Another Week of Climate Disruption News - December 29, 2013

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Information Overload is Pattern Recognition

December 29, 2013

• Chuckles, COP20, Brulle, Retrospectives
• Potash, Accountability, Pricing Nature, Cook
• Fukushima: Note, News, Policies
• Melting Arctic, Geopolitics, Antarctica
• Food: Crisis, Fisheries, GMOs, Production
• Hurricanes, Notable Weather, Abrupt CC, Extreme Weather, New Weather
• Solar, Climate Sensitivity, Temperatures, Satellites
• Oceans, Ocean Currents, Biosphere, Extinctions, Bees & CCD
• Impacts, Forests, Smog & Health
• Wildfires, Corals, Glaciers, Sea Levels, Floods & Droughts
• Buildings, Sequestration, Geoengineering, Conservation
• Journals, Other Docs, Misc. Science, Free Science, Advocacy, Hansen, Schneider, Pielke
• International Politics: UN, Carbon Tax, Hormuz, South China Sea, FQD
• Treaties, NSA, Security, Law & Activism, Activism, Divestment, Polls, H2O Biz
• National Politics: Britain, Europe, Australia, Abbott, China, Japan, Asia, Middle East, South America
• Canada, Lac-Mégantic, Northern Gateway, Tar Sands, Alberta, Ontario, North, Canadiana
• America, Post Sandy, Keystone, Mayflower, Coal Exports, AEO, Keeling, USAdmin, Congress
• Ecological Economics, Recycling, IPAT, Apocalypso, Fixes, Media, Books, Video, Courts, BP Trial
• Energy, Fracking, Coal, Oil & Gas, Pipelines, Oil Transportation, US Tar Sands, Peak Oil, Biofuel
• Wind, Solar, Nukes, Grid, Utilities, Efficiency, Cars, Energy Storage
• Other Lists, Carbon Lobby, Miscellaneous, Useful Links
• Shameless Self Promotion, A Simple Plea, .sig

Here's a wee chuckle for ye:

• 2013/12/27: DWR: (gfx) 3 Easy Scales - The Science of Temperature
• 2013/12/24: TFTJO: (gfx) Santa sells all his coal assets!

Just cause it's beautiful:

• 2013/12/24: EPOD: Frost Flower in Western Missouri
  

  Looking ahead to COP20 and future international climate negotiations:

  • 2013/12/23: RTCC: Why 2014 is a critical year for the politics of climate change

  There is still a fair amount of chatter about that Brulle paper on denier funding:

  • 2013/12/24: CCP: "Institutionalizing delay: Foundation funding and the creation of U.S. climate change counter-movement organizations," by Robert J. Brulle, Climatic Change (Dec. 2013); doi: 10.1007/s10584-013-1018-7
  • 2013/12/20: Drexel: Not Just the Koch Brothers: New Drexel Study Reveals Funders Behind the Climate Change Denial Effort
  • 2013/12/27: DD: The dark money in climate change
  • 2013/12/27: FergusB: What is it worth?
  • 2013/12/26: ERabaett:JF: Who's Funding the Climate Change Deniers?
  • 2013/12/25: DD: Graph of the Day: Total foundation funding distribution to U.S. climate change countermovement organizations, 2003-2010
  • 2013/12/23: SciAm: "Dark Money" Funds Climate Change Denial Effort
    A Drexel University study finds that a large slice of donations to organizations that deny global warming are funneled through third-party pass-through organizations that conceal the original funder
  • 2013/12/23: CDreams: Millions in Dark Money Funding Climate Change Denial: Report
  • 2013/12/23: FDL: Study: Major Funders Of Climate Change Denial Identified
  • 2013/12/23: Grist: Right-wingers and dirty energy corporations secretly spending mega-millions on climate denial
  • 2013/12/23: DeSmogBlog: Study Details Dark Money Flowing to Climate Science Denial
  • 2013/12/22: TP:JR: Conservative Donors Pump $1 Billion A Year Into Climate Denying Groups, Study Finds
  • 2013/12/22: AlterNet: Study Finds Shift to 'Dark Money' in Climate Change Denial Effort
  • 2013/12/21: TDC: Study finds shift to 'dark money' in climate denial effort
    Digging into the underpinnings of the climate denial movement, a Drexel University study finds a large slice of donations funneled through pass-through organizations that conceal the original funder. Koch Industries, ExxonMobil disappear from traceable public databases after 2007.

  More end-of-the-year retrospectives:

  • 2013/12/28: KSJT: Lists, we got'em: The tops, the bottoms, the whateverist science stories of the year.
  • 2013/12/27: CDreams: A Year in the Climate Movement: 2013 Lowlights
  • 2013/12/27: Grist: The top 13 green stories of 2013: The good, the bad, and the muddled
  • 2013/12/27: CleanTechnica: 4 Key Lessons From 2013
  • 2013/12/27: CleanTechnica: PVSolar Report: Top 10 Solar Stories For 2013
  • 2013/12/27: ETI:RRapier: The Top 10 Energy Stories of 2013 (#6-10)
  • 2013/12/26: TruthOut: Climate Change 2013: Where We Are Now - Not What You Think
  • 2013/12/26: ABC(Au): The year that was: Fact, fiction and everything in between
  • 2013/12/24: TheConversation: 2013, the year that was: Energy + Environment
  • 2013/12/23: SciNews: Year in Review: Carbon dioxide levels pass milestone
  • 2013/12/24: RTCC: 2013: the year the divestment campaign took flight
  • 2013/12/24: Wunderground: A Quiet But Deadly 2013 U.S. Fire Season
  • 2013/12/24: ETI:RRapier: Top Energy Stories of 2013 - Honorable Mention
  • 2013/12/23: CDreams: Australia's Year in Review: Hottest, Hottest, Hottest...
  • 2013/12/23: GreenGrok: Top 10 Environmental Stories of 2013

  Looks like the Potash Cartel is back in business. Investors will be happy; Farmers not so much:

  • 2013/12/28: RT: World's biggest potash cartel to renew
    The new owners of Russian potash producer Uralkali are to resume cooperation with Belaruskali of Belarus, which means the cartel that used to control about 40 percent of world potash exports will be back. "After the change of owners - shareholders were replaced by Uralchem [the world's second largest ammonium nitrate producer] and interests of Prokhorov [Russian tycoon-turned-politician] - Uralkali is ready to restore cooperation with Belaruskali," the Russian ambassador to Belarus Alexander Surikov told a news conference on Friday. The Russian side "acted thoughtlessly and did not calculate all the consequences" from the collapse of the potash cartel, but "both sides were to blame," he said. "The joint marketing of potash fertilisers should be restored. Most probably this would happen," Surikov said, adding that this would be advantageous for both sides.

  More on the pushers and the pullers. Accountability Breakdown:

  • 2013/12/24: NYT: Rethinking How to Split the Costs of Carbon

  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?

  • 2013/12/25: CDreams: Is Humanity Nature's Customer?

  John Cook and friends continue their point-counterpoint articles:

  • 2013/12/28: SkS: 2013 SkS Weekly News Roundup #52 by John Hartz
  • 2013/12/27: SkS: Greenland ice sheet stores liquid water year-round by John Hartz
  • 2013/12/26: SkS: More misleading Congressional climate testimony by dana1981
  • 2013/12/25: SkS: Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from Skeptical Science by dana1981, John Cook
  • 2013/12/24: SkS: Sea Ice Volume is Not Recovering by greenman3610, Anne Young
  • 2013/12/23: SkS: Global warming will intensify drought, says new study by John Abraham
  • 2013/12/22: SkS: 2013 SkS Weekly Digest #51 by John Hartz

  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.
  [Now some people are talking about a century or more. Sealing it in concrete for 500 years.]
  We'll see.
  At any rate this situation is not going to be resolved any time soon and deserves its own section.
  Meanwhile...
  It is very difficult to know for sure what is really going on at Fukushima. Between the company [TEPCO], the Japanese government, the Japanese regulator [NISA], the international monitor [IAEA], as well as independent analysts and commentators, there is a confusing mish-mash of information. One has to evaluate both the content and the source of propagated information.
  How knowledgeable are they [about nuclear power and about Japan]?
  Do they have an agenda?
  Are they pro-nuclear or anti-nuclear?
  Do they want to write a good news story?
  Do they want to write a bad news story?
  Where do they rate on a scale of sensationalism?
  Where do they rate on a scale of play-it-down-ness?
  One fundamental question I would like to see answered:
  If the reactors are in meltdown, how can they be in cold shutdown?

  Not much good news coming out of Fukushima:

   

  • 2013/12/28: EneNews: Steam coming from Fukushima Unit 3 reactor building - Observed multiple times this week
  • 2013/12/28: EneNews: Experts: Fukushima can't be excluded as factor in sea stars turning to goo along West Coast; It hasn't been ruled out...
  • 2013/12/28: NavyTimes: Reagan sailors press on in radiation lawsuit -- 71 who served during 2011 aid mission suing Japanese power company
  • 2013/12/27: FukuLeaks: Inspection Of Damaged Fuel Assembly Unit 4 Fukushima Daiichi
  • 2013/12/27: EneNews: Radio: Experts warn ocean currents spreading Fukushima contamination across world - Official 4,000 miles away: Radiation in seafood imports increased noticeably; Time for all stakeholders to be on alert (audio)
  • 2013/12/27: EneNews: Reports: Highly significant quantity of fission products are flushed into environment by water used on Fukushima molten fuel, including plutonium and curium...
  • 2013/12/27: EneNews: Post-Fukushima Report: Concern over Plutonium and Uranium being deposited and re-concentrating far away...
  • 2013/12/26: EneNews: IAEA Paper: Corium was not cooled in majority of tests using water injected from above, as done at Fukushima - Were studying how to stop molten core from melting-through concrete
  • 2013/12/25: EneNews: Russian Experts: Fukushima pollution spreads all over Earth, clearly a large amount of fish, seaweeds, and everything in ocean has been polluted - These products are the main danger for mankind as they can end up being eaten by people on a massive scale
  • 2013/12/25: DD: FAQ: Radiation from Fukushima
  • 2013/12/25: RT: 'Fukushima fish ends in garbage': Radioactive fears blight Japan's seafood industry
  • 2013/12/24: FukuLeaks: 2 More Spent Fuel Transfers From Unit 4 Fukushima Daiichi - A total of 132 assemblies have been removed
  • 2013/12/23: TRN: Scientists Link Spike in Thyroid Disease to Fukushima Disaster
  • 2013/12/23: EneNews: Japan experts voice alarm over "surge in cancers among young in Fukushima" - Gov't told to "implement measures now" and be prepared for surge to increase further
  • 2013/12/23: EneNews: Reports: "You can expect an enormous amount of cancers" around Pacific...
  • 2013/12/22: Asahi: Experts differ over nuclear accident's effect on cancer rate in children

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

  • 2013/12/28: CSM: Why Jordan is still pursuing the nuclear (power) option
    The disaster at Fukushima and cheap, abundant natural gas have tempered excited proclamations that nuclear power is the future of energy, but energy-poor countries like Jordan are still aggressively pursuing nuclear programs. Officials say circumstances leave the kingdom little choice.
  • 2013/12/27: APR: Japanese Utilities Lining Up to Restart Reactors
  • 2013/12/23: NBF: Japan politics shifts to pro-nuclear and restarting nuclear reactors
  • 2013/12/23: Asahi: Nuclear power backers picking up steam on reactor restarts

  The Arctic melt continues to garner attention:

  • 2013/12/26: ArcticNews: Sea Ice in decline between Svalbard and Greenland
  • 2013/12/23: CSM: Reservoir found under Greenland's snow. What it means for shrinking glaciers
  • 2013/12/23: NASA: Enormous Aquifer Discovered Under Greenland Ice Sheet
  • 2013/12/22: Eureka: Greenland ice stores liquid water year-round -- Potential for storing meltwater important for calculating sea-level rise
  • 2013/12/22: BBC: 'Massive' reservoir of melt water found under Greenland ice
    Researchers say they have discovered a large reservoir of melt water that sits under the Greenland ice sheet all year round.

  As for the geopolitics of Arctic resources:

  • 2013/12/24: CBC: Where Arctic camels once roamed, coal mining can wait
    A coal exploration project proposing to tread the same ground as the ancient fossil forests on Nunavut's Ellesmere Island has been temporarily put on the shelf. Canada Coal has delayed its exploration program on Ellesmere Island for at least a year, and withdrawn its application to Nunavut regulators, saying it needs more time to address a host of concerns raised by people in nearby Grise Fiord and scientists across Canada and the U.S.
  • 2013/12/23: Grist: Russia begins offshore drilling in Arctic

  While in Antarctica:

  • 2013/12/27: BBC: China icebreaker heads to trapped Antarctic ship
    A Chinese icebreaker is expected to reach a scientific mission ship trapped in dense pack ice off East Antarctica since Christmas Day. The Snow Dragon icebreaker will try to cut a path through the ice so the research vessel Academic Shokalskiy can reach open waters. The Russian vessel is being used by the Australasian Antarctic Expedition. There are 74 people on board. They are following the route explorer Douglas Mawson travelled a century ago.
  • 2013/12/26: ABC(Au): Destination Antarctica -- The Australasian Antarctic Expedition is stuck in the ice, but spirits remain high...
  • 2013/12/25: DD: Mass starvation of penguins on Cape Denison, as iceberg blocks access to ocean and food...
  • 2013/12/24: ScienceInsider: China to Break Ground on Antarctic Base
  • 2013/12/23: RTCC: West Antarctic ice loss has accelerated over past four years
    Rate of ice loss from West Antarctic has accelerated sharply, European scientists say, causing global sea levels to rise by 15% more than previously thought
  • 2013/12/21: TruthDig: West Antarctic Ice Loss Speeds Up

  The food crisis is ongoing:

  • 2013/12/27: BPA: Food Security in Graphics from World Resources Institute
  • 2013/12/24: Guardian(UK): Demand for food stamps soars as cuts sink in and shelves empty
    More working Americans are lining up at emergency food banks and going hungry, as cuts to those programmes take effect

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

  • 2013/12/23: BBC: New laws in force to protect Scottish shellfish waters

  Regarding the genetic modification of food:

  • 2013/12/27: Grist: 20 GMO questions: Animal, vegetable, controversy?
  • 2013/12/24: TheConversation: Terminator seeds will not usher in an agricultural judgement day [Lynas]
  • 2013/12/23: Grist: China doesn't want our genetically modified corn

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

  • 2013/12/23: IFPRI: [link to 2.8 meg pdf] East African agriculture and climate change
  • 2013/12/28: Xinhuanet: Substantial incentives for farming are needed
  • 2013/12/23: UN: New UN initiative tackles food losses with pilot activities in three African nations
  • 2013/12/23: UN: New UN-United Kingdom partnership aims to boost food security in Zimbabwe
  • 2013/12/23: RTCC: Climate change could crush East Africa's agricultural economy - report
  • 2013/12/23: AllAfrica:AlertNet: Zimbabwe Explores Non-GM Biotech to Boost Food Security
  • 2013/12/20: FAO: Major boost for Zimbabwe's sustainable agricultural development and food security efforts
    FAO and DFID agree on a 4-year, $48 million project on climate-smart agriculture, training, market access and inclusive financing
  • 2013/12/20: FAO: Rome-based UN agencies join forces on food losses
    Switzerland to fund $2.7 million project with pilot activities in three African countries [Burkina Faso, the Democratic Republic of the Congo & Uganda] The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the World Food Programme (WFP) have launched a joint project to tackle the global problem of food losses.

  Another relatively quiet week after Bruce and Amara faded in the South Indian Ocean:

  • 2013/12/24: NASA: NASA Sees the Last of Cyclone Bruce in Southern Indian Ocean
  • 2013/12/23: NASA: NASA Sees Tropical Cyclone Amara Spinning Down
  • 2013/12/23: NASA: NASA Sees Tropical Cyclone Bruce Lose its Eye

  Tropical Cyclone Christine [05S] has spun up in the Timor Sea and looks to curl around and hit West Australia next week:

   

• 2013/12/29: ABC(Au): Tropical Cyclone Christine coverage guide
  Tropical Cyclone Christine is expected to become a Category 3 cyclone before making landfall between Onslow and Port Hedland on Monday evening or early Tuesday morning. People in and around the communities of Onslow, Pannawonica, Karratha, Whim Creek and Port Hedland have been asked to prepare. The Bureau of Meteorology says communities along the Kimberley coast should expect heavy rain, possible flooding and gale force winds as the cyclone progressively moves south.
• 2013/12/29: ABC(Au): Tropical Cyclone Christine: Destructive winds, dangerous storm tides forecast for Pilbara coast
• 2013/12/28: ABC(Au): Tropical Cyclone Christine: Weather bureau declares category one cyclone forms off WA north coast
  Western Australia's Pilbara and Kimberley regions are on high alert after the weather bureau confirmed a tropical depression had developed into a cyclone which is could to make a "severe" impact as early as Monday. The Bureau of Meteorology on Saturday night said category one Tropical Cyclone Christine was located about 260 kilometres north-west of Broome and 540 kilometres north-east of Port Hedland and was predicted to make landfall near Karratha. It is expected to be a category three storm when it crosses the Pilbara coast on late Monday or early Tuesday.
• 2013/12/28: NASA: NASA's TRMM Satellite Sees New Tropical Depression Forming Near Australia's Kimberly Coast
• 2013/12/27: ABC(Au): Weather bureau issues cyclone warning for coastal Western Australia
  A cyclone warning has been issued for coastal areas of Western Australia, with Bureau of Meteorology forecasters expecting a tropical low off the coast of Broome to strengthen over the weekend into a category 3 storm. Heavy rain and gusts of up to 100 kilometres per hour are expected to hit the WA coast between Kuri Bay and Broome by Saturday, and further extend to De Grey north of Port Hedland by Sunday morning.
• 2013/12/24: ABC(Au): Cyclone warning: Weather Bureau issues blue alert for north-west of WA to Territory border
  Forecasters are predicting a cyclone will form off Western Australia's northern Kimberley coast on Christmas Day. The Bureau of Meteorology says a tropical low sitting about 295 kilometres north-east of Kalumburu is expected to develop into a category one system as it nears land after sunrise tomorrow. The bureau predicts it will make landfall between Wyndham and Kalumburu shortly after.
• 2013/12/23: ABC(Au): Christmas blow to bypass NT
  A weak low has formed over the sea, northwest of Darwin, and has up to a 50 per cent chance of developing into a cyclone on Christmas day.

• There's still some talk about Haiyan and the recovery:

• 2013/12/28: ABC(Au): Hundreds of corpses unburied seven weeks after Typhoon Haiyan
  Residents say more than a thousand victims of Super Typhoon Haiyan remain unburied, seven weeks after the Philippines' deadliest storm.
• 2013/12/27: DemNow: How Can the Philippines Recover from Typhoon Haiyan While Forced to Pay Off Ex-Dictator's Old Debt?
• 2013/12/28: DD: Graph of the Day: Philippines disaster-induced displacement, 2009-2013
• 2013/12/26: ABC(Au): Philippines president Benigno Aquino refuses energy minister's resignation over typhoon power restoration
• 2013/12/25: ABC(Au): Philippines expects a Merry Christmas despite Typhoon Haiyan and other disasters
• 2013/12/25: ABC(Au): Christmas in mud as rain pelts Philippine disaster zone
• 2013/12/23: Guardian(UK): The Philippines is devastated as much by unfair debt as typhoon Haiyan
• 2013/12/22: Guardian(UK): Philippines: survivors of typhoon Haiyan salvage the spirit of Christmas
  

  While elsewhere in the hurricane wars:

• 2013/12/27: Wunderground: Remembering a Crazy Flight Through Cat 5 Hurricane Gilbert, 25 Years Later
  

  This week in notable weather
  First in North America:

  • 2013/12/29: CfC: Still thousands without power
  • 2013/12/29: CBC: Winter storm to bring snow and rain to Maritimes
    CBC meteorologist Peter Coade says storm will hit parts of N.B. already suffering power outages
  • 2013/12/29: CBC: Ice storm aftermath: outages near end, but N.B. wary of storm
    About 7,400 Toronto customers without power, 7,000 in N.B, 7,300 in Quebec
  • 2013/12/28: CBC: Ice storm aftermath: 25,000 customers still without power -- About 16,000 Toronto customers without power, 8,550 in N.B.
  • 2013/12/28: CBC: Ice storm aftermath: warm weather brings more outages -- 23,000 Toronto customers without power, 12,000 in N.B.
  • 2013/12/28: CBC: Ice storm aftermath: 30,000 customers still without power -- About 18,000 Toronto customers without power, 11,000 in N.B.
  • 2013/12/28: CBC: Most of Manitoba under extreme wind chill warning -- Roads down to zero visibility
  • 2013/12/27: BBC: US and Canada outage misery persists for 130,000
  • 2013/12/27: DClimenhaga: Ice Storm 2013: It's still an emergency, and the PM is still missing in inaction
  • 2013/12/27: CBC: Toronto ice storm: hydro crews restore power to 90% of city -- 25,750 Toronto Hydro customers still without electricity
  • 2013/12/27: CNN: Extreme weather leaves thousands without power, 24 dead
    At least 24 people have died in the U.S. and Canada since Saturday - Many of the deaths were caused by carbon monoxide poisoning, officials said - At least 127,000 people have lost power in Michigan, New England and Canada - Rising temperatures are forecast in Michigan but could cause more power outages
  • 2013/12/27: WSWS: Hundreds of thousands face Christmas holidays without electricity in US and Canada
  • 2013/12/27: CBC: Toronto ice storm: Thousands remain without power on Day 6 -- 32,000 Toronto Hydro customers still without electricity
  • 2013/12/27: PSinclair: Weather Whiplash Hits Home in the Heartland
  • 2013/12/26: Guardian(UK): US and Canada: tens of thousands still without power after winter storm
  • 2013/12/26: CSM: Ice storm: from Maine to Midwest, more than 100,000 still without power
  • 2013/12/26: CBC: Toronto ice storm: Thousands still in dark on Boxing Day
  • 2013/12/26: CBC: More snow heading for storm-battered Atlantic Canada
    Special weather alerts issued for Atlantic Canada, snowfall warnings for southeastern Newfoundland
  • 2013/12/25: BBC: More than 500,000 households in the north-eastern US and the south-eastern Canada are still without electricity after last weekend's severe ice storm
  • 2013/12/25: Guardian(UK): Half a million face Christmas without power in north-east US and Canada
  • 2013/12/25: IndiaTimes: Ice storm leaves half a million without power this Christmas in US and Canada
  • 2013/12/25: RT: Christmas chaos: Hundreds of flights delayed as fierce storms rage worldwide
  • 2013/12/25: CBC: Ice storm means dark Christmas for tens of thousands -- Weekend ice storm has caused havoc in Ontario, Quebec, Maritimes
  • 2013/12/24: CBC: Ice storm will mean dark Christmas for thousands of Canadians
  • 2013/12/23: al Jazeera: Snowstorm causes travel havoc in Canada
    Toronto mayor calls storm, which left three people dead, one of the worst in city's history.
  • 2013/12/23: BBC: North America storms spell cold, dark Christmas for many
    Hundreds of thousands of households in Canada and the northern US are facing a Christmas without electricity after a severe ice storm on Sunday.
  • 2013/12/23: CNN: Storms move on, leave cold behind
    Ontario power outages down to around 300,000 - Blowing snow and dangerous wind chill temperatures will hit the Upper Midwest - New York City will get steadily colder after reaching a record-breaking 70 degrees on Sunday - Thousands lost power in Toronto in what the mayor calls one of the city's worst storms
  • 2013/12/23: TreeHugger: Toronto hit by ice storm, hundreds of thousands without power
  • 2013/12/23: CBC: Ice storm darkens much of Ontario, still hitting Maritimes -- Dropping temperatures mean ice will linger
  • 2013/12/23: BBerg: Canada Ice Storm Leaves Crews Scrambling to Restore Power
    Repair crews are working around the clock to restore electricity to almost 500,000 households in Ontario and Quebec after an ice storm snapped branches, brought down power lines and crimped travel in Canada's two most populous provinces.

  And in Europe and the UK:

• 2013/12/29: BBC: Most UK properties still cut off from electricity following the Christmas storms will be reconnected by the end of Sunday, power firms have said
• 2013/12/28: BBC: More heavy rain and wind to hit before New Year, forecasters say
  The Met Office has issued a yellow alert ahead of heavy rain and wind on Monday, as efforts to clear up damage caused by Christmas storms continue.
• 2013/12/27: Guardian(UK): High winds and heavy rain lash UK and Ireland again
  Authorities warn of difficult conditions in many areas only days after Christmas Eve storm
• 2013/12/27: al Jazeera: Another big storm hits UK
  A second major storm in three days is expected to bring further problems to much of the country.
• 2013/12/27: BBC: Gales and rain have returned to the UK, causing further disruption to transport and the power network
• 2013/12/27: IndiaTimes: After blackout, Britons brace for more flooding
• 2013/12/26: al Jazeera: Mainland Europe hit by winter storm
  Northwestern Europe is clearing up after severe weather but little respite is expected before more bad weather strikes.
• 2013/12/26: BBC: More gales and heavy rain are set to hit the UK as the Environment Agency warns of further significant disruption from floods in southern England
• 2013/12/26: ABC(Au): Severe storms and flooding in UK and Europe see hundreds evacuated, 50,000 without power
• 2013/12/25: IndiaTimes: Storm batters southern France, Christmas flights cancelled
• 2013/12/25: Guardian(UK): UK floods: more than 100 people evacuated as river bursts banks
  Residents are led out of homes in Dorset at 3am on Christmas morning as flooding forces hotels and pubs to close
• 2013/12/25: BBC: Power cuts from UK storm 'will remain until Boxing Day'
  Anyone still cut off from power following the recent storms is unlikely to have it restored until Boxing Day, the Energy Networks Association says.
• 2013/12/24: al Jazeera: European countries reel from deadly storms
  Britain and France worst hit, as hurricane-force winds and torrential rain cause transport chaos amid Christmas rush.
• 2013/12/25: ABC(Au): Deadly storms wreak havoc in Britain and France, cutting power and affecting Christmas Eve travel
• 2013/12/24: CBC: Europe storm delays flights, kills 5 in U.K., France -- Major cancellations at airports in London, Paris
• 2013/12/24: ABC(Au): Two people have died in separate river incidents as high winds and heavy rain lashed Britain
• 2013/12/24: BBC: UK storm: Damage disrupts travel as more severe weather hits
  Scotland and Northern Ireland are bearing the brunt of the latest storms to hit the UK, amid continuing travel disruption in many parts of the UK.
• 2013/12/24: al Jazeera: UK and France battered by severe weather
  Strong winds and heavy rains leave 100,000 people without power.
• 
  

  Abrupt Climate Change put in an appearance:

   

  • 2013/12/26: CPunch: Looming Danger of Abrupt Climate Change

  This week in the New Normal -- extreme weather:

  • 2013/12/23: RealEconomics: Increasingly extreme weather
  • 2013/12/23: al Jazeera: Australia goes from heatwave to flood watch
    Record breaking heat moves across Australia, meanwhile a Christmas cyclone threatens the Kimberley coast

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

  • 2013/12/27: TMoS: Science Links Arctic Melt to Our Climate Mayhem
  • 2013/12/25: CCP: "Influence of Arctic sea ice on European summer precipitation," J. A. Screen, ERL 8 (2013); doi:10.1088/1748-9326/8/4/044015

  Regarding the solar hypothesis:

  • 2013/12/25: CCP: "Small influence of solar variability on climate over the past millennium, by A.P. Schurer, S.F.B. Tett & G.C. Hegerl, Nature Geosci. (2013); doi: 10.1038/ngeo2040
  • 2013/12/23: RTCC: Scientists dismiss solar link to medieval 'Little Ice Age'
    Solar activity unlikely to have caused historic climate change, say University of Edinburgh scientists, who pin changes on volcanic activity instead
  • 2013/12/22: Eureka: Solar activity not a key cause of climate change, study shows

  Regarding Climate Sensitivity:

  • 2013/12/27: ATTPh: Forcings and feedbacks

  As for the temperature record:

  • 2013/12/26: UKISS: Australia's Hottest Year on Record
  • 2013/12/24: FuturePundit: Colder North America And Warmer Rest Of World
  • 2013/12/23: DD: Record high temperatures in New York, Philadelphia - Washington D.C. 'about 40 degrees warmer than normal'
  • 2013/12/22: DD: Graph of the Day: Low and high temperature extremes across North America, 3-10 December 2013

  Meanwhile in near earth orbit:

  • JAXA: Global Precipitation Measurement/Dual-frequency Precipitation Radar (GPM/DPR)
  • 2013/12/26: CSM: How is global warming affecting precipitation? New satellite to help explain.
    The United States and Japan are getting set to launch a 4.3-ton satellite designed to monitor rain and snowfall in unprecedented detail. The agencies announced on Thursday that they have scheduled the launch for Feb. 28, 2014, from Japan's Tanegashima Space Center on an island off the southern tip of the larger island of Kyushu. The spacecraft, the Global Precipitation Monitoring (GPM) satellite, has been designed as the centerpiece of an international squadron of nine satellites that are already on orbit.
  • 2013/12/26: JAXA: Launch of H-IIA Launch Vehicle No. 23 [GPM]

  What's the State of the Oceans?:

  • 2013/12/28: DD: Sea star wasting syndrome observed from Alaska to California - "It's widespread, it's very virulent and it's unlike anything we've seen in the past"
  • 2013/12/28: EneNews: Experts: Fukushima can't be excluded as factor in sea stars turning to goo along West Coast; It hasn't been ruled out...
  • 2013/12/28: BBC: Deep sea creatures found off Rockall 'new to science'
    Four animals previously unknown to science have been discovered in deep water off Scotland, the Scottish government has said. New species of large sea snail, clam and marine worm were found during surveys by Marine Scotland. The clams and worm were at a suspected cold seep, an area where hydrocarbons are released from the seabed.
  • 2013/12/27: BBC: New analysis of ocean currents may solve eel mystery
    A new analysis of wind-driven Atlantic currents may help scientists solve a mysterious decline in eel numbers. These secretive creatures are born in the Sargasso sea but migrate to Europe where they spend most of their lives. But unexplained fluctuations in the numbers of those traversing the ocean have thwarted efforts to save the species.
  • 2013/12/27: DD: Artificial 'plastisphere' ecosystem threatens ocean environment - "We're changing the basic rhythms of life in the world's oceans, and we need to understand the consequences of that"
  • 2013/12/24: DD: 1,000 dolphins dead along U.S. East Coast in virus epidemic
  • 2013/12/23: Salon: Rampant dolphin deaths suggest there may be something seriously wrong with the oceans
  • 2013/12/22: EneNews: Experts: "Really an off year" - Pelicans starving in Pacific Northwest since 2011...

  As for Ocean Currents:

  • 2013/12/23: CLBook: Atlantic overturning in decline?

  What's the State of the Biosphere?

  • 2013/12/29: SciAm:EC: Sunday Species Snapshot: Visayan Warty Pig
  • 2013/12/29: EneNews: 'High Alert': Mystery illness killing bald eagles in Western U.S. - Wings paralyzed, full blown seizures...
  • 2013/12/27: BBC: Wildlife 'thrived' in 2013 after hot summer
    The hot summer in the UK provided a much-needed boost for wildlife with butterflies, moths and grasshoppers all thriving, the National Trust says. The warm weather also led to an explosion of berries, nuts and seeds.
  • 2013/12/24: SciNews: A year of rediscovered species
  • 2013/12/22: SciAm:EC: Sunday Species Snapshot: Alaotran Gentle Lemur

  And on the extinction watch:

  • 2013/12/27: Grist: Endangered species could be screwed by rising seas
  • 2013/12/26: WWF: Snow Leopard cubs a sign of hope for species on the brink

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

  • 2013/12/28: RT: US govt's wanton approval of harmful pesticides fueling 'bee holocaust' - lawsuit
    In response to rapidly dwindling global honey bee populations - vital in pollinating a third of the world's crops - environmental and food safety groups have sued the EPA for approving bee-ravaging pesticides despite damning evidence of their effects. The Center for Food Safety filed in mid-December a legal brief in support of a lawsuit backed by many organizations that seeks a reversal of the US Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) May decision to approve sulfoxaflor - a type of insecticide chemical known as a neonicotinoid that is associated with mass death among bee populations worldwide.
  • 2013/12/27: UKISS: A new suspect in bee deaths: the US government
  • 2013/12/24: Grist: Pollen angels: The E.U.'s ban on bee-killing pesticides begins. Will it help?

  More GW impacts are being seen:

  • 2013/12/24: TP:JR: The Ghost Of Climate Change Yet To Come

  And then there are the world's forests:

  • 2013/12/23: NatureN: Fungus discovery offers pine-wilt hope -- Previously unknown species found to aid tree pests' survival, opening way for new control methods
  • 2013/12/23: Guardian(UK): Madagascar's forests vanish to feed taste for rosewood in west and China

  Aerosols affect the climate, but they also affect people's health:

  • 2013/12/28: NBF: Shanghai has 2.5 micron particle air pollution 15 times worse than World health organization limit and ten times worse than for 10 micron particles

  As for heatwaves and wild fires:

  • 2013/12/29: ABC(Au): Emergency bushfire warning issued for fire near Lennox Head, northern New South Wales
  • 2013/12/28: ABC(Au): Total fire ban declared for much of Victoria as temperatures soar
  • 2013/12/27: ABC(Au): Victorians warned of high bushfire risk over the weekend
  • 2013/12/27: ABC(Au): Victorians warned of high bushfire risk over the weekend
    Victoria is expecting some of the worst bushfire conditions in several years on Saturday.
  • 2013/12/26: ABC(Au): CFA crews bring fire near Colbinabbin, northern Victoria, under control
  • 2013/12/24: Wunderground: A Quiet But Deadly 2013 U.S. Fire Season

  Corals are a bellwether of the ocean's health:

  • 2013/12/28: DD: Sponges erode coral reef more efficiently as ocean acidification increases

  Glaciers are melting:

  • 2013/12/28: FaGP: Burphu Glacier Retreat, Uttar Pradesh, India
  • 2013/12/23: FaGP: Kalabaland Glacier, Retreat, Uttar Pradesh, India

  Sea levels are rising:

  • 2013/12/22: ERabett:BSD: Quantifying some of the deaths from sea level rise

  As for hydrological cycle disruptions [floods & droughts]:

  • 2013/12/29: al Jazeera: Rain, snow and floods hit Mexico
    Torrential downpours and heavy snow causes disruption for many in Mexico
  • 2013/12/28: PLNA: Brazil: Heavy Rains Kill 21 in Minas Gerais
  • 2013/12/28: DD: California enters third consecutive dry winter, statewide drought worst on record...
  • 2013/12/27: BBC: Floods kill dozens in south-east Brazil - 70,000 forced to move
    More than 40 people have died following weeks of torrential rain in the south-eastern Brazilian states of Espirito Santo and Minas Gerais.
  • 2013/12/27: IndiaTimes: After blackout, Britons brace for more flooding
  • 2013/12/27: Xinhuanet: Death toll climbs to 45 in Brazil floods
  • 2013/12/27: IndiaTimes: At least 44 dead in Brazil's flooding and landslides
  • 2013/12/27: TP:JR: California Gripped By Driest Year Ever - With No Relief In Sight
  • 2013/12/27: CBC: Brazil floods, mudslides kill 41 -- 10 days of downpours lead to evacuations
  • 2013/12/26: CBC: Brazil reels from heavy rains, flooding and mudslides
  • 2013/12/26: al Jazeera: Floods leave 50,000 Brazilians homeless
    Torrential rains in southeastern Brazil has left 32 people dead in two states.
  • 2013/12/25: BBC: Heavy rain kills eight in St Vincent
    At least eight people died and dozens were forced out of their homes by heavy rain in the Caribbean islands of St Vincent and the Grenadines.
  • 2013/12/25: BBC: Brazil president pledges aid after deadly floods
    Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has pledged millions of dollars in federal aid to two south-eastern states where floods have killed at least 30 people. [...] The floods, caused by days of rains, are feared to be the worst in 90 years.
  • 2013/12/24: al Jazeera: 20 people killed in storm-hit Brazil
    Days of torrential downpours have triggered landslides and flooding.
  • 2013/12/23: Guardian(UK): Global warming will intensify drought, says new study

  Elsewhere on the mitigation front -- the endless quest for zero energy, sustainable buildings and practical codes:

  • 2013/12/24: CleanTechnica: The Zero Home And The Future Of Home Construction

  As for carbon sequestration:

  • 2013/12/24: ConvEcon: Carbon Capture and Storage: An Update
  • 2013/12/23: Grist: The Obama administration is undermining its own plans for carbon capture

  Large scale geo-engineering keeps popping up:

  • 2013/12/21: WoL:Hypatia: (ab$) Gender and Geoengineering by Holly Jean Buck et al.
  • 2013/12/19: DCGeoConsortium: Bill McKibben on Geoengineering - "I'm annoyed"
  • 2013/12/18: NN: Geoengineering schemes to reduce global warming turn out to be vaporware
  • 2013//: MNN: Geo-engineering a last resort climate fix?

  What's new in conservation?

  • 2013/12/24: NatureN: Charismatic mammals can help guide conservation
    Formula combines flagship species with lesser-known groups to measure value of hotspots
  • 2013/12/23: SciAm:EC: Fish Found: The Greatest Conservation Success Story of 2013?

  Meanwhile in the journals:

  • 2013/12/24: PNAS: (ab$) Assessing the impacts of livestock production on biodiversity in rangeland ecosystems by Rob Alkemade et al.
  • 2013/12/24: PNAS: (ab$) Global climate policy impacts on livestock, land use, livelihoods, and food security by Alla A. Golub et al.
  • 2013/12/24: PNAS: (ab$) Biomass use, production, feed efficiencies, and greenhouse gas emissions from global livestock systems by Mario Herrero et al.
  • 2013/12/24: PNAS: (ab$) Exploring global changes in nitrogen and phosphorus cycles in agriculture induced by livestock production over the 1900-2050 period by Lex Bouwman et al.
  • 2013/12/24: PNAS: (ab$) Current drivers and future directions of global livestock disease dynamics by Brian D. Perry et al.
  • 2013/12/24: PNAS: (letter$) Livestock and global change: Emerging issues for sustainable food systems by Mario Herrero & Philip K. Thornton
  • 2013/12/24: PNAS: (letter$) Reply to Ogden and Stallard: Phenomenological runoff models in the Panama Canal watershed by Silvio Simonit & Charles Perrings
  • 2013/12/24: PNAS: (letter$) Land use effects on ecosystem service provisioning in tropical watersheds, still an important unsolved problem by Fred L. Ogden & Robert F. Stallard
  • 2013/12/24: PNAS: (letter$) Reply to Boslough: Is Greenland Pt anomaly global or local? by Michail I. Petaev et al.
  • 2013/12/24: PNAS: (letter$) Greenland Pt anomaly may point to noncataclysmic Cape York meteorite entry by Mark Boslough
  • 2013/12/01: ERL: Influence of Arctic sea ice on European summer precipitation by J A Screen
  • 2013/12/24: Springer:CC: (ab$) Institutionalizing delay: foundation funding and the creation of U.S. climate change counter-movement organizations by Robert J. Brulle
  • 2013/12/23: ACP: Size-resolved atmospheric particulate polysaccharides in the high summer Arctic by C. Leck et al.
  • 2013/12/23: ACP: Marine boundary layer cloud regimes and POC formation in a CRM coupled to a bulk aerosol scheme by A. H. Berner et al.
  • 2013/12/23: ACPD: Seasonal and elevational variations of black carbon and dust in snow and ice in the Solu-Khumbu, Nepal and estimated radiative forcings by S. Kaspari et al.
  • 2013/12/23: ACPD: Monitoring high-ozone events in the US Intermountain West using TEMPO geostationary satellite observations by P. Zoogman et al.
  • 2013/12/23: ACPD: The role of long-range transport and domestic emissions in determining atmospheric secondary inorganic particle concentrations across the UK by M. Vieno et al.
  • 2013/12/21: WoL:Hypatia: (ab$) Gender and Geoengineering by Holly Jean Buck et al.
  • 2013/12/23: GMDD: Development of a variational flux inversion system (INVICAT v1.0) within the TOMCAT chemical transport model by C. Wilson et al.
  • 2013/12/23: GMDD: Estimating soil organic carbon stocks of Swiss forest soils by robust external-drift kriging by M. Nussbaum et al.
  • 2013/12/23: TCD: The effect of climate forcing on numerical simulations of the Cordilleran ice sheet at the Last Glacial Maximum by J. Seguinot et al.
  • 2013/12/23: BG: On the impact of wave-like disturbances on turbulent fluxes and turbulence statistics in nighttime conditions: a case study by D. J. Durden et al.
  • 2013/12/23: BG: Explosive demographic expansion by dreissenid bivalves as a possible result of astronomical forcing by M. Harzhauser et al.
  • 2013/12/23: BGD: Lena Delta hydrology and geochemistry by I. Fedorova et al.
  • 2013/12/23: BGD: Trends and drivers of regional sources and sinks of carbon dioxide over the past two decades by S. Sitch et al.
  • 2013/12/23: CP: High-resolution mineral dust and sea ice proxy records from the Talos Dome ice core by S. Schüpbach et al.
  • 2013/12/23: CPD: Dependence of Eemian Greenland temperature reconstructions on the ice sheet topography by N. Merz et al.
  • 2013/12/22: Nature:GeoSci: (ab$) Small influence of solar variability on climate over the past millennium by Andrew P. Schurer et al.
  • 2013/12/22: Nature:GeoSci: (ab$) Minimal change in Antarctic Circumpolar Current flow speed between the last glacial and Holocene by I. N. McCave et al.
  • 2013/12/22: Nature:GeoSci: (ab$) Extensive liquid meltwater storage in firn within the Greenland ice sheet by Richard R. Forster et al.
  • 2013/12/23: Nature:GeoSci: (ab$) Atlantic overturning in decline? by Jon Robson et al.
  • 2013/12/20: Nature:CC: (ab$) Ruminants, climate change and climate policy by William J. Ripple et al.
  • 2013/12/20: Nature:CC: (ab$) Global warming and changes in drought by Kevin E. Trenberth et al.
  • 2013/12/20: Nature:CC: (ab$) Pervasive transition of the Brazilian land-use system by David M. Lapola et al.

  And other significant documents:

  • 2013/12/23: IFPRI: [link to 2.8 meg pdf] East African agriculture and climate change

  As for miscellaneous science:

  • 2013/12/22: Eureka: Researchers create largest evolutionary 'timetree' of land plants to investigate traits that permit survival in cold climates
  • 2013/12/27: NatureN: Europe waters down transnational 'research buddy' plan
    Critics say putting low-performing countries in charge of research centres will compromise institution-building effort.
  • 2013/12/27: TSoD: Ghosts of Climates Past - Part Eight - GCM II

  What developments in the ongoing struggle for Open Science?

  • 2013/12/26: SciAm:AM: Open access 2013: A year of gaining momentum

  Regarding Advocacy:

  • 2013/12/28: ATTPh: Science and silence
  • 2013/12/27: HotWhopper: Gavin Schmidt on Advocacy and Judith Curry's "missing element"
  • 2013/12/26: ATTPh: Christmas past
  • 2013/12/23: BVerheggen: Gavin Schmidt and Judith Curry on Science Advocacy

  Regarding Hansen:

  • 2013/12/26: QuarkSoup: Hansen: How to Know When Politicians Are Lying

  Regarding Schneider:

  • 2013/12/28: SimpleC: The ice-age U-turn that set the stage for the climate debate

  The Pielke fan clubbe, alas:

  • 2013/12/24: ERabett: Pielkes All The Way Down

  Meanwhile at the UN:

  • 2013/12/27: Guardian(UK): Middle-income countries to have the casting vote on future of development
    Hopes of ending poverty, limiting global warming and achieving sustainable globalisation rest with upwardly mobile countries
  • 2013/12/23: UN: Ban appoints former leaders of Ghana, Norway as special envoys on climate change

  The idea of a carbon tax is still bouncing around:

  • 2013/12/23: ERabett:BSD: A carbon-reduction tax credit is a carbon tax, and that's a good thing

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

  • 2013/12/27: Xinhuanet: Iran to upgrade uranium enrichment to 60 pct if West pushes for sanctions: lawmaker
    Tehran -- Iran will upgrade the level of uranium enrichment to 60 percent if the West pushes for further sanctions against Tehran, a senior Iranian lawmaker was quoted as saying by semi-official Fars news agency Thursday. Rapporteur of Iran's parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, Hossein Naqavi-Hosseini, said his country needs 60 percent enriched uranium for the operation of its submarines. The words by Naqavi-Hosseini followed a motion by 100 Iranian lawmakers on Wednesday, which, if passed, will oblige the government to produce 60 percent enriched uranium in line with the requirements of the country's nuclear program, said the report.
  • 2013/12/23: EUO: Iran talks postponed until after Christmas
  • 2013/12/23: WSWS: Implementation of US-Iran interim nuclear deal stalls
  • 2013/12/23: Asia Times: The Roving Eye - All in play in the New Great Game
  • 2013/12/23: Asia Times: Iran's oil: Pay it forward
  • 2013/12/23: Asia Times: The nuclear deal and the future of Iran
  • 2013/12/22: Yahoo:Reuters: Analysis: Netanyahu seeks to slow Iran-U.S. thaw by ramping up demands of deal
    By ramping up his demands of any final nuclear deal between Iran and world powers, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appears determined to stem the tide of international diplomacy which has turned against him in recent weeks. Netanyahu was stung by an interim agreement last month for Tehran to curb its nuclear program in return for a limited easing of sanctions, calling it a historic mistake. His reaction has been to call for the dismantling of Iran's nuclear projects, as opposed to their containment, and a halt to its development of ballistic missiles, an issue not addressed in the interim accord signed in Geneva on November 24. Taking even wider aim, Netanyahu said negotiators should demand a change to Iran's "genocidal policy" toward Israel, manifested through its supply of thousands of missiles to Palestinian and Lebanese militants, and its calls for the Jewish state's destruction.
  • 2013/12/22: AntiWar: Rice: US Plans System to Automatically Reimpose Sanctions on Iran -- Iran Warns Other Nations to Avoid 'Troublemaking'
  • 2013/12/22: AntiWar: US Oil Companies Avoid Lobbying on Iran -- Big Bucks on Line for Rapprochement, but Fears of Alienating Hawks

  South [& East] China Sea tension persists:

  • 2013/12/28: Xinhuanet: China says Abe must repent shrine visit
  • 2013/12/27: Xinhuanet: Commentary: Given history lessons, Japan's rearmament drive should be kept at bay
  • 2013/12/26: BBC: China and South Korea have condemned Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for visiting a shrine that honours war dead including convicted war criminals
  • 2013/12/26: Xinhuanet: Defense Ministry: China effectively monitors ADIZ in East China Sea
  • 2013/12/26: BBerg: Xi Reply to Abe Shrine Visit Looms as Test for China-Japan Ties
    Chinese President Xi Jinping's reaction to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's visit to a shrine that honors wartime leaders will determine whether Asia's top two economies come closer to a hostile incident. Xi's options after Abe's appearance yesterday at Yasukuni shrine -- the first by a sitting prime minister since 2006 -- range from sticking with verbal condemnation to unleashing public anti-Japanese protests to stepping up naval or air challenges against Japan's forces in the East China Sea.
  • 2013/12/26: ABC(Au): Japan PM Shinzo Abe visits controversial Yasukuni war shrine, China says move is 'unacceptable'
    Japan's prime minister Shinzo Abe has paid tribute at Tokyo's controversial Yasukuni war shrine, in a move Beijing condemned as "absolutely unacceptable". Mr Abe described his visit, which is certain to roil already-troubled ties in east Asia, as a pledge against war and said it was not aimed at hurting feelings in China or South Korea.
  • 2013/12/26: al Jazeera: China attacks Japanese PM's war shrine visit
    Shinzo Abe's visit to Yasukuni shrine honouring Japan's war dead draws a sharp rebuke from China.

  Regarding the EU FQD: Fuel Quality Directive:

  • 2013/12/26: TruthOut: Dirtiest Oil: Why In Situ Bitumen Extraction Is Dangerous for Canada, the World
  • 2013/12/24: Grist: Stick it to 'em: Scientists call for labeling tar-sands oil
  • 2013/12/23: OilChange: Scientists and Senators Concerned About U.S Undermining EU's Climate Legislation
  • 2013/12/20: Reuters: Scientists urge EU action on tar sands - letter

  These 'free trade' treaties are a stealth corporate takeover with anti-democratic dispute resolution mechanisms:

  • 2013/12/26: CDreams: Transatlantic Trade Agreement Threatens Environment and Health in US and Europe
  • 2013/12/22: CDreams: NAFTA at 20: State of the North American Farmer
    In the United States and throughout North America, NAFTA has accelerated the industrial consolidation of agriculture and pushed out smaller, more sustainable food producers

  Who's teed off at the NSA this week?

  • 2013/12/22: DD: U.S. spying network shows contempt for environment...

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

  • 2013/12/27: DD: U.S. military wraps climate change response into master plans...

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

  • 2013/12/29: al Jazeera: Last foreign Greenpeace activist exits Russia
    All 26 foreign activists detained for their campaign against gas drilling in the Arctic have now left the country.
    [...]
    The Arctic Sunrise ship remains under Russian control in Murmansk and Greenpeace have made clear that it wants its vessel back.
  • 2013/12/28: TP:JR: 100 Days After Arrest For Protesting Offshore Drilling, Arctic 30 Released From Russia
  • 2013/12/27: Guardian(UK): Arctic 30: five Britons arrive back in UK from Russia
  • 2013/12/27: BBC: Five UK Greenpeace activists, held in Russia for 100 days, have been welcomed home by relieved family and friends
  • 2013/12/27: al Jazeera: Russia grants Greenpeace activists exit visas
    Dima Litvinov was the first of the 'Arctic 30' to leave Russia, with the rest expected to follow in the coming days.
  • 2013/12/25: CDreams: Russia Formally Drops All Charges Against 'Arctic 30' -- Until the drilling stops, the Greenpeace campaign will continue
  • 2013/12/25: GreenPeace: LIVE - Latest Updates from the Arctic Sunrise activists
  • 2013/12/25: BBC: Russia drops charges against Greenpeace Arctic crew
    Russia is in the process of dropping charges against the remaining 29 Greenpeace crew members who were detained in the Russian Arctic.
  • 2013/12/25: ABC(Au): Russia drops charges against Arctic Sunrise activists, Greenpeace says
    Russia has formally dropped criminal charges against Greenpeace activists arrested in a protest against Arctic oil drilling and is expected to shortly do the same for all 30, the environmental group said. Greenpeace said on Wednesday that it knew of the dropping of charges against 19 of the group, who are currently still in Russia on bail. The move followed the announcement of a Kremlin amnesty. The activists will now be free to leave Russia and travel home to their families, once they secure exit visas.
  • 2013/12/25: NNW: Russia drops charges vs 16 Greenpeace activists
  • 2013/12/24: Guardian(UK): Arctic 30 activists expected to return home after Christmas
  • 2013/12/24: CBC: Russia grants Greenpeace activist amnesty
  • 2013/12/24: RAPSI: Greenpeace requests inquiry into Arctic oil production
  • 2013/12/24: BBC: Russia drops first Greenpeace Arctic 30 cases

  What are the activists up to?

  • 2013/12/24: CDreams: 'Merry Frackmess!': Elves Erect Gas Drilling Rig on Governor's Front Lawn
    If Illinois Gov. Quinn wants fracking in his state, Santa thinks he should see what it's like to live next to a fracking rig

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

  • 2013/12/24: RTCC: 2013: the year the divestment campaign took flight

  Polls! We have polls!

  • 2013/12/29: CleanTechnica: Owners Of Solar Panels & EVs Get Solar 1st, 85.5% Buy Their Solar Panels (CT Survey Results)
  • 2013/12/26: KSJT: Huffington Post Survey Says Americans Don't Trust Scientists or Science Journalists. Should They?
  • 2013/12/23: TP:JR: A Majority Of Americans Want The Government To Tell Businesses What To Do On Climate Change

  Regarding Water Politics and Business:

  • 2013/12/28: JFleck: The Windmill
  • 2013/12/28: JFleck: Does drought matter any more?
  • 2013/12/26: JFleck: The shortcomings of the Endangered Species Act in western water [H2O biz]

  While in the UK:

  • 2013/12/23: Stoat: The British political establishment seems to be moving more towards climate change denial, which is worse than the previous stance of acknowledging the problem while doing virtually nothing to address it?
  • 2013/12/23: RTCC: Coldplay back climate change awareness campaign
    UK Foreign Office-backed Odyssey 2050 animation aims to educate children of threats posed by global warming Leading rock band Coldplay is backing a new campaign aimed at raising climate change awareness among children.
  • 2013/12/22: DD: UK government under fire for rejecting EU food bank funding
    "Conservative anti-European ideology is being put before the needs of the most destitute and deprived in our society"
  • 2013/12/22: Guardian(UK): Heathrow climate report scuppers Tory plans to delay expansion debate

  And in Europe:

  • 2013/12/26: Lenz: Electric Vehicle State Aid in the Netherlands
  • 2013/12/23: CleanTechnica: Will Norway Dedicate Its Sovereign Wealth Fund To Renewables?

  Meanwhile in Australia:

  • 2013/12/27: ABC(Au): MetEye expanding its weather sights
  • 2013/12/24: PSinclair: China's Pollution is a Lump of Coal for Australian Fossil Fuel Barons
  • 2013/12/23: ABC(Au): Expanded biosecurity for farmed salmon
    Tasmanian Primary Industries Minister Bryan Green says almost 1 and a half million dollars will be spent on upgrading laboratories at Mount Pleasant near Launceston to secure the salmon industry. Bryan Green says research will be carried out at the expanded facility on disease and problems with the salmon industry which is expanding at a great rate in Tasmania.

  Now we get to watch the suppository of wisdom destroy what little Australia has done to fight climate change:

  • 2013/12/25: TMoS: Like Peas in a Pod. Harper and Abbott.
  • 2013/12/24: ABC(Au): Loggers warn Liberals that World Heritage forest de-listing will turn away buyers
  • 2013/12/24: ABC(Au): Power generators push for change to renewables target
    The electricity industry says overhauling the Renewable Energy Target would slow growth in power prices. The target is up for review next year, and the Prime Minister has indicated he's open to changing it, saying it's contributing to significant pressures on power prices. At the moment, it mandates that 20 per cent of electricity must be supplied from renewable sources by 2020, but the Energy Supply Association wants the target changed, arguing it doesn't reflect the current market conditions.
  • 2013/12/23: Guardian(UK): Tasmania forest heritage listing comes under threat from Coalition
    Plan to roll back hard-won protection branded 'fundamentally irresponsible' by Wilderness Society
  • 2013/12/23: ABC(Au): Surat [coal seam] gas project gets federal approval
    The Federal Government has given the green light to Arrow Energy's Surat gas project. The announcement, made by Federal Environment Minister Greg Hunt late on Friday, has been welcomed by Arrow Energy but has upset local landholder Ruth Armstrong.
  • 2013/12/23: ABC(Au): Queensland nature refuge a casualty of mining
    The Queensland Government says signing up to a nature refuge never meant mining development would be prevented. On Friday, the Federal Government approved Clive Palmer's six billion dollar coal mine project in Central Queensland's Galilee Basin. This decision also spelled the end for the Bimblebox Nature Refuge.
  • 2013/12/20: RNE: Tony Abbott named world's biggest climate grinch in 2013

  While in China:

  • 2013/12/26: Xinhuanet: Chinese FM summons Japanese Ambassador [to protest Abe's Yasukuni visit]
  • 2013/12/26: MODIS: Smog Shrouds Eastern China [on Dec.7]
  • 2013/12/25: CSM: Turning coal into gas: A solution for China's smog?
  • 2013/12/25: Xinhuanet: China guarantees subsistence to the poor
    Chinese government on Wednesday vowed to improve its subsistence allowance policies so that they reach the disadvantaged. Improving the social security system will not only boost social justice, but encourage more people to make changes and start their own careers, said a statement issued after an executive meeting of the State Council, the country's Cabinet, presided over by Premier Li Keqiang.
  • 2013/12/25: Xinhuanet: Xinhua Insight: China's anti-smog drive a hard battle to win

  And in Japan:

  • 2013/12/27: WSWS: Japanese PM revives militarist traditions
  • 2013/12/26: CBC: Japanese PM Shinzo Abe's war shrine visit angers neighbours
  • 2013/12/26: Guardian(UK): Japan's Shinzo Abe angers neighbours and US by visiting war dead shrine
  • 2013/12/25: BBC: Japan PM Abe to visit Yasukuni WW2 shrine

  While elsewhere in Asia:

  • 2013/12/25: Guardian(UK): Pakistan's government deflates dream of gas-powered cars
    Nearly 3m drivers in Pakistan who opted for alternative to petrol face rationing and likely end of government-subsidised fuel

  In the Middle East:

  • 2013/12/28: PeakEnergy: Power plays over the Syria war

  And South America:

  • 2013/12/25: al Jazeera: Amazon villagers incensed over energy plans
    A proposed hydroelectric dam along the Tapajos River jeopardises the indigenous population.

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

  • 2013/12/28: MSimon: Stephen Harper and the Force of Destruction
  • 2013/12/27: CSW: "Libricide": Harper government closing and junking environmental libraries
  • 2013/12/27: PostMedia: Harper government cutting more than $100 million related to protection of water
    More than $100 million in cuts are underway at the federal department in charge of protecting Canada's water and oceans, despite recommendations from top bureaucrats that it needs to increase spending for both environmental and economic reasons. According to internal federal briefing notes obtained by Postmedia News, Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government is eliminating about 500 jobs at the Department of Fisheries and Oceans related to Coast Guard services, patrols to stop illegal fishing activities as well as scientific research to promote conservation, protect endangered species, and prevent industrial water pollution.
  • 2013/12/27: Rabbler:DC: Ice Storm 2013: It's still an emergency, and the PM is still missing in inaction
  • 2013/12/26: Rabbler:DC: Ice storm 2013: Is the Canadian government like the cops -- never around when you need them?
  • 2013/12/25: TMoS: Like Peas in a Pod. Harper and Abbott.
  • 2013/12/24: Tyee: Stephen Harper and the North Pole
    Why it's misleading for PM to imply international law will put the Arctic landmark on Canada's map.
  • 2013/12/24: CBC: Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz warns US over country labels
    American meat-labeliing rules prompt Canada to threaten sanctions and a trip to the World Trade Organization
  • 2013/12/23: Tyee: What's Driving Chaotic Dismantling of Canada's Science Libraries?
  • 2013/12/23: PostMedia: Harper government gave big oil and pipeline companies $400M to go green
    Canadian taxpayers have given more than $400 million to some large oil, gas and pipeline companies in recent years to support green projects that are also boosting the industry's environmental credentials. An analysis of federal accounting records by Postmedia News shows that Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government has offered these subsidies to money-making companies such as Shell Canada, Suncor, Husky Energy and Enbridge to pursue projects in biofuels production and wind energy as well as new technology to capture carbon pollution and bury it underground.

  The Lac Mégantic tragedy drags on:

  • 2013/12/29: CBC: Lac-Mégantic library may reopen in 2014 thanks to donations
    The town's only library was incinerated in the July 6 train derailment and explosion

  The battle over the Northern Gateway pipeline rages on:

  • 2013/12/27: P3: It's not the spill that matters
  • 2013/12/23: NBF: Provinces and Federal Government haggle over $81 billion over 30 years in tax windfall from Oil Pipeline Keystone alternate
  • 2013/12/23: G&M: B.C. fights for bigger slice of Northern Gateway pie
  • 2013/12/22: TheCanadian: It's all about the economy; No evidence required
  • 2013/12/21: CoC: Council of Canadians responds to Enbridge Northern Gateway recommendation

  Meanwhile in that Mechanical Mordor known as the tar sands:

  • 2013/12/27: Rabbler:YE: Oil Sands fever
    A clear diagnosis of the Oil Sands fever variant of Dutch Disease may be just what the doctor ordered to rally Canadian workers in the fight against global warming.
  • 2013/12/26: Tyee: Families Seek Court Injunction Against Tar Sands Producer
  • 2013/12/26: SudburySteve: The Economic Case Against the Tar Sands, Part 2: Tom Mulcair's Disastrous Kinder Morgan Reversal Opens the Door for the Green Party
  • 2013/12/24: SudburySteve: The Economic Case Against the Tar Sands, Part 1: Why Our Best Future Economic Indicator is 2 Degrees Celsius
  • 2013/12/22: BLongstaff: Producing the wrong oil?

  Also in Alberta:

  • 2013/12/27: CBC: Alberta gas company pleads guilty, fined after pipeline leak
    A Calgary-based natural gas company has been assessed $350,000 in fines after pleading guilty to a pipeline leak that killed hundreds of fish and damaged a creek in northern Alberta. SemCAMS ULC pleaded guilty after a pipeline rupture released 850,000 litres of salty, chemically contaminated wastewater into a small creek and muskeg near Fox Creek, Alta., in August 2010. After an investigation lasting about 18 months, numerous charges were laid against SemCAMS under both federal and provincial legislation. In court, the company pleaded guilty to one count under each jurisdiction's laws.
  • 2013/12/24: CDreams: In Alberta, Environmental Regulators Now Funded by Fossil Fuel Industry
    'How unbiased can this be?' ask critics of regulator stacked with oil industry players
  • 2013/12/24: Creekside: Bruce Carson and the tarsands fox - streamlining the henhouse
  • 2013/12/23: HuffPo: Peace River Families Fed Up With Baytex Energy Oil Fumes

  In Ontario, Wynne is struggling to establish herself. Energy still looms large:

  • 2013/12/28: TMoS: Hey, Toronto. Time You Went Underground.
  • 2013/12/27: BCLSB: How Many Anti-Wind Activists In Ontario?
  • 2013/12/27: G&M: Report warned of increased risk of power outages due to climate change
    A Toronto Hydro vulnerability study published last year warned that climate change could result in more severe freezing rain storms, increasing the risk of major power outages. The study, published in September, 2012, says warmer winter temperatures can increase the intensity and quantity of freezing rain and wet snow, which can damage tree branches and overhead wires. Toronto Hydro estimates that about 26,000 customers were still without power on Friday, six days after a massive ice storm swept through Southern Ontario.

  In the North:

  • 2013/12/24: CBC: Tiny Arctic town's weather site approaches 1 millionth hit

  As for miscellaneous Canadiana:

  • 2013/12/24: Rabble:GE: All I want for Christmas is a union that fights climate change

  And on the American political front:

  • 2013/12/28: TP:JR: Endangered Species Act Turns 40 Facing Environmental And Political Dangers
  • 2013/12/28: CleanTechnica: Santa Clara Requires New Buildings To Be Prewired For EV Chargers
  • 2013/12/26: TP:JR: Pennsylvania's New Draft Climate Change Plan Has No Emissions Reduction Goal
  • 2013/12/24: CleanTechnica: New York [state] Green Bank Gets $210 Million In Start-Up Funding
  • 2013/12/24: Guardian(UK): Demand for food stamps soars as cuts sink in and shelves empty
    More working Americans are lining up at emergency food banks and going hungry, as cuts to those programmes take effect

  Post-Sandy commentary and news:

  • 2013/12/23: CCP: After Hurricane Sandy, One Man Tries to Stop the Reconstruction
    Geologist Orrin Pilkey predicted exactly what a storm like Sandy would do to the mid-Atlantic coast and New York City. On a tour of destruction after the deluge, he and David Gessner ponder a troubling question: Why are people rebuilding, as if all this isn't going to happen again?

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

  • 2013/12/25: CDreams: Meet the Texas Farmer Challenging the Keystone Pipeline from the Courtroom to the Plains
    Julia Trigg-Crawford claims that the state of Texas has no process to determine whether projects that seize landowners' property are really in the public benefit.
  • 2013/12/23: CDreams: Elizabeth Warren Comes Down Hard Against Global Warming, Separates Herself From Hillary Clinton on Climate Change
  • 2013/12/22: TheHill:e2W: TransCanada CEO [Russ Girling]: Obama will approve Keystone XL
  • 2013/12/21: AlterNet: Elizabeth Warren Comes Down Hard Against Keystone XL Pipeline While Hillary Clinton's Allies Push It Ahead

  The Mayflower oil spill and its ramifications just keep dragging on:

  • 2013/12/24: ICN: In 2013, Exxon Spill Showed Dangers of Pipelines Buried Under Backyards
    The Arkansas spill shone a spotlight on the dangers hiding in existing pipelines. It also reignited the debate over the proposed Keystone XL.

  The NorthWest coal export debate remains heated:

  • 2013/12/28: CDreams: Coal Trains Run into Stiff Resistance in U.S.
    Citizens and activists in the U.S. Pacific Northwest are fighting three different proposed coal terminals, including one in Oregon and two in Washington. Meanwhile, three formerly proposed coal terminals have already been defeated.

  The preliminary 2014 Annual Energy Outlook came out last week:

  • 2013/12/16: DOE:EIA: Annual Energy Outlook 2014 - Executive Summary
  • 2013/12/24: Resilience: About that EIA Hail Mary
  • 2013/12/23: EconBrowser: U.S. tight oil production surging [EIA AEO]
  • 2013/12/22: NBF: Global Coal usage will continue to grow at 2.3% per year through 2018 and crude oil in the USA will reach all time production high by 2016

  The Keeling Curve project needs funding:

  • 2013/12/27: ERabett: An Appeal from Ralph Keeling

  The actions of the Obama administration are being watched closely:

  • 2013/12/27: TP:JR: In The Midst Of Record Oil Boom, Obama Administration Seeks More Oil Production
  • 2013/12/27: CleanTechnica: US EPA Nails Fracker With Record Fine
  • 2013/12/26: TheCanadian: EPA watchdog finds water concerns over Texas fracking justified
  • 2013/12/26: Grist: Five years after Tennessee coal-slurry disaster, EPA has produced no new rules
  • 2013/12/24: TP:JR: Interior Secretary Rejects Multi-Million Dollar 'Road to Nowhere' Through Alaska Wilderness Area
  • 2013/12/23: Grist: The Obama administration is undermining its own plans for carbon capture
  • 2013/12/23: TP:JR: Transportation Department Snubs Congressional Request For Better Pipeline Protections

  As for what is going on in Congress:

  • 2013/12/27: Grist: Meet the senator from ExxonMobil who's taking over the Energy Committee
  • 2013/12/26: Guardian(UK): Republicans in Congress got the testimony they wanted to keep playing climate Russian roulette
  • 2013/12/26: SkS: More misleading Congressional climate testimony by dana1981
  • 2013/12/23: TP:JR: Thanks To Congress, 2014 Will Bring Uncertainty For The Wind Industry
  • 2013/12/23: UCSUSA:B: Is there Really a Study on Goats and Urine? More on Senator Coburn's Wastebook

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

  • 2013/12/27: Resilience: PatternDynamics: Following The Way Nature Organizes Itself to Deal with Complexity
  • 2013/12/27: NakedCapitalism: Michael Hoexter: Malign Confusion about Growth, Economic Growth or "Degrowth": Which Way Forward? - Pt 3
  • 2013/12/26: NakedCapitalism: Michael Hoexter: Malign Confusion about Growth, Economic Growth or "Degrowth": Which Way Forward? - Part 2
  • 2013/12/24: TreeHugger: How to build a permaculture suburb

  In nature, there is no garbage:

  • 2013/12/28: CleanTechnica: Giant Gleaming Eggs Will Help Solve Urban Water, Energy And Waste Problems

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

  • 2013/12/28: WSWS: Spanish government attacks abortion rights
  • 2013/12/27: BBC: China's top legislature has formally adopted a resolution easing the country's one-child policy, the state news agency Xinhua reports
  • 2013/12/27: Xinhuanet: Beijing may relax birth policy in March
    Beijing has started to examine a draft to relax the one child policy, the start of the legislative procedure, authorities said on Friday. The Standing Committee of Beijing Municipal People's Congress is examining an amendment to the Beijing Municipal Population and Family Planning Regulations. If the amendment is passed, the new policy is expected to start since March 2014. In the draft, couples will be allowed to have two children if one of them is an only child. Current policy only allows couples who are both single children to have two.
  • 2013/12/24: Guardian(UK): China's relaxation of one-child policy to begin rolling out early next year

  Apocalypso anyone?

  • 2013/12/22: CCurrents: Climate Change And The Rise And Fall Of Civilizations

  Okay hot shot, how are we gonna fix this?

  • 2013/12/25: CD: Climate politics must be as radical as the climate crisis

  How do the corporate media measure up?

  • 2013/12/27: CleanTechnica: Why Are So Many Redditors Obsessed With Uncompetitive Nuclear Energy?
  • 2013/12/26: ABC(US): Bye Bye, Bile? Websites Try to Nix Nasty Comments
    Websites deploy a host of measures to battle online vitriol, with mixed results
  • 2013/12/26: KSJT: Huffington Post Survey Says Americans Don't Trust Scientists or Science Journalists. Should They?
  • 2013/12/25: PSinclair: Like "The War on Christmas" - "The War on Coal" is also a Fox News Fable
  • 2013/12/23: CJR: Cloudy with a chance of amazeballs -- The Weather Channel is reinventing itself for the digital age

  Here is something for your library:

  • 2013/12/13: ABC(Au): Top five science reads of 2013

  And for your film & video enjoyment:

  • 2013/12/29: PSinclair: 2013 in Videos
  • 2013/12/28: PSinclair: The Weekend Wonk: The Year Ahead in Climate Change News
  • 2013/12/28: P3: Peter Ward Lecture on CO2 and Extinction Events
  • 2013/12/28: TMoS: Arctic Sea Ice in 30-Seconds
  • 2013/12/27: QR: Denial Tango 2014
  • 2013/12/27: TreeHugger: Modular natural dam design protects communities from rising sea levels (Video)
  • 2013/12/23: QuarkSoup: Perpetual Ocean - a visualization of ocean currents around the world
  • 2013/12/23: RealClimate: AGU talk on science and advocacy

  Meanwhile among the 'Sue the Bastards!' contingent:

  • 2013/12/26: Tyee: Families Seek Court Injunction Against Tar Sands Producer
  • 2013/12/23: HuffPo: Peace River Families Fed Up With Baytex Energy Oil Fumes
    An Alberta family that says it was forced to leave its home due to intolerable smells from a nearby heavy oil producer has turned to the courts to try to get the sickening odours to stop."It's necessary to try and bring the venting of these emissions to an end as quickly as possible," said Alain Labrecque, who is asking a Peace River court for an eight-month injunction to shut down 46 wells owned by Calgary-based Baytex Energy (TSX:BTE).A Baytex spokesman said Monday that tests last spring showed no exceedances of provincial air-quality guidelines. Andrew Loosley said the company is continuing to co-operate with an inquiry called by Alberta's energy minister."We are in compliance with all applicable regulations," Loosley said.In an affidavit filed with the injunction request, Labrecque writes that he, his wife and two children are accustomed to living alongside the energy industry and for years had no problems with the wells in the Reno field near their farm in northwestern Alberta.
  • 2013/12/23: AutoBG: Charges dropped against Nissan Leaf electricity 'thief'
  • 2013/12/23: Grist: Fracking opponents win big in Pennsylvania

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

  • 2013/12/25: RawStory: Federal judge rejects British Petroleum's challenge to $7.8 billion settlement
  • 2013/12/25: TP:JR: Judge Deals A Blow To BP's Efforts To Dodge Deepwater Horizon Payments
  • 2013/12/24: AP: Judge rules against BP in spill-settlement dispute
    A federal judge on Tuesday rejected BP's argument that a multibillion-dollar settlement over the company's massive 2010 Gulf oil spill shouldn't compensate businesses if they can't directly trace their losses to the spill. U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier said in his ruling that the settlement was designed to avoid the delays that would result from a "claim-by claim analysis" of whether each claim can be traced to the spill.

  Wrestling over a new energy infrastructure continues unabated:

  • 2013/12/27: CleanTechnica: Geothermal Energy In 2013: Expanding Global Growth
  • 2013/12/27: CassandrasLegacy: Peak demand: the sound of a single hand clapping
  • 2013/12/23: BBerg: Germany's Biggest Electricity Producer, RWE Said to Drop Two Coal-Fired Power Contracts
  • 2013/12/23: Grist: Scotland embarrasses U.S. by planning to use only clean energy by 2020
  • 2013/12/23: TP:JR: Renewable Energy Accounted For All New U.S. Electric Capacity In November

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

  • 2013/12/27: Grist: Guess who's cashing in on fracking? The Amish
  • 2013/12/26: TheCanadian: EPA watchdog finds water concerns over Texas fracking justified
  • 2013/12/26: CSM: Will Russia frack for oil?
  • 2013/12/24: Grist: Fracking company finds new way to screw over the environment [irresponsible construction practices]
  • 2013/12/24: CSM: [EU] Fracking debate: light on oil, heavy on gas
  • 2013/12/24: Resilience: Hormone-Disrupting Chemicals Linked to Fracking Found in Colorado River
  • 2013/12/23: OilChange: Pro-fracking letter to Governor Brown has oily taste to it

  On the coal front:

  • 2013/12/28: Grist: Powder River Basin: Coal on the move
  • 2013/12/24: BBerg: Sherritt to Exit Coal With $891 Million Mining Asset Sale
    Sherritt International Corp., a Canadian energy and mining company, agreed to sell assets including all of its coal interests for C$946 million (US$891 million) so that it can focus on nickel and oil. A group led by Altius Minerals Corp. will buy Sherritt's coal-development assets and mining-royalty interests for C$481 million in cash, Toronto-based Sherritt said today in a statement. Westmoreland Coal Co. will acquire Sherritt's operating coal mines for C$312 million in cash and the assumption of capital leases valued at C$153 million, Sherritt said.
  • 2013/12/24: PSinclair: China's Pollution is a Lump of Coal for Australian Fossil Fuel Barons

  On the gas and oil front:

  • 2013/12/27: BBerg: Closing oil prices Friday
    OIL (US$/bbl)
    Dated Brent Spot....112.18
    WTI Cushing Spot....100.32
  • 2013/12/24: DeSmogBlog: Happy Holidays From Cancer Alley: Christmas Lights Overshadowed By Shell's Flaring
  • 2013/12/23: EarlyWarning: Oil Supply Update
  • 2013/12/22: Resilience: If Mexico is the next Brazil in oil production, brace for disappointment

  And in pipeline news:

  • 2013/12/23: ICN: Enbridge Dilbit Spill Still Not Cleaned Up as 2013 Closes, Irritating the EPA
    It could be 2018 before officials are able to assess the environmental damage done to the Kalamazoo River from Enbridge's 2010 pipeline spill.

  Ships and boats and trains -- How to tranport the stuff?

  • 2013/12/24: CCP: Oil, grain trains squeeze Amtrak's Empire Builder route to Northwest

  Marvelous! Now the USA has their own Mechanical Mordor:

  • 2013/12/24: Grist: First oil shale mine in U.S. is coming to Utah

  Yes we have a peak oil sighting:

  • 2013/12/28: PeakEnergy: Former BP geologist: peak oil is here and it will 'break economies'
  • 2013/12/27: RealEconomics: Another warning on energy
  • 2013/12/23: Guardian(UK): Former BP geologist: peak oil is here and it will 'break economies'
    Industry expert warns of grim future of 'recession' driven 'resource wars' at University College London lecture
  • 2013/12/23: Resilience: Former BP geologist: peak oil is here and it will 'break economies'

  Biofuel bickering abounds:

  • 2013/12/26: CleanTechnica: This Delicate Flower Is A Stepping Stone To Energy Independence [biofuel]
  • 2013/12/23: RTCC: US scientists convert algae into crude oil in under an hour
    US scientists have succeeded in producing crude oil from algae in under an hour - a technical triumph, but one that's still a long way from commercial exploitation US scientists believe they may have cracked one of the great biofuel conundrums. They have turned a thick soup of algae into a mix of crude oil, gas, water and plant nutrients in less than an hour.
  • 2013/12/22: Eureka: York scientists' significant step forward in biofuels quest

  The answer my friend...

  • 2013/12/25: CleanTechnica: Massive Cape Wind Project (Finally) Kicks Into High Gear
  • 2013/12/24: CleanTechnica: Vestas To Supply Middle East With First Utility-Scale Wind Project

  Meanwhile among the solar aficionados:

  • 2013/12/29: CleanTechnica: Owners Of Solar Panels & EVs Get Solar 1st, 85.5% Buy Their Solar Panels (CT Survey Results)
  • 2013/12/26: CleanTechnica: Solar Energy Payback Time (Charts)
  • 2013/12/24: CleanTechnica: NPD Solarbuzz Predict Massive 49 GW Solar PV Demand for 2014
  • 2013/12/23: CSM: Paying for solar power isn't what it used to be
  • 2013/12/23: TreeHugger: This graph shows why solar power will take over the world
  • 2013/12/23: CleanTechnica: Samsung Now Holds CIGS Solar Efficiency Record [15.7%]
  • 2013/12/23: CleanTechnica: Solar Frontier Will Add 150 MW Of Manufacturing Capacity
  • 2013/12/22: RealEconomics: Haiti and solar power

  The nuclear energy controversy continues:

  • 2013/12/24: NBF: Molten Salt Reactor about 50 times the power density of current submarine nuclear reactors
  • 2013/12/23: FukuLeaks: What Power Companies Do When Nuclear Is No Longer An Easy Option

  More people are talking about the electrical grid:

  • 2013/12/27: PSinclair: US Ice Storm Underlines Need for Smarter Grid

  How are the utilities adjusting (or not)?

  • 2013/12/27: PSinclair: Koch Brother's War on the Free Market: Fined for Using the Sun
  • 2013/12/26: BBerg: Utilities Feeling Rooftop Solar Heat Start Fighting Back

  And then there is the matter of efficiency & conservation:

  • 2013/12/26: Grist: Ask Umbra: What's the best way to seal up a drafty house?
  • 2013/12/25: Grist: Your cable box is a vampire, but it's about to get more efficient
  • 2013/12/23: UCSUSA:B: Is that Truck Wearing a... Skirt?
  • 2013/12/23: TP:JR: New Efficiency Rules For Cable Boxes Could Save Enough Energy To Power 700,000 Homes Per Year
  • 2013/12/23: CleanTechnica: RMI Uses Multi-Pronged Approach To Energy Efficiency

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

  • 2013/12/27: AutoBG: Hyundai tells Tucson fuel cell story, calls it 'next generation electric vehicle'
  • 2013/12/26: TreeHugger: London gets its first electric-only buses
  • 2013/12/25: CleanTechnica: Tesla Arrives In China Without A Chinese Name
  • 2013/12/23: AutoBG: EV drivers beware, ALEC is coming for your solar power

  As for Energy Storage:

  • 2013/12/23: NPR: Could Big Batteries Be Big Business In California?

  What do we have in (weekly) lists?

  • 2013/12/28: SkS: 2013 SkS Weekly News Roundup #52 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 people.

  • 2013/12/25: ERabett: The Art of the Grift
  • 2013/12/24: QuarkSoup: National Review: Over $100,000 for Lawyers
  • 2013/12/24: HotWhopper: Anthony Watts gets more than the sun wrong at WUWT
  • 2013/12/28: HotWhopper: Anthony Watts takes "exception" and posts a doozy of a climate conspiracy theory at WUWT
  • 2013/12/29: HotWhopper: The "Honest Broker"? Ahem...
  • 2013/12/20: RNE: Tony Abbott named world's biggest climate grinch in 2013

  Meanwhile in the 'clean coal' saga:

   

• 2013/12/26: Grist: Five years after Tennessee coal-slurry disaster, EPA has produced no new rules
  

  As for climate miscellanea:

  • 2013/12/25: P3: The Entire IPCC Report in 19 Illustrated Haiku
  • 2013/12/27: UKISS: When economists pretend they know science
  • 2013/12/26: CCD: Christmas Desserts in the Age of Melt
  • 2013/12/23: DeSmogBlog: Are You an Eco-Jihadist?
  • 2013/12/27: CP&O: The Politics of Climate Change Research Funding
  • 2013/12/27: TMoS: Peter Essick Chronicles Climate Change in Photo Essay
  • 2013/12/27: ERabett: Wish They Were Here

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

  • WHOI: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
  • WHOI: FAQ: Radiation from Fukushima
  • SFSU: CRWS Jet Stream Map Menu
  • Kimmirut Weather
  • BOM: MetEye
  • EnergyPost
  • JAXA: Global Precipitation Measurement/Dual-frequency Precipitation Radar (GPM/DPR)
  • integral permaculture - moving toward a culture of enduring health for people and planet
  • IDMC: Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre
  • NRC: Event Notification Reports
  • IoM3: Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining
  • NOAA: NCDC News
  • Earth Island Journal

  ---

  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.

  ---

  "Just what kind of suicidal clowns flounce through life gibbering on about bacon straws, cupcakes, online images of kitty cats, and the latest Playstation model when the specter of extinction looms and their psychotic leaders are doubling down on the criteria of doom?" -Phil Rockstroh

  • Global Warming Links
  • Global Warming News Archive
  • Energy
  • Energy News
  • Environmental Issues
  • ---
  • H.E. Taylor (homepage)

  ---

  Last modified December 29, 2013