  Meanwhile among the 'Sue the Bastards!' contingent:

• 2013/04/24: TP:JR: In Huge Win On Mountaintop Removal With Big Implications, Court Upholds EPA Authority To Protect Clean Water
• 2013/04/23: TheHill:e2W: Court backs EPA veto of mountaintop mining project
• 2013/04/23: Grist: Court hands EPA a victory in fight against mountaintop-removal mining
• 2013/04/23: LA Times: Federal court backs EPA regulation of mountaintop removal
• 2013/04/23: ENS: Court Orders EPA to Impose Power Plant Water Pollution Rule
  

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

• 2013/04/26: TheConversation: Coal and gas fail the test when it comes to environmental impact
• 2013/04/25: NBF: Lockheed 10 megawatt ocean thermal energy plant could finally be beginning of utility scale commercialization
• 2013/04/25: NBF: Low cost and increased supply of energy
• 2013/04/25: PSinclair: Dave Roberts: The Renewable Threat to Utilities
• 2013/04/25: TP:JR: Bloomberg Study: 70 Percent Of New Global Power Capacity Added Through 2030 Will be Renewable
• 2013/04/24: NBF: Superconductor motors, generators, maglev, space applications and energy weapon applications in the 2018-2023 timeframes [energy misc]
• 2013/04/23: Grist: The smart money is on renewable energy
• 2013/04/22: Grist: World's energy nearly as dirty today as it was 20 years ago
• 2013/04/22: TreeHugger: Cool NREL maps show the huge geothermal power potential of the U.S.
• 2013/04/21: Resilience: Scientific viewpoint or 'religious' belief: My cat explains energy optimism
  

  What do you have in energy comparisons and transitions?

• 2013/04/26: TP:JR: If Oil Companies Can Have Master Limited Partnerships, Why Can't Clean Energy Companies?
• 2013/04/25: PSinclair: Facebook Unfriends Coal, Likes Iowa Wind
• 2013/04/25: UCSUSA:B: Georgia, Alabama Customers Benefit from Wind by Wire
• 2013/04/24: ColumbusDispatch: With natural gas costly, AEP burning more coal
  Rising natural-gas prices mean American Electric Power is burning more coal and less gas compared with a year ago, according to the company's chief executive. "Our coal generation has picked back up considerably," said Nick Akins, the president and CEO, in an interview. AEP is one of the largest users of coal in the country.
• 2013/04/23: ICN: U.S. States Turn Against Renewable Energy as Gas Plunges
  

  If they can be accessed, there are enough methane hydrates to ensure we are well and truly cooked:

• 2013/04/24: Atlantic: What If We Never Run Out of Oil?
• 2013/04/23: NatureN: Japanese test coaxes fire from ice
  First attempt to extract methane from frozen hydrates far beneath the ocean shows promise.
• 
  

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

   

• 2013/04/27: DeSmogBlog: Fracking Our National Parks: America's Best Idea Threatened By Oil and Gas Addiction
• 2013/04/26: FuelFix: Consultants' role in NY drilling study questioned
• 2013/04/25: BBC: UK shale gas bonanza 'not assured'
• 2013/04/24: N-JO:AP: [Florida] House OKs bill to disclose 'fracking' chemicals
• 2013/04/24: Grist: Fracking waste deemed too radioactive for hazardous-waste dump
  A truck carrying fracking waste was quarantined and then sent back to where it came from after its contents triggered a radiation alarm at a Pennsylvania hazardous-waste landfill. The truck's load was nearly 10 times more radioactive than is permitted at the dump in South Huntingdon township.
• 2013/04/23: EENews: FracFocus has 'serious flaws,' Harvard study says
• 2013/04/23: TheConversation: Fracking? Not in my back yard (or yours)
• 2013/04/22: TruthOut: The Facts on Fracking
• 2013/04/22: NewsDay: Gas industry presses Cuomo on fracking
  

  On the coal front:

• 2013/04/27: DD: In Montana, ranchers line up against coal
• 2013/04/24: WaPo: Many coal sludge impoundments have weak walls, federal study says
• 2013/04/24: Grist: A big blow for Big Coal in Wisconsin
  

  On the gas and oil front:

• 2013/04/26: BBerg: Closing oil prices Friday
  OIL (US$/bbl)
  Dated Brent Spot....103.16
  WTI Cushing Spot.....93.00
• 2013/04/28: OilDrum: Tech Talk - OPEC and EIA short-term projections
• 2013/04/25: CSM: Pressure mounting on US to export natural gas
• 2013/04/25: Guardian(UK): New fossil fuel frontiers pose 'catastrophic' threat to global recovery
  Warning comes amid a debate over dangers surrounding fracking, deepwater exploration and Arctic shelf development
• 2013/04/24: CSM: Statoil eyes major new North Sea oil discovery [40 million and 150 million recoverable barrels of oil equivalent]
• 2013/04/24: EarlyWarning: Latest Saudi Arabian Oil Supply
• 2013/04/23: CSM: BP delays $10 billion Gulf of Mexico project due to rising costs
• 2013/04/21: OilDrum: Tech Talk - The BP View of the Future
  

  In the gas and oil corps:

• 2013/04/26: BBerg: Total Profit Drops 7% on Lower Oil Price as Production Falls
  Total SA, Europe's third-largest oil producer, reported a 7 percent decline in earnings as output fell and weakening fuel demand pushed down the price of crude. Profit excluding changes in inventories retreated to 2.9 billion euros ($3.8 billion) in the first quarter from 3.1 billion euros a year earlier, the Paris-based company said today in a statement.
• 2013/04/26: TP:JR: Chevron Earned $6.2 Billion In Q1, Will Use Profits to Undercut Climate Action
• 2013/04/25: CSM: Exxon Mobil earnings up despite drop in oil, gas production
• 2013/04/25: TP:JR: ConocoPhillips Earns $2.1 Billion In First Quarter While Producing Less Oil
• 2013/04/25: TP:JR: Exxon Earns $9.5 Billion Q1 Profit One Month After Arkansas Oil Spill That It Pays No Taxes To Help Clean Up
  

  And in pipeline news:

• 2013/04/24: DeSmogBlog: Enbridge Pipeline Spills in Minnesota
• 2013/04/23: EnvEcon: Why would you name your pipeline after a winged horse?
  

  Biofuel bickering abounds:

• 2013/04/25: CSM: Green flights? NASA explores biofuel use in planes
  

  The answer my friend...:

• 2013/04/26: RTCC: Is wind energy's future bladeless?
  A Tunisian wind energy startup says it is in talks with a number of major industrial players as it looks to move its bladeless wind towers to a commercial scale. Saphon Energy's sail inspired towers wobble in the wind, with pistons converting kinetic energy to electricity. It says that by removing blades and gearboxes it can "comfortably" reduce the cost of wind energy by 25%. Empirical tests it has conducted suggest bladeless wind devices could be 2.3 to 2.5 times more efficient than three-blade turbines, capturing about 60-70% of the wind's kinetic energy.
• 
  

  Meanwhile among the solar aficionados:

   

• 2013/04/27: CSM: Want a solar home? Consider batteries
• 2013/04/25: Resilience: Solar Energy : This Is What A Disruptive Technology Looks Like
• 2013/04/24: Grist: This solar power system makes electricity and clean water at the same time
• 2013/04/23: TreeHugger: IBM solar collector magnifies sun by 2,000x (without cooking itself), costs 3x less than similar systems
• 2013/04/23: TreeHugger: America now has more solar energy workers than coal miners
• 2013/04/22: TreeHugger: Solar project development: There's an app for that
• 2013/04/22: NBF: IBM solar concentrator generates electricity and enough heat for desalination or cooling
• 2013/04/22: NBF: Solar Power that could be over 50 percent efficient
• 2013/04/22: BBC: Swiss engineering firm ABB has said that it will buy Californian solar energy firm Power-One for $1bn (£656m)
  

  The nuclear energy controversy continues:

• 2013/04/26: Slate: How Many People Have Really Been Killed by Chernobyl? Why estimates differ by tens of thousands of deaths
• 2013/04/26: UN: On Chernobyl anniversary, UN chief says impact of disaster must never be forgotten
• 2013/04/26: Xinhuanet: News Analysis: Chernobyl disaster poses long-term environmental challenges
• 2013/04/25: NBF: Costs and economics of Terrestrial Energy's Integral Molten Salt Reactor
• 2013/04/25: UCSUSA: Draft Senate Nuclear Waste Bill Fails to Address Current Storage Safety Issues at Nuclear Power Plants
  Congress Must Require Plant Owners to Transfer Waste from Cooling Pools to Dry Casks to Protect Public
• 2013/04/25: ScienceInsider: Extension of U.S.-South Korea Nuclear Deal Disappoints Scientists
• 2013/04/23: EneNews: Officials trying to stop nuclear material from spreading after collapse at Chernobyl - Will be covered with 'special resin'
• 2013/04/23: NBF: Saudi Arabia's plans for 17 GW of nuclear build over the next two decades will go to several builders for political gain
• 2013/04/23: NBF: Kazakhstan uranium production forecast for 2013 through 2016
  

  Nuclear fusion projects around the world limp along:

• 2013/04/27: NBF: 20 billion dollar International Tokomak Fusion Project [ITER] Keeps Rolling Along but would deliver commercial power in 2050 at the earliest
  

  More people are talking about the electrical grid:

• 2013/04/26: PSinclair: Getting Paid to Charge Your Car - First Steps
• 2013/04/23: SciAm:PI: Electric utilities can now adjust your Nest thermostat to shift energy demand
• 2013/04/22: Grist: Energy CEO: Solar should break up with wind, date natural gas, have distributed babies
  

  And then there is the matter of efficiency & conservation:

• 2013/04/25: CSM: Energy efficiency means lower utility bills, less mortgage risk
• 2013/04/22: UCSB: Cause of LED Efficiency Droop Finally Revealed
  Researchers at UC Santa Barbara and École Polytechnique confirm that Auger recombination theory is responsible for LED droop phenomenon
• 2013/04/22: BBC: Philips sees booming LED lighting sales
  Philips, the world's biggest lighting maker, has reported a 38% jump in first quarter LED sales from a year earlier. The pricey but long-life and energy-efficient bulbs now represent 23% of its lighting sales.
• 
  

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

   

• 2013/04/27: NBF: Volvo Kers Flywheel System boosts fuel efficiency by 25% and will look to put it into production cars
• 2013/04/26: AutoBG: Chrysler CEO [Sergio Marchionne]: natural gas better than electricity to move vehicles, so government should back off
• 2013/04/25: TreeHugger: Chevy announces the 2014 Spark EV will get a category-leading EPA-estimated 119 MPGe
• 2013/04/25: AutoBG: More automakers will use turbochargers to meet CAFE standards
• 2013/04/22: AutoBG: NYC launches electric taxi 'fleet' with six Nissan Leaf EVs
  

  As for Energy Storage:

• 2013/04/24: SLAC: New [Flow] Battery Design Could Help Solar and Wind Energy Power the Grid
• 2013/04/22: AutoBG: University of Illinois recharges li-ion battery a thousand times faster
  

  The reaction of business to climate change will be critical:

• 2013/04/24: UCSUSA:B: A Welcome Voice of Corporate Leadership
• 2013/04/22: RTCC: Unilever chief calls for more climate action from governments
  

  Insurance and re-insurance companies are feeling the heat:

• 2013/04/21: TMoS: American Taxpayers Paying the Price of Climate Change
  

  Who's fielding theFAQs?

• 2013/04/24: TheConversation: Explainer: what is happening to Antarctica's ice?
  

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

• 2013/04/26: TP:JR: April 26 News...
• 2013/04/25: TP:JR: April 25 News...
• 2013/04/24: TP:JR: April 24 News...
• 2013/04/23: TP:JR: April 23 News...
• 2013/04/22: TP:JR: April 22 News...
  

  Other (weekly) lists:

• 2013/04/27: SkS: 2013 SkS Weekly News Roundup #17A by John Hartz
• 2013/04/22: BPA: This Week's Ag News
  

  The carbon lobby are up to the usual:

• 2013/04/24: DD: What would the Koch brothers do to the Los Angeles Times?
• 2013/04/23: TP:JR: Debunking The Dumbest Denier Myth (Again): 'Climate Change' Vs. 'Global Warming'
• 2013/04/25: HotWhopper: Denier Weirdness: WUWT says Watch Out for the Ice Age!
• 2013/04/25: ItsNotNova: Science vs Joanne Nova
• 2013/04/24: P3: Roy Spencer's Peculiar Prescription
• 2013/04/26: MetaSD: Hair of the dog that bit you climate policy
• 2013/04/26: CDL: Bob Carter
• 2013/04/26: RBroberg: Folland: High predictive skill of global surface temperature a year ahead
• 2013/04/26: CWars: Cowardly Mr. Christopher Monckton hates free speech, threatens to call police on people who challenge him
• 2013/04/25: OParachute: Friday follies - what happened to the "official AGW hypothesis?"
• 2013/04/27: HotWhopper: More WUWT Denier Weirdness: Long Time Passing...
• 2013/04/22: TPL: Duh...
• 2013/04/28: CWars: Son of Monckton and the litany of lies
• 2013/04/28: HotWhopper: Hansen on CBC - plus WUWT HotWhopper of the Day: Wood is a Fossil Fuel
• 2013/04/28: OParachute: A global warming hoax meme is born ... in New Zealand too!
• 2013/04/22: HotWhopper: The Wrong Climate Stuff
• 2013/04/22: ITracker: Has Christopher Monckton ever won a lawsuit?
• 2013/04/22: DD: Belief in free market economics predicts rejection of science
  

  As for climate miscellanea:

• 2013/04/22: DerSpiegel: Crustacean Comeback : Scientists Plan to Settle Lobsters In Wind Farms
  Scientists are hoping to revitalize the lobster population off the German island of Helgoland, and are enlisting the help of a nearby offshore wind farm whose rocky foundations make a good habitat. But there's potential for trouble: These aggressive crustaceans have a tendency to eat each other.
• 2013/04/23: UnderTheBanyan: A changing climate demands change in narratives
• 2013/04/24: ERabett: Bag Job
• 2013/04/24: RTCC: Why childrens' climate concerns should inspire politicians
• 2013/04/26: P3: Climate Change as Defendant
• 2013/04/26: Resilience: "I'm sorry ... what?": a visit to the Met Office Hadley Centre
• 2013/04/22: DD: How do we know that humans are responsible for global warming?
• 2013/04/22: RTCC: Q&A: John Ashton answers your climate change questions
• 2013/04/22: Eureka: Rivers act as 'horizontal cooling towers,' study finds
• 2013/04/21: Stoat: What's the similarity between economics and climatology?
  

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

• UCSD: The Keeling Curve - A daily record of atmospheric carbon dioxide
• Europe vs CO2
• Ghost Nets Australia
• Geoengineering Our Climate?
• Wiki: Rossby-gravity waves
• CBD: About the Nagoya Protocol
• Teaching Climate/Energy Law & Policy -- The blog of the M.Sc. Program in Energy Policy & Climate at Johns Hopkins University
• BNEF: White Papers
• Insect Pollinators Initiative
• ElectionPrediction: British Columbia Provincial Election 2013
• CBC: British Columbia Votes 2013 - In The War Room
• OSE: The Global Village Construction Set
• Alberta Environment and Sustainable Resource Development Tar Sands Information Portal
• Tar Sands Environmental Monitoring Information Portal
• PAGES - Past Global Changes

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.

"Call it mother if you will -- but Earth is not a doting parent." -Isaac Asimov

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