Another Week of Climate Disruption News, July 28, 2013

By illconsidered on July 29, 2013.

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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Information is not Knowledge...Knowledge is not Wisdom

July 28, 2013

Chuckles, COP19+, MEF, Whiteman, Warnings
Bottom Line, Subsidies, EIB, Pricing Nature, Cook
Fukushima: Note, News, Related Papers
Melting Arctic, Harp Seals, Methane, Geopolitics, Antarctica
Food: Crisis, Fisheries, Land Grabs, GMOs, Production
Hurricanes, New Weather, GHGs, Carbon Cycle, CO2 Fertilization
Temperatures, Aerosols, Paleoclimate, Extinctions, Bees & CCD, Satellites
Impacts, Forests, Disease, Tornadoes, Wildfires
Corals, Acidification, Glaciers, Sea Levels, Floods & Droughts
Biomimicry, Transportation, Buildings, Sequestration, Conservation, Adaptation
Journals, Other Docs, Misc. Science, Models, Mann
International Politics: IPCC, Carbon Trade, Carbon Tax, Bank Tax, Hormuz
South China Sea, EU ETS & Airlines, Solar Spat, Treaties, Misc.
Law & Activism, Activism, Divestment, Polls, H2O Biz, Religioso
National Politics: Britain, Europe, Australia, Carbon Law, Election, MDBP, India, China, Middle East
Canada, Premiers, Lac-Mégantic, Climate Poll, Northern Gateway, Churchill Falls
Cold Lake Leak, Salmon, BC, Tar Sands, Alberta, Ontario, Quebec, Maritimes, North, Canadiana
America, BP Disaster, Keystone, Mayflower, Birth Control, Obama, USAdmin, Congress
Ecological Economics, Rose Coloured, Media, Books, Video, Courts, BP Trial
Energy, Transitions, Fracking, Oil & Gas, Pipelines, Peak Oil, Biofuel
Wind, Solar, Nukes, Nuclear Waste, FITs, Hydrogen, Grid, Cars, Energy Storage
Business, Insurance, Joe's List, Carbon Lobby, Inaction, Misc., Useful Links
Shameless Self Promotion, A Simple Plea, .sig

Here's a wee chuckle for ye:

Looking ahead to COP19 and future international climate negotiations:

Oh, oh. The Major Emitters have spoken:

2013/07/23: RTCC: UN climate change deal "may not be feasible" by 2015
[...] a recent Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate (MEF) meeting in Poland involving the USA, EU, China and the UN ended with a Chair's Summary acknowledging that "some considered it would not be feasible to complete the process by 2015."

The Whiteman et al. $60 trillion Arctic disaster played to a lot of echoes and the odd brickbat:

2013/07/24: Nature: Climate science: Vast costs of Arctic change by Gail Whiteman et al.
2013/07/27: CCP: RL Miller: The Truth Behind That $60 Trillion Climate Change Price Tag
2013/07/27: CCurrents: Arctice Methane Time Bomb And Emission Economy
2013/07/26: DeSmogBlog: New Nature Study Calls Melting Underwater Arctic Permafrost An "Economic Time Bomb"
2013/07/25: ASI: Arctic time bombs
2013/07/25: WaPo:B: Methane mischief: misleading commentary published in Nature
2013/07/25: TheConversation: Melting Arctic's methane timebomb could cost trillions
2013/07/25: Grist: Arctic methane escape could cost $60 trillion
2013/07/25: PeakEnergy: Rapid Arctic thawing could be economic timebomb, scientists say
2013/07/25: CCurrents: Cost of Arctic Methane Release Could Be $60 Trillion, The 'Size of Global Economy' in 2012
2013/07/24: CSM: Arctic ice melt could cost an extra $60 trillion, say researchers
2013/07/24: RawStory: Release of Arctic methane could speed ice melting and cost $60 trillion
2013/07/24: Stoat: Arctic methane 'time bomb' could have huge economic costs?
2013/07/24: CBC: Melting Arctic ice called 'economic time bomb'
Researchers put cost at $60 trillion over 10 years, almost equal to entire world economy in 2012
2013/07/24: UKISS: Arctic methane release is an 'economic time bomb' - study
2013/07/24: TP:JR: New Research Finds Melting Arctic May Cost Global Economy $60 Trillion
2013/07/24: RTCC: Arctic melt is $60tn 'economic time bomb'
2013/07/24: EUR: Cost of Arctic methane release could be 'size of global economy'
2013/07/24: BBC: Arctic methane 'time bomb' could have huge economic costs
Scientists say that the release of large amounts of methane from thawing permafrost in the Arctic could have huge economic impacts for the world.
The researchers estimate that the climate effects of the release of this gas could cost $60 trillion (£39 trillion), roughly the size of the global economy in 2012.
2013/07/24: Guardian(UK): Arctic thawing could cost the world $60tn, scientists say
2013/07/24: CDreams: Arctic Methane "Burp": A Climate Catastrophe with $60 Trillion Pricetag
New study looks at planetary, social and economic impacts of increasingly perilous Arctic melting
2013/07/24: ArcticNews: Arctic Methane Release: "Economic Time Bomb"

What do we have for warnings this week?

2013/07/24: TheCanadian: Global Warning

And on the Bottom Line:

Who's getting the subsidies?

2013/07/24: RTCC: EU chiefs call for G20 decision on fossil fuel subsidies
The European Union's top two officials say cutting fossil subsidies should be a priority for the forthcoming G20 summit, which takes place in St Petersburg in September.
2013/07/22: OilChange: New report exposes billions per year in new fossil fuel subsidies

First it was the World Bank, then the US Import-Export Bank and now, the European Investment Bank.
Did someone pass these guys the word?

2013/07/25: EurActiv: EIB restricts lending for fossil fuel projects, with exceptions
2013/07/24: RTCC: [European Investment Bank (EIB)] cuts finance for coal power plants
Decision means new fossil-fuelled power plants would have emission limit of 550 grams of carbon dioxide per kwh
Coal generates 26.6% of the world's electricity and is responsible for 43.1% of global CO2 emissions
Europe's leading development bank has followed the World Bank in announcing today it will no longer fund coal power plants.
2013/07/24: Guardian(UK): European investment bank to stop financing coal-fired power plants

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?

2013/07/24: TheConversation: Should we extend property rights to the atmosphere?

John Cook and friends continue their point-counterpoint articles:

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:

2013/07/27: EneNews: 'Crisis' at Fukushima plant - Tepco: Extremely radioactive water leaking directly into groundwater and going into ocean
2013/07/27: EneNews: Kyodo News: Extremely contaminated water is seeping into Pacific Ocean from under Fukushima Reactor No. 2 turbine building - Tepco: We believe ir's staying in trench
2013/07/27: DD: Radiation in water leakage at Fukushima plant as high as 2011 crisis...
2013/07/27: EneNews: WSJ: Extreme contamination found at Fukushima plant - Cesium over 2 billion Bq/liter; Millions of times above limit - Tepco 'trying' to stop it leaking into ocean - 'Probably' from melted reactor core
2013/07/27: Asahi: Waterborne radioactive levels in Fukushima plant pit unchanged from 2011
2013/07/26: EneNews: Tepco Advisor Blasts Tepco: "You do not know what you're doing" - Japan Times: Time for gov't to take over at Fukushima Daiichi? (video)
2013/07/26: ABC(Au): Nuclear experts slam Fukushima nuclear plant operators over toxic water admission
2013/07/25: Asahi: NRA chairman says release of radioactive water into sea is inevitable
2013/07/25: EneNews: 'Mysterious' steam at Fukushima Unit 3 - NPR: "Fuel could have shifted... or worse restarted nuclear reactions"...
2013/07/25: CDreams: Fukushima Continues to Spew Its Darkness
2013/07/25: ABC(Au): Fukushima operator TEPCO knew radioactive water was leaking into Pacific a month before going public
2013/07/24: Independent(UK): With Fukushima nuclear plant still leaking, Japan clean-up bill soars to $50bn
Many are sceptical that government-led effort will make area habitable again
2013/07/24: EneNews: Fukushima Unit 3 steaming again, third time in a week - Asahi: High radiation levels detected near where it was observed - Tepco does not know where it's coming from (photos)
2013/07/23: EneNews: Gizmodo: Entirely possible leaking nuclear material from Fukushima is going to U.S. and Canada - Bloomberg: "Fish contamination concerns have spread beyond Japan"
2013/07/23: EneNews: Senior Japan Officials: Nuclear material flowing into ocean a 'grave matter' - Situation at Fukushima is 'deplorable' (video)
2013/07/23: DD: TEPCO admits Fukushima nuclear plant leaking radioactive water into Pacific ocean
2013/07/23: ABC(Au): Fukushima operators admit radioactive water is leaking into Pacific
2013/07/23: ABC(Au): Japanese govt criticises TEPCO's handling of Fukushima plant
It's taken about two-and-a-half years, but it seems the Japanese government is finally losing patience with the operator of the Fukushima nuclear plant. The reason: its haphazard approach to stabilising the complex.
Last week it was unexplained steam rising from the shattered remains of the building housing the melted reactor number three. This week it's TEPCO's admission that radioactive water from the plant has probably been leaking into the Pacific for the last three months.
A senior government official has now denounced the company's handling of the situation as deplorable.
2013/07/22: JapanTimes: Tepco now admits radioactive water entering the sea at Fukushima No. 1
Fisheries exec shocked by utility's flip-flop on groundwater's flow
2013/07/23: EneNews: AFP: 'Fukushima reactor site engulfed by steam'...
2013/07/23: BBC: Fukushima nuclear plant: Japan takes steps over sea leak
Japan says it is taking steps to prevent contaminated water from the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant leaking into the sea.
The plant's operator recently admitted for the first time that radioactive water was still going into the sea.
2013/07/22: CDreams: Fukushima Nuclear Disaster Too Big to Cover Up
Plant operator makes first public admission of severe radioactive leaks; meanwhile, Japan races towards more nuclear power
2013/07/21: IndiaTimes: Fukushima cancer risk surges
The ongoing saga of Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan that suffered a triple meltdown in March 2011 just got dangerously murkier.
The number of workers who suffered cancer-inducing radiation doses is not 178, but 1,978, Asahi Shimbun reported on Friday. That's eleven times more than admitted by Tepco, the owner of the plant last December.
2013/07/22: EneNews: AP: Tepco admits radioactive water is flowing into Pacific from Fukushima plant - AFP: Experts warn of effects on humans; "Fears of ocean contamination"
2013/07/22: CBC: Fukushima plant admits radioactive water leaked to sea
Experts suspect leak has been continuous since March 2011 earthquake and tsunami

What do we have for Fukushima related papers this week?

The Arctic melt continues to garner attention:

2013/07/27: CSM: New lake at North Pole? More of a pond, really
The online buzz over a new "lake" on the North Pole as the latest symbol of global warming is mostly hype.
Yes, there is a new foot-deep body of water in the Arctic. But this isn't unusual. This is another Arctic pond caused by seasonal (summer) warming. And the camera lens distorts the size.
"I have seen much more extensive ponding," James Morison, the principal investigator for the North Pole Environmental Observatory told The Atlantic. "Because we use wide angle lenses the melt pond looks much bigger than it is."
2013/07/28: PostArctica: Arctic sea ice time bomb ticking: the bang's gonna be huge
2013/07/27: CCP: "Increasing amount of Arctic Ocean deep waters in the Greenland Sea," by R. Somavilla, U. Schauer & G. Budéus, GRL (2013); doi: 10.1002/grl.50775
2013/07/27: CCP: Arctic sea ice extent: 1920-1939 vs 2012
2013/07/27: ArcticNews: Arctic Cyclone July 2013
2013/07/27: DD: Siberia breaks records for Arctic heat - 'I've never worn a bikini before in Norilsk'
2013/07/26: DD: Scientists watch Arctic cyclone chew up sea ice
2013/07/26: DD: Ice-free Arctic in two years heralds methane catastrophe: Interview with polar ocean physicist Peter Wadhams
2013/07/26: DD: Greenland melting - 'It's hard to get your mind around how fast the Arctic is changing'
2013/07/26: MODIS: Franz Josef Land, Arctic Ocean [on July 19]
2013/07/26: ArcticNews: Warm water keeps flowing into the Kara Sea
2013/07/25: OilChange: The Pond at the Pole
2013/07/25: RScribbler: North Pole Melting: Ice Camera 2 Swims as Camera 1 Gets its Feet Wet
2013/07/25: RScribbler: Sudden Arctic Cyclone Churns Through Beaufort Sea Ice
2013/07/25: TreeHugger: The North Pole is now the North Pool
2013/07/24: RTCC: Arctic sea ice loss accelerated in July
2013/07/24: PeakEnergy: Snow and Arctic sea ice extent plummet suddenly as globe bakes
2013/07/23: DD: Arctic boreal forests burning at 'unprecedented' rate
2013/07/23: DD: North Pole now a lake - Arctic cyclone to further fracture ice and churn up warm ocean water
2013/07/23: ASI: Second storm
2013/07/23: RScribbler: Arctic Heat Wave Re-Intensifies Over Central Siberia Setting off Rash of Tundra Fires
2013/07/23: PSinclair: This Summer's Greenland Melt Will Not Equal 2012
2013/07/22: ArcticNews: Open Water at North Pole
2013/07/22: PostArctica: The Great Arctic Flush
2013/07/22: TMoS: Speaking of Boiled Frogs, Here's Paul Beckwith
Wiki: Great Arctic Cyclone of 2012
2013/07/22: ASI: The Naming of Arctic Cyclones
2013/07/21: ArcticNews: The Great Arctic Flush
2013/07/22: RTCC: Arctic could be ice-free by 2058
2013/07/21: ASI: ASI 2013 update 5: cyclone time again
2013/07/21: PSinclair: 2013 Melt Season - Arctic Ice in Free Fall Again?

As for the charismatic megafauna:

That Damoclean sword still hangs overhead:

As for the geopolitics of Arctic resources:

2013/07/26: BBC: Arctic drilling: UK 'complacent', say MPs
The UK is "complacently standing by" as firms start drilling for oil and gas in the Arctic, a group of MPs has said.
The Environmental Audit Committee said this was despite oil companies being unable to prove "they could clean up an oil spill in such harsh conditions".
Members renewed their call for a halt to new drilling, saying it was risky for the climate and the environment.
The government said it was not its place to tell Arctic states which resources they could extract.
2013/07/25: RTCC: Norwegians issue shipping warning as Arctic sea lanes open
Longer ice-free periods in the Arctic will lead to increased activity in the region within the next ten years
A new polar code for maritime operations is urgently needed to preserve the environmental integrity of the Arctic Ocean, says the head of the Norwegian Shipowners Association (NSA).
2013/07/24: NYT: Polar Thaw Opens Shortcut for Russian Natural Gas
2013/07/23: CCurrents: U.S. Arctic Ambitions And The Militarization Of The High North
2013/07/23: RollCall: Alaska Governor Pursues New Strategy in Push to Open Arctic Refuge to Drilling [3D seismic survey leading to courtcase]

While in Antarctica:

2013/07/28: IOTD: New Ice Island at Pine Island Glacier [on July 14]
2013/07/25: Grist: Antarctica's permafrost is melting
2013/07/24: Eureka: Coastal Antarctic permafrost melting faster than expected -- Arctic-like melt rates appearing in Coastal Antarctica
2013/07/21: SciNow: East Antarctica's Ice Sheet Not as Stable as Thought
2013/07/22: SciNews: Millions of years ago, frozen ice sheet in East Antarctica melted -- Warming may have caused huge increase in sea level
2013/07/22: Eureka: Ancient ice melt unearthed in Antarctic mud -- Carbon dioxide levels were similar to today's
The East Antarctic Ice Sheet repeatedly melted back several hundred miles inland during several warming periods 3 million to 5 million years ago in the Pliocene Epoch, according to a new study in the journal Nature Geoscience.
While most of the West Antarctica and Greenland ice sheets are thought to have melted during this time, the East Antarctic Ice Sheet was considered more stable due to its larger size and higher elevation. The study shows that the East Antarctic ice sheet is also vulnerable to substantial melting under warmer climates than today.
During the Pliocene, seas are thought to have risen up to 70 feet higher than today due to the melting ice sheets, about half of which may have come from East Antarctica. It is not well know how fast sea levels rose, but it is currently understood to take millennia.
2013/07/21: NBC: Message from the mud: East Antarctic meltdown could cause massive sea rise
The last time concentrations of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide were as high as they are today, big chunks of the seemingly stable East Antarctic ice sheet melted and helped raise global sea levels more than 65 feet higher than they are now, a new study suggests.

The food crisis is ongoing:

2013/07/27: WSJ: China's Bad Earth
Industrialization has turned much of the Chinese countryside into an environmental disaster zone, threatening not only the food supply but the legitimacy of the regime itself.
2013/07/27: DD: China's rural pollution causing crop failure...
2013/07/25: Eureka: U of T report says 3.9 million Canadians struggle to afford food
2013/07/24: NatureN: Deadly pig virus slips through US borders -- Researchers race to track spread of coronavirus.
[...]
The pathogen, a type of coronavirus called porcine epidemic diarrhoea virus (PEDV), was first identified in the United Kingdom in 1971, and it caused mass epidemics in Europe in the 1970s and 1980s. As pigs there developed immunity, the virus petered out and now causes only occasional, isolated outbreaks. It has since spread to Asia, where it has been considered endemic since 1982, causing substantial economic losses to pork producers. The virus can spread quickly by a faecal-oral route and infect entire herds. And although adult pigs typically recover, PEDV can kill 80-100% of the piglets it infects. The virus poses no health threat to humans.
2013/07/23: UN: Renewed clashes in Darfur threaten long-term food security in Sudan - UN agency
2013/07/23: ABC(Au): High arsenic levels in rice linked to DNA damage
2013/07/22: Resilience: The Energy Cost of Food
2013/07/21: NYT: Our Coming Food Crisis
2013/07/21: CCentral: Climate Change Will Alter the Soil That Feeds Us
2013/07/19: UNU:OurWorld: Criminalization of food sovereignty defenders: Old and new trends
2013/07/17: Nation: Dust Bowl Blues

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

So, are these land grabs Colonialism V2.0?

2013/07/23: BBC: World Bank: Africa held back by land ownership confusion
Africa's economic growth is being held back by confusion over who owns vast swathes of agricultural land, according to a World Bank report.
The continent is home to half of the world's usable uncultivated land, yet has the highest poverty rate.
But the Bank said farmers' inability to prove ownership, legal disputes and land grabs had held back cultivation.
Land governance needs to be improved if Africa is to fully exploit its resources and create jobs, it said.

Regarding the genetic modification of food:

2013/07/28: CDreams: The Bad Seed: The Health Risks of Genetically Modified Corn
2013/07/26: TheCanadian: GMO whistleblower: Canadian federal scientist speaks out
2013/07/25: CCurrents: Using Science For Bad...Where Do We Draw The Line On GMO's
2013/07/25: CSM: GMOs and a potential US-Europe pact
2013/07/23: RT: Monsanto leaves farmers 'enslaved in a new kind of serfdom'
2013/07/23: CDreams: USDA Fast-Tracks 'Rubber-Stamp' Approval of 'Dangerous' GE Seeds
Watchdog: 'It's clear that these federal agencies are working on behalf of corporate agribusiness, not US taxpayers and consumers.'
2013/07/23: NatureN: Monsanto drops GM in Europe -- Region abandoned owing to stalled approval process

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

2013/07/25: UCSUSA:B: Cover Crops Dramatically Increase Corn Yields-Especially In Drought Conditions
2013/07/24: SciAm:AiP: What's stopping us from eating insects?
2013/07/25: UNottingham: World changing technology enables crops to take nitrogen from the air
A major new technology has been developed by The University of Nottingham, which enables all of the world's crops to take nitrogen from the air rather than expensive and environmentally damaging fertilisers.
Nitrogen fixation, the process by which nitrogen is converted to ammonia, is vital for plants to survive and grow. However, only a very small number of plants, most notably legumes (such as peas, beans and lentils) have the ability to fix nitrogen from the atmosphere with the help of nitrogen fixing bacteria. The vast majority of plants have to obtain nitrogen from the soil, and for most crops currently being grown across the world, this also means a reliance on synthetic nitrogen fertiliser.
Professor Edward Cocking, Director of The University of Nottingham's Centre for Crop Nitrogen Fixation, has developed a unique method of putting nitrogen-fixing bacteria into the cells of plant roots.
2013/07/22: BPA: An Interview with Cornell's Dr. Erika Styger about the System of Crop Intensification (SRI-Rice)
2013/07/22: Kew: Major global analysis offers hope for saving the wild side of staple food crops

In the Central Pacific, Tropical Storm 06E (Flossie) looks to be heading straight for Hawaii:

2013/07/25: NASA: Flossie (Eastern Pacific Ocean) -- NASA's Infrared Data Shows Tropical Storm Flossie's Strength

In the Atlantic, Tropical Storm Dorian is heading westward (weakly):

2013/07/27: Wunderground: The Steering of Dorian
2013/07/26: CSM: Tropical Storm Dorian weakens as it heads toward Cuba
2013/07/25: Wunderground: Little Change to Dorian as it Heads West-Northwest
2013/07/25: NASA: NASA Puts Tropical Storm Dorian (was TD4) in the Infrared Spotlight
2013/07/25: CSM: Tropical storm Dorian picks up steam in Atlantic
2013/07/24: Wunderground: Tropical Storm Dorian Forms
2013/07/23: Wunderground: African Tropical Wave 98L Moving Over Cooler Waters
2013/07/22: Wunderground: African Tropical Wave 98L a Marginal Threat to Develop

While elsewhere in the hurricane wars:
2013/07/27: Wunderground: The Beta Effect
2013/07/26: Guardian(UK): Global warming and the future of storms
New research by Kerry Emanuel suggests that hurricanes will become more frequent and more intense
2013/07/24: MODIS: Tropical Storm Cimaron (08W) over Taiwan and China [on July 18]

Rossby Waves? Blocking Patterns? Arctic Oscillation?
What is the Arctic melt doing to our weather?
- 2013/07/23: RScribbler: Low to Ride Mangled Jet Stream From the Ohio River Valley to California and Back
Meanwhile on the GHG front:
And in the carbon cycle:
What's up with CO2 fertilization?
- 2013/07/25: RtS: CO2 garden steroids
How is the temperature record?
- 2013/07/26: WottsUWT: Watt a somewhat poorly written abstract and introduction?
- 2013/07/25: CLBook: Recent slowdown in global surface temperature rise
- 2013/07/25: BCLSB: The State Of Surface Temperatures
- 2013/07/24: CBC: Warm is the new normal, say Atlantic oceanographers
  The average temperature of the Atlantic Ocean is up 4 degrees compared to last year, according to Dalhousie University oceanographers.
  The trend is being traced from the Florida coast up to Newfoundland, affecting native flora and fauna and causing concern among fishermen.
- 2013/07/24: Grist: Climate-change slowdown is due to warming of deep oceans, say scientists
- 2013/07/23: DerSpiegel: Scorching Highs: Germans Beat Heat at Beach
  With tempertures of up to 34 degrees Celsius, Germans are enjoying the first days of the official summer holiday season. Lakes, beaches and swimming pools are packed with people seeking a brief respite from the heat.
- 2013/07/24: BBC: Why has global warming stalled?
- 2013/07/23: TP:JR: In Hot Water: Ocean Heat Content Continues To Soar
- 2013/07/23: WottsUWT: Ocean heat content and sea surface temperatures
- 2013/07/22: Grist: America's wicked, deadly heat wave last week
- 2013/07/22: Guardian(UK): Climate change slowdown is due to warming of deep oceans, say scientists
  Climate sceptics have seized on a pause in warming over the past five years, but the long-term trend is still upwards
- 2013/07/22: CLBook: Lengthy simulated pauses in global mean surface temperature
Aerosols are making their presence felt:
- 2013/07/28: MODIS: Dust storm off West Africa
- 2013/07/22: MODIS: Smoke over the Atlantic Ocean (morning overpass) [on July 17]
While in the paleoclimate:
- 2013/07/24: Eureka: Mystery of before 370 Ma coral-stromatoporoid reef disappearing from the planet Earth
- 2013/07/23: SciNow: Massive Ancient Flood Traveled From China to India
- 2013/07/22: ABC(Au): Greenhouse gases kept early Earth warm
  Billions of years ago greenhouse gases kept the early Earth warm and wet enough to support life, despite the Sun being much cooler than now, a study suggests.
  The findings in the journal Astrobiology, solve a 40-year-old riddle first raised by famed astronomer Carl Sagan, called the "faint young Sun paradox".
  During the Archean era 2.8 billion years ago, the Sun was between 20 and 30 per cent less luminous than it is today, raising questions about how life could have survived such a frozen environment.
- 2013/07/22: Eureka: Greening of the Earth pushed way back in time
  Researchers say a newly named South African fossil points to rising oxygen and life 2.2 billion years ago
- 2013/07/22: WU: Geochemical 'fingerprints' leave evidence that megafloods eroded steep gorge
- 2013/07/17: SmithsonianMag:B: Long Before Trees Overtook the Land, Earth Was Covered by Giant Mushrooms
What's new on the extinction front?
- 2013/07/26: TP:JR: Many Species Will Have To Evolve 10,000 Times Faster To Adapt To Climate Change, Study Finds
- 2013/07/26: DD: Deforestation in Australia killing and mutilating koalas...
- 2013/07/26: USGS: Pesticide Accumulation in Sierra Nevada Frogs
- 2013/07/24: Eureka: New study reveals dangers to biological diversity from global cashmere garment industry
  Snow leopard, wild yak, Tibetan antelope, gazelles, and other species impacted
- 2013/07/23: Guardian(UK): Snow leopards and wild yaks becoming 'fashion victims'
  Surge in global trade in cashmere is driving up goat numbers, leaving less grass for antelopes on whom the predators depend
- 2013/07/23: EurActiv: EU report: 'Dramatic' butterfly decline impacts on other species
  Europe's grassland butterfly population has dropped "dramatically" over the past 20 years, a stark warning that many of Europe's species may be heading for extinction, says a new report by the European Environment Agency.
- 2013/07/23: SciNow: Species Not Evolving Fast Enough to Cope With a Changing World
- 2013/07/23: BBC: Cashmere trade threat to snow leopards
  The global demand for cashmere is threatening endangered snow leopards, according to a new report.
  Domestic cashmere goats in parts of Central Asia have almost tripled in the last 20 years to fuel cashmere demand.
  The goats are encroaching on the natural habitats of the snow leopard and their natural prey.
- 2013/07/22: EEA: Populations of grassland butterflies decline almost 50% over two decades
- 2013/07/22: ProMedMail: Die-off, avian - Australia: (QL) kite
- 2013/07/22: CSM: Iberian lynx faces extinction in just 50 years, say scientists
- 2013/07/22: ABC(Au): Koalas face carnage as loggers harvest timber plantations; wildlife carers call for action
  Disturbing numbers of koalas are being killed and injured by loggers in timber plantations across south-east Australia.
- 2013/07/21: Eureka: Iberian lynx threatened by climate change
- 2013/07/21: DD: Graph of the Day: Total area occupied by Monarch butterfly colonies at overwintering sites in Mexico, 1994-2013
The bees and Colony Collapse Disorder are a constant concern.
And then, there are the Neonicotinoids:
- 2013/07/24: PLoS One: Crop Pollination Exposes Honey Bees to Pesticides Which Alters Their Susceptibility to the Gut Pathogen Nosema ceranae by Jeffery S. Pettis et al.
- 2013/07/26: TreeHugger: Scientists discover another cause of bee deaths, and it's really bad news
  [...] they do not identify the specific cause of CCD...
- 2013/07/25: CDreams: Fungicides Kill Pollinators: Study Reveals Industrial Farming's Threat to Bees
  Commercial beekeepers are worried as bee die-offs linked to alarming chemical levels -- Add it to the list of industrial farming chemicals killing off entire colonies of bees.
- 2013/07/23: NatureN: Losing a single pollinator species harms plants
  The impact of bee decline has been underestimated by past computer simulations.
- 2013/07/22: RawStory: Reemergence of the bumblebee delights and perplexes scientists
- 2013/07/22: NSF: Bee Faithful? Plant-Pollinator Relationships Compromised When Bee Species Decline
  Removing even one bumblebee species from an ecosystem affects plant reproduction
- 2013/06/12: NoC: Worldwide Honey Bee Collapse: A Lesson in Ecology
Meanwhile in near earth orbit:
- 2013/07/24: NASA: Seeing Photosynthesis from Space: NASA Scientists Use Satellites to Measure Plant Health [Fluorescence Map]
- 2013/07/22: NASA: Climate Forecasts Shown to Warn of Crop Failures
More GW impacts are being seen:
And then there are the world's forests:
- 2013/07/27: DD: The biggest thing nature did to fight climate change is no longer working - 'When they get warmer than average, forests in the tropics put more CO2 into the atmosphere than they take out'
- 2013/07/26: Eureka: Traditional forest management reduces fungal diversity
  In the beech groves of Navarre a team from the UPV/EHU-University of the Basque Country has analysed the influence exerted by forestry management on the fungi populations that decompose wood
- 2013/07/25: USGS: Hotter, Drier Climate Leads to More Tree Deaths from Fire
- 2013/07/23: BBC: UK forests still feeling the impacts of 1976 drought
- 2013/07/22: CBC: Save half of boreal forest from development, scientists urge
  International science panel insists First Nations be included in all aspects of planning
Emerging diseases accompany ecological change:
- 2013/07/23: Grist: One more reason to be terrified by ticks
On the tornado front:
- 2013/07/25: CBC: Tornado confirmed near Morris, Man.
- 2013/07/24: CBC: Tornado warning ends after reported touchdown in Alberta -- Pilot reported seeing a tornado near De Winton Highwood Airport
- 2013/07/24: CBC: Funnel clouds seen in Winnipeg, weather watches issued
  Funnel clouds spotted in and near Winnipeg amid brief tornado warnings for surrounding areas
- 2013/07/22: CSM: Ohio [EF1] tornado hits college buildings, no injuries
- 2013/07/22: CBC: New Brunswick towns clean up after possible tornado -- Environment Canada investigators to assess storm's damage today
- 2013/07/22: EPOD: Waterspouts Over the Adriatic Sea [on July 23, 1999]
As for heatwaves and wild fires:
Corals are a bellwether of the ocean's health:
- 2013/07/26: Eureka: A new coral reef species from the Gambier Islands, French Polynesia
- 2013/07/23: CSM: US Navy eyes recovering bombs from Great Barrier Reef
Acidification is changing the oceans:
- 2013/07/22: ERabett: Measuring pH
Glaciers are melting:
- 2013/07/26: FaGP: Glacier Contribution Kedarnath Flood in June 2013
- 2013/07/24: FaGP: Strupbreen and Koppangsbreen Glacier Retreat, Northern Norway
- 2013/07/23: GLaden: Important New Science on Melting Glaciers
- 2013/07/22: NYT: Alaska Looks for Answers in Glacier's Summer Flood Surges
- 2013/07/23: RTCC: Antarctic and Greenland glaciers at risk of "catastrophic breakup"
  New research shows glaciers in Greenland and the Antarctic are at risk of collapsing into the sea
  Large stretches of ice along the Greenland and Antarctic coastlines are at risk of "catastrophic breakup", new research has warned.
- 2013/07/21: FaGP: Taisija Glacier Retreat, Novaya Zemlya
Sea levels are rising:
- 2013/07/24: Yale360: Leaving Our Descendants A Whopping Rise in Sea Levels
  German scientist Anders Levermann and his colleagues have released research that warns of major sea level increases far into the future. In an interview with Yale Environment 360, he raises important questions about how much we really care about the world we will leave to those who come after us.
- 2013/07/21: WaPo: Vulnerable Maryland weighs threat of sea-level rise
- 2013/07/22: Eureka: Sea level rise: New iceberg theory points to areas at risk of rapid disintegration
These extreme rainfall events are becoming all too frequent:
- 2013/07/27: CBC: Record-breaking rainfall drenches N.B. -- St. Stephen floods after 165 mm of rain falls on Friday
As for hydrological cycle disruptions [floods & droughts]:
- 2013/07/27: ABC(Au): Floods strike quake-hit Chinese [Gansu] province
- 2013/07/27: BBC: Further heavy rain is expected across parts of England and Scotland as July threatens to end on a wet note.
- 2013/07/26: IOTD: Drought Dries Elephant Butte Reservoir [in southern New Mexico]
- 2013/07/25: OSU: Global warming to cut snow water storage 56 percent in Oregon watershed
- 2013/07/25: UN: DPR Korea: UN teams assessing flood damage from heavy seasonal rains
- 2013/07/25: BBC: 'Rivers' in air could boost flooding
  Winter floods could intensify in Britain, according to new research into powerful weather systems called "atmospheric rivers".
  Only identified about 20 years ago, atmospheric rivers are intense bands of moisture that flow through the air.
  Known to be responsible for heavy rainfall, they have been blamed for severe flooding in California and the UK.
  The new study suggests that warmer conditions could create more rivers - and make them more severe.
- 2013/07/24: BBC: Bird flocks black out Australia town
  Thousands of birds have flocked to a town in Australia, causing power cuts and a mess, its mayor says.
  Around 2,000 pink galahs and white cockatoos have descended on Boulia, Queensland, as a result of the drought, Mayor Rick Britton said.
- 2013/07/24: Guardian(UK): Worse floods ahead for UK as climate warms, say scientists
- 2013/07/23: DD: As Texas drought spreads, firms could be up the creek - 'If you don't have an active water management plan in place, you're courting disaster'
- 2013/07/21: DD: China says flooding has killed 337 this year
And on the mitigation front, we have biomimicry:
- 2013/07/22: CCurrents: Shrilk: Nature's New Bioplastic
Consider transportation & GHG production:
- 2013/07/27: CSM: Driving is so 10 years ago, studies find
  [...]
  According to a press release, the number of miles driven per licensed driver and per household have both tumbled 9 percent. The number of miles traveled per registered vehicle is off 5 percent:
  The latest rates (2011) are: distance driven per person, 8,494 miles (down from 9,314 in 2004); distance driven per licensed driver, 12,492 miles (down from 13,711 in 2004); distance driven per household, 22,069 miles (down from 24,349 in 2004); and distance driven per registered vehicle, 11,318 miles (down from 11,946 in 2004).
- 2013/07/26: CNN: Why high-speed rail is safe, smart
  Yonah Freemark: High-speed train crash in Spain draws new attention to rail safety - He says Obama wants high-speed rail, and construction will start soon in California -
  He says France, Japan have had safe, well-managed high-speed rail for decades - Freemark: High-speed rail could revolutionize transportation in U.S. and is worth doing
- 2013/07/24: TreeHugger: Is flying still dying? George Monbiot still says it is
- 2013/07/23: NYT:PK: The New Railway Age
- 2013/07/23: Monbiot: Ghost Plane
  Lobbying results in old and dirty technologies being maintained long beyond their useful life.
- 2013/07/20: NYT: Hauling New Treasure Along the Silk Road
While in the endless quest for zero energy, sustainable buildings and practical codes:
- 2013/07/22: TreeHugger: This Passivhaus ain't no house, it's a 20 storey office building
As for carbon sequestration:
- 2013/07/26: NatureN: Pilot projects bury carbon dioxide in basalt
  Two experiments test viability of sequestering emissions in porous layers of hard rock.
- 2013/07/25: ABC(Au): CSIRO trial captures power station carbon emissions
  CSIRO scientists say a trial capturing carbon emissions from a power station in southern Queensland's South Burnett region has been successful.
  The Federal Government body has spent the past three years using a special liquid to capture carbon from the flue at the Tarong Power station, north of Toowoomba.
  Dr Paul Feron says the small trial plant used chemical compounds called amines to reduce emissions by 90 per cent.
- 2013/07/25: TheConversation: Want to capture carbon? Look to nanomaterials
What's new in conservation?
While on the adaptation front:
- 2013/07/25: Grist: The future is a desert, but we can make it bloom
- 2013/07/23: DD: As Texas drought spreads, firms could be up the creek - 'If you don't have an active water management plan in place, you're courting disaster'
Meanwhile in the journals:
And other significant documents:
- 2013/07/: EWEA: [link to 1.2 meg pdf] Deep Water -- The next step for offshore wind energy
- 2013/07/23: PI: [link to 3.3 meg pdf] Clean Electricity in Alberta -- Thought Leader Forum: A Made-in-Alberta Proposal to Green the Grid
As for miscellaneous science:
- 2013/07/27: CCP: "Increasing amount of Arctic Ocean deep waters in the Greenland Sea," by R. Somavilla, U. Schauer & G. Budéus, GRL (2013); doi: 10.1002/grl.50775
- 2013/07/27: CCP: "Offshore permafrost decay and massive seabed methane escape in water depths >20 m at the South Kara Sea shelf," by Alexey Portnov et al., GRL (2013) in press; doi: 10.1002/grl.50735
- 2013/07/26: Eureka: What can plants reveal about global climate change?
- 2013/07/26: NatureNB: Conviction upheld for Turkish scientist opposing headscarves
- 2013/07/25: Eureka: Deciphering the air-sea communication
  Marine scientists are decoding the mechanism for long-term climate fluctuations in the Atlantic
- 2013/07/24: SciAm:GB: This Research Is worse Than Bad...It's Basic
- 2013/07/24: AIC: University of Alberta scientists get dirty at the Robson Glacier
  Melting glaciers leave exposed a bounty of knowledge on developing ecosystems and soil microbial communities
- 2013/07/24: BBC: Genome of oil palm sequenced
What's new in models?
- 2013/07/23: TheConversation: There are no time-travelling climatologists: why we use climate models
Regarding Mann:
The Fifth IPCC report is coming up:
And on the carbon trading front:
The idea of a carbon tax is still bouncing around:
The Robin Hood tax, aka the Tobin tax, aka the Bank tax, aka the Financial Transaction tax, keeps coming up:
- 2013/07/22: CDreams: The Insanity of Not Having a Financial Transaction Tax
On the international political front, tensions continue as the empire leans on Iran:
- 2013/07/27: CCurrents: U.S. Exercising Double Standards On Iran's Nuclear Program [Michael Parenti Interview]
- 2013/07/26: BBC: Renault profits plunge after Iran write-off
  French carmaker Renault has reported a huge fall in profits for the first half of 2013 after writing off the entire value of its business in Iran.
  Net income for the six months to June fell 87% to 97m euros ($129m; £83.7m), down from 774m euros a year earlier, a statement said.
- 2013/07/26: Asia Times: Russia and Iran: A postmodern dance by M K Bhadrakumar
- 2013/07/25: BBC: The US has eased sanctions on exports of medical equipment to Iran, the treasury department has said
- 2013/07/23: NakedCapitalism: Iran Gets Creative Over Energy Payments from Turkey and Pakistan
South [& East] China Sea tension persists:
- 2013/07/26: Guardian(UK): China's coastguard confronts Japanese ships near disputed islands
  China says its ships 'sternly declared' sovereignty over the islands, known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China
- 2013/07/26: CBC: China confronts Japanese ships near disputed islands
- 2013/07/26: CBC: Japan looks to beef up military in major policy shift
- 2013/07/24: CDreams: A Brewing Storm in the Western Pacific
  China's aggressive territorial claims, Washington's "pivot" to Asia, and Japan's hawkish bluster add up to a volatile brew in the Asia-Pacific.
Who is serious about reducing airline carbon emissions?
In the solar squabbles, peace is breaking out between China and Europe:
- 2013/07/28: CleanTechnica: European Union Reaches Agreement With China - Solar Panel Trade Dispute Resolved
- 2013/07/27: CSM: EU, China settle solar-panel trade dispute
- 2013/07/27: BBC: EU and China reach deal in solar panel dispute
- 2013/07/27: BBerg: European Union, China Agree on Solar-Panel Shipment Deal
  European Union and Chinese negotiators reached an agreement to curb EU imports of solar panels from China in exchange for exempting the shipments from punitive tariffs.
  The accord would set a minimum price for imports of the renewable-energy technology from China. In return, Chinese manufacturers would be spared EU levies meant to counter below-cost sales, a practice known as dumping. The EU import taxes target more than 100 Chinese companies including Yingli Green Energy Holding Co., Wuxi Suntech Power Co. and Changzhou Trina Solar Energy Co.
- 2013/07/23: CleanTechnica: Solar Trade War Growing -- China Imposes Anti-Dumping Duties On US Polysilicon Manufacturers
These 'free trade' treaties feature fundamentally anti-democratic dispute resolution mechanisms:
- 2013/07/25: CSM: GMOs and a potential US-Europe pact
As for miscellaneous international political happenings:
- 2013/07/25: EUO: EU signs Morocco fishing pact
- 2013/07/25: RTCC: Pakistan outlines plans for country's first solar park
  Government wants to construct 500MW of solar power plants in future to secure electricity supplies
  The Pakistani government will sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with an undisclosed Chinese company this week to establish Pakistan's first solar park.
The issue of the law and activism is playing out around the world:
- 2013/07/27: CCP: Anti-fracking activists arrested at West Sussex drilling site
  Police remove 14 protesters blockading Balcombe site where energy company Cuadrilla is looking for shale oil
- 2013/07/26: CDreams: #Summerheat Activists Arrested Protesting State Dept Contractor Who Lied About TransCanada Ties
- 2013/07/26: MLive: Four protesters arrested at Enbridge pipeline construction site charged with felony
- 2013/07/24: ABC(Au): Mine protestors convicted at court in Narrabri
- 2013/07/24: ABC(Au): Charges withdrawn & dismissed against Tarrawonga protestor
What are the activists up to?
- 2013/07/28: GLaden: "We Have To Shut It Down" [#SummerHeat protest against Brayton Point Coal Plant]
- 2013/07/27: CDreams: Global Climate Movement Turns Up the Heat
  Using direct actions to save the planet, 'We're doing what we have to do.'
- 2013/07/26: EcoWatch: Hundreds Halt Fracking Operations in UK Community
- 2013/07/22: Grist: Mapped: A hot hot summer of climate action
The move to divest from fossil fuel investments is growing slowly:
Polls! We have polls!
Regarding Water Politics and Business; See also:
- 2013/07/26: NBF: Replacement Glaciers
- 2013/07/25: UCSUSA:B: Water Tight: Our Climate Change Future Requires Our Water Smarts Today
- 2013/07/24: BBerg: China Coal-Fired Economy Dying of Thirst as Mines Lack Water
- 2013/07/23: EurActiv: Foreign ministers promote 'water diplomacy'
  EU foreign ministers underscored on Monday (22 July) that tensions over access to water are likely to rise in the next decade and could endanger stability in many parts of the world. They also highlighted the potential of "water diplomacy" and the need to promote cooperation based on EU experience.
- 2013/07/22: Grist: Pakistan's new big threat isn't terrorism -- it's water
- 2013/07/22: TP:JR: Pakistan Now 'One Of The Most Water-Stressed Countries In The World' As 'Demand Exceeds Supply'
Among the world's religions:
- 2013/07/22: TreeHugger: 200 evangelical scientists ask Congress to pass climate legislation
While in the UK:
- 2013/07/26: EurActiv: Energy efficiency squads will visit UK households
  Squads of insulators and energy efficiency experts are to be sent house to house around the UK, in the latest stage of the government's bid to plug the gaps in Britain's leaky homes and curb rising bills.
  Sending installers out to properties street by street is thought to be the most effective way to get people to sign up for improvements that will save energy and carbon emissions as part of the green deal, the coalition's flagship home energy efficiency package which aims to transform millions of houses.
- 2013/07/26: RTCC: Tea and flapjacks mark Balcombe's anti-fracking frontline [UK pol]
  Protestors in Balcombe forced shale gas company Cuadrilla to temporarily halt work, but a longer struggle remains likely
- 2013/07/26: OilChange: Quintessential Countryside Against Cuadrilla
- 2013/07/25: CleanTechnica: Scotland Could Receive Roughly 50% Of Its Electricity From Tidal Energy, Research Finds
- 2013/07/24: RTCC: UK offers £10 million prize to green car developers
- 2013/07/24: BBC: HS2 challenge rejected by Court of Appeal
- 2013/07/23: Guardian(UK): Five of 'big six' energy companies drop green tariffs
- 2013/07/23: TreeHugger: Zero carbon Britain is possible by 2030, claims new report
And in Europe:
- 2013/07/26: AutoBG: French court lifts registration ban on Mercedes with contested refrigerant
- 2013/07/25: EurActiv: Study: Aviation tax breaks cost EU states E39 billion a year
  Fuel and VAT tax exemptions on international flights could provide EU countries with an extra E39 billion a year, a sum approaching Spain's swingeing budget cut in 2013, according to a new study by the consultancy CE Delft.
  The report, which was commissioned by the green campaigning group, Transport and Environment (T&E), blamed outdated EU laws, which privileged aviation over less polluting forms of transport.
- 2013/07/24: CleanTechnica: The Real Solar Feed-in Tariff Story In Spain
- 2013/07/24: ICN: Why Is Germany's Greenest City Building a Coal-Fired Power Plant?
- 2013/07/23: TreeHugger: Air conditioning debate heats up for Mercedes
- 2013/07/22: EUO: EU timber rules flouted
- 2013/07/22: EurActiv: Germany went 'rogue' to freeze green cars law, say diplomats
  Diplomats from several EU states have accused Germany of using threats, intimidation and blackmail to sideline green cars legislation in an unprecedented display of hubris within the Brussels' corridors of power.
Meanwhile in Australia:
- 2013/07/28: ABC(Au): Greens leader talks tough on forest protests
  The State Greens Leader Nick McKim has toughened his language on anti-logging protesters but has stopped short of condemning them.
  When protesters targeted the veneer producer Ta Ann earlier in July, Nick McKim labelled it "counterproductive".
  The wording put him at odds with other senior ministers and the Premier Lara Giddings and was criticised by the State Opposition as being too weak.
  Now he has toughened his tone.
- 2013/07/27: ABC(Au): Cougar Energy to drop law suit against government
  Queensland company Cougar Energy has dropped a multi-million dollar law suit against the State Government over the forced closure of an underground coal gasification (UCG) project.
  In 2011 Cougar Energy was ordered to shut down its trial underground coal gasification (UCG) project at Kingaroy in the South Burnett due to environmental concerns.
  Later that year the company announced it was suing the government and officials for $34 millions for losses caused by the closure.
- 2013/07/26: ABC(Au): Santos case before Land & Environment Court
- 2013/07/26: ABC(Au): Former PM Julia Gillard opens up on gender issues, misogyny in Monthly interview
- 2013/07/25: TheConversation: Is it time for nuclear energy for Australia?
- 2013/07/25: JQuiggin: Declining electricity consumption in Australia
- 2013/07/25: ABC(Au): Energy Australia pays $160m for Delta Electricity power stations near Lithgow
- 2013/07/25: ABC(Au): Waste heat energy feeds into Carnarvon grid [thermoelectric]
- 2013/07/25: ABC(Au): Should Australia consider a nuclear future?
  Scientists from around the world are gathered in Sydney to consider the possible future of nuclear energy in Australia.
- 2013/07/25: ABC(Au): How Tasmanian industry funding will be shared
- 2013/07/25: ABC(Au): Allocation of forest funds criticised in Tasmania
- 2013/07/25: PeakEnergy: Australia revisits transnational natural gas pipeline
- 2013/07/24: TheConversation: Bioenergy a burning question for Tasmania's forests
- 2013/07/24: ABC(Au): More federal funding to help 'bed down' [Tasmanian] forestry peace deal
- 2013/07/24: ABC(Au): Eyre Peninsula discusses next step for climate change
- 2013/07/24: ABC(Au): Report finds national regulation of fracking needed
- 2013/07/23: ABC(Au): Seaspray residents to declare community CSG-free
  A community activist group says 98 per cent of people living in Seaspray, along the Ninety Mile Beach, have declared their opposition to the coal seam gas (CSG) industry.
  Lakes Oil has a licence to explore the area for CSG but has been unable to start work because of the Victorian Government's moratorium on fracking.
- 2013/07/23: ABC(Au): Minister offers tidal power station environmental assurances
  Western Australia's Environment Minister says the Kimberley community of Derby will not be adversely affected by WA's first tidal power station.
  Albert Jacob has approved Tidal Energy Australia's proposal to build the 40-megawatt power station at Doctor's Creek.
  The proposal has been met with opposition by some environment groups, which are concerned about dust and water pollution and the potential threat to mangroves.
- 2013/07/23: ABC(Au): More farmers urged to consider wind power income
  The Western Australian Farmers Federation says more farmers should turn to wind power as a way to supplement their incomes.
  The comments come after the proposed Flat Rocks Wind Farm, to be built on farmland east of Kojonup in the state's south, received conditional planning approval.
- 2013/07/23: ABC(Au): Wind farm opponents to continue campaign
- 2013/07/22: ABC(Au): Renewable energy study reveals funding challenges
  A study into renewable energy projects in Western Australia's Goldfields-Esperance region shows projects receiving only partial government funding often do not succeed because they are unable to secure private funding.
- 2013/07/22: ABC(Au): Government upbeat about uranium industry
  The Federal Government sees a bright future for Australia's uranium industry, despite an independent report that shows a decline in global nuclear power production.
- 2013/07/22: ABC(Au): Study to look at yellow cake industry
  A major research project, examining the regulation of the uranium industry around the world, has reached Australia.
- 2013/07/22: ABC(Au): King Island momentarily turns off diesel generators
  A milestone has been achieved in the push to switch King Island on to renewable energy.
  Hydro Tasmania has a small number of wind turbines and solar panels on the island and is aiming to reduce the use of back-up diesel generators by 65 per cent.
  The state owned business is celebrating what it calls a world first breakthrough switching off the generators for 90 minutes and relying solely on wind power.
Now that Rudd has dumped the Carbon Tax ...
- 2013/07/23: ABC(Au): Big carbon tax bill on Australian fruit
- 2013/07/21: ABC(Au): Origin Energy chief says low carbon price will encourage future investment in coal-powered plants
  One of Australia's biggest energy providers says carbon would have to be priced at about $40 a tonne before it would move away from developing new coal-fired power stations.
- 2013/07/22: TheConversation: Carbon tax dumped: how do we get to 100% renewable energy?
- 2013/07/22: TheConversation: The conversation we need to have about carbon [Aus pol]
Who knows when the election will be now?
- 2013/07/27: ABC(Au): Climate initiatives working despite carbon controversy
  Despite political uncertainty, the latest research indicates that Australia has managed to reduce greenhouse emissions levels to zero growth over the past decade.
  The report - released today by independent research body, ClimateWorks Australia, says the findings demonstrate that Australia's climate change initiatives are working, but they still need to be significantly ramped up to reach the five per cent reduction target by 2020.
- 2013/07/26: ABC(Au):TDU: Our wealth has only grown since the carbon tax
  Despite the dire warnings about the carbon tax, Australia's economy is still growing, creating jobs and registering a quite stunning lift in wealth, writes Stephen Koukoulas.
- 2013/07/26: ABC(Au): Dilemma for Labor as budget $8bn worse off than May prediction
  Labor razor gang faces dilemma as coffers $8bn worse off than predicted in May budget
  The Federal Government is facing a budget dilemma, with the ABC learning revenues are around $8 billion lower than the May budget predicted.
  The Government's razor gang met this morning to debate whether to implement painful budget cuts before the election or delay the return to surplus, currently scheduled for 2016-17.
- 2013/07/25: Guardian(UK): Australia, just like people smugglers, disregards the harm done to refugees
- 2013/07/25: NewAnthropocene: Abbott, have you forgotten about human rights?
- 2013/07/25: BBC: Australia asylum needs military solution, says Tony Abbott
- 2013/07/24: ABC(Au): Tony Abbott's chief of staff Peta Credlin to plead guilty to drink-driving charge
After years of wrangling, the Murray Darling Basin Plan is in place, but the water management fights are far from finished:
While in the Indian subcontinent:
- 2013/07/22: CCurrents: Letter From The Women Of Kathikudam by The Women of Kathikudam
And in China:
- 2013/07/27: WSJ: China's Bad Earth
  Industrialization has turned much of the Chinese countryside into an environmental disaster zone, threatening not only the food supply but the legitimacy of the regime itself.
- 2013/07/25: CBC: China to cough up $283 billion to clean up air pollution -- Bad air stirs street-level discontent; government responds
- 2013/07/25: TP:JR: China Plans To Spend $275 Billion To Combat Pollution Crisis
- 2013/07/24: BBerg: China Coal-Fired Economy Dying of Thirst as Mines Lack Water
  At first glance, Daliuta in northern China appears to have a river running through it. A closer look reveals the stretch of water in the center is a pond, dammed at both ends. Beyond the barriers, the Wulanmulun's bed is dry.
  Daliuta in Shaanxi province sits on top of the world's biggest underground coal mine, which requires millions of liters of water a day for extracting, washing and processing the fuel. The town is the epicenter of a looming collision between China's increasingly scarce supplies of water and its plan to power economic growth with coal.
In the Middle East:
In Canada, neocon PM Harper, aka The Blight, pushes petroleum while ignoring the climate and ecology:
- 2013/07/25: Eureka: U of T report says 3.9 million Canadians struggle to afford food
- 2013/07/23: TheCanadian: Canada's embarrassing green jobs record
- 2013/07/22: DeSmogBlog: Harper's Audit-the-Enemy Strategy Fulfills Nixon's Dream
- 2013/07/22: NI: Harper channels Nixon
- 2013/07/22: TMoS: Canada's Boiling Frog Government
- 2013/07/22: CBC: Save half of boreal forest from development, scientists urge
  International science panel insists First Nations be included in all aspects of planning
The yearly Council of the Federation meeting went down this week.
Is GW adaptation is forcing itself onto the scene in the guise of Emergency Preparedness?
- Wiki: Council of the Federation
- 2013/07/25: CBC: Premiers fail to reach consensus on energy strategy
  Premiers stand united against federal jobs training plan
  Canada's premiers and territorial leaders could not come to a unanimous agreement on what a Canadian energy strategy ought to look like, Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne said Thursday afternoon as she emerged from a second [Council of the Federation] meeting with the leaders in Niagara-on-the-Lake.
  "Quebec and British Columbia have said they are not going to take part in a Canadian energy strategy development," Wynne said.
- 2013/07/24: CBC: 5 hot issues at the premiers' meeting -- 13 leaders gathering in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont.
Lac-Mégantic turmoil continues:
- 2013/07/26: Rabble:MB: Lac-Mégantic a collision of water, oil and transport deregulation
  How easy it would be to lay the blame for the tragedy in Lac-Mégantic on the engineer who ran the train. But the real responsibility lies with the governments on both sides of the border who have deregulated their transport sectors, gutted freshwater protections and promoted the spectacular growth and transport of new and unsustainable fossil fuels.
- 2013/07/26: CBC: Lac-Mégantic mulls legal action over $4M in cleanup costs
  'I wish the company would behave like a good corporate citizen,' mayor says
  The town of Lac-Mégantic is considering options including legal action against the railway behind the fatal derailment, because the company has ignored pleas to reimburse the $4 million the town has spent so far on cleaning up.
  Mayor Colette Roy-Laroche said the town was forced to dig deep into its pockets when the Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway didn't front the cost of cleaning up the millions of litres of crude oil and debris from the July 6 disaster.
  The town was left with few options when some of the contractors hired by the MM&A threatened to walk out because the company hadn't paid them.
- 2013/07/25: CBC: Lac-Mégantic calls on railway to reimburse millions of dollars
  Officials in Lac-Mégantic, Que. have set a deadline for the US-based railway at the centre of the derailment that set off explosions and killed up to 47 people.
  The town says Montreal, Maine & Atlantic (MMA) has not paid workers who are cleaning up millions of litres crude oil that spilled in the disaster almost three weeks ago.
  When some of the workers threatened to walk out, the town paid them a total of four-million dollars.
  The town has sent a letter to MMA demanding to be reimbursed, and the letter calls on the railway to reply by 12 p.m. ET today.
- 2013/07/25: CBC: Lac-Mégantic derailment investigators search railway's offices
  Mayor Colette Roy-Laroche says legal action against Montreal, Maine & Atlantic will proceed
- 2013/07/24: CBC: Red Cross raises $7.2M for Lac-Mégantic
  Second phase of aid will focus on long-term development of community
- 2013/07/24: TheCanadian: Railway company sticks Lac-Mégantic with $4 million in oil spill clean-up bills
- 2013/07/23: TreeHugger: In Lac-Mégantic train crash, 1.5 million gallons of oil were spilled, 47 killed
- 2013/07/23: TStar: Lac Megantic: Mayor says town stuck with $4 million in unpaid bills for cleanup
  The mayor of Lac-Mégantic is demanding answers from the company at the heart of this month's deadly train accident after being forced to pay $4-million in unpaid bills to companies charged with clearing up the disaster site
- 2013/07/23: TheCanadian: Lac-Mégantic disaster a 'corporate crime'
- 2013/07/23: CBC: MPs meet to talk rail safety after Lac-Mégantic disaster
  NDP called for Commons transport committee meeting in wake of Lac-Mégantic disaster
  Members of Parliament who sit on the transport committee are interrupting their summer breaks and returning to Ottawa today for a meeting on rail safety, in the wake of the derailment and explosion that devastated the community of Lac-Mégantic, Que.
  Olivia Chow, NDP transport critic and vice-chair of the committee, officially requested the meeting last week with the required support of three other MPs. Chair Larry Miller, a Conservative, had five days to set up a meeting according to procedural rules.
- 2013/07/22: CBC: Federal government promises $60M to help rebuild Lac-Mégantic
- 2013/07/22: P3: Risk; local vs global
- 2013/07/22: HillTimes: Feds face difficult decisions in Lac-Mégantic reconstruction?
- 2013/07/21: CBC: Search resumes in Lac-Mégantic for 5 still missing
Contrast Canadian's opinions on climate versus the government's:
- 2013/07/25: PaiD: Climate Change Poll
- 2013/07/24: TStar: Climate change caused Calgary, Ontario flooding, majority believe
  Forum poll following recent floods shows belief in human-caused climate change divides on regional and political lines.
  Climate change caused by human activities was behind the flooding in Calgary and the recent storms in central Ontario. At least, that's what 53 per cent of Canadians polled July 23 by Forum Research believe.
  It's also a belief more common among women (59 per cent) than men and the least wealthy (63 per cent).
  Eight in 10 of those polled believe the Earth's climate overall is changing.
  Forum Research asked those questions of 1,782 Canadians aged 18 or older.
The battle over the Northern Gateway pipeline rages on:
There has been bad blood between Quebec and Newfoundland ever since Nfld. foolishly agreed to the the unfair
Churchill Falls hydro agreement back in the 1970s. This is just the latest iteration:
- 2013/07/24: CBC: Hydro-Québec lawsuit a 'desperate move,' Dunderdale says
  N.L. premier 'highly confident' claim won't have significant impact on Muskrat Falls
  Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Kathy Dunderdale is slamming Hydro-Québec's lawsuit over the 1969 Churchill Falls power deal.
  "I think that I would characterize this as a desperate move by a company that's been trying, one way or another, to thwart development on the Lower Churchill for a number of years unless it was clearly in the best interests of the people of Quebec," Dunderdale told reporters in St. John's Tuesday.
  A day earlier, Hydro-Québec announced it is going to court over its rights under the original Churchill Falls power deal.
  But Dunderdale said she is confident the province and its energy corporation, Nalcor, will prevail.
- 2013/07/22: CBC: Hydro-Quebec suing [CF(L)Co] over Churchill Falls contract rights
  [...]
  CF(L)Co, which runs the Churchill Falls power plant, is a subsidiary of Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro. It is 65.8 per cent owned by parent company Nalcor, and 34.2 per cent by Hydro-Quebec.
- 2013/07/22: CBC: N.S. utility board approves $1.52B deal for Muskrat Falls link -- N.L. to N.S. subsea cable Maritime Link approved with conditions
A slight problem has sprung up in the tar sands -- an oil leak they can't stop...
- 2013/07/27: DeSmogBlog: Alberta Tar Sands Blowout Threatens Boreal Forest, Wasn't Disclosed Until Months Later
- 2013/07/26: RTCC: Alberta faces 'unstoppable' tar sands oil leak
  A steady flow of oil leaking from the ground in Canada is causing everyone to "freak out", according to a local scientist.
- 2013/07/25: EneNews: 'Chaos' over 4 underground oil blowouts in Canada: "Everybody is freaking out about this" - Spills can't be stopped, "There is no off button" - Leaking since winter (video)
- 2013/07/25: TMoS: Bombs & Bitumen - a Lethal Cocktail
  There's a stretch of territory straddling the Alberta-Saskatchewan border where Canadian and allied fighter jocks go to play. The strafe the place and they bomb it and even fire rockets into it. It's called the Cold Lake Air Weapons Range.
  Guess what else they do at CLAWR? When the air force boys aren't blasting the hell out of it, the fossil fuelers go in to mine bitumen. It all works out great for everyone - right until it doesn't, until now.
- 2013/07/25: CBC: Alberta oil leak cause stymies industry, scientists
- 2013/07/24: TheCanadian: Alberta's own Gulf of Mexico crisis? Tar Sands operation leaking for 6-plus weeks
- 2013/07/24: TreeHugger: An unstoppable oil leak is flowing in Alberta
- 2013/07/23: HuffPo: Primrose Oil Spills Continue; Cause Is Still Unknown
- 2013/07/23: OilChange: The Oil Spill They Can't Stop
- 2013/07/22: Grist: No one knows how to stop these tar-sands oil spills
- 2013/07/19: TStar: 'Nobody understands' spills at Alberta oil sands operation
  Oil spills at an oil sands operation in Cold Lake, Alberta have been going on for weeks with no end in sight, according to a government scientist.
  Oil spills at a major oil sands operation in Alberta have been ongoing for at least six weeks and have cast doubts on the safety of underground extraction methods, according to documents obtained by the Star and a government scientist who has been on site.
  Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. has been unable to stop an underground oil blowout that has killed numerous animals and contaminated a lake, forest, and muskeg at its operations in Cold Lake, Alta.
The ISA/PRV/IHN/Alpha virus in Canadian waters is potentially disastrous:
Now that Christy Clark has a mandate, what will she do?
- 2013/07/26: PI:B: Despite carbon tax, sky isn't falling in B.C.
- 2013/07/25: Grist: The positive economic impact of a carbon tax in, uh, hang on ... 10 charts
- 2013/07/25: PSinclair: In British Columbia - A Carbon Tax that Works Just Fine
- 2013/07/24: Tyee: Five Ways the BC NDP Can Re-Invent Itself -- Simply replacing Adrian Dix won't fix party's problems, argues former candidate
- 2013/07/24: CBC: Bob Rae to head First Nations board for B.C. pipeline
  Former Liberal MP Bob Rae is the new chairman of the board of a British Columbia-based partnership of 15 First Nations that is preparing to implement a major pipeline deal.
  Rae ... will head the board of directors of FN (PTP) Group Limited Partnership, also known as FNLP.
- 2013/07/24: CBC: LNG to bring more than 100,000 jobs to B.C., says report -- NDP questions how the province will train the skilled workers needed
  B.C. Jobs Minister Shirley Bond is touting new figures that predict more than 100,000 jobs are coming to the province thanks to the liquefied natural gas industry -- but opposition critics wonder if the province can train enough people to fill the positions.
  The report by the B.C. Natural Gas Workforce Strategy Committee estimates 60,000 workers will be needed to build LNG plants and pipelines starting in 2016, and 75,000 workers will be needed to keep them running after that.
- 2013/07/24: TheCanadian: Bob Rae to lead BC First Nations' gas pipeline group
- 2013/07/24: SusPro: BC's Carbon Tax Shift After Five Years - An Environmental (and Economic) Success Story
- 2013/07/23: G&M: B.C. carbon tax showing positive results
- 2013/07/24: CBC: B.C.'s carbon tax a success, author says
  Sustainable Prosperity calls on premiers to discuss carbon tax at premiers' summit
- 2013/07/23: TheCanadian: Pemberton private river power project threatens grizzlies
- 2013/07/22: TheCanadian: Liberals set BC Hydro on path to privatization
- 2013/07/22: TheCanadian: Appalachia-North? 18 new coal mine proposals for Comox Valley
- 2013/07/22: CBC: Controversial $1B mine proposal in B.C. goes to hearings -- Tsilhqot'in National Government vows to fight Taseko New Prosperity mine
Meanwhile in that Mechanical Mordor known as the tar sands:
- 2013/07/25: CBC: Husky Energy profit jumps 40% on higher oil prices
- 2013/07/23: TheCanadian: Big banks behind drive for new fossil fuel exports
Also in Alberta:
- 2013/07/25: TMoS: What, Setting Aside Money for A Rainy Day? This Is Harperland After All!
- 2013/07/25: PI:B: Study finds Albertans file few complaints about wind power
- 2013/07/24: PI:B: Setting a clean electricity standard in Alberta
- 2013/07/23: PI: [link to 3.3 meg pdf] Clean Electricity in Alberta -- Thought Leader Forum: A Made-in-Alberta Proposal to Green the Grid
- 2013/07/23: CBC: High River flood victims prepare for move into temporary homes
  100 flood evacuees currently living in hotels and dormitories allowed into the temporary community of Saddlebrook Wednesday
In Ontario, Wynne is struggling to establish herself. Energy still looms large:
- 2013/07/26: BCLSB: Wind Farm Opponents Out Six Figures
- 2013/07/22: CBC: Ontario power conservation message short-circuiting with public, experts say
While in la Belle Province:
In the Maritimes:
- 2013/07/24: CBC: Images of fishermen with dead sharks spur DFO probe
- 2013/07/22: CBC: New Brunswick towns clean up after possible tornado -- Environment Canada investigators to assess storm's damage today
In the North:
- 2013/07/27: CBC: N.W.T. board approves rare earths mine
As for miscellaneous Canadiana:
- 2013/07/26: TheCanadian: GMO whistleblower: Canadian federal scientist speaks out
And on the American political front:
The BP disaster continues to twist US politics. See also:
The Keystone XL wheel grinds slowly. And it grinds woe:
- 2013/07/28: Impolitical: Obama on Keystone
- 2013/07/26: CleanTechnica: New Beer Lawsuit Could Spell Trouble For Keystone XL Pipeline
- 2013/07/25: DeSmogBlog: Controversial State Department Keystone XL Climate Study the Basis of David Petraeus' CUNY Seminar
- 2013/07/24: BWeek: Keystone Pipeline Prompts Congress to Let Lobbyist Write Letters
- 2013/07/24: OilChange: TransCanada's distorted "view of the facts" on Keystone XL
- 2013/07/23: JournalStar: Resolution against Keystone XL pipeline fails in York County [Nebraska]
- 2013/07/23: BWeek: Keystone Critics Release Report Finding Significant Carbon Rise
- 2013/07/23: TP:JR: Yet Another Loaded Keystone Question In Industry-Funded Poll
- 2013/07/22: CJR: Keystone fatigue? Get over it
  Many in media are saying enough already on pipeline debate, but the story is far from over
- 2013/07/22: RTCC: Nobel Laureates take stand against Keystone XL
  Ten Noble laureates have sent a letter to Obama protesting against the construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline.
The Mayflower oil spill continues to weigh heavily on the Keystone decision:
- 2013/07/22: ICN: InsideClimate News, Arkansas Times Reach Funding Goal to Conduct Oil Spill Investigation
The GOP War on Women continues:
- 2013/07/26: ACLU: Third Circuit Rules Against Wood Cabinet Company's Challenge to Contraception Coverage Rule
- 2013/07/24: RawStory: North Dakota pro-life group hands out creepy toy fetuses to kids at state fair
- 2013/07/23: CDreams: Why the Relentless Assault on Abortion Rights in the US?
  Americans have grown more supportive of same -sex marriages, gun control, immigration reform and even taxes on the wealthiest individuals. Why, then, have the cultural and political wars over abortion accelerated?
- 2013/07/22: CDreams: [North Dakota] Nation's Strictest Abortion Law Banned, For Now
  Judge: Fetal heartbeat law is 'clearly invalid and unconstitutional'
- 2013/07/22: BBerg: Virginia Republican Suffers Abortion Backlash From Donors
  Virginia Republican gubernatorial candidate Ken Cuccinelli has less than half as much cash as Democratic opponent Terry McAuliffe, with a prominent list of Republican donors sitting out this year's most competitive U.S. political contest -- and in some cases switching sides.
  The financial disadvantage four months before the election illustrates the difficulties confronting an attorney general who is campaigning on an economic growth plan yet is best known for his opposition to gay marriage and abortion.
At what point do you stop listening to the pretty lies and realize you've been had?
- 2013/07/25: CDreams: KXL, 'Climate Hypocrisy' and Obama's Big Time Coal Problem
  Concern grows that president's climate promises were all talk, no substance
- 2013/07/27: NYT: Interview With President Obama
The actions of the Obama administration are being watched closely:
- 2013/07/26: DeSmogBlog: Industry Pressure Shuts Down EPA Fracking Investigations, Watch our Ring of Fire interview
- 2013/07/24: TP:JR: Biden Calls For U.S.-India Cooperation On Phasing Out Planet-Warming HFCs
- 2013/07/23: CDreams: USDA Fast-Tracks 'Rubber-Stamp' Approval of 'Dangerous' GE Seeds
  Watchdog: 'It's clear that these federal agencies are working on behalf of corporate agribusiness, not US taxpayers and consumers.'
- 2013/07/23: ICN: Wyo. Fracking Study to Be Funded by Industry After EPA Pulls Out
  Environmentalists see EPA's move as part of a systematic disengagement from any research that could be perceived as questioning the safety of drilling.
- 2013/07/22: TP:JR: Facts Don't Back Up Conservative Claims Of Bias At the EPA
- 2013/07/23: FuelFix: Federal fracturing rule carries hefty price, industry groups say
- 2013/07/22: CJOnline: Proposed regs call for limited disclosure of 'fracking' chemicals
  KCC regulations would require well drillers to list their chemicals, but allow them to decide which to withhold as 'trade secrets'
- 2013/07/22: WaPo: US [BoM] announces September auction date for 8 energy companies to bid on offshore wind farms
- 2013/07/22: TheHill:e2W: New EPA chief exhorts agency staff to 'act now on climate change'
As for what is going on in Congress:
- 2013/07/28: TreeHugger: LEED-Bashing: Mississippi Senator [Roger Wicker (R)] slips anti-LEED amendment into housing and transportation bills
- 2013/07/25: TreeHugger: Rand Paul trying to strip funding for transportation alternatives, direct it to fixing bridges for cars
- 2013/07/25: TheHill:e2W: Wyden floats fracking regs framework
  Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) floated a proposal Thursday to let states regulate fracking underground while permitting the federal government to set reporting and disclosure requirements.
  The framework Wyden laid out would affect fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, across the country, setting it apart from an ongoing process led by the Interior Department that covers only federal land. Much of the U.S. shale energy boom has occurred on private and state land left untouched by the draft Interior rule, making Wyden's proposal a hefty one.
- 2013/07/24: UCSUSA:B: Don't Like the Endangered Species Act? Try to Weaken It by Gutting the Science
- 2013/07/24: TheHill:e2W: 'Social cost of carbon' battle hits House floor
- 2013/07/24: Wonkette: Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss): Why Is Science So Mean To Poor Climate-Change Deniers?
- 2013/07/24: ScienceInsider: House Panel Would Slash EPA, USGS, and Smithsonian Budgets
- 2013/07/23: TP:JR: How Last Week's Hearing On The Social Cost Of Carbon Put Right-Wing Objections To Bed
- 2013/07/22: BWeek: Republicans Seek to Limit Obama Climate Plan in 2014 Budget
- 2013/07/22: CSW: House Appropriations to mark up bill to slash EPA budget by 34% and kill carbon rulemaking
- 2013/07/22: TheHill:OtM: House bill slashes EPA budget by 34 percent
  House Republicans on Monday unveiled plans to slash the Environmental Protection Agency's budget by 34 percent in 2014 and block federal rules to limit carbon emissions from power plants.
- 2013/07/21: TP:JR: GOP Senators Parrot Anti-Science Talking Points At Climate Hearing
The movement toward a long term ecologically viable economics is glacial:
- 2013/07/25: BLongstaff: The need for a global no-growth agreement
- 2013/07/22: CCurrents: Ecocide Is Not Development; Love And Ecology Are The Answer
  Earth's ecosystems are collapsing, human and all species' habitats are being lost, and our one shared biosphere is failing and dying. Love of other peoples and species and of nature, truth, justice, and equity are the only lasting basis for global ecological sustainability
- 2013/07/21: TMoS: A Peasants' Magna Carta
Please adjust your rose coloured glasses as necessary:
- 2013/07/27: CSM: An 'explosion of human talent' will feed a growing world population [Zakaria]
How do the corporate media measure up?
- 2013/07/26: CJR: Reuters's global warming about-face
  A survey shows the newswire ran 50 percent fewer stories on climate change after hiring a "skeptic"
- 2013/07/26: Guardian(UK): Don't underestimate rightwing desperation in media attacks on greens
  The Times, the Telegraph and the Financial Times have run articles blaming the community for our current woes
- 2013/07/26: Guardian(UK): Reuters' climate-change coverage 'fell by nearly 50% with sceptic as editor'
  Media Matters for America study follows blog by former agency reporter about appointment of Paul Ingrassia
- 2013/07/25: P3: Reuters Squelches Climate Reporting
- 2013/07/25: KSJT: Is Reuters inserting editorial comment into its coverage of climate change?
- 2013/07/25: DeSmogBlog: Countertrend: Google, Economist Flee from Climate Reality
- 2013/07/24: DeSmogBlog: CNBC Host Squawks Climate Denial in Twitter Meltdown
- 2013/07/23: MediaMatters: Reuters Climate Change Coverage Declined Significantly After "Skeptic" Editor Joined -- New Analysis Backs Whistleblower's Claims
- 2013/07/23: Guardian(UK): The climate change policy discussion I wish Andrew Neil would have on BBC
- 2013/07/22: QuarkSoup: Was The Economist Irresponsible?
- 2013/07/21: TP:JR: False Balance Lives At Reuters: Climatologist Slams 'Absurd' Use Of 'Unrelated Climate Skeptics Nonsense'
While activists search for effective communication techniques:
2013/07/26: PSinclair: Dear Met Office

Here is something for your library:
- 2013/07/26: BPA: [Book Review] _Growing Food in a Hotter, Drier Land: Lessons from Desert Farmers on Adapting to Climate Uncertainty_ by Gary Paul Nabhan
And for your film & video enjoyment:
Meanwhile among the 'Sue the Bastards!' contingent:
- 2013/07/25: Grist: Big Oil sued for destroying wetlands around Gulf of Mexico
- 2013/07/24: NYT: Louisiana Agency Sues Dozens of Energy Companies for Damage to Wetlands
  Louisiana officials filed a lawsuit on Wednesday against dozens of energy companies, hoping that the courts will force them to pay for decades of damage to fragile coastal wetlands that help buffer the effects of hurricanes on the region.
  "This protective buffer took 6,000 years to form," the state board that oversees flood-protection efforts for much of the New Orleans area argued in court filings, adding that "it has been brought to the brink of destruction over the course of a single human lifetime."
  The suit ... was filed in civil district court in New Orleans by the board of the Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority-East.
- 2013/07/24: LSJ: Bell's Brewery sues Enbridge, developer over [Kalamazoo River] oil spill cleanup plan
- 2013/07/23: Grist: Historic lawsuit alleges ag-gag is unconstitutional
- 2013/07/23: CDreams: Landmark Lawsuit Challenges 'Ag-Gag' Law
  Animal welfare groups, individuals start legal fight against 'unconstitutional' Utah law that gags reporters and whistleblowers from documenting abuse
It looks like this BP trial over the Gulf oil spill is going to take a long while:
- 2013/07/27: CSM: Halliburton spill probe resolved. Will BP contractor cut another deal?
  Halliburton has resolved a U.S. Justice Department criminal probe of its role in the 2010 Gulf oil spill by agreeing to pay a $200,000 fine and admitting it destroyed evidence, but the company still has a powerful incentive to cut another deal with businesses and residents.
  The plea agreement doesn't shield Halliburton from a high-stakes decision by a federal judge, who is considering how much the companies involved in the well blowout should pay for damage from the nation's worst offshore oil spill. How much each pays would be determined by how much fault the judge assigns them for the disaster that killed 11 workers and led to millions of gallons of oil spewing into the Gulf of Mexico.
- 2013/07/26: TreeHugger: BP Oil Spill Update: Halliburton pleads guilty to destroying evidence, Transocean must turn over docs
- 2013/07/26: CSM: Gulf oil spill: Halliburton to plead guilty to destroying spill evidence
- 2013/07/26: DeSmogBlog: Louisiana Sues Oil Companies For Wetlands Damage in Gulf Showdown
- 2013/07/26: P3: Halliburton Pleads Guilty To Destroying Evidence In Connection With Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill
- 2013/07/26: CBC: Halliburton to plead guilty to destroying Gulf spill evidence -- 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion caused largest marine oil spill ever
- 2013/07/26: DD: Halliburton pleads guilty to destroying evidence after Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill
- 2013/07/26: TP:JR: Halliburton Agrees To Plead Guilty To Destruction Of Evidence In 2010 BP Spill, Pay Maximum Fine
- 2013/07/26: FDL: Halliburton Pleads Guilty to Destroying Evidence After Gulf Spill
- 2013/07/25: Grist: Court tells Transocean to stop obstructing Deepwater Horizon investigation
  Yes, owner of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, you do have to cooperate with the federal government's investigation into the 2010 explosion and oil spill. The rest of us would like to see how such disasters could be avoided in the future.
  That was the message sent by a U.S. Court of Appeals to Transocean, the world's largest offshore drilling company, ordering it to finally turn over long-sought documents to the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB).
  Transocean has been appealing some of CSB's subpoenas, arguing that the board lacks the authority to probe the disaster.
- 2013/07/25: BBC: Halliburton to plead guilty to destroying Gulf evidence
Wrestling over a new energy infrastructure continues unabated:
What do you have in energy comparisons and transitions?
Hey! Let's contaminate the aquifer for thousands of years! It'll be a fracking gas!
- 2013/07/27: CDreams: This Community Has Spoken: Thou Shalt Not frack
- 2013/07/26: UTA: Potential well water contaminants highest near natural gas drilling, UT Arlington study says
  A new study of 100 private water wells in and near the Barnett Shale showed elevated levels of potential contaminants such as arsenic and selenium closest to natural gas extraction sites, according to a team of researchers that was led by UT Arlington associate professor of chemistry and biochemistry Kevin Schug.
- 2013/07/24: CSM: Does fracking lead to earthquakes?
- 2013/07/24: ABC(Au): Report finds national regulation of fracking needed
- 2013/07/23: Grist: ExxonMobil subsidiary, with arm twisted behind back, agrees to treat fracking wastewater
- 2013/07/23: ABC(Au): Seaspray residents to declare community CSG-free
- 2013/07/22: MoJo: Welcome to Portage County, the Fracking Waste Disposal Capital of Ohio
  A small part of Ohio has secured the ignominious honor of becoming the most successful frackwater dumping ground in the state.
On the gas and oil front:
- 2013/07/26: BBerg: Closing oil prices Friday
  OIL (US$/bbl)
  Dated Brent Spot....107.17
  WTI Cushing Spot....104.70
- 2013/07/23: CSM: Middle East unrest continues to roil oil markets
- 2013/07/22: Reuters: Analysis: As WTI and Brent reunite, Gulf of Mexico faces squeeze, not glut
  Even after a surprisingly vigorous surge in U.S. crude oil prices finally eliminated a three-year discount versus global benchmark Brent, some cash markets are sending a curious signal: refiners are ready to pay even more.
And in pipeline news:
- 2013/07/25: ICN: The Dilbit Disaster 3 Years Later: Sunken Oil Is Looming Threat to Kalamazoo River
- 2013/07/25: Reuters: Enbridge to build $1.3 bln Canadian oil sands pipeline extension
  Enbridge Inc, Canada's largest pipeline company, said on Thursday it will build a $1.3 billion extension to its Woodland crude line in northern Alberta to serve Imperial Oil's Kearl oil sands project.
  The 345-kilometer (214-mile) extension will have initial capacity of 400,000 barrels per day, with the ability to be expanded up to 800,000 bpd depending on crude viscosity.
  It will extend the Woodland Pipeline south from Enbridge's Cheecham terminal to its Edmonton terminal to connect with refineries and export pipelines in that area
- 2013/07/25: F&WW: Moving Dirty Crudes, Another Threat Posed by Dirty Fossil Fuels
- 2013/07/24: VanObs: Three years after Kalamazoo spill, Enbridge to BC: "You can trust us." Can we?
  On the third year anniversary of the Enbridge, Inc. oil spill into the Kalamazoo River in Michigan, due to "pervasive organizational failures", reflections on the company's proposal to build a pipeline through British Columbia.
- 2013/07/22: DeSmogBlog: Oil On The Tracks: The Crude-by-Rail Boom By the Numbers
Yes we have a peak oil sighting:
- 2013/07/26: CassandrasLegacy: Peak oil? What peak oil?
- 2013/07/25: PeakEnergy: Reports of the Death of Peak Oil Have Been Greatly Exaggerated
- 2013/07/24: SP: Peak oil isn't dead; it just smells that way
- 2013/07/24: MoJo: Reports of the Death of Peak Oil Have Been Greatly Exaggerated
- 2013/07/24: PeakEnergy: Crucial Differences Between "Peak Oil" & "Peak Oil Debate"
- 2013/07/24: PeakEnergy: Peak oil lives
- 2013/07/23: Guardian(UK): Peak oil lives, but will kill the economy
  Hype around peak oil's demise is premature, though you wouldn't know that if you believed BBC misrepresentations
- 2013/07/22: Reuters: Technology vanquishes the peak-oilers, again
Biofuel bickering abounds:
- 2013/07/25: LBL: Microbial Who-Done-It For Biofuels
- 2013/07/18: BWeek: Indonesia's Palm Oil Industry Rife With Human-Rights Abuses
The answer my friend...
- 2013/07/28: CleanTechnica: First Offshore Wind Turbine Installed In Spain Commissioned
- 2013/07/26: CleanTechnica: Wind Energy Provides 25% Of Western Australian Demand
- 2013/07/26: EurActiv: Offshore floating turbines 'could power Europe four times over'
  Buoyant wind farms situated in deep seas could employ 318,000 people and provide 145 million households with electricity by 2030, says a new report by the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA).
- 2013/07/25: RTCC: Floating wind farms could provide EU with 40GW by 2020
- 2013/07/24: RTCC: New radar technology could double number of UK wind farms
- 2013/07/23: MWEN: With push from tax break, wind industry moves forward
- 2013/07/23: JQuiggin: The right's anti-wind campaign is pure scaremongering
- 2013/07/23: RTCC: Siemens' giant wind farm lands in Australia
  A 270MW farm, expected to be complete in 2014 is being carefully moved from Adelaide to Snowtown
Meanwhile among the solar aficionados:
- 2013/07/25: NatGeo: Mojave Mirrors: World's Largest Solar Plant Ready to Shine
  The Ivanpah Valley of the Mojave Desert in California is home to spiky yucca trees, long-nosed leopard lizards, loggerhead shrikes, and a rare species of tortoise -- and soon, the largest solar thermal energy plant in the world.
- 2013/07/25: PeakEnergy: IBM solar collector magnifies sun by 2,000x
- 2013/07/24: Grist: Forget solar panels, here come [BIPVs] building-integrated photovoltaics
- 2013/07/24: PeakEnergy: Foster's Solar-Skinned Buildings Signal Market Tripling [BIPV]
- 2013/07/23: TP:JR: How Twelve States Are Succeeding In Solar Energy Installation: New Report
- 2013/07/23: RTCC: UK students target solar cell efficiency record
- 2013/07/22: CleanTechnica: Australians Love Solar Power
The nuclear energy controversy continues:
- 2013/07/28: EneNews: Emergency declared at U.S. nuclear plant: Fire shuts down reactor [Callaway in Missouri] - "Reports of black smoke" ...
- 2013/07/26: BRitholtz: Nuclear Power in Decline?
- 2013/07/26: TheConversation: Dig for secrets: the lesson of Maralinga's Vixen B [nukes]
- 2013/07/25: ABC(Au): Should Australia consider a nuclear future?
  Scientists from around the world are gathered in Sydney to consider the possible future of nuclear energy in Australia.
- 2013/07/25: Eureka: New nuclear fuel-rod cladding could lead to safer power plants
  A substitute [silicon carbide] for traditional [zirconium alloy] zircaloy could greatly reduce the danger of hydrogen explosions
- 2013/07/24: APR: [SCE Press Release] San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station Operating License to be Retired
- 2013/07/23: SciAm:TCW: Richard Rhodes on the need for nuclear power
Nuclear waste storage requires _very_ long term thinking:
- 2013/07/23: AugustaChronicle: Advisory board opposes SRS as nuclear waste venue
  Savannah River Site's Citizens Advisory Board adopted a position paper Tuesday opposing SRS' future use as a storage site for spent nuclear fuel.
- 2013/07/17: ABC(US): Washington State Health Officials Stumped by High Rate of Birth Defects [article doesn't mention Hanford]
- 2013/07/22: EneNews: "Worrisome" spike in deadly birth defects around leaking U.S. nuclear site - Officials claim "it could be a complete coincidence" - No news reports mention it's by the most contaminated area in Western Hemisphere #Hanford
Feed-In-Tariffs are being variously implemented around the world:
- 2013/07/27: CleanTechnica: Thailand Solar FiT Rates Announced For Another 1,000 MW Of Solar PV
- 2013/07/22: RenewablesInt: Spanish feed-in tariffs -- a wrapup
Like a mirage, the dream of a Hydrogen Economy shimmers on the horizon:
- 2013/07/24: AutoBG: Hydrogen production via electrolysis getting cheaper
More people are talking about the electrical grid:
- 2013/07/24: CBC: Electric vehicles may put 'disruptive load' on grid -- Utilities want to know where electic cars are so they can plan
- 2013/07/27: CleanTechnica: Distributed Solar PV Benefits & Costs
Automakers & lawyers, engineers & activists argue over the future of the car:
As for Energy Storage:
- 2013/07/22: TP:JR: Intermittency Of Renewables? ... Not So Much
The reaction of business to climate change will be critical:
- 2013/07/25: TreeHugger: Intel is the biggest user of green power in U.S. for fifth year in a row. Can you guess the others?
Insurance and re-insurance companies are feeling the heat:
Joe Romm posts a daily list of top energy and climate stories:
Other (weekly) lists:
2013/07/26: BPA: 3 Picks: Brazil Agriculture, PBS NOVA on GMOs, Chickpeas
2013/07/23: BPA: 3 Picks: Southwest Drought, Food Inflation, Gliadin Protein
2013/07/21: BPA: 3 Picks: Tractor Sales, Corporate Organic, Water Gel
2013/07/27: SkS: 2013 SkS Weekly News Roundup #30B by John Hartz
2013/07/23: SkS: 2013 SkS Weekly News Roundup #30A by John Hartz

The carbon lobby are up to the usual:

Note: You may notice my denialist coverage flagging. I am finding it
increasingly difficult to give any attention to these folks.
- 2013/07/24: DeSmogBlog: Report Details Coal Industry's Pollution of Waterways, Political System
- 2013/07/26: WottsUWT: Watt a somewhat poorly written abstract and introduction?
- 2013/07/26: HotWhopper: Denier weirdness: a collection of alarmist predictions from WUWT and elsewhere
- 2013/07/25: OParachute: The Galileo fallacy and denigration of scientific consensus
- 2013/07/23: Guardian(UK): The right's anti-wind campaign is pure scaremongering
  Climate change is a debacle for the Australian right. Their tribal hatred of environmentalists has driven them to denounce any technology favoured by their enemies
- 2013/07/23: JQuiggin: The right's anti-wind campaign is pure scaremongering
- 2013/07/27: Stoat: Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear: chaos, weather and climate confuses denialists
- 2013/07/28: HotWhopper: More denier self-portraits, including around 60 engineers
- 2013/07/27: TMoS: NOAA Releases New Warming Data - Deniers Flummoxed, Again
- 2013/07/23: HotWhopper: Anthony Watts and his illiterati at WUWT deny ocean acidification
- 2013/07/22: V VattsUWT: Cruising for a bruising
- 2013/07/21: ERabett: Deja Vu All Over Again
- 2013/07/21: Stoat: Curry's wide Sargasso Sea of Stupidity
So why is nothing getting done?
- 2013/07/27: P3: In Case You've Been on Mars
- 2013/07/22: Guardian(UK): Climate change: some reasons for our failures
- 2013/07/22: TMoS: Canada's Boiling Frog Government
- 2013/07/22: Guardian(UK): Climate change: some reasons for our failures
  The nations of the earth are doing very little to avert an impending, entirely foreseeable catastrophe. There are many reasons why -- some obvious, others less so
As for climate miscellanea:
And here are a couple of sites you may find interesting and/or useful:
Low Key Plug

My first novel _Water_ was published in May 2007.
An Introduction is available.
My most recent novel _The Bottleneck Years_ is being serialized online atmy siteand on AFTIC at Table of Contents
If you want further information, see A Gentle Introduction.
If you want a copy, see The Deal.
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.

"How exactly is it in the 'best interests of the Nation' to sell
coal that belongs to US taxpayers at a discount so Peabody can
strip mine and ship it to Asia?"
-Joe Smyth
Last modified July 28, 2013

More like this

An honest question...

How would temperature data have been seen during the last 10,000 years prior to the peak of each of the previous Milankovich cycles? What caused the temperature to reverse course in those cycles and why would we not expect it to occur again this time?

Hi Russel,

Thanks for the question, see the next posting...

Another Week of Climate Disruption News, July 28, 2013

Information is not Knowledge...Knowledge is not Wisdom

July 28, 2013

Here's a wee chuckle for ye:

Looking ahead to COP19 and future international climate negotiations:

Oh, oh. The Major Emitters have spoken:

The Whiteman et al. $60 trillion Arctic disaster played to a lot of echoes and the odd brickbat:

What do we have for warnings this week?

And on the Bottom Line:

Who's getting the subsidies?

First it was the World Bank, then the US Import-Export Bank and now, the European Investment Bank. Did someone pass these guys the word?

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?

John Cook and friends continue their point-counterpoint articles:

A note on theFukushima disaster:

Not much good news coming out of Fukushima:

What do we have for Fukushima related papers this week?

The Arctic melt continues to garner attention:

As for the charismatic megafauna:

That Damoclean sword still hangs overhead:

As for the geopolitics of Arctic resources:

While in Antarctica:

The food crisis is ongoing:

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

So, are these land grabs Colonialism V2.0?

Regarding the genetic modification of food:

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

In the Central Pacific, Tropical Storm 06E (Flossie) looks to be heading straight for Hawaii:

In the Atlantic, Tropical Storm Dorian is heading westward (weakly):

While elsewhere in the hurricane wars:

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

Meanwhile on the GHG front:

And in the carbon cycle:

What's up with CO2 fertilization?

How is the temperature record?

Aerosols are making their presence felt:

While in the paleoclimate:

What's new on the extinction front?

The bees and Colony Collapse Disorder are a constant concern. And then, there are the Neonicotinoids:

Meanwhile in near earth orbit:

More GW impacts are being seen:

And then there are the world's forests:

Emerging diseases accompany ecological change:

On the tornado front:

As for heatwaves and wild fires:

Corals are a bellwether of the ocean's health:

Acidification is changing the oceans:

Glaciers are melting:

Sea levels are rising:

These extreme rainfall events are becoming all too frequent:

As for hydrological cycle disruptions [floods & droughts]:

And on the mitigation front, we have biomimicry:

Consider transportation & GHG production:

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

As for carbon sequestration:

What's new in conservation?

While on the adaptation front:

Meanwhile in the journals:

And other significant documents:

As for miscellaneous science:

What's new in models?

Regarding Mann:

The Fifth IPCC report is coming up:

And on the carbon trading front:

The idea of a carbon tax is still bouncing around:

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

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

South [& East] China Sea tension persists:

Who is serious about reducing airline carbon emissions?

In the solar squabbles, peace is breaking out between China and Europe:

These 'free trade' treaties feature fundamentally anti-democratic dispute resolution mechanisms:

As for miscellaneous international political happenings:

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

What are the activists up to?

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

Polls! We have polls!

Regarding Water Politics and Business; See also:

Among the world's religions:

While in the UK:

And in Europe:

Meanwhile in Australia:

First it was the World Bank, then the US Import-Export Bank and now, the European Investment Bank.
Did someone pass these guys the word?

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?

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

The bees and Colony Collapse Disorder are a constant concern.
And then, there are the Neonicotinoids:

The yearly Council of the Federation meeting went down this week.
Is GW adaptation is forcing itself onto the scene in the guise of Emergency Preparedness?

There has been bad blood between Quebec and Newfoundland ever since Nfld. foolishly agreed to the the unfair
Churchill Falls hydro agreement back in the 1970s. This is just the latest iteration: